colsadvocacy

Florida governor Ron DeSantis will fly migrants to Illinois and Delaware
While his state struggles with the devastation of Hurricane Ian, Ron DeSantis has announced his intention to pour more and more public resources into cruel, useless, and likely illegal immigration stunts.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Ron Johnson gets booed in his own state live on stage
The unrepentant insurrectionist senator got an earful from his own voters.

The GOP is just a few seats away from passing a national abortion ban
NextGen: Every woman in the country could have her bodily autonomy ripped away from her by radical zealots if we don’t win this November. The stakes could not be any higher. NEXTGEN is working around the clock to mobilize young voters and make sure we have the turnout we need to protect our majorities in Congress. Can you chip in to help elect pro-choice Democrats up and down the ballot?

Fetterman campaign to Dem super PAC: Drop dead
Fetterman’s campaign manager, Brendan Phillips, publicly called out the “Scam PAC,” Democratic Coalition, for raising money off Fetterman’s name and not using the money to support the campaign.

KCPD said missing Black women reports were “completely unfounded.” Less than a month later, one escapes after being kidnapped and tortured for over a month
The horrifying story of the woman identified only as “T.J.” and her abuse at the hands of white male Timothy Haslett Jr. is yet another grim reminder of how little the police seem to care about Black Americans — and their ostensible duty to “protect and serve.”

Elon Musk reverses course, says SpaceX will keep funding Ukraine Starlink service for free
The billionaire tech bozo abruptly changed his mind after a shameless attempt to pass the funding for the critical Starlink communications network on to the American public sparked a firestorm of condemnation.

OD Action among nearly 250 groups pushing Senate to defy telecom attacks and confirm Biden FCC pick
21 months into President Biden’s first term, the FCC is still locked in a 2-2 partisan deadlock, hampering efforts to secure universal high-speed internet and reverse the damage Trump did to net neutrality rules.

The death knell for Herschel Walker’s campaign
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: He won’t come back from this.

Secret Service documents handed over to January 6 committee show law enforcement downplayed Capitol threats
Trump’s Secret Service was well aware of the threats of violence that would manifest themselves on January 6th — and did almost nothing about it.

Native Americans recall torture, hatred at boarding schools
“The only thing they didn’t do was put us in (an oven) and gas us,” recalled one survivor of the US government-backed boarding schools for Native children, where they were told that their native language was the “devil’s speak.” Rosalie Whirlwind Soldier’s chilling testimony came as part of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s “Road to Healing” initiative, raising awareness of the horrifying treatment that Native children endured in the 400 or so state-run boarding schools operated from the 19th century into the 1960s — yet another disgraceful chapter in white America’s genocide against the indigenous. At least 500 children died in these schools.

Arizona AG’s office asks feds to investigate conservative nonprofit True the Vote
Yet another pro-Trump election denial conspiracy group has come under federal scrutiny for shady financial dealings. We’re shocked! Shocked! Well, not that shocked. Actually not at all.

Biden State Department endorses lies justifying Bolivia’s right-wing coup
A report obtained by The Intercept shows the Biden administration following in the Trump admin’s footsteps and embracing claims of electoral fraud that opened the door for a right-wing takeover of the Bolivian government in 2019.

I took a trip down to L’America

News from abroad and beyond

Hope…

Trump asks Clarence Thomas to weigh in on Mar-a-Lago classified docs probe
Rapidly running out of options, Trump’s team has filed an emergency request asking Justice Clarence Thomas, who oversees the 11th Circuit Court, to restore his hand-picked judge’s original order that would keep 100 classified documents under the authority of the Special Master, not federal investigators. It’s not likely to accomplish anything other than throwing yet another wrench in the infuriatingly slow process of bringing him to justice for his crimes — but sooner or later he’s going to run out of wrenches.

Take Action: Impeach Clarence Thomas for hiding corrupt payments to his wife!

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Herschel Walker’s son sinks his own father’s campaign
Turns out years of neglect and abuse came back to bite the GOP Senate candidate at a most inopportune moment. Grab your popcorn!

Take Action: Demand Congress cap the price of insulin!

Civil war erupts between Trump and Republicans
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: Things just got bad within the GOP.

LAPD officer killed in “training accident” was investigating gang rape by four other cops
The lawyer for deceased officer Houston Tipping alleged in an explosive press conference that Tipping had been investigating a 2021 gang rape by four other LAPD officers — and that one of the officers involved in the alleged rape was present when he died. Sworn declarations from a nurse and paramedic say that Tipping suffered from spinal cord injuries, a collapsed lung, broken ribs, and liver damage, creating the appearance that he was beaten to death by his fellow officers in retaliation for investigating their vile crimes.

