Rep elise Stefanic

POSTER FOR TRUMP SELLOUT? running hard for VP 1 24? primary 1 24 on fascism

8 22 zombie stefanic by elliot mgmt

merri ok

aha? more than one apostate drunk koolaide trump cult, harvard

pseudo-populism

see flip flop trim

SEE SCALPS

---

CHANNEL

~ PALESTINE STUDENT PROT

Who Funds That? EP9: Poisoned Ivies with Rep. Elise Stefanik

Capital Research Center

STAFFER, TT

72 views Jun 16, 2026 Who Funds That?

Since the Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023, the Everything Leftist Omnicause has turned its Eye of Sauron toward aggressive support for Palestinian nationalism—support for Palestinian nationalism that all too frequently crosses the line from a political position to antipathy towards American Jews. Nowhere has the latter been more visible than on the most elite college campuses, where administrations that have been perfectly happy to suppress speech they didn’t like about mainstream political issues have allowed Palestinian nationalist demonstrators to impose their wills on campus. Today’s guest used her position to ask the presidents of three of America’s most prestigious universities how that came to be; the resulting incoherent responses started a firestorm that culminated in her new book, Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America's Elite Universities. Joining us today to discuss higher education and the rot within it is U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik of New York.

---

AN 1`2 25

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y) is blaming Speaker Mike Johnson for the rejection of an oversight provision she included in the annual defense policy bill the House wants to pass next week .

“I just walked out of a briefing on this issue this morning CONFIRMING everything I posted yesterday, that, yes, in fact, the Speaker is blocking my provision to root out the illegal weaponization that led to Crossfire Hurricane, Arctic Frost, and more,” said Stefanik on X. “He is siding with [Rep.] Jamie Raskin [D-Md.] against Trump Republicans to block this provision to protect the deep state.”

Stefanik further threatened to be a vote against the defense bill if her provision remains out: “This is an easy one. This bill is DOA unless this provision gets added in as it was passed out of committee.”

Stefanik’s proposal requires the public disclosure of all “FBI counterintelligence investigations into presidential and federal candidates seeking office.” It is designed to combat what Stefanik and other Republicans consider politically motivated investigations related to Russian interference in the 2016 election and former special counsel Jack Smith’s probe into President Donald Trump’s efforts to subvert the election in 2020.

Johnson denied the allegation on Monday.

“All of that is false. I don’t exactly know why Elise won’t just call me,” said Johnson, adding that he sent her a text message denying knowledge of the treatment of the provision and claiming that “it hasn’t even made it to my level.”

“The way regular order works is it has to go through a committee of jurisdiction if it is to be attached to the NDAA, and this provision she was working on, I think, is under the jurisdiction of the Judiciary,” Johnson said. “… [T]he chairs and the two ranking members of the committees of jurisdiction … at least three out of four have to agree … to put it on the bill. Well, in this case, I found out last night — it wasn’t even on my radar — that that apparently didn’t happen. I haven’t even talked to those chairmen … but apparently the two chairs and the two rankers in both chambers did not agree and so that provision was dropped from the NDAA.”

Stefanik summed up Johnson’s claim s “just more lies from the Speaker.”

“And in true to form, the Speaker texted me yesterday claiming he ‘knew nothing about it.’ Yeah right. This is his preferred tactic to tell [lawmakers] when he gets caught torpedoing the Republican agenda. It wasn’t ‘on your radar?’ This is the ONLY provision in the bill to root out the deep state rot,” Stefanik said.

She went on to argue that dropping her provision was “not regular order,” as Johnson claimed.

“Regular order is a members’ provision that passed out of committee should be heard on the floor and not struck down by a Democrat minority member in a closed-door meeting,” Stefanik said. “My provision passed out of the House Intelligence Committee, which is the committee of jurisdiction. You torpedoed this siding with Jamie Raskin. You said you would fix it, so fix it.”

Another Republican lawmaker, Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Ga.), who recently announced she was quitting the House after President Donald Trump attacked her for supporting the release of the criminal file of convicted sex trafficker (and Trump’s friend) Jeffrey Epstein, similarly blasted Johnson.

“No surprises here,” posted Greene on X. “As usual from the Speaker, promises made promises broken. We all know it.”

---

pod save booed 2x

'Afraid': Ex-GOP strategist mocks 'full MAGA' congresswoman for dodging 'her own constituents'

am 8 25

'You sold us out': MAGA congresswoman 'disgusted' by boos and jeers at New York event - Alternet.org

---

CONTEXT

an 6 25

A House Oversight Committee hearing grew tense Thursday when Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) accused several Democratic governors of breaking federal law.

“You're in violation of federal law. Charges for obstruction should be brought against each one of you for doing this, I'll leave that up to the Department of Justice,” Palmer told New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who quickly pushed back: “That's 100% false.”

Palmer escalated, calling for obstruction charges against the governors. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) pushed back sharply with a point of order to chairman Jim Comer (R-Ky.) : “That was intimidation of the witness ... Raising the prospect of charges against witnesses is a form of intimidation. Is it not?”

Palmer then responded, “I strike those words.”

IFrame Content

Hochul appeared on Capitol Hill alongside Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) to defend their states’ sanctuary policies before the House Oversight Committee. Republicans on the panel linked those policies to rising crime tied to undocumented immigrants, while Democrats argued the protections are more critical than ever.

One of the most pointed exchanges came between Hochul and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a longtime critic who has hinted at challenging Hochul for governor in 2026.

Stefanik used her full questioning time to go after Hochul, citing violent crimes in New York City that she blamed on the state’s sanctuary stance.

"You are not advocating on behalf of these victims. You are shielding illegals. Even in your opening statement, you prioritize putting illegals first," Stefanik said.

"That is not true," Hochul responded. "Rather than going after the viral moment, I suggest you look at the facts."

"No, no, no, I'm standing up for New Yorkers," Stefanik shot back.

Watch the video of the confrontation below, or byclicking this link.

---

AN 6 25

A Thursday House Oversight Committee hearing in which Republicans attempted to grill Democratic governors over immigration policy grew heated during one particular exchange between a governor and a congresswoman from the same state.

In the exchange, which Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic instructor Alejandra Caraballo posted to Bluesky, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) is seen answering questions by Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) about Illinois' "sanctuary" status, in which local law enforcement agencies are actively prohibited from engaging in federal immigration enforcement activities.

"Do you stand by your policy of tying the hands of Illinois law enforcement?" Miller asked. "Yes or no, sir?"

"You know, Congresswoman Miller, I am not going to be lectured to by somebody who extols the virtue of Adolf Hitler, or someone who has allowed the pardoning of January 6—"

IFrame Content

"—I am reclaiming my time," Miller said repeatedly while Pritzker spoke.

Pritzker's comment is likely in relation to Miller's comments in early January of 2021 just days after she was sworn in, in which she quoted the Nazi dictator while speaking about the importance of relating to young voters. Miller's office initially defended the comment before ultimately apologizing for quoting Hitler in a positive way.

