FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 2021
‘Amtrak Joe’ Biden launches his ‘Get America Back on Track’ promotion of the American Jobs Act infrastructure proposal, with a celebration of Amtrak’s 50th anniversary, in Philadelphia. The $1.9-trillion infrastructure plan includes $80 billion to improve passenger and freight rail in the U.S.
Johnson Dismissed FBI Warning – Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI, was warned by the FBI that he was a target of Russian disinformation regarding the 2020 presidential election in August 2020, according to The Washington Post. In a statement in response to the report, Johnson wrote, “Without specific information, I felt the briefing was completely useless and unnecessary (since I was fully aware of the dangers of Russian disinformation). Because there was no substance to the briefing, and because it followed the production and leading of a false intelligence product by Democrat leaders, I suspected that the briefing was being given to be used at some future date for the purpose that it is now being used: to offer the biased media an opportunity to falsely accuse me of being a tool of Russia despite warnings.”
Note: There is much to break down here, but the term “useful idiot” seems to encompass the whole thing. For most people, if an FBI agent showed up at your workplace and warned you about something, odds are you’d consider it to be legit unless there was some significant evidence to the contrary. But not Johnson, whose reference to the “false intelligence product” may be to the Steele dossier, which goes back to the 2016 election. Who knew that fellow travelers were electable in Wisconsin? And his self-reference to being a potential “tool”. . . .
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Investigation of Giuliani Centers on Ambassador’s Removal – The federal criminal investigation of Rudy Giuliani centers on his efforts for the Trump administration to remove the U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine from her post, The New York Timesreports. Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovich was recalled in May 2019. According to the report, the main point of the investigation stems from Yovanovich’s “obstruction” of Giuliani’s attempt to find dirt on President Biden’s son, Hunter, as a former board member for a Ukrainian energy company.
Note: Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen told CNN that Trump, who defended Giuliani on Fox News this week, will quickly turn on him. “He will be the next one thrown under the bus. That’s exactly what will happen.”
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Navalny’s Attorney Arrested for Defending ‘Extremism’ – Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested attorney Ivan Pavlov in Moscow Friday for defending organizations accused of “extremism,” in particular, that of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, The New York Times reports. The arrest is seen as President-for-Life Vladmir Putin laying the groundwork to outlaw Navalny’s opposition movement. Navalny has been imprisoned in Russia since he returned from Berlin in January following treatment for his poisoning with the Soviet-era nerve agent, Novichok.
Note: Casting Navalny’s organization as “extremist” seems a particularly Orwellian tactic for the FSB, which is successor to the Soviet era KGB (where Putin got his start in Russian politics). But Putin certainly hinted at the line between mainstream Russian politics and “extremism” when he told Europe’s Financial Times two years ago that liberal democracy “has outlived its purpose.”
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Protesters Interrupt Biden Speech – But they were not who you might think. President Biden was interrupted in a speech in Atlanta thanking Georgia voters for helping elect him to office by protesters calling for an end to detention centers and the department of Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE), The Hill reports.
“End detention now,” and “abolish ICE,” and “our families are dying,” the protesters shouted.
“I agree with you,” Biden responded. “I’m working on it, man. Give me another five days.”
Note: So, expect another executive order in four days?
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Supremes Vote for Relief from Deportation – The U.S. Supreme court reversed a lower court decision that had limited access to an “important form” of relief from non-citizen deportation proceedings, SCOTUSblog reports. The decision allows immigrants facing deportation to file a “cancellation of removal” in an attempt to remain in the U.S. Two of the justices supporting reversal of the lower court were nominated by the most anti-immigrant president in recent history, Donald J. Trump. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion and Amy Coney Barret also joined the majority in the 6-3 decision. –Edited by Gary S. Vasilash and Todd Lassa
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