gaetz Rep 7%

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">racist twit 720 an</font>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 420 corrupt rent deal donor?</font></div>

<div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click1.e.alternet.org/ammspvlrlwbnbpggnydllnlggyngrhtcswlbdmvhdhyt_tpvzlpjpklvjcpvhlpc.html?a=&b=4302&c=21989&d=2" style="text-decoration-line: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Gaetz calls for removal of ‘corrupt’ fellow GOP lawmaker: ‘A pattern is being revealed’</font></a></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/matt-gaetz</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/matt-gaetz</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">led pizza party sciff storm</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">i do not get this ingraham?</font></div>

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<div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/matt-gaetz-get-brutally-taken-down-on-fox-news-for-minimizing-coronavirus-and-costing-lives/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/matt-gaetz-get-brutally-taken-down-on-fox-news-for-minimizing-coronavirus-and-costing-lives/</font></a></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>an 2 23 MOFO  where are these # coming from?</b></font></div><div><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">United States Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) told right-wing commentator Steve Bannon on Saturday that he would back efforts to slash spending toward the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as a substitute for cuts to Social Security and Medicare. <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snap-works-for-americas-children" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Nearly half of those Americans</a> who benefit from SNAP are children.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"I just don't understand why we're a country that pays people who could go to work, not to. And when I go..." Gaetz began.</b></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"How big a deal is that? Does that come away with the emergency measures coming off or is it deeper?" Bannon interrupted to ask.
</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><strong style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/social-security-and-medicare/" target="self" title="view post: Coalition of progressive advocacy groups aim to fight off GOP threats to Social Security and Medicare" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Coalition of progressive advocacy groups aim to fight off GOP threats to Social Security and Medicare</a></strong></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Oh, considerably deeper. And by the way, it pays you on both sides of the ledger, right? </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">If you impose work requirements on all means-tested entitlement programs for working-age people, not for the disabled, not for seniors, but for working-age people</span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> it's a trillion dollars in savings during the ten-year budget window</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">," Gaetz said on </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">War Room</b><em style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">.</em></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"This is in Medicaid and other..." Bannon interjected.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"This is in Medicaid and in food stamps," Gaetz stated.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"...<b> in food stamps. Discretionary spending,</b>" Bannon added.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><strong>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/matt-gaetz-2659329920/" target="self" title="view post: Letter from 30 of Matt Gaetz’s classmates 'denounced' him as 'the antithesis of a citizen lawyer'" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Letter from 30 of Matt Gaetz’s classmates 'denounced' him as 'the antithesis of a citizen lawyer'</a></strong></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Yeah. The biggest chunks are from the Obamacare Medicaid expansion to able-bodied adults and to the SNAP program. It's over 400 billion to SNAP," the congressman continued.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"So Social Security and Medicare are off the table. But you're saying taking Medicaid and other aspects of discretion?" Bannon wondered.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Well look, if it was Matt Gaetz, I think that we do need reforms to Social Security and Medicare. I understand politically enough people have said that's off the table," Gaetz mused.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"But that can come later," Bannon added.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>"By the way, Medicaid should not be a sacred cow. </b>And so it hasn't been," said Gaetz. "You notice people and talk about Medicaid the same way they're talking about Social Security, right? <b>So with Medicaid, I think there's a lot of meat on the bone for savings. In SNAP, you can get over 400 billion in savings."</b></span>
</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Watch below or <a href="https://www.alternet.org/matt-gaetz-floats-cuts-snap" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">at this link</a>.</p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div>

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<p class="yiv7699487596headline3" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" margin="margin" padding="padding" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click1.e.alternet.org/eqyphvqjqkdfdhwwftyqqfqwwtfwjbzcpkqdyrvtqdyd_ebdsrqpqfrbpbydzhbp.html?a=&b=4120&c=21989&d=2" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Matt Gaetz obliterated after going full ‘Florida Man’ with racist, uninformed coronavirus tweet</font></a>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There are all kinds of issues one might have with…</font></p>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ass clown:</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/matt-gaetz-mocks-essential-coronavirus-funding-by-strapping-on-a-gas-mask/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;">Sarah K. Burris @ Raw Story</a><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">: Matt Gaetz mocks essential coronavirus funding by strapping on a gas mask.</span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">meghan McCain corners Matt Gaetz as the Trump-loving congressman face-plants on The View</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Travis Gettys / Raw Story  February 20, 2020</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Matt Gaetz loudly argued with “The View” panelists over President Donald Trump’s pardons. The Florida Republican immediately started an argument with Joy Behar, and conservative Meghan McCain laughed in…</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fhomenews%2Fhouse%2F481796-gaetz-files-ethics-complaint-against-pelosi-for-destroying-trump-speech</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Dobbs and guest bash Rep. Matt Gaetz for voting to limit Trump’s war powers</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/the-trumpiest-congressman-matt-gaetz-just-infuriated-the-president-by-voting-to-limit-his-war-powers-report</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘The Trumpiest Congressman’ Matt Gaetz just infuriated the president by voting to limit his war powers: report</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Cody Fenwick January 11, 2020</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz has infuriated President Donald Trump by voting Thursday in favor of a measure in the House of Representatives seeking to restrain the conflict in Iran, the Washington Post reported Friday night.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gaetz was one of three Republicans to support the measure. Eight Democrats, on the other hand, opposed it, and it passed 224-194. Because it is a concurrent resolution designed to be paired with a companion measure in the Senate, it’s not designed to go to the president’s desk for either a veto or a signature. Its fate in the Senate is unclear.