Did Elizabeth Warren and ActBlue ever help out Cali?

Elizabeth Warren in trouble after using ActBlue to fundraise for California fires

Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren accused of exploiting California wildfire victims

Conservative critics are slamming Sen. Elizabeth Warren for setting up a fundraiser for communities affected by the devastating California wildfires on a platform affiliated with the Democratic Party.

Warren posted a link to her fundraising page on her social media accounts on Saturday, asking her followers to “split a donation between the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and United Way of Greater Los Angeles.”

The Democratic senator added: “100% of your donation will go directly to these organizations.”

The link directs users to a page on ActBlue, a platform viewed as a major source for Democratic fundraising. Republican attorneys general and critics have long pressed for probes of the platform.

A “Warren For Senate” logo appears at the top of the page.

Warren’s X post received a community note – a tool that allows platform users to “add context to potentially misleading posts” – that states: “This is not a link to charity. It is a link to a Democrat fundraising platform. They take 3.95% of all transactions. You can donate directly to these charities.”

The note included links to the Los Angeles County Fire Department Foundation and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles.

Act Blue confirmed the 3.95% processing fee, but said the money it generated paid for processing contributions. “No funds from AB Charities processing fees go to candidates.”

Conservative critics in Massachusetts joined thousands of others in accusing Warren of exploiting the wildfires for her own gain.

Cecilia Calabrese, the director of Mass For Trump in Region 3, posted that Warren’s activity could be something that the Federal Elections Commission “may want to investigate.

“Just when I think ‘my’ Senator can’t sink any lower she tries to loot well-meaning donors that want to help California fire victims,” Calabrese posted on X. “ActBlue is a Democrat fundraiser platform only. Shame on you, Senator, for pushing this scam!”

ActBlue’s pricing details indicate that the platform charges “a flat rate of 3.95% on each donation you receive to cover the processing cost.”

“Other than that, everything’s on us,” the pricing page states. “You’ll have access to all the ActBlue tools as well as customer service to help your team and your donors at no extra cost. No contracts, no surprises, no hidden fees. You can do the math.”

Chester Tam, a Massachusetts Republican National Convention delegate and vice chairman of operations and digital media for Trump in Massachusetts also took to social media, advising people to be wary of donating through Warren’s fundraiser.

“Donating through the Warren for Senate campaign site is the last thing you should do if you want to support efforts for the California fires,” he posted on X. “How much of that money do you think will end up benefitting Warren’s campaign? Once again Democrats exploit a disaster for their own gain.”

Over the past few months, Republican attorneys general have slammed ActBlue, demanding probes into the platform while accusing it of potentially improper activity, including failing to vet donations properly, according to reports.

The New York Post reported in October that the Treasury Department “found records of hundreds of transactions linked to Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue that have been flagged by banks as potentially suspicious, according to a congressional memo” the newspaper obtained.

In December, 142 consultants, campaign staff, nonprofit staff, technology vendors, donor organizers, donors, and academics from across the country wrote a joint letter to ActBlue executive leadership, demanding the company do a “better job” protecting Democratic contributors, news site Campaigns and Elections reported.

“ActBlue is a safe and secure platform trusted for decades by valued donors and partners,” a platform spokesperson told the site, “and we are continuously adapting our platform as technology, fundraising, and donor and campaign needs change.”

One X user responded to Warren’s call for donations, stating: “Do not use ActBlue to donate. Donate to local, grassroots that are on the ground and getting supplies to victims in real time.”

https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/01/13/massachusetts-democrat-elizabeth-warren-accused-of-exploiting-california-wildfire-victims/

Lmao.

Paris 2050.

Shit like this is why Trump won.

US adding second aircraft carrier in Middle East

The United States is increasing the number of aircraft carriers deployed in the Middle East to two, keeping one that is already there and sending another from the Indo-Pacific, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The announcement comes as US forces hammer Yemen's Huthi rebels with near-daily air strikes in a campaign aimed at ending the threat they pose to civilian shipping and military vessels in the region.

