Join us at 5 PM Pacific Time for our live-blogging of the second night of the Republican National Convention. Bring your own popcorn. And remember that when it’s the GOP at work (sic), taking part in drinking games focused on a tally of appalling remarks is exceedingly dangerous to your health. |
Today’s comic by Jen Sorensen is Ghost bluster:
• Four of the five Republicans with a (very modest) record of climate action aren’t at the GOP Convention:
They are Sens. Mark Kirk of Illinois, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and John McCain of Arizona.
Kirk and Ayotte are two of only three Republican senators who voted to uphold the Clean Power Plan, the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule to limit carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants. They are also both in tough reelection races in moderate states this year. Graham and McCain have previously accepted climate science and supported cap-and-trade legislation, but they have turned away from climate action since President Obama took office.
• Mountain goat drowns in Alaska trying to escape from crowd snapping its picture.
• Check out the militia group carrying AR-15s, AK-47s and G3s around downtown Cleveland:
VICE sent photographer Peter Larson out Monday morning to Downtown Cleveland to capture all the weird and contentious stuff that is happening outside of the Republican National Convention. It wasn't until he thought his day was done and he started to head home that he happened to come across the West Ohio Minutemen. The militia group, which featured a couple of veterans, was hanging out in a parking lot in Ohio City. They agreed to let Larson follow them as they made their way to the heart of Downtown Cleveland.
• The dangerous militarization of the Cleveland Police Department: During recent months, the department has received $20 million worth of new equipment, much of it military-grade.
• North Dakota is removing silhouette of Lakota man from highway signs: The state is removing the likeness of Marcellus Red Tomahawk, a Lakota man who shot and killed Sitting Bull in 1890. The silhouette of Red Tomahawk in a full headdress has been in use since 1923, but it's being phased out over the next several years in favor of an outline of the state borders. The North Dakota Highway Patrol uses an image of Red Tomahawk as a centerpiece of its logo and has no plans to change it. Red Tomahawk stayed home on the day in 1876 that G.A. Custer and his men met their fate at the hands of Cheyenne and Lakota warriors. But he later joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs police and worked his way up to captain over several years on the force. During an effort to arrest Sitting Bull, who had been at the Little Big Horn fight, Sgt. Red Tomahawk shot him, later saying: "I was under orders, so I killed him."
• The best reporting on Mike Pence over the years:
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence served five terms in Congress and worked his way up to a leadership role in the House. Since he has sealed his Congressional records until December 2022, we’ve done what we can to dig up the best reporting on Donald Trump’s would-be vice president.
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• On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, Greg Dworkin helps wrap up Day 1 of the Gop convention. Plenty of fear mongering & hate, plus Melania’s Art of the Steal. Did you want to spend an hour on understanding the rules fight? OK! Another GunFAIL murder “mystery” out of Florida. Surprise!
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