#senator ted budd

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Adam Kredo

Lawmakers like Budd, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, have taken a great interest in the Palestine Chronicle and its nonprofit parent company, the People Media Project, since the Free Beacon first reported on Monday about its links to Iranian regime-controlled propaganda sites. The outlet’s editor in chief, Ramzy Baroud, wrote for two now-defunct websites that the U.S. government seized in 2020 for being part of a propaganda network controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC). At least six of the outlet’s writers also wrote for these IRGC-controlled sites.

Following Aljamal’s death during an Israeli raid in Gaza to free the hostages, the Palestine Chronicle published a glowing obituary, claiming its writer was just an innocent civilian trying to perform journalism. As Budd and his colleagues note in their letter, however, Aljamal "previously served as a spokesman for the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Labor in Gaza."

"While Aljamal may have played a journalist by day, the evidence clearly suggests he was, at a minimum, a Hamas collaborator, if not a full-time terror operative, responsible for keeping hostages captive," according to the letter, which is also backed by Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Joni Ernst (R., Iowa), Rick Scott (R., Fla.), Pete Ricketts (R., Neb.), and Roger Wicker (R., Miss.), the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

With questions now swirling about the Palestine Chronicle and its editor Baroud, the senators say a multi-pronged federal investigation is necessary to determine if the outlet and its parent company were "actively employing an individual with apparent ties to and support for Hamas." The Palestine Chronicle downplayed its ties to Aljamal in a Monday piece, saying Aljamal "was a freelance writer who contributed articles to the Palestine Chronicle on a voluntary basis, mostly since the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza."

"It is possible that this tax-exempt media outlet had no knowledge of its correspondent’s Hamas affiliation; however, given the organization’s recent attempts to cover up evidence of its ties to Aljamal, this seems unlikely, making them complicit in supporting terrorist propaganda on their platform," the senators wrote.

The lawmakers also instructed the IRS to "prepare a report on the findings of this investigation for the [Senate] Finance Committee to review in the appropriate venue."

[onetangosierra]

Trent Palmer is a backcountry pilot from northern Nevada. While making an inspection pass he was reported for reckless behavior to the FAA by an unpleasant neighbor. The FAA found him in violation of FAR's and has threatened to pull his ticket. His original video on the incident can be found here along with a follow up here.

Inspection passes like the one Palmer was reported for are critical to allowing the pilot in command a clear understanding of the ground conditions and whether it's safe to land. Not being able to perform an inspection below 500' would require a pilot to land blind and risk destroying the airplane and putting the safety of everyone on board at risk. That's unacceptable.

Senator Ted Budd of NC has taken up the fight to require the FAA to add exceptions for inspection passes, as well as common training maneuvers including go arounds, practice approaches, and instrument approaches, to the list of maneuvers exempted from the minimum altitude regulation (14 C.F.R. § 91.119).

You can help by contacting your Senator and sharing this. Go to Senate.gov or call the main switchboard at (202)-224-3121. Ask your Senator to support the Backcountry Aviation Protection Act.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, who froze during a news conference Wednesday and earlier this year suffered a concussion after falling down, has also endured two other falls this year, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

The first known time, in February, occurred in Finland when McConnell and a US delegation met with the Finnish President in Helsinki, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

As he got out of his car on a snowy day and walked towards his meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, the GOP leader tripped and fell, the sources said of the incident which hasn’t been previously reported. He dusted himself off and continued on with the meeting.

“It was also very icy to the top,” said GOP Sen. Ted Budd, a North Carolina Republican who witnessed the incident. “So, it could happen any of us.”

Budd added, “All of us are concerned,” though, he said, McConnell appeared normal after the Finland fall.

That incident in Finland occurred just days before McConnell fell in March at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, where he slammed his head and suffered a concussion and broken ribs, which sidelined him for nearly six weeks before he returned to the Senate.

And just this month at Reagan National Airport in Washington, McConnell was getting off the plane when he tripped and fell, a source familiar with this incident said. He returned to the Capitol later that day. NBC reported on the fall at the airport earlier on Wednesday.

McConnell’s office declined to comment on the incidents.

McConnell, 81, was a survivor of polio as a child and has long walked with a slight limp. He walks on stairs one at a time, and at times rests his hand on an aide to assist him through the Capitol. His falls have at times caused serious injuries, like in 2019, when McConnell fell at his Louisville home and fractured his shoulder.

But his health has received more attention since his fall at the Waldorf Astoria this year. On Wednesday, McConnell froze when speaking to reporters at his weekly news conference, where he was ushered to the side by concerned GOP senators. He later resumed the news conference and answered questions.

McConnell has declined to explain why he froze up, though an aide said he was feeling light-headed.

“I’m fine,” McConnell told reporters when asked about the incident.

It was the second time in as many months McConnell has had an unusual incident at his weekly news conference. The other incident occurred in June when he has having trouble hearing questions from reporters who could be clearly heard by the senators next to him.

McConnell, who broke the record for longest-serving Senate party leader in history this year, is up for re-election in 2026, but he hasn’t said if he would run again or try to stay as GOP leader in the next Congress, which starts in 2025.

In October, McConnell told CNN he would definitely complete his term for the seat he’s held since 1985. “Oh, I’m certainly going to complete the term I was elected to by the people of Kentucky, no question about that,” McConnell said.

But in May, after he suffered his concussion, McConnell declined to entertain the question about his plans to stay in his seat or run for leader.

“I thought this was not an interview about my future,” he said when asked at the time if he would serve out his term or run for leader again. “I thought it was an interview about the 2024 Senate elections.”

[titleknown]

So, while I've talked about this in other posts, I figured I may as well compile it in one post with this nifty propaganda poster (more on that later)

Long story short, they're bringing back KOSA/the Kids Online Safety Act in the US Senate, and they're going to mark it up next Thursday as of the time of this post (4/23/2023).

If you don’t know, long story short KOSA is a bill that’s ostensibly one of those “Protect the Children” bills, but what it’s actually going to do is more or less require you to scan your fucking face every time you want to go on a website; or give away similarly privacy-violating information like your drivers’ license or credit card info. 

