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RandySF's JournalNC-GOV: Nonprofit led by Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's (R) wife told to repay $132,000 after NCDHHS investigation
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Friday ordered Balanced Nutrition Inc., a nonprofit led by Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s wife, to repay more than $132,000 in federal funding following a finding of “serious deficiencies” against the organization earlier this week.
Yolanda Hill has operated Balanced Nutrition since 2015, helping child care centers apply for and receive federal funding for kids’ meals.
Balanced Nutrition improperly billed the federal food program, according to a letter Friday, including excessive administrative costs and inadequate documentation for some food purchases. The nonprofit also bought items not allowed for the childcare program.
“The full disallowance owed by Balanced Nutrition, Inc. to the State agency is $132,118.86,” DHHS said in its letter to the organization. “Please note, disallowances are separate from the Notice of Serious Deficiency, which requires documentation of the proposed corrective action.”
https://ncnewsline.com/briefs/nonprofit-led-by-lt-gov-mark-robinsons-wife-told-to-repay-132000-after-ncdhhs-investigation/
AZ: GOP lawmakers spread debunked 'body double' conspiracies
Two Arizona Republican state lawmakers have shared a debunked conspiracy theory that alleges, in part, that President Joe Biden is using body doubles.
Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, shared a now deleted post on X, formerly Twitter, falsely claiming that Jill Biden was in Paris and Washington, D.C., at the same time. The first lady left the White House and flew to France shortly after Biden spoke to the nation about dropping out of the race, PolitiFact reported, and the pictures were taken many hours apart.
Rogers shared the post adding “Body double?” in her post, referring to a similarly debunked claim that the Biden family uses “body doubles” for a number of conspiratorial reasons.
Rep. Joseph Chaplik, R-Scottsdale, shared a similar post, reposting an item by former CBS journalist Sharyl Attkisson, who has claimed falsely in the past that vaccines cause autism, a belief that has been thoroughly debunked.
https://azmirror.com/briefs/gop-lawmakers-spread-debunked-body-double-conspiracies/
Judge grants injunction saying inactive voters signatures must be counted for petitions
A Lewis and Clark County District Court judge granted a preliminary injunction Friday morning that says inactive voters’ signatures must count as valid signatures for three proposed ballot issues that are poised to be on November’s ballot once signature totals are certified by the Secretary of State’s Office.
However, during the hearing, not all the matters surrounding the case or the signature counting could be conducted because attorneys for the Secretary of State could not be found and served with subpoenas compelling their testimony, as the plaintiffs’ attorneys had planned for in the hearing.
Two lawyers for the Montana Attorney General’s Office, which are representing Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen in the case, consented to the injunction which would allow inactive voters’ signatures with attorneys for Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights and Montanans for Election Reform ahead of Friday morning’s hearing in Helena, both sides told Judge Mike Menahan.
“While we are pleased that the Secretary of State has agreed to follow the law regarding this issue, we fully anticipate that they will continue to play political games with the petition process in their attempt to block this initiative and silence Montana voters,” said ACLU of Montana Executive Director Akilah Deernose, a spokesperson for Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights. “Montanans can be sure that we will remain vigilant and continue to fight for the rights of Montanans to participate in their democracy and make their voices heard.”
https://dailymontanan.com/2024/07/26/judge-grants-injunction-saying-inactive-voters-signatures-must-be-counted-for-petitions/
Arkansas Supreme Court orders further legal filings in abortion amendment lawsuit
The Arkansas Supreme Court ordered Friday that Secretary of State John Thurston must respond by Monday morning to the complaint filed against him earlier this month arguing that he must count the signatures for a proposed ballot measure to create a limited right to abortion.
Both Thurston and Arkansans for Limited Government, the ballot question committee supporting the proposed constitutional amendment, must file briefs in the case by Aug. 2 and Aug. 9, the court ordered. AFLG submitted more than 102,000 signatures to Thurston’s office July 5 in hopes of getting the measure on the November ballot.
On July 10, Thurston said AFLG did not submit required documents related to paid canvassers, rendering 14,143 signatures invalid. The remaining signatures fell short of the threshold of the 90,704 needed to qualify for the ballot, Thurston said, so his office would not count them.
