<Florida Democrats are attempting to turn the tables on Gov. Ron DeSantis by requesting his new book be reviewed under laws pushed through by his own party, The Daily Beast reported.

Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell told the outlet she is leading the effort to ask 50 Florida counties whether the governor's book — "The Courage To Be Free: Florida's Blueprint for America's Revival" — is suitable under laws ushered in by the Florida GOP for school libraries.

Bills like HB1467 mandate that collections be reviewed by specialists charged with ensuring they contain no pornographic or non age-appropriate material.

But it has been criticized as overly sweeping and vague, causing confusion across school districts.

"The Courage To Be Free," released in February, is widely seen as laying the ground for a presidential run by DeSantis, and Florida Democrats believe it touches on topics that his own laws could bar.

Per the Beast, it includes 17 examples of materials that Driskell believes could violate Florida law, including repeated references to "woke" and "gender ideology" — which DeSantis has decried as "divisive."

"The very trap that he set for others is the one that he set for himself," Driskell told the publication.

The book could also fall foul of the law by its summarizing of The New York Times' "1619 Project," as well as through a description of systemic racism, the Beast reported.

DeSantis vocally backed the Florida Board of Education's successful effort to ban Critical Race Theory in state classrooms in 2021.

Representatives for DeSantis did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent outside of working hours.

DeSantis has been a leading actor in the GOP's culture-war activism, grabbing headlines for his ongoing fight with Disney over its opposition to his Parental Rights in Education Act, widely referred to as the "Don't Say Gay" bill for its restrictions on discussion of gender and sexuality in the classroom.>

<Many words are being used to describe former President Donald Trump’s arraignment in Manhattan: historic; unprecedented; political; comeuppance.

But the key word for everything surrounding this spectacle is “embarrassing.” Trump never came close to fulfilling his promise to make America great, but as the justice system finally catches up to him, he and those in his orbit have succeeded spectacularly at making America embarrassing.

Donald Trump is like Richard Nixon, but considerably worse

Tuesday will mark the first time in American history that a former president has faced criminal charges. He’s innocent until proven guilty, same as any citizen, but still, for the country, it’s embarrassing.

Like President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky and his impeachment by the House of Representatives.

Or think former President Richard Nixon and Watergate. Nixon was never charged with anything, but we certainly don't take pride in his swath of presidential history. Trump’s situation is already far worse, and at least Nixon, unlike the Malcontent of Mar-a-Lago, was willing to do the right thing and go away.

It’s embarrassing.

As Trump's legal problems besmirch USA, Republican Party just rides along Then there’s the about-to-be-arraigned guy’s political party paddling, all oars in the water, right behind him, supporting Trump and hollering “THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!” with every spare breath. They’re doing that despite the fact that he has never stopped claiming the 2020 presidential election he lost was “rigged.” They’re doing that before even seeing the charges he’s facing and the evidence behind those charges. They’re doing it as he faces multiple additional criminal investigations and lawsuits, any of which could make their vocal, blinders-on support later seem … well … pretty damn embarrassing.

Trump still has Republican support: Indictment makes me support him – but more indictments would help

And the fact that this guy – who's basically the word "loathsome" in human form – is the front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination? Well, I think you know which word I'm going to use.

Trump voters find the indictment a mark of honor

There are American voters who have made it abundantly clear – in polling and in shows of support at Trump rallies and elsewhere – that an indictment will make the former president MORE appealing to them. The aforementioned stench of criminality, for these Americans, somehow adds to the alluring scent of Trump, an olfactory enigma.

That so many have effectively stamped “Proud Cult Member” on their foreheads, is, for America, deeply embarrassing.

Stormy Daniels is at the center of this sordid case And let’s not forget what’s at the center of the Manhattan case: alleged hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels. A payment of $130,000, to be exact. The allegation is that Trump had sex with her while his wife, Melania, was home with their newborn son, then he paid Daniels to keep quiet about the affair before the presidential election.

Cutting away the potential crimes, this is a former president mixed up with a person known for films like “The Witches of Breastwick.”

It’s embarrassing. And the fact that this particularly sordid thread of Trump’s unraveling cloak of invincibility does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to drive away supporters who simultaneously claim they’re deeply moral and grounded in the ideals of faith and family? Truly embarrassing.

How strong is case against Trump?: What we know about the Manhattan DA's case – and why Alvin Bragg better get it right

Some will cheer arraignment, others will buy Trump mug shot T-shirts What happens Tuesday in a Manhattan courtroom, when a man best known for lying becomes the first former president arraigned on criminal charges, will be many things to many people.

For supporters, it will be some form of martyrdom, a moment that, bafflingly, makes Trump more saintly in their eyes.

For those who’ve long despised Trump and the cruel, bullying style of politics he popularized, it will be reason to cheer, at least briefly.

For the president’s opportunistic team, it might be a chance to get a mug shot they can slap on cheap T-shirts and hock to the masses who still, defying all logic, throw money at a man they claim to respect in part because he’s so wealthy.

But what this should be for all of us – and what this is for America as a whole – is one thing and one thing only: embarrassing. Absolutely freakin’ embarrassing.>

<Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green [sic] shared a video that tries to paint Democrats with one of the most vile and outrageous QAnon conspiracy theories — rampant pedophilia. The insinuation is notably repugnant even for Greene, as detractors note.

Taking a compassionate interchange between President Biden and a boy he comforted about his stuttering (Biden himself was famously a stutterer in his youth), Greene’s post on her personal account works to portray the dialogue as something other than wholesome.

