Tag: Hamas

In Normandy

D-DAY+80, 2024

Bannon to Prison -- A federal judge has ordered former Trump administration advisor and MAGA acolyte Steve Bannon to prison by July 1, The Hill reports. Bannon is appealing his 2022 conviction on contempt of Congress charges for failing to appear for a deposition ordered by the since-disbanded House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol.

•••

From WWII to Today – The allied effort of the U.S. and the rest of NATO to stand up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a “direct extension” of the battle for freedom throughout Europe during World War II, President Biden observed at the 80th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Omaha Beach (per The New York Times). Biden’s speech was held next to the burial site where 9,388 American military are buried, most of whom were part of the invasion. 

"Democracy is not guaranteed," Biden told the crowd, which included among world leaders attending, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but not Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, "and every generation must fight for it."

•••

Fighter Jets Hit UN School – As Israel’s fight with Hezbollah threatens to spill into southern Lebanon, there are reports of Israeli fighter jets attacking a United Nations school overnight in Central Gaza, killing at least 35 people, according to The Washington Post, which quotes Phillipe Lazzarini, commissioner of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA. 

Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner countered Thursday, saying 20 to 30 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters had been using a compound from inside the school.

•••

Biden Slipping? – Some Democrats and others who have worked with President Biden recently say the 81-year-old “appears slower now, someone who has both good moments and bad moments,” according to a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday. The report, which says Biden “spoke so softly at times that some participants struggled to hear him” in a January meeting in the West Wing with congressional leaders to negotiate a deal to fund Ukraine, no doubt jolted his party’s leaders.

Sources who were quoted anonymously included “(s)ome who have worked with him … including Democrats and some who have known him back to his time as vice president…” It quotes former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) saying; “I used to meet with him when he was vice president. I’d go to his house … He’s not the same person.” The WSJ notes that “White House officials dismissed many of the accounts … as motivated by partisan politics.”

But the story got little attention elsewhere Wednesday, except for News Corp. sibling Fox News, until The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, on which the host coupled The Wall Street Journal’s story with news about its recently retired CEO, 93-year-old Rupert Murdoch, marrying for his fifth time.

•••

Final Four? – Senators J.D. Vance (OH), Marco Rubio (FL) and Tim Scott (SC), and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum are the four finalists vying to become presumed Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump’s running mate, per Forbes magazine. The running mate-race remains fluid, however, and could change before the Republican National Convention begins in Milwaukee, July 15. 

There could be extra weight added to Trump’s choice, as the RNC begins four days after the ex-president is to be sentenced for his falsified business records/hush money conviction July 11.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 6/5/24

Border Politics – “Why now?” is the question NPR’s Michel Martin repeated several times to Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas on Morning Edition, asking about President Biden’s executive order meant to restrict crossings at the southern border. Mayorkas, fresh off a Senate impeachment acquittal stressed the need to “properly fund” Homeland Security and the enforcement of border laws. 

Biden’s executive action Tuesday restricts the number of migrants seeking asylum and allows border officials to stop processing claims when illegal crossings surge, as they have, as we approach the November 5 elections. Capitol Hill Republicans, who in the House killed off a bipartisan border bill earlier this year, attacked the White House’s “weak” response to the crisis.  

“To protect America as a land that welcomes migrants, we must first secure the border and secure it now,” Biden said Tuesday.

Until then-President Trump referred to “shithole countries” during his administration, no one would have admitted to the glaring reason behind much of immigration restriction in the U.S. over the centuries, that of discrimination against minorities from Italians and Irish to Latinos, Hispanics and Muslims. Beside angst over criminal activities that data on undocumented aliens constantly prove to be unfounded, there are two underlying concerns: First, that undocumented immigrants will take entry level jobs from Americans – they do, but largely at minimum wage or less, and Second, the one primarily for Republicans, that the undocumented will become Democrats after they become citizens. 

•••

Has Modi’s BJP Peaked? – We would be remiss if we ignored national elections in the world’s largest democracy and fastest-growing economy, India, where nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi will remain prime minister, but his BJP party lost significant ground to the Congress party. 

The results are considered a shock and/or jolt to Modi and the BJP. The Election Commission of India announced Tuesday that Modi’s BJP won 240 parliamentary seats to Congress’ 99, The Times of India reports. While this might seem a pretty good result for the incumbent, that’s down from 303 seats the BJP won in 2019 elections, which was on an upward trend from 284 seats secured in the 2014 elections. We’ll keep you posted on what this means for democracy in India and around the globe, going forward.

•••

MAGA Republican Defeated in New Jersey – Trump-endorsed Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner lost the New Jersey GOP primary for Bob Menendez’s U.S. Senate seat Tuesday to real estate developer Curtis Bashaw, The Hill reports. Bashaw had the influential support of most the county Republican Party organizations in the state and faces Democrat nominee Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ). 

Menendez, the Democratic senior senator from New Jersey who is under indictment with his wife on bribery charges, has said he is running for re-election as an independent.

Primaries were also held Tuesday in Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota and Washington, D.C.

--TL

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TUESDAY 6/4/24

Border Policy by Exec Order – President Biden gathers border-city mayors at the White House Tuesday -- three months after the House scuttled a bipartisan immigration bill to keep the issue alive for GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump -- with plans to sign an executive order that would greatly reduce the number of asylum-seekers allowed into the U.S., NPR’s Morning Editionreports. Although no details were leaked ahead of the announcement, the executive order is expected to significantly cut the number of immigrants allowed, according to NPR immigration correspondent Sergio Martinez Beltrán, who notes that Mexico has been cracking down on border crossings from its side at the request of the U.S.

•••

Fauci Faces Conspiracy Theoryfest – Erstwhile top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci called “simply preposterous” Republican allegations that he had tried to cover up the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic at a House subcommittee hearing Monday. Leading the questions based on a litany of conspiracy theories was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) who refused to address Fauci as a doctor and later called for him to be locked up as a “mass murderer.”

All this prompted Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) to apologize to Fauci, according to the HuffPost.

“They’re treating you, Dr. Fauci, like a convicted felon,” Raskin said of such MAGA Republicans as MTG. “Actually, you probably wish they were treating you like a convicted felon. They treat convicted felons with love and admiration.”

