Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.
Stories Chosen For You
Far-right trucker kicked off congressional ballot for forging signatures jumps back into race against Elise Stefanik
May 26, 2022
On Thursday, North Country Public Radio reported that a far-right trucker kicked off the New York GOP primary ballot for alleged signature forgery is redeclaring his candidacy against Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) — taking advantage of the opening created by courts forcing a redraw of New York's congressional maps.
"Lonny Koons, a North Country trucker, announced he’s reviving his campaign for Congress. He’s challenging Rep. Elise Stefanik for the Republican nomination in New York’s 21st Congressional district, which includes most of the North Country in the new election maps," reported Celia Clarke. "Koons ended his campaign earlier this year after accusations that he broke petitioning rules."
Koons is making residency a key point of his campaign. The new map puts Stefanik's residence in Schuylerville just outside of the 21st District, and he is arguing the district should be represented by a resident.
According to the Watertown Daily Times, Koons holds a number of extreme positions.
"He brands himself as a blue-collar man of the people, intent on bridging the wide gap between liberal and conservative voters in today’s U.S.," reported Alex Gault. "He’s a radical supporter of the Second Amendment, notably believing that American citizens should have access to all the same weaponry the U.S. government has, including nuclear weapons. He believes in some of the false allegations that voter fraud was rampant in the 2020 presidential election, supports term limits for members of the House of Representatives and has promoted a regulatory committee to control social media companies, news organizations and other publishers."
Stefanik herself has come under controversy in recent weeks for promoting "great replacement theory," the idea that sinister forces are pushing mass migration of nonwhite people into majority-white countries to eliminate white people, or at least subjugate them politically. She has vehemently denied her comments, which claimed Democrats want to use immigrant amnesty to "overthrow the current electorate," are meant to endorse the great replacement.
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Former FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi explained on Thursday why he thinks the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas will be studied as an example of what not to do.
There were two wide gaps in time during the police response and multiple media outlets have reported shocking details of what law enforcement was doing during the time.
"Javier Cazares, whose fourth-grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, said he raced to the school when he heard about the shooting, arriving while police were still gathered outside the building," the Associated Press reported. "Upset that police were not moving in, he raised the idea of charging into the school with several other bystanders. 'Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,' he said. 'More could have been done.'”
A similar report came from The New York Times, which interviewed Derek Sotelo, 26, who rushed to the school after hearing the gunfire from his nearby tire shop.
He told the newspaper “We were wondering, ‘What the heck is going on? Are they going in?’ The dads were saying, ‘Give me the vest, I’ll go in there!’”
But the most shocking account was reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Angeli Rose Gomez told the newspaper "police were doing nothing" when she arrived.
RELATED: From our cold dead hands: DC Republicans cling to guns in wake of Texas shooting
"Ms. Gomez, a farm supervisor, said that she was one of numerous parents waiting outside the school who began encouraging—first politely, and then with more urgency—police and other law enforcement to enter the school sooner. After a few minutes, she said, U.S. Marshals put her in handcuffs, telling her she was being arrested for actively intervening in an active investigation," the newspaper reported. "Ms. Gomez convinced local Uvalde police officers whom she knew to persuade the marshals to set her free. Around her, the scene was frantic. She said she saw a father tackled and thrown to the ground by police and a third pepper-sprayed. Once freed from her cuffs, Ms. Gomez made her distance from the crowd, jumped the school fence, and ran inside to grab her two children. She sprinted out of the school with them."
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace interviewed Figliuzzi about the developments.
"Lt's be clear," he said. "You do, of course, want to establish a controlled perimeter when some violence is ongoing."
"There are so many questions here about why so long for any tactical response, why do we rely on a federal response that just because it happens to be a border or near the border town, we happen to have, thank goodness, Border Patrol there," he said. "Great."
"Where are the sheriffs? Where is the S.W.A.T. team? Where is the breaching material and tools? Why don't we have a master key in the hands of the police department? This is going to be studied, unfortunately, as how not to handle a school shooter because it goes against the training that certainly I've had and certainly what I know police departments train to do," he said.
Watch the clip below or at this link.
Frank Figliuzzi www.youtube.com
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer may have a far easier path to re-election after the GOP frontrunners were kicked off the ballot for botched election fraud schemes.
"Two of the leading candidates for the GOP nomination for Michigan governor say they will ask the courts to intervene after they were found ineligible Thursday for the August primary, reshaping the race to challenge Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the battleground state this fall," Click on Detroit Channel 4 News reported Thursday.
"Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, who has led in most primary polls, and businessman Perry Johnson, along with three other lesser-known candidates, did not qualify for the ballot. The state elections bureau recommended they be disqualified, saying it found thousands of fraudulent signatures on petitions submitted by the candidates."
Neil Vigdor wrote in The New York Times the disqualification, "sent the race, in a key battleground state, into chaos and dealt a serious blow to the party’s plans to challenge Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic incumbent."
In addition to the frontrunners, Republicans Donna Brandenburg, Michael Brown and Michael Markey were also disqualified.
Johnson has spent millions on his campaign.
"The Republicans who remain on the ballot are Dixon, who recently was endorsed by the family of former Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, real estate agent Ryan Kelley, businessman Kevin Rinke, pastor Ralph Rebandt and chiropractor Garrett Soldano," Channel 4 reported.
Michigan GOP governor hopefuls off ballot, court fight next www.youtube.com
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Copyright © 2022 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | For corrections or concerns, please email corrections@rawstory.com.
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}