July 25, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "The former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence appeared last week before a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Marc Short was caught by an ABC News camera departing D.C. District Court on Friday alongside his attorney, Emmet Flood. Short appeared under subpoena, sources said. Short would be the highest-ranking Trump White House official known to have appeared before the grand jury." MB: Since there's no reason to think the grand jury is investigating pence or his staff for criminal behavior, it is reasonable to assume that the subjects of the questioning were Trump & Co. ~~~

     ~~~ Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Mr. Short's appearance was the latest indication that the Justice Department's criminal investigation into the events surrounding and leading up to the events of Jan. 6 is intensifying amid growing questions about the urgency the department has placed on examining Mr. Trump's potential criminal liability.... Mr. Short's grand jury appearance marks the first time it has become publicly known that a figure with firsthand knowledge of what took place inside the White House in the tumultuous days leading up to Jan. 6 has cooperated with federal prosecutors.... Mr. Short ... previously gave a[n] interview to the House select committee in which he described Mr. Trump's campaign to pressure Mr. Pence into disrupting the normal tally of Electoral College votes on Jan. 6.... Mr. Short also informed Mr. Pence's lead Secret Service agent on Jan. 5, 2021, that Mr. Trump was about to turn publicly on Mr. Pence, potentially creating a security risk."

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump didn't want to disavow the rioters who had stormed the U.S. Capitol in his name on Jan. 6, 2021, and he removed lines from prepared remarks the following day calling for their prosecution, according to new evidence released by a member of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) posted a video Monday on Twitter showing previously unpublicized testimony from several people close to Trump, centered on a speech he was supposed to give Jan. 7, 2021.... During the hearing on Thursday, former deputy White House press secretary Sarah Matthews testified that Trump 'did not want to include any sort of mention of peace' in a tweet that aides urged him to send as the Capitol riot was unfolding." ~~~

It took more than 24 hours for President Trump to address the nation again after his Rose Garden video on January 6th in which he affectionately told his followers to go home in peace.

There were more things he was unwilling to say. pic.twitter.com/cJBIX5ROxs

— Rep. Elaine Luria (@RepElaineLuria) July 25, 2022

Chico Harlan & Amanda Coletta of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis on Monday began a long-sought act of reconciliation in Canada, decrying the country's 'catastrophic' residential school system for Indigenous children and asking forgiveness for the 'evil committed by so many Christians.... I am deeply sorry -- sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the Indigenous peoples,' Francis said in his native Spanish. He addressed his comments to several thousand residential school survivors in a grass field encircled by a small grandstand on the first full day of a trip aimed at penitence for one of Canada's greatest tragedies: a school system that forcibly removed Indigenous children from their parents and tried to assimilate them into Euro-Christian society -- often brutally. Students were forbidden from speaking their native languages or practicing traditional customs; many were physically or sexually abused."

Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "A forgotten co-defendant of the Central Park Five, who, like them, was charged with the rape of a jogger in a case that shook New York City and the nation, is expected to have a related conviction overturned Monday. The case against the Five -- teenagers of color who were innocent of the 1989 sexual assault on a white woman but who were convicted on the basis of false confessions that the police elicited -- continues to shape attitudes surrounding racism in the criminal justice system, the media and society writ large. But the story of the sixth man -- Steven Lopez -- had previously been all but ignored. Mr. Lopez, who was arrested when he was 15, struck a deal with prosecutors just before his trial two years later to avoid the more serious rape charge, instead pleading guilty to robbery of a male jogger.... [Unlike the Exonerated Five,] Mr. Lopez, now 48, has not received any settlement money or media attention, and his story is far less well-known.... [Shortly after the teens' arrests & false confessions, Donald Trump] placed full-page ads in the city's newspapers calling for them to face the death penalty." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Trump is never wrong. In June 2019 -- five year after the city settled $41 million on the men for violation of their civil rights -- Trump refused to apologize for the ads or for remarks he made at the time. He said, "You have people on both sides of that.... They admitted their guilt. If you look at Linda Fairstein [-- once the top city sex crimes prosecutor --] and if you look at some of the prosecutors, they think that the city never should have settled that case -- so we'll leave it at that." (NYT link)