“Each generation has the responsibility to teach and train the next generation,” Miller said at a January 5, 2021 rally (just one day before the January 6 insurrection). “You know, if we win a few elections, we’re still going to be losing, unless we win the hearts and minds of our children. This is the battle. Hitler was right on one thing: He said, ‘Whoever has the youth, has the future.’ Our children are being propagandized.”

Watch the video of the exchange below, or byclicking this link.

---

new 12 24

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who is the presumptive next United Nations (U.N.) ambassador is one of President-elect Donald Trump's more traditional Cabinet appointments, and is unlikely to face a tough confirmation battle in the Senate. But one former Trump administration official is hoping she'll usher in drastic cuts to the U.N.'s budget during the president-elect's second term.

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, John Bolton — who was former President George W. Bush's U.N. ambassador before briefly serving as Trump's National Security Advisor in 2018 — laid out his proposal for what he hopes Stefanik and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is Trump's secretary of state-designate, accomplish at the U.N. over the next four years. Bolton is particularly hoping Stefanik, Rubio and Trump will do away with a U.N. funding mechanism that he likened to "taxation of America by other U.N. members."

"Funding for U.N. components falls into two categories: mandatory 'assessed' contributions and voluntary contributions. Assessments are calculated by opaque 'capacity to pay' formulas, which have historically made America the largest contributor," Bolton wrote. "A majority of member governments tells us what we owe, on pain of losing our vote in U.N. governing bodies if we don’t pay up. That alone is sufficient reason to reject the concept of assessments, since it isn’t our votes in these bodies that matter... This approach rests on the revolutionary assumption that we fund the U.N. based on its performance, paying only for what we want and insisting that we get what we pay for."

Bolton elaborated that because the U.S. has a vote and veto on the vaunted Security Council that's written into the U.N. charter, it will effectively face zero consequences for doing away with assessed contributions. He also argued that "U.N. bureaucrats, U.S. officials and nongovernmental organizations" claiming that that the U.S. gets "enormous credit" for its U.N. funding commitment is "false."

"Special-interest advocates simply take our current level of funding for granted, complain that it’s inadequate and demand more," Bolton wrote. "It’s time they get their comeuppance."

The former U.N. ambassador went on to applaud Trump's previous withdrawal of the U.S. from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which President Joe Biden rejoined in 2021. Bolton predicted that Trump would again withdraw the U.S. from UNESCO (which leads U.N. efforts to fight poverty, increase literacy and build "a culture of peace") and other U.N. agencies that "prove unreformable." He also hoped that the U.S. would redirect funding previously appropriated for the U.N. to the military budget, which is currently the largest in the world at $916 billion in 2023 and accounts for 40% of all global military spending combined.

"Using America’s money as an existential threat will rock the U.N. system," he wrote. "While many other reforms are possible, they won’t match the power of unilaterally controlling our contributions."

READ MORE:['Your views have changed': CNN host reminds Elise Stefanik of her past Trump disdain

===

---

an ah 6 24

veteran economist Robert Reich, now 77, has long been sounding the alarm about income inequality in the United States — a problem that, according to Reich, has only grown worse over the years.

Economic populism has also been a recurring theme among MAGA Republicans, many of whom often rail against "woke elites" on college campuses. But Reich, in a biting opinion column published on June 11, blasts Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) and other Donald Trump supporters as examples of fake "populists" who don't really call out "inequality" as the major economic problem that it is.

"Trump and much of his Republican Party are deploying criticisms of the educated class to pose as populists on the side of the people," Reich observes. "Consider Elise Stefanik, Harvard class of '06 and chair of the House Republican Conference, who doesn't miss an opportunity to attack elite universities and their presidents. Or Sen. Josh Hawley, Stanford class of '02 and Yale Law '06, who calls the recent student demonstrations signs of 'moral rot.'"

Reich continues, "It's all a thinly veiled cover for their efforts to help the wealthy make even bigger bags while keeping everyone else — especially average workers — down. At this moment, Republicans are promising the moneyed class that in return for financial backing in the upcoming election, they'll get an extension of Trump's 2017 tax cuts — which disproportionately boosted the wealth of big corporations and the rich — plus additional tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks."

According to Reich, Republicans like Stefanik and Hawley failed to acknowledge that the "money class" rather than "the educated class" is "holding back the rest of America."

Reich, who served as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton during the 1990s, laments that "inequality" in the U.S. in 2024 is much worse than it was during the 1960s.

"When I graduated Dartmouth College in 1968," Reich recalls, "almost no one I knew went into finance or consulting. In those days, inequalities were minuscule compared with now. The bags at that time could have fit into a glove compartment."

Reich continues, "One of the least-discussed but most profound consequences of America's surging inequality is the number of talented young people now devoting themselves to making bags. Remarkably, though, most talented young people are not yet in the bag."

*Robert Reich's full column for The Guardian is available at this link.

running for vp?

an 5 214

rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York) is repeating a familiar pattern of filing an ethics complaint against someone involved in former President Donald Trump's legal proceedings.

On Tuesday, Stefanik filed an official complaint against Judge Juan Merchan — who is overseeing Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan — alleging a "conflict of interest" due to his daughter's work as a political consultant fundraising for Democratic candidates. The House Republican Conference chair told Axios she believed Merchan was "in clear violation of section 100.3(E)(1)(d)(iii) of the Rules of Judicial Conduct for the New York State Unified Court System as his family has enriched itself through anti-Trump fundraising mentioning this case directly."

"[Acquitting Trump would be] detrimental to Democrats, including clients of Judge Merchan's daughter," Stefanik's letter to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct read. "If, on the other hand, [Trump] is convicted, such a verdict would provide a fundraising windfall for Democrat clients of Judge Merchan's daughter."

In his latest column, MSNBC producer Steve Benen wrote that Stefanik's "baseless gesture" has become all too predictable in her efforts to ingratiate herself with the former president. Benen noted that Merchan is the fourth public official she's sent an official communication calling for an investigation into an entity attempting to hold Trump accountable.

"It’s hard not to wonder if her office has some kind of form letter in which names can simply be swapped out every time Stefanik wants to make Trump happy with a baseless gesture," Benen wrote.

Stefanik has so far filed complaints against Judge Arthur Engoron (who oversaw Trump's civil fraud trial), Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who initially sued the Trump Organization for fraud. Benen argued that Stefanik's latest stunt is merely her jockeying to become the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's running mate.

"I continue to believe that no one should want to be vice president this badly, but just as notably, it’s unsettling to see a congressional leader engage in such tacticsm" Benen wrote. "We are talking about an episodic campaign in which Stefanik is targeting those who are engaged in administering justice — not because they’ve done anything wrong, but because they might play a role in holding one of her partisan allies accountable."