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gaetz’s vote in favor of the resolution came as a surprise to many observers, even though, as I have noted, he previously wrote in opposition to the ongoing U.S. support for Saudia Arabia’s war on Yemen. Outside of these issues, Gaetz is generally seen as one of Trump’s biggest fans in Congress. As the Post explained:</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gaetz (R-Fla.) has been called “the Trumpiest Congressman in Trump’s Washington,” a judgment that he features proudly and prominently on his campaign homepage, along with quotes depicting him as “Trump’s Best Buddy,” “Trump’s Ultimate Defender” and “Rising star of the Trumpian right.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But it seems to be, at least in part, this closeness that makes Gaetz’s vote seem like such a betrayal:</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was a risky move that surprised the president and showed rare fissures in a Republican Party that Trump has firmly controlled. Trump fiercely complained about Gaetz after aides informed Trump that his office had sent the email backing the resolution, which was pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Trump’s team lobbied heavily against the nonbinding resolution.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Trump administration was disappointed in the congressman’s vote and is hopeful that as the president’s foreign policy continues to unfold, he will reconsider his points of view,” Eric Ueland, the head of legislative affairs for the White House, said in an interview.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A senior White House official said it was “super uncool” and “quite unwise” for Gaetz to push for limits on the president’s authority. This person added that White House officials would not be returning Gaetz’s phone calls, text messages, “smoke signals or his kneelings in the snow.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On the day of the vote, Gaetz gave a speech on the House floor defending his position and trying to make clear that he intended no insult to the president.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I take a seat to no member of this body when it comes to defending the president. This resolution offers no criticism of the president. No critique!” he said. He argued that his vote was based on his duties as a congressman, rather than distrust of Trump. “If the members of our armed services have the courage to go fight and die in these wars, as Congress, we ought to have the courage to vote for ’em or against ’em.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch the clip below:</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I represent more troops than any other member of this body. I buried one of them earlier today at Arlington.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If our servicemembers have the courage to fight and die in these wars, Congress ought to have the courage to vote for or against them.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I’m voting for this resolution. pic.twitter.com/cSCBG7CmIm</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) January 9, 2020</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...There has been a flurry of recent Republican efforts to stall action on climate policy, including a pair of bills just introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives. Bill H.R. 861, introduced by Representative Matt Gaetz, proposes “to terminate the EPA.” This bill may not even get a vote, but as The New York Times reported earlier this week, Pruitt “has a blueprint to repeal climate change rules, cut staffing levels, close regional offices and permanently weaken the agency’s regulatory authority.”</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, Bill H.R. 673, introduced by Representative Blaine Luetkmeyer, proposes to “prohibit United States contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Green Climate Fund.” It’s also no secret that many Republicans want to halt funding for the UN FCCC, the international treaty system of 195 nations that produced the Paris Agreement. As the Republican party platform stated in the run-up to the presidential election: “We reject the agendas of both the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">anti- commie book 10/19 book tv gaetz</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gaetz starts shouting in hearing and gets shut down with a gavel: ‘You cannot simply yell out’</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cody Fenwick</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/trumps-national-security-adviser-pensacola-shooting-appears-to-be-a-terrorist-attack/</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">trump’s national security adviser: Pensacola shooting ‘appears to be a terrorist attack’</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Matthew Rozsa</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During an appearance on the CBS program “Face the Nation” on Sunday, White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said that at a shooting at a naval base in Pensacola</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">... the shooting is to believed to have been perpetrated by Mohammed Alshamrani, 21, a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force and student naval flight officer at the Naval Aviation Schools Command. The shooting left three service members dead and eight others injured. The fatalities included Airman Mohammed Hathaim, 19, from St. Petersburg, Fla., Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, from Coffee, Ala. and Airman Apprentice Cameron Scott Walters, 21, from Richmond Hill, Ga.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/dont-sleep-on-the-gop-strategy-republican-attacks-on-impeachment-process-have-a-clear-goal-in-mind/</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Don’t sleep on the GOP strategy: Republican attacks on impeachment ‘process’ have a clear goal in mind</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Heather Digby Parton / Salon October 28, 2019</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Look how Trump’s face changes when he realizes an entire stadium is booing him pic.twitter.com/E46rzbzmbl</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Arlen Parsa (@arlenparsa) October 28, 2019</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.)</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. John Cornyn of Texas just went for it:</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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?</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) October 25, 2019</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">trump’s lawless Republican mob was egged on by Sean Hannity</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Cay Johnston / DC Report</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Republican gang that crashed a secure hearing room on Capitol Hill Wednesday was no flash mob. Donald Trump, working with junior Republican House members, arranged the stunt, equally lawless…</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">pizzagaetz:</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/meet-the-far-right-house-members-who-stormed-secure-hearing-room/</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">more  than two dozen Republican House members stormed a closed-door hearing with a top Pentagon official on Wednesday morning in protest of the impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump.</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?The storming stunt was staged a day after Trump ?had a White House meeting with members of the Freedom Caucus–who were among the Republicans storming the hearing–?and has complained in recent days that Republicans have not been strong or vocal enough in their defense of him.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The House Republicans caused a five-hour delay, broke House rules, and compromised security by bringing cellphones and other electronic devices into the secure facility, where they are not allowed to protect sensitive information. ?One member, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, even tweeted from the secure hearing room, called the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF (pronounced “skiff”).