Senate Forces Rail Worker Agreement

A bi-partisan Senate passed a resolution to force rail workers to accept a labor agreement hammered out – to use the standard news cliché – between unions and railroads by the White House last September. President Biden Friday signed the bill, which passed 80-15, Roll Call reports, to avert a strike set for December 9 that would have devastated a slowly recovering economy just ahead of the holidays.

The Senate rejected a measure provided in the House version that would have provided seven days of paid sick leave to rail workers, with a 52-43 vote falling short of the 60-vote threshold necessary to avert a filibuster. Rail workers get one day per year of sick leave in the labor agreement reached in December. While labor unions had approved the September agreement, it was rejected by rank-and-file members in several rail unions.

Scroll down this column to left-column pundit Ken Zino’s commentary on how a Justice Department indictment of ex-President Trump for the January 6 Capitol insurrection could be next, after the late-December conviction of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes III for seditious conspiracy.

Comment in the box in this column or in the right, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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263,000 Jobs Added in November

(FRI 12/2/22)

The U.S. economy added 263,000 jobs in November and maintained a 3.7% unemployment rate, the Labor Department reports, with biggest gains in the usual places; leisure and hospitality, health care and government. The gain is seen as evidence of economic “resilience” to massive tech-sector layoffs, Marketplace reports, citing a Dow Jones survey of economists who had expected the number to be about 200,000. The sunny numbers are tamping down worries that the U.S. economy is entering a recession.

Meanwhile: Chairman Jerome Powell signaled the Federal Reserve would begin to slow interest rate hikes beginning in December as a sign the Fed has seen some progress in slowing inflation.

•••

Iowa Caucuses to Lose Poll Position for 2024? – President Biden proposes to make South Carolina the first Democratic primary in 2024, (The Washington Post) followed by New Hampshire and Nevada, then Georgia and Michigan, thus finally knocking the Iowa caucuses out of poll – er, pole – position. Iowa’s caucus has been under fire for years for the state’s lack of racial/ethnic diversity, and a New Hampshire state law requires its primary to be first in the nation. Biden lost the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire and Nevada primaries in 2020 before an endorsement by Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) helped him win that South Carolina’s primary.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

No Special Master for Mar-a-Lagogate

No more “special master” to slow the FBI’s investigation of nearly 3,000 government documents seized from Mar-a-Lago last August. A federal appeals court has rejected a lawsuit filed by ex-President Trump’s attorneys and shut down the special master’s review, Politico reports.

The 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta, ruled unanimously that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon erred when she granted Trump’s request to block the investigation and appoint a special master to assess whether some of documents are protected by executive privilege. Aside from the likelihood Trump’s attorneys will appeal to the Supreme Court, the ruling gives the Justice Department full access to the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.

Scroll down this column to read pundit-at-large Stephen Macaulay’s commentary on whether a Justice Department indictment of Donald J. Trump will soon follow the conviction of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes III for seditious conspiracy in the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

Comment in the box in this column or in the left, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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Oath Keepers, Done – Trump Next?

By Ken Zino

Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, and Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida chapter of the group, were found guilty by a jury on Tuesday of seditious conspiracy and other charges for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“Their actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the presidential election,” the Justice Department said.

Three additional defendants, who were leaders and associates of the organization, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell, were found guilty of related felony charges. The verdict followed an eight-week trial and three days of deliberations.

No sentencing date was set. However, charges of seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, and tampering with documents or proceedings each carry a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

This, of course, begs the question about the ex-president who wanted to lead Oath Keepers that day after launching his Big Lie before the election and pushing it non-stop afterwards to overturn the legal results. The Big Lie was echoed by virtually the entire Republican party.

“Today the jury returned a verdict convicting all defendants of criminal conduct, including two Oath Keepers leaders for seditious conspiracy against the United States,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department is committed to holding accountable those criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy on January 6, 2021. The prosecutors and agents on this case worked tirelessly, with extraordinary skill, and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice.”

No prevarication whatsoever that I can perceive in Garland’s statement.

