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Elise Stefanik

Expose Of Stefanik's Privileged Life Blows Up Her 'Humble Origins' Myth

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has often painted herself as someone who came from a humble working-class background but pulled herself up by the bootstraps.

Stefanik, who Donald Trump is reportedly considering as a possible running mate in the 2024 presidential race, acknowledges that she attended Harvard University. But she paints her Ivy League education as an example of beating and overcoming the odds — not an example of privilege.

In an article published on April 14, however, Daily Beast reporters William Bredderman and Jake Lahut stress that Stefanik has had a much more comfortable life than she claims.

"If Stefanik was supposed to remember where she came from," Bredderman and Lahut explain, "she seems to have forgotten — to the point of making blatantly misleading statements, beginning in her first congressional campaign — how her family's wealth has given her a leg up, from providing her with an expensive private-school education to her parents buying her a $1.2 million D.C. townhouse when she was just 26. Instead of acknowledging those advantages, Stefanik has repeatedly downplayed her wealth, including in a statement to The Daily Beast."

Bredderman and Lahut add that Stefanik's "humble origin story falls away under a little pressure."

"From the start, she has maintained that she saw her parents 'risk everything' to establish Premium Plywood Products when she was a child," the reporters note. "But even the story she has told of the company's founding is incomplete. While every business venture involves risk, the Stefaniks didn't shoulder it alone: less than two months after incorporating Premium Plywood Products in late 1991, public records show they secured a Small Business Administration-guaranteed loan worth $335,000 — roughly $755,000 in today's money."

According to Bredderman and Lahut, Stefanik's "private education at Albany Academy for Girls offered a crash course in the ways of the New York capital’s moneyed elite."

"The children of political tycoons, from former President Theodore Roosevelt to former Gov. Mario Cuomo, have sent their children to its all-male counterpart across the street, The Albany Academy, where students pay the same tuition — $25,600 for the most recent academic year," Bredderman and Lahut report. "After graduating from Harvard in 2006, Stefanik decamped to D.C. to serve in then-President George W. Bush's administration — a role one of her Ivy League mentors helped her land. She would work her way up into the White House Chief of Staff's Office."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Lauren Boebert

Servers At GOP Dinner Refused To Give Boebert Any More Drinks

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) has often promoted herself as a moralist, attacking Democrats as anti-religion and declaring that she is "tired of this separation of church and state junk."

But Democrats have responded that the far-right MAGA congresswoman doesn't practice what she preaches, as she was thrown out of a theater in Denver in September 2023 for vaping and creating a disturbance. Now, CNN is reporting that Boebert was so drunk at a fundraiser in December that servers refused to give her any more alcoholic beverages.

According to CNN's Melanie Zanona, "Three months after Rep. Lauren Boebert apologized for disruptive conduct at a Denver theater, the Colorado Republican attended a glitzy Republican gala headlined by former President Donald Trump in Manhattan, where her behavior once again raised eyebrows. At the December soiree, which was the New York Young Republican Club's annual gala, multiple witnesses saw a server tell Boebert they would not bring her any more alcohol, with one witness telling CNN the server told the congresswoman they believed she had been overserved."

Zanona adds, "Throughout the night, Boebert also kept attempting to snap selfies with Trump, who was sitting at the same table as her. Eventually, Trump's security detail stepped in and asked Boebert to stop, according to the witnesses, who attended the event and saw the interaction take place."

Boebert is seeking a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, although not in the district where she is presently serving.

Although Boebert's seat is in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, she is running for reelection in the 4th and is competing for the seat that, until recently, was held by former Rep. Ken Buck. Boebert decided that she had a better chance of winning another term via the 4th, but she is facing a tough GOP primary and is being slammed as a "carpetbagger" from some Colorado Republicans for switching districts.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Mike Lindell

Lindell's Financial Woes Lead To My Pillow Eviction From Warehouse

At a time when he's struggling with major legal bills, far-right conspiracy theorist and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has received some more bad news. MyPillow, according to The New Republic's Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, is being evicted from a warehouse it has been renting in Shakopee, Minnesota.

The eviction, Houghtaling reports, is the result of MyPillow's failure to pay $217,000 in rent for one of two warehouses. The property is owned by the company First Industrial, whose attorney, Sara Filo, appeared during a courtroom hearing on Tuesday, March 26.

