#gov shapiro

[sher-ee]

Gov. Shapiro was on fire!

[cognitiveinequality]

I am fully aware that "Avengers" edits are now borderline cringe, having gone out of style at least 2 election cycles ago, but this made me smile.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A Nebraska Republican state senator who voted for a combined anti-trans and anti-abortion bill that passed by one vote in the legislature has admitted that she didn’t pay attention to the issue.

State Senator Christy Armendariz represents the 18th District in the state.

Writing for New York magazine, journalist Lila Shapiro said that the Senator “led me to a bench in an empty hallway” to say that she “found it puzzling that a reporter from New York would come all the way to Nebraska to cover this affair.”

“I don’t watch the news or get the newspaper,” she told the magazine. “Is there anything going on I should be aware of?”

The writer told Ms. Armendariz that other states have passed other similar bills restricting trans and women’s reproductive rights and that an appeals court on the federal level in the Nebraska circuit had ruled that one of them was unconstitutional.

“So is it a big widespread thing?” she asked the writer, adding that regular Nebraska residents were unaware of the issue.

“I knocked doors for a year, and nobody brought this up,” the Senator said, adding that she wished that the legislation had never been brought to the floor.

For three months, a group of lawmakers in the state ground nearly all legislative business in the state to a halt, grabbing the nation’s attention with a remarkable filibuster to stifle a bill that would end gender-affirming care for young transgender people.

Late Tuesday 16 May, Republican lawmakers broke through, advancing a bill that not only bans gender-affirming care for trans people under 19 years old but also tacks on an amendment to outlaw abortion after roughly 10 weeks of pregnancy and hands the state’s GOP-appointed medical officer the authority to set the rules for affirming care for trans youth.

Hundreds of protesters filled the capital in Lincoln, standing outside the doors and in the gallery above lawmakers while chanting “one more vote to save our lives”; only one Senator would have had to defect from supporters of the bill to kill the legislation.

The vote – on the 78th day of a 90-day session – followed a series of manoeuvres that opponents argued were bending and breaking the rules of the state legislature to hammer through the legislation and avert the filibuster, which would allow opponents to occupy their allotted time to speak the bill to death.

“What you are attempting to do today is the lowest of the absolute lows,” state Senator Machaela Cavanaugh, who spearheaded the filibuster, told Republican lawmakers.

“You literally have to cheat at every moment of this debate in every possible way … You are allowing it to happen,” she added. “You do literally have blood on your hands, and if you vote for it, you will have buckets.”

State Senator Megan Hunt, the first openly LGBT+ member of the state legislature and the mother of a trans child, lambasted lawmakers for their “escape routes” from the capitol to avoid facing protesters.

“If you can’t go out and face them, you are not worthy,” she said. “Your legacy is filth.”

Protesters surrounded the state capitol chambers in Lincoln again on 19 May, chanting “keep your bans off our bodies” and “save our lives” as lawmakers made their final round of votes on the bill, which passed 33-15. The bill reached the exact number of votes needed to pass.

Republican Governor Jim Pillen signed it into law on Monday.

“We are working to inspire Nebraskans to get in the game so that abortion is simply unthinkable in the state of Nebraska,” Mr. Pillen said, according to WOWT.

He called the legislation “the most significant win for [the] social conservative agenda that over a generation has seen in Nebraska. I think that’s something we need to clap and shout about.”

At a show in Nebraska hours after the vote on Friday night, the artist Lizzo lambasted the legislation from the stage. “It really breaks my heart that there are young people growing up in a world that doesn’t protect them,” she said.

“Don’t let anyone tell you who you are. ... These laws are not real. You are what’s real, and you deserve to be protected,” she said.

“Hat tip to Senator Armendariz, who says she doesn’t know anything about the issue, doesn’t pay attention to current events, and wishes the bill she voted for hadn’t been introduced. It passed by 1 vote,” wrote Ari Kohen, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

“These are the people who devoted an entire legislative session to taking away people’s rights in the face of massive opposition from experts and ordinary citizens. They openly admit that none of their constituents mentioned this issue to them and they don’t know much about it,” he added. “We have a handful of legislators who care enough to listen and learn. And then we have the majority, who seem not to know or care what they’re doing as long as it feels right to them and they have the votes to do it. Awful.”

The Independent has requested comment from Ms. Armendariz.

[eastwickcommunity]

Ridership Sags, Costs Soar, but Shapiro Still Wants More Money for SEPTA

Despite exploding costs and plunging ridership, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) appears in line for another infusion of nearly $300 million in taxpayer cash.

