Tag: Ukraine

…meanwhile…

(President Biden expressed doubts ex-President Trump would accept a loss, in an interview taped for CBS Sunday Morning. Scroll down the center column for details.)

Ukraine Takes Kursk – Although not officially connected to Ukraine’s invasion of the western Russian region of Kursk, a column of Russian military vehicles and personnel “was destroyed” there, The Kyiv Independent reports Friday, citing Suspilne and the independent Russian media outlet Agentstvo. Kursk Oblast is the location of the Ukrainian military’s incursion this week into Russia. 

The report was corroborated by pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Rybar, which said that a local resident who filmed the attack handed the video over to Ukrainian media but has been arrested by Russian authorities. In the BBC’s report on the incursion, a reporter says Russian media have been unusually frank in reporting on Ukraine’s success in the region.

•••

That Mar-a-Lago Presser – Ex-President Trump’s hour-long press conference at Mar-a-Lago Thursday was “rambling and chaotic” according to NPR’s Morning Edition and by now you’ve heard the highlights. 

This one stands out: “Nobody’s spoken to crowds bigger than me. If you look at Martin Luther King, when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours – same real estate, same everything, same number of people if not – we had more.”

That’s right, Donald J. Trump was comparing the peaceful 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom to his January 6, 2021, speech at the Ellipse leading up to the attack on the US Capitol. He described his White House departure in the presser as “peaceful.”

The country is in mortal danger if Trump does not win the November 5 presidential election, he said, predicting war and a depression on the level of the Great Depression of the 1930s. 

Asked about his remarks before the National Association of Black Journalists last week suggesting that his Democratic challenger, Vice President Kamala Harris changed her ethnicity, Trump called her “very disrespectful” of both her mother’s Indian heritage and her father’s Jamaican heritage. 

Describing Harris’ appeal, Trump said; “She’s a woman. She represents certain groups of people.” (Direct quotes per The New York Times.)

--TL

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THURSDAY 8/8/24

Trump Agrees to Three Debates -- Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump announced at a "rare" Mar-a-Lago press conference that he has agreed to three debates with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris (per Politico). They are to be on Fox News September 4, ABC on September 10 and NBC on September 25.

•••

It’s About Cars? – President Biden is pretty sure Donald J. Trump will resist defeat in the November 5 presidential election. On CBS Sunday Morning Robert Costa asks Biden if he’s “confident there will be a peaceful transition of power in January of 2025?”

“If Trump loses, no I’m not,” the president responds. “I’m not confident at all. He means what he says. We don’t take him seriously. He means it. All this stuff about if we lose it’ll be a bloodbath … Look what they’re trying to do in the local election districts where the people count the votes … putting people in place where they’re going to count the votes.”

The full interview runs Sunday morning, August 11, between 9 am and 10:30 am Eastern time. 

Republican reaction: Trump defenders say his statement earlier this year that there “will be a bloodbath” was a warning about the US auto industry if Chinese automakers are allowed importation without serious tariffs (Biden has imposed a 102.5% tariff on Chinese-built EVs). The former president’s comments came after the United Auto Workers’ leadership endorsed the Democratic ticket. 

Flashback: In the Trump-Biden debate in late June, the one that led to Biden stepping down from his re-election campaign, CNN’s Dana Bash asked Trump three times whether he will accept the results of this November’s election.

After some evasion and downplaying of his role in the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, when Bash asked; “yes or no?” on that third attempt, Trump replied, “absolutely” he would accept results if the election was “fair and good.”

NOTE: Don’t miss Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s commentary, “Letter from the President” in the right column.

•••

Reports: Ukraine Pushes Into Russia – Ukraine forces launched on Tuesday “an ambitious operation” across Russia’s western border at Kursk Oblast in large numbers,” The Kyiv Independent reports, citing a mix of sources. Officials in Kyiv have so far been silent about the offensive.

But Russia’s defense ministry says the invasion involves a Ukrainian force likely involving 100s of troops and dozens of vehicles, according to the report. A “visibly frustrated” Vladimir Putin called the offensive a “large-scale provocation” and accused Ukrainian forces of shelling residential areas, in a short, televised address on Wednesday.

The Independent reports no official announcements from Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has spoken to his commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, and said “details would follow later.”

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

(President Biden expressed doubts ex-President Trump would accept a loss, in an interview taped for CBS Sunday Morning. […]

…meanwhile…

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

NATO 75TH 4/4/24

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

•••

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

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

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

•••

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

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

1.) Poland – 3.9%.

2.) U.S. – 3.49%.

3.) Greece – 3.1%.

4.) Estonia – 2.73%.

5.) Lithuania – 2.54%.

6.) Finland – 2.45%.

7.) Romania – 2.44%.

8.) Hungary – 2.43%.

9.) Latvia – 2.27%.

10.) U.K. – 2.07%.

11.) Slovakia – 2.03%.

12.) France – 1.9%. 

NATO’s minimum contribution requirement is 2.0%.

•••

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

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

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

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

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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[WEDNESDAY 4/3/24]

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

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

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

Person of Interest

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

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

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

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

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

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 4/3/24

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

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

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

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

•••

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

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

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

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

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

--TL

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TUESDAY 4/2/24

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

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

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

•••

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

--TL

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MONDAY 4/1/24

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

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

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

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

•••

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

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

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

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

•••

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

•••

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

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

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

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

•••

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

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Trump Legal Scorecard

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

IDES OF MARCH 2024

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

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

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

--TL

•••

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

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

Meanwhile ...

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

Influencing our November election

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

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

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

--Analysis by Todd Lassa

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THURSDAY π Day 2024

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

•••

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

•••

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

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

•••

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

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

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

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

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

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

--TL

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

WEDNESDAY 3/13/24

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

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

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

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

•••

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

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

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

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

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

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

1888 and 1892: Grover Cleveland v. Benjamin Harrison.

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

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

1796 and 1800: John Adams v. Thomas Jefferson.

•••

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

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

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

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

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

--TL

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TUESDAY 3/12/24

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

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

•••

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

•••

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

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

--TL

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MONDAY 3/11/24

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

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

We have been warned.

•••

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

•••

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

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

•••

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

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

•••

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

•••

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

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Putin On The Fritz

(UPDATE: Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, above, released an 11-minute video Monday in which he said last weekend's seizure of two major Russian region capitals amounted to protest, not an attempted military coup, NPR reports.)

