Conspiracy grifter Alex Jones’ Infowars channel, as well as two other companies he owns, has filed for bankruptcy. According to Law & Crime, the three companies are InfoWars, IWHealth, and Prison Planet TV. Before you begin to cheer, the reality is that Jones’ Infowars has been the subject of numerous lawsuits, most of which he has lost. This move offers him some protection from having to pay out the large sums of money he owes to some of the grieving families he called “crisis actors,” compounded the tragedies they experienced after their children were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
Jones repeatedly called the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut a hoax. He was subsequently sued by the families most directly affected by this conspiracy misinformation campaign for defamation and emotional distress. Since then Jones has dragged his heels and delayed the legal process of the defamation lawsuits he faces so many times, and to such a egregious degree, that a Connecticut judge found him liable in an across-the-board victory for the Sandy Hook families suing him back in 2021.
What the bankruptcy filing will mean for his show remains murky. This might reveal real financial difficulties for Jones’ whole operation, or it may simply be a delay. It could be both with a touch of Trump enterprises Chapter 11 abuse. It wouldn’t be the first time a right-wing huckster factory has attempted to use the bankruptcy courts to get out of uncomfortable litigation. In 2021, the National Rifle Association worked on getting out from under investigations in New York by filing for bankruptcy.
GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott raised the white flag on Friday, reversing his stunt that forced commercial vehicles to undergo unnecessary secondary inspections at ports of entry. The failed political calculation, announced April 6 in retaliation for the Biden administration’s just decision to end Stephen Miller policy, was the target of intense bipartisan blowback after causing immense traffic delays and financial losses for food producers.
“A lot of our members are absolutely flabbergasted that this was allowed to happen and that it happened for so long for the sake of border security,” Texas International Produce Association President Dante Galeazzi toldThe Texas Tribune on Friday. “We feel like we were used as bargaining chips.”
But this trainwreck of a policy had no basis in border security either. The director of the Texas Department of Public Safety admitted that the redundant checks “did not turn up any human or drug trafficking during the inspections,” the Associated Press reported.
Of course, you won’t hear one smidge of regret from Abbott. Nah. Instead, he was more preoccupied on how to save face amid this self-created disaster, and he began that process by staging a photo-op with the governor of the Mexican state of Nuevo León. But their agreement provided “little relief for the overall trade logjam,” The Texas Tribunereported at the time.
Abbott on Friday touted agreements with four other Mexican governors as part of ending his policy forcing redundant inspections. The unnecessary checks were happening after U.S. border officials had already conducted their inspections. “But three of the four Mexican governors said they will simply continue security measures they put in place before Abbott ordered the state inspections,” The Texas Tribune now reports.
So how much did Abbott’s political stunt cost businesses and consumers in his state (and across the nation)? Fresh Produce Association of the Americas President Lance Jungmeyer told CNN that the losses to vegetable and fruit producers alone were estimated at over $240 million. There are also the losses to the workers transporting this food, and the losses to consumers now facing higher food prices. Democrats need to be shouting about this from the rooftops.
There’s also Abbott’s conduct itself. I mean, a governor intentionally interrupting international trade as political payback for a federal government’s policy decision seems like an abuse of power. We already know Abbott has sought to usurp federal immigration policy through his unconstitutional Operation Lone Star scheme, which has jailed asylum-seekers without any charges for months on end. The state’s corrupt attorney general, Ken Paxton, also seems to have made a blatant admission on air:
Texas AG Ken Paxton says the quiet part loudly: “The governor has figured out we can stop trade along the border, slow it down, and it will create pressure on Mexico and some of their governors to work out a deal to help us with border security.” Just blatantly unconstitutional. pic.twitter.com/KWsbEs6sws
“There’s only person that this helped, and that was Greg Abbott,” Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke said last week. “For everyone else, this has been terrible. It’s sending prices through the roof, spiking inflation even higher in the state of Texas.” The former congressman told MSNBC’s Joy Reid that food has “literally been rotting” in stalled trucks. Companies that make electronics and build trucks have also faced problems due to exacerbated supply chain problems.
“He is tanking the Texas economy,” O’Rourke continued. “The worst part of all of this is we gained nothing from a security or safety perspective. These DPS troopers providing these additional inspections can only check the pressure in the tires and the quality of the engine. They’re literally not allowed to go into the cargo hold. That inspection is already done by Customs and Border Protection. So this was a purely political stunt that has done deep damage not just to the Texas economy, but the national economy.”
Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee was up to his eyeballs in the conspiracy committed to overturning the 2020 presidential election—the same Lee who sits on the Senate Judiciary committee and lectures much smarter, much more patriotic people on how the Constitution works.
Lee is also a liar. A liar smart enough to know that his “14 hours a day” spent trying to figure out how to overthrow the government and keep Trump installed in the White House was did not look good for him after the events of Jan. 6, so he lied about it. The newly revealed text messages between the senator and then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows prove that Lee had been pushing the plot by John Eastman to get Republican state legislators to toss their election results and appoint their own pro-Trump electors since Nov. 23, 2020.
”If a very small handful of states were to have their legislatures appoint alternative slates of delegates, there could be a path,” Lee texted Meadows on Nov. 23, when the counting had all been done. When Joe Biden had secured the office. But that’s not what he told Bob Woodward and Robert Costa in their recent book about the events leading up to Jan. 6. He told Woodward and Costa that the first he’d ever heard about “alternate electors” plot was on Jan. 2 and that “he was shocked.” That fact, interestingly enough, was picked up and tweeted extensively by former Texas Sen. Ted Cruz communications official Amanda Carpenter, who apparently has a bone to pick with the former Cruz sidekick.
Wow, a sitting senator who plotted for weeks to overthrow the will of the people, fueling the insurrection and then lying about it? Big news, right? Not at all. “[N]ot one of the five major Sunday talk shows mentioned one word about Lee,” writes the Washington Post’s James Downie. “Will the media let Sen. Mike Lee go unquestioned?” Downie asks. Why yes, yes they will.
The national media, anyway. He might have a harder time with the Utah press, which immediately jumped on the story. Lee is up for reelection this year, and the press back home might just have found their storyline for their primary coverage.
But the Kool Kids of the D.C. media? As Downie says, they instead seem to think it’s their “job to reflexively boost Republicans who stand up to Trump. Most of the current coverage that portrays Pence and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as brave holdouts against the Trump mob frequently omits the many lows from the rest of their careers.”
