#gubernatorial appointments

[townpostin]

BJP stalwart Santosh Gangwar appointed Jharkhand Governor

Political veteran among nine new gubernatorial appointments Former Union minister and BJP leader Santosh Gangwar takes on new role as Jharkhand Governor, part of a major reshuffle across nine states announced by President Murmu. RANCHI – President Droupadi Murmu has named former Union minister Santosh Gangwar as Jharkhand’s new Governor in a late-night reshuffle. President Droupadi Murmu’s…

[mariacallous]

Republicans are thrashing around trying to get themselves out of the abortion ban they have tried to win for so many decades. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was the first. In the fall of 2022, just months after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, he proposed legislation calling for a national abortion ban after 15 weeks. So far, this bill has gone nowhere. Then, in 2023, gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin of Virginia put the 15-week abortion ban at the center of his campaign to help the GOP take full control of the Virginia legislature. Rather than holding one house and picking up the other, he lost both. Recently, former President Donald Trump—who often brags about appointing the three Supreme Court justices who made possible the repeal of Roe v. Wade—offered his own way out of the thicket by applauding the fact that states now can decide the issue for themselves. And in Arizona, the Republican Senate candidate, Kari Lake, is trying to rally the party around the notion of a 15-week ban instead of the 1864 near total ban their court just affirmed, even though she’s facing criticism for this on the far right. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal came out with a poll showing that abortion was the number one issue—by far—for suburban women voters in swing states.

In each instance (and there will be more) we find Republicans desperately trying to find a position on the issue that makes their base and the other parts of their coalition happy.

It doesn’t exist, and here’s why—abortion is an integral part of health care for women.

Since 2022, when the Supreme Court eviscerated Roe in the Dobbs case, we have been undergoing a reluctant national seminar in obstetrics and gynecology. All over the country, legislators—mostly male—are discovering that pregnancy is not simple. Pregnancies go wrong for many reasons, and when they do, the fetus needs to be removed. One of the first to discover this reality was Republican State Representative Neal Collins of South Carolina. He was brought to tears by the story of a South Carolina woman whose water broke just after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Obstetrics lesson #1—a fetus can’t live after the water breaks. But “lawyers advised doctors that they could not remove the fetus, despite that being the recommended medical course of action.” And so, the woman was sent home to miscarry on her own, putting her at risk of losing her uterus and/or getting blood poisoning.

A woman from Austin, Texas had a similar story—one that eventually made its way into a heart-wrenching ad by the Biden campaign. Amanda Zurawski was 18 weeks pregnant when her water broke. Rather than remove the fetus, doctors in Texas sent her home where she miscarried—and developed blood poisoning (sepsis) so severe that she may never get pregnant again. Note that in both cases the medical emergency happened after 15 weeks—late miscarriages are more likely to have serious medical effects than early ones. The 15-week idea, popular among Republicans seeking a way out of their quagmire, doesn’t conform to medical reality.

Over in Arkansas, a Republican state representative learned that his niece was carrying a fetus who lacked a vital organ, meaning that it would never develop normally and either die in utero or right after birth. Obstetrics lesson #2—severe fetal abnormalities happen. He changed his position on the Arkansas law saying, “Who are we to sit in judgment of these women making a decision between them and their physician and their God above?”

In a case that gained national attention, Kate Cox, a Texas mother of two, was pregnant with her third child when the fetus was diagnosed with a rare condition called Trisomy 18, which usually ends in miscarriage or in the immediate death of the baby. Continuing this doomed pregnancy put Cox at risk of uterine rupture and would make it difficult to carry another child. Obstetrics lesson #3—continuing to carry a doomed pregnancy can jeopardize future pregnancies. And yet the Texas Attorney General blocked an abortion for Cox and threatened to prosecute anyone who took care of her, and the Texas Supreme Court ruled that her condition did not meet the statutory exception for “life-threatening physical condition.”

So, she and her husband eventually went to New Mexico for the abortion.

Obstetrics lesson #4—miscarriages are very common, affecting approximately 30% of pregnancies. While many pass without much drama and women heal on their own—others cause complications that require what’s known as a D&C for dilation and curettage. This involves scraping bits of pregnancy tissue out of the uterus to avoid infection. When Christina Zielke of Maryland was told that her fetus had no heartbeat, she opted to wait to miscarry naturally.

While waiting, she and her husband traveled to Ohio for a wedding where she began to bleed so heavily that they had to go to an emergency room. A D&C would have stopped the bleeding, but in Ohio, doctors worried that they would be criminally charged under the new abortion laws and sent her home in spite of the fact that she was still bleeding heavily and in spite of the fact that doctors in Maryland had confirmed that her fetus had no heartbeat. Eventually her blood pressure dropped, and she passed out from loss of blood and returned to the hospital where a D&C finally stopped the bleeding.

These are but a few of the horror stories that will continue to mount in states with partial or total bans on abortion. As these stories accumulate, the issue will continue to have political punch. We have already seen the victory of pro-choice referenda in deep red conservative states like Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, and Ohio; and in swing states like Michigan and in deep blue states like California and Vermont. In an era where almost everything is viewed through a partisan lens, abortion rights transcend partisanship.

And more referenda are coming in November. The expectation is that at least some, if not most, of the pro-choice voters likely to be mobilized by the abortion issue will help Democrats up and down the ballot. As a result, Democratic campaigns are working hard to make sure the public knows that Republicans are responsible.

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

November 17, 2023

Brother-in-law of Stacey Abrams charged with human trafficking

Brother-in-law of Stacey Abrams, federal judge Leslie Abrams' husband charged with human trafficking.

Jimmie Gardner is married to Leslie Abrams, a Georgia Federal Judge appointed by Obama. Leslie Abrams is on Joe Biden's short list for a judicial appointment.

Gardner lives and works in Georgia where he served as a motivational speaker and emotional intelligence trainer for students for those formerly incarcerated. 

Jimmie Gardner spent 27 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting an elderly woman.

TAMPA, Fla. — The brother-in-law of two-time Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and the husband of Georgia Federal Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner is facing human trafficking charges.

On Friday, Jimmie Gardner, 57, was arrested in Tampa, Florida after a 16-year-old girl said she had been involved in sexual acts with him inside a hotel room.

