Isaiah's latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Ron's Disney World Tantrum." Hate merchant Ron DeSantis did not have a good time at Disney World. Isaiah archives his comics at THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS.
It takes a two-thirds vote to expel. And Republicans are treading on thin ice with their majority. The House is down to 433 members. It’s unclear where things stand with federally indicted Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y. If you were to have members expelled, retire or die, the majority could be right on the edge for the GOP.
During an appearance on CNN Sunday morning, Gaetz said he planned "to file a motion to vacate against Speaker McCarthy this week."
Brian Glenn, the boyfriend of Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and host for Right Side Broadcasting Network, went on a rampage against a heckler at a recent event featuring former President Donald Trump, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The incident occurred in Santa Monica, California, where a group of supporters greeted the GOP frontrunner. However, a heckler's question about Trump's popularity triggered Glenn's explosive response.
According to Mediaite, the event took place on Friday, with Trump delivering remarks earlier in the day in Anaheim.
During his speech, he mocked the Pelosi family, imitated President Joe Biden, and advised Californians to "dampen your forests" to prevent wildfires.
As Trump greeted his supporters in Santa Monica and signed autographs, a man in the crowd questioned the size of the gathering, asking, "Donald, why are there only a hundred people here? I thought you were popular."
This simple inquiry ignited Glenn's wrath, leaving him momentarily unable to articulate a coherent response.
In a fit of rage, Glenn berated the heckler, shouting, "Why are you an idiot? This guy's an idiot, President Trump. I'm going to throw his ass out of here."
The shocking spectacle unfolded as Glenn approached Trump, microphone in hand, attempting to reassure him of his popularity.
Moving over to the Georgia state senate, Dave Williams (GEORGIA PUBLIC RADIO) reports:
The Georgia Senate Republican Caucus has suspended freshman Sen. Colton Moore after he unsuccessfully pushed for a special legislative session to investigate Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
Moore, R-Trenton, mounted his bid for a special session despite Gov. Brian Kemp publicly dismissing the idea and over the objections of the other 32 Republican state senators.
In a statement issued Thursday, the caucus accused Moore of using false statements to whip up public sentiment against those opposed to a special session .
“Senator Moore has a right to his opinion,” the statement read. “However, during his advocacy for his ill-conceived proposal, Senator Moore has knowingly misled people across Georgia and our nation, causing unnecessary tension and hostility while putting his caucus colleagues and their families at risk of personal harm.”
GOP candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made a highly controversial trip to Salinas today, which was preceded by community protests on Sunday and Wednesday, a Salinas City Council resolution denouncing his visit, and widespread disapproval from county supervisors, organizations and Salinas residents across social media.
Executives of big agriculture companies from Taylor Farms to Mission Produce hosted a private fundraising brunch for DeSantis this morning ahead of his bid for the White House, with tickets selling at $3,300 a seat.
DeSantis has gained notoriety for supporting policies that harm farmworkers and make it more difficult for undocumented immigrants to gain employment.
Salinas has a large population of immigrant and migrant farm workers, which agriculture companies have historically failed to protect from voter intimidation, COVID-19, wildfires and harmful pesticides (which are used in fields near local schools despite being linked to leukemia in children).
Fox News host Maria Bartiromo kept it frank with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over former President Donald Trump’s big lead against him in national polls. (You can check out the interview in the clip below)
The Florida governor has trailed Trump the entire year in an average of national polls and, as of Sunday, is behind the GOP frontrunner by over 40 percentage points, according to polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight.
“Let’s face it, governor, Donald Trump is ahead of you by a significant margin,” Bartiromo told DeSantis during his appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“I think the last poll was 52 percent, above, right now, for Trump. How are you going to cut into Trump’s lead? What truly is your path to victory?”
The Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis-appointed board overseeing Disney World’s tax district has officially approved a $4.5 million budget for the year to fund the anti-LGBTQ+ governor’s legal battle with the entertainment company.
The board approved an overall $194.5 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year, setting aside an anticipated $4.5 million in legal fees for DeSantis to defend himself against Disney. According to the Washington Post, taxpayers have already footed the $1.9 million that has been spent on lawyers for the case this year.
The Florida governor asked that the company’s First Amendment lawsuit against him be tossed from federal court, and Disney demanded emails, texts and other communications from the governor’s office in a separate state court lawsuit originally brought by DeSantis appointees of Walt Disney World’s governing district.
The legal filings marked an escalation in the battle between the entertainment giant and DeSantis, a candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. The confrontation started last year when Disney publicly opposed a state law banning classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades, and DeSantis retaliated by taking over the governing district that provides municipal services for the 25,000-acre (10,117-hectare) Disney World theme park resort in Florida.
