August 6, 2022

Afternoon Update:

The Senate is meeting today, beginning at noon ET, to advance its big ole spending bill. ~~~

~~~ Caitlin Emma & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Democrats have survived the vetting of the Medicare portions of their prescription drug reform plan, but lost ground on a separate pillar that penalizes drug companies for raising prices on individuals with private health insurance, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Saturday.... The Senate's nonpartisan rules referee, who decides which provisions are eligible for sidestepping a GOP filibuster under the chamber's strict rules, signed off on Medicare-related drug price negotiation.... The Senate's rules arbiter [also] signed off on that the bill's energy provisions, including electric vehicle tax credits and a bonus tax credit to encourage clean energy developers to pay the prevailing wage." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You might ask, "Okay, then, the Senate can just pass the parts that didn't pass muster under regular order." But no, that requires meeting the 60-vote filibuster threshold, and Republicans want you to have to pay high prices for drugs. If that's not true, let Republicans prove it by finding at least ten GOP senators who will vote for (or sponsor) a comparable stand-alone bill. ~~~

~~ Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Senate Democrats were poised to begin debate Saturday on a sprawling bill that aims to lower health-care costs, combat climate change and reduce the federal deficit, a critical step in a grueling legislative journey to deliver on President Biden's long-stalled economic agenda. The new push to consider the measure, which Republicans unanimously oppose, came seven months after internecine bickering scuttled Democrats' last efforts to adopt a package that many in the party regard as essential for retaining the House and Senate in this year's midterm elections. 'Put simply, this legislation will save lives, create jobs, reduce costs and reduce inflation,' Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said during a news conference Friday."

You can't make up this stuff: ~~~

"Drop Box for Babies." Dana Goldstein of the New York Times: "The Safe Haven Baby Box at a firehouse in Carmel, Ind., looked like a library book drop. It had been available for three years for anyone who wanted to surrender a baby anonymously. No one had ever used it, though, until early April. When its alarm went off, Victor Andres, a firefighter, opened the box and found, to his disbelief, a newborn boy wrapped in towels.... Later that month, Mr. Andres pulled another newborn, a girl, from the box. In May, a third baby appeared. By summer, three more infants were left at baby box locations throughout the state. The baby boxes are part of the safe haven movement, which has long been closely tied to anti-abortion activism.... All 50 states have safe haven laws meant to protect surrendering mothers from criminal charges.... But what began as a way to prevent the most extreme cases of child abuse has become a broader phenomenon, supported especially among the religious right, which heavily promotes adoption as an alternative to abortion.... ~~~

~~~ "During oral arguments in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested that safe haven laws offered an alternative to abortion by allowing women to avoid 'the burdens of parenting.' In the court's decision, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. cited safe haven laws as a 'modern development' that, in the majority's view, obviated the need for abortion rights."~~~

     ~~~ Contributor Forrest M. is baffled: "... Republicans are fine with having drop boxes for newborn unwanted babies, but drop boxes for votes is dangerous."

Florida. Selene San Felice of Axios publishes some apt reactions to King/Gov. Ron DeSantis' suspending elected Hillsborough County (Tampa) state attorney Andrew Warren. ~~~

     ~~~"Orban 2.0." digby: "This is how a true autocrat operates. He doesn't tweet insults (although his spokesperson does) he just acts and lets everyone else scream.... No abortion ban or LGBT cases to which DeSantis objects have been brought before the DA. The 15 week ban is still being decided in the courts. He removed him for what he said, not what he did. This is an ugly turn but it's how DeSantis operates. Unlike Trump he knows how to work the lever of government." digby republishes an article from Boltsmag that goes into not only what DeSantis did but how he failed to follow the law he used to justify suspending Warren.

Texas. Jolie McCullough & Jaden Edison of the Texas Tribune: "Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed an indicted Austin police officer accused of using excessive force during 2020 protests to Texas' regulatory law enforcement agency. Justin Berry was among 19 Austin police officers indicted earlier this year in the protests spurred by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Berry is charged with two counts of aggravated assault by a public servant. He also ran as a Republican for Texas House District 19 but lost in the primary runoff election this year. Abbott had endorsed Berry in the race, saying his 'strong conservative values and experience stopping violent crime are exactly what we need in the Texas House.' Now, at the governor's hand, Berry will serve on the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which sets minimum licensing and training standards for police."

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Hedged in by Sinema's Hedge-Fund Donors. Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that Democrats had 'no choice' but to drop a key tax provision from their major spending bill in order to gain Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's support. Sinema, a centrist Democrat from Arizona, had withheld her support of the Inflation Reduction Act, the sweeping bill that includes much of the Biden administration's tax, climate and health care agenda.... 'Senator Sinema said she would not vote for the bill, not even move to proceed unless we took it out,' [Schumer] said. 'So we had no choice.'... The so-called carried interest loophole [is] a feature of the tax code that both Democrats and Republicans -- including ... Donald Trump -- have tried to close. Carried interest refers to compensation that hedge fund managers and private equity executives receive from their firms' investment gains. After three years, that money is taxed at a long-term capital gains rate of 20%, instead of a short-term capital gains rate, which tops out at 37%.... While the carried interest provision was nixed, Schumer said Democrats added in an excise tax on stock buybacks that will bring in $74 billion. He said that multiple legislators are 'excited' about that update."

CBS News: "Former Attorney General Bill Barr called the newest federal grand jury subpoenas probing the Jan. 6, 202, Capitol riot 'a significant event,' one that suggests that government prosecutors are probing high-ranking Trump administration officials and allies, and even ... Donald Trump. 'This suggests to me that they're taking a hard look at the group at the top, including the president and the people immediately around him who were involved in this,' Barr told CBS News' Catherine Herridge in an interview Friday.... While Barr thinks that Trump might be able to block some testimony with an executive privilege argument, he said, 'I don't think it would block all the testimony.' He ticked off a list of ways in which a privilege argument 'is inapplicable here.'" Barr noted that President Biden has waived executive privilege; that privilege does apply when a crime is involved; and that Trump was acting as a candidate, not as president*, in the subject discussions.

Marie: If you want to know what the Republican party "stands for" today, as of 5:00 am ET, I had posted only three stories: one about a prominent GOP-aligned man who repeatedly lied about & defamed the innocent victims of the mass murder of little children and now is trying to cheat them out of damages by pretending to be bankrupt, one about a state legislature and governor depriving women of bodily autonomy, and a third about another mass shooting, also with a semi-automatic rifle. So there you go: lying and cheating, extinguishing women's freedom, and extinguishing children's lives. Your modern Republican party.

Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "The Republican National Committee announced Friday that Milwaukee will be the host for the 2024 GOP convention, tapping a swing state that helped decide the outcome of the past two presidential elections. RNC Chairwoman Ronna [Romney] McDaniel said the vote was unanimous for a 'world-class city,' while expressing her eagerness to work with local leaders for the multiday event at which the party crowns its presidential and vice-presidential nominees." MB: Also, they probably hope Milwaukee won't be as hot as some other possible choices. Because they support global warming only up to the point where it makes them sweat.

Kim Bellware, et al., of the Washington Post: "A Texas jury has determined Infowars host Alex Jones must pay the parents of a Sandy Hook school shooting victim $45.2 million in punitive damages. The Friday decision comes a day after the same jury awarded the plaintiffs $4.1 million in compensatory damages, culminating the final phase of a defamation case first brought in 2018 over Jones's repeated false claims that the deadliest elementary school shooting in U.S. history was a hoax." (Also linked yesterday evening.) An NPR report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "One by one, the relatives and friends of the 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., took the stand in court this week and divulged to a jury the depths of their despair since losing loved ones to gunfire four years ago on Valentine's Day. Over four days of profoundly emotional testimony, they shared painful and intimate details that laid bare how their internal lives remain shattered and how massacres like Parkland leave families with years of unresolved sorrow. The heart-rending testimony concluded on Thursday after the jury deciding the fate of the gunman, Nikolas Cruz, toured the school building where the mass shooting took place. Prosecutors left the viewing of the crime scene, an exceedingly rare and visceral occurrence in a criminal trial, for the last day of their nearly three-week presentation and rested their case.... As victim after victim spoke, many people in the courtroom gallery wept. So did several defense lawyers." A Guardian story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: When I was in grade school, a boy in another classroom accidentally killed his brother with a gun; when I was in high school, a boy I didn't know even to nod to in the hall killed himself. I still remember those kids and shudder, even though I had little to no direct contact with them. It is hard, therefore, to imagine the pain these families suffer because Republicans thought it was a good idea for a troubled young man to have access to a semi-automatic rifle.