An illustrative example of just how much the national media does not want to deal with Republicans colluding on a coup is that other batch of Meadows’ texts, the ones with Ginni Thomas, who is the wife of sitting Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, conspiring on an insurrection. The same Supreme Court justice who refuses to recuse himself from any case involving his wife’s activities, including the attempted violent overthrow of the government.
Are reporters asking anyone about the need to do something about this? Nope.
It’s chilling to see a US Senator propose a plan in writing to ignore the will of the voters & steal an election. That’s precisely what this is. https://t.co/GrNNT3xA2I
In response to a mid-March announcement by Citigroup Inc. that it would begin covering travel expenses for its employees living in states that limited or nearly banned abortions, a Texas lawmaker has threatened to block the bank’s ability to underwrite municipal bonds in the state, The New York Times reports.
Houston-based Republican Rep. Briscoe Cain sent cease and desist letters to Citigroup and abortion funds announcing he would introduce a bill barring them from doing business with any company “that pays abortion-related expenses of its employees or that provides abortion coverage as an employee benefit.” To Jane Fraser Citigroup’s CEO, he called the company’s policy a “grotesque abuse” of her “fiduciary duty.”
Today, I sent cease-and-desist letters to abortion funds and Citigroup informing them of current abortion laws in Texas. Abortion funds think they can flout the law because a local district attorney refuses to bring charges. We’ll fix this problem next session. #txlegepic.twitter.com/jvf1WgCetM
Cain wrote that “employees, volunteers, and donors of abortion funds will be criminally prosecuted if they do not immediately halt their illegal acts and stop paying for abortions performed in Texas.”
“These are criminal organizations,” he added. “It is a crime to pay for another person’s abortion in Texas, and anyone who gives money to these abortion funds will be prosecuted.”
Citigroup has 8,500 employees in Texas. Travel expenses provided by the company would provide for things such as lodging and airfare if a person must leave their home state to receive an abortion, according to Bloomberg.
In a filing written for an April 26 meeting, Citigroup wrote: “In response to changes in reproductive health-care laws in certain states in the U.S., beginning in 2022 we provide travel benefits to facilitate access to adequate resources.”
Cain is a devout Big Lie-er. Texas Monthly reports that he flew to Pennsylvania after the 2020 election to challenge the state’s results. He’s been a vocal advocate in his home state for making it more challenging to vote by mail or help senior citizens to vote.
On May 19, 2021, Texas law SB 8 went into effect, banning abortion when a heartbeat could be detected in a fetus—which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy, often before a person knows they’re pregnant. Since then, Texans have been leaving the state in droves to seek abortions elsewhere.
Citigroup is not the only company with policies designed to assist employees seeking abortions who are living in restrictive states such as Texas.
In September 2021, Salesforce told employees the company would help them and their families relocate if they had issues with reproductive health care in their states.
Salesforce’s CEO Marc Benioff tweeted: “Ohana if you want to move we’ll help you exit TX. Your choice.”
A note obtained by CNBC from Salesforce reads: “These are incredibly personal issues that directly impact many of us — especially women … We recognize and respect that we all have deeply held and different perspectives. As a company, we stand with all of our women at Salesforce and everywhere.”
They added: “With that being said, if you have concerns about access to reproductive healthcare in your state, Salesforce will help relocate you and members of your immediate family.”
Lyft CEO Logan Green announced the company would pay legal fees for any drivers sued under the Texas law for helping women get abortions.
TX SB8 threatens to punish drivers for getting people where they need to go— especially women exercising their right to choose. @Lyft has created a Driver Legal Defense Fund to cover 100% of legal fees for drivers sued under SB8 while driving on our platform.
The parent company of Tinder and OkCupid, Match Group Inc., announced it too was creating a fund for its Texas employees impacted by the abortion law.
In an internal note to employees, Shar Dubey, Match Group’s CEO, wrote that the company “doesn’t usually take political stands unless it is relevant to our business … but this particular law is so regressive to the cause of women’s rights that I felt compelled to speak publicly about my personal views.”
She added: “[I] immigrated to America from India over 25 years ago and I have to say, as a Texas resident, I am shocked that I now live in a state where women’s reproductive laws are more regressive than most of the world, including India.”
According to Bloomberg, the dating app Bumble Inc. also announced a fund that would support “the reproductive rights of women and people across the gender spectrum who seek abortions in Texas.”
Two years ago, during a campaign rally, then-candidate Joe Biden vowed that part of his climate agenda would include no more oil and gas leasing on federal land if he became president. Just two weeks ago, the third and final segment of the latest U.N. climate assessment was published. Like the first two parts, it said the climate crisis is “code red” for humanity and time is short to cut greenhouse gas emissions if the world is going to have a chance of keeping global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial era.
Nevertheless, on Friday, the U.S. Department of Interior announced a resumption of oil and gas drilling leases on federal land under a reformed program that levies a 50% increase in royalties companies must pay for what they produce on those leases. Up for auction will be 173 parcels in nine states covering 144,000 acres, 80% less than the area that was being evaluated for possible leasing. On Monday, the department will release its final environmental assessment and lease sales notices. In a statement, Secretary Deb Haaland said:
How we manage our public lands and waters says everything about what we value as a nation. For too long, the federal oil and gas leasing programs have prioritized the wants of extractive industries above local communities, the natural environment, the impact on our air and water, the needs of Tribal Nations, and, moreover, other uses of our shared public lands. Today, we begin to reset how and what we consider to be the highest and best use of Americans’ resources for the benefit of all current and future generations.
…
This pragmatic approach focuses leasing on parcels near existing development and infrastructure, such as gathering lines that can help reduce venting and flaring, and will help conserve the resilience of intact public lands and functioning ecosystems. The BLM has prioritized avoiding important wildlife habitat and migration corridors and sensitive cultural areas. As a part of its environmental analysis, the agency disclosed GHG emissions and the social cost of GHG emissions, which provided important context for the agency’s decision-making.
Not good enough the way the industry sees things. Bad news and bad politics, say dozens of environmental advocates.
Climate Hawks Vote founder RL Miller.
Renewed leasing is a broken promise, according to RL Miller, founder of Climate Hawks Vote and a member of the Democratic National Committee. She told Daily Kos in an email, “Not only is President Biden’s decision to reopen fossil fuel leasing on public lands incredibly dangerous for the climate, it’s also politically ill advised. Not one drop of oil leased now, which might see its way to market in 2025 or so, is going to lower the price of gasoline consumers are paying at the pump in 2022. And it leaves Biden politically vulnerable to accusations that he broke his campaign promise: ‘No more drilling on federal lands, period. Period, period, period.'”
