April 4, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Mary Jalonick & Kevin Freking of the AP: "The Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked, 11-11, Monday on whether to send Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court nomination to the Senate floor. But President Joe Biden's nominee is still on track to be confirmed this week as the first Black woman on the high court. The committee's tie vote was expected, as there is an even party split on the panel and all of the Republicans are opposing Jackson's nomination to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. But it was still a blow to Democrats who had hoped for robust bipartisan support -- and it was the first time the committee has deadlocked on a Supreme Court nomination in three decades. In order to move forward, Democrats planned a new vote to 'discharge' Jackson's nomination from committee Monday evening and then take a series of procedural steps in the coming days to wind it through the 50-50 Senate. With the support of at least one Republican, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Jackson is on a glidepath toward confirmation by the end of the week."

Allie Malloy of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Monday called the atrocities allegedly committed by Russian forces in Bucha, Ukraine, a 'war crime' and called for a trial to take place against ... Vladimir Putin.... [Biden] said he was looking into additional sanctions against Russia.... US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the State Department would help document any attacks by Russian troops against Ukrainian civilians. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called the deaths of civilians in Bucha a 'brutality' and said 'I strongly welcome' an investigation by International Criminal Court, which has opened an investigation into war crimes in Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed the extensive footage of dead civilians in Bucha was 'fake' and that 'not a single local resident suffered from any violent actions' during Russia's occupation of the town." MB: Second only to the atrocities themselves is the audacity of the Defense Ministry to mock its victims by declaring their dead bodies "fake."

Bethan McKernan of the Guardian: "Women across Ukraine are grappling with the threat of rape as a weapon of war as growing evidence of sexual violence emerges from areas retaken from retreating Russian forces.... As Russian troops have withdrawn from towns and suburbs around the capital in order to refocus the war effort on Ukraine's east, women and girls have come forward to tell the police, media and human rights organisations of atrocities they have suffered at the hands of Russian soldiers. Gang-rapes, assaults taking place at gunpoint, and rapes committed in front of children are among the grim testimonies collected by investigators.... Rape and sexual assault are considered war crimes and a breach of international humanitarian law, and both Ukraine's prosecutor general and the international Criminal Court have said they will open investigations into reported sexual violence."

Francisco Ubilla, et al., of the AP: "The U.S. government on Monday seized a 254-foot yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to ... Vladimir Putin, a first by the Biden administration under sanctions imposed after the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine and targeting pricey assets of Russian elites. Spain's Civil Guard and U.S. federal agents descended on the Tango at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain's Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Associated Press reporters at the scene saw police going in and out of the boat.... The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close Putin ally who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents." MB: Gosh, I hope all us taxpayer-owners get to go yachting on our new luxury vessel.

Ha Ha. Meridith McGraw & Emily Birnbaum of Politico: "Top executives from ... Donald Trump's social media venture, Truth Social, have departed the company as the site has struggled to gain traction with users. Three top executives quit Truth Social, including chief technology officer, Josh Adams and Billy Boozer, the head of the company's product development, and chief legal officer, Lori Heyer-Bednar, according to two people familiar with the matter.... Trump launched the Truth Social app as a way to take on 'Big Tech.' He and his allies argued it would rival major social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, which both removed the former president from their platforms following the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill.... Trump himself has only posted once on the app. He had 827,000 followers as of Monday morning. Former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) quit his job in Congress in order to serve as CEO of Truth Social." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, Over at the Competition. Michelle Chapman & Tom Krisher of the AP: "Tesla CEO Elon Musk acquired a 9% stake in Twitter to become its largest shareholder at a time when he is questioning the social media platform's dedication to free speech and the First Amendment. The ultimate aim of Musk's 73.5 million share purchase, worth about $3 billion, is not known. Yet in late March Musk, who has 80 million Twitter followers and is very active on the site, questioned free speech on Twitter and whether the platform is undermining democracy. It's unclear just when Musk bought the stake."

Josh Margolin, et al., of ABC News: "Hunter Biden is apparently spending his father's presidency living in luxury in Malibu -- and so is his taxpayer-funded security detail. The Secret Service detail protecting the president's controversial son has been paying more than $30,000 a month to rent out a swanky Malibu, California, mansion for nearly a year, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. The agency ... selected the property in order to be located as close as possible to Biden's own rented mansion where he is paying about $20,000 a month according to property listings, sources told ABC News.... The Spanish-style estate that the Secret Service has rented sits on a 0.7-acre lot above the Malibu coast and also features 'gorgeous ocean views,' according to its listing.... Hunter Biden's California lifestyle is coming into focus just as the federal probe into his tax affairs has intensified, as sources familiar with the matter recently told ABC News." MB: Gosh, you wouldn't expect Secret Service agents to stay in more humble digs back in the Malibu hills, would you?

