Tag: Israel

US Loses 92K Jobs

The US economy lost 92,000 jobs in February largely attributed to lower employment in health care ‘reflecting strike activity,’ according to the Labor Department, though even accounting for that, the number was worse than economists expected. Health care job growth has been propping up employment gains in recent months. The economy continues to lose information sector and federal government jobs. The unemployment rate inched up 0.1 points to 4.4%. [CHART: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

Israel Hits Beirut – After mass evacuations in Lebanon’s capital, Israel has launched its heaviest air strike on Beirut since its 2024 war with Iranian-backed militias, The New York Times reports early Friday. Israel also is hitting Tehran while air defenses battled incoming missiles from Iran.

Choose the leader we want … After admitting most of his administration’s favored candidates for replacing the late Ayatollah Khamenei were killed in the initial US-Israeli air attacks last Saturday, President Trump encouraged the Iranian people to choose their new leaders. Then on Thursday, Trump told Reuters in an exclusive phone interview: “We want to be involved in the process of choosing the person who is going to lead Iran into the future.”

Fuel prices … Gas and diesel prices have been steadily rising since the US-Israeli war on Iran began nearly a week ago. The AAA reports the national average for a gallon of unleaded regular was $3.32, up from $2.982 February 27. Diesel – used in trucks that deliver much of the goods we buy, as Trump reminded us during his 2024 campaign -- averaged $4.33 a gallon, up from $3.757.

“If they rise, they rise,” Trump said. The president says he has no intention of tapping the national strategic reserves, currently 57% full, according to APR’s Marketplace, which reports most economists agree with Trump that the increases are temporary – so long as the war is short-lived.

•••

Gonzales Out – Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) was headed for Texas’ May 26 runoffs after “The AKA Guy” Brandon Harris edged him out in Tuesday’s GOP primary, 43% to 42%. That changed late Thursday when Gonzalez announced he is dropping his re-election bid, leaving the Republican nomination for Texas’ 23rd District to YouTuber and gun manufacturer Harris, Punchbowl News reports. 

Herrera will face Democratic candidate Kathy Padilla Stout for Texas’ 23rd District seat, which includes Uvalde. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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FRIDAY 3/6/26

War on Iran

THURSDAY 3/5/26

Trump to Noem: You’re Fired, More or Less – The answer to what do  we mean by “more or less”? is, “depends on what a special envoy for the Shield of America does, exactly.”

Yes, that is Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s next job – until now a nonexistent security position -- in the Trump administration, the president said in firing her, according to The New York Times. Trump also said he wants to replace Noem as Department of Homeland Security secretary with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK).  

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) would not commit to voting for Mullin and Noem’s firing does not change Democrats’ demand for restructuring immigration enforcement in order to fund DHS.

Conversely, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said he would vote for Mullin, a “nice upgrade” from Noem, the NYT reports. Still, no one has called Fetterman a DINO (Democrat In Name Only). Yet. 

•••

Power Vacuum – The Senate rejected a war powers vote Wednesday, 47-53, that would have officially put a stop on President Trump’s war on Iran, (per NPR’s All Things Considered ). The vote was mostly along party lines, which means that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voted with most Democrats for the resolution and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voted with most Republicans against it. 

In the House … The House was set to vote Thursday on a similar measure introduced by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA). Similar results were expected, though it would take just a couple of Republicans joining Massie to approve the resolution.

But Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) teed up the thin GOP majority against it, saying “It would put the country in serious harm, and it would certainly jeopardize the lives of our troops and all those who were involved in making these great sacrifices to defend us.”

Spreading through, and beyond, the region … With Iran controlling the Strait of Hormuz and reports of strikes on US ally Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan airport, the war has spread wide through and beyond the region. According to Azernews, an Iranian drone strike on Nakhchivan airport has left four dead so far. Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces have struck Beirut after Iranian-controlled Hezbollah fired rockets and drones on the north of Israel, The Times of Israel reports. 

•••

Tariff Refunds Due – Federal Trade Court Judge Richard Eaton at the Manhattan-based Court of International Trade has issued a written order directing the Trump administration to begin the process of refunding more than $130 billion in import fees, The Wall Street Journal reports, following the Supreme Court’s ruling against the tariffs in its February 20 ruling on Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump. Such companies as Costco Wholesale, FedEx and Pandora jewelry are among more than 2,000 importers that have filed lawsuits seeking the refunds. –TL

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No Arms Shortages – The US has the means to carry out its air campaign on Iran “for as long as it wishes,” War/Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a press conference Wednesday morning (per The Wall Street Journal). That campaign could last up to eight weeks, he said – or also, Hegseth said in various points in the press conference, six weeks or less than four. 

