Category: Latest News

Southern Baptist leader calls out QAnon: ‘Armed insurrection does not fit with God’s word’

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Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton sought to distance churches from the delusional QAnon conspiracy theory during a Saturday appearance on MSNBC.

In May, Axios reported on QAnon infecting churches in America.

“That stunning window into the country’s congregations followed a major poll, out last week: 15% of Americans, the poll found, agree with the QAnon contention that ‘the government, media, and financial worlds in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation.’ The online poll was taken by Ipsos in March for the Public Religion Research Institute and Interfaith Youth Core,” Axios reported. “The poll found that Hispanic Protestants (26%) and white evangelical Protestants (25%) were more likely to agree with the QAnon philosophies than other groups.” Continue reading.

Mo Brooks snared by local paper over Alabama’s Confederate holidays — after he voted against Juneteenth

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Rep. Mo Brooks, R-AL, provided a reminder this week of why intellectually challenged politicians are best served by not trying to explain their votes.

Brooks was one of just 14 Republicans to oppose the overwhelmingly bipartisan bill that made Juneteenth a federal holiday this week. When he tried to explain why, it just made matters worse.

The QAnon-friendly congressman (and Alabama U.S. Senate candidate) feebly tried to make his vote about money, as reported at Al.com: Continue reading.

How Republicans Became the ‘Barstool’ Party

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The Barstool-ification of the GOP could reconfigure its cultural politics for a generation.

Earlier this year, when Echelon Insights released its way-too-early pollof voters’ preferences for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, political wonks could be forgiven for having to Google the name at the bottom of the list next to Sen. Josh Hawley: somebody called “Portnoy,” polling at zero percent. 

As founder of the self-consciously lowbrow Barstool Sports digital media empire, Dave Portnoy has, over the past decade, parlayed an outsized, aggressively macho social-media presence into a status as a right-leaning populist champion. He threatened — via Twitter, almost certainly illegally — to fire any Barstool employees who might attempt to unionize. He went viral with his impassioned rants against Covid-19 lockdowns. He feuded with Elon Musk on the behalf of meme-stocking, little-guy day traders. (He also heads an online outlet that has shamelessly stolen content and engaged in flagrant racism and misogyny, leading harassment campaigns against anyone who would dare call them out.)

Portnoy jokingly “announced” a presidential campaign on Twitter shortly after the poll’s release, but an actual run is highly unlikely. There’s no obvious reason to mount one: his presence in the poll is evidence enough of how the Republican Party has become the party of Barstool Sports. Continue reading.

Trump’s announcement of rallies with Bill O’Reilly sets off furious backlash among QAnon supporters: report

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According to a report from Newsweek, Donald Trump’s announcement that he will be touring with former Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly in December was greeted with dismay and incredulity by QAnon followers who believed he would already have been reinstalled as president in August.

The tour, which will include stops in Sunrise, Florida, then Orlando before moving on to Houston and ending in Dallas on December 19, carries a ticket price of $100, with Trump announcing, “My tour with Bill O’Reilly is getting a lot of attention, and I’m looking forward to it. Maybe tickets would make a great Father’s Day gift? In any event, I’ll see you then, and much sooner.”

That announcement set off a flurry of comments on Telegram — a popular forum for QAnon adherents — who reacted with confusion and anger. Continue reading.

How Republican States Are Expanding Their Power Over Elections

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In Georgia, Republicans are removing Democrats of color from local boards. In Arkansas, they have stripped election control from county authorities. And they are expanding their election power in many other states.

LaGRANGE, Ga. — Lonnie Hollis has been a member of the Troup County election board in West Georgia since 2013. A Democrat and one of two Black women on the board, she has advocated Sunday voting, helped voters on Election Days and pushed for a new precinct location at a Black church in a nearby town.

But this year, Ms. Hollis will be removed from the board, the result of a local election law signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican. Previously, election board members were selected by both political parties, county commissioners and the three biggest municipalities in Troup County. Now, the G.O.P.-controlled county commission has the sole authority to restructure the board and appoint all the new members.

