Tag: democrats

Illinois Will Revisit Hemp Regulation Debate Amid New Federal Ban On THC Products, Governor Says

Tucked into the spending legislation approved by Congress this week was a provision banning the sale of intoxicating hemp products—a move that could upend an industry with annual sales now into the billions.

Hemp was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill, which defined it as a plant with less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC. But the law didn’t account for total THC or other cannabinoids, creating a loophole that allowed companies to use compounds like delta-8 to make products with marijuana-like intoxicating effects. As a result, hemp-derived intoxicants have proliferated in gas stations, corner stores and other places with little to no regulation.

An amendment seeking to remove the language from the larger bill, proposed by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, was rejected in a 76-24 vote. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) voted with the majority.

Durbin said the hemp language was proposed by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky.

“Throughout my career, I’ve tried my best to protect children,” Durbin said. “He asked for further regulation of the industry to make sure their products being sold at service stations and such weren’t dangerous to kids. That’s not too much to ask. I supported his position.”

Though he opposed the bill on the whole, the hemp provision hands Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) an indirect political win. The governor earlier this year pushed in vain for legislation that would have limited the sale of delta-8 and other hemp-derived intoxicants to state-licensed cannabis dispensaries. But House Speaker Chris Welch, D-Hillside, did not call it for a vote, claiming it did not have the support of 60 House Democrats.

“In the absence of action in Springfield, Governor Pritzker supports policies to protect people, including children, from being misinformed or harmed by these products,” a Pritzker spokesperson said.

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Kentucky Governor Says Hemp Is An ‘Important Industry’ That Should Be Regulated At The State Level, Not Federally Banned

The Democratic governor of Kentucky says the hemp industry is an “important” part of the economy that deserves to be regulated at the state level—rather than federally prohibited, as Congress has moved to do under a spending bill President Donald Trump signed on Wednesday.

During a press briefing on Thursday, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) was asked whether he agrees with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) that the hemp language that advanced through the appropriations legislation poses an existential threat to the cannabis market that’s emerged since the crop was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.

“I haven’t had a chance to review the language on hemp, but hemp is an important industry in Kentucky,” Beshear said. “We should have appropriate safety regulations around it, but we should make those regulations here in Kentucky—talking to the industry and making sure that we get that balance right.”

“I think that we can protect our kids. I think that we can do the right thing to protect all of our people while not handicapping an industry that supports a lot of people,” the governor said.

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DNC Staffers Outraged After Being Told They Have to Return to Working in the Office – In February

Ken Martin, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), has told staffers that they need to come back to working in person in the office and they are not happy about it.

The order isn’t even immediate. Martin wants people to come back to the workplace in February of 2026, so people have plenty of time to prepare for this change.

The work from home policy was put in place during Covid but these folks don’t want to let go of it.

Townhall reports:

DNC Staffers in Uproar Over Return-to-Office Order With 60-Day Notice

Staffers for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) are in uproar, as the new chair, Ken Martin, announced in an all-staff meeting on Wednesday that employees are expected to return to in-person work at the DNC headquarters in February, more than two years after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Complaints began immediately, according to the New York Times, with the DNC’s union representatives describing the move, which granted a 60-day notice, as “callous” by the end of the day.

Martin addressed the complaints, telling staffers that if they didn’t like his policy, they should begin seeking new employment. According to people familiar with the meeting, the DNC chair said the return to work policy had been a “Band-Aid” that was long overdue in being ripped off.

Staffers argued that the Democrats had won the 2020 election working remotely, and that they could do the same in 2028.

“It was shocking to see the D.N.C. chair disregard staff’s valid concerns on today’s team call,” the union’s leadership wrote in a statement to the New York Times. “D.N.C. staff worked extremely hard to support historic wins for Democrats up and down the ballot last Tuesday, and this change feels especially callous considering the current economic conditions created by the Trump administration.”

They obviously let this policy drag on for way too long. Now people feel entitled to it.

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The Governor, the CEO & the FBI: Scandal Threatens New York Hospital

After taking the helm at New York’s financially troubled Nassau University Medical Center late last year, Megan C. Ryan stumbled upon something baffling in the books: a two-decade-long series of transactions engineered by New York State that may have shortchanged the hospital by a staggering $1 billion in matching funds.

As a hospital primarily serving patients on Medicare, Medicaid, or who are uninsured, the medical center qualified for federal matching grants tied to state contributions. Ryan’s discovery indicated that the state was having the medical center itself post its share of the match – for around 20 years at $50 million per year – essentially cheating it out of the state’s matching dollars. “We just couldn’t wrap our heads around how a hospital that serves the poor would be forced to put up tens of millions of dollars” in place of state funds, Ryan told RealClearInvestigations.

