A federal judge on Wednesday extended voter registration until Oct. 18 in the battleground state of Florida, due to the disruption and damage from Hurricane Matthew.
During a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker agreed to extend the deadline for six more days. He had already extended the Oct. 11 deadline one day, after the Florida Democratic Party filed a lawsuit last weekend, following the hurricane's brush with Florida's east coast.
Walker said in an order issued shortly afterward that he acted swiftly because "no right is more precious than having a voice in our democracy."
"Hopefully it is not lost on anyone that the right to have a voice is why this great country exists in the first place," wrote Walker, who set the deadline at 5 p.m. on Oct. 18....
...Democrats late last week asked Republican Gov. Rick Scott to extend the deadline, but Scott turned down the request and said people have had enough time to register. Scott brushed aside questions on whether his decision was related to his staunch support of GOP nominee Donald Trump.
In court, however, attorneys for both Scott and the state's chief top elections official offered no defense of the existing deadline and did not object to an extension. Most of the hour-long hearing before Walker was spent discussing how long to extend voter registration.
Walker said he did not believe that Scott had authority to use his emergency powers to waive the deadline. But he also pointed out that Florida law already allows the governor to suspend or delay an election if there is an emergency.
"There is a gap in Florida law that renders (the deadline) constitutionally untenable," Walker said.
Marco Rubio, the Senator who hates his job, rarely shows up to prove it, and won't commit to serving a full term if reelected in the hopes that even his own state won't reject him a second time in a Presidential run, has stepped up to prove once again that he's a shameless hypocrite.
Rubio vowed early on that he would place the country in danger by supporting someone he called a dangerous con man within reach of the nuclear codes in spite of that man's taste for revenge against those who don't agree with him. And that was before we heard Trump boast of his ability to sexually assault women.
We're talking, of course, about Donald Trump, who humiliated "Little Marco" soundly over and over again during the primaries and continued to do so even after Rubio dropped out.
Even though Trump called Mexicans drug dealers and rapists, called for religious tests for immigration, called for a Muslim ban, serves as a virtual recruiting tool for terrorists, says he loves war and wonders why we can't causally use nuclear weapons, stiffs people who work for him, refuses to release his tax returns and admits he doesn't pay his taxes, has a fondness for dictators, refused to denounce the support of the KKK and then hired the alt-right to run his campaign, ignores intelligence briefings while spreading misinformation about them for political purposes, and on and on and on, Rubio continued to support him. Even after it was discovered that Trump violated the Cuba embargo, a pet issue for Rubio, he ignored it, then tried to cover up for Trump. And to put icing on the cake, a tape revealed that Trump bragged about his ability to sexually assault women because he could get away with it thanks to his "star" power.
After all that, Rubio not only still supports him, but now has re-endorsed him to reaffirm his commitment to the man as if he were renewing his wedding vows. Because Rubio truly has no shame.
"I ran against Donald Trump," Rubio said in a statement Tuesday. "And while I respect that voters chose him as the GOP nominee, I have never hesitated to oppose his policies I disagree with. And I have consistently rejected his offensive rhetoric and behavior."
"I disagree with him on many things, but I disagree with his opponent on virtually everything," he added. "I wish we had better choices for President. But I do not want Hillary Clinton to be our next President. And therefore my position has not changed."
Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that Rubio stands by the man who thinks sexually assaulting women is perfectly acceptable as a form of "locker room" behavior. After all, Rubio once tried to get under Trump's skin by teasing him about the size of his...well, "hands," during a debate. Rubio also voted to block the Violence Against Women Act because not only would it protect women from domestic abusers in general, but because it would have protected LGBT and immigrant women in particular. Of course Rubio also feels women should be forced to give birth even in cases of rape and incest. So in many ways, Trump and Rubio are a good fit.
While Rubio may well want to hang on to the racist and "deplorable" Trump voters who think women are merely sexual objects and breeders, among their other warped views, there are a lot more voters out there who would rather not hand the country over to a racist dictator wannabe who thinks it's okay to force himself on women.
Rubio says he wishes we had "a better choice for President." Well, we do, and that's Hillary Clinton, who among other things, wants to create jobs, improve the economy, keep improving health care coverage for everyone, and level the playing field on income inequality, rather than Trump, who would rather continue screwing over more than just his female conquests while getting richer via elected office.
Since Rubio doesn't really like the job in the first place, I say let's make his dreams come true and give him lots of time off with our vote in November.