Last words for the moment from the FBI: “As this case shows, breaking the law in an attempt to undermine the functioning of American democracy will not be tolerated,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The FBI will always uphold the rights of all citizens who peacefully engage in First Amendment protected activities, but we and our partners will continue to hold accountable those who engaged in illegal acts regarding the January 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol.”

In the 22 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 900 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 275 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

“The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.”

Yes, ongoing, but if there was enough to convict Oath Keepers, seems that should be sufficient to indict Trump. Coming soon “The United States Versus Donald J. Trump.” J as in Justice?

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Left on Rhodes?

(TUE 11/29/22)

What do the guilty verdicts of Oath Keepers leaders Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs mean for future seditious conspiracy cases by the Justice Department? Watch this space for commentary by contributing pundit Ken Zino.

Click on The Gray Area to read Zino’s commentary on the Chinese intelligence officer recently convicted of espionage in the case involving General Electrics Aviation secrets.

Enter your own Comments in the box in this column or in the right column, or email us at editors@thehustings.news.

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…meanwhile…

Jeffries Elected House Democratic Leader – House Democrats have elected Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) (above) their leader, replacing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who announced she would step down after two decades (but remains in Congress for at least two more years). Jeffries, 52, covers New York’s 8^th District which includes large parts of Brooklyn and a section of Queens, and becomes the first Black congressional leader from any party, replacing Pelosi, 82, who was the first female congressional leader from any party. Younger Democrats in Congress have been clamoring for more youthful leadership for the last few years.

Other Leaders: Rep. Katherine M. Clark (D-MA), 59, replaces Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), 83, in the House Democrat number-two spot while Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), 43, replaces Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), 82, for the number-three leadership position. Until the 118^th Congress takes over in January, the outgoing top-three Democratic House positions are held by representatives older than President Biden, who just turned 80.

Meanwhile: Current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) faces some inner-party opposition as he tries to skate the line between condemning ex-President Trump’s dinner with an antisemite and a white supremacist (see right column) and actually condemning Trump himself. McCarthy cannot afford to lose five Republicans from the incoming House of Representatives to take the speaker’s gavel he long has coveted – which gives Democrats an outside chance of voting Jeffries into the speakership.

Nobody, but nobody, really expects the GOP majority to let that happen, but it will make for an interesting January on Capitol Hill.

--TL

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Oath Keepers Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy – Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and Florida chief Kelly Meggs were found guilty in federal court of seditious conspiracy for their involvement in the January 6^th attack on the United States Capitol, Tuesday (The Hill). The Justice Department victory marks the first such conviction for seditious conspiracy since 1995, according to CNN.

All five Oath Keepers defendants were found guilty in the trial of obstruction of an official proceeding. Four Oath Keepers were found guilty of tampering with evidence – the fifth member of the far-right organization was not charged in this count.

Rhodes and Meggs face potential prison sentences of up to 20 years for each.

•••

Senate Votes to Codify Same-Sex Marriage – The Senate voted, 61-39, to codify federal recognition of same-sex marriage, with religious liberty protections securing the bipartisan support, Roll Call reports. Lead sponsor Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) told reporters the bill would ease concerns that the Supreme Court could revisit precedents that protected same-sex and interracial marriage. SCOTUS in 2013 found the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act largely unconstitutional.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said the House could take up the bill as early as next week.

•••

Good Economic News – Various signs are appearing that the Federal Reserve is succeeding in capping inflation without triggering a recession. It’s early yet, but here’s a big piece of such evidence: the national average price of a gallon of gasoline was $3.521 as of Tuesday morning, AAA reports. That’s lower than the average price before Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

One of These Days. . .

By Stephen Macaulay

As winter is aborning for many of us, the phrase “getting ahead of your skis” comes to mind, not as regards schussing down the east face of Jupiter Peak, but politics.

Funny thing, though.

People mainly left of center have been doing this for the past couple years, seasons notwithstanding. Snow, no snow. Off they go.

They are consistently ahead of what actually happens. It is seemingly always “This time!”

And reality is otherwise.

