September 25, 2022

Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "British singer Elton John was left teary eyed and 'flabbergasted' after being awarded a surprise national humanities medal by President Biden, following a concert at the White House on Friday night. John, 75, who was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight, is a world-renowned singer, pianist and songwriter. He has also championed numerous charities and humanitarian causes, especially those tackling HIV/AIDS. Flanked by the president and first lady, John, wearing his signature red-tinted spectacles, looked visibly shocked as he first spotted the medal, covering his face with his hands in disbelief." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Losers, Losing. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, long entwined, continue on vile parallel paths: They would rather destroy their countries than admit they have lost. They have each created a scrim of lies to justify lunatic personal ambition. And while it should be easy to see through these lies, both cult-of-personality leaders are able to con and bully enough people to remain puissant.... Both thugs are getting boxed in, Trump by a bouquet of investigations into his chicanery and Putin by an angry public pushback against his bloody vanity war.... Both Putin and Trump are famous for accusing everyone else of their own sins.... It would be poetic justice to think the walls were closing in on Putin and Trump at the same time, because at some point, all this will become unsustainable. Losers, refusing to admit defeat." MB: Yes, I had to look up the meaning of "puissant." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annie Grayer of CNN: "Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney said at The Texas Tribune festival Saturday that if ... Donald Trump becomes the Republican Party's nominee for president in 2024, she will not remain a Republican. 'I'm going to make sure Donald Trump, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure he is not the nominee. And if he is the nominee, I won't be a Republican,' Cheney said. Cheney also said she will campaign for Democrats to ensure that Republican candidates who promote election lies do not get elected. Cheney was talking about the Arizona gubernatorial race, and how she will work to ensure that GOP nominee Kari Lake, the former television journalist who has become a leading voice behind Trump's lies about election fraud, does not get elected."

Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: "A QAnon conspiracy theorist who led a pack of Donald Trump supporters that chased a solitary police officer [Eugene Goodman] around the US Capitol on the day of the January 6 attack has been found guilty of several felonies. Douglas Jensen -- the bearded 43-year-old Iowa man who appeared in several media photos of the attack while wearing a black T-shirt with a large 'Q' -- could in theory face more than 50 years in prison after a federal jury in Washington DC convicted him on Friday, US justice department prosecutors said in a statement.... Prosecutors said that Jensen -- carrying a knife with a three-inch blade in his pocket -- barked at Goodman as well as other officers to 'back up' and ordered them to arrest ... Mike Pence, whom the mob was threatening to hang if he didn't halt the certification of [Joe] Biden's electoral college win.... Jurors needed just four hours to convict Jensen as charged of assaulting police, obstructing a congressional proceeding, interfering with law enforcement, entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon, which are all felonies."

The kindly gentleman who sent this photo our way expressed concern that the carefully-laid-out maze still looked too difficult for some Trumpenlumpen to navigate.

Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post: "The most prominent forum for men who consider themselves involuntarily celibate or 'incels' has become significantly more radicalized over the past year and a half and is seeking to normalize child rape, a new report says. The report, by the Center for Countering Digital Hate's new Quant Lab, is the culmination of an investigation that analyzed more than 1 million posts on the site. It found a marked spike in conversations about mass murder and growing approval of sexually assaulting prepubescent girls. The report also says that platforms including YouTube and Google, as well as internet infrastructure companies like Cloudflare are facilitating the growth of the forum,which the report said is visited by 2.6 million people every month." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

You Are the Lab Rat. Natasha Singer of the New York Times: "LinkedIn ran experiments on more than 20 million users over five years that, while intended to improve how the platform worked for members, could have affected some people's livelihoods, according to a new study. In experiments conducted around the world from 2015 to 2019, Linkedin randomly varied the proportion of weak and strong contacts suggested by its 'People You May Know' algorithm -- the company's automated system for recommending new connections to its users. The tests were detailed in a study published this month in the journal Science and co-authored by researchers at LinkedIn, M.I.T., Stanford and Harvard Business School.... The company did not inform users that the tests were underway. Tech giants like LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network, routinely run large-scale experiments in which ... users often have no idea that companies are running the tests on them."

Beyond the Beltway

November Elections. Not Racist, Not Racist at All. Annie Linskey & Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Republicans have said [their] ads [against Wisconsin's Democratic Senate candidate Mandela Barnes] are part of a broader strategy of calling out Democrats on crime, an argument they believe will be potent in the closing stage of this year's midterm elections. But some allies of Barnes, who would be Wisconsin's first Black Senator, have derided the attacks as racist messages that feed on stereotypes.... In the Senate race in Florida, incumbent Marco Rubio (R) launched ads featuring local law enforcement officers who claim that his opponent, Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), [MB: who also is Black,] 'turned her back on law enforcement.' Before she was elected to Congress, Demings served as chief of the Orlando Police Department.Republicans are increasingly centering their pitch to voters on crime, casting Democrats as weak and ineffective buffers against violent criminal conduct.... During the first three weeks of September, the Republican candidates and allies aired about 53,000 commercials on crime, according to AdImpact, which tracks political spots on network TV."

Colorado. Maya Yang of the Guardian: "A dramatic video released by Colorado authorities shows the moment a freight train hit a police patrol cruiser parked on the train tracks with a person handcuffed in the backseat. The video, which was released on Friday by the Platteville and Fort Lupton police departments, shows how Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, 20, was hurt after officers from both agencies detained her in a patrol car on 16 September as they searched her pickup truck for weapons.... A Platteville police officer stopped Rios-Gonzalez's truck near a set of railroad tracks and parked the patrol vehicle atop the tracks.... [As the officers searched the truck and surrounding area,] a train's horn is heard in the distance. The officers appear to take at least 15 seconds to realize a Union Pacific train was incoming. Once one of the officers grasps that the train is approaching..., they yell while another officer tells his colleague to 'stay back'. An officer is then shown turning around a few times near the patrol vehicle before ultimately running for cover as the train slammed into the car, pushing it several yards down the tracks." Here's a short-version video of the crash: ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Have we not now have collected ample anecdotal evidence that police departments must stop discriminating against applicants with better-than-average or high IQs?