Yesterday a judge disagreed with Scott and ordered a one day extension and set a hearing on perhaps extending it further:
A federal judge in Florida late Monday ordered the state to extend the deadline for registering to vote by one day and set a hearing on whether to extend it even further.
Under Florida law, voters had until Tuesday, Oct. 11, to register to vote. But Judge Mark Walker said in view of the disruption caused by Hurricane Matthew, the state should have extended it to Wednesday.
The order came in response to a lawsuit filed Sunday by Florida Democrats. They said when Gov. Rick Scott ordered evacuations as the hurricane headed for the state, he forced voters "to choose between their safety and the safety of their families on one hand, and their fundamental right to vote on the other."
The state Democrats had asked the judge to extend the registration deadline by a week, until October 18. He set a hearing for 10 a.m. Wednesday on that request.
Walker said Florida law gives the governor authority to suspend or move an election date due to an unforeseen emergency. Given that, the judge said, "it is wholly irrational in this instance for Florida to refuse to extend the voter registration deadline.
"It has been suggested that the issue of extending the voter registration deadline is about politics. Poppycock," Walker wrote.
"This case is about the right of aspiring eligible voters to register and to have their votes counted. Nothing could be more fundamental to our democracy."
While Rick Scott has posted an extensive list of updates on hurricane recovery, cleanup, and government resources, his list makes no mention of the voter registration deadline extension.
After an audio tape surfaced last week where Donald Trump bragged about being able to sexually assault women because he was a star, many Republicans finally bailed on Trump.
Marco Rubio wasn't one of them.
Instead he tried to have it both ways. He merely issued a tweet, calling Trump's comments "vulgar, unjustifiable, and egregious." What he didn't say was that he was withdrawing his support or pulling his endorsement. Because that's who Rubio is. Saying one thing while doing another is how he rolls. Publicly condemn the behavior with words while silently condoning it with a wink and a nod.
In a morning call with reporters, Murphy said Rubio needs to do more to "stand up to Trump" instead of "silently standing by" while Trump "boasts about sexually assaulting women."
He repeated his challenge to Rubio, urging him to either "withdraw his support for Trump or withdraw from the race."
"Florida women and families deserve better than a tweet," Murphy said. "Rubio offers up meaningless rhetoric when he has to and stays completely silent when he can get away with it. That's not leadership; that's cowardice."
Women and families indeed do deserve better, and not only for the reasons above.
Rubio's continued support for Trump says more about Rubio than it does about Trump.
Trump seems to think that sexually assaulting women is his right, while Rubio thinks it's his right to force women who have been sexually assaulted and become pregnant to give birth to their rapist's baby.
Rubio thinks nothing of victimizing a woman who is sexually assaulted a second time by taking away her choices after the fact.
No women should be forced to go through that just because some empty suit in Washington like Marco Rubio says so, especially when Rubio supports a Presidential candidate on his third marriage who brags about being able to sexually assault women just because of who is.
Rubio supports the predator but not the woman and/or the child who's the victim.
Stipanovich has long opposed Donald Trump. Back in May he penned an open letter to his fellow Republicans urging them to do the same. Now Stipanovich is going a step further:
“In case you didn’t know, I just said something I’ve never said before. I said I was going to vote for Hillary Clinton," he said.
And while Stipanovich says he's still going to cast a vote for Marco Rubio, he also said this:
Stipanovich says Rubio’s reluctance to withdraw that endorsement while criticizing Trump “is just beyond disappointing, it’s demoralizing.”
It's a shame that his disappointment in Rubio isn't enough to cost him his vote.
"I'm not following politics closely right now, but this is terrible. I don't agree with anyone talking like this about anyone, ever."
What Scott didn't say: "And I withdraw my endorsement and my support of Trump."
No, Scott's not following politics closely right now, other than refusing to extend the voter registration deadline for people displaced by the hurricane who may not have registered already, while Democrats are clobbering Republicans in the voter registration department, and as Hillary Clinton is beating Trump in the polls here.
Of course, Scott doesn't have to be "following politics closely right now" to continue chairing a Super PAC supporting Donald Trump either, which is still collecting donations as I write.
Because priorities.
Rick Scott says no one should talk like this about anyone, ever, but he doesn't feel that should bar Trump from the presidency? After all, up until now, the rest of the things Trump has said and done were okay too, as well as this observation from Orange Captain Obvious:
Yes, who really cares? Because money talks, and "profits over people" is a preference for both Trump and Scott, as is their love for unchecked power. Scott currently has it and Trump desperately wants it. Two peas in a pod.
There's apparently nothing Trump can do or say that will keep Rick Scott from supporting him.
