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Jan. 6 panel subpoenas McCarthy, four other GOP lawmakers
By MARY CLARE JALONICK 24 minutes ago
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., heads to his office surrounded by reporters after House investigators issued a subpoena to McCarthy and four other Republican lawmakers as part of their probe into the violent Jan. 6 insurrection, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2022. The House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack has been investigating McCarthy's conversations with then-President Donald Trump the day of the attack and meetings that the four other lawmakers had with the White House as Trump and his aides conspired how to overturn his defeat. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A House panel issued subpoenas Thursday to House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and four other GOP lawmakers in its probe into the violent Jan. 6 insurrection, an extraordinary step that has little precedent and is certain to further inflame partisan tensions over the 2021 attack. .. "Capitol Riot: One year later" https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege
The panel is investigating McCarthy’s conversations with then-President Donald Trump .. https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-elections-donald-trump-kevin-mccarthy-congress-891eabe5ef653e7bb3983f8e3fa96a67 .. the day of the attack and meetings the four other lawmakers had with the White House as Trump and his aides worked to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
Subpoenas for McCarthy, R-Calif., and Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Mo Brooks of Alabama come as the investigation is winding down and as the panel prepares for a series of public hearings this summer.
After the announcement, McCarthy, who aspires to be House speaker if Republicans take the majority in midterm elections, told reporters that “I have not seen a subpoena” and that his view on the committee has not changed since they asked for his voluntary cooperation earlier this year.
“They’re not conducting a legitimate investigation,” McCarthy said. “Seems as though they just want to go after their political opponents.”
The panel had previously asked for voluntary cooperation from the five men, along with a handful of other GOP lawmakers, but all of them refused to speak with the panel, which debated for months whether to issue the subpoenas.
“Before we hold our hearings next month, we wished to provide members the opportunity to discuss these matters with the committee voluntarily,” said Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the panel. “Regrettably, the individuals receiving subpoenas today have refused and we’re forced to take this step to help ensure the committee uncovers facts concerning January 6th.”
Congressional subpoenas for sitting members of Congress, especially for a party leader, have little precedent in recent decades, and it is unclear what the consequences would be if any or all of the five men decline to comply. The House has voted to hold two other noncompliant witnesses, former Trump aides Steve Bannon and Mark Meadows, in contempt, referring their cases to the Justice Department.
In announcing the subpoenas, the Jan. 6 panel said there is historical precedent for the move and noted that the House Ethics Committee has “issued a number of subpoenas to Members of Congress for testimony or documents,” though such actions are generally done secretly.
McCarthy has acknowledged that he spoke with Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, which happened as Trump’s supporters were beating police outside the Capitol and forcing their way into the building. But he has not shared many details. The committee requested information about his conversations with Trump “before, during and after” the riot.
McCarthy took to the House floor after the rioters were cleared and said in a forceful speech that Trump “bears responsibility” for the attack and that it was the “saddest day I have ever had” in Congress — even as he went on to join 138 other House Republicans in voting to reject the election results.
The GOP leader soon made up with Trump, though, visiting him in Florida and rallying House Republicans to vote against investigations of the attack.
The other four men were in touch with the White House for several weeks ahead of the insurrection, talking to Trump and his legal advisers about ways to stop the congressional electoral count on Jan. 6 to certify Joe Biden’s victory. Several of their efforts were detailed in texts released to the committee by Meadows, who was Trump’s chief of staff at the time.
“These members include those who participated in meetings at the White House, those who had direct conversations with President Trump leading up to and during the attack on the Capitol, and those who were involved in the planning and coordination of certain activities on and before January 6th,” the committee said in a release.
https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-investigation-mccarthy-subpoena-2312def9243c505e22ce9d0f2f152db9
50 Important Historical Photos That Might Change Your Perspective On Things,
As Shared By This Facebook Page
Sorting through dusty manuscripts and volumes of mysterious books is how many of us imagine finding evidence in history. But our past is far more than a string of names and dates. It is about how people lived in the past and molded our society. It is about their hopes and dreams, their fears and disappointments, and what pushed them to make the decisions and inventions they did.
But there’s something else that can offer us an intimate glimpse into the lives they led and make historical events seem more real, rather than merely stories. We’re talking about authentic pictures that documented the wonders of that time. Luckily for us, plenty of examples can be found in a heartfelt corner of the internet called the 'Old Photos Of The World' Facebook page. . https://www.facebook.com/OldPhotosOfTheWorld/
While we can’t time travel back to the past (yet!), we can at least look at these pictures full of unstaged scenarios and build our own interpretations. So continue scrolling because we at Bored Panda gathered some of the best pictures for you to enjoy! And after you’re done, make sure to check out our earlier compilations full of important historical images https://www.boredpanda.com/historical-pics/
and old photos in real life. https://www.boredpanda.com/old-photos-in-real-life-then-now/
#3 An Officer Halts Traffic To Make Way For A Cat Carrying A Kitten Across The Street, 1925
#6 Two Armenian Women Pose With Their Rifles Before Going To Battle Against The Ottomans, 1895
#14 These Progressive High School Girls Learn The Finer Points Of Auto Mechanics In 1927
#22 Men In Harlem Gather In Front Of A Shop To Listen To The Radio, 1940
#28 Easter Bunny Bringing Joy To Children, 1955
#30 Testing Out The Latest Flight Helmet In A Highly Scientific Way, 1912
#33 Charlie Chaplin Meeting Deaf-Blind American Author Helen Keller, 1919
#34 Samurai Warriors Taken Between 1860 And 1880
#38 A Soldier Coming Home From War, 1940s
#47 Robert Wadlow, The Tallest Man In History (8 Ft 11 In)
#48 Davide Chislagi Testing His Single-Wheel Engine, 1933
https://www.boredpanda.com/old-photos-of-the-world/
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50 Rare Photos That Reveal The Unseen Side Of Things (New Pics)
https://www.boredpanda.com/fascinating-rarely-seen-things/
All of Trump’s Russia Ties, in 7 Charts
By MICHAEL CROWLEY
March/April 2017
What is the real story of Donald Trump and Russia?
The answer is still unclear, and Democrats in Congress want to get to the bottom of it with an investigation. But there’s no doubt that a spider web of connections—some public, some private, some clear, some murky—exists between Trump, his associates and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
These charts illustrate dozens of those links, including meetings between Russian officials and members of Trump’s campaign and administration; his daughter’s ties to Putin’s friends; Trump’s 2013 visit to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant; and his short-lived mixed martial arts venture with one of Putin’s favorite athletes. The solid lines mark established facts, while dotted ones represent speculative or unproven connections.
There’s nothing inherently damning about most of the ties illustrated below. But they do reveal the vast and mysteriously complex web behind a story that has vexed Trump’s young presidency from its start—and is certain to shake the White House for months to come.
[...]
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/connections-trump-putin-russia-ties-chart-flynn-page-manafort-sessions-214868/
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BUDDIES FOREVER
Kentucky Derby 2022 (FULL RACE) | NBC Sports
TRUMP WAS WORST PRESIDENT EVER ---- VERIFIED
" Trump has opened our eyes to all the bullshit we have been feed throughout the years "
ABSOLUTELY!!
