July 20, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Louis Caved. Somewhat. Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Postal Service pledged Wednesday to electrify at least 40 percent of its new delivery fleet, an increase that climate activists hailed as a major step toward reducing the government's environmental footprint. The Postal Service had been set to purchase as many as 165,000 vehicles from Oshkosh Defense, of which 10 percent would be electric under the original procurement plan. Now it will acquire 50,000 trucks from Oshkosh, half of which will be EVs, plus another 34,500 commercially available vehicles, 40 percent of which will be electric. The combined 84,500 trucks ... will go a long way toward meeting President Biden's goal for the entire government fleet to be EV-powered by 2035. The Postal Service's more than 217,000 vehicles make up the largest share of federal civilian vehicles.... Sixteen states plus four of the U.S.'s top environmental groups sued to stop the [original 10%-electric] contract in April." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You just have to drag Republicans kicking & screaming to do every partly the right thing.

The Washington Post is liveblogging Steve Bannon's trial for criminal contempt of Congress.

Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post summarizes the findings, so far, that the House January 6 committee has presented to the public. "At each moment [in the weeks leading up to January 6, 2021,] when Trump could have soothed an agitated nation, he escalated tensions instead, the committee has illustrated through its presentation of 18 live witnesses, scores of videotaped depositions and vast documentary evidence. At each moment when longtime loyal advisers offered their view that his election loss was real, he refused to listen and found newcomers and outsiders willing to tell him otherwise. On at least 15 different occasions, the president barreled over those who told him to accept his loss and instead took actions that sought to circumvent the democratic process and set the nation on the path to violence, according to the committee's evidence."

David Siders of Politico: "The conventional wisdom about the Jan. 6 committee hearings was that no single revelation was going to change Republican minds about Donald Trump. What happened instead, a slow drip of negative coverage, may be just as damaging to the former president. Six weeks into the committee's public hearing schedule, an emerging consensus is forming in Republican Party circles -- including in Trump-s orbit -- that a significant portion of the rank-and-file may be tiring of the non-stop series of revelations about Trump.... The cumulative effect of the hearings, according to interviews with more than 20 Republican strategists, party officials and pollsters in recent days, has been to at least marginally weaken his support." ~~~

~~~ Oh Yeah? This guy is still a fan: ~~~

     ~~~ Jordan Green of the Raw Story: "After invoking the Fifth Amendment and executive privilege more than 100 times to refuse to answer questions from the January 6^th Committee on Tuesday, former White House aide Garrett Ziegler opened a livestream to vent his frustrations to his followers in a nearly 30-minute rant laden with white nationalist grievance on Telegram. Ziegler complained that he has less resources to fight the committee than his older cohorts, including his boss former Trade Advisor Peter Navarro, who is suing the committee, and former White House strategist Steve Bannon, who is being prosecuted for contempt.... '[The committee members are] Bolsheviks so they probably do hate the Fifth Amendment, and most white people in general,' he said. 'This is a Bolshevist, anti-white campaign.... They see me as a young Christian who they can basically try to scare.'... I'm the least racist person that many of you have ever met, by the way. I have no bigotry. I just try to see the world for where it is.' Then, his rant veered into misogyny when he lamented that no one else in his generation was defying the January 6^th committee, because 'the other people in the White House are total hos and thots.'"

Kate Brumback of the AP: "A judge in New York has ordered Rudy Giuliani to appear next month before a special grand jury in Atlanta that's investigating whether ... Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 general election in Georgia. New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber on July 13 issued an order directing Giuliani, a Trump lawyer and former New York City mayor, to appear before the special grand jury on Aug. 9 and on any other dates ordered by the court in Atlanta, according to documents filed Wednesday in Fulton County Superior Court."

Today's committee memo pulls back the curtain on this shameful conduct and shows clearly how the Trump administration secretly tried to manipulate the census for political gain while lying to the public and Congress about their goals. -- Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Oversight Committee chair ~~~

~~~ Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "A new stash of documents obtained by Congress has confirmed that the Trump administration pushed to add a citizenship question to the census to help Republicans win elections..., a House committee report concluded on Wednesday. The report from the Committee on Oversight and Reform, the culmination of a yearslong investigation, detailed new findings based on drafts of internal memos and secret email communications between political appointees at the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, and counterparts in the Justice Department. The documents provided the most definitive evidence yet that the Trump administration aimed to exclude noncitizens from the count to influence congressional apportionment that would benefit the Republican Party, the report concluded, and that senior officials used a false pretext to build a legal case for asking all residents of the United States whether they were American citizens.... The committee was expected on Wednesday to mark up a bill to enhance the institutional independence of the Census Bureau in order to prevent political interference in the agency." NPR's story is here.

U.K. The New PM Will Not Be a White Guy. Mark Landler & Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Britain's Conservative Party narrowed the field for its next leader on Wednesday, advancing two candidates to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson after a scandal-scarred tenure that ended with his government in disarray and the country adrift at a time of deepening economic crisis. Rishi Sunak, a former chancellor of the Exchequer, and Liz Truss, the current foreign secretary, emerged as the two finalists after five rounds of voting by Conservative lawmakers whittled the original field of 11 candidates. The two will now compete to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a vote of the party's rank-and-file membership, with the results announced in early September." An AP report is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Amy Wang & Karina Tsui of the Washington Post: "Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska visited the White House on Tuesday, part of her high-profile trip to Washington.... Zelenska arrived at the White House just after 1:30 p.m. and was greeted on the South Lawn by President Biden and first lady Jill Biden. The president presented Zelenska with a bouquet of yellow sunflowers, blue hydrangeas and white orchids -- reminiscent of the colors of the Ukrainian flag -- and the first lady hugged Zelenska. The group, which included Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova, posed for a photo at the south entrance to the White House, flanked by an American flag and a Ukrainian flag. They did not answer reporters' shouted questions about what they would discuss. Zelenska and Jill Biden had a private meeting, then held an expanded meeting [to include a number of U.S. leaders].... On Wednesday morning, Zelenska is scheduled to address Congress to give an update on the security, economic and humanitarian conditions on the ground in Ukraine." More on Ukraine linked under Way Beyond the Beltway below.

Ben Gittleson & Morgan Winsor of ABC News: "President Joe Biden is expected to announce on Wednesday a few executive actions to address climate change, with a focus on helping Americans facing extreme heat -- but the steps fall far short of the more sweeping measures climate activists are calling for. In fact, the directives largely appear to provide more funding to or otherwise strengthen existing programs."

Stephanie Lai of the New York Times: "The House on Tuesday passed a bill that would recognize same-sex marriages at the federal level, as Republicans joined Democrats in support of a measure responding to growing concern that a conservative Supreme Court could nullify marriage equality. The Respect for Marriage Act would codify the federal protections for same-sex couples that were put in place in 2015, when the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges established same-sex marriage as a right under the 14th Amendment. The legislation would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, which defined a marriage as the union between a man and a woman, a law that was struck down by Obergefell but has remained on the books. The legislation, which passed in a vote of 267 to 157, faces an uncertain future in the evenly divided Senate, where most Republicans have opposed gay rights measures. But Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, declined on Tuesday to state a position on the measure." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marianna Sotomayor, et al., of the Washington Post: The bill "also would protect interracial marriage." (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's report is here.

Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "The House approved a resolution on Monday that expressed support for Finland and Sweden joining NATO, exactly two months after the Nordic countries submitted applications to become part of the military alliance amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The resolution cleared the House in a 394-18 vote, with only Republicans voting in opposition. Two Democrats and 17 Republicans did not vote." The article lists the naysayers, who include the usual suspects. Thanks to Bobby Lee for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.)

