DOCSLIB.ORG

Coalinga and Covid-19: a Ally Stopped

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Coalinga and Covid-19: a Ally Stopped The WA S H I N G T O N washingtonspectator.org JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2021 vol. 47, no. 1 issn 0887-428x SPECTATOR © 2021 The Public Concern Foundation washingtonspectator.org political power. Operating from the shadows, its members, who How the CNP, a Republican would number some 400, spent the next four decades courting, buying, and bullying fellow Republicans, gradually achieving Powerhouse, Helped Spawn what was in effect a leveraged buyout of the GOP. Favorite sons, such as Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, were groomed, financed, and Trumpism, Disrupted the supported. Apostates, such as John McCain and Jeff Flake, were Transfer of Power, and Stoked punished and exiled. The leaders of the CNP tended to favor their conservative Christian co-religionists, but political expedi- the Assault on the Capitol ence came first. By Anne Nelson In 2016, the CNP put its partners’ money, data, and ground game behind Donald Trump, as the ultimate transactional can- n January 6, 2021, a stunned nation watched didate. Trump promised it retrograde social policies, a favorable O as protesters stormed the Capitol to prevent the certifica- tax regime, regulatory retreats, and its choice of federal judges. tion of the electoral votes from the November election. The He delivered in spades. By 2020, the leaders of the CNP were effort failed, but not without shin- ready to go to extreme lengths to keep ing a harsh light on the fault lines of him—and themselves—in power. American democracy. Over the final year of the Trump In the weeks that followed, analysts presidency, the CNP took center have struggled to define how much stage. By January 2020, its leading of the incursion was the spontaneous figures had become sought-after result of a “riot”—or a “peaceful pro- guests on talk shows and frequent test” gone wrong—and how much was visitors to the White House. Many of the result of a planned operation. its stated goals had been advanced. One major player in the events By March, the Republican Senate had leading up to the assault on the Capi- confirmed more than 185 of Trump’s tol was the Council for National Pol- conservative nominees for the federal icy, an influential coalition of Christian bench. All but eight of the judges conservatives, free-market fundamen- had ties to the Federalist Society, talists, and political activists. Over the headed by longtime CNP members previous year the CNP and its mem- Eugene Meyer and Leonard Leo. Two bers and affiliates organized efforts of the CNP’s favored Supreme Court to challenge the validity of the elec- nominees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett tion, conspired to overturn its results, Kavanaugh, had been confirmed. The and tried to derail the orderly transfer court was only one justice away from of power. This is an account of the a conservative majority, and the CNP measures they took, leading up to the had its eye on the seat held by Ruth deadly January 6 insurrection. Bader Ginsburg. With a second term The Council for National Policy was founded in 1981 by in office and normal attrition, Trump could decisively tilt the a group of televangelists, Western oligarchs, and Republican federal courts, opening the door for a massive overhaul of the strategists to capitalize on Ronald Reagan’s electoral victory the American legal framework. previous year. From the beginning, its goals represented a con- Many initiatives that were pending in the courts had been vergence of the inter- addressed by fiat. Trump rolled back scores of environmental ALSO INSIDE: ests of these three regulations created to protect air quality, potable water supplies, groups: a retreat from and wildlife, as a quid pro quo for the support he received from 3 Rev. Barber delivers a homily advances in civil and CNP’s favored oil and gas interests. His administration deci- 5 Police reform looks to Europe political rights for mated the budgets and personnel of federal agencies assigned 8 Will Novosedlik on Bruce Mau women and minori- to protect public health, public safety, and public lands, includ- 11 Coalinga update by Barbara Koeppel ties, tax cuts for the ing the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of wealthy, and raw Agriculture, and the National Park Service, to the benefit of 1 Illustrations by Edel Rodriguez january/february 2021 The corporations and extractive industries. There was among conservative white Christians in critical WASHINGTON also notable progress on CNP’s social agenda, with swing states, expanding their targeting from evan- SPECTATOR the erosion and rollback of the rights of LGBT gelicals to Catholics. populations, women, and minorities in the courts The coalition’s data and app development also Legal Affairs Correspondent Andrew Cohen and state legislatures. advanced. The uCampaign apps developed by Digital Editor The CNP’s plutocrats were pleased with what Thomas Peters had served their purpose in the Sophia Fish Copy Editor they had wrought. The “tax reform” enacted by 2016 and 2018 elections, but they were due for an Kirsten Denker Trump and the Republican Senate concentrated upgrade. In late 2019, word began to circulate that Contributing Writers ever greater wealth in the hands of America’s most Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, was Cyrus Cassells, Guest Poetry Editor Alison Fairbrother affluent individuals through tax cuts for corpo- preparing to release the Trump 2020 app, a com- Autumn Hayes rations and the rich, driving income inequality ponent of what he labeled a “juggernaut campaign.” Dorothy Samuels to the highest levels in 50 years. The country’s Parscale had quietly taken over Trump’s digital Circulation Management Circulation Specialists LLC tax revenues as a share of gross domestic prod- operations and planned to use the new app as part Design Point Five, NY uct plummeted, and budget gaps widened, but of a broader strategy. Trump 2020 was designed to Illustration Edel