October 31, 2022

Thanks to a friend for the link to this festive photo.

Afternoon Update:

Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors charged the man accused of breaking into the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with attempting to kidnap Ms. Pelosi and with assaulting a relative of a federal official, according to charging documents filed on Monday.... [David] DePape ... was carrying 'a roll of tape, white rope, a second hammer, a pair of rubber and cloth gloves, and zip ties,' according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of California, which filed the charges. The swift action by the Justice Department in bringing federal charges -- on the same day the San Francisco District Attorney's Office was expected to file its own charges against Mr. DePape -- reflects the Biden administration's urgency in addressing what it sees as a politically motivated crime shortly before the 2022 midterm elections.... [Paul] Pelosi remains in the intensive care unit of a San Francisco hospital...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to MSNBC, Paul Pelosi has spoken with investigators. The DOJ's press release is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Jeff Pegues & Gina Martinez of CBS News: "The suspect in the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi had a list of people he wanted to target, law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation confirmed...." The story does not specify who may have been on the attacker's list.

New York Times: "The trial of Donald J. Trump's family business opened on Monday, with prosecutors accusing the company of running a 15-year scheme to help its executives evade taxes by compensating them with lavish off-the-books perks.... 'This case is about greed and cheating,' a prosecutor told jurors as the tax fraud trial of two of the former president's companies started in Manhattan." This is a liveblog.

Running-Out-the-Calendar Ploy May Work for Trump Again. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump asked the Supreme Court on Monday to intervene in the long-running dispute over whether a House committee can obtain access to his tax returns. In a 31-page filing, lawyers for Mr. Trump asked Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to freeze matters while they prepare a formal appeal of a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which held that the House Ways and Means Committee had a right to see his returns.... Whether the Supreme Court decides to extend a judicial order that has blocked the Treasury Department from complying with the request while the matter was litigated before the appeals court could effectively decide whether the House committee obtains the documents, which it has sought since 2019. That is because if Republicans retake control of the House in the midterm elections next week, as polls indicate is likely, they are almost certain to drop the request when the new Congress is seated in January." CNN's report is here.

Washington Post: "Conservative Supreme Court justices on Monday seemed open to ending decades of precedent allowing race-conscious admission decisions at colleges and universities, expressing doubt that the institutions would ever concede an ';endpoint' in their use of race to build diverse student bodies. After nearly five hours of oral argument, the programs at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill seemed in doubt. The question is how broad such a decision by the court's conservative majority might be, and what it would mean for other institutions of higher education. Overturning the court's precedents that race can be one factor of many in making admission decisions would have 'profound consequences' for 'the nation that we are and the nation that we aspire to be,' Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar told the justices during arguments in the Harvard case." This is a liveblog.

~~~~~~~~~~

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol has obtained eight emails from late 2020 that a judge determined show Donald Trump and his lawyers planning to defraud courts and obstruct the congressional vote on the presidency.... [Attorney] John] Eastman is now asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for an order telling the House to return or destroy the eight emails."

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post (Oct. 29): "The most diverse group of Supreme Court justices in history will gather Monday to confront the issue that has vexed and deeply divided past courts: whether affirmative action in college admissions recognizes and nourishes a multicultural nation or impermissibly divides Americans by race.... The court on Monday will be reviewing the admission policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, cases brought by longtime affirmative action opponent Edward Blum and his Students for Fair Admissions." MB: Another fine example of right-wing counter-labeling. The AP's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Theodoric Meyer & Tobi Raji of the Washington Post: "... the Supreme Court is now more diverse along racial and gender lines than ever before, with four female justices, two Black justices and one Latina justice. The elite group of lawyers who argue before the justices, however, remains mostly White and male.... As the Supreme Court grapples with several cases involving race, including affirmative action cases set to be argued on Monday, the paucity of Black and Hispanic lawyers who argue before the court spotlights how people of color are often excluded from the rooms in which decisions that affect them are made."

Amy Wang & Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Washington Post: "Several Republicans on Sunday tempered their denunciations of an attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), casting blame for political violence on 'both sides' of the aisle.... Donald Trump has so far remained silent.... [And] Ronna [Romney] McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Sunday it was 'unfair' for Democrats to link Republicans' inflammatory rhetoric toward their political opponents to the attack on Paul Pelosi. 'I think this is a deranged individual,' McDaniel said on 'Fox News Sunday.'"(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: The New York Times published an op-ed this weekend by biographer David Nasaw (linked yesterday). Nasaw writes that Elon Musk is no special genius, but merely another boorish robber baron with a big megaphone. Musk seems determined to prove this: ~~~

     ~~~ Kurtis Lee of the New York Times: "Three days after Elon Musk purchased Twitter, the billionaire posted a tweet that advanced baseless allegations about the recent attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.... On Saturday, Hillary Clinton ... posted a tweet assailing Republicans for spreading 'hate and deranged conspiracy theories' that she said had emboldened the man who attacked Ms. Pelosi's husband, Paul, inside the couple's home in San Francisco early Friday. Mr. Musk's tweet was later deleted, and it was not immediately clear who had deleted it. In a reply to Mrs. Clinton's tweet, Mr. Musk wrote, 'There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye' and then shared a link to an article in the Santa Monica Observer. The article alleges that Mr. Pelosi was drunk and in a fight with a male prostitute.... In 2016, for example, the publication advanced a claim that Mrs. Clinton had died and that a body double was sent to debate ... Donald J. Trump." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll admit that "blaming it on the gays" was not a conspiracy theory I anticipated, but maybe we're supposed to be pleased Twitter has become an equal-opportunity conspiracy hub. At any rate, all of this highlights the obvious fact that we have to tax the multi-billionaires into relative oblivion. See also Akhilleus' comment yesterday. ~~~

