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peeweekey · 27 days

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i visited idiot street and everyone knew your name!

part i, part ii, part iii

synopsis: the three times you friendzoned Alhaitham, and the one he made damn sure you didn't.

tags: alhaitham/reader ; school setting ; valentine's day special ; reader likes sewing ; miscommunication

Valentine’s day comes rolling around the next year, and you are sadly not present to witness Alhaitham lengthen his trail of broken hearts. A shame, really. This year, you were looking forward to bringing popcorn for the occasion—just to see him squirm.

You’ve been cooped up in the homeroom lab for the better part of the week, sewing and snipping away at one of the costumes for the school’s fair. Unlike last year, you don’t have your seniors to help you pin fabrics right or to assist in hand stitching plastic beads, as the newly appointed tailor's club head you have a lot more duties to take on.

It’s exhausting, you feel the deep creases underneath your eye—dreading to head to the bathroom and accidentally look into the mirror to face your own haggard appearance—and the dull ache in your hands and back is blocking any sense you could have.

The club room is otherwise quiet if not for the lo-fi beat playing from your phone’s speaker and the rhythmic snips of scissors gliding over fabric. You focus all your brain power on the task—fabric is not cheap and you don’t have enough mora in your wallet if you lose focus and mess up—and remain blissfully unaware of any potential distraction.

To be honest, it hadn’t even registered in your head that you weren’t alone in the room anymore, until the gentlest tap on your shoulder has you snapping your focus away from the brocade.

The sight of just who has you unconsciously gaping your mouth like a blubbering fish in shock—Alhaitham.

He stares at you blankly, his gaze is so intense it’s a little unnerving, you freeze up before him, and probably make yourself look like an idiot in the process.

Suddenly, the state of your appearance becomes a presiding worry. Having skipped lunch in favor of patterning tulle perfectly on the dummy mannequin. Your uniform is crumpled, creased with the lack of motion, stray threads and fabric fibers cover you head to toe similar to lint. It’s almost humiliating to be seen so disheveled by Alhaitham—when he himself looks like the epitome of put-together flawlessness.

“Haitham,” you start, smoothing out the fabric laid out on the table, it’s soft and smooth under your fingertips. “Need something?”

He spares a glance to whatever you’re fidgeting with behind you then to your face, which in turn makes you fist the work-in-progress fabric tighter in your hand.

Alhaitham seems to search for something in your expression, his gaze feels like it’s poking and prodding in your soul. Your hands itch to cover up whatever’s he’s fixated on, but you settle on the second best option; staring back just as hard and ten times more intensely.

“The second button of my shirt,” he says, Alhaitham points at his stark white button up, right where a button lay missing. You arch a brow at that, he’s most definitely only here to ask you to mend his shirt. No other reason.

And you are definitely not disappointed right now too.

Swallowing hard, your eyes drift to his face. “Do you need a replacement button?”

A crease forms between his brows. “No.”

Well.

“O-kay,” that stumps you, “What about it then?” you shoot him a puzzled look, folding your arms tightly across your chest.

That makes him pause. “I wanted to check if you wanted it.”

“…your button?”

“Yes, that’s why I came over here.”

He must be kidding. The two of you are standing in the homeroom lab, there’s a surplus of small white buttons, you’d rather pick from there than have him ruin a perfectly good shirt.

“Uh no thanks,” you scratch at the back of your neck, extremely confused. “I have a lot more buttons in the drawer, there’s no need to take one off your back.”

Once you said that and saw the expression on his face, you knew immediately that it was the wrong choice—even if it wasn’t a test question. Alhaitham does not pout, but that’s something he would say. If you were asked, the way his lips twitch downward slightly is pouting.

“I understand,” he says shortly and starts to turn back and reach for the door. You cannot hide your bewildered expression, pinching your brows in confusion.

“Wait—hold it right there,” you call, stepping a step or two following him. You, not wanting your conversation to end on such an unusually awkward note. “What’s up with you?”

“It’s nothing,” he says and you practically hear the sulky edge to his voice—something you swore he left back in middle school—still, he turns back to face you. “If you don’t want it, I won’t give it to you.”

Sighing, you step even closer to close some of the distance, holding your palm out impatiently to him. “Come over here, grumpy. I’ll take the button.”

He eases up slightly. “Don’t force yourself.”

Why you ought to wring this man by the neck. You place your free hand to rest on your waist. “You’re not forcing me, now hand it over.”

Alhaitham stands his ground, but eventually cracks, offering a compromise. “...I’ll leave it on the table.”

“Okay,” your eyes flutter shut in exhaustion and slight irritation—confusion more than anything. “See you, Haitham.”

He bids you goodbye, calling your name softly.

You hear the door slide open, then shut.

When you open your eyes, a singular translucent white button sits on your working table—along with a box of fine confectioners chocolate.

What a loser, you think. Though your smile betrays that thought.

You skip back to your work and suddenly, you aren’t so exhausted anymore.

#alhaitham x reader #alhaitham genshin #alhaitham #genshin impact #x reader #fanfic #key's-vault

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unhonestlymirror · 9 months

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In Russia, a new textbook on history for senior classes was presented. In it, Ukraine was called an ultranationalist state, and Russia was called a country of opportunities.

Its author is the assistant to the President of Russia and former Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky. In the textbook for 11th grade, the chapters on the period 1970-2000 have been completely rewritten, and a chapter from 2014 to the present has been added. A separate section is devoted to "special operation" in Ukraine.

Here are some quotes:

"Ukraine is an ultra-nationalist state. Today, any dissent in Ukraine is harshly persecuted, opposition is prohibited, everything Russian is declared hostile"

HAHAHA. Do you know how many Ukrainians - lawyers, doctors, teachers - still speak in russian, even when they hate russia? Do you know how many of them listen to russian music? Not even talking about the amount of vatņiki.

"The unprecedented and unthinkable happened again. The West stole the total assets of the Russian state, stored in their banks, for a total amount of more than 300 billion dollars."

In addition, Switzerland has been accused of insufficiently implementing sanctions against Russian oligarchs and of helping Russia by banning the re-export of war material to Ukraine.

"After the departure of foreign companies, many markets are open to you. Open fantastic opportunities for a career in business and own startups, don't miss this chance. Today, Russia is truly a country of opportunities."

Don't miss a fantastic opportunity to die in prison or as an occupier.

