1. Democrat Ruben Gallego wins Arizona U.S. Senate race against Republican Kari Lake  The Globe and Mail
2. Ruben Gallego defeats Trump ally Kari Lake in Arizona Senate race  BBC.com
3. Democrat Gallego wins Arizona, Republicans hold 53-47 US Senate majority  Al Jazeera English

If senators exhibit political courage, the incoming U.S. Senate has a unique opportunity to cut off the spigot of funds to Ukraine and find peace for the war-torn country.

Washington — Legislation recently introduced by House and Senate Republicans would prohibit the federal government from imposing a fine, fee or tax on workers or employers who don’t comply with COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

The Republican Party has secured a majority of the seats in the United States House of Representatives, having already secured the White House and the U.S. Senate.

"This is a petty, partisan power grab that is absolutely retaliation towards my office," Arizona Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs says of the new law.; Credit: Ross D. Franklin/AP

Arizona Republicans have stripped the secretary of state's office — currently held by a Democrat — of the right to defend the state's election laws in court, or choose not to, a change enacted as part of Arizona's newly signed budget.

The spending blueprint that Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law Wednesday declares that the attorney general — currently a position occupied by Republican Mark Brnovich — has sole authority over election-related litigation.

If the secretary of state and attorney general were to disagree over a legal strategy when Arizona election laws are challenged, the new law states that "the authority of the attorney general to defend the law is paramount."

Republicans also adopted language stating it's their intent for the law to apply through Jan. 2, 2023, coinciding with the end of Democrat Katie Hobbs' term as secretary of state.

Hobbs, the top election official in Arizona who's now running for governor, says her lawyers are looking at whether this change violates the Arizona Constitution.

"This is a petty, partisan power grab that is absolutely retaliation towards my office," Hobbs said. "It's clear by the fact that it ends when my term ends. ... It is at best legally questionable, but at worst, likely unconstitutional."

Republicans have generally cast the law as a cost-saving measure, citing Hobbs and Brnovich's frequent disagreements over how to defend state election laws that have been challenged in court. In 2020, Hobbs filed complaints with the state bar against Brnovich and other lawyers in his office.

Other election provisions in the budget

The budget includes a number of other election provisions, and it comes weeks after Republicans enacted new restrictions on early voting in the state, and as a controversial review of 2020 election results in Maricopa County continues.

Here are some of the other election-related measures in the budget:

• New laws could soon require watermarks, QR codes and other security measures to be printed on ballots.
• There's a new mandate to inspect state and county voter registration databases and create a report on voters who cast federal-only ballots — an option available to Arizonans who don't show proof of citizenship to register to vote in the state, but are still allowed to register under federal law.
• And a new task force would investigate alleged social media bias as an unreported in-kind political contribution.

The ballot security measures, though not mandated by law in the budget, have the potential to be the most cumbersome and costly requirement for county election officials to implement.

The budget amendment provides a list of 10 "ballot fraud countermeasures" for counties to choose from — features like holographic foil, background designs similar to those found on banknotes and ultraviolet or infrared ink. If mandated, counties would have to implement any combination of at least three features from the list on their ballots. The budget provides $12 million to pay for those features, to be split among Arizona's 15 counties.

"By everyone's admission, there is only one company that can do any of this," said Jennifer Marson, executive director of the Arizona Association of Counties. "And so now, we can't have a competitive bid process or a traditional procurement process at the county or state level to use these countermeasures because we're locked into one company."

That company is Authentix, a Texas-based firm that provided Republican Rep. Mark Finchem with a sample ballot that included watermarks, QR codes and other security measures. Finchem had the sample ballot on display at the Capitol in March. According to the Yellow Sheet Report, it could be five times more expensive to print ballots with those security measures as it is to print paper ballots currently in use.

Marson said Finchem has acknowledged the security levels required of companies in the budget amendment could only be met by Authentix, and has vowed to mandate the ballot security measures in the "very near future."

Finchem defended the company in a brief email. He wrote that Authentix "offers these countermeasures to governments around the world for document and tax stamp security."

As the budget was being considered, Democrats like Sen. Tony Navarrete said the amendment is part of a broad effort to solidify conspiracy theories of election fraud.

"It's important for us to make sure we vote down conspiracy-laced amendments that are going to hurt the integrity of our election system in the state of Arizona and encourage other states to have these bad copycat laws spread like wildfire," he said.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Concern for unchallenged Republican advantage and 'deepfake' audio drives effort to use AI to transcribe, monitor political talk radio.

Calls For Haley and DeSantis To Withdraw

Author claims Trump will lead America into a failed economy: "If Trump is elected we will not need to worry about the economy because we will not have one."

