Agents from the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were in Colorado Springs yesterday collecting evidence at the scene of a mid-morning bomb attack on the local NAACP office there yesterday. According to local media accounts, witnesses saw a balding, middle-aged white man fleeing the scene in an old white pickup truck.
In 2003, Erik Prince used his wealthy parents’ connections in right-wing politics to land over $1 billion in security contracts for Blackwater, his private security company. During the Bush administration’s war in Iraq, Blackwater was one of dozens of contractors deployed into the war zone at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars — a deployment with disastrous consequences, especially in Blackwater’s case.
In the spring of 2004, U.S. Marines had to be sent into Fallujah twice after local fighters released video they’d taken while they killed Blackwater contractors and mutilated their bodies. The result was some of the bloodiest fighting of the occupation. On Dec. 24, 2006, an allegedly drunk Blackwater contractor shot and killed a bodyguard for Iraq’s vice president. Nine months later a squad of Blackwater mercenaries rolling through Baghdad opened fire at a crowded intersection killing 17 civilians. That incident was the beginning of the end for Blackwater. Its security contract in Iraq was cancelled after Bush left office.
Over the weekend, in a session at Maverick PAC, a right-wing political group with ties to the Bush family, Prince seemed to suggest that if only the Obama administration hadn’t cut off flow of millions in taxpayer dollars to Blackwater, his mercenaries could have stopped the rise of ISIS:
The video rejected in The Ruth Institute’s “Reel Love Challenge.” The contest asked for college students or young adults age 18 to 30 to answer the question, “What makes lifelong love possible?” Apparently it has to be man-lady lifelong love only.
This video was first accepted, but after someone at the “Institute” actually watched it, it was thrown out. The Ruth So-Called Institute is a project of the National Institute for Marriage Education Fund, which is just another Focus on the Family spin-off that claims these bizarre “core values:”
Respect for the contributions of men to the family Marriage as a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman
Lifelong spousal cooperation as a solution to women’s aspirations for career and family
Trump’s cheated multiple times on multiple wives, it’s true.
He’s cheated the Tax Man out of millions, not just a few.
But just when you thought
There was something that couldn’t be bought,
Turns out he cheats at golf (only at his own courses), too.
“He’s never won a championship at a course he doesn’t own and operate. He’s played in Pebble Beach, he’s played in the Tahoe one, where there are rules and judges and cameras. And in those, he’s never finished in the top half. So he wins when anybody who disagrees that he won is out of the club. That’s how he gets it.”
— Sportswriter Rick Reilly called BS on Donald Trump after the former president declared himself the winner of both the club championship and senior club championship at the Trump International Golf Club in Florida, the HuffPost reports.
“RFK was never a serious threat to win a lot of votes, but with each passing day his candidacy looks increasingly like a dagger pointed at the heart of MAGA. And his choice of running mate is wild. … Yesterday, Kennedy announced that his VP will be Nicole Shanahan, who isn’t just the least-qualified, most preposterous character ever to appear on a presidential ticket polling above 5 percent. She’s also going to be catnip to a particular kind of low-intensity Trump voter.”
“And this is very important and very important to me. I want to have a lot of people have it. You have to have it for your heart, for your soul. …. We’ve lost religion in our country. All Americans need a Bible in their home and I have many, it’s my favorite book, it’s a lot of people’s favorite book. This Bible is a reminder that the biggest thing we have to bring back America and to make America great again is our religion. Religion is so important, it’s so missing.”
— Donald Trump is celebrating Easter by selling copies of his latest product, the God Bless the USA Bible, for $59.99 each.
“Wow! Ronna McDaniel got fired by Fake News NBC. She only lasted two days, and this after McDaniel went out of her way to say what they wanted to hear. It leaves her in a very strange place, it’s called NEVER NEVERLAND, and it’s not a place you want to be.”
— Donald Trump made fun of Ronna McDaniel after NBC News ended its contract with her following an internal uproar across the company, The Hill reports.
President Biden’s campaign slammed Donald Trump as “weak and desperate – both as a man and a candidate for president.” The statement continued: “He spent the weekend golfing, the morning comparing himself to Jesus, and the afternoon lying about having money he definitely doesn’t have. His campaign can’t raise money, he is uninterested in campaigning outside his country club, and every time he opens his mouth, he pushes moderate and suburban voters away with his dangerous agenda.” It concludes: “America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump.”
“Donald Trump’s idea to implement a 10% tariff on all imported goods would spike prices by as much as $1,500 annually for American families,” Semafor reports. “Published by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the report estimates that yearly costs would rise by $90 for food, $90 for pharmaceutical drugs, and $120 oil-related products like gasoline.
Punchbowl News: “Congress approved more than $71 million in earmarks for lawmakers who voted against the most recent minibus spending bill, according to a Punchbowl News analysis. This is a prime example of what former Speaker Nancy Pelosi says: They voted no but took the dough. We have a simple spreadsheet of the lawmakers who landed projects and then voted against the $1.2 trillion spending package.”
In a head-to-head presidential election match up, a new Quinnipiac poll finds President Biden leading Donald Trump nationally, 48% to 45%. When the match up is expanded to include independent candidates, Trump edges Biden, 39% to 38%, with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. at 13%, Jill Stein at 4% and Cornel West at 3%. Pollster Tim Malloy: “Way too close to call on the head-to-head and even closer when third party candidates are counted. The backstretch is months away and this is about as close as it can get.”
A new Fox News poll finds 59% of Americans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, up from the previous high of 57% in September 2022. Voters oppose a 15-week ban by 11 points (54% oppose vs. 43% favor), which is in direct contrast with results in 2023 when it was favored by 12 points (42% oppose vs. 54% favor).
“President Joe Biden has gained ground against Republican Donald Trump in six of seven key swing states, and significantly so in at least two of them. The results make for the Democrat’s strongest position yet in a monthly Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll. …. The shift was significant in Wisconsin, where Biden leads Trump by one point after trailing him by four points in February, and in Pennsylvania, where the candidates are tied after Trump held a six-point lead last month. They are also tied in Michigan.”