Maine Gubernatorial Race. Alyce McFadden & Michael Bender of the New York Times: "Making a comeback attempt now against his successor, Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, [former Gov. Paul] LePage [Rrrrr] is focusing heavily in his campaign on a push to phase out Maine's income tax. He argues that the change is needed to keep wealthy residents from moving to Florida for just long enough each year to take advantage of the Sunshine State's tax breaks. But Mr. LePage and his wife, Ann LePage, who have owned property in Florida for over a decade, have themselves benefited from that state's tax laws while living in the Maine governor's mansion, and again as he campaigns to return to the job. From 2009 to 2015, and also from 2018 through the end of this year, the couple received property tax breaks reserved for permanent Florida residents, public records show.... Mr. LePage's campaign defended the tax moves, saying that Mrs. LePage's mother had used the Florida home as her primary residence from 2009 until her death in 2015, when the couple removed the first homestead exemption.... A seldom-used provision in the Florida tax code allows homeowners to claim a homestead exemption if a dependent is residing on the property." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's not clear from the story that LePage had declared his mother was his dependent. Moreover, I don't believe that, as the story says, that the LePages realized only about $8,500 in tax breaks over the course of seven or eight years. As I recall, the taxes on my Florida home were reduced by more than that nearly every year I was eligible for the break. It said so right on my tax bills. The main reason for the substantial break is that under Florida's "Save Our Homes" law, homesteaded property taxes cannot rise more than three percent every year. So if the valuation of your property increases 100 percent in a year, your taxes would be 103% of what they had been the previous year, not 200% of the previous year.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Sunday are here: "Russian strikes hit the city of Zaporizhzhia, the only one of four regions where Kremlin-backed authorities are staging referendums on the prospect of joining Russia where the regional capital is not under military occupation. Voting is underway in occupied areas of Ukraine, including the Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson regions, as Russia's foreign minister insisted that these regions would be 'under the full protection of the state' if they are annexed -- despite widespread condemnation. Some residents called it a vote 'under a gun barrel,' with the outcome predetermined by the Kremlin. Russia is attempting to crack down on massive protests sweeping across the country, including in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other big cities, in a defiant turnout against President Vladimir Putin's mobilization of hundreds of thousands of reservists to fight in Ukraine.... China and India -- traditionally allied with Russia -- have called for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. 'China supports all efforts conducive to the peaceful resolution of the Ukraine crisis. The pressing priority is to facilitate talks for peace,' Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in New York during the U.N. General Assembly. India's foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said: 'India is on the side of peace and will remain firmly there.'"

David Stern & Robyn Dixson of the Washington Post: "Officials in Russian-occupied territories in eastern and southern Ukraine were forcing people to vote ... as staged referendums -- intended to validate Moscow's annexation of the territory it occupies -- entered their second day. Voting is taking place in portions of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and will last five days, ending Tuesday. The outcome is not in doubt. The purported referendums are illegal under Ukrainian and international law and would not remotely meet basic democratic standards for free and fair elections. Western leaders, including President Biden, have denounced the process as a 'sham' to prepare the ground for Russia's theft of Ukrainian land.... Ukrainians who are in contact with friends and relatives in the occupied territories describe groups of men armed with Kalashnikov rifles, accompanied by a person with a portable ballot box, going door-to-door in apartment buildings and houses.... [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelensky also said that occupation authorities had begun to mobilize local Ukrainians to fight against Kyiv forces, a prospect that Ukrainians should avoid 'by any means.'"

Jared Gans of the Hill: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday offered guaranteed protections to Russian soldiers who surrender amid the conflict between the countries after ...Vladimir Putin announced he was calling up 300,000 reservists to replenish Russian forces. Appealing directly to Russians during an address, Zelensky said Ukraine could guarantee three terms to Russian soldiers in exchange for their surrender. He said such Russians will be treated in a civilized manner, the circumstances of their surrender will remain undisclosed and Ukraine will find a way to ensure those who do not want to return to Russia are not exchanged."

Nahal Toosi of Politico: "By the time Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took the stage at the United Nations General Assembly this week, he and his country had already lost much of the audience. Throughout the annual gathering, world leader after world leader had expressed deep discomfort if not outright condemnation over Russia's war in Ukraine. Even some countries that have stayed friendly with the Kremlin called for a cease-fire or other ways to end the crisis.... The growing global unhappiness with Russia was hard to miss.... But for now, it's more a shift in tone than anything tangible that could add pressure to the Kremlin economically or militarily -- many countries still rely on Russia for oil and gas supplies. Lavrov, for one, seemed to realize this, and so the veteran diplomat did not hold back in his speech Saturday. He insisted that Moscow's war was just and that Russia was defending itself and Ukraine-based Russian speakers against a neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv -- a claim not based in reality."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Tropical Storm Ian, which formed late Friday over the central Caribbean Sea, could threaten Florida as a major hurricane early next week after moving over or near western Cuba, forecasters said. Forecasters said that Ian was expected to become a hurricane by late Sunday and a major hurricane by late Monday or early Tuesday.... On Saturday, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida declared a state of emergency for all of Florida's 67 counties ahead of the storm. Under the order, money would be freed up for protective measures and the National Guard would be activated, Mr. DeSantis said." MB: DeSantis also announced a massive effort to round up and bus all immigrants to sanctuary cities in California and the Northeast.

CBS News: Post-tropical storm "Fiona washed houses into the sea, tore the roofs off others and knocked out power to the vast majority of two Canadian provinces as it made landfall before dawn Saturday as a big, powerful post-tropical cyclone. Fiona transformed from a hurricane into a post-tropical storm late Friday, but it still had hurricane-strength winds and brought drenching rains and huge waves. There was no confirmation of fatalities or injuries." The Washington Post's story is here.

September 24, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "British singer Elton John was left teary eyed and 'flabbergasted' after being awarded a surprise national humanities medal by President Biden, following a concert at the White House on Friday night. John, 75, who was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight, is a world-renowned singer, pianist and songwriter. He has also championed numerous charities and humanitarian causes, especially those tackling HIV/AIDS. Flanked by the president and first lady, John, wearing his signature red-tinted spectacles, looked visibly shocked as he first spotted the medal, covering his face with his hands in disbelief." ~~~

Losers, Losing. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, long entwined, continue on vile parallel paths: They would rather destroy their countries than admit they have lost. They have each created a scrim of lies to justify lunatic personal ambition. And while it should be easy to see through these lies, both cult-of-personality leaders are able to con and bully enough people to remain puissant.... Both thugs are getting boxed in, Trump by a bouquet of investigations into his chicanery and Putin by an angry public pushback against his bloody vanity war.... Both Putin and Trump are famous for accusing everyone else of their own sins.... It would be poetic justice to think the walls were closing in on Putin and Trump at the same time, because at some point, all this will become unsustainable. Losers, refusing to admit defeat." MB: Yes, I had to look up the meaning of "puissant."

Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post: "The most prominent forum for men who consider themselves involuntarily celibate or 'incels' has become significantly more radicalized over the past year and a half and is seeking to normalize child rape, a new report says. The report, by the Center for Countering Digital Hate's new Quant Lab, is the culmination of an investigation that analyzed more than 1 million posts on the site. It found a marked spike in conversations about mass murder and growing approval of sexually assaulting prepubescent girls. The report also says that platforms including YouTube and Google, as well as internet infrastructure companies like Cloudflare are facilitating the growth of the forum, which the report said is visited by 2.6 million people every month."