Underperforming state agencies, a natural disaster, and a pandemic are among the many challenges that faced Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and his former Chief of Staff Steve Kadish. Looking back during the final year of the Baker Administration, they say running a government is very different and often much harder than leading a private-sector company. And they share their four-part framework for breaking down complicated problems with many stakeholders to get results. It’s valuable for anyone in public service, as well as for leaders and managers in large organizations hamstrung by bureaucracy and politics. Baker and Kadish wrote the new book "Results: Getting Beyond Politics to Get Important Work Done."

"Work Comp Matters" - the central location for all your workers' compensation, employment and labor law matters. Steve Appell hosts this weekly podcast from sunny southern California - presenting some…

Pamela Falk, CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst, discusses the latest with the US response to ISIS and how the rest of the world is reacting.

While the Biden administration is asking for $773 billion for 2023, that number may not go as far as hoped. DoD says it finished up its planning for 2023 before inflation rates rose and before Russia invaded Ukraine causing oil prices to spike.

The post Republicans want to know the cost of inflation on 2023 Defense budget first appeared on Federal News Network.

The top-ranking Republican on a Senate committee that oversees the military is calling for a “generational investment” in America’s defense.

The post Key Republican calls for ‘generational’ increase in defense spending to counter US adversaries first appeared on Federal News Network.

House Republican leaders are learning from their mistakes during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term to be “ready on day one” to implement their aggressive agenda plans filled with policy changes during the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency.  House leaders have been in conversations with Trump for nearly a year to discuss policy proposals and […]

T.J. Osborne and his bandmate John invite chair of the House Republican Caucus to meet them in person for discussion after conservative politicians block plans to honor T.J.

T.J. Osborne and his bandmate John invite chair of the House Republican Caucus to meet them in person for discussion after conservative politicians block plans to honor T.J.

The incoming Senate Republican Conference will meet Wednesday morning to elect the successor of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

There were two major assumptions about Latino voters throughout the presidential campaign: (1) a record number of Latinos would show up on Election Day to oppose Donald Trump's candidacy and (2) the anti-immigration rhetoric that launched Trump's campaign would push conservative-leaning Hispanics to flee the Republican Party. Neither of those assumptions entirely panned out as expected. Prediction 1: The Surge? True. A record number of Latinos did vote this November. But the truth is complicated. The official national exit poll, the one commissioned by the big media organizations, suggests the Latino share of the electorate was higher than ever before — about 11 percent, compared to 10 percent in 2012. "It's very possible that the Latino vote, while reaching a record, may have been swamped by other groups of voters," said Mark Hugo Lopez, the director of Hispanic Research at the Pew Research Center, pointing to states like Florida which Trump won. We won't know the percentage of

Tim Miller fled Republican politics, disgusted with the party’s direction under Donald Trump. Now he has written a memoir that is as much a warning as it is a searing exploration of his own shame and regrets.

Panelistas consideran que convención estuvo marcada por discursos de caos ante triunfo Demócrata; critican la ausencia de temas importantes.

En 10AM Hoy por Hoy de Caracol Radio estuvo el congresista republicano, Carlos Giménez, quien exige acciones concretas a la administración de Joe Biden para presionar al régimen en Venezuela y proteger a los manifestantes.

Congress returns this week. Republicans are hopeful they will maintain their House majority in the next Congress. In the Senate, Republicans will choose the next majority leader.

Montana not only went enthusiastically for Trump for a third time, but took the last statewide seat held by a Democrat. Senator Jon Tester's defeat caps a years-long quest to erase purple from Montana's map.

President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly set to address the House Republican Conference on Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol. 

The post Report: Donald Trump to Address House Republicans in D.C. on Wednesday appeared first on Breitbart.

Republicans are eyeing Colorado's plentiful pool of unaffiliated voters for that push to victory -- and in two counties, hoping to capitalize on local tax measures to make their case for more conservatism.

But the most dangerous attackers of American democracy aren’t the Russians or the Chinese. They are the leaders of the Republican Party.

Colorado Democrats will continue to dominate state government, possessing the most power Democrats have held in our state since FDR was president.

Evans won 48.98% of the final count with 162,022 votes compared to Caraveo’s 159,426 votes, or 48.19% of the final count, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.

