U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

Hours after Uvalde school shooting, Gov. Greg Abbott attended a fundraiser 300 miles away

A spokesperson for Abbott said he had previously committed to the event but all campaign-related activities are postponed until further notice.



Gov. Greg Abbott attended a fundraiser for his reelection campaign Tuesday night in East Texas, hours after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school over 300 miles away in Uvalde. His campaign says he is postponing all political activities going forward.

Abbott went to the fundraiser after visiting Taylor County — another part of the state — to survey the state's wildfire response there. While holding a news conference there, he gave an update on the Uvalde shooting, which had just happened.

The news of Abbott's attendance at the fundraiser was first reported by Quorum Report.

"After holding a briefing and press conference on the current wild fires in Taylor County, where he also provided an update the situation in Uvalde, the Governor did stop by a previously scheduled event last night at a private home in Walker County," Abbott campaign spokesperson Mark Miner said in a statement. "All campaign and political activity, including a scheduled fundraiser for this evening, have postponed until further notice."

Abbott addressed the fundraiser during a news conference Wednesday afternoon in Uvalde, suggesting he only made a brief appearance cut short by the news of the shooting.

"On the way back to Austin, I stopped and let people know that I could not stay, that I needed to go and I wanted them to know what happened and get back to Austin so I could continue to my collaboration with Texas law enforcement," Abbott said.

Abbott, a prolific fundraiser, is running for a third term against Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke. O'Rourke's response to the Uvalde shooting has included criticism of Abbott for loosening gun laws in Texas, and O'Rourke has called on Abbott to pull out of an appearance at a National Rifle Association convention this weekend in Houston.

Abbott's appearance at the fundraiser came as other Texas politicians were canceling similar events due to the tragedy. State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, who represents Uvalde, canceled a campaign fundraiser that had been scheduled for Tuesday evening in Austin. A Republican state representative, San Antonio's Steve Allison, also nixed a campaign fundraiser for Wednesday in Austin.

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/25/greg-abbott-political-fundraiser-uvalde-shooting/

[Rick Plant]

Beto O’Rourke confronts Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at Uvalde press conference: “This is on you”

O’Rourke’s disruption drew angry responses from the elected officials onstage, with Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin calling him a “sick son of a b**ch.”



Beto O’Rourke caused a dramatic scene Wednesday when he angrily confronted Gov. Greg Abbott at his the governor's news conference about the school shooting, yelling, "This is on you."

O’Rourke, who is running for governor against Abbott, moved to the third row of the Uvalde High School auditorium about 15 minutes after the governor began speaking to the media alongside other state and local leaders onstage. When Abbott concluded his comments and introduced Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, O’Rourke rose and walked to the stage and spoke directly to Abbott.

“You are doing nothing,” O’Rourke said. “You are offering up nothing. You said this was not predictable. This was totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.”

Some of the Republican officials onstage quickly denounced O'Rourke. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz told him, "Sit down and don't play this stunt." Patrick told O'Rourke he was "out of line and an embarrassment." And Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin gave the most colorful response.

“I can’t believe that you’re a sick son of a b**ch that would come to a deal like this to make a political issue,” McLaughlin said.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Biden signs executive order on policing 2 years after George Floyd's death


President Biden signs an executive order on policing in the East Room of the White House on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.

Washington — President Biden signed an executive order aimed at reforming federal police practices and establishing a national database of police misconduct on Wednesday, two years to the day since George Floyd was murdered at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis.

"This executive order is going to deliver the most significant police reform in decades. It applies directly, under law, to only 100,000 federal law enforcement officers, all the federal law enforcement officers. And through federal incentives and best practices that are attached to it, we expect the order to have significant impact on state and local law enforcement agencies as well," he said.

The president delivered remarks at the White House and signed the order as the nation grieves the murder of 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas, the deadliest school shooting in nearly 10 years. The president said he would soon travel to Texas to meet with families of the victims, and implored Congress to pass new gun control measures in the wake of the massacre.

"While they clearly will not prevent every tragedy, we know certain ones will have significant impact and have no negative impact on the Second Amendment," Mr. Biden said. "The Second Amendment is not absolute."

