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Welcome to the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Insider, a newsletter that features regular updates about upcoming Dem-NPL events, legislative happenings, and news that affects North Dakotans! If you would like to have something added to the newsletter, email us at [email protected]. Spread the word of our newsletter by sharing our sign-up link today: https://demnpl.com/join-our-newsletter/.
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It was a tale tale of two conventions last weekend! The North Dakota Republican Party’s was one of chaos, frustration, and vitriol. They spent nearly 3 hours debating whether they would even seat delegates from Dickinson. The person they endorsed for Superintendent couldn’t even say if he thinks Muslims should be allowed to teach in public school teachers.
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Meanwhile, the theme of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Convention was “together, we have the power.” Ours was a convention that was fun, energetic, and welcoming.
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If you didn't get the chance to see Former Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman speak at our convention, check out his speech now!
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- Laura Dronen, Communications and Digital Director
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Upcoming Events!
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Lisa Hermosillo for D38 Corn Hole Tournament
The Spot
6 2nd St NE Minot
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Bring your tossing skills to The Spot on Saturday, April 13th for a chance to win a pay to play corn hole tournament, from 4-6 PM. Winner will take home half and the rest will go to support Lisa Hermosillo’s campaign for ND House District 38.
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There will also be a silent auction for a gift basket! Even if you’re not planning to participate in the tournament, we’d love to have you there! If the weather is nice, we will hold the event outdoors!
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Registration will begin at 3 PM.
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District 28 Community Round Table
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Monday, April 15, 2024 – 6:00 PM
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Hakuna Matata
101 Industrial Park
Edgeley, ND 58433
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Meet District 28 Dem-NPL candidates Richard Schlosser, Sara Dux, and Mary Schlosser, and chat about issues that matter most to you. Hear about how small changes can make big impacts on rural communities!
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District 46 Get-Together featuring Tyler Axness
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Thursday, April 18, 2024 – 5:30 PM
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Pepper’s
2510 South University Drive
Fargo, ND 58103
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Join District 46, our candidates Jess Arneson, Will Thompson, and Todd Reisenauer, and KFGO Afternoon’s Live host Tyler Axness for a fun evening!
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District 16 Candidate Meet and Greet
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Thursday, April 25, 2024 – 5:00 PM
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Pepper’s
2510 South University Drive
Fargo, ND 58103
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Join District 46, our candidates Jess Arneson, Will Thompson, and Todd Reisenauer, and KFGO Afternoon’s Live host Tyler Axness for a fun evening!
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7th Annual Governors Dinner
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Saturday, April 27, 2024 – 6 PM
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North Dakota Heritage Center
612 E Boulevard Ave., Bismarck
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Join us to honor Governors Bill Guy, Art Link, and George Sinner with Minnesota DFL Chair Ken Martin! Martin also serves as Vice Chair of the DNC and President of the ASDC.
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Other events you might like
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Dakota College at Bottineau Human Development & Gender Identity
Wednesday, April 24
Coffee Social 6:30pm
Presentation 7:00pm
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Dakota College at Bottineau, AlumniCenter
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105 Simrall Blvd, Bottineau, ND 58318
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How do societies define gender identity? How is this related to human development? Join us for a conversation with Guest speaker Alania Minyard, as we discuss the ways our understanding of gender is influenced by society, psychological and physical development.
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Workers Memorial Day - Grand Forks - East Grand Forks
Thursday, April 25 - 5:30pm
Bringewatt Park
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On April 28, the labor movement will once again observe Workers Memorial Day to remember workers killed or injured on the job and to renew the fight for strong safety and health protections.
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The Northern Valley Labor Council, AFL-CIO, will observe Workers Memorial Day on April 25th at 5:30 pm at our Workers Memorial at Bringewatt Park (2205 24th Avenue South Grand Forks, ND).
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In case of inclement weather, the observance will be held at the IBEW 1426 Hall (1714 N Washington St, Grand Forks, ND).
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Workers Memorial Day - Bismarck
Friday, April 26 - 9:00am
North Dakota State Capitol Lawn
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On April 26th at 9am, the Missouri Slope Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO will affix ribbons to trees on the ND State Capitol lawn. Workers are welcome to show up and help. Each ribbon will have the name of a worker who died on the job in North Dakota in the past year and will be on display until Sunday, April 28th.
