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US Monthly Headline News March 2022 - Page 2
Christopher Wilson

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson began her second day of Supreme Court nomination hearings by defending herself against Republican accusations she had been too lenient when sentencing child porn offenders. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., used the first round of questioning Tuesday morning to let Jackson rebut the charges, which senators had mentioned in Monday’s opening session of the hearings. Two of the committee’s members — Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. — referred to cases where Jackson issued sentences on child porn offenders in her time as a federal judge, while Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., encouraged his colleagues to pursue that line of questioning.
David G. Savage, Nolan D. McCaskill

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden's Supreme Court nominee, hit back Tuesday against Republican claims that she was lenient toward criminal defendants, including those convicted of possessing child pornography. She also promised to serve as an "even-handed" justice who would be independent and impartial. In response to questions from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jackson described child pornography as a "sickening and egregious crime" that she had to deal with regularly as a sentencing judge. She said that, as a mother with two daughters, she found it disturbing that this sexual abuse of minors circulates on the internet. She rejected the allegation from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) that she favored light treatment for these defendants. "Nothing could be further from the truth," she said. During sentencing hearings, she said she made sure "the children's voices" are heard. She said she not only sent these defendants off to prison but also prohibited them from using computers and the internet for decades.
The hearings for Biden's Supreme Court pick air all week on ABC News Live.
By Libby Cathey andEmily Shapiro

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, faces up to 11 hours of grilling Tuesday on Day 2 of her four-day confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Jackson, 51, who currently sits on the nation's second most powerful court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, is being questioned by each of the committee's 11 Republicans and 11 Democrats over two days. On Thursday, senators can ask questions of the American Bar Association and other outside witnesses.
Yun Li

Famed investor Carl Icahn said Tuesday an economic downturn could be on the horizon and he is loaded on protection against a steep sell-off in the market. “I think there very well could be a recession or even worse,” Icahn said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell Overtime” to Scott Wapner. “I have kept everything hedged for the last few years. We have a strong hedge on against the long positions and we try to be activist to get that edge... I am negative as you can hear. Short term I don’t even predict.” The founder and chairman of Icahn Enterprises said surging inflation is a major threat to the economy, while the Russia-Ukraine war only added more uncertainty to his outlook.
Andrew Stanton

Couy Griffin, the founder of "Cowboys for Trump" who on Tuesday was convicted of illegally entering the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 riot, slammed GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for missing his trial. After his ruling on Tuesday, Griffin addressed supporters and media outside of the courtroom, where he denounced the conviction and called out several Republican lawmakers for not showing up to the trial. "I know Marjorie Taylor Greene personally," he said. "I didn't see Marjorie one time around this trial right here that's affecting January 6. I didn't see Louie Gohmert here. I didn't see Matt Gaetz." He went on to question if the lawmakers believe "they're too good to come down to the federal place where all of this is taking place, or going to the jail where those guys are still locked up."
By Sean Lyngaas, CNN

(CNN) Hackers associated with Russian internet addresses have been scanning the networks of five US energy companies in a possible prelude to hacking attempts, the FBI said in a March 18 advisory to US businesses obtained by CNN. The FBI issued the notice days before President Joe Biden publicly warned that Kremlin-linked hackers could target US organizations as the Russian military continues to suffer heavy losses in Ukraine and as Western sanctions on the Kremlin begin to bite. Deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger said during Monday's White House briefing that Russia had been conducting "preparatory activity" for cyber attacks, which she said could include scanning websites and hunting for software vulnerabilities." There are at least 18 US companies in other sectors, such as defense and financial services that were subjected to the scanning, the FBI said.
By Clare Foran, CNN

(CNN) President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, defended her judicial record Tuesday as she faced intense questioning from Republican senators during the second day of her historic confirmation hearings. Republicans have attempted to portray the nominee as weak on crime by zeroing in on some of her past defense work and have raised questions over her judicial philosophy as they warn against activism, and prescribing policy outcomes, from the bench. During Tuesday's hearing, Jackson addressed and disputed those criticisms by stressing her concern for public safety and the rule of law, both as a judge and an American. She argued that she approaches her work in an impartial way and that personal opinions do not play a role.
Alex Sherman

BuzzFeed is shrinking its money-losing news organization, the company announced Tuesday, amid what people familiar with the matter describe as broader investor concern that the division is weighing down the company. Several large shareholders have urged BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti to shut down the entire news operation, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. BuzzFeed declined to comment. BuzzFeed News, which is part of its content division, has about 100 employees and loses roughly $10 million a year, two of the people said. The company, which also has advertising and commerce divisions, said Tuesday its full-year content revenue grew 9% in 2021 to $130 million.
By John Kruzel

President Biden's Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson called the high court's landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade recognizing a constitutional right to abortion “settled law,” noting it has been repeatedly reaffirmed by the court and “relied upon.” Under questioning from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Jackson was asked if she agreed with statements that Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett made about abortion law precedent during their confirmation hearings. Kavanaugh, during his hearing, said Roe “is settled as a precedent of the Supreme Court” and had been “reaffirmed many times” over the intervening decades, most prominently by the court’s 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Feinstein noted.
By Richard Albert, Opinion Contributor

