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Tag: democrats
How the White House Correspondents Dinner Broke the Democratic Party
When I was a political reporter in Washington, I used to loathe the White House Correspondents Dinner. I hated how it portrayed Beltway journalism as a game. How it reduced the project of government accountability to performative antagonism practiced daily by reporters in White House press briefings — a performance exposed annually at a dinner where the most powerful people in the world would rub elbows and yuck it up about funny “inside jokes” like George W. Bush’s bungling of the Iraq War and the media’s culpability in helping him do it.
Maybe because I was a reporter at the time, I always considered the dinner’s rottenness from the perspective of the relationship between the media and politicians, lamenting that images from the Washington Hilton of the press mingling with administration officials in black tie undercut the public’s faith in an independent media.
But the further away I’ve gotten from the experience — and the faster our republic has tumbled toward oblivion — the more I’ve considered how the dinner contributed in other, significant ways to the brokenness of our current political moment: The dinner highlights the laughable disconnect between the people in Washington with the power to do something (the dinner attendees) and the rest of us mere mortals (people largely not watching the dinner at home on C-SPAN).
The presidency of Barack Obama transformed the Democratic Party in ways many pundits already have explored ad nauseum, from a revolution in data analytics to Obama’s creation of an entire political infrastructure outside of the Democratic National Committee. Yet, the White House Correspondents Dinner, now that it’s back from its hiatus in the two years we acknowledged the ongoing pandemic as real, is also a reminder of perhaps Obama’s worst contribution to modern politics: the marriage between actual Hollywood and the “Hollywood for ugly people” known as Washington.
Democrat tax scofflaw tells billionaires: ‘Pay your taxes’
A Wisconsin Democrat who ostentatiously told billionaires this week to “Pay your taxes” turns out to be a tax scofflaw, according to a report from the Washington Free Beacon.
The report identified the Democratic Senate candidate who lectured the ultrawealthy on social media this week and who has “a history of tax delinquency” as Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.
He reportedly is a frontrunner in the primary for the Democratic Senate nomination, the report said.
But he “failed to pay his property taxes or file tax returns while running for office in 2018,” the report said. And then he “defended himself at the time by claiming that ‘most people’ don’t fully pay their taxes.”
Rhode Island Dems Submit Bill To Double State Income Tax For Parents Of Unvaccinated Minors
Rhode Island Democrats want to punish the parents of children who refused to submit to the COVID vaccine mandates.
If passed, the bill will financially cripple individuals by doubling their personal income tax and requiring them to pay a monthly fine of $50.
State Senator Samuel Bell is the lead legislator backing the bill, which mandates all Rhode Island residents, workers, and taxpayers receive a COVID-19 vaccine as well as any subsequent boosters that the state’s director of the department of health shall require.
The bill’s text can be read here.
Top Democrat Funneled More Than $200,000 In Campaign Cash To Family Members
Democratic South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn has distributed more than $200,000 in campaign funds to entities controlled by his relatives, Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show.
Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, has made 15 rental payments to a company controlled by a daughter and son-in-law, and 39 direct payments to another daughter and son-in-law. Clyburn’s grandson also appears to be a salaried employee, and has received twice-monthly payments from the Clyburn campaign since October 2021.
The disbursements were first reported by Fox News.
The Clyburn campaign paid 49 Magnolia Blossom LLC $62,500 in 15 installments from March 2020 to January 2022 for “office rent,” according to FEC filings. 49 Magnolia Blossom LLC was incorporated in 2018, with Clyburn’s son-in-law Walter A. Reed listed as the company’s agent. Walter Reed is married to Clyburn’s daughter Jennifer Clyburn Reed, whom President Joe Biden appointed federal co-chair of the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission. In addition to the funds paid to his LLC, the Clyburn campaign paid $650 to Walter Reed personally for “office maintenance lighting” in May 2021, Fox News noted.
Clyburn Reed also received significant payments from the Clyburn campaign. During her father’s successful 2020 re-election campaign, Clyburn Reed was paid $45,000, which the Clyburn campaign described in filings as a “campaign management fee.”
Walter and Jennifer’s son, Walter A.C. Reed, was employed by the Clyburn campaign as well. Walter A.C. Reed, Rep. Clyburn’s grandson, received $37,500 across eleven payments from the campaign since October 2021.
The Clyburn campaign also paid the congressman’s other daughter and son-in-law, Angela and Cecil Hannibal, a combined $90,762 for various activities dating back to 2010.
Overall, Friends of Jim Clyburn has paid Clyburn’s family members and entities they control $236,412 since 2010.
It’s Not Just Elon: The Left Whines ‘Threat To Democracy’ Whenever There’s A Threat To Their Regime
The same people who relentlessly insisted that Big Tech’s censorship campaign was totally fine are now screaming that a potential buyout of Twitter by Elon Musk poses a certified Threat to Democracy. But we’ve heard this absurd routine before, and it’s not really democracy they’re worried about. The Big Tech, big media, and big government cabal just whine about democracy being under siege when their own power conglomerate is threatened.
