Monthly Archives: May 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today warned that Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has become at least the second House Republican this year to say that, if Republicans are in the majority next year, they should repeal the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which gave D.C. an elected chief executive (mayor) and legislature (Council). In February, Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA) also said that a Republican House should repeal the Home Rule Act, and he said he was working on a bill to do so, which he has yet to introduce. Several other House Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) and Representative James Comer (KY), the ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, which has jurisdiction over D.C., have told the press this year that they plan to limit D.C.s authority to govern its own affairs next Congress.

The last time we heard such threats to D.C. self-government from Republicans was in the early and mid-1990s, Norton said. Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Andrew Clyde literally want the federal government to resume running D.C. as a colony. Republicans are scared that D.C. has gotten closer to statehood than ever, and their response is, predictably, to try to take away what democracy the nearly 700,000 D.C. residents, a plurality of whom are African American, have. I will defeat their efforts, and their efforts will only strengthen our case for statehood.

In his signing statement on the Home Rule Act in 1973, President Nixon wrote, One of the major goals of this Administration is to place responsibility for local functions under local control and to provide local governments with the authority and resources they need to serve their communities effectively. The measure I sign today represents a significant step in achieving this goal in the city of Washington. It will give the people of the District of Columbia the right to elect their own city officials and to govern themselves in local affairs. As the Nation approaches the 200th anniversary of its founding, it is particularly appropriate to assure those persons who live in our Capital City rights and privileges which have long been enjoyed by most of their countrymen.

But the measure I sign today does more than create machinery for the election of local officials. It also broadens and strengthens the structure of the city government to enable it to deal more effectively with its responsibilities.

D.C. is denied voting representation in Congress and full self-government, which is undemocratic. Statehood is the remedy. Congress has the constitutional authority to grant D.C. statehood. D.C. has a larger population than two states, pays more federal taxes than 23 states, pays more federal taxes per capita than any state, has a larger budget than 12 states, has a larger gross domestic product than 17 states, has a triple-A bond rating, and federal funds constitute a smaller percentage of its budget than the percentage of total state revenue.

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Norton Says Greene, Latest Republican to Call for Repealing D.C. Home Rule Act, Will Not Succeed - House.gov

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene flexes during a Bikers for Trump campaign event held at the Crazy Acres Bar & Grill on May 20, 2022 in Plainville, GeorgiaPhoto: Joe Raedle (Getty Images)

Congress passed a pair of bills last week to help alleviate the baby formula shortage in the U.S., while President Joe Biden initiated Operation Fly Formula, which tasked the military with flying thousands of pounds of formula from Europe. And while every decent person supports giving families easier access to formula, there are some Republicans who seem to lack that basic form of empathy in a crisis.

When the Access to Baby Formula Act was voted on last week in the House of Representatives, 414 congressmen, both Democrats and Republicans, voted in favor of the legislation. The bill will allow families on the food assistance program WIC to buy whatever formula brand is available in stores, instead of being forced to buy a particular brand. But precisely nine members of the House voted against the bill, all Republicans.

Who are these people that voted against making it easier for families to get the baby formula they need? Many of the same people who consider themselves pro-life and defenders of American families.

Today, we have photos of those nine Republicans, along with some completely unrelated quotes. Please ignore the quotes. Were trying to delete them.

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9 Republicans Voted Against Giving Families Easier Access to Baby Formula - Gizmodo

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WASHINGTON U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) discussed thefuture of the Republican party and the Biden Administrations disastrous energypolicy on Fox Business Kudlow. Excerpts and full video are below.

On Future of the RepublicanParty:

The Trump doctrine matters. Donald Trump tapped into somethingreally important that Americans care about: an America First form ofconservatism and an America First form of trade. Id lovefourmoreyears with Donald Trump as well.

I also have a lot of friends andknowa lot of peoplewho want the Donald Trump face back because they want that same fightingspirit. But whatever the field looks like, they better be prepared toarticulate an America First Trump doctrine. If they dont, they are missingwhats been going on in this country and whats been going on in the RepublicanParty for the last several years.