Tampa police say the teenage girl told them that Gardner contacted her just before 1:45 a.m. and invited her to his hotel room and she accepted.

Once there, Gardner reportedly offered the girl money for sex. She initially agreed, but when she changed her mind, she said he became angry and began choking her.

After he stopped and left the hotel room, she called 911.

By the time police arrived, Gardner was gone. He was arrested just a few hours later, according to jail records.

He’s charged with human trafficking, lewd or lascivious touching of a minor and battery.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Anti-government agitator Ammon Bundy must pay an Idaho hospital more than $50 million for defaming it and targeting it with protests while it cared for an associate’s grandson—who was taken into protective custody after child welfare officials determined he was malnourished.

In March of last year, Bundy was arrested for trespassing outside of St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center, where 10-month-old “Baby Cyrus” was being treated. The then-gubernatorial candidate organized a week-long protest, claiming Cyrus was “medically kidnapped” over a “missed non-emergency doctor’s appointment.”

Two months later, St. Luke’s hospital filed a defamation suit against Bundy and Diego Rodriguez, the child’s grandpa and an activist in Bundy’s far-right People’s Rights Network (PRN). The complaint also named their companies, including Rodriguez’s Freedom Man Press, which posted Baby Cyrus “kidnapping videos.”

A jury delivered its verdict on Monday: Bundy, Rodriguez, and their companies would owe $26.5 million in compensatory damages and nearly $26 million in punitive damages.

Erik Stidham, an attorney for St. Luke’s, told jurors he thought the hospital deserved at least $16 million. “My hope is that you will look at this and you will deter (Bundy) in a way that he hasn’t been deterred yet,” Stidham said in closing arguments, according to the Idaho Statesman. He added that Bundy’s and Rodriguez’s entities were a “massive ugly machine built to make money and radicalize people.”

Known for armed standoffs with law enforcement, Bundy was a consistent no-show throughout the legal proceedings. In April, a judge issued a default judgment against Bundy and Rodriguez for failing to respond to the suit, leading Bundy to put out an emergency alert that falsely claimed cops surrounded his home and that beckoned his PRN disciples to show up to defend him.

As a result of the default, jurors in the two-week trial were tasked with deciding what damages Bundy and Rodriguez owed to the hospital system. They heard testimony from doctors and administrators about the men’s mob stoking fear among patients and families in the emergency room, and Life Flight pilots refusing to land at the facility, fearing shots from the armed crowd on the ground.

One pediatrician told the jury about the danger she believed Baby Cyrus was in: He allegedly couldn’t sit up, had a distended stomach and sunken eyes. “In my opinion, if he had been allowed to go home with his parents and continue on the trajectory he was on, he would have died,” Thomas testified, according to the Idaho Statesman.

Another doctor testified that Rodriguez’s website called her a “child trafficker,” and that she believed her family's safety was in jeopardy because of the online attacks.

“Today’s verdict is a moment of real accountability for Ammon Bundy and his reckless campaign against St. Luke’s,” said Lindsay Schubiner, Programs Director at the Western States Center, who was among the groups monitoring extremism to celebrate the outcome.

“His decision to target St. Luke’s and to use inflammatory, dishonest rhetoric about the hospital’s actions endangered both staff and patients. This verdict shows that the courts have the ability to treat this kind of threat with the seriousness it deserves.”

While Bundy and Rodriguez haven’t stepped foot in court, they’ve publicly commented on the controversy since the case was filed. “I’ve tried everything I could to make peace with St. Luke’s executives” and their attorneys, Bundy said in one February video, in which he shows off a pile of legal mail. “But they’ve rejected every offer of peace, every token of peace that I’ve offered to them. And they’ve actually come after Diego and I even harder.”

The lawsuit reveals St. Luke’s hospital sought punitive damages, and an award of at least $250,000 to each of the plaintiffs—which include a hospital executive, doctor, and nurse practitioner—from each of the defendants. If granted, Bundy, Rodriguez and their companies would have been on the hook for $7.5 million in damages.

“So what did these people do to earn this money, to deserve this money? Well, they participated in taking Baby Cyrus from his loving and caring parents,” Bundy said in his video. “And what did Diego and I do to deserve everything we own and more stripped from us? Well, we said bad things about them for taking Baby Cyrus away... things that were exposing them.”

Bundy then went on to conflate offerings of gender-affirming care for children at St. Luke’s to the hospital’s treatment of Cyrus, and noted St. Luke’s received millions from donations and COVID relief funds. “And what are they using it for?” he said. “They’re using it for things like child sex changes and to pay high-dollar attorneys to come after their political enemies.”

On July 10, the day the civil trial began, Bundy posted a letter to a new judge presiding over the trial. “Please, do not give rich and powerful people false justification to destroy my life,” Bundy wrote. “Please do not sanction a war that may end in innocent blood and require others to bring justice upon those who are responsible for shedding it.”

“May God bless you with the strength to do what is right and to let the consequences follow,” he concluded. “In the sacred name of Jesus Christ I write this letter.”

The conflict with St. Luke’s had become so antagonistic that Bundy was accused of threatening process servers and local deputies who delivered court papers, and one doctor expressed concern that witnesses would be too intimidated to participate in the case.

In his February video post, Bundy warned followers that St. Luke’s was trying to have him arrested. While a judge issued a warrant for Bundy in April over alleged witness intimidation, authorities never came for the 47-year-old provocateur. The Gem County sheriff, in a letter filed on the docket, said he didn’t want to risk deputies’ safety “over a civil issue.”

At one point, Bundy even appeared to threaten a standoff over the legal battle. “They’re probably going to try to get judgments of over a million dollars and take everything they have from me,” Bundy told one local news site in December. “And I’m not going to let that happen. I’m making moves to stop that from happening. And if I have to meet ’em on the front door with my, you know, friends and a shotgun, I’ll do that. They’re not going to take my property.”

For his part, Rodriguez challenged St. Luke’s lawyers on his Freedom Man website, writing that he was giving them “the chance to win in the court of public opinion.”

“You can win my public apology. You can win my retractions. You can get the pages on my website that you want taken down, REMOVED without a judgment or legal order. You can even get $50,000 for St. Luke’s right now. All you have to do is show the world where I have published any FACTUALLY inaccurate information, as I’ve already stated,” Rodriguez wrote.

