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FOCUS: Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Fox Is a Far-Right Disinformation Machine and the GOP's Propaganda Arm

 


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FOCUS: Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Fox Is a Far-Right Disinformation Machine and the GOP's Propaganda Arm
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Lucid
Ben-Ghiat writes: "When the full history of the 2020-2021 coup attempt against American democracy is written, Fox will be a main protagonist." 


Taking on Fox starts with calling out its real roles in American politics and society


When the full history of the 2020-2021 coup attempt against American democracy is written, Fox will be a main protagonist. The Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit documents have put a spotlight on the network’s role at that time and the ongoing threat it poses to democracy. As a far-right radicalization machine and the de facto propaganda arm of the GOP, Fox is best understood through an authoritarian lens. Fox and the GOP are now closer than ever as they manage a massive coverup operation of their roles in trying to overturn the 2020 election and facilitating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.

Every authoritarian takeover depends on enablers from business, religion, the law, industry, and the media. In return for profits and privileges, elites agree to tolerate and/or facilitate the rollback of rights, the spread of propaganda narratives, and the recourse to violence against state enemies. These participants in the destruction of democracy often go unpunished, even if the politicians at the center of that takeover are eventually prosecuted. This has been the case with Fox.

Fox has some of the highest-rated shows on American television, but its leadership is far less interested in informing the public than in making money and keeping Democrats who might pass dangerous social and economic reforms out of office. The network backs Republican politicians who seem most likely to meet its needs, and then turns on them if they don't deliver or become a liability.

Fox's man was former president Donald Trump, until he denied that he lost the 2020 election, presenting the network with a dilemma. "He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong," worried Fox's chief demagogue Tucker Carlson in late 2020. Playing it "right” entailed Fox doubling down on its commitment to Trump’s lies, even after his attempt to overthrow the government. "Anyone who calls Jan. 6 an insurrection is a liar," Carlson remarked in December 2021.

Then came the 2022 midterms, in which Trump-endorsed candidates fared badly. So, now the network is backing Florida Fascist Ron DeSantis, hoping he will wreck democracy in a more disciplined and orderly fashion, à la Carlson's Hungarian hero Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Even as the politicians come and go, falling in and out of favor, Fox remains. In Jan. 2023, the network staged a “takeover” of the Capitol, hosted by Sean Hannity, to remind us of its power.

That's why if we want to save American democracy, we must take on Fox as well as the GOP, starting with calling it out for what it is: a disinformation machine designed to destroy trust in democratic institutions, including the idea that America’s electoral system is free and fair. When Fox host Neil Cavuto cut away from a Nov. 2020 White House briefing that promoted election lies, Fox officials tellingly called Cavuto's decision to stand up for the truth a "brand threat."

Fox also serves as the GOP's de facto propaganda arm. While Fox does not directly make policy, it heavily influences GOP lawmakers, and Carlson styles himself as an enforcer of the party line. In Jan. 2022, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) was brought onto Carlson's show to apologize for calling Jan. 6 a "violent terrorist attack," a comment that contradicts Republican and Fox narratives about Jan. 6 as a "legitimate protest" at Joe Biden stealing the 2020 election.

The humiliation given to Cruz was part of a GOP-Fox joint coverup operation of their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election and inciting the assault on the Capitol. It continues now with GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s decision to give Fox unseen footage of Jan. 6 so the network can construct a false narrative that exonerates GOP conspirators in the public’s mind.

So, what can we do to counter Fox? As anyone with a loved one attached to Fox programming knows, it is difficult to convince Fox viewers to change channels —although a study in which Fox viewers were paid to watch CNN for a month produced promising results in terms of returning some viewers to reality.

We can support the campaign of VoteVets, a progressive veterans group, to have Fox removed from U.S. military bases for broadcasting disinformation. Those in military families might pass on VoteVets' latest ad to GOP and Fox sympathizers, reminding them that giving troops and officers a false picture of reality is dangerous to national security.

