In case you missed this:
Jemele Hill appears to have ruffled the feathers of Ohio senatorial candidate Josh Mandel after the award-winning journalist called out the former Ohio state treasurer for reaching “peak Caucasity” with his rant on critical race theory.
The online squabble took place last week when Mandel referenced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while slamming the study of CRT — a term coined by UCLA and Columbia University law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw that she recently described as “an approach to grappling with a history of white supremacy that rejects the belief that what’s in the past is in the past.”
Conservative lawmakers in nearly a dozen states, including Michigan, Texas, Georgia, and Mandel’s home state of Ohio, have made CRT one of their latest fronts in the culture wars as they push measures to ban teaching of the theory in schools.
“By advancing the lie of Critical Race Theory, the liberals are stomping on the grave of Martin Luther King,” the politician wrote in a Twitter post.
Bernice King, one of MLK’s two daughters, replied on Twitter by advising Mandel to take a history lesson on her father, saying, “I invite you, if you truly desire to advance the cause of humanity toward true peace, to study my father’s teachings in full and in context.”
“He was not a drum major for a colorblind society, but for justice, which requires truth about our past and present,” she added. Mandel fired back, “Spare me your lectures,” before claiming “’critical race theory’ teaches students to be racist.”
Hill called out Mandel over his behavior, writing on Twitter, “Imagine being the obnoxious moron who tried to lecture DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR’S DAUGHTER on her own father. This is some peak Caucasity.”
Mandel idiotically tried to get the last word in but it did not go well:
Here’s another case of how awful Mandel is:
Josh Mandel, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio, is an awful amalgam of Trumpism, neo-fascism and faux-nationalism all wrapped in one spiteful 5-foot-8-inch bundle. His own family can’t stand him.
Most of that is just boiler-plate Republican politics at the moment. Sure, Mandel wants to be a clone of Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, because he clearly thinks that will get him elected. And part of that process, for him, appears to involve refusing to acknowledge his Jewishness. No one should be forced to talk about their religion on the campaign trail. But what is upsetting about Mandel is that he lies and obfuscates about his religion in an attempt to appeal to hyper-conservative voters who more than likely wouldn’t be comfortable knowing that he does not believe in Jesus.
The American evangelicals that Mandel is courting flatly refuse to deny their antisemitism. They tend, instead, to deflect any such accusation by touting their support for Israel. But that conflation of American Jewry and Israel is itself antisemitic: I do not live in Israel, I’ve never lived in Israel, and supporting a country far away from me because Jews also live there does not mean you support Jews.
This is where Josh Mandel comes in. He’s willing to openly support Israel based on religious grounds, to appeal to evangelicals, but every other acknowledgment of his Jewishness is a step too far for him. Once you notice this in his speeches and tweets it’s hard to stop noticing it.
Ohio state Treasurer Josh Mandel is in the lead in a crowded GOP primary to replace Ohio Sen. Rob Portman (R), according to an internal poll conducted by WPA Intelligence.
The poll published on Saturday shows Mandel is at 37 percent, with author and venture capitalist JD Vance in second at 13 percent. Another 26 percent of voters were undecided.
WPA Intelligence claims Mandel’s double-digit lead is due to his “consistent and unwavering support of President Trump and the Trump America First agenda.”
Investment banker Mike Gibbons came in third at 8 percent and former state GOP Chairman Jane Timken was in fourth at 6 percent.
Other candidates in the poll include Matt Dolan and Bernie Moreno, who both came in at under 5 percent.
Don’t get me wrong, JD Vance (R. OH) is also truly horrific:
J.D. Vance, the author and venture capitalist running for the GOP nomination for a Senate seat from Ohio, this week defended the Texas abortion law and argued against the need for exceptions for rape and incest in such restrictive statutes, downplaying such circumstances as “inconvenient.”
When asked during a local interview whether abortion laws should include exceptions for rape and incest, Vance, a Republican, said he thinks “two wrong don’t make a right.”
“It’s not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term, it’s whether a child should be allowed to live, even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to the society,” Vance told Spectrum News in Columbus on Wednesday.
“The question to me is really about the baby,” Vance added. “We want women to have opportunities, we want women to have choices, but, above all, we want women and young boys in the womb to have a right to life.”
His comments came during a discussion of the Texas law that bans most abortions after six weeks. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has said the law does not force victims of rape and incest to give birth, noting the six-week exception. Often, however, women do not know that soon if they are pregnant.
This week in the Republican-descent-into-batshit-authoritarianism beat: U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance tells Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the federal government should seize money from nonprofit organizations and redistribute their wealth.
The proximate cause of these brain farts is the fact that a fellow with the Ford Foundation—a nonprofit organization dedicated to social justice—got into an argument with some of her fellow students at Arizona State University over a "Police Lives Matter" sticker. For daring to associate with someone who would commit this heinous transgression, Vance suggests that the Ford Foundation should have their assets seized and redistributed.
"Why don't we seize the assets of the Ford Foundation, tax their assets, and give it to the people who've had their lives destroyed by their radical open borders agenda?" Vance asked on Carlson's show last night.
In the past, conservatives and libertarians have freaked out—with very good reason—at the idea of the IRS or any other government agency targeting tax-exempt groups based on these groups' beliefs. To have charities, think tanks, grant-making foundations, activist groups, and other nonprofit organizations subject to the whims and will of each passing political administration would be antithetical to free speech, free markets, and the civil liberties of these groups and their donors.
Meanwhile, over on Team Blue, Rep. Tim Ryan (D. OH-13) gets a huge shout out for this:
Rep. Tim Ryan's (D-Ohio) Senate campaign staff announced it was unionizing on Tuesday, making history as the first unionized Senate campaign in the Buckeye State's history.
“Tim Ryan’s record of fighting for Ohio workers is what drew us to this race, and we’re proud to share that his dedication to workers includes voluntary recognition for our union,” Ryan's campaign staff said in a statement.
The staff union said it organized with IBEW Local 1466 and that Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga certified the election.
Ryan, a vocal supporter of labor unions, said he "applauded" his staff's move.
“Every worker — whether you work in health care or manufacturing, practice a trade or staff a political campaign — deserves strong protections and a voice on the job, and one of the best ways to make that happen is by making it easier to join a union," Ryan said in a statement.
Democracy and Health are on the ballot next year and we need to get ready to flip Ohio Blue.
Click below to donate and get involved with Ryan and his fellow Ohio Democrats campaigns:
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