Ellie Silverman of the Washington Post: "Seventeen members of Congress -- including Democratic Reps. Cori Bush (Mo.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.) -- were among dozens of abortion rights protesters arrested Tuesday outside the Supreme Court in a rally demanding immediate action to protect abortion following the court's decision last month to overturn Roe v. Wade. Thirty-five people were arrested for crowding, obstructing or incommoding, a D.C. code often cited when arresting protesters during peaceful, planned and coordinated actions of civil disobedience such as the demonstration on Tuesday. Those arrested were ticketed and released on-site, as is standard practice during events such as this, said Capitol Police spokesman Tim Barber. Among those arrested were ... Assistant House Speaker Katherine M. Clark (Mass.) and Reps. Bush, Omar, Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), Jackie Speier (Calif.) and Carolyn B. Maloney (N.Y.), according to their offices." An ABC News story is here.

Marie: (Yesterday): On her MSNBC show Monday night, Rachel Maddow flashed a memo from AG Merrick Garland instructing DOJ officials not to begin any investigations or bring any charges against any presidential candidates or their top staff after the candidates had announced their intentions to run, unless first cleared by the AG. Garland's order, he stated in the memo, was in keeping with a February 2020 order by former AG Bill Barr. So the sooner Trump declares, the sooner he can weasel out of any new investigation. It's almost as if Trump & Garland are colluding. Very distressing. ~~~

     ~~~ See Marcy Wheeler's comment, excerpted by unwashed in the Comments section yesterday, about the Garland memo. Wheeler's full post is here, linked yesterday by unwashed. Wheeler, in effect, sees the Garland memo as routine. (BTW, Maddow's guest for the segment was Andrew Weissmann, and the fact that he didn't jump out of his skin about the memo -- he didn't -- suggests he agrees with Wheeler.) ~~~

     ~~~ Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "The Justice Department's investigation into various efforts by Donald Trump to undermine the 2020 election will continue regardless of whether the former president announces his intention to again seek office in 2024. 'We're going to continue to do our job, to follow the facts wherever they go, no matter where they lead, no matter to what level,' Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Tuesday in response to questions after speaking at a cybersecurity conference in New York. 'We're going to continue to investigate what was fundamentally an attack on our democracy.'" MB: I'm not as sure as Beitsch is that Monaco says the DOJ's investigation "will continue regardless of whether the former president announces his intention" to run for president in 2024. In any event, Monaco didn't say Trump himself could become the subject of an investigation after he announced his candidacy. ~~~

     ~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "MSNBC's Rachel Maddow broke the news of the May 25 memo on her show Monday night. The crux is that [Merrick] Garland has left in place a policy first instituted by his Trump-appointed predecessor, William P. Barr. The policy requires the attorney general to sign off on investigations involving presidential candidates and their staff.... Barr certainly earned his reputation as an exceedingly political attorney general, and it's understandable to balk at doubling down on a policy he forged. But those facts alone do not a bad policy make.... Some Trump critics will fear that an allegedly reluctant Garland might use this policy as an excuse to stifle such an investigation." MB: Blake's post is sort of an on-the-one-hand/on-the-other-hand analysis. Blake does acknowledge, as I felt, that Lisa Monaco's response to a question about the Garland memo was ambiguous (see Hill report linked above).~~~

     ~~~ Chris Hayes had a guest (whose name I didn't catch) who made the point that the problem here is that the Barr-Garland policy leaves the decision on whether or not to investigate presidential candidates to the department's top political appointee: the attorney general. Previous administrations (Bush II & Obama) had left the decision to the "public integrity unit"; i.e., career DOJ attorneys who operate under established procedures. It's easy to see that any attorney general could have an interest in influencing a presidential election. Investigating top politicians is always going to be a sticky wicket, but I can't help thinking Barr & Garland made it a bit stickier.

** Carol Leonnig & Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Secret Service has determined it has no new texts to provide Congress relevant to its Jan. 6 investigation, and that any other texts its agents exchanged around the time of the 2021 attack on the Capitol were purged, according to a senior official briefed on the matter. Also, the National Archives on Tuesday sought more information on 'the potential unauthorized deletion' of agency text messages. The U.S. government's chief record-keeper asked the Secret Service to report back to the Archives within 30 days about the deletion of any records, including describing what was purged and the circumstances of how the documentation was lost.... Many of its agents' cellphone texts were permanently purged starting in mid-January 2021 and Secret Service officials said it was the result of an agencywide reset of staff telephones and replacement that it began planning months earlier. Secret Service agents ... were instructed to upload any old text messages involving government business to an internal agency drive before the reset, the senior official said, but many agents appear not to have done so." (Also linked yesterday.) A Politico report on the National Archives action is here. A Guardian story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This looks like criminal obstruction of justice to me. It's possible -- but extremely unlikely -- that there was nothing more controversial in those text messages than weather condition updates. Those messages were not preserved for a reason, and I just don't see how "I forgot" is going to work as a defense. These agents -- and their bosses -- belong behind bars. For a while. This may turn out to be one of my "never mind" moments, but from today's vantage point, it looks really bad. Update: Lawrence O'Donnell is as outraged as I am; I feel better. O'Donnell is particularly pissed off at Secret Service director James Murray, a Trump appointee who will retire next month. ~~~