Earlier this week, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro vowed to increase public transportation funding by $282.8 million.

“Ever since I was a state representative and county commissioner in Montgomery County, I have supported SEPTA and the critical services it offers to hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians every day,” the governor said. “SEPTA has presented plans to address safety and cleanliness throughout their system, and county officials have entertained a willingness to step up to the plate and increase their support. As a result, my administration is prepared to make a major investment in SEPTA.”

It’s yet to be determined how much local funding, if any, Delaware Valley governments will kick in.

SEPTA CEO and General Manager Leslie S. Richards praised Shapiro’s decision. She said it would help SEPTA “address our more pressing needs and…continue [to serve] our communities.” Richards previously said SEPTA might cut services by 20 percent and raise fares by 30 percent. That would raise a Quick Trip Ticket from $2.50 to $3.25 and SEPTA Key and contactless payments from $2 to $2.60.

SEPTA funding and budget issues became a major focus for Democratic politicians after the transit agency revealed that it faced a looming fiscal cliff. It burned through $1.8 billion in federal COVID money between Fiscal Years 2020 and 2023 while generating just $1.18 billion in revenue.

That’s not counting the $2 billion in annual funding from Pennsylvania taxpayers, something independent auditors said was “the largest single source of subsidy revenue.”

An additional $295 million in taxpayer funding was not included in last year’s state budget.

And still ridership numbers continue to fall short of pre-COVID levels. In October 2023, average ridership was just 67 percent of the October 2019 number. On Regional Rail, ridership was just 56 percent of the pre-COVID average.

SEPTA’s cash crunch caused Democratic U.S. Reps. Madelaine Dean, Chrissy Houlahan, and Mary Gay Scanlon to send a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg last month asking for a bailout from federal taxpayers. Democratic Sens. Bob Casey Jr. and John Fetterman signed the letter, as did Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia). “Without strong, sustained federal support, Pennsylvanians risk losing transit access entirely,” the lawmakers wrote. “As the Department of Transportation continues its critical work, we urge you to prioritize SEPTA and Pennsylvania’s transit systems.”

Now, there’s a chance that SEPTA may get a partial state bailout, if not a federal one.

That’s music to the ears of Democrats representing Delaware Valley in Harrisburg.

“From the ‘burbs to the city, SEPTA connects us to jobs, doctors’ appointments, recreation, shopping, and so much more,” state Sen. Maria Collett (D-Montgomery) posted on social media after learning of the federal lawmakers’ letter. She expressed gratitude for their “fighting for more federal dollars to keep this critical system afloat.”

State Rep. Morgan Cephas (D-Philadelphia) hoped Shapiro would go further. She said SEPTA needed even more cash to make sure more seniors and workers take mass transportation. “SEPTA alone moves over half a million people every day to their jobs, families, school, medical appointments, and more…”

The reasons for the declining ridership vary. Numerous complaints from riders to the Better Business Bureau focus on late buses or trains. Others complained that drivers focused more on beating red lights instead of serving customers.

Crime remains a big problem for SEPTA as well. Statistics show the number of disorderly conduct and public urination and defecation cases since 2019 have increased far higher than ridership, from 213 to more than 1,300 in 2022.

Robberies jumped from 118 in 2019 to 217 in 2021, while aggravated assaults almost doubled from 46 to 86 in the same period.

That meant significant increases in SEPTA expenses. Federal Department of Transportation (DOT) statistics show SEPTA spent $1.44 per passenger miles traveled on commuter rail in 2022 compared to 49 cents per passenger mile in 2013. For bus passengers, it was $2.66 in 2022 versus $1.09 in 2013. Streetcar rail was $2.87 in 2022 and only .94 cents in 2013.

Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-41) said SEPTA gets enough money.

“Supporting SEPTA’s request for increased state subsidy is a challenging argument to make, especially in light of Philadelphia District Attorney (Larry) Krasner’s inability to maintain law and order throughout America’s sixth largest city,” he said. “No amount of increased subsidy can restore customer confidence in making use of the network given the raging crime crisis Krasner perpetuates.”

The Commonwealth Foundation said the state government needs to take a new look at how it funds mass transit.

“Several years ago, state mass transit funding was moved offline into a special fund, taking a portion of sales tax revenue and Turnpike tolls to fund transit systems,” said Nathan Benefield, the Commonwealth Foundation’s senior vice president. “Unlike the General Fund, lawmakers don’t vote on this spending every single year.