~~~ Elon Had Company. Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "Elon Musk and a wide range of right-wing personalities cobbled together misreporting, innuendo and outright falsehoods to amplify misinformation about last week's violent assault on Paul Pelosi to their millions of online followers. A forum devoted to former White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon's right-wing radio show alerted its 78,000 subscribers to 'very strange new details on Paul Pelosi attack.' Roger Stone, a longtime political consigliere to former president Donald Trump, took to the fast-growing messaging app Telegram to call the assault on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband an 'alleged attack,' telling his followers that a 'stench' surrounded mainstream reporting about the Friday break-in that left Pelosi, 82, hospitalized with a skull fracture and other serious injuries.... The rush to sow doubt about the assault on Pelosi's husband illustrates how aggressively influential figures on the right are seeking to dissuade the public from believing facts about the violence, seizing on the event to promote conspiracy theories and provoke distrust." ~~~

~~~ (Conservative) Max Boot of the Washington Post: "It should not be controversial to say that America has a major problem with right-wing political violence. The evidence continues to accumulate -- yet the GOP continues to deny responsibility for this horrifying trend.... Republican leaders cite [the few] attacks to exonerate themselves of any responsibility for political violence.... They are evading their responsibility for their extremist rhetoric that all too often motivates extremist actions. The New America think tank found last year that, since Sept. 11, 2001, far-right terrorists had killed 122 people in the United States, compared with only one killed by far-leftists.... There is little doubt about what is driving political violence: the ascendance of Trump. [Trump's] type of extremist rhetoric ... now [is] the GOP mainstream, with predictable consequences. The U.S. Capitol Police report that threats against members of Congress have risen more than tenfold since Trump's election in 2016, up to 9,625 last year."

November Elections

My role is not to represent community values. My role is to tell you what the damn law is. -- Pickens County Attorney Phil Landrum ~~~

~~~ Stephanie McCrummen of the Washington Post: A rural county lawyer fights back elections skeptics who wanted to unseal ballots. Republicans vilified him & accused him of standing against "community values." to which Landrum responded by explaining what being the Pickens County attorney meant. MB: This is an uplifting story, but in the real world there are far too few officials with Landrum's integrity -- and backbone.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Brazil. Jack Nicas of the New York Times: "Voters in Brazil on Sunday ousted President Jair Bolsonaro after just one term and elected the leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to replace him, election officials said, a rebuke to Mr. Bolsonaro's far-right movement and his divisive four years in office. The victory completes a stunning political revival for Mr. da Silva -- from the presidency to prison and back -- that had once seemed unthinkable. It also ends Mr. Bolsonaro's turbulent time as the region's most powerful leader. It was the first time an incumbent president failed to win re-election in the 34 years of Brazil's modern democracy.... Without evidence, Mr. Bolsonaro criticized the nation's electronic voting machines as rife with fraud and suggested he might not accept a loss, much like... Donald J. Trump. Many of his supporters vowed to take to the streets at his command. Yet in the hours after the race was called, far-right lawmakers, conservative pundits and many of Mr. Bolsonaro's supporters had recognized Mr. da Silva's victory." CNN's report is here.