Stefanik has been one of the 45th president's biggest cheerleaders in Congress, and has even adopted some of his more recent language. In a January video, she referred to January 6 defendants as "hostages," using the exact same terminology Trump has used to describe the mob of his supporters who ransacked the U.S. Capitol and tried to overturn an election by force.

The House GOP Conference chair has also scrubbed her own congressional website of a statement in which she decried the actions of January 6 rioters and demanded their prosecution. Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), who preceded Stefanik as House Republican Conference chair and who sat on the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, slammed Stefanik on social media for the erasure.

"[Stefanik] will have to explain how and why she morphed into a total crackpot," Cheney tweeted, adding that "history, and our children, deserve to know."

*Click here to read Benen's column in full.

4 24

although Donald Trump's trial in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.'s hush money/falsified business records case is in full swing, both of special counsel Jack Smith's criminal cases against the former president appear unlikely to go to trial before the November election.

Judge Aileen Cannon has repeatedly delayed Smith's Mar-a-Lago documents case, and the special counsel's election interference case is in limbo while the U.S. Supreme Court examines Trump's absolute immunity claims. Oral arguments were held on Thursday, April 25.

Meanwhile, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York) has filed an ethics complaint against Smith, claiming that his prosecutions amount to "illegal election interference."

READ MORE:[Elise Stefanik is going to 'cringeworthy lengths' to 'impress Team Trump': analysis

In a Tuesday, April 30 post on X, formerly Twitter, Stefanik shared a copy of a letter she had sent to Jeffrey Ragsdale of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility.

The former Trump critic turned Trump loyalist, who has described incarcerated January 6, 2021 rioters as "hostages," told Ragsdale, "I write today to request an ethics investigation of Biden Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith for abusing the resources of the federal government to unlawfully interfere with the 2024 presidential election. Jack Smith's multiple attempts to rush to trial the federal January 6th case against President Trump violated long-standing, explicit Justice Department policy."

Stefanik's announcement has received many responses on X.

Luke Zaleski, legal affairs editor at Condé Nast, tweeted, "We're going to be gaslit into a dictatorship. It's time to recalibrate the presumption that the Republican Party hasn't been seriously compromised. They've been working exclusively for Trump and in ways that are counter to US interests and their own that just can't be explained."

Public relations/media veteran John L. Goodman, formerly of ABC News, wrote, "When wanting to be Trump's Vice President is more important than your self esteem and integrity... Rep. Elise Stefanik demands DOJ ethics probe into Jack Smith, accuses him of election interference."

Stefanik is reportedly on Trump's short list of possible running mates, along with Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio). South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was also reportedly a top contender, but she has been drawing vehement criticism after describing, in her new book, an incident in which she shot and killed a puppy on a farm.

READ MORE:[Jack Smith must now make 'strategic choice' on Trump case with 'major consequences': column

===

---

an 1 24

when Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York) was first sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2015, she had a reputation for being a "pro-business conservative" along the lines of now-Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and former New York Gov. George Pataki. And she was critical of Donald Trump and his MAGA movement during his 2016 campaign.

But Stefanik, now 39, has since flip-flopped, taken a far-right MAGA turn and become a strident Trump defender. In a scathing commentary for CNN in July 2021, Never Trump [vid] conservative[...slammed stef...k as a "shameless" and "disgraceful" opportunist who had totally abandoned her principles and become an apologist for the extremist who attacked the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.

These days, Stefanik is describing convicted January 6 rioters as "hostages" — which, according to The Guardian's Peter Stone, is an example of the extremes she will now go to in support of the MAGA movement.

"As Donald Trump aggressively fights multiple legal and political threats," Stone explains in an article published on January 30, "New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has become his most powerful ally in Congress in key ways by echoing Trump's dangerous falsehoods and pushing outlandish conspiracy theories around the January 6 attack on the Capitol. To bolster Trump, Stefanik has mimicked Trump's calling convicted January 6 prisoners 'hostages,' declined in a TV interview to say she would certify the 2024 election in advance, and filed ethics complaints against two judges overseeing cases against Trump or his allies."

Stone continues, "Stefanik's emergence as a major Trump cheerleader has sparked sharp criticism from historians, ex-Republican members and Democrats for fueling election denialism and disinformation which weaken democracy. But it has earned Stefanik a notable distinction: Her name is frequently mentioned as Trump's potential 2024 running mate."

Interviewees for Stone's article laid some reasons why they find Stefanik increasingly disturbing.

Steven Levitsky, a Harvard University professor and co-author of the 2019 book "How Democracies Die," told The Guardian, "She scares me in several ways. Stefanik appears to be willing to go down Trump's authoritarian path wholeheartedly…. She's smart, politically savvy and skilled, unlike Trump."

Levitsky added, "The most dangerous autocrats like (Viktor) Orbán and (Recep Tayyip) Erdoğan are politically skilled. Stefanik has shown signs she has some of those skills."

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) is also quite scathing in his criticism of Stefanik.

Raskin told The Guardian, "Elise Stefanik is giving opportunism and sycophancy a bad name. She now mimics every move and word of Donald Trump…. Stefanik is clearly auditioning for the running mate slot by suggesting, à la Trump, that she'll reserve judgment on certifying the election."

The Maryland Democrat also said of Stefanik, "A hallmark of fascist political parties is that they don't accept the results of elections if they don't go their way. Stefanik is now embracing this tactic to prove to Donald Trump she's the most obsequious sycophant in the Republican Party and can bow and scrape even better than (Rep.) Marjorie Taylor Greene."

Donald Ayer, who served deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, told The Guardian, "Stefanik seems to have been someone who knew better beforehand, but she now has become one of the shock troops systematically distorting reality in support of Trump."

*Read The Guardian's full article at this link.

---

an 1 24

rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York) — who is thought of as a leading candidate to be former President Donald Trump's 2024 running mate — recently deleted a 2021 statement from her website calling for the prosecution of January 6 participants.

Stefanik apparently deleted the statement after former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) linked to it on Saturday. On her official X/Twittr account, Cheney called the statement a "rare moment of honesty" from the woman who replaced her as House Republican Conference chair, adding that "she will have to explain how and why she morphed into a total crackpot."

Cheney noted in a subsequent tweet that Stefanik deleted the statement from her website without explanation. However, she included a screenshot of the statement in the post, telling her 644,000-plus followers to "feel free to share."

"This is a tragic day for America. I fully condemn the dangerous violence and destruction that occurred today at the United States Capitol," Stefanik said in the now-deleted statement. "Americans have a Constitutional right to protest and freedom of speech, but violence in any form is absolutely unacceptable and ant-American."

"The perpetrators of this un-American violence and destruction must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," she added. "Thank you to the United States Capitol Police, all law enforcement, the National Guard and the bipartisan professional staff of the United States Capitol for protecting the People's House and the American people."

The New York Republican has since changed her tune on January 6 defendants, whom she now refers to as "hostages." That concerned fellow New York lawmaker Rep. Dan Goldman (D-New York) so much that he filed a censure resolution against Stefanik, calling it "the culmination of a rhetoric that has gone too far."