I submit that you and I probably felt a little bit differentlyabout international trade 5, 6, or 7 years ago than we do now or globalizingthe economy or Americas role in foreign policing efforts. Donald Trump did notjust tap into something Americans feel, he educated us on what our prioritiesought to be. I respect him for that and I appreciate that. Thats still whereAmerica is and still where our party is. If you want to be the President of theUnited States or United States Senator, Congressman, or Governor, you betterunderstand that.

On the Biden Administrations Energy Policy:

If people believed [what Secretary Granholm espoused], Joe Bidenwouldnt have a 26% approval rating today. The problem with this Administrationis they never learned from their own mistakes. Either they believe their ownrhetoric or they resign themselves to losing in November and they want to do asmuch damage as they can before we get there.

Words matter. Larry, you and Kevin [Hassett] were talking aboutmarkets. Markets respond to politics, geopolitics, consumer confidence,investor confidence, taxes, and regulations. If you have a tax increase,regulation increase Administration talking like this, markets have to respondto that. [The Biden Administration is] still in charge and they will be in theWhite House forthe nextcouple of years. So these are significantwords. Sometimes I like to think that maybe shes just ignorant. She has saidso many crazy things, quite honestly, but Im afraid they kind of believe it.

How about when you push this [environmental, social, andcorporate governance (ESG)] nonsense on the [Securities and ExchangeCommission], the Federal Reserve, the Comptroller of the Currency, [U.S.Department of Agriculture], and every chamber, every administrative agency andsubagency? Theyre all pushing the same narrative thathas a chilling effect on investment.

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Sen. Cramer Discusses the Future of the Republican Party, Biden Energy Policy on Kudlow - Kevin Cramer

In the era of Donald Trump, a major plank of the modern Republican Party platform is outright racism. Whether its the leader of the free world telling four congresswomen of color to go back to the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came, a U.S. senator saying he wasnt afraid of the January 6 rioters but would have been worried if they were Black Lives Matter protesters, a U.S. congresswoman speaking at event put on by a white nationalist, the complete and total hysteria over the idea of children being taught about systemic racism, or a prime-time conservative hosts regular white-power hour, this hateful little ecosystem just loves to appeal to the lowest common denominator by demonizing anyone who isnt white. But when their actions actually have consequences? And it turns out their hate speech matters? And people have the audacity to suggest theyre part of the problem? Well, they really get their noses out of joint.

Take, for instance, New York representative Elise Stefanik. Following the horrifying mass shooting in a Buffalo grocery store that left 10 dead after a gunman allegedly targeted Black people, The Washington Post and other outlets thought it was important to note that Stefanik, the third-ranking House Republican, among other conservatives, had previously echoed the great replacement rhetoric (the conspiracy theory that liberal politicians are trying to replace white Americans with nonwhite immigrants). In a series of Facebook ads highlighted in a tweet Saturday by Representative Adam Kinzinger, Stefaniks campaign claimed in September 2021 that Democrats were letting undocumented immigrants into the country in an attempt to ultimately silence Republican (read: white) voters. Radical Democrats are planning their most aggressive move yet: a PERMANENT ELECTION INSURRECTION, reads one of the ads, with an accompanying image of migrants reflected in Joe Bidens sunglasses. Their plan to grant amnesty to 11 MILLION illegal immigrants will overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington. At the time they ran, Albanys Times Union, the congresswomans hometown paper, called the ads despicable, and blasted her in an editorial, writing that she isnt so brazen as to use [Nazi-inspired] slogans themselves; rather, she couches the hate in alarmist anti-immigrant rhetoric thats become standard fare for the party of Donald Trump. As The New York Times reported over the weekend, Payton Gendron, the 18-year-old white suspect in the Buffalo shooting, had posted a hate-filled manifesto online, in which he wrote of his plan to shoot Black shoppers and went on racist, anti-immigrant rants arguing that white Americans are at risk of being replaced by people of color. Kind of like the ads run by one Elise Stefanik!

