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DARK BRANDON RISES and brings THE BEST WEEK EVER!!! Saturday's GNR [1]
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Date: 2022-08-06
Tonight, President Joe Biden announced that a drone strike managed by the Central Intelligence Agency at 9:48 Eastern time on Saturday killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, 71, who took control of al-Qaeda after the death of leader Osama bin Laden. The precision strike hit Zawahiri as he stood on a balcony in a prosperous section of Kabul, Afghanistan. There were no civilian casualties. . Zawahiri believed that attacking the U.S. and allied countries was essential to undermining the pro-Western Arab regimes that were standing in the way of uniting Muslims around the world. In 1998, he wrote, “To kill Americans and their allies—civilian and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in every country in which it is possible to do it.” In that year, he was a senior advisor to bin Laden when al-Qaeda bombed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing more than 200 people and wounding more than 4500 others. He planned the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in 2000, which killed 17 U.S. sailors and wounded dozens more. He helped to plan the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. . Under the Doha Agreement of February 29, 2020, negotiated by the Trump administration and the Taliban without the involvement of the then-Afghan government, the U.S. agreed to withdraw all its forces so long as the Taliban promised not to permit terrorist organizations to operate within their territory. And yet the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan a year ago provided Zawahiri with the ability to operate comfortably in that country. . When President Biden withdrew remaining troops from Afghanistan in August of last year, he said the U.S. would be better served by fighting terrorism with “over-the-horizon” attacks rather than with soldiers on the ground. The elimination of Zawahiri proved his point. “No matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out,” Biden said. .
Bad Bad week for Trump!
Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. sit for depositions as part of NY probe into Trump Organization’s finances
Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. sat for depositions as part of the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into the Trump Organization’s finances after months of fighting in court, people familiar with the matter told CNN. The depositions raise the legal stakes for the Trump family members as they face two investigations, one civil and one criminal, into the accuracy of Trump Organization financial statements.
DOJ talks with Trump lawyers mark a grave moment for the ex-President
as CNN exclusively reported on Thursday that Trump’s lawyers are in talks with its prosecutors – in the most concrete step yet toward the former commander-in-chief. The news was the latest sign that the department, criticized for months for moving too slowly to investigate Trump’s election stealing effort and his incitement of the mob that invaded the US Capitol, is moving with speed and broadening its scope CNN senior legal analyst Preet Bharara said that the fact that Trump’s lawyers are already in communication with the investigation suggests they believe he may have some significant exposure down the line. “Actively engaging suggests to me that the lawyers think that there is some jeopardy here and they should engage sooner rather than later,” Bharara, a former US attorney for the Southern District of New York, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Bharara cautioned that the investigation could last a long time and that a decision “about whether or not to charge Donald Trump” could occur many months from now.
Latest subpoenas suggest DOJ probe could be aiming squarely at Trump
“This is probably bad … for former President Trump.” With dry understatement, Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the House select committee investigating the insurrection, summed up on CNN on Wednesday a significant turn in the Department of Justice probe into the mob attack on the US Capitol and the effort to overturn the 2020 election. News of grand jury subpoenas for former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and former deputy counsel Patrick Philbin, the latter of which was first reported by CNN, is the latest sign that department investigators are reaching inside Trump’s inner circle during his final days in the White House.
x BREAKING: Trump has been advised to cut contact with Mark Meadows.
This means Trump’s lawyers likely believe Meadows is now cooperating to at least some extent.
Get ready y’all. We’re just getting started. — Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) August 5, 2022
KANSAS!!
4 charts that show just how big abortion won in Kansas
x The Dobbs decision engaged women in Kansas to an unprecedented degree.