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Monday are here: "Strikes hit critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital and other key cities on Monday morning, with officials warning of power outages and water shortages.... The strikes come two days after drone strikes damaged Russian warships in the Crimean port of Sevastopol. Ukraine has not taken responsibility for the attack."

Shashank Bengali, et al., of the New York Times: "World leaders on Sunday urged Russia to reconsider its suspension of an agreement that allowed the export of grain trapped by the war in Ukrainian ports, warning that Moscow's decision could unleash dire consequences on a hungry planet.... Should Russia stick to the decision and continue blocking shipments from Ukraine, one of the world's biggest food exporters, the experts said, the effects will almost certainly be profound. The suspension threatens to stall more than 9.5 million tons of grain and other foodstuffs, according to the United Nations office that oversees the agreement.... In announcing its withdrawal from the agreement on Saturday, Russia cited what it said was a flurry of seagoing drone assaults by Ukraine on its fleet in the Black Sea. But in fact, the Kremlin long ago made known its unhappiness with the grain deal reached in July."

October 30, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Marie: The New York Times published an op-ed this weekend by biographer David Nasaw (linked below). Nasaw writes that Elon Musk is no special genius, but merely another boorish robber baron. Musk seems determined to prove this:

Kurtis Lee of the New York Times: "Three days after Elon Musk purchased Twitter, the billionaire posted a tweet that advanced baseless allegations about the recent attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.... On Saturday, Hillary Clinton ... posted a tweet assailing Republicans for spreading 'hate and deranged conspiracy theories' that she said had emboldened the man who attacked Ms. Pelosi's husband, Paul, inside the couple's home in San Francisco early Friday. Mr. Musk's tweet was later deleted, and it was not immediately clear who had deleted it. In a reply to Mrs. Clinton's tweet, Mr. Musk wrote, 'There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye' and then shared a link to an article in the Santa Monica Observer. The article alleges that Mr. Pelosi was drunk and in a fight with a male prostitute.... In 2016, for example, the publication advanced a claim that Mrs. Clinton had died and that a body double was sent to debate ... Donald J. Trump." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll admit that "blaming it on the gays" was not a conspiracy theory that occurred to me, but maybe we're supposed to be pleased Twitter has become an equal-opportunity conspiracy hub. At any rate, all of this highlights the obvious fact that we have to tax the multi-billionaires into relative oblivion. See also Akhilleus' comment below.

Amy Wang & Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Washington Post: "Several Republicans on Sunday tempered their denunciations of an attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), casting blame for political violence on 'both sides' of the aisle.... Donald Trump has so far remained silent.... [And] Ronna [Romney] McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Sunday it was 'unfair' for Democrats to link Republicans' inflammatory rhetoric toward their political opponents to the attack on Paul Pelosi. 'I think this is a deranged individual,' McDaniel said on 'Fox News Sunday.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Has anyone noticed that "Weekend Update," even with the absurd jokes included, is as accurate as Fox "News"?

Meet your GOP Senate candidates:

~~~~~~~~~~

Sadly this attack was inevitable. Political violence is on the rise. And instead of GOP leaders condemning it, they condone it with silence or, even worse, glorification. -- Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) ~~~

~~~ Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "In 2010, Republicans launched a 'Fire Pelosi' project -- complete with a bus tour, a #FIREPELOSI hashtag and images of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) engulfed in Hades-style flames -- devoted to retaking the House and demoting Pelosi from her perch as speaker. Eleven years later, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) joked that if he becomes the next leader of the House, it will be hard not to hit Pelosi with the speaker's gavel. And this year, Pelosi -- whom Republicans have long demonized as the face of progressive policies and who was a target of rioters during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol -- emerged as the top member of Congress maligned in political ads, with Republicans spending nearly $40 million on ads that mention Pelosi in the final stretch of the campaign, according to AdImpact, which tracks television and digital ad spending. The years of vilification culminated Friday when Pelosi's husband, Paul, was attacked with a hammer during an early-morning break-in at the couple's home in San Francisco by a man searching for the speaker and shouting 'Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?'' A Politico story on the same topic is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As Alex Wagner of MSNBC pointed out Friday night, Republicans take particular pleasure in vilifying female politicians -- Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, the Squad. ~~~

~~~ Aaron Davis & Dalton Bennett of the Washington Post: "The San Francisco Bay area man arrested in the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband filled a blog a week before the incident with delusional thoughts, including that an invisible fairy attacked an acquaintance and sometimes appeared to him in the form of a bird, according to online writings under his name. David DePape, 42, also published hundreds of blog posts in recent months sharing memes in support of fringe commentators and far-right personalities. Many of the posts were filled with screeds against Jews, Black people, Democrats, the media and transgender people. During October, DePape published over 100 posts. While each loads, a reader briefly glimpses an image of a person wearing a giant inflatable unicorn costume, superimposed against a night sky. The photos and videos that followed were often dark and disturbing." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Cue Republicans to immediately return to their "mental illness" crouch and absolve themselves from all responsibility for the actions of this sick fuck. ~~~

