;)
June 7, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Kate Sullivan of CNN: "Actor Matthew McConaughey delivered impassioned and at-times emotional remarks at the White House press briefing on Tuesday, telling the stories of those who died in the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and urging more action on gun control. McConaughey, a Uvalde native, said he and his wife, Camila Alves, spent most of the past week with the families of those who were killed in his hometown. He showed pictures of their artwork and brought to the briefing room the green Converse shoes that one girl wore every day that were used to identify her body after the shooting. She had drawn a heart on one of the shoes. He said he needed to tell their stories to show how action needed to be taken to honor the lives of the 19 children and two teachers killed at Robb Elementary School last month." ~~~
~~~ Video of McConaughey's full remarks is here.
** Libby Cathey of ABC News: "A son of the oldest victim in the Buffalo supermarket shooting, appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday in a hearing on domestic terrorism, called on lawmakers to 'yield your positions' if they're unwilling to meet 'the urgency of the moment' in the wake of the apparent racially-motivated attack that left 10 Black people dead, including his 86-year-old mother.
~~~ Marie: It's important to remember that mass murder such as occurred in Buffalo, white supremacy, Second Amendment enthusiasm, Christianism, Trumpism, authoritarianism and insurrection are all part and parcel of the same political "philosophy." As Patrick pointed out a few days ago, it's nothing new. In fact, we are a country that was founded by a widespread insurrection. Today, the country is peppered with statues, place names and other memorials dedicated to revolutionaries. The American Revolution was, in large part, a civil war, which -- even more than the Civil War of the 1860s -- pitted brother against brother. We should not be suuprised that violent organizations like the Proud Boys identify with the revolution that "officially" began in 1776 (see Greg Sargent's post, linked below).
Annie Karni & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "... House Democrats plan to use a landmark set of investigative hearings beginning this week to try to refocus voters' attention on Jan. 6, aiming to tie Republicans directly to an unprecedented plot to undermine democracy itself.... Democrats plan to use made-for-television moments and a carefully choreographed rollout of revelations over the course of six hearings to remind the public of the magnitude of Mr. Trump's effort to overturn the election, and to persuade voters that the coming midterm elections are a chance to hold Republicans accountable for it.... The select committee investigating the attack, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, says it has approached its work in a sober, apolitical manner and will present its findings as such. But it is clear that the hearings, coming five months before midterm elections in which Democrats are bracing for big losses, carry high political stakes."
Carol Leonnig, et al., of the Washington Post: "Shortly before pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Secret Service agents scrambled to try to secure a motorcade route so ... Donald Trump could accompany his supporters as they marched on Congress to demand he stay in power.... The hectic events that day followed nearly two weeks of persistent pressure from Trump on the Secret Service to devise a plan for him to join his supporters on a march to the Capitol from the park near the White House where he was leading a rally that he predicted would be 'wild.' The agency had rebuffed Trump's early entreaties, but the rushed effort on Jan. 6 to accommodate the president came as Secret Service personnel heard Trump urge his rally audience of nearly 30,000 people to march to the Capitol while suggesting he would join them.... Around New Year's Eve, Trump aides raised with Tony Ornato, a Secret Service official then temporarily serving as a deputy chief of staff in the White House, the president's desire to ride in a motorcade on Jan. 6 alongside marchers heading to the Capitol...."
Betsy Swan of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee has interviewed the top Secret Service agent on ... Donald Trump's protective detail during the Capitol attack, according to three people familiar with the probe. Robert Engel was the special agent in charge on Jan. 6, 2021, meaning he was responsible for protecting th president from 'socks on to socks off' -- the whole work day. In that role, he rode from the White House to that day's 'Stop the Steal' rally with Trump in the presidential armored car called 'The Beast.' Engel was also backstage at the rally and close to the then-president throughout the day as violence unfolded when thousands of pro-Trump rally participants marched to the Capitol to try to disrupt congressional certification of the 2020 election. Because of that work, Engel has detailed insight on a key select committee focus: how the Secret Service handled the day's chaos. A Secret Service spokesperson said the agency has cooperated fully with the committee probe."
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "In a new indictment that prosecutors filed against [the Proud Boys]..., members refer to the insurrection as a glorious revival of 1776 again and again, with almost comic predictability.... In the indictment prosecutors disclose highly revealing text exchanges between leaders Enrique Tarrio -- who was not present that day -- and another member later on Jan. 6. The exchanges appear to refer back to a document Tarrio possessed called '1776 returns,' which reportedly contains a detailed scheme to attack government buildings.... Right now the evidence appears strong that Proud Boys members did scheme to thwart a legitimately elected government from taking power with coordinated violence."