“Should lawmakers examine how much state funding goes into those programs? We think they should.”

On Feb. 6, Josh Shapiro will hold his annual budget address.

[reasonsforhope]

Article

"The Democratic Party largely coalesced around Vice President Harris as its likely new presidential nominee on Monday [July 22, 2024], as she kicked off her campaign by promising to prosecute a forceful case against Republican nominee Donald Trump and defend the legacy of President Biden.

Hours after she delivered remarks laying out some of the themes of her campaign, Harris secured pledges of support from a majority of Democratic National Convention delegates, a forceful show of unity behind her presidential campaign that signals she is likely to officially become the party’s nominee next month.

“Over the next 106 days, we are going to take our case to the American people, and we are going to win,” Harris said during a visit to campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., where she was greeted by a group of energized staffers for Biden’s now-abandoned candidacy. Harris accused Trump of wanting to “take our country backwards to a time before many of our fellow Americans had full freedoms and rights.” She added, “we believe in a brighter future that makes room for all Americans.”

Biden dialed into the impromptu meeting, using his first public remarks after dropping out of the presidential race Sunday to thank his staff and ask them to support Harris with “every bit of your heart and soul.”

“The name has changed at the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn’t changed at all,” said Biden, who joined remotely from Rehoboth Beach, where he has been recovering from a case of covid. “We still need to save this democracy. Trump is still a danger to the community. He’s a danger to the nation.”

The high-energy, highly unified setting reflected the broader sentiment across the Democratic Party, in which Harris’s swift ascendancy has upended an already tumultuous and unpredictable presidential race. After being exhausted by weeks of turmoil and infighting over Biden’s prospects, relieved and newly energized Democrats across the country rushed to embrace Harris’s candidacy and unite around the goal of defeating Trump.

Less than 36 hours after Biden abruptly exited the race and endorsed Harris as his successor, hundreds of state delegates, the majority of Democratic lawmakers and governors, a group of state party chairs, and several influential interest groups threw their support behind Harris, as other potential candidates said they would not challenge her. Top congressional leaders followed suit, with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expressing support for Harris on Monday.

While a small number of Democrats have advocated an open, competitive process, Harris appeared to have an inside track Monday to quickly securing the nomination ahead of the party’s convention next month...

After celebrating the extended infighting and discord that plagued Democrats in the aftermath of Biden’s halting performance at the June 27 debate, Trump’s allies watched Monday as Democratic leaders quickly fell in line behind Harris.

“I’m excited to fully endorse Vice President Harris for the next president of the United States,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program. “The vice president is smart and strong, which will make her a good president, but she’s also kind and has empathy, which can make her a great president.” ...

Democratic Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Wes Moore of Maryland also endorsed Harris on Monday, joining a growing list of potential rivals for the nomination that instead opted to endorse her candidacy. Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, each considered potential candidates, both endorsed Harris on Sunday.

Democratic leaders on Monday unveiled a new virtual process for selecting a nominee to replace Biden that would conclude by Aug. 7, ahead of the nominating convention in Chicago next month. The dates for the virtual process will be announced on Wednesday.

The private doubts about Harris’s vulnerabilities and less-than-impressive polling numbers largely remained unspoken Monday as Democrats appeared eager to consolidate around a candidate and head off a messy competition for the nomination 106 days before the Nov. 5 election. During her visit to campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Harris was greeted by more than 100 staff members who gave her a standing ovation. The room was covered in newly printed signs that read “Harris for President,” though at least one lingering “Biden-Harris” sign stood as a testament to how rapidly the presidential race had shifted.

Campaign aides said more than 28,000 new volunteers had signed up to lend support, more than 100 times the typical number. Harris, who has been traveling around the country, planned to continue her campaign travel this week.

Trump had built an advantage in polls of key swing states and has at times appeared frustrated with Biden’s exit from the race, lamenting Sunday that he had to “start all over again” after long focusing on Biden...

Harris’s operation raised a record $81 million in the first 24 hours after Biden dropped out and endorsed his vice president, aides said. A group of tens of thousands of Black women gathered on a virtual call Sunday evening to showcase their support for Harris’s bid to become the first woman of color to be president...

Harris has already begun leaning into her background as a prosecutor and state attorney general as she began to cast the race against Trump in a new light.

“In those roles I took on perpetrators of all kinds,” she said. “Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type.”"