Indiana. Mitch Smith & Julie Bosman of the New York Times: "Indiana lawmakers passed and the governor signed a near-total ban on abortion on Friday, overcoming division among Republicans and protests from Democrats to become the first state to draw up and approve sweeping new limits on the procedure since Roe v. Wade was struck down in June.... It came despite some Indiana Republicans opposing the measure for going too far, and others voting no because of its exceptions.... The Indiana bill -- which bans abortion from conception except in some cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormality or when the pregnant woman faces risk of death or certain severe health risks -- was signed into law within minutes of its final passage late Friday night by Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican who had encouraged legislators to consider new abortion limits during a special session that he called." An AP story is here.

North Carolina. Fighting Fire-Power with Fire-Power. Johnny Casey of the Asheville Citizen Times: " In response to the Texas school shooting that left 19 children dead May 24, the local school system [in Madison County, N.C.,] and Sheriff's Office are rolling out some beefed up security measures in 2022-23, including putting AR-15 rifles in every school.... According to [County Sheriff Buddy] Harwood, the county's school resource officers have been training with instructors from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College." The school system has initiated other measures to enhance safety. MB: The answer to too many high-powered weapons is more high-powered weapons.

Pennsylvania Senate Race. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democratic Senate nominee, will hold his first public rally next week since suffering a near-deadly stroke four days before the May 17 primary election, his campaign announced Friday. The rally is planned for Erie, Pa., one of the state's swing counties, on Aug. 12. Fetterman has only recently resumed attending in-person fundraising events and has made a few brief public appearances -- but nothing on the scale of what is planned next week.... Fetterman faces celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz in the November election. Oz has remained active on the campaign trail since prevailing in the Republican primary, although he has faced criticism for reportedly taking trips to Ireland and Palm Beach, Fla. Despite his absence from the campaign trail, a recent poll showed Fetterman with the advantage." ~~~

     ~~~ Gideon Taaffe of Media Matters: "Fox News is in attack mode after its own polling showed Republican nominee Mehmet Oz trailing Democratic nominee Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the Pennsylvania Senate race.... The network has long had a cozy relationship with Oz. At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Oz became one of Fox News' most prominent voices by downplaying the severity of the virus and promoting unproven therapeutics.... Fox News personalities have repeatedly pushed narratives portraying Fetterman as an elitist and a far-left radical and have given favorable coverage to Oz while attacking Fetterman[.]"

Tennessee. Memphis D.A. Race. Sam Levine of the Guardian: "Amy Weirich, the Memphis prosecutor who stirred national outrage for bringing criminal charges against a Black woman [-- Pamela Moses --] for trying to register to vote, has lost her re-election bid. Weirich, a Republican who has been the district attorney general in Shelby county since 2011, lost to Democrat Steve Mulroy, a law professor at the University of Memphis and a former county commissioner. Weirich's defeat marks a major victory for criminal justice reform advocates, who had pressured her office over its use of cash bail, diversity and decisions to try juveniles as adults." Read on.

Washington State Congressional Race. Michael Bender of the New York Times: "Representative Dan Newhouse of Washington, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach ... Donald J. Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, will advance to the November general election to seek a fifth term after finishing in the top two in a crowded primary, according to The Associated Press. He will face Doug White, a Democratic businessman, who narrowly trailed him as of Friday night. Under Washington election laws, the top two candidates in the primary, regardless of party, advance to the general election.... [A] super PAC's most-watched TV spot attacked Mr. Newhouse's Trump-endorsed challenger, Loren Culp, over an unpaid corporate tax bill and accused him of 'padding his own pockets' with campaign donations."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russia and Ukraine are accusing each other of shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, located in southeast Ukraine. It was seized by Russian forces in March and its closeness to front line fighting is triggering international fears of a nuclear crisis. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has appealed for access to the plant and called the situation 'extremely grave and dangerous.' The deal to lift a Russian blockade on millions of tons of Ukrainian grain appears to be working.... Vladimir Putin met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the Russian resort city of Sochi on Friday, their second meeting in 2½ weeks. In a joint statement, the leaders said they had agreed to increase the volume of trade between their countries, and reaffirmed the Ukraine grain deal. Turkey, a NATO member, also agreed to switch part of its payments for Russian gas to rubles." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. They include a summary report.

China/Taiwan. Vivian Wang of the New York Times: "China continued on Saturday to project its ire at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent visit to Taiwan, with its third straight day of military drills that have encroached ever closer to the island and raised concerns about potential conflict. The Taiwanese defense ministry said on Saturday that several batches of Chinese military aircraft and warships had been detected around the Taiwan Strait, with some crossing the informal median line that divides the island from the Chinese mainland. They appeared to be engaged in an exercise simulating an attack on the main island of Taiwan, the ministry said." The Guardian is live-updating developments.

France. It's a Star! It's a Planet! It's Chorizo. Sophia Galer of Vice: "A photo tweeted by a famous French physicist supposedly of Proxima Centauri by the James Webb Space Telescope was actually a slice of chorizo. Étienne Klein, research director at France's Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission posted the photo last week, claiming it showed the closest star to the sun.... A few days [after tweeting the photo], Klein revealed that the photo he tweeted was not the work of the world's most powerful space telescope, as he had in fact tweeted a slice of chorizo sausage. 'According to contemporary cosmology, no object belonging to Spanish charcuterie exists anywhere but on Earth,' he said after apologising for tricking so many people.... Klein told French news outlet Le Point that his intention had been to educate people about fake news online...."

Israel/Palestine. Fares Akram & Tia Goldenberg of the AP: "Israeli jets pounded militant targets in Gaza on Saturday as rockets rained on southern Israel, hours after a wave of Israeli airstrikes on the coastal enclave killed at least 11 people, including a senior militant and a 5-year-old girl. The fighting that began Friday with Israel's dramatic targeted killing of a senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad continued throughout the night, drawing the sides closer to an all-out war. But the territory's Hamas rulers appeared to stay on the sidelines of the conflict, keeping its intensity somewhat contained, for now. Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and several smaller battles over the last 15 years at a staggering cost to the territory's 2 million Palestinian residents."

August 5, 2022

Evening Update:

Kim Bellware, et al., of the Washington Post: "A Texas jury has determined Infowars host Alex Jones must pay the parents of a Sandy Hook school shooting victim $45.2 million in punitive damages. The Friday decision comes a day after the same jury awarded the plaintiffs $4.1 million in compensatory damages, culminating the final phase of a defamation case first brought in 2018 over Jones's repeated false claims that the deadliest elementary school shooting in U.S. history was a hoax."

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** Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) said she would soon be ready to 'move forward' on a revised version of Senate Democrats' health care, climate and deficit-reduction package, after party leaders agreed to scale back some of their original tax proposals. The new approach -- along with other changes to the proposal known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 -- satisfied Sinema's chief concerns and helped set in motion a plan to approve it as soon as this weekend. In a statement, Sinema said Democrats had 'agreed to remove' a key tax policy targeting wealthy investors that aimed to address what is known as the 'carried interest loophole.' She also said they had made additional changes to a second provision that aims to impose a new minimum tax on corporations that currently pay nothing to the U.S. government. The revisions would benefit manufacturers, according to two people familiar with the matter.... Democrats opted to seek a new 1 percent tax on corporate stock buybacks, a move that would make up at least some of the revenue that might have lost as a result of the changes...." A Guardian story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Still, there certainly will be less "inflation reduction" with Sinema's changes. She is, as you know, a captive of wealthy donors, especially those from the financial biz. ~~~

~~~ Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced that the Senate will begin consideration of a $740 billion budget reconciliation package that would reform the tax code and tackle climate change on Saturday afternoon, setting up a weekend of around-the-clock votes.... If a majority of senators vote to proceed to the legislation, they will then debate for up to 20 hours before holding an open-ended series of votes, known as a vote-a-rama, before a final up-or-down vote, which is now expected Sunday or perhaps early Monday morning. The announcement signals that Schumer expects maverick Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) to vote with all 49 other members of the Senate Democratic caucus to proceed to the legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, which would spend $369 billion on an energy and climate program and spend more than $300 billion to reduce the deficit." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "The White House summoned China's ambassador on Thursday to condemn Beijing's escalating actions against Taiwan and reiterate that the United States does not want a crisis in the region, after a visit to the island by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sharply escalated tensions in the Taiwan Strait this week.... China's show of force against Taiwan on Thursday included firing missiles into the sea and threatening the island's territorial waters. Taiwan said China fired 11 ballistic missiles into the waters off its northeastern and southwestern coasts, and Japanese officials said five Chinese missiles landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone." ~~~