[. . .]
Disney also sent a notice to DeSantis’ office demanding internal communications, including text messages and emails, and documents regarding the district’s comprehensive plan, the development agreements and the legislation that shifted control of the district to DeSantis. The notice said a subpoena would be issued requiring the governor’s office to turn over the materials to Disney’s attorneys by Oct. 27.
Ronald's like a cock roach, he skirts off when caught in the light of day. As Tori Otten (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes, Ronald's wasting millions of tax dollars on lawsuits:
That allotment includes $6 million for the governor’s office, compared to just $1.6 million last year. The State University System Board of Governors received an extra $2 million to defend DeSantis’s “Stop Woke” Act, and the attorney general’s office got an additional $5 million to defend the state’s backward Covid-19 vaccination policies.
The extra money for legal costs means that DeSantis is able to hire outside (and much more expensive) lawyers to defend his policies. So far, his administration has spent the most defending laws restricting voting rights, transgender health care, and academic freedom. But despite his best efforts, and his hefty coffers, most of those laws were still overturned.
Haneen and Revan were initially feared dead following the blaze, which claimed the lives of 114 others.
Revan's father later confirmed the couple had survived the blaze, which tore through the large hall in the Christian town, which had survived ISIS occupation.
"It's true that we're sitting here in front of you alive. But inside we are dead. We are numb. We are dead inside," Revan told Sky News.
The horror inferno claimed the lives of 15 members of Revan's family, with the groom adding that his bride "can't speak" following the loss of 10 of her own relatives.
The harrowing and tragic deaths of 22 people from one single family
during the heartbreaking wedding inferno in Nineveh province's Hamdaniya
town over the weekend has echoed across the country.
"This is my sister. This is my father. This is my mother. This is
another sister of mine. This is my wife. She is missing," Fuad Silewa, a
member of the family that lost 22 members in total, sighed while
sobbing and holding their photographs. "I am grateful for God [on all
occasions]."
He went on to introduce more family members who died of suffocation
during the tragic inferno: "This is my brother's wife. Yesterday, I
received [from health authorities] their dead and burned bodies. They
have all died of suffocation. This sister had come back from abroad to
change her atmosphere by visiting us. Thank you, God."
Over a hundred people lost their lives when a deadly fire engulfed a wedding hall in Hamdaniya after the roof’s flammable plastic ceiling caught fire when fireworks were ignited from the floor.
The draft report from the investigation, ordered by Mr. Sudani, found that in addition to lacking emergency exits and sprinklers, the building had been constructed illegally on agricultural land — a common practice in Iraq as those who no longer farm seek to make money off their fallow acreage.
The report also said the building was made of a substance described by investigators as Ecobond board, which itself is not illegal, but its use must be approved on a case-by-case basis because certain types are highly flammable. It is known locally as sandwich board because it consists of two layers of metal with a synthetic filling between them.
The report found negligence by the owner of the hall — who was detained by the authorities on Wednesday — and his two partners; by the local province’s tourist commission because it had fined the owner for failing to meet fire safety requirements, but did not close the hall; by the mayor of Qaraqosh because he knew about the failings, but, the report said, did not do anything about them; and by other administrative units aware that the hall was illegally built but failed to take any action.
The Civil Defense Force responsible for the area, however, was not named in the initial report. Although the force is responsible for building safety and fire fighting, many residents were critical of its response, saying the authorities were slow to arrive at the scene and ill prepared.
For many people in the area, the fire and the report were painful reminders of the combination of corruption, weak governance and lack of accountability in Iraq.
Rubin did a feature article (a profile) of the prime minister ahead of his visit to New York last week. That may have been why she was given an advance look at the report. The report came out Sunday and, as REUTERS notes, pins the blame on "gross negligence." Some are not accepting the report's conclusions. AP reports:
Christian religious leaders in northern Iraq called for an international investigation Monday into a deadly wedding fire that killed more than 100 people last week and slammed the government’s probe, which had blamed the blaze on negligence and lack of precautionary measures.
An Iraqi Syriac Catholic priest, meanwhile, said widespread corruption in the country and the influence of armed militias on the government was one of the factors that enabled the fire.
Father Boutros Sheeto, spoke to The Associated Press over the phone from the town of Qaraqosh, where five members of his family, including his Iraqi-American sister, were buried on Monday morning. He claimed the fire was “intentional,” without offering any evidence.