•••

Hunter Biden Trial, Day Two – Jury selection was completed Monday in Wilmington, Delaware, with opening statements to begin Tuesday in the criminal trial of the president’s son, Hunter Biden. He has been charged with lying on a 2018 gun license application on which he stated he was not addicted to illegal drugs.

--TL

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MONDAY 6/3/24

Trump Conviction Bump? – Down-ballot Democrats have been running better in the polls than President Biden for this November’s elections, but the expected bump in Donald J. Trump’s popularity after his 34-count conviction last week may help some of his most fervent supporters running for congressional seats, according to David Wasserman of The Cook Political Report. 

“This conviction might have some slight upside for down-ballot Republicans, not in a major way,” with a bump in turnout among pro-MAGA voters, elections analyst Wasserman told NPR’s Steve Inskeep on Morning Edition Monday. That could be good news for Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake, but not for heretofore never-Trumper and Maryland Republican Senate candidate Larry Hogan.

Be sure to read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s take on Trump’s remorse (or lack thereof) and House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-LA) response, now in the right column.

Hunter Biden’s turn… Trial of the president’s son on charges he lied on a 2018 gun-purchase application begins in Wilmington, Delaware, Monday. The younger Biden allegedly claimed he was not addicted to illegal drugs when he filled out the paperwork.

•••

Cease-Fire, Or Not – Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Givr and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to resign if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agrees to a Gaza cease-fire agreement as outlined by President Biden Friday afternoon, The Hill reports. Their resignations would force new Israeli elections, as suggested by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) weeks ago. That’s something Netanyahu, whose leadership hangs from a string, does not want.

“This is a reckless deal, Ben-Givr said, “which constitutes a victory for terrorism and a security threat to the State of Israel.”

By Saturday Netanyahu already reiterated that Israel would not agree to a permanent cease-fire in Gaza as long as Hamas retained governing and military power, The New York Times reported Sunday. By Monday, NPR reports that Netanyahu has said privately he backs the proposal.

Biden said Friday the proposal would begin with a six-week cease-fire during which Hamas would release women, the elderly and wounded Israeli hostages it has held since its October 7 attack. Israel would withdraw from major population centers in Gaza, release hundreds of Palestinian hostages and allow at least 600 trucksful of humanitarian aid per day. 

•••

Mexico’s New President – Just as a U.S. president in his late 70s or early 80s is inevitable after November’s elections, Mexicans went into voting booths Sunday to inevitably elect its first female president. Climate scientist and ex-Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum took between 58.3% to 60.7% of Sunday’s vote, The Guardian reports, easily beating Xóchitl Gálvez. Though counted as a liberal, Sheinbaum’s mentor is authoritarian-leaning outgoing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. 

Mexican presidents are limited to a single six-year term.

•••

Putin ‘Controls’ China – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the weekend criticized China for attempting to put thekabosh on a peace summit to be held June 15-16 in Switzerland by pressuring other countries not to attend, the Financial Timesreports. 

Zelenskyy said China is “in the hands” of Russian President/Dictator Vladimir Putin and he criticized China, once Ukraine’s biggest trade partner, for supplying Russia with dual-use equipment that the U.S. says is being used to rebuild Moscow’s defense industry.

•••

Fauci on the House Grill – A 15-month House Select Subcommittee investigating the coronavirus pandemic has failed to connect Dr. Anthony Fauci, the retired immunologist and government scientist, to the beginning of COVID-19. He faces testimony to the subcommittee beginning Monday, (The New York Times), anyway, where pro-MAGA Congress members will try to shift blame for the slow response and inevitable need for shutdowns across the country away from the Trump administration. 

The subcommittee also has uncovered emails from Fauci aides that appear to state concerns over Fauci’s public image as the agency he led for 38 years, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, faced scrutiny over funding questions.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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…meanwhile…

Donald J. Trump returned to a Manhattan court Thursday where his defense attorney cross-examined adult film star Stormy Daniels. The criminal case over falsified business records looks likely to be the only case Trump faces before the election. On Wednesday, the Georgia Court of Appeals announced it will review a judge's ruling that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting Trump, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, which means prosecutors will not get their August trial date.

FRIDAY 5/10/24

Netanyahu on Dr. Phil – As Republicans on Capitol Hill have been criticizing President Biden for withholding arms to Israel over its attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, buzz Friday morning centers on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s interview with Phil McGraw on Dr. Phil Primetime. But Israel’s Haaretz led with this quote from Netanyahu in the interview: “The government’s first responsibility is to protect the people, that’s the ultimate enveloping responsibility, and the people weren’t protected, we have to admit that.”

•••

Confederate Leaders Go Back to School – School board members for Virginia’s Shenandoah County district voted 5-1 to restore names of Confederate leaders to two of its schools early Friday, CNN reports. Mountain View High School is to be renamed Stonewall Jackson High School, and Honey Run Elementary will be renamed Ashby Lee Elementary, for General Robert E. Lee and cavalry commander Turner Ashby, according to the report. 

The Confederate leaders’ names were removed from both schools four years ago in the wake of the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. 

Note: Save for the Jim Crow South, we cannot think of any losing military force that has had its “heros’” names applied to public buildings. We’re confident, for instance, there never has been an Adolf Eichmann secondary school nor a Hermann Göring kindergarten.

--TL

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No Shells for Rafah Attack – The Israeli Defense Force has not entered Rafah’s population centers yet, President Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett on AC 360 Wednesday, but when they do, the U.S. will cut off arms to Israel, including artillery shells.

“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone into Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not going to supply them the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with those cities, to deal with that problem,” Biden said. 

Republicans on Capitol Hill are objecting, CQ Roll Call reports. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a letter to Biden they were “alarmed” by the pause in armament deliveries, that “flies in the face of assurances provided regarding the timely delivery of security assistance to Israel.”

•••

MTG Fail? – The House voted a decisive 359-43 to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over bi-partisan passage of a $61-billion aid package to Ukraine. The vote, according to CQ Roll Call, breaks down to just 11 Republicans voting against the motion to table, assisted by 32 Democrats, with another seven Democrats voting “present.” 

While considered a major win for Johnson, who replaced ousted speaker and former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) last year, Punchbowl News says the speaker “looks weak,” after “bucking” or ignoring other Republican congressional leaders’ suggestion he rework the motion to vacate available to any single member when he advanced the Ukraine aid package. 

