Biden budget vs. House GOP: Values on display in debt fight

President Joe Biden speaks about his 2024 proposed budget at the Finishing Trades Institute, Thursday, March 9, 2023, in Philadelphia. Biden's federal budget is a statement of his values. It's a governing philosophy that believes the wealthy and large corporations should pay more taxes to help stem deficits and lift Americans toward middle class stability. 

(AP Photo/Matt Rourke) 


LISA MASCARO and JOSH BOAK
Thu, March 9, 2023 

WASHINGTON (AP) — For President Joe Biden, his federal budget is a statement of values — the dollars and cents of a governing philosophy that believes the wealthy and large corporations should pay more taxes to help stem deficits and lift Americans toward middle class stability

In the view of his chief congressional critics led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the budget is also the arena where they intend to challenge the president with values of their own — slashing the social safety net, trimming support for Ukraine and ending the so-called “woke” policies rejected by Republicans.

It’s the blueprint for a summer showdown as Biden confronts Republicans over the raising the debt ceiling to pay off the nation’s accrued balances, a familiar battle that will define the president and the political parties ahead of the 2024 election.

“I’m ready to meet with the speaker any time — tomorrow, if he has his budget,” Biden said while rolling out his own $6.8 trillion spending proposal Thursday in Philadelphia.

"Lay it down. Tell me what you want to do. I’ll show you what I want to do. See what we can agree on," said Biden, the Democratic president egging on the Republican leader.

But McCarthy, in his first term as House speaker, is nowhere near being ready to present a GOP proposal at the negotiating table to start talks in earnest with the White House.

While Republicans newly empowered in the House have bold ideas about rolling back government spending to fiscal 2022 levels and putting the federal budget on a path to balance within the next decade, they have no easy ideas for how to meet those goals.

McCarthy declined this week to say when House Republicans intend to produce their own proposal, blaming their delays on Biden's own tardiness in rolling out his plan.

“We want to analyze his budget based upon the question as to where can we find common ground,” McCarthy said. “So we’ll analyze his budget and then we’ll get to work.”

Squaring off, it’s a fresh take on the budget battles of a decade ago when Biden, as vice president, confronted an earlier generation of “tea party” House Republicans eager to cut the debt load and balance budgets.

What's changed in the decade since the last big budget showdown in Washington is the solidifying of the GOP's MAGA wing, inspired by the Trump-era Make American Great Again slogan, to turn the fiscal battles into cultural wars. The nation's total debt load has almost doubled during that time to $31 trillion.

Beyond the dollars and cents, the new era of House Republicans see the coming debt ceiling fight as a battle for their very existence — a test of their mandate in the new House majority to push back against liberals in Washington.

“There’s going to be a whole bunch of noise, and then everybody will push up to the brink and then someone’s gonna blink — I don't intend to,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, an influential member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus.

As pressure mounts on McCarthy, the president is trying to steal some thunder as he rolled out a proposal this week that spotlights deficit reductions that are a centerpiece of GOP goals.

Biden's approach is a turn-around from the start of the year when he refused to negotiate with Republicans, demanding Congress send him a straightforward bill to raise the debt limit. At the time, the president wouldn't entertain a conversation about spending changes McCarthy committed to as part of his campaign to become speaker.

The White House's budget plan would cut the deficit by $2.9 trillion over 10 years, a rebuttal to GOP criticism that Biden's deficit spending to address the pandemic has fueled inflation and hurt the economy.

Speaking to union members in Philadelphia, Biden said McCarthy needed to follow his lead and publicly release his own numbers so that they can negotiate “line by line.”

With his budget, Biden showed the math of how he would lower the trajectory of the national debt. Yet his approach to fiscal responsibility is unacceptable to Republicans, since it would require $4.7 trillion in higher taxes on corporations and people making more than $400,000.

The president also wants an additional $2.5 trillion in spending on programs such as an expanded child tax credit that would improve family finances.

“When the middle class does well, the poor have a way up and the wealthy still do very well,” the president said as he framed the showdown as a difference of principles.

By refusing to raise taxes, the Republicans in the House are relying almost exclusively on reductions to bring budgets into balance. It’s a painful, potentially devastating endeavor, inflicting cuts on programs Americans depend on in their communities. Republicans cannot say when their budget will be ready.

“We’re getting close,” said Rep. Jody Arrington, R-Texas, the new chairman of the House Budget Committee.

Because McCarthy has yet to release his budget, Biden has toured the country and talked to audiences about past Republican plans to cut Social Security and Medicare.

McCarthy insists reductions to the Medicare and Social Security entitlement programs that millions of America’s seniors and others depend on are off the table — and Republicans howled in protest during Biden’s State of the Union address to Congress last month when the president claimed otherwise.

But by shielding those programs from cuts and opposing any tax increases, GOP lawmakers would need crippling slashes to the rest of government spending that could offend voters going into the 2024 elections.

The chamber's Freedom Caucus is eyeing reductions to supplemental disability insurance, food stamps and fresh work requirements on some people receiving government aid.

Roy, the Freedom Caucus member, outlined some $700 billion in reductions that could be banked by reversing Biden's student loan forgiveness program, clawing back almost $100 billion in unspent COVID-19 relief and rolling back spending to fiscal 2022 levels.

But the conservative caucus with its few dozen members is just one constituency McCarthy must balance as he tries to cobble together his ranks. The much larger Republican Study Committee is expected to roll out its ideas in April and other GOP caucuses have their own priorities.

McCarthy believes he has won a first round in the budget battles by pushing Biden to negotiate over the debt ceiling. But now the speaker faces the daunting challenge of bringing his own GOP plan to the table.

“The House Republican budget plan is in the witness protection program,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the chamber's Democratic leader. “It’s in hiding.”

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Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

House Conservatives Outline Spending Cuts to Raise Debt Limit



Erik Wasson
Fri, March 10, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- Republican conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus are demanding at least $3 trillion in spending cuts over a decade in exchange for supporting an increase in the debt ceiling, an opening bid in negotiations that is sure to be rejected by President Joe Biden and Democrats.

The group of several dozen GOP lawmakers has more than enough votes to exert significant leverage on Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the narrowly divided House, which must vote to raise the debt ceiling sometime in the coming months to avoid a market-rattling US payment default.

Biden, who released his $6.9 trillion budget blueprint on Thursday, has insisted the debt ceiling must be raised with no strings attached even as he’s said he’s willing to talk about spending. The Freedom Caucus wants an explicit link.

“America will not default on our debts unless President Biden chooses to do so,” Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican, said at a news conference Friday.

The group said it will consider voting for a debt ceiling increase if Congress first passes a year-long stopgap bill cutting domestic spending to fiscal 2022 levels — a $130 billion cut if defense is spared — unless congressional appropriations committees can agree on more tailored cuts by the Sept. 30 government funding deadline. Discretionary spending would rise just 1% a year for nine more years, under the Freedom Caucus plan.

Members acknowledged that the group’s plan falls short of balancing the budget—which would take more than $16 trillion in cuts. Instead he said the group ready to start the process of getting to balance eventually now by negotiating with Democrats.

“It is step one of getting our house in order,” said Texas Representative Chip Roy said.

The group also is demanding an end to Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, rescinding unspent Covid funds, and rescinding both the $80 billion expansion of the Internal Revenue Service enacted last year and climate change spending from the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Now, we won’t get everything, but if you don’t put it out there you can’t even start,” South Carolina Representative Ralph Norman, a member of the Freedom Caucus, said. “A clean debt ceiling, we will never vote for that.”

