Biden Pardons Fed Weed Convictions

President Biden cleared about 6,500 people convicted on federal marijuana charges, and urged states to follow suit, (per The Washington Post). Biden also directed his administration to expedite a review of whether marijuana should continue to be listed as a Schedule 1 substance alongside other much harder drugs, including heroin, LSD and ecstasy.

On the other side, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), tweeted; “In the midst of a crime wave and on the brink of a recession, Joe Biden is giving blanket pardons to drug offenders – many of whom pled down from more serious charges.”

COMMENT on this or any other recent issue covered here in the box below, or in the right column. Or email editors@thehustings.news.

_____

Unemployment Drops to 3.5%

(FRI 10/7/22)

263K Jobs Added Last Month – The employment rate dropped back to 3.5%, its record low from July, as the economy added 263,000 jobs in September, the Commerce Department reported Friday. This may not be such good news for the Federal Reserve, however, which has been raising interest rates to slow the economy and 40-year-high inflation.

According to the Commerce Department, leisure and hospitality added 83,000 jobs in September, with unemployment in the sector lower than pre-pandemic levels. Food services and drinking places added 60,000 jobs, and manufacturing employment rose by 22,000.

•••

‘Armageddon’ Warning – Russian President Vladimir Putin is “not joking” about threatening to use tactical nuclear weapons in his war on Ukraine, President Biden told a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser Thursday in New York City. He called Putin’s threat put the world at its highest risk of nuclear war since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Newsweek reports.

“He is not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical or nuclear weapons or biological and chemical weapons, because their military is, you might say, significantly underperforming,” Biden said.

Note: Biden was perhaps the first world leader to warn about Putin’s impending attack on Ukraine prior to Russia’s February 24 invasion.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

DOJ Says Trump Still Holds Docs

According to two sources to The New York Times, top Justice Department officials have told Donald J. Trump’s attorneys “in recent weeks” that DOJ believes the former president has not returned all the government documents he took from the White House when he left January 20, 2021.

“It is not clear what steps the Justice Department might take to retrieve any material it thinks Mr. Trump still holds,” the Timesreports.

COMMENT on this or any other recent issue covered here in the box below, or in the left column. Or email editors@thehustings.news.

_____

Section 2 in Peril

On her second day on the bench, Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (pictured) stamped her imprimatur on the Supreme Court in hearing oral arguments over Merrill v. Milligan, the Alabama gerrymandering case that would gut what remains of the Voting Rights Act.

The “race-conscious” goal of drafters of the 14^th Amendment, Brown Jackson said, was “trying to ensure that people who had been discriminated against … were actually brought equal to everyone else in society … That’s not a race-neutral or race-blinded idea.”

Reading the oral argument tea leaves, Amy Howe in SCOTUSblog expects the court’s 6-3 conservative majority to prevail in the case, in which voters and other groups have challenged Alabama’s gerrymandering that resulted in one Black majority U.S. House district of seven districts in the state. The Black population equals one-quarter of the state.

A three-judge court, including two Trump appointees, had ruled that Alabama’s new district map likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, but the Supreme Court last February put the decision on hold.

Comment on this or any other recent issue covered in The Hustings in the box below – or in the right column – or email editors@thehustings.news.

_____

…meanwhile…

(WED 10/5/22)

UPDATE: The House Select Committee Investigating the January 6^th Attack on the U.S. Capitol has confirmed 1 p.m. Eastern time Thursday, October 13 for its next public hearing, The Hill reports.

•••

1/6 Panel Next Week? – We’re still awaiting confirmation from the House Select Committee Investigating the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol (pictured), but Thursday, October 13 is the likely make-up date for their ninth public hearing that was delayed because of Hurricane Ian. We’ll keep you posted.

OPEC+ Cuts 2% -- The oil producing nations of OPEC+, which includes Russia, have agreed to a 2-million barrel per day cut in production at their Vienna meeting in order to boost prices, Reuters reports Wednesday. They are the deepest production cuts by OPEC+ since the 2020 COVID pandemic, despite the U.S. urging it not to proceed. In addition to reversing a drop in global oil prices from $120 per barrel three months ago to about $90 per barrel currently, the production cuts will help Russia financially in the wake of U.S. and NATO sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.