Trump Is the Worst President in History - The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/trump-worst-president-history/617730/
“No president has ever even come close,” he says.
But as his four years in office draw to an end, there’s only one title to which he can lay claim: Donald Trump is the worst president America has...
[...]
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=164406121
All of Lyin' President Trump's Lies About the Coronavirus
An unfinished compendium of Trump’s overwhelming dishonesty during a national emergency
Christian Paz August 31, 2020
President Donald Trump has repeatedly lied about the coronavirus pandemic and the country’s preparation for this once-in-a-generation crisis.
Here, a collection of the biggest lies he’s told as the nation endures a public-health and economic calamity. This post will be updated as needed.
[...]
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=158020433
“NO ONE WOULD KNOW IT WAS US”: TRUMP THOUGHT HE COULD FIRE MISSILES INTO MEXICO AND BLAME IT ON ANOTHER COUNTRY
According to former defense secretary Mark Esper, Trump insisted such an operation could be done “quietly” and no one would be the wiser.
BY BESS LEVIN
MAY 6, 2022
Something you probably picked up on over the last few years is that Donald Trump has little to no grasp on reality. We know this because he thinks he invented the phrase “prime the pump”; that Ivanka created 14 millions of jobs; that health insurance costs $12 a year; that Greenland is for sale; that the three best days of Queen Elizabeth’s life were the ones she spent with him; and that he could shoot missiles into another country and no one would find out.
Yes, The New York Times reports that in his forthcoming memoir, A Sacred Oath, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper recounts that in the summer of 2020, Trump asked, on at least two occasions, if the military could “shoot missiles into Mexico to destroy the drug labs,” saying, “They don’t have control of their own country.” Told all the various reasons this idea was a non-starter, the then president insisted that they could do it “quietly,” adding: “no one would know it was us.” Apparently informed that yes, in fact, people would know it was the U.S., Trump responded that he would simply lie and say we didn’t do it. While this obviously sounds absolutely insane, Trump has actually floated similar ideas in public. (In a speech to Republican donors in March, Trump suggested that the U.S. should “put the Chinese flag” on its military planes, “bomb the shit” out of Russia, “and then we say, China did it, we didn’t do it, China did it, and [let them] start fighting with each other.”)
According to Esper, Trump became more emboldened after his first impeachment acquittal. Around the same time he was suggesting to secretly bomb Mexico and pass it off like he didn’t do it, Trump also wanted to put 10,000 active-duty troops on the streets of D.C. to police the protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. (It was these protesters that, per Esper, Trump wanted to “just shoot.”) And in May of 2020, Trump apparently “behaved so erratically” during a meeting about China that the Joint Chiefs of Staff subsequently felt the need to research the 25th Amendment, i.e. the mechanism by which the president is removed from office by his cabinet. (A spokesman for Trump did not respond to the Times’ request for comment.)
Esper notes that he could have resigned in protest, and considered doing so several times, but felt it was important to stick around to counter all the sycophants and people putting dangerous ideas into Trump’s head. For example, family-separation architect Stephen Miller.
Per the Times:
Mr. Miller proposed sending 250,000 troops to the southern border, claiming that a large caravan of migrants was en route. “The U.S. armed forces don’t have 250,000 troops to send to the border for such nonsense,” Mr. Esper writes that he responded.
In October 2019, after members of the national security team assembled in the Situation Room to watch a feed of the raid that killed the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Mr. Miller proposed securing Mr. al-Baghdadi’s head, dipping it in pig’s blood and parading it around to warn other terrorists, Mr. Esper writes. That would be a “war crime,” Mr. Esper shot back. Mr. Miller flatly denied the episode and called Mr. Esper “a moron.”
Can you name one time that Lyin' Trump told the truth?
.
Fast Facts: Record Firsts in President Biden’s First Year
January 19, 2022
• Statements and Releases
President Biden and Vice President Harris delivered results for the American people in their first year in office. The President and Vice President made history growing our economy, addressing the climate crisis, and building a judiciary and government that represents America. Despite unprecedented challenges, 2021 was a year of record progress for working families.
Jobs: President Biden’s first year was the greatest year of job creation in American history, with more than 6 million jobs created.
Unemployment Rate: The unemployment rate dropped from 6.2% when Biden took office to 3.9%, the biggest single year drop in American history.
Unemployment Claims: The average number of Americans filing for unemployment has been near its lowest level since 1969. When the President took office, over 18 million were receiving unemployment benefits, today only 2 million are—also the biggest single year drop in history.
Economic Legislation Passed: Most significant by economic impact of any first-year president.
Child Poverty: Experts estimate the lowest child poverty rate ever in 2021.
Expanded Access to Health Care: Nearly 5 million Americans have newly gained health insurance coverage.
Reduced Hunger: The number of households reporting that they sometimes or often did not have enough food to eat dropped by 32%.
Judges Confirmed: More judges confirmed to lower federal courts than any president since President Kennedy.
Judges That Reflect Our Nation: More Black women appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals than any president – even over 8 years – in history.
Cabinet: First majority non-white Cabinet in history, with most women in the Cabinet, including first woman Treasury Secretary, first LGBTQ+ and Native American Cabinet officials, and first woman Director of National Intelligence.
Climate Investments: Largest investments ever in the power grid, electric vehicle chargers, and climate resilience.
Clean Water: Largest investment and national, bipartisan plan to get safe and clean drinking water to all Americans.
Cleaner Cars: Strongest vehicle emissions standards ever to save drivers money at the pump and reduce pollution.
Wind: First-ever approvals of large-scale offshore wind projects.
Personnel: Most diverse Administration in history – most women, people of color, disability, LGBTQ+, first generation American, and first-generation college graduates.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/01/19/fast-facts-record-firsts-in-president-bidens-first-year/
The Definitive Roundup of Trump’s Scandals and Business Failures
By Celina Durgin
March 15, 2016 8:44 PM
" there was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile "
Given their number and scale, it can be difficult to keep track of all of Donald Trump’s many scandals and debacles.
And so, for those whose heads are still spinning, here is a comprehensive roundup of the man’s disastrous record:
[ ... ]
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146521900&txt2find=bankruptcies
https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/03/donald-trump-scandals-business-failures-roundup/
Trump Organization settles lawsuit over DC hotel payments tied to inauguration
May 3, 202210:43 AM CDT Last Updated 2 hours ago
By Jonathan Stempel
" ...5 bankruptcies, two divorces, and the lost of 3600 lawsuits was not enough for the biggest failure in the history of America. "
NEW YORK, May 3 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's family business and his 2017 U.S. presidential inaugural committee will pay $750,000 to settle a lawsuit by Washington, D.C.'s attorney general claiming that the committee funneled excessive amounts of charitable funds to the Trump International Hotel.
The payment is nearly three-quarters of the $1.03 million that Attorney General Karl Racine said the nonprofit inaugural committee "dramatically" overpaid to rent event space at the hotel, including for a private party for Trump's adult children on the night Trump became president.
