May 26, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump and two of his adult children must sit for questioning under oath as part of the New York attorney general's civil investigation into their business practices, a state appeals court ruled on Thursday. Mr. Trump's lawyers had argued that the inquiry by the state attorney general, Letitia James, was politically motivated and that she should not be permitted to question him or the children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump. The lawyers also claimed that the attorney general could not force Mr. Trump to face questioning in her civil investigation because he was also the subject of a criminal inquiry into some of the same business practices. But the court found that the Trumps had not shown they were being treated differently from other investigative targets and argued that 'the existence of a criminal investigation does not preclude civil discovery of related facts.'... The unanimous ruling from a four-judge panel of the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division, First Department, upheld a decision from a lower court granting Ms. James permission to question Mr. Trump and his children.... Lawyers for the Trumps could appeal the ruling to New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals."

Alex Marshall & Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: "The British authorities have authorized criminal charges against Kevin Spacey on four counts of sexual assault against three men, the country's Crown Prosecution Service announced in a news release on Thursday.... The authorization of charges followed a review of the evidence collected by London's police force. Mr. Spacey cannot be formally charged unless he enters England or Wales, a spokesman for the service said in a telephone interview. The spokesman declined to comment on whether the service would pursue extradition proceedings...."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: Late start today. Additions up to & after 9 am ET.

From the New York Times' liveblog Wednesday of developments in the Uvalde grade school massacre: "The gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers in a rural Texas elementary school on Tuesday entered the building despite being confronted by an armed school security officer, then wounded two responding police officers and engaged in a standoff inside the school for over an hour, state police officials said. While gaps remained in the timeline of events, details emerged on Wednesday of a protracted scene of carnage at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. What began around 11:30 a.m., with the first report of an armed man approaching the school, ended as specialized officers breached a pair of adjoining classrooms and killed the gunman barricaded inside just after 1 p.m., state police officials said.... Officials said that the officers had successfully contained the gunman ... until more specially trained officers could arrive.... By Wednesday, all of the victims had been identified by the officials.... ~~~

~~~ "President Biden said he would travel to Uvalde in the coming days.... He did not call on Congress to take up gun safety legislation but in remarks on Wednesday said that the 'Second Amendment is not absolute' and that previous gun safety laws did not violate its constitutional protections. 'These actions we've taken before, they save lives,' he said. 'They can do it again.' Still, with little apparent opening at the federal level, states controlled by Democrats moved to introduce their own changes. [At a press event in Uvalde, Texas Gov. Greg] Abbott stressed the need for better mental health care.... [But the Uvalde shooter] had no history of mental illness. [And Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick] suggested arming teachers." ~~~

~~~ Marie: In these brief paragraphs, Republicans once again showcased the useless emptiness of their supposed remediating "solutions." Clearly, a heavily-armed staff would not have stopped this gunman. A phalanx of law enforcement, as well as an armed security guard were on the scene before the gunman killed anyone, yet this army was unable to prevent the massacre. And while Abbott suggested that better mental healthcare would be a mediator (how much has the GOP-controlled Texas legislature spent on that? Update: asked & answered, below), in the next breath he admitted that this shooter had no history of mental health problems. Now, let's all go to the NRA convention in Houston. ~~~

~~~ Mike Hixenbaugh & >Corky Siemaszko of NBC News: "Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that the Uvalde school shooter had a 'mental health challenge' and the state needed to 'do a better job with mental health' -- yet in April he slashed $211 million from the department that oversees mental health programs. In addition, Texas ranked last out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia for overall access to mental health care, according to the 2021 State of Mental Health in America report."

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Hours after the worst school shooting in a decade took place in his home state, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas ... suggested a possible solution: putting armed law enforcement on campuses. Then Mr. Cruz, a Republican, quickly turned to blame Democrats and the news media for politicizing the issue.... 'But as sure as night follows day, you can bet there are going to be Democrat politicians looking to advance their own political agenda, rather than to work to stop this kind of horrific violence and to keep everyone safe.' Mr. Cruz remained unapologetic in his broad opposition to gun control measures.... Mr. Cruz's unwavering position on guns reflects the entrenched opposition in his party to virtually any proposal that seeks to limit access to firearms."

Leah Askarinam & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Former Representative Beto O'Rourke interrupted a news conference held by Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas on Wednesday to accuse Republicans of 'doing nothing' to address gun violence in the aftermath of a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde. Mr. O'Rourke, the Democrats' nominee for governor, stood in front of a stage at a Uvalde High School auditorium during the news conference and shouted that the killings were a 'totally predictable' result of lax state and federal gun laws. When Mr. Abbott's allies saw Mr. O'Rourke step forward, they began yelling at him. One official [according to Catie Edmondson (linked above) that official was Ted Cruz] ordered the El Paso native to 'Shut up!'... [Texas Lt. Gov.] Dan Patrick, told him, 'You're out of line and an embarrassment.' The mayor of Uvalde, Don McLaughlin, said he could not believe Mr. O'Rourke was the type of 'sick' individual who 'would come to a deal like this to make a political issue,' using an obscenity. Moments later, uniformed security guards pulled Mr. O'Rourke away.... Mr. O'Rourke's move drew both scorn and praise." A CNN report is here. ~~~

~~~ Patrick Stivek of the Texas Tribune: "Gov. Greg Abbott attended a fundraiser for his reelection campaign Tuesday night in East Texas, hours after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school over 300 miles away in Uvalde. His campaign says he is postponing all political activities going forward.... Abbott addressed the fundraiser during a news conference Wednesday afternoon in Uvalde, suggesting he only made a brief appearance cut short by the news of the shooting. 'On the way back to Austin, I stopped and let people know that I could not stay, that I needed to go and I wanted them to know what happened and get back to Austin so I could continue to my collaboration with Texas law enforcement,' Abbott said." MB: MB: Gosh, Greggers, it does look as if politics comes first for you, doesn't it? ~~~

~~~ James Barragán of the Texas Tribune: "Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday he was not sure whether he would attend the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Houston this week.... Abbott, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are scheduled to attend the event but none of their offices have commented on their attendance since the shooting unfolded on Tuesday.... Donald Trump, who is scheduled to speak, said Wednesday he still plans to attend."

Bill Chappell of NPR: "Pope Francis says that his heart is broken over the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, and that the U.S. must act to prevent the spread of guns. 'I am praying for the children and adults who were killed, and for their families. It is time to say enough to the indiscriminate trafficking of arms,' Francis said on Wednesday, during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.... People should be working now, the pope said, to ensure a similar tragedy can never happen again. In the U.S., his sentiment was shared by another senior Catholic leader: Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago."

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "Nowhere, it seems, are children and young people engaged in learning truly safe in America. Not in a nation where guns outnumber people, where a culture of gun violence continues to be tolerated and where episodes of carnage have become the norm.... In the years after Sandy Hook, the NRA has been hollowed out and weakened by scandal. But no matter. The gun lobby as it exists today is a citizen-grounded movement that retains a stranglehold on the Republican Party. Instead of moves to tighten gun laws, legislatures in Republican-led states, among them Texas, have acted to loosen them. These actions further enshrine the gun culture as part of America's heritage, all in the name of the Second Amendment, though it's questionable that the Founders envisioned the constitutional right to bear arms serving as such a shield in the face of mass shootings of children.... Only in America..., do [mental] afflictions [and political rage] manifest themselves with such regularity in mass shootings.... So long as the right to bear arms is seen as wholly sacrosanct and not subject to scrutiny, [President] Biden will not be the last president to exclaim, as he did Tuesday night: 'Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?'"

Marie: I am not sure most people realize how flagrantly sexist right-wing "philosophy" is. Balz writes that Americans enshrine gun culture as a fundamental tenet of our heritage. But what's fundamental about the gun culture is that it is primarily by, for and about men. The vaunted Minute Men were, well, men. So are today's mass murderers. I'm not suggesting women are absent from gun culture, but they seem more like hangers-on, not leaders. And the wingers who treat the Second Amendment as God-written gospel are the same folks who labor to deprive women of reproductive rights. The right wing is patriarchal; it idealizes the power of men to call the shots, literally & figuratively. Men -- white men -- are the masters. (Why is the room where heterosexual couples sleep called the "master bedroom"?) Men are the leaders, the rule-makers, the judges, the heads-of-household," the supposed "protectors" of the rest of us. Men have "granted" any residual rights women may have. And just as they have granted these rights, so they may take them away.

Alyssa Rosenberg of the Washington Post is understandably furious: "America practices child sacrifice.... The latest young victims of the ritual slaughter our culture permits are the 19 children shot to death inside their school in Uvalde, Tex., on Tuesday..... Given the lack of action after these spasms of butchery, there is only one possible conclusion: We are willing to tolerate the murder of children. We accept events that will gravely wound the bodies and psyches of many others. But in exchange for what? For what Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has called 'the fundamental, God-given right each and every one of us has to defend our lives, to defend our homes, to defend our children, to defend our family'"; Rosenberg compares modern-day gun huggers to Agamemnon, who in Euripides' play "Iphigenia at Aulis," sacrifices his daughter because he doesn't want to look weak to his troops.

Rachel Treisman of NPR: "'"No Way To Prevent This," Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens' has been republished 21 times in almost exactly eight years. Its headline has remained the same for every major mass shooting from Isla Vista, Calif., in 2014 to Tuesday's school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The main image, and basic facts about the shooting, are updated every time. It always quotes a fictional resident of that state lamenting a tragedy they describe as inevitable[.]... 'At press time, residents of the only economically advanced nation in the world where roughly two mass shootings have occurred every month for the past eight years were referring to themselves and their situation as "helpless,"' Tuesday's version -- like its predecessors -- concludes. The Onion leaned into its message on Wednesday, sharing a Twitter thread listing every version of the piece from over the years."

Amanda Taub of the New York Times: "'The modern quest for gun control and the gun rights movement it triggered were born in the shadow of Brown [v. Board of Education],' Reva Siegel, a constitutional scholar..., wrote in a 2008 article.... 'Directly and indirectly, conflicts over civil rights have shaped modern 'understandings of the Second Amendment.' Desegregation sparked a reactionary backlash among white voters, particularly in the south, who saw it as overreach by the Supreme Court and federal government.... Promises to protect the traditional family from the perceived threat of feminism drew in white women.... The gun control laws in the United Kingdom, Australia and Norway were all passed by conservative governments.... [In the U.S.,] the Federalist Society pushed for nominations of conservative judges, slowly reshaping the judicial branch into a conservative institution that enshrined a broad Second Amendment right for individuals to own guns. Unless Supreme Court precedents like District of Columbia v. Heller get overturned, it would be difficult for the government to enact broad gun control measures."

** Cops Dither While Killer Opens Fire. From the Guardian's live updates of developments in the Uvalde massacre:"Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman's rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses have told Associated Press. 'Go in there! Go in there!' nearby women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not go in." MB: As I wrote a couple of days ago, it seems these murders might have been averted with better policing. ~~~