</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So who are these ?security-flouting congressmen and congresswomen? We rounded up a few that have graced our pages here at Right Wing Watch.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Matt Gaetz</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I led over 30 of my colleagues into the SCIF where Adam Schiff is holding secret impeachment depositions,” Gaetz said on Twitter Wednesday morning. On Thursday, he compared himself to Spartans in the Movie “300,” telling TMZ, “We were like the 300s, standing in the breach to try to stop the radical left from storming over our democracy.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gaetz may now be best known for leading the stunt, but there’s plenty more to know about him. In 2018, he tried to impede efforts to count all the ballots in the tight Florida Senate race between Rick Scott and Bill Nelson. As Right Wing Watch’s Jared Holt reported at the time:</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gaetz told listeners of “Breitbart News Daily” on SirusXM that Republicans should push back on the vote-counting efforts without fear of outraging voters.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“If the Democrats were in charge and this was happening in a Republican county, do you think that those supervisors of elections would still have jobs? I mean, they’d be gone. They’d be out on their rear ends,” Gaetz said.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gaetz said that Democrats will never “get better” and “treat us better,” so it’s important that Republicans “take the gloves off and fight like they do.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gaetz also pushed a conspiracy theory that the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee authored a secret memo that “proves that the Obama administration improperly sought to spy on Donald Trump and his presidential campaign,” Holt wrote in 2018. Gaetz appeared on the conspiracy-theory outlet Infowars to complain about being labeled a conspiracy theorist. Gaetz also pushed a conspiracy theory that progressive billionaire donor George Soros organized and funded a ?”caravan?” of migrants.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And in 2018, Gaetz brought Chuck Johnson, a right-wing political operative who has posted Holocaust-denying statements online, to Trump’s State of the Union address.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Louie Gohmert</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After storming the secure room, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas reportedly started a shouting match with Democratic lawmakers.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Recently, Gohmert has claimed he knows the? identity of the whistleblower who raised the red flag on Trump’s call to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which the U.S. president asked Zelensky to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Biden’s son, Hunter. Gohmert’s assertion is based on a conspiracy theory involving the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. But Gohmert is best known on our pages for ? homophobic remarks. In 2016, he said homosexuality was to blame for ?the flood described in the biblical story of Noah. Right Wing Watch’s Brian Tashman reported on a speech Gohmert gave on the House floor in 2016:</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But due to the attacks on “natural order” and religious freedom, Gohmert said, “we don’t have much longer to go.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gohmert also cited the work of Jonathan Cahn, a far-right End Times preacher who believes God is punishing America (and France) due to gay marriage with events such as the 9/11 attacks, to assert that the end is near.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He also claimed that transgender people are disordered and “perverse” individuals who need help.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gohmert also claimed that sexual abuse turned boys gay, stating in 2016, “the boys just seemed like, universally, they ended up feeling that they were gay.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Debbie Lesko</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A fervent supporter of Trump, Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko stormed the secure Capitol room and expressed her outrage about how the ?impeachment inquiry process was being handled.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lesko has boosted the CrowdStrike conspiracy theory and supported anti-vaccination conspiracy theories. In June, Lesko attacked social media companies that had made it harder for users to find anti-vaccination conspiracy theories. As the Daily Beast reported then:</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Republican lawmaker slammed Facebook and Google on Wednesday for making it harder to find anti-vaccine content on their platforms, calling the companies’ efforts to stop the spread of the conspiracy theories “really scary stuff.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) attacked the platforms’ efforts at a House Homeland Security committee hearing on online terrorism and disinformation, where representatives from Google, Facebook, and Twitter faced their latest round of grilling from lawmakers.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Medical professionals and public officials have all warned that disinformation about vaccines (including a persistent and pernicious conspiracy that they can lead to autism) has fed public health epidemics. But Lesko suggested that anti-vaccine theories are just a difference of opinion.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“What you deem as inaccurate, I do not deem as inaccurate, or other people may not deem,” she said.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lesko is also an anti-abortion activist and believes “God has put me on a mission,” to be anti-choice, Lesko said at Family Research Council’s “Pro-Life Con” earlier this year.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Andy Biggs</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Andy Biggs, the former president of the Arizona Senate, was among those leading the charge to disrupt the hearing and called the hearings “secret, Soviet-style, Stalinist” on Wednesday. On Monday, Biggs forced a vote in the House to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, which failed.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2015, Biggs sat silent when the founder of the Oath Keepers, an anti-government militia group, called for the hanging ?of Sen. John McCain of Arizona. As Right Wing Watch reported at the time:</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes told a Phoenix television station yesterday that he called for the hanging of Arizona Sen. John McCain last week because McCain “is every bit as nuts as Adolf Hitler was.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rhodes made the comment while sitting next to Andy Biggs, the president of the Arizona Senate, who has said that he didn’t speak up because criticizing Rhodes would have violated his “free-speech rights.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Steve King</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White supremacist Rep. Steve King of Iowa was ?also among the lawmakers who stormed the SCIF. King may be best known for comments he made to the New York Times earlier this year ?in which he defended white nationalism.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” he said in an interview with the New York Times. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The New York Times reported:</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the same time, he said, he supports immigrants who enter the country legally and fully assimilate because what matters more than race is “the culture of America” based on values brought to the United States by whites from Europe.