     ~~~ Stephanie Ruhle of MSNBC had a segment on this, too, and Carol Leonnig of the WashPo was a guest. Leonnig is a straight reporter, and she's careful not to verge into delivering opinions. But she did manage to make the point that Trump waited till his third year in office to appoint James Murray as Secret Service director, and by that time, Trump had learned how to bring on people who would do what he wanted. In addition, Leonnig said that Trump appointed Murray on the insistence of Tony Ornato, a Secret Service agent whom Trump liked so much he made Ornato a political appointee. IOW, both Murray & Ornato are Trump guys. ~~~

~~~ Jamie Gangel of CNN: "The Secret Service was only able to provide a single text exchange to the DHS inspector general who had requested a month's worth of records for 24 Secret Service personnel, according to a letter to the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, and obtained by CNN.... 'The Secret Service submitted the responsive records it identified, namely, a text message conversation from former US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund to former Secret Service Uniformed Division Chief Thomas Sullivan requesting assistance on January 6, 2021, and advised the agency did not have any further records responsive to the DHS OIG's request for text messages,' Assistant Director Ronald Rowe wrote in the letter to the January 6 committee." The agency left it up to individual agents to preserve their texts & sent them "step-by-step" instructions on how to do so, according to the letter, which stated that Secret Service personnel are responsible for preserving government records. The letter said the texts of 24 employees were lost.

Aishvarya Kavi & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "After weeks of legal wrangling and heated speeches on the courthouse steps, the criminal trial of Stephen K. Bannon ... opened on Tuesday.... Prosecutors insisted that Mr. Bannon had clearly violated the law [by ignoring a subpoena by the House January 6 committee].... Amanda Vaughn, a federal prosecutor, said..., 'The defendant decided he was above the law and didn't have to follow the government’s orders like his fellow citizens.'... M. Evan Corcoran, a lawyer for the defense, countered the assertion that Mr. Bannon willfully ignored the subpoena, saying that the committee had not mandated him to comply.... The defense also emphasized the political nature of the House committee and its members.... The government's first witness on Tuesday, Kristin Amerling, the deputy staff director and chief counsel to the Jan. 6 committee, outlined how the panel sought to provide a 'complete account' of what happened on Jan. 6 and the importance of the subpoena as a fact-finding tool."

Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, announced on Tuesday that he has tested positive for COVID-19. The congressman, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, said he received a positive diagnosis on Monday and is experiencing mild symptoms.... Thursday's [committee] presentation, however, will proceed as planned, according to the committee's spokesperson." (Also linked yesterday.)

Thursday's Hearing Is a "Season Finale," Not the End of the Series. Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: January 6 committee "members describe Thursday's hearing as only the last in a series. Committee members, aides and allies are emboldened by the public reaction to the information they're unearthing about the former president's actions and say their full sprint will continue, even past November.... The committee is pursuing multiple new avenues of inquiry created by its investigation of Trump's scheme to seize a second term he didn't win, from questions about the Secret Service's internal communications as well as leads provided by high-level witnesses from his White House.... The new open-ended timeline is a marked shift in the public posture of a committee that once eyed a conclusion as early as springtime, then looked to a September wrap-up."

Still Crazy. Dan Mangan of CNBC: "... Donald Trump this month called Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and urged him to decertify President Joe Biden's 2020 election win in that state, Vos said in a new interview Tuesday.... '... I explained that it's not allowed under the Constitution,' Vos said. 'He has a different opinion.'... One ... Republicans, state Rep. Timothy Ramthun, submitted a resolution calling on the state legislature to 'reclaim' those electors.... After speaking with Vos, Trump posted a message on Truth Social that called the speaker 'a long time professional RINO.... The Democrats would like to sincerely thank Robin, and all of his fellow RINOs, for letting them get away with "murder." A Rigged & Stolen Election!' Trump wrote."

Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "Prosecutors in Atlanta have informed 16 Trump supporters who formed an alternate slate of 2020 presidential electors from Georgia that they could face charges in an ongoing criminal investigation into election interference, underscoring the risk of criminal charges that Donald J. Trump and many of his allies may be facing in the state. The revelations were included in court filings released on Tuesday in an investigation being led by Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County.... Ms. Willis, in court filings, has indicated that a number of other charges are being considered, including racketeering and conspiracy, which could take in a broad roster of Trump associates both inside and outside of Georgia.... 'She's made clear that she has a sharp eye on Trump,' [Norm] Eisen [of the Brookings Institution] said of Ms. Willis, adding that there were indications 'that this first salvo of target letters will be followed by additional possible targets, culminating in the former president himself.'"Politico's report is here.

Kevin Breuninger & Dan Mangan of CNBC: "Sen. Lindsey Graham agreed Tuesday to accept service of a subpoena for his testimony before a Georgia grand jury investigating possible criminal meddling in the 2020 election by ... Donald Trump. But Graham, R-S.C., still retained his right to challenge the legality of the subpoena, a court filing showed.... Graham's agreement to accept the subpoena likely will streamline his dispute with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over the demand for his testimony. Asked Tuesday afternoon about the development, Graham told NBC News that Fulton County hasn't 'even tried to subpoena me. I just want to get it done.' The Republican lawmaker ... had asked a federal judge in South Carolina last week to quash the subpoena. But Willis in a court filing Monday told the judge that Graham's challenge was both too early, and not filed in the right court.... Any future challenges to the subpoena will be pursued in Georgia, either in Fulton County Superior Court or U.S. District Court in Atlanta." (Also linked yesterday.)

Triumph Triumphs. Colbert Staff Beats the Rap. Mike Ives of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors said late Monday that they would not prosecute staff members of 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' who were arrested last month at the United States Capitol complex on charges of unlawful entry. When members of a production team for the CBS show were arrested on June 16, they had been filming a segment featuring Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, a cigar-chomping canine puppet that is voiced by the comedian Robert Smigel, who was among those arrested. Mr. Colbert later said on his show that they were guilty of 'high jinks with intent to goof.'... The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said in a brief statement on Monday that it would not move forward with misdemeanor charges against the nine people arrested by the Capitol Police because the case wasn't strong enough. The crew members had been invited to enter the building on two separate occasions by congressional staff who never asked them to leave, although the Capitol Police did tell some members of the group that they were supposed to have an escort, the statement said." (Also linked yesterday.)

GOP Stunt Strains D.C. Charitable Orgs. Vanessa Sánchez of the Washington Post: "Ten D.C. Council members are calling on the District government to direct local resources to support migrants who have been arriving in buses from Texas and Arizona for months, taking a toll on city organizations that are relying on donations and one federal grant. It's been more than three months since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and two months since Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) started offering what they have said are voluntary bus trips to the nation's capital for migrants caught crossing the border from Mexico, a measure in response to President Biden's decision to lift an emergency health order that allowed immigration authorities at the border to deny entry to migrants. In the last few weeks the number of buses arriving a day has increased from two to four, sometimes five, sometimes late at night, exhausting donations and exceeding the ability of volunteers and mutual aid networks in the city to respond." (Also linked yesterday.)

Rebecca Kern of Politico: "A Delaware judge granted Twitter's request for an expedited trial in its lawsuit seeking to force Elon Musk to uphold his agreement to buy the social media company for $44 billion. Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick said the case will proceed with a five-day trial in October, favoring Twitter's request for a speedy trial to avoid the irreparable harm delays might cause. The lawsuit marks the latest in a monthslong back-and-forth between Twitter and Musk over his April offer to buy the platform for $54.20 per share and take the company private."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday recommended that a newly authorized vaccine from Novavax be used as an option for adults seeking a primary immunization against the coronavirus. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the C.D.C.'s director, signed off on the recommendation of a panel of vaccine experts that had unanimously endorsed the vaccine on Tuesday afternoon. The decision removes the final regulatory hurdle for the fourth Covid-19 shot authorized in the United States. The Novavax vaccine is expected to play a limited role in the country's immunization campaign, at least initially."

Beyond the Beltway

Indiana/Ohio. Ava Sasani & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "An Indianapolis doctor who provided abortion care to a 10-year-old rape victim is preparing to sue Attorney General Todd Rokita of Indiana for defamation after he said he would investigate her actions in the case, according to a statement released on Tuesday by her lawyer. Dr. Caitlin Bernard earned the ire of conservative lawmakers and pundits after she told The Indianapolis Star about her patient, a 10-year-old girl who crossed state lines from Ohio to receive an abortion. Ohio is one of nearly a dozen states with abortion restrictions that do not make exceptions for rape or incest.... In a tort claim notice sent on Tuesday to Mr. Rokita and filed with the City of Indianapolis, Dr. Bernard's lawyer, Kathleen A. DeLaney, said a quick check of Indiana's electronic licensing registry showed that Dr. Bernard's license was 'active with no disciplinary history.' 'Mr. Rokita either knew the statements were false or acted with reckless disregard of the truth or falsity of the statements,' the claim notice says."

Maryland Primary Elections. The New York Times is live-updating Tuesday's results in Maryland's primary elections: "Delays in learning who won in Maryland's primaries for governor and a few House races are expected, because the counting of mail-in ballots won't begin until Thursday. But a few contests have been called by The Associated Press." ~~~

~~~ Reid Epstein: "Republican voters in Maryland on Tuesday nominated for governor Dan Cox, a state legislator who was endorsed by ... Donald J. Trump and who wrote on Twitter during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol that Vice President Mike Pence was a 'traitor.' The Associated Press called the race late Tuesday. Mr. Cox defeated Kelly Schulz, a former cabinet secretary under Gov. Larry Hogan, an ambitious term-limited governor who has sought to present himself as a potential alternative to Mr. Trump in 2024. But Mr. Hogan's inability to push through his political protégé in his home state will put a significant damper on his chance of galvanizing a national movement in the party against Mr. Trump."

