Cornyn Bak

bak capt 7 25

:{===

NO MERRI

Beat Steve Stockton, founder of RAGA as AG, spilt w/ cruz on sedition caucus?

slapped paxton

gibney doc on abramoff casino indian scam Tigua?

===

an 6 26

President Donald Trump appointed Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence, tapping him to manage the entire national security apparatus of the United States. The "unorthodox" pick reportedly came from longtime GOP operative Roger Stone, Semafor reports.

According to Semafor, MAGA forces joined together to convince Trump that, despite his lack of intel experience, Pulte could still manage the 17 intelligence agencies that the post oversees.

Pulte will serve in the job while also remaining in his current job as Federal Housing Finance Agency Director. This adds to Pulte's other job, chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

What Stone, Trump and other MAGA allies believe is that Pulte can use his "attack-dog mentality" in "waging an internal war to ramp up the declassification of sensitive information," according to the Tuesday report.

“He’s like a bulldozer,” said a source familiar with Pulte when speaking to Semafor about Pulte. “Bulldoze the bureaucracy and accelerate document releases and declassifications.”

Stone is best known for his ongoing loyalty to former Republican President Richard Nixon, whom Stone has tattooed on his back. The self-described "dirty trickster" has remained a close confidant and informal adviser to Trump since the 1970s and became a key part of the 2020 "Stop the Steal" movement. He was later convicted on seven counts of lying to Congress and obstruction of justice relating to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Trump commuted his sentence before Stone served a day in prison. He was later pardoned. He's also known for his conspiracy theories and spreading unfounded rumors about Trump's critics.

CNN reporter Kevin Liptak commented after the announcement that Pulte has used his post as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to target some of Trump's foes.

"This, I think, suggests that the president will put in this position someone whohas gone after this retribution campaign, who has advanced some ideas of vindication against some of his enemies," the reporter said.

Semafor noted that the biggest barrier to Pulte will be the U.S. Senate. For him to take on the job, Trump needs the votes and right now it doesn't appear he has them.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, “I don’t see any evidence of his qualifications for that job, but I’m willing to listen.”

“We don’t need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) also told reporters on Tuesday. “If he’s somebody we want in that position permanently, he’s got a lengthy road ahead of him.”

Stone wouldn't comment on the record about his involvement in picking Pulte, Semafor reported.

The one positive of the nomination, a banking lobbyist told Semafor, is that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Pulte don't get along. With Pulte otherwise engaged, Bessent will be able to focus on housing issues.

“If I was Bessent, my wheels are turning right now, like: ‘What can I accomplish in the housing space while I have this open field?’” the banking lobbyist said.

Democrats appear ready for a fight.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released a statement about Pulte on Tuesday, saying, “Today, President Trump is rewarding his lackey — who has no national security experience — with a perch atop our nation’s intelligence community. What could go wrong?”

---

lcv 8/5%

http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/john-cornyn

===

api exxon tillerson darren woods $ lilsis

---

AN 8 25

FASCISM

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has agreed to a request from U.S. Senator John Cornyn to locate the Texas Democratic state lawmakers who exited the state in an effort to deny Republicans a quorum—part of a broader attempt to block Governor Greg Abbott and President Donald Trump’s push to redraw congressional maps and boost GOP-held House seats, the Texas Republican announced Thursday.

“We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities,” Senator Cornyn said in a statement that referred to the Texas Democrats as “supposed lawmakers.”

Axios reported that “Texas issued civil warrants for the Democratic lawmakers, but local law enforcement can’t make arrests outside the state.”

The Texas Democrats are in Illinois, according to that state’s Democratic governor, JB Pritzker.

IFrame Content

Legal and political experts are blasting the move.

“There’s literally no federal law applicable to this situation. None,” Governor Pritzker Jessica Yellin on Wednesday, according to Axios.

“The key question here is on what grounds would the FBI be doing this,” wrote MSNBC Justice and Intelligence correspondent Ken Dilanian. “What is the crime they are investigating? The FBI can’t just use its vast surveillance powers to locate random citizens. In fact, that’s what conservatives have long been so concerned about re FISA authorities.”

“This is a patently unlawful, unconstitutional abuse of federal power,” constitutional law professor and political scientist Anthony Michael Kreis said on Thursday.

“We are in a deeply dangerous, illiberal place in America when the federal government will deploy law enforcement to force state legislators to act on legislation that’s contrary to their conscience and an attempt to undermine free elections,” Kreis added.

The Atlantic’s Dr. Norman Ornstein, a political scientist, addressed Senator Cornyn: “John, I understand your need to tilt crazy right to counter your lunatic primary challenger. But calling on the FBI to act illegally and wrongly to go after Texas Democrats is beneath you, and simply shameful. You used to believe in the law and the Constitution.”

Asking what “criminal interest” the FBI could have in this, U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) called it “yet another disgusting partisan abuse of power by the FBI,” and said that “any agent asked to assist should refuse to do so.”

Watch video of Governor Pritzker below or at this link.

---

an 7 25

u.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered a federal grand jury investigation of the Obama administration's handling of Russian interference in the United States' 2016 presidential election.