Either that or force them to censor anything that could even remotely be considered not “kid friendly.” Not to mention fundies are openly saying they’re gonna use this to hurt trans kids. Which is, uh, real fucking bad. 

As per usual, I urge you to contact your congresscritters, and especially those on the Commerce Committee, who'll likely be the ones marking it up.

Those senators are:

Maria Cantwell, Washington, Chair

Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota

Brian Schatz, Hawaii

Ed Markey, Massachusetts

Gary Peters, Michigan

Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin

Tammy Duckworth, Illinois

Jon Tester, Montana

Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona

Jacky Rosen, Nevada

Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico

John Hickenlooper, Colorado

Raphael Warnock, Georgia

Peter Welch, Vermont

Ted Cruz, Texas, Ranking Member

John Thune, South Dakota

Roger Wicker, Mississippi

Deb Fischer, Nebraska

Jerry Moran, Kansas

Dan Sullivan, Alaska

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee

Todd Young, Indiana

Ted Budd, North Carolina

Eric Schmitt, Missouri

J.D. Vance, Ohio

Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia

Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming

Again, it doesn't work unless you do it en-masse, so make sure to call ASAP and tell them to kill this bill, and if they actually want a bill to allow/get sites to protect kids, the Federal Fair Access To Banking Act would be far better.

Also, this poster is officially, for the sake of spreading it, under a CC0 license. Feel free to spread it, remix it, add links to the bottom, edit it to be about the other bad internet bills they're pushing, use it as a meme format, do what you will but for gods' sake get the word out!

Also, shoutout to @o-hybridity for coming up with the slogan for the poster, couldn't have done it without 'em!

[simply-ivanka]

Suddenly Democrats Care About the Border

Biden and Schumer begin to see their political vulnerability.

By John Thune -- Wall Street Journal Opinion/ May 20, 2024

Trailing in the polls and desperate less than six months before Election Day, President Biden and Senate Democrats are trying something new: their best impersonations of Republicans.

The architects of the Biden border crisis—the worst in American history—suddenly want the American people to know they’re on the case. After three-plus years of mismanaging border security, resulting in more than nine million entries through the southern border, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is telegraphing that he may force Senate floor votes related to the border.

That’s his prerogative as leader, but I don’t expect anyone to buy this political theater. For starters, Mr. Biden has authority to take action at the border and to do so today. It’s the same authority he used to issue a multitude of executive actions relaxing border security, including rescinding the national emergency at the southern border, halting border-wall construction, ending the Remain in Mexico policy, and discouraging Immigration and Customs Enforcement from apprehending illegal immigrants.

The president this month ordered the removal of criminals and potential terrorists. This is a switch from the policy he started shortly after his inauguration, and the new order was made only after hundreds of people on the terrorist watchlist were encountered in between ports of entry on his watch. Vote for me, and I’ll clean up the historic mess I made is hardly an effective campaign pitch, and a few meaningless Senate votes won’t erase my Democratic colleagues’ long records of enabling illegal immigration.

In this Congress alone, Senate Democrats have banded together to protect taxpayer-funded flights for illegal immigrants to different states in the U.S. and keep federal dollars flowing to sanctuary cities. Democrats blocked votes on a litany of common-sense border-security and enforcement measures, including a proposal from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) that would have let state and local law enforcement detain criminal illegal aliens until ICE can deport them. They even stopped legislation from Sen. Ted Budd (R., N.C.) that would deem assaulting a law-enforcement officer a deportable offense.

Not one Senate Democrat supported H.R. 2, House Republicans’ signature border bill, after Senate Republicans twice forced it to be considered.

But now Democrats need voters in Montana, Ohio, Nevada and Pennsylvania to believe they’re serious about the border. They aren’t motivated by national security. They’re concerned about their own political vulnerability. They’ve recognized, albeit too late, that the chaos of an open border is a political liability.

If Mr. Schumer devotes floor time to debating border legislation, he should expect some difficult conversations ahead—the same kinds of conversations we would have had in the Senate if every Democrat hadn’t voted to dismiss the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas without a trial.

It’s abundantly clear that the American people want an end to lawlessness at the southern border. They want the president to do his job and defend America’s borders. The bad political bet that Mr. Biden and Mr. Schumer are making is that voters will hire the arsonists to put out the fire.

Mr. Thune, a South Dakota Republican, is Senate minority whip.

[porterdavis]

Clip'n'save

15 GOP senators who voted against aid to Ukraine (& Israel):

John Barrasso Wyo.

Marsha Blackburn Tenn.

Mike Braun Ind.

Ted Budd N.C.

Ted Cruz Tex.

Bill Hagerty Tenn.

Josh Hawley Mo.

Ron Johnson Wis.

Mike Lee Utah

Cynthia Lummis Wyo.

Roger Marshall Kan.

Marco Rubio Fla.

Eric Schmitt Mo.

Rick Scott Fla.

J.D. Vance Ohio

The Wall of Shame

[aestariiwilderness]

Opinion: Kamala Harris is not for Israel or the Jews; Trump was

Kamala Harris (and Joe Biden, pretty much consigned to total irrelevancy by now thanks to the [un]Democratic coup) can say whatever she likes about supporting Israel (and she does spare half a breath to say she'll, OF COURSE, always support Israel's right to defend herself! ... and then spends the rest of the paragraph on verbally stabbing Israel in the back, talking about "how [Israel] defends itself matters", ceasefires, making deals with Hamas, engaging with the Palestinians, stopping Palestinian casualties, etc., which is telling in itself and just lends even more weight to the endless anti-Israel propaganda out there). But I go by actions, not words. They can say anything they want; they can go to Holocaust memorials or condemn antisemitism as much as they please. Words cost very little, and placate the overwhelmingly pro-Israel American population (while still, of course, inciting more blood libel and adding weight to the propaganda). But I don't see Harris or Biden ever, ever coming in decisively on Israel's side where it genuinely counts, when they didn't absolutely have to. Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Actions:

