Mediaboss Marketing

PHOENIX (AP) Arizonas Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted Thursday to put limits on teaching race and gender in schools, part of the GOPs nationwide push to block diversity instruction theyve termed critical race theory.

The measure is the latest front in the ever-evolving debate over how to teach U.S. history and reckon with racism in the nations past and present.

The measure would ban instruction that promotes or advocates for any form of blame or judgment on the basis of race, ethnicity or sex. It seeks to outlaw a list of concepts, including that a person should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress because of their race, ethnicity or sex.

House Republicans voted along party lines to send the measure to the Senate. Democrats said the measure would chill discussions about history and contemporary event s in the classroom because teachers will fear losing their jobs if they broach the subject of race.

To love America is to learn all about their history both good and bad, said Rep. Sarah Liguori, a Phoenix Democrat. And if we sense our history and ignore todays challenges, we will never live up to the ideals of liberty and justice for all.

Critical race theory was until recently an obscure field of study, largely in law schools, about systemic racism. Republicans have weaponized the term ahead of the midterm elections as a catch-all for teachings about race, diversity, bias and privilege that they say fall outside the charge for public schools.

Lessons related to race and diversity have been on the rise alongside a broader acknowledgment that racial injustice didnt end in America with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Those efforts have spurred a backlash, particularly among Republican voters.

Disregarding parent concerns about what our children are learning is not going to work, said Rep. Michelle Udall, a Republican from Mesa who sponsored the bill.

Republicans included a ban on critical race theory in the state budget last year, but it was among many new policies later thrown out by the Arizona Supreme Court. The justices found the Legislatures practice of stuffing the budget with unrelated provisions was unconstitutional.

When the measure was considered in the House Education Committee on Wednesday, several GOP lawmakers were appalled to hear a parents description of a Bingo game encouraging middle school students to consider how their race, family support, income and other factors could give them a leg up against peers who face discrimination, a turbulent home life or trouble getting to school.

My personal life should not be subject to a bingo game, said Rep. Teresa Martinez, a Republican from Casa Grande. The school has no right to ask if you have one parent, two parents, a gay parent, a brown parent, and are you white.

Rep. Mitzi Epstein said some aspects of history, such as slavery and the Holocaust, are indeed shameful, and she worries the legislation would restrict teachers from saying so.

To teach these things without blame or judgment would be wrong, Epstein said.

Have a story idea or tip? Pass it along to the KTAR News team here.

More here:
Republican-controlled Arizona House votes to ban critical race theory in schools - KTAR.com

Rep. Liz Cheneys Republican primary challenger is leaning on her decades of legal fights against the federal governments natural resources policy in her battle against the incumbent.

Harriet Hageman, an attorney, entered the race for Wyomings sole House seat in September on a platform of complete alignment with former President Trump, amid Cheneys outspoken opposition to the former president over his involvement with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol building and other actions.

But Hageman is also presenting herself as the better candidate to fight what she sees as overreach by President Bidens administration. Shes pointing to her legal work, battling against policies like Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves and conservation of national forests, to show that shes the candidate to represent Wyomings interests.

"Ive taken on the EPA, Ive taken on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Ive taken on the USDA," she said last month on "Bannons War Room," the podcast hosted by former Trump strategist Steve Bannon.

Asked whether she could handle when Cheney "plays hardball," Hageman said shes shown shes ready.

"So does the federal government. So does the EPA. They play to win," she said. "One of the things about going up against, say, the EPA is that they have unlimited resources. And when theyre going out and doing a test case, for example, trying to take over irrigation in northern Wyoming, theyre going to throw everything that they have at it to do that," she continued.

Hageman and her campaign didnt respond to requests from E&E News for an interview or to expand on her legal work.

Hageman currently is senior litigation counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a group that takes on conservative legal causes to fight against environmental regulations, Covid-19 mitigation measures, campaign finance restrictions, taxes and more.

Her work has almost always put her on the opposite side of the conservation community.

"Although Harriet Hageman more recently is known for her flip-flop to support Trump and challenge her previous confidant Liz Cheney, she has a long history with environmental and conservation groups," said Dan Smitherman, Wyoming state director at the Wilderness Society.

"Most of her work was with private property, water and grazing rights, but she forged a legitimate reputation as an anti-public lands sagebrush rebellion lawyer and pro-ranching, anti-wolf advocate," he said.