CNN reports, "The move follows a referral from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who declassified documents in July that she alleges undermine the Obama administration’s conclusion that Russia tried to help [Donald] Trump defeat Hillary Clinton."

Attorney Harry Litman, in response, described Bondi's probe as badly flawed in an article published by The New Republic on August.

Litman wrote, "The supposed purpose of their scheme: to promote a 'false narrative' that Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, engaged in an operation to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election with the intent of helping Trump win. Problem #1: there’s nothing whatsoever false about this narrative. The Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), prepared by career professionals and our intelligence agencies, indeed concluded: 'Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency.'"

IFrame Content

Bondi's probe of Obama officials is also drawing a lot of reactions on X, formerly Twitter.

Sen. John Cornyn, who called for a special counsel to investigate the Obama Administration's Russiagate probe, spoke to CNN's Manu Raju and said of Bondi, "I trust her judgement."

But CNN legal analyst Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor, argued, "Here we are, nine years later. The statute of limitations on most federal crimes is going to be five years. So I'm skeptical. But look, this is going to happen largely behind closed doors, and we’ll see where it goes."

Former Homeland Security official Miles Taylor, a Never Trump conservative, tweeted, "CNN: Attorney General Bondi orders prosecutors to start grand jury probe into Obama officials over Russia investigation. The unprecedented abuse of the Justice Dept — to stroke one man’s ego — gets taken to a new level."

Attorney Fernando Oliver tweeted, "Pam Bondi orders grand jury probe of Obama administration review of 2016 election — a b—— probe to please Trump."

Former federal prosecutor Joyce White Vance posted, "Law firms, universities, media companies, and now banks. If people don’t understand what’s happening to our country, it’s because they don't want to."

HuffPost's Yashar Ali tweeted, "A grand jury would be able to issue subpoenas as part of a criminal investigation into renewed allegations that Democratic officials tried to smear Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign by falsely alleging his campaign was colluding with the Russian government. It could also consider an indictment should the Justice Department decide to pursue a criminal case."

---

AN 5 25 UH OH?

Controversial Republican firebrand and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is polling ahead of his soft-toned GOP rival Sen. John Cornyn, but Republican officials are not happy with his impending victory.

“It feels like Republicans are slow-walking into a disaster in Texas,” one senior Senate GOP aide told NOTUS. “Right now, it doesn’t look like John Cornyn has a path to victory against Ken Paxton, and Ken Paxton is completely capable of blowing a competitive general election. It’s fair to say folks on the Hill are getting concerned.”

NOTUS reports Cornyn is down substantially against Paxton in Texas Senate primary polls, but Paxton is polling behind Democratic contenders in the Texas general election, including Democratic state Rep. Colin Allred, who Sen. Ted Cruz defeated by less than 10 points in an election with President Donald Trump at the top of the ticket. Trump isn’t running this time, and the incumbent president’s party traditionally suffers in the mid-terms. This, coupled with Paxton’s record of controversy, could give Democrats a boost in deep-red Texas.

Like Trump, Paxton’s ruby red political base is willing to overlook his personal failings, says the Texas Tribune, including an indictment from a Collin County grand jury on three felony counts of securities fraud and for failing to register as an investment adviser. Prosecutors accused him of offering to sell people stock in McKinney technology company without disclosing that the company was compensating him, a charge for which he faces up to 99 years in prison, if convicted.

IFrame Content

Also, Paxton was impeached for allegedly using the powers of his AG office to protect Austin real estate developer and campaign donor Nate Paul for making false statements to banks. Seven of Paxton’s own top deputies reported him to the FBI, and their claims brought to light an affair Paxton had with one of Paul’s employees, which undercut his "family-values" conservative image.

But more Republicans in the Senate supported Paxton than opposed him, and he survived his impeachment in the Texas Senate.

However, Paxton’s support begins and ends with Republicans, and a general election containing independents and Democrats could topple him. In 2018 his statewide general election race for AG was a razor-edge 4-percentage point win against Democratic lawyer Justin Nelson.

If Paxton loses in Texas, it could help delete Republicans’ narrow majority in the Senate and stifle Trump’s agenda.

Read the full NOTUS report here.

---}:

an 4 25

On Tuesday, April 8, far-right Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that he is giving conservative incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) a primary challenge in the 2026 midterms. Paxton is accusing Cornyn of not being MAGA enough and "turning his back on President Trump and the America First agenda."

But Cornyn is pushing back hard.

In an official statement, the Texas senator noted that he "voted with President Trump more than 95 percent of current senators." Cornyn, referencing Paxton's legal problems and impeachment in the Texas State Legislature, declared, "Ken Paxton is a fraud…. He says his impeachment trial was a sham but he didn't contest the facts in legal filings which will cost the state millions."

Newsweek's James Bickerton notes, "In March, the Texas Public Opinion Research polled 700 registered voters in the Lone Star State. Of those identifying as Republican primary voters, 27 percent said they either support or lean toward Cornyn in a potential Republican Senate primary against Paxton, against 38 percent for the current Texas attorney general. A survey conducted by Fabrizio, Lee and Associates between January 28 and February 2 found Paxton leading Cornyn in a hypothetical Republican primary matchup by 53 percent of the vote against 28 percent."