~~~ Blame Biden, Crime-Ridden Cities, Defund the Police: How Fox "News" Handled the Violent Attack. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Paraphrasing [a panel discussion that occurred just as the details of the news were breaking]: If this wasn't a function of politics, it is an act of heinous violence that represents precisely the sort of horrible, surging crime that Fox News has been warning its viewers about endlessly for weeks. If it was a function of politics -- presumably politics that cast Pelosi negatively -- then it's simply division, something that lamentably reflects our nation's sad state under Biden." MB: And now, they'll add mental illness to the mix.

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The White House rejected a recommendation by senior Pentagon officials to promote an Army general who came under intense scrutiny after the Pentagon's slow response to the riot at the Capitol, defense officials said, pushing the officer to a near-certain retirement. Lt. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, the director of the Army staff, was backed to become the four-star general at Army Futures Command by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth -- both of whom were appointed by President Biden -- and Gen. James McConville, the Army's top officer, said two defense officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. The White House declined to send a nomination for Piatt to the Senate for months, the officials said, effectively killing the possibility."

Zarar Khan of the AP: "A 75-year-old from Pakistan who was the oldest prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center was released and returned to Pakistan on Saturday, the foreign ministry in Islamabad and the U.S. Defense Department said. Saifullah Paracha was reunited with his family after more than 17 years in custody in the U.S. base in Cuba, the ministry added. Paracha had been held on suspicion of ties to al-Qaida since 2003, but was never charged with a crime. Last year in May, he was notified that he had been been approved for release." A New York Times story is here.

