(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Overnight News Digest for Wednesday, March 29 (Weisselberg flips edition) [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-03-29 Well, I thought I might get to watch the Former guy — aka the Orange Julius, aka the Cheeto Benito — do his perp walk for my birthday LAST Wednesday, and then Thursday, and then this week... It was not to be, but there are still a bunch of fun stories. Welcome to the perpless-unwalk Overnight News Digest… NOW WITH BREAKING NEWS! As I write this, it appears news is coming over the Twitter wires that Allen Weisselberg, former head of the Trump Organization (a quantum-style corporate structure that may or may not exhist) and ensconced for the past 57 days at Rikers Island, may be flipping on his old boss. Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg is no longer being represented by Donald Trump’s attorneys, per NBC News. This points to the possibility that Weisselberg has cut a deal with the Manhattan DA and is cooperating against Trump. Which would explain everything we’re seeing in Manhattan right now. x NEWS: Our colleagues at @NBCNewYork have confirmed tonight former Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg's attorneys, who were being paid for by the Trump Org, are no longer representing him. @KFAlegal shares some analysis of what that might mean. pic.twitter.com/wb2Vtvd2pR — Alex Wagner Tonight (@WagnerTonight) March 30, 2023 Weisselberg is currently sitting behind bars. It’s a short prison sentence but he is an elderly man. And it’s possible the DA threatened to bring broader charges against him, with additional prison time, to motivate him to flip. The New York Times did report last month that the DA was looking at the possibility of additional charges against Weisselberg. In addition, Weisselberg wouldn’t just be a witness in Trump’s campaign fraud case. It would open the door for the DA to charge Trump with tax fraud, insurance fraud, and so on. So the DA could now be expanding his case with Weisselberg on board. The Manhattan grand jury examining Donald Trump’s alleged role in a hush money payment to a porn star isn’t expected to hear evidence in the case for the next month largely due to a previously scheduled hiatus, according to a person familiar with the proceedings. The break would push any indictment of the former president to late April at the earliest, although it is possible that the grand jury’s schedule could change. In recent weeks, the Manhattan district attorney’s office hasn’t convened the panel on certain days. But it is District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prerogative to ask the grand jury to reconvene if prosecutors want the panel to meet during previously planned breaks. The grand jury, which heard testimony in the Trump case on Monday, isn’t meeting Wednesday and is expected to examine evidence in a separate matter Thursday, the person said. The grand jury, which typically meets Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, is scheduled to consider another case next week on Monday and Wednesday… The following two weeks are set to be a hiatus that was scheduled when the grand jury was first convened in January, the person said. x Starting a Covid ✨hope✨thread because these are dark times & something's got to give. Here are some examples of policy shifts & research wins. Feel free to add to this. — chantzy (@chantz_y) March 28, 2023 We don’t have to worry about being dragged back into Iraq! Wait, what? You didn’t know that was still an option? The Democratic-led U.S. Senate voted 66-30 on legislation to formally repeal the war authorizations that justified the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War. "This effort has been years in the making," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. "The American people are tired of endless wars in the Middle East." Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Todd Young, R-Ind., led a years-long bipartisan effort to repeal these authorizations for use of military force. Kaine said the effort faced indifference from the Obama administration and outright opposition from the Trump administration, but the political stars aligned under President Biden who has indicated he will sign it if it reaches his desk. And speaking of deteriorating situations… for those not following the near-civil-war in Israel this weekend… Israel’s courts have been acting as the independent institutions they are, which includes convicting right-wing politicians of corruption, blocking a right-wing politician from serving in cabinet because of his MULTIPLE CONVICTIONS for corruption, and even attempting to convict PM (again) Bibi Netanyahu of corruption. Netanyahu’s response — attempting to neuter the courts and make them an arm of the government — led to mass protests with hundreds of thousands of angry people taking to the streets trying to save democracy. On Monday Bibi backed down — sort of — but he may only have set a short-term