Over the weekend, The Wagner Group’s mercenary leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, took control of Russia’s Southern Military District HQ in Rostov-on-Don, and another major regional capital with troops and tanks on their streets. He demanded Vladimir Putin sack his military leadership. 

Prigozhin sent 25,000 soldiers from his private military company (also until now known as “Putin’s private army”) charging toward the Kremlin, 600 miles to the north of Rostov-on-Don, but they stopped about 200 kilometers, or roughly 125 miles short of Moscow with no reported injuries, according to The New York Times. Footage surfaced of Prigozhin in control of the Southern Military District HQ, where he apparently had Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, and top military officer, Gen. Valery Gerasimov surrounded by Wagner guards, “Perhaps the most shocking scene of the day,” said the NYT.

However … Prigozhin backed off his insurrection before Wagner troops got any closer to Moscow and was then let off without arrest by Russian officials. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told reporters that Prigozhin instead will exile to Belarus in a deal brokered with that country’s leader and close Putin ally, Aleksandr Lukashenko. 

How it started: ICYMI, Prigozhin was a 30-year ally of Putin, first as a caterer, then as head of an elite and brutal army of mercenaries. Wagner – named after the German composer – was formed during Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and it joined Russian forces after it became clear to Putin his February 2022 invasion wasn’t going as planned. Prigozhin recruited soldiers from Russian prisons and pushed them into the bloody battle over Bakmut and then feuded with Russian Gens. Shoigu and Gerasimov. 

Last Friday night, Prigozhin claimed Russian forces attacked Wagner troops as they slept in their camps. Russia denies this, says the NYT, and the claim has not independently been verified. On Saturday, Prigozhin led a force of 25,000 from Ukraine to Rostov-on-Don, Russia, which he took over apparently with no resistance. Saturday morning, Putin delivered a five-minute address to his nation in which he described Prigozhin (without naming him) as a traitor and vowed to crush the uprising. 

“This is a stab in the back of our country and our people,” Putin said, comparing the insurrection to events leading up to the 1917 Russian Revolution and the end of the Russian Empire he so much longs to restore (per The Kyiv Independent).

Independent Russian news outlet Meduza quoted unnamed sources reporting Prigozhin initially attempted to get in touch with the Russian presidential administration midday Saturday as his fighters advanced toward Moscow (per The Kyiv Independent, again). 

Too late?: Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told the NYT Putin underestimated the threat from Prigozhin and Wagner Group. “He thought he was totally dependent and loyal.”

What’s next?: Prigozhin is exiled to Belarus, but Wagner troops are not. But even if Putin can somehow persuade many of those 25,000 returned Wagner soldiers to turn around and head back into Ukraine, progress on Russia’s invasion should be further compromised, especially with Ukraine’s counter-offensive already underway.

Can Putin hold on to power? The only certainty is he will double-down on repression of his own people.

Epilogue: Neither Putin nor Prigozhin have been seen in public since Saturday, NPR reports.

UPDATE: Monday, Putin made his first video appearance since his condemnation of Saturday's insurrection, BBC reports, though it is not clear when or where the video was made.

•••

SCOTUS this week – Supreme Court decisions are due before the end of June on four important cases (per U.S. News & World Report):

•Affirmative action

•President Biden’s $10,000 student loan forgiveness program

•Religious rights

•Voting and the “independent state legislature” theory.

•••

Up on the Hill – The House and the Senate are off through July 9.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

…meanwhile…

FRIDAY 6/23/23

•(What's with these data-news stories in the right and left columns? Read about our new partnership with Stacker -- scroll down the center column.)

Modi Visit Upholds U.S. Interests – India has not joined the rest of the democratic world in supporting Ukraine in its defense against Russia, and instead the “world’s largest democracy,” run for nearly a decade by nationalist Prime Minister Narenda Modi (above) continues to support Russia’s economy by purchasing its oil. All that, and Modi’s demonstrably poor record on human rights and religious freedom was not the subject of public discussion at a lavish state dinner hosted at the White House, where President Biden “showered him with flattery” according to The New York Times.

The Biden administration hopes to draw India closer to the U.S. while Russia’s war on Ukraine rages on and Chinese relations deteriorate. Biden and Modi announced initiatives Thursday, with no evidence of resolving disagreements. Earlier Thursday, the two leaders announced a deal in which General Electric will build military jet engines in India with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics, Politico reports, in an agreement that has long been in the making.

“America has no permanent friends or enemies,” Henry Kissinger once said, “only interests.”

Modi’s “most surprising breakthrough” Thursday evening, the NYT reports, was a Q&A Modi allowed with White House reporters. Modi said democracy is “in India’s DNA.”

He added, “In India’s democratic values, there’s absolutely no discrimination neither on the basis of caste, creed, or age, or any kind of geographic location.” Meanwhile, demonstrators protested India’s crackdown on dissent from outside the White House gates.

Before the state dinner, Modi appeared at a joint session of Congress Thursday. He was to continue his visit Friday with a lunch with Vice President Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, NPR reports.

•••

‘Frankly Stupid’ – House Democrats reportedly are “giddy” and Republicans embarrassed by uber-MAGA Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-CO) resolution Wednesday to impeach without requisite hearings President Biden over the White House’s handling of immigration policy and the situation at the southern border, says New York magazine’s Intelligencer. Boebert’s move had no chance of passage and dispensed with such formalities as Judicial Committee hearings.

A 219-208 vote to send the impeachment resolution for consideration by committees effectively parked Boebert’s resolution, as those committees have no obligation to do anything about it, The Hill reports. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who is more interested in defeating Biden with next year’s congressional and presidential elections intended to call Boebert to the carpet in a closed-door GOP conference meeting, but the Colorado rep failed to show. 

Republican strategist Dan Judy described Boebert’s resolution as “frankly stupid,” (per The Hill), adding; “The party needs to be focused on the problems facing American voters rather than this sideshow.”

--TL

_______________________________________________

THURSDAY 6/22/23

Schiff on the Trump-Russia Axis – The House voted 213-209 to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a favorite target of former President Trump, over Schiff’s allegations as the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee that Russia helped Trump’s successful 2016 campaign (per Axios). Vote on the resolution only came to the floor after its sponsor, pro-MAGA Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) removed a $16-million fine she sought to have imposed against Schiff last week. 

