U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

Here’s the con: you run for President. You never poll above 2% in the primary, but you convince donors to keep you afloat because there’s no frontrunner. Then you sign a book deal, use your Iowa caucus media coverage to promote your book, make a million bucks from it, drop out.

Half the 2024 Republican field is running this con. They know they can’t win. They’re not trying. Not even a real campaign. Instead of trying to appeal to voters, they spend the campaign doing favors for the media, so they can cash in those favors later to promote their book.

Here’s the other con: you already hold lower office and you run for President. You know you can’t win and you don’t even try to. You raise money but you don’t spend any of it, and quietly drop out. Then you use that money to fund your reelection campaign for lower office.

[Rick Plant]

DeSantis’ approval rating in Florida is back below 50% in the most recent polling averages. 

The National media spent all of 2022 hyping DeSantis as unstoppable, because it wanted him reelected, so he could run in 2024 and it could get ratings out of him.

If the media hadn’t propped him up, he’d have lost reelection.

DeSantis’ approval rating in Florida was underwater for much of his first term. He was not on track to win reelection until the national media (on the left and right) bailed him out by portraying him as unstoppable and inevitable. So, Democratic voters in Florida simply gave up and didn't turn out to vote.

Now that DeSantis has had to step onto the national stage, everyone is seeing that he’s a weak joke, and he’s collapsing so badly that even his approval rating in Florida is plummeting back down to where it was a year or two ago.

Even Florida never liked him all that much.

But the media just had to go and dishonestly help DeSantis get reelected, so he’d make it into the presidential election.

Even though the media knew he was a total clown who would faceplant like this and be toast by 2023.

The national media burned Florida to the ground for nothing.

And the hosts at MSNBC were every bit as guilty of this as were the hosts at Fox News.

MSNBC hyped DeSantis a villain, but they still endlessly hyped him. Portrayed him as powerful. Insisted he was a lock for reelection.

DeSantis' right wing extremist policies are very unpopular in Florida as well as it is all across the nation.

It doesn't matter which right winger Republicans end up nominating in 2024, their nominee will push this same radical right wing agenda like banning books, interfering in the education system, anti abortion, anti freedom policies, more guns, cut social security & medicare, more tax cuts for the top 1%. That's all the GOP is about and people in Florida are tired of DeSantis and his fascism. And the majority of Americans oppose these right wing extremist policies too.           


Most Floridians Disapprove of State’s Direction, DeSantis’ Approval Rating Drops by 19 Points in New Poll



A survey of nearly 3,000 Florida voters reveals unease over the state’s direction, opposition to many of the bills signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, and frustration over rising housing and insurance costs.

Before this spring’s state legislative session, a majority of Floridians believed the state was on the right track (46% right track / 42% wrong track). As the session came to a close, however, 50% believe the state is headed in the wrong direction, while only 42% think it’s on the right track.

Pollsters Florida Watch and Progress Florida, collectively known as the Florida Communications and Research Hub (Hub), attribute this shift in their surveys to Floridians’ growing dissatisfaction with the agenda carried out by Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislators in Tallahassee.   

“When we look back on this legislative session, it is clear Floridians do not believe that Gov. DeSantis and legislative leaders focused on the priorities they believed would improve their lives,” said Progress Florida Executive Director Mark Ferrulo.

DeSantis’ Dramatic Drop

In February, before the legislative session, the Hub’s polling showed DeSantis with a 60% approval rate and the Florida Legislature with 49% support from voters. But by the time the legislative session was winding down, in late April and Early May, their surveys found that the governor’s approval rating dropped by a whopping 19 points (50% approve / 49% disapprove).

According to the Hub, these results can be attributed to erosion among Democrats (-38 pts), No Party Affiliated voters (-16 pts), women (-12 pts), Latinos (-14 pts) – notably Cuban-Americans (-12 pts) – and Black Floridians (-37 pts).

