Fri: Once Upon a Time, There Was a Loser With Orange Hair

QOP Guy Sued a Writer, Exposing E-Mails That Could Hurt Previous Guy.

In mid-December 2020, even Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano apparently had some doubts about the latest plan hatched by Donald Trump’s inner circle to select fake Electoral College electors in an attempt to reverse the results of the presidential election.

The right-wing senator had heard from other Republicans that the scheme might be “illegal,” in the words of lawyer Christina Bobb, then a One America News anchor who later joined Trump’s legal team.

“Mastriano needs a call from the mayor. This needs to be done. Talk to him about legalities of what they are doing,” Bobb wrote on Dec. 12, 2020, to Trump advisers, referring to Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City. That email and others from Trump’s team were reported last summer by the New York Times.

But previously unreported communications obtained by The Inquirer show that, two days after Bobb’s email, Trump himself called Mastriano — this time peddling lies about Dominion voting machines.

“POTUS just called me,” Mastriano wrote in a Dec. 14, 2020, email with the subject line “Document from POTUS.” “He asked that I share the attached with you.”

Mastriano was happy to oblige. He sent the email to an unidentified group of recipients, with findings from a debunked “study” of voting machines in Michigan, including a false claim that there was a “68% error rate in votes cast.”

“A Cover-up is Happening regarding the voting machines in Michigan,” reads one of the talking points Mastriano forwarded.

That same day, Mastriano posted on Facebook a link to a conservative news site with a headline about how Dominion software was “intentionally designed to influence election results.”

“Uh oh,” Mastriano wrote.

Those claims, of course, were not true. In April, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle a defamation case stemming from false claims it had aired about the company’s voting machines.

That Trump had been in contact with Mastriano and other Pennsylvania legislative leaders in December 2020 has previously been reported in the media, and documented by the House Jan. 6 committee that investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

But the new emails reveal additional details about Trump’s pressure campaign in Pennsylvania and provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how it was received in Harrisburg. Election-related conspiracy theories and bad legal advice percolated quickly through the legislature.

Trump, who has already been indicted in New York and Miami, remains the focus of criminal investigations in Washington, D.C., and Georgia for his efforts to cling to power after losing the election.

Emails among Pennsylvania state representatives and senators are generally not considered public record under the state’s Right-to-Know law. These communications recently surfaced as a result of a defamation lawsuit that State Sen. Dan Laughlin filed last year against the Erie Reader and one of its contributing editors over an opinion piece.

By suing the weekly newspaper, Laughlin, an Erie County Republican, opened the door to legal discovery — and depositions — that unearthed otherwise confidential communications.

‘POTUS just called me’: Pa. GOP emails shed new light on 2020 election upheaval

We'll Remember Always, Graduation Day

A 17-year-old who recently graduated from The Philadelphia High School for Girls was denied her diploma on stage after dancing during the ceremony, ABC 6 reported.

[The principal] stole that moment from me," said Hafsah Abdur-Rahman. "I will never get that again."

Rahman said she knew the principal warned students their families could not cheer or clap when they walked on stage. But when Rahman broke out into a dance, the crowd cheered and laughed, and she says that's why she didn't get her diploma.

"If they thought that I shouldn't do 'The Griddy' across the stage and do the Girls' High traditions, nobody should have been able to wave or blow kisses or do period signs because I feel like that's the same thing. I feel like that's unfair," said Abdur-Rahman.

Don't Tell Fox Noise, But Modelo Especial is Owned by Anheuser-Busch, the Maker of Bud Light

Modelo Especial has officially become the bestselling beer in the U.S., surpassing Bud Light among brews purchased at supermarkets and convenience stores.

The fact that the Mexican import beat the embattled Bud Light may have come as a surprise to some.

But consumer experts say Bud Light's demotion has long been in the making as a new, younger generation of beer drinkers topples well-established brands. And many of those young consumers are simply switching away from beer altogether.

"[Bud Light] is a brand that was reliably shrinking in sales every single year for over a decade," said Matthew Barry, insights manager at the market research company Euromonitor International.

Modelo, meanwhile, has seen exceptional sales growth for years, Barry said.

Fox Noise Watchers Shouldn't Worry.  There is Plenty of Slime Left.

Tucker Carlson’s former producer at Fox News is out at the conservative network after a caption aired calling President Joe Biden a “wannabe dictator.”

The employee, identified by the Daily Beast as former “Tucker Carlson Tonight” managing editor Alexander McCaskill, resigned, Carlson said on his Twitter show Thursday.

The Daily Beast confirmed the parting with two sources, while Carlson offered his version.

