(Headline USA) Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is committing at least $100 million to help Joe Biden’s presidential campaign in the crucial battleground state of Florida.

Bloomberg’s late-stage infusion of cash reflects Democrats’ concerns about the tight race in a state that is a priority for President Donald Trump.

A victory for Biden in Florida, the largest of the perennial battleground states, would significantly complicate Trump’s path to reaching the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure a second term.

Republicans, however, feel confident in their chances in the state, pointing to GOP wins in 2018 and stronger-than-expected turnout in 2016 as evidence the state is trending in their direction.

They’ve invested millions in Florida focused on Latino outreach and boosting their field operation, and the state’s size and diversity makes campaigns there expensive.

In a sign that Bloomberg’s planned investment put Trump on alert, however, the president tweeted out his disdain for Bloomberg on Sunday morning, referencing the attacks the businessman received at a Democratic primary debate in February from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

“I thought Mini Mike was through with Democrat politics after spending almost 2 Billion Dollars, and then giving the worst and most inept Debate Performance in the history of Presidential Politics. Pocahontas ended his political career on first question, OVER! Save NYC instead,” he tweeted.

The billionaire Bloomberg launched his own campaign for the Democratic nomination late last year amid worries about Biden’s strengths.

Despite spending $1 billion on his campaign, Bloomberg struggled and dropped out in March, quickly endorsing Biden.

One of the world’s wealthiest men with a net worth estimated to exceed $60 billion, Bloomberg promised throughout his campaign that he would help Democrats try to defeat Trump regardless of how his own White House bid fared.

He exited the presidential race pledging to spend “whatever it takes” to defeat Trump, and has already invested millions to support Democrats up and down the ballot.

Bloomberg transferred $18 million from his presidential campaign to the Democratic National Committee, and transferred its offices in six key swing states to the local Democratic parties there.

The businessman has contributed $500,000 to Voto Latino to help register Latino voters, $2 million to the group Collective Future to help register African American voters, and $2 million to Swing Left, a group focused on electing Democrats in swing districts.

One of the groups he has founded and funds, Everytown for Gun Safety, has committed to spending $60 million on elections this cycle, and Bloomberg himself has pledged another $60 million to support Democrats in House races.

Bloomberg’s new spending is intended to boost Biden before the start of early voting in Florida, which begins on Sept. 24.

A Bloomberg adviser said much of the money will go to television and digital advertising. Republicans are outspending Democrats by about $8 million in the state in future television ad reservations, according to a review of Kantar/CMAG data by The Associated Press.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

(Associated Press) After 13 years, a South Florida city has overturned a ban on “saggy pants” — bottoms that reveal the wearer’s underwear.

The Opa-locka City Commission voted Wednesday on a 4-1 vote to repeal both the original 2007 legislation and a 2013 ordinance that said women, not just men, could receive civil citations for wearing pants that exposed their undergarments.

The Miami Herald reports that the vote was a first reading of the repeal, meaning it will need to be approved again at a subsequent commission meeting before it’s official. But the item was co-sponsored by four of the five commissioners.

Around the city, which is northeast of Miami, signs still warn folks of the ordinance. They showing an image of two young men wearing pants below their waists and featuring the words: “No ifs, ands or butts … It’s the city law!”

“I was never in support of it, even as a resident,” Vice Mayor Chris Davis, who sponsored the repeal, told the Miami Herald. “I felt it disproportionately affected a certain segment of our population, which is young, African-American men.”

When the ordinance was first passed, the ACLU of Florida called it a “ridiculous waste of public resources,” saying it would “impose overly harsh penalties for victimless behavior” and disproportionately affect Black youths.

(Headline USA) Bernie Sanders is warning that if Joe Biden doesn’t do more to promote his policies and reach out to Latino voters, the Democratic presidential nominee is at risk of falling short to President Donald Trump this November.

Sanders, a socialist who left the primary race in the spring and has worked to shift Biden to the left on key issues, has made the warnings in public and private in recent days. Most recently, he went on MSNBC on Sunday to express concerns that Biden wasn’t speaking up enough about his economic proposals.

“I think Biden’s in an excellent position to win this election, but I think we have got to do more as a campaign than just go after Trump,” he said. “We also have to give people a reason to vote for Joe Biden. And Joe has some pretty strong positions on the economy, and I think we should be talking about that more than we have.”

In a Friday interview with PBS, Sanders was more blunt: “Am I here to tell you absolutely, this is a slam dunk, no chance that he will lose? That is not what I’m saying,” the Vermont senator said.