Meena Venkataramanan of the Washington Post: "Elaine Riddick was 13 years old when she says she was raped by a neighbor in Winfall, N.C. Nine months later, in 1968, she was involuntarily sterilized in the hospital while delivering her first and only child.... North Carolina had labeled Riddick 'feebleminded' -- the same justification that had been used in 1924 to authorize the sterilization of Carrie Buck, a Virginia woman who had also been raped as a minor. Buck's case went to the Supreme Court, which in its 1927 ruling in Buck v. Bell upheld mandatory sterilizations of people considered unfit to bear and raise children. That decision has never formally been overturned.... For many activists and legal experts, [the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision last month] isn't a far cry from Buck, which used similar legal reasoning to allow the government to prevent certain people from becoming pregnant in the first place.... The Buck case paved the way for thousands of forced sterilizations throughout the 20th century. Today, these sterilizations continue, primarily affecting people with disabilities.... Justice Clarence Thomas cited Buck in a 2019 opinion on two Indiana abortion laws...."

Susie Blann of the AP: "Russia's top diplomat said Moscow's overarching goal in Ukraine is to free its people from its 'unacceptable regime,' expressing the Kremlin's war aims in some of the bluntest terms yet as its forces pummel the country with artillery barrages and airstrikes. The remark from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov comes amid Ukraine's efforts to resume grain exports from its Black Sea ports.... 'We are determined to help the people of eastern Ukraine to liberate themselves from the burden of this absolutely unacceptable regime,' he said [at an Arab League summit in Cairo Sunday]. Apparently suggesting that Moscow's war aims extend beyond Ukraine's industrial Donbas region in the east, Lavrov said: 'We will certainly help the Ukrainian people to get rid of the regime, which is absolutely anti-people and anti-historical.'... Lavrov's remarks contrasted with the Kremlin's line early in the war, when it repeatedly emphasized that Russia wasn't seeking to overthrow President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government, even as Moscow's troops closed in on Kyiv."

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Zach Montague of the New York Times: "President Biden continues to 'improve significantly' after testing positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, his physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, said on Sunday. According to a letter released by Dr. O'Connor, Mr. Biden was experiencing no shortness of breath or reduced oxygen levels, and his main symptom on Sunday was a sore throat -- a result of the immune response. Dr. O'Connor added that the president would continue to isolate but that he 'is responding to therapy as expected.'" Politico's report is here.

Way Down the Rabbit Hole. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "After the Jan. 6 committee's final summer hearing last week..., the response ... from the pro-Trump platforms ... reflect[ed] the lengths to which his Praetorian Guard of friendly media have gone to rewrite the violent history of that day. Even as the committee's vivid depiction of Mr. Trump's failure to intervene led two influential outlets on the right, The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, to denounce him over the weekend, many top conservative media personalities have continued to push a more sanitized narrative of Jan 6, 2021. They have turned the Capitol Police into villains and alleged the existence of a government plot to criminalize political dissent.... Part of the right's message to Trump supporters is, in effect: You may have initially recoiled in horror at what you thought happened at the Capitol, but you were misled by the mainstream media."

Edward Helmore of the Guardian: "Rupert Murdoch, hitherto one of Donald Trump's most loyal media messengers, appears to have turned on the former president.... The New York Post issued an excoriating editorial indictment of Trump's failure to stop the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. The editorial, in a tabloid owned by Murdoch since 1976, began: 'As his followers stormed the Capitol, calling for his vice-president to be hanged, President Donald Trump sat in his private dining room, watching TV, doing nothing. For three hours, seven minutes.' Trump's only focus, the Post said, was to block the peaceful transfer of power.... The Wall Street Journal, another Murdoch paper, issued a similar critique in which it said evidence before the House January 6 committee was a reminder that 'Trump betrayed his supporters'. Trump, the Journal said, took an oath to defend the constitution and had an obligation to protect the Capitol from the mob he told to march there, knowing it was armed.... Columnists [for the two papers] issued similar calls."

Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Josh Hawley, the Missouri senator shown running from the mob he incited on January 6, is 'a laughingstock' who should be afraid of what the Capitol attack committee might disclose next, a leading newspaper in his home state said.... In an editorial, the Kansas City Star noted that Hawley will soon publish a book entitled Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs, but said people watching the hearing 'didn't see much virile bravado as he ran from the mob'.... The senator shows no sign of backing down. Speaking at a conservative conference in Florida on Friday, apparently without irony, he said: '...I'm not going to apologise. I'm not going to cower. I'm not going to run from you. I'm not going to bend the knee'." MB: The KCStar is firewalled, but I think you get a few freebies. ~~~

~~~ ** Running Coach Analyzes the Hawley Sprint. Zoë Rom of Outside: "As a running coach, I had a ... visceral reaction [to video of Josh Hawley's fleet from Capitol insurrectionists]. His form! His apparel! His complete and utter lack of regard for democratic norms!... Whether you're on a jog around the neighborhood or fleeing the violent mobs whose fury you stoked for your own political gain, you'll want to make sure you have a good forward lean. A keen eye will notice Sen. Hawley's torso is straighter than Mike Pence;s freshly cleared search history.... In Hawley's case, it may be due to the absence of any spine. I'd recommend some lower core work and/or the adherence to any core values whatsoever." Read on. Out there on those long, lonely runs, Zoë has developed an excellent sense of humor. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I am hoping the new dance craze will be the Hawley Hop. The first step is a hop in place accompanied by a fist pump. This is followed by three feet-don't-fail-me-now strides that can take you anywhere you want to go on the dance floor.

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Allen Breed of the AP, 50 years after the AP broke the scandal of the federal government's Tuskegee syphilis "study," relates how the story broke. And here's an AP report by Jean Heller on the original. AP report. Heller was the author of the original AP report.

Ripped from the Gossip Columns. Emma Roth of the Verge: "Elon Musk allegedly fractured an old friendship with Google co-founder Sergey Brin after having an affair with his wife, Nicole Shanahan, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Sources familiar with the situation told the WSJ that the couple filed for divorce earlier this year, citing 'irreconcilable differences.'... Brin, meanwhile, was once called 'the Google playboy' for his sexual involvement with employees...."

Beyond the Beltway

Kansas. Annie Gowen of the Washington Post: "Kansans are heading to the polls Aug. 2 to decide whether the state's constitution protects the right to abortion -- the first such constitutional amendment to be determined since the Supreme Court's historic overturning of Roe v. Wade, ending federal protection, on June 24.... The ballot measure, if approved, would effectively overturn a 2019 decision by the state's Supreme Court enshrining abortion rights in its constitution.... The measure could pave the way for the legislature to pass a ban on abortion at a time when Kansas has become a destination for pregnant patients fleeing strict abortion measures in nearby states.... Proponents of abortion rights say they are facing an uphill battle to overcome road blocks they say the Republican legislature has deliberately put in their way -- including holding the vote on a primary day rather during the general election, and the convoluted wording of the amendment that has confused many voters...[:] a 'no' vote equals support of abortion rights, 'yes' means against abortion rights."

Maryland Gubernatorial Race. Jesse Naranjo of Politico: "Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland said Sunday that he would not support his party's nominee to fill his job, predicting that the GOP has 'no chance of saving that governor seat.' In an interview on ABC's 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos,' Hogan told host Jonathan Karl that Trump-backed state Del. Dan Cox's win over Hogan's preferred candidate in the July 19 primary 'was a win for the Democrats....'Hogan accused the Democratic Governors Association, which ran ads boosting Cox in hopes of landing Democrats an easier general election opponent, of colluding with ... Donald Trump, a chief critic of the Republican governor, to boost the candidate. Hogan has referred to Cox as a 'QAnon whack job.'"

Way Beyond