Take Action: Tell “Dank Brandon” to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level!

Florida is demanding female teen athletes report their menstrual histories in order to play
Welcome to Republican “small government,” which just wants to know when young girls are menstruating and to store that data in online databanks that can be accessed by a state law enforcement charged with prosecuting abortion care.

Take Action: Demand Congress pass the Respect for Marriage Act!

Republicans double down on Herschel Walker
Though nobody should be surprised at this point, it is still just wild to see prominent anti-abortion Republicans like Donald Trump, Rick Scott, and Josh Hawley dismiss the very credible allegations against Walker out of hand. Just goes to show that everything they profess to believe in is nothing but a cynical ploy for their pursuit of power and control.

Justice Jackson makes waves in first Supreme Court arguments
Justice Kentaji Brown Justice expertly dissected right-wing excuses for their racist gerrymanders and attempts to further weaken the Civil Rights Act. She’s going to be a force to reckon with on the Supreme Court, but unfortunately we live in a world where facts, debate and precedent no longer matter in the face of an deeply ideological court controlled by far-right extremists.

A puppy-killing snake oil salesman and an insurrectionist radical are on the ballot in Pennsylvania
Summer Lee for Congress: Summer Lee is building a grassroots get-out-the-vote campaign to make sure these monstrous men never take office. Can you chip in to help Democrats win up and down the ballot in a critical swing state?

Jackson, Mississippi’s water crisis traced back to Wall Street credit agencies
Moody’s Investor Service downgraded Jackson’s credit rating to junk status in 2018, skyrocketing the price of borrowing to the point where the cash-strapped city couldn’t afford to fix its aging infrastructure — leaving the majority Black city reeling from a water crisis that it still has not been able to resolve.

South Korea and US troops fire missiles into the ocean in response to North Korean missile test
Honestly, what are we doing here? Is there really no way to solve our differences other than throwing a couple million dollars worth of high explosive and toxic fuel into the ocean? Leave the fish alone!

NYPD is illegally sending people to Rikers without ever seeing a judge, lawsuit claims
The impunity with which police forces break the law is truly astounding to behold. A lawsuit filed on behalf of four prisoners alleges that the NYPD are taking prisoners to the deadly Rikers Island prison — where 21 inmates have died so far this year — without ever seeing a judge or a courtroom. It is “nothing short of an extrajudicial campaign of terror and kidnapping,” says the suit.

Elon Musk caves to Twitter, agrees to go through with purchase if they drop the lawsuit against him
The interminable, excruciating will-they-won’t-they between Musk and Twitter may finally be coming to an end — and a reactionary right-wing moron may soon have full control of the world’s most important media platform. Not good!

Home on the range

Around the world in 80 words

Hope…

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Dr. Oz’s campaign suffers crushing blow with bombshell news
As a researcher at Columbia, the snake-oil salesman conducted a series of experiments that led to the brutal murder of over a thousand animals, including the sadistically cruel treatment of an entire litter of puppies that were given intracardiac injections with syringes of expired drugs inserted directly into their hearts without any sedation.

Take Action: Investigate Dr. Oz for peddling sham medical treatments!

Herschel Walker’s campaign rocked by abortion allegations and accusations of domestic violence by his son
Herschel Walker’s embattled senatorial campaign took another major hit yesterday, as news broke that the former football player and serial liar urged — and paid for — his then ex-girlfriend to have an abortion after he impregnated her in 2009. After this story broke, Walker’s son Christian took to Twitter in fury and publicly accused his father of making a mockery of the family. “You’re not a ‘family man’ when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence,” wrote the young Walker.

Take Action: Tell “Dank Brandon” to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level!

Civil war erupts between Trump and Republicans
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: Things just got bad within the GOP.

Planned Parenthood launches mobile clinic to take abortion to red-state borders
The reproductive healthcare nonprofit has devised a novel way of getting around the strict anti-abortion laws passed in red states: simply set up a mobile clinic and park it right over red-state lines to distribute abortion pills to those who need them.

Take Action: Demand Congress cap the price of insulin!

Alabama GOP chairman made the photo ID he used to vote

From the family that brought you “we are unable to vote because photographs are literally the devil” we can now also add “voted illegally with product of after-school social studies project!”

Take Action: Tell Congress to pass the No Tax Breaks for Union Busters Act!

