#TBT:
Here's a fun flashback: Sen. Marco Rubio (R–FL) ate crow when he complained that an assault weapons ban "would literally ban every semi-automatic rifle that's sold in America" and the audience exploded into loud cheers at the thought of a semi-automatic-free America. (Video below.) Not the reaction the NRA puppet was expecting.
This was in 2018 after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland shooting.
Figure we all needed that. I think we all need this as well:
“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough on Thursday called out Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s response to The Miami Heat, which the night before had encouraged fans in attendance to call their representatives and support common sense gun laws.
The Heat held a pregame moment of silence Wednesday for the school shooting victims in Uvalde, Texas. The announcer urged fans to reach out to state senators and “also make change at the ballot box.”
In response, Rubio posted a series of tweets calling out the NBA for its business relationships in China.
“The @NBA doesn’t like to talk about the billions they make from a China that enslaves Uyghur Muslims and harvests their organs But they have no problem politicizing a horrific tragedy in America,” Rubio wrote, kicking off a series of three tweets on the NBA and China.
After “Morning Joe” co-hosts explained the story, Scarborough responded by suggesting Rubio’s comments were “just a distraction.”
“It’s a, ‘Look over there. Look over there. Let’s talk about healthcare’ even though [Texas Governor] Greg Abbott slashes funding on healthcare. ‘Let’s talk about violent video games’ even though there are violent video games all over the globe and yet we in America have the gun problem,” Scarborough said. “Now, ‘Let’s talk about China?’ He’s 20 minutes, 30 minutes from Parkland? He says, ‘Let’s talk about China?’ The whatabout-ism, there is no whatabout-ism. … If Americans getting slaughtered, Marco, makes you talk about China, if you see, oh, I don’t know, if you see these little children (holds up NY Post cover) who have been slaughtered, you don’t want to talk about that slaughter, you don’t want to talk about Americans being killed, you want to talk about China? Nobody’s buying that bulls–t, Marco. Nobody. Nobody.”
Oh, and Rubio is also pushing to make gun violence even worse:
On Thursday, Senate Republicans are set to block legislation intended to combat domestic terrorism. And they’re all over the place on whether homegrown extremism even needs more federal attention.
In the wake of a recent racist shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will hold a vote on House-passed legislation that would set up offices at the Justice Department, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to focus on domestic terrorism. The bill is expected to get few if any Republican votes, as the GOP widely views the legislation as unnecessary and an attempt by Democrats to politicize the killing of 10 people, mostly Black.
But when asked how they should address domestic extremism, the answer depends on the Republican senator. Some argue, as they do on abortion, that deterring future attacks like Buffalo — and the 2015 massacre of Black churchgoers in South Carolina, as well as other racist shootings — should be entirely left to the states.
“The problem we have is that we have a bunch of people who define anyone they disagree with as terrorists, as extremists,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). “We’ve reached a point in America now where the term ‘extremist’ is applied too liberally to people, that there’s deep concern about how these entities will be used. … That’s the concern that people have.”
As Rubio laid out, Republicans have adopted a slippery-slope argument in response to the domestic terrorism bill, contending it could be misused based on ideology to go after political opponents of the party in power. But Democrats are homing in on “replacement theory” — a racist far-right rallying cry cited by the Buffalo gunman — and seeking to use Thursday’s debate as an opening to tackle gun violence after this week’s Texas school massacre, a clear attempt to squeeze the GOP for its anticipated filibuster.
Guns aren’t the issue that is front and center in the race between Rubio and Rep. Val Demings (D. FL-10):
Public opinion polls show that Americans generally support abortion access, and that appears to hold true in Florida.
A University of North Florida poll released in February found that 57 percent of respondents opposed the Legislature's move to ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
That may help Demings, who would be wise to highlight the issue on the campaign trail, said Michael Binder, a UNF political science professor and faculty director of the Public Opinion Research Lab.
Florida’s increasingly conservative posture could also help Rubio among voters who care about abortion, said Binder, but other pocketbook issues may connect with a wider pool of voters.
“I’d be talking about inflation, gas prices — all the other problems that have besieged this country with Biden as president,” Binder said.
