April 10, 2023

'Stunned' House Republicans Blast McCarthy following NYT Leak

Simmering tensions among House Republicans flared anew over the weekend, following a New York Times report that detailed how Kevin McCarthy’s (R., Calif.) bitterly contested speakership battle has undermined his confidence in colleagues.

While it took McCarthy a historic 15 ballots to secure the position through January’s chaos and infighting, the speaker reportedly remains particularly frustrated by certain Republicans — including Jodey Arrington (R., Texas) and Steve Scalise (R., La.), the budget committee chairman and House majority leader, respectively.

“Mr. McCarthy has told colleagues he has no confidence in Mr. Arrington, the man responsible for delivering a budget framework laying out the spending cuts that Republicans have said they will demand in exchange for any move to increase the debt limit,” Jonathan Swan and Annie Karni wrote in the Times. McCarthy still regards Arrington, who sought to nominate Scalise during the speakership balloting, “as incompetent, according to more than half a dozen people familiar with this his thinking,” the Times revealed.

The leaks, in turn, appear only to have further chilled relations between McCarthy and some members of the conference.

“The members I’ve spoken with are just stunned by his rebuking of his budget chair, and certainly of our leadership,” an unnamed House Republican told Axios on Saturday. The representative expressed doubts McCarthy will serve the full extent of his speakership term.

“I can’t imagine.”

https://news.yahoo.com/stunned-house-republicans-blast-mccarthy-151335031.html

Things seem to be going as well as expected...

April 9, 2023

'Not going to be bullied': Why DeSantis went after Trump, then retreated

The Florida governor’s response to Trump’s indictment shows the challenge of going on the attack

As Donald Trump faced the looming threat of an indictment in New York last month, scores of Republicans offered a full-throated defense of the former president. But not Ron DeSantis, who resented that Trump expected fealty while attacking him relentlessly and wanted to show he wouldn’t be cowed into falling in line, according to two people familiar with the Florida governor’s thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly.

Asked about the case at a news conference on March 20, two days after a Trump adviser criticized his “radio silence,” DeSantis accused the prosecutor of “pursuing a political agenda” against Trump, echoing many others in the party. But he also noted the allegations of “porn star hush money” at the center of the case, seeking to put a spotlight on Trump’s personal conduct and show he was “not going to be bullied” by the ex-president, one of the people said.

The backlash from Trump and his allies was swift, and when an indictment came in late March, DeSantis took a route suggested early on by Dustin Carmack, a former congressional aide expected to join his presidential campaign, according to another person with knowledge of the conversations, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to more openly describe private talks. DeSantis declared Florida would “not assist in an extradition request,” even as Trump’s team had already indicated that the former president would surrender.

Representatives for DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment. Carmack could not be reached for comment.

The episode underscored the stark challenges DeSantis faces in confronting Trump, as the governor gears up to enter the presidential race. The governor’s recent struggles to find his footing on the national stage, where he is a relative novice, stands in contrast to the dominance he has established in Florida, confidently battling the political left and other foes and winning reelection by nearly 20 points last fall.

https://wapo.st/3UoepqC

April 9, 2023

In big climate move, EPA set to unveil tough limits on auto emissions

The proposal aims to speed the transition to electric vehicles, but could threaten to sour an alliance with U.S. automakers.

The Biden administration will soon unveil stringent limits on auto tailpipe pollution, aiming to ensure that as many as two-thirds of all new passenger vehicle sales are electric by 2032, according to three people briefed on the proposal.

The Environmental Protection Agency plan — the toughest ever from the EPA on auto emissions — threatens to spark a fight with several automakers, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss proposals that have not yet been made public. That battle could determine how quickly and cheaply Americans can purchases EVs and grow what’s now just a small fraction of the country’s auto market.

Environmental groups see the auto emissions rules as enormously consequential in meeting the overall U.S. climate goals. The transportation sector is the country’s biggest source of planet-warming gases, and Detroit and President Biden have often aligned on boosting the sales of EVs — which have no tailpipe emissions — as their fastest way to address climate change.

But the most aggressive options in the EPA’s proposal are so stringent that many automakers, especially those slowest to adopt electric cars and trucks, will see it as more aggressive than what they can realistically meet, the people said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/04/09/epa-auto-emissions-rules-climate/

April 8, 2023

Texas judge delivers on the hopes of his antiabortion world

Matthew Kacsmaryk has long been immersed in a community that is staunchly opposed to abortion

When Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk was a young father, his wife captured much of their daily life on a parenting blog that highlighted the family’s strong antiabortion beliefs.

