Arizona troopers' union pulls support from Democrat opposing GOP's McSally in Senate race

U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., goes over the rules in a television studio prior to a televised debate with U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz. (Associated Press)

An Arizona union that represents state public safety employees withdrew its endorsement of U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema this week after its members said the executive board voted on the endorsement without their input.
Sinema, a Democrat, is locked in a tight U.S. Senate race against U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, a Republican, for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Jeff Flake.
After members objected to the board's actions, the Arizona State Troopers Association polled its members in an email Monday, asking whether they wanted to endorse Sinema or stay neutral, the Arizona Republic reported.
The poll indicated “the membership has indicated a preference to stay neutral."
"All members are encouraged to vote for the candidate they personally support," the email said. "AZTroopers will refrain from any political statements concerning the race until the conclusion of the election."

U.S. Senate candidates, U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., left, and U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., prepare their remarks in a television studio prior to a televised debate. (Associated Press)

Dave McDowell, an association member and retired lieutenant, told the paper that members hadn’t been consulted prior to the Sinema endorsement.
“That displeased a number of members, including myself,” McDowell said.
McDowell said he supports McSally, but doesn’t think the union should be endorsing candidates at all.
"The Troopers have spoken," a McSally campaign spokeswoman said in a text message to the Republic.
Sinema, whose brother is a Tucson police officer, received the union's endorsement in her past three campaigns.
In an email to the paper, the Sinema campaign said it respects the association’s decision.
"We respect the association's decision to remain neutral given the divisive tone of the race and appreciate their support for Kyrsten's past three elections, as well as continued support from members and law enforcement officers across the state," a spokeswoman said.
The campaign touted the association’s endorsement in an ad spotlighting law enforcement and border issues. The ad is no longer running, the campaign said, because it had run its course and a change was ordered Friday.
President Trump recently endorsed McSally during a campaign rally earlier this month, calling her a “great veteran” and a “great fighter,” while describing Sinema as a far-left extremist.
The race has gotten ugly in recent weeks, with McSally asking Sinema to apologize for comments she made during a 2003 radio interview about American intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan at the end of a contentious Oct. 15 debate.
The radio host made a comment about joining the Taliban, to which Sinema responded, "I don't care if you want to do that, go ahead." McSally, a former fighter pilot, accused Sinema of supporting treason and asked her to apologize.
Sinema responded by accusing her opponent of playing dirty.
Recent polls show the two candidates in a dead heat, according to the Washington Times.

Caravan Immigration Cartoons

Fire alarm sounds during Georgia gubernatorial debate just as candidate tells people to 'get another job'

A fire alarm sounded toward the beginning of Georgia's gubernatorial debate on Tuesday evening, serving to punctuate an already-awkward exhortation by Libertarian candidate Ted Metz to government employees put out of work by his plans to "get another job."
The debate came just one day after it was revealed that Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams had torched the state's flag in 1992 because it contained Confederate battle flag markings.
“Mr. Metz, you’ve promised to cut spending by slashing what you call ‘obsolete, inefficient, unnecessary and unconstitutional agencies.'” Greg Bluestein, a political reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, began. “What specifically would you eliminate and what do you say to Georgians who might depend on their services?”
“Get another job,” Metz responded, before the insistent dull buzz of a fire alarm sounded.
"What is that noise?" Metz asked. A moderator remarked: "The beauty of live TV."
Also during the debate, Metz, who has no realistic chance of prevailing in the gubernatorial contest, acknowledged halfway into his answer on a question about scholarships for illegal immigrants that he was not sure what the question actually entailed.
"I, uh, missed the question, I suppose," Metz said, as he proceeded to outline some general comments about his plans for immigration.
Metz was joined on stage by Abrams and the Republican nominee, two-term Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who are in a neck-and-neck race.
GEORGIA DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE TORCHED STATE FLAG IN 1992, PHOTOGRAPHS SHOW
On Monday night, it emerged that Abrams had helped light a state flag on fire on the steps of the state's Capitol in June 1992, as part of a protest that her campaign on Monday night characterized as an effort to "overcome racially divisive issues." The flag at the time incorporated designs from the Confederate battle flag, and Abrams, then a freshman at Spelman College in Atlanta, was one of about a dozen demonstrators involved, according to newspaper accounts.
The issue came up swiftly on Tuesday. Asked about the issue, Abrams responded that she and others “were deeply disturbed” by the flag, and noted that Kemp had also voted to remove the Confederate battle flag symbols.
"I'm fighting now for Georgia values," Abrams said.
Kemp, who as secretary of state oversees elections in Georgia, then responded to a question regarding whether he should resign because of potential conflicts of interest.
"It's our county elections officials that are actually holding the election that is going on right now," Kemp said, adding that "local, bipartisan election boards" are responsible for keeping the voting tallies.
Kemp also said he would not recuse himself if the race came down to a recount.

