Category: Latest News

U.S. Carries Out Airstrikes in Iraq and Syria

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The attacks were against weapons storage facilities used by Iranian-backed militias that the Pentagon said had conducted drone strikes against places in Iraq where American troops, spies and diplomats were located.

WASHINGTON — The United States carried out airstrikes early Monday morning in Iraq and Syria against two Iranian-backed militias that the Pentagon said had conducted drone strikes against American personnel in Iraq in recent weeks, the Defense Department said.

“At President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region,” the Pentagon spokesman, John F. Kirby, said in a statement.

Mr. Kirby said the facilities were used by Iranian-backed militias, including Kata’ib Hezbollah and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, to store arms and ammunition for carrying out attacks against places where Americans were located in Iraq. There were no immediate reports of casualties but a military after-action review is ongoing, Pentagon officials said. Continue reading.

Wisconsin Republican used leftover funds from his failed campaign to attend Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’ rally

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After losing to incumbent Democratic Rep. Ron Kind in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District in the 2020 election, far-right Republican Derrick Van Orden had some campaign funds left over — and according to the Daily Beast reporter Roger Sollenberger, he used some of that money to attend then-President Donald Trump’s Stop the Steal rally in Washington, D.C. on January 6. 

Van Orden is running for Congress again in 2022, and he has been endorsed by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy despite the fact that he openly promoted Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

In an article published by the Beast on June 27, Sollenberger explains, “Van Orden, a former Navy SEAL and small-time actor, has previously acknowledged attending the January 6 rally, but has repeatedly claimed he never entered the Capitol grounds. However, social media posts from the riot suggest that isn’t true. A Facebook image from January 6 shows Van Orden standing on a wall on the Capitol grounds that was inside a restricted area. The Daily Beast recreated the photo on Friday and confirmed that Van Orden would have had to cross police barricades to reach that area.” Continue reading.

Trump’s big lie about 2020 results suffers legal and political blows in key swing states

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It was a bad week for the Big Lie — former President Donald Trump and his allies’ false claims that widespread fraud is to blame for his 2020 election loss.

In one battleground state, Republican senators issued a report that eviscerated Trump’s lies about voter fraud. In another, a judge undercut Trump’s supporters’ hopes to examine nearly 150,000 mail-in ballots. And one of Trump’s closest allies, Rudy Giuliani, was suspended from practicing law in New York. 

Trump and his conspiracy-minded supporters have eagerly been anticipating the conclusion of the problem-plagued audit of Maricopa County’s results in Arizona, but regardless of its final report, it will have no impact on the 2020 election results, as the election was already certified. Trump repeated his election lies at a rally in Ohio Saturday night, but last week’s blows underscored the reality that their options to continue contesting the 2020 election are narrowing. Continue reading.

Bill Barr on Trump’s election fraud claims: “It was all bullsh*t”

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Former Attorney General Bill Barr said the Justice Department always knew Trump’s claims of election fraud were “bullsh*t,” according to an excerpt from journalist Jonathan Karl’s upcoming book published in the The Atlantic.

Why it matters: Barr’s new comments come as Trump continues to propagate the lie that the 2020 election was “rigged.” Republicans in swing states now are conducting“audits” of election ballots based on false conspiracies about the election. 

Flashback: Last December, Barr told the AP: “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.” Continue reading.

Terrorism expert: Trump remains a major ‘national security’ threat to the United States

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Some Republicans recently accused New York Times reporter Maggie Gallagher of suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome” when she reported that according to her sources, former President Donald Trump believes he will be “reinstated” as president by August. But in fact, Gallagher’s reporting was accurate, and John Cohen— the top counterterrorism official in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — believes that Trump’s delusion could lead to more political violence in the United States. On June 25, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace discussed Cohen’s warning with MSNBC contributor and former FBI counterterrorism expert Clint Watts, who commented on how much of a national security threat Trump continues to be.

Wallace, a Never Trump conservative who served in the George W. Bush Administration, told Watts, “It’s just jaw-dropping that the disgraced, twice-impeached ex-president’s utterances are now a national security threat on an hourly, daily basis — to which Watts responded, “It is remarkable that it continues on.”

Watts told Wallace, “It’s also remarkable because there is still significant online discussion of this, which means —think if you’re a believer in this conspiracy, and you’ve seen everything from QAnon to January 6, the inauguration occurring, ballot recounts failing — and you still are pursuing this fantasy. How would it not lead to violence over time?” Continue reading.

Trump PAC Raising Funds On Facebook Despite His Suspension

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Facebook’s latest policy carve-out for former President Donald Trump, which allows Trump’s political action committees to run ads as long they are not “in his voice,” has permitted Trump to fundraise and promote his events on the platform, even though he is suspended for at least two years. In return, Facebook has earned at least $10,000 in revenue on these ads.

