Tag: republicans

Ohio Senate Republican Candidate Frank LaRose Took Over $1 Million in ‘Zuck Bucks’ to Help Run 2020 Election

Ohio Senate Republican candidate and Secretary of State Frank LaRose took more than $1 million in funding from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s election nonprofit to help run the November 2020 election.

LaRose announced his Senate bid on Monday, making him the third prominent Republican hoping to unseat Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

LaRose actively sought more than a million dollars in funding from Zuckerberg’s Center for Election Innovation and Research as some Republican officials questioned whether or not to take the grants. A local outlet reported in September 2020:

But Ohio lawmakers on Monday without debate approved accepting $1.1 million from the Center for Election Innovation & Research, a Washington D.C. nonprofit. That money will pay for radio, TV and digital ads describing absentee voting procedures, combatting misinformation, poll worker recruitment and other items, according to a request submitted by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican.

Ray Weber, a local Republican, said, “I just have a real problem with private organizations getting involved with funding and dictating what we’re supposed to do.”

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War? 25 Red States Rally ‘Round Texas As Battle Brews With Biden Over Border

A coalition of red states has rallied around Texas, after Governor Greg Abbott invoked the state’s constitutional right to self-defense due to the migrant crisis, which he deemed an ‘invasion.’

As End Wokeness notes, a coalition of 25 Republican governors have signed a joint letter in support of the Texas resistance.

The support began on Wednesday, with Governor Kevin Stitt tweeting: “Oklahoma stands with Texas.”

“TX is upholding the law while Biden is flouting it,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

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Georgia GOP Proposes RICO Expansion for “Loitering” Protesters

WHEN THE STATE of Georgia indictedOpens in a new tab 61 Stop Cop City activists on racketeering charges last year, it mangled the meaning of “racketeering” beyond recognition. In the indictment, prosecutors cited typical social justice activities, such as “mutual aid,” writing “zines,” and “collectivism,” as proof of criminal conspiracy and raising money for protest signs as grounds for money laundering charges.

Just as it seemed that Georgia Republicans couldn’t push the state’s broad Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, statute any further, GOP state senators introducedOpens in a new tab a bill on Friday that would significantly expand the reach of the Georgia RICO law, with blatantly repressive designs.

Former President Donald Trump and his allies currently face the highest profile RICO charges in Georgia for attempting to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. Trump’s case, however, is a political outlier when it comes to the increasedOpens in a new tab deployment of RICO charges in recent years, as it takes aim at a truly powerful cohort engaged in the very paradigm of conspiracy. While this is the purported intention of RICO laws — first introduced in 1970 to target mob bosses — recent uses of Georgia’s statute have involved casting Atlanta public school teachersOpens in a new tab as organized criminals for altering test scores and claimingOpens in a new tab that the lyrics of Black rap artists can indicate potential violent gang involvement.

The newly introduced Senate Bill 359, or S.B. 359, sponsored by 10 Republican state senators, makes clear that the Georgia GOP intends to continue using RICO as a tool for sweeping criminalization and repressive prosecutions. The proposed law would include low-level misdemeanors, such as “loitering” and placing posters in unpermitted places, as crimes to which RICO charges and hefty enhanced penalties could apply. The bill also includes “political affiliation or belief” as a factor for enhanced penalties in certain circumstances.

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Wisconsin GOP Medical Marijuana Plan Raises Concerns About Cost, Patient Accessibility And Federal Conflict, Advocates Say

Wisconsin Assembly Republicans’ limited medical marijuana legalization proposal poses several concerns related to cost, accessibility and potential conflicts with the federal government that lawmakers should consider, policy experts told the Wisconsin Examiner.

The proposal by Assembly Republicans would create the Office of Medical Cannabis Regulation in the Department of Health Services. The office would maintain a registry of patients and caregivers who could purchase medical cannabis products from one of five state-run dispensaries. Access would be limited to patients with certain medical conditions, and available products would include oils, edibles and pills but exclude anything smokeable.

The bill has been received critically by Senate Republicans, who have brought up concerns about the state-run dispensaries and expansion of government that would result. Nevertheless, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) has said that the Assembly will move forward with the bill.

“I don’t really want to amend or to change a bill based on what somebody thinks…could happen,” Vos said last week during a press conference. “I’ve tried that before, usually unsuccessfully, which is why I want to get a bill through the Assembly where we can get the votes to be able to show that we support the concept and then let the Senate act as it will.”

Vos said the Assembly will likely vote on the bill in February.

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Oklahoma proposal would make watching porn a felony, ban sexting outside marriage

An Oklahoma state senator has proposed a law that would make watching pornography a felony and ban sexting among people who are not married.

The bill, set to be introduced next month by state Sen. Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin), would prohibit consuming or producing sexual content that “lacks serious literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific purposes or value” in any medium.

The measure defines “obscene material” as the depiction or description of any “acts of sexual intercourse,” including those that are “normal or perverted, actual or simulated.”

Content depicting sodomy and masturbation would also be off the table, in addition to videos, movies, video games and text messages that involve “sadomasochistic abuse” and “acts of excretion in a sexual context.”

Under the measure, pictures of human genitals or women’s breasts would also be banned as well as “lewd exhibition” of the “buttocks.”

It would carry prison sentences of up to a year and $2,000 fines.

