Sky DancingFinally Friday Reads: Abusing Public Office on Steriods
“Markwayne Mullin seems qualified to head the Department of Homeland Security.” John Buss, @repeat1968
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
Our Executive branch is basically captured by idiots and criminals. A headline in the New York Times today shows that abusing their offices is the only skill the MAGA officeholders and the president have. This story broke last spring. “Trump Friend Asked ICE to Detain the Mother of His Child. Paolo Zampolli, a former modeling agent and a longtime Trump ally, was in a custody battle over his son. An ICE official agreed to help.” While the American people suffer, the Art of the Steal runs amok.
Megan Twohey, Shawn McCreesh, and Hamed Aleaziz share the lede.
Last June, the man credited with introducing President Trump to his wife asked the administration for a favor.
Paolo Zampolli, a former modeling agent turned presidential special envoy, had learned that his Brazilian ex-girlfriend was in a Miami jail, arrested on charges of fraud at her workplace. They had been in a custody battle over their teenage son. Now he saw an opportunity.
He reached out to a top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, explaining that his ex was in the country illegally, according to records obtained by The New York Times and a person familiar with the communications. Could she be put in ICE detention? That could help him get his son back.
The official, David Venturella, promptly called the agency’s Miami office to ensure that ICE agents would pick up the woman from the jail before she was released on bail, according to the records and a person with knowledge of the conversation who requested anonymity to discuss it. During the call, Mr. Venturella noted that the case was important to someone close to the White House.
The woman, Amanda Ungaro, was placed in ICE custody and ultimately deported, an outcome that may well have happened regardless of Mr. Zampolli’s meddling. But the ICE official’s willingness to spring into action for a Trump ally — even one in a low-level, largely ceremonial role — reflects a recurring theme of the second Trump administration: The levers of the federal government can be pulled to settle a personal score.
You may read the details at the gifted link above. You may also want to check out MEDIAITE for some analysis by Issac Schorr. “One of Trump’s Friends Reportedly Asked ICE to Arrest the Mother of His Child in Custody Battle Gambit.”
Paolo Zampolli, the man who introduced President Donald Trump to his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, and is currently serving as U.S. special representative for global partnerships at Trump’s behest, asked ICE to arrest the mother of his child last June, according to The New York Times.
After learning that his Brazilian ex-girlfriend, with whom he had a son, Amanda Ungaro, had been arrested on fraud charges in Florida, Zampolli allegedly “saw an opportunity” to land a potentially killing blow in his custody battle with her.
This is just one example of the incompetence, revenge-taking, and grifting that make up the heart of the Trump Regime’s reign of Terror. The story that keeps one like the above in the background is still the Iran War. Greg Sargent of The New Republic discusses some of the incredible ‘madness’ surrounding the machinations behind the War with Congressman Adam Smith. “Transcript: Trump War Takes Dark Turn as Leaks Unnerve Dems: ‘Madness’. In an interview, Congressman Adam Smith, the top Armed Services Democrat, sharply condemns the newly leaked war schemes—and tells us that Dems must not agree to one more dime in war funding.”
Everything we’re learning now strongly suggests that Donald Trump’s war is about to get worse. First, word leaked that the Pentagon may demand $200 billion more from Congress. Second, officials let it be known that Trump is considering the deployment of thousands of troops on the ground. Meanwhile, Trump himself just suggested to reporters that he’s envisioning even more military actions that he hasn’t even explained yet.
All this makes it absolutely clear that Congress will not just be asked to fund Trump’s war, but also that the pressure on Congress to do something about this madness will intensify. So today we’re talking to Congressman Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, about what Democrats will be able to do when that happens. Congressman, thanks so much for coming on.
Adam Smith: Well, thanks for having me. It’s always good to see you.
Sargent: So let’s start with all the leaks about Trump potentially sending in troops on the ground. People familiar with planning told Reuters that Trump may deploy thousands of them. The options being discussed are deploying troops to the shoreline of the Strait of Hormuz to secure passage for oil tankers and possibly sending ground forces to Kharg Island, which is the hub for oil exports, which one official describes to Reuters as “very risky.” Congressman, you talk to people at the Pentagon a fair amount. Are you getting any indications of anything like this, and what’s your overall take on it?
Smith: Yeah, no, it’s very worrisome, because the bottom line is it’s clear that Trump is not going to be able to achieve anything meaningful in Iran—which is a change of the regime and a change of action. I mean, degrading their capability is one thing, but at the cost that we’re currently experiencing—13 service members’ lives already lost, massive economic disruption, 14 countries dragged into this, civilian deaths, the tragic killing of 150 schoolgirls in Iran—massive cost, just to degrade Iran a little bit. He wants regime change. He wants something different. That’s not happening under the current plan.
Now, I don’t think it’s going to happen if he sends in a few thousand troops, either, but the pressure on him to escalate is growing in his own mind. The pressure is also growing on him to end this madness, stop this war, and recognize he’s not going to accomplish that. But we’ve sent 2,500 Marines—they’re now in the area. Another 2,500 are on their way. And you know, Marines don’t just sit in boats—they’re there for a purpose. And sadly, what we’ve learned in the last year is that when Trump masses forces, he uses them.
