Politics Current Events Feb 27
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New book on Biden by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson reports a ‘cover-up’ about his decline
The day after Donald Trump won the 2024 election, CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson decided to co-author a book about what had led the Democratic party to defeat, with a focus on former President Joe Biden.
The deeply sourced reporters found what they call a “cover-up” of the former president’s “serious decline.”
The resulting book, titled “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” is coming out on May 20.
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Read about hat yesterday - On my reading list …
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The question no one dares ask: what if Britain has to defend itself from the US? | George Monbiot
So much of our intelligence and military systems are shared or reliant on the US – if it becomes the enemy, it is already inside the gates, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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The question no one dares ask: what if Britain has to defend itself from the US? | George Monbiot
So much of our intelligence and military systems are shared or reliant on the US – if it becomes the enemy, it is already inside the gates, says Guardian columnist George Monbiotwww.theguardian.com
How US allies may try to safeguard their intel ops from Trump
Foreign intelligence officials are treading carefully as they navigate a president with a history of spilling secrets.“…
You “can’t just flip off a switch,” said a northern European defense official who, like others, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence relationships.
Still, there could be options to add more safeguards around human intelligence, the most prized and closely guarded information gleaned from assets in foreign countries whose lives could be at risk if exposed. They could, for example, leave out details in conversations with U.S. counterparts that might reveal an operative’s location or identity.
At least some allies did close off a bit more during Trump’s first term — after he took actions that repeatedly stunned intelligence officials, like tweeting a top-secret image of an Iranian rocket launch site and sharing highly sensitive Israeli intelligence with the Russian foreign minister.
A former senior official from Britain’s foreign intelligence service, MI6, said that when it came to highly sensitive projects, the service was careful about what to divulge during the first Trump administration.
MI6 declined to comment for this story. …”
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ZenMode
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I trust Tapper to be objective. Should be an interesting read.
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A Midnight Global Health Massacre
Life-saving programs, including George W. Bush’s cherished global AIDS initiative, were hit in the latest, harshest round of cuts.
A Midnight Global Health Massacre
Life-saving programs, including George W. Bush’s cherished global AIDS initiative, were hit in the latest, harshest round of cuts.
www.thebulwark.com
“On Wednesday, reports began dribbling out that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had signed off oneliminating 92 percent of USAID grants, around 4,100 of them, with a savings of $60 billion. On Thursday morning, foreign aid officials woke up to see the details of those cuts. The reaction was justified shock.
Programs that the administration had suggested it believed were worth continuing were now being terminated.
That includes efforts to combat the AIDS epidemic—such as George W. Bush’s famed PEPFAR program—that have been a source of bipartisan pride for decades.
One government notice, passed along to The Bulwark, showed that USAID was terminating its contract for the joint U.N. AIDS program, which is the primary mechanism for monitoring the disease globally. An official who works on the program estimated that Rubio had eliminated half of its funding.
That was just a small portion of the carnage.
Two sources familiar with the matter say USAID support for South Africa’s PEPFAR programs were also terminated overnight. The Trump administration had already moved to cut off all aid to the country, citing disagreement with social policies there.
But this isn’t about social policies. Bhekisisa, a global health news outlet, reported that PEPFAR-funded organizations “woke up to letters that were sent overnight telling them their grants have been ended—permanently.”
… The full extent of the PEPFAR cuts is not entirely clear as of now, though one foreign official told The Bulwark that in addition to any cuts, some USAID employees who work on the program were put on administrative leave.
Even if the USAID spigot was fully cut off, there are other sources of funds into the program, including from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Defense. …”
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“… And it wasn’t just PEPFAR, of course. A fact sheet sent along by groups trying to undo the cuts noted that one of the contracts terminated was for “a project in the Democratic Republic of Congo that operates the only source of water for 250,000 people in camps for displaced people located in the center of current fighting.”A Midnight Global Health Massacre
Life-saving programs, including George W. Bush’s cherished global AIDS initiative, were hit in the latest, harshest round of cuts.