The policing order is intended to "advance effective, accountable policing and criminal justice practices that will build public trust and strengthen public safety," according to the White House, by requiring federal law enforcement agencies to implement dozens of reforms, and incentivizing state and local forces to improve their policing practices.

Efforts to enact police reform in Congress have stalled in the two years since Floyd's death sparked a national reckoning on police brutality, with a bipartisan group of lawmakers failing to broker a compromise during lengthy negotiations last year. Mr. Biden's order seeks to address some of the issues raised during those talks, although his authority to implement changes on a state and local level is limited without further congressional action.

The president faulted Senate Republicans for blocking the House-passed bill, known as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and said the executive order "reflects inputs from a broad coalition represented here today," including several law enforcement organizations.

"I know progress can be slow and frustrating and there's a concern that the reckoning on race inspired two years ago is beginning to fade," Mr. Biden said. "But acting today, we're showing what our dear friend, the late John Lewis, congressman, wrote in his final words after his final march for justice in July 2020 — he said, 'Democracy is not a state. It is an act.'"

The families of Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who was killed in 2020 by officers executing a "no-knock" warrant in an apartment in Louisville, Kentucky, were present at Wednesday's signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

The executive order directs the attorney general to create a new National Law Enforcement Accountability Database, with all federal law enforcement agencies — such as the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Secret Service and Customs and Border Protection — required to participate. The database will include records of officers convicted of crimes, firings and "sustained complaints or records of disciplinary actions for serious misconduct," among other issues, and will be available to state and local agencies.

Non-federal entities are not required to report misconduct incidents to the new database, but are "encouraged" to do so, according to the White House.

"This is a call to action based on a basic truth: public trust, as any cop will tell you, is the foundation of public safety. Without trust, the population doesn't contribute, doesn't cooperate," Mr. Biden said. "As we've seen all too often, public trust has frayed and broken, and that undermines public safety."

The order also strengthens federal "patterns and practices" investigations over local agencies, mandates the use of body cameras by federal agents and requires all federal law enforcement agencies to implement new use-of-force policies, consistent with new guidelines issued by the Justice Department earlier this week. It also bans the use of chokeholds and limits the use of no-knock warrants by federal agents.

Democratic lawmakers and police reform advocates welcomed news of the executive order, even though it falls short of what could be accomplished with new legislation.

"I think the president's team — using the powers that he has — [has] done an excellent job of advancing the call that I think all Americans feel to do everything you can to improve the policing profession, to empower our officers with both accountability and support," Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey told CBS News on Tuesday.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson welcomed the executive order and said there was no better way to honor Floyd's legacy. "We know full well that an executive order cannot address America's policing crisis the same way Congress has the ability to, but we've got to do everything we can," he said in a statement.

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/biden-policing-executive-order-george-floyd-watch-live-stream-today-2022-05-25/

[Rick Plant]

As expected, and as I predicted last week that it would happen, Senate Republicans yesterday blocked a bill to keep America safe from domestic terrorism from white supremacists. Republicans have zero interest in fighting crime and violence in America. Bill after bill that addresses crime and violence the GOP votes against. They are only there to block and obstruct President Biden's agenda that the overwhelming majority of Americans want. Then as more crimes and violence occurs, right wingers head to Twiiter or come on tv to scream about the crime rates and falsely blame Biden for it when they are the ones blocking legislation that will fight crime and violence.

Again, if you want anything accomplished in Congress, vote these obstructionist saboteur Republicans out of office who don't care to keep Americans safe. How can anyone in Congress vote against the biggest threat that faces America which is domestic terrorism from white supremacists? The Republicans just did. They don't deserve to be in office when they refuse to do the job they took an oath to do which is to defend and protect America.             

Top law enforcement officials say the biggest domestic terror threat comes from white supremacists.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/12/us/politics/domestic-terror-white-supremacists.html

Senate Republicans block bill requiring agencies to monitor domestic terrorism



WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a bill that would require federal agencies to monitor domestic terrorism incidents, including those potentially related to white supremacy.

The failure of the Senate procedural vote showed again how difficult it is for Congress to agree on any response to U.S. gun violence. It followed a racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, earlier this month that took the lives of 10 Black people in a predominantly Black neighborhood.