But the hospital evidently wasn’t going to be cowed by far-right extremists.

In a fourth amended complaint, St. Luke’s argued that Bundy and Rodriguez were aiming to “benefit financially” and boost their political brands by launching a “knowingly dishonest and baseless smear campaign” against it. This campaign, the suit alleges, “claimed Idaho State employees, the judiciary, the police, primary care providers, and the St. Luke’s Parties engaged in widespread kidnapping, trafficking, sexual abuse, and killing of Idaho children.”

The lawsuit argued that Bundy and Rodriguez used Cyrus’ case “to spread their lies and further their agendas,” as they portrayed themselves as “crusaders” against their manufactured “state-sponsored child kidnapping and trafficking ring.” The men, according to the suit, directed their followers to dox and harass St. Luke’s employees.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez is accused of lying to followers about Cyrus’s care, claiming the baby had a “100% clean bill of health” when authorities took him into custody and that his parents had only missed one doctor’s visit. He also falsely claimed a St. Luke’s pediatrician had reported the parents to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

The trouble began when Bundy and his flock entered the hospital’s ambulance bay at around 1:30 a.m. on a Saturday in March, the complaint says; they began cursing at staff and police, blocking patients’ access to the facility and filming the episode for social media.

“Recognizing that Bundy’s followers were growing more numerous and menacing, a hospital supervisor tried to reason with Bundy and deescalate the situation,” the complaint says. “For the benefit of those there to film him, Bundy responded by accusing the supervisor of kidnapping and then demanded that he give Bundy the Infant.”

“Bundy knew full well he had no legal authority to make that demand because he had no parental rights over the Infant.”

Cops arrested Bundy about a half hour later for refusing to move. After his release from custody, Bundy quickly began to publicize his confrontation and later beefed up a “false narrative” about St. Luke’s, the lawsuit states. (Bundy took a plea deal in the trespass criminal case, receiving a $1,000 fine and suspended 90-day jail sentence.)

The lawsuit lists a slew of defamatory statements from Bundy and Rodriguez, including that the hospital was “world famous” for “killing people” and “stealing babies from their parents” and that it forced Cyrus to ingest a “toxic poison.” Bundy also allegedly claimed that St. Luke’s had targeted the baby because of Bundy’s objection to COVID “corruption.”

The hospital argues the duo’s stunt disrupted its operations and harmed staff and patients. According to the suit, the men called on their devotees, many of whom were armed, to protest in front of the hospital for a week before Cyrus was released. Rodriguez “became a daily presence,” holding press conferences outside the building, the complaint says.

Rodriguez would go on to solicit $115,000 in donations by falsely claiming the hospital was “performing unnecessary medical tests and treatments” to prolong the baby’s time in the hospital and extort the uninsured parents, the lawsuit continues. (The hospital, however, claims that Medicaid covered Cyrus’s bills and his family “never paid anything for and owe nothing for the care” received at St. Luke’s.)

Bundy’s campaign allegedly caused St. Luke’s to go on lockdown for more than an hour and for patients to be routed to other facilities. The followers also flooded St. Luke’s phone lines and email accounts with menacing communications and death threats.

But the alleged smears didn’t stop after Cyrus went home. St. Luke’s argues that Bundy and Rodriguez continued to capitalize on the episode, creating a group called “People Against Child Trafficking” and holding a rally where they further defamed the hospital, comparing its employees to “feudal lords” practicing “primae noctis.”

The complaint highlights the men’s possible financial windfall in their war against the hospital, noting that Bundy generates funds “by marketing himself as an anti-government, quasi-religious leader” through his 60,000-member PRN and uses at least two corporate entities: Dono Custos, Inc. and Abish-husbondi. Inc.

“The potential revenue to Bundy is significant,” the lawsuit says. “If each member of PRN annually contributes just $50 to Bundy through Dono Custos, Bundy could pocket more than $3,000,0000 [sic] per year.” It adds that entities owned by Bundy and Rodriguez received money from Bundy’s gubernatorial campaign.

As for Rodriguez, the complaint adds, money streams in through his Freedom Tabernacle, “which purports to be a church but is used as an entity to receive contributions, dues, or payments from members of PRN.” According to the legal filing, the church requires “members ‘tithe’ 10% of their earnings.” Another of Rodriguez’s entities, Power Marketing, hawks “three-day ‘training’ courses” for $15,000 per student.

“In fact, even after the Infant was returned to the Infant’s parents,” the suit alleges, “Rodriguez and Bundy have continued to exploit the Infant by incessantly marketing the Infant and his likeness through social media and alternative media to promote PRN, Bundy in campaign advertising, and Rodriguez and his multiplicity of sales schemes.”

[robertreich]

The Election Deniers on the Ballot: What You Need to Know

Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans allies who tried to overturn the 2020 election results are now just one step away from taking control of the election process itself.

BUT we can stop them if we turn out in full force for November’s midterms.

If we don’t stop them from taking over the election process, we can kiss what’s left of our democracy goodbye.

This fall, 60% of voters will have an election denier on their ballot, including key battleground states that decided the 2020 election and will be pivotal in 2024. Many are running for positions like secretary of state, where they'll have power to determine which votes get counted in future elections — and which don't.

In 37 states, secretaries of state are the chief elections officers — overseeing things like election infrastructure and voter registration. In 2020, they were the last line of defense for our fragile democracy, upholding Joe Biden’s win despite heavy pressure  from proponents of Trump's Big Lie.

But now, Big Lie proponents are vying to hold this key position in important swing states.

In Michigan, the GOP candidate for Secretary of State is Kristina Karamo  — who rose to prominence in conservative circles after claiming to have witnessed election fraud as a pollster. She’s also previously claimed that Trump won the 2020 election and that Antifa was behind the January 6th insurrection.  

In Arizona, Mark Finchem, a QAnon-supporting member of the Oath Keepers militia who participated in the January 6 insurrection cruised to victory in the GOP primary by claiming that “Donald Trump won.”

In Nevada, Jim Marchant won his Republican primary by making Trump's baseless claims of election fraud a cornerstone of his campaign. He also falsely claims that mail-in voting is rife with fraud and wants to eliminate it altogether in Nevada, despite the fact that he himself has voted by mail MULTIPLE times over the years.

