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May 14, 2024
'Total outrage': White House condemns Israeli settlers' attack on Gaza aid trucks
(The Guardian) The White House has condemned an attack on an aid convoy heading to Gaza by Israeli settlers who threw packages of food into the road and set fire to the vehicles. Video of the incident on Monday at Tarqumiya checkpoint, west of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, showed settlers blocking the trucks and throwing boxes of much-needed supplies on the ground. “It is a total outrage that there are people who are attacking and looting these convoys coming from Jordan, going to Gaza to deliver humanitarian assistance,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.
Go to discussionDOJ requests judge order Steve Bannon to begin prison sentence
(ABC News) Federal prosecutors on Tuesday requested the judge overseeing ex-Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon's criminal contempt of Congress case to order that he begin his four-month prison sentence, after an appeals court last week upheld his conviction. Prosecutors said there is no legal basis for Judge Carl Nichols to continue the stay on Bannon serving his sentence after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals' conclusive ruling that rejected the basis for Bannon's appeal on all grounds.
Go to discussionSpeaker Johnson to appear at courthouse amid Trump hush money trial
(The Hill) Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will appear at the Manhattan courthouse Tuesday as former President Trump sits for another day of his hush money trial. Johnson is the latest Republican lawmaker to visit the court amid Trump’s ongoing criminal trial, which has kept the former president largely off the campaign trail as he vies for another term in the White House. Rep. Cory Mills is also joining Trump at the courthouse on Tuesday, the Florida Republican told The Hill.
Go to discussionJudging From Trump's Reaction, Michael Cohen's Testimony Is Crushing
(PoliticusUSA) Trump seems to know that he is not winning the trial. At some level, he also appears to understand that Michael Cohen’s testimony is very bad for him. Outside the courthouse, Trump was in panic mode, spending minutes throwing everything at the wall and hoping that something stuck.
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Americans must prepare for another round of election denial
(Jennifer Rubin/Washington Post) We know it is coming. The array of contestants in four-times indicted former president Donald Trump’s vice-presidential beauty pageant have repeatedly refused to say they unequivocally will accept the election results. Trump has already begun to lie about Democrats enlisting illegal immigrants to vote. If the MAGA forces do not win, Americans can expect an enhanced replay of 2020 election denial — amplified by Truth Social, Elon Musk’s X and China’s TikTok. Americans must collectively prepare for it — and for any violence MAGA forces (from the gang who argued Jan. 6, 2021, was “legitimate political discourse”) might incite.
Go to discussionBlinken, in Kyiv, says U.S aid arriving at 'challenging' time for Ukraine
(Reuters) U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told President Volodmyr Zelenskiy during a trip to Kyiv on Tuesday that part of a major U.S. aid package had arrived in Ukraine and that more was on its way that was going to "make a real difference". Blinken's trip is the first by a senior U.S. official since Congress passed a long-delayed $61 billion aid package last month. Kyiv's outmanned troops are battling a new Russian offensive in the northeast as well as assaults in the east.
Go to discussionGreg Abbott Threatens New Showdown With Joe Biden Administration
(Newsweek) Governor Greg Abbott has warned Texas A&M University "they are jeopardizing state funding" amid media reports it will comply with a Biden administration update to Title IX, which extends legislation to ban discrimination over gender identity.
Go to discussionStormy Daniels Feared For Her Life At Trump Trial - Wore Bulletproof Vest
(TMZ) Stormy Daniels was so concerned bullets would rain down on her at the Trump trial last week that she wore a bulletproof vest to the NYC courthouse ... this according to her attorney. Stormy's lawyer, Clark Brewster, sat down with CNN Monday night to discuss the testimony his porn star client gave from the witness stand at the Trump hush money trial in Manhattan. During the interview, Brewster revealed Stormy had "a lot of fear" about "the security coming into New York."
Go to discussionTrump Was Incredibly Bad At Presidenting
(Political Wire) Jonathan Bernstein: “I was one of the political scientists who participated in a ‘rank the presidents’ survey and it was easy to place Trump dead last, given everything. But the truth is that even if Trump had followed and accepted the law, including the Constitutional “emoluments” provision, and even if he didn’t provoke an insurrection in support of his bid to overturn an election he lost, and even if he didn’t have a history of sexual assault, and even if he didn’t regularly make bigoted remarks and encourage bigotry…he was still quite a bit worse at the regular parts of presidenting than any of the modern presidents, at least.”
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