June 13, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The Jan. 6 committee used its second hearing to lay out evidence that Donald Trump must have known better: that he was repeatedly informed that his claims of widespread voter fraud were bogus and that he had lost the 2020 election -- and he pressed forward in trying to overturn the result regardless. The question is crucial when it comes to determining whether Trump's effort meets the legal definition of acting 'corruptly.'... Former attorney general William P. Barr featured prominently.... On Monday, [the committee] played video of Barr saying that he had debunked specific allegations to Trump.... Former deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue also [on video] ran through a litany of allegations in significant detail, saying he informed Trump that there was nothing to them.... Donoghue added that 'there were so many of these allegations that when you gave him a very direct answer on one of them, he wouldn't fight us on it, but he would move to another allegation.'; That sounds a lot more like a guy who is looking for a pretext to overturn an election than one who is legitimately worried about election integrity." Campaign manager Bill Stepien testified (via video interview) that Trump threw "Team Normal" under the bus & replaced them with Rudy & the Irregulars.

The New York Times' live updates of Monday's hearing are here. Marie: I guess my favorite entry is the one by Michael Shear describing how on the early morning after the election, Trump's down-at-mouth advisors were advising him against declaring victory inasmuch as he was not likely to win, but Trump decided to go with the advice of a drunken Rudy Giuliani to just declare victory. In his videotaped testimony, Rudy seems a bit hazy on what-all he might have advised Trump to do. ~~~

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Donald Trump has been claiming voter fraud for years. In every circumstance where he didn't do well in 2016, it was because of rampant voter fraud. "By early 2020, Trump refocused his claims [on mail-in ballots].... Two days before the election, Axios reported that Trump had a plan: If the election was close enough, he would simply declare victory before the voting was done [and the mail-in votes, which always favored Democrats, were counted].... What all of this reinforces, of course, is that Trump's claims of fraud were independent of the actual votes."

Georgia Senate Race. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker falsely claimed at least three times to have served in law enforcement. The Donald Trump-endorsed Republican candidate made the false claims in three speeches delivered before he entered politics, according to a new analysis by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 'I worked in law enforcement, so I had a gun,' Walker said in 2013 at a suicide prevention event for the U.S. Army. 'I put this gun in my holster and I said, 'I'm gonna kill this dude.'" Walker was describing a 2001 incident when he took a gun to pursue a man who was late delivering a car, which he later said led him to seek mental health treatment.... 'I work with the Cobb County Police Department,' Walker said five years ago, 'and I've been in criminal justice all my life.' Two years later, in 2019, Walker told soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington that he had been a federal agent."

Ohio. Because It's "Impractical" for Teachers to Know How to Handle the Guns They Carry onto Campus. Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: "Teachers and other school employees in Ohio will be able to carry firearms into school with a tiny fraction of the training that has been required since last year, after Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill into law on Monday. While employees have for years been allowed to carry guns on school grounds with the consent of the local school board, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that state law required them to first undergo the same basic peace officer training as law enforcement officials or security officers who carry firearms on campus — entailing more than 700 hours of instruction. That ruling, Mr. DeWine said on Monday, had made it largely impractical for Ohio school districts to allow staffers to carry firearms. Under the new law, a maximum of 24 hours of training will be enough for teachers to carry guns at school, though the local board will still need to give its approval."

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

Iraq. Jane Arraf of the New York Times: "Efforts to form a new government in Iraq [have descended] to chaos. Seven months of efforts to form a new government in Iraq were in turmoil on Monday, a day after the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr directed members of Parliament who are loyal to him to resign from the seats they won in an October election. Mr. Sadr, who has become one of the biggest political forces in Iraq since emerging in 2003, has no formal role but commands the allegiance of the single largest bloc in the 329-seat Parliament. The 73 lawmakers of his movement submitted their resignations on Sunday after the collapse of months of negotiations by Mr. Sadr to form a coalition government with Sunni and Kurdish partners."

U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Britain moved ahead on Monday with plans to scuttle the post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland, risking a clash with the European Union, a rift with neighboring Ireland, and tensions with the United States. But the long-anticipated legislation may be most revealing for what it says about the altered political landscape since Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a no-confidence vote in his Conservative Party last week. Mr. Johnson faces a tricky path navigating the bill through a Parliament emboldened by the revolt against him. Some of the Tory rebels are expected to oppose the legislation on the grounds that it violates international law. It would unilaterally eliminate border checks on goods flowing from mainland Britain to Northern Ireland."

U.K. Alex Marshall of the New York Times: "The actor Kevin Spacey was charged with four counts of sexual assault on Monday in London, the city's police force said in a news release. Mr. Spacey, 62, who was also charged with one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without their consent, is scheduled to appear in court in London on Thursday where he will confirm his identity and that he understands the charges."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A hearing of the January 6 committee will begin Monday at 10:00 am ET.

Brian Stelter of CNN: "In addition to thorough coverage on cable, the big three broadcast networks -- ABC, NBC, and CBS -- are planning to preempt regular programming for special reports about the hearing. Spokespeople for the broadcast news divisions confirmed that all stations are expected to carry the specials. PBS is lining up live coverage as well.... As LA Times reporter Stephen Battaglio noted here, 'Fox News plans to cover the hearings on its main channel when they resume on Monday.'"

The New York Times' live updates of the January 6 committee's hearing & related issues are here.