This chart shows the percent of new registrants in the state who were women (as a 7 day average). Note the spike after the Dobbs decision leaked, and huge jump after the Supreme Court handed it down. pic.twitter.com/pvi3WpuR86 — Tom Bonier (@tbonier) August 3, 2022
If Dems Fought an All-Out Culture War, They’d Win
The GOP’s furious desire to transform America into Gilead gives Democrats a perfect opportunity to turn the tables in the upcoming midterm elections, but only if they go all-in and commit to fighting the culture war. Earlier this week, passionate opponents of Roe v. Wade were eagerly expecting conservative Kansas voters to allow the Republican-dominated state legislature to potentially outlaw abortion. In a stunning plot twist, Kansas voters rejected the hateful amendment by a nearly 20-point margin. Surely, there can be only one explanation: latte-loving, vegan liberals, who eat avocado toast and change pronouns as frequently as their hybrid vehicles, emerged and voted en masse from their biodegradable plastic bubbles. Nope. Turnout was enormous across the board, even in solidly red conservative and rural areas. It seems that a majority of Americans in the 21st century recognize women as human beings who deserve to have autonomy over their bodies, and they refuse to be handmaidens subservient to a radicalized GOP that won’t rest until it creates a Christian theocracy. A Monmouth Poll released this week backed it up. American voters’ top concern after economic policy (24 percent) was abortion (17 percent) and gun control (17 percent). The right to privacy is a “kitchen table” issue after all. There’s something about losing a 50-year constitutionally protected right to people who claim to be “pro-life” that seems infuriating and hypocritical when juxtaposed to videos of children in school trying their best to outrun bullets because many Republicans refuse to support gun control. Even with inflation, a pandemic, disinformation, and high gas prices, a majority of Americans still want Democrats to retain political control.
A stunning GOP losing streak since Dobbs could remake the midterm landscape
Consider how the political landscape has changed since June 24, the day the Supreme Court handed down Dobbs and stripped women of the fundamental right to control their bodies and to make critical, life-changing decisions. Polls asking voters which party they would vote for if the congressional election were held today have steadily moved in Democrats’ favor ever since Dobbs. The abortion issue is entirely polarized on partisan lines. If you want to preserve women’s health and freedom, you’ll vote Democratic (if this is an important issue to you). If you want to force women to give birth against their will and to criminalize medicine, you’ll vote for the GOP. There is no place for Republicans, who have made abortion extremism their signature issue, to hide. The importance of abortion to voters is also soaring. More voters will cast their ballots based on this issue, and the pro-choice sides enjoy a 2-to-1 advantage over the forced-birth side. The point of this is not to predict sweeping Democratic wins in 95 days. It is to highlight the dramatic shift — with plenty of help from Republicans — in the political atmosphere in ways that uniformly benefit Democrats. If you had asked Democrats on June 23 for a list of developments they’d pray would turn around the midterms, they likely would not have had the nerve to include all the items that came to pass. They surely wouldn’t have dared to put “a huge victory for pro-choice forces in Kansas” on their bingo cards.
Some of my favorite hot takes:
x Jon Stewart and the state of Kansas have just reminded us all - that the power of the people is much stronger than the people in power. — Jo 🌻 (@JoJoFromJerz) August 3, 2022
x This is a political earthquake. Kansas has not voted for a Dem for President since 1964. For the pro-choice side to win there - in an August vote in an off-year - is a huge victory. Special praise for every organizer, activist, donor, and voter in Kansas.
https://t.co/lo97HMOI6a — Paul Begala (@PaulBegala) August 3, 2022
x Kansas GOP really tried it—they put the abortion referendum on the primary ballot in August when turnout is typically low, made the language purposefully confusing, and had misleading texts sent out about the vote.
And Kansas voters STILL showed up and told them to shove it. — Juliet is PRO CHOICE 🌸🌹🌻🇺🇦 (@saving_romeo) August 3, 2022
x Tonight’s result in Kansas is one of the biggest political stories of the year. If the GOP can’t sell their anti-women b.s. in Kansas, they can’t sell it anywhere. — Paul Begala (@PaulBegala) August 3, 2022
x I think the party of “we will force your 10 year old daughter to risk her life to give birth to her rapist’s child” might be in big trouble in November. — Kai Newkirk (@kai_newkirk) August 3, 2022
The DOJ is fighting for women to be able to control and protect their own bodies
The DOJ is suing to make sure women who need medically necessary abortions can actually get them
A lawsuit, filed by the Justice Department on Tuesday, could alleviate at least some of these cases — and potentially provide legal clarity to doctors who want to perform medically necessary abortions but fear being hauled off to prison if they do. The case is United States v. Idaho. The suit involves the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which typically requires emergency rooms at hospitals that accept Medicare funds to provide “stabilizing treatment” for patients with medical emergencies. The DOJ argues in its suit that EMTALA requires these hospitals to perform an abortion if one is medically required to save a patient’s life or prevent serious bodily harm. This law could matter in quite a few states — at least 22 states have laws on the books banning many or nearly all abortions — but it is particularly relevant in Idaho, where an unusually strict abortion ban will take effect on August 25. That ban provides, with only narrow exceptions, that “every person who performs or attempts to perform an abortion ... commits the crime of criminal abortion.”
