U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

Republicans want to defund or abolish our law enforcement agencies.

They are openly calling for it in debates, on Twitter, and some are fundraising off of defunding our law enforcement agencies.   

Can you believe that?

Republicans want to leave American citizens vulnerable to crime, violence, and attacks.   

Republicans are not serious about tackling crime and violence. They simply do not care about keeping our communities and country safe as they are calling to abolish our top law enforcement agencies which protects us each day.   

Republicans openly called to end Roe and they did. Now they are calling to eliminate Social Security, Medicare, and our top law enforcement agencies. Don't give them the opportunity to destroy America as we know it. Defunding our top law enforcement agencies will be catastrophic as would eliminating Social Security and Medicare for seniors.   


"Defund the FBI": The GOP's New Midterm Messaging



Since the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago, a growing number of GOP candidates and lawmakers are rallying around their own calls to defund or abolish federal law enforcement agencies.

Dan Bolduc and Bruce Fenton, leading Republican Senate candidates in New Hampshire, said in a recent debate they believe the Department of Homeland Security and top agencies need to be significantly "reduced" and called for abolishing the FBI.

Anthony Sabatini, a leading primary candidate in Florida's 3rd District, has long called to defund the FBI and tweeted on the night of the Mar-a-Lago search that Florida should "sever all ties with DOJ immediately" and arrest FBI agents on sight.

Tim Baxter, a candidate in New Hampshire’s 1st District, expressed support for abolishing the FBI in a debate on SaPersonay.

Another candidate, Karoline Leavitt, called to "investigate, litigate and incarcerate them."

J.R. Majewski, the GOP nominee in Ohio's 9th District, says on his website's issues page: "I will fight to abolish all unconstitutional three letter agencies," including the CIA.

Sandy Smith, the GOP nominee in North Carolina’s 1st District, tweeted a poll with "Abolish the FBI" as one of the options.

Asked in a recent radio interview whether Republicans are "actually going to be willing" to defund the FBI, IRS and other agencies, Bo Hines, the Trump-endorsed GOP nominee in North Carolina's 13th District, responded: "Well, I mean we have to."

The position also has been embraced by Texas GOP chair Matt Rinaldi and Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who is selling "Defund the FBI" merchandise.

AFP


The GOP Suddenly Wants to Defund Law Enforcement After Feds Raid Mar-a-Lago

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene whined that defunding the Department of Justice would “completely cut out of their budget the ability to persecute Republicans”


Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), left, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, (R-Ga.) are among the members of the GOP calling for the defunding of the Department of Justice following a raid of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate Monday, Aug. 8.

After years defending the continued militarization of law enforcement agencies across the United States, Republican lawmakers appeared to have a change of heart Monday after learning the FBI executed a search at the Florida estate of former President Donald Trump. Faced with the possibility that the “good guys” aren’t necessarily on their side, prominent members of the party that made backing the blue a central tenet of its political platform began spouting rhetoric that belied their professed allegiance to the “rule of law.”

“The GOP majority must defund all forms of tyranny throughout Biden’s government,” prominent right-wing figurehead Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) wrote on Twitter, tagging the official FBI account. She later added: “Weaponizing the FBI to raid President Trump’s home makes Watergate look like nothing.” Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), meanwhile, embraced the GOP’s favored doomsday approach. “We must destroy the FBI,” he tweeted. “We must save America.”

As the primary law enforcement agency of the United States government whose self-described mission is “to uphold the rule of law,” the Department of Justice and its associated agencies are essentially America’s police force. Any efforts to defund or dismantle these agencies would is akin to liberal activists’ calls to reduce or restructure funding for local police forces — a concept Trump regularly used as a scare tactic to push voters away from Democrats. Yet, as is to be expected, irony is an art that remains lost on the most fervent of right-wing Republicans.

No voice in the “Defund the DOJ” crowd rang louder than that of professional conspiracy theorist and devoted Trump sycophant Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who spent most of Monday evening having a public meltdown on Twitter, calling for the impeachment of President Joe Biden, accusing Democrats of “radicalizing our federal law enforcement to take political enemies out,” and posting an image of an upside-down American flag followed by an all-caps rallying cry: “DEFUND THE FBI!”

Greene later appeared on Real America's Voice, calling the Mar-a-Lago raid “the path that leads to direct and intense communism” and doubled down on her Twitter comments suggesting the DOJ’s move was politically motivated. “What we should be asking the Department of Justice is, ‘When are you going to stop this political persecution?'” she said. “If they won’t stop this ridiculous witch hunt on President Trump and his former administration and staff and supporters, then what has to happen is, in a Republican majority, we have to defund and make cuts in the Department of Justice. And we can do that in how many employees they’re allowed to have. We can say that funds can only go towards prosecution of sex trafficking or human trafficking or drugs coming across our state lines — different crimes like that, serious crimes — and then completely cut out of their budget the ability to persecute Republicans.”

The most extreme Republican lawmakers have long been wary of the FBI, which lies at the heart of the conspiracy that the “Deep State” is out to get Trump and anyone who supports him. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), one of the lawmakers allegedly involved in the rally that preceded the riot at the Capitol, discussed using the Holman Rule to defund the FBI and the DOJ during an appearance at last weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference. He was on the case again Monday night. “Congress must look into the viability of our federal law enforcement agencies that abuse their authorities for political purposes,” he wrote, adding that the “only thing missing” from the raid “is Muammar Gaddafi’s sunglasses and cap on Joe Biden,” the implication being that an FBI helmed by a director Trump appointed carrying out a warrant approved by a federal judge means President Biden is somehow turning America into a third-world dictatorship.

The party’s leadership responded similarly. Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) stayed silent on the issue of defunding the DOJ, but issuing a veiled threat to Attorney General Merrick Garland. “The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter. “Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar."

Republicans’ reaction to the Mar-a-Lago search echoed the evening of insanity that played out on Fox News, where members of Trump’s family painted the former president as a persecuted martyr for the conservative cause. On right-wing forums and websites, the discussion of the day’s events took a predictably more radical turn, with Trump supporters vowing retribution and violence for the act against their beloved leader. On social media, right-wingers claimed “thousands” of supporters were descending upon Palm Beach to show their support for the embattled former president. But, as Monday night drew to a close, the only IRL response from members of the MAGA community was a pitiful gathering of protestors waving Trump flags and blasting generic America-first anthems from stars and stripes-adorned pickup trucks — a fitting tribute for a man who, somehow, continues to tarnish his already sullen single-term presidency years after leaving office.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/mar-a-lago-raid-gop-response-defund-fbi-1394486/

[Rick Plant]

Biden to sign Inflation Reduction Act into law



President Joe Biden will sign a sweeping $750 billion health care, tax and climate bill into law at the White House on Tuesday -- marking a major victory for his administration and the Democratic Party ahead of the midterm elections.

Tuesday's ceremony in the State Dining Room is just one of many events that will follow focused on the roll out of the new law, according to the White House.

"In the coming weeks, the President will host a Cabinet meeting focused on implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, will travel across the country to highlight how the bill will help the American people, and will host an event to celebrate the enactment of the bill at the White House on September 6," a White House statement said.

The Inflation Reduction Act accomplishes several key Biden legislative agenda items, representing the largest climate investment in American history and making major changes to health policy by giving Medicare the power for the first time to negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs and extending expiring health care subsidies for three years. The legislation will reduce the deficit, be paid for through new taxes -- including a 15% minimum tax on large corporations and a 1% tax on stock buybacks -- and boost the Internal Revenue Service's ability to collect.

Senate Democrats had long hoped to pass a signature legislative package that would incorporate major agenda items for the party, but struggled for months to reach a deal that gained full support of their caucus.

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin -- a major holdout throughout much of Biden's term in office -- played a key role in the legislation, agreeing to a deal that was announced at the end of last month.

The bill passed in the Senate earlier this month after 16 hours of amendment votes -- known as a vote-a-rama -- and the House of Representatives approved the bill along party lines this past Friday.

AFP

[Rick Plant]

Biden aims for victory lap as he signs Inflation Reduction Act

The Inflation Reduction Act is the the type of law Democrats have been trying to pass for years, if not decades. It also could have been so much more.

Take a look at the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan, two documents the Biden administration issued in the opening months of his administration, which outline a host of ideas they hoped to realize. These include raising taxes on the rich, making community college and pre-school free and offering paid family and medical leave.

Some of these programs they managed to enact via last year’s trillion-dollar infrastructure bill. But many others were stripped out in the months of negotiations between Democratic leaders and Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, two of the party’s conservative lawmakers whose votes were essential to getting any of their legislation through Congress.

Considering that there were moments when it looked like the negotiations would amount to naught, the Inflation Reduction Act is a political accomplishment, even if its attempts to address climate change have already been criticized as insufficient, and it lacks much of what Democrats and the Biden administration promised. Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s Democratic leader, appeared to recognize this. In an interview last week, he pleaded with voters to elect more Democrats, promising that if they do, they will pass the rest of the programs Joe Biden promised to voters when he took office.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2022/aug/16/biden-climate-healthcare-bill-inflation-reduction-act-democrats-us-politics-latest

[Rick Plant]

That the GOP is struggling to raise money just a few months before a competitive election is a very big 2022 story.

GOP slashes ads in key Senate battlegrounds

NRSC cancels over $10 million in ad buys as candidates struggle with fundraising.



As midterm election campaigns heat up in the Senate’s top battlegrounds, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is canceling millions of dollars of ad spending, sending GOP campaigns and operatives into a panic and upending the committee’s initial spending plan.

The cuts — totaling roughly $13.5 million since Aug. 1 — come as the Republicans’ Senate campaign committee is being forced to “stretch every dollar we can,” said a person familiar with the NRSC’s deliberations. Republican nominees in critical states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina — places the GOP must defend this fall — have failed to raise enough money to get on air themselves, requiring the NRSC to make cuts elsewhere to accommodate.

Since Aug. 1, the NRSC has cut ad buys in the battleground states of Pennsylvania ($7.5 million), Arizona ($3.5 million), Wisconsin ($2.5 million) and Nevada ($1.5 million), according to the ad tracking service AdImpact. Separately, a Democratic source tracking advertising buys estimated roughly $10.5 million in cuts by the NRSC since the first of the month.

"People are asking, ‘What the hell is going on?’” said one Republican strategist working on Senate races. “Why are we cutting in August? I’ve never seen it like this before.”

While the scale of these cuts is unprecedented, the NRSC is also ahead of its typical schedule on its ad spending, having already spent $36.5 million on television spots this cycle, as opposed to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s $1.9 million to date. Sen. Rick Scott, who chairs the NRSC, announced earlier this year the campaign committee would be spending sooner than in years past. It was a necessary change, Scott said, to prevent Democrats from having the airwaves to themselves all summer.

“We’ve been creative in how we’re spending our money and will continue to make sure that every dollar spent by the NRSC is done in the most efficient and effective way possible,” said Chris Hartline, NRSC spokesperson. “Nothing has changed about our commitment to winning in all of our target states.”

The person familiar with the NRSC’s deliberations said the committee is swapping some of its independent expenditure spending for coordinated and hybrid spending with campaigns. The latter category imposes more rules on how much can be spent and what the ads can say, though it allows the committee to purchase ad time at a candidate discount, rather than a much steeper outside group rate.

But the numbers show that the NRSC has cut significantly more than it has booked back, indicating a potential cash strain at the committee. Second-quarter filings showed the DSCC had nearly twice the cash on hand as its Republican counterpart, $53.5 million to the NRSC’s $28.5 million.

Another Republican strategist referred to the recent cuts as “unreal,” noting that the NRSC had not eliminated any ad time in New Hampshire, where there won’t be a GOP nominee until mid-September — and where there’s no clear frontrunner in the meantime.

The NRSC earlier this month also spent a combined $1 million on ads in Washington and Colorado, two blue states that are considered unlikely but potential pickup opportunities for Republicans.

