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House Democrats unveil legislation to curtail presidential power

Mychael Schnell
The Hill
Tue, 21 Sep 2021 11:02 UTC
Pelosi
© Drew Angerer/Getty Images
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled legislation that aims to curtail presidential power and protect against abuse of power by future presidents, in an apparent rebuke of President Trump's time in the White House.

The bill, dubbed the Protecting Our Democracy Act, includes a number of tenets to prevent presidential abuses, restore checks and balances, strengthen accountability and transparency and protect elections.

It is sponsored by nine House Democrats — all of whom chair committees — and is supported by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). It also includes legislation offered by a number of other Democratic lawmakers.

The group mentioned the Trump administration in its description of the bill on its website, writing that some "aggrandizement" of presidential power "reached new heights" under the former president. The bill's website reads:
"The proposals respond to longstanding vulnerabilities in our democracy that have allowed for the aggrandizement of presidential power, many of which have been exploited over decades by presidents of both parties, and some of which reached new heights through the actions of the Trump administration. PODA responds to these abuses as lessons from which both parties must learn."

Comment: Rep. Adam Schiff and other Dems reveal their new legislation, however, a nonstop rant on Trump overshadows every aspect of the bill, aimed to deflect the current presidential fiasco in office.


Washington Post had previously outlined some of the bill's aspects:
Schiff, Nadler and Lofgren are co-authors of the bill, along with Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), Budget Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), and Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.).

The bill gives the independent Office of Special Counsel express authority to investigate suspected violations of the Hatch Act, and issue fines of up to $50,000 for every violation that the president fails to discipline himself.

The package mirrors several measures to better regulate the relationship between the White House and Justice Department, which Democrats believe has been too cozy under the leadership of Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr. It reflects a proposal from Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) requiring the attorney general to keep a log of certain communications with the White House and periodically share it with the DOJ inspector general and Congress, and a bill from Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) exempting the time a president or vice president spends in office from the statute of limitations for any federal crime. Nadler's measure seeks to ensure that the Justice Department's policy against indicting sitting presidents does not become a means for avoiding prosecution entirely.

The measure also includes several provisions to limit the president's ability to interfere with congressional appropriations, by putting a time limit on emergency declarations and prohibiting the president from holding back congressionally-approved funding any later than 90 days before it expires — a change that aims to close a loophole the administration has used to effectively cancel unspent funds, particularly foreign aid, near the end of the fiscal year.


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Stop

Democrats want mandate to stop banks from funding oil and gas after 2030

Charles Kennedy
Oilprice.com
Fri, 17 Sep 2021 11:30 UTC
Oil wells/cash
© zhengzaishuru/iStock
Ban funding fossil fuel projects
Several progressive House Democrats introduced this week a bill seeking to mandate the Fed to ban banks from funding all fossil fuel projects after 2030, and require the systemically important large banks to align emissions financing with U.S obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement.

Congressman Mondaire Jones (D-NY), Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) introduced the so-called Fossil Free Finance Act, which would require the Federal Reserve to mandate that all bank holding companies with more than $50 billion in assets and all nonbank Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs) align their financing of greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation risk commodities with science-based emissions targets.

The bill requires the Fed to mandate large banks to commit to 50 percent reduction in financed emissions by 2030 and 100-percent reduction in financed emissions by 2050. The Fed mandate, as per the bill, would also ban the financing of all fossil fuel projects after 2030 and prohibit thermal coal financing after 2024.

Comment: The assessment that this bill is dead on arrival is a good one - not only due to the unrealistic defunding of fossil fuel procurement but also its maze of regulatory protocols that ensure a financial overlord manages the 'environmental' shut-down mechanism over the 21st century as leverage replaces choice. Take a look.

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Syringe

US panel backs COVID-19 boosters only for seniors, high risk

Matthew Perrone, Lauran Neergaard
AP News
Fri, 17 Sep 2021 00:00 UTC
Pfizer
© Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine
Dealing the White House a stinging setback, a government advisory panel overwhelmingly rejected a plan Friday to give Pfizer COVID-19 booster shots across the board, and instead endorsed the extra vaccine dose only for those who are 65 or older or run a high risk of severe disease.

The twin votes represented a heavy blow to the Biden administration's sweeping effort, announced a month ago, to shore up nearly all Americans' protection amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.

The nonbinding recommendation — from an influential committee of outside experts who advise the Food and Drug Administration — is not the last word. The FDA will consider the group's advice and make its own decision, probably within days. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to weigh in next week.

In a surprising turn, the advisory panel rejected, 16-2, boosters for almost everyone. Members cited a lack of safety data on extra doses and also raised doubts about the value of mass boosters, rather than ones targeted to specific groups.

Then, in an 18-0 vote, it endorsed extra shots for people 65 and older and those at risk of serious disease. Panel members also agreed that health workers and others who run a high risk of being exposed to the virus on the job should get boosters, too.