Ahmed Rasheed and Timour Azhari (REUTERS) report that Iraq has finally passed the 2023 budget -- finally:
Iraq's parliament on Monday approved a 2023 budget of 198.9 trillion dinars ($153 billion) that sets out record spending on a growing public wage bill and development projects to improve services and rebuild infrastructure ruined by neglect and war.
The budget deficit is estimated at a record 64.36 trillion Iraq dinars, more than double the last budget deficit in 2021, according to a budget document and lawmakers.
It only took over six months and a scolding from the United Nations' Security Council, but they finally passed a 2023 budget. Sinan Mahoud (THE NATIONAL) adds:
ut analysts said far too much money will be spent on salaries, including allocations for hundreds of thousands of new jobs. They said Iraq will not be able to afford this spending outlay if oil prices fall below $70.
The operational expenditure stands at 133.22 trillion dinars (about $102.5 billion) while investment expenditure will be 49.35 trillion dinars ($37.9 billion). The remainder of expenditure will mainly go to debt servicing.
It is based on an assumed average oil price over three years of $70 a barrel, with an average daily crude oil output of 3.5 million barrels, including 400,000 from the Kurdistan region.
The government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani is planning to repeat it next year and in 2025, although parliament will be able to vote on amendments. Iraq’s fiscal year usually starts on January 1.
So the fun begins again. KURDISTAN 24 notes, "A top Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official in Baghdad said on Sunday that efforts to weaken Kurdistan Region as a constitutional entity in the 2023-2025 budget bill have failed. The remarks by Ashwaq Jaf, the head of KDP’s 5th Baghdad Branch, came a day after the Iraqi lawmakers passed on the controversial articles of the budget bill, Article 14, concerning the Kurdish region’s oil export, management, and distribution of its revenues."
Turning to the US and da Do-Do Ron Ron DeSantis saw his people rally for him over the weekend in Florida. Grace Hauck (USA TODAY) reports:
About 15 people with flags displaying Nazi insignia gathered outside Walt Disney World theme park in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office, as others displayed messaging in support of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to the demonstration, which dissipated after about two hours with no arrests. Two counter-protesters also showed up, the office said.
"We are aware of these groups that aim to agitate and incite people with anti-Semitic symbols and slurs. They are also aware of the law," the office said in a statement. "The Orange County Sheriff’s Office deplores hate speech in any form, but people have the First Amendment right to demonstrate."
Oh, da Do-Do Ron Ron, da Do-Do Ron Ron. Your people have embraced you. Too bad for you, the rest of America finds those people revulsive.
The following sites updated:
sdf
I'm talking with Congressional candidate @Maebe_A_Girl about TRANSGENDER IN AMERICA. #Marianne2024 https://t.co/GFDETYc2K5
— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) June 28, 2023
DeSantis has not publicly commented on the story about Gonzalez’s messages, but Breitbart noted that the Never Back Down PAC, which backs DeSantis, called the messages “inexcusable.” Meanwhile, DeSantis’ campaign mouthpiece, Christina Pushaw, liked a tweet about how “nasty” the Trump-DeSantis feud has become.
“And to be clear I’m mostly talking about the Trump side,” the tweet read. “I’ve seen some comments from people on the DeSantis side I don’t care for too, but it’s consistently the Trump surrogates who seem to have no bottom to how low they’ll sink to support their candidate.”
Chronicles also had not commented publicly on the Breitbart revelations, but it’s worth noting that when Gonzalez was accused last year of antisemitism—after he made crude comments about the “physiognomy” of two prominent Jews—magazine executive editor Edward Welsch wrote a defense of him titled, “That Old Anti-Semitism Smear.”
The public holds a less favorable view of Donald Trump's actions following his recent legal battles, according to one poll.
A survey of 1,500 voters, conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies exclusively for Newsweek on June 25, found that fewer people now believe the legal issues facing the former president are "politically motivated," compared to a poll from April taken weeks after Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 felony charges as part of the falsifying business records investigation in New York.
When those responding to the survey asked which statement they agreed with more, 47 percent said that the legal issues Trump is facing are "primarily the result of his own actions which appear to have been illegal"—a 13-point increase from the April survey (34 percent).
In the June poll, a further 38 percent believe the investigations are the result of "politically motivated attacks" by Trump's opponents, down 19 points from the April results (57 percent).
Attorneys for The Walt Disney Co. and Ron DeSantis are proposing very different timelines for the start of a federal trial over the company’s claim of retaliation by the Florida governor.
Disney proposed a timeline with a trial to start on July 15 of next year. DeSantis’ attorneys, along with those of other defendants in the case, want it put off to Aug. 4, 2025, after next year’s presidential election, according to a court filing. DeSantis launched his White House bid last month.
