Crooked Media - What A Day: (Snow)den of thieves

- House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) promising safe heroin for all of America’s children.

Russia continues to be a powder keg of turmoil in both foreign policy and domestic policy, and the country’s chaos shows no signs of resolving. 
 

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken went on my favorite weekly news program and probable record-holder for most-pharmaceutical-ads-per-broadcast, 60 Minutes, to talk about the current state of U.S. foreign policy, and the Russia of it all. He said the United States, despite its continuing pledge to support Ukraine in defending itself and having “a plan” in place if Putin should do the unthinkable and deploy nuclear weapons, is determined that the war not expand beyond its current scope. During Blinken’s interview with everyone’s favorite hot dad, Scott Pelley, the news broke that a UN investigation found evidence of rape and torture of children, among other war crimes committed by Russia in areas it occupies in Ukraine. In response, Blinken vowed that justice will look “like accountability…for those who perpetrated these war crimes, these atrocities, and those who ordered them.” 
   

• Blinken also had no time for Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov’s assertion that claims of war crimes were false, saying, “Wherever the Russian tide recedes, what’s left in its wake is very clear evidence of war crimes and atrocities.” Lavrov said on Saturday that regions of Ukraine where sham referendums are still being held will be under the Kremlin’s “full protection” if they are annexed, raising the prospect of the use of nuclear weapons if Kyiv tries to retake those territories. Ukraine says many of the regions’ residents are being coerced into casting their ballots. The United Kingdom has imposed new sanctions on Russia over these undemocratic, sham referendums. 
   

• Domestically the country has been in a state of chaos as well. In an instance of extreme violence, a gunman opened fire in a school in central Russia today, killing 17 and wounding 24 others — including 22 children — before killing himself. According to Russia’s Investigative Committee, he was a 34-year-old man who was a graduate of the same school, which serves children grades one through 11, and was apparently wearing a black t-shirt bearing “Nazi symbols.”

As the war rages on and the real threat of nuclear deployment increases, Putin has continued stoking the flames of conflict both with the West and among his country’s citizens. 
 

• As we noted last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to call up over 300,000 reservists into active duty was met with widespread protests. In the latest and most violent escalation of that resistance, a young man shot a Russian military officer at close range today at an enlistment office. Russian men continue to flee the country by land or air, many of them choosing to travel through Istanbul, as Turkey remains one of the few places they can travel without visas. Flights from Russia to Turkey are sold out for the next several weeks, despite astronomical prices from high demand. One young man who flew from St. Petersburg, Russia, told NPR that his flight was completely full of men from ages 20 through 50. Russia’s hottest new club for men is…getting the hell out of Russia. 
   

• Today, in another act of thumbing his nose at the West, Putin granted Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden, the infamous former security consultant who leaked information about top-secret United States surveillance programs and is still wanted by the American government on espionage charges. Russia initially granted Snowden asylum in 2013 after he fled the U.S. to avoid prosecution. According to Snowden’s lawyer, he will not be subject to the partial military mobilization, as it currently only calls up men with previous military experience. Lucky guy! Sue Gordon, a former principal deputy director of national intelligence, said Snowden’s acceptance of Russian citizenship “takes away any illusion that what he was doing was to help America.”
   

The specter of nuclear war hangs heavily in the air, and with no one to keep President Putin in check (since that’s how autocracies work) there’s no telling what rash decision he may make next.

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The Federal Reserve is in hot water this week, and for good reason. As we’ve covered recently, Federal Reserve Chairman and Republican curmudgeon Jerome Powell has been making some controversial decisions lately in an effort to tamp down the rampant inflation we’ve seen since the pandemic began. But even other center-right money men like Wharton Business School professor Jeremy Siegel criticized Powell today, saying the central bank is raising interest rates far too aggressively and will hurt American workers in the process. Siegel went on CNBC and said he thinks “Chairman Powell should offer the American people an apology for such poor monetary policy that he has pursued, and the Fed has pursued, over the past few years.” Hope those two don’t run into each other at the Rich Guy Club this weekend! 

Siegel, like many economists and experts, said Powell should be more concerned about causing a recession than taking such drastic measures based on lagged inflation data. He went on to say that it’s wrong for Powell to so actively try to increase unemployment and lower wages “when that is not the cause of the inflation. The cause of the inflation was excessive monetary accommodation for the last two years.” Bill Clinton’s labor secretary Robert Reich seconded this with more specificity, saying that corporate greed, not wage increases, is to blame for staggering inflation. As Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said, “Recession is not the solution to inflation. Why doesn’t Chairman Powell seem to be concerned with record-setting corporate profits as a driver of inflation? Why is he only focusing on relatively small wage increases of the already-insolvent average American worker? And why won’t he respond to my many emails?

