Republicans

Rick Scott: Trump Can “Absolutely” Win New York State

“He can. Oh, absolutely. When I left my hotel this morning, there’s a lady from the Bronx. She says every one of her neighbors is for Trump. Everyone. She said this, all these cases, lawsuits, it’s lawfare against Trump. She says it is unfair and un-American.” – Sen. Rick Scott, when asked by Fox News host Cheryl Casone if he …

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Louisiana Governor Gets K-12 “Don’t Say Gay” Bill

The New Orleans Times Picayune reports: The Louisiana Senate passed legislation Thursday afternoon to forbid school staffers from talking to students in grades K-12 about sexual orientation or gender identity. House Bill 122 passed 28-7, with all Senate Republicans and two Democrats in support. It now heads to Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican who has claimed without citing evidence that …

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Militia Members Move To Take Over Oregon State GOP

The Guardian reports: At least 66 members of an anti-government group founded by far-right militia figure Ammon Bundy have attempted to win local positions of influence in the Republican party in Oregon, the Guardian can reveal. The candidates stood for Republican precinct committee person (PCP) slots in three central Oregon counties in this week’s elections, with some facing no opponent …

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NYT: Tom Cotton Now Top Contender For Trump’s VP

The New York Times reports: Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas has unexpectedly emerged as a top contender to become Donald J. Trump’s running mate, a signal that the former president is heavily weighing experience and the ability to run a disciplined campaign over other factors. Mr. Cotton’s ascendance comes as Mr. Trump’s leading vice-presidential options have increasingly come into focus, …

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Trump: Nikki Haley Will “Absolutely Be On Our Team”

Axios reports: Former President Trump said Thursday he “appreciated” ex-Republican presidential rival Nikki Haley’s vow this week to vote for him in November and he thinks she will be on his team “in some form.” News 12’s Tara Rosenblum asked the former president whether there would be room on his team for Haley, who was U.S. ambassador to the UN …

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Senate Candidate Spent Campaign Funds On Strippers

The Daily Beast reports: At five in the morning one week after Republican Royce White lost his 2022 Minnesota congressional primary, his campaign shelled out more than $1,200 in donor funds to a vendor 1,800 miles away not typically associated with political expenses—an all-nude strip club in Miami, Florida, called “Gold Rush Cabaret.” That is just one among dozens of …

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DeSantis: Founding Fathers Would Hate Sociology

Florida Politics reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis is sounding off about sociology yet again. And this time the architects of the American experience have his back. The Governor went back for a second slam of the academic discipline in as many months on Thursday, in remarks to the Florida Homeschool Convention in Orlando. “Florida used to require all students to take …

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Arizona GOP Rep Secretly Used AI To Write Anti-AI Bill

NBC News reports: A Republican member of the Arizona House used ChatGPT to help craft legislation on artificial intelligence-driven impersonations, which was signed into law by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs earlier this week. State Rep. Alex Kolodin used the AI software to help define “digital impersonation” in Arizona’s new law, which aims to regulate deepfake technology. A representative for the …

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OH Gov Calls Special Session To Get Biden On Ballot

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports: Gov. Mike DeWine has taken the rare step of calling a special legislative session, in effect summoning the General Assembly to make sure that President Joe Biden qualifies for the ballot this November. DeWine announced he would be calling the special session for May 28 in a Thursday evening press conference. It marked the first …

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Noem Now Banned From All South Dakota Tribal Land

The Guardian reports: South Dakota’s far-right governor Kristi Noem is now officially barred by Indigenous groups from visiting all tribal lands in her own home state. The sweeping ban is the latest development in the contentious relationship between Noem and Indigenous tribes after controversial comments the governor made connecting tribal leaders to international drug cartels. South Dakota’s Flandreau Santee Sioux …

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GOP Rep Admits Lying About $320K Loan To Campaign

Nashville’s NBC affiliate reports: Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles filed 11 amendments to his campaign finance reports Wednesday, acknowledging that his claims for the last two years to have loaned $320,000 to his campaign were not true. Despite having reported making the $320,000 personal loan, Ogles’ personal financial disclosures did not show any substantial investments — not even a savings account. …

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Thomas: Courts Should Ignore Racist Gerrymandering

Slate reports: The Supreme Court, he argued, should overrule every precedent that limits gerrymandering—including the landmark cases establishing “one person, one vote”—because it has no constitutional power to redraw maps in the first place. And he places much of the blame for the court’s allegedly illegitimate intrusion into redistricting on a surprising culprit: Brown v. Board of Education. Brown was, …

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Senate Rejects Revived Border Bill In 43-50 Vote

The Hill reports: The Senate voted down the bipartisan border bill on Thursday, marking the second time it has been blocked in a matter of months as Democrats look to shore up their political troubles and give President Biden and incumbent senators a boost in the process. In a widely expected outcome, senators voted 43 to 50 to take down …

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House Votes To Repeal DC Law On Non-Citizen Voting

The Washington Examiner reports: The House passed a bill on Thursday to ban noncitizens from voting in local elections in Washington, D.C., after several dozen Democrats broke with party leadership to support the measure. Lawmakers voted 262-143 to approve the legislation, which would overturn a local law giving noncitizens access to elections including those for members of the city council. …

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Louisiana Gov Gets Bill Criminalizing Abortion Pills

The Associated Press reports: Two abortion-inducing drugs could soon be reclassified as controlled and dangerous substances in Louisiana under a first-of-its-kind bill that received final legislative passage Thursday and is expected to be signed into law by the governor. Louisiana currently has a near-total abortion ban in place, applying both to surgical and medical abortions. The GOP-dominated Legislature’s push to …

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Rick Scott: Trump’s Trial Was “Scariest Time In My Life”

Florida Politics reports: U.S. Sen. Rick Scott has faced legal questions before, specifically regarding his former health care company and Medicare billing anomalies. But despite pleading the Fifth Amendment 75 times during that case — along with serving in the Navy, spending eight years as Florida’s Governor and living through poverty as a child — Florida’s junior Senator says Donald …

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Dems Demand “Enforceable” SCOTUS Conduct Code

“This incident is yet another example of apparent ethical misconduct by a sitting justice, and it adds to the court’s ongoing ethical crisis. For the good of our country and the court, Justice Alito must recuse himself immediately from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection. And the chief justice must see how this is damaging …

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SCOTUS Upholds Racist South Carolina House Map

CBS News reports: The Supreme Court on Thursday maintained the lines of a congressional district in South Carolina that a lower court had invalidated as an unlawful racial gerrymander, delivering a win to Republican mapmakers who said they used politics, not race, as the predominant factor when drawing the district bounds. The 6-3 ruling from the high court reverses the …

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Ramaswamy Buys Stake In Huffington Post Parent

The Huffington Post reports: Vivek Ramaswamy, who unsuccessfully mounted a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, has purchased a 7.7% stake in BuzzFeed, a regulatory filing revealed Tuesday. The purchase raised questions about Ramaswamy’s intent. The filing indicated he intended to be an activist investor, pursuing discussions with management and BuzzFeed’s board of directors about strategy and even changes to …

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MTG: “Merrick Garland Issued Kill Order For Trump”

The Daily Beast reports: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s baseless claim that the feds planned to “assassinate” Donald Trump in 2022 may not have been taken seriously by most of the American public, but Moscow’s propaganda machine is reporting it as fact. “The FBI planned to kill Donald Trump: details revealed in the USA,” one popular Kremlin-friendly newspaper blared, citing the “popular” …

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