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Finally, after four years of nothing but lying, race-baiting, and removing much-needed federal protection of land and wildlife,  we have a president who cares about the Indigenous land we stand on and the people who were slaughtered on it by the colonizers. 

Monday, during the White House Tribal Nations Summit, President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the departments of Justice, Interior, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services to create a “comprehensive strategy to improve public safety and justice for Native Americans and address the “epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous people.” 

Biden additionally proposed a 20-year ban on federal oil and gas leases in Chaco Canyon and surrounding areas in northwest New Mexico, a sacred tribal site that contains valuable oil and gas. 

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“Chaco Canyon is a sacred place that holds deep meaning for the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors lived, worked, and thrived in that high desert community,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the nation’s first Native American Cabinet secretary, said in a statement. “Now is the time to consider more enduring protections for the living landscape that is Chaco, so that we can pass on this rich cultural legacy to future generations.”

The plan is to block new oil and gas leases within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

“We support the protection of the Chaco Canyon region due to its historical and cultural significance for our Navajo people, but we also have to consider the concerns and rights of our Navajo citizens who have allotment lands,” Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said in a statement, according to The Washington Post. 

Haaland introduced Biden Monday, highlighting the historic nature of her position as the first Native American appointee. 

“We are still here and we have a voice,” Haaland said.

But while representation matters, the reality is that Haaland has a plethora of festering issues left behind by her predecessors. One of those is the poisonous Canadian-owned White Mesa mill—the only uranium mill operating in the U.S., located 1 mile from Bears Ears National Monument in San Juan County, Utah.

Members of both the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the Navajo Nation are sick and tired of having to live on contaminated land. 

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe believes that one of the mill’s tailings ponds is leaking and polluting a shallow aquifer under the community with toxic chemicals. 

The mill was built in 1979 to process uranium ore from the surrounding region. About a decade later, the mill’s operator also started running “alternate feeds” through the mill and discarding the resulting wastes onsite. These feeds include uranium-bearing radioactive and toxic wastes from other contaminated places around the country.

The tribe believes that the mill is emitting a carcinogenic gas called radon, despite the company’s denial and assertions that the radon levels are safe. (Are there any safe levels of a carcinogenic gas?) Radon is the No. 1 cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Yolanda Badback, a Ute Mountain Ute tribal member and a lifelong resident of White Mesa, told Daily Kos the mill sits on sacred ancestral lands. 

“It’s close to our reservation with our sacred burial sites there and our native herbs,” Badback says. 

“When the mill was being built they dug up our ancestors that were buried there. We don’t know what the remains are. Our herbs aren’t even growing in the area. It’s all dried up. So, now we have to drive a distance to find the herbs we need.” 

Badback says a lot of community members don’t talk about their health issues, but people complain about breathing problems such as asthma, and their grandkids have it. She’s not sure it’s due to the mill, but the issues are something community members discuss among themselves. 

The mill has never addressed the concerns of the community, but Badback says the mill does donate money to the schools in the nearby city of Blanding, Utah, located north of the mill. White Mesa is about 5 miles south of the mill. 

Blanding is about 66% white and 9% Native. It was settled in the late 19th century by Mormon settlers and according to Badback, many of the residents are employed by the White Mesa mill. 

Scott Clow, Ute Mountain Ute’s environmental programs director, says that in 2012 the mill had an accident that created a discolored cloud. Locals call it the Brown Cloud Incident.

A man who asked to be identified simply as “Howard” told The Daily Utah Chronicle in 2017 that he remembers smelling uranium in the 1980s when visiting a convenience store near the mill. The store has since closed as a toxic, radioactive site.

“There’s a big sign there and they say closed that store down,” Howard said. “And it’s funny, because why didn’t they close it down way back?” He describes the smell as “a strong metal odor, like cooper.”

Badback jokes to Daily Kos that some days she wishes the mill would miraculously explode.

“Living on the res day-to-day you feel deep down, we have tribal members without transportation, we want clean air for our people to be able to be outside and get their exercise. We want our Native herbs and be able to hunt for the winter. All this stuff is being taken away from us. It hurts us to see all of these things taken away slowly. Our future generations are being hurt. How are they going to succeed in life with this mill here and the company lying to them, telling them there’s no harm, but come to find out when they’re older that it was harmful, ” Badback says. 

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As of this year, there were more than 220,000 bridges needing repair in the U.S. according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) using the U.S. Department of Transportation’s bridge inventory database, and 45,000 of them are classified as “structurally deficient.” ARTBA determined that 40% of bridges needed to be replaced entirely or repaired, including a third of all the bridges on interstate highways.

That’s a lot of work, and a lot of money—an estimated $41.8 billion. At the current rate of construction, it would take 40 years to fix them all, ARTBA estimated. The American Society of Civil Engineers is even more pessimistic on the state of our infrastructure, estimating it would take 50 years to fix them all and $125 billion to fix. The good news as of this week is that it’s not going to take 40 or 50 years to fix them all, because the current rate of funding and construction is going to get a big boost, and  President Joe Biden gets to deliver those good tidings because President Joe Biden got a new infusion of $550 billion in hard infrastructure spending in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

He’s starting in Woodstock, New Hampshire, which has an 82-year-old steel bridge spanning the Pemigewasset River that’s been on the state’s “red list” of structurally deficient bridges, requiring two safety inspections every year. “That’s what this law is all about: keeping communities safer and more efficient,” Biden said at Monday’s bill signing, announcing this trip to New Hampshire. “On Wednesday,” he said, “I’ll be in Detroit to meet with the UAW workers who are building the next generation of electric vehicles. And that’s just the beginning.”

“Here in Washington, we’ve heard countless speeches and promises, white papers from experts, but today we’re finally getting this done,” Biden said Monday. “So my message to the American people is this: America’s moving again, and your life is going to change for the better.”