Rodriguez Republicans—who had made a career of loudly leverage uCampaign features such as gamification Editor and Publisher Hamilton Fish condemning deficit spending—remained mute as (awarding points and prizes for participating in long as the measures benefited the moneyed class campaign activities and sharing contacts). It also Subscription inquiries Visit washingtonspectator.org/ instead of those who needed help. Donald Trump expanded the use of geolocation devices to recruit customerservice, or call toll-free remained a dependable ally, asking only for an and harvest data from attendees of Trump rallies. (866) 949-5290 M–F 9-5:30 EST, or write to audience for his megalomania The crowds, energized by P.O. Box 241, Oregon, IL 61061. and a free pass for the busi- Trump’s reelection strategy rested Trump’s live performances, Letters to the editor Email to ness interests of the “Trump on a thriving economy, as well as mass would be invited to down- [email protected]. rallies and in-church recruitment. Please include your full name and brand.” In return, he deliv- load the app and recruit postal address and whether the letter ered his dynamism and his others across their social is intended for publication. Letters, if published, may be edited for clarity unshakeable base. This state networks. The rallies were a and space. Hard-copy letters may of affairs was so satisfactory that the Republican crucial component of the campaign. The more out- be sent to: Washington Spectator— Letters, 105 Hudson Street, Suite Party decided not to bother drafting a new party rageous Trump’s rhetoric on the podium, the more 407, New York, NY 10013. platform for the 2020 election. Instead, it recycled earned media coverage he received. In contrast, The Washington Spectator (ISSN the 2016 platform, which included former CNP the Democrats were still in disarray, with a dozen 0887-428X) is published monthly by the Public Concern Foundation Inc, President Tony Perkins’s drafts opposing marriage primary candidates competing for fragmented 105 Hudson Street, Suite 407, New equality and promoting conversion therapy. press coverage and no clear front-runner. York, NY 10013. © 2021 in the U.S. by the Public Concern Foundation Inc. Ultimate realization of the CNP’s agenda Then, on January 20, 2020, doctors diagnosed depended on winning a second term for Trump the first confirmed case of Covid-19 in the United Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY. Please allow 4–6 weeks in November. With another four years, it could States. for receipt of your first issue and enshrine its socially regressive policies on the fed- The patient was a man who had just returned to for all subscription transactions. POSTMASTER: Send address eral level, further blur the line between church Snohomish County, Washington, from a family visit changes to The Washington Spectator, and state, and consolidate huge windfalls for cor- to Wuhan, China. The virus spread across Wash- P.O. Box 241, Oregon, IL 61061. The Washington Spectator is printed with porations and wealthy individuals. As of January ington State, then ravaged New York City and New union labor on recycled paper. 1, electoral prospects looked sweet. The Republi- Orleans. The first U.S. Covid death was reported cans’ strongest suit was the economy. Massive tax as occurring on February 6. On February 20, the cuts had flooded corporations with cash, which, as global stock market went into a free fall that didn’t FROM THE critics of the tax bill had predicted, they used to abate until April. Bloomberg News called it the EDITOR’S buy back their stock and drive up share prices 28 Great Coronavirus Crash. percent in 2019. This boosted Trump’s popularity Trump’s reelection strategy rested on a thriv- DESK among the 55 percent of Americans who reported ing economy, as well as mass rallies and in-church Sign up for our free email owning stocks, but did little to spur the growth recruitment.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • How the U.S. Christian Right Is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa
    Colonizing African Values How the U.S. Christian Right is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa A PUBLICATION OF POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES BY KAPYA JOHN KAOMA Political Research Associates (PRA) is a progressive think tank devoted to supporting movements that build a more just and inclusive democratic society. We expose movements, institutions, and ideologies that undermine human rights. PRA seeks to advance progressive thinking and action by providing research-based information, analysis, and referrals. Copyright ©2012 Political Research Associates Kaoma, Kapya John. ISBN-10: 0-915987-26-0 ISBN-13: 978-0-915987-26-9 Design by: Mindflash Advertising Photographs by: Religion Dispatches, Michele Siblioni/AFP/Getty Images, Mark Taylor/markn3tel/Flickr This research was made possible by the generous support of the Arcus Foundation and the Wallace Global Fund. Political Research Associates 1310 Broadway, Suite 201 Somerville, MA 02144-1837 www.publiceye.org Colonizing African Values How the U.S. Christian Right is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa A PUBLICATION OF POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES BY KAPYA KAOMA POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES i Colonizing African Values - How the U.S. Christian Right is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa Foreword ganda’s infamous 2009 Anti-Homosexuality Bill, onstrates in Colonizing African Values that the Ameri- which would institute the death penalty for a can culture wars in Africa are growing hotter. Tracing U new and surreal category of offenses dubbed conflicts over homosexuality and women’s repro- “aggravated homosexuality,” captured international ductive autonomy back to their sources, Kaoma has headlines for months. The human rights community uncovered the expanding influence of an interde- and the Obama administration responded forcefully, nominational cast of conservative American inter- the bill was tabled, and the story largely receded ests.