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But before his comments to the Times, King promoted white supremacists on his Twitter and has made other racist comments. In 2018, King quote-tweeted Lana Lokteff, who spread white supremacist hate on YouTube  via the hate channel, Red Ice. Holt reported at the time:</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In June, King promoted Mark Collett, a well-established British neo-Nazi. Additionally, King has a reputation for professing white-nationalist rhetoric about undocumented immigrants, once comparing them to livestock, and racial demographics in America, claiming “we can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tags: Andy BiggsDebbie LeskoLouie GohmertRep. Louie GohmertRep. Matt GaetzRep. Steve KingSteve KingImpeachmentRepublican Party</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/beyond-parody-matt-gaetz-and-dozens-of-his-gop-colleagues-try-to-barge-into-secret-hearing-in-latest-anti-impeachment-stunt/</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...more than two dozen House conservatives rail on Schiff and the process outside the closed impeachment proceedings, and have now entered the SCIF - and they are bound to be kicked out bc they don’t serve on the three committees conducting the probe. It is being led by Matt Gaetz...</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/gop-rep-matt-gaetz-complains-after-being-kept-out-of-closed-door-hearing-with-former-russian-affairs-adviser-to-trump/</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...manu Raju, senior congressional correspondent for CNN, reported, “Matt Gaetz emerges from closed-door interview with Fiona Hill saying he was kicked out by House Democrats (because) he’s not a member of the three committees conducting the interview. He said he consulted with the House parliamentarian, who ruled that he could not be there.”</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although Gaetz sits on the House Judiciary Committee (which is chaired by Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler), he is not part of the Oversight, Intelligence or Foreign Affairs committees. Gaetz has complained about being barred from the hearing with Hill on Twitter, posting, “Judiciary Chairman @JerryNadler claimed to have begun the impeachment inquiry weeks ago. Now, his own Judiciary members aren’t even allowed to participate in it. And yes, my constituents want me actively involved in stopping the #KangarooCourtCoup run by Shifty Schiff.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This Super PAC Is Funded By Groups Once Run By The Candidate It ...</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.huffingtonpost.com/.../matt-gaetz-super-pac_us_57a4e1aee4b056bad215...</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Aug 5, 2016 - Steve Cannon/AP Two PACs once connected to Florida state Rep. Matt Gaetz (pictured) contributed to a super PAC now supporting his ... was actually a $10,000 donation from Gaetz'sEconomic Freedom Foundation.</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump: 'I wouldn't be surprised' if Soros were paying for migrant ...</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://thehill.com/.../414171-trump-i-wouldnt-be-surprised-if-soros-were-paying-for-...</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2 days ago - Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) October 17, 2018 ... He went on to describe the caravan as a "dangerous group of people," and said he might ...</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Missing: gaet ?| ?Must include: ?</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ASHINGTON ? Three days before Florida Republican state Rep. Matt Gaetz announced his intention to run for an open seat in Congress, he sent two letters to the state’s Division of Elections formally stepping down as the chairman of two leadership PACs he had run for over two years. Three months later, those two PACs contributed all of their remaining funds to a super PAC supporting his congressional bid.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These donations are yet another sign of the porous rules restricting coordination between campaigns and independent groups. Whether the PAC contributions to the pro-Gaetz super PAC amount to violations of Federal Election Commission rules governing coordination depends on the as-yet-unknown facts of the case.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The contributions in question include a $369,008 donation from the Economic Freedom Foundation and a $11,306 contribution from the Free Enterprise Fund. Both are political action committees registered with the Florida Division of Elections. They were led by Gaetz from 2013 until he stepped down as chairman and named Amanda Clark as his replacement on March 18, 2016. On March 21, he announced his congressional bid.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under Clark’s leadership, the two PACs filed papers with the Florida Division of Elections to formally terminate operations on May 26. Then on June 20 they contributed their remaining funds to North Florida Neighbors, a federally registered super PAC.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">North Florida Neighbors was created in July 2015 with a stated goal of supporting the congressional campaign of Republican Neal Dunn in Florida’s 2nd Congressional District. One of the group’s first contributions was actually a $10,000 donation from Gaetz’s Economic Freedom Foundation.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the time, Gaetz was running for the state Senate seat currently occupied by his retiring father, Don Gaetz. It wasn’t until Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) announced that he was retiring from Congress that the younger Gaetz dropped the bid to replace his father in the state Senate and threw his hat into the race to represent Florida’s 1st Congressional District in Washington.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On May 20, North Florida Neighbors announced that they would now be supporting Gaetz’s campaign along with Dunn’s ? conveniently running in neighboring districts in Florida’s panhandle. One month later, the super PAC received the $380,314 in contributions from the two PACs formerly led by Gaetz. These contributions amount to 65 percent of the total funds raised by the super PAC.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">North Florida Neighbors has since spent $292,262 to support Gaetz in the eight-candidate Republican primary in the 1st District.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The question at issue is whether Gaetz directed his successor at his two leadership PACs, Amanda Clark, on what to do with the remaining funds. Neither the Gaetz campaign nor Clark responded to requests for comment.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Federal coordination rules prohibit any entity controlled by a candidate from making independent expenditures on their behalf. Although untested, those rules presumably extend to prohibit contributions from a leadership PAC controlled or directed by a candidate to a super PAC supporting that candidate.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“If what happened was that he raised the money to these state organizations and then he said ‘transfer money over to the super PAC,’ that would be illegal,” Larry Noble, general counsel to the Campaign Legal Center, told The Huffington Post. “What they always say, though, is that they had nothing to do with it.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Christina Johnson, spokeswoman for North Florida Neighbors, simply stated, “We don’t comment on specific contributions or donors.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is not the first time that a candidate-linked leadership PAC has contributed to a super PAC supporting the same candidate. In 2015, a leadership PAC connected to Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) donated $75,000 to Prosperity for Pennsylvania, a super PAC run by former Toomey aides. The super PAC, however, refunded the Toomey leadership PAC contributions more than a month after The Huffington Post wrote about them. That was before the super PAC spent a dime on Toomey’s election.