He acknowledged the difficulty of getting this bill done. “I know you’re tired of the bickering in Washington, frustrated by the negativity,” Biden said. “And you just want us to focus on your needs, your concerns and the conversations that are taking place at your kitchen table, conversations as profound as they are ordinary.” To put a point on that, he added this: “I also want to thank Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for voting for this bill and talking about how useful and important it is.”

That could either be a sincere “thank you” to McConnell, or a more pointed remark about the chaos among Republicans—stoked by Trump—and efforts to excommunicate House Republicans who helped get the bill passed. It doesn’t hurt to keep McConnell, who refused to attend the signing ceremony, reminded of the thin ice he’s maneuvering every day.

“[W]hen you see those projects start in your hometowns,” Biden said Monday, “I want you to feel what I feel: pride — pride in what we can do together as the United States of America.” He didn’t focus much on the second part of his agenda, but did suggest that the job isn’t done with the passage of hard infrastructure.

“Folks, you know, the same goes for my plan to build back better for the people—getting folks back to work and reducing costs of things like child care, elder care, housing, health care, prescription drugs, and meeting the moment on climate change,” he told the gathering. Vice President Kamala Harris reinforced that point in her remarks.

“This legislation, as significant as it is, as historic as it is, is part one of two,” Harris said. “Congress must also pass the Build Back Better Act.”

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy finally got around to responding to Rep. Paul Gosar’s violent anime video on Monday, close to a week after the video was posted. And on Tuesday, a closed-door House Republican meeting reportedly got acrimonious—but with members far more upset about some Republicans having voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill than about one of their own posting murder fantasies about government officials.

In the edited video, which David Neiwert described as a white nationalist dog whistle, Gosar is shown killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden in the midst of a fight against evil “titans” attacking human civilization. It’s Gosar as white savior, and it drew a Twitter warning, though far from the ban it deserved.

McCarthy remained silent, while some Democrats talked about censuring Gosar. Monday, McCarthy spoke—but stopped way, way short of condemnation.

“He took the video down and he made a statement that he doesn’t support violence to anybody. Nobody should have violence [against them],” McCarthy told CNN. “I called him when I heard about the video, and he made a statement that he doesn’t support violence, and he took the video down.” 

The video was up for two days, and Gosar’s statement defended the video as “truly a symbolic portrayal of a fight over immigration policy.” He claimed he doesn’t “espouse violence or harm towards any member of Congress or Mr. Biden,” but, you know, he posted a video pretty graphically suggesting the opposite.

Politico’s Olivia Beavers tweeted that at the Tuesday meeting, Gosar “spoke behind closed doors to explain to members his reason for the anime video, saying it was to reach a wider audience, sources tell me.  McCarthy told members at conference that Rs should be united on this & that Dems don’t punish their own for comments.” 

After the meeting, McCarthy told reporters that Gosar “didn’t see it before it posted … It was not his intent to show any harm. What I said to conference was, cannot accept any action or showing of violence to another member.” The old “I didn’t see it, it was the social media staffer’s fault” line—except for the part where Gosar didn’t take the video down for two days, days during which he was absolutely told what was in it, even if he still didn’t bother to watch.

By contrast, Beavers reports that McCarthy “left it more open ended for Republicans who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, basically saying now is not the time.” Got that? Post a video of yourself killing a coworker and attacking the president of the United States, it’s time for your party to be united and not punish you. Support a bill funding infrastructure that got the support of many Senate Republicans, and we’re going to consider punishing you in the future. At that, Rep. Chip Roy reportedly got heated … because he’s angry that the Republicans who voted for the bill won’t be punished now.

The rot of the Republican Party doesn’t just come from Donald Trump. The party’s embrace of violence as a tool against political opponents is increasingly widespread, as shown by the fact that Gosar is getting more of a pass than members who voted for a bill that had already drawn significant Republican support in the Senate. They’re telling us who they are. It’s time for the media and independent voters to believe them.

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A ringleader of the violent neofascist and racist group, the Proud Boys, asked for release from a D.C. jail on Monday, begging the court to let him serve out the remainder of his five-month sentence at home because of alleged harassment and conditions he claims are inhumane.

Henry “Enrique” Tarrio made the request to Judge Jonathan Pittman during a remote hearing at the D.C. Superior Court. Tarrio, originally from Miami, Florida, is currently serving a five-month sentence for two counts: destruction of property, and attempted possession of a large capacity firearm magazine. So far, he has served just 70 days of his sentence.

“I’ve been in jail before, but what I’ve seen here, I’ve never seen before. It’s insane. It’s a gulag,” Tarrio told the judge on Monday. “This place needs to be shut down immediately.”

On Dec. 12, Tarrio arrived in Washington, D.C. with a mass of fellow Proud Boys and other devotees of Donald Trump to support the former president’s bogus and widely debunked claims to victory in the 2020 election. What followed was a day of bloody clashes between Proud Boys, the president’s supporters, counterprotesters, and activists for the Black Lives Matter movement. Four people were stabbed, 33 were arrested and nine were hospitalized, including two police officers who suffered nonfatal injuries.

Tarrio took a public tour of the White House that day, before stealing the Black Lives Matter banner from the Asbury United Methodist Church and setting it ablaze. According to the Washington Post, a victim impact statement delivered at Tarrio’s sentencing this August highlighted how Tarrio’s racist vandalism was especially painful for older members of the church’s congregation—many of whom are Black—and are “direct descendants of individuals who traveled north during the Great Migration,” a period when millions of Black people fled the choking oppression of the South.

A warrant was ultimately issued for Tarrio’s arrest after the banner burning. On Jan. 4, just two days before the insurrection at the Capitol, he was stopped by D.C. police after arriving at an area airport and heading downtown. During the stop, police found two high-capacity rifle magazines, both of which were empty but could hold 60 rounds each. Tarrio told police he bought the magazines online and planned on giving them to a person who was in D.C. to attend the pro-Trump march on Jan. 6.

Tarrio ultimately struck a plea bargain, managing to get one of the felony possession charges dropped altogether and the other felony possession charge downgraded to a misdemeanor.

