#shelley moore capito

[kp777]

By Jake Johnson

Common Dreams

June 28, 2023

Leading the effort is Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, an ally of the fossil fuel industry and recipient of Big Oil campaign cash.

Senate Republicans introduced legislation earlier this week that would prohibit President Joe Biden from declaring a national climate emergency as millions across the U.S. shelter indoors to escape scorching heat and toxic pollution from Canadian wildfires, which have been fueled by runaway warming.

Led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.)—a fossil fuel industry ally and the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee—the GOP bill would "prohibit the president from using the three primary statutory authorities available (the National Emergencies Act, the Stafford Act, and section 319 of the Public Health Service Act) to declare a national emergency solely on the basis of climate change," according to a summary released by the Republican senator's office.

Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), another friend of the oil and gas industry, is leading companion legislation in the House.

The updated version of the bill, first introduced last year, comes as Biden is facing mounting pressure from environmental groups to use all of the power at his disposal to fight the climate crisis as it intensifies extreme weather across the U.S. and around the world.

A climate emergency declaration would unlock sweeping executive powers that would allow the president to halt crude oil exports, block oil and gas drilling, expand renewable energy systems, and more.

"What will it take for Biden and the Dems to stop supporting the profits of fossil fuel executives and finally declare a climate emergency? How bad will all this need to get?"

While Biden reportedly considered declaring a climate emergency amid a devastating heatwave last year, he ultimately decided against it to the dismay of environmentalists.

But the impacts of Canada's record-shattering wildfires, which are likely to get worse in the coming weeks, have sparked another round of calls for Biden to follow in the footsteps of jurisdictions in more than 40 countries and declare climate change a national emergency.

"What will it take for Biden and the Dems to stop supporting the profits of fossil fuel executives and finally declare a climate emergency? How bad will all this need to get?" asked climate scientist Peter Kalmus. "These days ticking by are absolutely critical."

Pointing to the horrendous air quality that major U.S. cities are experiencing due to Canada's wildfires, the youth-led Sunrise Movement sent a simple message to Biden on Thursday: "Declare a climate emergency."

Capito's legislation is unlikely to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the narrowly Democratic U.S. Senate, but her attempt to bar the president from declaring a climate emergency has previously gained bipartisan support.

Last May, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Mark Kelley (D-Ariz.) joined Republicans in approving a nonbinding motion stating that the president "cannot use climate change as a basis for declaring an 'emergency' or 'national disaster.'"

[floorcharts]

Who: Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia)

Twitter: @SenCapito

When: February 2023

What: Inflation

Watch on C-SPAN

Read Congressional Record

[simply-ivanka]

Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Cornyn (R-TX), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Kennedy (R-LA), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), John Thune (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Todd Young (R-IN)

VOTE THESE PIECES OF SHIT OUT OF CONGRESS.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) condemned what he described as “revenge politics” as many Republicans have resisted his efforts to speed up the approval process for energy projects.

“It’s like the revenge politics, basically revenge towards one person: me. And I’m thinking, ‘this is not about me,’ ” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“I’m hearing that the Republican leadership is upset and they’re saying ‘we’re not going to give a victory to Joe Manchin’ — Joe Manchin’s not looking for a victory,” he added. “We’ve got a good piece of legislation that’s extremely balanced and I think it’ll prove itself in time. The bottom line is, how much suffering and how much pain do you want to inflict on the American people for the time.”

Republicans, along with Manchin, have long complained that the approval process for energy and infrastructure projects — known as permitting — has been too lengthy and stalled important projects.

When he agreed to pass the Democrats’ climate and tax bill, Manchin struck a deal with Democratic leadership to also pass permitting reforms.

But, as he has tried to push a package of changes through, Manchin has met Republican obstacles, as some members feel slighted over the West Virginia Democrat’s passage of the climate bill.

Republicans have felt spurned after Manchin announced his support for the Democratic bill hours after a bipartisan chips and science bill passed the Senate. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had previously threatened that bill’s passage if Democrats pursued their bill.

The GOP has also complained that Manchin’s changes may not go far enough.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, a coalition of liberal Democrats has also come together to resist the effort, arguing that it will undercut the environmental inspections that often draw out the permitting process.

But Manchin said on Tuesday that “we do not bypass any of the environmental reviews,” which he said was the main difference between his package and a separate proposal from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).

