"Where you can find almost anything with A Click A Pick!"
Go to content
US Monthly Headline News May 2022 - Page 3
By Travis Gettys | Raw Story

A federal grand jury is investigating Donald Trump's handling of classified materials found in boxes at Mar-A-Lago, and a legal expert said the matter should be getting much more attention. The development shows the Department of Justice believes a crime may have been committed, and MSNBC's Frank Figliuzzi said publicly available reporting already shows the 15 boxes of top-secret materials are believed to have been kept in the White House residence before they were boxed up and sent to Trump's private residence. "Fifteen boxes of classified documents sitting in the residential wing of the White House doesn’t sound like a mistake to me," wrote Figliuzzi, a former FBI special agent. "That sounds deliberate and less like an error that could be attributed to staff. Virtually every day during my 25 years with the FBI, I handled classified information. It was my experience that staffers, whose job is to know and comply with the rules and regulations for handling such data, don’t deliberately break those rules unless someone at a high level makes them break those rules. That’s why I don’t believe this grand jury is targeting low-level staffers." Investigators will also want to know what materials were in those boxes, and why the former president may have taken them home with him.
It is time we talk about angry white men and the angry white women.

by Kathleen Belew | The Atlantic

The mass shooting of Black grocery shoppers in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday follows a string of similar attacks. Gunmen have targeted worshippers at synagogues and mosques and temples and Bible study; they have opened fire on summer camps and people at festivals. We know the names of these places: Charleston; El Paso; Poway; Pittsburgh; Oak Creek; Christchurch, New Zealand. We know the names of the shooters, too, although I won’t list them here, because adding to their notoriety deepens the problem. Some of us also know by now that although we might think these are attacks on specific victim groups—and they are attacks on Black, Jewish, Islamic, Sikh, Latino, and immigrant populations—the aforementioned examples have all been part of one movement. In each event, a white-power activist was the perpetrator. Several of the assailants wrote extensively about their motivations in manifestos that outlined a coherent political ideology. And in the United States, they have been backed by a broad social movement that our legislators have failed to condemn, that our court system has failed to prosecute, and that our society has not stopped. This means that these are not “lone wolf” attacks even when they may appear to be, and certainly not just because a shooter has claimed to have been operating alone. The white-power movement has, since the early 1980s, organized the disparate groups of the militant right (Klansmen, neo-Nazis, militiamen, and others) around cell-style terrorism. Activists deliberately obscure their connections with one another. Yet the historical record reveals an interwoven tapestry of people on the militant right who have united in common cause to target minority communities and to undermine American democracy, and who ultimately hope to provoke race war.
By Tom Boggioni | Raw Story

In a biting editorial on Monday morning, the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal called out politicians and conservative media personalities for promoting the conspiratorial "white replacement theory" that was at the heart of the horrific mass shooting in Buffalo, New York on Saturday. As Yahoo News reports, a manifesto reportedly written by the 18-year-old gunman who murdered ten and wounded three at a grocery store in Buffalo "includes dozens of pages antisemitic and racist memes, repeatedly citing the racist 'great replacement' conspiracy theory frequently pushed by white supremacists, which falsely claims white people are being 'replaced' in America as part of an elaborate Jewish conspiracy theory." According to the WSJ editors, "We’ll learn more about the shooter’s motives and mindset, but it’s worth noting a report in the Buffalo News that an official in the school Mr. Gendron attended in Conklin, N.Y., said he had spoken of wanting to go on a shooting spree. He fits the profile of other young men who become mass shooters at an age when mental illness often strikes. Keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill isn’t easy, but it’s one form of gun control that would do some good." Moving past the mental illness element, the editors said blame must also be placed upon those whose words are writings may have influenced the shooter.
CNN's Jim Acosta talks to NAACP President Derrick Johnson about Tucker Carlson's dangerous rhetoric around replacement theory after an 18-year-old was charged with killing ten people in a racially-motivated supermarket shooting in Buffalo, New York.
Igor Derysh

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., accused Republican leaders of enabling "white supremacy" after a shooter who espoused "Great Replacement" theory talking points embraced by some in the GOP killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket on Saturday. Police say a white 18-year-old gunman livestreamed his attack on a Tops store in Buffalo, killing 10 and injuring three others. The suspect posted a so-called manifesto online detailing his plan to target a Black community and discussing his white supremacist ideology. The suspect wrote that he was motivated by the "Great Replacement" theory boosted by Republican lawmakers and Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson, arguing that immigration is being used to replace and diminish the influence of white people. Cheney, who served as the No. 3 Republican in the House before she was ousted by her party for criticizing former President Donald Trump, called out GOP leadership for boosting a conspiracy theory that inspired not only the Buffalo shooter but other mass shooters as well. "The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism," Cheney wrote on Twitter. "History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. @GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them."
Extremist ideology has found favor with media figures like Tucker Carlson and also with elected politicians and others seeking office
Richard Luscombe

The massacre by a white supremacist gunman of Black shoppers at a Buffalo grocery store has drawn renewed scrutiny of Republican figures in the US who have embraced the racist “great replacement theory” he is alleged to have used as justification for the murders. Born from far-right nationalism, the extremist ideology expounding the view that immigration will ultimately destroy white values and western civilization has found favor not only with media figures, such as the conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson, but a host of elected politicians and others seeking office. Those who have convinced themselves Democrats are operating an open-door immigration policy to “replace” Republican voters with people of color and keep themselves in power permanently include Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, chair of her party’s House conference, and JD Vance, the Donald Trump-approved Republican nominee to represent Ohio in the US Senate.
By Michael Luciano

As he occasionally does, J.D. Vance appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight, where he discussed illegal immigration with the host. At one point he echoed Great Replacement theory, which was first advanced by a far-right French author who claimed elites are replacing Europe’s White population with non-Whites. It has since been adopted by some conservatives in the U.S. In his efforts to out-MAGA the Republican primary field in the U.S. Senate race in Ohio, Vance has done a complete 180 from his fervent anti-Trump stance not that long ago. On Thursday, Tucker Carlson noted that the U.S. is sending military assistance to Ukraine, but is not deploying soldiers to the southern border with Mexico. “Without even weighing into the question of how and to what degree we oughta be supporting Ukraine in its efforts to get the Russians out of their country, why is no one trying to get the invasion of the United States to stop?” Carlson asked Vance. “And why is using U.S. military, in which you serve, a crazy idea?”
Marianna Sotomayor