Democrats on the House floor shouted down Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as he tried to read the resolution, chanting “shame” and jeering him as a “spiteful coward” as they cheered Schiff. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called for the speaker to be ousted. One unidentified Republican House member shouted back, “jackasses.”

Five Republicans on the House Ethics Committee, plus Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) voted “present” on the censure resolution. 

Meanwhile, in the Judiciary Committee: In a hearing with Special Counsel John Durham Wednesday on his investigation of the FBI’s investigation of the alleged Russian intervention in Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, Schiff said this: “The only distinguishment between [Robert Mueller’s] investigation and yours is he refused to bring charges where he couldn’t prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and you did.”

Durham spent five hours before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday (and was in a closed-door meeting with the committee Tuesday night) on his four-year, $6.5-million investigation of the investigators, which failed to find wrongdoing and concluded in a 306-page report that the FBI should have conducted a preliminary investigation rather than a full investigation. 

What’s next?: Schiff might use the $16 million he does not have to pay along with his censure on his campaign for the Senate seat of Diane Feinstein, who turns 90 Thursday and is not running for re-election next year. Schiff faces fellow Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee and Katie Porter in the California primary.

--TL

_______________________________________________

WEDNESDAY 6/21/23

Ukrainian Recovery Conference – Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged an additional $1.3 billion in U.S. recovery assistance to Ukraine to help rebuild the war-torn country’s energy grid and such critical infrastructure as rail lines and border crossings (per Bloomberg) during a conference hosted by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London. 

Poland’s minister of foreign affairs tweeted he has prepared a law that would extend investments and insurance coverage for transport of goods and services to and from Ukraine … meanwhile, the European Conference chief wants Hungary to answer questions regarding Ukraine’s claims that Russia transferred prisoners of war to authoritarian President Viktor Orbån’s Hungary without Ukraine’s involvement (per The Guardian). 

Ukrainian counteroffensive is ‘not Hollywood’: Battlefield progress has been “slower than desired” in the early weeks of Ukraine’s push-back of Russian troops, President Volodymyr Zelinskyy (FILE IMAGE above) told the BBC.

“Some people believe this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It is not. What’s at stake is people’s lives.”

Ukraine has reclaimed eight villages in the southeast region of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk to the east, so far, he said.

Nuke sabre-rattling: Vladimir Putin says Russia’s new Sarmat missiles, which can carry 10 or more nuclear warheads, will soon be ready for deployment, The Guardian reports. The comments came after defense minister Sergei Shoigu told graduating military academy students that the “collective west” is waging a “real war” against Russia.

•••

DEMOCRACY WATCH: Conjuring the Ghost of Nixon – Donald J. Trump revealed “another sweeping piece of his plans to slash federal spending and defund the ‘deep state’” in a video first revealed to Semafor, the news website reports. This plan for the former president’s self-expected second term coming in 2025 would “scrap” parts of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act of 1974, implemented in reaction to President Nixon’s attempt to scrap tens of billions of dollars in federal funding on his own. Specifically, the law forces the executive branch to spend money Congress approves, and regulates the president from delaying or impounding federal spending for specific programs.

Russia v. Ukraine, again: Trump was accused of violating the '74 law enacted as Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment when he froze Congressional funding earmarked for Ukraine in 2019, a move that led to Trump's first impeachment.

--TL

_______________________________________________

...meanwhile...

TUESDAY 6/20/23

Hunter Biden to Plead Out – Son of the president, Hunter Biden, has reached a tentative plea agreement with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges of failing to pay in 2017 and 2018, and admit to the fact of a gun charge, The Washington Post reports, citing court papers filed Tuesday. The deal likely will keep Biden, 53, out of prison but still needs approval by a federal judge. Federal prosecutors and Biden’s defense counsel have requested a hearing to enter his plea.

The investigation into the case opened in 2018 during the Trump administration. Since at least 2020, Republican politicians have accused the Biden administration of reluctance to pursue the case – a charge that is not at all likely to go away with the plea deal, which was negotiated with Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a “holdover” from the Trump administration, WaPo notes.

•••

Court Date for Mar-a-Lagogate -- Judge Aileen Cannon (above) has scheduled Thursday, August 24 as the date for the trial to begin in the Justice Department's case over Donald J. Trump's retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, The Hill reports. The trial in Cannon's Ft. Pierce, Florida, courtroom would begin about two months after Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts issued by Special Counsel Jack Smith, but attorneys for the former president are expected to push delays well into the 2024 presidential campaign season. Pre-trial motions are due by July 24.

•••

Ukraine Gains in South – But the country’s defense ministry reports a “difficult situation” in the east. Russia launched 35 attack drones overnight, with Ukrainian soldiers able to repel 32 of them, The Guardian reports, while Ukraine’s defense ministry confirmed liberation of Piatykhatsky in the southern Zaporizhzhia Oblast region, according to the Kyiv Independent. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has landed in London after meeting with Chinese officials, including President Xi Jingping in Beijing, the UK government says it will extend economic sanctions against Russia after the war ends until the Kremlin pays to rebuild Ukraine.

Meanwhile, on Fox News: Donald J. Trump told Fox News’ Brett Baier on Special Report what he said to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a private meeting in Helsinki in July 2018: He “claimed Monday” that the conversation convinced Putin to delay his invasion for several years (Russia invaded in February 2022). “He wouldn’t have done it if it were me. He did it after I left.”

About those boxes of documents: Trump also told Fox News’ Baier he was too busy to return boxes full of classified documents he kept at Mar-a-Lago, Politico reports. Trump had to take time to sort through them to keep shirts and golf shoes that belonged to him, apparently. 

And foxnews.com says that in the exclusive interview with the former president, he called the National Archives and Records Administration – which requested return of the papers ahead of the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago – a “radical left” group.

•••

Special Counsel to the Hill – Special Counsel John Durham, who was tapped by then-Attorney Gen. Bill Barr in 2019 to investigate whether federal law enforcement officials unfairly investigated a connection between the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, appears before the Republican-majority House of Representatives this week. Durham will testify on his recently released report on that investigation before the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday, The Washington Post reports, and in a closed session with the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. 

•••

Trump’s Saudi Deal – A real estate deal with the Saudi government’s sovereign fund to develop a golf complex, including luxury villas with sticker prices up to $13 million, overlooking the Gulf of Oman is “unlike any of [Donald J. Trump’s] deals before,” according to a special report The New York Times. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, “cultivated” the deal with the government of Oman while Trump was in office, according to the report, which says the Trump Organization received nearly $5 million from the deal, which includes a Trump-branded hotel, golf course and golf club, and a 30-year management contract.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_______________________________________________

Where Do You Live?