Luke Broadwater & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol plans to use the testimony of ... Donald J. Trump's own campaign manager against him on Monday as it lays out evidence that Mr. Trump knowingly spread the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him in an attempt to overturn his defeat. The committee plans to call Bill Stepien, the final chairman of Mr. Trump's campaign, who is expected to be asked to detail what the campaign and the former president himself knew about his fictitious claims of widespread election fraud.... [Mr. Stepien is appearing under subpoena.... A second panel of witnesses will include Byung J. Pak, a former U.S. attorney in Atlanta who resigned abruptly after refusing to say that widespread voter fraud had been found in Georgia." The AP's story is here Politico's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Jeremy Herb, et al., of CNN: "Aides said that the hearing would show how Trump's team pursued legal challenges in court and lost those cases, and that Trump then chose to ignore the will of the courts and continued to try to overturn the election. The hearing will also seek to connect Trump's lies about the election to the violence at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, aides said, including how rioters echoed the former President's baseless allegations that the election was being stolen."

Daniella Diaz of CNN: "Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat who is on the House select committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, said Sunday he believes Attorney General Merrick Garland knows 'what's at stake here' when it comes to a possible indictment of ... Donald Trump from the Department of Justice.... Rep. Adam Schiff, another Democratic member of the select committee, went a step further Sunday, saying he believes the DOJ should investigate potential criminal activity from Trump as it relates to January 6. 'I would like to see the Justice Department investigate any credible allegation of criminal activity on the part of Donald Trump or anyone else,' he said on ABC's 'This Week.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Brad Dress of the Hill: "Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) on Sunday said former President Trump is 'politically, morally responsible' for the Jan. 6 riot last year and called for Republicans to do some 'soul-searching' after the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Hutchinson told 'Fox News Sunday' guest host Bret Baier that while he did not believe Trump was criminally responsible for Jan. 6, he does think the former president shares blame for the insurrection. 'Trump is politically, morally responsible for much of what has happened, but in terms of criminal liability, I think the committee has a long way to go to establish that,' the governor said of the House select panel investigating Jan. 6." See also Patrick's comment in yesterday's thread. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Cheryl Teh of Yahoo! News: "... Steve Bannon melted down on his podcast over the possibility of a Trump indictment in connection with January 6.... [Bannon] raged at the possibility that Trump might face an indictment in connection with the January 6 Capitol riot, and threatened Attorney General Merrick Garland with impeachment.... 'We don't care what you have to say. And I dare Merrick Garland to take that crap there last night and try to indict Donald J. Trump,' Bannon said, referencing the first of six hearings on the January 6 riot. 'We dare you because we will impeach you. We're winning in November and we're gonna impeach you and everybody around you. Fuck -- screw the White House. We're going to impeach you and everybody in the DOJ.'..."

Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "... the sedition continues. That should not be lost as the bipartisan House panel lays its case before the American people. Jan. 6 ... was the opening salvo of a movement to undermine democracy. Congress has yet to act on changing the vague language in the archaic Electoral Count Act, which sets the rules for how Congress tallies the electoral votes in presidential elections. The rioters chanting 'Hang Mike Pence' on Jan. 6 believed that the then-vice president had the power to throw out electoral votes at will.... Trump ... has suffused his party, top to bottom, with fealty to the lies and conspiracy theories that ignited his supporters who breached the Capitol.... All around the country, Republicans have not only embraced Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, but are also running on promises to further undermine the electoral process." If these candidates win, they'll pull stunts like this in future elections: ~~~

~~~ Emma Brown & Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "A cybersecurity executive who has aided efforts by election deniers to investigate the 2020 vote said in a recent court document that he had 'forensically examined' the voting system used in Coffee County, Ga. The assertion by executive Benjamin Cotton that he examined the county's voting system is the strongest indication yet that the security of election equipment there may have been compromised following Donald Trump's loss.... In May, The Washington Post reported that former county elections official Misty Hampton had opened her offices to a man who was active in the election-denier movement to help investigate after the 2020 vote. Recounting the incident to The Post, Hampton said she did not know what the man, bail bond business owner Scott Hall, and his team did in her office.... [Cotton did not] explain how he gained access to voting system data from Coffee or provide evidence of his examination...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "On Friday, America will mark the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in. The scandal's ... legacies have shaped the conduct of politics and public attitudes toward government ever since.... Though not a straight line by any means, the links between former president Richard M. Nixon and ... Donald Trump also are clearly identifiable, from their ruthlessness to the win-at-any-cost calculus of their politics. That their presidencies played out differently ... is testament to a more deeply polarized electorate, the erosion in the strength of democratic institutions and the transformation and radicalization of the Republican Party.... Garrett M. Graff, author of the book 'Watergate: A New History,' describes Watergate as a dividing line in history -- the event that moved Washington from a sleepy capital dominated by segregationists, veterans of World War I and print newspaper deadlines to a capital ruled by a new breed of politicians, a more adversarial media now in the digital age and a country deeply skeptical of government and politicians."

Livia Albeck-Ripka of the New York Times: "In the wake of three crashes, two of them fatal, the U.S. Navy has said it will ground all nondeployed aircraft for a day on Monday to focus on safety protocols. The aircraft grounding comes after crashes within a seven-day period in California this month resulted in six deaths. The day will be used to 'review risk-management practices and conduct training on threat and error-management processes,' the Navy said on Saturday."

The Prairie Dog Exception. In my state, they use [assault rifles] to shoot prairie dogs and, you know, other types of varmints. And so I think there are legitimate reasons why people would want to have them. -- Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), Minority Whip ~~~