The Florida Legislature’s approval rate also took a hit, dropping to 43% favorable and 47% unfavorable.

Additionally:

- 36% of Floridians cited the cost of home and auto insurance as the top financial stressor in their lives.
- The cost of housing was the main financial stressor for 22% of people across the state.
- 49% of Floridians disapprove of the job DeSantis is doing to make housing more affordable (38% approve).

GOP-Passed Bills Are Unpopular

Results of the recent survey also showed that several key bills passed by Republicans in the legislative session are strongly opposed by a majority of people across the state:

- 78% of Floridians oppose permitless carry of concealed weapons (20% support).
- 56% don’t support the state’s near-total abortion ban (41% support).
- 86% oppose new legislation allowing the governor and legislative leaders to conceal their travel records from the public.
- 60% oppose changing the state’s “resign-to-run” law as DeSantis prepares to launch a campaign for president (31% support).
- The Hub surveyed 2,713 registered voters in Florida from April 26-May 3, 2023, as Florida’s legislative session came to a close, with a margin of error of ±1.85% at 95% confidence.

https://theamericanonews.com/floricua/2023/05/19/most-floridians-disapprove-of-states-direction-desantis-approval-rating-drops-by-19-points-in-new-poll/

[Rick Plant]

After the 4 year Trump disaster, we finally are finally Building Back America.

[Rick Plant]

Lauren Boebert mocked after being busted by CNN for lying



Raw Story reported last week that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) missed the vote for raising the debt ceiling, which she had opposed. But a reporter at Axios spotted her rushing up the steps of the Capitol just as the vote was being closed. She'd missed it and the press knew.

A new video from CNN showed it wasn't just the word of a reporter that observed Boebert racing up the steps, they got her on video.

A CNN producer was heard on video saying, "They closed it."

"They closed it?" Boebert shouted back.

"Yeah," the producer said. Boebert paused, but then continued running up the steps of the Capitol.

First, Boebert claimed that there was no such thing as the debt ceiling and that it was all "fake news."

"Tomorrow's bill is a bunch of fake news and fake talking points that will do nothing to rein in out-of-control federal spending," she said.

"No excuses," Boebert said on June 3. " I was ticked off they wouldn't let me do my job, so I wouldn't take the vote. Once again, Washington's power machine shoved a multi-trillion-dollar bill down our throats, refused to allow debate or amendments, disregarded everything we fought for, in January to actually allow representatives to do their jobs, and instead, they served us up a cr*p sandwich."

She claimed that she simply refused to be part of it. In fact, she tried to be a part of it and then missed it.

As a fact check, there were 81 proposed amendments, and 14 of those were either co-sponsored or even introduced by Boebert.

As it turns out, she did show up for the vote.

When CNN released the video of her racing up the steps, it called her office to ask for an explanation for the Twitter claim that it was a "protest."

"A spokesperson responded by providing a link to Boebert’s Thursday statement, which outlined her opposition to the bill but did not substantiate her subsequent assertion in the social media video that she had missed the vote on purpose," said CNN.

“I certainly wasn’t afraid to vote against the bill, as I have been advocating against it all week,” Boebert said in the statement.

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki dragged Boebert while subbing for Chris Hayes' show Monday night. "You snooze you lose," the screen said.

"I can't stop watching that," Psaki chuckled.

News 9 Denver's Kyle Clark did his own commentary on the matter Monday, saying that Boebert had a note put in the Congressional record that she missed the debt ceiling vote because she was "unavoidably detained."

"Now she's saying she skipped the vote on purpose as a protest," said Clark. "Both cannot be true and Boebert knows which one of her claims is a lie. Congresswoman Boebert often gets a pass from the media for making outrageous and false statements because she does it so often. That's not fair to the Coloradans in her district or to the elected officials who do not blatantly lie to voters. I can hear you saying, 'Oh, all politicians lie all the time.' Except they don't. We have covered countless conservatives and progressives and everywhere in between, politicians who strive to tell the truth every day. They don't all offer up obvious, clumsy lies that insult the intelligence of voters."

