USA News and Discussions

[caltrek]

Texas Bar Files Disciplinary Action Against Former Trump Attorney Sidney Powell
by David Lee
March 8, 2022

https://www.courthousenews.com/texas-ba ... -attorney/

Introduction:

DALLAS (Courthouse News) — The State Bar of Texas has filed a disciplinary action against attorney Sidney Powell, accusing her of professional misconduct for filing several federal lawsuits contesting the election of President Joe Biden over former President Donald Trump in 2020.

The bar association’s Commission for Lawyer Discipline filed the lawsuit in Dallas County District Court on March 1, and the case was first made public seven days later. The commission says it sued Powell, of Dallas, after receiving 10 separate complaints against her since December 2020.

“Beginning in or about November of 2020[,] respondent filed multiple federal lawsuits in different jurisdictions (including the District Court of Arizona, the Northern District of Georgia, the Eastern District of Michigan, and the Eastern District of Wisconsin) alleging, inter alia, election fraud has occurred in the national presidential election in 2020,” the six-page complaint states. “Respondent had no reasonable basis to believe the lawsuits she filed were not frivolous.” (Parentheses in original.)

The lawsuit claims Powell violated Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 and five subsections of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.

The commission alleges Powell took positions in the litigation that “unreasonably increased the costs” of the cases and “unreasonably delayed” their resolution, including an alleged failure to drop a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Michigan when “requested relief was moot.”

[caltrek]

Cracking Down on Russian Oligarchs Should Mean Cracking Down on U.S. Tax Havens
by Chuck Collins
March 16, 2022

https://otherwords.org/cracking-down-on ... ax-havens/

Introduction:

(Other Words) As part of the sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its European partners are cracking down on Russian oligarchs. They’re freezing assets and tracking the yachts, private jets, and luxury real estate holdings of these Russian billionaires.

“I say to the Russian oligarchs and the corrupt leaders who bilked billions of dollars off this violent regime: no more,” Biden said in his State of the Union address. “We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.”

Targeting Russia’s elites, who have stolen trillions from their own people, is an important strategy to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin, who himself may be among the wealthiest people on the planet.

But the U.S. faces a major obstacle in this effort: Our own country has become a major destination tax haven for criminal and oligarch wealth from around the world — and not just Russians.

While European Union countries have been increasing transparency and cracking down on kleptocratic capital, the United States is a laggard. As the Pandora Papers disclosed last year, the U.S. has become a weak link in the fight against global corruption.

[wjfox]

[R8Z]

[caltrek]

Of course, there is the problem of defining who, exactly, is the enemy. Case in point:

With Little to Attack SCOTUS Nominee, Republicans Are Going Full Hypocrisy
by Stephanie Mencimer
March 21, 2022

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... s-nominee/

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) While you wouldn’t know it from the attacks Republicans are lobbing at Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s nominee to the Supreme Court, her confirmation is a foregone conclusion. She’s been on the Democratic Supreme Court shortlist since the Obama administration. As a former US District Court judge for eight years and a member of the US Sentencing Commission, and newly appointed to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Jackson has been through three separate Senate confirmation proceedings since 2010. Three Republican senators voted to confirm her to the DC Circuit in June. In short, not only is she extremely qualified for the job, but she has already been thoroughly vetted. Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has conceded that she has an impressive resume.

As a result, conservatives have very little fodder with which to oppose her. GOP senators have indicated they will weaponize her record as a defense lawyer when she represented alleged terrorists detained indefinitely without trial at the Guantanamo Bay naval base.

caltrek's comment: No wonder there are no justices with public defender experience on the court. In the past, is has been so easy to link them up with undesirable clients in the public's mind. Never mind any otherwise existing platitudes about the right to a legal self-defense by a competent attorney.

[caltrek]

Durbin Destroys Hawley by Allowing Ketanji Brown Jackson to Respond to his Bebunked Attack
by David Badash
March 22, 2022

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/hawley-durbin/

Introduction:

(Alternet) U.S. Senator Josh Hawley‘s misleading and false allegations have been debunked by mainstream, left-leaning, and even right-wing media and news outlets and yet during his remarks on Monday he brought them up again. The Republican Senator from Missouri’s charges, which are tinged with a QAnon taint, basically are that Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was soft on those found guilty of child pornography.

At the opening of Tuesday’s Senate confirmation hearing Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin decimated Hawley’s attack with a litany of facts, but also by giving Judge Jackson the opportunity to speak to the allegations directly to the Senators and to the American people.