On this day 50 years ago, Congress approved the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Within one year, 30 states had ratified it, fueling hopes that the ERA would soon become the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But a half-century later, the ERA is mired in legal uncertainty. The Supreme Court of the United States could ultimately strike it down as unconstitutional. The ERA is short but important. It declares that “equality of rights under law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” The ERA would give Congress the power to defend and promote sex equality, for instance, by fighting intrusive abortion restrictions, closing the gender pay gap and punishing unjust sex-based discrimination by federal, state and local government actors.
By The Kansas City Star Editorial Board

Even before it was Missouri Showboat Josh Hawley’s turn to question Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson at her confirmation hearing on Monday, our junior senator had succeeded in getting himself name-checked by two Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Eat your heart out, Ted Cruz. Committee Chairman Dick Durbin of Illinois and Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal both approvingly quoted a piece by Andrew McCarthy, of the conservative National Review, whose Monday column noted that Hawley’s spurious attack on the nominee as a coddler of pedophiles “appears meritless to the point of demagoguery.” Yes, that’s our senator. And unlike Hawley, McCarthy has years of experience in actually trying child porn cases.
The Missouri Republican meant to make Judge Jackson look awful. He denigrated himself in the process.
By Steve Benen

As Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings approached, Senate Republicans boasted about how responsible they’d be. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, for example, the process “will be thoroughly respectable, quite different from the way the Democrats treated Clarence Thomas, quite different from the way the Democrats treated Brett Kavanaugh.” It came on the heels of related rhetoric from Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I think you’re not going to find Republicans getting in the gutter like the Democrats did with Kavanaugh,” the Iowa senator claimed.
By Maegan Vazquez, Donald Judd and Sean Lyngaas, CNN

(CNN) President Joe Biden on Monday urged private sector partners to strengthen their cyber defenses immediately, pointing to "evolving intelligence" that suggests Russia could conduct malicious cyber activity against American companies and critical infrastructure. While the Biden administration has been warning the nation of the prospect of cyber attacks by Russia for months, most recently as a response to the economic restrictions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, the President's statement suggests "evolving intelligence" has heightened the threat. The details of exactly what that intelligence is remain unclear, but deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger said during Monday's White House briefing that Russia had been conducting "preparatory activity" for cyber attacks, which she said could include scanning websites and hunting for software vulnerabilities.
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — An elected official from New Mexico went to trial Monday with a judge — not a jury — set to decide if he is guilty of charges that he illegally entered the U.S. Capitol grounds on the day a pro-Trump mob disrupted the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. That’s not the only unusual feature of the case against Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, whose trial in Washington, D.C., is the second among the hundreds of people charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, siege. Griffin is one of the few riot defendants who isn’t accused of entering the Capitol or engaging in any violent or destructive behavior. He claims he has been selectively prosecuted for his political views. Griffin, one of three members of the Otero County Commission in southern New Mexico, is among a handful of riot defendants who either held public office or ran for a government leadership post in the 2 1/2 years before the attack.
The right claims it hates cancel culture except they do not, RINO is how republicans cancel their own. If you do not go along with party line, you are a RINO. In the GOP if you think for yourself you are a RINO.

An insult once reserved for Republican moderates has been weaponized
By David Siders

In speeches, ads and on social media, it is fast becoming the defining smear of the 2022 primary campaign season: RINO. The acronym — short for ‘Republican-In-Name-Only’ — is hardly new. But former President Donald Trump’s frequent use of the term has given it a new life, weaponizing a description once largely reserved for party moderates and turning it into a slur to be avoided at all costs. The mushrooming of the insult is measurable. In 2018, during the last midterm election, RINO barely registered as a mention in TV ads, according to an analysis compiled for POLITICO by the ad tracking firm AdImpact. But so far in 2022, candidates have already spent more than $4 million on TV ads employing RINO as an attack, in races ranging from House and Senate contests to state House races.
Brent D. Griffiths,Oma Seddiq

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin kicked off Monday's historic Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson by taking a thinly-veiled swipe at Republican Sen. Josh Hawley. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, went after Hawley over the Missouri senator's recent claim on Twitter that he'd "noticed an alarming pattern when it comes to Judge Jackson's treatment of sex offenders, especially those preying on children." "These baseless charges are unfair. A conservative National Review columnist called claims brought by one of my colleagues, 'meritless to the point of demagoguery," Durbin said in his opening statement. "They fly in the face of pledges my colleagues made that they would approach your nomination with civility and respect."
Bill Allison

(Bloomberg) -- Former President Donald Trump endorsed two dozen additional candidates in February, but his political action committee didn’t donate to them or any other candidates he’s backing, according to its latest filing with the Federal Election Commission. After taking in $3.5 million and spending just $1.2 million, Trump’s Save America ended February with $110 million in the bank. Thanks to his prodigious and unprecedented post-presidential fundraising, Trump has amassed a bigger war chest than any of the GOP party committees that are focused on the midterms, but for a second straight month didn’t donate any of it to other Republicans.
Yelena Dzhanova

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Friday said Republicans will remove Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff from the House Intelligence Committee if the GOP secures a majority in the November midterm elections. McCarthy, the top House Republican, said during a press conference that Schiff's presence and contributions politicized the committee. Schiff currently serves as the panel's chair. "Why is he still chair of the committee and why is he still even on the committee? In a new Congress, if it's a new majority, he will not be," McCarthy said.
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