Politics

The move comes as several GOP members confront the Alabama senator over his blanket hold on nominees.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears to pull more support from former President Trump than President Biden in a hypothetical general election matchup, according to a new…

There is no solution to the gun problem, and little more to write, because Americans are addicted to firearms.

Representative Jared Golden, from Maine’s Second Congressional District, has reversed course and says he will now support outlawing military-style semiautomatic rifles like the one used in the killing of 18 people in Lewiston this week. But neither the House nor the Senate is likely to pass such a law, and if Congress actually did, the Supreme Court, as it now exists, would almost certainly rule it unconstitutional.

Every mass shooting is a gut-punch; with every one, unimaginative people say, “I never thought it could happen here,” but such things can and will happen anywhere and everywhere in this locked-and-loaded country. The guns are available and the targets are soft.

When rapid-fire guns are difficult to get, things improve, but I see no such improvement in the future. Americans love guns, and appear willing to pay the price in blood.

Edit to add non-paywalled link: https://web.archive.org/web/20231028000212/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/opinion/stephen-king-maine-shootings.html

Walle, a Democrat and Latino, called out a Republican state lawmaker for successfully ending debate about a proposed law that would allow any police officer in Texas to deport someone who is in the United States illegally.

Justice Engoron's written order fining Trump $10,000 for targeting the Court Clerk

Get live updates from the trial of former President Trump in a $250 million fraud suit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) won the floor vote for the House speaker gavel on Wednesday, ending the weeks of stalemate and failed nominations that followed the historic ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)

In Bush’s naïveté about the magic of elections, he ignored a crucial point about democracy.

Republicans voted behind closed doors to nominate Tom Emmer for speaker of the House three weeks after Kevin McCarthy was ousted. Emmer dropped out hours later.

The whole video is pretty good. But I found this part pretty interesting as I hadn't heard it before.

Republicans have picked Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota as their nominee for House speaker as they try for a third time to fill the top leadership position and get Congress back to work.

Ellis flips.

• Five years' probation
• $5000 restitution
• Apology to the People of the State of Georgia
• Testimony cooperation agreement

The charge she is pleading guilty to is "aiding and abetting false statements and writings," in relation to the Dec 3, 2020, presentation before the Georgia State Senate committee, where Guiliani and others presented false testimony that:

• 96,000+ mail in ballots were counted falsely
• 2500 convicted felons voted,
• 66,000+ underage people voted,
• almost 2500 non-registered people voted
• 1000+ people voted registered using a PO box
• 10,315 dead people voted
• Fulton County election workers ordered a poll watcher and media to leave and continued to count votes

Ms. Ellis makes a statement to the court at ~17:00, which appears to be her apology statement to the People of the State of Georgia.

At the end of the proceedings, defense requests that Ms. Ellis be allowed to travel out of state prior to the probation being transferred to her state of residence (Florida). The State does not oppose this, and the exception is granted.

Sidney Powell has agreed to plea guilty for her efforts to overturn the 2020 election, but that doesn't mean she's going to flip on Trump.

House Republicans will hear Monday from nine lawmakers vying to be the next speaker of the House, with a candidate forum that ushers in a grueling day of voting Tuesday.

Despite warnings from New York Judge Arthur Engoron to not attack court officials, Donald Trump went on an extended rant near midnight on Sunday, lashing out at the judge who has already fined him $5000, in addition to once again attacking New York Attorney General Letitia James.In a post that compl...

Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor, leaked the tax returns of the rich to show the public how the uber-wealthy game our tax code. Now he’s facing potential prison time. They’ve nabbed the wrong criminal.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For many Americans, the Republican dysfunction that has ground business in the U.S. House to a halt as two wars rage abroad and a budget crisis looms at home is feeding into a longer-term pessimism about the country’s core institutions.