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the No. 3 House Republican, and other GOP lawmakers came under scrutiny Sunday for previously echoing the racist “great replacement” theory that apparently inspired an 18-year-old who allegedly killed 10 people while targeting Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo. The baseless conspiracy theory claims that politicians are attempting to wipe out White Americans and their influence by replacing them with non-White immigrants. The theory was cited repeatedly by 18-year-old shooting suspect Payton Gendron in an online document that appeared to have outlined his intention to carry out his planned attack in Buffalo because of its significant population of Black people. Eleven of the 13 people shot at a Tops Friendly Markets store on Saturday were Black, according to police. While Stefanik has not pushed the theory by name, she and other conservatives have echoed the tenets of the far-right ideology as part of anti-immigrant rhetoric that has fired up the Republican base ahead of the midterm elections.
Colby Hall

Morning Joe opened Monday’s show with a sad and sober discussion about the racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo this weekend that left 10 dead. Ben Collins covers disinformation, extremism, and the internet for NBC News and mentioned Fox News prime time host Tucker Carlson as someone who is “directly trying to preach” to the sort of racist extremists like the Buffalo mass shooter. The shooter left a 180-page manifesto that reportedly featured the very same “Great Replacement Theory” rhetoric featured on Tucker Carlson Tonight. Carlson has come under heavy criticism for repeatedly promoting White replacement theory. “This policy is called the great replacement, the replacement of legacy Americans with more obedient people from far away countries,” Carlson said on his show in the Fall of 2021. “They brag about it all the time, but if you dare to say it’s happening, they will scream at you with maximum hysteria.” Joe Scarborough and Eugene Robinson had just spoken about how this rhetoric has been adopted as a political talking point by many high-ranking Republicans. Robinson named the third-ranking Republican member of Congress, Elise Stefanik, pointing his finger of blame at her for promoting the same conspiracy theory.
Joe DePaolo

CNN’s Abby Phillip called out Tucker Carlson and Fox News in the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo for pushing the “White replacement” conspiracy theory — which alleged shooter Payton Gendron touted in a manifesto. While moderating a panel on Inside Politics Sunday, Phillip invoked Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s (R-IL) callout of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) for promoting the far-right conspiracy theory — which espouses the notion that there is a plot to replace White people with immigrants. And Phillip noted that Stefanik is far from the only person or entity peddling the theory. “Over the weekend, Adam Kinzinger highlighted the no. 3 Republican in the house, Elise Stefanik’s use of the White replacement theory,” Phillip said. “In an ad he wrote, ‘Did you know Stefanik pushes white replacement theory? The no. 3 in the House GOP, Liz Cheney, got removed for demanding the truth. The Republican leader should be asked about this.” Phillip added, “It’s not just Elise Stefanik. If you watch Fox News, this is the mainstay of their primetime hours. Tucker Carlson discusses it in sometimes euphemistic form, but not really all that euphemistic.” Carlson has come under heavy criticism for repeatedly promoting White replacement theory.
By Khaleda Rahman

A video that compiles numerous instances of Fox News host Tucker Carlson pushing a racist conspiracy theory is going viral on Twitter. Adherents of "The Great Replacement Theory" believe a conspiracy is afoot to replace white Americans with immigrants and people of color. So-called replacement theory has inspired recent violence, including the 2019 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, and a 2018 shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Ideas from the conspiracy theory reportedly filled a manifesto apparently posted online by Payton Gendron, the white 18-year-old who authorities identified as the gunman who targeted Black people in Saturday's rampage at a supermarket in Buffalo. Once a fringe conspiracy theory pushed by white supremacists, replacement theory has seeped into the mainstream and has been promoted by some conservative politicians and commentators. Among the loudest voices is Carlson, who has been arguing that Democrats are encouraging immigration to increase the number of "obedient" voters since joining the network's prime-time lineup in 2016. On Sunday night, MSBC host Mehdi Hasan shared a video on Twitter that compiled several clips of Carlson promoting replacement theory.
Ewan Palmer

Atweet from Florida Representative Matt Gaetz calling a racist conspiracy pushed by Tucker Carlson "correct" has reemerged in the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. The September tweet from Gaetz, in which the congressman praises Carlson for explaining "what is happening to America," has been reshared online after the "Great Replacement Theory" was cited as an apparent motive for an 18-year-old gunman to kill 10 people and wound three others at the Tops supermarket on Saturday. Gaetz, along with a number of other GOP lawmakers and Carlson, has been widely criticized for helping push the far-right claim that white Americans are purposely being replaced as the dominant race in the country by minorities and immigrants for political gain. "Tucker Carlson is CORRECT about Replacement Theory as he explains what is happening to America," Gaetz tweeted while sharing a Guardian article about the Anti-Defamation League calling for the Fox News host to be fired for discussing the claim on his prime time show. "The ADL is a racist organization," Gaetz added. Gaetz's tweet has reemerged as people accused him of inflaming racial tensions following Saturday's shooting, in which almost all of the victims were Black. While retweeting the original post, SiriusXM radio host and columnist Dean Obeidallah said: "Here's Matt Gaetz in WRITING helping radicalize the Buffalo Terrorist. Others in GOP also helped radicalize the terrorist EXACTLY like ISIS recruiters do with repeating of lies over and over with the goal being action."
Analysis by Philip Bump

It was about a year ago when Fox News’s Tucker Carlson first eagerly ripped off the mask. “I know that the left and all the little gatekeepers on Twitter become literally hysterical if you use the term ‘replacement,’ if you suggest for the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World,” he said in April 2021. “But they become hysterical because that’s what’s happening, actually.” This was an explicit evocation of a line of argument, once confined to the right-wing, white nationalist fringe, called “great replacement theory.” The idea, as Carlson makes clear, is not simply that immigration to the United States could reshape American politics but that some cadre of elites is intentionally encouraging that to happen. That there was a sinister plan to literally “replace” native-born Americans with immigrants.
by The Gainesville Sun

Do better
As a Floridian, I am concerned about public health and health care access, protection of the environment, voting rights, women’s rights to choose and high-quality education. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republicans refuse to accept the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, costing the state $6.6 billion in federal funds, and denying 1,378,000 coverage, while appointing Joseph Ladapo as surgeon general, who is far outside of the mainstream of medical science. DeSantis and his gang, instead of protecting our springs, have made it easier for utilities to destroy wetlands. Despite any evidence of significant voter fraud (Mark Meadows excluded), Republicans established an election police force, which is likely to be deployed to intimidate and delegitimize the opposition (i.e. Democrats). Meanwhile, Republicans redrew Florida’s congressional map to disenfranchise African Americans to build more Republican districts. The Legislature also passed a dangerous bill that prohibits abortion past 15 weeks and criminalizes doctors who offer such abortion care.  
Great Replacement Theory and its rhetoric is seeping into conservative media. The GOP should instead be inspired by Frederick Douglass and Jack Kemp.
Ben Jealous

