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WAMPSVILLE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) They dont agree on much, but Democrats agree with Republicans and Conservatives in Madison County about stopping a former prosecutor charged with a drug overdose from being elected to a judge position.

The Democratic Committee of Madison County made what it calls a highly unusual move in endorsing the same candidate endorsed by the Republican and Conservative committees: Rhonda Youngs.

Youngs is being promoted as a write-in candidate against Bradley Moses, whose name will appear on the ballot.

Moses lost his job as an assistant district attorney in Madison County as a result of the alleged drug overdose in August.

The Madison County Sheriffs Office released toxicology reports that show Moses has fentanyl in his system, after claiming he thought he was doing cocaine.

Moses is still an active candidate, the only name listed on the ballot, for Madison County Court Judge.

Some things are more important than party affiliation, and the ethics and integrity of our court system is one of them, said Madison County Democratic Chair Liz Moran in a statement. The Madison County Democrats are breaking from tradition to support Rhonda Youngs for County Judge because it is the right thing to do. Brad Moses is clearly unfit to serve, and we will work hard to turn out Democrats and voters from every other party to write in Rhonda Youngs name on their ballots and elect the first female County Judge in Madison County history.

Political insiders worry voters wont be aware theyll have to write in Youngs name.

After posting a statement denying using illegal drugs, Moses has since re-activated his campaign website.

In a letter to the Madison County District Attorney, Moses defense attorney calls him an active candidate.

The attorney requested the DA to investigate the Madison County Sheriffs Office and accuses the sheriff of releasing information about the case for political reasons. The DA tells NewsChannel 9 the allegations appear meritless, but the information will be relayed to the judge who will assign a special prosecutor to the Moses case.

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Democrats helping Republicans to stop judge candidate accused of overdose - WSYR

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The words of a Vanderbilt University Medical Center doctor in regards to the transgender surgeries the hospital performs on minors were shocking in their honesty. The only thing more horrifying than child mutilation in service to ideology is child mutilation in service to mammon. Hearing it admitted from the podium in a public lecture only made it worse. Forget making prostitution legal; the sale of human flesh is more profitable this way.

Matt Walshs recent report on the pediatric transgender clinic at the medical facilities associated with the prestigious Middle Tennessee school has already made waves in the state and across the country, as it should. Republican Governor Bill Lee has called for an investigation of VUMC, and the states House Republican Caucus chairman and majority leader have also promised to ban gender-affirming treatment for minors. But the Tennessee General Assembly wont be back in session until January, more than three months from now. In the meantime, some have already wondered if a condemnation of gender-affirming treatment for minors would be tacit approval of gender-approving treatment for adults. At any rate, its hard not to wonder if, like so many other scandals, this will blow over before the root of the problem is addressed.

Vanderbilt is not Tennessees only problem school. As one of the more liberal institutions in the state, in part thanks to its proximity to Nashville, it has always been at odds with broader Tennessees conservative tendencies. But out in the east, on the public dollar, similar tensions are brewing.

The University of Tennessee has several campuses across the state. While perhaps less prestigious than Vanderbilt, to a native Tennessean it is often the top choice of college, in part due to the appeal of its legendary football program and the license to trash talk Alabama and Florida. In the laundry list of radicalized universities, it is not near the top. Schools in a Southern, deeply red state just dont spring to mind when we envision diversity, equity, and inclusion boards. But, like so many other institutions, UT has become a breeding ground for activism in recent years, and perhaps more fervently so because of its location.

Shortly after the death of George Floyd in 2020, UT required every school and administrative unit to produce its own Diversity Action Plan. The effect of these plans, reported by journalist John Sailer, was overhauled curricula across the universitynot just once, but periodically, to reflect adherence to changing mores. The Haslam School of Business, named for the former Republican governor, promised to reassess its curriculum for issues related to social justice, equity, and the elimination of bias. The college of education, health, and human sciences required at least 75 percent of its instructors to revise their syllabi annually to reflect increased self-knowledge of these progressive issues. The school of social work introduced a new minor, Social Justice, and promised to adopt critical race theory as a framework.

