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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
March 23, 2021
Judge Blocked Assault Weapons Ban Before Shooting
March 23, 2021 at 11:09 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
Judge Blocked Assault Weapons Ban Before Shooting
https://politicalwire.com/2021/03/23/judge-blocked-assault-weapons-ban-before-shooting/Judge Blocked Assault Weapons Ban Before Shooting
March 23, 2021 at 11:09 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
Washington Post: “The city of Boulder, Colorado barred assault weapons in 2018, as a way to prevent mass shootings like the one that killed 17 at a high school in Parkland, Florida earlier that year.”
“But 10 days after that ban was blocked in court, the city was rocked by its own tragedy: Ten people, including a Boulder police officer, were killed at a supermarket in the city’s south end on Monday after a gunman opened fire, law enforcement officials said.”
“But 10 days after that ban was blocked in court, the city was rocked by its own tragedy: Ten people, including a Boulder police officer, were killed at a supermarket in the city’s south end on Monday after a gunman opened fire, law enforcement officials said.”
March 23, 2021
Drugmakers prepare for the unusual: A defeat in Washington
Works for me! 
Drugmakers prepare for the unusual: A defeat in Washington
Democrats' next big bill could include drug price negotiations and other industry curbs. Pharma may not be able to fight it off this time.
By SUSANNAH LUTHI and SARAH OWERMOHLE
03/23/2021 04:30 AM EDT
The pharmaceutical industry is preparing to take a hit in Democrats’ next major legislative package — and the long-untouchable powerhouse is racing to contain the damage.
Democratic lawmakers are weighing whether to include drug pricing measures that could extract tens of billions of dollars from the industry, or potentially more, to help pay for a massive infrastructure bill they could try to pass along party lines this summer.
A renewed debate over whether to allow the government to negotiate drug prices, which is strongly opposed by pharma and Republican lawmakers, could become a watershed moment for an industry that’s unaccustomed to losing — and survived the Trump era largely unscathed, even as the previous president found rare common ground with Democrats in bashing high drug prices. But those with knowledge of initial discussions told POLITICO that Democratic lawmakers appear intent on using their razor-thin congressional majorities to finally push through a drug pricing overhaul for at least one simple reason: It’s one of the few issues under consideration that would save money in a sprawling package expected to cost trillions.
“The huge difference between drug prices and literally everything else out there: Everything else costs money, and this one saves money,” said Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, whose group is in close contact with congressional staffers on drug pricing.
The long-running drug pricing debate, propelled by bipartisan voter anger over high medicine costs, had been stalled by the pandemic before it sprang back to life last week with two major developments: House Democrats began exploring whether to include negotiations in the forthcoming infrastructure package, and one of the pharmaceutical industry’s most vocal critics, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), abruptly scheduled the first hearing on drug prices in the new Congress for Tuesday.
more...
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/23/drugmakers-brace-for-washington-loss-477517
March 23, 2021
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
3/22/2021
You Cannot Talk About Biden's Border Actions Without Talking About Trump's Gutting of the Federal Government
snip//
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a statement last week laying this all out: "The prior administration completely dismantled the asylum system. The system was gutted, facilities were closed, and they cruelly expelled young children into the hands of traffickers. We have had to rebuild the entire system, including the policies and procedures required to administer the asylum laws that Congress passed long ago." A CNN fact check found Mayorkas was accurate in his assessment of the absolute sabotage of the American immigration system on the Southwest border. But, of course, the verminous conservative criminals from the Trump administration are beshitting the airwaves, with Stephen "Most Likely to Actually Be Drinking Baby Blood" Miller, the architect of Trump's megafuckery at the border, screeching that Mayorkas is lying. Honestly, I could come up with lots of awful karmic and physical punishments for Miller, but I'm pretty sure all of them would just give that coprophagic bitch an erection.
