Speaker Mike Johnson says Congress has power over federal courts https://www.byteseu.com/869325/ #Branch #Congress #Court #Courts #CourtsU0026Judiciary #executive #ExecutiveBranch #Johnson #Judiciary #legislative #LegislativeBranch #mike #MikeJohnson #Negative #of #Overall #OverallNegative #Politics #Senate #states #Supreme #SupremeCourtOfTheUnitedStates #the #U.S. #U.s.Congress #U.s.Senate #u0026 #united
From 14 Feb: Ohio food banks warn over less funding in governor’s budget proposal - Eggs in a grocery store. (Stock photo from Getty Images.)Have you seen the price of eggs? The cost o... https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/02/14/ohio-food-banks-warn-over-less-funding-in-governors-budget-proposal/ #allison-russo #brian-stewart #farm-bill #food-assistance #food-banks #food-pantries #matt-huffman #mike-dewine #ohio-association-of-foodbanks #politics-&-gov #snap #snap-cuts #u.s.-farm-bill
While BuzzFeed went down to Florida to look into #Fruman and #Parnas,
my colleagues and I started talking to people in Ukraine about what they knew.
The story turned out to be pretty simple...
With Parnas and Fruman’s help, Ukrainian prosecutors and businessmen had convinced Giuliani that they could furnish him with false but useful political information about Biden.
In return, they wanted the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who had crossed some of these prosecutors, to be fired.
We published the story on July 22, 2019 and that was that.
Then, two months later, while recovering from shoulder surgery,
I received a flurry of messages.
A CIA whistleblower’s report that Trump had pressured Ukraine’s president to open an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden was in the papers,
and keen-eyed colleagues had noticed our story mentioned in the footnotes.
How did this CIA employee know about my story?
My wildest guess is they found it where everyone else did:
on the internet.
It hurt my ego a little,
but few journalists or political operatives actually seemed very interested in my story at the time,
despite its appearance in the whistleblower’s report.
They probably correctly assessed that it had played a minor role in the impeachment.
I moved back to Australia just before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine,
and didn’t give much further thought to the story
— until it became the target of a whirlwind of online outrage in the aftermath of the dismantling of USAID by the Trump administration
and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
The trigger seems to have been a February 3 post on X by #Mike #Benz,
a former State Department employee.
(Benz was unmasked by NBC News in 2023 as “Frame Game,”
an anonymous online influencer whose previous writings included the statement,
“holy shit, Hitler actually had some decent points.”)
Benz’s false claim that USAID had paid
“$20 million to hit piece journalists to dig up dirt on Rudy Giuliani
and use that dirt as the basis to impeach the sitting US President in 2019”
was quickly reposted by X’s owner, Elon Musk.
After that came #Shellenberger, a former public relations expert whose clients included Venezuela’s late petro-dictator, Hugo Chavez.
In his own attack on OCCRP’s “treasonous” work,
he added more detail from a widely-criticized story on our organization published last year.
Investigative journalism is difficult work.
It requires finding patterns in large amounts of noisy information,
putting together a complex puzzle,
and painstakingly stress-testing it so that it can stand up to any challenge.
My 2019 story was carefully fact-checked and its accuracy has never been disputed
— not even by its current critics.
Conspiracy-theorism is, by contrast,
a grotesque imitation of what real journalists do.
It’s a pastiche of barely-connected facts, glued together with innuendo and pure fantasy.
Conspiracy theories can also be used to cover up uncomfortable truths.
Truths like the fact that humanitarian workers are currently warning that the gutting of billions of dollars from USAID could lead to an explosion in disease and hunger around the world.
As one Georgia manufacturer of high-nutrition food for starving children put it last week:
“It is not hype or conjecture or hand wringing or even contested use of stats to say that hundreds of thousands of malnourished children could die without USAID."
Some people would prefer to change the subject,
and distract us with McCarthyist attacks on free speech and the free press.
But the truth is more powerful in the end.
-- Aubrey Belford,
OCCRP
(2/2)
https://www.occrp.org/en/feature/investigative-reporting-is-free-speech-not-treason
#NowPlaying on #BBC6Music's #ChrisHawkins
Mike + the Mechanics:
All I Need Is a Miracle (Roman Salzgar All I Need Edit)
#Mike+theMechanics
https://liquidexperience.bandcamp.com/track/mike-the-mechanics-all-i-need-is-a-miracle-liquid-remix
Trump confirmed Friday he stripped security protections from former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, the latest in a pattern of retaliation against political adversaries.
Why it matters:
All of Trump's targets have received death threats during a time of heightened political violence.
The former NIAID director lost his protection late Thursday night.
Fauci has repeatedly been forthright about death threats against himself and his family. He's now hired his own security detail, per the New York Times.
"You can't have a security detail for the rest of your life because you worked for government," Trump said on Fox News on Friday, when asked about Fauci.
Between the lines: Former President Biden issued a preemptive pardon for Fauci on his last day in office, granting him broad immunity before Trump's term began.