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8489 Cabin Hill Road  tallahassee fl</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Economic Freedom Foundation</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ginni 2013 pix</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/ginni-thomas-caravan-fake-meme</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">invasion thank gof for trump"</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...BVut sharing extremist right-wing content is not a new thing for Thomas, a conservative activist who has made frequent use of social media. Earlier this year, she shared posts attacking the Parkland kids and praising the "#WalkAway" movement, a fake campaign of Russian trolls pretending to be people of color leaving the Democratic Party.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The migrant caravan, which consists of thousands of men, women, and children fleeing civil strife in Central America and heading toward the United States, is not actually anything new or unusual; similar groups of migrants have routinely formed over the last 20 years, and there is no evidence anyone in the group poses a danger. But it has still become the fear du jour in the Republican Party, particularly among those hoping to gin up enough fear among President Donald Trump's core voters to turn them out to the polls and counteract a blue wave.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump has claimed with no evidence that "unknown Middle Easterners" are traveling with the caravan. And last week, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) theorized that left-wing Jewish billionaire George Soros is secretly funding the caravan, in the hope that it will somehow disrupt the midterm election in favor of Democrats.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pro-Trump Congressman Self Destructs With Racist Conspiracy Theory About George Soros Paying Honduran Migrants</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Matthew Chapman, AlterNet</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Matt Gaetz suggested a caravan of Honduran refugees was paid by George Soros to disrupt the U.S. election. And he only went further off the rails when challenged. READ MORE»</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/dana-rohrabacher-matt-gaetz-chuck-johnson</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) previously drew scrutiny for hanging out with Chuck C. Johnson, a far-right Internet troll and Holocaust denier, and both have tried to explain away the occurence.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But according to Mother Jones, both congressmen somehow ended up fraternizing with him a second time this summer. Specifically, Johnson was on board a yacht fundraiser in Newport Beach, California, on behalf of Gaetz's re-election campaign, at which Rohrabacher gave a speech in support of his colleague. The fundraiser was hosted by public relations executives Alfred Balitzer and Rod Wilson, the former of whom Johnson has referred to as a "mentor."</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In January, Gaetz, one of President Donald Trump's closest kindred spirits in Congress, faced controversy and a letter of condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League for providing Johnson a ticket to attend Trump's State of the Union Address as his guest. Gaetz argued that Johnson had simply "showed up at my office" and the invite was not an endorsement of his views, but bizarrely, added in an interview on Fox Business that Johnson is "not a Holocaust denier, he’s not a white supremacist."</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher, another Trump ally and Congress' most notorious apologist for Russian President Vladimir Putin, allowed Johnson to sit in on a meeting between himself and Sen. Rand Paul, after Johnson had helped him secure a meeting with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in August and donated $5,400 in Bitcoin to his campaign. Rohrabacher maintains that Johnson was not invited to the meeting with Paul, but admits that he was not asked to leave it either.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Johnson, a former Breitbart reporter who has spent years promoting fake news through his GotNews web site, and who was banned for life from Twitter for inviting people to raise money to help him "take out" Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson, came out as a Holocaust denier in early 2017.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I do not and never have believed the six million figure," he told a commenter on an alt-right Reddit thread. "I think the Red Cross numbers of 250,000 dead in the camps from typhus are more realistic. I think the Allied bombing of Germany was a ware [sic] crime. I agree … about Auschwitz and the gas chambers not being real."</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He has since tried to claim that he does not actually deny the Holocaust, and only said this to see what a reaction it would get.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Investigative reporter Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News dropped a small bombshell this quiet holiday week that hasn't really exploded yet but might just explain the GOP's recent full-court press to discredit the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller's team. Rep. Francis Rooney, a Florida Republican, explained:</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I would like to see the directors of those agencies [the DOJ and FBI] purge it and say, "Look, we’ve got a lot of great agents, a lot of great lawyers here." Those are the people to see and know the good work’s being done, not these people who are kind of the deep state.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Wednesday, Rep. Ron DeSantis, another Florida Republican, went on "Fox & Friends" and backed up his colleague's sentiments, saying, "You look at a guy like Peter Strzok [the FBI agent demoted for sending derogatory texts about many politicians including Trump]. If he’s gonna say that it’s his job as an FBI to prevent a certain candidate from getting elected. ... Anyone who turns up in that situation, I think they should get another line of work.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For what it's worth, Strzok is a counterintelligence agent who appeared concerned that the "certain candidate" might be acting as an agent of a foreign adversary, which was important information the nation didn't have before the election. In any case, from what we can gather, these Republican congressmen identify nefarious "deep state" actors as those who cannot swear that they are not now and have never been a... Democrat.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As one can imagine, the use of the word "purge" brought forth some rather unfortunate historical images. We haven't seen evidence that they plan the usual accompanying show trials, but give them time. Republicans in Congress are working feverishly to prepare hearings on the Hillary Clinton "Russian uranium email treason" hearings so there's a chance we'll see some kind of facsimile before 2018.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The hysteria that's now raging seems a bit of an outsized reaction for this particular phase of the scandal, especially considering that Mueller actually did remove the offending "deep-staters." Isikoff may have come across a different motivation than simple loyalty to President Trump. He wrote:</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In just the last few weeks, his prosecutors have begun questioning Republican National Committee staffers about the party digital operation that worked with the Trump campaign to target voters in key swing states. They are seeking to determine if the joint effort was related to the activities of Russian trolls and bots aimed at influencing the American electorate, according to two of the sources.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It would not be surprising if certain Republicans were to become a bit nervous when the investigation into Russian interference turned in that particular direction. It's flown under the radar since the election, but the fact is that it wasn't only the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta's email accounts that were hacked. The intelligence community identified the same group of Russian-affiliated hackers as behind the hacking of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I've been intrigued by this aspect of the Russian hacking story since the New York Times published an early report about it back in November of 2016. Recall that at first the hacker known as Guccifer 2.0 released personal information that was used to intimidate Democratic candidates, but then he/she/they suddenly became more sophisticated and targeted, dumping valuable tactical information:</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The seats that Guccifer 2.0 targeted in the document dumps were hardly random: They were some of the most competitive House races in the country.