Abigail Dillen, president of Earth Justice, issued this statement:
While DOI’s announcement moves us in the right direction to reform the obsolete federal fossil fuel leasing program, opening up new lands to further drilling is still incompatible with meeting our climate obligations. We are encouraged by a significant reduction in lease sale acreage, implementation of science-based analysis of greenhouse gas emissions, and an increase in the royalty rate for new competitive leases to 18.75%, but proceeding with proposed lease sales puts any hope of slashing pollution by 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030 further out of reach.
Any new leasing must meaningfully incorporate environmental justice and climate impacts. DOI must ensure our public lands are a key part of the climate solution, rather than continuing to directly contribute to emissions. The best available science already shows that we cannot continue leasing on our public lands and meet President Biden’s stated climate goals. If the Biden administration is serious about addressing climate change, its actions need to start matching its words.
Said Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Denver-based Western Energy Alliance, “While we’re glad to see BLM is finally going to announce a sale, the extreme reduction of acreage by 80%, after a year and a quarter without a single sale, is unwarranted and does nothing to show that the administration takes high energy prices seriously. The sales being considered were the ones that had already been fully analyzed at the end of the Trump Administration and were ready to go before the Biden Administration decided to redo the analysis. Career employees at BLM, not political appointees, had done that analysis and determined it was protective. This administration has decided to make leasing and production a political football, and Americans are paying the price at the pump. … Raising the royalty rate 50% increases the costs of production on federal lands, which already carry a higher cost than nonfederal lands.”
The industry, of course, would go for leases in every national park and every designated wilderness area and every acre of ocean floor if it could. That doesn’t mean it would drill on them all. Currently, about 24 million acres are held under lease onshore and offshore. But the industry has drilled on only about 40% of that. Even if the administration had chosen to open up leasing on all 750,000 acres that were evaluated, it would add just 3% to the acreage the industry already leases.
The communities most at risk from new fossil fuel extraction are primarily Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples, people of the global majority and those on the frontlines of fossil fuel industry expansion. These are the same communities that turned out in record numbers to get Biden elected in 2020 and who have since been urging Biden to use his executive authority to fulfill his campaign promise and ban new federal fossil fuel projects.
The major public oil and gas companies that drive much of the United States’ activity are holding themselves back with uncharacteristically miserly capital expense plans, returning cash to investors instead of drilling new wells. Officials with some companies say they are also facing bottlenecks for equipment, rigs and labor.
When it comes to public lands and waters, though, oil and gas companies have accused the White House of not truly supporting their industry and aiming to curb production.
Ryan McConnaughey, spokesperson for the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, said the Biden administration has a “playbook” for federal development: “delay, distract and deflect.”
How curious that McConnaughey chooses “delay, distract, and deflect.” Those are the same “D” words climatologist Michael Mann includes in his book The Fight to Take Back Our Planet: The New Climate War to describetactics that have been weaponized by the forces engaged in fighting against effective action to address the climate emergency.
As far as “protection” is concerned, the tallyof abandoned oil and gas wells—“orphaned” in industry jargon—on federal landin 88 counties of Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming runs to 8,050. Just last week, the Interior Department announced guidance for the states on applying for the first tranche of $775 million in grants to plug and clean up these as well as abandoned wells not on federal land. The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year contains $4.7 billion of taxpayers’ money for this purpose.
More than a dozen other environmental organizations issued statements and tweets declaring their opposition to renewed leasing.
Allowing drilling on public lands won’t solve price gouging by oil companies. So why is @JoeBiden going back on his word? To stop the climate crisis, we need to move towards 100% renewable energy, not deepening our dependence on fossil fuels. https://t.co/lLLWKrzBRA
Varshini Prakash, executive director of the youth-led Sunrise Movement, said, “The fact of the matter is that more drilling won’t solve high gas prices right now—so why is Biden breaking his campaign promise to stop drilling on public lands. This is why young people are doubting the political process altogether. If Biden wants to solve for voter turnout in 2022, he should actually deliver on the things he promised, not move farther away from them. On November 8, 2022 we don’t want to hear anyone asking why young people didn’t vote. Biden is actively turning voters away. If we’re going to combat fascism and win in 2022, he must be a leader and course-correct. This election and our futures depend on it.”
It can take a year—often longer—from the time drilling gets underway on a site until the oil or gas it taps into reaches the market.
In the midst of a climate emergency and a fossil-fueled war that has exposed the dangers of fossil fuel dependency, President Biden’s decision to double down on leasing new public lands for fossil fuel development is a disastrous choice.
There’s no amount of regulation that can change the facts — ‘significantly reformed’ oil and gas lease sales will still result in selling off our public lands for deadly extraction that’s hurting communities and driving the climate crisis. Increasing royalty rates may even result in furthering state and federal reliance on oil and gas leasing revenue, just as the science is clear that we need to be stopping all expansion of fossil fuel extraction.
This is an ugly betrayal of Joe Biden’s campaign promises and his administration’s rhetoric on environmental justice and climate action. Biden is choosing to stand with polluters over people at the expense of frontline communities and the future of the planet. True energy independence means rejecting fossil fuel expansion and ending Big Oil’s greed while rapidly building out renewable energy on public lands and beyond.
Here are a few others responses:
• Kayley Shoup of the New Mexico-based Citizens Caring for the Future: “As frontline community members in the Permian Basin that have been advocating for putting a stop to new oil and gas leasing on federal lands, Citizens Caring for the Future finds it extremely disheartening that [Bureau of Land Management] is going forward with these lease sales. Our day-to-day life and health is directly affected by these sales and the subsequent production that comes along with them. It would take a small army to truly enforce regulation here in the Permian, and we know that is the reality in oil and gas regions around the country. We live our lives surrounded by the industry and we understand that in order to take on climate change and make a meaningful dent in emissions the Biden administration must take action that puts a stop to new development.”
Siqiniq Maupin
• Siqiniq Maupin, executive director of Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic: “As the Interior Department announces that it plans on continuing oil and gas leasing on federal land, Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic condemns any further extraction, especially within the Arctic. Our lands are warming at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world, causing detrimental impact to the fragile ecosystems that call it home and directly impacting the rest of the world, as well. With conservative climate models predicting that we have less than 30 years to radically change our relationship with oil and gas, the future rests in the United States’ hands. We can no longer commodify our land and water, especially at the rate climate change is occurring. We are nature fighting back.”