“They are toast and they know it, or at least they soon will know it,” Hegseth said. 

Hegseth was tamping down concerns the war in Iran would deplete the US arsenal. He was accompanied at the Pentagon by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine.

Hegseth said that a US submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, the first such sinking by a sub since World War II. 

Caine said that Qatar shot down two Iranian bombers that were “inbound” and that the United Arab Emirates has intercepted multiple drones, while Iran has fired more than 500 missiles and launched 2,000 drones. 

All the President’s Explanations … The US with Israel struck Iran before Iran could get off a pre-emptive strike of its own, President Trump said Tuesday in yet another explanation for the war. The US-Israeli airstrikes brought an abrupt end to negotiations between Iranian diplomats and US special envoy Steve Witkoff and White House son-in-law Jared Kushner last week. 

Trying to straighten out the White House’s message, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said later Tuesday that Tehran was given “every single possible opportunity” to shutter its nuclear weapons program in negotiations with Witkoff/Kushner (per The Guardian).

Tehran “had no intention of actually negotiating a nuclear deal,” Rubio said. 

Rubio earlier had acknowledged that Iran wasn’t enriching uranium for weaponry following the US strike last June on the country’s three major nuclear facilities. 

•••

First Round of Primaries – Texas State Rep. James Talarico topped firebrand US Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary for John Cornyn’s (R-TX) US Senate seat, The Associated Press reports. Talarico took 52.8% of the vote to Crockett’s 45.9% in his quest to become the first Democrat elected statewide in 30 years.

On the GOP side, incumbent Cornyn, after spending $70 million on his campaign, edged state Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton, 41.9% to 40.7%, which means they’re both headed off to a May 26 runoff.

In North Carolina former Gov. Roy Cooper (D) faces former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Watley (R) to replace retiring Republican US Sen. Thom Tillis. 

Arkansas is the biggest climb for Democrats, with Hallie Shoffner winning the party’s primary to challenge Sen. Tom Cotton’s re-election bid. Democratic state Sen. Fred Love will challenge incumbent Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sander’s re-election bid. –TL

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TUESDAY 3/3/26

The Latest – The State Department has closed US embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after being hit by Iranian drone attacks and has advised ambassadors to immediately depart from 14 Middle Eastern countries, The New York Times reports. Meanwhile, Israel’s military said Tuesday it has seized an area of Lebanon in a conflict with Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia.

Death toll … Six US soldiers have been killed, USA Today reports, with 787 deaths counted in Iran, 11 in Israel and eight in Gulf states.

Munitions buildup … Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) says the case for supplemental funding for munitions was “brought up in discussions” Monday in a Gang of Eight closed door briefing with Trump officials and top lawmakers on the House Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Appropriations committees, Roll Call reports. 

“There are more details to be determined, of course, how long the operation goes and what the need is,” Rubio told reporters after the meeting.

Good questions … President Trump generally has been sticking with his four- to five-week timeline. Impetus for US involvement with Israel has been less clear.

Pre-emption … Israel’s determination to attack Iran would guarantee that Iran would strike back at both Israel and the US, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in a closed meeting with CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine, The Guardian reports. Rubio & Co. held the meeting ahead of an expected House vote Thursday on a war powers resolution sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA). 

“It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone – the United States or Israel or anyone – they were going to respond, and respond against the United States,” Rubio told reporters at the Capitol afterwards.

President says … “Our objectives are clear,” Trump said at a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House Monday (pictured). “First, we’re destroying Iran’s missile capabilities and we see that happening on an hourly basis, and their capacity to produce brand new ones, and pretty good ones they make. Second, we’re annihilating their navy, already we’ve knocked out 10 ships. They’re at the bottom of the sea. Third, we’re insisting that the world’s number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon, they can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ve said that from the very beginning. They’re never gonna have a nuclear weapon. They were on the road to getting one, legitimately through a deal that was signed foolishly by our country. And finally, we’re insuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorists outside of their borders.”