#stop russian aggression #genocide of ukrainians #support ukraine #russia is a terrorist state

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

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The Biden administration announced a series of measures Thursday to track down and punish fraudsters who scammed billions of taxpayer dollars that were supposed to provide relief to Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden is pledging $1.6 billion to bolster law enforcement manpower and new programs that will be used to prosecute scammers, prevent fraud, and provide assistance to victims of identity theft.

“We want to not only capture them and get their funds, we want to send a signal to them that you can run, but you cannot hide,” said Gene Sperling, a Biden senior adviser who is overseeing the implementation of the COVID-relief plan.

THE LATEST

• The administration’s plans call for creating 10 Department of Justice “strike forces” that will include U.S. attorneys and other law enforcement officials to investigate COVID-relief fraud and help recover stolen tax dollars. The teams will target criminal syndicates and other major fraudsters. Three strike forces already are in place and have recovered millions of dollars in stolen relief funds, officials said.

• The administration also will propose increasing the statute of limitations to 10 years for fraud involving the pandemic Unemployment Insurance program, which has been hit especially hard by scammers.

• Some $300 million will be distributed to inspectors general at the Small Business Administration, the Department of Labor and the staff of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a government watchdog over pandemic spending. The money would be used to hire investigators and make sure they have the resources needed to pursue specialized cases of pandemic fraud.

• In his proposed budget to be released next week, Biden will offer a package of legislative reforms to prevent, detect and recover payments made improperly through the Unemployment Insurance program.

• Federal grants would be made to states to help modernize their information technology systems to enable them to respond more quickly to fraud, decrease erroneous payments and provide more efficient claims processing.

• New initiatives also would be put in place to identify victims of identity theft, including an early warning system to stop potentially fraudulent transactions before they occur and a one-stop shop to report identity crimes.

WHY IT MATTERS

The federal government distributed more than $5 trillion in pandemic relief under programs approved by Biden and former President Donald Trump. The money was distributed quickly, leading to an increase in fraud and other improper payments, such as those that shouldn’t have been made or were made in the wrong amount.

The Government Accountability Office reported last month that the extent of fraud in COVID-relief programs is not yet known but that the Unemployment Insurance program alone was believed to have made more than $60 billion in fraudulent payments.

From March 2020 to last January, at least 1,044 people pleaded guilty or were convicted of defrauding COVID relief programs, the GAO report said. Federal charges were pending against another 609 individuals or entities for attempting to defraud COVID-relief programs.

Also, the federal government gave $5.4 billion in COVID aid to small businesses with “questionable” Social Security numbers, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee reported in January. The watchdog identified nearly 70,000 questionable Social Security numbers used to obtain pandemic aid from two programs run by the Small Business Administration.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee has opened an investigation into fraud in COVID-relief programs. The committee held its first hearing on the subject last month.

Sperling, however, said the administration’s anti-fraud package isn’t a direct response to the GOP investigations. Most of the proposals were being prepared before last November’s election, he said.

#us politics #news #usa today #2023 #president joe biden #biden administration #ppp loans #stimulus checks #pandemic response #covid relief #fraud #Gene Sperling #identity theft #Department of Justice #Unemployment Insurance #Small Business Administration #Department of Labor #Pandemic Response Accountability Committee #Government Accountability Office

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oversleepingblob · 16 days

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Senior High School years can be like a rollercoaster—academics, social life, and personal development all ride together for a few years.But amidst the chaos. Nothing is as similar as the friends that you made along the way on this journey. What I find the most outstanding part of my path is the unbreakable bond which I was able to develop with the people who were not only my classmates but also my very family. Let us walk the memory lane together as I recall the instances that embodied our friendship and culminated into a mesmerizing experience in my high school life.

It is hard to tell, but I guess it was around the second week of class, when Shams invited me to accompany them to the school canteen. I had no idea that our lunch date would be the beginning of my longtime friendship. Sharing meals and having a good time together gave strength to our bond and eventually we clung to one another like glue. That day after day began to be an adventure stuffed with inside jokes that some may not find it funny 😂, shared secrets and undiminished respect. A casual invitation turned into a fruitful one and a friendship that would withstand both the good and the bad.

Our friendship was built on more than just shared meals – it was forged through shared experiences that shaped our lives. From spontaneous adventures, we navigated the ups and downs of senior high school together. One memorable tradition was our post-exam visits to the local restaurant which was "Hardpoint" to indulge in comfort food and celebrate our hard work. These gatherings became cherished moments of camaraderie, where we bonded over our shared triumphs and challenges.

The other turning point in my life was when Shams tried to convince me to join the Student Government. In the beginning, I was not sure whether I was ready to handle such a responsibility but with the help and motivation of her, I gathered courage and made up my mind. Last but not least, it was to show my support for Shams who runs for the Presidency; she wanted me to be her secretary and I told her that she should get over herself because I am not ready to do that 😂. However, Jocelyn (my friend and also one of the members of Egglog) and I run for the position of SHS Department Representative and fortunately we won. Being a member of the Student Government has positively changed my life. Firstly, I am happy and proud that I could help improve our school community and secondly, I acquired skills, confidence, and lasting memories which I am always grateful for.

Looking back on my senior high school, I can’t express how grateful I am to the friends who influenced all my journeys. To my EGGLOG family, thank you for not only being friends but being the family I have always wished for. Thank you for the innumerable moments we've spent together, the smiles we've shared, and your consistent and reliable assistance all these years. As we enter the next phase of our journey, I am certain that what we have built together will stay golden no matter where our roads take us. Let's raise our glasses to many more wonderful memories to come – EGGLOG all the way.

In life, friendships are the threads that weave together our most cherished memories. My journey through senior high school was made infinitely brighter and more meaningful by the presence of my EGGLOG family. Through the ups and downs, they stood by my side, offering friendship, laughter, and love. As I bid farewell to senior high school and look towards the future, I carry with me the lessons learned and the memories made with my dear friends. EGGLOG, you will always hold a special place in my heart. Thank you very much!

#senior high #memories #friendship #platonic #academic

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 1 year

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 6, 2023

Heather Cox Richardson

The Supreme Court was in the news this morning, as Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, and Alex Mierjeski of ProPublica explained that for more than twenty years Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has enjoyed the hospitality and funding of Dallas real estate magnate and major Republican donor Harlan Crow. Thomas and his wife Ginni, who was closely involved in challenging the 2020 presidential election, have taken trips in private jets and gone on vacations with Crow worth as much as $500,000.

