With The Passing Of RBG, Will The Issue Of Choice Help Or Hurt Democrats Running For Congress?

 

Right after it was announced that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had passed away, Trumpist crackpot Angela Stanton-King sent out the above Tweet. Her opponent, Democratic state Senator Nikema Williams has been a fearless advocate for women for her entire adult life and worked as a vice president for public Policy at Planned Parenthood for a decade. Protecting women's choice isn't an issue she's going to run away from.

Early Monday morning, Omaha Democrat Kara Eastman-- the progressive candidate running for the congressional seat held by Trump sycophant Donald Bacon-- told me that "With the tragic passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, I've heard from many voters in Nebraska about their fears that a more conservative Supreme Court will vote to reverse Roe v. Wade. While I support Roe and I believe that women constitutionally deserve to be able to make healthcare decisions affecting their bodies in consultation with their doctors without government interference, I know as well that Rep. Don Bacon would rather have us back in the pre-Roe dark ages of back-alley abortions and second-class status for women. The fact is that if you are really 'pro-life' you would support universal pre-natal health care, you would favor Medicare for All (which isn't much different than the socialised medicine that Don Bacon has enjoyed his entire career), and you would push for massive economic investments in jobs and infrastructure that will lead to a safe recovery from Covid."

On Sunday, the NY Times noted that Abortion Was Back-Burnered In The Presidential Race. Not Anymore. "For months, abortion has been relegated to a back burner in the presidential campaign, eclipsed by a worldwide pandemic, an economic crisis and protests over racial justice. But the death of Justice Ginsburg and the looming confirmation battle to replace her could force the candidates to discuss a volatile issue six weeks before Election Day that carries significant political risks for both sides, even as it energizes portions of their bases. Mainstream views on abortion are more moderate than those of the activists on either wing, with most Americans saying that abortions should be legal with some restrictions. An all-out fight over abortion could further alienate the more moderate suburban voters both sides are competing for. Democrats especially must navigate their own divisions over how far to push an issue that Mr. Biden has long found personally uncomfortable."

I'll leave Biden's response to the centrist spin doctors he has running his campaign. Instead, I am interested in knowing how the GOP rush to ramrod through a far-right anti-Choice Supreme Court justice who wants to end women's Choice is going to play out in congressional races around the country. Kara Eastman is running in a 50-50 purple district and her forthright position on Choice shows conviction... and courage. Same for California progressive Audrey Denney, who's running for a red California seat held by anti-Choice fanatic Dog LaMalfa. Many in the district are anti-Choice but that isn't keeping Denney from speaking out loudly and clearly. "Choice has always been a top issue for me," she told me yesterday. "I’ve been endorsed by EMILY’s List, Planned Parenthood, and Vote Pro Choice. Our polling shows it, along with access to medical care, a top issues with some of our important voter groups." She issued this statement to voters in CA-01:  

This is a terrifying moment in U.S. history, when 46 years of precedent for recognizing women’s right to privacy and sovereignty over their own bodies is being systematically dismantled. The policymakers who have put forward these archaic bans on safe and legal abortion claim to be doing so because they value human life.

I deeply respect the sanctity of life. I believe that life is created by God, and I believe that every woman has the right to choose whether or not she will participate in bringing life into being. No one has the right to tell her that she must. Making the decision to end a pregnancy is a difficult and tragic one-- but having the right to make that decision is foundational to protecting women’s health, privacy, and well-being.

If the people who wrote these laws truly cared for the sanctity of life, they would be working tirelessly to reduce our country’s maternal mortality rate (currently the worst among industrialized nations), but instead they are limiting or eliminating care, and more mothers are dying during childbirth. They would be investing in initiatives to improve infant and child health and access to early education and child care. They would be fighting for paid family leave, so that parents have adequate time to regain their own health and support their new child. They would be losing sleep over the 12 million children in this country who will go to bed hungry because their parents are trapped in poverty, unable to earn a living wage.

I imagine a world where fewer women face the difficult decisions surrounding ending a pregnancy. Statistics have proven since Roe v. Wade, the path to that kind of world is not through restrictive legislation around abortion. That path is achieved through policies that support women and families, and make it easier for families to thrive in our country.

The legislators who support abortion bans have failed us. They have failed their constituents. They have failed our nation. Their time is up.

Kathy Ellis, is the progressive Democrat running to replace Trump enabler Jason Smith in the reddest district in Missouri, the eighth congressional district in the southeast corner of the state, where Missouri comes together with Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and southern Illinois. The PVI is R+24 and Trump beat Hillary there 75.4% to 21.0%. Perhaps counterintuitively, polling shows that most voters in the district are pro-Choice. Jason Smith certainly isn't. Kathy's campaign has been advertising her endorsement by Planned Parenthood extensively and she certainly isn't backing away from her pledge to protect Choice. "I've always been a proud pro-choice candidate," she told me, "and protecting the right to choose is not a foreign fight for Missourians who have been up against staunchly anti-choice bills for over a decade. But now, with the passing of Justice Ginsburg, this fight has certainly gained importance. In a rural district such as mine, we've actually seen most folks fall into the pro-choice category, and when the Missouri legislature attempted to pass a full abortion ban, with no exceptions, we saw a huge increase in pro-choice organizing in the District. When I first announced my campaign, I was advised to avoid this issue, but for me, protecting a person's reproductive freedom is at the heart of why I'm running for office. I've always been proudly pro-choice, and I'll always be honest about who I am."

Republican Chris Jacobs is another garden variety Trump sycophant and anti-Choice ass. Typical e-mail to his supporters (last week):

The progressive Democrat running for his western New York congressional seat is our old friend Nate McMurray. Earlier, McMurray told me that "The appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court became a political fight to the death in 2018 just before the midterm elections. Now the unthinkable has happened, and Justice Ginsburg's death has launched us into another situation where she hasn't even been laid to rest and Mitch McConnell is salivating over another chance to put his hypocrisy on full display-- just 43 days away from the election. Just as COVID-19 magnified the issues with our healthcare system, RBG's death reminds us all that even institutions like the Supreme Court are not safe from the corrosion of toxic political forces. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the Affordable Care Act on November 10th. Should the Republican party have its way, millions of Americans will be thrown off their health insurance before the second wave of the pandemic hits. Reproductive rights, labor rights, civil rights, and so much more are on the line. The GOP has sunk so low-- it's not a time for us to 'go high;' we've got to fight like hell for the future of this country."