~~~ Tess Owen of Vice: "Texas officials are clapping themselves on the back for what they've described as 'heroic' and 'courageous' actions by law enforcement who responded to an armed 18-year-old at an elementary school on Tuesday.... Officials are being strangely opaque about what actually happened at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. When asked how much time passed between the gunman arriving at the school and the gunman being killed, Texas' Director of Public Safety Steve McCraw offered an indefinite response.... The difference[s] between some of the official accounts were striking....

Robert Klemko, et al., of the Washington Post: "The gunman in Tuesday’s elementary school massacre was a lonely 18-year-old who was bullied over a childhood speech impediment, suffered from a fraught home life and lashed out violently against peers and strangers recently and over the years, friends and relatives said.... In a Wednesday news conference, state officials said [the shooter] purchased a semiautomatic rifle at a local gun store on May 17, bought 375 rounds of ammunition the next day, then went back to the local gun store on Friday to purchase a second semiautomatic rifle.... A spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety said the gunman wore a vest used to store extra magazines == often used by tactical police units -- without the armor plates that law enforcement officers typically wear." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The main job of a bartender is to sell alcoholic drinks, but I think most states require bartenders to stop selling drinks to visibly drunk patrons, especially those who may try to drive themselves home. So why not require gun sellers to refuse to sell a kid two semi-automatic weapons & 375 rounds? Oh. Gun lobby. BTW, I gather from the British TV shows I watch that in the U.K., residents have to register every gun they own (including antiques), allowing the police to see whether or not there are guns in the home before they respond to a domestic disturbance. Fat chance most U.S. states will do that. In fact, "as of January 1, 2019..., nine states explicitly prohibited the creation of such registries."

Naomi Nix & Rachel Lerman of the Washington Post: "Facebook said Wednesday that the Texas gunman sent direct messages regarding his attack on one of its platforms, something the social media giant learned after the school shooting. Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference that the gunman posted his plans on the social media site before the attack. The gunman ... wrote, 'I'm going to shoot my grandmother' and 'I'm going to shoot an elementary school' shortly before the attack, according to Abbott. But in a tweet, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said, 'The messages Gov. Abbott described were private one-to-one text messages that were discovered after the terrible tragedy occurred.' Another company spokesman, Joe Osborne, clarified that the messages were sent privately but declined to say which of its social networks were used. Facebook, which was renamed Meta last year, also operates Instagram and private messaging service WhatsApp."

Katie Glueck, et al., of the New York Times: "In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey unpacked lipstick, an iPhone and something else from her purse in one campaign advertisement -- 'a little Smith & Wesson .38,' she said. A Republican candidate for governor in Georgia declared in a different spot, 'I believe in Jesus, guns and babies.'... More than 100 television ads from Republican candidates and supportive groups have used guns as talking points or visual motifs this year. Guns are shown being fired or brandished, or are discussed but not displayed as candidates praise the Second Amendment, vow to block gun-control legislation or simply identify themselves as 'pro-gun.'" The reporters also discuss why Democrats don't often hype gun safety measures in their ads.

Marie: After reading Akhilleus' and Patrick's comments at the end of yesterday's thread, I predict that the next GOP rap on Democrats will be that coastal elites are plotting to replace "real Americans" with pod libs they've rocketed in from a planet far, far away. Expect NASA funding to go the way of gun safety laws.

Tom Jackman & Peter Hermann of the Washington Post: "The executive order to improve policing in the United States unfurled by President Biden on Wednesday has direct effect only on federal officers and agents, who were instructed to wear body cameras, create a national database of police misconduct and conduct thorough internal investigations in use of force cases. But there are about five times as many local police officers and sheriffs deputies nationwide as federal agents, and the president doesn't have authority over them.... Still, local police officials say they have already implemented most of the reforms being ordered by Biden federally, though some community activists say the pace of change hasn't been fast enough. And two of the key contributors to the Biden order, the leaders of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), said the Biden reforms were largely based on changes already enacted at the local level."

Kimberly Kindy & Laura Reiley of the Washington Post: "When a whistleblower sent a 34-page report to the Food and Drug Administration in October alleging a host of unsanitary conditions at an Abbott infant formula factory, the top official in charge of food safety didn't see it. In fact, Frank Yiannas, the FDA's deputy >commissioner for food policy and response, didn't learn about the complaint until four months later, according to Yiannas and others knowledgeable about the case.... Other top FDA officials less-versed in food safety had elected not to send new inspectors to the plant in Sturgis, Mich.... The national fallout over the Abbott case has exposed a fractured structure at an agency that has long prioritized drugs and medicine over food safety, experts say.... Yiannas said he continues to be cut out of the FDA's oversight of the Abbott facility. He began work on a corrective action plan for Abbott in February but said he was told to 'stand down' by [former Deputy Commissioner Janet] Woodcock. The FDA disputed [Yiannas' claims]...."

Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "Federal Reserve officials agreed at their last meeting that the central bank needed to move 'expeditiously' to bring down the most rapid pace of inflation in 40 years, with most participants expecting as many as three half-a-percentage-point interest rate increases in the months ahead, minutes of the Fed's May meeting showed."

