ATLANTA - Today, the campaign of former Senator David Perdue released their latest television advertisement which included footage of former Senator Perdue shaking hands with Grady Sanford, a former law enforcement official who was arrested on child porn charges in November of 2020.



"David Perdue should immediately take down this TV ad that highlights him shaking hands with a child predator and apologize to the victims of Grady Sanford's atrocious criminal behavior," said Cody Hall, Director of Communications and Senior Advisor. "Perdue's use of this footage to score political points for his failing campaign is absolutely reprehensible. Georgians deserve better in their Governor."

Tate Mitchell - Press Secretary
Kemp for Governor

https://madmimi.com/p/93e0931/preview

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — When Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade organizers barred a group of gay and transgender military veterans from marching in 2017, some of the most prominent politicians in Massachusetts said they’d boycott the parade, and the organizers reversed course.

On Staten Island, most local elected officials have opted not to not march in the upcoming St. Patrick’s Parade, and said that they believe the Richmond County St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee should allow LGBTQ groups to participate in the event, scheduled for the first weekend in March.


In 2020, the last time parade was held before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, only Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-South Shore) and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) marched. Malliotakis was a state assemblywoman representing the East Shore and South Brooklyn at the time. Neither she nor Lanza responded to a request for comment by the time of publication on Tuesday.

City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-South Shore) tried to march, but a parade marshal prevented him, because of a small rainbow flag worn on his lapel.

On Monday, Borelli said he wouldn’t be marching this year, and that he suspects the continued exclusion of LGBTQ groups would be the parade’s undoing.

A member of the liberal “Squad” is delivering a formal response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday.

In the speech, given on behalf of the left-wing group Working Families Party, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) is expected to hammer moderate Democrats who have stymied Biden’s social spending and climate change package.

Tlaib will praise Biden’s stimulus bill and make the case that liberals have pushed aggressively for his agenda, according to a summary of her remarks shared exclusively with POLITICO. She is also planning to argue that Republicans and a handful of intransigent Democrats have blocked progress on lowering the cost of housing, health care and prescription drugs.

The speech will put on display the deep rifts within the Democratic Party that have marked Biden’s presidency. Months ahead of the daunting midterm election, many Democrats are looking to put aside those differences in order to present a united front against Republicans. But the left sees an opportunity in this year’s primaries to elect a more liberal Democratic majority to Congress.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams thinks it’s “best for the city of New York” that he has given jobs in his administration to two pastors who have opposed gay rights. He didn’t quite explain why this was the best choice for the city when pressed on the appointments. But his unapologetic response is in keeping with his approach to filling his administration despite objections from the chattering masses, a defense he's previously summed up as “I’m the mayor.”

Adams hired former City Council Member Fernando Cabrera as a faith adviser, and former mayoral candidate Erick Salgado as an assistant commissioner for immigrant affairs, to an outcry from LGBTQ advocates. “I spoke with a number of those leaders and shared my thoughts, and I stated ‘I respect your thoughts, but I’m going to do what’s best for the city of New York,’” he said Tuesday.

Though the mayor isn’t apologizing for the hires, he says the two pastors are sorry for their past views. “I accepted their apologies,” he said, arguing that many Americans “want to act like now they were always embracing marriage. That is not the reality.” While he’s not wrong that lots of Democrats in politics were against gay marriage before they were for it, Cabrera went quite a bit further than that: traveling to Uganda to praise the country’s government as it enacted a law harshly criminalizing homosexuality.

The backlash continues, with the City Council LGBTQ Caucus denouncing the appointments and another group of pols joining immigrant rights advocates to call for Salgado’s job to be rescinded. Added state Sen. Gustavo Rivera of the Bronx: “Fernando Cabrera is not qualified to be in public service in any position and the mayor should reconsider appointing him to anything.” A protest against the hires is planned for later this week.

D.C. United have entered a three-year partnership with blockchain technology provider XDC Network, the club announced Tuesday.
As part of the deal, XDC Network will be the front-of-jersey sponsor on the Black-and-Red’s home and away kits beginning with the 2022 MLS season, plus their training tops.

“Our partnership with XDC Network enables us to present more meaningful fan experiences using their cutting edge blockchain technology and create rewarding engagement opportunities for our ever-growing Black-and-Red community,” D.C. United president of business operations Danita Johnson said in a release.

“What makes this really unique for us is that it goes beyond a partnership. Through support from the XDC Foundation, we will utilize the blockchain by building a new fan experience on the XDC Network, which will deliver innovative ways for fans to engage with the club and gain access to blockchain education. We are excited to be a pioneer in professional sports and look forward to building a welcoming and transformative future together as we embark on this next chapter for D.C. United.”

