In the Know: July 9, 2021

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Attorney General Keith Ellison
Attorney general challenges judge’s characterization of girls’ reactions at George Floyd murder scene, Star Tribune
Minnesota to get $50 million from Purdue Pharma settlement, Ellison says, Fox 9

Governor Tim Walz
Walz appointed to co-chair Biden’s Council of Governors, KSTP
Walz highlights boosts in spending for child care, early learning, Duluth News Tribune

Minnesota Legislature
Minnesota Legislature Amends Lactation Breaks and Pregnancy Accommodation Provisions, National Law Review
State lawmakers preparing for September special session, KSTP

Continue reading “In the Know: July 9, 2021”

Should the Supreme Court have term limits?

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Pressure on Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to step downwill likely grow now that the court’s session has ended. 

Breyer, 82, joined the court in 1994. His retirement would allow President Joe Biden to nominate his successor and give Democrats another liberal justice, if confirmed.

Supreme Court justices in the U.S. enjoy life tenure. Under Article 3 of the Constitution, justices cannot be forced out of office against their will, barring impeachment. This provision, which followed the precedent of Great Britain, is meant to ensure judicial independence, allowing judges to render decisions based on their best understandings of the law – free from political, social and electoral influences. Continue reading.

‘Eye of fire,’ Exxon lobbyist’s comments fuel renewed attacks on oil industry

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Environmentalists are ramping up their criticism of the oil and gas industry following revelations last week from an Exxon Mobil lobbyist on climate change and a viral “eye of fire” video from the Gulf of Mexico caused by a pipeline leak.

Progressives on Capitol Hill seized on the two events by pushing for robust climate provisions in forthcoming infrastructure legislation and renewing threats to haul company executives before Congress to testify.

Longtime congressional critics of the industry argued that the past week underscores the need to transition away from fossil fuels to mitigate climate change. Continue reading.

Trump sues Big Tech CEOs

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Former President Donald Trump, who has complained about censorship by social media giants, filed class-action lawsuits Wednesday against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Why it matters: It’s the latest escalation in Trump’s yearslong battle with Twitter and Facebook over free speech and censorship. Trump is completely banned from Twitter and is banned from Facebook for another two years. 

Details: Trump announced at an 11am press conference Wednesday that he is the lead class representative in a lawsuit being filed with the Southern District of Florida. Continue reading.

Mike Lindell made an insane election conspiracy diagram that has to be seen to be believed

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Former Trump national security adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn posted a photo of himself with Mike Lindell and others at an event on Tuesday only to prompt questions about what was behind him.

The men stood in front of a whiteboard that had a photo of Donald Trump’s head, floating in the middle. A series of lines, arrows, photos, names and a list of random thoughts swirled around it.

The arrows include things like: Andrew Whitney —-> Ben Carson —-> President Trump. Continue reading.

Senate DFL End of Session Review: July 9, 2021

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Minnesota Senate DFL
End of Session Review

Following the murder of George Floyd and coming amidst the unprecedented public health emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Legislative Session opened with the opportunity to deliver the transformative change Minnesotans were demanding. Despite the promise of these changes, the 2021 Legislative Session ended with much of this work, and the completion of the two-year budget, undone.

Instead of focusing on the needs of Minnesotans, Senate Republicans focused on hyper-partisan and extreme legislation that would restrict voter access, discriminate against trans youth, reopen schools and businesses without safety plans or resources, and pushed to roll back clean air and water protections. Senate Republicans also continued to push the big lie that our elections were not free and fair, which is a cornerstone to our democracy.

Continue reading “Senate DFL End of Session Review: July 9, 2021”

GOP congressman admits his party wants ‘chaos and inability to get stuff done’: leaked video

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Newly leaked video footage of a recent event hosted by the right-wing group Patriot Voices shows Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas openly admitting that his party wants “18 more months of chaos and the inability to get stuff done” as President Joe Biden, a bipartisan group of senators, and congressional Democrats work to pass climate and infrastructure legislation.

“Honestly, right now, for the next 18 months, our job is to do everything we can to slow all of that down to get to December of 2022,” Roy says in the clip, referring to the month after that year’s midterm elections. Republicans need to flip just a handful of seats to take back the House and Senate.

“I don’t vote for anything in the House of Representatives right now,” Roy says in response to an audience member’s question about the sweeping infrastructure and safety-net package that Democrats are planning to pass unilaterally alongside a White House-backed bipartisan deal. Continue reading.

Mike Lindell: Biden wants to inject ‘Mark of the Beast’ vaccine into as many Americans as he can before Trump’s reinstatement

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The White House announced that the next step in working to get more people vaccinated is going door to door to convince people and dispel myths.

That sent Steve Bannon and Mike Lindell into the stratosphere of paranoia. 

While appearing on Bannon’s podcast Tuesday, Lindell said that Biden’s plan was akin to both Nazi Germany and communism. Continue reading.

Trump’s bizarre theory of how he’ll be reinstated as president is ‘very, very hard’ to explain: NYT reporter

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New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman on Tuesday told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that former President Donald Trump is still obsessed with being “reinstated” as president, although she struggled in explaining how Trump thinks it’s going to happen.

Haberman started off by saying Trump was “laser-focused” on the widely criticized “audits” that his supporters are conducting in numerous swing states.

Once the results of these “audits” are released, Haberman claims, Trump believes that America will have no choice but to let him back into the White House. Continue reading.

Unearthed video reveals GOP’s Ron Johnson’s profane and conspiratorial rant at GOP lunch

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On Tuesday, CNN’s KFILE unearthed comments made by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) at a meeting with the Republican Women of Greater Wisconsin luncheon in Wauwatosa, in which he spun profanity-laced conspiracy theories denying climate science.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I think climate change is — as Lord Monckton said — bullsh*t,” the Wisconsin Republican said, referring to British conservative climate change denier Lord Christopher Monckton. “By the way, it is!”

Johnson went onto lament that “we’re killing ourselves” with measures to address climate change, and went on to call them “a self-inflicted wound.” Continue reading.