The Inflation Reduction Act is likely to Pass and it is a Big F-ing Deal
Sinema says she will ‘move forward’ on economic bill, putting Biden’s agenda on the cusp of Senate approval
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Thursday night offered critical support for President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda after party leaders agreed to change new tax proposals at her request, indicating she would “move forward” on Democrats’ sweeping economic package that has been the product of intensive negotiations for more than a year. Sinema’s support means Democrats likely will have 50 votes in their caucus to push the bill through their chamber by week’s end, before it moves to the House next week for final approval. the latest bill – named the Inflation Reduction Act – would represent the largest investment in energy and climate programs in US history, extend expiring health care subsidies for three years and give Medicare the power for the first time to negotiate prescription drug prices.
Democrats just agreed on a bumper tax, healthcare, and climate bill. Here's what's new, what hasn't changed — and what it means for you.
The proposed legislation provides for cheaper prescription drugs, free vaccines for seniors, and generous tax credits for electric vehicles, among other things. It also aims to create more than 1 million jobs. Moody's says the bill is likely to live up to its name and rein in soaring inflation. The authors of the act say it would enable patients on Medicare to get high-priced drugs for the lowest price possible by allowing Medicare to begin negotiating prescription drug prices directly from 2023. The bill would also cap at $2,000 per year the amount senior Medicare patients spend out of pocket on prescription drugs. Currently, no cap exists. The bill would make all vaccines free for seniors on Medicare. Vaccines typically cost $25 per dose, according to analysis by Peterson-KFF Health Systems Tracker. The bill would create incentives for Americans to buy energy-efficient appliances, especially for lower-income households and disadvantaged communities. The bill introduces and expands on tax credits offered to consumers to make electric vehicles more affordable. People who make less than $400,000 a year shouldn't be affected by the higher taxes proposed in the bill. The bill will be funded by higher corporate taxes, savings on prescription drugs through Medicare, and IRS tax enforcement, among other things, the bill's authors say. They say taxes shouldn't be higher for anyone with less than $400,000 annual taxable income. The bill seeks to create new jobs in industries including manufacturing, construction, and renewable energies, the bill's authors say. Policy-research company Energy Innovation estimates that the bill would create up to 1.5 million jobs by 2030. The bill provides for $369 billion to go towards measures that aim to increase energy security and fight climate change. It would involve hefty funds to speed up manufacturing of clean-energy technologies, such as solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries, which the bill's authors say would make clean energy cheaper and reduce the likelihood of future price shocks.
Heart medications can be a huge financial strain, but the reconciliation bill could help
A key provision in the Senate Democrats’ budget reconciliation bill that caps out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs for Medicare recipients at $2,000 per year could be a lifeline for millions of older adults struggling to pay for heart medications.
Keep it up Dark Brandon!
x Democrats, under Biden and a 50/50 Senate: passed COVID, infrastructure, climate & manufacturing bills. Closing in on gun reform, Rx pricing, marriage equality & energy legislation.
Republicans, under Trump and a full Senate majority: tax cuts for the rich. — Ted (@trom771) July 31, 2022
Judges Judges Judges
Biden’s fast pace of judicial appointments
President Biden’s judicial nominees are being confirmed at a blistering pace. So far, 74 Biden judges have been confirmed to the federal courts. That’s 31 more federal judges than President Trump, who confirmed 43 in his first 18 months. The White House reports that Biden “has won confirmation of the most lower court judges for the first year of a presidency since the Kennedy Administration.” Part of this is because of how many judicial candidates Biden has put forward. Since taking office, the president has announced 132 nominees, the second highest number since the 1980s. Confirmations have been lightning-fast up to this point.