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">People have wondered ever since if the hacker(s) might have gotten some expert assistance.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps it's a coincidence that so much of the information in question was republished on a website called HelloFLA by a Florida Republican and former congressional staffer named Aaron Nevins, who was connected to Trump associate and longtime political operative Roger Stone. It could be completely random that among the core group of Mueller antagonists, those calling the probe a "coup d'état" and demanding purges of members of the "deep state" are Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who proposed that Mueller's funding be cut off, and the aforementioned Rep. Francis Rooney, who's been all over TV talking about purging the FBI.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, as journalist Marcy Wheeler pointed out a while back, one of the ringleaders of the movement to discredit the Department of Justice and Robert Mueller, Rep. DeSantis, directly benefited from Guccifer 2.0’s leak to Nevins after the latter published five documents regarding the DCCC’s recruitment of DeSantis’ Democratic opponent, George Pappas. According to The Wall Street Journal, Guccifer 2.0 even sent a link with a HelloFLA article directly to Roger Stone, who told reporters he didn’t forward the hacked material to anyone -- the answer to a question nobody asked,</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump may think their vociferous attacks on Mueller are all about loyalty to him personally. After all, this group all flew down to Florida together on Air Force One earlier this month. But these guys have skin in the game now and may very well be caught up in the maw of the Russia investigation themselves.If Mueller's team is looking into the digital operation and Roger Stone's interactions with Guccifer 2.0, as one would expect them to do, then these shenanigans in Florida are also coming into view. That may explain why this little circle of Sunshine State GOP congressmen are so anxious to shut him down.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They might not be the only ones. According to The New York Times, material from the DCCC hack was first used by Miami-area Democrat Joe Garcia, a former congressman, to win a tight primary race. Then "the National Republican Campaign Committee and a second Republican group with ties to the House speaker, Paul Ryan, turned to the hacked material" to undermine Garcia and re-elect Rep. Carlos Curbelo, the Republican incumbent.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It should be noted that there were some candidates who refused to use the hacked material against their opponents. This gang of Florida Republicans who are now so loudly attacking the FBI for its supposedly unethical behavior were not among them. As we all know, neither was Donald "I love WikiLeaks" Trump.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">digby</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">100k not listed:</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Lewis Bear Co<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Surterra Holdings<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Costa Farms<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Republican Main Street Partnership<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>ICI Homes<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Phillips Capital Partners<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">7<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>American Medical Assn<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Smith Energy<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Valparaiso Realty<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Credit Union National Assn<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Majority Cmte PAC<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>National Assn of Realtors<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Prosperity Action<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">14<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Carr, Riggs & Ingram<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">15<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Southern Co<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">16<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Habitribe<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">16<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>National Beer Wholesalers Assn<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">16<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>WW Thomas, Jr Inc<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">19<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>State of Florida<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">20<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Lockheed Martin<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Agribusiness<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>$17,500</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Communications/Electronics<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>$8,818</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Construction<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>$7,000</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Defense<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>$11,500</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Energy & Natural Resources<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>$17,500</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Finance, Insurance & Real Estate<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>$41,818</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Health<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>$22,000</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lawyers & Lobbyists<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>$3,000</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Transportation<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>$11,500</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Misc Business<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>$16,000</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ideological/Single-Issue<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>$84,750</font></div>

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</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00039503&newmem=Y</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Real Estate$62,018$49,700$12,318Retired$54,263$54,263$0Health Professionals$51,250$32,750$18,500Leadership PACs$46,000$0$46,000Beer, Wine & Liquor$43,500$36,000$7,500Crop Production & Basic Processing$28,400$20,400$8,000Marijuana$21,600$21,600$0Food & Beverage$19,606$18,606$1,000Lobbyists$18,250$17,250$1,000Lawyers/Law Firms$17,850$15,850$2,000Candidate Committees$17,750$0$17,750Electric Utilities$15,750$3,250$12,500Accountants$15,706$13,706$2,000Republican/Conservative$15,000$0$15,000General Contractors$12,700$5,700$7,000Civil Servants/Public Officials$12,300$12,300$0Automotive$12,000$500$11,500Misc Manufacturing & Distributing$11,400$6,400$5,000Business Services$11,100$11,100$0Commercial Banks$11,000$3,500$7,500</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ber beer gowlers</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scott worked to block Gaetz from UWF presidency - Politico</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">www.politico.com/states/.../scott-worked-to-block-gaetz-from-uwf-presidency-10552...</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sep 15, 2016 - Gov. Rick Scott applauds with State Sen. Don Gaetz at his side. ... UWF's board chairLewis Bear, a Gaetz supporter and prominent GOP donor, alleged that state ... that the university would still be taken care of as far as funding,” Bear said. ... a hospice care company he founded during one of his interviews.