Did not tell a pro-Hamas, anti-Israel group that she wouldn't talk with them. This is a generous recounting of events, actually; it looks more like she said "sure, I'll talk with you about enacting an arms embargo with Israel". Once the backlash about that started happening, an anonymous aid seems to have taken it on themself to say "of course VP Harris has always been very clear about supporting Israel". (No, she hasn't.) (It's pretty telling that Harris, so far as I am aware, hasn't seen fit to even bother to clarify that herself.)

https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-open-israel-arms-embargo-palestine-conflict-1936259 https://www.reuters.com/world/democrat-harris-didnt-agree-discuss-israel-arms-embargo-aide-says-2024-08-08/

Just snubbed Jewish PA gov. Shapiro for VP candidate in favor of war-welcher Tim Walz

Kamala's chosen running mate, Walz, did repeatedly host a pro-Hamas Muslim leader who praised the Oct. 7th massacre

https://thepostmillennial.com/tim-walz-repeatedly-hosted-muslim-leader-who-lauded-oct-7-attacks-shared-pro-hitler-propaganda?utm_campaign=64483

Was already, with Biden, conducting a partial arms embargo against Israel.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/donald-trump-foreign-policy-advisers-met-israeli-pm-netanyahu-source-says-2024-05-20/

Threatened Israel with consequences if she went into Rafah https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tougher-tone-israel-steady-nato-how-harris-foreign-policy-could-look-2024-07-21/

https://nypost.com/2024/07/25/us-news/biden-welcomes-netanyahu-to-white-house-following-chaotic-anti-israel-protests/ Snubbed Netanyahu -- the leader of the only democracy in the Middle East and our long-time ally -- to go to a sorority speech

Admired and engaged with the violent, law-breaking, window-smashing, intifada-chanting protestors blockading universities, holding staff hostage, and violently harassing Jewish students

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/biden-harris-a-profile-in-cowardice-on-campus-disorder/

Harris' husband's daughter raised money for UNRWA https://www.jns.org/kamala-harris-thinks-campus-antisemites-are-very-fine-people/ And back on those words and double-speak again: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2023/12/18/israel-palestine-kamala-harris-joe-biden-ceasefire/ https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/12/kamala-harriss-performative-scolding-of-israel/

For more actual "actions" by any American politician and unbiased by any commentary, check out https://justfacts.votesmart.org/. You can filter by issues of concern to you and see how they voted, what they said, what positions they held, etc. (I personally find Biden and Harris' track record on abortion, coercive abortion, born-alive survivors of abortion, and even infant pain absolutely horrifying, but I understand that might not mean much to some.)

In contrast, we have Donald Trump. Trump has been continually vocal in his support of Israel. There is no double-speak like Harris that I've been able to find. His term was full of unprecedented, active support for Israel and the Jews. Media claims he "criticized" the war in Gaza -- but when I actually look, all I see is that he criticized the fact that Oct 7th could have happened in the first place (i.e., Israel was not protected enough and did not receive enough support from the Biden administration) and that the war was still going on due to Israel's unprecedented kid gloves-care with Palestinian civilian casualties. He advised Israel to mind their "PR war", saying "victory is necessary" and needs to happen quickly. Not "ceasefire", not "compromise", not "dealing with Hamas". Not -- in contrast to Harris and Biden -- wailing "oh no, it's Israel's job to think of the enemy's civilians and to prioritize their wellbeing above their own civilians!" It's my belief, based on what I see and hear, that Trump wants victory and peace for Israel over Hamas. He wants October 7th to never happen again. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-israel-gaza-finish-problem-rcna141905 Trump Actions, taken usually without any conditions or concessions required from Israel Abraham Accords, specifically meant to pressure Palestinians (no Oct. 7th massacre while Trump was in office. Pity Harris can't say the same.)

Jerusalem officially recognized as Israel's capital

Recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2024-06-12/biden-trump-on-israel-palestinians-middle-east Reversed the Iran Nuclear Accord https://spectator.clingendael.org/en/publication/trump-most-pro-israel-president-american-history "Cut the annual US aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) – $500 million" https://spectator.clingendael.org/en/publication/trump-most-pro-israel-president-american-history "Cut the annual US contributions to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinians ($250-400 million)"

https://spectator.clingendael.org/en/publication/trump-most-pro-israel-president-american-history

Rejected the claim that Israeli "settlements" in the West Bank were illegal and the obstacle to peace

https://spectator.clingendael.org/en/publication/trump-most-pro-israel-president-american-history

Sided with Israel against the wildly anti-Israel UN and the ICC

https://spectator.clingendael.org/en/publication/trump-most-pro-israel-president-american-history

Met with Netanyahu where Harris did not https://apnews.com/video/israel-government-florida-00c58fa3898247c1895d520d3feddab1 https://www.reuters.com/world/us/donald-trump-foreign-policy-advisers-met-israeli-pm-netanyahu-source-says-2024-05-20/ There's a lot more. But that's enough for me, at least. I'd invite anyone interested to check it out for themselves, but not to be fooled by the rampant corruption, spin, and bias in most mainstream media (although you'll notice I can still utilize them as sources even though they're blatantly hostile to my viewpoint).

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Christopher Weyant :: @ChristophWeyant

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 22, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAR 23, 2024

As expected, Trump’s team has reorganized the Republican National Committee’s donation system, arranging for maximum donations to go first to Trump’s presidential campaign, then to Trump’s Save America political action committee, and finally to the RNC to elect down ballot candidates. The Save America PAC pays Trump’s legal bills. So far in 2024 it has spent $8.5 million on them. In essence, this new flow means Trump is using the RNC to raise money that is then diverted to him. 

This morning, conservative lawyer George Conway suggested that “we should stop defiling the memory of the party of Lincoln by referring to the current organization” as the Republican Party.

Midnight tonight was the deadline for the continuing resolution that was funding much of the government, and the House finally passed the necessary appropriations bills this morning, just hours before the deadline, by a vote of 286–134. Democrats put the bill over the top, adding 185 yea votes to the 101 Republicans voting in favor of the bill. In a blow to House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), 112 Republicans joined 22 Democrats to vote against the measure.. 

As soon as the bill passed, Johnson recessed the House until April 9.