On Monday, Tarrio alleged he was regularly subjected to cruel conditions at the Central Detention Facility in Washington. His cell, he claimed, is regularly flooded with filthy water pouring in from a neighboring cell’s toilet and the halls are rife with smoke from inmates burning toilet paper.

“There are feces in my room right now,” Tarrio said during Monday’s hearing. “I have to clean other people’s feces off the ground with my own toilet paper.”

The chauvinist group’s leader also complained of shoddy medical care and poor food, and abuse from corrections staff.

“I’m deathly afraid that something is going to happen to me,” Tarrio said.

Tarrio has filed no less than three separate complaints about the conditions of the facility, prompting a U.S. prosecutor to say on Monday that the Miami native had “abused the grievance process.” Prosecutors also said the flooding of Tarrio’s cell was because a prisoner in a nearby cell was doing it in protest. Tarrio had already been moved to another cell by the time he appeared in court Monday.  

Tarrio’s attorney Lucas Danise alleges the Proud Boy is being “intimidated and antagonized by correctional staff” specifically so he will not complain about conditions.

Grievances about conditions inside the jail are not unique.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, held the director of the D.C. Department of Corrections and the D.C. jail’s warden in contempt of court and ordered the Department of Justice to investigate claims of civil rights abuses.

Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Marshals Service struck a deal on Oct. 13 to improve conditions. Notably, the contempt finding was prompted after a surprise inspection occurred in the wake of a complaint from Christopher Worrell, a Proud Boy who authorities allege assaulted police officers with pepper spray during the melee at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Worrell claimed he was delayed medical care after injuries to his hand and wrist.

Worrell, who has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, entered a not guilty plea in April to five charges associated with the assault on the Capitol. He had been incarcerated from March until his release in November.

Prosecutors insisted late last month that Worrell’s claims of medical mistreatment at the facility are false, citing a statement from Worrell’s orthopedic specialist that a requested surgery for his hand was not urgent or medically necessary, but rather, an elective procedure.

On Nov. 4, Judge Lamberth released Worrell so he could receive cancer treatments. Worrell was released just a few days after the U.S. Marshal Service had agreed to transfer 400 federal prisoners to another facility due to poor conditions at the jail.

During Tarrio’s hearing Monday, Judge Pittman said it was “obviously distressing” to hear of the conditions alleged by Tarrio but it begged a question of its own.

“How is Mr. Tarrio’s condition different than any other inmate at the jail?” Pittman said, suggesting that the Proud Boy ringleader wasn’t being specifically targeted for bad treatment at the jail.

Notably, Tarrio’s assertions Monday are a significant departure from his statements online in the early days of his incarceration.

“I kinda like prison. Don’t tell the guards though. If they think I’m enjoying myself, they’ll find ways to punish me,” Tarrio wrote on his Telegram account. “Someone send me an Xbox X and we can play warzone.”

Pittman is expected to rule by the end of this week on whether Tarrio’s sentence should be shortened to the requested 90 days.

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The trial for three men—accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery after spotting him running near a home under construction in their coastal Georgia neighborhood—has entered its eighth day on Tuesday, following a day of factual witnesses called by the state and highly-publicized complaints about Black pastors being allowed in the courtroom. 

Those complaints all came from one defense attorney, Kevin Gough, representing William “Roddie” Bryan. Bryan filmed moments of the encounter that ended with Arbery’s death on Feb. 23, 2020. The white Brunswick resident is accused, alongside former cop Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis.

After issuing a half-hearted apology for targeting Black pastors, Gough again voiced similar complaints at the beginning and end of trial proceedings on Monday. At one point, Gough attempted to trigger a mistrial because he was opposed to civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson joining Arbery’s parents in court. Judge Timothy Walmsley refused to entertain such a motion, denying Gough’s request. So hours later—after seeing photographs of shotgun wounds in Arbery’s chest, near his left armpit, and in his right wrist and after hearing from a firearm and tool mark examiner just how close the shotgun used had to be to Arbery—Gough again attempted to press the alleged issue of unfairness his client faced. 

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A new poll confirms that when Republicans scream about critical race theory, what they really mean is they oppose the teaching of anything about racism in the U.S. 

A Washington Post/ABC News poll asked respondents: “How much do you think public schools should teach about how the history of racism affects America today?” A majority of Republicans said it should be taught not so much or not at all. That’s not an objection to critical race theory even in its most expansive definition. That’s an objection to kids learning that, possibly within their parents’ lifetimes but definitely within their grandparents’ lifetimes, the U.S. had explicitly racist laws that have continuing effects today.

The Post/ABC poll follows a Monmouth University poll that asked a slightly different question: Should public schools teach the history of racism? That question didn’t ask about how the history of racism affects America today, but it still found a lot of opposition among Republicans: 43% disapproved somewhat or strongly—and in fact, 34% strongly disapproved. Of even teaching the history of racism in a country where slavery was not just legal but embraced in much of the country for more than 200 years. Where following slavery, Black people’s rights were sharply limited, including their rights to change jobs without their boss’ permission. Where Jim Crow laws prevented Black people from attending the same schools, eating in the same restaurants, living in the same neighborhoods, and drinking from the same water fountains as white people through well over half of the 20th century. Where Black people were killed for voting.

Republicans do not want children knowing that history.

In 1960, federal marshals had to escort 6-year-old Ruby Bridges to school every day because as the first Black child going to the all-white William Frantz Elementary School, she had to walk past crowds of angry white people screaming slurs at her. Bridges is now just 67 years old, highlighting how close in the past that time is, and how its effects cannot have disappeared, because the people who lived it—not just Bridges, but the white children whose parents pulled them out of school rather than attend with a single Black child—are still here.

Children’s books about Bridges’ own childhood experience are among those Republicans are trying to ban in some places. Critical race theory? No, we’re talking about books with simple declarative sentences noting that some white people didn’t want Black children going to school with white children, but the government said Ruby Bridges should be allowed to, and she did, and now Black children and white children go to school together and it is a good thing. That is the kind of content at the center of some “critical race theory” fights.