Both the Trump Organization and the committee denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle the January 2020 lawsuit.
"After he was elected, one of the first actions Donald Trump took was illegally using his own inauguration to enrich his family," Racine said in a statement. "Nonprofit funds cannot be used to line the pockets of individuals, no matter how powerful they are."
The $750,000 will go to two nonprofits that support youth in Washington, D.C.
Trump was not a defendant. His family is expecting soon to sell the hotel, located several blocks southeast of the White House, to Miami investment firm CGI Merchant Group. read more
The hotel will be converted to a Waldorf Astoria, and Trump's name will come down.
In light of the sale, "we have reached a settlement to end all litigation with Democrat Attorney General Racine," Trump, a Republican, said in a statement provided by his company.
"This was yet another example of weaponizing Law Enforcement against the Republican Party and, in particular, the former President of the United States," Trump added. "So bad for our Country!"
The inaugural committee and its insurer decided that settling would avoid the higher cost of litigating Racine's "baseless allegations," and the committee now plans to wind down its affairs, its lawyer Lee Blalack said in a statement.
In November 2019, Trump paid $2 million to settle claims by New York Attorney General Letitia James that he misused his namesake charitable foundation.
She said this resulted in funds being used to advance his 2016 presidential campaign and pay for a $10,000 portrait of Trump, among other expenses.
James is conducting a civil probe into the Trump Organization, and has said she has found evidence it misstated values of some assets for more than a decade.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-organization-settles-lawsuit-over-dc-hotel-payments-tied-inauguration-2022-05-03/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=afternoon-docket
Russians plunder $5M farm vehicles from Ukraine -- to find they've been remotely disabled
By Olexsandr Fylyppov and Tim Lister, CNN
Updated 3:38 PM ET, Sun May 1, 2022
(CNN)Russian troops in the occupied city of Melitopol have stolen all the equipment from a farm equipment dealership -- and shipped it to Chechnya, according to a Ukrainian businessman in the area.
But after a journey of more than 700 miles, the thieves were unable to use any of the equipment -- because it had been locked remotely.
Over the past few weeks there's been a growing number of reports of Russian troops stealing farm equipment, grain and even building materials - beyond widespread looting of residences. But the removal of valuable agricultural equipment from a John Deere dealership in Melitopol speaks to an increasingly organized operation, one that even uses Russian military transport as part of the heist.
CNN has learned that the equipment was removed from an Agrotek dealership in Melitopol, which has been occupied by Russian forces since early March. Altogether it's valued at nearly $5 million. The combine harvesters alone are worth $300,000 each.
CNN is not naming a contact in Melitopol familiar with the details of the case for their own safety.
The contact said the process began with the seizure of two combine harvesters, a tractor and a seeder. Over the next few weeks, everything else was removed: in all 27 pieces of farm machinery. One of the flat-bed trucks used, and caught on camera, had a white "Z" painted on it and appeared to be a military truck.
The contact said there were rival groups of Russian troops: some would come in the morning and some in the evening.
Some of the machinery was taken to a nearby village, but some of it embarked on a long overland journey to Chechnya more than 700 miles away. The sophistication of the machinery, which are equipped with GPS, meant that its travel could be tracked. It was last tracked to the village of Zakhan Yurt in Chechnya.
The equipment ferried to Chechnya, which included combine harvesters -- can also be controlled remotely. "When the invaders drove the stolen harvesters to Chechnya, they realized that they could not even turn them on, because the harvesters were locked remotely," the contact said.
The equipment now appears to be languishing at a farm near Grozny. But the contact said that "it seems that the hijackers have found consultants in Russia who are trying to bypass the protection."
"Even if they sell harvesters for spare parts, they will earn some money," the contact said.
Other sources in the Melitopol region say theft by Russian military units has extended to grain held in silos, in a region that produces hundreds of thousands of tonnes of crops a year.
One source told CNN that "the occupiers are offering local farmers to share their profits 50% to 50%." But the farmers trying to work in areas occupied by Russian troops are unable to move their produce.
"Not a single elevator works. None of the ports are working. You will not take this grain from the occupied territory anywhere. "
So Russian forces are simply taking the grain, the source said. "They steal it, take it to Crimea and that's it."
Last week the mayor of Melitopol posted a video showing a convoy of trucks leaving Melitopol allegedly loaded with grain.
"We have clear evidence that they unloaded grain from the Melitopol city elevator. They robbed the elevator along with private farms," the mayor told CNN.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/01/europe/russia-farm-vehicles-ukraine-disabled-melitopol-intl/index.html
US Army 'Returns' Cake to Italian Woman for 90th Birthday
Soldiers from U.S. Army Garrison Italy return a birthday cake to Meri Mion, center,
in Vicenza, Italy, April 28, 2022, to replace the one U.S. soldiers ate as they entered
her hometown during one of the final battles of World War II. (Laura Krieder, U.S. Army via AP)
29 Apr 2022
Associated Press
ROME — With a round of “Happy Birthday” in Italian and English, the U.S. Army toasted an Italian woman with a birthday cake Thursday to replace the one that U.S. soldiers ate as they entered
her hometown during one of the final battles of World War II.
Meri Mion, who turns 90 on Friday, wiped away tears as she was presented with the cake during a ceremony in Vicenza, northwest of Venice. The event marked the anniversary of the day the 88th Infantry Division fought its way into the city on April 28, 1945.
According to the U.S. Army, Mion spent that night with her mother hiding in the attic of their farm in the nearby village of San Pietro in Gù. Retreating German soldiers had fired on the house, but when Mion awoke on the morning of her 13th birthday, American soldiers were nearby.
In a statement, the U.S. Army Garrison Italy said Mion’s mother baked her a birthday cake and left it on the windowsill to cool. But it disappeared — apparently nicked by hungry American soldiers who had already been feted by grateful Italians with wine and bread as they entered Vicenza along its main thoroughfare.
Mion seemed genuinely surprised that U.S. soldiers had returned the cake 77 years later. She marveled “Mama mia” and “Grazie” as a small crowd featuring U.S. commanders and Italian officials sang “Happy Birthday.”
“Tomorrow, we will eat that dessert, with all my family remembering this wonderful day that I will never forget,” Mion said, according to the U.S. Army.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/04/29/us-army-returns-cake-italian-woman-90th-birthday.html
US Army 'Returns' Cake to Italian Woman for 90th Birthday
Soldiers from U.S. Army Garrison Italy return a birthday cake to Meri Mion, center,
in Vicenza, Italy, April 28, 2022, to replace the one U.S. soldiers ate as they entered
her hometown during one of the final battles of World War II. (Laura Krieder, U.S. Army via AP)
29 Apr 2022
Associated Press
ROME — With a round of “Happy Birthday” in Italian and English, the U.S. Army toasted an Italian woman with a birthday cake Thursday to replace the one that U.S. soldiers ate as they entered
her hometown during one of the final battles of World War II.
Meri Mion, who turns 90 on Friday, wiped away tears as she was presented with the cake during a ceremony in Vicenza, northwest of Venice. The event marked the anniversary of the day the 88th Infantry Division fought its way into the city on April 28, 1945.
