Tag: republicans

Lawlessness in Texas: RINO Texas House Speaker Caught Fabricating Quorum — Caught Red-Handed Counting 40 Absent Lawmakers as ‘Present’ Breaking State Law

Under the feckless and corrupt leadership of RINO House Speaker Dustin Burrows, the Texas House of Representatives has descended into absolute lawlessness.

On Friday, the House chamber was scheduled to convene, but what unfolded was not democracy in action—it was a brazen sham orchestrated by the very person sworn to uphold the Constitution.

Speaker Burrows, a so-called “Republican,” was caught red-handed falsifying quorum by counting 40 absent lawmakers as “present” in a desperate attempt to ram through proceedings in violation of Texas law.

The Texas Constitution is clear: Two-thirds, or 100 members, must be present to establish a quorum in the 150-member chamber. And yet, Speaker Burrows, in full-blown swamp mode, attempted to manipulate the electronic voting system to fake quorum numbers, allowing business to continue unlawfully.

“There were only 63 that bothered to show up today,” said Rep. Brian Harrison (R–Midlothian), the conservative firebrand who exposed the fraud in real-time. Harrison demanded a verification vote—and the results were damning. Only 65 members could be verified. That’s not even close to the 100 required.

“House “leadership” tried to take votes anyway. I objected and demanded verification.” Harrison added.

Every member was notified over a week ago, on March 20, that Friday’s session was happening. Yet most couldn’t be bothered to show up, and Burrows tried to paper over their laziness with a lie.

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Trump’s Rule by Fiat a Bipartisan Legacy

U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest defiance of the courts — this time refusing to follow an appellate judge’s order to halt migrant deportations — has triggered another round of liberal outrage. Critics are calling it an authoritarian move, a blatant assault on the rule of law, and a warning sign that American democracy is on its last legs.

But if this is the end of democracy, it’s been ending for a long time. And not just at Trump’s hands.

The central truth we keep missing — especially on the left — is that Trump is not an aberration. He’s a grotesque continuation. The playbook he uses was written by both parties over decades of eroding democratic norms, consolidating executive power, and circumventing meaningful checks on authority. Trump didn’t invent the impulse to rule by fiat; he just brings it out into the open.

If we want to stop the next Trump, or the next expansion of executive lawlessness, we can’t keep pretending he came out of nowhere.

Consider the legal justification Trump has floated for ignoring the courts: The United States is “at war.” Therefore, he claims, wartime powers apply — even domestically, even over immigration courts. To many, this sounds like a dystopian twist. But it’s eerily familiar. Because the same logic has been used, repeatedly, by both Republican and Democratic administrations since 9/11.

Congress Granted War Powers

After the attacks on the Twin Towers, Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which gave the executive branch sweeping powers to pursue terrorism around the world. That one document has served as the legal scaffolding for 20-plus years of undeclared wars and covert operations in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere.

No further congressional approval was needed. The public never had a say. The war powers clause of the Constitution became symbolic — if not obsolete.

Former President Barack Obama inherited that framework and expanded it. His administration developed the now-infamous drone kill list, justified targeted assassinations (including of U.S. citizens) and defended the government’s right to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects without trial.

Obama didn’t officially suspend habeas corpus, but in practice, he upheld a system that made the writ meaningless for hundreds of detainees held at Bagram and Guantánamo. The position of his Department of Justice was clear: The executive has the authority to detain and kill, beyond judicial oversight, because we are at war.

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Slimy congressman is hit by multiple shocking scandals including one that involving a stillborn baby

A scandal-prone Tennessee lawmaker is facing fresh scrutiny over his campaign finances years after he fundraised $25,000 for a playground in memory of his stillborn baby that was never built.

Congressman Andy Ogles raised the cash to create a tribute to his late son Lincoln which could be used by other bereaved parents shortly after the baby’s death in 2014.

But more than a decade on and the garden has yet to materialize at the proposed spot at at Mount Hope Cemetery in Franklin.

Ogles insisted he has not spent the cash and blamed ‘government bureaucracy’ for the lack of progress when approached by the the Tennessean the year after his fundraiser launched.

Now the Maury County Republican is facing renewed questions over his campaign spending after News Channel 5 uncovered evidence he has been misrepresenting payments to various companies.

