March 30, 2021 at 12:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard

Geoffrey Skelley: “Ultimately, though, the upshot of having so many incumbents running is that it could reduce the chances of seats changing party hands. And this may be especially true in 2022 because neither side has a lot of overly friendly turf to win back. Only seven seats are in states where the governing party lost the state in the 2020 presidential election. In fact, this is one area on the 2022 map where Democrats have an advantage, as they have only one seat to defend in a state that Biden lost in 2020: Kansas.”

“Beyond Kansas, though, the map gets easier for Democrats.”

more
https://politicalwire.com/2021/03/30/democrats-on-friendly-turf-in-2022-governors-races/

In many cases, students plotted their attacks for months, allowing ample time to stop them if schools know what to look for, the report said.

March 30, 2021, 11:30 AM EDT
By Pete Williams

A plot to attack Aces High School in Everett, Washington, was stopped three years ago when the grandmother of a student discovered that he had written something disturbing in his journal and called 911.

"He's planning to have a mass shooting at one of the high schools," she told the police.

The student, Joshua O'Connor, wrote that he wanted to make his attack famous. "I need to get the biggest fatality number I possibly can," he wrote, according to the charges filed against him.

A search of his bedroom turned up a Hi-Point 9mm carbine rifle, the same model used in the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.

more
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/secret-service-report-says-school-shootings-are-preventable-similar-warning-n1262472

By Laura Davison

March 29, 2021, 5:42 PM EDT

Suozzi demands lifting limit on state and local tax deductions

Tax break could become negotiation hurdle for Democrats

A New York Democrat said he won’t back any tax increases that President Joe Biden proposes to pay for infrastructure legislation unless there is also a repeal of the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions.

“No SALT, no deal,” Representative Tom Suozzi said in a statement Monday. “I am not going to support any change in the tax code unless there is a restoration of the SALT deduction.”

Repealing the $10,000 cap on SALT write-offs, is a top priority for several members of Congress representing high-tax states including New York, New Jersey and California, who say that their voters have been hurt by the limits on the tax break.

Removing the cap, which would cost the federal government tax revenue, could become a key area of contention as Democrats seek to raise levies on corporations and the wealthy to pay for a bevy of infrastructure, health care and social programs. Republicans are set to oppose any tax hikes, and Democrats have only narrow control in both the House and Senate, so any dissent in their ranks could imperil legislation.

more
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-29/democrat-says-he-will-oppose-any-biden-tax-plan-without-salt-fix

Source: NBC News


The officer said he believed that if he did not take action to stop Park from knocking on the governor's office door, other protesters would be "emboldened to commit similar acts."

March 30, 2021, 10:52 AM EDT

By Rebecca Shabad and Blayne Alexander

WASHINGTON — A Georgia State Patrol officer who arrested Democratic state Rep. Park Cannon last week when she protested the governor's signing of a law that restricts voting said the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was “in the back of my mind” during the incident.

Lt. G.D. Langford detailed in a 13-page incident report obtained by NBC News how he repeatedly asked Cannon, a Black female lawmaker, to stop knocking on Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s office door where he was signing the law, but she continued to do so. He said that he “noticed the other protestors began to get louder as she was refusing to follow commands.”

“I felt that if I did not take action, the other protestors would have been emboldened to commit similar acts,” the officer said in the report.

“The events of January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol were in the back of my mind," Langford wrote. "I didn't want the protestors to attempt to gain entry into a secure part of the Capitol. I believed Cannon's actions of obstructing law enforcement in front of agitated protestors to constitute a breach of the peace."

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/officer-who-arrested-ga-state-rep-park-cannon-says-jan-n1262459

Source: Bloomberg


By Thomas Mulier and Corinne Gretler

March 30, 2021, 10:28 AM EDT Updated on March 30, 2021, 11:00 AM EDT

Investigators were frustrated by difficulties in getting data

Tedros asks for samples from at least September 2019

The World Health Organization’s chief said a mission to study the origins of the coronavirus in China didn’t adequately analyze the possibility of a lab leak before it concluded that the pathogen probably spread from bats to humans via another animal.

Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said even though the international team of scientists determined that a leak is the least likely hypothesis for the origin of the pandemic, it requires further investigation. He said he’s ready to deploy additional missions involving specialist experts as he doesn’t believe the assessment was extensive enough. He made the comments in a briefing to WHO member countries Tuesday.

Although Tedros has consistently said all options remain on the table and the WHO wouldn’t shut down any lines of inquiry, Tuesday’s comments mark the first time he’s openly speculated about the possibility of a leak. The WHO chief was criticized by Trump administration officials for being too deferential to China in the early days of the pandemic.

The origin report was published Tuesday, confirming what researchers said in mid-February at the conclusion of their four-week mission to Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the first Covid cases emerged at the end of 2019, and in subsequent interviews.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-30/who-chief-critiques-covid-report-says-lab-leak-study-needed

59 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Alayna Treene, author of Sneak Peek

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has privately told confidants he's seriously considering not seeking re-election and possibly leaving Congress early for a job at Newsmax, three sources with direct knowledge of the talks tell Axios.

Why it matters: Gaetz is a provocative figure on the right who's attracted attention by being a fierce defender of former President Trump. The Republican also represents a politically potent district on the Florida panhandle.

What we’re hearing: Gaetz has told some of his allies he’s interested in becoming a media personality, and floated taking a role at Newsmax.

One of the sources said Gaetz has had early conversations with the network about what a position could look like.

more
https://www.axios.com/matt-gaetz-retirement-congress-newsmax-e1a0e6bb-0279-4e97-ab22-508e28f4347a.html

Tom Boggioni
March 30, 2021

Late Monday Donald Trump launched his own website, 45office.com, which according to the copy, promotes his "magnificent legacy" of four years in the Oval Office during which time he was impeached twice.

According to the site, "Donald J. Trump launched the most extraordinary political movement in history, dethroning political dynasties, defeating the Washington Establishment, and becoming the first true outsider elected as President of the United States. His inspiring, groundbreaking campaign proved pollsters, pundits, prognosticators, and the corporate media spectacularly wrong. He mobilized voters with massive rallies, reached America's hearts and minds with his vision for national rejuvenation, and overcame virtually every entrenched power structure—political and financial—and achieved a decisive victory, winning states no Republican presidential candidate had won in decades"

Reacting to the announcement, critics on Twitter begged to differ by pointing out his multiple failures, including over 500,000 American deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic that his administration botched and helped lead to his humiliating loss when he ran for re-election.

https://twitter.com/Newsweek/status/1376840211452268546

https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1376677051609051138

more
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-social-media-2651253541/

Source: Bloomberg


By Josh Wingrove and Shira Stein
March 29, 2021, 11:34 AM EDT Updated on March 29, 2021, 12:07 PM EDT

Walensky says she’s scared by uptick that hints at fourth wave

U.S. doesn’t have ‘luxury of inaction’ amid spike, she says

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pleaded with Americans to wear masks and stick with Covid-19 mitigation measures, warning of “impending doom” as cases, hospitalizations and deaths begin to rise again.

Rochelle Walensky, speaking at a press briefing Monday, fought back tears as she outlined a series of warning signals and said she was frightened about a looming fourth wave of Covid cases.

The seven-day average for new daily Covid-19 cases is now almost at 60,000, up 10% from the prior week. Hospitalizations are also up, to about 4,800 a day from 4,600 a week earlier. Deaths, a lagging indicator, have also started to rise again, she said.

“I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom. We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope, but right now I’m scared,” she said.



Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-29/cdc-chief-warns-of-impending-doom-as-covid-cases-deaths-rise

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By Leia Idliby Mar 29th, 2021, 12:22 pm

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell insisted that “Donald Trump will be back in office in August,” vowing to file a lawsuit that will confirm evidence of voter fraud during the 2020 election.

Lindell made the remark while appearing on Steve Bannon’s WarRoom Pandemic podcast:

https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1376546217270910981

“What I’m talking about, Steve, is what I’ve been doing since Jan. 9th,” Lindell said. “All the evidence I have — everything is going to go before the Supreme Court and the election of 2020 is going bye-bye.”

“It was an attack by other countries, communism coming in,” he baselessly added. “I don’t know what they’re going to do with that after they pull it down.”

more
https://www.mediaite.com/podcasts/mypillow-ceo-shouts-over-steve-bannon-in-wild-rant-donald-trump-will-be-back-in-office-in-august/

BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD
MARCH 28, 2021 12:00 AM, UPDATED MARCH 28, 2021 12:51 PM

The Republican Party’s hysteria about alleged voter fraud was on full display in North Carolina last week.

It was as baseless as ever, but this time it had the added dimensions of wasted tax dollars and the browbeating of an elections official who has served the state and democracy well.

The first display was the outcome of a voter fraud investigation led by Robert Higdon when he was U.S attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Higdon, a President Trump appointee, went hunting for the GOP’s great white whale of voter fraud and returned years later with a basket of minnows. He resigned in February after President Joe Biden asked Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys to step down as part of the switch in administrations.

The probe, which focused on voting by noncitizens, became public just before the 2018 election. It was easy to notice. The U.S. Attorney’s Office served subpoenas on the State Board of Elections, county election boards and the Department of Motor Vehicles, effectively seeking records on every registered voter in the state.

more
https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article250241160.html