Caravan clash: Press accusing president of 'fear' and 'falsehoods'

President Trump has declared war on the Central American caravan, and the media have declared war on the president for doing so.
That sounds stark, but I can't reach any other conclusion.
It's quite obvious that Trump has seized upon the roughly 7,000 Honduran migrants who are heading north through Mexico, and using them to rouse his base on the issue of illegal immigration.
But press accounts have gone well beyond that in slamming Trump just two weeks before the election, setting up the kind of classic confrontation that has come to define his presidency.
Here is The Washington Post's coverage of the issue, starting with the main news story:
"Trump and Republicans Settle on Fear — And Falsehoods — As a Midterm Strategy."
And here's a Post analysis:
"Trump's Embrace of a Fraught Term — 'Nationalist' — Could Cement a Dangerous Racial Divide."
Another Post analysis:
"Trump is Even More Hyperbolic About Immigration Now Than in 2016."
And here's the New York Times news story:
"Trump and GOP Candidates Escalate Race and Fear as Election Ploys."
It's perfectly legitimate for the media to point out that the president has offered no proof for his claims that the caravan includes gang members and "unknown Middle Easterners." The Times story called that "a dark and factually baseless warning," saying that "the unsubstantiated charge marked an escalation of Mr. Trump's efforts to stoke fears about foreigners and crime."
In a related vein, the Post jumped on Trump for calling himself a "nationalist" at a Texas rally, while saying that "a globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly not caring about our country so much."
The piece added: "A racially overt version of it — white nationalism — has been publicly ascendant since Trump launched his 2016 campaign by attacking undocumented Mexican immigrants as 'rapists' and 'criminals' and later proposed a Muslim immigration ban."
CNN host Don Lemon went further, calling nationalist "a favorite of the alt-right and is loaded with nativist and racial undertones. And globalist. Well, globalist has been used as a slur of sorts, sometimes even against those in the administration, often with anti-Semitic overtones."
That’s reading a lot into two words.
Look, immigration is one of the hottest of hot-button issues. And Politico says the Democrats are "spooked" by the daily images of marching Honduran migrants as the president's rhetoric has boosted the caravan into a major story.
Look at this Trump tweet: "Every time you see a Caravan, or people illegally coming, or attempting to come, into our Country illegally, think of and blame the Democrats for not giving us the votes to change our pathetic Immigration Laws! Remember the Midterms!"
Except the GOP controls the White House, the Senate and the House. If the immigration laws are so pathetic, why haven't they changed them?
But the broader point is this: the use of fear as a weapon comes from a very old political playbook. When Barack Obama or Bill Clinton and the Democrats were in charge, they would warn ominously that the Republicans want to take away your Medicare, slash your Social Security, shred the safety net, "turn back the clock" on civil rights or women's rights or gay rights.
That, too, is the politics of fear. And while it was covered, it was rarely called out as fear-mongering because many journalists believed those push-granny-off-a-cliff charges were basically on target.
Trump deserves great scrutiny over his use of the immigration issue, especially when he can't back up his claims. But he's hardly the first president to try to scare voters at election time.

Corey Lewandowski plays down altercation with John Kelly, makes midterm prediction

Corey Lewandowski, President Trump's former campaign manager, on Tuesday played down recent reports that he got into a physical altercation last winter with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, saying "John and I have a great relationship."
Lewandowski told Fox News' ‘The Ingraham Angle,' that whatever happened between Kelly and him is "completely irrelevant."
"What may or may not have taken place, ten months ago, eight months ago, is completely irrelevant to where we are today," he said.
The apparent scrape between the two men was recounted Monday in a New York Times article which quoted a "half-dozen people familiar with the events."
The report said Kelly supposedly grabbed Lewandowski “by the collar” amid an argument just outside the Oval Office, prompting the intervention of the Secret Service.
Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci told Fox News' 'Fox & Friends' he was "very confident" that the incident occurred.
But Lewandowski ridiculed the report's attempt to use the incident as illustrative of Trump's supposedly "chaotic" White House.
"It didn't come to a 'near-brawl' by any stretch of the imagination," he said.
Lewandowski concluded his appearance on the program with a prediction of the post-midterm election results.
"We’re actually going to gain seats in the Senate (and) hold the House majority. That's because of the leadership of the Trump-Pence team," he said.

