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☆ Dr. LeRoy Carhart, Fierce Defender of Abortion Rights, Dies at 81
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Alex Traub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Around 30 states, including Nebraska, outlawed the procedure. It was one that Dr. Carhart said he never used and that he described as “distasteful.” Nevertheless, he believed that the wording of the law was so broad that it could render illegal other types of abortions, and he sued Nebraska’s attorney general, Don Stenberg. Dr. Carhart became the lead plaintiff in two Supreme Court cases. When the George W. Bush administration enacted the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, Dr. Carhart sued again. The Supreme Court reversed course, however, with the author of the decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy, arguing that the federal law “expresses respect for the dignity of human life.”

☆ War Court Proceedings Stream to Guantánamo From a Secret Chamber in Virginia
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Carol Rosenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — For hearings in the destroyer Cole bombing case this month, the Guantánamo war court was mostly empty. Skeletal teams for the prosecution and the defense sat in the cavernous chamber, silently watching an 80-inch screen over the witness stand. On it lawyers argued and witnesses testified from a secret courtroom 1,300 miles to the north outside Washington. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the George W. Bush administration created a war crimes court at Guantánamo to be out of reach of the U.S. courts. But now, increasingly, lawyers are examining witnesses and making arguments in the remote annex — four miles from the Supreme Court and 10 miles from C.I.A.

☆ Tucker Carlson has now parted ways with 3 major cable news networks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Chris Kaye | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tucker Carlson has parted ways with Fox News, the media network announced Monday. Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News and no definitive reason has been given by him or his former employer. "FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways," the network said in a Monday statement. The New York Times reported on Monday that Grossberg's legal team would depose Carlson "in the very near term." "I'm not defending it as the smartest choice, but I think it's the most interesting," Carlson told the Washington Post at the time.

☆ State leaders targeting climate investing have quiet stakes in the fossil fuel industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Fitzpatrick is among a group of powerful Republican state leaders who have waged similar fights against environmentally conscious investing as they held personal investments in, or saw political support from, the fossil fuel industry. Some of the state officials have received campaign donations from fossil fuel companies or their executives. "He has never 'had private briefings tied back to the fossil fuel industry' nor does he personally direct or execute trades himself. Hegar co-signed an open letter in 2021 with other state financial officers that was addressed to the U.S. banking industry and defended the fossil fuel industry. He also co-signed the 2022 letter to Biden from a slate of other state financial officers defending the fossil fuel industry.

☆ Counting the Lives an AIDS Foreign Policy Helps Save
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Josh Zumbrun | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief helped fund this Rwanda HIV clinic. Often, retrospectives on U.S. foreign policy focus on the missteps and the boondoggles. A look at the number of lives saved in the war on AIDS points to a remarkable and under-celebrated policy success. Twenty years ago this spring, the George W. Bush administration launched an all-out initiative for AIDS prevention, care and treatment in developing countries, especially in Africa. At the time it was the largest-ever initiative dedicated to a single disease.

☆ George W. Bush misrepresented our work at CIA to sell the Iraq invasion. It's time to call him what he is: 'A liar.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Two former CIA officials spoke to Insider before the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. They gave a firsthand account of the George W. Bush administration's attempts to misrepresent intelligence and assert a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. The closest they came was this alleged, and apparently nonexistent, help that Iraq gave al-Qaeda [via Atta] in bringing about the attacks. Alice: Today, people say that Bush was looking to justify the invasion of Iraq. Pretty soon it became clear that the administration was focused on this alleged meeting between Atta and Iraqi intelligence in Prague.

☆ Column: The road to war: An ex-Reuters journalist recalls the chase for WMD in Iraq
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Louis Charbonneau | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

March 20 (Reuters) - Louis Charbonneau covered the UN weapons inspections prior to the Iraq war and later became UN bureau chief. The U.S. was threatening to use military force to rid Iraq of WMD, which the administration of President George W. Bush insisted Iraq was developing in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions. Reuters colleagues Evelyn Leopold and Irwin Arieff quickly cobbled together a story on doubts about the Niger uranium intel based on what I dictated. The next morning, I reached out to UN sources for more information on the Niger uranium. The IAEA experts had concluded they weren’t useful for a nuclear weapons program.

U.S. forces in both countries combat Islamic State militants, who are also active from North Africa to Afghanistan. MASSIVE COSTSThe costs of U.S. involvement in Iraq and Syria are massive. "It was worth it because the decision was not simply: 'Does Saddam pose a WMD threat in 2003?'" IN THE GULF'Ryan Crocker, who served as U.S. ambassador in Iraq, said the 2003 invasion did not immediately undermine U.S. influence in the Gulf but the 2011 withdrawal helped push Arab states to start hedging their bets. Reporting By Arshad Mohammed and Jonathan Landay; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Principal Deputy IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel testifies before the House Small Business Committee at a hearing on "The Internal Revenue Service And Small Businesses: Ensuring Fair Treatment" in Washington, July 17, 2013. One of Werfel's priorities at the IRS will be ensuring that the wealthiest Americans pay their full tax bills. President Joe Biden's pick to lead the IRS won the support of nearly every Senate Democrat, plus a handful of Republicans. "Confirming someone as qualified as Mr. Werfel as IRS Commissioner is crucial to making sure Americans take full advantage of all the tax credits we approved last year," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday on the Senate floor. He later served as acting IRS commissioner in 2013.

