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Baltimore bridge down. Captain asleep or one toke over the line.
BREAKING: Ship collides with Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse pic.twitter.com/OcOrSjOCRn
— BNO News (@BNONews) March 26, 2024
Elon Musk's approach to "free speech" is again shown to be only about it being free for people he likes and agrees with. https://t.co/dORST5aZfI
— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) March 25, 2024
Alzheimer’s ‘breakthrough’ stalls: why a much-hyped drug is facing approval delays
The benefits of drugs such as donanemab, aducanumab and lecanemab are proving harder to quantify than potential harms, experts say
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/24/alzheimers-breakthrough-drugs-medicine-donanemab-aducanumab-lecanemab
Melissa Davey Medical editor
Sat 23 Mar 2024 15.00 EDT
It was heralded in news articles as a “breakthrough”, a “turning point” and a “gamechanger” for Alzheimer’s disease. Some experts went so far as to call the drug, donanemab, the “beginning of the end” for the debilitating condition.
Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly in May 2023 released data from a clinical trial they said showed donanemab slowed cognitive and functional decline in people with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease by 35% over 18 months.
The findings saw the head of Alzheimer’s Research UK and other experts call on drugs regulators to rapidly approve the treatment for use in patients.
But despite reports the US drugs regulator was set to approve donanemab “any day”, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) instead announced on 8 March that it had delayed its decision.
The FDA said it wants an independent panel to further scrutinise data on the safety and efficacy of donanemab, with a decision now expected later in 2024. UK, European and Australian regulators are also still assessing the drug.
In a statement, the executive vice-president of Eli Lilly, Anne White, said: “We are confident in donanemab’s potential to offer very meaningful benefits to people with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease”.
“It was unexpected to learn the FDA will convene an advisory committee at this stage in the review process, but we look forward to the opportunity to further present the [trial] results and put donanemab’s strong efficacy in the context of safety,” she said. “We will work with the FDA and the stakeholders in the community to make that presentation and answer all questions.”
Dr Timothy Daly, a dementia researcher with Sorbonne University in Paris, says this delay comes as no surprise to him.
He says the benefits of donanemab, and similar, much-hyped drugs, including aducanumab and lecanemab, have proved harder to quantify than their potential harms.
“Under this narrative of drug success, there are some really strong side-effects,” Daly told Guardian Australia.
These are a type of drug known as novel monoclonal antibodies, and they target amyloid proteins in the brain. Many researchers believe the buildup of these proteins contributes to Alzheimer’s disease.
The drugs have been shown to reduce amyloid levels in the brain. But around three-in-10 people taking lecanemab or donanemab in clinical trials developed a condition known as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities, abbreviated to ARIA, a condition which can cause brain swelling or haemorrhaging.
“Mostly these seem to be minor, not come with any symptoms, and follow-up scans show they appear to have resolved,” Dr Sebastian Walsh, a public health doctor researching dementia risk reduction with the University of Cambridge in the UK, says.
“In a small percentage of participants it does seem to be much more serious, and there have been some deaths – particularly for those on blood-thinning-type medications.”
Some trial participants also experienced brain shrinkage – and the long-term effects of that are unknown.
‘It’s pure speculation’
In the donanemab trial, patients receiving the drug declined on average by 10 points on a 144-point scale that combined cognitive and functional scores. The placebo group who were not receiving the drug declined by 13 points.
This data was used by researchers to state that the drug slowed cognitive and functional decline by “more than one-third”, and offered people “extra months” or “up to one year of life” without further disease progression.
Walsh says efforts to translate clinical data into terms more meaningful for people to understand means the effects of the drug have been overblown in media reports.
“Whilst it is understandable that people want to think of other ways to present these numbers, it still needs to be scientifically valid,” he says.
“Those who have reported it being ‘an extra six months at higher function’ are on shaky ground scientifically I think. The trials didn’t measure recognition of a loved one, ability to drive, any of these things – extrapolating in this way is not really justified by the evidence we have. It’s pure speculation.”
A professor of neurology at Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, Edo Richard, told news channel Al Jazeera the drugs “clearly remove” amyloid proteins from the brain “very successfully”.
But a reduction in amyloid proteins does not necessarily lead to a slowing of cognitive decline, he said.
Research into the disease dating back more than 25 years has found that amyloid proteins are present in the brains of people with dementia. But they are also found in people who don’t have dementia, and who never go on to develop it, Richard told Al Jazeera.
While many drugs trialled in the past have reduced amyloid levels, donanemab, aducanumab and lecanemab appear to be the first to have also led to a change in cognitive decline. But Richard claimed that change was “statistically significant, but clinically irrelevant”.
When the FDA approved aducanumab in 2021, three FDA advisory committee members who advised against its approval because of what they believed was a lack of efficacy data resigned. One of the people who resigned described it as “probably the worst drug approval decision in recent US history”.