After more than a year of insults, and now less than a month to go before the general election, it's safe to say that there is nothing Donald Trump can do or say that will cause Marco Rubio to withdraw his support for him.
Zip.
"Little Marco's" tweet above is all he had to say after The Washington Post revealed a leaked tape from 2005 where Trump bloviated a litany of vulgarities about women. Among them was this comment about basically sexually assaulting women: “When you’re a star, they let you do it.”
That was it. No "I can't support this vulgar man for President," no "Any man who casually brags about sexually assaulting women is unfit to be President." Nothing like that. Rubio simply issued feigned outrage at the comments on twitter, (and only these comments) and then went on about his evening, doing what Rubio does best, trying to have it both ways. Because Rubio doesn't want to lose any support from the "deplorables" who support Trump. Rubio hopes to give a wink and a nod to Trump supporters while riding his vulgar coattails.
Because Marco Rubio is just a shameless as Trump is. It's that simple. And if ever there were two people who were unfit for office, it's Marco Rubio and Donald Trump, albeit for different reasons. Among other things, Trump clearly thinks there's nothing wrong with his behavior, especially given that his so-called apology issued late last night contained an "I'm rubber, you're glue" allegation against the Clintons, and a promise to attack them more on that later. As for Trump, well, he clearly thinks he did nothing wrong.
Rubio, on the other hand, is always calculating the political climate for his own gain, and he's calculating now that supporting someone who thinks sexually assaulting women is okay when you're "a star" is more beneficial to his current race for the Senate than it would be to withdraw his support of Trump altogether. So this is how he's playing it:
One top Florida Republican close to both Trump’s and Rubio’s campaigns said he expects “Rubio might start criticizing Trump more. He has to. If Donald tanks, Marco doesn’t want to go with him.”
Rubio "might start criticizing Trump more." Ooh, big of him! After more than a year of egregious behavior and insults from Trump, and with just a few weeks to go, now Rubio may start criticizing the man who said these things about Rubio, as documented by The New York Times:
Never mind all the other things Trump has said and done. Like calling Mexicans drug dealers and rapists on day one of his campaign, (speaking of rape) to proposing Muslim bans, talk of religious tests and a deportation force, his admiration of Putin and other dictators, his egregious business practices and his secrecy about his financial dealings and his tax returns, his tax evasion, his views on the casual use of nuclear weapons, and yes, all the things he's said about women up until yesterday that were completely tolerable as far as Rubio was concerned. Calling women dogs, pigs, ugly, fat, not to mention his comments about Megyn Kelly from Rubio's beloved FOX News. All this, and much, much more, was just dandy in Rubio's mind.
And still, after everything we heard on that tape Friday, Rubio still can't bring himself to draw the line.
Matthew And Scott, A Perfect Storm For More Voter Suppression
You've probably heard the phrase "never let a good crisis go to waste." Well, so has Florida's Governor Rick Scott, who has employed it liberally since he became governor.
So when Hurricane Matthew came along this week during the final days for voter registration in Florida, threatening to potentially cut off a few of those days before the deadline, he seized the opportunity for political advantage.
Democrats and the Hillary Clinton campaign asked him to extend the deadline in light of the storm, and Scott immediately responded "no" during his statewide tour of pre-hurricane photo-ops.
So as he was telling Florida residents the dangerous storm "would kill them," Scott didn't feel the storm was severe enough to give those who were trying to save their own lives and the lives of others additional time to prepare to participate in democracy after the storm passes. Even as Florida was undergoing the largest mass evacuation in the state's history, (1.5 million living on the east coast) Scott insisted that Floridians had already had enough time to register to vote:
“I’m not going to extend it,” Gov. Rick Scott told reporters in Tallahassee. “Everybody has had a lot of time to register. On top of that, we have lots of opportunities to vote: early voting, absentee voting, Election Day. So I don’t intend to make any changes.”
Even the Republican governors of the other states impacted by Hurricane Matthew, Georgia and South Carolina, saw the importance of extending the voter registration deadlines there and granted them.
But Rick Scott said "no."
By law, Floridians have until October 11 to register. By not extending the deadline to accommodate those who have every right to believe they can register right up until that deadline if they choose, but may now miss that deadline due to unforeseen events like having to flee their communities during a deadly hurricane and/or facing days of putting their lives back together, Scott is essentially shortening their time to register to vote.