He did it in Latin America, first with the boat strikes, then with taking out Maduro. He did it in the Middle East when he massed these forces for the war with Iran. So if he sends troops to the region, it is distinctly possible that he’s going to use them. It would be an idiotic decision, because the ability of four or five thousand troops to really fundamentally change this war—I don’t think that’s going to succeed. But Trump doesn’t think in a linear way. He trusts his gut and his bones, apparently.
You may watch the interview or continue reading the transcript at the link. Smith and Sargent discuss the implausible reasons given for the war and the difficulty of achieving any real goal from it. As far as I can tell, it just takes the country’s mind off the Epstein files and the constant drip of incompetence and abuse of office. It’s theater that’s costing lives, taxes, and a declining economy.
And a little more dribble from what used to be the Justice Department. “Feds move to dismiss charges against officers accused of falsifying warrant in Breonna Taylor raid.” This is breaking news from the AP.
Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to dismiss the charges against two Louisville officers accused of falsifying the warrant that led police to raid Breonna Taylor’s apartment the night she was killed six years ago.
Prosecutors said in a court filing Friday that their review of the case showed the charges against former Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany should be “dismissed in the interest of justice.”
Lawyers for the two didn’t immediately respond to Friday requests for comment.
Judges have twice taken a felony charge against each officer and reduced it to a misdemeanor, saying there wasn’t a direct link between the false information and Taylor’s death. Prosecutors said after the second ruling that they decided to drop the cases.
Taylor was shot to death by police when they broke down the door of her apartment while serving a no-knock drug warrant looking for a former boyfriend who no longer lived there.
Taylor’s boyfriend at the time fired at the officers, and Taylor was killed as police fired back.
Federal prosecutors under former President Joe Biden sought the charges against the officers, while President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has asked the only officer serving prison time related to Taylor’s killing to be let out of prison while he appeals his conviction.
This headline from Wired is due to our insane #FARTUS, and for whatever reason, we got sent to war. “Iran War Puts Global Energy Markets on the Brink of a Worst-Case Scenario. “This will be so, so, so, so, so bad,” one analyst says.” This is reported by Molly Taft.
The war in Iran reached a new extreme this week, as both Israel and Iran launched strikes on oil and gas production and export facilities. The attacks up the stakes in a war that was already choking energy and commodity markets, and will threaten the long-term health of the global economy. On Friday, the International Energy Agency recommended that people work from home, drive slowly, and use gas stoves sparingly in order to alleviate price shocks from the crisis.
The situation in the Persian Gulf is so extreme, analysts told WIRED, that it’s almost unbelievable.
“This scenario is something that you give to the first-year oil analysts to say, ‘OK, if this happens …’ It’s a really interesting illustrative educational thought experiment,” says Rory Johnston, a Canadian oil market researcher. “It’s kind of like, what would happen if gravity just suddenly stopped working for 10 minutes? The things you just give to students to say, ‘Let’s put a thought experiment to something extreme and see how would the system react’? I never thought we would actually see this.”
Ellen Wald, an energy and geopolitics consultant, agrees. “This is like one of those war game simulations in energy markets,” she says.
The initial attacks on Iran earlier this month effectively closed off the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping routes. The strait is the central lifeline for oil and gas exports from not only Iran, but other countries in the Middle East. The bulk of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the world’s largest oil and gas cartel, use the strait to ship oil and gas out of the region to customers. The strait is also a critical hub for oil and gas byproducts like industrial chemicals and fertilizer. Closure of the strait sent shocks through the global economy: After the initial attacks, oil prices shot up above $100 per barrel for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Anytime there is any kind of military activity in the Persian Gulf or even in the Middle East, oil markets tend to get very jittery,” says Wald; closing the strait was a sign that this war could have much more extreme impacts than other conflicts. But for the first few weeks, the oil production facilities themselves remained mostly untouched. “No oil and no products were getting out, and some countries don’t have enough storage, and so they were shutting down production simply because they couldn’t store the oil,” says Wald. “But that’s the kind of thing that can be fairly quickly reversible.”
Over the past few days, however, missile strikes have started heavily targeting oil and gas infrastructure. On Thursday, Israel launched a series of strikes on various oil and gas facilities in the region, most notably the South Pars gas field, the world’s biggest natural gas field, which is jointly controlled by Iran and Qatar. Iran retaliated with counterstrikes, including on the world’s largest oil export facility in Qatar. Oil prices temporarily shot up to nearly $120 a barrel.
Israel is just doing whatever it wants to because Bibi can flatter the hell out of Trump and make him do anything. This entire thing was a huge disaster just waiting to happen. There’s even some speculation that Israel will use nukes. This is from NPR. “More Marines are headed to Middle East as Iran war reaches the 3-week mark.” This is the most current update.
More U.S. Marines are headed to the Middle East, NPR has confirmed, as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran reaches the three-week mark.
Israel launched more strikes in and around Tehran early Friday, as Iranians marked Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Muslims around the world are also observing the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Overnight, Iranian drones hit Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery again, sparking fires as crews worked to contain the blaze. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates said the country’s air defenses responded to missile and drone threats from Iran with explosions echoing across Dubai as worshippers marked the Muslim holiday of Eid
There’s more on the marine deployment and other topics at the link.
Finally, safer and greater today? I sure am not. Just wondering if anyone is singing Bomb. Bomb Bomb Iran today? Never Mind. It says it’s a parody.
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
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