Trump Favored Hanging Pence. Maggie Haberman & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Shortly after hundreds of rioters at the Capitol started chanting 'Hang Mike Pence!' on Jan. 6, 2021, the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows..., told colleagues that ... Donald J. Trump was complaining that the vice president was being whisked to safety. Mr. Meadows, according to an account provided to the House committee investigating Jan. 6, then told the colleagues that Mr. Trump had said something to the effect of, maybe Mr. Pence should be hanged." Two committee witnesses confirmed Meadows' remarks. "The committee has also gathered testimony that Mr. Meadows used the fireplace in his office to burn documents, according to two people briefed on the panel's questions.... Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio..., signaled he would not appear for his deposition on Friday unless the panel turned over voluminous documents to him." A Yahoo! News summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I recall reading accounts early last year that during the insurrection, Trump did not call Pence to check on his well-being. Now we know why. Trump was unhappy his veep wasn't lynched.

Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department has stepped up its criminal investigation into the creation of alternate slates of pro-Trump electors seeking to overturn Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory in the 2020 election, with a particular focus on a team of lawyers that worked on behalf of ... Donald J. Trump, according to people familiar with the matter. A federal grand jury in Washington has started issuing subpoenas in recent weeks to people linked to the alternate elector plan, requesting information about several lawyers including Mr. Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and one of his chief legal advisers, John Eastman, one of the people said. The subpoenas also seek information on other pro-Trump lawyers like Jenna Ellis, who worked with Mr. Giuliani, and Kenneth Chesebro, who wrote memos supporting the elector scheme in the weeks after the election. A top Justice Department official acknowledged in January that prosecutors were trying to determine whether any crimes were committed in the scheme."

Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "Federal regulators Wednesday announced that Twitter will pay a $150 million fine to settle allegations that it deceptively used email address and phone numbers it had collected to target advertising, in one of the largest privacy settlements federal regulators have reached with a tech giant. The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department said the company also will be banned from profiting off the 'deceptively collected' data and be required to notify the more than 140 million users who were affected that it used their phone numbers and email addresses for advertising, according to a news release about the settlement. And the company will be required to implement and maintain a new privacy program that will require the company to review the security risks of new products." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yo, Elon. Another excuse for you to bail: "Gosh, they never told me about that potential $150MM liability."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here.

Moises Velasquez-Manoff in the New York Times Magazine: "A wave of parents has been radicalized by Covid-era misinformation to reject ordinary childhood immunizations -- with potentially lethal consequences.... [One pediatrician speculates] that rampant misinformation related to the Covid-19 vaccines, and the fact that pundits like Tucker Carlson on Fox News have devoted a lot of time to bashing them -- among other untruths, he has suggested that the vaccines make people more likely to contract Covid-19, not less -- has begun to taint some people's view of long-established vaccines.... Such doubt has been accompanied by, and may have been augmented by, an erosion of confidence in medical expertise generally."

Beyond the Beltway

Oklahoma. Luke Vander Ploeg & Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma signed a bill on Wednesday that bans nearly all abortions starting at fertilization. The new law, which takes effect immediately, is the most restrictive abortion ban in the country. The law makes exceptions in cases where an abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest if they have been reported to law enforcement.... 'If other states want to pass different laws, that is their right, but in Oklahoma we will always stand up for life,' [Stitt said]." MB: Uh-huh. Until birth. The Guardian's story is here.

Oregon. Mike Baker of the New York Times: "A romance novelist who wrote about 'How to Murder Your Husband' was convicted in her husband's killing on Wednesday following a contentious trial in which prosecutors leaned on a 'puzzle' of circumstantial evidence to portray the author as a duplicitous spouse who spent months quietly plotting the perfect crime. Nancy Brophy, 71, stood quietly ... as the verdict was handed down, seven weeks after the trial began in Portland, Ore." The Guardian's story is here.

Pennsylvania Senate Race. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "The Republican primary for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania will go to a recount, with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician backed by ... Donald J. Trump, clinging to a narrow advantage over David McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, in one of the nation's most intensely watched midterm contests. Dr. Oz was leading Mr. McCormick by 902 votes as of Wednesday, according to Leigh M. Chapman, the state's acting secretary of the commonwealth, who said that all 67 of Pennsylvania's counties had reported unofficial tallies to the state. The recount could lead to a series of lawsuits and challenges in the marquee primary, one that could ultimately determine control of the closely divided Senate. That legal wrangling has already begun: On Monday, Mr. McCormick filed a lawsuit demanding that undated mail-in ballots should be counted."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: Russia's "central bank cut interest rates again on Thursday, the latest in a raft of measures by Moscow aimed at stabilizing an economy buffeted by Western sanctions and four months of fighting in Ukraine. The move came a day after ... Vladimir V. Putin promised to increase the minimum wage and military benefits, a rare acknowledgment of the costs of his war, while insisting that the Russian economy was doing better than some had predicted when he had his military invade Ukraine.... The move came a day after President Vladimir V. Putin promised to increase the minimum wage and military benefits, a rare acknowledgment of the costs of his war, while insisting that the Russian economy was doing better than some had predicted when he had his military invade Ukraine.... The European Union has stalled on its proposed ban on Russian oil, held up by Hungary's refusal to back the measure along with the other 26 members of the bloc. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Viktor Orban asked that the proposed embargo remain off the table. He said that his concerns about it had not been resolved." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' summary of developments Wednesday is here. ~~~

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

News Lede

New York Times: "Ray Liotta, who created intense, memorable characters in 'Goodfellas,' 'Field of Dreams' and other films as well as on television, died in his sleep on Wednesday night or early Thursday in the Dominican Republic. He was 67."

May 25, 2022

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the massacre of children and teachers at a grade school in Uvalde, Texas are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here.

There were 27 school shootings with injuries or deaths this year.... The Gun Violence Archive ... has counted 212 mass shootings that have occurred so far this year, as of Tuesday. -- Jaclyn Diaz of NPR

The President of the Murder Capital of the World:

~~~ Matt Viser & Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "President Biden, in remarks that intermingled despair and anger, attempted to shame Congress on gun control Tuesday while openly questioning why the country he now leads has been incapable of coming up with an antidote to the mass shootings that show no signs of abating. A father who has lost two of his own children, a man who has delivered perhaps more eulogies than any living politician, and a president who is confronting numerous challenges was forced, once again, to console a country reeling from tragedy.... It was the second time in the course of 10 days that an 18-year-old in body armor carried a rifle into a building full of unsuspecting people, interrupting everyday life for everyday Americans with terror, mayhem and bloodshed.... Vice President Harris deviated from her scheduled remarks at an evening gala for the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.... 'Enough is enough. Enough is enough.... 'As a nation, we have to have the courage to take action.'" ~~~

     ~~~ And there's this, from the report: "Several Republicans said Tuesday that they wanted to wait for more information about the shooting before discussing potential action." Two mass murders in 10 days, one targeting Black grocery-shoppers and one targeting little schoolchildren, and they need "more information"?

Sen. Chris Murphy Tuesday, in the Murder Capital of the World:

~~~ Colby Itkowitz, et al., of the Washington Post: "Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut who once held a 15-hour filibuster on the Senate floor on the need for stricter gun laws in the United States, returned there Tuesday night to plead with his colleagues to find a way to put politics aside and work together to stop the carnage of mass shootings.... The aftermath of Sandy Hook was the closest Congress has come in the past decade to passing any meaningful changes to the nation's gun laws, but when a modest bill to strengthen background checks came to a vote in the Senate, only four Republicans voted for it, while four Democrats, none of whom are still serving, voted against it. Since then, there has been only frustration and anger after mass shootings in places of worship, in stores, at a concert, at a nightclub, at a yoga studio and in schools, making many fear that anyplace in the United States could be next. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) charged Republicans with robbing the lives of young children.... House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) encapsulated the shock and anger felt by Democrats toward their Republican colleagues, also noting that legislation passed in the House last year had been languishing in the Senate.... House Democrats passed two bills in March 2021 to strengthen the country's gun laws by closing what they see as loopholes and expanding background checks for gun purchasers." Politico's report is here.

How many more times will Senate Republicans express outrage at horrific shootings like the one today in Uvalde, Texas, and then block meaningful, bipartisan background-check legislation supported by nine out of ten Americans and most responsible gun owners? -- Rep. Steny Hoyer, House Minority Leader, Tuesday

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said on Twitter that he was 'completely sickened and heartbroken,' that he was 'lifting up in prayer' for the community and that there had 'been too many of these shootings.' Cruz, as well as ... Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), is scheduled to speak Friday at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Houston, about 275 miles from Uvalde.

