27 Oct 2023

Trump rakes in millions at MAGA-studded Mar-a-Lago fundraiser

by | posted in: Politics | 0

Hundreds of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters and fans packed into a gilded ballroom at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday to send a message to Republicans: the primary is over.

Top Trump donors mingled around the pool at Mar-a-lago before heading into a fundraiser at Trump’s private club with MAGA stars like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), recently impeached and acquitted Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) to hear him blast President Joe Biden and promote his 2024 campaign.

Standing at a podium, Trump recognized Greene, Donalds, and Paxton, as well as Roseanne Barr, the outspoken comedian, for her support. He also called Larry Elder, the California talk radio personality on stage. Earlier on Thursday evening, Elder dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.

“Larry said don’t worry about it, when I drop out, you’re the guy and I love you and I love him,” Trump said. Former NFL stars Mike and Maurkice Pouncey were also seen at the event.

It was estimated that around $6 million was brought in for Trump’s 2024 efforts, according to figures announced at the event, an amount that would make Tuesday night’s fundraiser one of the biggest single night hauls of his 2024 campaign. A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign did not comment.

In a speech that went over an hour and a half, Trump touted his lead in the polls, taunted his opponents including Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and talked about his record in the White House.

“His speech was very forward, very focused on how bad things are and what he would do to fix all of it in short order,” said Bill White, CEO of Constellations Group and former CEO of the Intrepid Museum in New York City, as well as a longtime friend of Trump. White attended with his husband, Bryan Eure, who is senior vice president of Willis Towers Watson.

White said Trump boasted of his foreign policy chops, insisting that as president he would rein in Iran, North Korea, China and Hamas and promising to reduce the price of gasoline.

“While his polls have gone up, he said gloves are off with Biden,” he added, noting Trump insulted Biden’s intelligence by comparing him unfavorably to former President Jimmy Carter.

The fundraiser comes days after three lawyers aligned with his efforts following the 2020 election pleaded guilty in Georgia. Over a dozen other people are charged with aiding the former president in what prosecutors have described as an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Trump also spent two days in court this week defending his company in a civil fraud trial in New York.

This coming weekend, Trump will be appearing with his 2024 challengers in Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference.

27 Oct 2023

Mike Johnson on Hannity: 12 key lines from the new House speaker’s interview

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, the previously little-known Louisiana Republican who claimed the chamber’s gavel this week after 22 days of chaos, gave a wide-ranging interview to Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday night. Here are Johnson’s top 12 lines from that interview.

1.     President Joe Biden

“If you look at a tape of Joe Biden making an argument in the Senate Judiciary Committee a few years ago and you see a speech that he delivers now, there’s a difference. Again, it’s not a personal insult to him. It’s just reality.”

2.    The Biden administration

“I think it’s been a failed presidency.”

3.    Foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel

“I told the staff at the White House today that our consensus among House Republicans is that we need to bifurcate those issues.”

4.     Foreign policy

“We can’t allow Vladimir Putin to prevail in Ukraine because I don’t believe it would stop there. It would probably encourage and empower China to perhaps make a move on Taiwan. We have these concerns.”

5.   U.S. boots on the ground in Israel

“It’s a very delicate situation; it changes by the hour. We’re watching it very closely. We certainly hope that it doesn’t come to boots on the ground.”

6.   Palestinian aid

“They use the Palestinians as shields. They don’t even provide the people with clean drinking water. We’re supposed to believe they’re going to use U.S. aid for humanitarian purposes? Count me as a skeptic, OK.”

7.   Biden impeachment

“If, in fact, all the evidence leads to where we believe it will, that’s very likely impeachable offenses.”

8.   China

“China is a near peer-to-peer adversary to us right now, and their goal is to rebuild the empire. So we’re doing everything we can to ensure we maintain our military superiority.”

9.     Motion to vacate

“I think we’re going to change it.”

10.  Stopgap budget measure

“We’re working through this with the ideas and trying to ensure that if another stopgap measure is required, that we do it with certain conditions.”

11.  Gay marriage

“This has been settled by the Supreme Court in the Obergefell opinion in 2015. So, that’s the decision. … I’m a constitutional law attorney, I respect that and we move forward.”

12. Abortion

“There’s no national consensus for the people on what to do with that issue on a federal issue for certain.”

27 Oct 2023

Kurt Warner called the Ravens offense ‘kind of clunky.’ Todd Monken doesn’t totally disagree.

by | posted in: News | 0

Despite the Ravens scoring 38 points and racking up more than 500 yards of offense in their 38-6 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and NFL analyst Kurt Warner saw a lot of room for improvement.

“Although they threw for a bunch of yards, it’s still not smooth and connected,” Warner said on his YouTube show. “It’s kind of clunky right now.”

Offensive coordinator Todd Monken didn’t necessarily disagree.

