Trump Hands Maryland Governor’s Office To D’s. His candidate defeated the ‘establishment’ candidate backed by outgoing Governor Larry Hogan:
The chief antagonist of Mr. Cox’s campaign was less any future Democratic opponent or even Ms. Schulz than it was Mr. Hogan, who won two terms as governor of an overwhelmingly Democratic state by focusing on Maryland’s economy while avoiding thorny social issues.
In the past, Mr. Cox has associated himself with followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory. He has tweeted the group’s hashtag, and in April he appeared at an event called Patriots Arise at a hotel in Gettysburg, Pa., that was organized by a right-wing social media influencer whose website has promoted a QAnon slogan.
There, Mr. Cox promoted a similar brand of Christian nationalism that has animated the campaign of Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor of Pennsylvania, who has endorsed Mr. Cox.
“The Constitution does not give us our liberties. It merely protects those that were given by God,” Mr. Cox said at the event. “We have natural rights that supersede any governor, any government, any official, all of which is based upon the fact that we are created in his image.”
Looks like the D’s rejected the centrist candidacy of former DNC Chair Tom Perez, although Maryland’s idiotic laws prevent the counting of any mail-in ballots until at least today.
Here is the likely D challenger. Wes Moore. Looks very promising to me. Could end up a national figure.
Something Stinks In The Secret Service. Even the supposed ‘watchdog’ kept his mouth shut:
The previously unreported revelation about the inspector general’s months-long delay in flaggingthe now-vanished Secret Service textscame from two whistleblowers who have worked with Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari, the people knowledgeable about the internal discussions said.
It’s becoming increasing likely that high-ranking officials in the Secret Service conspired to keep Trump in office. BTW, here’s a typical non-denial denial:
The Secret Service’s letter said it has, however, “disclosed voluminous amounts” of records to the OIG’s office.
Just not the stuff that matters.
Progressives To Biden: Stop Sending Military Weapons To Cops:
“Militarized law enforcement increases the prevalence of police violence without making our communities safer,” they wrote, in a letter obtained by HuffPost. “When law enforcement has access to military equipment, they are more likely to use it, rather than other more appropriate and traditional law enforcement tools. Furthermore, the negative effects of police militarization disproportionately affects communities of color.”
Federal programs have helped arm thousands of U.S. police departments with military-style vehicles, weapons and tactical equipment, and fueled aggressive tactics against the public. After Floyd’s murder, police in dozens of cities responded to nonviolent protesters in armored vehicles and body armor. Many departments have used flash-bang grenades and armored vehicles for routine police work, such as serving warrants and making traffic stops.
Dozens of agencies have claimed they need military equipment in order to protect officers in high-risk situations or to protect the public during natural disasters only to then use the equipment to terrorize Black neighborhoods, peaceful protests against police and Native American environmental activists, a series of HuffPost investigations found last year.
The investigations showed restrictions on the program to be incredibly lax. For example, although agencies that have violated civilians’ civil rights are nominally banned from the program, the ban is so narrowly defined that the Defense Department made a literal rubber stamp to approve transfers.
San Antonio, Texas, which added more to its population than any other US city in the 12 months ending July 2021, has already had more than a dozen days over 100F this summer and hit 104F on Tuesday. Phoenix, second on the population growth rankings compiled by the US census, also hit 104F on Tuesday and has suffered a record number of heat-related deaths this year. Meanwhile, Fort Worth, Texas, third on the population growth list, has a “red flag” warning in place amid temperatures that have reached 109F this week.
Cities that stretch across the “sun belt” of the southern and southwestern US have in recent years enjoyed population booms, with people lured by the promise of cheap yet expansive properties, warm winters and plentiful jobs, with several large corporations shifting their bases to states with low taxes and cheaper cost of living.
But this growth is now clashing with the reality of the climate emergency, with parts of the sun belt enduring the worst drought in more than 1,000 years, record wildfires and punishing heat that is triggering a range of medical conditions, as well as excess deaths.
“There’s been this tremendous amount of growth and it’s come with a cost,” said Jesse Keenan, an expert in climate adaption at Tulane University. Keenan pointed out that since the 1990s several states have gutted housing regulations to spur development that has now left several cities, such as in Scottsdale, Arizona, struggling to secure enough water to survive.
“The deregulation is really catching up with communities and they are paying that price today,” Keenan said. “We are seeing places run out of water, no proper subdivision controls to ensure there are enough trees to help lower the heat, and lots of low-density suburbs full of cars that create air pollution that only gets worse in hot weather. We’ve reached a crunch point.”
Assault Weapons Lovers Sue Carney. Claim Constitution protects their rights to inflict carnage on the populace:
“This is another effort to demonize an object that doesn’t hurt people unless it’s used by people that want to injure people in a violent way,” Hague said. “DSSA has maintained for years that the way to solve violent crime that’s done by any means–whether it’s knives, fists, feet, guns, golf clubs, tire irons, hammers–is to look at the person behind the weapons, not the weapon itself.”
Hague claimed this law would do nothing to lower violent crime in the state of Delaware, and said legal action was pending against the other bills passed as part of a gun control package, including HB451 and SS1 for SB6. Request for comment on the filing, found in full below, was submitted to the governor’s office, and this coverage will be updated if an when a response is provided.
Pity the poor assault weapon. Why’s everybody always picking on it?
Proposed Edgemoor Port Expansion Could Threaten Wildlife And Humans. Rep. Deb Heffernan, who is supposed to represent the area, snuck money into the Bond Bill for this project and has been ‘unavailable for comment’ ever since. Just one more reason to support Becca Cotto.
What do you want to talk about?