    [Show full text]
  • The Conservative Pipeline to the Supreme Court
    The Conservative Pipeline to the Supreme Court April 17, 2017 By Jeffrey Toobin they once did. We have the tools now to do all the research. With the Federalist Society, Leonard Leo has reared a We know everything they’ve written. We know what they’ve generation of originalist élites. The selection of Neil Gorsuch is said. There are no surprises.” Gorsuch had committed no real just his latest achievement. gaffes, caused no blowups, and barely made any news— which was just how Leo had hoped the hearings would unfold. Leo has for many years been the executive vice-president of the Federalist Society, a nationwide organization of conservative lawyers, based in Washington. Leo served, in effect, as Trump’s subcontractor on the selection of Gorsuch, who was confirmed by a vote of 54–45, last week, after Republicans changed the Senate rules to forbid the use of filibusters. Leo’s role in the nomination capped a period of extraordinary influence for him and for the Federalist Society. During the Administration of George W. Bush, Leo also played a crucial part in the nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Now that Gorsuch has been confirmed, Leo is responsible, to a considerable extent, for a third of the Supreme Court. Leo, who is fifty-one, has neither held government office nor taught in a law school. He has written little and has given few speeches. He is not, technically speaking, even a lobbyist. Leo is, rather, a convener and a networker, and he has met and cultivated almost every important Republican lawyer in more than a generation.
    [Show full text]
  • Did Trump Incite the Riots?
    Did Trump incite the riots? Only with the help of Big Tech Campaigning group SumOfUs has reviewed dozens of social media accounts, pages, and groups, as well as far-right disinformation websites, and has found several key incidents that highlight how Trump used social media to rally his base in support of the events that took place on January 6, and how the power of Trump’s tweets and retweets - sometimes of obscure pro-Trump accounts - escalated to the use of violence. From the evidence, it is clear that while Trump lit the match that set this violent far-right movement ablaze, it was tech companies that provided the platforms for organizing — and their policies, algorithms, and tools directly fueled it. The briefing reveals how tech platforms responded, and how the measures they took came up massively short in preventing the escalation of violence. It also highlights how ad tech platforms like Google and Amazon are profiting off of disinformation websites — which are in turn amplified on Facebook and continue to circulate in far-right extremist networks. In addition to holding Donald Trump to account for his role in the insurrection, SumOfUs urges lawmakers to launch an official investigation into the role tech companies played in aiding and abetting the insurrection, as well as the role Facebook’s algorithmic amplification played in boosting electoral disinformation. Trump: the Internet’s firehose of disinformation President Trump’s tweet about ballot harvesting, April 14, 2020 Responsibility for content casting skepticism about the election lies first and foremost with Donald Trump. Early in the spring, roughly 200 days before the election, Trump tweeted that mail-in ballots are rampant with fraud.