Are you a conservative in a liberal state? A liberal in a conservative state?

For the first time since we began posting, we present data reporting and analysis, by our new partners at Stacker, in the left and right columns at the same time. Stacker reporters compiled voter turnout data from The New York Times and political ideology insight from the Gallup organization to single out the counties in each state that vote against the statewide ideological grain. 

For Washington, D.C., ideological insight came not from Gallup, but from the Pew Research Institute.

There are 20 listings in each column, including one for Washington, D.C. (care to guess which column it is in?). No voter turnout data were available for Virginia, Alaska, Louisiana nor Alabama. Some "battleground" states that split evenly between conservative and liberal voters were not included.

These are not liberal/conservative commentaries we traditionally post in the left and right columns, but rather straight news features that help describe vagaries of the red state-blue state divide. However, as with any of our regular posts in these columns, , we seek your reactions. Become a Citizen Pundit and write your opinions in the Comment section of the appropriate column (subject to editing for civility) or email editors@thehustings.news and indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

--Todd Lassa

_____

Ukraine Remains Resolute

Russian soldiers in Eastern Ukraine are shooting at rescuers working to save people from the flood zone below the broken Kakhovka dam, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskyy, who stresses that the disaster will not stop Ukraine from liberating its territory nor “increase the chances of occupiers staying on the land.”

Zelenskyy also has blasted the reaction of the UN and Red Cross to the dam’s destruction, saying international organizations should join in evacuating people from villages and cities.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) earlier in the week clashed over the issue of continued funding of Ukraine’s defense against Russian forces.

McCarthy on Monday said he opposed a supplemental spending bill that would include additional financial and military aid to Ukraine over the spending limits imposed by the bipartisan debt ceiling compromise. McConnell countered in a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday that the bipartisan debt deal is “Simply insufficient given the major challenges that our nation faces.” McConnell called out threats from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, “and terrorists emboldened by America’s retreat from Afghanistan.”

Do you agree with Minority Leader McConnell or Speaker McCarthy? We want to hear from you. Hit the Comment section in the right or left column or email editors@thehustings.news.

_____

…meanwhile…

FRIDAY 3/24/23

(The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the ninth consecutive time since the beginning of last year. Chairman Jerome Powell, pictured, called the U.S. banking system “sound and resilient,” while signaling this could be the final increase in its efforts to reduce the inflation rate back to 2%, according to NPR.)

Border Deal to the North – President Biden announced a new rule that will allow Canada to turn back migrants who cross from the U.S. at unofficial, but popular, border crossings – and who cross them from Canada into the U.S. – NPR reports. Biden announced the rule, which takes effect Saturday and will be published in the Federal Register, to Canada’s parliament on Friday, the second day of his visit with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

•••

Defense Was Down During Attack in Syria – The main air defense system was “not fully operational” at a coalition military base in northeast Syria attacked by a suspected Iranian drone Thursday, two U.S. officials told The New York Times Friday. An American contractor was killed and six other Americans were injured in the attack.

According to the report, it is unclear why the defense system failed, and whether the attackers had detected the vulnerability. U.S. forces have been on high alert since January 2021. There have been 78 such attacks by Iranian-backed militias since then, according to the NYT.

--TL

_______________________________________________

THURSDAY 3/23/23

Oh, Canada – President Biden travels to Ottawa Thursday to discuss the war in Ukraine and the crisis in Haiti, with Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau (NPR).

•••

TikTok Testimony – Chew Shou Zi, CEO of the popular Chinese-owned social media site, testifies before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce beginning 10 a.m. Eastern Thursday. Ahead of his appearance, Chew promised to wall off U.S. users’ data and make further safety and security improvements, Semafor reports.

•••

Trump Lawyers Must Turn Over Documents – A three-judge panel for the D.C. Court of Appeals rejected attempts by Donald J. Trump’s legal team challenging a court ruling last Friday that orders the former president’s own lawyers to turn over documents related to the Mar-a-Lago classified documents probe, according to The Hill. Last Friday’s ruling removes attorney-client privilege between Trump and Evan Corcoran as the former president is believed to have lied to his legal team over whether he returned all the documents from Mar-a-Lago.

Meanwhile: As we await potential Manhattan grand jury charges in another of the former president’s cases, the one involving a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, Trump has raised $1.5 million, MSNBC reports, for his 2024 presidential campaign after he said on his own social media site last Sunday that he would be arrested Tuesday.

As Trump’s GOP Lead Grows: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appears to be facing a backlash against his veiled criticism of the former president. In Morning Consult’s latest poll on the 2024 GOP race, 54% of Republicans polled said they preferred Trump for president, versus 26% for DeSantis. Ex-Veep Mike Pence came in third at 7%, with Nikki Haley edging out former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), 4% to 3%. 

A raft of other undeclared candidates all polled at 1% or less, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Woke, Inc.author Vivek Ramaswamy. 

--TL

_______________________________________________

WEDNESDAY 3/22/23

UPDATE: Fed Raises Interest Rate 0.25% -- Citing “modest growth in spending and production,” increasing job gains in recent months and inflation remaining elevated, the Federal Reserve raised its interest rate by 25 basis points Wednesday to a range of 4.75% to 5%. 

Prior to the 2 p.m. (Eastern) announcement some economists had expected the Fed to stop raising interest rates for the first time since the beginning of 2022 after failures this month of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. But the Fed said in its statement following the increase “The U.S. banking system is sound and resilient.

“Recent developments are likely to result in lighter credit conditions for households and businesses and to weigh on economic activity, hiring and inflation. The extent of these effects is uncertain. The (Fed) Committee remains highly attentive to inflation risks.”

•••

Will They or Won’t They? – There’s nervous anticipation and angst among economists waiting to find out whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates Wednesday afternoon by a quarter-point, half of what was expected to fight inflation before banks began collapsing or whether it will wave off any increase for now. It began with the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank nearly two weeks ago and continued when America’s banking giants had to bail out First Republic Bank with more than $30 billion in emergency funds.

Cuffs for Trump? – Donald J. Trump has told his advisors he “wants to be handcuffed” for an expected court appearance before a Manhattan grand jury, according to The Guardian. The former president is willing to play political martyr for his small, vociferous group of hardcore MAGAtarians who remain sufficiently significant to maintain Trump’s status as the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP nomination for president.