What? Trump Stole Stuff? Unpossible! Zachary Cohen & Kylie Atwood of CNN: "House Democrats are investigating ... Donald Trump's 'apparent failure to account for gifts from foreign government officials while in office' after learning there may be thousands of dollars-worth of items that are either missing or were not tracked properly, according to a new letter sent to the National Archives by the House Oversight and Reform Committee chairwoman.... The committee says it has received information from the State Department that 'indicates the Trump administration "did not prioritize this obligation" and failed to comply with the law that governs foreign gift reporting during President Trump's final year in office,' the letter states. 'As a result, the foreign sources and monetary value of gifts President Trump received remain unknown,' it adds. 'The Department of State also stated that it was unable to determine the identities of some government officials who received foreign gifts during the Trump Administration, as well as the sources of those foreign gifts.'"
David Lynch of the Washington Post: "The global economy may be headed for years of weak growth and rising prices, a toxic combination that will test the stability of dozens of countries still struggling to rebound from the pandemic, the World Bank warned Tuesday. Not since the 1970s -- when twin oil shocks sapped growth and lifted prices, giving rise to the malady known as 'stagflation' -- has the global economy faced such a challenge. The bank slashed its annual global growth forecast to 2.9 percent from January's 4.1 percent and said that 'subdued growth will likely persist throughout the decade because of weak investment in most of the world.'"
Manuel Roig-Franzia of the Washington Post: One Sunday in March 1974, Martha Mitchell called Bob Woodward & invited Carl Bernstein & him to come to her Manhattan apartment & look through the papers in her husband John Mitchell's home office. John had just been indicted for a second time and had left Martha. "'Have at it, boys,' she told [the reporters when they arrived at her Fifth Avenue home]. 'Please nail him. I hope you get the bastard.'... They were there for hours.... The documents provided material that informed The Post's coverage of Watergate, but Woodward can only remember the trip producing one big scoop."
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Hannah Knowles & Annie Linskey of the Washington Post: "Primaries spread across California and six other states Tuesday will further shape Democrats and Republicans' identities in the midterms, as established GOP candidates -- some of whom have bucked Trump -- try to fend off challengers from the right and as liberal contenders reckon with a backlash over their party's policies and messaging on public safety and growing concerns about an increase in violent crime.... Many of Tuesday's primaries -- in California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota -- will not be competitive. But some have been heated and have sent signals about the battle lines this fall."
Evan Halper of the Washington Post: "The White House will try to calm the turmoil in America's solar industry by exempting it for two years from crushing tariffs on certain panels manufactured abroad, a move the administration hopes will get hundreds of stalled projects back on track. A Commerce Department investigation into alleged dodging of tariffs by Chinese panel- and cell-makers has paralyzed much of the industry. The investigation, which could go on for months, carries the threat of retroactive tariffs, driving up the cost of importing these parts and severely hampering the industry"s capacity."
Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Monday that he will not attend this week's Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, after President Biden declined to extend invitations to three authoritarian countries in the Western Hemisphere -- Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The snub by America's southern neighbor, two days before Biden lands in California, is a blow to Biden's effort to assert regional leadership and address issues ranging from climate change to immigration. While the announcement was not a complete surprise, the White House had been hoping López Obrador, one of the region's most prominent leaders, would attend the gathering."
Alan Feuer & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "Enrique Tarrio, the former chairman of the Proud Boys, and four other members of the far-right group were indicted on Monday for seditious conspiracy in connection with the storming of the Capitol last January, the most serious criminal charges to be brought in the Justice Department's sprawling investigation of the assault. The sedition charges against Mr. Tarrio and his co-defendants -- Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola -- came in an amended indictment that was unsealed in Federal District Court in Washington. The men had already been charged in an earlier indictment filed in March with conspiring to obstruct the certification of the 2020 presidential election, which took place during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.... A charge of seditious conspiracy requires prosecutors to prove that force was used either to overthrow the government or to interfere with the execution of federal law." NPR's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "Nick Quested, a British documentarian who was embedded with the Proud Boys in the period around Jan. 6, will be one of the witnesses Thursday when the Jan. 6 select committee presents its findings of the violent attack that threatened the transition of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. Quested captured some of the most harrowing and vivid footage from the front lines of the violence that day, including key moments of confrontation between members of the mob and Capitol Police just before rioters stormed the barricades. His crew was also present for key conversations among Proud Boys leaders, as well as a garage meeting between the group's national chairman, Enrique Tarrio, and Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, whose group also played a central role in the January 2021 attack on the Capitol."
Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Monday said the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol has found evidence on former President Trump that supports 'a lot more than incitement.'... Raskin on Monday told The Washington Post Live that this week's hearing will 'tell the story of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election and block the transfer of power.... Of course the House and the Senate in bicameral and bipartisan fashion have already determined that the former president, Donald Trump, incited an insurrection by majority votes in the House and the Senate.'..." Here's a transcript of Raskin's remarks to the Post; it is free to nonsubscribers.
Ready for Prime Time: Mike Allen of Axios: "The House's Jan. 6 committee has turned to a renowned former network news executive to hone a mountain of explosive material into a captivating multimedia presentation for a prime-time hearing Thursday. James Goldston -- former president of ABC News, and a master documentary storyteller who ran 'Good Morning America' and 'Nightline' -- has joined the committee as an unannounced adviser, Axios has learned.... I'm told Goldston is busily producing Thursday's 8 p.m. ET hearing as if it were a blockbuster investigative special." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "Fox News Channel will not carry Thursday's primetime hearing of the Jan. 6 House select committee, as its usual lineup will air. The hosts will cut in to the proceeding when or if they feel doing so is warranted, the network said." MB: Yeah, I'm sure viewers can depend upon TuKKKer's discretion.
** Georgia. This Part of the Coup Plot Was Top Secret. Amy Gardner, et al., of the Washington Post: "A staffer for Donald Trump's presidential campaign instructed Republicans planning to cast electoral college votes for Trump in Georgia despite Joe Biden's victory to operate in 'complete secrecy,' an email obtained by The Washington Post shows. 'I must ask for your complete discretion in this process,' wrote Robert Sinners, the campaign's election operations director for Georgia, the day before the 16 Republicans gathered at the Georgia Capitol to sign certificates declaring themselves duly elected.... The admonishments suggest that those who carried out the fake elector plan were concerned that, had the gathering become public before Republicans could follow through on casting their votes, the effort could have been disrupted."
GOP Senators Suddenly Realize They're on the Wrong Side of Voters' Opinion. Burgess Everett & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Republican leaders are seriously weighing whether to cut a bipartisan deal on gun safety as bipartisan negotiations pick up momentum in the Senate. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a leading negotiator on gun safety, briefed GOP leaders Monday afternoon on the state of the talks, first meeting with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and then a broader group of senior Republicans. Cornyn delivered the outlines of what he discussed with a handful of other senators over last week's recess, according to people familiar with the meeting. He then met with Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) for two hours Monday evening to continue the negotiations.... After their leadership meeting on Monday afternoon, Republicans seemed surprisingly bullish on the prospects for legislation in response to mass shootings across the country that continue unabated." ~~~
~~~ Yeah But. Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "The two leading GOP senators involved in gun talks on Capitol Hill signaled Monday evening that it's unlikely Congress will raise the age requirement for purchasing semiautomatic firearms to 21, instead saying they are looking at changing the criminal background check system to access juvenile records before a sale is complete. Doing so, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said, could lead to a waiting period of sorts for 18- to 20-year-olds purchasing semiautomatic weapons. It could take, he said, 'two to three weeks minimally,' potentially to scour juvenile records, but he added that Senate negotiators are looking at ways for gun purchasers to appeal for expedited processes either through the courts or another mechanism.... Similarly, asked about raising the age for semi-automatic gun purchases, Texas Sen. John Cornyn ... noted that a three-judge panel on the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that such a law is unconstitutional, even though the Supreme Court has not yet done so." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Great. So Senate Republicans might allow for a law that raises the age requirement to 18 + two weeks. Talk about "incremental gun legislation." Maybe after a few more mass slaughters, Republican senators will raise the age to 18 + a month. But don't count on it. ~~~
~~~ What Joe Says. Manu Raju & Clare Foran of CNN: "Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia voiced his support Monday for raising the age to 21 for purchasing semi-automatic weapons and questioned why individuals need to own high-powered AR-15-style weapons, putting him at odds with Republicans who are resisting imposing any restrictions on access to firearms. 'I never thought I had a need for that type of a high-capacity automatic weapon,' Manchin told CNN on Monday. 'I like to shoot, I like to go out and hunt. I like to go out sports shooting. I do all of that. But I've never felt I needed something of that magnitude.'"
New York. Maysoon Khan of the AP: “New Yorkers under age 21 will be prohibited from buying semiautomatic rifles under a new law signed Monday by Gov. Kathy Hochul, making the state among the first to enact a major gun control initiative following a wave of deadly mass shootings. Hochul, a Democrat, signed 10 public safety-related bills, including one that will require microstamping in new firearms, which could help law enforcement solve gun-related crimes. Another revised the state's 'red flag' law, which allows courts to temporarily take away guns from people who might be a threat to themselves or others.... The quick action in New York further illustrated the sharp divide between Republican and Democratic leaders on how to respond to gun violence."
"The Big Scam." Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Last week the Federal Trade Commission reported that 'cryptocurrency is quickly becoming the payment of choice for many scammers,' accounting for 'about one of every four dollars reported lost to fraud.' Given how small a role cryptocurrency plays in ordinary transactions, that's impressive.... As a number of analysts have pointed out, stablecoins may seem high-tech and futuristic, but what they most resemble are 19th-century banks, specifically U.S. banks during the 'free banking' era before the Civil War, when paper currency was issued by largely unregulated private institutions. Many of these banks failed, in some cases due to fraud but mostly due to bad investments.... Perhaps not surprisingly, free-banking defenders, like crypto enthusiasts, tend to have a libertarian bent; the most ardent defenders of free banking are associated with right-wing think tanks that have also promoted environmental denialism and opposed measures against Covid-19." ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE, in the U.S. Senate.... Tony Newmyer of the Washington Post: "A highly anticipated Senate proposal to bring the freewheeling cryptocurrency industry under federal oversight would deliver a win for the sector by empowering its preferred regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), over the Securities and Exchange Commission. The bill's sponsors, Sens. Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), are touting it as the first serious effort to apply comprehensive regulation to the crypto industry, which has minted a new class of billionaires and promised to reinvent financial services while also spawning scams and investor wipeouts that have raised regulators' alarms. But by giving primary responsibility for crypto oversight to the CFTC, the relatively small agency tasked with regulating a swath of financial markets, from grain futures to more complex products, the bill -- set for introduction Tuesday -- sidelines the SEC, whose chair, Gary Gensler, has taken an aggressive posture toward crypto interests." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The Senate, with its "super-minority," is disposed to doing everything wrong.
Emily Brooks of the Hill: "Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos is working as an unpaid intern in the congressional office of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).... Yiannopoulos, who formerly worked at Breitbart, rose to prominence in the mid-2010s for his incendiary stances on feminism, Islam and other hot-button issues but fell out of public conversation after intense backlash. He was disinvited from the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2017 after a video circulated in which Yiannopoulos appeared to defend pedophilia. He was banned from Twitter in 2016 and from Facebook in 2019. Australia banned Yiannopoulos from entering the country in 2019 following comments he made about the Christchurch mass shooting at a New Zealand mosque. Last year, he announced that he is 'ex-gay.'" Yiannopoulos is a Brit, not an American citizen. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: This could be a good thing. In December 2020, Yiannopoulos reportedly said he would devote "the rest of my life to the destruction of the Republican Party."
John Kruzel of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Monday turned away an appeal by a St. Louis couple whose law licenses were sanctioned after they pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters near their home in the summer of 2020.... The couple -- Mark and Patricia McCloskey -- brandishing an assault-style rifle and pistol became a potent symbol of America's culture war, drawing widespread condemnation, as well as praise from President Trump and Republican lawmakers.... The court's denial of the McCloskeys' petition for appeal Monday came in an unsigned order without noted comment or dissent. The move leaves intact the disciplinary sanctions against the McCloskeys, which includes the possible indefinite suspension of their law licenses if they commit any violations over a one-year probationary period that began last February." MB: Trump liked them so much, he gave them a speaking spot, via video, at the 2020 Republican convention. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Anemona Hartocollis of the New York Times: "On Thursday, Ilya Shapiro, a legal scholar, announced his victory in the campus free speech wars: After a suspension and an investigation over a series of tweets, he was cleared to take his new job as a senior lecturer and executive director at Georgetown University's Center for the Constitution. But the reinstatement was not an unequivocal vote of confidence. Under fire for writing that President Biden would nominate a 'lesser black woman' for the Supreme Court, he had been cleared on a technicality -- that he was not yet employed by the university when he posted the tweets. That turned out not to be enough. On Monday, in a head-spinning reversal, Mr. Shapiro announced that he was stepping down. Both announcements -- of staying in his job and leaving his job -- were made in The Wall Street Journal opinion section. 'I would have to be constantly walking on eggshells,' he said in an interview on Monday after his second opinion essay appeared online." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Refraining from calling a distinguished judge a "lesser black woman" is not my idea of "walking on eggshells." Like you, I have managed to do that all my life, and the eggshells are intact.
