Lurker > Humble_Novice

About a month after the Jan. 6 attack, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson scoffed at those alarmed by the riot. This didnt seem like an armed insurrection to me, the Wisconsin senator said. I mean armed, when you hear armed, dont you think of firearms?

In the months and years that followed, GOP lawmakers such as Arizonas Paul Gosar and Georgias Marjorie Taylor Greene also questioned whether the insurrectionists had guns.

As recently as last week, Donald Trump himself used his social media platform to insist, while responding to President Joe Bidens State of the Union address, The so-called Insurrectionists that he talks about had no guns. They only had a Rigged Election.

Such rhetoric has long been foolish, but the GOP voices whove questioned whether the rioters were armed looked quite a bit worse late last week. NBC News reported on John Emanuel Banuelos, who allegedly fired two gunshots at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and who was arrested by federal authorities on Friday.

NBC News report added, While numerous rioters were armed with guns on Jan. 6, none were known to have actually fired their weapons; Banuelos is the first to be charged with doing so.

That distinction is relevant. Despite Republican talk about the rioters not being armed during the pro-Trump violence, the facts have been evident for quite some time. Remember this Washington Post report from nearly two years ago?

Yeah the senate map is unfavorable for dems this year. I would love to be surprised and I will vote (Andy Kim NJ, ftw) but the cards are mildly stacked. House, I think enough ruckus has been had that the dems should be able to pick up seats.

They are gonna bleed that organization dry so badly that it will never recover, people should keep a very very close eye on this as it's prelude to what kind of people Trump will put in his administration should he win a second term, nothing but criminals, grifters and extremists with absolutely no intelligence, experience or real competence, Trump's first term already fucked this country and possibly the world for decades to come and that one had a few intelligent people, still selfish assholes who only pivoted to save their own asses and cash in on tell all books after helping the son of a bitch screw us all over, none of those people will exist in Trump term 2.

Bloodbath at RNC: Trump team slashes staff at committee

Donald Trumps newly installed leadership team at the Republican National Committee on Monday began the process of pushing out dozens of officials, according to two people close to the Trump campaign and the RNC.

All told, the expectation is that more than 60 RNC staffers who work across the political, communications and data departments will be let go. Those being asked to resign include five members of the senior staff, though the names were not made public. Additionally, some vendor contracts are expected to be cut.

In a letter to some political and data staff, Sean Cairncross, the RNCs new chief operating officer, said that the new committee leadership was in the process of evaluating the organization and staff to ensure the building is aligned with its vision. During this process, certain staff are being asked to resign and reapply for a position on the team.

The overhaul is aimed at cutting, what one of the people described as, bureaucracy at the RNC. But the move also underscores the swiftness with which Trumps operation is moving to take over the Republican Partys operations after the former president all but clinched the partys presidential nomination last week.

Trumps campaign took over operational control of the RNC on Monday. On Friday, former North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley was elected the RNCs new chair, and Trump daughter-in-law Lara Trump was elected as co-chair. Both had Trumps endorsement. Additionally, Trump senior campaign adviser Chris LaCivita was named as the RNCs new chief of staff.

Whatley is replacing Ronna McDaniel, who stepped down last week after serving more than seven years in the post. Trump and McDaniel had been longtime allies, but the former president had soured on the chairperson as of late because he felt that she was not doing enough on voter integrity-related issues, and because she hosted Republican primary debates that he refused to participate in.

Trump advisers have described the RNCs structure as overly bloated and bureaucratic, which they believe has contributed to the partys cash woes. The RNC had about $8 million at the end of December, only about one-third as much as the Democratic National Committee.

Under the new structure, the Trump campaign is looking to merge its operations with the RNC. Key departments, such as communications, data and fundraising, will effectively be one and the same.

The leader of a local Young Republicans chapter in Alabama was arrested last week in connection with the death of another man, with charges against him including a count of "sexual torture."

On Thursday, deputies with the Madison County Sheriff's Office discovered a dead body later identified as 54-year-old Derek Franklin Walls of Harvest, Alabama, after being called to a home on the 1700 block of Capshaw Road. Later that same day, it was announced that deputies had arrested 36-year-old Kyle Hayden Lewter in connection with Walls' death.

Lewter is a well-known member of the community, having served as chairman since 2022 for the Madison County chapter of the Young Republicans National Federation (YRNF), a political organization dedicated to registered GOP members between the ages of 18 and 40. According to a personal listing uncovered by a local CBS News affiliate, he was also an administrator of clinical research at the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

The same affiliate also noted that Walls was the son of Clarence Walls, a former Alabama Republican Party staffer who passed away in 2021.