We simply cannot have MAGA election deniers overseeing any element of our elections.

But it’s not just secretaries of state who will be able to pull trickery in future elections. Governors also play a critical role in certifying votes and upholding the will of the people. Which is precisely why Trump and Steve Bannon have had their eyes on running election deniers in these races.

In Pennsylvania, Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano — who was also at the Capitol on January 6th and has been subpoenaed by Congress for his involvement in the insurrection — helped lead the push to overturn the state’s 2020 results. If he wins, Mastriano would appoint Pennsylvania’s top election official.

In Arizona, GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake has said she does not recognize Joe Biden as the nation’s legitimate president — adding that she would not have certified Arizona’s 2020 election results had she been governor.

In Wisconsin, Tim Michels is the Trump backed candidate for governor who still questions the results of 2020 and won’t say whether he would certify the 2024 presidential election. Right now, elections in Wisconsin are administered by the bipartisan Wisconsin Election Commission. But if Michels wins, he supports scrapping the commission in favor of a plan that could tilt oversight of the state’s elections into the hands of Wisconsin Republicans.

These extremist gubernatorial candidates also support abortion bans, openly denegrate the LGBTQ community, oppose common sense gun-control measures, and want to chip away at the rights of workers.

Ultimately, if any of these candidates wins their election this fall — governors or secretaries of state —  that could be enough to tip the balance in a tight presidential election.

So how can we fight back?

First, spread the word about the GOP's extremist plans to capture the election process and entrench minority rule. Make sure your friends and family — especially young voters — know what’s at stake in the midterms this fall. It will mean a lot coming from you. Make sure they register AND vote down the entire ballot.

Next, get involved locally. Volunteer to be a poll worker or join a campaign for a candidate running to protect democracy where you live. From school boards to secretaries of state, every position matters.

And of course, vote! Check your registration early and make a plan to cast your ballot.

The future of our country and our basic rights hang in the balance. All progress rests on maintaining our democracy. Let's get to work.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The political earthquake in Florida.

On Monday, the Florida Supreme Court issued three decisions that will reshape the landscape of personal liberties in Florida. In the process, a state supreme court dominated by DeSantis appointees may have put Florida in play in the presidential and US Senate elections.

In brief, the Florida Supreme Court upheld a six-week abortion ban signed by Ron DeSantis, approved a reproductive liberty amendment to the Florida constitution to appear on the November ballot, and approved an initiative legalizing marijuana to appear on the November ballot.

The ruling approving the six-week ban is effectively a replay of the reasoning in Dobbs—except worse. Five DeSantis appointees overruled a 35-year-old precedent that held the privacy clause in the Florida constitution protected reproductive liberty. What changed under Florida law to justify overturning decades of precedent?

Nothing.

Except that the members of the Florida Supreme Court changed by gubernatorial appointment. If the law is entirely dependent on the personal political views of the justices, there is no certainty, predictability, or rationality in jurisprudence. As Mark Joseph Stern writes in Slate,

“What’s exasperating about the Florida Supreme Court’s decision is that, unlike the U.S. Constitution, the Florida constitution explicitly guarantees a right to privacy.”

The decision is devasting for the women (and men) of Florida. It will become effective in 30 days. Although SB 300 says that abortions are prohibited “after the gestational age of 6 weeks,” an earlier law states that gestation is calculated “from the first day of the pregnant woman’s last menstrual period.”

In effect, the ruling prohibits terminations of pregnancy only two weeks after most women recognize they have not started menstruating “on schedule” (in parenthesis to recognize that there is no single “schedule” for all women).  

For a discussion of the Florida Supreme Court’s decision, see Chris Geidner, Law Dork, Florida high court upholds abortion ban — and puts abortion on the ballot. As usual, Chris takes a deep dive into the majority opinion by the Florida Supreme Court—and some of the objections in the dissenting opinions.

But the decision may be short-lived. The same court approved a voter-led initiative to amend the Florida constitution to enshrine reproductive liberty—setting up an epic battle between a DeSantis-packed court and the people of Florida. See Mark Joseph Stern in Slate, Florida will now be ground zero for the abortion wars in 2024.

Stern writes,

But a bare majority [of the Florida Supreme Court] also let Florida voters have the final say on reproductive freedom, teeing up a momentous battle over personal liberty in a presidential election year. If that were not enough, the majority also defied DeSantis’ crusade to prevent marijuana legalization from going to the voters, giving residents the chance to greenlight recreational sales long after many other states have made the move.

Florida remains a red state dominated by Republican lawmakers and judges. And the consequences for women in Florida and the surrounding area will be horrific in the coming months. But Democrats could not have asked for a better set of issues to campaign on.

Indeed, within hours of the Florida Supreme Court’s trio of rulings, the Biden-Harris campaign released a memo saying that it believes it can win in Florida. See NBC News,  Biden campaign says it sees Florida as 'winnable' in 2024.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[antoine-roquentin]

corollary to the prior post:

The New Yorker article notes that William Newsom III, the father of the current governor, was also advisor to the son of the richest man in the world in the 1950s, Gordon Getty. In fact, Gordon and William (and John Paul Getty Jr.) grew up together and went to the same Jesuit prep school, St Ignatius. 4 years above them was future San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, 4 years below was future California governor Jerry Brown. Newsom III owed his appointment as judge to Brown in 1975 a year after Brown’s electoral win, where he quickly made good on the governor’s hippie style by ruling the Bohemian Club in violation of anti-discrimination statutes by not hiring women as employees, calling to mind Nixon’s famous remarks (the Grove is the Club’s yearly camp).

William Newsom III in turn owed his fortunes to his father, William Newsom II’s, patronage of a young Pat Brown, Jerry’s father, whose 1943 run for San Francisco District Attorney he financed to the tune of $5,000 obtained from his construction magnate father. In turn, he was Pat Brown’s campaign manager for his 1962 victory over Richard Nixon. This was a repayment for the 1960 transferal of expensive land in the Squaw Valley from the state to Newsom II, which Brown engineered with his gubernatorial powers.