Because the deadline to prevent a government shutdown was so tight, the Senate needed to take the House measure up immediately. But Senate rules mean that such a quick turnaround needs unanimous consent, and right-wing senators refused to give it. 

Instead, Republican senators Ted Budd (NC), Mike Lee (UT), Ted Cruz (TX), and Rand Paul (KY) demanded votes on extremist amendments to try to jam Democrats into a bind before the upcoming election. If the amendments passed, the government would shut down for the purely mechanical reason that the House can’t consider any amendments until it gets back to work in April. So the Democrats would certainly vote against any amendments to keep the government open. But this would mean they were on record with unpopular votes in an election year. 

The demand for amendments was partisan posturing, but the delay was particularly nasty: Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), who was a key negotiator of the bill, needed to get back to Maine for her mother’s funeral. 

In the House, the passage of the appropriations bill and the recess prompted significant changes. Representative Kay Granger (R-TX) announced she is stepping down from chairing the Appropriations Committee. 

Another Republican representative, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, announced he will leave Congress early, stepping down on April 19. Gallagher is chair of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and has voiced frustration with the current state of his party. His absence will shave the Republican House majority to just one vote, and the timing of his departure means he will not be replaced this session. Wisconsin law leaves any vacancy after the second Tuesday in April until the general election.

Representative Ken Buck (R-CO) announced last week that he, too, was leaving Congress early, complaining that “[t]his place has just evolved into…bickering and nonsense.” Today was his last day in the House. Before he left, he became the first Republican to sign on to the discharge petitions that would bring Ukraine aid to the floor even without House speaker Johnson’s support.

Despite the frustration of their colleagues, extremist Republicans are not backing down. After the appropriations measure passed, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told reporters she has filed a motion to vacate the chair to punish Johnson for permitting the bill to pass without more extremist demands. Her threat will hang over the two-week break, but it is not clear what the House will do with her motion; they might simply bottle it up in committee. 

Greene might not push a vote on the speaker right now in part because of pressure from her colleagues to cut it out. They understand that the extraordinary dysfunction of the House under Republicans’ control is hurting them before the 2024 election, and another speaker fight would only add to the chaos. There is also the reality that with such a small majority, Johnson would have to rely on Democrats to save his speakership if it were challenged, and a number of them have suggested they would vote to keep him in the chair if he would agree to bring a vote on aid for Ukraine to the floor. 

Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told CNN that he would “make common cause with anybody who will stand up for the people of Ukraine, anybody who will get desperately needed humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and anybody who will work for a two state solution. I’m up for conversations with anybody.” 

The cost of Johnson’s withholding of assistance for Ukraine is mounting. Last night, Russia launched the largest barrages of missiles and drones since its war began at Ukraine’s power grid, leaving more than a million people without power and degrading Ukraine’s energy sector. The Institute for the Study of War assessed today that “continued delays in Western security assistance…are reportedly expected to significantly constrain Ukraine‘s air defense umbrella,” leaving Ukrainian forces unable to defend against missile attacks. Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky once again begged for aid, saying: “Russian missiles do not suffer delays in the way aid packages to our country do. Shahed drones are not affected by indecision like some politicians are.”

Ukraine has been using drones to attack Russia’s oil refineries, but Russia had a new problem today as a deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall claimed at least 60 lives. The Islamic State's Afghan branch, known as ISIS-K, which advocates for civilian mass-casualty events to weaken governments, claimed responsibility for the attack. 

Letters From An American

Heather Cox Richardson

[deanwasalwaysbi]

23 Republican Senators & 124 Congressmen signed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court asking for a 50 state ban on mifepristone, a drug safer than tylenol that is standard treatment for abortion & miscarriages, "due to safety concerns". The brief DARES to argue that banning the life saving drug would save women from 'reproductive control'. (x) These 147 people would rather have women die of sepsis than let women control their own bodies. If your representatives are on this list, call them and tell their office you will be voting against them in the next election because they asked SCOTUS to throw the US medical drug system into chaos at the cost of American lives.

United States Senate

Lead Senator: Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS) John Barrasso (WY) Mike Braun (IN) Katie Britt (AL) Ted Budd (NC) Bill Cassidy (LA) Kevin Cramer (ND) Mike Crapo (ID) Ted Cruz (TX) Steve Daines (MT) Josh Hawley (MO) John Hoeven (ND) James Lankford (OK) Mike Lee (UT) Cynthia Lummis (WY) Roger Marshall (KS) Markwayne Mullin (OK) James Risch (ID) Marco Rubio (FL) Rich Scott (FL) John Thune (SD) Tommy Tuberville (AL) Roger Wicker (MS)