There's no question about where Mondaire Jones was coming down on this issue. One of the best hopes for progressive leadership in the next session of Congress, he's running to hold an open, narrowly blue district. ""Unfortunately, the Trump Administration and the Republican Party have systematically undermined women’s reproductive freedom," he said this morning. "The federal government must step in to protect civil rights-- and it cannot leave those rights up to the extreme conservative majority on the Supreme Court. As a member of Congress, I will work to codify Roe v. Wade by statute, repeal the Hyde Amendment, and ensure that any Medicare for All legislation includes coverage for the full range of reproductive services. That’s why I’m proud to be endorsed by leading pro-choice groups like Planned Parenthood Action Fund and NARAL Pro-Choice America. My opponent, meanwhile, is anti-choice and intends to be a staunch opponent of reproductive freedom, which could not be more out of step with the values of our district."

Of course it isn't just in congressional and federal races where the "new" issue is being injected into the election. I spoke with Heidi Campbell yesterday. The mayor of Oak Hill and a state Senate candidate in Tennessee, she is on the verge of ousting anti-Choice Republican Steve Dickerson and flipping a red seat blue. You can help her do that here. I asked her how the Supreme Court being threatened with another anti-Choice extremist is playing out in her suburban Nashville district.

"Devastatingly, she told me, "the October surprise came early this year-- not to say that there won’t be several more, in this accelerating-ly chaotic wreck of a year. Each time something like this happens though, we have to reassess the dynamics of our race. I am running for state Senate in Tennessee’s District 20 which is gerrymandered to carve out the conservative pockets of Nashville’s metropolitan area. This district has been trending blue and went for Clinton in the last election. In fact, two separate polls show us narrowly ahead of the incumbent. Democrats have not flipped a state Senate seat in Tennessee in over fifteen years, and we have a great shot at flipping this one. The SCOTUS appointment to fill RBG’s seat cuts both ways of course-- both sides are energized by it, and it should strengthen the position of candidates like myself who are running in districts that are gaining Democratic voters. But this also means that Republicans are going to spend as much as they can to hang on to their seats, and in our race they have purchased several hundred thousand dollars worth of television ad time to run attack ads against our campaign over the next five weeks. Our team is fighting with every fiber of our beings to flip this seat, in a state where anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ, anti-immigrant (and many other) bills are intentionally seeded to wend their way up to the Supreme Court. We simply do not have as much money as the Republicans, and since we’re not going to have election finance reform in the next six weeks, we have GOT to raise as much as we can to win."

 

Trump Has Gone Postal-- What Is Required Of Patriots?

Louis & Donald Fix The Post Office by Nancy Ohanian

The House hadn't voted since it passed the Pentagon budget on July 31. Then on Saturday, there were 4 votes on the post office, including a Republican motion to prevent a vote from taking place at all. That Republican vote to recommit failed 223 to to 182. The 144 who voted, all voted to recommit. 222 Democrats voted against that but eight less-than-worthless fake Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- protected by the DCCC-- voted with the Republicans, of course; they always do. The enemies of the people:

• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)
• Jared Golden (Blue Dog-ME)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)
• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)

When the bill itself hit the floor half an hour later, all 231 Democrats voted yes and 149 Republicans voted no. That doesn't add up to the 257-150 win. Well, Justin Amash, the conservative independent, was with his GOP buddies on this one. So that makes 150. But that doesn't account for 26 yes votes.

Ah-ha! 26 Republicans! Were there suddenly--out of the blue-- 26 mainstream Republicans unwilling to lend their names to Trump's and DeJoy's plans for fascist take-over? Well... that might describe Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Peter King (R-NY), Chris Smith (R-NJ), David McKinley (R-WV) and Will Hurd (R-TX). But the rest of them? All have something in common-- they are extremely vulnerable members petrified to be associated with Trump and his authoritarianism, even, if like Mike McCaul (R-TX), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) and Sam Graves (R-MO), they are total Trump lap-dogs who never stray from the party line. LaMalfa was the most shocking of all. But he's feeling the heat in a big way from progressive Democrat Audrey Denney and decided he's more afraid of her than of Trump at this point. Yesterday Audrey told us that she was "pleased to see Rep. LaMalfa vote the correct way on this bill-- and for once do something that favors his constituents instead of his corporate sponsors. I think it signifies the mounting pressure he is feeling from our campaign. It appears the vote may have cost Rep. LaMalfa some support within his strongest base." She pointed out some Trumpists in her district who are fuming:

And then there's multimillionaire clown Michael McCaul in Austin. You'd have to get up pretty early in the morning to pull the wool over Mike Siegel's eyes. He nearly beat Trumpist shill McCaul in 2018 and, despite McCaul's one vote diverging from Trump Saturday, everyone in TX-10 knows what a puppet is and that it's time to get rid of theirs. "Michael McCaul's vote for USPS funding is a clear sign it's re-election time and our rally with NALC Letter Carriers and 50 constituents on Tuesday was a success," said Siegel, a public school teacher and civil rights attorney up against eight-term Rep. Michael McCaul. "McCaul has accepted over $50,000 in corporate PAC money from FedEx and UPS, which have a direct interest in gutting the Post Office. I'm not taking a dime of corporate PAC money. Our campaign has been running for years on a message to strengthen and expand the Post Office, including Postal Banking and infrastructure for universal broadband, to create thousands of good paying jobs."

Sam Graves was another lock-step Republican who surprised everyone who knows him by starting from the party line. But, like LaMalfa, he's feeling the heat-- from his constituents and from progressive Democrat Gena Ross. "As a proponent of the House Bill meant to provide necessary funding for the USPS, I am glad that Sam Graves voted approve it. As I’ve said before, funding the postal service should not be a partisan issue. For Democrats and Republicans alike, the postal service provides a crucial service. The right thing to do, regardless of party, was to vote yes. However, we cannot settle for someone who does the right thing just some of the time. I’m running for office to guarantee the Missourians in District 6 that if elected, I will always vote with their best interest in mind, and not just when it’s convenient for me. I’m running so that the people of District 6 will finally feel like their voices have been heard, and not like their concerns have been silenced. When elected, the people of District 6 will never have to worry about whether or not I’m serving them, or my own self-interest."