IFrame Content

Paxton's primary challenge announcement is receiving plenty of discussion on X, formerly Twitter.

Punchbowl News' Max Cohen tweeted, "Cornyn campaign spox goes in hard against Paxton."

Cohen noted some of Cornyn's scathing comments, including, "Ken claims to be a man of faith but uses fake Uber accounts to meet his girlfriend and deceive his family."

The Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberger pointed out that Paxton is entering Texas' 2026 U.S. Senate race with a great deal of legal baggage.

Sollenberger posted, "Texas AG Ken Paxton, who paid $3 million to make securities charges go away, got impeached by fellow Republicans, was just found liable for whistleblower retaliation ($6M payout), and is reportedly still under federal investigation, has filed to run for Senate against John Cornyn…. And Cornyn is swinging."

The Dallas News' Nolan D. McCaskill observed, "Paxton’s campaign website includes a picture with Trump, suggesting to primary voters he has the president’s endorsement. CNN reported Sunday that Senate GOP leaders have asked Trump to endorse Cornyn."

Axios' Alex Isenstadt tweeted, "Ken Paxton has tapped @AxiomStrategies - the firm behind @tedcruz - to run his primary challenge to John Cornyn Axiom founder @jeffroe - who’s drawn the ire of Trumpworld - has told people he’s not involved."

Democratic political scientist Joel Montfort commented, "Sounds about right. Crooked president and a crooked senator from TX. When did we jump to an alternate timeline."

CNN's Manu Raju noted that the "Cornyn team" was quick to issue a "statement blasting Paxton."

Raju also observed that so far, Texas' other GOP senator, Ted Cruz, is " not saying if he’s going to back Cornyn for reelection."

---

===

an 11 24 it’s bondi

Now that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has officially withdrawn his name from consideration to be the next attorney general, President-elect Donald Trump is quickly moving on to his next choice.

According to a Thursday report in NYSun.com, Trump's next attorney general-designate could be Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. The Sun reported that an unnamed source "with close ties to Trump's team" says Paxton — who has served as the top law enforcement official in the Lone Star State since 2015 — is "the ideal choice for the America First movement."

As Texas' attorney general, Paxton led the charge at the state level to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Paxton was the lead plaintiff in the Texas v. Pennsylvania lawsuit that sought to prevent the certification of election results in the handful of battleground states that President Joe Biden narrowly won four years ago, unsuccessfully arguing that those states' Covid-19 pandemic voting procedures violated the U.S. Constitution.

Paxton is also likely to be agreeable to Trump's stated plans to use the Department of Justice as a vehicle to hound his political enemies. As Texas' attorney general, Paxton launched an investigation into Democratic-aligned advocacy group Media Matters for America in 2023. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ultimately shut down Paxton's attempts to probe Media Matters' financial records and internal communications.

The Sun's Matthew Rice noted that in addition to presumably all Senate Democrats, one unlikely opponent Paxton could have in the Senate would be Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who has publicly feuded with Paxton in the recent past. In February, Cornyn was one of several Republicans who joined all Democrats in supporting a supplemental foreign aid package to help Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. Paxton accused Cornyn of "stay[ing] up all night to defend other countries' borders, but not America." Cornyn clapped back, mentioning Paxton's criminal charges for alleged securities fraud (which have since been dropped).

"Ken, your criminal defense lawyers are calling to suggest you spend less time pushing Russian propaganda and more time defending longstanding felony charges against you in Houston, as well as ongoing federal grand jury proceedings in San Antonio that will probably result in further criminal charges," Cornyn tweeted.

Aside from Paxton, other potential attorneys general may include Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — whose father served as solicitor general under President Ronald Reagan — and far-right attorney Mike Davis, who has blamed Democrats for the assassination attempts on then-candidate Trump.

*Click here to read the Sun's report in its entirety (subscription required).

---

boast voter suppress

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/john-cornyn

an 2 24 ukraine $

In response, Cornyn quote-tweeted Paxton's post, writing, "Ken, your criminal defense lawyers are calling to suggest you spend less time pushing Russian propaganda and more time defending longstanding felony charges against you in Houston, as well as ongoing federal grand jury proceedings in San Antonio that will probably result in further criminal charges."

omg

no lnx

https://www.alternet.org/critical-race-theory-2659941137/

twenty or 30 years ago, most consumers of right-wing media didn't know what critical race theory (CRT) was. Many liberals and progressives, for that matter, were unfamiliar with CRT — a college-level African-American studies discipline that, in essence, argues that racism of the past affects present-day institutions.

But in recent years, CRT has become a major boogieman in right-wing media and among MAGA Republicans. MAGA pundits and politicians, according to their liberal critics, have weaponized the term CRT and used it to attack any book or article that makes them uncomfortable — be it "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" or Alice Walker's "The Color Purple."

Scholar Stanley Kurtz is among the right-wing figures who has been railing against CRT, but his efforts go beyond trying to keep books out of public schools.