~~~ Ten GOP Senators Realize They're on the Wrong Side of Public Opinion. Emily Cochrane & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Senate negotiators announced on Sunday they had agreed on a bipartisan outline for a narrow set of gun safety measures with sufficient support to move through the evenly divided chamber, a significant step toward ending a yearslong congressional impasse on the issue. The plan, endorsed by 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats, would include funding for mental health resources, boosting school safety and grants for states to implement so-called red flag laws that allow authorities to confiscate guns from people deemed to be dangerous. It would also expand the nation's background check system to include juvenile records for any prospective gun buyer under the age of 21. Most notably, it includes a provision to address what is known as the 'boyfriend loophole,' which would prohibit dating partners -- not just spouses -- from owning guns if they had been convicted of domestic violence. The framework says that convicted domestic violence abusers and individuals subject to domestic violence restraining orders would be included in criminal background checks. The outline, which has yet to be finalized, falls far short of the sprawling reforms that President Biden, gun control activists and a majority of congressional Democrats have long championed, excluding ban on assault weapons. And it is nowhere near as sweeping as a package of gun measures passed nearly along party lines in the House last week...." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's worthwhile to consider John Thune's logic: "Some people in South Dakota (total state population 880,000) are such bad shots they need an assault rifle to hit a prairie dog; therefore, children, churchgoers, shoppers, and so on throughout America will have to die." 

David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times: "John R. Allen, the retired four-star general who once commanded American troops in Afghanistan, resigned on Sunday as president of the Brookings Institution, six days after a court filing revealed evidence that he had secretly lobbied for Qatar. His resignation is the latest indication of the seriousness of the federal investigation involving the general. Brookings, a 106-year-old research center and a pillar of Washington's liberal establishment, had placed General Allen on administrative leave last Wednesday." A CNN report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Alaska Congressional Race. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska leads the 48-candidate field in a special primary election for the state's sole congressional seat, according to a preliminary count of ballots on Sunday. The top four candidates in the race will advance to the special election in August. Ms. Palin has nearly 30 percent of the vote tallied so far; Nick Begich, the scion of an Alaskan political dynasty, has 19.3 percent; Al Gross, a surgeon and commercial fisherman who ran for Senate two years ago, has nearly 12.5 percent; and Mary S. Peltola, a former state legislator, has about 7.5 percent.... The special election will be held on Aug. 16, which is also the day of Alaska's primary contest for the House seat's 2023-2025 term. So, voters will see some candidates' names twice on one ballot: once to decide the outcome of the special election and once to pick candidates for the fall's general election for the full two-year term."

New York Gubernatorial Race. The New York Times endorses Gov. Kathy Hochul in the Democratic primary. ~~~

~~~ Jess McKinley of the New York Times: "With the first Republican debate in the governor's race scheduled for Monday night on WCBS-TV, the roster of in-person candidates has shrunk by one, as Andrew Giuliani -- proudly unvaccinated against the coronavirus -- announced on Sunday that he will not be allowed to attend. Mr. Giuliani, the son of ... Rudolph W. Giuliani, said on Sunday that he had been informed late last week that the station would not permit him in the studio unless he sent proof of his vaccination status -- something he said he would not do and suggested might be unconstitutional."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russian forces battering key eastern city Severodonetsk have pushed Ukrainian troops out of the city center, the Ukrainian military said early Monday.... Russia is bombarding the city's Azot chemical plant, where Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai said Monday that hundreds of troops and civilians, including 40 children, are sheltering.... Russia has repeatedly used cluster munitions -- a type of weapon that drops explosives indiscriminately on a wide area -- in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, according to a new report by Amnesty International.... McDonald's in Moscow is no longer McDonald's. It's "Vkusno i Tochka," which translates to 'Tasty and that's it.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marie: I never heard of John Cena. (Update: But I thought he looked familiar. I remembered this morning that I had seen him in papertowel ads.) He's a wrestler & an actor, it turns out, and a mensch: ~~~

Misha, a non-verbal teen with Down’s Syndrome, didn’t understand why his family had to flee Mariupol this year.

To placate him, his mother told him they were travelling to meet John Cena.

Cena heard… and went to Amsterdam to oblige.

Just brilliant. pic.twitter.com/vix2OhkXZs

— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) June 11, 2022

U.K. Haroon Siddique of the Guardian: "The multimillionaire Brexit backer Arron Banks has lost his libel action against the Observer and Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr, which was criticised as an attack on free speech. Banks, who funded the pro-Brexit Leave. EU campaign group, sued Cadwalladr personally over two instances in which she said the businessman was lying about his relationship with the Russian state -- one in a Ted Talk and the other in a tweet. Her lawyer Gavin Millar QC had argued the case was an attempt to silence the journalist's reporting on 'matters of the highest public interest', namely campaign finance, foreign money and the use of social media messaging and personal data in the context of the EU referendum."

June 12, 2022

Afternoon Update:

The Prairie Dog Exception. In my state, they use [assault rifles] to shoot prairie dogs and, you know, other types of varmints. And so I think there are legitimate reasons why people would want to have them. -- Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), Minority Whip ~~~