pause to allow anger to dissipate before he rams his “reforms” through in another month or two. This is not endearing him to the Israeli public (polls show support for his party slipping) or his allies: The judicial reform proposal sparked the worst crisis in American-Israeli relations in decades, as US President Joe Biden called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the plan and said he would not host him in the White House at this time. “I hope he [Netanyahu] walks away from it,” Biden told reporters as he issued his most clear objections to the plan to date and opened an intensely public dispute between the two leaders, who are also good friends. When asked if he would invite Netanyahu to the White House, Biden quickly replied, “No, not in the near term.” x Biden: "Like many strong supporters of Israel I'm very concerned. I'm concerned that they get this straight. They cannot continue down this road. Netanyahu won't be invited to the White House in the near term" pic.twitter.com/YeuH6QbT3c — Yosef Yisrael (@yosefyisrael25) March 28, 2023 It is extremely unusual for a US president to so blatantly rebuke Israel and refuse to host an Israeli leader, particularly a president who is viewed as a strong supporter of the Jewish state. ...But it was nearly impossible to deny the crisis after Biden spoke on Tuesday, which is likely what led to Netanyahu’s decision not to wait until the morning to respond, and instead to issue an English-language statement at nearly 1 a.m. local time. “Israel is a sovereign country [that] makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends,” Netanyahu said, in a response that likely added more fuel to the fire. ...Right-wing leaders in Israel “can try to smear [us] however they’d like, [but] it’s not helpful,” a Biden administration official told The Forward, adding that Netanyahu and his aides had made a “gross miscalculation” regarding the US position on the overhaul. “Compromise”? How the heck is this any sort of a “compromise”? … But at least the AP story includes information about the climate impact! And in the third paragraph, no less... And in the latest “bipartisan compromise”, some Dems, including our old friend Joe Manchin (DINO-Coal), are going to try to ram through even MORE goodies for the fossil fuel industry, who are only, you know, the most profitable industry in the history of greed, thanks to a boost from their old pal Putin. As House Republicans prepare to vote on H.R. 1 this week, environmental advocates warned Monday that the sprawling package of fossil fuel-friendly legislation would worsen the climate emergency and biodiversity destruction while saddling U.S. households with higher energy bills. H.R. 1, misleadingly titled the “Lower Energy Costs Act” and dubbed the “Polluters Over People Act” by opponents, consists of 15 separate bills and a pair of resolutions. As GOP lawmakers made clear at a legislative hearing held last month and through recent amendments, they’re seeking to dismantle a wide range of regulations to boost fossil fuel production and exports despite scientists’ unequivocal warnings about the need to prohibit new coal, oil, and gas projects to avert the worst effects of the climate crisis. x If you think climate protesters are inconvenient, just wait until you see what unmitigated climate change will do to our lives moving forward. There is no time to wait. #ActOnClimate #climateemergency #climate #energy #GreenNewDeal pic.twitter.com/ycitcA1pjB — Mike Hudema (@MikeHudema) March 29, 2023 … Included in the package is a resolution “expressing the sense of Congress that the federal government should not impose any restrictions on the export of crude oil or other petroleum products” and a bill that would “repeal all restrictions on the import and export of natural gas.” In happier news… A UN resolution was adopted on Wednesday that should make it easier to hold polluting countries legally accountable for failing to tackle the climate emergency, in a vote which was hailed as a historic victory for climate justice. The UN general assembly adopted by consensus the resolution spearheaded by Vanuatu, a tiny Pacific island nation vulnerable to extreme climate effects, and youth activists to secure a legal opinion from the international court of justice (ICJ) to clarify states’ obligations to tackle the climate crisis – and specify any consequences countries should face for inaction. “Today we have witnessed a win for climate justice of epic proportions,” said Ishmael Kalsakau, prime minister of Vanuatu. “Today’s historic resolution is the beginning of a new era in multilateral climate cooperation, one that is more fully focused on upholding the rule of international law and an era that places human rights and intergenerational equity at the forefront of climate decision-making.” Time to act? The chaplain who leads prayers in the US Senate said on Tuesday: “When babies die at a church school, it is time for us to move beyond thoughts and prayers.” … In the Senate, Black said: “Remind our lawmakers of the words of the British statesman Edmund Burke: ‘All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.’ “Lord, deliver our senators from the paralysis of analysis that waits for the miraculous. Use them to battle the demonic forces that seek to engulf us. We pray, in your powerful name, amen.” x Thank you to all our volunteers, donors, and curious attendees at last night's Special Briefing on EVP's 2022 Results. Here's a recording of the webinar — please watch & share — and thank you for being such an important part of our crucial work. Onward!https://t.co/HJJT4n595T — Environmental Voter Project (@Enviro_Voter) March 29, 2023 We need a win in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election next week — a conservative lock on the court could literally allow the state legislature to throw out the election results and hand Trump the keys to the White House. … “Wisconsinites are very familiar with hearing ‘this is the most important election of our lifetime,’” said Sarah Godlewski, a Democrat who was recently appointed to be the Wisconsin secretary of state after running for the Senate last year. But, she emphasized, this race is actually incredibly “consequential” for the longer-term political control of the state. A liberal takeover of the supreme court could even be a factor in the race for control of the U.S. House in 2024. … Most immediately, the court will likely decide the fate of abortion rights in Wisconsin; that and crime have been the focus of much of the debate surrounding the race. But there’s another hugely consequential matter the court could take up: a challenge to the state’s congressional district and legislative lines. And an adverse ruling for Republicans would pose a direct threat to the delegation’s GOP-heavy makeup. Wisconsin’s April 4 election for state Supreme Court justice is the most important election of any kind in 2023 – and it’s going to help determine who wins the presidency in 2024, because democracy itself is on the ballot. Millions of Wisconsin voters don’t even know the special election is coming up in one week! That’s why we’re teaming up with the ACLU of Wisconsin to turn out every flapping eligible voter in the state. Can you volunteer an hour or more of your time before the special election to help us contact Wisconsin voters? Need some pre-April fools silliness? Here we go… An Australian company on Tuesday lifted the glass cloche on a meatball made of lab-grown cultured meat using the genetic sequence from the long-extinct pachyderm, saying it was meant to fire up public debate about the hi-tech treat. The launch in an Amsterdam science museum came just days before April 1 so there was an elephant in the room: Is this for real? Cultivated meat — also called cultured or cell-based meat — is made from animal cells. Livestock doesn’t need to be killed to produce it, which advocates say is better not just for the animals but also for the environment. Would you like some hunny with your hefalump? The life-plus-seventy-years sentence imposed on Winnie the Pooh by Cher’s ex-husband is finally over. Petitions for an early release went unheeded, forcing the butt naked childhood icon to perform tricks for the heirs of its creator’s estate until it was finally allowed to roam free — nearly 40 years after the bear’s sentence should have been commuted. ...A horror film utilizing characters from A.A. Milne’s creations debuted. Entitled “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey,” the horror film turns Pooh and Piglet into partners in slashy crime, presumably much to the chagrin of the former rights holders. And definitely to the chagrin of critics and audiences alike, who possibly wouldn’t have minded a more transgressive Pooh Bear, but desired something far more clever and watchable than this hustled-into-existence transformative work. … The problem here likely isn’t the bloody content or the lazy subversion of childhood innocence. No, the problem here is most likely China’s president, Xi Jinping. Critics and shitposters in China (and China’s newest subservient domain) have deployed plenty of memes depicting President Xi as Winnie the Pooh due to his passing resemblance to the notorious honey fiend. x This book is way better than any of these... (especially if you're familiar with the Mouse Cookie books). pic.twitter.com/m4fYxKbgQS — JulieChism 🌻☮️ (@julieines411) March 29, 2023 This is an open thread where everyone is welcome, especially night owls and early birds, to share and discuss the happenings of the day. Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments. The crew of the Overnight News Digest consists of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, jeremybloom, Magnifico, annetteboardman, eeff, rise above the swamp, Besame and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/29/2160968/-Overnight-News-Digest-for-Wednesday-March-29-Weisselberg-flips-edition Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/