Stefanik may have deleted the statement in order to ingratiate herself with Trump, as his commanding wins in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary move him closer to the Republican presidential nomination and the selection of a running mate. Trump has not only used the "hostages" label for January 6 rioters, but has promised to pardon the vast bulk of them if elected to a second term. More than 1,200 arrests have been made in connection to the insurrection, and the Department of Justice has secured guilty pleas and convictions from roughly 800 of those charged.

---

'Vile' Elise Stefanik facing wave of outrage for calling E. Jean Carroll a liar - Alternet.org

---

How Elise Stefanik’s endorsement of Kari Lake helps Dems: 'Happy to join her clown car' - Alternet.org

---

Elise Stefanik snaps over Jan. 6 'hostages' when asked if rioters should be prosecuted - Alternet.org

---

HARV BLK WOMan pres resign plag BS stefanik 2 dn 1 to go? SEE SCALPS

Fox host blames the "spider-like cancer" that is diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives for antisemitism | Media Matters for America

---

some blowback

House Democrat slams Stefanik for plagiarizing her letter to universities to 'score political points' - Alternet.org

---

12 23 an

america’s prestigious universities play a big role in determining who gets into America’s wealthy elite.

A degree from Harvard, Penn, or M.I.T., to take three examples, is a meal ticket to a lucrative job on Wall Street or a corporate law firm and to the richest and most influential people in the land.

But as America becomes increasingly stratified by wealth, those tickets are easily abused.

Universities that give preference in admissions to the children or grandchildren of major donors serve to widen inequality even further.

Universities that allow major donors to influence what is taught or expressed on campus could be seen to suppress ideas that threaten the wealthy — which could chill freedom of expression and fuel social resentment.

Which brings us to the latest imbroglio.

Last Tuesday, the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and M.I.T. tried to give precise answers to questions from members of Congress about whether their university cultures had encouraged hostility towards Jews — hostility that has surged since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s attack on Gaza in response.

In their opening remarks, all three denied it, and repeatedly condemned antisemitism.

Then Elise Stefanik, a Republican representative from New York (and herself a Harvard graduate) asked a yes or no question: would calls for genocide of Jews on campus violate their codes of conduct or harassment policies?

The presidents hedged. “If the speech turns into conduct, yes, it can be harassment,” Penn’s president, M. Elizabeth Magill, a former dean of Stanford Law School, replied in lawyer-like fashion.

“I’m asking if specifically calling for the genocide of Jews — does that constitute bullying or harassment?” Stefanik pressed her point.

“If it is directed and severe or pervasive, it is harassment,” said Magill.

“So the answer is yes?”

“It is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman,” Magill said.

Faced with the same question, Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, also temporized. “It can be,” she said, “depending on the context.”

The university presidents should have answered unambiguously and unequivocally that calls for genocide of any group are intolerable.

Their failure to do so has fueled a firestorm.

Ross Stevens, a hedge fund manager, said he would withdraw a $100 million gift to Penn. Other wealthy Penn donors called for Magill to resign.

Even prior to the hearing, a campaign had been launched by some of Wall Street’s most powerful figures to oust all three university presidents for failing to adequately condemn Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

The influential board of advisers of Penn’s Wharton School’s, chaired by Marc Rowan of Apollo Global Management, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, called on alumni to withhold donations to Penn.

The billionaire investor Bill Ackman, Harvard alumnus and head of New York hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, called for the three university presidents to be fired.

The day after their testimony, Magill and Gay issued statements in efforts to contain the damage.

But on Saturday evening, after an emergency meeting of Penn’s board of trustees, Magill resigned under pressure.

Over the weekend, calls from donors for Harvard’s Claudine Gay to resign grew louder, as prominent donors demanded her ouster, too.

I can well understand the anger and frustration of these donors. In their congressional testimony, the university presidents should have been clearer that their institutions do not tolerate calls for genocide. Period.

But to use their power as major donors to force or seek the ouster of these presidents is almost as repugnant as the failures of these presidents to unambiguously condemn calls for genocide. It endangers the autonomy of America’s universities.

Who’s kidding whom? Those of us who have spent our lifetimes teaching in prestigious universities are well aware of the influence of big donors. The major job of today’s university presidents is to solicit money, and their largest targets are typically denizens of Wall Street.

For the same reason, boards of trustees are packed with wealthy alumni, often from the Street, who routinely veto candidates for university presidentships harboring views they find offensive.

But not until now have major donors so brazenly used their financial influence to hound presidents out of office for failing to come out as clearly as the donors would like on an issue of campus speech or expression.

As a Jew, I cannot help but worry, too, that the actions of these donors will fuel the very antisemitism they claim to oppose — based on the perilous stereotype of wealthy Jewish bankers controlling the world.

*Robert Reich is a professor at Berkeley and was secretary of labor under Bill Clinton. You can find his writing at https://robertreich.substack.com/.*

---

How Elise Stefanik’s endorsement of Kari Lake helps Dems: 'Happy to join her clown car' - Alternet.org\https://www.alternet.org/msn-uk/elise-stefanik-kari-lake/How Elise Stefanik’s endorsement of Kari Lake helps Dems: 'Happy to join her clown car' - Alternet.org---------

---

Elise Stefanik ripped for 'ridiculous and hilarious' speech praising Jim Jordan before failed speaker vote - Alternet.org

---

https://www.alternet.org/100-million-in-campaign-cash-elise-stefanik-sees-ny-as-crucial-for-house-republicans-in-2024-report/

---

often pix w mccarthy 118 spkr elect fail 118?

knew about santos in advance?

https://www.alternet.org/elise-stefanik-electing-george-santos/

---

// new law potus no indict

pow

https://www.alternet.org/elise-stefanik-promised-trump-an-aggressive-house-gop-response-to-alvin-bragg-cnn-2659667985/

---

https://www.alternet.org/elise-stefanik-blasted-double-standard/

---

word salad defense steve doocey maralago raid

https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/fox-news-house-gop-leader/

---

2x?

https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/elise-stefanik-lying-january-6th/

an 8 22

New York Republican Carl Paladino, running for a U.S. House seat, said Attorney General Merrick Garland should probably be “executed” in a radio interview this past weekend, and later when pressed backtracked, claiming he was just being “facetious,” as The Buffalo News first reported.

“So we have a couple of unelected people who are running our government with an administration of people like Garland,” Paladino said in an attack on President Joe Biden in a Saturday interview with the far-right wing Breitbart media site.

Garland “should be not only impeached he should probably, should be executed, the guy is just lost,” Paladino said.

Paladino called Garland, a former U.S. Supreme Court nominee and former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, a “lost soul” who is “trying to get an image and his image, his methodology is just terrible.”