Just to be clear fuck you @tedcruz you fucking baby killer. -- Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) ~~~

~~~ Emily Cochrane & Katie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Within hours of the shooting in Uvalde, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, moved to clear the way to force votes as early as Thursday on legislation that would strengthen background checks for gun purchasers, pushing to revive measures with broad appeal that Republicans have blocked in the past. The pair of bills would expand criminal background checks to would-be gun buyers on the internet and at gun shows and lengthen the waiting period for gun buyers flagged by the instant background check system to allow more time for the F.B.I. to investigate. The measures, passed by the House in 2019 and again last year, have languished in the Senate amid Republican opposition. Even as they publicly mourned the massacre that killed 19 children and two adults on Tuesday, Republican senators gave little indication that their positions had changed." The Hill has a story here.

Here's what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted when he was running for governor in 2015: "I'm EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let's pick up the pace Texans. @NRA"

Steve M.: "... while we're waiting for more information [about the shooter], a parasite named John Cardillo -- a blue-check right-wing commentator with nearly 300,000 followers including J.D. Vance and several GOP members of Congress, posted this: 'If initial reports are accurate and this mass murderer of children was an illegal alien who was being chased by the Border Patrol, Democrats should never again be allowed to hold an elected office in the United States.'... The governor himself said that [the shooter] is a U.S. citizen who appears to have attended Uvalde High School.... Tell me why I shouldn't believe that Cardillo knew exactly what he was doing -- spreading a rage-inducing falsehood, because inducing rage is the right's prime directive. It's what right-wingers do every waking hour of their lives.... Benjamin Goggin [tweeted] 'People have taken the photo of an unassociated trans person with the trans pride flag and are claiming its the Texas shooter Salvador Ramos.... This comes on the heels of Twitter announcing their crisis misinformation policy less than a week ago, where they promised to attach warnings to misleading claims in crisis situations... guess it still needs some work!'... [Business Insider reported,] '... Arizona GOP congressman Paul Gosar spread a false and transphobic claim that the suspected shooter was a "transsexual leftist illegal alien." Gosar tweeted the claim even though authorities had already identified the suspect as an 18-year-old male resident of Uvalde, where the shooting occurred.'"

From the New York Times' live updates of Tuesday's primary election results: "Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia won the Republican nomination for a second term on Tuesday, resoundingly turning back a primary challenge that had been engineered by Donald J. Trump and delivering the former president his biggest electoral setback of the 2022 primaries. Seeking retribution for Mr. Kemp's decision to certify the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, Mr. Trump had personally recruited former Senator David Perdue to run for governor, worked to clear the field for him, recorded television ads, held a rally and even transferred $2.64 million from his political accounts to help him.... ~~~

~~~ "Stacey Abrams will advance to Georgia's general election for governor after running in the state's Democratic primary unopposed.

~~~ "Representative Lucy McBath, who gained national prominence as a gun control and racial justice activist after her teenage son was shot and killed, defeated on Tuesday Representative Carolyn Bourdeaux for the Democratic nomination in the Seventh District of Georgia, according to The Associated Press. Ms. McBath currently represents a nearby district. But under the once-in-a-decade redistricting process, Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, signed into law a new map that transformed Ms. McBath's district so that it overwhelmingly favored Republicans. The Seventh, a version of which Ms. Bourdeaux currently represents, became strongly Democratic under the new lines, and Ms. McBath chose to run there instead. ~~~

~~~ "Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Republican official who famously rebuffed former President Donald J. Trump's requests to 'find' enough votes to help him overturn the 2020 election, defeated a Republican primary challenge on Tuesday. Mr. Raffensperger, who serves as Georgia's top elections official as secretary of state, won his G.O.P. primary against Representative Jody Hice, a Republican congressman who voted to overturn the 2020 election and who was backed by Mr. Trump. ~~~

~~~ "Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who became the first Black senator from Georgia, overpowered his primary challenger on Tuesday to win the chance to secure a full six-year term in November, according to The Associated Press. ~~~

~~~ "Herschel Walker accepted the Republican nomination for the Georgia Senate seat held by Raphael Warnock, dishing out red meat to the partisan crowd by telling them he was ready to save the country from 'a bunch of maniacs too drunk with power' who 'don't even like this country.' ~~~

~~~ "Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose far-right beliefs and confrontational behavior earned her opposition in both parties, won the Republican primary in her Northwest Georgia House district, beating a businesswoman who had garnered support among some in the G.O.P. establishment. ~~~

~~~ "In Georgia, Chris Carr successfully defended a primary challenge from John Gordon, a candidate backed by ... Donald Trump, to secure the party's nomination for attorney general. ~~~

~~~ "Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama won the Republican nomination for governor, according to The Associated Press, surpassing 50 percent of the vote despite facing a barrage of attacks from primary challengers on her right. Ms. Ivey had shifted her messaging in the homestretch of the race to embrace ... Donald J. Trump -- who did not endorse her or any of her competitors -- and to vilify the left. ~~~

~~~ "Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama, who aided Donald J. Trump's effort to subvert the 2020 election and won his endorsement for a Senate seat, only to have the former president turn on him as he slid in the polls, survived that humiliation on Tuesday, earning a place in a Republican primary runoff. Mr. Brooks, a six-term congressman from Huntsville, will face Katie Britt, a former lobbyist, in a runoff election on June 21 after neither received more than 50 percent of the vote, according to The Associated Press. ~~~

~~~ "The race in the Texas 28th Congressional District hasn't been called, but the incumbent Henry Cuellar has maintained a narrow lead over his progressive challenger, Jessica Cisneros. ~~~

~~~ "Rochelle Garza, a civil rights lawyer who fought for abortion access for undocumented teenage migrants in federal custody, won the Democratic nomination for Texas attorney general on Tuesday, defeating the former mayor of Galveston. ~~~

~~~ "Ken Paxton has easily defeated George P. Bush in the runoff for Texas attorney general. It's quite a fall for the Bush dynasty, whose name remains ubiquitous in the state.... Mr. Paxton, whose victory was called by The Associated Press, has been under criminal indictment for securities fraud since 2015, and his own former top aides have accused him of bribery and corruption. ~~~

~~~ "Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary for two years under ... Donald J. Trump, defeated a former radio show host Tuesday to win the Republican nomination for Arkansas governor, according to The Associated Press."