Hageman said last month on the radio show "Wake Up Wyoming" that her first big case after she launched her own law firm in 2001 was representing the state of Wyoming in challenging the U.S. Forest Services roadless rule, when was written in the final days of President Clintons administration. The case resulted in a 2003 federal court injunction, which the administration of President George W. Bush didnt appeal.

Smitherman estimated that the roadless rule litigation had "the most significant impacts" on conservation.

In another notable case, Hageman represented David Hamilton, a Wyoming landowner, in his battle against EPAs 2007 determination that an irrigation ditch violated the Clean Water Act. "After a two-week trial, we prevailed in that case, and the EPA lost. Because we were right. The Clean Water Act does not apply to his activities," she said on "Wake Up Wyoming.

Hageman worked for many years for an industry coalition in Wyoming to get the gray wolfs Endangered Species Act protections removed, and in 2009 fought the Department of Agricultures determination that certain cattle transported between states need electronic tags.

At times, however, her legal work on behalf of industry has been in opposition to local decisionmakers. In one case, she successfully represented a gravel company in challenging a Wyoming countys decision to block a gravel mine operation, according to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

More recently, shes been sounding the alarm on Bidens "30 x 30" initiative, also known as "America the Beautiful," which aims to conserve 30 percent of the nations land and waters by 2030 (E&E Daily, Dec. 20, 2021). She argues its a "land grab," a threat to Wyoming and an attempt by Democrats to hasten the decline of rural America.

"The federal government under Joe Biden and radical Democrats are intent on taking over and federalizing our private property rights under the auspices or claim of combating climate change. This is a U.N.-driven, unlawful land grab that would be devastating to the economy in this country and dramatically alter the very nature of private property rights and who and what the United States is," she said on the "Working Ranch Radio Show."

The Biden administration has fought back against similar arguments, saying the conservation efforts are completely voluntary and the government is not seeking to take anyones land.

Hageman grew up on a ranch near Fort Laramie, Wyo., where she said she and her siblings had to move cows, fix fences and do other work on a regular basis. She studied at the University of Wyoming, where she got both a bachelors degree and a law degree.

Between her legal and advocacy work, Hageman has been active in Republican politics and campaign finance. She was a previous Republican National Committee representative for Wyoming and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2018.

She was also an ally to Cheney previously and was a critic of Trump, working in 2016 to stop his presidential nomination. But she later became an ally to him, and Cheneys increasing estrangement from him led her to abandon the lawmaker.

"We sent her to Washington, D.C., to be an ally of Donald Trump, and shes turned into a mortal enemy of not just Donald Trump but the America First agenda, she told Bannon.

Hageman cites her work not only to show her dedication to ranching, oil and natural gas, and other industries, but also to argue that Cheney has abandoned Wyomings priorities.

For example, she says its malpractice that Cheney isnt on the House Natural Resources Committee. She was on the panel in her first two terms.

"The Natural Resources Committee this is one of the first times in our history that we dont have anybody on that all-important committee. That tells you where her priorities are," Hageman said on Bannons show.

Cheneys campaign declined to respond to Hagemans comments.

When she met with Trump last year to ask for his endorsement before launching her campaign, Hageman brought up energy and regulations as two of her top priorities.

"The two primary issues I discussed with him were energy independence and what he did in terms of regulatory reform. I thanked him for his work in that regard," she said.

Myron Ebell, who used to work for a think tank launched by former Republican Wyoming Rep. Malcolm Wallop, said hes gotten to know Hageman through her New Civil Liberties Alliance work. Hes hopeful that she can win, get a spot on the Natural Resources Committee and be a champion for industries like agriculture and energy.

"She is a hardcore conservative. But she also has establishment Republican connections, which I think will serve her well," said Ebell, who leads energy and environment policy at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute and led Trumps transition team for EPA.

"She has the expertise thats needed on the committee on a lot of federal lands issues. And shes very strong on property rights and the rights of federal land users."

Cheney, Ebell said, had a good Republican voting record on Natural Resources but "wasnt really interested in those issues."

Ebell expects Hageman will follow in the mold of "some of the really strong people" on Natural Resources, like GOP Reps. Tom McClintock of California, Matt Rosendale of Montana, Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Paul Gosar of Arizona, who lost his spot on the panel last year when Democrats stripped him of his committee assignments.