~~~ Olivia Olander of Politico: "The Pentagon has directed the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan to remain in the area near Taiwan 'to monitor the situation' as China launches missiles in the region, the White House announced on Thursday. In addition, the U.S. has delayed a planned test of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile to avoid increasing tensions, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters." ~~~

~~~ Vincent Ni of the Guardian: "China has halted ties with the US on a range of critical issues, from talks on the climate crisis to dialogue between their militaries, following the visit by the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan. The announcement of the countermeasures came as Beijing conducted military drills surrounding the island of Taiwan. Earlier, China announced sanctions against Pelosi and her direct family members. Beijing called Pelosi's visit 'vicious and provocative'. The cancelled interactions ranged from climate talks, to dialogue between the leaders of Chinese and US military theatres, to a working meeting of Chinese and US defence ministries and a consultation mechanism on maritime military safety between the countries. Analysts say the suspension of such activities threaten to break what the White House calls 'guardrails' between the two countries, which could prevent the situation from spiralling out of control."

Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's legal team is in direct communication with Justice Department officials, the first sign of talks between the two sides as the criminal probe into January 6, 2021, accelerates, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. The talks revolve around whether Trump would be able to shield conversations he had while he was president from federal investigators.... The Trump team's discussions are with the US attorney's office in Washington, DC, which is in charge of the investigation, and its top January 6 prosecutor Thomas Windom, the sources said."

Dan Mangan of CNBC: "... Donald Trump 'probably' will be indicted on criminal charges along with officials in his White House as part of a Justice Department investigation of efforts to reverse the 2020 election results nationally, ex-Attorney General Eric Holder said in an interview Thursday. But Holder suggested that before that happens, Trump is more likely to first face possible criminal charges from the Georgia state prosecutor who is investigating attempts by Trump and his allies to undo President Joe Biden's win there in 2020." ~~~

~~~ Eric Bradner of CNN: "Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney said if the Justice Department does not prosecute ... Donald Trump for his role in the insurrection at the US Capitol and 'the facts and the evidence are there,' the decision could call into question whether the United States can 'call ourselves a nation of laws.'"

Brittany Shammas, et al., of the Washington Post: "Infowars founder Alex Jones must pay $4.1 million in compensatory damages to the parents of a 6-year-old boy [Jesse Lewis] killed in the Sandy Hook mass shooting, an Austin jury announced Thursday, after the right-wing conspiracy theorist's false claims that the deadliest elementary school shooting in U.S. history was a 'giant hoax' created a 'living hell' for the family.... But it remains to be seen how much Jones, 48, might be ordered to pay in punitive damages. The jury is expected to return Friday to weigh that amount -- a sum that could be considerably higher." The AP's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Luke Broadwater & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The lawyer for plaintiffs who are suing the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said Thursday that he plans to turn over two years of text messages from Mr. Jones's phone to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The lawyer, Mark Bankston, who represents Sandy Hook parents suing Mr. Jones in defamation lawsuits for lies he had spread about the 2012 school shooting, said in court in Austin, Texas, that he planned to turn over the texts unless a judge instructed him not to do so.... The judge, Maya Guerra Gamble, who appeared unsympathetic to requests from Mr. Jones's lawyers that Mr. Bankston return the materials to them.... A person familiar with the House committee';s work said the panel had been in touch with the plaintiffs" lawyers about obtaining materials from Mr. Jones's phone." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie. According MSNBC's Ali Velshi, when Bankston informed Jones' lawyers that he had received the text messages, Jones' lawyers wrote back, "Please disregard," which does not constitute a legal demand for return of the texts. Commenters in yesterday's thread were discussing the incompetence of wingers' lawyers; I'd say this is one more example.

** Dana Milbank of the Washington Post from his book about the crackup of the Republican party: "On Sept. 27, 1994, more than 300 Republican members of Congress and congressional candidates gathered where the insurrectionists would one day mount the scaffolding.... 'Newt! Newt! Newt! Newt!' the candidates and lawmakers chanted.... The pejoratives piled up in Gingrich's shouted, finger-wagging harangue.... The rise of Gingrich and his shock troops set the nation on a course toward the ruinous politics of today.... Republicans have become an authoritarian faction fighting democracy -- and there's a perfectly logical reason for this: Democracy is working against Republicans.... Concurrent with the rise of Gingrich was the ascent of conservative talk radio, followed by the triumph of Fox News, followed by the advent of social media.... The biggest cause is race.... Because Trump is merely a reflection of the sickness in the GOP, the problem won't go away when he does.... Republicans ... destroyed truth, they destroyed decency, they destroyed patriotism, they destroyed national unity, they destroyed racial progress, they destroyed their own party, and they are well on their way to destroying the world's oldest democracy." Includes audio of Milbank reading from his book. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While I agree with Milbank's analysis in general, I would attribute the fall of the Republican party to the success of the civil rights movement, not only for racial, ethnic & religious minorities but also for women, gays, people with disabilities. Until the 1960s, there were many liberal Republicans and the "Solid South" was solidly Democratic. But the Warren court & LBJ changed all that, and Southern Democrats (and Dixiecrats!) became Republicans -- because they were racists. Moderate Republicans from other parts of the country quickly became an endangered species. Now most are gone, replaced by the Gym Jordans & Steve Kings. As the parties became more homogeneous, the GOP morphed into the party of racists, anti-feminists & anti-gays. And now -- as Milbank notes, out of necessity -- it also is the party of anti-truth, anti-democracy & pro-authoritarianism. Although Milbank does write about Nixon's "Southern Strategy," the evolution of the Republican party took longer than he lets on. ~~~

~~~ For Instance. Dave Weigel & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "It was a Trump rally with a Hungarian accent. Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister who has consolidated autocratic power with hard-right opposition to immigration and liberal democracy, addressed a crowd of thousands of American admirers [at a CPAC convention] in Dallas on Thursday with a red-meat speech that could have easily been delivered by any Republican candidate on the campaign trail this year. Orban presented the two countries as twin fronts in a struggle against common enemies he described as globalists, progressives, communists and 'fake news.'... Orban's latest controversy: a speech in which he railed against Europe becoming 'mixed race,' saying that Europeans did not want to live with people from outside the continent.... Orban has found defenders among prominent American conservatives, including ... Donald Trump, Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance. On his way to Dallas, Orban stopped to visit Trump at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. In a statement, Trump called Orban his 'friend.'... Orban spoke to a half-full but enthusiastic ballroom, receiving a standing ovation and frequent bursts of applause and cheers.... 'The mother is a woman, the father is a man, and leave our kids alone,' Orban said, cracking a smile as many in the crowd got up and cheered." CNN's report is here.

~~~ Not satisfied with wrecking the country, Republicans work to wreck Earth: ~~~

David Gelles of the New York Times: "Nearly two dozen Republican state treasurers around the country are working to thwart climate action on state and federal levels, fighting regulations that would make clear the economic risks posed by a warming world, lobbying against climate-minded nominees to key federal posts and using the tax dollars they control to punish companies that want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Over the past year, treasurers in nearly half the United States have been coordinating tactics and talking points, meeting in private and cheering each other in public as part of a well-funded campaign to protect the fossil fuel companies that bolster their local economies. Last week, Riley Moore, the treasurer of West Virginia, announced that several major banks -- including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo -- would be barred from government contracts with his state because they are reducing their investments in coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel.... At the nexus of these efforts is the State Financial Officers Foundation, a little-known nonprofit organization based in Shawnee, Kan...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A photo of Riley Moore accompanying the article pictures a handsome young man looking ever-so-smug. When he looks in a mirror, he should see a monster.

