As the World Burns
Matt Gaetz on March 3, 2023, at the CPAC convention: “We either get this government back on our side, or we defund and get rid of, abolish the FBI, CDC, ATF, DOJ, every last one of ’em if they do not come to heel.”
President Biden in his televised speech last night (October 19, 2023): “Hamas and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy,” Biden said.
“American leadership is what holds the world together,” he added. “American values are what make us a partner that other nations want to work with. To put all that at risk if we walk away from Ukraine, if we turn our backs on Israel, it’s just not worth it.”
He reiterated a point he made the day before:
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, he said, “We made mistakes. So I caution the government of Israel not to be blinded by rage. And here in America, let us not forget who we are.”
Also:
“We can’t ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians who only want to live in peace and have an opportunity,” Biden said. “The people of Gaza urgently need food, water and medicine. … We’re going to provide an opening for sustained delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance for Palestinians.”
After pointing to the murder of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy in Chicago this week who was stabbed to death by his landlord, he also insisted:
“We must, without equivocation, denounce antisemitism,” Biden said. “We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia.”
He said he’d send a funding request for both wars to Congress on Friday. There’s one catch, though. No legislation can be considered till the House has a Speaker. After getting 1 less vote (199) than he had on Tuesday, Jim Jordan withdrew from immediate consideration and said he’d seek a third vote in January.
House Republicans debated whether to give more power to the temporary Acting Speaker Patrick McHenry (R-NC) in the interim but Gaetz and Jordan persuaded them not to. One of the Republicans who opposed Jordan referred to the tiny group that started and continue to bring chaos to the House as ‘the Crazy 8s’ as those 8 deposed Kevin McCarthy and have blocked other successors while trying to force acceptance of Jordan. Several GOP members even described how the pressure campaign’s tactics have caused several to receive threats of violence and several threatened their spouses as well. After being denied expanded powers, McHenry informed Republican House members that he might quit the temporary gig.
It’s become quite clear that their real motive is to shut down the federal government completely. In a difficult time across the globe, instead of leadership, they offer cowardice.
In the other big news yesterday, one of Trump’s lead attorneys in his early efforts to steal the 2020 election from the majority of voters, accepted a plea deal from the Fulton County, GA prosecutor in the soon-to-begin prosecutions of Trump and others for violations of the RICO Act. Sidney Powell will receive 6 years of probation and pay court costs under $10,000. She has to agree to be available to testify against the other participants whenever the DA needs it and has been explicitly barred from any contact with her co-conspirators. Between Election Day 2020 and the January 6 insurrection, Powell was in touch with Donald Trump, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani and other Trump attorneys, GA election officials, and the wife of a SCOTUS judge, Ginni Thomas. One attorney, Kenneth Chesebro, is scheduled to go to trial on Monday. Some witnesses have alleged that Chesebro created some of the election theft schemes.
Because of a tweet she posted in the middle of her election scams, her opponents often mock her with her own words, calling her the Kraken.
I hope the prosecutors are providing Powell with security measures because flipping on mobsters can trigger violent acts of revenge.
American leadership can’t hold the world together with American values if that includes assassination attempts by Trump’s violent supporters.
Powell still faces criminal and civil prosecutions from other courts ahead.
After the onset of the pandemic virus, numerous big charities indicated they’d provide grants to those trying to mitigate the damage from the virus. But it turns out that some pretty big charities - including the largest, Fidelity Charitable - were providing grants to several major anti-vax organizations like Children’s Health Defense (founded by RFK Jr) and Informed Consent Action Network.
More than $15 million was sent to such groups, most of it after the covid vaccines became available. That’s because the charities are Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) that are a popular method for wealthy individuals and foundations to distribute cash — and remain under the radar. There’s always red flags when secret donors are involved in shady doings.
Out of more than 200 countries in the world, the US was among the ten worst in deaths-per-capita from covid. Some experts believe more than 200,000 early deaths occurred because of the lies and conspiracy theories of anti-vax groups. That’s a lot of blood on the hands of the grant recipients.
A third party group called No Labels is working hard to provide a so-called ‘centrist’ presidential candidate for 2024. Among its founding members are former Senator Joe Lieberman (a conservative Democrat that hurt Al Gore’s run in 2000), former Republican governor of MD Larry Hogan, Former Democratic governor of Missouri (also a conservative Dem) and Pat McCrory, the former Republican governor of NC.
Only Dr. Benjamin Chavis, a civil rights advocate, is a liberal founder. All others are right of center. In 2019, Charles Black Jr. joined the group. A longtime lobbyist, he previously cofounded a lobbying group with three others, two of them Paul Manafort and Roger Stone.
No Labels is largely funded by corporate CEOS and wealthy individuals who’ve mostly funded Republican and conservative Democratic campaigns. Most of its donors and funding remain secrets, though last June, Mother Jones obtained a partial list of 36 wealthy contributors. The New Republic discovered another major funder was Harlan Crow.
Three potential presidential candidate names have been floated by the group: Larry Hogan (R-MD), Jon Huntsman (R-UT) and Joe Manchin (DINO-WV).
(Disclaimer: As a journalist, I’ve long favored sunshine laws because secretive government meetings and secret funders always inhibit public knowledge of the government that is supposed to be working for them/us. Because of the increasing secrecy that a very conservative SCOTUS has permitted with the paper thin argument that the free speech rights of wealthy people are hindered without it, I believe the evidence is now clear that our democratic republic has become very endangered since.
While I aim for objective and factual reporting, when I do editorialize, I now favor a complete sweep for Democrats in the White House, both chambers of Congress and in every state legislature. Not because I think Democrats always get things right, but because I think our country could become a dictatorship unless we get the ERA passed, term limits on all federal judges, and serious limits on federal campaign funding. I don’t think Republicans can or will get any of those needed reforms passed, because most have shifted to the extreme right with dangerous consequences.
Thus, I view No Labels as just another deceptive organization that aims to benefit the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.)
From November 14, 2008, Charles’ 60th birthday, the finale to Spamalot.