Cheney has projected confidence in the face of Hagemans challenge and hasnt backed away from her Trump criticism.

She continues to pursue action on energy and other key Wyoming industries, and has argued that her record of fighting against regulations and for increased oil and natural gas production, among other priorities, puts her ahead in the race (E&E Daily, Sept. 10, 2021).

Cheney has also been active in fighting Bidens energy and natural resources policies. Shes introduced legislation to combat the "30 x 30" conservation plan, worked to block Bidens executive actions targeting fossil fuels and proposed to compensate states for any revenue they lose due to Bidens fossil fuel policies.

She was also aligned closely with Trumps deregulatory and energy agenda. She was the lead sponsor of the 2017 legislation that Trump signed to undo former President Obamas "BLM Planning 2.0" rule that sought to overhaul how the Bureau of Land Management oversees its vast acreage which Cheney and other opponents said would have curtailed local voices in land decisions (E&E News PM, March 27, 2017).

The primary is scheduled for Aug. 16, ahead of the Nov. 8 general election. The winner of the primary is expected to easily win the November race.

Follow this link:
Meet the anti-conservation Republican vying to unseat Cheney - E&E News

Police were called to step in after a group of conservatives wearing orange shirts that said RINO hunters, with crosshairs making a target of the O, tried to storm a Republican Party of Orange County meeting in Costa Mesa on Monday night.

The group was led by Nick Taurus, a self-proclaimed American Nationalist who last year spearheaded a protest during a town hall for Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, that turned violent. After provocation from Taurus group, a Porter supporter threw a punch and was arrested.

Taurus, R-Laguna Hills, is now challenging GOP Rep. Young Kim in the CA-40 House race. Hes labeled Kim, whos been endorsed by the OCGOP as a RINO, a derogatory name used by the far-right for more moderate politicians who they deem Republican in name only.

The clash reflects a growing schism in the Republican party, pitting those who strive to elect GOP candidates in purple areas like Orange County, and those on the far right, who remain fiercely loyal to former President Donald Trump.

The party said on Jan. 12 that because of the coronavirus surge attendance at Monday nights OCGOP meeting which was aimed at endorsing candidates for the 2022 election cycle would be limited to members of the Central Committee due to the coronavirus surge.

There are important endorsement requests that must be voted on, but we recognize the spike in covid cases across Orange County, the announcement said. It is important that we as a party take care of business, but we must also take care of ourselves and each other.

But some local Republicans didnt agree with that decision.

Photos and videos shared to social media show a couple dozen people wearing orange RINO shirts in the lobby of the building where the meeting was being held. A witness told the Register one member tried to push past people at the door, grabbing at the handle to get inside. Police then are seen directing the protestors outside, while other people are waved by and allowed into the meeting room.

Once outside, Taurus is seen in videos, wearing a make America great again hat, arguing with GOP Latino activist Jesse Suave over amnesty for undocumented immigrants. Taurus supporters and Suave engaged in verbal clashes, with shouts to back the f up and saying what are you going to do?

Costa Mesa Police say they were called to the meeting at 6:39 p.m. Monday on reports that a group of about 20 demonstrators were refusing to leave the private political meeting, according to department spokesperson Roxi Fyad. Officers contacted the demonstrators, told them to take it to the sidewalk, and they complied, Fyad said.

No one was detained, she said, and police werent aware of any physical altercation.

A spokesman for the county GOP offered a written statement that included this:

The Costa Mesa Police Department was called when (a) group continued to disrupt our meeting and the business of the venue.

As a party, we welcome a healthy debate of ideas. That cannot occur in the manner these individuals conducted themselves. The safety of our members, guests and staff are of the utmost importance to our organization.

Taurus has been involved in multiple protests that have turned physical in the past, including free speech rallies at Cal State FullertonandOrange Coast College in 2017. Videos circulating on social media also show him disrupting a 2020 racial justice protest in Yorba Linda. In that video he is seen stealing and ripping up someones Black Lives Matter sign. His social media posts tout conspiracy theories about the Clinton family, the gay mafia and anti-White racism.

After the incident at Porters town hall, Taurus said in a live Instagram video that someone from the Republican Party of Orange County sent an invitation for his group to attend the Democrats town hall and press Porter about what shes doing to help eastern O.C.s 45th District. Now, Taurus said via social media, his group is being shut out by the same party.

Brian Burley, an OCGOP Central Committee member whos running against Porter in the new 47th District, said the crowd was loud but calm when he walked into the meeting. He said he never had any safety concerns, and everyone was gone by the time he left at 9:45 p.m.

Burley had asked party Chair Fred Whitaker in a public letter Jan. 5 to postpone the endorsement meeting following the death of party leader Kelly Ernby. He clashed with Whitaker last election cycle, when he was facing Michelle Steel in the CA-48 race, over the party making early endorsements of establishment candidates.

Ernby had been planning to run for the 72nd Assembly District before her death early this month from COVID-19. On Monday night, the OCGOP endorsed Diane Dixon for the seat.

Staff writer Eric Licas contributed to this report.

Visit link:
Police break up fracas at Southern California Republican meeting - The Mercury News

Before ultimately stifling Democrats attempt to pass voting rights legislation Wednesday, multiple Republican senators used their debate time to fearmonger over how theyd retaliate if Democrats were to nuke the filibuster.

Republicans stepped to the Senate lectern to share their own extra-spooky predictions about how theyd wield their power if they were unbounded by the filibuster. Democrats shouldnt give these scare tactics an ounce of weight.

Republicans gon Republican regardless. That wont stop them from fearmongering, but it should stop Democrats from caring.

Weve seen what Republicans can do when they nuke the filibuster. During the Trump administration, they unilaterally passed tax cuts for the rich and installed dozens of judges in lifetime seats, including three Supreme Court justices.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned Democrats over the last several months that theyd regret bypassing the filibuster to enact voter protections. But in this weeks voting rights debate, Republicans claimed theres more to fear.

(Read this next paragraph using your best Vincent Price impersonation.)

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said his party could nuke the filibuster to pass a bunch of retaliatory laws if they regain power. Those could include extending the deeply unpopular Trump-era tax cuts for the rich, levying heavier taxes against Democrat-led states, withholding funds from states that provide services to undocumented immigrants, instituting new abortion bans, or passing laws that allow Americans nationwide to carry concealed weapons.

Democrats will soon find themselves ruing the day their party broke the Senate," Cornyn claimed. Its revealing that the nightmare scenario he and other Republicans depict, majority rule, is precisely how the Senate was designed to function.

He even included this super scary poster to drive the point home:

Note to Democrats: If your opponents are taking the time to memorialize their cruel policy ideas on glossy poster paper, its safe to assume these are deeply held beliefs and not contingent on any Senate rules you do or do not uphold.

In short: Republicans gon Republican regardless. That wont stop them from fearmongering, but it should stop Democrats from caring.

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota also used some of his speech time on Wednesday to threaten Democrats. The Senates second-ranking Republican claimed the GOP wont eliminate the filibuster if they regain power unless Democrats do.

Were not going to do it, not if you dont, Thune said. If you do, sure. Then its all bets are off.

I appreciate that this supposedly principled stance reads with the maturity of a schoolyard playground negotiation. Thunes vacillating statement conveys the GOPs insincere filibuster defense perfectly.

Senate Republicans have shown, time after time, they dont feel constrained by Senate traditions in any way. The moment they regain power, whether or not they hold a 60-vote majority, they will aim to pass the very policies theyve been holding over Democrats heads.

Knowing this should free Democrats from any remaining fear that their actions in defense of democracy will have dangerous repercussions.

Related posts:

The Jan. 6 insurrection was a pitiful performance of white victimhood

Trump narrowly missed a self-placed banana peel ... and was still humiliated

McCarthys comments on Marjorie Taylor Greene show the GOP is pro-infection

Head over toThe ReidOut Blogfor more.

Ja'han Jones is The ReidOut Blog writer. He's a futurist and multimedia producer focused on culture and politics. His previous projects include "Black Hair Defined" and the "Black Obituary Project."

See more here:
Republican filibuster threats are hollow. Democrats should ignore them. - MSNBC

Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready (R-Carroll) makes a point during debate on a legislative redistricting plan on Wednesday. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines.

Republicans in the state Senate unsuccessfully attempted to bring back the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commissions state legislative redistricting proposal via an amendment Wednesday.

The Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee on Tuesday advanced a legislative redistricting proposal from the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission, a panel convened by Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County). The committee didnt vote on a proposal from the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission, a multi-partisan panel convened by Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R).