According to the U.S. Army, Mion spent that night with her mother hiding in the attic of their farm in the nearby village of San Pietro in Gù. Retreating German soldiers had fired on the house, but when Mion awoke on the morning of her 13th birthday, American soldiers were nearby.
In a statement, the U.S. Army Garrison Italy said Mion’s mother baked her a birthday cake and left it on the windowsill to cool. But it disappeared — apparently nicked by hungry American soldiers who had already been feted by grateful Italians with wine and bread as they entered Vicenza along its main thoroughfare.
Mion seemed genuinely surprised that U.S. soldiers had returned the cake 77 years later. She marveled “Mama mia” and “Grazie” as a small crowd featuring U.S. commanders and Italian officials sang “Happy Birthday.”
“Tomorrow, we will eat that dessert, with all my family remembering this wonderful day that I will never forget,” Mion said, according to the U.S. Army.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/04/29/us-army-returns-cake-italian-woman-90th-birthday.html
F.D.A. Moves to Ban Sales of Menthol Cigarettes
Public health experts say the proposal could save hundreds of thousands of lives, especially among Black smokers — 85 percent of whom use menthol products.
According to government survey data, 85 percent of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared with 29 percent of white smokers.Credit...Drew Angerer/Getty Images
By Christina Jewett
April 28, 2022
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced a plan to ban sales of menthol-flavored cigarettes in the United States, a measure many public health experts hailed as the government’s most meaningful action in more than a decade of tobacco control efforts.
The ban would most likely have the deepest impact on Black smokers, nearly 85 percent of whom use menthol cigarettes, compared with 29 percent of white smokers, according to a government survey. If effective in reducing smoking, the ban could significantly diminish the burden of chronic disease and limit the number of lives cut short by one of the most hazardous legal products available.
Menthol, a chemical derived from the mint plant that can also be made in a lab, is added to cigarettes to make smoking less harsh, providing a cooling sensation in the throat and making the experience more appealing. Menthol cigarettes make up about one third of the $80 billion U.S. cigarette market, and about 18.5 million Americans smoke them.
Banning them “would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit,” Xavier Becerra, the health and human services secretary, said, adding that it would significantly reduce tobacco-related deaths among Black people.
The proposed ban was announced after a frenzy of lobbying by tobacco and retail interests. Kingsley Wheaton, the chief marketing officer of British American Tobacco, which owns Reynolds, the leading seller of menthol cigarettes in the United States, said the company believed there were more effective ways to reduce the risk of tobacco than banning menthol.
“The scientific evidence shows no difference in the health risks associated with menthol cigarettes compared to non-menthol cigarettes, nor does it support that menthol cigarettes adversely affect initiation, dependence or cessation,” Mr. Wheaton said in a statement. “As a result, we do not believe the published science supports regulating menthol cigarettes differently from non-menthol cigarettes.”
Public health experts say menthol cigarettes have been heavily marketed to Black people, to devastating effect: African American men have the highest rates of lung cancer in America, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More on Smoking and Vaping in the U.S.
* ‘Smoking Is Back’: Cigarettes, still the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United States, are making a comeback with a younger crowd.
* Vaping Loophole: A crackdown on flavored e-cigarettes was meant to curtail teenage vaping, but sales are rising due to synthetic nicotine.
* The Rise of Juul: Our documentary traced the e-cigarette maker on its path from fledgling start-up to Silicon Valley juggernaut and, eventually, public health villain.
* Menthol Ban: The Food and Drug Administration proposed a plan to ban sales of menthol cigarettes, a measure experts say may save hundreds of thousands of lives.
* Racial Disparities: The menthol ban could significantly affect Black smokers, nearly 85 percent of whom use the mint-flavored products.
The president of the N.A.A.C.P., Derrick Johnson, called the ban a “win for justice.”
“These products have killed our children, our parents, our brothers, sisters and livelihoods,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement. “After fighting against deadly menthol products for decades, today is a victory for Black America.”
Smoking rates overall have been falling for 20 years, although a small uptick was reported in 2020, attributed to the pandemic. Still, cigarettes are estimated to cause 480,000 deaths each year, and among those starting the habit, menthol is popular, with about half of teenage smokers reporting that they use them.
Taking menthol cigarettes off the market is expected to further reduce smoking levels. If the United States’ experience mirrors that of Canada after it banned menthol cigarettes, 1.3 million people would quit smoking and potentially hundreds of thousands of premature deaths could be averted, said Geoffrey Fong, principal investigator of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/health/menthol-ban-fda.html
Sea Level to Rise up to a Foot by 2050, Interagency Report Finds
NEWS | February 15, 2022
By Jane Lee,
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Coastal cities like Miami, shown, already experience high-tide flooding. But a new federal interagency report projects an uptick in the frequency and intensity of such events in the coming decades because of rising seas. Credit: B137 (CC-BY)
In Brief:NASA, NOAA, USGS, and other U.S. government agencies project that the rise in ocean height in the next 30 years could equal the total rise seen over the past 100 years.
Coastal flooding will increase significantly over the next 30 years because of sea level rise, according to a new report by an interagency sea level rise task force that includes NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other federal agencies. Titled Global and Regional Sea Level Rise Scenarios for the United States, the Feb. 15 report concludes that sea level along U.S. coastlines will rise between 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 centimeters) on average above today’s levels by 2050.
The report – an update to a 2017 report – forecasts sea level to the year 2150 and, for the first time, offers near-term projections for the next 30 years. Agencies at the federal, state, and local levels use these reports to inform their plans on anticipating and coping with the effects of sea level rise.
“This report supports previous studies and confirms what we have long known: Sea levels are continuing to rise at an alarming rate, endangering communities around the world. Science is indisputable and urgent action is required to mitigate a climate crisis that is well underway,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “NASA is steadfast in our commitment to protecting our home planet by expanding our monitoring capabilities and continuing to ensure our climate data is not only accessible but understandable.”
The task force developed their near-term sea level rise projections by drawing on an improved understanding of how the processes that contribute to rising seas – such as melting glaciers and ice sheets as well as complex interactions between ocean, land, and ice – will affect ocean height. “That understanding has really advanced since the 2017 report, which gave us more certainty over how much sea level rise we’ll get in the coming decades,” said Ben Hamlington, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and one of the update’s lead authors.
NASA’s Sea Level Change Team, led by Hamlington, has also developed an online mapping .. https://sealevel.nasa.gov/task-force-scenario-tool .. tool to visualize the report’s state-of-the-art sea level rise projections on a localized level across the U.S. “The hope is that the online tool will help make the information as widely accessible as possible,” Hamlington said.
The Interagency Sea Level Rise Task Force projects an uptick in the frequency and intensity of high-tide coastal flooding, otherwise known as nuisance flooding, because of higher sea level. It also notes that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, global temperatures will become even greater, leading to a greater likelihood that sea level rise by the end of the century will exceed the projections in the 2022 update.
