Republicans siding with Putin over Biden are showing their ‘adoration’ for a ‘murderous autocrat’: journalist

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During his four years as president, Donald Trump made it abundantly clear that he did not consider Russian President Vladimir Putin an adversary of the United States. But President Joe Biden, during his two months in the White House, has been much tougher on Putin — and journalist Steven Beschloss, in a scathing March 22 article for his America, America blog, calls out Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Rep. Matt Gaetz and other Republicans he believes have become Putin’s useful idiots during the Biden era. 

Gaetz, during a recent appearance on Hannity’s show, told the Fox News host, “Putin and Biden, it would not end like ‘Rocky IV.’ I don’t think the American would prevail.” And Hannity joked that Putin would have the upper hand in a debate with the U.S. president.

Beschloss explains, “After four years of never a negative word about Putin from Trump — not after the interference in our election, not after the killings of Russian journalists and political opponents in Russia and on foreign soil, not after it was revealed the Russians put bounties on American soldiers — this cute interplay may have sounded like no big deal. Just more fun and games from among the same bunch who’ve perpetrated the Big Lie of election fraud and are determined to gloss over and move on from the deadly insurrection…. But make no mistake: The continuing adoration of Putin represents the embrace of autocracy over democracy — indeed, the dark desire to learn from the anti-democratic tactics of a murderous autocrat.” Continue reading.

New shootings plunge Biden, Congress into gun control debate

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President Biden on Tuesday urged Congress to enact meaningful gun reforms after the second mass shooting in under a week, plunging Washington back into a familiar debate where lawmakers have stalemated in recent years.

Eight people in the Atlanta area and 10 people in Boulder, Colo., were killed in the most recent shootings, but there was little sign it would move the needle in Congress — even as political leaders who back gun reforms noted the United States is the only country in the world that continually suffers from mass shooting events.

There had been no mass shooting in a year as much of the country stayed home from work and school during the pandemic, a fact noted ruefully by former President Obama. Continue reading.

Rachel Levine becomes first transgender official confirmed by Senate

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The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Rachel Levine as assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Why it matters: Levine is the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The vote was 52-48.

Background: Levine, who is a graduate of Harvard and Tulane Medical School, has helped lead Pennsylvania’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She previously served as the state’s physician general. Continue reading.

Biden urges Congress to pass assault weapon ban

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President Biden on Tuesday called on Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and to close loopholes in the background check system after a gunman killed 10 people at a grocery store in Boulder, Colo.

“I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense steps that will save lives in the future and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act,” Biden said in remarks at the White House following Monday’s shooting. “We can ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country once again. I got that done when I was a senator. … We should do it again.”

Biden called on the Senate to “immediately pass” two House-passed bills that would expand background checks for firearm sales, noting that both passed the Democratic-controlled lower chamber with some Republican support. One of the bills would close the so-called Charleston loophole by extending the initial background check review period from three to 10 days. The bill is linked to the 2015 shooting in Charleston, S.C., in which a white supremacist killed nine Black Americans at the Mother Emanuel AME Church. Continue reading.

WATCH: Fox News host ignores Boulder mass shooting to ask Ted Cruz about Kamala Harris’s laugh

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Fox News host Harris Faulkner on Tuesday completely ignored a mass shooting in Colorado and instead asked Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) about Vice President Kamala Harris’s laugh.

Just minutes after officials in Boulder named the 10 victims of Monday’s mass shooting, Harris began her Faulkner Focus program by interviewing Cruz about the border.

At one point during the interview, Faulkner noted that Harris had recently let out a laugh while answering a question about the border. Continue reading.

These corporations broke their pledge to stop donating to Republican objectors

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New FEC filings reveal that several major corporations that pledged in January to stop financially supporting members of Congress who tried to overturn the presidential election results broke their pledge in February.

In early January, shortly after false claims of voter fraud inspired a violent attack on the United States Capitol, Intel announced that it would stop PAC contributions to members of Congress that voted against certifying the Electoral College results. Intel said that vote, which attempted to overturn the results of a fair election, was not consistent with “our company’s values.”

Intel’s Political Action Committee continuously reevaluates its contributions to candidates to ensure that they align with our values, policies and priorities. While Intel’s PAC will continue bipartisan contributions, we will not contribute to members of Congress who voted against certification of the Electoral College results as we feel that action was counter to our company’s values.

But on February 26, Intel sent a $15,000 PAC contribution to the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC). Continue reading.

Democrats vow to go ‘bold’ — with or without GOP

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Democrats are warning they won’t tolerate GOP stonewalling as they try to make good on their pledge to enact a “bold” agenda and avoid Obama-era missteps. 

Fresh off a big win on coronavirus relief, Democrats are facing intense pressure not to water down their legislative priorities after years of a backed-up wish list during the Trump era and a decade since the party has had a unified government it could use to muscle through sweeping reforms considered anathema to the GOP.

“We will try to get them to work with us. But if not, we will put our heads together and figure out how to go,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer(D-N.Y.) told reporters.  Continue reading.

Evidence in Capitol attack investigation trending toward sedition charges, departing chief says

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Former interim U.S. attorney Michael R. Sherwin, of Washington, reiterated Sunday that he thinks charges of seditious conspiracy could be brought against certain defendants in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, a rarely invoked charge for those who use violence to hinder the execution of federal law.

In a “60 Minutes” interview aired on CBS two days after he stepped down from supervising the investigation, Sherwin said, “I personally believe the evidence is trending toward that, and probably meets those elements.”

“I believe the facts do support those charges. And I think that, as we go forward, more facts will support that,” he said. Continue reading.

Assaulting the Truth, Ron Johnson Helps Erode Confidence in Government

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Pushing false theories on the virus, the vaccine and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Mr. Johnson, the Republican senator from Wisconsin, has absorbed his party’s transformation under Donald Trump.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. — Senator Ron Johnson incited widespread outrage when he said recently that he would have been more afraid of the rioters who rampaged the Capitol on Jan. 6 had they been members of Black Lives Matter and antifa.

But his revealing and incendiary comment, which quickly prompted accusations of racism, came as no surprise to those who have followed Mr. Johnson’s career in Washington or back home in Wisconsin. He has become the Republican Party’s foremost amplifier of conspiracy theories and disinformation now that Donald Trump himself is banned from social media and largely avoiding appearances on cable television.

Mr. Johnson is an all-access purveyor of misinformation on serious issues such as the pandemic and the legitimacy of American democracy, as well as invoking the etymology of Greenland as a way to downplay the effects of climate change. Continue reading.

Chris Wallace nails Tom Cotton for voting record under Trump after he opposes Biden relief checks

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Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Sunday defended his decision to vote against a stimulus bill that had similar provisions to bills he supported under former President Donald Trump. 

During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace called out Cotton after he said that he had opposed the bill that was signed by President Joe Biden because “prisoners” could get relief checks.

Wallace noted that Cotton voted for similar COVID-19 relief bills that were signed Trump. Continue reading.