We can also organize pressure campaigns to speed the exits of Fox executives and their on-air propagandists from lucrative seats on boards of directors. Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo, whose election denial propaganda figures heavily in the Dominion lawsuit documents, sits on NYU's board.

We can also protest the presence of Fox propagandists at important conferences, where their lies and corruption are normalized and everyone decides to ignore the awkward fact that they are turning a profit from destroying democracy.

Why was Lachlan Murdoch invited to speak at Morgan Stanley's Technology, Media, and Telecom gathering? There, he merely continued to gaslight Americans by claiming that Fox reports the news "without fear or favor.” He also asserted that the Dominion lawsuit was "actually not about the law and it's not about journalism. It's really about the politics. Unfortunately, that is more reflective of our polarized society that we live in today." Sadly, none of the attendees of the clubby Morgan Stanley conference reminded Murdoch that Fox has been a main agent of that polarization.

Authoritarian dynamics help us to assess Fox's actual role in America today as it intensifies its partnership with a autocratic party. Both Fox and the GOP are complicit in the coup attempt, and both are desperately trying to shut down all damaging investigations and narratives. Fox’s actions resemble those of a media outlet owned by a crony of an illiberal politician. It is a network dedicated to demonizing the political opposition and indoctrinating viewers to blindly believe the party, no matter how destructive to society the consequences may be.

When the full history of the 2020-2021 coup attempt against American democracy is written, Fox will be a main protagonist. The Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit documents have put a spotlight on the network’s role at that time and the ongoing threat it poses to democracy. As a far-right radicalization machine and the de facto propaganda arm of the GOP, Fox is best understood through an authoritarian lens. Fox and the GOP are now closer than ever as they manage a massive coverup operation of their roles in trying to overturn the 2020 election and facilitating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.

Every authoritarian takeover depends on enablers from business, religion, the law, industry, and the media. In return for profits and privileges, elites agree to tolerate and/or facilitate the rollback of rights, the spread of propaganda narratives, and the recourse to violence against state enemies. These participants in the destruction of democracy often go unpunished, even if the politicians at the center of that takeover are eventually prosecuted. This has been the case with Fox.

Fox has some of the highest-rated shows on American television, but its leadership is far less interested in informing the public than in making money and keeping Democrats who might pass dangerous social and economic reforms out of office. The network backs Republican politicians who seem most likely to meet its needs, and then turns on them if they don't deliver or become a liability.

Fox's man was former president Donald Trump, until he denied that he lost the 2020 election, presenting the network with a dilemma. "He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong," worried Fox's chief demagogue Tucker Carlson in late 2020. Playing it "right” entailed Fox doubling down on its commitment to Trump’s lies, even after his attempt to overthrow the government. "Anyone who calls Jan. 6 an insurrection is a liar," Carlson remarked in December 2021.

Then came the 2022 midterms, in which Trump-endorsed candidates fared badly. So, now the network is backing Florida Fascist Ron DeSantis, hoping he will wreck democracy in a more disciplined and orderly fashion, à la Carlson's Hungarian hero Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Even as the politicians come and go, falling in and out of favor, Fox remains. In Jan. 2023, the network staged a “takeover” of the Capitol, hosted by Sean Hannity, to remind us of its power.

That's why if we want to save American democracy, we must take on Fox as well as the GOP, starting with calling it out for what it is: a disinformation machine designed to destroy trust in democratic institutions, including the idea that America’s electoral system is free and fair. When Fox host Neil Cavuto cut away from a Nov. 2020 White House briefing that promoted election lies, Fox officials tellingly called Cavuto's decision to stand up for the truth a "brand threat."

Fox also serves as the GOP's de facto propaganda arm. While Fox does not directly make policy, it heavily influences GOP lawmakers, and Carlson styles himself as an enforcer of the party line. In Jan. 2022, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) was brought onto Carlson's show to apologize for calling Jan. 6 a "violent terrorist attack," a comment that contradicts Republican and Fox narratives about Jan. 6 as a "legitimate protest" at Joe Biden stealing the 2020 election.

The humiliation given to Cruz was part of a GOP-Fox joint coverup operation of their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election and inciting the assault on the Capitol. It continues now with GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s decision to give Fox unseen footage of Jan. 6 so the network can construct a false narrative that exonerates GOP conspirators in the public’s mind.

So, what can we do to counter Fox? As anyone with a loved one attached to Fox programming knows, it is difficult to convince Fox viewers to change channels —although a study in which Fox viewers were paid to watch CNN for a month produced promising results in terms of returning some viewers to reality.

We can support the campaign of VoteVets, a progressive veterans group, to have Fox removed from U.S. military bases for broadcasting disinformation. Those in military families might pass on VoteVets' latest ad to GOP and Fox sympathizers, reminding them that giving troops and officers a false picture of reality is dangerous to national security.

We can also organize pressure campaigns to speed the exits of Fox executives and their on-air propagandists from lucrative seats on boards of directors. Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo, whose election denial propaganda figures heavily in the Dominion lawsuit documents, sits on NYU's board.

We can also protest the presence of Fox propagandists at important conferences, where their lies and corruption are normalized and everyone decides to ignore the awkward fact that they are turning a profit from destroying democracy.

Why was Lachlan Murdoch invited to speak at Morgan Stanley's Technology, Media, and Telecom gathering? There, he merely continued to gaslight Americans by claiming that Fox reports the news "without fear or favor.” He also asserted that the Dominion lawsuit was "actually not about the law and it's not about journalism. It's really about the politics. Unfortunately, that is more reflective of our polarized society that we live in today." Sadly, none of the attendees of the clubby Morgan Stanley conference reminded Murdoch that Fox has been a main agent of that polarization.

Authoritarian dynamics help us to assess Fox's actual role in America today as it intensifies its partnership with a autocratic party. Both Fox and the GOP are complicit in the coup attempt, and both are desperately trying to shut down all damaging investigations and narratives. Fox’s actions resemble those of a media outlet owned by a crony of an illiberal politician. It is a network dedicated to demonizing the political opposition and indoctrinating viewers to blindly believe the party, no matter how destructive to society the consequences may be.


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Moody’s Downgrades Entire U.S. Banking System; Credit Suisse Plummets. Welcome to Banking Crisis 3.0

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Moody’s Downgrades Entire U.S. Banking System; Credit Suisse Plummets. Welcome to Banking Crisis 3.0

Federal Reserve Building, Washington, D.C.By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: March 15, 2023 ~

The “Related Articles” linked below (a tiny sampling of relevant articles) will remind our readers just how long and in how many different ways we have been attempting to warn that the U.S. banking system was incompetently structured and at risk of systemic contagion. We have also repeatedly warned that the crony, captured Fed was the worst possible banking supervisor and should be stripped of its bank regulatory powers and restricted to setting monetary policy. We have repeatedly cautioned, citing experts in the field, that the Fed’s stress tests were little more than a placebo and would not prevent the next banking crisis. (Check out our numerous articles at this link. Scroll down.)

On July 29 of last year we wrote that Wall Street Megabanks’ Multi-Billion Dollar Blunders Suggest Money Controls as Good as George Bailey’s Uncle Billy and summed up our analysis with: “This is the stuff of banana republics – not a financial system befitting a superpower.”

On a regular basis, we emailed these articles to key staff of the Senators and House Reps who sit on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees.

Late Monday, the credit rating agency, Moody’s, downgraded the entire U.S. banking system outlook to negative from stable. (Let that sink in for a moment – a downgrade of the entire U.S. banking system.) The news of the Moody’s downgrade did not hit the wires until yesterday, which should have cratered the most vulnerable bank stocks. Instead, there was a highly suspicious short squeeze that fueled a big rally in the prices of publicly-traded banks.

That unwarranted optimism has now been reversed this morning with Dow futures down more than 600 points just after 8:00 a.m. in New York; major banks in Europe temporarily halted from trading after steep selloffs; and troubled Swiss behemoth bank, Credit Suisse, down 24 percent to a new all time low of $1.74 in morning trade in Europe following multiple trading halts. For the systemic contagion posed by Credit Suisse, see our February 10 article: Credit Suisse Tanks Yesterday to $3.02; It’s Lost Over 90 Percent of Its Market Value Since 2007; It’s Not Alone.

We say in our headline above that this is Banking Crisis 3.0 because this is the third time (excluding the emergency measures taken in 2020 as a result of the COVID pandemic) that the Federal Reserve has deployed emergency measures to bail out the U.S. banking system in the past 15 years. (Prior to the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, which prevented the combination of Wall Street trading houses with federally-insured banks, there had been no major Fed bailouts for 66 years.)

The banking crisis of 2008 was widely covered by the media, which even went to court to get the Fed to come clean on the dollar amounts and names of the banks that received trillions of dollars in secret, cumulative loans from the Fed. (See our report last year: Mainstream Media Has Morphed from Battling the Fed in Court in 2008 to Groveling at its Feet Today.)

But because Congress failed to restore the Glass-Steagall Act after the 2008 financial crash – the worst since the Great Depression – the Fed was back to secretly bailing out the trading units of the behemoth depository banks in September 2019. Mainstream media – across the board – censored this critical story. See our report: There’s a News Blackout on the Fed’s Naming of the Banks that Got Its Emergency Repo Loans; Some Journalists Appear to Be Under Gag Orders.

That censorship allowed Congress to kick the can down the road, leading to this even greater Banking Crisis 3.0 today.

Related Articles:

Secretary Yellen, We’ve Got a “Staggering” Problem: New Report Shows Foreign Banks Have Secret Derivative Debt that Is “10 Times their Capital”

Evidence Grows that Crypto and Federally-Insured Banks Are a Combustible Mixture

Casino Banking: Wall Street Mega Banks Traded More in their Federally-Insured Bank than the Total for their Bank Holding Company

Shhh! Don’t Tell the Fed or Mainstream Media that Systemic Contagion at Wall Street Banks Is Already Here

Another Dangerous Virus Hits the U.S. – Wall Street Bank Contagion

Wall Street Banks Tank Yesterday as Contagion Threat Grows

Contagion – What the Next Wall Street Crisis Will Look Like

Add 4,281 Hedge Fund Clients to What Makes JPMorgan Chase the Riskiest Mega Bank in the U.S.

New Study: Wall Street Banks Are Doubling Down on Risk by Selling Credit Default Swaps on their Risky Derivatives Counterparties

Internal Charts Show Treasury Agency Assigned to Measure Risk in U.S. Markets Slept through the Repo Crisis of 2019 and the Fed’s $19.87 Trillion Bailout

The Fed Has Misled the Public about the “Strength” of the Wall Street Mega Banks: This Chart Shows the True Picture

An Insider Blows the Whistle on How the Fed Has Allowed Crypto to Invade Federally-Insured Banks

LINK



POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: DiZoglio digs in

 

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BY LISA KASHINSKY

PROPAGANDA! 

NUCLEAR IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE ENERGY

KNOWN FOR COST OVERRUNS

CAPITAL MARKETS WON'T LOAN $$$
AND RADIOACTVE WASTE? 

Presented by

NextEra Energy

YOU GET AN AUDIT AND YOU GET AN AUDIT — Diana DiZoglio is locked in a familiar dance.

She’s trying to open the Legislature up to scrutiny. Legislative leaders are trying to stonewall her. Except this time, she’s doing it as the state’s new auditor and not as a rank-and-file lawmaker.

