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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.”

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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

It’s Trump’s Party and He’ll Run in ’24 if He Wants to

By Todd Lassa

Judging from the crowd reaction at the 2021 CPAC “America Uncancelled” gathering, and from the large-ish group of the former president’s supporters outside the Orlando Hyatt convention hall, Donald J. Trump has already won the 2024 presidential election, just as he “won” last November.

“I will continue to fight right by your side,” Trump told the adoring crowd at the beginning of his nearly two-hour speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference. “We’re not going to start a new party. We have the Republican Party. Wouldn’t that be brilliant? Let’s divide our vote. We’d never win again.”

This was the Sunday evening keynote, if that term applies to a speech in which ex-President Trump returned to familiar gripes and lies, specifically a repeat of how he really won a “stolen” election last November.

He called out the U.S. Supreme Court twice, at least, for refusing to hear challenges to the election results, including Texas’ suit against 18 states whose Electoral College votes went to Joseph R. Biden.

He repeated his attacks on Democrats, this time amping up the rhetoric such that they aren’t merely promulgating socialism but full-on communism. Trump slammed President Biden’s “failed” first month in office for many issues, including the dismantling of the former president’s draconian immigration policy and immediate stop on construction of the southern border wall on Mexico, making this policy look like the corollary to President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which he spent four years unsuccessfully trying to kill.

Trump promised to challenge the 10 Republican representatives in the House who voted to impeach him last January (singling out Liz Cheney, the “warmonger” from Wyoming) and seven Republican senators who voted to convict him last month, in their next primaries, and crowed about how his endorsement of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-KY, (whose mention garnered a healthy round of “boos”) pushed him to re-election victory.

In the end, former President Donald J. Trump lit up the crowd with this: “We have to have triumph. We must have victory. That is exactly what we will do. We will go on to victory. We’re tougher than they are. We’re stronger than they are.”

“And then a Republican president will make a triumphant return to the White House,” Trump continued. “And I wonder who that will be. … I wonder who that will be. … Who, who, who will that be.” It wasn’t a question.

It most likely will not be Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, who appeared in the opening hours of CPAC last Friday to joke about how nice is was to be in Orlando, though “not as nice as Cancun.”

Cruz did not make CPAC’s straw poll of 2024 presidential nomination candidates, which Trump captured with 55% of the vote, The Hill reports. Florida Gov. Ron De Santis was next with 21%, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem grabbed 4%. And 95% of CPAC attendees said they want the GOP to continue Trump’s not-consistently conservative populism. (Click on Forum for the complete straw poll results.)

Which raises the question of how much of today’s GOP CPAC represents. Interviewed on CNN after Trump finished to the sounds of The Village People’s “YMCA,” (Fox News followed the speech with highlights of the speech), the ex-president’s national security advisor from 2018-19 and former Fox News contributor John Bolton, described the former president’s speech as “like watching an old movie, very stale … or TV reruns.”

Of Trump’s straw poll showing of 55% Bolton said, “that is a pathetic figure. I would expect 90%. That is an indication of how much he’s fallen already.”

How much has Trump fallen? On one hand, CPAC’s traditional role as representing the right edge of the Republican party could be seen as a misrepresentation of Trump’s continued popularity within the party (several pundits have remarked that Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, has won the straw poll in the past, twice). On the other hand, no former Republican president has ever before bothered to even show up for the event a month after his successor’s inauguration.

It seems to all come down to what happens in the next 21 months. If Trump’s candidates beat “un-loyal” Republicans in next year’s congressional primaries, and then go on to beat Democrats in the November 2022 mid-terms, Trump might be on his way to a third presidential nomination. If none of that happens, McConnell and the traditional Republicans may prevail.

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Read the full list of CPAC’s presidential candidate straw poll — click on Forum.

Trump is the Most Conservative Republican President of Our Time

By Andrew Boyd

The question at hand, is Trump a conservative, is an interesting one for sure. Stephen argues first and foremost that it’s family values and fiscal conservatism. It’s certainly arguable that the conservative movement put a lot of its eggs in these two baskets over the past several decades and has largely failed to deliver on either. But I think there are greater fundamental issues at play. More on that later. Let’s first unpack the stuff in Stephen’s argument.

In character, I'd agree that Trump is not a conservative. In his deeds, he most certainly is.

