On Crime and Our Border

Republican senatorial candidates are making gains in the polls for the coming midterm elections (four weeks from Tuesday, folks!) by slamming their Democratic rivals on crime and even the since-abandoned “defund the police” slogan, a counter to the gains Democrats had begun to make after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

But an underlying advantage the GOP has long had, poll-wise, versus Democratic candidates is the issue of controlling our southern border with Mexico. This issue has been a staple of Fox News pundits for years, beginning well before even ex-President Trump’s vow to “build the wall.”

In a PBS Arizona debate last Thursday between Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly and Republican challenger Blake Masters (plus Libertarian Marc Victor) Masters accused Kelly and other Democrats of “surrendering our southern border.” [Masters is a venture capitalist who has co-authored a book with fellow Trump ally Peter Thiel.]

Kelly says he has privately disagreed with the White House’s border policy in conversations with President Biden. He and fellow Democratic Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema have co-authored a bipartisan bill to increase pay and staffing for Border Patrol officers, and Kelly also supports physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to PBS Arizona’s Cronkite News.

“I’ve been focused on this since day one, and I brought more resources here to the state of Arizona to deal with the issue,” Kelly said.

Comments: Has the Democratic Party (and have most media outlets) improperly ignored what’s been happening at the border since the Biden administration? We want to hear from you on this issue – especially if you lean left. Go to the Comment box below (if you lean right, please use the comment box in the right column). Or email editors@thehustings.news.

Republican senatorial candidates are making gains in the polls for the coming midterm elections (four weeks from Tuesday, […]

…meanwhile…

(WED 10/12/22)

Tune in to the likely last public hearing of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Thursday, 1 p.m. Eastern time on most news networks (except Fox). Check back here Friday for analysis and commentary and enter your own opinion in the Comment boxes or email editors@thehustings.news.

Zaporizhzhia Hit – The nuclear power plant in Ukraine lost power for the second time in five days after another Russian missile attack in retribution for the explosion on Vladimir Putin’s bridge to Crimea, AP reports. The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant suffered a blackout to its remaining outside power source, which is needed to keep the plant cool to avoid a meltdown.

Russia has arrested eight people in connection with Saturday’s bridge explosion, NPR reports.

Biden’s warning: In an exclusive interview Tuesday on CNN, Jake Tapper asked President Biden about Russian President Putin’s threats to detonate a nuclear weapon in his war against Ukraine.

“I don’t think he will,” Biden responded. But he added that the U.S. ready with a response. “He, in fact, cannot continue with impunity to talk about use of a tactical nuclear weapon as if that’s a rational thing to do.”

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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...meanwhile... (TUE 10/11/22)

Gallup Poll Says – Americans’ trust in the three branches of federal government continues to falter, Gallup says in a new poll released Tuesday, with 43% trust in the executive branch, 47% for the judicial branch and just 38% in the legislative branch. That executive branch level is at near-Watergate lows, The Hill reports. Gallup says the three branches each had no less than two-thirds trust levels when it first published the poll in 1972.

Gallup says respondents expressed more trust in their state and local governments. You can find details on the Gallup poll here: https://news.gallup.com/poll/402737/trust-federal-government-branches-continues-falter.aspx

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Emergency G7 – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address an emergency virtual meeting of the Group of Seven nations Tuesday to request, once again, better defense systems and long-range weapons, The Washington Post reports, as Russia continues to bombard key Ukrainian cities as retribution for the explosion Saturday on Russia’s bridge to Crimea.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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...meanwhile...

(MON 10/10/22)

It's Indigenous Peoples Day (U.S.), Columbus Day (23 states) and World Mental Health Day.

Reminder – The next and potentially last public hearing of the House Select Committee Investigating the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol is Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern time.

Coverage and Commentary: Watch this space Friday for three-column coverage including analysis and commentary.

Trump's Take: The ex-president again took news media to task Saturday at his Minden, Nevada rally, for never turning a camera around on his crowds to "show how many people are here," (per Newsweek); "They never do it. They're corrupt. ... You know the biggest crowd I've ever seen? January 6th."

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Too Loud to be a Dog Whistle

The pertinent quote from Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) attacking Democrats for being weak on crime, at Donald J. Trump’s Minden, Nevada rally Saturday night: Democrats “want crime because they want to take over what you’ve got. They want reparations because they think that the people who do the crime are owed that.”

No subtlety there by the former Auburn University head football coach. The NAACP defines reparations, according to Newsweek, as “a financial recompense for African-Americans whose ancestors were slaves and lived through the Jim Crow era.”

Certainly leaders in the party of Lincoln were quick to condemn Tuberville’s remarks, right?

“I’m not saying he’s being racist. But I wouldn’t use that language, be more polite,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told NBC News’ Meet the Press (per The Hill). “But the fact is we can’t ignore we have a 40 to 50% violent crime increase.”

Comments: Are Tuberville’s (and Bacon’s) comments simply another example of the racism surrounding the ex-president and his followers, this time just over-the-line blatant? We want to hear from you on this issue – especially if you lean right, and whether you are a never-Trumper or pro-MAGA. Go to the Comment box below (if you lean left, please use the comment box in the left column). Or email editors@thehustings.news.

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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.

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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.

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‘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

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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.

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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.

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…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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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(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.

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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

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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.

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‘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.

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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

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…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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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