Without the votes of Freedom Caucus members, McCarthy can’t pass a partisan budget blueprint or agree to any deal with Biden. They showed their strength in January when some members denied McCarthy the speaker’s gavel until he agreed to a rules change what would allow just one lawmaker to call a vote to unseat the speaker at any time.

“The House Freedom Caucus is here to set a marker,” Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boebert said.

Biden released a budget blueprint that claims $3 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years, compared with doing nothing, on the back of $5.5 trillion in tax increases. The budget would still increase the deficit to $1.8 trillion in 2024 and add $19 trillion in debt.

McCarthy and Biden last met to discuss the budget at the beginning of February. Biden said Thursday he would meet McCarthy at any time once McCarthy has made his budget plan public.

The official House GOP budget will be delayed past the mid-April deadline, McCarthy told reporters, because Biden’s own plan was a month late.

House GOP Freedom Caucus members want to block student-loan forgiveness in their new proposal to deal with the debt ceiling


Ayelet Sheffey
Fri, March 10, 2023 

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) speaks during a news conference with members of the House Freedom Caucus outside the U.S. Capitol on February 28, 2022 in Washington, DC.Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The House Freedom Caucus unveiled a plan to address the debt ceiling on Friday.

It includes ending student-debt relief and recouping unspent pandemic relief funds.

It comes just one day after Biden released his budget, during which he called on the GOP to do the same.

A conservative group of lawmakers in the House just released a plan to deal with the debt ceiling through major spending cuts.

And unsurprisingly, blocking student-debt relief is on the list.

On Friday, the House Freedom Caucus, comprised of far-right GOP lawmakers, unveiled a plan entitled "Shrink Washington, Grow America" to raise the debt ceiling "contingent upon" legislation that would end President Joe Biden's student-debt relief, rescind unspent COVID-19 funds, and recoup IRS and climate spending, among other things.

According to the Caucus' fact sheet, they are proposing to cap future spending at the 2022 level for ten years, which will "cut $131 billion in FY2024 and save roughly $3 trillion over the long term by cutting the wasteful, woke, and weaponized federal bureaucracy."

"We are here to ensure that we do not default on our nation's debt," Freedom Caucus member Lauren Boebert said during a Friday press conference.

"And the question that we all face isn't, what was the financially responsible thing to do last year? In the last Congress, we fought like hell to make sure that we weren't spending recklessly here in Washington DC, and unfortunately, we did not have the power of the pen, we did not have the power of the gavel, and we certainly did not have the power of the purse under Democrat rule," Boebert continued. "The question is not, what are we going to do in three years, five years or ten years from now — the question is, what can we do today?"

This is not the first time Republican lawmakers have targeted student-debt relief in a proposal to cut spending. The House GOP Budget Committee included blocking the relief in its list of areas to cut spending in a potential debt ceiling deal, and some have also introduced legislation to block the president from enacting any further debt relief.

Currently, Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers remains blocked due to two conservative-backed lawsuits that paused the implementation of the plan late last year, and the Supreme Court will issue a decision on the legality of the relief by June. A major student-loan lender also recently filed a lawsuit to end the current student-loan payment pause, which is set to expire 60 days after June 30, or 60 days after the lawsuits on the broad debt relief are resolved, whichever happens first.

The Caucus' plan comes just a day after Biden unveiled his budget proposal for the upcoming year, which GOP lawmakers assailed as "reckless." But, as the president noted in his remarks on Thursday following the release of the budget, Republicans have yet to come together to put forth a concrete plan to raise the debt ceiling before the US defaults on its debt, which could be as soon as July.

"So, I want to make it clear," Biden said. I'm ready to meet with the Speaker anytime — tomorrow, if he has his budget. Lay it down. Tell me what you want to do. I'll show you what I want to do. See what we can agree on."

House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington told Politico that Republicans have "no timeline" for making that happen.

"We are making good progress on our budget resolution," he said.

'We need to hear it.’ This tour explores Florida’s horrific history of racial violence


C. Isaiah Smalls II
Thu, March 9, 2023 

The John Wright house remains the final relic of Rosewood.

Hidden behind the trees that dot the 35-acre property sits the sprawling three-story Victorian home, its white facade and green accents dulled over the past century. The trail of clam shells leading to the front porch emits a stench that causes noses to crinkle and hands to cover faces. Over the past century, the home has witnessed the complete annihilation of a community that left at least six Black Floridians dead, one of the strongest hurricanes to make landfall in the United States and whatever else time has thrown its way.

Still, it stands. As does the history: Wright hid Black women and children inside the attic of this North Florida home when the bloodshed of the 1923 Rosewood Massacre began after a white woman falsely accused a Black man of beating her. Climb the winding, wooden staircase to the attic today and the emotions present more than a century ago are still very much palpable. Horror. Confusion. Anguish. Sorrow. Grief.

“When I got to the top of the stairs, I started crying,” Marvin Dunn, professor emeritus at Florida International University, said of his first visit to the home in January, explaining the rush of emotions. He couldn’t bear going inside again when he led a group of students there on a recent sunny Sunday afternoon in March. “In that small space, all these people suffering. They didn’t know if their relatives were alive or dead, where their families were. It had to be a frightening experience. And they could’ve been killed: They were killing everything Black.”

Historian Marvin Dunn recounts a portion of the Rosewood story to students and their families at Shiloh Cemetery in Cedar Key, Florida, on Sunday, March 5, 2023. Dunn led a group of students and their families on a tour that stopped at some of Florida’s most horrific sites of racial violence.

These experiences are at the heart of Dunn’s Teach the Truth tour, a two-day excursion where students and families travel to the locations of Florida’s most horrific sites of racial violence. In addition to Rosewood, the Miami Center for Racial Justice-sponsored tour made stops at the grave sites of Willie James Howard, a 15-year-old who was lynched in Live Oak, Florida, for sending a love note to a white girl in 1944; and Julius “July” Perry, who, after trying to vote, was among the at least 50 Black Floridians brutally murdered in what’s now known as the Ocoee Massacre. A previous tour in January stopped in Newberry, Florida, where a white mob hung six Black Floridians, one of whom was a pregnant woman, and Mims, Florida, where white supremacists bombed the home of Harry T. Moore and Harriette V.S. Moore on Christmas Day 1951, killing them both.

Dunn has dedicated most of his professional career to unearthing these stories. Florida, after all, had more lynchings per capita between 1877 and 1950 than any other state, according to the Equal Justice Initiative.

But as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ crusade continues against anything he deems “woke,” something his lawyer defined as “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them,” the university professor worries this part of Florida history will be lost. Even worse, any chance at reconciliation for such atrocities might disappear as well.

Visitors congregate around the home of John and Mary Jane Wright in Rosewood, Florida, on Sunday, March 5, 2023. The Wrights hid Black women and children inside the attic of their North Florida home when the bloodshed of the 1923 Rosewood Massacre began.

“If we don’t acknowledge these people, then they died for nothing,” Wendell Owens said. A native of northeastern Arkansas, the 66-year-old lives in Newberry with his wife, Janis, who penned the book, “Hidden in Plain Sight: A History of the Newberry Mass Lynching of 1916.”

Dunn invited Owens on the final leg of the trip to emphasize that “in every instance, there were white people who came forward and tried to do the right thing.”

“The only way we can get rid of racism is to confess it, to embrace it as it was and as it is now,” Owens added.

