The brother of Paul Whelan, an American jailed in Russia, said on Tuesday his family is concerned about his whereabouts after not hearing from him for days and unclear messages from the prison staff that he was moved to the prison hospital.

David Whelan, the brother of Paul, said that the family does not definitely know where Paul is. Paul, a former U.S. Marine is serving 16 years in the Russian region of Mordovia on charges of espionage – which he denies.

The penal colony’s staff said that Paul was moved to the prison hospital on Nov. 17, a day after the visit of American and Irish diplomats, but Paul last talked to his parents on Nov. 23 and did not mention the move, David Whelan said.

The family has not heard from him since. David Whelan added that when transferred to the prison’s hospital in the past, Paul had always mentioned the move in his phone calls.

“Paul was not complaining of any health conditions that required hospitalization, so has there been an emergency?” David Whelan said in an emailed statement, adding that Paul appeared healthy and well to the diplomats.

“Is he unable to make calls? Or is he really still at (the penal colony) but he’s been put in solitary and the prison is hiding that fact?”

David Whelan said that the family has not been in contact with the White House, just with the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the State Department.

“The U.S. role in Moscow is to take care of Paul’s wellbeing and it’s hard for them to accomplish that if they don’t know where Paul is or what his condition is,” he said. “So we usually work through them when there is uncertainty like this.”

The White House and the State Department had no immediate comment.

On Monday, David Whelan said Paul told his family to contact the U.S. Embassy in Moscow if he did not call home for more than three days. When they did so, the consular staff said it had not heard from him either. [ read more

The United States is talking to Russia about a deal to free Whelan and the jailed American basketball star Brittney Griner but Russia has not provided a “serious response” to any of its proposals, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Monday.

Griner was taken this month to a Russian penal colony to serve a nine-year drug sentence after being arrested in February with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. She said at her trial she used them to relieve the pain from sports injuries and had not meant to break the law.

A key U.S. lawmaker is proposing an extension of a certification deadline for two new versions of Boeing’s (BA.N) 737 MAX and requiring retrofitting existing planes, according to a document reviewed by Reuters.

Boeing is seeking an extension from Congress of a December deadline imposing a new safety standard for modern cockpit alerts for the 737 MAX 7 and 737 MAX 10 variants after two fatal 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia and led to the plane’s 20-month grounding.

Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell drafted a proposal that would grant exceptions for the two MAX variants if they include safety enhancements “such as enhanced angle of attack (AOA) and a means to shut off stall warnings and overspeed alerts, for all MAX aircraft” according to the summary document reviewed by Reuters.

Boeing would be required to bear the costs of the mandatory safety enhancements retrofit for MAX planes currently in service, according to the proposal.

The Seattle Times first reported details of Cantwell’s proposal. Cantwell’s office did not immediately comment.

In comments to Reuters earlier Tuesday, Cantwell said, “We do want to push for safety enhancements and we’ll see what happens – some people just want a straight extension … Safety should be the focus, not a date, safety.”

The requirements were adopted by Congress as part of certification reform passed after two fatal 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia and led to the plane’s 20-month grounding.

Faulty data from a single sensor that erroneously triggered a software function called MCAS to repeatedly activate played critical roles in the fatal 737 MAX crashes.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2020 required Boeing to retrofit planes to ensure MCAS could only activate if it received data from two AOA sensors. Cantwell’s proposal would require a further enhancement and require regular briefings to Congress by the FAA on the MAX status.

Boeing declined to comment Tuesday, but Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said in October he was confident it will get the extension.

After Dec. 27, all planes must have modern cockpit alerting systems to be certified by the FAA, which would mean significant delays for the new MAX aircrafts’ deployment unless Congress grants a waiver to extend the deadline.

In September, Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Commerce Committee, proposed extending the deadline for Boeing to win approval for the two new variants until September 2024.

“It should be extended,” Wicker told Reuters on Monday, referring to the deadline. “I think it needs to happen.”

Boeing has won significant support for an extension from lawmakers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce but faces strong opposition from relatives of many victims of the two fatal crashes, arguing Boeing was “bullying” Congress into action.

Earlier this month, acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen said he does not expect the agency will certify the 737 MAX 7 before the December deadline.

Nolen said he believes the FAA cannot continue any MAX certification work after the deadline without congressional action.