Trump cites 2005 Obama remarks to support immigration policy

President Trump turned to an unlikely source Tuesday evening to find support for his hard-line immigration policies: his predecessor, Barack Obama.
Trump tweeted a 2005 video in which Obama, then a senator, made a statement against illegal immigration, accompanied by the comment "I agree with President Obama 100%".
"We are a generous and welcoming people here in the United States," Obama says in the 31-second clip. "But those who enter the country illegally and those who employ them disrespect the rule of law and they are showing disregard for those who are following the law. We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked, and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently and lawfully to become immigrants into this country."
Obama is not the only Democrat cited by Trump and his supporters to justify crackdowns on illegal immigration. Another is former President Bill Clinton, whose State of the Union address in 1995 featured the following:
"All Americans ... are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country," Clinton said that night. "The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public service they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That's why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens."
"We are a nation of immigrants," Clinton added. "But we are also a nation of laws. It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it."
Tuesday's tweet came as the Trump administration wrestles with what to do if a caravan of some 7,000 people that originated in Central America arrives at the U.S.-Mexico border. The march appeared to begin as a group of about 160 who decided to band together in Honduras for protection against the gangs who prey on migrants traveling alone; it snowballed as the group moved north. It now has thousands of people and is facing more than 1,000 miles, likely farther, to the end of the journey.
The caravan comes on the heels of a surge in apprehensions of families at the southern border, which has given Trump a fresh talking point to rally his base ahead of next month's midterm elections. Nearly a third of all people apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border during the budget year 2018 were families and children — about 157,248 out of 395,579 total apprehensions.
In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department on Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, suggested that the administration make a "third party" agreement with Mexico that would force any caravan members seeking asylum to do so in their country of arrival — Mexico. The lawmakers said the process already works that way in Europe.

Evil Grandpa George Soros Cartoons

Rep. Kevin McCarthy's Bakersfield office attacked with massive rock, he says

Two men apparently attacked the Bakersfield office of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Monday night, throwing a massive rock through one of its windows and burglarizing office equipment inside.
McCarthy posted four photographs documenting the alleged episode on Instagram -- three showing the individuals he identified as possible suspects, and one providing a clear view of a massive slab of rock lying on the floor amid shattered glass.
"Does anyone know these two guys?" McCarthy wrote on the social media site, next to images of two people spotted near his office.
The Bakersfield Police Department did not comment on the alleged incident when reached by Fox News and said it would have more information on Tuesday.
McCarthy, like several other congressional Republicans, has faced threats and harassment in the past several weeks. In August, protesters in Sacramento chanting "No justice, no peace" disrupted McCarthy's event at the Public Policy Institute of California.
Ironically, on Thursday, McCarthy retweeted President Trump's "#JobsNotMobs" slogan, underscoring the deteriorating level of civility in politics ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm elections.
Earlier this month, for example, it was revealed that a Democratic congressional aide accused of publishing the private information of at least three Republican lawmakers also allegedly threatened to leak senators’ children's health information if a witness told anyone about his activities.
And prominent Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have been harassed in recent weeks while eating at public restaurants with their wives by hostile liberals. Other top GOP officials, such as Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, were similarly accosted over the summer, although Nielsen's security detail kept the protesters at bay.
Meanwhile, authorities on Monday responded to the home of billionaire progressive investor George Soros after an explosive device was reportedly located by one of his employees.
WATCH: PROTESTERS SHOW UP AT DHS SECRETARY NIELSEN'S HOME, TAUNT HER
Just last week, a Republican who's running for a seat in the Vermont House of Representatives said she received a letter with death and rape threats from an alleged socialist. Deserae Morin, of Colchester, published a photo of the vulgar letter -- comprised of cut-out block letters -- on her Facebook page over the weekend. It read, in part, "My comrades will kill you and the Constitution. ... Socialism is here. Open season for Republican death in Vermont."
Republican Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., revealed to Fox News earlier this month that his wife had received a similar graphic message, along with a video depicting a beheading. Gardner also told Fox News that someone has publicly posted the names and addresses of his family members.
Mobs of progressive protesters even attempted to claw their way into the Supreme Court during Kavanaugh's swearing-in.
Although House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was verbally confronted by protesters last week at a campaign stop, Republican politicians have been targeted dramatically more often -- a fact the president has repeatedly emphasized on the campaign trail.
"Democrats produce mobs, Republicans produce jobs," Trump said in Arizona last week, adding that the Democrats have become too extreme to be entrusted with power. He described them as an "angry, unhinged mob."