Meanwhile, MTG – known as “Moscow Marj” in some circles – achieved her goal to get GOP House members on the record regarding the Ukraine aid vote, according to Punchbowl News. On the other hand, this could be considered a sign Republican voters are not so much against aid to Ukraine.

And of course, a statement from Donald J. Trump, whom Johnson visited at Mar-a-Lago in April, reenforced the notion that Trumpian loyalty is a one-way street: “With a majority of one, shortly growing to three or four, we’re not in a position of voting on a motion to vacate. At some point, we may very well be, but this is not the time.”

•••

Cruz Control – Republican senators reportedly are joking rather openly about Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) push to authorize the Federal Aviation Administration’s budget for the fiscal year by Friday’s deadline. Their “bemusement” stems from Cruz’s 180-degree turn from his role as a “conservative rabble-rouser” to “playing the leadon authorizing the FAA,” The Hill reports. Cruz is the ranking Republican on the Commerce Committee.

There is precedent for such hypocrisy, not mentioned in the report, when Cruz and his family jetted off to a Cancun vacation in February 2021 as a severe Texas storm left millions of his voters without power and water. 

“It’s been entertaining to watch,” one unnamed Republican senator told The Hill, regarding Cruz’s FAA push. Quoting the classic comedy movie Airplane, the senator added, “What’s the old Hollywood joke? ‘The foot’s on the other hand.’” Or in Cruz's mouth?

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 5/8/24

Haley Gives GOP Hope -- In case one of Donald J. Trump's myriad criminal cases stick before this August's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee (meaning, hurting him in the polls rather than helping him), his former UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, continues to grab primary votes more than two months after she suspended her campaign for the GOP presidential nomination. Haley got 128,000 votes in Tuesday's Indiana primary, according to The Hill's Decision Desk HQ, or 21.7% to Trump's 78.3%. In April, 150,000 Pennsylvania Republicans voted for Haley in that state's primary.

•••

U.S. Blocks Arms During Rafah Attack – In response to the Israeli government’s refusal to hold off its long-threatened attack on Rafah at Gaza’s southern border, the U.S. is withholding shipment of 3,000 missiles to Israel, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Israel’s offensive on Rafah launched after Palestinians believed Hamas had successfully negotiated a ceasefire, but Israel refused to sign on to the deal brokered with Egypt and Qatar.

 •••

Cannon Gums Up Trump’s Classified Docs Trial – Quick reminder of the facts: Then-President Trump appointed Judge Aileen Cannon to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in late 2020. In an August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago, the FBI recovered boxes of classified documents Trump hoarded after leaving the White House.

The Washington Post reported last year that witnesses in the subsequent case said Trump showed some classified documents to guests at Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s attorneys, meanwhile, have successfully clogged up special counsel Jack Smith’s case accusing Trump of willful retention of classified documents and conspiracy to obstruct justice, among other charges.

On Tuesday, Cannon issued a five-page order that delays indefinitely the classified documents trial once scheduled for May 20 – less than two weeks from now – and which special counsel Jack Smith had hoped would be rescheduled to July 8 (per Politico).

Considering all the issues between prosecutor Smith and Trump’s defense team, “finalization of a trial date at this juncture … would be imprudent and inconsistent with the court’s duty to fully and fairly consider the pre-trial issues,” Cannon’s order says. 

Theoretically, the case could still go to trial before the end of 2024, some legal pundits say, but that would require Cannon to run out of ways to slow the process.

•••

Zelenskyy’s Latest Threat – The narrative behind Ukraine’s resilient efforts to keep Russia from taking over the country tells of a united effort by its military and its public. That ignores the fact that ethnic Russians make up the largest minority in Ukraine, reportedly 17.3% in 2001, according to Wikipedia. What’s more, Ukraine’s military is not impervious to Russian infiltration. 

On Monday, Ukraine’s security service said it had uncovered a network of Russia’s federal security service, the FSB, whose agents were preparing yet another assassination attempt of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to The Kyiv Independent. In addition, two Ukraine state security administration (UDO) colonels have reportedly been detained for leaking classified information to Russia. 

According to the Independent’s report, Zelenskyy told The Sun last November he had survived “at least” five assassination attempts.

--TL

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TUESDAY 5/7/24

Israel Attacks Rafah -- The Israeli government did not agree to the same ceasefire deal Hamas agreed to Monday, so Israeli Defense Forces took control of Rafah anyway and have blocked off aid flow, a border official told The Washington Post. Meanwhile, Egypt has denounced the IDF's military operations in Rafah.

Putin to Out-Stalin Stalin -- It's inauguration day for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's fifth term as president, NPR reports. If he fills out the entire term, Putin will have led Russia longer than Joseph Stalin. Most European Union nations boycotted Putin's inauguration ceremonies, Morning Edition says.

--TL

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MONDAY 5/6/24

UPDATE: Hamas has accepted a 42-day ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar that would return 33 hostages, dead or alive, BBC News reports. The deal still awaits response from Israel, which says it will not call off its planned attack on Rafah.

Time is Up for Rafah – Cease fire talks between Hamas and Israel seems to have sputtered to a stall, again, and so the Israeli government Monday morning urged people to evacuate Rafah in southern Gaza (The Washington Post) as its military prepares for its long-threatened assault on the city. Hamas and Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government are blaming each other for lack of progress in the negotiations.

•••

Speaker Under Pressure – House Democrats will join a majority of Republicans to block Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) motion to dismiss Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) this week, says NPR’s Morning Edition. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), told CBS News’ 60 Minutes Sunday, “Our view would traditionally be; ‘Let the other side work its own mess out.’ But when that mess starts to impact the ability to do the job on behalf of the American people, then the responsible thing at that moment might be to make clear that we will not allow the extremists to throw the Congress and the country into chaos.”

MTG has the backing in her threat of Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ), but Donald J. Trump, who received Johnson at Mar-a-Lago last week, is sitting this issue out as he tends to the trial over falsification of business records in connection with hush money payments.

Hindsight… We have to wonder whether former speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) would still be speaker and Trump wouldn’t be running for president again if McCarthy hadn’t had his pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago less than two months after the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol.