Never has American men’s soccer witnessed such a momentous, beautiful bull rush.

Because that’s what it was, really. Christian Pulisic, who at 24 looks destined to be remembered as the most accomplished U.S. men’s soccer player in history, was still chasing the one moment that eluded him: scoring in a World Cup. So, in his first World Cup, in a win-or go-home affair against geopolitical rival Iran on Tuesday, Pulisic chased after that goal harder than any American male player that came before him.

If Team USA can somehow create some more magic in the knockout round of the Qatar World Cup—much stranger things, remember, have happened in sports—its success can be traced directly back to Pulisic’s effort against Iran. In the 38th minute, Weston McKennie lofted a ball into the right side of the penalty area; mid-flight, Pulisic astutely started streaking toward the goal from the left side, like an NFL running back headed for the end-zone. McKennie’s ball found the head of Sergiño Dest, who guided it across the box to Pulisic, who split two Iranian defenders.

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Now, the World Cup dreams of two nations, perennially at odds with one another, came down to a split-second foot race between Pulisic and Iran keeper Alireza Beiranvand. Beiranvand moved to his right, to stunt both Pulisic’s near-range shot and his momentum.

But Pulisic refused to stop his bull rush. He got to the top of the goal area, flicked the ball into the net at full speed, and crashed square into Beiranvand’s knee and stomach, sending both men tumbling into the turf. Pulisic, the only American to ever appear in a Champion’s League Final, got his goal, and the United States got a 1-0 lead it would never relinquish. Team USA earned a place in the round of 16, against the Group A champion Netherlands, on Saturday. A crushed Iran side exited the World Cup.

Less courageous players might have eased up a bit on that charge, to save their body from sure pain. But like a centerfielder in baseball crashing into an outfield wall to make the catch, Pulisic sacrificed his anatomy, for the good of team and country. No matter what the U.S. does from here, that goal will carry its fair share of lore.

He returned to the pitch for the remainder of the first half but didn’t play in the second. The Chelsea winger suffered a pelvic contusion scoring the goal and went to a hospital for scans. Pulisic said on social media, from a hospital bed, that he will be ready to play Saturday against the Netherlands.

The United States needs him. Pulisic’s teammates have commented on how he’s remained locked in during this entire World Cup. He’s put his exceptional skills on display during the U.S.’s first two games and was knocking on the door of the scoring column. His star turn, giving the U.S. men their most consequential victory in more than a decade, was years in the making.

Born in Hershey, Pa, Pulisic has credited his parents for his soccer prowess. To prevent burnout, they largely shunned the travel soccer scene. “A lot of kids, their parents force them to play on some team where they have to travel super far everyday,” he told TIME in a 2017 interview. “I think that makes it worse because they don’t realize their kid isn’t enjoying it at all. Let kids be kids.”

He moved to Germany before his 16th birthday; given that his grandfather was Croatian, he could play professionally starting at age 16 rather than 18. Pulisic signed with Borussia Dortmund’s youth program. He was soon playing for the top team, and he became the youngest non-German to ever score a goal in the Bundesliga, at 17. In 2019, the English Premier League’s Chelsea signed Pulisic for a $73 million transfer fee. With the London club, Pulisic became the first American to play in a Champions League Final in 2021. He’s had a rollercoaster season with Chelsea this year, coming off the bench in a majority of games.

That’s all pretty much forgotten now. Five years ago, Pulisic, when he was just 19, was on the field in Trinidad when the United States lost to Trinidad and Tobago and failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia. In that 2017 TIME interview, which took place a week after the devastating loss, Pulisic hung up on this reporter rather than discuss that heartbreaking result. His devastation was understandable.

Five years later, he’s known as Captain America—a nickname he said he doesn’t enjoy, for understandable reasons. One, the U.S. team has a fine captain of its own, Tyler Adams, who expertly fended off aggressive questioning from the Iranian media before the U.S.-Iran matchup.

A second, it’s kind of cheesy.

But the moniker represents his importance to U.S. soccer, now and in the future. If Pulisic can indeed play on in Qatar, anything is possible for America.

LOS ANGELES — Kim Kardashian and Ye have reached a settlement in their divorce, averting a trial that had been set for next month, court documents filed Tuesday showed.

The former couple and their attorneys filed documents asking for a judge’s approval of terms they have agreed on, including $200,000 per month child support payments from Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, to Kardashian.