Chloe Folmar of the Hill: "NBA star LeBron James on Saturday called on new Twitter owner Elon Musk to respond to the 'scary AF' increase in the use of the N-word on the social media platform. James tweeted in response to a post sharing a Business Insider article that reported, based on what a social media research group told The Washington Post, that the use of the racial slur increased by 500 percent after Musk's takeover of Twitter on Thursday." MB: I think that means "scary as fuck," but I'm guessing & will stand corrected if, well, corrected. ~~~

~~~ ** David Nasaw in a New York Times op-ed: Elon Musk is just another robber baron who has developed his automotive & space businesses on government subsidies but who has an advantage over latter-day robber barons because of his "ability to promote his businesses and political notions with a tweet.... Elon Musk is a product of his -- and our -- times. Rather than debate or deride his influence, we must recognize that he is not the self-made genius businessman he plays in the media. Instead, his success was prompted and paid for by taxpayer money and abetted by government officials who have allowed him and other billionaire businessmen to exercise more and more control over our economy and our politics." (Also linked yesterday.)

November Elections

The Closer. Annie Linskey of the Washington Post: "With midterm elections just over a week away, [former President Barack] Obama, 61, has stepped into the spotlight on the political stage with rallies to gin up interest in marquee midterm races in battleground states. A day after appearing in Georgia with Sen. Raphael G. Warnock, who is in a tight race with [Herschel] Walker, and Stacey Abrams, who is trailing in her rematch with Gov. Brian Kemp, Obama headlined rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin. The former president is regarded as the Democratic Party's top communicator to base voters, more in demand than President Biden, who has not been the sought-after surrogate in the top races amid a dismal approval rating. The president spent one of the busiest campaign weekends of the cycle at his home in Delaware, where he attended his granddaughter's field hockey game and, separately, cast his ballot. Democratic strategists say Obama is the sole party leader able to draw major base-motivating crowds without simultaneously angering the other side."

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "The vicious attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), is a reminder of what the 2022 election is about.... The backdrop of politics today includes a climate of possible violence, with rising numbers of threats aimed at individual lawmakers. It includes threats to local officials and citizen volunteers who administer elections. It includes intimidation of individual voters depositing ballots at drop boxes in Arizona.... A majority of Republicans on the ballot for Senate, House and key statewide races have denied or questioned the 2020 presidential election, echoing ... Donald Trump's unfounded claims. It all adds up to what has been stated repeatedly for the past two years: Democracy itself is at risk in this country."

Beyond the Beltway

California. AP: "A man who spent more than 38 years behind bars for a 1983 murder and two attempted murders has been released from a California prison after long-untested DNA evidence pointed to a different person, the Los Angeles County district attorney said Friday. The conviction of Maurice Hastings, 69, and a life sentence were vacated during an Oct. 20 court hearing at the request of prosecutors and his lawyers from the Los Angeles Innocence Project at California State University, Los Angeles. 'I prayed for many years that this day would come,' Hastings said at a news conference Friday, adding: 'I am not pointing fingers; I am not standing up here a bitter man, but I just want to enjoy my life now while I have it.'"

Virginia. The Last Confederate Statue in Richmond. Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "Since 1892, the statue of Ambrose P. Hill, a Confederate lieutenant general, has towered over a busy intersection in Richmond, Va., built over the spot where his remains are buried. The statue is the last Confederate monument in the city.... Judge D. Eugene Cheek Sr., of the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond, this week ruled that the city had the right to dismantle the statue and donate it to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia. The remains of the general will be reburied at a cemetery in Culpeper, about 85 miles north, according to his ruling."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Sunday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Mark Santora of the New York Times: "Hours after accusing Ukraine of attacking its ships with a swarm of drones, Russia withdrew on Saturday from an agreement aimed at bringing down global food prices by allowing the export of grain from Ukrainian ports. The Russian decision, which United Nations and Ukrainian officials said could exacerbate hunger, brought to a screeching halt a rare case of wartime coordination that had allowed the movement of more than 9 million tons of agricultural products, many of them bound for poor countries. Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, called on the warring parties to ensure that the grain deal continued."

Iran. Miriam Berger, of the Washington Post: "The two female Iranian journalists who helped break the story of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman whose death in the custody of the so-called morality police last month sparked a nationwide uprising, were formally accused late Friday of being CIA spies and the 'primary sources of news for foreign media' -- the former a crime punishable by the death penalty in Iran. Journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi have been held in Iran's notorious Evin prison since late September as Iran's clerical leaders have struggled to contain an outpouring of public anger and protests calling for their overthrow.... In the joint statement sent to Iranian media late Friday local time, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and the intelligence agency of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard ... accused the CIA of orchestrating Hamedi and Mohammadi's reporting, and said 'allied spy services and fanatic proxies,' planned the nationwide, leaderless unrest." They also accused British, Israeli & Saudi spy agencies in participating in planning & organizing the protests.

Somalia. Omar Faruk of the AP: "Somalia's president says at least 100 people were killed in Saturday's two car bombings at a busy junction in the capital and the toll could rise in the country's deadliest attack since a truck bombing at the same spot five years ago killed more than 500. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, at the site of the explosions in Mogadishu, told journalists that nearly 300 other people were wounded. 'We ask our international partners and Muslims around the world to send their medical doctors here since we can't send all the victims outside the country for treatment,' he said."

News Lede

India. New York Times: “At least 70 140 people were killed after a century-old pedestrian bridge collapsed in the western Indian state of Gujarat on Sunday evening, sending hundreds plunging into the Machchhu River, officials said. About 350 people were on and around the bridge, a major tourist attraction, at the time of the collapse, said Brijesh Merja, a minister in the Gujarat government. A majority of those who died were children, women and older people, according to officials.”

October 29, 2022

Late Morning Update:

** David Nasaw in a New York Times op-ed: Elon Musk is just another robber baron who has developed his automotive & space businesses on government subsidies but who has an advantage over latter-day robber barons because of his "ability to promote his businesses and political notions with a tweet.... Elon Musk is a product of his -- and our -- times. Rather than debate or deride his influence, we must recognize that he is not the self-made genius businessman he plays in the media. Instead, his success was prompted and paid for by taxpayer money and abetted by government officials who have allowed him and other billionaire businessmen to exercise more and more control over our economy and our politics."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Kellen Browning, et al., of the New York Times: "Paul Pelosi, the 82-year-old husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was violently attacked in the couple's San Francisco home by a hammer-wielding 42-year-old man identified as David DePape. Police arrived quickly after Mr. Pelosi was able to surreptitiously dial 911 & leave the line open. The police witnessed the attack & subdued the attacker who said he was looking for Nancy Pelosi. DePape has been charged with several felony counts including attempted homicide. Someone with his name has posted online many conspiracy theories. Doctors operated on Mr. Pelosi for a skull fracture & other injuries, and he is expected to recover. "Multiple law enforcement agencies were investigating the attack on Friday to determine the suspect's motive. The Capitol Police said special agents from its field office in California 'quickly arrived on the scene' to work alongside the F.B.I., the San Francisco Police Department, the district attorney and the U.S. attorney's office." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN is liveupdating developments here: "Paul Pelosi underwent surgery for a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, according to a statement from Speaker Pelosi's spokesperson. He is expected to make a full recovery, it said.... Paul Pelosi was able to call 911 at the start of the attack at his home in San Francisco, according to a law enforcement source and another source familiar with the matter. Pelosi managed to keep the line open and the dispatcher could hear a conversation in the background, according to the law enforcement source. Pelosi was talking in code, that source said, providing enough detail so that the operator overhearing it could understand that something was wrong. At the same time Pelosi seemed to be trying not to make it obvious to the intruder that he had an open line, the source said. The dispatcher could hear Pelosi speaking about what was going on and dispatched police to check on the house, the source said....

"The man who allegedly attacked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's husband early Friday posted memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook about Covid-19 vaccines, the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack.... Last year, David DePape posted links on his Facebook page to multiple videos produced by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell falsely alleging that the 2020 election was stolen. Other posts included transphobic images and linked to websites claiming Covid-19 vaccines were deadly.... Two days after former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of killing George Floyd, DePape wrote that the trial was 'a modern lynching,' falsely indicating that Floyd died of a drug overdose. He also posted content about the 'Great Reset' -- the sprawling conspiracy theory that global elites are using coronavirus to usher in a new world order in which they gain more power and oppress the masses.... [The s]uspect [is] ... to be booked on charges including attempted homicide, assault and elder abuse[.]... The man ... tried to tie ... up [Paul Pelosi] 'until Nancy got home,' according to two sources.... When the police arrived at the residence, the attacker said he was 'waiting for Nancy.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is live-updating developments here. (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Casey Tolan, et al., of CNN: "The man who allegedly attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband early Friday posted memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook about Covid vaccines, the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and an acquaintance told CNN that he seemed 'out of touch with reality.'... Three of [David] DePape's relatives told CNN that DePape has been estranged from his family for years, and confirmed that the Facebook account -- which was taken down by the social media company on Friday -- belonged to him."

     ~~~ Marie: MSNBC is reporting that the assailant, who attacked Mr. Pelosi with a hammer, was searching for Speaker Pelosi. He was shouting, "Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?" which is reminiscent of the January 6 insurrections calls for "Nancy! Nancy!" If true, the call for the speaker makes the San Francisco attack a federal crime. ~~~