Greene is trafficking in the abhorrent conspiracy theory that the Democratic Party is the “party of pedophiles” — a calumny the Georgia Congresswoman parroted again on 60 Minutes (see below) just this week.

Former ambassador to Ukraine (1998-2000) Steven Pifer — who at the Brookings Institution focuses on Ukraine and Russia, subjects about which Greene also has had much to say — writes of Greene’s post (above): “Absolutely disgusting post by Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl shakes her head dismissively and contradicts Greene below, saying “but they’re not,” yet gives Greene the giant platform to parrot her accusation. It’s a challenging balancing act the media is doing — trying to debunk conspiracy theories while also, as part of the process, giving them air.

Biden sent the letter below to the stuttering boy in the clip.

And afterwards, as millions know, the boy supported Biden’s run for president, as shown in the video here>

<Former President Donald Trump attacked the judge overseeing his case just hours after being arraigned in Manhattan on Tuesday.

Trump was brought up on 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from three hush money payments he doled out to two women he had affairs with. He also allegedly paid off a doorman.

Judge Juan Merchan is presiding over the case and declined to issue a gag order on Trump during the arraignment. Instead, he warned Trump not to incite violence, an apparent response to the former president’s warnings about forthcoming “death and destruction” if he is prosecuted.

Speaking at Mar-a-Lago, Trump rattled off a series of grievances and went after several people including Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Alvin Bragg and his wife, and also Merchan and his family.

“And this is where we are right now,” the former president said toward the end of his speech. “I have a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family, whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris and now receives money from the Biden-Harris campaign, and a lot of it.”

Trump was referring to the fact that Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, is the president of a consulting firm that has done work for President Joe Biden’s campaign.

Earlier in the day, Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump also attacked Loren Merchan.

“They are all hand picked,” tweeted Eric Trump. “It is all pre-arranged. This corruption is on a different level.”

That drew the ire of CNN’s John King.

“This is how they play. They try to intimidate, they attack, and they put at risk people who should not be dragged into this process,” he said. “The judge’s daughter has nothing to do with this, but this is what they do.”

In his speech, Trump noted Merchan presided over the Trump Organization’s tax fraud trial and said the way he and his associates have been treated by Merchan is “right out of the old Soviet Union.”>

<Former President Donald Trump's lawyer asked the judge overseeing his Manhattan criminal case during Tuesday's arraignment if he really needs to come to New York again for the next hearing.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan told the Trump lawyers that he expects that "all other defendants to appear in court, even high profile defendants" and would not be making an exception for the former president.

Todd Blanche, one of three attorneys representing Trump, who faces 34 felony counts for first-degree falsifying business records, argued that Trump's appearances in court were "extraordinarily burdensome and expensive on the city."

"All of lower Manhattan was shut down today," Blanche told Merchan, according to transcripts of the hearing.

Trump Tower, as well as the area near the Manhattan courthouse, had barricades and "Do Not Park" signs placed by authorities ahead of the former president's appearance in court.

The judge agreed that securely getting Trump to the Manhattan court was a "huge undertaking today for everyone involved" and said that lawyers could consult him in the future should something unexpected come up that would make Trump unable to attend court.

"I think in the interest of transparency and assuring the rules of law evenhandedly, at this time I'm going to deny your application," Merchan said in court.

Merchan scheduled the next hearing in the case for December 4, where he will hear arguments to decide whether to dismiss any of the charges.

The timing could present problems for Trump's presidential campaign, which will be entering the final stretch before the Iowa caucuses.

The case is the result of a years-long investigation into the former president's finances and business dealings as he was running for office in 2016.

Prosecutors allege that Trump authorized Michael Cohen, his personal attorney at the time, to pay the adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 "before the election to prevent her from publicizing a sexual encounter" with Trump. Daniels has claimed she had an affair with Trump in 2006, an allegation the former president has consistently denied.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to arranging the payment and received a three year prison sentence. He was released early due to COVID-19 concerns.

Trump on Tuesday entered a plea of not guilty for each of the 34 charges against him.>

<Americans could lose millions of jobs and be plunged into a recession as soon as this summer if Congress doesn't step up to finally address the debt ceiling. And right now, there seems to be no viable movement towards fixing the looming crisis.

It's been over three months since Republicans took over a majority in the House, and from the start, they vowed to use raising the debt ceiling as leverage to achieve spending cuts on Democratic priorities. Meanwhile, Democrats want a clean raise, with no spending cuts attached.

While some members and factions in the GOP have released wish lists for cuts, party leadership has yet to come out with a unified plan.

The House Freedom Caucus and GOP budget committee, for example, put forth a series of items in which they would support cutting spending to raise the debt ceiling, and GOP lawmakers even released the names of over 500 bills last week, each of which highlighted an area to cut funding, like environmental and racial equity programs.

Texas Rep. Chip Roy also highlighted some spending cut possibilities on Twitter on Monday, like "ending the silliness of bankrolling the World Health Organization."

But Democrats are still waiting for a concrete plan to save the US from defaulting on its debt.

"Republicans are STILL holding the debt ceiling hostage," Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal wrote on Twitter. "Their obstruction could result in millions of jobs lost, paychecks missed for workers across the country, and a stop on loans for small businesses. They must stop playing games with people's livelihoods."