Another St. Ignatius classmate was Paul Pelosi. His brother Ron ended up marrying Newsom III’s sister, Barbara, while he, of course, married the scion of a prominent Baltimore political family, Nancy D’Alesandro. Over the decades, these families became quite intertwined, sharing board memberships on charities and companies around the state. In turn, Billy Getty, son of Gordon, became quite close with current California governor Gavin, who was his best man at his wedding and opened a wine store with him. The duo are seen here with another Getty grandchild, Peter:

And while Gavin was mayor of San Francisco, he was a patron of then-District Attorney Kamala Harris, godmother of Billy Getty’s son.

Of course lots of people have discussed monopoly capitalism and interlocking boards of governance and how they restrict the functioning of creative destruction. It’s a straightforward contradiction that capital becomes more closely tied in a few hands even as it spreads outwards and decimates traditional social relations. However, I do think it’s important to talk about in the context of an article that gives the impression of the Getty family and the California government as opposed when in fact they are closely aligned in numerous hypocritical ways.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

Long read, but there's a lot of interesting stuff I never knew here. For instance, it's been against the law for the GOP to watch polls for the last 40 years.

Part of the reason Republicans hadn’t more effectively fought the election integrity battle before now is somewhat shocking. The 2020 contest was the first presidential election since Ronald Reagan’s first successful run in 1980 in which the Republican National Committee could play any role whatsoever in Election Day operations. For nearly 40 years, the Democratic National Committee had a massive systematic advantage over its Republican counterpart: The RNC had been prohibited by law from helping with poll watcher efforts or nearly any voting-related litigation.

Democrats had accused Republicans of voter intimidation in a 1981 New Jersey gubernatorial race. The case was settled, and the two parties entered into a court-ordered consent decree limiting Republican involvement in any poll-watching operation. But Dickinson Debevoise, the Jimmy Carter-appointed judge who oversaw the agreement, never let them out of it, repeatedly modifying and strengthening it at Democrats’ request.

Debevoise was a judge for only 15 years, but he stayed 21 years in senior status, a form of semi-retirement that enables judges to keep serving in a limited capacity. It literally took Debevoise’s dying in 2015 for Republicans to get out of the consent decree. Upon his passing, a new judge, appointed by President Obama, was assigned the case and let the agreement expire at the end of 2018.

Here are some other quotes about what's been done to secure elections since 2020

Before mounting successful lawsuits, however, better laws had to be passed — a difficult task in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election, when Democrats claimed any criticism of how that election had been run was unacceptable and possibly criminal. That campaign, designed to suppress efforts to bolster election security, continues to this day. Nevertheless, Republican lawmakers in dozens of states began pushing for election reforms. 

For example, bans on so-called Zuckbucks, the private takeover of government election offices, were passed and signed into law in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Six Democrat governors vetoed attempted bans, understanding how key Zuckerberg’s funding was to Democrat success in 2020. The governors of Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin all vetoed the bans. Wisconsin’s governor, currently in a tight election, vetoed twice. The Kansas legislature overrode the veto.

The resulting contrast between election integrity in some of these battleground states could not be clearer. Take Pennsylvania, for instance, a pivotal swing state where the Democrat governor vetoed the legislature’s attempted reforms. Its partisan Supreme Court meanwhile issues conflicting guidance, resulting in disparate treatment of ballots depending on the county they’re cast in. Elections here are high in irregularities and low in voter trust.

Meanwhile, the Foundation for Government Accountability worked with states to make policy changes to clean voter rolls, ban ballot trafficking, secure ballot custody, roll back Covid waivers, enact penalties for election lawbreakers, require chains of custody, secure drop boxes, pre-process absentee ballots, improve absentee voter ID, and dozens of other types of reforms.

Florida has been working steadily to improve its election system since the disastrous 2000 election. Last year, that meant banning Zuckbucks. This year, those changes included “requiring voter rolls to be annually reviewed and updated, strengthening ID requirements, establishing the Office of Election Crimes and Security to investigate election law violations, and increasing penalties for violations of election laws.”

And here's a few about litigation that's been going on

The RNC got involved in 73 election integrity cases in 20 states for the midterms, with plans to expand. They won a lawsuit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson for restricting the rights of poll challengers; got Maricopa County, Arizona, to share key data about its partisan breakdown of poll workers; won an open records lawsuit against Mercer County, New Jersey, for refusing to share election administration data; won a lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections for restricting the rights of poll watchers; and reached a favorable settlement against Clark County, Nevada, in which the county agreed to share information about its partisan breakdown of poll workers on a rolling basis.

For instance, RITE sued over controversial Wisconsin Elections Commission guidance that conflicted with state law, telling election clerks to accept ballots that had been spoiled, and won the case. It was also part of the group that successfully sued Pennsylvania over whether ballots that failed to be dated, as required by state law, could be counted. 

Give the whole thing a read. And remember to get out and vote tomorrow

[nicklloydnow]

“Donald trump should have seen it coming. He arrived on May 25th at the Libertarian Party’s national convention in Washington, DC, hoping to expand his support, but the crowd mostly responded with boos. Attendees lacked enthusiasm for a protectionist who added $8.4trn to America’s national debt. They also spent the weekend squabbling among themselves. After losing presidential races for more than half a century, the Libertarian Party is facing an identity crisis.

(…)

The most intense divisions are about strategy. The hardline Mises Caucus (named after Ludwig von Mises, a pro-market Austrian economist) has dominated the party’s leadership since 2022 and adopted populist rhetoric. The group was responsible for inviting Mr Trump, as well as Robert F. Kennedy junior, an independent candidate, to speak at the convention. The debate about whether to invite the outside candidates at times seemed more heated than the Libertarians’ own presidential-nomination fight. On May 24th, the convention’s first day, one attendee yelled into the microphone, “I would like to propose that we go tell Donald Trump to go fuck himself!” The crowd cheered.

“I would rather us focus on the Libertarian candidates,” said Jim Fulner, from the Radical Caucus. “I’m fearful that come later this summer, when I’m working the county fair, someone will say, ‘Oh, Libertarians, you guys are the Donald Trump people.’” Nick Apostolopoulos, from California, welcomed the attention Mr Trump’s speech brought—and said his presence proved “this party matters, and that they have to try and appeal to this voting bloc.”