Abbott, Ducey Stunts Stress East-Coast Cities. Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "A political tactic by the governors of Texas and Arizona to offload the problems caused by record levels of migration at the border is beginning to hit home in Washington, [D.C.,] as hundreds of undocumented migrants arriving on the governors' free bus rides each week increasingly tax the capital's ability to provide emergency food and housing. With no money and no family to receive them, the migrants are overwhelming immigrant nonprofits and other volunteer groups, with many ending up in homeless shelters or on park benches. Five buses arrived on a recent day, spilling young men and families with nowhere to go into the streets near the Capitol. Since April, Texas has delivered more than 6,200 migrants to the nation's capital, with Arizona dispatching an additional 1,000 since May. The influx has prompted Muriel E. Bowser, Washington's Democratic mayor, to ask the Defense Department to send the National Guard in.... A vast majority of recent bus riders are Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-ridden country, and many have also been arriving in New York, often via Washington. Eric Adams, mayor of New York City, announced emergency measures on Monday to enable the city to quickly build additional shelter capacity.... Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, both Republicans, blame President Biden for record numbers of migrants crossing the southern border." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "Rural school districts in Texas are switching to four-day weeks this fall due to lack of staff. Florida is asking veterans with no teaching background to enter classrooms. Arizona is allowing college students to step in and instruct children. The teacher shortage in America has hit crisis levels -- and school officials everywhere are scrambling to ensure that, as students return to classrooms, someone will be there to educate them.... Experts point to a confluence of factors including pandemic-induced teacher exhaustion, low pay and some educators' sense that politicians and parents -- and sometimes their own school board members -- have little respect for their profession amid an escalating educational culture war that has seen many districts and states pass policies and laws restricting what teachers can say about U.S. history, race, racism, gender and sexual orientation, as well as LGBTQ issues. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Who wants to be a teacher if you have to pretend there's no such thing as sex and that slavery made for a safe and comfy "lifestyle," you have to fend off threats from angry parents, and if you're gay or non-Christian, you pretty much have to go back in the closet?

Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "An Air Force explosives expert has been charged in connection with a suspected insider attack that wounded four other U.S. troops at an austere outpost in Syria earlier this year, a highly unusual case of alleged betrayal in an organization that prizes fidelity above all else. Tech. Sgt. David D. Dezwaan Jr. is accused of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and wrongfully obtaining classified information, among other crimes, the Air Force said Thursday. The charges stem from a military investigation into the April incident at Green Village, a base the Americans share with partner forces in eastern Syria."

Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency on Thursday in an effort to galvanize awareness and unlock additional flexibility and funding to fight the virus's spread.... The health secretary is also considering a second declaration empowering federal officials to expedite medical countermeasures, such as potential treatments and vaccines, without going through full-fledged federal reviews. That would also allow for greater flexibility in how the current supply of vaccines is administered, Becerra said." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.)

Vimal Patel of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a West Virginia man to more than three years in prison for sending threatening emails to Anthony Fauci, including one in which he said the immunologist and his family would be beaten to death and set on fire, prosecutors said. The man, Thomas Patrick Connally Jr., 56, had pleaded guilty in May to making threats against a federal official and also admitted to sending threatening messages to other health officials, including Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institutes of Health, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona Gubernatorial Race. Jonathan Cooper of the AP: "Kari Lake, a former news anchor who ... embraced by Donald Trump and his staunch supporters, won the Republican primary for Arizona governor on Thursday. Lake's victory was a blow to the GOP establishment that lined up behind lawyer and businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson in an attempt to push their party past the chaotic Trump era. Lake said she would not have certified President Joe Biden's 2020 victory and put false claims of election fraud at the center of her campaign.... Lake will face Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in the November election."

Florida. More on DeSantoni. (OR Moron DeSantolini. Florida Politics: "Gov. Ron DeSantis is suspending State Attorney Andrew Warren of the 13th Judicial Circuit [Hillsborough County], replacing the progressive prosecutor with County Judge Susan Lopez [whom DeSantis appoint to her judgeship].... 'Andrew Warren has put himself publicly above the law,' DeSantis said. 'The Constitution of Florida has vested the veto power in the Governor, not an individual State Attorney.' In announcing Warren's suspension, the Governor cited Warren's refusal to enforce bans on abortion and gender-affirming surgery. Most recently, Warren pledged he would not enforce Florida's new law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 'It's been a very, very troubling record,' DeSantis said. 'They're literally chopping off the private parts of kids.' Warren, who was elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020, has pushed for justice reform throughout his tenure. Under the state constitution, a Governor has the power to suspend a local official for 'misfeasance, malfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, or commission of a felony.' The suspension, though, is not a permanent removal from office. Warren can dispute the suspension and a trial in the Senate could be held to reinstate him or uphold DeSantis' suspension and remove him from office." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's worth noting that Warren, contrary to DeSantis's claims is not exercising "veto power." Rather, he is exercising prosecutorial discretion, which is SOP. More important, Warren is an elected official, not an appointee. That is to say, DeSantolini is unilaterally overruling the voters, who elected Warren twice. On the other hand, it's nice to see that Ron has such a grasp of (and such fluency in) medical procedures. ~~~

     ~~~ ** Update. The New York Times story is here. Marie: To make my points, Patricia Mazzei writes: "In June, Mr. Warren, a Democrat, was among 90 elected prosecutors across the country who vowed not to prosecute those who seek or provide abortions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.... The decision immediately raised concerns among Democrats, including Mr. Warren, who say that the governor has become increasingly heavy-handed.... Mr. Warren said in a statement that his suspension 'spits in the face of the voters.... The people have the right to elect their own leaders -- not have them dictated by an aspiring presidential candidate who has shown time and again he feels accountable to no one.'... On Thursday, the two leading Democrats vying to challenge him, Representative Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried, the state's agriculture commissioner, reacted to Mr. Warren's suspension by referring to Mr. DeSantis in statements as a 'wannabe dictator' (Mr. Crist) and a 'dictator' (Ms. Fried)." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Years ago, when I was on a small town council in New Jersey, the majority of the council passed an ordinance with which I didn't agree. I happened to see the county prosecutor -- a Republican -- a little later. I guess he saw an article in the local newspaper about the ordinance, which probably noted I was the sole vote against the ordinance. He confided in me he had no intention to prosecute any cases that might be brought under the ordinance. As I wrote, this is SOP.

Georgia. Ava Sasani of the New York Times: "Georgia's abortion ban counts a fetus as a person. And now, so does its tax code. The state's Department of Revenue announced this week that 'any unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat' can be claimed as dependent, providing a $3,000 tax exemption for each pregnancy within a household, months before the child is born. Georgia’s law bans most abortions after six weeks, which is usually around when doctors can begin to detect fetal cardiac activity. The announcement marks a new frontier of anti-abortion policymaking in a post-Roe America, where conservative lawmakers have moved beyond banning abortion, and are now trying to expand the legal rights and protections afforded to a fetus under 'fetal personhood' laws. Georgia, Alabama and Arizona have passed abortion bans that include language broadly defining a fetus as a person."

Kentucky. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: “Federal officials on Thursday charged four current and former police officers in Louisville, Ky., who were involved in a fatal raid on the apartment of Breonna Taylor, accusing them of several crimes.... The charges stem from a nighttime raid of Ms. Taylor's apartment in March 2020, during which officers knocked down Ms. Taylor's door and fired a volley of gunshots after her boyfriend shot an officer in the leg, believing that intruders had burst into the home. Two officers shot Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Merrick Garland, the attorney general, said at a news conference that members of an investigative unit within the Louisville Metro Police Department had included false information in an affidavit that was then used to obtain a warrant to search Ms. Taylor's home." An ABC News story is here. MB: Huh. I wonder why these officers weren't charged with Trump's DOJ was running this. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Puerto Rico. Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "Federal law enforcement agents on Thursday arrested former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced, charging her in a bribery scheme that was allegedly aimed at financing her failed 2020 gubernatorial campaign, the Justice Department said.... Officials said that said that while Vázquez Garced was governor in 2019 and 2020, she allegedly took campaign donations from a banker, Julio Martin Herrera Velutini, and a former FBI agent, Mark Rossini, who was consulting for the bank. Herrera Velutini's bank was under investigation by the regulatory agency that oversees Puerto Rico's financial institutions. He and Rossini allegedly paid more than $300,000 to consultants who supported Vázquez Garced's campaign. In exchange for the campaign donations, the governor allegedly said she would appoint a new commissioner to the regulatory agency of Herrera Velutini's choosing. In February 2020, Vázquez Garced demanded the resignation of agency head. She appointed a new director a few months later, according to the federal indictment. Vazquez Garced, Herrera Velutini and Rossini are each charged with conspiracy, federal programs bribery and wire fraud." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "... to the regulatory agency of Herrera Velutini's choosing." Well, that's confusing. From the wording, I thought HV got to pick which regulatory agency for which he wanted VG to appoint a new commissioner. But reading the whole graf (more than once), I think VG promised HV he could pick whoever he wanted to head up the regulatory agency that oversees the banks.

