Here’s a quick guide to the key lawsuits filed so far regarding the Florida 2018 recounts

Broward election planning director Joseph D’Alessandro, right, works on recounting votes from the midterm elections

 on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018, at the Broward Supervisor of Elections Office in Lauderhill, Florida. Christian Colon

Since a statewide recount was ordered last week for three major races in Florida, lawsuits have been filed all over the state. The statewide races being recounted: Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson for Nelson’s Senate seat; Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum for governor, and Democrat Nikki Fried and Republican Matt Caldwell for state agriculture commissioner. Here’s a look at some of the key lawsuits filed so far.

Republican Rick Scott and the National Republican Senatorial Committee vs. Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes

On Thursday, Gov. Scott held a press conference in the governor’s mansion and accused “unethical liberals” of trying to steal the race for U.S. Senate from him. His campaign filed a lawsuitThursday alleging Snipes refused to release details on voting tabulations.

Scott’s campaign claimed Snipes violated public records laws by not complying with its requests for voter and ballot information, according to the suit in Broward Circuit Court.

Status: An emergency court hearing was held Friday. Broward Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips ordered Snipes to release the number of ballots cast in the county, broken down by absentee, early and Election Day votes, to Scott’s campaign by 7 p.m. Friday. Snipes complied.

Republican Rick Scott and the National Republican Senatorial Committee vs. Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher

Scott’s campaign on Thursday sued Bucher, claiming she hindered the processing of provisional and absentee ballots. Bucher, according to the suit, refused to allow party representatives “to properly witness Defendant’s processing and duplication of physically damaged absentee ballots,” in violation of state law.

Bucher’s staff also failed to allow the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board to inspect the ballots, violating state law, the suit said.. Her staff determined if the mail-in ballots were valid themselves, according to the suit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.

Status: An emergency court hearing was held Friday. Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Krista Marx declared any ballot that Bucher or her staff disqualifies will need to be reviewed by the county’s canvassing board. Marx also ordered Bucher to provide a list of everyone who filed provisional ballots by 4 p.m. Friday. Bucher has yet to comply with the judge’s order.

Democrat Bill Nelson and Democratic Executive Committee vs. Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner

Nelson’s campaign asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida on Thursday for an immediate injunction to force the state to count all mail-in and provisional ballots that are deemed to have a signature mismatch.

The lawsuit wants a judge to declare “that all voters who submit a (vote-by-mail) or provisional ballot, and whose ballots are subsequently determined to involve a signature mismatch, be counted as valid votes.” That would challenge Florida law, which requires officials to reject signatures that don’t match the ones on file.

The plaintiffs also requested Saturday’s deadline to canvass ballots be extended until the legal matter is resolved.

Status: Judge Mark Walker is overseeing the case. A hearing is scheduled in Tallahassee for Wednesday afternoon.

Republican Rick Scott vs. Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes and the Broward County Canvassing Board

Scott is suing the defendants to prevent the counting of absentee ballots received after the 7 p.m. deadline on Election Day and that none of those votes should be included in Broward County’s tally.

Status: The case was filed in Broward County. No hearing has been scheduled.

Republican Rick Scott vs. Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes

As elections departments across the state started the recount Sunday, Scott filed for an emergency injunction to allow the sheriff’s deputies and Florida’s Department of Law Enforcement to impound Broward County vote-tabulation machines and ballots while the recount is not under way.

The Broward recount is already secured by police outside and deputies inside, with Democratic and Republican parties and candidates’ campaigns monitoring the entire process. But Scott’s campaign asserted that Snipes’s history of violating state law called into question the integrity of the cote-counting process.

Status: Circuit Judge Jack Tuter denied Scott’s request to impound the machines. Instead, all parties agreed to add three Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies to an existing group of deputies, local police officers and private security guards to oversee the recount of the three races at the Broward election supervisor’s office in Lauderhill.

The judge asked the lawyers on all sides to “ramp down the rhetoric” as he’s seen no evidence of wrongdoing in the vote counting.

Republican Rick Scott vs. Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher

As elections departments across the state started the recount Sunday, Scott filed for an emergency injunction to allow the sheriff’s deputies and Florida’s Department of Law Enforcement to impound Palm Beach County vote-tabulation machines and ballots while the recount is not underway.

