Tag: Political News
Ossoff scores victory over Perdue in Senate runoff
Democrat Jon Ossoff has defeated Republican David Perdue in the remaining Georgia Senate race — clinching control of the chamber for his party after fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock triumphed in the state’s other runoff election.
Ossoff, an investigative journalist and former congressional candidate, had 50.3 percent of the vote to Perdue’s 49.7 percent when The Associated Press called the race on Wednesday, with 98 percent of precincts reporting.
Ossoff’s victory resets the Senate’s balance of power at 50-50 and comes after Warnock vanquished incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler earlier on Wednesday — securing a Democratic majority for the first time since 2014 due to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’s ability to cast tie-breaking votes in the chamber.
Democrats’ twin victories in Georgia have huge implications for President-elect Joe Biden’s legislative agenda, as he will not be forced to navigate a Republican Senate and negotiate with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell during the opening years of his administration.
The Georgia results also represent a triumphant coda for Democrats’ 2020 campaign season, which began last year with high hopes for wresting back control of the Senate.
Instead, Democratic candidates fell short in many battlegrounds across the country, while the races for Georgia’s two Senate seats proceeded to runoffs after no candidate earned more than 50 percent of the vote in the November election.
original article here https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/06/jon-ossoff-wins-georgia-runoff-455596
Trump campaign blew most of its $1.1 billion war chest on trying to make the president happy: report
IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT IN A PRESIDENT? Trump is spending OUR (YOUR) hard earn taxes!
On Tuesday, Business Insider reported that President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has wasted most of its $1.1 billion cash on hand — and that most of the money didn’t even go to meaningful efforts to get out the vote or persuade undecided voters, but to various stunts to make Trump himself feel good.
Orginal Article????????????????????????????????????????????????????https://www.rawstory.com/2020/09/trump-campaign-blew-most-of-its-1-1-billion-war-chest-on-trying-to-make-the-president-happy-report/
For example, according to the report, Trump’s campaign spent “$11 million on ads during the February 7 Super Bowl to match spending by billionaire Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg.” The campaign also spent “$1 million on TV ads in Washington, DC, which is solidly Democrat. But Trump is known to watch hours of TV a day in the White House, venting on Twitter about negative coverage on news networks, and adverts by political opponents attacking him.” And the campaign also reportedly paid for an expensive and luxurious campaign headquarters in Virginia.
Much of this spending reportedly was approved by former campaign manager Brad Parscale, who himself has come under scrutiny following reports that he bought luxury condos in Florida, a yacht, and a Ferrari with the money he was being paid by the campaign.
The Trump campaign’s sudden lack of money has raised alarm among several GOP megadonors. Meanwhile, spurred in part by enthusiasm over the selection of running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Joe Biden’s campaign reported raising $364 million in August alone.
Special counsel Robert Mueller gives first statement Trump Russia investigation
Mueller steps to podium at the 7:20 mark
I Just Wanted Those Raggedy Shitstain To Loose
It so important to VOTE!! EVERY VOTE does count! If you don’t vote on a ballet or vote for an independent presidential or Senator candidate we all end up loosing very crucial bills and laws that need to pass, revised or vetoed!
In a Billboard cover story last week, knapsack enthusiast J. Cole admitted that he didn’t vote in the 2016 presidential election, claiming that while he would have voted for Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton just didn’t motivate him.
Naturally, he was roundly criticized for this—particularly since he’s considered to be (and shrewdly positioned himself as) an artist concerned with and invested in politics. How could someone so mindful of our history do something so disrespectful? How could someone who considers himself so smart do something so dumb? Did/does he not realize how dangerous and damaging the false equivalencies comparing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are?
These (and other similar) questions are natural, damning and fair. They also might be the wrong ones.
Because if, for instance, my 18-year-old nephew watched the circus of the Judge Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings last week; and if he spent the last week watching CNN and MSNBC and Fox News; and if, after consuming all of this, he shared that he was deeply disillusioned with politics and not sure why he should even care, I’m not sure what I could say to sway him. Of course, I could remind him of the clear white supremacist bent of the Republican Party. I could teach him that as long as they’re in power, women’s rights and LGBTQ rights remain tenuous.
But then he could say, “If the Republicans are so bad and evil and the Democrats are so good, why did Barack Obama eulogize John McCain? And how did Michelle Obama and George W. Bush seem to become such good friends?”