DiZoglio’s former colleagues are questioning her authority to audit them under the state Constitution’s separation of powers clause. And neither chamber has directly responded to the engagement letters she sent last week seeking information on everything from hiring to committee appointments. Instead, Senate President Karen Spilka pushed back on the probe in a statement to reporters.

Thus begins a battle that’s likely to be fought in the press and the courts — of public opinion and, perhaps, of law. After firing her opening salvo last week, DiZoglio has been hitting the media circuit to make her case.

Her latest stop: The Horse Race podcast. Here are excerpts from our interview with DiZoglio, edited for length and clarity:

State Auditor candidate Diana DiZoglio speaks during a Democratic election night party, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

State Auditor candidate Diana DiZoglio speaks during a Democratic election night party, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) | AP

Do you have the authority to do this audit?

All entities are required to be audited by our office at least once every three years, and we are committed to ensuring that happens by making sure the Legislature becomes part of that list again. It sort of magically just fell off of the list even though it was done previously [in 1922]. ... Anybody can decide if they want to resist the opportunity to work alongside our office. … But it certainly is within the power of the office. And it is my hope that the Legislature will comply.

Do you have any tools to make the Legislature comply, or does this possibly just have to go to the courts?

The statute says that the courts are authorized to require the production of documents and testimony that we may need to be able to complete our audits. But it is my hope that legislative leaders will see this as the opportunity that it is — to increase transparency, accountability and equity for those who are seeking nothing more than to have a seat at the table. … Going to the courts should not have to be necessary.

DiZoglio is asking lawmakers for more money to either hire more auditors to help the office stay on track with its three-year auditing cycle, or to switch to a four-year cycle (and hire a smaller number of staff).

Do you have any concerns that pursuing both more funding and an audit of the Legislature might have negative consequences for your budget?

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? We are, of course, pursuing opportunities to make it more possible for us to do our jobs efficiently and effectively. And I am very happy that the Healey-Driscoll administration agrees with our office that a four-year cycle makes more sense.

GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Hear DiZoglio talk about the other 70-some audits her office has going — including her new probes into the MBTA and the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority — on this week's episode, available now on iTunes and Sound Cloud .

TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll visit MassCEC’s New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal at 10:45 a.m. and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute at 1 p.m. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu holds a press conference on the city’s Green New Deal at 10:30 a.m. in Allston and speaks at a Boston Arts Academy Foundation reception at 6 p.m. in Fenway. Rep. Seth Moulton is on WBUR’s “Radio Boston” at 11 a.m.

Tips? Scoops? Birthdays? Email me: lkashinsky@politico.com .

PROPAGANDA! 

NUCLEAR IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE ENERGY

KNOWN FOR COST OVERRUNS

CAPITAL MARKETS WON'T LOAN $$$
AND RADIOACTVE WASTE? 

A message from NextEra Energy:

Seabrook Station nuclear power plant generates safe, clean, emissions-free energy that has helped power New England for decades. A long-term power purchase agreement with Seabrook would help Massachusetts meet climate emissions goals and lower energy bills at a substantial value to consumers. An agreement that locks in prices over several decades would – even estimated against fluctuating natural gas prices – lower electricity bills, saving Massachusetts’ consumers between $890 million to $2.62 billion on energy costs  over a 10-year period.

 
DATELINE BEACON HILL

— “Mass. sportsbooks report $25.7M in February,” by Christian M. Wade, Daily News of Newburyport: “Massachusetts sportsbooks roped in more than $25.7 million in bets during the first full month of wagering on games, according to state regulators. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which regulates the industry, said the three casinos licensed to accept in-person wagers reported $2 million in revenue for sportsbooks after all bets were settled. That translates into about $300,000 in tax revenue for the state, the commission said.”

— “Campbell warns municipalities MBTA zoning law not optional,” by Jennifer Smith, CommonWealth Magazine: “Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell is wading into the MBTA communities dust-up, releasing an advisory Wednesday morning emphasizing that participating in the transit-oriented housing policy is not optional and raising the prospect of legal and financial consequences for cities or towns that decide to buck the policy.”