That would help salvage part of the White House's campaign but would still be a huge step back from the far-reaching proposal to offer third shots of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to Americans eight months after they get their second dose.

The White House sought to frame the action as progress.


Comment: See also:


Comment: High risk? That would be taking the shot.

See also:

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Target

'Hotel Rwanda hero' Paul Rusesabagina convicted of terror charges


South China Morning Post
Mon, 20 Sep 2021 08:09 UTC
Rusesabagina
© AFP
Paul Rusesabagina
Paul Rusesabagina, the "Hotel Rwanda" hero who became a fierce government critic, was found guilty on Monday on terror charges after what his supporters say was a politically motivated show trial.

He was convicted of backing a rebel group blamed for deadly gun, grenade and arson attacks in Rwanda in 2018 and 2019.

"He founded a terrorist organisation that attacked Rwanda, he financially contributed to terrorist activities," Justice Beatrice Mukamurenzi said at the end of a seven-month trial.

Rwandan prosecutors have sought a life sentence for Rusesabagina, the 67-year-old former hotelier credited with saving hundreds of lives during the 1994 genocide, and whose actions inspired the Hollywood film.

Neither he nor his lawyers were in court for the verdict, although the 20 other defendants in the case attended.

Rusesabagina, who used his fame to denounce Rwandan leader Paul Kagame as a dictator, was arrested in August 2020 when a plane he believed was bound for Burundi landed instead in the Rwandan capital Kigali.

His family say Rusesabagina was kidnapped and had rejected the nine charges against him as payback by a vengeful government for his outspoken views.

Comment: Hero to Zero: No good deed goes unpunished. It is an upside-down world.

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Light Sabers

US Space Force Commander claims Russia has armed satellite in orbit capable of destroying US military assets


Sputnik
Tue, 21 Sep 2021 19:09 UTC
satellite
© CC BY-SA 4.0 / José Furtado
Russia already has deployed in low-earth orbit a "nesting doll" satellite armed with a weapon that can destroy US satellites vital for communications, command and control and precision targeting, Space Force Commander General John Raymond said on Tuesday.

"Russia has a nesting doll satellite [in orbit] to destroy US satellites, armed with a weapon to destroy US satellites," Raymond told the Air Force Association (AFA) Air Space Cyber Conference at National Harbor in the US state of Maryland. "It denies our ability to leverage space as a force multiplier."

Raymond claimed the satellite is designed like a Russian "nesting doll," with an outer casing that opens up to reveal an inner satellite shell and that shell also opens to reveal a weapon that can fire at and destroy US orbiting satellites from a safe distance

Comment: That the announcement has been made means that it's likely that a group, if not a number of groups, including the US, and Russia, have a satellite in orbit with these capabilities. The suggestion that Russia would use a weapon like this to neutralize aggressive maneuvers seems to be congruent with Russian defense policy and capabilities, but it's the US that has the track record of endless crimes of aggression.

This announcement has more credence because in January 2019 the Russian ministry announced that the US had returned to its 'Star Wars' missile defense plans, and then in April it warned that the US might 'preemptively' strike Russia and China with its space weapons; then in November 2019 there was a rather suspect blast at a Russian facility that killed at least seven people. Putin had this to say at the time about the top secret project working on a weapon 'unequaled in the world':
"We're talking about the most advanced and cutting-edge technical ideas and solutions, unequaled anywhere in the world; the weapon that is entitled to ensure sovereignty, security of Russia for decades to come."
The possession of such technology by Russia is "the most important, reliable guarantee of peace on the planet. And, no matter what, we'll certainly keep improving this weaponry," the president promised.
Days later Russia announced it had launched an "inspection" satellite into orbit, and by July 2020 the US was accusing Russia of testing an anti-satellite weapon in space: Watch Russian military put another top secret "inspection" satellite into orbit

See also:

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Bad Guys

What did he know and when? Biden's National Security advisor implicated in Alfa Bank Russiagate scam

Kit Klarenberg
RT
Tue, 21 Sep 2021 18:28 UTC
alfa bank michael sussmann trump scandal
© AFP / Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV; (R) Jake Sullivan. AFP / Drew Angerer
(L) Alfa Bank; (R) Michael Sussmann
The indictment of lawyer Michael Sussmann promises to shed more light on what really went on during Russiagate. And it also raises questions about the possible involvement of Jake Sullivan - now National Security Advisor.

On September 16, Special Counsel John Durham charged Sussmann, a partner at Perkins Coie, the law firm which represented the Democrats and Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, with making false statements to the FBI over the course of its Trump-Russia probe.

Sussmann met with counsel James Baker in September 2016, and claimed the Trump Organization had used a secret server of Russia's Alfa Bank as a communications channel with the Kremlin. What he didn't mention, according to the indictment, was that he was conducting "opposition research" on Trump, and "coordinating" with the Clinton campaign to present that information to the FBI and mainstream media. In fact, the indictment suggests Sussmann lied, stating he said outright he wasn't conducting work "for any client."