Fauci faced repeated political attacks from Trump and other Republicans over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump's former national security adviser has faced death threats from Iran after being a fierce critic of the regime. In 2022 an Iranian national was charged in connection with a plot to assassinate Bolton.
"This is a matter that people should take seriously," Bolton told CNN's Jake Tapper.
Context: Bolton was vocal in his criticism of Trump after working with him during his first term and ahead of his new administration.
"It's certainly a downer for expressing your opposition to Donald Trump," Bolton said on CNN.
Trump's former secretary of state, like Bolton, faced threats from Iran, multiple outlets reported.
Pompeo has criticized Trump on fiscal and foreign policy and was not invited to join his second administration. However, Pompeo spent Trump's first week in office celebrating his win, Cabinet confirmations, and early executive orders.
Zoom in: Pompeo's top aide #Brian #Hook also lost his security, per the reports.
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/24/trump-fauci-bolton-pompeo-security-tracker
Audio on a Shoestring: DIY Your Own Studio-Grade Mic - When it comes to DIY projects, nothing beats the thrill of crafting something that... - https://hackaday.com/2025/01/14/audio-on-a-shoestring-diy-your-own-studio-grade-mic/ #portableaudiohacks #reverseengineering #microphone #pcbhacks #that1512 #jl-2555 #ina217 #audio #news #mike #mic
On December 5, right-wing culture warriors instructed lawmakers attending the
American Legislative Exchange Council’s ( #ALEC )
"States and Nation Policy Summit"
in Washington, D.C.,
on the steps their states can take to upend policies and practices
designed to help address the unfolding climate emergency and diversify workforces.
CRC Advisors Senior Vice President 
#Mike #Thompson led the workshop
“Battles Won, War Continues:
The Left, ESG and State Policy,”
according to materials obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD).
In 2020, #Greg #Mueller and #Leonard #Leo, who played an integral role in Trump’s effort to pack the federal judiciary with right-wing judges,
founded CRC Advisors
— the group Thompson represents
— to “funnel big money and expertise across the conservative movement.”
Although not as well known as Leo,
Thompson, a member of ALEC’s private sector advisory board,
is an important Christian Right operative
who plays multiple leadership roles in campaigns and communications.
Thompson’s public relations skills were on full display in his remarks
demonizing the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ),
“a global coalition of leading financial institutions committed to accelerating the decarbonization of the economy”
in order to preserve the planet from further destruction.
Thompson argued that large asset managers and banks that participate in GFANZ
— including BlackRock, State Street, Wells Fargo, City Bank, Morgan Stanley, Chase, and Bank of America
— are breaking antitrust law by utilizing sustainable investment strategies.
Thompson provided an example of a lawsuit against BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard
filed last month by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and 10 other Republican attorneys general
— all active members of the fossil-fuel backed "Republican Attorneys General Association" ( #RAGA )
— alleging that the three companies violated antitrust law in colluding to raise electricity prices through their investments.
“The states have filed an antitrust lawsuit and they detail in it all of the evidence where those three companies were colluding to keep coal in the ground and from coming to market,
thus, driving up the price and violating antitrust law,”
Thompson told workshop participants.
The PR professional neglected to mention that CRC Advisors is a paid consultant of RAGA
or that his boss Leo’s "Concord Fund" has funneled $3.5 million to the pay-to-play group this year
and $20.3 million since the organization was founded in 2014, according to CMD’s analysis of its tax filings.
#Sal #Nuzzo, the first workshop presenter, is executive director of
"Consumers Defense",
the sister organization of Consumers’ Research,
which is a vice-chairman sponsor of ALEC’s summit and a driver of the right-wing’s manufactured crisis around “woke” capitalism.
Nuzzo argued that reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 through renewable energy production would force Americans to cede
“two-thirds of [the] U.S. electricity generation supply chain to the Communist Party of China.”
He didn’t cite a source for this claim, nor does the group’s website provide any research substantiating it.
Nuzzo also attempted to raise the alarm with lawmakers from states that depend on agriculture
by claiming that the Left has “shifted their attacks and tactics into the agriculture space”
in response to anti-ESG legislation passed over the last three legislative cycles
and has moved to prevent farmers from getting access to loans.
“The [Left’s] coordinated attacks on agriculture are occurring at all levels.
They’re at the producer level.
They’re at the distributor level.
They’re at the consumption and sales level,”
Nuzzo claimed.
“If farming interests cannot get financing, [farmers] cannot operate.”
#Paul #Watkins, founder of "Fusion Law" and both a senior legal fellow at "Consumers’ Research"
and a special counsel with "Heritage Action", made a number of claims in his presentation
based on his belief that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are discriminatory,
and therefore illegal.
As a member of ALEC’s "Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force", he is involved in drafting and voting on most of the group’s pro-fossil fuel policies alongside lawmakers and polluting industry lobbyists.
https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2024/12/07/top-leonard-leo-lieutenant-leads-alec-bootcamp-against-woke-capitalism
PREVIEW: Nexus: Scourge #1 from Alien Books
The Eisner Award-winning science fiction vigilante is back in a universe-shattering tale that's essential for all Nexus fans!
