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brooklynite
brooklynite's Journal
brooklynite's Journal
December 22, 2022
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/22/trump-election-mccarthy-jan-6-hutchinson-00075200
Trump acknowledged his election loss to McCarthy before Jan. 6, Hutchinson testified
Source: Politico
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told then-White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson in the days before Jan. 6, 2021, that Donald Trump had privately acknowledged losing the 2020 election, according to a newly disclosed interview Hutchinson gave to the Jan. 6 select committee.
In the Sept. 14 interview — her fifth as a witness for the select committee — Hutchinson described frequent calls with McCarthy in the run-up to the attack on the Capitol and said that he told her he was afraid then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had not adequately prepared Trump to accept defeat.
“What’s Mark thinking?” Hutchinson recalled McCarthy telling her about Meadows in a conversation that took place sometime between Jan. 2 and Jan. 5. “He’s giving the president bad advice.”
Hutchinson said McCarthy had told her Trump would repeatedly acknowledge his loss in private but then almost immediately change his mind and say it was possible for him to remain in office. “I can only imagine that’s coming from Mark,” McCarthy said, per Hutchinson’s testimony. The select panel’s release of two Hutchinson interview transcripts from mid-September interviews came as it prepares to publish its final report in full, expected later Thursday.
In the Sept. 14 interview — her fifth as a witness for the select committee — Hutchinson described frequent calls with McCarthy in the run-up to the attack on the Capitol and said that he told her he was afraid then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had not adequately prepared Trump to accept defeat.
“What’s Mark thinking?” Hutchinson recalled McCarthy telling her about Meadows in a conversation that took place sometime between Jan. 2 and Jan. 5. “He’s giving the president bad advice.”
Hutchinson said McCarthy had told her Trump would repeatedly acknowledge his loss in private but then almost immediately change his mind and say it was possible for him to remain in office. “I can only imagine that’s coming from Mark,” McCarthy said, per Hutchinson’s testimony. The select panel’s release of two Hutchinson interview transcripts from mid-September interviews came as it prepares to publish its final report in full, expected later Thursday.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/22/trump-election-mccarthy-jan-6-hutchinson-00075200
December 22, 2022
Next week on Fox: "To Tell The Truth"
https://twitter.com/Santos4Congress/status/1605989365632614416
December 22, 2022
Read more: https://www.axios.com/2022/12/22/us-life-expectancy-fell-again-in-2021-amid-pandemic-opioid-crisis
U.S. life expectancy fell again in 2021 amid pandemic, opioid crisis
Source: Axios
U.S. life expectancy fell to 76.4 years last year from 77 years in 2020, driven by the effects of the pandemic as well as the opioid epidemic, according to final mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Why it matters: It is the second consecutive year that life expectancy has fallen. COVID-19 was the fastest-growing cause of death in 2021, followed closely by unintentional injuries, which include overdose deaths.
By the numbers: There were more than 3.4 million deaths in the U.S. in 2021, an increase of 80,502 over the total reported in 2020.
The death rate rose 5.3%, increasing from 835.4 deaths per 100,000 people to 879.7.
Why it matters: It is the second consecutive year that life expectancy has fallen. COVID-19 was the fastest-growing cause of death in 2021, followed closely by unintentional injuries, which include overdose deaths.
By the numbers: There were more than 3.4 million deaths in the U.S. in 2021, an increase of 80,502 over the total reported in 2020.
The death rate rose 5.3%, increasing from 835.4 deaths per 100,000 people to 879.7.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/2022/12/22/us-life-expectancy-fell-again-in-2021-amid-pandemic-opioid-crisis
December 22, 2022
Read more: https://www.axios.com/2022/12/22/jamie-raskin-democrats-house-oversight-committee
Raskin elected top Democrat on House Oversight Committee
Source: Axios
House Democrats on Thursday elected Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) as ranking member on the House Oversight Committee.
Why it matters: The job comes with a hefty mandate: leading the defense against a battery of planned Republican investigations into the Biden administration on everything from the border to Afghanistan to Hunter Biden.
Driving the news: In a closed-door caucus meeting on Thursday, Raskin defeated Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) 133-75, according to two sources in the room.
The result comes after the Democratic Steering Committee recommended Raskin for the role earlier this month, leading Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), who finished third in that vote, to drop out.
Why it matters: The job comes with a hefty mandate: leading the defense against a battery of planned Republican investigations into the Biden administration on everything from the border to Afghanistan to Hunter Biden.
Driving the news: In a closed-door caucus meeting on Thursday, Raskin defeated Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) 133-75, according to two sources in the room.
The result comes after the Democratic Steering Committee recommended Raskin for the role earlier this month, leading Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), who finished third in that vote, to drop out.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/2022/12/22/jamie-raskin-democrats-house-oversight-committee
December 22, 2022
WARNING: potentially triggering video at link.
Caught on Camera, Traced by Phone: The Russian Military Unit That Killed Dozens in Bucha
Source: New York Times
When videos and photos emerged in April showing bodies of dozens of civilians strewn along a street in Bucha, Ukrainians and the rest of the world voiced horror and outrage. But in Russia, officials had a completely different reaction: denial.
President Vladimir V. Putin dismissed the gruesome scene as “a provocation,” and claimed that the Russian Army had nothing to do with it.
But an eight-month visual investigation by The New York Times concluded that the perpetrators of the massacre along Yablunska Street were Russian paratroopers from the 234th Air Assault Regiment led by Lt. Col. Artyom Gorodilov.