Status: One of the Scott campaign’s attorneys, Jason Zimmerman, said that the Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections agreed to add additional law enforcement officers to oversee recount activities.

League of Women Voters, Common Cause and Joanne Lynch Aye vs. Republican Rick Scott

On Monday, the group Protect Democracy sued in federal on behalf of the League of Women Voters, Common Cause and Joanne Lynch Aye, a Broward voter. The group claims Scott is improperly using his position as governor to influence the recount in the U.S. Senate race in which he is a candidate.

The lawsuit followed a letter sent by the plaintiffs over the weekend asking Scott to recuse himself.

Scott, according to the federal lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Florida, is using the powers of his office “to benefit himself and his party and to intimidate the local officials and volunteers conducting the vote count.”

The plaintiffs asked a judge to file a restraining order against Scott, to prohibit him from using his authority in any way to influence the 2018 Senate race.

Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle disqualified himself from the case early Saturday. Chief Judge Mark Walker took over.

Status: A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning before Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee.

VoteVets Action Fund and the Democratic National Committee vs. State of Florida

VoteVets Action Fund, a progressive veterans’ advocacy group, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee filed a federal suit against the state in the Northern District of Florida on Monday.

Plaintiffs ask that mail-in ballots that were postmarked before Election Day, but not delivered before the polls closed at 7 p.m., be counted. Mail-in ballots cannot be counted if they arrive after 7 p.m. on Election Day, according to Florida law.

The lawsuit is claiming voters should not be faulted for the late delivery of absentee ballots. Nelson’s attorney, Marc Elias, cited the example of a few hundred mail-in ballots that were postmarked before Nov. 6 but got stranded at an Opa-locka postal facility, possibly because of an FBI investigation into a Miami-Dade man who sent pipe bombs through the mail before the election.

Elias said Nelson’s campaign hopes to get post-marked absentees to be counted within 10 days after the election, similarly to overseas military members’ ballots.

Status: Pending before U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee.

Democrat Jim Bonfiglio vs. Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner

Bonfiglio, who was trailing by 37 votes against Republican Mike Caruso for House District 89, filed a suit Tuesday in Leon County Circuit Court seeking to extend the deadline for the machine recount from 3 p.m. Thursday to next Tuesday, Nov. 20.

Nelson’s campaign filed a motion later that day to join Bonfiglio’s lawsuit.

Status: Circuit Judge Karen Gievers suspended certain deadlines for the recount in Palm Beach County not only for Bonfiglio’s statehouse race, but also for three statewide races, including Nelson’s.

Detzner is trying to move the case to federal court in the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee.

Democrat Bill Nelson for U.S. Senate vs. Ken Detzner et al.

Nelson’s campaign is seeking to have a federal judge in the Northern District of Florida extend the deadlines for machine and manual recounts so that all 67 counties in the state can finish them on time.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, urges U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee to extend the deadlines for an unspecified period of time. Under state law, the machine recounts must be completed by 3 p.m. Thursday and the manual recounts must be completed by noon Sunday.

Status: Walker scheduled a status conference on the suit for 9 a.m. Thursday.

Republican Matthew Caldwell vs. Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes

The Republican candidate for commissioner of agriculture and consumer services filed a suit Friday in Broward County against Snipes, to determine if Snipes “illegally included ballots after polls closed” Nov. 6. If so, Caldwell is asking the state to be remove potentially illegal votes from the electoral tabulation.

His campaign also filed a public-records request for vote counts and emails among Snipes, her team and third-party members regarding the midterm recount.

Status: A hearing hasn’t been scheduled yet.

It’s over: Bill Nelson concedes to Rick Scott after Florida recount deadline passes

Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson conceded Florida’s race for U.S. Senate on Sunday, signaling the end of an 18-year run in Congress’ upper chamber and likely the close of a 46-year political career.

According to Gov. Rick Scott, who defeated Nelson in a race so close it required a manual recount, Nelson called to concede after the state posted official results in the race after 1 p.m. Nelson’s campaign says the outgoing senator will release a video statement at 3 p.m.

