The defense fund for Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois teenager who is accused of fatally shooting two people and injuring a third at a protest sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake last August, has raised nearly half a million dollars as Rittenhouse gears up for his trial in November.

Rittenhouse’s defense fund said it has raised $464,111 since March 1, according to a post on its Twitter account.

The money was raised through FreeKyleUSA, which says it is organized by his mother Wendy Rittenhouse to raise money for his defense, and The Milo Fund LLC. The LLC is the “business/transactional entity formed to receive donations and pay legal expenses,” according to a tweet by @freekyleusa.

The defense fund has processed $362,050 in “case-related expenses,” including attorney fees, investigators, legal consultants, subject matter experts and security.

Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/559458-rittenhouse-defense-fund-says-its-raised-nearly-half-a-million

Ammon Bundy, the anti-government militant who led an armed takeover of a US wildlife refuge, is running for governor of Idaho


Ammon Bundy, the anti-government activist who led the armed takeover of a national wildlife refuge in 2016, announced Saturday that he's running for governor of Idaho.

"I'm running for governor because I'm sick and tired of all of this political garbage just like you are," Bundy, who is running as a Republican, said in a campaign-announcement video.

"Joe Biden and those in the Deep State that control him, will simply not be able to help themselves — they are going to try to take away our gun rights, freedom of religion, parental rights, and more and further violate the Constitution in unimaginable ways even more than they've already done," he continued.

Bundy, 45, is best known for his role in armed confrontations with the US government, which he alluded to in his announcement video, saying his family knew what it's like "when the federal government unlawfully attacks the people."

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/ammon-bundy-anti-government-militant-announces-idaho-governor-run-2021-6

The blue van turned onto the pitted road, and for miles the tallest objects on the horizon were the brush and yucca. Soon, signs appeared with arrows that pointed to dirt trails with curious names like “Illinois Camp Booster.” Suddenly, what looked like a hidden city appeared and the landscape was filled with warehouses, tall cylindrical gas storage tanks and, as far as the eye could see, rusted, bobbing oil pump jacks.

Inside the van were three members of Citizens Caring for the Future (CCFF), practically the lone organized resistance to the oil and gas industry in Southeastern New Mexico. They were an odd bunch. At the wheel was Nick King, a Mennonite pastor and owner of a small solar company. Behind him was Joan Brown, a Catholic Franciscan nun with a grandmother’s delicate voice. And aiming a camera out the passenger window was Nathalie Eddy, a field organizer with Earthworks, a national environmental nonprofit, who’d driven from Colorado for the day’s excursion.

“This is what it’s like, 24/7,” Eddy said, pointing at the busy landscape, the trucks entering and leaving and the arms of the pumpjacks rotating.

The Permian Basin stretches from Carlsbad, New Mexico, 30 miles across the Texas border. It is 75,000 square miles of metal and tubes and spire-like pipes burning gas, all above jackrabbit scrubland. Depending on your feelings about the industry, the Permian Basin is either awe-striking or nauseating.

Read more: https://www.hcn.org/articles/renewable-energy-can-the-sun-solve-new-mexicos-energy-conundrum
(High Country News)

The Pentagon’s No. 2 official has ordered 11 missile interceptors transferred from research and development for possible deployment on Navy ships in the Pacific or European regions after a test in November indicated they could stop an intercontinental ballistic missile.

In the test, the USS John Finn intercepted a mock ICBM intended to simulate one that could be launched at Hawaii by North Korea. The destroyer, operating near Hawaii, fired off one of the Standard Missile-3 model Block IIA interceptors built by Raytheon Technologies Corp. at the target launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks informed Congress May 27 of her rationale for transferring the interceptors, although she didn’t disclose it publicly.

“The missiles have conducted successful intercept tests and their deployment is in the important interest of our national security,” Hicks spokesman Jamal Brown said in an email this month. The transfer to the Navy marks the first major missile defense initiative of the Biden administration.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-22/navy-ships-close-to-getting-interceptors-that-could-stop-an-icbm

Kim Jong Un’s sister said the U.S. has “wrong” views in thinking North Korea might be offering an opening to return to talks, in comments coming shortly after an envoy for President Joe Biden said the U.S. was ready for dialogue “anywhere, anytime” with Pyongyang.

The official Korean Central News Agency released a statement from Kim Yo Jong on Tuesday about two hours before Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, was due to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Seoul to talk about reviving dormant disarmament negotiations with North Korea. Pyongyang has a habit of timing its actions and statements to high-level political events.

“It seems that the U.S. may interpret the situation in such a way as to seek a comfort for itself. The expectation, which they chose to harbor the wrong way, would plunge them into a greater disappointment,” KCNA quoted her as saying in a statement that came in at about 100 words.