Lauren Cowles, AFLG’s executive director, asked the high court July 16 to order Thurston to count the signatures. Cowles said the ballot question committee did in fact submit the required accompanying documents to Thurston’s office multiple times, including on July 5.
https://arkansasadvocate.com/2024/07/26/arkansas-supreme-court-orders-further-legal-filings-in-abortion-amendment-lawsuit/
'Armor bearers:' Black women in Congress mobilize to boost Harris
Over a dozen Black female lawmakers who spoke with The Washington Post, several of whom have heard from Harris directly since Biden’s decision to exit the race, described a fierce and personal commitment to an intense three-month sprint to organize and mobilize voters on behalf of Harris’s campaign. They are in both a celebratory and get-down-to-business mood, sporting pink and green — the colors of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Harris’s college sorority — in the Capitol halls; privately pressing holdout colleagues to endorse Harris, and preparing to hit the trail and speak out against the racist and sexist attacks they, too, have been the target of.
Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) referred to Black women in Congress as Harris’s “armor bearers.” And Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) described her congressional sorority as a “shield of protection,” explaining she considered herself a part of Harris’s “truth squad” against challenges to the vice president’s credentials and experience.
“As a Black woman, especially, I know what she’s going to have to deal with,” said Lee. “And we’re communicating that to everyone.”
Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), the former president of Emily’s List, said this isn’t Harris’s “first rodeo” and underscored the sexist and racist treatment Black women encounter on a daily basis. But she described the role of Harris’s cohort of supporters at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue as a regenerative force, ready to deflect the anticipated mudslinging and propel her forward.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/26/black-lawmakers-women-kamala-harris-congress-cbc/
Trump ally who denies 2020 election results threatens law enforcement
Patrick Byrne, who has funded efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 election, said in an online forum Thursday that law enforcement would face “a piano wire and a blowtorch” if they did not drop a case against an ally.
Byrne, a former CEO of online retailer Overstock, used the phrase half a dozen times Thursday as he participated in a nearly three-hour-long event on X Spaces. His remarks came amid heightened worries about political violence, and he acknowledged during the event that his references to strangling or blowtorching officials were threatening and could be considered felonies. On Friday, he downplayed his comments, saying he had been speaking metaphorically and is committed to peace.
The “Cyber Crisis: Saving Tina Peters” event was aimed at rallying support for the former clerk of Mesa County, Colo., who faces charges accusing her of tampering with election equipment three years ago. Peters has pleaded not guilty, and her case goes to trial next week.
“If you have any brains at all, which I’m not sure they do, they should be throwing in the towel and just surrendering and dropping this case against Tina because those who don’t are going to end up facing a piano wire and a blowtorch before this is over if I have anything to do with it,” Byrne said. “So I know that’s probably another felony, but f--- it — threatening them like that — but there we are.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/26/patrick-byrne-tina-peters-threats/
Judge takes final step to overturn Florida's 'Stop WOKE Act'
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A judge issued a final order Friday to overturn a Florida law pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that attempted to limit diversity and race-based discussions in private workplaces.
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker previously ruled the law is unconstitutional. That decision was upheld by an appeals court in March. Walker’s latest order makes his temporary injunction permanent.
The law, called the ‘”Stop WOKE Act,” attempted to prohibit teaching or business practices that contend members of one ethnic group are inherently racist and should feel guilt for past actions committed by others. It also bars the notion that a person’s status as privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by their race or gender, or that discrimination is acceptable to achieve diversity.
DeSantis frequently referred to the law during his unsuccessful run for president, with the slogan that Florida was where “woke goes to die.”
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/07/26/judge-takes-final-step-to-overturn-floridas-stop-woke-act-2/
JD Vance said Project 2025 architect Kevin Roberts is "somebody I rely on a lot who has very good advice"
In January, Ohio senator and Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance said that Heritage Foundation president and Project 2025 architect Kevin Roberts “is somebody I rely on a lot who has very good advice, very good political instincts.” From NOTUS (emphasis added):
The Heritage Foundation is leading Project 2025, a far-right staffing and policy initiative backed by more than 100 conservative partner groups that seeks to remake the federal government into a vehicle for Trumpism. The proposals in the project’s policy book, Mandate for Leadership, would severely diminish reproductive, LGBTQ, and civil rights, implement draconian immigration policy, and crush climate change mitigation efforts.