The evidence shows that the killings were part of a deliberate and systematic effort to ruthlessly secure a route to the capital, Kyiv. Soldiers interrogated and executed unarmed men of fighting age, and killed people who unwittingly crossed their paths — whether it was children fleeing with their families, locals hoping to find groceries or people simply trying to get back home on their bicycles.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/22/video/russia-ukraine-bucha-massacre-takeaways.html
WARNING: potentially triggering video at link.
December 21, 2022
Kansas City police responded to a report of gunshots fired Tuesday night at the Ward Parkway Center mall. No injuries were reported, Officer Donna Drake, a Kansas City Police Department spokeswoman, said about 7:30 p.m. The mall is located at 8600 Ward Parkway.
Kansas City police respond to report of shots fired at Ward Parkway mall
Kansas City StarKansas City police responded to a report of gunshots fired Tuesday night at the Ward Parkway Center mall. No injuries were reported, Officer Donna Drake, a Kansas City Police Department spokeswoman, said about 7:30 p.m. The mall is located at 8600 Ward Parkway.
December 21, 2022
I have no interest in seeing Trump's tax returns...
Absent a criminal violation (which "the public" isn't going to find if the IRS hasn't) there is nothing about his sources of income, his deductions, his donations to charity, his net worth, etc, that is going to tell me something about him that I didn't already know.
The bottom line is that the average voter doesn't care. His refusal to make tax returns available (which is only something done in the last 40 years or so) was essentially litigated in the 2016 Election.
December 20, 2022
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3782364-jeffries-taps-delbene-to-lead-house-democrats-campaign-arm/
Jeffries taps DelBene to lead House Democrats' campaign arm
Source: The Hill
The incoming leader of the House Democrats has tapped Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) to lead the party’s campaign arm heading into the 2024 elections, where Democrats are eyeing a return to power after losing their majority in this year’s midterms.
The move by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) puts DelBene — a seasoned former tech executive with deep ties to the deep pockets of Silicon Valley — at the helm of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) during a high-stakes presidential cycle.
It also places a second woman in the top tiers of a party that prides itself on its diversity in both the caucus and the leadership — a step some saw as crucial in the wake of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision to step out of leadership after this term.
Still, the move came as something of a surprise, as DelBene was not among the pair of lawmakers — Reps. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) and Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.) — who had sought publicly to lead the DCCC in the 118th Congress.
The move by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) puts DelBene — a seasoned former tech executive with deep ties to the deep pockets of Silicon Valley — at the helm of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) during a high-stakes presidential cycle.
It also places a second woman in the top tiers of a party that prides itself on its diversity in both the caucus and the leadership — a step some saw as crucial in the wake of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision to step out of leadership after this term.
Still, the move came as something of a surprise, as DelBene was not among the pair of lawmakers — Reps. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) and Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.) — who had sought publicly to lead the DCCC in the 118th Congress.
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3782364-jeffries-taps-delbene-to-lead-house-democrats-campaign-arm/
December 20, 2022
Read more: https://punchbowl.news/archive/punchbowl-news-special-edition-1220/
BREAKING: Jan. 6 cooperating with DOJ special counsel
Source: Punchbowl
Breaking news: The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection has begun extensively cooperating with the Justice Department’s special counsel charged with overseeing investigations into former President Donald Trump.
Jack Smith, who Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed as special counsel last month, sent the select committee a letter Dec. 5 requesting all of the panel’s materials from the 18-month probe. Punchbowl News has reviewed Smith’s letter.
Starting last week, the select committee began sending Smith’s team documents and transcripts. Much of the production from the Jan. 6 committee is in relation to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and John Eastman, the Trump lawyer at the center of the “fake elector” scheme.
The select committee has also sent the Justice Department all of Meadows’ text messages and related evidence.
Jack Smith, who Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed as special counsel last month, sent the select committee a letter Dec. 5 requesting all of the panel’s materials from the 18-month probe. Punchbowl News has reviewed Smith’s letter.
Starting last week, the select committee began sending Smith’s team documents and transcripts. Much of the production from the Jan. 6 committee is in relation to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and John Eastman, the Trump lawyer at the center of the “fake elector” scheme.
The select committee has also sent the Justice Department all of Meadows’ text messages and related evidence.
Read more: https://punchbowl.news/archive/punchbowl-news-special-edition-1220/
December 20, 2022
New Malaysia state law bans 'women acting like men'
SemaforA northeastern state in Malaysia earlier this month updated its Shariah code with several amendments, one of which now prohibits "women acting like men" and wearing men's clothing, the Malaysian government's new agency Bernama reported.
Citing politician Satiful Bahari Mamat, the chairman of the committee responsible for the Shariah code, Bernama reported that authorities in the state of Terengganu can now punish people for violating four new changes to the law:
Women acting like men
Women becoming pregnant or giving birth out of wedlock
Practicing witchcraft or sorcery
Attempting sodomy
After the state parliament passed the amendments on Dec. 1, Satiful told reporters that the law was meant to better protect the "well-being of Muslims." He added that offenders could face a three-year jail term, a fine of RM5,000 ($1,130.07 USD) and six lashes.
Citing politician Satiful Bahari Mamat, the chairman of the committee responsible for the Shariah code, Bernama reported that authorities in the state of Terengganu can now punish people for violating four new changes to the law:
Women acting like men
Women becoming pregnant or giving birth out of wedlock
Practicing witchcraft or sorcery
Attempting sodomy
After the state parliament passed the amendments on Dec. 1, Satiful told reporters that the law was meant to better protect the "well-being of Muslims." He added that offenders could face a three-year jail term, a fine of RM5,000 ($1,130.07 USD) and six lashes.
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