Category: Latest News

Virus resurgence menaces economy just as rescue programs unravel

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A new wave of cases followed by the looming expiration of enhanced jobless benefits, a ban on evictions and other rescue programs is sparking concern among lawmakers and economists.

The resurgence of the coronavirus is threatening to undercut the U.S. economic recovery and upend Americans’ plans to return to work just as the sweeping social safety net that Congress built during the pandemic is unraveling.

That one-two punch — a new wave of cases followed by the looming expiration of enhanced jobless benefits, a ban on evictions and other rescue programs — is sparking concern among lawmakers and economists who say that while widespread business shutdowns are unlikely, renewed fears of the virus alone can slow the economy just as it’s getting back on track.

That could dampen hiring and keep some workers on the sidelines of the job market — stalling or even reversing the labor recovery, the centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. New unemployment claims jumped last week to 419,000, well above expectations and the highest since mid-May, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. Continue reading.

Today at 5:30 pm: Majority Leader Winkler meets with violence prevention group We Push For Peace

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SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — Starting today, House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler is meeting with violence prevention groups to discuss a new state grant program dedicated to innovation in community safety. The new state budget appropriates $800,000 for organizations that provide youth, young adult, and family anti-violence outreach programs; offer community healing and wellness; and help address mental health needs.

Members of the press are welcome to attend and should RSVP to matt.roznowski@house.mn to receive details about location of meetings. 

What: Meeting to discuss new grant program for innovation in community safety

When: Tuesday, July 27 at 5:30 pm 

Who:

  • Majority Leader Ryan Winkler
  • Rep. Frank Hornstein
  • Members of We Push For Peace 

Republicans kick Arizona audit ‘director’ out of the building as GOP chaos escalates: report

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Republicans once referred to Ken Bennett as the “director” of their widely-panned audit of votes in Maricopa County, but he has reportedly lost his privileges to even enter the building where the fiasco is taking place.

Bennett, who served as Arizona’s Secretary of State and president of the state Senate, was the one person associated with the recount with experience in elections. He was officially listed as the liaison to the state Senate, which paid $150,000 of the $9 million the audit is reportedly costing.

“Questions are mounting about who is in control of the long-running partisan review of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results — the Arizona Senate, which ordered it, or the outside firms that are running it,” The Arizona Republic reported Friday evening. “On Friday, Ken Bennett, the Senate liaison to the audit, was not allowed into the building at the state fairgrounds where the audit is taking place, a day after he shared data with outside critics from an ongoing ballot count.” Continue reading.

GOP Senator Dismisses COVID Deaths Of 400 Children

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Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican of Kansas and an obstetrician, dismissed the deaths of 400 children who have died from COVID-19 during a Senate hearing Tuesday with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

Sen. Marshall’s remarks were based on his false claim that “probably zero” of the 400 children who died of COVID (that number has not been confirmed) had no pre-existing condition.

“Children are not supposed to die,” Dr. Walensky told Sen. Marshall, right before he delivered his remarks dismissing their deaths, as if having a pre-existing condition makes it acceptable for a child to die of COVID-19. Continue reading.

‘You falsely smeared my wife’: Eric Swalwell reveals furious text exchange with Tucker Carlson

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On Friday, The Daily Beast reported that Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) posted screenshots of an angry argument between him and Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who wanted to get him on the phone for a call.

“Tucker, I’m hesitant to do that. You falsely smeared my wife on Tuesday and she’s getting death threats,” said Swalwell, referring to a retracted Fox News story alleging that Swalwell’s campaign funneled money to a business employing his wife. “That’s way out of bounds. She’s a pregnant mom of a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old. Hit me all you like. But to go after her. That’s just wrong.”

“Carlson responded by calling the Democrat a ‘coward’ and then apparently phoning him a few minutes later,” reported Blake Montgomery. “Swalwell tweeted, ‘I’m just not that into you.'” Continue reading.