A Midnight Global Health Massacre
Life-saving programs, including George W. Bush’s cherished global AIDS initiative, were hit in the latest, harshest round of cuts.
“On Wednesday, reports began dribbling out that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had signed off oneliminating 92 percent of USAID grants, around 4,100 of them, with a savings of $60 billion. On Thursday morning, foreign aid officials woke up to see the details of those cuts. The reaction was justified shock.
Programs that the administration had suggested it believed were worth continuing were now being terminated.
That includes efforts to combat the AIDS epidemic—such as George W. Bush’s famed PEPFAR program—that have been a source of bipartisan pride for decades.
One government notice, passed along to The Bulwark, showed that USAID was terminating its contract for the joint U.N. AIDS program, which is the primary mechanism for monitoring the disease globally. An official who works on the program estimated that Rubio had eliminated half of its funding.
That was just a small portion of the carnage.
Two sources familiar with the matter say USAID support for South Africa’s PEPFAR programs were also terminated overnight. The Trump administration had already moved to cut off all aid to the country, citing disagreement with social policies there.
But this isn’t about social policies. Bhekisisa, a global health news outlet, reported that PEPFAR-funded organizations “woke up to letters that were sent overnight telling them their grants have been ended—permanently.”
… The full extent of the PEPFAR cuts is not entirely clear as of now, though one foreign official told The Bulwark that in addition to any cuts, some USAID employees who work on the program were put on administrative leave.
Even if the USAID spigot was fully cut off, there are other sources of funds into the program, including from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Defense. …”
Adding to the shock was how the cuts transpired. USAID officials were operating under the impression that they remained in the 90-day review period, during which time all foreign aid contracts were to be scrutinized by Trump leadership. The administration is of course not 90 days old.
But Rubio and Peter Marocco, the acting deputy administrator of USAID, went ahead anyway.1 It wasn’t lost on those inside the agency that news of the terminations was leaked to the Free Beacon, the conservative outlet that has become a clearinghouse for critical reporting on USAID functions. …”
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IMMIGRATION
“… The primary target as of now, according to three sources, is the Tren de Aragua gang, which was also recently designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
“Labeling Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization was the first step,” a senior White House official told CNN.
… Part of the ongoing discussions includes where those migrants would be sent. While Venezuela has agreed to take back its nationals, those repatriation flights are generally limited. Other options include countries that have agreed to take back third-country migrants, like El Salvador.
Using the law has been repeatedly floated among immigration hardliners because it would streamline the deportation process.
Detentions and deportations that occur under the Alien Enemies Act do not go through the immigration court system, which provides immigrants the chance to seek relief and make their case to stay in the country. Experts have noted that the backlogged court system, where cases can take years, could be a significant obstacle to Trump’s mass deportation plans.
The Alien Enemies Act is designed to be invoked if the US is at war with another country, or a foreign nation has invaded the US or threatened to do so. Legal experts say it would be difficult for Trump to use the act when the US isn’t being attacked by a foreign government, even if the administration does cite threats from gangs or cartels.”
Trump prepares to use controversial 1798 ‘Alien Enemies’ law to speed deportations
“… The primary target as of now, according to three sources, is the Tren de Aragua gang, which was also recently designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
“Labeling Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization was the first step,” a senior White House official told CNN.
… Part of the ongoing discussions includes where those migrants would be sent. While Venezuela has agreed to take back its nationals, those repatriation flights are generally limited. Other options include countries that have agreed to take back third-country migrants, like El Salvador.
Using the law has been repeatedly floated among immigration hardliners because it would streamline the deportation process.
Detentions and deportations that occur under the Alien Enemies Act do not go through the immigration court system, which provides immigrants the chance to seek relief and make their case to stay in the country. Experts have noted that the backlogged court system, where cases can take years, could be a significant obstacle to Trump’s mass deportation plans.
The Alien Enemies Act is designed to be invoked if the US is at war with another country, or a foreign nation has invaded the US or threatened to do so. Legal experts say it would be difficult for Trump to use the act when the US isn’t being attacked by a foreign government, even if the administration does cite threats from gangs or cartels.”