AAA National Average – The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.831 Wednesday, the AAA reports.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

New Delay Attempt in Mar-a-Lagogate

Donald J. Trump’s attorneys in Mar-a-Lagogate have petitioned the Supreme Court to intervene in the document seizure case, arguing that the case’s special master should be allowed to examine approximately 100 classified documents removed from the former president’s Florida estate and private club (per The Washington Post). A three-judge panel consisting of two Trump appointees and one Obama appointee have ruled against federal Judge Aileen Cannon to allow the Justice Department to proceed with its review of the sensitive documents.

If the Supreme Court agrees to take up the case it would amount to yet another delay tactic by Trump’s attorneys as the former president reinforces the perception by his loyal followers that he is being treated unfairly by the Justice Department, though it would not block the DOJ from proceeding with its own review of the documents.

Comment on this or any other recent issue covered in The Hustings in the box below – or in the left column – or email editors@thehustings.news.

_____

SCOTUS to Hear Independent State Legislature Theory Case

Key Case -- The Supreme Court this fall term will consider a case involving North Carolina redistricting maps that will raise the issue of “the independent state legislature theory” according to the Brennan Center for Justice, which calls the theory a “dubious interpretation of the law.” If the North Carolina state legislature wins, the ruling would give state legislatures wide authority to gerrymander electoral maps codifying voter suppression, according to the left-leaning Brennan Center.

•••

Scroll down to read contributing pundit Ken Zino’s “Where’s the Beef? 1/6 Hearing Curtain Raiser.” While the House Select Committee Investigating the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol has postponed its likely final public hearing to next week, we want to hear from you – whether your perspective is left or right – in the Comment box below, or via email to editors@thehustings.news.

_____

Recess

(TUE 10/4/22)

We are joining the House of Representatives and the Senate in taking recess leading up to the midterm elections. We will return to discuss the next and likely final public hearing of the House Select Committee Investigating the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol, which is expected to be re-scheduled in October.

_____________________________________

(MON 10/3/22)

Quote of the ... Millennium -- President Biden says he's visiting Puerto Rico "because they haven't been taken very good care of." ... "They're trying like hell to catch up from the last hurricane. I want to see the state of affairs today and make sure we push everything we can." -- via Politico

Week One for Ketanji Brown Jackson – The U.S. Supreme Court’s new term begins Monday with President Biden’s first nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson (pictured), taking the seat of retiring justice Stephen Breyer. It’s a one-for-one seat on the left side of the bench in a court that went from 5-4 to 6-3 conservative thanks to ex-President Trump’s three nominees in his four years in the White House.

A Monmouth University poll released Friday, September 30, says 59% of Americans feel SCOTUS is out of touch with the values and beliefs of most Americans, with just 34% saying the court is in-touch. This breaks down to 83% of Democrats, 62% of independents and 32% of Republicans saying they believe the court is out of touch, following last June’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning 49 years of abortion rights after Roe v. Wade.

Over the summer, the Dobbs ruling gave Democrats new hope they would defy the traditional midterm wins for the president’s opposing party in House and Senate elections, though recent polling indicates a GOP surge to potentially retake both chambers. Republican candidates need a net gain of just five seats in the House to take control, and one seat in the Senate.

SCOTUS Tuesday hears arguments in Merrill v. Milligan in which the state of Alabama is appealing a ruling by a three-judge court that it violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act with a redistricting map that denied or abridged the right to vote based on race, per SCOTUSblog. Two of the three judges on the lower court ruling against Alabama’s redistricting map are Trump administration appointees.

•••

Speaking of the House and Senate – Both chambers of Congress are on recess until after the November 8 midterms. However, the ninth public hearing of the House Select Committee Investigating the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol, postponed the last week in September as Hurricane Ida pummeled Florida, is expected to reschedule for the second week of October.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Runoff in Brazilian Election

Brazil’s incumbent president and its ex-president face each other in an October 30 runoff election after neither managed 50% of the vote in an 11-candidate race Sunday. With 98.8% of the vote in, former President Luiz Inåcio Lula da Silva led with 48.1% to incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro’s 43.5% (per Politico).

Often compared to ex-President Donald J. Trump, Bolsonaro said as recently as September 18 that something must be “abnormal” if he didn’t win Sunday’s election in the first round, and had claimed to possess evidence of fraud, but never presented evidence to the electoral authority.

Comment on the Brazilian presidential election, and/or on any other issues or news from these pages in the box below or in the left column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

_____

‘Big Lie’ Testimony from Thomas

False Claims – Virginia Thomas clung to false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chairman of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol, told reporters after the wife of the Supreme Court justice testified before the panel Thursday, the Associated Press reports.