Trump uncharacteristically took no reporters’ questions after just six minutes of remarks but characteristically pivoted to compliment himself about choosing new gold drapes and how he is building the biggest, best ballroom anywhere in place of what used to be the White House East Wing.

•••

The Clintons’ Recordings – The House Oversight Committee Monday released recordings of its questioning of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton regarding their connection to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, taken at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in New York last week, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Hillary Clinton told the committee she did not know Epstein, only that Ghislaine Maxwell had attended daughter Chelsea’s wedding as a “plus-one” with another guest.

Bill Clinton told the committee he recalled seeing Donald J. Trump at a golf tournament about 2002-03 in which the future president told the former president he “had some great times together over the years” but fell out over a real estate deal.

“The president …” Bill Clinton said, “this is 20-something years ago, never said anything to make me think he was involved in anything improper with regard to Epstein, either. He just didn’t. He just said, ‘we were friends, and we had a falling out over a land deal.’ That’s all.” 

•••

Tuesday’s Primaries – Primary elections are held Tuesday in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas. – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Regime Change? -- MONDAY 3/2/26

By Todd Lassa

Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei is dead, killed by Israeli and US military forces on sudden strikes announced by President Trump at 2 a.m. Saturday, Washington time.

“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History is dead,” Trump Truth Socialed. 

In a brief telephone interview from Mar-a-Lago Sunday told The New York Times he intends to keep the assault on Iran going for “four to five weeks.”

“It won’t be difficult. We have tremendous amounts of ammunition,” the president said in the interview. “You know, we have ammunition stored all over the world in different countries.”

The US military attack on Venezuela in which its president, Nicolás Maduro was arrested and brought to New York in January was “the perfect scenario” for regime change in Iran, Trump told the NYT. But Iranian protesters – an estimated 7,000, according to The Associated Press, of whom gave their lives trying to push back against the brutal totalitarian regime in the last month – do not have an organization backing them in order to take over, Middle Eastern analysts say.

“Anytime you start down this path, you don’t really know where it leads,” Daniel Shapiro, former US ambassador to Israel, told NPR’s Scott Simon on Weekend Edition Saturday, from Israel, as Iran counter-attacked that country with missiles. “Again, I hope to see the demise of this regime, and I hope the Iranian people have a better life. But what has been launched now could produce all kinds of outcomes, and it could produce a military dictatorship. It could produce a civil war. It could produce a splintering of the country itself.”

The US-Israeli attack comes after negotiations broke down last week between Iranian diplomats and US special envoy Steve Witkoff with White House son-in-law Jared Kushner. Trump has said just before his State of the Union address that war on Iran could come within a couple of weeks if no accord was reached.

In another, earlier call, this one with The Atlantic’s Michael Scherer Sunday, Trump said of Iran’s post-Khamenei leadership; “They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner.”

But attacks intensified on Sunday, the NYT reports, with Iran striking Israel and Gulf countries in the Middle East, killing three US troops. 

Having prepared for Trump’s apparent capriciousness, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) have introduced a House resolution calling for a war powers vote on Trump’s military action in Iran.

Is the start of a new war with Iran a wag-the-dog situation? The week in which only congressional Republicans and the MAGA faithful had anything good to say about Tuesday’s State of the Union address ended with ex-President Bill Clinton testifying on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein while deferring to the House Oversight Committee to determine whether the current president should do the same.

But any wag-the-dog theories must consider the other party involved in a “four or five week” war on Iran: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who fended off an impending trial into corruption charges against him by claiming it would divert too much necessary attention on the country’s war fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah in Gaza.

Last December, in a request suggested by Trump, Netanyahu asked Israeli President Isaac Herzog for a pardon. Netanyahu has called the three separate cases of bribery, breach of trust and fraud launched in 2019 a “witch hunt.”

Four years before that, Netanyahu vehemently opposed then-President Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action written to prevent Iran’s nuclear arms development. Trump killed Obama’s JCPA at the beginning of his first term in 2017.

Today, Netanyahu has yet another diversion from his impending trial, as Trump faces the possibility of another extended US war in the Middle East and the end of the lower gasoline prices at the pump he has claimed as a major part of his second term’s economic miracle. 