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Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Moscow is facing calls for international investigations and harsher sanctions -- even a ban on its gas industry -- because of growing evidence that Russian forces committed atrocities against civilians in Ukraine. Cutting off the supply of Russian gas would be a remarkable step for the European Union, which relies heavily on Russian fuel and has so far rebuffed mounting calls, including from President Biden, to impose energy-related penalties against them.... President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and Poland's prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, each described Russia's actions as genocide.... In what would mark a significant shift in her country's position, Germany's defense minister, Christine Lambrecht, said that because of what happened in Bucha, the bloc should consider banning Russian gas imports. Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, said on Twitter that more sanctions against Russia 'are on their way.'... Even as Moscow's troops pulled away from Kyiv, Russia continued to batter Ukraine's southern coastline with airstrikes on infrastructure Sunday. It has described the withdrawal as a tactical move to regroup its forces for a major push in the Donbas region in the east and south." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here: "The Washington Post has lifted its paywall for readers in Russia and Ukraine. Telegram users can subscribe to our channel for updates." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here: "Ukrainian prosecutors said they found 410 bodies in towns near Kyiv, and 140 bodies had been examined on Sunday. Satellite images from Bucha appear to show an approximately 45ft-long trench dug into the grounds of a church where a mass grave has been identified.... The Kremlin said it categorically denied any accusations related to the murder of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha and said Ukrainian allegations on the matter should be treated with doubt. Russia's foreign ministry said that footage of dead civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha had been 'ordered' by the United States as part of a plot to blame Russia. Russia's foreign ministry said it would reiterate its request for the UN Security Council to meet over what Moscow called the 'criminal provocations by Ukrainian soldiers and radicals' in the town of Bucha. Britain's mission to the United Nations, which holds the presidency of the 15-member council for April, had said the Council would hold a scheduled discussion on Ukraine on Tuesday, and not meet on Monday as requested by Russia. Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Russian Investigative Committee, ordered that an inquiry be opened on the basis that Ukraine had spread 'deliberately false information'.... Poland's prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has aimed some very strong words at the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, over economic sanctions."

Jeff Stein & John Hudson of the New York Times: "Biden administration officials have discussed intensifying their sanctions campaign against Russia as evidence emerges of the apparent execution of civilians in a suburb near Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, according to two people familiar with the matter.... The scope of the potential U.S. retaliatory measures was not exactly clear, but senior Biden officials have previously discussed potentially devastating 'secondary sanctions' that would target countries that continue to trade with Russia. The Biden administration could also impose sanctions on sectors of the Russian economy that it has not hit so far, including mining, transportation and additional areas of the Russian financial sector.... Officials stressed that planning was preliminary and no decisions had been made about potential responses." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Oleksandr Stashevskyi of the AP: "Bodies with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture lay scattered in [Bucha,] a city on the outskirts of Kyiv after Russian soldiers withdrew from the area. Ukrainian authorities on Sunday accused the departing forces of committing war crimes and leaving behind a 'scene from a horror movie.' As images of the bodies -- of people whom residents said were killed indiscriminately -- began to emerge from Bucha, a slew of European leaders condemned the atrocities and called for tougher sanctions against Moscow.... Russia's Defense Ministry rejected the accusations as 'provocation.'" The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Annabelle Timsit & Jennifer Hassan of the Washington Post: "Ukrainian officials said they have asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to visit the mass graves seen in Bucha, a suburb northwest of Kyiv, so experts can gather evidence of possible Russian war crimes. The request comes as Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said the discovery of the graves -- made as Ukrainian troops recaptured territory and Russian forces pulled back from towns they had seized in the war's earliest days -- could 'only be described as genocide.'... Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, in a tweet Sunday accusing Russia of carrying out a 'massacre,' requested that the ICC visit the scene 'to collect all the evidence of these war crimes' and use it to prosecute those responsible.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Sam Sokol & Jonathan Lis of Haaretz: "Israel's ambassador to Ukraine denounced the killing of civilians in a Kyiv suburb as a 'war crime' on Sunday, in a break from the more restrained rhetoric exhibited by Israeli officials since Russia invaded the former Soviet republic just over a month ago. 'Deeply shocked by the photos from #Bucha. Killing of civilians is a war crime and cannot be justified,' Ambassador Michael Brodsky tweeted on Sunday morning, using the hashtag #UkraineRussiaWar." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Siobhán O'Grady & Max Bearak of the Washington Post: In the Kyiv suburb of Irpin, a battlefield for weeks, "the wasteland of destruction that has replaced the neighborhoods they once called home. Most houses are destroyed or badly damaged. Piles of rubble litter what were once pleasant gardens. Abandoned dogs wander from house to house. The streets are pocked with craters from shelling.... Outside of town, the roads connecting the small enclaves that bore the brunt of the failed Russian advance on Kyiv are marked with abandoned cars, including one that was badly damaged and had the word 'children' taped to its windows. Remnants of weapons litter residents' yards. Many homes and apartment buildings were hit badly by shelling, breaking windows and walls. Russian armored vehicles are still scattered about -- abandoned or destroyed."