“I just spoke with Senator Bill Nelson, who graciously conceded, and I thanked him for his years of public service,” Scott said. in a statement sent by his campaign shortly after 2 p.m. “This victory would not be possible without the hard work of so many people. Now the campaign truly is behind us, and that’s where we need to leave it.”

Scott ultimately beat Nelson by 10,033 votes — or about 0.12 percent of the nearly 8.2 million votes cast in the race. The margin was so thin it triggered a mandatory machine recount on Nov. 10 and then an automatic manual recount Thursday.

Scott’s win gives Republicans a stronger majority in the U.S. Senate. The race was the most expensive senate contest in Florida history.

Nelson, 76, was first elected to office in a state House district in Melbourne, near Cape Canaveral, in 1972. He went to space as a congressman in 1986 and served several stints as Florida’s elected insurance commissioner. He won his U.S. Senate seat in 2000 and was....

Report: 6 Saudis Detained After Pensacola Shooting, Including 3 Who Filmed Attack

Six Saudi nationals, including three who allegedly filmed Friday’s attack on Naval Air Station Pensacola, were reportedly detained after the shooting.

Breitbart News reported that a gunman opened fire at the air station Friday morning, killing three and wounding numerous others.

The Associated Press reports that the Pensacola gunman was an aviation student from Saudi Arabia, and NBC News reports that the gunman’s name was Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani.

Now the New York Times reports that six other Saudis were detained after the shooting and three of those six allegedly filmed the shooting as it unfolded in Pensacola.

The shooter was reportedly at the Pensacola to train. Former Gov. Rick Scott, currently Sen. Scott (R-FL), expressed concern that the Saudi attacker was in Pensacola training on a U.S. base:

Rick Scott

✔@SenRickScott

I'm very concerned that the shooter in Pensacola was a foreign national training on a US base.

Today, I’m calling for a full review of the US military programs to train foreign nationals on American soil. We shouldn't be providing military training to people who wish us harm.

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The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist media, identified the gunman as Mohammed al-Shamrani, saying he had posted a short manifesto on Twitter that read: “I’m against evil, and America as a whole has turned into a nation of evil.”

“I’m not against you for just being American, I don’t hate you because your freedoms, I hate you because every day you supporting, funding and committing crimes not only...

MIDTERMS 2018 Upbeat Trump Predicts Lots of Republicans Winning November 6 at Nevada Rally...

President Donald Trump often says the only reason to vote Democratic is if you “are tired of winning,” and speaking Saturday in Elko, Nevada, he predicted Republicans are going to be doing a lot of winning across the nation come election day 2018.

“I like where we stand in the election,” Trump told those gathered at the latest of his signature Make America Great Again rallies. “You know I think that blue wave is being rapidly shattered. All the Democrats want is power and they’ve got this blue wave deal going, but it’s not looking like a blue wave.”

He said, “I think Dean Heller is going to win here. I think Martha McSally, she was great last night, I think she’s going to win. I just visited the great state of Big Sky … and I’ll tell you what, they’re going to win. They’re going to win in Montana. We’re going to win all over.”

He also added, “I think we’re going to win in Indiana. I think we’re going to win with Josh, I think we’re going to win in Missouri. I think Rick Scott is going to win in the great state of Florida. We’re going to have a great governor in Florida … you know who I’m talking about, Ron DeSantis … Just like Adam Laxalt is going to be a great governor for you.”

Trump was referring to Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), whose re-election effort was all but given up as doomed only a few weeks ago, but now has a small lead over Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), and Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), who appears to have a similarly razor-thin lead on Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz).

In Montana, Trump was referring to Republican State Auditor Matt Rosendale, who has battled Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) to a dead heat with two weeks to go. The president’s reference to “Josh” was to Republican Josh Hawley, who has a slight lead and a lot of momentum against Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has battled Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) to a dead heat, but acted decisively in preparing his state for the recent devastation left by Hurricane Michael. Similarly former Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) is in a dead heat against Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (D).

And Adam Laxalt is the Republican candidate for governor in Nevada, who is in a tight race with Democrat Steve Sisolak, chairman of the Clark County Commission. Clark County is Nevada most populous county. Laxalt is the grandson of Sen. Paul Laxalt (R-Nev.).