Trump reasons that if he needs to surrender himself to a Manhattan courthouse for fingerprints and mug shots anyway, he might as well turn everything into a “spectacle.”

Uh, yeah, it could become a spectacle.

No Attorney-Client Privilege?: A district court judge has written that “compelling preliminary evidence” uncovered by Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office – you know, the one investigating Mar-a-Lagogate – proves Donald J. Trump “knowingly and deliberately misled” his own lawyers about whether he returned all classified material uncovered at his Florida compound, thus removing attorney-client privilege, ABC News reports. U.S. Judge Beryl Howell wrote last Friday, March 17, before stepping down as D.C. district court judge that prosecutors in the special counsel’s office have made a “prima facie showing that the former president had committed criminal violations,” and orders attorney Evan Corcoran to comply with a grand jury subpoena to testify on six separate lines of inquiry for which he had previously asserted attorney-client privilege. 

The report cites “sources who described” the judge’s order to ABC News.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Biden in Poland

(President Biden was in discussions in Warsaw with Polish President Andzrej Duda to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank Tuesday. Biden was scheduled to address the Polish people later Tuesday (per The Guardian). PICTURED: Biden with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on the U.S. president’s surprise visit Monday.)

TUESDAY 2/21/23

Putin’s National Address – Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking in his scheduled annual address blamed NATO and the U.S. for starting the war with Ukraine, which hits its first anniversary Friday. Putin said Russia is “suspending” participation in the latest nuclear arms treaty with the U.S. (NPR)

--TL

______________________________________

Biden in Kyiv

MONDAY 2/20/23

UPDATE – Russian President Vladimir Putin “thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided,” President Biden said during his surprise visit to Kyiv Monday. “He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong.”

Revealing more details of the meeting Monday afternoon, the White House said the president met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team for “an extended discussion on our support for Ukraine.”

“I will announce another delivery of critical equipment, including artillery ammunition, anti-armor systems, and air surveillance radars to help protect the Ukrainian people from aerial bombardments,” Biden said. “And I will share that later this week, we will announce additional sanctions against elites and companies that are trying to evade or backfill Russia’s war machine. Over the last year, the United States has built a coalition of nations from the Atlantic to the Pacific to help defend Ukraine with unprecedented military, economic and humanitarian support – and that will endure.”

Surprise Visit: President Biden left for Europe a day earlier than announced to make his surprise visit to Kyiv and meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskyy Monday (per BBC and NPR), and military and intelligence services. Biden announced a half-billion dollars of additional aid to the country in the week of the first anniversary of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. 

“One year later, Kyiv stands, Ukraine stands. And Democracy stands.”

Biden left Kyiv later Monday local time, reportedly by train, to travel Warsaw for a previously announced meeting with Polish President Andzej Duda and other NATO leaders to in part discuss further support for Ukraine's defense against Russia.

Congressional Calendar: The House and Senate are not in session this week (per Ballotpedia). 

•••

Fox News Gonna Be Fox ‘News’ – Yeah, Dominion Voting Systems’ filing in Delaware State Court in its $1.6-billion lawsuit last week was all over the damn place by the weekend, including even Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, a fellow Murdoch property. As a refresher, the lawsuit is about the part of the Donald J. Trump “Big Lie” that accused Dominion voting machines of being able to automatically flip votes for the ex-president in favor of votes for the real winner, Joe Biden.

ICYMI, here are a few of the many standout conversations outlined by The Hill …

Viktor Orbån’s Number One Fanboy, Tucker Carlson, to Laura Ingraham: “Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I caught her. It’s insane.”

Ingraham back to Carlson: “Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy (Trump attorney Giuliani).”

Despite Carlson’s antipathy for Powell and Giuliani, he and fellow Fox News host Sean Hannity tried to pressure network execs to fire White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich for fact-checking a tweet from Trump pursuing claims against Dominion. 

Carlson to Hannity: “Please get her fired. Seriously … What the fuck? I’m seriously shocked … It needs to stop immediately [.] Like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.”

Hannity to Carlson: “I’m 3 strikes. [Chris, now of CNN] Wallace shit debate [.] Election night disaster [.] Now this BS? Nope. Not going to fly. Did I mention Cavuto?”

According to Dominion attorneys’ filing, Fox execs were “not pleased” with White House correspondent Kristin Fisher’s fact-checking of a Nov. 19, 2020 Powell/Giuliani press conference. Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton allegedly called Fisher and said she needed to do a better job of “respecting our audience,” according to The Hill’s wrapup. Fox News appears to have been more concerned with competition from Newsmax than about truthiness.

About That Election Night ‘Disaster’: Refers to Fox News’ “early” call of Arizona for Joe Biden. Political Editor Chris Stirewalt, otherwise proud of the election night count algorithm he helped develop for Fox News that could beat competing networks was fired over the call, and went on to testify in the second hearing by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

Upshot: In real journalism, “respecting our audience” means telling the truth.

•••

Carter in Hospice – Former President Jimmy Carter, 98, has chosen to forego additional medical attention and will receive hospice care at home. Carter is America’s oldest living former president. He served from 1977 to 1981.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

…meanwhile…

WEDNESDAY 1/25/23

Tanks to Ukraine – Germany will now deliver a supply of its Leopard 2 tanks (above) to Ukraine to support its effort to push back Russian forces. The NATO country initially had resisted sending its own tanks in favor of Poland delivering its German-made Leopard 2s, but an apparent reversal by the Biden administration on sending American-made M1 Abrams tanks prompted Germany’s decision, The Recount says.

Strategy: The Leopard 2 tanks are considered more crucial to Ukraine’s defense against Russia in that they’re much easier to train on and better-suited for Ukrainian terrain. 

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy Tackles Corruption: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has removed “nearly a dozen” top officials to contain a number of corruption scandals as the West continues to send military and humanitarian aid. The Wall Street Journal notes that corruption under Zelenskyy’s administration is “small compared with the previous Ukrainian governments – some accused of stealing billions of dollars in public funds…” 

U.S. Aid Last Year: The White House approved about $48 billion in aid to Ukraine in 2022, the Council on Foreign Relations says https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-aid-has-us-sent-ukraine-here-are-six-charts

Republican Resistance: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has said his caucus is not interested in writing a “blank check” to Ukraine, which seems as much a nod to sympathy among MAGA-right Republicans for Russian President Vladimir Putin as it is more traditional GOP fiscal conservatism.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

…meanwhile…

Jeffries Elected House Democratic Leader – House Democrats have elected Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) (above) their leader, replacing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who announced she would step down after two decades (but remains in Congress for at least two more years). Jeffries, 52, covers New York’s 8th District which includes large parts of Brooklyn and a section of Queens, and becomes the first Black congressional leader from any party, replacing Pelosi, 82, who was the first female congressional leader from any party. Younger Democrats in Congress have been clamoring for more youthful leadership for the last few years. 