Cora Engelbrecht of the New York Times: "A Lithuanian documentary filmmaker has been killed in the besieged southern city of Mariupol, according to his colleagues and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's information agency. The agency said on Sunday that the award-winning filmmaker, Mantas Kvedaravicius, had been killed in an attack by Russia 'while trying to leave Mariupol.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Justin Gomez of ABC News: "White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain is warning that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is 'far from over,' despite the claim by Moscow that they are retreating from Kyiv and surrounding areas. 'I think there's a lot of evidence that Putin is simply taking his troops out of the northern part of the country to redeploy them to the eastern part of the country to relaunch a battle there,' Klain said during an ... interview with ABC 'This Week' anchor George Stephanopoulos." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tom Friedman of the New York Times has a thought that's actually worth passing through your brain even if you reject it as another instance of Friedman Oversimplification: "... I'm beginning to wonder if this conflict isn't our first true world war -- much more than World War I or World War II ever were. In this war, which I think of as 'World War Wired,' virtually everyone on the planet can either observe the fighting at a granular level, participate in some way or be affected economically -- no matter where they live.... Though this war is far from over, and Vladimir Putin may still find a way to prevail and come out stronger, if he doesn't, it could be a watershed in the conflict between democratic and undemocratic systems. It is worth recalling that World War II put an end to fascism, and that the Cold War put an end to orthodox communism, eventually even in China. So, what happens on the streets of Kyiv, Mariupol and the Donbas region could influence political systems far beyond Ukraine and far into the future." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Grammys Show Oscars Producers How It's Done. AP: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared in a video message at the Grammy Awards to ask for support in telling the story of Ukraine's invasion by Russia.... 'Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded in hospitals, even to those who can't hear them,' he said in English. 'But the music will break through anyway.'... 'Fill the silence with your music. Fill it today to tell our story. Tell the truth about the war on your social networks, on TV, support us in any way you can any, but not silence. And then peace will come to all our cities,' Zelenskyy said.... The Recording Academy, with its partner Global Citizen, prior to the ceremony highlighted a social media campaign called 'Stand Up For Ukraine' to raise money and support during the humanitarian crisis.... Following Zelenskyy's message, John Legend performed his song 'Free' with Ukrainian musicians Siuzanna Iglidan and Mika Newton, and poet Lyuba Yakimchuk, as images from the war were shown on screens behind them." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The Oscars managed a whole 30 seconds of silence for Ukraine, during which time a video appeared which read, "We ask you to support Ukraine in any way you are able. #StandWithUkraine."

Oh, Somewhere TuKKKer's Laughing. Andrew Higgins & Benjamin Novak of the New York Times: "Overshadowed by the war in Ukraine, elections on Sunday in Hungary and Serbia appear to have extended the tenures of Europe's two most Kremlin-friendly leaders, both populist strongmen fortified by their overwhelming control of the media and cheap energy from Russia. With more than 60 percent of the votes counted in Hungary, preliminary results indicated that Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister since 2010, and already Europe's longest serving leader, had won a fourth consecutive term despite accusations by the opposition that he has enabled Russia's military onslaught by cozying up for years to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.... President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, also Moscow-friendly, has governed Serbia since 2012, and was expected to win re-election after rallying his nationalist and pro-Russian base by refusing to join the European Union in imposing sanctions on Russia. Serbia hopes to become a member of the European bloc, but its application has stalled." ~~~

     ~~~ Rob Picheta & Balint Bardi of CNN: "Hungary's authoritarian leader and longtime Russian ally, Viktor Orban, has declared victory in the country's parliamentary elections, clinching a fourth consecutive term in power.... In his victory speech, Orban called Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky one of the 'opponents' he had to overcome during the campaign.... Despite opinion polls forecasting a tighter race, Orban's Fidesz party won comfortably across much of the country. Opposition leader Peter Marki-Zay even failed to win in his own district, where he had served as mayor." ~~~

     ~~~ Justin Spike of the AP: "As Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban prepares to continue his autocratic governance of Hungary for another four years, he faces a shattered opposition at home but an increasingly isolated position abroad, where his flouting of democratic standards and approach to the war in Ukraine has riled the European Union and other nations."