“It takes a village to make climate predictions. When you combine NASA’s scenarios of global sea level rise with NOAA’s estimates of extreme water levels and the U.S. Geological Survey’s impact studies, you get a robust national estimate of the projected future that awaits American coastal communities and our economic infrastructure in 20, 30, or 100 years from now,” said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, who directs the NASA Sea Level Change Team at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“This is a global wake-up call and gives Americans the information needed to act now to best position ourselves for the future,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “As we build a Climate Ready Nation, these updated data can inform coastal communities and others about current and future vulnerabilities in the face of climate change and help them make smart decisions to keep people and property safe over the long run.”
Building on a Research Legacy
The Global and Regional Sea Level Rise report incorporates sea level projections from the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment, released by the United Nations in August 2021. The IPCC reports, issued every five to seven years, provide global evaluations of Earth’s climate and use analyses based on computer simulations, among other data.
A separate forthcoming report known as the Fifth National Climate Assessment, produced by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, is the latest in a series summarizing the impacts of climate change on the U.S., and it will in turn use the results from the Global and Regional Sea Level Rise report in its analysis. The Climate Assessment is slated to publish in 2023.
NASA sea level researchers have years of experience studying how Earth’s changing climate will affect the ocean.
Their work includes research forecasting how much coastal flooding U.S. communities will experience in 10 years, .. https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3093/study-projects-a-surge-in-coastal-flooding-starting-in-2030s/ .. helping to visualize IPCC data on global sea level rise using an online visualization tool, .. https://sealevel.nasa.gov/ipcc-ar6-sea-level-projection-tool .. and launching satellites that contribute data to a decades-long record of global sea surface height.
Learn more about sea level and climate change here:
https://sealevel.nasa.gov/
https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3146/sea-level-to-rise-up-to-a-foot-by-2050-interagency-report-finds/
Vegas water intake now visible at drought-stricken Lake Mead
today (4/30/2022)
This photo taken Monday, April 25, 2022, by the Southern Nevada Water Authority shows the top of Lake Mead drinking water Intake No. 1 above the surface level of the Colorado River reservoir behind Hoover Dam. The intake is the uppermost of three in the deep, drought-stricken lake that provides Las Vegas with 90% of its drinking water supply. (Southern Nevada Water Authority via AP)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A massive drought-starved reservoir on the Colorado River has become so depleted that Las Vegas now is pumping water from deeper within Lake Mead where other states downstream don’t have access.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority announced this week that its Low Lake Level Pumping Station is operational, and released photos of the uppermost intake visible at 1,050 feet (320 meters) above sea level at the lake behind Hoover Dam.
“While this emphasizes the seriousness of the drought conditions, we have been preparing for this for more than a decade,” said Bronson Mack, water authority spokesman. The low-level intake allows Las Vegas “to maintain access to its primary water supply in Lake Mead, even if water levels continue to decline due to ongoing drought and climate change conditions,” he said.
The move to begin using what had been seen as an in-case-we-need-it hedge against taps running dry comes as water managers in several states that rely on the Colorado River take new steps to conserve water amid what has become perpetual drought.
“We don’t have enough water supplies right now to meet normal demand. The water is not there,” Metropolitan Water District of Southern California spokesperson Rebecca Kimitch said this week.
The agency told some 6 million people in sprawling Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties to cut their outdoor watering to one day a week, effective June 1, or face stiff fines.
The surface level of another massive Colorado River reservoir, Lake Powell, dipped below a critical threshold in March — raising concerns about whether Glen Canyon Dam can continue generating power for some 5 million customers across the U.S. West.
Lake Mead and Lake Powell upstream are the largest human-made reservoirs in the U.S., part of a system that provides water to more than 40 million people, tribes, agriculture and industry in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and across the southern border in Mexico.
At Lake Mead, the new pumps are fed by an intake drilled nearer to the bottom of the lake and completed in 2020 to ensure the ability to continue to draw water for Las Vegas, its casinos, suburbs and 2.4 million residents and 40 million tourists per year.
The “third straw” draws drinking water at 895 feet (272.8 meters) above sea level — below a point at which water would not be released downstream from Hoover Dam.
https://apnews.com/article/8a36b5b3e35a44969ceae706d759227c
Together, the pipeline and pump projects cost more than $1.3 billion. Drilling began in 2014, amid projections that the lake level would continue to fall due to drought. Increasingly dry conditions in the region are now attributed to long-term climate change.
Lake Mead, between Nevada and Arizona, reached its high-water mark in July 1983, at 1,225 feet (373.4 meters) above sea level. On Friday, the level was 1,055 feet (321.6 meters) — about 30% full. Some of the steepest cliffs bordering the lake show 170 feet (51.8 meters) of white mineral “bathtub ring.”
“Without the third intake, Southern Nevada would be shutting its doors,” said Pat Mulroy, former longtime chief of the Las Vegas-based water authority, who is now a consultant. “That’s pretty obvious, since the first straw is out of the water.”
A mid-level pipeline also can draw water from 1,000 feet (304.8 meters).
The authority maintains that the Las Vegas water supply is not immediately threatened. It points to water conservation efforts that it says since 2002 have cut regional consumption of Colorado River water by 26% while the area population has increased 49%.
https://apnews.com/article/climate-business-las-vegas-lakes-colorado-river-1c5396dc9c43bdb5d14835f4c8dcdb44
10 Ways That Trump Is Like Hitler
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Russia's tanks in Ukraine have a 'jack-in-the-box' design flaw.
And the West has known about it since the Gulf war
By Brad Lendon, CNN
Updated 7:18 PM ET, Wed April 27, 2022
A man rides a bike near a destroyed Russian tank near Brovary, near Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 15.
(CNN) -- Russian tanks with their tops blown off are just the latest sign that Russia's invasion of Ukraine isn't going to plan.
Hundreds of Russian tanks are thought to have been destroyed since Moscow launched its offensive, with British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on Monday estimating it had lost as many as 580.
But Moscow's problems go beyond the sheer number of tanks it has lost. Experts say battlefield images show Russian tanks are suffering from a defect that Western militaries have known about for decades and refer to as the "jack-in-the-box effect." Moscow, they say, should have seen the problem coming.
The problem relates to how the tanks' ammunition is stored. Unlike modern Western tanks, Russian ones carry multiple shells within their turrets. This makes them highly vulnerable as even an indirect hit can start a chain reaction that explodes their entire ammunition store of up to 40 shells.
The resulting shockwave can be enough to blast the tank's turret as high as a two-story building, as can be seen in a recent video on social media.
A man inspects destroyed tank of the Russian army about 40 kilometers west of Kyiv, the Ukraine capital.
"What we are witnessing with Russian tanks is a design flaw," said Sam Bendett, an adviser with the Russian Studies Program at the Center for a New American Security.
"Any successful hit ... quickly ignites the ammo causing a massive explosion, and the turret is literally blown off."
The flaw means the tank's crew -- usually two men in the turret and a third driving -- are sitting ducks, said Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst specializing in land warfare and a former British Army officer.
"If you don't get out within the first second, you're toast."