Kim Yo Jong, a member of the country’s ruling family who has become one of the most prominent faces in its pressure campaign against the U.S. and South Korea, said she was referring to comments made by a U.S. national security adviser who saw “an “interesting signal,” from a major ruling party meeting last week.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-22/kim-s-sister-says-u-s-has-wrong-views-on-talks-with-pyongyang

On Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott quietly vetoed a section of Senate Bill 1, the general appropriations bill funding the Texas government for the next two years.

The victim of the partial veto was Article X, the legislature — something never before seen in Texas history.

In a recent statement, House Democratic Caucus Chair Chris Turner called Abbott’s actions an “inexcusable and dangerous attack on the separation of powers,” arguing that the line-item veto consolidated more power to the governor’s office.

“Abbott has increasingly relied on an abuse of power as a governing strategy through the COVID-19 pandemic and has doubled down on this approach recently,” Turner continued. “Just in the last week, he has announced plans to unilaterally seize $250 million from criminal justice funds to build a Trump border wall; now, he tries to cancel the entire Legislature.”

Read more: https://texassignal.com/chris-turner-abbotts-veto-dangerous-attack-on-separation-of-powers/

Beto O’Rourke’s no stranger to traversing Texas and turning out crowds around the state. But over the past month, the former Congressman, U.S. Senate candidate, and potential gubernatorial contender has done so for a different reason than in the past. Namely, to combat Republicans’ all-out attacks on voting rights via his Drive for Democracy tour. O’Rourke sat down with the Signal for an exclusive interview before yesterday’s For the People rally in Austin, which delivered thousands of Texans to the steps of the State Capitol building on Father’s Day.

Republicans are targeting voting rights across America. How much has Texas upped the ante with SB 7?

Texas is already the hardest state in which to vote and to register to vote — and that’s before you account for SB 7, one of the most restrictive voting laws in the country. That legislation wouldn’t just end Souls to the Polls and make it harder on those with disabilities to cast a ballot; it wouldn’t just allow partisan poll watchers free reign inside of polling places to intimidate voters. Above all else, SB 7 would give Texas’ state government the right to overturn future elections. And that is so dangerous of an idea, that it makes you wonder: Would we still have a democracy at the end of the day if that was passed into law? This fight, Texas’ fight, is at the front lines for voting rights across America.

Where do rallies like yesterday’s come in?

This is an existential moment. And the way to meet it is not on Twitter and it’s not on TV. The way to meet it is in person. One of the things I’ve been telling people as we’ve met in 105-degree heat and ten thousand percent humidity is that the fight for democracy will not be air conditioned. You’ve got to be with people, you’ve got to see them, and you’ve got to listen to them. Because it’s going to involve rallying, marching, running for office, registering people to vote, doing everything we can to not just stop Republican attacks, but to pass the Voting Rights Act of our age — the For the People Act, which has its first procedural vote in the Senate on Tuesday. After all, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 didn’t come about purely from LBJ’s genius as a leader. It required John Lewis marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. It required people gathering at their state capitals. It required mass mobilization to bring the pressure to bear.

Read more: https://texassignal.com/an-exclusive-one-on-one-with-beto-orourke/

Gov. Greg Abbott vetoes criminal justice bills, legislation to protect dogs, teach kids about domestic violence

by Heidi Pérez-Moreno and Farah Eltohamy, Texas Tribune


Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed 20 bills that were passed during this year’s legislative session, including two criminal justice priorities of the House speaker, legislation that would have banned tethering dogs outside with heavy chains, and a bill that would have required students to be taught about the perils of domestic violence.

The 20 bills in total that were vetoed mark the fewest made by Abbott since 2005. There were 1,073 bills passed by the Texas Legislature in total.

Abbott vetoed 13 bills authored by Democrats and seven by Republicans. Twelve of the vetoes targeted bills that originated in the House, and eight were from the Senate.

His most explosive veto came Friday when he signed the state budget but used his line-item veto to reject funding for the Texas Legislature, its staffers and legislative agencies. The move was retribution after Democrats broke quorum in the final days of the session to block the passage of Senate Bill 7, a GOP elections bill that would have overhauled voting rights in the state.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/06/21/texas-greg-abbott-veto/

TEXAS — A new political party is launching in Texas.

It's called the "Serve America Movement," or SAM, and its leaders say their goal is to fix the country's broken political system.

The group filed its paperwork with the Secretary of State Monday afternoon.

“What SAM Texas is creating is a coalition that is a true big tent coalition,” said David Jolly, SAM executive chairman and former Florida Congressman. “Bring your ideology. We want to welcome it. We want to work together as Texans to solve problems in a way that addresses the greatest consensus among voters.”

Jolly said about 40% of Americans identify as Independent, and in Texas, it’s in the high 30s.

Read more: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin/news/2021/06/21/new-political-party-hopes-to-make-inroads-in-texas#

It is relatively difficult for third parties to make it onto the ballot in Texas It will be interesting to determine who is bankrolling this operation.