When it came to implementation, the US health insurance program Medicare said it would not cover it, and clinicians have also been cautious, with little use of the drug.
The Australian regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, in June found “there is no evidence of clinically meaningful efficacy” of aducanumab.
A ‘collective desperation’
As well as minimal meaningful clinical benefits from donanemab, patients also need to receive the drugs via an intravenous infusion at a medical clinic or hospital once every two to four weeks at a cost of about US$26,500, or A$40,500, a year plus undergo regular testing. It is a lot to ask of vulnerable people and their families.
Those who participate in clinical trials are also a highly selective group. In the donanemab trial, 1,320 participants with amyloid and early disease symptoms completed it. For every 10 people screened for eligibility for the trials, about eight were found to be ineligible.
In a commentary written for the Conversation, Walsh said if, when prescribed in the real world, “the drug eligibility is restricted to match the trial eligibility, then very few people will be eligible. If eligibility is broader, then already small effects are likely to be even smaller and side-effects more pronounced”.
The director of internal medicine and clinical epidemiology at the Princess Alexandra hospital in Queensland, Australia, Prof Ian Scott, published a paper in the February edition of the journal Age and Ageing with similar concerns. He wrote trials of amyloid-targeting monoclonal antibodies to date “do not provide high-quality evidence of clinically meaningful impacts at an affordable cost”.
Daly believes that significant focus on the potential of drugs that target amyloid buildup despite a lack of efficacy has been reductive, as it has seen less attention being paid to alternative hypotheses of what is causing the disease, and ways to tackle it.
A 2020 report from the Lancet commission on dementia estimated 40% of cases of age-related dementia are associated with 12 potentially modifiable risk factors across the lifetime, including air pollution, obesity, depression, and less education.
Daly says while such findings make it tempting to list lifestyle changes people can make to reduce dementia risk, this is also too simplistic, as it puts the onus on individuals rather than governments.
“Working conditions, forms of oppression and things that can’t as easily be seen as a dementia risk are just as important in preventing disease,” Daly says.
“There is an iceberg here – don’t just look at the surface at drugs and lifestyle. There are living conditions and social structures that represent deeper contributions to risk in the population, and interventions targeting these are needed by governments to make our society fairer and more dementia-resilient.”
Walsh says there is understandably “a collective desperation” among scientists and patients for better treatments and preventive options for Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most common cause of dementia in western societies and which has no cure.
“But this cannot cloud objectiveness when we look at the evidence,” he says.
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That's a common factor of others. Both Gallagher and Buck had already said they were leaving. The timing of when they leave has been the issue. They both have spoken up against the extreme right trumplicans also. Maybe look for republicans that have already said they are leaving and had the guts to speak out against the extreme clownship of their own party.
There seems to be more Democrats leaving, but isn't the toxic internal civil war going on within their party to see these political fights of early leaves.
Not sure how accurate these lists are, haven't spent the time to validate;
https://ballotpedia.org/List_of_U.S._Congress_incumbents_who_are_not_running_for_re-election_in_2024
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Nothing surprising here.
Great pull here. Jeffrey Yass just made the news when Trump reversed his position and opposed a ban on TikTok, where Yass is a major investor https://t.co/zFTomhtNJK
— Roger Sollenberger (@SollenbergerRC) March 22, 2024
Yes, they definitely did that, but also communicated with Russian officials. Even if they didn't the embassy notice went out on the 9th I believe and the 19th Putin was publicly bloviating about it, and you can be sure that a notice like that in an embassy in Putin's own country that belongs to a country he's at war with would get pretty quickly to Putin and a whole lot of others in his dictatorship.
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They were warned by both the US and UK about an imminent terrorist attack. Not sure why such a rare warning, but Putin just scoffed and ridiculed us and said that we were just trying to blackmail him. Now they are creating an accusational story blaming Ukraine and the West. From the pictures coming out, it was a major attack. All's fair in hate and war I guess.
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One less might be a good thing, but I don't really care for this sentence,
I think this could be just a fake fight. I don't think trump is going to get rid of Johnson, probably instructed Greene and Johnson to make a WWE type theatrics and have all the media focus on it, taking most of the attention away from the criminality of trumpians crimes, their fake impeachments and republicans/putin's lies and disinformation war. Both Johnson and Greene are under direct instruction from trump who all is under direction of Putin. Unless trump just went off demented again, or even if he didn't, he's the puppet master of both of them, so I wouldn't doubt at all that this is some sort of demented plan of the moment that trump thinks will benefit him. Maybe even to stand down and try to make trump or one of his group speaker. Who knows.
Everything, and I mean everything that the trumplicans do or say, it's the bizzarro world application and immediately know that it's pretty much opposite of whatever they're trying to imply and always look for the ulterior motive. Probably just a way to keep on the front page and reason everyone will post or write about it a thousand times. Whatever they are doing, trump is in control of both of them and they both are in constant contact and regular visitations with trump.