New York. Ed Shanahan of the New York Times: "Brooklyn film location for a ripped-from-the-headlines television crime show became a murder scene early Tuesday when a man who was enforcing parking restrictions connected to the production was fatally shot while he sat in a car, the police said. The killing happened ... in the Greenpoint neighborhood as a crew working on the crime show, 'Law & Order: Organized Crime,' was preparing to film on the block, according to the police and fliers posted there. The police identified the victim as Johnny Pizarro, 31, of Queens. Mr. Pizarro, whose job was to make sure the street was clear so that vehicles affiliated with the show could park, was sitting in a car when a lone assailant approached the vehicle, opened the door and shot him in the head and neck, the police said." The neighborhood is relatively crime-free.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Wednesday are here: "Putin received support for his war in Ukraine from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Karoun Demirjian & Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "The White House on Tuesday doubled down on its assertion that Russia will try to annex additional Ukrainian territory, warning that Moscow intends to claim as its own large swaths of the country's east and south sometime later this year. 'Russia is beginning to roll out a version of what you could call an "annexation playbook,"' said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, citing what he called 'ample evidence' gathered by Western intelligence and already 'in the public domain' indicating that... Vladimir Putin wants to take Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and the Donbas region 'in direct violation of Ukraine's sovereignty.'"

Europe. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "For the first time on record, Britain suffered under temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius -- 104 Fahrenheit -- on Tuesday, as a ferocious heat wave moved northwest, leaving a trail of raging wildfires, lost lives and evacuated homes across a Europe frighteningly ill-equipped to cope with the new reality of extreme weather. While the heat's effects cascaded from Greece to Scotland, the greatest damage was in fire-ravaged France. More than 2,000 firefighters battled blazes that have burned nearly 80 square miles of parched forest in the Gironde area of the country's southwest, forcing more than 37,000 people to evacuate in the past week." ~~~

~~~ U.K. Nadeem Badshah of the Guardian: "Major incidents have been declared by fire services across the country as services endured immense pressure dealing with multiple blazes on the hottest day in the UK since records began.... The Metropolitan police advised people not to start a barbecue or bonfire, avoid leaving broken bottles or glass on the ground and dispose of cigarettes safely."

News Lede

Washington Post: Muriel Engelman, a World War II U.S. Army nurse who served on the front lines during the Battle of the Bulge and other battles, died June 30 in Laguna Niguel. She was 101. The French appointed her to the Legion of Honor for her services. Her memoir Mission Accomplished: Stop the Clock (2008) was well-received.

July 19, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Stephanie Lai of the New York Times: "The House on Tuesday passed a bill that would recognize same-sex marriages at the federal level, as Republicans joined Democrats in support of a measure responding to growing concern that a conservative Supreme Court could nullify marriage equality. The Respect for Marriage Act would codify the federal protections for same-sex couples that were put in place in 2015, when the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges established same-sex marriage as a right under the 14th Amendment. The legislation would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, which defined a marriage as the union between a man and a woman, a law that was struck down by Obergefell but has remained on the books. The legislation, which passed in a vote of 267 to 157, faces an uncertain future in the evenly divided Senate, where most Republicans have opposed gay rights measures. But Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, declined on Tuesday to state a position on the measure." ~~~

     ~~~ Marianna Sotomayor, et al., of the Washington Post: The bill "also would protect interracial marriage."

Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "The House approved a resolution on Monday that expressed support for Finland and Sweden joining NATO, exactly two months after the Nordic countries submitted applications to become part of the military alliance amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The resolution cleared the House in a 394-18 vote, with only Republicans voting in opposition. Two Democrats and 17 Republicans did not vote." The article lists the naysayers, who include the usual suspects. Thanks to Bobby Lee for the lead.

Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, announced on Tuesday that he has tested positive for COVID-19. The congressman, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, said he received a positive diagnosis on Monday and is experiencing mild symptoms.... Thursday's [committee] presentation, however, will proceed as planned, according to the committee's spokesperson."

Kevin Breuninger & Dan Mangan of CNBC:"Sen. Lindsey Graham agreed Tuesday to accept service of a subpoena for his testimony before a Georgia grand jury investigating possible criminal meddling in the 2020 election by ... Donald Trump. But Graham, R-S.C., still retained his right to challenge the legality of the subpoena, a court filing showed.... Graham's agreement to accept the subpoena likely will streamline his dispute with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over the demand for his testimony. Asked Tuesday afternoon about the development, Graham told NBC News that Fulton County hasn't 'even tried to subpoena me. I just want to get it done.' The Republican lawmaker ... had asked a federal judge in South Carolina last week to quash the subpoena. But Willis in a court filing Monday told the judge that Graham's challenge was both too early, and not filed in the right court.... Any future challenges to the subpoena will be pursued in Georgia, either in Fulton County Superior Court or U.S. District Court in Atlanta."

** Carol Leonnig & Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Secret Service has determined it has no new texts to provide Congress relevant to its Jan. 6 investigation, and that any other texts its agents exchanged around the time of the 2021 attack on the Capitol were purged, according to a senior official briefed on the matter.Also, the National Archives on Tuesday sought more information on 'the potential unauthorized deletion' of agency text messages. The U.S. government's chief record-keeper asked the Secret Service to report back to the Archives within 30 days about the deletion of any records, including describing what was purged and the circumstances of how the documentation was lost.... Many of its agents' cellphone texts were permanently purged starting in mid-January 2021 and Secret Service officials said it was the result of an agencywide reset of staff telephones and replacement that it began planning months earlier. Secret Service agents ... were instructed to upload any old text messages involving government business to an internal agency drive before the reset, the senior official said, but many agents appear not to have done so." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This looks like criminal obstruction of justice to me. It's possible -- but extremely unlikely -- that there was nothing more controversial in those text messages than weather condition updates. Those messages were not preserved for a reason, and I just don't see how "I forgot" is going to work as a defense. These agents -- and their bosses -- belong behind bars. For a while. This may turn out to be one of my "never mind" moments, but from today's vantage point, it looks really bad.

See Marcy Wheeler's comment, excerpted by unwashed in the Comments below, about Rachel Maddow's remarks about a memo from AG Merrick Garland regarding investigations of declared presidential candidates (and their top staff). I mentioned Maddow's remarks below, in the body of today's page. Wheeler's full post is here, linked by unwashed. Wheeler, in effect, sees the Garland memo as routine. (BTW, Maddow's guest for the segment was Andrew Weissmann, and the fact that he didn't jump out of his skin about the memo -- he didn't -- suggests he agrees with Wheeler.) I am reminded, however, that early on, I thought Maddow was exaggerating about the importance "fake electors" stories she was airing, and they turned out to be a very big deal, when integrated into the Trump plot, as a whole, to overturn the election.

Triumph Triumphs. Colbert Staff Beats the Rap. Mike Ives of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors said late Monday that they would not prosecute staff members of 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' who were arrested last month at the United States Capitol complex on charges of unlawful entry. When members of a production team for the CBS show were arrested on June 16, they had been filming a segment featuring Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, a cigar-chomping canine puppet that is voiced by the comedian Robert Smigel, who was among those arrested. Mr. Colbert later said on his show that they were guilty of 'high jinks with intent to goof.'... The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said in a brief statement on Monday that it would not move forward with misdemeanor charges against the nine people arrested by the Capitol Police because the case wasn't strong enough. The crew members had been invited to enter the building on two separate occasions by congressional staff who never asked them to leave, although the Capitol Police did tell some members of the group that they were supposed to have an escort, the statement said."

GOP Stunt Strains D.C. Charitable Orgs. Vanessa Sánchez of the Washington Post: "Ten D.C. Council members are calling on the District government to direct local resources to support migrants who have been arriving in buses from Texas and Arizona for months, taking a toll on city organizations that are relying on donations and one federal grant. It's been more than three months since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and two months since Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) started offering what they have said are voluntary bus trips to the nation's capital for migrants caught crossing the border from Mexico, a measure in response to President Biden's decision to lift an emergency health order that allowed immigration authorities at the border to deny entry to migrants. In the last few weeks the number of buses arriving a day has increased from two to four, sometimes five, sometimes late at night, exhausting donations and exceeding the ability of volunteers and mutual aid networks in the city to respond."

