- Ultraconservative dweeb Ben Shapiro, still reeling from a Cardi B. song a full two years after it was released.
|
|
|
In an exciting turn of events, we have now entered the concealed-and-destroyed evidence phase of the January 6 investigation!
- According to a newly-unearthed government report, DHS’s current inspector general, Joseph Cuffari, misled investigators from the Justice Department’s office of inspector general a decade ago. Those DOJ investigators said they did “not believe” Cuffari's explanation for why he failed to inform his supervisors about his testimony in a lawsuit brought by a federal prisoner. That’s against the rules, my guy! As we’ve reported, Cuffari also knew back in February that the Secret Service had deleted possibly incriminating text messages, but did not alert Congress in a timely manner, nor did he attempt to form a coordinated effort to retrieve the texts. A pattern emerges, but I can’t quite put my finger on it…
- Cuffari broke multiple ethics statutes during that old lawsuit and also used his government email to lobby for a position as IG for the Arizona National Guard, among many other ethics violations. When disgraced former president Trump nominated him to be the DHS Inspector General in 2019, Cuffari stated he had been totally truthful to investigators in their probe and senators in neither party pressed him for details, so he sailed along to confirmation. Hate to editorialize, but it seems pretty weird (!) that one of the most important oversight positions in the entire American government wasn’t more thoroughly vetted.
- Moving on now to our frenemies at the Pentagon, remember how we told you the other day about the oversight report alleging that they wiped the phones of top parting DOD and Army officials at the end of the Trump administration? And that any and all records of text messages from key witnesses to events surrounding the January 6 attacks in those departments were erased? Well, DOD and the Army have now confirmed that yes, they did that. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin has now called for an investigation into the *mysterious* disappearance of this critical information. Again we humbly ask: Merrick Garland, u up?
|
|
|
Things are also getting spicy as a result of the Alex Jones defamation trial (cue the Benny Hill theme), as he is of particular interest to the January 6 committee as well.
- Serious question: Do Alex Jones’s lawyers hate him as much as we do? After yesterday’s bonkers revelation that his legal counsel “accidentally” forwarded all of his cell phone records and emails from the last two years to the Sandy Hook Families’ defense team, federal and state investigators, including the House January 6 Committee scrambled to get their hands on the material. The attorney representing Sandy Hook parents in Jones’s defamation case confirmed that he is under request from federal agencies and law enforcement to hand over this hidden bounty, and intends to do just that. Furthermore, he went on to blister Jones’s attorney Andino Reynal saying, “there is absolutely nothing, nothing, that Mr. Reynal has done to fulfill his obligations to protect his client and prevent me from doing that.”
- Jones was a central player at the January 6 insurrection: not only has he built his career on spreading the kind of frothing conspiracy theories that led so many to the Capitol that day, he was physically present at the rally before the riot, though he did not breach the building. He testified before the January 6 committee earlier this year, but pleaded the Fifth repeatedly during the interview. Jones is such a bumbling idiot that it’s easy to write him off entirely, but his ideology and brand of conspiratorial dishonesty is mainstream in this iteration of the GOP. Consider that today in Dallas, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) feted Viktor Orban, the white-nationalist prime minister of Hungary who has fully embraced conspiracy theories, and railed against Europe becoming “mixed race.” The right’s fondness for both Jones and Orban stem from the same rotten seed.
It’s no coincidence the Republicans’ involvement in, and effort to cover up, an attempted coup coincides with their embrace of neo-Nazi leaders in Europe. It’s essential they be defeated, both for what they stand for now, and where they’re promising to take us tomorrow.
|
|
|
Kansas is one of the first states to vote on reproductive freedom following the decision to overturn Roe v Wade back in June. Ashley All, a spokesperson for Kansas and the Push for abortion there, joined What a Day this week to talk about what the fight for reproductive justice looks like in Kansas, as we head closer to the midterm elections.
You can listen to this episode of What a Day and new episodes every Monday through Friday wherever you get your podcasts.
|
|
|
(Content warning: discussion of sexual assault of children.) In 2017, an Arizona man named Paul Douglas Adams was finally arrested by Homeland Security agents after years of raping his two daughters who were young children, frequently recording the abuse on video and posting it on the internet. Adams was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon church, and at least seven years before he was apprehended by authorities, he confessed to his bishop that he had been sexually abusing his daughter who was then just five years old. The bishop followed church policy and called what church officials refer to as the “help line” for guidance. Lawyers for the church who staff the help line told the bishop not to call the police or child welfare. He didn’t, despite his professional occupation as a family physician. The bishop who counseled Adams was told by church officials on the help line that clergy-penitent privilege required him by law to keep the monstrous abuse a secret, which was plainly a lie. Arizona, like many other states, requires clergy, physicians, nurses, anyone who reasonably believes a child has been abused, to report the abuse. A similar case unfolded in West Virginia, where the son of a prominent Mormon family was given cover by the church even after he had been convicted on child sex abuse charges in Utah. Craig Vernon, an Idaho attorney who has filed several sex abuse lawsuits against the church, said, “The help line is certainly there to help — to help the church keep its secrets and to cover up abuse.”
|
|
|
- The Justice Department announced charges against four current and former Louisville, KY, police officers in connection with the death of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot two years ago during a botched police raid.