•••

More Tears Over Trump? – The criminal trial in which former President Trump is charged with falsifying business records in an alleged attempt to put the "hush" into hush money continues Monday, with the alleged recipient of said hush money, adult film star Stormy Daniels, expected to testify this week, according to The New York Times. On Friday, former Trump spokeswoman and close White House advisor Hope Hicks broke down in tears, after describing the effect on Trump’s 2016 campaign when the infamous Access Hollywood tape surfaced.

•••

Feds Investigate Cuellar – Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and his wife were indicted last Friday on federal charges accusing them of accepting $600,000 in bribes from the country of Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank in exchange for political favors in Congress. Federal agents raided Cuellar’s office and the couple’s house Friday, just weeks before a runoff between two Republicans to challenge him in the general election, according to The Texas Tribune. Republicans Jay Furman and Lazaro Garza face each other in a May 28 runoff with the winner to challenge Cuellar November 5.

•••

Up on the Hill – Both chambers of Congress are in session Tuesday through Thursday. The full House only is in session Monday, while the full Senate is in session Friday.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

…meanwhile…

WCK relief lead Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom, 43, from Australia, was one of seven humanitarian aid workers killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza Monday. (PHOTO CREDIT: World Central Kitchen/wck.org)

NATO 75TH 4/4/24

Biden to Netanyahu: Cease Fire -- Following the deadly Israeli Defense Force air strike on a World Central Kitchen caravan in Gaza Monday, President Biden in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for an immediate ceasefire in its war on Hamas. Biden "made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers," according to the White House readout of the call. "He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel's immediate action on these steps."

•••

WCK and Israel – President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak by phone Thursday the first time since Israeli Defense Force air strikes killed seven World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers in Gaza, The Guardian reports. Biden is said to be "furious" over the strike. 

WCK chief and founder, chef José Andres accused the IDF of targeting the organization’s caravan, NPR Reports. “Israel has a right to defend its people, but defending your people is not killing everybody else,” he said. Andres wrote this op-ed on his colleagues' deaths for The New York Times.

Biden calls the Israel-Hamas war “one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed.” (The Washington Post)

•••

NATO Celebrates 75 – The 32-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization celebrates its 75th anniversary Thursday at its Brussels headquarters. It holds a summit in Washington, D.C., July 9-11. 

Here are the top-12 contributors to NATO by percentage of GDP, according to worldpopulationreview.com:

1.) Poland – 3.9%.

2.) U.S. – 3.49%.

3.) Greece – 3.1%.

4.) Estonia – 2.73%.

5.) Lithuania – 2.54%.

6.) Finland – 2.45%.

7.) Romania – 2.44%.

8.) Hungary – 2.43%.

9.) Latvia – 2.27%.

10.) U.K. – 2.07%.

11.) Slovakia – 2.03%.

12.) France – 1.9%. 

NATO’s minimum contribution requirement is 2.0%.

•••

Biden Leads, Very Slightly, in Penn – President Biden leads ex-President Trump 42% to 40% in the Franklin & Marshall College poll of registered voters in the swing-state of Pennsylvania, when third-party candidates are considered, though the president leads Trump 48% to 38% in a one-on-one race. Though statistically a tie for the November election, other findings from this April poll reflect a slight preference – or, let’s call it less dissatisfaction – for Biden.

The April poll found 17% said they are “better off” financially than a year ago, up from 15% in February and 11% in October. Biden’s approval ratings in the commonwealth are at just 35%, though more voters believe Biden has better judgment and is more “trustworthy” than Trump, while 40% said Trump would better-handle the nation’s economy. Both are “too old” to be president, 40% of voters said.

On the other hand: Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Guy Reschenthaler has sponsored HR 7845, a bill to rename Dulles International Airport in suburban Washington (Virginia), “Donald J. Trump International Airport.” Reschenthaler has six Republican co-sponsors in the House.

“Donald Trump is facing 91 felony charges,” responds Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), (per Slate). “If Republicans want to name something after him, I’d suggest they find a federal prison.”

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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[WEDNESDAY 4/3/24]

The Russia House? – It’s easy to think of last month’s merger between Trump Media and Technology Group and shell company Digital World Acquisition Corporation as a hail-Mary to raise the cash the ex-president needed to pay a $454 million civil judgment to New York State last month. Of course, Donald J. Trump’s share of the new corporation’s market cap wouldn’t be available to him on time, and anyway, an appellate court threw him a lifeline, allowing Trump to pay the reduced fine of $175 million as his attorneys appeal the judgment. 

But the deal to merge Trump Media with the shell company had been lingering since 2021, when the media company’s Truth Social went live and promptly began to lose millions of dollars -- 58 of them just last year.

According to an exclusive story published by The Guardian Wednesday, something called the ES Family Trust has been providing Trump Media with emergency loans. Existence of ES Family Trust was first reported by both The Guardian and The Washington Post, but only the former says it has “learned from leaked documents” that Russian-American businessman Anton Postolnikov has been using the trust like a shell company. 

Person of Interest

Postolnikov has been a “person of interest,” according to the report, in a years-long FBI and Department of Homeland Security investigation. 

The trust has an account with Paxum bank, based on the island of Dominica, which counts Postolnikov as a part-owner, according to The Guardian’s report. But Paxum does not have a license to do business in the U.S. – thus the need for the ES Family Trust connection to Trump Media. 

The news report says Postolnikov is nephew of Aleksandr Smirnov, ally of Vladimir Putin.

An attorney for Paxum Bank warned The Guardian of legal action “for reporting the contents of the leaked documents.” After the story was initially published a statement from a Trump Media attorney called it a “false narrative that (Trump Media) has these fake connections to Russia. It is a hoax.”

There’s much more to the story, which you can read here.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 4/3/24

Biden, Trump in Statistical Tie – President Biden and ex-President Trump are in a statistical tie for the November election, with Biden narrowly ahead, according to an NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist poll outlined on Morning Edition Wednesday. Biden’s approval rating of 43% is his highest in three years, though his disapproval rating is at 53%. 

Significantly, the poll also finds that most Americans, including Republicans, Democrats and independents, find criminalizing abortion "wrong."

Biden’s statistical tie and slight lead over Trump is slightly better news than numbers from the Gallup poll that Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay analyzes in “Build Back [Biden] Better” in The Gray Area. You can read that here.

However: Trump leads Biden in six of the seven most competitive states according to a Wall Street Journal poll, citing “dissatisfaction with the national economy and deep doubts about Biden’s capabilities and job performance.” The poll of main battleground states show the ex-president leading the president by anywhere from two percentage points to eight percentage points.