Dating app trips up another Capitol riot suspect, one accused of hitting police with whip

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The phrase “all is fair in love and war” took on a new meaning Friday, when a Texas man was arrested after boasting to a match in a dating app about participating in the Jan. 6 riot “from the very beginning.”

Andrew Taake of Houston was charged with assaulting police and storming the Capitol building. His arrest follows a months-long investigation spurred by a tip and a FedEx delivery driver who confirmed his identity to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Taake made his initial court appearance Friday in the Southern District of Texas, according to a Department of Justice news release. His public defender did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Continue reading.

Suspect Tries to Compare Capitol Riot to Last Year’s Violence in Portland, Ore.

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Right-wing news media and Republican politicians have often made the comparison. Now, in a narrow legal context, a judge will consider the argument.

The comparison has become a staple among right-wing figures in the news media and Republican politicians: The attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 was really no different than the unrest last year that accompanied months of racial justice protests. Any discussion of the first should — out of fairness, they have said — make reference to the second.

Now, for the first time, a federal court is poised to consider the merits of that argument, albeit in a narrow legal context.

The move comes in the case of Garret Miller, a Dallas man charged with storming the Capitol and facing off with officers inside. Last month, Mr. Miller, 34, raised what is known as a selective prosecution defense, claiming that he had been charged with violent crimes because of his conservative beliefs while dozens of leftist activists in Portland, Ore., had similar charges stemming from last year’s violence reduced or dismissed. Continue reading.

A Republican official’s comment accidentally exposes the party’s ‘Snowflake Syndrome’: columnist

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A recent op-ed piece published by The Washington Post highlights the problem of Snowflake Syndrome among voters who cast ballots for former President Donald Trump. The author, Greg Sargent, notes that the current Republican agenda centers on the following: restricting voting rights, sowing doubt about the COVID-19 vaccine, and downplaying the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The problem is that there is no justification or substantial evidence to support any of their arguments regarding these initiatives. In fact, all are connected to false narratives and misinformation that has been, in some way, influenced by Trump. For example, the nationwide push for voting rights restrictions is supposedly an incentive to increase voters’ confidence in the integrity of the United States’ voting systems. But Sargent pushed back against that argument describing it as “bad-faith nonsense.”

“Broadly speaking,” Sargent wrote, “this “confidence” storyline is bad-faith nonsense: It’s being widely abused to keep alive the myth of the stolen election and to justify an unprecedented wave of efforts to disenfranchise the opposition’s voters. It is not designed to build confidence in our elections, but to further undermine it, for illicit purposes.” Continue reading.

WATCH: Biden leaves conservative reporter speechless after bringing up the GOP’s QAnon problem

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A blunt-talking President Joe Biden shut down a conservative reporter on Thursday night who asked if Democrats are defunding police departments — firing back with a question about a QAnon claim that left the reporter grasping for an answer.

As Biden walked across the South Lawn, he engaged with Shelby Talcott from the conservative Daily Caller following his town hall event in Cincinnati. The exchange went like this, according to White House transcripts:

“Mr. President, can you clarify what you said about no — that there’s no — no one in the Democratic Party is anti-police”‘ Talcott asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Biden replied before adding, ” I said that that — that is not the Democratic Party’s position. I’m the Democratic Party; I am President. So is the Speaker of the House and so is the –- the Majority Leader. We are not defunding the police.” Continue reading.

Abortion rights face most difficult test yet at Supreme Court

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Abortion rights groups are issuing dire warnings that abortion access is likely to be sharply curtailed across the country if the Supreme Court uses a Mississippi case to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision.

The admonishments come after Mississippi on Thursday explicitly urged the justices to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling when the court reviews Mississippi’s ban on virtually all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

“It cannot be overstated how dire the implications would be if Roe v. Wade were overturned,” said Vangela Wade, president of the Mississippi Center for Justice, which is co-counsel on the case. “Women across Mississippi and this nation would lose their fundamental right to chart their own future. Instead, that power would be in the hands of the government.” Continue reading.