</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Don Gaetz floated for University of West Florida presidency - Politico</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">www.politico.com/.../don-gaetz-floated-for-university-of-west-florida-presidency-101...</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">May 17, 2016 - “I honestly haven't thought about it," Gaetz told POLITICO Florida on Monday, adding that a “surprising” ... Power Company; Rick Harper, assistant vice president of economic development and engagement at ... Lewis Bear, who chairs the unviersity's board and is a prominent GOP donor, was also invited.</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">e&e legit</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1st District</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">State Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) won the Panhandle-based seat of retiring Rep. Jeff Miller (R) on a conservative platform, promising to fight against what he called the Obama administration's "job-killing" executive overreach. Gaetz campaigned on the concept that environmental regulations are killing business.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Critics noted the PAC supporting Gaetz's bid received a $100,000 check from a Houston oil company. Gaetz said the contribution came from philanthropist family friends.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gaetz did not respond to an inquiry about his energy and environmental policy priorities, but he expressed support for offshore drilling during the campaign.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During a primary debate, Gaetz referred to himself as a "never say never guy" on the subject of drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. "It would be shortsighted to say we will never extract another drop of oil," Gaetz said, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gaetz has also expressed uncertainty about whether global temperatures are rising naturally or if humans are contributing to climate change.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.snopes.com/2017/02/06/florida-lawmakers-bill-terminate-environmental-protection-agency/</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s no shortage of outrageous bills in Congress that few people take seriously. Republican Representative Matt Gaetz’s </font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bill to abolish the EPA, for instance, caused widespread internet outrage and inspired hundreds of protesters to show up at a town hall Gaetz hosted. But the bill has absolutely no chance of becoming law.  </font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sponsor:<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>Rep. Gaetz, Matt [R-FL-1] (Introduced 02/03/2017)</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Committees:<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>House - Energy and Commerce; Agriculture; Transportation and Infrastructure; Science, Space, and Technology</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Latest Action:<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>02/10/2017 Referred to the Subcommittee on Environment.  (All Actions)</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/861/all-actions-without-amendments?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22%5C%22environmental+protection%5C%22%22%5D%7D&r=9</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Massie, Thomas [R-KY-4]*<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>02/03/2017</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Palazzo, Steven M. [R-MS-4]*<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>02/03/2017</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Loudermilk, Barry [R-GA-11]*<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>02/03/2017</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Rogers, Mike D. [R-AL-3]<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>03/08/2017</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Williams, Roger [R-TX-25]<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>03/08/2017</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Mooney, Alexander X. [R-WV-2]<span style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>03/08/2017</font></div>

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</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.alternet.org/environment/how-political-theater-congress-threatening-science-and-climate</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As  the Trump administration embarks on a deregulatory frenzy aimed at weakening federal climate action, Congress is matching his enthusiasm. Dozens of GOP-sponsored bills have been introduced that seek to hamstring the government’s ability to protect the environment, cut greenhouse gas emissions and consider peer-reviewed science in its decisions.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Legislation introduced since January includes a bill to undermine science used by the EPA, one to prevent the treatment of CO2 as a pollutant, a measure to end federal oversight of fracking and even one that abolishes the EPA altogether.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some bills are revived versions from factions in Congress who have long opposed federal action on climate change and environmental regulation. With the Trump administration’s stated mission to roll back regulations of all kinds, Republican lawmakers are seizing the moment.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I would still put long odds on any of them making it through the Senate,” said Michael Wara, an environmental law professor at Stanford Law School, noting the Republicans have only a 52-48 edge in that chamber. “So in some sense, not much has changed, and we should not put too much weight on legislation that has been introduced or even passed in the House until there is strong Senate sponsorship of a parallel bill.”</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“These bills are aimed at making it more difficult for policymakers to use solid science in policymaking,” said Michael Mann, a Penn State climate scientist who testified before the House Science Committee on March 29. “Great for the fossil fuel industry, the tobacco industry, and the other corporate interests whose bidding they’re doing; bad for the rest of us who bear the brunt of lost protections and safeguards.”Only a few pieces of anti-climate or anti-environmental regulation legislation have gained traction in both houses. Still, climate scientists and watchdogs are alarmed by what they see, and fear that some bills could end up with Trump’s signature on them.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Archer, a University of Chicago geophysicist who studies the carbon cycle, said the proposed legislation and Trump’s deregulatory efforts show contempt for science and the low-income and minority communities most likely to be harmed by policies that weaken environmental protection.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I think it’s a kind of institutionally subconscious racially motivated genocide,” Archer said.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Taken together, however, the deregulatory bills amount to little more than political theater and have almost zero bipartisan support, said Michael Burger, executive director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“To the extent Republicans expect anything to pass into law, it seems they are more interested in advancing special interests than protecting public health and welfare,” he said.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These are among the dozens of such bills — none of them with significant Democratic support — currently being considered by Congress </font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> the honest act  </font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bills generating the most anxiety in the scientific community are those requiring federal environmental regulations to be based only on research that is fully available to the public, in particular, the Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment Act. Passed by the House last week, the bill would limit the science used by the  EPA to that which is  publicly available and reproducible.