Filo told the court, "MyPillow has more or less vacated, but we'd like to do this by the book. At this point, there's a representation that no further payment is going to be made under this lease, so we'd like to go ahead with finding a new tenant."

Many of Lindell's financial and legal problems stem from his efforts to help former President Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election results.

Lindell claimed, without evidence, that Dominion Voting Systems and its competitor Smartmatic — both providers of voting equipment — helped now-President Joe Biden steal the election from Trump. And those companies have sued Lindell for defamation.

Lindell's legal bills are also the result of his "Prove Mike Wrong" challenge of 2021.

That year, at this "Cyber Symposium" event in South Dakota, Lindell offered to pay $5 million to anyone who could disprove his claim that Chinese government officials helped Biden steal the election. Software developer and computer forensics expert Robert Zeidman accepted the challenge and went about debunking Lindell's claim.

According to Zeidman, Lindell now owes him $5 million. The MyPillow CEO has tried to get out of paying him, but U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim upheld Zeidman's victory as perfectly legitimate in a February 21 ruling and agreed that Lindell needs to pay him the money owed.

Lindell, however, has maintained that Trump really won the 2020 election and that Zeidman didn't disprove his conspiracy theory involving Chinese officials.

Houghtaling notes, "The beleaguered conspiracy theorist has, all in all, been struggling with cash flow for some time. Earlier this month, Lindell joined Steve Bannon's podcast to advertise a new Arizona lawsuit he underwrote for Kari Lake — and to ask if listeners would be willing to spare some change to help him out.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Alex Jones

Unhinged Theories Erupt On Far Right After Baltimore Bridge Collapse

At a press conference on Tuesday, March 26, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told reporters that there was no sign of terrorism or foul play in the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge — which had been struck by a freighter. According to Moore and the Biden White House, there was no indication that it was anything other than a tragic accident.

But that hasn't stopped far-right conspiracy theorists from claiming otherwise or looking for ways to blame the Biden Administration for the tragedy.Rolling Stone and The Daily Beastgathered some of the more extreme reactions in articles published that Tuesday.

Infowars host Alex Jones remarked, "Looks deliberate to me. A cyber-attack is probable. WW3 has already started."

On Newsmax, American Conservative Union president Matt Schlapp implied that "drug-addled" employees and "lockdowns" during the COVID-19 pandemic were somehow to blame for the bridge's collapse.

Schlapp told Newsmax, "All I would say is that if you talk to employers in America, they'll tell you that filling slots with employees who aren't drug-addled is a very huge problem; so, I'm making no specific charges here because we don't know. But you know, anybody who flies in America can see that you're constantly waiting on a tarmac somewhere for some crew to show up."

On X, formerly Twitter, anti-feminist Andrew Tate posted, "This ship was cyber-attacked. Lights go off and it deliberately steers towards the bridge supports. Foreign agents of the USA attack digital infrastructures. Nothing is safe. Black Swan event imminent.

Fox News' Maria Bartiromo, interviewing Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), tried to link Biden's border policy to the tragedy. And Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), on Newsmax, claimed that Biden's bipartisan infrastructure bill was to blame because it overemphasized "Green New Deal" spending.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Mike Johnson

'Right-Wing Civil War' Erupts Again As Greene Moves To Oust Speaker

On Friday morning, March 22, the news broke that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) had triggered a "motion to vacate" against House Spear Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Greene and other far-right House Republicans are angry with Johnson over his willingness to negotiate a spending bill with President Joe Biden in order to prevent a partial government shutdown. In 2023, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) triggered a "motion to vacate" against then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for that same reason, and he was ousted as speaker.

Greene told reporters, "It's time for us to go through the process, take our time, and find a new speaker of the House that will stand with Republicans and our Republican majority instead of standing with the Democrats."

Greene's move is receiving plenty of reactions on X, formerly Twitter.

Writer/blogger Brian Krassenstein tweeted, "Is the GOP really this discombobulated? How can we expect a party to lead the country if they can't even govern themselves? It will be interesting to see what happens next. "

The group Occupy Democrats commented, "A right-wing civil war is breaking out and this one is looking very ugly."

