Russian lawmakers consider bill to seize property of Ukraine war critics
The bill would allow the state to seize property from Russians who might have left the country and criticised the war in Ukraine. Russia’s parliament has begun considering a bill that would give the state the power to seize the property of those convicted of defamation of the security forces. “The State Duma has introduced amendments to the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes on the confiscation of property for public calls for activities directed against the security of the state, for discrediting the army and a number of other articles,” a statement by the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said on Monday. The statement said multiple officials, including Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the State Duma, co-authored the bill. The bill would allow the state to seize property from Russians who might have left the country and have criticised the war in Ukraine but still rely on revenue from renting out their houses or apartments in Russia. Since the beginning of the war in February 2022, criticising what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine has effectively become a crime. Still, the new bill aims to make penalties harsher. Volodin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has called the new bill “the scoundrel law”. Vyacheslav Volodin speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament [File: State Duma via AP] “Everyone who tries to destroy Russia, betrays it, must suffer the deserved punishment and compensate for the damage inflicted on the country at the cost of their property,” Volodin said. He added that under the law, those found guilty of “discrediting” the army also face being stripped of honorary titles. The existing law against “discrediting” the Russian military, which covers offences such as “justifying terrorism” and spreading “fake news” about the army, is regularly used to target Putin’s critics. Multiple activists, bloggers and other Russians have received lengthy jail terms due to the law. Last month, Russian state media reported that one of the country’s best-selling novelists, Boris Akunin, had been charged under the law and added to a register of “extremists and terrorists”. Another famous writer, Dmitry Glukhovsky, was given an eight-year sentence in absentia after a Moscow court found him guilty of spreading false information about the army in August. Adblock test (Why?)
No safe places left to go in Gaza, Palestinians say
NewsFeed A surgeon in Gaza says his family couldn’t find space to stay in Rafah, so they’re sheltering at his hospital, as Israel’s new offensive on Khan Younis has forced thousands of displaced people into Gaza’s southernmost city. Published On 22 Jan 202422 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Earthquake tremors felt in Delhi-NCR including Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad
Delhi Earthquake: The location of the epicentre is the southern part of China’s Xinjiang.
Dexter Scott King, son of Martin Luther King Jr., dead at 62
Dexter Scott King, the youngest son of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, has died, the King Center announced Monday. King, 62, died after a “valiant battle with prostate cancer,” the King Center said. Leah Weber King, King’s wife of 11 years, said in a written statement that her husband “transitioned peacefully” in his sleep at their home in California. “He gave it everything and battled this terrible disease until the end,” Weber King said. “As with all the challenges in his life, he faced this hurdle with bravery and might.” CHRISTINE KING FARRIS, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST AND SISTER OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., DIES AT 95 King was born in Atlanta in 1961. He was named after Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where his father served his first pastorate. He was just seven years old when his father was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. 10 INTERESTING FACTS YOU MAY NOT KNOW BAOUT MARTIN LUTERH KING JR. King followed in his father’s footsteps and attended Morehouse College in Atlanta. While a love of the arts led him to move to California to pursue an acting career, he ultimately devoted himself to legally protecting his father’s legacy and intellectual property surrounding the King family’s work. He served as chairman of the King Center at the time of his death. King is survived by his wife, his sister Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King and his brother Martin Luther King III. He was preceded by his mother, who died in 2006, and his sister Yolanda, who died in 2007.