~~~~~~~~~~

Here's another downside to Merrick Garland's slowwalking the DOJ's investigation of Donald Trump and his merry band: ~~~

~~~ David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement: "Legal and government experts are responding to a [Rolling Stone] report [firewalled] that reveals Donald Trump has told advisors he will run for president to protect himself from being prosecuted. 'Trump has spoken about how when you are the president of the United States, it is tough for politically motivated prosecutors to "get to you," says one of the sources, who has discussed the issue with Trump this summer,' Rolling Stone's Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley report, citing four individuals with knowledge of the situation they spoke with.... Retired Harvard Law School law professor Laurence Tribe ... is urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to act. 'Mr. Trump is counting on your concerns about not "appearing" political when he makes clear his belief that you wouldn't dare approve his indictment once he announces,' Tribe says in a tweet directed at Garland. 'You MUST prove him wrong. Make him a TARGET now. No time to lose.'" MB: Garland was a student of Tribe's. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ On her MSNBC show Monday night, Rachel Maddow flashed a memo from AG Merrick Garland instructing DOJ officials not to begin any investigations or bring any charges against any presidential candidates or their top staff after the candidates had announced their intentions to run, unless first cleared by the AG. Garland's order, he stated in the memo, was in keeping with a February 2020 order by former AG Bill Barr. So the sooner Trump declares, the sooner he can weasel out of any new investigation. It's almost as if Trump & Garland are colluding. Very distressing.

What They Saw at the Revolution. Evan Perez & Zachary Cohen of CNN: "Matthew Pottinger, who served on ... Donald Trump's National Security Council before resigning in the immediate aftermath of January 6, 2021, will testify publicly at Thursday's prime-time hearing held by the House select committee investigating the US Capitol attack, according to multiple sources familiar with the plans. Pottinger is slated to appear alongside former Trump White House aide Sarah Matthews.... Committee members have said Thursday's hearing will examine Trump's inaction for 187 minutes while the US Capitol riot was unfolding." ~~~

     ~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Mr. Pottinger and Sarah Matthews, a former White House deputy press secretary who also resigned on Jan. 6, are expected to help narrate what was unfolding inside the West Wing during those 187 minutes, in a hearing that the committee sees as the capstone to a series of public sessions in which it has laid out in detail Mr. Trump's efforts to remain in office despite his defeat.... The hearing, scheduled for 8 p.m., is expected to give a detailed account of how Mr. Trump resisted multiple pleas from staff members, lawyers and even his own family to call off the attack."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Jury selection is nearly complete and opening statements are expected Tuesday in the federal trial of former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon, who has been charged with two counts of contempt of Congress after refusing to cooperate with the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A pool of 60 D.C. residents was whittled down Monday to 22 prospective jurors -- 12 men and 10 women -- from whom a final group of 12 jurors and two alternates will be chosen Tuesday morning before U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols of Washington." (The story is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) A CNN report is here. MB: The prosecution is expected to begin bringing its case today; prosecutors have said their case-in-chief won't take more than a day. ~~~

     ~~~ Alexander Mallin, et al., of ABC News: "As he left the courthouse Monday evening, Bannon told reporters, '... It's nothing but a show trial. It's time they start having other witnesses ... other testimony than what they've been putting up. So, we'll see you here tomorrow morning,' he said." MB: I presume he's talking about the January 6 hearings, and I also presume he's attempting to deflect attention from his own trial, which is not so far turning out to be, as he predicted early on, the "trial from hell" in which he would "go medieval" on Garland, Pelosi & Biden.

Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "Representative Jody Hice revealed on Monday that he had been subpoenaed in an ongoing criminal investigation by prosecutors in Georgia into election interference by Donald J. Trump and his allies.... Mr. Hice, a Republican, has been one of the most conspicuous proponents of false claims that Mr. Trump was the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Mr. Hice, whose district is east of Atlanta, is seeking to challenge the subpoena in federal court, arguing in a new legal filing that his status as a congressman gives him special protections from state proceedings. He has been a stalwart ally of Mr. Trump and led a January 2021 challenge in the House of Representatives to the certification of Georgia's electors. Earlier this year, he lost a Trump-backed primary challenge to Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who has had a fractious relationship with the former president."

Joe Manchin Blows up International Tax Agreement. Alan Rappeport & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "Late last week, Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, effectively scuttled the Biden administration's tax agenda in Congress -- at least for now -- by saying he could not immediately support a climate, energy and tax package he had spent months negotiating with the Democratic leadership. He expressed deep misgivings about the international tax deal [painstakingly brokered among international partners by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen], which he had previously indicated he could support, saying it would put American companies at a disadvantage.... Mr. Manchin's reversal, couched in the language used by Republican opponents of the deal, is a blow to Ms. Yellen, who spent months getting more than 130 countries on board.... The agreement would have ushered in the most sweeping changes to global taxation in decades, including raising taxes on many large corporations and changing how technology companies are taxed."

Daniel BogusLaw (??) of the Intercept: "... while [Joe] Manchin has sabotaged federal efforts at combating climate change, he has used federal dollars to preserve his own corner of the world. Public records reviewed by The Intercept show that even after Manchin's decadeslong efforts to upend environmental policy that would undercut the fossil fuel companies funding his political campaigns (and the waste coal industry generating his personal fortune), he and his wife, Gayle Manchin, have directed millions of federal dollars to a small, pristine valley in West Virginia where the couple owns a condo.... In 2018, Manchin used his spot on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee to secure $7 million to rebuild the visitor center at the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge less than a mile from his condo.... This year, as he was holding federal climate legislation hostage Manchin again used his seat on the Appropriations Committee to secure an $8 million earmark to build a new water treatment facility in Canaan Valley as part of an omnibus spending bill. At the same time, his wife was also directing federal funds to the area. Gayle Manchin was appointed by Biden to head the Appalachian Regional Commission last year.... She recently secured another $25,000 in funding for source water analysis in the valley -- where the water system is currently failing to meet capacity -- and a $1.2 million 'POWER' grant to connect and improve trails in the area." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Since Joe bailed again on climate change legislation, various people have asked, "But how does he face his grandchildren" Here's how: he says, "See, Earth is burning, but I'm keeping our little corner of it lush & green."

The Senate, Where Legislation Goes to Die. By Design. Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "There is plenty of blame to go around for the death of the Democratic climate agenda. There's [Joe] Manchin, of course, but there's also the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, who played an admittedly bad hand poorly in an incredibly high-stakes game.... Then there's President Biden, whose vaunted skills as the one-time master of the Senate could not penetrate the venal self-interest of the senator from West Virginia, who happens to have a lot of money invested in a fossil fuel brokerage company he helped found. And there is, of course, the Republican Party, whose total opposition to climate action is what made Manchin the pivotal vote to begin with. Above all, there's the Senate itself.... It is no accident that, as a general rule, the upper chamber is where popular legislation goes to die.... The Senate was built with this purpose in mind.... This is separate from the issue of equal state representation.... 'Most of the men who assembled at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 were ... convinced that the national government under the Articles of Confederation was too weak to counter the rising tide of democracy in the states,' the historian Terry Bouton writes...." Some founders also had property interests they were afraid a more democratic national legislature would undermine.

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "You have to be willfully blind -- unfortunately, a fairly common ailment among politicians -- not to see that global warming ... [is] our current reality.... My take on [Joe] Manchin is both less and more cynical than what you usually hear.... My guess is that his Lucy-with-the-football act has as much to do with vanity as with money.... His act has, after all, kept him in the political limelight month after month.... But none of this would have mattered if Republicans weren't unified in their opposition to any action to limit global warming. This opposition has only grown more entrenched as the evidence for looming catastrophe has grown -- and the likely financial cost of effective action has declined.... One of America's two major political parties appears to be viscerally opposed to any policy that seems to serve the public good. Overwhelming scientific consensus in favor of such policies doesn't help -- if anything, it hurts, because the modern G.O.P. is hostile to science and scientists. And that hostility, rather than the personal quirks of one small-state senator, is the fundamental reason we appear set to do nothing while the planet burns." ~~~