~~~ Ten GOP Senators Realize They're on the Wrong Side of Public Opinion. Emily Cochrane & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Senate negotiators announced on Sunday they had agreed on a bipartisan outline for a narrow set of gun safety measures with sufficient support to move through the evenly divided chamber, a significant step toward ending a yearslong congressional impasse on the issue. The plan, endorsed by 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats, would include funding for mental health resources, boosting school safety and grants for states to implement so-called red flag laws that allow authorities to confiscate guns from people deemed to be dangerous. It would also expand the nation's background check system to include juvenile records for any prospective gun buyer under the age of 21. Most notably, it includes a provision to address what is known as the 'boyfriend loophole,' which would prohibit dating partners -- not just spouses -- from owning guns if they had been convicted of domestic violence. The framework says that convicted domestic violence abusers and individuals subject to domestic violence restraining orders would be included in criminal background checks. The outline, which has yet to be finalized, falls far short of the sprawling reforms that President Biden, gun control activists and a majority of congressional Democrats have long championed, excluding a ban on assault weapons. And it is nowhere near as sweeping as a package of gun measures passed nearly along party lines in the House last week...." Politico's story is here.

Daniella Diaz of CNN: "Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat who is on the House select committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, said Sunday he believes Attorney General Merrick Garland knows 'what's at stake here' when it comes to a possible indictment of ... Donald Trump from the Department of Justice.... Rep. Adam Schiff, another Democratic member of the select committee, went a step further Sunday, saying he believes the DOJ should investigate potential criminal activity from Trump as it relates to January 6. 'I would like to see the Justice Department investigate any credible allegation of criminal activity on the part of Donald Trump or anyone else,' he said on ABC's 'This Week.'"

Brad Dress of the Hill: "Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) on Sunday said former President Trump is 'politically, morally responsible' for the Jan. 6 riot last year and called for Republicans to do some 'soul-searching' after the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Hutchinson told 'Fox News Sunday' guest host Bret Baier that while he did not believe Trump was criminally responsible for Jan. 6, he does think the former president shares blame for the insurrection. 'Trump is politically, morally responsible for much of what has happened, but in terms of criminal liability, I think the committee has a long way to go to establish that,' the governor said of the House select panel investigating Jan. 6." See also Patrick's comment below.

Emma Brown & Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "A cybersecurity executive who has aided efforts by election deniers to investigate the 2020 vote said in a recent court document that he had 'forensically examined' the voting system used in Coffee County, Ga. The assertion by executive Benjamin Cotton that he examined the county's voting system is the strongest indication yet that the security of election equipment there may have been compromised following Donald Trump's loss.... In May, The Washington Post reported that former county elections official Misty Hampton had opened her offices to a man who was active in the election-denier movement to help investigate after the 2020 vote. Recounting the incident to The Post, Hampton said she did not know what the man, bail bond business owner Scott Hall, and his team did in her office.... [Cotton did not] explain how he gained access to voting system data from Coffee or provide evidence of his examination...."

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

Marie: Of course I never heard of John Cena. He's a wrestler & an actor, it turns out, and a mensch: ~~~

Misha, a non-verbal teen with Down’s Syndrome, didn’t understand why his family had to flee Mariupol this year.

To placate him, his mother told him they were travelling to meet John Cena.

Cena heard… and went to Amsterdam to oblige.

Just brilliant. pic.twitter.com/vix2OhkXZs

— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) June 11, 2022

~~~~~~~~~~

The Case Against Donald Trump: Opening Arguments. Peter Baker & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "For two hours on Thursday night, the House committee investigating the Capitol attack detailed what it called Mr. Trump's 'illegal and 'unconstitutional' seven-part plan to prevent the transfer of power. The panel invoked the Justice Department, citing charges of seditious conspiracy filed against some of the attackers, and seemed to be laying out a road map for Attorney General Merrick B. Garland to their central target[: Donald Trump]. Several former prosecutors and veteran lawyers said afterward that the hearing offered the makings of a credible criminal case for conspiracy to commit fraud or obstruction of the work of Congress. In presenting her summary of the evidence, Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming and the committee's vice chairwoman, demonstrated that Mr. Trump was told repeatedly by his own advisers that he had lost the election yet repeatedly lied to the country by claiming it had been stolen. He pressured state and federal officials, members of Congress and even his own vice president to disregard vote tallies in key states. And he encouraged the mob led by extremist groups like the Proud Boys while making no serious effort to stop the attack once it began.... A Justice Department spokesman said Mr. Garland watched the hearing but would not elaborate." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Baker & Benner describe the case as "haunting" Donald Trump. But I would say it's a case that haunts the nation. Trump lacks the awareness to be "haunted." See also Maureen Dowd's column, linked below.

Betsy Swan & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A day before a mob of Donald Trump supporters smashed their way into the Capitol to disrupt the transfer of presidential power, then-Vice President Mike Pence's top lawyer [wrote] a fateful memo. In the three-page document, attorney Greg Jacob concluded that if Pence were to embrace Trump's demand that he single-handedly block or delay the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6, he would be breaking multiple provisions of the Electoral Count Act, the law that has governed the transfer of power since 1887. Such a move, Jacob concluded, would assuredly fail in court. Or worse, he said, the courts would refuse to get involved and leave America in an unprecedented political crisis.... Jacob is scheduled to testify publicly Thursday to the Jan. 6 select committee about Pence's decision to resist Trump's pressure campaign. The panel declined to comment on Jacob's memo. The memo informed Pence's ultimate decision to rebuff pressure from Trump to reverse the outcome of the election." Includes copy of Jacob's memo. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times story, by Maggie Haberman, is here.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "It never for a moment crossed Donald Trump's mind that an American president committing sedition would be a debilitating, corrosive thing for the country. It was just another way for the Emperor of Chaos to burnish his title.... In his dystopian Inaugural speech, Trump promised to end 'American carnage.' Instead, he delivered it. Now he needs to be held accountable for his attempted coup -- and not just in the court of public opinion."

Theo Zenou in the Washington Post: In 1955, a "group of seven intellectuals published ... an essay collection, ... [titled] 'The New American Right'... [which] has never looked more prescient.... The authors wrote that far-right activists who wrapped themselves in the American flag actually posed a grave threat to the country's core principles. In the name of protecting U.S. democracy, they warned, the radical right would employ the language and methods of authoritarianism.... [Sociologist Daniel] Bell's team of academics revised 'The New American Right' and rereleased it in 1963 as 'The Radical Right.' It would become a must-read for students of modern American history.... [The radical right] blasted free elections and the peaceful transfer of power, lamented the independence of the judiciary and opposed civil rights.... They posed as conservatives but in truth were authoritarians with a nihilistic urge to watch the world burn.... They lived amid what their successors would come to call 'alternative facts.'" ~~~