“To raid the home of a former president is just, people are scratching their heads and they’re saying, ‘What is wrong with this guy?’ ”

Later in the interview Breitbart Radio host Matthew Boyle asked Paladino, “Carl, what you just said about Garland, you said you think ‘he should be impeached and probably executed.’ Can you explain that? What do you mean by that?”

“I’m just being facetious,” Paladino replied. “The man should be removed from office. He’s shows his incompetence. He wants to get his face in front of the people. And in short, he’s got some mettle to him, but his choice of issues and his choice of methodology is is is very sad. And then he wants to take full blame for it, you know he’ll he’ll stand there.”

Paladino, who is strongly endorsed by U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the Chair of the House Republican Conference, has a long history of controversial remarks and actions.

Just last month the New York Post reported he “has a convicted sex offender on his company payroll who also now works as ‘assistant treasurer’ of his campaign.”

“Joel Sartori was controller of Ellicott Development when he was busted in 2013 for accessing child porn on a company computer,” The Post adds. “Sartori was convicted of two felonies — possessing and promoting kiddie porn — and sentenced to 10 years’ probation in 2017, court records show.”

As CNN has reported, Paladino has called Black people “dumb and hungry,” claimed they are “conditioned” to only vote for Democrats, while insisting he’s not “a racist.” He also said a woman who had accused Donald Trump of sexual assault “probably enjoyed” it.

Stefanik, the third most powerful House Republican, on June 3 praised Paladino as an “inspirational” leader, a “doer,” and “the kind of leader we need today.” That endorsement came just days before it was revealedPaladino in 2021 had called Adolf Hitler “inspirational,” and “the kind of leader we need today” (audio.)

Stefanik later doubled down on her endorsement despite Paladino’s praise for Hitler, a genocidal fascist responsible for the murders of approximately 17 million people.

As CNN also reported, in 2016, “Paladino had said he would like to see Michelle Obama ‘return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla,’ and that he hoped Barack Obama would die of Mad Cow Disease after having sex with a cow.”

Listen to Paladino’s remarks about Attorney General Garland below or at this link:

---

https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/4chan-republican-rhetoric-mass-murderer/

The self-identified white supremacist who slaughtered 10 Black people inside of a Buffalo, New York supermarket last week was a known risk to local law enforcement and even published a 180-page manifesto in which he outlined his hateful ideations.

According to an analysis published in The Guardian on Wednesday, GUK however, the ideas that the mass shooter espoused – enhanced by his aridly creepy selection of words – were not his original thoughts. Instead, the outlet found that the gunman copied and pasted his text from various posts that he read on the dark web right-wing hub known as 4chan.

The document "allegedly released by the accused along with a video of the attack, is rife with pseudo-scientific racism, antisemitic conspiracy theories and a call for others to mimic his violence," the investigation revealed, adding that "the screed is mostly plagiarized from other extremists" on 4chan.

Peppered throughout the viciously bigoted musings were references to the Great Replacement Theory, a fringe belief that immigrants with higher levels of epidermal melanin are invading the United States and committing genocide against White Americans.

The hateful treatise "details the baseless racism that underpins the philosophy, including the idea that Jewish people secretly control the world, and that the genetic differences between the races make them incompatible. One particular image, sourced from 4chan, claims to show 'the truth about race' – compiling a handful of debunked, misunderstood, or cherrypicked studies to assert the claim that certain races are inferior to whites," wrote TheGuardian, noting that it "even seeks to back up its claims with the long-abandoned pseudoscience of phrenology, which studies the sizes and shapes of craniums."

Excerpts of missives authored by the indicted domestic terrorist on the instant messaging app Discord that The Guardian obtained indicate that he felt as if he had found a community in which he belonged. The Guardian also pointed out that he viewed 4chan as a dependable source of information, noting that "he confessed to browsing 4chan daily" and admitted that he “barely interacts with regular people."

The perpetrator stated in one exchange that “I only really turned racist when 4chan started giving me facts." In another instance, he claimed that “White genocide is real when you look at data, but is not talked about on popular media outlets."

While 4chan certainly had a profound influence on his worldview, it is not fully to blame for poisoning the assailant's impressionable mind, which at 18 years of age, significant scientific research has determined, is still developing.

The foundation of those repugnant conspiracy theories has been promoted by prominent conservative figures like Fox News propagandist Tucker Carlson and his colleague Laura Ingraham; misogynist podcasters Nick Fuentes, Charlie Kirk, and Ben Shapiro; Republican Ohio Senate candidate JD Vance (whom former President Donald Trump endorsed), and, most notably, Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, who chairs the GOP Conference in the House of Representatives and is the only Jewish Republican currently serving in Congress.

Stefanik in particular has been under heavy fire in the wake of the Buffalo massacre over her cache of anti-immigrant talking points as well as her championing of Great Replacement during conversations with journalists and appearances on mainstream news networks.

The danger they pose is immediate and substantial. But it is not unforeseen.

Last September, The Times UnionEditorial Board warned that the "undeniable echo of Nazi Germany" has been "resonating ever since in the right-wing, repackaged lately in what’s known as ‘replacement theory,’ espoused by conservative media figures like Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. And it has seeped into the mainstream political discourse in the Capital Region, where Rep. Elise Stefanik has adapted this despicable tactic for campaign ads."

Stefanik, the newspaper's editors continued, "isn’t so brazen as to use the slogans themselves; rather, she couches the hate in alarmist anti-immigrant rhetoric that’s become standard fare for the party of Donald Trump. And she doesn’t quite attack immigrants directly; instead, she alleges that Democrats are looking to grant citizenship to undocumented immigrants in order to gain a permanent liberal majority, or, as she calls it, a ‘permanent election insurrection.’ Quite a choice of words, of course, considering that the country is still suffering the aftershocks of the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington by supporters of Mr. Trump who tried to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election."

Queen’s University Assistant Professor of Religion Amarnath Amarasingam expanded on these points to The Guardian.

“We have seen (the great replacement myth) playing a greater role in mobilizing individuals to violence because it has a somewhat unique ability to foster a sense of emergency,” she explained.“You can hear it all over the Buffalo shooter’s manifesto – a deep sense of urgency that there is an imminent collapse of white people and white culture. Combine all this with the furious nihilism, racism, and angst of 4chan and it all becomes deeply worrying.”

So how did a seemingly unsuspecting teenager become helplessly enraptured by online hate? The answer provided by The Guardian was as bewilderingly simple as it was unnerving.

The culprit whose name was not mentioned in this article out of respect for his victims – "including Aaron Salter, a security guard who tried to stop the shooting; local activist Katherine Massey; and substitute teacher Pearl Young" – reportedly joined 4chan out of "extreme boredom" during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020.

He has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder.

---

the other has orcs ( well he does not say she read ayn, just embodies philos)

thom 822

...

Sociopaths of the world, unite!

Rand, like Trump, lived a largely joyless life. She mercilessly manipulated people, particularly her husband and Alan Greenspan (who brought a dollar-sign-shaped floral arrangement to her funeral), and, like Trump, surrounded herself with cult-like followers who were only on the inside so long as they gave her total, unhesitating loyalty.

