Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bonefish who wrote (1355646)	4/25/2022 7:59:32 AM
From: sylvester80	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578927

Kevin McCarthy’s border stunt reveals a dark truth about the GOP By James Downie Today at 7:30 p.m. EDT washingtonpost.com House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will travel to the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday. It’s a transparent attempt to distract from newly released tapes recorded just after the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which McCarthy is heard telling other Republicans that he would advise then-President Donald Trump to resign. But McCarthy’s trip is more than just a cheap stunt. It’s an admission of a dark truth about the Republican Party. If McCarthy wanted to center his stunt on the most politically potent issue, he wouldn’t pick immigration. In a recent Gallup poll, 17 percent of voters chose inflation as the most important problem facing the country, followed by the closely related catchall of “the economy” at 11 percent. Immigration is down at 5 percent. And while inflation and gas prices didn’t take off until Joe Biden took office, the immigration numbers are murkier for Republicans. Border crossing numbers have been inflated by covid-era measures such as Title 42 (which has greatly increased repeat encounters), and the rise in fentanyl trafficking began under Trump. Most Republicans recognize inflation is their best argument. “I predict we’re going to get probably at least 40 [House] seats, because this president has been so unpopular when it comes to inflation, gas prices," Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.) told “Fox News Sunday.” James Hohmann: A tale of two Republicans: One brave, one not On Friday, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) predicted a "huge wave in November … because [Democrats] don’t want to talk about the inflation and the high cost of everything that they have created.” And on last week’s “Fox News Sunday,” McCarthy himself listed “wasteful, irresponsible spending that has led to higher prices and inflation” as the top reason for President Biden’s poor poll numbers. Yet, McCarthy and his fellow Republicans aren’t holding political stunts outside gas stations or supermarkets. And they’re barely even gesturing at ideas for lowering prices. Yet they’re hammering border politics. Why? Because while immigration might not sway the electorate as a whole, it fires up the GOP base that McCarthy wants to keep on his side. In his “Fox News Sunday” interview, McCaul — the former chair of the House Homeland Security Committee — encouraged that anger. “Putin invaded Ukraine,” he told host Sandra Smith. “We have an invasion in my home state right on the border, every day.” He then made reference to the (inflated) 2.5 million migrant encounters that have taken place since Biden’s inauguration. Notice that McCaul didn’t limit this comparison to traffickers or criminals trying to cross the border. No, every single person trying to cross — including the tens of thousands seeking asylum and the hundreds of thousands of families and unaccompanied children who are just seeking a better life — is in McCaul’s framing no different from soldiers invading a sovereign nation. Karen Tumulty: A Speaker Kevin McCarthy would mean only more debacles like this one That “invasion” language — a favorite of Trump and white supremacists — has led to bloodshed before. In 2019, a gunman killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso after posting an anti-Latino manifesto in which he said the attack was a response to “the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” And lest anyone doubt the partisan component of this hatred, the shooter also expressed fears that changing demographics would "make us a Democrat stronghold.” Responsible leaders would look at such an outcome and reconsider their rhetoric. After the shooting, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) admitted “mistakes were made” in sending out a fundraising call just a day before to “defend” the Texas border. But Abbott’s bout of responsibility was short-lived: By last year, he was again warning that Americans at the border “are being invaded.” This year, he’s shipped buses of migrants to Washington and ordered “enhanced” inspections of all commercial trucks crossing the border. The latter found no drugs or migrants, but it did cost the state $4.2 billion in GDP. Yet, despite this abject failure, Abbott was back on Fox News on Sunday denouncing Biden’s handling of the “national disaster” at the border, with not a word about the trucks. Abbott, McCaul and McCarthy, whether they admit it or not, recognize that the easiest way to protect their standing in the Republican Party is to embrace the hate and stoke the same bigoted fury that led a man to open fire in a store. Perhaps one day, the GOP’s fever will break. Until it does, this country’s future remains very dark.

To: Bonefish who wrote (1355646)	4/25/2022 8:11:39 AM
From: sylvester80	Respond to of 1578927

GOP KEY FIGURE IN N.C ABSENTEE BALLOT FRAUD PROBE, UNEXPECTED DIES BEFORE TRIAL IN SUMMER... GOP U.S. TRAITOR CRIMINALS R KILLING LOOSE ENDS The key player in a North Carolina absentee ballot fraud probe that led to a do-over congressional election has died. Apr. 24, 2022, 07:01 PM EDT huffpost.com RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., the key player in a North Carolina absentee ballot fraud probe that led to a do-over congressional election, has died. His daughter, Andrea Dowless Heverly, wrote that her father “passed away peacefully” Sunday morning, according to a social media post. He had been diagnosed with an advanced form of lung cancer and died at his daughter’s home in Bladen County, his friend Jay DeLancy told The Associated Press in a brief interview. Dowless was in his mid-60s. The political operative was set to go on trial this summer on more than a dozen state criminal counts related to absentee ballot activities for the 2016 general election and the 2018 primary and general elections. A half-dozen others were also charged. Witnesses told state officials that Dowless, with help of his assistants, gathered hundreds of absentee ballots from Bladen County in 2018. Those workers testified they were directed to collect blank or incomplete ballots, forge signatures on them and even fill in votes for local candidates. The 2018 general election results for the 9th Congressional District were ultimately thrown out and a new vote for the seat was ordered by the State Board of Elections, following an inquiry. Dowless was working in the 2018 congressional race for then-Republican candidate Mark Harris. No charges were filed against Harris, who didn’t run in the subsequent election. Dowless was later accused of charges related to the 2016 elections and the 2018 primary. Dowless’ health had become an issue while receiving a six-month prison sentence for federal crimes involving benefits fraud that was tangentially related to the broader state probe. A federal judge delayed Dowless’ reporting date from last December to April 1 after his defense attorney said Dowless had a stroke in August and learned in the fall about a potential cancer diagnosis. Dowless’ federal attorney filed another motion in March that she requested be sealed “due to the inclusion of sensitive health information.” The Bureau of Prison never reported Dowless as being in custody. Dowless’ state and federal attorneys didn’t immediately respond to emails on Sunday seeking comment. But with Dowless’ death, the absentee ballot case against him is now moot. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said legal delays caused by COVID-19 contributed to the inability to bring Dowless to trial sooner. While expressing condolences to Dowless’ family, Freeman said Sunday her office would move forward with the prosecution of other defendants, even though Dowless had been seen as the principal in the probe. “All of the other cases to some degree were derived from what the state thought was his master plan and coordination,” Freeman told the AP. She said each individual case would be evaluated before deciding how to proceed. Dowless declined to accept a plea agreement on the state charges last summer. The charges against him included obstruction of justice, possessing absentee ballots and perjury. DeLancy, who saw Dowless last week, said Dowless “wanted the chance to defend himself against the state’s indictments” and rejected the plea deal “in hopes of being given his day in court.” Dowless was “a man who was quick to trust and even love others by his acts of service,” DeLancy said in a text message. Dowless pleaded guilty last June in federal court to obtaining illegal Social Security benefits while concealing payments for political work he performed.