The 'jack-in-the-box" effect
Drummond said exploding munitions are causing problems for almost all of the armored vehicles Russia is using in Ukraine. He gave the example of the BMD-4 infantry fighting vehicle, typically manned by up to three crew and able to carry another five soldiers. He said the BMD-4 was a "mobile coffin" that was "just obliterated" when hit by a rocket.
But the design flaw with its tanks should be particularly galling for Moscow as the problems have been so widely telegraphed.
They came to the attention of Western militaries during the Gulf wars against Iraq in 1991 and 2003, when large numbers of the Iraqi army's Russian-made T-72 tanks suffered the same fate -- turrets being blown from their bodies in anti-tank missile strikes.
Drummond said Russia hadn't learned the lessons from Iraq and that consequently many of its tanks in Ukraine featured similar design flaws with their autoloading missile systems.
When the T-90 series -- the successor to the T-72 -- came into service in 1992 its armor was upgraded but its missile loading system remained similar to its predecessor's, leaving it just as vulnerable, Drummond said. The T-80, another Russian tank seeing action in the Ukraine invasion, has a similar missile loading system.
A destroyed Russian tank sits in the village of Dmytrivka, Ukraine.
There are some benefits to such a system. Bendett, at the Center for a New American Security, said Russia had chosen this system to save space and give the tanks a lower profile, making them harder to hit in battle.
Western militaries, however, had been spurred into action by the T-72's fate in Iraq.
"(Western militaries) all learned from the Gulf War, and from seeing tanks killed during that time, that you have to compartmentalize the ammunition," Drummond said.
He pointed to the US military's Stryker infantry fighting vehicles developed after the first war in Iraq.
"That has a turret that sits on top, and that turret does not enter the crew compartment. It purely sits on top and all the ammunition is inside that turret," he said. "So if the turret gets hit and blown off, the crew is still safe below. That's a very clever design."
Other Western tanks, such as the M1 Abrams used by the US and some allied armies, are larger and have no carousel. In the Abrams, a fourth crew member in the tank retrieves shells from a sealed compartment and transfers them to the gun for firing.
Ukrainian servicemen look at a destroyed Russian tank on a road in the village of Rusaniv, in the Kyiv region on April 16.
The compartment has a door that the crew member opens and closes between each shot taken by the tank, meaning that if the tank is hit, only one shell is likely to be exposed in the turret.
"An accurate hit can damage the tank, but not necessarily kill the crew," Bendett said.
And Drummond said the shells used by Western militaries sometimes burn under the high heat generated by an incoming missile, but they don't explode.
Hard to replace
There is no easy way of knowing how many Russian tanks have been destroyed in Ukraine. The open-source intelligence monitoring website Oryx said on April 28 that
at least 300 Russian tanks had been destroyed, with another 279 either damaged, abandoned or captured.
However, the site only counts instances where it has visual evidence, so Russian losses could be much higher.
And these losses are not just about equipment. When Wallace, the British defense secretary, gave his estimate of 580 lost tanks to the House of Commons he also said more than 15,000 Russian military personnel had been killed during its invasion.
It's hard to know how many of those are tank crew, but what is not in doubt is that the crews are not easy to replace.
Training a tank crew could take up to 12 months, said Aleski Roinila, a former tank crewman in the Finnish Defense Forces, "and that's considered quick."
And for Russia to replace hundreds of crew at this point in the war would be a tall order -- especially when the tanks they are expected to use are so flawed.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/europe/russia-tanks-blown-turrets-intl-hnk-ml/index.html
Russia's tanks in Ukraine have a 'jack-in-the-box' design flaw.
And the West has known about it since the Gulf war
By Brad Lendon, CNN
Updated 7:18 PM ET, Wed April 27, 2022
A man rides a bike near a destroyed Russian tank near Brovary, near Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 15.
(CNN) -- Russian tanks with their tops blown off are just the latest sign that Russia's invasion of Ukraine isn't going to plan.
Hundreds of Russian tanks are thought to have been destroyed since Moscow launched its offensive, with British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on Monday estimating it had lost as many as 580.
But Moscow's problems go beyond the sheer number of tanks it has lost. Experts say battlefield images show Russian tanks are suffering from a defect that Western militaries have known about for decades and refer to as the "jack-in-the-box effect." Moscow, they say, should have seen the problem coming.
The problem relates to how the tanks' ammunition is stored. Unlike modern Western tanks, Russian ones carry multiple shells within their turrets. This makes them highly vulnerable as even an indirect hit can start a chain reaction that explodes their entire ammunition store of up to 40 shells.
The resulting shockwave can be enough to blast the tank's turret as high as a two-story building, as can be seen in a recent video on social media.
A man inspects destroyed tank of the Russian army about 40 kilometers west of Kyiv, the Ukraine capital.
"What we are witnessing with Russian tanks is a design flaw," said Sam Bendett, an adviser with the Russian Studies Program at the Center for a New American Security.
"Any successful hit ... quickly ignites the ammo causing a massive explosion, and the turret is literally blown off."
The flaw means the tank's crew -- usually two men in the turret and a third driving -- are sitting ducks, said Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst specializing in land warfare and a former British Army officer.
"If you don't get out within the first second, you're toast."
The 'jack-in-the-box" effect
Drummond said exploding munitions are causing problems for almost all of the armored vehicles Russia is using in Ukraine. He gave the example of the BMD-4 infantry fighting vehicle, typically manned by up to three crew and able to carry another five soldiers. He said the BMD-4 was a "mobile coffin" that was "just obliterated" when hit by a rocket.
But the design flaw with its tanks should be particularly galling for Moscow as the problems have been so widely telegraphed.
They came to the attention of Western militaries during the Gulf wars against Iraq in 1991 and 2003, when large numbers of the Iraqi army's Russian-made T-72 tanks suffered the same fate -- turrets being blown from their bodies in anti-tank missile strikes.
Drummond said Russia hadn't learned the lessons from Iraq and that consequently many of its tanks in Ukraine featured similar design flaws with their autoloading missile systems.
When the T-90 series -- the successor to the T-72 -- came into service in 1992 its armor was upgraded but its missile loading system remained similar to its predecessor's, leaving it just as vulnerable, Drummond said. The T-80, another Russian tank seeing action in the Ukraine invasion, has a similar missile loading system.
A destroyed Russian tank sits in the village of Dmytrivka, Ukraine.
There are some benefits to such a system. Bendett, at the Center for a New American Security, said Russia had chosen this system to save space and give the tanks a lower profile, making them harder to hit in battle.
Western militaries, however, had been spurred into action by the T-72's fate in Iraq.
"(Western militaries) all learned from the Gulf War, and from seeing tanks killed during that time, that you have to compartmentalize the ammunition," Drummond said.
He pointed to the US military's Stryker infantry fighting vehicles developed after the first war in Iraq.
"That has a turret that sits on top, and that turret does not enter the crew compartment. It purely sits on top and all the ammunition is inside that turret," he said. "So if the turret gets hit and blown off, the crew is still safe below. That's a very clever design."
Other Western tanks, such as the M1 Abrams used by the US and some allied armies, are larger and have no carousel. In the Abrams, a fourth crew member in the tank retrieves shells from a sealed compartment and transfers them to the gun for firing.
