U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

Jevin D. Hodge for Congress @JevinHodge

BREAKING: @CookPolitical JUST moved our race to a TOSS-UP!

Americans are tired of MAGA Republican David Schweikert representing Arizona in Congress and are ready for new leadership.

On November 8th, we will win and flip AZ01 blue.

https://twitter.com/JevinHodge/status/1572577386591555588

[Rick Plant]

Catherine Cortez Masto @CortezMasto

Nevada is suffering through a historic drought – so I delivered billions to protect our water supply and fight extreme droughts.

Meanwhile, this is @AdamLaxalt's plan in his own words: "no comment."

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1572726114669166594

https://twitter.com/CortezMasto/status/1572726114669166594


Mandela Barnes @TheOtherMandela

Ron Johnson doesn’t have to worry about retirement because he's doubled his wealth while in office.

But the rest of us need Social Security and Medicare – and we won’t let him take them away.

https://twitter.com/TheOtherMandela/status/1572376276043710464


Tim Ryan @TimRyan

Today, Mitch McConnell is hosting a swanky fundraiser for JD Vance in Washington D.C. in a desperate attempt to save his floundering campaign.

Me? I'm proudly relying on folks like Mary from Cincinnati and Michael from Warren who both chipped in $50 last week.

https://twitter.com/TimRyan/status/1572356663000338434


Reverend Raphael Warnock @ReverendWarnock

As a voice for Georgia in the Senate, I will continue to push bills that reflect the priorities of hard-working people from Albany to Valdosta and everywhere in between.

https://twitter.com/ReverendWarnock/status/1572581886253465601

[Rick Plant]

President Biden @POTUS

Today, I joined fellow leaders at the United Nations General Assembly with one resounding message: the nations of the world are united still.
 
Let us stand together to declare our resolve. And bend the arc of history toward a freer and more just world for all our children.

I joined UN Secretary-General @AntonioGuterres to reaffirm the partnership between the U.S. and the United Nations.
 
We discussed the threat of Russia's war in Ukraine to the UN Charter and global community and the need for swift action to address climate and food insecurity.




Tune in as I deliver remarks before the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1vAGRAZpZaNKl

[Rick Plant]

Yes, this is the same Rick Scott who wants to eliminate Social Security and Medicare along with raising taxes on the middle class.

Rick Scott’s NRSC accused of violating federal law with GOP attack ads in Senate races



The campaign arm of Senate Republicans is facing a complaint that it is illegally spending money in 2022 midterm races.

The complaint was based off a bombshell New York Times report titled, "How a Record Cash Haul Vanished for Senate Republicans."

The report focused on the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which is chaired this cycle by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL).

"Mr. Scott has taken to saying that money could be the party’s greatest impediment to taking control of the 50-50 Senate in November, and he has been acting to make up financial ground," The Times reported on Sept. 3. "Under campaign finance law, a portion of the committee’s funds are supposed to be walled off for legal expenses, and are not to be used for campaigning. Yet in July, the committee’s biggest expense — a $1 million media buy, apparently for Colorado and Washington ads — came from those restricted legal funds, according to federal records.

Chris Hartline, a spokesperson for the NRSC and Scott, told the newspaper “If the Democrats don’t like that, tough.”

Apparently, it wasn't only Democrats who did not like the practice as the NRSC is now facing a Federal Election Commission complaint from the Campaign Legal Center.

"The spending, which appears to have been used for ads in the Senate races in Colorado and Washington State, is part of more than $3 million in media-related spending through the Republican committee’s legal fund, according to federal filings in 2021 and 2022," The Times reported Wednesday. "Federal law stipulates that money raised for such an account, to which individual donors are allowed to give three times as much as they can to the main committee fund-raising vehicle, can be used only for 'the preparation for and the conduct of election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings.'"

Read The Full Report:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/21/us/politics/fec-complaint-republican-campaign-finance.html?smid=url-share

[Rick Plant]

GOP House candidate lied about being deployed to Afghanistan



During his campaign for a northwestern Ohio congressional seat, Republican J.R. Majewski has said he's an Air Force combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks . But according to military documents obtained by the Associated press, Majewski never deployed to Afghanistan, but instead spent a six-month stint helping load planes at an air base in Qatar.