He closed by saying that if a politician makes something up they will always call them out, but it "doesn't give anyone else the license to lie, even if they make it part of their personal brand."

"Here's why this matters," Jon Cooper tweeted. "Yes, it exposes Lauren as incompetent. But it also exposes her as a LIAR. Because she CLAIMED her no-show vote was a form of protest because the bill was a "cr*p sandwich.” She was so smug and so proud in another video claiming that she skipped the vote because 'they wouldn't let me do my job.' Gee. I thought her job was to vote."

See videos in link below:

Morgan Rimmer @morgan_rimmer

Here is a clip from that night outside the Capitol, showing Rep. Boebert running up the stairs as though she was trying to make the vote, and me telling her that it had closed already.

*running up steps*
Me: They closed it.
Boebert: They closed it?
*keeps running*

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1665412392442888194


Kyle Clark @KyleClark

Commentary: Giving Rep. Lauren Boebert a pass for lying about missing the debt ceiling vote does a disservice to her constituents and to elected officials who haven't made falsehoods their personality. #copolitics

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1665886204460670977

https://www.rawstory.com/lauren-boebert-colorado-vote-lies/



George Santos begs court not to reveal who paid his $500,000 bond



Rep. George Santos' (R-NY) lawyers filed court documents Monday in which they begged a judge to keep the guarantor who paid the congressman's bail bond secret, according to CBS News reporter Scott MacFarlane.

Santos was indicted and held on $500,000 bond which was paid for by an undisclosed person. The lawyers explained that they're seeking to keep the identity sealed because they "are likely to suffer great distress, may lose their jobs and, God forbid, may suffer physical injury."

“There is little doubt that the suretors will suffer some unnecessary form of retaliation if their identities and employment are revealed," the defense lawyer also said.

“My client would rather surrender to pretrial detainment than subject these suretors to what will inevitably come," the lawyer explained.

MacFarlane also said that Santos' latest court filing revealed that the House Ethics Committee had asked him about the identity of the individuals that helped pay his bond, but his lawyers refused to answer.



Read More Here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-santos-court-deadline-reveal-3-people-who-secured-500k-bail/



Harlan Crow’s argument for refusing to cooperate with Senate investigators is feeble: legal expert



Harlan Crow is at the center of an ethics scandal over lavish gifts to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and the conservative billionaire isn't offering up much in the way of a legal argument for declining to cooperate with a Senate inquiry, legal analyst Kim Wehle writes for The Bulwark.

Crow’s gifts to Thomas and his wife, Ginni, which included luxury vacations, are the subject of a ProPublica investigative report that have prompted renewed calls for Supreme Court ethics reform.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin issued a statement last month calling for “the full extent of Mr. Crow’s and the corporations’ gifts to Justice Thomas, what other individuals were able to gain special access to Justice Thomas and any other Justices via the travel and lodging provided, and whether those individuals had interests before the Supreme Court.”

Crow claims the request to review the gifts is unconstitutional and has declined to comply.

His attorney Michael Bopp, in a letter to responding to the committee’s request wrote that “Congress does not have the constitutional power to impose ethics rules and standards on the Supreme Court,” and that therefore the entire investigation is illegitimate.

Wehle contends that the Crow’s lawyer is making a flimsy argument.

Wehle writes that “If Bopp’s letter were filed with a federal court, it would come precariously close to violating Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which enables courts to impose sanctions on lawyers for advocating excessively frivolous arguments.”

Bopp in his letter argues that the Constitution restricts Congress from applying the types of ethical rules and standards already exist or lower court on the Supreme Court.

Wehle writes that “The argument is that the Supreme Court is created by the Constitution expressly, whereas the Constitution gives Congress the power to create the lower federal judiciary, which it did with the first Federal Judiciary Act of 1789, so Congress can only regulate the courts that it actually creates in the first place.”