GOP AGs asks Supreme Court to peel back content moderation from Big Tech in landmark First Amendment case
FIRST ON FOX – A group of 20 Republican states are weighing in on a Supreme Court legal battle that could sharply alter the landscape of Big Tech’s content moderation. Next month, the high court will hear a set of cases that question whether state laws that limit Big Tech companies’ ability to moderate content on their platforms curbs the companies’ First Amendment liberties. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey – one of the Republican AGs leading the lawsuit against the Biden administration, alleging it engaged in a “vast censorship enterprise” – on Monday filed an amicus brief along with 19 of his colleagues in the cases, asking the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the laws meant to limit internet platform’s ability to moderate content. “If the Supreme Court lets social media companies silence speech, it will set a devastating anti-free speech precedent at a time when the First Amendment is under widespread attack,” Bailey told Fox News digital on Monday. JAN 6 RIOTERS, ABORTION, GUN RIGHTS: A LOOK AHEAD AT LANDMARK CASES SCOTUS WILL HEAR IN 2024 Separate laws that passed in Florida and Texas and are now challenged in court would require large Big Tech companies like X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook to host third-party communications but prevent those businesses from blocking or removing users’ posts based on political viewpoints. A federal appeals court had ruled for the tech industry in the Florida case, saying as private entities, those companies were “engaged in constitutionally protected expressive activity when they moderate and curate the content that they disseminate on their platforms.” But the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of a similar law in Texas, creating a circuit split on the issue ripe for the nine justices to take up. The attorneys general argue in the friend-of-the-court brief that government giving Big Tech the ability to moderate or censor users’ content would be like giving cable or telephone companies permission to cut phone lines on speech at their discretion. The AGs note that under federal “must-carry requirements,” those companies are banned from subjugating any speech on their lines. NYC PROFS SEE SUPREME COURT AS ‘ONLY HOPE’ IN FIGHT WITH ‘ANTISEMITIC’ TEACHERS UNION SUPREME COURT APPEARS READY TO REEL IN ADMINISTRATIVE STATE IN LANDMARK CHALLENGE FROM EAST COAST FISHERMEN “The Eleventh Circuit concluded social media companies could censor content because they have ‘historically exercised’ power to refuse transmission of disfavored ideas,” the AGs noted. “But telegraph companies have a much longer history of censorship. Social media is less than two decades old. Congress did not impose must-carry requirements on telegraphs until 1888, 50 years after their invention,” the AGs argue in their brief. “Yet it is well recognized today that those must-carry regulations were constitutional – even though this Court declared that telegraph companies are ‘not common carriers.’ History thus provides no basis for dismissing the striking similarities between social media companies and telegraph and telephones by dubbing social-media censorship ‘editorial judgment,’” they said. “While the earlier laws applied to telegraphs and telephones, it is no different when the companies carrying other people’s speech are digital rather than analog,” they continued. “The States thus have a paramount interest in urging this Court to affirm that longstanding, historic authority of States to protect freedom of speech and enable representative government by prohibiting dominant communication networks from censoring,” they concluded. In addition to Missouri, attorneys general from Ohio, Alabama, Montana, Alaska, Nebraska, Arkansas, New Hampshire, Iowa, North Dakota, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Louisiana, South Carolina and Mississippi signed the amicus brief. The Court will hear arguments in the cases, Moody v. NetChoice, LLC and NetChoice LLC v. Paxton on Monday, Feb. 26.
Trump says files deleted by Jan 6 committee ‘exonerated me completely’
Former President Donald Trump on Monday said the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, “would not have existed” if then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., accepted his “offer” for security in the days leading up, and that the more than 100 files deleted by Democrats “exonerated” him “completely.” Trump was reacting to an exclusive Fox News Digital report revealing that the former House Select Committee on Jan. 6, led by Democrats, deleted 117 encrypted files from its probe just days before Republicans took over the majority of the House of Representatives. HOUSE JAN. 6 COMMITTEE DELETED MORE THAN 100 ENCRYPTED FILES DAYS BEFORE GOP TOOK MAJORITY: SOURCES “The whole Committee of Political Operatives, Thugs, and Misfits was a SCAM set up to injure and defeat your Favorite President, Donald J. Trump,” Trump posted on his Truth Social, reacting to the revelations. “They’ve deleted and destroyed almost everything, because it exonerated me completely, and was very bad for Crazy Nancy Pelosi and other Fascists and Communists.” “It showed that Pelosi was in charge of Security at the Capitol, and she rejected my offer of 10,000 Soldiers or National Guard Troops prior to January 6th,” Trump continued. “Had she accepted, January 6th would not have existed!” Trump has claimed since 2021 that days before the Capitol riot, he suggested deploying the National Guard to the Capitol due to intelligence the government was receiving regarding activities on Jan. 6. Trump has said Pelosi had