United States House of Representatives

Lead Representative: August Pfluger (TX–11) Robert Aderholt (AL–04) Mark Alford (MO–04) Rick Allen (GA–12) Jodey Arrington (TX–19) Brian Babin (TX–36) Troy Balderson (OH–12) Jim Banks (IN–03) Aaron Bean (FL–04) Cliff Bentz (OR–02) Jack Bergman (MI–01) Andy Biggs (AZ–05) Gus Bilirakis (FL–12) Dan Bishop (NC–08) Lauren Boebert (CO–03) Mike Bost (IL–12) Josh Brecheen (OK–02) Ken Buck (CO–04) Tim Burchett (TN–02) Michael Burgess, M.D. (TX–26) Eric Burlison (MO–07) Kat Cammack (FL–03) Mike Carey (OH–15) Jerry Carl (AL–01) Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (GA–01) John Carter (TX–31) Ben Cline (VA–06) Michael Cloud (TX–27) Andrew Clyde (GA–09) Mike Collins (GA–10) Elijah Crane (AZ–02) Eric A. “Rick” Crawford (AR–01) John Curtis (UT–03) Warren Davidson (OH–08) Monica De La Cruz (TX–15) Jeff Duncan (SC–03) Jake Ellzey (TX–06) Ron Estes (KS–04) Mike Ezell (MS–04) Pat Fallon (TX–04) Randy Feenstra (IA–04) Brad Finstad (MN–01) Michelle Fischbach (MN–07) Scott Fitzgerald (WI–05) Mike Flood (NE–01) Virginia Foxx (NC–05) Scott Franklin (FL–18) Russell Fry (SC–07) Russ Fulcher (ID–01) Tony Gonzales (TX–23) Bob Good (VA–05) Paul Gosar (AZ–09) Garret Graves (LA–06) Mark Green (TN–07) Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA–14) H. Morgan Griffith (VA–09) Glenn Grothman (WI–06) Michael Guest (MS–03) Harriet Hageman (WY) Andy Harris, M.D. (MD–01) Diana Harshbarger (TN–01) Kevin Hern (OK–01) Clay Higgins (LA–03) Ashley Hinson (IA–02) Erin Houchin (IN–02) Richard Hudson (NC–09) Bill Huizenga (MI–04) Bill Johnson (OH–06) Mike Johnson (LA–04) Jim Jordan (OH–04) Mike Kelly (PA–16) Trent Kelly (MS–01) Doug LaMalfa (CA–01) Doug Lamborn (CO–05) Nicholas Langworthy (NY–23) Jake LaTurner (KS–02) Debbie Lesko (AZ–08) Barry Loudermilk (GA–11) Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO–03) Tracey Mann (KS–01) Lisa McClain (MI–09) Dr. Rich McCormick (GA–06) Patrick McHenry (NC–10) Carol Miller (WV–01) Mary Miller (IL–15) Max Miller (OH–07) Cory Mills (FL–07) John Moolenar (MI–02) Alex X. Mooney (WV–02) Barry Moore (AL–02) Blake Moore (UT–01) Gregory F. Murphy, M.D. (NC–03) Troy Nehls (TX–22) Ralph Norman (SC–05) Andy Ogles (TN–05) Gary Palmer (AL–06) Bill Posey (FL–08) Guy Reschenthaler (PA–14) Mike Rogers (AL–03) John Rose (TN–06) Matthew Rosendale, Sr. (MT–02) David Rouzer (NC–07) Steve Scalise (LA–01) Keith Self (TX–03) Pete Sessions (TX–17) Adrian Smith (NE–03) Christopher H. Smith (NJ–04) Lloyd Smucker (PA–11) Pete Stauber (MN–08) Elise Stefanik (NY–21) Dale Strong (AL–05) Claudia Tenney (NY–24) Glenn Thompson (PA–15) William Timmons, IV (SC–04) Beth Van Duyne (TX–24) Tim Walberg (MI–05) Michael Waltz (FL–05) Randy Weber, Sr. (TX–14) Daniel Webster (FL–11) Brad R. Wenstrup, D.P.M. (OH–02) Bruce Westerman (AR–04) Roger Williams (TX–25) Joe Wilson (SC–02) Rudy Yakym (IN–02)

If your representatives are on this list, call them and tell their office you will be voting against them in the next election because they asked SCOTUS to throw the US medical drug system into chaos at the cost of American lives.

Help to patients who have to cross state lines to get medical care by donating to your local abortion fund here. (x)

[kp777]

By Jennifer Bendery

Huffington Post

Nov 12, 2022

As the dust settles from Tuesday’s midterm elections, a disturbing trend in the GOP is coming into focus: More than 160 Republicans will be in Congress in 2023 who have either denied or cast doubts on Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential win in 2020.

Some will be at the highest levels of House leadership, setting the agenda for the chamber for the next two years. Some are seasoned U.S. senators with presidential ambitions. Some will be brand new to Capitol Hill.

But what these people all have in common is that they made the political calculation that it benefited their career to fuel the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump because of widespread voter fraud.

They’ve done it in different ways. Some have bluntly claimed the election was stolen. Some joined lawsuits to try to throw out the results of the 2020 election. Some have tried to have it both ways, by saying, of course, Biden is the president ― while refusing to address the validity of the election, a common dog whistle among Republicans afraid of upsetting Trump’s base of supporters by admitting Biden beat him in 2020, fair and square.

A preemptive note: Some Republicans on this list will probably deny that they belong here (like, say, Sen. Rick Scott) and insist, perhaps with annoyance, that they have long said that Biden is the president. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) has clashed with fellow Republicans who have falsely said that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election, and he recently called out election deniers for privately admitting that they know what they say in public is a lie. But he’s on this list, too.

HuffPost is using the term “election denier” to refer to Republicans who claimed��the 2020 presidential election was stolen or alleged widespread voter fraud; who voted to object to certifying Biden’s Electoral College votes (hi, Sen. Scott); who supported partisan reviews of ballots in 2020 swing states; who signed a bogus lawsuit alleging “an unprecedented number of serious allegations of fraud and irregularities” in the 2020 election in a brief to the Supreme Court; or who attended or expressed support for the Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington that led to an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Taking it to a new level, one incoming member of Congress, Republican Rich McCormick of Georgia, lamented earlier this year that “no one was hurt by voter fraud more than myself” when he lost his congressional bid in 2020. There was no evidence of fraud in his election. He just lost ― by more than 10,000 votes.

Below is a running list of all of the election deniers who will be in the House and Senate starting in January. Italicized names mean they are new to Congress. This list will be regularly updated until it is final.

Election deniers in the Senate:

Ted Cruz (R-Texas)

Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)

Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.)

John Kennedy (R-La.)

Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.)

Roger Marshall (R-Kan.)

Rick Scott (R-Fla.)

Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.)

Ted Budd (R-N.C.)

Katie Britt (R-Ala.)

Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.)

Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.)

J.D. Vance (R-Ohio)

Election deniers in the House:

Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.)

Mark Alford (R-Mo.)

Rick Allen (R-Ga.)

Jodey Arrington (R-Texas)

Brian Babin (R-Texas)

Jim Baird (R-Ind.)

Jim Banks (R-Ind.)

Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.)

Jack Bergman (R-Mich.)

Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.)

Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)

Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.)

Dan Bishop (R-N.C.)

Mike Bost (R-Ill.)

Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.)

Michael Burgess (R-Texas)

Eric Burlison (R-Mo.)

Kat Cammack (R-Fla.)

Jerry Carl (R-Ala.)

Buddy Carter (R-Ga.)

John Carter (R-Texas)

Ben Cline (R-Va.)