READ MORE: Why Texas Republicans’ crusade against 'woke civics' does students a huge disservice: report

Reporter Asher Lehrer-Small, in an article published by The 74 on May 2, emphasizes that Kurtz has "spearheaded a quiet but influential campaign to cleanse classrooms of what he calls 'woke civics.'" According to Lehrer-Small, Kurtz's "advocacy in Texas led to the 2021 passage of an unprecedented state law banning assignments that involve 'direct communication' between students and their federal, state or local lawmakers."

The reporter notes, "At the core of Kurtz's activism is a central idea: that hands-on civics lessons, such as students writing to their legislators, will lead to 'school-sponsored indoctrination and political action in support of progressive policy positions'…. Accurate or not, Kurtz's depiction of 'woke civics' is now being felt in America's classrooms."

Lehrer-Small adds, "When the scholar penned his model legislation in 2021, which said students should be banned from receiving class credit for 'lobbying' or 'advocacy' at the federal, state or local level, lawmakers and advocates across the country pounced."

The reporter notes some specific examples of Kurtz's influence. In 2022, for instance, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware and GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, according to Lehrer-Smalls, proposed a bipartisan bill that called for increasing grants for civics education. But the bill was "stopped in tracks" when Kurtz labeled it CRT.AndFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis "mimicked" Kurtz's messaging by claiming that the bill would "award grants to indoctrinate students with ideologies like critical race theory."

READ MORE: 'Censorial filters are unconstitutional': DeSantis' aim to control FL colleges' academic freedom worsens

Read Asher Lehrer-Small's full report for The 74 at this link. https://www.the74million.org/article/the-conservative-scholar-who-convinced-gop-lawmakers-civics-conceals-crt/

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

'My heart is broken': Florida teachers ordered to remove, block class libraries or face felony prosecution ›

'Bless your heart': Twitter scorches Marsha Blackburn for untrue anti-critical race theory 'klansplaining' ›

Is the white working class ready to trade in some of their whiteness? ›

RAGA funders reconsider

RAGA was formed in 1999 by conservatives including former Texas Attorney General John Cornynseeking to curb lawsuits against corporate wrongdoers. (Three years later, Cornyn would be elected to the U.S. Senate, where's he's now his state's senior senator; he split with junior Sen. Ted Cruz over certifying the 2020 presidential election, saying that "allegations alone will not suffice" and "evidence is required.") Three years later when the Republican State Leadership Committee was launched, RAGA operated as its subsidiary until becoming independent in 2014. At the time of RAGA's founding there were 12 Republican attorneys general nationwide; today there are 26, including in 11 of the 13 Southern states.

RAGA is organized as a 527 nonprofit under IRS rules. Such groups are permitted to raise unlimited funds from individuals, corporations or labor unions but must register with the IRS and disclose contributions and expenditures. They can work to influence issues, policies, appointments, or elections but are not supposed to coordinate with candidates' campaigns. 527s can be dominant forces in elections, however: In the 2016 AG race in West Virginia, for example, RAGA bought $6.8 million in ads supporting the re-election of Republican Patrick Morrisey, outspending both his and his opponent's campaigns. Morrisey, who served as RAGA's chair in 2017, has declined to comment on the group's role in the Capitol riot.

Facing South reviewed the three quarterly disclosures RAGA filed with the IRS in 2020 (first, second, and third) as well as the post-election filing covering the period up to Nov. 23. During that period the group raised over $18.3 million — much of it from corporate interests.

The group's biggest donor by far, giving over $2.7 million, is The Concord Fund of Washington, D.C. Known until recently as the Judicial Crisis Network, this far-right secret-money network has been working with President Trump to get allies appointed to the federal judiciary; it also pushed voting restrictions before the 2020 election, according to reporting by OpenSecrets.org and The Guardian. It's run by Carrie Severino, a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, whose wife, Ginni Thomas, took down her Facebook page after reports surfaced about her promotion of the Jan. 6 anti-certification rally.

Among the other donors who have given RAGA at least six-figure contributions in 2020 were the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform ($750,000); Karen Wright and Thomas Rastin of Ohio gas compressor manufacturer Ariel Corp. ($500,000 each); multinational conglomerate Koch Industries ($375,000); multilevel marketing company Melaleuca ($290,000); Virginia tobacco giant Altria ($275,000); index-fund pioneer Rex Sinquefield of Missouri ($250,000); telecomm firm Comcast ($210,315); attorney and former U.S. diplomat C. Boyden Gray ($200,000); pharma company Pfizer ($150,930); Ronald Cameron, owner of Arkansas poultry giant Mountaire Farms ($150,000); Cherokee Nation Businesses of Oklahoma ($150,000); billionaire Home Depot founder Bernard Marcus of Atlanta ($150,000); Wal-Mart Stores ($140,000); Home Depot ($130,957); Anthem, the largest for-profit managed care company in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association ($130,000); Lowe's home improvement company ($125,775); Ace Cash Express ($125,000); AT&T ($125,000); financial services firm AWL Inc. ($125,000); Anschutz Corp., owner of Coachella Music Festival ($125,000); home health company Caremark ($125,000); health care insurer subsidiary Centene Management ($125,000); Fears Nachawati, a personal injury law firm in Dallas ($125,000); media and internet holding company InterActiveCorp, ($125,000); e-cigarette maker JUUL ($125,000); home health services company LHC Group of Lafayette, Louisiana ($125,000); online dating company Match Group ($125,000); pharma company Horizon Therapeutics ($100,265); retail giant Amazon ($100,000); brewer Anheuser-Busch ($100,000); retired banking executive Leslie Baker of Winston-Salem, North Carolina ($100,000); electricity company Entergy of Louisiana ($100,000); General Motors ($100,000); billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel ($100,000); and Uber Technologies ($100,000).