In what many consider a clear push for the presidency, DeSantis has weaponized the term “woke” to restrict the teaching of Black history. That has meant banning critical race theory and The New York Times’ 1619 project from schools. That has meant supporting laws like the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, an amorphous piece of legislation that mandates “an objective” approach to race-based lessons and bans instruction “used to indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view” or make students “feel guilt” about history. It has also meant influencing the Florida Department of Education, which, among many other things, recently rejected the College Board’s Advanced Placement African-American studies course because it “significantly lacks educational value.” Across the state, books are being pulled from shelves as teachers try to gain clarity.

Visitors interact with the historical marker explaining the Rosewood Massacre in Rosewood, Florida, on Sunday, March 5, 2023. The 1923 massacre left eight people dead — six Black, two white — and an entire community razed after a white woman falsely accused a Black man of beating her.

DeSantis’ attacks even extend to higher education. A December 2022 memo required state colleges and universities to “provide a comprehensive list of all staff, programs, and campus activities related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and critical race theory” as well as the associated costs. A federal judge issued a temporary injunction against portions of the Stop WOKE Act related to higher education in November.

‘This trip has brought the history to life.’

The message, according to many of the parents and students present on Dunn’s tour, is clear: DeSantis doesn’t care about Black history. For this reason, Robyn Haugabook brought her two daughters — Morgan, 16, and Megan, 20, Everett — as well as three nieces. The group was among the more than 40 participants that piled onto a bus at 7 a.m. Saturday at the campus of Barry University.

From there, the bus took the roughly three-hour trip to Greenwood Cemetery in Orlando where Perry is buried. The tour then headed northwest for nearly three more hours to East Memorial Cemetery in Live Oak, the site of Howard’s grave before quickly shuffling to the Suwanee River, where the 15-year-old took his final breaths. After an overnight stay at a nearby hotel in Lake City, the bus headed south toward Cedar Key, the final resting place of Wright and his wife, Mary Jane. The caravan then departed for Rosewood, where Dunn recently purchased a five-acre plot of land. There, they planted azaleas on Dunn’s land, an ode to the Rosewood of the past. The Wright home was the final stop before the roughly six-hour ride back to Miami.

Megan Everett, 20, left, and Morgan Everett, 16, plant azaleas on historian Marvin Dunn’s property in Rosewood, Florida, on Sunday, March 5, 2023. The sisters were among the more than 40 participants who traveled on Dunn’s tour that stopped at some of Florida’s most horrific sites of racial violence.

“This trip has brought the history to life,” Haugabook said. “I want my children to take it back to their school, to their community, to their history teachers and let them know that what DeSantis has tried to do is erase our history. But we’re fighting back.”

Part of that fight involves establishing a physical connection with the history, says Dunn, in hopes that one of the students will one day pick up where he left off. The tour followed a similar blueprint: The group would file out of the bus, listen to Dunn’s recount of the history, sing either “We Shall Overcome,” “Amazing Grace” or “Lift Every Voice,” pray and, finally, touch the tombstone.

“We don’t want anyone to think that we’re angry or the Teach the Truth tour wants you to be angry,” Dunn said at the Greenwood Cemetery, Perry’s memorial resting by his feet. As the scorching Central Florida sun beamed down on the group, Dunn told the story of Perry’s murder, why no one was ever brought to justice and implored students to vote when they’re of age. He then asked a rather poignant question.

“You all are too young to hear this according to our governor,” Dunn said. “Is it too much for you to hear?”

“No!” Morgan quickly shouted. “We need to hear it.”

Asked later about her response, Morgan confidently explained why she “can handle this history.”

“It’s our history and it’s things that happened to kids our age so I think we should be aware of the things that have happened so that they don’t repeat themselves,” the Barbara Goleman Senior High junior said, referring to Howard’s lynching.

The 15-year-old’s murder, which occurred more than a decade before Emmett Till’s brutal killing ignited the Civil Rights Movement, weighed heavy on many throughout the group. Students couldn’t fathom how someone could do that to a child. One parent recounted having nightmares Saturday night.

A tombstone for 15-year-old Willie James Howard sits in East Memorial Cemetery in Live Oak, Florida, on Saturday, March 4, 2023. The murder of Howard, who was killed by three white men in 1944 after the teenager sent a love letter to a white girl, was deemed a suicide for decades until a funeral director discovered the 15-year-old’s burial records.

In grave detail, Dunn explained how three white men kidnapped Howard from his mother’s house, picked up his father from work and took them to the Suwanee River where the teenager was forced to jump in. The three white men later admitted to taking the younger Howard to the river yet said he jumped in unprovoked. Howard’s family fled Live Oak shortly after and no one ever faced charges. For more than 60 years, Howard’s killing was called a suicide until Suwannee County Commissioner Douglas Udell purchased a funeral home and discovered the word “lynching” etched next to the 15-year-old’s name in its records. Udell then commissioned a tombstone that read “Murdered by 3 Racist” [sic] and invited the community to the only funeral held in Howard’s honor.

“It was like he was erased” from the history books, Douglas Udell Jr. told the group as the sun set over the trees that circle East Memorial Cemetery.

Vanessa Blaise, 17, had never heard of Howard until the tour. Though his story was “extremely hard on her conscience,” the Plantation High senior said it was a welcome change of pace from the monotony of her normal history lessons that she believed had become “repetitive” since DeSantis’ laws complicated lessons on race. Dunn’s tour, however, provides a necessary antidote.

“By banning Black history, they’re banning us in a way because we went through this,” Blaise said, adding that similar tours “should be mandated nationwide.”

“We went through this. It’s our history.”

Racism charges fly at House hearing on coronavirus

During COVID origins hearing, congressman calls out witness for book on race

Alexander Nazaryan
·Senior White House Correspondent
Thu, March 9, 2023 

WASHINGTON — Science author Nicholas Wade came to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to testify at a Republican panel on the origins of the coronavirus, but he was instead confronted with questions about “A Troublesome Inheritance,” his controversial 2014 book on race and genetics, which Democrats noted had been endorsed by the notorious racist and antisemite David Duke, as well as other white supremacists.

“I don’t have anything in common with the views of white supremacists,” Wade said at one point during the hearing.

“They love you, though,” shot back Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., arguing that Wade’s presence was an affront to any legitimate inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus — the subject of Wednesday’s proceedings.

A former head of the NAACP, Mfume said he was “appalled that this hearing now gets layered over with the issue of race.”

Author Nicholas Wade testifies Wednesday before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Visibly shaken, Mfume went on to tell Wade that he was “absolutely offended that you would have the opportunity to take this platform and to add anything of significance to it.”

The tense exchange called into question whether inviting Wade to testify at the first hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic had been an effective move on the part of the Republican majority, which is seeking to legitimate the notion that the coronavirus was the product of a laboratory accident in China.

Wade is a proponent of that hypothesis, but his past writings on genetics and race seemed to frustrate his attempts to focus the conversation on the pandemic.

The committee’s leading Democrat, Rep. Raul Ruiz of California, used his opening statement to discredit Wade. “His participation hurts the credibility of this hearing,” he said.

Ever so briefly, Capitol Hill was plunged into a controversy nearly a decade old, though one whose subjects understandably continue to excite deep passions today.

A native of England and a graduate of Cambridge, Wade worked at the prestigious journals Science and Nature in the late 1970s and early ’80s, by which point he had settled in the United States. He joined the New York Times in 1982 and would remain at the newspaper for 30 years.

Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., voices his concern that the subcommittee invited Wade to testify. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Wade has written a number of books throughout his career, but none has proved as remotely as explosive as his 2014 foray into the link between race and genetics — a link that, by then, many had come to discount.