After the US-Israeli attacks, Iran notified ships in the region that it had closed the Strait of Hormuz, according to The Independent. By Sunday night, benchmark US crude futures were up by as much as 11% to $75 barrel, with Brent futures, the global price gauge, up 8% to about $79, The Wall Street Journal reports.

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MONDAY 3/2/26

…meanwhile…

NPR ‘Founding Mother’ Susan Stamberg, who in 1972 became the first woman to anchor a nightly newscast in the US, All Things Considered, has died. She was 87.

FRIDAY 10/17/25

Zelenskyy in Washington – This will be nothing like President Trump’s peace deal with Israel and Hamas over the war in Gaza. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Washington Friday to ask Trump for long-range (1,000-mile) Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine defense against Russia, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Trump says he plans to meet in Budapest, Hungary with Russian dictator/President Vladimir Putin and try to strike a ceasefire deal in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy’s visit should go far better than his “you don’t have the cards” White House meeting with Trump in early March. Trump’s upcoming meeting with Putin in Budapest – where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is Putin’s greatest ally in Europe – will be the first since Trump greeted Putin in Alaska in mid-August with a red carpet and Air Force flyover.

•••  

DOJ Indicts Bolton – This is not like the Justice Department’s retribution indictments of former FBI Director James Comey or New York Attorney Gen. Letitia James. The DOJ indicted Bolton, 76, Thursday for mishandling classified information when he served as national security advisor during the first Trump administration. 

What makes this indictment different is the DOJ’s investigation of Bolton began during the Biden administration.

The indictment alleges Bolton shared “diary-like” entries of classified information with two relatives, The Wall Street Journalreports, including sending entries from his private AOL and Google email accounts. Prosecutors did not identify the recipients but people familiar with the indictment told the WSJ the communications involved his wife and daughter. 

--TL

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THURSDAY 10/16/25

From Peace in Gaza to War on Venezuela? – President Trump has secretly authorized the CIA to conduct covert action in Venezuela, according to a report in The New York Times, citing US officials. (How does Trump define ‘covert’?)

Asked whether the administration is considering strikes on Venezuelan territory, Trump told reporters; “We are certainly looking at that now, because we’ve got the sea under control.”

Trump was referring to the US military targeting boats off Venezuela’s coast over the past several months, killing 27. This has been the US war on drug boats from Venezuela, the administration claims, without providing evidence of whether there were drug dealers on the boats – or allowing for due process of alleged Venezuelan criminals. 

The president has further claimed Venezuela is responsible for sending illegal immigrants to the US from the South American country’s prisons and mental institutions without providing any more evidence than he has for who was killed on the US boat strikes. 

Trump had considered removing Venezuela’s authoritarian left-wing president, Nicholás Maduro, during his first administration. Asked whether he will try to remove him this term, Trump responded, “We’ll see.”

Last Friday, when the White House was celebrating the Gaza ceasefire it had brokered between Israel and Hamas, Maduro’s political enemy and Trump ally María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that Trump had hoped he would get. Machado had run against Maduro last year in a widely believed to be fraudulent election that resulted in Maduro winning his third term. 

That same Friday, a US Navy destroyer boarded a Venezuelan fishing boat in its nation’s waters, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yuán Gil said Saturday, according to a report in Newsweek. 

On Sunday, Trump dropped a big clue that US strikes on Venezuela have more to do with Maduro’s apparent manipulation of the country’s 2024 election than it has to do with “drug boats” or Venezuelan immigrants from prisons and mental institutions crossing into the US.

“He had an election that was wrong,” Trump told reporters.

Is it legal? … Maduro has called Trump’s attitude “bellicose” and the question is being raised whether US military actions against Venezuela – “covert” or “overt” – are legal. Congress certainly is too busy keeping the government shut down to weigh in. “Covert” CIA operations are nothing new (see Iran, 1953 and Cuban Bay of Pigs, 1961). Conversely, Trump 45’s special envoy to Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, told the BBC, the current Trump administration’s policy toward Venezuela could be a revival of the Monroe Doctrine, to make the US is the “dominant power” in the region.

•••

Kids Say the Stupidist Things – The Monday after the Turning Point USA co-founder’s tragic assassination at Utah Valley University, Vice President JD Vance said while hosting The Charlie Kirk Show podcast he is “desperate” for national unity, but that finding common ground with people who “celebrated” his friend’s assassination is impossible.