Ryan says she called James Dering, previously general counsel of the New York Department of Health, for a legal opinion about the financial arrangement. That opinion indicated it was improper.

What seems like a local tussle over health care has all the trappings of a bigger partisan political fight in the run-up to one of the more important races for governor next year in New York. 

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Eric Swalwell Considering a Run for California Governor

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is reportedly considering a run for California governor — a possible foil to frontrunner Katie Porter.

Two anonymous sources close to the congressman told MSNBC that he has been considering a play for the Golden State governor’s mansion with a possible announcement as early as next week.

“Swalwell declined to comment when reached by MSNBC, but a source close to the congressman, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss the private discussions, said Swalwell allies had asked him to run ‘to fill a “fighter/protector” role’ in the mold of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom,” reported MSNBC.

Should Swalwell throw his hat in the ring for governor, he will be up against former Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and businessman Stephen Cloobeck. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) has already announced he would not be running for governor.

“Earlier on Thursday, a Trump administration official referred the congressman to the Department of Justice for a potential federal criminal investigation over allegations of mortgage and tax fraud,” added MSNBC

Swalwell said in response, “As the most vocal critic of Donald Trump over the last decade and as the only person who still has a surviving lawsuit against him, the only thing I am surprised about is that it took him this long to come after me.”

A 2020 report in Axios noted that Swalwell had ties to an alleged Chinese spy, Christine Fang (a.k.a. “Fang Fang”), who had reportedly been cultivating relationships with California politicians on behalf of the Chinese government for years. Fang helped fundraise for Swalwell’s 2014 congressional election bid and helped place an intern in his office. Swalwell cut ties with her in 2015 upon advice from U.S. intelligence.

In 2021, Breitbart News reported that “the U.S. Intelligence Community currently has in its possession a classified report that includes intricate and intimate details of the nature of the relationship” between Swalwell and Fang.

In 2023, the House Ethics Committee concluded the investigation into his relationship with Fang with no further censuring.

Swalwell has denied having any inappropriate relationship with Fang, maintaining that he was a target of the Chinese government.

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Crockett: I’m Considering Senate Run — I Believe I Can ‘Expand the Electorate’

Thursday on CNN’s “The Arena,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) said she was considering a Senate run because she believed she could “expand the electorate” in Texas.

Host Kasie Hunt said, “You’re thinking about running for Senate yourself.”

Crockett said, “I am absolutely thinking about running for Senate. I’m hoping to have an answer within my inner circle, probably within the next week and a half or so. But I will tell you this, I will tell you that I completely understand those that are disappointed. I will tell you that on November 4, we won in places that we weren’t supposed to win in whether we’re looking at Georgia or whether we’re looking at Mississippi, or whether we’re looking at different parts of Virginia, where now we’re going to end up having a supermajority.”

She continued, “I will also tell you that we have a poll that is currently in the field that went into the field on yesterday. I am waiting on those results. It’s the first and only poll that I’ve put out to be able to kind of understand where I really am. I don’t want to rely just solely on third party polls.”

Hunt said, “So basically you’re polling yourself to try to make a decision about what you should do.”

Crockett said, “I’m polling to determine whether or not I can expand the electorate, and I believe that I can, but if I can’t, I can tell you for sure 100% that I will not run.”

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Judge Denies Rep. McIver’s Motions to Dismiss Assault Charges

A federal judge denied a request by Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) on Thursday to toss out charges filed against her for allegedly assaulting federal agents outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in New Jersey earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper found the congresswoman failed to show the prosecution was vindictive and that her actions were “wholly disconnected” from the oversight she claims she was conducting as a member of Congress.

McIver asked the judge to dismiss the case because her visit to Newark’s Delaney Hall immigration detention center on May 9 was protected by constitutional legislative immunity.

The New Jersey representative claims she was targeted by the Trump administration for “doing her job” by holding the administration accountable.

“We all know why this is happening,” McIver said outside the courtroom on Oct. 21. “I’m clear why this is happening: It’s because I was doing my job and I continue to do so.”

McIver did not return a request for comment about Thursday’s decision by the time of publication.

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Inside Eric Swalwell’s Bizarre 2010 Divorce: A Petty, Sketchy Preview of His Political Career Full of Red Flags

Eric Swalwell made a point of positioning himself as a high-profile Donald Trump critic and moral authority, appearing almost nightly on left-leaning TV shows for years.

However, scandal also followed him, from his alleged ties to the Chinese spy “Fang Fang” to his removal from the House Intelligence Committee over national security concerns, to his infamous on-air mishap during a 2019 interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews.

Apparently, Eric Swalwell’s public scandals didn’t come out of thin air. They were foreshadowed in his comedic and confused 2010 “Summary Dissolution” public divorce agreement with his first wife, Melissa Jane Maranda.

It reads like two toddlers fighting over toys at a garage sale. It also shows stunning levels of pettiness, questionable financial decisions, a complicated relationship with a Toyota Camry, and a $10,000 benefactor.

Most of all, it tells the political origin story of Eric Swalwell, whose life was unsurprisingly in chaos.

A Summary Dissolution

A summary dissolution is California’s “easy” divorce path, meant only for short marriages with few assets and no children. Swalwell and his then-wife qualified.

They married in 2007, separated in 2009, and had no children. But what should have been a clean, simple form filing instead turned into a petty, strangely detailed, and unusually sloppy agreement that mirrors the chaotic vibe that came to characterize Swalwell’s later political stunts.

The Strange Division of Dollar Store Items

Most summary dissolutions sum up property division in one sentence: “Household goods divided as mutually agreed.” Not the Swalwell divorce. Not even close.

Instead, the filing itemizes nearly every single object the couple owned, down to napkin rings, towels, a can opener, and serving bowls.

This was a Black Friday brawl between two people fighting over kitchen appliances.

Even the Halloween décor was treated like a high-value marital asset requiring court-level documentation.

It likely indicates a high level of contentiousness and mistrust. Swalwell demanded the napkins, napkin rings ($2.50 retail), the toaster, a warming tray, and a salad spinner.

Melissa, apparently not trusting Eric, needed in writing that she would get the can opener, the blender, a cutting knife, and the TV stand.

Next, they split sets of bowls and glassware “one-half each,” which is not normal if you are “amicably separating”.

For a man who later styled himself as a national leader and foreign-policy expert, the divorce paints a picture of stunning emotional immaturity and a comically low conflict-resolution IQ.

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Another Crockett Scandal: Democrat Blew Almost $75,000 of Campaign Money on High Living

Fox News has revealed that, in the second major money scandal involving far-left Democrat Jasmine Crockett, the foul-mouthed congresswoman blew almost $75,000 on high living.

The leftist from Texas spent the campaign funds doing the town in such places as Chicago, New York City, and Martha’s Vineyard, the home and vacation destination of the far-left, hate-Trump Democratic elite.

The wasted money isn’t a good look for Crockett. Last month she was accused of shenanigans with required disclosures of her massive stock portfolio.

Not that she cares, as her chronic outrageous behavior shows.

Cui Bono?

Though Crockett represents Texas’ 30th District, which includes big city Dallas, the kooky congresswoman flitted about not only high-flying Martha’s Vineyard, but also Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and other big cities.

“Crockett’s filings show her campaign spending $25,748.87 since January on high-end hotels and limousine services,” Fox reported:

The hotel expenses include $4,175.01 at the Ritz-Carlton and $2,304.79 at The Luxury Collection. Other hotel expenses include $5,326.52 to the West Hollywood Edition in Los Angeles, $1,173.92 to the Times Square Edition in New York City, over $2,000 to the Cosmopolitan and Aria resort in Las Vegas and $2,703.14 to the Edgartown Inn and $3,160.93 at The Coco, both in Martha’s Vineyard.

Prices for a room at the Ritz-Carlton vary, and can reach more than $2,000 per night depending on location. But the five-star West Hollywood Edition charges $687 per night for a standard room with a king bed, Kayak says.

As for other expenses, Crocket threw away $6,292.30 on limousine services. One of those services was Chicago’s Transportation 4 U.

Reported Fox:

In its client gallery on Yelp, Transportation 4 U, which says it specializes in providing “top-tier limousine experiences tailored to your needs,” posted a picture of Crockett with the caption: “We were honored to provide transportation services for Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett during her visit to Chicago.” Crockett is pictured smiling and dressed casually in a red sweater.

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Newsom’s Former Chief of Staff Indicted on Public Corruption Charges

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, was indicted by a federal grand jury on 23 charges related to public corruption, according to a Nov. 12 statement from the Department of Justice.

U.S. Attorney Eric Grant alleged that Williamson, 53, of Carmichael, California, committed bank and wire fraud, conspired to defraud the government and obstruct justice, filed false tax returns, and made false statements to investigators.

“This is a crucial step in an ongoing political corruption investigation that began more than three years ago,” Grant said in the statement. “As it always has, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to protect the people of California from political corruption.”

According to the charges, Williamson allegedly helped divert about $225,000 in funds from a “dormant political campaign” to an associate’s personal account using a money laundering scheme to fund a “no-show job” between February 2022 and September 2024.

She is also charged with conspiring to create illegitimate, backdated contracts to thwart a federal investigation into Paycheck Protection Loans made to a business he owned.

Williamson also allegedly filed false tax returns, deducting luxury purchases of home goods and handbags, as well as private jet flights and hotel stays, according to the indictment.

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