Extra, Extra
Hobnob with the Mob: “These pay increases and other benefits often came at delicate moments in the legal proceedings against Trump. One aide who was given a plum position on the board of Trump’s social media company, for example, got the seat after he was subpoenaed but before he testified.” ProPublica: Multiple Trump Witnesses Have Received Significant Financial Benefits From His Businesses, Campaign. The criminality is just one of many reasons that America’s European allies are deeply worried about a potential second term for Trump. McKay Coppins in The Atlantic (Gift Article): What Europe Fears. “Fear of losing Europe’s most powerful ally has translated into a pathologically intense fixation on the U.S. presidential race. European officials can explain the Electoral College in granular detail and cite polling data from battleground states. Thomas Bagger, the state secretary in the German foreign ministry, told me that in a year when billions of people in dozens of countries around the world will get the chance to vote, ‘the only election all Europeans are interested in is the American election.’ Almost every official I spoke with believed that Trump is going to win.”
+ Hunter Blatherer: Meanwhile, a sizable portion of American media will be fixated on the Hunter Biden case over the next few days/weeks. “It was Hallie Biden who found the gun and threw it into a dumpster outside a Wilmington market less than two weeks after Hunter purchased the weapon. The gun was later found by a man collecting recyclables, who alerted law enforcement.”
+ Saturation of Church and State: WaPo (Gift Article): “Billions in taxpayer dollars are being used to pay tuition at religious schools throughout the country, as state voucher programs expand dramatically and the line separating public education and religion fades.” (The religious war underpins many other political stories in America.)
+ More Hostages Pronounced Dead: “The Israeli military on Monday confirmed the deaths of four more hostages held by Hamas — including three older men seen in a Hamas video begging for their release. The three men, Amiram Cooper, Yoram Metzger and Haim Peri, were all age 80 or older.” Israel says 4 more hostages found dead in Gaza.
+ Pride Applied: “The U.S. has not seen any negative effects on marriage, divorce or living arrangements among all couples since Massachusetts issued the first state-sanctioned, same-sex marriage licenses 20 years ago.”
+ Insulinsanity: “At times involved in lockstep collusion schemes, and at others, in transparent attempts to copy one another’s products, the Big Three have thrived in no small part because of obsequious regulations, loopholes in intellectual property law, and an odious health care system, pushing a miracle drug out of reach for millions of people who need it.” The Insulin Empire: How profiteers pushed a lifesaving drug out of reach.
+ Kansas, We’re Not in Kansas Anymore: Kansas Constitution does not include a right to vote, state Supreme Court majority says.
+ Gutter Haul: Private equity has spared no expense when it comes to striking its latest target. Bowling.