The congresswoman, though, did not appreciate any insinuation whatsoever that someone might have actually taken her words to heart, and in a statement released on Sunday, a senior adviser, Alex deGrasse, insisted that the implication or attempt to blame the heinous shooting in Buffalo on the congresswoman is a new disgusting low for the Left, their Never Trump allies, and the sycophant stenographers in the media. The shooting was an act of evil and the criminal should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. He added, Despite sickening and false reporting, [the] congresswoman has never advocated for any racist position or made a racist statement, a claim that is obviously not true at all. On Monday, Team Stefanik followed that up with a press release accusing the media of disgraceful, dishonest, and dangerous smears.

Stefanik, of course, is far from the only member of her party to push racist rhetoric intended to rile up the base. As the Post notes, Pennsylvania Republican representative Scott Perry, current chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus,saidduring a subcommittee hearing concerning migration from Central America last year that many Americans believe were replacing national-born Americannative-born Americansto permanently transform the political landscape of this very nation. Senator Ron Johnson has suggested that Democrats want to remake the demographics of America to ensure theirthat they stay in power forever. Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick has declared that the revolution has begun and Democrats are trying to take over our country without firing a shot by allowing immigrants to enter the country who will vote for Democrats to thank the Democrats and Biden for bringing them here. Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance has claimed Democrats want to let in 15 million immigrants into the U.S. to shiftthe democratic makeup of this country so Republicans [will] never win a national election in this country ever again.

And, of course, we cant forget the fear-mongering, hateful commentary that appears on Fox News on a daily basis, which has included Laura Ingrahams claim that Democrats want to replace you, the American voters, with newly amnestied citizens and an ever-increasing number of chain migrants; Jeanine Pirros that Democrats immigration policies are a plot to remake America, to replace American citizens with illegals who will vote for the Democrats; and basically everything that comes out of Tucker Carlsons mouth

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Republicans Are Furious People Remember Theyve Been Pushing the Racist Great Replacement Rhetoric for Years - Vanity Fair

Among the enablers of the mentally deranged killer who slaughtered ten Blacks at a Buffalo grocery store last week are those who refuse to condemn the Great Replacement Theory and the Jan. 6 mob assault on the Capitol.

These are two centerpieces of the sprawling, hate-filled cadre of white nationalists with whom the Buffalo assailant trafficked on social media.

Katheen Belew, a University of Chicago professor and my go-to expert on white racism (if you want to be informed on this threat read her 2021 Field Guide to White Supremacy), cites the centrality of the Jan. 6 attack to the mish mash of hate groups, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and militiamen who inhabit the alt-right internet landscape.

The white nationalists on Jan. 6,she reminds me, had an outsized impact because they were highly organized, showed up with tactical gear, and breached the building. A purpose, she says, was to radicalize others, and in Buffalo whether he spoke of that day or not the gunman was propelled by that wave of radicalization.

Yet the vast majority of Republicans are unwilling to forcefully condemn the Jan. 6 riot, with many even defending it.

Examples abound.

The Republican National Committee declared it legitimate political discourse and censured two Republican lawmakers who have forcefully condemned the riot. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) still claims it was by and large a peaceful protest with a few bad apples. Johnsons a kook, but there isnt exactly a lot of daylight between him and Republican House leadership. In the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), while criticizing what happened, blocked a bipartisan independent investigation for fear it might hurt Republicans politically.

There were seven deaths associated with the Jan. 6 assault; approximately 150 police officers were injured, and it cost millions in damage. Those who contend it was a peaceful protest or legitimate political discourse should be required to watch HBOs Four Hours at the Capitol, which captures the criminal violence of the mob attacking the outnumbered police.

But this is old news.

Whats new, however, is growing evidence that the silence or acquiescence of Republican leaders has, in the words of Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, enabled white nationalism, white supremacy and antisemitism.

The Republicans dodge is dangerous.