But it's not just Mayorkas. Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the director of the White House's office of intergovernmental affairs, said, "There were aspects of our legal immigration system that had been gutted and a department that lacked the personnel to administer our laws," with another official adding, "When we came into office, like, it was a disaster. I mean, really. The staffing wasn't in place, the structures weren't in place." Oh, and let's not forget what complete cockfleas Trump's team were to Biden's during the transition, so they couldn't even get the full picture of what they were walking into. Shit was decimated. You don't turn that around overnight.
Even with all this chaos, what's going at the border sucks, but it's been sucking for decades, and it's sucked far, far worse than it sucks now. And the actual situation is far, far more complicated than the manipulated media will talk about. The current surge of unaccompanied kids began in November, for instance. And, again, again, again, you can't leave out the damage done to the very agencies that are supposed to handle migrant issues, and you can't discount the corruption of the Customs and Border Patrol and ICE themselves. Yes, Biden has left in place some Trump policies so far as he's dealt with shit like the pandemic (which also has an effect on shit like the number of beds...like I said, it's fucking complicated) and the economic recovery. It's only been two months. Could we check in around July 20 to see how it's going? To see if shit's improved? To see if Congress might actually do something to unfuck our immigration system?
No matter what, you can bet that the jackals and howler monkeys of the right will be yowling like they slammed their nuts in a car door. Or perhaps they'll just continue to show you who they are, like Republican Senator John Cornyn did today. He tweeted out comments from Bill Clinton and Barack Obama condemning "illegal immigrations." Then he followed that with this tweet: "President Biden has instead emphasized the humane treatment of immigrants, regardless of their legal status."
Kind of takes your breath away, no? This mongrel nation only exists as it is because of immigrants, almost all of whom were treated like shit by other immigrants when they first arrived. You'd think acting with humanity wouldn't be derision-worthy, but, well, that's so American, I suppose.
(Note: The First Nations people decided to help the pasty white asses that arrived to this continent rather than murder them. Whites have always been shitty about repaying their debts.)
The Rude Pundit: You Cannot Talk About Biden's Border Actions Without Talking About ...
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2021/03/you-cannot-talk-about-bidens-border.htmlThe Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
3/22/2021
You Cannot Talk About Biden's Border Actions Without Talking About Trump's Gutting of the Federal Government
snip//
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a statement last week laying this all out: "The prior administration completely dismantled the asylum system. The system was gutted, facilities were closed, and they cruelly expelled young children into the hands of traffickers. We have had to rebuild the entire system, including the policies and procedures required to administer the asylum laws that Congress passed long ago." A CNN fact check found Mayorkas was accurate in his assessment of the absolute sabotage of the American immigration system on the Southwest border. But, of course, the verminous conservative criminals from the Trump administration are beshitting the airwaves, with Stephen "Most Likely to Actually Be Drinking Baby Blood" Miller, the architect of Trump's megafuckery at the border, screeching that Mayorkas is lying. Honestly, I could come up with lots of awful karmic and physical punishments for Miller, but I'm pretty sure all of them would just give that coprophagic bitch an erection.
But it's not just Mayorkas. Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the director of the White House's office of intergovernmental affairs, said, "There were aspects of our legal immigration system that had been gutted and a department that lacked the personnel to administer our laws," with another official adding, "When we came into office, like, it was a disaster. I mean, really. The staffing wasn't in place, the structures weren't in place." Oh, and let's not forget what complete cockfleas Trump's team were to Biden's during the transition, so they couldn't even get the full picture of what they were walking into. Shit was decimated. You don't turn that around overnight.
Even with all this chaos, what's going at the border sucks, but it's been sucking for decades, and it's sucked far, far worse than it sucks now. And the actual situation is far, far more complicated than the manipulated media will talk about. The current surge of unaccompanied kids began in November, for instance. And, again, again, again, you can't leave out the damage done to the very agencies that are supposed to handle migrant issues, and you can't discount the corruption of the Customs and Border Patrol and ICE themselves. Yes, Biden has left in place some Trump policies so far as he's dealt with shit like the pandemic (which also has an effect on shit like the number of beds...like I said, it's fucking complicated) and the economic recovery. It's only been two months. Could we check in around July 20 to see how it's going? To see if shit's improved? To see if Congress might actually do something to unfuck our immigration system?