“I am frightened by the impact on society and politics if Elon Musk acquires Twitter. He seems to believe that on social media anything goes,” fretted The Washington Post’s Max Boot last week, after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO offered to buy the entirety of Twitter stock. “For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less.”
Former New York Magazine writer Jesse Singal had the very intelligent take that even the possibility of Musk buying out Twitter was “America’s very first 9/11,” while Salon’s Matthew Rozsa blared that “Elon Musk’s attempted takeover of Twitter is a threat to the free world.”
The idea of losing some power to silence opposing viewpoints on social media is terrifying to these people — so terrifying that in their panic they don’t even realize they’ve admitted their own gluttony for control.
Democrats who claim white supremacy is top problem ignore black racist killers
Top Democrats claim that nothing in America is more dangerous than white racism.
As President Joe Biden said Oct. 21, “According to the United States intelligence community, domestic terrorism from white supremacists is the most lethal terrorist threat in the homeland.”
“In the FBI’s view,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said June 15, “the top domestic violent-extremist threat comes from . . . those who advocate for the superiority of the white race.”
House Armed Services Committee member Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) complained that the federal government insufficiently screens “servicemembers and other individuals with sensitive roles for white-supremacist and violent-extremist ties.”
So where is all the damage from this white-nationalist army? Where are the wounds of those they have maimed and the cadavers of those they have killed?
“Charlottesville!” Biden and the Democratic left shout in unison.
Yes, James Alex Fields Jr. weaponized his car and murdered protester Heather Heyer during Charlottesville, Va.’s race riots in August 2017 — nearly five years ago.
Anybody else?
The sound you hear is grass growing.
As Team Biden searches furiously for those touched by this supposedly ubiquitous white threat, black racists scream hatred and inflict dozens of casualties, some fatal.
The NYPD says that Wednesday, a black man named Frank James unleashed a smoke bomb on a Brooklyn subway train. He then fired 33 rounds from a Glock pistol. James allegedly shot 10 commuters, and 13 suffered other injuries. Five were hospitalized in critical condition. Amazingly, no one was killed.
Democrats are “working with” Big Tech on new censorship calls
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has officially pushed for more online censorship. The DNC’s stand could compromise bipartisan Big Tech bills, according to critics.
The DNC has published a document titled “Recommendations for Combating Online Misinformation.” Notably, the document contains a plan that calls for more censorship on online platforms.
Among other things, the DNC recommended that tech companies should “enforce rules on hate speech consistently and comprehensively,” “promote authoritative news over highly engaging news in content algorithms, and “enforce a comprehensive political misinformation policy.”
Perhaps the most alarming recommendation was for companies to “establish a policy against the distribution of hacked materials.” In the weeks leading up to 2020 presidential election, Big Tech platforms like Twitter suppressed a story involving Joe Biden’s son Hunter, which, according to some, could have swayed the election. At the time, Twitter claimed the story was based on “hacked” material.
In the document, the DNC admits that it partnered with tech companies.
Colleagues Say Sen. Feinstein May Be ‘Mentally Unfit To Serve’
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is 88 and still serving in the Senate. Some colleagues are beginning to question whether she is still fit for office.
“When a California Democrat in Congress recently engaged in an extended conversation with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, they prepared for a rigorous policy discussion like those they’d had with her many times over the last 15 years,” The San Francisco Chronicle reported. “Instead, the lawmaker said, they had to reintroduce themselves to Feinstein multiple times during an interaction that lasted several hours.”
“Rather than delve into policy, Feinstein, 88, repeated the same small-talk questions, like asking the lawmaker what mattered to voters in their district, they said, with no apparent recognition the two had already had a similar conversation,” the paper said.
Of course, lawmakers don’t like to simply retire and fade away. They’ve spent their lives in the limelight and disappearing is their big fear. What’s more, when lawmakers die in office, they sometimes lay in state in the U.S. Capitol, a high honor.
But there is concern now that Feinstein is “rapidly deteriorating.”
“Four U.S. senators, including three Democrats, as well as three former Feinstein staffers and the California Democratic member of Congress told The Chronicle in recent interviews that her memory is rapidly deteriorating. They said it appears she can no longer fulfill her job duties without her staff doing much of the work required to represent the nearly 40 million people of California,” the Chronicle said in a piece headlined “Colleagues worry Dianne Feinstein is now mentally unfit to serve, citing recent interactions.”
Feinstein won’t be up for re-election until 2024, but she has filed paperwork indicating she might run again. In January 2021, she filed the initial re-election paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) last week, L.A. Magazine reported.
NY Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin Arrested in Campaign Finance Fraud Case
New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin has surrendered to authorities to face campaign finance fraud-related charges in connection with a past campaign, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
Benjamin is expected to appear in Manhattan federal court later Tuesday. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the arrest, nor could a representative for Benjamin.
His arrest comes after reports that Manhattan federal prosecutors and the FBI were investigating whether Benjamin knowingly engaged in a campaign finance fraud scheme. Subpoenas were issued in connection with the investigation, two sources familiar with the subpoenas said at the time.
The investigators also looked into whether Benjamin helped dole out state money to contributors and/or their projects as part of the alleged fraud.
Hellbound and Down 
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