And then I’d say, “Well, um, McCain and Bush were different. Republicans, sure. But they were decent people, and …”
And then he’d say “But if Bush is so different and so decent, why is he trying to get Brett Kavanaugh confirmed?”
And then I’d just take him to Chipotle.
Deciding to vote is, and will always be, the right answer. But considering this very real and very justified skepticism of politics and politicians —and also considering gerrymandering and voters’ rights restrictions and the rest of the obstacles put in place to make the act of voting a struggle—I just can’t begrudge someone whose response to this is “Fuck it.” I can be sanctimonious and self-righteous and attempt to shame them, perhaps. But when attempting to craft a compelling and honest counter to the voter apathy that 74 percent of 18-29-year-olds possess, I have nothing. Instead, I’ll just share what’s motivating me.
Of course, I recognize the danger of a right-leaning SCOTUS. Of course, I know the effect our elected officials have on the economy, our healthcare, our law enforcement, our education and criminal and environment justice. As theoretical and hypothetical and transparently performative as political arguments and campaigns tend to be, who we elect to office has a literal impact on the bodies we inhabit. For women, for people of color, for the LGBTQ community, for people who are not Christian, and for people who are not American-born Americans, this threat is critical. How America decides to vote can be the difference between life and death.
But the gravity-defying force that will lift me from my home on Nov. 6 and carry me to my polling station is schadenfreude. When I think of people like Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh—men who have never experienced any real disappointment or struggle or pain and are openly hostile towards and mocking of those who have—I just want those motherfuckers to lose. Same with all of the frothing MAGA motherfuckers who, as the Atlantic’s Adam Serwer articulated yesterday, mine glee from cruelty towards us. I want them to feel like shit, even if said shitty feeling only moderately interrupts the torrent of privilege, and I will derive more immediate pleasure from their defeat than our victory. Yes, the country will be a better and safer place if progressive politics win out, and this will make me happy. This will be a good thing. A great thing. But I also want them to be crushed, and this want for their political destruction and descent into self-doubt and irrelevance exists independent of the desire to win. And, also, it will bring my black ass joy.
I will tell my nephew this on the drive to Chipotle. And hopefully, by the time he finishes his chorizo and pinto bean burrito, he’ll agree.
READ MORE FROM THE ROOT
Kavanaugh Passes Critical Senate Hurdle
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, arrives on Capitol Hill on Friday. Collins voted to advance Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, but says she will announce her position for the final vote Friday afternoon.
Updated at 11:48 a.m. ET
Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court cleared a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Friday, 51-49. A final vote on his confirmation is expected as soon as Saturday. President Trump tweeted that he was “very proud” of the Senate for taking the critical step.
One Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, voted with Republicans to end debate and move the nomination forward. One Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted with Democrats against ending debate.
Still, the fate of Kavanaugh’s nomination remains unclear. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted to end debate, but said she will announce her final position on whether to confirm Kavanaugh on Friday afternoon. Other senators could switch their votes as well.
In a speech leading up to the vote, Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said “the resistance is located right here on Capitol Hill,'” and he urged his colleagues to “say no to mob rule” by voting to confirm Kavanaugh.
The top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, said Republicans have “largely chosen to ignore the testimony” of Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers.
President Trump, in a tweet Friday morning, criticized what he termed “the very rude elevator screamers,” who he said are “paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad!” Without evidence, he alleged that the protesters, several of whom said they have been sexual assault victims, were “paid by [financier George] Soros and others.”
The very rude elevator screamers are paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad. Don’t fall for it! Also, look at all of the professionally made identical signs. Paid for by Soros and others. These are not signs made in the basement from love! #Troublemakers
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2018
Senators had one day to review a confidential supplemental background check into Kavanaugh’s behavior in the early- to mid-1980s when he was in high school and college. The closely guarded collection of interviews is celebrated by Republican leaders as concrete proof that Kavanaugh did not harass or abuse women. Democrats say the interviews, which they originally requested, are incomplete and inconclusive.
“What we know for sure is the FBI report did not corroborate any of the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh,” McConnell said. “The second thing we know for sure is that there’s no way anything we did would satisfy the Democrats.”
Kavanaugh took an unusual step to boost his nomination Thursday evening, writing an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal expressing regret for the heated tone of his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, including comments decrying Democratic attacks, that was seen by some wavering senators as too partisan.
“I was very emotional last Thursday, more so than I have ever been. I might have been too emotional at times. I know that my tone was sharp, and I said a few things I should not have said,” Kavanaugh wrote.