No matter what, you can bet that the jackals and howler monkeys of the right will be yowling like they slammed their nuts in a car door. Or perhaps they'll just continue to show you who they are, like Republican Senator John Cornyn did today. He tweeted out comments from Bill Clinton and Barack Obama condemning "illegal immigrations." Then he followed that with this tweet: "President Biden has instead emphasized the humane treatment of immigrants, regardless of their legal status."
Kind of takes your breath away, no? This mongrel nation only exists as it is because of immigrants, almost all of whom were treated like shit by other immigrants when they first arrived. You'd think acting with humanity wouldn't be derision-worthy, but, well, that's so American, I suppose.
(Note: The First Nations people decided to help the pasty white asses that arrived to this continent rather than murder them. Whites have always been shitty about repaying their debts.)
March 23, 2021
Washington Post goes all in with anti-Biden border coverage
GOP talking points
Eric Boehlert
13 hr ago
Eagerly joining forces with partisan Republicans, the Washington Post over the weekend uncorked a doomsday write-up about the surge of young migrants currently overwhelming U.S. facilities along the Southern Border. Laying all of the blame for the three-decade problem directly at the feet of the new, two-month-old Democratic administration, the Post article echoed every conceivable GOP talking point.
What the piece failed to do was include crucial context for a complicated policy puzzle, and to delve deeply into whether Trump spent four years deliberately creating a border crisis that Biden is now trying to fix.
The Post also included no context for how Biden's brand new administration has been addressing border crossings while at the same dealing with the aftermath of a deadly insurrection, an impeachment trial, and passing the largest social spending bill in U.S. history. All in less than 60 days.
snip//
In terms of border crossing apprehensions, 2021 is currently on pace to match the 2019 surge under Trump. Where was the panic-stricken media coverage about the border "crisis" then, and how the Republican administration had no policy answer? In truth, Trump touted the huge influx in 2019 because he thought it was good politics for wanting to build a mythical wall across America's southern border, which Democrats opposed.
So when a Republican was in the White House, he claimed the huge border surge was bad news for Democrats, and the press largely played along. Two years later, the press is once again playing along with Republicans, claiming a huge border surge is bad news for Democrats.
Eric Boehlert: Washington Post goes all in with anti-Biden border coverage
https://pressrun.media/p/washington-post-goes-all-in-withWashington Post goes all in with anti-Biden border coverage
GOP talking points
Eric Boehlert
13 hr ago
Eagerly joining forces with partisan Republicans, the Washington Post over the weekend uncorked a doomsday write-up about the surge of young migrants currently overwhelming U.S. facilities along the Southern Border. Laying all of the blame for the three-decade problem directly at the feet of the new, two-month-old Democratic administration, the Post article echoed every conceivable GOP talking point.
What the piece failed to do was include crucial context for a complicated policy puzzle, and to delve deeply into whether Trump spent four years deliberately creating a border crisis that Biden is now trying to fix.
The Post also included no context for how Biden's brand new administration has been addressing border crossings while at the same dealing with the aftermath of a deadly insurrection, an impeachment trial, and passing the largest social spending bill in U.S. history. All in less than 60 days.
snip//
"The politicians and the pundits trying to push America back to the “good old days” of 2018, of ripping families apart or condemning them to inhumane refugee camps in Mexico, are shameless," stressed the Philadelphia Inquirer's Will Bunch, after the Post article was published.
In terms of border crossing apprehensions, 2021 is currently on pace to match the 2019 surge under Trump. Where was the panic-stricken media coverage about the border "crisis" then, and how the Republican administration had no policy answer? In truth, Trump touted the huge influx in 2019 because he thought it was good politics for wanting to build a mythical wall across America's southern border, which Democrats opposed.