At the same time, some centrists are reportedly formulating a secret plan to address the crisis on their own — to the chagrin of the White House. Politico reported that a "rogue band" of Democratic moderates have begun a crafting an emergency plan with centrist Republicans, although it doesn't have clear specifications yet. However, that plan does not have the seal of approval from the Biden administration or Democratic leaders, per Politico, since it could undermine Democrats' messaging around inaction on raising the limit and their push to raise it without conditions.

Democratic lawmakers have previously highlighted the catastrophe for Americans that will likely result should Congress fail to raise the debt ceiling. A report from the Joint Economic Committee in March said that Americans could lose $20,000 in retirement savings and private student-loan borrowers could see their monthly payments surge if the country defaults on its debt.

Republicans have also floated prioritizing what bills the country will pay should it reach that point. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that that approach is "just default by another name."

But Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and his GOP colleagues are adamant that President Joe Biden meet with them to negotiate an agreement. In a letter to the president last week, McCarthy wrote that he is "incredibly concerned that you are putting an already fragile economy in jeopardy by insisting upon your extreme position of refusing to negotiate any meaningful changes to out-of-control government spending alongside an increase of the debt limit."

"Mr. President, simply put: you are on the clock," McCarthy wrote. "It's time to drop the partisanship, roll up our sleeves, and find common ground on this urgent challenge.">

As always, scumbag McCarthy is beholden to his fragile coalition and will lick their collective arse, nolens volens, to make any sort of progress.

<The House GOP's efforts to find wrongdoing by President Joe Biden aren't yielding the results that some Republican lawmakers thought they would — and there is growing frustration within the caucus and their hardest-right constituents, reported Politico on Tuesday.

"According to interviews with more than a dozen House Republicans, a sizable chunk of the conference is focused on preventing a banking crisis and a looming debt fight instead of on Biden family oversight or a politicized government panel," reported Politico.

"At the same time, the party base is chafing at the lack of big bombshells and concrete steps against administration officials to back up all of lawmakers’ talk."

"Republicans have fired off scores of letters, issued subpoenas and initial reports and held a handful of hearings. But part of the problem is the lofty expectations they set coming in," said the report.

"Long before GOP lawmakers settled their speakership fight, they promised voters they’d deploy the chamber’s oversight power against President Joe Biden on a host of issues. They vowed to find a smoking gun that links Biden to his family’s overseas business dealings. They even embraced comparisons of their investigative efforts to Congress’ storied 1970s Church Committee, which uncovered significant abuses by the intelligence community.">

<Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has demanded an investigation into Disney after the company pulled a fast one on him in the midst of a seemingly unending feud fueled by a battle over LGBTQ+ rights.

DeSantis’s demand comes after Disney made a stealthy move to prevent him from stripping the company of its long-held power over its own tax district.

The company’s feud with anti-LGBTQ+ DeSantis continues, and it seems the House of Mouse isn’t going down without a fight.

In a letter to Florida’s Chief Inspector General Melinda Miguel, DeSantis reportedly accused Disney of attempting “to usurp the authority of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board” and requested “a thorough review and investigation.”

“These collusive and self-dealing arrangements aim to nullify the recently passed legislation, undercut Florida’s legislative process, and defy the will of Floridians,” he wrote.

Disney and DeSantis have been feuding since the entertainment company spoke out against the governor’s anti-LGBTQ+ Don’t Say Gay law, which bans discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in lower grades and restricts them in higher grades, using language that LGBTQ+ activists say effectively ban mentioning LGBTQ+ people in the classroom.

After that, DeSantis not only continuously criticized the company in public, but he also oversaw the Florida legislature’s revocation of Disney’s decades-old special zoning agreement to punish them.

Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District was established in 1968 and granted Disney World the power to tax itself to pay for water, power, roads, and fire services on the 25,000-acre property near Orlando. Abolishing it significantly reduced Disney’s autonomy.

DeSantis signed the bill abolishing the district in February and declared that “the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end.”

The bill also allowed him to create a five-member board (appointed by him) to oversee government services in Disney’s district.

But members of DeSantis’s new board began their tenure by discovering that the previous board snuck in a last-minute development agreement with Disney that allows the company to maintain much of its autonomy and renders the new board pretty much powerless.

Under the agreement, Disney can reportedly build whatever it wants on the property as well as grant others developmental rights. It also bans the board from using Disney’s name or characters. It then invokes a royal clause stating that the agreement is valid until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England,” meaning it could last for decades until all of King Charles’ grandchildren have passed away.

DeSantis was ruthlessly mocked for being outplayed, and Disney has insisted the move was above board.

“All agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law,” the company said in a statement.

DeSantis isn’t the only one seeking vengeance for Disney’s move.

Florida House Speaker Paul Renner (R) tweeted on Monday that “all legislative options are now back on the table” and accused Disney of seeking to evade “public accountability similar to every other business.”

At a recent shareholders meeting, Disney CEO Bob Iger called DeSantis “anti-business.”

“Our point on this is that any action that thwarts those efforts simply to retaliate for a position the company took sounds not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida,” he said, according to CNN.

“The company has a right to freedom of speech just like individuals do. The governor got very angry about the position that Disney took, and it seems like he’s decided to retaliate against us… in effect to seek to punish a company for its exercise of a constitutional right. And that just seems really wrong to me – against any company or individual, but particularly against a company that means so much to the state that you live in.”

