RandySF
RandySF's JournalThis would have bothered me years ago. Then Trump came along and I no longer give a shit.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) paid for President Biden’s legal fees surrounding the investigation into his handling of classified documents even as his own campaign railed against former President Trump for using campaign donations to pay for similar services.
Axios first reported that Biden used campaign donations for the fees, citing two people familiar with the matter and campaign finance records. It found the DNC paid more than $1.5 million to the president’s personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, and the firm Hemenway & Barnes LLP.
Federal Election Commission records show the first payment to Hemenway & Barnes LLP was $15,000 in January 2023, after the news that classified documents were discovered first broke. The first payment to Bob Bauer PLLC was $150,000 in July of that year.
The Hemenway & Barnes LLP payments increased to $100,000 in July, and the amounts to both parties fluctuated until late February, when the special counsel concluded the investigation.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4590551-dnc-paid-bidens-legal-bills-during-hur-investigation/
'Permanent contraception procedures' soared after Dobbs decision: Research
Rates of people seeking permanent contraception spiked after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, new research shows.
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Boston University looked at rates of tubal ligations and vasectomies among 18- to 30-year-olds between 2019 and 2022 using the TriNetX platform and compared them with 2022 to 2023 rates.
That platform largely gathers data from academic medical centers and related clinics across the country.
The findings were published Friday in a JAMA Health Forward research lette
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4591074-permanent-contraception-procedures-soared-after-dobbs-decision-research/
Harris in Arizona: Trump 'gaslighting' on abortion
Vice President Harris on Friday repeatedly knocked former President Trump during a campaign stop in Arizona where she also warned against another Trump presidency just days after the state’s Supreme Court upheld an 1864 law that made performing abortion a felony.
Harris brought up Trump’s announcement earlier this week in which he said abortion laws should be left up to the states, while also appearing to say he would not sign a federal ban.
“Enough with the gaslighting. We all know if Donald Trump gets the chance, he will sign a national abortion ban,” she told a crowd in Tucson.
“He basically wants to take America back to the 1800s,” Harris added. “But we are not going to let that happen. Because, here’s the deal, this is 2024 not the 1800s and we’re not going back. We are not going back.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4591310-harris-arizona-trump-gaslighting-abortion/
DeSantis nixes local efforts to protect outdoor workers from FL's brutal weather
Gov. Ron DeSantis has quietly signed into law a measure barring local governments from requiring employers to provide workers with basic protections like shade, accessible water, and breaks from the Florida’s scorching heat and humidity.
Since the Legislature adjourned its regular session on March 8, the governor has staged press conferences packed with political supporters to sign bills cracking down on child predators, retail theft and porch piracy, fentanyl traffickers, plus another new law that channels the state’s share of Seminole gambling proceeds into environmental programs.
And on Friday, he went before the cameras to sign new laws stripping civilian police oversight boards of any power and preventing civilians from coming within 25 feet of a first responder if warned to stay back.
Word of the heat-protection ban came, however, via a press release issued by the governor’s office after 8 p.m. Thursday. It was one of 10 bills he signed that day.
https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/04/12/desantis-nixes-local-efforts-to-protect-outdoor-workers-from-fls-brutal-weather/
New Arizona law creates confusion on how counties must track dropped-off mail ballots
Poll workers in Maricopa and Pinal counties will do an on-site count of how many mail ballots are dropped off at their voting locations on election day, but there’s debate among election officials and lawmakers over whether a new law requires them to do it at the polling place.
The language in the law had been interpreted differently across counties, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Pinal election officials, for example, initially told Votebeat that they planned to keep counting the number of dropped-off mail ballots at their central counting facility, rather than at voting locations, because they believe that to be a more accurate, efficient, and secure process.
But after Votebeat asked state lawmakers and the Arizona Association of Counties about the differing interpretations, they stepped in to clarify the law’s intent. State Rep. Alex Kolodin, who led his party’s negotiations on the new law, and state Sen. Wendy Rogers, both Republicans, wrote to county election officials on April 4 explaining that the intent of the law was to require them to manually count the ballots — the number of ballot envelopes, that is, not the actual votes — at each voting location, before the ballots are transported to a central counting facility.