In trying to reestablish the disputed correlation, Wade ventured into some of the more unseemly regions of what had once been known as scientific expertise. (His supporters would say he was dragged into that fraught territory by detractors who did not actually read his book, but some of those critics appeared to be familiar with his arguments.)

Race science was a favored occupation of the Nazis, who sought to marshal evidence — such as skull shape — to argue that Jews and other people of non-European origin were inherently inferior. Eugenicists in the United States resorted to similar arguments in trying to restrict immigration or the expansion of civil rights for Black people.

Although racial divisions may appear vast from cultural and social vantage points, genetic variations between populations are, in fact, quite minor.

Wade argued against that prevailing view. Intending to “demystify the genetic basis of race,” he tried to describe distinct racial groups, which he argued emanated from Africa, Europe and East Asia. He then tried to explain how these three groups developed distinct genomes, and how those differences shape their respective cultures.

Those explanations led to some highly suspect assertions, such as that Jews were uniquely “adapted to capitalism,” a classic antisemitic trope. People of African origin, meanwhile, had a “propensity to violence,” in Wade’s analysis.

During the hearing on Wednesday, Wade was confronted with questions about his controversial 2014 book on race and genetics, “A Troublesome Inheritance.” (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Mainstream reactions to the book were harsh. In its review, the Times called “A Troublesome Inheritance” “a deeply flawed, deceptive and dangerous book” that would give license to racists, while the Southern Poverty Law Center accused Wade of trafficking in “fringe racist theories masquerading as mainstream biology.” The American Conservative found the book unconvincing.

In a letter to the New York Times Book Review, 139 scientists (including many whose work Wade had cited) accused him of “misappropriating” research to make discredited arguments. They declared that “there is no support from the field of population genetics for Wade’s conjectures.”

He made news again with the arrival of the coronavirus, emerging as one of the first science writers to argue against the plausibility of the prevailing view that the pathogen had originated with an animal before entering the human population, most likely at a wildlife market in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Wade laid out the case for the so-called lab leak theory in a lengthy Medium post in May 2021. The article remains an important milestone for other skeptics of the official Chinese narrative. Still, many scientists believe the virus originated in animals before jumping to humans.

Wade strenuously defended his record — and his book — on Wednesday. “This was a determinedly nonracist book. It has no scientific errors that I’m aware of. It has no racist statements. It stresses the theme of unity,” he told the lawmakers seated before him.

But his Democratic critics remained unconvinced, while some proponents of the lab leak hypothesis expressed frustration on social media that the important question of how the coronavirus originated was being eclipsed.

US sees white supremacist propaganda jump to all-time high: ADL



Rebecca Beitsch
Thu, March 9, 2023 

The United States saw its highest-ever distribution of white supremacist propaganda last year, jumping 38 percent, according to data collected by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

The group recorded 6,751 incidents of propaganda activity in 2022 — a jump from 4,876 in 2021 that the ADL attributed to growth in the number of white supremacist groups and their membership.

“There’s no question that white supremacists and antisemites are trying to terrorize and harass Americans and have significantly stepped up their use of propaganda as a tactic to make their presence known in communities nationwide,” Jonathan Greenblatt, president of ADL, said in a statement alongside the report.

Three white supremacist groups — Patriot Front, Goyim Defense League and White Lives Matter — were responsible for 93 percent of this year’s activity, which includes banners, posters and events.

Much of that content was specifically antisemitic in nature, with ADL noting that such propaganda surged from 352 incidents in 2021 to 852 incidents last year.

The uptick in antisemitic propaganda “was largely due to [Goyim Defense League’s] growth and their initiation of propaganda campaigns. The formation of several new antisemitic white supremacist groups in 2022 also contributed to the rise in antisemitic incidents,” ADL found.

The spikes come as national security leaders have repeatedly warned that white supremacists extremists are an increasingly large share of the domestic violent extremists in the U.S.

“Racially motivated violent extremism, specifically of the sort that advocates for the superiority of the white race, is a persistent, evolving threat,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers last year.

“It’s the biggest chunk of our racially motivated violent extremism cases for sure. And racially motivated violent extremism is the biggest chunk of our domestic terrorism portfolio,” he added.

White supremacist propaganda hits a five-year high, according to annual survey by ADL

Will Carless, USA TODAY
Thu, March 9, 2023 

Incidents of white supremacist propaganda are at their highest level in at least five years.

That's the finding of an annual survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League, which documents propaganda incidents nationwide, including flyers, banners and graffiti.

In a report released Thursday morning, the ADL found levels in 2022 were the highest since the survey began in 2018. Incidents rose 38% from 2021, to a total of 6,751.

Antisemitic propaganda incidents also more than doubled in 2022 from the year before, the report found, though the number of incidents registered at colleges decreased slightly from 2021.

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“There’s no question that white supremacists and antisemites are trying to terrorize and harass Americans and have significantly stepped up their use of propaganda as a tactic,” said ADL's CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “This is a cowardly attempt to intimidate marginalized communities and those who don’t align with their twisted worldview and draw in new recruits."
What the annual report measures

The ADL's Center on Extremism monitors white supremacist and antisemitic propaganda campaigns throughout the year, tallying them for an annual total.

The effort catalogs incidents of white supremacist fliers, posters, stickers, banners and graffiti, as well as tallying and monitoring white supremacist events.

Each propaganda incident might range from a single piece of white supremacist graffiti, or the unveiling of a banner in a public place displaying racist or hateful messages, to a drop of dozens or hundreds of racist flyers or stickers.
Where propaganda comes from

As has been the case in recent years, most white supremacist propaganda was distributed by just three extremist groups: Patriot Front, Goyim Defense League and White Lives Matter, which collectively were responsible for 93% of the activity monitored by the ADL.
Propaganda at a record high

The Center on Extremism has been monitoring and tallying white supremacist propaganda since 2017.

In addition to the record high overall levels of propaganda incidents, the annual report also found:

The number of white supremacist events recorded increased to 167 in 2022, a 55% increase from the year before.

White supremacists are increasingly using banners to spread hateful messages. In 2022 the ADL recorded 252 "banner drops" in which white supremacist groups painted racist and hateful messages on banners and hung them from freeway bridges and in other public spaces.

May 19, 2022: A person visits a makeshift memorial near the scene of Saturday's shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, NY.
In context

Last month, President Joe Biden focused on hate and extremism in his annual State of the Union address.

"There is no place for political violence in America," Biden said. "We must give hate and extremism in any form no safe harbor."

Last year also saw several hate-driven mass shootings, including the May 14 attack on a supermarket in Buffalo by a white supremacist who shot and killed 10 people. A November shooting at an LBGTQ-friendly nightclub in Colorado has also led to extensive hate-crime charges for the man accused in the shooting.

Go deeper on extremism:

Jan. 6 riot: Hundreds of identifiable suspects remain free. Here's why

Financing: Extremists raised $6.2 million on crowdfunding websites

Antisemitism: Number of Americans who believe antisemitic ideas has doubled since 2019

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ADL annual survey finds rising white supremacist propaganda

Mexican president slams US lawmakers for suggesting military action against cartels


Julia Shapero
Thu, March 9, 2023 

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador slammed U.S. lawmakers on Thursday for suggesting military action against Mexican drug cartels, after two Americans were killed in a kidnapping across the border last week.

“We are not going to allow any foreign government to intervene, much less a foreign government’s armed forces,” López Obrador told reporters during a press conference.