Few believed that Mr Trump won much support. He promised to appoint a Libertarian to his cabinet and commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht, who is serving life in prison after founding the dark-web equivalent of Amazon for illegal drugs. The crowd responded positively to Mr Trump’s nod to a Libertarian cause célèbre, but booed after he asked them to choose him as the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee. Mr Trump hit back, “If you want to lose, don’t do that. Keep getting your 3% every four years.”

Mr Kennedy was more disciplined, tailoring his speech to the crowd by highlighting his opposition to covid lockdowns. Even so he received a cool reception. Libertarians want a candidate who will promise to abolish, not reform, government agencies.

The reality is that Libertarians are more interested in positions than personalities. The exception may be the broad admiration for Ron Paul, a retired Republican congressman whom many cite as their lodestar. But at 88 Mr Paul has achieved the difficult feat of being considered too old to plausibly run for president.

(…)

But the party is far from unified. Given the choice between Mr Oliver and “none of the above”, more than a third of the delegates preferred no one. It remains uncertain whether the party’s candidate will appear on the ballot in all 50 states, as several previous nominees have. If the Libertarian candidate has any influence on the presidential election this year, it will be as a spoiler in a close-run swing state.

Mr Oliver’s victory marked a rare defeat for the Mises Caucus. But the re-election of Angela McArdle, a Mises Caucus member, as the national party chairperson is perhaps more important to the future of the movement. Ms McArdle faced criticism for her decision to invite outside candidates to speak. Controversy over the Mises Caucus had led several state delegations to split, and much of the convention’s floor time was eaten up over fights about whom to recognise. The rise of the Mises wing of the party has led more pragmatically minded members to largely give up on the project of advancing libertarian ideas by building a political party.

The party struggles on big stages, such as in presidential, gubernatorial or Senate contests. Yet it occasionally wins municipal elections, leaving some to wonder whether national activism is pointless or even counter-productive. Why would Libertarians invest time in a hopeless race for president when they could direct their energy to fighting a local sales tax or antiquated laws restricting alcohol sales?

(…)

The party faithful believe that national and local activism are not mutually exclusive. Elijah Gizzarelli won fewer than 3,000 votes when he ran for governor of Rhode Island as a Libertarian two years ago, but he argues that the party has a long record of success—so long as the definition of success expands beyond winning elections. He says the party succeeds by shifting the “Overton window”, or the spectrum of political ideas that are generally considered acceptable.”

[lboogie1906]

Pastor John Sella Martin (September 27, 1832 – August 11, 1876) escaped slavery in Alabama and became an influential abolitionist and pastor in Boston. He was an activist for equality before the American Civil War and traveled to England to lecture against slavery. When he returned, he preached in Presbyterian churches in DC.

He returned to the South, working during the Reconstruction era in education in Alabama and Mississippi. A Republican, he became a politician in Louisiana and 1872 was elected to the state legislature from Caddo Parish. The gubernatorial election was fiercely disputed, and the state legislature was taken over by the Democrats, en route to regaining control of the state government. He had an appointed position with the Post Office and wrote for the Louisianian newspaper.

He was born enslaved in Charlotte. His mother was enslaved, and his father was her white master. At the age of six, his mother and his only sister were taken to Columbus, Georgia where they were sold. His mother and sister were purchased by one man and he was purchased by a free African American man named Horace King.

His new owner was an old bachelor. He served him in the capacity of a valet de chambre until the age of eighteen. They resided in one of the principal hotels in Columbus, and he was allowed to learn how to read and write, as well as be exposed to a more worldly view. He met travelers from throughout the US and Canada at the hotel, as well as their servants. When his master died, he was set free by his will. His relatives contested the will, forcing him to remain in bondage. They had him sold during the settlement of the estate and he was taken to Mobil.

After escaping slavery in Alabama in 1856, he made his way to Canada. He settled in Boston, considered a center of freedom for African Americans.

He entered the ministry and became minister of the First Independent Baptist Church (1860-62). He was active in the abolitionist movement and worked to achieve equality for the races. His wife helped the Fugitive Aid Society in support of escaped enslaved.

He married Sarah Ann Lattimore (1958) they had two children. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[townpostin]

Jharkhand Governor Departs for Maharashtra Role

CM Soren bids farewell at airport; Santosh Gangwar to be sworn in July 31 Governor CP Radhakrishnan leaves Jharkhand to assume new role as Maharashtra Governor, with CM Hemant Soren extending best wishes. RANCHI – Governor CP Radhakrishnan departed from Jharkhand on Tuesday to take up his new position as Governor of Maharashtra. Chief Minister Hemant Soren bid farewell to Radhakrishnan at Birsa…

[mariacallous]

Dianne Feinstein, the oldest member of the U.S. Senate and the longest-serving senator from California, has died at age 90, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News on Friday.

The Democrat’s passing marks the end of a boundary-pushing political career that spanned more than half a century, studded with major legislative achievements on issues including gun control and the environment.

Feinstein had planned to retire at the end of her current term in 2024.

Feinstein’s death leaves vacant her powerful Senate seat, requiring Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint a temporary successor.

A San Francisco native, Feinstein cleared a path for women in politics as she rose the ranks of leadership. After two failed bids for mayor, she was elected president of San Francisco’s board of supervisors in 1978, becoming the first woman to hold the title.

Feinstein was made acting mayor of the city later that year, after then-Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, her colleague on the board of supervisors, were assassinated by Dan White, a former member of the same board.

In later interviews, Feinstein recalled finding Milk’s body and searching for a pulse by putting her finger in a bullet hole.

Feinstein was the first to announce the murders to the press. She was appointed mayor a week later, again becoming the first woman elevated to the office.

The tragedy had the side effect of jumpstarting Feinstein’s political career, but the trauma of the day stuck with her even decades later. 

“I never really talk about this,” Feinstein said with a sigh when asked about the murders in a CNN interview in 2017.

Her streak of firsts continued at the national level. Feinstein lost a gubernatorial bid in 1990, but two years later won a special election to the U.S. Senate, becoming California’s first female senator.

Weeks later, the state’s second female senator, Barbara Boxer, was sworn into office, making California the first state in the U.S. to be represented in the Senate by two women. 

Their 1992 elections helped define the “Year of the Woman,” in which four Democratic women were newly elected to the Senate — more than doubling the chamber’s female representation.

In the Senate, Feinstein clinched some of her biggest legislative achievements. She wrote and championed the 1994 assault weapons ban, both a landmark bill and a continuation of a career-long effort to enact stricter gun controls. 

