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Republicans are on a collision course with the White House, which is demanding that Congress raise the debt limit without conditions. Republicans have waged heated battles over the debt ceiling, most notably in 2011, but they have always been resolved in time. Why does a GOP House complicate debt ceiling negotiations? Republicans have floated everything from budget cuts to socially conservative legislation as part of a debt ceiling increase. The White House had laid down a marker: no negotiations, no policy strings attached to raise the debt ceiling.

☆ One more thing for Democrats to fix: the Republican Party
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Neal Urwitz | Neal Urwitz Is A Public Relations Executive In Washington | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

And that, ironically, means Democrats must focus on fixing the Republican Party. And the current iteration of the Republican Party would strip away American democracy. Is it someone who is likely to make the Republican Party more or less responsible? Will that Republican Party abide by American laws and American democracy? Democracy will only survive if Democrats have done our part to create a responsible Republican Party.

The debate comes less than two months after Twitter restored Trump’s account, but Meta’s intention to reevaluate the decision predates Twitter’s reversal. “I can’t think of what that rigorous standard would be that would make this policy be applied fairly, not just to former President Trump, but to any politician.”Is Trump bound to Truth Social? A phone screen displays the Truth Social app in Washington, DC, on February 21, 2022. Trump now has his own rival social media platform, Truth Social, which he launched in February. Despite his desire for a bigger megaphone and aides encouraging him to rejoin Twitter, Trump has said he is committed to Truth Social.

☆ Democrats have a Gen Z problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Samuel Abrams | Jeremi Suri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

November's midterms heralded a new force in American politics: Gen Z voters. Given the narrow margins and the Democrats' ability to retain the Senate despite historical precedent, commentators and analysts declared that Gen Z helped Democrats thwart a Republican wave. Gen Z isn't sold on the whole 'party' thingAmericans are increasingly unhappy with the two-party system. Given these circumstances, Democrats shouldn't take the political loyalty of Gen Z voters for granted. Despite assumptions about their left leanings, members of Gen Z are not firmly behind the Democratic Party, President Joe Biden, or many other well-known Democrats.

It was totally avoidable.”Now, Bolsonaro is in Orlando, where he has supporters among the state's growing number of Brazilian Americans. After Bolsonaro's loss, unfounded claims of election fraud, reminiscent of those in the U.S., began to surface in Brazil. Bannon had said prior to the Brazilian election that Bolsonaro would lose only if “the machines” steal the election. Leading to the presidential elections in Brazil, Trump allies exported many of the former president's campaign strategies to the Latin American country. After Bolsonaro's October loss, tens of thousands of supporters began camping outside military facilities throughout Brazil to protest his loss.

☆ The House of Representatives will have more guys named 'Mike' than women chairing committees under the new Republican majority
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

House Republicans have announced a new slate of committee chairs for the new Congress. Six of the committees will be chaired by a man named Mike or Michael. On Monday, House Republicans sorted out a number of contested chairmanships, and House Majority Steve Scalise released a list of recommendations for chairmanships that were ratified by the conference on Tuesday. The result: men named "Mike" will outnumber women two-to-one among committee chairs. Under Democratic leadership in the previous Congress, 7 House committees were chaired by women.

☆ The far-right wore Brazil's national soccer team jersey during anti-democratic riots
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Brazilian national team's soccer jersey has been appropriated by Bolsonaro for years. When Brazil's national team won the 2019 Copa America, Bolsonaro sat squarely with the players and trophy, smiling ear to ear as he parroted the win. "The Brazilian national team shirt is a symbol of the joy of our people," the CBF tweeted on Monday. "Brazil's yellow shirts shimmered and sparkled in the blistering white sunlight of the Mexican noon — the appointed time of kick-offs to support European TV schedules." "We can't be ashamed of wearing our green and yellow shirt," da Silva said in late November, per The Guardian.

☆ Kevin McCarthy says Republicans 'learned how to govern' and will 'be more effective' after the party's infighting to select a speaker
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Kevin McCarthy on Friday brushed off any concerns about fallout from the GOP leadership battle. "Because it took this long, now we learned how to govern," the California Republican said. McCarthy clinched the House speakership early Saturday morning after a 15th ballot. "Because it took this long, now we learned how to govern. McCarthy on early Saturday morning eventually won the speakership over House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York after 15 ballots and a 216-212 vote.

☆ It's still not clear what the Senate Ethics Committee is doing with a 2-year-old January 6 probe into Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Democrats lodged an ethics complaint against Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz nearly two years ago. No one's heard anything since from the Senate Ethics Committee, which one advocate calls a "black hole." Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island led the complaint against Cruz and Hawley. Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the chairman and vice-chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee. Little has emerged in the last two years to suggest that Cruz and Hawley were intimately involved in the assault on the Capitol.