A statement from DeSantis’s office in response to Iger stated, “While a company has First Amendment rights, it does not have the right to run its own government and operate outside the bounds of Florida law. The Florida Legislature and Gov. DeSantis worked to put Disney on an even playing field, and Disney got caught attempting to undermine Florida’s duly-enacted legislation in the 11th hour.”

One thing is clear: this war is not ending anytime soon.

<Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) could head into the GOP presidential primary against Donald Trump with a shiny new conservative credential: destroyer of public-sector labor unions.

Republicans in the Sunshine State are moving ahead with legislation designed to make it harder for government employee unions to collect dues and, well, to exist at all. The bill cleared the GOP-dominated state Senate in Tallahassee last week, despite several Republican lawmakers joining their Democratic colleagues and voting against it.

The bill has not yet passed the state House, which is also under solid GOP command, and it must make it through committee before reaching the House floor. DeSantis, who’s leading a broad attack on what he claims is “wokeism” in education, has publicly backed the bill as it relates to teachers unions.

Unions and their Democratic allies have managed to keep the grab bag of anti-labor provisions at bay for several years. But now they are alarmed — and furious — at the legislation’s advance.

Adding to their fury is the fact that Senate Republicans included a carveout to the bill that protects unions representing police, firefighters and corrections officers — that is, unions more likely to politically support Republicans.

In its current form, the bill would affect teachers, school support staff, bus drivers, janitors and sanitation workers, parks and library employees and others across the public sector whose unions tend to support Democrats.

“The goal of the bill is to eliminate collective bargaining for public-sector workers who the governor doesn’t like,” said Rich Templin, director of politics and public policy at the Florida AFL-CIO labor federation. “Nobody that’s directly involved has asked for this. This is another in a very long line of policies being advanced solely for the governor’s run for the White House.”

Unions are right to find the mechanics of the bill troubling.

The main provision would bar unions representing teachers and other public-sector workers from deducting dues through workers’ paychecks. That’s the primary way workers pay their union dues now. They also use it to pay health insurance premiums, gym memberships and a slew of other deductions that employers allow. Ending it would force unions to create new dues-collection mechanisms, like setting workers up for ACH transfers through their banks.

The goal of the bill is to eliminate collective bargaining for public-sector workers who the governor doesn’t like.Rich Templin, Florida AFL-CIO Republicans have pursued bans on paycheck dues deduction in several states in recent years, casting it as “paycheck protection” for workers — teachers, in particular — against rapacious unions. They succeeded in Wisconsin, Michigan, Alabama and Indiana. A federal judge recently blocked the Indiana law from taking effect after teachers unions sued on the grounds the law violated their constitutional right to freedom of association.

The loss of “dues checkoff,” as paycheck deductions are known, is not necessarily calamitous for a union. But as an organizer once wrote in the publication Labor Notes, it creates a “new layer of convincing” when trying to sign a worker up for the union, even one who supports the cause: “Not only must the member or staff organizer move the worker into action, but we also have to convince them to give us their damn bank info!”

What sets the Florida legislation apart is how the dues-deduction ban could work in tandem with a second anti-union provision.

Florida has long been a “right-to-work” state where no worker can be required to pay fees to a union, even if they enjoy the benefits of a union contract. (The entire U.S. public sector is now right to work, courtesy of a 2018 Supreme Court ruling.) But in 2018, under then-Gov. Rick Scott, Republicans added another challenge for the state’s teachers unions: If the number of dues-paying members in a bargaining unit fell below 50%, a process would begin whereby the union could be “decertified,” or purged and its contract nullified.

As part of their new proposal, Republicans would apply that decertification threshold to public-sector unions writ large, and raise it from 50% to 60%. So as unions lost members due to the payroll deduction ban, they could more easily fall in danger of being decertified — unless they represent cops, firefighters or corrections officers....>

<....“It’s pretty clear this is political retribution,” said Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, a union with more than 150,000 members. Of the unions carved out, Spar said, “I have a lot of friends in those unions, but those unions have supported Gov. DeSantis.”

HuffPost asked Republican state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, sponsor of the bill, what the logic was for including a carveout for certain unions that happen to lean conservative. A spokesperson pointed to a Senate committee hearing in which Ingoglia said cops and firefighters are “putting their lives on the line every day.”

“They may go to work and not know if they’re coming home that night,” Ingoglia said March 16. “So if you’re getting rid of payroll deduction, then you’re forcing a face-to-face conversation with the employees and their union representatives … I would have a hard time telling law enforcement who worked an overnight from 12 to 8 that she or he would have to not get any sleep and meet their union representative at 11 a.m. to give them their check.”

HuffPost asked a follow-up question: If this bill is really about “protecting” workers’ paychecks, don’t our heroes deserve the same protections that other workers are afforded under the bill? The spokesperson did not respond.

DeSantis has promoted the anti-union legislation as it relates to teachers unions. His office would not say whether he supports a carveout for unions representing police and firefighters.

A spokesperson for DeSantis would not say whether the governor supports the carveout for cops and firefighters, recommending HuffPost steer questions to the bill’s backers in the legislature. In a press conference where he promoted “paycheck protection,” DeSantis spoke of it solely in relation to teachers unions.

“Since this legislation is still subject to the legislative process (and therefore different iterations), the governor will decide on the merits of the bill in final form if and when it passes and is delivered to the governor’s office,” said the spokesperson, Jeremy T. Redfern.

It is not clear how the legislation’s backers arrived specifically at 60% as an appropriate threshold below which a union would have to apply for recertification with the state. After all, there is a certain logic to the current 50% marker, above which the dues-paying members represent a majority....>

<....Spar, of the FEA, said he believes he knows how 60% was chosen.