The legislation passed Congress and was signed by then-President Bill Clinton, albeit with major compromises including a 10-year sunset provision. The ban expired in 2004 during the administration of George W. Bush.

She also sponsored bills that protect millions of acres of California’s desert, worked to create a nationwide AMBER alert network, helped reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and fought for the release of a lengthy report detailing the CIA’s torture practices, among other accomplishments.

[dankusner]

Abbott visits Fort Worth to swear in slate of new Texas business court judges

With hands raised and in black robes, Gov. Greg Abbott swore in 10 judges to the newly created statewide business courts at a ceremony at Texas A&M University School of Law in downtown Fort Worth.

The new courts, which were made possible by the passage of House Bill 19 during the 2023 legislative session, will handle certain high-value business disputes of at least $5 million in some cases and more than $10 million in others.

https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/HB00019F.htm

“It’s about time,” Abbott said, speaking to a law school lecture hall filled with judges, attorneys and lawmakers. “We are speeding up the process — the decision-making process — in business cases. (We’re) doing that by reducing the caseload in the preexisting courts (that) will also help them decide their cases a whole lot faster.”

On Sept. 1, five court divisions opened in Fort Worth, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston, according to the state court’s website.

Abbott this summer appointed two judges to each division for two-year terms.

The new courts give the governor the opportunity to appoint judges in the state for the first time.

The fee to file a case is $2,500.

As of Sept. 19, there were eight cases filed in the state’s business courts, according to a Bloomberg Law search.

The 8th business court division in Fort Worth is based inside the Texas A&M School of Law building in downtown, where the courtrooms and judges’ chambers will reside.

“This provides just one more reason for out-of-state companies to move to the state of Texas, but (the business courts are) also going to provide a way for (A&M Law) students to interact with these courts, and with the fact that you’re connected with the business community,” said Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp.

Advocates for the formation of business courts said the new courts will reduce backlog and allow judges who are familiar with complex legal matters to oversee cases.

Andrew Zeve, a partner at White & Case, a global law firm that specializes in corporate transactions and litigation with offices in Houston, co-wrote an explainer article on the Texas business courts.

He says that a lot of state court judges were already very capable of handling legal matters before, but the new business courts could help.

“It certainly doesn’t hurt knowing that you’re going to go to a judge that has a background in the specific type of case you’re working on,” said Zeve, a trial lawyer who specializes in complex commercial disputes and intellectual property litigation. “I do perceive that these judges will help alleviate some congestion on the dockets in the busier cities.”

Zeve also expects that judges in these courts will more often issue written opinions — currently a rare occasion in state district courts.

“That’ll help clarify Texas law on issues and complex litigation, because having more jurisprudence out there can only help,” said Zeve.

Left to right:

Texas A&M University School of Law Dean Robert Ahdieh,

Judge Brian Stagner,

Gov. Greg Abbott and

Judge Jerry Bullard pose for a photograph after the ceremony on Sep. 19, 2024, at Texas A&M University School of Law.

Abbott appointed two business attorneys with decades of litigation experience to the Fort Worth division:

Jerry Bullard of Colleyville

and Brian Stagner of Fort Worth.

Bullard, who has three decades of experience in state and federal litigation in both trial and appellate law, is a shareholder and attorney with Adams, Lynch and Loftin, P.C. in Grapevine.

He is a gubernatorial appointee on the Texas Juvenile Justice Department Board and a member of the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee. He received his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.

Bullard has donated $750 to Abbott since 2014, according to the political donation tracker OpenSecrets.

Stagner, a former partner at Kelly, Hart and Hallman and an adjunct professor in business law at Texas Christian University, has over two decades of experience in state and federal complex business litigation.

He has experience with consumer class action, corporate governance, unfair business practices and other areas.

He has represented major business clients in manufacturing and technology, obtaining multi-million dollar verdicts and serving as co-counsel on a trademark case that won around $56 million.

He received his law degree from Texas Tech University School of Law.

“This partnership of the Texas business court and Texas A&M is just the start across multiple industry sectors from hypersonics and urban agriculture to gaming and the treatment of rare diseases,” said Robert Ahdieh, dean of the Texas A&M University School of Law and chief operating officer of Texas A&M Fort Worth.

He says that bringing the business courts to the city is just one aspect of the collaborations that Texas A&M Fort Worth will bring. Once complete, the expanded downtown campus will have a “tremendous impact” in Fort Worth, North Texas and beyond, Ahdieh said.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Republicans would rather rationalize away Herschel Walker's alleged abortion scandal than ever admit they backed the wrong candidate, a GOP strategist said of the Georgian's too-late-to-bail-out predicament.

"Conservatives will look at it as he's still the lesser evil on policy," the GOP fundraiser, who requested anonymity to speak freely about the fast-approaching midterm elections, told Insider of race between the embattled Trump-backed candidate and incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.

The GOP fundraiser rightly predicted that MAGA supporters would rally around Walker by arguing that if he gave an ex-girlfriend money in 2009 to cover a single abortion that's still better than allowing Warnock to divert taxpayer dollars to funding all abortions.

"They'll say that Warnock wants to take YOUR money to pay for abortions … which makes him a bad person and unfit for the Senate," the GOP fundraiser said, adding that the political shamelessness is "just a continuation of Trump."

Less than two hours later conservative commentator Dana Loesch advanced that very narrative.

"IF true, Walker paid for one broad's abortion compared to Warnock who wants your tax dollars to pay for EVERY broad's abortion-as-birth control with no limitations," the former NRA spokeswoman wrote online, adding, "This isn't a difficult choice and conservatives shouldn't look to the left to validate their vote."

Other Walker supporters skirted the abortion issue altogether, casting blame anywhere else.

"Herschel Walker has denied these allegations in the strongest possible terms and we stand firmly alongside him," Mallory Carroll, a spokeswoman for Women Speak Out PAC, a super PAC associated with anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement. Carroll added that her organization would continue campaigning against the "extremism of Sen. Warnock and Stacey Abrams," the latter being the Democratic gubernatorial nominee challenging incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp this fall.

The Georgia Republican Party billed the allegations against Walker as political theater.