I cant believe we saw leftists defending these scumbags

Britains governing Conservative Party has suffered crushing defeats in two parliamentary elections in a new blow to its embattled leader, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose future has been questioned by critics within his fractious political party.

Election results announced early Friday showed the Conservatives had lost seats they had held in Kingswood, near Bristol, and in Wellingborough, in Northamptonshire a district that had been regarded as one of the partys more impregnable strongholds. Votes had been cast on Thursday to replace two Conservative lawmakers who had quit Parliament.

With a general election expected later this year, the defeats are likely to compound Mr. Sunaks difficulties at a time when the British economy is shrinking, interest rates are high and Britains health service seems to be in a state of almost permanent crisis. Opinion polls show his party trailing the opposition Labour Party by double-digit margins.

The first result, announced around 2 a.m., came from Kingswood, where Labour defeated the Conservatives by 11,176 votes to 8,675. In Wellingborough, Labour performed even better by securing a seat that, in the last general election, the Conservatives won by more than 18,000 votes. This time, Labour claimed victory by 13,844 votes to 7,408.

Surrey's last district and borough council with a Conservative majority has gone to no overall control.

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, one of 11 lower tier councils in Surrey, had a Conservative majority of one after 2023's local elections.

But with Councillor Zelanie Cooper, who represents Lower Kingswood, Tadworth and Walton, stepping away from the Conservatives, the council is left without a majority party.

The Surrey Conservatives have been contacted for comment.

Ms Cooper said she had left the party over concerns about candidate selection, meaning the Conservatives now have 22 of 45 councillors.

She said: "With the support of a significant number of local residents, who believe that local councillors should represent them in local elections, I have chosen to step away from the Conservative Party."

She will stand as an independent councillor at the next local election on 2 May, when one third of councillors will be up for election.

Surrey County Council still has a Conservative majority and all 11 Members of Parliament for Surrey represent the Conservative Party.

They include Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in South West Surrey and Michael Gove in Surrey Heath, the Secretary of State for levelling up, housing and communities.

Surrey's two tier system means the responsibilities for different services lie with either the county or the district and borough councils.

A Reigate & Banstead Borough Council spokesperson said any decision needed regarding political balance of the council would be taken at the next full council meeting on 28 March.

Elsewhere in Surrey, at May 2023's elections the Liberal Democrats took control of Guildford and Surrey Heath and increased the majorities they already had at Woking and Mole Valley.

Other councils are run by residents' parties or as coalitions between parties, while Runnymede Borough Council is led by a Conservative, who have 19 of the 41 seats.

WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden on Saturday signed a $460 billion package of spending bills approved by the Senate in time to avoid a shutdown of many key federal agencies. The legislation's success gets lawmakers about halfway home in wrapping up their appropriations work for the 2024 budget year.

The measure contains six annual spending bills and had already passed the House. In signing it into law, Biden thanked leaders and negotiators from both parties in both chambers for their work, which the White House said will mean that agencies may continue their normal operations.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are negotiating a second package of six bills, including defense, in an effort to have all federal agencies fully funded by a March 22 deadline.

To folks who worry that divided government means nothing ever gets done, this bipartisan package says otherwise," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said after lawmakers passed the measure Friday night just hours before a deadline.

He said the bill's passage would allow for the hiring of more air traffic controllers and rail safety inspectors, give federal firefighters a raise and boost support for homeless veterans, among other things.

The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 75-22. Lawmakers sought votes on several amendments and wanted to have their say on the bill and other priorities during debate on the floor. It had been unclear midday if senators would be able to avert a short shutdown, though eventual passage was never really in doubt.

I would urge my colleagues to stop playing with fire here, said Sen. Susan Collins, the top-ranking Republican member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. It would be irresponsible for us not to clear these bills and do the fundamental job that we have of funding government. What is more important?

The votes came more than five months into the current budget year after congressional leaders relied on a series of stopgap bills to keep federal agencies funded for a few more weeks or months at a time while they struggled to reach agreement on full-year spending.

In the end, total discretionary spending set by Congress is expected to come in at about $1.66 trillion for the full budget year ending Sept. 30.

Republicans were able to keep non-defense spending relatively flat compared with the previous year. Supporters say that's progress in an era when annual federal deficits exceeding $1 trillion have become the norm. But many Republican lawmakers were seeking much steeper cuts and more policy victories.