Like most Americans, rural and suburban Missouri voters do not want to see the post office wrecked-- but Jason Smith diverged with Sam Graves on this one. His opponent, Kathy Ellis: "Jason Smith should be ashamed of himself. If it wasn’t clear before how out of touch and ignorant he is, it’s crystal clear now. Smith’s vote against support for USPS-- on the heels of his vote against Coronavirus relief-- demonstrates, once again, that’s he’s unfit to represent Missouri’s 8th District. Our rural area relies on USPS for voting, business matters, communication, and medicine. And we deserve a real leader, not a rubber stamp for Trump and GOP policies. It’s time for him to go."

But in some ways the most interesting vote of all was from hereditary multimillionaire Chris Jacobs in western New York (NY-27). Jacobs voted to recommit and then, following the GOP party line like he always does (100%), he voted against the bill to save the post office. No one could possibly expect anything else from him, right? Well... apparently he got some negative feedback from voters in his district-- furious rural voters, particularly. Jacobs was so frightened, that he put out a statement claiming he pressed them wrong button when he voted and actually meant to vote against Trump and with the Democrats, something he has never done before. Let's allow Jacob's progressive opponent Nate McMurray, a vocal defender of the post office, to explain what ensued: "Saturday, thousands of letter carriers and postal workers in NY-27 went to bed believing that their congressman voted against their very existence as essential workers. Today, hundreds of thousands of voters woke up to wonder whether their congressman was even able to do his job. Chris claims he was 'distracted' during the vote and was on his way to the airport before he realized he had 'pushed the wrong button.' How could he allow that to happen? Could he have been eager to get home before his big fundraiser Monday morning? The truth is that this negligence would never have happened on a vote important to his big money donors. No matter his alleged intention, Chris Jacobs' actions have shown zero support for the USPS and zero ability to stand up to the President. Chris has been silent as Trump threatened our democracy, saying that no funding meant fewer mail-in ballots for November and a better chance for his re-election. He hasn't said a word about postmaster DeJoy stealing mailboxes and dismantling mail sorting machines here in Buffalo. I'm proud to be endorsed by the National Association of Letter Carriers, because they know I can't be distracted from the fight to protect our workers, unions, and democratic institutions. There is going to be another big vote in November, on inept politicians like Jacobs and Trump-- I know there are many former Jacobs voters in NY-27 who are ready to change their vote too."

Trump roadie Alex Mooney (R-WV) was one of the Republicans who voted against Saturday's bill to provide $25 million in USPS funding, even as one of West Virginia's other Republican Congressmen, David McKinley, voted for it. The postal service employs nearly 4,000 West Virginians. "On-time mail delivery is a basic public service, and is particularly critical in a rural state like West Virginia," said Cathy Kunkel, Mooney's challenger. "We urgently need to fund the postal service to get through the November election. Beyond that, Congress must repeal the bill that required the Postal Service to pre-fund retiree medical benefits, which has put an unnecessary strain on its finances. It is deeply disappointing that Congressman Mooney voted against funding for this fundamental institution of our democracy."

Republicans without serious challengers-- and also Republicans who still can't get their heads out of Trump's ass-- just toed the party line (without making up stories like Jacobs did to evade accountability). The most foolish votes against the interests of their own constituents were by two crooks, Roger Williams (R-TX), Mike Garcia (R-CA) and Ken Calvert (R-CA). I asked Julie Oliver, Williams' opponent how Williams' vote can re explained, since people in central Texas like and depend on the postal service. Like Mike Siegel, Julie is also based in Austin and also running in a gerrymandered Republican district. And like Mike, she's looking like a winner. But in her case, her corrupt opponent, Roger Williams, refused to vote for the post office. "After taking $20,000 from UPS and Fedex, Roger Williams voted against funding the United States Post Office," said Julie. "It's about corruption, plain and simple. And it's not just a disservice to veterans, seniors, and rural Texans who rely on USPS for last-mile delivery. It's un-American."

The bill itself, likely to be buried in the Senate by Moscow Mitch, would prevent DeJoy from making any changes to postal operations that could slow delivery of mailed-in ballots for this fall’s elections and would force him to reverse the decisions he's already made to slow down the mail until the pandemic is over-- like removing mail-sorting machines, restricting overtime pay, destroying post boxes and handling election mail as anything other than first-class for prioritized delivery. In line with what was requested by the Republican postal service board of governors, the legislation also approved $25 billion in funding for the service. Trump's says if Moscow Mitch fails to stop it, he'll veto it.

DeJoy will be grilled by members of the House Oversight Committee this morning and with members like Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Ro Khanna (D-CA), AOC (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Katie Porter (D-CA)-- plus neo-Nazis Gym Jordan (R-OH), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Jody Hice (R-GA), Glenn Grothman (R-WI) and Clay Higgins (R-LA)-- you can count on the hearing being a lot more exciting than Trump's hodgepodge tribute to himself that starts tonight.

Yesterday, conservative Republican #NeverTrumper Steve Schmidt wrote in a Business Insider OpEd that because of Trump's post office agenda, American democracy is in grave danger, "an attack on the right to vote... Trump's scheme to cause chaos at the US Postal Service and undermine faith in our voting system-- in the midst of a pandemic no less-- must be met with a rededication by all Americans who love this country to vote the president out of office."

Trump is causing chaos in America. He has attacked and weakened our most vital institutions for the past four years, and now, he has decided that he will stay in power by any means necessary, even going as far as to muse about running for an unconstitutional third-term in 2024.

Trump is trying to steal the election using a voter suppression scheme that confuses Americans and undermines the very basics of voting.

The US Postal Service has been selected by Trump to be the unwitting bludgeon as he assaults our free and fair elections process. He has installed a crony at the head of the USPS to make changes that will sow confusion and slow mail service, threatening the ability of the USPS to deliver mail-in ballots on time.

And it's not only the election. Imagine our fellow citizens, seniors, and veterans, who need their medications right now. The inescapable reality is that more Americans will die needlessly as the result of yet another cold, calculating, and calloused decision by Trump.

The USPS is as old as the nation and shares with it a storied history. The first US Postmaster General was Dr. Benjamin Franklin. He understood that mail delivery is amongst the very highest priorities and requirements of a functioning national government.

From the daring days of the Pony Express, to the pioneering Air Mail pilots at the dawn of aviation, to the men and women who walk a route today and know our kids' names and always have a treat for the dog, the USPS has been a vital part of our country. We cannot let Trump and his appointees threaten it.

As has been the case for the past four years, Trump's assault on our country's institutions is made possible by the silence of his collaborators in this plot against America.

What are we supposed to call it when one of America's two political parties succumbs fully to the siren of power at the expense of the American experiment? Freedom is on the line.