Anything short of direct condemnation will come across to white power activists as a green light for future violence, plain and simple, Belew says. Weve seen this over and over again, in recent years and across time.

Its clearly linked to the even more destructive Great Replacement Theory, which posits that a Jewish conspiracy is afoot to culturally and demographically replace whites by non-whites in America.

The high priest of this trope is Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

And on Carlsons show, the two threads come neatly together: When Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) seemed to rather mildly criticize the Jan. 6 insurrection a year after the fact, he was brought to his knees by Carlson to whom he groveled and begged forgiveness.

Among the House Republican leadership, the lawmaker who replaced Cheney dumped because she was speaking out against Trumps incitement and subsequent inaction is Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a former moderate turned Trump worshiper. Stefanik pushed all the buttons in a Facebook ad charging that a plan by radical Democrats to grant amnesty to 11 million illegal immigrants will overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority.

I wonder if Ms. Stefanik thinks President George H.W. Bush, the late Sen. John McCain or the pre-Trump Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) all supporters of comprehensive immigration reform wanted to dilute the power of white people?

There are scores maybe hundreds of Republican officials who are stirring the same racial fears.

There is, as Liz Cheney said, an antisemitic element to this. Financier George Soros is a favorite target of Republicans, and when the Anti-Defamation League decried the replacement theory, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) accused the ADL of being a racist organization.

It defies credulity to think all this doesnt embolden give a little more license to the white nationalists, neo-Nazis and other peddlers of hate like the Buffalo assailant.

These elements are larger and more connected than most want to acknowledge, Belew has repeatedly written. Its not just a lone wolf or some crazy hiding away in a remote shack. More than three quarters of domestic terrorism acts are committed by right-wing extremists; FBI director Christopher Wray has labeled them a priority for the bureau.

A perverse irony is that more than a few conservatives are focusing on race this election year: assailing or banning the teaching of the critical race theory which holds that systemic racism is deeply embedded in the legal, social, economic and political structures in America. The theory is taught almost exclusively in leading law schools, but also is in a handful of training manuals and is accepted wisdom in a few elite media and private organizations.

Politically, its primarily a scare tactic.

By contrast, promulgating the great replacement theory, vindicating the Jan. 6 assault, or perpetuating the lie that the last presidential election was stolen, is treacherous, giving aid and comfort to evil people prone to violence.

The standard Republican response when called on their dangerous rhetoric and quisling silence is to cite the First Amendment, claiming liberal elites want to muzzle them. I dont want to censor these politicians or pundits. I do want to hold them accountable.

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Republican officials keep stoking white supremacist tropes and were reaping the result - The Hill

Those who push and normalize the great replacement theory will typically insist that they are opposed to violence and that they are not racist; theyll certainly disavow what happened in Buffalo to some degree. Carlson will likely lead his show on Monday with some variation on this narrative: that the left is once again making him into a bogeyman, that he has no responsibility for violencewhich he does not condonethat he is simply telling his audience the truth, which is that immigrants really are taking over the country and that theyre doing so to advance the dastardly interests of the Democratic Party.

Whether for ratings or votes, these ideas are now central to the Republican Partys political messaging: that they are the one thing holding the country back from total chaos; that voting for Democrats will inevitably lead to policy shifts that will, in quick succession, lead to the downfall of the white race. This is the brunt of the political message that half of Republican voters have adopted, thanks in large part to the efforts of figures like Carlson and other Republicans: Ideas that were once shunned are now the foundation of the partys platform; the best way to turn voters out in November is to ensure that theyre scared out of their minds.

That fear is now so central to the rights political might that it cannot be put aside, even after something as horrible as what happened in Buffalo on Saturday. That is exactly where that fear leads: to hatred and violence and bloodshed. Anyone who says otherwise is evading responsibility, though we may be well past the point of holding those who perpetuate great replacement theory, whether in whispers or in declamations, to account. The great replacement theory is here to stay. Its practically a plank in the GOP platform.

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The Great Replacement Theory Is Just Republican Orthodoxy Now - The New Republic