Thomas did not disclose any of these valuable gifts. Indeed, in a documentary funded in part by Crow, Thomas presented himself as a regular guy. “I prefer the RV parks. I prefer the Walmart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. There’s something normal to me about it,” he said. “I come from regular stock, and I prefer that—I prefer being around that.”

After the story dropped, David G. Savage of the Los Angeles Times recalled that his newspaper had disclosed the close connections between Thomas and Crow in 2004, noting, for example, that Crow had given Thomas a $19,000 Bible that had belonged to the famous formerly enslaved abolitionist and writer Frederick Douglass and a $15,000 bust of Abraham Lincoln. After their story appeared, it seems that Thomas did not stop accepting expensive gifts and travel from the wealthy mogul, but instead stopped disclosing them.

In Crow’s company, Thomas rubbed elbows with his host’s other guests, including senior business executives, major Republican donors, and leaders of right-wing think tanks. Crow has worked hard to move the judiciary and the legal system to the right, and at one of the properties where Thomas vacations, there is a painting of him in conversation with a number of figures, including Leonard Leo, the leader of the Federalist Society who has orchestrated the court’s hard-right turn. Leo is now overseeing Marble Freedom Trust, established to disburse funds from a $1.6 billion bequest to manipulate elections in favor of Republicans.

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) tweeted: “Important for news media to not simply label this guy as a ‘[Republican] mega donor’. It’s so much worse. Crow has many interests before the Supreme Court. His groups file petitions before the court. It’s the clearest, most brazen violation of judicial ethics you can imagine.”

In Congress today, House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) issued a subpoena in its investigation of the Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office after that office indicted former president Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records on Tuesday. Bragg explained: “The trail of money & lies exposes a pattern that, the People allege, violates one of New York’s basic & fundamental business laws.”

Although Jordan himself refused to respond to a subpoena issued by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, he is demanding that Mark Pomerantz, a former county special assistant district attorney who investigated Trump’s finances, show up to testify.

Pomerantz resigned from his role in the investigation out of frustration that Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg was not then moving forward with an indictment. The wording of Jordan’s letter indicates he is hoping to use Pomerantz’s words critical of Trump to argue that the district attorney’s office was biased against the former president.

General counsel for the Manhattan district attorney’s office Leslie Dubeck previously rejected the demands of Jordan, House Committee on House Administration chair Bryan Steil (R-WI), and House Committee on Oversight and Accountability chair James Comer (R-KY) for testimony and documents from Bragg, warning them that their attacks on Bragg and his office were “unlawful political interference.”

Dubeck pointed out: “our Office is legally constrained in how it publicly discusses pending criminal proceedings,… as you well know.” She called their interference “unnecessary and unjustified” and reminded the men that Congress has no jurisdiction over individual criminal investigations. Nor does it have jurisdiction over state investigations. “The Committees’ attempted interference with an ongoing state criminal investigation—and now prosecution—is an unprecedented and illegitimate incursion on New York’s sovereign interests,” she wrote.

Now Jordan is trying a different approach. Bragg responded: “The House [Republicans continue] to attempt to undermine an active investigation and ongoing New York criminal case with an unprecedented campaign of harassment and intimidation. Repeated efforts to weaken state and local law enforcement actions are an abuse of power and will not deter us from our duty to uphold the law.”

In the Tennessee statehouse this afternoon, Republican legislators led by House of Representatives speaker Cameron Sexton voted to expel Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two young Black lawmakers who had led young protesters in chants from the floor of the house chamber in favor of gun safety legislation after house Republicans refused to allow debate on such a measure.

The Republicans charged that the three representatives had broken house rules and had engaged in “disorderly behavior” and “knowingly and intentionally” brought “dishonor to the House of Representatives.” The body avoided expelling Gloria Johnson, the white woman who chanted with Jones and Pearson, by one vote. Although the debate showed that a Republican had also broken house rules by recording a video that was then misleadingly edited and shown, that representative was not charged.

The three Democratic representatives joined protesters to call for gun safety legislation after six people, including three 9-year-olds, were killed in yet another school shooting. The Republicans have focused on cultural issues and have opposed taking up gun safety legislation. Indeed, they have worked to loosen gun laws; on the same day as the recent school shooting, a federal judge cleared the way for the Tennessee legislature to lower the age for permitless carry in the state from 21 to 18. Republican governor Bill Lee signed the permitless carry bill for 21 and up in 2021 at a Beretta gun manufacturing plant.

Today, young protesters in the statehouse defended the Tennessee Three, as they have become known, saying: “You ban books, you ban drag—kids are still in body bags!” After the votes to expel, the chants changed to “F*ck you, fascists!”

Republicans in the Tennessee legislature could act as they did because they have a supermajority thanks to their redistricting of the state after the 2020 census. In that redistricting they cracked Democratic-leaning Nashville, dividing it among three districts in which they overwhelmed Democratic voters with Republicans from the suburbs. A new state law has now required Nashville to cut its city council in half. Meanwhile, laws prohibiting people with a past felony conviction from voting cut more than 470,000 people from the voter rolls.

This lock on power has given Tennessee Republicans the ability to do as they please. Today it pleased them to expel two young Black legislators who were trying to force the Republicans to do something about the epidemic of gun violence that is killing their constituents.

The Supreme Court, Congress, and the Tennessee statehouse. What would you say if you saw today’s news coming from another country?

Before he left the chamber, Representative Justin Pearson told his suddenly former colleagues how he saw it.

“You are seeking to expel District 86’s representation from this house, in a country that was built on a protest. IN A COUNTRY THAT WAS BUILT ON A PROTEST. You who celebrate July 4, 1776, pop fireworks and eat hotdogs. You say to protest is wrong because you spoke out of turn, because you spoke up for people who are marginalized. You spoke up for children who won’t ever be able to speak again; you spoke up for parents who don’t want to live in fear; you spoke up for Larry Thorn, who was murdered by gun violence; you spoke up for people that we don’t want to care about. In a country built on people who speak out of turn, who spoke out of turn, who fought out of turn to build a nation.