Trump sues CNN claiming defamation, seeks $475 million in punitive damages
With no defense for his flagrant crimes, the disgraced ex-president has decided to go on the offensive, filing a lawsuit against CNN for calling him “racist,” “Russian lackey,” “insurrectionist,” and ultimately “Hitler.” The lawsuit will almost certainly be dismissed like so many other nonsensical suits from the racist, Russian lackey insurrectionist Hitler.

Interior Department to require body cams for law enforcement
The US Interior Department launched a set of new policies requiring thousands of law enforcement officers to wear body cameras, ensuring the release of footage in some critical incidents, and restricting the use of so-called no-knock warrants.

Halloween may be coming, but the only thing you should be scared of is a Republican Senate majority
OD Action Partner: McConnell and his cronies are chomping at the bit to take back the gavel and unleash their extremist agenda of cruelty and greed upon an unwilling nation. Will you make a donation to United Rural Democrats to make sure this nightmare never becomes a reality?

Elon Musk told to f*ck off by Ukrainian ambassador after defending Russian land grab on Twitter
The buffoonish tech bozo called for a Ukraine war peace plan that would include fresh referendums in the four Ukrainian provinces claimed by Russia, earning a spicy retort from Ukraine’s Ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk.

Hurricane Ian death toll rises to 100
Search-and-rescue teams in Florida doubled back to examine tens of thousands of Gulf Coast homes and businesses ravaged by Hurricane Ian, as the death toll from one of America’s fiercest storms on record sadly topped 100.

United Nations calls on Federal Reserve to stop raising interest rates, warns of global recession
“Not only is there a real danger that the policy remedy could prove worse than the economic disease, in terms of declining wages, employment, and government revenues, but the road taken would reverse the pandemic pledges to build a more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive world,” writes the UN Conference on Trade and Development in a blistering report.

US Soccer investigation finds “systemic” abuse in women’s league
It’s the same old story that we’re all so tired of hearing. A damning new report from US Soccer found rampant sexual misconduct and verbal and emotional abuse across multiple NWSL teams. The report details numerous instances of abuse across the league, vicious coaching tactics — “manipulation that was about power, not improving performance” — and a repeated failure by team executives and the league to respond to reports of abuse.

For the union makes us strong!

DEEP DIVE: Brazil’s presidential runoff

Hope…

“Shoot to kill”: Trump ally Roger Stone calls for deadly violence in chilling video
“Fuck the voting, let’s get right to the violence,” Trump’s long-time adviser told a documentary filmmaker the day before the 2020 general election. “Shoot to kill. See an antifa? Shoot to kill. Fuck ’em. Done with this bullshit.” Just one of the disgraced ex-president’s “best people” calling for civil war and the destruction of American democracy. Lock him up!

Take Action: Charge the Trump supporters who compromised ballot machines!

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Top Texas Republican caught pulling humiliating stunt
Texas’ criminal Attorney General was served with a subpoena — and responded in the most Republican way possible.

Take Action: Tell “Dank Brandon” to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level!

Top prosecutor offers bad news for Trump
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: Whoa.

States are forcing women to reveal their sexual histories in order to receive welfare and are seizing child support payments to pay for that welfare
In a horrifying encapsulation of the cruelty with which our nation treats its poor, ProPublica has learned that states are forcing women to make deeply personal revelations in order to be eligible for welfare and then appropriating the money that is supposed to be going to those women for child support — to the tune of $1.7 BILLION in 2020.

Take Action: Demand Congress stop the crisis in public schools

In 2019, Doug Mastriano said women who violated proposed abortion ban should be charged with murder
This kind of appalling extremism is par for the course for the GOP’s nominee for Pennsylvania governor, and a grim reminder of what awaits us if we don’t defeat Republicans up and down the ballot this November.

Take Action: Call on the Democratic Party to stop working with corporate mercenary firms!

Affidavits: 2 more pregnant minors who were raped were denied Ohio abortions
The evidence presented against Ohio’s draconian abortion law include two more teen rape victims who were denied abortion, two women with cancer who couldn’t get an abortion OR cancer treatment, and three women whose fetuses had such severe abnormalities that a successful pregnancy was impossible.

Gadsden County commissioner appointed by Gov. DeSantis resigns after KKK costume photo emerges
Somehow, certainly out of sheer coincidence, the man that virulent neofascist Ron DeSantis appointed to be commissioner of Florida’s only predominantly Black county seems to have a fondness for the Ku Klux Klan. What are the odds?