The lengthy list of races in which he predicts GOP wins reflected Trump’s nearly non-stop pace of campaign rallies in recent weeks as he tries to boost Republican chances of maintaining majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives in 2019 and 2020.

The Elko speech also reflected Trump’s continuing theme of branding Democrats as the party of crime and...

Supervisor of Florida Elections, Brenda Snipes to be 'Forced From Office' for Violating Florida Law

Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes is expected to be "forced from office" after a judge found her guilty of violating Florida law. Following further reports of highly suspicious actions by her office, either Governor Rick Scott or governor-elect Ron DeSantis is anticipated to soon strip her from her role, Politico reports.

Snipes is accused of intentionally destroying ballots along with allowing felons and non-citizens to vote in elections.

"Counting unlawful votes. Destroying ballots. Sunshine Law violations. Busted deadlines," Politico's Marc Caputo writes. "

So many controversies have bedeviled Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes — culminating in her office’s troubles in the aftermath of Florida’s chaotic 2018 elections — that her days in office are now numbered, insiders and lawmakers say." Protestors react to news of further election sabotage by Brenda Snipes.

According to Daily Wire, even Snipes' fellow Democrats have begun to abandon her amid her increasingly indefensible mishandling of the count, which has already resulted in a judge finding her in violation of Florida election law, Snipes' office accidentally mixing invalidated ballots into legitimate results, and a suspicious series of reports of "found" ballots and illegally transported ballots.

The situation is adding up to "the increasing likelihood of an embarrassing suspension from office at the hands of either Gov. Rick Scott or his likely successor...

BREAKING: CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION Now Underway In Corrupt Broward and Palm Beach Counties After Tens of Thousands of Votes Appear (Video)

FOX News host Sean Hannity announced on Monday night a criminal investigation is now underway in corrupt Broward and Palm Beach counties in Florida.

On election night last Tuesday Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis easily won their races in Florida.
Now Democrats are working to steal the elections.

Then Democrats in Palm Beach and Broward counties started manufacturing tens of thousands of new votes for several days.

On Tuesday Broward County Elections supervisor Brenda Snipes reported 634,000 votes were cast in the midterm election in her county.

On Friday morning Broward County Elections officials said 717,000 votes were cast in the midterm election.

Broward County Democrats have mysteriously found 83,000 votes in two days!

ALL Florida counties met the latest deadline on Saturday at noon to turn over their election totals.

Governor Rick Scott leads Sen. Nelson by 12,562 votes after three days of of Broward and Palm Beach County ballot manufacturing operations.
This is down from his 80,000 vote lead on election night.

Massive voter fraud is being witnessed by observers in both Palm Beach County and Broward County.

Sean Hannity announced on Monday there are now criminal investigations in...

EXIT POLL: DeSantis, Scott nearly doubles Trump support among Florida blacks

If the Florida exit polls are accurate, Ron DeSantis may win by a larger margin than Donald Trump in 2016 due to the support of blacks.

This is interesting. In Florida in 2016, Trump won just 8% of the African American vote. Today's Trafalgar exit poll shows DeSantis and Scott winning around 14-15% of the African American vote. pic.twitter.com/fAa3g7Z66x

— Federalist Musket🇺🇸 (@Patriot_Musket) November 6, 2018

View image on Twitter

Today, according the the Trafalgar Group, Desantis and U.S. Senate candidate Rick Scott are each earning “14-15% of the African American vote.”

Trump won Florida in 2016, 48.6 percent to 47.4 percent, according to...

President Trump Keeps Winning – Everything Else Is Just Noise…

Two funerals received national attention this week: Aretha Franklin’s and John McCain’s. President Trump did not attend either one yet was clearly inside the heads of those who did. Liberals and globalists infested both occasions and would spit out the occasional anti-Trump remark of which the Establishment Media would then replay in a loop for the next three hours. Meanwhile, as these political and entertainment elites continue to appear jaded, spiteful, and increasingly tone-deaf, Donald Trump continues to rack up one impressive policy victory after another as America flourishes in this Age of Trump.

Via Newt Gingrich:

In the middle of the liberal media’s desperate efforts to convince us that President Trump is in trouble, there are an amazing number of victories that suggest he is winning. In fact, there are indications that he is winning a lot.