☆ The Dodge Challenger as we know it is about to die. Driving one reminded me how sad I'll be once it's gone.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Alanis King | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The 2023 Dodge Challenger Shakedown. The 2023 Dodge Challenger Shakedown. The 2023 Dodge Challenger Shakedown. The 2023 Dodge Challenger Shakedown. The 2023 Dodge Challenger Shakedown.

☆ Democratic congresswoman Slotkin announces run for open Michigan Senate seat
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Katharine Jackson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin of Michigan on Monday said she will run for the Senate seat being left open by Debbie Stabenow in 2024. Stabenow, 72, a Democrat serving a fourth term in the U.S. Senate, said in January she would not seek re-election. Keeping the seat in Democrats' hands could be vital for the party to maintain control of the Senate in 2025. No widely known Republicans have entered the race for Stabenow's seat so far. Michigan Republicans earlier in February selected Trump loyalist Kristina Karamo to be their next state chair, elevating an election denier as far-right members gain clout in the battleground state.

Former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao called out former President Donald Trump amid his racist broadsides aimed at her and his other anti-Asian rhetoric. Trump, who is ramping up his 2024 presidential campaign, has repeatedly made racist attacks against Chao, who served in his administration, in recent months. Chao’s latest statement comes in the wake of several high-profile shootings targeting Asian Americans. Other Republicans, such as Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., have stopped short of condemning Trump’s attacks, often equating them to the former president’s penchant for using nicknames. She later served as Transportation secretary for the Trump administration.

☆ Tucker Carlson does a victory lap after M&M's cancels its 'spokescandies' following conservative backlash over the green one's shoes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Loading Something is loading. In the segment, Carlson recapped his show's coverage of the ongoing rebrand of the M&M's mascots and criticized coverage from other news outlets. "There is a lot of outrage over the end of frumpy, plus-sized, and lesbian M&Ms," Carlson also tweeted. M&M's announced a pause on the brand's spokescandies in a statement on Twitter Monday, writing: "In the last year, we've made some changes to our beloved spokescandies. Carlson previously criticized the brand's redesigned mascots, calling the brown M&M "less sexy" without her stilettos and slamming the rebranding of the green M&M from her go-go boots to sneakers.

☆ A bored hacktivist browsing an unsecured airline server stumbled upon national security secrets including the FBI's 'no fly' list. She says what she found reveals a 'perverse outgrowth of the surveill
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Easily accessible secretsCrimew told Insider it took just minutes for her to access the server and find credentials that allowed her to see the database. When looking at the list, Crimew told Insider, "you start to notice just how young some of the people are." crimew told Insider. The outcome of the 2021 case is still pending, crimew told Insider. And that really just shows like where the priorities lie," crimew told Insider: "I just hope they maybe learned their lesson the second time."

☆ A bored hacktivist browsing an unsecured airline server stumbled upon national security secrets including the FBI's 'no-fly' list. She says what she found reveals a 'perverse outgrowth of the surveill
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

A Swiss hacker says she found a copy of the FBI's "no-fly" list on an unsecured server. "The ever-expanding scope of these lists are due to the revelations of people in the course of investigations," Gray told Insider. When looking at the list, crimew told Insider, "you start to notice just how young some of the people are." crimew told Insider. "I just hope they maybe learned their lesson the second time," crimew told Insider.

☆ 'Deadly' double agent Ana Montes who was a US spy for communist Cuba freed from prison after 20 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ana Montes, seen as "one of the most damaging spies" in US history, has been released from prison. When she was working a clerical job at the Department of Justice, Cuban authorities identified her as someone who would be sympathetic to their cause. She was able to pass highly sensitive information over to Cuban authorities through memory alone. "She compromised everything — virtually everything — that we knew about Cuba and how we operated in Cuba and against Cuba," Van Cleave said. Chris Simmons, a former investigator with the DIA, described Montes as "a very deadly woman, a very dangerous woman," NBC reported.

☆ The man behind Trump World’s myth of rigged voting machines
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +32 min

He publicly announced his purchase of Montgomery’s data in August at a gathering in Missouri of hundreds of his followers. “I own it,” Lindell said of Montgomery’s data, touting it as irrefutable proof Trump was cheated. On Nov. 9, far-right podcaster Joe Oltmann linked Montgomery’s Hammer and Scorecard claims to a parallel conspiracy theory: that widely used voting machines manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems were rigged to flip votes from Trump to Biden. Powell amended her complaint a few days later and dropped the expert’s declaration and the references to Montgomery’s claims. But the government said in a recent court filing that the order has nothing to do with election data.

