Former Vice President Mike Pence launched his new organization, Advancing American Freedom, on Wednesday.
Since then, one name has quietly been added to the advisory board that was announced at launch.
Pence’s advisory board now includes Mike Farris, the president and CEO of the group Alliance Defending Freedom. Continue reading.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) is facing heightened backlash on Twitter for her latest controversial tweet about America’s “freedoms.” On Friday, April 9, the Colorado lawmaker highlighted the vast nature of American citizens’ freedoms as she claimed one political party was “laser-focused on destroying our freedoms,” reports The HuffPost.
“We live in the freest country on planet earth,” Boebert tweeted. “The rest of the world envies our freedoms. Meanwhile, we have a political party that is laser-focused on destroying our freedoms. It is not only shocking but very dangerous.
Although Boebert did not name the Democratic Party, specifically, it is presumed that she was referring to President Joe Biden’s latest executive orders focused on combatting the widespread issue of gun violence in the United States; an order the Republican lawmaker has outwardly condemned repeatedly over the last several days. Continue reading.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified the officer as Kimberly A. Potter, 48, who has been a police officer for 26 years. She has been put on leave.
The traffic stop that would end Daunte Wright’s life played out on a Brooklyn Center police officer’s body camera. Officers appeared to try to handcuff him; then he slipped back into the driver’s seat.
A female officer yelled, “Taser, Taser,” and then fired her gun. “Holy shit, I just shot him,” she said.
Once again, a Black man died during a police encounter. In an instant, the world’s focus on Minnesota shifted from the trial of Derek Chauvin to a new outrage that brought street protests, promises of reform, and anguish over a relentless pattern of deadly police misconduct. Continue reading.
Two self-identified Proud Boys have been involved in the internal planning for a set of simultaneous “White Lives Matter” rallies scheduled for Sunday, according to chat logs leaked to the media.
The association with the White Lives Matter rallies, which are promoting overtly white supremacist messages about a supposed white genocide, is a liability for the Proud Boys, a violent proto-fascist group that claims to be non-racist. The leaked chats show that a Proud Boy responsible for organizing the Michigan White Lives Matter rally went to some effort to hide the fact that members of his group are involved in the effort.
The Telegram user “Telly Savalas,” who was the admin for the @WLM_Michigan channel, expressed concern on April 5 about a user named “BamaPatriot 2º” who wrote, “POYB,” with an A-OK emoji. Those are signifiers associated with the Proud Boys. Continue reading.
The U.S. FDA on Tuesday recommended an immediate halt of the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, citing cases of a rare blood clot disorder that six women developed within two weeks of receiving the shot.
The latest: Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said at a briefing that she expects the pause to only last “a matter of days,” as health officials investigate the data surrounding the “extremely rare” blood clots.
Driving the news: The FDA’s recommendation was issued “out of an abundance of caution” and to prepare health providers to recognize and treat patients appropriately, since these types of blood clots require a different kind of treatment. Continue reading.
NEW YORK — Former president Donald Trump’s company paid a skating rink manager more than $200,000 in annual salary, $40,000 yearlybonuses and provided free company-owned apartments for his family, according to testimony of the employee, Barry Weisselberg, and his financial documents.
Such payments and perks, as well as other financial support provided to Weisselberg and his family, have drawn new scrutiny from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) as a potentially key component of his ongoing criminal investigation into the former president’s business activity and finances.
Barry Weisselberg is the son of Trump’s longtime confidant and chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, whose cooperation prosecutors are maneuvering to secure, a person familiar with the investigation said, as they evaluate whether there is sufficient evidence to charge Trump, or members of his family or inner circle. Like others, this person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. Continue reading.
The 91-year-old Holocaust survivor said that the former president had “obviously admired Hitler and just copied him with his anti-Semitism.”
Eva Schloss, the stepsister of Anne Frank and a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor, told The Daily Beast in an interview published Thursday that there were notable parallels between former President Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler.
“You know, he’s said so many silly things,” Schloss told The Daily Beast. “I’ve compared him to Hitler. I even heard that he studied Hitler’s speeches and things like that, so he obviously admired Hitler and just copied him with his anti-Semitism. The Muslims are hated as well. This is what’s so wrong in our society — white supremacy. We should all treat each other as equal.”
Schloss also acknowledged an uptick in anti-Semitic hate that occurred during Trump’s presidency. In 2019, 2,107 anti-Semitic crimes occurred within the United States, the largest number since the Anti-Defamation League began tracking such attacks in 1979. These included a synagogue shooting in Poway, California, that left one dead and three injured. Continue reading.
During a Thursday-night appearance on Fox News this week, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri railed against the “woke corporations” that have been speaking out against Georgia’s new voter suppression law. Georgia-based companies like Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola have been among the law’s outspoken opponents, and Major League Baseball has decided to move its 2021 All-Star Game from Georgia to Colorado because of the law — all of which infuriates Hawley. Liberal Washington Post opinion writer Greg Sargent is vehemently critical of Hawley’s comments in his Friday column, stressing that although the far-right Republican senator promotes himself as a populist, there is nothing populist about voter suppression.
On Fox News, the-far Hawley complained, “What’s happening in Georgia is what they tried to do to those of us who stood up for election integrity back in January. Anyone who has said that our elections need to be free, they need to be fair, we need to consider election reform — they try to cancel you. And now, the woke corporations are trying to do the same thing to Georgia. And they’re going to try to do it to anybody, any state, any person who stands up for election integrity.”
Hawley was trying to paint himself as a victim. But as Sargent points out, the far-right Missouri senator was being very anti-democracy when he refused to honor the results of the 2020 presidential election — and he is being just as anti-democracy now by supporting voter suppression in Georgia. Continue reading.
The House Ethics Committee announced it is opening an investigation into embattled GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.) on Friday following allegations of illegal drug use and sharing nude photos of young women with his colleagues on the House floor.
“The Committee is aware of public allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct,” the panel said in a statement announcing it is beginning an investigation to gather additional information.
“The Committee notes that the mere fact that it is investigating these allegations, and publicly disclosing its review, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee,” the statement noted. Continue reading.