But of course while there’s tons of organic, deeply felt racism at work here, there’s also a top-down campaign. Fox News issued its marching orders in the spring with a big focus on the alleged teaching of critical race theory in K-12 public schools, while CRT scandal mastermind Christopher Rufo, a Republican think tank guy, bragged that he was manufacturing the controversy, writing: “The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory.’ We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans.” This is code where “cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans” means “teaching things about racism that make Republicans uncomfortable,” but close enough.

After a big burst of critical race theory coverage in spring 2021, Fox News let the issue die down. Then it produced another surge on the topic in the fall, which—guess what—died down immediately after the Virginia elections:

Democrats need to be willing and able to answer this with some blunt truths: It’s not about critical race theory. Whether that is or isn’t taught in K-12 schools (it isn’t), what Republicans are really opposed to is any teaching about the history of racism in the U.S. and especially how that history affects the nation today. They are opposed to the teaching of things that happened to children just 60 years ago. 

And Democrats need to be willing and able to confront the reality of media asymmetry, where Republicans have a huge partisan noise machine blasting out talking points while Democrats sit around hoping the traditional media will cover things factually. “Until we have an apparatus on the same scale that the Right does we’ll always be behind in both communicating with voters directly and influencing traditional media coverage,” Melissa Ryan, a Democratic strategist who focuses on extremism and disinformation, wrote recently. “We need to nationalize and scale lefty media with the same energy we’ve spent nationalizing campaigns and political organizations.”

That doesn’t mean copying the right-wing media’s propensity to lie, she stressed. “I’m not talking about propaganda, false news, or outrage for outrage’s sake. I don’t think we need to replicate their culture war mentality, nor would it work if the left tried. We do need to offer an alternative vision, and we need vehicles to communicate that vision.” And those vehicles need to be funded and they need to be treated with the seriousness that Republicans treat Fox News and OAN and a raft of Republican pundits and publications, rather than being sidelined as not serious enough in favor of Democrats begging The New York Times and CNN, yet again, to cover the reality of how extreme Republicans have become and the widespread popularity of the policies Democrats are trying to pass.

Otherwise it’s going to be a constant rinse and repeat of Republicans whipping up a culture war just in time for an election, their base getting the message, and Democrats failing at pushback. That puts the United States in a very scary place within not very many more years at all.

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Is it possible for both a company and the individuals working for said company to be filled with more s@%t than even the sum of their parts? Fox News has time and time again defied all constructs of decency, intelligence, and morality. On Friday, Fox News sent out invites to raise themselves some money at what is being called an “award show.” The network that has turned its audience into the biggest believers in public health misinformation want everyone to meet up!

The event is Fox Nation’s Patriot Awards 2021! Wowsers! It will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 17, in Hollywood, Florida! (GET IT?!?!?!?!?!) Tickets range from $125 for a plain old Patriot ticket up to $500 for a Patriot Gold ticket. “Special guests” will include all kinds of Fox Nation favorites like Tucker Carlson. Barf! Patriots are about freedom and Trump and the freedom to be you and me. No, it means the freedom to just be them everyone else be damned!

Probably unrelated fine print from the event: “IMPORTANT: In order to attend The Patriot Awards, all attendees must show either (A) COVID vaccine card OR (B) a negative COVID test taken 72 hours prior to the event. Before entering the venue, your vaccine card or negative test will be verified by a Fox Nation team member in front of Hard Rock Live. Once confirmed, a colored wristband corresponding to the package you purchased will be provided and you can proceed into the venue.”

Maybe we read that small print wrong? It is hard to believe that one of the prime vomiters of fake science information, Fox News, would demand anyone be forced to follow actual science. If you look further down the page, some more important “COVID Guidelines and Details”:

• In order to attend this event attendee must show either a COVID vaccine card OR a negative COVID test 72 hours prior to the event.
• There will be a mandatory check point on site for all attendees prior to entering the venue doors.

Does this fly in the face of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ prohibition against “any business entity, governmental entity or educational institution” requiring proof of vaccination? Because it sort of sounds like it does. And according to DeSantis, violators of this policy will be hit with “a $5,000 fine per individual and separate violations against the business, governmental entity or school.” Here’s the time DeSantis created an executive order saying the same thing.

Oh well! Who will be at this COVID VACCINE-roped event?

• Dan Bongino! Bongino’s history of NRA/MAGA jingoism includes recently losing some of his radio affiliations because of his anti-vaccine and public health mandate misinformation stances!
• Tucker Carlson! The ways in which Carlson has spread anti-vaxx disinformation have been well covered. Tucker has even been aligned with anti-free speech and anti-vaxx misinformant dirtbag Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Here’s Tucker letting RFK Jr. sell his lies in video format.
• Sean Hannity! Hannity has spent considerable time undermining how effective the COVID-19 vaccines are. It’s a truly detestable bit of business from a truly detestable human being.
• Brian Kilmeade! Kilmeade might spend a considerable amount of time yelling at Black people out front of the event.*

Fox News: News you can go to hell watching.

*He won’t. He’s full of shit.

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The presence of right-wing vigilantes along the U.S.-Mexico border has become so normalized in recent years that their activities—which usually entail harassing immigrants before turning them over to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents—scarcely even raise any eyebrows anymore. This is particularly the case in their dealings with the CBP itself, which has developed an increasingly cozy relationship with these groups.

That dynamic has been playing out in recent weeks near Yuma, Arizona, where the rabidly nativist, pro-Trump group AZ Patriots has been livestreaming its presence at a frequently used border crossing at the Morelos Dam. As Phoenix News Times reports, the group’s leader, Jennifer Harrison, can be seen harassing border-crossing asylum seekers, including children, as she shepherds them to awaiting CBP agents.

Harrison interrogates the immigrants in the videos: “Why are you here?” she can be heard demanding in several. She also is seen demanding passports and other papers, asking the immigrants where they’re from. She also demands they remove their face masks. In one video, as a family from Chile clambers up a slope towards her with a child in the father’s arms, she can be heard saying: “Well, we’ll be supporting this baby for the next 20 years.”