His comments follow a week when Biden campaigned with union workers in Michigan and released a tax plan focused on boosting U.S. manufacturing by punishing businesses that take jobs overseas.

Biden also emphasized his economic agenda and attacked Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic while the former vice president spent Labor Day with union workers in Pennsylvania.

Sanders used his MSNBC appearance to urge Biden to speak more about some of his kitchen-table economic policies: raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, lowering prescription drug costs and expanding health insurance coverage.

Sanders said Biden’s policies are “a compromise” but that they were “pretty strong, progressive policies.”

He also encouraged Biden to focus more on Latino and young voters, groups that broadly supported Sanders during the primary.

Biden has struggled to build enthusiasm among young voters, and some Democrats have expressed concerns about what they see as the campaign’s lack of outreach to Latino voters, which Sanders echoed on MSNBC.

“We got to reach out to the Latino community. You know, a lot of young people, you’ve got a lot of Latinos, African Americans who may not vote. They’re not gonna for Donald Trump, that’s for sure, but they may not vote at all,” Sanders said. “How do we bring them into the political process? How do we get them to vote?”

A Biden campaign adviser, Symone Sanders, was asked Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” whether the campaign would take Sanders’ advice.

“We know that we have work to do. And we have said from the beginning, and Vice President Biden has been very clear about this … that we are really working to earn every single vote in this country. And we want to earn the votes of the Latino and Hispanic community,” she said.

Sanders has campaigned for Biden, holding virtual rallies in seven states, including one this weekend in Michigan. It’s one of three states where Sanders warned Democrats should be “nervous” about their chances, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

“The enthusiasm is with Trump, not with Biden,” Sanders said.

In 2016, Trump’s unexpected victories in those three Rust Belt states, bolstered in part by his support among white working-class voters, helped deliver him the White House.

The Biden campaign has focused much of its early efforts on those three states, with Biden and running mate Kamala Harris visiting all three in recent weeks.

While Sanders made his concerns public in recent interviews, he also has expressed them in private to the Biden campaign, according to Faiz Shakir, Sanders’ former presidential campaign manager.

“He has been in direct contact with the Biden team and has urged them to put more emphasis on how they will raise wages, create millions of good paying jobs, lower the cost of prescription drugs and expand health care coverage,” Shakir said.

Shakir said Sanders “also thinks that a stronger outreach to young people, the Latino community and the progressive movement will be of real help to the campaign.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

In response to Netflix‘s release of “Cuties”, Sen. Ted Cruz sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking it to investigate whether those participating in the making and distribution of the film have broken any federal laws regarding child pornography.

“Cuties,” a Netflix film that many have identified as child pornography, follows an 11 year-old girl in Paris who joins a dance troup that prizes sensual dance moves.

“Although the First Amendment provides vigorous protection for artistic expression, it does not allow individuals or for-profit corporations to produce or distribute child pornography,” said Cruz in his letter.

“Accordingly, I urge the Department to investigate the production of “Cuties” and Netflix’s distribution of the film in order to determine whether Netflix, any of its executives, or anyone involved with the making of “Cuties” violated any federal laws against the production and distribution of child pornography.”

The scenes that specifically concerned Cruz as well as viewers all over feature “dances simulating sexual conduct in revealing clothing” and also “partial child nudity.”

“It is likely that the filming of this movie created even more explicit and abusive scenes, and that pedophiles across the world in the future will manipulate and imitate this film in abusive ways,” he said.

Netflix refused to apologize for “Cuties” and defended it as a “social commentary” against the sexualization of girls. Big corporations and media outlets have followed suit in defense of the film.

Rotton Tomatoes describes “Cuties” as “A thoughtful look at the intricacies of girlhood in the modern age” and a “coming-of-age film that confronts its themes with poignancy and nuance.” The Tomatometer gave the film a 89%.

Its audience score is 3%.

Many believe child pornography ought to be immediately recognized as heinous; one need not experience it through graphic “commentary” to understand the horrors.

Furthermore, prizing “Cuties” as a “commentary” against pedophilia ignores that “children” had “to play these roles, they had to say filthy things (and to imagine visually the things the script had them saying), and do filthy things with their bodies for the camera,” according to Rod Drehr in the American Conservative.

Cruz recognizes that the making and showing of the film has and will have major consequences. Exposing “Cuties” for what it is might be within the power of the DOJ.

“As you know, the Department of Justice has a significant role in preventing the sexual abuse of children,” Cruz said.

“By investigating and prosecuting offenders who possess and distribute images and video sexually depicting minors, the Department both obtains justice for those who have been abused and helps protect children from future sexual abuse and exploitation.”