-via The Washington Post, July 22, 2024

[amtrak-official]

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has proposed a 5 year increase of 1.5 billion in transit funding to help prevent the fiscal cliff that Philadelphia's transit agency SEPTA has found itself in after the pandemic

[simply-ivanka]

A Minnesotan Sizes Up Tim Walz

During his tenure, student achievement has slipped, crime has surged, and state residents have fled.

By Scott W. Johnson - Wall Street Journal

St. Paul, Minn.

Tim Walz has such a bad record as Minnesota’s governor that I was astonished when he landed on Vice President Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential shortlist. As Minnesota’s Center of the American Experiment has documented, under Mr. Walz Minnesota has become a high-crime state. Student achievement has tumbled as spending on schools has skyrocketed. Per capita gross domestic product has fallen below the national average. Minnesotans have joined residents of New York, California and Illinois in fleeing their home state.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro—also on Ms. Harris’s shortlist—made sense to me. Pennsylvania is a key state. Mr. Shapiro seems to be a man of substance and would give liberal Jews a reason to vote for Ms. Harris without a guilty conscience. As a Jewish supporter of Israel, I worried that Mr. Shapiro would give the animus throbbing in the heart of the Democratic Party cover. Indeed, that animus drove a nasty intraparty campaign against him.

But Tim Walz? I’m a conservative Republican. I don’t completely understand Democrats’ ways. As an observer of Minnesota politics, however, I understand how Mr. Walz became governor. Having served six terms in Congress from a rural district, he challenged the endorsed DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party) candidate—a liberal metro-area state senator, Erin Murphy—in the 2018 DFL primary. Ms. Murphy was also challenged by another metro-area liberal, Lori Swanson, then state attorney general. With Ms. Murphy and Ms. Swanson dividing the liberal urban vote, Mr. Walz and his far-left running mate, former state Rep. Peggy Flanagan, won the primary with 41%.

On taking office in 2019, Gov. Walz was restrained by a one-seat Republican majority in the state Senate—until Covid hit in the spring of 2020. He declared a state of emergency on March 25, 2020, and ruled by decree for 15 months. He proclaimed the emergency on the basis of an allegedly sophisticated Minnesota Model projection of the virus’s course in the state. In fact, the projection reflected a weekend’s work by graduate students at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Relying on their research, Mr. Walz presented a scenario in which an estimated 74,000 Minnesotans would perish from the virus. The following week the Star Tribune reported that with the lockdown Mr. Walz ordered, 50,000 would die. Maybe it would have been preferable to address the virus through democratic means.

Having destroyed jobs and impeded life routines, including family get-togethers and church attendance, Mr. Walz finally let his one-man rule lapse on July 1, 2021. When the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center stopped counting in March 2023, the deaths of 14,870 Minnesotans were attributed to the virus. (In 2020 I successfully sued the administration for excluding me from Health Department press briefings on Covid.)

During the state of emergency, protests broke out in Minneapolis on Memorial Day 2020 following the death of George Floyd. That Thursday, rioters burned Minneapolis’s Third Precinct police station to the ground. Mr. Walz didn’t deploy the National Guard until the weekend. Riots, arson and looting throughout the Twin Cities caused about $500 million in damage.

Minnesota leads the nation in Covid fraud. Under the auspices of the Feeding Our Future nonprofit, its founder, Aimee Bock, allegedly recruited mostly young Somali men to seek reimbursement for millions of meals supposedly served to poor students and families. According to indictments handed up by a grand jury to U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger, Ms. Bock and others allegedly defrauded the state and federal government of $250 million. Ms. Bock has pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges.

Among the 70 defendants charged to date, 18 have pleaded guilty. In April the first of the cases to go to trial had seven defendants; five were convicted. The remaining cases have yet to be tried. In all, the Minnesota Department of Education oversaw the payout of $250 million to reimburse fictitious meals. The nature and scale of the fraud are staggering. Mr. Walz tried to blame state district court judge John Guthmann, who in April 2021 handled a case regarding the department’s processing of applications for reimbursements. According to Mr. Walz, Judge Guthmann ordered the state to continue payouts to the alleged perpetrators of the fraud even after the state Education Department discovered it.