It’s clear from the videos posted on AZ Patriots’ YouTube channel that the flow of migrants Harrison and her cohorts recorded coming over this crossing almost entirely comprises asylum-seekers, primarily because they come from extraordinarily far-flung locales: Chile, India, Venezuela, Columbia. These are in fact countries undergoing the kind of violent internal turmoil that produces asylum-seekers.

A woman from Colombia tells her, between sobs, that her husband has been killed—though it’s unclear if that is why she fled in the first place. But the fact that these immigrants are seeking asylum—which in fact is perfectly legal under international and American law—doesn’t matter to Harrison. She describes them in the video titles as “illegal aliens” and claims that they are all “entering illegally.”

At the end of one of them, Harrison boasts: “I’m back, bitches. You might think you can cancel me, delete me, ban me, block me, shadow me. I ain’t going anywhere. I will be down here, boots on the ground, bitches.”

Harrison has a long history of notoriously ugly far-right activism. AZ Patriots (also known as the Patriot Movement of Arizona) won notoriety in 2018 for a Facebook video posted by a leading member of the group showing her entering a Muslim mosque and removing articles, leading eventually to a felony conviction for the woman. Harrison, who was sued by several churches for harassing immigrant children by posting videos of them arriving by bus, herself currently faces a felony identity theft charge in Maricopa County.  

Most recently, in the wake of the November 2020 presidential election—which Democrat Joe Biden surprisingly won in Arizona—Harrison was one of the leading figures protesting outside election-counting centers. Harrison also led a small delegation inside the building in the early moments of one protest, where video showed her demanding to be permitted to observe the count, and being denied.

AZ Patriots claims that it is in Yuma County assisting CBP, but as New Times notes, it’s not clear whether CBP actually wants them there. The agents who appear in Harrison’s video seem to pay only glancing attention to her. However, it also is apparent that the agents have no interest in stopping her from harassing the border crossers.

CBP spokesperson John Mennell told New Times the agency “does not endorse or support New Times any private group or organization taking matters into their own hands as it could have disastrous personal and public safety consequences.”

Mennell noted that detaining migrants could be an issue: “Forced detention can also be viewed as a criminal offense and violators will be referred to local, state or federal prosecutors for potential legal action,” he said.

Previous border “Patriot” groups have gotten into serious trouble with the law for similar behavior, harassing immigrants at the border. One group, dubbed the United Constitutional Patriots, that hassled border crossers in New Mexico in 2019 ran afoul of authorities by posing as Border Patrol officers while doing so. After the local community ran their operation out of town, federal authorities charged their leader, Jim Benvie, with impersonating a federal agent. He was convicted and sentenced to 21 months in prison.

There is a long, deep tradition of sociopathic behavior within the border-vigilante movement, dating back to its origins 20 years ago. That’s a product of its fundamentally anti-empathetic politics, which revolve around the crude demonization of immigrant “others.” Harrison and her cohort are keeping up the tradition, and then some.

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The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, and Carolyn Fiddler, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.

Leading Off

● VT-Sen: Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat who is the chamber’s longest-serving sitting member from either party, announced Monday that he would not seek a ninth term in 2022. While Leahy is, famously, the only Democrat ever elected to represent the Green Mountain State in the Senate (Bernie Sanders campaigned as an independent in all three of his successful campaigns), there’s little question that Team Blue’s eventual nominee will prevail in this 66-31 Biden state.

While Politico reported back in May that the 81-year-old senator was leaning towards another run despite being briefly hospitalized months earlier for what he described as muscle spasms, observers have spent months speculating who could run in an open seat race. Most of the attention on the Democratic side has been directed at Rep. Peter Welch, who has represented the entire state in the lower chamber since 2007, and VT Digger wrote Monday he is “widely expected” to seek a promotion. The congressman, for his part, put out a statement that day that merely praised Leahy and did not allude to his own 2022 plans.

Welch may be able to deter most would-be foes should he run, though one could decide to take her chances. The day before Leahy announced his departure, The Intercept published an interview with state Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky where she said she was interested in taking on Welch in an open seat Senate race. Vyhovsky, however, said she’d stay out if Sanders backed the congressman, declaring, “That is a big piece of this—if Bernie is going to endorse Peter there’s not much point doing it.”

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VT Digger also mentioned Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, state Senate President Pro Tem Becca Balint, and state Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale as potential candidates, though the story noted that they’d each “suggested” they wouldn’t go up against Welch. They could, though, campaign for an open House seat if there is one. Each member of the trio declined to comment about any potential campaigns on Monday. Vermont is the only remaining state that has never elected a woman to Congress, so a win by any of those potential candidates for either Senate or House would finally break that streak.

On the Republican side, a spokesperson for Gov. Phil Scott immediately said there was “No chance!” of a Senate run. Scott himself has not yet committed to seeking re-election to his current post.

Leahy’s long career in office began in 1966 when Gov. Phillip Hoff, who was the state’s first Democratic chief executive since before the Civil War, appointed the 26-year-old Leahy to serve as Chittenden County state’s attorney. Leahy developed statewide recognition during his eight years as the top prosecutor of Vermont’s most populous county, and he began preparing for a 1974 Senate run even before longtime Republican incumbent George Aiken announced his retirement.

However, he still looked like a decided longshot once the seat opened up. The Washington Post didn’t even initially mention the state’s attorney, who had long aspired to run for governor, in its list of potential candidates. Leahy had no trouble winning the Democratic primary, but he faced a very difficult race that fall against Republican Rep. Richard Mallary. The state was anything but a blue stronghold at the time: Vermont had only ever backed one Democratic presidential nominee, Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and Richard Nixon had easily carried it 63-36 two years before as Mallary was prevailing 65-35 statewide.