~~~ Sarah Bailey of the Washington Post: "Over the past year, parental rights have become a popular cause as Republicans have assailed pandemic measures and the teaching of gender and race in schools.... For Christian home-school advocates..., it's a long-awaited payoff.... Besides laying a foundation for the current wave of parental rights-related policies, conservative Christian home-school advocates are also taking an active role in making these policies law." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What seems to have happened here is that Republicans, who have never had any policy principles beyond "just say no," continue to flail around looking for some "defining" principles. They have always found these "principles" in extremist movements, from Barry Goldwater's "extremism in defense of liberty" to Newt Gingrich's "Contract for America" to Donald Trump's white nationalism. The lunatics will always be with us. The fight to overcome them is a war without end.

Michael Wines, et al., of the New York Times: "... thousands of protesters rallied against gun violence on Saturday in Washington, D.C., and in cities across the country. With their signs, chants and mere presence, they condemned the drumbeat of mass shootings in the United States and renewed a call -- so far, a futile one -- for federal legislation to limit the use of the military-style weapons that have made many of them possible. Many vowed to fight the inaction at the polls. 'I'll be taking your thoughts and prayers to the ballot box,' read a sign carried by Maria Vorel, 67, who demonstrated at the Washington Monument.... The demonstrations [were] organized by [the student group] March for Our Lives...." ~~~

     ~~~ An NBC News report is here. A Washington Post report is here. A Texas Tribune report is here.

Death Comes to the Archbishop. Rick Rojas & Josh Peck of the New York Times: "The day after an 18-year-old gunman massacred 21 students and teachers at an elementary school [in Uvalde, Texas.]..., Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller [of San Antonio, Texas,] ... made a spontaneous and impassioned appeal to some of the many reporters who had swarmed into Uvalde: The nation must overhaul its gun laws, limiting access to weapons designed to maximize carnage and suffering, he said. It must also abandon what he described as an unsettling cultural embrace of violence these weapons represented.... Since the attack, the archbishop, whose vast domain of roughly 796,000 Catholics includes Uvalde, has emerged as one of the most visible and vocal gun control advocates in South Texas. He has delivered sermons, spoken at public gatherings, appeared on national television, and given interviews to local and international journalists."

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "Moderna's coronavirus vaccine for children under 6 is effective in preventing symptomatic infection without causing worrisome side effects, the Food and Drug Administration said on Friday night. Advisers to the F.D.A. are scheduled to meet next week to decide whether to recommend that the agency grant Moderna's request for emergency authorization of its vaccine for children ages 6 months to 17 years. They will also consider an application from Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, to clear its pediatric vaccine for children under 5. The F.D.A. is expected to release its analysis of Pfizer's application on Monday."

Beyond the Beltway

Idaho. Daniel Walters of the New York Times: "Dozens of members of a white supremacist group were arrested on Saturday in Idaho before they could act on plans to riot at a local Pride event, the police said. After receiving a tip from a concerned citizen, the police detained and charged 31 people who belonged to a far-right group known as Patriot Front, said Lee White, the chief of the Coeur d'Alene Police Department, at a news conference. They are being charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor, he said.... 'And they were all dressed like a small army,' Sheriff [Bob] Norris said.... The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks extremist organizations and hate crimes, describes Patriot Front as a Texas-based white supremacist group that formed when members of another white supremacist group, Vanguard America, broke off after the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017. The members arrested had come to Idaho from several states, the police said, including Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon and Virginia." An AP report is here.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Fighting in the streets of Severodonetsk continues, with Ukrainian officials claiming Saturday that their forces still controlled a third of the city and a Moscow-backed local official saying Russian troops had encircled hundreds of Ukrainian fighters at a chemical plant.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted the 'fierce street battles' taking place in Severodonetsk in his nightly address and said that, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's visit to Kyiv on Saturday to discuss Ukraine's E.U. candidacy, 'the final phase of the big diplomatic marathon' had begun. A recommendation from the commission on Ukraine's status is expected next week.... Zelensky on Saturday responded to reports that Russian passports were being handed out in the Russian-controlled city of Kherson, saying, 'It looked like not a queue to get a passport, but an attempt to get a ticket to flee.'... Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, China's defense minister appeared to play down his country's support of Moscow and said it had never given weapons to Russia in its war against Ukraine." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Sunday are here.