The partnership is the first of its kind between a professional sports team in the United States and a blockchain network. It will introduce the D.C. United community to a ‘Fan Token’ program, which will reward fan loyalty through several engagement opportunities, like exclusive experiences and special access. D.C. United fans can also buy, sell, trade or interact with NFTs on the XDC Network through an innovative video platform and have the opportunity to learn about blockchain technology.

Earlier this month, I described the early political jockeying to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who is widely expected to step down sometime next year if Republicans retake the House. Inside her hometown of San Francisco, the race is viewed as essentially a two-person contest between moderate Scott Weiner, the city’s state senator, and more-progressive Christine Pelosi, a longtime Democratic organizer and middle daughter of the city’s royal family.

More recently, however, another dynastic name has come up in those conversations, and it is one that deeply intrigues me for symbolic reasons: Reed Jobs, the eldest son of Laurene Powell Jobs and, of course, the late Steve Jobs. Reed manages the health investments of Emerson Collective, his family’s hybrid family office, philanthropy and political advocacy shop, and is passionate above all else about efforts to cure cancer, which claimed the life of his father a decade ago. He is also very involved with his family’s nascent climate foundation. But the 30-year-old Jobs also loves politics, and he has long told people that he is definitely interested in running for something down the line, according to people who have talked with him. Sometimes, he has brought up Pelosi’s congressional seat, in particular. One person who has talked politics with him said Reed, as late as early last year, told them that he would strongly consider running for the seat after Pelosi retired.

Reed declined to comment for this story, and a person close to him pushed back on the premise, saying Reed had no current plans to run for the Pelosi seat. Of course, this is sensitive territory: Neither Weiner nor Christine Pelosi have confirmed that they have plans to run, either, as everyone maintains the lebenslüge that the Speaker of the House isn’t likely to step down in early 2023. (When I asked her this month, Christine told me she has “zero indication” that her soon-to-be 82-year old mother might step down next year, and she “would question the judgment of anyone who does.” Hmm.)

Virgin Hyperloop has fired 111 of its employees as it abandons the idea of making its system ready for passenger use. The Financial Times is reporting that the company is exclusively focusing on moving cargo, and has slashed almost half of its total workforce. A spokesperson confirmed to the paper that the shift in business was taking place, with supply chain issues and COVID contributing to the change.

Since its inception, the company has been developing its vacuum-tube system to carry both passengers and freight. One of the earliest concepts VH floated was an “inland port,” in which cargo vessels would put containers onto capsules that are shot inland before they’re processed. That way, the main logistics hub wouldn’t need to be beside the sea, and could instead be at the heart of a transit hub closer to customers.

It’s something that encouraged DP World, the Dubai-owned ports and logistics giant, to invest in the technology. It currently holds a majority stake in Virgin Hyperloop and in 2018 launched "Cargospeed," as a sub-brand dedicated to moving cargo. VH has, however, been in something of a spin for the last few months after former head Josh Giegel, one of two people to actually travel in a pod, quit the company.

The Brooklyn Democratic Party, New York’s largest Democratic county organization, has a new director who was recently a registered Republican, THE CITY has learned, bringing fresh scrutiny to a social media account in his name rife with right-wing talking points like the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.

Andy J. Marte grew up in Bushwick, ran for state Senate in 2020 and has long been involved in the borough’s political scene.

But voter records, reviewed by THE CITY, show that as recently as 2019, he was registered as a Republican.

Members of the New Kings Democrats, a progressive faction within the party, say they are troubled by Marte’s past political affiliation. Since his appointment, some have also circulated images of pro-Trump and other right-wing social media posts, which they believe are his and which they contend are at odds with the party’s values.

....snip...

A Twitter account, which uses Marte’s name and includes his photo, bio and several tweets promoting his failed state senate campaign, posted two tweets in 2019 that highlight a van painted with messages about the right-wing conspiracy theory Pizzagate. One of the tweets tags then-President Donald Trump, followed by “taking down Pedophile networks.”

Former president Donald Trump, a longtime critic of how Democrats debuted Healthcare.gov, is facing a bungled website launch of his own.

His long-promised social network, Truth Social, has been almost entirely inaccessible in the first days of its grand debut because of technical glitches, a 13-hour outage and a 300,000-person waitlist.

Even Trump supporters made jokes about the early slog. Jenna Ellis, a former member of his legal team, posted to Instagram a photo showing Trump with his finger hovering over a laptop, “letting us on to Truth Social one at a time.”

The site had been heralded for months as the crown jewel of Trump’s post-presidential business ambitions, with allies pledging it would revolutionize social media and take down the mainstream social networks where Trump is banned.

But early glimpses at Truth Social suggest its offerings are almost identical to what Twitter and other sites have offered for years — except tweets are called “truths,” and retweets “retruths.” The site’s early struggles also have fueled doubts that Trump’s company will be able to handle tougher long-term challenges, such as policing for dangerous content and guarding against cyberattacks.