So when a Republican was in the White House, he claimed the huge border surge was bad news for Democrats, and the press largely played along. Two years later, the press is once again playing along with Republicans, claiming a huge border surge is bad news for Democrats.
March 23, 2021
OLBERMANN VS. THE FAKE BORDER CRISIS: A security or presidential crisis? No: It's kids we must help.
OLBERMANN VS. THE FAKE BORDER CRISIS
OLBERMANN VS. THE FAKE BORDER CRISIS: A security or presidential crisis? No: It's kids we must help.
March 23, 2021
Ron Johnson’s Crazy Train Is Somehow Getting Even Weirder
The Wisconsin senator is upholding the grand Trumpian tradition of saying whatever asinine thing comes into his head—including that the Capitol riot was a setup and that Greenland explains away climate change. And even some Republicans are starting to back away.
By Caleb Ecarma
March 22, 2021
Following Donald Trump’s departure from the White House and his removal from Twitter, he lost the ability to instantly inject misinformation into the news cycle. In light of this, one high-profile Republican has thoughtfully taken up the mantle. In recent weeks Senator Ron Johnson has waded into increasingly conspiratorial waters, going so far as to push crackpot theories that Trump himself no longer mentions—such as the claim that hydroxychloroquine is a viable treatment for COVID-19, as well as a theory of climate change so asinine that it rivals Trump’s position that the phenomenon is a Chinese hoax.
More recently Johnson has invoked race to justify downplaying the Capitol attack. “Even though those thousands of people that were marching to the Capitol were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote, I knew those were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, and so I wasn’t concerned,” he said on a right-wing talk radio program. “Had the tables been turned, and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned.”
Johnson has since doubled down on this argument, claiming that race has nothing to do with it. “One of the reasons I’m being attacked is because I very honestly said I didn’t feel threatened on January 6. I didn’t,” Johnson said at a conservative event in Wisconsin over the weekend, per CNN. “There was much more violence on the House side. There was no violence on the Senate side, in terms of the chamber.” (Videos recorded on January 6 show Trump supporters smashing windows on the Senate side and storming the halls just outside the chamber.) Johnson went on to say that “had the people that rioted in 570 different riots that burned I don’t know how many dozens of buildings in Kenosha, Wisconsin…if those people had shown up in Washington, D.C., I said I might have been a little concerned. That has now been twisted, contorted into calling me a racist.”
He has also theorized that it was not, in fact, Trump supporters who were to blame for the riot that ensued at the Capitol; that “the mood among the demonstrators on January 6 was largely ‘positive,’ but there were ‘agents provocateurs’ and ‘fake Trump protesters’ in the crowd” who sparked the disruption. That particular trial balloon has been met with condemnation, including from some Republicans. Senator Roy Blunt, a member of GOP leadership, asserted on Meet the Press on Sunday that Americans “don’t need to try and explain away or come up with alternative versions. We all saw what happened.” Describing the January 6 riot as “a terrible day for America,” Blunt said, “I think it was absolutely unacceptable, and we can’t let that kind of thing be repeated again in our country.”
Others are likening Johnson to another Wisconsin scaremonger: Joseph McCarthy. Former congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, who represented Wisconsin’s 5th Congressional District for decades, described Johnson as part of a long line of Wisconsin “mavericks” going “way back to Joe McCarthy” in an interview with The New York Times. “[Wisconsin voters] do love people who rattle the cage an awful lot and bring up topics that maybe people don’t want to talk about,” he said. Former conservative radio host Charlie Sykes, whom the Times credited as a key figure in lifting Johnson to his first Senate victory, also referenced McCarthy in the same breath. “I don’t know how he went from being a chamber of commerce guy to somebody who sounds like he reads the Gateway Pundit every day. He’s turned into Joe McCarthy,” Sykes said.