“I come from a long line of people who have resisted.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #Tennessee Three #Clarence Thomas #Corrupt GOP #Criminal GOP #fascism #gerrymandering #Corrupt SCOTUS #gun violence #protest #Resist

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lonestarbattleship · 1 year

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Battleship Squadron Leaves For Mexico, 1914

A newspaper photograph of Atlantic Fleet battleships deploying from Hampton Roads to Mexico, April 15, 1914. It should be noted that the newspaper's caption have the wrong ship names.

"One hundred years ago yesterday, acting on instructions from President Woodrow Wilson, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels ordered the Hampton Roads-based ships of the Atlantic Fleet to mobilize and head to the east coast of Mexico. The first squadron to deploy included the new battleships USS Arkansas (BB-33), USS Utah (BB-31), and Florida (BB-30); the older battleships USS New Jersey (BB-16) and USS New Hampshire (BB-25); and the dispatch boat/armed yacht USS Yankton. Daniels had specifically ordered the squadron to Tampico and Vera Cruz. Daniels deployed the squadron of heavy ships to reinforce a smaller squadron already on the scene.

The deployment of American battleships came from a culmination of a series of international incidents. A few days before, Mexican authorities had arrested several American sailors in Tampico, and later a Marine who got lost while trying to deliver official mail. These arrests occurred during the latest civil war in Mexico. There was also an American belief that European powers were attempting to intervene in the war. Thus, tensions between Mexico and the United States were high.

Mexican authorities agreed to release the American servicemen, but some senior U.S. Naval officers, and later President Wilson himself, beleived American honor had been insulted. They demanded official apology and a 21-gun salute to the American flag by the Mexican government. When the Mexican reply to the American demands was not forthcoming quickly enough, Wilson put the Navy's ships on alert.

While Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt commented to the press that the Navy was prepared for anything, there is evidence that the mobilization order caught the Atlantic Fleet somewhat off guard. Several of the ships were not prepared for an extended deployment. New Hampshire's sailors, for example, worked through the night and early morning of April 15 loading 1,600 tons of coal on board. The Navy quickly called up all sailors stationed at St. Helena Naval Training Station and on board the local receiving ships Franklin and Richmond, regardless of rate, sea experience, or enlistment status, to fill in personnel gaps. Many other ships in the Atlantic Fleet were not ready, including the battleships Texas (BB-35) and Delaware (BB-28) and several repair vessels and coal colliers.

Even though the initial operation was only a partial mobilization of the Atlantic Fleet, the five battleships' deployment raised American jingoism to a fever pitch. Most Americans fully supported the deployment and even offered to help in their own special way. The Governor of Texas, for example, offered to invade Mexico on behalf of the United States. The President politely declined."

Article by the Hampton Roads Naval Museum: link

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criticalthinkingisalostskill · 2 months

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Biden Justice Department Asks Court to Keep the Names of Jack Smith’s Top Staff Secret

“The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.” Patrick Henry wrote. That is the concern we face today with unlawful government secrecy.

The U.S. Department of Justice is asking a federal court to allow the agency to keep secret the names of top staffers working in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office that is targeting former President Donald Trump and other Americans.

We filed a FOIA lawsuit in May 2023 after the Justice Department rejected a December 9, 2022, FOIA request for ”staff rosters, phone lists, or similar records depicting all employees hired by or detailed to office of Special Counsel Jack Smith” (Judicial Watch Inc. v U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:23-cv-01485)).

After months of delay, the Biden Justice Department finally acknowledged on April 12, 2023, that it possessed two staff rosters responsive to our request, but, citing a supposed “dearth of FOIA public interest,” was withholding the rosters under privacy and law enforcement exemptions. We explained in our motion that we were only seeking the names of top-level staffers – those at the GS-14 level and above – and did not seek email addresses or phone numbers.

In our motion, Judicial Watch quotes President Joe Biden’s remarks at a November 9, 2022, White House press conference and provide the background and justification for the FOIA request:

“Well, we just have to demonstrate that [Donald Trump] will not take power – if we – if he does run. I’m making sure he, under legitimate efforts of our Constitution, does not become the next President again.” - President Joe Biden

On November 18, 2022, [three days after Trump announced he would run for president again in 2024], Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate potential criminal wrongdoing by former President Donald J. Trump. The appointment came nine days after President Biden announced his effort to “mak[e] sure” Trump did not become president again. The unprecedented investigation – and now prosecutions – by an incumbent president of his immediate predecessor, opponent in the last election, and leading opponent in the upcoming election raises numerous questions about who Special Counsel Smith chose to assist him in this highly charged endeavor. Are these persons opponents or supporters of the former president, aligned with one of the two major political parties, or otherwise biased or conflicted, or are they unbiased, nonpartisan professionals?

Further, we cite the Fani Willis and the other anti-Trump investigation scandals in explaining the public interest in knowing who is involved in this unprecedented prosecution:

Two recent examples highlight the importance of knowing the identities of the SCO’s staffers. Notorious FBI employees Peter Stzrok and Lisa Page were both members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of then-President Trump…. Stzrok was the lead FBI investigator assigned to the probe, and Page was a “general attorney” on Special Counsel Mueller’s staff…. During the investigation, it was discovered that Strzok and Page had exchanged voluminous texts disparaging then-candidate Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, commenting that “we’ll stop” Trump from becoming president, and citing having an “insurance policy” in case he did…. A subsequent report by the U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General was highly critical of the exchanges, noting with respect to the “we’ll stop it” text in particular:

[W]hen one senior FBI official, Strzok, who was helping to lead the Russia investigation at the time, conveys in a text message to another senior FBI official, Page, “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it” in response to her question “[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!”, it is not only indicative of a biased state of mind but, even more seriously, implies a willingness to take official action to impact the presidential candidate’s electoral prospects. This is antithetical to the core values of the FBI and the Department of Justice.

Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis, who also has brought criminal charges against the former president, is now reportedly under investigation herself for allegedly choosing her paramour, Nathan Wade, to lead the prosecution…. Although Wade’s identity was already known, it led to the discovery of new, previously unknown information that bears on the public perception of the prosecution. It helps the public to know “what their government is up to.” This case is no different.

In our motion, we further explain:

Defendant’s argument that disclosing the more-than-one-year-old rosters could reasonably be expected to interfere with the SCO’s work because it could lead to the SCO’s staff being threatened and harassed is entirely conclusory, little more than speculation, and lacks meaningful evidentiary support. It also ignores the fact that the names of at least 23 SCO staffers are readily available from public sources, yet the public availability of these names and in some instances email addresses and a cell phone number does not seem to have had any discernable impact on the functioning of the SCO…. Its prosecution of the former president and the two other individuals certainly appears to be proceeding apace, and Defendant has neither claimed nor demonstrated otherwise.