With a concentration on Georgia, Shane Goldmacher & Maya King of the New York Times summarize the election results here. ~~~

~~~ Michael Bender & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times analyze the results vis-à-vis the vengeance of Trump: "Donald J. Trump barreled into Georgia vowing to marshal voters against his enemies and punish Republicans who crossed him in 2020. Instead, Georgia voters punished him for meddling in their state. Mr. Trump picked losers up and down the ballot, most strikingly missing the mark on a third governor's race in three weeks. The dismal record, particularly for chief executives, illustrates the shortcomings of Mr. Trump's revenge tour. Since leaving the White House, and the structure it provided, the former president has erratically deployed his political power, often making choices on a whim or with little clear path to execution. That approach has repeatedly left him empty-handed and raised new doubts about the viselike grip he has held on the Republican Party.... House and Senate bids -- where Mr. Trump's endorsement record as yet is nearly unblemished -- can more easily harness national political winds."

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Participants in an insurrection against the U.S. government can be barred from holding office, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled Tuesday. The decision came in the case of Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R), who before losing his House primary this month faced a challenge from North Carolina voters arguing that his actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack made him ineligible for future public service. Cawthorn suggested his case was moot given his primary loss, but the court disagreed, given that the election had not yet been certified and because the same issue could come up in another campaign.... The appeals court sided with the voters, without ruling on whether Cawthorn personally engaged in an insurrection or on whether the process state officials planned to use to decide this question was constitutional."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "On Sunday, amid a growing number of signs that he has lost his hot hand in Republican primaries, [Donald] Trump elevated the idea of 'civil war' against an 'enemy [coming] from within' the United States. Republican leaders responded, as usual, with silence.... Trump was, once again, amplifying a favorite theme of the violent far right.... As ugly as things have been with Trump holding an iron grip over the GOP, they could actually get worse if he feels his grasp slipping and becomes even more incendiary in his provocations.... The casual expectation of violence is spreading." Milbank cites remarks by Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano, and GOP Reps. Madison Cawthorn & Marjorie Taylor Greene. "Precisely because of such people, the United States actually is at risk of civil war -- more than at any point in recent history.... A partial democracy, which the United States now is, faces three times the risk of falling into civil war."

Tyler Pager & David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Biden is expected to sign an executive order Wednesday aimed at bolstering police accountability, a move that could re-energize federal reform efforts as the nation marks the second anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd, according to multiple people briefed on the announcement.Floyd's family members, civil rights advocates and law enforcement officials are expected to join the president at the White House for a signing ceremony at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Biden will call for the creation of national standards for the accreditation of police departments and a national database of officers with substantiated complaints and disciplinary records, including those fired for misconduct, the people briefed on the matter said. The executive order also will instruct federal law enforcement agencies to update their use-of-force policies." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "A commission established by Congress last year has suggested new names for nine Army bases that honor Confederate officers, as the American military continues an examination of its history with race that was intensified in the summer of 2020, after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. The commission's recommendations, if approved by Congress and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, would see Fort Bragg -- named after Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg -- renamed Fort Liberty, the only one of the bases that would be renamed for an abstract idea and not a person. In the past, Army bases were largely named for white male soldiers. But the commission's recommendations cover a multicolored swath of Americans, including women and minorities -- two long-ignored populations that have served in or supported the army since its inception.... The Army has long come under fire for honoring treasonous Confederate generals...."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Defense attorneys for longtime Proud Boys leader Henry 'Enrique' Tarrio and U.S. prosecutors released 22 minutes of video on Tuesday that recorded his movements in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, including his meeting in an underground parking garage with Stewart Rhodes, founder of the extremist group Oath Keepers. The existence of the video and the interest of FBI and House investigators in it have been reported previously -- including in Tarrio's indictment in March on charges of conspiring to attack Congress that day -- but clips of the recording had not been made public.... Also present at the garage meeting were leaders of two right-wing pro-Trump groups: Joshua Macias, a scheduled speaker the following day, and Bianca Gracia, a Jan. 6 event organizer with White House ties." Includes a 4-minute clip.

Devan Cole of CNN: "A majority of Americans -- 54% -- now say they disapprove of the job the Supreme Court is doing following the leak of the draft opinion showing the justices are poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a new poll released Wednesday[.] The Marquette Law School poll findings represent a dramatic change from how Americans viewed the court in March, the last time the survey was conducted. Then, 54% of respondents said they approved of the nine justices and 45% said they disapproved. Now, only 44% approve."

"The Age of Constitutional Argument Is Over." Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "I have spent years ... have, in urgent conversation about due process and undue burdens, extrapolating from the opacities of Planned Parenthood v. Casey.... There is no burden from an undesired pregnancy that is undue, or at least one that can't be alleviated by putting the baby in a basket and leaving it somewhere safe, as Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested during the oral argument in December -- an idea that Justice [Samuel] Alito incorporated in his draft opinion.... Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg famously argued that the Constitution's explicit guarantee of equal protection [might have put the right to abortion on firmer footing]... Since nothing else seems to be working, I'll swing for the fences. The 13th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, prohibits both slavery and 'involuntary servitude.' What is forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to term if not involuntary servitude?... [But] the message of the Alito draft is that the age of constitutional argument is over."

Ruth Graham of the New York Times: "Leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention announced Tuesday that they were preparing to release a secretly maintained list of hundreds of ministers and church workers they say are credibly accused of sexual abuse. The existence of the list was revealed Sunday in a bombshell report on the denomination's handling of sexual abuse over the course of the past two decades. The report, produced by a third-party investigator and totaling almost 300 pages, alleged that the denomination's top leaders had suppressed reports of sexual abuse, opposed proposals for reform, and denigrated and discouraged abuse victims who approached them for help. One of the report's most shocking revelations was the existence of an internal list of 703 suspected abusers, compiled by an employee of the denomination's executive committee, its national leadership body." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Walmart pulled 'Juneteenth ice cream' from its freezers and apologized Tuesday after a social media backlash and accusations of commercializing a holiday meant to commemorate the end of American slavery. The retail giant was set to sell 'swirled red velvet and cheesecake' ice cream in a container adorned with Pan-African colors and an image of two Black hands high-fiving each other.... Walmart's website on Tuesday offered a wide array of Juneteenth products, including a T-shirt with a word cloud of social justice and Black empowerment themed phrases in the shape of Africa and Juneteenth party decorations. Another product listing features a White model wearing a black tank top with the words 'Because my ancestors weren't free in 1976,' an apparent mistaken reference to American independence in 1776." MB: In fairness to Walmart, thousands of companies commercialize every holiday, no matter how sacred or solemn.

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia Senate Race. Walker Lies About a Lie He Told Repeatedly. Daniel Dale & Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Herschel Walker, the former football star who is now the Republican nominee for a US Senate seat in Georgia, is piling dishonesty upon dishonesty on the subject of his college education. In December, Walker's campaign website falsely claimed that he had graduated from the University of Georgia, the school he left after his junior season to play professionally.... In April, CNN's KFile team revealed that Walker himself had made the false graduation claim for years -- and that Walker had even asserted that he graduated in the top 1% of his University of Georgia class. But when Walker was challenged about his graduation deception in an interview last week with FOX 5 Atlanta anchor Russ Spencer, Walker declared he had never once said he graduated from the University of Georgia." MB: Obviously, Dale & Kaczynski don't know the rule: IOKIYAR.

Indiana. Casey Smith of the AP: "Republican lawmakers in Indiana voted Tuesday to override the GOP governor's veto of a bill banning transgender females from competing in girls school sports and join about more than a dozen other states adopting similar laws in the past two years. State senators voted 32-15 in favor of overriding Gov. Eric Holcomb following the same action in a 67-28 vote by the House earlier in the day. Holcomb had said in his veto message that bill did not provide a consistent policy for what he called 'fairness in K-12 sports' when he unexpectedly vetoed it in March. The override votes were nearly party line and no lawmakers changed their votes from earlier this year. Four Republican senators joined all Democratic senators in voting to uphold the veto. In the House, three Republicans voted to sustain the veto, while one Democrat supported overriding it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michigan Gubernatorial Race. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Five of 10 Republican candidates for the gubernatorial nomination in Michigan are ineligible to appear on the ballot because of invalid signatures on their nominating petitions, the Michigan elections bureau said in a report Monday, upending the race little more than two months before the August primary. Those the elections bureau said were ineligible include former Detroit police chief James Craig and businessman Perry Johnson, who have been considered the leading candidates for the GOP nomination for Michigan governor. Others were Donna Brandenburg, Michael Brown and Michae Markey. The Michigan Board of State Canvassers, made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, will meet Thursday morning to discuss the election bureau's report and rule on whether the candidates can appear on the Aug. 2 primary ballot."