“We know he [DeSantis] had his staff call around the state to find out where all the teachers unions were in membership, and he found out they all were over 50%, with many in the upper 50s and quite a few over 60%,” Spar said. “So why set a threshold of 50?”

Warring with teachers unions is nothing new for Republican luminaries. Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were celebrated on the right for their attacks on public-sector unions, though neither managed to ride their anti-union record to the GOP presidential nomination.

But in the case of Florida, labor leaders believe the push to kill dues checkoff is wrapped up in DeSantis’ crusade against what he calls “woke ideology” in schools. He has banned “woke” textbooks, warred with the College Board over African American studies and attacked diversity, education and inclusion initiatives in higher education.

Spar said teachers unions are in the crosshairs because the governor views them as a line of defense against his education agenda, including at the university level.

“The governor has made it clear if he doesn’t like you he comes after you, whether you’re Disney, [prosecutor] Andrew Warren, school board members or the College Board,” Spar said. “The real reason we’re dealing with this bill is because teachers and staff and professors … are people who will band together and speak up on behalf of kids and communities and families.”

The governor has made it clear if he doesn’t like you he comes after you.Andrew Spar, president of Florida Education Association Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called the Florida legislation a “noxious attack” on collective bargaining rights in an email to HuffPost. Weingarten is so concerned about the bill and DeSantis’ education agenda in general that she traveled to a union rally in Miami on Saturday. She said DeSantis is issuing “authoritarian edicts.”

“We have all watched Gov. DeSantis abandon the conservative notion of limited government, but in this session, he appears fixated on stripping away freedoms and silencing those who have raised doubts about his policies,” Weingarten said of the bill.

Templin, of the Florida AFL-CIO, said unions are trying to mobilize against the bill to prevent its passage in the House. But they are already discussing ways they would try to deal with the new system if the bill is signed and survives the nearly inevitable court challenges.

Unions may end up sharing resources to create new systems for dues collection if they can no longer deduct them directly from workers’ paychecks. But Templin said other facets of the legislation would be problematic as well, including a requirement for a new annual audit that unions would have to perform. According to Templin, some local unions are so small that the audit would be an unreasonable burden to staff.

Spar said that Florida Republicans may talk a lot about eliminating red tape and cumbersome regulations, but they appear happy to create more for the unions they don’t like.

“This is an incredible amount of government overreach and intrusion,” he said. “We’re private, democratic organizations ... They’re basically saying that teachers and staff and others can’t make their own decisions and they need big government to make decisions for them.”>

<The alt-right Georgia representative tried capitalizing on the Trump arraignment frenzy, traveling to Manhattan to denounce criminal charges laid against the former president

Far-right Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene made a public appearance in Manhattan Tuesday morning to host a rally outside the courthouse where former President Donald Trump will be arraigned later today.

According to reporters on the scene, the Georgia lawmaker's quick speech was difficult to hear over the sounds of those protesting against her, with NBC News reporter Ben Collins writing on Twitter: "Marjorie Taylor Greene is completely drowned out by protesters and I'm pretty close to her. Nonstop whistles and drums and hecklers."

Greene's "Rally for Trump" was coordinated in partnership with the New York Young Republican Club and marketed as a protest of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's "heinous attack" on the president.

Other guests included alt-right political activist Jack Posobiec and conservative podcast host Graham Allen — and embattled New York Rep. George Santos, who is currently under criminal investigation by both local and federal officials.

Reports from the rally site estimated that fewer than 100 Trump supporters were present at Greene's rally, and upon her departure, she was shielded from counterprotestors by security.

District Attorney Bragg led an investigation into an alleged hush money payment Trump made to adult film star Stormy Daniels while he was the Republican presidential candidate in 2016.

Last week, a Manhattan grand jury that he impaneled voted to indict the former president in connection with that alleged payment and potentially others. The full scale of his charges are expected to be made public later this afternoon, when Trump appears at the courthouse, but the former president will reportedly face 34 felony counts.

Trump, 76, is now the first sitting or former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.

Greene's rally for the former president comes even as polls show that 60% of Americans agree with the indictment, and after the Republican congresswoman herself already complained about her visit to New York.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams singled out Greene specifically when he delivered remarks about public safety ahead of the arraignment.

"People like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is known to spread misinformation and hate speech, she's stated she's coming to town. While you're in town be on your best behavior," Adams warned on Monday.

Adams continued: "We will not allow violence or vandalism of any kind and if one is caught participating in any act of violence they will be arrested and held accountable, no matter who you are."

Greene responded to the mayor's comments on Twitter, claiming he was "trying to intimidate, threaten, and stop me from using my 1st amendment rights."

Adams warned against violence on what is expected to be a politically charged day. However, he said there were no known specific security threats.

"While there may be some rabble-rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow (Tuesday), our message is clear and simple: Control yourselves. New York City is our home, not a playground for your misplaced anger," Adams told reporters.

Trump is expected in court early Tuesday afternoon local time. Bragg's office has said Trump will not be placed in handcuffs or have his mug shot taken, as that is only reserved for flight risks or threats to the district attorney or court personnel — which was not determined to be the case.>

'Defund FBI!' 'Defund the DOJ!':

<One day after he was arrested and arraigned on 34 counts of falsifying business records, Donald Trump is calling for Republicans to "defund" the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ).