Author Keith Boykin posted, "Marjorie Taylor Greene files a motion to vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson for allowing a bipartisan vote to fund the government. Republicans are in disarray again. They are not a serious governing party. They are a grievance party."

The group Republicans Against Trump wrote, "I'm starting to think this Republican party can't govern."

Democratic activist Victor Shi posted, "Let’s this straight: Democrats just saved Republicans & kept our government open AGAIN. 112 Republicans voted against keeping our government open & Marjorie Taylor Greene threatened to vacate Mike Johnson. They are a joke. Democrats are the real adults & saved the day."

Another Democratic activist, Harry Sisson, tweeted, "HAHAHA: Marjorie Taylor Greene has filed a motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson! The Republicans are in utter chaos! When Republicans control any chamber of government NOTHING gets done and you’re seeing that right now. Let’s vote out these clowns in 2024!"

X user Peggy Gabour tweeted, "Bunch of whiners. MTG wants to be the center of attention. She's a traitor. GA needs to get rid of her.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Christian Nationalist Group's Secret Documents Promise Apocalyptic Violence

Christian Nationalist Group's Secret Documents Promise Apocalyptic Violence

In a recent article, The Guardian's Jason Wilson detailed the links between the Claremont Institute — a right-wing think tank — and a "shadowy" Christian nationalist group called the Society for American Civil Renewal (SACR).

Claremont, founded in 1979, was once a traditional conservative outfit that championed the ideas of Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) and President Ronald Reagan. But in recent years, Claremont has taken a decidedly MAGA turn that critics have described as extreme and authoritarian. And Wilson's March 11 article illustrated Claremont's willingness to embrace the far-right fringe.

Now Wilson follows up his earlier report with another Guardian article — this time, describing newly revealed documents that "shed light on" the "secretive" SACR's "origins and inner workings."

The documents, Wilson reports in an article published on March 19, address "methods for judging the beliefs of potential members on topics such as Christian nationalism, and indications that its founders sought inspiration in an apartheid-era South African white men-only group, the Afrikaner-Broederbond."

Wilson explains, "(The documents) also show that Boise State University Professor and Claremont think tank scholar Scott Yenor tried to coordinate SACR's activities with other initiatives, including an open letter on 'Christian marriage.' One expert says that one of the new documents — some previously reported in Talking Points Memo — use biblical references that suggest a preparedness for violent struggle against the current 'regime.'"

According to Wilson, the "origins" of SACR "appear to date to the latter half of 2020" — and there are "indications that the inner circle of the group sought inspiration from earlier iterations of Christian nationalism in authoritarian states."

"In the early part of 2021," Wilson explains, "Yenor drafted documents that firmed up SACR's purpose and character. To a 27 April 2021 e-mail sent to himself and his wife at her employment address, Yenor attached a document entitled 'Working Membership and Recruiting Guide for Chapter Leadership.' In spelling out SACR’s rules, the document reveals the high value the organization places on secrecy."

Wilson notes that the SACR material has a "patriarchal edge," calling for "taking ownership as head of the household in terms of leading regular prayer and spiritual reading and reflection."

The Guardian discussed the SACR documents with Bradley Onishi, author of the 2023 book Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism — and What Comes Next.

According to Onishi, the prayers described in SACR documents may include "coded" biblical references to violence.

Onishi told The Guardian, "What happens when the walls fall down? Joshua's men go in and kill everyone: men, children, women, animals. It's an attempted genocide, right? In that prayer, they're saying we're Joshua's men. We're the type of men who trust God. And when God, when God gives us the signal, we're going to go kill everybody. That's what we do.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

'Absolute Bloodbath' Roils RNC As Trump Seizes Control Amid Purge Of Party

'Absolute Bloodbath' Roils RNC As Trump Seizes Control Amid Purge Of Party

With Ronna Romney McDaniel gone, the Republican National Committee (RNC) now has the ultra-MAGA leadership that Donald Trump wanted — including Trump loyalist Michael Whatley replacing McDaniel as chair and Lara Trump as co-chair.

But the changes at the RNC go beyond Whatley (who formerly chaired the North Carolina Republican Party) and Lara Trump, who is married to Donald Trump's son, Eric Trump.

According to Politico's Alex Isenstadt and The Guardian's Hugo Lowell, mass firings are underway — a purge a GOP source described as an "absolute bloodbath."