Pennsylvania's incoming Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, announced Thursday that he is tapping a Republican who stood up to Donald Trump after the 2020 election to be the state's top elections official. As the vice chair of Philadelphia's Board of Elections, Al Schmidt was at the center of defending the 2020 vote in Pennsylvania, a key presidential battleground that narrowly went to President Joe Biden. Trump prematurely declared victory in the state and tried to stop Philadelphia officials from counting all the ballots there. In Pennsylvania, the top elections official, the secretary of the commonwealth, is nominated by the governor rather than elected. Schmidt said he is "honored to have the chance to continue working to protect the integrity of our elections and strengthen our democracy."

☆ Six battleground states will hold the key to the White House in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

AP Photo/Andrew HarnikGeorgia2012 margin: Romney +7.8%2016 margin: Trump +5.1%2020 margin: Biden +0.2%For decades, Republicans could easily depend on the Peach State's electoral votes falling into their column. Two years later, Biden won the state by roughly 12,000 votes over Trump, followed by the dual 2021 runoff victories of Sens. AP Photo/Matt RourkePennsylvania2012 margin: Obama +5.4%2016 margin: Trump +0.7%2020 margin: Biden +1.2%Biden's hometown of Scranton is dear to his heart so Pennsylvania was always going to be a key state for the party in 2024. AP Photo/Andy Manis, FileWisconsin2012 margin: Obama +6.9%2016 margin: Trump +0.8%2020 margin: Biden +0.6%Wisconsin is one of the most politically-divided states in the country. But Trump flipped Wisconsin to the GOP in 2016, the first time it had supported a Republican presidential nominee since 1984.

He promises not to let that happen again, insisting he will “actively look for quality candidates” to promote in the 2024 primaries. “In the other states, Trump’s support was so significant — we could have spent a lot of money, maybe trying to come up with a different candidate and maybe not succeeding,” he said. And yet, it's Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. — not McConnell — who's radiating confidence about winning the majority in 2024. He also spent large parts of 2022 feuding over strategy with Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, the GOP Senate campaign chief. Then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and then President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol, on Oct. 24, 2017.

Known in the legal world as the “death penalty” of child welfare, it can happen in a matter of months. One in 100 U.S. children — disproportionately Black and Native American — experience termination through the child welfare system before they turn 18, the study found. Still, longer timelines can also reflect a stronger focus on family reunification and a willingness to devote greater resources to meet that goal, child welfare experts say. And some child welfare advocates have criticized the law’s focus on narrow initiatives like parenting classes, which they say fail to address poverty and the other root causes of neglect that prompt most child welfare cases. Snodgrass said she never imagined when her child welfare case started that she could lose her rights to her children.

☆ Marjorie Taylor Greene attacks Lauren Boebert, calls her childish and mocks her struggle to get re-elected
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Marjorie Taylor Greene ripped into Lauren Boebert on Monday, saying she acted "childishly." "I don't believe in this, just like I don't believe in Russian space lasers, Jewish space lasers and all of this." Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) December 19, 2022Boebert survived an extraordinarily tight race for Colorado's Third Congressional District in the midterms. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) December 19, 2022Boebert did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Boebert, Greene and Gaetz — who all sit to the far right of the Republican Party — have long been grouped together, but reports emerged in April of a rift between Greene and Boebert.

☆ Lawmakers unveil bipartisan bill that aims to ban TikTok in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has raised fears in the U.S. that Chinese government officials could gain access to U.S. user data under Chinese law that could compel the company to hand over information. TikTok has insisted U.S. user data is safely stored outside of China, which it says should keep it out of reach of government officials. A new bill from a bipartisan group of lawmakers, if passed, would ban TikTok in the U.S. after years of broad concern across the Trump and Biden administrations about potential Chinese government influence on the company. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before Congress recently that he's "extremely concerned" about the Chinese government's potential influence through TikTok on U.S. users. "It is troubling that rather than encouraging the Administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically-motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States," a TikTok spokesperson said.

Democrats both in Washington D.C. and Arizona spent the weekend processing Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s decision to leave the party and register as an independent. The Biden White House’s statement called her a “key partner” that they expect to continue to work with. A growing field in Indiana: Four Republicans could be running to succeed Indiana GOP Gov. This comes as Indiana GOP Sen. Mike Braun and the state’s GOP Lt. Gov. Fort Wayne businessperson Eric Doden has already announced his campaign, and the state’s Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers is expected to jump into the race as well.

☆ At least 17 Republicans are checking out their presidential prospects, diminishing Trump's shot at getting a free pass for the 2024 nomination
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

From Pence to Haley, here's how Republicans are laying the groundwork for presidential runs. The next step will be hiring teams in Iowa and New Hampshire, Doug Heye, a longtime GOP aide and strategist, told Insider. The stakes for losing the nomination aren't all bad, even if Republicans might come out of it with an unforgettable Trump nickname. After all, one of the people running for president could end up getting chosen as running mate or get a seat on the new president's Cabinet. Insider identified 17 people who could seek the Republican nomination in 2024, including Sens.