“We are not a protectorate of the United States, nor a colony of the United States,” he added. “Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign state.”

Four Americans were kidnapped by armed men just across the border in Mexico last week, after traveling to obtain a medical procedure. Two of the Americans died in the kidnapping, while one was injured and another remained unharmed. A Mexican citizen was also killed in the initial shootout.

A Mexican cartel, known as the Gulf cartel, has reportedly claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, according to The Associated Press. The group condemned the violence in a recent letter obtained by the AP and said it planned to turn over those involved to the authorities.

In the wake of the kidnapping, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that he was prepared to introduce legislation to designate certain Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and “set the stage to use military force if necessary.”

“I would tell the Mexican government if you don’t clean up your act, we’re going to clean it up for you,” he told Fox News on Monday.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), who introduced a resolution in January to allow for the authorization of force against cartels in Mexico, doubled down on his effort following the kidnapping.

“Our goal is to help the Mexican people rid themselves of violent cartels and the corrupt politicians who take their money,” Crenshaw said in response to a critical tweet from the Mexican senate’s majority leader. “If you’re against that, I’m against you.”

However, such military action would require an Authorized Use of Military Force that would have to pass a divided Congress and be signed into law by President Biden, who has previously committed to working with Mexico to stop illegal drug trafficking.

US Fed report finds small firms continue recovery from pandemic hit

Wed, March 8, 2023
By Michael S. Derby

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. small businesses continued to mend from the coronavirus pandemic last year even as these firms faced considerable challenges from high inflation and scarce labor, a report released by the Cleveland Federal Reserve on behalf of the 12 regional central banks, said Wednesday.

But even as these small firms saw better times in 2022 relative to the prior couple of years, business conditions were still on balance softer than those that prevailed before the pandemic first struck three years ago, according to the latest Small Business Credit Survey for 2022.

For the first time since the 2020 survey, small firms “were more likely to report that revenues and employment levels increased rather than decreased in the past 12 months, and the share of firms reporting that they were operating profitably rose substantially year-over-year.”

The recovery of firms last year came as high inflation created challenges for many survey respondents. Getting workers in a tight labor market was also an issue faced by many of the firms.

The report said that the central bank survey polled 8,000 firms across the country with 500 employees or fewer. It noted that these small businesses represent 99.7% of the totality of American employers.

Small firms often face challenging business circumstances without the access to credit larger firms can tap to navigate the ups and downs of the economy. The report arrives as the Federal Reserve has dramatically increased the cost of capital as it seeks to lower high levels of inflation, as many worry those increases could push the economy into recession.

The report found that even as small firms were on the mend, they were worried about their respective futures.

“Firms in the most recent survey remain less likely than firms in pre-pandemic surveys to expect revenue or employment growth in the coming year,” the report said. “Financially, around four in five firms cited challenges related to rising costs, and close to half of firms reported difficulties paying operating expenses or navigating uneven cash flows,” the report added.

(Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Fake bombs and failed coup: Moldova smolders on border of Russia's war


An employee works at a gas distribution plant in Chisinau

Fri, March 10, 2023
By Thomas Escritt

CHISINAU (Reuters) - A coup attempt, bomb hoaxes, internet hacks, fake conscription call-ups, mass protests: Moldova says it's had them all in the past year.

"We had an explosion of security threats starting February 24 last year," Interior Minister Ana Revenco told Reuters, describing a catalogue of crises she says has beset her nation and its pro-Western government since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

This small European country, a former Soviet republic, is a unique geopolitical cauldron.

Moldova hosts the breakaway statelet of Transnistria - a sliver of land running along its eastern border with Ukraine that's controlled by pro-Russian separatists and garrisoned by Russian troops. The country is also home to the semi-autonomous region of Gagauzia, which is overwhelmingly pro-Russian too.

Moldovan officials paint a picture of a nation under constant duress from a misinformation and propaganda campaign orchestrated by Moscow which they say is designed to destabilize and undermine the government of President Maia Sandu, elected in 2020 on a promise to seek membership of the European Union.

Revenco said it was an "informational war".

"It puts a very strong pressure on the psychological resilience of the population," she added.

The Moldovan government did not provide evidence to support its allegations of a Russian-led dirty tricks campaign and Reuters was unable to independently verify its account of events.

The Kremlin, which has repeatedly dismissed the Moldovan accusations of fomenting unrest, didn't respond to a request for comment for this article.

"The leadership always focuses on everything anti-Russian," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last month. "They are slipping into anti-Russian hysteria."

Nonetheless, Moscow has bristled at the possibility of Moldova - a country of 2.5 million people wedged between Ukraine and NATO member Romania - joining the EU.

Moldova's regions

 https://www.reuters.com/graphics/UKRAINE-CRISIS/MOLDOVA/lgpdkoqjmvo/chart.png

OVER 400 BOMB THREATS

The alleged coup plot was publicised last month by Moldovan authorities, who said that the plan had been for agitators to enter Moldova from Russia and other countries in the region and attempt to provoke violent clashes. Officials expelled two unidentified alleged agents last week in connection with the unrest, though did not give details about the scale of the plan or whether it had met with any success.

Defence ministry official Valeriu Mija said the aim of the plot was as much to inflict a blow to the morale of the country as to actually overthrow the government: "We believe this incident is a part of psychological warfare."

Bomb hoaxes have, meanwhile, become part of everyday life, consuming official resources, according to the interior ministry, which said authorities had received more than 400 fake threats by phone or email since last summer, requiring interventions by a total of 9,000 police officers.

Chisinau Airport, educational institutions, courts, hospitals and shopping centres were among the hoax targets, the ministry said.

Moldovan authorities said a series of cyberattacks over the past year had seen some government websites temporarily crashed and the phones of several officials hacked.

"The peak was in August, attacks where the targets included a number of information systems here in the Ministry of Interior. To cut, as we say, our eyes and ears on the ground," Mija added. "Put that together with the fake bomb alerts, that is greatly testing our capabilities."

FAKE CONSCRIPTION NOTICES

Mounting tensions between Moscow and the West over Ukraine have raised the temperature in Moldova.

The main opposition Sor party denounces Sandu for taking the side of Ukraine, saying this increases the chance that Moldova could become embroiled in the conflict. It says it has collected 600,000 signatures demanding new elections.

During a protest in Moldova's capital last week attended by around 2,000 people, Marina Tauber - a former professional tennis player turned Sor lawmaker - led the crowd in anti-Sandu chants with a megaphone.

"She is trying to get involved our country in the war," the 36-year-old said. "We are a neutral country and we want peace."

The crowd chanted "Down with Maia Sandu!" and "Down with dictatorship!"

Officials in Sandu's government say they want to avoid being sucked into the conflict at all costs.

They say another tactic used by anti-government agitators is to circulate mocked-up conscription notices on social media, especially the Telegram messaging service, in an attempt to spread anxiety and sow the message that Moldova is heading towards war.

RUSSIAN TROOPS IN TRANSNISTRIA

An estimated 1,500 Russian troops are stationed in Transnistria, most of them recruited locally from Transnistrians with Russian passports.

Incoming Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean has said Russian troops should be expelled from the region, while Moscow warns that any attack on its troops there would be seen as an attack on Russia.

The Moldovan government faces a delicate balancing act.

Transnistria is home to the Cuciurgan power plant, which supplies most of Moldova's electricity and gives the separatists immense leverage. As a result, the two sides are locked in a wearing cycle of permanent negotiation and mutual dependency.