Last week the Times asked Johnson, who hasn’t announced whether he will run for reelection, about some of his more untethered remarks, including comments he made during a 2010 interview dismissing the risk of climate change. “You know, there’s a reason Greenland was called Greenland. It was actually green at one point in time. It’s a whole lot whiter now, so we’ve experienced climate change throughout geologic time,” he said at the time, concluding in a separate interview that “the science of man-caused climate change is [not] proven, not by any stretch of the imagination.” Speaking with the Times, Johnson acknowledged that he had “no idea” how Greenland got its name. “I could be wrong there,” he said, “but that’s always been my assumption that, at some point in time, those early explorers saw green.”
Ron Johnson's Crazy Train Is Somehow Getting Even Weirder
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/03/ron-johnsons-crazy-trainRon Johnson’s Crazy Train Is Somehow Getting Even Weirder
The Wisconsin senator is upholding the grand Trumpian tradition of saying whatever asinine thing comes into his head—including that the Capitol riot was a setup and that Greenland explains away climate change. And even some Republicans are starting to back away.
By Caleb Ecarma
March 22, 2021
Following Donald Trump’s departure from the White House and his removal from Twitter, he lost the ability to instantly inject misinformation into the news cycle. In light of this, one high-profile Republican has thoughtfully taken up the mantle. In recent weeks Senator Ron Johnson has waded into increasingly conspiratorial waters, going so far as to push crackpot theories that Trump himself no longer mentions—such as the claim that hydroxychloroquine is a viable treatment for COVID-19, as well as a theory of climate change so asinine that it rivals Trump’s position that the phenomenon is a Chinese hoax.
More recently Johnson has invoked race to justify downplaying the Capitol attack. “Even though those thousands of people that were marching to the Capitol were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote, I knew those were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, and so I wasn’t concerned,” he said on a right-wing talk radio program. “Had the tables been turned, and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned.”
Johnson has since doubled down on this argument, claiming that race has nothing to do with it. “One of the reasons I’m being attacked is because I very honestly said I didn’t feel threatened on January 6. I didn’t,” Johnson said at a conservative event in Wisconsin over the weekend, per CNN. “There was much more violence on the House side. There was no violence on the Senate side, in terms of the chamber.” (Videos recorded on January 6 show Trump supporters smashing windows on the Senate side and storming the halls just outside the chamber.) Johnson went on to say that “had the people that rioted in 570 different riots that burned I don’t know how many dozens of buildings in Kenosha, Wisconsin…if those people had shown up in Washington, D.C., I said I might have been a little concerned. That has now been twisted, contorted into calling me a racist.”
He has also theorized that it was not, in fact, Trump supporters who were to blame for the riot that ensued at the Capitol; that “the mood among the demonstrators on January 6 was largely ‘positive,’ but there were ‘agents provocateurs’ and ‘fake Trump protesters’ in the crowd” who sparked the disruption. That particular trial balloon has been met with condemnation, including from some Republicans. Senator Roy Blunt, a member of GOP leadership, asserted on Meet the Press on Sunday that Americans “don’t need to try and explain away or come up with alternative versions. We all saw what happened.” Describing the January 6 riot as “a terrible day for America,” Blunt said, “I think it was absolutely unacceptable, and we can’t let that kind of thing be repeated again in our country.”
Others are likening Johnson to another Wisconsin scaremonger: Joseph McCarthy. Former congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, who represented Wisconsin’s 5th Congressional District for decades, described Johnson as part of a long line of Wisconsin “mavericks” going “way back to Joe McCarthy” in an interview with The New York Times. “[Wisconsin voters] do love people who rattle the cage an awful lot and bring up topics that maybe people don’t want to talk about,” he said. Former conservative radio host Charlie Sykes, whom the Times credited as a key figure in lifting Johnson to his first Senate victory, also referenced McCarthy in the same breath. “I don’t know how he went from being a chamber of commerce guy to somebody who sounds like he reads the Gateway Pundit every day. He’s turned into Joe McCarthy,” Sykes said.