Joyce Vance, an MSNBC and NBC News legal analyst and a former U.S. Attorney observes that “Judge Jackson’s brilliance as a jurist is on full display as she responds to a question about whether she’s soft on crime when it comes to child pornography. Does not shy away from describing the crime as depiction of sex abuse but notes she must follow Congress’ sentencing law.”

caltrek's comment: Unfortunately, this attack will probably play well with the QAnon crowd. The same crowd that backed Trump, despite credible sexual misconduct allegations, and two Supreme Court nominees, again despite credible allegations of sexual misconduct. A combination of who-do-you-trust and extreme hypocrisy knows no bounds.

[caltrek]

The GOP’s Attacks on Ketanji Brown Jackson are Nasty Even by Republican Standards
by Ian Millhiser
March 22, 2022

https://www.vox.com/2022/3/22/22991834/ ... ornography

Introduction:

(Vox) One day after Republican senators promised they wouldn’t levy personal attacks against Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, several of them generated a storm of misleading — and often offensive — attacks against her.

On Monday, the first day of Jackson’s confirmation hearing, several Republicans complained about the way that Justice Brett Kavanaugh was treated prior to his confirmation, after Kavanaugh was credibly accused of sexually assaulting a woman while he was in high school.

Multiple Republican senators promised not to levy similarly “personal attacks” against Jackson. “No Republican senator is going to unleash an attack on your character when the hearing is almost over,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) promised Jackson.

It’s not hard to guess what happened next. Tuesday, the first day of the hearing where senators on the Judiciary Committee could actually ask questions of Judge Jackson, included allegations from five Republican senators that Jackson is soft on child pornography offenders.

Before those misleading attacks kicked off in real force, Graham stormed out of the hearing after attacking Jackson for providing legal counsel to Guantanamo Bay detainees — and suggesting that by doing so, Jackson endangered national security. Two other Republican senators attacked the high school that one of Jackson’s daughters attends

[caltrek]

U.S. Will Accept 100,000 Ukrainian Refugees
More than 3.5 million people have fled during the war.
by Noah Y. Kim
March 24, 2022

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... -refugees/

Entire article (less photograph):

(Mother Jones) President Joe Biden is expected to announce today in Brussels that the United States will accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.

While this would constitute a significant bump in the number of Ukrainians the US has accepted during the conflict, it’s nowhere close to the number that Eastern European countries such as Poland, Romania, Moldova, and Hungary have admitted. US officials have justified the relatively low numbers by noting that most Ukrainian refugees want to stay in Europe so they can return to their home country more easily if the conflict resolves.

According to NBC News, the refugees will be admitted through a range of pathways, “including the US Refugee Admissions Program, nonimmigrant and immigrant visas, and other means.” Another mechanism could be “humanitarian parole,” which allows entry to individuals fleeing violence. The administration will prioritize Ukrainians with family members in the US.

In addition, the US will donate a billion dollars to help European countries assimilate the surge of refugees fleeing the Russian invasion. More than 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russian armed forces poured across the border, with the majority escaping into neighboring Poland. While the Polish government has received criticism for its anti-migrant stances during previous conflicts, international organizations have praised Polish officials and civilians for rallying to house and feed Ukrainians.

[weatheriscool]

'Biggest fraud in a generation': The looting of the Covid relief program known as PPP
They bought Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Bentleys.

And Teslas, of course. Lots of Teslas.

Many who participated in what prosecutors are calling the largest fraud in U.S. history — the theft of hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money intended to help those harmed by the coronavirus pandemic — couldn’t resist purchasing luxury automobiles. Also mansions, private jet flights and swanky vacations.

They came into their riches by participating in what experts say is the theft of as much as $80 billion — or about 10 percent — of the $800 billion handed out in a Covid relief plan known as the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP. That’s on top of the $90 billion to $400 billion believed to have been stolen from the $900 billion Covid unemployment relief program — at least half taken by international fraudsters — as NBC News reported last year. And another $80 billion potentially pilfered from a separate Covid disaster relief program.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/biggest-frau ... 00725.html

[weatheriscool]

White House omitted light Jackson child porn sentence in document given to senators, GOP says: 'Cover-up'

Republicans say the White House did not include in materials given to the Judiciary Committee a grisly child porn case in which Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson departed significantly below probation office recommendation – and are raising questions of whether the White House "intentionally left it out," which the White House disputes.

