Pro-Trump, anti-Trump boaters planning epic clash on the largest lake in New Jersey
June 25, 2020, 3:47 PM ET
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Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is apparently trying to give Donald Trump a peek inside the special counsel investigation.
The House Judiciary Committee chairman sent a letter Thursday to attorney general Merrick Garland seeking details about the FBI's involvement in special counsel Jack Smith's sprawling investigations of the former president, including his mishandling of classified documents found at his private residence at Mar-a-Lago, reported The Federalist.
"Explain whether any FBI employees who have worked on Special Counsel Smith’s investigation previously worked on any other matters concerning President Trump," Jordan wrote, "and explain whether Special Counsel Smith’s investigation relies on any information or material gathered exclusively by the FBI prior the Special Counsel’s appointment."
The Ohio Republican claimed congressional oversight authority to request a briefing by deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco on any changes made by the FBI to correct any failings cited by Trump-era special counsel John Durham, who recently submitted his final report following a years-long investigation.
"Public trust in the FBI is low," Jordan wrote. "Recent examples of political bias in FBI and Department of Justice operations show that the so-called 'corrective measures' the FBI instituted after Crossfire Hurricane have done nothing to address, let alone cure, the institutional rot that pervades the FBI.
"It is clear that Congress must consider legislative reforms to the FBI, and the Committee has been engaged in robust oversight to inform those legislative proposals. In the interim, however, due to the FBI’s documented political bias, the Justice Department must ensure any ongoing investigations are not poisoned by this same politicization."
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‘Objectively amazing’: Economists cheer ‘extraordinarily robust’ and ‘close to unprecedented’ jobs report
June 02, 2023
Economists are once again cheering the just-released jobs report, calling the results "objectively amazing," saying the Federal Reserve has nothing to worry about on the jobs front, and slamming "doom and gloom" naysayers who have been talking about recession for well over a year.
The unemployment rate ticked up just a bit to 3.7%, slightly above an expected 3.5%, but, as NBC News reports, "still near the lowest since 1969."
Average hourly earnings increased to rate of 4.3% on the year.
"Holy moly, jobs growth comes in hot again," cheered University of Michigan professor of economics Justin Wolfers, who is also a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "Don't believe the doom-and-gloom talk. This economy is motoring along."
"It's hard to emphasize just how much the current rate of job growth is best described as 'EXTRAORDINARILY ROBUST'," Wolfers exclaimed. "Job growth at this rate, this far into a recovery, with unemployment this low, is pretty close to unprecedented."
Political strategist Simon Rosenberg served up a chart comparing the job growth efforts of presidents from George H. W. Bush to Joe Biden. He says, the data are "very clear about this." The "GOP has been an economic wrecking ball."
Rosenberg also says 96% of jobs created since 1989 have been under Democratic presidents.
Meanwhile, Professor Wolfers slammed those who keep talking about a recession, which the U.S. is not in.
"My advice: Take the names of those who told you that we're in a recession. In the future, weight their views accordingly."
Pointing to a Washington Post tweet with a headline that reads, "Labor Market is showing no signs of a recession for now," Democratic strategist Greg Pinelo wrote: "Economists keep being surprised by strong jobs reports. Maybe you're doing it wrong. The Republican dream of a recession is being dashed on the rocks of Biden's successes."
Indeed, that Washington Post report claims, "Many economists are predicting a recession later this year, especially if the Federal Reserve keeps hiking interest rates to curb inflation."
Some say talk of recession, which Americans have been hearing since 2019, could be a self-fulling prophesy.
Nearly one year ago Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said: "I wish some of my colleagues would be more about promoting growth policies rather than simply criticizing the administration…I don’t hear them criticizing [Trump’s] economic policies…If you have people banging the drum ‘recession, recession, recession,’ it becomes in many ways a self-fulfilling prophecy, and maybe that’s good for short-term politics for some in this country, but it’s not good for the economic well being of Virginians and Americans.”
One year ago in June, economist David Rothschild wrote, "Get that Republican & Mainstream Media elites think this is all a game: get people to think economy sucks and we can elect more Republicans to give tax & regulation cuts to rich, slash necessary social safety net for working families! Cool! But, recession can be self-fulfilling."
Journalist Ahmed Baba back in January documented what he sees as the self-fulfilling prophesy of a recession cycle:
Rothschild Friday morning praised the economy: "If economists were told in 2019 that world would be hit by devastating pandemic then Russia would invade Ukraine, their wildest optimistic forecasts would not have come close to how well economy (jobs, wages, market, despite inflation) has done over last 2.5 years."
And calling the economy "objectively amazing," Rothschild, like Rosenberg, also offered up a chart comparing the job growth efforts of presidents from George H. W. Bush to Joe Biden.
Biden is winning:
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Ever since the horrific mass shooting at Covenant School in Nashville that left several children dead, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican and longtime ally of the gun lobby, has been at war with his own legislature trying to get modest control laws passed — and strategy documents show that he is preparing to attack the National Rifle Association to do it, reported the Associated Press.
"Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s administration accused the National Rifle Association of wanting to use involuntary commitment laws 'to round up mentally ill people and deprive them of other liberties,' according to documents drafted by the Republican’s staffers as part of their initial attempt to pass a gun control proposal earlier this year," reported Kimberlee Kruesi and Jonathan Matisse.
"The memos, provided by Lee’s office as part of a public records request, reveal a rare criticism of the powerful gun lobby made by the Republican governor."
This comes after Lee spent years praising the NRA for protecting gun rights, and worked arm in arm with them to pass a "permitless carry" law in Tennessee in 2021.
Less is trying to pass a "red flag law" in the state that would allow a court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person deemed to be an immediate risk to public safety.
In many states, law enforcement must petition the court, but some places like California allow concerned family members to file a petition as well. Studies have found that these laws are effective in preventing some types of gun violence, particularly suicide and intimate partner violence. Last year's Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major federal gun legislation passed in 30 years, authorizes grants to states that adopt these laws.
The NRA, however, opposes them, putting themselves on a collision course with Lee, who argues that temporary firearm removal is better for civil liberties than the alternative: forced psychiatric commitment.
"Lee has been forced to go on the defensive, arguing that what he has proposed is not, in fact, a so-called red flag law like those adopted by other states in the wake of tragedies," said the report.
"Instead, the talking points show he is attempting to sell his proposal as 'the most conservative in the nation' and the best plan for 'Second Amendment advocates.' He also is taking aim at advocates who want to focus on Tennessee laws that allow committing people without their permission if they pose 'a substantial likelihood of serious harm' due to a 'mental illness or serious emotional disturbance.'"
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