Friday News Roundup
Matt Gaetz withdrew as Trump's pick for Attorney General after documents leaked linking Gaetz to paying off teenage girls who participated in sex parties with the Congressman and his friends. Within hours, Trump named former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as a substitute nominee for leading the DOJ. Although Gaetz has considerably lowered the bar for Trump Cabinet nominees, the Bondi pick promises to bring a lot of cronyism and corruption to the AG's office. In 2016, the Trump Foundation bribed Pam Bondi with an illegal $25,000 campaign contribution that led to her office dropping a lawsuit against Trump University. In another case, Bondi protected bankers who engaged in obvious foreclosure fraud by firing two attorneys who were too effective in exposing fake foreclosure documents. Based on this pattern, I expect Bondi to follow the Trumpist pattern of crushing little people with lawfare while letting rich and powerful fraudsters act with impunity.
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Other highlights include:
- Updated vote totals suggests Trump is trying to claim a landslide that wasn't.
- The house passed HR 9495, new legislation threatening nonprofits that enables the Secretary of Treasury to act unilaterally to revoke the status of any nonprofit deemed a "terrorist-supporting" organization. Critics warn that this law could be used by Trump 2.0 to shut down groups critical of the new administration, especially environmental groups.
- The Ukrainian people have grown weary of war with Russia, according to a new Gallup poll. In 2023, 63% of Ukrainians favored keeping the war going against Russia until achieving a final victory. This year, in 2024, a bare majority of 52% favors negotiating an end to the war as soon as possible, while only 38% of Ukrainians want to continue fighting until a final victory. Support for continuing the war is weakest in the areas of Ukraine most vulnerable to a naval invasion via the Black Sea or on Ukraine's land border with Russia. As a sign of America's waning diplomatic influence, Ukrainians have also made it clear in the poll that they favor having treaty negotiations controlled by the EU or the UK, not the U.S.
- Brazilian police have [indicted former president Jair Bolsonaro] over his participation in an alleged 2022 coup plot to assassinate leftist president-elect Lula de Silva. When you compare how Trump got off scot free for inciting people to hang Mike Pence, it's clear that the United States is not serious about going after politicians who attack democracy.
- The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant charging them with crimes against humanity and war crimes. The UK Labour Government has signaled they would enforce the ICC's arrest warrant against Netanyahu. The governments of Ireland, France, and Italy have all made similar statements.
- A judge has scheduled a new contempt hearing against Rudy Giuliani after he has continued to defame Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, on his "America's Mayor" podcast.
- In a bad sign for public health, biotechnology stocks tumbled by 2 to 4% after the announcement of RFK, Jr.'s nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Biotech companies are worried that RFK will choke off FDA and NIH funding for reality-based research into fighting infectious diseases.
- Far-right militia Veterans on Patrol recently claimed that Hurricane Helene was the result of a mysterious "weather weapon" conspiracy unleashed by the U.S. military. Despite the absurdity of the conspiracy theory, the Global Project on Hate and Extremism warns that irrational beliefs could still trigger violence by extremist groups.