Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is slated to appear at the White House with President Joe Biden on Thursday to officially announce his plan to step down at the end of the high court’s term this summer, according to CNN, NBC News and the Associated Press.
Continue reading “Reports: Breyer To Hold WH Event With Biden To Officially Announce Retirement Today”Texas AG Under Investigation For Corruption Now Isn’t Naming All His Donors
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
Technical Difficulties
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s (R) reelection campaign missed the Jan. 18 deadline for candidates statewide to publicly disclose all their donors in the second half of 2021 — and his team still hasn’t done so, the Dallas Morning News reports.
- Paxton’s report only laid out $652,000 of the $2.77 million he raised in total. The rest is all unaccounted for.
- The money Paxton raked in at a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort in December isn’t detailed either.
- The attorney general’s campaign blamed the holdup on tech issues. It promised to give a full report once the problem gets fixed, whenever that is.
- Paxton has been under federal investigation since last year over corruption allegations involving a wealthy donor.
Dems Prep To Get Crackin’ On Replacing Breyer
With a massive sigh of relief over news that 83-year-old Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire at the end of the term this summer, Democratic senators, fully aware there’s no time to waste, are moving to fill Breyer’s seat ASAP as Biden mulls over his options to replace the justice.
- Breyer will officially announce his retirement today at a presser with Biden at the White House, according to CNN, NBC News and the Associated Press.
- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is aiming to get the whole confirmation process wrapped up within weeks, not months, according to the New York Times.
- We did a liveblog on this blockbuster development and senators’ reactions to it yesterday. Check it out here.
Witness Can Reportedly Confirm Gaetz Was Told He’d Had Sex With Minor
“Big Joe” Ellicott — the ex-Florida shock jockey who has pleaded guilty to a bribery scheme allegedly involving ex-Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg — was in the room when Greenberg called Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to tell him the congressman had had sex with a 17-year-old, the Daily Beast reports.
- Ellicott is close friends with Greenberg, who has pleaded guilty to sex trafficking involving the same 17-year-old. Greenberg claimed in a confession letter to Trump ally Roger Stone that he and Gaetz had believed the teen was 19-years-old when they slept with her.
- Ellicott has been talking to federal investigators about the trafficking and sexual contact with a minor allegations against Gaetz, according to Ellicott’s lawyer, who told CNN that his client “was able to shed light on all of those issues.”
Youngkin Already Planning To Usher In GOP Anti-Election Crusade To Virginia
In case you missed it: Virginia Gov. Glen Youngkin (R) revealed during a pro-Trump radio show on Monday that he plans on firing the state’s current elections commissioner once the official’s term ends this summer.
- Why? Because Youngkin wants someone overseeing the elections who’s “looking out for the integrity of the election process” and who is “not trying to be political” — a thing Youngkin Definitely Is Not Doing by casting doubt on the integrity of nonpartisan elections officials and trying to oust them like virtually all other Republican Trump toadies.
- The elections commissioner told the local news outlet Virginia Mercury that he didn’t know about Youngkin’s plans to fire him until the governor’s radio interview.
Majority Of Virginia Schools Ignore Youngkin’s Mask Mandate Ban
Despite the Virginia GOP governor’s executive order forcing schools to make masks optional, 53 percent of the state’s school districts still require students and staff to wear masks anyway, according to analysis by the Washington Post.
Must Read
“Flaws plague a tool meant to help low-risk federal prisoners win early release” – NPR
New York GOP Org Endorses Far-Right Hungarian PM
Earlier this week, the New York Young Republican Club (NYYRC) put out an endorsement of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a far-right nationalist who’s leading the democratic backsliding in his country and is also a buddy of Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The NYYRC didn’t put much effort into masking the racism driving its endorsement: “Western Civilization” comes up no fewer than four times, including the concluding appeal to Hungarians, urging them to “help preserve Western Civilization” by reelecting Orbán.