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

Dan Lamothe & Claire Parker of the Washington Post: "Russia is likely to seize control of the entire Luhansk region of Ukraine within a few weeks, a senior U.S. defense official said, as Ukraine sustains heavy casualties and its supplies of ammunition dwindle. Such a move would leave Russia short of its war aims of capturing all of Luhansk and Donetsk, which together make up the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. But it would still amount to a win for Russian forces and create a new de facto front line that could last for some time."

David Keyton & John Leicester of the AP: "Ukrainian and British officials warned Saturday that Russian forces are relying on weapons able to cause mass casualties as they try to make headway in capturing eastern Ukraine and fierce, prolonged fighting depletes resources on both sides. Russian bombers have likely been launching heavy 1960s-era anti-ship missiles in Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry said. The Kh-22 missiles were primarily designed to destroy aircraft carriers using a nuclear warhead. When used in ground attacks with conventional warheads, they 'are highly inaccurate and therefore can cause severe collateral damage and casualties,' the ministry said."

France. Sylvie Corbet of the AP: "French voters are choosing lawmakers in a parliamentary election Sunday as President Emmanuel Macron seeks to secure his majority while under growing threat from a leftist coalition. More than 6,000 candidates, ranging in age from 18 to 92, are running for 577 seats in the National Assembly in the first round of the election. Those who receive the most votes will advance to the decisive second round on June 19. Following Macron's reelection in May, his centrist coalition is seeking an absolute majority that would enable it to implement his campaign promises, which include tax cuts and raising the retirement age from 62 to 65."

June 11, 2022

Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "In the first of six planned public hearings, the [January 6] committee presented a detailed case against Mr. Trump and the rioters who stormed the Capitol and delayed the congressional certification of the Electoral College results.... The committee's next hearing is scheduled for Monday, where the panel plans to lay out how Mr. Trump and his allies stoked the 'Big Lie' that the election had been stolen. Two more hearings are scheduled for next week -- one on Wednesday about the attempt at the Justice Department to oust the acting attorney general, and another on Thursday about the pressure campaign on Mr. Pence to block or delay certification of the electoral vote count."

The Hearing as TV Drama. James Poniewozik of the New York Times: "The first night of the congressional Jan. 6 hearings ... was deadly serious reality, offering a panorama and a terrifying close-up of a real nightmare: The attempt, through violence, to effectively end American democracy by overturning the will of the voters and keeping ... Donald J. Trump installed in an office that he lost.... What we saw in this first installment was impressive: a well-crafted, passionate and disciplined two-hour opening act. It made the committee's case in miniature, that the attack on the Capitol was no spontaneous outburst but rather the 'culmination of an attempted coup,' in the words of the committee chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi. And it promised, tantalizingly, to flesh out the larger plot with fine detail and an expansive cast.... The broadcast's structure ... recalled 2022's most ubiquitous TV format: The true-crime and true-scandal limited series." ~~~

     ~~~ John Koblin of the New York Times: "An audience of at least 20 million people watched the first prime-time hearing of the House Select Committee's investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on Thursday night, according to Nielsen. By scheduling a congressional hearing for 8 to 10 p.m., committee members and Democrats were hoping to make the case to the biggest audience possible. ABC, CBS and NBC pre-empted their prime-time programming and went into special-report mode to cover it live.... Viewers who tuned in mostly stuck around for the entire congressional proceeding.... Fox's counterprogramming efforts drew an average audience of three million, which is just about normal."

Dominick Mastrangelo & Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "A former top editor at Fox News said on Friday that he has been called to testify next week before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Chris Stirewalt, who was ousted from the network following the 2020 presidential election and is now a political editor at NewsNation, said the committee had requested his testimony during its next hearing on Monday.... Stirewalt was part of the team at Fox News that made the decision to call Arizona for Joe Biden on election night 2020, a move that infuriated former President Trump and his top aides, some of whom reportedly complained directly to Fox leadership about the relatively early race call." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

AP: The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol siege ... will hear live testimony on Wednesday from the highest levels of the late-Trump-era Department of Justice == acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen; his top deputy, Richard Donoghue; and Steven Engel, the former head of the department's Office of Legal Counsel -- according to a person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss their appearances."

Trump Blasts Ivanka. Kristen Holmes of CNN: "A day after the House January 6 committee revealed previously unseen video of ... Donald Trump's daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, saying she accepted then-Attorney General Bill Barr's statement that the Justice Department found no fraud sufficient to overturn the election, the former President is responding... 'Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results. She had long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as Attorney General (he sucked!),' Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: “Pushing back on his daughter's comments was only one way in which Mr. Trump assailed the hearing.... He denied having responded approvingly to the 'Hang Mike Pence!' chants.... 'I NEVER said, or even thought of saying, "Hang Mike Pence,"' Mr. Trump wrote on [his] social media site. 'This is either a made up story by somebody looking to become a star, or FAKE NEWS!'... In another post on the site, Mr. Trump described the committee as a 'totally partisan, POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!' And in two other posts, he attacked Mr. Barr, calling him a 'coward,' 'weak and frightened,' 'stupid' and 'scared stiff of being impeached.'" Haberman points out, the committee did not claim Trump said "Hang Mike Pence!"' rather, he reportedly said Pence 'deserves it.'" MB: So that was a non-denial denial. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to the WashPo story by Harwell & Oremus, linked next, "On Trump's fledgling Twitter clone, Truth Social, he posted a dozen messages after the hearing, criticizing it for showing 'only negative footage' of the brutal siege." Uh, what exactly would be "positive footage" of a bloody siege of the Capitol?