Maine Gubernatorial Race. Alyce McFadden & Michael Bender of the New York Times: "Making a comeback attempt now against his successor, Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, [former Gov. Paul] LePage [Rrrrr] is focusing heavily in his campaign on a push to phase out Maine's income tax. He argues that the change is needed to keep wealthy residents from moving to Florida for just long enough each year to take advantage of the Sunshine State's tax breaks. But Mr. LePage and his wife, Ann LePage, who have owned property in Florida for over a decade, have themselves benefited from that state's tax laws while living in the Maine governor's mansion, and again as he campaigns to return to the job. From 2009 to 2015, and also from 2018 through the end of this year, the couple received property tax breaks reserved for permanent Florida residents, public records show.... Mr. LePage's campaign defended the tax moves, saying that Mrs. LePage's mother had used the Florida home as her primary residence from 2009 until her death in 2015, when the couple removed the first homestead exemption.... A seldom-used provision in the Florida tax code allows homeowners to claim a homestead exemption if a dependent is residing on the property." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's not clear from the story that LePage had declared his mother was his dependent. Moreover, I don't believe that, as the story says, that the LePages realized only about $8,500 in tax breaks over the course of seven or eight years. As I recall, the taxes on my Florida home were reduced by more than that nearly every year I was eligible for the break. It said so right on my tax bills. The main reason for the substantial break is that under Florida's "Save Our Homes" law, homesteaded property taxes cannot rise more than three percent every year. So if the valuation of your property increases 100 percent in a year (it happens), your taxes would be 103 percent of what they had been the previous year, not 200 percent of the previous year.

Ukraine, et al. The Guardian's live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Blake Hounshell of the New York Times: "President Biden became involved in state legislative races for the first time, with an email Friday asking Democrats to each donate the modest sum of $7 to his party's campaign arm for statehouse elections. And, following his Sept. 1 speech lashing 'MAGA Republicans,' Biden is framing the stakes as a battle for American democracy, coupled with a bread-and-butter message about inflation, an issue that has bedeviled his presidency.... As my colleague Nick Corasaniti reported on Friday, one outside group working on winning statehouses for Democrats, the States Project, plans to spend $60 million across just five states. That would be a humdrum sum for a hot Senate race, but it's an astronomical amount in races where spending is often in the range of thousands of dollars...." ~~~

~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Biden on Friday sought to dismantle the agenda proposed hours earlier by House Republican leaders should they take back the House, hitting Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for dodging key issues and warning that a GOP majority would try to strip away fundamental rights and government programs. Biden, in remarks at a Democratic National Committee event at the National Education Association (NEA), issued a point-by-point rebuttal to the agenda unveiled by McCarthy.... Biden, pointing to a proposal from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that would ban abortion after 15 weeks, warned the GOP would attempt to block access to the procedure if they hold the House majority. He pledged to veto any such legislation if it passed, arguing a stronger Democratic majority could help codify abortion access.... He rebuked McCarthy's pledge to help Americans live longer, healthier lives by arguing some Republicans have called for cuts to Medicare and Social Security. Biden cited a policy platform from Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) that called for a vote every five years to determine the fate of those programs.... And Biden took aim at Republicans for wanting to restore faith in elections, noting dozens of GOP lawmakers still refuse to accept the results of the 2020 election." And so forth.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "At a manufacturing plant [in Monongahela, Pa., Kevin McCarthy], introduced the 'Commitment to America,' an innocuous-sounding set of principles he said would guide a G.O.P. majority, and which appeared aimed at uniting [GOP] members...: fighting inflation, securing the border and hiring more police.... The agenda was light on details and avoided certain topics that polls show are not favorable to Republicans' chances of electoral success: the abortion bans that most in the party have embraced, defunding the F.B.I., the Jan. 6 attack or Mr. Trump and his ongoing legal troubles.... But ... the agenda ... contained a reference to the party's commitment to enacting strict abortion restrictions.... It alluded to the G.O.P.'s continuing embrace of Mr. Trump's false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, promising that a Republican majority would 'increase accountability in the election process through voter ID.' And it hinted that Republicans would look to change the Affordable Care Act and roll back legislation allowing Medicare to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs...." ~~~

     ~~~ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "Today's rollout is the latest evidence of House Republicans' whole-hearted Commitment to MAGA: going all-in on an extremist agenda designed to greatly diminish Americans’ health, freedom and security. This alarming new extreme MAGA platform threatens to criminalize women's health care, slash seniors' Medicare and raise prescription drug prices, and attack our free and fair elections. These appalling proposals have long been advanced by right-wing politicians and are widely supported by the dark money special interests who call the shots in the GOP. But this extreme MAGA agenda is way out of step with Americans' priorities, who align with Democrats' vision of putting People Over Politics: with lower costs, better-paying jobs and safer communities." ~~~

