🕺💃h/t @smp0312
Mar 16, 2021 recap <thread>: 1/ "Under Biden, the [White House] National Security Council has established a Democracy and Human Rights directorate which has battling corruption as a key mission; that division has hired Chandana Ravindranath... (con't)
2/ ...as a director whose sole focus is anti-corruption. The administration also has been considering naming a State Department-based special envoy to rally global attention to the topic, activists familiar with the issue said. (con't)
3/ ...Biden has pledged to host an international 'Summit for Democracy' in the coming months, and the need to fight corruption is expected to be a major theme during that gathering. Alongside the summit, Biden is expected to issue a presidential policy directive... (con't)
@CatsChocolates@100FrogLegs@carrybeyond@clearing_fog@satirehat 2/ ...aimed at overturning the election results to stay in power. While racketeering is typically pursued by prosecutors in cases involving such crimes as murder, kidnapping, and bribery, the Georgia statute defines racketeering more broadly to include false statements... (con't)
@CatsChocolates@100FrogLegs@carrybeyond@clearing_fog@satirehat 3/ ...made to state officials."
"Racketeering, a felony in GA, can carry stiff penalties including up to 20 years in prison and a hefty fine. 'There are not a lot of people who avoid serving prison time on a racketeering offense,' said [Cathy] Cox [dean of Mercer University’s...
1/ Salon suggests that Cruz may have used Reagan Investments LLC (the one in Missouri, which @ultralite001 nailed) as a pass-through to buy his doorstop... er book to pocket royalties. But this caught my eye:
Cruz' leadership PAC, Jobs, Freedom and Security PAC... (con't)
2/ "reported that it 👉paid $615,000 to the Republican fundraising platform WinRed for credit card processing fees🧐 on Jan. 12, a week after the Reagan Investments advertising payout, after having paid WinRed only a few thousand dollars for all of 2020. (con't) @ThomasS4217
3/ ...The [Jobs, Freedom and Security leadership] PAC's receipts total 👉more than $758,000 in January alone, about 50% more than it raised from 2019 to 2020 combined🧐."
"If Reagan Investments is a means for Cruz to collect publishing royalties... (con't)
2/ My interpretation of WSJ article⤵️ is different, though.
The property Shane Smith offered to buy with "a blank check" was "Locusts-on-Hudson, a 76-acre estate just outside Rhinebeck where he and his wife got married in 2009," not Santa Monica.
Thread⤵️:
3/ Apparently Balazs dated Katherine Keating, daughter of former Australia Prime Minister (1991-96) Paul Keating. @mopeng see thread⤵️h/t @CatsChocolates. (more...)
2/ Feb 19, 2021:
"It is the first time that a commercial vessel sails across the Northern Sea Route in February. The voyage of the Christophe de Margerie from Jiangsu🇨🇳 in China to the remote Arctic terminal of Sabetta🇷🇺... (con't) @DemopJ thebarentsobserver.com/en/2021/02/arc…
3/ ...was made in the Arctic winter dark & through thick sea-ice. Glimpses of the voyage are now put on display by shipping company Sovcomflot🇷🇺 and its partner Rosatom🇷🇺. As previously reported by the Barents Observer, the 299 meter long LNG carrier operated by Sovcomflot🇷🇺...
Feb 20, 2021: @CatsChocolates@clearing_fog@TeresaCCarter2 1/ Merrick Garland's opening statement prepared for confirmation hearing on Monday [Feb 22] before the Senate Judiciary Cmte:
'If confirmed, I will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others... (con't)
2/ ...who stormed the Capitol on January 6 -- a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government.” (more...)
3/ "Garland also said in the testimony that the department’s civil rights mission is 'urgent because we do not yet have equal justice.' 'Communities of color and other minorities still face discrimination in housing, education, employment, and the criminal justice system; (con't)