Trump on Tuesday became the first former or current U.S. president to face criminal charges. He is alleged to have falsified records related to hush-money payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal prior to the 2016 election.

Hours before he appeared in a Manhattan courthouse, the former president suffered a legal hit in another case when he lost an attempt to keep former aides from testifying to a grand jury as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith's probe into his alleged involvement in the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.

"REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES," Trump wrote Wednesday morning on Truth Social. "THE DEMOCRATS HAVE TOTALLY WEAPONIZED LAW ENFORCEMENT IN OUR COUNTRY AND ARE VICIOUSLY USING THIS ABUSE OF POWER TO INTERFERE WITH OUR ALREADY UNDER SIEGE ELECTIONS!"

Smith is reportedly nearing the final stages of his investigation, legal analyst Harry Litman, a former U.S. attorney and deputy assistant attorney general, told MSNBC's Morning Joe on Tuesday.

Trump's call to defund federal agencies is antithetical to the long-held GOP view that police departments should receive more money, not less, for the hiring of officers to deter crime.

Those who have pushed for the defunding of police have called for eliminating entire departments, or to reshuffle funds to disproportionately affect the number of the officers and their functions.

But Trump's calls have recently been adopted by others in the GOP, including close Trump ally Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio.

"We control the power of the purse, and we're going to have to look at the appropriation process and limit funds going to some of these agencies, particularly the ones who are engaged in the most egregious behavior," Jordan told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures after being asked what his committee can do against the alleged "weaponization of government."

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee previously rebuked calls for defunding following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, and in January condemned defunding police departments by discouraging individuals who want to become officers and aid the public.

"My principal reaction to these transparently performative and manifestly unconstitutional calls to take down all the remaining federal checks on criminal abuses of power by Trump and his unprincipled followers is that they signal desperation as the rule of law that Trump, Jordan, [House Speaker Kevin] McCarthy, [Representative Marjorie Taylor] Greene, and their tawdry band fail to appreciate closes in on the leader of their gang," Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus at Harvard University, told Newsweek via email.

"For any of that mob to pretend they object to 'weaponizing law enforcement' after what they cheered on Bill Barr for doing is not just rich, it's laughable," Tribe added.

David Kwok, associate law professor at the University of Houston, told Newsweek via phone that Trump seems "frustrated" and there are "perhaps some questions about the interplay of politics and the legal sphere."

Kwok said that most white-collar defendants are "risk averse" and when dealing with litigation want to resolve in master settlements as a preferred resolution path. In Trump's case, he is a current candidate for president and though his criminal legal liability is independent of his political future, the electorate will have opinions.

"The former president's priorities must be the legal priority....I think the priority is getting attorneys to represent him that have the reputation and the experience and are trusted by these other jurisdictions that are investigating him," Kwok said....>

<....Andrew Lieb, a New York-based attorney, told Newsweek via email that the irony of the "law and order party" that previously mocked Democrats about defunding law enforcement is "astounding."

"Additionally, let's all understand that our criminal justice system is flawed and there are times, like when Jack Smith just won a battle with Trump over executive privilege being overcome in forcing former aides to testify, that we learn that the system is perfect for everyone, as a whole, while it often feels imperfect for anyone, as an individual," Lieb said.

"We need reforms, but reforms don't require tearing down the entirety of our system or undermining its legitimacy. Instead, all politicians [future, current and past] need to support the bedrocks of our system and all need to be forceful in their response to Trump's current nonsensical call to defund the DOJ and FBI."

James Brosnahan, a California-based attorney with 60 years of experience and involvement in jury trials, told Newsweek via phone that Trump's continued use of social media while already arraigned is "unusual," in his experience.

"Usually, when people are actually in court and so forth, there's something that comes over them....Is he helping his case with a jury? I have to say no, he's not helping his case," Brosnahan said. "But is he doing something else? Is he getting ready to have a third party? Is he again going to claim he is being cheated out of something?"

Trump's calls, such as those for protests or "death and destruction," might help with a couple of jurors, Brosnahan said. "But making comments like that in a place like New York is risky legally.

"This is gonna hurt him with certain jurors and most people are not anxious to jump over the barricades in America at the moment. It's not wise.">

<Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is the personification of a "petty" homeowners association complaint, according to Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

During an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday, Greene described New York City as "repulsive" and "bad" smelling while complaining about her Manhattan protest against the arrest of former President Donald Trump being cut short due to counter-protesters on the previous day.

Greene made the remarks after Carlson referred to the "home" of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and asked her to provide a review of the metropolis. Earlier in the week, Adams, a Democrat, warned Greene to be on her "best behavior" ahead of the planned protest, while accusing her of spreading "misinformation and hate speech."

"His home is disgusting," Greene told Carlson. "I compared it to what I called Gotham City. The streets are filthy, they're covered with people basically dying on drugs. They can't even stand up, they're falling over."

"There's so much crime in the city," she continued. "I can't comprehend how people live there. It was repulsive. It smells bad. And I just think it's a terrible place."

Ocasio-Cortez, who represents a congressional district in Queens and the Bronx, took issue with Greene's assessment in a pair of tweets a short time later.

"If a petty HOA complaint were a person," Ocasio-Cortez commented in response to a clip of Greene's remarks.

"If anyone went on TV and talked about a rural area like this, it'd be gloves off - and deservedly so," she added. "This is no different. If she doesn't like the greatest city in the United States, that's her problem. I [love] NY."