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Kentucky GOP bill paves the way for ‘deadly physical force’ against the homeless

Republicans in Kentucky are cooking up new legislation that would pave the way for property owners to deploy “deadly physical force” against homeless people.

Vice reports that the bill, known as the “Safer Kentucky Act,” says that physical force against homeless people is “justifiable” if a property owner believes that criminal trespass, robbery or unlawful camping are occurring on their property.

Additionally, “deadly physical force” can be justified if the property owner believes a homeless person is trying to “dispossess” them of their property.

Lyndon Pryor, the CEO of the Louisville Urban League, tells Vice that the legislation will likely have deadly consequences for the homeless in his state.

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Kentucky Republican Pushes Bill to Make Sex With First Cousin Not Incest

A Kentucky Republican introduced legislation that would amend the state’s law so a person who had sex with their first cousin would no longer be criminally liable for incest, before withdrawing it and claiming an error was made during the drafting process.

House Bill 269, which state Representative Nick Wilson sponsored, was introduced on January 16 to the House Committee on Committees. According to the Kentucky General Assembly website, it would have struck “first cousin from the list of familial relationships” defined as unlawful incest in the state. In a statement sent to Newsweek, Wilson described this as a “mistake” in a wider bill intended to extend legal protection against incest, which he’d withdrawn and refiled leaving the “first cousin” reference in place.

Wilson, then a 27-year-old public defender, first shot to prominence when he won the 37th season of the CBS reality TV show Survivor in 2018, called Survivor: David vs. Goliath, before returning for the 40th season, featuring the winners from previous shows in 2020. In November 2022, Wilson ran unopposed for the 82nd District of the Kentucky House after Republican incumbent Regina Huff retired.

Kentucky law states that a person is guilty of incest if they engage in sexual relations with a person they know to be “his or her parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, great-grandparent, great-grandchild, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, brother, sister, first cousin, ancestor, or descendent.” The initial amendment introduced by Wilson, if passed, would have removed first cousin from this list.

Both the initial and updated version of Wilson’s bill would also amend Kentucky law on parole for violent offenders to include a person “who has been convicted of incest by sexual contact” within the definition.

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GOP Virginia Governor Doesn’t Have ‘Any Interest’ In Legalizing Marijuana Sales Under New Democrat-Led Bills

As Virginia Democrstic lawmakers renew their push to legalize marijuana sales, the Republican governor says the issue isn’t something he’s personally interested in advancing this year.

While advocates are hopeful that commercial legalization could move through both chambers of the legislature, which are now controlled by Democrats, the remarks from Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) indicate that the plan might not be enacted into law even if it is approved by the House of Delegates and Senate.

Following his State of the Commonwealth address on Wednesday, Youngkin was asked about the prospects of further cannabis reform.

“I just don’t have a lot of interest in pressing forward with marijuana legislation,” he told reporters.

Cannabis is “an area that I really don’t have any interest in,” the governor said.

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Wisconsin Republicans Unveil Plan To Legalize Non-Smokable Medical Marijuana With State-Run Dispensaries

Wisconsin Republicans have unveiled a plan to legalize non-smokable medical marijuana through state-run dispensaries staffed by government-employed pharmacists, with a limited set of conditions that could qualify patients for the program.

At a series of press conferences across the state on Monday, GOP state lawmakers detailed the much-anticipated legislation, which would make Wisconsin the “first state to have state-run dispensaries,” operated by the Department of Health Services (DHS).

As expected, the proposal would create a restrictive system that limits patients to smokeless cannabis options such as oils and gummies. People with qualifying conditions would be eligible to receive a doctor’s recommendation and access the products, which would be sold at five dispensaries across the state.

“We’ve come up with a program I think is going to be very beneficial to a lot of Wisconsinites,” Rep. Jon Plumer (R) said, while acknowledging that the state-controlled dispensaries component is a key area “where our program is different” than other medical marijuana states.

The qualifying conditions include cancer, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), glaucoma, severe chronic pain, muscle spasms, chronic nausea, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, Alzheimer’s disease and terminal illness with less than one year life expectancy.

While the dispensaries would be state-run, growers and processors would be independently operated if they obtain a permit from the state. The pharmacists who dispense the cannabis to patients would be “state employees,” Plumer said.

“We think we have a good program put together. It’s going to be probably modified over the years as we learn about it—as we realize we have changes we should probably make,” he said. “But I think we’re at a really strong starting point here.”

Rep. Tony Kurtz (R) said the proposal underscores how Republicans are “leading to have a great opportunity to introduce a much-needed program with medical cannabis with controls.”

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Democrats Want Over 130 Republicans Banned From Holding Office

More than 130 Republicans have faced challenges to their eligibility to serve in office based on their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in recent years.

Donald Trump has said the 2020 election was stolen from him because of widespread voter fraud, despite a lack of evidence. Critics say these allegations culminated in a number of failed attempts to block Joe Biden‘s victory—including the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, when Trump supporters violently stormed the building to try to block Congress from certifying Biden’s Electoral College win.

Critics also say those involved in the riot should be barred from holding office, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. It states that those who took an oath to defend the Constitution and went on to engage in “insurrection or rebellion” should not be permitted to hold “any office, civil or military, under the United States.”

Since the 2020 election, at least 134 Republicans, including Trump, have faced legal challenges questioning whether they are qualified to hold office. None of these challenges have been successful.

Newsweek reached out to the Republican National Committee for comment via email.

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