Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) officially declined to run for Senate Tuesday, putting an end to a high-profile pressure campaign spearheaded by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Continue reading “Hogan Officially Says No Thanks To Senate Run In Another McConnell Snub”McCarthy Won’t Comment On RNC Dumbing Down Jan. 6 To ‘Legitimate Political Discourse’
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Tuesday wouldn’t give a straight answer when pressed on the Republican National Committee’s characterization of the deadly Capitol insurrection as “legitimate political discourse” when it voted to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) last week.
Continue reading “McCarthy Won’t Comment On RNC Dumbing Down Jan. 6 To ‘Legitimate Political Discourse’”Trump and the Jan 6 Committee Both Keep Upping the Ante
The RNC said crystal clear and out in the open that January 6th was “legitimate political discourse.” The first explanation of how this didn’t mean what it clearly meant was that they somehow only meant the stuff that happened before things got violent and turned into an insurrection. So only the pre-insurrection stuff even though the only reason anyone is investigating January 6th is the violence and insurrection. Now Kevin McCarthy, literally dashing away as Manu Raju asked him the question, is trying another tack. He says the RNC statement about Jan. 6th wasn’t even about January 6th. It was about six members of the RNC who have been subpoenaed by the committee. And they were in Florida on Jan. 6th. And remember it has nothing to do with Jan. 6th. Which RNC members? He won’t say.
Here’s the video.
Continue reading “Trump and the Jan 6 Committee Both Keep Upping the Ante”Peter Thiel Slithers Away From Meta Board Of Directors To Boost Pro-Trump Candidates
Meta, Facebook’s recently rebranded parent company, announced on Monday that conservative megadonor Peter Thiel will be retiring from Meta’s board of directors.
Continue reading “Peter Thiel Slithers Away From Meta Board Of Directors To Boost Pro-Trump Candidates”Ohio Supreme Court Rejects Gerrymandered Legislative Maps A Second Time
Ohio’s Supreme Court has, for the second time this year, rejected Republican-drawn redistricting maps, telling the GOP officials on a mapmaking committee for a second time to come up with state legislative districts that don’t disproportionately favor their own party.
Continue reading “Ohio Supreme Court Rejects Gerrymandered Legislative Maps A Second Time”Five Points On The Canadian Anti-Vax Trucker Protests Feeding The Far-Right Media Machine
A trucker protest in Ottawa, initially over vaccine requirements, has inspired copycat demonstrations and attracted the hearty support of right-wing figures across the United States.
It’s day 12 of the protests, which attracted thousands of people over the last couple weekends.
Continue reading “Five Points On The Canadian Anti-Vax Trucker Protests Feeding The Far-Right Media Machine”Big
Daily COVID cases in New York City are now back to roughly what they were prior to the emergence of Omicron in early December 2021. This chart (from The New York Times) captures the sheer scale of the surge in terms of spread and infection if not severity of disease or mortality. Nationwide, cases are on a similar trajectory but perhaps a week or two behind.
It is still breathtaking to see in the context of the previous two years.
Oversight Committee Will Probe How Trump Got Away With Taking WH Docs To Mar-A-Lago
House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) promised on Monday night to look into how ex-President Donald Trump was able to take at least 15 boxes of White House records, that he was supposed to give to the National Archives, to his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida instead.
Continue reading “Oversight Committee Will Probe How Trump Got Away With Taking WH Docs To Mar-A-Lago”Politicians Who ‘Side With Criminals’ Are Cowards, Says Brave GOPer Who Compared Insurrectionists To Tourists
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
I Mean, Where Is The Lie?
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) declared on the House floor last night that “those in political office show both ignorance and cowardice when they side with criminals.” Oh, and “May God bless our courageous law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line each and every day.”
- Remember when the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection looked like “a normal tourist visit” and that calling it an insurrection was “a bold-faced lie”?
- Remember when snubbing a cop who had been beaten unconscious by the those “tourists” was how Blue Lives Matter-ing worked?
- Andrew must not have remembered any of those things.