The mass shooting in Buffalo has drawn attention to the deeply pernicious "Great Replacement Theory," a theory boosted by the Far Right and its allies at Fox News and some conservative media. Tragically, the GOP, the party of Lincoln, is making the same mistakes the old Democratic Party did after the Civil War. They are becoming a party whose modern legacy is being defined by violent white supremacists. If we are ever going to stop this sort of home-grown white supremacist terrorism, it is going to take all of our leaders doing everything they can. It is time for national Republicans to go to Buffalo and reflect on the racist mass killing there, as well as the lives of great Republicans Frederick Douglass and Jack Kemp, who were both connected to that area.
How Tucker Carlson revived and supercharged the white supremacist “great replacement” conspiracy.
By Cynthia Miller-Idriss, MSNBC Opinion Columnist

Before he was indicted on charges of killing 22 people and injuring 26 others in an El Paso, Texas, Walmart in 2019, the identified gunman had been linked to a document posted online that referred to a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” The motivation behind that horrific incident — that there is an intentional, global plan orchestrated by national and global elites to replace white, Christian, European populations with nonwhite, non-Christian ones — gets at the core of a recent three-part New York Times series on the rise and ideology of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. In part one of the series, journalist Nicholas Confessore describes Carlson’s efforts to stoke “white fear” of immigrants and changing U.S. demographics as “recasting American racism to present white Americans as an oppressed caste.” In so doing, Confessore shows, Carlson has drawn repeatedly on the leading far-right conspiracy theory of demographic change, known as the “great replacement.”
Mary Papenfuss

The suspect in the fatal shooting of 10 people at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket Saturday was reportedly haunted in his writing by the “great replacement” conspiracy theory — a viciously racist view of the world that has been touted by Fox News host Tucker Carlson and several other far-right personalities. Payton S. Gendron, who is white, repeatedly returned to the conspiracy in his 180-page online manifesto that white Americans are at risk of being replaced by people of color by immigration, interracial marriage and eventually violence, The New York Times reported Saturday. Almost all of the victims in the mass shooting were Black. Gendron, 18, referred to “racial replacement” and “white genocide” in his writings, according to the Times. The first page included a symbol known as the sonnenrad, or black sun, which was once used by German Nazis but has been adopted by white supremacist neo-Nazis, according to the Anti-Defamation League. In an interview on CNN Saturday night, Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), who represents Buffalo, called the mass shooting part of a planned, “organized” effort to attack the minority community within an “element in our society that is blatantly racist, and they’re violent.”
By Tom Boggioni | Raw Story

Returning from Ukraine where he and other lawmakers met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blew off fellow Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul's plans to try and stop an aid package for the country warding off an invasion by Russia. According to a report from Politico's Burgess Everett, the senior Republican is fighting a small-scale war of his own with the MAGA-aligned members of his own caucus who are becoming more and more non-interventionist when it comes to helping the embattled Ukrainians. According to Everett, "It’s Mitch McConnell vs. MAGA when it comes to Ukraine," adding, "At least a half-dozen Republican senators are expected to oppose the aid bill, according to one Republican senator. And in private meetings, an increasing number of GOP senators have questioned various aspects of the request." Pushing back, McConnell explained on Sunday, "It’s in America’s interest to do this. This is not a charity we’re involved in here. It’s in our interests to help Ukrainians just like it’s in the interest of NATO countries. So this is not some handout.”
By Darragh Roche

Video of the late Senator John McCain (R-AZ) saying that Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was working for Russian President Vladimir Putin has garnered renewed attention online after Paul single-handedly blocked a vote on a new aid package to Ukraine on Thursday. A C-SPAN video of McCain's remarks in 2017 was shared to Twitter on Thursday by patient advocate Peter Morley, Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko and other social media users. "So I repeat again - the senator from Kentucky is now working for Vladimir Putin," the late senator said in the short video. In the clip, McCain was discussing NATO membership for the Balkan nation of Montenegro. Paul had blocked a vote to ratify a treaty that would have allowed Montenegro to join the U.S.-led military alliance by refusing to agree to unanimous consent. During those remarks on the Senate floor in 2017, McCain said that Paul "has no argument to be made. He has no justification for his objection to having a small nation be part of NATO, that is under assault from the Russians."
by Morgan Chalfant

President Biden on Sunday called on Americans to root out hatred after a gunman shot and killed 10 people in Buffalo, N.Y., in what police have deemed a racially motivated mass shooting. “We must all work together to address the hate that remains a stain on the soul of America,” Biden said during an address at the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service outside the U.S. Capitol. “Our hearts are heavy once again, but our resolve must never, ever waver. No one understands this more than the people sitting in front of me — moms, dads, children, family members — about how those folks in Buffalo feel today when they got the call,” Biden said. Biden noted that officials are investigating the shooting as a hate crime and said he was receiving regular updates on the shooting, which occurred on Saturday afternoon at a grocery store.
Tourist, false flags, crisis actors, blaming BLM and Antifa how the GOP and the right tries to protect white people from the horrible crimes they commit.

Tim Dickinson

Before he went on a racist rampage in a Buffalo grocery store on Saturday killing 10 people, Payton Gendron is believed to have written a hate-filled screed promoting the conspiracy theory that white people are facing ethnic, cultural and racial displacement by immigrants — a.k.a., a “white genocide.” It is an extremist position promoted widely on the right, including by others who have carried out deadly attacks in places like El Paso and Pittsburgh. Among the “deplorable” set — those on the alt-right for whom this “great replacement theory” has true cultural currency — Saturday’s mass shooting is drawing a mix of denial and deflection. Nick Fuentes — the young white supremacist who also bemoans “white genocide,” leads the Groyper movement online, and organizes the annual America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) — took to his Telegram channel as news of the killings broke to immediately (and without evidence) insist it was a “false flag” attack.
by Marik von Rennenkampff

Congress is set to hold the first public hearing on UFOs in more than 50 years. Government transparency — long overdue — is at the top of the agenda. The million-dollar question is whether the U.S. government will admit that UFOs demonstrate extraordinary technology. And why shouldn’t it? The likes of former President Obama, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), NASA administrator Bill Nelson and several other former officials and members of Congress have all but stated as much. John Ratcliffe, former president Trump’s director of national intelligence, summed up the situation: UFOs exhibit “technologies that we don’t have” and – critically – “that we are not capable of defending against.” Moreover, according to Ratcliffe, UFOs “engage in actions that are difficult to explain, movements that are hard to replicate, that we don’t have the technology for.”
By Tom Boggioni | Raw Story