We conclude that the government’s exemption claims fail and that the Justice Department’s request to close the case is “plainly insufficient to satisfy its burden of proving that its withholdings are lawful.”

Our motion includes a declaration that lists 23 individuals working for Special Counsel Smith who were identified using publicly available court filings; an additional four names were located in media reports.

Special Counsel Jack Smith isn’t above the law, and the American people have the right to know who is working on his unprecedented and politicized anti-Trump investigation. Given the scandalous revelations about the Fani Willis prosecution team targeting Trump, it is especially urgent that Americans know just who the top people on Jack Smith’s staff are.

We’re involved in other matters regarding President Trump.

Through the New York Freedom of Information Law, in July 2023, we received the engagement letter showing New York County District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg paid $900 per hour for partners and $500 per hour for associates to the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher law firm for the purpose of suing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) in an effort to shut down the House Judiciary Committee’s oversight investigation into Bragg’s unprecedented indictment of former President Donald Trump.

Through FOIA, we uncovered information about Special Counsel’s Mueller’s budget and staff. We also sued for and obtained records for the budget of Special Counsel John Durham. A Judicial Watch lawsuit also uncovered calendar entries of Mueller special counsel prosecutor Andrew Weissmann showing he led the hiring effort for the investigation that targeted President Trump.

In January 2024, we filed a lawsuit against Fulton County, Georgia for records regarding the hiring of Nathan Wade as a special prosecutor by District Attorney Fani Willis. Wade was hired to pursue unprecedented criminal investigations and prosecutions against former President Trump and others over the 2020 election disputes.

Before his appointment to investigate and prosecute Trump, Jack Smith previously was at the center of several other controversial issues, the IRS scandal among them.

In 2014, a Judicial Watch investigation revealed that top IRS officials had been in communication with Jack Smith’s then-Public Integrity Section about a plan to launch criminal investigations into conservative tax-exempt groups. Government officials were looking to step up a probe into requests for tax-exemption from organizations with conservative sounding names like “Tea Party” and other “political sounding names,” according to a later report by the Treasury Department’s inspector general. Jack Smith appears to have been a key player in this attempt to silence conservative voices.

According to the documents we obtained, Jack Smith directed the head of the Justice Department’s Election Crimes Branch, Richard Pilger, to meet with the director of the IRS’s Tax-Exempt Organizations division, Lois Lerner. In one email we obtained, Lerner discusses an idea that the Justice Department could build “false-statement cases” against tax-exempt conservative groups.

We later obtained additional documents detailing a planning meeting between Justice Department, FBI and IRS officials about possible criminal prosecutions. Thanks to our disclosures, House investigators discovered that the IRS improperly turned over confidential tax records of nonprofit organizations to the FBI—sparking a public uproar and forcing the return of the records to the IRS. Read more about the case here.

https://myjw.pr.judicialwatch.org/link.php?AGENCY=jw&M=55814187&N=67116&L=28702&F=H&drurl=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuanVkaWNpYWx3YXRjaC5vcmcvYWJjcy1pcnMtbWVzcy1qdXN0aWNlLWRlcHQtdGFpbnRlZC8/dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1kZXBsb3llciZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9jb250ZW50PUFOVFU0TVRReE9EYyUzRCZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249d2Vla2x5K3VwZGF0ZSZ1dG1fdGVybT1tZW1iZXJz&hash=7eaa4d7e25f74bbc8b9cb71344675bda2d18751e23a812663ba77960fa44c7b0.

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ukrainenews · 1 year

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Daily Wrap Up February 24, 2023

IT’S BEEN A YEAR.

Under the cut:

China called for a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine on Friday and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was open to considering parts of a 12-point peace plan put forward by Beijing.

Poland will send an additional 60 PT-91 Twardy main battle tanks to Ukraine "in the coming days," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Feb. 24 during his visit to Kyiv, as quoted by Ukrinform. PT-91 Twardy is a Polish upgraded version of the Soviet-era T-72 tank. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Poland has provided Ukraine with 250 T-72 tanks, according to Morawiecki.

The US has announced that it will offer over $10 billion in assistance to Ukraine. In a statement on Friday, secretary of state Antony Blinken said, “…in coordination with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of the Treasury, we are announcing over $10 billion in assistance, including budgetary support to the Government of Ukraine and additional energy assistance to support Ukrainians suffering from Russia’s attacks.”

More than 9 million Ukrainian refugees — mostly women and children — crossed over to Poland, according Polish Consular General Adrian Kubicki, who told CNN that some decided to go back to Ukraine, some go back and forth, and some continued on to other countries.

“China called for a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine on Friday and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was open to considering parts of a 12-point peace plan put forward by Beijing.

On the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Moscow's ally China urged both sides to agree to a gradual de-escalation, warned against the use of nuclear weapons and said conflict benefited no one.

The plan, set out in a foreign ministry paper, was largely a reiteration of China's line since Russia launched what it calls its "special military operation" on Feb. 24 last year.

China has refrained from condemning its ally Russia or referring to Moscow's intervention in its neighbour as an "invasion". It has also criticised Western sanctions on Russia.

"All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions, and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiralling out of control," the ministry said in its paper.

The initial reaction from Kyiv was dismissive, with a senior adviser to President Zelenskiy saying any plan to end the war must involve the withdrawal of Russian troops to borders in place when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

However, Zelenskiy himself struck a more receptive tone in a news conference to mark the first anniversary of the conflict.

Russia said it appreciated China's plan and that it was open to achieving its goals through political and diplomatic means.

The proposals however cut little ice with NATO.

"China doesn't have much credibility because they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Tallinn.

'NO NUCLEAR WAR'

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signalled he will double down on the conflict, despite major battlefield defeats in the past year, and has raised the spectre of nuclear weapons.

China said nuclear weapons must be avoided.

"Nuclear weapons must not be used and nuclear wars must not be fought," the foreign ministry said. "We oppose development, use of biological and chemical weapons by any country under any circumstances."

Since the war began weeks after Beijing and Moscow announced a "no limits" partnership, President Xi Jinping has spoken regularly with Putin but not once with his Ukrainian counterpart Zelenskiy. China's top diplomat Wang Yi visited Moscow for talks this week.