RAGA's disclosure reports show the group also has a number of major donors in Southern states. They include numerous energy interests: NextEra Energy of Juno Beach, Florida ($75,000); Valero Energy of San Antonio, Texas ($50,350); Dominion Energy of Richmond, Virginia ($50,000); Texas-based oil giant ExxonMobil ($50,000); Texas gas driller Range Resources ($50,000); Southern Company of Atlanta ($42,500); CenterPoint Energy of Houston ($25,000); Florida Power & Light ($25,000); Georgia Power ($25,000); Diversified Gas and Oilof Birmingham, Alabama ($15,000); and Duke Energy, headquartered in North Carolina ($10,000). RAGA's Southern donors also include health care interests: Fresenius Medical Care of Metairie, Louisiana ($50,800); Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina ($50,000); Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA ($50,000); Ochsner Clinic Foundation of New Orleans ($50,000); Smile Direct teledentistry company of Nashville, Tennessee ($40,000); Sensiva Health of New Orleans ($25,000); and Tenet Healthcare of Dallas ($25,000). Others major Southern donors are Atlanta-based Coca-Cola ($50,000); software giant SAS Institute of Cary, North Carolina ($50,000); Sazerac, an alcoholic beverage company with offices in Kentucky and Louisiana ($50,000); Smithfield Foods of Virginia ($50,000); Tyson Foods of Arkansas ($40,000); Reynolds American tobacco of North Carolina ($30,000); home construction giant Lennar Corp. of Miami ($15,000); and U.S. Sugar of Lewiston, Florida.

Other prominent companies and organizations that made major donations to RAGA last year are the National Rifle Association ($85,000), Cigna Health and Life Insurance ($80,350), Caesar's Entertainment ($75,350), Facebook ($75,000), TikTok ($75,000), Charter Communications ($50,645), University of Phoenix ($50,400), American Petroleum Institute ($50,000), Johnson & Johnson ($50,350), Fox Corp. ($50,000), Monsanto ($50,000), American Gas Association ($40,000), Microsoft ($36,622), Toyota ($35,000), National Beer Wholesalers Association ($25,750), DoorDash ($25,000), JPMorgan Chase PAC ($25,000), PepsiCo ($25,000), Walgreens ($25,000), Yelp ($15,375), and Lyft ($15,000).

Taking a longer perspective, ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer shows RAGA's industry-level funders from 2012 to 2019. Among the biggest are the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Distilled Spirits Council, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. RAGA also received significant funding from numerous energy industry groups including the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, American Natural Gas Alliance, and the Edison Electric Institute. Not surprisingly, RAGA has been involved in efforts to block state action on climate change, as DeSmogBlog has reported. Climate change, like the 2020 election, has been a target of a corporate-backeddisinformation campaign that has involved RAGA donors, including ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute.

The public outrage over the riot at the U.S. Capitol is hurting RAGA's fundraising. Popular Information reports that the University of Phoenix is demanding its $50,400 donation back, while DoorDash, Edison Electric Institute, Facebook, Lyft, RIAA, and Smithfield Foodssaid they are suspending further contributions to RAGA. The Cherokee Nation has also announced it's withdrawing its $150,000 donation to the group. And Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, and Smile Direct told Popular Information they're reviewing their contribution policies in light of RAGA's messaging.

RAGA has not released any additional statements on the riot or its funders' decision to walk away. But at least one leader is distancing from the organization, at least in a small way: The Tampa Bay Times reported that Florida AG Moody erased the RLDF, on whose board she served, from her online biography.

===

boast gerry

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/john-cornyn/

===

https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/mcconnell-is-betting-democrats-dont-have-the-will-to-fight-fire-with-fire-biden-should-prove-them-wrong

...Back in 2013, then-CongressmanTom Cotton introduced a bill in the House called the "Stop Court-Packing Act" which would haveeliminated three seats on the D.C. Court of Appeals. That seems like a strange title, but it gives away the game. He was trying to stop President Obama from being able to fill those three empty seats. Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, agreed, writing a piece in the National Review called "Don't let the Democrats pack the DC Circuit." Keep in mind that these were legitimate vacancies.