Like Trump, McConnell, Stefanik and their billionaire backers, Rand believed that a government working to help out working-class “looters,” instead of solely looking out for rich capitalist “producers,” was throwing its “best people” under the bus.

In Rand’s universe, theproducershad no obligations to thelooters. Providing welfare or sacrificing one nickel of your own money to help a “looter” on welfare, unemployment, or Social Security — particularly if it was “taken at the barrel of a gun” (taxes) — was morally reprehensible.

Like Trump saying, “My whole life I’ve been greedy,” for Rand looking out for numero uno was the singular name of the game — selfishness was next to godliness.

Later in Rand’s life, in 1959, as she gained more notoriety for the moral philosophy of selfishness that she named “Objectivism” and that is today at the core of libertarianism and the GOP, she sat down for an interview with of60 Minutes.

Suggesting that selfishnessunderminesmost truly American values, Wallace bluntly challenged Rand....

---

an raw 7 22

tom b

on Sunday, John Dickerson of CBS singled out Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) for flagrantly lying about the latest House committee hearing on the Jan 6th Capitol insurrection with a pair of tweets -- one of which was later deleted.

As Dickerson pointed out, the hearings have painted a portrait of Donald Trump who not only encouraged the rioters to storm the Capitol and send lawmakers fleeing, but the latest installment demonstrated that he did nothing for over three hours to halt the violence -- based on testimony from White House staffers who were in attendance that day.

Writing, "The hearing this past week offered a clear example of the instinct of accommodating the inexcusable. The committee outlined how, on January 6, President Trump did nothing for three hours to stop the rioting at the Capitol, despite the presidential obligation 'to preserve, protect and defend,'" he added, "But Donald Trump was like a fire chief who did nothing more than warm his face in the flames."

According to the political analyst,"By the standard of any profession, a failure this grave would disqualify a person from the job," but that hasn't stopped the Trump apologists from running to defend him -- including Stefanik who occupies a GOP leadership position in the House.

As Dickerson pointed out, "the conditioned response is to distract. So, the office of the third most powerful member of House Republican leadership tweeted about the hearing: 'All hearsay,'" with the CBS correspondent adding, "It wasn't! Trump officials were under oath recounting their direct experience trying to get the president to act."

Additionally, Stefanik's office had a part in a tweet that labeled White House staffer Sarah Matthews, "just another liar and pawn in Pelosi's witch-hunt." That tweet was later deleted.

"... by attacking the witnesses, Trump defenders admit that they have no evidence he did his job," he wrote before adding, "At issue is more than the actions (or inaction) of a single president, but the standards of the presidency, and whether a large portion of those who the founders relied on to maintain those standards have become practiced in lowering them … or casting them aside entirely."

---

https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/elise-stefanik-defender-demolisher-democracy/

---

https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/carl-paladino-adolf-hitler-leader/

veep?

https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/elise-stefanik-donald-trump-2024/

---

CRT bs

https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/stefanik-2657420072/

---

https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/elise-stefanik-rated-a-by-the-nra-is-married-to-a-major-gun-industry-lobbyist-report/

Elise Stefanik of New York State, now the third highest-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, has an A+ rating with the National Rifle Association (NRA). Stefanik has not been shy about echoing NRA talking points, and the GOP congresswoman is not the only gun industry ally in her family.

Stefanik’s husband Matthew Manda, according to Albany Times Union reporter Wendy Liberatore, is public affairs manager for the Newtown, Connecticut-based National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) — and he was one of the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit that is trying to block a New York State law that increases potential liability for gun manufacturers.

Manda, Liberatore notes, “frequently writes for the NSSF website and other outlets about the group’s events and policy stances.”

In April, the NSSF hosted a “Congressional Fly-In” event in Washington, D.C. that, Manda wrote, included “dozens of firearm, ammunition and accessories industry leaders who spoke face-to-face with elected officials.” One of those officials was Stefanik.

Liberatore reports, “When the Times Union called Alex deGrasse, a Stefanik adviser and frequent campaign spokesman, to ask if Manda’s work influences Stefanik’s stance on gun rights, deGrasse called the reporter ‘a very sick person.’ He then sent an e-mail calling the Times Union ‘sexist.’”

DeGrasse, according to Liberatore, wrote, “The Times Union is stooping to another new low and attacking her husband. You should ask both current Democrat challenger candidates what their positions are on Democrats’ gun control proposals.”

---

an 5 22

Republicans just voted against two bills to ease the baby formula shortage they have spent weeks falsely trying to pin on President Joe Biden.

In tweets and in floor speeches, Republicans have been attacking President Biden for the nationwide baby formula shortage caused by one manufacturer’s recall and closure of its plant for bacterial infection after two infants died.The shortage has been exacerbated by a trade agreement signed by then-President Donald Trump that makes it extremely difficult and expensive to import formula from other countries, and the fact that 90 percent of baby formula in the U.S. is manufactured by just four companies. Also, hoarding, and price-gouging.

Last week President Biden sat down with manufacturers and retailers to map out a plan to get more formula onto store shelves immediately and directed the Food and Drug Administration to help get the plant reopened. This week he went two steps further: he invoked the Defense Production Act to force manufacturers to produce more formula and produce it ahead of other products and created a program to use federal planes to import baby formula from other countries.

House Democrats last week also opened an investigation into the baby formula shortage.

On Wednesday the House voted on two emergency bills to further ease the shortage.

One example of Republicans falsely attacking President Biden and the left is House GOP Caucus chair Elise Stefanik‘s now-infamous tweet accusing Democrats of having “no plan” as she labeled them “pedo grifters.”...

one bill would give FDA $28 million to add staff, work to help get more formula to consumers, and create a long-term strategy, including increased safety inspections so this cannot happen again. The second would dramatically increase supply from foreign sources to consumers using the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program.

192 House Republicans voted against giving FDA $28 million to help fix the crisis and ensure it does not happen again.

Nine House Republicans voted against making it easier for WIC customers to get access to baby formula.

Many Americans are becoming outraged as the news from last night’s votes is spreading online.

[Here’s the list of 9 members of Congress (all Republicans)who voted NO:

Marjorie Taylor Greene Matt Gaetz Louie Gohmert Lauren Boebert Paul Gosar Thomas Massie Andy Biggs Clay Higgins Chip Roy.]

---

an 5 22

in a blunt column for theconservative Bulwark, Cato Senior Fellow Cathy Young raged against the spread of the so-called "replacement theory"that played a major part in prompting an 18-year-old white man in New York to go on a shooting rampage Saturday afternoon in a Buffalo-area grocery store situated in a community that is reportedly 80 percent black.

As Young put it, "Those who follow the news know that this is far from the first time “replacement theory” has figured in the ravings of a mass shooter," before adding, "We know these ideas are floating out there. We also know that, disturbingly, “replacement theory” is being mainstreamed on the right," the columnist specifying Fox News host Tucker Carlson who has repeatedly claimed that Democrats are trying to "replace" Americans with immigrants.