Michael Cloud (R-Texas)

Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.)

Tom Cole (R-Okla.)

Mike Collins (R-Ga.)

Eli Crane (R-Ariz.)

Rick Crawford (R-Ark.)

Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas)

Warren Davidson (R-Ohio)

Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.)

Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas)

Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.)

Byron Donalds (R-Fla.)

Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.)

Neal Dunn (R-Fla.)

Jake Ellzey (R-Texas)

Tom Emmer (R-Minn.)

Ron Estes (R-Kan.)

Pat Fallon (R-Texas)

Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.)

Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.)

Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.)

Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.)

Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.)

Scott Franklin (R-Fla.)

Russell Fry (R-S.C.)

Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho)

Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)

Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.)

Bob Good (R-Va.)

Lance Gooden (R-Texas)

Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)

Garret Graves (R-La.)

Sam Graves (R-Mo.)

Mark Green (R-Tenn.)

Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)

Morgan Griffith (R-Va.)

Michael Guest (R-Miss.)

Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.)

Andy Harris (R-Md.)

Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.)

Kevin Hern (R-Okla.)

Clay Higgins (R-La.)

Richard Hudson (R-N.C.)

Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.)

Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)

Ronny Jackson (R-Texas)

Bill Johnson (R-Ohio)

Mike Johnson (R-La.)

Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)

John Joyce (R-Pa.)

Mike Kelly (R-Pa.)

Trent Kelly (R-Miss.)

Jen Kiggans (R-Va.)

David Kustoff (R-Tenn.)

Darin LaHood (R-Ill.)

Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.)

Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.)

Bob Latta (R-Ohio)

Jake LaTurner (R-Kan.)

Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.)

Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.)

Frank Lucas (R-Okla.)

Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.)

Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.)

Morgan Luttrell (R-Texas)

Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.)

Tracey Mann (R-Kan.)

Brian Mast (R-Fla.)

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)

Lisa McClain (R-Mich.)

Tom McClintock (R-Calif.)

Rich McCormick (R-Ga.)

Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.)

Daniel Meuser (R-Pa.)

Carol Miller (R-W.Va.)

Mary Miller (R-Ill.)

Max Miller (R-Ohio)

Cory Mills (R-Fla.)

John Moolenaar (R-Ind.)

Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.)

Barry Moore (R-Ala.)

Greg Murphy (R-N.C.)

Troy Nehls (R-Texas)

Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.)

Ralph Norman (R-S.C.)

Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.)

Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.)

Burgess Owens (R-Utah)

Gary Palmer (R-Ala.)

Greg Pence (R-Ind.)

Scott Perry (R-Pa.)

August Pfluger (R-Texas)

Bill Posey (R-Fla.)

Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.)

Harold Rogers (R-Ky.)

Mike Rogers (R-Ala.)

John Rose (R-Tenn.)

Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.)

David Rouzer (R-N.C.)

John Rutherford (R-Fla.)

Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.)

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.)

Pete Sessions (R-Texas)

Austin Scott (R-Ga.)

Keith Self (R-Texas)

Adrian Smith (R-Neb.)

Jason Smith (R-Mo.)

Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.)

Pete Stauber (R-Minn.)

House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)

Gregory Steube (R-Fla.)

Chris Stewart (R-Utah)

Dale Strong (R-Ala.)

Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.)

Thomas Tiffany (R-Wis.)

Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.)

William Timmons (R-S.C.)

Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.)

Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas)

Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.)

Ann Wagner (R-Mo.)

Tim Walberg (R-Mich.)

Michael Waltz (R-Fla.)

Randy Weber (R-Texas)

Daniel Webster (R-Fla.)

Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio)

Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.)

Roger Williams (R-Texas)

Joe Wilson (R-S.C.)

Robert Wittman (R-Va.)

Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.)

[glynnisi]

You need to save America. Save Freedom.

Please? I mean... there are fancy quotes about how elections are decided by those who don't show up. But, non-voting friends? If you sit this one out you're taking a dump on freedom.

Senators, Congresspeople, Judges, Secretaries of State, State Legislators? They are the people who decide US and your state's laws on abortion, on birth control, on gay marriage, right to privacy (gay sex/relationships/existence), trans rights, interracial marriage. Freedom to love and lust who you want, kids. Freedom to decide when or if to have kids, for that matter. #VoteBlue

Yes. They always say THIS is the most important election, blah blah.

This one may really be the most important. If you wake up next week and the winners are Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, Kari Lake, Marco Rubio, Ted Budd, Ron Johnson, Mehmet Oz, Herschel Walker, etc clown car of election deniers and anti-abortion absolutists?

You'll be among the losers.

Wouldn't it be better to wake up next week knowing you helped protect freedom?

[arewelemmings]

If you live in North Carolina, I wrote this for you. Why? Because I care. It's important, so please bear with me.

Here's a look at the North Carolina Senate Race, one week out: Twp candidates are vying for the Senate seat made available by the retiring Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Former Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court of North Carolina, Cheri Beasley, is running as a Democrat for this opening Congressional seat in the Senate, against Trump-endorsed Republican, Ted Budd. This hasn't been getting a lot of national attention, but it's an important race. Let's take a moment to familiarize ourselves with this contest.

Firstly, Ted Budd is somebody you certainly don't want in charge of anything you care about. As early voting began in North Carolina, stumping began in earnest. "People are furious right now about three, three main things," Budd said in an interview with National Public Radio. "It depends on how you divide it: It's inflation, it's crime, and it's education." It's interesting that he cites these three issues as worrisome to Republican voters, and voters who have yet to decide. Inflation is actually controlled by the heads of industry and the financial big wigs at the top of Wall Street, who line the pockets of Republican candidates, knowing these "lawmakers" will open doors of privilege for them at the expense of the working class. Donald Trump's rhetoric and actions have riled the most vile tendencies of the deplorables, encouraging them to be more vile, outrageous and criminal right out in the open. Any rise in crime is directly attributable to the cheating traitor who stole the 2016 presidential election. Our failing educational system is also a direct result of Republican policies, old and new. First, teachers have seen their paychecks decrease over time while the schools they teach in have gone terribly underfunded. Now they ban books and write laws forbidding the teaching of truth to American students in Republican run states, all because they believe it easier to control the ignorant, and therefore, work to keep them ignorant. So, as you can clearly see, all three of these issues are tied to Republican policies and/or social and cultural manipulation. Yet, Ted Budd speaks of them as if Democrats created these problems he alludes to. At best, he is disingenuous, but I would call him a liar, a man not to be trusted in a seat of power.