~~~ Krugman's mention of wilful blindness reminds me that the other day RAS recommended this essay by Tom Sullivan of Hullabaloo: "Americans have a rich tradition of avoiding discomfiting facts through denial, euphemism and obfuscation. Especially those facts that upset the soft-focused, Hallmark version of American history we teach in schools and celebrate each July Fourth.... American exceptionalism makes reckoning with past sins a rude imposition...." As Sullivan points out, this syndrome is particularly rampant among confederates.

Mitch Hurt Li'l Randy's Fee-fees. Burgess Everett of Politico: "Sen. Rand Paul unloaded on fellow Republican Mitch McConnell for the Senate GOP leader's handling of an anti-abortion judicial nomination, criticizing McConnell for refusing to consult with him about abandoned nominee Chad Meredith. The White House pulled Meredith's nomination last week, with both McConnell and administration officials blaming Paul for refusing to sign off.... On Monday, Paul said McConnell was working behind his back on a 'secret deal' with President Joe Biden and said it was 'a little bit insulting' that he learned of the nomination from an FBI background check on Meredith.... 'We have no reason to be opposed to Chad Meredith, other than we want at least the courtesy of ... the minority leader, thinking that he's not so important that he doesn't have to talk to his fellow state senator,' Paul fumed.... A person with direct knowledge of Meredith's nomination process said McConnell and Paul's staff had discussed Meredith's nomination repeatedly: 'We've had conversations for months about this on the staff level.'... It's unlikely that the Democratic Senate would have confirmed Meredith anyway...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Last week, when news surfaced of Paul's refusal to return a "blue slip" approving Meredith's nomination, Akhilleus wrote, "... maybe he did it to stick it to the Turtle for getting more face time in the media. Whatever it is, it’s something stupid." So there's a big ITolJaSo for Akhilleus.

Another Shady Trump Deal. Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "Months before ... Donald J. Trump's social media company unveiled an agreement to raise hundreds of millions of dollars last fall, word of the deal leaked to an obscure Miami investment firm, whose executives began plotting ways to make money off the imminent transaction, according to people familiar with the discussions. The deal -- in which a so-called special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, would merge with Mr. Trump's fledgling media business -- was announced in October. It sent shares of the SPAC soaring.... In the days before the Trump Media deal became public, there was a surge in trading in a type of security known as warrants, which entitled investors to buy shares of Digital World at a preset price in the future. Federal prosecutors and regulators are now investigating the merger between Digital World and Trump Media, including the frenzied trading in the SPAC's warrants, according to people familiar with the investigation and public disclosures. Digital World said in a recent regulatory filing that a federal grand jury in Manhattan had issued subpoenas seeking information about Rocket One, among other things."

Whiney Loser-Liar Loses Again. Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: The board that administers the Pulitzer Prizes rejected ... Donald Trump's request to rescind the 2018 prizes awarded to The Washington Post and the New York Times for their reporting about his campaign and administration's connections to Russia election interference. Trump challenged the awards on three occasions, including last year, arguing that the articles were based on 'false reporting of a non-existent link between the Kremlin and the Trump Campaign.' He called the stories 'no more than a politically motivated farce which attempted to spin a false narrative that my campaign supposedly colluded with Russia despite a complete lack of evidence underpinning this allegation.' The Pulitzer board rejected that claim on Monday.... In an unusual move, it authorized two independent reviews of the articles submitted by the newspapers -- and essentially recertified the results. 'The separate reviews converged in their conclusions: that no passages or headlines, contentions or assertions in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes,' it said in a statement."

Presidential Race 2024. Joe DePaolo of Mediaite: "Ahead of the rally ... Donald Trump was scheduled to have in Arizona (later postponed due to the death of Ivana Trump), the Fox News website posted a stunning three-minute video featuring a host of Trump supporters in Maricopa County talking about ditching him in 2024 for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL)."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Formerly Known as AR-15. Alex Traub of the New York Times: "Anthony Richardson, a University of Florida quarterback known as 'AR-15' for his initials and his uniform number, has announced he is embracing a less violent image as he heads into a season in which he is projected to be one of the top players in college football. Richardson, who also sells a line of apparel, wrote on Twitter on Sunday that he no longer wanted to be associated with an assault weapon used in mass shootings that have horrified the nation.... He [said] that he was 'transitioning' to using 'AR' or no nickname at all. Another site of Richardson's ... which sold T-shirts and temporary tattoos with a scope reticle, carried a message on Monday night saying that it was 'no longer active.'" MB: Good for Anthony.

Louisiana. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "A Louisiana judge on Monday temporarily extended an order blocking the state's trigger law, but did not yet grant a preliminary injunction that would keep abortion available until a district court determines whether the state's near-total abortion ban, with no exceptions for rape or incest, violates Louisiana's Constitution. The legality of abortion in Louisiana has changed rapidly in the weeks since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade and gave states the power to enact restrictions. The ensuing confusion has left patients and abortion providers scrambling as the courts have blocked, unblocked and the reblocked the ban." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. Chloe Folmar of the Hill: "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) schedule shows that he did not attend the funerals of victims of the mass shooting that occurred in Uvalde, Texas, according to documents obtained by a local ABC News station.... Family members of the victims of the Uvalde shooting, which killed 19 children and two teachers, have criticized Abbott and other Texas lawmakers for their absence in communicating with them.... [Since the days immediately following the massacre, Abbott has attended a few official functions in Uvalde.] Representatives for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told the TV network that the senator had planned to speak to some of the victim's families but that a meeting had been canceled. [Angel Garza, the father of 10-year-old shooting victim Amerie Jo Garza,] had praise, however, for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke and state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat who represents the district that includes Uvalde."