“I speak out and I know the laws,” Ms. Hollis said in an interview. “The bottom line is they don’t like people that have some type of intelligence and know what they’re doing, because they know they can’t influence them.” Continue reading.

‘Italygate’ election conspiracy theory was pushed by two firms led by woman who also falsely claimed $30 million mansion was hers

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Late last December, as President Donald Trump pressed senior officials to find proof of election fraud, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows emailed acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen a letter detailing an outlandish theory of how an Italian defense contractor had conspired with U.S. intelligence to rig the 2020 presidential contest.

The letter, which was among records released by Congress this past week, was printed under the letterhead of USAerospace Partners, a little-known Virginia aviation company. In early January, a second Virginia firm, the Institute for Good Governance, and a partner organization released a statement from an Italian attorney who claimed that a hacker had admitted involvement in the supposed conspiracy.

According to the conspiracy theory known as “Italygate,” people working for the Italian defense contractor, in coordination with senior CIA officials, used military satellites to switch votes from Trump to Joe Biden and swing the result of the election. Continue reading.

House Education Finance Chair Davnie Statement on K-12 Education Agreement

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SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA— House Education Finance Chair Jim Davnie (DFL-Minneapolis) released the following statement on the compromise K-12 education budget agreement:

“We’re proud to have reached bipartisan agreement with the Senate after working to secure strong education investments for the next four years. 

Our goals were to deliver stable and predictable funding for Minnesota schools, centering students and families in our deliberations, and prioritizing public dollars for public schools. We advocated for a strong commitment in the per pupil formula, funding to help schools with the cost of delivering special education services, and the first investment in English Language Learner programming in years. We are proud of the inclusion that makes a historic investment in programs to attract, train, and retain teachers of color and American Indian teachers. House DFLers will continue to emphasize the importance of improving student experiences so that Minnesota can better respond to the racial disparities in educational opportunities. We know there is much more work to do in this area and Democrats remain committed to ensuring every child has access to a world class education.”

GOP’s ‘Offensively Absurd’ Spin On Capitol Riot Gets A Firm Debunking

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Seven Republican claims about the Jan. 6 insurrection were dismantled by CNN’s Brianna Keilar and John Berman.

CNN’s “New Day” anchors Brianna Keilar and John Berman dismantled seven “offensively absurd” claims that conservatives are now pushing about the deadly U.S. Capitol riot.

On Friday, Berman noted how “some Republicans and some deranged entertainers keep developing new and provably false ways to say the insurrection did not happen.”

The co-hosts then firmly debunked each current GOP claim about the attack carried out by the violent mob incited by Donald Trump ― from their “peaceful protesters” spin to the falsehood that they weren’t armed.

View the post here.

Florida’s top Democrat files complaint against former Trump attorney’s charity

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TALLAHASSEE — Florida Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said Friday she is going after a charity run by Sidney Powell, a former attorney for former President Donald Trump who amplified conspiracy theories in the wake of the 2020 election cycle.

Fried’s office alleges that the Powell-run charity, known as Defending the Democracy, did not properly register with the state and has been deceptively soliciting donations on its website, which lists a West Palm Beach address. Fried is currently running for governor in Florida.

The organization was set up under the guise of raising money to fund legal challenges to the results of the 2020 election, which saw a Trump loss spin off a host of conspiracy theories about voter fraud, many of which were started by Powell. She became known for saying she would “release the Kraken” before filing a failed lawsuit to overturn Georgia’s election results. Continue reading.

Trump Commerce Boss Wilbur Ross Hoovered Up $53 Million While In Public Office

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Then he slipped out of public life and into a business he set up in the Cayman Islands while reportedly still commerce secretary.

Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, earned at least $53 million from private companies while he was collecting a taxpayer salary and supposed to be looking out for the public instead of his own profits.

Ross reported making somewhere between $53 million and $127 million during his four years as head of the Commerce Department. The federal government only requires officials to report broad ranges of outside income.

It’s possible that Ross earned “significantly more” since he was not required to specify certain income totals over $1 million, noted watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which reported Ross’ financial disclosure filings earlier this week. Continue reading.