Lowell, in an article published by The Guardian on March 11, reports, "Donald Trump's new leadership team at the Republican National Committee started the process of ousting scores of staffers on Monday night, clearing out its ranks as they prepare to bring the Committee under the wing of the Trump 2024 presidential campaign, sources familiar with the matter said.

"The RNC, according to Lowell, "is expected to cull about 60 people across the political, data and communications departments."

"At least five members of the senior staff will be let go," Lowell explains, "and some third-party contracts may also be cancelled…. In ousting large swathes of the RNC, the new chair, Michael Whatley, and the new co-chair, Lara Trump — the former president's daughter-in-law — moved to reorganize the Republican Party's central committee to fall squarely behind the Trump campaign just days after they were formally elected."

Lowell adds, "The RNC is being brought under the Trump campaign to such an extent, the sources said, that the firings are mainly to ensure there is no overlap in roles between the RNC and the campaign. The Trump campaign, for instance, already has robust political and communications teams."

Isenstadt, reporting for Politico, notes that "Trump advisers have described the RNC's structure as overly bloated and bureaucratic."

"The RNC had about $8 million at the end of December, only about one-third as much as the Democratic National Committee," Isenstadt reports. "Under the new structure, the Trump campaign is looking to merge its operations with the RNC. Key departments, such as communications, data and fundraising, will effectively be one and the same."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

'Biggest Disaster': Republicans Blast Their Own State Of The Union Response

'Biggest Disaster': Republicans Blast Their Own State Of The Union Response

President Joe Biden was forceful, aggressive and focused during his State of the Union address on Thursday night, March 7, tackling everything from abortion rights and Obamacare to military aide for Ukraine. Biden never mentioned likely GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump by name during his speech, only referring to him as "my predecessor." Yet he made a strong case for rejecting MAGA policies in the November election.

Biden's SOTU was followed by a rebuttal from Sen. Katie Britt (R-Alabama). Democrats, not surprisingly, have been attacking Britt's speech as a weak response to a fiery, on-target address. But the criticism is not only coming from members of Biden's party.

The Daily Beast's Jake Lahut, in an article published the next morning, stresses that Britt's speech was so bad that even Republicans are slamming it.

"The freshman senator is considered a rising star in the party," Lahut explains. "But her speech’s intense tone — with an over-the-top dramatic cadence that was delivered in a kitchen — left political operatives and observers struggling to make sense of it. In particular, some Republicans watched the high-profile speech with a grimace."

Lahut notes that Britt has been mentioned a possible running mate for Trump but may have endangered that possibility because of her March 7 rebuttal.

A GOP "operative," interviewed on condition of anonymity, told the Beast, "Everyone's fucking losing it. It's one of our biggest disasters ever."

Another Republican insider told the Beast that Britt "lowered her stature" with the rebuttal. And former GOP strategist Tim Miller, a Never Trump conservative who is supporting Biden, slammed Britt's speech as "creepy."

Conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as White House communications director under Trump but endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, is criticizing Britt's speech as well — although not as intensely as others on the right.

On X, formerly Twitter, Griffin posted, "Senator Katie Britt is a very impressive person. She ran a hell of race in [Alabama],” a former Trump White House communications adviser and Nikki Haley supporter posted on X. “I do not understand the decision to put her in a KITCHEN for one of the most important speeches she’s ever given."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Medical Experts See 'Gross Signs Of Dementia' Whenever Trump Speaks

Medical Experts See 'Gross Signs Of Dementia' Whenever Trump Speaks

Right-have media outlets have been obsessed with 81-year-old President Joe Biden's age, often conflating his gaffes with mental impairment while portraying 77-year-old Donald Trump as youthful and energetic — and either ignoring or downplaying Trump's verbal difficulties, such as confusing former South Carolina Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) during a recent speech.

Salon's Chauncey DeVega makes a Biden/Trump comparison in an article published on March 7 and reports that Trump's problems, according to medical experts, are much worse.

"Whatever one may think of Donald Trump the political leader, and all of the evil and vile things he has done in that capacity, he is a human being who appears to be in crisis," DeVega warns. "Moreover, that Donald Trump is leading President Biden in the polls and has a real chance of becoming the next president of the United States should be a source of great alarm for anyone who claims to care about the wellbeing of the country and its future."