Ukrainian servicemen look at a destroyed Russian tank on a road in the village of Rusaniv, in the Kyiv region on April 16.
The compartment has a door that the crew member opens and closes between each shot taken by the tank, meaning that if the tank is hit, only one shell is likely to be exposed in the turret.
"An accurate hit can damage the tank, but not necessarily kill the crew," Bendett said.
And Drummond said the shells used by Western militaries sometimes burn under the high heat generated by an incoming missile, but they don't explode.
Hard to replace
There is no easy way of knowing how many Russian tanks have been destroyed in Ukraine. The open-source intelligence monitoring website Oryx said on April 28 that
at least 300 Russian tanks had been destroyed, with another 279 either damaged, abandoned or captured.
However, the site only counts instances where it has visual evidence, so Russian losses could be much higher.
And these losses are not just about equipment. When Wallace, the British defense secretary, gave his estimate of 580 lost tanks to the House of Commons he also said more than 15,000 Russian military personnel had been killed during its invasion.
It's hard to know how many of those are tank crew, but what is not in doubt is that the crews are not easy to replace.
Training a tank crew could take up to 12 months, said Aleski Roinila, a former tank crewman in the Finnish Defense Forces, "and that's considered quick."
And for Russia to replace hundreds of crew at this point in the war would be a tall order -- especially when the tanks they are expected to use are so flawed.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/europe/russia-tanks-blown-turrets-intl-hnk-ml/index.html
The TRUMPANAZEES
David Horsey By David Horsey
Seattle Times cartoonist
Like a stereotypical Mafia boss, Donald Trump doles out favors from the seat of his empire at Mar-a-Lago, and political aspirants from all over the country are making the pilgrimage to Florida to kiss the ring of the most powerful figure in the GOP.
Among those who have sought and received the approbation of the twice-impeached president are Loren Culp and Joe Kent. Both men are attempting to oust Republican incumbents here in Washington. Trump was eager to aid Culp and Kent since their targets, Rep. Dan Newhouse in Central Washington’s 4th Congressional District, and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler in Southwest Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, are prominent on his list of those who have betrayed him.
Newhouse and Beutler are traditional conservatives whose political beliefs appear grounded in venerated principles, like the rule of law and the sanctity of constitutional government. Those principles led them to vote for Trump’s second impeachment after he encouraged the storming of the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/trumps-stamp-of-approval/
CNN Exclusive: Mark Meadows' 2,319 text messages reveal Trump's inner circle communications before and after January 6
By Jamie Gangel, Jeremy Herb and Elizabeth Stuart, CNN - 4h ago
CNN has obtained 2,319 text messages that former President Donald Trump's White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sent and received between Election Day 2020 and President Joe Biden's January 20, 2021 inauguration.
Patrick Semansky/AP
FILE - White House chief of staff Mark Meadows speaks with reporters outside the White House, Oct. 26, 2020, in Washington. The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection says it has "no choice" but to move forward with contempt charges against former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
The vast trove of texts offers the most revealing picture to date of how Trump's inner circle, supporters and Republican lawmakers worked behind the scenes to try to overturn the election results and then reacted to the violence that effort unleashed at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021
The logs, which Meadows selectively provided to the House committee investigating the January 6 attack, show how the former chief of staff was at the nexus of sprawling conspiracy theories baselessly claiming the election had been stolen. They also demonstrate how he played a key role in the attempts to stop Biden's certification on January 6.
The never-before-seen texts include messages from Trump's family -- daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and son Donald Trump Jr. -- as well as White House and campaign officials, Cabinet members, Republican Party leaders, January 6 rally organizers, Rudy Giuliani, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, Sean Hannity and other Fox hosts.
There are also text exchanges with more than 40 current and former Republican members of Congress, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Mo Brooks of Alabama and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
The texts include everything from plans to fight the election results to surprising and unexpected reactions on January 6 from some of Trump's staunchest allies. At 2:28 p.m., Greene, the conservative firebrand who had helped to plan the congressional objections that day, texted Meadows with an urgent plea for help as the violence was unfolding at the Capitol.
"Mark I was just told there is an active shooter on the first floor of the Capitol Please tell the President to calm people This isn't the way to solve anything," Greene wrote. Meadows does not appear to reply.
More messages flooded in.
"Mark: he needs to stop this, now. Can I do anything to help?" Mick Mulvaney, Trump's former acting White House chief of staff, texted Meadows.
"It's really bad up here on the hill. They have breached the Capitol," Georgia Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk wrote.
"The president needs to stop this ASAP," texted GOP Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina.
"POTUS is engaging," Meadows sent in response to Loudermilk. "We are doing it," he texted to Timmons.
"Thanks. This doesn't help our cause," Loudermilk replied.
Shortly after, Donald Trump Jr. weighed in: "This his(sic) one you go to the mattresses on. They will try to fuck his entire legacy on this if it gets worse."
"TELL THEM TO GO HOME !!!" texted Trump's first chief of staff, Reince Priebus.
Heated rhetoric and conspiracy theories
[...]
What Meadows turned over
[...]
Hannity to Meadows: 'Yes sir'
[...]
The fight to 'stop the steal'
[...]
Doubts about election fraud
[...]
'As bad as this can get'
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/cnn-exclusive-mark-meadows-2-319-text-messages-reveal-trump-s-inner-circle-communications-before-and-after-jan-6/ar-AAWzvsX
By Jamie Gangel, Jeremy Herb and Elizabeth Stuart, CNN
Updated 1:26 PM ET, Mon April 25, 2022
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/25/politics/mark-meadows-texts-2319/index.html
TRUMP WAS WORST PRESIDENT EVER ---- VERIFIED
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Chronicling Trump's 10 worst abuses of power
Analysis by Marshall Cohen
Illustrations by Alberto Mier
Updated 7:55 AM ET, Sun January 24, 2021
Washington (CNN)Former President Donald Trump flouted the limits of presidential power unlike any of his recent predecessors, leaving behind a legacy of unmatched abuses that range from violations of longstanding norms to potentially criminal behavior.
It was hard to keep track amid the daily deluge of controversial tweets and distractions that were a hallmark of the Trump presidency. And some of the most egregious abuses of power weren't clear at the time but came into focus after exhaustive investigations.
To chronicle Trump's most consequential abuses of power, CNN spoke with a politically diverse group of constitutional scholars, presidential historians and experts on democratic institutions.
While these 16 experts did not agree on everything, there was consensus that Trump's pattern of abusing his powers for personal or political gain reached an alarming level that hasn't been seen in modern history, and will have long-lasting consequences for the future of American democracy.
Here is a breakdown of Trump's 10 most significant abuses of power.
#1: Subverting the 2020 election
There is broad agreement among experts that Trump's most severe abuse of power was his relentless effort to undermine the 2020 election and overturn the legitimate results.
Michael Paulsen, a conservative legal scholar and professor at the University of St. Thomas, in Minnesota, called it a "form of a political coup d'état against our Constitution."
Throughout the 2020 campaign, Trump spread provably false disinformation about the voting process. He even floated the idea of unconstitutionally delaying the election, leading to a bipartisan rebuke.