New York. Jonah Bromwich & Jan Ransom of the New York Times: "Even as she acknowledged that 'people are dying' in New York City's troubled jails, a federal judge on Tuesday refrained from stripping control of Rikers Island from local officials, instead ordering the city to revise its plan for addressing violence and disorder at the compound. The judge, Laura T. Swain, made the decision at a hearing on Tuesday after listening to arguments from the United States Attorney's Office in Manhattan and others who had raised the possibility of appointing an independent official to run New York City's jails, something that has never happened in the jail system's history. Judge Swain had given the city Department of Correction three weeks beginning last month to come up with a plan to remedy the crisis in the jail complex, where city staffing practices have left gang members in charge of some jail areas, and detainees to languish without food or medical care. But as jail officials were formulating their plan, two detainees died, the city was held in contempt in state court over its failure to provide timely medical care and questions emerged about whether the jail system properly documented a serious head injury suffered by a detainee in April."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "As the fourth month dawned in the war in Ukraine, the battle was narrowing on Wednesday to a 75-mile-wide sliver of land in the heart of the eastern Donbas region, where Russia's concentrated firepower and shortened supply lines were helping its forces make progress toward a handful of key cities.... Representatives from Finland and Sweden were in Turkey on Wednesday to meet with high-level officials in an effort to address President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's opposition to the Nordic nations' bids to join NATO." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here: "Russian forces are inching closer to the strategic city of Severodonetsk -- but their overall military performance 'remains poor,' according to the Institute for the Study of War think tank.... Meanwhile, the European Union is still trying to overcome opposition from Hungary to a deal on an embargo on Russian oil.... The British government approved the sale of Chelsea Football Club after sanctions were placed on the London-based club's longtime owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich."

Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "Newly declassified U.S. intelligence shows that a Russian naval blockade has halted maritime trade at Ukrainian ports, in what world leaders call a deliberate attack on the global food supply chain that has raised fears of political instability and shortages unless grain and other essential agricultural products are allowed to flow freely from Ukraine. Russia's navy now effectively controls all traffic in the northern third of the Black Sea, making it unsafe for commercial shipping, according to a U.S. government document obtained by The Washington Post."

Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "Eight Russian soldiers and mercenaries were charged on Tuesday with the murder of the mayor of a small Kyiv suburb and her family, Ukraine's prosecutor general said. The mayor, Olha Sukhenko, was found in a shallow grave in her village, Motyzhyn, about 30 miles west of Kyiv, on April 2, after Russians withdrew from their positions around the capital. Her husband and son were buried with her. The prosecutor general, Irina Venediktova, said five of the accused men were soldiers in the Russian Army and three were part of the private military group Wagner, which is run by a businessman close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.... Ms. Venediktova ... publish[ed] the names and photographs of all eight men."

Alan Rappeport & Eshe Nelson of the New York Times: "The Biden administration will start blocking Russia from paying American bondholders, increasing the likelihood of the first default of Russia's foreign debt in more than a century. An exemption to the sweeping sanctions that the United States imposed on Russia as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine has allowed Moscow to keep paying its debts since February. But that carve-out will expire on Wednesday, and the United States will not extend it, according to a notice published by the Treasury Department on Tuesday."

Chico Harlan & Stefano Pitrelli of the Washington Post: "European energy companies appear to have bent to ... Vladimir Putin's demand that they purchase natural gas using an elaborate new payment system, a concession that avoids more gas shut-offs and also gives Putin a public relations victory while continuing to fund his war effort in Ukraine. The system, which involves the creation of two accounts at Gazprombank, enables Europe to say it is technically paying for natural gas in euros, while Russia can say it is receiving payment in rubles -- a requirement Putin imposed on 'unfriendly' nations."

Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: At Davos, "former U.S. secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger said Monday that Ukraine should cede territory to Russia to help end the invasion, suggesting a position that a vast majority of Ukrainians are against as the war enters its fourth month.... Kissinger urged the United States and the West to not seek an embarrassing defeat for Russia in Ukraine, warning it could worsen Europe's long-term stability.... The 'status quo ante' [advocated] by Kissinger ... refers to restoring a situation in which Russia formally controlled Crimea and informally controlled Ukraine's two easternmost regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized that part of his conditions for entering peace talks with Russia would include a restoration of preinvasion borders." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Israel/Palestine. Zeena Saifi, et al., of CNN on the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh: "... Abu Akleh, a 51-year-old Palestinian-American was killed by a bullet to the head at around 6:30 a.m. on May 11. She had been standing with a group of journalists near the entrance of Jenin refugee camp, where they had come to cover an Israeli raid. While the footage does not show Abu Akleh being shot, eyewitnesses told CNN that they believe Israeli forces on the same street fired deliberately on the reporters in a targeted attack. All of the journalists were wearing protective blue vests that identified them as members of the news media.​... Videos obtained by CNN, corroborated by testimony from eight eyewitnesses, an audio forensic analyst and an explosive weapons expert, suggest that Abu Akleh was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

The Texas Tribune's report of the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, is here.

CNN reports on-air that all of the victims were in one fourth-grade classroom, where the shooter barricaded himself. Tactical forces broke into the room & killed him. The shooter wore some kind of body armor. He had written on TikTok, "Kids, be scared."

May 24, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Tyler Pager & David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Biden is expected to sign an executive order Wednesday aimed at bolstering police accountability, a move that could re-energize federal reform efforts as the nation marks the second anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd, according to multiple people briefed on the announcement.Floyd's family members, civil rights advocates and law enforcement officials are expected to join the president at the White House for a signing ceremony at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Biden will call for the creation of national standards for the accreditation of police departments and a national database of officers with substantiated complaints and disciplinary records, including those fired for misconduct, the people briefed on the matter said. The executive order also will instruct federal law enforcement agencies to update their use-of-force policies."

Ruth Graham of the New York Times: "Leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention announced Tuesday that they were preparing to release a secretly maintained list of hundreds of ministers and church workers they say are credibly accused of sexual abuse. The existence of the list was revealed Sunday in a bombshell report on the denomination's handling of sexual abuse over the course of the past two decades. The report, produced by a third-party investigator and totaling almost 300 pages, alleged that the denomination's top leaders had suppressed reports of sexual abuse, opposed proposals for reform, and denigrated and discouraged abuse victims who approached them for help. One of the report's most shocking revelations was the existence of an internal list of 703 suspected abusers, compiled by an employee of the denomination's executive committee, its national leadership body."

Indiana. Casey Smith of the AP: "Republican lawmakers in Indiana voted Tuesday to override the GOP governor's veto of a bill banning transgender females from competing in girls school sports and join about more than a dozen other states adopting similar laws in the past two years. State senators voted 32-15 in favor of overriding Gov. Eric Holcomb following the same action in a 67-28 vote by the House earlier in the day. Holcomb had said in his veto message that bill did not provide a consistent policy for what he called 'fairness in K-12 sports' when he unexpectedly vetoed it in March. The override votes were nearly party line and no lawmakers changed their votes from earlier this year. Four Republican senators joined all Democratic senators in voting to uphold the veto. In the House, three Republicans voted to sustain the veto, while one Democrat supported overriding it."

Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: At Davos, "former U.S. secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger said Monday that Ukraine should cede territory to Russia to help end the invasion, suggesting a position that a vast majority of Ukrainians are against as the war enters its fourth month.... Kissinger urged the United States and the West to not seek an embarrassing defeat for Russia in Ukraine, warning it could worsen Europe's long-term stability.... The 'status quo ante' [advocated] by Kissinger ... refers to restoring a situation in which Russia formally controlled Crimea and informally controlled Ukraine's two easternmost regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized that part of his conditions for entering peace talks with Russia would include a restoration of preinvasion borders."

Israel/Palestine. Zeena Saifi, et al., of CNN on the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh: "... Abu Akleh, a 51-year-old Palestinian-American was killed by a bullet to the head at around 6:30 a.m. on May 11. She had been standing with a group of journalists near the entrance of Jenin refugee camp, where they had come to cover an Israeli raid. While the footage does not show Abu Akleh being shot, eyewitnesses told CNN that they believe Israeli forces on the same street fired deliberately on the reporters in a targeted attack. All of the journalists were wearing protective blue vests that identified them as members of the news media.​... Videos obtained by CNN, corroborated by testimony from eight eyewitnesses, an audio forensic analyst and an explosive weapons expert, suggest that Abu Akleh was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces."