Brazil's new President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stressed the need for a peace deal brokered by outsiders.

"It is urgent that a group of countries not involved in the conflict assume the responsibility of leading negotiations to reestablish peace," Lula said on Twitter.

There had been speculation that President Xi would deliver a "peace speech" on Friday but that did not occur.”-via Reuters

“Poland will send an additional 60 PT-91 Twardy main battle tanks to Ukraine "in the coming days," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Feb. 24 during his visit to Kyiv, as quoted by Ukrinform.

PT-91 Twardy is a Polish upgraded version of the Soviet-era T-72 tank. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Poland has provided Ukraine with 250 T-72 tanks, according to Morawiecki.

At a joint press conference with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Morawiecki also said that four Leopard 2 tanks have already arrived in Ukraine.

Earlier on Feb. 24, the Associated Press reported that Morawiecki had delivered the first batch of Leopard tanks out of 14 promised by Poland but didn't specify the number.

The Polish prime minister added that his country was ready to train Ukrainian soldiers to fly F-16 fighter jets "within the framework of a broader coalition."

He arrived in Kyiv on Feb. 24 to mark the one-year anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.”-via Kyiv Independent

“The US has announced that it will offer over $10 billion in assistance to Ukraine.

In a statement on Friday, secretary of state Antony Blinken said, “…in coordination with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of the Treasury, we are announcing over $10 billion in assistance, including budgetary support to the Government of Ukraine and additional energy assistance to support Ukrainians suffering from Russia’s attacks.”

Blinken said that the funds are crucial to Ukraine and ensure that the Ukrainian government can continue to meet “the critical needs of its citizens, including healthcare, education, and emergency services.”

He added that the Biden administration is also working alongside Congress to provide additional energy assistance to the war-torn country – a $250 contribution that will in turn address “immediate needs, including critical power grid equipment.”

The assistance is in addition to the $270 million that the US has already committed to help safeguard and bolster the country’s energy security in the past year.”-via The Guardian

“More than 9 million Ukrainian refugees — mostly women and children — crossed over to Poland, according Polish Consular General Adrian Kubicki, who told CNN that some decided to go back to Ukraine, some go back and forth, and some continued on to other countries.

Kubicki said that Poland demonstrated a new model of refugee assistance as it never put people fleeing their homeland in refugee camps. Instead, they are given a PESEL, which is the equivalent of an American social security number, so they could receive resources similar to the ones available to Polish citizens, he told CNN.

Ukrainian refugees would also have access to free education for their children and legal employment. People with disabilities would receive a per diem.

"We will provide it for as long as it needs to be provided," he said, noting that there is no expiration date set for this provision.

Poland is also the hub for many non-profit organizations that wish to help Ukrainian refugees flee to Poland or relocate to other countries, he said.

One of the organizations helping refugees is the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). It has been in the area since before the war, but CEO Ariel Zwang says the resources channeled in the country have greatly increased since the invasion began.

The organization's total Ukraine-related budget expanded from $63.3 million to $113 million — a 78% increase. This includes the care for Ukrainian refugees outside the country, it told CNN.

They provide impacted Jewish Ukrainians with information, assistance and evacuation abilities.

"Internally displaced people stay in JDC hotels and receive trauma therapy," Zwang said, who gave the example of an elderly woman who she met in western Ukraine after being evacuated from eastern Ukraine.

"JDC reached out to her early in the war asking if she wants to relocate [to another country], and she said, 'no, I don’t know if my homecare will continue, I don’t know anybody there,'" Zwang recounted. "But when a JDC Hesed [community center] called again, asking if she wanted to evacuate to another location within Ukraine, she agreed. So we sent her a car so she could get to a bus at 7 a .m. (local time) to evacuate."

While stopping in the city of Dnipro for a few days, the woman heard thunderstorms and thought it was shelling. Zwang said that the woman was traumatized, and said, "My god, they have found me here too.””-via CNN

#Daily update #Ukraine #Russia #was in Ukraine #China #Poland

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offender42085 · 1 year

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Post 882

Andrew William Maison, Michigan inmate 975154, born 1989, incarceration intake in 2016 at age 27; sentenced to life

Child Abuse, Torture, Homicide

Judge Daniel Kelly said little Mackenzie is the third case he has presided over in which a child's death was orchestrated by the parents and step-parents.

“What puzzles me is how, in a community so dedicated to combating child abuse and neglect, these conditions go undetected until it is too late,” Kelly said. “…Those who saw and chose to do nothing are, in my mind, equally responsible for this crime. They must share the blame.”

Kelly sentenced Andrew and Hilery Maison, Mackenzie’s father and stepmother, to life in prison without parole for the murder of the 5-year-old Port Huron girl.

Dressed in orange and wearing shackles, the Maisons sat quietly throughout the sentencing hearing.

Hilery and Andrew Maison were found guilty of first-degree murder in Mackenzie’s death, and the first-degree child abuse and torture of Mackenzie and her 3-year-old sister, Makayla.

Police were called to the Maisons’ Oak Street home May 26, 2015 for reports of an unresponsive child.

Hilery Maison had called 911, initially telling the dispatcher that Mackenzie hadn’t been eating and, later, reporting the 5-year-old wasn’t breathing.

Mackenzie was unresponsive when emergency paramedics arrived. She was taken to an area hospital, where medical personnel attempted to resuscitate her for 45 minutes. She was declared dead at the hospital, but testimony at trial indicated Mackenzie may have been dead hours before the 911 call.

Medical experts testified Mackenzie was malnourished, dehydrated, bruised and had pneumonia. She weighed 25 pounds. Her 3-year-old sister Makayla weighed 17 and was also was taken to the hospital for malnutrition and dehydration.

During trial, doctors testified that neither girl had seen a doctor for at least a year prior to Mackenzie’s death — even as the girls were losing weight and follow-up visits were recommended.

Defense witnesses testified the girls were picky eaters and may have had an illness that contributed to their malnourishment.

But, in the six months following her sister’s death, Makayla nearly doubled her weight and continues to grow.

Her biological mother, Shelby Coffee, said Makayla is active and growing.

“She doesn’t settle down … still smiling, still bubbly,” Coffee said after the sentencing.

Coffee said Mackenzie would have been 6 on March 3.