The AP's report states that Majewski has exaggerated other aspects of his military service as well, namely "conspiracy theories, talk of violent action against the U.S. government" and "occasional financial duress."

“It bothers me when people trade on their military service to get elected to office when what they are doing is misleading the people they want to vote for them,” Don Christensen, a retired colonel and former chief prosecutor for the Air Force, said of Majewski. “Veterans have done so much for this country and when you claim to have done what your brothers and sisters in arms actually did to build up your reputation, it is a disservice.”

The House GOP campaign committee described Majewski as a veteran whose “squadron was one of the first on the ground in Afghanistan after 9/11.” A campaign ad launched by Majewski supporters claimed he was an “Afghanistan War Veteran." In a tweet from last year criticizing the U.S. withdraw from the country, he said he would “gladly suit up and go back to Afghanistan.”

Don Christensen, a retired colonel and former chief prosecutor for the Air Force, told the AP that as somebody was also stationed in Qatar, "I do not consider myself a combat veteran."

“I think that would be offensive to those who were actually engaged in combat and Iraq and Afghanistan," Christensen said.

Majewski’s campaign said that he calls himself a combat veteran because Qatar is considered a combat zone.

"Majewski also lacks many of the medals that are typically awarded to those who served in Afghanistan," the AP reports. "Though he once said that he went more than 40 days without a shower during his time in the landlocked country, he does not have an Afghanistan campaign medal, which was issued to those who served '30 consecutive days or 60 nonconsecutive days' in the country."

Read More Here:

https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-afghanistan-ohio-campaigns-e75d2566635f11f49332bd1c46711999



Michigan GOP AG candidate may face criminal charges before election for tampering with voting machines: report

The GOP nominee for attorney general in Michigan could face criminal charges stemming from his election denialism before the November election.

Kalamazoo attorney Matthew Perno is being investigated by Muskegon County Prosecutor DJ Hilson, who was appointed special prosecutor by Attorney General Dana Nessel, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Hilson issued a statement on the timing of potential charges, saying, "As prosecutor, I have an ethical obligation to ensure that all necessary evidence and information is obtained and reviewed so that a determination of criminal charges can be made. In order to meet that obligation, I have determined that additional investigative work needs to be done and I am working with investigators on those issues."

"I am acting as expeditiously as possible, but due to this ethical obligation, I cannot say at this time when any decisions would be made."

Nessel requested a special prosecutor as DePerno is her opponent following an investigation by her office and the Michigan State Police.

Also under investigation are GOP state Rep. Daire Rendon and Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf, among others.

"According to documents from Nessel's office, several people − including DePerno − are also accused of either illegally tampering with voting machines or being present when others "broke into the tabulators." Additional people accused of misconduct in the request for a special prosecutor include Stefanie Lambert Juntilla, Ann Howard, Ben Cotton, Jeff Lenberg, Douglas Logan and James Penrose," the newspaper reported. "Juntilla, a lawyer, has worked on debunked legal efforts brought by Trump-supporting attorney Sydney Powell and others to suggest widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Cotton, Lenberg, Logan and Penrose worked both with Powell's so-called 'Kraken' team on discredited election efforts across the country and on DePerno's Antrim County lawsuit."

DePerno has denied any wrongdoing.

Read More Here:

https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/09/21/matthew-deperno-election-investigation/69508756007/?gnt-cfr=1

[Rick Plant]

Senate approves first climate treaty in decades

While the Senate is badly divided on most climate issues, strong backing from the business community to eliminate hydrofluorocarbons.

The Senate ratified its first international climate treaty in three decades on Wednesday, approving an agreement worked out in 2016 that will phase down refrigerant chemicals that are among the most potent climate pollutants.

While the Senate is badly divided on most climate issues, strong backing from the business community to eliminate hydrofluorocarbons, known as HFCs, aligned with environmentalists’ agenda to help secure enough Republican support to meet the Constitution’s requirement of two-thirds support.