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The Supreme Court wasn’t captured by accident. It was the result of a years-long scheme. https://t.co/IL1ROjEsTh
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) March 21, 2024
Alzheimer's Associate recently came out with the 2024 reports. Some pretty horrific numbers. Hopefully AI will help come up with something.
149 page Facts And Figures;
https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf
Every government shutdown in the last 30 years has one thing in common. https://t.co/rYjvaXNER3 pic.twitter.com/9yE36hXxdy
— Steven Rattner (@SteveRattner) March 19, 2024
Probably put a reserve, that's pretty common, maybe just sell it outright without a bid for fire sale price. There will be an official appraisal like any other piece of property, but it won't be close to anything trump states. Like I said, don't really know how it will play out with the lien holders involved. Might even behoove NY to keep it for the income, but I doubt it. NY will own it and confiscate any income during time of possession though.
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I've lost count of the bought, sold, rented, and repo'd property I've done, but this crap is way above my pay grade. The value will be whatever the highest bid is and then revalued higher after the sale. We can fully expect the most nefarious means to delay, steal, and commit more fraud and money laundering to his best advantage. I half expect trump to come together with the money from his criminal connections.
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His giving philosophy is like traitor trump's, that is giving to oneself.
Elon Musk Has a Giant Charity. Its Money Stays Close to Home.
After making billions in tax-deductible donations to his philanthropy, the owner of Tesla and SpaceX gave away far less than required in some years — and what he did give often supported his own interests.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/10/us/elon-musk-charity.html
Allegations against the President have been debunked for years. Yet Republicans launched an impeachment inquiry anyway that found nothing over 15 months.
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) March 20, 2024
We already know the inquiry is a failure. What we really need to ask is: why did Chair Comer proceed knowing it was a sham? pic.twitter.com/wcYKCBlh09
Wonder if he was on the criminal choir that traitor trump was saluting. Only the best people for the republican base.
Idaho: white supremacist prisoner on the run after brazen hospital ambush
Three corrections officers injured after unknown accomplice of gang member Skylar Meade staged attack after hospital trip
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/20/idaho-white-supremacist-prisoner-hospital-trip-escape
Associated Press
Wed 20 Mar 2024 18.40 EDT
A white supremacist Idaho prison gang member and an accomplice remained on the loose Wednesday after the accomplice staged a brazen overnight attack to free the inmate as he was being transported from a Boise hospital, police said.
Three corrections officers were shot and wounded – two by the accomplice and one by responding police – during the attack in the ambulance bay at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center.
Police throughout the region were looking for the suspected shooter – still unidentified as of Wednesday afternoon – as well as the escaped inmate, described by officials as white supremacist gang member Skylar Meade. Meade, 31, was sentenced to 20 years in 2017 for shooting at a sheriff’s sergeant during a high-speed chase.
The pair fled in a gray four-door sedan, possibly a Honda Civic, with Idaho plates, police said.
The attack occurred at 2.15am as Idaho corrections officers prepared to bring Meade back to prison. Department director Josh Tewalt said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon that Meade was taken to the hospital at 9.35pm Tuesday after he engaged in “self-injurious behavior” and medical staff determined he needed emergency care.
One officer shot by the suspect was in critical but stable condition, police said, while the second wounded officer had serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The third injured corrections officer also sustained non-life-threatening injuries when a responding officer – incorrectly believing the shooter was still in the emergency room and seeing an armed person near the entrance – opened fire.
“This brazen, violent, and apparently coordinated attack on Idaho department of corrections personnel, to facilitate an escape of a dangerous inmate, was carried out right in front of the emergency department, where people come for medical help, often in the direst circumstances,” Boise police chief Ron Winegar said in a written statement.
Meade, 5ft 6in and 150lbs, has face tattoos with the numbers 1 and 11 – for A and K, the first and 11th letters of the alphabet, representing the Aryan Knights gang he affiliated with, Tewalt said. Photos released by police also showed an A and K tattooed on his abdomen.
An Idaho corrections department photograph shows Skylar Meade.
View image in fullscreen
An Idaho corrections department photograph shows Skylar Meade. Photograph: AP
Meade had been held in a type of solitary confinement called administrative segregation at Idaho maximum security institution in Kuna, about 12 miles (19km) south of Boise, because officials deemed him a severe security risk, Tewalt said.
Meade had been escorted in the ambulance and at the hospital by two uniformed, unarmed officers wearing ballistic vests, tailed by armed staff, Tewalt said. Under standard procedure for transporting a high-risk inmate, unarmed guards are on each side of the prisoner while an armed guard follows, he said.
Authorities did not say what security measures were in place when Meade left the hospital, or whether he was handcuffed, shackled or walking on his own.