Jackson, President Biden's Supreme Court nominee, sentenced the case less than a year ago as she was about to be elevated to the D.C. Circuit Court. Titled U.S. v. Cane, it involved "over 6,500 files depicting children appearing to be of elementary, middle and high school ages, engaged in sexual acts or posing sexually." The probation office recommended a sentence of 84 months in the case but Jackson sentenced the man to 60 months in prison, which was the mandatory minimum.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ketanj ... e-cover-up

[weatheriscool]

Federal investigation of Hunter Biden heats up
Source: CNN

Washington (CNN)A Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden's business activities has gained steam in recent months, with a flurry of witnesses providing testimony to federal investigators and more expected to provide interviews in the coming weeks, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The probe, led by the US Attorney in Wilmington, Delaware, began as early as 2018 and concerns multiple financial and business activities in foreign countries dating to when Biden's father was vice president. Investigators have examined whether Hunter Biden and some of his associates violated money laundering, tax and foreign lobbying laws, as well as firearm and other regulations, multiple sources said.

To do so, law enforcement has gathered information from lobbyists connected to Hunter Biden, from his business partners, and from others who've observed his financial engagements, including a woman with whom he had a child.

Hunter Biden has not been charged with any crimes and has denied any wrongdoing. His father, President Joe Biden is not being investigated as part of the probe of his son's business activities, according to sources who have been briefed.

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/30/poli ... index.html

It is pretty sick that the media hide this from the public during the election. I am sorry but the truth needs to be known and criminals need to go down. I don't fully disagree with you about trumps crimes and the need to investigate him but lets be fair. Our political class is truly disgusting and criminal.

[caltrek]

Taking Aim at Billionaire Tax Avoiders, Biden Proposes Minimum Tax for Ultrarich
by Paul Kiel, Jesse Eisinger and Jeff Ernsthausen
March 28, 2022

https://www.propublica.org/article/taki ... -ultrarich

Introduction:

(ProPublica) Last year ProPublica, drawing on a trove of IRS data, gave the public its most extensive view ever of the taxes of the wealthiest Americans. The first article in the Secret IRS Files series put real numbers to a core truth about the U.S. tax system: Billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett can easily shield their fortunes from taxation by avoiding the sorts of income captured on a tax return.

A proposal released today by the Biden administration takes direct aim at this issue. The policy, if enacted, would, for a sliver of the very wealthiest, close that escape hatch. Vast increases in wealth would result in owing taxes.

Generally, the IRS does not tax gains unless they are “realized,” typically when a person sells a stock that has gained in value. Billionaires who hold on to assets that have appreciated get the benefit of those unrealized gains — they often borrow against them — without owing any tax
.
This is by no means a new bug in the U.S. system. But as ProPublica explained last year, the explosion of wealth inequality in recent decades, coupled with the particular nature of how these new fortunes have been built, has made unrealized gains particularly important at this point in our history.

Past U.S. presidents have, on occasion, pushed for higher taxes on the rich, but usually by hiking traditional income tax rates. Biden’s proposal calls for a paradigm shift: It would change what gets counted as income. “Although the taxation of unrealized gain is still far from enactment, and even if enacted would await an uncertain fate in the Supreme Court, presidential endorsement of the concept is a milestone in the history of the income tax,” said Lawrence Zelenak, a Duke University School of Law professor whose expertise includes income and corporate tax and tax policy.

[Yuli Ban]

Democrats are about to get fucking CRUSHED, holy SHIT


USA on track to follow Hungary in just a few years

[Yuli Ban]

[wjfox]

[Yuli Ban]

The Biden administration plans to freeze federal student loan payments through Aug. 31, extending a moratorium that has allowed millions of Americans to postpone payments during the coronavirus pandemic, according to an administration official familiar with the White House’s decision-making.

Student loan payments were scheduled to resume May 1 after being halted since early in the pandemic. But following calls from Democrats in Congress, the White House plans to give borrowers additional time to prepare for payments.

The action applies to more than 43 million Americans who owe a combined $1.6 trillion in student debt held by the federal government, according to the latest data from the Education Department. That includes more than 7 million borrowers who have defaulted on student loans, meaning they are at least 270 days late on payments.

Borrowers will not be asked to make payments until after Aug. 31, and interest rates are expected to remain at 0% during that period.

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Why Hasn’t the US Been Kicked Off UN Human Rights Council?
by David Lindorff

https://www.eurasiareview.com/09042022- ... ncil-oped/

Introduction:

(Eurasian Review) The United Nations General Assembly voted 93-24 with 58 abstentions to drop the Russian Federation from membership on the UN Human Rights Council, based on allegations and grisly videos and photos appearing to show execution-style slayings of civilians in Ukraine by Russian troops.