“We respectfully request, no later than April 18, 2024, written confirmation from each of your offices that you intend to implement the change,” Kolodin and Rogers wrote to counties.
https://azmirror.com/2024/04/12/new-arizona-law-creates-confusion-on-how-counties-must-track-dropped-off-mail-ballots/
Anti-abortion groups eye challenge if Florida voters approves ballot measure
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Anti-abortion groups in Florida will try to block implementation of a ballot measure protecting the procedure if voters approve the initiative in November, signaling that the fight over abortion rights in the state will likely continue far past this year’s elections.
Mat Staver, the founder of the anti-abortion group Liberty Counsel and who argued against the ballot measure before the state Supreme Court last winter, said on Thursday that if voters approve the initiative, “there is a prime lawsuit waiting to take it up to the Florida Supreme Court.”
“I think the door is wide open for that challenge,” Staver said during a interview. “There’s a lot to happen between now and that. But if that’s the case, that would certainly be our next step.”
Staver spoke to POLITICO a day after former President Donald Trump said that Florida voters are “probably going to change” the state’s strict bans on abortion, including a law outlawing the procedure at six weeks of pregnancy — a time when many women don’t know they’re pregnant. The state’s six-week ban is set to go into effect within weeks.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/11/florida-abortion-ballot-lawsuit-00151880
Trump weighs polarizing former rodeo cowboy for Cabinet post
Former President Donald Trump is considering naming a former rodeo cowboy turned bomb-throwing Texas agriculture commissioner to lead the Agriculture Department if he wins the White House.
Sid Miller, a MAGA loyalist, has warred with agriculture interests and threatened to “hunt” moderate “RINO” Republicans back home, including those who won reelection in 2024 or, as Miller put it, “ slipped the noose.” And he has been investigated, but not charged, for misusing state funds for travel to a rodeo. His former political consultant is also set to face trial this summer on theft and bribery charges in a scheme involving hemp licenses from Miller’s department.
Nevertheless, Trump has indicated to some allies that Miller is a leading prospect for the top post at USDA, according to two people familiar with recent conversations Trump has had about his second term plans, who were granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. For the Agriculture Department — and food and agriculture policy, writ large — Miller’s nomination would represent a seismic shift.
As secretary, Miller would likely oversee attempts to claw back billions of dollars the Biden administration has dedicated to fighting climate change in agriculture, and to shrink the size of the country’s largest nutrition programs for low-income Americans. He could also play a key role in shaping the next farm bill — a $1.5 trillion legislative package that determines agriculture, nutrition and rural policy — should the current Congress end up punting it into 2025. And if Miller’s record in Texas is any indication, he’d struggle to find compromise with dissenters — from either party.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/11/trump-eyes-top-texas-maga-disciple-for-usda-chief-00151797
Harris to visit 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' amid host's feud with Trump
Vice President Harris is going live on late-night — and sitting down with one of former President Trump’s favorite TV host targets — with an appearance next week on Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC show.
The VP is booked as a guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday, ITK has confirmed.
The interview with Kimmel will mark Harris’s first time on the late-night talk show as vice president; she previously appeared on the program in 2019.
Harris has rarely dipped her toes in the late-night waters. She made her late-night network TV debut as vice president on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” in 2022.
https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/4590456-harris-late-night-tv-jimmy-kimmel-live/
Trump Urges Supporters to Boost Trump Media Stock. SEC violation?
Donald Trump on Friday urged his followers to support his social media app Truth Social, as its parent company’s stock continues to sink lower.
Trump in a post on that app said he believes Truth Social embodies the political “movement” behind his “Make America Great Again” presidential campaign slogan, adding that “it shows the Spirit and Love of our Country.”
“If people who believe in putting America First and want to Make America Great Again, support TRUTH,” Trump wrote.
“We will be your Voice like never before, and a Real Voice is what our Country needs, because we are in decline, and must bring America to Greatness,” he wrote.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/12/trump-tries-to-boost-support-for-truth-social-as-his-media-stock-tanks.html
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Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit Area, MI
Home country: USA
Current location: San Francisco, CA
Member since: Wed Oct 29, 2008, 02:53 PM
Number of posts: 58,823