The attack came amid a wave of gun violence at hospitals and medical centers, which have struggled to adapt to the threats.
A Saint Alphonsus spokesperson said the shooting happened in the ambulance bay by its emergency department.
“All patients and staff are safe, the medical center campus is safe and secure, and has resumed normal operations. The emergency department itself is currently under temporary lockdown while the Boise police department completes the investigation,” Leticia Ramirez said Wednesday morning in a statement.
She said as an added precaution, “we have increased security on campus, all entrances to the hospital will be closed” and monitored by hospital security until further notice.
Ramirez declined to comment when asked about Meade, deferring to the police department.
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Not the only thing by far. But by itself it's pretty good reason, better than the alternative voting for trump and his kids making millions and billions from China and other countries selling pieces of the US. Good reason for all of us.
Swalwell: Did you ever observed the Chinese government grant 22 patents to any of Joe Biden's Children while Joe Biden was in office?
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 20, 2024
Bobulinski: I did not pic.twitter.com/2V3SSq1sOy
Here's the Auto Workers endorsement for President Biden.
UAW ENDORSES JOE BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
January 24, 2024 5:03 pm/inCAP, Featured, News, Politics
https://uaw.org/uaw-endorses-joe-biden-for-president-of-the-united-states/
Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, January 24th, with hundreds of UAW members, leaders, and activists gathered at the union’s national Community Action Program (CAP) conference, the UAW announced its endorsement of Joe Biden for President of the United States.
Addressing the assembled members, UAW President Shawn Fain spoke to the issues facing the working class, and the strategic choice ahead in the 2024 presidential election.
“This November, we can stand up and elect someone who wants to stand with us and support our cause. Or we can elect someone who will divide us and fight us every step of the way,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “That’s what this choice is about. The question is, who do we want in that office to give us the best shot of winning? Of organizing. Of negotiating strong contracts. Of uniting the working class and winning our fair share once again, as our union has done so many times in our nation’s history. We need to know who’s going to sit in the most powerful seat in the world and help us win as a united working class.”
“Today I’m proud to announce that UAW is endorsing Joe Biden for President of the United States. And I am honored to invite Joe Biden to come address our great union, and join us in our fight for economic and social justice for the UAW and for the whole working class. UAW family, let’s stand up and welcome the man who stood up for us. Please welcome the current President of the United States, the man we will re-elect, Joe Biden!”
For President Fain’s full remarks as prepared, see below:
To view the full recorded and livestreamed proceedings of the UAW CAP Conference, go to UAW’s YouTube page. Media is encouraged to use these materials in coverage, with credit to UAW...................
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On a good note, we have real patriots still.
MAR 20, 2024
USW Endorses Joe Biden for Reelection as President
Contact: Jess Kamm Broomell, (412) 562-2444, jkamm@usw.org
https://www.usw.org/news/media-center/releases/2024/usw-endorses-joe-biden-for-reelection-as-president
(PITTSBURGH) – The United Steelworkers (USW) union today proudly endorsed Joe Biden for a second term as president of the United States.
“President Biden proved time and again during his first term that he stands with working families,” said USW International President David McCall. “His vision and leadership allowed our nation to strengthen workers’ access to collective bargaining, grow the middle class, and embark on a path to widespread prosperity.”
The union’s endorsement was the culmination of a months-long process that included surveying USW members regarding their top priorities. The union also sent prospective presidential candidates in both parties a detailed questionnaire to determine where each of them stands on key issues affecting working people.
“Our members told us that they value retirement security, affordable health care and labor laws that support our ability to form unions and negotiate strong contracts,” said McCall. “President Biden’s record on all these issues speaks for itself. He also laid out a strong plan for building on this momentum well into the future.”
In 2021, USW members led a union-wide effort backing large-scale infrastructure investment with strong Buy American provisions.
“President Biden, through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Inflation Reduction Act and other pro-worker legislation, is making good on his promise to create good, union jobs and healthier communities across the country,” McCall said. “Our nation has long needed this sort of sweeping investment. President Biden made it happen.”
McCall noted that by strategically combining these historic investments with a worker-centered trade policy that is rebuilding supply chains and supporting critical industries, President Biden is promoting domestic manufacturing and widespread prosperity, not just in the short term but well into the future.
This is in addition to the many other ways in which Biden and his administration helped advance workers’ interests, McCall said.
“President Biden’s leadership revitalized the Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board so that they are once again fulfilling their mission to empower working people.
“And he consistently held firm on protecting Americans’ retirement security, fending off attacks on Social Security and Medicare.
“Among the many accomplishments of Biden’s American Rescue Plan was shoring up the troubled multi-employer pension plans that put more than a million workers’ retirements in jeopardy through no fault of their own – including 120,000 USW members and retirees. These workers can now look to the future with optimism rather than fear.”
McCall said that workers and their families need their elected officials to share their priorities.
