Also on today’s menu:
Undermining Affordable Care Act
Bannon Surrenders To New York Authorities
What Happened To Rudy Giuliani?
A potential prisoner swap to free Women’s National Basketball Association player Brittney Griner from a Russian prison would release Viktor Anatolyevich Bout, an international arms trafficker, to again threaten the lives of Americans, argues Peter Savodnik in Bari Weiss’ Common Sense.
Bout, who used his air transport companies to smuggle weapons to Africa and the Middle East, gaining the nickname “the Merchant of Death,” was arrested in Thailand on terrorism charges by the Royal Thai Police, in cooperation with American authorities and INTERPOL. He was extradited to the United States for allegedly planning to smuggle arms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia for use against U.S. forces there (a charge he has denied).
An attorney who represents wrongfully detained Americans expressed surprise at the potential deal, saying, “if the news reports are accurate about Viktor Bout, I’d say offering him in trade — that would be totally shocking. I’ve been at this a long time. I cannot tell you the number of times the government has said flatly, ‘We will not consider trading people who have openly supported unlawful violence or contributed to it, it’s just a nonstarter.’”
Many Americans are being held in underground cells overseas, some of them tortured or starved. In addition to Brittney Griner, there are Paul Whelan, a Marine also being held in Russia; Austin Tice, a journalist and former Marine who disappeared more than a decade ago in Syria; and the Citgo 6 oil executives who have been detained in Venezuela for nearly five years.
Yet Griner is a star, noted Jared Genser, a Washington, D.C., attorney who has handled several high-profile hostage cases. “She’s a high-profile person in general, and any person who’s a celebrity who has a big platform is going to get a lot of attention,” he said.
It took just three months for the United States to declare her “wrongfully detained” — a process that in other cases can take years — even though Griner admitted bringing vaping cartridges with trace amounts of hashish oil into the country.
Seeking her release makes more sense if it is part of a prisoner exchange that also would release the Marine Paul Whelan. “I think Whelan makes it worth it,” a source told Savodnik.
Undermining Affordable Care Act
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, in the case Braidwood Management v. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, ruled in favor of Texas business owners and citizens who opposed having to purchase insurance that covered PrEP drugs to prevent HIV infection, contraception, the HPV vaccine, and screenings and counseling for STDs and drug use.
Using the same type of argument used by people opposed to school vouchers that allow tax money to go to parochial schools, the plaintiffs argued that being forced to participate in health insurance plans that cover care that violates their beliefs — in this case, making them complicit in facilitating “homosexual behavior, drug use, and sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman” — is unlawful.
Just as providing choice in education can be viewed as a societal benefit, so can offering choice in medical care. Besides, the Pill has benefits beyond contraception: It helps deal with conditions such as severe acne. Yet the Texas judge’s decision would make such care available only to those who can afford it.
The decision is likely to be appealed, as previous decisions by O’Connor concerning the Affordable Care Act have been overturned.
Bannon Surrenders To New York Authorities
Steve Bannon, a former political adviser to Donald Trump, has surrendered to authorities in New York and will face charges linked to his role in We Build the Wall, an online fundraising campaign to help fulfill the former president’s promise to construct a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Bannon faces criminal charges for his role in raising $25 million but allegedly pocketing about $1 million of the donations.
Bannon previously pleaded not guilty to federal charges, but Trump issued a pardon in the twilight hours of his presidency.
What Happened To Rudy Giuliani?
A new book attempts go answer the question: “What happened to Rudy Giuliani?” The former two-term mayor of New York City transformed himself from a righteous legal crusader and hero of September 11 to an unhinged election-fraud conspiracy theorist.
Andrew Kirtzman’s second biography of “America’s mayor” — titled simply Giuliani — is the subject of an article in Vanity Fair. “The book is loaded with psychological and farcical detail, including Giuliani scrambling a 2020 presidential-debate prep session. It’s an unsparing portrait, but it isn’t an attack,” writes Chris Smith.
Kirtzman’s assessment is “This is a person who always saw himself as a man of destiny. And it led him to make a slew of decisions which helped destroy himself and harmed the country.”
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