Gagauzia, where most people speak Russian as well as the Turkish-linked Gagauz language and a statue of Vladimir Lenin stands guard before the parliament, poses its own challenges to the government's attempts to oppose Russia's influence.

Moldovans' confidence in Putin fell from 60% in January 2020 to 35% when the war started, according to polling last month by think-tank Watchdog.

In Gagauzia, the equivalent latter figure is 90%.

"Our roots are interwoven," said Valentina Koroleak, a journalist at Gagauzia's public television, when asked why people there saw Russia's invasion so differently from other parts of Moldova.

"We were born in the Soviet Union, we grew up on those classics, those songs, the music."

(Editing by Mike Collett-White and Pravin Char)

PEDOPHILE PRIESTS ARE STRAIGHT
Catholic nonprofit in Colorado spent millions for data from hookup apps to identify gay priests: report


Muri Assunção, New York Daily News
Thu, March 9, 2023 at 12:20 PM MST·2 min read

A Denver-based Catholic nonprofit spent millions of dollars to purchase tracking data from gay dating and hookup apps to identify gay priests. They then shared that information with bishops across the country, a new investigation has found.

Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal — a group whose goal is to “empower the church to carry out its mission” by providing church leaders with “evidence-based resources” so they can better train priests after identifying their weaknesses — obtained tracking data from popular dating and hookup apps from 2018 through 2021, according to an investigative report published Thursday by The Washington Post.

The data allegedly purchased by the group involved users of Grindr, Scruff, Growlr and Jack’d — apps that are primarily used by gay and bisexual men — as well as OkCupid, according to the report.

Two people familiar with the matter told the paper they disapprove of the secretive effort, which they view as spying, adding that the project would ultimately damage the image of the Catholic Church.

The group claims to have purchased location and usage data from the apps, then cross-referenced that information with known addresses of priests, according to the report.

Grindr, the world’s largest LGBTQ social network, says such claims “remain completely invalidated.”

The company says it takes the privacy and safety of its roughly 12 million monthly active users “very seriously” and never shares users’ personal information, such as geolocation, profile or even “industry-standard data like age or gender.”

“We are infuriated by the actions of these anti-LGBTQ vigilantes,” Grindr spokesperson Patrick Lenihan told the Daily News on Thursday. “Grindr has and will continue to push the industry to keep bad actors out of the ad tech ecosystem, particularly on behalf of the LGBTQ community. All that group is doing is hurting people.”

Prior to the publishing of the report, The Washington Post reached out to the Catholic organization for comment. A spokesperson said the group’s president, Jayd Henricks, would agree to do an interview at a later time — but he later failed to return any phone calls or messages from the reporters.

On Wednesday, Henricks said in a first-person piece published online that the organization has “used data to identify models of parish and diocesan life that flourish, as well as those that were less successful.”

The essay, titled “Working for Church Renewal,” appeared on the site First Things, a journal of religion and public life published by a nonprofit named The Institute on Religion and Public Life.

Anti-LGBTQ+ Politician Caught Commenting on Gay Man's Sexy Instagram Pics

Mey Rude
Thu, March 9, 2023 


Tennessee lieutenant governor Randy McNally is in hot water after reporters found that he frequently likes suggestive and sexual pics from a gay Instagram user named @franklynsuperstar.

The photos include pictures that show close-ups of the man’s butt in underwear, workout pics, and sexy outfits, including women’s clothes. McNally’s comments often include heart and fire emojis and supportive compliments.

One specific post, which shows a closeup of Franklyn’s butt with his underwear pulled tight, McNally commented on saying, “Finn, you can turn a rainy day into rainbows and sunshine!”

While McNally calls the man Finn, WKRN News 2 in Tennessee interviewed him and identified him as Franklyn. He says that McNally followed him in 2020 and has sent compliments by direct message, but the two have never met in person.

“To me, I’m not a stranger to compliments, so I don’t really read into them because I just think that’s wrong to assume somebody’s hitting on you just because they’re nice to you,” the man told News 2. “He did not say he wanted to date me or have sex or anything like that.”

“I just hope that he knows I love him and LGBTQ+ loves him and would love him even more if he would open his heart and treat everyone else the way he wants to be treated because the way I want to be treated is to be accepted and be able to be myself and not be taken to police,” Franklyn continued.

McNally’s team hasn’t denied that he commented on the posts, and instead have tried to spin the story into just being about an older man who wants to enthusiastically use social media but doesn't quite get it.

“Trying to imply something sinister or inappropriate about a great-grandfather’s use of social media says more about the mind of the left-wing operative making the implication than it does about Randy McNally,” a statement from the lieutenant governor’s office reads. “As anyone in Tennessee politics knows, Lt. Governor McNally is a prolific social media commenter.”

“He takes great pains to view every post he can and frequently posts encouraging things to many of his followers,” the statement continues. “Does he always use the proper emoji at the proper time? Maybe not. But he enjoys interacting with constituents and Tennesseans of all religions, backgrounds, and orientations on social media. He has no intention of stopping.”

None

— (@)

Today, McNally himself commented on the pictures and his replies.

When a reporter asked him to comment on the issue and how long he’s known Franklyn, McNally responded, “oh, a while now.”

“I’m not anti-gay,” he continued. “We pass bills that kind of limit certain things and I think there are safeguards in those bills…”

When the reporters brought the subject back to Franklyn, McNally said that he just likes to comment on social media.

“I try to encourage people on my posts, and I try to support people, and just because he’s gay, I also have friends who are gay, and I have relatives who are gay, and I don’t feel any animosity towards gay people, I think that’s pretty clear.”

Republican Lt. Gov. Vows to Keep Thirsting Over Queer Instagram Nudes

Miles Klee
Thu, March 9, 2023 

tn-lt-gov-randy-mcnally.jpg XGR Special Session - Credit: Mark Humphrey/AP

A person is always wise to remember that Instagram likes and comments are public. But a 79-year-old man who likes what he sees is not always disposed to restrain himself, and it looks as though Tennessee Lt. Governor Randy McNally is one such fellow.

As the Tennessee Holler first reported on Wednesday, McNally has for some time been a devoted fan of Franklyn McClur, a 20-year-old gay man who grew up in Knoxville and aspires to move to Los Angeles to make it in show business. McClur’s Instagram photos and captions are often suggestive in nature; he shows off his body, sometimes posing fully nude, and wears makeup. All pretty standard as far as the app goes. What’s unusual is that McNally has for months used his own verified account to unabashedly compliment McClur’s thirst traps — this while his state moves to criminalize drag shows and gender-affirming care for transgender children as part of the nationwide Republican push for laws targeting the LGBTQ community.

“Finn, you can turn a rainy day into rainbows and sunshine!” McNally wrote, using McClur’s nickname, on a January photo in which the younger man shows off his butt in tight-fitting underwear. In a follow-up comment, he appended heart and flame emojis. Elsewhere, McNally has complimented McClur’s skimpy outfits and told him, “You need to be on dancing with the stars.” On a nude photo which McClur captioned “I Love being naked.. the Garden of Eden, is My Vibe. I Understand God,” McNally replied, “Great picture, Finn! Best wishes for continued health and happiness.”



In some ways, it’s refreshing to see an elderly GOP politician and Catholic in a longstanding heterosexual marriage openly support a queer constituent. What’s more eyebrow-raising about the relationship is that McNally began messaging McClur in 2020, when the aspiring performer was just 17 years old. But McClur, for his part, is appreciative of the comments and doesn’t see them as deliberately flirtatious. He also confirmed that McNally has complimented him in private messages — though the two have never met. “I just thought he was older and out of touch,” he told the Tennessee Holler. “I’ve always taken it as a compliment. I don’t dislike him or think he’s a bad person, he’s one of the only people who has consistently uplifted me and made me feel good.”