Let’s start with Tuesday’s primaries. In Florida, a fine, well-entrenched state Agriculture Commissioner and former U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam decisively lost the Republican gubernatorial primary to Rep. Ron DeSantis. The big boost for DeSantis came from President Trump’s endorsement and a Trump robocall to Florida Republicans.

The contest for governor of our third-most populous state shaped up even better for Republicans as a hard-left Bernie Sanders-backed progressive – Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum – won the Democratic primary with 34 percent of the vote. The contrast between a pro-Trump DeSantis and Gillum will probably keep Florida in Republican hands in November.

Florida gave President Trump and Republicans a second boost as GOP Gov. Rick Scott won an important primary victory for a U.S. Senate seat. Scott has proven in his two campaigns for governor that he is an aggressive, effective campaigner. It is very likely the blue wave in Florida will disappear with the DeSantis and Scott victories.

It is clear that the president’s judicial and economic victories build his prestige, and that prestige is giving him the muscle to reshape the Republican Party.

In Arizona, President Trump won another primary victory when Martha McSally, a congresswoman and Air Force veteran (in fact, the first American woman to fly a fighter jet in combat) won the Republican U.S. Senate nomination.

President Trump praised McSally earlier this month at the signing ceremony for the National Defense Authorization Act. What looked at one time to be a close contest became a blowout, as McSally won 52 percent of the vote in a three-way race and was 24 points ahead of her closest competitor. Republican chances of keeping the Arizona seat are dramatically better with...

‘Blue Wave’ Fizzles As Gun Control Appears To Fail

Ever since 2016, Democrats have predicted a Blue Wave to sweep through the halls of Congress and put President Trump in check. This was echoed by allies in the news media and it didn’t hurt them that history was working on their side. After all, the president’s party tends to lose a lot of ground in the midterm elections.

Over the last few weeks, some experts worked to temper expectations. They weren’t so sure the Blue Wave was going to materialize, but others were convinced that it was a foregone conclusion.

Then last night happened.

The “Blue Wave” Became “Red Dead Redemption” as the supposedly dead-in-the-water Republicans pulled out a huge upset all across the country in what has to be taken as a partial rebuke of gun control policies.

One of the biggest examples has to be the failure of Beto O’Rourke to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz despite running the most expensive Senate campaign in American history. While O’Rourke was already being mentioned as a possible candidate for president in 2020, he still failed to win a statewide race to get into the Senate, at least in part due to his radical anti-gun views.

Republican Rick Scott, who may still be on the naughty list with many Florida voters after signing a host of gun control bills into law following the Parkland shooting, managed to pull out a win in that state. While many pro-gun voters were still upset with Scott, that didn’t stop many from holding their nose and voting for him over Bill Nelson.

However, Scott’s win over Nelson wasn’t the only rebuke of gun control Florida voters gave. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum campaigned at least in part on dismantling the series of laws that led to Florida earning its “Gunshine State” moniker, yet he fell to former Congressman Ron DeSantis.

Amusingly enough, it looks like candidates caught on video supporting gun control they wouldn’t support publicly had a rough night as well.

Sen. Claire McCaskill will now be former Senator McCaskill, probably at least partially due to a Project Veritas video showing her says she wants more gun control. In New York, congressional candidate Tedra Cobb fell to Elise Stefanick as well.

While Arizona’s still too close to call, Krysten Sinema’s own brush with Project Veritas doesn’t seem to be doing her any favors as she’s trailing Martha McSally.

Another race that’s too close to call is here in my home state of Georgia, where Republican Brian Kemp is leading the anti-gun Stacey Abrams who is refusing to concede as of this writing. She’s convinced the absentee ballots will kick this one to a runoff election. I’m a little skeptical that she’ll make up the two-plus points she’s trailing just by absentee ballots unless something hinky is going on.

Even John Tester, who the polls had as a favorite going into yesterday’s voting is currently trailing Matt Rosendale. Don’t think Tester’s support for universal background checks didn’t play a role in Montana voters’ minds.

Overall, gun control crashed and crashed hard.