“Workers and their families are more secure than they were four years ago, thanks to President Biden’s leadership. From infrastructure to retirement security, international trade to safer workplaces, President Biden got the job done,” McCall said. “We’re honored to back him as he runs for reelection.”
The USW represents 850,000 workers in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in health care, public sector, higher education, tech and service occupations.
Facts: We are at war with Russia, Putin's Russia is our enemy and our adversary, US citizens that aid and abet our enemies are traitors.
Another take.
Parnas testifies that unverified political dirt would come over from Ukraine that he would pass along John Solomon, and then Solomon would immediately go on Fox News and amplify it. He also singles out Ron Johnson and Pete Sessions for doing Russia's bidding with him. pic.twitter.com/eRa5vlP2Dw
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 20, 2024
Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
Lev Parnas: "I believe that what we are facing now is the culmination of a much larger plan for Russia to crush Ukraine by infiltrating the United States."
"In my travels, I found precisely zero proof of the Bidens' criminality. Instead, what I learned in that timeframe was the true nature of the conspiracy that the Kremlin was forcing through Russian, Ukrainian, American, and other channels to interfere in our elections. Ultimately this was meant to benefit Trump's re-election, which would in turn benefit Vladimir Putin."
9:55 AM · Mar 20, 2024
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414.9K
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Correction: it's not "infiltrating", should be past tense, "infiltrated".
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Like having the bird in hand AND the two in the bush.
Trump Golf Club Settlement Hangs Alina Habba Out to Dry
The former president’s lawyer may still face fallout for her involvement in an ex-employee’s hush money deal over harassment claims at Trump’s Bedminster club.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-new-jersey-golf-club-settlement-hangs-lawyer-alina-habba-out-to-dry
Jose Pagliery
Political Investigations Reporter
Updated Mar. 19, 2024 10:18AM EDT / Published Mar. 19, 2024 4:42AM EDT
Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, paid $82,500 last week to settle a lawsuit alleging that it had silenced a sexually harassed waitress by tricking her into an unfair hush money deal, according to the ex-employee’s lawyer.
But the curiously worded contract left the former president’s own attorney Alina Habba—a rising star in his orbit—wide open to getting sued herself.
Trump and his top advisers are already a magnet for legal trouble. Habba, who already settled a discrimination lawsuit by her former legal secretary, is no exception. But now she faces the wrath of Alice Bianco, who was once a waitress at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, the real estate tycoon’s summertime abode.
Bianco feels betrayed by Habba, who was one of her Bedminster regulars until, her lawsuit says, Habba posed as a concerned friend giving legal advice about how to address alleged sexual harassment by a supervisor—only to abuse that relationship and “fraudulently inducing” her to “quickly agree to unconscionable and illegal terms.”
The alleged ploy, rapidly paced over just two weeks, gave Habba leverage to arrange a hush money deal that would curry favor with the former president and earn her way into his inner circle.
Within a month of working on the August 2021 hush money deal, Habba quickly became Trump’s leading lawyer defending him from a sexual assault defamation case by former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos—replacing Trump’s nationally renowned attorney on the case. That case was later dropped.
The scandal concerning the toxic non-disclosure agreement at Bedminster threatens to expose what appears to be the strange origin story of a little-understood, up-and-coming lawyer who suddenly became a legal adviser to the former and possibly future president—just as he faces four criminal indictments and cases that seek to empty his considerable bank accounts.
Bianco is now preparing to sue the club all over again, this time for sexual harassment. But she’s also targeting Habba with a potential fraud lawsuit too, according to Bianco’s New Jersey lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith................................................
...........................................The news is sure to fuel what’s become a popular online meme, one that claims MAGA stands for Make America Great Again as much as its comical alternative: Make Attorneys Get Attorneys.
Rudy Giuliani has lost his bar license in two jurisdictions for peddling Trump’s fake election fraud claims. M. Evan Corcoran had to bow out from defending Trump for hoarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after a judge handed over his notes to federal prosecutors. Political adviser Boris Epshteyn appears to be named as a co-conspirator in the Fulton County District Attorney’s case against Trump for election interference.
Now, Habba faces potential consequences—to her professional credentials and her own bank accounts—for organizing a tiny settlement that’s just been ripped up.....................
......................................Habba has already earned a singular reputation as Trump’s made-for-TV lawyer in court, drawing the ire of colleagues on the former president’s expansive legal team who question her juridical acumen, according to half a dozen people who spoke to The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity.
In Florida, one federal judge held Habba personally responsible for a “frivolous” Trump revenge lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and sanctioned them $937,989 together. In New York, another federal judge barked at her when she brought the same attack dog antics she displays on Newsmax into his courtroom.