As it happens, McConnell kept those and many other seats open so that a Republicans could fill them, so they needn't have worried. And he's very proud of it:

...

an 920

gOP senator gets torched after dismissing report 1 million Texans could lose health insurance

Walter Einenkel Daily Kos

September 30, 2020

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas is what happens when you have a worn-out bigot who has never had a single good idea in his life continue to be a U.S. senator. Cornyn may not be as overtly off-putting as Sen. Ted Cruz,but his ideas and actions are equally horrific. One

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/515317-biden-lead-evaporates-in-texas-poll

920 cornyn doing well tho lead shrink?

https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/draft-of-mcconnells-dangerous-corporate-immunity-plan-sparks-alarm-this-is-an-anti-civil-rights-proposal/

Consumer and workers’ rights advocates are warning that new details of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plan to shield businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits show just how far the Republican leader is willing to go to ensure corporations are not held accountable for endangering public health and safety.

“Congress must reject this dangerous proposal,” the National Employment Law Project said in response to a draft (pdf) of McConnell’s plan obtained by Politico and other outlets on Friday.

The draft, authored by McConnell and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas.), proposes relieving businesses, schools, churches, and other institutions of legal responsibility for workers, customers, and others who contract Covid-19 except in cases of “gross negligence and intentional misconduct”—a difficult standard to prove in court.

As theAssociated Press reported, the Republican plan “offers a broad shield by requiring heightened pleading standards, stiffening burden-of-proof standards, and capping damages on awards. Employers would also be shielded from investigations by federal agencies.”

Additionally, McConnell and Cornyn’s plan would empower companies to move coronavirus-related personal injury and medical liability cases to more business-friendly federal courts. “Defendants are liable,” the draft states, “only if they failed to make reasonable efforts to follow applicable public-health guidelines.”

...

gOP senator: ‘There’s no question’ that a ‘series of grifters’ associate themselves with Trump

Aldous J. Pennyfarthing / Daily Kos January 19, 2020

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) appeared on Face the Nation this morning to let the world know that Donald Trump and his campaign have continually been surrounded by grifters and other…

https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/here-are-5-huge-lies-republicans-are-telling-about-the-new-report-on-the-russia-probe

no lnx

Here are 5 huge lies Republicans are telling about the new report on the Russia probe

Written by Cody Fenwick December 10, 2019

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s new report on the origins of Crossfire Hurricane, commonly called the Russia investigation, blew up many of the right wing’s favorite talking points and conspiracy theories about the FBI. At the same time, it exposed real failures of procedures meant to protect American citizens against undue surveillance and exposed the need for serious law enforcement reforms.

But most Republicans seem unfazed that the report undercuts President Donald Trump’s repeated accusations of “treason” and a “witch hunt,” and they show no genuine interest in pushing policy to generally make law enforcement more responsible. Instead, they’re trying to pin the blame on the Obama administration and bias against Trump, even though these claims actually distract from the genuine problems uncovered.

So instead of grappling with the complicated facts of the report, Republicans are just lying about what it says. Here are five huge lies you should be on the look out for, and why they’re false:

Aaron Rupar

@atrupar

Trump on the IG report: "It is incredible. Far worse than I ever would've thought possible. It's an embarrassment to our country, it's dishonest. It's everything that a lot of people thought it would be, except far worse."

Embedded video

This is absolutely not true. Trump has accused the FBI of “treason” for its investigation of members of his campaign, an accusation that was always ludicrous. Obviously, the report didn’t find anything “far worse” than treason — the worst finding seems to be that an FBI lawyer falsified a piece of evidence in an application for surveillance, making Carter Page’s activities look more suspicious than they otherwise would. This is quite bad, if true, but it’s far milder than much of what the FBI’s critics have claimed.

And in contrast to what Trump has been saying for more years now, the report said: “We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions to open” investigations of Trump associates.

Ronna McDaniel

@GOPChairwoman

The mainstream media cannot dispute this fact:

Comey’s FBI repeatedly misled the FISA court and omitted key facts about the phony Steele Dossier, which launched the 2-year, $35M Russia investigation.

This should have never happened!

In fact, the media can dispute this fact, because it’s not true. The work of Christopher Steele did not “launch” Crossfire Hurricane, as Horowitz made perfectly clear. It explained that the officials working on the investigation “did not become aware of Steele’s election reporting until weeks [after the investigation began] and we therefore determined that Steele’s reports played no role in the Crossfire Hurricane opening.”

Senator John Cornyn

@JohnCornyn

It confirms that the Obama Justice Department spied on an American citizen by misleading the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court into issuing 4 separate warrants. https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1204151940202020864 …

https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/dont-sleep-on-the-gop-strategy-republican-attacks-on-impeachment-process-have-a-clear-goal-in-mind/

no lnx

Don’t sleep on the GOP strategy: Republican attacks on impeachment ‘process’ have a clear goal in mind

Written by Heather Digby Parton / Salon October 28, 2019

President Trump left the safe bubble of his properties and his rallies to venture out into a world where people don’t cheer ecstatically whenever he appears. He attended the fifth game of the World Series on Sunday night at Nationals Park in Washington, and was lustily booed by the crowd, some of whom also held up impeachment banners and chanted “Lock him up.” Trump is not used to that sort of thing and he had a hard time hiding his discomfort.

