U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

President Biden @POTUS

I had a very productive three days in the Republic of Korea. Looking forward to what we will accomplish in Tokyo next.




It was an honor to meet with Emperor Naruhito yesterday at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. The strong relationship between our two nations is anchored by our people-to-people ties and I look forward to building on that foundation during my time here in Japan.




The U.S.-Japan alliance is the cornerstone of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region — and our relationship is stronger than ever before. I met with Prime Minister Kishida to deepen our cooperation on security, emerging technologies, clean energy, and more.






Yesterday, I met with family members of Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korea several decades ago. Their stories were heartbreaking, and I call on North Korea to right this historic wrong and provide a full accounting of the 12 Japanese nationals who remain missing.



https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1528877655789117441

[Rick Plant]

David Perdue attacks Stacey Abrams: 'She is demeaning her own race'



Former Sen. David Perdue, a Republican candidate for governor in Georgia, accused Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams of "demeaning her own race" because she had suggested a plan for creating higher-paying jobs.

Perdue made the remarks while appearing at a campaign stop in Georgia on Monday afternoon.

"Did y'all see what Stacey said this weekend?" he asked the crowd. "She said that Georgia is the worst place in the country to live. Hey, she ain't from here. Let her go back where she came from if she doesn't like it here."

"The only thing she wants is to be president of the United States," he continued. "When she told Black farmers, you don't need to be on the farm. And she told Black workers in hospitality and all this, you don't need to be -- she is demeaning her own race when it comes to that."

Perdue added: "I am really over this. She should never be considered material for governor of any state, much less our state, where she hates to live."

Perdue was most likely referring to remarks Abrams made about agricultural work in 2018. Abrams later clarified that she was "the only candidate with detailed plans to invest in rural Georgia by creating good-paying jobs, expanding access to broadband, and investing in rural educators and students."

Watch the video below from John Fredericks Radio Network:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1528848054916468736


Trump-backed candidate sounded ‘foghorn’ of racism after getting endorsement from ‘low-energy Don’

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough accused David Perdue of sounding a "foghorn" of racist rhetoric in the closing days of his Georgia gubernatorial campaign.

The "Morning Joe" host was disgusted by the former GOP senator, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, after he hurled a litany of racist attacks against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams over the weekend.

"I don't know where to start with that," Scarborough said. "No endorsement from low-energy Don is going to erase all the things that happened there. He got replacement theory in there, the fascist refrain of, 'Go back to where you came from,' then you have an old, white millionaire being indignant that Black people might, quote, 'get off the farm.'"

"This is just, this is, this is not a dog whistle, this is, like, a foghorn blaring," he added. "And it's a foghorn through a megaphone, I guess. Again, even an endorsement from low-energy Don is not going to erase the horrors of this."

[Rick Plant]

McCormick sues over mail-in ballot procedures amid close GOP Senate fight with Oz

U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick has filed a lawsuit in a Pennsylvania court to compel the counting of Republican mail-in ballots submitted without a handwritten date on the outside envelope in a bid to close the gap with primary opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz.

The lawsuit, filed late Monday in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, asks the state to force all 67 counties' boards of elections to count Republican mail-in ballots received on time but without a handwritten date on the outside envelope, as mandated by the statute. McCormick campaign lawyers are basing their case on a fresh decision by a federal appellate court that ruled such ballots should be counted in a dispute over a Pennsylvania election in 2021.

"Both the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit have held that mail-in ballots should not be disqualified simply because the voters failed to hand write a date on the exterior mailing envelope of their ballots,” McCormick campaign Chief Legal Counsel Chuck Cooper said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner.

“Because all ballots are time-stamped by the County Boards of Elections on receipt, a voter's handwritten date is meaningless,” he added. “All timely ballots of qualified Republican voters should be counted."

Oz led McCormick by .08 percentage points with most precincts reporting as ballots continued to be counted six days after the primary election. But McCormick says that he believes he won the nomination and insists he will overtake Oz once remaining Republican mail-in ballots are tallied. With some Election Day votes and a sizable number of mail-in ballots and overseas military ballots left to count, McCormick’s claims are viable.

Going to court, however, presents a political risk for McCormick, at least in the court of Republican public opinion.

Former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Oz, is critical of mail-in ballots generally, as well as lawsuits filed to force states and municipalities to count votes in ways not expressly permitted by state law. Grassroots conservatives have historically opposed court-ordered rules changes but not necessarily mail-in balloting. But haranguing by Trump has made Republican voters suspicious of the latter and even more troubled by the former.