One of the Salon interviewees quoted in DeVega's report is Dr. John Gartner, a psychologist and former professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Gartner told Salon, "Not enough people are sounding the alarm that based on his behavior, and in my opinion, Donald Trump is dangerously demented. In fact, we are seeing the opposite among too many in the news media, the political leaders and among the public. There is also this focus on Biden's gaffes or other things that are well within the normal limits of aging. By comparison, Trump appears to be showing gross signs of dementia. This is a tale of two brains: Biden's brain is aging, Trump's brain is dementing."

Harry Segal of Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medical School notes that Trump's campaign speeches have been increasingly "erratic."

Segal told Salon, "In the past six months, Trump's rallies are filled with strange lapses of logic. He has confused Biden with (Barack) Obama, spoke of World War 2, and has lapsed into bewildering digressions that are hard to follow. Only this weekend, he said, 'We have languages coming into our country that no one can speak' — a strange grasping for meaning, bordering on neologism. At other times, he seems to get lost in the middle of a sentence."

Vincent Greenwood, executive director of the Washington Center For Cognitive Therapy, argues that Trump is showing "confusion with increasing regularity."

Greenwood told Salon, "We all stumble over and mispronounce words occasionally. This is not what is going on with Trump. The incidence of these kinds of mistakes takes him into this realm of phonemic paraphasia, which is a sign of underlying brain damage, not just aging. Even when compared to his speech of a few years ago, you can observe a noticeable difference. When you compare it to his speech as a middle-aged man, the shift is radical and ominous."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Lara Trump

Lara Trump Bullies Republicans Who Aren't 'On Board' With Former Guy

Friday, March 8 will mark the end of Ronna Romney McDaniel's time as chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), and former President Donald Trump is recommending Michael Whatley (who chairs the North Carolina GOP) as McDaniel's replacement and Lara Trump (his daughter-in-law) as RNC co-chair.

Lara Trump has drawn criticism from some conservatives for vowing, during an interview with Newsmax's Rob Schmitt in February, that "every single penny" of RNC money "will go to the number one and the only job of the RNC — that is electing Donald J. Trump as president of the United States and saving this country."

Lara Trump, according to former RNC Chairman Michael Steele and other critics, is doing Republicans in down-ballot races a major disservice.

But the MAGA activist isn't backing down from her promise to prioritize her father-in-law's 2024 campaign over everything else. And she is threatening to disown any Republicans who aren't on board.

During an early March appearance on Real America's Voice, Lara Trump warned, "I can assure you, there will be no funny business. Anyone who is not on board with seeing Donald Trump as the 47th president and America-loving patriots all the way down the ticket being supported by the RNC is welcome to leave, because we are not playing games. And we have no time to waste."

Lara Trump continued, "So, we have to ensure that every single penny of every dollar donated goes to causes people care about. That's part of the reason that I think I'm such a great fit for this: There's no one more loyal to Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again movement than this person you’re looking at right here — than me."

Steele has been arguing that Lara Trump fails to understand the duties of being an RNC co-chair.

On MSNBC's The Weekend in February, Steele told host Alicia Menendez, "The number one responsibility of the RNC (is not) to elect Donald Trump. The number one responsibility is to elect every candidate who's on the ballot on behalf of the party. It is to raise money for those candidates who are on the ballot."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Andy Beshear

Republican Legislators Want To Abolish Lunch Hour -- Seriously

In Kentucky, a bill sponsored by Republican State Rep. Phillip Pratt would, among other things, eliminate workers' rights to lunch breaks and rest breaks. House Bill 500 has been advancing in the Kentucky State Legislature, and Pratt's proposal — according to the Louisville Courier-Journal— is getting a scathing analysis from labor rights activists.

Louisville-based employment law attorney Michele Henry slammed HB 500 as "simply unfair to employees who are spending eight or more hours a day at the workplace."

Henry told the Courier-Journal, "They should be entitled to time off to eat and to engage in other activities. Eliminating breaks increases the chance of injuries and burnout."

Duane Hammons of the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet is vehemently critical of HB 500 as well.