     ~~~ Nancy Pelosi (September 21): "OOPS. Looks like Leader McCarthy fumbled his agenda rollout by accidentally posting the webpage of House Republicans' 'Commitment to America' -- and then scrambled to password protect the website again ... but not before we got screenshots. Screenshots that reveal that House Republicans are doubling down on an extreme MAGA agenda: to criminalize women's health care, to slash seniors' Medicare (including with the repeal of the lower drug prices for seniors in the Inflation Reduction Act), and to attack our democracy." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: This press release also appears on Pelosi's website, but the Pelosi page does not include the screenshots, perhaps because of a glitch. Had RAS not linked the Wayback Machine page, I would never have found it. ~~~

~~~ Republicans Promise to Make America Great Again -- Just Like Russia & Ukraine. Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "House Republican leaders on Friday unveiled their 'Commitment to America' agenda for 2023 ― and with it, an inspirational video full of scenes presented as exceptional imagery of America that were actually stock footage from Russia and Ukraine.... In another scene, a boy is seen smiling and running in a field with a toy airplane. The words 'Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' appear on the screen, a reference to the Declaration of Independence. This clip was also ... filmed in [Russia's] Volgograd region.... 'Democrats have led America off track,' the narrator [of another clip] says. The words 'Crippling inflation and rampant crime' appear on the screen, over a shot of a woman walking through a grocery store. But this is footage from a European grocery store, [likely in Ukraine]." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So weird. Can't the GOP find any amber waves of grain in, say, Kansas or Nebraska? If they were going to steal footage, they could have copped clips from this fabulous 2016 closing ad for Bernie Sanders. ~~~

     ~~~ Republicans Confuse Lincoln with Lehman Brothers. Taegan Goddard of Political Wire. In another video, "The House Republican conference rolled out their platform for the 2022 midterm elections with words attributed to Abraham Lincoln, but the Daily Beast reports the quote is actually from a Lehman Brothers ad from the 1980s." The Daily Beast story is firewalled.

Evan Perez, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's attorneys are fighting a secret court battle to block a federal grand jury from gathering information from an expanding circle of close Trump aides about his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, people briefed on the matter told CNN. The high-stakes legal dispute -- which included the appearance of three attorneys representing Trump at the Washington, DC, federal courthouse on Thursday afternoon -- is the most aggressive step taken by the former President to assert executive and attorney-client privileges in order to prevent some witnesses from sharing information in the criminal investigation [of] events surrounding January 6, 2021.... Former Trump White House adviser and lawyer Eric Herschmann ... is not ... fighting the [grand jury] subpoena [he received]. Instead, Trump's lawyers are asking a judge to recognize the former President's privilege claims and the right to confidentiality around his dealings. Herschmann's grand jury testimony has been postponed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Maggie Haberman & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "In emails reviewed by The Times, Mr. Herschmann complained that a letter from Mr. Trump directing him to assert privilege in front of the grand jury -- as other witnesses had -- was not enough to allow him to avoid answering questions. 'I will not rely on your say-so that privileges apply here and be put in the middle of a privilege fight between D.O.J. and President Trump,' Mr. Herschmann, a former prosecutor, wrote in one of the emails.... Mr. Herschmann repeatedly implored [Mr. Trump's attorneys Evan] Corcoran and [John] Rowley to go to court seeking an order from a judge 'precluding me from answering questions based on privilege assertions by President Trump,' according to the emails. They ignored his request for many days, before ultimately filing a motion under seal on Sept. 1, just hours before Mr. Herschmann was set to testify, the emails showed.... Attorney-client privilege ... can be swept aside in cases where crimes have been committed."

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Intelligence officials have resumed their national security risk review of top-secret documents that were seized at ... Donald Trump's Florida estate, according to a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The resumption, which has not been previously reported, comes after a federal appeals court delivered the Justice Department a decisive win, unanimously blocking elements of a lower-court ruling that forced federal prosecutors to seek a pause in the highly anticipated intelligence review."

Marie: I don't know if this is true, but if it is from a transcript of a hearing conducted by special master Judge Raymond Dearie, it is -- as Bill Lewis says -- "priceless":

Priceless:👇

Judge Dearie: When you say "the President", do you mean President Biden?

Attorney: "No, President Trump."

Judge: Let the record show Mr Trusty was referring to former President Trump, now a private citizen. Please continue.😅😂🤣

— Bill Lewis (@theAntenna_uk) September 23, 2022

Mark Follman of Mother Jones: "As the ex-president faces advancing federal and state investigations ranging from Mar-a-Lago to New York to Georgia, he has escalated an insidious form of political incitement, behavior that seems to signal a growing desperation over his legal predicaments.... Asked by [Sean] Hannity [on Wednesday] to comment on a new lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James..., the ex-president laid into the state's top lawyer and her staff: 'They were demeaning me constantly, these people,' he said. 'There's something wrong with them. I really believe they hate our country.'... Elsewhere in the interview, Trump declared that the federal judge who approved the search warrant to seize highly classified documents stashed at Mar-a-Lago 'took the case' because he 'hated Trump.' The ex-president also demonized leaders at the National Archives and Records Administration..., telling Hannity that the agency is run by 'a radical left group of people.' Regarding the federal agents who entered his residence, Trump said the FBI has 'attacked' and been 'so horrible to so many people' he knows, and further claimed the agents showed up for the 'raid' armed with AK-47s."

Keith Zubrow of CBS News: "Former senior technical adviser for the January 6 Committee, Denver Riggleman, said the White House switchboard connected a phone call to a Capitol rioter on January 6, 2021.... Riggleman, an ex-military intelligence officer and former Republican congressman from Virginia, oversaw a data-driven operation for the January 6 committee, pursuing phone records and other digital clues tied to the attack on the Capitol. He stopped working for the committee in April."

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Career prosecutors have recommended against charging Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in a long-running sex-trafficking investigation -- telling Justice Department superiors that a conviction is unlikely in part because of credibility questions with the two central witnesses, according to people familiar with the matter. Senior department officials have not made a final decision on whether to charge Gaetz, but it is rare for such advice to be rejected...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) CNN's report is here. MB: Matt's Tip O' the Day for Lawbreakers: hang out with people too sleazy to be believed. It won't matter if they finger you.

How Hot Was It? On this Washington Post page, you can find out just how hot it was this summer in your home county (or any other county, of course). The page compares day & nighttime temp as well as rainfall to temps & precipitation prior years. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Punishing Women & Abortion Providers Like It's 1864. Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "A judge on Friday ruled that a near-total abortion ban written before Arizona became a state must be enforced, throwing abortion access into question one day before the start of a 15-week ban that passed the Legislature this year. The stricter ban, which can be traced to 1864, was blocked by a court injunction in 1973 shortly after the Supreme Court, in Roe v. Wade, determined that there was a constitutional right to abortion. On Friday, Judge Kellie Johnson of Pima County Superior Court lifted that injunction, noting that Roe had been overruled in June and that Planned Parenthood's request for the court to 'harmonize the laws' in Arizona was flawed. The 1864 law, first established by the state's territorial legislature, mandates a two- to five-year prison sentence for anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion. In 1901, the state updated and codified the law.... Gov. Doug Ducey has said that the 15-week ban he signed in March would supersede the century-old ban, but Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a fellow Republican, has argued that the older ban should take precedence." The AP's story is here.

Colorado. Deon Hampton & Erik Ortiz of NBC News: "An amended autopsy report released Friday revealed Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died after a confrontation with police officers, died because he was injected with ketamine by paramedics after being forcibly restrained. 'I believe this tragic fatality is most likely the result of ketamine toxicity,' the report said, adding McClain received a higher dosage of the sedative than he should have. 'Simply put, this dosage of ketamine was too much for this individual and it resulted in an overdose.'"