SiriusXM and ESPN have suspended former quarterback Brett Favre from their programming amid his involvement in the scandal which defrauded the state of Mississippi of millions in welfare money. 

The British pound hit an all-time low against the U.S. dollar today following the new government’s sweeping tax cuts meant to boost growth amidst the economic downturn. 

Protests against the clerical establishment continued in Tehran and other Iranian cities for the 10th consecutive day yesterday following the death of 22-year-old Masha Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police. At least 41 people have been killed in the protests. 

The Congressional Budget Office announced that president Biden’s student debt cancellation plan would cost $400 billion and a bunch of people freaked out, because the headline doesn’t include that amount is over 10 years. Let me try a better headline: “CBO Announces Biden Student Debt Cancellation Will Cost 5% of Yearly Pentagon Budget.” 

Hurricane Ian, now a Category 4, is expected to drop as much as 14 feet of storm surge on the western coast of Cuba tonight and tomorrow. 

Six weeks out from midterm elections, American voters are mostly split in the polls.

Alt-right darling and Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano is being heavily outspent by his Democratic opponent, airing no TV ads, attracting tiny crowds, and trailing in the polls. We have no choice but to stan a terrible Republican who is quiet quitting. 

The Los Angeles metro has rebounded to 70 percent of pre-pandemic ridership, with the New York City MTA ridership back to 60 percent of pre-pandemic levels. The NYC-LA rivalry lives to fight another day.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) “the most effective first-term senator” he’s seen in his time in the upper chamber while introducing her for a speech in which she gushed about her love for the filibuster. We have to agree with McConnell, Sinema is absolutely one of the most effective Republican senators in the Democratic caucus. Also apparently she dated Keith Olbermann???

If you’ve been following the news out of Italy — or more specifically, following the What In The World section of this newsletter — yesterday produced an election result we knew was coming. Georgia Meloni, leader of the neo-Nazi Brothers of Italy party, is set to become Italy’s first female prime minister, and the first far-right Italian head-of-state since Benito Mussolini. Mama mia! Neighnoring world leaders struck a circumspect tone in their reactions, many of them saying they would respect the “democratic choice” of Italian voters, with French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne saying her country would monitor abortion and human rights following Meloni’s win. Of course, France’s own fascist girlboss, Marine Le Pen, was quick to offer Meloni elated congratulations. The head of Germany’s current conservative opposition party was less cautious in his remarks, saying he was troubled by her “openly post-fascist statements,” and “hair-raising positions.” Meloni’s success is just the latest in far-right, virulently anti-immigration political movements sweeping Europe. But Italian nationals seem alarmingly unconcerned about the neo-fascist roots underpinning the Brothers of Italy, having, unlike Germany, turned somewhat of a blind eye to their fascist history that began when Mussolini marched on Rome a century ago.

Crooked x Cariuma: Double the brands, double the impact.

A limited-edition collab with our favorite shoe brand is here.

You know we’re all about voting: doing it, registering people to do it, and of course giving a portion of the proceeds from the Crooked Store to VoteRiders to help inform citizens of their state’s voter ID requirements and secure them the documents they may need to vote. 
 

Why not add wearing shoes that support voting to that list?
 

Just in time for canvassing season, we’re excited to announce that Crooked and Cariuma have collaborated to launch our own co-branded OCA low-tops, in two designs that we think you’ll really love.

Choose from a clean white sneaker with the words “No Steps Back,” or our patented “I voted” sticker print. They’re both perfect for peaceful protests, voter registration drives, and/or grabbing bagels (heroes have to eat, too).

These shoes don’t just support VoteRiders (and your arches). Like all Cariuma shoes, they’re ethically and sustainably made from organic cotton canvas, natural rubber, cork, and recycled plastics, and your pair plants two trees in the Brazilian rainforest through Cariuma’s in-house Ecological Restoration program.

Be sure to snag your pair now before they sell out!

President Biden announced a new initiative today that will eventually allow customers to see a more accurate price of airline tickets — including baggage and associated fees — before they buy. Spirit Airlines: your reign of terror ends today!

New Yorkers who have been punished for marijuana offenses are at the head of the line to open the state’s first legal retail cannabis dispensaries. 

Cubans approved a measure to legalize same-sex marriage in the country by a large margin as part of a new progressive family legislation package. The legislation will also allow gay couples to adopt, and increase the rights of women, children, and the elderly.