Amazon Pays For High School Propaganda Class
The e-shopping giant gave $50,000 to a high school in San Bernardino, California for a class called “Amazon Logistics and Business Management Pathway,” and its very grim curriculum includes the following:
- Learning how to motivate employees with something “other than large bonuses and high salaries”
- Analyzing “the footprint that Amazon has caused” and how to “be motivated to participate in this exciting and growing field of e-commerce and logistics”
- Discovering “how to establish and develop an effective industry partnership with Amazon”
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GOP Power Lawyer: Congress Said Insurrection Is Cool In 1872
I confess I’m as much entertained as surprised that Madison Cawthorn’s lawyer is taking this tack to defend his standing to serve in the House of Representatives. James Bopp Jr., a storied right-wing power lawyer, argues that Congress already issued a blanket amnesty to all insurrectionists back in 1872. So Madison is good to go in terms of serving in Congress. Bopp is granting — at least for the sake of argument — that Cawthorn did commit insurrection. It amounts to saying: ‘Congress already absolved young Mr. Cawthorn back during the Grant administration for any insurrections he might do. So whether he committed a rebellion against the United States last January is moot.’
Continue reading “GOP Power Lawyer: Congress Said Insurrection Is Cool In 1872”Where Things Stand: Trolls Flood Youngkin’s Teacher-Reporting Tip Line, As They Should
He should’ve known.
As we know, Virginia’s new Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is working furiously to make good on his campaign promise to essentially make combatting Republican grievances, real and imagined, the top priority of the Virginia state government. We wrote recently about his reversal of the state’s universal masking policy for schools. He also moved to ban the teaching of “inherently divisive concepts” (read: “Critical Race Theory”) in public schools on Day One.
During an interview with conservative radio host John Fredericks earlier this week, Youngkin announced a new tip line his administration had set up, asking parents to notify the state government with reports of public teachers “behaving objectionably,” aka talking about race and systemic racism in the classroom, concepts that the GOP continues to squeeze beneath the ill-suited label “Critical Race Theory” — an academic framework that’s ruffled the right into hysterics in recent months.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Trolls Flood Youngkin’s Teacher-Reporting Tip Line, As They Should”Senators React To Breyer’s Retirement
Justice Stephen Breyer announced Wednesday that he plans to retire at the end of this term. Democrats have been clamoring for the 83-year-old justice to step down while President Joe Biden still has a Democratic Senate to confirm his successor.
Sic Transit
“I know we all have fatigue, but we have to get through this and right now in Butler County, it’s off the hook. My attitude has changed immensely. I’ve had three employees in the sheriff’s office in the last few months die of COVID.” – Butler County (Ohio) Sheriff Richard Jones.
Madison Cawthorn Lawyer Cites Confederate Amnesty Act To Defend Rep’s Job
A lawyer for Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) cited an 1872 congressional action granting amnesty to Confederate soldiers to defend his own client’s eligibility for office.
Continue reading “Madison Cawthorn Lawyer Cites Confederate Amnesty Act To Defend Rep’s Job”MyPillow Guy Just Decides To Stop Complying With Dominion Suit Discovery Process
MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell’s lawyers are refusing to comply with the discovery process for Dominion Voting System’s $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against Lindell, according to a court filing on Monday night.
Continue reading “MyPillow Guy Just Decides To Stop Complying With Dominion Suit Discovery Process”Indicted Shock Jock In Gaetz’s Circle Is Cooperating In Trafficking Probe, Lawyer Says
A close friend of Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg — who was Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) wingman — is talking to investigators in the sex trafficking probe involving Gaetz after pleading guilty in an unrelated criminal case, the friend’s attorney told the Daily Beast.
Continue reading “Indicted Shock Jock In Gaetz’s Circle Is Cooperating In Trafficking Probe, Lawyer Says”BREAKING
Multiple news organizations report that Justice Breyer plans to retire at the end of this term.
It’s important to note that this is good news. Or at least, as is often the case these days, it forestalls worse news, which in this case would be Breyer leaving the bench with the Senate in Republicans hands. It is a given today that a Republican senate would simply refuse to seat any Supreme Court nominee from a Democratic President. This sets up a high stakes nomination process which is likely to come down to how much game-playing we can expect from Senators Manchin and Sinema.