That said, McClur does not support the anti-LGBTQ bills coming out of the state’s legislature and signed into law by Governor Bill Lee. As Lieutenant Governor, McNally has at times raised concerns about such measures — noting that backlash could hurt Tennessee businesses, for example. And of a proposal that would have prevented trans student athletes from competing among their own gender, he cautioned: “Whatever we do will probably be reviewed by the federal government and they can cut funding to the state. It’s an issue I think that we need to move very carefully.”

If McNally has not gone so far as to condemn these bills as hateful and discriminatory, he is nonetheless strongly advocating for his right to admire the body of a man nearly six decades his junior. In a statement to press, his communications director scoffed at attempts to “imply something sinister or inappropriate about a great-grandfather’s use of social media.”

“As anyone in Tennessee politics knows, Lt. Governor McNally is a prolific social media commenter,” the statement continued. “He takes great pains to view every post he can and frequently posts encouraging things to many of his followers. Does he always use the proper emoji at the proper time? Maybe not. But he enjoys interacting with constituents and Tennesseans of all religions, backgrounds and orientations on social media. He has no intention of stopping.”

While the stirring defense of being horny on main is appreciated, this might have been a missed opportunity for McNally to more forcefully criticize the wave of legislation poised to harm people like McClur and the trans individuals he also follows and engages with. Speaking of McNally’s affection toward him, McClur told the Daily Beast, “I hope he can extend that kindness by trying to make sure no bills are passed to hurt anyone like me.”

Really, it’s the least he can do after all the joy McClur has brought him.

GOP Lt. Gov Explains Liking Gay Nudes: ‘I Try to Encourage People’

Ryan Bort
Fri, March 10, 2023 

Randy McNally - Credit: Mark Humphrey/AP Images

Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally has a strange habit for a powerful Republican in a state where the party has not been kind to the LGBTQ community. He simply cannot stop liking and commenting on a 20-year-old gay male model’s Instagram posts.

The Tennessee Holler reported on Wednesday that McNally has repeatedly interacted with the Instagram page of Franklyn McClur, who grew up in Knoxville and routinely posts provocative images of himself, often nude. “Finn, you can turn a rainy day into rainbows and sunshine!” McNally commented on a close-up shot of McClur’s backside in form-fitting underwear

McNally is not hiding from the story. His office released a statement emphasizing that the lieutenant governor loves social media and takes “great pains to view every post he can” and that “he has no intention of stopping.” McNally even sat down for an interview with Nashville’s NewsChannel5 on Thursday.

“I try to encourage people with posts and try to, you know, help them if I can,” McNally explained. “I was basically trying to encourage him.”

McNally was then asked about McClur characterizing himself as “not a WHORE” but “a HOE” because “one is a SLUT and the other is a PROSTITUTE” and that he’s “the one who gets free weed for giving [a reference to a sexual act].”

“A lot of times on people’s posts you see the name and you see what they’ve written and you press the button that says like,” McNally explained.

“So you didn’t read that post?”

“I don’t recall reading the part about the weed, I know that.”

“But what about the prostitute?”

“I might have read that.”


McNally acknowledged that it was “probably not” appropriate to like that particular post.


The lieutenant governor’s infatuation with McClur isn’t new. He started messaging him back in 2020, when McClur was only 17. McNally insisted in the interview on Thursday that he’s never met McClur in person, although he has met some LGBTQ people who have helped his change his mind about the community. “Initially I was not very kind to that community,” he said. “As I learned some things and met some people in that community I realized they’re still individuals and still have value.”

McClur doesn’t seem too concerned about the uproar around his social media behavior and seems pretty resigned to whatever the state’s Senate — which has the power to remove the lieutenant governor from office — wants to do about the situation. He did apologize, though. “I’m really, really sorry if I’ve embarrassed my family, embarrassed my friends, embarrassed any of the members of the legislature with the posts,” he said. “It was not my intent to, and not my intent to hurt them.”

Analysis-With another ex-prime minister charged, Malaysia risks further turmoil


Former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin at Kuala Lumpur Court Complex

Fri, March 10, 2023 
By Rozanna Latiff and A. Ananthalakshmi

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia could face further political polarisation and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim risks a backlash as his administration prosecutes his opponent and predecessor Muhyiddin Yassin just three months after a divisive election, analysts say.

Muhyiddin, who was prime minister for 17 months between 2020 and 2021, was charged on Friday with abuse of power and money laundering over projects launched under his premiership. He has pleaded not guilty and said the charges were politically motivated.

Anwar has dismissed that and said the matter was entirely up to the law enforcement agencies.

But the case could make the Anwar government even more unpopular among the country's conservative, ethnic-Malay majority for targeting the opposition even as it has senior leaders in its fold facing criminal graft charges, observers told Reuters.

That in turn could bring more political uncertainty in a country that has seen five prime ministers in six years. Anwar's alliance is expected to face a formidable challenge from Muhyiddin's coalition at regional elections in six states, which are due by June.

"It's a big test for Anwar, who has people in his government who are facing corruption cases," Bridget Welsh, political analyst at the University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute, told Reuters.

"His administration will face a broad crisis of credibility unless there is an effort to undertake more meaningful reforms... This narrative of persecution feeds into the polarized dynamic of Malaysian politics," she said.

Muhyiddin is the second prime minister in Malaysia's history to be charged for corruption soon after losing an election, and his case has thrown a spotlight on the various fissures in the country's politics.

In a multi-ethnic, multi-faith country Muslim ethnic Malays form a majority, while the ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian minorities are mostly Hindu, Buddhist or Christian.

Anwar runs a progressive, multi-ethnic bloc but has faced criticism for joining hands with the corruption-tainted United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party to form a government after he failed to win a majority in last year's election.

Anwar appointed UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as his deputy despite multiple criminal graft charges.

Muhyiddin leads a conservative ethnic-Malay, Muslim alliance that has portrayed itself to be clean of corruption, and that made huge inroads in the Malay heartlands in the election. Anwar does not enjoy popularity in that base, surveys have shown.

In another possible political fall-out, the charges against Muhyiddin could potentially weaken his party and strengthen the role of the Islamist party PAS within the opposition bloc, said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow with Singapore's Institute of International Affairs.

"A PAS-dominated Perikatan will be heavy on religious sentiment. That can echo with an increasing conservative cohort in Malaysian electorate," Oh said, referring to the opposition bloc.

REVENGE POLITICS?

Anwar maintains that the case against Muhyiddin was not politically motivated. For stability, it is important for his government to signal that it was not targeting the opposition, said political analyst Wong Chin Huat.

"As long as Anwar can hold and expand the middle ground by demonstrating state impartiality, instead of revenge politics, his government would be safe and the international community needs not worry about political instability," Wong said.

Unlike recent Malaysian premiers, Anwar has not made any changes to the leadership of the country's law enforcement agencies upon winning power.

In fact, Muhyiddin appointed the top civil servants who were instrumental in the investigations into his alleged graft: the chief of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the country's attorney general.

The MACC on Friday denied interference in its investigation process.

Muhyiddin is not the first Malaysian leader to blame political motivations for the accusations against him.

Anwar himself served jail time for corruption and sodomy before becoming prime minister, charges he insists were designed to keep him from power. He was pardoned in 2018.