~~~ Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "With his usual level of class, Donald Trump put out a message of sympathy to the family of Jerry Lee Lewis, 'the Killer' of rock 'n' roll, who died Friday at age 87, but said nothing all day about the Pelosi family. On Twitter, Adam Kinzinger urged G.O.P. candidates and elected officials to speak out against the 'horrific' attack. He probably didn't have in mind the sort of speaking out that Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia did. Youngkin made a joke of the assassination attempt: 'There's no room for violence anywhere, but we're going to send her back to be with him in California.'"

Brian Vitagliano & Jim Acosta of CNN: "A Pennsylvania man previously arrested for impersonating Donald Trump's family members in fraud scheme pleaded guilty on Friday to threatening to kill a member of Congress and his staff. According to the Justice Department, Joshua Hall, 22, threatened to kill at least three congressional staffers and 'beat the s**t' out of the congressman, claiming he had several AR-15s. California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell told CNN the threats were aimed at him and his office."

Emma Brown & Jon Swaine of the Washington Post: "A week after the 2020 election, as Donald Trump raged over what he claimed was rampant fraud, officials in a rural county in southern Georgia [Coffee County] received a disturbing report from the employee who ran their elections. New voting machines in use across the state could 'very easily' be manipulated to flip votes from one candidate to another, she claimed at a meeting of the county elections board, and ballots could be scanned and counted more than once.... The elections board meeting -- a gathering of eight people in an unremarkable building 200 miles from Atlanta -- set off an extraordinary sequence of events that plunged the GOP enclave into the middle of a multistate effort by prominent Trump allies to gain access to voting machines in search of purported evidence that the election was rigged.... In at least seven ... counties in four states, including Coffee, local officials acting without a court order or subpoena allegedly gave outsiders access to the machines or their data.... Experts say the events in Coffee County are a potent example of the rising threat posed by insiders who undermine election security in the name of protecting it." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It takes only a couple of dots to connect Coffee County elections supervisor Misty Hampton to David DePape, the man who (allegedly) attacked Paul Pelosi:

Misty Hamptom—•—Donald Trump—•—David DePape

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "One of the Justice Department's most experienced national security prosecutors has joined the team overseeing the intensifying investigation of classified documents at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home and private club, people familiar with the matter said. National security law experts interviewed by The Washington Post say prosecutors appear to have amassed evidence in the case that would meet some of the criteria for bringing charges against the former president -- an unprecedented action that they said likely would only happen if the Justice Department believes it has an extremely strong case. David Raskin,who served for many years as a senior federal prosecutor in New York City, and more recently has worked as a prosecutor in Kansas City, Mo., has been quietly assisting in the investigation into Trump and his aides...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Vimal Patel of the New York Times: "A former U.S. Capitol Police officer was found guilty on Friday of obstruction of justice for trying to cover up the fact that he had sent Facebook messages to a Jan. 6 rioter offering advice on how to avoid getting caught, the authorities said. The man, Michael A. Riley, 51, could face up to 20 years in prison, following a trial in U.S. District Court in Washington, federal prosecutors said.... Mr. Riley, a member of the agency's K-9 unit with more than 25 years on the force, was the only Capitol Police officer charged with a crime in connection with the attack on the Capitol...."

Spencer Hus & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "An accused key co-conspirator who longtime former Proud Boys chairman Henry 'Enrique' Tarrio allegedly said proposed storming the U.S. Capitol on >Jan. 6, 2021, has pleaded guilty in a deal with U.S. prosecutors, Tarrio's lawyers revealed Friday. Details of the plea emerged in a pretrial hearing as the government ratchets up pressure against Tarrio and four other defendants who face trial in December on a charge of seditious conspiracy. During the hearing in federal court in Washington, Tarrio defense attorney Sabino Jauregui said that John Charles Stewart, 44, of Carlisle, Pa., pleaded guilty in June. Prosecutors interjected, and U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly immediately halted the public session to go behind closed doors, which after resuming made no further mention of Stewart."

Bannon Affiliate Found Guilty. Colin Moynihan of the New York Times: "A man from Colorado who helped loot a charity that raised private money for a border wall of the sort championed by ... Donald J. Trump was convicted on Friday in a retrial in Manhattan federal court. An earlier trial was scuttled by a juror who was said to have insisted that the prosecution was a 'government witch hunt.' The man, Timothy Shea, has been the only one of four defendants to face a jury in the case so far.... We Build the Wall Inc. raised more than $25 million, claiming that all the money would go toward constructing a border barrier. Those promises were lies, said prosecutors with the United States attorney's office.... The conviction ended a case that began in 2020 when Mr. Shea was arrested along with three other men who had prominent roles in We Build the Wall: the group's president, an Air Force veteran named Brian Kolfage, who lost both legs and part of his right arm in Iraq and guaranteed that he would 'not take a penny'; a Florida financier named Andrew Badolato; and Stephen K. Bannon.... Mr. Kolfage pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and tax-related charges. Mr. Badolato pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. Mr. Bannon was spared a federal trial after he received a pardon from Mr. Trump during his last hours as president but is now facing a trial in state court. Last month, the Manhattan district attorney's office unsealed an indictment charging Mr. Bannon with money laundering, conspiracy and scheming to defraud."