...We must defend freedom. We must vote. We must organize. We must participate. We must never ever let any person or any nation threaten our right to vote. It is an inheritance paid for in blood. We will never surrender it.

Donald Trump is a name that will live in ignominy for all time. His depravities, incompetence, and malice will be repudiated by the American people in a decisive vote that Trump will be unable to stop.

In the end, we are Americans. We decide who leads. We will vote.

Any and every Republican elected office who doesn't stand up to Trump on this, is complicit and should be voted out of office. The folks at the Lincoln Project know the stuff in this ad is true-- most of them were the ones who created or applied these right-wing strategies in American political campaigns to begin with:

The End Of The NRA?

Last night Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Tom Hamburger explained NY Attorney General Leticia James' decision to sue the NRA out of existence or, at least, out of New York, where they have been a chartered charity for over a century. James' case revolves around the $64 million top NRA officials drained out of the non-profit to enrich themselves, "a decades-long pattern of fraud to raid the coffers of the powerful gun rights group for personal gain," wrote Leonnig and Hamburger. "In her lawsuit, Attorney General Letitia James called for the dissolution of the NRA and the removal of CEO Wayne LaPierre from the leadership post he has held for the past 39 years, saying he and others used the group’s funds to finance a luxury lifestyle. She also asked a New York court to force LaPierre and three key deputies to repay NRA members for the ill-gotten money and inflated salaries that her investigation found they took. James accused the NRA leaders of flouting state and federal laws and signing off on reports and statements they knew were fraudulent, while diverting millions of dollars away from the NRA’s charitable mission to benefit themselves and their allies... Her investigation, which began in February 2019, found a 'a culture of self-dealing, mismanagement, and negligent oversight at the NRA that was illegal, oppressive, and fraudulent,' according to a statement by the attorney general’s office."

I asked Long Island Congressman Tom Suozzi if James can actually do this. He was crystal clear: "One of the central jobs of the New York State Attorney General is to oversee the conduct of charities operating within the state. General James is using the tools in the tool kit of her Charities Bureau to perform the oversight she is sworn to do. Bravo General!"

Trump is going crazy because the NRA spent millions on backing him in 2016 and planned to do the same thing between now and November. I suspect that James' suit is going to tie up their funds, at the very least.

Meanwhile, D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine announced Thursday that his office filed a separate lawsuit against the NRA Foundation, which is based in Washington. Racine accused the organization of being a puppet of the NRA, despite legal requirements that it independently pursue charitable purposes. Instead, Racine said his office found, the foundation repeatedly lent the NRA money to address its rising deficits.

James said at a news conference Thursday that she is seeking to dissolve the NRA because of the brazenness of the group’s violations of law.

“The corruption was so broad, and because they have basically destroyed all the assets of the NRA,” she said. “Enough was enough... No one is above the law, not even the NRA.”

Her office cited as a precedent its previous action against the Trump Foundation, which led Trump to shut down the charity in 2018 amid allegations he used it for his personal benefit.

The New York lawsuit against the NRA paints a picture of widespread wrongdoing at the influential gun rights group, and a freewheeling atmosphere in which top officials repeatedly took advantage of their positions for their personal benefit.

In one new revelation, the attorney general said her investigation uncovered that LaPierre recently arranged a post-employment contract for himself with the NRA worth $17 million. He never sought board approval for the deal, the suit claims.

The lawsuit also claims LaPierre failed to report large sums of personal income to the IRS. James’s office said it found that the NRA chief funneled personal expenses through an outside public relations firm, allowing him to avoid reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal income.

James said Thursday that she was referring those findings to the IRS. She also said that if her office uncovers criminal activity, it will be referred to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

In response, the NRA said Thursday that it was filing its own federal lawsuit against James, alleging that the attorney general has violated the group’s free speech rights and has been unfairly targeting the gun rights lobby since she began campaigning for the office.

“This was a baseless, premeditated attack on our organization and the Second Amendment freedoms it fights to defend,” NRA President Carolyn Meadows said in a statement. “You could have set your watch by it: the investigation was going to reach its crescendo as we move into the 2020 election cycle.”

NRA officials said they believe James’s action was designed to disrupt the group’s momentum at a critical time in the 2020 election campaign. The NRA political action arm is planning to spend tens of millions of dollars this fall to mobilize its members to defeat Democratic candidates who seek gun restrictions, including putative Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, according to a person familiar with fundraising, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal strategy.

“It’s a transparent attempt to score political points and attack the leading voice in opposition to the leftist agenda,” Meadows said. “This has been a power grab by a political opportunist-- a desperate move that is part of a rank political vendetta. Our members won’t be intimidated or bullied in their defense of political and constitutional freedom.”

Trump also decried the legal action against the organization, which spent millions on his behalf in 2016, calling it a “terrible thing” as he spoke to reporters Thursday morning at the White House. He said the NRA had been “decimated” by legal expenses and suggested the group should move from New York to Texas.

Experts in tax law said the deep investigation into the NRA’s finances showed the potential for state officials to vigorously enforce nonprofit rules.

“It is a watershed moment in nonprofit regulation,” said Douglas Varley, who advises nonprofit organizations at the law firm of Caplin & Drysdale.

With a decline in IRS funding and enforcement, there has been a widespread belief that “the locus of nonprofit enforcement is shifting from IRS to the states,” Varley said. “Here is the clearest possible evidence of that reality. I think everyone who believes a strong regulator is needed would heartened by this.”

The dual suits filed by the attorneys general in New York and Washington punctuate nearly two years of infighting at the NRA over management of the group’s funds, a civil war that led to the exodus of many veteran members and top officials.

...The group’s bitter internal battle burst into public view in April 2019 at the NRA’s annual convention in Indianapolis, when then-NRA President Oliver North was forced out by LaPierre after pressing for an internal financial review.

The Washington Post and other news organizations subsequently revealed how the NRA directed funds to board members and how LaPierre racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in charges at a Beverly Hills clothing boutique and on foreign travel.

The Post also reported how, after a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., Pierre told close associates he was worried about how easily he could be targeted and needed a more secure place to live and sought to buy a $6 million, 10,000-square-foot French-style country estate in Westlake, Texas.

The suit expands on previous allegations that LaPierre improperly charged the NRA for private jet travel and luxury vacations that had no clear business purpose. The filing claims LaPierre billed the NRA more than $500,000 for private charter flights he and his family took to visit the Bahamas eight times over three years.