The White House defended Kavanaugh’s demeanor during the hearings.
“Any human being who has been falsely accused of a range of things including gang rape has a right to be upset, has a right to be angry, and that’s what we saw last week,” said White House spokesperson Kerri Kupec during an interview with Morning Edition.
McConnell received the 51 votes needed to clear the procedural hurdle on Friday. Republicans have enough votes to assure Kavanaugh’s nomination on their own, but only if they win the support of Collins as well as Murkowski, R-Alaska; and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who withheld judgment while the FBI completed its work.
All three spent hours in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol on Thursday reviewing the roughly 45 pages of FBI interviews. Collins and Flake both say the investigation was thorough, but neither would say whether they are now prepared to vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
Flake forced Republicans to launch the additional investigation last week after a tense negotiation with Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats. Flake spent a large portion of the afternoon reviewing the FBI work and said he saw no new evidence to corroborate any of the claims against Kavanaugh, which Flake had previously indicated would mean he will vote to confirm.
Democrats saw something very different in the report. Several criticized Republicans for limiting the FBI investigation to just nine interviews. They said the process ignored many potential witnesses, including Ford.
The FBI also apparently did not interview Kavanaugh.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said those issues raised serious doubts about Kavanaugh and his qualifications.
“Judge Kavanaugh stated at his hearing that the individuals at the incident involving Dr. Ford refuted her version of events,” Schumer said Thursday. “From their own public statements, we knew that to be false, and nothing in this report changes that.”
Similar concerns moved Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., to announce Thursday that she would oppose Kavanaugh. Heitkamp is one of the most vulnerable Democrats on the ballot in November and has seen her poll numbers slip in recent weeks. She’s running for re-election in a state president Trump won in 2016 by more than 35 points.
Heitkamp said she was troubled by Kavanaugh’s aggressive appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee and the message his confirmation would send to women and girls across the country.
Kavanaugh Nomination Battle Is Fought With Millions In Secret Cash
“When considering a lifetime appointment to Supreme Court, we must evaluate the totality of the circumstances and record before us,” Heitkamp said in a statement. “In addition to the concerns about his past conduct, last Thursday’s hearing called into question Judge Kavanaugh’s current temperament, honesty, and impartiality.”
Her opposition leaves Manchin, as the only publicly undecided Democrat on final passage. He is also in a tough re-election campaign and was silent on Kavanaugh in the days leading up to the vote.
The nomination now hangs on the decisions of Collins, Murkowski, Flake and Manchin.
READ MORE NPR NEWS
Donald Trump and the tangled tale of the tapes
When Donald Trump gets in one of his frequent jams, caught between his own words and the truth, he likes to allude to the existence of tapes that will exonerate him.
He did it in his confrontation with former FBI director James Comey over what was said in their private Oval Office meeting, leading to Comey’s famous expostulation to Congress: “Lordy, I hope there are tapes!” (There weren’t.) He did it just last week, disputing a British newspaper’s account of him insulting Prime Minister Teresa May, offering to supply reporters with tapes of the interview “for your enjoyment if you’d like it.” (The White House never followed up when Yahoo News requested the tapes, and the newspaper in question, the Sun, eventually released a clip that seemed to show Trump had said exactly what had been reported.)
In fact, tapes (audio and video) have more often gotten Trump into trouble than out of it. There was, of course, the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape that nearly derailed his campaign one month before the election. There is (or isn’t) the rumored “pee tape” of Trump with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room during his brief visit there in 2013, a recording supposedly in the possession of Russian intelligence, which in some people’s minds explains his otherwise inexplicable deference to Vladimir Putin. There are countless hours of outtakes from his 14-year run as host of “The Apprentice” and “Celebrity Apprentice” in which he either did or did not say or do something reprehensible. While there’s no evidence for all or most of these recordings, the potential that they do exist supplied the premise for an upcoming television show in which comedian Tom Arnold details his search for compromising Trump clips.
One thing Arnold almost certainly won’t find is a tape of the private conversation Trump had with Putin in Helsinki Monday. The two presidents met for more than two hours with only their translators present, and only those four know what was said — unless, as former CIA Director John Brennan suspects, Russian intelligence was listening in.
“I think whatever Trump said in that meeting is now memorialized on Russian tape and will be used as necessary by Putin against Trump,” Brennan said in an appearance on “Morning Joe” Tuesday morning.