Last week the Times asked Johnson, who hasn’t announced whether he will run for reelection, about some of his more untethered remarks, including comments he made during a 2010 interview dismissing the risk of climate change. “You know, there’s a reason Greenland was called Greenland. It was actually green at one point in time. It’s a whole lot whiter now, so we’ve experienced climate change throughout geologic time,” he said at the time, concluding in a separate interview that “the science of man-caused climate change is [not] proven, not by any stretch of the imagination.” Speaking with the Times, Johnson acknowledged that he had “no idea” how Greenland got its name. “I could be wrong there,” he said, “but that’s always been my assumption that, at some point in time, those early explorers saw green.”
March 22, 2021
Club for Growth takes aim at impeachment backers Cheney, Anthony Gonzalez
The conservative organization is no stranger to taking on GOP incumbents in primaries.
By ALEX ISENSTADT
03/22/2021 04:30 AM EDT
A prominent conservative group is buttressing Donald Trump’s quest to exact revenge on his GOP critics, targeting two Republicans who backed the former president’s impeachment.
The anti-tax Club for Growth is endorsing Max Miller, a former Trump White House aide running to unseat Ohio Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, who was one of 10 House Republicans to vote for Trump’s impeachment. The conservative organization is also this week dispatching an official to Wyoming to meet with prospective challengers to GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, another impeachment backer.
Club for Growth President David McIntosh, a Trump ally who’s been in contact with the former president, argued the two members were natural targets because they had strayed ideologically on economic issues and their impeachment votes had made them politically vulnerable.
“This is part of a strategy we’ve got this cycle. Where we see incumbents who are not good on the economic issues … when they stumble and become vulnerable, and there’s a good strong economic conservative on the other side, we’re going to look at that race and get involved in the primaries,” said McIntosh, a former Indiana congressman.
more...
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/22/club-for-growth-impeachment-cheney-gonzalez-477410
Club for Growth takes aim at impeachment backers Cheney, Anthony Gonzalez
Club for Growth takes aim at impeachment backers Cheney, Anthony Gonzalez
The conservative organization is no stranger to taking on GOP incumbents in primaries.
By ALEX ISENSTADT
03/22/2021 04:30 AM EDT
A prominent conservative group is buttressing Donald Trump’s quest to exact revenge on his GOP critics, targeting two Republicans who backed the former president’s impeachment.
The anti-tax Club for Growth is endorsing Max Miller, a former Trump White House aide running to unseat Ohio Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, who was one of 10 House Republicans to vote for Trump’s impeachment. The conservative organization is also this week dispatching an official to Wyoming to meet with prospective challengers to GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, another impeachment backer.
Club for Growth President David McIntosh, a Trump ally who’s been in contact with the former president, argued the two members were natural targets because they had strayed ideologically on economic issues and their impeachment votes had made them politically vulnerable.
“This is part of a strategy we’ve got this cycle. Where we see incumbents who are not good on the economic issues … when they stumble and become vulnerable, and there’s a good strong economic conservative on the other side, we’re going to look at that race and get involved in the primaries,” said McIntosh, a former Indiana congressman.
more...
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/22/club-for-growth-impeachment-cheney-gonzalez-477410
March 22, 2021
How Right-Wing Dark Money Is Trying to Kneecap the Biden DOJ
TIME TO FIGHT
A shadowy group is fighting DOJ appointees Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke. Their crime? Their desire to use their skills to defend Americans’ right to vote.
Sheldon Whitehouse
Published Mar. 22, 2021 4:57AM ET
snip//
In Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell’s court-packing machine, this Judicial Crisis Network spent $7 million to oppose President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, and then spent another $10 million to boost Trump’s nominee Neil Gorsuch. JCN pledged $10 million or more for Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. It spent $10 million in under two months to support Amy Coney Barrett’s bid. These campaigns were funded with tens of millions of anonymous dollars, primarily through four separate donations of at least $15 million. Those donations may well have been the same donor.
