May 27, 2023

Saturday, May 27, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

I think the Roundup makes people feel not so alone.

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Joe is always busy.

Jill Biden to promote women, youth on trip to Mideast, North Africa, Europe.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden will promote empowerment for women and young people — and attend a Jordanian royal wedding — during an upcoming trip to the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.

The first lady was scheduled to depart Wednesday on a six-day trip that will take her to Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Portugal. Her office shared some details first with The Associated Press.

It will be Biden’s first Middle East visit as first lady. She traveled to Namibia and Kenya in February.

“The first lady believes that supporting youth across the world is critical to our common future, with education, health, and empowerment at the heart of it,” said Vanessa Valdivia, her spokesperson.

“With her visit to the Middle East and North Africa, the first lady will continue to build on her work to empower young people, and reaffirm our commitment to strengthen our partnerships and advance our shared priorities in the region,” Valdivia said in an email.

In Amman, the capital of Jordan, Biden will attend the June 1 wedding of Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah II, heir to the throne, and Rajwa Khaled Al-Saif, an architect.

President Joe Biden and the first lady have a deep and longstanding friendship with the prince’s parents, King Abdullah II and Queen Rania.

When Joe Biden was vice president, he and King Abdullah often met over breakfast when the king traveled to Washington to visit his son, then a student at Georgetown University. Abdullah also visited Biden at his home in Delaware after Biden returned to private life.

The two have met at least three times since Biden became president, twice at the White House and once in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

In Egypt and Morocco, Jill Biden will connect with women and young people while focusing on U.S. investments that help support education programs and efforts to increase economic opportunity.

In Portugal, the first lady will help the U.S. State Department celebrate the 60th anniversary of its Art in Embassies program, highlighting the role the arts can play in diplomacy. (Associated Press).

Angel Reese helps Jill Biden out of foul trouble.

The star of the NCAA women’s basketball team presented the First Lady with a jersey as the champion Lady Tigers visited the White House, several weeks after a faux pas by the first lady created tension.

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Kamala is always busy.

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Liz Cheney criticizes DeSantis for Jan. 6 pardon remarks.

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Thursday appeared to criticize Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for saying he’ll consider pardoning Jan. 6 defendants if elected president, arguing that anyone with such plans “is not qualified” for the White House. 

“Any candidate who says they will pardon Jan. 6 defendants is not qualified to be President,” Cheney wrote on Twitter. 

DeSantis, who launched his 2024 campaign Wednesday, said Thursday that if elected, he would consider “on day one” pardoning defendants connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

“On day one, I will have folks that will get together and look at all these cases, who people are victims of weaponization or political targeting, and we will be aggressive in issuing pardons,” DeSantis said on the “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” podcast when asked about whether he’ll consider pardoning the defendants, including Trump.

Cheney’s remarks, which followed DeSantis’s comments earlier in the day, also applied to the former president; Trump has said he’d consider pardons for Jan. 6 defendants if he gets another term.

(The Hill).

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With 2 Oath Keepers sentenced to long jail terms for “Seditious Conspiracy,” this article is one to keep in your files.👇

This article sorts out various legal terms - seditious conspiracy, insurrection, treason, and that is just the beginning. We will probably learn these distinctions well over the next few months.

How the Crime of Seditious Conspiracy Is Different From Insurrection and Treason.

Elmer Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers militia, was sentenced to 18 years in prison. His sentence included an enhancement for domestic terrorism.

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At the heart of the case against Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers leader who was sentenced on Thursdayto the longest prison term yet in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, was a rare and serious charge: seditious conspiracy.

Although people have sometimes colloquially used terms like sedition, insurrection, domestic terrorism and treason interchangeably when discussing the events of Jan. 6, 2021, seditious conspiracy is legally distinct from the other terms in subtle but important ways. Here is a closer look.

What is sedition?

It is essentially the incitement of violent action against the government — some kind of communication or activity aimed at getting people to overthrow the state by force or to prevent it from carrying out its authority to enforce the law.