After Trump lost, he falsely claimed victory and pressured election officials in battleground states to fraudulently throw out millions of votes for President Joe Biden. The most memorable example was Trump's hour-long call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, when he harangued the GOP official to "find" just enough votes to nullify Biden's narrow victory in that state.
Trump's legal team filed dozens of meritless lawsuits alleging fraud, which were rejected by a bipartisan array of federal and state judges, and the Supreme Court. When these efforts failed, Trump unsuccessfully tried to coerce then-Vice President Mike Pence to unlawfully override the Electoral College process and block Biden's victory in Congress.
"Nothing remotely compares to this," said Akhil Amar of Yale Law School, who is among the most-cited constitutional scholars in the country. "His actions since the election have threatened the very existence of our constitutional democracy. This looms large in the history of not just this administration, but the history of America. This is what history will remember most harshly."
Along the way, the Trump administration dragged its feet on the formal transition of power, which was delayed for weeks while Trump refused to acknowledge defeat. Biden said his team was met with "obstruction" from Trump appointees at the Pentagon and White House. Trump's efforts to undermine the transition are unprecedented in modern American history, the experts said.
"Trump has put more pressure on the integrity of the election process than any individual in modern American history. There has never been anything on this scale," said Rick Hasen, a former CNN analyst and election law expert who teaches at the University of California, Irvine.
#2: Inciting an insurrection
Trump's attempts to cling to power reached a horrifying crescendo on January 6, when he incited a large gathering of supporters in Washington to attack the US Capitol while the electoral votes were being counted.
"This in and of itself puts Trump in the lowest circle of hell among America's presidents, along with the likes of James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson," Amar said.
At a rally before the attack, Trump urged supporters to march to the Capitol and "fight like hell," telling them, "You'll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength." The protests quickly transformed into a violent mob, which overran police barriers and stormed the building. The occupation was quelled after several hours of violent clashes, which led to five deaths.
"It is not far-fetched to argue that he should have anticipated that his false election claims and incitement to march on the Capitol to 'stop the steal' would have devastating consequences," said Ross Garber, a Tulane Law School professor who previously defended four Republican governors that faced impeachment.
Figures from both parties labeled the attack an insurrection and blamed Trump for the violence, which killed one police officer and four rioters. No US president, with the possible exception of Andrew Johnson, has ever fomented a violent uprising against lawmakers, though Trump denies responsibility.
The incident led to Trump's second impeachment by the House, in the most bipartisan impeachment vote in US history, for "incitement of insurrection." The Senate is expected to begin Trump's trial on February 9.
"The founders intended that the office of the president be held by people with sufficient virtue," said Franita Tolson, a constitutional law professor at the University of Southern California. "They recognized the risk of someone who is a tyrant abusing the office, but they didn't build a system to prevent it. The question is, will we learn from this, and alter our Constitution to prevent this from happening again?"
#3: Abusing the bully pulpit
[...]
#4: Politicizing the Justice Department
[...]
#5: Obstructing the Mueller investigation
[...]
#6: Abusing the pardon power
[...]
#7: The Ukraine affair and cover-up
[...]
#8: Loyalty oaths and personalizing government
[...]
#9: Firing whistleblowers and truth-tellers
[...]
#10: Profiting off the presidency
Trump was the first billionaire to ascend to the presidency. When he took the mantle in 2017, he defied the near-universal advice from ethics specialists and refused to divest from his international business empire. Instead, Trump temporarily turned over control of his company to his adult sons, which he said his lawyers cleared from a conflict-of-interest standpoint.
The biggest issue, the experts said, was the appearance of a massive conflict of interest.
"It is reflective of his own moral compass. It is showing the way in which he thinks about his role as president," said Rose-Ackerman, the Yale professor who studies political corruption. "It isn't tied so much to a million dollars here or a million dollars there. It's tied to his perspective about what it means to be president -- that he sees it as giving him free range to do things."
Trump spent considerable time at his own properties and golf clubs, substantially raising their profile, and even making money from the federal government along the way. Trump's company billed the US government millions of dollars, including for Secret Service agents to stay at his properties while protecting him.
His high-end hotel in Washington, DC, became a mainstay for GOP insiders and lobbyists, and even some foreign officials, who were accused of buying influence by booking rooms. (The Trump Organization said it voluntary donated all profits from foreign governments to the United States Treasury.)
"We've depended on a combination of legal requirements and norms to prevent conflicts of interest and self-dealing," said Deborah Hellman, a University of Virginia law professor who studies political corruption. "Once norms get broken, it's hard to put them back together again."
Some of the experts said there are serious questions about Trump's potential violations of the Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution, which bans federal officials from taking payments from foreign governments. DC-area businesses, as well as Democratic lawmakers and attorneys general, tried to go after Trump in the courts, but progress has been slow.
This was yet another situation where Trump skirted norms and benefited from the fact that the laws on the books aren't really designed to deal with a president with his own global business.
"What Trump figured out -- the autocrats that I study, like Orban in Hungry, Erdogan in Turkey and Bolsonaro in Brazil, they all do this -- they operate in this space where no law actually prohibits, but soft norms govern. And because there is no law, it's hard to hold them to account. That's how democracies collapse," said Scheppele, the Princeton expert on failed governments.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/24/politics/trump-worst-abuses-of-power/index.html
Fleeing Ukrainians Find Refuge in Medieval Irish Castle
By Reuters
|April 20, 2022, at 5:20 a.m.
Ukrainian refugees from Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia sing happy birthday in 15th Century Ballindooley Castle in Galway, Ireland, April 16, 2022.
Owner Barry Haughian has offered his castle as shelter for two families of Ukrainian refugees to stay in. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneReuters
1:51
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-04-20/fleeing-ukrainians-find-refuge-in-medieval-irish-castle
By Clodagh Kilcoyne
GALWAY, Ireland (Reuters) - When Irishman Barry Haughian and his Spanish wife Lola watched Ukrainians flee their homes but had no space to help in their house in Madrid, they decided to offer up their second home instead - a 15th century castle in the west of Ireland.
Within a day Haughian was on a plane to Poland, having set up a Facebook account for the first time to offer refuge. Eleven Ukrainians - one group from Dnipro and another from Zaporozhye near Mariupol - returned with him to Ballindooley Castle.
"We were emotional wrecks for probably more than a week. We weren't sure what we were doing, and just trying to make things better for them," said Haughian, who is staying in the four storey castle with his wife and two teenage children.
"So now, every week it gets better... You can see the weight coming off their shoulders. We've got people dropping in all the time trying to help them. It's a real 'céad míle fáilte' (a hundred thousand welcomes) from the people of Ireland."
INSPECTOR GENERAL -U.S. Department of Defense
A P R I L 1 3 , 2 0 2 2
Report No. DODIG-2022-083
(U) Evaluation of the Department
of Defense’s Efforts to Address
the Climate Resilience of
U.S. Military Installations
in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic
https://media.defense.gov/2022/Apr/15/2002977604/-1/-1/1/DODIG-2022-083.PDF