The two will have joint custody, and neither will pay the other spousal support, according to the documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The judge declared the two legally single at Kardashian’s request in March, ending their eight-year marriage, but issues of property and custody remained that were to be worked out in a trial starting Dec. 14.

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The two have four children whose ages range from 3 to 9 years old.

Kardashian and Ye will equally split the expenses for the kids’ private security and private school, including college, according to the settlement proposal.

They will also each pay their own debts the settlement said. The two had a pre-nuptial agreement and kept their property largely separate.

The couple began dating in 2012 and had their first child in 2013. West proposed later that year using the giant screen at the empty waterfront ballpark of the San Francisco Giants, and the two married May 24, 2014, in a ceremony at a Renaissance fortress in Florence, Italy.

The two appeared to be headed for a cordial split with agreed-upon terms when Kardashian first filed for divorce in February of 2021. Neither discussed the split publicly until early this year, when Ye started lashing out on social media against Kardashian, her family, and then-boyfriend Pete Davidson. Among his complaints were that he was not being allowed to make major parenting decisions and was been excluded from birthday parties and other events for their children.

Read More: The Kanye West Fallout Will Cost Adidas At Least $250 Million This Year

Ye, who has fired two lawyers since the divorce filing, also raised several technical issues and demands, including seeking the right to question any new husband of Kardashian’s under oath, which Judge Steve Cochran promptly rejected.

The settlement comes soon after several companies have cut ties with Ye over offensive and antisemitic remarks that have further eroded an already withering public image.

His latest lawyer, Nicholas Salick, did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the settlement.

It was the third marriage for Kardashian, the reality TV superstar, businesswoman and influencer, and the first marriage for the rap and fashion mogul Ye. Theirs was one of the most closely followed celebrity unions in recent decades.

People in China’s southern manufacturing hub of Guangzhou clashed with white hazmat-suited riot police on Tuesday night, videos on social media showed, as frustration with stringent COVID-19 rules three years into the pandemic boiled over.

The clashes marked an escalation from protests in the commercial hub of Shanghai, capital Beijing and other cities over the weekend in mainland China’s biggest wave of civil disobedience since President Xi Jinping took power a decade ago.

In one video circulating on Twitter, dozens of riot police in all-white pandemic gear, holding shields over their heads, are seen advancing in formation over what appeared to be torn down lockdown barriers as objects fly at them.

Police are later seen escorting a row of people in handcuffs to an unknown location.

A separate video shows people throwing hard objects at the police, while a third shows a tear gas cannister landing in the middle of a small crowd on a narrow street, with people then running in all directions to escape the smoke.

Reuters verified that the videos were filmed in Guangzhou’s Haizhu district, but could not determine the exact sequence of events and what sparked the clashes.

Social media posts said the clashes took place on Tuesday night and were caused by a dispute over lockdown curbs.

The government of Guangzhou, a city hard-hit in the latest wave of infections, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Home to many rural migrant factory workers, Guangzhou is a sprawling port city north of Hong Kong in Guangdong province, where officials announced late on Tuesday they would allow close contacts of COVID cases to quarantine at home rather than being forced to go to makeshift shelters.

The move broke with the usual practice under China’s zero-COVID policy.

In Zhengzhou, the site of a vast Foxconn factory making Apple iPhones that has been the scene of worker unrest over COVID, officials announced the “orderly” resumption of businesses, including supermarkets, gyms and restaurants.

However, they also then published a long list of buildings that were high-risk and would remain under lockdown.

Hours before those announcements, national health officials said on Tuesday that China would respond to “urgent concerns” raised by the public and that COVID rules should be implemented more flexibly, according to each region’s specific conditions.

But while the easing of the measures, which comes as China posts daily records in COVID cases, appears to be an attempt to appease the population at large, authorities have also begun to seek out those who have been at recent protests.

“One of my friends who posted a video of people calling for Xi to step down was taken away by police last night,” a Beijing resident who asked to remain anonymous told Reuters.

“Other friends who posted similar videos had to go to the police station. Most were kept for a few hours and asked to sign a paper promising they won’t do that again. And most have now deleted their posts.”

In a statement that did not refer to the protests, the Communist Party’s top body in charge of law enforcement agencies said late on Tuesday that China will resolutely crack down on “the infiltration and sabotage activities of hostile forces”.