Unlike Vanderbilt, however, the University of Tennessee is not presided over by the creator of the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board at the University of Chicagos school of public policy. UTs president is a man named Randy Boyd, a native of Knoxville and an alumnus of the school he now directs. A professed conservative, Boyd ran in the Republican primary for governor of Tennessee in 2018. He was endorsed by the former governor, Bill Haslam, and countless party members, andthough he ultimately took second place to Leewas regarded as the establishment protege.

The university is going leftward under Boyds leadership, and perhaps it is only for lack of attention. Still, last October had to have raised some eyebrows. After fundraising for a state senator who had proposed a ban on gay marriage, Boyd, it seemed, could not take the heat. Boyd pulled his support for the candidate, apologized, and (since that is never enough) committed the states university to the cause to cover his own backside. Boyd vowed UT would raise its campus pride index score and promised to advocate for LGBTQ-friendly policies on the legislative level.

Boyd also stood by silently as the university hurriedly rescinded admission to a varsity cheer captain within days after a video surfaced of her using a racial slur in high school, several years prior.

The university takes seriously our commitment to fostering a Volunteer community that values equity, inclusion, and that promotes respect for all people, the official account tweeted after the incident.

Of course, like every other state school, the University of Tennessee is also beholden to those who hold its purse stringsin this case, a litany of Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly and Republican governor Bill Lee. Of the 99 members in the state House, 72 were Republicans in the last session; of the 33 state Senate seats, 27 were Republicans. While most seats are up for reelection in November, if history holds true, the Republican supermajority will remain.

So why is this happening in such a red state? Its a question not enough of us are asking. It is the rights perennial problem that it assumes leftward movement is irreversible; that, as the name suggests, progressivism must only progress. But the traditional wing of Tennessee has poweror rather, unbelievable access to it, if it didnt lack the political will to use it. For all the talk about the culture war on the right, it seems the politicians are only willing to take action when it doesnt ruffle feathers. Perhaps, too, the prestige of the university still subdues otherwise bold minds. But it should not, not today.

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For Governor Lees part, he has made improving education a top issue for his governorship, and has increased the states education budget significantly since he was elected in 2018. Lee has also introduced a new program at the University of Tennessee, under Boyds leadership, to promote American civic education and, if the marketing is true, to combat anti-Americanism. Boyd, accordingly, assembled a bipartisan board which includes Phil Bredesen, the former Democratic governor of Tennessee, and the leftist historian Jon Meacham.

As a research university with a wide-reaching hospital system in Middle Tennessee, Vanderbilts impact, though smaller than that of UT, is much more lasting, as Walshs reporting details. Though private, the university still receives a good deal of state dollars through research grants. They are also eligible for a share of more than $463 million the state has budgeted for student scholarships in 2022-23. To make those resources contingent on a certain kind of behavior is well within the job description of a state legislature.

A leftward shift may be endemic at American universities today, but not because Tennessee, and similar red states, have lacked power to curb it.

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Tennessee Republicans Can Stop the Insanity - The American Conservative

Written by AJ Vicens Sep 29, 2022 | CYBERSCOOP

House Republicans on Wednesday asked U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to brief a congressional committee by Oct. 5 on what they say are politically-motivated cyberattacks intended to silence supporters of conservative causes.

The Republicans pointed to a string of hacks dating back to September 2021, when hackers claiming to be carrying out an Anonymous operation attacked the Texas Republican Party website after the state passed an anti-abortion law. More recently, in July 2022, pro-choice hacktivists leaked roughly 74 gigabytes of data from a Florida hosting company that serviced a number of conservative and religious organizations.

The hackers message posted alongside hosting company leak specifically called out the Liberty Counsel, an organization that made headlines after Rolling Stone revealed that an official from one of its ministries claimed to have prayed with several Supreme Court justices even as the organization filed briefs taking sides in issues before the court.

Subsequent analysis of the hacked hosting company data showed that nonprofit organizations controlled by Liberty Counsel encouraged supporters to vote for former President Donald Trump despite IRS rules that prohibit such entities from directly or indirectly endorsing candidates for political office, the Intercept reported Aug. 25.