Wyoming Congressional Race. Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Former vice president Dick Cheney, in a campaign ad for his eldest daughter Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), said ... Donald Trump is a 'coward' and the greatest threat to the nation in its 246-year history.... 'A real man wouldn't lie to his supporters. He lost his election, and he lost big. I know it, he knows it, and deep down I think most Republicans know it.' Liz Cheney faces a tough primary on Aug. 16 for Wyoming's sole congressional seat, with Trump-backed Harriet Hageman favored to win."

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: "Three ships are carrying grain from Ukraine's Black Sea ports to a world worried about food security. In Moscow, WNBA superstar Brittney Griner's lawyers pledged to appeal a 9½-year prison sentence, as U.S. officials urge Moscow to accept an offer to free Griner..... [President] Biden described Griner's verdict as 'unacceptable,' after a Russian judge in the trial on drug charges handed down a prison sentence close to the maximum possible.... [Vladimir] Putin is set to meet his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the Russian resort city of Sochi on Friday, their second meeting in 2½ weeks."

Robyn Dixon & Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "A Russian judge on Thursday handed down a harsh, 9½-year prison sentence for WNBA star Brittney Griner, rejecting the player's plea for leniency and her apology for 'an honest mistake' in bringing less than a gram of cannabis oil into the country in February.... Her fate is now in the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will make the final decision on any prisoner swap. She also was fined 1 million rubles ($16,590)." MB: Of course this is an "offense" that is not illegal in many U.S. states & probably would not be prosecuted where it may be illegal, especially with a doctor's note saying she needed the cannibis for pain control. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Iceland. Tourists Behaving Badly, Ctd. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "Three tourists were injured in Iceland Wednesday night as they trekked across rough terrain to a volcanic eruption drawing awe-struck onlookers to its sputtering fountains of red-hot lava, a spokeswoman for Iceland's civil protection agency said. The injuries, including a broken ankle, were not serious, but they underscored the risks that tourists face trying to hike to the lava flowing from the Fagradalsfjall volcano in southwest Iceland, the spokeswoman, Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, said in an interview on Thursday."

Understatement of the Year. The conditions were very adverse. -- Laurent Camprubi, after surviving under his sailboat in rough seas for 16 hours ~~~

~~~ Spain. Lindsey Bever & Paulina Villegas of the Washington Post: "A French sailor trapped beneath a capsized sailboat in the Atlantic Ocean used an air bubble to stay alive until his rescue 16 hours later, according to Spanish coast guard officials. The sailor, who has been identified by Spanish news media as Laurent Camprubi, sent out a distress signal on Monday when his sailboat ... capsized about 14 miles from the coast of Spain's Sisargas Islands.... In a rescue mission that has been described as 'on the edge of the impossible,' rescue crews battled the rough seas. Vicente Cobelo, a member of the coast guard's special operations team, told the laSexta TV station that when the rescuer banged on the boat Monday night to see whether there were any survivors, he got a response.... But the waters were too rough to attempt a rescue. So the team had to wait until next morning to try again." With video. MB: This has nothing to do with politics, but the story was too amazing to pass up.

Lebanon. Sarah Dadouch of the Washington Post: "On a nationwide day of mourning, Beirut's port burned.... It was two years to the day after a fire in a hangar at the port triggered one of history's largest nonnuclear explosions, a blast that killed 200 people and leveled vast swaths of the capital. The current fire is triggering anger and fear here.... Family members, activists and others were marching to an overlook to mark the anniversary and again demand justice and accountability when parts of the silos began to fall.... Three weeks ago, the oils from the grains [stored in the silos] sparked a fire, which has been growing and licking the gutted sides of some of the 157-foot-tall structures ever since. On Sunday, four of 16 silos in the port's northern bloc began collapsing. On Thursday, the flames continued to weaken the structures. Four more silos leaned to the side and then fell, throwing up a cloud of sand-colored dust a few hundred feet away from the marchers." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Not mentioned in the story is that first Ukrainian grain-carrying ship to leave port. It was bound for Lebanon. Is that grain going to end up in hungry people's mouths or in an unstable silo in Beirut?

News Ledes

CNBC: "Hiring in July was far better than expected, defying signs that the economic recovery is losing steam, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls rose 528,000 for the month and the unemployment rate was 3.5%, easily topping the Dow Jones estimates of 258,000 and 3.6% respectively. Wage growth also surged higher, as average hourly earnings jumped 0.5% for the month and 5.2% from the same time a year ago. Those numbers add fuel to an inflation picture that already has consumer prices rising at their fastest rate since the early 1980s. Markets initially reacted negatively to the report, with Dow Jones futures down more than 120 points."

Washington Post: "Two men and two women were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries Thursday evening after an apparent lightning strike in Lafayette Square, just north of the White House, according to D.C. fire officials. The four adults were found just before 7 p.m. in the center of the park, in a grove of trees about 100 feet southeast of the statue of Andrew Jackson, fire department spokesman Vito Maggiolo said at a news briefing Thursday night. The U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Park Police rendered aid to the victims, which fire officials credited to the ability of the victims to initially survive." Apparently the four had sought shelter under the trees. ~~~

     ~~~ New York Times Update: Two of the people hit by lightning have died. They were a couple in their 70s from Janesville, Wis.. MB: I find it hard to believe that any American about my age doesn't know that you don't stand under trees during a thunderstorm. As amazed as we little children may have been by the instruction, we were taught in grade school that lightning will jump -- or run underground -- from a tree to a person standing under it. ~~~

     ~~~ Washington Post Update: A third person -- a 29-year-old man -- has died of injuries sustained in the lightning strike.

August 4, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced that the Senate will begin consideration of a $740 billion budget reconciliation package that would reform the tax code and tackle climate change on Saturday afternoon, setting up a weekend of around-the-clock votes.... If a majority of senators vote to proceed to the legislation, they will then debate for up to 20 hours before holding an open-ended series of votes, known as a vote-a-rama, before a final up-or-down vote, which is now expected Sunday or perhaps early Monday morning. The announcement signals that Schumer expects maverick Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) to vote with all 49 other members of the Senate Democratic caucus to proceed to the legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, which would spend $369 billion on an energy and climate program and spend more than $300 billion to reduce the deficit."

Kentucky. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Federal officials on Thursday charged four current and former police officers in Louisville, Ky., who were involved in a fatal raid on the apartment of Breonna Taylor, accusing them of several crimes.... The charges stem from a nighttime raid of Ms. Taylor's apartment in March 2020, during which officers knocked down Ms. Taylor's door and fired a volley of gunshots after her boyfriend shot an officer in the leg, believing that intruders had burst into the home. Two officers shot Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Merrick Garland, the attorney general, said at a news conference that members of an investigative unit within the Louisville Metro Police Department had included false information in an affidavit that was then used to obtain a warrant to search Ms. Taylor's home." At 12:15 pm ET, this is a developing story. MB: Huh. I wonder why these officers weren't charged with Trump's DOJ was running this.

Robyn Dixon & Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "A Russian judge on Thursday handed down a harsh, 9½-year prison sentence for WNBA star Brittney Griner, rejecting the player's plea for leniency and her apology for 'an honest mistake' in bringing less than a gram of cannabis oil into the country in February.... Her fate is now in the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will make the final decision on any prisoner swap. She also was fined 1 million rubles ($16,590)." MB: Of course this is an "offense" that is not illegal in many U.S. states & probably would not be prosecuted where it may be illegal, especially with a doctor's note saying she needed the cannibis for pain control.

Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "Federal law enforcement agents on Thursday arrested former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced, charging her in a bribery scheme that was allegedly aimed at financing her failed 2020 gubernatorial campaign, the Justice Department said.... Officials said that said that while Vázquez Garced was governor in 2019 and 2020, she allegedly took campaign donations from a banker, Julio Martin Herrera Velutini, and a former FBI agent, Mark Rossini, who was consulting for the bank. Herrera Velutini's bank was under investigation by the regulatory agency that oversees Puerto Rico's financial institutions. He and Rossini allegedly paid more than $300,000 to consultants who supported Vázquez Garced's campaign. In exchange for the campaign donations, the governor allegedly said she would appoint a new commissioner to the regulatory agency of Herrera Velutini's choosing. In February 2020, Vázquez Garced demanded the resignation of agency head. She appointed a new director a few months later, according to the federal indictment. Vazquez Garced, Herrera Velutini and Rossini are each charged with conspiracy, federal programs bribery and wire fraud." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "... to the regulatory agency of Herrera Velutini's choosing." Well, that's confusing. From the wording, I thought HV got to pick which regulatory agency for which he wanted VG to appoint a new commissioner. But reading the whole graf (more than once), I think VG promised HV he could pick whoever he wanted to head up the regulatory agency that oversees the banks.

Abbott, Ducey Stunts Stress East-Coast Cities. Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "A political tactic by the governors of Texas and Arizona to offload the problems caused by record levels of migration at the border is beginning to hit home in Washington, [D.C.,] as hundreds of undocumented migrants arriving on the governors' free bus rides each week increasingly tax the capital's ability to provide emergency food and housing. With no money and no family to receive them, the migrants are overwhelming immigrant nonprofits and other volunteer groups, with many ending up in homeless shelters or on park benches. Five buses arrived on a recent day, spilling young men and families with nowhere to go into the streets near the Capitol. Since April, Texas has delivered more than 6,200 migrants to the nation's capital, with Arizona dispatching an additional 1,000 since May. The influx has prompted Muriel E. Bowser, Washington's Democratic mayor, to ask the Defense Department to send the National Guard in.... A vast majority of recent bus riders are Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-ridden country, and many have also been arriving in New York, often via Washington. Eric Adams, mayor of New York City, announced emergency measures on Monday to enable the city to quickly build additional shelter capacity.... Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, both Republicans, blame President Biden for record numbers of migrants crossing the southern border."

Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration plans to declare the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency as soon as Thursday in an effort to galvanize awareness and unlock additional flexibility and funding to fight the virus' spread. The declaration would come from Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who is expected to discuss the plan at an afternoon briefing.... The health secretary is planning a second declaration empowering federal officials to expedite medical countermeasures, such as potential treatments and vaccines, without going through full-fledged federal reviews." MB: For contrast, read Florida news, linked below, about What Gov. Ron DeSantis had to say about monkeypox. Becerra's plan should cause DeSantolini to go batshit crazy and start screaming from the balcony. ~~~