Other Leaders: Rep. Katherine M. Clark (D-MA), 59, replaces Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), 83, in the House Democrat number-two spot while Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), 43, replaces Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), 82, for the number-three leadership position. Until the 118th Congress takes over in January, the outgoing top-three Democratic House positions are held by representatives older than President Biden, who just turned 80.

Meanwhile: Current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) faces some inner-party opposition as he tries to skate the line between condemning ex-President Trump’s dinner with an antisemite and a white supremacist (see right column) and actually condemning Trump himself. McCarthy cannot afford to lose five Republicans from the incoming House of Representatives to take the speaker’s gavel he long has coveted – which gives Democrats an outside chance of voting Jeffries into the speakership. 

Nobody, but nobody, really expects the GOP majority to let that happen, but it will make for an interesting January on Capitol Hill. 

--TL

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Oath Keepers Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy – Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and Florida chief Kelly Meggs were found guilty in federal court of seditious conspiracy for their involvement in the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol, Tuesday (The Hill). The Justice Department victory marks the first such conviction for seditious conspiracy since 1995, according to CNN.

All five Oath Keepers defendants were found guilty in the trial of obstruction of an official proceeding. Four Oath Keepers were found guilty of tampering with evidence – the fifth member of the far-right organization was not charged in this count. 

Rhodes and Meggs face potential prison sentences of up to 20 years for each.

••• 

Senate Votes to Codify Same-Sex Marriage – The Senate voted, 61-39, to codify federal recognition of same-sex marriage, with religious liberty protections securing the bipartisan support, Roll Call reports. Lead sponsor Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) told reporters the bill would ease concerns that the Supreme Court could revisit precedents that protected same-sex and interracial marriage. SCOTUS in 2013 found the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act largely unconstitutional.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said the House could take up the bill as early as next week.

•••

Good Economic News – Various signs are appearing that the Federal Reserve is succeeding in capping inflation without triggering a recession. It’s early yet, but here’s a big piece of such evidence: the national average price of a gallon of gasoline was $3.521 as of Tuesday morning, AAA reports. That’s lower than the average price before Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

261K Jobs Added Last Month

The U.S. economy added 261,000 jobs in October, signaling a “softening” of the economy as the Federal Reserve continues to hike interest rates in order to ease inflation. The number is a bit higher than the low-200s number some economists had predicted. 

The jobs number was low enough to tick up the unemployment rate, to 3.7% from a 3.5% rate in August and September. But any unemployment number under 4% is still almost unnaturally low. The combo of a better-than-expected jobs increase and two-tenths uptick in the unemployment rate also is seen as a sign the Fed’s aggressive interest rate increases could result in a “soft landing” instead of a 2023 recession.

The Labor Department reported job gains in health care, professional and technical services, and manufacturing. 

•••

Trump Marks Calendar for November 14 – Donald J. Trump’s “inner circle” are targeting November 14 as the date the former president will announce his run for the 2024 GOP presidential election, Jonathan Swan scoops in Axios Friday. The potential date comes after the midterms and before Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis would announce his own candidacy and challenge Trump. Swan tells MSNBC’s Morning Joe that Trump’s team will use the date to schedule a series of rallies and appearances and take credit for the election victories by the ex-president’s endorsees. 

The date remains tentative, Swan emphasizes, as it is very likely control of the Senate will have not been determined six days after the midterms. If neither incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock nor Trump-endorsed Republican challenger Herschel Walker reach at least 50% of the vote in Georgia’s Senate race, for example, they will face each other again in a runoff scheduled for December 6.

•••

Confirming the Obvious – United Nations inspectors have found no evidence of “dirty bombs” being developed by Ukraine, NPR reports. The UN inspection was made under dubious circumstances, as it was a claim made by Russia to divert attention from its own atrocities over its invasion of the country. With the UN report, only Vladimir Putin and his allies will continue to push the false dirty bomb story.

Meanwhile: Ukrainian officials have signaled an assault to take back its Kherson region “could be imminent,” The Washington Post reports, which could become the “best test” of whether Russia will hold any significant piece of territory after its February invasion.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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'Democracy on the Ballot' (THU 11/3/22)

President Biden called on voters to consider the future of our republic when casting ballots in the midterm elections, in an address Wednesday evening from Washington’s Union Station. His speech began with a detailed description of the attack the prior Friday on Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband. Biden blamed former President Trump for ongoing threat to American democracy in a speech that will be seen as political, especially by Fox News and media outlets to its right.

“Democracy is on the ballot” in the November 8 midterms, Biden said. “So today I appeal to all Americans regardless of party to meet this moment of national and generational importance. We must vote knowing what’s at stake and not just the policy of the moment.”

Recent polls have shown that while the future of American democracy is an underlying issue in the midterms it is not as important to most voters as inflation and the economy. The fear here is that the current 8.5% inflation rate will help propel election deniers into office and potentially give them power over the way future elections are conducted.

•••

Fed Rates Up Another ¾ Point – As every professional- and armchair economist had predicted, the Federal Reserve raised its “key policy rate” by 75 basis points for the fourth meeting in a row, indicating it is not done with its attempt to tighten the economy and lower inflation, the investment site Seeking Alpha reports. That brings it to the current rate of 3.75%, says Marketplace, which notes that Chairman Jerome Powell said the Fed may slow increases “very soon,” as early as its next meeting, or the meeting after that. 

Which does not amount to the much-expected “Fed pivot,” says Marketplace’s Kai Risdahl. The next Fed board meeting is December 13-14, Risdahl says, and there will be a “whole lot” of economic data out between now and then.

Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

…meanwhile…

(TUE 9/27/22)

1/6 HEARING DELAYED -- The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has delayed its ninth, and potentially last, public hearing originally scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday, because of Hurricane Ian brewing off the Florida coast, NPR reports. The make-up date and time is to be announced later.