Direct attacks against religious people deserve no place in our society and undermine the ability of citizens to express their viewpoints without fear or harmful retribution, the Republicans wrote in the letter, first reported by the Washington Post Cybersecurity 202. They added that the attacks are intended to chill the speech of religious and conservative Americans, as well as efforts to prevent them from happening in the future.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The letter referenced, but didnt name, a self-described cyberterrorist whod claimed credit for the February hack of Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo. That hacker, a Canadian named Aubrey Cottle, told CyberScoop that hed been raided by Canadian police Aug. 30 and that the FBI is involved. The FBI referred questions about its involvement to Canadian authorities, who declined to discuss the matter.

Cottle did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.

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House Republicans want DOJ briefing on conservative group hacks - CyberScoop

Latino voters will make up 20% of the electorate this fall in Nevada, where Democrats and Republicans expect the growing constituency's voice will sway a competitive race that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.

Polls show incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, the first Latina elected to the Senate, slightly behind Republican Adam Laxalt. With early voting starting next month and campaigns hitting the final stretch, both sides are courting Latino voters with a closing message centered around the economy.

Republicans say the state's high inflation rate and rising economic anxiety gives the GOP its best chance to make inroads with working-class Latino voters and flip a crucial Senate seat.

"The Latino vote is going to help us get the victory in November," said Jesus Marquez, a special advisor to the Laxalt campaign. "If we get 35%, that would mean a victory across the board but I estimate that we're going to get 40% of the Latino vote."

Republicans also point to gains former President Donald Trump made with Latinos in Nevada in 2020 as reason for optimism.

Trump won 35% of the Latino vote in Nevada two years ago, a seven point increase from 2016. According to CBS News exit polls, Trump also made significant gains among Latino men nationally, going from 30% in 2016 to 43% in 2020.

Nevada's voting population split into thirds with registered independents coming in second behind registered Democrats. While President Joe Biden won the Latino vote in Nevada 65%-35% in 2020, he barely won the state, coming up on top by just 33,600 votes.

That narrow victory in the state despite the significant margin with Latino voters is why Democrats and Republicans are racing to turn out Latino voters. Their vote will help decide the winner of this Senate seat and potentially decide which party takes control of the U.S. Senate. With the Senate currently divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, every race is essential to both parties.

Nationally, more than half of Latino voters say they plan to support Democrats and highlight the economy as the main issue driving their vote, according to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll. But Latinos are nearly split when it comes to which party they agree with on economic policy: 43% say they prefer Democrats' solutions to the economy while 41% say they prefer Republicans.

"The economy has just been a powerful issue for Republicans in the state," a GOP strategist familiar with the Laxalt campaign told CBS News. The strategist also said that Laxalt's campaign will demonstrate through its closing message that "Cortez Masto is a part of the problem that created this economy."

The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted Nevada's economy, which is heavily reliant on the hospitality and tourism industries. Shutdowns at the height of the pandemic led to nearly 30%unemployment rate, twice the national average.

Latinos, who make up a large portion of the workforce that was impacted during the pandemic, also contracted COVID in greater numbers relative to their share of the population in Nevada.

Nevada's unemployment rate has come down to 4.4%, but the state's inflation rate of 15.4% is among the highest in the country. Nevada also has the third-highest average of gas prices at $5.21 per gallon, according to AAA.

Republicans in Nevada are hoping this will lead to Latino voters expressing their frustration by voting out the party in charge.

But Democrats argue that voters' concerns around the economy is an opportunity for them to highlight President Biden's legislative victories like the passage of the Build Back Better Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act.

"Everything we are talking about relates to the economy," said Josh Marcus-Blank, communications director for Cortez Masto's campaign. "We are going to continue to talk about ways that the senator has supported the Latino community, the small businesses that she saved, and the good union jobs coming."

The Cortez Masto campaign has also been running ads promoting the Inflation Reduction Act, which allows Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors. Democratic advocates say their party can't shy away from bragging about their accomplishments and need to highlight those wins when engaging with the Latino community.