•••

Israeli Strike on WCD Convoy – President Biden is “outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen, including one American, in Gaza yesterday,” reads a White House statement released on X-Twitter.

“They were providing food to hungry civilians in the middle of a war. They were brave and selfless. Their deaths are a tragedy.”

Israel “deeply regrets” the hit on the World Central Kitchen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, and the Israeli Defense Force called its attack a “grave mistake” that was the result of a “misidentification,” The Washington Post reports. 

The tide has been turning against the Israeli government – not the Israeli or Jewish people – since Hamas terrorists – not the majority of Palestinians -- killed 1,200 and kidnapped 240 on October 7 (per The Times of Israel). The Israeli government under its hard-right leader, Netanyahu, is capable of war crimes.

Your thoughts … as always, are welcome. Go to the left or right column, depending on your political leanings, and leave a comment, or email editors@thehustings.news.

--TL

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TUESDAY 4/2/24

Seven Food Relief Workers Killed in Gaza – The Israeli military has taken responsibility for a strike that killed seven workers for celebrity chef Jose Andres’ aid group, World Central Kitchen, Monday as their convoy was leaving a warehouse (per The Washington Post). 

“Unfortunately, there was a tragic incident in which our forces unintentionally hit innocent people in Gaza Strip,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday. 

WCK CEO Erin Gore described the incident as a “targeted attack,” and the organization says it is suspending its food relief efforts in Gaza. The seven killed in the Israeli attack include a U.S.-Canadian dual citizen, at least one Palestinian, as well as workers from Australia, Poland and the United Kingdom, per WaPo.

•••

April 2 Primaries – Presidential primaries are Tuesday for Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. In addition, there is a non-presidential primary in Wisconsin and runoff elections in Arkansas and Mississippi (per the AP).

--TL

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MONDAY 4/1/24

Is Military Aid to Ukraine on the Way? – Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA, above) said Sunday night touted a package that could forward military aid to Ukraine, after the House returns to Capitol Hill Tuesday, April 9. The three-plank bill would use the Repo Act, a “loan concept” and release of U.S. natural gas exports, Johnson told the eponymous host of Fox News’ Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy Easter evening. There has been much uncertainty over the legality of the Repo Act, which could forward more than $300 billion to Ukraine from seized Russian assets.

“If we could us the seized assets of Russian oligarchs to allow the Ukrainians to fight them, that’s pure poetry,” Johnson said. 

Even GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump supports providing aid to Ukraine as a loan, he said, and releasing natural gas exports that he said the Biden White House has prohibited would “help unfund” Vladimir Putin’s war effort. 

Democratic support: Johnson will have to count on pretty much all House Democrats to pass aid for Ukraine and then again if Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) carries through her threat to file a motion to vacate. The House currently consists of 218 Republicans and 213 Democrats, with four seats vacant. That leaves Johnson with a one-vote Republican margin.

•••

Tide Turns for Netanyahu – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) rocked international politics last month when, as the highest-ranking Jewish leader ever in the U.S., he called for immediate elections in Israel to replace its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu over his hardline response to the October 7 Hamas attacks. Now Israeli citizens are calling for the same, as hundreds of protesters have taken to Tel Aviv’s streets over the weekend, according to The Washington Post. They demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since Hamas’ attack took an estimated 1,139 Israeli and foreign nationals’ lives last October. 

Protesters also demand negotiations for Hamas’ release of more than 100 hostages the terrorist group continues to hold.

“In order to win, we need new leadership,” one Israeli protester told NPR. Netanyahu’s response is that elections now “could paralyze Israel for months.” 

In Gaza, meanwhile, residents describe “total destruction” around al-Shifa hospital after Israeli troops “destroyed all sense of life there,” according to the AP, quoting a local resident. Israel’s military continues to restrict emergency food supplies from entering Gaza as Palestinians there suffer ever growing cases of starvation.

•••

Putin Loses One – A group of anti-Kremlin Russians posted a photo of opposition leader Alexei Navalny on a hacked prison contractor’s website, CNN reports, citing interviews with hackers and its own data. The hacked-in picture appeared with the caption, “Long Live Alexei Navalny!” The opposition leader was killed in a Russian prison February 16. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin “won” re-election, again, in March.

•••

Egg Roll – After the White House issued a declaration last Friday that March 31, Easter Sunday, was “Transgender Day of Visibility,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called it “outrageous and abhorrent” on social media and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said, “There is no length Biden and the Democrats won’t go to mock your faith, according to a timeline by Forbesmagazine.

Then Trump campaign spokewoman Karoline Leavitt issued a statement saying it was “appalling and insulting” that Biden “formally proclaimed Easter Sunday as ‘Transgender Day of Visibility.’” 

The GOP reaction led the White House to reply that President Biden has made the same proclamation every year of his administration, on March 31, the annual date of the international celebration, which does not change from year-to-year. The date of Easter Sunday does change, year-to-year.

The annual White House Easter egg roll was scheduled for Monday.

•••

Up on The Hill – The spring/Easter/Passover break for Congress continues through the week of April 1. The Senate returns on Monday, April 8, and the House returns Tuesday, April 9.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Trump Legal Scorecard

[CPI at 3.2% -- As some economists (and the Biden campaign) eagerly anticipate an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve sometime this year, the Consumer Price Index has ticked up to 3.2% in February, from an annual rate of 3.1% in January, the Labor Department reports. That’s the wrong direction from the Fed’s target 2% rate. The month-over-month increase was 0.4%, with shelter and gas accounting for 60% of the increase. Energy was up 2.3%, while food, and food at home, was unchanged.]

IDES OF MARCH 2024

Fulton County, Georgia – Atlanta Judge Scott McAfee ruled Friday morning that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can remain on the election interference case against Donald J. Trump, but only if her former romantic partner, Nathan Wade, withdraws from the case …

Mar-a-Lagogate – U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon appears to have handed prosecutors in the confidential documents case against Trump a win by ruling against the ex-president’s attorneys’ motion that the Espionage Act behind the indictments are “unconstitutionally vague.” However, Newsweek notes that Trump appointee Cannon instructed his attorneys in the ruling that they should bring up the “unconstitutionally vague” argument in “connection with the jury instruction briefing” …

Hush Money Case – New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg says his office is willing to delay Trump’s hush money case after receiving late evidence from the U.S. attorney’s office, to give defense attorneys sufficient time for review. The trial was scheduled to begin March 25, and may now be delayed by 30 days.

--TL

•••

The Schumer-Netanyahu Split – After Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called for new Israeli elections on π day Thursday in frustration over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intransigence on a ceasefire in Gaza, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) took to the Senate floor to “remind” Schumer that Israel is not an American colony, calling his remarks “grotesque” and “unprecedented” (per Punchbowl News).

But just as Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition continues to consider Palestinians and their Hamas “leadership” in Gaza one and the same, so too do the staunchest U.S. supporters of Netanyahu refuse to distinguish between the Israeli government and the Jewish people. This despite the fact that even before the vicious, horrible Hamas attack October 7, Netanyahu was long-resistant to a two-state solution with Palestinians in Gaza.

Meanwhile ...

Gaza's health ministry has accused Israel's military of firing on Palestinians awaiting aid in Gaza, killing 20 and injuring 150, The Guardian reports. The Israeli military denies the reports.

Influencing our November election

In trying to save his own power, Netanyahu has helped to throw the November U.S. presidential election to Donald J. Trump, and he knows it. Biden has ceded substantial votes to “uncommitted” in the Michigan and Minnesota Democratic primaries as he tries to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza in vain. 

While Biden has known Netanyahu for a very long time, going back to his time in the Senate, Trump and Netanyahu had a closer relationship during the Trump administration – until Netanyahu congratulated Biden for his victory in 2020, which of course led Trump to criticize the Israeli prime minister for his “disloyalty.”

If Netanyahu continues to reject ceasefire in Gaza (it is necessary to note that Hamas has done very little to help, either) the Israeli prime minister might very well be able to make it up to Trump by congratulating him this November.

--Analysis by Todd Lassa

____________________________________________

THURSDAY π Day 2024

Schumer Calls for Israeli Elections -- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), wants Israel to hold new elections, saying its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has "lost his way" (per The Hill). "As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me: The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7," Schumer continued. "The world has changed -- radically -- since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past."

•••

VP to Abortion Clinic -- Vice President Kamala Harris visits a Twin Cities, Minnesota abortion clinic Thursday, Axios reports, a first-ever such appearance by a sitting veep according to the White House. 

•••

Meanwhile, in Ft. Pierce, Florida – Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon holds a hearing Thursday morning on two of the ex-president’s requests to dismiss his 40-count federal indictment in Mar-a-Lagogate. Donald J. Trump’s attorneys claim the section of the Espionage Act accusing him of mishandling classified documents and obstructing federal officials’ attempts to get them back to the National Archives Washington is “unconstitutionally vague as applied to President Trump,” The Washington Post reports. 

Meanwhile, in Fulton County, Georgia: Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee Wednesday dismissed three of 13 counts against Trump in the election interference case (per WaPo). Prosecutors may refile the charges, however.

•••

Schumer's Watch is Slow – The Senate may take its time in taking up the House bill passed Wednesday, 352-65, that would force ByteDance to sell its U.S. interest in TikTok, or face some sort of blockage or shutdown in the country. 

“The Senate will review the legislation when it comes over from the House,” CQ Roll Call quotes Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). 

This, despite obvious House urgency for the bill sponsored by Select China committee chair Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL). 

Not on Warner's watch: From its interview with Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Semafor has a much different take on the upper-chamber's timing on the TikTok bill. "We're going into a 24-hour election cycle, where literally millions of Americans get a lot of their news from this site," said the chairman of the Senate Select committee. "And if that can be manipulated against American interests -- I don't care whether you're Democrat or Republican, that is not in America's interests."

The Trump factor: Politico reports of worry that billionaire Jeff Yass, who has a 15% stake in TikTok, has influenced Trump’s flip-flop on the issue, as he has since objected to removing the social media platform from the nation. Former Trump administration Senior Counselor Kellyanne Conway has signed on with Club for Growth to counter the push to ban TikTok on national security concerns. 

Our take: Two things. A.) It’s a notable shift if the Senate, and not the House, takes up Trump’s cause. But after all, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is now a solid Trump backer. B.) If ByteDance is forced to sell TikTok to an American entity or face shutdown, wouldn’t Yass be in the catbird seat to buy up the 85% he doesn’t already own?

--TL

____________________________________________

Tick...Tick...Tick...

WEDNESDAY 3/13/24

Rrrrring -- The House passed HR 7521 Wednesday morning, 352-65, (per The Hill) that would force ByteDance to divest U.S. interest in TikTok within 165 days. That clock doesn't start ticking until the Senate passes the bill. President Biden, whose re-election campaign has used the social media platform to reach young voters, is in favor of the bill and presumably will sign it.

How to Stop a Clock – The House is expected to pass HR 7521 Wednesday, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which would force China’s ByteDance to divest its U.S. interest in TikTok within 165 days over national security concerns, or face shut-down here. This, even though the House needs two-thirds majority to fast-track suspension of rules procedures that the Republican leadership plans to use, Punchbowl News reports, and even though the leader of the GOP, Donald J. Trump, has reversed his position calling for the social media phenomenon’s removal.

TikTok flip-flop: Much has been speculated about Trump’s reversal on TikTok. He proposed a ban in 2020, but more recently said that its shut-down here will give more power to Facebook, which a 2022 “documentary” blames for Trump’s 2020 re-election loss. One theory that sticks out more than most is that billionaire Jeff Yass, who has a “huge financial stake” in ByteDance according to Axios, has invited Trump to a retreat by Club for Growth, a conservative group that also opposes the ban. Yass has previously contributed $4.9 million to Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign.

Bonus social media gossip: Trump last summer asked The World’s Second-Richest Man Elon Musk whether he wanted to buy Truth Social, The Washington Post scoops Wednesday morning, citing two people “with knowledge” of the matter. Musk apparently demurred, but the conversation indicates an even closer relationship between the 91-times indicted ex-president and the owner of X than previously known.

•••

It’s … Trump v. Biden – In sports terms, the 2020 race would be Biden v. Trump, but however you put it, November’s presidential election is a rerun of the last. Ex-President Trump and President Biden both clinched their parties’ nominations Tuesday, winning primaries in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington. In addition, Donald J. Trump took the Hawaii Republican primary (Biden earlier won the state). 