One photo showed one of their children, a toddler, in a T-shirt that read “I survived Roe v. Wade.”

“As you might guess, Matt LOVES this shirt,” Kacsmaryk’s wife wrote in January 2009, referring to her husband. “I put it on her today not even realizing that today is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.”

Now, 14 years later, as a 45-year-old federal judge in Amarillo, Tex., Kacsmaryk lives in the same antiabortion world he has inhabited his entire adult life, surrounded by friends and family who abhor the procedure, while holding the same views himself, as The Washington Post reported in February. Those perspectives, rooted in deeply held Christian beliefs, have swirled around him over the past five months as he deliberated whether to revoke government approval of a key abortion drug — a decision with nationwide implications that some close to him felt he was destined to make.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/08/abortion-pill-ruling-judge-matthew-kacsmaryk/

This corrupt judge obviously considers himself a good follower of the teachings of Christ...and he'll be on the bench for decades to come...

April 8, 2023

E.P.A. Is Said to Propose Rules Meant to Drive Up Electric Car Sales Tenfold

In what would be the nation’s most ambitious climate regulation, the proposal is designed to ensure that electric cars make up the majority of new U.S. auto sales by 2032.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is planning some of the most stringent auto pollution limits in the world, designed to ensure that all-electric cars make up as much as 67 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the country by 2032, according to two people familiar with the matter.

That would represent a quantum leap for the United States — where just 5.8 percent of vehicles sold last year were all-electric — and would exceed President Biden’s earlier ambitions to have all-electric cars account for half of those sold in the country by 2030.

It would be the federal government’s most aggressive climate regulation and would propel the United States to the front of the global effort to slash the greenhouse gases generated by cars, a major driver of climate change. The European Union has already enacted vehicle emissions standards that are expected to phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. Canada and Britain have proposed standards similar to the European model.

At the same time, the proposed regulation would pose a significant challenge for automakers. Nearly every major car company has already invested heavily in electric vehicles, but few have committed to the levels envisioned by the Biden administration. And many have faced supply chain problems that have held up production. Even manufacturers who are enthusiastic about electric models are unsure whether consumers will buy enough of them to make up the majority of new car sales within a decade.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/08/climate/biden-electric-cars-epa.html?unlocked_article_code=FX45nWpKxKpUOzt84TJGhQ7Q6JjdvvWaY4X2KUyQTP90ig9B5pHx1KaXiEb_63N18DMLNGl5piGRSLmHUr7ZaQGvAON4s0bBgETUBC464eX052D409EfYeP1pskAsnNtwFnvelSMDVXz2hG6-IUFAjfXaDHj2SID6GgAnawqhRcEt-DD2q6MZO4y3jJN-Rc9BWAAYBrv782l_NhLwKCG0i8_vb57HrFNiFvOuRJLd6LqRmgbIdJSl7BVV1IES0Mm1pcFnt77c5y1uUv2ClVy-XEqlQsPkDXN0htiXDEOdonpEHilvHoEQDhfmMJ-Ew1vp0ke5WhEQldzOmbNG5tce1c&smid=url-share

Cue the outrage from Republicans and Joe Manchin...

April 8, 2023

Florida bill would allow supporters of Confederate monuments to sue over their removal

TALLAHASSEE — Supporters of Confederate monuments and other historical markers could sue over removal or destruction of the displays, under a controversial proposal continuing to move forward in the Florida Senate.

In a 6-2 party-line vote, the Republican-controlled Community Affairs Committee on Wednesday backed the bill (SB 1096), which would give standing to people to file lawsuits if they believe they have “lost history” or the ability to teach about the past because of monuments being removed or relocated or because the structures were not protected from damage.

“What I like about these memorials in public places is that everybody has the opportunity to see who we were,” bill sponsor Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, said.

“The older the monument, the more important it is, because it provides a starting point for what our country began as, who led our country,” Martin added. “And looking around in modern-day America, especially many of our big cities, sitting even up here in the committee room, we can look around and see that our America looks a lot different than it did when any of these people who are depicted in monuments were running things."