Many will recall another extension Scott refused to make in 2012. That year, Scott also refused to extend early voting, and as a result, some waited six hours in line to vote. Many were still in line after the polls closed. This was after Scott had tried other voter suppression tactics like purging voter rolls of eligible voters, making it harder for students to register on college campuses, and refusing to restore voter rights for felons, with help from his SOS who also doesn't see the need for online voter registration.
In essence, Rick Scott wants government to stay out of your business, unless you want to participate in democracy.
So after ordering the shutdown of government offices in preparation for Hurricane Matthew, (some being elections offices where one could register to vote, many closed for the remainder of the week and potentially into next week), urging nearly the entire east coast of Florida to evacuate, and touring the state urging people to prepare for a dangerous hurricane that had already taken hundreds of lives before it reached Florida, apparently giving those fleeing their homes a little extra time to register to vote was a bridge too far for Scott. In other words, sure, the hurricane may kill you, but if you thought you had plenty of time left to register to vote, well, if you snooze, you lose!
Now, extending the deadline may not seem like a big deal to some, but Florida is a swing state that Donald Trump would like to win, and Rick Scott would love to deliver it to him. In fact, in addition to being the governor who has the power to extend voting registration deadlines, not to mention extending early voting, Scott is also the chair of a Trump Super PAC called Rebuilding America Now. But that conflict of interest just the beginning.
Currently, Hillary Clinton is beating Trump in the polls. Then there are several other facts and figures to consider, and no doubt Scott considered them as well when he made his decision against extending the deadline.
Elections supervisors typically see a surge in voter interest immediately before the registration closes. About 50,000 people registered during the final five days in 2012, according to University of Florida professor Daniel A. Smith, who studies Florida voting trends.
“Right at the end, people feel the urgency to do something,” said Gihan Perera, head of Florida New Majority, which called off its sign-up events at schools, churches and football games in South Florida and the Jacksonville area.
Given that last minute registration history, and the fact that this year, the very thought of turning the White House over to the likes of Donald Trump may well drive fear-stricken voters to the polls in record numbers, there's probably more than a good chance that people will "feel the urgency to do something." This week is also one of the busiest weeks for voter registration drive schedules according to those involved. On Wednesday many voter registration drives had to be cancelled in the wake of the storm. Even those registering by mail could lose out. Voter applications must be postmarked by next Tuesday to be accepted. That may be a huge problem considering mail from communities on nearly the entire east coast could either come to a halt, or be lost altogether.
“For any political party to ask this in the middle of a storm is political,” said Jackie Schutz, a spokeswoman for Scott, and “our No. 1 focus is protecting life. There’ll be another day for politics.”
Late Thursday, about 90 minutes after the governor’s final press briefing, Scott’s office revealed he’d taken calls earlier in the day about Matthew with two top Trump supporters: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The late schedule revision meant the governor avoided questions from reporters about the conversations.
What are the chances that the conversation involved seizing the opportunity to use the hurricane to Trump's advantage? We'll never know since Scott made sure no one in the press could ask him.
The Florida Democratic Party has submitted about 488,000 voter-registration forms it has collected for this election, while Republicans have submitted roughly 60,000, according to state reports.
And if all that isn't enough, there's the possibility of another nightmare scenario in the mind of a law professor who happens to be an election law expert, and to those still having flashbacks to the 2000 election, suffice it to say the idea of this sequence of events could trigger many more.
Today, as we get word that so far four Floridans have been killed, and as hurricane Matthew is still creating devastation up the coast, Democratic members of Florida’s Congressional delegation are again asking Scott to extend the deadline by three days. Just three days. To register to vote. In the wake of deadly hurricane possibly displacing over a million voters.
Too much to ask?
All of these things combined could create a "perfect storm" if you will, in the mind of Florida's "run government like a business" dictator wannabe who prefers profits over people, if Rick Scott fancies turning the country over to another one who's even worse than he is.
And he does.
Did I mention Scott happens to be the chair of a Trump Super PAC?
While Hillary Clinton is beating him in polls here, it looks like Donald Trump is bringing his Insult Every Voting Group In America Tour back to the Sunshine State this month.
Lucky us.
Because details are still being worked out, I have questions.
Will Pam Bondi, his faithful campaign prop servant, "accidental Trump Foundation donation" recipient, and Trump University "What Me Worry?" fixer be appearing with him as always? Or will she suddenly have to do her hair? My money's on "all in" because she has no shame, and it's not like she's too busy doing her job looking out for the interests of Floridians or anything.
Will his faithful fan Rick Scott appear with him as per usual? After all, Scott's been with him from the get-go. He likes him so much he's even chairing a Super PAC for him, although it's not doing so well. (Go figure.) I'm guessing that's also an affirmative, because there's nothing Scott likes more than a good photo-op, unless you count blind trust investments in projects almost certain to pollute Florida and kill the environment.