Georgia. Richard Fawcett of the New York Times:"Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's secretary of state, said on Friday that his office would replace voting equipment in Coffee County, where allies of ... Donald J. Trump and contractors working on Mr. Trump's behalf copied software and other data after the 2020 election. But in a statement, a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit contending that Georgia's statewide voting system is fundamentally insecure in the wake of the Trump allies' visit to Coffee County called the changes 'embarrassingly thin' and 'cosmetic.' The statement said the server for the county's election management system remained 'potentially contaminated.'... ... David Cross, a lawyer representing some of the plaintiffs in the civil litigation, has said the information that was copied includes the software used by all 159 of Georgia's counties.... The move by Mr. Raffensperger, a Republican, comes after the plaintiffs complained that he was moving too slowly to address the security breach in Coffee County, which took place in January 2021.... One Trump supporter involved in the breach, Scott Hall, said in a recorded phone call that the team that traveled to Coffee County, roughly 200 miles southeast of Atlanta, had 'scanned all the equipment, imaged all the hard drives and scanned every single ballot.'" An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, this is a hot mess. It seems likely that Trump operatives have the data they need to manipulate every damned voting machine in Georgia in any damned election they choose to do so. Georgia Democrats have every reason to mistrust the results of all election results that report a GOP win.

Maryland. Slum Landlord Kushner, et al., Settle. Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "An apartment management company partly owned by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of ... Donald J. Trump, has agreed to pay a $3.25 million penalty and make restitution to thousands of tenants who were overcharged fees and subject to leaks, rodents and mold infestations, the Maryland attorney general said on Friday. Westminster Management, the property management arm of Kushner Companies, and 25 affiliated businesses that owned nearly 9,000 units across the Baltimore area have agreed to settle a 2019 lawsuit over their rental practices. The companies violated consumer protection laws by charging tenants illegal fees and failed to adequately maintain the properties, the lawsuit said.... Under the settlement, former and current tenants at 17 properties can file claims to recover a host of fees that [state Attorney General Brian] Frosh [D] said the company had improperly charged them. They could also file claims with an outside arbiter ... who can return rental payments to tenants if they faced serious maintenance issues."

Michigan Gubernatorial Race. Because Plotting to Kidnap (and Murder) a Democrat Is Hilarious. Eric Bradner, et al., of CNN: "Tudor Dixon, the Republican challenging Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, made light of the 2020 kidnapping plot against Whitmer on Friday, telling a crowd [at an event hosted by Kellyanne Conway] that ... 'The sad thing is that Gretchen will tie your hands, put a gun to your head, and ask if you're ready to talk.... For someone so worried about being kidnapped, Gretchen Whitmer sure is good at taking business hostage and holding it for ransom.'... After her comment drew backlash, Dixon joked again about the kidnapping plot at a second event Friday, this time with Donald Trump Jr.... A federal jury in August convicted two men of conspiring to kidnap Whitmer at her vacation home in 2020. They were also convicted of one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction after prosecutors detailed their plans to blow up a bridge to prevent police from responding to the kidnapping of the governor."

Mississippi. Meghann Cuniff of Law & Crime: “A 23-year-old Mississippi man accused of burning a cross in his front yard to intimidate a Black family who lived nearby has been charged with a federal hate crime. Axel Charles Cox was arraigned Friday after prosecutors obtained a warrant for him to be brought into court from state prison, where he's serving eight years for drug and stolen property.... The charges allege he also 'used threatening and racially derogatory remarks' toward the victims, who are identified only by their initials in the indictment but were fully identified to the Southern District of Mississippi grand jury that returned it." MB: Burning a cross?? Mississippi is so backward, even its hate crimes are old-fashioned.

Way Beyond

Iran. Joyce Lee, et al., of the Washington Post: "It has been a week since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who fell into a coma after being detained by Iran's 'morality police.' But the anti-government protests she inspired are still raging across Iran. Demonstrators, many of them women, are burning hijabs and fighting back against police; they are tearing down posters and setting fire to billboards of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader.... At least 30 people have been killed, according to rights groups and news reports. Hundreds have been injured. The government has disrupted cellular service across the country, and has imposed significant internet outages in some regions.... Videos verified by The Washington Post show security forces opening fire on protesters. And a further escalation could be coming -- Iran's military warned Friday it would intervene if the demonstrations continued."

Ukraine, et al.

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

Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has thrust himself more directly into strategic planning for the war in Ukraine in recent weeks, American officials said, including rejecting requests from his commanders on the ground that they be allowed to retreat from the vital southern city of Kherson.... Such a retreat would be another humiliating public acknowledgment of Mr. Putin's failure in the war, and would hand a second major victory to Ukraine in one month.... Focused on victory at all costs, Mr. Putin has become a more public face of the war as the Russian military appears increasingly in turmoil...."

News Ledes

Weather Channel: "The former Hurricane Fiona is bringing a historic pummeling to parts of Atlantic Canada with widespread damaging winds, flooding rain and storm surge this weekend after hammering Bermuda. Fiona made landfall over eastern Nova Scotia early Saturday and is plowing through eastern Canada. A wind gust up to 100 mph was measured near Beaver Island. New low-pressure records have been set in Canada. Strong winds are hammering the coast of Atlantic Canada."

Weather Channel: "Tropical Storm Ian is strengthening in the Caribbean Sea and may become a serious hurricane threat for the northwestern Caribbean and Southeast U.S. next week, including Florida." Shows projected track.

New York Times: "Donald Blinken, a financier, patron of the arts and Democratic Party donor who became an ambassador to Hungary, helping to inspire the career in politics and diplomacy of his son, Antony, the current secretary of state, died on Thursday at his home in East Hampton, N.Y. He was 96. Secretary Blinken confirmed the death."

New York Times: "Louise Fletcher, the imposing, steely-eyed actress who won an Academy Award for her role as the tyrannical Nurse Ratched in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' died on Friday at her home in Montdurausse, France. She was 88."

September 24, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Evan Perez, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's attorneys are fighting a secret court battle to block a federal grand jury from gathering information from an expanding circle of close Trump aides about his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, people briefed on the matter told CNN. The high-stakes legal dispute -- which included the appearance of three attorneys representing Trump at the Washington, DC, federal courthouse on Thursday afternoon -- is the most aggressive step taken by the former President to assert executive and attorney-client privileges in order to prevent some witnesses from sharing information in the criminal investigation [of] events surrounding January 6, 2021.... Former Trump White House adviser and lawyer Eric Herschmann ... is not ... fighting the [grand jury] subpoena [he received]. Instead, Trump's lawyers are asking a judge to recognize the former President's privilege claims and the right to confidentiality around his dealings. Herschmann's grand jury testimony has been postponed."

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Career prosecutors have recommended against charging Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in a long-running sex-trafficking investigation -- telling Justice Department superiors that a conviction is unlikely in part because of credibility questions with the two central witnesses, according to people familiar with the matter. Senior department officials have not made a final decision on whether to charge Gaetz, but it is rare for such advice to be rejected...." MB: Matt's Tip O' the Day for Lawbreakers: hang out with people too sleazy to be believed. It won't matter if they finger you.

On this Washington Post page, you can find out just how hot it was this summer in your home county (or any other county, of course). The page compares day & nighttime temp as well as rainfall to temps & precipitation prior years.

     ~~~ Watch to the end. Marie: I did laugh at the "Breaking Squirrel News," but, truth be told, my behavior would have been similar/identical to Squirrel Man's.

