Mediaboss Marketing

SACRAMENTO

A little-seen attack ad roasting state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta as an anticop politician may be just a blip in the social media universe, but it serves as a flashing neon sign warning Democrats what to expect in Californias election season.

How can someone who cares more about criminals rights than victims rights, and is routinely at odds with law enforcement, serve as our states top cop? the ad says. Its time for a change.

The criticism comes from an independent political committee backing attorney general candidate Anne Marie Schubert, the Republican-turned-independent district attorney of Sacramento County. The ad also takes a swipe at Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a similar barrage from the right in his run for reelection for promising to close two prisons, imposing a moratorium on the death penalty and appointing Bonta as the states top cop.

After more than a decade hovering near the back burner of voter concerns in California, fear over crime has risen to the fore as Republicans seize on the issue to skewer Democrats from the state Capitol to the White House. Republicans are demanding an end to liberal policies that replaced some of the tough-on-crime laws of the 1980s and 1990s enacted under GOP Govs. George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson.

The political calculus is clear. Two-thirds of registered voters in California believe crime has risen in their neighborhoods, according to a recent UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times. Just over half of voters surveyed said Newsom is doing a poor job on crime and public safety, up 16 percentage points from 2020.

Those perceptions have largely been driven by television news coverage of a series of coordinated smash and grab thefts. Auto burglaries and stolen cars are also driving increases in crime in major cities, according to a January study by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

Republican political consultant David Gilliard said crime is an issue that California Democrats own after convincing voters to expand options for the early release of tens of thousands of incarcerated people and reduce the punishment for many convicted of theft and other nonviolent offenses.

Proposition 47, the 2014 voter-approved ballot measure that Newsom supported, reclassified some felony drug and theft offenses as misdemeanors and raised from $400 to $950 the amount for which theft can be prosecuted as a felony. Two years later, California voters approved Proposition 57, a parole overhaul measure that increased good-behavior credits, allowing prisoners to be released earlier.

When you have fewer people who are criminals in prison, that means theres more of them on the street. That means crime goes up. Its a pretty easy equation for voters to understand, Gilliard said.

Recall efforts are underway against progressive district attorneys in two of Californias most liberal counties. An effort to oust San Francisco Dist. Atty. Chesa Boudin one San Francisco Mayor London Breed hinted she might support will be on the June ballot. Another recall effort, targeting L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascn, is becoming a pivotal dividing line in the L.A. mayors race.

Republicans in Sacramento are leaning on the impact of Proposition 47 to crystalize their political message.

Assembly member Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), who is running for Congress in a solidly Republican district, called Proposition 47 a failed policy that has inflicted disastrous consequences on Californians. He and more than a dozen other Republican legislators have introduced Assembly Bill 1599 to repeal the law a mostly symbolic gesture in a Legislature controlled by Democrats.

I believe Californians are fed up with this sort of lawlessness, Kiley said. They are ready to have a rational public safety policy again.

Some prominent Republican leaders conveyed a different message just seven years ago, when tough-on-crime rhetoric began melting away in some parts of the country.

In 2014, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich urged California voters to pass Proposition 47. In an Orange County Register opinion article, Paul argued that America needed to change its criminal justice system because it drains tax dollars, destabilizes families and, worse, isnt making us any safer.

That same year, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry bragged about shutting down a correctional facility following the states use of drug courts to divert addicts into treatment.

You want to talk about real conservative governance. Shut prisons down. Save that money, Perry told the audience at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference.

But Paul and Perrys comments came at a time when crime rates were near record lows in many parts of the country, and voter concerns were focused elsewhere.

Democratic consultant Andrew Acosta said todays voters are angry about a multitude of issues affecting their day-to-day lives crime among them and candidates from his party would be wise to take that seriously.

Housing, crime those are the issues. Then you sprinkle in the inflation piece, Acosta said. What does this all look like in November? I dont know, but right now, it could be a bit of a toxic brew.

Assembly member Al Muratsuchi (D-Rolling Hills Estates), a former prosecutor with the state Department of Justice, is supporting legislation this year to roll back provisions of Proposition 47, including a bill to return the threshold for felony theft to $400.

The Legislature needs to be responsive to the will of the people, Muratsuchi said. The Berkeley poll clearly shows that more and more Californians are increasingly concerned about the direction that weve been heading [in], and now maybe is the time for us to take, if not a course correction, at the very least some course modification.

Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), chair of the Committee on Public Safety, said he favors taking a more measured approach rather than bending to the politics of the moment. Any effort to roll back Proposition 47 must be accompanied by data to demonstrate why the changes are needed and to show that theyre not fear-based, he said.