• Love Sanchez of Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend: “How much more can Gulf Coast states endure? Most of us weren’t born with a silver spoon to get lawyers all the time to fight these civil laws aka ‘environmental acts,’ or have the luxury of property rights because it was all taken from us so long ago. Now here we are, working class people, simple people, 95% of the time BIPOC people, that just want to protect our land and water. Then, I’m not surprised, we now have the Interior, who decides they want to continue their projects in the Gulf Coast. It’s a very disappointing thing to hear. Fortunately, we will continue to be persistent in protecting these waters.”
Dan Ritzman.
• Dan Ritzman, land, water, and wildlife director at the Sierra Club:“Right now, fossil fuel extraction on public lands and waters make up a quarter of our greenhouse gas emissions at a time scientists are saying we must move urgently to cut emissions by at least half. Not only does it devastate our planet, it’s a handout to Big Oil at the expense of average Americans, who will bear the brunt of its societal, health, and financial ramifications. We urge the Biden administration to take advantage of this historic opportunity to make good on campaign promises, fulfill a global commitment to acting on climate, and serve American communities by phasing out oil and gas production on public lands and oceans.”
• Randi Spivak, public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity, argued that “the Biden administration’s claim that it must hold these lease sales is pure fiction and a reckless failure of climate leadership. It’s as if they’re ignoring the horror of firestorms, floods, and megadroughts, and accepting climate catastrophes as business as usual. These so-called reforms are 20 years too late and will only continue to fuel the climate emergency. These lease sales should be shelved and the climate-destroying federal fossil fuel programs brought to an end.”
At the COP26 Glasgow summit last November, President Biden said, “The United States will lead by example and share with the world our considerable powers of innovation.” Renewed leasing is a terrible example.
If you’ve been seeing the words “Izyum salient” from me and Mark Sumner lately, it’s because the Russian-held city is one of two pivotal cities for Russia’s designs on the eastern Donbas front. In short, with little progress pushing out from pre-invasion rebel-held territory (in purple below), Russia is attempting to encircle entrenched Ukrainians from Mariupol in the south, and Izyum in the north. The effort looks like this:
That body of water you see northeast of Izyum is the Oskii river. Ukraine has blown the river crossings, forcing Russia to loop to its north to get to Izyum. Reinforcements and supplies coming in from Russia have to travel down those same roads, which are in range of Ukrainian artillery pounding them from the west.
Destruction of a Russian military convoy near Balakliya and Izyum, Kharkiv region pic.twitter.com/2XzgTmSLLT
A military salient is a projection into enemy territory, and the Izyum salient is particularly long and exposed. There are an estimated 15,000 troops around Izyum according to Ukrainian General Staff, and they’re all dependent on those long supply lines to feed a combat unit’s exhaustive ammunition, fuel, spare part, and food demands. So while Russia tries to push that salient further south, Ukraine is working to cut off those supply lines.
Kupiansk is at the crossroads of everything. The rail lines from Russia, and others from the Russian-occupied east, connect to the city, making it a natural resupply point for this entire front.
If the Ukrainians were to somehow reach the city, the Izyum salient would be fully cut off.
And they’re trying! This weekend Ukraine liberated a handful of settlements to Kharkiv’s southeast. At the same time it also made headway pushing Russians north of the city toward the Russian border. Given that there’s no real danger of a Russian offensive on the city, why expend the effort? Russian artillery can still strike Kherson from across the border in Russia, but it would now be out of range of Ukrainian artillery striking those supply lines south of Kherson. Additionally, Ukraine might want to avoid the creation of a “Kupiansk salient,” thus the need to secure that northern flank.
All that said, there is a Ukrainian salient forming, so why isn’t Russia raining artillery on those advancing troops? This is what the terrain looks like around those newly liberated settlements:
Like the rest of the region, it’s flat, mostly open farmland, punctuated by the occasional grove of trees (which are still not fully foliated). There’s no reason Russia couldn’t pound advancing Ukrainians the way Ukraine pounded that Russian supply column in the video above. Down south near Kherson, similar open terrain has hampered Ukraine’s offensive to take the city, as approaching Ukrainians face a barrage of artillery fire. It’s one major reason Ukraine has been begging for more artillery, counter-battery radar, precision-guided rounds, and suicide drones. Without artillery, Russia is nothing. Yet here, in one of the main Russian gathering spots, Russia doesn’t seem able to bring any extra guns to bear.
North of Izyum, some pro-Ukrainian sources are claiming Ukraine is counterattacking east of Izyum, up the eastern bank of the Oskil. Careful with those claims, as it is Russiaattacking south along that bank:
Ukraine general staff claims they repelled an attack on Lozove on Sunday. Note how strategic that little hamlet is. If Russia takes it, they will be one step closer to securing an east-west connection between the Russian-occupied east and Izyum. Russia knows full well how tenuous and exposed its supply lines currently are, and is actively working to establish a more direct, more secure route.
Yet cracks are starting to appear in Russia’s war efforts. For one, separatist forces have been moved to the Izyum area. While Russia might prefer using proxy forces to avoid death notices back in the Motherland, fact is, they are next to useless. Untrained, unmotivated, and fully aware that they are nothing more than cannon fodder to the Russians. Where are all those supposedly elite troops pulled out of the Kyiv and Sumy axes? They don’t seem to be making their way back into Ukraine in the expected numbers.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian General Staff announced that “In the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk [Donbas] regions, ten enemy attacks have been repelled, fifteen tanks have been destroyed, twenty-four units of armored and ten units of automobile equipment, as well as three enemy artillery systems.” As usual, the claimed equipment losses are less interesting than the daily confirmation that Russia continues its piecemeal drip-drip-drip attack strategy. Rather than gather its forces for one major overwhelming assault, it spreads out its combat power along numerous under-resourced attacks with little chance of success.
Yesterday’s 10 attacks are more than the five to six daily attacks we’ve been seeing the last few weeks, so tempo might be increasing. But if a major offensive were genuinely in the wings, why waste men and equipment on these doomed strikes? I maintain that Russia is incapable of fully opening the spigot.
For its part, Ukraine continues its consistently successful rope-a-dope strategy of trading land for blood any time it is dislodged from its prepared defenses (like the city of Izyum). Look at this video of a Russian armored vehicle heading south of Izyum toward the front lines:
As it drives, look at the armored vehicle graveyard it’s passing, and then take a look at the direction of the cannons: all pointing south. These are almost all Russian vehicles, destroyed on their southern approach. Every meter costs Russia equipment and troops it can no longer easily replace, while extending frail supply lines they struggle to protect and maintain. And while that terrain is mostly flat and open, there are also trees growing their spring leaves, and destroyed houses perfect for future ambushes. In this salient, Russia only controls the roads, and even so, only tenuously.
The Izyum weather forecast is fantastic:
Izyum, Ukraine weather for the next week.
General Mud will be around for a while. Plenty of time for Ukrainian artillery to keep pounding cold, wet, miserable Russians and separatists waiting to die. Also time for new Ukrainian artillery to arrive, adding to the pressure.
Russia’s pipe-dream pincer maneuver ain’t happening. And at this point, neither is any major offensive.
The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, Daniel Donner, and Carolyn Fiddler, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
●OH-Sen: Despite widespread condemnation of his first TV ad that blamed America’s ills on China, Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan is back to the same theme in his newest spot, telling viewers, “We’ve gotta take on China” and “be Americans first.”
The script of the original ad, which was likewise narrated by Ryan himself, was even more bellicose—and prompted a heated response:
China. It’s definitely China. One word: China.
It is us versus China and instead of taking them on, Washington’s wasting our time on stupid fights.
China is out-manufacturing us left and right. Left and right.
America can never be dependent on communist China.
It is time for us to fight back. We need to fight back. It’s time to fight back.
We need to build things in Ohio by Ohio workers.
One person who took objection to Ryan’s rhetoric was his House colleague, New York Rep. Grace Meng, who tweeted that the ad was “essentially shifting blame away from American corporations’ anti-worker policies and putting a target on the backs of #AAPIs” and demanded he stop airing it. Asian American advocacy groups were likewise incensed, and even Sen. Sherrod Brown, who previously endorsed Ryan, questioned the choice. “I would’ve suggested that Tim introduce himself to voters with a more biographical ad,” said Brown, who declined to back Ryan’s decision to run the spot, adding, “I don’t have an opinion on whether it should stay up.”
After sustaining criticism for his first ad, Ryan was unmoved, saying in a statement, “I will never apologize for doing everything in my power to take on China and fight for all Ohioans.” A number of Democratic strategists likewise defended the advertisement, arguing that Rust Belt Democrats have long pushed a similar message, including the last Democrat to run for the Senate seat Ryan is now seeking, former Gov. Ted Strickland.
But these operatives may want to reconsider whether Strickland’s 2016 campaign is one to emulate: He lost to Republican Sen. Rob Portman by a 58-37 margin and ran 13 points on margin behind the top of the ticket.
1Q Fundraising
The deadline for federal candidates to submit their first quarter fundraising totals is April 15, and we consequently aren’t including candidates for federal office in Friday’s fundraising roundup. However, we will bring you fundraising charts covering all notable House and Senate candidates this week.
AZ-Gov: Katie Hobbs (D): $750,000 raised; Marco López (D): $450,000 raised; Kari Lake (R): $970,000 raised, $700,000 cash-on-hand
NV-Gov: Joe Lombardo (R): $824,000 raised, $3 million cash-on-hand; Fred Simon (R): $1.3 million self-loaned
Senate
●AL-Sen: Former Business Council of Alabama leader Katie Britt has launched a new ad ahead of the May 24 Republican primary where she appears to shop in a supermarket and blames Joe Biden for inflation while asserting that “Washington politicians” shouldn’t get paid if they don’t balance the budget.
●IA-Sen: The Iowa Supreme Court overturned a recent lower court ruling that had booted former Democratic Rep. Abby Finkenauer from the June 7 primary ballot on Friday, allowing her to continue her campaign for the right to take on Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.
In response to a challenge brought by Republicans, the lower court had rejected three signatures that had issues with their dates on petitions Finkenauer submitted, which put her below a requirement that she collect at least 100 signatures in 19 different counties. The Supreme Court, however, held that the signatures in question were valid because Iowa law doesn’t include missing or incorrect dates as a reason to strike a petition.
Finkenauer faces two other candidates for the Democratic nomination, though she recently released a poll giving her a dominant 64-15 lead over her nearest opponent, retired Navy Vice Adm. Mike Franken. However, multiple surveys have shown her losing to Grassley by double-digit margins.
●OK-Sen-B: Shortly before Friday’s deadline to run passed, former Trump administration Environmental Protection Agency director Scott Pruitt, who previously served as state attorney general from 2011 until he joined Trump’s cabinet in 2017, filed and indicated he would run in the upcoming special election to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Jim Inhofe. Pruitt gained national notoriety for leading the EPA on a crusade to undermine its very mission by aggressively rolling back regulations against pollution in favor of the fossil fuel industry and denying human-made climate change, but it was his cartoonish level of corruption scandals that led to him resigning just over a year into his tenure.
Indeed, by the time Pruitt stepped down in July 2018, he was the subject of at least 15 federal investigations into his conduct as a Trump official. Among Pruitt’s many dubious activities were his penchant for living high on the taxpayers’ dime, including first-class airfare, luxury hotels, and other exorbitant travel spending; a pattern of financially benefiting from lobbyists such as renting a Capitol Hill condo from one for only $50 a night; $4.6 million in security spending that included a $42,000 soundproof phone booth in his office, his own 24-hour security detail, and $3,000 on “tactical pants;” and also using his office and aides to run personal errands and help advance his wife’s business interests.
While Pruitt won plaudits from conservatives for rolling back Obama administration environmental protections, it remains to be seen just how willing voters will be to overlook his laundry list of corruption scandals. He joins a crowded June GOP primary that includes Rep. Markwayne Mullin, former state House Speaker T.W. Shannon, state Sen. Nathan Dahm, former Inhofe chief of staff Luke Holland, and former White House staffer Alex Gray.
Meanwhile, Shannon has gone up with his first TV ad, backed by a $200,000 buy. The spot rolls off a list of right-wing buzzwords and shows Shannon speaking to the camera to call himself an alliterative “conservative, christian, capitalist” and vowing to antagonize the “Democrat Party” [sic] and “woke left” if elected.
Governors
●GA-Gov: Polling on behalf of local CBS affiliate WGCL, Landmark Communications surveyed the May 24 Republican primary for governor and finds incumbent Brian Kemp holding a dominant 52-28 lead over former Sen. David Perdue, with 10% going to educator Kandiss Taylor. Kemp has led in every publicly available poll this year, though Landmark is one of the few to show the governor taking the outright majority needed to avoid a July runoff.
Kemp has also debuted a new ad attacking Perdue over the latter’s business record, arguing he “made millions as a corporate raider” who outsourced jobs to China. The spot plays a clip of the former senator saying, “We outsourced every single product sold in our stores,” before highlighting his opposition to lowering gas and income taxes this year.