The Senate voted 69-27 to approve the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, joining 136 other nations and the European Union in approving the deal.

“The transition away from HFCs is expected to stimulate literally billions of dollars in economic investment in this country … create tens of thousands of jobs and significantly increase U.S. exports while using technology developed in this country,” Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) said on Wednesday.

Originally approved in the 1980s, the landmark Montreal Protocol successfully brought down emissions of chemicals that harmed the ozone layer, but in turn prompted manufacturers to switch to a new family of chemicals — hydrofluorocarbons — that do not harm the ozone layer but are potent greenhouse gases. Today, HFCs are used in refrigerators and air conditioners, as well as foam and aerosol products.

Depending on its makeup, a pound of HFCs can have as much warming potential as hundreds or even tens of thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide. That makes capping their use a critical part of combatting near-term warming; the Kigali Amendment will stave off 0.5 degrees Celsius of warming this century, according to the Biden administration.

The amendment requires countries to reduce their use of HFCs by 85 percent over 15 years. It was negotiated at an international gathering in Rwanda in 2016 by John Kerry, then the secretary of State and now President Joe Biden’s international climate envoy, and Gina McCarthy, then the EPA administrator, who just recently stepped down as Biden’s national climate adviser.

Congress already did the hard work in late 2020, when the Senate reached a deal on legislation empowering EPA to more forcefully regulate HFCs in order to meet Kigali’s goal.

Since then, major business interests have lobbied for ratification, partly because U.S. manufacturers are poised to play a leading role in selling next-generation refrigerants with much less climate impact. Not ratifying the treaty also would have led to trade restrictions in the 2030s.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce made ratification a “key vote” and in a letter this week argued that approving it “would enhance the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers working to develop alternative technologies, and level the global economic playing field.”

"The Senate is signaling that Kigali counts by ratifying the amendment,” Stephen Yurek, president and CEO of the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, said in a statement. “It counts for the jobs it will create; it counts for global competitive advantage it creates; it counts with the additional exports that will result and it counts for U.S. technology preeminence.”

Despite having already given EPA the authority to effectively enforce the treaty, many Republicans still opposed ratification.

“Many of the benefits and jobs being touted are from U.S. innovations and our domestic legislation, not ratification of Kigali,” said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.). “We did it here, we did it right. We don’t need to get entangled in another United Nations treaty.”

Lawmakers overwhelming voted to back a GOP amendment that calls for China to stop being classified as a developing nation under the United Nations’ main climate convention, and instead to be identified as a developed nation with more responsibilities. The amendment made ratification of the Kigali treaty contingent on the State Department filing an amendment with the UN reclassifying China as a developed nation — though not on successful passage of that amendment.

The agency last year issued a major regulation capping the U.S.’s HFC usage and ramping it down over the next 15 years in line with the Kigali Amendment’s timeline. EPA will dole out annual allowances to companies, which can then be traded or sold. That regulation attracted only narrow legal challenges, particularly over EPA’s ban on the use of disposable HFC canisters, which the agency said is a key part of its enforcement efforts.

EPA is also considering a litany of petitions filed by states, environmentalists and industry groups seeking specific end-use restrictions on certain HFC substances in various products.

EPA is also planning to restore a rule requiring HFC leak inspections and repairs for industrial and commercial refrigerators that was rolled back during the Trump administration, though final action isn’t expected until 2024.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/21/senate-approves-first-climate-treaty-in-decades-00058078

[Rick Plant]

More brand new national polls have been released today.

Not one poll showed any movement towards Republicans.

All of these 9 new polls however show movement towards Democrats.

538 now has the Democrats at +2 Dem in their generic poll model.

In order for the Democrats to safely regain control of the House, they need to be up by +3 points and a few polling firms already have the Democrats up by +3. Most have them up at +2. 
 
Here is the most recent polling coming out today showing Democrats up and gaining over Republicans:

Rasmussen, Fox News +3

NBC +2

NYT, Economist, Echelon, Morning Consult, Dem Corp, Navigator +1