But by aggressively defending her client, Habba has absorbed some of her client’s liability. With only weeks to go before the potential start of Trump’s very first criminal trial—involving, ironically, yet another hush money payment—Habba is now under a microscope for standing by while her other Trumpworld client committed perjury. She faces potential bar complaints in New York for allowing Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, to lie in court and in two depositions without correcting the record.
But she now faces a potential bar complaint in New Jersey too, this from a scorned waitress who considered her a friend...................................
There are no friends in MAGA, only lies, pits, and bus tracks. If only Dr. Shannon Klingman could invent something for that.
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Interesting;
Holmes County has one of the largest Amish populations in the country. Are we witnessing a coordinated Amish vote against Trump? pic.twitter.com/Ss8lWeNQMz
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) March 20, 2024
Another half a billion needed? No problem, I'll raise that. Not a BINO.
MacKenzie Scott donates $640M -- more than double her initial plan -- to nonprofits
The billionaire philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott announced Tuesday she would give $640 million to more than 360 organizations in response to an application process she launched last year
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/mackenzie-scott-donates-640-million-double-initial-plan-108274902
ByTHALIA BEATY Associated Press
March 19, 2024, 9:01 AM
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A couple more black collar crimes for the day.
Top leaders at Maryville’s Apostolic Christian Academy knew of at least two separate times Kade Abbott sent inappropriate messages to the 14 yr old, but he was allowed to maintain contact with students & no one was notified. His survivor’s parents are suing the school. https://t.co/M5ptvnzQyM
— 𝐁𝐞𝐤𝐬 (@antifaoperative) March 19, 2024
What are they hiding? It seems that a good media sleuth should be able to find their ads "Couple in search of other couples or LBGTQ singles for bedroom adventures." A docu series or reality tv show in the making. lol
Moms for Liberty Co-Founder Sues to Keep Police Docs in Rape Probe Secret
‘GREAT HUMILIATION’
The “parental rights” activist’s hubby, Christian Ziegler, was accused of raping their threesome partner. Now the couple filed a lawsuit to destroy texts obtained by police.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/bridget-and-christian-ziegler-sue-to-keep-police-docs-in-rape-probe-secret?
Kate Briquelet
Senior Reporter
Updated Mar. 19, 2024 1:17PM EDT / Published Mar. 19, 2024 12:46PM EDT
Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler and her husband are suing Sarasota police and prosecutors to stop the release of records related to his rape probe.
Last October, cops began investigating Ziegler’s husband, Christian, after the MAGA power couple’s threesome partner accused him of sexual assault. After local news outlet the Florida Trident published the claims, Christian Ziegler lost his job as Florida’s Republican Party chairman and Bridget Ziegler was let go from the conservative leadership institute.
Authorities ultimately decided against charging Christian Ziegler with rape and video voyeurism, but the sex scandal underscored the hypocrisy of the Zieglers’ family values persona—one critics have called anti-LGBTQ—while engaging in bisexual activity.
According to the couple’s lawsuit filed Friday, the release of records from the Sarasota Police Department (SPD) and State Attorney’s Office (SAO) would “cause great humiliation and harm to their individual reputations.” The Zieglers are asking Sarasota County court to bar the release of records and “order the permanent destruction” of any text messages.
The complaint, first reported by the Trident, says cops executed search warrants on Christian Ziegler’s cellphone that didn’t limit investigators to a specific time period or to communications with his accuser. Instead, it included all text messages, call logs, images and video, web browser history, and emails.
One warrant gave police “unfettered access to the entire contents of Christian Ziegler’s cell phone,” the complaint states. “To say that someone’s entire life is contained on one’s cell phone is an understatement.”
Both SPD and SAO have received public records requests “seeking the entirety” of what was uncovered in the warrants, the filing says. “The Zieglers are concerned that other individuals and media outlets will most likely make, or have already made, similar public records requests with either SPD or the SAO now that the investigation has concluded.”...............
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Former USAID official says window to avert famine in Gaza has closed. “Famine level mortality is starting to rise and has a lot of momentum. This is now about containing the severity of the famine, not preventing it.” 🧵 https://t.co/0HsKpGcYJ6
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) March 19, 2024
As you read about Kushner advising that Israel ethnically clean Palestinians out of their home to build a beach resort, remember that at his behest, on December 22, 2016, Mike Flynn "colluded" w/Russia to protect Bibi Netanyhu fr accountability for illegal West Bank settlements. https://t.co/AdsukWBKQ0
— emptywheel (synonym: dissect) (@emptywheel) March 19, 2024
Manafort & Stone have been partners in organized crime for decades. They had a firm referred to as the “Torturer’s Lobby” which took millions from dictators.