The McCormick campaign believes its lawsuit presents minimal risk because the goal here, unlike legal wrangling in the 2020 presidential contest, is simply to ensure that all Republican voters have their ballots counted.

“Every Republican primary vote should be counted, including the votes of Pennsylvania’s active-duty military members who risk their lives to defend our constitutional right to vote. When every Republican vote is counted, Dave looks forward to uniting the party and defeating socialist John Fetterman in the fall,” said McCormick campaign spokeswoman Jess Szymanski.

The Oz campaign has dismissed McCormick’s optimism and said mail-in ballots would not change the outcome of this contest, which is likely headed for a recount. Perhaps anticipating Monday’s legal action by McCormick, the Oz campaign issued a preemptive statement criticizing lawsuits that might seek to include the counting of excluded mail-in ballots.

“David McCormick has been a formidable opponent, but it is becoming obvious that he is likely going to come up short to Dr. Mehmet Oz. Unfortunately, the McCormick legal team is following the Democrats’ playbook, a tactic that could have long-term harmful consequences for elections in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Oz campaign manager Casey Contres said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/mccormick-sues-over-mail-in-ballot-procedures-amid-close-gop-senate-fight-with-oz

[Rick Plant]

Shapiro: ‘Dangerous’ Republican rival Mastriano could override will of voters

Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania governor says if Mastriano wins he could wield power to choose his own slate of electors and overturn presidential election results



Josh Shapiro, who was nominated this week as the Democrats’ candidate for governor in the electorally critical state of Pennsylvania, has accused his Republican rival of intending to override the democratic will of voters and pick his own winners in future elections.

Shapiro launched his attack on Doug Mastriano in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. He called Mastriano, a far-right state senator, “dangerous and divisive” and warned that were he to become Pennsylvania’s governor he could wield power to choose his own slate of presidential electors as a means of overturning the results of the 2024 presidential election.

“Senator Mastriano has made it clear that he will appoint electors based on his belief system,” Shapiro said. “He is essentially saying, ‘Sure you can go vote, but I will pick the winner’. That is incredibly dangerous.”

Fears about the anti-democratic leanings of Mastriano have rippled across Pennsylvania and through the country since he won the Republican primary last week. Were he to go on to defeat Shapiro, the state’s current attorney general, in November he would have considerable powers at his disposal to support what would in effect be an insurrection.

As governor, he would theoretically be able to refuse to certify the results of an election even though it had been conducted freely and fairly. He would also have the power to appoint Pennsylvania’s secretary of state – the position that controls all elections in the state.

Donald Trump endorsed Mastriano for the governor nomination shortly before the primary. The move was seen as rewarding the candidate’s loyalty in backing the former president’s attempt to cling to power illegitimately in 2020 – as well as paving the ground for a possible similar attempt at insurrection in 2024.

Mastriano was one of the most avid proponents of Trump’s “big lie” that electoral fraudsters stole the 2020 race against Joe Biden from him. He was present at the US Capitol on 6 January when Trump supporters and white supremacist extremists made their violent attempt to throw out the election results and keep Trump in office.

“Senator Mastriano wants to take us to a divisive and dark place,” Shapiro told CNN. “He has openly talked about, if he were governor, with a stroke of a pen doing away with voting machines which had votes that he didn’t agree with.”

Pennsylvania has been a vital swing state in recent presidential elections. Trump won the commonwealth by 44,000 votes in 2016, but he lost it to Biden four years later by 82,000 votes.

Mastriano is seen as being so extreme by Democratic strategists that the Shapiro campaign went to the lengths of running adverts during the primary that appeared to boost the Republican state senator – presumably on the principle that his far-right tendencies would make him easy to beat in November. The ad called Mastriano “one of Donald Trump’s strongest supporters” and said if he won the Republican nomination “it’s a win for what Donald Trump stands for”.

Shapiro was asked by CNN whether the move was an irresponsible attempt to help a candidate “because you think you can beat him”. The Democratic nominee denied the claim, saying he ran the ad as a way of getting an early start on the general election campaign.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/22/pennsylvania-josh-shapiro-democrat-republican-rival-doug-mastriano

[Rick Plant]

One of the most corrupt politicians in Washington is Democrat Kyrsten Sinema who is owned by Big Pharma. She is one of the reasons why people can't get affordable prescriptions such as insulin at $35. Big Pharma is giving her money to block President Biden's agenda to lower prescription prices for Americans. The other two reason is equally corrupt Democrat Joe Manchin and 50 Republican Senators who refuse to pass the legislation the overwhelming majority of Americans want. Who doesn't want to save money on medicine if you take it? These corrupt politicians won't let you.   