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Workers Memorial Day - Fargo-Moorhead
Monday, April 29 - 5:00pm
Fargo-Moorhead Labor Temple - IBEW 1426
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On April 28, the labor movement will once again observe Workers Memorial Day to remember workers killed or injured on the job and to renew the fight for strong safety and health protections.
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Join the Northern Plains United Labor Council, AFL-CIO, in observing Workers Memorial Day on April 29th at 5pm at the Fargo-Moorhead Labor Temple/IBEW 1426 Hall.
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Check out this coverage of convention!
Merrill Piepkorn, known for his singing, had North Dakota Democrats singing together as he accepted the party’s nomination to be its candidate for governor.
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“I’m known for wearing a bolo tie and playing guitar and kind of an old school guy like that,” Piepkorn said Saturday. “It’s also kind of old school, old fashioned to believe that we need to love our neighbors. … We need to take care of each other, to take care of our communities, to protect the rights of all of us.”
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Piepkorn left the stage with Democrats singing, “Everybody get together, try to love one another, right now.”
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Katrina Christiansen is running for U.S. Senate against Kevin Cramer, and will be seeking the nomination of the Dem-NPL this weekend. She and Joel talk in the studio about her pledge to not be a career politician, women's rights, North Dakota farmers, and more.
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Trygve Hammer has served in the military, worked on the oilfield rigs, and taught North Dakota students as a 7-12th grades science teacher, and now he's running for U.S. Congress. He joins Joel Heitkamp in the KFGO studio leading up to the Dem-NPL convention to talk about his campaign and why he's the best candidate for the office.
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“You know, a lot of times I say crazy is not party specific. But I’ll tell you right now, the GOP is in a hold-my-beer moment,” Riggleman said. “I am proud to declare that I am a pro-reality partisan.'"
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Riggleman said engaging with conspiracy theorists is draining, but it must be done.
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“It’s OK to be compassionately confrontational. It’s OK to push back," he said. “It’s the courage of convictions election. Don’t quit, even if it looks like there’s no way out. Don’t quit.”
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"We're delighted to see the energy of all these Dems from the farthest corners of the state getting together to put our values forward and put some competition forward to the Republican supermajority," Goldwyn said.
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Goldwyn said the discord within the Republican Party is an opening for Democrats, citing campaign tactics in the race for the governor’s office as one example of internal hostility.
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To that end, Democrats hosted an unconventional speaker: Former Republican U.S. Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virgina, who served as a senior staffer to the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack and now speaks and writes about the importance of “voting to save our democratic institutions.”
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Help us spread our message—share these posts from the past week!
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Congressman Riggleman, "If you're never Trump, it means you're pro-democracy"
Congressman Denver Riggleman will be speaking at the North Dakota Democratic-NPL State Convention this weekend. He and Joel talk on "News and Views" about his time in Congress, why he left the Republican party, how he feels about Trump republicans, and more.
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Congressman Denver Riggleman represented Virginia’s 5th District from 2019 to 2021. He is the only Republican Congressman to speak out on the floor against QAnon conspiracy theories and the threat they pose to the American people. He served as a senior technical advisor for the United States House Select Committee’s investigation on the January 6 Attack of the U.S. Capitol.
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He is currently CEO of Riggleman Information and Intelligence Group (RIIG) supporting technology development in the domestic counter-terrorism space, chief strategist for the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) where he supports predictive analysis and disinformation tracking, co-owner of the award winning Silverback Distillery and The NY Times best-selling author of THE BREACH-The Untold Story of the Investigation into January 6th
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Piepkorn cites property tax relief, finding common ground as he kicks off governor campaign
He harkened back to the days of Democratic Gov. Art Link who pushed reclamation – restoring land that had been strip-mined for coal – to make the land better than the way it was found.
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He said he wants the same thing for the oil and gas industry.
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“Regulation is necessary,” Piepkorn said of the energy sector. “Nobody’s here to regulate anybody out of business.”
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North Dakota GOP supports homeschooling advocate over incumbent for public instruction superintendent
Baesler countered Bartlett’s claims with data that showed her accomplishments during her tenure, such as high graduation rates. She said her office is committed to caring for all children and making sure they get a proper education.
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After winning the support, Bartlett sang a gospel song on stage, asking others to join in.