~~~ More on DeSantoni. (OR Moron DeSantolini. Florida Politics: "Gov. Ron DeSantis is suspending State Attorney Andrew Warren of the 13th Judicial Circuit [Hillsborough County], replacing the progressive prosecutor with County Judge Susan Lopez [whom DeSantis appoint to her judgeship].... 'Andrew Warren has put himself publicly above the law,' DeSantis said. 'The Constitution of Florida has vested the veto power in the Governor, not an individual State Attorney.' In announcing Warren's suspension, the Governor cited Warren's refusal to enforce bans on abortion and gender-affirming surgery. Most recently, Warren pledged he would not enforce Florida's new law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 'It's been a very, very troubling record,' DeSantis said. 'They're literally chopping off the private parts of kids.' Warren, who was elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020, has pushed for justice reform throughout his tenure. Under the state constitution, a Governor has the power to suspend a local official for 'misfeasance, malfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, or commission of a felony.' The suspension, though, is not a permanent removal from office. Warren can dispute the suspension and a trial in the Senate could be held to reinstate him or uphold DeSantis' suspension and remove him from office."

     ~~~ Marie: It's worth noting that Warren, contrary to DeSantis's claims is not exercising "veto power." Rather, he is excercising prosecutorial discretion, which is SOP. More important, Warren is an elected official, not an appointee. That is to say, DeSantolini is unilaterally overruling the voters, who elected Warren twice. On the other hand, it's nice to see that Ron has such a grasp of (and such fluency in) medical procedures.

Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "Rural school districts in Texas are switching to four-day weeks this fall due to lack of staff. Florida is asking veterans with no teaching background to enter classrooms. Arizona is allowing college students to step in and instruct children. The teacher shortage in America has hit crisis levels -- and school officials everywhere are scrambling to ensure that, as students return to classrooms, someone will be there to educate them.... Experts point to a confluence of factors including pandemic-induced teacher exhaustion, low pay and some educators' sense that politicians and parents -- and sometimes their own school board members -- have little respect for their profession amid an escalating educational culture war that has seen many districts and states pass policies and laws restricting what teachers can say about U.S. history, race, racism, gender and sexual orientation, as well as LGBTQ issues." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Who wants to be a teacher if you have to pretend there's no such thing as sex and that slavery made for a safe and comfy "lifestyle," you have to fend off threats from angry parents, and if you're gay or non-Christian, you pretty much have to go back in the closet?

~~~~~~~~~~

Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden signed an executive order Wednesday directing his health secretary to consider actions to assist patients traveling out of state for abortions. The travel-related provision in the order calls on Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to consider inviting states to apply for Medicaid waivers when treating patients who cross state lines for reproductive health services. The executive order, the second Biden has signed on reproductive health since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, follows the administration's call for the Department of Health and Human Services to explore all options to support Americans who live in states that have severely limited abortion access. The president's actions came a day after Kansas voters rejected an effort to strip away their state's abortion protections." A CNN report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Mitch Smith, et al., of the New York Times: "The sweeping victory for abortion rights in Kansas on Tuesday -- the country's first post-Roe vote on the issue -- relied on a broad coalition of voters who turned out in huge numbers and crashed through party and geographic lines to maintain abortion access in the state. The result was an election with a stunning 18-point margin that is shaking up national politics ahead of the midterm elections. Abortion rights supporters used conservative-sounding language about government mandates and personal freedom in their pitch to voters, and made a point of reaching out to independents, Libertarians and moderate Republicans.... Going into Tuesday, there were many reasons to doubt that supporters of abortion rights could fend off a well-financed effort in a reliably conservative state to open the door for lawmakers to ban or severely restrict the procedure. Republicans in the state hold commanding legislative majorities and have long campaigned on restricting abortion. The Roman Catholic Church donated millions of dollars to the effort to pass the amendment. And the issue was strategically placed on the August primary ballot, a time of year when Kansas Republicans usually have competitive races, but when Democrats and political independents often have little to draw them to the polls." ~~~

     ~~~ A related and worthwhile story by Annie Gowen of the Washington Post is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gosh, that pesky Nineteenth Amendment is a thorny problem for Arrogant Sam & the Supremes. Will they figure out how to deprive women of the vote? ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "The Kansas referendum demonstrated that democracy in America can still work, and why the forces of religious authoritarianism are so set on destroying it."

That Took A While. Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "Lt. Gen. Michael E. Langley will become the first Black four-star general in the Marines' 246-year history, after the Senate confirmed his promotion this week, the Marine Corps said Tuesday. Langley will formally attain his new rank at a ceremony in D.C. this weekend, the Marines said. He will then become the new head of U.S. Africa Command at its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. There, he will oversee about 6,000 troops. President Biden nominated him in June." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a treaty that would expand NATO to include Finland and Sweden, with Republicans and Democrats linking arms to pave the way for one of the most significant expansions of the alliance in decades amid Russia's continued assault on Ukraine. The vote was 95 to 1, with only Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, opposing the move. The lopsided tally, far surpassing the two-thirds support necessary to approve a treaty, underscored the bipartisan appetite for a more muscular Western military alliance even amid threats from Russian officials that Sweden and Finland would face retaliation should they join NATO.... All 30 current members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization must ratify the accession of the two countries.... The approval of the United States is a crucial step, and the vote was a triumph for President Biden." The AP report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Cheese Stands Alone. John Amato of Crooks & Liars: "Sen. Tom Cotton, another loathsome creature actually pushed back against 'Run-Away-Josh' [Hawley]. Via Raw Story: '"It would be strange indeed for any senator who voted to allow Montenegro or North Macedonia into NATO to turn around and deny membership to Finland and Sweden," [Cotton] remarked. "I would love to hear the defense of such a curious vote," Cotton added, his voice dripping with sarcasm.'"

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Determined to prevent a repeat of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, backers of an overhaul of the federal law governing the count of presidential electoral ballots pressed lawmakers on Wednesday to repair the flaws that ... Donald J. Trump and his allies tried to exploit to reverse the 2020 results. 'There is nothing more essential to the orderly transfer of power than clear rules for effecting it,' Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and one of the lead authors of a bill to update the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act, said Wednesday as the Senate Rules Committee began its review of the legislation.... Backers of the legislation, which has significant bipartisan support in the Senate, believe that a Republican takeover of the House in November and the beginning of the 2024 presidential election cycle could make it impossible to make major election law changes in the next Congress.... Some critics of the [Senate] bill argued that more changes were needed to protect the integrity of the electoral count.... House officials expect to make their proposal public within weeks."

Senate Prima Donna #2 Takes an Extended Curtain Call. Alex Rogers & Manu Raju of CNN: "Republican senators and the business community are mounting a full-court press on Sen. Kyrsten Sinema to sink -- or substantially change -- the Democrats' economic package, arguing in private conversations that the new tax increases would hurt companies in her home state of Arizona. And in a private call with business groups on Tuesday, Sinema asked a question about the bill's proposed 15% minimum tax on corporations that gave them some hope for optimism. 'Is this written in a way that's bad?' Sinema asked, according to Danny Seiden, president of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, who relayed the call to CNN.... As she's been in talks with Democrats who have touted the bill's benefits, Republicans like Senate Minority Whip John Thune have expressed concerns to her about the taxes on companies and the proposal to hire new IRS agents to bolster tax enforcement." ~~~

