Crooked Media - What A Day: Tip of the Weisselberg

Well folks, as if we needed any more evidence to support the argument, it seems like Republican primary voters really don’t like people who point out things like “trying to steal elections is bad.”
 

• Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) lost her primary in a landslide, as expected, garnering only 29 percent of the vote in an election with unusually high voter turnout against her Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hagerman. In a concession speech Tuesday night, Cheney said she believed she could have won the primary but it would’ve required her to "go along with President Trump's lie about the 2020 election... That was a path I could not and would not take." That’s true, with an asterisk. (*If your line in the sand is opposing authoritarian leaders of abysmal character, and your father is Dick Cheney, maybe have him sit out a round.) 
   

• Cheney made it clear from the outset that she knew her leadership role on the January 6 committee put her seat in jeopardy, and she accepted her fate. But Cheney, who was once considered a rising star in the party, is apparently pondering a 2024 presidential run after her crushing loss. She still considers Trump and Trumpism a deeply grave threat to our democracy (she’s right there) and said defeating him will require “a broad and united front of Republicans, Democrats and independents — and that’s what I intend to be part of.” If this means she’s joining Andrew Yang’s “Forward Party” I’m gonna lose it. But if she intends to run as a Republican, she’d be a useful foil against Trump—assuming the RNC would let the two of them near the same debate stage together. 
   

• The outcome in Wyoming, which in 2020 delivered Trump a larger margin of victory than any other state, was largely predetermined. In Alaska, however, things were a little more interesting. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was one of four candidates to advance to the ranked-choice general election alongside Trump-backed candidate Kelly Tshibaka. Murkowski holds a narrow lead over Tshibaka, which could bode well for her come November, and would be hugely important in the balance of the senate, as she is one of the last remaining “moderate” Republicans.

That was far from the biggest surprise of the night.
 

• Like a ghost in a Dickens novel (except without any lessons to impart) Sarah Palin has re-emerged on the national political stage in the hopes of filling the House seat left vacant after Rep. Don Young (R-AK) passed away. But with two-thirds of the votes counted in the ranked-choice race, Palin is trailing a Democrat, former state lawmaker Mary Peltola, by 6 points. I guess Alaska voters didn’t like it when Palin quit being governor halfway through her single term in 2009.

• Peltola outperformed all expectations. She received a major boost when Al Gross, an independent who was one of the four candidates to advance to the runoff, dropped out of the race. Because election officials did not replace him on the ballot, Democratic and left-leaning independent votes were funneled almost entirely to Peltola, while two Republicans battled each other. If elected, Peltola, who hails from western Alaska bush, would be the first Native Alaskan elected to Congress. 

We should root for Cheney to keep tormenting Trump (and for that reason only, because her other stances are as deplorable as the rest of the Republican rank and file), but Trump’s awful spokesperson Taylor Budowich was basically correct when he said, “[Cheney] may have been fighting for principles…but they are not the principles of the Republican Party.” What we need more than her is all hands on deck to get Democrats elected and deliver on their promises. 

With less than 100 days until the midterms - it’s safe to say Midterm Madness is setting in! Right now, you can find all new Vote Save America merch in the Crooked Store! A portion of every single order on the Crooked store goes to VoteRiders—the leading organization focused on informing citizens of their state’s voter ID requirements and helping them secure the documents they may need to vote.

So check out crooked.com/merch for the latest drop, then head to votesaveamerica.com to find out how to get involved and do your part in the lead up to this year’s midterms. 

Florida State Attorney Andrew Warren (an elected official) has sued Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for firing him via executive order over his positions on abortion and transgender rights. 

Plummeting water levels on Germany’s Rhine River due to extreme drought are now making it almost impossible to transport cargo.

Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz said today that he is “disgusted by the outrageous remarks” made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin, accusing Israel of committing “50 Holocausts” against Palestinians over the years.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry denied that the country is holding U.S. journalist Austin Tice or other Americans after President Biden accused the government of detaining him. 