    [Show full text]
  • The Washington Spectator (ISSN Level of Importance We Were Attributing to It
    The WA S H I N G T O N washingtonspectator.org SEPTEMBER 2020 vol. 46, no. 9 issn 0887-428x © 2020 The Public Concern Foundation SPECTATOR washingtonspectator.org continued to get traction. On August 10, Pat Robertson’s show Anatomy of Deceit: on the Christian Broadcasting Network carried an interview with Simone Gold and an endorsement of her hydroxychloroquine Team Trump Deploys cure. On August 21, Alex Jones’s NewsWars carried an interview with another member of America’s Frontline Doctors, Mark Doctors With Dubious McDonald. McDonald—a child psychiatrist—maintained, “If all Americans had access to hydroxychloroquine, the pandemic Qualifications to Push would essentially end in about 30 days.” Science has shown otherwise. Despite early hopes last spring, Fake Cure for Covid-19 there is mounting evidence that hydroxychloroquine is a prob- lematic—and even dangerous—treatment for Covid-19. One By Anne Nelson expert with firsthand knowledge is Nick Sawyer, an academic emergency physician in Sacramento, Calif. In July he wrote an n July 27, a dozen physicians posed in front article for Lifeline, the publication of the California chapter of of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., dressed the American College of Emergency Physicians, describing his O in white lab coats with “America’s Frontline Doctors” harrowing two weeks of service in the Covid wards of Elmhurst stitched over the pocket. The group’s chief Hospital in Queens. Sawyer was part of a spokesperson was Dr. Simone Gold, an team of California doctors dispatched by emergency physician from Los Angeles. Governor Gavin Newsom to offer emer- They were introduced by Jenny Beth Mar- gency assistance at the epicenter of the tin, the founding CEO of Tea Party Patriots, epidemic, at the height of the New York as participants in the “White Coat Summit.” City outbreak.
    [Show full text]
  • UNDENIABLE the Survey of Hostility to Religion in America
    UNDENIABLE The Survey of Hostility to Religion in America 2014 Edition Editorial Team Kelly Shackelford Chairman Jeffrey Mateer Executive Editor Justin Butterfield Editor-in-chief Michael Andrews Assistant Editor Past Contributors Bryan Clegg An Open Letter to the American PEople UNDENIABLE To our fellow citizens: The Survey of Hostility to Religion in America Hostility to religion and religious freedom in America—institutional, pervasive, damaging hostility—can no longer reasonably be denied. And 2014 Edition yet there remain deniers. Because denial of these attacks is a mortal threat to the survival and health of Kelly Shackelford, chairman our republic, Liberty Institute and Family Research Council collaborated in 2012 to publish a survey documenting the frequency and severity of incidents Jeffrey Mateer, executive editor of hostility. In the 2013 survey entitled Undeniable, the research team led by Justin Butterfield, editor-in-chief a Harvard-trained constitutional attorney found almost twice the number of incidents in the previous twelve months than all the incidents found from Michael Andrews, assistant editor several years’ past. The rate of hostility was increasing at an alarming rate. This year in Undeniable: The Survey of Hostility to Religion 2014, the team Copyright © 2013–2014 Liberty Institute. of researchers again documented an alarming increase in the number of All rights reserved. hostile incidents toward religion from the year before. The rate of hostility is continuing to climb. We offer Undeniable 2014 to you, the American people, as an alarm bell This publication is not to be used for legal advice. Because the law is ringing in the night. We believe the many public opinion surveys showing constantly changing and each factual situation is unique, Liberty Institute that you, the people, are still a religious people.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Transcript
    Gaslit Nation Transcript 17 February 2021 Where Is Christopher Wray? https://www.patreon.com/posts/wheres-wray-47654464 Senator Ted Cruz: Donald seems to think he's Michael Corleone. That if any voter, if any delegate, doesn't support Donald Trump, then he's just going to bully him and threaten him. I don't know if the next thing we're going to see is voters or delegates waking up with horse's heads in their bed, but that doesn't belong in the electoral process. And I think Donald needs to renounce this incitement of violence. He needs to stop asking his supporters at rallies to punch protestors in the face, and he needs to fire the people responsible. Senator Ted Cruz: He needs to denounce Manafort and Roger Stone and his campaign team that is encouraging violence, and he needs to stop doing it himself. When Donald Trump himself stands up and says, "If I'm not the nominee, there will be rioting in the streets.", well, you know what? Sol Wolinsky was laughing in his grave watching Donald Trump incite violence that has no business in our democracy. Sarah Kendzior: I'm Sarah Kendzior, the author of the bestselling books The View from Flyover Country and Hiding in Plain Sight. Andrea Chalupa: I'm Andrea Chalupa, a journalist and filmmaker and the writer and producer of the journalistic thriller Mr. Jones. Sarah Kendzior: And this is Gaslit Nation, a podcast covering corruption in the United States and rising autocracy around the world, and our opening clip was of Senator Ted Cruz denouncing Donald Trump's violence in an April 2016 interview.