authority over the Capitol, and he suggested National Guard troops deploy “three days in advance.” Trump said “she turned it down.” “The mayor of D.C. gave us a letter saying that she turns it down. OK, we have it. Nancy Pelosi also was asked, and she turned it down. The police commissioner of Capitol police …” Trump said in an NBC interview last year. “Wait, a minute,” he pressed on, “Capitol police said that he wanted it, and Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t accept it. She’s responsible for Jan. 6.” “Nancy Pelosi’s responsible, and the Jan. 6 Committee refused to interview her,” he said. Pelosi’s office replied at the time, saying: “As our office has said before, the former president’s allegations are completely made up,” a representative for Pelosi told Fox News Digital. “As numerous independent fact-checkers have confirmed, Speaker Pelosi did not plan her own assassination,” the spokesperson added. The House Administration Committee’s Oversight Subcommittee is leading an investigation into Jan. 6, 2021, led by Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga. The panel is investigating the security failures on that day, as well as the “actions” of the former select committee investigating the Capitol riot. Loudermilk last week told Fox News Digital his investigation had entered a “new phase” with renewed support from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who has committed additional resources to the panel’s investigation. Sources familiar with Loudermilk’s investigation told Fox News Digital that, per House rules, the former select committee, which was chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., was required to turn over all documents from its investigation to the new, GOP-led panel, after Republicans secured the majority of the House of Representatives following the 2022 midterm elections. Sources told Fox News Digital that Thompson had told Loudermilk that the select committee would turn over four terabytes of archived data, but that the new committee only received approximately two terabytes of data. HOUSE INVESTIGATION INTO ‘WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ON JANUARY 6’ ENTERING ‘NEW PHASE’ WITH SPEAKER JOHNSON SUPPORT Fox News Digital has learned that Loudermilk’s committee hired a digital forensics team to scrape hard drives to determine what information they were not given. Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a letter Loudermilk sent to Thompson, requesting access to recovered digital files by his forensic team. The forensics team, according to sources familiar with their search, determined that 117 files were both deleted and encrypted. Sources said those files were deleted on Jan. 1, 2023 – just days before Thompson’s team was required to transfer the data to the new committee. Fox News Digital has learned the forensics team has recovered all 117 deleted and encrypted files. Now, Loudermilk is demanding answers and passwords to access the data. “As you acknowledged in your July 7, 2023 letter, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Select Committee) did not archive all Committee records as required by House Rules,” Loudermilk wrote. “You wrote that you sent specific transcribed interviews and depositions to the White House and Department of Homeland Security but did not archive them with the Clerk of the House.” REP. LOUDERMILK BLASTS JANUARY 6 COMMITTEE FOR TARGETING HIM: ‘THERE IS A WAR ON THE TRUTH IN THIS COUNTRY’ Loudermilk added that Thompson also “claimed that you turned over 4-terabytes of digital files, but the hard drives archived by the Select Committee with the Clerk of the House contain less than 3- terabytes of data.” Loudermilk explained that after a forensic analysis of the data and archived hard drives, he was able to recover “numerous digital records from hard drives archived by the Select Committee.” “One recovered file disclosed the identity of an individual whose testimony was not archived by the Select Committee,” Loudermilk wrote. “Further, we found that most of the recovered files are password-protected, preventing us from determining what they contain.” Loudermilk asked that Thompson provide him “a list of passwords for all password-protected files created by the Select Committee” so that his committee can “access these files and ensure they are properly archived.” Meanwhile, Loudermilk also penned letters to White House general counsel and the general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, requesting “unedited and unredacted transcripts” of White House and DHS testimony to the former select committee. Loudermilk’s committee knows the transcripts of these interviews exist, but said they were not turned over by the Thompson-led committee. Loudermilk demanded the White House and DHS comply with his request by Jan. 24. “It’s obvious that Pelosi’s Select Committee went to great lengths to prevent Americans from seeing certain documents produced in their investigation. It also
Judge unseals Fulton County prosecutor’s divorce case, Fani Willis deposition delayed
