Time for Democrats To Fret About Platner?

Two major polls of the Maine Senate race dropped this week, and they told the same story: The race is incredibly close, and Democrat Graham Platner has real work to do among the working class. He's running an aggressively left-populist, anti-establishment campaign targeting the billionaire class-and boasts lots of blue-collar appeal-but GOP Senator Susan Collins is way ahead among those voters. Why?

Most Supreme Court rulings are secretive votes with little justification

The Supreme Court is deciding more consequential rulings than ever before in secret

California city council members voted out in a landslide refuse to leave office

Elected officials in California are carrying on with business as usual, even after their constituents voted overwhelmingly to send them packing.An election was held on April 28 in the California city of Avenal in Kings County, where the mayor, Alvaro Preciado, and three city council members — Leticia Gamez, David Reynosa, and Pablo Hernandez — were recalled with at least 76% of voters backing the ouster in each case. The Kings County Registrar of Voters certified the recall election.'I’ve never seen a city so deflated.'The driving force behind this electoral housecleaning — which the council members unsuccessfully attempted to stop with a lawsuit in April — was principally voter concerns about transparency and the council's previous decision to cease contracting with the county fire department.Preciado, Gamez, and Hernandez voted on June 11 to reject the will of the electorate and remain in office. They even approved a new city budget despite recall advocates producing a restraining order, reported the SF Chronicle.Those officials clinging to power, including Reynosa, maintain that the recall election was conducted unlawfully by Kings County and without the council's authorization.Preciado told the SF Chronicle last month that he was staying in office until a judge decides on the recall's legality.California Democrat Attorney General Robert Bonta cleared the way for legal action against the recalled officials on June 11.RELATED: Gov. Pritzker says he's one of the good billionaires, not the ones vilified by socialists In his opinion, Bonta noted that "if the Relators are correct on the merits, then the Defendants are not lawfully occupying office. It would not be in the public interest to permit elected officials to disregard election results."Days after Bonta granted the recall campaigners' application for leave to sue in quo warranto, residents served Preciado and the other recalled officials a lawsuit and an earful at an Avenal city council meeting.Dalila Barajas, a resident of Avenal who is one of the recall proponents, told KGPE-TV, "It just seems that the more meetings they have, the more money that they're spending illegally, the more our citizens are getting frustrated and the more we're asking for them to step down."While Bonta cleared lawsuits against the recall officials, King County District 2 Supervisor Richard Valle criticized the state attorney general for his apparent disinterest in the scandal, telling KMPH-TV on Wednesday, "I believe that if these were MAGA republicans who were refusing to leave office, someone in California would have done something about that.""We were hoping he would take some action," added Valle."I’ve never seen a city so deflated in my time of being around in public service. The people feel like nobody’s coming to help," added the King County supervisor. "Why is it being allowed to take place here in the state of California, in the county of Kings, in the city of Avenal? It’s embarrassing."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A Reflection on Being at Independence Hall for the Independence Vote Anniversary

Lone NYC Council Dem to vote against Mamdani’s $126B budget rips mayor for lack of ‘equity’

Bronx Councilwoman Althea Stevens blasted the democratic socialist mayor over what she called a lack of "equity" in his first budget -- accusing him of not allotting enough cash for her district, which faces high rates of poverty and gun violence.

Tillis: SAVE America Act is ‘dead’ as time has run out to implement new voting rules

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) says the SAVE America Act, President Trump’s No. 1 legislative priority, is “dead” on Capitol Hill because there is not enough time to change election laws before the midterms — even if Senate Republicans muster 60 votes for the legislation, which is unlikely. “Unless they do the work to get to…

Senate votes to halt Iran war, then flips

The Senate voted for and against ending the war with Iran on two consecutive days, with President Trump lashing out at four GOP senators who had voted for a resolution barring any future U.S. military activities against Iran, and the administration arguing that the resolution is unconstitutional.

‘Not what I voted for’: Three-time Trump voter tears president apart

President Donald Trump has been gradually losing support among all but his most staunch supporters as the economy worsens and he is seen personally profiting from his office. Now one three-time Trump voter admitted to MS NOW that this is “not what I voted for.”“Are people starting to look at Donald Trump and say to themselves, ‘He's not worried about me, he's not concerned about me. He's just concerned about himself. All he does is talk about himself, talk about how great he is. He's putting his name on things, his picture on everything’?” MS NOW anchor Katy Tur said on Thursday. “But also, he's getting super rich while he's in the White House — I mean, really, really rich. That financial disclosure that came out a couple days ago: more than two billion dollars richer than he was last year after taking the White House.”After noting that Trump has particularly profited from cryptocurrency, Tur referred to footage of a three-time Trump voter in Florida who recently spoke with MS NOW correspondent Alex Talbot.“It's frustrating that you see your president getting richer and richer, and the middle class getting poorer,” the voter told Talbot. When asked if he had to pick one word to describe how he feels about Trump enriching himself while ignoring ordinary voters’ economic concerns, the voter replied that he is “confused, and a little disappointed. Not what I had hoped things would be when I voted for him.” He added, when asked if he feels richer or poorer since Trump took office, that he feels “poorer.”“Governor, what do you think about that?” Tur asked former Gov. Pat McCrory (R-NC).“The disappointing thing is not him getting rich,” McCrory told Tur. “The disappointing thing is he got rich on the backs of people who are getting ripped off on high commissions, because that's how they're making most of their money — on the trading of Bitcoin. And that's where the money is made, regardless of what happens to the price. And sadly, the price has gone down dramatically in the past year.”He continued, “So the people who have maybe allegiance to Donald Trump, and maybe thought it was a patriotic thing to do, have lost their shirts — probably 70 percent of the money that they put into it. And yet, the people who took the commissions have become very wealthy on this. Again, I'm not a big fan of crypto, and I'm not a big fan of the crypto industry having so much influence on the Banking Committee, the AG Committee, the Commerce Committee, and other people who have to make rules and regulations on crypto — both Democrat and Republican — and we've got to call it out.” - YouTube youtu.be