The Trump campaign has attempted to distance itself from Project 2025 as it becomes increasingly toxic, in spite of numerous well-documented ties between the Trump campaign and the project. A CNN review found that there are “nearly 240 people with ties to both Project 2025 and to Trump,” and at least 140 former Trump administration staffers contributed to the project.
Vance brings his own close ties to Project 2025 and Heritage. In October 2023, Roberts and Vance wrote a joint op-ed in The Hill titled “Don’t hold up Israel aid to further Ukraine War funding.” Vance reposted the op-ed to his official Senate website.
https://www.mediamatters.org/jd-vance/jd-vance-said-project-2025-architect-kevin-roberts-somebody-i-rely-lot-who-has-very-good
J.D. Vance Says He Gets Bad Press Because Most Journalists Are "Childless Adults"
GOP vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance was slammed this week when a video of a 2021 Fox News appearance emerged in which he smeared Vice President Kamala Harris: He described her as being one of a “bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.” Vance faced an onslaught of bad press, as many commentators—including Harris’ step-daughter, Taylor Swift fans, Democratic officials, actor Jennifer Aniston, and several conservative women pundits—decried his comment.
Yet Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, might have had an easy way of dismissing the criticism, for not so long ago, while speaking to a group of conservatives, he blamed the negative media coverage he often received on “childless” reporters.
It turns out that his remark about Harris was not a one-off soundbite. This dig was part of a larger schtick that Vance has deployed to explain the challenges faced by the conservative movement, including derogatory stories in the media. In 2021, Vance presented the full pitch when he spoke at a conference outside Washington, DC, organized by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a rightwing outfit co-founded by William F. Buckley Jr. to promote conservative thought on college campuses. During this talk, Vance said he had been victimized by childless journalists. But first he noted that the conservative movement was screwed:
We have lost every single major cultural instiution in this country—Big Finance, Big Tech, Wall Street, the biggest corporations, the universities, the media, and the government. There is not a single institution in this country that conservatives currently control. But there’s one of them, just one that we might have a chance of actually controlling in the future, and that’s the consitutional republic that our founders gave us. We are never going to take Facebook, Amazon, Apple and turn them into conservative institutions. We are never going take the universities and turn them into conservative institutions… We might just be able to control the democratic institutions in this country… This is a raw fact of cynical politics. If we’re not willing to use the power given to us in the American constitutional republic, we’re going to lose this country.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/07/jd-vance-childless-adults-media/
JD Vance refers to Jan. 6 "QAnon Shaman" as "a fun guy to have a beer with," in resurfaced video
JD Vance is making headlines for a variety of unanticipated reasons this week — accused of both making love to a literal couch and searching online for sex-specific dolphin content. And the hits keep coming.
Amidst rumblings that Donald Trump is perhaps regretting choosing Vance as his running mate — now that Biden has made way for a stronger match with whomever the presumptive Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, taps to join at her side in any upcoming debates — Vance's background is being heavily researched, and much of it is being served up as easy "not this guy" fodder.
The latest in a string of derogatory Vance content is a resurfaced clip from a 2023 event, in which Trump's #2 is shown referring to Jacob Chansley, AKA the Jan. 6 "QAnon Shaman," as a "fun guy" who got a bad rap for his participation in the Capitol riot.
"This guy who was sentenced to four years in prison for literally walking around in the Capitol . . . We were taught it was a crazy guy with, like, the bullhorns, you know what I'm talking about? He looked like he’d be a fun guy to have a beer with, right? The Q shaman, that's what they called this guy," Vance says in the clip, which can be seen below.
https://www.salon.com/2024/07/26/jd-vance-refers-to-jan-6-qanon-shaman-as-a-fun-guy-to-have-a-beer-with-in-resurfaced-video/
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Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit Area, MI
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