Everything we’ve worked so hard for is in reach!
OD Action partner: A national right to an abortion. Protections for same-sex marriages. The expanded child tax credits that helped lift so many kids out of poverty. Legal marijuana and criminal justice reform. Student debt relief. Green jobs and policies that confront climate change head-on. All of this could become reality if we can add just a few more seats to our Senate majority! Can you support United Rural Democrats’ efforts to win key Senate races in the Midwest and guide our nation to a brighter future?

Alabama GOP chair’s family refused to get a voter ID because it’s the “mark of the beast”
Certainly did not think we’d have “incapable of voting because biometric photographs are a numerical representation of a man’s soul and therefore anathem to deep south Anabaptist weirdos” on our Republican Bingo card for the month, but here we are.

Police respond to Amber Alert, abducted teen ends up shot to death
A fifteen-year-old girl abducted by her father was killed in a shootout with police officers. While the police account of what happened is infuriatingly vague, we can read between the lines when police say she began running toward them and “fell to the ground amid the gunfire” and they didn’t “recognize her” because she was wearing a protective vest and helmet.

McConnell supports bipartisan bill to reform Electoral Count Act
The Republican Minority leader will back efforts to make it harder for Trump and his cronies to subvert the election — but let’s be clear, it’s not out of any concern for our democracy. McConnell just wants to retake control of the GOP back from Trump.

Senate advances funding bill after Manchin punts his energy plan
The Senate easily advanced a short-term government funding bill on Tuesday after Joe Manchin conceded defeat on his push to combine the funding fix with his energy permitting package. Bye bye!

Actions, meet consequences

What in the world?

Hope…

Trump’s ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows’ texts reveal direct White House communication with pro-Trump operative behind plans to seize voting machines
Meadows texted with Phil Waldron, a Mike Flynn-linked GOP operative in Arizona, about lawsuits by Republicans demanding they gain access to the voting machines. The new evidence shows just how deeply involved the White House was with every level of the plot to steal the election in 2020.

Take Action: Charge the Trump supporters who compromised ballot machines!

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema goes viral with horrific statement at McConnell event
The Arizona senator contemptuously trashed the voters of America as she licked McConnell’s boots at the dark nexus of Republican corruption.

Take Action:

🚨 The January 6 Committee hearings are BACK
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: To watch along with Brian Tyler Cohen starting at 9am PT/12p ET on September 28, click the above video and hit NOTIFY ME to be alerted as soon as the livestream begins:

Cuba overwhelmingly votes to legalize same sex-marriage, reforms family law
While a fervent anti-LGBTQ smear campaign washes over the United States, Cubans voted by a wide margin to pass a hugely progressive series of reforms that legalize gay marriage, allow surrogate pregnancies, and allow gay couples to adopt.

Take Action: Demand Congress cap the price of insulin!

1,000 San Francisco International Airport restaurant workers go on strike
Unite Here Local 2, the union representing SFO’s food service workers, announced in a press release that 1,000 of SFO’s cashiers, cooks, baristas, bartenders, servers, and dishwashers are walking off the job for better pay. Union president Anand Singh said that most food service workers at SFO make around $17 an hour — a wage so low that many of them need to work two or three jobs.

Take Action: Tell Congress to pass the No Tax Breaks for Union Busters Act!

McConnell works to kill Manchin’s pipe dream as payback for IRA
The Republican leader is whipping up Republicans to vote against a plan by Chuck Schumer to pair Joe Manchin’s pet fossil fuel pipeline bill with a must-pass government funding bill as payback for voting for Biden’s historic Inflation Reduction Act. Ironically, this would be great for progressives, who deeply oppose Manchin’s plans for even more climate-polluting natural gas pipes.

Appeals court blocks California ban on for-profit prisons
Look, folks. We’re obviously not going to stop locking up human beings at alarmingly high rates. Why not (let a handful of crooked corporations) make a few (billion) bucks while we’re at it? It’s the American way!

Doctors. Teachers. Women. LGBT+ kids. The GOP is waging culture war against all of them, and we can’t let them win
Swing State Victory Project: Republican politicians and their propagandists at FOX are unleashing a tidal wave of cruelty on an unwilling American public, targeting some of the most important members of our society and putting them in very real danger. Will you chip in to help Swing State Victory Project elect Democrats who will put a stop to the madness?

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home to avoid being served with subpoena, court record says
Nothing says “I’m not guilty” like running away from a subpoena. Paxton has been under indictment for securities fraud for seven years and faces a whistleblower lawsuit from former top deputies who accused him of abuse of office. He is also being sued by Texas abortion funds.