While the crime rate in New York City has risen in recent years, it is nowhere near historical highs and remains lower than in most other major U.S. cities. Additionally, an analysis published by Bloomberg last year argued that residents of the city are safer than many in small towns across the country.

Greene's pro-Trump protest was cut short after the Manhattan crowd whistled, booed and shouted "liar" at her on Tuesday morning. Greene told Carlson that Adams was responsible for the "chaos," having "put out a dog whistle for violence against me" by warning her to behave.>

No-one, and nothing, forced the Mouth of the South to visit New York.

Always the victim, same as the man who faced The Indictment, and will one day have to reckon with The Trial.

But there is no getting away from HIV itself--y'all picked it up from one of your conquests while bug chasing.

<Messiah: Hey <Chesschronicle22>, probably you can post to perfy's page: please ask him if he uses a Walt Disney apron when he cooks. Many thanks! Victory! 

<Revelations that Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife accepted lavish trips around the world from a billionaire GOP donor over two decades are prompting calls for new ethics rules for the Supreme Court’s nine jurists — who enjoy both immense power and life tenure.

A ProPublica report Thursday said that Thomas and his wife traveled through Indonesia aboard Harlan Crow’s 162-foot yacht, vacationed almost every summer at his luxurious New York resort and flew on his private plane around the world on trips worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Judicial ethics experts disagree on whether Thomas violated the law by not revealing the hospitality on his annual financial disclosures. A federal statute governs gifts to judges, but its wording is open to interpretation and the justices have questioned whether it can constitutionally be applied to them. Unlike lower court judges, the Supreme Court isn’t formally bound by any code of conduct.

“This is why the Supreme Court needs a code of conduct,” said Steven Lubet, a judicial-ethics expert at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law. “They’re just operating in a standards-free zone.”

The court has faced a string of ethics scandals and controversies over the past year. The one that reverberated the most was the May leak of the court’s draft opinion overturning the constitutional right to abortion, for which the court has yet to identify the culprit. A New York Times report in November said a network of anti-abortion activists used a charity tied to the court to cultivate relationships with the justices and try to influence them.

Thomas, the 74-year-old anchor of the court’s conservative wing, has been at the center of much of the criticism. His wife, right-wing activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, lobbied former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to work to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Although that push helped lay the groundwork for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Thomas later declined to recuse himself from a case involving the release of White House records concerning Jan. 6.

Thomas did disclose a 2015 gift from Crow — a bronze bust of abolitionist Frederick Douglass valued at $6,484 — but his reports don’t mention the vacations and other travel on Crow’s plane. The filings include more routine items, such as income for teaching at several law schools and reimbursement for travel and lodging expenses when Thomas gave out-of-town speeches.

The opulence of Thomas’s reported vacations with Crow stands in contrast to the humble image he has portrayed publicly. Born into poverty in rural Georgia, Thomas has styled himself as someone who disdains liberal elites, preferring the company of the people he and his wife meet while traveling the country in their recreational vehicle during the court’s summer recesses.

“I prefer the RV parks. I prefer the Walmart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. There’s something normal to me about it,” ProPublica quoted Thomas as saying in a recent documentary financed in part by Crow. “I come from regular stock, and I prefer that — I prefer being around that.”

Thomas didn’t have any immediate comment on the story. Crow said in an emailed statement that the Thomases are “dear friends” who never asked for the hospitality they received.

“The hospitality we have extended to the Thomases over the years is no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends,” Crow said.

Critics say Thomas’s failure to disclose the trips violates a federal law that requires judges, including Supreme Court justices, to detail gifts above a few hundred dollars. That law exempts “personal hospitality,” including meals and accommodations at the homes of friends.

The law is less clear when it comes to transportation, including private jet travel, though a panel that sets policy for the federal judiciary recently clarified that judges should disclose those types of gifts. Those amendments also said disclosure is required when a friend pays for a stay at a commercial property, such as a resort....>

<....“There’s nothing wrong with having these types of interactions with friends, but there is something wrong with not disclosing it in compliance with the law,” said Kedric Payne, vice president and general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center.

But Stephen Gillers, a judicial-ethics expert at New York University School of Law, said that before the clarification justices were able to claim an exemption from reporting as long as the invitation came from a person, and not a corporation. “Transportation was exempt from reporting without qualification,” Gillers said.

Lubet called the law “ambiguous,” though he faulted Thomas for not erring on the side of disclosure.

“There’s not anything that would have prevented Justice Thomas from including this on his annual disclosure, but he chose not to,” Lubet said.

Congressional Push

The revelations have reenergized a years-long effort in Congress to impose the type of ethics code that applies to other federal judges.

“As long as nine justices are exempt from any process for enforcing basic ethics, public faith in the Supreme Court will continue to decline, and dark money and special interests will maintain their relentless grip on our democracy,” said Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

Whitehouse is a co-sponsor of legislation to require justices to adopt and follow a code of ethics that would be reviewed by appellate court judges. The bill, which would also force justices to disclose more information about gifts and travel, was passed out of a House committee last year but has since stalled.

Another bill, co-sponsored by Democratic Georgia Representative Hank Johnson and Democratic Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, would create a Supreme Court ethics officer and set up a process for filing complaints against the justices for ethical violations.

The push extends beyond Congress. The American Bar Association this year passed a resolution urging the Supreme Court to adopt a code similar to the standards that federal judges have to follow.

But even if it succeeds, the legislative effort could find itself at the mercy of the court, which has suggested Congress might not have the constitutional power to impose ethics rules on the justices.