"Democrats will do anything to distract from their own abysmal record of rising inflation, an open border and a decimated middle class," Georgia GOP spokeswoman Danielle Repass told Insider.

'WALKER CAN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ABORTION NOW'

Andra Gillespie, an associate professor of political science at Emory University, said the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade this summer opened up new lines of attack for Georgia candidates.

Gillespie said Walker's campaign had leaned into painting Warnock as a hypocrite for using his position as a minister to preach abortion rights from the pulpit. But she suspects that strategy is done for.

"Walker can't say anything about abortion now," Gillespie told Insider, adding that she fully expects to see Christian Walker's scathing social media posts denouncing his father dominating the airwaves through election day.

"I'm almost certain if there will be some type of digital ads that will include Christian Walker's Twitter rants," Gillespie said.

The Senate race stands out not only because of Walker's sky-high name recognition as a former University of Georgia football standout who won the Heisman Trophy in 1982, but also due to the implications of a GOP win in the state — which in recent cycles has been more receptive to backing statewide Democratic candidates.

Walker's opponent, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, is running for his first full term in office after winning a Senate runoff election last year to fill the remaining term of GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson, who stepped down in 2019.

In capturing the Senate seat last year, Warnock defeated then-GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who had been appointed by Kemp and was seen as candidate who could appeal to both Republican women in the Atlanta suburbs and conservatives in the more rural parts of the state.

But Democrats had compelling candidates in Warnock — the senior pastor of Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church — and former investigative journalist and 2018 House candidate Jon Ossoff.

Buoyed by President Joe Biden's victory in the state over Trump in 2020 — the party continued to use their robust turnout operation in the 2021 runoffs, allowing Warnock to unseat Loeffler and fueling Ossoff's win over then-GOP Sen. David Perdue.

Republicans, stung by the losses, are eager to regain their dominance in the state, and a Georgia Senate win represents one of their best ways to get there.

[ejesgistnews]

Top Nigerian Newspaper Headlines online Today, What are the top Nigerian Newspaper Headlines for Today?  Staying updated on the latest developments in Nigeria is essential, especially in today's fast-paced world. Here are the top 10 Nigerian newspaper headlines for August 27, 2024, that capture the most significant news across the country. From breaking stories to in-depth analyses, these headlines reflect the top news in Nigeria this morning. Whether you're interested in politics, business, or social issues, these latest Nigerian newspaper headlines will keep you informed. Dive into the top stories in Nigeria today and stay ahead with the latest updates. The latest Nigerian headlines for August: Here are ten top headlines from Nigerian newspapers for today, Tuesday, August 27, 2024: 1). President Tinubu Appoints New Directors-General for NIA, DSS: President Bola Tinubu has appointed new Directors-General for Nigeria’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Department of State Services (DSS). Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed is the new Director-General of the NIA, while Mr. Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi is the new Director-General of the DSS. These appointments follow the resignation of the previous NIA and DSS chiefs. President Tinubu expects the new security chiefs to reposition the agencies for better results and tackle the country’s security challenges through enhanced collaboration with sister agencies. FG to launch equivalent of NYSC program for NCE graduates   2). Nigerian Govt Bans Underage From Registering for NECO, WAEC Exams: The Federal Government has enforced an 18-year age limit for candidates taking the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) conducted by WAEC and NECO. This policy aims to ensure students have spent the requisite years in each educational phase before taking these crucial exams.   3). INEC Refutes Claims of PVC Sales to Politicians Ahead of Edo Gubernatorial Election: The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has strongly denied allegations that its officials are involved in selling Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in Edo State ahead of the September 21 Governorship Election. INEC emphasized that the process of issuing PVCs is transparent and strictly regulated, and any uncollected PVCs cannot be used to vote. Nigerian Newspaper Headlines – Top 10 News Stories You Should Read This Morning, August 26, 2024 4). Resident Doctors Begin Warning Strike to Protest Colleague’s Abduction: The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has commenced a seven-day warning strike to demand the release of their colleague, Dr. Ganiyat Popoola, who has been held captive for eight months. The strike is total, with no concessions or emergency care during this period.   5). EDO: Appeal Court Affirms Ighodalo as PDP Guber Candidate: The Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed the nomination of Asue Ighodalo as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the September 21 election in Edo State. The court dismissed the appeal challenging his nomination, stating that the appellants lacked the locus to sue.   6). APC Chieftain, Eze Cautions Party Chairman in Rivers Against Attacks on Amaechi: Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has warned the Rivers State chapter of the party against making unfounded claims and casting aspersions on former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi. Eze emphasized that Amaechi is not interested in fighting President Tinubu   7). Good Socio-Economic Policies Will Lead Nigeria to Progress – Okonjo-Iweala: WTO Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has identified good economic and social policies as the pathway to Nigeria’s progress. Speaking at the 2024 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Conference, she emphasized the need for policy consistency and the independence of key institutions     8). Oando-Agip $783m Deal Followed Due Pr

ocess, Complied With Extant Rules – NUPRC Replies Atiku: The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has approved the $783 million acquisition of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) by Oando Plc, stating that the deal conformed with current legislation and due procedure. This response comes after former Vice President Atiku Abubakar raised concerns about the expedited nature of the deal     9). CBN Raises Standing Deposit Facility Rate to Control Liquidity: The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased the rates for the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) to 25.75% and the Standing Lending Facility (SLF) to 31.75% as part of its efforts to manage liquidity in the financial system. This move aims to discourage banks from holding excess liquidity at the central bank and promote increased lending activities   10). Why D’Tigress Succeeded at Paris Olympics — NBBF Boss: The President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Musa Kida, attributed the success of the women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, at the Paris Olympics to the coach’s ability to operate without interference from board members. The team, led by coach Rena Wakama, made it to the quarterfinals, showcasing their resilience and skill.   That is all for today on Nigerian Newspaper Headlines. Click here more Naija News.

[tracknews1]

Ondo Guber: PDP Appoints Campaign Council, Resolves Controversy

Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Ondo State chapter, has resolved the controversy over the campaign council as principal officers for the Agboola Ajayi State Campaign Council for the November 16, 2024 Gubernatorial election have been appointed. The campaign council was constituted and approved by the State Working Committee of the party on Wednesday. READ ALSO: Gov Abba Kabir Condoles Kashim…