Biden’s student loan cancellation plan to cost $400 billion, Congressional Budget Office estimates
The CBO admitted the estimate was “highly uncertain” —and even if it’s not, that’s less than half the amount we spend on the military EVERY single year. We can afford it, folks.

Texas police investigate use of force after video of officer slamming student into lunch cart circulates
In a horrifying display of barbarism, a police officer picks up a student and slams him back-first into a metal lunch cart while ostensibly “breaking up a fight.”

Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene among Republicans celebrating election of Italian neofascist
For all the pearl-clutching and crocodile tears over being called “semi-fascist” by Biden, MAGA Republicans sure seem to like fascism when they see it.

Things fall apart

DEEP DIVE: Italy elects Mussolina

Hope…

Special master to Trump’s lawyers: “You can’t have your cake and eat it”
Trump got his wish of a special master — but Judge Raymond Dearie is apparently in no mood to rubber stamp Trump’s bullshit excuses. Dearie was positively condescending when Trump’s lawyers were unwilling to produce any evidence saying that the stolen documents were declassified… because there isn’t any.

Take Action: Investigate Trump for stealing nuclear secrets!

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Lindsey Graham sinks his entire party on national TV
The South Carolina Senator can expect some angry phone calls from his colleagues after this little stunt. Nice going, bozo!

Take Action: Demand Google stop promoting fake abortion clinics!

Ron DeSantis’ migrant stunt BACKFIRES spectacularly
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: Not what he expected…

Tucker Carlson calls for violence against teachers and doctors for telling kids that gay people exist
The Fox News rabble-rouser unleashed a hateful tirade against LGBTQ people and their allies Monday and suggested that teaching children about queer identities is equivalent to a sex crime that parents have a “moral duty” to “fight back against,” no matter what “the law says.” This kind of rhetoric will absolutely get people hurt, and he know it. How Tucker is able to remain on the air is a question we all need to grapple with.

Take Action: Demand Congress pass the Respect for Marriage Act!

Manchin whines about “revenge politics” scuttling his permit plan
Manchin, who has spent his entire career suckling from the foetid teat of fossil fuel dark money, accused other Democrats of being mean to him over his plan to speed up permits for climate-killing natural gas projects. Cry me a coal slurry river.

Take Action: Call on the Democratic Party to stop working with corporate mercenary firms!

Feds accuse 47 people of stealing cash meant to help feed needy kids in “staggering” Covid scheme
Prosecutors say a web of charities, restaurants and individuals pulled off the $250 million fraud by claiming they were providing meals for tens of thousands of underserved children, when in fact the money was going to commercial real estate, luxury cars, fancy homes and even coastal property in Kenya.

Occupied Ukraine regions announce votes to join Russia
Ukrainian separatists in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia have announced plans to hold votes on formally joining Russia, paving the way for an annexation similar to the 2016 vote that lead to Crimea’s annexation. The Ukrainian government and its western backers immediately denounced the move.

🎥: Walker is DANGEROUS for Georgia and America
OD Action Partner: The MAGA-GOP wants Walker as their latest hitman on democracy

Alabama sidesteps compensation for survivor of 1963 KKK blast
Sarah Collins Rudolph, the sole survivor of the horrifying terrorist attack that killed four Black girls at an Alabama church in 1963, still has medical issues to this day from the bombing. But the state of Alabama seems to be in no hurry to do anything about it beyond offering an “apology” for then-Governor George C. Wallace’s white supremacist rhetoric that helped incite the attack. The families of the other victims have all been compensated already.

The ranks of the ultra-rich reach an all time high as a person dies from hunger every four seconds
50 million people are on the brink of starvation in 45 countries as the share of the world’s wealth held by the 1% increased from 44% to 46% last year. Profits from soaring food prices have enriched billionaires around the world by a collective $382 billion. It is a moral abomination that we allow this to continue.

New York hospitals got COVID bailouts. Then executives got $73M in bonuses
Top New York hospital executives received an average bonus of about $273,000 in 2020 while leading health systems that secured billions of dollars in federal pandemic bailouts.

New footage confirms fake Trump elector spent hours inside Georgia elections office day it was breached
A former Republican Party official in Georgia who was a fake elector in 2020 misrepresented her role in an alleged breach of voting equipment at a rural elections office two months after the last presidential election, a court filing says.

Exasperated sigh

DEEP DIVE: Puerto Rico, America’s neglected stepchild

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