Wehle believes that Bopp’s argument that the Supreme Court is “so constitutionally sacrosanct” that it is above being accountable to Congress is historically inaccurate.

“Crow is rebuffing a legitimate inquiry into an ethics scandal that directly involves himself,” Wehle writes.

“Given the sobering separation of powers concerns at stake, Crow’s contempt of the U.S. Congress is truly contemptible.”

Read the full article here: https://plus.thebulwark.com/p/harlan-crow-weak-argument-refusing-investigation

[Rick Plant]

That president is used to bankruptcy court': House Democrat hits Trump over calls for US to default



United States Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) made fun of former President Donald Trump's business failures during an interview about the debt ceiling on Monday's edition of NBC News' Meet the Press Now.

"All right. You said you plan on using the debt ceiling actually in your campaign messaging. This is something that you said in Axios. 'Moskowitz who just won by five points in 2022 says he does plan to incorporate the debt ceiling into his campaign message, arguing that a vote for Democrats is a vote for normalcy on the issue.' And you said, 'We already had Donald Trump saying live on CNN that the US should default. Imagine what he would say in January or February or March of the next year,'" the host recalled.

"Do you think your voters are paying attention to the debt ceiling, that they know what's going on, that that's something you can use as a pitch to them to see you reelected in the next campaign?" Moskowitz was asked.

"Well, look, obviously, thankfully we didn't see, like, a decrease in our credit rating like we saw ten years ago So I don't know that they were paying attention to it as much this time as they, we were, they were last time. Quite frankly, Washington has cried wolf a lot on the debt ceiling, so possibly people tune it out," Moskowitz replied.

"But I will say I, I was concerned when I see a former president of the United States saying, 'We should default' as if somehow the United States would just go to bankruptcy court, which is what that president is used to," Moskowitz quipped of Trump's history of insolvency.

"Imagine what he would say a year from now — exactly my point — weaponizing, you know, the full faith and credit of the United States," Moskowitz added. "So what I am gonna say to my voters is, what I did say before, is what you saw in the midterm election. I was elected in the midterm election where Democrats did a lot better than everybody thought. It's because I am pushing normal. I am pushing sanity. I am pushing logic. It's enough of all the noise. I mean, we're not gonna govern via Twitter."

“I see [Trump] saying ‘we should default,’ as if somehow the [U.S.] would just go to bankruptcy court, which is what that president is used to."

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1665825016498233345



AZ GOP senator proudly flies flag adopted by ‘fringe’ far-right extremists



A West Valley Republican state senator proudly displays a flag tied to Christian nationalism and other extremist movements on her desk on the floor of the Arizona Senate, though she says she has embraced the symbol for its historical meaning and doesn’t care that “fringe groups” have adopted it.

The white flag with a pine tree on it and the phrase “An Appeal to Heaven” was originally used by George Washington and the Continental Army. It was later adopted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as its naval and maritime flag from 1776 until 1971, when it was replaced by a similar flag that did not include the phrase “An Appeal to Heaven.”

In recent years, the flag has been adopted by evangelical Christians and Christian nationalists, who see the flag as a rallying call. Christian nationalists believe that the United States is Christian nation that should base its laws and practices around the teachings of Christianity. For followers of the movement, the flag symbolizes what they view as America’s Christian roots.

The flag has also been embraced by far-right extremist organizations like the Proud Boys and some neo-Nazi groups.

Arizona Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, rejected the notion that her use of the flag indicates anything beyond her commitment to fighting to protect “our liberty and freedoms” from “the too many wanna be kings who inhabit elected office and (government) bureaucracies.”

“Something that has had a particular meaning for 250 years retains its original meaning, no matter which fringe group might seek to co-opt it,” Shamp said in an emailed response to questions about the flag. “I hope and pray that my fight enjoys a similarly favorable outcome as (George) Washington’s original struggle, and that I will succeed in restoring at least some small measure of liberty before I’m done.