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill, which has failed to pass the House in the past, was revived by climate change denialist Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas. He aims to discredit peer-reviewed climate science, including research underlying the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change climate assessment reports that he falsely claims was not conducted following the scientific method.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The goal here is to create the opportunity to better challenge the science underlying agency actions,” Wara said.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The science underlying EPA regulations is vigorously reviewed and transparent, and the bill could prevent the agency from using the best science to substantiate its policies, said Gretchen Goldman, research director at the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The raw data, models and code that form the basis of many studies are often not publicly available because it is proprietary intellectual property or private health data that cannot be legally made public, Goldman said. The EPA would be barred from using research that fell into those categories, she said.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The mandate for the research to be “reproducible” would also prohibit research from being used as the basis of policy, said Ken Caldeira, senior scientist at the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution for Science.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“All of the climate science and related environmental science that I read in the peer-reviewed literature is in-principle reproducible,” Caldeira said. “The reason it is not in fact reproducible is that the federal funding agencies rarely provide resources to redo work that someone else has already done.”</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill is being heard by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scientists are also nervous about the EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act, which passed the House with the support of two Democrats on March 30. The act would prohibit the board from “communicating uncertainties” and making policy recommendations to the EPA, while encouraging dissenting board members to speak out. The board provides scientific advice to the EPA administrator.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Most climate science involves uncertainty. For example, it’s impossible to know precisely when human climate pollution will warm the atmosphere to levels scientists consider dangerous — 2°C (3.6°F) — but it’s likely to happen before 2050.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Understanding the uncertainties around climate pollution is key to many climate regulations because it’s necessary for the federal government to understand how deeply emissions need to be cut for climate regulations to be effective.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the bill, if passed, would bar the EPA administrator from hearing anything about uncertainties, which means the Science Advisory Board couldn’t discuss much science at all.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Science is all about communicating uncertainty,” Caldeira said. “Science is about expanding the range of what we know to be false. Truth lies in the range of what we don’t know to be false — that is the uncertainty range. People who don’t want scientists to communicate about the uncertainty range are people who don’t understand what science is all about.”</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill is being heard by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stopping EPA Overreach Act</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Stopping EPA Overreach Act, if passed, would prevent the federal government from using the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions — the basis of the Clean Power Plan and other EPA climate regulations.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill would overturn the EPA’s “endangerment finding,” a 2009 scientific determination that carbon dioxide pollution is a threat to human health because it causes climate change. The EPA released the finding after a 2007 Supreme Court decision allowing greenhouse gases to be regulated under the Clean Air Act....</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stripping greenhouse gases out of the Clean Air Act would do enormous damage to the prospects of regulating greenhouse gases under a future administration,” Wara said. “This is in part because the Clean Air Act is the only existing tool to do so.”</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the bill has more sponsorship than any climate- or EPA-related bill to pass the House so far — 120 co-sponsors, all of them Republican — legal experts do not expect the bill or any of the others to gain much traction in the Senate if it is passed in the House.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, the Senate is considering its own limits on federal greenhouse gas regulation.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are among the sponsors of the Agency PAYGO for Greenhouse Gases Act. If a proposed greenhouse gas emissions regulation imposes costs to other federal agencies, the EPA must offset those costs with cuts to its own budget.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill is being heard in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other bills that aim to hamstring federal environmental and climate protection, but still have a lot of traction to gain in Congress, include:</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">• Fracturing Regulations are Effective in State Hands Act. This bill, sponsored in the House by seven Republicans and in the Senate by 12 Republicans, would prevent the federal government from regulating any aspect of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, handing that responsibility to individual states.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fracking is a method of injecting sand and chemicals to crack open rock formations deep underground to release oil and natural gas. Advances in fracking technology brought about the shale oil and gas boom of the past decade, helping to cause the 2014 crash in oil and gas prices and encouraging electric power plants to switch away from coal. The fracking process also pollutes the atmosphere with methane, a gas about 34 times as strong as carbon dioxide in warming the climate over the span of a century.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Obama administration attempted to control air and climate pollution from fracking operations, but Trump overturned those efforts with an executive order in March.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">• The Recognizing Protection of Motorsports Act, or “RPM Act.” This bipartisan bill exempts emissions from cars used in competition, such as stock car racing, from regulation under the Clean Air Act. The legislation has 112 sponsors in the House and a corresponding bill has 27 sponsors in the Senate. Both bills are being heard in committee.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">• The Ozone Standards Implementation Act. This bipartisan Senate bill, sponsored by six senators from coal-dependent states, amends the Clean Air Act to delay implementation of 2015 ozone pollution standards implemented by the Obama administration. The bill requires the EPA’s Science Advisory Board to provide advice about how meeting the ozone pollution standards would have adverse public health and economic impacts. The bill remains in committee.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">• H.R. 861. This bill, sponsored by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., with six GOP co-sponsors, would terminate the EPA at the end of 2018. The bill is stalled in the House.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">• The Wasteful EPA Programs Elimination Act. Sponsored by a single Texas Republican congressman, this bill would kill nearly all EPA climate programs, and terminate the EPA’s environmental justice programs and state grant programs. The bill is stalled in committee.</font></div>

</font></div>

</div>