☆ Herschel Walker's wife had an 'obsessive focus' on her husband winning over more Black voters and felt he should have been receiving up to 50% of the Black vote: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Herschel Walker and his wife wanted to court Black voters in the Georgia Senate race, per Politico. Julie Blanchard Walker said Walker should've been getting robust Black support, per the report. An individual close to the campaign told Politico that her idea morphed into an "obsessive focus." The biggest complication in the efforts by the Walkers to engage with Black voters? And he campaigned extensively in those areas throughout the entire campaign, while Walker's overall campaign strategy targeted conservatives and the state's rural evangelical community.

☆ Political experts don't think the Trump Org's felony status is enough to kill Donald Trump's chances in 2024: 'At some point, the Republican party has to decide how much they're willing to overlook'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Lauren Frias | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But experts don't think the conviction is enough to tamp down his chances in the 2024 election. "But at some point, the Republican party has to decide how much they're willing to overlook before they just cut him loose," Crouse said. "That's not really a logical analysis, that's more a poetic analysis, but I think it does have symbolic significance in that sense." "Even though [Trump] wasn't a defendant, it's at his feet, and it can be portrayed that way by his enemies both inside the Republican party and outside the Republican party," O'Brien added. "And I think that's going to weaken his candidacy" in 2024, especially as his hold on the GOP is challenged by a potential presidential hopeful: Florida Gov.

☆ A $200m superyacht seized from Putin's apparent choice for a Ukrainian puppet leader is being sold at auction, with Ukraine keeping the proceeds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The yacht of pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk is being sold by Ukraine. Medvedchuk was said to be Vladimir Putin's top choice for a puppet leader in Ukraine. He was also believed to be Vladimir Putin's top choice for a puppet leader to replace Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the event Russia successfully overthrew the Ukrainian government. While Croatia seized the yacht in March, police only searched it on November 19 after a search warrant from the US justice department was approved, according to the Croatian Jutarnji list. It added that it's also searching for a $540 million yacht, which is owned by an unnamed Russian oligarch.

☆ Elon Musk promotes release of internal Twitter documents rehashing platform’s block of Hunter Biden story
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

The controversy involving Twitter and Hunter Biden dates to October 2020, weeks before the presidential election between Joe Biden and then-President Donald Trump. Taibbi wrote that he has seen no evidence that there was government involvement in Twitter’s move to block the New York Post story. Shortly after the New York Post published the article, Twitter pointed to concerns about hacked materials as the reason for blocking the story. Zuckerberg cited warnings from the FBI about election-related threats, though none about Hunter Biden in particular. Hunter Biden has said that federal prosecutors in Delaware are investigating his taxes.

☆ Russian regional leaders wrote to Putin demanding he stop mobilizing reservists to fight in Ukraine, as chatter about a second draft intensifies
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Local Russian leaders wrote a letter to President Vladimir Putin, urging him to end the mobilization of reservists. Officials have said the draft is "complete," but the letter asks Putin to codify this with a decree. Both are party deputies for the liberal Yabloko political party — which opposes the war in Ukraine — in the northwestern Russian region of Karelia. Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told Russian news wire RIA Novosti on Wednesday that he hasn't seen the deputies' letter. In the meantime, Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Ukrainian Internal Affairs minister, accused Russia of preparing to draft 500,000 to 700,000 new reservists in January.

Democrats could have prevailed had their state party — which was busy deflecting progressive criticism of their conduct — marshaled better infrastructure and financial support for swing-district candidates. The icing on this rotten cake is that New York Democrats have no one to blame but themselves. Facing challenging new maps, Maloney and his moderate allies panicked that many of the popular progressives who had already announced their candidacies simply could not win. In a moment of exceptional self-unawareness that only underscored the broader myopia of establishment New York Democrats, Maloney took the news of his loss Tuesday as an opportunity to swipe at Ocasio-Cortez. Seth Wenig / AP fileBetween interparty bad blood and challenging electoral maps, the Democratic Party machine also appeared uninterested or unable to translate Democratic enthusiasm into meaningful on-the-ground organizing.

☆ Why isn't Ukraine already in NATO? Here's what it takes to join the 30-country alliance
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Ukraine's pursuit of NATO membership has been cited as a key factor in Russia's invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long been vocal about his country's desire to secure both NATO membership and additional assistance. "So there were some formal reasons why the Alliance could say that Ukraine was not ready yet to join the Alliance." Will Finland and Sweden join NATO? Both countries submitted official letters of application to join NATO in May 2022 and were formally invited to join the alliance in June.

☆ NATO could invoke Article 4 after Russian missiles struck Poland. Here's what that means.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The incident could invoke NATO Article 4, which allows any member to call for a consultation when threatened. Several NATO countries previously invoked Article 4 after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Such defiant language ostensibly appeals to the collective defense principle at the heart of NATO Article 5. As such, NATO and its members have no binding obligation to defend Ukraine against Russia's attacks. Biden has made clear that US troops thus far deployed to Eastern Europe are there to bolster NATO member countries wary of nearby Russian aggression.

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