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/politics/2023/04/05/florida-bill-supporters-of-confederate-monuments-statues-markers-could-sue-over-their-removal/70085557007/

Florida Republicans really hate being a part of the United States of America.

April 8, 2023

Warming may push more hurricanes toward US coasts, especially in Florida, study says

The warming will cause changes in air patterns that steer storms, the study in the journal Science Advances showed.

Changes in air patterns as the world warms will likely push more and nastier hurricanes up against the United States’ east and Gulf coasts, especially in Florida, a new study said.

While other studies have projected how human-caused climate change will probably alter the frequency, strength and moisture of tropical storms, the study in Friday’s journal Science Advances focuses on the crucial aspect of where hurricanes are going.

It’s all about projected changes in steering currents, said study lead author Karthik Balaguru, a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory climate scientist.

“Along every coast they’re kind of pushing the storms closer to the U.S.,” Balaguru said. The steering currents move from south to north along the Gulf of Mexico; on the East Coast, the normal west-to-east steering is lessened considerably and can be more east-to-west, he said.

https://www.tampabay.com/hurricane/2023/04/07/warming-may-push-more-hurricanes-toward-us-coasts-especially-florida-study-says/

April 8, 2023

Southern California ports shutdown highlights high-stakes contract talks

Source: Los Angeles Times

A dockworker shortage at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports stretched into its second day on Friday, halting cargo traffic at the massive shipping complex while disrupting the local economy and the global supply chain.

The apparently temporary shutdown at the twin ports — a critical entry point for imports arriving from Asia — has exacerbated fears about a logistical infrastructure that has never fully recalibrated since the COVID-19 pandemic delays and shone a stark, national spotlight on the high-stakes labor negotiations playing out at the ports.

The union that represents West Coast dockworkers and the industry group representing maritime shippers are several months into negotiating a new contract, which is focused, in part, on wages and the role of automation. The old contract, covering more than 22,000 workers at 29 ports, expired July 1.

The Pacific Maritime Assn., the industry group representing shippers at the negotiating table, said in a statement Friday that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union had taken a “concerted action to withhold labor.”

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-04-07/la-ports-worker-shortage

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This union may be the strongest in the country, and they know how to get what their members deserve.

April 7, 2023

Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump's media group, sues Herald-Tribune columnist for defamation

The CEO of Trump Media and Technology Group is suing Sarasota Herald-Tribune columnist Chris Anderson for defamation and defamation by implication related to a column published in March, according to court records.

Devin Nunes, who is also the president and director of the media company, filed the lawsuit in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court on Monday against The Guardian, Penske Media Corp., owner of Variety magazine, Anderson and Will Wilkerson. The lawsuit says Wilkerson has been "ousted" from Trump Media.

Nunes is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, prejudgment interest on the principal sum awarded by a jury from March 15 to the date of the judgment at a rate of 6.58% per year, and costs arising from the lawsuit, according to the complaint. A cover sheet notes the claims in the lawsuit exceed $100,000.

The lawsuit stems from a March 15 article published by The Guardian, which included information from an interview with Wilkerson, and alleges there were several false statements and defamatory implications concerning Nunes, including the article's headline, subheading, and information throughout the story.

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/politics/courts/2023/04/07/truth-social-ceo-devin-nunes-files-defamation-lawsuit-in-sarasota/70079975007/

Devin Dipshit got his feelings hurt again, so he up to his old tricks...

April 7, 2023

12-year-old, 2 teens accused of fatal Florida shooting of 3 other teens

OCALA — A teenager and a 12-year-old have been charged in the deaths of three teens whose bodies were found along a Florida roadside and in the trunk of a partially-submerged vehicle, authorities said Friday. Another teen is being sought.

Law enforcement officials were “shocked” by the young ages of the victims and alleged killers, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said at a news conference. The older suspect in custody is 17, and police are still searching for a 16-year-old.

The two suspects in custody are charged with first-degree murder. The state attorney’s office is reviewing the case to determine whether the suspects will be charged as adults. The Associated Press does not publish the names of juveniles unless they have been charged with adult crimes.

The shooting suspects and victims were all in a vehicle belonging to 16-year-old victim Layla Silvernail when the killings occurred, Woods said. Authorities have not released the names of the other two victims, a 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy. Woods said the three who died were in the vehicle of their own free will.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2023/04/07/florida-teen-killed-arrest-suspect-fatal-shooting-marion-county/