•••

Continuing Resolution Update – The White House has asked for a continuing resolution extending the fiscal year past Friday with $47 billion in short-term spending, including $13.7 billion for additional aid to Ukraine, Government Executive reports (govexec.com). The CR also would include $22.4 billion in short-term COVID needs, $4.5 billion for monkeypox vaccinations, testing and treatments, and $6.5 billion to help tribes and territories deal with natural disasters and extreme weather events. 

Bipartisan support: The additional aid to Ukraine has sufficient bipartisan support in the Senate, NPR’s Morning Edition says, where 60 votes are needed for passage. That’s at least 10 Republicans as well as all the Democrats, of course. We’ll be watching to see which MAGA-leaning Republican senators support the vote.

•••

Cost of College Debt Forgiveness – President Biden’s plan to cancel student debt will cost $420 billion, of which $20 billion is the extension of a pause on student loan payments, according to the Congressional Budget Office, per The Washington Post. The number is roughly equal to the cost of the $1,400 stimulus checks mailed to Americans for pandemic relief at the beginning of the Biden administration. 

Upshot: Cancelling student debt always was going to be a major issue for the midterm elections, with Republican candidates objecting to shifting the student loan payments from former students and their families to taxpayers.

•••

Jury Selection for Oath Keepers Trial – A federal trial for the far-right Oath Keepers for allegedly helping organize the January 6 Capitol insurrection begins Tuesday, NPR reports. Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and his co-defendants are accused of spending months recruiting, training and conspiring to use force to prevent the transfer of power from Donald J. Trump to Joe Biden, according to Morning Edition. The alleged plot included storing guns in Washington, D.C., for a quick reaction force to rush into the city on January 6, if necessary.

•••

Fake Disinformation Accounts for War in Ukraine – Facebook and Instagram owner Meta was used for hundreds of fake social media accounts and sham news websites that attempted to advance Russia’s cause in its invasion of Ukraine, the Associated Press reports. The scheme involved more than 60 websites designed to mimic legitimate news outlets, including the United Kingdom’s Guardian and Germany’s Der Spiegel that spread Kremlin talking points about President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Meta said Tuesday.

Note: The Guardian is among news outlets aggregated by our daily coverage. We always go directly to theguardian.com, not via social media.

•••

On Italy’s Right-Turn – Italy’s new coalition government, led by far-right Brothers of Italy candidate Giorgia Meloni, who becomes the prime minister replacing technocrat Mario Draghi, “threatens to fragment the European Union when unity is more urgent than ever,” Nicholas Lokker and Jason C. Moyer write for The Wilson Center (wilsoncenter.org). While Meloni’s new coalition government has been described as Italy’s most conservative since World War II, the new prime minister has repeatedly expressed support for Ukraine to maintain its democracy in its fight against Russian aggression.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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What's Up This Week (MON 9/26/22)

Hearing IX – Potentially the last public hearing of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is scheduled for this Wednesday beginning 1 p.m. Eastern time. 

“It is possible that it’s the last,” committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) told NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday. “But as we continue to work, we wouldn’t rule out the possibility of an additional public hearing.”

The 1/6 panel may be running out of time as the GOP probably retakes the House of Representatives in the November 8 midterms. 

Meanwhile, the committee also will interview conservative activist and Supreme Court justice-spouse Virginia Thomas, who exchanged emails with John Eastman, the attorney seen as instrumental in planning alleged Trump White House attempts to reverse the election results. 

“Eastman is the architect of the scheme that one federal judge has described as criminal, and we’d like to learn more about it,” Lofgren said.

Left-column preview: Be sure to read pundit Ken Zino’s Hearing IX “Curtain Raiser” in the left column.

•••

Senate and House Schedules – Both chambers are off Monday, with the Senate returning Tuesday, as Rosh Hashana concludes, through Friday. The House is in session Wednesday through Friday. 

Critical CR: Both the House and Senate must pass a continuing resolution this week to avoid partial shutdown of the federal government. The fiscal year ends Friday. 

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

NY AG Sues Trump for “Massive Fraud”

(WED 9/21/22)

New York State Attorney General Letitia James (center, above) announced a $250-million-plus civil suit against ex-President Trump, his family and his company. The suit seeks to permanently bar Donald J. Trump, sons Don Jr. and Eric, and daughter Ivanka from doing business in the state, James announced in a press conference Wednesday. 

The former president also would be barred for five years from entering any commercial real estate acquisition in the state and from applying for any loans from New York-registered financial institutions.

The suit alleges Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars over the years. The investigation covered 2011-2021. Of her many examples of alleged over-value, one included the former president’s own apartment at Trump Tower Manhattan, which was listed at 30,000 square-feet, roughly three times its actual size. As a result, the likely value of $127 million was inflated to $317 million in 2012, still more than any apartment sold in Manhattan.

Mar-a-Lago revenue should have been valued at less than $25 million per year, and no higher than $75 million per year – Trump valued his Florida residence and private club at $739 million, she said. No word on the value of Trump’s golden escalator.

The suit also includes these remedies:

• An independent monitor to oversee compliance, financial reporting, valuations and disclosure to tax authorities for no less than five years. 

•Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)-compliant audited statements, showing Trump’s net worth, for five years.

•Replacement of current trustees of Donald Trump’s revocable trust with independent trustees.

The suit also seeks to permanently bar former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and controller Jeffrey McConney from serving in financial control of any New York corporation or similar entity in the state. James said former Trump fixer Michael Cohen’s testimony before Congress sparked her office’s investigation. Such alleged white-collar fraud is not “victimless” crime, she said.

“When the well-connected break the law it reduces resources to working people, to regular people, to small businesses and to taxpayers,” James remarked. 

“Claiming you have money that you do not have is not the Art of the Deal. It is the art of the steal.”

•••

Biden Speaks to UN – President Biden did not have to alter his speech much, before the 77th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bellicose statement about extending his attack on Ukraine.

“This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state,” Biden said, “plain and simple. And Ukraine’s right to exist as a people. Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should make your blood run cold.”

Biden equated the fight for Ukraine’s sovereignty as a democratic nation with the struggle to maintain democracy everywhere, including the U.S.

“The only country standing in the way of that is Russia,” he said. While Biden was expected to alter his remarks after Putin announced his “partial military call up” CNN reports the president’s speech written before that announcement held up.

