Report: Kyrsten Sinema is blowing campaign funds on luxurious living while her re-election chances diminish
There are mounting indications that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's days in the U.S. Senate are numbered. Her major challengers, Republican Kari Lake and Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, are grossly out-fundraising her, and she appears less than eager to make the deadline for signature collection. The biggest indicator — beyond her apparent reluctance to announce her re-election bid — comes down to her recent spending habits.
Despite raising a paltry $595,00 in the last quarter, the former Green Party activist and critic of "seeing Washington bureaucrats use their hard-earned tax dollars for personal gain" has been rapidly blowing campaign funds on a luxurious lifestyle involving five-star European hotels, lavish getaways to coastal vineyards, and expensive vehicles.
The New York Post reported that Federal Election Commission filings show Sinema spent $796,565 between Oct. 1, 2023, and Dec. 31 on expenses such as luxury hotels, a brand new car, concert tickets and the security detail that follows her around on her adventures.
Sinema threw down $77,000 on a new Chevrolet described in paperwork as a "van," even though she reportedly already bought a $70,000 "security detail vehicle" for herself two years ago. If she loses a re-election bid or doesn't bother to even try, then she will still get to keep the vehicles, assuming they are licensed to her.
According to the Post, Sinema also spent over $3,000 on limos in London and Paris, ostensibly for personal use.
The Daily Beast indicated that Sinema has ignored her own longstanding criticism of "first class air travel," having spent $210,000 in taxpayer funds on private chartered air travel since 2020.
Sinema reportedly stayed in July and October of last year at the five-star Le Roch Hotel & Spa in Paris, which cost her personal political action committee, the "Getting Stuff Done PAC," $7,600. The PAC also fitted the bill for her $2,500 July stay at Madrid's Edition Hotel, a "luxury lifestyle urban five-star resort," reported the Beast.
Sinema's PAC also paid the senator's way through various wineries in California and Oregon.
The Washington Examiner reported that Sinema has $10.6 million remaining in her coffers and some suspect the senator intends to spend as much of it as she can on her way out.
"Look, I have no direct knowledge, but just her actions and fundraising speaks louder than words – this is not a candidate who is running," an anonymous Sinema ally told the Examiner. "As much as I'd like her to run, and I think the people of Arizona are best represented by her, this is not the way you start one of the most politically challenging campaigns of your career."
When asked about her fundraising earlier this week, Sinema told reporters, "Not talking about that at all."
"Why are you wasting your question on that? I want to be clear to all of you: total waste of a question. I'm here to talk about substance," added Sinema.
FEC rules allow for campaigns to fund a candidate's trips if the trips serve a campaigning or fundraising purpose. The Beast noted that Sinema has in recent years added donor meetings to personal trips so that she wouldn't have to open her wallet when traveling to various marathon and triathlon events. Her latest expenditures might amount to more of the same.
Thomas Jones, president of the American Accountability Foundation, told the New York Post, "Sen. Sinema's use of campaign funds for seemingly personal expenses raises serious ethical questions. It also raises overall questions regarding the Senator's judgment."
"Particularly disturbing is the campaign's extravagant spending on security even as leftists like Sinema make Americans less safe by attacking police… This is elitist hypocrisy at its worst," added Jones.
Sinema has not yet filed her statement of interest with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office to begin gathering the 42,303 signatures required by April 8 so that she might appear on the ballot.
A recent poll had Sinema trailing Lake and Gallego both by over 25 points.
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Though long an advocate for raising taxes, Ivy League socialist Cornel West has yet to pay over $500,000 of his own
Leftist academic Cornel West is a big proponent of higher taxes for the rich and other forms of state-coerced wealth redistribution. It appears, however, that he has set for himself a different standard.
Having thrown his hat into the ring for president as the Green Party's presumptive nominee, the 70-year-old Ivy League socialist has attracted a closer inspection by comrades and conservatives alike.
The Daily Beast has discovered that West owes the Internal Revenue Service well over $500,000 in back taxes.
Documents filed in Mercer County, New Jersey — where West reportedly owns a home in the college town of Princeton, which has a median home sale price of $1,404,750 — reportedly revealed a total of $543,778.78 in outstanding federal tax liens against the socialist.
The liberal blog noted that in nearly every one of the years recorded, the frequent critic of the well-to-do "owed more in unpaid taxes that the median American household earned," including $85,477.02 in 2017; $136,916.26 in 2016; $82,396.14 in 2015; $98,818.25 in 2014; and so on.
Since the IRS has yet to file a release for any of these liens, it appears West has either yet to pay them or has paid them off inside the last 30 days.