    [Show full text]
  • OPEN LETTER to REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIR REINCE PRIEBUS Where Does the GOP Stand on Gay Bashing?
    OPEN LETTER TO REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIR REINCE PRIEBUS Where Does the GOP Stand on Gay Bashing? Dear Mr. Priebus, Fifteen years ago, your predecessor called for party members to shun the Council of Conservative Citizens because of the group’s “racist views.”1 “A member of the party of Lincoln should not belong to such an organization,” GOP Chairman Jim Nicholson said.2 His comments had their intended effect: Senior members of Congress distanced themselves from the group. Today, Chairman Priebus, we ask that you take a similar stand and call upon Republican officials to disassociate themselves from the groups behind the upcoming Values Voter Summit. The reason is simple: These groups engage in repeated, groundless demonization of LGBT people — portraying them as sick, vile, incestuous, violent, perverted, and a danger to the nation. The Family Research Council, the summit’s host, is vigorously opposed to extending equal rights to the LGBT community. Its president, Tony Perkins, has repeatedly claimed that pedophilia is a “homosexual problem.”3 He has called the “It Gets Better” campaign — designed to give LGBT students hope for a better tomorrow — “disgusting” and a “concerted effort” to “recruit” children into the gay “lifestyle.” 4 He has condemned the National Republican Congressional Committee for supporting three openly gay candidates.5 Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, a summit sponsor, has said the U.S. needs to “be more like Russia,” which enacted a law criminalizing the distribution of LGBT “propaganda.”6 He also has said, “Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine, and six million dead Jews.”7 Similarly, Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel, another summit sponsor, has compared those who do not denounce same-sex marriage to those who remained silent during the Holocaust.
    [Show full text]
  • An Interview with Lamar Life in Early January, We Sat Down with (Or Rather, at PVA, Learned That Online P.E
    US FREE AUSTRALIA $ 10.50 DENMARK DKK 75.00 CANADA $ 9.50 FRANCE € 8.50 U.K. £ 10.50 HOLLAND € 8.50 ITALY€ 9.00 JAPAN ¥ 1740 NEW ZEALAND NZ$ 11.50 SPAIN € 8.50 SWEDEN SEK 75.00 SWITZERLAND CHF 16.00 UAE AED 45.00 INDIA ₹ 323.00 VOLUME 12 ISSUE 4 paper*TheHighSchoolforthePerformingandVisualArtsNewspaper* We’re Not So Different After All: An Interview with Lamar Life In early January, we sat down with (or rather, at PVA, learned that online P.E. did not prepare us for Zoomed with) Lauren Koong and Kathryn Stone of walking up five flights of stairs first thing in the morning. Lamar High School’s school magazine, Lamar Life, to Lamar students learned that only one staircase was built find out what life is like at another Houston area high in their new campus. You may have seen the local news school and how they are managing school during a coverage of this packed staircase last year. Kathryn pandemic. While Lamar may be a “traditional” high remembered the fire marshalls monitoring the school school, complete with sports and homecoming, it turns for a few weeks and still getting stuck on the staircase out that many of our experiences are pretty similar. after the initial crowding died down. When reflecting on Especially when it comes to online learning. the fond memories of our old campuses, we learned that both HSPVA and Lamar’s old buildings were home Like Luca, Kathryn returned to in-person learning. to quite a few rat sightings. Seniors may remember the They both agreed that just seeing other people in-person infamous rat falling from the ceiling during a study hall in has, as Kathryn put it, “made the biggest difference.” 2017.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibles, Badges and Business for Immigration Reform News Clips January – August 2015
    Bibles, Badges and Business for Immigration Reform News Clips January – August 2015 JANUARY ....................................................................................................................................................... 4 CHRISTIAN POST: Top 10 Politics Stories of 2014 ......................................................................................... 4 CHRISTIANITY TODAY (Galli Column): Amnesty is Not a Dirty Word ............................................................ 5 THE DENVER POST (Torres Letter): Ken Buck is right on immigration .......................................................... 6 SIOUX CITY JOURNAL: Church News ............................................................................................................. 6 CBS-WSBT (Indiana): South Bend police chief helps launch immigration task force ................................... 7 FOX NEWS LATINO (Rodriguez Op-Ed): Pro Life, Pro Immigrant .................................................................. 7 TERRA: Funcionarios de seguridad crean fuerza de tarea migratoria en EUA ............................................. 9 UNIVISION (WFDC News): Noticias DC – Edición 6 P.M. ............................................................................... 9 THE POTPOURRI (Texas; Tomball Edition): Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia helps launch national immigration task force .................................................................................................................................. 9 CBS-WSBT (Indiana): South