- The Biden administration has declared monkeypox a public-health emergency as the virus continues to spread across the United States and cases surge in hotspot areas.
- Firefighters in California finally seem to be getting a hold of the state’s deadliest and most destructive fire of the year so far.
- The NFL is seeking an indefinite suspension of at least one year and a fine, appealing a disciplinary officer’s decision to suspend Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson for only six games, after two-dozen female massage therapists in Texas accused him of sexual misconduct when he played for the Houston Texans.
- Millions of Americans in the Western part of the country are at risk of reduced access to water and power as two of the nation’s largest reservoirs reach their lowest-ever levels and inch closer to “dead pool status.”
- Since the Supreme Court’s heinous recent decision to expand gun rights, state officials have had an increasingly difficult time enforcing most gun-control laws, which are now in major legal jeopardy.
- China conducted missile strikes today in the waters off Taiwan’s coast as part of tension-raising military exercises that began following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit.
- Former Gov. Wanda Vázquez (R-PR) was arrested today on bribery charges related to the financing of her 2020 campaign, the first time a former leader on the island will face federal charges.
- A fire in Harlem, NY, caused by a spark from the battery on an electric scooter, killed a 36 year-old woman and a 5-year-old girl yesterday. The girl’s father is in critical condition.
- The Bank of England raised its primary interest rate by half a percentage point today, the largest rate increase since 1995, projecting the U.K. would be in a recession before the end of the year.
- After a major EPA investigation into barrels of DDT waste (an extremely powerful and poisonous pesticide) near Catalina Island in California, it appears that most of the waste had been poured directly into the ocean, and had not just leaked out as previously thought.
- Governors in red states like Texas and Arizona are busing undocumented migrants to the East Coast, particularly Washington, DC, in an effort to rid their states of undocumented workers and burnish their reputations as exceptionally cruel trolls.
- Rental prices across the U.S. are surging in almost 400 cities. The average price for a one-bedroom apartment increased more than 25 percent. Good thing the government hasn’t raised the minimum wage in 13 years!
|
|
|
Punctuating a horrifying ordeal that has garnered worldwide attention, a Russian judge has sentenced American basketball star Brittney Griner to nine and a half years in a penal colony after they ruled her guilty of bringing illegal drugs into the country with criminal intent. The verdict was expected, as defendants are rarely acquitted in the Russian legal system. Griner’s fate now rests in the hands of diplomatic relations between the United States and Russia. In a statement following the verdict, president Biden said, “My administration will continue to work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as possible.” As we’ve previously reported, Paul Whelan is an American teacher whose case mirror’s Griner’s. The Biden Administration reportedly continues weighing a prisoner exchange to get Griner and Whelan home, but nothing has been put in motion thus far. Elizabeth Rood, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, attended Griner’s hearings and called the result “a miscarriage of justice.”
|
|
|
With so many stressors in life (jobs, pandemics, Joe Manchin, etc), it can be difficult to maintain effective nutritional habits and give your body the nutrients it needs to thrive. Figuring out what to take to support your diet can be confusing and overwhelming. That’s where Athletic Greens comes in.
It's the go-to nutritional product for people who want to take just one thing - made from all the best things. It's a comprehensive all-in-one that replaces a whole shelf's-worth of products and covers so many areas of health.
ONE tasty scoop of Athletic Greens contains 75 bioavailable vitamins, minerals and whole food-sourced ingredients, including a multivitamin, multimineral, probiotic, greens superfood blend and more, that all work together to fill the nutritional gaps in your diet, increase energy and focus, aid with digestion and support a healthy immune system, all without you having to juggle multiple products.
The ingredients are intentionally selected, high quality, and constantly updated to make sure you're receiving the best formula each and every time. They've done 52 iterations to date over the last decade, and iterations 53 and 54 are in the pipeline. Think of it like a software update.
Try Athletic Greens and see why it's the trusted daily routine of hundreds of thousands of health conscious go-getters, world champions, health experts, athletes, and Crooked Media podcast hosts!
What A Day readers will receive a one year supply of immune supporting Vitamin D + 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase! It's the perfect way to ensure you’re getting key nutrients on a daily basis to support your immune system, energy, gut health and recovery. Get started today →
|
|
|
|
|