A judge on Monday ordered court records of the divorce proceedings of a special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, who is handling the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump, be made public and delayed the decision on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will be deposed. Cobb County, Georgia Superior Court Judge Henry Thompson ruled that he was vacating a previous order that kept records of the divorce proceedings sealed. That is what attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents former Trump campaign staffer and onetime White House aide Michael Roman, had asked the court to do. “I find that the prior order, although it was by consent parties, was not properly entered because uniform’s superior court rules require a hearing to be had. We can find no evidence that any such hearing was ever had so I’m going to grant the motion, vacating the consent order sealing the record. And I’ll do that today. I have your written order,” Thompson said. The judge then said Merchant could be dismissed from the hearing. Thompson later addressed Cinque Axam, a lawyer for Willis, saying the court would not yet decide on whether the Fulton County DA will be deposed. Willis’ deposition was originally set for Tuesday, but the judge said he first wants to hear from Nathan Wade on allegations of an extramarital affair directly during an evidentiary hearing in the divorce case set for Jan. 31. FANI WILLIS’ PROSECUTOR, ALLEGED ROMANTIC PARTNER NOT ‘QUALIFIED’ TO HANDLE TRUMP ELECTION CASE: LEGAL ANALYST “It seems to me that Mr. Wade would be the first and best source of information on what his income has been and how he’s been spending it. And that he would have firsthand knowledge of whether he’s engaged in an extramarital affair,” Thompson said. “Only after I hear what Mr. Wade has to say, do I think I can make a determination of whether the proposed deponent has any unique knowledge about these issues, because once again, this is a math problem, and we need to find a solution to.” “So with all that being said, I’m not prepared. Mr. Axam, to grant your protective order. But since the deposition is set for tomorrow and our first evidentiary hearing is set for the 31st, I will issue a stay,” the judge continued. “And I will stay the deposition until I’m in a better position to make a determination of whether the proposed deponent would have any unique knowledge, unique being the key word there, that is not possessed by Mr. Wade himself.” A motion filed last week by the defense attorney in the election case alleges that Willis was involved in a romantic relationship with attorney Nathan Wade. FULTON COUNTY DA FANI WILLIS ATTEMPTS TO QUASH SUBPOENA RELATED TO ALLEGED MISCONDUCT Axam wrote in a filing Thursday that lawyers for Wade’s wife, Joycelyn Wade, served a subpoena to the district attorney last week. The filing says that the subpoena is being sought “in an attempt to harass and damage” Willis’ professional reputation and accuses Joycelyn Wade of having “conspired with interested parties in the criminal Election Interference Case to use the civil discovery process to annoy, embarrass, and oppress” the district attorney. The attempt to question Willis is “obstructing and interfering” with an ongoing criminal case, Axam wrote in the court filing Thursday seeking to quash the subpoena. Andrea Hastings, a lawyer for Joycelyn Wade, said they want to help her “resolve her divorce fairly and privately.” In a response filed Friday, Hastings wrote that Nathan Wade has taken trips to San Francisco and Napa Valley, Florida, Belize, Panama and Australia and has taken Caribbean cruises since filing for divorce and that Willis “was an intended travel partner for at least some of these trips as indicated by flights he purchased for her to accompany him.” The filing includes credit card statements that show Nathan Wade, after he had been hired as special prosecutor, bought plane tickets in October 2022 for him and Willis to travel to Miami and bought tickets in April to San Francisco in their names. Joycelyn Wade’s filing says she is seeking to question Willis about “her romantic affair” with Nathan Wade, saying there “appears to be no reasonable explanation for their travels apart from a romantic relationship.” Trump and 18 allies were indicted in Georgia over their alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state, with prosecutors using a statute normally associated with mobsters to accuse the former president, lawyers and other aides of a “criminal enterprise” to keep him in power. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Former North Dakota lawmaker Rick Becker launches bid for state’s only US House seat
A former North Dakota lawmaker is running for the state’s only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republican Rick Becker, a plastic surgeon in Bismarck, announced his campaign on Monday. He received over 18% of the statewide vote in his unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid in 2022, when he ran as an independent against Republican Sen. John Hoeven, who won, and Democrat Katrina Christiansen, who is running for Senate again this year. Republican U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, an attorney and former state senator, said earlier this month that he is running for reelection to the seat he first won in 2018. Democrat Trygve Hammer, a military veteran, also is running. NORTH DAKOTA GOV. DOUG BURGUM, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, WON’T SEEK THIRD TERM Becker said in an interview that he considers Armstrong a friend. “It’s not so much a matter that I’m interested in tearing him down, it’s simply I present an option for voters,” Becker said. “I think that we are at a point in time in which people are really looking for someone to be bold and to fight and to take on what I call the progressive, woke agenda.” EXTREME COLD HAMPERS NORTH DAKOTA OIL PRODUCTION; 60 SPILLS REPORTED IN PAST WEEK Becker served from 2012-22 in the state House, where he founded the ultraconservative Bastiat Caucus, a Trump-aligned group of Republican lawmakers who support more gun rights and tighter budgets. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican endorsement for governor in 2016. Becker also is leading a proposed 2024 ballot initiative to eliminate local property taxes.