Looking ahead to the general election, the Republican Governors Association is running a new commercial as part of a $5 million ad reservation that claims Democrat Stacey Abrams’ support for mask mandates and restrictions on businesses during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic back in April 2020 would have “devastated” the state’s economy. They praise Kemp for reopening schools and businesses.
●NY-Gov: The House Ethics Committee announced on Thursday that it’s launching an investigation of Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, who is running for governor. While the committee did not say what the probe concerns, Suozzi’s staff said it concerns allegations that he failed to file legally required disclosures of his stock trades. Last year, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics charging that Suozzi had made some 300 stock trades worth as much as $11 million without filing any disclosure forms, known as “periodic transaction reports.”
Suozzi’s office didn’t seem to dispute the accusations, saying that “all periodic transaction reports will be filed on a going-forward basis.” The Ethics Committee said it would provide an update by July 29, well after New York’s June 28 primary.
●OR-Gov: State Treasurer Tobias Read has released a poll from FM3 Research that finds Read trailing state House Speaker Tina Kotek 25-20 with just weeks to go until the May 17 Democratic primary. However, with a hefty 56% of voters undecided, the pollster argues that the contest is still “wide open” and that Read has a path to victory.
Meanwhile, Nelson Research shows an even less certain primary on the Republican side. The pollster, who didn’t reveal whom if anyone the poll was conducted on behalf of, sees 2016 nominee Bud Pierce taking 11, former state House Minority Leader Christine Drazan earning 8, and Sandy Mayor Stan Pulliam, former state Rep. Bob Tiernan, and 1998 nominee Bill Sizemore each winning 5. The main story, however, is that an enormous 68% of primary voters are undecided with one month left to go.
Both of these polls are the first we have seen all year in either party’s primary, which have been relatively low-key despite this year being the first contest in two decades to have neither an incumbent nor a former governor on theballot.
●WI-Gov: Businessman Eric Hovde, who narrowly lost the GOP primary for Senate back in 2012, says he won’t run for governor this year and is instead waiting out this cycle to consider running for Senate again in 2024.
House
●FL-04, FL-05: Republican Rep. John Rutherford is a member of the House Ethics Committee—and now he’s being investigated by that very same body. A Thursday press release from the committee didn’t offer any details as to the nature of the probe, but Politico took note of an Insider story from last month reporting that Rutherford had bought as much as $15,000 worth of stock in military contractor Raytheon on the very day that Russia invaded Ukraine. Last year, Insider also reported that Rutherford failed to disclose five other stock trades he made in 2020 valued at up to $75,000.
Rutherford doesn’t appear to have addressed the Ethics Committee’s announcement yet, though a spokesperson previously acknowledged the congressman hadn’t filed disclosure reports in a timely manner for the 2020 transactions flagged by Insider. The development comes as Florida lawmakers prepare to adopt a new congressional map proposed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that would make major changes to the Jacksonville area, which Rutherford represents. Because of those alterations, it’s not clear whether Rutherford would run in the revised 4th District or the radically altered 5th; he currently holds the 4th but it would become considerably bluer while the new 5th would be much redder.
Several other notable Republicans are also reportedly eyeing this same pair of districts, though it’s likely they’ll wait to see which seat Rutherford chooses. The most prominent name belongs to Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, who was elected to a second four-year term in 2019 but can’t run again due to term limits, though he declined to answer questions about his plans. State Sen. Aaron Bean, state Rep. Jason Fischer, and Jacksonville City Councilman Rory Diamond were more forthcoming, each telling the Florida Times-Union they’re potentially interested.
●IL-01: Democratic Rep. Chuy Garcia, who represents the nearby 4th District, has endorsed construction contracting firm owner Jonathan Jackson, who is the son of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson Sr. and brother of former 2nd District Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., in the June Democratic primary to succeed retiring Democratic congressman Bobby Rush in the 1st District on Chicago’s South Side.
●RI-02: State Sen. Jessica de la Cruz has announced she’s dropping out of the Republican primary and will instead seek re-election, throwing her support behind Cranston Mayor Allan Fung. De la Cruz struggled with fundraising, and her departure leaves Fung, who was the GOP’s 2014 and 2018 gubernatorial nominee, facing just 2020 nominee Bob Lancia in the September primary for this open Democratic-held seat.
●TX-28: Despite being pressed repeatedly by NBC’s Chuck Todd in a Thursday interview, Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar declined to reiterate his attorney’s recent claim that he’s not the target of a federal investigation that prompted law enforcement to raid his home and campaign headquarters earlier this year. Todd asked Cuellar, “What assurance did you get that you’re not a target?” to which the congressman replied, “I’ll let my attorney speak to that.”
Secretaries of State
●GA-SoS: Landmark Communications also polled next month’s Republican primary for secretary of state, where they find Rep. Jody Hice with a 35-18 lead over incumbent Brad Raffensperger while former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle takes 10. That’s somewhat worse for Raffensperger than a recent University of Georgia poll that found him trailing by a smaller 30-22, and neither result is encouraging news for the incumbent in a race where Trump is backing Hice over Raffensperger’s refusal to help steal the 2020 election for him.
Happy National Park Week. Yellowstone was #1 in 1872 (Thank you, U.S. Grant), and we’ve been adding ’em ever since. And you know what else we’ve added? A Native American Secretary of the Interior, who’s logging some impressive mileage during her tenure:
Access to nature and our public lands is essential to connecting with the outdoors. We saw the wonders of Castner Range today from the Knapp Trail. The El Paso community is advancing locally led conservation to ensure everyone has a relationship to this special place. pic.twitter.com/m9N7f9ibOW
Below the fold, a few Monday moments of zen, courtesy of our National Parks…
You can follow Secretary Haaland’s travels on twitter here, and keep up to speed via the Interior Department’s press room here.
Badlands National Park—South Dakota
“The establishment of the National Park Service is justified by considerations of good
administration, of the value of natural beauty as a National asset, and of the
effectiveness of outdoor life and recreation in the production of good citizenship.”
— Theodore Roosevelt —
Acadia National Park (w/ Bass Harbor Lighthouse)—Maine
“The parks do not belong to one state or to one section. The Yosemite, the
Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon are national properties in which every citizen has a
vested interest; they belong as much to the man of Massachusetts, of Michigan,
of Florida, as they do to the people of California, of Wyoming, and of Arizona.”
— Stephen Mather, NPS director 1917-1929 —
Glacier National Park—Montana
“Every national park has its own unique story to tell, yet so much of our nation’s shared
heritage can be found in the towering forests and vast desert expanses that make up
our National Park System. The outdoors has also proven to be a welcome refuge
during the past year of the pandemic. I encourage everyone to enjoy the beauty and
wonder of our national parks safely and responsibly.”
— Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland —
A few more pics here. Please note that the C&J kiddie pool is not considered an official national park. But the paperwork has been submitted. Now comes Step 2: convincing Kos to stop un-submitting it.
And now, our feature presentation…
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Cheers and Jeers for Monday, April 18, 2022
Note: Shortcrust tart pastry war breaks out at bakers convention. Flyin’ flan at 11.
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By the Numbers:
12 days!!!
Days ’til the start of the Memorial Day weekend: 39
CHEERS to being patriotier than thou. Today is Patriot’s Day (yes, that’s where the apostrophe goes up here), a commemoration of the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord that sparked our War of Independence 247 years ago. Only three states are flagpinny enough to make it an official holiday—Maine, Wisconsin and Massachusetts. The big event today is the 126th Boston Marathon. (Send your positive vibes to Maudlin, who’s running in it today as a proxy for all of us.) As usual, I’ll go out on a limb and predict that the winners will be the secretly-Obama-trained Kenyans unless the nerd from MIT perfects his rocket shoes in time…and someone can achieve the impossible by waking him up before noon.
CHEERS and JEERS to tax day. We didn’t get the deadline extension we got last year (May 17th)—Thanks a lot, Sleepy Joe!—but in deference to to the Romans nailing Christ to the cross in an orgy of sadism that would later give Mel Gibson an erection lasting his entire life, we did get an extra weekend to do our taxes. Unless you file an extension, you have until midnight to COMPLY WITH ALL APPLICABLE TAX LAWSOR FACE THE HARSHEST OF PENALTIES UP TO AND INCLUDING CRUCIFIXTION BECAUSE WE’RE IN THAT KIND OF MOOD SO DON’T TEST US.
Taxes are good because they pay for things like roads and bridges and the social safety net and missiles with which to sink Russian ships. Taxes are bad because rich people don’t pay nearly enough of them and a lot of the money goes into giant sinkholes like unnecessary gifts to the oil companies. But, hey, at least it’s exponentially easier to fill out our forms, thanks to the geniuses-with-money Republicans oh wait no that was all bullshit they suck…
It was a selling point for the Republican tax overhaul in late 2017: A promise that the new law would simplify the nation’s confusing tax code to the point people would be able to file their returns on “a postcard,” saving people time and making it easier for Americans to fill out tax forms.
The postcard idea died because Trump kept getting orange goo all over the prototypes.
President Donald Trump once boasted in the White House that families would “be able to file their taxes on a beautiful, little sheet of paper.” … But after a single, messy year of use, the tax “postcard” is dead.
The Internal Revenue Service abandoned the smaller 1040 form after…receiving complaints from tax professionals and interest groups that it was more complicated than it needed to be, Bloomberg Tax first reported.
That’s right, ladies and germs: the Republicans couldn’t even do a postcard right. This morning in the C&J rumpus room: fainting couch rentals—30 minutes for five bucks. Plus tax.
CHEERS to Saddle Sores for Freedom. On this date in 1775, Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott hopped on their hoverboards and trundled from Boston to Concord, Mass., warning the citizens of the approaching British army (Prescott was the only one with enough juice to make it all the way). Their focus group-tested talking point: “The British Are Coming.” Tomorrow: The thrilling conclusion.
CHEERS to defeating the evildoers. As much as I hate to start a new week with news from the war front, it’s my solemn obligation as America’s 965,228th-most-trusted journalist to do the deed. But this morning it’s good news!
The word came down late last week that the tyrants behind so much death and destruction took a big hit from which there may be no bouncing back. They were so dead-set on bullying and intimidating their way to the achievement of their nefarious goal of world domination that they forgot one simple thing: as the oligarch money hoarders enjoyed their yachts and pleasure palaces, the rebellion was stiffening its resolve and outsmarting them under the radar. One by one they picked off the opposition’s weapons of mass destruction, and last week they achieved their biggest victory yet, when the enemy’s greatest hope sank under the waves like a stone. But enough about how wind power produced more energy than coal and nuclear in the United States. Anyone know how Russia’s war with Ukraine is going?
JEERS to disrespecting the one whut brung ya to the dance. Just a quick reminder that Rupert Murdoch’s flagship propaganda outlet has been crazy for a long time. Seven years ago this week, Fox News openly wondered if we should bring back literacy tests during elections so that we don’t have a bunch of dense, paranoid, ignorant, fact-averse cultists voting on the critical issues and candidates of the day. But they quickly stopped pushing that idea when they remembered one niggling little detail: who their viewers are.
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Ten years ago in C&J: April 18, 2012
JEERS to the return of the Party of “No!” Republicans will fight tooth and nail to defund PBS (roughly $400 million per year) because “a penny saved is a penny earned.” But they won’t vote for a 30% minimum income tax on millionaires—the so-called “Buffett rule” which failed last night in the Senate in a 51 to 45 cloture vote—because, apparently, “A penny saved is a shut the fuck up you stupid Democrats.” And there ya have it. GOP Hypocrisy in all its glory—no subtlety, no second-guessing, no shame. And in return, keep those campaign contributions comin’, Astors and Vanderbilts. You…complete them.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the sounds of our lives.The Library of Congress has added another 25 American audio gems to its National Recording Registry, a list of audio bon mots that ranges from the speeches of FDR to Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song…from James P. Johnson’s Harlem Strut (1921) to Milo Hamilton’s 1974 play-by-play of Hank Aaron’s 715th home run on Atlanta radio station WSB.
“The National Recording Registry reflects the diverse music and voices that have shaped our nation’s history and culture through recorded sound,” Hayden said. “The national library is proud to help preserve these recordings, and we welcome the public’s input. We received about 1,000 public nominations this year for recordings to add to the registry.”
I had a “briefcase-style” record player similar to this one as a kid, but mine came with a built-in machine gun.
The recordings selected for the National Recording Registry bring the number of titles on the registry to 600, representing a small portion of the national library’s vast recorded sound collection of nearly 4 million items.
Under the terms of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian of Congress, with advice from the National Recording Preservation Board, selects 25 titles each year that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and are at least 10 years old.
You can see all the entries going back to the Registry’s beginning in 2002 here. Failing to make the list for the 20th year in a row: “Bill in Portland Maine Belches the Alphabet.” I have one word for this election system: Rigged!!!