Our Republican leaders don’t believe they have the authority, they don’t believe they’re legitimate, they don’t see the threat. They don’t want to see the threat because they know they can’t face the mob. They know they’re too weak. And so they offer trinkets and hope the mob will go away, but it won’t. Mobs can’t be sated. We thought Republicans understood that. That’s why we supported them. But this crisis has revealed the truth. Now we know who they are. It could not be clearer and now it’s time to find new leaders. Continue reading →

Republicans are failing for a much more obvious reason, a more fundamental reason. They're failing because they haven't done much that is worth doing. They haven't tried very hard to improve your life. When the crisis came, they fled. They did nothing to defend you. They did nothing to defend the country. Continue reading →

Counting is still going on, nearly a week after election day, with Republicans a handful of seats short.

When the 2024 election dust settled early on Wednesday morning, it became clear that Donald Trump didn’t just win the election, he trounced Kamala Harris. It was so bad for the Democrats that nearly every state moved to the right. The GOP hasn’t seen so many votes move their way since Ronald Reagan in 1980. […]

The post Amazing: Trump Moved 48 States toward the Republican Party appeared first on The Lid.

The following article, Amazing: Trump Moved 48 States Toward the Republican Party, was first published on Conservative Firing Line.

When the 2024 election dust settled early on Wednesday morning, it became clear that Donald Trump didn’t just win the election, he trounced Kamala Harris. It was so bad for the Democrats that nearly every state moved to the right. The GOP hasn’t seen so many votes move their way since Ronald Reagan in 1980. …

Continue reading Amazing: Trump Moved 48 States Toward the Republican Party ...

Republicans have solidified their control of Washington by retaining control of the House of Representatives. President-elect Donald Trump’s overwhelming victory in the presidential race, coupled with GOP control of the […]

The post Breaking: Republicans Retain Control Over House of Representatives, Handing Trump the Keys to His Agenda appeared first on The Western Journal.

Independent Thinking: Biden and the Republicans, AUKUS Audio NCapeling 9 February 2023

Episode 14 of our weekly podcast examines the Chinese balloon saga, the State of the Union address, and updates on the AUKUS deal 18 months after it was signed.

This week saw US president Joe Biden address an unruly joint session of Congress, during which he discussed America’s place in the world, China, Ukraine, and the state of the US economy.

As a new presidential cycle begins at the mid-point of Biden’s presidency, the panel analyses how Biden is doing and the challenges that lie ahead for him.

Also it is now 18 months since the announcement of the AUKUS partnership between the UK, US and Australia to develop nuclear hunter killer submarines. What does AUKUS mean for Australia, non-proliferation, and the Indo-Pacific more broadly?

Finally, the panel discusses China’s balloon over Montana in the US. Was it a signal from Beijing and what was it trying to photograph?

Joining guest host John Kampfner this week from Chatham House are Dr Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the US and the Americas programme and Dr Patricia Lewis, director of the International Security programme. They are joined by Dr Euan Graham, Shangri-La Dialogue senior fellow for defence and strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

About Independent Thinking

A weekly podcast hosted by Chatham House director Bronwen Maddox, in conversation with leading policymakers, journalists, and Chatham House experts providing insight on the latest international issues.

A Kentucky teen who became the subject of a viral video after a class field trip warned viewers of the Republican National Convention of an "outrage mob" that threatens to silence conservative viewpoints.

The school board in Gwinnett County, Ga., will shift from a 4-1 white Republican majority to a 3-2 Black Democratic majority, mirroring demographic changes in the county.

Republicans have some big questions for the U.S. Department of Education's plans to begin a 50-state strategy to address the unequal distribution of top teachers.

The former teacher, principal, and school superintendent became one of the most influential members of Congress on education policy during his 13 terms in the House.

Senate Republicans return to Washington on Tuesday for the first time since they secured the Senate majority to determine who will be the new party leader in the chamber.

Cases of beer were wheeled into the Capitol after the House narrowly passed a health care bill on May 4, 2017, that would repeal and replace major parts of the Affordable Care Act. Every Democrat voted no, joined by 20 Republicans.

Countries around the world are experiencing low birth rates. In 2022, more than one hundred countries, representing two-thirds of world’s population, experienced fertility rates below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman. Fertility rates below the replacement level were relatively uncommon in the distant past. But today, many of the countries with sustained rates […]

House Republicans on Tuesday demanded that each member of President Biden's cabinet preserve all relevant documents and communications, a move that signals future investigations into the Biden administration.

Senate Republicans on Wednesday will elect a new party leader for the first time in nearly two decades.

Republican Rep. David Valadao has won reelection in California's 22nd Congressional District, defeating Democrat Rudy Salas for the second time.

The Associated Press has declared a winner in Colorado's 8th Congressional District which has been one of the most closely watched races in the country.

Incumbent Republican David Valadao is projected to emerge victorious in California's 22nd Congressional District. The highly contested race was considered to be a tossup.