~~~~~~~~~~

Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "Over the past week, >a federal appeals court in Atlanta -- along with Mr. Trump's choice for a special master ... -- undermined a bulwark of his effort to justify his actions: Both suggested that there was no evidence to support the assertion that Mr. Trump had declassified everything -- in writing, verbally or wordlessly -- despite what the former president may have said on TV. On Thursday, the special master, Judge Raymond J. Dearie, also appeared to take aim at another one of Mr. Trump's excuses -- that federal agents had planted some of the records when they searched his Mar-a-Lago estate. In an order issued after the appellate court had ruled, Judge Dearie instructed Mr. Trump's lawyers to let him know if there were any discrepancies between the documents that were kept at Mar-a-Lago and those that the F.B.I. said it had hauled away....

"On Thursday, Judge [Aileen] Cannon modified her order for the special master review to exclude documents marked as classified, in line with the appeals court decision. Nonetheless, the order seemed to raise new questions. Judge Cannon did not issue a written opinion explaining why she had taken that step before Mr. Trump indicated whether he would appeal to the Supreme Court. By pre-emptively removing the portions of the order that the appeals court had blocked, she may have rendered any further litigation over the matter moot. Mr. Trump's lawyers did not respond to requests for comment." ~~~

     ~~~ Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "The Mar-a-Lago special master on Thursday ordered Donald Trump's lawyers to state in a court filing whether they believe FBI agents lied about documents seized from the former president's Florida residence in a court-authorized search last month, or claimed to have taken items that were not actually in Trump's possession. In a Thursday afternoon filing, U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie -- the special master -- told Trump's legal team to state by Sept. 30 whether they believe any of the seized items were incorrectly described in the Justice Department's 11-page inventory list, which said some of the documents were highly classified. Dearie also told them to say whether they are claiming that any items on the inventory list were not in fact taken from the premises. Trump has said on social media and in television interviews that the FBI planted items when they searched his Mar-a-Lago residence and private club on Aug. 8.... Dearie's order, in essence, demands that Trump's lawyers back up their client's claims." An NBC News story is here, and a CNN story is here.