Today, many Democrats are wondering just what the hell happened. Now, to be fair, they did gain control of the House, which isn’t going to be helpful for President Trump and it’s not very helpful for us. It means there’s absolutely no chance of the SAFE Act, which would in part legalize suppressors, will make it to the floor for a vote. Even if it did, there’s no way it would pass now.

But because the GOP held onto the Senate and even looks to have made some gains, it also means gun control...

Remember The Lady At Starbucks? She has been exposed as a former government official who refused to recite the pledge of allegiance...

MIAMI(CBSMiami) — A group supported by Florida Governor Rick Scott is responding to a woman seen on a viral video going on a rant against him at Gainesville coffee shop.

On Friday, the group “Let’s Get To Work, supported by Gov. Scott, released a video talking about the incident, referring to her as the “terribly rude woman” who they say “clearly has a problem.”

The governor had walked into a Starbucks in the area. That’s when Cara Jennings began yelling – prompting the governor to eventually walk out empty-handed.

The video released by the group identifies Jennings as a former government official who they say “refused to recite The Pledge of Allegiance” and they say “calls herself an anarchist.”

Unredacted Fauci email proves he lied about funding Wuhan

Republican senators released proof that Dr. Fauci lied to Congress about the NIH funding the Wuhan lab just prior to the pandemic.
Senators Johnson, Paul, Lankford, Scott, and Hawley Demand Chairman Peters hand over the Fauci letters

On Thursday, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, along with Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote a letter to Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) demanding the Fauci letters/emails.

In a May 19 letter, the senators requested all documents relating to coordination between the CDC, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association in drafting federal school reopening guidance. In the June 11 letter, the senators requested the HHS and the NIH produce unredacted copies of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s emails.

Since the government is redacting letters to hide information from the public and not for security reasons, the Senators released one such unredacted email.
The letter redacted:

This is the redacted paragraph:

This makes it quite clear that Dr. Fauci lied and did indeed fund the Wuhan lab as they worked on gain-of-function research. This is not a conspiracy theory.

Senator Rand Paul sent a criminal referral in on Fauci for lying to Congress, but...

67 NRA Approved Republicans Voted For Gun Control US 67 NRA Approved Republicans Voted For Gun Control

67 NRA approved Republican Florida state politicians just voted for gun control, basically blaming law abiding citizens for the deadly shooting in Parkland Florida last month.

Florida enacted its first gun control measures in more than two decades on Friday when Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act ― in open defiance of the National Rifle Association.

As the Trace reported, 67 members of the Florida House and Senate with “A” or “A-plus” ratings from the gun rights group voted for the bill.

If you count Scott, who earned an A-plus rating himself, that makes 68 NRA-approved politicians who chose to break with the group.

The NRA had come out strongly against the new regulations, which include raising the minimum age for all firearms purchases to 21, creating a three-day waiting period and banning the sale of bump stocks.

Marion Hammer, the NRA’s powerful Florida lobbyist and former president, called on gun rights supporters to flood Florida House Republicans’ inboxes with messages telling them to vote no after the state Senate passed the bill.

“YOU and every other law-abiding gun owner is being blamed for an atrocious act of premeditated murder,” she wrote.

After this latest mass shooting Republican politicians around the country seem almost eager to curtail the Second amendment rights of honest citizens.

Shortly we will have an opportunity to vote in primaries to choose our parties candidate for public office.

Any Republican that votes for gun control should be immediately voted out of office and replaced with a candidate that...

6 Big Election Hits by Marc Elias, Democrats’ Recount King

Marc Elias has a history of turning Democrats who lost on election night into winners after recounts.

The lawyer representing Sen. Bill Nelson in the recount of Florida’s contest for Senate has been at the center of nearly every major election controversy for the past decade.

Marc E. Elias

✔@marceelias

BREAKING: In Florida we have sued in federal court to ensure that every county has a chance to complete the machine and manual recount without facing an unreasonable and arbitrary deadline. #CountAllTheVotes

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Elias is chairman of Perkins Coie’s Political Law Group, which was behind the opposition research document that fueled the Trump-Russia investigation. Before that, he was highly instrumental in getting Al Franken into the U.S. Senate.

Nelson, the incumbent Democrat, trails by less than half a percentage point behind Gov. Rick Scott, his Republican challenger. That’s close enough to trigger a recount in Florida, but the deficit of over 10,000 votes is more than than any previous recount has overcome.