The House Freedom Caucus, which contains dozens of the GOPs most conservative members, urged Republicans to vote against the first spending package and the second one still being negotiated.

Democrats staved off most of the policy riders that Republicans sought to include in the package. For example, they beat back an effort to block new rules that expand access to the abortion pill mifepristone. They were also able to fully fund a nutrition program for low-income women, infants and children, providing about $7 billion for what is known as the WIC program. Thats a $1 billion increase from the previous year.

Republicans were able to achieve some policy wins, however. One provision will prevent the sale of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China. Another policy mandate prohibits the Justice Department from investigating parents who exercise free speech at local school board meetings.

Another provision strengthens gun rights for certain veterans, though opponents of the move said it could make it easier for those with very serious mental health conditions like dementia to obtain a firearm.

This isn't the package I would have written on my own," said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. But I am proud that we have protected absolutely vital funding that the American people rely on in their daily lives.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said one problem he sees with the bill is that there was too much compromise, and that led to too much spending.

A lot of people don't understand this," he said. They think there is no cooperation in Washington and the opposite is true. There is compromise every day on every spending bill."

It's compromise between big-government Democrats and big-government Republicans, he added.

Still, with a divided Congress and a Democratic-led White House, any bill that doesn't have buy-in from members of both political parties stands no chance of passage.

The bill also includes more than 6,600 projects requested by individual lawmakers with a price tag of about $12.7 billion. The projects attracted criticism from some Republican members, though members from both parties broadly participated in requesting them on behalf of their states and congressional districts. Paul called the spending "sort of the grease that eases in billions and trillions of other dollars, because you get people to buy into the total package by giving them a little bit of pork for their town, a little bit of pork for their donors.

But an effort by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla, to strip out the projects mustered only 32 votes with 64 against. Murray said Scott's effort would overrule all the hard work, all the input we asked everyone to provide us about projects that would help their constituents."

Even though lawmakers find themselves passing spending bills five months into the budget year, Republicans are framing the process as improved nonetheless because they broke the cycle of passing all the spending bills in one massive package that lawmakers have little time to study before being asked to vote on it or risk a government shutdown. Still, others said that breaking up funding into two chunks of legislation war hardly a breakthrough.

The first package covers the departments of Justice, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Interior and Transportation, among others.

Incoming chud tears.

I liked the adaptation from the story except for Glenn until the whispers started showing up again, and also the weapons were homogenized into mako-surfing whales. But it was still fine despite removing Cid's hometown and Wutai, reducing the latter to a warring conflict that goes nowhere and Don Corneo trying to take over the Saucer, at least until the Ancient Temple when things started going downhill for me. But hey, at least we got an unnecessary conflict at Costa Del Sol's beach (thanks, Hojo) and another underground facility made to pad the runtime instead of giving us one of the aforementioned villages.

I'm glad you think Rebirth is great, because I don't. In fact, I think I'm done with the Remake trilogy at this point, personally.

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Detectives believe former Republican congressional candidate Dan Rodimer attacked a man, killing him, after the man who himself was acquitted of murder allegedly offered Rodimers stepdaughter cocaine during a party in a Las Vegas Strip hotel room.

Rodimer, 45, turned himself in at the Clark County Detention Center around 6 p.m. Wednesday. Metro police had issued an arrest warrant for Rodimer, the 2020 Republican candidate for Nevadas 3rd Congressional District, on one charge of open murder. In 2020, Rodimer, a former professional wrestler, lost his bid to represent Congress against Democratic Rep. Susie Lee.

Rodimer later left Nevada and lost a bid to represent a Texas congressional district.

Rodimer was wanted in the death of Christoper Tapp, 47, of Idaho, LVMPD homicide Lt. Jason Johannson said. Tapp died after an incident inside Resorts World on Oct. 29, 2023, documents said. Tapp served two decades in prison for a homicide he did not commit.

The Clark County Coroners Office ruled Tapps death a homicide as a result of blunt force trauma to his head. A scan showed he suffered several brain bleeds, documents said.

Tapps death was first suspected to be an apparent overdose and fall, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained. While the incident happened Oct. 29, doctors pronounced Tapp dead at Sunrise Hospital on Nov. 5. His autopsy noted blunt trauma to his head and recent cocaine use.

Through their investigation, detectives learned Tapp was involved in an altercation inside a room at the resort before he was found and taken to the hospital.

According to the arrest warrant the 8 News Now Investigators obtained Wednesday, Rodimer allegedly became upset after Tapp offered Rodimers stepdaughter cocaine.

