“Without any Doubt, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, Beyond any Doubt”: Tribe Declares Trump Committed Attempted Murder

In past columns, we have discussed how Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe seems intent upon running through the entire criminal code in declaring clear evidence of every federal crime by former President Donald Trump and/or his family. Just for the purposes of keeping score, Tribe declared evidence supporting criminal charges of witness tampering, obstruction of justice, criminal election violations, Logan Act violations, extortion, espionage, and treason by Trump or his family. He has now added attempted murder in an interview on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.” In addition to declaring former President Donald Trump clearly guilty of the attempt to murder Vice President Mike Pence on January 6, 2021, Tribe is again assuring viewers that “without any doubt, beyond a reasonable doubt, beyond any doubt, and the crimes are obvious.” I guess there is no doubt. There is also no compelling legal basis for the claim. Nevertheless, Tribe is promising more if needed: “There are other crimes that have been proven. Those are plenty to start with.”

In light of Tribe’s prior declarations of the long litany of criminal acts by Trump, the opening question of Burnett seemed almost rhetorical bordering on the comical: “From everything you have seen so far, including the hearing today that focused so much on Trump causing violence against Pence, do you believe the committee has proven that Trump himself knowingly committed crimes?”

Tribe responded:

“Without any doubt, beyond a reasonable doubt, beyond any doubt, and the crimes are obvious. The most obvious was that he was ordering his vice-president to do what everyone in the room knew would be illegal, namely, exercise power to pick the next president. It would be very convenient if Al Gore could have picked himself as the next president in 2000, very convenient if Richard Nixon could have done it in 1960.

“Ordering your vice-president to violate the law in order to stay in power is a very serious federal crime, but there are other crimes as well. One that occurred to several people today is attempted murder. You know, under the criminal code of the United States, the attempted murder of the vice-president is punishable by life imprisonment. What we saw with the president egging the crowd on, telling them that, basically, his own vice-president was a traitor while he knew that the mob had gallows waiting for him, that’s pretty serious stuff. You don’t have to go to law school to know that there’s something seriously criminal about that. There are other crimes that have been proven. Those are plenty to start with.”

It is a curious thing that these crimes “have been proven” but Trump has not been charged with them. After the riot, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine announced that he was considering arresting Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks and charging them with incitement. So what happened to that prosecution? The failure of Racine to charge Trump was not due to any affection or loyalty to the former president. It was due to the paucity of direct evidence of a crime that would hold up in court.

Tribe notably cuts directly to the punishment for attempted murder rather than the elements. The elements of attempted murder require specific intent to kill and the commission of some direct but ineffectual act toward accomplishing the intended killing.

https://jonathanturley.org/2022/06/17/without-any-doubt-beyond-a-reasonable-doubt-beyond-any-doubt-tribe-declares-trump-committed-attempted-murder/

Massive fire at Transgrid substation south of Sydney could burn for days after one thousand litres of oil caught alight at facility

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/massive-fire-at-transgrid-substation-south-of-sydney-could-burn-for-days-after-one-thousand-litres-of-oil-caught-alight-at-facility/news-story/ce4f15246277024ed5c94dabdce4688a

Aus State Media trying to sell surveillance

That selfie you posted can be used to train machines — which might not be a bad thing

Did you hear the one about the person who shared a smoking-hot selfie on social media?

It got plenty of likes, but the biggest was from the tech companies who used it to train their artificial intelligence systems.

This week, consumer group CHOICE revealed retail giants Kmart, Bunnings and The Good Guys have been using facial recognition technology to capture the biometric data of consumers in some of their stores.

Bunnings told CHOICE it was used to "identify persons of interest who have previously been involved in incidents of concern in our stores".

Kmart and The Good Guys did not respond to the ABC's requests for comment.

As part of its investigation, CHOICE asked more than 1,000 people what they thought about this technology – 65 per cent said it was concerning and some described it as "creepy and invasive".

You may agree, but it's worth considering how this kind of surveillance stacks up with the decisions we make every day to give our personal data and images away willingly.

Sharing selfies on social media platforms, using a streaming service or loyalty card all divulge more personal information than the facial recognition technology CHOICE was probing.

Although Meta, the global behemoth that owns Facebook and Instagram, stopped using the tech last year, that doesn’t mean your pictures aren't still harvested by companies who build searchable databases of faces.

That might be news to many people, and it may even prompt some to delete their accounts.

Most won't.

"The algorithms will interpret these photos and use those results to better identify the individual captured in the surveillance image," said Dennis B Desmond, an expert in cyberintelligence at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

And it doesn't matter if they are high- or low-quality images.

"Bad or blurry images are also useful in training the algorithm, since surveillance imagery is not always full face, front-facing, or clear and non-pixelated," he said.

Are the benefits misunderstood?

Dr Desmond said many people don't understand what they can obtain in exchange for giving up a certain level of privacy.

In Osaka, Japan facial-recognition tech is used at some train stations to let people pass through turnstiles without having to get out their travel card.

Retailers rely on it to reduce shoplifting. They can be notified if someone who has stolen from the store before enters it again.

Law enforcement agencies across Australia use it to disrupt serious and violent crime, as well as identity theft.

Dr Desmond said if people heard more about these tangible benefits, they might have a different attitude.