Comment:

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Eye 2

If Australia's brutal response to lockdown protests was happening anywhere else, hypocritical Canberra would be demanding sanctions

Damian Wilson
RT
Tue, 21 Sep 2021 17:49 UTC
melbourne protest lockdown forced vaccine police
© AFP / William WEST
Police tackle protesters in Melbourne during an anti-lockdown rally.
The world is watching in horror as Covid chaos unfolds on the streets Down Under, with heavy-handed elite police piling in on lockdown protestors using an arsenal of weapons that would be the envy of any authoritarian regime.

The online images are all too familiar: helmeted and masked police in body armour with batons held high, clubbing protestors lying on the ground as incapacitating pepper smoke burns their eyes and chokes their breath.

Meanwhile, mobs of rowdy protestors take over city streets, blocking traffic and disrupting the working week as they throw projectiles at 'whoop-whooping' police cars. Mayhem reigns.

Comment: Canberra has awakened a sleeping giant.







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Target

Havana Syndrome, Directed Energy Weapons, and the New Cold War

Alan Macleod
MintPress News
Mon, 20 Sep 2021 00:00 UTC
US Navy personnel operate a Directed Energy Weapon
© DVIDS
US Navy personnel operate a Directed Energy Weapon aboard the USS Ponce during an operational demonstration in the Persian Gulf in 2014.
While the jury is still out on who committed the attacks against U.S. officials, or even whether there were any attacks at all, directed energy weapons certainly do exist. Havana Syndrome might be science fiction, but directed energy weapons are very much science fact.

It started in 2016. U.S. officials in Havana, Cuba, began complaining en masse about hearing strange noises, suffering recurring headaches, nausea, hearing and memory loss. From there it spread around the world, with hundreds of U.S. spies and diplomats in the United Kingdom, Colombia, China, Uzbekistan, Germany, Austria, and in Washington itself reporting similar symptoms. Very little about the cases — even the identities of those involved — can be verified. Nevertheless, the story has become a media sensation, appearing on front pages the world over, with journalists speculating that futuristic microwave weapons are the culprit, likely wielded by devious Russian spies. While the scientific and medical community have cautioned not to jump to conclusions, underlining a number of key flaws in the narrative, the existence of directed energy weapons (DEWs), as they are known, is beyond doubt.

Our men in Havana

Tensions with Cuba are high, the island being the home to many cloak-and-dagger plots both by and against the Cuban government, ever since the revolution of 1959, which marked the Caribbean nation as an enemy of Washington. Officials affected typically report hearing a grating sound coming from a particular direction and experiencing pressure in their heads. Those nearby were not affected. The Cuban government's vehement denials, as well as their openness in helping the U.S. with their investigations, shifted suspicion away from them in Washington's eyes, the chief culprit assumed by many to be Vladimir Putin's Russia, although little public evidence of this exists.
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Road Cone

The Fed's liquidity problem and when the levee breaks...

Harris Kupperman
Adventures In Capitalism
Mon, 20 Sep 2021 00:00 UTC
Powell
If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break
If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break
When the levee breaks, I'll have no place to stay.

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan, Lord
Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan
It's got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home
Oh well, oh well, oh well

Don't it make you feel bad
When you're tryin' to find your way home
You don't know which way to go?
If you're goin' down south
They got no work to do
If you're going down to Chicago.

A-ah, a-ah, a-ah.

Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good
No, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move, ooh.

Led Zeppelin
To a man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. To the Federal Reserve, every problem is met with more liquidity. Unfortunately, the Fed has very little control of where this liquidity goes. First, it went into equity markets, fueling an outright equity bubble. Then it overflowed into PE and VC, creating bubblicious demons there as well. Then it overflowed into meme stonks and shit-coins. Not content with the damage they wrought on the financial economy, the liquidity began overflowing into the real economy. There's currently an epic housing bubble, leading to increasing wealth inequality and polarization.

Now, this liquidity is overflowing into the everyday economy — assuming you can even find the item you seek. In the past, only hard money weirdos complained about the gradual creep of inflation — now everyone feels it and has their own story. Everyone is painfully aware that inflation is present and is likely to stay.
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Eye 1

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: The Global Rationing Plan 2022


Adapt 2030
Tue, 21 Sep 2021 11:08 UTC
ration

The DoConomy Card issued by Mastercard teaming with the U.N will monitor and cut off spending when you hit your carbon max allotment. You can of course buy more carbon credits on the international carbon trading market. This is happening as food nearing 60 year highs and the supply chain from the farmgate to supermarkets is shattered. Meat and poultry price soar as the blame game continues to keep you distracted as the carbon cut off is implemented.


Sources
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