[guest post by Dana]

AG Loretta Lynch made a visit to Orlando yesterday bringing $1 million dollars in federal funds to aid in recovering costs for law enforcement responding to the recent massacre. AG Lynch also met with the families of those who lost loved ones at the hands of Mateen.

Moreover, Lynch enlightened the public on how to respond to terrorist attacks. Word has it that those who have pledged their allegiance to ISIS, and radical jihadists everywhere, were shaking in their boots as a result:

“We stand with you to say that the good in the world far outweighs the evil … and that our most effective response to terror and hatred is compassion, unity and love,

Oh, and there was also the small matter of Omar Mateen’s disappearing wife, who could be in Really Big Trouble, depending on how much she knew, and when she knew it:

“Has the shooter’s wife left the state of Florida?” a reporter asked Lynch during her press conference Tuesday.

“Right now, I don’t know exactly the answer to that,” Lynch candidly replied. “I believe she was going to travel but I do not know exactly her location now.”

Meanwhile, officials and the media are still trying to determine what may have motivated Mateen. This is just so weird, given the speed with which Lynch had figured out Dylan Roof’s motives in the horrible killings at a church in Charleston:

Yet last July, when Lynch announced federal hate crime charges against Roof, Lynch expressly emphasized his motivation.

“Several months prior to the tragic events of June 17, Roof conceived of his goal of increasing racial tensions throughout the nation and seeking retribution for perceived wrongs he believed African Americans had committed against white people,” Lynch said during a press conference. “To carry out these twin goals of fanning racial flames and exacting revenge, Roof further decided to seek out and murder African Americans because of their race.”

Lynch even acknowledged Roof sought to create as much notoriety as possible, something her press conference ostensibly helped him achieve.

“An essential element of his plan, however, was to find his victims inside of a church, specifically an African-American church,” she said, “to ensure the greatest notoriety and attention to his actions.”

If only Mateen had left just one clue behind…

P.S. I am currently travelling and have very limited wifi because I’m in the Middle of Nowhere, so if this subject has already been covered by another poster, please ignore this post.

–Dana

Little Marco is running for re-election to the Senate:

Sen. Marco Rubio will announce Wednesday he will seek re-election to the Senate, reversing a pledge he made a year ago to either assume the presidency or return to private life in Florida, instantly transforming an already competitive race and improving the chances that Republicans can maintain the Senate majority.

I learned this primary season that I don’t care for Marco Rubio. I learned that he is am empty suit who will do and say anything that serves his political ambitions. I learned how deep and blatant his lies had been about opposing amnesty for illegal aliens. Finally, I watched him try to “stand by” the things he had said about Donald Trump during the campaign — including branding Donald Trump someone who can’t be trusted with nuclear weapons — yet who supports Trump today because he said he would support the nominee.

Well, Rubio also said he would not run for re-election to the Senate, too.

I have only said like 10000 times I will be a private citizen in January.

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 17, 2016

Oh. pic.twitter.com/gNYzlqwxbc

— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) June 22, 2016

While I am no longer a member of the Republican party (I officially deregistered online), I also believe that it is important that they maintain control of the Senate and House. The GOP is feckless in fighting big government, but they are the most organized bulwark against big government out there. (Libertarians don’t win elections; they even argue about whether it’s moral to vote.) If I were convinced that Rubio is the only chance to hold on to the seat, then I would support Rubio.

But I’m not so sure he is. I know Mitch McConnell put out a big “draft Rubio” campaign. But Ted Cruz and Mike Lee seem . . . more lukewarm:

Marco Rubio reached out to Ted Cruz to confirm his intent to run for reelection to his Florida Senate seat, according to sources familiar with the matter.

According to two aides briefed on the Tuesday phone call, Rubio asked Cruz to blast out a statement urging Rubio to run for reelection, “so it’s not just Mitch [McConnell]” asking him to do so, as one aide described it.

Those aides say Cruz declined, as he didn’t want to be accused of nudging out US Representative Ron DeSantis, the tea-party favorite in the race for Rubio’s seat. The aides say that Senator Mike Lee of Utah echoed that concern after Rubio approached him with the same request. A Lee aide confirmed that this conversation took place.

If Mitch McConnell wants Rubio, and Ted Cruz and Mike Lee don’t, I tend to think I don’t either.

UPDATE: DeSantis is now out. Sounds like he would have been a better small-government candidate but was pushed out by Mr. Ambition. Oh well.

UPDATE x2: And with DeSantis out, Cruz is now supporting Rubio in the primary.