"Latinos are in a constant persuasion window, they're actually some of the most persuadable voters we have in the electorate," said Tory Gavito, co-founder and president of Way to Win, a national Democratic advocacy group that's investing $2.3 million to bring out voters of color in Nevada. "When you tell them what Democrats are doing to support them in this economy, they will vote Democrat," she added.

That is the playbook that Make the Road Nevada, a left-leaning organization focused on turning out 76,000 Latino voters in the East Las Vegas area, is attempting to execute on the ground.

"When my community needed assistance, the Republican Party was nowhere to be found," said Leo Murrieta, director of Make the Road Nevada. "They didn't open food banks, they didn't open vaccination clinics, they didn't do any of that. It was Democrats who came together and made that sh** happen so that our families could literally survive."

It's the same message that Culinary Union is pushing as it deploys 270 full-time canvassers on behalf of Democrats in Las Vegas and Reno to knock on over 1.1 million doors, nearly doubling their effort from 2020.

Ted Pappageorge, the union's secretary-treasurer, said they are reminding voters that resources from Democrats allowed the group to convert one of its training facilities to a food bank that supported an average of 1,800 members per day for over a year.

While Republicans feel confident they can attack Cortez Masto on economic issues, her campaign also sees an opportunity to go on the offensive by talking about abortion rights and highlighting Laxalt's involvement with Trump's campaign (Laxalt served as the Trump's 2020 Nevada co-chair) andan op-ed Laxalt wrote claiming thousands of improper ballots were cast in Nevada.

Marcus-Blank said Cortez Masto's campaign will portray Laxalt as "the face of the Big Lie" in Nevada. Cortez Masto has also focused on abortion rights and made the issue a central theme of her campaign after the Supereme Court's decision on Roe v. Wade.

More than 70% of eligible Latino voters support a woman's right to choose, according to a recent poll conducted by UnidosUS, one of the largest Latino advocacy organizations in the country. In Nevada, abortion is legal up to 24 weeks after pregnancy and Republicans acknowledge the electorate in the state is pro-choice.

But the Cortez Masto campaign sees abortion as a way to mobilize Latino voters and attack Laxalt.

"It is also about reminding folks of the threat that Adam Laxalt poses. He would be an automatic vote for a federal abortion ban," Marcus-Blank said. The GOP strategist familiar with Laxalt's campaign said abortion protections are set into law in the state and "voters know that's not going to change," adding, that Laxalt opposes a federal abortion ban.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham recently proposed a bill that would ban abortion federally after 15 weeks. In response to whether Laxalt would support the bill, a spokesperson for Laxalt said the proposal "has no chance to pass Congress," adding, "the law in Nevada was settled by voters decades ago and isn't going to change."

As the campaign heads into the final weeks, Cortez Masto and Laxalt are both running ads in Spanish. Earlier this month, Laxalt launched an ad in Spanish that highlights the economy. Cortez Masto is on air in Spanish discussing union jobs, healthcare, and abortion. The Cortez Masto campaign also rolled out endorsements from more than 200 Latino community leaders in conjunction with Hispanic Heritage Month.

Outside groups like the Somos PAC, a left-leaning Latino voter mobilization group, are also spending money airing Spanish ads. Democrats have reserved nearly $90 million in ad space in the final few weeks of the election while Republicans have put aside more than $70 million.

CBS News reporter covering the intersection between politics and tech.

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Democrats and Republicans are courting Latinos on the economy in Nevada's tight Senate race - CBS News

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Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Kevin McCarthy has proven an exceptionally weak Republican majority leader, easily brought to heel by Donald Trump and the far-right members of his caucus.

Dear readers, there could be no bigger boost to Joe Bidens re-election if Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos bank accounts made an evil money baby and gave it to that crypto billionaires weird Democratic super PAC. (Lets also assume that Biden runs again, which I suspect he will.)

A scant five-vote majority is a massive miss on expectations, for starters. It probably means that Democrats keep the Senate, limiting House Republicans ability to do anything more than hold six months of hearings into Hunters laptop and indict Biden for, like, breathing wrong.

It leads to a circular firing squad. Whats left of the establishment (correctly) recognizes that the party squandered an opportunity by running fringe candidates and wants to sever ties with all things Trump; the MAGA crew blames the establishment for not being MAGA enough.

