New species found in ‘magical ecosystem’ in Ecuador gets name inspired by Tolkien
February 27, 2023, 5:05 PM ET
For customer support contact
support@rawstory.com. Report typos and corrections to
corrections@rawstory.com.
Stories Chosen For You
'Walmart Melania': Casey DeSantis loudly backs her husband’s message of 'division and dehumanization'
June 05, 2023
Florida Governor and 2024 GOP candidate Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey DeSantis recently visited Iowa for a campaign appearance, and once again, made their intention to wage a "War on Woke" clear.
NBC News Correspondent Dasha Burns shared a clip of her interview with the governor via Twitter, writing, "DeSantis and Trump are battling it out in the Governor’s first week as a candidate. A surprising split came on the “woke” issue with Trump stepping back and DeSantis leaning in. I asked DeSantis about it today: 'You've got to be willing to fight the woke' WATCH"
In the clip, Burns can be heard saying, "[Trump] said he doesn't like to use the word 'woke’' because people don't know what it means," noting, "That's obviously a big part of your messaging. What do you say to that?"
DeSantis replied, "We know what woke is, it's a form of cultural Marxism."
The Daily Beast Executive Editor Katie Baker, in an op-ed published Sunday, gives special attention Casey DeSantis.
Baker points out the fact during the couple's visit, Casey flaunted a "Where Woke Goes to Die" biker jacket, in support of her husband's constant culture wars messaging — adding, the jacket "brought to mind nothing so much as the racks of a Red State big-bin store where it would be retailing for $24.99."
She writes, "To be fair, Casey DeSantis wore the bomber to a charity biker rally and I’m sure the campaign intended it to be a viral moment, like Melania Trump’s infamous 'I Really Don't Care' coat that the former First Lady donned to check out the border crisis.
Baker raises the questions, "What does Casey DeSantis want us to know about her? What does she stand for?"
She continues, "Well, we know she's a woman who has high ambitions for her awkward husband. We know she's a woman who understands the power of the image. We know she's a woman who has overcome the great trials of a breast cancer diagnosis," adding, "Anyone going through that must have strength and grit. Still, we've all met people who have stared death in the face and came out the other side incandescently glowing with life and with love."
Baker writes:
Perhaps that is the case in Casey DeSantis' private and personal life, but on the public stage, with that black leather jacket, she's telling us she stands for something else. She's telling us she is cheering on a spouse who gets his kicks off targeting his fellow Americans. She's telling us she's down with his message of division and dehumanization. She's telling us they are ready for far more power. She's incandescent in her black leather jacket, at her husband’s side—both of them seething with hate.
However, the difference, Baker argues: "Casey DeSantis' coat is just like her husband Ron DeSantis' campaign: Crude. Grasping. Saying the ugly part out loud. Whereas Trump would wink-wink at the fascists—who can forget his dog whistle to the 'very fine people on both sides' at Charlottesville—DeSantis wants to peel off Trump's base by being even more explicit about who he intends to target. You can see it right there on his wife's jacket: DeSantis' Florida is where the woke go to die—and a lot of other people die as well."
The Florida Department of Health, according to a Columbia Law School report, noted, "Governor DeSantis and members of his staff repeatedly questioned the accuracy of the COVID-19 death rates, with his press secretary Fred Piccolo Jr. tweeting: 'we can tell you definitively that Florida is counting deaths that were not directly caused by COVID-19," adding, "Mr. Piccolo has also sought to downplay the COVID-19 pandemic in other ways. On one occasion, he erroneously tweeted: 'we had one COVID death in Florida yesterday . . yes you read that right. One.' In fact, on the day in question, there were 47 deaths."
Baker asks, "Will Red State primary voters see more of themselves in strivers like Ron and Casey—or in their old, brash, filthy-rich 'God Emperor' and his supermodel spouse?"