Senate confirms first South Asian judge to seat on Ninth Circuit
The Senate voted Thursday to confirm Roopali Desai to a seat on the Ninth Circuit, making her the first South Asian judge to ever serve on the San Francisco-based federal appeals court. With Desai's confirmation, the Senate has confirmed 76 judicial nominees to the federal bench since the start of Biden's presidency and Senate Democrats are eager to fill judicial vacancies
x President Biden just announced his 24th round of judicial nominees, bringing the total number of announced federal judicial nominees to 132.
If confirmed, this slate would include the first openly LGBT judge to serve on the District Court for the Eastern District of California. — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 31, 2022
No one can stop Dark Brandon! More judges! MORE!!!!!!!
DOJ arrests/charges four officers in the murder of Breonna Taylor
Federal Officials Charge Four Officers in Breonna Taylor Raid
More than two years after police officers killed Breonna Taylor during a late-night raid of her apartment in Louisville, Ky., the Justice Department announced a series of federal charges on Thursday against four of the officers involved in the operation that set off racial justice protests across the country. Federal prosecutors accused three officers of knowingly including false information in an affidavit used to justify the raid and a fourth officer of firing blindly into Ms. Taylor’s apartment from outside, sending bullets flying into a unit next door where an unsuspecting family slept. The indictments unsealed on Thursday do not charge either of the two white officers who shot Ms. Taylor, a Black 26-year-old emergency room technician whose former boyfriend the police were investigating for possibly selling drugs. But the charges are the most aggressive effort yet to hold police officers accountable in a case that has become a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Breonna Taylor's mother on new federal charges: 'I've waited 874 days for this'
More than two years after Breonna Taylor's death, four people have been federally charged and it feels like justice for her family and supporters. "I've waited 874 days for this," Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, said. "You all are learning what we've been saying is the truth, that they shouldn't have been there and that Breonna didn't deserve that." "The federal government had the guts to do what (Cameron) did not," attorney Lonita Baker said. Cameron has not yet reacted to Thursday's announcement. Crump said, "Thank god Attorney General Daniel Cameron did not get the last word in the death of Breonna Taylor."
New Executive Action on Abortion Rights
Biden signs new executive order on abortion rights: ‘Women’s health and lives are on the line’
President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order to help ensure access to abortion in light of the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this summer to eliminate the constitutional right to the procedure. The President said the order helps women travel out of state to receive abortions, ensures health care providers comply with federal law so women aren’t delayed in getting care and advances research and data collection “to evaluate the impact that this reproductive health crisis is having on maternal health and other health conditions and outcomes.” The order directs Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to consider “all appropriate actions to ensure health care providers comply with federal non-discrimination laws so that women receive medically necessary care without delay,” including steps to provide health care providers with technical and legal guidance amid the patchwork of state legal restrictions on abortion care following the Supreme Court’s decision.
x Breaking:
The Senate has voted 95-1to ratify Finland's and Sweden's applications to join NATO.
Josh Hawley was the lone 'no' vote. — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 3, 2022
Finnish and Swedish strengths
Record Number of Insured Americans
x New HHS analysis: The share of Americans without health insurance has hit a record-low 8% in the first quarter of the year. — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 3, 2022
Giant win for mail in voting in PA
x 🚨 BREAKING: The PAGOP Senate members that VOTED *unanimously* for mail-by-vote in 2019, then SUED to eliminate vote-by-mail, LOST.
https://t.co/cszR5V11qK — John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) August 2, 2022
On the Lighter Side
Before we go, lets not forget that the win in Kansas was the result of a TON of hard work.
Without hard work, we don’t win in November.
What can you do?
I set up a place where we can donate and the funds will be distributed evenly between the tossup House and Senate races. Think of it as a one stop shop for using your $$$ to save democracy. Here is the link:
Other things you can do to increase the amount of good that can happen:
And don’t lose hope. Together, we can do this!
I am so lucky and so proud to be in this with all of you ✊🏼✊🏾✊🏽🧡💚💛💜✊🏾✊🏽✊🏻
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