On the other hand, Cheri Beasley is a champion of Justice, dignity and human rights, honed for leadership in a capacity of lawmaking from her years of practicing law, and her time on the bench in the highest court in North Carolina. She has recently been quoted as saying, "People really are excited about this race. They understand the sense of urgency around it." And she's right; we also need to understand the urgency of this election. Women's rights are on the ballot this November 8th, along with easing the struggles of the working class, strengthening the rights of minorities and the disenfranchised, in fact, the survival of our democracy itself hinges upon the ballots cast during this election. A vote for Beasley is a vote to restore women's reproductive rights, which Republicans have been fighting to steal for decades. A vote for Beasley is a vote against racism, hatred, inequality, injustice, corruption, and all that has been going wrong in America these days. And it's important to note that Beasley and Budd are running nearly neck and neck, so we need to mobilize and get voters to the polls, and early ballots in the hands of voters. A win for Beasley is a win for us all, and another step toward saving democracy and American freedom from the destructive, conservative forces of the Republicans.

If I lived in North Carolina, I would be casting my vote for Cheri Beasley, and voting blue all the way down the ballot.

[mariacallous]

There’s no shortage of threats to democracy this political season, and, during a debate last week in Ohio, two candidates for the U.S. Senate were asked what they thought the greatest danger might be. Representative Tim Ryan, the Democrat, who spoke first, said that it was “extremism,” and then got more specific: his opponent, J. D. Vance, he said, has no ability to stand up to his own party, or “to anybody.” At a recent rally in Youngstown, Donald Trump had bragged, “J.D. is kissing my ass, he wants my support.” But what was even more troubling to Ryan was Vance’s response, which was to join Trump onstage, “shaking his hand, taking pictures.” Ryan said, “I don’t know anybody I grew up with—I don’t know anybody I went to high school with—that would allow somebody to take their dignity like that.”

With the midterms now only a few weeks away, one shouldn’t expect an overflowing of dignity in any of the half-dozen or so states, including Ohio, where Senate seats are being seriously contested. At the rally, Vance, who came to prominence as the author of “Hillbilly Elegy” and then reinvented himself as a MAGA man, said that Ryan doesn’t seem like an Ohioan because he’s a fan of yoga. Vance has also suggested that President Joe Biden was letting fentanyl stream across the border in order to punish Republican voters—an insinuation that G.O.P. candidates around the country have echoed. Recent polls have Ryan and Vance within a few points of each other, but Trump won the state in 2020 by more than eight points.

According to projections by the research firm AdImpact, a hundred and thirty-eight million dollars will be spent in the Ohio race on media advertising alone. Roughly a quarter billion dollars is expected to be spent on ads in Senate races in Nevada, in Arizona, and in Pennsylvania, and two hundred and seventy-six million is the estimate for the most expensive race, in Georgia. The motive for these outlays is clear. A sitting President’s party usually loses seats in the midterms, and that seems likely to happen in the House, where the Democrats have a margin of just eight. Barring a blue wave, Kevin McCarthy, not Nancy Pelosi, will be Speaker in January. But the Democrats have a decent shot at holding on to the Senate, which is now evenly divided, and even of picking up a seat or two.

It helps that, of the thirty-five seats being contested, twenty-one are held by Republicans. And, owing to Republican retirements, there are open seats that now seem to be in the Democrats’ reach in Ohio and in Pennsylvania, where John Fetterman, the hoodie-wearing lieutenant governor, is in a close race against Mehmet Oz, the Trump-endorsed television doctor. The situation is similar in North Carolina, where a Democrat, Cheri Beasley, is running a strong race against Representative Ted Budd. Beasley, who would be the state’s first Black woman senator, is a former chief justice of the state’s Supreme Court; Budd has said that the January 6th assault was “just patriots standing up.”

In the House, Budd co-sponsored a bill that would ban abortion nationwide after about the six-week mark, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Democrats around the country appear to be benefitting from public anger at this summer’s Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and made bills such as Budd’s plausible. Republicans, in turn, have focussed on discontent with inflation and, in attacks that are more and more crudely drawn, on immigration and crime. In Wisconsin, ads for Ron Johnson, the most vulnerable G.O.P. Senate incumbent, portray his challenger, Mandela Barnes, the state’s Democratic lieutenant governor, as an inciter of mobs who wants to empty prisons and unleash havoc in the streets. The January 6th committee linked Johnson to Trump’s “fake elector” scheme; the Senator called the allegation a smear and said that he’d been involved for only “a couple seconds.”

Pennsylvania, however, has been seen as the Democrats’ best pick-up chance. The Fetterman campaign gained ground by portraying Oz as a huckster whose true home is New Jersey. The question is Fetterman’s health. He had a stroke a few days before the primary, in May, and by his own account has not fully recovered. He has spoken at some rallies, but still has difficulty with auditory processing. In interviews, he uses transcription software: he reads what is said to him, then responds. That technological work-around will get its biggest test on October 25th, when the candidates debate. The health discussion has exposed the lowness of Oz’s campaign, which at one point said that, as a debate accommodation, it would let Fetterman “raise his hand and say ‘bathroom break!’ ” More recently, Oz has focussed on claiming that Fetterman is weak on crime, calling him “Free-Them-All Fetterman.”

The Democrats also need to hold on to the seats they have. In Arizona, Senator Mark Kelly has had a small but steady lead over Blake Masters, a Trumpist who is funded by Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire. (Thiel is also backing Vance.) In Nevada, though, in some polls, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto is falling behind Adam Laxalt, the grandson of Paul Laxalt, the late Nevada senator. Earlier this month, Laxalt appeared with Trump at a rally where the former President said that, because of Democrats, American cities are “drenched” in blood.