House Republicans negotiate with president’s brother on deposition terms
President Biden’s younger brother, James Biden, is in active negotiations to appear for a deposition before House Republicans, Fox News has learned. The younger Biden was subpoenaed as part of the investigation into Hunter Biden and President Biden in November. House Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry into President Biden believe that James has knowledge of Hunter’s business deals and whether the president was involved. The president’s brother was scheduled to appear for a closed-door deposition in early December, but that date came and went. Conversations continue between the House Oversight Committee and Biden’s legal team. HUNTER BIDEN’S HOLLYWOOD LAWYER ‘SUGAR BRO’ ALLEGEDLY VIOLATED PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT RULES: BAR COMPLAINT “I’m going to hold off criticism of the president’s brother. He obviously has due process and we have heard from his attorney. We’re trying to make that work and I feel like that’ll happen soon,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said last month. The Washington Post reported in December that James Biden’s conversations were swept up in an FBI investigation, though he was not the target. HUNTER HAS TIES TO NEARLY 2 DOZEN CURRENT, FORMER BIDEN OFFICIALS AS FEDERAL CHARGES, HOUSE PROBES LOOM According to the Post, Biden’s conversations were recorded as part of an FBI investigation into a Mississippi attorney named Richard “Dickie” Scruggs. The outlet reported that the FBI secretly recorded conversations involving Biden because of his relationship with Scruggs, who went to federal prison for a bribery conviction involving a judge. James Biden was not the subject of the FBI probe and was never charged or accused of wrongdoing by the bureau. James Biden’s nephew, Hunter Biden, is scheduled for a closed-door deposition on Feb. 28 after a public back and forth with the committee that almost led to a contempt of Congress vote.
AOC-affiliated Democratic Socialists of America faces dire ‘financial crisis’ that could lead to layoffs
A left-wing group affiliated with Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez, D-NY, and other prominent congressional members is facing a dire cash crunch that could lead to people losing their jobs, according to a report. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), of which Ocasio-Cortez is a member, is staring down a significant “financial crisis” that has forced some leaders to put forth a drastic proposal to protect its bottom line. “We will cut $500,000 from staff-related expenses,” a proposal propelled by individuals on its National Political Committee says. “We will first ask for volunteers from both director-level and bargaining unit staff to have their position cut and receive severance.” “If necessary, we will then explore initiating lay-offs according to the DSA union’s contract,” the members wrote. EX-AOC AIDE LINED POCKETS WITH NEARLY $140K FROM HIS PAC WHILE SPENDING LITTLE ON ITS MISSION The organization’s financial troubles, which the New York Post first reported, allegedly put the leaders in a position where they have no option but to slash their budget, potentially leading to job losses among their ranks. “DSA is in a financial crisis and staff-related costs account for 58% of our total expenditures and 72% of our projected income,” DSA members Alex Pellitteri, Kristin Schall and Laura Wadlin wrote in the proposal. “The current deficit will force us to make 7-figure budget cuts. This will require us to make painful decisions that will impact all levels of the organization.… Given our current financial state, we do not believe we can have a healthy, democratic, and effective organization while spending the amount we currently do on staff,” they added. AOC’S PAC FUNNELED THOUSANDS TO ORG FINANCING DISRUPTIVE CLIMATE PROTEST GROUPS “If necessary, we will then explore initiating lay-offs according to the DSA union’s contract,” the proposal continued. “Be it resolved: The Personnel Committee will be responsible for determining the quantity and type of positions to be eligible for buy-out or layoff, and they will assist with logistics and a staff transition plan.” Ocasio-Cortez’s office and the DSA did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. Since Hamas’ brutal invasion of Israel in October, the DSA has garnered headlines over its response to the attack. One of its founding members, Maurice Isserman, subsequently left the group over their actions. “I left to protest the DSA leadership’s politically and morally bankrupt response to the horrific Hamas October 7 anti-Jewish pogrom that took the lives of 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and saw over 200 hostages carried off to Gaza, both groups of victims including children and infants,” Isserman wrote in late October. “Its statement on October 7 made no mention—let alone offering any criticism—of Hamas, declaring instead, ‘Today’s events are a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime—a regime that receives billions in funding from the United States,’” he said. In addition to Ocasio-Cortez, other Democrat lawmakers are members of the group, including Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Cori Bush of Missouri and Greg Casar of Texas.