“That’s why I fly the flag. I don’t know who else uses it or for what.”

Shamp did not respond to questions about whether she embraced the beliefs of Christian nationalism, and said she doesn’t know anything about Christian dominionism, a closely related belief system. She called the Arizona Mirror’s line of inquiry “lazy” and “an attempted hit.”

“I work everyday with people of all faiths and even some who hold no particular faith or even no faith at all. That’s how America works,” she wrote. “So anybody stupid enough to try to put me into some sort of discriminatory box deserves the public ridicule they’ll get for trying to convince people of something so obviously wrong.”

To investigative journalist, author and researcher David Neiwart, who has written extensively about the far-right and conspiracy theorists, the lines between many different groups have begun to blur as a “universe” of far-right groups from QAnon, militias, white supremacists and others have gained political influence, particularly among conservatives.

Most of them, however, share a few things in common, he said, including beliefs in “right-wing authoritarianism” and the alleged supremacy of Christianity.

And after looking at the various people and things Shamp has supported over the years, including various extremist and Christian nationalist figures and causes, Neiwart said it’s clear to him that Shamp ascribes to those beliefs.

“She is definitely a Christian nationalist, she is definitely QAnon, and a fully enraptured Trumpite,” Neiwert said.

While a surge in Christian nationalism in recent years has garnered media attention — due in part to high-profile conservatives like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has explicitly declared herself a Christian nationalist, and the backing of influential leaders like white nationalist Nick Fuentes — Christian dominionism has similarly been on the rise, though with much less fanfare.

While Christian nationalism centers on the idea that God intended America to be a Christian nation — one without religious pluralism — and that Christians should control all levels of government and society, Christian dominionism holds that Christians should take total control over most aspects of society.

One of the more popular Dominionist beliefs is in the so-called “Seven Mountain Mandate,” which draws from the biblical book of Revelations and requires Christians to invade the “seven spheres” of society: family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business, and government. In doing so, American life can be reshaped to hew to conservative Christian values.

The idea has been embraced and promoted by people like Turning Point USA leader Charlie Kirk and Paula White, the televangelist who served as a “spiritual advisor” to Donald Trump while he was president.

According to Neiwart, the key difference between Christian dominionism and nationalism is that dominionists want everyone under Christian rule, while nationalists think everyone should convert to Christianity.

“Christian nationalists take it a step further than Christian Dominionists,” Neiwart said, adding that a dominionist wouldn’t care if a Muslim was present, “they just want them under the thumb of Christian leaders.”

One of the biggest promoters of Christian nationalism and dominionism has been disgraced Ret. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, who has claimed that he is waging “spiritual warfare” and building an “army of God.” Flynn is also known to associate with other known Dominionist groups.

Shamp is a fervent supporter of Flynn’s, and has posted praise of Flynn often on social media. The recent COVID-19 special committee she co-chaired was sponsored in part by an organization that Flynn co-founded.

“I get goosebumps every time General Flynn talks about our great Nation!” Shamp said in a December 2021 post accompanied by a video of Flynn.

At a Trump rally in Florence in January 2022, Shamp told Business Insider that the “No. 1 person standing up for ‘we, the people’ is probably Gen. Michael Flynn.”

She explained that Flynn was helping fight for the “grassroots, for citizens to get involved, for us to take our country back” from the “political elite.” Flynn later endorsed Shamp in her bid for the Arizona Senate.

Shamp, a conservative from Surprise, has also been found to have shared a number of QAnon posts on her Facebook, including some linked to Neo-Nazis and antisemites.

The flag, which Shamp displays on her desk and in her Twitter banner image, has also been connected to extremist groups and violent events. During the violent events of Jan. 6, the flag was seen being carried by a number of individuals.

It has also been adopted by groups that support the likes of Fuentes, who during protests over mask mandates and COVID vaccines, flew the flag, as well as at their annual gatherings, according to Neiwart.