"People see a lot about the collection, but they rarely hear about the use of this data for interdiction or prevention," he said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-19/why-many-people-arent-comfortable-with-facial-recognition/101157518

Did Lithuania Light the Fuse on World War III?

In a move of staggering stupidity and hubris, Lithuanian banned the transit of Russian goods to Kaliningrad effective today, June 18, 2022. Kaliningrad, which is wedged between Poland on the west and Lithuania on the east, is home to almost a half-million Russians and the headquarters for the Russian Navy’s Baltic Sea force.

Lithuania claims it is simply abiding by the sanctions imposed by the European Union. After all, Lithuania is a member of the European Union and NATO. But that is the point. This is a deliberate provocation. It is laying economic siege to a vital interest of Russia. While there is no immediate danger to the Russian population of Kaliningrad, this is a flash point that could lead to an actual war as opposed to a special military operation.

What is the difference between a special military operation and war? In the SMO you leave communications, electrical infrastructure, transportation infrastructure and fuel depots largely intact. In the SMO you try to minimize civilian and military casualties.

War on the other hand is terrifying. If Russia opts for a war footing, the restraint that characterized its activities in Ukraine will be replaced by a full-on attack on key military installations and assets in the region as well as the destruction of the communications, electrical, transportation and fuel resources of the adversary. This probably includes taking out critical satellite communications and intelligence collection systems of the United States and Europe.

Kaliningrad, formerly known as Königsberg, was put under Soviet control in 1945 according to the terms of the Potsdam Agreement, which was backed by the United States and Great Britain. The Russian people paid blood for this land in 1945 and are not going to relinquish it in the face of bullying or threats from the west. If you are going to poke an angry bear with a stick, you better be damn sure that bear is locked up and can’t get you. Russia sure as hell is not secure in a cage.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/06/breaking-lithuania-light-fuse-world-war-iii/

More people are avoiding the news, and trusting it less, report says

A growing number of people are selectively avoiding important news stories such as the coronavirus pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the cost-of-living crisis, according to a report released on Tuesday.

While the majority of people surveyed consume news regularly, 38% said they often or sometimes avoid the news – up from 29% in 2017 – the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism said in its annual Digital News Report. Around 36% – particularly those under 35 – say that the news lowers their mood.

Trust in news is also declining, and is lowest in the United States. On average, 42% of people said they trust most news most of the time; that figure has fallen in almost half the countries in the report and risen in seven.

"Large numbers of people see the media as subject to undue political influence, and only a small minority believe most news organisations put what's best for society ahead of their own commercial interest," wrote Reuters Institute Director Rasmus Kleis Nielsen in the report, which is based on an online survey of 93,432 people, conducted in 46 markets.

Younger audiences are increasingly accessing the news via platforms such as TikTok, and have a weaker connection to news brands, the report found.

Each week 78% of 18- to 24-year-olds access news via aggregators, search engines and social media. Forty percent of that age group uses TikTok each week, with 15% saying they use it to find, discuss or share news.

The growth in the number of people who pay for online news may be leveling off, with a large proportion of digital subscriptions going to a few national brands. Across 20 countries where payment for news is widespread, 17% of survey respondents paid for any online news, the same figure as last year. Payment for local news varies across markets.

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism is funded by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO).

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/more-people-are-avoiding-news-trusting-it-less-report-says-2022-06-14/

US Asks Israel To Pause Mistreatment of Palestinians Until After Biden Visit

Apparently wary of bad "optics" during President Biden's upcoming July visit, the U.S. State Department has asked Israel to take a break from provocative actions in Jerusalem and the West Bank until after his trip.

The request came from Barbara Leaf, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs. It was submitted to Israeli officials that included foreign minister Yair Lapid, defense minister Benny Gantz and national security adviser Eyal Hulata. As first reported by Axios:

Leaf asked Israel to halt actions like home demolitions, evictions of Palestinians and decisions on settlement building, as well as decrease Israeli military operations in the West Bank until after Biden's visit, the officials said.

Axios reports that Gantz, Lapid and Hulata said they would "do their best," but that domestic political complexities would make halting such actions problematic.

"Unfortunately, even this humiliating plea may fall on deaf ears," Osama Abuirshaid, executive director of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), tells Middle East Eye. "The Israeli government is fully aware of the magnitude of this administration's weakness and can care less about the US president's embarrassment or loss of political capital despite unfettered U.S. support to Israel."

[The U.S. request] is illustrative of the United States' real policy toward Israel," says Palestinian-American activist and novelist Susan Abulhawa. "They generally don't care what Israel does, Israel can do whatever they want. But Biden's going on a trip there and he has a certain purpose and he wants to fulfill that purpose. It's kind of a wink and a nod to their partner, Israel, to lay low for a little bit."

During Biden's tenure, Israel has demolished over 1,200 Palestinian structures in the West Bank, leaving more than 1,600 Palestinians homeless. Israel targets buildings that have no permits—yet requests for such permits are seldom granted. One study found that, over a two-year period, Israel rejected 97% of permit applications in the largest part of the West Bank.

Israel doesn't always destroy the homes of Palestinians—sometimes, it evicts Palestinian families so Israelis can move in.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-asks-israel-pause-mistreatment-palestinians-until-after-biden-visit