On Wednesday, Sen. Edward R. Reilly (R-Anne Arundel) attempted to swap out the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission maps with those proposed by the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission but his amendment to do so was ultimately defeated in a party-line 32-14 vote. A final vote on the Democratic plan is expected Thursday.

Democratic lawmakers criticized the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission for scrapping existing maps in its legislative redistricting proposal.

It wipes out years of history in this state, Senate President Pro Tem Melony G. Griffith (D-Prince Georges) said of the decision to start from scratch in the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission map.

The Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission opted to start with existing districts and aimed to keep as many Marylanders in those existing districts as possible. One notable shift included the creation of a single-member, majority-Black delegate district around Owings Mills in District 11 to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act.

Other shifts in the map generally secure potentially vulnerable Democrats for reelection: District 9, for example, would be redrawn to include part of northern Montgomery County with Howard County rather than part of southern Carroll County as in current maps. That move could make reelection easier for Sen. Katie Fry Hester (D-Howard County).

Sen. Michael J. Hough (R-Frederick) said the map essentially means that Democratic-controlled districts wont be competitive in the upcoming election.

We are drawing maps that are completely partisan, Hough said.

While both panels conducted public hearings and voting sessions, Republicans also criticized the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission for holding private work sessions as opposed to the public work sessions held by the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission.

Griffith, who served on the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission, said no formal votes were taken at those work sessions, and instead panelists reviewed testimony and discussed draft maps. That panel included four Democratic legislative leaders and two Republican legislative leaders and was chaired by Karl Aro, a former head of the nonpartisan Department of Legislative Services.

Senate Minority Leader Bryan W. Simonaire (R-Anne Arundel), another member of that panel, said some of the work done in closed-door sessions was consequential like deciding what draft maps would move forward and be presented to the public.

I dont want to minimize what we did in those work sessions, Simonaire said.

Senate Republicans also took issue with population variances in the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission proposal. Lawmakers are generally allowed a plus or minus 5% population deviation in legislative districts; the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission proposal keeps that figure to plus or minus 4%.

Sen. J.B. Jennings (R-Harford) charged that the map packs Republicans in rural districts to dilute their vote. Districts on the Eastern Shore, for example, all have a positive deviation in the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission map.

But the maps population deviations arent uniform: Districts in fast-growing and heavily Democratic Charles and Prince Georges counties, for instance, tend to have a positive population deviation as well.

Griffith said that 4% deviation is the lowest seen in Maryland legislative maps in recent rounds of redistricting.

It is actually one of the most compliant maps in terms of the deviation that weve had in decades, Griffith said, adding that population shifts over the last decade factored into population deviations in the map.

The Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission map kept population deviation to less than 2% for senatorial districts and less than 3% in delegate districts.

Other Republicans took issue with the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commissions configuration of single- and multi-member districts. The Maryland Constitution requires that state delegate districts be nested within senatorial districts and allows the use of both single- and multi-member delegate districts, with some hybrid districts that include both a single-member subdistrict and another two-member delegate subdistrict.

Sen. Jason C. Gallion (R-Harford) said he wanted to introduce an amendment that would stop the use of hybrid districts that include both a single-member subdistrict and two-member subdistrict. Gallions amendment wouldve required that those districts be replaced with three single-member delegate subdistricts.

Since his amendment was still being drafted Wednesday, Gallion requested to delay consideration of the legislative redistricting proposal until Friday. Sen. Delores G. Kelley (D-Baltimore County), however, said the General Assembly needs to move quickly to finalize the maps, citing Tuesday testimony from election officials who said lawmakers need to adopt the map as fast as possible so election staff can educate voters and prepare for the upcoming election.

They have almost no time, Kelley said.

Gallions request to delay the resolution was ultimately rejected. In an interview after the Wednesday morning floor session, Gallion said he was disappointed but expected his request to be rejected.

This outcome was predetermined, Gallion said.

The legislative redistricting process has in many ways mirrored its congressional counterpart, which the General Assembly took up during a special session in December. Republicans in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate attempted similar amendments to resurrect the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commissions congressional maps at the time, but those efforts were likewise rejected.

The Senate is set to return at 10 a.m. Thursday, and will likely take up the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commissions proposal for a final vote then. Unlike congressional maps, Hogan cant veto the General Assemblys legislative maps.

Read more:
Republican Amendments to Legislative Redistricting Proposal Rejected in Senate - Josh Kurtz