The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission also said “illegal and criminal acts that disrupt social order” would not be tolerated.

China’s foreign ministry has said rights and freedoms must be exercised within the framework of the law.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Tuesday that protesters in China should not be physically harmed or intimidated.

While infections and death numbers are low by global standards, COVID has spread despite China largely isolating itself from the world and demanding significant sacrifices from its population to comply with frequent testing and prolonged isolation.

The lockdowns have exacerbated one of the sharpest slowdowns in growth China has suffered in decades, disrupting global supply chains and roiling financial markets.

The head of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva flagged a possible downgrade in the fund’s economic growth forecasts for China.

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(NEXSTAR) — On Tuesday evening, the U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act, legislation that aims to protect same-sex marriages in the U.S. on the federal level. Though the act does not completely protect rights granted by the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which legalized same-sex unions, it does protect some, should that decision be overturned.

Getting federal protection on the books gained further prioritization after the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade earlier this year. While abortion rights under Roe were considered by many to be settled via precedent, the overturn decision (Dobbs V. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization) added fuel to codify Obergefell — in addition to Justice Clarence Thomas calling Obergefell “demonstrably erroneous” in his Dobbs opinion.

Though the Respect for Marriage Act as passed does not codify Obergefell, it does:

• Protect existing same-sex marriages, even if Obergefell is overturned
• Ensure that all states must recognize same-sex marriages as long as they were performed in a state where same-sex marriage was legal at the time. The marriage would have to be recognized as valid even if new same-sex marriages are banned in that state
• Repeals the Defense of Marriage Act, also known as “DOMA.” This controversial 1996 legislation federally defined marriage as only between a man and a woman
• Protect interracial marriages as valid in all states, even if Loving v. Virginia, which overturned bans on interracial unions, were to go the same way as Roe

The Respect for Marriage Act does not:

• Force states to issue same-sex marriage licenses if Obergefell is overturned
• Force states to recognize polyamorous marriages (more than two partners)
• Force nonprofit/religious organizations to provide services to or for same-sex ceremonies

The U.S. Senate passed the bill Tuesday evening in a 61-36 vote. Twelve Republican senators voted along with Democrats to wrack up the 60 votes needed for approval. The Respect for Marriage Act now returns to the U.S. House of Representatives for a second time. The legislation was previously approved by the House but the additions/clarifications around religious organizations and polyamory mean the House must now re-approve it.

The House vote is expected to come next week. If approved, the legislation would move to Pres. Joe Biden’s desk for a signature, which is expected.

“With today’s bipartisan Senate passage of the Respect for Marriage Act, the United States is on the brink of reaffirming a fundamental truth: love is love, and Americans should have the right to marry the person they love,” Pres. Biden said in a statement Tuesday.

The federal criminal of the Oath Keepers leadership concluded today with a verdict that was split but overwhelmingly in favor of the DOJ. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and one of his associates were convicted of seditious conspiracy. The other Oath Keepers on trial were acquitted on seditious conspiracy but were convicted on lesser charges. This shakes things up quite dramatically.

First, it demonstrates that the DOJ is capable of getting a conviction at trial on seditious conspiracy – a rarely brought charge with a high burden of proof – in relation to January 6th. This gives the DOJ grounds for bringing seditious conspiracy charges against others who were allegedly closely involved in planning the events of January 6th, including Alex Jones, Roger Stone, and yes, Donald Trump.

For that matter the DOJ will attempt to get Rhodes and/or his associate, who are now set to spend the bulk of the remainder of their lives in prison, to cut a cooperation deal against these bigger fish. Some folks on social media are convinced that Rhodes will “never flip no matter what” but that’s not how things work. For one thing, Rhodes has to consider flipping before his associate can, because the first to flip gets the better deal.

Today was also a reminder that the DOJ cannot just slap seditious conspiracy charges on everyone who so much as gave a speech or raised a fist on January 6th and expect those charges to magically stick at trial. Even with significant damning evidence against each of today’s defendants, the jury still only convicted two of them on seditious conspiracy. The lesser charge of obstructing Congress is obviously the easier conviction to obtain.

In any case, today should silence two groups of whiners. The first is the right wing group of whiners who have insisted that January 6th couldn’t have been an insurrection because no leaders had been convicted of charges along those lines. The second group of whiners? The folks on our side who have insisted the DOJ was doing “nothing” and that it was letting them “get away with it all.”

