Tuesday, June 14, 2022
BY BRIAN BEUTLER & CROOKED MEDIA

 -Rudy Giuliani, unconvincingly, on his election-night drunkenness

We're going to have to wait a day to see what promises to be some of the House January 6 Committee's most explosive material, but at least it's for a boring reason and not a bad one.
  • The committee announced Tuesday morning that its scheduled Wednesday hearing would be postponed, initially without citing a reason. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) explained that the delay (until next week) is necessary to allow the committee's small digital team enough time to compile the footage it will need to support the hearing, which will presumably be video-heavy like the first two. Thursday's hearing (initially intended to be the fourth hearing) will proceed as planned.
     
  • When the committee returns rain checks the postponed hearing next week, it will home in on disgraced former president Donald Trump's aborted to fire his acting attorney general and replace him with a functionary named Jeffrey Clark. After the election, Clark was prepared to use Justice Department letterhead to warn six states against awarding their electors to President Biden based on fabricated "concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election.”
     
  • The corruption surrounding the Trump-Clark relationship is even crazier than we already knew. The Washington Post detailed a weeks-long flirtation between the two stemming from Clark's willingness to spread lies about the election and usurp power from DOJ leadership. He was also seemingly read in on the so-called "January 6 strategy" when offered to accept the role of acting attorney general for the purpose of threatening states that Biden had won. (Clark has asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid testifying.)
It would be fun if the delay was tied to the some surprise witness testimony, but it's better than one alternative.
  • Committee members are now publicly at odds over whether the committee will or should refer Trump to DOJ for criminal investigation. Reporters got wind of this division several weeks ago, but on Tuesday, Chairman Bennie Thompson told the press that the committee will not refer anyone (including Trump) to DOJ. That prompted quick, aggressive pushback from committee Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Elaine Luria (D-VA), who said " If criminal activity occurred, it is our responsibility to report that activity to the DOJ."
     
  • The committee may be under pressure from House Dem leadership not to be ToO pOLiTiCaL, but fortunately the pushback seems to be working, if this walkback of Thompson's comments from a committee spokesperson is to be believed. 
Whether the committee sends the Justice Department a letter listing the crimes it thinks Trump broke isn't nearly as important as whether its members and all leading Dems loudly and repeatedly tell the public that Trump is a criminal who should be investigated by DOJ. If they want to leave the public that takeaway, they can't count on the public or the media to connect the dots for them. Just ask Robert Mueller.

In 2022, an unprecedented onslaught of anti-trans bills have been introduced across the U.S—the lion’s share of these policies specifically target trans youth and their families. The fight against these bills is ongoing but the impact on trans communities has been immediate, and that’s not a coincidence. Anti-trans lawmakers want trans kids to feel isolated; they want to overwhelm our community with upsetting news items, and they want to make this as psychologically difficult as possible.

At Trans Lifeline, we want to break through this noise. In uncertain times like these, it’s important to affirm our value. For Pride, we are asking folks to share a message of support and solidarity for trans youth. We want young trans people to know that they are not fighting this alone—we will survive & thrive together. Want to voice your support? Call (877) 433-2066 or visit our website to leave a voicemail of affirmation for trans youth today.

Trans Lifeline is a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring trans people have the resources we need to survive and thrive. Our hotline is there to provide peer support to trans people who need it, including in moments of crisis and suicidality. Our microgrants program provides low-barrier grants to trans people for legal name and gender marker changes, hormone replacement therapy, and specialized support for incarcerated and undocumented trans people. We are supported by donors like you and by companies like Visible, who sponsors our trans youth affirmation voicemail campaign.

A third-party spoiler, with the backing of a bitter, failed, centrist House member, could hand Republicans the governorship of blue Oregon and a blue-leaning House district as well. Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR), who lost his primary for being an obstacle to President Biden's agenda (and despite getting Biden's endorsement) seems all but intent on sabotaging the party in the state. He's betting on, if not rooting for, the Republican nominee in his district to beat Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who beat him in the Democratic primary. “The red wave begins in Oregon—Oregon’s fifth district,” he told local news last week. “That’s unfortunate.” He's also flirted with endorsing an independent candidate, Betsy Johnson, in the governor's race over the Democratic nominee, Tina Kotek, who's a former Oregon House speaker. Biden won Oregon 56-40, and the newly drawn fifth district remains Dem +3, which gives a united party a good chance to win both, but leaves a Schrader'd party at risk of losing both.

 

The sprawling network of foundation-funded non-profit organizations that effectively comprise the progressive movement has experienced the national racial-justice reckoning as a series of internal staff revolts that have made these groups unable to execute the specific missions they were formed (in many cases decades ago) to advance. The dysfunction stems mainly from the importation of key, society-wide goals of the racial-justice movement into the operations of advocacy organizations with different missions, creating toxic workplace environments riven by accusations of racial bias (some valid, some not) and "mission drift," where activists pull organizations with specific core competencies out of their areas of expertise and into the realm of social justice, where they aren't capable of accomplishing much and (to the extent they're membership driven) can no longer advance the goals their members expect them to. This clash of visions and breakdown of authority happened to coincide with a razor-thin Democratic trifecta, during which the most progressive piece of the Biden administration's agenda went up in smoke, and the right finally consolidated enough power to abolish the right to abortion. 

It's getting harder to know what information is and isn't reliable these days. With Seekr, those days are becoming a thing of the past.

Our team is focused on innovation. The goal? Create solutions, like our SeekrScore, that tackle real-world problems including detecting and exposing misinformation. Powered by artificial intelligence to analyze the reliability of news and information, Seekr is the only search engine that gives you the confidence to trust what you read—no matter what you're seeking!

Are you ready to take on misinformation? See how our Seekr Score works by visiting Seekr.com/Crooked.

Legislation to rein in tech platform monopolies reportedly has enough votes to pass both chambers, according to its authors.

Mitch McConnell (yeah, yeah) says he supports the bipartisan gun regulation blueprint.

Houston, TX, cut homelessness drastically by focusing on the issue and building enough housing to house people.

The SEC has expanded its investigation of the planned merger between Donald Trump's scam social media company Truth Social and the blank-check acquisition company set up to purchase it, without which it can't survive.
 
. . . . . .


© Crooked Media 2022. All Rights Reserved. 
If you want to manage which emails you receive from Crooked Media, update your preferences here. If you prefer to opt out of all Crooked Media communications, you may unsubscribe.
Share this newsletter
7162 Beverly Blvd #212, Los Angeles, CA, 90036
Powered by Mailchimp
Twitter
Facebook
Link