Jones-Sawyer said there is widespread misunderstanding of Proposition 47, which makes it vulnerable to criticism. He said there has to be greater collaboration between criminal justice advocates and law enforcement, likening the two sides to arguing parents in a divorce.

When we are arguing, it becomes a battlefield. And the only people who suffer are the people we are supposed to be taking care of, he said.

Jones-Sawyer introduced a bill this year to give law enforcement more power to arrest people involved in organized retail and smash-and-grab theft.

Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said the rise in violent crime, and increasing concerns among voters, was predictable. Property crimes have become so rampant that more businesses and residents see no reason to report thefts, she said.

Were being overwhelmed, because criminals seem to be more emboldened, Mims said. I think thats because of the messages being sent from Sacramento, unfortunately, and with Prop. 47.

Defenders of Proposition 47 note that, according to the California Department of Justice, property crime has been on a steady decline statewide since the law was enacted at least through 2020, the most current figures available.

Roughly 30 states have increased the threshold for felony theft offenses since 2005, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. More than half of all states have a felony theft threshold of $1,000 or more.

For years, law enforcement in California has been telling people that Proposition 47 is contributing to an increase in crime, said Anne Irwin, founder and director of Smart Justice California, which advocates for criminal justice reform. Law enforcement was spreading this misinformation even when crime in California was across the board at all-time historic lows.

UC Irvine criminology professor Elliott Currie says property crime statistics are notoriously unreliable even before the passage of Proposition 47 because many incidents are not reported. He noted that during the pandemic, violent crime particularly murder has been on the rise across the nation.

Its taking place in all different kinds of places: red states, blue states and such. You try to attribute that to California criminal justice reforms, youre clearly barking up the wrong tree, Currie said. Its just a Republican talking point at the moment.

The sharp increase in homicides during the pandemic is more clear-cut, Currie said. Nationwide, the murder rate surged by nearly 30% from 2019 to 2020, with California seeing a slightly higher increase, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the state Department of Justice. Montana, South Dakota and Kentucky saw some of the largest increases, as did New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Candidates in some of Californias divisive political races are making the increase in homicides a centerpiece of their pitch to voters this year.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Dahle, a state senator from Northern California, blamed the rise in murders on the policies of elites liberals. Brian Marvel, president of the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California, said the states progressive policies on crime have cost us lives and created many more victims when he announced his organizations endorsement of Schubert for attorney general on Tuesday.

But Newsom and Bonta have signaled their intent to use fear of gun violence in a new line of attack on the firearms industry. The Democrats argue that gun rights advocates and gun makers have seeded the increase in violent crime through the proliferation of weapons across the country. The two appeared together at a February press conference in Del Mar to throw their support behind legislation to enable Californians to sue gun manufacturers and distributors.

Throughout his first three years in office, Newsom has defended the progressive policies on crime that have been adopted over the past decade, including bans on assault weapons and measures aimed at reducing recidivism through educational opportunities and mental health programs.

Were not walking back on our commitment in the state to advance comprehensive reforms. Were not walking back in this state to right the wrongs of the past, Newsom said in December.

Read the original:
Why crime is at the center of California elections this year - Los Angeles Times

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Tuesday said that investigating Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's leading expert on infectious disease, will be one of his top priorities if the GOP retakes the House in this year's midterm elections.

The probe, Jordan told Just the News, will aim to untangle "all the lies [and] the misinformation, the disinformation" that he claims Fauci has spread about the origins of the COVID-19 virus.

"That is because they knew from the get-go [coronavirus] came from the lab, likely came from a lab, gain-of-function likely done, and our tax dollars were used," the lawmaker added.

Jordan, an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, has been one of the leading Republican proponents of the "lab leak" theory, the unproven and dubious notion that the coronavirus was leaked, accidentally or otherwise, from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

RELATED: Great work, useful idiots of the media: Most Americans buy the unsubstantiated "lab leak" theory

At the center of this theory is the allegation that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at one point provided a grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for "gain-of-function" research, a process in which a virus is genetically altered in order to anticipate ways it may mutate in the future. Supporters of the lab leak theory contend, by that logic, that the coronavirus which causes COVID-19 is a man-made "supervirus," generated in a lab, whose origins have been covered up by leading health officials, including Fauci.

According to the Washington Post, there is no clear evidence that the NIH funded any such research. Furthermore, most scientists have concluded that the lab leak theory is unlikely, although it cannot entirely be ruled out. The dearth of evidence for the claim hasn't stopped conservatives from repeatedly accusing Fauci of masterminding the pandemic.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

During a Senate hearing just last month, Fauci and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., got into a heated exchange over the matter, with Fauci accusing Paul of promoting the theory for political reasons.