Back on Twitter, Spewing Hate. Drew Harwell, et al., of the Washington Post: "An emboldened cast of anonymous trolls spewed racist slurs and Nazi memes onto Twitter in the hours after billionaire industrialist Elon Musk took over the social network.... Musk on Friday tweeted that he would make 'no major content decisions or account reinstatements' until the convening of a new 'moderation council.' He promised that the council would have 'widely diverse viewpoints' but offered no other information about who would be on it, how its members would be selected, what authority it would have or whether its views would be binding on the company." A related Guardian story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: "A coordinated campaign to spread antisemitic memes and images on Twitter resulted in more than 1,200 tweets and retweets featuring the offensive content, according to an analysis by the Anti-Defamation League. The tweets identified by the A.D.L. added to a flurry of racist, transphobic and rule-breaking content that coursed through Twitter on Friday after Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, had officially taken control of the platform. Mr. Musk has promised to loosen content moderation rules in the name of 'free speech,' worrying many who believe the changes will allow offensive content to spread on the platform. The A.D.L. said the antisemitic tweet campaign was hatched on 4chan, the fringe message board that is loosely moderated and where hate speech has thrived. On Thursday, an anonymous 4chan user posted instructions for sharing antisemitic content on Twitter after Mr. Musk's takeover was made official. The post was circulated on Telegram, the chat app popular with the far right, according to the A.D.L." ~~~

~~~ Michael Wayland & Lora Kolodny of CNBC: "General Motors is suspending its advertising on Twitter following Elon Musk's takeover of the social media platform, the company told CNBC on Friday. The Detroit automaker, a rival to Musk-led electric vehicle maker Tesla, said it is 'pausing' advertising as it evaluates Twitter's new direction. It will continue to use the platform to interact with customers but not pay for advertising, GM added." ~~~

~~~ Chris Isidore of CNN: "The three top Twitter executives whom Elon Musk fired Thursday will walk out the door with about $187 million of Musk's money. Former CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal and former Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde were ousted after Musk took control of the company late Thursday, according to a source familiar with the situation. They would have received a large chunk of that money even if they had stayed on board under the new ownership -- they and other shareholders will receive payouts from Musk after he bought their shares for $54.20 each.... But they also receive 'Golden Parachute Compensation' in the merger agreement approved by shareholders. That includes a year's base pay == $1 million for Agrawal and $600,000 each for Segal and Gadde. They also will get a year of health insurance...."

November Elections

Arizona. Trump Judge: Hey, Armed Vigilantes Have Rights, Too. Anita Snow of the AP: "A federal judge Friday refused to bar a group from monitoring outdoor ballot boxes in Arizona's largest county where watchers have shown up armed and in ballistic vests, saying to do so could violate the monitors' constitutional rights. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi said the case remained open and that the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans could try again to make its argument against a group calling itself Clean Elections USA. A second plantiff, Voto Latino, was removed from the case. Liburdi concluded that 'while this case certainly presents serious questions, the Court cannot craft an injunction without violating the First Amendment.' The judge is a Trump appointee and a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So let's say a couple of armed masked men follow you from your car to the drop box, videotape you, photograph your vehicle license, maybe even speak to you in a menacing way. Well, it's your fault if that frightens you and makes you decide not to drop off your ballot.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Saturday are here: Ukraine's President "Zelensky said about 4 million people are under energy-use restrictions as Ukraine attempts to stretch scarce resources after Russian forces destroyed infrastructure around the country. 'Emergency blackouts are also possible,' he said. A group of House and Senate Republicans opposed Democratic Party-backed plans to fund Ukraine's war effort with assets seized from Russia, The Washington Post reported. The lawmakers objected to a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act conference report that would allow the United States to transfer proceeds of forfeited Russian property to Kyiv, several people involved with the negotiations said.... The United States is giving an additional $275 million in defense aid to Ukraine, a smaller sum than was offered in previous packages."

Syria/Australia. Natasha Frost & Livia Abeck-Ripka of the New York Times: "Seventeen Australian citizens -- four women and 13 children -- on Thursday began the long journey home from detention camps in northeast Syria, where they have languished since the fall of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS, in 2019. By Saturday, they had returned to New South Wales, Australia, according to a statement from Clare O'Neil, the Australian minister for home affairs.... Dozens of other Australians are still being held at the camps. But there are hopes that this will be the first of several releases sponsored by the government. Many of the people who remain are children who have spent most or even all of their lives in detention."

News Lede

South Korea. New York Times: "At least 146 people were killed and another 150 injured after they were crushed in a large Halloween crowd in Seoul on Saturday night, the city's fire department said, in one of the deadliest peacetime accidents in South Korea's recent history. The crowd surge happened during one of the most raucous celebrations of the year in the nation's capital, where as many as 100,000 people, local news media said, had clogged the narrow streets of the Itaewon nightlife district Saturday evening for Halloween festivities." This is a liveblog. CNN's live updates are here.