After embracing the election conspiracy theorist and pillow magnate Mike Lindell with open arms last week, Alabama’s top elections official is scurrying to counter the false claims Lindell proceeded to make about Alabama’s 2020 elections immediately after their meeting.
House Bill Would Blow Up The Massive IRAs Of The Superwealthy
This article was originally published in ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
Legislation currently making its way through Congress would take a sledgehammer to the massive individual retirement accounts built up tax-free by a select group of the ultrawealthy. Continue reading “House Bill Would Blow Up The Massive IRAs Of The Superwealthy”
Policy vs Positioning Has Dems in a Stalemate
On Capitol Hill – among the Democrats alone since the Republicans have absented themselves from the process – we’re seeing one of those legislative stand-offs that seem insoluble and which, for the Democrats, raises the real risk of disaster. These crises tend to resolve themselves, eventually. Because both sides eventually see that they’re courting disaster and draw back from the brink.
But there’s something a bit different this time. And it’s worth teasing out what that is.
Continue reading “Policy vs Positioning Has Dems in a Stalemate”
Trump Sues The New York Times And His Own Niece, Who Calls Him A ‘F*cking Loser’
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
Trump Smash
The ex-president filed a $100 million suit against Mary Trump, the New York Times, and three of its reporters (David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner) over their blockbuster story on his tax evasion schemes based on tax records that his niece provided.
- Trump’s lawsuit accuses the defendants of carrying out “an insidious plot to obtain confidential and highly-sensitive records which they exploited for their own benefit and utilized as a means of falsely legitimizing their publicized works.”
- Mary Trump mocked her uncle as a “fucking loser” in response to the lawsuit. “The walls are closing in and he is throwing anything against the wall that will stick,” she told the Daily Beast, which first reported on the lawsuit.
- The Times blasted the lawsuit as “an attempt to silence independent news organizations,” asserting that the outlet’s report “helped inform citizens through meticulous reporting on a subject of overriding public interest.”
- Susan Craig, who won a Pulitzer in 2019 with Barstow and Buettner for their report, had this to say:
I knocked on Mary Trump’s door. She opened it. I think they call that journalism. @MaryLTrump https://t.co/i04hmblI4n
— Susanne Craig (@susannecraig) September 22, 2021
House Democrats Pass The Spending Bill With A Debt Limit Suspension
Without a single vote from their Republican colleagues, House Democrats on Tuesday passed a stop-gap spending measure to fund the government through Dec. 3 and extend the debt limit until December 2022.
- Now the real fight goes to the Senate, where Republicans have sworn they would reject the measure even if it means the entire country defaults on its loans and the government shuts down.
Tom Cotton says Democrats need to fund the government to keep it open past next week and avoid any kind of default because Republicans won’t help them pic.twitter.com/LXerUbqekO
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 22, 2021
Biden To Meet Today With Democratic Leadership
The President is slated to hold a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today to help bring the party’s moderate and progressive groups together amid turbulence over his two-track plan for the bipartisan infrastructure bill and reconciliation.
An Anti-Masker Restaurant Owner Kicks Out A Couple Trying To Protect Their Immunocompromised Kid
A couple with a 4-month-old immunocompromised son got kicked out of a restaurant in Rowlett, Texas, earlier this month for wearing masks inside the establishment.
- The restaurant waitress allegedly told the couple, “Our manager told me to come over because I am nicer than he is … But this is political and I need you to take your masks off.”
- The restaurant owner told local news outlet CBS 11 News that “I have spent my money on the business, my blood sweat and tears in this business, and I don’t want masks in here,” and that “I feel the overall reaction with masks is ridiculous in the United States right now.”
In Case You Missed It
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) quietly signed more abortion restrictions into law this week.
- The law puts a ban on providing abortion-inducing drugs after seven weeks of pregnancy.
- Those who “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly” violate the ban will face a prison sentence of up to two years and fines up to $10,000.
What’s Sinema’s Deal?
It’s not easy to pinpoint what exactly Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-AZ) deal is, but a TPM reader who’s been receiving mailers singing her praises from the ”Center Forward” PAC has a good theory involving her pandering to independents.
Must-Read
“‘I Just Cry All the Time’: Non-Covid Patients Despair Over Delayed Care” – The New York Times
A Democrat Defends Border Agents Who Charged At Migrants On Horseback
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) thinks people really need to chill out over Border Patrol agents using horses to chase and grab Haitian migrants at the southern border.
- “What are they supposed to do, just stand there and let everybody come in?” he asked on CNN.
- Besides, “Border Patrol has had those horse brigades for a while,” the Democrat insisted.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) on Border Patrol agents using reins on Haitian migrants:
“Border Patrol has had those horse brigades for a while … What are they supposed to do, just stand there and let everybody come in?” pic.twitter.com/B6BhH9z5MW
— The Recount (@therecount) September 21, 2021
- Fun fact: Cuellar was one of the nine House Democrats who tried to force House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to hold a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Gaze Into The Abyss
Here’s a look at how conservatives are “hello there fellow kids”-ing with this truly cursed #content:
Watch out, Netflix, the Gen Z Republican channel is here. pic.twitter.com/ehBFzmndJ2
— Will Sommer (@willsommer) September 22, 2021
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Where Things Stand: McConnell’s Not Biting
We covered a report over the weekend about ex-President Trump’s ambition to boot longtime Republican leader Mitch McConnell out of office. McConnell has refused to comment on the news, a stance first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, and he shrugged again today.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: McConnell’s Not Biting”
NYT: Internal Trump Camp Memo Debunked Powell’s Dominion Lies, Lawsuit Claims
In a now-infamous Nov. 19 press conference at the Republican Party’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C., Sidney Powell and other attorneys then representing Donald Trump and his campaign made a series of bizarre claims about Dominion Voting Systems, painting a wild picture of a years-long socialist plot to steal elections in multiple countries.
But these claims weren’t just bizarre. Campaign staffers had been warned, according to a court filing in a defamation suit first reported Tuesday by The New York Times, that they were false.
Continue reading “NYT: Internal Trump Camp Memo Debunked Powell’s Dominion Lies, Lawsuit Claims”
In The Face Of Republican Obstruction, Dems Work To Get Their House In Order
Today, the House is expected to vote on the continuing resolution that loops together funding the government for a few months and suspending the debt ceiling through December 2022.
Continue reading “In The Face Of Republican Obstruction, Dems Work To Get Their House In Order”
Legislative Staff Debugs Climate Plan As Manchin Threatens Its Existence
As Democratic moderates stake out ultimatums, party leadership tries to keep the agenda in one piece and the White House attempts to polish the messy optics of legislative sausage-making, staffers continue to plug away at crafting the actual reconciliation package behind the scenes.
Continue reading “Legislative Staff Debugs Climate Plan As Manchin Threatens Its Existence”
Biden Is Right To Call The State Of Voting Rights An Existential Threat. But The Walk Must Be As Aggressive As The Talk.
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.
Earlier this summer, the president of the United States traveled to the city where the Constitution was written, debated and signed and warned of mounting perils to American democracy. He invoked Jim Crow and called new election laws and voter suppression efforts in state legislatures the most dangerous threat to voting and the integrity of free elections in American history.
How The Newly Revealed ‘Eastman Memo’ Fits Into Trump’s Election Theft Conspiracy
Yet another crucial piece of the Trumpian conspiracy to steal a second term in office has been made public.
Continue reading “How The Newly Revealed ‘Eastman Memo’ Fits Into Trump’s Election Theft Conspiracy”