Drew Harwell & Will Oremus of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's supporters scrambled to defend him online in the hours after the Jan. 6 committee's hearings began, seeking to sow doubt about his involvement via the same social media channels that had captured clear evidence linking him to the Capitol assault.... [The response] underscored how the social media landscape has shifted in the 17 months since Trump was suspended by the leading online platforms for his role in fanning the violent attempts to overturn Joe Biden's election as president. For the most part, Trump and some of his most ardent backers were relegated to smaller platforms as they sought to respond.... Trump had used Twitter aggressively to rally his supporters to overturn what he falsely labeled a fraudulent election.... [But] is Truth Social account has about 3 million followers, or less than 4 percent of the 88 million Twitter followers he had before his ban."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post has some thoughts on Fox "News" "coverage" of Thursday's Jan. 6 committee hearing: "The hearing began just as Tucker Carlson's show kicked off, and few people in America have been more energetically engaged than Carlson in casting the Jan. 6 riot as not worthy of discussion. Or as largely innocuous, save for some vandalism. Or maybe it's a government false flag aimed at casting Republicans as racists or something. Rhetorical consistency is not Carlson's strength, but that is happily for him not a limitation for his job." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Betsy Swan of Politico: "In the days before the electoral college certification, then-Vice President Mike Pence's legal team laid out that they found most of the Trump campaign's assertions of election fraud minor or unverifiable according to a previously unseen memo obtained by Politico.... The National Archives and Records Administration provided the memo to the select committee, according to a person familiar with the document. The 10-page memo ... notes that ... alleged procedural violations worried Pence's team, but that the actual accusations of voter fraud were mostly unpersuasive.... Marc Short, Pence's chief of staff at the White House, told Politico that the memo accurately reflects the thinking of the vice president's team." MB: This is the pence team's version of Bill Barr's "bullshit" testimony.

Guardian: "Rudy Giuliani has been hit with ethics charges over baseless claims he made about the 2020 presidential election being stolen while serving as an attorney for Donald Trump. The charges were filed on Friday by the District of Columbia office that polices attorneys for ethical misconduct.The DC office of disciplinary counsel alleges that Giuliani, who is a member of the DC bar, made baseless claims in federal court filings about the results of the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania. The charges were filed with the District of Columbia court of appeals board on professional responsibility."

Ginni Blasts Emails. Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pressed 29 Republican state lawmakers in Arizona -- 27 more than previously known -- to set aside Joe Biden's popular vote victory and 'choose' presidential electors, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post.... On Nov. 9, she sent identical emails to 20 members of the Arizona House and seven Arizona state senators. That represents more than half of the Republican members of the state legislature at the time. The message, just days after media organizations called the race for Biden in Arizona and nationwide, urged lawmakers to 'stand strong in the face of political and media pressure' and claimed that the responsibility to choose electors was 'yours and yours alone.'... On Dec. 13, the day before members of the electoral college were slated to cast their votes and seal Biden's victory, Thomas emailed 22 House members and one senator. 'Before you choose your state's Electors ... consider what will happen to the nation we all love if you don't stand up and lead,' the email said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you read way down the page, you'll find that a pal of Ginni & Clarence's says that the email Ginni sent to Arizona legislators in December was a form letter that "thousands" of people had signed. Maybe so, but Ginni has a law degree & she has that legal expert husband of hers sitting right there in the den watching old 8-track porn movies or whatever. You would think she would know better than to be giving legal advice (and the emails do that) to strangers, especially when that advice is bullocks.