Among the findings, were tens of thousands of dollars of spending which was attributed to companies providing different services to those claimed by Ogles, the outlet reports. 

Ogles, who lives in a $1 million mansion on eight acres of land, reported a $14,000 expenditure with JL Tech Sales for 2022 and 2024 ostensibly for ‘office supplies, internet and TV services’.

However, when News Channel 5 investigated they found that the Virginia address Ogles listed for the business belonged to USA Custom Solutions, according to a man who told their reporter he works there.

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Majority Of Utah Voters Support Legalizing Marijuana, Poll Finds As GOP Leader Downplays Reform Prospects

A majority of Utah voters support legalizing adult-use marijuana in the state, according to a new poll.

The survey from Noble Predictive Insights, which was commissioned by the nonprofit Keep Utah Medical, found that 52 percent of registered Utah voters would support a ballot initiative to end cannabis prohibition, while 38 percent would oppose it.

Support for legalization was highest among Democrats (76 percent), followed by independents (61 percent) and Republicans (41 percent).

“YES wins the left and the middle and divides the right. In a red state like Utah, that’s enough to get to a solid—though not overwhelming—margin of victory,” the polling firm said in a memo.

“Over the last decade, major political victories came from a populist-traditionalist coalition: The GOP’s wings would coalesce, form a majority together, and govern. If legalization were to win, the coalition would be built from left to right—a progressive minority joining with the center and Republican moderates. This is possible—but it requires careful execution.”

Alex Iorg, co-founder of Keep Utah Medical, told ABC4 that while the results of the poll indicate that an adult-use measure could also narrowly pass, the organization is not currently planning to lead such a proposal.

“I believe the majority now support recreational use because they see it as an easier option [than] Utah’s current medical program,” he said.

“We need to make the medical program easier to navigate. Rural, disabled, and other patients need telemedicine just like [they] can do for other medications,” he said. “Out-of-state recreational dispensaries have more advertising rights than Utah in-state medical pharmacies. We have to level the playfield.”

Here’s the text of the survey question posed to voters: 

“Currently, medical marijuana is legal in Utah, but some Utahns still obtain marijuana illegally for medical and recreational purposes. Would you support or oppose a ballot initiative that legalized marijuana for all purposes—including recreational use?”

The survey involved interviews with 609 registered Utah voters from March 11-13, with a +/- 3.97 percentage point margin of error.

Asked about the prospect of advancing adult-use legalization in Utah, House Speaker Mike Schultz (R) said he has a “huge problem with turning Utah into a recreational state.”

“It’s not going to happen,” he said.

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Minnesota Republican accused of soliciting sex with 16-year-old girl

Minnesota state Sen. Justin Eichorn, a Republican, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of trying to solicit a minor.

Minnesota Public Radio reported Tuesday that the Bloomington Police Department claimed Eichorn, “who thought he was talking to a 16-year-old female,” was actually in touch with detectives. He then scheduled a meetup on Monday, where police arrested him, officials said.

MPR cited Eichorn’s biography, which states he is “an entrepreneur and married with four children.”

Senate Republican Leader Mark Johnson said he wouldn’t comment to MPR before he was able to review the information.

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, a Democrat, released a statement saying, “The felony allegation against Senator Eichorn is deeply disturbing, and raises serious questions that will need to be answered by the court, as well as his caucus and constituents.”

Local police had a different take.

“As a 40-year-old man, if you come to the Orange Jumpsuit District looking to have sex with someone’s child, you can expect that we are going to lock you up,” Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges told KSTP News.

The report also said that formal charges had not yet been filed.

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GOP Rep Unveils Bill To Prevent Federal Dollars From Subsidizing Sex Change Surgeries

Republican South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson will introduce legislation Tuesday to bar healthcare entities from using some federal dollars to subsidize sex change surgeries and hormone replacement therapies.