Malaysian politics has been in a flux since Najib Razak lost elections in 2018, bringing to an end an uninterrupted rule by the UMNO party that had governed for more than 60 years since independence.

Najib, who has also claimed political persecution, is now serving a jail term for graft related to the multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB.

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Opinion | I Helped Write the Jan. 6 Committee Report. Here’s What Tucker Carlson Left Out.


Brynn Anderson/AP Photo

Tom Joscelyn
Fri, March 10, 2023

Tucker Carlson tried to rewrite the history of Jan. 6, 2021, and utterly failed.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave the Fox News host and his producers exclusive media access to more than 40,000 hours of security footage recorded by the U.S. Capitol Police. Carlson promised viewers that his reveal of this massive tranche of video would dramatically alter our collective understanding of the events. It did not.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise that his supposed investigation was a dud — even if you hadn’t spent countless hours poring over details of the Capitol riot like I did.

I served as a senior professional staff member on the January 6th Select Committee and helped write its final report. I got a close look at some of the video evidence that Carlson obtained — and his manipulation of the audience was immediately obvious to me.

 Here’s why.

First, the premise of his “investigation,” that the USCP footage was being withheld to cover up the full story, was always false. Working with the Select Committee’s members, the investigative team and staffers reviewed the USCP’s recordings, which provided new angles at some key locations. But it did not change our basic understanding of what transpired. How could it? The riot is one of the most widely covered events in history. There is no dearth of footage from that day.

In addition to the USCP’s surveillance video, the Select Committee reviewed footage recorded by cameras worn by Metropolitan Police Department officers, the work of documentary filmmakers and countless open-source videos, including clips recorded by the rioters themselves. Many Americans have already seen some of this footage with their own eyes. They know the mob was not at the Capitol primarily for sightseeing, as Carlson claimed.

On Monday night, the Fox News host showed just several minutes of cherry-picked footage. Cameras inside the Capitol and on its grounds recorded many more scenes that he did not play for viewers. Some of this footage has long been available online. For example, you can watch rioters ramming their way through USCP officers at the Senate Wing door, members of the mob smashing the ornate East Rotunda doors before other rioters open them from the inside, and the melee at the west plaza tunnel (at the two-hour, 14-minute mark). You can also view a timeline of events used by federal prosecutors, who relied on the USCP’s camera footage. Carlson’s team had access to this footage, and more, but chose not to show any of it to Fox News viewers Monday night. It’s easy to see why. The full USCP cache tells a very different story from the one Carlson wants people to see.

There is another fundamental problem with Carlson’s presentation that may not be so easy for the casual viewer to spot. He has repeatedly whitewashed the key role played by far-right extremists, namely, the Proud Boys. Their story, including how then-President Donald Trump inspired them, is told in Chapters 6 and 8 of the January 6th Select Committee’s final report. The Proud Boys and other extremists led the mob, but Carlson refuses to let his viewers know it.

Let us compare one of Carlson’s conspiracy theories to the well-established facts. For more than two years, Carlson has chased a bogeyman, arguing that provocateurs working for the federal government (or, alternatively, agitators on the left) somehow tricked Trump’s “patriots” into rioting. He still cannot identify any federal agents working for the so-called “deep state.” Carlson and others have focused on a lone individual who has not been charged, Ray Epps, insinuating that he was a secret FBI plant. This claim is baseless. They’ve produced no evidence connecting Epps, a Trump supporter, to the FBI or any other federal agency.

Meanwhile, Carlson has ignored nearly all of the evidence collected against the approximately 1,000 January 6th defendants who have been charged. That evidence reveals the real parties responsible for channeling the mob’s anger.

In fact, one of the most important January 6th trials is currently ongoing in a Washington, D.C., courtroom. Five members of the Proud Boys, including the group’s chair, Enrique Tarrio, have been charged with seditious conspiracy and other serious crimes. The Department of Justice claims the Proud Boys “conspired to prevent, hinder and delay the certification of the Electoral College vote, and to oppose by force the authority of the government of the United States.” Moreover, on Jan. 6, 2021, the Proud Boys “directed, mobilized and led members of the crowd onto the Capitol grounds and into the Capitol, leading to dismantling of metal barricades, destruction of property, breaching of the Capitol building, and assaults on law enforcement.”

The DOJ’s allegations are consistent with the Select Committee’s findings, as well as the investigative work done by real reporters. Law enforcement officials have collected overwhelming evidence, including text messages and videos, showing how the Proud Boys conspired against America’s democracy. They discovered that Tarrio told his men to “storm the Capitol” in the days leading up to the joint session of Congress.

While the attack was underway, Tarrio also claimed responsibility, messaging his men: “Make no mistake…” and “We did this.” Then, on the night of Jan. 6, Tarrio posted a video on the conservative social media site Parler that he titled, “Premonition.” The video shows a masked man, dressed as a super villain, standing in front of the Capitol. The figure is presumably Tarrio himself and the clip, recorded prior to Jan. 6, implies that he had foreknowledge of that day’s events.

You can watch “Premonition” here. It’s the type of spooky scene, set to foreboding background music, that makes for good television. Carlson did not show it to his viewers. In fact, he did not mention the Proud Boys at all.

The Select Committee’s review of video footage from multiple sources, including the U.S. Capitol Police, showed that the Proud Boys were conspicuously present on the front lines and at key breach points throughout the attack. Prosecutors are currently relying on the same type of footage, as well as additional sources of video, to make their case to a jury.

For example, Proud Boy leaders Joe Biggs and Ethan Nordean riled up the crowd at the Peace Circle Monument just outside of the U.S. Capitol. The Select Committee showed how the Proud Boys marched from the Washington Monument, around the Capitol, and then instigated the first perimeter breach at this key location. By attacking the police officers stationed between the monument and the Capitol, sweeping away security fences in the process, the Proud Boys and their associates opened a clear path onto the Capitol’s grounds. Thousands of Trump’s supporters marched down Pennsylvania Avenue and through the Peace Circle after leaving the president’s rally at the White House Ellipse.

Dominic Pezzola, another Proud Boy, was responsible for the first breach of the U.S. Capitol building itself. Pezzola smashed in a Senate Wing window with a stolen riot shield. This allowed the mob to swarm into the Capitol through both the window and a nearby door. Pezzola bragged about his actions in a video he recorded of himself inside the Capitol. While smoking a victory cigar, Pezzola said: “I knew we could take this motherfucker over if we just tried hard enough. Proud of your motherfuckin’ boy.”

During his presentation Monday night, Carlson focused on Jacob Chansley, a.k.a. the QAnon Shaman, pretending that he is the central figure in the January 6th story. Carlson claimed that we still don’t know how he entered the building. That’s not true — even the footage shown by Carlson makes it clear that Chansley entered through the Senate Wing door next to the window Pezzola bashed in.

There is much more evidence against the Proud Boys. Some members of the group have already pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and other charges, admitting that their comrades planned to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. And the Proud Boys were not the only far right extremists involved. Members of two anti-government groups, the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, attacked the Capitol as well. Some Oath Keepers have pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, while juries convicted the group’s leader and other members of the same crime. White nationalists were also among the extremists who stormed the Capitol.

The Fox News audience did not hear any of this. Nor did they hear how Trump summoned these extremists to Washington, D.C., for Jan. 6 via his tweets and statements. This part of the story is explained at great length in the Select Committee’s final report.

Tucker Carlson wants people to believe that phantom government agents were responsible. No one who relies on facts and logic will be fooled.