The lack of faith extends beyond Congress, with recent polling conducted both before and after the leadership meltdown finding a mistrust in everything from the courts to organized religion. The GOP internal bickering that for nearly three weeks has left open the speaker’s position — second in line to the presidency — is widely seen as the latest indication of deep problems with the nation’s bedrock institutions.

“They’re holding up the people’s business because they’re so dysfunctional,” said Christopher Lauff, 57, of Fargo, North Dakota.

Part of that business, he said, is approving money for Ukraine to continue its fight against Russia’s invasion, something he says ultimately helps the U.S. — a point President Joe Biden stressed Thursday during an Oval Office address.

Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A Manhattan Supreme Court judge on Friday fined former President Donald Trump $5,000 for violating a gag order placed on him during his civil fraud trial in New York.

"Donald Trump has received ample warning from this court as to the possible repercussions of violating the gag order," Judge Arthur Engoron said in his order Friday. "He specifically acknowledged that he understood and would abide by it.

"Accordingly, issuing yet another warning is no longer appropriate; this court is way behind the 'warning stage.'"

Engoron also threatened Trump twice with jail time if the former president violates the order again, CNN reported.

There have been several failed attempts to turn the site of the massacre into a space that honors the 49 people who were killed...

Jim Jordan fails to win speakership on third ballot and loses ground as more Republicans oppose his nomination

EDIT: Here's an NPR article with more information.

U.S. prosecutors urged a federal judge Thursday to reject former president Donald Trump’s claim of absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions he took in office, saying that he is “not above the law” and that his indictment for allegedly conspiring to block the results of the 2020 election should not be dismissed.

“No court has ever alluded to the existence of absolute criminal immunity for former presidents,” assistant special counsel James I. Pearce wrote in a 54-page filing. The filing argued that legal principles, historical evidence and sound policy reasons establish that once former presidents leave office, they are subject to federal criminal prosecution “like more than 330 million other Americans, including Members of Congress, federal judges, and everyday citizens.”

For once, the center actually held and Team Normal beat Team MAGA in the fight to find a new House Speaker.

A former lawyer for Donald Trump could soon be providing evidence against him — and not for the first time.

As much as any of her predecessors, Sidney Powell’s testimony looms very large.

Powell pleaded guilty Thursday on the eve of the first major trial involving Trump’s allegedly criminal actions, in Fulton County, Ga. Trump personally won’t face trial yet, but the trial involving Powell and fellow Trump-aligned lawyer Kenneth Chesebro was poised to be the first early test of the indictments against him. (Jury selection in Chesebro’s trial is still set to begin Friday.)

Powell pleaded to six misdemeanor counts of interfering in officials’ performance of their election duties and will serve six years of probation. But perhaps most significantly, her plea deal requires her to testify truthfully at the trials of her co-defendants — including, presumably and most notably, Trump.

Onetime Trump attorney Sidney Powell has pleaded guilty in the Georgia election interference case. Powell spread baseless claims of widespread election fraud after the 2020 contest Donald Trump lost.

Former Donald Trump attorney Sidney Powell has pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case, one day before her trial was set to start.

Edit:

Former Donald Trump attorney Sidney Powell has pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case, one day before her trial was set to start.

Fulton County prosecutors are recommending a sentence of six years probation. Powell will also be required to testify at future trials and write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia.

As part of her guilty plea, Powell is admitting her role in the January 2021 breach of election systems in rural Coffee County, Georgia. With the help of local GOP officials, a group of Trump supporters accessed and copied information from the county’s election systems in hopes of somehow proving that the election was rigged against Trump.

Her attorneys had vehemently rejected prosecutors’ claims that she orchestrated the Coffee County breach. They’ve said at pretrial hearings that prosecutors are “incorrect” and that “the evidence will show that she was not the driving force behind” the incident.

Powell is now the second person in the sprawling racketeering case to plead guilty. Bail bondsman Scott Hall last month pleaded guilty and agreed to testify at future trials. The other 17 defendants, including Trump, have pleaded not guilty.

Pro-Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro’s trial is slated to begin Friday with jury selection.