“There were certain things we did that were really outstanding that you look at and say, ‘Wow, we can build on it.’ And there’s other things that can get glossed over because you won, and you look at it and go, ‘That has to be a lot better, or we can’t be who want,’” Monken said Thursday. “There were some elite things that we did, and there were some things for sure we have to clean up and not just counting on that [No.] 8 is going to run around and make a play, right? He is going to do that. That is what he does, but that’s not my job. Our job is to be elite and getting guys in the right spots, calling it, being aggressive, getting the guys in the right spots and letting our talent shine.”

Warner said that spacing among the receivers was “not great” and that players weren’t always where they were supposed to be.

He also suggested the timing of some plays being off, and that quarterback Lamar Jackson was able to put up so many yards because of his ability to “work through the issues and make plays.”

One of those was a short pass to Gus Edwards that turned into an 80-yard gain. The play was originally designed as a naked bootleg to the left, Monken said, but Jackson instead rolled right, seeing an edge rusher free on the left side of the line. Edwards had the option to block or release on the play and chose the latter.

Another was the Ravens’ third play of the game, a 46-yard completion to Zay Flowers over the middle. However, Warner noted that tight end Mark Andrews and Edwards were too close to one another on their respective routes, essentially allowing one defender to cover both of them. That resulted in Jackson having to go to his fourth option, Flowers.

Later in the first quarter, on a 16-yard completion to receiver Rashod Bateman on a back side hook, Warner again pointed out the lack of space between Andrews and Edwards, forcing Jackson to go to his fifth read on the play.

“I don’t disagree with some of the things [Warner was] saying,” Monken said. “I think in terms of making sure that we’re on point, in terms of your spacing, in terms of everybody being on the same page, but do I think that’s any different than most weeks? No. You can break down anybody and say, ‘Hey, I think that was maybe taking the other side of the narrative.’ Because there was so much one side, so you go to the other side of the narrative a little bit. I don’t think either side’s wrong.”

Yet even though Monken was given a game ball following the victory, said there was some frustration over things they should have done better.

“It’s consistency in terms of route depths here and out of the huddle, if we’re changing a play,” he said Thursday. “There’s just, over time — and this is no different than any game — there’s a missed assignment here, getting lined up here, how we’re doing it here, so we’re hearing it out of the huddle, getting lined up, [and] our spacing’s right. So again, so we don’t count on some ad-lib, not an ad-lib, just Lamar making a play and making up for it.

“Those are things that he has a unique ability to do, but when you really take off is you shrink those other things.”

Still, there were plenty of things that went right in what was easily the Ravens’ biggest offensive output of the season.

The preparation for it stemmed from what Monken and several players called the best practices of the season last week. There was also the performance of the offensive line, which didn’t give up a sack and gave Jackson plenty of time to throw.

Then there is the dynamic playmaking of Jackson, always a threat to run and capable of eluding defenders long enough for receivers to work their way open.

“It makes defensive backs have to cover you two times, basically,” Flowers said.

“You have to practice that all the time because when you have an electric quarterback like we do we understand it’s important to give him a target,” said Nelson Agholor, who was the recipient of a touchdown pass from Jackson after the quarterback spent more than 9 seconds scrambling before finding the receiver in the back of the end zone.

Now the only question is whether they will keep it going this week against the 1-6 Cardinals, or if they will take a step back playing against a lesser opponent.

For now, though, it’s going in the right direction, Jackson said, and Monken was pleased with the end result.

“That’s the way it should look,” Monken said. “I don’t think you ever anticipate scoring touchdowns on your first four drives. But that’s what you’re paid to do. You’re paid to put a product out there, maximize your players’ potential and we did that. It feels good, and it feels like crap when it doesn’t.

“We’re just getting started. We really are. We just have to build from here.”

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27 Oct 2023

U.S. strikes Iran-linked sites in Syria in retaliation for attacks on US troops

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The U.S. military launched airstrikes early Friday on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Pentagon said, in retaliation for a slew of drone and missile attacks against U.S. bases and personnel in the region that began early last week.

The U.S. strikes reflect the Biden administration’s determination to maintain a delicate balance. The U.S. wants to hit Iranian-backed groups suspected of targeting the U.S. as strongly as possible to deter future aggression, possibly fueled by Israel’s war against Hamas, while also working to avoid inflaming the region and provoking a wider conflict.

According to the Pentagon, there have been at least 12 attacks on U.S. bases and personnel in Iraq and four in Syria since Oct. 17. Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said 21 U.S. personnel were injured in two of those assaults that used drones to target al-Asad Airbase in Iraq and al-Tanf Garrison in Syria.

In a statement, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the “precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on October 17.”

He said President Joe Biden directed the narrowly tailored strikes “to make clear that the United States will not tolerate such attacks and will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests.” And he added that the operation was separate and distinct from Israel’s war against Hamas.

Austin said the U.S. does not seek a broader conflict, but if Iranian proxy groups continue, the U.S. won’t hesitate to take additional action to protect its forces.