Putin’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and the ongoing probe into whether Trump’s team colluded with the Russian mischief makers have brought spycraft into the spotlight in a way that hasn’t been seen since the height of the Cold War. A dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele raised the possibility that the Kremlin possesses embarrassing information about the commander in chief. The question came up at the president’s press conference with Putin when a reporter asked if Moscow has “any compromising material on President Trump or his family.” Putin laughed at the notion, but didn’t explicitly deny the existence of what Russian intelligence — which has a specialty in the sexual and financial blackmail of prominent Westerners — calls “kompromat.”
“Yeah, I did hear these rumors that we allegedly collected compromising material on Mr. Trump when he was visiting Moscow,” Putin said. “Now, distinguished colleague, let me tell you this: When President Trump was at Moscow back then, I didn’t even know that he was in Moscow. I treat President Trump with utmost respect. But back then, when he was a private individual, a businessman, nobody informed me that he was in Moscow.” (That assertion runs contrary to reporting in the book “Russian Roulette,” co-authored by Yahoo News Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff, that Putin had been expected to meet with Trump backstage at the Miss Universe pageant and canceled at the last minute.)
If Trump does find himself caught on secret recordings, it would represent one of his favorite weapons turned against him. During his real estate career, Trump earned a reputation for surreptitiously taping his employees and associates. Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen also was rumored to record his conversations for him and his client, for potential use as leverage. And Arnold and others have suggested that Cohen’s recordings could come back to haunt Trump since they likely fell into the possession of Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Trump’s relationship with Russia.
Trump has also demonstrated a preoccupation with the possibility that others are taping him — most famously last year when he tweeted that “Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory,” a claim it took the Justice Department six months to debunk. In fact, he reportedly didn’t even want White House stenographers to do their job of recording and transcribing his conversations with reporters, according to one who worked in both the Obama and Trump administrations. A deputy White House press secretary “told my colleague we would need to keep our microphones far away from the president’s face,” Beck Dorey-Stein wrote in the New York Times Tuesday.
If Trump is so averse to being taped, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham had a warning for him: that Putin, a former KGB agent, could have taken advantage of the summit to plant a bug with the president. He suggested Trump should get rid of a World Cup souvenir Putin presented to him with during their meeting on Monday.
“Finally, if it were me, I’d check the soccer ball for listening devices and never allow it in the White House,” Graham wrote on Twitter.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-tangled-tale-tapes-100015999.html
New York Daily News Scorches ‘Treason’ Trump With Brutal New Cover
Trump is a trader to our country.
The New York Daily News hammered President Donald Trump with its Tuesday cover, suggesting that his refusal to publicly condemn Russian leader Vladimir Putin was treason.
During a news conference Monday in Helsinki, Finland, Trump would not blame Russia or Putin for interference in the 2016 U.S. election, saying “we’re all to blame” for poor relations between the two countries. U.S. intelligence and government officials have concluded that the Kremlin meddled in the 2016 presidential election.
So the New York Daily News reacted to Trump’s remarks with a brutal illustration and headline, accusing the president of siding with an enemy over his own country. The illustration alluded to a statement Trump made during his presidential campaign that he could shoot someone on New York’s Fifth Avenue and not lose voters.
.@realdonaldtrump derides reports with which he disagrees as “fake news,” then buys the Russian narrative hook, line, sinker, pole and boat. https://t.co/TGHurpVDKy
An early look at Tuesday's front… pic.twitter.com/BXsoZsIT4B
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) July 16, 2018
Trump’s comments after his meeting with Putin sparked outrage Monday, with even Republican leaders and Fox News hosts slamming the president.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said, “No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant.” Fox Business host Neil Cavuto called Trump’s behavior “disgusting.”
Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-york-daily-news-scorches-treason-trump-with-brutal-new-cover_us_5b4d3bb0e4b0de86f485c6fd?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=hp_fb_pages&utm_source=main_fb
Trey Radel, Busted On Cocaine Charge, Voted For Drug Testing Food Stamp Recipients
ALL (NOT ALL DAMNIT) THESE PLITICIANS ARE A BUNCH OF RACIST HYPOCRITES! This one a druggy and a racist. This political season is really turning out to be a JOKE!
WASHINGTON — In September, Rep. Trey Radel voted for Republican legislation that would allow states to make food stamp recipients pee in cups to prove they’re not on drugs. In October, police busted the Florida Republican on a charge of cocaine possession…
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/19/trey-radel-drug-testing_n_4305348.html