In September 2022, Judge Guthmann authorized a news release titled “Correcting media reports and statements by Gov. Tim Walz concerning orders issued by the court.” The release concluded: “As the public court record and Judge Guthmann’s orders make plain, Judge Guthmann never issued an order requiring the MN Department of Education to resume food reimbursement payments to FOF. The Department of Education voluntarily resumed payments and informed the court that FOF resolved the ‘serious deficiencies’ that prompted it to suspend payments temporarily. All of the MN Department of Education food reimbursement payments to FOF were made voluntarily, without any court order.”

In November 2022 Mr. Walz was elected to a second term, and the DFL won majorities in both chambers of the Legislature. In the preceding two years the state had accumulated an $18 billion budget surplus. With the DFL in full control, Mr. Walz and the Legislature have spent the $18 billion surplus on infrastructure, education and other programs that will burden the state for years. They have also raised taxes.

Mr. Walz and his DFL colleagues have backed measures establishing Minnesota as a mecca for abortion and a “trans refuge.” The legislation prohibits enforcing out-of-state subpoenas, arrest warrants and extradition requests for people from other states who seek treatment that is legal in Minnesota. It also bars complying with court orders issued in other states to remove children from their parents’ custody for authorizing hormone treatment or surgery to alter sex characteristics.

Like so many Democrats who have kept up with the demands of the progressive agenda, Mr. Walz has “grown” in office. In his second term, he has been the most left-wing Minnesota governor since the socialist Floyd B. Olson (1931-36). I doubt that Mr. Walz could be elected to Congress in his old district, which is now represented by a Republican. The idea that he can appeal to voters who don’t already support Ms. Harris seems far-fetched.

Mr. Johnson is a retired Minneapolis attorney and contributor to the site Power Line.

[nonyayo2]

A teacher's union funneling money to democraps?

I'm shocked!

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[oldgayjew]

Pa. Senator Bob Casey has pulled his thumbs outta his ass and is trying to bull-shit his way to being re-elected for another 6 year Gravy Train vacation ...

... Casey says he's fighting the illegal invasion, battling the fentanyl flow and ready to prosecute all of the "Rich Corporations" that are raising prices ...

... between Casey and Gov. Shapiro ...

... Pa.'s farmers have more than enough manure for their gardens ...

[eretzyisrael]

by Seth Mandel

Members of the Biden-Harris administration who resigned over the president’s support for Israel against Hamas see Harris’s succession in that light. Lily Call, a former Interior Department staffer and member of the virulently anti-Israel group IfNotNow, expressed hope that Harris might enact an arms embargo on Israel. “I’ve worked for Kamala, and I know she’ll do the right thing,” Call told Politico.

Josh Paul, who resigned as a State Department point man on weapons transfers because Biden insisted on arming our Mideast allies, told Politico that Harris will probably be better (i.e. more evenhanded in her treatment of Israel and Hamas) than Biden. As I explained in December, Paul displays a remarkably aggressive ignorance on all things Middle East, and seems to have been particularly radicalized by his misreading of a story about donkeys in Gaza. This is the other reason for concern: U.S. agencies are apparently littered with a combination of entitled but inexperienced activists and historically illiterate fame-chasers. Things can easily get out of hand without a president who knows how to say “no” to them.

Yesterday on CNN, John King noted that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is being considered as a potential running mate for Harris. The fact that Shapiro is Jewish—and not part of the self-hating AsAJew movement—means “there could be some risks in putting him on the ticket.” Progressives have been relying on token anti-Israel Jews willing to publicly renounce the Jewish people. Shapiro does not appear to have the appetite to do so. King is therefore correct.

King is also correct to reject euphemistic word games. Shapiro’s Jewishness would be a target of the progressive base’s ire, even if those voters tried to hide their ignobility by using the word “Zionist” as a proxy for “Jew.”

[so-much-for-subtlety]

so Kamala will announce her veep maybe tomorrow or monday and apparently it’s down to these six white guys and I wanna know who people think it will be. also this poll for who you want to be veep (if different)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Eric Levitz at Vox:

When Vice President Kamala Harris chose Tim Walz as her running mate, many pundits lamented her decision. In their view, the Democratic nominee should have chosen a vice presidential candidate who could mitigate her liabilities, and balance out her party’s ticket — such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

After all, Harris had been a liberal senator from one of America’s most left-wing states and then had run an exceedingly progressive primary campaign in 2020. To win over swing-state undecideds, she needed to demonstrate her independence from her party’s most radical elements. And selecting the popular governor of a purple state — who had defied the Democratic activist base on education policy and Israel’s war in Gaza— would do just that. Walz, in this account, was just another liberal darling: As Minnesota governor, he had enacted a litany of progressive policies, including restoring the voting rights of ex-felons and creating a refuge program for trans people denied gender-affirming care in other states. Picking Walz might thrill the subset of Americans who would vote for Harris even if she burned an American flag on live TV and lit a blunt with its flames. But it would do nothing to reassure those who heard two words they did not like in the phrase, “California liberal.”