Nevertheless, Elias has predicted victory, and he has a winning record at his back in high-profile races.

“I have a pretty good track record on that prediction elsewhere,” Elias told reporters on a conference call last week.

The results of the governor’s race to succeed Scott as Florida governor also qualified for a recount.

Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., leads Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, a Democrat, by more than 30,000 votes statewide, though, so the DeSantis win is less likely to be overturned.

Elias, who isn’t involved in the DeSantis-Gillum contest, didn’t respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment for this report.

Both The Washington Post and CQ Roll Call referred to Elias as the “go-to” lawyer for Democrats. In addition to representing the presidential campaigns of Democrats Hillary Clinton in 2016 and John Kerry in 2004, Elias has represented the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Governors Association, and former Attorney General Eric Holder’s group, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

He also did work for the fundraising organizations Priorities USA, Senate Majority PAC, House Majority PAC, and the pro-choice EMILY’s List.

Here’s a look at high-profile political controversies where Elias played a central role:

Idaho Restricts Drones Use By Police Agencies, Florida Moves Bill Forward To Restrict Drone Use By Police

IDAHO

(Reuters) - Idaho's Republican governor signed a law on Thursday that restricts use of drone aircraft by police and other public agencies as the use of pilotless aircraft inside U.S. borders is increasing. The measure aims to protect privacy rights.

In approving the law, which requires law enforcement to obtain warrants to collect evidence using drones in most cases, Idaho becomes the second U.S. state after Virginia to restrict uses of pilotless aircraft over privacy concerns.

"We're trying to prevent high-tech window-peeping," Idaho Senate Assistant Majority Leader Chuck Winder, sponsor of the measure in the Republican-led Idaho legislature, told Reuters earlier this year as the bill was pending in the legislature.

Current federal regulations sharply limit the number and types of drones that can fly in American airspace to just a few dozen law enforcement agencies, including one in Idaho, public agencies including the Department of Homeland Security and universities for scientific research.

But unmanned aircraft are expected to be widely permitted in coming years, raising fears about misuse of miniature devices that can carry cameras which capture video and still images by day and by night.

Lawmakers in Idaho and more than a dozen states this year introduced legislation to safeguard privacy in the face of an emerging market the unmanned aerial vehicle industry forecasts will drive $89 billion in worldwide expenditures over the next decade.

The measure Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter signed into law on Thursday requires police to obtain warrants to use drones to collect evidence about suspected criminal activity unless it involves illegal drugs or unless the unmanned aircraft is being used for public emergencies or search-and-rescue missions.

The Idaho bill, approved last week by the state Senate and the state House of Representatives, also bans authorities, or anyone else, from using drones to conduct surveillance on people or their property, including agricultural operations, without written consent.

Idaho's Republican governor couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

Americans are most familiar with drones because of the use of armed, unmanned aircraft by the United States for counter terrorism operations against Islamist militants in countries like Pakistan and Yemen.

The majority of unarmed drones expected to operate in U.S. airspace when restrictions are rolled back by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2015 weigh less than 55 pounds and fly below 400 feet, according to a September report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Cash-strapped law enforcement agencies see small drones, which cost as little as $30,000, as money-saving, low-manpower tools that could locate illegal marijuana farms, seek missing children and track dangerous fugitives.

Yet worries about widespread snooping persist. In February, privacy concerns prompted the Virginia legislature to put a hold on drone use for two years, and grounded a plan by Seattle police to deploy two camera-equipped drones.

Civil uses for drones would likely emerge first after 2015, while a commercial market would develop more slowly as airspace issues are resolved, the GAO report shows. Possible uses include pipeline inspection, crop dusting and traffic monitoring.

The FAA's goal is to eventually allow, to the greatest extent possible, routine drone operations in U.S. airspace.


