How tech oligarchs just domonstrated how they can be a danger to our democracy and national security:

 Tech oligarchs control communications and content of what goes on the internet. This past week, two strange happenings raised some red flags: One concerned Ukraine's defense and the other attacked No Kings Day organizers. Starlink, owned by Elon Musk, is what Ukraine uses to target and defend itself using missiles and drones because the satellite system can provide detailed geographic locations. Its use in defense against incoming attacks from Russia depends on this, and mysteriously it slowed down for some critical time, to permit Russian incoming to kill a lot of people and do some damage.  Saturday was NO Kings Day, and mysteriously the Instagram system used for Indivisible's communication with demonstrators crashed for four hours midday.  Instagram is part of Meta (formerly called Facebook) and is controlled and over 60% owned by tech oligarch Mark Zuckerberg.

Coincidentally, Donald Trump dropped any pretense of support for Ukraine this last week and is now in a full-throated alliance with Putin over Ukraine's survival. If the Trump cohorts fear anything, it is the size of the turnout of peaceful street protests against Trump's attempt to make himself a tyrant king and an autocrat. Never before have such slowdowns and targeted accounts and systems been attacked at a critical moment like that. That this is all a glitch or coincidence is a hard excuse of "oops" to swallow.  

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8wy9veedgygo   (Musk agrees he was helping Trump?,yes per the BBC)

)https://www.newsweek.com/no-kings-protest-mets-12584351

If the Dems get control of either House Nov. 3, this suspected attack on our national interests by Trump's oligarch tech allies needs to be at the top of the oversight agenda because it is both important to saving democracy and stopping Russia's aggression and destabilization of Europe.

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/10/whose-side-is-trump-on-anyway-from.html

https://hai.stanford.edu/news/the-tech-coup-a-new-book-shows-how-the-unchecked-power-of-companies-is-destabilizing-governance

A message to my friends who have swallowed the "incompetence" argument against Griswold for AG

 For my friends who have swallowed the GOP case against Jena Griswold for AG:.Competence is not the issue here and the attack argument is bogus and cooked up. What is at issue is whether her GOP opponent MIchael Allen of Colorado Springs, will protect women's reproductive rights and Colorado's control over its elections in the face of Trump's attacks., He has a record that shows he will not. What's bogus and cooked up? That Griswold is not a criminal prosecutor is not a matter of competence to do the job of Attorney General because banging the table in a courtroom is not what AGs do. AGs set priorities of the office, and decide how and what Colorado's interests are protected and defended in court. However, the AG has a whole division of experienced courtroom litigators. The current Colorado AG has never appeared in court on original cases because of this, per a search of the issue. The bogus argument was tailor-made for the GOP candidate, a criminal prosecutor. (FYI, most AG's actions are in defense of administrative law and civil action, not criminal prosecution; for that, Allen will have a learning curve).

A vote for Allen is a vote for an AG who is on the record for opposing women's reproductive rights and voter control and access to voting. He "prefers" i per voting instead of mail- in and supports Trump's suppressive voter ID laws. He has a record of fiercely anti-abortion rehetoric including being supportive of failed ballot initiatives that would have banned abortions even in the case of rape and incest. If Allen is so talented as an attorney, think what damage he could do to these issues.

For someone allegedly incompetent, she certainly has been effective.

Griswold as Secretary of State, has proved her competence to defend Colorado against Trump's attempt to take away our ability to control who, what, and how we conduct our elections. This includes removing Trump-loyal county clerks from election supervision who violated the rules on election ballot security and chain of control in 2020, including Tina Peters. FYI: the actual criminal prosecution in her case was so effectively conducted by the AG's office that Donald Trump had to get involved, threatening to yank federal SNAP funds from Colorado if we did not let her go. Gov. Polis caved on that one.

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Felicia Muftic is a former election commissioner, Clerk and Recorder of Denver and the director of the District Attorney's office on consumer fraud, with concurrent civil and criminal powers with the

AG's office for the consumer protection laws. She has served on an AG advisory board on the UCC.

Michael Allen; candidate for Colorado Attorney General , is a wolf in sheeps clothing

 

The Denver Post endorsement of MichaelAllen over Jena Griswold for Attorney General totally ignored Allen's extreme pro life/anti abortion record and his "doubts" about mail-in ballots..a deceptive election denier more in step with the rest of the MAGA GOP. What about ICE's attempt to control how they operate in Colorado? Those are the critical issues, and Allen is no defender against any of those hot-button issues that the next AG will handle. At the top of the list is his record of supporting the most extreme measures against reproductive rights and "does not prefer mail-in ballots, " but in-person voting, for starters. He is a political wolf in sheep's clothing. Griswold has proved her ability, guts, and determination to protect Colorado on these ikey ssues.