Kyrsten Sinema has taken $2.5 million from corporate PACs since 2021
The Democratic senator has been a top corporate ally, opposing a repeal of Trump-era business tax cuts



At the same time that Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was standing in opposition to Democratic efforts to raise taxes on corporations, she was raking in campaign cash from many of the companies lobbying against the tax increases — corporate PACs have given Sinema more than $2.5 million since 2021, more than one out of every three dollars she’s raised. 

An Arizona Mirror analysis of campaign finance reports between Jan. 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022 for both Sinema’s personal campaign and her leadership political action committee, Getting Stuff Done, show that her prodigious fundraising is powered by corporate money.

Her reports over that span shows she accepted just under $2 million for her campaign and $567,000 for her PAC. (Her PAC has drawn media scrutiny for spending thousands of dollars on wine, paying for a personal trip to Europe and a $34,500 payment to rent a resort in Sedona.) These numbers don’t reflect individual contributions from corporate executives or other employees at companies whose PACs gave her money.

In all, her campaign has raised more than $5.8 million in that same time, while her leadership PAC has brought in slightly less than $1.1 million. Her committees have received 36% of their combined money from corporate PACs.

Sinema received checks from businesses like Amazon, Honeywell, Intel and Merck, among many others, that have been actively fighting off Democratic efforts to reverse the 2017 tax cuts on businesses that Republicans passed while they were in power. Those groups are all part of The Business Roundtable, a coalition of prominent corporate leaders that argue increasing taxes is a threat to their future plans.

Sinema’s opposition to undoing those 2017 tax cuts is also a far cry from her campaign in 2018 against Martha McSally, when she attacked her opponent for supporting Donald Trump’s “huge tax breaks for the wealthy and large corporations at the expense of our middle class.”

Accepting millions of dollars from corporate PACs -- mostly from pharmaceutical companies, public utilities, banks and hedge funds -- puts her at odds with Mark Kelly, Arizona’s other senator.

Kelly, a first-term Democrat, has sworn off accepting corporate PAC money and called for them to be banned entirely. His message is summed up in a recent ad his campaign has placed on social media: “I don’t take money from corporate PACs because I know who I’m fighting for.” Kelly also introduced a bill with Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff to ban for-profit corporate PACs altogether.

Sinema’s office refused to answer specific questions for this story, but pushed back on whether she is actually opposed to raising the corporate tax. Her campaign did not respond.

Communications director Hannah Hurley said when Sinema told business leaders at a private Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry event that, “You all know, the entire country knows, that I'm opposed to raising the corporate minimum tax rate,” what she really meant was she is opposed to raising tax rates on corporations — President Joe Biden sought to raise the corporate rate from 21% to 28% — but is still in favor of setting the corporate minimum tax rate to 15%, ensuring that profitable companies aren’t able to dodge paying taxes through loopholes and other measures.

Even so, Sinema has stymied legislation or proposals she says she supports because she has steadfastly refused to end or change the filibuster, which requires the support of 60 senators for any legislation to receive a formal vote. In a Senate that is split 50-50, with Democrats holding the tie-breaking vote in Vice President Kamala Harris, that means any legislation that doesn’t have the backing of at least 10 Republicans cannot advance.

On May 23, activists protested Sinema in Tucson for her stance on the filibuster and questioned whether she was beholden to her “corporate donors” or the “people, democracy and planet.” Hurley did not address whether Sinema prioritizes her corporate donors over her constituents.

Sinema has the benefit of not being up for re-election until 2024, while Kelly is up this year. But Sinema also has so angered Democrats that the party censured her earlier this year and she is likely to face a primary challenger. Many Democrats believe that U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, a progressive who just had the best fundraising quarter in his political career, will run against her.

Sinema has already received scrutiny for some of her notable campaign contributors in the past, including several billionaires who backed Donald Trump’s presidential bids.

She has been a thorn in the side of her party since Democrats won control of both congressional chambers and the presidency, mostly due to her unwillingness to kill the filibuster. And her opposition to key parts of President Joe Biden’s agenda, along with that of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, has prevented much of the administration’s sweeping policy proposals from passing.

But Sinema has been able to claim victory on some issues: She was instrumental in a bipartisan deal on infrastructure spending, though the final plan was scaled back from what Democrats and Biden had initially sought.

Democratic political consultant Tony Cani told the Arizona Mirror that, while Sinema’s corporate backing isn’t popular in Democratic politics, it’s unlikely to change how people view her. At the end of the day, Democratic voters have already made up their minds, and those opinions are unlikely to change barring something drastic happening, he said.

“I personally think that the only thing that saves her from a viable primary challenge is if no credible Democrat decides to run against her,” Cani said.