My colleague over on the left column concludes his piece on the convictions of the Oath Keepers for their planning of and participation in the U.S. Capitol attack on January 6 with, “Coming soon ‘The United States Versus Donald J. Trump.’”

To be sure, to see that there has actually been judicial action taken against people who are loosely associated with Trump can be encouraging to those who see Trump as a self-absorbed transactional actor who is only concerned with personal benefit and self-aggrandizement.

Make no mistake: the man has done nothing but exhibit the behavior of a parasite on the body politic.

Does anyone imagine that he is a politician in the context of someone who espouses a codified political philosophy?

If he was so committed to making America great again, why did he exhibit behavior, behind closed doors (per the January 6 Committee) as well as on a stage at the Ellipse (on January 6), that would have taken the notion of peaceful transition of office, which has existed since Thomas Jefferson won over John Adams, and put it out in the trash like the course guide for Trump University?

No, it is always about him.

The recording of his conversation with Brad Raffensperger. The way-late “Go home. We love you” message. The Mar-a-Lago collection of documents.

These are but some of the most-recent instances when seemingly clever talking heads — many of them with law degrees not from an on-line university — claim ad nauseum on MSNBC, “Coming soon ‘The United States Versus Donald J. Trump.’”

And it doesn’t happen.

Possibly it will happen.

But isn’t it disconcerting that the self-proclaimed “stable genius” really may be one and that all of those people who have been predicting his downfall are in need of skiing lessons?

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Trump's Still in Charge

(WED 11/30/22)

GOP Leader ‘Condemnations’ – “I don’t think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told reporters. “He has no place in the Republican Party.”

But Wait: “[H]e came out four times and condemned him, and didn’t know who he was,” McCarthy said, according to Rolling Stone.

So … If GOP leadership truly was about to leave ex-President Trump behind, as appeared to be the case following the November 8 midterms, this would have been McCarthy’s chance to lead the way.

Perhaps McConnell Then?: Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) said this about the Trump-Fuentes-Ye Mar-a-Lago dinner, at his weekly Capitol Hill news conference Tuesday (per Axios); “There is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy.” Pressed on whether McConnell would support Trump if he becomes the 2024 GOP presidential nominee: “Let me just say again, there is simply no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy. This would apply to all the leaders of the party who will be seeking offices.”

Sigh.

Trump Replies: McConnell “is a loser for our nation.”

--TL

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Manchin’s Waterloo?

Nearly everybody (including us) named Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-WV) “most powerful person on Capitol Hill” after the November 2020 election. Now his primacy of the last 22 months could be his downfall.

The Hill reports that Manchin’s “side-deal” with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) “to enact permitting reform by the end of the year” is on “life support” as Senate Republicans look to punish the West Virginia senator for supporting President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

What would Manchin’s predecessor, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) do?

In his deal with Schumer to pass the IRA, Machin was to get Democratic support for a permitting reform bill that would assure approval of West Virginia’s Mountain Valley Pipeline project, which would return a Byrdian victory to the three-term Democratic senator from West Virginia, where 68% of voters chose Donald J. Trump over Joe Biden in 2020. Because centrist Democrat Manchin delivered the crucial majority vote for the Inflation Reduction Act last August, the GOP is angling to kill the permitting reform bill (which needs 10 Republicans to pass without filibuster) to strengthen their chances of defeating his possible re-election bid in 2024.

Upshot: “Permitting reform” is a traditionally Republican-friendly issue. But not in today’s national political climate.

Comment in the space below in this column or the one on the right, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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…meanwhile…

Lame Duck Session is… Monday, November 28 to Wednesday, December 21 for the Senate; Tuesday, November 29 to Thursday, December 15 for the House. What do you bet the House, at least, extends the session beyond that as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tries to get the most out of her majority before turning it over to the GOP next year? First and foremost on Congress’ to-do list is to pass a big spending bill in order to keep the federal government funded past Friday, December 16.

There is also the issue of ex-President Trump's tax returns, just cleared by the Supreme Court for the House Ways & Means Committee to examine. That must be done before the Republicans take over, as well.