And hey, what about Marco Rubio? After all, "Little Marco" is standing with Trump in spite of being humiliated by him during the primaries. Trump continued mocking him and his bottled water "drinking habit" at another event in Florida even after he was no longer a threat* to him and had dropped out. Even now as we discover that Trump allegedly violated the Cuba embargo, an issue that is supposedly so near and dear to his heart, Rubio says "Hey, no big whoop! Who cares?"
*Rubio was never an electoral threat to Trump, or any other GOP presidential candidate for that matter, especially in his home state.
What about the rest of the Republican field in Florida? Any takers? Anyone willing to stand at the podium at a Trump resort somewhere between the Trump steaks and the Trump wine bottles and proudly say "I'm with deplorable?"
Because they all support him as President, even after he: called Mexicans drug dealers and rapists, mocked the disabled, mocked Hillary Clinton's pneumonia, refused to pay workers, refused to rent to black people, called for a Muslim ban, lied, threatens to sue media outlets and calls for changing libel laws over what he deems "unfair" coverage of actual facts, evades taxes, lied, held a bogus fundraiser for veterans in order to chicken out of a debate and then didn't give them the donations raised until he got caught, said veterans of multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan who suffer PTSD when they return are "weak," lied some more, makes sexist insults to women regularly and fat shames others, claimed he was against the Iraq war (he wasn't), claims debates and the elections are rigged against him, operates a Foundation that was never registered, uses said Foundation as a vehicle to buy things for himself while giving almost nothing to charity himself, lied about his previous lies, praises Putin, becomes the first nominee for President to refuse to release his taxes in the history of presidential nominees releasing their taxes and apparently doesn't pay any, refused to denounce the support of David Duke and white supremacists everywhere, once said if Ivanka weren't his daughter, perhaps he'd be dating her, took to twitter at three in the morning calling on his supporters to look for a sex tape that doesn't exist, and on and on and on, because there isn't enough time to list them all. Not if I plan on watching tonight's debate between his chosen VP candidate, a man who practically wrote the script for the GOP war on women and a leader in the war against the LGBT community, and an actual feeling human being who does countless good work, Sen. Tim Kaine.
Who among the proud "Infowars conspiracy theory" tweeting Florida GOP plan to stand proudly beside the man who is a poster boy for everything the Republican Party claims they've stood against all these years?
A radio ad from the Clinton campaign that premiered Monday across South Florida knocks Donald Trump as two-faced for allegedly violating the Cuba embargo then shortly after railing against Castro to a Cuban American audience.
“One Donald comes to Miami to sip cafecito Cubano and talk about the human rights abuses of Castro’s Communist regime,” a narrator says in “Two Trumps." “The other Donald thinks that because of his money and his business, he’s above the law.”
The ad then summarizes the recent Newsweek report which claims Donald Trump violated the Cuba embargo in 1998. The report revealed that one Trump company paid a consulting firm more than $68,000 to travel to Cuba and explore business opportunities on the island. The firm later instructed Trump executives how to make the expense appear legal by disguising it as a charitable effort, Newsweek reported. The U.S. embargo generally prohibited U.S. companies from doing business in Cuba, with narrow exceptions.
“While our parents and grandparents were fighting the Castro regime both on and off the island, Donald Trump was looking to line his pocket, and even worse, those of the Castro brothers. This is a serious insult to our community,” the ad concludes.
Months after the alleged business activity in Cuba, as a candidate for the Reform Party’s presidential nomination, Trump told the crowd at a campaign stop in Miami that “putting money and investing money in Cuba right now doesn’t go to the people of Cuba. It goes to Fidel Castro. He’s a murderer. He’s a killer. He’s a bad guy in every respect, and, frankly, the embargo must stand if for no other reason than, if it does stand, he will come down.”
While the ad targets Trump, it may also serve as a reminder of Marco Rubio's latest hypocrisy pretzel.
No matter what Trump says and does, Rubio also puts himself on the wrong side of a growing majority of voters who say Trump is unfit to be President. Now that Trump has played both sides on the Cuba issue (he now also attacks the President over it), it appears Rubio is willing to let him get away with it. By doing so, Rubio shows us once again that there is no issue he will take a stand for and later flip-flop on to suit his own political ambitions. And like Trump, if he has to twist the facts to do it, so be it.
In essence, Rubio and Trump are two peas in a rotten pod.