FLORIDA


(CNN) -- Florida state senators voted Wednesday to restrict the use of unmanned aircraft by police, approving a bill backed by both the state's conservative Republican governor and the ACLU.
The Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act would require a judge to sign off on the use of surveillance drones in nearly all cases. The legislation makes exceptions in cases involving "imminent danger to life or serious damage to property" and when "credible intelligence" from the federal Department of Homeland Security points to "a high risk of a terrorist attack."
The bill is headed for the state House of Representatives after Wednesday's 39-0 vote in the Senate. If it makes it through the House, Gov. Rick Scott says he'll have his pen ready.
"I believe that privacy should be protected," Scott said in a paper statement, adding, "This law will ensure that the rights of Florida families are protected from the unwarranted use of drones and other unmanned aircraft."
The use of drones has become controversial in recent years as unmanned aerial vehicles have become cheaper and more advanced. The concerns range from moral questions over their use in warfare overseas to worries about their impact on air traffic in the United States.
"We are pleased that SB 92 was passed with such enthusiasm by the Florida Senate. Because of the Senate's action, our state is on pace to be the one of the first to protect privacy by putting limits on the use of unmanned surveillance drones, " Ron Bilbao of the ACLU of Florida said in a written statement.
In Florida, the Miami-Dade Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff Department each have two drones. Miami-Dade's roughly backpack-sized Honeywell T-Hawks have been used only in training exercises so far, Detective Roy Rutland said.



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Florida Bans ‘Free-Speech Zones’ at State Colleges

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has signed into law a bill banning so-called “free-speech zones” at public universities and allowing students and speakers to sue the schools for violating their First Amendment rights.

Free-speech zones are limited areas, sometimes only fractions of a campus, where students may express themselves freely. Critics argue that an entire campus should allow free speech, not small and restrictive areas.

The legislation, called the Excellence in Higher Education Act, reads: “A public institution of higher education may not designate any area of campus as a free-speech zone or otherwise create policies restricting expressive activities to a particular outdoor area of campus.”

Students, faculty, and staff of a public institution of higher education may not “materially disrupt previously scheduled or reserved activities on campus occurring at the same time,” the new law says.

Scott, a Republican, signed the bill Sunday.

“No one has a right to shut down speech simply because it makes someone feel uncomfortable,” state Senate President Joe Negron, a Republican who made passage of the bill a top priority, said in a press release.

“Florida’s universities will continue to achieve national distinction because they are training our students to articulate and defend their ideas in an open, responsible way that prepares them for the real world.”

Supporters of the legislation pointed to the riots in February 2017 at the University of California, Berkeley, when demonstrators prevented libertarian commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, a Florida resident, from speaking on...

Jeffrey Toobin rips ’98lb weakling Jeff Flake’ over anti-Trump stunt: ‘McConnell will squash him like a bug’

Senator Jeff Flake is apparently not impressing anyone with his threat to oppose President Trump’s judicial nominees until the Senate takes up legislation to protect Robert Mueller.

The outgoing Arizona Republican was blocked by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell from bringing the legislation before the Senate for a vote, The Hill reported.

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin slammed the “98-pound weakling named Jeff Flake” who is all talk and little else, telling a CNN panel Wednesday that the retiring senator’s threats are without merit.
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“Is there anything more empty in American politics than a threat from Jeff Flake, who has made his entire career by folding every time Mitch McConnell breathes hard?” Toobin asked on “The Situation Room.”

Jeff Flake

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I have informed the Majority Leader that I will not vote to advance any of the 21 judicial nominees pending in the Judiciary Committee, or vote to confirm the 32 judges awaiting action on the floor, until the Mueller protection bill is brought to the full Senate for a vote.

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“Mitch McConnell is going to squash Jeff Flake like a bug, as he always does. And the idea that Jeff Flake is going to hold up anything to protect Robert Mueller is, in my opinion, absurd,” Toobin continued.

“Mitch McConnell has said we don’t need a law to protect Robert Mueller, and that means there’s not going to be a law to protect Robert Mueller. I mean, Mitch McConnell is in charge,” he added. “Jeff Flake is wandering off into the darkness these last few days as a senator. I mean, this is not a fair fight. Mitch McConnell and a 98-pound weakling named Jeff Flake is just not––you know, that is not going to happen.”

Toobin noted that this will mean the administration will “have a free hand to do with Mueller what they will. And we’ll see what happens.”

McConnell was re-elected as Senate majority leader on Wednesday, with a vote included from Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott who posed in a photo with McConnell and other incoming Republicans senators despite the recount going...