"You are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain," Fauci told the senator at the time. "What happens when [Paul] gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue is that all of a sudden that kindles the crazies out there, and I have threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children, with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me."

RELATED: The media is being duped by Republicans on the "lab leak" theory

On Sunday, the New York Times cited two extensive new studies backing the idea that COVID-19 originated from a live animal market in Wuhan, China. This was largely the consensus earlier into the pandemic.

Jordan appeared unconvinced, writing of the report this week: "These aren't new facts or new studies. This 'new' info is from the same crew that told Fauci it came from a lab but suspiciously changed their tune and were rewarded with a 9 million dollar grant."

According to the Times, the two novel studies have been verified by multiple independent experts, which renders the lab leak increasingly unlikely.

"When you look at all of the evidence together, it's an extraordinarily clear picture that the pandemic started at the Huanan market," said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona.

The rest is here:
Jim Jordan promises to "investigate" Dr. Fauci if GOP retakes the House this year - Salon

Michael Riojas is a senior studying journalism and an opinion writer for The New Political.

Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.

In recent years, misinformation has run rampant in the United States. As a result, belief in conspiracy theories reached an all-time high, trust in our nations democratic process has waned and hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from a preventable disease. To understand the role of misinformation, we first need to understand two things about it: how it spreads and where it originates.

The spread of false knowledge is the bulk of the problem. Disinformation, information that is intended to deceive, is the catalyst for misinformation. Most disinformation is created by a minority of people on social media, often in regard to social and political issues such as vaccine conspiracies or election lies.

Politicians, especially Republicans, have been using disinformation to their advantage for years. Clips of Senator Rand Paul and Donald Trumps CIA Director Mike Pompeo show how blas lying is for many conservative politicians. Even more egregious, Trump has told over 30,000 lies during his time as president and is perhaps the most responsible for the dystopian rise in COVID-19 and election conspiracy theories.

The 2020 election, by every account, was one of the most secure elections in U.S. history. Still, nearly 70% of Republican voters believe the election was stolen from Donald Trump. According to Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, none of his Republican colleagues actually believes the 2020 election was stolen, but many GOP elites continue to disinform. The decrease in trust in American democracy has been the result of one mans fractured ego and the willingness of his sycophants to play along despite knowing better.

However, elected Republicans are not the only ones spreading disinformation. Conservative TV media have perpetuated election lies about voting machines and mail-in ballots. They have also played a large part in their viewers willingness, or lack thereof, to get vaccinated. Based on a 2020 Pew Research study, Republican voters received their news mainly from one source: Fox News. Like other right-leaning sources, they provide their viewers with mixed messages regarding vaccine information and have likely contributed to preventable American deaths, especially in red counties. A small handful of conservative hosts pander to the Republican establishment, and their pandering hurts their viewers. As a result, these voters are not only ill-informed regarding some of the significant issues our country faces but tend to elect leaders that continue to perpetuate similar lies, thus creating a cycle.

This isnt to say that networks who cater liberal politics are free from error. Corporate Democrats, along with networks such as CNN and MSNBC, have been accused of perpetuating pro-military-industrial-complex and pro-status quo propaganda, but currently it seems the most dangerous disinformation comes from right-wing sources.

As misinformation continues to spread rapidly, trust in our government will likely continue to diminish and the U.S. will pay the price of these lies. With midterm elections coming up and 2024 not far off, the threat could become much, much worse.

Read this article:
OPINION: US faces deadly threat of misinformation fueled by conservative leaders The New Political - The New Political

'I want to be able to break ground next year,' Beshear says on Brent Spence Bridge project

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced plans to apply for two federal grants totaling up to $2 billion to fund a new bridge.

Kareem Elgazzar, Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON, Ky. The Brent Spence Bridge between Ohio and Kentucky could finally be getting its companion bridge and it won't require new tolls.

At a news conference Monday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced plans to apply for two federal grants totaling up to $2 billion to fund a new bridge to carry Interstates 71 and 75 over the Ohio River.

"I want to be able to break ground next year,'' said Beshear, a Democrat, during the news conference.

Brent Spence Bridge: Timeline of trying to fund the $2.5 billion project

The application for funding is expected to be submitted within the next few months and a final decision on the funding could happen in the fall of 2023, officials said.

The total cost of the new bridge would be about $2.8 billion, according to DeWine, a Republican. Kentucky and Ohio will contribute whatever funds aren't covered by the federal government.