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ALLEGED ANTI-DEI
“The Art Museum of the Americas, a cultural venue run by the Organization of American States that is steps from the White House and the National Mall, has canceled two upcoming shows, one featuring Black artists from across the Western Hemisphere and the other showcasing queer artists from Canada. According to participants in those shows, museum officials canceled the exhibitions to comply with Trump administration orders to stamp out federal funding for “diversity, equity and inclusion” efforts.
Cheryl D. Edwards, the curator for the survey of Black artists that had been slated to open on March 21, said the decision follows executive orders from the Trump administration to eliminate federal funding for diversity initiatives.
She said she received a call on Feb. 6 from Adriana Ospina, the director of the D.C. museum, notifying her that the institution had been forced to call off the exhibition.
“‘I have been instructed to call you and tell you that the museum [show] is terminated,’” Edwards says, recalling the message from Ospina. “Nobody uses that word in art — terminated.”
… Featuring artworks by African American as well as Afro-Latino and Caribbean artists, “Before the Americas” aimed to track the influence of the transatlantic slave trade and African diaspora across multiple generations of modern and contemporary artists. The survey ranged from artists born in the 1890s to the 1990s, among them Wifredo Lam, the Cuban modernist painter and the subject of a forthcoming retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, and Elizabeth Catlett, an American and Mexican sculptor whose retrospective at the National Gallery of Art opens in March.
… The only reason Edwards was given for the show’s cancellation, she says: “Because it is DEI.” The president and conservative lawmakers have used the term as a catchall pejorative for efforts aimed at addressing social inequalities. …”
Art Museum of Americas cancels shows of Black, LGBTQ artists following Trump orders
Participants said the museum, run by the Organization of American States, shut down two upcoming exhibitions featuring major American and international artists.“The Art Museum of the Americas, a cultural venue run by the Organization of American States that is steps from the White House and the National Mall, has canceled two upcoming shows, one featuring Black artists from across the Western Hemisphere and the other showcasing queer artists from Canada. According to participants in those shows, museum officials canceled the exhibitions to comply with Trump administration orders to stamp out federal funding for “diversity, equity and inclusion” efforts.
Cheryl D. Edwards, the curator for the survey of Black artists that had been slated to open on March 21, said the decision follows executive orders from the Trump administration to eliminate federal funding for diversity initiatives.
She said she received a call on Feb. 6 from Adriana Ospina, the director of the D.C. museum, notifying her that the institution had been forced to call off the exhibition.
“‘I have been instructed to call you and tell you that the museum [show] is terminated,’” Edwards says, recalling the message from Ospina. “Nobody uses that word in art — terminated.”
… Featuring artworks by African American as well as Afro-Latino and Caribbean artists, “Before the Americas” aimed to track the influence of the transatlantic slave trade and African diaspora across multiple generations of modern and contemporary artists. The survey ranged from artists born in the 1890s to the 1990s, among them Wifredo Lam, the Cuban modernist painter and the subject of a forthcoming retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, and Elizabeth Catlett, an American and Mexican sculptor whose retrospective at the National Gallery of Art opens in March.
… The only reason Edwards was given for the show’s cancellation, she says: “Because it is DEI.” The president and conservative lawmakers have used the term as a catchall pejorative for efforts aimed at addressing social inequalities. …”
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“… The vote was 52-47. The House on Wednesday passed a similar resolution scrapping the Environmental Protection Agency rule, and President Donald Trump is expected to sign the measure into law.
Congressional Republicans are working in lockstep with the Trump administration to dismantle many of President Joe Biden’s climate rules and policies. GOP lawmakers also plan to reverse a Biden-era decision to let California ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035.
However, overturning the methane rule does not eliminate the EPA’s obligation to levy a fee on methane emissions from large oil and gas facilities. That obligation was written into Biden’s signature 2022 climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and fully overturning it would require additional legislation. …”
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BlooVooDoo
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