Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 9/22

[SVPete]

State Department clamps down on size of Iran’s UN delegation and ability to splurge on ‘shopping sprees’

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/world/4736300/iran-delegation-small-restricted-un-assembly-new-york-city/#google_vignette

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is heading to New York City, but the U.S. State Department is keeping his entourage slim and his movement limited.
...
A State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner on Monday that the “delegation is smaller than last year,” most likely due to restrictions placed on Pezeshkian’s media team reported by Iranian state outlets.

“In an unprecedented hostile move by the U.S. government, Trump has denied U.S. visas to certain members of the president’s high-level delegation, including members of his communications team,” reported Iranian state news agency IRNA this week.

The State Department has also imposed tight restrictions on approved diplomats’ travel and commerce throughout their trip.

“Consistent with our host country obligations, the core delegation from the Iranian regime will be able to attend UN General Assembly High Level Week,” the department confirmed to the Washington Examiner. “The delegation will be under travel restrictions and will face prohibitions on the purchase of luxury and other goods per our policy.”

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott accused the Iranian officials of wanting to “go on shopping sprees in New York” while “ordinary Iranians endure brutal repression, water and electricity shortages, and soaring inflation.”

“We will not let the Iranian regime’s elites exploit UNGA for a luxury retail splurge paid for by the Iranian people’s suffering, all while the regime funnels Iran’s wealth to support its terrorist proxies,” Pigott said on social media last week. “The U.S. will continue to ban Iranian UN Mission officials, visiting officials, and their dependents from buying wholesale club memberships or luxury goods here. New York-area retailers: be on guard, don’t become complicit in these violations.”

Liquor stores probably should be similarly warned.

[SVPete]

Bloomberg-Backed Climate Group Paying Salaries of Democratic State AG Officials Quietly Shuts Down Amid Congressional, Legal Scrutiny

https://freebeacon.com/america/bloomberg-backed-climate-group-paying-salaries-of-democratic-state-ag-officials-quietly-shuts-down-amid-congressional-legal-scrutiny/

A group housed at the New York University School of Law and backed by billionaire climate activist Michael Bloomberg quietly closed its doors in late August amid congressional scrutiny into its funding and operations. The so-called State Energy and Environmental Impact Center's signature initiative involved placing paid, climate-focused "fellows" in Democrat-controlled state attorney general offices nationwide as those offices sued the oil industry and other energy providers.

The center's sudden closure comes as a surprise: It continued to update its public database tracking state attorney general actions relevant to its climate priorities until Aug. 31, the date of its apparent closure. It also released an episode of its in-house podcast, Recharged with the State Impact Center, less than three weeks prior to that date. And in its 2025 "year in review" report released last December, the center indicated that it would continue operating throughout 2026.

But prior to its closure, the center was coming under increased pressure for effectively paying the salaries of state law enforcement agencies that were pursuing lawsuits in line with the center's priority of going after energy providers.

An activist group placing its paid interns into an AG's office ... how is this not a blatant effort to steer that AG's staff work in directions the activist group wants?

[SVPete]

Fmr ABC Reporter: Network Blocked Biden Health Story

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/terry-moran-abc-news-joe-biden/2026/09/21/id/1270157/

Former ABC News correspondent Terry Moran said the network shut down his effort to report on former President Joe Biden's health well before questions about the president's fitness went mainstream.

"In late 2023, early 2024, you know, it was pretty clear that Biden was fading rather quickly," Moran said Sunday on "The Daily Beast Podcast" with host Joanna Coles.
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"I had actually traveled with him to Japan in the spring of 2023 and kind of eyeballed him there, and I thought, OK, he's still functioning, but man, he's frail. He looked like he'd blow away in a stiff wind," Moran said.

"I tried to do the story of Biden's health before anybody else did in network, because I'd seen it. And I got shut down very hard."
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"I wrote an email to everybody as gently, and as respectfully as I could — I think I still have it. It was like, 'This is a legit issue for Americans to be interested in," Moran said.

"'I'm not a doctor. I'm not diagnosing. But we all know what we know when we see people fading," he continued.
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He said network executives blocked the story, telling him it was "the medical unit's business, not yours."

I've not heard that ABC objected to Moran's claims about Trump's mental health.