Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Let’s go!
First news item
Former Texas Representative Will Hurd enters the presidential race:
The former congressman has been an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump and said last month that a race between President Joe Biden and Trump would be a “rematch from hell.”
“Someone like me, right, a dark horse candidate, can pull this off…One, you can’t be afraid of Donald Trump. Too many of these candidates in this race are afraid of Donald Trump. But we also have to articulate a different vision.”
…“Our enemies plot, create chaos, and threaten the American dream. At home, illegal immigration and fentanyl stream into our country. Inflation, still out of control. Crime and homelessness growing in our cities,” Hurd says in the video.
Hurd said that he will refuse to sign the required loyalty pledge to back the eventual Republican nominee:
I won’t be signing any kind of pledges, and I don’t think that parties should be trying to rig who should be on a debate stage…
Hurd voted against impeaching Trump in 2019.
Second news item
Ukrainian spies believe Russia is planning a “terrorist” attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant involving a release of radiation, Volodymr Zelensky has said, after his intelligence chief warned Russian troops had mined the cooling systems.
“Intelligence has received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – a terrorist act with the release of radiation,” the Ukrainian president said. “They have prepared everything for this.”
The Kremlin dismissed the allegation as “another lie”, and said a team of UN nuclear inspectors had visited the plant and rated everything highly.
Third news item
Trump team receives first batch of discovery material:
Special counsel Jack Smith has turned over the first batch of evidence in the classified documents case to former President Donald Trump’s legal team, according to a court filing Wednesday.
…
The first production of unclassified discovery includes “the grand jury testimony of witnesses who will testify for the government at this case,” according to the filing.
Trump seems to be taking this well:
Fourth news item
Enough is enough. Maricopa County recorder suing perpetual grifter Kari Lake:
I’m suing Kari Lake.
I’d hoped the defamation would stop after the election. I waited.
I’d hoped it would stop after the first election trial. I waited.
I’d hoped it would stop after the appeal. I waited.
I’d hoped it would stop after the second trial. I waited.
I’d hoped it would stop after she got a new job. I waited.
But then I realized I AM the job. Defaming me is her path to campaign donations, speaking opportunities, and national trips.
I live a very lucky, wonderful life.
But these defamatory statements have altered my life. For the worse. Materially.
And just because I live a great life doesn’t mean I have to sit back while somebody says false things about me and says I did truly horrible things — things that multiple courts found to be false.
I wish it would have stopped on its own.
But it didn’t.
So today I’m suing Kari Lake to hopefully put an end to the false statements.
Fifth news item
Supreme Court ruling gives President Biden a victory:
The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 ruling on Friday, revived the Biden administration’s immigration guidelines that prioritize which noncitizens to deport, dismissing a challenge from two Republican state attorneys general who argued the policies conflicted with immigration law.
The court said the states, Texas and Louisiana, did not have the “standing,” or the legal right, to sue in the first place in a decision that will further clarify when a state can challenge a federal policy in court going forward.
…
By ruling against the states, the court tightened the rules concerning when states may challenge federal policies with which they disagree. The Biden administration policy was put on pause by a federal judge nearly two years ago and the Supreme Court declined to lift that hold last year.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote Friday’s majority opinion in the case.
“In sum, the states have brought an extraordinarily unusual lawsuit,” Kavanaugh wrote, in an opinion joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. “They want a federal court to order the Executive Branch to alter its arrest policies so as to make more arrests. Federal courts have not traditionally entertained that kind of lawsuit; indeed, the States cite no precedent for a lawsuit like this.”
Sixth news item
Not true a brace increases gun caliber
Not true NRA can’t be sued
Not true gun firms are only firms shielded from suits
Not true 2A bans machine guns
Not true Beau Biden was first to enforce a red flag law
Read full report here.
Seventh news item
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) introduced resolutions “expunging” Trump’s 2019 and 2021 impeachments, respectively.
It would be “as if such Articles of Impeachment had never passed the full House of Representatives,” Stefanik’s office said in a press release.
Eighth news item
State rep tells parents to leave California:
California State Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, urged parents to “flee” the state before it’s too late if they “love their children” in response to what he calls alarming language in a gender identity bill. Legislation AB 957 cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee with an 8-1 vote on Tuesday…”In the past when we’ve had these discussions and I’ve seen parental rights atrophy, I’ve encouraged people to keep fighting. I’ve changed my mind on that,” Wilk said. “If you love your children, you need to flee California. You need to flee.”
…
AB 957, was initially authored by Democratic Assembly member Lori Wilson and State Senator Scott Weiner, who also co-sponsored it.
A spokesperson for Sen. Wilson tried to downplay concerns over the amendment, saying previously, “It’s not saying [affirmation] is the most important factor or determining factor. It’s one of many factors that the judge should consider while working out a custody agreement.”
Weiner, a representative from San Francisco, also introduced a bill that would require foster parents to affirm the gender of a child entering their home and a third piece of legislation, SB 107, that would grant access to sex changes for minors without parental consent.
Related: New polling:
More than 40% of residents say they’re contemplating moving out of California, with nearly half of them saying they’re considering that “very seriously.” About 61% pointed to the high cost of living here as the reason they’d go.
Ninth news item
The Party of personal responsibility boos 2024 candidate for discussing Trump’s lack of leadership and failure to take personal responsibility for his actions:
Chris Christie on Trump: "He's unwilling to take responsibility for any of the mistakes that were made…That is a failure of leadership…You can boo all you want, but here's the thing, our faith teaches us that people have to take responsibility for what they do." pic.twitter.com/Y78sDiwpvi
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) June 23, 2023
Have a great weekend.
–Dana