In a scorching editorial at the conservative National Review, the editors expressed dismay and anger with Donald Trump -- and Republicans in general -- over the primary in Pennsylvania where control of a GOP seat in the U.S. Senate may flip to the Democrats due to Trump's meddling. Combining the former president's endorsement of controversial lawmaker and Jan 6th attendee Doug Mastriano for the governorship -- all but assuring he'll win in Tuesday's primary -- with the floundering campaign of Trump-endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz for the aforementioned Senate seat, the editors accused Trump of "Throwing away Pennsylvania ." According to the editors, the Republican leadership is complicit with Trump in allowing this to happen. "The conventional wisdom has been that Donald Trump might hurt Republican prospects in the midterms by endorsing and boosting flawed candidates. That’s a valid concern, but the Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania is a showcase for a different dynamic — a flawed Trump-endorsed candidate potentially getting surpassed by a perhaps even more flawed non-endorsed MAGA Republican" they wrote of Oz and previously obscure challenger Kathy Barnette whose surge and candidacy has caught Republicans by surprise.
by Doyle McManus

The most intriguing politician in the Republican Party is an uncharismatic governor who’s trying to make the GOP’s culture war appealing to suburban mothers. Ron DeSantis, the 43-year-old governor of Florida, has been on a tear. Originally a tea party-style fiscal conservative, he’s embraced a series of hard-edged positions that have boosted him into second place in early — OK, way-too-early — polls for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. (First place is still occupied by former President Donald Trump.) “He’s taken on the left more aggressively than any U.S. governor in modern history,” Fox News pundit Laura Ingraham enthused last month when she devoted an entire hour of her prime-time program to DeSantis. “I don’t know if it’s by luck or by smarts, but that guy has a gift for framing issues and finding the right enemies,” said Republican strategist Scott Jennings, a longtime advisor to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Republican pollster Whit Ayres offered a more succinct explanation: “He’s Trump without the craziness.”
Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen isn’t the only one warning about the devastating fallout that will occur if Roe v. Wade is overturned. “All you need to do is look at what happened after abortion became legalized in the ‘70s,” says Sheelah Kolhatkar, a staff writer for The New Yorker, whose latest piece outlines the ways in which rolling back abortion rights will devastate many aspects of the American economy and society. “It had a drastic effect on the ages and circumstances under which women became mothers,” she tells Ali Velshi. Plenty of other economists and researchers agree, including 154 who signed on to an amicus brief filed to the Supreme Court. In his draft opinion, Justice Alito “did not even consider or acknowledge the data about how this will affect women,” says Kolhatkar. “There's almost nothing about what this will look like in society.”
Aaron Keller

Alleged Buffalo, N.Y. grocery store mass murderer Payton Gendron appears at a Sat., May 14, 2022 arraignment. The alleged white supremacist accused of opening fire and killing ten people in a Buffalo, New York grocery store appeared before a judge for the first time on Saturday — just hours after the massacre took place. Payton Gendron, 18, of Conklin, N.Y., is believed to have traveled three-and-a-half hours from his home near Binghamton to the Tops Friendly Market where authorities say he shot 13 people.  Tops is a regional grocery store chain. “Mr. Gendron, you’ve been charged with multiple counts of murder in the first degree,” Buffalo City Court Chief Judge Craig Hannah informed the defendant.
ashoaib@insider.com (Alia Shoaib)

AN 18-year-old has been identified as the suspect in what authorities describe as a racially motivated mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday that left 10 people dead. A government official told The Buffalo News that the gunman's semi-automatic gun had the N-word written on the barrel in white paint and the number 14 – a known white supremacist slogan. "14 Words" is a slogan coined by David Lane, a member of the white supremacist terrorist group known as The Order, according to the Anti-Defamation League: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." Officials said they were investigating a 180-page manifesto believed to belong to the shooting suspect, which contained racist and anti-semitic views. It referenced the "replacement theory" – a far-right ideology that claims white people are being replaced by people of color – The New York Times reported. Unverified screenshots of the manifesto circulated online after the attack, in which the self-proclaimed "white supremacist" author said that they had not grown up in a racist environment but had been radicalized online.
Fatma Khaled

Texans have criticized Governor Greg Abbott over power generation issues after he repeatedly boasted about the state's power grid. "Another promise made and another promise broken. @GregAbbott_TX, perhaps you could put the additional $531 million you requested for your failed Operation Lone Star to good use and actually #FixTheGrid," Representative Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat, tweeted Saturday, referring to the governor's efforts to curb migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.
By Eric Garcia

Representatives Dan Crenshaw and Marjorie Taylor Greene feuded on Twitter after the two Republican members of Congress took different votes on an aid package to Ukraine. On Tuesday, the House passed a $40bn aid package to Ukraine. Every Democrat present voted for the legislation, while 57 Republicans voted against the package, including Ms Greene. Other Republicans who voted against the legislation included Representatives Paul Gosar of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina and Lauren Boebert of Colorado. But the feud began when Mr Crenshaw, a Texas Republican who lost an eye while serving in Afghanistan, tweeted about how the Biden administration was supposedly letting drugs pour across the US-Mexico border. In response, someone criticised him over his vote for the Ukraine package.
Faith Geiger

Elon Musk recently said he wants to make Twitter "an inclusive arena for free speech." This statement came shortly before his accepted bid to purchase the social media platform for a whopping $44 billion (much to the dismay of many of its users). The Tesla CEO says he plans to relax content restrictions on the website to eliminate what he believes to be an issue of heavy-handed moderation and a skewed political leaning.
Fox News caught falsely identifying photos again.

Natalie Oganesyan - TheWrap

Fox News' Sean Hannity shared photos that falsely claimed to show "pallets and pallets" of baby formula at the southern border that were reserved for "illegal immigrants," which CNN quickly debunked, calling the "Fox and Friends" segment an "illuminating example" in "outrage creation." Florida Rep. Kat Cammack joined the Fox News host on Friday to talk about the national shortage of baby formula. She's among several Republicans who have decried President Joe Biden over his decision to provide baby formula to migrant infants. Cammack has been on several Fox shows to express outrage over the issue and shared photos she said were given to her by a Customs and Border Patrol agent. "Pallets and pallets of baby formula for illegal immigrants and their families even as hardworking American...families, we are now suffering a massive nationwide shortage," Hannity lamented, showing the photos on-air. Unfortunately for them, the photos are incredibly misleading -- and pretty much downright false. According to CNN Business managing editor Alex Koppelman -- who authored a report on the matter for the Reliable Sources newsletter -- the packages contain powdered milk, not baby formula.
Fox News caught falsely identifying photos again.
Tommy Christopher

