Why Turkey's Erdogan is blocking NATO membership for Finland and Sweden

...Erdogan’s demands mostly center on extraditing Turkish foes, such as members of the militant, terrorist-labeled Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Turkey has been fighting for 38 years, and followers of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he alleges was behind a 2016 coup attempt to oust him. Finland extradited two of the 10 people on Turkey’s list and is reportedly evaluating seven more, while Sweden passed a new antiterrorism law. But Turkey still isn’t satisfied and has insisted on the extradition of others for crimes, including the public criticism of Erdogan.

“To fully try to meet all of Turkey’s demands, Sweden would have to turn itself into an alternative sort of authoritarian police state,” Paul Levin, director of Stockholm University’s Institute for Turkish Studies, told Yahoo News.

Finnish analysts share the sentiment. “Most of the demands are impossible to fulfill, such as extraditing a person just because he has used a Bylock [encrypted] application or has written a Facebook comment critical of President Erdogan,” Toni Alaranta, a senior research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told Balkan Insight...

Mike Pence says no president in his lifetime has lied as often as Joe Biden. Um...

CNN
—
This was an actual exchange between former Vice President Mike Pence and Fox Business Network host Larry Kudlow on Monday:

Kudlow: “Have you ever seen a president who refuses to accept blame, and I want to add to that, commits so many falsehoods? I’m being very polite here, calling it falsehoods – falsehoods, you know, on any given day. He’s out there saying stuff that just ain’t true. Have you ever seen anything like that?”

Pence: “Never in my lifetime. I said today that there has never been a time in my life where a president was more disconnected from the American people than we see today.”

Repeat: This back-and-forth actually happened. On planet Earth. And, as far as I can tell, it was not an attempt at parody...

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/21/politics/mike-pence-donald-trump-joe-biden-falsehoods/index.html

Are there any practical ramifications to the threat of Texas seceding?

Let's say the Texas legislature, governor, and a majority of voters all support such a thing. Would there be any actual movement toward doing it? Would they get anywhere?

Or is this just red meat for the base?

Trump claims he never asked Pence to overturn the election on Truth Social after dramatic J6 hearing

Source: The Independent

Former president Donald Trump denied that he tried to force vice president Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 presidential election results on January 6 last year.

Mr Trump’s words come a day after the House select committee investigating the riot at the US Capitol held its third public hearing, where Mr Pence’s former White House Counsel Greg Jacob testified about the pressure campaign the former vice president sustained at the hands of the president and his legal team...

“Such LIES & MISREPRESENTATION by the Unselects, and absolutely nobody allowed to challenge what is being said”, Mr Trump posted. “As an example, I never asked V.P. Pence to ‘overturn’ the election (although Thomas Jefferson ‘took’ the Georgia votes), but that he send the votes back to the Legislatures so that they could determine if the irregularities and Fraud were as widespread and signficant as they seemed.”...

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-pence-overturn-election-jan-6-b2103457.html

Russia's Oil Revenue Soars Despite Sanctions, Study Finds

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered global condemnation and tough sanctions aimed at denting Moscow’s war chest. Yet Russia’s revenues from fossil fuels, by far its biggest export, soared to records in the first 100 days of its war on Ukraine, driven by a windfall from oil sales amid surging prices, a new analysis shows.

Russia earned what is very likely a record 93 billion euros in revenue from exports of oil, gas and coal in the first 100 days of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, according to data analyzed by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a research organization based in Helsinki, Finland. About two-thirds of those earnings, the equivalent of about $97 billion, came from oil, and most of the remainder from natural gas.

“The current rate of revenue is unprecedented, because prices are unprecedented, and export volumes are close to their highest levels on record,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst who led the center’s research...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/13/climate/russia-oil-gas-record-revenue.html

The J6 Committee should be sharing all information the DOJ needs. Full stop.

I've been critical and cynical toward Garland and the DOJ in regard to prosecuting TFG and his inner circle. I guess I still am.

That said, the J6 committee has no reason to impede them by withholding evidence they have requested.

As said by the DOJ in a letter -

“The Select Committee’s failure to grant the Department access to these transcripts complicates the Department’s ability to investigate and prosecute those who engaged in criminal conduct in relation to the January 6 attack on the Capitol”

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/16/tensions-escalate-as-doj-renews-request-for-jan-6-panel-transcripts-00040267

Lauren Boebert responds to American Muckrakers PAC story

Rachel's new theory: Trump didn't want to win the 2020 election legitimately

He wanted to lose at the polls so he could execute a coup afterward and destroy our democracy. She said it on one of the J6 discussions.

No link, one would be appreciated if someone sees a video or transcript.

Marjorie Taylor Greene Claims Tampon Shortage Fueled by Transgender People

Russians control 80% of key Ukraine city, cut escape routes

Source: AP

Russian troops control about 80% of the fiercely contested eastern city of Sievierodonetsk and have destroyed all three bridges leading out of it but Ukrainians were still trying to evacuate the wounded, a regional official said Tuesday.

Serhiy Haidai, governor of the eastern Luhansk region, acknowledged that a mass evacuation of civilians from Sievierodonetsk now was “simply not possible” due to the relentless shelling and fighting. Ukrainian forces have been pushed to the industrial outskirts of the city because of “the scorched earth method and heavy artillery the Russians are using,” he said.

“There is still an opportunity for the evacuation of the wounded, communication with the Ukrainian military and local residents,” he told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that Russian soldiers have not yet completely blocked off the strategic city.

About 12,000 people remain in Sievierodonetsk, from a pre-war population of 100,000. More than 500 civilians are sheltering in the Azot chemical plant, which is being pounded by the Russians, according to Haidai...

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-government-and-politics-01f6d1c027ce68791667ffaafb61e30c