The Watergate scandal, however, had utterly devastated the GOP nationwide, and Leahy successfully pitched himself as an outsider.  Leahy, who Vermont Business Magazine’s Chris Graff writes “fashioned his image as Chittenden County state’s attorney into a high-profile, television-savvy lawman,” also emphasized public finance reform at a time when the issue was quite popular. Leahy ultimately won 49-46, with Sanders, his future colleague, taking 4% running under the banner of the Liberty Union Party.

Leahy, who at 34 was Vermont’s youngest-ever senator when he was sworn in, had another tough battle in 1980 to stay in office. Republicans were back on the ascent, and Team Red found a formidable candidate in Stewart Ledbetter, a former official in Gov. Richard Snelling’s administration. Leahy managed to hang on by a 50-49 margin―a gap of just under 2,800 votes―even as Ronald Reagan was beating Jimmy Carter 44-38 in the state.

Few could have guessed it at the time, but 1980 would be Leahy’s last close election. Six years later, Leahy defeated Snelling, whom Reagan had recruited to run here, in a 63-35  landslide in a race that had initially looked very close. In 1992, Leahy turned back Secretary of State Jim Douglas, who would later become governor himself, 54-43; that race coincided with Bill Clinton’s 46-30 win, which started an unbroken streak of Democratic presidential victories in this one-time GOP bastion.

Leahy had no trouble in 1998 after dairy farmer Fred Tuttle, who had starred in a 1996 film about a Senate campaign, won the GOP primary before dropping out and endorsing the incumbent, and Leahy’s final three campaigns were afterthoughts. He was a major force in D.C. as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee (though plenty of Democrats remain furious at him for allowing Republican senators to essentially veto lower-court nominees from their states), and he took over as chair of the Appropriations Committee in February.

Leahy never attracted the national name recognition of Sanders, though his fellow Batman fans may remember his many appearances in various movies and shows, including as the voice of Territorial Governor in an episode of “Batman: The Animated Series” and as a civilian who stands up to the Joker in “The Dark Knight.” Leahy would say of his scene with the late Heath Ledger, “He scared the heck out of me with the knife. I didn’t have to act.”

Redistricting

● AK Redistricting: Alaska’s redistricting commission issued a proclamation finalizing the state’s new legislative maps last week, giving them the force of law, though litigation over the new lines remains likely.

● CO Redistricting: Colorado’s Supreme Court, which is required to review any new redistricting plans under a pair of 2018 amendments to the state constitution, has given its approval to new legislative maps drawn up by the state’s redistricting commission. As with the new congressional map it ruled on earlier this month, the court found that the commissioners had not engaged in an “abuse of discretion” in carrying out their duties.

The new plans by and large reflect Colorado’s shift to the left in recent years. Joe Biden would have won a 25-10 majority of seats in the state Senate and a 46-19 majority in the state House. In both cases, the median seat would have gone for Biden by about 12 points, slightly to the right of his 13.5-point win statewide. However, the breakdown is much less favorable for Democrats when looking at 2016: Hillary Clinton would have carried the Senate just 18-17 and the House 38-27. It’s worth noting as well that Colorado Republicans submitted briefs to the court in favor of the maps (Democrats did not file any briefs).

● GA Redistricting: Both chambers in Georgia’s Republican-run legislature have passed new maps for the state Senate and state House on party-line votes, sending them to Gov. Brian Kemp. The plans would lock in wide GOP advantages in both chambers despite the fact that Joe Biden carried the state last year. Work remains ongoing on congressional redistricting.

● ID Redistricting: Idaho’s bipartisan redistricting commission has forwarded its newly adopted congressional and legislative maps to the secretary of state, meaning they now take effect. The congressional lines make minimal changes to the previous map and will continue to easily elect two Republicans.

● NV Redistricting: Nevada’s Democratic-run state Senate passed new congressional and legislative maps on a party-line vote on Sunday, sending them to the Assembly.

● UT Redistricting: Republican Gov. Spencer Cox has signed Utah’s new GOP-drawn congressional redistricting plan, which splits the blue bastion of Salt Lake County between all four of the state’s districts in order to prevent Democrats from winning any seats. Lawmakers also recently passed new legislative maps but Cox has yet to sign off on them.

Senate

● NC-Sen: While Democratic state Rep. Rachel Hunt, daughter of former four-term Gov. Jim Hunt, didn’t rule out a statewide campaign back in February, she announced this week that she would run for the state Senate instead.

● NH-Sen: The New Hampshire Union Leader name-drops former Trump administration official Rich Ashooh, who narrowly lost the 2016 primary to then-Rep. Frank Guinta, and businessman Tom Moulton as possible Republican candidates.

Governors

● NY-Gov: Politico reports that New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will announce this week that he’s entering the Democratic gubernatorial primary against incumbent Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Tish James. One person who will not be running, though, is state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who earlier this month told City & State that he had decided to sit the race out.

● PA-Gov: The Democratic Governors Association has released a survey from Public Policy Polling that shows state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a vocal Big Lie proponent who was filmed on Jan. 6 apparently passing breached barricades at the Capitol, ahead in the Republican primary. PPP finds Mastriano edging out 2018 Senate nominee Lou Barletta 18-14, with state Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman in third with 4%.

The only member of this trio who has announced a bid so far is Barletta, though Mastriano has formed an exploratory committee while Corman reportedly has decided to run.

● TX-Gov: Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke announced Monday that he would challenge Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, a move that gives Texas Democrats a candidate they’ve eagerly sought for months. O’Rourke is unlikely to face any serious opposition in next year’s primary, but he’ll have a very challenging task ahead of him in next year’s general election in a place where Democrats haven’t won a single statewide race since 1994.

O’Rourke, who was elected to the House in 2012 from an El Paso-based seat, emerged in the national spotlight in 2018 when he went up against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in a contest that very few initially thought he could win. The Democrat, though, raised close to $80 million thanks in large part to Cruz’s utter radioactivity, as well O’Rourke’s own strong social media campaign, and he held the incumbent to a 51-48 victory during that blue wave year.