CNN called out Fox News hosts like Sean Hannity for falsely identifying photos from a border facility as “pallets and pallets of baby formula for illegal immigrants and their families.” Rep. Kat Cammack is among a group of Republicans who have expressed outrage that President Joe Biden’s administration continues to provide baby formula for migrant infants while Americans deal with dire shortages. Cammack has appeared on several Fox News programs to complain about the issue, and shared photos that she says were given to her by a CBP agent. But CNN’s Alex Koppelman reports, in the Reliable Sources newsletter, that the photos were misidentified on the air. He singled out Hannity and the hosts of Fox & Friends, and pointed out that the products on the pallets in the photos were clearly marked as powdered milk, not formula:
Fabiola Santiago, Miami Herald

Everyone familiar with basic Florida law knew that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to manhandle the redistricting process for political gain violated the Florida Constitution. But DeSantis went ahead anyway and used his office to draw congressional district map lines, blatantly favoring Republicans and disenfranchising the state’s Black voters. Two illegal moves in one act: Participation by a partisan governor in a function that’s supposed to be impartial. Gerrymandering districts to steal from minorities the right to choose who represents them, thus favoring the white, Republican majority. Did the governor, an Ivy League-educated lawyer, really think his crass usurpation of power would go unchallenged in a democracy? Not at all, I’m sure, since there’s recent legal precedent confirming that politically manipulated maps won’t stand a court challenge in the state. But DeSantis’ ego looms over Florida larger than the law — and his desire to feed his voter base red meat knows no boundaries.
ABC News

As many as 10 people are dead after a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, multiple law enforcement officials briefed on the incident confirmed to ABC News. "Multiple people" were struck by gunfire at a Tops supermarket, the Buffalo Police Department said on social media while urging people to avoid the area. A suspect is in custody, police said. His condition was not immediately clear. The suspect was wearing military fatigues, the sources said. A man entered the supermarket shortly after 2:30 p.m. and fired a rifle, according to a law enforcement official. The scene is no longer active and there are no other suspects outstanding, a law enforcement official said. "We are shocked and deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families," Tops Friendly Markets said in a statement. "Our top priority remains the health and well-being of our associates and customers. We appreciate the quick response of local law enforcement and are providing all available resources to assist authorities in the ongoing investigation."
By Oren Liebermann, CNN

(CNN) US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with his Russian counterpart for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Pentagon announced on Friday. The call lasted approximately an hour and was at the request of Austin, who used the first call between the two in 84 days to urge Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to implement an "immediate ceasefire," according to a brief readout of the call. The two last spoke on February 18, a week before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. It ends an extended period in which Russia's top military leaders repeatedly refused to speak with their American counterparts. On March 24, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley "have sought, and continue to seek" phone calls with Shoigu and the Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the top Russian general, but the Russians "have so far declined to engage." Following the call between Austin and Shoigu, Milley is also expected to reach out to his Russian counterpart to see if it's possible to schedule a call, a defense official tells CNN, but there is no conversation currently on the schedule.
By Mark Stout | SpyTalk

In the 1950s, the British intelligence community and the British press were riveted on the subject of espionage. Two diplomats, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, had defected to Moscow and it was clear that they had spied for the Soviets from within the heart of Britain’s national security establishment. But was there a “Third Man?” Suspicion soon centered on Kim Philby, the former MI6 liaison officer to the CIA and confidant of the agency’s top mole hunter, James Angleton. For years, however, nothing could be firmly pinned on him. According to former CIA officer Robert Baer, author of the forthcoming The Fourth Man: The Hunt for a KGB Spy at the Top of the CIA and the Rise of Putin's Russia, the CIA and the U.S. intelligence community are in a similar liminal period. Since the mid-1980s, there have been lingering suspicions that Moscow had a major spy within the CIA, a spy who is yet to be caught. Baer refers to this person as “the Fourth Man,” counting the CIA’s Edward Lee Howard and Aldrich Ames and the FBI’s Robert Hanssen as the first three traitors. He tells us that since the mid-1990s there has been a candidate for the Fourth Man, a prominent figure in the CIA, but that nothing can be pinned definitively on this officer who is now retired but still alive.
Republicans say on thing but do another. Republicans say they do not want government interfering with businesses; however, their actions are to interfere with businesses.

Mariella Moon

Trade industry groups representing tech giants, such as Google and Facebook, have filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court to block HB 20. That's the controversial law Texan law that bars social media websites from removing or restricting content based on "the viewpoint of the user or another person." It also allows users to sue large platforms with more than than 50 million active monthly users if they believe they were banned for their political views. As The Washington Post reports, it reflects Republicans' claims that they're being being censored by "Big Tech." A federal judge blocked HB 20 from being implemented last year, but the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision recently. The panel of judges agreed with the state of Texas that social networks are "modern-day public squares," which means they're banned from censoring certain viewpoints. One of the judges also said that social networks aren't websites but "internet providers" instead. The panel allowed the law to take effect while its merits are still being litigated in lower court.
Michael Luciano

Campaigning for David McCormick for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) mocked Republicans who suck up to former President Donald Trump to advance their political careers. Really. Cruz appeared to be taking a shot at McCormick’s opponent, Mehmet Oz, who has been endorsed by Trump. Oz has frequently touted Trump’s support in debates, rallies, and television appearances. The senator famously called Trump a “sniveling coward” after Trump made a personal attack against the senator’s wife during the exceedingly ugly 2016 Republican primary. Trump also implied that Cruz’s father was involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. However, Cruz ultimately backed Trump in the general election and subsequently sought and received his help in getting reelected to the Senate in 2018. Yet, this week he needled politicians for trying to out-Trump one another.
By Josh Gerstein

Afederal judge pointedly questioned a lawyer for former President Donald Trump Friday as Trump presses his bid to shut down New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation into possible fraud in his business empire. The suit Trump filed last December is considered a longshot because federal judges almost never step in to halt state court proceedings or investigations conducted by state or local officials. But during an hour-long hearing on the case held by videoconference, U.S. District Court Judge Brenda Sannes issued no immediate ruling and gave few hints about whether she plans to grant or deny James’ motion to throw the suit out. Trump lawyer Alina Habba railed against James — echoing Trump’s previous complaints that as a candidate, she displayed obvious bias against Trump by repeatedly promising to aggressively investigate and litigate against him. “James’ egregious and wildly inappropriate statements are unprecedented in New York history,” said Habba. “She made it absolutely clear that she was obsessed with, as she said, taking on Trump.”
NEW YORK (AP) — A Colorado judge on Friday denied motions to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by an election systems worker against former President Donald Trump's campaign, two of its lawyers and a handful of conservative media figures and outlets. District Court Judge Marie Avery Moses, in a 136-page decision, rejected various arguments to throw out the lawsuit filed by Eric Coomer, who was security director at the Colorado-based Dominion Voting Systems. Coomer said he faced death threats after he was baselessly accused of trying to rig the 2020 presidential election in favor of President Joe Biden. Moses wrote that “there is overwhelming evidence that an injunction would serve the public interest because the public is harmed by the spread of defamatory information.”
Jack Alban