Dan Morse of the Washington Post provides some new details on how Nicholas Roske abandoned his plan to murder Justice Brett Kavanaugh, then turn the gun on himself. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden and leaders of Latin American countries signed a new agreement on Friday to confront the consequences of mass migration, making specific numerical pledges to allow more people fleeing political and economic strife to cross their borders. The agreement, called the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, commits the United States to taking 20,000 refugees from Latin America during the next two years, a threefold increase, according to White House officials. Mr. Biden also pledged to increase the number of seasonal worker visas from Central America and Haiti by 11,500." ~~~

~~~ Cleve Wootson & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "President Biden offered his vision for a flourishing democratic Western Hemisphere before dozens of delegations Thursday, but he quickly faced pushback from leaders upset that Biden had excluded a trio of authoritarian regimes from the summit.... John Briceño, the prime minister of Belize, said the summit belongs to 'all of the Americas' and that it was 'inexcusable' that some countries were barred from attending.... 'We definitely would have wished for a different Summit of the Americas. The silence of those who are absent is calling to us,' [Argentine President Alberto] Fernández said, proposing that the host country not exclude nations from future summits.... The question of democracy's future in many ways hung over the conference. While Biden shut out Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, some of the leaders he did invite, such as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, have themselves been accused of anti-democratic actions."

Zeke Miller of the AP: "The Biden administration is lifting its requirement that international air travelers to the U.S. take a COVID-19 test within a day before boarding their flights, easing one of the last remaining government mandates meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus. A senior administration official said Friday that the mandate will expire Sunday at 12:01 a.m. EDT, adding that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined it is no longer necessary." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Missouri. Weird News. Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: "The insurance giant Geico must give more than $5m to a woman who had sex with a motorist in his car and contracted a sexually transmitted disease, a Missouri appellate court ruled.... Geico can still go to the state supreme court to seek a reprieve, and may get a more favorable ruling in a related federal case. The plaintiff -- identified in court records as 'MO' -- alleged that in 2017, during sexual encounters in a 2014 Hyundai Genesis, her boyfriend infected her with a virus that causes genital warts. The woman accused the man of acting negligently and argued that the Geico policy which insured the car should cover her 'injuries and losses' from the disease." MB: BUT. Good news for the carrier of her homeowner's policy.

Texas. Nick Miroff, et al., of the Washington Post: "Much is still unclear about how the [Uvalde] massacre unfolded.... But the design of the classroom doors significantly added to the challenge officers were facing, according to experts and officials briefed on what happened. As teachers and their students were bleeding, and children called 911 to plead for help, agents and officers who had been told the doors were locked struggled to locate keys and the tools to force their way in, officials have said.... Curtis S. Lavarello, executive director of the School Safety Advocacy Council, said ... authorities have to have a way to quickly open [secure doors] -- and should practice doing so during safety drills." The article also suggests that the police had to wait a long time for someone to bring them anti-ballistic shields. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That "had been told the doors were locked" clause may be significant. According to a NYT report linked here several days ago, a teacher inside the classroom struggled to find her key, & by the time she found it, the gunman had entered the room. Did he take time to get the key and lock the door? He was a crazed lunatic, so that's sort of hard to imagine. David Goodman, the NYT's Houston Bureau Chief, said last night on MSNBC that while the police loitered in the hall waiting for an hour for someone to unlock the classroom door, it may have been unlocked all the time. Tests of other classroom doors at the school, Goodman said, showed that the locks didn't secure the doors.

Texas. Julian Mark of the Washington Post: In late 1980, police found "... the bodies of a young couple [in the Houston area].... It appeared that the man had been beaten to death and that the woman had been strangled. For decades, the bodies went unidentified, until last year when DNA analysis identified the remains as those of [Tina Gail Linn Clouse and Harold Dean Clouse Jr]. What puzzled their family members after the discovery, however, were the whereabouts of the couple's infant, Holly, who had gone missing with Tina and Harold in 1980. On Thursday, the Texas Attorney General's Office announced that Holly, now 42 and a married mother of five, has been found living in Oklahoma, the [Houston] Chronicle reported. She was adopted after being left at a church by two members of a nomadic religious group, officials said. Her adoptive parents are not suspected of any wrongdoing, according to investigators."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

Siobhán O'Grady, et al., of the Washington Post: "The euphoria that accompanied Ukraine's unforeseen early victories against bumbling Russian troops is fading as Moscow adapts its tactics, recovers its stride and asserts its overwhelming firepower against heavily outgunned Ukrainian forces. Newly promised Western weapons systems are arriving, but too slowly and in insufficient quantities to prevent incremental but inexorable Russian gains in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, which is now the focus of the fight. The Ukrainians are still fighting back, but they are running out of ammunition and suffering casualties at a far higher rate than in the initial stages of the war. Around 200 Ukrainian soldiers are now being killed every day, up from 100 late last month, an aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the BBC on Friday.... The Russians are still making mistakes and are also losing men and equipment, albeit at a lesser rate than in the first months of the conflict.... But the overall trajectory of the war has unmistakably shifted away from one of unexpectedly dismal Russian failures and tilted in favor of Russia as the demonstrably stronger force."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "On the ground in eastern Ukraine ... 'very fierce fighting' continued to rage, reducing cities and communities to charred ruins, the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said in his nightly address. Ukrainians' ability to ward off Russian troops is becoming more limited because of their unmatched weaponry and a rapidly dwindling supply of ammunition for their Soviet-era artillery.... McDonald's restaurants are reopening in Russia this weekend, but without the Golden Arches. After the American fast-food giant pulled out this spring to protest ... Vladimir V. Putin's invasion of Ukraine, a Siberian oil mogul bought its 840 Russian stores. There are signs that a partisan insurgency is executing strikes in Russian-controlled territory.... Russia is struggling to provide basic services to people living in its occupied territories in Ukraine, Britain's Defense Ministry said on Friday.... Western governments on Friday condemned the death sentences that court in a Russian-occupied area of eastern Ukraine gave to two Britons and a Moroccan." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Saturday are here: "Ukraine, on the brink of losing the eastern region of Luhansk to Russia, is warning that its outgunned military desperately needs faster Western arms deliveries. Moscow's relentless shelling campaign 'wants to destroy every city' in the eastern Donbas region, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as his government said Ukraine could only respond with about one artillery round for every 10 fired by Russia. In the latest sign of the humanitarian catastrophe in the east, a regional official said the Ice Palace, a sports complex in the city of Severodonetsk that had served as a relief center, was destroyed. Russian forces now control most of the city although fighting still gripped the streets of the key battleground, the Luhansk governor said Saturday." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here: (at 08:32) "Speaking at a fundraising reception in Los Angeles on Friday, [President Biden] said ... Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 'didn't want to hear' America's warnings of a Russian invasion, AFP reports. Joe Biden ... reportedly said a lot of people thought he was exaggerating[.]"

Bolivia. Megan Janetsky & María Trigo of the New York Times: "Jeanine Añez, the former president of Bolivia, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday following accusations that she illegally took over the presidency after the resignation of her predecessor, Evo Morales. The trial, the latest chapter in Bolivia's long-running political turmoil, has raised concerns that the country's leaders are using the courts to target political adversaries, and that the sentencing represents a larger democratic crisis in the small South American country and across the region." A Reuters story, via the Guardian, is here.