Another mass shooting, this one at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday, killed 19 children and two adults.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had scheduled the domestic terrorism legislation, already passed by the Democratic-controlled House, for a vote following the shooting in Buffalo.

“The bill is so important, because the mass shooting in Buffalo was an act of domestic terrorism. We need to call it what it is: domestic terrorism,” said Schumer, a New York Democrat.

“It was terrorism that fed off the poison of conspiracy theories like white replacement theory. Terrorism that left 10 people dead, and a community forever torn asunder.”

But senators fell far short of the 60-vote threshold needed to move debate forward on the legislation. Schumer through a procedural move could bring the bill, H.R. 350, up again if there is more support.

The vote was 47-47, with six senators not casting their votes. Only Democrats backed advancing the bill. The House on May 18 had passed the bill, 222-203, with just one Republican vote.

Meanwhile, Schumer said Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Chris Coons of Delaware, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, and others are reaching out to Republican senators to work on some type of bipartisan gun control legislation.

“Make no mistake about it, if these negotiations do not bear fruit in a short period of time, the Senate will vote on gun safety legislation,” he said. “But our hope, even amidst our deep skepticism, is that during this week, Democrats and Republicans at long last will come to agree on something meaningful that will reduce gun violence in a real way in America.”

Schumer on the floor Wednesday had implored Senate Republicans to join Democrats in passing the domestic terrorism bill, as well as bipartisan gun control legislation, in reaction to this month’s mass shootings.

The domestic terrorism legislation creates domestic terrorism offices within the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the FBI to monitor domestic terrorist activity and requires Congress to take steps to prevent domestic terrorism. That includes white-supremacist-related incidents or attempted incidents.

The bill also “creates an interagency task force to analyze and combat white supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration of the uniformed services and federal law enforcement agencies,” according to a bill summary.

Shortly before the procedural vote, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said the bill would brand police and military service members as white supremacists.

“To insinuate that the military is consumed with white supremacy is an insult,” Paul said on the Senate floor.

The Pentagon drafted a report, obtained by Roll Call, that found U.S. military personnel and veterans were considered high prizes as recruits for white supremacist groups.

The chair of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, said that the bill would not create any new laws, and the purpose of it is for Congress to be informed of reports of domestic terrorism.

Durbin said on the Senate floor that it’s important to include the threat of white supremacy in that category because “this is a category of crime in America that is metastasizing.”

There have been several shootings in the last few years that have targeted communities of color and places of worship. Besides Buffalo, that includes Atlanta, where shootings at several spa shops targeted Asian-American women; El Paso, Texas, where dozens of Latinos were gunned down; and Pittsburgh, where the Tree of Life synagogue was targeted.

https://michiganadvance.com/2022/05/26/u-s-senate-republicans-block-bill-requiring-agencies-monitor-domestic-terrorism/

[Rick Plant]

GOP frontrunners for Michigan governor kicked off ballot for election fraud



Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer may have a far easier path to re-election after the GOP frontrunners were kicked off the ballot for botched election fraud schemes.

"Two of the leading candidates for the GOP nomination for Michigan governor say they will ask the courts to intervene after they were found ineligible Thursday for the August primary, reshaping the race to challenge Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the battleground state this fall," Click on Detroit Channel 4 News reported Thursday.

"Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, who has led in most primary polls, and businessman Perry Johnson, along with three other lesser-known candidates, did not qualify for the ballot. The state elections bureau recommended they be disqualified, saying it found thousands of fraudulent signatures on petitions submitted by the candidates."

Neil Vigdor wrote in The New York Times the disqualification, "sent the race, in a key battleground state, into chaos and dealt a serious blow to the party’s plans to challenge Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic incumbent."

In addition to the frontrunners, Republicans Donna Brandenburg, Michael Brown and Michael Markey were also disqualified.

Johnson has spent millions on his campaign.