— Jim Stewartson, Counterinsurgent 🇺🇸🇺🇦💙🎈 (@jimstewartson) March 18, 2024
Manafort joined the Trump campaign when Mike Flynn did in early 2016 and his only real contribution was taking language…
HEALTH REPORTING IN THE STATES
Standard pregnancy care is now dangerously disrupted in Louisiana, report reveals
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/03/19/1239376395/louisiana-abortion-ban-dangerously-disrupting-pregnancy-miscarriage-care
MARCH 19, 20245:01 AM ET
By Rosemary Westwood
In the wake of Louisiana's abortion ban, pregnant women have been given risky, unnecessary surgeries, denied swift treatment for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, and forced to wait until their life is at risk before getting an abortion, according to a new report first made available to NPR.
It found doctors are using extreme caution to avoid even the appearance of providing an abortion procedure.
"We were stunned by just how much regular medical practice for pregnant people has been disrupted," said Michele Heisler, the medical director of Physicians for Human Rights and one of the report's authors.
The report draws on interviews with 30 health care providers and 13 patients conducted in 2023, and was jointly supported by four groups that support abortion access: Physicians for Human Rights, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Lift Louisiana and Reproductive Health Impact.
It's among the most comprehensive research to date showing abortion bans are changing pregnancy care and worsening maternal health. It concludes that Louisiana's ban is impeding a federal law that regulates the provision of emergency health care, and is infringing on reproductive and human rights.
"There are going to be deaths that didn't have to happen. There are going to be severe complications that didn't have to happen," said Dr. Nicole Freehill, a New Orleans OB-GYN interviewed for the report...................
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Tesla took home $4.4 billion in profits as CEO Elon Musk carted off $2.28 billion in stock options. Meanwhile, Tesla has, during that same period of time, paid an effective tax rate of zero percent. https://t.co/12mrc62rz3
— The New Republic (@newrepublic) March 16, 2024
A Missouri family of four making $40,000 a year can’t qualify for free/reduced lunch.
— Jess Piper (@piper4missouri) March 14, 2024
A Missouri family of four making $166,500 a year can qualify for free/reduced private tuition. pic.twitter.com/bUOqAJMhNZ
Ex-FBI informant accused of lying about Bidens was called a "fraudster" in a prior case
cbs-mornings
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alexander-smirnov-fbi-informant-bidens-fraudster-in-prior-case/
By Daniel Klaidman, Scott MacFarlane, Jessica Kegu
Updated on: March 15, 2024 / 8:22 AM EDT / CBS News
Federal prosecutors were put on notice as far back as 2016 that Alexander Smirnov, the confidential FBI informant whose alleged lies about President Biden's business dealings fueled — and then damaged — a Republican impeachment effort, was a known "liar and a fraudster."
Smirnov, 43, was indicted last month for allegedly fabricating a story about President Biden and his son Hunter each accepting $5 million bribes from a Ukrainian energy company. It was a shocking turn of events, especially given that Smirnov's explosive allegations had been a key piece of the GOP's impeachment quest against Mr. Biden — and that Republican lawmakers had touted him as a highly credible witness.
A CBS News investigation reveals that serious doubts about Smirnov's credibility were raised almost a decade ago and are now prompting questions about why he remained on the FBI payroll as long as he did. CBS News has identified an earlier criminal case in which Smirnov provided information to the FBI that led to a prosecution. And in that earlier case, Smirnov was also accused of lying, just as he was about the corruption allegations against the Bidens.
"Having seen how much he lies, it's kind of surprising that he has been able to do it for as long as he has without anyone in the government stopping him," said Joseph Benincasa, a defense lawyer in that case. "They never should have used him again … it's shocking."
The FBI declined through a spokesperson to comment for this report.
Law enforcement experts told CBS News that the mounting questions about Smirnov's truthfulness should trigger an audit of every case in which he was involved.
"I think a review has to be done, either internally by the FBI or, more advisedly, by the Department [of Justice] to find out not only what happened here, but whether there is a systemic problem in the…supervision of informants," said Michael Bromwich, who is a former Justice Department inspector general.
That could require federal prosecutors to painstakingly re-examine every case Smirnov was involved in to determine whether they were tainted by his deceit, Bromwich said. Agents would likely have to make that effort known to defense lawyers and judges in those cases.
Smirnov's work for the FBI was a closely held secret until February, when the FBI indicted him for allegedly lying to agents about the conduct of President Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. The indictment claims that in 2020 he falsely told the FBI that Hunter Biden demanded millions of dollars for himself and then-Vice President Biden to shield a Ukrainian energy company from an investigation by the country's top prosecutor. Hunter Biden served on the board of the energy firm, Burisma.
According to the indictment, Smirnov told his handlers that Hunter Biden had promised to protect the company "through his dad from all kinds of problems." But FBI officials became suspicious of Smirnov's bombshell allegations when they realized the timeline of events he gave his handlers didn't add up. The indictment also revealed that Smirnov had connections to Russian intelligence services, raising the specter of a disinformation campaign.