Hammons told the Courier-Journal, "Paid breaks and mealtimes are essential workplace standards that contribute to the mental and physical wellbeing of each and every employee we have in this commonwealth…. Employers would have no liability for not paying employees who must travel to several locations for work, such as HVAC, repair work plumbers, electricians, landscapers, construction workers."

During a Kentucky House of Representatives hearing on HB 500, Jerald Adkins of the Kentucky AFL-CIO commented, "Why the sudden urgency to repeal laws that are in place to protect Kentucky's workers?"

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Rep. Mike Johnson

Suddenly Mike Johnson Is Worried About 'Extreme' GOP House Candidates

After Rep. Mike Johnson's (R-LA) confirmation as House Speaker, many reports focused on his far-right Christian nationalist views and efforts to help former President Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election results. Yet Johnson has avoided the bombastic, strident, brash style that is characteristic of so many MAGA Republicans. And the speaker, according to reporting in Politico, showed some pragmatism during a recent meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Johnson, Politico reporters Olivia Beavers and Ally Mutnick explain in an article published on March 1, is worried about the paltry size of his House majority — which has been shrinking thanks to a series of departures and resignations. And Johnson, during the meeting, encouraged the former president to get behind the more electable candidates in GOP primary races.

Johnson, Beavers and Mutnick report, was "making the case that certain extreme candidates could blow the party's chances in battleground districts with primaries this month."

"Johnson's requests included seeking the president's help neutralizing the controversial J.R. Majewski, who has roiled the GOP primary for a must-win Ohio swing seat," the Politico reporters note. "The House GOP leaders also inquired if Trump could endorse other candidates, including Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL), and updated him on their preferences in key upcoming primaries in California and North Carolina. Trump was generally receptive to their requests, according to three people familiar with the meeting who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about it."

Beavers and Mutnick continue, "Given Majewski's strong MAGA lean and Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-FL) support for Bost's opponent, it was hardly a given. Overall, the meeting signaled that Johnson has developed a strategic partnership with the former president, who is again the de facto chief of the Republican Party."

Trump ended up endorsing Bost. But Johnson's challenge, according to Beavers and Mutnick, is to "avoid candidates like Majewski who risk blowing Republicans' chances in swing seats next fall" but without "alienating the ex-president."

Johnson discussed his meeting with Trump during a February 29 interview with Politico, saying, " We talked about Bost. He has always been a Trump supporter, and he agreed to endorse him. But I haven't spoken to him in detail about a lot of the other races."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

John Cornyn

'Hard To Run From Prison, Ken': Senator Rips Indicted Texas Attorney General

Former Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) is among the Senate Republicans who is being mentioned as a possible replacement for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who on Wednesday announced that he is retiring from that position. The 82-year-old McConnell plans to serve out the rest of his term, which doesn't end until January 3, 2027, but he is stepping down as GOP leader in the U.S. Senate in November.

Far-right Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is hoping that someone other than Cornyn will be chosen. Although the conservative Cornyn has endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, Paxton believes that he isn't MAGA enough.

Paxton, who has been battling legal problems — including securities fraud charges — but survived an impeachment effort in the Texas legislature, attacked Cornyn in a February 28 post on X (formerly Twitter).

The Texas AG wrote, "It will be difficult for @JohnCornyn to be an effective leader since he is anti-Trump, anti-gun, and will be focused on his highly competitive primary campaign in 2026. Republicans deserve better in their next leader and Texans deserve another conservative Senator."

Cornyn, in response to Paxton's tweet, posted, "Hard to run from prison, Ken."

Paxton has been battling legal problems for almost a decade.

In 2015, Paxton was serving his first term as Texas attorney general when he was indicted on securities fraud charges And his legal problems have persisted; the case has been delayed but is scheduled to go to trial in April. Paxton, as Cornyn mentioned, is still in danger of going to prison.

Despite his legal problems, Paxton was reelected as state attorney general in 2018 and won a third term in 2022.

Paxton, in 2023, was impeached in the GOP-controlled Texas House of Representatives, and fellow Republicans argued that acts of corruption and allegations of bribery made him unfit to continue serving as Texas attorney general. But he was later acquitted in an impeachment trial in the Texas Senate, where Republicans also have a majority.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Lauren Boebert

Boebert Son Arrested, Booked On 22 Criminal Charges

Far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who is seeking the GOP nomination to run for the U.S. House seat presently held by the retiring Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), has faced a long list of controversies. Now,Newsweek is reporting that Boebert's 18-yeare-old son, Tyler, was arrested on February 27 and is "facing 22 charges," according to the Rifle, Colorado Police Department.

