Tag: republicans

Freedom Caucus leader wants to limit religious freedom by barring Satanic displays in Arizona

In a bit of irony, the leader of Arizona’s far-right Freedom Caucus has sponsored a bill that clearly infringes on the right to religious freedom. 

Sen. Jake Hoffman, a Queen Creek Republican, wants to ban Satanic displays on public property in Arizona, claiming that Satanism is not a real religion, and therefore not owed protection under the First Amendment. 

Hoffman is the sponsor of Senate Bill 1279, which he’s named the RESPECT Act, short for Reject Escalating Satanism by Preserving Essential Core Traditions. 

“It’s the blatant unconstitutionality of it,” Hemant Mehta, editor of The Friendly Atheist, told the Arizona Mirror. “It just violates every intention of the First Amendment of the Constitution. 

Mehta doesn’t believe that Hoffman actually thinks that this bill will ever become law, with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs ready and willing to veto it, but that it’s simply sending a message to his followers. 

“It’s so hypocritical,” Mehta said. “This shows you how little Republicans like Hoffman actually care about freedom. He wants freedom for people like him and no freedom for people he disagrees with. It’s ridiculous.”

The bill was the subject of a heated debate during a Senate Government Committee meeting Wednesday, where Hoffman, who chairs the committee, repeatedly interrupted members of the public testifying against the bill. 

He spoke over them to correct them about what he said were their misinterpretation of it and admonished members of the audience for making faces and gestures at him and the other lawmakers on the committee. He also accused a member of The Satanic Temple of being disingenuous in her testimony, something that members of the public would not be allowed to say about Hoffman’s claims without being told they were in violation of the legislature’s rules against impugning the motivations of a lawmaker. 

The bill passed through the committee with a vote of 5-1, with the only Democrat present, Sen. Juan Mendez, of Tempe, voting against. The two other Democratic members of the committee were absent. 

Keep reading

Maryland Senators Take Up Bills To Let Police Search Vehicles Based On Marijuana Odor And Protect Gun Rights For Cannabis Patients

Maryland senators took up two GOP-led marijuana bills on Friday: one that would let police search vehicles based on the smell of cannabis and another that’s meant to protect gun rights for medical marijuana patients.

Members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee discussed the legislation during a hearing, listening to testimony in support and opposition, but did not vote on the proposals.

Sen. William Folden (R) is sponsoring the bill to authorize law enforcement searches based on marijuana odor, a measure he said attempts to “correct a wrong, an error, that the legislature made” when it passed reform legislation that was enacted last year to specifically prevent such searches given that the state has legalized marijuana.

If the smell of cannabis is emitted from a car, that’s a “strong indicator that person is in violation of law and potentially impaired at the time,” Folden said, adding that “this strong odor is definitely discernible by law enforcement and those in the community.”

Two county prosecutors also testified in favor of the measure. But drug policy reform advocates, including ACLU of Maryland Public Policy Director Yanet Amanuel, defended the current policy that bars police from conducting cannabis odor-based searches.

Keep reading

Democrat Megadonor Reid Hoffman, Who Visited Epstein Island, Donated to Ohio Senate Candidate Frank LaRose

Democrat megadonor and LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, who visited alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s island, donated to Ohio Secretary of State and Senate Republican candidate Frank LaRose.

In 2022, Hoffman donated $13,700 to LaRose. Hoffman was also once a fellow at the Aspen Institute, a George Soros-funded globalist institution described as a “retreat for the liberal elite.”

Hoffman once spent $4.5 million to work with several media firms and the anti-Trump Lincoln Project to produce ads attacking former President Donald Trump.

Hoffman, who reportedly visited alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s island, helped fund former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s (R) presidential campaign.

In May 2023, Hoffman admitted to visiting Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James, which is more infamously referred to as “Pedophile Island.”

Hoffman also backed E. Jean Carroll’s civil case against Trump.

Hoffman is one of the Democrat Party’s largest donors. He, alongside leftist billionaire George Soros, helped run the clandestine group known as the “Good Information Foundation” and is accused of election meddling.

Keep reading

GOP Lawmakers Team Up With Marijuana Prohibitionists On Resolution Calling For Research Into High Potency THC Products

GOP House and Senate lawmakers well-known for opposing marijuana reform have introduced a concurrent resolution calling on federal agencies to study the potential risks of high potency THC products.

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) filed the legislation, which they promoted alongside the leading prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) at a press conference on Thursday.

The whereas section of the measure says that “high-potency marijuana has become increasingly prevalent across the United States,” which it claims carries “greater health risks,” particularly for young people.

It goes on to say that “education and awareness programs are essential to inform the public about the potential risks associated with the use of high-potency marijuana,” and “bipartisan effort is necessary to develop evidence-based policies to address” the issue.

To that end, the resolution would express the sense of Congress that agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) should “conduct and support research on the health effects of high-potency marijuana and its impact on vulnerable populations such as youth.”

Keep reading

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.”

Keep reading

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.

Keep reading

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.

Keep reading

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.

Keep reading

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.

Keep reading

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.

Keep reading