Former governor Burke endorses Duke, says he will run if Duke is "cheated" out of nomination
Sunday, November 7th, 2021
Former Alabama governor Wesley Burke (R) endorsed former senator Alan Duke (R-OK) and said that he would run for president as an independent if Duke is "cheated" out of the nomination.
"Three years ago, the RNC ignored the will of the party and saddled us with Henry Shallick," Burke said in an appearance on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). "Where did that lead us? To Sam Seaborn in the White House and the American family under attack. Well, friends, I won't let something like that happen again."
A supporter of then-governor Peter Gault (KS) in 2018, Burke had planned to make a late entry to the presidential race after Gault was defeated by Shallick at the Republican National Convention, but was dissuaded by Gault, who went on to endorse Shallick.
Burke served as governor of Alabama from 1995 to 2003 and was one of the most prominent politicians from the party's social conservative wing for almost a decade following his departure from elected office owing to his consistent media presence in evangelical Christian media, frequently appearing on CBN and at events organized by the American Christian Assembly (ACA).
This threat comes days after Texas billionaire Andrew Long threatened to run a third-party presidential campaign if the Republicans don't nominate a "mainstream conservative", which many took as meaning Duke.
James Ritchie, chair of the Republican National Committee, issued a statement saying that Burke's remarks were "irresponsible and untrue."
"At no time was there improper influence by the party [during the presidential nomination process] in 2018," Ritchie said. "Governor Burke has been egregiously misinformed about the circumstances that led to Henry Shallick being our party's nominee that year, and I hope he issues a retraction soon."
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Democrats reject GOP piecemeal funding bills
Sunday, November 7th, 2021
Attempts by congressional Republicans to restore funding specific agencies have met with rejection by both their Democratic colleagues and President Seaborn, who say they are attempts at relieving political pressure from the party without restoring less popular, but vital, other services.
House Majority Leader Andrew Casey (R-NY) said that he expects the House will vote to pass funding bills for the District of Columbia, Department of Health and Human Services, National Park Service and reserve components of the U.S. military, including the National Guard in the next few work days. These bills, he said, were a "starting point" for negotiations over a final budget bill.
"We want to build on these measures, crafted with input from our Democratic colleagues, to reach a budget solution," Casey said Sunday on Fox News'
Fox and Friends. "We're serious about wanting to get our government back into good working order, and this is an olive branch that proves it."
But Democrats have, for the most part, rejected these proposals.
"The Republicans have looked at the polling and see that the American people have figured out that this is all their [the Republicans'] fault," congresswoman and former Speaker of the House Carol Gelsey (D-FL) said on CNN after Casey's announcement. Polling taken since the shutdown began has shown that approval for the Republican Party has a whole has reached its lowest level since the 2003 shutdown, and that 70% of registered voters disapprove of congressional Republicans' handling of this issue compared to only 58% for congressional Democrats' actions on the budget and 46% for President Seaborn's .
"They want to staunch the bleeding, and we're saying 'if you're really serious, then give us a budget proposal that doesn't take money out of programs that help working- and middle-class Americans or try to censor our educators."
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Sunday, November 7 2021
Jerusalem votes for new president, power-sharing arrangement
Jerusalem — The first major political change in the Holy City of Jerusalem took place Sunday as citizens of the city-state voted to approve a proposed power-sharing arrangement between the city's religious populations and elected a new president to replace term-limited incumbent Ben Sawahili.
Member of the Jerusalem Council Yigal Peretz was elected to be the country's second president. Jerusalem's ranked-choice voting system meant that many candidates entered, and Peretz won the most first-choice votes with 26%. In the fourth and final round, Peretz was declared the winner with 62% of the vote, with ultra-Orthodox rabbi Meir Yishai getting 38%.
Peretz, who is an accountant by trade and served as the final head of the Jerusalem Developmental Authority under Israel, will be the first Jewish president of the city-state. He campaigned largely on issues related to economic development and simplifying the city's permit and zoning system, which has become infamous for its byzantine procedures (owing to obligations under the Ankara Agreement and subsequent trilateral agreements between Jerusalem and its neighbors) following Jerusalem's independence.
With the backing of both the governments of Palestine and Israel, voters overwhelmingly approved a proposed amendment to the city's charter that will create the position of "deputy president", who will be deputized to act for the president in certain instances and will become acting president should the incumbent be incapacitated, die or resign. A key provision will be that the president and deputy president must have different religions, and that the deputy president always be selected from the two most populous religious groups in Jerusalem.
This change was pushed by Sawahili, a Jordanian-born Christian who was able to bridge the political and social divide that still exists between Hebrew-speaking Jews who make up a majority of the population in the city, and Arab-speaking Muslims, who are by far the largest minority group.
The 82 year-old, who will leave office on December 2nd, congratulated Peretz and said that today's vote was a "popular reaffirmation of the values of peace and democracy."