The Carl Vinson will join the Harry S. Truman in the Middle East "to continue promoting regional stability, deter aggression, and protect the free flow of commerce in the region," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

"To complement the CENTCOM maritime posture, the secretary also ordered the deployment of additional squadrons and other air assets that will further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities," Parnell said, referring to the US military command responsible for the region.

"The United States and its partners remain committed to regional security in the CENTCOM (area of responsibility) and are prepared to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the region," he added.

The Huthis began targeting shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the start of the Gaza war in 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians.

Huthi attacks have prevented ships from passing through the Suez Canal, a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic. Ongoing attacks are forcing many companies into a costly detour around the tip of southern Africa.

A day before the carrier announcement, US President Donald Trump vowed that strikes on Yemen's Huthis would continue until they are no longer a threat to shipping.

"The choice for the Huthis is clear: Stop shooting at US ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Huthis and their sponsors in Iran," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Trump added that the Huthis had been "decimated" by "relentless" strikes since March 15, saying that US forces "hit them every day and night – Harder and harder."

On Wednesday, the Huthis accused the United States of killing four people in fresh air strikes on Hodeida province.

The US president has also ramped up rhetoric towards Tehran, threatening that "there will be bombing" if Iran does not reach a deal on its nuclear program.

Satellite images seen by AFP showed that Washington had between March 26 and Wednesday doubled the number of B-2 bombers at a US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, from three to six.

The photos from imaging company Planet Labs PBC also showed the presence of six Stratotanker in-flight refuelling aircraft at the Diego Garcia base, within range of Iran.

Trump's threats come as his administration battles a scandal over the accidental leak of a secret group chat by senior security officials on the Yemen strikes.

The Atlantic magazine revealed last week that its editor a well-known US journalist was inadvertently included in a chat on the commercially available Signal app where top officials were discussing the strikes.

The officials, including Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussed details of air strike timings and intelligence – unaware that the highly sensitive information was being simultaneously read by a member of the media.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-adding-second-aircraft-carrier-214725638.html

Atmospheric river to trigger central US flooding that may become life-threatening, historic

Up to 4 month’s worth of rain may fall in less than a week across part of the central United States, threatening major flooding and endangering lives and property.

A firehose of moisture is forecast to produce repeating thunderstorms with torrential downpours over the middle of the United States through much of this weekend. More than a foot of rain may pour down from portions of Arkansas to Kentucky and Ohio, likely triggering rapid, major and historic flooding, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.

More than 46 million people will be affected by rounds of intense rainfall over the central U.S. Of this, at least 13 million will be within a high- to extreme-flood risk zone. Within these higher-risk areas, there is the potential for catastrophic flooding in some communities.

Heavy rain and subsequent flooding problems will start to ramp up Wednesday night and escalate daily from there.

Except for a stretch of days in February, storm systems have moved steadily along. However, that slow-moving storm in February unleashed many inches of rain on portions of Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio and resulted in major flooding and significant loss of life. The upcoming rainfall could be more than double that from February and poses that much more of a threat to lives and property.

From midweek on, the downpours' normal west-to-east or northwest-to-southeast path will be blocked by a building zone of high pressure over the Southeast states that will evolve into a heat dome.

The setup will cause a conveyor belt of moisture to form Wednesday night and continue into Saturday night, bringing many hours of heavy rain over multiple days from the Ozarks in Arkansas to the middle portion of the Mississippi Valley to much of the Ohio Valley.

"That moisture plume, known as an atmospheric river, will be tropical in nature and originate from the Caribbean," AccuWeather Senior Storm Warning Meteorologist William Clark said, "Tropical moisture raises the risk of excessive rainfall."

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-forecasts/atmospheric-river-to-trigger-central-us-flooding-that-may-become-life-threatening-historic/1760941