What is seditious conspiracy?

It is a federal crime found in Section 2384 of Title 18 of the United States code. That law makes it a crime for two or more people to actively plot to overthrow by force the federal government, to levy war against it, to unlawfully seize federal property or “by force to prevent, hinder or delay the execution of any law of the United States.” A conviction carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

In the Oath Keepers case, prosecutors marshaled text messages, videos and other evidence to argue that Mr. Rhodes and other militia members had agreed to take steps to block Congress from certifying Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s Electoral College victory, a crucial step in the constitutional system for the normal transfer of power. Mr. Rhodes received 18 years in prison, and one of his top deputies was sentenced to a 12-year term.

Is sedition the same thing as insurrection?

While they clearly overlap, “sedition” centers more on plotting and incitement, whereas “insurrection” is generally understood to mean the actual violent acts of an uprising aimed at overthrowing the government.

That said, the federal law against insurrection, Section 2383, slightly blurs that line. It says that “whoever incites, sets on foot, assists or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto” is guilty of that offense. Its penalty is up to 10 years in prison and disqualification from holding federal office.

Insurrection charges are considered difficult to prove and are exceedingly rare. While many people have called the events of Jan. 6 an “insurrection,” the Justice Department has not charged any rioters with that crime. In addition to the handful of seditious conspiracy charges against members of two militias, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, prosecutors have charged various rioters with such crimes as assaulting police officers, obstructing an official congressional proceeding and trespassing.

What about domestic terrorism?

There is no stand-alone crime of domestic terrorism, but it still has a legal definition and consequences. In this case, the judge imposed a sentencing enhancement on Mr. Rhodes, ruling that the context of his crimes met the definition of terrorism: crimes of violence that are intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or government policy.

The law that defines terrorism distinguishes between “international” terrorism, which must have a foreign or transnational nexus, and “domestic” terrorism, which occurs primarily on American soil. Only “acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries” are federal crimes.

For their domestic equivalent, law enforcement officials instead deal with such offenses using other laws that do not have “terrorism” in their labels — like seditious conspiracy. But at the sentencing phase, convictions for offenses that also qualify as terrorism prompt a longer prison term.

How is all this different from treason?

As a matter of American law, the events of Jan. 6 were not treasonous because they did not involve acts that betrayed the United States on behalf of an enemy power.

Treason is a unique crime in the United States because it is the only one defined in the Constitution, and the founders wrote it narrowly: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.” In a federal statute, Section 2381, Congress echoed that definition and imposed a sentence of between five years in prison and death.

Treason charges are rare, but one example came in 2006 when prosecutors obtained a treason indictment against Adam Gadahn, a California-born Qaeda propagandist who called in videos for attacks on Americans. He was killed in a 2015 drone strike and so never faced trial. (New York Times).

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Russian prisoner Evan Gershkovich’s parents were at his trial in Moscow this past week when Russian court extended his detention.

Missing Their Son, Evan Gershkovich’s Parents Traveled to Moscow for Hearing.

The judge was de­liv­er­ing crush­ing news, but Evan Ger­shkovich’s par­ents couldn’t stop smil­ing at their son, who stood in a metal cage be­fore them.

Ella Mil­man and Mikhail Ger­shkovich had trav­eled from Phil­adelphia to Mos­cow with the hope of lay­ing eyes on their youngest child, the Wall Street Jour­nal re­porter who the U.S. says is be­ing wrong­fully detained in Russia.

Af­ter a tense wait out­side the court­room, their long jour­ney paid off, and they were ush­ered in­side for the close of pre­trial pro­ceed­ings this week.

“It meant so much to be able to see him, and for him to see us,” Mil­man, his mother, said in a phone call. “Any par­ent who loves their kid would travel to the end of the world to be with them for five min­utes,” she said. 