Johnson’s No 340B Savings for Transgender Care Act would prohibit healthcare entities from using savings under the 340B drug pricing program to offer free or discounted sex change procedures to uninsured or low-income Americans. The legislation would ensure that healthcare entities are not pushing left-wing gender ideology with savings derived from participation in the program, according to background on the bill obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Congress created the 340B program in 1992 to stretch eligible healthcare entities’ federal dollars by requiring drug manufacturers participating in Medicaid to sell discounted drugs to eligible healthcare entities, which allows them to use the derived savings to provide additional services and expand healthcare access. Some healthcare entities in blue states, such as Howard Brown Health in Chicago, Illinois, have publicized that they use their 340B savings on sex-altering procedures, including “hormone therapy, group therapy and gender-affirming surgical navigation.”

Between 2018 and 2023, 16 states funneled more than $165 million in funding to so-called “gender-transition services,” including so-called puberty blockers and sex change surgeries.

Sex-altering procedures are especially expensive for uninsured patients, ranging from up to $15,000 for just genital reconstruction, to $50,000 for genital reconstruction, facial alteration and breast removal, according to the DCNF’s previous reporting.

Individuals who undergo sex-change procedures will also need to remain on hormone replacement therapy for the remainder of their life, which can cost as much as $1,500 per year.

“The federal government should not be subsidizing hormone therapies and gender altering surgeries when our nation faces significant health crises,” according to background on the bill shared with the DCNF.

Former President Joe Biden’s administration and Democratic-led states oversaw a massive increase in taxpayer-funded child sex-change procedures, the DCNF previously learned.

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Conservative Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman on Waste Uncovered by DOGE at Education Department: ‘Money Laundering at its Absolute Best’

Conservative Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming recently appeared on Winston Marshall’s podcast and talked about the waste, fraud and abuse that’s being uncovered by DOGE.

Using the Education Department as one example, Hageman pointed out that while the department gets billions in tax dollars, very little of that money actually goes towards educating students. Where does the rest of it go?

Hageman suggests that it goes to consultants and then gets funneled back to politicians. She comes right out and calls this a form of money-laundering.

From Real Clear Politics:

WINSTON MARSHALL: So, is the DOGE program targeted at these bureaucrats? And so, how — what can you expect?

REP. HARRIET HAGEMAN: Well, let’s look at the Department of Education. The Federal Department of Education spends — has a budget of about $280 billion a year. Less than 25% goes to educating our students.

So where does the other $220 billion go? It goes to a bureaucracy. It goes to a consultant, and that consultant then donates money back to the Democrats. And then it goes to a different consultant, and then it goes to an NGO, and then it goes to—I mean, it is money laundering and money churning at its absolute best. And you can look at almost every single agency, and you will find it.

So, the brilliance of DOGE isn’t that he’s going in and cutting spending—he doesn’t have the authority to do that. We’re the ones that have the authority to do that. What I want him to do is come up with a report, go through agency by agency by agency, identify every single program that we should not be funding, put a number attached to it.

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Virginia Governor’s Veto Of Marijuana Sales Bill Would Erase Millions In Revenue For Pre-K And Drug Treatment, State Report Shows

With Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) widely expected to veto a lawmaker-passed plan to legalize retail marijuana sales in the commonwealth, a new fiscal impact statement makes clear that rejecting the proposal would mean missing out on tens of millions of dollars in annual state revenue—including for pre-kindergarten programs, community reinvestment and substance use treatment.

Annual government revenue would begin at an estimated $7.3 million in fiscal year 2026, according to the Department of Taxation, rising steadily as the regulated system got off the ground. By fiscal year 2031, the figure is projected to climb to an annual $87.84 million.

All told, by the end of fiscal 2031, retail cannabis is expected to bring Virginia nearly $300 million in total revenue.

The income would come from an 8 percent excise tax on marijuana sales and a 1.125 percent sales tax imposed under the legislation, from Sen. Aaron Rouse (D) and Rep. Paul Krizek (D).

The numbers were published on Friday in a report from the state Department of Planning and Budget.

The top-level revenue projection does not include separate, local taxes of up to 2.5 percent. Depending on how broadly municipalities implement those taxes, they could bring in up to $2 million statewide in fiscal 2026, rising to an estimated $24.09 million by fiscal 2031.

The bulk of the state money would go to community reinvestment. The Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund would receive an estimated $1.92 million in fiscal 2026, which would rise to $46.26 million in fiscal 2031.

Money would also go to preventing and treating substance use disorders. That would be about $1.92 million in fiscal 2026, rising to $19.27 in fiscal 2031.

Revenue would also fund pre-kindergarten programs (beginning at $2.56 million initially and rising to $7.72 million annually in fiscal 2031), public health programs ($320,000 initially and rising to $3.85 million in fiscal 2031) and other initiatives.

In terms of how the revenue is divided, that would change over time. Until fiscal 2027, 40 percent would fund pre-K, 30 percent would go to the reinvestment fund, 25 percent would go toward substance use disorders and 5 percent would fund public health programs. After that, 10 percent would go to pre-K, 60 percent to community reinvestment, 25 percent to substance use disorders and 5 percent to public health.

As for costs, preparing for and administering a regulated retail sales program would cost several million dollars per year—about $9.37 million total in fiscal 2026 and an estimated $9.26 annually after that.

Licensing fees for marijuana businesses would pay the bulk of administrative costs at the Cannabis Control Authority (CCA), which would regulate the adult-use retail system. During its first year, however, some funds would also need to come from the state general fund.

New expenses at CCA would include 73 more staff members as well as technology and equipment, vehicles and travel.

The Department of Taxation, meanwhile, would incur estimated costs of $468,950 during the first fiscal year of operation in order to update forms and internal systems.

State Police, meanwhile, would incur just over $200,000 annually to hire two additional staff members to conduct fingerprinting and background checks.

Despite the fiscal impact report indicating that legalizing retail sales could bring Virginia hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue over the next several years, the state’s governor is widely expected to veto the lawmaker-passed bills.

Youngkin vetoed a nearly identical proposal last legislative session, and his office has said he’s inclined to do the same this year.

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Ohio GOP Leaders Claim Bill To Roll Back Marijuana Legalization Law Doesn’t Disrespect Voters

Ohio’s Senate president is pushing back against criticism of a bill that would scale back parts of a voter-approved marijuana legalization law, claiming that the legislation does not disrespect the will of the electorate and would have little impact on products available in stores.

“My definitive message is: If you want to go purchase marijuana products from a licensed dispensary, that is going to be unchanged by Senate Bill 56,” Senate President Rob McColley (R) said on a podcast posted on Friday. “The only difference you’ll notice is the packaging may not look as appealing to children, but you’ll still be able to buy the same products.”

McColley was speaking on a The President’s Podcast, produced and published by Ohio Senate Republicans. He and host John Fortney, the communications director for the Senate GOP caucus, spent the first half of the podcast defending SB 56, which would amend the cannabis law passed by voters in November 2023.

Among other changes, the bill would halve the number of plants that adults could grow, add new criminal penalties around cannabis conduct and remove select social equity provisions in the law.

The Senate approved the proposal on a 23–9 vote last week.

Critics, such as Sen. Bill DeMora (D), who spoke against the measures on the Senate floor, contend that the plan “goes against the will of the voters and will kill the adult industry in Ohio.”

Fortney began the podcast by acknowledging “a lot of controversy around Senate Bill 56,” asserting that “all it did was preserve access to what the voters approved in November of 2023, the initiated marijuana statute, and put some safety and security parameters around it for—of all things, Mr. President—children.”

“The far left, the Democrat narrative, the narrative of the legacy media, has been, ‘Republicans are trying to take away what the voters approved,’ which is patently false,” Fortney continued. “What a lie.”

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GOP Congressman Tells Welfare Recipients To ‘Stop Buying The Medical Marijuana’ And Eating Cheetos

A GOP congressman is peddling a stigmatizing message to justify a new bill on adding work requirements for certain federal benefits, implying that it’s necessary to prevent people from buying marijuana with taxpayer dollars and lazing around on the couch while eating Cheetos.

During an appearance on Fox Business on Wednesday, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) was asked about recently filed Republican legislation that would impose restrictions on access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits—specifically mandating that able-bodied people under 65 work at least 20 hours per week in order to receive the assistance.

That’s already part of federal law, but lead bill sponsor from Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) claims his America Works Act would close “loopholes” that have been exploited in certain states.

Fallon, for his part, decided to justify the legislation by playing into cannabis stereotypes and arguing that federal dollars are going toward medical cannabis purchases by welfare recipients.

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