It's hard to feel comfortable whenever you're pulled over by a police officer. For some, the first thought they have in their minds is: "how much is this going to cost me?" For others, it's "will I be victimized today?" Health Data reported that Black Americans are most likely to experience fatal police violence. These statistics, and experiences, have culminated in a variety of socio-political movements. While some of these non-profits have been marred by controversy, many studies indicate that Black Americans are disproportionately on the receiving end of violent and fatal encounters with police officers in the United States. A viral clip of a white male police officer performing a body search on a black female citizen during a traffic stop in 2019 is re-circulating on social media, sparking debate on Reddit. In the video, bodycam footage shows then officer-in-training Tyler Gelnett performing a body search on Kali Coates after she was pulled over.
Matt Shuham

Astate judge in Georgia laughed former U.S. senator and Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate David Perdue out of court, saying in essence that he had no idea what he was talking about when he filed suit late last year over the 2020 election results in Georgia. Just days after announcing his campaign to become Georgia’s next governor, Perdue sued Fulton County, alleging that through “acts and omissions,” the county “circumvented the majority of the people” in Georgia. Perdue, who lost a special Senate election that year to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D), sought access to ballots in order to conduct a “forensic inspection.” “Clearly,” the suit alleged, “unlawful counterfeit absentee ballots were counted and certified in the General Election.”  Superior Court Judge Robert C.I. McBurney didn’t buy it. Perdue’s claims, McBurney wrote, consisted of “speculation, conjecture and paranoia — sufficient fodder for talk shows, op-ed pieces and social media platforms, but far short of what would legally justify a court taking such action.” He said the plaintiffs had failed to state a proper claim for declaratory relief, and granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the case.
Are some Republicans trying to help Russia by slowing down help to Ukraine?

Paul Kane

Once belittled by then-President Trump as a “third-rate grandstander,” Rep. Thomas Massie is used to tilting at political windmills. In early March, the Kentucky Republican was one of just three lawmakers to oppose the first piece of legislation designed to show U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against an invading Russian army, a familiar lonely spot for the libertarian-leaning lawmaker frequently at odds with his party’s leaders. But on Monday, Massie spoke to Trump for the first time in more than two years — and received the former president’s endorsement in the May 17 Kentucky primary. And on Tuesday, 56 Republicans joined Massie in opposing the latest push to send arms to the Ukrainian forces. “It’s growing by the week,” he told reporters in an impromptu 20-minute conversation off the House floor Friday. He suggested the price tag so far was “insane” and that sanctions against Moscow only increase inflation. “More and more people are agreeing with that.” Massie, 51, is the only member of the House to hold a perfect 16-for-16 record opposing legislation to support Ukraine and oppose Russia, according to House records and a Democratic analysis provided to The Washington Post.
Natalie Oganesyan

Sen. Ted Cruz derided Republicans who obsequiously support Donald Trump while campaigning for Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick, seeming to not grasp the irony of his words. Following his comments, Twitter users took to social media to call out Cruz's previous backing of Trump, despite the fact that the former president had infamously made a personal attack against his wife. "Just once, I'd love to see a Republican candidate stand up in a primary and say, 'I am a moderate, establishment squish. I stand for absolutely nothing,'" Cruz lightheartedly told attendees. "It would be refreshingly honest at least. But nobody says that. And by the way, they all pledge their love for Donald Trump. 'I love Donald Trump.' 'No, no. I love Donald Trump more.' 'No, no, I have Donald Trump tattooed on my rear end.'" The latter comment prompted an audience member to shout, "Let's see it!" to which Cruz responded, "I like you but not that much."
Jon Skolnik

A former Georgia county elections supervisor opened her offices to an election-denying businessman shortly after the 2020 presidential election, granting access to voting equipment that election-deniers claim was vital to rigging the election, according to a Washington Post report. Misty Hampton told the Post that she cannot remember when the walkthrough took place or what was done during the visit but recalled giving access to Scott Hall, the owner of a Georgia bail bond business.  "I'm not a babysitter," she reportedly said of her past role in the Coffee County office. In an interview with Post, Hampton said that she was unaware that the visit might contravene the state's guidance barring voting equipment from being released to the public.  "I don't see why anything that is dealing with elections is not open to the public," Hampton said. "Why would you want to hide anything?" Even though Donald Trump had won the county by a 40-point margin, many election officials "voiced suspicions of fraud" after the 2020 election, according to the Post. Hampton reportedly spread the baseless notion that "rogue" administrators might have tampered with the ballots in order to give then-President-elect Biden a bigger edge.
By Shawna Mizelle and Joan Biskupic, CNN

(CNN) Justice Clarence Thomas on Friday expressed dismay at the recent leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would strike down Roe v. Wade, comparing it to "an infidelity" and saying it has changed the culture of the nation's highest court. "The institution that I'm a part of, if someone said that one line of one opinion would be leaked by anyone, you'd say, 'Oh, that's impossible. No one would ever do that.' There is such a belief in the rule of law, a belief in the court, a belief in what we were doing that that was verboten," Thomas said. "It was beyond anyone's understanding, or at least anyone's imagination, that someone would do that." The comments from the 73-year-old justice were delivered at an "Old Parkland Conference" event sponsored by the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute in Dallas. The remarks echoed those he had made earlier this month in Atlanta, when he said government institutions shouldn't be "bullied" into delivering what some see as the preferred outcome.
Is Rand Paul trying to help Russia by slowing down help to Ukraine?

BY ZOE STROZEWSKI

Senator Rand Paul said that the U.S. doesn't need to be a "sugar daddy" for Ukraine while speaking about his move to block the quick passage of a new aid package for Ukraine worth about $40 billion. Paul, a Republican lawmaker from Kentucky, made the comments Friday while speaking on The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show. "It's sort of the same argument that President Trump made. Everybody needs to step up, but the NATO allies need to step up and we don't need to be the sugar daddy and the policemen of the world that we have to do everything," he said. Paul blocked a fast-tracked vote Thursday for aid package for Ukraine over his objections that the bill itself did not include the creation of a special inspector general to monitor how the aid is spent. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell both offered to allow an amendment vote on Paul's requested change, but Paul said that he wanted the language to be added into the legislation.
Is Rand Paul trying to help Russia by slowing down help to Ukraine?