    [Show full text]
  • Capitol Insurrection at Center of Conservative Movement
    Capitol Insurrection At Center Of Conservative Movement: At Least 43 Governors, Senators And Members Of Congress Have Ties To Groups That Planned January 6th Rally And Riots. SUMMARY: On January 6, 2021, a rally in support of overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election “turned deadly” when thousands of people stormed the U.S. Capitol at Donald Trump’s urging. Even Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who rarely broke with Trump, has explicitly said, “the mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the President and other powerful people.” These “other powerful people” include a vast array of conservative officials and Trump allies who perpetuated false claims of fraud in the 2020 election after enjoying critical support from the groups that fueled the Capitol riot. In fact, at least 43 current Governors or elected federal office holders have direct ties to the groups that helped plan the January 6th rally, along with at least 15 members of Donald Trump’s former administration. The links that these Trump-allied officials have to these groups are: Turning Point Action, an arm of right-wing Turning Point USA, claimed to send “80+ buses full of patriots” to the rally that led to the Capitol riot, claiming the event would be one of the most “consequential” in U.S. history. • The group spent over $1.5 million supporting Trump and his Georgia senate allies who claimed the election was fraudulent and supported efforts to overturn it. • The organization hosted Trump at an event where he claimed Democrats were trying to “rig the election,” which he said would be “the most corrupt election in the history of our country.” • At a Turning Point USA event, Rep.
    [Show full text]
  • November 20, 2019 the Honorable Mitch Mcconnell Majority Leader
    November 20, 2019 The Honorable Mitch McConnell Majority Leader United States Senate 317 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear Leader McConnell, The undersigned conservatives urge you to modify the Continuing Resolution recently passed by the House of Representatives to extend government funding for a full year. As we outlined in the attached letter, signed by over 100 conservative leaders, a CR into December gives leverage to Democrat demands on key issues, including significant pro-life policies, border spending, and other key areas. This is reflected in the partisan vote in which the CR passed the House, with 219 Democrats voting in favor, joined by only 12 Republicans. From both a strategic and fiscal perspective, we believe a CR into December would be an error. For both these reasons and those outlined in the attached letter, we urge the Senate to modify the timeline of the current CR to allow for full deliberation and debate of critical spending issues in 2020. Sincerely, Alfred S. Regnery Tom McClusky Chairman, Conservative Action Project President Chairman, Law Enforcement Legal Defense March for Life Action Fund The Honorable Colin A. Hanna Myron Ebell President Director, Center for Energy and Environment Let Freedom Ring, Inc. Competitive Enterprise Institute Kelly J. Shackelford, Esq. Jenny Beth Martin Chairman, CNP Action, Inc. Chairman President and CEO, First Liberty Institute Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Conservative Action Project (CAP) was founded in 2008 by many conservative leaders with former Attorney General Edwin Meese III serving as the Founding Chairman. CAP is currently chaired by Mr. Alfred S.
    [Show full text]
  • Testimony of Lecia Brooks Chief of Staff, Southern Poverty Law Center
    Testimony of Lecia Brooks Chief of Staff, Southern Poverty Law Center before the Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy Committee on Financial Services United States House of Representatives Dollars against Democracy: Domestic Terrorist Financing in the Aftermath of Insurrection February 25, 2021 My name is Lecia Brooks. I am chief of staff of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Now in our 50th year, the SPLC is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people. SPLC lawyers have worked to shut down some of the nation’s most violent white supremacist groups by winning crushing, multimillion-dollar jury verdicts on behalf of their victims. We have helped dismantle vestiges of Jim Crow, reformed juvenile justice practices, shattered barriers to equality for women, children, the LGBTQ+ community, and the disabled, and worked to protect low-wage immigrant workers from exploitation. The SPLC began tracking white supremacist activity in the 1980s, during a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan and other organized extremist hate groups. Today, the SPLC is the premier U.S. nonprofit organization monitoring the activities of domestic hate groups and other extremists. In the early 1990s, the SPLC launched its pioneering Teaching Tolerance program to provide educators with free, anti-bias classroom resources, such as classroom documentaries and lesson plans. Now renamed Learning For Justice, our program reaches millions of schoolchildren with award-winning curricula and other materials that promote understanding of our nation’s history and respect for others, helping educators create inclusive, equitable school environments.
    [Show full text]