The Senator also told reporters that the text of his proposal would be released on Wednesday, and that it would explicitly speed up the approval process for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a controversial proposed project that would carry natural gas from West Virginia to Virginia.

[titleknown]

So, while I've talked about this in other posts, I figured I may as well compile it in one post with this nifty propaganda poster (more on that later)

Long story short, they're bringing back KOSA/the Kids Online Safety Act in the US Senate, and they're going to mark it up next Thursday as of the time of this post (4/23/2023).

If you don’t know, long story short KOSA is a bill that’s ostensibly one of those “Protect the Children” bills, but what it’s actually going to do is more or less require you to scan your fucking face every time you want to go on a website; or give away similarly privacy-violating information like your drivers’ license or credit card info. 

Either that or force them to censor anything that could even remotely be considered not “kid friendly.” Not to mention fundies are openly saying they’re gonna use this to hurt trans kids. Which is, uh, real fucking bad. 

As per usual, I urge you to contact your congresscritters, and especially those on the Commerce Committee, who'll likely be the ones marking it up.

Those senators are:

Maria Cantwell, Washington, Chair

Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota

Brian Schatz, Hawaii

Ed Markey, Massachusetts

Gary Peters, Michigan

Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin

Tammy Duckworth, Illinois

Jon Tester, Montana

Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona

Jacky Rosen, Nevada

Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico

John Hickenlooper, Colorado

Raphael Warnock, Georgia

Peter Welch, Vermont

Ted Cruz, Texas, Ranking Member

John Thune, South Dakota

Roger Wicker, Mississippi

Deb Fischer, Nebraska

Jerry Moran, Kansas

Dan Sullivan, Alaska

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee

Todd Young, Indiana

Ted Budd, North Carolina

Eric Schmitt, Missouri

J.D. Vance, Ohio

Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia

Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming

Again, it doesn't work unless you do it en-masse, so make sure to call ASAP and tell them to kill this bill, and if they actually want a bill to allow/get sites to protect kids, the Federal Fair Access To Banking Act would be far better.

Also, this poster is officially, for the sake of spreading it, under a CC0 license. Feel free to spread it, remix it, add links to the bottom, edit it to be about the other bad internet bills they're pushing, use it as a meme format, do what you will but for gods' sake get the word out!

Also, shoutout to @o-hybridity for coming up with the slogan for the poster, couldn't have done it without 'em!

[prolifeproliberty]

The following Republican Senators stabbed you in the back today by voting to PASS the ridiculous gun bill:

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky

Roy Blunt of Missouri*

Richard Burr of North Carolina*

Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia

Bill Cassidy of Louisiana

Susan Collins of Maine

John Cornyn of Texas

Joni Ernst of Iowa

Lindsey Graham of South Carolina

Lisa Murkowski of Alaska

Rob Portman of Ohio*

Mitt Romney of Utah

Thom Tillis of North Carolina

Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania*

Todd Young of Indiana

If one of your Senators is on here - like one of mine is - remember their name and make sure they never win another election again. Volunteer for their opponents in their next primary (some aren’t up for re-election until 2026), vote for the independent or libertarian candidate in their general race.

We are not giving them any more passes.

*The senators with the asterisk are retiring at the end of their term, but we also want to make sure they don’t think they can be Governor, representative, or president.

[damnfool-of-a-took]

holy shit???

[image id: CBS News article dated November 16, 2022 reading Washington - The Senate on Wednesday advance legislation that should provide federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages, endorsing the measure in a bipartisan vote that moves it closer to becoming law.

The 62 to 37 vote was a crucial test of support for the the bill, called the Respect for Marriage Act. With the backing of 12 Republican members, the Senate easily cleared the 60-vote procedural hurdle needed to move the legislation forward. [...]

[...] The Republicans who voted to advance the bill are:

Roy Blunt of Missouri

Richard Burr of North Carolina

Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia

Susan Collins of Maine

Joni Ernst of Iowa

Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming

Lisa Murkowski of Alaska

Rob Portman of Ohio

Mitt Romney of Utah

Dan Sullivan of Alaska

Thom Tillis of North Carolina

Todd Young of Indiana

Shortly after the five senators involved in negotiations over the legislation unveiled their amendment Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer moved to set up Wednesday's procedural vote. Clearing the 60-vote threshold allows debate to start on the measure and puts the legislation closer to final passage. /end ID]

So hey, Gen Z and everybody else that voted: thank you for voting, here's a nonexhaustive list of useless fuckers that got scared into actually representing their constituents for a change. Sincerely, thank you.