☆ Top government ethics officer was late disclosing his personal finances on multiple occasions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The attorney, Office of Government Ethics General Counsel David Apol, missed deadlines to report at least 12 different bond transactions since 2015. Improperly reporting purchases and sales of bonds or stocks is a violation of the 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act. Officials are only required to report transactions in broad ranges. Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia has been one of the lead proponents in Congress of reforming the STOCK Act. Congress this year discussed changes to the STOCK Act and the US House even held a hearing following the publication of "Conflicted Congress."

☆ Senate Confirms Martin Gruenberg to New Term Atop FDIC
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Andrew Ackerman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Martin Gruenberg, chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, first joined the FDIC board in 2005, during the George W. Bush administration. WASHINGTON—The Senate confirmed Martin Gruenberg for a second term as the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., capping a turbulent period for the agency and cementing Democratic leadership on the bank regulator’s board. The Senate move officially wraps up an episode from a year ago in which the board’s Democratic majority put pressure on its Republican chairwoman at the time, Jelena McWilliams , prompting her to resign more than a year before her term ended. The chamber on Monday also added two Republicans, Travis Hill and Jonathan McKernan, to the banking regulator’s board, in a deal that provided the five-member agency with a full complement of board members for the first time since 2015.

☆ Former adversary John Boehner praises 'incredibly effective' outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi in tearful Capitol Hill tribute
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Former Speaker John Boehner had nothing but kind words for Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday. The Ohio Republican praised his one-time foil at her official portrait unveiling on Capitol Hill. "No other speaker of the House ... has wielded the gavel with such authority," Boehner said. The waterworks started earlier, though, as Boehner recounted how his daughters had asked him to "tell the speaker how much we admire her." She handled the career change like a champ then, Boehner said, and he seemed to believe she'll be fine with whatever comes next too.

☆ Astronauts explain why nobody has visited the moon in 50 years — and the reasons are depressing
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Dave Mosher | Hilary Brueck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

The last time a person visited the moon was in December 1972, during NASA's Apollo 17 mission. But those stays during the Apollo program didn't establish a lasting human presence on the moon. Researchers and entrepreneurs have long pushed for the creation of a crewed base on the moon — a lunar space station. But many astronauts and other experts suggest the biggest impediments to making new crewed moon missions a reality are banal and somewhat depressing. During NASA's Apollo program, 12 people landed on the moon.

☆ It's been 50 years since the last moonwalk. NASA astronauts explain why it took so long.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | Hilary Brueck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The 50th anniversary of the last Apollo astronaut moonwalk is Wednesday. NASA astronauts say it's taking so long to return to the moon because of politics and money. But NASA built Orion to send astronauts back into lunar orbit and, as early as 2025, link up with SpaceX's Starship to land astronauts on the moon. NASA astronaut Victor Glover visits the Space Launch System rocket inside Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building, on July 15, 2021. NASA/Kim ShiflettAs early as 2004, former President George Bush was setting goals to return astronauts to the moon.

☆ Biden to host French President Macron at his first state dinner
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Peter Nicholas | Peter Nicholas Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

White House executive chef Cris Comerford gave a media preview Wednesday of the state dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron. “You need France.”Then-President Trump hosted French President Macron at a state dinner in 2018. The state dinner may be the Biden administration’s way of apologizing for an unforced error of such magnitude, Fried said. “We owed the French one after that.”A dish is previewed for the Macron state dinner. The last state dinner at the White House was in 2019.

☆ Secret 9/11 memo reveals Bush rewriting the history of the 9/11 attacks and the warnings he'd tuned out
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

The ten members of the 9/11 Commission got to ask him and Vice President Dick Cheney any question they wanted about the September 11th attacks. What the new memo makes clear is that the White House's lack of urgency in facing down the domestic Al Qaeda threat wasn't all that complicated. Fortunately for Bush, the 9/11 Commission Report was careful not to point the finger directly at the sitting president. Still, when set beside the newly declassified memo, their official version of history as described by the 9/11 Commission Report feels incomplete, and sanitized. On the question of whether Al Qaeda came up during the August 17 briefing, Morell said he did not remember.

☆ US Secret Service protection would follow Donald Trump to the slammer if he ever ended up there, former agents say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Robin Bravender | Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

"If Donald Trump gets sent to prison, what's the role of the Secret Service in that case?" Federal law entitles Trump and all other ex-presidents to Secret Service protections for life — although it didn't always. "Geez, the fact that we're thinking about him going to jail kind of scares me," said the former Secret Service official. While former presidents are entitled to Secret Service protection, they can opt to decline it — just as Nixon did after leaving office. They did so under the Clinton administration, when a law was passed that would afford ex-presidents 10 years of Secret Service security, rather than lifetime protections.

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