On the fiscal front, Trump is a mixed bag. He’s not taken on the systemic issues of government bloat and out-of-control federal spending (yes, it’s a spending issue), but he has installed pro-growth tax and regulatory policies that led to a booming post-Obama, pre-COVID economy the likes we’ve never seen. Sadly, I’m not sure there’s a serious political player on the national stage who’s willing to go to bat for a balanced federal budget or the reeling in of the welfare state. These are cans virtually everyone seems happy just to kick down the road. I’d say that, systemically, our body politic is in something akin to a persistent vegetative state on the debt and deficit thingy, which is certainly not ideal from this conservative’s point of view, but not something particularly attributable to Trump.

But what about free and fair trade? asks Stephen. Yes, it could be argued that Trump stepped over the line on the Canadian aluminum tariffs, but I don’t think there’s anything inconsistent in a conservative’s appreciation for the free exchange of goods at home and nationalistic international economic policy. Trump was elected to represent the people of Peoria, nor Paris, after all, and I’m mostly down with that. Tariffs are lousy, long-term structural tools, but they can come in handy at the negotiating table, which is by and large how the administration has used them, in my estimation.

But what about family values? Seriously, in Washington, Stephen? Surely you jest. Personal peccadillos of the Trumpian sort have been baked into the swamp cake since the dawn of the republic. Do I wish he was less like JFK and more like Obama in the category of marital fidelity? For sure. But you work with what you’ve got. And in the new age of a leftist, socialist-slouching Democratic party, I think an increasing number of conservatives are inclined to take a more macro view.

At the macro level, Trump, I would argue, is the most conservative president in my lifetime. Drawing down the 15-year Afghanistan fiasco, taking the hard line with China, appointing textualist Supreme Court justices, delivering American energy independence and leveraging the same in foreign policy, supporting Israel, the Middle East’s only functioning Democracy, putting Hezbollah and the Iran mullahs on their heels and calling out the leftist media establishment for their gross journalistic malfeasance.

The only blind obedience I’m aware of within my Republican circles is to the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights and the ideals these documents embody. Trump isn’t perfect by a long shot, but he’s drawn the party back toward its genuine center of gravity, motivating its base and drawing a stark contrast with the socialist, globalist, identity politics dogma of the unhinged left.

If time and space weren’t issues, I’d take another thousand words to explain how Obama was, by contrast, the least traditionally liberal, least inclusive president in my lifetime, by a long shot, but that’s a column for another day.

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Biden is One State from Victory, at 264-214 Electoral Vote Lead Over Trump

By Todd Lassa

Nov. 4 UPDATE: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was named "apparent winner" of Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes Wednesday afternoon. The Trump campaign says it will file for a recount. Meanwhile, despite the AP's early morning declaration calling the state for Biden, ballots in Arizona are still being counted and no winner has been officially named. The latest electoral vote count is 248 for Biden and 214 for Trump, according to The Wall Street Journal.

First, it seemed we were in for a long Election Day evening, lasting until this Friday or beyond as we waited for vote counts from the states Donald Trump flipped to beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Then President Trump appeared before a crowd of unmasked supporters at the White House about 2:30 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday to confirm the fears his opponents in the Democratic Party have long held.

“We were getting ready to win this election,” Trump said, to the cheers of his crowd. “Frankly, we did win this election.”

President Trump threatened, without merit, to take his grievance to the Supreme Court with his three appointees, including Amy Coney Barrett. “We don’t want them to find ballots at four in the morning,” he said.

Shortly after three in the morning, however, the Associated Press called Arizona for Biden, the first state to turn from its 2016 vote. Democratic candidate Mark Kelly also beat Republican Martha McSally in the race for John McCain’s old Senate seat, the AP also reported.

With Trump’s lead in Wisconsin hinging on mail-in ballots still being counted in Milwaukee County, and Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina still in play, Biden was holding on to a 238-213 Electoral College vote lead over Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported.

BREAKING: The vote count in Metro Milwaukee, reported at 4:45 a.m. Eastern time, put Biden ahead of Trump in Wisconsin, though several smaller cities there still had to report votes.

“It looks like it’ll be a long few days,” says Charles Dervarics, contributing editor. “Biden appears to have lost opportunities in the Southeast, though he should win Arizona. But the race looks like it will come down to the old Midwest ‘blue wall’ of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Just as in 2016, they again will decide the election.”

Prior to Trump’s White House speech, Biden made a drive-in appearance in Wilmington, Delaware to tell supporters, “We feel good about where we are. We believe we are on-track to win the election,” but made it clear there is no victory for him yet to declare.

“It is not over until every ballot is counted.”