Thomas answered some of the questions from investigators, who chiefly wanted to know about texts between her and alleged coup plotter attorney John Eastman in early January 2021, as she “sought to portray herself as among many Americans” who believe former President Trump’s Big Lie.

•••

Your Comments are welcome, whether you are left or right. If you consider yourself liberal, add your comments to the box in this column. If you are conservative, please go to the comment box in the right column. Or email editors@thehustings.news and tell us how you lean, politically, in the subject line.

--TL

_____

…meanwhile…

(FRI 9/30/22)

UPDATE: House Passes CR -- The House passed the continuing resolution extending the current fiscal year budget beyond its Friday midnight expiration, to December 16. President Biden will have signed it ASAP.

Here are the 10 House Republicans who joined all the Democrats in the House of Representatives to pass the bill, according to The Hill: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Garret Graves of Louisiana, Chris Jacobs of New York, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, Hal Rogers of Kentucky, Fred Upton of Michigan and Steve Womack of Arkansas.

•••

New Sanctions on Russia as Putin Claims Four Territories – The White House announced a new round of sanctions on Russian government and military officials and their families, per The Hill, in response to President Vladimir Putin’s forced annexation through sham referenda of four regions of Ukraine. The sanctions by the Treasury, Commerce and State departments target the governor of Russia’s Central Bank and former Putin advisor Elvira Sakhipzadovna Nabiullina, more than 100 members of Russia’s Duma, members of the country’s National Security Council, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, among others. In addition, 57 entities will be restricted from obtaining key technologies and other materials.

Meanwhile: Ukrainian military forces say they have surrounded enemy troops in Lyman, hub of the Russian military in Donetsk, one of four eastern and southeastern regions Putin claimed in a ceremony Friday, according to the Daily Beast, which calls it Putin’s most humiliating defeat by Ukraine yet. It “could be one of the most serious Russian military losses of the war so far,” according to the report.

•••

House’s Turn – The Senate Thursday passed a continuing resolution funding the federal government at current levels through December 16, and now it’s the House’s turn. Failure to do so before midnight Friday, the end of the fed’s fiscal year, would shut down key Social Service, IRS services and national parks, The Washington Post notes.

•••

Cannon v. Dearie – Federal Judge Aileen Cannon Thursday overruled Special Master Raymond Dearie’s order that Donald J. Trump’s attorneys clarify whether they believe the former president’s claims that the FBI lied in its seizure of government documents at Mar-a-Lago August 8 (WaPo again).

Upshot: Dearie’s ruling last week would have forced Trump’s lawyers to deny his claims that more than 100 documents in the seizure were not classified or face potential perjury. As the judge who appointed Dearie the special master in Mar-a-Lagogate, Cannon has the power to do that. Trump’s appointment of Dearie as lame duck after he lost the 2020 election is paying off for him, and is continuing to slow the case well past the midterms and toward a possible GOP takeover of House and Senate majority rule.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Impeach Biden?

Impeachment Talk – Bumper sticker began to appear on cars parked near Capitol Hill by January 21, 1993: “Impeach Clinton.” Yes, the bumper sticker referred to the newly inaugurated president, William Jefferson Clinton, who as it turned out would be impeached nearly six years later.

Twenty-plus years earlier, “impeach” became a household word in this country -- a word that took on extra meaning during Donald J. Trump's two impeachments -- and so it’s not surprising that the word comes up from hardcore members of the opposition party to any president in his (or her, if/when that happens) first term.

In his CNN newsletter, The Point! Thursday, Chris Cilizza writes, “Republicans are already talking about it.” This assumes, of course, that the GOP will gain the majority in the House next year, and maybe the Senate, which Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) admits could go four votes either way (and not enough to overcome filibusters).

Cilizza says Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) made a little-noted statement on NBC News’ Meet the Press last Sunday that should get much more attention.

“I believe there’s pressure on the Republicans to push that forward and have that vote,” she told Chuck Todd.

--TL

_____

Preserving Democracy

Electoral Count Heads for Reform – Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have endorsed the Electoral Court Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, (per The Washington Post), designed to prevent the sort of scheme that sparked the January 6 Capitol attack. The Senate is expected to easily pass the bill this week, co-sponsored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Manchin (D-WV). It is similar to a House bill passed earlier in the week, and so Congress has ample time before the November midterm elections – and potential flip of the House – to fix the Electoral College Act of 1887.