When corporations give money to candidates, they're saying they believe in the same basic principles — in Sinema’s case, that she supports their interests. Cani likened it to anti-LGBTQ corporations contributing to campaigns of politicians or any corporation giving money to an “insurrectionist.”

“​​Voters should take into account which corporate PACs elected officials are taking money from, and consumers should take into account which elected officials corporations are giving to, because they are making a definitive statement,” he told the Mirror.

Cani also said candidates like Kelly are waving away corporate PAC money because it’s not as transparent as the money coming directly from individuals.

From Sinema’s Getting Stuff Done PAC, at least two scandal-plagued contributions stood out raising questions about why she accepted such money and what either has to do with Arizona’s needs.

In November, she raised $5,000 from Pacific Gas & Electric, a California utility company that just two months earlier was charged with manslaughter for starting a wildfire that killed four people. The company, which is the largest public utility in the country, also pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in 2020 for a similar reason.

Neither Sinema’s office nor her campaign would answer questions about the contribution.

But the other standout contribution came from the multi-level marketing firm Herbalife, which gave Sinema’s PAC $5,000. Herbalife admitted to engaging in criminal activity for a decade and paid a fine of $123 million in 2020 for criminal corruption and fraud. The company also contributed another $2,500 directly to Sinema’s campaign coffers.

Sinema previously faced scrutiny for accepting money from Herbalife and other MLMs because she took their money while those companies were working to kill a Democratic-sponsored labor bill called the PRO Act. Local business groups called on both Sinema and Kelly to oppose the legislation last year, which would wipe out Arizona’s “right-to-work” law that prohibits mandatory union membership.

She faced additional scrutiny last year when she hosted a private fundraiser with business leaders who were strongly opposed to Biden’s Build Back Better proposal. She charged up to $5,800 for the event which lasted 45 minutes on Sept. 27, 2021. Campaign finance records show she raised $82,000 for her campaign and another $47,500 for her PAC between Sept. 27 and Sept. 30 from PACs alone.

It was one of several fundraising events she held that correlated with moving legislation the corporations boosting her campaign coffers were against.

https://www.azmirror.com/2022/05/24/kyrsten-sinema-has-taken-2-5-million-from-corporate-pacs-since-2021/

[Rick Plant]

'Bankrupt conscience': Texas newspaper blisters Greg Abbott after latest mass shooting



Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott was blasted for his firearms policies as he began his general election campaign against Democrat Beto O'Rourke.

Abbott described the Uvalde gunman's actions as “Horrifically, incomprehensibly," which resulted in a harsh editorial from the Houston Chronicle, which took issue with the second word.

"But the second word Abbott used — 'incomprehensibly' — is just as much cowardice as it is a bald-faced lie," the editorial board wrote. "Of course it’s impossible to fathom why someone would shoot up an elementary school, or any school, but it’s hardly incomprehensible that it happened. It keeps happening, in Texas and across the nation. No one, especially not the governor of a state with some of the most inept, irresponsible and dangerous gun laws in the nation, should be confused, somehow unable to comprehend, the reasons for this never-ending tragedy of mass shootings in our country."

The newspaper said the state's permit-less carry legislation is moving the state in the wrong direction.

"Texas had 1 million registered weapons in 2021, more than second-place Florida and third-place Virginia combined. The United States leads all wealthy nations with its gun murder rate, and all nations in the rate of suicide by gun. And since September 2018, Texas has far more than its fair share of victims of mass shootings. Of the 2,000 such deaths recorded, 195 happened in Texas, far more than any other state," the newspaper noted.

The newspaper noted Abbott's comments after the 2018 school shooting in Sante Fe and the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso and then Odessa and Midland.

"As we speak, the National Rifle Association is excitedly gearing up for its annual meeting in Houston this Friday, May 27-29, at the George R. Brown Convention Center," the newspaper noted. "But also on hand this weekend, in a fierce, strong, protesting posture, should be every single Texan, including sensible gun owners, who want to stop the madness, stop the killing, and stop the NRA’s stranglehold over Texas’ elected leaders."

The newspaper suggested gun laws should be a major focus in the 2022 gubernatorial election.

"We call on Abbott, whose campaign war chest is comfortably overflowing in his reelection bid against Democrat Beto O’Rourke, to replenish his bankrupt conscience and do something, anything, to stop the blood of children and the tears of parents. We call on O’Rourke as well to demonstrate the kind of leadership, passion and gun reform policy ideas that we’ve lost faith Abbott can provide," the newspaper noted. "Go vote. Go fight."