Georgia on my mind: Pundits point to Georgia, the state where Trump begged for 11,780 extra votes in ’20. While Biden took 95.2% of the Democratic vote (Marianne Williamson, 3%, Rep. Dean Phillips, 1.8%) Trump took 84.2% of the Republican vote, with 13.2% going to Nikki Haley and 1.3% to Ron DeSantis. 

Democrats shouldn’t get too excited, though: Republican voter turnout in Georgia was more than twice that for the Democratic Party.

History: November will mark the seventh time in U.S. history that the two major party candidates will be the same as in the previous election. For those of you who are about to be contestants on Jeopardy! here are the previous six, according to Pew Research:

1952 and 1956: Dwight D. Eisenhower v. Adlai Stevenson.

1896 and 1900: William McKinley v. William Jennings Bryan.

1888 and 1892: Grover Cleveland v. Benjamin Harrison.

1836 and 1840: Martin Van Buren v. William Henry Harrison.

1824 and 1828: John Quincy Adams v. Andrew Jackson.

1796 and 1800: John Adams v. Thomas Jefferson.

•••

Not With Hur --  Perhaps it’s a sign of how well Robert K. Hur, special counsel on President Biden’s documents case, did his job that both Democrats and Republicans took shots at him in a congressional hearing Tuesday. Hur argued that he did not “exonerate” Biden in his report, and he defended his questioning of Biden’s memory, according to The Washington Post.

“I did not exonerate him. The word does not appear in the report, congresswoman,” he told Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).

Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) called him “part of the Praetorian Guard” preserving the Washington “swamp.”

Responding to a question by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) on the federal documents case against Donald J. Trump; “Sir, I’m not here to express any opinion with respect to a pending case against another defendant.”

You can read Hur's full report for the U.S. Department of Justice here.

--TL

____________________________________________

TUESDAY 3/12/24

Buck Out -- Rep. Ken Buck (D-CO) said last year he would not run for rr-election this November. On Tuesday, he told reporters he can't wait that long to leave.

"This place just keeps going down, and I don't want to spend my time here," Buck said (per The Hill). The 65-year-old congressman often breaks from his party on various issues, and has criticized Trumpian election denial. With his unexpected early departure, the GOP now has 218 members to 213 House Democrats.

•••

Tuesday’s Primaries – Georgia is the big one for both Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald J. Trump. There are also primaries in Mississippi, Washington and the Northern Mariana Islands, with Hawaii holding GOP caucuses, per U.S. News & World Report. The organization Democrats Abroad also hosts a primary.

•••

Biden Budget v. House GOP – The Biden administration proposes a $7.3 trillion budget for fiscal year 2025, up 4.7% from this year, but with tax raises on corporations and the wealthiest Americans to cut the deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade (per USA Today). The proposal would restore the child tax credit from the American Rescue Plan, launch a program for affordable, high-quality childcare available from birth to kindergarten and provide new mortgage relief for home buyers. 

The White House’s budget is a wish list that will get lots of attention by both the Biden campaign and the Trump campaign between now and November (as Congress likely extends this fiscal year’s budget past its September 30 end), as will an alternate proposal just passed by the GOP-led House Budget Committee, according to the Huffpost. That “budget blueprint” for 2025 would shrink the deficit by $14 trillion over the next decade while extending the Trump tax cuts, which expire next year. HuffPost says “vulnerable” congressional Republicans are balking at taking a full House vote on what would be the first such Republican alt-budget to hit the floor since 2014.

--TL

____________________________________________

MONDAY 3/11/24

Orban Explains All -- Fresh back in Budapest from his visit to Mar-a-Lago, Hungary's authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, explained how Donald J. Trump will end the war in Ukraine if he is returned to the White House.

"He will not give a penny in the Ukraine-Russian war," Orban told Hungary's M1 TV channel, according to the BBC. "That is why the war will end. ... If the Americans don't give money and weapons, along with the Europeans, then this war is over. And if the Americans don't give money, the Europeans alone are unable to finance this war. And then the war is over."

We have been warned.

•••

Sweden became NATO's 31st member nation Monday morning, NPR reports, after decades resisting joining the Western military alliance. Sweden and Finland applied for membership in May 2022. Finland joined last year, but Sweden had faced opposition from Turkey and Hungary.

•••

Trump Mocks Biden’s Stutter – After generally favorable reviews of his State of the Union address last Thursday for its display of the president’s energy if nothing else, Joe Biden’s stutter has become the subject of Donald J. Trump’s ridicule beginning with a rally in Georgia Sunday. Trump infamously mocked a New York Times reporter for his upper-body disability back in 2015, but this is his first such attack on Biden’s lifelong speech impediment. 

What stands out about this to John Hendrickson, himself a stutterer, writes in The Atlantic is, “the sound of Trump’s supporters laughing right along with him. This is a building block of Trumpism. The man at the top gives his followers to be the worst version of themselves.”

•••

Oscar Speech – Mystyslav Chernov, one of three filmmakers of 20 Days in Mariupol to win the Academy Award for Documentary Feature Film Sunday night said in his acceptance speech he wishes he could exchange his Oscar statue for “Russia never Invading Ukraine.” At last year’s Academy Award ceremony Navalny took home the Oscar for the same category. Its subject, Aleksei Navalny, who died under suspicious circumstances at a Russian prison last month, led the Oscar broadcast “death reel.”

Pope chimes in on Ukraine: Pope Francis "sparked anger" last weekend after he said Ukraine should have the "courage of the white flag" and negotiate the end of the war with Russia, CNN reports. On X, Business Ukraine magazine responded with the post that the Pope "might want to consider the famous words of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu on, "neutrality"; "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."

•••

ICYMI – After all the hand wringing and folderol about the current fiscal year budget, its can having been kicked by continuing resolutions several times since last October, the Senate passed a $460 billion bill, 75-22 last Friday to avert a partial government shutdown (per The New York Times). Congress now has to March 22 to pass the other half of the federal budget. On Monday, President Biden unveiled his federal budget proposal for the coming fiscal year, which begins October 1.