•••

Scroll down using the far-right track bar to read pundit Ken Zino’s left-column preview of the now-delayed House Select Committee hearing on the Capitol attacks, “Where’s the Beef?”

Comment in the box in the left or right columns, or email editors@thehustings.news.

_____

…meanwhile…

(THU 9/29/22)

Senate Votes to Fund Fed to December 16 – The Senate passed a continuing resolution to fund the federal government past its midnight Friday fiscal year deadline and on to December 16, The Washington Post reports. The vote was 72-25. The CR includes $12.4 billion for military and diplomatic assistance to Ukraine, and $18.8 billion for domestic disaster recovery efforts.

•••

Ginni Thomas Testifies – Virginia Thomas “was seen on Thursday appearing to testify behind closed doors” before the House 1/6 panel, NPR reports. The appearance of the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas “stretched” into Thursday afternoon. She offered no comments to reporters afterward.

House Select Committee member Pete Aguilar (D-CA), declined to comment on her voluntary appearance, but said the panel will later share information Thomas provided that’s relevant to the public. The ninth and likely final public hearing by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol was postponed from Wednesday because of Hurricane Ian’s impending impact on Florida. No make-up date has been announced.

•••

CR Vote Teed Up for Friday – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has filed cloture, pushing Republicans to keep negotiating to fund the federal government through December 16, ahead of the end of the fiscal year midnight Friday, Punchbowl News reports. Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) were still trying to work to set the time for the vote on the continuing resolution.

Democratic and Republican leaders believe they will reach a deal possibly as early as Thursday, though these CRs historically have pushed up to the deadline – and you can count on senators like Ted Cruz (R-TX) to disrupt the timing as much as possible.

Let the campaigning commence: Whenever the CR is passed, Congress goes on recess as the calendar turns to October, when the Senate is in session only the second and third full weeks, after Columbus Day, and the House is out until after the November 8 midterm elections. The Supreme Court is back in session Monday, October 3.

•••

Sham Signing Ceremony – Russian President Vladimir Putin formally seizes four regions of Ukraine where sham referendums were held early this week. The signing ceremony to be held Friday at the Grand Kremlin Palace claims the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia for Putin’s Mother Russia, The Washington Post reports.

Meanwhile: The Pentagon Wednesday announced more long-range rocket artillery systems headed for Ukraine. That’s the good news – this is the artillery that has been so effective at pushing back Russian troops. The not-so-good news is that these systems are not yet built, meaning we’re expecting years of Ukraine’s fight for democracy against Russia.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

...meanwhile... (WED 9/28/22)

Senate to Pass CR – The Senate is expected to pass a continuing resolution funding the federal government beyond Friday and prevent a partial shutdown, to December 16, including $13.7 billion in additional aid to Ukraine (per NPR). Republicans have rejected White House requests for $22.4 billion in emergency COVID relief and $4.5 billion for monkeypox treatments, however. The Senate moved the CR forward with a 72-23 procedural vote Tuesday.

McConnell v. Manchin: “Manch gets Mitched” reads the Politico story heading describing how Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) had tried to attach legislation to overhaul energy project permitting to the spending stopgap bill.

Manchin had a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to provide the vote needed to pass the Inflation Reduction Act in exchange for heavy Democratic support for the energy permitting legislation.

Upshot: “Energy permitting legislation” would seem a sure-thing for Republican support. But Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reportedly torpedoed his caucus’ support because Manchin traded his vote on the Inflation Reduction Act for sufficient Democratic backing on the permitting provision -- McConnell’s “spite” trumps bipartisan comity once again. Manchin may have the opportunity to attach the provision to the annual defense bill, or lame-duck government spending, Politico says.

•••

Leave Russia – Americans already in Russia are urged to leave, and any U.S. citizens planning to travel there should cancel plans, the U.S. Embassy there says, as President Vladimir Putin calls up 300,000 reservists to join the attack on Ukraine (per The Hill).

--Edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

DeSantis, Biden Pledge Cooperation

Hurricane Ian – Winds were clocked at 155 mph Wednesday morning, NPR reports, nearing Category 5 status as the storm headed from the coast of Cuba toward the Gulf Coast of Florida, and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Biden pledged “close cooperation,” Politico reports. More than 2 million residents were ordered to leave home.

“That doesn’t mean you need to go all across God’s creation to evacuate,” DeSantis said. “Just get to the higher ground and get into a safe structure.”

Please direct comments on the latest news in the right or left columns, or email editors@thehustings.news.

_____