Vance on Wednesday responded to Politico’s explosive report exposing more than seven months of Telegram chats among Young Republican leaders in New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont that contained “racist, antisemitic and homophobic content” including jokes about gas chambers, slavery and rape,” including "I love Hitler," saying: “Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.”

“Young Republicans” in the case of Young Republicans are men and, presumably women, age 18 to 40. Many, if not most of them, certainly have been influenced by MAGA hero Charlie Kirk.

The vice president dismissed their group chats as no more than “edgy, offensive jokes,” according to Politico’s follow-up. 

The fallout … So far, Peter Giunta has lost his position as a staffer for New York Assembly member Mike Reilly and Joseph Malingo is no longer an employee of the New York State Unified Court System, according to Politico, and Republican colleagues have called for Vermont State Sen. Sam Douglass to step down after being identified in some of the Telegram chats. Reilly was chairman of the New York State Young Republicans and Malingo was general counsel for the organization at the time of the postings.

Those darn kids. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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THURSDAY 10/16/25

…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

__________________________________________

[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

___________________________________________

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

__________________________________________

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

__________________________________________

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

One Year In Moscow Jail for Reporter Doing His Job

[March 29 marks one year since Evan Gershkovich, reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was arrested in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and detained on allegations of espionage. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny the charges.]

PASSOVER/EASTER 2024

Twenty-Five for SBF -- FTX cryptocurrency exchange king Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday for stealing billions of dollars from customers (per The New York Times). The sentence was about half of the 40 to 50 years sought by federal prosecutors, but also far longer than the six-and-a-half years his defense attorneys sought. But it could have been worse: The fraud, conspiracy and money laundering charges for which SBF, 32, was found guilty carry a maximum penalty of 110 years.

SBF apologized before being sentenced, but Judge Lewis Kaplan, handing down the sentence in Federal District Court in Manhattan said; "He knew it was wrong. He knew it was criminal."

Lessons learned?: Er, no. Cryptocurrency values have skyrocketed in recent weeks. The political connection is that many proponents see cryptocurrency as a libertarian alternative to government currencies.

•••

Ban NBC News? -- The Republican National Committee may ban NBC News from the GOP convention in Milwaukee this summer over its decision to drop former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor, Politico reports. "We are taking a hard look at what this means for NBC's participation at the convention," RNC and Trump campaign spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez said. Several prominent NBC News and MSNBC personalities objected to news last week that NBC had hired McDaniel as a paid pundit after Trump's party replaced her with Michael Whatley and Lara Trump.

•••

Joseph Lieberman – The moderate’s moderate who became the first Jewish candidate on a major-party presidential ticket, Joseph I. Lieberman, died Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 82. The cause was complications of a fall, according to a statement released by his family (per The New York Times). 

Lieberman served the U.S. Senate for Connecticut from 1989 to 2013 and was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000 presidential election, coming within a few hundred Florida ballot chads from becoming vice president. Lieberman had served his first three Senate terms as a Democrat but lost his party’s primary in 2006 and went on to win the general election as an independent. 

In 2008, Lieberman endorsed Republican Sen. John McCain (AZ) over Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (IL) for the presidential election and was vetted as a potential running mate for McCain. Pushed by Republican leaders, McCain instead chose Sarah Palin, the hard-right governor of Alaska and harbinger for the Tea Party movement on Capitol Hill two years later. Lieberman endorsed no one in the 2012 presidential race and he did not run for a fifth Senate term, instead retiring in 2013, but he supported Democrats Hilary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.

•••

How to Apply for an RNC Job -- Imagine you're a recent college grad with a poli sci major, or even a grizzled veteran of political campaigns and you're looking for a new job. Say you're a Reagan Republican, or if you're one of those freshly minted college grads, maybe a Bush or Romney or McCain Republican.

Apply to the Republican National Committee -- a potential plumb in a presidential election year. You had better lie if you want the job.

That's the word from "people familiar" with RNC interviews following Donald J. Trump's ordered purge of Ronna McDaniel (who can't keep a new job herself -- see right column) with North Carolina GOP Chairman Michael Whatley and daughter-in-law Lara Trump, have told The Washington Post.

"Those seeking employment" by the RNC "have been asked in job interviews if they believe the 2020 election was stolen," the sources said, "making the false claim a litmus test, of sorts, for hiring."

