Congratulations to the three elected officials—and the two appointees—in tight Senate races who recently secured tens of millions of dollars in DOT grants for their home states. Some received their grants after contacting Secretary Chao directly. (1)
Coincidentally, the campaigns of four of these Senators—Gardner, McConnell, McSally, and Tillis—received $50,000+ in independent expenditures from a McConnell-aligned Super PAC just before Trump’s Senate trial. (2)
restorepublictrust.org/restore-public…
Secretary Chao was, coincidentally, in communication with that Super PAC’s leadership, as was (now) Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen—Chao’s deputy at the time. (3)
One director for that Super PAC is, coincidentally, Robert “Mike” Duncan, a longtime Kentucky political operative who voted to install Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General. (4)
Duncan’s son, coincidentally, is the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, whose nomination McConnell shepherded through confirmation. Duncan’s office prosecuted the father of McConnell’s 2014 opponent criminal campaign finance violations... (5)
As there’s chatter from the Right about paying “unemployed veterans” to protect schools, I thought I should throw this out there:
Not all veterans are now or have ever been proficient with firearms or law enforcement tactics.
A few personal anecdotes and observations:
1/x
In Navy boot camp, we were required to fire .45-framed .22s; not for qualification, but—I’m guessing—as an introduction to firearms handling and proficiency.
My unit didn’t do this, as our company commanders considered it a waste of time.
2/x
In 8 1/2 years of active duty, I was never issued a firearm.
While stationed in San Diego, a friend decided to buy a .357 for personal protection. I thought this was a great idea, and bought one, too. He received his first, as his waiting period ended before mine did.
3/x
wral.com/nc-lieutenant-…
North Carolina Lieutenant Governor @markrobinsonNC is not only unapologetically making a beeline for the NRA trough in Houston this weekend, he also serves on the NRA’s national outreach board.
In Robinson’s prepared statement, he offers zero solutions to the gun violence problem.
13newsnow.com/article/news/l…
Robinson’s meteoric, four-year rise—from a furniture factory employee who’d never owned a firearm, to an NRA board member (and a Lieutenant Governorship)—seems pretty improbable.
Some might suggest that he was *groomed* for this.
justice.gov/usao-dc/press-…
The indictment of Collins’ contributors cites 52 United States Code (USC) prohibitions against contributions to federal campaigns by federal government contractors, and the 18 USC (criminal) “straw donor” contribution prohibition.
2/
fec.gov/updates/indivi…
Not all contributions from government contractors are impermissible, but contributions from the “sole proprietor” of a company under contract to the United States government are strictly prohibited, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
wral.com/gop-lawmaker-b…
Republican NC State Rep. Jeff McNeely proposed an illegal audit of a blue county’s voting machines eleven months after the election, citing “many, many millions of accusations" of "machine tampering and votes being switched because of modems.”
Durham’s Rep., Zack Hawkins:
“The people in Durham County take elections very seriously. You are not welcome in Durham County, and I'm not sure if you want to step foot in Durham County and try to inspect the machines. You will not be greeted as liberators, let me be clear.”
google.com/amp/s/amp.thea…
Is now a good time to take a look at #Facebook’s VP for Global Public Policy, Joel Kaplan; his connection to William Burck; Kaplan’s and Burck’s connections to Lindsey Graham—and how all three connect directly to Brett Kavanaugh?
We’ll start here:
(1/)
On second thought, maybe we should start with Senator Graham’s performance during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing. Keep this image in mind while reading the rest of the thread.
(2/)
sfchronicle.com/business/botto…
Anyway, it’s weird that the Zuckerberg-funded nonprofit’s ad for Graham didn’t mention immigration.
Here’s Mitch McConnell’s brother in law explaining how Graham’s ad was purchased by a “smart team of political operatives,” including Joel Kaplan: