Guardians Of The Fallacy
December 7, 2021
The Good News
- Stacey Abrams announces she’s running for governor in Georgia (CNN)
- US airline uses AI to guide planes, eliminates plastic to reduce carbon footprint (ABC)
“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” – Galileo Galilei
Guardians Of The Fallacy
In 1964, the U.S. government released the Warren Commission’s 888-page report on its year-long investigation into President Kennedy’s assassination. But so many questions arose over the commission’s truncated evidentiary basis for its conclusions that almost six decades later, alternative theories continue to thrive. The same fate could befall the House Select Committee’s investigation into the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Key witnesses have refused to testify or produce documents sought by the panel. Even so, information continues to be stockpiled, including a 36-page bombshell memorandum submitted to the committee a week ago by a former D.C. National Guard official, Col. Earl Matthews.
On January 6, Matthews was serving as the top attorney to Maj. Gen. William Walker, then commanding general of the D.C. National Guard. Matthews has never publicly discussed the chaos of the Capitol siege. But in the new memo, leaked to Politico, Matthews eviscerates November’s “Department of Defense Inspector General (DoDIG) report of its investigation into [DoD] actions surrounding the violent assault on the Capitol…”
Matthews claims the error-riddled report protects a top Army official who argued against sending the National Guard to the Capitol on January 6, delaying the insurrection response for hours. He accuses two top Army leaders of lying to Congress and participating in a secret attempt to rewrite the history of the military’s response to the riot. Mincing no words, Matthews calls Gen. Charles Flynn, who was deputy chief of staff for operations on January 6, and Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt, the director of Army staff, “absolute and unmitigated liars” for their characterization of the events of that day. Charles is the brother of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, who’s spent months pushing election and QAnon conspiracy theories. Previously, the Army falsely denied that Charles was involved in the response, before admitting he was present during a “tense” phone call during which Capitol Police and D.C. officials pleaded with the Pentagon to send the National Guard to the Capitol.
Earlier this year Walker, now House Sergeant at Arms, testified to Congress about the long delay in the military’s order for the Guard to deploy to the riot scene. When the DoDIG report came out, Walker called it “inaccurate” and “sloppy work” and publicly called on the Pentagon watchdog to retract it. Matthews defends Walker in the memo, saying every leader in the Guard was ready and wanted to respond, but clearance to do so didn’t come for hours. Matthews says what he wrote is entirely accurate, and that “some of our Army leaders have failed us…lied about it and tried to cover it up. They tried to smear a good man and to erase history.” (Britannica, Politico, LawFare, Salon)
Atlantic Panic
- U.S. officials say classified intelligence reports reveal that China intends to establish its first permanent military presence on the Atlantic Ocean in the tiny Central African country of Equatorial Guinea. That would mean Chinese warships would be able to rearm and refit opposite the East Coast of the U.S., a threatening prospect setting off alarm bells at the White House and the Pentagon.
- Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer visited Equatorial Guinea in October on a mission to persuade President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, and his son and heir apparent Vice President Teodoro “Teodorin” Nguema Obiang Mangue, to reject Beijing’s overtures.
- China has been flexing its military muscle with new overseas bases from Cambodia to the United Arab Emirates. U.S. officials say in Equatorial Guinea, the Chinese likely have an eye on Bata — which already has a Chinese-built deep-water commercial port on the Gulf of Guinea — and excellent highways that link the city to Gabon and the interior of Central Africa. (WSJ)
Boycott Meets World
- At a news briefing Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said: “The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games given [the People’s Republic of China’s] ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.” The diplomatic boycott means that no U.S. government officials will attend the Games, but U.S. athletes will still be allowed to compete.