     ~~~ Marie: So five judges whacked Trump in less than 24 hours: the three appellate judges, Dearie & even Cannon. I expect Cannon screwed Trump because she was so shaken by the Appellate Court's takedown of her stupid ruling that she didn't think to find out that she should give the Biggest Loser a chance to appeal to the Supremes. (Or she's so dumb she would not have thought of that in any event.) But Judge Dearie knew what he was doing when he forced Trump's lawyers to provide some proof that FBI agents had planted documents at Mar-a-Lardo. He was putting that line of bull to rest. Even if the FBI had planted incriminating docs, Trump could never prove it because I serious doubt he had kept his own inventory of what-all he had stolen. Of course, thieves probably don't usually inventory their take, so that's understandable. ~~~

     ~~~ And Another Thing. David Rohde of the New Yorker said on MSNBC last night that the FBI has a lead that Trump shared a classified document with a person not authorized to see it. Now, if Trump had declassified the docs, (using telepathy or other means) when he was president*, that would be okay. Those documents were marked "classified," but they were no longer classified. However, Rohde's remark brings up the more pressing -- and alarming -- issue: how many U.S. & what damaging information has Trump shared with unauthorized people? We already suspect/know that unauthorized people were handling the documents & had opportunities to rifle through them and choose some favorites, and now the FBI is developing evidence that Trump purposely shared government secrets with at least one unauthoized person. I still think the FBI should haul him in & interrogate him under a harsh light. Maybe that will happen.

Quinta Jurecic, et al., of Lawfare: "The decision by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon was a hot mess, as we and others detailed when she handed it down, and the grounds for an almost-inevitable appellate court intervention were obvious at the time. That said, the 29-page opinion is important in a number of respects.... Its unanimity and speed emphasize the fact that Judge Cannon's interference in the Justice Department's investigation was a gross impropriety, not a plausible legal position. That two of the panel members were, like Judge Cannon, appointed by President Trump further emphasizes that this is a matter of professionalism, not a matter of ideology or the sort of judicial philosophy that reasonably separates conservative from liberal jurists.... While the Eleventh Circuit emphasized that it was ruling on the narrow matter before it -- whether to stay Judge Cannon's ruling appointing a special master and enjoining the government from using the fruits of the Mar-a-Lago search with respect to 100 documents marked classified -- most of the logic of the opinion applies with equal force to the entire case.... In fact, if one takes [the appeals court ruling] at face value, it means the whole case should be thrown out.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "As U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon ruled twice in the Mar-a-Lago documents case for the former president who nominated her to the bench, many legal experts -- including conservatives and executive-power advocates --; have strained to understand how she could have reached such conclusions about Donald Trump's claims. On Wednesday night, two fellow Trump nominees joined with another judge to provide the rebuke of Cannon's jurisprudence that those experts suggested might be coming.... They repeatedly rejected not just the Trump legal team's lack of arguments, but also Cannon's acceptance of them. Indeed, they suggested it was inexplicable that Cannon ruled for Trump even by her own logic." MB: I do wonder what lesson Cannon will take from this rebuke. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times explains presidential power to declassify information. It would be a good idea if Donald Trump read the article. Much of the article addresses the declassification system in Q&A format. Here's my favorite: "Can a president secretly declassify information without leaving a written record or telling anyone? That question, according to specialists in the law of government secrecy, is borderline incoherent." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Andrew Weissmann, speaking on MSNBC this morning or last night was amused by Trump's assertion that "if you're the president of the United States, you can declassify ... even by thinking about it." Weissmann called that the "Bewitched Defense." It is my firm opinion that to successfully raise that defense, Trump would have had to wiggle his porky snout.

Renato Mariotti in a Politico Magazine opinion piece: "It's not hard to see why [New York State Attorney General Letitia] James is taking such a hard line [against Donald Trump, et al., & the Trump Organization]. She has a winning hand.... James' lawsuit is full of seemingly damning evidence, outlining a wide-ranging scheme to defraud lenders by vastly inflating the value of Trump's assets.... James alleges that Trump and his kids did this approximately 200 times between 2011 and 2021, sometimes inflating the value of properties by as much as tenfold.... Perhaps the biggest reason James has such a winning hand is this: Trump dealt her the cards. In early August he invoked the Fifth Amendment some 440 times during his deposition in this case.... Trump, his son Eric, and others took the Fifth hundreds of times.... Taking the Fifth has severe consequences in this case.... The jury will likely be instructed they can infer that when Trump [and others] took the Fifth, [the] answer[s] would have been adverse to [them]."

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A Jan. 6 rioter who has dressed up as Adolf Hitler and held a security clearance was sentenced to four years in federal prison during a hearing on Thursday. Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, 32, of New Jersey, who was an Army reservist when he stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, was convicted in May after he failed to convince jurors that he didn't know that Congress met at the Capitol, a claim he made on the stand to avoid a conviction for obstruction of Congress." MB: As Molly Ivins would have said, his improbable defense "probably sounded better in the original German." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marianne Levine & Burgess Everett of Politico: "Even as House GOP leaders whipped against the post-Jan. 6 legislation this week [-- which would clean up the 19th-century Electoral Count Act that Trump tried to exploit to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell has encouraged his members to seek a deal with Democrats and is himself leaning toward backing the effort, according to senators in both parties.... The Senate's bipartisan bill already has support from 11 Republicans, more than enough to break a filibuster."

Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "In an explosive hearing in July, an unidentified former Twitter employee testified to the House Jan. 6 committee that the company had tolerated false and rule-breaking tweets from Donald Trump for years because executives knew their service was his 'favorite and most-used -- and enjoyed having that sort of power.' Now, in an exclusive interview with The Washington Post, the whistleblower, Anika Collier Navaroli, reveals the terror she felt about coming forward and how eventually that fear was overcome by her worry that extremism and political disinformation on social media pose an 'imminent threat not just to American democracy, but to the societal fabric of our planet.'... Twitter banned Trump two days after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, citing fears he could incite further violence. By that time, he had sent more than 56,000 tweets over 12 years, many of which included lies and baseless accusations about election fraud." Worth a read.