Look how Trump’s face changes when he realizes an entire stadium is booing him pic.twitter.com/E46rzbzmbl

— Arlen Parsa (@arlenparsa) October 28, 2019

He probably thought he was going to be received as a hero since earlier in the day he’d announced that U.S. Special Forces had staged a raid in Syria that led to the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. (Who has been declared dead several times before, to be fair.) No doubt he was gravely disappointed to turn on the TV and see that the impeachment inquiry that is bedeviling him remains at the top of the news. If he had it in his head that wagging the (“beautiful, talented”) dog would tamp down impeachment talk, by the time he got into his jammies on Sunday night he must have realized that it didn’t work.

Last week we saw the absurd protest staged by Trump’s favorite court jester, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and several dozen other GOP members of Congress who stormed the secure facility where witness depositions are taken in private session. They made a big show of claiming that the process is being used improperly by House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif,, because Republicans like Gaetz are not allowed in the room to ask questions and transcripts are not being released to the public.

This is ridiculous, of course, since all members of the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees, of both parties, are allowed to participate and ask questions. According to the Washington Post, Republicans, led by Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., have been quite active during these long depositions. Mostly they seem to be trying to find out the name of the CIA whistleblower, and to further conspiracy theories about Ukraine supposedly working with Hillary Clinton to sabotage Trump in the 2016 election. They also want to know if these witnesses are loyal to Trump because, as we know, anyone who fails to declare fealty to him cannot be trusted to tell the truth. With his usual dignity and grace, Trump recently suggested that at least some of these witnesses were “human scum.”

Meanwhile, we had Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., fatuously declaring that the impeachment inquiry is unfair and offering a resolution to condemn it in the Senate. That was a meaningless gesture, more or less designed as a test vote to reassure the president that he doesn’t have to worry about being convicted in an impeachment trial. As of Sunday, only three Senate Republicans had failed to sign on.

But some of them have gone even further, such as Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he believes Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi want to give Trump “a fair and impartial firing squad.” (Kennedy sees himself as a clever and colorful character.)

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas just went for it:

What if, just what if, the Obama administration, including the leadership of the Justice Department and FBI unlawfully coordinated with the DNC and the Clinton campaign to “go after” an opposing presidential campaign? No problemo?

— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) October 25, 2019

That’s odd, considering that Cornyn signed the recent Senate Select Committee on Intelligence findings confirming that Russia was behind the 2016 election interference. So he knows better. But he’s up for re-election in Texas next year and is playing to the big rube in the White House, who was no doubt pleased.

After two years serving in the Trump White House, a former Texas GOP chairman is coming home.

Steve Munisteri, a longtime Texas Republican fixture, will begin work on Feb. 9 as a senior adviser to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn‘s burgeoning re-election campaign.

In his role, Munisteri will be the Cornyn campaign’s point person with the Republican Party of Texas, as well as with the State Republican Executive Committee and county party chairs. He is currently wrapping up his tenure in the Trump White House as deputy assistant to the president and deputy director for the Office of Public Liaison — positions he’s held since March 2017.

In a news release, Cornyn said he was excited to have Munisteri back in Texas “to play a key role in our campaign as we continue to build-out a top-flight team for 2020.”

Munisteri said he was excited to return to Texas “to help an indispensable voice for a stronger America continue to serve hardworking Texas families.”

Cornyn is running for his fourth Senate term. He is widely expected to coast to his party’s nomination, but it is unclear which Democrat he could face in a general election.

Texas Republicans elected Munisteri as their party chairman in June 2010. He stepped down from that post in 2015 to serve as a senior presidential campaign aide to an old friend, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky. He will work with John Jackson, Cornyn’s recently named campaign manager.

rove flipped texas, built gop from scratch tort reform

anomaly: dan backer funded, but also going for stockman to flank?

hillary email server fbi PO'd?

gun bill fly list fails

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/06/20/after-orlando-massacre-cornyn-gun-measure-fails-s/

Texas company behind California oil spill a repeat offender

California declared a state of emergency this week following Tuesday's spill from an onshore pipeline into the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara County. Responding to reports of an overwhelming smell, the local fire department discovered crude pouring into a culvert from a ruptured 24-inch pipeline that carries oil produced offshore from an Exxon Mobil processing plant to a pump station and then on to refineries.

As much as 105,000 gallons spilled, with an estimated 21,000 gallons ending up in the ocean. The oil has contaminated some nine miles of coastline, including Refugio State Beach, and it's injured birds and fish and at least one sea lion. The spill occurred in the same area as a 1969 oil spill disaster that helped shape the modern environmental movement.

The cause of this latest spill remains under investigation. But the company responsible — Plains All American Pipeline, headquartered in Houston — was already on federal regulators' radar as an operator with a history of problems.

The company has been the target of 20 federal enforcement actions since 2006,

according to an analysis of U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration data by the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit conservation group. In all, Plains racked up 175 infractions in that time — mostly for spills, many involving pipeline corrosion control and maintenance issues.