Myanmar. Rebecca Ratcliffe & Maung Moe of the Guardian: "Myanmar's junta has executed four prisoners including a former politician and a veteran activist, drawing shock and revulsion at the country's first use of capital punishment in decades. Junta-controlled media reported on Monday that four men, including Phyo Zeya Thaw, a rapper and former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi's party, and the prominent democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, known as Jimmy, had been executed. They were accused of conspiring to commit terror acts and were sentenced to death in January in closed trials."

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Monday are here: "Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of a four-day tour to try to shore up African support for the war in Ukraine. While in Egypt, the Kremlin's top diplomat cast Russia as an ally of the continent and blamed Western sanctions on Russia for the turmoil in international food markets.... Ukraine has called for shipping companies to take part in a caravan to transport grain but says efforts to resume grain exports will not be easy after Russia's missile strike on the port of Odessa.

Vatican/Canada. Nicole Winfield, et al., of the AP: "Pope Francis began a historic visit to Canada on Sunday to apologize to Indigenous peoples for abuses by missionaries at residential schools, a key step in the Catholic Church's efforts to reconcile with Native communities and help them heal from generations of trauma. Francis kissed the hand of a residential school survivor as he was greeted at the Edmonton, Alberta, airport by Indigenous representatives, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mary Simon, an Inuk who is Canada's first Indigenous governor general. The gesture set the tone of what Francis has said is a 'penitential pilgrimage' to atone for the role of Catholic missionaries in the forced assimilation of generations of Native children -- a visit that has stirred mixed emotions across Canada as survivors and their families cope with the trauma of their losses and receive a long-sought papal apology."

July 24, 2022

Annie Karni & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... in a series of revelatory hearings that have focused on issues of democracy, the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power, another, less-discussed theme has emerged: the gender dynamics that have been a potent undercurrent. In the course of exposing Mr. Trump's elaborate effort to overturn the 2020 election, the House select committee has relied on the accounts of several women who came forward to publicly tell their stories. Their statements, and the attacks that ensued, laid bare how women often still pay a higher price than men for speaking up.... Many of the witnesses who have emerged most prominently have been women, with [Rep. Liz] Cheney as their defender.... While male witnesses have received some criticism from the right..., the attacks have not been at the same volume or intensity, or of the same degree of personal nastiness, as those against [witness Cassidy] Hutchinson in particular.... ~~~

"Before Sarah Matthews, a former deputy White House press secretary, even opened her mouth to testify on Thursday before the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, the House Republican Conference attacked her on Twitter as a 'liar' and a 'pawn' of Democrats. The group did not mention the man seated beside her, Matthew Pottinger, the former deputy national security adviser, who was also there to issue a scathing indictment of ... Donald J. Trump's behavior on the day of the riot. Nor did Mr. Trump himself mention Mr. Pottinger when he lashed out hours later with a statement calling Ms. Matthews a fame-seeker who was 'clearly lying.'"

Gaetz: Women's Rights Advocates Are Too Fat & Ugly to Get Pregnant. Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "Unattractive women ... shouldn't complain about losing abortion rights because they;re the 'least' likely to get pregnant, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said in a jaw-dropping speech to college students at a conservative conference in Florida on Saturday. 'Have you watched these pro-abortion, pro-murder rallies?' Gaetz asked the crowd at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa. 'The people are just disgusting. Why is it that the women with the least likelihood of getting pregnant are the ones most worried about having abortions?... These people are odious from the inside out,' the congressman continued. 'They're like 5′2', 350 pounds, and they're like, "Give me my abortions or I'll get up and march and protest."'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So women who are fat, old, ugly, whatever -- unlike the underaged hotties Matt reportedly dates -- do not deserve basic human rights.

Marie: The GOP has long been a party of misogynists. Donald Trump just gave them permission to be more open about it. But in fairness, Republicans despise all liberals, not just the female ones. ~~~

~~~ Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "In both swing states and safe seats, many Republicans say that liberals hate them personally and may turn rioters or a police state on people who disobey them.... In many [campaign ads,] the candidates are brandishing firearms while threatening harm to liberals or other enemies.... The arrests of hundreds of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has frequently been cited by Republican candidates as proof of a government war on its people."

Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "Fani T. Willis, the Atlanta area district attorney, has been leading the investigation [into attempts to overturn the 2022 presidential election results] since early last year. But it is only this month, with a flurry of subpoenas and target letters, as well as court documents that illuminate some of the closed proceedings of a special grand jury, that the inquiry's sprawling contours have emerged.... Whether [Donald] Trump will ultimately be targeted for indictment remains unclear." The article examines areas of interest to which Willis has led the grand jury.

Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "For the second time in two years, the World Health Organization has taken the extraordinary step of declaring a global emergency. This time the cause is monkeypox, which has spread in just a few weeks to dozens of countries and infected tens of thousands of people. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O.'s director general, on Saturday overruled a panel of advisers, who could not come to a consensus, and declared a 'public health emergency of international concern,' a designation the W.H.O. currently uses to describe only two other diseases, Covid-19 and polio."

Beyond the Beltway

Mississippi Is Still Mississippi: One Big Corrupt Swamp. Richard Fausset & Rick Rojas of the New York Times: "A lawyer working for a Mississippi state agency and trying to recoup tens of millions of dollars in misused welfare funds was fired on Friday after he issued a subpoena that could turn up details about the involvement of prominent Mississippians -- including the former Governor Phil Bryant and the retired football star Brett Favre -- in one of the ugliest scandals to shake the nation's poorest state in recent years. The lawyer, J. Brad Pigott, a former U.S. attorney, had been working for the Mississippi Department of Human Services, the agency that distributes Mississippi's federal welfare block grants. A state audit in 2020 found that as much as $94 million in federal funds may have been misspent in Mississippi. Instead of going to poor families, the audit found, much of the money ended up in the pockets of prominent Mississippians, including Mr. Favre, a Mississippi native, who was paid $1.1 million for speaking engagements he did not attend." Bill Clinton, BTW, selected Pigott as U.S. attorney. The Mississippi Today story, which first broke the news of Pigott's firing, is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The Times reporters do some analysis down the page, & they put much of the blame for misuse of federal funds on the federal government's switch in 1996 from directly paying beneficiaries to giving states block grants. The reporters don't say so, but this change/invitation-to-corruption was the brainchild of Newt Gingrich and his "Contract on America."

New York. Ana Ley of the New York Times: "A man accused of using a sharp weapon to confront Representative Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor of New York, on Thursday night has been arrested on a federal assault charge, officials said.... [The defendant] will be held pending a detention hearing on July 27...." A CNN report is here.

Oklahoma. Claire Woodcock of Vice: Oklahoma's Metropolitan Library System (MLS), the largest library system in the state, sent workers a memo of "instructions to avoid using the word 'abortion' and not to help patrons locate abortion-related information on either library computers or their own devices. Workers were warned that they could be held legally liable and face penalties under the state's abortion laws. 'If a staff member gives any information on how to obtain an abortion, then that person may be found personally liable and will also make MLS liable,' says a memo..... Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom, said that ALA stands firm in opposing any effort to suppress access to information about abortion...." One Oklahoma librarian noted that the MLS board is comprised of local yokels without degrees in library science. The director of the MLS, Larry White, does hold a degree, and he subsequently sent out advice to librarians to "provide factual information" about abortion, but "should not offer opinions surrounding the law" or "actively assist anyone in breaking the laws of Oklahoma." MB: IOW, it sounds as if some of the yokels jumped the gun with their original scary memo. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Before the Supremes & their cronies in state legislatures began turning this country into a replica of the nation in Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, a librarian could have gone to the Supremes if s/he was subjected to any blowback for defying the state law or the instructions in the MLS memo. Now, I have no confidence that the Supreme Court would side with the librarian.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's "live briefing" for Sunday is here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Saturday's missile attack on the port of Odessa, which took place less than 24 hours after the signing of a deal with Russia to allow for the export of blockaded grain supplies. Four Russian Kalibr missiles were fired at the port, the Ukrainian military said. Here's the latest on the war and its ripple effects around the world.... Zelensky, accusing Russia of 'barbarism' after the attack on Odessa, joined a chorus of condemnation from Western leaders.... Two Americans were killed in Donbas, a State Department spokesperson told The Washington Post, without providing further details. A Ukrainian commander, Ruslan Miroshnichenko, on Sunday identified the men as Luke Lucyszyn and Bryan Young, and said they were killed alongside Emile-Antoine Roy-Sirois of Canada and Edvard Selander Patrignani of Sweden near the town of Siversk in the Donetsk region on July 18. Ukrainian officials want more advanced HIMARs rocket systems, but the United States says it's complicated. Soldiers say the dozen U.S. multiple-launch precision rocket systems are a 'game changer,' The Washington Post reports. Yet the Biden administration is slowly parceling out the rocket systems, watching how the Ukrainians handle them and how the Russians respond."

Michael Schwirtz of the New York Times writes a feature on the last stand at Mariupol: "For 80 days, at a sprawling steelworks, a relentless Russian assault met unyielding Ukrainian resistance. This is how it was for those who fought, and for those trapped beneath the battlefield."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate because of a wildfire burning thousands of acres near Yosemite National Park and challenging firefighters. The Oak Fire began Friday afternoon and on Sunday afternoon had burned more than 14,200 acres outside Yosemite, according to Cal Fire. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) declared a state of emergency for Mariposa County on Saturday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is also providing resources to suppress the fire, Newsom said."