- Calls for either a diplomatic or full boycott of the Winter Games had grown since the Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai disappeared from public view for three weeks after she made sexual assault allegations against a former senior official of the Chinese Communist Party. Peng has since reappeared, but questions remain about whether she is acting on her own free will. Some Republicans and Democrats said Monday’s announcement doesn’t go far enough, but others saw it as the best way to hold China to account without punishing athletes who’ve been training for years. (NBC News)
Additional World News
- Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to four years in jail (Al Jazeera)
- Eric Zemmour, far-right French presidential hopeful, grabbed by neck at heated political rally (CNN)
- ‘Travel apartheid’: Nigeria condemns England’s Covid red list (Guardian)
- Pope ends Mediterranean trip defending refugee rights (Reuters)
- Japan’s military, among world’s strongest, looks to build (ABC)
- Solomon Islands prime minister survives no-confidence vote after riots (Reuters)
- UAE’s top security official visits Iran to develop ‘warm ties’ (Al Jazeera)
- Next pandemic could be more lethal than COVID, vaccine creator says (Reuters)
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Districtly Speaking
- Texas gained two additional seats in the U.S. House as a result of population growth in the last decade. 95% of that growth was propelled by people of color. But Republican lawmakers drew new district lines that ensure Texas’ growing Hispanic population would not be represented, and that minority communities with Blacks and Asians would have their votes diluted.
- The new maps were signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in October, and several private lawsuits challenging them have been filed. On Monday, the Justice Department filed its own lawsuit challenging Texas’ legislative maps for failing to recognize growth in the Latino population and discriminating against Black voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
- “Although the Texas Congressional delegation expanded from 36 to 38 seats, Texas designed the two new seats to have Anglo voting majorities,” the lawsuit said. It’s the second voting rights-related lawsuit the Biden administration has filed against Texas this year. The Justice Department has also challenged restrictive voting measures passed by the legislature earlier this year. (Texas Tribune, CNN)
Worse.com
- On December 1, some 900 employees of the digital mortgage company Better.com were instructed to join an abruptly scheduled group Zoom call with the firm’s CEO Vishal Garg. “I come to you with not great news,” Garg said at the beginning of the meeting. “If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off. Your employment here is terminated effective immediately.”
- Garg told employees the decision to let them go was “challenging,” and that they would get about a month’s pay and three months of benefits, all of which would be detailed in an email sent to their personal email addresses from human resources. The entire termination event took less than three minutes.
- One laid-off employee said his company-issued computer went dark shortly after the call ended. Hours later he received the email from human resources. Better.com had plans to go public in May but cancelled them. A day before the layoffs, the company received a $750 million cash infusion from its SPAC backers. (NBC News, TechCrunch)
Additional USA News
- Reality Winner “60 Minutes” takeaways on NSA leak interview (Axios)
- Dems plot escape from Biden’s poll woes (Politico)
- Fauci says early reports encouraging about omicron variant (AP)
- New York City sets a sweeping vaccine mandate for all private employers. (NYT, $)
- Why the Supreme Court may look to China as it reconsiders Roe v. Wade (USA Today)
- Virginia’s governor to remove Lee statue pedestal, transfer land to city (Politico)
- Hawaii at risk of ‘catastrophic flooding’ from storms, National Weather Service warns (NBC)
- San Francisco Restaurant Apologizes for Asking 3 Police Officers to Leave (NYT, $)
A Hippo Violation
- Around the globe, people infected with COVID-19 aren’t just spreading it to other people – they’re infecting their pets, and even some non-human zoo residents. The CDC has said companion animals, especially cats and dogs, are the leading group of animal species impacted by the coronavirus.
- But infections in zoo animals have been reported world-wide, including in big cats, primates, ferrets, and minks. Last month, three snow leopards at a zoo in Nebraska died of complications from the virus. And now, in an apparent case of first impression, two hippos at a zoo in Antwerp, Belgium have tested positive for COVID-19.
- It’s being reported that 14-year-old Imani Hippo and 41-year-old Hermien Hippo have shown no symptoms “other than runny noses.” How these giant animals were exposed to the virus is a mystery, since their caretakers haven’t shown any symptoms and have tested negative for the virus. Just to be on the safe side, Imani and Hermien are being kept in isolation, and aren’t receiving any visitors. (Scientific American, CNN)
Additional Reads
- Mountaineer given jewels he found on French glacier 50 years after plane crash (Guardian)
- Urban garden in Rio feeds hundreds of families in former ‘crackland’ (Reuters)
- China lunar rover to check out cube-shaped ‘mystery house’ object on far side of the moon (CNET)
- Japanese princess celebrates coming of age (Reuters)
- Meet the new astronaut candidates for NASA’s moon missions (NPR)
- After a “thorough review,” NASA awards additional astronaut flights to SpaceX (Ars Technica)
- Earth is getting a black box to record events that lead to the downfall of civilization (CNET)