Read the full editorial:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/abbott-uvalde-shooting-reaction-17196685.php


Watch: Texas Attorney General suggests arming teachers after 15 shot and killed at elementary school



Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called for arming teachers and "doing more at the school" to prevent school mass shootings, immediately after14 elementary school students and one teacher were shot and killed in Uvalde, Texas.

Paxton, who is in a tight re-election primary runoff race, was speaking to a Newsmax host who noted that Texas is "not a stranger to shootings."

"Yes, sadly, this has happened again, and it's a horrible tragedy," Paxton said, after being asked what efforts have been talked about or taken to prevent school shootings.

"Having one point of entry, making it more difficult for people even to get in that point of entry, and having, potentially, teachers and other administrators who have gone through training and who are armed because first responders typically can't get there in time to prevent a shooting. This is just not possible unless you have a police officer on every campus, which for a lot of these schools is almost impossible. So I think you're gonna have to do more at the school because it typically involves very short periods of time and you have to have people trained on campus to react."

The host talked about hardening schools "so they're not easy prey for crazy people who go nuts with firearms."

Defending his call for people to be armed Paxton went on to say people who are "not following murder laws" are "not going to follow gun laws."

Watch: "Having one point of entry, making it more difficult for people even to get in that point of entry, and having, potentially, teachers and other administrators who have gone through training and who are armed because first responders typically can't get there in time to prevent a shooting. This is just not possible unless you have a police officer on every campus, which for a lot of these schools is almost impossible. So I think you're gonna have to do more at the school because it typically involves very short periods of time and you have to have people trained on campus to react."

The host talked about hardening schools "so they're not easy prey for crazy people who go nuts with firearms."

Defending his call for people to be armed Paxton went on to say people who are "not following murder laws" are "not going to follow gun laws."

Watch:"Having one point of entry, making it more difficult for people even to get in that point of entry, and having, potentially, teachers and other administrators who have gone through training and who are armed because first responders typically can't get there in time to prevent a shooting. This is just not possible unless you have a police officer on every campus, which for a lot of these schools is almost impossible. So I think you're gonna have to do more at the school because it typically involves very short periods of time and you have to have people trained on campus to react."

The host talked about hardening schools "so they're not easy prey for crazy people who go nuts with firearms."

Defending his call for people to be armed Paxton went on to say people who are "not following murder laws" are "not going to follow gun laws."

Watch:"Having one point of entry, making it more difficult for people even to get in that point of entry, and having, potentially, teachers and other administrators who have gone through training and who are armed because first responders typically can't get there in time to prevent a shooting. This is just not possible unless you have a police officer on every campus, which for a lot of these schools is almost impossible. So I think you're gonna have to do more at the school because it typically involves very short periods of time and you have to have people trained on campus to react."

The host talked about hardening schools "so they're not easy prey for crazy people who go nuts with firearms."

Defending his call for people to be armed Paxton went on to say people who are "not following murder laws" are "not going to follow gun laws."

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1529209566436655104

[Rick Plant]

This is right wing Republican Tony Gonzales, who represents the district of Uvalde, Texas where 19 children were murdered at their school. Another right winger stopping common sense gun laws which will save lives and this tragedy happened in his own district. Mass shootings can happen anywhere and anyplace as we've seen over this last decade. All Americans are at risk to gun violence as Republicans allow people to carry weapons with no background checks or permits. When you apply for a job, you have to go through a background check, but not for an assault weapon. In order to do renovations to your building you have to get a permit, but not for assault weapons. And the GOP will do nothing to stop this carnage as they want more guns in society.     

 “will do everything I can to oppose gun grabs from the far Left.” Congrats, @TonyGonzales4TX, you succeeded. You must be so proud. We aren’t “far Left” either. We are the vast majority of Americans who have had enough of mass deaths and children being murdered unable to have a full life. 







Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s old pro-gun tweet resurfaces after deadly school shooting

Within minutes of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announcing 14 students and a teacher had been killed earlier Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, an old Abbott tweet calling for Texans to buy more guns resurfaced on Twitter.

“I’m EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let’s pick up the pace Texans,” Abbott tweeted on October 28, 2015, during his first year in the governor’s mansion, while also plugging the NRA and linking to an article about the state’s gun sales.



This isn’t the first time the tweet has recirculated after a mass shooting in the Long Star State. The same thing happened after several other mass shootings during Abbott’s terms, including the Sutherland Springs church shooting in November 2017 (26 dead, 22 injured), the May 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School (10 dead, 13 wounded), the August 2019 shooting at an El Paso Walmart (23 dead, 23 injured) and the Midland-Odessa shooting spree — also August 2019 — that left seven dead and 25 wounded.

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