New news out of Romania
Romanian prosecutors indict Andrew Tate on trafficking minors and money laundering
The agency said on Friday that Tate and his brother coerced a victim by pretending to be in a loving relationship and then forcing her to produce pornographic material for an online webcam business.
The charges in Romania comes on top of the 56 charges in the UK.
The Tate brothers are currently fighting extradition from the US to the UK in the US courts.
A few interesting stories and commentary I have come across recently
Who is Accountable for Measles Deaths?
I was on NewsNation this morning talking to Markie Martin about measles and the political mess that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has created in Pennsylvania. Yesterday, Reuters reported that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Erica Schwartz removed two measles deaths from the official tally on Kennedy’s orders.
I told Martin that this was not particularly surprising. Schwartz said in her confirmation hearing that she planned to “disagree in private” when confronted with unscientific requests from Kennedy. It appears that while Schwartz is busy disagreeing in private, she’s altering public-facing data on demand. She is just following orders, even when said orders are to mislead the public about the severity of measles.
This is justified by Schwartz and Kennedy with the erroneous claim that they died with measles, not from measles. This distinction is made up. If you die and test positive for measles, your death is counted as a measles death. As it should be.
Data Center Discontent Drives State Legislation Surge
Over the last year, fights between communities and data center developers have broken out of their local arenas and hit the national media. As awareness of the environmental and quality-of-life toll of data centers converged with a broader AI backlash, activists have been speaking up. And legislators, especially in the Statehouse, have been listening.
The boat strikes are, perhaps, the most stark testament to the lawlessness of the Trump administration.
Colorado high school students participate in statewide walkout to protest ICE
Hundreds of Denver students gathered at La Alma-Lincoln Park, where some clashed with counterprotesters
Looking from outside the current hellhole that is the US, I can’t help think about how the country will ever recover. My main conclusion is there has to be a real reckoning, where there are real consequences for the people who have broken the laws, and who have tried to kill democracy in the US.
This was something which should have been done already after the first Trump term, but unfortunately Biden and his administration were not the right people for this. They thought that they could make the US move on, and more or less forget Trump, and instead it created the opportunity for Trump to return and behave even worse.
The current US administration, and the people around it, have broken numerous laws, and they need to be hold accountable for that. But on top of that, a lot of people have enabled them to do so, especially some of the members of the Supreme Court. These need to be removed from their positions of power – through firings or impeachments, depending on their job.
On top of this, there should be something similar to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the Apartheid in South Africa, allowing the victims of the Trump administrations to speak out and tell their stories. It would also allow lower ranking officials to explain what they were ordered to do, and tell who ordered it.
I have little hope that Trump will ever go to jail, but several of his cohort, including his children and their spouses are deeply involved in criminal behavior, and should be possible to prosecute. As is Supreme Court Justice Thomas, who clearly has accepted bribes, and who in most other countries would not only be fired, but behind bars.
As part of the whole cleanup, it is also important to take a hard look at the laws, and tighten them, so future rogue presidents can’t break them with the help of a deeply partisan Supreme Court.