AND Finally ... Connecticut. Peter Yankowski of the New Haven Register: "Police arrested a New Haven man after they say he was reported to have drawn a gun Saturday over two women not thanking him for holding a door open for them. Hamden police said 25-year-old Joshua Murray was charged with carrying a pistol without a permit, a felony; along with misdemeanor charges of interfering with an officer and two counts of second-degree breach of peace." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ MB's Etiquette Notes for the Modern Young Man About Town (in this case, at a Family Dollar Store): Yo, Josh. Many of today's women find it demeaning when men open doors for them. Rather than perceiving they are on the receiving end of a display of old-fashioned gentlemanly manners, they are offended that the doorholder seems to think they're too feeble to open their own damned doors. Second, Josh, it doesn't count as a good deed if you demand reciprocity for it, and especially if you demand reciprocity at gunpoint.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's briefings for Tuesday of developments in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "In a rare foreign visit, Putin will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Iran, where the Turkish leader is expected to push for talks aimed at letting grain from Ukraine pass Russia's blockade to ease global food shortages.... The European Commission on Tuesday proposed a roughly $500 million tool to help member states jointly purchase weapons, a plan aimed at replacing stocks hit by the response to Russia's war in Ukraine.... Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, is on a high-profile trip to Washington. She'll meet first lady Jill Biden at the White House today and address Congress on Wednesday. Zelenska ... met Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday to discuss the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.... U.S.-supplied HIMARS long-range rocket systems are helping to 'stabilize' Ukrainian efforts to hold the front lines against Russian forces, the country's top military commander, Valeriy Zaluzhny, said."

July 18, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Jury selection is underway in the federal trial of Stephen K. Bannon, the former Trump adviser and right-wing podcaster charged with two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with an order from the House Jan. 6 committee to turn over records and testify about his actions ahead of the attack on the U.S. Capitol." The story will be updated.

David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement: 'Legal and government experts are responding to a [Rolling Stone] report that reveals Donald Trump has told advisors he will run for president to protect himself from being prosecuted. 'Trump has spoken about how when you are the president of the United States, it is tough for politically motivated prosecutors to "get to you," says one of the sources, who has discussed the issue with Trump this summer,' Rolling Stone's Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley report, citing four individuals with knowledge of the situation they spoke with.... Retired Harvard Law School law professor Laurence Tribe ... is urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to act. 'Mr. Trump is counting on your concerns about not "appearing" political when he makes clear his belief that you wouldn't dare approve his indictment once he announces,' Tribe says in a tweet directed at Garland. 'You MUST prove him wrong. Make him a TARGET now. No time to lose.'" MB: Garland was a student of Tribe's.

Marie: I don't know id this guy is the real deal or a good actor (and linguist), but as Rocky Girl writes, the people who need to hear him probably won't:

Louisiana. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "A Louisiana judge on Monday temporarily extended an order blocking the state's trigger law, but did not yet grant a preliminary injunction that would keep abortion available until a district court determines whether the state's near-total abortion ban, with no exceptions for rape or incest, violates Louisiana's Constitution. The legality of abortion in Louisiana has changed rapidly in the weeks since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade and gave states the power to enact restrictions. The ensuing confusion has left patients and abortion providers scrambling as the courts have blocked, unblocked and the reblocked the ban"

AND Finally ... Connecticut. Peter Yankowski of the New Haven Register: "Police arrested a New Haven man after they say he was reported to have drawn a gun Saturday over two women not thanking him for holding a door open for them. Hamden police said 25-year-old Joshua Murray was charged with carrying a pistol without a permit, a felony; along with misdemeanor charges of interfering with an officer and two counts of second-degree breach of peace." ~~~

     ~~~ MB's Etiquette Notes for the Modern Young Man About Town (in this case, at a Family Dollar Store): Yo, Josh. Many of today's women find it demeaning when men open doors for them. Rather than perceiving they are on the receiving end of a display of old-fashioned gentlemanly manners, they are offended that the doorholder seems to think they're too feeble to open their own damned doors. Second, Josh, it doesn't count as a good deed if you demand reciprocity for it, and especially if you demand reciprocity at gunpoint.

~~~~~~~~~~

Kelly Hooper of Politico: "Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday blasted Sen. Joe Manchin for what he called 'sabotaging' President Joe Biden's agenda by rejecting Democrats' party-line spending bill last week.... Last week, Manchin shot down Democrats' proposed energy and climate investments being part of the budget reconciliation bill.... Sanders on Sunday did not hold back his frustration, claiming that 'people like Manchin' are 'intentionally sabotaging the president's agenda, what the American people want, what a majority of us in the Democratic caucus want.... The problem was that we continued to talk to Manchin like he was serious; he was not,' Sanders said. 'This is a guy who's a major recipient of fossil fuel money, a guy who has received campaign contributions from 25 Republican billionaires.... In my humble opinion, Manchin represents the very wealthiest people in this country, not working families in West Virginia or America,' Sanders said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Senators know they have to vote for bills they don't like, and Bernie does it all the time. Hardly any bill that gets through the Senate has the policies he would prefer. So no wonder he is super-angry & speaking out against Manchin. I have been wondering if there were one or two GOP senators -- like maybe some that are retiring -- who would vote for the now-watered-down climate budget bill. Because it's a budget bill, it takes only 50 senators (plus Vice President Harris) to pass. They don't all have to be Democrats. Chuck Schumer (and perhaps Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse or others) know what Republican senators might be approachable. I suggest they approach. But of course they can't afford to engage in long, drawn-out engagement with such senators as they did with Joe. ~~~

~~~ E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post: "Democrats don't control Congress. Joe Manchin does. Yes, Manchin is nominally a Democratic senator from West Virginia. But for two years, he has effectively set up shop as a party of his own. Repeatedly, he engaged in protracted negotiations with Democratic leaders, seemed to agree to a series of specific proposals, and then walked away.... After a year of holding up Biden's program and shrinking it almost beyond recognition, Manchin owes his colleagues and the country more than another dose of dilatory vagueness.... Without mentioning Manchin in a statement issued on Friday, Biden was quick to make clear that he viewed any further discussions with the Senate's leading goalpost-mover as a dead end.... With Republicans determined to block most of what Biden wanted, the Party of Manchin ruled. Or, rather, it was content to negotiate and negotiate until almost everything on the table disappeared."

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump did 'nothing' to stop the riot at the Capitol as it was unfolding on Jan. 6, 2021, and new witnesses will fill in the gaps in Trump's activities that day when the House select committee investigating the attack holds its next hearing, members of the bipartisan panel said Sunday. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who is scheduled to lead the prime-time hearing on Thursday, said the session 'is going to open people's eyes in a big way' as they examine Trump's actions in detail over the hours the Capitol was overrun by a mob seeking to stop the certification of Joe Biden's electoral college win. 'We have filled in the blanks,' Kinzinger said on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday. Trump 'didn't do very much but gleefully watch television during this time frame.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Julia Mueller of the Hill: "Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) on Sunday said he saw little value in attempting to have Donald Trump testify before the committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol because he did not trust the former president would tell the truth, even under oath. 'Donald Trump has made it clear that he doesn't mind not telling the truth. Let's just put that mildly. He lies all the time. I wouldn't put it past him to even lie under oath, so I'm not sure what the value is there,' Kinzinger said Sunday on CBS 'Face the Nation.'"

Anthony Izaguirre & Christina Cassidy of the AP: "The expanded use of drop boxes for mailed ballots during the 2020 election did not lead to any widespread problems, according to an Associated Press survey of state election officials across the U.S. that revealed no cases of fraud, vandalism or theft that could have affected the results. The findings from both Republican- and Democratic-controlled states run contrary to claims made by ... Donald Trump and his allies who have intensely criticized their use and falsely claimed they were a target for fraud. Drop boxes are considered by many election officials to be safe and secure, and have been used to varying degrees by states across the political spectrum. Yet conspiracy theories and efforts by Republicans to eliminate or restrict them since the 2020 election persist."

Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "Relatives of people killed on Sept. 11 are urging ... Donald J. Trump to cancel a Saudi-backed golf tournament set to be held this month at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey. In a letter dated Sunday, members of the group 9/11 Justice asked to mee with Mr. Trump and urged him not to host the event, set for July 29 to 31, noting that Mr. Trump has blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack. 'We simply cannot understand how you could agree to accept money from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's golf league to host their tournament at your golf course, and to do so in the shadows of ground zero in New Jersey, which lost over 700 residents during the attacks,' they wrote in the letter." ~~~

     ~~~ CNBC reported last week, "The series closes in October with a $50 million purse at Trump's signature Florida course, Trump National Doral Miami, promising an infusion of unknown millions into Trump's golf empire, which began to noticeably struggle after he began his run for president in 2016." MB: IOW, the Saudis scored a Trumpopalooza.

Pence Gets Ever So Bold. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Former Vice President Mike Pence is endorsing Republican Karrin Taylor Robson in the Arizona governor's race, pitting himself against Donald Trump in a primary that is emerging as a proxy fight between the former president and Republicans who resisted his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. It represents the latest breach in the relationship between Trump and Pence, and it's the second time the two have collided in a primary. And Pence is slated to campaign for Robson on Friday -- creating a dramatic split-screen moment opposite Trump, who is set to hold a rally for his endorsed candidate, former local TV news anchor Kari Lake, the same day. Pence, whose relationship with Trump ruptured after he defied the former president's pressure campaign to not certify the 2020 election results, also endorsed Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for reelection earlier this year. Kemp, who Trump relentlessly attacked for refusing to intervene in Georgia's vote count, successfully held off a primary challenge from a Trump-backed candidate, former Republican Sen. David Perdue."

And So It Begins, Not with a Bang but a Temporary Injunction. Ava Sasani of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from enforcing directives that extended civil rights protections to L.G.B.T.Q. students and workers. The ruling comes roughly one year after a group of 20 conservative state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against two federal agencies for their interpretation of the 1972 landmark civil rights statute known as Title IX, which prohibited sex-based discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited employers from discriminating against workers based on race, religion or sex. Last year, those agencies, the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, following guidance from President Biden, said the protections afforded under Title IX and Title VII extended to gay and transgender individuals and would be enforced in workplaces and in schools.... The judge, Charles E. Atchley Jr. of Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, an appointee of ... Donald J. Trump, sided with the plaintiffs and denied the request to dismiss the suit, issuing a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the directives until courts could decide the matter." A CNN report is here.

Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post: "... as many as 200 artifacts ... were stolen from the bodies of the 250 Lakota men, women and children slaughtered by the U.S. Army in 1890 during the Wounded Knee massacre in South Dakota. They'd ended up in an obscure museum attached to a [Barre, Mass.,] public library in a rural town 70 miles from Boston.... Some of the items were sold by gravediggers to Frank Root, a traveling shoe salesman from Barre, who used them as part of his Wild West roadshow before he donated them in 1892 to the town's museum, where they've stayed for more than a century.... [A group calling itself] HAWK 1890 -- which stands for Heartbeat at Wounded Knee and includes American Indians whose relatives were slain in or survived the massacre -- have launched an effort to have the items returned to their tribes, the Oglala Lakota and Cheyenne River Sioux." Negotiations between the group & the Barre Museum Association have stalled.

Julie Bosman, et al., of the New York Times: "Covid-19 is surging around the United States again in what experts consider the most transmissible variant of the pandemic yet. But ... the public health authorities are holding back.... The latest surge, driven by a spike of BA.5 subvariant cases in this country since May, has sent infections rising in at least 40 states, particularly in the Great Plains, West and South. Hospitalizations have climbed by 20 percent in the last two weeks, leaving more than 40,000 people in American hospitals with the coronavirus on an average day.... Deaths are rising, but only modestly so far in this new wave.... Complicating the country's understanding of this BA.5 wave is a dearth of data."

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. Three-hundred-seventy-six Cops v. One Punk with an Assault Rifle.

David Goodman & Edgar Sandoval of the New York Times: "The first comprehensive assessment of the law enforcement response to the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, found that officers from local, state and federal agencies collectively failed to take swift action, a broad indictment of police action at Robb Elementary School. The 77-page report, released Sunday by a special Texas House committee, spread responsibility for 'systemic failures' broadly among the scores of officers who responded and those who waited outside a pair of connected classrooms where the gunman killed 19 children and two teachers. The decision to finally confront the gunman was made by a small group of officers, including specially trained Border Patrol agents and a deputy sheriff from a neighboring county, the report found, concluding that the order could have been issued far earlier by other officers at the scene.... But a flawless police response would not have saved most of the victims, the report found.... The report did serve to clarify and solidify what had been a frequently shifting official account of events at the school.... The report found the 'egregious poor decision making' went beyond [Uvalde Schools police chief Pete] Arredondo and included the dozens of well-armed officers from [state police director Steven] McCraw's own agency, the Department of Public Safety, as well as the scores from the U.S. Border Patrol." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post report, which is here, presents a slightly difference picture of the report's findings. The Texas Tribune's report is here. It includes this link to a pdf of the report. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There are a few arguments that should also die in this Great American Tragedy (that's what it is: a self-inflicted disaster): (1) that "what stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." Here you had nearly 400 hundred well-armed, well-trained officers who dared not or did confront a gunman who had killed children and teachers with an assault rifle. (2) that arming schoolteachers will protect children from gun violence. If hundreds of officers couldn't do it, how do you expect a single, relatively inexperienced schoolteacher to save the children? (3) hat Americans should own assault weapons (perhaps for shooting prairie dogs). Had those officers been confronting "a bad guy with a six-shooter," it stands to reason they would not have waited more than an hour to take him on.

Way Beyond

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 "latest updates" for Monday are here: "President Volodymyr Zelensky has removed the head of Ukraine's security services, Ivan Bakanov, and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, and announced that hundreds of criminal investigations for suspected'treason and collaboration activities' were underway. The deputy head of the presidential office clarified Monday that pair had been suspended, and Zelensky would decide whether to formally dismiss them after further investigation.... Moscow has 'almost certainly' hired the Wagner group for recent fighting in eastern Ukraine...."

Reuters, in the Guardian: "Volodymyr Zelenskiy has fired the head of Ukraine's powerful domestic security agency, the SBU, and the state prosecutor general, citing dozens of cases of collaboration with Russia by officials in their agencies. Sunday's abrupt sackings of SBU chief Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend of Zelenskiy, and the prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, who played a key role in the prosecution of Russian war crimes, were announced in executive orders on the president's website. In a Telegram post, Zelenskiy said he had fired the top officials because it had come to light that many members of their agencies had collaborated with Russia, a problem that he said had touched other agencies as well."

News Ledes

AP: "A heat wave broiling Europe spilled northward Monday to Britain and fueled ferocious wildfires in Spain and France, which evacuated thousands of people and scrambled water-bombing planes and firefighters to battle flames in tinder-dry forests. Two people were killed in the blazes in Spain that its prime minister linked to global warming, saying, 'Climate change kills.'" MB: He's talkin' to you, Joe Manchin, & your GOP pals.

New York Times: "Claes Oldenburg, the Swedish-born American Pop artist known for his monumental sculptures of everyday objects, died on Monday at his home and studio in the Soho section of Manhattan. He was 93."