Eye-popping as that is, those millions are a tiny slice of the funding behind the overall dark-money operation. A 2019 Washington Post investigation revealed JCN is one of a web of front groups coordinated by Leonard Leo, the long-time executive vice president of the Federalist Society. The Post tracked more than $250 million in dark money flowing through Leo’s groups.
snip//
This brings us back to Gupta and Clarke. Gupta once ran the Civil Rights Division. She prosecuted hate crimes and human trafficking, promoted disability and LGBTQ rights, and fought discrimination in education, housing, employment, lending, and religious exercise. But most important, she challenged voter suppression. Gupta, if confirmed as assistant attorney general, will supervise the Civil Rights Division she once ran.
Accomplished civil rights attorney Clarke will fill Gupta’s former role running the Division and enforcing voting rights. The Honest Elections Project, kin to the Judicial Crisis Network, wants no part of these two women, because they will be strong, motivated leaders against unlawful voter suppression. They preferred Trump’s Civil Rights Division, which didn’t bring one single Voting Rights Act case until late May of 2020.
That’s the motive. The donor-approved Republican appointees to the Supreme Court may handcuff the Civil Rights Division with further judicial assaults on voting rights. But Trump’s cronies at the Justice Department showed dark-money donors the value of a captive Department that would look away from voter suppression schemes. As Republicans hinge their election strategy on keeping Americans from voting, an active Civil Rights Division is a deadly threat.
I get it. If I were a right-wing special interest group, the last thing I would want is these two experienced lawyers wielding the power of the Justice Department to defend voting rights. But for everybody else, these women are two appointments to applaud.
Sheldon Whitehouse: How Right-Wing Dark Money Is Trying to Kneecap the Biden DOJ
https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-right-wing-dark-money-is-trying-to-kneecap-the-biden-doj?ref=homeHow Right-Wing Dark Money Is Trying to Kneecap the Biden DOJ
TIME TO FIGHT
A shadowy group is fighting DOJ appointees Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke. Their crime? Their desire to use their skills to defend Americans’ right to vote.
Sheldon Whitehouse
Published Mar. 22, 2021 4:57AM ET
snip//
In Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell’s court-packing machine, this Judicial Crisis Network spent $7 million to oppose President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, and then spent another $10 million to boost Trump’s nominee Neil Gorsuch. JCN pledged $10 million or more for Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. It spent $10 million in under two months to support Amy Coney Barrett’s bid. These campaigns were funded with tens of millions of anonymous dollars, primarily through four separate donations of at least $15 million. Those donations may well have been the same donor.
Eye-popping as that is, those millions are a tiny slice of the funding behind the overall dark-money operation. A 2019 Washington Post investigation revealed JCN is one of a web of front groups coordinated by Leonard Leo, the long-time executive vice president of the Federalist Society. The Post tracked more than $250 million in dark money flowing through Leo’s groups.
snip//
This brings us back to Gupta and Clarke. Gupta once ran the Civil Rights Division. She prosecuted hate crimes and human trafficking, promoted disability and LGBTQ rights, and fought discrimination in education, housing, employment, lending, and religious exercise. But most important, she challenged voter suppression. Gupta, if confirmed as assistant attorney general, will supervise the Civil Rights Division she once ran.
Accomplished civil rights attorney Clarke will fill Gupta’s former role running the Division and enforcing voting rights. The Honest Elections Project, kin to the Judicial Crisis Network, wants no part of these two women, because they will be strong, motivated leaders against unlawful voter suppression. They preferred Trump’s Civil Rights Division, which didn’t bring one single Voting Rights Act case until late May of 2020.