New York Times: "There were record-high daily temperatures in parts of the Northeast on Sunday as a nationwide scorching was expected to peak in many places around the United States. In Boston, it was 100 degrees, surpassing the previous record of 98 degrees set in 1933. New York City, which confirmed a heat-related death on Saturday, did not exceed its previous July 24 record of 97 degrees as of Sunday afternoon. Nearby in Newark, N.J., it was the fifth consecutive day of temperatures at or above 100 degrees, the longest streak since record keeping began in 1931, the National Weather Service said."

July 23, 2022

Ian Bassin & Erica Newland in the New York Review of Books on why it's not Merrick Garland's job to decide whether or not it's "in the national interest" to indict & prosecute a former president*: "As in 1974, the Department of Justice has a responsibility here, but so does the president, and neither may interfere with the other. The president cannot tell the department whether or not to indict. And if the department determines there is sufficient evidence to convict Trump of criminal acts and the principles of federal prosecution counsel in favor of an indictment, DOJ has no jurisdiction to do anything other than indict. It would be beyond its proper powers to weigh whether indicting would be in the national interest. That is a decision reserved to the president through the power to withhold or issue a pardon.... The Watergate prosecution team raised this point to [Special Prosecutor Leon] Jaworski in 1974, writing in a memo that when 'familiar factors of prosecutorial discretion ... uniformly dictate prosecution,' prosecutors have an obligation to rely on this 'traditional compass' rather than to 'try to make a decision based on a mixture of perceived public sentiment and long-range public policy choices.'" The article is firewalled, and I can't read most of it, but the general principle, outlined in the first few grafs is worth thinking about. Somebody with a NYRB subscription should mail it to Merrick the Unready. And here's something else for Merrick to chew on: ~~~

~~~ Trumpolini Plans to Install a Loyal State. Jonathan Swan of Axios: "Former President Trump's top allies are preparing to radically reshape the federal government if he is re-elected, purging potentially thousands of civil servants and filling career posts with loyalists to him and his 'America First' ideology, people involved in the discussions tell Axios. The impact could go well beyond typical conservative targets such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Internal Revenue Service. Trump allies are working on plans that would potentially strip layers at the Justice Department -- including the FBI, and reaching into national security, intelligence, the State Department and the Pentagon, sources close to the former president say.... The heart of the plan is derived from an executive order known as 'Schedule F.' developed and refined in secret over most of the second half of Trump's term and launched 13 days before the 2020 election.... [The plan] It would effectively upend the modern civil service, triggering a shock wave across the bureaucracy." ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Campos, in LG&$, finds Swan's report "pretty terrifying": "Maybe this story will come across Merrick Garland's desk as he continues his very very very very very very meticulous investigation of whether Donald Trump and his top lieutenants should be held legally responsible in some way for their actions between November of 2020 and January of 2021. One thing that investigation ought to take into account is that the coup attempt is very much ongoing, and if Trump is re-elected, or 're-elected,' it will succeed. At which point there will be no more investigations, except those conducted by Trump loyalists of the countless traitors in our midst. One of these traitors is going to be Merrick Garland, of course."

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: The House January 6 committee is "crafting a story about Jan. 6 as a battle between Republican heroism and Republican villainy. It seems intended to create a permission structure for Trump supporters to move on without having to disavow everything they loved about his presidency, or to admit that Jan. 6 was the logical culmination of his sadistic politics.... There is a difference, however, between a smart narrative and an accurate one. In truth, you can't cleave Trump and his most shameless antidemocratic enablers off from the rest of the Republican Party, because the party has been remade in his image.... Whatever they say now, the witnesses who worked for Trump enabled his mounting authoritarianism."

Marie: Donald Trump sits for friendly interviews quite often. Since Trump can do no wrong, why doesn't one of the friendly interviewers just ask him, "What were you doing during those 187 minutes?"?? The answer could be newsworthy.

A Bad Day for a Couple of Trumpettes

That Didn't Take Long. Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Stephen K. Bannon, the right-wing podcaster and longtime confidante of ... Donald Trump, was convicted Friday of contempt of Congress for his refusal to provide documents or testimony to a House committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021 attack. The trial, which lasted a week and only featured two witnesses, tested a rarely-used criminal statute meant to ensure that people comply with congressional subpoenas. Earlier this month as he prepared for trial, Bannon had vowed to go 'medieval' on his enemies. But most of his legal arguments were rejected by the trial judge, and Bannon ended up calling no witnesses.... The jury deliberated for just two and a half hours before announcing its verdict.... U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols scheduled sentencing for Oct. 21. Each of the two misdemeanor charges is punishable by at least 30 days and up to one year in jail." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Guardian's report is here.

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "A disciplinary board is moving to penalize Jeffrey Clark, the former Justice Department official who worked to undo the results of the 2020 election, including the possibility of disbarment. A complaint filed this week by the D.C. Bar's Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which governs lawyers in Washington, accused Mr. Clark of interfering in the administration of justice in his bid to keep ... Donald J. Trump in power." The Law & Crime story, which broke the news, is here.

Lateshia Beachum of the Washington Post: "A Pennsylvania woman who entered the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and later recorded herself saying she wanted to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 'in the frigging brain' has been sentenced to 60 days behind bars. Dawn Lee Bancroft, 59, of Doylestown was also sentenced to three years probation and 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay a restitution of $500.... Bancroft, however, was never charged with making a threat.... In May, Bancroft won a primary race to be the Republican candidate for committeeperson in Doylestown Borough's 2nd District." MB: You can see how civic-minded Bancroft is.

Michael Kunzelman of the AP: "A far-right internet personality pleaded guilty Friday to joining the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, where he streamed live video that incriminated him and other rioters, according to a court filing. Anthime Gionet, known as 'Baked Alaska' to his social media followers, faces a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing inside a Capitol building. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan is scheduled to sentence Gionet on Jan. 12, 2023." ~~~