As Young notes, two prominent Republican lawmakers have also taken up the "replacement theory" banner, withRep Matt Gaetz (R-FL)tweeting, "The Left/Media think of replacement solely on race/ethnicity terms. I don't at all. Democrats failed voters who relied on them to run their states/cities. Now they are importing new voters. That is my argument. Those reading more into it are projecting their own bias."

Add to that, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who Young explained, ".. jumped on the bandwagon as well with a Facebook ad claiming that the Democrats were going to use amnesty for illegal immigrants to 'overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington.'"

"This is hateful, stupid, paranoid nonsense," she wrote before adding, "It is also, need I point out, the epitome of collectivist 'identity politics' the right sometimes likes to deplore in its progressive guises."

Noting that a recent poll shows that a third of Americans "agreeat least somewhat that 'There is a group of people in this country who are trying to replace native-born Americans with immigrants who agree with their political views,'" Young wrote, "In a sane and decent political climate, both media figures and political figures on the right would quickly and emphatically disavow “great replacement” as un-American, race-baiting nonsense. Which means … don’t hold your breath."

"That was a joke. Cue bitter laugh," she lamented.

You can read more here.

---

https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/cheney/

Buff NY mass shooter

no twt lnx

S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has become the face of the Republican Party’s embrace of the racist, white supremacist, and white nationalist “Great Replacement Theory” after a white 18-year-old man drove 200 miles and allegedly slaughtered 10 Black people in Buffalo. Stefanik’s Facebook ads and her rhetoric in recent months have been highlighted as contributing to advancing the baseless conspiracy theory, but rather than pull back and apologize the chairwoman of the House Republican Caucus is being accused of “doubling down” on her “terrorist rhetoric.”

“Democrats desperately want wide open borders and mass amnesty for illegals allowing them to vote. Like the vast majority of Americans, Republicans want to secure our borders and protect election integrity,” Stefanik tweeted Monday morning.

“There is nothing humane or compassionate about Joe Biden & Democrats wide open border and amnesty policies. It is Joe Biden’s Border Crisis. A tragic humanitarian crisis. A national security crisis. An economic crisis. And the American people know it,” she also tweeted Monday.

Immediately before those tweets, Stefanik issued a press release attacking the media for “disgraceful, dishonest and dangerous … smears” that accuse her of the very same “Great Replacement Theory” rhetoric she minutes later went on to invoke.

Noted economist David Rothschild, a frequent political commentator, calls Stefanik’s tweets “terrorist rhetoric.” He criticized her Monday morning, saying the New York Congresswoman “is doubling-down with numerous [tweets] this morning echoing the Buffalo’s terrorist’s manifesto with baseless, hateful rhetoric designed to encourage violence against minorities, immigrants, and Jews.”

Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy Professor Don Moynihan agrees Stefanik is doubling down:

As does historian Kevin M. Kruse:

Some more responses to Stefanik’s tweets from this morning:

---

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/trump-sycophant-gop-chair-elise-stefanik-blasted-over-claiming-to-support-ukraine-after-echoing-russian-propaganda/

---

an 11 21

Elise Stefanik (R-NY) grilled assistant FBI director Timothy Langan on a Justice Department memo that Republicans claim unfairly targets parents, and she got a fact check.

The New York Republican asked Langan to denounce the memo signed by attorney general Merrick Garland, who faced numerous questions from GOP lawmakers in a hearing last month, but the assistant director explained that law enforcement was only interested in threats against school officials and not punishing parents for holding conservative viewpoints.

"I have a few yes-or-no questions," Stefanik said. "Has the FBI held any of these meetings directed by attorney general Garland, yes or no?"

Langan explained those meetings would have been led by U.S. Attorneys' offices, not the FBI, so he does not know any details about those gatherings.

"Does the FBI consider parents domestic terrorists?" Stefanik said.

Langan agreed the bureau did not, and he explained the FBI does not consider parents who oppose "critical race theory" lessons or mask mandates in schools to be domestic terrorists.

"As long as individuals are not committing federal violations, force or violence or the promotion of an ideology they would not be," he said.

Langan refused to say whether he thought the memo should be rescinded, saying that was up to the attorney general...john Cohen, the top counterterrorism official in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, then spoke up to point out why the memo might have been issued.

"I would only add that in addition to the letter that was submitted there were actual calls for violence directed at teachers, school board administrators and others in the educational environment on extremist platforms," Cohen said. "We did reach out to state and local law enforcement. There have been some sporadic incidents of violence at school board meetings and in educational facilities, however the information we received is that state and local law enforcement were not seeing widespread action, so we're continuing to work with state and locals to maintain awareness of the environment if there are threats of violence directed at anybody, threats not just focused on school administrators in information we were analyzing, but also included threats against law enforcement and public health officials who were giving vaccines and involved in other public health-related activities. So it is just something we continue to evaluate."

[vid]

gOP Rep. Elise Stefanik's hometown paper buries her for 'hateful ... ›

gOP Rep. Elise Stefanik gets slammed for ‘vile’ and ‘xenophobic’ anti-immigrant ads

Alex Henderson

September 16, 2021

In the past, Rep. Elise Stefanik of Upstate New York had a reputation for being a moderate Republican and was critical of Donald Trump's far-right hyper-nationalist agenda. But Stefanik has since flip-flopped and gone...[maga?]

---

ilhan omar has a more conservative vote recd?!

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/elise-stefanik-speech/

1st , lie?

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/rep-elise-stefanik/

~ liz c #3

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/elise-stefanik-2652911400/

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/liz-cheney-ouster/

---

republican impeachment tactics backfire as GOP congresswoman Elise Stefanik sets her career on fire

---

https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/cnn-reporter-unleashes-a-brilliant-fact-check-on-the-deluge-of-rnc-lies-its-hard-for-me-to-know-where-to-start/

convention

The lies and distortions at the 2020 Republican National Convention have been numerous, including claims that President Donald Trump had a first-rate response to the coronavirus and claims that he has tried to protect health coverage for Americans with preexisting health conditions. In response to this dishonesty Wednesday night, CNN’s Daniel Dale launched into a brilliant stream of fact-check of the mendacious event.

Dale told his colleague, Anderson Cooper: “There is just so much dishonestly and inaccuracy at this convention. It’s hard for me to know where to start. It’s not just big things like this broad revisionism on the response to the pandemic — it’s little inaccuracies, carelessness.”

Dale noted that Lara Trump, who is married to one of the president’s sons, Eric Trump, use a “fake Abraham Lincoln quote” — adding that “a number of tonight’s false claims came from the vice president, Mike Pence. He repeated one of Trump’s own favorite lies. He said that because of them, we now have Veteran’s Choice. As I’ve said over and over, (President Barack) Obama signed that Choice law in 2014.”