[female-malice]

We just swarmed the field at the Congressional Women's Softball Game. As rooftop snipers aimed their guns at us and Members of Congress begged us to evacuate, we held our ground. This is an emergency. We act like it.

The Congressional Women’s Softball Game is an annual competition between politicians and journalists. Unreal. The media is **literally** “playing softball” with the very people they are supposed to hold to account.

The press corps should not be playing games with Congress. Isn’t that obvious?

Why are we paying Members of Congress $174,000 per year to play games? The planet is burning. Democracy is dying. Ocean temperatures are through the roofs. This is outrageous.

The Congresswomen angrily demanded we leave, noting the event is a breast cancer fundraiser. What? Our government spends $20,000,000,000 per year on fossil fuel subsidies. Fossil fuels drive one-in-five deaths. How dare they lecture us about cancer? How dare they?

Fossil fuels cause cancer!!

Why are Members of Congress raising money for cancer by selling $10 tickets to a game? They straight-up control the purse strings for the government of the world’s most powerful country. If they cared about cancer they would fund treatment and regard healthcare as a right.

A very significant percentage of women on the field favored brutally stripping 29,800,000 Americans of their Obamacare coverage. Then they said WE were harming people’s health by storming their game? Da fuq?

This softball game raises money for breast cancer and is sponsored by - wait for it - McDonalds. Game staff were literally handing out their cancer-causing fast food. This is a joke. Congress is a joke. Their game is a joke. Kafka could not have written this plot better.

It is fitting that the announcer for the game was Amy Klobuchar. Calling the Green New Deal “aspirational,” she helped Biden shove a brand-new 700,000 barrel pipeline down our throats. We shut down her book launch. We shut down her softball game today. We do not apologize.

The announcer called us sexist for interrupting a women’s game. What? It’s women - and especially Indigenous women - who are most likely to go murdered and missing as the result of human trafficking driven by out-of-state pipeline builders living in “man camps.”

It’s also women who will bear the brunt of climate crises first and hardest. They are hit worse and have fewer resources to cope. This is not according to us. This is according to the United Nations.

We stormed this game because women commit ecocide, too. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, whose play we interrupted, colluded with Manchin & Biden to shove a 2,000,000,000 cubic foot fracked gas pipeline down our throats. She is horrific.

Senator Capito owns thousands in stock in the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and used her position of power to approve it. During the game, she went around shaking hands in the stands to distract the crowd from our protest. She is a disgrace.

Our politicians are cowards. We need thousands of people raising hell, stirring up good trouble, and taking actions that are impossible to ignore. Only that will sway them. We need a movement!

(source with video)

[mariacallous]

The 12 GOP Senators who voted to advance the Respect for Marriage Act:

The Republicans who voted to advance the bill are: 

Roy Blunt of Missouri

Richard Burr of North Carolina

Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia

Susan Collins of Maine

Joni Ernst of Iowa

Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming 

Lisa Murkowski of Alaska 

Rob Portman of Ohio 

Mitt Romney of Utah

Dan Sullivan of Alaska

Thom Tillis of North Carolina  

Todd Young of Indiana

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Rob Rogers @newcounterpoint :: @Rob_Rogers

* * * *

McCarthy's sham impeachment inquiry.

September 13, 2023

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

Speaker Kevin McCarthy has surrendered to pressure from the extremist elements in his extremist party by opening an impeachment inquiry. The inquiry will turn out worse for Kevin McCarthy than for Joe Biden—much! But in the meantime, Republicans will divert the attention of Congress from the urgent work of passing a budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year. The losers will be the American people, who should punish the GOP for converting a constitutional safeguard into a partisan party trick designed to pacify the tantrums of the so-called “Freedom” Caucus.

          The inquiry is part of Trump's effort to destroy every institution that has attempted to hold him accountable for his crimes. “Impeach me? I’ll impeach you! Indict me? I’ll indict you!” The inquiry is a charade that will further erode the legitimacy of the Republican Party and—sadly—Congress.

          There is no basis for the impeachment inquiry, a fact made plain by McCarthy’s announcement on Twitter. McCarthy could not bring himself to say that there was a factual basis for the inquiry, only that there were “allegations” of misconduct. McCarthy posted:

I am directing our House committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. Over the past several months, House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct—a culture of corruption.

          McCarthy did not specify the “serious and credible” allegations because they are whisps of swamp gas swirling over the MAGA cesspool of disinformation. Senate Republicans were openly scornful of the inquiry by their House colleagues. See The Hill,  Senate GOP unhappy with McCarthy on impeachment inquiry: ‘It’s a fool’s errand’. Per The Hill,

“It’s a waste of time. It’s a fool’s errand,” one Senate Republican said on the condition of anonymity to speak freely and critically about the politically charged decision. Asked if there’s enough evidence to impeach Biden, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate GOP leadership team, replied: “I do not.”  

          Democrats were a bit more expressive about the inquiry. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that it is an “illegitimate impeachment inquiry that is a kangaroo court, fishing expedition, and conspiracy theater, rolled into one.” Indeed, Democrats believe the inquiry will damage GOP prospects for retaining control of the House in 2024. Per Politico,

Abby Curran, the executive director of House Democrats’ super PAC, said the inquiry would "doom" vulnerable Republicans, especially the 18 members in districts won by President Joe Biden.

          As Trump has done repeatedly over the last seven years, he is leading the Republican Party into a lose-lose position in the pursuit of revenge. Indeed, Trump is privately pulling the strings of the GOP’s impeachment show. See Politico, Trump privately discussed Biden impeachment with House GOPers. Trump's ego may be satisfied by a Biden impeachment, but the effort will ensure that Republicans lose control of the House. When will Republicans learn that Trump is the slow poison that is killing their party?

          It is, of course, frustrating to the point of madness to watch Republicans engage in political terrorism. But there is a cost to their self-destructive behavior. The ruling in Dobbs is an example. Within months of the ruling, the warning signs were flashing bright red, signaling that Republicans had incurred the wrath of most Americans by overruling Dobbs.

          But Republicans could not restrain themselves after Dobbs. Rather than regulate abortion, they criminalized it. They threatened to jail doctors and Uber drivers who assisted women seeking medical care. They offered bounties for reporting medical workers who provide healthcare to women who miscarry. And now they are threatening to make it illegal for women to travel out of their home state to receive reproductive healthcare. See Vox, The unconstitutional plan to trap women who need an abortion in Texas.

          Although abortion is effectively illegal in two dozen states, the tide has turned. Republicans are on the defensive and are scrambling to find a way to avoid the proliferation of absolute bans that ensure their ultimate demise. Indeed, they now see a national 15-week ban as a face-saving “middle ground” that will stop their election losses. All of this is explained convincingly by Josh Marshall in Talking Points Memo, The End of the Pro-Life Movement. Per Marshall,

While abortion rights remain more restricted and endangered than at any time in the last half century, the “pro-life” movement itself is essentially over. It’s future is as a rearguard action, using inertia, incumbency and legislative chicanery to hold on to existing gains.

          So, too, with the endless pursuit of Biden-crime-family fantasies and the use of Congress and the Constitution as cudgels to bash those who offend Trump. The impeachment inquiry of Biden will fail and backfire—and Republicans know it. But they can’t help themselves. Such compulsive behavior is a disease that is consuming the Republican Party—and the vector is Donald Trump.

A quick note on the procedural aspects of the impeachment inquiry.

         Kevin McCarthy could have begun an impeachment inquiry by holding a vote in the House. He did not. Instead, he merely “declared” the opening of an inquiry without a vote—because he knew that he did not have enough votes for that motion to pass. See The Hill, Why McCarthy launched an impeachment inquiry without a vote — and why he can.

          Because McCarthy was forced to proceed without a vote authorizing the inquiry, any subpoenas issued by the House have no compulsory effect. See Politico, How Donald Trump’s DOJ gave Biden a major assist in the coming impeachment probe.

          Per Politico,

In January 2020, the Donald Trump-led Justice Department formally declared that impeachment inquiries by the House are invalid unless the chamber takes formal votes to authorize them. That opinion — issued by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel — came in response to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to launch an impeachment inquiry into Trump without initially holding a vote for it. Not only is it still on the books, it is binding on the current administration as it responds to Tuesday’s announcement by Speaker Kevin McCarthy to authorize an impeachment inquiry into Biden, again without a vote.

          So, for those worried about the impeachment inquiry resulting in enforceable subpoenas for documents and testimony, the opinion by the Office of Legal Counsel in the Trump-era DOJ definitively establishes DOJ policy that such subpoenas are not enforceable. The lack of enforcement authority demonstrates that the inquiry is a sham designed to placate the most extreme elements in the Freedom Caucus.

[floorcharts]

Who: Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia)

Twitter: @SenCapito

When: July 2022

What: WWII Veteran Hershel Williams

Watch on C-SPAN

Read Congressional Record

[jbarneswilson]

nra contributions to gop senators:

Mitt Romney (UT) $13,647,676

Richard Burr (NC) $6,987,380

Roy Blunt (MO) $4,555,722

Thom Tillis (NC) $4,421,333

Cory Gardner [ousted] (CO) $3,939,199

Marco Rubio (FL) $3,303,355

Joni Ernst (IA) $3,124,773

Rob Portman (OH) $3,063,327

Todd C. Young (IN) $2,897,582

Bill Cassidy (LA) $2,867,074*

Tom Cotton (AR) $1,968,714

Pat Roberts [ousted] (KS) $1,581,153

Pat Toomey (PA) $1,475,448

Josh Hawley (MO) $1,391,548

Marsha Blackburn (TN) $1,306,130

Ron Johnson (WI) $1,269,486

Mitch McConnell (KY) $1,267,139

Mike Braun (IN) $1,249,967

John Thune (SD) $638,942

Shelley Moore Capito (WV) $341,738

Martha McSally [ousted](AZ) $303,853

Richard Shelby (AL) $258,514

Chuck Grassley (IA) $226,007

John Neely Kennedy (LA) $215,788

Ted Cruz (TX) $176,274

Lisa Murkowski (AK) $146,262

Steve Daines (MT) $123,711

Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS) $109,547

Roger Wicker (MS) $106,680

Rand Paul (KY) $104,456

Mike Rounds (SD) $95,049

John Boozman (AR) $82,35

John Cornyn (TX) $78,945

Ben Sasse (NE) $68,623

Jim Inhofe (OK) $66,758

Lindsey Graham (SC) $55,961

Mike Crapo (ID) $55,039

Jerry Moran (KS) $34,718

John Barrasso (WY) $26,989

Lamar Alexander [retired] (TN) $25,293

Mike Enzi [retired] (WY) $24,722

John Hoeven (ND) $22,050

Susan Collins (ME) $19,800

Deb Fischer (NE) $19,638

James Lankford (OK) $18,955

Jim Risch (ID) $18,850

Tim Scott (SC) $18,513

Kevin Cramer (ND) $13,255

Call to Action:

•Find your Senator's name & Tweet them

•Call them at (202) 224-3121

•Demand they pass HR8 and pass gun reform

•Ask others to repeat

Enough is enough. Let's organize, activate, & end this scourge of gun violence.

i have also included links to every active senators contact page on their websites so have fun! 😊

*this is also the senator who said if you didn’t count black women, his state’s maternal death rate is totally fine

[titleknown]

Do you think Section 230 is pretty much going to be passed? I've been thinking about leaving the internet completely over this.

...Well, like many things, the answer is "It's Complicated,"

Firstly, for the most part, efforts to screw up Section 230 aren't direct repealing all of it so much as carve-outs that majorly weaken it, in ways that could still deeply screw up free speech.

The recent Kids Online Safety Act/EARN IT Act is being pushed for, and while it's not in committee, given the former was sent to the Commerce Committee last time and the latter to the Judiciary Committee, they're probably gonna send it next time, and you're probably going to want to call your senators if they're in said committee to tell them to kill those bills.

The membership of the Commerce Committee:

Maria Cantwell, Washington, Chair

Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota

Brian Schatz, Hawaii

Ed Markey, Massachusetts

Gary Peters, Michigan

Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin

Tammy Duckworth, Illinois

Jon Tester, Montana

Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona[a]

Jacky Rosen, Nevada

Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico

John Hickenlooper, Colorado

Raphael Warnock, Georgia

Peter Welch, Vermont

Ted Cruz, Texas, Ranking Member

John Thune, South Dakota

Roger Wicker, Mississippi

Deb Fischer, Nebraska

Jerry Moran, Kansas

Dan Sullivan, Alaska

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee

Todd Young, Indiana

Ted Budd, North Carolina

Eric Schmitt, Missouri

J.D. Vance, Ohio

Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia

Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming

The membership of the Judiciary Committee:

Dick Durbin, Illinois, Chairman

Dianne Feinstein, California

Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island

Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota

Chris Coons, Delaware

Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut

Mazie Hirono, Hawaii

Cory Booker, New Jersey

Alex Padilla, California

Jon Ossoff, Georgia

Peter Welch, Vermont

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina, Ranking Member

Chuck Grassley, Iowa

John Cornyn, Texas

Mike Lee, Utah

Ted Cruz, Texas

Josh Hawley, Missouri

Tom Cotton, Arkansas

John Kennedy, Louisiana

Thom Tillis, North Carolina

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee

So yeah.

I may as well add, If you've got the misfortune to be calling a Republican, be sure to bring up how KOSA will be used as a way for Big Government to spy on people via mandated age verification, and how EARN IT will be used to censor conservative speech.

That'll get the bastards attention. And no matter what you do, don't shut up about it, because silence means the fuckers win, just look at FOSTA/SESTA...

...Tho, in better news, the questioning in those Supreme Court suits tackling Section 230 seem to show that the justices are at least reluctant to try and do much to 230, very specifically because of how much it could fuck up.

Which begs the question, if even these fucking demons know why fucking with Section 230 is a godawful idea, what excuse do these senators have?

Point is, the efforts to undermine it aren't all at once so much as gradual and insidious. Call your senators folks, and stay vigilant.

[dhaaruni]

I’ve been reading a lot of political books lately and honestly, it’s extremely funny to me how Mitch McConnell loathes his entire party except like, his Senate old guard (John Cornyn, John Thune, Roy Blunt, Rob Portman, Pat Toomey, Shelley Moore Capito Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney) and like, Liz Cheney, none of whom want the government to shut down or to murder their Democratic colleagues lol.

He openly thinks the rest of them are a bunch of doddering idiots who shouldn’t have any kind of power but you know what Mitch, that’s what happens when you make your bed with white supremacists who want to overthrow the government!

[ledenews]

Storch: West Virginia Gubernatorial Race Just Got Interesting

This week the Republican Gubernatorial primary race got a little more interesting. Thursday, Governor Justice, in a pivotal moment, endorsed Moore Capito for the next governor of West Virginia. Governor Justice is quite popular in the state, and this endorsement carries weight with the people who have continued to rank him in the top ten for popular governors in recent years. The Governor himself is polling at 54 percent over Congressman Alex Mooney’s 17 percent in his own bid for United States Senate. Governor Justice’s endorsement brings considerable weight and influence to Capito’s candidacy. The Governor’s seal of approval signals to the voters Capito has the support of a key player in West Virginia politics. This endorsement signals to the party establishment and grassroots supporters that Capito is the candidate best positioned to carry forward a similar agenda for progress in the state. Both men align closely on key issues such as economic development, infrastructure investment, and protecting rights Republicans hold in high esteem. As recently as Wednesday, during the governor’s briefing, Governor Justice remarked he was still considering endorsing a candidate to follow him in the Governor’s office. Perhaps all the negative ads just got to be too much, as the Governor made remarks about the mudslinging to emphasize that point. He further said it’s a major reason he is supporting Capito. “We have good candidates, and I admire each for their individual accomplishments. As I have watched this campaign mature, however, I am saddened by the ridiculous mudslinging,” Governor Justice said. “Today I am honored to announce my wholehearted endorsement for Moore Capito for Governor and that I will support him in every way. He is from a family of thoroughbreds: from his three-time-elected Governor-grandfather Arch Moore to his current United States Senator-mother Shelley Moore Capito. Moore has shown he has the vision and knowledge to elevate West Virginia, and I am proud to wish him success.” He continued, “I have realized only one candidate is laser-focused on continuing to keep us on the path of goodness for all of us. I think only one truly understands that we got here by pulling the rope together. Our great turnaround story still has chapters to be written, and I believe one candidate is prepared to keep the course.” Also included in his remarks, “We have a great opportunity to put President Trump back in the White House and have a unanimous Republican team from West Virginia working together in Washington,” Justice’s endorsement said. “That’s why it’s so important to have a ‘get it done’ Governor who will connect the pieces to help our Great State.” During the past few weeks, especially, those who has not turned on their television to see endless political ads. It seems so many of them are focused on name-calling and mudslinging between two of the state’s gubernatorial candidates. Residents from Ohio have been known to say they are anxious for May 15 because the West Virginia primary will be over. One candidate has focused on what he hopes to accomplish as the next governor. One candidate has remained focused on a message that is positive, while building support throughout the state. That candidate has been rewarded with the notice and recognition of Governor Justice with his endorsement. Read the full article