That is what in part makes it hard to know who exactly was flying the flag at the riots on Jan. 6, far-right extremists or Christian nationalist types, Neiwart said, but that doesn’t change one underlying thing.

“I would say Christian nationalism as a phenomenon is one of the real undergirding movements involved in the insurrection,” Neiwart said, adding that the militias and other groups such as the OathKeepers all had underlying Christian nationalist roots or beliefs. “All these Christian patriots that formed these militias are Christian nationalists as well.”

Shamp’s flag is not the first time the flag has appeared in the Arizona Senate, either.

Last year, the Secular Coalition of Arizona pointed out that a small version of the flag was being displayed on the security desk in the Arizona Senate; it was later removed. A spokeswoman for the Arizona Senate Republican caucus did not respond to multiple requests for comment about what policies, if any, the Senate has regarding the display of flags.

A larger version of the flag was displayed in the second-floor lobby of the Arizona House of Representatives last year, as well. Again, after the Secular Coalition of Arizona inquired about the flag, it was quietly removed. The flag had previously been displayed in the chamber in 2017.

The Secular Coalition of Arizona sees the flag as a violation of the constitutional doctrine requiring a separation of church and state.

For Neiwart, the appearance of the “An Appeal to Heaven” flag in Arizona, and statehouses across the country, is troubling.

“It is a pretty clear sign that this stuff has been mainstreamed and that is not a good thing,” he said. “I don’t think Americans typically awake to an existential threat until it creates a disaster of monumental proportions.”

https://www.azmirror.com/2023/06/05/janae-shamp-az-senator-proudly-flies-flag-adopted-by-fringe-far-right-extremists/



Ron DeSantis mocked over bizarre video of roaring laughter: ‘A faulty robot’

Florida governor howled with apparent amusement at car show in Iowa



Ron DeSantis has been mocked for a bizarre video that shows him roaring with laughter at an Iowa car show.

The Florida governor, who is expected to soon announce he is taking on Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, was caught on video cracking up at the Feenstra Family Picnic event last weekend.

During the appearance in Sioux Center, Iowa, DeSantis asked a man how much a 1955 Porsche at the event was worth.

“Ugh, we won’t even talk about that,” the man replied, which saw the Republican hopeful throw back his head and howl with apparent amusement.

Mr DeSantis’s seemingly over-the-top reaction in the viral clip saw him widely ridiculed online.

"You’ve seen the photos, but the video is somehow worse,” tweeted the anti-Trump political group The Lincoln Project.

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1658527236532600850

And another user added: “Timing is off, too. Sounds as though DeSantis AI started laughing before the guy finished his answer.”

“Such an awkward, odd, cringey, meatball of a man…” another Twitter user wrote, while one user compared him to “a faulty robot from Westworld.”

"Ron DeSantis is proof that artificial intelligence still has a long way to go before it can accurately replicate an authentic human laugh,” tweeted Mrs Betty Bowers, a character created by comic Deven Green.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ron-desantis-laughing-video-b2345049.html

[Rick Plant]

Biden welcomes Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/05/kansas-city-chiefs-white-house-visit-00100179


President Biden @POTUS

Today, I welcomed the 2023 Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs to the White House!




This season, the Chiefs showed us the power of one of the most elusive things: unity.

Despite their different backgrounds, players worked together with a distinct style – in constant motion with a joy for the game, love for each other, and love for the great city they represent.





https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1665905097484771328



President Biden hosts Kansas City Chiefs at White House | full video

President Biden welcomed the Super Bowl LVII champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, to the White House Monday afternoon. The Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles in February to clinch their second championship in four seasons.

Watch:

[Richard Smith]

Poor Old Joe continues a steady cognitive and physical decline.  Even the most radicalized Trump hater must be able to watch Old Joe and understand that he is not mentally and physically capable of another full term as president.  It is dangerous for the country and world.  It is also sad to witness.  His family should intervene.