Michael Whatley, the Republican nominee for Senate in North Carolina, released an ad stating that he has “driven thousands of miles across North Carolina trying to fix our country and help working families.” But campaign finance filings reveal that Whatley’s campaign committees have spent over $100,000 since last September on travel in a $2 million private jet. A paper trail links these payments to a felon convicted of defrauding the federal government.
Opponents of California’s proposed billionaire tax are running an ad falsely claiming that the initiative would require everyone to itemize and report all their assets to the state. The ad was sponsored by Californians Against Wasteful Spending and Higher Taxes, a project of the California Business Roundtable (CBRT). CBRT’s PAC is funded by several billionaires, including Peter Thiel.
The New York Post has repeatedly claimed that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani “doxxed” wealthy New Yorkers by publishing a property ownership list last month as the city implements the new pied-à-terre tax. But Mamdani did not doxx any New York City residents because the same information has been public for decades. Nevertheless, the false claim has now spread to other major media outlets.
Earlier this month, Popular Information exposed a network of fake news sites run by a super PAC affiliated with Senate Republicans. One of these sites is now pushing a misleading attack about former North Carolina governor and current Senate candidate Roy Cooper. The site published an article linking a murder to Cooper’s policies. But the man accused of committing the murder was formerly incarcerated in South Carolina, not North Carolina, and the crime took place in South Carolina.
The best of the rest
This week, the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced that two unvaccinated people in Lancaster County died from measles. In 2021, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was chair of the Children’s Health Defense at the time, spoke at an Amish country fair in Lancaster County, “where he praised the low childhood vaccine uptake” and “downplayed the severity of measles.” (MS NOW)
Private prison company GEO Group donated $1.4 million to President Trump’s primary super PAC MAGA Inc. weeks after the company won two contracts with the Department of Homeland Security to run immigration detention centers in North Carolina and Colorado. GEO Group has said that the contracts are estimated to “generate more than $160 million in annual revenue.” (The Lever)
In 2021, dozens of companies signed a letter asking Congress to strengthen the Voting Rights Act. This week, the Guardian reported that several of these companies — including DoorDash, Airbnb, and Target — have continued to donate to the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). RAGA is providing financial backing to numerous attorneys general working to undermine the Voting Rights Act. (The Guardian)
When Charlie Kirk was killed last year, his friend and fellow conservative commentator Candace Owens had recently started her solo career. She split with the right-wing news site The Daily Wire after she promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories. Over the last year, her audience has grown by millions. Her primary focus has been peddling conspiracy theories about Kirk’s murder, including that it was orchestrated by Israel. (The 19th)
Numerical information
$17 billion: On Wednesday, Meta agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion as part of a settlement agreement “over claims it endangered children with addictive social media platforms.”
Up to 50%: On Tuesday, Canada announced large tariffs on around $20 billion of American imports in an effort to combat the Trump administration’s new tariffs.
49,571: The number of people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last month, setting a new monthly record since Trump retook office.
Quote of the week
“I don’t want anyone in America concerned inappropriately. We don’t know exactly what happened in Pennsylvania yet. We don’t know if the children died from measles or had another condition that was already attacking them and they just happened to get measles at the same time.”
– Dr. Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, on Fox Business
Photo of the week
President Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America” amid an ongoing trade war between the U.S. and Canada. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
I will be glad when he no longer exist. Words I thought I’d never say about anyone because I’ve never thought them about anyone…
There’s a whole lot of people helping him that will remain, but many of those cowards will claim they never truly supported him or they will downplay their support for him. They will downplay the damage they did to the country by aiding and abetting his criminal enterprise. They will lie their ass off and unfortunately, it’ll probably be just fine for them because Dems don’t have the teeth necessary to do what’s required to punish them.
There will be committees formed, investigations and hearings held, and then they’ll all fade away with no one held accountable. The assholes will go on to cause havoc in some other capacity, rolling around in their spoils.
Dems and Republicans also will not fill the gaps, gray areas and exploited processes to prevent anyone like Trump or his criminal enterprise to ever go into leadership so easily again.
I am not optimistic today that we will fully recover within the next two decades
And yet, these are all distractions; from the climate change that is disrupting normal lives of everyone/thing on the planet.