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- Elon Musk donates $158 million to Senate GOP group backing Ken Paxton
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Hunt for Tube hero who gave blind man his shoes after he lost one through the gap The hunt is on find an ‘absolute hero’
Get you up to speed: Elon Musk donates over $150 million to Senate GOP group, assisting Ken Paxton
Billionaire Elon Musk donated $158 million to a super PAC supporting Republican Senate candidates, with a portion directed to Texas candidate Ken Paxton. The contributions, detailed in Federal Election Commission filings, are aimed at bolstering Paxton’s campaign against Democratic opponent James Talarico in a competitive Senate race.
Musk’s contributions to the Senate Leadership Fund PAC have significantly influenced its financial strategy, comprising over half of the PAC’s total intake for the third quarter of this year. As the Texas Senate race unfolds, the implications of Musk’s financial support for Paxton may be pivotal amid a closely contested election marked by historical precedents and internal party challenges.
Elon Musk’s substantial donations to Republican causes have spurred responses from political operatives; America PAC spokesperson Andrew Romeo stated, “These robust investments have allowed the G.O.P. apparatus to get its message out.” As the Texas Senate race continues to tighten, the outcome could significantly impact Republican control of the Senate, making upcoming campaign efforts crucial for both Paxton and Talarico.
What remains unclear — It is uncertain whether Elon Musk will continue to invest significant sums in future elections after his recent donations.
Elon Musk donates $158 million to Senate GOP group backing Ken Paxton
Billionaire Elon Musk donated $158 million last month to the main super PAC supporting Senate Republicans, which almost immediately sent the money to a group that supports GOP Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Republicans are fighting to hold on to the Texas Senate seat, as polls point to a tight race between Paxton and Democratic opponent James Talarico.
The assist from Musk — along with tens of millions of dollars in donations to other groups — marks a decisive return to large-scale political giving for the world’s richest man, who spent over a quarter of a billion dollars backing President Trump and other Republican candidates in 2024.
Musk donated $75 million to the Senate Leadership Fund PAC on Sept. 9, and $83 million two weeks later, the group reported Thursday. Combined, the two super-sized donations from Musk made up more than half of the super PAC’s total receipts in the third quarter of this year.
One day after each donation, the Senate Leadership Fund PAC disbursed the same amount to Texas PAC. That group reported over $100 million in pro-Paxton and anti-Talarico spending.
Musk also donated more than $80 million from July to September to his own group, America PAC, which was the primary vehicle for his political giving in 2024. The group reported spending on the Texas Senate contest and several other competitive congressional races.
Musk — who has strongly criticized Talarico in recent weeks — is a resident of Texas, and his largest companies, SpaceX and Tesla, base many of their operations in the state.
Talarico is attempting to become the first Democrat to win a statewide race in Texas in more than three decades. He has sought to capitalize on Paxton’s history of scandal, and on still-lingering divides among Texas Republicans after Paxton defeated incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn in a bitter primary contest earlier this year. Paxton and his allies, including Mr. Trump, have argued Talarico is too far to the left for Texas’ electorate.
Most recent polls show Talarico with a within-the-margin-of-error lead. If Paxton loses the seat, it could deal a serious blow to Republicans’ efforts to hold on to the Senate.
After Musk served as the country’s top political donor in the 2024 cycle, it was initially unclear whether he planned to spend similar sums in future elections. His stint leading the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency ended with him briefly feuding with the president, and he suggested at one point last year that he planned to scale back his political spending, joking during one interview, “I think I’ve done enough.”
America PAC spokesperson Andrew Romeo said in a statement to WTX US News: “If Democrats take control of Washington and win key gubernatorial and attorney general races this November, then America risks becoming a socialist, woke and borderless country. These robust investments have allowed the G.O.P. apparatus to get its message out so Republicans can have a fighting chance to defy history.”
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
G20 waters down support for Ukraine amid pressure for peace talks
The Tech Titan Who Led His Company From a 68-Square-Foot Jail Cell
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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