A national association of state lawmakers has announced that it will investigate a burgeoning effort to let companies opt out of workers’ compensation insurance and write their own plans for how they’ll care for injured workers. The National Conference of Insurance Legislators, whose members serve on insurance committees and often act as gatekeepers for related bills…
Former CNN anchor Don Lemon went back to CNN, the network where he worked for 17 years, to play some teaser clips from his sit-down with tech titan Elon Musk shortly after learning that his distribution deal with Twitter/X was canceled.
"I took Elon Musk, I took X, I took their management at their word because they pursued me so hard that they were going to put me on their platform and give me as much assistance and support as they promised," he said during an appearance on CNN's "Out Front" with Erin Burnett. "And they did not do that."
The clearest reason Lemon believes that his deal, inked in anticipation of his March 18 debut of "the Don Lemon Show," was squashed, came after their tense interview.
The clips Lemon presented showed Musk espousing an off-putting tone on a variety of topics including hate speech exploding on the platform, his skeptical views about Black airline pilots, and his claims that he has a clear record on drugs.
In one exchange, Lemon asks Musk about the hate speech on the platform he bought for $44 billion.
"Do you believe that X and you have some responsibility to moderate hate speech on the platform that you wouldn't have to answer these questions from reporters about the great replacement theory as it released. I don't have to answer this great replacement theory as it relates to Jewish people. Do you think that?"
And Musk daggered back: "I don't have to answer questions from reporters? Don, the only reason I'm doing this interview is because you're on the X platform and you asked for it. Otherwise, I would not do this interview."
At one point Lemon probed Musk about his penchant for ketamine.
"The reason I talk about my ketamine prescription on the X platform was because I thought 'Maybe this something that can help other people,'" he said. "That's why I mention it."
As far as Trump's presidency and their meeting together, Musk was curt.
When pressed if he was offering to bankroll Trump's legal bills, Musk said, "I'm not paying his legal bills in any way shape or form."
As far as who Musk will back in the 2024 presidential race: Musk answered he hadn't decided with a simple, "No."
Musk responded in a post on his platform that “instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity. All this said, Lemon/Zucker are of course welcome to build their viewership on this platform along with everyone else.”
Lemon appears to think that Musk has too much sway.
"Maybe we're learning that the public square should not be privately owned by someone who doesn't think that there should be any moderation on that platform," he said.
Former President Donald Trump and his allies are trying to convince voters that everything was better four years ago just before he left office — despite the fact that unemployment topped out at 15 percent, society was shut down by a lethal pandemic, and Trump himself was demanding that the CDC not take exposed passengers off a cruise ship because "I like the numbers being where they are."
Former George W. Bush strategist Matt Dowd slammed the former president for his self-aggrandizement in an MSNBC segment alongside Dr. Uché Blackstock, after anchor Joy Reid played a clip of Trump's comments about the ship from 2020.
"Can you explain to me how if 9/11 changed all of our lives and the way we travel and everything about our lives when we get on a plane, how is it that people have blown off the fact that Donald Trump utterly failed at that fundamental duty of a president and think he should be president again?" asked anchor Joy Reid.
"Well, I think this conversation is so important," said Dowd. "And it leads us to the bigger part of this conversation, which is the foundations of democracy have actually shaken because of this. Because democracy depends on the idea that we all agree on the common good. That we all agree that there's some common good that our leaders are supposed to actually help achieve based on a common set of facts."
Dowd emphasized he didn't always agree with Bush, particularly on the issue of the Iraq War — "but George Bush believed in the common good of the United States of America and believed in the common set of facts. How he applied those we can argue with and we could debate and all of that. Donald Trump believes in neither one. Donald Trump does not believe in the common good. And Donald Trump does not believe in a common set of facts. And this health issue — you're so right, is one of the primary responsibilities of the president is to protect us both from problems within our country and from outside our country. And his only — his unbelievable narcissism as evidenced by that clip shows that he has no idea or no, even sense he wants to do that. And everything he's done since then is a manifestation of that personality trait or that what he believes in this."
This isn't just about COVID, either, Dowd said. "This applies to belief in facts on the economy and this belief in facts related to global climate change, all of which the Republicans dispute. I mean, they actually think people like Dr. Blackstock are the problem because they actually speak in facts and evidence and all that. And they've decided that they are an anti-science party. That's what they fundamentally decided here. That shakes our democracy."
House Republican Conference chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York) recently patted herself on the back for a $1.8 million federal grant a community within her district received. However, that money came from a bill she and every other Republican opposed.
Local publication North Country This Week — based in Stefanik's 21st House District in upstate New York — reported that the US Department of Agriculture grant went toward the South Raquette Water District in Massena, NY. Stefanik took credit for the funding, telling the outlet that she helped fast-track the grant application through the House Appropriations Committee to quickly get the funds approved.
"Infrastructure has been a top priority for some time and I am able to offer assistance in a very targeted way, whether it be for water projects, sewer projects or supporting our first responders," she said.
"I am proud to announce that I secured $1,857,000 for a Water District Development Project for the Town of Massena in this year’s appropriations process," Stefanik wrote in a Tuesday tweet. "This funding will go toward providing public water service to the residents of Massena."
Stefanik didn't actually vote for those funds, which were part of the Inflation Reduction Act that passed the House of Representatives in 2022. In a now-deleted statement posted to her House.gov website, she called the legislation a "radical spending bill that will raise taxes and crush hardworking families and small businesses."
"[Democrats] have made their priorities clear, and they are not for the American people. I will continue to stand up against reckless government spending and any tax increases," Stefanik said at the time, adding that the bill "also wastes $350 billion on 'Green New Deal' provisions that prioritize large cities over rural communities."
Others on X/Twitter took issue with Stefanik boasting about her district receiving the funds she voted against. In addition to a community note (a public fact-checking feature on the platform) specifying that Stefanik "voted Nay along party lines with every other Republican" against the bill, she was also slammed by various journalists, public figures and commentators for her tweet.
"So @RepStefanik is flat-out lying, here—she voted *against* funding for this project," Food Network personality Ted Allen tweeted, tagging the New York Republican's official account. "The town of Massena can thank President Biden and the Democrats for improving their water service via the Inflation Reduction Act."
"She voted against this money, and I’m fully aware her people won’t ever know she voted against this money," retired tennis star Andy Roddick tweeted.
Stefanik's tweet also ruffled the feathers of other conservatives, including Norman Ornstein, who is an emeritus scholar at the Koch-funded American Enterprise Institute. In a tweet, Ornstein called the congresswoman "'lickspittle for [former President Donald] Trump," as well as a "supporter of violent insurrection" who "loves Vladimir Putin."