Extending the UN Permanent Security Council: Biden noted that 141 nations share the United States’ condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He called on the UN to expand its permanent Security Council, which since its inception consists of China, France, the Russian Federation (previously Soviet Union), the United Kingdom and the U.S. Currently, any single country among these five may veto a UN resolution.

Global food security: Biden also announced $2.9 billion in federal funding to strengthen global food security. He disputed Putin’s statement that current global food insecurity is the result of Western sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. 

“Our sanctions explicitly allow Russia the ability to export food and fertilizer,” Biden said.

•••

Putin’s Not Bluffing? – Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial military call-up” mobilizing up to 300,000 reservists – falling just short of a draft -- to hold its border with Ukraine, the AP and NPR report. This has set Russians “scrambling” to buy airline tickets out of their country. In his seven-minute address Wednesday, Putin “also warned the West he isn’t bluffing about using all the means at his proposal to protect Russia’s territory,” a veiled reference to the country’s nuclear capability. 

But Russian nukes, as always, are held in-check by Western nations’ capabilities, Sergey Radchenko, professor of Russian history at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, told NPR’s Morning Edition, so Putin’s claim his sabre-rattling is not a bluff hints it is indeed a bluff. And U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink tweeted that Russia is showing “weakness” and “failure” after its escalation of the war. She vowed that the U.S. will never recognize Russia’s scheme to claim Ukrainian territory.

Radchenko said plans announced Tuesday by eastern and southern regions of Ukraine currently controlled by Russia to hold votes on becoming an integral part of Russia – which Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy has called a “sham” – is a ploy for Putin to claim that it is Ukraine doing the invading when the country tries to take back those territories.

Biden’s UN Speech: Coming up Wednesday morning, President Biden speaks before the United Nations General Assembly (which Putin will not attend, despite Russia’s membership). The White House is scrambling to rewrite Biden’s speech in light of Putin’s announcement from Moscow, MSNBC’s Morning Joe reports.

•••

No Cake in Mar-a-Lagogate – Special Master Raymond Dearie, the candidate of the two candidates named by Donald J. Trump’s attorneys who was agreed to by the Justice Department, “appeared skeptical” about the former president’s claim he “declassified” classified documents recovered in the FBI’s August 8 search of Mar-a-Lago, as Time put it Wednesday morning. On Tuesday, Judge Dearie told Trump’s attorneys “You can’t have your cake and eat it.” 

Upshot: Trump’s attorneys have avoided arguing that Trump had declassified the documents for fear of breaching ethics standards with an untruth.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

…meanwhile…

(MON 9/12/22)

Ukrainian Momentum: Ukrainian troops on Saturday recaptured the eastern city of Izium, a strategically important railway hub that Russian troops have held since last spring, The New York Times reported Sunday. Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, confirmed on CBS News that her country has pushed fleeing Russian troops out of 1,200 square miles of the northeast region of Kharkiv in the last eight days, more than the invading forces had captured since April. 

“We have to win, and this counter-offensive shows we can win,” Marakova told CBS’ Face the Nation. She agreed with military assessments that Ukrainian forces can push Russia back to the borders before the end of the year “because of the resolve of the armed forces.”

•••

Better Call Saul: From Sunday’s New York Times’ story about myriad Trump lawyers who have to lawyer-up themselves after working for the former president, this “dark joke”: “MAGA actually stands for ‘making attorneys get attorneys.’”

•••

THIS WEEK ...

The White House: President Biden visits Boston Monday, where he will deliver remarks on Bipartisan Infrastructure already underway and “tangible results for communities and the country.” Biden announces his “Cancer Moonshot” goal of finding a cure, to be held at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum on the 60th anniversary of President Kennedy’s announcement of his goal to put an American on the moon before the end of the 1960s.

On Tuesday Biden visits the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

On Saturday the president and Jill Biden travel to the United Kingdom for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, to be held next Monday.

Congress: The Senate is in session Monday, with both chambers in session Tuesday through Friday.

Inflation Rate: The Labor Department publishes the August Consumer Price Index Tuesday. Expectations are the rate will fall somewhat from the annual rate reported for July of 8.5%, which itself decreased from June's annual rate of 9.1%.

--TL

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Debate Audience Wins as Trump and Biden Mind the Mute Button

By Charles Dervarics

Voters claimed at least a small victory Thursday night when the major party presidential candidates had to accept a tool familiar to anyone working in remote video meetings during the pandemic – the all-important mute button.

Both President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden had to follow this new rule, which significantly reduced interruptions during their final debate in Nashville. The president showed occasional frustration at having to wait for an open microphone, but the new guideline kept shouting to a minimum and gave viewers a chance to hear the candidates’ views on key issues.

During the 90-minute debate moderated by NBC’s Kristen Welker, the two candidates sparred over every issue from COVID-19 and race relations to China, North Korea, immigration and climate change.

On COVID-19, Trump laid blame primarily on China and said that “we’re rounding the corner” on the virus with a vaccine announcement likely within weeks. “We can’t close up our nation or we won’t have a nation,” he said. Biden countered that the president’s performance has fallen far short with 220,000 Americans dead from the disease. “Anyone responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States,” he said.

The former vice president also said he planned to implement “Bidencare,” with Affordable Care Act improvements such as lower premiums and drug prices and the ability of low-income individuals to opt into Medicaid. Trump criticized this plan, saying it would lead to socialized medicine and a loss of private insurance for 180 million Americans. 

An extended segment on race relations saw the candidates approach the issue from different directions. Trump touted his administration’s passage of criminal justice reform and more funding for historically Black colleges, saying the Obama-Biden administration failed on these and other issues. “I ran because of you,” he said. “If I thought you did a good job, I would’ve never run.”

For his part, Biden said he regretted past support for minimum sentencing laws and promised to give states $20 billion to eliminate these standards and create drug courts so offenders go to treatment rather than prison. “We should fundamentally change the system, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Some of the most heated moments came when Trump challenged Biden over alleged misdeeds by his son in gaining international business and whether the former vice president benefitted from deals in China and Ukraine. Biden denied any wrongdoing and the debate turned to Trump’s own international business dealings, bank accounts and unseen tax returns. At one point, Biden turned to the camera and noted that the election is “not about his family or my family. It’s about your family, and your family’s hurting badly.”

With the debates now complete, both candidates head into the final 11 days of campaigning. Nearly 50 million Americans already have cast early votes, with Election Day set for Nov. 3.

Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news

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