The Harvard graduate also made a habit of leaving his taxes unpaid prior to 2005, having accrued $724,397.26 over a six-year period ending in 2004. The Daily Beast indicated he paid down that sum in 2010.
West also has reportedly shirked paying his taxes beyond New Jersey.
The IRS submitted documents in California that indicated between 2011 and 2012, West racked up over $159,000, which he appears to have resolved on June 14, 2023.
The Daily Beast noted in a subsequent report that West did not dispute these findings, but had rejected a secondary claim that he had skipped out on a $49,500 child support judgment against him from 2003.
It is unclear which child this judgment was in reference to. West has been divorced four times and is presently on his fifth marriage.
After being exposed for his apparent efforts to hamper the state in its redistribution of wealth, West told Lenard McKelvey of "The Breakfast Club" that "any time you shine a flashlight under somebody’s clothes, you’re gonna find all kind of mess, because that's what it is to be human," adding, "They want to use it as a distraction."
West suggested the intention behind noting his apparent hypocrisy was distracting from "the suffering" that he is trying to highlight, which he has previously indicated can be remedied in part by taxation.
In his June 9 interview with Semafor, West stated, "How does one go about engaging in massive, downward redistribution of wealth downward? We’ve got to have massive cutbacks to the military. We’ve got to have taxes that are higher, much higher."
Higher taxes and persons willing to paying their fair share would likely be required were West elected, given that he has vowed to deliver Medicare for all, housing for all, "quality education for all, free college tuition for all, and jobs with living wages for all," as well as the resurrection of the Green New Deal.
A recent Emerson College poll indicated that when West is included on the ballot, support for Biden decreases from 48% to 44% and support for Trump slides from 41% to 39%, with the tax-averse socialist picking up five points.
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Sen. Fetterman recites BLM slogans in celebratory Juneteenth post, but is swiftly reminded of the innocent black jogger he chased down with a shotgun
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) wished everyone a "Happy Juneteenth" on Monday, noting that extra to celebrating emancipation, the occasion marked a time to "reflect on the long shadow of systemic racism in America."
Some Twitter users obliged the senator in reflecting on the racism of yesteryear, noting a shady moment in Fetterman's own recent past: a 2013 incident when then-Braddock Mayor Fetterman pulled a shotgun on an innocent black jogger, whom he had presumed was fleeing a shooting, reported the New York Post.
Replying to Fetterman's post on Twitter — a recycled tweet from 2022, which also stressed, "PA always stands by the unshakeable truth that Black families matter + Black lives matter" — former Trump campaign communications director and Washington Times columnist Tim Murtaugh tweeted, "Senator, why don’t you tell that story about that time you chased a black jogger and held a shotgun on him because you thought he was a criminal?"
Spencer Brown, the managing editor of Townhall, shared a graphic referencing a New York Times write-up of the event, captioned, "John Fetterman chased down an innocent unarmed black man."
\u201chttps://t.co/OuTnJvBaZp\u201d— Spencer Brown (@Spencer Brown) 1687205894
According to Trib Live, Fetterman was outside his home with his son around 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2013, when he claimed to have heard high-powered rifle shots. After taking his son inside and calling police, Fetterman saw a black jogger running from the direction of the alleged gunshot sounds and inferred that the two were linked.
The police report indicated that extra to being unarmed, Christopher Miyares was dressed in "running clothing and was wearing headphones."
Fetterman pulled a 20-gauge shotgun from beneath the back seat of his truck and chased down Miyares.
The Pennsylvania Democrat admitted that the gun stowed in his truck was loaded, which the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office indicated at the time was illegal.
Fetterman reportedly caught up to the jogger in his truck, ordered him to stop, then brandished his shotgun when he didn't comply.
Miyares told WTAE-TV that the Democrat aimed the shotgun at his chest, which Fetterman denied.
The jogger, who was not charged with any crime, later explained to police that he had seen children playing with bottle rockets, which may have been the source of the sound that prompted the Democrat to presume him guilty.
"I did what I thought was appropriate at the time. I don't have any regrets now. It was just a very confusing and scary situation," said Fetterman.
Fawn Walker-Montgomery, a former city council member from McKeesport, near Braddock, told NBC News last year, "He was a white man with a gun chasing a black man. ... I used to be on the council in McKeesport, and if I chased after a person with a gun, I would still be in jail. He’s showing he’s not aware of his white privilege."
The New York Post reported that while downplaying the incident ahead of the 2022 election, Fetterman also wiped mentions of the identitarian activist group BLM from his campaign site, which had been up until late August.