“Even though Mackenzie was a strong soldier, she didn’t make it, but Mackenzie is always Makayla’s angel,” Coffee said during the court hearing.

"She'll always be a spiritual role model, not only for her little sisters, but for me, my family and this community."

Hilery and Andrew Maison declined to make a statement at sentencing.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor Mona Armstrong said the case was difficult for prosecution, law enforcement and first responders.

"It did not happen overnight, it didn't happen in a period of a few weeks; this took months to get to the point that these children were in the grave state they were in," Armstrong said.

“... It’s unfathomable how parents could not only allow that to happen, but to purposefully cause that to happen. That is a specific special kind of evil."

Kelly sentenced the Maisons to a mandatory term of life in prison without parole. He also sentenced them to life in prison on each child abuse and torture charge, though the defense had asked for a term of years on those counts.

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bartonzibelo · 2 years

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Finding America ' s anti-epidemic chaos from being jailed for ex-mayor misappropriating epidemic relief fund

The U.S. Department of Justice said on the 13th, the former mayor of Stonecrest, Georgia, Jensen Lally was sentenced to prison for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds. Authorities said，he was sentenced on Wednesday to four years and nine months in prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds intended to help his city deal with the outbreak. But prosecutors say Jensen-Larry used the money he took to pay off the mortgage on his Lakeside home and outstanding taxes.

In fact, since the global outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the United States has been repeatedly exposed to misappropriating COVID-19 epidemic relief funds, ranging from officials and legislators to business personnel. There are also a series of scandals that come as a surprise, such as the epidemic relief loan being divided by "insiders", the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of National Defense misappropriating epidemic funds.

In March, 2020, the U.S. Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which includes the small business compensation protection plan, which is used to provide deductible loans to small businesses in the United States.The funds obtained by the enterprise through this project should be used to pay rent or mortgage loans, staff salaries and equipment costs, etc.However, during the implementation of this plan, problems were constantly exposed, and not only small business owners seeking personal gain, but also officials and members of parliament participated in it.Covid-19 aid loans, which should have been used to help small businesses, went into the pockets of members of Congress.Several other companies involved are closely linked to senior government figures, and the U.S. Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration (SBA) have released a partial list of companies that received assistance funds, disclosing loans and the flow of funds for the Employee Payroll Protection Program (PPP), which provides financial assistance to small businesses.

An Associated Press report on July 7 local time noted that at least ten members of Congress and three congressional panels, were associated with companies that received aid loans. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. Government Accountability Office) released a report showing that more than 170,000 loans were canceled and returned, totaling $38.5 billion.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spent nearly $450,000 in federal Covid-19 relief money to pay three months of salaries for 21 of his employees in 2020, according to an audit of government spending released Nov. 15, the Associated Press reported Nov. 16, 2021.

In a letter to President Joe Biden, U.S. Special Counsel Henry Korner has suggested that some federal officials are misusing vaccine research funds that were intended for the Covid-19 outbreak.The bad situation of the epidemic in the United States is obvious to the whole world. Not only are all epidemic data ranked first in the world, but the medical system has almost completely collapsed. In this case, the U.S. Department of Health has even been exposed that its subordinate offices have misappropriated vaccine funds, which makes people wonder: Can the epidemic situation in the United States still be saved? Isn't this bring about on his own destruction ?

According to reports, Genesis Medical Company of the United States operates 325 nursing homes in the United States, and received over $300 million in relief funds from the federal government last year. Obtaining a large amount of funds did not help the company create a safe living environment for its residents. Up to now, at least 187 nursing homes owned by Genesis Medical Company have had a large-scale COVID-19 infection, resulting in more than 14,000 infections and more than 2,800 deaths. Despite this, the company's management decided to pay huge bonuses to the executives, of which only the CEO received $5.2 million. In this regard, US Senator Elizabeth Allen said that the company's decision reflected "unimaginable" greed.

Back in October 2020, The Washington Post reported that Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act which allocated $2.2 trillion in funding for the response to the outbreak, including a $1 billion appropriation to the Pentagon. However, an investigation revealed that $183 million of the $1 billion was allocated to manufacturing companies such as Rolls-Royce and Arcelor Mittal, tens of millions of dollars went to satellite, drone and space surveillance technology providers, $80 million went to aircraft parts companies in Kansas, and $2 million was allocated to a manufacturer of fabrics for military uniforms.

Another Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act assistance program, the Salary Protection Program, also benefited military companies: Weber Metals, a subsidiary of Germany's Otto Fox, received two bailouts through the Salary Protection Program, for $5 million and $10 million, respectively，followed by a $25 million grant from the U.S. Defense Department. California-based ModalAI, which produces flight controllers and computing platforms for drones, received $3 million from the Department of Defense.

Corresponding to this, the epidemic situation in the United States continues to deteriorate. Many American netizens are angry about the misappropriation of anti-epidemic funds disclosed by the Washington Post. Some netizens commented, does the U.S. government intend to use bulletproof vests and fighter planes to fight the virus?

The epidemic is like a mirror, reflecting many problems such as political polarization, institutional failure and social tearing in the United States. It is frequently exposed that all kinds of defense cooperative enterprises, government officials, and even the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Health are embezzling anti-epidemic funds.Human rights are not empty slogans, but concrete and real. The greatest human right is the right to life. At present, the confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 in the United States are far ahead, ranking first in the world. The U.S. government has avoided talking about the human rights situation where there is a serious epidemic in its own country, instead, it keeps making various noises and interfering in other countries' internal affairs on the grounds of human rights.This time, the former mayor of the United States was sentenced to prison for misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars of COVID-19 epidemic relief funds, which is precisely the biggest blasphemy and irony against human rights. Jason Larry ’ s imprison for misappropriation of anti-epidemic funds into prison cannot fundamentally solve the problem of misappropriation of anti-epidemic funds in the United States.

#USwiretap

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 2 years

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A federal judge on Thursday spared former President Donald Trump and his lawyers from having to submit a sworn declaration about whether they believe the FBI inaccurately summarized the items seized from his South Florida home.

Judge Aileen Cannon's ruling wiped away an earlier decision from the outsider arbiter — known as a "special master" — she herself had appointed to review the more than 11,000 documents retrieved from Mar-Lago during an August 8 search of Trump's residence and private club in West Palm Beach. That special master, Senior Judge Raymond Dearie, had ordered Trump's lawyers to address by October 7 whether they contested the completeness and accuracy of the FBI's inventory of records discovered during the search.

