Category: National Issues

These corporations broke their pledge to stop donating to Republican objectors

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New FEC filings reveal that several major corporations that pledged in January to stop financially supporting members of Congress who tried to overturn the presidential election results broke their pledge in February.

In early January, shortly after false claims of voter fraud inspired a violent attack on the United States Capitol, Intel announced that it would stop PAC contributions to members of Congress that voted against certifying the Electoral College results. Intel said that vote, which attempted to overturn the results of a fair election, was not consistent with “our company’s values.”

Intel’s Political Action Committee continuously reevaluates its contributions to candidates to ensure that they align with our values, policies and priorities. While Intel’s PAC will continue bipartisan contributions, we will not contribute to members of Congress who voted against certification of the Electoral College results as we feel that action was counter to our company’s values.

But on February 26, Intel sent a $15,000 PAC contribution to the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC). Continue reading.

Trump uncorks bizarre rant about Dr. Seuss being ‘destroyed with woke’ during Fox News interview

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Former President Donald Trump appeared on Fox News with Harris Faulkner on Monday and went on a wild rant about China laughing at the United States over the purported cancellation of Dr. Seuss.

Toward the end of the interview, Trump claimed that Democrats were using “woke” politics to ruin the United States.

“They’re destroying it with woke!” he ranted. “When China looks at woke, and they see the biggest problem we have is Dr. Seuss, in the meantime they’re building factories and trying to kill us in so many ways, they laugh at us, frankly, they think our country is stupid!” Continue reading.

U.S., U.K., EU and Canada sanction Chinese officials over Uyghur abuses

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The U.S., U.K., European Union and Canada all announced sanctions on Monday against Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims.

Why it matters: It’s a coordinated Western effort to hold Beijing accountable for its sweeping campaign of arbitrary detention, forced labor and forced sterilization against ethnic minorities in the far west region of Xinjiang, which the U.S. State Department and several legislative bodies have recognized as genocide.

Driving the news: The sanctions come on the heels of a frosty first high-level U.S.-China meeting in Alaska last week, which saw Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan clash with their Chinese counterparts over human rights and other issues. Continue reading.

Devin Nunes received a mysterious package from a known Russian agent. Why is he on the House Intel Committee?

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Rep. Devin Nunes of California is the leading Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. And MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is wondering why the far-right congressman still has that position in light of his connection to Andrii Derkach, a Russian agent and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Maddow, during her March 18 broadcast, noted that Derkach is one of the Russian agents named in a National Intelligence Council report on Russian interference in the United States’ 2020 presidential election. The MSNBC host pointed out that according to the report, Derkach was “under the purview of Russian President Vladimir Putin” as part of Kremlin efforts to help former President Donald Trump win reelection and defeat now-President Joe Biden.

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, Maddow explained, learned that “Derkach had mailed a stack of unknown materials to a Republican congressman named Devin Nunes, who is the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee to his day.” Continue reading.

Shadowy group behind Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation spending big to undermine Biden’s Justice Department

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The right-wing dark money group that helped Donald Trump “capture” the Supreme Court is now working to undermine the Biden administration’s efforts to enforce voting rights.

The Judicial Crisis Network is running ads attacking Justice Department nominees Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke — a pair of widely respected litigators and civil rights activists — as part of a related new organization, the Honest Elections Project, with an improbable name, reported The Daily Beast.

Conservative legal activist Leonard Leo, the longtime executive vice president of the Federalist Society, is coordinating efforts by the various dark-money front groups to pack the Supreme Court and then to bring voting rights cases in front of those right-wing courts. Continue reading.

Democrats vow to go ‘bold’ — with or without GOP

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Democrats are warning they won’t tolerate GOP stonewalling as they try to make good on their pledge to enact a “bold” agenda and avoid Obama-era missteps. 

Fresh off a big win on coronavirus relief, Democrats are facing intense pressure not to water down their legislative priorities after years of a backed-up wish list during the Trump era and a decade since the party has had a unified government it could use to muscle through sweeping reforms considered anathema to the GOP.

“We will try to get them to work with us. But if not, we will put our heads together and figure out how to go,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer(D-N.Y.) told reporters.  Continue reading.

Evidence in Capitol attack investigation trending toward sedition charges, departing chief says

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Former interim U.S. attorney Michael R. Sherwin, of Washington, reiterated Sunday that he thinks charges of seditious conspiracy could be brought against certain defendants in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, a rarely invoked charge for those who use violence to hinder the execution of federal law.

In a “60 Minutes” interview aired on CBS two days after he stepped down from supervising the investigation, Sherwin said, “I personally believe the evidence is trending toward that, and probably meets those elements.”

“I believe the facts do support those charges. And I think that, as we go forward, more facts will support that,” he said. Continue reading.

McCarthy faces Twitter storm after trying to ‘rewrite history’ of support for Trump’s attempted coup

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Thursday attempted to backpedal on his support of former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

During an appearance on CNN, news anchor Manu Raju asked the top-ranking Republican lawmaker about the double standard surrounding his support of Trump’s efforts to invalidate the election results while criticizing Democrats for contesting the results of an Iowa Congressional race.

McCarthy attempted to suggest that he did not support Trump’s efforts as he insisted Raju’s remarks were inaccurate. “You’re saying something that is not true,” the California Republican said. Continue reading.

Assaulting the Truth, Ron Johnson Helps Erode Confidence in Government

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Pushing false theories on the virus, the vaccine and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Mr. Johnson, the Republican senator from Wisconsin, has absorbed his party’s transformation under Donald Trump.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. — Senator Ron Johnson incited widespread outrage when he said recently that he would have been more afraid of the rioters who rampaged the Capitol on Jan. 6 had they been members of Black Lives Matter and antifa.

But his revealing and incendiary comment, which quickly prompted accusations of racism, came as no surprise to those who have followed Mr. Johnson’s career in Washington or back home in Wisconsin. He has become the Republican Party’s foremost amplifier of conspiracy theories and disinformation now that Donald Trump himself is banned from social media and largely avoiding appearances on cable television.

Mr. Johnson is an all-access purveyor of misinformation on serious issues such as the pandemic and the legitimacy of American democracy, as well as invoking the etymology of Greenland as a way to downplay the effects of climate change. Continue reading.

Chris Wallace nails Tom Cotton for voting record under Trump after he opposes Biden relief checks

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Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Sunday defended his decision to vote against a stimulus bill that had similar provisions to bills he supported under former President Donald Trump. 

During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace called out Cotton after he said that he had opposed the bill that was signed by President Joe Biden because “prisoners” could get relief checks.

Wallace noted that Cotton voted for similar COVID-19 relief bills that were signed Trump. Continue reading.