CBS News

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul defied leaders of both parties Thursday and delayed until next week Senate approval of an additional $40 billion to help Ukraine and its allies withstand Russia's three-month old invasion. With the Senate poised to debate and vote on the package of military and economic aid, Paul denied leaders the unanimous agreement they needed to proceed. The bipartisan measure, backed by President Joe Biden, underscores U.S. determination to reinforce its support for Ukraine's outnumbered forces. The legislation has been approved overwhelmingly by the House and has strong bipartisan support in the Senate. Final passage is not in doubt.
Ed Mazza

Jimmy Kimmel called out Republicans as they continue to push their war on women’s rights ― while also noting that other nations are moving in the opposite direction. Spain, for example, is now offering three days of paid leave for women who have severe menstrual pain.  “Meanwhile, here in the USA, Republican leaders in Washington are writing a bill that says if a woman has her period in the workplace, she is guilty of witchcraft and should be captured in a burlap bag and cast into the sea,” he said.
By Bob Brigham | Raw Story

The Department of Justice has revealed that it subpoenaed records of a journalist during a leak investigation following negative stories about Donald Trump's administration. "Leak investigators issued the subpoena to obtain the phone number of Stephanie Kirchgaessner, the Guardian’s investigations correspondent in Washington. The move was carried out without notifying the newspaper or its reporter, as part of an attempt to ferret out the source of media articles about a review into family separation conducted by the Department of Justice’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz," the British newspaper reported. "It is highly unusual for US government officials to obtain a journalist’s phone details in this way, especially when no national security or classified information is involved. The move was all the more surprising in that it came from the DoJ’s inspector general’s office – the watchdog responsible for ethical oversight and whistleblower protections." That wasn't the only irregularity. "The leak inquiry was conducted on behalf of the DoJ by the inspector general’s office of an outside government department, housing and urban development (Hud). Its investigation focused on allegations that an employee within the DoJ’s inspector general’s office had leaked sensitive information to three news outlets – the Guardian, the New York Times and NBC News. The Guardian was the only one of the three outlets to have a subpoena issued relating to its reporter’s phone account," it noted.
By KELVIN CHAN

LONDON (AP) — Elon Musk said Friday that his plan to buy Twitter is “temporarily on hold” as he tries to pinpoint the exact number of spam and fake accounts on the social media platform, another twist amid signs of turmoil over the proposed $44 billion acquisition. Musk has been vocal about his desire to clean up Twitter’s problem with “spam bots” that mimic real people and appeared to question whether the company was underreporting them. In a tweet, the Tesla billionaire linked to a Reuters story from May 2 about a quarterly report from Twitter that estimated false or spam accounts made up fewer than 5% of the company’s “monetizable daily active users” in the first quarter. “Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” Musk said, indicating he’s skeptical that the number of inauthentic accounts is that low.
Ryan Bort

Federal prosecutors have launched a grand jury investigation into whether the trove of classified White House documents that wound up in Mar-a-Lago were tampered with, The New York Times reported on Thursday. The National Archives discovered in January that former President Donald Trump took boxes of official documents to Palm Beach upon leaving the White House. Some of those boxes were clearly labeled as classified, raising questions about whether Trump may have violated the Presidential Records Act. The discovery was made as the Archives were retrieving the material after it was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee.
Attorneys on behalf of some of the victims filed a new document detailing injuries that needed “extensive” and “less extensive” treatment.
By Minyvonne Burke and Diana Dasrath

Nearly 2,400 people needed medical treatment following a deadly crowd surge last year at Travis Scott's Astroworld music festival in Houston, a court filing says. Attorneys on behalf of some of the victims filed a new document Monday in Harris County detailing injuries that needed "extensive" and "less extensive" treatment as a result of the Nov. 5, 2021 tragedy at NRG Park. According to the filing, 732 people sought extensive treatment for their injuries. Another 1,649 people needed less extensive treatment, it says. More than 2,500 cases are still being reviewed.
Aaron Keller

A federal judge on Wednesday agreed to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two Georgia election workers against the company which owns the One America News (OAN) Network, several of the network’s executives, and correspondent Chanel Rion. The judge, however, agreed to keep the case alive against one defendant: Rudy Giuliani. The dismissal with prejudice was not a surprise, as it was directly requested by the plaintiffs and agreed to by the defendants pursuant to a settlement agreement that has been in the works for weeks. A status report dated April 21 said that the parties held “a successful one-day mediation on April 19, 2022” and on that date “agreed upon and signed a binding set of settlement terms.” The complete paperwork was drawn up and signed in a predictable fashion shortly thereafter.
Jordain Carney

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) hit the brakes Thursday on bipartisan hopes that the Senate could quickly pass nearly $40 billion in Ukraine aid before leaving town for the week. Paul objected to a deal offered by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that would have set up votes on Thursday afternoon on the funding and on an amendment from Paul, who wanted to include language in the bill to expand an Afghanistan inspector general role to include oversight of the Ukraine funds. Paul blocked the votes because he wants his language inserted into the text of the bill instead of having to take his chance with an amendment vote, which could be blocked. The stalemate will delay the Senate’s passage of the Ukraine package until at least next week, and potentially beyond. “I think they’re going to have to go through the long way,” Paul told The Hill about what comes next after the floor standoff.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Federal prosecutors have opened a grand jury probe into whether former U.S. President Donald Trump mishandled classified records that ended up at his Florida residence, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing two people briefed on the issue. Prosecutors have issued a subpoena to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to obtain the documents, the report said. Authorities have also made interview requests to people who worked in the White House in Trump's final days in office, it said. A grand jury probe suggests the Justice Department has advanced in its inquiry, which began after NARA said it had recovered 15 boxes of documents, including classified records, that Trump took to his Mar-a-Lago estate when he left the White House in January 2021.
What is Trump hiding?