Today showed how things actually work in the real world, and how they’ll continue to work as the DOJ targets the biggest January 6th – including Donald Trump – in upcoming indictments.

The post Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy guilty verdict kicks open the door to taking Trump world down appeared first on Palmer Report.

An experimental Alzheimer’s disease drug from Eisai (4523.T) and Biogen (BIIB.O) slowed cognitive decline in a closely watched trial but may carry a risk of dangerous side effects for certain patients, according to new data presented on Tuesday.

The drug, lecanemab, was associated with a type of brain swelling in 12.6% of trial patients, a side effect previously seen with similar drugs. Fourteen percent of patients had microhemorrhages in the brain – a symptom linked to two recent deaths of people receiving lecanemab in a follow-on study – and five patients suffered macrohemorrhages.

The companies said in September that the 18-month trial, which enrolled nearly 1,800 participants with early-stage Alzheimer’s, found that treatment with lecanemab reduced the rate of decline on a clinical dementia scale (CDR-SB) by 27% compared to a placebo.

“All of these amyloid-lowering drugs carry a risk for increased brain hemorrhage,” said Dr. Ronald Petersen of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “I think the primary outcomes, the secondary outcomes, the amyloid-lowering is pretty impressive.”

The Alzheimer’s Association said the data confirms the drug “can meaningfully change the course of the disease for people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease,” and called on U.S. regulators to approve the company’s application for accelerated approval.

Eisai shares climbed 3% Tokyo Wednesday morning while Biogen shares were 0.9% higher in after-hours trade. They have jumped some 60% and 47% respectively since the announcement of the trial’s initial findings in late September.

The trial showed no benefit on the CDR-SB measure for some patients with a genetic risk of developing the mind-wasting disease.

About 16% of participants had two copies (homozygous) of the APOE4 gene variant known to raise the risk of developing Alzheimer’s, 53% had one copy of the gene (heterozygous), and 31% were noncarriers.

“For that small group of homozygous patients, when it comes to CDR-SB we don’t see a signal favoring lecanemab,” Ivan Cheung, Eisai’s U.S. chairman, said in an interview. He suggested that could be because homozygous study patients who were given a placebo fared better than expected.

The APOE4 carriers did show improvement on the trial’s secondary goals, including other measures of cognition and daily function. Overall, lecanemab patients benefited by 23% to 37% compared with a placebo on these secondary trial goals.

“I believe it’s an important benefit that will justify full approval. But of course, we want a bigger benefit,” said Dr. Paul Aisen, director of the University of Southern California Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute and a co-author of the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. He said lecanemab is likely to provide greater benefit if given earlier in the disease, “before you’ve accumulated enough irreversible damage to be causing symptoms.”

Detailed data from the study were presented at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease meeting in San Francisco.

Eisai believes the trial results prove a longstanding theory that removal of sticky deposits of a protein called amyloid beta from the brains of people with early Alzheimer’s can delay its advance.

At 18 months, 68% of trial participants treated with lecanemab had amyloid clearance, Eisai said.

Two deaths – both from brain hemorrhages – have been reported among participants in a trial extension – a 65-year-old woman who received a type of medicine known as tissue plasminogen activator to clear blood clots after suffering a stroke and an 87-year-old who was on the blood thinner Eliquis.

Eisai said it believes the two deaths “cannot be attributed to lecanemab.”

Cheung said Eisai has protocols in place for monitoring brain swelling and sees no need for restrictions on which patients might be eligible for lecanemab treatment.

Dr. Howard Fillit, chief science officer at the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, said doctors always balance the benefits and risks of therapies. “Currently, I would hesitate to give this drug to someone on blood thinners,” he said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is slated to decide by Jan. 6 whether to approve lecanemab under its “accelerated” review program, which requires proof that a drug can impact a biomarker associated with a disease, such as reduction of amyloid beta in the brain.

Regardless of that decision, Cheung said Eisai plans to soon file for standard FDA approval of the drug and will also seek approval in Europe and Japan.

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Asian shares wobbled on Wednesday as investors remain cautious about China’s path to reopening its economy after it released disappointing manufacturing data, with China and Hong Kong stocks wiping out strong gains from the previous day.