The February indictment was not the first instance in which Smirnov was accused of lying in his representations to the FBI, CBS News has learned. Smirnov surfaced as a key secret witness in a sweeping racketeering case in California in 2015. In that case, the Justice Department brought charges against 33 defendants with ties to Armenian organized crime groups. Among the charges were money laundering, health care fraud and even a murder-for-hire.
Smirnov's information contributed to the case against a married couple, Tigran Sarkisyan and his wife Hripsime Khachatryan, charged with conspiring with others to use fake identities to collect tax reimbursements from the federal government. The couple eventually pleaded guilty to a single count of racketeering in May 2017. In a 2018 sentencing memorandum, the couple's lawyers flatly accused Smirnov of deceit.
"The [Confidential Human Source] was known to the United States as a liar and fraudster," the sentencing brief states.
A footnote in the document states that the government was provided with the notes of their private investigator's interview with a close associate of Smirnov who repeatedly called him a "liar."
Benincasa, a lawyer for Sarkisyan and Khachatryan, said his clients' case raises serious concerns about the FBI's handling of its confidential informant.
"Confidential informants will say things to their handlers to, you know, they're trying to get a benefit. Some of them are even being paid. They want to be useful," Benincasa said. "But this one was somebody who was really blatant in his lies."
"In this case," he said, "the FBI did not seem to be interested in reining him [in]."
A lawyer for Smirnov, David Chesnoff, said in a statement, "Our client stands behind his years of service to the Department of Justice and the United States." Smirnov has pleaded not guilty.
Criminal informants are rarely "pillars of society," Steve Laycock, a former FBI assistant director of the bureau's intelligence division who was in charge of its confidential human sources program, told CBS News. They have access to information that is valuable to law enforcement precisely because they inhabit a world of criminals and illicit characters.
Bromwich agreed that an informant's murky background can make it challenging to navigate their tips.
"It's a very tricky and difficult business," he said. "But it's really important for the FBI or any other law enforcement agency to do whatever they can to verify the accuracy and truthfulness of the information they obtain."
Laycock also said the FBI always has an obligation to take careful notice — and possibly take action — when it is alerted to potential problems with its informants.
The story behind the earlier accusations against Smirnov followed a twisted tale involving charges and counter-charges of fraud and deceit among a cast of unsavory if colorful characters.
Smirnov, a dual citizen of Israel and the U.S. who grew up in Soviet-era Ukraine, had insinuated himself in the Armenian community and befriended Sarkisyan and Khachatryan, Benincasa said. But when they were indicted, the couple quickly surmised that Smirnov was a government plant, according to their lawyers. Sarkisyan and Khachatryan claimed that they had their own dealings with Smirnov entirely unrelated to the underlying racketeering charges, and they told their lawyers they could prove he was a liar and swindler.
In 2018, as part of an effort to gain leverage in the sentencing of their clients, the defense lawyers filed a civil complaint on Sarkisyan and Khachatryan's behalf against Smirnov. In it, they alleged breach of contract and fraud.
The lawsuit used Smirnov's real name but did not identify him as the confidential informant in the criminal case because that information was covered by a protective order. Nevertheless, the government knew it was the same person.
Benincasa believes federal prosecutors realized they had a problem. According to Benincasa, the prosecutors had originally indicated they would be seeking a 10-year sentence as part of any plea deal. But after the lawsuit was filed, the government softened its position. Benincasa said he believes prosecutors wanted to avoid seeing Smirnov deposed in the civil case and possibly have his identity as an informant exposed. In the end prosecutors asked for 21 months, an unusually sharp reduction from the original 10 years that Benincasa says they were seeking. The judge ultimately sentenced the couple to 15 months.
Today, Sarkisyan and Khachatryan are out of prison, living and working in Los Angeles and trying to put the whole legal ordeal behind them. Meanwhile, Smirnov is sitting in a federal correctional institution awaiting trial for his alleged lies to the FBI.
In the criminal indictment of Smirnov, prosecutors point out that his FBI handler "admonished" him that "he must provide truthful information to the FBI" on more than 20 occasions since becoming a confidential informant in 2010. Benincasa said his clients are considering filing for a review of their case in light of the revelations about Smirnov.
Pat Milton and Clare Hymes contributed to this report.
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Ian Sams
@IanSams46
White House spokesman for oversight and investigations. Special Assistant to the President & Senior Advisor to WH Counsel’s Office.
NEW >> White House Counsel letter today to Speaker Johnson:
— Ian Sams (@IanSams46) March 15, 2024
“It is clear the House Republican impeachment is over. It is obviously time to move on.”
“There is too much important work to be done for the American people to continue wasting time on this charade.” pic.twitter.com/OghBroWxT5
Lying has become a feature, not a bug, in American politics. Katie Britt proved that. Let’s demand better, my latest:https://t.co/3DDZ2PHhqs pic.twitter.com/2ZCdE17pWr
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) March 15, 2024