US House 39 , CD3 DFL

GOP congressmen are upset that airlines are training pilots who aren’t white men

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) accused United Airlines of engaging in ‘progressive fascism.’

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) unleashed a racist and sexist attack on United Airlines on Thursday, demanding to know which pilots receive training as part of the company’s new effort to diversify its workforce.

“Airlines should advertise the exact flights flown by pilots who were chosen as part of their new diversity programs rather than the outdated programs based solely on skill, experience, and qualifications,” Massie tweeted.

Massie was apparently upset about an announcement by United on Tuesday of its plans to launch a pilot training academy: “Our flight deck should reflect the diverse group of people on board our planes every day. That’s why we plan for 50% of the 5,000 pilots we train in the next decade to be women or people of color.” Continue reading.

Another Gaetz top aide abruptly quits — congressman hid resignation for a week

A second top aide to Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has resigned amid the growing scandals of alleged child sex trafficking and a sexual relationship with a 17-year old.

Gaetz legislative aide Devin Murphy resigned last week on Friday, The New York Times reports. The Florida Republican hid the news which just broke for nearly a week.

Murphy, a highly-controversial staffer who was the subject of disturbing news reports in 2017, “told associates that he was interested in writing bills, not working at TMZ,” the Times reports, “equating the work that Mr. Gaetz’s aides were now handling to the tabloid publication, according to one of the people, who all asked not to be identified discussing a sensitive personnel matter.” Continue reading.

Kinzinger is first GOP lawmaker to call on Gaetz to resign

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) on Thursday night called for Rep. Matt Gaetz(R-Fla.) to resign amid allegations that Gaetz had sex with a minor and violated sex trafficking laws.

In a short tweet, the Illinois Republican wrote, “Matt Gaetz needs to resign.”

The tweet included a link to an article from The Daily Beast reporting that Gaetz used Venmo to pay an accused sex trafficker $900 in May of 2018. The Beast reports that the man, Joel Greenberg, then sent the same amount of money to teenaged girls. Continue reading.

Biden-GOP infrastructure talks off to rocky start

President Biden’s bid to secure bipartisan support for his $2.25 infrastructure package is off to a rocky start.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a close Biden ally, says there will be only one month set aside to hammer out a deal with Republicans and right now it’s nowhere near to happening.

Biden is already sniping with key moderates such as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). Continue reading.

Economist Paul Krugman: Republicans have no meaningful objections to Biden’s infrastructure plan — they simply ‘want him to fail’

Having recently signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief/economic stimulus package — President Joe Biden is now promoting an ambitious infrastructure plan. Many Republicans, not surprisingly, are railing against the plan. Liberal economist Paul Krugman discusses their opposition this week in his Times column, stressing that Republicans have no meaningful objections to it — they simply want to see Biden fail as president.

“Republicans have been having a hard time explaining why they oppose President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan,” Krugman explains. “Their real motives aren’t a mystery. They want Biden to fail, just as they wanted President Barack Obama to fail, and will once again offer scorched-earth opposition to anything a Democratic president proposes. And they’re especially opposed to public programs that might prove popular, and thereby help legitimize activist government in voters’ minds.”

Because “laying out those true motives” would not “play well with the electorate, Krugman writes, Republicans are “looking for alternative attack lines”—for example, arguing that “most of the proposed spending isn’t really infrastructure.” Continue reading.

Gaetz associate likely to strike plea deal with prosecutors in sex trafficking case

ORLANDO — A Florida politician at the center of an investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz is negotiating with federal prosecutors to resolve his own sex-trafficking and other charges, a potentially ominous sign for the congressman if his associate decides to cooperate in a bid for leniency.

Joel Greenberg, the former tax collector for Seminole County, Fla., initially was charged last summer in a bare-bones indictment that prosecutors have since superseded, adding charges of sex trafficking of a minor, stealing from the tax office and even trying to use fraud to get covid-19 relief money while out on bond. In the course of the investigation into his conduct, people familiar with the matter have said, federal authorities came across evidence that Gaetz (R-Fla.) might have committed a crime and launched a separate investigation into him.

At a status conference in Greenberg’s case Thursday, federal prosecutor Roger Handberg told a judge that he expected a plea, though negotiations are ongoing. Fritz Scheller, an attorney for Greenberg, asked the judge to set a deadline of May 15 for the two sides to either reach a deal, or move toward a trial in the summer. Continue reading.

Republicans aren’t even pretending to be interested in democracy anymore

Republicans from all levels of government in this country have made little secret in recent years of the fact that their political power derives almost exclusively from a longstanding, and largely successful, effort to manipulate the electoral process to their exclusive benefit. Extreme partisan gerrymandering, voter suppression, allegations of electoral fraud — they’re all tools the GOP and its conservative allies use to maximize the “right” kind of votes (that is: people who vote for them) at the expense of, y’know, actual democracy.

But if the GOP’s semi-whispered reverence for restricted voting was a poorly kept secret before, the past few days have been like turning a dog whistle into a full blown bullhorn. We’ve gone from subliminal, to liminal, to super-liminal in record time.

Speaking with WLOX last month, Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, a Republican, claimed without evidence that the Biden administration is “basically employing all the federal agencies, universities, and colleges to register as many folks as they can via this automatic voter registration.” It’s possible Watson was talking about the Democrats’ For The People Act, which, while not a Biden administration bill, does indeed tackle automatic voter registration. Continue reading.

Trump endorses Alabama’s Mo Brooks for Senate, a promoter of his false claims of a stolen election

President Donald Trump made his first major foray into the 2022 battle for the Senate on Wednesday, endorsing Rep. Mo Brooks to succeed Sen. Richard C. Shelby in Alabama — a major boost for a candidate who has operated on the rightmost edge of the Republican Party and who emerged last year as one of the foremost promoters of Trump’s false claims of a stolen election.

Trump’s move could pose a dilemma for Senate Republican leaders who will have to choose whether they want to try to stop the ascension of the conservative firebrand or support his candidacy as part of their embrace of the former president’s brand of populism that increasingly defines the party.

“Few Republicans have as much COURAGE and FIGHT” as Brooks, Trump said in a statement issued through his Save America super PAC. “Mo is a great Conservative Republican leader, who will stand up for America First no matter what obstacles the Fake News Media, RINOs, or Socialist Democrats may place in his path.” Continue reading.

Phillips Renews Support for Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) announced the reintroduction of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (EICDA), bold legislation that would utilize market forces to combat climate change and incentivize the speedy transition to a clean energy economy. The bill earned 86 bipartisan co-sponsors in the previous Congress, and Rep. Phillips is an original co-sponsor.

The bill creates a Carbon Dividend Trust Fund for the American people to encourage innovation, clean energy technologies, and market efficiencies that will reduce pollution and leave behind a healthier and more prosperous nation for future generations. It includes carbon fee exemptions for fuels used by the armed forces and agriculture, and it provides rebates to facilities that capture and sequester carbon.

The bill would decrease U.S. carbon emissions by 40% in the first twelve years and is revenue neutral, returning every cent raised from carbon fees back to American consumers in the form of monthly dividends. The EICDA positions the United States to meet the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 set by President Biden.

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

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.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: