Lou

Coming off the Times poll last week, Democrats won in the 4 red and purple states holding elections on Tuesday.

Ohio voted to retain their constitutional right to abortion by 13 points (56.6% to 43.4%). The GOP tried to change the rules for referendums to require a 60% vote and then modified the wording on the ballot but Ohio saw through this.

Ohio also voted to legalize marijuana by 14 points establish their right to get high 🙂

Incumbent Gov. Andy Beshear defeated Trump supported Republican Daniel Cameron by 5 points in red state Kentucky. Late polls had them even but Beshear ran better in almost all counties than he did in 2019.

In Virginia, Democrats held onto the state senate 21 to 17 with 2 races to close to call. Democrats won control of the state house 51 to 45 with 4 races to lose to call. Gov Youngkin worked hard predicting a GOP retake of the senate while holding the house. Word was that he would use these victories as a sign of strength and announce a run for presidential nomination. Well, Youngkin can put the balloons away, cancel his speech and worry about holding on to his job.

The biggest win would be in Mississippi if Brandon Presley could defeat Gov Reeves. A large voter turnout in Democrat stronghold Jackson County where they ran out of ballots and had to extend the polls gave us some hope but Presley fell short by 5 points. Close for deep red Mississippi.

Since the BIG MISTAKE in 2016, Democrats have won in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and now in 2023. Dems win because we are on the right side of the issues on abortion, gun safety, LGBTQ+ rights, climate change etc. and we work hard to get out the vote.

We must continue both to win in 2024.

President Biden is trailing P011035809 in 5 of the 6 most important swing states suffering from doubts about his age and disatisfaction over his handling of the economy and a host of issues. The poll was by The NY Times and the Siena College.

The poll shows Biden losing to P011035809 by margins of 3 to 10 percentage points among registered voter in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania and ahead in Wisconsin by 2.

The President trails by 48% to 44% in these states which President Biden carried in 2020.

A wake up call to us all taking for granted that no one could possibly vote for a convicted sex offender and facing 91 indictments in 4 separate courts who led a insurrection against the United States but now we know. Time for us as Democrats and lovers of democracy to get going!

Don’t agonize. Organize!

After the extreme right wing of the GOP ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy, after Steve Scalise was nominated and dropped out the next day, after “Legislative terrorist” Jim Jordan failed on 3 votes, after Tom Ermer was nominated and dropped out three hours later after Donald Trump went after him the GOP house, after 21 days without a Speaker the GOP house elected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as speaker by the full House on a first vote. Johnson, a relatively unknown, staunchly conservative Republican, succeeds Rep. Kevin McCarthy 

Johnson is an ally of former president Donald Trump and opposed certifying the 2020 election. He is antiabortion, voted against Ukraine aid and supports LGBTQ restrictions..

The last of the moderate (and I use that term loosely) Republicans collapsed under pressure as extreme right knew they would.

The Matt Gaetz extreme right has won.

Former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case and will cooperate with Fulton County prosecutors – joint Sidney Powell and Daniel Cheseboro for the third guilty plea in the past week.

At an unscheduled hearing in Atlanta, Ellis pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements, a felony stemming from the election lies that Ellis and other Donald Trump lawyers peddled to Georgia lawmakers in December 2020.

She was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution. As did Chesebro and Powell, she must testify on behalf of the prosecution at future trials. 

Ellis delivered a tearful statement to the judge Tuesday while pleading guilty, disavowing her participation in Trump’s unprecedented attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

After Sidney Powell pleads guilty in Georgia case, Trump claims she was ‘never’ his attorney, despite their past ties
“If I knew then what I knew now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges. I look back on this experience with deep remorse,” Ellis said, her voice breaking at times.

Unconvincing in my opinion as she blamed the other Trump lawyers for not providing her true and reliable information.

While Republicans have shutdown the House due to their incompetence and frankly authoritarian tendencies, and Tuberville and Senate Republicans via their inactivity stopped approval to fill over 300 military promotions, President Biden visited Israel in a war zone to show unwavering support and to influence where the Israelis go from here.

Upon President Biden’s return, he addressed the nation in a rare Oval Office speech. His speech was short, concise and strong.

President Joe Biden tied the wars in Ukraine and Israel together during a primetime Oval Office address Thursday, making an impassioned appeal to the American people to support two fellow democracies that he says are facing existential threats.

The president has often cast this moment in history as an “inflection point” – a battle between the world’s democracies and autocracies. On Thursday, he argued that “this is one of those moments,” making a direct appeal to the American people as he sought to build support for US funding for wars abroad that could face a challenging path in Congress, where the House of Representatives remains unable to pass legislation in its second week without a speaker.

“Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy, completely annihilate it,” Biden said.

“We can’t let petty partisan, angry politics get in the way of our responsibilities as a great nation. We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win. I refuse to let that happen,” he added.”

He laid out the stakes for the American people, calling the wars a national security imperative and a critical moment for the future of American leadership and democracies worldwide.

“American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are what keep us in America safe. American values are what make us a partner nation you want to work with,” he said. “To put all that at risk – we walk away from Ukraine, we turn our backs on Israel – it’s just not worth it.”

The president said support for both wars is “vital for America’s national security.” 

“History has taught us that when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction. They keep going. And the cost and the threat to America in the world keep rising,” Biden said, warning, “If we don’t stop Putin’s appetite for power and control in Ukraine, he won’t limit himself just to Ukraine.”

And he warned more broadly that the United States’ adversaries and competitors “are watching.”

“If we walk away and let Putin erase Ukraine’s independence, would-be aggressors around the world would be emboldened to try the same. The risk of conflict and chaos could spread in other parts of the world – in the Indo Pacific, in the Middle East, especially in the Middle East,” Biden said.

Trump (P01135809) lawyer Sidney Powell pleaded GUILTY to six misdemeanor offenses agreeing to testify truthfully against her codefendants. Truth has been difficult for Sidney Powell who has been lying continually since the 2020 election. Many of Powell’s past statements have been egregiously false — like baseless claims that the Clinton Foundation, philanthropist George Soros, and former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez were responsible for manipulating voting machines to change the results. Powell avoided prison receiving 6 years probation and a small fine. Such a light sentence indicates that her testimony will likely include what Trump (P01135809), Meadows, Giuliani and others said in meetings and other interactions in which the plot and its execution were discussed. This insider’s view was something that had been previously missing, and it will likely be devastating at trial.

Trump (P01135809) attorney Ken Chesboro who helped orchestrate the Trump (P01135809) campaign’s 2020 fake electors plot, pleaded GUILTY Friday. Chesebro pleaded guilty to one felony – conspiracy to commit filing false documents. Fulton County prosecutors recommended that he serve 5 years of probation and pay $5,000 in restitution. Like Powell, he must testify truthfully against his codefendants. Chesboro hatched the plot to substitute fake electors.

He testified that he “created and distributed false Electoral College documents” to Trump operatives in Georgia and other states, and that he worked “in coordination with” the P01135809 campaign. 

“The defendant provided detailed instructions to co-conspirators in Georgia and other states for creating and distributing these false documents,” prosecutor Daysha Young said at the plea hearing Friday.

We’d prefer that Powell and Chesboro received prison time for their actions to overthrow our democracy but they must testify truthfully or their deal is null and void and they will be sentenced.

As House Republicans struggle to govern, the party suffered another black eye Thursday evening when Majority Leader Steve Scalise abruptly withdrew from the speaker’s race amid hardened opposition from more than a dozen holdouts. The problem for the House GOP is that it’s not clear anyone can lock down the 217 votes needed to win the gavel, raising questions over how and when the standoff over the speakership will last and at what cost.

Republicans are confronting a deepening leadership crisis that has left the House paralyzed with no clear path to elect a new speaker, after an effort to replace Kevin McCarthy following his historic ouster was derailed by entrenched opposition and deep divisions within the party.

UNBELIEVABE!! No wait, this is the GOP, it is totally believable.

When McCarthy was ousted, I thought who would be the worst choice to be speaker because I was pretty sure that that’s what the GOP would do. I was surprised when they nominated Scalise although he is no bargain but maybe the best we could hope for. Then Scalise couldn’t get the majority and they nominated who I thought they would, the bomb throwing, extreme right wing, Trump defender at all cost, participant in the Jan 6 insurrection, subpoena ignoring, jacket-less Jim Jordan.

I don’t know if Jordan will get 217 but my thought is that he won’t and I think it will be Elise Stefanik. She is currently number 3 in the GOP House and has proven to be able to move her position as required as she started as a NY moderate and morphed into a far right extremist. I think she can morph into whatever is required to get 217.

The insurrection continues.

Thought?

Democrats Need To Fall In Line