Pence gets tense

As we celebrate the culture and contributions of Black Americans this month, we’re spotlighting those who are working to bridge racial divides and honor the experience of being Black in America. With a long career in healthcare management and public service, Jesse Thomas’ goal is to put his state of North Carolina on the pathway to being the healthiest state in the country within a generation, the best state in the country for workforce development by 2030, and the best state in the country for equal opportunity by 2030. “I'm a compassionate, common sense, and conservative citizen who is determined to be a part of the solution instead of the problem,” Thomas says. Now he’s serving as a state general assembly appointee and working to get the Forward Party off the ground in North Carolina. “I'm confident that along with me there is a wide middle ground between the two extremes. A middle ground of common sense, compassion, and desire to do the right thing; to work hard to support self, family, and neighbor, state and country; to be free, independent, and self reliant; to promote equality of access and opportunity for all, regardless of their zip code.” Bravo, Jesse Thomas. —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor

• U.S. jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast —Associated Press

• Biden, Lula to discuss Brazil's democracy and climate change during White House meeting —Axios

• Turkey and Syria earthquake: death toll rises to 22,765 as anger grows over Syria rescue response —The Guardian

• Musk’s SpaceX admits blocking Ukrainian troops from using satellite technology —CNN

• A second New Jersey Council member fatally shot this month —The Wall Street Journal

The Pence Files

It’s been a…complicated 24 hours for former Vice President Mike Pence. Last night came word that he was subpoenaed by Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating former Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election so that he could stay in office. The move by the Justice Department sets up a likely clash over executive privilege, which Trump has previously used to try to slow, delay, and block testimony from former administration officials in various investigations into his conduct.

• Why a subpoena? Pence’s team held discussions with the DOJ about a voluntary interview, but those talks reportedly reached an impasse, forcing Smith’s hand. It is not clear whether investigators will also seek to question Pence in the matter of Trump’s handling of classified material, or what he could have to share that would be relevant. —The New York Times

• Speaking of classified material… The FBI searched Pence’s home in Carmel, Indiana, today. Law enforcement had unrestricted access to search the property and were looking for documents bearing classified marking and materials that were not classified but protected by the Presidential Records Act.

• Mixed blessings. The FBI found one additional document with classified markings during the five-hour search. Pence himself was not present during the search, as he was traveling to visit his newborn grandchildren on the West Coast. A lawyer for the former vice president was present while the search was conducted. Stay tuned. —The Washington Post

Hsu & Thompson: The AI threat to democracy 

“Disinformation is difficult to wrangle when it’s created manually by humans. Researchers predict that generative technology could make disinformation cheaper and easier to produce for an even larger number of conspiracy theorists and spreaders of disinformation. Personalized, real-time chatbots could share conspiracy theories in increasingly credible and persuasive ways, researchers say, smoothing out human errors like poor syntax and mistranslations and advancing beyond easily discoverable copy-paste jobs. And they say that no available mitigation tactics can effectively combat it.” —Tiffany Hsu and Stuart Thompson in The New York Times

Tiffany Hsu and Stuart Thompson are technology reporters covering misinformation and disinformation.

MORE: Steve Bannon’s podcast is top misinformation spreader, study says —The New York Times

‘I don’t want a damn balloon going over the U.S.’

Visibly angry senators at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing yesterday grilled four Defense Department officials on the Pentagon’s response to the Chinese spy balloon. Officials defended the decision not to shoot down the balloon sooner, telling the panel it posed little immediate danger, and its primary value lay in what could be gleaned from its course and its debris. Separately in the Senate, the Foreign Relations Committee heard testimony from Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who said the spy balloon “put on full display what we’ve long recognized: that the [People’s Republic of China] has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad.” In the House, a resolution condemning “the Chinese Communist Party’s use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon” passed unanimously, 419-0. —CNBC

MORE: The U.S. must win the green technology race against China —Real Clear Energy

Evensen: GOP should give Santos the boot

“A lot of us were taught as children not to excuse our behavior by rationalizing that other people are doing it, too. It’s time for politicians and their fanatical adherents to stop arguing that the other side is just as bad. That’s hardly ennobling. Instead, it’s time for each party to police its own, and to restore some sense of integrity to a group that, collectively, has a 75% disapproval rating among Americans, according to the latest Gallup poll.” —Jay Evensen in Deseret News

Jay Evensen is the Deseret News’ senior editorial columnist.

MORE: Anna Paulina Luna rose to Congress on a compelling life story. It surprised some who knew her —The Washington Post

A new partisan weapon?

The new Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government launched its first hearing yesterday, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan. Republicans formed the committee to counter alleged abuse of power by the government to target conservatives. Democrats see the committee as the weapon itself, a vehicle for the GOP to forward conspiracy theories that will inflame its base. The hearing was convened to broadly explore politicization of the FBI and the Justice Department, but also offered a roadmap of potential topics the panel could cover, including investigations of Donald Trump and President Biden’s son Hunter Biden, alleged abuse of authority at the IRS, and complaints of media coverage and social media company actions. The White House response? Officials compared the new panel to former Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s campaign in the 1950s against suspected communists in the government. Ouch. —The Hill

MORE: House panel on 'weaponization' of the government's first hearing takes aim at DOJ, FBI —NPR

Anderson: Beating polarization 

“The national quest to transcend our culture and politics of polarization also has a lot to do with leveraging in the middle. Indeed, leveraging is the main social tool that can be used to address our polarization crisis. It is because leveraging is being used pervasively throughout our society and global politics, but it has yet to be targeted on our chief political problem. Polarization itself is about how the political parties push each other to extreme positions on the left and the right and fail to find the kind of middle ground that is needed to pass major legislation. If there is a mechanism that would facilitate finding that middle ground, then it needs to be employed.” —Dave Anderson in The Fulcrum

Dave Anderson edited "Leveraging: A Political, Economic, and Societal Framework" and has taught at five universities. He ran for a Maryland congressional seat in 2016.

MORE: Charlie Sykes: Gaslighting our politics —The xxxxxx

If George Santos had been elected from a solidly Republican district, Kevin McCarthy would have pushed for his expulsion from Day One, knowing any replacement Republican nominee would cruise to an easy victory. 

But Joe Biden carried that district by ten points, and voter anger over the whole Santos carnival would make a Democratic victory more likely. 

In the 1950s, the term "McCarthyism" entered the American vernacular as a synonym for cruelty. 

Perhaps now, the actions of the Speaker of the House will cause "McCarthyism" to assume a new definition: For cowardice, in the lust for power. —Jim V., New York 

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Renew America Foundation.