— “AG's office posts record number of housing related complaints in 2022,” by Sarah Betancourt, GBH News: “For the first time, housing complaints surpassed those against used car dealers. The office received 918 consumer complaints about rental housing in 2022, and 171 requests for help through their eviction help request form. Many of those complaints involved unsafe or unsanitary conditions in rental units.”

— “Legislation could permanently ban exercise equipment in state prisons,” by Rachael Devaney, Cape Cod Times: “In January, [state Rep. Steven] Xiarhos filed legislation to ensure that any and all exercise equipment accessible to inmates is secured in order to prevent its removal from the gym. The bill also specifies that no inmate in a medium or maximum-security correctional institution will have access to free weights.”

— “Healey retaining Craven as education board chair,” by Michael Jonas, CommonWealth Magazine: “Gov. Maura Healey who vowed last year in her campaign launch to ‘continue with what’s working and fix what’s not,’ has decided the existing leadership of the state education board is working just fine."

 

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING : What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today .

 
 
VAX-ACHUSETTS

— “Massachusetts will end its COVID-19 emergency status on May 11,” by Katie Lannan, GBH News: “The COVID-19 public health emergency in Massachusetts and the vaccine mandate for more than 40,000 state workers will both end on May 11, Gov. Maura Healey announced Wednesday. … Certain workers will still be subject to vaccine mandates under rules from the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Healey’s office said.”

As for the roughly 1,000 workers who were fired or quit over the mandate, a Healey spokesperson said her administration will “be discussing reinstatement options" with their unions. Some workers were already offered their jobs back last year.

FROM THE HUB

— “State steps in to extend Mass and Cass Roundhouse program through July,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: “Some services at the old Roundhouse hotel on Mass and Cass now will run through the end of July, the state now says as it looks to allow for a ‘winddown’ rather than the March 31 closure that Boston Medical Center had planned.”

— SUFFOLK SPECIALS: Jamaica Plain resident Celia Segel is launching her campaign for 10th Suffolk state representative today. Segel most recently worked at the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission and was a past political director for NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts (now Reproductive Equity Now).

— Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson has endorsed John Moran for 9th Suffolk state representative, according to his campaign. Moran serves on Fernandes Anderson's district advisory council.

PROPAGANDA! 

NUCLEAR IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE ENERGY

KNOWN FOR COST OVERRUNS

CAPITAL MARKETS WON'T LOAN $$$
AND RADIOACTVE WASTE? 

 

A message from NextEra Energy:

Advertisement Image 

 
PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

— “Two months in, Healey faces a familiar challenge for past governors: an MBTA in disarray,” by Samantha J. Gross, Matt Stout and Taylor Dolven, Boston Globe: “While the new governor says she now owns the T, some advocates believe Healey could be more vocal by forcibly calling out the problems and her plans to address them. She has yet to hire a new general manager at the agency despite declaring in December that she would act in ‘weeks, and not several months,’ nor has she replaced a single member of its board, they note. … ‘I don’t think there is such a thing as a grace period anymore, if there ever was one,’ said Representative William M. Straus, who cochairs the Legislature’s transportation committee.”

— “Maura Healey’s DPU appointments indicate MBTA watchdog change, observers say,” by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “Two observers said the move to appoint commissioners focused on climate and energy rather than transportation signals a larger plan from Gov. Maura Healey to shift MBTA safety oversight from the DPU to a new state agency, pointing to legislation that has already been filed for such a change. But the Healey administration denied this on Wednesday, saying that the governor’s appointments are part of her efforts to create a ‘21st-century DPU, which includes expanded, in-house expertise in transit safety.’”

