The 24 Seven: Globalism
Implications from the fall of the Assad regime and more to start the week
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and I had a blast on Friday’s chat, which turned into a de facto Friday happy hour. I’ll have more announcements this week.Coming up later this week on the next episode of The Ground Game Podcast,
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1. Syria Fallout
The rapid rebel takeover of Syria’s capital city of Damascus and the embattled country, forcing Syrian president Bashar al Assad to flee to Moscow, seems to have reshaped the Middle East in dramatic ways which will take a long time to sort out. Many a comparison has been made to scenes from “Charlie Wilson’s War” and the fallout from American operations in Afghanistan routing the Soviets.
Highly recommend this wild story of the Assad family from
in her HUMINT Substack.2. Gabbard Heat
Former congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is making the rounds in the Senate this week ahead as she begins seeking support for her nomination to be Director of National Intelligence. The former Hawaii congresswoman, who has aligned herself with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stances on foreign policy and has spoken well of the deposed Assad, has sparked significant concerns from national security and intelligence hawks concerned she could open new vulnerabilities if she were to become the de facto funnel for the various U.S. intelligence agencies.
In a strange episode, the Trump campaign and one of Gabbard’s longtime aides attacked a Washington Post reporter online as he was reporting on her. And the religious group Gabbard belongs to, Science of Identity, has a history of attacking people who ask questions about their operations. (In case you missed last week, you should read this investigation into the death of a Hawaii resident tied to Gabbard’s religious group, reported at length by Spy Talk reporter
In my discussions around D.C. and with sources in Trumpworld, Gabbard keeps coming up as the nominee most in trouble for her potential security threats if given the keys to America’s intelligence agencies.
3. Prison Branding
With the stunning declaration from incoming president Donald Trump over the weekend that he would like to see his political opponents placed in jail.
has the highlights here from the interview.Top Democrats are still on pins and needles, with much discussion of whether President Joe Biden should preemptively pardon the officials Trump and his team have targeted for attack.
It’s worth noting that two of the people who have been the loudest threatening imprisonment went to prison earlier this year for refusing to comply with a Congressional subpoena, sparking a months-long legal process in which they showed how — with the help of lots of money — to delay .
And, of course, Trump himself revealed the efficacy of delay via motions, appeals and even shuffling of boxes of classified documents — although he burned through millions of dollars in campaign donations in the process.
An important thing to note, following on the findings of the election — a large part of the country has no idea that the incoming president is repeatedly saying he wants to jail members of Congress because that news is not included in their algorithmic feeds.
4. The Zeitgeist
Police say they have a suspect in custody in the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, which sparked a populist backlash of violence and revelry online from those who said he deserved to die because of the massive pain and suffering his company caused. The New York Times reports that 26-year-old Luigi Mangione was detained at a McDonald’s in rural Pennsylvania allegedly with a ghost gun and a manifesto.
Mangione was the valedictorian of a top-tier private school in Baltimore, The Daily Beast reports.
Meanwhile, a jury found Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran, not guilty of negligent homicide in the 2023 chokehold death of New York subway performer Jordan Neely, NBC4 New York reports.
High profile attacks and threats interspersed with culture, politics and race have become a norm of the digital-media era, with Russian operatives calling in bomb threats to foreign countries, top Democrats and Republicans, judges and others becoming the targets of “swatting” calls to their homes and public officials of all stripes hiring private bodyguards to keep them safe in the highly volatile era.
5. Dems
House Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin is on a glide path to the top minority spot on the House Judiciary Committee, The Baltimore Banner reports. The expected move opens the top investigations slot on the House Oversight Committee, which Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been angling for.
Meanwhile, the race for the Democratic Party Chair, expected to be voted on in February, is well under way with four declared candidates — Social Security administrator Martin O’Malley, Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman Ben Wikler, Minnesota Democratic-Farm Labor Party chairman Ken Martin, New York state senator James Koufis lobbied for votes last week in Arizona at a meeting of the state Democratic party chairs, the AP reports.
6. The Madigan Trial
Far from the global realignment, violence and high-level politicking, Illinois is embroiled in an oldschool political corruption trial which reads like the Best of Mike Royko covering the Daley machine.
My Ground Game co-host
has been tracking the proceedings regularly at his Illinois newsletter, The Illinoize.7. Get in front of decision-makers with 24sight News
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Cheers,
Tom LoBianco
National politics reporter and co-founder, 24sight News