Strike Two: Ohio Supreme Court Rejects GOP-Drawn District Map Again
For the second time, the Ohio Supreme Court on Monday threw out a new map drawn by the state’s GOP-controlled redistricting commission for — once again — disproportionately favoring Republicans.
- The court’s Republican chief justice, Maureen O’Connor, cast the deciding vote with the Democratic justices, just like she did the first time last month.
- The commission has until Feb. 17 to draw a new map, the court’s order stated, and the lines have to correspond with Ohio’s voting preference of 54 percent Republican to 46 percent Democrat.
Kansas GOPers Fail To Override Veto Of Gerrymandered Map
Kansas’ GOP-controlled Senate actually didn’t have the votes on Monday to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the district map drawn by Republican lawmakers.
- Four Republicans joined the Democrats to vote against the map.
- There’ll be another vote on overriding Kelly’s veto today. Two lawmakers will have to switch to “yes” in order to give Senate Republicans the supermajority they need.
SCOTUS Restores Alabama’s Racially Gerrymandered Map
Though there was a glimmer of good news for voting rights advocates in Ohio and Kansas on the gerrymandering front (for now), SCOTUS dealt a big blow in Alabama yesterday by pausing a lower court’s order for Alabama Republicans to draw a new district map that included two districts with majority-Black voters.
Trump Gave Back Docs He Took From WH
The National Archives confirmed on Monday that Trump had transferred in mid-January the White House records he was supposed to hand over to the agency at the end of his presidency, but had decided to take to with him to his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida instead.
- Trump’s aides are still looking for more documents to hand over, according to the National Archives.
- One of the documents Trump kept included — for God knows what reason — the infamous Hurricane Dorian forecast map where he drew a bubble with a Sharpie to back up his wrong claim about the hurricane hitting Alabama, according to the New York Times.
- The Washington Post reported earlier on Monday that Trump also kept his “love letters” from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and a letter President Barack Obama left him after Trump’s swearing-in.
Conservative Radio Host Admits Talking About Jan. 6 Alienates His Audience
Hugh Hewitt said straight-up during his radio program yesterday that he never talks about the Capitol attack because “I like my audience” and “I don’t want them to turn me off.”
Must-Reads
“How Manchin used politics to protect his family coal company” — Politico
“NRA Silent as Amir Locke Slain by Police for Having a Gun He Legally Owned” — The Intercept
Several Blue States Move To Lift Mask Mandates
State officials in California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Oregon all announced on Monday plans to lift mask requirements in some form in February and March.
- California: Universal indoor mask requirements will be lifted for fully vaccinated people on Feb. 16.
- New Jersey: The statewide school mask mandate will be lifted on March 7.
- Connecticut: The statewide school mask mandate will be lifted on Feb. 28.
- Delaware: Universal indoor mask requirements (except for schools) will be lifted on Feb. 11. School mask requirements will be lifted on March 31.
- Oregon: Universal indoor masks requirements will be lifted on March 31.
Georgia DA Will Start Sending Subpoenas In May
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia told CNN on Monday that her office will begin issuing subpoenas in her Trump election meddling investigation as soon as May, and that she’s not “concerned at all” about Trump’s inevitably dragging out the process with legal battles.
Romney Wags Finger At RNC Chair/Niece About Cheney And Kinzinger Censure
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told reporters yesterday that he “exchanged some texts” with his niece, Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, where he “expressed” his displeasure about the RNC’s censure of Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL). The Utah Republican added that McDaniel, who approved the RNC’s description of the Jan. 6 attack as “legitimate political discourse,” is a “wonderful person, and doing her very best.”
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In Alabama Case, Kavanaugh Emits Lengthy Whine In Response To Kagan’s Dissent
Justice Brett Kavanaugh boldly struck pen to paper in an opinion published Monday, filled with a righteous anger — not so much over Alabama’s congressional maps, which a lower court found to disenfranchise Black voters, but because Justice Elena Kagan criticized him and his conservative buddies in her dissent.
Continue reading “In Alabama Case, Kavanaugh Emits Lengthy Whine In Response To Kagan’s Dissent”