~~~~~~~~~~

Maya King of the New York Times: "The United States' political focus will shift to the South on Tuesday with elections in Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas that will signal voters' views on national issues and the strength of ... Donald J. Trump's endorsement power." King runs down some of the top contests.

Josh Boak & Aamer Madhani of the AP: "President Joe Biden opened his last day in Asia on Tuesday by holding talks with a trio of Indo-Pacific leaders that includes Australia's new prime minister on his first full day on the job and India's Narendra Modi, with whom differences persist over how to respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Biden, Modi and Japan's Fumio Kishida launched the Quad summit by welcoming Australia's Anthony Albanese to the club and expressing awe at his determination to join the informal security coalition by rushing to Tokyo immediately after being sworn in on Monday.... Biden will meet separately with Albanese and with Modi after the four-way gathering of the security group known as the Quad."

** Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has revised rules governing the use of force by law enforcement agencies overseen by the Justice Department, requiring federal agents to intervene when they see officials using excessive force or mistreating people in custody. The rule change was circulated on Friday and posted on the department's website on Monday -- two days before the second anniversary of the death of George Floyd, who died beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer as other officers looked on.... The changes represent the first revision of the department's use-of-force policy in 18 years.... The new rules will apply to the Justice Department's entire work force, including agents and officers with the F.B.I., the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The department does not have the authority to impose the requirements on local police forces or sheriff's departments, though the Biden administration intends for the document to be used as a template for localities." The Washington Post broke the story. MB: A 180 from Trump's urging officers to rough up suspects.

Jordan Libowitz & Caitlin Moniz of CREW: "The Secret Service has spent nearly $2 million of taxpayer money at Trump properties, literally paying Donald Trump for the right to protect him and his family, according to government records obtained and analyzed by CREW. Newly acquired records show roughly $1.75 million being paid to Trump's businesses; however, these records appear to be incomplete. Previously published records, by CREW and others, which do not appear to be included in the documents, account for thousands more in Secret Service spending at Trump properties, bringing the likely grand total closer to $2 million."

Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "The House Ethics Committee said Monday that it is investigating a trio of GOP lawmakers over allegations ranging from accepting a 'free or below-market-value trip' to Aruba to engaging in an improper relationship with a staffer. One of the lawmakers, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), is a freshman who lost his GOP primary battle last week. The other two are Reps. Ronny Jackson (R-Tex.) and Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.)." CNN's story on the investigation into Cawthorn is here. CNN's report on the investigation of Jackson is here.

The Trump & Rudy Show Gets Ready for Prime Time. Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol is expected to stage six public hearings in June on how Donald Trump and some allies broke the law as they sought to overturn the 2020 election results, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.... According to a draft schedule reviewed by the Guardian, the select committee intends to hold six hearings, with the first and last in prime time, where its lawyers will run through how Trump's schemes took shape before the election and culminated with the Capitol attack." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Fear of Cream Pie. Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "According to a Daily Beast review of court transcripts in a lawsuit a protester has brought against Donald Trump, his former attorney Michael Cohen explained in detail a conversation he overheard between the former president and his head of security that contradicts what Trump previously testified under oath.... Cohen was a last-minute witness in a lawsuit brought against Trump where he is accused of siccing his security team on protesters outside of Trump Tower before he became president. In a previous deposition, Trump has denied involvement. However, as the new report states, Cohen gave testimony that he was in the room when the protesters were discussed and, under questioning, stated Trump asked security head Keith Schiller, 'Did you see that there's a demonstration going on? Get rid of them,' to which Schiller reportedly replied, 'Okay, boss.'... As a side note, the Beast report also reveals Cohen also testified Trump lived in fear of being 'pied' after it happened to Microsoft founder Bill Gates.... 'For some reason that upset Mr. Trump terribly. We were all instructed that if somebody was to ever throw anything at him, that if that person didn't end up in the hospital, we'd all be fired[.]' You can read more here -- subscription required." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The list of Trumpophobias is getting longer. He's afraid of germs. He's afraid of blood. He's afraid of women's bodily fluids, especially breast milk & menstrual flows.He's afraid of slopes & stairs. He's afraid of "dangerous fruit." He's afraid of cream pies.