~~~ Marie: I don't understood why it should take six months to sentence someone for a misdemeanor. Why, this guy died (by his own hand) while awaiting sentencing: ~~~

~~~ John Beauge of the (Harrisburg, Pa.) Patriot-News: "A Lycoming County man awaiting sentencing for illegally entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has died. The death Wednesday of Mark R. Aungst, 47, of South Williamsport, was ruled a suicide, Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr. said.... Aungst and co-defendant Tammy A. Bronsburg, who pleaded guilty to the same charge, traveled by bus to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021 for President Trump's 'stop the steal' rally. They then joined others and marched to the Capitol. [They entered the building together & took photos & videos on their cell phones.]... Neither assaulted a police officer nor stole or damaged government property, the prosecutor had said at a previous court proceeding."

The New York Times is running I-was-wrong "confessionals" by its columnists. Here's one: ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "By the time [Sen. Al] Franken [D-Minn.] resigned, eight women had accused him of either groping or trying to forcibly kiss them. Even if you dismiss [the initial complaint of sexual harassment], it seems to me overwhelmingly likely that he acted in a way that left women who'd admired him confused and humiliated. Nevertheless, I regret calling for Franken to resign without a Senate investigation..... Carried away by the furious momentum of #MeToo, I let myself forget that transparent, dispassionate systems for hearing conflicting claims are not an impediment to justice but a prerequisite for it.... Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's 2020 presidential campaign was derailed in part by bitterness about the role she played in pushing Franken out."

Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "It was not constitutional analysis but religious doctrine that drove the opposition to Roe. And it was the court's unacknowledged embrace of religious doctrine that has turned American women into desperate refugees fleeing their home states in pursuit of reproductive health care that less than a month ago was theirs by right. To be sure, the Supreme Court has not outlawed abortion. Justice Samuel Alito left that dirty work to the states...[.] Justice Alito actually had the gall to write that 'we do not pretend to know how our political system or society will respond to today's decision.'... Justice Alito took pains to present the majority's conclusion as the product of pure legal reasoning engaged in by judges standing majestically above the fray...."

Annie Palmer of CNBC: "Amazon is acquiring One Medical for $18 a share, an all-cash deal that values the primary health-care provider at roughly $3.9 billion, the companies said Thursday.... One Medical, which went public in 2020, operates a network of boutique primary-care practices, and also offers a range of telemedicine services." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The New York Times' live updates for Covid-19 developments Friday are here. They include news about President Biden's progress. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

California. Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a bill into law that allows private citizens to bring civil action against anyone who manufactures, distributes, transports or imports assault weapons or ghost guns, which are banned in the state. California Senate Bill 1327 is modeled after a Texas law that allows private citizens to bring civil litigation against abortion providers or anyone who assists a pregnant person in obtaining an abortion after as early as six weeks of pregnancy. The US Supreme Court in December allowed Texas' six-week abortion ban to remain in effect, which prompted Newsom, who has been supportive of abortion rights and pro-gun control, to say he was 'outraged' by the court's decision and direct his staff to draft a similar bill to regulate guns."

Despite the fact that voter fraud is rare, there are a few of innovative ways to commit it. Now, I'm not saying this is what happened in Colorado. Not saying that at all. But let's say your spouse tells you she is going to vote for a candidate you don't like. You have a little discussion about it, but she won't budge. So, okay, you kill her, then when her ballot comes in the mail, you fill it out with your favorite candidate and send it in. ~~~