The AG rarely, if ever, appears in court as a prosecutor. In fact, the current AG has NEVER been in the courtroom on an original case per a search on AI.. There is a whole division of those courtroom litigators in the AG's staff. Still, the AG does set the tone, priorities, resources, and action on critical issues like abortion rights, ICE overreach, and federal interference in the conduct of our elections. The Denver Post relied on Michael Allen's expertise as a prosecuting attorney against crime, but that's an irrelevant asset. Much of what the AG' does is civil litigation and administrative law, all of which are more important to protecting consumers and affordability than the difficult-to-prosecute criminal law convictions required. That Michael Allen is a competent attorney means that he can also use those skills to stonewall issues such as protecting mail-in voting, against extreme voter ID requirements, and reproductive rights.

Allen may have a great track record fighting crime, but where is he on these other issues that matter? Will he go after businesses that cheat, collude to set prices, and deal with outrageous utility bill gouging? These are on Girswold's agenda, but not his. All that is important, but what about ICE overreach, or voter access, or reproductive rights?

The Post endorsed him for a less-than-relevant reason: competence as a crime fighter, and ignored these issues which concern most voters in a blue state, like Colorado, as if to divert your attention from what is most important: So who will also go to bat for reproductive rights? Who will truly fight against Trump and his federalizing of voter rolls and anti-mail-in ballots that 90% of Colorado voters use? It will not be Allen.

."Republican District Attorney Michael Allen has a record. He represents a threat to reproductive freedom that runs counter to our Colorado values. He supported the abortion ban on the ballot in 2020, Proposition 115. He has stated, 'I am unequivocally pro-life.' https://coloradotimesrecorder.com/2026/10/middleton-we-need-jena-griswold-as-attorney-general-to-protect-abortion-rights/82402/ 

Michael Allen,"Prefers" in-person voting instead of mail-in ballots in a September Facebook post. in 2024. Allen is in step with other election deniers. Do not expect him to go to bat for our rights to voter access or our mail-in ballot system. He also supports a burdensome voter ID law that will suppress the ability of those who do not have a passport or cannot prove their current name is the one on a certified birth certificate. Your driver's license is no proof of citizenship. That may come as a surprise for those who believe that is all you need to vote.

As Colorado’s Secretary of State, Jena Griswold refused to turn over Coloradans’ sensitive voter data to the federal government and has consistently stood up against Trump's attacks on elections.

In plain English :here is a connection with Trump's threats to vote integrity and kitchen table issues

 

Why does Trump seem not to care about either democracy or the anger many feel about his policies causing them economic pain? In plain English: here are connections between Trump's subversion of vote integrity and kitchen table issues. For many voters, political science terms like autocracy vs. democracy are a bit abstract and separate issues from the cost of gas, groceries, and health care. Here is the connection: Trump's lack of abiding by norms and laws protecting the will of the people expressed in the ballot box makes it possible for Trump to think he can ignore voters' anger over the cost of living.

1. Trump seems to think that he is so powerful and in control of all of the courts, law enforcement, and the military that he can control the outcome of the 2026 midterms, some fear, by seizing ballots and creating such chaos in the courts that he can overturn the results in key contests of the midterms. Therefore, he can ignore the anger of those who feel he betrayed them by failing to reduce the cost of living as he promised.

2. The other factor is that he is a lame duck. He also knows he will still be president for at least two more years regardless of the midterm results, so he can still wield his veto pen and keep accumulating wealth for himself and his family, and build monuments to himself. The vote of the people and Congress turning blue will not affect him, and he has two more years in office to pad his retirement funds or even hold on longer than the Constitution allows him.

Here is how Trump has openly signaled how he will try to control the outcome of the midterms using the power he has:

Repeatedly alleging widespread, systematic fraud in U.S. elections to erode public confidence in electoral outcomes before votes are even cast. The big lie is still alive, and after 6 years of trying to find it, no evidence of this theory has emerged. Destroying public trust in elections is key to rationalizing his power grab that ignores election outcomes.
Pressuring local, state, and national election administrators to destabilize trust and subvert the administrative processes.. The greatest fear recenlty expressed is that he will use his paramilitary forces like ICE or the FBI to seize the actual ballots in key swing districts. He praises the icon of a criminally convicted Colorado county clerk, Tina Peters, for doing something similar as the ideal example of how an election administrator should behave. His message could not be clearer.
He frequently attacks mail-in ballots, drop boxes, and early voting systems to make it more difficult for voters to cast votes against him. He targets voters who use these systems he believes will oppose his loyal candidates. He advocates in-person voting, where his agents can intimidate targeted voters, and backs legislation with unattainable barriers to prove citizenship.
Questioning and challenging the constitutional and legal mechanisms of vote counting and resulting certification. The fear that Trump may try another January 6 is not fantasy. When it comes to actually seating the winners of the midterms to which he objects. Violence was tried then, and he has a history of advocating the use of violence, from shooting demonstrators who object to his tactics in the legs to pardoning convicted violent seditionists.