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President Biden wins North Dakota Democratic Presidential Primary
The North Dakota Democratic-NPL announced on Saturday that President Biden has won the state’s Democratic Presidential Primary.
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Williston lawmaker resigns from Legislature
Last year, Dyk claimed a transgender student was beaten up by the Williston football team for using the girls restroom, an incident the school officials said was false, The Forum reported. Dyk refused to apologize and retract the statement, according to The Forum.
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Partisan fatigue among factors in lawmaker retirements
A news release announcing Rep. Corey Mock’s decision to retire after 16 years said, “Partisan fatigue and accelerating devolution of political discourse are among the reasons for Mock’s decision to not seek nomination.”
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Kreun cited social media as a negative for civil discourse.
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“One of the worst things that has happened is social media,” said Kreun, who has served in both the House and Senate.
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“I’ve been called many names, RINO is one of them,” Kreun said, referring to the acronym for “Republican In Name Only.”
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NDGOP convention off to slow start due to dispute over Dickinson-area delegates
The North Dakota Republican Party convention got off to a slow start Friday after some delegates challenged the credentials of a Dickinson-area district.
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Travis Zablotney, chair of Minot-area District 5 NDGOP, made a motion to strike District 37 delegates from participating in the endorsing convention.
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The district includes House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, and is chaired by Mitch Baesler.
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Port: Mike Huckabee's alternate version of reality
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But he pivoted from there to a full-on endorsement of disgraced former President Donald Trump, who represents the opposite of Huckabee's message.
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Trump, who has tortured his family by parading his serial infidelities through the tabloids. Trump, who is petty and vindictive towards his critics. Trump, who has refused to accept that the voters cast him out of office in 2020.
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Fedorchak withdraws bid for North Dakota GOP House endorsement, giving Balazs the win
District chairs continued to announce Becker’s name, though one said the spoiled votes were for a candidate who did not qualify for the endorsement.
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After the vote, Becker took to the microphone, saying voters felt disenfranchised.
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McFeely: Janne Myrdal was against IVF before she was 'for' it
"It uses the world fertilization, not conception," Myrdal told Port. "That means IVF is gone."
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That would seem to indicate she's concerned about North Dakota couples losing access to IVF, a procedure that involves retrieving a woman's eggs and a man's sperm sample and combining the two in a laboratory dish.
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Anti-abortion radicals see these embryos as children who should be given legal protections. That makes IVF specialists liable for the embryos, making the procedure too legally dangerous. Which is the point. It would stop IVF.
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'Are you gay?' embattled North Dakota lawmaker asks a colleague
It began with a 1:14 a.m. Easter Monday post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, from state Sen. Scott Meyer of Grand Forks. "@robport who shall we blame? You are upset about bibles, yet we haven’t seen your trans visibility day post yet," he wrote, linking to a Fox News article about the potential for ISIS-K attacks in the United States after the group took credit for a mass shooting at a concert hall in Moscow.
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Meyer was referring to — and apparently objecting to — a previous column of mine that criticized disgraced former President Donald Trump for grifting Christians with a pitch for his personally endorsed line of $60 Bibles.
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Partisan fatigue among factors in lawmaker retirements
Emails from the late Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem were made public from a phone the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. 2,700 pages containing multiple emails were produced and poured over by the KFGO News team. 24 hours later, it was announced thousands of more emails existed from a personal computer obtained from the same Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
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What was in the first batch of emails and what can the public expect to find out going forward in these ongoing investigations? Capitol Punishment investigates.
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Don't miss these national stories!
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'Donald Trump did this': New Biden abortion ad features a woman who says she almost died because of the Texas ban
"At 18 weeks, Amanda's water broke," the ad's text said. "She had a miscarriage."
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As the couple continues to recount memories of the pregnancy, text on the screen reads, "Because Donald Trump killed Roe v. Wade, Amanda was denied standard medical care to prevent infection, an abortion."
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How Trump’s tariff plans could kill jobs and worsen inflation
Trump’s proposals, if enacted, could easily set off a new trade war with China and potentially other nations, too.
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Some economists are warning Trump’s trade agenda and the ensuing retaliation from trading partners would hurt the US economy by worsening inflation, killing jobs, depressing growth and spooking investors.
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In a worst-case scenario, economists fear these policies could set the stage for a recession.