An Inside Job? Barbara Starr of CNN: "The US military is investigating whether an American service member set off explosives in an insider attack on a small US base in northern Syria that injured four service members in April, according to three defense officials and a statement from the military.... The investigation into the attack on the Green Village site is being carried out by the Army's Criminal Investigation Division and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. No one has been charged to date."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Oliver Darcy of CNN: "The Washington Post has suspended reporter David Weigel for one month without pay for retweeting a sexist joke, two people familiar with the matter told CNN on Monday.... Weigel apologized publicly last week for the retweet, saying he 'did not mean to cause any harm.'... Weigel's retweet was spotlighted publicly by his colleague, Felicia Sonmez, who recently had a discrimination lawsuit against the paper dismissed, a decision her attorney has said she plans to appeal. Sonmez sarcastically wrote on Twitter on Friday that it is 'fantastic to work at a news outlet where retweets like this are allowed.' She attached a screen grab showing Weigel's retweet, which was of a tweet from YouTuber Cam Harless, who joked, 'Every girl is bi. You just have to figure out if it's polar or sexual.'" MB: Uh, not even funny. Did the Post suspend Weigel because his retweet was "inappropriate" or because the suspension would make them look better if Sonmez appeals the decision in her lawsuit? Newsrooms, in my experience, are hotbeds of sexism. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Reluctant Suitor. Lauren Hirsch & Mike Isaac of the New York Times: "In a crisp, six-paragraph letter to Twitter on Monday, lawyers for Elon Musk, the world's richest man, made his displeasure known. Twitter was 'actively resisting and thwarting' Mr. Musk's rights while he was completing a $44 billion deal to buy the social media service, the lawyers wrote. The company was 'refusing Mr. Musk's data requests' to disclose the number of fake accounts on its platform, they said. That amounted to a 'clear material breach' of the deal, the lawyers continued, giving Mr. Musk the right to break off the agreement. The letter, which was delivered to Twitter and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission , escalated Mr. Musk's campaign to terminate the blockbuster acquisition." ~~~
~~~ An Amazing "Coincidence." Lora Kolodny of CNBC: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Monday that his office is opening an investigation into Twitter over the number of bot accounts on its platform.... Paxton ... was himself indicted on securities fraud charges seven years ago, but has not yet stood trial.... His probe of Twitter was initiated on the same day that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, via his attorneys, threatened to back out of his agreement to buy Twitter.... Last year, Musk moved his electric vehicle maker's headquarters to Austin, Texas, from Palo Alto, California, and followed by opening an enormous Tesla factory outside of Austin this year. He also moved his residence to Texas in 2020. SpaceX, Musk's re-usable rocket company, runs a significant manufacturing and launch facility in Brownsville, Texas, and wants to expand the operation...." MB: AND Musk said last month, he will start voting Republican, because Democrats were the party of "division & hate," a very Trumpy-type reversal-of-facts. Anyhow, it's no accident that these two reprobates are scratching each other's backs.