~~~ Colorado. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: Barry Morphew, "the husband of a Colorado woman [Suzanne Morphew,] who has been missing for more than two years, pleaded guilty on Thursday to casting her mail-in ballot for Donald J. Trump during the 2020 election, telling F.B.I. agents [he did so], '... Just because I wanted Trump to win.'... [Suzanne disappeared in May 2020.] Prosecutors charged Mr. Morphew with first-degree murder last year, but then, in April, they dropped all charges against him related to her disappearance after a judge imposed sanctions on them for violating discovery rules." Thanks to Patrick for the link. The AP's report is here. Suzanne went missing on Mothers Day.

Maryland Gubernatorial Race. Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Wes Moore, a celebrity author and former nonprofit executive who campaigned as a political outsider, has won the Democratic primary for governor of Maryland. Three days after voting concluded, The Associated Press declared Mr. Moore the winner late Friday.... Mr. Moore, a best-selling author who for a time hosted a show on Oprah Winfrey's cable network, cast himself as a dynamic newcomer in a race in which his top rivals were all veterans of Maryland or national politics. In addition to an endorsement from Ms. Winfrey, he had the backing of the Democratic leaders of both chambers of the Maryland legislature and three members of the state's congressional delegation -- a strong showing for a first-time candidate. Mr. Moore, who would become Maryland's first Black governor if he wins, will be a heavy favorite in the general election against Dan Cox, a Republican state legislator who was endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump. Mr. Cox has amplified an array of election conspiracy theories, and during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, he called Vice President Mike Pence 'a traitor.'"

New York. Nicholas Fandos, et al., of the New York Times: "An attempted assault on Representative Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor of New York, inflamed a fierce debate over the state's public safety laws on Friday, hours after a man accused of charging the candidate with a pointed weapon was released without bail. Mr. Zeldin has long made public safety a centerpiece of his campaign against Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat. But he and his allies argued on Friday that the episode viscerally drove home the need to increase policing and tighten New York's bail laws to make it easier for judges to hold people charged with certain crimes.... Since 2020, under New York law, judges have been barred from setting bail on the charge of attempted assault...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: How is it attempted assault when the assailant lays hands on a victim? I supposed this is a codified definition. If not, it's a charging error. In fact, the reporters write, "In [this] case..., the Monroe County district attorney could have chosen to charge him with a violent felony, which would have qualified the case for potential bail, and pushed to keep him behind bars." In my view, an assailant need not succeed in doing bodily harm to have committed an assault.

Texas. Rebekah Riess & Tina Burnside of CNN: "Former sports star Bo Jackson covered all funeral expenses for the families of the victims of the Uvalde school massacre 'so they would have one less thing to worry about as they grieved,' according to a statement from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin told CNN that Jackson flew in and presented a check for $170,000 to Abbott while in Uvalde to cover the expenses."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

Ayse Wieting & Suzan Fraser of the AP: "Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements Friday with Turkey and the United Nations clearing the way for exporting millions of tons of desperately needed Ukrainian grain -- as well as Russian grain and fertilizer -- ending a wartime standoff that had threatened food security around the globe. The deal will enable Ukraine -- one of the world's key breadbaskets -- to export 22 million tons of grain and other agricultural products that have been stuck in Black Sea ports due to Russia's invasion. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called it 'a beacon of hope' for millions of hungry people who have faced huge increases in food costs." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)