Newsweek's James Bickerton reports that Tyler Boebert was booked into the Garfield County Jail. On Facebook, the Rifle Police Department posted that he was arrested "after a recent string of vehicle trespass and property thefts in Rifle" and added that the charges include "four felony counts of Criminal Possession ID Documents - Multiple Victims, one felony count of Conspiracy to Commit a Felony, and over 15 additional misdemeanor and petty offenses."

According to Bickerton, a custody document at the Garfield County Jail shows "four counts of criminal possession of a financial device, three counts of first-degree criminal trespass auto with intent to commit crime, four counts of criminal possession of ID documents, four counts of ID theft with intent to use, three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, three counts of theft of less than $300 and one count of conspiracy to commit (felony)."

Rep. Boebert, first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020, is seeking a third term. The MAGA congresswoman has been serving in Colorado's Third Congressional District, but she decided that her chances of being reelected were better in the Fourth and switched to Buck's district.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Experts: Russia Is 'Already Spreading Disinformation' For 2024 Election

Experts: Russia Is 'Already Spreading Disinformation' For 2024 Election

From military aid to Ukraine to encouraging the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), President Joe Biden has been a major thorn in the side of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin.

Former President Donald Trump, in contrast, has said he would encourage Putin to invade NATO countries if they don't pay enough into the alliance. Putin is clearly hoping that Trump will win the 2024 GOP presidential nomination and defeat incumbent Biden in November.According to NBC News reporters Dan De Luce and Kevin Collier, Putin's Kremlin loyalists are "already spreading disinformation" in the election by "using fake online accounts and bots" to "damage" Biden "and his fellow Democrats."

De Luce and Collier, in an article published on February 26, explain, "The dissemination of attacks on Biden is part of a continuing effort by Moscow to undercut American military aid to Ukraine and U.S. support for and solidarity with NATO, experts said. A similar effort is underway in Europe. France, Germany and Poland said, this month, that Russia has launched a barrage of propaganda to try to influence European parliamentary elections in June.

"Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund's Alliance for Securing Democracy, told NBC News that Putin and the Kremlin have even more "incentive to interfere" in the United States' 2024 election than they did in the 2016 and 2020 elections.

Former CIA official Paul Kolbe, now with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, told NBC News, "In many ways, it's a perfect storm of opportunity for them. I think, for a lot of reasons, we will see the same approach, but amplified and, I think, with some of the constraints that you might have seen taken off."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Mike Johnson

'Insecure' House Speaker Faces Raging Divisions In GOP Congress

After former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted as speaker, thanks in part to a "motion to vacate" from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), the House of Representatives' small Republican majority went through weeks of chaos before confirming Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) for the position.

Johnson, after his confirmation, promised to end the chaos and run the House like a "well-oiled machine." But the chaos remains as his caucus deals with everything from GOP resignations to the possibility of a partial government shutdown.

Bloomberg News reporters Steven T. Dennis and Billy House examine Johnson's problems in an article published on February 23.

According to the journalists, "multiple senior House Republicans" who were interviewed on condition of anonymity "now portray Johnson as an insecure leader who faces a steep learning curve."

"Those GOP lawmakers complain Johnson keeps counsel mostly with an insular circle of his own staffers on even the most challenging matters — and that some senior colleagues are treated as objects of suspicion rather than allies," Dennis and House explain. "They cite two back-to-back humiliating defeats in one early February evening, when the House not only rejected an Israel-only war aid package Johnson put up for a vote, but also, a marquee Republican impeachment resolution against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas…. Johnson rallied his party the following week to impeach Mayorkas on a second try, prevailing by a single vote after Republican Steve Scalise returned from cancer treatment."

Johnson, according to Dennis and House, is coping with "a Republican majority at war with itself." And conservative Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is warning that House Republicans will suffer politically if they drop the ball with military aid to Ukraine.

"If (Vladimir) Putin wins," the reporters quote Tillis as saying, "Republicans will lose."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.