Braddock mayor detains jogger after hearing possible gunshots youtu.be
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Tucker Carlson mocks AOC on-air, she responds by suggesting there's 'sexual harassment' in his office
On Friday, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson took to the airways to lampoon the upcoming book “Take Up Space: The Precedented AOC” written by New York Magazine’s editing team.
Tucker said, “Now, a hagiography of Sandy Cortez is like a box of Fig Newtons. You know it's wrong to open it, but the temptation is strong, and so we did. And before we knew it, we consumed the whole thing. We still feel sick. So that is what we're opening with tonight, the new Sandy Cortez book.
“Yes, it’s a lighter topic than tyranny in Canada or war in Ukraine,” Tucker continued, “We’ve got limited self-control of stuff like this. It’s an amazing book … It opens by comparing Ocasio-Cortez to Jesus and then it suggests that because she once got second place in a high school science competition, she could have gone on to win the Nobel Prize. It is a remarkable piece of journalism.”
The Fox News host continued by ridiculing the lavish praise heaped onto AOC by the book. He said, “Imagine if you were the person who wrote that. So here's this crazed solipsist filming herself as she puts together a coffee table and eats popcorn, the least-compelling film made since Andy Warhol died, and this is what you call it, "She's shone a bright light on her own complicated, multifaceted self." That's the moment you have to be honest with yourself and say, "It's time for me to retire." By the way, the person who wrote this didn't even perceive how creepy it was.”
Responding to the book’s claim that AOC is “the first politician in history to live fully out loud while female, and the degradations of womanhood are personal to her” and the congresswoman’s claim that “as a woman of color, it’s so hard to be taken seriously,” Tucker said, “There is no place on Earth, outside of American colleges and newsrooms, where Sandy Cortez would be recognized as a ‘woman of color,’ because she’s not. She’s a rich, entitled white lady.”
The congresswoman responded to Tucker’s ridiculing via Twitter.
This is the type of stuff you say when your name starts with a P and ends with dejohttps://twitter.com/acyn/status/1494841185306693632\u00a0\u2026— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1645233980
In early January, after facing charges of hypocrisy for being seen not wearing a mask while vacationing in Florida, AOC suggested that underlying reason people were mad at her was because they wanted to be romantically involved with her.
After Tucker mocked her on-air she suggested that Tucker’s ridicule was akin to sexual harassment. The congresswoman said, “If you’re this easy [with] sexual harassment on air, how are you treating your staff?”
Remember when the right wing had a meltdown when I suggested they exhibit obsessive impulses around young women?\n\nWell now Tucker Carlson is wishing for\u2026 this on national TV.\n\nYou\u2019re a creep bro. If you\u2019re this easy w/ sexual harassment on air, how are you treating your staff?https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1494843019979231236\u00a0\u2026— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1645234564
SD Gov. Noem slams 'hypocrite' Biden as White House plans July 4th fireworks after banning Mount Rushmore event
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) called out President Joe Biden on Tuesday, branding him a "hypocrite" after the White House announced its own fireworks display for the Fourth of July after rejecting her state's request to hold a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore on Independence Day.
What are the details?
Back in March, the Biden administration denied the state of South Dakota's request to hold a celebration and shoot off fireworks at Mount Rushmore on July 4. In a letter to the state's tourism secretary, the National Park Service wrote:
"Potential risks to the park itself and to the health and safety of employees and visitors associated with the fireworks demonstration continue to be a concern and are still being evaluated as a result of the 2020 event. In addition, the park's many tribal partners expressly oppose fireworks at the Memorial.
"These factors, compiled with the COVID-19 pandemic, do not allow a safe and responsible fireworks display to be held at this site."
South Dakota sued over the decision weeks later, but the ban currently remains in place.
Then on Tuesday, the White House announced its Fourth of July "independence from the virus" bash, and officials told Fox News that "more than 1,000 guests are expected" for festivities that included watching "fireworks over the National Mall."
"What a hypocrite," Noem tweeted in reaction to the White House's announcement. "President @JoeBiden wants 'a summer of freedom' where we 'mark independence from the virus by celebrating with events across the country.' Translation: fireworks are fine at the White House, but not at Mount Rushmore."
What a hypocrite. President @JoeBiden wants "a summer of freedom" where we "mark independence from the virus by cel… https://t.co/o9Ll6rn9hT
— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) 1623766125.0
The governor also retweeted the Fox News report from her personal account with the message, "Rules for thee but not for me...a long time favorite from the Democrat playbook. @joebiden, why are you being so hypocritical? You're having your own personal fireworks show in DC, but South Dakotans are told no?"
She added, "Given this hypocrisy, we will be resubmitting our request to hold our celebration at Mount Rushmore on July 3rd. Stay tuned!"
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