A Los Angeles Times analysis of the same federal data calculated that Plains' rate of incidents per mile of pipe is more than three times the national average. Only four companies reported more infractions. Among the states where Plains' pipelines were cited for problems wereMississippi and Alabama. The company also has operations in other Southern states including Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas.

Plains' various mishaps have caused more than $23 million in property damage. But even though the company has total assets valued at over $22 billion, it was assessed a total of just $115,600 in civil penalties.

Miyoko Sakashita with the Center for Biological Diversity called Plains' record "disturbing." The group noted that the company had five incidents in California in 2014 alone, including the one that dumped oil into a Los Angeles neighborhood.

Coming soon to a beach near you?

Pipeline breaks are among the many risks that come with offshore oil and gas development.

An analysis of federal pipeline data commissioned last year by the Center for Biological Diversity tallied almost 8,000 serious pipeline breaks nationwide since 1986. They spilled more than 80 million gallons of pollution into waterways and caused more than 2,300 injuries and nearly $7 billion in property damage. Most of those incidents involved oil pipelines.

Residents of the Southeast Atlantic Coast could soon be facing these risks: Earlier this year, the Obama administration proposed opening an area off the coast of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia to drilling. A recent Facing South investigation found that a coalition of coastal state governors led by North Carolina's Pat McCrory (R) has been working closely with politically powerful oil and gas interests to make that proposal a reality.

The governors' pro-drilling efforts got a boost earlier this month with the introduction of bills in the U.S. Senate to expand offshore oil and gas development. Sens. Bill Cassidy and David Vitter of Louisiana, Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, andJohn Cornyn of Texas are sponsoring a measure to extend drilling to the Eastern Gulf. Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia and Tim Scott of South Carolina introduced similar legislation targeting the Atlantic, while Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska sponsored legislation to expand drilling in the Arctic. All are Republicans except Warner, a Democrat.

But the Senators face opposition from within their own ranks: U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, introduced a billthis week that would extend the current moratorium on oil drilling in the Eastern Gulf. In a floor speech, Nelson pointed to the unfolding disaster in California to illustrate what's at stake.

"Drilling off the coast is not what the people of Florida want," he said. "We want fishing vessels hauling in prize catches, not Coast Guard vessels skimming oil."

rolled on wind: The political winds in the nation’s capitol shifted on Thursday in favor of wind energy.

A Senate committee passed a bill that would restore two key tax credits for the wind industry. Both credits have helped spur the sector’s rapid growth in recent years, but Congress allowed them to expire at the end of last year. Uncertainty over whether the incentives would be extended into 2014 was blamed for a startling decline in wind farm construction last year, when just 1 gigawatt of capacity was installed — down from 13 gigawatts the year before.

Thursday’s move by the Senate Finance Committee doesn’t guarantee that the full Senate will support resurrection of the credits, much less the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. But encouraging signs emerged after Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) tried to kill the credits. He argued that restoring them would amount to picking energy-industry winners and losers and forcing taxpayers to “subsidize inefficient, uncompetitive forms of energy.” (Meanwhile, taxpayers continue a century-long tradition of subsidizing fossil fuels.) CleanTechnica reports on the encouraging bipartisan response to Toomey’s effort:

The PTC [wind energy Production Tax Credit] and the alternate Investment Tax Credit were added overnight to a modified “Chairman’s mark,” after an earlier draft released Monday left them and several other provisions for further negotiation.

They prevailed on a critical 18-6 vote during the committee markup late Thursday morning, on a motion by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) to strip them out. Five Republicans joined the committee’s Democrats in voting down that amendment: Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Thune (R-SD), Rob Portman (R-OH), Mike Crapo (R-ID), andJohn Cornyn (R-TX).

inhofe

The new clean air rules will create jobs building clean energy resources and updating power plants, and Senator Inhofe's attacks will only cause economic uncertainty. Please stand strong in favor of clean air and a healthy environment, and against this shutdown of the Clean Air Act.

Please vote "no" on Amendment No. 2615 to Senate Bill 1845. Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act

Sen. McConnell, Mitch [R-KY]*	01/08/2014
Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]*	01/08/2014
Sen. Blunt, Roy [R-MO]*	01/08/2014
Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX]*	01/08/2014

===

oilchange puts him at #1 (inhofe is 6?

http://dirtyenergymoney.com/view.php?type=search&can=N00024852

Bass Brothers Enterprises (OIL)

$98,050

Cornyn Bak

RAGA funders reconsider

gOP senator gets torched after dismissing report 1 million Texans could lose health insurance

Texas company behind California oil spill a repeat offender

Record and controversies

Iraq War

Environmental record

Transparency

Oil

Abramoff/Casino investigation

Judicial BINGO

Court violence controversy

Executive power

SKIL Act of 2007

Bio

Money in politics

Oil and Coal Money in Politics

Committees and Affiliations

Committees

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

Coalitions and Caucuses

More Background Data

Contact

Twitter

Articles and resources

References

Resources

Articles by John Cornyn

Articles

Related SourceWatch Resources

Local blogs and discussion sites

Attorneys General

Known Contributers

External links

Other Related SourceWatch Resources

Halliburton Company PAC

Lobbying