June 30, 2021
Upcoming SD 48 Town Hall
Mark your calendars! This coming Tuesday, July 6, my house colleagues and I will be hosting a virtual town hall meeting from 9:30 – 10:30am.
You can RSVP in advance at the event page by clicking HERE, and you can ask us questions in advance by clicking HERE.
You will be able to watch live or view a recording from any of our Facebook pages. Mine can be accessed by clicking HERE.
Continue reading “Sen. Steve Cwodzinski Update: July 2, 2021”
C-SPAN on Wednesday released its latest rankings of American presidents as determined by dozens of prominent historians — and it revealed some very unwelcome news for former President Donald Trump.
Overall, historians ranked Trump as the fourth-worst president ever, coming in one spot below former President William Henry Harrison, who died after just one month in office.
The only presidents on the list to rank worse than Trump were Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, and James Buchanan. Continue reading.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) will deploy up to 50 National Guard troops to the southern U.S. border, her office said Tuesday, with a highly unusual caveat — the mission will be funded by a “private donation” from an out-of-state GOP megadonor billionaire.
The Guard members will deploy in response to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s plea to augment border security with law enforcement resources from other states, Noem’s office said in a statement.
Like Abbott (R), Noem is a close ally of former president Donald Trump, whose focus on illegal immigration spurred his controversial deployment of military personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border and remains a pillar of the Republican Party’s political platform. In a statement, she blasted the Biden administration over its immigration policies, which Trump and fellow conservatives have denounced as weak and ineffective. Continue reading.
Taking a page out of Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s anti-Semitic playbook, a GOP state lawmaker in Washington who is opposed to COVID-19 vaccine requirements donned a yellow Star of David during a speech to a right-wing group over the weekend.
Rep. Jim Walsh (R-Aberdeen) later told the Seattle Times he had been given the Star of David — a symbol that Nazis forced Jews to wear to identify them for extermination— by someone at the “Patriot Gathering,” organized by Washingtonians for Change. Walsh said most attendees were wearing the yellow stars because the group is “deeply concerned about vaccine passports and vaccine segregation.”
In a Facebook post sharing video of his speech, Walsh wrote: “It’s an echo from history. In the current context, we’re all Jews.” Continue reading.
President Biden announced a series of steps in response to intensifying wildfires in the western U.S. on Wednesday, calling the fires “a problem for all of us” and saying the U.S. must act “fast” during a meeting with western governors.
“We know this is becoming a regular cycle and we know it’s getting worse,” Biden said in a briefing. “The truth is, we’re playing catch-up. This is an area that’s been under-resourced, but that’s going to change if we have anything to do with it.”
Biden said his administration would hold annual briefings to coincide with the start of the wildfire season. Continue reading.
Scientists are warning that climate change is already compounding the extreme heat battering the Pacific Northwest and will do so even more as the planet continues to warm.
Oregon and Washington saw record-setting triple-digit temperatures this week, bringing many aspects of daily life to a grinding halt.
In Portland, a mass transit company canceled service because of melting cables, while highway pavement in the Seattle area buckled in the extreme heat. Continue reading.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson dropped a bombshell allegation on his Monday night show: The National Security Agency, he said, was “monitoring our electronic communications and is planning to leak them in an attempt to take this show off the air.”
He added: “We have confirmed that.”
Has it, in fact, been confirmed? Throughout the day Tuesday, many observers noted that the serious accusation seemed surprisingly absent from the dominant narratives on the rest of Fox News, even though it would seem to be a major story of interest beyond just the single hour Carlson hosts if it were true. But it appeared the news division of the network — traditionally considered separate from opinion shows like Carlson’s — couldn’t back up the claim. Continue reading.
Neighbors,
The 2021legislative session adjourned early Thursday morning with the successful passage of our two-year budget. We worked hard to negotiate a fair budget to help Minnesotans recover from the past year and thrive in the future. Our compromise budget invests in all Minnesotans but aims to help those most hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic – students, businesses, workers, and families. Earlier today, Gov. Walz signed the remaining budget bills into law. You can read my statement here.
Our budget made historic increases in funding for public schools and preservation of all day pre-K for 4,000 preschoolers. As vice-chair of the Early Childhood Committee and a negotiator of the final Education budget, I am proud of the collaborative, compromise final product. The positive impact the budget will have on our students cannot be overstated. Historic investments in our students now and going forward will give our students a bright future, no matter where they live or what they look like. You can read my news release here.
Here are some other highlights of the budget:
Continue reading “Rep. Laurie Pryor (HD48A) Update: July 1, 2021”A man arrested this week for participating in the January 6th riots at the United States Capitol building demanded that former President Donald Trump pay his legal bills.
As reported by Reuters legal affairs journalist Jan Wolfe, MAGA rioter Zvonimir Jurlina was arrested in Austin, Texas this week and charged with inciting violence against members of the media who were covering the rioting Trump supporters and with encouraging the theft of media equipment.
In a video posted shortly after his court appearance Jurlina complained about being a “political prisoner” who was being persecuted for being a “patriot.” Continue reading.
Hi Neighbors,
From some extraordinary new Minnesota State Fair foods to the upcoming holiday weekend, there’s a lot to look forward to this week. Patriotism has been on my mind lately, and as we near the 4th of July, I wanted to share a few reasons to celebrate our United States of America:
1. A women’s olympic gymnastic team with 2 Minnesotans
2. Our dedicated servicemen and women and our principled military leadership who keep us safe (and refuse to play political games)
3. The bipartisan group of Representatives and Senators that proved the naysayers wrong and found common ground on a bipartisan infrastructure deal our country desperately needs
Continue reading “Rep. Dean Phillips (CD3) Update: July 1, 2021”