Last year, a spokesman for LaPierre told The Post his visits to the Bahamas were for NRA business. But the New York attorney general’s investigation found the trips were private vacations.

In four years, LaPierre was reimbursed by the NRA for $1.2 million in expenses that were personal trips, golf fees and gifts, the suit claims.

LaPierre also spent $3.6 million of NRA money for private travel consultants to arrange private jets and executive car service for his and his family’s use over just two years, the suit says. And he set aside several millions each year for private security for him and his family.

LaPierre also enjoyed the largesse of NRA vendors who hoped to keep their organization’s business, the suit said. One vendor gave LaPierre and his wife an all-expense paid trip to Africa for a safari adventure; another frequently loaned LaPierre and his family the use of his 107-foot yacht on his visits to the Caribbean.

Phillips, the former treasurer, is accused in the suit of arranging a NRA deal worth more than $1 million that benefited his girlfriend. The lawsuit also claims that shortly before he retired in 2018, Phillips obtained a contract for himself worth $1.8 million. On paper, Phillips’s contract called for him to provide advice and consulting services for the new treasurer; but the new treasurer said he knew nothing of the contract and never received any services from Phillips, the suit claims.

Powell, LaPierre’s former chief of staff, had his salary increased from $250,000 to $800,000 in just three years as a reward for his loyalty to LaPierre, the suit states, and allegedly pocketed an additional $100,000 he was not entitled to as a housing allowance. In addition, Powell also arranged for his wife and father to earn money through NRA contracts.

The lawsuit accuses Frazer, who was general counsel to the NRA, of failing to make sure the nonprofit was governed properly and followed state and federal laws, and it claims he certified false or misleading annual statements.

James said Frazer failed to comply with the rules on board governance, to make sure the board was aware of and voting on major financial transactions and to follow the NRA’s conflict of interest policy.

A central fraud embedded in NRA finances, James’s suit claims, was a secret agreement to pass questionable expenses through its Oklahoma-based advertising agency, Ackerman McQueen.

Under this agreement, the suit alleges, LaPierre and his inner circle of trusted deputies rerouted millions of dollars in lavish personal expenses for themselves, their families and allies through Ackerman McQueen. The goal was to avoid having the board or other members of the NRA know that the charitable organization was paying so much money for LaPierre’s membership fees at golf clubs, private jets and designer suits, the lawsuit said.

Ackerman McQueen then billed the NRA for these large, unexplained sums, calling them “out-of-pocket” expenses, suggesting they were related to the company’s advertising work for the NRA.

The attorney general’s office said it found that Ackerman McQueen billed the NRA $70 million in just 2017 and 2018 for its public relations work, including “out-of-pocket” expenses.

A very large portion of those hidden expenses were for personal trips and expenses for LaPierre. In a deposition in a separate lawsuit last year, LaPierre acknowledged he did not report any of the NRA-paid expenses as personal income to the IRS and claimed they were business expenses.

In its statement, the attorney general’s office said this practice “did not comply with IRS requirements, and, as a result, all such expenses should have been included by the NRA in taxable personal income for LaPierre.”

The partnership between the NRA and the public relations firm began to crack after James, then a candidate for New York attorney general, announced in summer of 2018 that she planned to launch an investigation of the NRA if she won. LaPierre hired a new law firm, led by Angus McQueen’s estranged son-in-law. That attorney, Bill Brewer, urged that the NRA to audit Ackerman McQueen’s bills in preparation for James’s probe.

At LaPierre’s direction and with Brewer’s help, the NRA ejected its in-house lawyer and sued Ackerman McQueen, accusing them of concealing details of the nearly $40 million the NRA paid the firm each year.

Last spring, North announced in Indianapolis he would not seek a second term as president, warning about exorbitant payments to Brewer’s firm and reports of financial mismanagement.

“There is a clear crisis,” North said in his letter announcing his departure.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) its considered Congress' most brilliant constitutional law expert. This morning he told me that "For many years, the NRA’s non-profit form has been nothing but cheap camouflage for rampant profiteering and straight-up ripoffs of NRA Members. When your political agenda is all about promoting the selfish desires of the few over the Interests of the many, the exploitation quickly comes home to roost."

Kathy Ellis is running for Congress against gun nut Jason Smith in southeast Missouri. She told me she is enthusiastic about James' decision to hold the NRA leadership accountable for their crooked activities. "As I heard the great news that the AG of NY was pursuing charges against the NRA president, board and others for running the 'charity' like it was their own bank," she told me this morning, 'I thought about my dad. He was an NRA member when it was an educational entity and as it became more of an advertiser for the gun manufacturers, he dropped his membership saying, 'Thus is becoming too political and will end up in trouble.' Well, they’re in trouble now. I hope that all the NRA endorsed candidates are 'sweating bullets.'" Marie Newman, who will be part of the class of 2020, seems to agree-- and wanted to make sure the voters in her Illinois district know it:

Choice Survives Trump's Supreme Court To Fight Another Day-- John Roberts Disappoints Team Red Again

As usual, there was a lot of news yesterday-- head-spinning. But one thing that no-one should overlook is the importance of the Supreme Court striking down a Louisiana abortion law that was meant to prevent abortions in the state. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the 4 liberals on the Court to override the far right contingent working to overturn Roe v Wade. Roberts said "respect for precedent compelled him to vote with the majority," an indication that he would probably vote to uphold Roe v Wade as well.

Last week Roberts also sided with the liberals to preserve workplace equality for the LGBTQ community and to uphold the DACA program. I checked over at Breitbart to see what the lunatic fringe was taking the news.

I also checked in on some of the Blue America-endorsed candidates who are running against anti-choice candidates, starting with Audrey Denney, who is running against a California GOP dinosaur, Doug LaMalfa (CA-01). "This is a terrifying moment in U.S. history, when 46 years of precedent for recognizing women’s right to privacy and sovereignty over their own bodies is being systematically dismantled," she wrote. "The policymakers who have put forward these archaic bans on safe and legal abortion claim to be doing so because they value human life... Making the decision to end a pregnancy is a difficult and tragic one-- but having the right to make that decision is foundational to protecting women’s health, privacy, and well-being. If the people who wrote these laws truly cared for the sanctity of life, they would be working tirelessly to reduce our country’s maternal mortality rate (currently the worst among industrialized nations), but instead they are limiting or eliminating care, and more mothers are dying during childbirth. They would be investing in initiatives to improve infant and child health and access to early education and child care. They would be fighting for paid family leave, so that parents have adequate time to regain their own health and support their new child. They would be losing sleep over the 12 million children in this country who will go to bed hungry because their parents are trapped in poverty, unable to earn a living wage... The legislators who support abortion bans have failed us. They have failed their constituents. They have failed our nation. Their time is up."

Jon Hoadley know exactly what she's talking about. He's running for Congress, while still a member of the Michigan state legislature, where he often has to debate with the kinds of failed legislators Denney was writing about. "Reproductive healthcare is healthcare," he told me today. "Frankly, I was surprised but also encouraged to see the Supreme Court affirming the right to access to healthcare for folks in Louisiana, and across the country. For Michiganders, Fred Upton has been a steadfast vote to scale back or otherwise diminish reproductive healthcare. While this decision from the Supreme Court is encouraging, it's critical that we elect leaders up and down the ballot who will continue to protect healthcare going forward." And that reminds me-- this Blue America 2020 congressional thermometer on the right will allow you to contribute to pro-Choice candidates all on one page. Just click on it.

Julie Oliver is running for a seat in Central Texas, taking on an entrenched anti-Choice incumbent, Roger Williams. "Every woman should have the choice of when she wants to have children, when she doesn’t, and every woman should have the freedom to raise those children in a safe, healthy environment," said Julie today. "But in Texas, ideological attacks on womens' reproductive healthcare have led to a tragic, alarming maternal mortality crisis that disproportionately harms Black women and their babies. We need to enshrine Roe v. Wade and repeal the Hyde Amendment."

Chris Armitage is a man in eastern Washington running for a seat held by a woman-- but she's anti-Choice and he's pro-Choice. "Cathy McMorris," he told me, "wants to criminalize abortion; she doesn't believe in a person's jurisdiction over their own body. She wants to see Roe vs Wade overturned. She is an extremist who is trying to create an America where victims of rape have no choice, and their voice over what happens to their body is once again taken away, as the government forces them to have a child without their consent. Then in Cathy's America they also cut SNAP benefits so that the mother and child subsequently starve. We can do better, we need to stop Cathy, and I will be the candidate to unseat her."

Kathy Ellis lives in southeast Missouri, a hot house of right-wing ideology and anti-choice fanaticism. Her opponent, in fact, is a right-wing fanatic who vehemently opposes women's choice. She told me that "As a candidate in a state like Missouri-- with some of the strictest abortion laws in the country-- I’m relieved to hear of SCOTUS’s decision today. It’s one many hope-inspiring decisions we’ve seen recently, and it reminds us that organizing and advocacy works. Now, about my opponent Jason Smith who is staunchly anti-choice and parades around his Right to Life endorsement at every chance he gets-- it’s time for him to go. He’s clearly on the wrong side of history and his stance on this topic is one held by only a few Americans. Even in a district like mine that’s rural and recently red, we’ve seen large actions and progress surrounding abortion rights. It’s time for a leader who agrees with the majority of Americans on this topic. Further, if Smith was truly 'pro-life,' he’d fight for healthcare for all, access to healthy food, and strong education systems. Instead, he regularly votes against all of these things. It’s a facade, and the American people see that clearly."


  

Trump Seems To Be In A Race To Pollute As Much Of America As He Can Before Being Tossed Out On His Ass

On Thursday, Trump issued an executive order-- claiming a national emergency-- to bypass environmental laws fast-tracking of major construction projects in a bid to... perhaps boost the economy before November, perhaps enrich friends and GOP campaign donors-- probably a combination. What his order does is lift environmental review of major projects, exactly what Congress prohibited over the course of decades. In practical terms it will mean rushed approval of highways pipelines, oil and gas projects and other polluting industries that have historically and disproportionately had harmful effect on minority communities.

Mustafa Santiago Ali of the National Wildlife Federation, formerly a senior adviser for environmental justice at the EPA said "It shows again that they have no respect for the lives in these communities that are already overburdened. Trump’s actions put a spotlight on black lives don’t matter."

And just as that was going on, the Senate was working in a bipartisan fashion-- very rare-- to tackle the the Climate Crisis via agriculture, "direct the Agriculture Department to help farmers, ranchers and landowners use carbon dioxide-absorbing practices to generate carbon credits."

Mike Braun (R-IN), #LadyG (R-SC), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) are the principal sponsors of the Growing Climate Solutions Act, which would direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture "to create a program that would help the agriculture sector gain access to revenue from greenhouse gas offset credit markets... The bill would establish USDA-certified protocols for farmers, ranch and forest owners seeking to develop projects that can generate offset credits under existing programs. It would offer a new revenue stream for farmers, ranchers and land owners suffering from the economic impacts of global trade tensions and the coronavirus."

Landowners and farmers can generate credits and earn money for activities ranging from reforestation to sequestering carbon in soil to capturing methane from livestock.

“As a Main Street Entrepreneur and conservationist, I know firsthand that if we want to address our changing climate then we need to facilitate real solutions that our farmers, environmentalists and industry can all support,” said Braun.

Voluntary offset programs have been around since the early 2000s. In 2018, the average price of such credits was $3/tonne.

Demand for credits is expected to grow when airlines are required to purchase offsets to comply with the industry’s Carbon Offset Reduction Scheme (CORSIA), which will begin in 2021.

Republicans in Congress have largely rejected the kind of economy-wide climate measures proposed by Democrats. But some of them have recently floated legislation that promotes carbon removal through land-based measures like planting trees to investments in carbon capture and sequestration technology for power and industrial plants.

“Our nation’s farmlands, forests, and ranches hold untapped potential for removing harmful emissions from the air naturally,” said Sarah Greenberger, senior vice president at the National Audubon Society.

Kathy Ellis is running to represent a he rural district in southeast Missouri, bordering on Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee and the red part of Illinois. And yeah-- it was Trump country in 2016. The PVI is a daunting R+24 and Hillary only took 21.0% of the vote. Two year later Kathy Ellis challenged Trump bootlicker Jason Smith, another right-wing homophobic closet case, and did 4 points better than Hillary did. This November she plans to do much better and, hopefully, replace Smith. She told me she absolutely supports "bipartisan measures to tackle climate change and supports our farmers. When I've travelled throughout the District and spoken with farmers, I've found that they often know the best tools to tackle climate change and want to implement these measures in their agricultural work-- but, they're often too expensive or inaccessible. Our small farmers are suffering, and implementing policies that protect them and our environment is a smart plan forward... Each year, Jason Smith conducts a 'farm tour' where he travels throughout the district, visiting farmers, in his pick of plaid shirts. As one farmer responded this year, 'I just want to be left alone.' It's clear that Smith doesn't prioritize the small farmers that make up our district, and his vote against bipartisan measures such as this makes that clear."