The U.S. Constitution, as written and ratified, is a sort of contract between the government and the governed. The body of the Constitution, in general, defines the government's power over the people. The Bill of Rights and a number of subsequent Amendments, in general, define the people's power. Case by case, the confederate Supremes are chipping away at the people's power. ~~~

~~~ Supremes Take the "Justice" Out of the Justice System. Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "The US supreme court on Monday gutted constitutional protections that for years have provided a federal lifeline to innocent prisoners facing prolonged incarceration or even execution following wrongful convictions stemming from poor legal counsel given to them by the states. In a 6 to 3 ruling, the newly-dominant rightwing majority of the nation's highest court barred federal courts from hearing new evidence that was not previously presented in a state court as a result of the defendant's ineffective legal representation. The decision means that prisoners will no longer have recourse to federal judges even when they claim they were wrongfully convicted because their lawyers failed to conduct their cases properly. The decision eviscerated the supreme court's own precedent in a move that the three liberal justices called 'illogical' and 'perverse'. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor slammed the decision, warning it would leave 'many people ... to face incarceration or even execution without any meaningful chance to vindicate their right to counsel'. The ruling in Shinn v Ramirez was written by Clarence Thomas...." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times report, which did not make the online main page, is here. The Washington Post report is here. MB: Because, relatively speaking, not many people will be convicted of major crimes they did not commit because their attorneys were negligent, I suppose this decision doesn't sound very important, or at least not to the editors at the New York Times. Likely fewer people will die because of this decision than will die because of the Supremes' expected decision to overturn Roe. But Monday's decision is still the rescission of a fundamental Constitutional right and, inevitably, it will affect poor people -- who cannot afford high-priced legal counsel -- much more than it will wealthier defendants. Ever since the Supreme Court decided Gideon in 1963 & Miranda in 1966, Americans have believed they have a right to adequate counsel. That is not true any more.

Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico report on testimony in John Durham's prosecution of David Sussmann, an attorney who brought information to the FBI about the Trump campaign's possible interactions with Alfa Bank, a Putin-linked financial institution.

** Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "... with its endemic corruption, repression of sexual minorities, de facto state control of media, constitutional manipulation and an electoral system designed to give supermajorities to the ruling party whether the votes are there or not, there is little that is democratic about [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban's democracy. For American conservatives, however, the degradation of Hungarian democracy is a feature, not a bug, of Orban's rule.... Hungary ... is a showcase for how a reactionary movement in an ostensibly free society might seize control of the state to reshape society in its own image. And the goal, for both Orban and his American admirers, is the suppression of 'wokeness,' a pejorative for a broad range of progressive ideas about race, gender and sexuality.... Which is to say that this CPAC session may have been held in Hungary so that conservatives can learn a little more about how they might unravel American democracy in order to impose their cultural and ideological vision on the country.... For all the talk [among U.S. 'conservatives'] of 'America First,' there is a deep disdain among members of this group for both Americans and the American political tradition." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If there is anything or several things in your political belief system that makes you think you should vote Republican, let Bouie's column be your guide. If you care anything for your own Constitutional freedoms, for women, for LGBTQ people, for non-White people, for, for, for, then you cannot in good conscience vote for Republicans. So swallow your conservative impulses & vote Democratic.

Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D) on Monday sued Mark Zuckerberg, seeking to hold the CEO of Facebook parent company Meta liable for data abuses and for misleading Facebook users about their privacy protections. The suit, filed in D.C. Superior Court, alleges that Zuckerberg directly participated in decisions that enabled the Trump-allied political consultancy Cambridge Analytica to siphon the personal data of millions of users. Racine sued the company over its data practices in 2018 in a case that is ongoing, but he is now seeking to fine Zuckerberg personally over his role in the events."

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "The sultans of Silicon Valley are in a political snit, with some billionaires suddenly turning against Democrats. It's not just Elon Musk. Other prominent players, including Jeff Bezos, have lashed out at the Biden administration, and we now know that Oracle's Larry Ellison participated in a call with Sean Hannity and Lindsey Graham about overturning the 2020 election.... It's hard ... to imagine what kind of bubble Musk lives in that he could declare Democrats 'the party of division and hate.'... What's going on here, I'd argue, isn't mainly about greed (although that, too). It is, instead, largely about fragile egos.... What wealth can't always buy ... is admiration. And that's an area in which the tech titans have suffered major losses.... The rich are different from you and me: They are usually surrounded by people who tell them what they want to hear."

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Monday blocked Catholic University from auctioning off a gingham dress worn by Judy Garland in 'The Wizard of Oz,' one day before it was set to be put up for bids that some expected to generate up to $1.2 million for the school's drama department. U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe ruled that a Wisconsin woman's lawsuit claiming ownership of the dress had enough merit to proceed, and that the garment could not change hands while the case is pending in federal court in Manhattan.... The dress at issue is one of six authenticated by experts as having been worn in the famous 1939 film by Garland.... In 1973, the dress was given as a gift to the Rev. Gilbert V. Hartke, the longtime head of Catholic University's drama department who died in 1986.... Earlier this month, Hartke's niece, Barbara Ann Hartke, sued to block the sale after learning about the plans to auction the dress from news reports.... Catholic University countered that the dress was gifted to the institution, and that Gilbert Hartke's vow of poverty as a Dominican priest means he didn't intend to personally own anything of value."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "Pfizer and BioNTech said on Monday that preliminary findings of a clinical trial of children younger than five showed three doses of their coronavirus vaccine produced a strong enough immune response to meet the criteria for regulatory authorization.... A spokeswoman for Pfizer said comprehensive results from the trial will be disclosed next month." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post has a story, which is free to nonsubscribers, on the Pfizer clinical trial of young children.

Beyond the Beltway

How Democracy Dies. Ron Brownstein on CNN: "Proponents of Donald Trump's discredited lie about rampant fraud in 2020 are running for positions of authority over election administration in virtually every state expected to decide the 2024 presidential race, an explosive trend dramatically underscored by Tuesday's bitterly contested Georgia Republican primary.... Republicans across the country are steadily nominating candidates echoing Trump's falsehoods about the 2020 election in contests for governor, attorney general and secretary of state.... Republican candidates echoing Trump's disproven claims of fraud about 2020 have already been nominated, or are seeking nominations, for positions with control over election machinery in all five of the states that flipped from supporting Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020 -- Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Republican candidates touting similar arguments are also in strong positions to win GOP nominations for key election positions in states just outside that inner circle of most competitive contests, including secretary of state races in Nevada, Minnesota and Colorado.... And ... Republican legislators are moving a flurry of bills to change the rules for both voter access and election administration."

Florida. Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Monday ruled it is unconstitutional for Florida to bar social media companies from banning politicians, in a major victory for tech companies that are fighting another appeals court ruling that allowed a similar law in Texas to take effect. In a detailed, 67-page opinion, a three-judge panel of the court -- all appointees of Republican presidents, including one named by Donald Trump -- unanimously rejected many of the legal arguments that conservative states have been using to justify laws governing the moderation policies of major tech companies after years of accusing the tech companies of bias against their viewpoints.... The panel found that tech companies' moderation decisions are protected by the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from regulating free speech."

Georgia Gubernatorial Race. Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Former Senator David Perdue ended his Trump-inspired campaign for governor of Georgia with a racist appeal to Republican primary voters on Monday, accusing Stacey Abrams, the Black woman who is the presumptive Democratic nominee, of 'demeaning her own race' in how she has described the state's problems.... Mr. Perdue cast Ms. Abrams as an outsider in a state that has been her home since high school."

Texas Congressional Race. Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "The latest battle in the fight for power in the Democratic Party between centrists and liberals will be decided [in Texas] Tuesday, in a runoff between Rep. Henry Cuellar and challenger Jessica Cisneros that has pitted top members of Congress against left-leaning activists. Tens of thousands of primary voters will decide whether to nominate Cuellar, 66, the only antiabortion Democrat in the U.S. House, or go with Cisneros, an immigration attorney who turns 29 on Tuesday. Cisneros has focused sharply in the closing stage of the race on abortion, while Cuellar has kept his campaign pointed toward border security. Tuesday's vote will test the potency of these two polarizing issues in a region that has shifted to the right in recent elections. Cisneros, who's raised $4.5 million, has called Cuellar the 'Joe Manchin' of Texas, comparing him to the conservative West Virginia Democrat whose votes have blocked liberal priorities on health care, child care and abortion rights."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Guardian's live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here: President Volodymyr "Zelensky, speaking Monday via video to the forum in Davos, Switzerland, said that sanctions should be pushed to the maximum, 'so that Russia and every other potential aggressor who wants to wage a brutal war against a neighbor knows exactly what this is leading to.' Also Monday, Germany's energy minister indicated that the European Union's deadlock over a Russian oil embargo may be nearing resolution.... In another new coalition effort, 20 nations agreed to provide Ukraine with new weapons including U.S.-made Harpoon anti-ship cruise missiles, 'rocket systems' and howitzers, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said.... Mr. Zelensky said an attack on a military training center in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine last week had killed 87 people, far more than initially estimated, making it one of the deadliest strikes since the Feb. 24 invasion began." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here: "European leaders condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine as it reached its three-month mark Tuesday. Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Putin 'made a big strategic mistake' in invading Ukraine, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accused Russia of 'trying to trample the aspirations of an entire nation with tanks.' Russia has increased the intensity of its operations in Donbas.... A regional official said Severodonetsk remains under Ukrainian control but is being pummeled by nearby Russian forces who are 'destroying the city completely.'... Yet a semblance of normality appears to be returning to some other parts of Ukraine. More than 2 million Ukrainians have crossed back into the country since Feb. 28, border authorities said.... Since last fall, the United States has boosted its military presence in Europe by about 30 percent to approximately 102,000 troops."

Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "A midlevel diplomat at Russia's United Nations mission in Geneva, [Boris] Bondarev on Monday became the most prominent Russian official to resign and publicly criticize the war in Ukraine since the invasion on Feb. 24.... 'Those who conceived this war want only one thing -- to remain in power forever, live in pompous tasteless palaces, sail on yachts comparable in tonnage and cost to the entire Russian Navy, enjoying unlimited power and complete impunity,' Mr. Bondarev said in [an] email [to colleagues].... 'I simply cannot any longer share in this bloody, witless and absolutely needless ignominy,' Mr. Bondarev wrote.... Mr. Bondarev's message was the latest instance of unrest in the Russian elite to emerge in the public eye.' A related NYT item was linked yesterday. The AP's story is here, and also was linked yesterday afternoon. MB: Let's hope Bondarev doesn't have to go back to Russia.

The AP reports on how life in Russia has changed since Putin invaded Ukraine: "Moscow's vast shopping malls have turned into eerie expanses of shuttered storefronts once occupied by Western retailers.... While the multinationals were leaving, thousands of Russians who had the economic means to do so were also fleeing, frightened by harsh new government moves connected to the war that they saw as a plunge into full totalitarianism. Some young men may have also fled in fear that the Kremlin would impose a mandatory draft to feed its war machine. But fleeing had become much harder than it once was -- the European Union's 27 nations, along with the United States and Canada had banned flights to and from Russia.... Many significant independent news media shut down or suspended operations." Russian businesses too are having difficulties.

Paca, Paca, Frappuccini. Jacob Bogage & Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: "Starbucks announced Monday that it will exit the Russian market, joining such corporate giants as McDonald's, ExxonMobil and Netflix in pulling out of the country over its invasion of Ukraine. The coffee giant has 130 shops in Russia, which account for less than 1 percent of its annual revenue, according to CNBC.... Nearly 1,000 companies had curtailed operations in Russia as of Monday, according to a widely followed list maintained by Yale University."

The Remarkable Compassion of the Trump Family Mob. Even when one of them pretends to give a damn, she just can't pull it off. Thanks to a friend for the link:

What a perfect metaphor for the utterly useless vanity that is Ivanka Trump: her standing at a double-sided, self-serve buffet table pretending to serve a little boy for a photo-op.

(Note to wardrobe: “No aprons. No hair nets! NO EXCEPTIONS!”) https://t.co/GFhEOLvj6N

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) May 23, 2022

News Ledes

New York Times: "Global stocks fell on Tuesday, giving back some of Monday's gains and returning to the downward drift in recent week...."

AP: "Two people were dead and more than a dozen children hospitalized as multiple medical centers cared for people injured in a shooting at a Texas elementary school, hospital officials said Tuesday. Police have said the suspected shooter is in custody. Thirteen children were taken by ambulance or bus to Uvalde Memorial Hospital after an active shooter was reported at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio, officials with the hospital said.." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: At 4:46 pm ET, MSNBC reported that Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed that 14 children & one teacher are dead; the suspect, who is "not at large," is 18 19 years old. Abbott not saw the suspect is dead. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Some outlets, including the New York Times & NBC News, are reporting that 19 children and three adults, including the shooter, died today.