On June 21, Politico reported that Trump’s Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, a joint venture between his Make America Great Again PAC and his newer Save America leadership PAC, had started sponsoring Facebook ads on the Team Trump campaign page. The Team Trump page, which hasn’t run any ads since the 2020 election, is also now managed by the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, and it was run by the Trump campaign as recently as May.

Media Matters analyzed data from Facebook’s Ad Library and found that Team Trump has run 258 ads since June 16, spending at least $10,200 and earning at least 1.3 million impressions on ads fundraising off Trump’s visit to the border, attacking President Joe Biden, supporting Trump and “the MAGA Movement,” or promoting his upcoming rally in Ohio. At time of publication, 37 of the ads are active. Continue reading.

Opinion: The Real Fraud: Republicans’ Voter-Fraud Scare

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Setting the record straight is our duty to democracy itself.

This week, Senate Republicans in lockstep blocked key reforms of the For the People Actthat would address gerrymandering and big money in politics, plus enhance ethics for federal office holders. The Act would also strengthen voting rights—on which a big battle is now underway across the country.  

While Democrats in more than half the states have lowered barriers to voting, Republicans are pushing them higher, with campaigns for at least 389  restrictive voter laws in 48 states. Already, 17 states have enacted 28 such bills. But now, the Justice Department is suing Georgia over its new voting restrictions.

Republicans often justify their opposition to lowering voting barriers with the argument that it encourages voter fraud. Arizona’s Republican Representative John Kavanagh told CNN earlier this year that Democrats are “willing to risk fraud” because they “value as many people as possible voting.” Republicans, he underscored, “are more concerned about fraud, so we don’t mind putting security measures in that won’t let everybody vote—but everybody shouldn’t be voting.” Continue reading.

Trump warned Wisconsin GOP legislative leaders to support 2020 election audit or be ‘quickly run out of office’

Former President Donald Trump on Friday put Wisconsin GOP legislative leaders on notice, saying that they would be “primaried” if they don’t back an audit of the 2020 presidential election in the critical swing state.

Last November, President Joe Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by roughly 20,000 votes out of nearly 3.3 million ballots cast. The results were certified with no verifiable evidence of voter fraud.

However, with Trump continuing to spread debunked claims of malfeasance months after his electoral loss to Biden, Republican leaders are feeling the heat from the former president’s loyalists, many of whom back partisan audits similar to what is occurring in Arizona, another swing state that Trump lost to Biden. Continue reading.

Rudy Giuliani’s New York suspension proves dangers of Trump’s lies

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The court has sent a strong message about the real harm posed by those individuals who continue to push falsehoods about the 2020 election.

Rudy Giuliani’s license to practice law in New York state was suspended on Thursday by a state appellate court. For those who have been following the antics of former President Donald Trump’s former lawyer for the past five years, this may not be shocking. But while in some ways it feels like the predictable culmination of years of questionable and offensive conduct, it’s still a big deal — and good news for anyone who cares about the integrity of the law profession.

It’s probably too much to hope that this finding will pierce the right-wing information bubble, where 56 percent of Republicans still believe the election was stolen from Trump. But it should leave Giuliani’s credibility in tatters with anyone not immune to the truth. And it sends a strong message about the real harm, and indeed danger, posed by those individuals who continue to push falsehoods about the election.

Disbarment — a punishment meted out by a court for code violations — is always devastating to a lawyer. This punishment occurs when a lawyer commits an offense that directly relates to his or her fitness to practice law. Such offenses may include dishonesty and negligent representation. Giuliani, whose license is now suspended, is likely on his way to permanent disbarment, but he does have the opportunity to contest the court’s ruling in a post-suspension hearing. His lawyers indicate they will do this, claiming in a statement that they “believe that once the issues are fully explored at a hearing, Mr. Giuliani will be reinstated as a valued member of the legal profession that he has served so well in his many capacities for so many years.” Continue reading.

Rep. Andrew Carlson (HD50B) Update: June 28, 2021

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Dear Neighbors, 

Over the past few weeks, we have been able to pass several key bipartisan budgets in a number of areas to ensure Minnesotans can access resources, investments and recover from the impacts of this pandemic. Below are some more information on what is included in these bills. In addition, please stay tuned for another update later this week on the rest of the budget topics!

Housing

Minnesotans deserve safe, secure, and affordable housing. The Minnesota affordable housing crisis predates this COVID-19 pandemic, but now, with the approved compromise agreement with the Senate on the Housing budget, will invest in innovative solutions to take on housing insecurity as we build back from the pandemic. This legislation protects renters and provides resources for housing providers whose tenants have not been able to pay rent during COVID-19. It also provides affordable housing around the state through public and private investments. 

Continue reading “Rep. Andrew Carlson (HD50B) Update: June 28, 2021”