But there is more than one way to balance a ticket. Or so Harris’s team believes, if the third night of the Democratic National Convention is any guide. On Wednesday night, Democrats used Walz’s nomination to associate their party with rural American culture and small-c conservative moral sentiments, while remaining true to a broadly progressive agenda. Walz may not be especially distinct from Harris ideologically. But he is quite different demographically and symbolically. Harris is the half-Jamaican, half-Indian daughter of immigrant college professors who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Walz was born into a family whose roots in the United States went back to the 1800s, and raised in a Nebraska town of 400, where ethnic diversity largely consisted of several different flavors of Midwestern white (Walz himself is of German, Irish, Swedish, and Luxembourgish descent). Harris is an effortlessly cool veteran of red carpets. Walz is a dad joke that has attained corporal form.

In her person and biography, Harris represents the America that has benefited unequivocally from the transformations of the past half-century — the cosmopolitan, multicultural nation that has greeted the advance of racial and gender equality with relief, and the knowledge economy that’s taken to globalization with relish. Walz, by contrast, was shaped by the America that feels more at home in the world of yesterday, at least as it is nostalgically misremembered — a world where moral intuitions felt more stable, rural economies seemed more healthy, and the American elite looked more familiar; the America that put Donald Trump in the Oval Office, in other words. Or at least, the Harris campaign has chosen to associate Walz with all of that America’s iconography, attempting to make it feel as included in the Democratic coalition as possible — without actually ceding much ground to conservative policy preferences. The introduction to Walz’s speech Wednesday night looked like it could have been scripted by a chatbot asked to generate the antithesis of a “San Francisco liberal.” A video montage celebrated Walz’s diligent work on his family farm growing up, his service in the US military, skills as a marksman, and — above all — success as a football coach. Democrats leaned especially hard on that last, most American item on Walz’s resume. Just before the party’s vice presidential nominee took the mic, a group of his former players decked out in their gridiron garments marched on stage to a fight song (not to be confused with “Fight Song”).

[...] There is some basis for believing that Democrats might be able to win over a small but significant fraction of Republican-leaning independents by wrapping center-left policies in conservative packaging. Some political scientists have found that when moderate and conservative voters are presented with a progressive, Democratic economic policy idea — that is justified on the grounds that it will help uphold “the values and traditions that were handed down to us: hard work, loyalty to our country and the freedom to forge your own path” — some do respond favorably (as do liberal voters, who take no offense at such abstract, traditionalist pieties). Whether Walz tying himself to rural American symbology — or Harris tying herself to “Coach Walz” — will be enough to blunt Trump’s attacks on the Democratic nominee’s supposed “communism” remains to be seen. But the Democratic ticket is at least trying to make right-leaning Midwesterners feel like they belong (even if they do not think like Democrats do).

Tim Walz’s DNC speech last night reflects a broader trend of Democrats reclaiming freedom and patriotism while also selling its liberal agenda. #DNC2024 #HarrisWalz2024

See Also:

HuffPost: With Kamala Harris, It’s Cool For Liberals To Be Patriotic Again

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Pennsylvania’s public defenders are so underfunded and overburdened that the commonwealth violates the constitutional rights of more than 100,000 criminal defendants every year, the state chapter of American Civil Liberties Union claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday.

For decades, Pennsylvania has left counties to pay for attorneys to defend people facing criminal charges who can’t afford to pay for a lawyer themselves. The result is an inconsistent patchwork in which public defenders are forced to contend with unmanageable caseloads that leave them unable to properly represent clients, the lawsuit says.

The suit was filed in Commonwealth Court on behalf of 17 people, many of whom have been jailed while awaiting trial for six months or longer, claiming public defenders have failed to properly represent them and that the state has neglected its constitutional duty to provide representation.

“The inconsistent and insufficient funding of indigent defense in Pennsylvania makes us less safe,” ACLU of Pennsylvania Executive Director Mike Lee said in a news release about the lawsuit. Lee added that with the exception of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is tied with Mississippi for the lowest funded state public defender system on a per-resident basis.