PARTY POLITICS

— “Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, Credit Suisse all donated to Massachusetts Democrats,” by Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald: “The Massachusetts Democratic State Committee received $1,500 from SVB employees in 2022, according to Open Secrets. … Candidate for the MA-4 Congressional District, Alan Khazei, received $7,800 from SVB employees in 2020, according to Open Secrets; former Congressman Joe Kennedy III, now the Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, collected $3,800. That same year they gave U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren $806.”

 

DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS – DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID .

 
 
WARREN REPORT

— “Bipartisan dinner soothes Harris-Warren tensions,” by Amie Parnes and Hanna Trudo, The Hill: “On Tuesday night, [Vice President Kamala] Harris hosted a bipartisan dinner — attended by [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren — for female senators at the U.S. Naval Observatory, something she has done a couple of times, sources said. ... The dinner — featuring Harris’s signature cheese puffs and chicken — was partly aimed at quashing the storyline with Warren and putting the skirmish behind them.”

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “New College transfer students invited by like-minded campus,” by Michael Casey, The Associated Press: “A small liberal arts college in Massachusetts is rolling out the welcome mat for students from a Florida school that has been taken over by conservatives picked by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Hampshire College in Amherst this month announced that any students in good standing from New College of Florida can transfer there and, with the help of student aid, pay the same amount in tuition they are paying in Florida.”

— “‘A chaotic mess at any turn’: Why Worcester City Council meetings can be a spectacle,” by Sam Turken, GBH News: “There have been times when speakers have cursed out counselors. And when the mayor has threatened to have people arrested for speaking too long during the public comment period. Last year, councilors debated international nuclear weapon disarmament.”

— “Feeling betrayed by the powerful again, sexual assault survivor Chessy Prout is fighting back,” by Jim Puzzanghera, Boston Globe.

— “Island-wide nip ban goes to vote next month,” by Abigail Rosen, MV Times.

MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

— TRAIL MARKERS: Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks to Cheshire County Republicans at 6 p.m. in Keene. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who also hasn’t ruled out a 2024 presidential bid, has a town hall scheduled at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics on March 27.

Former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley makes her second swing through New Hampshire as a presidential candidate on March 27-28. In true New England fashion, one of Haley's stops is a "Lumber and Lobster" event with the New Hampshire Home Builders Association.

PROPAGANDA! 

NUCLEAR IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE ENERGY

KNOWN FOR COST OVERRUNS

CAPITAL MARKETS WON'T LOAN $$$
AND RADIOACTVE WASTE? 

A message from NextEra Energy:

Continued operation of the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant reduces electricity costs and boosts the state’s economy. A long-term power purchase agreement with Seabrook would contribute approximately $3 billion to the Massachusetts economy through utility bill savings, reduced energy costs and job creation/support. Seabrook has generated safe, reliable, low-cost, and emissions-free energy for more than 30 years. Seabrook’s operation will continue to provide baseload energy, with price stability, while Massachusetts scales up its renewable energy sources. Operating Seabrook would avoid nearly 50 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions over a 10-year period and contribute to Massachusetts meeting its clean air goals. A long-term PPA will help Massachusetts meet its clean energy standard. Nuclear energy is carbon emissions-free and Massachusetts’ most cost-effective tool to combat climate change. The procurement of additional energy from Seabrook going forward would help the Massachusetts affordably and reliably meet its clean energy needs.

 
HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

TRANSITIONS — Harvard’s Simon Levien and UMass Amherst’s Saliha Bayrak and John Underhill have been selected for the 2023 class of the POLITICO Journalism Institute .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Boston Globe alum and Philadelphia Inquirer digital editor Felicia Gans Sobey, Mark Eurich, Bobby Deren and Mary Deren .

REWIND — I joined WBZ NewsRadio's "NightSide with Dan Rea" to chat about journalism and politics.

Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com .

 

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Judges are failing to disclose luxury trips, too

  May 4, 2024 Through a  series of shocking investigations  last year, we learned that sitting Supreme Court justices had made a habit of ac...