This presidential election most certainly will revive calls to reform the system and its 51 ways to count votes, but not until after it is over – in weeks, if not in months.

“Although the presidential election isn’t decided, and may not be for a bit, it’s clear that our country needs improved vote counting,” says Gary Sawyer, of The Hustings editorial board.

“The rules on counting absentee ballots differ wildly from state to state. That’s an issue in this extremely strange year. No one could have anticipated the onslaught of early voting. But the result has been increased turnout and it’s unlikely voters will want to return to traditional Election Day voting. This slower count will happen again. “

Please address your comments to editors@thehustings.news

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ACB on the Court Means the End of Gay Rights, Roe vs. Wade

By Chase Wheaton

Before Monday evening’s confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, Mitch McConnell spoke to the Senate and painted a vivid picture of the GOP’s mindset regarding its role in the current political landscape, saying “A lot of what we've done over the last four years will be undone sooner or later by the next election. They won't be able to do much about this for a long time to come.”

It seems to me that Senator McConnell has seen the proverbial writing on the wall, and that he knows that the American electorate is turning out in record numbers to demand change, which is why he capitalized on the Supreme Court vacancy before his power as Senate majority leader comes to a close. Whether McConnell believes that Biden will win, that Democrats will regain control of the Senate, or that both will occur, he knows that he will never again be able to influence the country in the name of conservative politics like he can now, and so, similar to a child flipping over a board game just before he or she loses, Donald Trump and the entire GOP knowingly went against the will of the majority of Americans to shape the legal and political landscape of this country in their image for decades to come.

This means that McConnell and Trump have successfully created a Supreme Court that’s more conservative than it has been in almost 70 years, and that represents their own interests, ideals, and beliefs rather than those of the American people.

Given President Trump’s legislative record, and compared with the number of Supreme Court appointments by previous presidents, this is by far Trump’s greatest accomplishment. For perspective, President Trump, in his one term, has appointed more Supreme Court justices than any other one-term Republican president since Herbert Hoover in 1929. In fact, in recent history, while the Republican party has lost six of the last seven popular votes, they have appointed five of the last nine Supreme Court justices.

If the Democratic Party has any hope of passing meaningful legislation or creating significant change in the next 10 to 20 years, they must seriously consider expanding the court and adding justices that reflect the values of the American people, and not those of a one-term, impeached president and a power-hungry white man from Kentucky. Otherwise, in a few years, as a gay man, I will be waving goodbye to my right to get married, and millions of women will be waving goodbye to their right to an abortion.

Wheaton is a higher education professional working in university housing, based in Greenville, N.C.

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Will Barrett Matter to the Election?

By Todd Lassa

Precisely one week before Election Day, Chief Justice John Roberts administered the judicial oath to Amy Coney Barrett allowing her to take her seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Late Monday, Justice Clarence Thomas administered the Constitutional oath to his new colleague shortly after the Senate confirmed Barrett by a vote of 52-48, Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed, One Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, who is fighting for her political life in her re-election bid, voted against Barrett.

Justice Barrett starts work at the Supreme Court immediately, not a moment too soon for Republicans. The court, with Barrett now the sixth justice nominated by a Republican president and part of a potential five-justice majority with Chief Justice Roberts the swing vote, may soon decide challenges to the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act, Trump administration executive orders on immigration policy, same-sex couples’ rights and the U.S. Census. The court is also expected to soon decide an effort by Trump’s lawyers to block the release of the president’s financial records to a Manhattan grand jury.

There is also the likelihood the Trump re-election campaign will challenge Nov. 3’s results if Democratic candidate Joe Biden wins the electoral college.

There is already election-related roiling in the courts, Pennsylvania Republicans wanted to block an extension to counting mail-in votes. The court rejected it without comment, so it may be refiled within the next few days.

The court also rejected a case brought by Wisconsin Democrats who wanted to extend the deadline to count mail-in ballots.

The counterpoint to such apparent setbacks to the Democratic Party’s efforts to increase voter turnout and potentially win a majority of the Senate, as well as take back the White House, is that anti-abortion voters who are moderate or liberal on other issues may consider their goal achieved, and therefore may choose to not vote for President Trump next Tuesday.

As if to counter that irony, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday called on Biden to expand the court beyond nine justices if he wins the presidency. Biden so far has refused to commit to “packing the court” as an obvious effort to keep the issue off the Nov. 3 ballot. The former vice president said in the Oct. 22 presidential debate that he would establish a commission to consider the option.

Please address comments to editors@thehustings.news

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