A Florida Atlantic University poll reported similar findings. The survey, released Wednesday, found that two-thirds of respondents believe abortion should be legal in most cases. That included more than half of the Republicans who were surveyed.
“However, it is not clear this issue will drive voting as abortion was only ranked as a high priority issue by 39 percent of Floridians,” said Kevin Wagner, a Florida Atlantic political science professor and research fellow at the university's Business and Economics Polling Initiative, in releasing poll results.
Which might explain this:
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida wouldn't commit to a specific abortion ban on Saturday when asked what types restrictions Republicans should promise to deliver if they gain control of Congress in November.
Instead he stressed that he was "pro-life" and predicted "each individual state would have different laws." In Florida, a law will take effect July 1 to ban abortions after 15 weeks, but this week Oklahoma lawmakers passed a total ban on abortion.
Rubio is up for reelection in November and his answer suggests the GOP hasn't decided which approach to run on yet as they seek to expand their razor-thin minority in the Senate during the November midterm elections.
A leaked Supreme Court draft from Politico showing that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn its Roe v. Wade decision on abortion has pushed the issue to surface during a high-stakes election year.
But is fixated in this:
Employers wouldn't be allowed to deduct travel expenses for their workers' abortions under a bill Sen. Marco Rubio introduced Wednesday.
The Florida Republican's bill, the No Tax Breaks for Radical Corporate Activism Act, comes as several major corporations including Citi, Apple, Yelp, Lyft, Levi's, and Amazon announced they'd reimburse travel costs for employees to access abortion if they live in a state where it becomes illegal.
The bill would also extend to transgender care for minors as Disney is considering ways to help employees and their children receive coverage.
"Our tax code should be pro-family and promote a culture of life," Rubio said in a statement announcing his legislation. "Instead, too often our corporations find loopholes to subsidize the murder of unborn babies or horrific 'medical' treatments on kids. My bill would make sure this does not happen."
FYI:
U.S. Rep. Val Demings’ first rally in the heart of Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood started with a moment of silence.
Just hours earlier, Demings said, she had gotten a text message from her communications director in Washington that 19 children and two adults were killed in a Texas elementary school by an 18-year-old. The message, she said, left her speechless.
“I’m sick and tired of innocent people being gunned down in innocent places,” Demings said, speaking to a crowd of about 50 supporters at the Little Haiti Cultural Center. She called her opponent, Florida’s senior senator, Republican Marco Rubio, a “do-nothing senator” who “likes to be comfortable.” She blasted Republicans for inaction on gun violence legislation like red-flag gun laws and universal background checks.
“There’s legislation sitting in the Senate right now that the Senate, not the Democratic members, but the Republican members including Marco Rubio, refuses to even address,” Demings told the Herald. “But he will be quick — right now he’s silent — but he will be quick to offer, I’m sure, a scripture. Or maybe some thoughts and prayers.”
Demings, a former Orlando police chief, has been previously endorsed by the anti-gun violence Giffords PAC. She retold the audience a story of her growing up in a house with guns. (Her father was a hunter, she said.)
FYI, this was announced earlier this month:
In what may prove to be Florida’s last stand as a battleground state, Democrats are launching a $15 million voter organizing effort ahead of this year’s elections.
Democratic candidates up and down the ballot — even those running in contested primaries — have agreed to pour in money that will be used to hire at least 200 organizers and open as many as 80 offices as part of a coordinated effort to pump up turnout across the state.
Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz contends “Blue Shift Florida” is the start of an ambitious, institutionalized year-round effort that he has been touting since he took the helm of the battered party soon after Democrats were routed across the state in the last election. The idea, he said, was to create an operation that will remain intact after the elections and will be in place for the next presidential election in 2024.
Primary Day in Florida is August 23rd. Click here for more information on registering to vote.
Click here to sign up for a GOTV event with Blue Shift Florida.
Democracy and Health are on the ballot and we need to get ready to flip Florida Blue. Click below to donate and get involved with Demings and her fellow Florida Democrats campaigns:
Charlie Crist for Governor
Nikki Fried for Governor
Annette Taddeo for Governor
Val Demings for Senate
Florida Democratic Party
Remove Ron PAC