The video below is the very first one Audrey Denney made for her 2018 campaign. Ten seconds in, she said "I believe that climate change is the single largest facing humanity and life as we know it and I spent a huge part of my professional career working to solve this problem." Watch the whole thing. Today, Audrey told that she could talk about it for an entire semester of a college course-- which she has done. She did well last cycle and is now known throughout the large, rural-- and red-- northeastern California district and is running for the seat occupied by right-wing, do-nothing backbencher Doug LaMalfa, a Trump stooge. This morning she told me that she is "beyond thrilled to see bi-partisan support for the Growing Climate Solutions Act. I talk about carbon sequestration every day on the campaign trail-- not just because I’m a science nerd. Drawing carbon down out of the atmosphere and storing it in soil through plants-- is THE cheapest and most effective way to turn the dial back on climate change. Farmers and ranchers unlock this drawdown potential through the way that they manage their land and the practices that they implement. I believe that agriculture can and must have a net positive impact on our environment. The way we continue towards that goal is legislation like this-- that rewards farmers and ranchers for the good things they are already doing, provides support and training, and helps them increase their razor thin profit margins.





Like Audrey and Kathy, J.D. Scholten, a champion of family farms and rural communities, is running for Congress in Iowa's forth district, one of America's top agricultural districts. "One of the most underrated messages from the Iowa Caucus," he told me today, "was the consistent messages from the candidates about paying our farmers for their environmental services. We need to create 'on ramps' for farmers to enhance practices to combat climate change. We can't expect the average farmer who has struggled to make cost of production for over a half decade to go at it alone. At the heart of why I am running for Congress is my vision for Iowa's 4th Congressional District to be the epicenter for 21st century resilient agriculture."

Jennifer Christie didn't win her primary, but this is a bill she's been pushing for-- with a significant amendment: reforestation. She posted this on Twitter the other day:

The Brainwashing Of America-- Will It Re-Elect Trump And His GOP Allies In November?

What Campaign? by Nancy Ohanian

This morning, Washington Post reporters Meg Kelly and Elyse Samuels, did a blockbuster report about how, Trump is creating an alternative reality online about coronavirus. In this alternative world-- shared by millions of Americans through Fox News, hate-talk radio and the rest of the right-wing media, Trump has successfully met the challenge of the pandemic. At a news conference on May 11th, Trump said "We have met the moment and we have prevailed. Americans do whatever it takes to find solutions, pioneer breakthroughs, and harness the energies we need to achieve a total victory."

In the real-- and well-documented-- world, Trump and his regime have lied their way through the pandemic-- from the first day until today. His Twitter and Facebook feeds tell a bizarro-world story, dishonest narratives that have attempted to illustrate and amplify a successful (but bogus) picture of the response. "The Trump administration’s mishandling of key moments in the novel coronavirus outbreak has been well documented," wrote Kelly and Samuels. Early travel restrictions from China and Europe were meant to buy time, but inaction or poor planning squandered much of the benefit. Delays in testing allowed the virus to spread across the country largely undetected. A shortage of personal protective equipment while cases surged overwhelmed hospitals and health-care workers. The president promoted unproven, and sometimes dangerous, medical approaches to fighting the disease, in some cases with potentially deadly consequences. He misrepresented how quickly a vaccine will be available.

Trump and his people are working hard to blanket the zone with his parallel universe version of what happened. "The campaign has spent $32.6 million on Facebook ads since January 2019, more than double the Facebook ad spending of presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. And campaign officials spent the past four years rigorously building a digital infrastructure to connect with voters not only through on social media, but with online polls, email lists and rally registration forms. In other words, when the 2020 election went online only, the Trump team was ready. Trump and the White House often say they turn to social media because a hostile, left-leaning news media does not depict Trump’s achievements accurately. The Fact Checker video team analyzed thousands of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube posts and ads from Trump, his campaign and a long list of surrogates. The data revealed the backbone of a five-point strategy to tell their version of the coronavirus story: rewriting mistakes, highlighting achievements, deflecting blame, declaring victory and creating distraction."

The Facts

Nothing to see here

In the first phase of the outbreak, Trump and his allies consistently played down the threat of the virus. Trump held eight campaign rallies between Jan. 21 (when covid-19 was confirmed in the United States) and March 2. His speeches focused on just about everything else-- at one point referring to concerns about the coronavirus as the Democrats’ “new hoax,” akin to the Russia investigation and the Ukraine-related impeachment probe.

The Fact Checker collected data of social media posts from Brandwatch, a digital consumer intelligence company, Crowdtangle, a social media analytics tool owned by Facebook, and Nick Monaco at the Digital Intelligence Lab. The data shows that Trump’s conversation about the coronavirus online was minimal in late January and February, even though Trump in late January announced that he would impose some travel restrictions on non-U. S. citizens traveling from China. His campaign and surrogates echoed the same trend.

Instead, analysis from Brandwatch revealed that Trump’s most talked about topics online included his impeachment trial, Nancy Pelosi, the Second Amendment, and 2020 Democratic primary candidates at the time such as former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Biden.

“When he was getting the intelligence on this back in … January, (if he) took the same level of seriousness about it that other nations were starting to do, had utilized the Defense Production Act fully, which still has not to this day been fully implemented relative to the things that we need and that the businesses in particular could do and have offered to do,” said Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee. “If all of those early pieces had been put in place, you’d have a very different narrative today.”

We’re doing a great job

In early March, as covid-19 cases and deaths started to increase in the United States, Trump’s tone on the virus changed. He started holding regular news briefings with his coronavirus task force and took more tangible steps to fight the spread of the disease.

The refocus on coronavirus was reflected in the Trump campaign’s online rhetoric, too. However, the ways in which he and his campaign talked about covid-19 online were often not based in facts or misrepresented the reality of the situation. For instance his most talked about topics at this time included the terms “Chinese virus” and “Fake News.”