“The court has never addressed whether Congress may impose those requirements on the Supreme Court,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in his 2011 year-end report. “The justices nevertheless comply with those provisions.”>

<In a measure of genuine bipartisanship, even former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi praised current Speaker Kevin McCarthy for his meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan. The historic meeting took place at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, where McCarthy skillfully included a bipartisan group of U.S. legislators to signal a unanimous American front against Chinese objections.

Among Democrats joining the McCarthy-led Congressional Delegation were Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), and Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.).

McCarthy repeatedly vowed unwavering U.S. support for Taiwan, defying China in doing so, and extolled the bipartisan participation among his congressional colleagues, saying “members of Congress from both sides spoke with one voice” in supporting Taiwan.

McCarthy reported he is “optimistic we will continue to find ways for the people of America and Taiwan to work together to promote economic freedom, peace, and stability in Asia.”

President Tsai wrote: “After meeting with members of the US Congress from both sides of the aisle, I was heartened by their strong bipartisan support for #Taiwan.” Thanking McCarthy and “all our American friends,” Tsai wrote, “When we stand together, we are all stronger.”

Speaker McCarthy retweeted President Tsai’s message. He also retweeted a post from The Select Committee on the CCP that declared: “Speaker McCarthy and this bipartisan delegation are here today to send a simple message - we are not afraid.”

McCarthy expressed unambiguous support for Taiwan, including maintaining critical military defense assistance through a continuation of timely delivery of American-made weaponry.

“It's clear several actions are necessary,” McCarthy said. “We must continue arms sales to Taiwan and make sure such sales reach Taiwan on time. We must also strengthen our economic cooperation, particularly with trade and technology.”

In her uncommon praise of her successor, Pelosi wrote: “Today's meeting between President Tsai of Taiwan and Speaker McCarthy is to be commended for its leadership, its bipartisan participation and its distinguished and historic venue.”

McCarthy summarized the importance of the U.S.-Taiwan relationship by emphasizing Taiwan’s role as a democracy and a technological beacon in the East.

“Taiwan is a successful democracy, thriving economy, and global leader in health and science,” McCarthy wrote. “Our cooperation continues to expand through dialogue and exchange.”>

<After former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi touched down in Taiwan last year, it took less than an hour for China to announce missile tests and military drills encircling the island.

By that standard, Beijing’s initial reaction to President Tsai Ing-wen’s unprecedented meeting on US soil with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been muted. Although China released statements condemning the meeting and sent an aircraft carrier in waters just south of the main island, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Thursday morning it detected only one Chinese military aircraft and three vessels in the surrounding region over the past 24 hours.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has several reasons to hold fire for the moment, even if he plans a more aggressive military response in the coming days.

For one, he’s currently hosting French leader Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in an effort to win support for his vague blueprint to bring peace to Ukraine — and to counter US efforts to block China’s access to new technology like advanced semiconductors. After arriving in Beijing Wednesday, Macron said he didn’t see a “will to overreact” from China and praised the “personal time” he was getting from Xi in the next few days. Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is also set to visit China next week.

“If Beijing seriously raises military tension at this juncture, it would make life very difficult for von der Leyen and Macron, and take the wind out of the sails of any European China dove voices for a long time,” said Wen-ti Sung, a specialist on Taiwanese politics and cross-strait relations at Australian National University.

In Xi’s first public remarks on Taiwan since Tsai’s California meeting with McCarthy, he said Thursday that “the Chinese government and the Chinese people will never accept anyone making a fuss about the ‘One China’ issue.”

“Expecting China to compromise on the Taiwan issue is just wishful thinking and anyone doing so will only shoot themselves in the foot,” he told von der Leyen.

Before departing Los Angeles on Thursday, Tsai brought up China directly for the first time during her US visit, saying Beijing shouldn’t overreact to her meeting with McCarthy because face-to-face visits help to promote regional peace.

Responding to China’s announcement that it would conduct new maritime inspection operations, Tsai said her government will ensure Taiwanese ships can sail safely and prevent China from any intervention in Taiwan’s territorial waters.

China’s aggressive military response to Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the first by a sitting House speaker in 25 years, spooked the rest of the region and beyond. Since then, the Philippines has moved to strengthen military ties with the US, South Korea and Japan agreed to resolve a decades-long dispute that impeded security cooperation, and Australia took another step toward acquiring nuclear-powered submarines from the US and UK.

Moreover, the drills prompted many leaders in Europe to start lumping China and Russia together, entrenching the notion that Beijing would soon invade Taiwan just as Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine. The possibility of a war in Asia, something that was long unthinkable, has prompted governments and companies to assess their exposure to China — a development that threatens to hurt a lackluster economic recovery from Covid Zero, not to mention the nation’s long-term growth prospects.

Xi has embarked on a charm offensive of late, seeking to rebrand China as a force for peace in the world. Besides his diplomacy over Ukraine, Xi agreed to support a debt-relief deal for Sri Lanka and helped broker an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore normal diplomatic relations. He’s now seeking to mend ties with key US allies, including France and Australia, in a bid to prevent China from becoming isolated on the world stage....

....Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of the Communist Party-backed Global Times newspaper, was more restrained than before, when he suggested that Chinese planes could “forcibly dispel Pelosi’s plane.”

On Thursday he wrote to his more than 20 million fans on Weibo that Beijing will make sure Tsai eventually pays a price for meeting McCarthy: “This round is just at its beginning.”>