While there are calls for independent investigations into those allegations, the US and NATO member state governments have been pushing the claim that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine including the major war crime of invading another country, the unasked question in the US media is: Why hasn’t the US been kicked out of the Human Rights Council for similar war crimes that aren’t at all allegations, but are well-documented fact? Why indeed, for all the accusations that Russian President Vladimir Putin is himself a war criminal responsible for all these crimes, haven’t a number of US presidents still living been accused of war crimes?

Let’s look at some of those crimes:

The first and biggest, there is the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Iraq posed no immediate threat to the US. Not even close to the way Ukraine shares a 1300-mile border with Russia, Iraq had no navy, no long-range bombers or missiles, and is located 7000 miles from the nearest US border.

That war, completely illegal, went unpunished, as did the people who ordered it: President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

caltrek's comment: To the extent this is just propaganda meant to distract from Putin's war crimes, I think the above article can safely be dismissed as bovine excrement. However, to the extent it is an honest question, it is a good point that deserves careful review an analysis. Let me think, how does that old saying go?

Something like "he who lives in glass houses should not throw bricks."

Edit: The article states: "US is directly responsible for 363,000 civilian deaths." This is a highly misleading figure as estimates actually vary quite widely. Ironically, my sense and recollection is that this estimate is on the low side and that the actual number is probably much higher than this.

[caltrek]

Trump Jr. Pushed Meadows to Overturn Election as Votes Were Counted, Texts Show
by Julia Conley
April 9, 2022

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/ ... texts-show

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Text messages obtained by the House select committee that is investigating the January 6, 2021 insurrection revealed that people in former President Donald Trump's closest circle—specifically his son, Donald Trump Jr.—were strategizing before the votes were even counted how they could overturn the results of the 2020 election and make sure Trump served a second term.

As CNN reported late Friday, Trump Jr. texted former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on November 5, 2020—just two days after the election and before President Joe Biden was announced the winner—to urge White House officials to use "operational control" to ensure a Trump victory regardless of the results.

"POTUS must start 2nd term now," Trump Jr. told Meadows.

He then suggested that Republican-controlled state legislatures in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Michigan "step in" and put forward "Trump electors."

[caltrek]

Why Hasn’t the US Been Kicked Off UN Human Rights Council?

More on that from Amy Goodman:

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022 ... war-crimes

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) In early April, shocking video surfaced revealing the brutal murder of civilians by an occupying army. The year was 2010, however, not 2022, in Iraq, not Ukraine, and the soldiers were American, not Russian. On April 5th, 2010, Wikileaks, the whistleblower website, released a classified U.S. military video it called "Collateral Murder." The video was recorded on July 12, 2007 aboard a U.S. Army Apache helicopter gunship as it fired on a crowd in Baghdad. Two Reuters employees were killed, along with at least eight others, and two children were seriously injured. The video includes audio of U.S soldiers laughing and swearing as they kill, as well as radio transmissions authorizing the attacks from their chain of command. Ultimately, only one U.S. soldier was prosecuted: Army Private Chelsea Manning was court martialed, not for participating in that attack on civilians, but for revealing it to the world.

Biden's escalating rhetoric against Putin will continue to ring hollow as long as the U.S. rejects the ICC.
"Collateral Murder" and the trove of documents Manning uploaded to Wikileaks, the Iraq War Logs and the Afghan War Logs, documented numerous atrocities committed by the U.S., in cold, military jargon.

In the twelve years since the video was released, military conflicts and the inevitable crimes that accompany them have raged around the world, from Congo to Sudan, Ethiopia and Tigray to Libya, from Yemen to Burma to West Papua, to name just a few. In Ukraine, the level of video and photographic documentation, satellite imagery and drone footage published instantaneously and shared globally is unprecedented.

Images of dead civilians littering the streets of Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, many executed with their hands bound behind their backs, have shocked the world. Hospitals have been bombed across the country, as have civilian shelters. Russia is also accused of deploying a new type of antipersonnel landmine, which explodes not only when stepped on but merely when a person walks near them. War crimes have reportedly been committed by Ukrainian defenders as well, against Russian prisoners of war and suspected collaborators.

So-called "rules of engagement" are regularly ignored in the all-consuming violence and barbarism of war. U.S. and coalition troops were guilty of this in Afghanistan, as documented by Manning's disclosures to Wikileaks and often corroborated by journalists and human rights investigators. Few if any of those who committed atrocities will ever be held accountable.