Trump, at Texas rally, backs Cruz, slams Democrats for 'assault on the sovereignty' of US

President Trump on Monday night voiced his support for Sen. Ted Cruz in his re-election, calling the Texas Republican "a really good friend of mine."
Speaking at a "Make America Great Again" rally at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, the president said while the pair's relationship has previously been rocky — "in the beginning it was a love fest" — he encouraged rallygoers to vote for the senator.
MASSIVE HOUSTON TAILGATE AWAITS TRUMP RALLYING FOR CRUZ
"Nobody has helped me more with your tax cuts, with your regulation, with all of the things that we're doing ... than Senator Ted Cruz," Trump said.
Monday's rally was one of a series the president has participated in recently as he aims to keep GOP control of the Senate and the House. Cruz is running against Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke.
Before introducing Trump — who frequently referred to the senator as "Lyin' Ted" during the 2016 campaign — Cruz made it clear the two no longer have bad blood and predicted that "in 2020 Donald Trump will be overwhelming re-elected."
Trump, meanwhile, called O'Rourke a "stone cold phony" who "pretends to be a moderate, but he's actually a radical open-borders left-winger."
"The Democrats," Trump said, "have launched an assault on the sovereignty of our country."
Trump told the crowd, which Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said consisted of 18,000 to 19,000 people, with another 3,000 watching outside, that his administration is "putting America first, it hasn't happened in a lot of decades."
The president labeled himself a “nationalist” because he cares about the U.S. and less about the world overall.
“A globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly, not caring about our country so much,” Trump said. “We can’t have that. You know, they have a word — it sort of became old-fashioned — it’s called a nationalist.
“We’re not supposed to use that world. You know what I am? I’m a nationalist, OK? I’m a nationalist," he said to chants of "USA!"
Trump often railed against the Democrats during the rally, which lasted around two hours.
A so-called “blue wave” of potential Democrat victories, he said, “is being dissipated a little bit.”
Trump reiterated what he's tweeted in recent days — that he believes the Democrats "had something to do with" the migrant caravan recently traveling to the U.S. from Mexico. Without evidence, he said Democrats were "encouraging millions of illegal aliens to break out laws, violate our borders and overwhelm our nation."

Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams helped torch state flag during college protest

FILE- In this May 22, 2018, file photo Georgia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams waves in Atlanta. Abrams is trying to reach voters who don’t usually vote in midterm elections in the hopes to drive up turnout in her race against Republican Brian Kemp. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

The Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Georgia, Stacey Abrams, helped light a state flag on fire on the steps of the state's Capitol in June 1992, as part of a protest that her campaign on Monday night characterized as an effort to "overcome racially divisive issues."
The flag at the time incorporated designs from the Confederate battle flag, and Abrams, then a freshman at  Atlanta's Spelman College, was one of about a dozen demonstrators involved, according to contemporaneous newspaper accounts and several social media posts that surfaced the issue late Monday.
An article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows Abrams torching the flag in a photograph. A 20-year-old senior at the school told the paper that the protest was designed to "send Georgia's racist past up in flames," and "fight fire with fire. ... Burn, baby, burn!"  No arrests reportedly occurred at the protest.
Abrams is set to face off in a debate Tuesday against her Republican opponent, two-term Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who had called her an "extreme" candidate before Monday's dramatic revelation.

Graphic rendering of the Georgia state flag from 1956 to 2001, including the Confederate battle flag markings. (Public domain image)

The two are neck-and-neck according to most polls; Abrams is hoping to become the first female black governor in the country's history.
“During Stacey Abrams’ college years, Georgia was at a crossroads, struggling with how to overcome racially divisive issues, including symbols of the Confederacy, the sharpest of which was the inclusion of the Confederate emblem in the Georgia state flag,” read a statement from Abrams' campaign, first obtained by The New York Times. “This conversation was sweeping across Georgia as numerous organizations, prominent leaders, and students engaged in the ultimately successful effort to change the flag.”
The statement continued by highlighting Abrams' long career in local politics.
AFTER CONFEDERATE STATUTE CONTROVERSIES, STATES MOVE TO TEAR DOWN MONUMENTS DEEMED OFFENSIVE TO NATIVE AMERICANS
"Abrams’ time in public service as deputy city attorney and as a state legislative leader have all been focused on bringing people together to solve problems," her campaign said.
Last year, Abrams, 44, called for the removal of a Confederate carving in Stone Mountain, saying it was a symbol of white supremacy. Kemp defended the carving for its historical value.
It was not immediately clear what effect Monday's sudden revelation would have on the gubernatorial race. A recent poll from the AJC/Channel 2 puts Abrams and Kemp within two points of each other, reinforcing many political analysts’ prediction of the Peach State turning purple.
The last Democratic governor was Roy Barnes, elected in 1998 -- and, as The Times reported, his support for changes to the Confederate symbols on the state flag may have cost him his job.
The state adopted a new flag without the Confederate battle flag symbols in 2003.
Robert Howard, a political science professor at Georgia State University, told Fox News it’s not a matter of if but when Georgia sees a blue wave, considering its dramatic demographic changes.
The metro Atlanta area’s nonwhite population nearly doubled from 1970 to 2015, according to a Georgia State University study.
“If it’s not quite a bellwether state, it is moving towards that column,” Howard added, noting the stronghold the Democratic Party has on minority voters across the country.