Another Kind of "Inflation" Hurting Ordinary Americans: CEO Incomes. Dominic Rushe of the Guardian: "The wage gap between chief executives and workers at some of the US companies with the lowest-paid staff grew even wider last year, with CEOs making an average of $10.6m, while the median worker received $23,968. A study of 300 top US companies released by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) on Tuesday found the average gap between CEO and median worker pay jumped to 670-to-1.... The ratio was up from 604-to-1 in 2020. Forty-nine firms had ratios above 1,000-to-1. At more than a third of the companies surveyed, IPS found that median worker pay did not keep pace with inflation.... The report found that two-thirds of low-wage corporations that cut worker pay in 2021 also spent billions inflating CEO pay through stock buybacks.... IPS noted that many of the companies in its sample were also the recipients of large federal government contracts." ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you do a slow burn every time you fill up at the station or the grocery check-out clerk gives you the tally of your bill, wouldn't it make you twice as angry if you also remembered that your company's boss was "earning" something like $670 for every dollar you did? Contributor Nisky Guy wrote in yesterday's thread that news reports about gas prices should include O&G quarterly "earnings" reports. I concurred, adding the news reports also include a few CEOs' annual income.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. Julian Mark of the Washington Post: "Sean Bickings pleaded for help as he struggled to stay afloat in a reservoir in Tempe, Ariz., late last month. But Tempe police officers watched without intervening as Bickings went underwater and did not come back up, according to city officials and a transcript of body-camera footage. 'I'm going to drown. I'm going to drown,' said Bickings, 34, according to a transcript of video from the May 28 incident released by city officials. 'Okay, I'm not jumping in after you,' an officer, identified as Officer 1 in the transcript, said moments later, after directing Bickings to grab onto a bridge.... Now, three Tempe police officers have been put on 'non-disciplinary paid administrative leave' as the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Scottsdale Police Department investigate the officers' response at the city of Tempe's request, city officials said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Louisiana. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "A federal judge ruled on Monday that Louisiana's new congressional map represented a racial gerrymander and must be redrawn to include a second district that gives Black voters the chance to elect a candidate of their choice. The judge, Shelly D. Dick of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, ordered the State Legislature to produce a revised map of the state's six congressional districts by June 20. She also directed the state to extend the filing deadline for House candidates, now set for June 22, to July 8.... [The single majority-Black district the legislature created ... is roughly 70 percent Black, [and] snakes along the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. Much of it is surrounded by the Sixth District, which is one-third Black."
Michigan. Guy Charles in Election Law Bog: “Reuters reporting that state authorities in Michigan are expanding their investigation into attempts by local Republicans and allies of former President Trump to illegally access voting systems. From the Reuters report: '... [In] at least 17 incidents nationwide, including 11 in Michigan..., Trump supporters gained or attempted to gain unauthorized access to voting equipment." The Reuters story, which is here, is firewalled. MB: See, Trump told you there was widespread voter fraud, and he was right! Had his crooked, inept surrogates done a better job fixing voting machines, he would still be President*.
Texas Congressional Race. Mariana Alfaro & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Attorney Jessica Cisneros will request a recount of the runoff election between her and Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar.... As of Monday night, Cuellar was leading Cisneros by 187 votes, or 0.4 percentage points, according to the Associated Press.... Under Texas rules, there are no automatic recounts. But the second-place finisher can request -- and pay for -- a second tally if the margin of victory is less than 10 percent of the winner's total."
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russia is facing mounting criticism that it is holding hostage millions of tons of Ukrainian wheat, a vital food supply, for political gain amid a worsening hunger crisis. Charles Michel, president of the European Council, on Monday accused Russia of using its leverage over the world's food supply as 'a stealth missile against developing countries.' The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell Fontelles, said Monday that a Russian missile had destroyed a major grain terminal in the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv in recent days.... President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said Monday that he had spoken to the Turkish president about getting Turkey's help in securing safe passage for ships carrying grain exports through the Black Sea.... The State Department on Monday accused Russia of threatening American journalists in Moscow and rejected Kremlin charges that the Biden administration has censored Russian journalists within the United States. The United States issued seizure warrants for two planes owned by Roman Abramovich, a Russian billionaire." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here: "President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his latest address Monday that Ukrainian forces have 'every chance' of fighting back amid the battle for Severodonetsk and that defenders of the key eastern city are 'standing strong' in the face of relentless Russian shelling across the Donbas region. Zelensky also said Monday that peace talks with Russia were at 'level zero,' the Associated Press reported.... Ukraine is considering making English an official language of business communication in the hopes of attracting foreign investment and better integrating Ukraine with Europe, the country's prime minister said." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Tuesday are here.