A witness then heard Rodimer say, If you ever talk to my daughter again, Ill [expletive] kill you, documents said. Immediately after hearing Dan say this to Christopher, [the witness] heard two loud banging noises.

The Republican Party of Texas suggested election officials may have purged too many of their voters from the voting rolls.

In a message on Super Tuesday, the Texas GOP sounded the alarm about possible problems with voting.

"We have received reports from election judges that some Republican voters in Travis County have not been able to vote," the post on X said.

"This is due to an update to voter registration rolls that took place between early voting and Election Day. We alerted the Secretary of State's office, they followed up with the county elections office as did the Travis County Republican Party."

"If you experience this, you can request and vote by provisional ballot. We at the Republican Party of Texas Headquarters are actively supporting the Travis County Republican Party to resolve any current or further issues."

Election officials generally purge voter rolls between elections. In 2012, Travis County removed 41,000 voters from the voter rolls.

But reports have claimed that Republicans have been much more active in purging the rolls since the 2020 election.

"Protecting the right to vote is one of the most important things our courts can do," Georgetown Law Paul Smith wrote. "Even those who rail against 'judicial activism' and in favor of democratic decision-making ought to recognize that when the democracy is distorted by the actions of elected officials, only the courts can help. Stopping unnecessary and unjustified voter purges is a prime example."

Indias navy evacuated all 20 crew from a stricken vessel in the Red Sea on Thursday, after a Houthi attack killed three seafarers in the first civilian fatalities from the Yemeni groups campaign against the key shipping route.

The Iran-aligned militants fired a missile at the Barbados-flagged, Greek-operated True Confidence on Wednesday about 50 nautical miles off the southern Yemeni port of Aden, setting it ablaze.

In a statement, the owners and manager said all 20 crew and three armed guards on board were taken to hospital in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa by an Indian warship.

Two of the dead were Filipino nationals, while the third was Vietnamese, the owners and managers said, expressing condolences to families. Two other Filipinos were also severely injured.

Vietnam on Thursday condemned the attack, and said one of the Vietnamese crew died while the remaining three nationals were in good health.

Images released by the Indian Navy showed a helicopter winching crew members from a small life raft in choppy seas and taking them to a naval ship.

Some wounded were shown lying in the bottom of a navy lifeboat sent to assist. They were carried on stretchers onto the ship and were shown later with heavily bandaged limbs as they were evacuated to the Djibouti hospital.

The vessel is drifting well away from land and salvage arrangements are being made, the companies said in the statement.

A salvage contract for the vessel has been signed, a spokesperson for the companies told Reuters, declining further details citing security issues.

The Houthis have kept up a relentless campaign of attacks on vessels in one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes since November, in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians during Israels war with Hamas in Gaza.

The loss of life and injuries to civilian seafarers is completely unacceptable, leading global shipping associations said on Thursday.

The frequency of attacks on merchant shipping highlights the urgent need for all stakeholders to take decisive action to safeguard the lives of innocent civilian seafarers and put an end to such threats.

The cost of insuring a seven-day voyage through the Red Sea has risen by hundreds of thousands of dollars since November.

War risk insurance rates have already reflected the sinking of the Rubymar cargo ship, days after being hit by a Houthi missile on Feb 18, and the first fatalities from the True Confidence, said Munro Anderson, head of operations at marine war risk and insurance specialist Vessel Protect part of Pen Underwriting.

So, the degree to which they create any further upwards pressure is likely to be limited in the short term, he said.

This is, however, predicated on how events evolve from this point forward.

In the weeks leading up to Tuesdays primary election, voters in two of Texas most populous counties were bombarded with warnings that their safety hinged on voting down two reformist district attorney candidates.

Incumbent Travis County District Attorney Jos Garza was lenient on rape and child sexual assault and put a political bullseye on police officers, his Democratic primary opponent Jeremy Sylestine alleged without evidence. Mailers sent by a dark money group baselessly accused Garza of filling Austins streets with pedophiles [and] killers.

In Harris County, incumbent District Attorney Kim Ogg, who was elected in 2016 on a reformist platform but later veered right and fought against cash bail reform, claimed she was facing a primary challenge from progressive Sean Teare because she did not agree to open the doors of the jail to violent offenders.

Despite the fearmongering, voters in both counties overwhelmingly chose the candidates promising to reform the criminal justice system. Garza and Teare were declared the winners on Tuesday night after early returns showed Garza with 67% of the vote and Teare with 75%.