~~~ Alayna Treene of Axios: "Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) is eyeing changes to Democrats' $740 billion reconciliation bill -- specifically increasing climate funding and restructuring the tax provisions -- as the Senate moves rapidly toward final passage before the August recess, Axios has learned.... Sinema is the one senator potentially standing in the way of Democrats clinching President Biden's longtime goal of passing an ambitious package tackling climate change, health care and taxes -- renamed the 'Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Stupidest Senator Doesn't Want You to Get What You Paid For for Decades. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has suggested that Social Security and Medicare be eliminated as federal entitlement programs, and that they should instead become programs approved by Congress on an annual basis as discretionary spending. Those who work in the United States pay Social Security and Medicare taxes that go into federal trust funds. Upon retirement, based on a person's lifetime earnings and other factors, a retiree is eligible to receive monthly Social Security payments. Similarly, Medicare is the federal health insurance program that kicks in for people 65 and older, or for others who have disabilities. In an interview that aired Tuesday on 'The Regular Joe Show' podcast, Johnson, who is seeking a third term in the Senate, lamented that the Social Security and Medicare programs automatically grant benefits to those who meet the qualifications -- that is, to those who had been paying into the system over their working life.... Johnson's comments prompted criticism from the White House and from Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who said Democrats would fight any attempt by Republicans to 'pull the rug out from under our seniors.'" Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Thanks, Ms. Wang for explaining Social Security & Medicare to the Stupidest Senator. But one reason Ron thinks he can get away with eliminating the programs is that reporters keep calling them "entitlement programs."

Perry Stein & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department has reviewed more than 1,000 hostile threats against election workers over the past year, leading to federal charges in five cases and one conviction, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Polite, who heads the department's criminal division, described an increasingly rampant problem across the country, detailing for lawmakers repeated and often graphically violent threats that have targeted election officials in Nevada, Michigan, Arizona and other states. The hearing focused on the findings of a Justice Department task force that convened last summer to examine threats against election workers, which officials say increased sharply after ... Donald Trump and his supporters falsely claimed that the results of the 2020 election were tainted." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, here's my favorite graf from the report: “But Republican senators on the committee asked the witnesses few questions about election workers and instead cited rising violent crime rates in the country, questioning why the Justice Department isn't focused more on that issue. Multiple senators also asked Polite why the federal officials were not more aggressively trying to prosecute protesters who have been rallying in front of the suburban Maryland homes of Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade." This is the oft-repeated GOP deflection for all bad things for which they are responsible. It's the equivalent of a driver being stopped for a bona fide traffic violation and angrily asking the officer, "Why aren't you out chasing the real criminals?"

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "The news that the Justice Department has subpoenaed former White House counsel Pat Cipollone suggests new perils for Trump.... [According to the New York Times,] 'Mr. Cipollone's appearance has been requested at a time when federal prosecutors are sharpening their focus on the conduct of Mr. Trump, and not simply the people who were advising him....'... Cipollone did testify before the committee, and it was explosive.... A Justice Department investigation would likely be able to prevail on Cipollone to disclose ... communications [for which Cipollone claimed executive privilege], says New York University law professor Ryan Goodman, who closely tracks the Jan. 6 saga at Just Security.... Cipollone perhaps can testify to just how extensively Trump was informed that his schemes might be illegal.... The Justice Department 'will insist there is no shield to his testimony, and if necessary will go to court to force his hand,' [former federal prosecutor Harry] Litman told me...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Katelyn Polantz & Pamela Brown of CNN: "The former deputy counsel to ... Donald Trump has been subpoenaed in the federal criminal probe of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. Patrick Philbin was subpoenaed for testimony and documents, according to one of the sources. Philbin worked in the White House counsel's office under Pat Cipollone, who also was also subpoenaed for documents and testimony, according to sources." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Cover-up, Ctd. Nicholas Wu of Politico: "The Justice Department on Wednesday sued former Donald Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro in an effort to force him to turn over emails from his tenure in the White House. Navarro ... had used 'at least one non-official email account ... to send and receive messages constituting Presidential records,' the Justice Department said in a court filing. Attorneys also accused him of 'wrongfully retaining them' in violation of federal record-keeping laws, as Navarro did not copy the messages into an official government account, nor did he respond to the National Archivist's initial request for the emails. The Justice Department approached Navarro about producing the missing emails, but he refused to return records 'absent a grant of immunity for the act of returning such documents,' the department said." The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, that prick Navarro is attempting to use his own illegal actions as leverage against the government to avoid prosecution for some of his other illegal actions. Now that's chutzpah.

Georgia Senate Race, 2021. Beating a Dead Horse. Maggie Haberman & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "John Eastman, the conservative lawyer whose plan to block congressional certification of the 2020 election failed in spectacular fashion on Jan. 6, 2021, sent an email two weeks later arguing that pro-Trump forces should sue to keep searching for the supposed election fraud he acknowledged they had failed to find. On Jan. 20, 2021, hours after President Biden's inauguration, Mr. Eastman emailed Rudolph W. Giuliani ... proposing that they challenge the outcome of the runoff elections in Georgia for two Senate seats that had been won on Jan. 5 by Democrats.... 'If we get proof of fraud on Jan. 5, it will likely also demonstrate the fraud on Nov. 3, thereby vindicating President Trump's claims and serving as a strong bulwark against Senate impeachment trial.' The email ... is the latest evidence that even some of Mr. Trump's most fervent supporters knew they had not proven their baseless claims of widespread voting fraud -- but wanted to continue their efforts to delegitimize the outcome even after Mr. Biden had taken office. Mr. Eastman's message also underscored that he had not taken on the work of keeping Mr. Trump in office just out of conviction: He asked for Mr. Giuliani's help in collecting on a $270,000 invoice he had sent the Trump campaign the previous day for his legal services."

The Cover-up, Ctd. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The No. 2 Senate Democrat on Wednesday called for an inspector general investigation into missing text messages from top Defense Department officials in the Trump administration related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he was sending a letter to Sean O'Donnell, the Defense Department's inspector general, seeking an investigation into the disappearance of text messages from the phones of at least five former Trump administration officials, including Christopher C. Miller, the acting defense secretary; Kash Patel, the Pentagon's chief of staff; and Ryan D. McCarthy, the Army secretary. The officials were involved in discussions about sending the National Guard to the Capitol during the mob violence."

All the Best People -- Your Typical Trump Appointee. Lisa Rein, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Homeland Security watchdog now under scrutiny for his handling of deleted Secret Service text messages from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol previously was accused of misleading federal investigators and running 'afoul' of ethics regulations while he was in charge of a Justice Department inspector general field office in Tucson, according to a newly disclosed government report. In the 2013 report from the Justice Department's inspector general, which was never publicly released, investigators said they did 'not believe' Joseph V. Cuffari's explanation for why he failed to inform his supervisors -- against federal rules -- about his testimony in a lawsuit brought by a federal prisoner. Separately, they found that Cuffari broke ethics rules by referring law firms to the prisoner's family, including firms where some of his close friends worked.... The new details in the report ... raise questions about how thoroughly Cuffari was vetted for one of the most important oversight jobs in government, experts said.... Cuffari' three years as Homeland Security's inspector general have been marked by numerous allegations of partisan decision-making and investigative failures...."

