Category: National Issues

NRCC warns donors Trump will find out if they opt out of monthly donations

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The National Republican Congressional Committee threatened donors that it will tell former president Donald Trump that they are defectors if they opt out of giving recurring monthly funds to the campaign arm for the House GOP.

After donating to the NRCC, donors are shown a yellow box with a small pre-checked box that warns: “If you UNCHECK this box, we will have to tell Trump you’re a DEFECTOR.” Left checked and the supporter will be agreeing to contribute every month.

The tactic, roundly criticized by campaign finance experts as deceptive, was also employed by the Trump campaign from September until the 2020 election to shore up its dwindling coffers. Continue reading.

Matt Gaetz Bahamas trip with female escorts triggered the sex-trafficking investigation: CBS

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CBS News revealed Wednesday that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) took a trip to the Bahamas in late 2018 or early 2019 that triggered the sex trafficking investigation, sources revealed.

According to the report, “Gaetz was on that trip with a marijuana entrepreneur and hand surgeon named Jason Pirozzolo, who allegedly paid for the travel expenses, accommodations, and female escorts.”

The Justice Department is investigating to determine if the escorts were illegally trafficked across state or international lines for sex with Gaetz or merely as escorts that do not provide anything other than companionship. Continue reading.

Confronted with leaked phone call, Alabama Republican John Merrill admits to affair, drops Senate bid

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On Wednesday morning, Alabama Secretary of State John H. Merrill went on a local conservative radio show to deny a story posted by a right-wing blog claiming he had an affair with a legal assistant, who also accused him of using racist language. The story was a false smear designed to end his bid for U.S. Senate, he said.

“People are attempting to use this to either advance the candidacy of other people, or they are doing it primarily to harm me and my family,” he said on the radio. “It’s very frustrating and very sad.”

Hours later, when an AL.com reporter confronted him with a recording of an explicit phone call between Merrill and the woman, the politician changed his story. Merrill acknowledged the affair — and said he would drop his plans to run for Senate. Continue reading.

St. Cloud ‘Boogaloo Bois’ member charged with planning attack on Minnesota Capitol

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Boogaloo Bois member from St. Cloud is accused of plotting strike in St. Paul. 

Federal agents in Minnesota have arrested a St. Cloud man who claims allegiance to anti-government Boogaloo Bois and plotted a violent attack on the Minnesota State Capitol earlier this year, according to charges unsealed in Minnesota U.S. District Court on Wednesday.

Last December, Michael Paul Dahlager, 27, traveled to a “Stop the Steal” rally at the Capitol in St. Paul to take video of law enforcement numbers, scout tactical positions for the Boogaloo Bois and note which streets were being blocked off, according to the criminal complaint. He told a confidential informant, who recorded the conversation for the FBI, he was conducting reconnaissance for an attack on Jan. 17. Rallies to protest President Joe Biden’s election were planned for that date by a nonviolent group of Donald Trump supporters.

After the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Minnesota erected a fence around the Capitol, and hundreds of state police officers — which Dahlager called an “army” — stood guard on the perimeter in response to threats of more attacks. Continue reading.

NRA chief Wayne LaPierre acknowledges he did not disclose bankruptcy plans or luxury yacht trips to other top officials

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Wayne LaPierre, who positioned the National Rifle Association as an uncompromising lobbying powerhouse over the past three decades, admitted Wednesday that he did not disclose free trips he took on a luxury yacht and acknowledged that some top NRA officials were not informed in advance of his plan to seek bankruptcy protection for the group.

Under questioning on the third day of a federal bankruptcy hearing, LaPierre defended his leadership of the gun rights group and the benefits he and his family received from NRA contractors.

But his testimony undercut arguments by NRA lawyers this week that LaPierre has effectively cleaned up ethical and governance problems since 2018, when the organization was first alerted by New York state officials of possible fiscal mismanagement. Continue reading.

Biden’s Tax Plan Aims to Raise $2.5 Trillion and End Profit-Shifting

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The plan detailed by the Treasury Department would make it harder for companies to avoid paying taxes on both U.S. income and profits stashed abroad.

WASHINGTON — Large companies like Apple and Bristol Myers Squibb have long employed complicated maneuvers to reduce or eliminate their tax bills by shifting income on paper between countries. The strategy has enriched accountants and shareholders, while driving down corporate tax receipts for the federal government.

President Biden sees ending that practice as central to his $2 trillion infrastructure package, pushing changes to the tax code that his administration says will ensure American companies are contributing tax dollars to help invest in the country’s roads, bridges, water pipes and in other parts of his economic agenda.

On Wednesday, the Treasury Department released the details of Mr. Biden’s tax plan, which aims to raise as much as $2.5 trillion over 15 years to help finance the infrastructure proposal. That includes bumping the corporate tax rate to 28 percent from 21 percent, imposing a strict new minimum tax on global profits and cracking down on companies that try to move profits offshore. Continue reading.

Biden to announce executive action on ghost guns, red flag laws

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President Biden will announce on Thursday six executive actions geared towards preventing all forms of gun violence, including mass shootings, community violence, domestic violence and suicide. 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) will issue a series of proposed rules aimed at restricting the proliferation of so-called ghost guns, encouraging states to adopt red flag laws and tightening loopholes around certain modified pistols.

The department is also expected to issue a comprehensive report on firearm trafficking for the first time since 2000, and Biden will make official his intent to nominate David Chipman, a gun control advocate, to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Continue reading.

How right-wing media keeps smearing George Floyd with the racist ‘no angel’ narrative

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In an appalling bit of shorthand, the riveting courtroom drama in Minneapolis has come to be called “the George Floyd trial.”

Floyd died in police custody last spring and is obviously not the one on trial. It was a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, who knelt on his neck for more than nine unrelenting minutes, who now faces second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges.

But some in right-wing media keep doing their utmost to make this tragedy about Floyd’s drug use and troubled life, in what seems like an attempt to absolve Chauvin long before the jury reaches a verdict. In effect, they are putting Floyd on trial. Continue reading.

McConnell backs away from warning businesses to stay out of politics

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday backed off his stern warning that companies such as Major League Baseball, Delta and Coca-Cola should stay out of high-profile political fights after they criticized Georgia’s new election law.

“I didn’t say that very artfully yesterday. They’re certainly entitled to be involved in politics. They are. My principal complaint is they didn’t read the darn bill,” McConnell said Wednesday at a press conference in Paducah, Kentucky.

The GOP leader softened his tough talk from earlier in the week, when he warned that companies would face “serious consequences” if they become “a vehicle for far-left mobs to hijack our country.” Continue reading.

Biden to take a flurry of actions on gun control

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President Biden on Thursday will announce a half-dozen executive actions focused on curbing gun violence, including regulations on home-assembled firearms and the nomination of a gun-control advocate to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The initiatives are the first major actions that Biden will take as president on guns, a top Democratic priority that has only become more urgent after recent mass shootings in Boulder, Colo., and the Atlanta area.

“We know that Americans are dying from gun violence every single day in this country,” a senior administration official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, said Wednesday. “That’s why we are pursuing an agenda that will address not only mass shootings, but also community violence disproportionately affecting Black and Brown Americans, domestic violence and suicide by firearm.” Continue reading.