Planned Parenthood will spend an estimated $50 million in the forthcoming midterm elections, giving a huge financial boost to elections where abortion is on the ballot. 

A CBS News investigation discovered that half of all Texas school districts have no mental-health services for students. Interesting how that happens when a state defunds all public institutions so oil barons and Joe Rogan don’t have to pay taxes!

The Justice Department has indicted former California congressman TJ Cox on 28 charges including 15 counts of wire fraud and one count of campaign contribution fraud. Thanks TJ for reminding everyone that Democrats can be corrupt; also for not trying to sic a mob on the FBI.

Saudi Arabia sentenced Saudi-born British national Salma al-Shebab to a shocking 34 years in prison for tweets critical of the country’s treatment of women. 

Two Pennsylvania judges who orchestrated a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for financial kickbacks were ordered to pay more than $200 million to hundreds of children who fell victim to these unconscionable crimes. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence said he would consider appearing before the January 6 committee “if there was an invitation to participate.” Okay your highness we’ll get the town scribe right on that. 

Now that the Inflation Reduction Act is the law of the land, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has directed her agency to develop an operational plan for deploying the $80 billion cash injection to the IRS. 

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Rochelle Walensky delivered a sweeping rebuke of her agency’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday, saying it failed to respond quickly enough and therefore needs a complete structural overhaul. Walensky outlined a plan to reorganize the CDC to prioritize public-health needs and efforts to curb infectious-disease outbreaks and deemphasize the publication of esoteric scientific papers about rare diseases. This plan sprung from an external review that Walensky commissioned back in April after months of scathing criticism of the CDC’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. In short, the agency issued confusing guidelines which changed abruptly and often seemed ill-considered, but it did not control disease. Though specifics have yet to be fleshed out, the broad strokes of Dr. Walensky’s goals are unambiguous: “For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations…My goal is a new, public health, action-oriented culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication and timeliness.” Former Obama administration health official Mary Wakefield will be appointed to lead the CDC’s shift to a stronger public-health focus.

Stop the Attacks on Trans Rights

Our bodies and our families are under attack. Politicians across the country are waging a relentless campaign against transgender youth, threatening to ban the health care they need to live, alienate them at school, and even take them away from their own parents. Trans kids already face grave risks for harassment, violence, poverty, and suicide–and they need our support. Add your name to fight back against these needless attacks.

Trans people belong in families, in schools, in sports, in the workplace — everywhere. We cannot allow for hateful legislation to harm people who simply want to exist, spend time with their families, participate in extracurricular activities, and more. Sign up today to join the ACLU in defending trans youth and trans rights in the face of these all out assaults on our dignity, self determination, and individual rights.

We're with you. The ACLU will fight the countless legislative attacks of the past years with everything we have.  We will be the courts, legislatures, and communities to protect trans youth and people. Together, we can defend and preserve the rights and liberties the Constitution affords to us all - regardless of identity. 

We'll use the full force of our organization to fight back as hard as it takes – for as long as it takes. And we need you with us. Sign up today to join the ACLU in this fight. 

In solidarity,

The ACLU Team

The Department of Education will cancel all remaining federal student debt taken on by those defrauded by for-profit technical school ITT Technical Institute. This will provide $3.9 billion in relief to 208,000 Americans. 

Allen Weisselberg, a former top executive at the Trump Organization is expected to plead guilty tomorrow to a long-running tax scheme to line the pockets of the company and its higher-ups. As part of his plea deal he is expected to admit to more than 15 felonies. 

In a new Marquette Law School Poll, 51 percent of registered Wisconsin voters support Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes (D-WI) for Senate, compared to 44 percent for incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).

New polls show Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) seriously gaining on incumbent Sen. Little Marco Rubio (R-FL) in the Florida Senate race. 

Workers at an upstate New York Amazon warehouse have filed a petition to hold a union election. 

Disgraced former president Trump is trying to assemble a team of well-respected defense lawyers, but they all keep saying no.