Lounge in bankrupt Trump hotel turned into a hub of ‘organized crime’ activity: court documents

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According to a report in the National Post, a late-night lounge located in a now-bankrupt Trump hotel in Vancouver had turned into a hotbed for criminal activity before being shuttered, according to court documents.

Taking up over 9,000 square feet located in the 15 floor Trump International Hotel and Tower, the Ivy Rosé Lounge advertised itself as an “unparalleled entertainment experience every weekend. Come indulge on our gourmet food menu, craft cocktails and décor while we ensure the highest level of safety and social distancing.”

However, according to the Post, “Vancouver police informed the hotel on Feb. 25 that it had responded to 43 calls related to the Ivy since June, including two involving weapons, four public-health breaches, two fights and two assaults,” adding that police notified the hotels management that the club had become “a preferred destination for gang members and people involved in organized crime.” Continue reading.

House Education Chairs’ Statement on Private School Vouchers

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SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA —House Education Chairs released the following statement on any inclusion of private school vouchers in the E-12 education budget:

“Aside from the fact that using private school vouchers in public education funding is unconstitutional, House DFLers and Minnesotans know public dollars belong in public schools, where 95% of Minnesota students receive their education. 

“We encourage Republicans in the House and Senate to focus on negotiating an education budget grounded in reality, constitutionality, and most importantly, what’s best for Minnesota students and families.” 

Biden administration suspends oil and gas leases in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

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Interior Secretary Deb Haaland orders new environmental review of the leasing program, saying the Trump administration did an ‘insufficient analysis’ of drilling’s impact

The Biden administration on Tuesday suspended oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, targeting one of President Donald Trump’s most significant environmental acts during his last days in office.

The move by the Interior Department, which could spark a major legal battle, dims the prospect of oil drilling in a pristine and politically charged expanse of Alaskan wilderness that Republicans and Democrats have fought over for four decades. The Trump administration auctioned off the right to drill in the refuge’s coastal plain — home to hundreds of thousands of migrating caribou and waterfowl as well as the southern Beaufort Sea’s remaining polar bears — just two weeks before President Biden was inaugurated.

Now the Biden administration is taking steps to block those leases, citing problems with the environmental review process. In Tuesday’s Interior Department order, Secretary Deb Haaland said that a review of the Trump administration’s leasing program in the wildlife refuge found “multiple legal deficiencies” including “insufficient analysis” required by environmental laws and a failure to assess other alternatives. Haaland’s order calls for a temporary moratorium on all activities related to those leases in order to conduct “a new, comprehensive analysis of the potential environmental impacts of the oil and gas program.” Continue reading.

Cash-strapped Trump campaign spent $1.5 million on Sean Hannity-created ad so bad it only ran on his show: report

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According to a report from Punchbowl News, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign shelled out $1.5 million for an ad created by Fox News host Sean Hannity that was so bad it only ran on Hannity’s show before being consigned to the dustbin of history out of embarrassment.

As Punchbowl reports, the backstory on the ad is revealed in a new book on the Trump campaign from the Wall Street Journal’s Michael Bender that states the ad, “Swamp creature,” was derisively called the “Hannity ad” by Trump staffers who thought it was awful and “over-the top.”

Punchbowl summarizes, “Multiple internal campaign emails referred to the spot simply as ‘Hannity.’ Another referred to it as the ‘Hannity-written’ spot. ‘POTUS has not yet approved, but Hannity has,’ read one email. ‘Hannity said this is our best spot yet,’ another campaign aide wrote…Inside the campaign, the spot was mocked mercilessly—mostly because of the dramatic, over-the-top language and a message that seemed to value quantity over quality.” Continue reading.

‘Ultimate betrayal of oaths sworn’: Michigan GOP congressman slams ‘treacherous snakes’ who ‘salivate for civil war’

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Rep. Pete Meijer (R-Mich.) is fed up with the pro-Trump conservative Republicans whom he describes as “treacherous snakes.” On Monday, May 31, Meijer, a military veteran, took to Twitter with a post in observance of Memorial Day as he criticized those “salivating for civil war.”

The freshman lawmaker, who is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, acknowledged the work of those who came before him as he noted his “struggle with Memorial Day” as a result of “browing-beating from the holier-than-thous.”

“Memories + knowledge that for too many it’s a reminder of a father, mother, wife, husband, son, daughter gone. Our shared obligation to make this nation worthy of their sacrifice,” Meijer tweeted. Continue reading.

Opinion: A frantic warning from 100 leading experts: Our democracy is in grave danger

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Democrats can’t say they weren’t warned.

With yet another GOP effort to restrict voting underway in Texas, President Biden is now calling on Congress to act in the face of the Republican “assault on democracy.” Importantly, Biden cast that attack as aimed at “Black and Brown Americans,” meriting federal legislation in response.

That is a welcome escalation. But it remains unclear whether 50 Senate Democrats will ever prove willing to reform or end the filibuster, and more to the point, whether Biden will put real muscle behind that cause. If not, such protections will never, ever pass.

Now, in a striking intervention, more than 100 scholars of democracy have signed a new public statement of principles that seeks to make the stakes unambiguously, jarringly clear: On the line is nothing less than the future of our democracy itself. Continue reading.

The greatest danger to American democracy is not coming from inside the House

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The greatest danger to American democracy right now is not coming from Russia, China, or North Korea. It is coming from the Republican Party. 

Only 25 percent of voters self-identify as Republican, the GOP’s worst showing against Democrats since 2012 and sharply down since last November. But those who remain in the Party are far angrier, more ideological, more truth-denying, and more racist than Republicans who preceded them.

And so are the lawmakers who represent them. 

Today’s Republican Party increasingly is defined not by its shared beliefs but by its shared delusions. Continue reading.

An Evangelical Battle of the Generations: To Embrace Trump or Not?

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As Liberty University plots its post-Falwell future, young people want to steer clear of politics. The trustees aren’t buying it.

For years, there was an adage around Liberty University that if God split Jerry Falwell in half, you would have his sons Jerry and Jonathan.

Jerry Jr. inherited his father’s desire to be a force in American politics, and his post as Liberty University president, while Jonathan inherited his father’s gift for evangelical uplift and became pastor of his church.

Now, 14 years after Jerry Falwell Sr. died and nine months after Jerry Jr. was ousted in a scandal, Liberty is enmeshed in a debate that could have profound implications for the nation’s religious right: Whether it should keep nurturing Jerry Jr.’s focus on politics and maintain its high-flying role in the Republican Party, or begin to change its culture and back away from politics, an approach increasingly favored by younger evangelicals. Continue reading.

Art of the deal: Historian says politics aside, Trump was an ineffective manager and leader

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One of the most intriguing aspects of current politics is the fealty of the Republican Party to Donald Trump. Central to this loyalty is the view that Trump was an effective leader. As a candidate in 2016, the future president claimed that he was uniquely qualified to lead the country, unite the public, and overcome gridlock in Congress. To accomplish these goals would require successful persuasion. Was this talented self-promoter able to win public support for his initiatives? Was this experienced negotiator able to overcome polarization in Congress and obtain agreement on his proposals? Was Donald Trump an effective leader?

Did the public follow the president’s lead?

At the core of Donald Trump’s political success were his public relations skills. He possessed well-honed promotional talents sharpened over a lifetime of marketing himself and his brand. Once in office, the president wasted no time in conducting a permanent campaign to win the public’s support. On the day of his inauguration, Trump filed for reelection with the Federal Election Commission. Less than a month afterwards, on February 18, 2017, he held the first of what were to be dozens of political rallies around the country.

Did he succeed in winning support for himself and his policies? I have shown in great detail, he did not. Instead, he consistently failed to win the public’s backing for either his policies or his own handling of them. Indeed, he seemed to turn the public in the opposite direction. He made the Affordable Care Act, which had been unpopular, popular, and the health care policies he backed unpopular. Similarly, in the face of a general desire to control our borders and protect the country from terrorists, Trump managed to alienate the public from his immigration policies. Perhaps most remarkably, his tax cut for nearly all taxpayers and businesses was unpopular. In addition, the public remained supportive of free trade and critical of his handling of trade policy. Continue reading.

The death of independent-minded John Warner is a reminder of how much today’s senators have ceded power to party leaders

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Today’s Senate could learn a lot from the legacy of John Warner.

The former Virginia Republican senator, who died Wednesday at 94, was hailed by many for his moderation, but his most important streak was his independence.

For more than 30 years in the Senate, Warner set a tone with other powerful Republicans and Democrats that steered power away from leadership offices in the Capitol and sent it across the street to committee rooms. Continue reading.