House Republicans also give Biden a foil, the same way Bill Clinton turned Newt Gingrich and company into cartoon villains ahead of the 1996 campaign. (To be fair, not hard.) When they pass abortion bans and manifest other right-wing fever dreams, Biden can remind voters that this is what a Republican presidency will look like.

But most importantly, and most consequentially, theres probably an 80% chance that a small, radical GOP majority leads to an economic catastrophe, and Biden will waltz past the burning carcass of America into a second term.

If he wants it anymore. If anyone does.

To explain: Kevin McCarthy has proven an exceptionally weak Republican majority leader, easily brought to heel by Donald Trump and the far-right members of his caucus. Hes shown no ability to twist arms. He would be a weak speaker under any circumstances. With five votes to spare, hell be the weakest speaker in generations, at the mercy of the Freedom Caucus: Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and so on.

He will become speaker because they allow it. If they get the rule changes they want allowing them to evict the speaker mid-sessionMcCarthy will be in a groveling mood before the leadership vote, so theres a good chancehell remain speaker because they permit it.

The Freedom Caucus is also demanding that he commit to only bringing to the floor legislation that has majority support from House Republicans, severely restricting McCarthys ability to cut deals. Again, hell go along.

At the same time, hell need House Republicans to do what they havent done in, well, a long time: govern like grown-ups.

McCarthys caucus is inherently oppositional and ideologically orthodox. Most of its members come from gerrymandered, deep-red districts, and many have no interest in or understanding of policy. Even when Republicans controlled Washington, they couldnt pass meaningful legislation that wasnt a tax cut.

They make grandiose promises about what theyd do with power. In power, theyre the proverbial dog that caught the car (c.f., the congressional shitshows of 2011-2013 and 2017-2019).

And in this iteration, Kevin McCarthy will be on Jim Jordans very short leash.

With that as background, next summer we will return to the stupidest of American political traditions: the debt ceiling crisis, the pointless yet potentially disastrous exercise in which Congress must increase the amount the government can borrow to prevent a debt default, which would be well, bad doesnt quite capture it.

Pension funds would implode, the stock market would collapse, credit markets would freeze, businesses would fall, the dollar would go into freefall, inflation would surge, and the U.S. would lose its primacy in the global economy.

A recession is a given. A global depression is possible.

As we always do during a Democratic presidency, we meandered to the brink in 2021 before Mitch McConnell agreed not to tank the economy for no good reason. This became a normal practice after the Obama administration ransomed spending cuts in exchange for McConnell agreeing not to tank the economy for no good reason in 2011.

The kidnappers kept taking hostages until Democrats stopped playing along.

Last year, Republicans did a performative dance before folding. But McConnell is cynical, not insane. Im not sure the same can be said of the Freedom Caucus.

Axios reported on Wednesday that Republicans and their business patrons are starting to freak out about how Speaker McCarthy would handle a debt ceiling crisis. In no small part, its because Rep. Jason Smith, a Missouri hardliner, might take over a key committee.

And Smith believes he can force Biden to reverse his radical policies by threatening to default. If Republicans are trying to cut spending, surely [Biden] wouldnt try to default," Smith told Axios.

When this gambit inevitably failswhen Biden doesnt budge, when Senate Dems tell Smith to piss off, when the few House Republican moderates go weak in the face of terrible poll numberswill the Freedom Caucus back down?

Will McCarthy go around them even when Trump and Taylor Greene and the Fox News crowd call him a RINO sellouteven if it costs him his job?

Everything in McCarthys quisling history says he wont.

A five-vote cushion means hell have very little room to maneuver. If he cant whip votes from his own sideincluding from hard-right members who promised to never raise the debt ceilinghe has to make a deal with Democrats. If he cant bring himself to do that, default is coming.

The alternative, of course, is that we dont hand petulant children the codes to nuclear weapons they dont understand. Then again, by a 54-37 margin, Americans apparently think Republicans will be better for the economy.

So maybe well get the default we deserve.

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When Republicans win the house, Kevin McCarthy is screwed - Creative Loafing Tampa