“First they scolded the producer who put the banner on the screen,” Carlson said. “Less than 24 hours after that, he resigned. He had been at Fox for more than a decade. He was considered one of the most capable people in the building. He offered to stay for the customary two weeks, but Fox told him to clear out his desk and leave immediately.”

On Tuesday, “Fox News Tonight” showed a banner under side-by-side images of Biden and Donald Trump that read, “Wannabe Dictator Speaks at the White House After Having His Political Rival Arrested.”

But Fox Noise Should Worry About This.

In what was perhaps the biggest news story of 2023 so far, Donald Trump was indicted in Miami on 37 felony counts ranging from obstruction of justice to violations of the Espionage Act. It is the first time that a president or former president has been charged and arrested for federal crimes, and most of the media turned out to report on this historic event.

Fox News, however, covered Trump's indictment predictably, managing to twist the news into an attack on President Biden with a chyron reading "WANNABE DICTATOR SPEAKS AT THE WHITE HOUSE AFTER HAVING HIS POLITICAL RIVAL ARRESTED." It's that sort of bias and political hostility that affirms Fox's place in the mediaverse as a propaganda outlet that regurgitates right-wing lies and takes its cues from their Dear Leader Trump.

The foundations of Fox News have lately been on the decline. For the first time in more than two years they lost their Nielsen ratings leadership. The week of June 5 was won by their arch nemesis, MSNBC. According to Mediaiate...

"MSNBC beat Fox News last week in prime time in both total viewers and in the key 25-54 age demographic, ending a 120-week winning streak for Fox in prime time. [...] MSNBC averaged 1.52 million total viewers across prime time, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., and 172,000 demo viewers, which was enough to beat Fox’s 1.5 million total average viewers and 139,000 demo viewers. CNN landed in third place with 677,000 total average prime time viewers and 131,000 demo viewers."
What's more, on Tuesday, during the hour that Trump's indictment took place, Fox News came in third behind CNN and MSNBC, which drew almost twice as many viewers as Fox. As reported in CNN's newsletter...

"During the 3pm hour, when Trump was taken into custody and pled not guilty, CNN averaged 1.6 million total viewers, with 287k in the demo and MSNBC averaged 2.3 million viewers, with 311k in the demo. On right-wing talk TV, Fox News averaged 1.7 million total viewers, with 179k in the demo."

The College Board Insists Young People be Educated to Pass Get AP Credit

The College Board sent a letter to the Florida Department of Education on Thursday affirming that it will not modify any more of its courses, including psychology courses on gender and sexual orientation, to comply with state laws passed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) that restricts classroom instruction topics.

“Please know that we will not modify our courses to accommodate restrictions on teaching essential, college-level topics,” the College Board said in the letter. “Doing so would break the fundamental promise of AP: colleges wouldn’t broadly accept that course for credit and that course wouldn’t prepare students for success in the discipline.”

Despite pushback from LGBTQ groups, the DeSantis administration has championed restrictions to classroom instruction and discussions on topics such as gender and sexual orientation. In March 2022, DeSantis passed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which restricts such topics for students in kindergarten through third grade.

Last month, DeSantis expanded the “Don’t Say Gay” bill to apply to all grades, which will take effect on July 1. The ban had been approved by the state’s Board of Education a month prior, on the same day it amended its rule that now prohibits Florida educators from intentionally providing classroom instruction to grades four through 12 on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Beautiful Game Gets Ugly

The US Men’s National Team dominated Mexico in a 3-0 win Thursday in front of a sellout crowd of 65,000 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

But this Concacaf Nations League semifinal – marred by dirty tackles, pushing and shoving and even a torn jersey – ended in ugly fashion.

The teams combined for 13 cards, including 12 in the second half. Two players on each team were sent off.

In the 90th minute, the referee paused the match because of homophobic chanting. Twelve minutes of stoppage time was added, but the referee opted to end the game around four minutes early amid the discriminatory chants from the crowd.

After the game, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, known for short as Concacaf, released a statement saying it “strong condemns the discriminatory chanting by some fans” during the match.

“Chants heard during the game led to the activation of the anti-discrimination protocol by the match officials. Additionally, security staff ejected several fans for engaging in unacceptable behavior in the stadium,” the statement said.

“These incidents were extremely disappointing and tarnished what should have been a positive occasion to showcase high quality football in our region.

“The Confederation is in the process of urgently establishing further details and reports from security and match officials and will make a further statement in short order.”

CNN has reached out to the USMNT and Mexican federation for comment.

FIFA has previously fined the Mexican Football Federation for homophobic chants made by the country’s fans.