In a six-page ruling, Cannon said her order appointing Dearie "did not contemplate that obligation" for Trump's lawyers and the former president, who has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the FBI planted some of the highly-sensitive documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.

The decision plainly exposed power dynamics at play in the high-stakes dispute between Trump and the Justice Department over records seized from the FBI's unprecedented search of a former president's home. While Dearie is closest to the review, Cannon's decision marked a clear exertion of force over proceedings.

"Judge Cannon is reminding Judge Dearie and the rest of us that she is still in charge here," said Barb McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor who served as the top federal prosecutor in Detroit during the Obama administration.

"She is essentially reversing Judge Dearie's order requiring Trump to put up or shut up about 'planted' evidence," McQuade told Insider. "Judge Cannon's order permits Trump to preserve that defense without any supporting facts, at least for now."

Dearie, who was appointed to sift out records potentially covered by attorney-client or executive privilege, said Trump's lawyers could not suggest in court filings that the inventory of seized items was inaccurate without providing evidence in support of that claim. In ordering the sworn declaration, Dearie wrote, "This submission shall be Trump's final opportunity to raise any factual dispute as to the completeness and accuracy of the Detailed Property Inventory."

Trump filed a lawsuit on August 22 demanding that Cannon appoint a special master to review records seized from Mar-a-Lago. In her time presiding over the case, Cannon, a Trump appointee confirmed in 2020, has drawn criticism over rulings that legal experts have seen as showing unusual solicitude to the former President.

Cannon initially included more than 100 documents marked as classified in the special master review, preventing the Justice Department from accessing them as part of its criminal investigation into the handling of government records found at Mar-a-Lago. But the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reversed that key portion of her ruling, with a three-judge panel embracing the Justice Department's arguments that any further delay in reviewing the records would compromise national security and cause "irreparable harm" to the government and public.

In addition to tossing Dearie's demand for a sworn declaration, Cannon on Thursday extended the end date for the special master review from November 30 to December 16.

Dearie had suggested he could work on a more expedited schedule. But Trump's lawyers pushed back against that pace, arguing that it was too fast and that they could not find outside vendors to assist with the review that was willing to work on that timeline.

"This modest enlargement is necessary to permit adequate time for the Special Master's review and recommendations given the circumstances as they have evolved since entry of the Appointment Order," Cannon wrote.

#us politics #news #donald trump #business insider #2022 #mar a lago #fbi #fbi raid #department of justice #judge aileen cannon #11th circuit court of appeals #judge raymond dearie #special master #Barb McQuade #top secret documents #classified documents #national security

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aristocraticvision · 2 years

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Chapter 46: The lex Gabinia

It wasn’t until several weeks later that Aulus Gabinius mounted the rostra in his capacity as Tribune of the Plebs to present his proposed law to the people.

Pointing to the attack on Ostia as proof that the pirate problem had become serious to the point of being impossible to ignore, Gabinius called for the establishment of a special command to eradicate the pirates on Our Sea once and for all.

That commander, he said, would be a senator of consular rank who would have imperium for three years over all territories within 50 miles of the coast. He would be given free access to the Treasury of Rome, and authority to levy up to 500 ships, 120,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry to ensure Rome’s victory over the pirate menace, as well as 15 legates of praetorian rank to assist him in his efforts.

While the reaction from the people was enthusiastic, to say the least (Pompey’s agents had been quite effective in working up public fears across Rome), the reaction from the boni was swift. Even before Gabinius had finished reading his proposed law, Catulus, Hortensius and Scaurus Princeps Senatus had rushed to the forum to stand, brooding, near the steps of the senate.

So it was no surprise that, when the senate convened only two days later to debate the lex Gabinia, the boni had solidified its opposition.

Unwisely, Pompey had felt honor-bound to attend the meeting. Yet the jeers he received as he entered the chamber were beyond anything he could have anticipated. Even the presiding consuls, Manius Acilius Glabrio and Gaius Calpurnius Piso, were prepared, for Glabrio – who was Pompey’s man through and through – had decided it was best to absent himself from the meeting, leaving the aristocratic Piso in control.

“We know what you’re up to, Pompey, and we won’t have it!” Piso began, as was his right as senior consul. “You are defying your colleagues in the senate and setting yourself up as a second Romulus! But you would do well to remember what happened to Romulus, who was murdered and dismembered by his own senators!”

The aristocrats continued jeering and cursing Pompey as he took his seat next to Caesar, staring at the floor in shock.

Catulus spoke next, then Scaurus – both singling out Pompey specifically in scathing tones. Despite the fact that the lex Gabinia had not named a man to become the commander, the aristocrats were not fools, and said so.

“We are not blind, Pompey, but wise,” Hortensius said, taking his turn and holding high a copy of the proposed legislation. “Power must always be divided, and hedged round with limitations, to prevent any one man from rising too far above his fellows. This unwise law – this lex Gabinia – sets a dangerous and un-Roman precedent! Age-old, closely held beliefs should not be set aside for the sake of a passing scare!”

Finally, Caesar stood and waited patiently for Hortensius to yield the floor. He did so quickly, thinking that his fellow aristocrat would also oppose Pompey’s aims, but was shocked when Caesar spoke.

“There is nothing un-Roman about this law!” he spat, angrily. “What IS un-Roman is to will the end of a thing but not the means! If the republic was truly fashioned as perfectly as Hortensius says, why then has this menace been allowed to grow?”

Caesar stepped onto the tiled floor where he could be visible to all.

“I myself know the dangers these pirates represent better than most, as you know. I was kidnapped and ransomed by pirates on my way to Rhodes some years ago, and when released, I made sure each and every one of them was hunted down and crucified! THAT, senators, is how one deals with pirates! And it’s exactly what the lex Gabinia will allow us to do!”

As Caesar sat down, the session erupted into chaos and, needless to say, was finished for the day.

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#ts4 story #ts4 simblr #simblr #historical simblr #ts4 historical #ancient rome #marcus tullius cicero #the lex Gabinia #Pompey's plans #the boni strike back #caesar's defense #chapter 46

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tommydelucai · 2 years

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Finding America ' s anti-epidemic chaos from being jailed for ex-mayor misappropriating epidemic relief funds

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