•••

Up on the Hill – Both the full House and the full Senate are in session Monday through Wednesday. The Senate only is in session Thursday.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Biden’s Call to Arms

By Ken Zino

President Biden in his third State of the Union address invoked America’s previous victories in the Civil War and Word War II and in other times of crisis, notably the covid pandemic. What initially looked to be a call for democracy over plutocracy based on the White House fact sheet released earlier turned into an aggressive attack on the former president, “my predecessor,” more than a dozen times, repeatedly taking on the elephant insurrectionist not in the room -- Trump --  without saying his name. 

He instead referred to the “previous administration,” and the Republicans who enabled him in the campaign speech, during a surprisingly pugnacious and impassioned delivery.  This shouldn’t be, well, Greek, to the average voter. Biden wants to make American leadership great again, building from his demonstrably good policies.

(Read Zino’s exquisitely detailed column on the address in The Gray Area.)

He delivered a call to action for four more years that clearly channeled the ideas of the progressive wing of the Democratic party. My take here is that Republicans are in for the fight of their political lives based on their record. Biden also took on the Supreme Court -- staring directly at that Supremely Corrupt gang -- invoking the chaos overturning Roe v. Wade is causing. “My God, what freedoms will you take away next?” he asked. “Clearly, those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America.”. 

“Overseas, Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond,” Biden said in his opening salvo. “If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not. But Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself. That is all Ukraine is asking … But now assistance for Ukraine is being blocked by those who want us to walk away from our leadership in the world. It wasn’t that long ago when a Republican President, Ronald Reagan, thundered, ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.’ Now, my predecessor, a former Republican president tells Putin, ‘Do whatever the hell you want.’ A former American president actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader. … I say this to Congress: we must stand up to Putin. Send me the Bipartisan National Security Bill.”

In his 68-minute speech, Biden addressed:

•January 6th: “We all saw with our own eyes these insurrectionists were not patriots. They had come to stop the peaceful transfer of power and to overturn the will of the people. January 6th and the lies about the 2020 election, and the plots to steal the election, posed the gravest threat to our democracy since the Civil War. But they failed. …. My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth of January 6th. I will not do that. … And here’s the simplest truth. You can’t love your country only when you win. … Political violence has absolutely no place in America!”

•Reproductive rights: Latorya Beasley, a social worker from Birmingham, Alabama was in the audience. “Fourteen months ago tonight, she and her husband welcomed a baby girl thanks to the miracle of (in-vitro fertilization). She scheduled treatments to have a second child, but the Alabama Supreme Court shut down IVF … unleashed by the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. She was told her dream would have to wait. …To my friends across the aisle, don’t keep families waiting any longer. Guarantee the right to IVF nationwide.”

•The economy: “I came to office determined to get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history. And we have. It doesn’t make the news but in thousands of cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told. … America’s comeback is building a future of American possibilities, building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down, investing in all Americans to make sure everyone has a fair shot.”

•Infrastructure: “Thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 46,000 new projects have been announced across your communities -- modernizing our roads and bridges, ports and airports, and public transit systems.”

•Pandemic and public health: “The vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer. Turning setback into comeback. … With a law I proposed and signed and not one Republican voted for we finally beat Big Pharma. Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin seniors with diabetes only have to pay $35 a month.” 

•Tax reform: “I’m a capitalist. If you want to make a million bucks, great! Just pay your fair share in taxes. A fair tax code is how we invest in the things … that make a country great, health care, education, defense … The last administration enacted a $2 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the very wealthy and the biggest corporations and exploded the federal deficit. They added more to the national debt than in any presidential term in American history. …. Do you really think the wealthy and big corporations need another $2 trillion in tax breaks? … Thanks to the law I wrote and signed big companies now have to pay a minimum of 15%. … It’s time to raise the corporate minimum tax to at least 21%.”

•Social Security: “If anyone here tries to cut Social Security or Medicare or raise the retirement age I will stop them. … Republicans will cut Social Security and give more tax cuts to the wealthy. I will protect and strengthen Social Security.”

•Border Security: “In November, my team began serious negotiations with a bipartisan group of Senators. … That bipartisan deal would hire 1,500 more border security agents and officers. One-hundred more immigration judges to help tackle a backload of 2 million cases. Forty-three hundred more asylum officers and new policies so they can resolve cases in six months instead of six years. One-hundred more high-tech drug detection machines to significantly increase the ability to screen and stop vehicles from smuggling fentanyl …  I’m told my predecessor called Republicans in Congress and demanded they block the bill. He feels it would be a political win for me and a political loser for him. It’s not about him or me. It’d be a winner for America. My Republican friends, you owe it to the American people to get this bill done. … We can fight about the border, or we can fix it. Send me the border bill now.”

•Climate Change: “I am cutting our carbon emissions in half by 2030. Creating tens of thousands of clean-energy jobs, like the (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) building and installing 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations.”

•Crime: “The year before I took office, murders went up 30% nationwide the biggest increase in history. Now, through my American Rescue Plan, which every Republican voted against, I’ve made the largest investment in public safety ever. Last year, the murder rate saw the sharpest decrease in history, and violent crime fell to one of the lowest levels in more than 50 years. But we have more to do. Help cities and towns invest in more community police officers, more mental health workers, and more community violence intervention.”

•Middle East: “I know the last five months have been gut-wrenching for so many people, for the Israeli people, the Palestinian people, and so many here in America … Tonight, I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters. … As we look to the future, the only real solution is a two-state solution. There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and democracy. There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live with peace and dignity. … no other path that guarantees peace between Israel and all of its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia.”

Inspiring Conclusion 

“The very idea of America, that we are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I won’t walk away from it now. My fellow Americans the issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are it’s how old our ideas are. Hate, anger, revenge, retribution are among the oldest of ideas. But you can’t lead America with ancient ideas that only take us back. To lead America, the land of possibilities, you need a vision for the future of what America can and should be. ...

“I see a future where we defend democracy not diminish it. …

“I see a future where we restore the right to choose and protect other freedoms not take them away. …

“I see a future where the middle class finally has a fair shot and the wealthy finally have to pay their fair share in taxes. I see a future where we save the planet from the climate crisis and our country from gun violence. …

“Above all, I see a future for all Americans. I see a country for all Americans. And I will always be a president for all Americans. Because I believe in America. I believe in you, the American people. You’re the reason I’ve never been more optimistic about our future. … So let’s build that future together. Let’s remember who we are. We are the United States of America. There is nothing beyond our capacity when we act together. 

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news