While the GOP committee is making a perplexing number of mid-August cuts, the organization could still book back that time over the next 2½ months. And between what the NRSC has already spent on television this cycle and what it has reserved for the rest of fall, the Republican committee has still purchased significantly more than the DSCC, though Democrats will likely reserve more air time in the coming weeks.

“While Rick Scott’s failed leadership of the NRSC continues to be one of Senate Democrats’ greatest assets,” said David Bergstein, spokesperson for the DSCC, “we know McConnell’s super PAC will have significant resources in the weeks ahead and we are continuing to take nothing for granted in each of our battleground races."

Bergstein was referring to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that has reserved $150 million in ads this fall. Its first spots begin airing Friday in Pennsylvania.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/15/gop-slashes-ads-in-key-senate-battlegrounds-00051969

[Rick Plant]

Florida Senate:

Demings (D) 48% (+4)
Rubio (R-inc) 44%

University of North Florida, 1,624 RV, 8/8-12
https://scribd.com/document/587232872/UNF-PORL-August-Survey

https://twitter.com/Politics_Polls/status/1559506019914584064


Val Demings @valdemings

A new poll shows me ahead of Rubio 48-44. I’m grateful for the support I had before any of the polls showed that we can win this race. Together we will flip Florida blue.

https://twitter.com/valdemings/status/1559591553701642240

[Rick Plant]

Every single Republican in Congress voted against The Inflation Reduction Act.

President signs Inflation Reduction Act into law | full video

President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law on Tuesday, finalizing a landmark piece of legislation aimed at fighting climate change, lowering health care costs and raising taxes on corporations. "Let me say from the start, with this law, the American people won and the special interests lost," Mr. Biden said in his remarks.

[Rick Plant]

The Inflation Reduction Act

[Rick Plant]

Shapiro to launch ads hitting Mastriano over ties to far-right social media site

Republican Doug Mastriano has come under fire for paying $5,000 for “consulting” services to Gab, the site where Robert Bowers made antisemitic posts before the deadly mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue.


Mastriano also participated in an interview with Gab CEO Andrew Torba, where he told him, “Thank God for what you’ve done.” | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Pennsylvania Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro is launching a pair of attack ads targeting his opponent’s ties to the far-right social media network Gab.

The campaign is putting more than $1 million behind the television commercials, which were first shared with POLITICO, and airing them across the state.

Republican Doug Mastriano has come under fire for paying $5,000 for “consulting” services to Gab, the site where Robert Bowers made antisemitic posts before the deadly mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue.

Mastriano also participated in an interview with Gab CEO Andrew Torba, where he told him, “Thank God for what you’ve done.”

In one of Shapiro’s ads, a narrator describes Gab as a “white supremacist website” where “minutes before Jews were killed at this synagogue, the murderer posted his hate-filled plan.” The spot highlights Mastriano’s payment to Gab.

Another commercial by Shapiro features TV news clips about the controversy, with one anchor saying that “elected leaders and members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community are calling out gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano’s ties to a controversial social media site.”

After facing mounting criticism over his links to Gab, including from some in the GOP, Mastriano said in a statement that Torba “doesn’t speak for me” and that “I reject antisemitism in any form.” He also appears to have deleted his account on the site.

Previously, Torba made antisemitic remarks and said his “policy is not to conduct interviews with reporters who aren’t Christian or with outlets who aren’t Christian, and Doug has a very similar media strategy where he does not do interviews with these people.”

Republican leaders in the state have largely stood by Mastriano amid the controversy and argued that he settled the matter with his statement denouncing antisemitism.

Shapiro’s new ads are part of his campaign’s longstanding efforts to paint Mastriano as extreme. His other commercials have said that Mastriano is too conservative on abortion.

Mastriano, who has struggled with fundraising, has not aired any commercials on television during the general election. Shapiro’s lead in the polls has grown as Mastriano has ceded the airwaves to him.

Shapiro’s two TV spots about Gab will begin airing Sunday. His campaign purchased additional points in the Pittsburgh area, the site of the Tree of Life shooting.

Watch: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/13/shapiro-ads-mastriano-far-right-social-media-gab-00051581

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/13/shapiro-ads-mastriano-far-right-social-media-gab-00051581