The U.S. and Pennsylvania constitutions both provide the right to counsel for anyone charged with a crime and facing jail time, ACLU of Pennsylvania Legal Director Witold Walczak said.

“That right means more than a warm body with a law degree at your side; it requires an effective professional who has the time and resources to prepare a defense,” Walczak said. “Pennsylvania’s grossly under-funded system leads to overwhelming caseloads that make effective representation practically impossible, even for the most dedicated lawyers.”

The 152-page suit details the experiences of the plaintiffs and others in criminal cases where they lacked timely and adequate representation from public defenders. Most have only spoken to their attorneys once or twice and one plaintiff claims he only met his attorney because they happened to walk past while he was cutting grass outside the jail, the suit claims.

In one example, a Northampton County man sat in jail for nearly three months on charges of driving an unregistered vehicle without proof of insurance until a public defender argued for a reduction in his bail.

The suit, which is a proposed class-action on behalf of the 17 plaintiffs and others in similar situations, names Gov. Josh Shapiro, state Senate Pro Tempore Kim Ward, and House Speaker Joanna McClinton as defendants. A spokesperson for Ward said she has not received a copy of the suit and would need time to review it before commenting.

Spokesperson Nicole Reigelman noted that McClinton began her career as a public defender, and “knows firsthand the value that indigent defense plays in the judicial system.”

“Since being elected in 2015, she has used her experience as a defender to inform her policy agenda and has been an outspoken champion of legislation to improve access to legal counsel for indigent clients. Speaker McClinton celebrated when funding for indigent defense was finally included in the 2023-24 state budget and continues to advocate for additional dollars,” Reigelman said in a statement.

The current state budget included $7.5 million for indigent defense, the first time the state has provided funding for public defenders. In his February 2023 budget address, Shapiro noted that Pennsylvania is one of only two states that didn’t provide funding for public defenders, which he called a “shameful distinction.”

The suit notes that amount falls far short of providing adequate funding. It also states that every county in Pennsylvania, with the exception of Philadelphia, falls below the national average of $19.82 per resident spent on indigent defense.

Pennsylvania counties spent a total of $125 million on their public defender’s offices in 2020, while similarly-sized Michigan is budgeted to spend $319 million in 2024. Massachusetts, which is considerably smaller, budgeted $331 million.

And because counties are limited in their ability to generate tax revenue, they could not provide adequate funding without significant tax increases. The suit notes that the same factors that limit revenues, such as high unemployment, poverty and limited higher education, are also indicators of higher crime rates.

The ACLU also argues that Pennsylvania agencies have been warning for decades that the state’s delegation of funding for public defenders to the counties results in the systemic denial of counsel to criminal defendants.

A state Supreme Court study in 2003 found that sparse resources and “exploding and unmanageable caseloads” allow public defenders little time, training or assistance in communicating with clients in a meaningful way or to conduct pre-trial investigations, secure expert testimony or otherwise prepare for hearings and trials.

The report recommended that Pennsylvania institute a statewide system for funding and overseeing indigent defense. The state failed to act on the recommendation. Nearly a decade later, a legislative commission reached a similar conclusion. And in 2020 the Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness warned that the underfunding of indigent defense services cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to incarcerate and retry defendants due to failure of public defenders to represent them effectively.

In connection with the funding for public defenders as part of the 2023-24 budget, the General Assembly created the Indigent Defense Advisory Committee.

“As one of its first official acts, one of the Committee’s two proposed standards recognized that “[t]he responsibility to provide indigent defense representation rests with the state; accordingly, there should be adequate state funding and oversight of Indigent Defense Providers,” the lawsuit notes.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Seth Mandel

Yesterday on CNN, John King noted that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is being considered as a potential running mate for Harris. The fact that Shapiro is Jewish—and not part of the self-hating AsAJew movement—means “there could be some risks in putting him on the ticket.” Progressives have been relying on token anti-Israel Jews willing to publicly renounce the Jewish people. Shapiro does not appear to have the appetite to do so. King is therefore correct.

King is also correct to reject euphemistic word games. Shapiro’s Jewishness would be a target of the progressive base’s ire, even if those voters tried to hide their ignobility by using the word “Zionist” as a proxy for “Jew.”

On July 9, Meta (formerly known as Facebook) announced it would be cracking down on this game. “Going forward, we will remove content attacking ‘Zionists’ when it is not explicitly about the political movement, but instead uses antisemitic stereotypes, or threatens other types of harm through intimidation, or violence directed against Jews or Israelis under the guise of attacking Zionists,” the company wrote on its site.