O’Rourke’s near-loss, which was the closest Team Blue had come to winning a Texas Senate seat since Democrat Lloyd Bentsen earned his final term all the way back in 1988, only magnified his stardom, but he turned down the chance to challenge Sen. John Cornyn in 2020. Instead, the former congressman launched a bid for the presidency that started out with strong fundraising and national coverage (though O’Rourke himself would later regret the Vanity Fair cover story where he said, “I’m just born to be in it”), but he struggled to maintain his momentum as the campaign continued and dropped out well before the Iowa caucus.

O’Rourke launched his bid for governor Monday by taking Abbott to task for signing the state’s infamous anti-abortion law and for the February power grid failure that resulted in massive blackouts. The former congressman also said of his foe, “He doesn’t trust women to make their health care decisions, doesn’t trust police chiefs when they tell him not to sign the permitless carry bill into law, he doesn’t trust voters so he changes the rules of our elections, and he doesn’t trust local communities.”

Abbott’s team quickly responded by utilizing a clip from O’Rourke’s presidential bid of him advocating for a mandatory assault weapon buyback program by proclaiming, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.” O’Rourke two years ago trumpeted that debate line by tweeting, “If it’s a weapon that was designed to kill people on the battlefield, we’re going to buy it back,” while Abbott’s campaign is now trying to caricature him as an enemy of gun rights.

We’ve seen two October polls, which were each conducted online by YouGov for different clients, but they very much disagreed on how competitive this race is right now. The survey for the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation and Rice University had Abbott edging out O’Rourke just 43-42, while a poll done later in the month for the University of Texas at Austin for the Texas Tribune showed the incumbent up 46-37.

House

● CA-10: Former Trump administration official Ricky Gill announced Friday that he was running for Congress again in a state where redistricting is far from complete.

Gill was on the ballot almost a decade ago at the age of 25 when he challenged another Democratic congressman, Jerry McNerney, in the neighboring 9th District. Gill raised $3 million for a campaign that attracted national attention, but McNerney beat him 56-44 as Barack Obama was carrying that constituency by a 58-40 spread. Gill went on to serve in the Trump administration in the State Department and at the White House National Security Council.

● FL-15: 2020 Democratic nominee Alan Cohn said Friday he was “strongly considering” seeking a rematch against freshman Republican Rep. Scott Franklin, who turned him back 55-45 last time.

Florida Politics also writes that there’s “talk” that former state Rep. Adam Hattersley or 2016 state House candidate Rena Frazier could try; Hattersley lost last year’s primary to Cohn 41-33, while Frazier’s own campaign ended in a 54-45 defeat against Republican state Rep. Ross Spano as Trump was narrowly carrying HD-59. (Spano was elected to the 15th Congressional District two years later only to lose renomination to Franklin in 2020.)

● FL-20: Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott on Friday declared that businesswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick was the “apparent winner” in the Nov. 2 Democratic primary after she retained her 5-vote lead over Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness with all the district’s overseas and military ballots counted. Holmes said later that evening, “I will be talking to my attorneys in the next few days to determine our course of action.”

The Democratic nominee should have absolutely no trouble in the January special election to succeed the late Rep. Alcee Hastings, who decisively beat Cherfilus-McCormick in their 2018 and 2020 primaries, in this 77-22 Biden seat.

● IN-05: Former Democratic state Rep. ​​Melanie Wright said Monday that she was ending her month-long campaign against Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz in favor of running for the state Senate. Wright’s old GOP colleagues in the legislature did everything they could to secure the 5th District with a new gerrymander that transforms it from a seat Donald Trump carried just 50-48 to one he took 57-41.

● MI-03: Conservative commentator John Gibbs has announced that he’ll challenge incumbent Peter Meijer, who is one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump earlier this year, and Trump himself endorsed Gibbs for the Republican nomination soon thereafter. Gibbs joins a nomination contest that includes Army National Guard veteran Tom Norton, who ran in the primary last year, and so-called “MAGA bride” Audra Johnson.

Gibbs, who spent three years working in the Trump-era U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was in the national spotlight for a short time in 2020 when his nomination to head the Office of Personnel Management failed because of his conspiratorial ravings. Among other things, Gibbs repeatedly amplified the batshit conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chair, John Podesta, had partaken in some sort of satanic ritual, based on personal emails stolen by Russian hackers.

● MI-08: Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett said Monday that he’d challenge Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin in a state where redistricting is still in progress, and he immediately gave us a preview of the sort of campaign he’ll be running.

Barrett, who also revealed he was leaving the Army after 21 years, said, “​​I’ve spent my entire career fighting for freedom in the Army and as a state legislator, yet Joe Biden wants to discard me because I oppose his coercive, forced vaccination mandate.” The state senator, who came down with COVID-19 last year, has worn a “naturally immunized” wrist band and refused to say if he’s vaccinated.

Barrett could have some company in the primary before long, as 2020 nominee Paul Junge says he “fully” plans to run again. Slotkin fended off Junge 51-47 even as Donald Trump was carrying her seat 50-49.

● MO-04: Republican state Sen. Rick Brattin kicked off his bid for this safely red open seat on Monday by doing his part to spread the Big Lie, saying, “(COVID19 election changes) led to the exploitation of it and the capability of the fraudulent voting,” and, “I do believe that Trump did win the election.” Brattin is a former state representative who won a promotion last year by beating one of his colleagues in a close GOP primary.

Several other Republicans are running to succeed Senate candidate Vicky Hartzler in this west-central Missouri seat, and the Missouri Scout reports that former state Sen. Kurt Schaefer is considering joining the field. Schaefer campaigned statewide for attorney general, but he lost the primary by a rough 64-36 margin to Josh Hawley, who successfully ran for the U.S. Senate two years later.

One person who did take his own name out of contention on Sunday, though, is former state Rep. Caleb Jones.

● NC-04: Democrat Pat Timmons-Goodson, who was the 2020 nominee in the current 8th District, said Monday she’d decided against running in this new open seat.

● NC-14: Republican state Sen. Kevin Corbin said Monday that he was thinking about running for this new western North Carolina seat, which is open because GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn decided to campaign for the neighboring 13th District instead. (Republican officials in the 13th expressed, shall we say, some choice words about Cawthorn’s announcement.)