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "A federal watchdog on Thursday found that fraudsters may have stolen $45.6 billion from the nation's unemployment insurance program during the pandemic, using the Social Security numbers of dead people and other tactics to deceive and bilk the U.S. government. The new estimate is a dramatic increase from the roughly $16 billion in potential fraud identified a year ago, and it illustrates the immense task still ahead of Washington as it seeks to pinpoint the losses, recover the funds and hold criminals accountable for stealing from a vast array of federal relief programs.... To siphon away funds, scammers allegedly filed billions of dollars in unemployment claims in multiple states simultaneously and relied on suspicious, hard-to-trace emails. In some cases, they used more than 205,000 Social Security numbers that belonged to dead people. Other suspected criminals obtained benefits using the identities of prisoners who are ineligible for aid." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It appears state employees who processed these claims were as gullible as the marks who fall for emails telling them they have a big inheritance awaiting them in a Nigerian bank account, but they need to send $2,314 in processing & late fees to get the money out.

Digby has more on scammer Gov. Ron DeSantis' unrealized promise to fly migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Delaware. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) And of course, old-fashioned corruption is part of the story: ~~~

~~~ Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: The company that flew asylum-seekers from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha's Vineyard -- Destin[, Florida]-based Vertol Systems Company -- "'was familiar to a key member of the DeSantis administration: Larry Keefe, the state's "public safety czar" responsible for carrying out the governor's anti-immigration programs. The company also has a private jet that flew from Florida to San Antonio a week before charter flights took 48 migrants to Martha's Vineyard,' the Miami Herald reported. 'Before DeSantis hired Keefe, and before he was named U.S. Attorney for Florida's Northern District by ... Donald Trump, Keefe represented Vertol Systems in a dozen lawsuits between 2010 and 2017,' the newspaper reported. '... So far, Keefe's ties to Vertol Systems are the best explanation of why the state hired the company." MB: Nice to see Trump gets a cameo in another corruption story. ~~~

     ~~~ AND Gaetz! Marc Caputo of NBC News: "The air charter company Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration hired for his migrant-moving program has contributed big money to some top allies of the governor and was once legally represented by Rep. Matt Gaetz and his former partner [Larry Keefe], who is now Florida's 'public safety czar' in charge of immigration policy. DeSantis' administration has refused to release a copy of the $12 million contract with Vertol Systems Company Inc. for its role in administering the 'unauthorized alien' program -- which state Democrats sought to block with a lawsuit Thursday -- nor will the governor's office comment on the nearly $1.6 million the company has received to send migrants to so-called sanctuary cities that welcome immigrants.... The state budget authorizing the program specifies that 'unauthorized aliens' are supposed to be flown from 'this state' of Florida -- not any other state -- and Republicans who crafted the program this year said publicly that Venezuelans seeking asylum are not considered 'unauthorized aliens' because they're allowed to be in this country."

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Christiane Amanpour was all set to interview Iran's president in New York on Wednesday when Iranian officials stepped in with a last-minute condition: The CNN host would have to wear a head covering, in deference to Iranian custom and an Islamic religious ritual. Amanpour said she refused -- at which point aides to president Ebrahim Raisi canceled the interview, setting off an incident that underscored tensions over women's rights in Iran. 'I refused to fold or cave to enable [the Iranians] to impose the laws of their land on our land,' Amanpour told The Washington Post on Thursday.... The incident comes as protests take place across Iran over Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died while in police custody last week. Amini was arrested in Tehran by Iran's 'morality police' over her public attire. Her family has disputed Iranian officials' claims that she died of heart failure. In protest, demonstrators have burned hijabs and other such coverings, and women have publicly cut their hair in defiance of the country's leadership. Security forces attempting to quell the protests have killed at least eight people, according to the human rights group Amnesty International."

Amy Wang & Min Joo Kim of the Washington Post: "South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was caught on a hot mic Wednesday insulting U.S. Congress members as 'idiots' who could be a potential embarrassment for President Biden if they did not approve funding for global public health. Yoon had just met with Biden at the Global Fund's Seventh Replenishment Conference in New York City. There, Biden had pledged $6 billion from the United States to the public health campaign, which fights AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria worldwide. The funding would require congressional approval. 'It would be so humiliating for Biden if these idiots don't pass it in Congress,' Yoon was overheard telling a group of aides as they left the event. Video of the exchange quickly went viral in South Korea, where Yoon took office in May as a political rookie. He has never held elected office before and lacks prior experience in foreign policy." MB: Gosh, I'm so upset.

Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A jury in a federal civil case on Thursday found that Project Veritas, a conservative group known for its deceptive tactics, had violated wiretapping laws and fraudulently misrepresented itself as part of a lengthy sting operation against Democratic political consultants. The jury awarded the consulting firm, Democracy Partners, $120,000. The decision amounted to a sharp rebuke of the practices that Project Veritas and its founder, James O'Keefe, have relied on. During the trial, lawyers for Project Veritas portrayed the operation as news gathering and its employees as journalists following the facts.... Project Veritas said it would appeal the decision."

Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "Alex Jones's initial day of testimony in a trial for damages after years of lying about the Sandy Hook shootings ended in chaos. Confronted on Thursday with the harm he had done by repeatedly lying on his Infowars radio and online show that Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie died in the massacre, was an actor, Mr. Jones erupted in a rant that drew a contempt threat by Judge Barbara Bellis of [Connecticut] State Superior Court. '... I'm done saying I'm sorry,' Mr. Jones responded, as his lawyer shouted objections.... At the end of the day, after the jury had gone, [Judge Bellis] warned Mr. Jones as well as his lawyer, Norm Pattis, that she would enforce a zero-tolerance policy on Friday for ignoring her orders about decorum in the courtroom. Mr. Pattis had repeatedly objected as his client shouted.... Mr. Jones's effort to defend himself on Thursday was punctuated by violations of the judge's order barring mentions of partisan politics or politicians." ~~~

     ~~~ Anna Merlan of Vice: While Alex Jones was on the stand yesterday, "he also managed to get in a plug for 'challenge coins' he's selling on the site, and publicly asked whoever has been anonymously sending him large crypto donations to keep doing it.... He spelled out the website where his audience can send crypto donations to him. [Plaintiffs' attorney Chris] Mattei asked incredulously if he was doing an ad; Jones responded, 'We're fighting the Deep State, we need to make money.'" Oh, read on.

Marie: It was a bad day in court for wingnuts: Trump, Fake Hitler, O'Keefe, Jones.

McKenna Oxenden of the New York Times: "Two New Jersey-based companies have agreed to pay a total of $325,000 in fines for selling a pesticide that federal officials say was falsely marketed as a disinfectant spray that could help eliminate the coronavirus, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The product, Zoono Microbe Shield, from Zoono USA and Zoono Holdings, was sold online through Amazon and other websites and to community centers and was even purchased by United Airlines during the height of the pandemic to disinfect cabins, the E.P.A. said Wednesday in a statement announcing the settlement. The E.P.A. said that while reviewing Zoono Microbe Shield's label, the agency discovered that it was sold with claims about public health that 'substantially differed' from what was registered with the agency, which is illegal, and that the claims were 'false' and 'misleading.'"

Karina Tsui> of the Washington Post: "Cities along the coasts of South and Southeast Asia are sinking -- even faster than similar cities elsewhere -- because of rapid, poorly controlled urbanization, scientists say, heightening risks already posed by rising sea levels."

Beyond the Beltway

Peter Stone of the Guardian: "Fossil fuel giant Koch Industries has poured over $1m into backing -- directly and indirectly -- dozens of House and Senate candidates who voted against certifying Joe Biden's win on 6 January 2021. Koch, which is controlled by multibillionaire Charles Koch, boasts a corporate Pac that has donated $607,000 to the campaigns or leadership Pacs of 52 election deniers since January 2021, making Koch's Pac the top corporate funder of members who opposed the election results, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign spending. In addition, the Super Pac Americans for Prosperity Action to which Koch Industries has given over $6m since January 2021, has backed some election deniers with advertising and other communications support, as well as a few candidates Donald Trump has endorsed who tried to help him overturn the 2020 election, or raised doubts about the final results."

Florida. Richard Luscombe of the Guardian: "A Florida prosecutor suspended by Ron DeSantis for defying a new 15-week abortion law says a federal judge's decision to send his reinstatement appeal to trial means a reckoning is coming for the state's Republican governor. Andrew Warren, a Democrat, was removed as Hillsborough county state attorney on 4 August after saying he would not enforce the abortion ban or prosecute providers of gender transition treatment for young people. DeSantis cited Warren's alleged 'woke agenda' in reasons for his decision. At a hearing in Tallahassee on Monday, Judge Robert Hinkle denied motions from DeSantis to dismiss Warren’s lawsuit, and another by Warren seeking an immediate return to office, instead requesting their differences be settled at a trial in the coming weeks.... The closely watched case is expected to give clarity to DeSantis's power to purge elected officials who disagree with him."

Georgia Senate Race. Another Herschel Walker Lie. David Fahrenthold & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Back when he was a businessman running a food-distribution company, Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia..., pledged that 15 percent of [company] profits would go to charities, a promise the company said was 'part of its corporate charter.' For years, Mr. Walker's company named four specific charities as beneficiaries of those donations, including the Boy Scouts of America and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. But there is scant evidence that Mr. Walker's giving matched those promises. When The New York Times contacted those four charities, one declined to comment and the other three said they had no record or recollection of any gifts from the company in the last decade.... The Times's reporting did not conclusively prove that Mr. Walker's company failed to donate profits. It is possible that his company donated to other charities without naming them in public." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Indiana. Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "An Indiana judge temporarily halted the state's ban on most abortions on Thursday, a week after the law took effect. The decision came as part of a lawsuit brought by abortion providers challenging the state ban, which prohibits most abortions from conception. Indiana was the first state to pass new, sweeping restrictions on abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to the procedure in June. The judge's ruling for now restores wider legal rights to abortion in the state, which has played a prominent role in the nation's abortion debate, while the court case proceeds." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ohio Congressional Race. Josh Kraushaar of Axios: "House Republicans have withdrawn their [$1MM] advertising [budget] for Ohio Republican J.R. Majewski, a MAGA-aligned candidate who was at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riots.... [Rep. Marcy] Kaptur's [D] redrawn district -- which backed Trump by three points in 2020 -- once looked like an easy pickup for House Republicans. The GOP is now at risk of squandering another race because Republican primary voters nominated an extreme candidate.... The AP wrote: '[Majewski's] post-military career has been defined by exaggerations, conspiracy theories, talk of violent action against the U.S. government and occasional financial duress.... House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) campaigned for Majewski last month, seeing his race as key to the party's efforts to win back the House majority. Former President Trump didn't endorse Majewski, but praised him at an Ohio rally before the contested primary." ~~~

     ~~~ Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "J.R. Majewski, a Republican House candidate in northern Ohio, has frequently promoted himself as a combat veteran who served in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but the U.S. Air Force has no record that he served there, unraveling a central narrative of his political ascension that has been heralded by ... Donald J. Trump.... Mr. Majewski first gained attention in Ohio in 2020 by turning his lawn into a 19,000-square-foot 'Trump 2020' sign." See also CNN story linked on yesterday's page. ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemiuex in LG&$: "Amazing that a guy who turned his home into a literal shrine for Donald Trump would turn out to be a fake-macho liar. Entirely unforeseeable."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "Moscow launched referendums on Friday in four Ukrainian territories under its control, a dramatic escalation of the Kremlin's bid to consolidate control over swaths of the country.... The referendums on the prospect of joining Russia, illegal under Ukrainian and international law, will last five days for the separatist Luhansk and Donetsk territories, which make up the eastern Donbas region, as well as in the southern Kherson region and occupied parts of nearby Zaporizhzhia. Russian news agencies said that hundreds of polling stations would open and that refugees in Russia would be able to take part in the referendums, which have drawn global condemnation.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attacked the legitimacy of the sham referendums. Speaking in Russian, he urged Russians to resist the military mobilization which Putin announced this week....

"The U.N. nuclear watchdog said 'detailed talks' about a safety zone at the Zaporizhzhia plant are underway.... Diplomats clashed over allegations of Russian war crimes at a heated U.N. Security Council meeting on Thursday. [U.S.] Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia's withdrawal from the Ukrainian cities of Izyum and Bucha revealed gruesome torture and killings that could not be dismissed as the actions of a few bad actors. In a brief appearance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied the charges and condemned Western support for Kyiv before leaving the room."

Paul Sonne & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "The United States for several months has been sending private communications to Moscow warning Russia's leadership of the grave consequences that would follow the use of a nuclear weapon, according to U.S. officials, who said the messages underscore what President Biden and his aides have articulated publicly. The Biden administration generally has decided to keep warnings about the consequences of a nuclear strike deliberately vague, so the Kremlin worries about how Washington might respond, the officials said.... The attempt by the White House to cultivate what's known in the nuclear deterrence world as 'strategic ambiguity' comes as Russia continues to escalate its rhetoric about possible nuclear weapons use amid a domestic mobilization aimed at stanching Russian military losses in eastern Ukraine."

Robyn Dixon, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russian families bade tearful farewells on Thursday to thousands of sons and husbands abruptly summoned for military duty as part of President Vladimir Putin's new mobilization, while pro-war Russian nationalists raged over the release of commanders of Ukraine's controversial Azov Regiment in a highly secretive prisoner exchange.... More than 1,300 people were arrested at anti-mobilization protests in cities and towns across Russia on Wednesday and Thursday.... In the city of Togliatti, a military commissariat, or local military recruitment and draft office, was set on fire, one of dozens of similar attacks across Russia in recent months.... The dual backlash over mobilization and the prisoner exchange showed Putin facing his most acute crisis since the he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine." MB: Putin does seem to be on increasingly shaky ground. I sure hope he ends his rule not with a bang, but a whimper. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

CNBC: "Stocks tumbled on Friday to close out a brutal week for financial markets as surging interest rates and foreign currency turmoil heightened fears of a global recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 700 points to fall below 30,000 to a new low for the year. The 30-stock index is fell 20% from its high, known as bear market territory on Wall Street. It was last trading 756 points lower, or 2.5%. The S&P 500 fell 2.7% and headed for a new 2022 closing low, while the Nasdaq Composite slid about 2.8%."