Senate Democrats, who will maintain their majority and possibly pick up an extra seat with the Georgia special election December 6, hopes to codify same-sex marriage, pass the Electoral Count Act to make it tougher to overturn a free and fair election, and maybe even codify abortion rights nationally. The latter faces an especially hard fight, as at least 10 Republicans will have to join all Democrats to make Roe v. Wade the law of the land, notes NPR’s Mara Liasson.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

About that Dinner at Mar-a-Lago…

Even Donald J. Trump’s own advisors refused to defend the former president’s dinner at Mar-a-Lago early last week with white supremacist and hard-right activist Nick Fuentes, with one describing it as “horrible” and another “totally awful” according to The Washington Post. Predictably, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a onetime advisor to Trump himself and now potential challenger for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination said the “attention hungry” ex-prez “showed lack of judgment,” Axiosreports.

Hip-hop artist Ye (formerly Kanye West) brought Fuentes to dinner with Trump before Thanksgiving. Trump said he had only planned to have dinner with (anti-semite) Ye according to WaPo.

Comment in the space below in this column or the one on the left, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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Civil Media v. Social Media

As Twitter’s filter moderation breaks down to a single man -- the richest in the world -- we would like to remind you that The Hustings is here to take your comments on the latest political news and analysis, whether you are left or right. Your written opinions will be reviewed and if necessary, edited for length and clarity by a human editor, not by an algorithm.

Simply hit the Comment box in this column, or in the right column if that’s where you identify, or email editors@thehustings.news and tell us in the subject line whether you lean left or right. Remember, we are committed to becoming a space for safe, echo chamber-free civil discourse, so please stick to the facts when backing your opinions.

Don’t miss contributing pundit and AutoInformed editor Ken Zino’s column, “Spies Close to Home? Chinese Government Intelligence Officer Suspended in the U.S.” Click on The Gray Area above.

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…meanwhile…

(FRI 11/25/22)

Murkowski Wins Re-Election – Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), among the most moderate of her party’s members of the U.S. Senate, won a third term before Thanksgiving by beating another Republican, Kelly Tshibaka in the state’s first ranked choice tabulation, 53.7% to 46.3% according to Alaska Public Media. The Alaska Republican Party and former President Trump had endorsed Tshibaka, who had accused Murkowski (pictured above) of being “functionally a Democrat,” citing her vote to support the Affordable Care Act in 2017 and her vote against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, in 2018, according to Wikipedia.

About that Ranked Choice: In the final ranked-choice ballot, Murkowski had 135,972 votes to Tshibaka’s 117,299. Yet it took Alaska election officials more than two weeks to declare winners from the midterms.

And Palin Loses: Meanwhile, former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin lost her bid to unseat Rep. Mary Petola (D) for the state’s at-large House district seat. Petola had won an August special election to replace the late Rep. Don Young (R) who died while in office last Spring.

Is Alaska Stepping Back… from the Tea and/or MAGA parties? In 2006, incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski (R), father of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, lost re-election when he came in third in the state’s Republican primary, behind second-place John Binkley and winner Sarah Palin, who two years later was Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) running mate in the presidential election.

House Count: Republicans now have 220 seats of 435 in the House of Representatives, to the Democratic Party’s 213, with two seats yet to be determined.

What’s Left: Make that “Which House elections remain?” because neither of the two Democrats are likely to prevail in the last two un-called races. In California’s 13^th, Republican John Duarte leads former state assembly member Adam Gray (D) by fewer than 600 votes, with 99% of ballots counted, according to The Hill. The district seat is currently held by Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, who ran November 8 for California’s new 12^th District.

Colorado’s District 3 House race hasn’t been officially counted, The Hill reports, though Democrat Adam Frisch has already conceded to Rep. Lauren Boebert (R). Assuming California 13 and Colorado 3 will finish as expected, the 222-213 House of the 118^th Congress will be the mirror-opposite of the 222-213 Democratic majority of the 117^th.