The campaign apparatus promoted videos online that tried to rewrite the narrative. For example, this video, which bashed the media’s response, skipped over February, trying to erase a period of slow intervention by the administration. (Trump in February also kept saying that the virus would soon go away and praised China for its handling of the crisis.) The campaign also shared cherry-picked video clips on social media, highlighting Trump’s comments at news conferences that were inaccurate. Other videos clipped politicians and governor’s statements or used the wrong context for their quotes. The ads inaccurately made it sound as if these people were praising Trump’s response. Lastly, video ads deflected blame to China and used this talking point to attack political rivals such as Biden, Trump’s likely opponent in this year’s presidential contest.

“One of my biggest concerns about the way that the pandemic is already shifting and will continue to shift online political campaigning is that it will drive the discourse to be even more uncivil, to be even more provocative, to be ultimately potentially hateful,” said Rebekah Tromble, professor of media, politics, digital research and ethics at George Washington University.

Give Him A Break by Chip Proser

We’ve won

In mid-April and early May, Trump and his team appeared to all but claim victory over the virus. Fearing economic downfall, they have called for the country to reopen, even while health experts warn of consequences from loosening shutdown restrictions too soon.

“If some areas, cities, states or what have you, jump over those various checkpoints and prematurely open up without having the capability of being able to respond effectively and efficiently, my concern is that we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks,” said Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “I have been very clear in my message-- to try, to the best extent possible, to go by the guidelines, which have been very well thought out and very well delineated.”

Despite these concerns, Trump’s incentives to reinvigorate the economy only continue to grow. His presidency and candidacy have centered on economic growth, which will become an even greater focal point in the upcoming election.

“He’s the businessman. He’s the person there to lead the economy,” Tromble said. “We’re now in a situation where we’re looking at Great Depression levels of unemployment, and we can’t deny that the economy is in a free fall. And so that particular message is lost unless the Trump administration reshifts to trying to reopen the economy. And that’s very clearly what they’re doing now.”

In addition to the economy, Trump and his team have moved on to discussing new topics online. Their posts and ads have often focused on controversial and inflammatory topics, such as charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn and attacks directed at the news media or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). The campaign has also launched ads targeting Biden that include age-related attacks and conspiracy theories about his ties to China.

The White House and Trump campaign declined to comment.

The Bottom Line

It remains to be seen whether this messaging is effective with voters and will affect the way in which Americans remember the pandemic. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll from April 27 to May 4 showed 43 percent of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the outbreak. While Trump pushes to reopen, some Republican governors are facing pushback for moving into that phase too quickly.

“We expect our presidents to be optimistic about the future,” Steele said. “But there’s also a level of realism in that optimism. Because we know real, we see that and we still see people getting sick and dying around us. And so I think perspective is really what people are looking for."

All presidential campaigns try to portray their candidate in the best possible light, but what is notable about the Trump campaign is that its social media reach allows the campaign to rewrite even the most recent history.

The Post's Jim Hohmann followed up a couple of hours later-- for anyone who didn't grasp what Kelly and Samuels were trying to say in their long, statistic-heavy piece. He wrote that Trump "paints a picture of the alternative reality that the president’s reelection effort is trying to create for low-information voters who don’t follow traditional news organizations."

Congress is crawling with Trump rubber stamps. Georgia congressman Buddy Carter is a perfect example. His progressive opponent, Lisa Ring-- endorsed by People for the American Way this morning-- told us that Carter is "a Trump puppet and has been from the beginning. Not only has he promoted the failed policies and defended the corruption of this administration (indeed, he was one of the legislators who stormed the SCIF, cell phone in hand), he has actively pushed a false narrative about every issue as a self-service for profit and power. His latest push is to praise Trump for both the economy and his handling of COVID-19 and to demonize China and any Democrats pushing financial assistance for ordinary folks. Carter is always looking for a way to profit from any situation. If you follow the money trail, you'll see why Carter, backed by big pharma and the healthcare industry, is blaming China for the pandemic and how the U.S. responded."

Audrey Denney, the progressive candidate in the rural northeast corner of California, sees her opponent, Doug LaMalfa in much the same way Lisa sees Buddy Carter. She told us that while she "would certainly advocate that living in extremely rural counties require us to carefully examine health department data and make sure we are applying effective restrictions in a manner that makes practical sense for our part of the world, communicating a narrative that this virus is in the past is reckless and dangerous. I was dismayed to see Congressman LaMalfa spending the weekend attending anti-mask protests and then going to Memorial Day events where, without any distancing or precautions, was standing side by side some of the most vulnerable among us, our dear veterans."

Doug LaMalfa-- spreading COVID-19 in his district?

J.D. Scholten is a second-time's-the charm candidate-- just like Julie, Audrey, Lisa and Kathy. And he's taking on Steve King, who he nearly beat in 2018. This afternoon, he told us that "During a global pandemic that has cost over 100,000 American lives, Steve King continues to focus on himself. He lavishes Trump's handling of this pandemic, blames his own party's leadership for losing his committee assignments, and posts incessant memes to 'trigger' the left. This isn't leadership. Folks in Iowa's 4th district need a voice of reason, calm, and information-- not more divisiveness and self-promotion."

It's very much the same with Roger Williams, a fully-committed Trump bootlicker in central Texas (TX-25). Julie Oliver told us that Williams has "been lying about voting by mail-- as a byproduct of this pandemic and reasonable fears of getting exposed to the virus from voting in person. Ever since Jim Crow-- and indeed, ever since Reconstruction-- the right to vote has been under attack, explicitly targeting Black and Brown communities. Roger Williams' lying and saying that vote-by-mail is unsafe or somehow more susceptible to fraud is straight out of the same playbook-- to confuse people about voting by making it harder or by delegitimizing the democratic process entirely. We need to expand voting rights in America, end gerrymandering, get big money and unaccountable dark money out of Congress and out of our politics and get our democracy back."

If Missouri Congressman Jason Smith started advertising that he's a Trump puppet, sit wouldn't surprise anyone that he was embracing what everyone already knows. His opponent, Kathy Ellis told us that "Since the start of this pandemic, Jason Smith has done nothing but lie about the state of our country. Just this past week, he tweeted-- one of his few forms of communication with his consitutients-- that 'Trump acted with swift, decisive action' and he's 'thankful for the strong leadership he's shown.' Give me a break. Since the start of this pandemic, we've seen over 100,000 Americans die, and it didn't have to be this way. With better and stronger leadership at the head of our country, we could have prevented many of these deaths. Jason Smith's attempt to negate this is an attempt to trick the voters in his District into thinking that his plan of inaction is working. Well, it isn't working, and we're seeing voters start to question that in in MO-08."