Republicans Still in Thrall of Trump. Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Primary victories in Arizona and Michigan for allies of Donald J. Trump on Tuesday reaffirmed his continued influence over the Republican Party, as the former president has sought to cleanse the party of his critics, install loyalists in key swing-state offices and scare off potential 2024 rivals with a show of brute political force." MB: But will they all get together & hold candlelight vigils outside the federal pen where Donald winds up? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I looked up "in thrall" to make sure I was using it correctly as I don't think I've ever written it before. Here's Google's example of how to use "in thrall" in a sentence: "... she is still totally brainwashed and in thrall of the control-freakery madman." "Control-freakery madman"? Seems to apply to the subject of Goldmacher's story, dunnit?

Homina, Homina. Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "In a brutal cross-examination on Wednesday in the trial of the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, a lawyer for Sandy Hook parents produced text messages from Mr. Jones's cellphone showing that he had withheld key evidence in defamation lawsuits brought by the families for lies he had spread about the 2012 school shooting. The messages were apparently sent in error to the familie' lawyers by Mr. Jones&'s legal team.... The text messages were significant because Mr. Jones had claimed for years that he had searched his phone for texts about the Sandy Hook cases and found none.... The disclosure of the texts provided a striking capstone to the final day of testimony in a trial to determine how much Mr. Jones must pay the parents of a child who died in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., for broadcasting conspiracy theories that the shooting was a hoax and that the families were 'actors.' The jury began deliberating late Wednesday.... The judge admonished Mr. Jones and his lawyer, F. Andino Reynal, after the Infowars fabulist lied about the matter under oath on Tuesday. The judge also chastised Mr. Jones for telling the jury that he was bankrupt when his bankruptcy filing last week has yet to be adjudicated; the families' lawyers say it is his latest attempt to delay the upcoming damages trials....

"Mr. Jones is also under scrutiny for his role in planning events around the attack on the Capitol, so the texts could be of interest to the House Jan. 6 committee. 'We fully intend on cooperating with law-enforcement and U.S. government officials interested in seeing these materials,' [the parents' lawyer Mark] Bankston said." ~~~

The Guardian's report is here.

~~~ Summer Concepcion of TPM: "The Jan. 6 Select Committee is now reportedly preparing to request those records from the attorneys representing the Sandy Hook victims for its investigation into the events surrounding the deadly Capitol insurrection, according to Rolling Stone. The internal deliberations among the committee regarding its planned request reportedly occurred within minutes of [attorney Mark] Bankston's revelation that was aired in the trial's livestream on Wednesday afternoon.... [Alex] Jones was initially subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 Select Committee in November. The panel requested Jones to turn over documents and participate in a deposition. A letter by the committee noted that the Trump White House told Jones on Jan. 3, 2021 to lead a march to the Capitol, where President Trump would meet with protesters."

Michael Isikoff of Yahoo! News: "Donald Trump's allies in Georgia are mounting a campaign to recall Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her investigation into the then president's attempts to overturn the results of the 202 election and are seeking to recruit high-dollar donors to fund it.... The organizers of the campaign concede that the obstacles to a successful recall in Georgia are high.... But a source involved in the effort told Yahoo News that the aim is to use the recall campaign as a way to politically damage the Democratic district attorney, portraying her as a partisan actor who is ignoring soaring crime rates in Atlanta in order to target high-profile Republicans. A side benefit of that game plan, another source familiar with the campaign said, is to potentially influence a jury pool down the road should a case against Trump go to trial."

Kara Scannell, et al., of CNN: "Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. sat for depositions as part of the New York attorney general's civil investigation into the Trump Organization's finances after months of fighting in court, people familiar with the matter told CNN. Ivanka Trump's behind-closed-doors deposition took place Wednesday and Trump Jr. had his deposition last Thursday, the people said.... Donald Trump is expected to testify later this month."

Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "Rep. Jackie Walorski (R- Ind.) and three other people, including two members of her staff, were killed in a car crash Wednesday afternoon, according to the Elkhart County, Ind., Sheriff's Office.... Walorski, 58, was involved in a two-vehicle crash on Route 19 south of Route 119, according to the sheriff's office. The driver of a northbound vehicle traveled left of the centerline and collided head-on with the sport-utility vehicle carrying Walorski and staffers Zachery Potts, 27, and Emma Thomson, 28. All three occupants in the southbound vehicle died of their injuries. Edith Schmucker, 56, was the sole occupant of the other vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene." (This is an update of a report linked yesterday afternoon.) The NBC News report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Jennifer Medina, et al., of the New York Times: "With Tuesday's primary victories in Arizona and Michigan added to those in Nevada and Pennsylvania, Republicans who have disputed the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election and who could affect the outcome of the next one are on a path toward winning decisive control over how elections are run in several battleground states.... These newly minted Republican nominees for secretary of state and governor have taken positions that could threaten the nation's traditions of nonpartisan elections administration, acceptance of election results and orderly transfers of power. Each has spread falsehoods about fraud and illegitimate ballots, endorsing the failed effort to override the 2020 results and keep ... Donald J. Trump in power. Their history of anti-democratic impulses has prompted Democrats, democracy experts and even some fellow Republicans to question whether these officials would oversee fair elections and certify winners they didn't support.... Several have proposed eliminating mail voting, ballot drop boxes and even the use of electronic voting machines, while empowering partisan election observers and expanding their roles."

California. Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: "Widening his attack on Republican states for their positions on guns, civil rights and abortion, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Wednesday called on Hollywood to 'walk the walk' on liberal values by bringing back their film and television productions from states such as Georgia and Oklahoma. Mr. Newsom issued the challenge through an ad in Variety that asked the state's left-leaning creative community to 'take stock of your values -- and those of your employees -- when doing business in those states.' The Democratic governor on Wednesday simultaneously endorsed a legislative proposal that would provide a $1.65 billion, five-year extension of California's film and television production tax credit program.... Entertainment companies have not yet announced major plans to cancel expansions or relocate offices.... Some of the entertainment industry's biggest companies are deeply invested in states with conservative leaders." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Not mentioned in Hubler's report, a big reason production companies find 'conservative' states so attractive: these states also tend to be non-union states, and that saves the companies a boatload of money -- by not having to pay union wages -- and trouble -- by not having to follow sometimes conflicting union scheduling rules during filming (which also adds to production costs).

Florida. Arek Sarkissian of Politico: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday attempted to downplay anxiety over monkeypox, saying that politicians and the media have overblown the severity of the disease and equated it to fears surrounding Covid-19. Florida had 525 monkeypox infections as of Tuesday, according to a state database, which is an increase from the roughly 350 infections from late last week. Florida had the fifth highest number of cases in the nation as of Monday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.... DeSantis also blasted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, for declaring a state of emergency over the outbreak, saying he was convinced it was a move to restrict people from freedom.... During the press conference, DeSantis also railed against gender affirming surgeries for children, saying that doctors who perform such procedures should be sued. His comments follow a request by the Florida Department of Health to the state medical board to ban transition-related medical care for children." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is DeSantis wanting to make doubly sure Republican voters understand he doesn't care about gay people. He is such a horrible human being.

Way Beyond

China/Taiwan. Brad Lendon of CNN: "China fired multiple missiles toward waters near northeastern and southwestern Taiwan on Thursday, the island's Defense Ministry said, as Beijing makes good on its promise that Taipei will pay a price for hosting US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Chinese military's Eastern Theater Command said in a statement that multiple missiles had been fired into the sea off the eastern part of Taiwan. It said all the missiles hit their target accurately." The Washington Post's story is here.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Thursday are here: "Olympian [Brittney] Griner will return to court in Moscow, with a verdict expected soon even as U.S. officials call for a prisoner swap.... The United Nations will investigate an attack on the Olenivka prison run by pro-Russian separatists, which killed at least 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war from the battle for Mariupol.... The first grain shipment from the Black Sea port of Odessa passed inspection in Turkish waters and headed to Lebanon under a deal to ease the world's food crisis.... The safety of Europe's largest nuclear power plant is at risk, the head of the U.N. atomic energy watchdog warned as he appealed for access to inspect Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia facility that was captured by Russian forces.... Amnesty International said Ukrainian forces have at times endangered civilians with military bases and weapons in residential areas, including schools and hospitals.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to talk directly with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to help end the war, he told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper.... The U.N. chief condemned oil and gas companies for 'grotesque greed,' urging governments to tax 'excessive profits' from rising energy prices fueled by the conflict in Ukraine. Zelensky floated 'civil partnerships' as a potential answer to calls for legalizing same-sex marriage, which he said would not be possible during the war."