At the close of the pro­ceedings, the court ex­tended the re­porter’s de­ten­tion by three months af­ter in­ves­ti­ga­tors re­quested more time be­fore his trial. A 31-year-old Amer­i­can cit­i­zen, Ger­shkovich was de­tained dur­ing a re­port­ing trip in March and has been held on an al­le­gation of es­pi­onage that he, his fam­ily, the Jour­nal and the U.S. gov­ern­ment ve­he­mently deny. 

The last time the jour­nal­ist’s par­ents trav­eled to Rus­sia was in 2018 to visit their son, who had just moved to Mos­cow to work as a jour­nal­ist and cover the coun­try he had grown to love. They them­selves had left the So­viet Union in 1979 to set­tle in Amer­ica, and he was ea­ger to show them how much their home­land had changed, they said.

This time their rea­son for com­ing was the same—to spend some time, how­ever fleet­ing, with their son.

“I have missed just talk­ing to him and be­ing able to see him,” the fa­ther said. 

Evan’s par­ents said they dressed up for the oc­ca­sion to show their son they are hold­ing up un­der the pres­sure. Mil­man chose pearls, linen pants and a bracelet he had bought her dur­ing a trip to Thai­land. On the cen­ter of her char­treuse sweater, she pinned a large “Free Evan” but­ton that is com­monly worn by the jour­nalist’s col­leagues.

Mikhail Ger­shkovich donned the same black suit he wore to last month’s White House Cor­re­spon­dents’ As­so­ci­a­tion din­ner, where the fam­ily re­ceived a stand­ing ova­tion. And in a show of sol­i­dar­ity with his son, he paired it with a check-ered but­ton-up shirt sim­i­lar to the ones the younger Gershkovich fre­quently wore be­fore he was de­tained.

“I think it’s very im­por­tant that he’s heard from his friends that we are do­ing well, and it’s im­por­tant for him to see us, that we look good,” Mil­man said, adding that they were en­cour-aged by how well Evan looked, too. Though his skin is pale, she said, he was smil­ing and looked re­laxed at the hear­ing.

No tears were shed, ac­cording to Mil­man, who said it was im­por­tant to stay strong and pos­i­tive. But as she left the court­room, she caught a glimpse of Evan be­ing taken away in hand­cuffs and felt as though a knife went through her. 

“For us, the hard part is that we could leave, and he couldn’t,” she said. (Wall Street Journal).

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Warning. This 👇 is what Trump, if elected in 2024, has in mind for America. It is very frightening. You may want to pass it by.

I am not copying out what Trump’s plan is. If you want to read about it, click on the link below. 👇

Inside Trump '25: A radical plan for Trump’s second term.

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Remember Chris Cooper, the black gay man, birding in Central Park, 3 years ago, who was endangered by a crazed, racist white woman who made up a story that a black man was menacing her?

Below 👇 is his updated story … who Chris Cooper was and who he is now.

Three Years After a Fateful Day in Central Park, Birding Continues to Change My Life.

Early in the morning of May 25, 2020, I biked from my apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to Central Park to go birding in the Ramble. Despite the uncertainties of the time — New Yorkers were living in a hot spot of the raging Covid pandemic, with no vaccine in sight — I strove to start this warm, sunlit Memorial Day on a happy note by wandering my favorite urban woodlands in search of migrating songbirds.

I was focused on the end-of-season hunt for a mourning warbler, a small yellow and gray skulking bird that’s difficult to spot and relatively rare. I hadn’t yet seen one that year.

Visiting the park in the morning to look for birds has long been a springtime routine for me. I wake before sunrise and grab my Swarovski binoculars — a 50th-birthday present from my father — and head out the door.

On that particular day, just as I approached some ideal mourning warbler habitat, a noise shattered the tranquillity, making me wince. The sound was loud, strident and unmistakable: a person calling after a dog.

To read the whole story, click here. You won’t be sorry.

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The best of America.

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Have a good Memorial Day weekend.

My intention is for the Roundup to go on hiatus until Tuesday. Of course, if there is breaking news or a story that moves me to tears, I may come back sooner.

I won’t be busy over the weekend, but don’t be surprised. Joe (and Kamala) might be.

Annette x

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