Zionism is at heart a simple position in favor of Jewish civil rights. Since 1948, anti-Zionism means the destruction of the Jewish nation. There isn’t actually any gray area here. We have indeed arrived at a moment when a politician’s Jewish faith is considered a mark against him. This, a mere quarter-century after Joe Lieberman was nominated as Al Gore’s vice presidential running mate.

Both the corporate and the political worlds have opened the door to this downhill trend. A major European airline removed from its in-flight entertainment menu a show about a British Jew—not an Israeli—because they were afraid it would upset customers and/or social-media activists. The review of a book by Jewish farmers was pulled because, the editor said, “In the current, rather febrile, atmosphere I think we need to give a wide berth to anything which references Jewish people and Judaism. It just isn’t worth the hassle that will ensue.”

We can expect the ceding of a degree of policy to any figure who is sensitive to the very loud and public tantrums of progressive activists. Whatever his faults, Joe Biden ignored them when those tantrums demanded the right to persecute Jews here or abroad. Those days are over, and what lies ahead is cause for trepidation.

[1americanconservative]

Documents obtained by Greg Stenstrom and Princess Leah through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), CONFIRMS: BEYOND THE SHADOW OF A DOUBT, “It was a coup.” it was an interagency effort that overthrew the United States government on Nov 3, 2020. [FOIA] “We use their own EMAILS, their own DOCUMENTS and their own TEXTS . THEY INCRIMINATE ALL OF THEM.” And William fucken Barr was at the center of it all, And Greg naming names, IG Horowitz, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Deputy AG, Jeffrey Rosen, AG, Merrick Garland, Michigan AG, Dana Nessel … “I can say with experience, that prison will come out of it. Eventually they will go to prison. This is not something that’s going to be able to be swept aside.” And justice has already begun with the infamous criminal, PA. Gov. Josh Shapiro, a formal criminal charges have been filed for obstructing federal investigations and conspiracy in the fraud to overthrow the U.S. government.

@GregStenstrom

@hoopes_leah

[beardedmrbean]

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protestors made their way through the streets of Philadelphia Sunday night as they demanded a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. What they did outside of a Jewish restaurant drew harsh criticism from local and federal leaders.

The White House on Monday joined Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in calling what happened in Center City "antisemitic" and "completely unjustifiable." Shapiro on Sunday night called it a "blatant act of antisemitism."

The pro-Palestinian protestors gathered in Rittenhouse Square and marched through the area and University City, including the University of Pennsylvania campus.

In a Facebook post, the Philadelphia Free Palestine Coalition had urged supporters to "flood the streets" Sunday night.

Video posted on social media showed demonstrators also made their way to Samson Street, where they gathered outside the Jewish restaurant Goldie, one of several restaurants in the city owned by Philadelphia-based Israeli chef Michael Solomonov.

The group of protestors is accused of shouting antisemitic remarks, and stickers with pro-Palestinian slogans were reportedly left on the doors, though when CBS Philadelphia checked back early Monday morning they had been removed.

Video of the crowd outside Goldie was posted on social media around 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Later that night, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro released a statement on X (formerly Twitter) in response to the clip, writing, "Tonight in Philly, we saw a blatant act of antisemitism — not a peaceful protest. A restaurant was targeted and mobbed because its owner is Jewish and Israeli. This hate and bigotry is reminiscent of a dark time in history."

Shapiro said in another post that he reached out to Solomonov and the team at Goldie to share his support.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement it's "completely unjustifiable to target restaurants that serve Israeli food over disagreements with Israeli policy."

Bates continued, "This behavior reveals the kind of cruel and senseless double standard that is a calling card of antisemitism. President Biden has fought against the evil of antisemitism his entire life, including by launching the first national strategy to counter this hate in American history. He will always stand up firmly against these kinds of undignified actions."

Congressmember Brendan Boyle also weighed in Sunday night, writing, "I can't believe I even have to say this, but targeting businesses simply because they're Jewish owned is despicable. Philadelphia stands against this story of harassment and hate."

Solomonov owns multiple restaurants in the city under the banner CookNSolo, including Zahav, Laser Wolf and K'Far Cafe. Following the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, Solomonov announced he would donate 100% of all sales to Friends of United Hatzalah, a nonprofit emergency medical service.

CBS Philadelphia has reached out to the group that organized Sunday night's rally but has yet to hear back.