RNC spokesperson Danielle Alvarez would not deny the WaPo report, according to a follow-up by The Guardian. "We want experienced staff with meaningful views on how elections are won and lost and real experience-based opinions about what happens in the trenches.

Be sure to update your CV.

•••

Mifepristone Appears Safe -- A majority of Supreme Court justices appeared ready to throw out a challenge to the FDA's expansion of the availability of mifepristone, a drug used in medicated abortions. Justices, including Trump appointee Amy Coney Barrett challenged individual doctors and doctors' groups have "standing" in the case during about 90 minutes of oral arguments Tuesday, Amy Howe writes in SCOTUSblog. Elizabeth Prelogar, the U.S. solicitor general, argued that doctors must show they face "imminent harm" before their lawsuit could go forward. Beside potentially limiting access to mifepristone -- which the FDA expanded from 2016 to 2021 -- a finding for the plaintiffs would potentially limit the authority of such federal agencies as the FDA.

•••

Abortion Drug on Trial – The Supreme Court hears arguments Tuesday in a case in which a group of doctors opposed to abortion are challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s approval more than 25 years ago of mifepristone, a drug used in medicated abortions, per SCOTUSblog. As NPR’s Nina Totenburg put it in Morning Edition, “You might call this ‘daughter of Dobbs.’”

The case’s outcome could determine women’s access to the abortion drug, even in states in which abortion is still legal after SCOTUS’ decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade nearly two years ago. 

•••

Netanyahu Cancels – The Biden administration made it clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week it would abstain, rather than vote for, a United Nations’ resolution passed Monday that calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. A single vote by the U.S. would have automatically vetoed the resolution. 

But Netanyahu immediately cancelled a high-level delegation’s trip to Washington the White House had specifically requested in a phone call between Biden and Netanyahu last week, according to The Washington Post. 

The Biden administration wants Israel to call off a planned military operation in Rafah, a high-density city whose citizens already are reported to be suffering severe starvation. 

The cancelled visit is “surprising and unfortunate,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

--TL

____________________________________________

Big Day for DJT

MONDAY 3/25/24

UPDATE: Trump Wins One, Loses One -- On Monday, a five-judge appellate court gave Donald J. Trump 10 days to post $175 million in lieu of a $454 million bond heretofore due today while he appeals his civil fine in the New York state real estate fraud case, The New York Times reports. But Judge Juan Merchan refused to grant Trump a delay in his case involving hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels. That trial is scheduled to begin April 15. Still.

In Court – Donald J. Trump was to appear in a Manhattan courtroom Monday to try and put up yet another delay in yet another of his trials. This is the one in which Trump allegedly tried to cover up a sex scandal with porn star Stormy Daniels just prior to his 2016 Electoral College victory over Hilary Clinton with money funneled to her via his former fixer/personal attorney Michael Cohen. The Monday hearing is to finalize a trial date of April 15, The New York Times reports.

In Westchester County – The former president’s grace period to pay a $454 million fine for his New York state civil judgment in a fraud case over the valuation of Donald J. Trump’s properties ended Monday after his attorneys said posting a bond for that amount is “virtually impossible.” Attorney Gen. Letitia James has laid the groundwork for seizing assets, beginning with one of Trump’s properties in Westchester County, according to The Wall Street Journal. James also could go after Trump’s accounts at financial institutions, says the report. 

•••

Putin Propaganda – The Kremlin has continued to try and shift blame for a terrorist attack on a concert venue last Friday that has left at least 137 dead and 180 injured to Ukraine, despite ISIS-K – the Islamic State in Khorasan – having claimed responsibility. Kyiv has adamantly denied any connection. Photos are circulating of the four suspects arrested displaying signs they have been tortured. According to the NYT, ISIS-K is active in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, with sights set “on Europe and beyond.”

•••

Russian Hits on Ukraine -- With U.S. Congress continuing to put off renewed military aid to Ukraine in deference to the MAGA minorities in both chambers, Russian military dropped ballistic missiles on the Security Service (SBU), Ukraine’s main intelligence and security agency, the Kyiv Post reports. Overnight drone attacks hit two power substations in Ukraine’s southern region. 

Empty Hill: The Senate is out until Monday, April 8, and the House doesn’t return until the next day, April 9.

--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