Local GOP party official Michele Woodhouse also says that, should she also run to replace Cawthorn in the 14th, she’d announce “relatively quickly.” We’re not sure how she defines that, but the state’s Dec. 17 filing deadline certainly is coming up “relatively quickly.”

● NE-01: Democratic state Rep. Patty Pansing Brooks said Monday that she would challenge Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who was indicted last month for lying to federal investigators. Pansing Brooks, though, said she didn’t plan to focus on her opponent’s legal predicament, and she instead took him to task for voting against the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill.

The new 1st District, according to Dave’s Redistricting App, backed Donald Trump 54-43, while the current seat supported him by a 56-41 spread.

● OH-01: Businessman Gavi Begtrup, a Democrat who unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Cincinnati earlier this year, has decided to run for the state House rather than take on Republican Rep. Steve Chabot.  

● TX-17: Willie Blackmon, who retired back in 2004 as a municipal judge in Harris County, said Thursday that he’d challenge Rep. Pete Sessions in the Republican primary for this 61-37 Trump district. We’re not sure why he’s running here, though, because the new version of this seat not only doesn’t include any of Harris County, it’s also shed College Station, where Blackmon was part of Texas A&M’s 1970 Southwest Conference Championship Track and Field Team. (Brazos County, which is home to College Station, is now entirely located in GOP Rep. Michael McCaul’s 10th.)

Blackmon doesn’t appear to have said why he thinks that Sessions should be fired, though we’re guessing it’s not because he’s mad about how the incumbent got to this constituency in the first place. The congressman spent 22 years representing the Dallas area until losing the 32nd District to Democrat Colin Allred in 2018, but he quickly turned around and campaigned for the 17th District about 80 miles (and two or three congressional districts) away.

Retiring Rep. Bill Flores was pissed at his old colleague for parachuting back to his childhood home of Waco, where he hadn’t lived in decades, but primary voters were more forgiving. Sessions beat a Flores-backed opponent 54-46 in the GOP runoff, and he had no trouble in the fall as Donald Trump was carrying the 17th by a 55-44 margin. Only a little more than half of this new seat, though, includes Sessions’ existing district (and no, none of the current 32nd District made its way in here), so he’ll have to introduce himself to plenty of new voters once again.

● TX-30: Longtime Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson has an “important special announcement” set for Saturday, and the Democrat’s media advisory notably included a logo bearing the word “Re-Elect!” The 85-year-old Johnson, who is the second-oldest member of the House, said two years ago that her 2020 campaign would be her last, but she and her staff have rebuffed all efforts to confirm her plans since she claimed her 15th term.

Legislatures

● Special Elections: Louisiana held three special legislative elections on Saturday, and we’ve recapped the results below:

LA-SD-27: Republican Jeremy Stine, a former legislative aide and local businessman, kept this seat red by defeating Democrat Dustin Granger 59-39. The chamber returns to full strength with a 27-12 GOP supermajority.

LA-HD-016: Businessman Adrian Fisher won the all-Democratic race by beating teacher Alicia Calvin 69-20.

LA-HD-102: Delisha Boyd, a local and state Democratic Party official who had several prominent elected officials in her corner, won her intra-party battle 62-38 against activist Jordan Bridges. The state House goes back to a 68-34 GOP majority, with three independents holding the remaining seats.

Other Races

● Orleans Parish, LA Sheriff: Longtime Sheriff Marlin Gusman was forced into a Dec. 11 runoff against a fellow Democrat after he narrowly failed to take the majority he needed to prevail outright in a Saturday all-party primary that criminal justice reformers were watching closely. Gusman won 48% of the vote while former New Orleans Police Department Independent Monitor Susan Hutson outpaced her nearest foe 35-9 for second place.

Hutson and the other challengers argued that the four-term sheriff has done a poor job overseeing the Orleans Justice Center, a jail that has been under a federal consent decree since 2013 for what the Justice Department called “unlawful conditions at the prison.” WWNO’s Bobbi-Jeanne Misick writes, “Gusman lost operational authority over the jail — the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s main duty, as deputies do not typically patrol the city’s streets — after an independent monitor reported a lack of progress in reforming the facility.”

Control was restored to the sheriff last year, but Misick adds that in recent weeks, federal monitors have “blasted the Orleans Justice Center for slow progress in achieving the goals set out in the consent decree, particularly in mental and medical health care.” The judge overseeing the consent decree, however, still commended Gusman for making needed improvements and declared that his pandemic measures were “nothing short of life-saving.”

Hutson and his other opponents have also faulted the incumbent for trying to build a new facility to house inmates with mental health problems, which critics argue will only increase the number of prisoners overall. They’ve further focused on the 15 deaths that were reported at the Orleans Justice Center from 2014 to 2019, a death count that Politico’s Jessica Pishko says was exceeded in Louisiana by just two jails that were each larger than Gusman’s.

Gusman, who has the backing of Gov. John Bel Edwards and Rep. Troy Carter, has pushed back by arguing that he’s helped reduce the number of inmates during his long tenure. “When I was elected, there were 13 jails,” said the sheriff, adding, “I have since closed, abandoned or demolished every single one. We had 7,000 inmates when I came in. Now we have less than 900.” Misick writes, “Much of that reduction in the jail population has been attributed to pressure from criminal justice reform groups.”

Gusman additionally has talked about reforms he’s made during his tenure, including re-entry programs. His side has also portrayed Hutson as too inexperienced to hold the sheriff’s post while insisting that only he understands the problems afflicting the jail enough to solve them.

Only about 27% of registered voters took part in Saturday’s all-party primary in the city of New Orleans, which is coterminous with Orleans Parish, and turnout could plunge much further next month. That’s because, while four statewide ballot measures and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s easy re-election campaign took center stage this weekend, there will be far less to bring voters back next month. It’s possible this will be good news for Hutson, who could benefit from disproportionate turnout among voters upset with the status quo, but no one can know for sure.