Red Wing Daily: June 15, 2024
"the more you know..."
State
It took the ATF all of 45 seconds…. Bryan Malinowski didn’t have a chance. GOP Sixth Judicial Prosecutor Will Jones says no charges will be filed.
Jones also says there’ll be no charges in the shady “purchase” of that lectern in Governor Sanders office. Related: Did you know RPA Chair Joseph Wood was head of the Transformation and Shared Services Department — which is charged with identifying “efficiencies and cost-savings measures” to streamline state operations — when that Department purportedly bought the lectern? Then, just weeks later, Wood became the appointed (er, elected…) chair of the Republican Party of Arkansas and was then able to “rescue” the lectern by having the RPA buy it.
A big laugh: “Former Arkansas governors Asa Hutchinson and Mike Beebe came from opposite parties and ran against each other for governor in 2006. One thing they agree about: More lawyers are needed in politics….”
“F” or “M” only for drivers: A Pulaski County Judge (of course!) halted the new Arkansas rule change that removed the “X” non-gender designation on state drivers licenses. DFA’s response:
DFA is proceeding with promulgating a permanent rule requiring that an individual’s gender on their state license or ID match the gender listed on their birth certificate. This permanent rule was unaffected by today’s ruling.
Out of balance: Did you know the Republican State Committee has grown to at least 127 automatic elected officials — who were voting members prior to Saturday’s GOP State Convention — because Arkansas is a trifecta (“all Republican”) state?
The change the State Convention put in place aligns Arkansas with the majority of states and RNC Rule 168, and designates those electeds as true ex-officio, non-voting members of the State Committee. As members of their County Committees, those elected officials are, of course, still able to run for any elected representative position within the County Committee, just like every other County Committee member.
And, there’s been so much going on with the Republican Party State Convention, it’s been difficult to catch up on other state news:
ICYMI: The Supreme Court remanded “the lawsuit challenging Arkansas’ 2021 U.S. House map back to a three-judge panel, ordering it to review the suit in light of the high court’s decision against similar claims of bias in a redistricting case from South Carolina … a setback for the lawsuit challenging the way Arkansas’ majority-Republican Legislature redrew the lines for” the Second District.
ICYMI: The provider, Solution Tree, asked Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Olivia to withdraw its $99.4 million “professional development training contract from legislative review following criticism about past performance and cost from lawmakers.” Lawmakers criticized previous work that “yielded ‘no statistically significant effect’ on weighted student achievement or student value-added growth. Solution Tree other contracts with Arkansas are worth $149.9 million.
Elections in Arkansas: Secretary of State John Thurston: “the state of Arkansas’ election system is strong…I can say with absolute assurance that our state’s elections are the gold standard that others should strive toward.” Thurston is urging federal lawmakers to return election spending to the earlier benchmark of around $400 million yearly.
ICYMI: ExxonMobil tentatively agreed to pay nearly $1.8 million for natural-resource damages from the Mayflower, Arkansas oil spill on March 19, 2013, after state and federal agencies filed a lawsuit in District Court just a few days ago. The state is now asking for a 30-day delay “for public review.”
The great success at last Saturday’s Republican State Convention is just the beginning of a long battle to see the grassroots gain its voice and become a force in Arkansas politics. We need YOU to do your part by joining your local Republican County Committee. To help that along, take a look at Dancing Guy below — hint: IT WORKS!
National
Why energy prices are still rising: The Left’s “climate-change” lawfare reaches across all sectors of our economy, contributing to our drastically increasing cost of living. “States are not just suing oil and gas companies; they are also lodging climate-related lawsuits against food companies,” which is causing energy prices to skyrocket.
CBDC Stop: The House has voted 216-192 to stop the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency. All four Arkansas Congressmen voted in favor of HR 5403, the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act.
Familiar GOP shenanigans in Illinois: GOP leaders are calling for state Vice Chair Mark Shaw to be removed after he “purposefully misrepresented himself as a delegate during the state convention” there. (Hmnn, why does this sound strangely familiar?)
Title IX block: In a win for Texas AG Ken Paxton, a Texas federal judge has stopped Biden’s abominable Title IX rules, writing in his ruling:
To allow [the Biden administration’s] unlawful action to stand would be to functionally rewrite Title IX in a way that shockingly transforms American education and usurps a major question from Congress … That is not how our democratic system functions.
This ruling “does not affect the implementation of new Title IX regulations the Biden administration issued in April, which will explicitly codify protections for LGBTQ+ students and outright ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Know anyone looking online for work? Half (or more) of all job postings are fake, as that job seeker has perhaps wondered about. Here’s another reason why our online world is hurting, not helping, us.
SCOTUS & 2nd Amendment: U.S. Supreme Court continues issuing its annual June rulings, this time a 2nd Amendment win by siding 6-3 to overturn the federal bump stock ban.
Voting for Trump to save democracy: You hear the Democrats whining all the time about “losing our democracy” if our President Trump is re-elected in 2024 but it seems that New York sham trial has turned “never Trumpers” to “Trump Now,” saying they want to save democracy by putting him back in office.
Tech
Just stop it! Just because you carry that Android phone around with you everywhere doesn’t mean you have to accept “location tracking.” You can turn it off for specific apps (or set it to use location tracking only when you are using that specific app), turn off tracking entirely — or you may also want to disable the automatic “Find My Device” service. Here’s how.
Are you read for Monday’s “fast and furious” special session of the Arkansas Legislature? The call includes more tax cuts and a final budget for the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission; however, a super-majority vote can bring other legislation up for approval. Use your account on MyConstituents.ai to keep an eye on any fast-moving legislation; we get information on bills every 15 minutes.
Great article!