Greg Heilman

Since leaving the White House, former President Donald Trump has seen the number of court cases against him multiply. Some of his legal headaches stem from his scandal-plagued single four-year term in office, that ended with him trying to illegally over turn the election and inciting a mob to storm Capitol Hill. Others come from his time before his stent in the White House associated with shady business dealings where his company ran roughshod with the valuations of its assets to lower tax liability or get better deals with banks and insurance companies. His foot-dragging with turning over evidence in one led the judge overseeing the case to impose a $10,000-a-day fine until the requested material was handed over.
By Bob Brigham | Raw Story

The leaked draft Supreme Court decision overruling Roe v. Wade has a fatal flaw, according to the off-air legal analyst for MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show." "Beyond the practical consequences of overturning Roe, however, then there are the legal analyses of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft. Before detailing why that draft is so flawed legally, a brief outline of Justice Alito’s approach is in order. In concluding that Roe and Casey 'must be overruled,' Alito reasons that because 'the Constitution makes no reference to abortion,' the right to abortion, like any right purportedly implicit in the Constitution, can be recognized only if it is 'deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition' and 'implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.'" "That standard, known as the Glucksberg test, is lifted from the 1997 case upholding Washington’s ban on assisted suicide," Lisa Rubin wrote. She then explained why Washington v. Glucksberg is key. "But what makes Justice Alito’s analysis truly disingenuous is its distortion of the one case on which it depends: Glucksberg. In that case, the Court found a person’s liberty interest, as recognized by Casey, was not limitless and did not guarantee terminally-ill adults the right to end their own lives. Yet in distinguishing physician-assisted suicide from 'those personal activities and decisions that this Court has identified as so deeply rooted in our history and traditions, or so fundamental to our concept of constitutionally ordered liberty, that they are protected by the Fourteenth Amendment,' the Court left no doubt which decisions and history it meant," she explained.
Steve Benen

When writing legal opinions of great importance, it’s not uncommon for Supreme Court justices to reference others’ work and scholarship. Jurists will often cite previous justices, prominent historical figures, and legal history to bolster their conclusions. There’s nothing wrong with this. On the contrary, these citations are often helpful in shedding light, not just on what the justices believe, but also how they arrived at their decisions. With this in mind, Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked draft ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has received careful scrutiny, not just because of the sweeping impact it would have on American health care, law, politics, and civil rights, but also because of the sources the Republican-appointed justice turned while building the foundation for his reasoning. For example, Alito made multiple references in his draft to Sir Matthew Hale, a 17th century British jurist whom the conservative justice described as a “great” and “eminent” authority on common law.
insider@insider.com (John Haltiwanger)

Fomer Defense Secretary Mark Esper in his new memoir depicts former President Donald Trump as a brash, petulant leader consumed by personal vendettas, whose approach to being commander-in-chief posed a national security risk. The book — "A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times" — opens with Esper recounting an Oval Office meeting in which Trump asked why the US military couldn't "just shoot" George Floyd protestors in Washington, DC.  "I couldn't believe the president of the United States just suggested the US military shoot our fellow Americans in the streets of the nation's capital," Esper wrote, adding, "The moment was surreal, sitting in front of the Resolute desk, inside the Oval Office, with this idea weighing heavily in the air, and the president red faced and complaining loudly about the protests under way in Washington, DC."
Yahoo News

Sen. Lindsey Graham was recorded criticizing President Trump on tape, days after the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Audio of Graham’s remarks was broadcast on CNN’s ‘Anderson Cooper 360’ on Tuesday night during an interview with NYT authors Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin, the latter of whom captured the conversation. Graham’s remarks, in which he criticizes Trump for his rhetoric at the D.C. ‘Stop the Steal’ rally immediately prior to the Capitol riot, are similar in nature to leaked recordings of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy that were taken around the same time. In both cases, these prominent Republicans felt comfortable strongly criticizing Trump for his role in January 6’s events in private—only to maintain support for the former president publicly.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis still has not said whether he will discipline a major county sheriff he appointed who state investigators found lied repeatedly about killing another teenager almost 30 years ago despite saying more than three months ago that he would soon review the case. DeSantis said on Feb. 1 that he and his staff would “in the coming days” consider a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report that concluded Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony lied repeatedly on police applications about the shooting, his teenage drug use and his driving record. As of Wednesday, that was 100 days ago. DeSantis' press office did not respond to an email sent Tuesday by The Associated Press or a Wednesday phone call seeking an update. Under Florida law, a governor can permanently or temporarily suspend any local elected official for malfeasance or other infractions, with the official having the right to appeal to the Senate. The Broward County Sheriff's Office declined comment Wednesday.
By Sam Fossum, Nikki Carvajal, Maegan Vazquez and Deidre McPhillips, CNN

(CNN) President Joe Biden on Thursday mourned 1 million American deaths from Covid-19, using the occasion to again urge Congress to pass additional funding to control the pandemic. While other official tallies have placed the figure a bit short of that mark, Biden marked the moment during the White House's latest virtual Global Covid-19 Summit, reflecting on the pandemic's devastation on the nation after more than two years. "This pandemic isn't over. Today, we mark a tragic milestone here in the United States -- 1 million Covid deaths. One million empty chairs around the family dinner table. Each irreplaceable, irreplaceable losses. Each leaving behind a family, a community, forever changed because of this pandemic. Our hearts go out to all those who are struggling," Biden said during his opening remarks at the summit, later acknowledging that "around the world, many more millions have died" as a result of the pandemic. The President told attendees that the global community has "to start working to prevent the next variant, and the next pandemic, now."
Hope Campbell

It's been more than a year since the historic January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol, and it seems Americans and the world continue to learn more about what happened on that fateful day when reporters, staffers, and members of Congress feared for their lives. Between the House Select Committee on January 6 and the reporters who were there telling their stories in books and elsewhere, average citizens can get a fuller picture of that day and get inside the minds of those who were inside the Capitol. New York Times reporters Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin just released another tome about January 6, "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America." As they promote their work, the authors have slowly been releasing new audio from that day, including an interview with Republican Senator Lindsay Graham that shows he actually did think that day was a turning point and that the Trump years would pass, according to CNN.
Josephine Harvey

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) poked a sore spot of Donald Trump’s on Wednesday after the former president attacked him and two sitting GOP governors as “RINOs” for supporting Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R). “Insightful commentary about three Republican Governors who were overwhelmingly re-elected by their people from a former president who lost to Joe Biden,” Christie tweeted. “Maybe the “R” in RINO really stands for re-elected.”  
rcohen@insider.com (Rebecca Cohen)

Thomas Jefferson once secretly wrote to Congress that the US would try to drive Native Americans into debt in order to take their land. The US president's note to lawmakers was referenced in a report from the Interior Department published Wednesday. "In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson delivered a Confidential Message to Congress on Indian Policy explaining a strategy to dispossess Indian Tribes of their territories in part by assimilation," the report said. According to the report, Jefferson believed "a policy of assimilation would make it easier and less costly in lives and funding for the United States to separate Indian Tribes from their territories." Executed alongside the assimilation policy would be a process to encourage Native Americans to make purchases with credit. The hope, according to the report, was that they would fall into debt, meaning Indian tribes would have to "cede their land" to the US.
Back to content