--Combined and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Not A-Twitter with Trump

New owner Elon Musk has re-opened Twitter to Donald J. Trump (and reportedly a good number of racists and conspiracy theorists as well), though the former president hasn’t bitten so far. As the Justice Department closes in on Trump over his alleged instigation of the January 6^th Capitol insurrection, and hoarding top-secret government documents seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago, Trump instead is sticking with his own struggling social media platform run by ex-Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA).

Unlike Twitter, The Hustings will not repeat anything Trump says or writes without calling out any inaccuracies, outright lies or “dog whistles” contained within.

Whatever your political opinions are, whether pro-MAGA right, never-Trump conservative, moderate liberal or progressive, you are invited and encouraged to Comment here or in the box below, or in the one in the left column if that’s how you lean. Or email us at editors@thehustings.news, where it will be monitored for civility and edited by a human for length and clarity. We are your safe space for civil political discourse.

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Chinese Intel Officer Guilty of Espionage

It’s not just Donald J. Trump and his actions surrounding the January 6^th Capitol insurrection and the confidential government documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago home and private club that has been keeping the Justice Department busy. A federal grand jury in Cincinnati found Yanjun Xu guilty November 5 on all counts brought by Justice Department prosecutors in a case of industrial espionage in which Xu attempted to steal secrets from General Electric Aviation, left-column pundit Ken Zino writes. See “Spies Close to Home? Chinese Government Intelligence Officer Sentenced in the U.S.” in The Gray Area. Go to Zino’s website, AutoInformed for full details.

Tell us your thoughts and opinions in the Comment box in this column or the right column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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…meanwhile…

(WED 11/23/22)

( NASA Artemis I program's Orion un-manned/womanned spacecraft entered the lunar sphere of influence Sunday, Nov. 20, and took this photo of the far side of the Moon Monday the 21^st, before moving into distant retrograde orbit. The Artemis mission will continue with humans, including at least one woman, to return to the Moon’s surface in 2024.)

Finally, Trump “Audit” is Over -- The Supreme Court declined a request from Donald J. Trump to halt an opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to allow House Ways & Means Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) to view six years of the former president’s tax records. Remember Trump telling voters he would release his income taxes as soon as an IRS audit was completed?

Never happened. In this case, Neal’s Ways & Means will get access to Trump’s personal returns and that of some of his businesses, Roll Call reports. SCOTUS issued an unsigned order with no explanation and no noted dissents. Neal requested the IRS records in 2019 under a law that allows the committee’s chairman to review any tax record. Ways & Means told SCOTUS that any delays could keep Neal from getting his hands on the records before the House of Representatives flips to Republican control in January.

Upshot: But if the GOP truly is ready to brush aside Trump for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, they might be ready to get their hands on the returns after all.

•••

Is GOP Leadership (Finally) Done with Trump? – Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is the only U.S. senator The Hill could find who is willing to support Donald J. Trump’s third run for the presidency. Tuberville, a rare beneficiary of Trump’s 2020 election coattails, called the ex-president “the leader America needs in 2024,” and has praised his administration’s track record. Trump’s otherwise most prominent Senate supporter, Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, has yet to endorse the ex-president’s ’24 run, but says he will be “hard to beat,” according to The Hill.

•••

Thanksgiving Week – Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelinskyy, addresses the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Monday, Politico Playback reports.

Other than presidential turkey pardons and the like, the only big date in the U.S. is Saturday, the 26^th, when early voting begins in some Georgia counties for the runoff election between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: In the box below, or email editors@thehustings.news

Trump Tweeting?

Did you vote in Twitter owner Elon Musk’s Twitter poll on whether ex-President Trump should be let back on the social media network? Neither did we, but then, @NewsHustings is not a bot. Musk says 51% of “respondents” in his Twitter poll voted to reinstate Donald J. Trump, but it remains to be seen whether #45 can drag himself away from his own struggling social media platform … well, you know what it’s called.

If you’re a real person and you want to comment on these or other current political issues in a safe, echo chamber-free civil discourse site edited by real people, hit the Comment box below or in the left column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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