'I'm concerned about my staff'

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'I'm concerned about my staff'

November 10, 2021

Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu

'I'm concerned about my staff'

The people's representatives are in the firing line.

Last month, British member of Parliament David Amess was murdered as he met constituents. The same thing had happened to his colleague Jo Cox five years ago. In 2017, Steve Scalise, a Republican leader in the US House of Representatives, narrowly escaped death after he and others were shot at a congressional baseball practice. And in 2011, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot and suffered a life-altering brain injury.

Elected representatives around the world have been killed, threatened and abused on social media and in person, and their jobs only seem to be getting more dangerous. So you'd think that assassination and violence would be off limits for humor, especially from one of their own.

But Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, one of former President Donald Trump's most vehement defenders, is at the center of a storm over an animated cartoon he distributed on social media depicting him killing a giant bearing the face of Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and flying through the air wielding swords against a representation of President Joe Biden.

Gosar's defenders accuse critics of taking the posts too literally and lacking a sense of humor. Indeed, his communications director told The Washington Post everyone needs to "relax." But Democrats are demanding action from House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California, saying that such behavior in any other workplace in America would end with Gosar being fired. McCarthy, however, harnessing the backing of Trump supporters in a bid to win back control of the House for Republicans next year, is typically tolerant of uncivil behavior by the ex-President's acolytes.

America, of course, has a blood-spattered political history: Four of its 46 Presidents, including Abraham Lincoln and JFK, have been assassinated in office. There's also an undeniably violent edge to Trumpism. The ex-President goaded security to beat up hecklers at his rallies and incited an insurrection against the US Capitol that featured a gallows meant for then-Vice President Mike Pence. Some Democrats fear their own gun-toting GOP colleagues.

Things feel especially on the edge right now, which is why Gosar's cartoons are so jarring. Unless the threats get reined in, future tragedies can't be ruled out.

'I'm concerned about my staff'

Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan voted for President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure bill last week -- a law he called "common-sense legislation that will … help rebuild our highways and harbors." But not everyone saw it that way – in a lengthy voicemail to Upton, one caller labeled him a "traitor" and added, "I hope you die. I hope everybody in your f**king family dies. I hope everybody in your f**ing staff dies."

"I'm concerned about my staff. They are taking these calls," Upton told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "These are very disturbing, adult language. To say the least, that truly is frightening."

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The world and America

France is doubling down on its Covid-19 precautions.

The EU says Belarus is lying to migrants about their chances of entering Europe.

And Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai got married.

Meanwhile in America, a former Hyundai employee received a $24 million reward for blowing the whistle on safety lapses at the automaker.

Pfizer and BioNTech want FDA authorization for Covid-19 booster shots for all adults.

And the first woman graduated from the US Army's sniper school.

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'Generosity, common sense, are being displaced by selfishness'

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has panned the global effort to provide Covid-19 vaccines to poor nations as a "painful and complete failure." Addressing the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, Lopez Obrador pointed out that the COVAX facility had distributed just 6% of the world's Covid-19 vaccines, "while private pharmaceutical companies have sold 94% of vaccines."

"This simple fact should lead us to admit the obvious: In today's world, generosity, common sense, are being displaced by selfishness and private ambition. The spirit of cooperation loses ground to the desire for profit, leading us into barbarity," he said.

US health officials have also raised concerns about unequal vaccine distribution, with former CDC head Dr. Tom Frieden accusing pharmaceutical companies of putting "millions of lives" at risk earlier this month.

Spy to spy

It was the moment two spymasters went head-to-head.

Oh, to have been a fly eavesdropping on last week's presumably highly secure telephone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and CIA director Bill Burns.

Sources told CNN that Burns flew to Moscow amid increasing concern about Russian intentions as it builds up troops along the Ukrainian border, hoping to work out what the Kremlin was planning. "It would be foolish for us not to be considering the possibility of an invasion or incursion," one source said, according to CNN's Jim Sciutto and Natasha Bertrand. Other possibilities are that Russia is merely staging an exercise or is trying to intimidate the Kiev government. This comes amid growing fears that Russia will use its leverage through gas exports to lean on European states over the winter.

Burns is relatively new to the espionage game, having spent years in the State Department and serving the US abroad and as deputy secretary of state. In fact, he's the first diplomat ever to head the CIA. But he knows all about Putin. As an old Russian hand, Burns ran the US Embassy in Moscow from 2005 to 2008. And Putin, as almost every news story about him mentions, is a former KGB officer. He also once served as the director of the feared intelligence service's post-Soviet successor, the FSB.

Did Burns glean anything during his call with Putin -- which followed meetings with Moscow's intelligence chiefs – to put Biden's mind at rest over Ukraine? No one is saying. The CIA chief also likely discussed US anger at continuous cyberattacks launched from Russian soil. No doubt the meetings between Burns and his Russian counterparts were tense. But they are also an example of the kinds of talks between nuclear-armed foes that make the world safer and can help head off dangerous misunderstandings.

This is the same kind of channel that Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, used with his Chinese counterpart earlier this year to reassure Beijing that then-President Donald Trump was not plotting an attack. Milley didn't get much credit for it, though, as Trump's minions in Congress accused him of undermining the power of the US commander in chief.