Have a tolerable Monday. Floor’s open…What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today’s Shameless C&J Testimonial
Russian State TV Pundit Goes Ballistic After Warship Sinks in Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool: ‘We Should Bomb Bill in Portland Maine!’
Twitter and the non-commercial outlets are doing an amazing job covering this war. Between open source intelligence, subject matter experts and government sources, everyone has a bird’s eye view for what’s going on. From the battle of Kyiv, to the sinking of the Moskva, to the Russian drive in Mariupol, the objectives and positioning are all there in plain sight. Some examples follow (and they aren’t the “Russia is winning” framing provided by our major papers).
The upcoming Battle of the Donbas: where we might be when looking at both the most predictable but also one of the strangest battles in modern war. As everyone seems to guess, after losing the Battle of Kyiv, this battle is now Russia’s great priority.
Well this is interesting. Ukrainian armed forces report that Ukrainian forces are pushing out from Kharkiv. This would be very threatening to Russian communications, logistics coming out of Belgorod. Take a look below where Bazaliyaka is in particular (next tweet)
Mikhail Khodorenok, a retired colonel with the Russian general staff currently working as an analyst, writing *three weeks before the war*:
1. No one in Ukraine will happily greet Russian troops in case of the invasion. [An obvious one, but okay]
2. Russia has no capability to destroy the Ukrainian military and thus end the war with one missile attack. It just doesn’t work that way.
3. The war will not end quickly because of Russia’s air supremacy. Russia lost in Afghanistan and Chechnya despite them having zero planes. And Ukraine does have an air force and air defense.
This is Russia’s only domestic tank producer. It shows that @kamilkazani is completely right: By cutting off technological exports to Russia, we can grind Putin’s war machine to a halt. https://t.co/U2B8C9Izo1
A brief thread on the political economy of the war and why what has happened since the invasion has also destroyed any strategy the Russians might have had. Clearly the Putin government miscalculated on what sanctions Russia will face.
I’m sure many of you have seen this arresting image. It will probably be a defining one for the equipment war. pic.twitter.com/FdejbZ7bNe
O”Brien isn’t the only analyst out there, but he’s one of the better explainers without falling into military jargon. Oh, and by the way, don’t miss Markos Moulitsas right here on this site explaining what’s going on (here’s a great example). I don’t generally highlight our own writers on the theory you’re already reading them (and want to know what’s going on elsewhere), but these posts fit today’s theme and are too good not not mention.
Western officials believe that Russia has lost a disproportionate number of generals in Ukraine – likely the most of any modern military since WWII – because a failure to communicate orders to the front, forcing flag officers to do it themselves.https://t.co/R4Nz0jMqS7
The United States and its allies can tip the balance between a costly success and a calamity.
For those of us born after World War II, this is the most consequential war of our lifetime. Upon its outcome rests the future of European stability and prosperity. If Ukraine succeeds in preserving its freedom and territorial integrity, a diminished Russia will be contained; if it fails, the chances of war between NATO and Russia go up, as does the prospect of Russian intervention in other areas on its western and southern peripheries. A Russian win would encourage a China coolly observing and assessing Western mettle and military capacity; a Russian defeat would induce a salutary caution in Beijing. Russia’s sheer brutality and utterly unwarranted aggression, compounded by lies at once sinister and ludicrous, have endangered what remains of the global order and the norms of interstate conduct. If such behavior leads to humiliation on the battlefield and economic chaos at home, those norms may be rebuilt to some degree; if Vladimir Putin’s government gets away with it, restoring them will take a generation or longer.
Alex Jones’ InfoWars files for bankruptcy in the face of multiple defamation lawsuits https://t.co/bKo3L4JglW
This should not be/remain a local story. There will be many more Kim Morissons soon, across “red” America, while many others will self-censure. Students, schools and whole country will suffer. 🧵
My state, Georgia, just passed an “anti-CRT” law. Obviously, it is not about Critical Race Theory, it is about racism. More specifically, it is about limiting “racism” to a very specific, personal, ideology, overtly expressed and supported by just a minority of Americans.
The sentiment is perfectly captured in this banner: “Don’t Make Me Into A Racist”.
Just days before J6, Jason Sullivan, a former aide to Roger Stone, held a conference call to help organize it where he said Trump will not allow Biden to take office and will declare a “limited form of martial law.” This call was reported on by the NYT. This is the actual call. pic.twitter.com/PfFJ4o33wU
‘Hard Core Trump Guys’ And Alternate Electors: Key Details From Mark Meadows’ Latest Leaked Texts
In recent weeks a stream of text messages exchanged by President Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, have leaked. The latest Meadows texts, which were published by CNN on Friday, show his conversations with two Republican allies in Congress — Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) — and there are two key details.
Overall, the messages show that both Lee and Roy encouraged and aided efforts to overturn Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. We already knew that members of Congress were part of the push to block President Joe Biden’s victory that culminated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol as the vote was being certified. Last October, I reported that two organizers of the main January 6 rally where Trump spoke on the White House Ellipse claimed they were involved in “dozens” of planning calls where Republican members of Congress discussed strategies for overturning the election with activists. Along with adding to the evidence that members of Congress actively strategized to reverse Trump’s loss, the messages from Lee to Meadows provide some new detail on the White House’s efforts to overturn the vote.
Regarding Congressman Chip Roy’s texts with Mark Meadows…I went back and looked at how they fit with my reporting at the time, and it was honestly pretty interesting: https://t.co/g0ndKMb2Os
In Ohio’s raucous Senate primary, conservatives are competing for the ex-President’s favor—and to define what Trumpism still means.
People who know conservative politics say that the Republicans running for the U.S. Senate in Ohio may be the most high-profile, well-resourced, and audacious group in the country—a good place to see the future of the Party a year after Donald Trump departed the White House. Certainly they’ve been pushing a boundary of some kind. Earlier this month, Vance cut an ad in which he asks his audience, “Do you hate Mexicans?” Ostensibly, it was a way to mock knee-jerk liberals, but he also seemed to blame border-crossing cartels for his mother’s opioid overdose. Around the same time, Josh Mandel, the forty-four-year-old former Ohio state treasurer, who overtook Gibbons in one recent poll, released an ad that begins with an Ohio woman saying critical race theory is “crap.” It then cuts to Mandel on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, in Selma, saying, “Martin Luther King, Jr., marched right here so skin color wouldn’t matter.”
NEW: Christian Dominionists who envision a theocratic takeover of the U.S. government have long sought to remake the nation in their image. Here’s in-depth look at how they set the stage for the end of Roe v. Wade—with a focus on the federal courts. 1/https://t.co/MmvDzi5puV