MSCI’s gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) was up 0.02% at 0201 GMT, paring earlier losses. At current levels, the index is set to post its biggest monthly gain since April 1999.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (.HSI) and China’s benchmark CSI300 Index (.CSI300), though, opened down 0.4% and 0.3% respectively, with China’s factory activity contracting at a faster-than-expected pace in November.

China’s factory activity deepened this month, an official survey showed on Wednesday, weighed down by softening global demand and COVID-19 restrictions.

The losses in Hong Kong and China reversed positive sentiment from Tuesday, when Chinese officials said the country would speed up COVID-19 vaccinations for elderly people.

The vaccination push was seen as crucial to unwinding nearly three years of strict curbs in the world’s second-largest economy that have eroded economic growth, disrupted the lives of millions and sparked unprecedented protests this past weekend.

“Headlines from China regarding COVID restrictions and protests are causing jitters among investors. Although some COVID easing measures are being considered, it may not be enough to prevent further economic disruption,” said Anderson Alves, global macro analyst at ActivTrades.

“Expectations are that as COVID cases continue to rise, restrictions will be re-tightened before year-end, bringing with it more uncertainty over the impact on the economy,” he said in a research note on Wednesday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 (.N225) fell 0.55% while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 (.AXJO) gained 0.29%.

Sentiments globally are of a cautious tone. The S&P 500 (.SPX) closed lower on Tuesday as investors awaited guidance on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s path of interest rate hikes.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak about the economy and labour market at a Brookings Institution event on Wednesday. A series of U.S. data concerning manufacturing, inflation and jobs will also be released this week.

“This week will offer an interesting test for markets as we have a look at the next important data macro data points out of the U.S., especially the PCE inflation data and the Friday November jobs report,” said Redmond Wong, Greater China market strategist at Saxo Markets in Hong Kong.

The U.S. ISM manufacturing survey for the month on Thursday is also expected to slip into contraction, Wong said.

Oil prices continued to rise after a buoyant Tuesday, with U.S. crude up 0.873% to $78.87 a barrel and Brent up 0.76% to $83.66 a barrel.

Spot gold rose 0.13%.

In currency markets the dollar index declined 0.2%.

Remorse is an important element of justice. Judges look for evidence of remorse in newly convicted defendants when handing down criminal sentences. One stark clue of absent remorse is if the defendant continues to offend even after they are caught and put on trial.

Donald Trump will be one defendant for whom remorse for his crimes will be difficult, if not impossible, to establish. For example, instead of immediately apologising and returning the classified documents he stole, he instead has continued to insist that they’re his, that they were planted by the FBI, or that they instantly ceased being classified because he said so. He disdainfully refers to the men and women investigating his January 6th crimes as the “unselect committee.” He insults and belittles the wife of Jack Smith, the man chosen by the Attorney General as independent counsel to investigate him.

And now, after coming under investigation for fomenting an insurrection for encouraging an angry and armed mob to storm the Capitol and interfere with the confirmation of Joe Biden as President, he’s at it again. This time Donald Trump is insisting, despite losing in a close vote, that Kari Lake be “installed as Governor of Arizona” because of “broken voting machines.” Kari Lake agrees with him, of course.

Monday morning Trump took to “Truth” Social and insisted that there were, “Massive numbers of ‘BROKEN’ voting machines in Republican Districts on Election Day,” and that “Mechanics sent in to ‘FIX’ them made them worse.”

As with the 2020 election, this is a continuation of the rhetoric that began before any votes were cast. When the polls made it clear that, as with the presidential election, the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election would be close, Trump joined Lake in insisting without evidence that the election was “rigged.” In so doing he could immediately and with a breathtaking absence of sportsmanship insist that Lake won anyway, just as he did in 2020.

Trump’s ego had to kick in, of course. He also insisted that the Arizona election was “almost as bad” as the 2020 presidential election. No supposed outrage committed against anyone else could possibly be as bad as the one committed against him. Nobody suffers like poor Donald Trump.

Trump’s unrestrained hubris will come back to haunt him. If he’s ever convicted of any of his almost uncountable major crimes then by the time of his sentencing it will be too late to claim remorse. His sentence will be all the more severe on that account. And at Trump’s age, any sentence of any significance is a life sentence almost by definition. I, for one, am glad. So keep it up, Donald Trump. Keep it up. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.

The post Donald Trump is at it again appeared first on Palmer Report.