Both states will apply for the grants together once the U.S. Department of Transportation releases guidance on the application process. Governors DeWine and Beshear said it's unclear exactly when that may be.

Transportation officials estimated construction of the companion bridge and improvements to the Brent Spence would take about five years to complete.

Beshear and DeWine said the new bridge would be built without tolls.

In the 1990s, the Federal Highway Administration declaredthe Brent Spence functionally obsolete because its narrow lanes carried more cars than it was designed for with no emergency lane.

The Brent Spence was built in 1963 to handle 80,000 vehicles a day, but is now used by double that number.

Improvements to the existing bridge and building a new companion bridge would add much-needed capacity by separating local and through traffic to ease the ongoing traffic backups and accidents.

"We believe that there is no bridge in this country that is as necessary and in needing of a change,'' DeWine said. Interstate 75 is a key freight corridor reaching from Canada to Florida, so officials said slowdowns affect commerce throughout the eastern United States.

A semi-truckhauling potassium hydroxidecrashed into ajackknifed truckon the Brent Spence in November 2020, causing a fire that shut down the bridge for weeks.

And in 2021, the bridge was ranked as the nation's second-worst for traffic bottlenecks.

For years, everyone agreed a new bridge was needed. Former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump were unableto secure funding for the project.

The infrastructure bill, which President Joe Biden signed into law in November, provided new hope for funding the bridge. The bill provides multiple grant opportunities that the bridge project would qualify for, including at least $39 billion specifically for bridges.

One of these grant programs is the Bridge Investment Act, sponsored by U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman of Ohio.This act provides $12.5 billionin grant funding to repair or replace outdated bridges. In a press release, Brown said he wrote the Bridge Investment Act with the Brent Spence in mind. Portman was one of the main Republicans who helped negotiate and pass the infrastructure bill.

In Kentucky, Sen. MinorityLeader Mitch McConnell voted for the bill, and Sen. Rand Paul voted against it. Both senators are Republicans

The bill passed the House on a largely party-line vote; all the Greater Cincinnati Republicans including Southwest Ohio's Reps. Steve Chabot, Brad Wenstrup, Warren Davidson and Northern Kentucky's Thomas Massie voted against it.

Northern Kentucky reporter Rachel Berry can be reached at rberry@enquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter @racheldberry.

Read the original post:
New Ohio River bridge next to Brent Spence won't require tolls, governors of Ohio and Kentucky say - The Cincinnati Enquirer

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the Emergencies Act that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently invoked to quell the trucker convoy protests is "very, very dangerous" and warned against similar legislation that exists in the United States.

"I think statutes that allow presidents or heads of state to invoke emergencies are very, very dangerous," said Paul during an episode of the BASED Politics podcast that aired Sunday. "We have the same sort of statutes here, and I have long-time been an opponent of these. We actually have in the United States an Emergency Act that allows the president to shut down the internet."

Several Canadian civil liberties groups have also spoken out against Trudeau after he invoked the Emergencies Act to cut off funding for "Freedom Convoy" truckers, freeze their bank accounts and crack down on the lingering demonstrations in Ottawa. The trucker protest has been largely cleared from the Canadian capital, but Trudeau has not yet relaxed the state of emergency.

Paul explained how he failed in his attempt to corral anti-Trump Democrats into an alliance with libertarian-leaning Republicans to strike down such emergency power legislation during the Trump administration.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., arrives for a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the federal response to examine the federal response to COVID-19 and new emerging variants on Jan. 11, 2022, at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

"[Sen.] Mike Lee had some reforms that he put forward on the Emergency Act, and it's something we should look at, because these things go on and on," Paul continued. "There are some emergencies in the U.S. that have been going on for many, many decades. And the president can just renew them every year. There's no real stopping him."

CANADIAN CLERGY REBUKE TRUDEAU FOR INVOKING EMERGENCIES ACT, OTHER TYRANNICAL ACTIONS'

Paul pointed out how he tweeted on Feb. 16 that Canada had become Egypt, where Paul said President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has repeatedly extended emergency powers and arbitrarily detained people.

"And so the emergency edict that Trudeau has done in Canada allows him to do some horrendous things, allows him to stop travel, allows him to detain people without trial. Now we don't know that he's going to do that, but it is very, very worrisome what he might do," Paul added.

Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, speaks during a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022. David Kawai/Bloomberg

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said the truckers protests did not meet the standard for Trudeau to have invoked the Emergencies Act, which exists for "the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada" and only for actions that "cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada."

The rest is here:
Rand Paul denounces Trudeau's 'dangerous' Emergencies Act ...