The Resistance Persists. Marc Santora of the New York Times: "The Kremlin-backed mayor of the Ukrainian town of Enerhodar was standing on his mother's porch when a powerful blast struck, leaving him critically wounded. A week later, about 75 miles away, a car packed with explosives rocked the office of another Russian-appointed official in the occupied southern city of Melitopol. In a rarity, both Ukrainian and Russian officials confirmed the blasts, which struck deep inside Russian-controlled territory. And both explosions appeared to be the work of what analysts say is a growing partisan resistance movement -- one fueled by increasingly brutal Russian repression and worsening humanitarian conditions.... The explosion that injured the Enerhodar mayor, Andrei Shevchik, is one of more than a dozen high-profile attacks in recent weeks that analysts say indicate increased partisan activity aimed at Russian occupation forces in the Kherson and Zaporizka regions of southern Ukraine."
Luke Harding of the Guardian: A Russian-language TV channel, working out of Kyiv, Ukraine, called "February Morning, has one ambitious and seemingly impossible goal: to topple Vladimir Putin. Unlike other media outlets operating in Ukraine, it is exclusively aimed at an audience living in Russia. Its 70 staff are Ukrainian and Russian. Some of them work in provincial Russian towns, as part of an undercover network. The channel's founder, Ilya Ponomarev, used to be a member of Russia's parliament. In 2014 he was the only deputy to vote against the annexation of Crimea. A vengeful Kremlin then chucked him out of the Duma and barred him when he was on a trip to the US from re-entering his own country. Based in Kyiv, he became a Ukrainian citizen in 2019."
China/Cambodia. Ellen Nakashima & Cate Cadell of the Washington Post: "China is secretly building a naval facility in Cambodia for the exclusive use of its military, with both countries denying that is the case and taking extraordinary measures to conceal the operation, Western officials said.... The establishment of a Chinese naval base in Cambodia -- only its second such overseas outpost and its first in the strategically significant Indo-Pacific region -- is part of Beijing's strategy to build a network of military facilities around the world in support of its aspirations to become a true global power, the officials said. China's only other foreign military base right now is a naval facility in the East African country of Djibouti."
Israel. Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "The Israeli Parliament voted on Monday against applying Israeli civilian law to Israelis in the occupied West Bank, a decision that edged the fragile coalition government closer to collapse and undermined the two-tier legal system that distinguishes between Israeli settlers and Palestinians in most of the territory. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was unable to keep his tenuous coalition in line to pass the legislation, which allows Israeli settlers to live according to civilian law in the 61 percent of the West Bank that falls under direct Israeli control, instead of the military law by which Israel generally governs Palestinians living in the same area."
U.K. Jill Lawless of the AP: "British Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a no-confidence vote on Monday, securing enough support from his Conservative Party to remain in office despite a rebellion that leaves him a weakened leader with an uncertain future. Known for his ability to shrug off scandals, the charismatic leader has struggled to turn the page on revelations that he and his staff repeatedly held boozy parties that flouted the COVID-19 restrictions they imposed on others. Support among his fellow Conservative lawmakers has weakened as some see the leader, renowned for his ability to connect with voters, increasingly as a liability rather than an asset in elections. Johnson won the backing of 211 out of 359 Conservative lawmakers, more than the simple majority needed to remain in power, but still a significant rebellion of 148 MPs. With no clear front-runner to succeed him, most political observers had predicted he would defeat the challenge." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Jessica Elgot of the Guardian: “Rebel Conservatives have given Boris Johnson until the party conference to change direction, saying rules could be altered to allow another challenge, as [Deputy Prime Minister] Dominic Raab called for the 'democratic result' of the vote to be respected. Johnson lost the confidence of 41% of his MPs in a vote on his leadership on Monday night, after weeks of anger over lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street and fears the party's direction is causing a slump at the polls.... The former Tory leader William Hague said Johnson should 'turn his mind to getting out' to provide a fresh start for the party. 'While Johnson has survived the night, the damage done to his premiership is severe,' he wrote in the Times."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "Sophie Freud, who emerged from the crucible of her early life, marked by Nazi persecution in Europe and abiding family discord, to become a professor, social worker and writer who disclaimed many tenets of her grandfather Sigmund's psychoanalytic theory, died June 3 at her home in Lincoln, Mass. She was 97." MB: For what it's worth (not much), I agree with Sophie's analysis of Grandpa's theories.
AP: "A man accused of fatally shooting a retired Wisconsin judge and who had a list that included prominent national political figures died in a hospital, a state official said Tuesday. Douglas Uhde, 56, shot former Juneau County Circuit Judge John Roemer in Roemer's home in New Lisbon on Friday before shooting himself, authorities said. He was taken to a hospital where he had been on life support."
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