"The Republicans who remain on the ballot are Dixon, who recently was endorsed by the family of former Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, real estate agent Ryan Kelley, businessman Kevin Rinke, pastor Ralph Rebandt and chiropractor Garrett Soldano," Channel 4 reported.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

New poll spells trouble for Michigan Republicans peddling conspiracy theories and opposing abortion rights
Most voters said they dislike Trump and oppose a ban on abortions



Republicans could be in trouble in Michigan because they are out of step with voters on abortion, former President Donald Trump, and conspiracy theories about the election, according to a recent poll on statewide races and Roe v. Wade.

In an EPIC-MRA poll of 600 likely voters between May 11 and 17, 63% of voters said they disagree with the Supreme Court’s draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion.

Only 26% of voters said they support the draft decision.

Many Republican candidates, including virtually all of those running for governor, are running on a platform of opposing all forms of abortion, a position that is very unpopular in Michigan.

Of those surveyed, 57% identify as pro-choice, and 33% are opposed to abortion rights. An additional 10% are undecided.

The poll also shows that between 83% and 85% of likely voters don’t recognize the GOP picks for attorney general and secretary of state — Matt DePerno and Kristina Karamo, respectively, both of whom have echoed Trump’s lies about widespread election fraud.


Secretary of State candidate Kristina Karamo and attorney general candidate Matt DePerno.

The survey found that only 27% of likely voters believe Joe Biden stole the election from Trump, compared to 61% who believe Biden won fairly. About 12% are undecided.

Biden won the election in Michigan by 3 percentage points.

Of those surveyed, 54% said they view Trump unfavorably.

Detroit Metro Times

[Rick Plant]

Pennsylvania GOP U.S. Senate primary race headed for a recount

The Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Senate race is headed for a recount.

Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman announced Wednesday afternoon that the margin between Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick in the GOP primary is enough to trigger an automatic recount, which could last into June and cost more than $1 million in taxpayer dollars.

Unofficial results for the contest from all 67 counties show Oz with 419,365 votes and McCormick with 418,463 votes.

Pennsylvania election law requires a recount if the difference between the final two candidates for a statewide office is 0.5 percent of the vote or less. The candidate in second place can decline a recount in writing to the secretary of state, but Chapman said McCormick has not waived the recount.

Chapman said she plans to issue the formal declaration of the recount by 5 p.m. on Thursday, and counties can begin the process as early as Friday.

Local election officials must begin the recount process no later than June 1, with results due by June 7. Recount results must be submitted to the Department of State no later than noon on June 8.

https://www.penncapital-star.com/blog/pa-gop-u-s-senate-primary-race-headed-for-a-recount/


What to know about the Pa. GOP U.S. Senate race recount

Pennsylvania’s top election official announced this week that the Republican U.S. Senate primary race is in for a recount.

“The recount will be conducted transparently as dictated by law,” acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday. “The affected candidates or their attorney representatives are entitled to be present and observe the proceedings.”

The margin between GOP candidates Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick is enough to trigger an automatic statewide recount, with less than 0.5 percent of the vote separating them as of Thursday afternoon.

Both candidates have expressed confidence in the race and facing Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, in November.

While Oz maintains a narrow lead, McCormick has filed a lawsuit to ensure that undated and incorrectly dated mail ballots still returned by 8 p.m. on Election Day count toward final totals. Earlier this week, the Department of State issued guidance to counties, telling them to segregate and tabulate the undated ballots separately.

Here’s what to know about recounts and what comes next:

Who carries out a recount?

Counties carry out the recount process.

Local election officials must recount all ballots with a different method than the initial tabulation, or they can tabulate by hand.

When does the recount start?

Chapman said she plans to issue the formal declaration of a recount by 5 p.m. on Thursday. Counties could start the process as soon as Friday.

The law requires that counties begin the recount no later than June 1.

How long does a recount take?

Counties must finish the recount by noon on June 7, with final results due to the Department of State by noon on June 8.

How much will a recount cost?

The Department of State estimates that the recount will cost taxpayers more than $1 million.

Is a recount required?

Pennsylvania law requires an automatic statewide recount if 0.5 percent or less of the vote separates the leading two candidates.

The candidate with the second-highest number of votes could waive the recount requirement, but McCormick has not.

https://www.penncapital-star.com/blog/what-to-know-about-the-pa-gop-u-s-senate-race-recount/