Montana Bill Would Designate Antifa as Domestic Terrorism

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana lawmakers are considering a bill that would designate antifa as a domestic terrorism group, despite no evidence of antifa activities in the state.

The intent of the measure is to “send a message that we as a state won’t tolerate a group like this coming into our state," bill sponsor Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, told members of the Montana House Judiciary Committee during a Tuesday hearing.

Short for “anti-fascists,” antifa is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for far-left leaning militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.

Opponents of the bill said during the hearing that it would be inappropriate to designate antifa as a domestic terrorism group while ignoring other groups accused of domestic violence. Those include groups that participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol last month.

Mitchell said the intention of the measure is to target antifa, but the bill also calls on the U.S. President, the U.S. Congress and the Montana governor “to combat the spread of all forms of domestic terrorism, including white supremacist terrorism.”

John Driscoll, a former Democratic state lawmaker, called the measure “a wasteful distraction from the real problem.”

Rep. Ed Stafman, D-Bozeman, cited a 2020 report by the Department of Homeland Security that states that white supremacist extremists “will remain the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland.”

Former President Donald Trump last year singled out antifa as being responsible for the violence at protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Trump said last year that he intended to designate the group as a terrorist organization. However, experts said there is no existing legal framework to designate a decentralized domestic movement as a terrorist organization.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/montana/articles/2021-02-16/montana-bill-would-designate-antifa-as-domestic-terrorism

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Rolls out Election Integrity Agenda: Targets Ballot Drop Boxes, Ballot Harvesting

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced several reforms Friday designed to ensure election integrity.

Appearing in West Palm Beach, DeSantis backed legislation that would:

Address ballot drop boxes

Address ballot harvesting

Ban “mass mailing of vote-by-mail ballots”

Require requests for vote-by-mail ballots to be made each election year

Require a signature on a ballot to match “the most recent signature on file.”

The legislation would also promote transparency in the counting process, allowing political parties and candidates to observe the signature matching process.

Counties would no long be able to receive grants from private third-party organizations for “get out the vote” initiatives.

Breitbart News extensively covered donations by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to the Center for Technology and Civic Life, an organization that spent hundreds of millions of dollars on increasing turnout in heavily Democrat areas.

“We have led on this issue from the very beginning,” DeSantis said Friday. “The results speak for themselves, but we also can’t rest on our laurels.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/02/19/florida-gov-ron-desantis-rolls-out-election-integrity-agenda-targets-ballot-drop-boxes-ballot-harvesting/

AOC using ActBlue.

Using ActBlue to fundraise for charity, rather than just using platform to post a link to charity, adds nothing aside from ability to further build her donor list.

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1362809024480243714

>>13001854

Donations meant for community fridge end up in Queens lawmaker’s campaign coffers

But the link took visitors to an ActBlue page for her campaign account. The page, since taken down, stated, “All proceeds from this link will go directly to keeping the refrigerator stocked for our neighbors in need.” Above boxes used for specifying the amount of one’s contribution, the page said, “Your contribution will benefit Jessica Ramos.”

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-york-elections-government/ny-nyc-queens-jessica-ramos-queens-community-refrigerator-20210217-ufgq3nuf7rgvnnpu6ipexv5fn4-story.html