Mike Baron and Steve Rude's Nexus enters a new era with classic characters and an all-new villain that's destroying the universe one planet...
https://comiccrusaders.com/comic-books/comic-book-previews/preview-nexus-scourge-1-from-alien-books/
#mike baron #nexus #sci-fi #comics #comic books #indie #kelsey shannon #alien books
Trump border chief threatens jail for Denver mayor amid deportation dispute
#Tom #Homan, Donald Trump’s hardline incoming #border #czar, has threatened to put the mayor of #Denver in jail
after the latter said he was willing to risk incarceration to resist the president-elect’s migrant mass deportation plan.
The threat was issued against #Mike #Johnston, a Democrat, who said he was not afraid of being jailed and encouraged people to protest against mass round-ups of immigrants in their cities and communities.
Johnston’s remarks came after Trump focused during the presidential election campaign on the Denver suburb of #Aurora, which he said had become “a war zone” where apartment buildings had been taken over by Venezuelan gang members.
Asked to respond by Fox News’s Sean Hannity, Homan said: “Me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing;
he’s willing to go to jail. I’m willing to put him in jail.”
Johnston had originally been asked by a local Denver television station to respond to Homan’s previous vows to arrest local leaders and politicians who stood in the way of deportation efforts.
He said he was not willing to go to jail, though he is “not afraid of that” in a Friday interview with 9 News.
“I think the goal is we want to be able to negotiate with reasonable people how to solve hard problems,” he told the outlet.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/26/trump-tom-homan-border-denver?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Rep.-elect #Sarah #McBride (D-Del.),
the first #transgender person elected to Congress,
said Sunday that House Republicans’ #bathroom #ban is an “attempt to distract from what they are actually doing.”
“Every single time, every single time we hear them say the word ‘trans,’ look what they’re doing with their right hand,” she continued.
Earlier this week, Rep. #Nancy #Mace (R-S.C.) introduced a bill aimed at prohibiting transgender people from facilities on Capitol Hill that match their gender identity.
House Speaker #Mike #Johnson (R-La.) later announced a new policy barring transgender people from using Capitol bathrooms matching their gender identity.
“All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” Johnson said previously.
“It is important to note that each member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol.”
McBride said Sunday that she has “had conversations with colleagues in the Democratic caucus already that
— that span diversity of thought about how the party should engage on a whole host of issues.”
“But I think we are all united that every single American deserves equal rights.
I think we are all united that attempts to attack a vulnerable community are not only mean-spirited, but really an attempt to misdirect,” she added.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5007210-sarah-mcbride-house-republicans-bathroom-ban/
Others in the Trump inner circle who made their fortunes via privately held ventures include treasury secretary
#Steven T. #Mnuchin, who got a great deal during the financial crisis on IndyMac, a mortgage lending bank,
thanks to our government’s penchant for the socialization of risk and privatization of profit when entities considered “too big to fail” go into a state of distress.
Mnuchin and his fellow investors, a group that included liberal donor and hedge-fund honcho George Soros, changed the company name to #OneWest and began to aggressively foreclose on homeowners.
The bank earned Mnuchin and his partners a profit of $1.6 billion in its first year of operation,
even as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was preparing to take a hit of nearly $11 billion “on bad loans that the Pasadena institution made before it was sold last March and renamed OneWest Bank,” according to E. Scott Reckard of the Los Angeles Times.
Then there’s commerce secretary #Wilbur #Ross, worth $2.5 billion according to Forbes, who started a second career in 2000 with the creation of his eponymous investment company,
which he later sold to Invesco for a reported $375 million.
#Reed #Cordish, special assistant to the president for intragovernmental and technology initiatives, is a scion of the family that owns privately held Cordish Companies,
involved in gaming and entertainment.
He’s said to be tight with Jared Kushner.
#Sonny #Perdue, Trump’s secretary of agriculture, founded the private company Perdue Inc., a trucking outfit,
with his wife, Mary, who was reported in 2005 to be the company’s sole shareholder.
(An official at Perdue Inc. declined to confirm to The Baffler whether this is still the case.)
And, while not a rich guy himself, CIA director #Mike #Pompeo founded a private company called #Thayer #Aerospace in the late 1990s with help from Koch Venture Capital, an arm of Koch Industries.
A Pompeo aide told the Washington Post that the Koch investment amounted to only 2 percent,
but there’s no way to really know, since the transaction took place between two privately held companies.
He later became president of #Sentry #International, another private company, before his 2010 run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, which he won, again with an assist from the Koch brothers.
He’s also a climate-change denier—an appealing trait in a public official if you’re a fossil fuels magnate looking to buy one
@Boqueroni o las #Mike, las #Redbook o las #Conserve 
#NowPlaying Bot 