But the most concentrated locus of G.O.P. indignity is in the race in Georgia between Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who won a special election in 2020, and Herschel Walker, whose tight connection with Trump extends back to his stint, in the nineteen-eighties, with the New Jersey Generals, a team (in the ill-fated U.S. Football League) that Trump briefly owned. In the latest spectacle—in a campaign that has been full of them—a woman told reporters that Walker had pressured her to get an abortion and had paid for it. (She is also the mother of one of his children.) Walker, who supports an abortion ban with no exceptions, has offered bafflingly phrased denials—as he does on many subjects. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, is still standing behind Walker. Last week, Senators Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, and Rick Scott, of Florida, joined Walker at a campaign stop.

Cotton said that fans of the Razorbacks, the University of Arkansas football team, had not forgotten how Walker dominated them when he played for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. But, Cotton said, “they have no hard feelings, because they want Republicans back in charge in Washington.” The message to G.O.P. voters is that they all need to see themselves as indulgent Razorback fans. The Republicans are going after the Senate with Trump’s team, and they have stopped caring what it takes to get over the line. ♦

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell bluntly warned Republican senators in a private meeting not to sign on to a bill from Sen. Josh Hawley aimed at limiting corporate money bankrolling high-powered outside groups, telling them that many of them won their seats thanks to the powerful super PAC the Kentucky Republican has long controlled.

According to multiple sources familiar with the Tuesday lunch meeting, McConnell warned GOP senators that they could face “incoming” from the “center-right” if they signed onto Hawley’s bill. He also read off a list of Senators who won their races amid heavy financial support from the Senate Leadership Fund, an outside group tied to the GOP leader that spends big on TV ads in battleground Senate races. On that list of senators: Hawley himself, according to sources familiar with the matter.

McConnell has long been a chief opponent of tighter campaign finance restrictions. But there’s also no love lost between McConnell and Hawley, who has long criticized the GOP leader and has repeatedly called for new leadership atop their conference. Just on Tuesday, Hawley told CNN that it was “mistake” for McConnell to be “standing with” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, in their push to tie Ukraine aid to an Israel funding package.

Hawley’s new bill, called the Ending Corporate Influence on Elections Act, is aimed at reversing the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision that loosened campaign finance laws – an effort that aligns the conservative Missouri Republican with many Democrats. Hawley’s bill would ban publicly traded corporations from making independent expenditures and political advertisements – and ban those publicly traded companies from giving money to super PACs.

In an interview, Hawley defended his bill and said that corporate influence should be limited in elections.

“I think that’s wrong,” Hawley told CNN. “I think it’s wrong as an original matter. I think it’s warping our politics, and I see no reason for conservatives to defend it. It’s wrong as a matter of the original meaning of the Constitution. It is bad for our elections. It’s bad for our voters. And I just think on principle, we ought to be concerned.”

According to a list of Senators obtained by CNN, McConnell singled out a number of lawmakers who benefited from his outside group over the last three cycles: Mike Braun of Indiana, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Susan Collins of Maine, Steve Daines of Montana, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Katie Britt of Alabama, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Eric Schmitt of Missouri, Ted Budd of North Carolina, JD Vance of Ohio and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.

In 2018, Hawley benefited from more than $20 million from McConnell’s group.

McConnell’s office declined to comment.

[titleknown]

Do you think Section 230 is pretty much going to be passed? I've been thinking about leaving the internet completely over this.

...Well, like many things, the answer is "It's Complicated,"

Firstly, for the most part, efforts to screw up Section 230 aren't direct repealing all of it so much as carve-outs that majorly weaken it, in ways that could still deeply screw up free speech.

The recent Kids Online Safety Act/EARN IT Act is being pushed for, and while it's not in committee, given the former was sent to the Commerce Committee last time and the latter to the Judiciary Committee, they're probably gonna send it next time, and you're probably going to want to call your senators if they're in said committee to tell them to kill those bills.

The membership of the Commerce Committee:

Maria Cantwell, Washington, Chair

Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota

Brian Schatz, Hawaii

Ed Markey, Massachusetts

Gary Peters, Michigan

Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin

Tammy Duckworth, Illinois

Jon Tester, Montana

Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona[a]

Jacky Rosen, Nevada

Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico

John Hickenlooper, Colorado

Raphael Warnock, Georgia

Peter Welch, Vermont

Ted Cruz, Texas, Ranking Member

John Thune, South Dakota

Roger Wicker, Mississippi

Deb Fischer, Nebraska

Jerry Moran, Kansas

Dan Sullivan, Alaska

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee

Todd Young, Indiana

Ted Budd, North Carolina

Eric Schmitt, Missouri

J.D. Vance, Ohio

Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia

Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming

The membership of the Judiciary Committee:

Dick Durbin, Illinois, Chairman

Dianne Feinstein, California

Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island

Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota

Chris Coons, Delaware

Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut

Mazie Hirono, Hawaii

Cory Booker, New Jersey

Alex Padilla, California

Jon Ossoff, Georgia

Peter Welch, Vermont

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina, Ranking Member

Chuck Grassley, Iowa

John Cornyn, Texas

Mike Lee, Utah

Ted Cruz, Texas

Josh Hawley, Missouri

Tom Cotton, Arkansas

John Kennedy, Louisiana

Thom Tillis, North Carolina

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee

So yeah.

I may as well add, If you've got the misfortune to be calling a Republican, be sure to bring up how KOSA will be used as a way for Big Government to spy on people via mandated age verification, and how EARN IT will be used to censor conservative speech.

That'll get the bastards attention. And no matter what you do, don't shut up about it, because silence means the fuckers win, just look at FOSTA/SESTA...

...Tho, in better news, the questioning in those Supreme Court suits tackling Section 230 seem to show that the justices are at least reluctant to try and do much to 230, very specifically because of how much it could fuck up.

Which begs the question, if even these fucking demons know why fucking with Section 230 is a godawful idea, what excuse do these senators have?

Point is, the efforts to undermine it aren't all at once so much as gradual and insidious. Call your senators folks, and stay vigilant.

[youviralart]

Senator Ted Budd @SenTedBuddNC #StandWithIsrael