Dale explained that while Trump signed a 2018 law that “modified and expanded the Choice program,” he “did not create it.” And Dale went on to point out that “Pence boasted twice that Trump suspended all travel from China. He didn’t; he imposed a partial travel restriction that contained multiple exemptions.”

Pence, at the 2020 RNC, claimed that former Vice President Joe Biden supports open borders, but Dale noted, “Biden does not support completely unrestricted migration.”

Dale slammed Rep. Elise Stefanik, another RNC speaker, for saying that the impeachment of Trump by House Democrats in 2019 was illegal — and told Cooper, “Come on, it’s legal. Impeachment is in the constitution. And like Trump himself, we had Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany claiming that Trump stands by Americans with preexisting conditions. Look, Trump has repeatedly tried to get bills passed to weaken Obamacare’s protections for people with preexisting conditions. And he is currently in court fighting to get the entirety of Obamacare overturned.”

:{:{}:

---

Stefanik was once touted as a GOP ‘moderate’ — but she’s gone full Trumpian with impeachment

Alex HendersonNovember 20, 2019

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York State is often described as a “moderate Republican” who hasn’t been afraid to part company with President Donald Trump at times. But journalists Alayna…

Full House of Representatives

When the full House considered the NDAA on July 13, Representative Perry offered an amendment that would strip the bill of any language on climate change, including the report. After floor debate that included discussions from Rep. Langevin, Rep. Peters, and GOP Representatives Stefanik and Ros-Lehtinen. The amendment to strip the climate security section failed by a vote of 185-234, with 45 Republicans voting against. This vote on the House floor was an important signal that Congress is ready to support the military’s actions in preparing for the effects of climate change.

Gowdy has been under mounting pressure to step up his investigation into Pruitt, who’s faced a barrage of negative headlines in recent weeks related to his living arrangements and spending on private jets, office furniture and a security detail.

Pruitt has maintained the lease followed ethics requirements and that his spending is not excessive.

In February, Gowdy began investigating Pruitt over numerous first-class flights funded by taxpayers. But so far, the retiring GOP chairman has not acted on calls by his Democratic counterpart, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, to bring Pruitt before his committee to personally answer lawmakers’ questions.

Dozens of Democrats on Friday called for Pruitt to resign or be fired. Three House Republicans -- Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) -- also have called for Pruitt's ouster.

President Trump has indicated support for Pruitt, but noted this week he would be looking into the mounting accusations against him.

---

Seventeen Republican members of Congress from diverse districts — including representatives from coastal Southeastern states, Nevada, Utah, upstate New York, and Pennsylvania — submitted a resolution in the House Wednesday acknowledging that “human activities” have had an impact on the global climate and resolving to create and support “economically viable” mitigation efforts.

The resolution, sponsored by Reps. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, Elise Stefanik of New York, and Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania, is being submitted in the midst of an unprecedented effort by the most anti-science administration in recent American history to remove climate science studies and data from federal agencies.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that President Donald Trump is about to sign an executive order repealing President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, and to order a reconsideration of the government’s use of the “social cost of carbon” metric, which measures potential economic damage related to climate change.

Last week, meanwhile, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency administator, Scott Pruitt, suggested that carbon emissions have nothing to do with climate change.

Curbelo, whose Miami-area district is already experiencing dramatic effects of rising sea levels, has been spearheading the effort to gather pro-science members on his side of the aisle since last year, when he coaxed 10 Republicans to join a bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, which now has 30 members from 13 states, half of whom are Republican.

The resolution being submitted Wednesday states, “That the House of Representatives commits to working constructively, using our tradition of American ingenuity, innovation, and exceptionalism, to create and support economically viable and broadly supported private and public solutions to study and address the causes and effects of measured changes to our global and regional climates, includingmitigation efforts and efforts to balance human activities that have been found to have an impact.”

During a call with reporters Tuesday, Curbelo said there are “many, many more” Republicans in the House who are interested in the issue and “want to learn more, and who are considering joining this effort officially by putting their name on it.” He said his goal is to “move on to solutions that we can all rally around and that we can work on with our Republican and Democratic colleagues.” This would include, he said, pressing the administration to add projects to mitigate the effects of climate change, such as seawalls, in its expected infrastructure plan.

While prospects for a swell of GOP political support seem dim, given the president’s stated position that climate change might be “a Chinese hoax” and his EPA administrator’s open animosity toward the issue, Curbelo said he sees a possible wedge via members of Trump’s inner circle — presumably including his daughter Ivanka, who has reportedly lobbied her father on the issue.

“We know there are people very close to the president who understand this issue,” Curbelo said, without naming anyone. “These are people who have already been a very good influence on items such as the Paris Agreement, and we are looking forward to engaging those individuals so that we can take this conversation to a good place.”

Curbelo called Pruitt’s comments on carbon “disconcerting”and added, “What he said was akin to saying the Earth is flat in the year 2017. We must insist on evidence-based and science-based policies.” He also chastised Pruitt last week in a statement, saying,“Rising carbon emissions have been a contributing factor to climate change for decades. That is a scientific fact and the reality facing communities like my district. The EPA is tasked with the very responsibility of helping to lower the impact of carbon emissions, and for Mr. Pruitt to assert otherwise without scientific evidence is reckless and unacceptable.”

One of the resolution’s signatories is Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who represents a section of his state known as the Low Country. Sanford, who grew up on a farm in the area, says he has seen firsthand the effects of rising sea levels, in acreage lost to salt water.

“The Low Country makes Miami Beach look like high ground,” Sanford said. “I just think there is inherent danger in the three-monkey routine — see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil — related to climate change. To deny its existence is to deny what our country was founded on. The Founding Fathers designed a reason-based political system, and without reason the system doesn’t work.”

Curbelo’s climate caucus co-chairman, Florida Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch,released a statement Wednesday morning welcoming the GOP effort. “Americans don’t see climate change as a partisan issue, and neither should Congress,” he said. “As the Democratic co-chair of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, I applaud my Republican colleagues for introducing this important resolution on climate change. We’re going to need lawmakers from both sides of the aisle working together, engaging in robust debate, following the science and finding bipartisan legislative responses to the growing threats of climate change.”

Polls have shown that a majority of Americans are concerned about climate change, and those fears among constituents, plus the fact that Republicans now control all branches of government and are thus a last line of defense, might be prompting more Republicans to reject the administration’s anti-science position. “The polling is very clear,” Curbelo said. “A clear majority understand this is a challenge we are facing, and among younger voters the numbers are staggering. Over 80 percent of millennials consider this a major issue. The House is the most representative institution in our government. This issue was regrettably politicized 20 years or so ago, and we are trying to take some of the politics out and reducing the noise.”

Others who signed the resolution are Reps. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), John Faso (R-N.Y.), John Katko (R-N.Y.), Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Mia Love (R-Utah), Pat Meehan (R-Pa.), Brian Mast (R-Fla.), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla).