Tag: GOP

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Colorado: Conservative Radio Host Steve Curtis Charged With Voter Fraud & Forgery

Conservative radio host Steve Curtis speaking to reporter

It turns out there WAS voter fraud in the 2016 election.

And it was committed by a Republican in Colorado.

From the Washington Post:

The 2016 election was just a month away when Steve Curtis, a conservative radio host and former Colorado Republican Party chairman, devoted an entire episode of his morning talk show to the heated topic of voter fraud.

“It seems to me,” Curtis said in the 42-minute segment, “that virtually every case of voter fraud I can remember in my lifetime was committed by Democrats.”

On Tuesday, Colorado prosecutors threw a wrench into that already dubious theory, accusing Curtis of voter fraud for allegedly filling out and mailing in his ex-wife’s 2016 ballot for president, Denver’s Fox affiliate reported.

Curtis, 57, was charged in Weld County District Court with one count of misdemeanor voter fraud and one count of forgery, a Class 5 felony, according to local media.

The case is the only voter fraud investigation related to the 2016 election that has resulted in criminal charges in the state, the Colorado secretary of state’s office told Denver’s ABC affiliate.

Curtis has not entered a plea. If convicted, he could face more than a year of prison time and a $5,000 fine. His attorney, Christopher Gregory, declined to comment on the case when reached by The Washington Post Tuesday night.

During his radio show about voter fraud, Curtis alleged there was “something about being a Democrat,” he said, that made people prone to criminal behavior. Kinda ironic now, huh?

Why is it always the ones who make the accusations that end up being the guilty ones?

Watch Curtis dodge questions from a reporter below:

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Oklahoma Police Recommend 3 Prostitution Charges For GOP State Senator

Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey with Donald Trump Jr.
(pic via Facebook)

Police in Moore, Oklahoma, are recommending 3 prostitution-related charges against Sen. Ralph Shortey, who was found in a motel room alone with an underage teen.

Those charges include soliciting prostitution of a minor, prostitution within 1000 feet of a church and transporting for the purpose of prostitution.

Employees at the Motel 8 in Moore say a person by the name of “Ralph Allen Shortey” checked in on March 9 around 12:20AM, and asked for a room with two beds.

Just 30 minutes later, the employee said that police arrived at the motel in response to a “welfare check” and discovered the juvenile male and an adult male in the same room.

Text messages between Shortey and the teen are being investigated.

Shortey, who has been married to his high school sweetheart since 2002, was the state chair of President Donald Trump’s campaign during the primary season.

Pam Pollard of the Oklahoma Republican Party has issued the following statement:

“The Oklahoma Republican Party takes all accusations against elected officials seriously, especially when the welfare of a minor is involved. We have reached out to Senator Shortey for comment and have not heard back from him at this time. We await the report from law enforcement on whether charges will be filed.”

(source)

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GOP: Last February’s 242K New Jobs Was “Disappointing” But Feb 2017’s 235K Is “Great”

The latest jobs report is out from the Department of Labor Statistics and the good news is the effects of the Obama years continues as the U.S. economy added 235,000 jobs, and unemployment fell to 4.7%

The Trump administration, of course, immediately attempted to take credit for the stats. As everyone knows, President Trump’s economic policies have barely begun implementation. Plus, it takes months for policies to begin to affect the economy in a broad, significant manner.

I would note the fact that this February’s numbers (235K) are very similar to the last two February’s stats – February 2015 (238K) and February 2016 (237K). Kind of hard for Trump to take credit when we’re basically on the same track; no real change of direction here.

And then there’s the fact that just last year, Trump called this very same metric for unemployment “phony.”

On February 9, 2016, Trump said in New Hampshire, “Don’t believe those phony numbers when you hear 4.9 and 5 percent unemployment. The number’s probably 28, 29, as high as 35. In fact, I even heard recently 42 percent.”

But, just to show how the Republicans have been spinning job stats for years, take a look at GOP Congressman Kevin Brady’s statements on both February 2016’s jobs report and this year’s.

Funny how 242,000 new jobs were described at “disappointing to see so little growth” in February of last year under Obama, but this year’s 235,000 number rated “This is a great report.”

Check out Brady’s statements below.

Things that make you go “hmm…”

(source)

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Breaking: House Republicans Reverse On Gutting Ethics Rules Change

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan

House Republicans have now u-turned on their plan to gut the Congressional independent ethics panel.

From CNN:

House Republican leaders have pulled a proposal that would gut its independent ethics panel, amid widespread criticism of the plan, multiple lawmakers tell CNN.

The decision comes less than two hours after President-elect Donald Trump criticized the timing of the vote, which was scheduled for the first day of the new congressional session.

Trump called out his fellow Republicans Tuesday for proposing to curb the powers of the independent ethics panel as their first move of the year, although the President-elect suggested the ethics panel was “unfair.”

“With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it … may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS,” Trump said over two consecutive tweets.

The decision came after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters the vote was moving forward. He admitted he opposed the change and said he believed it should be done in a “bipartisan fashion” but said House Speaker Paul Ryan created an open process and “sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.”

House Republicans voted 119-74 during a closed-door meeting in favor of Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s proposal, which would place the independent Office of Congressional Ethics under the control of those very lawmakers, a move that outraged Democrats and outside ethics organizations. The full House of Representatives is expected to vote on it as part of a larger rules package up for consideration Tuesday.

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House Republicans Vote To Gut Independent Ethics Office

In a secret, anonymous, behind closed doors vote, House Republicans made one of their very first actions in the new Congress changing the Office of Congressional Ethics, removing the entity’s independence and barring it from investigating anonymous complaints.

Via Huffington Post:

Specifically, the amendment would place the OCE under the “oversight” of the lenient Ethics Committee and rename it the Office of Congressional Complaint Review. The new group would no longer be able to release information to the public, employ anyone “for a position involving communications with the public,” or directly contact law enforcement without approval. It would also be prohibited from investigating anonymous complaints.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the change would “functionally destroy” the office.

“Republicans claim they want to ‘drain the swamp,’ but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions,” Pelosi said. “Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.”

Republicans themselves defended the changes as necessary adjustments to protect members from political witch hunts.

Trump called for “draining the swamp” but his GOP House pals are setting up a system with which they can’t be investigated for ethical wrongdoing.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi issued a statement saying, “Republicans claim they want to ‘drain the swamp,’ but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions. Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress,” the House Democratic leader said.

See the report below from CNN.

While not commenting on the content of the vote, it appears the Trumpster thinks the timing of the backroom shenanigans wasn’t all that great:

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GOP Congressman Says Comments That Russia Did Media’s Job Were “Completely Misconstrued”

Arizona Congressman Trent Franks, in an appearance on MSNBC Thursday afternoon, shared his opinion that Russia’s cyber-hacking activities during the election was merely what the U.S. media should have done.

“If Russia succeeded in giving the American people information that was accurate, then they merely did what the media should have done,” said Congressman Franks, who chairs the House subcommittee on the Constitution and sits on the House Judiciary Committee.

Franks appeared on CNN Friday afternoon to push back against calls of “traitor” and accusing him of treason on social media, in light of his comments.

“Those comments were completely misconstrued,” Franks said. “No one has been harder on Russia than me. I have been deeply committed to making sure their expansionism and their efforts did not result in the deaths of innocent people across the world.”

Additionally, Franks said that President Obama’s sanctions against the Russian government are Obama’s attempt to “delegitimize” Trump’s election.

“I am completely convinced that Barack Obama’s primary motivation here is to try to delegitimize the election here.”

It’s interesting that the biggest concern on behalf of Trump supporters is the fear that his win might somehow be taken away, and not that a foreign power like Russia is hacking into our data servers.

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Seth Meyers On The North Carolina Republicans’ Power Grab


 Late Night with Seth Meyers takes a closer look at the political crisis in North Carolina, where Republicans sought to strip power away from the incoming Democratic governor before he takes office.

After Republican Gov. Pat McCrory lost his reelection bid, the GOP controlled North Carolina legislature voted to reduce the new governor’s powers drastically. “That’s like losing a bet,” the Late Night host said, “and paying with Monopoly money.”

But hey – it’s not all bad. The incoming governor still gets the keys to the mansion and a ballroom!

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House Republicans Celebrate Diversity With Vice President-elect Mike Pence

Look at all that diversity on display as incoming Vice President Mike Pence takes a celebratory selfie with U.S. House Republicans.

No, no – wait. There’s a black man in the upper left hand corner, see?

There you go. A virtual melting pot. What a rich tapestry they all are.

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Muddled Republican Message – Winning? Behind? Tied?

Over the weekend, Donald Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway admitted that her candidate is currently behind in the race for the White House.

On the campaign trail today, Donald Trump told supporters that he’s winning and that the polls that he’s championed for a year now are faked.

Today, RNC spokesman Sean Spicer told CNN that the contest is in a dead heat, and that the media is pushing polling results showing Trump behind so that Republican voters will stay home.

You have to wonder – which is it? Behind? Winning? Tied?

Or is Spicer doing his job trying to keep GOP morale up so down ballot candidates don’t lose in their races?

From Mediaite:

During a heated and contentious interview with CNN’s John Berman and Kate Bolduan, RNC communications director Sean Spicer insisted that the race for the White House was a “dead heat” and said that Republican nominee Donald Trump was ahead in several key battleground states.

Per Spicer, the whole thing is even and many polls show Trump is trending up. The spokesperson pointed out a recent national poll from IBD that shows a tied race to justify his belief that it is a dead heat. At that point, Berman interrupted him, saying that they are now getting three narratives — Trump is winning, Trump is behind and now Trump is tied.

Bolduan jumped in to push Spicer to take a side since they had just showed Trump saying that he is winning right now. The Republican strategist then said that Trump was right because he’s winning the state he is currently in, which is Florida.

“He’s winning in Florida,” Berman asked. “Absolutely,” Spicer responded. When Berman questioned by how much, Spicer answered that it was by a “few points.”

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Donald Trump Goes Full Twitter Rant On His Own Party

Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of Twitter attacks on his own party today, specifically House Speaker Paul Ryan for effectively cutting him loose and accusing party leaders of trying to sabotage his campaign.

The attack virtually splinters his party and followers as he heads into the last few weeks of the race for the White House.

From Business Insider:

“Donald Trump is like a wounded animal in the forest just thrashing out at anything in his field of vision. He’s unhinged,” said Ryan Williams, a former spokesman for 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

He added: “Any loyalty to the party he may have had is gone. He’s never really been a team player. It’s clear he does not care about the Republican party or anyone else who is running on the ballot this year. This is all about Donald Trump.”

Most recent national polls show Trump’s standing heading south, and his path to 270 electoral votes getting more and more narrow.