That’s the motive. The donor-approved Republican appointees to the Supreme Court may handcuff the Civil Rights Division with further judicial assaults on voting rights. But Trump’s cronies at the Justice Department showed dark-money donors the value of a captive Department that would look away from voter suppression schemes. As Republicans hinge their election strategy on keeping Americans from voting, an active Civil Rights Division is a deadly threat.
I get it. If I were a right-wing special interest group, the last thing I would want is these two experienced lawyers wielding the power of the Justice Department to defend voting rights. But for everybody else, these women are two appointments to applaud.
March 20, 2021
https://politicalwire.com/2021/03/20/quote-of-the-day-2838/
Quote of the Day
March 20, 2021 at 7:43 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
"...it's obviously a very poor strategy."
https://politicalwire.com/2021/03/20/quote-of-the-day-2838/
Quote of the Day
March 20, 2021 at 7:43 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
“Why they would want to alienate the Republican most likely to work with them to find common ground is truly a mystery to me. And it’s obviously a very poor strategy.”
— Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), criticizing Democrats in a Wall Street Journal interview.
— Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), criticizing Democrats in a Wall Street Journal interview.
March 20, 2021
How Biden Is Driving The Right And The Media Insane (And America Loves It)
March 19, 2021 by Oliver Willis
snip//
Despite knowing better after four years of Trump, the right and the press have fallen right back into their comfortable patterns. The right makes up a fake controversy that they pound every hour on Fox News and Twitter, while the media peppers the Democratic administration with questions about the made-up outrage that sound as if they were dreamed up by the RNC’s Ronna McDaniel and her team.
Thus far, Biden is not falling for the bait.
snip//
Thus far, Biden’s response has largely been indifference to the fake controversy machine. He and Vice President Kamala Harris haven’t spent the early days of the presidency trying to put out phony fires, seeking to appease a conservative/Republican beast whose only goal is the destruction of liberalism.
Biden has kept his head down, setting realistic expectations after years of grandiose promises the press repeatedly fell for but were never delivered upon.
The dissatisfaction from the right and the press is palpable. Biden isn’t jumping when they collectively demand he do so. He is not playing by the approved rules, where the right and the media set the agenda and the Democrats careen from crisis to crisis.
snip//
The public has largely been ignoring the media-conservative whining and instead has been looking at Biden’s actions. Biden is ignoring the peanut gallery and skating above the chattering.
Together Biden and the public are leaving the right and the press in the dust, and the country is better off for it. Hopefully it persists.
How Biden Is Driving The Right And The Media Insane (And America Loves It)
https://oliverwillis.com/how-biden-is-driving-the-right-and-the-media-insane-and-america-loves-it/How Biden Is Driving The Right And The Media Insane (And America Loves It)
March 19, 2021 by Oliver Willis
snip//
Despite knowing better after four years of Trump, the right and the press have fallen right back into their comfortable patterns. The right makes up a fake controversy that they pound every hour on Fox News and Twitter, while the media peppers the Democratic administration with questions about the made-up outrage that sound as if they were dreamed up by the RNC’s Ronna McDaniel and her team.
Thus far, Biden is not falling for the bait.
snip//
Thus far, Biden’s response has largely been indifference to the fake controversy machine. He and Vice President Kamala Harris haven’t spent the early days of the presidency trying to put out phony fires, seeking to appease a conservative/Republican beast whose only goal is the destruction of liberalism.
Biden has kept his head down, setting realistic expectations after years of grandiose promises the press repeatedly fell for but were never delivered upon.
The dissatisfaction from the right and the press is palpable. Biden isn’t jumping when they collectively demand he do so. He is not playing by the approved rules, where the right and the media set the agenda and the Democrats careen from crisis to crisis.
snip//
The public has largely been ignoring the media-conservative whining and instead has been looking at Biden’s actions. Biden is ignoring the peanut gallery and skating above the chattering.
Together Biden and the public are leaving the right and the press in the dust, and the country is better off for it. Hopefully it persists.
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