Alabama officials appealed Tuesday to the Supreme Court, seeking intervention so they can use a congressional map awfully similar to the one said Supreme Court knocked down less than three months ago.
Continue reading “Alabama Will Try Its Redistricting Luck At The Supreme Court…Again”Oklahoma Follows Florida’s Lead In Bringing PragerU’s Propaganda Videos To Classrooms
Not long after Florida adopted new curriculum standards for middle school-level Black history courses — which received bipartisan backlash for its instruction on the “benefits” of slavery — an animated video went viral online. The video, called “Leo & Layla Meet Frederick Douglass” featured a cartoon version of the abolitionist telling a pair of child time-travelers that slavery was a “compromise” between the Founding Fathers and the Southern colonies.
Continue reading “Oklahoma Follows Florida’s Lead In Bringing PragerU’s Propaganda Videos To Classrooms”Judge Knocks Down Map DeSantis Muscled Into Fruition
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) didn’t just have a hand in his state’s redistricting process this cycle.
He steamrolled even his fellow Republicans in the legislature, liberally wielding his veto pen and rejecting compromises, ultimately calling a special session to ensure that his maximal gerrymander would become the state’s congressional map.
He was rebuked Saturday when a circuit court judge in Florida knocked down his map, finding that it violates the state constitution’s non-diminishment clause, which prohibits reducing minority voters’ ability to vote for the candidate of their choice.
Continue reading “Judge Knocks Down Map DeSantis Muscled Into Fruition”Tennessee Three-er Gloria Johnson Officially Launches Challenge To Sen. Marsha Blackburn
Tennessee State Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville (D) — a member of the trio dubbed the “Tennessee Three” — announced an official 2024 bid for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.
Continue reading “Tennessee Three-er Gloria Johnson Officially Launches Challenge To Sen. Marsha Blackburn”The Texas Attorney General Is Supposed to Represent State Agencies. Ken Paxton Has Repeatedly Refused To.
This article was originally published at ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. It was co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom.
When Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton held a news conference in May decrying state lawmakers’ anticipated vote to impeach him, he framed the decision as not only a threat to his political career but as one that endangered the slew of lawsuits he’d filed against the Biden administration.
Continue reading “The Texas Attorney General Is Supposed to Represent State Agencies. Ken Paxton Has Repeatedly Refused To.”Sen. Whitehouse Asks Roberts To Do Something, Anything About Alito
In a Tuesday letter to Chief Justice John Roberts, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) accused Justice Samuel Alito of “obstructing a congressional investigation” and demanded that Roberts take some form of unspecified action.
Continue reading “Sen. Whitehouse Asks Roberts To Do Something, Anything About Alito”‘MAGA Shutdown’: Dems Make It Clear Whose Fault A Shutdown Will Be
The Senate is back in session later today after their August recess. And the House is scheduled to return next week. But Democrats have already hit the ground running to try to shield President Joe Biden’s White House from being blamed for a possible government shutdown.
Continue reading “‘MAGA Shutdown’: Dems Make It Clear Whose Fault A Shutdown Will Be “George Santos Insists He Is Not Working On A Plea Deal
The U.S. attorney prosecuting the case against freshman Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) has indicated they are involved in discussions on how to resolve the case. However, in a series of texts to TPM, Santos insisted those talks have nothing to do with a potential plea deal on charges related to his campaign finances and false statements he made in official filings.
On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace filed a letter to the presiding judge in the case requesting to move a planned status conference from Thursday to Oct. 27. Peace said he was making the request jointly with Santos and his attorneys while they reviewed the evidence and engaged in further discussions.
“Defense counsel has indicated that he will need additional time to review that material as well. Further, the parties have continued to discuss possible paths forward in this matter,” Peace wrote. “The parties wish to have additional time to continue those discussions.”
Requests such as these are often an indication of ongoing plea negotiations. However, in a series of texts to TPM, Santos called the suggestion the prosecutor is working on a plea agreement with his counsel “wildly inaccurate” and angrily suggested they are finding another “path forward.”
“You’re a real hack of a reporter,” Santos wrote. “Please do not contact me any longer or I will deem your unsolicited communication as harassment.”
Santos’ election last November prompted a cascade of headlines about fabrications in his personal story and resume as well as investigations into irregularities with his campaign finances. TPM has reported extensively on Santos’ unusual campaign finances, questions about his claims of an immense personal fortune, the mounting concerns from outside groups, regulators, and even former members of his team, donors who claim they were bilked, and his ties to a mysterious network of shell companies and an alleged ponzi scheme.
Despite admitting he lied about elements of his past and the extensive evidence of improprieties, Santos has maintained he is the victim of political attacks. Even as his counsel is apparently negotiating with federal prosecutors, the congressman posted a message on Twitter.com in the wee hours of Tuesday morning indicating he is undaunted.
“My energy is Unbreakable because my will is strong,” Santos wrote. “Many have tried to break me and failed, It won’t be the political establishment elites and corrupt bias media that will succeed.”
Panel Rejects Alabama Legislature’s Faux ‘Remedial’ Map
A federal panel of judges smacked down the Alabama legislature’s bad faith attempt to redraw its congressional map Tuesday, giving the job to a special master.
Continue reading “Panel Rejects Alabama Legislature’s Faux ‘Remedial’ Map”Musk’s Epic, Antic Labor Day Weekend Against The Jews
Because Twitter is no longer a publicly traded company with a public stock price there’s no straightforward way to assess its current value. But most market analysts estimate the company is now worth no more than a third of the $44 billion Musk paid for it a year ago. To be fair, Musk clearly overpaid for the company. He paid a premium over the company’s current stock price and even that price was probably inflated. But there’s no question Musk’s erratic and destructive reign has dramatically damaged the company, torching its public reputation and leading to a catastrophic decline in ad revenues which Musk and independent press reports have pegged at between 50% and 60%.
But Musk has found a new scapegoat: the Jews. Or rather, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish community’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to fighting not only anti-Semitism but all forms of racial and religious bigotry and other forms of discrimination. But I suspect the “rather” or the distinction in general might be lost on Musk’s 155 million Twitter followers. Over the past several days Musk has gone on a tear claiming that the catastrophic decline in his company’s value since he purchased it is mostly or entirely the fault of the ADL and churning up Twitter debates that at least big time anti-Semitic accounts think is clearly boosting their cause.
Continue reading “Musk’s Epic, Antic Labor Day Weekend Against The Jews”