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Job growth zoomed in March as payrolls jumped by 303,000 and unemployment dropped to 3.8%
Job creation in March easily topped expectations in a sign of continued acceleration for what has been a bustling and resilient labor market.
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Nonfarm payrolls increased 303,000 for the month, well above the Dow Jones estimate for a rise of 200,000 and higher than the downwardly revised 270,000 gain in February, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
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Biden's legacy will be student loan forgiveness. Everyone from Gen X to Gen Z should be happy.
Even though the first attempt to forgive millions of borrowers was eventually overruled, the administration has continued to push forward and forgive loans for borrowers who meet specific criteria. Biden had already forgiven $138 billion of student loan debt prior to Monday's news.
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The new initiative is a sign that Biden understands what will get people to the polls. If his team is smart, they'll keep Biden's student loan relief as a tenet of his 2024 campaign.
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Arizona’s ban spotlights the fraudulence of Trump’s “moderation” on abortion
Ideally, the press would not allow Trump to sustain this strategic ambiguity. The likely GOP nominee is registered to vote in Florida, which will hold a referendum this November on whether to enshrine a right to an abortion until fetal viability (generally, around the 24th week of a pregnancy). Trump has said that he considers his state’s six-week abortion ban too extreme. He should tell voters whether he considers 24 weeks even more radical.
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Further, although Trump suggested that he doesn’t think abortion should be banned nationally, he did not say that he would veto a national abortion ban, if one made it to his desk. The media should keep asking what he would do in that circumstance.
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America's Hunger Paradox: Tackling Food Scarcity in the Land of Plenty
In this timely episode, we tackle the poignant issue of food insecurity in areas often dubbed the country's breadbasket. We bring together the voices of advocates and policymakers who are at the frontline of this challenge.
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Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small joins us with a wealth of knowledge and a commitment to action. She sheds light on the pressing need for a robust farm bill that provides certainty to our farmers and addresses the sting of food insecurity many feel. Through our conversation, listeners will gain an appreciation for the importance of programs like EQIP and rotational grazing, especially for the smaller farm units striving to survive and stay intact.
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Sanitizing Trump: What national broadcast outlets got wrong about Trump and a national abortion ban
The former president has taken credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, spoken openly about getting a national abortion ban “done,” and surrounded himself with zealots who have close ties to a network of people talking openly about using a second Trump administration to restrict abortion access to unprecedented levels.
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National broadcast outlets are misreading a short video Trump posted on abortion to make misleading at best claims about his position on abortion — when in reality there is plenty of evidence that Trump and his MAGA allies simply want the issue to go away until after the election.
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As his trans daughter struggles, a father pushes past his prejudice. ‘It was like a wake-up.’
Before all that, Dusty Farr was — in his own words — “a full-on bigot.” By which he meant that he was eager to steer clear of anyone LGBTQ+.
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Now, though, after everything, he says he wouldn’t much care if his 16-year-old daughter — and he proudly calls her that — told him she was an alien. Because she is alive.
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“When it was my child, it just flipped a switch,” says Farr, who is suing the Platte County School District on Kansas City’s outskirts. “And it was like a wake-up.”
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Trump will be first ex-president on criminal trial. Here’s what to know about the hush money case
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Trump's campaign has said it launched his
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The former president is accused of falsifying internal Trump Organization records as part of a scheme to bury damaging stories that he feared could hurt his 2016 campaign, particularly as Trump’s reputation was suffering at the time from comments he had made about women.
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The allegations focus on payoffs to two women, porn actor Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, who said they had extramarital sexual encounters with Trump years earlier, as well as to a Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child he alleged Trump had out of wedlock. Trump says none of these supposed sexual encounters occurred.
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The Century Club supports our year-round work to build party infrastructure supporting candidate recruitment, local district and regional leadership, issue-based education, and tools for Dem-NPL success.
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Help us elect great Democrats up and down the ballot!
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The North Dakota Democratic-NPL is launching a new grassroots program called “Neighbor to Neighbor” where volunteers will connect with voters in your community to elect Democrats up and down the ballot. As a volunteer, you will be responsible for connecting with voters in 25 homes in your neighborhood or friends and family to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot about 3-4 times this year.
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Grassroots organizers are the lifeblood of the Dem-NPL! Sign up to volunteer with the Dem-NPL!
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