CONTINUE READING
Show less
CNN employees say boss Chris Licht has a 'Trumpian' paranoia and self-absorption: longtime insider
June 05, 2023
CNN boss Chris Licht is coming under increasing pressure over his widely criticized handling of a CNN town hall featuring former President Donald Trump, and now employees are dishing to longtime media insider Brian Stelter about how they really feel about him.
Writing on Twitter, Stelter said that multiple CNN staffers have confirmed to him the impression of Licht given in a report by The Atlantic's Tim Alberta, which made the CNN boss come off as "paranoid, self-absorbed, and reluctant to admit mistakes."
"'Trumpian' is the phrase several staffers used with me," wrote Stelter, who for years was employed as CNN's media reporter.
Stelter also said that there "is sympathy for Licht" among some CNN staffers, although they nonetheless "feel like he's been carrying out someone else's orders.
RELATED: 'Cowards': Soledad O'Brien rips former CNN colleagues for silence as Chris Licht wrecks the network
There has been some public criticism from some CNN employees about the Trump town hall, including from media reporter Oliver Darcy and Christiane Amanpour, but so far there has been no broad public revolt by CNN employees.
The Trump town hall has drawn criticism in particular because CNN filled the studio audience with diehard MAGA fans who cheered on the former president even when he mocked and demeaned the woman he was found liable for sexually abusing.
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Trump would immediately move to 'secure autocratic power' in second term: Former GOP DOJ official
June 05, 2023
Former Republican Justice Department officials are sounding the alarm that a second term for Donald Trump would spell disaster for the rule of law — and could shatter the anti-autocratic guardrails that held in his first term, reported The Guardian on Monday.
"Former DoJ officials, some Republicans and academics say that if Trump becomes the Republican nominee and is elected again in 2024, he would most likely appoint officials who would reflexively do his bidding, target dissenters he deems part of the 'deep state' and mount zealous drives to rein in independent agencies," reported Peter Stone.
Donald Ayer, a former deputy attorney general during the George HW Bush administration, sounded a particularly dire alarm and told the publication that "of all the many reasons Donald Trump’s candidacy should be rejected out of hand, none is more important than his utter disdain for the rule of law – the idea that we are a society governed by rules and not by the will of one person.'"
Ayer did not hold back, painting Trump as an existential threat to the country.
DON'T MISS: 'These people keep humiliating themselves': Morning Joe flattens the GOP's floundering Biden probes
“In his first term, aided by attorney general William Barr, who made a pretense of believing in even-handed justice, Trump was still able to grossly misuse the Department of Justice as a political campaign tool, to do favors for his friends, and to seriously undermine the separation of powers," said Ayer. “There would be no arguable adults in the room in a second Trump DoJ. Beyond pardons for the January 6 criminals and politically motivated prosecutions, one can expect a broader pattern of abuses aimed at securing his autocratic power.”
Notably, even Barr, whom Ayer praised, spent much of his time weaponizing the Justice Department for political use, particularly trying to bury the conclusions of the Mueller report, but he drew the line at using it to overturn the electoral process.
Trump has already hinted he will go much further, the report noted, by holding a rally in Waco, Texas, as a dark nod to far-right antigovernment extremists who use the Branch Davidian siege as a rallying cry for domestic terrorism. He has also outlined a plan to roll back merit reforms at the civil service so he can purge career government officials who are disloyal to him, which was thwarted when he left office but could be reinstated if he returns.
“If Trump were re-elected, we can look forward to a swift and deep decline in the rule of law,” former DOJ inspector general Michael Bromwich told The Guardian. “Top levels of the DoJ would be staffed with election deniers; there would be a wholesale exodus of talented career personnel from every division of DoJ; and large numbers of January 6 insurrectionists would be pardoned. After four more years, the Department of Justice as we know it would be in tatters.”
All of this comes as Trump faces criminal indictment in New York for business fraud, and as he increasingly anticipates charges in the federal investigation of classified documents hoarded at his Mar-a-Lago country club.
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Copyright © 2023 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | Manage Preferences
For corrections contact corrections@rawstory.com, for support contact support@rawstory.com.
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}