Where did this theory—apparently of major concern for the Arizona auditors—that someone in Asia had sent 40,000 ballots to Maricopa County in order to sway the election for Joe Biden and against Donald Trump come from? It appears to have come from an election fraud gadfly named Jovan Pulitzer, who Slate’s Aaron Mak reported earlier this week is supporting the work of the Maricopa audit firm, Cyber Ninjas.

In addition to Pulitzer having claimed to invent a technology that would detect whether a ballot’s ink and folds might indicate forgery, Mak flags that back in December Pulitzer began to espouse a theory that China had imported ballots to tip the election to Biden and that he could detect such malfeasance by uncovering bamboo particles via “a forensic analysis.”
[link:https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/05/arizona-republican-audit-bamboo-ballots-china.html|

GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A white North Carolina woman was charged with driving her car into a yard where three Black teenagers were playing basketball, injuring one of them.

A Pitt County Sheriff’s Office news release said deputies responded Sunday afternoon to a report of a child intentionally hit by a car in Greenville.

The news release said that Daina Renee Forrest, 35, of Greenville, had been driving around and threatening the three teens by waving a knife and cursing. The release said Forrest “intentionally veered her car off the roadway and partially into the yard to strike the children.”

One teen was taken to the hospital for treatment and Forrest’s car had damage to the front that was consistent with hitting a person, according to the release. Sgt. Lee Darnell, a sheriff’s spokesman, said the injuries appeared to be minor.

Deputies said when they searched her car, they found marijuana, crack cocaine and a knife.

Forrest was charged with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and a count of felony cocaine possession. Jail records indicate she was being held Tuesday.

Forrest was identified in jail records as white, while Darnell said the three teens were Black. Asked whether race was a factor, he said: “I don’t believe it was a race hate crime, no.”




[link:https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-greenville-sports-basketball-8814fe15ed7b3291109b071644f2f7cc|

At a political forum on Wednesday, GOP congressional candidate Sery Kim falsely suggested that Chinese immigrants bring the coronavirus to the United States — and suggested that she opposes their entry to the country.
“I don’t want them here at all,” Kim, who is Korean American, told attendees, speaking of Chinese immigrants and China in general, the Dallas Morning News reported. “They steal our intellectual property, they give us coronavirus, they don’t hold themselves accountable.”
Kim, 42, also argued that a rising surge in violence and threats against Asian Americans has been trumped up by the media, saying that “Asians have always faced violence. It’s not worse than before.”

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — While the Wyoming National Guard was sending more than 100 troops to Washington, D.C., to help with security around President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January, Gov. Mark Gordon quietly mobilized dozens of Guard troops and others in case of violence at the state Capitol in Cheyenne.

The all-but-undisclosed local deployment Jan. 15-21, specifics of which came to light Friday after an inquiry by The Associated Press, stood in stark contrast with the state’s contribution to U.S. Capitol security praised by Gordon and other top Wyoming officials.

“Thank you to the @wyoguard members who are serving our country by providing support at today’s Presidential inauguration. Wyomingites are grateful for your service,” Gordon, a Republican, tweeted on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.
[link:https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-mark-gordon-john-barrasso-wyoming-liz-cheney-c31e12fa9f460dc16499492e5ad0299b|

Residents of Stockton, Calif., who received $500 a month from a first-of-its-kind guaranteed-income program were more likely to find full-time jobs, be happy and stay healthy, according to a year-long study published Wednesday.
Supporters of universal income programs — which provide regular, unconditional payments from the government to people — say the findings should dispel common criticisms of the idea, such as that money with no strings attached disincentivizes people to work or encourages them to spend it on drugs and alcohol. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/03/stockton-universal-basic-income/