Anonymous dark money organizations spent untold dollars promoting lies and peddling misinformation to try to scare voters into turning their backs on progress, Garza said in a Tuesday night victory speech. This community didnt take the bait, and Im so grateful to all of you for that.

Although both candidates will face Republican challengers in the November general election, they are running in counties that lean Democrat.

Garza, a former public defender, and labor and immigrant rights attorney, was elected Travis County district attorney in 2020. In an interview with The Appeal, he promised to prosecute police violence, cease prosecution of low-level drug offenses, oppose the construction of a new jail, work to protect immigrants from deportation, rarely seek prison sentences longer than 20 years, and never seek the death penalty.

Garza has made good on some of those promises. He indicted 19 police officers for assault during Black Lives Matter protests, started a restorative justice program, and expanded pretrial diversion programs to avoid conviction and incarceration for certain offenses. He also joined several prosecutors who pledged not to prosecute people for abortions after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

Unsurprisingly, Republicans and law enforcement groups mobilized to oust Garza. Last year, state Republicans passed a law allowing prosecutors to be removed from office for declining to prosecute certain offenses. All prosecutors exercise discretion in choosing which cases to pursue, but this bill was clearly aimed at removing progressive prosecutors. Shortly after the bill passed, the Republican candidate who lost the 2020 district attorney race to Garza wrote a petition for Garzas removal. Harry, who was living in Florida, recruited Travis County residents to file the petition.

Sylestine, who started his career as a public defender and then spent 15 years in the Travis County district attorneys office, was recruited by a group of wealthy business people who insisted, inaccurately, that crime had risen in Austin under Garza and that his reforms were to blame. In fact, incidents of homicide, rape, robbery and burglary have deceased since Garza took office, according to Austin Police Department data. Sylestines campaign attracted support from Austins police union and a group called Save Austin Now, which pushed to reinstate criminal penalties for being homeless in public.

Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, which is headquartered in Austin, emailed his employees on Tuesday, encouraging them to vote for a new district attorney who will actually prosecute crimes. Musk, who also owns X (formerly Twitter), urged his 175.4 million followers on the platform to vote for a new DA, in a post that was deleted by Wednesday morning.

The truth is, Republicans tried to infiltrate our primary, Garza said during his Tuesday night speech. How did that work out for them?

Ogg, who lost her primary reelection on Tuesday, made history in 2016 when she became Harris Countys first openly gay top prosecutor and the countys first Democratic DA in decades. In a county known as the execution capital of the U.S., Ogg promised to reduce the use of the death penalty, supported misdemeanor bail reform and diversion programs for low-level marijuana possession cases.

Shortly after Ogg took office, a federal judge ruled that Harris Countys bail system was unconstitutional. Initially, Ogg praised the ruling and the class action lawsuit that brought about the decision. But in 2019, she reversed course, and fought against a proposed settlement, which would largely end the use of cash bail for misdemeanor offenses.

Around that time, Ogg complained that too many dangerous misdemeanor offenders were avoiding pretrial detention, listing people accused of domestic violence, stalking and driving under the influence.

During her time in office, Oggs rhetoric increasingly aligned with the anti-reform camp. She accused the countys mostly Democratic judges of being too lenient in setting bail amounts.

We are fighting those bonds low, insufficient bonds daily in court, Ogg said in 2022. It has become the new battleground for public safety.

That year, Oggs office filed criminal charges in more than 4,500 cases that judges said lacked probable cause. Meanwhile, 28 people died in custody while awaiting trial in the overcrowded Harris County Jail. More than 40% of Oggs January campaign contributions came from the bail bond industry.

Teare, a former prosecutor in Oggs office, told Bolts, a criminal justice and voting rights publication, last month that Ogg fostered a culture of fear in her office where prosecutors are wary of dismissing weak cases, allowing pretrial release or offering plea deals for lower charges. On his website, Teare states his support for misdemeanor bail reform, linking to a study that found it did not lead to increased crime. Unlike Garza, Teare has not pledged to not seek the death penalty.

In an interview with Texas Monthly, Ogg accused Teare of running a campaign of political tricks backed by Jewish billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros, a common talking point among right-wing conspiracy theorists and anti-Semites. Although a Soros-funded PAC contributed ad buys and polling help to Teare, Soros also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to elect Ogg in 2016, Texas Monthly noted.

I'm feeling somewhat good about November.

Unless something drastic happens, I think Biden will pull it off. Trump and his candidates keep underperforming and Democrats keep overperforming, so... it seems like a good sign to me.