Mary Jalonick of the AP: "Democrats are launching a whirlwind of votes and Senate floor action Monday with the goal of confirming Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court by the end of the week. The Senate Judiciary Committee kicks off Monday morning with a vote on whether to move Jackson's nomination to the Senate floor. Democrats will then wind the nomination through the 50-50 Senate, with a final vote in sight for President Joe Biden's pick to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer."

Washington Post Editors: "Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden's Supreme Court nominee, seems to be getting rave reviews from Republicans.... Yet ... Judiciary Committee Republicans are vowing to oppose advancing her nomination when the panel meets on Monday. The reasons they have concocted are not credible.... By heaping praise on Judge Jackson while opposing her nomination, Republicans seek to obscure the unattractive image of their almost entirely White caucus rejecting the first Black woman ever nominated to the high court.... Republican senators' hypocrisy peaks when they complain that Democrats mistreated past GOP nominees, such as Justice [Amy] Barrett and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. It was Republicans who obliterated the last shreds of goodwill in the judicial confirmation process when they blocked then-Judge Merrick Garland....

David Marchese interviews Thomas Piketty for the New York Times Magazine: "In 2013, the French economist Thomas Piketty, in his best seller 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century,' ... put forth the notion that returns on capital historically outstrip economic growth.... The upshot? The rich get richer, while the rest of us stay stuck in the mud. Now, nearly a decade later, Piketty is set to publish 'A Brief History of Equality,' in which he argues that we're on a trajectory of greater, not less, equality and lays out his prescriptions for remedying our current corrosive wealth disparities. (In short: Tax the rich.)" Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

This guy's head is stuffed with more crap than his pillows. And by the way, I was told not to say this, but I will: His stuff is crap. I mean, it's absolute crap. You only find that kind of stuff in the Trump Hotel. -- Gov. Chris Sununu (R-N.H.) on Mike Lindell ~~~

I was especially stunned that Madison Cawthorn and Matt Gaetz weren't here, because nobody loves a good party more than those guys do. And so, I called Madison up to say, 'What's up, dude?' And it turns out, it was a simple scheduling conflict: The Republicans have their own formal black-tie and white-powder orgy taking place tonight in the Capitol. -- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)

~~~ Rachel Bade of Politico reports on some of the jokes delivered at the annual Gridiron Club dinner after a pandemic hiatus. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Washington Post's story is here.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post is disgusted by CBS "News"' hiring Mick Mulvaney: "... Mulvaney has been on the wrong side -- the deeply, undemocratically wrong side -- of America's most important political issues in recent years. The larger issue here, though, is the news media's blind and relentless pandering to the outdated notion that both sides of the aisle are pretty much equal these days -- that they're similar, just with different governing philosophies. That's simply not the case. 'We have a two-party system and one of the two is anti-democratic,' as NYU professor and press critic Jay Rosen put it. This basic asymmetry, he noted, 'fries the circuits' of the mainstream media, which largely refuses to recognize it or do anything about it in their coverage."

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

Way Beyond the Beltway

Hong Kong. Zen Soo & Vincent Yu of the AP: "Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said Monday she wouldn't seek a second term after a rocky five years marked by huge protests calling for her resignation, a security crackdown that has quashed dissent and most recently a COVID-19 wave that overwhelmed the health system. Her successor will be picked in May and the city's security chief during the 2019 protests is among the possible choices."

April 3, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Jeff Stein & John Hudson of the New York Times: "Biden administration officials have discussed intensifying their sanctions campaign against Russia as evidence emerges of the apparent execution of civilians in a suburb near Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, according to two people familiar with the matter.... The scope of the potential U.S. retaliatory measures was not exactly clear, but senior Biden officials have previously discussed potentially devastating 'secondary sanctions' that would target countries that continue to trade with Russia. The Biden administration could also impose sanctions on sectors of the Russian economy that it has not hit so far, including mining, transportation and additional areas of the Russian financial sector.... Officials stressed that planning was preliminary and no decisions had been made about potential responses."

Oleksandr Stashevskyi of the AP: "Bodies with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture lay scattered in [Bucha,] a city on the outskirts of Kyiv after Russian soldiers withdrew from the area. Ukrainian authorities on Sunday accused the departing forces of committing war crimes and leaving behind a 'scene from a horror movie.' As images of the bodies -- of people whom residents said were killed indiscriminately -- began to emerge from Bucha, a slew of European leaders condemned the atrocities and called for tougher sanctions against Moscow.... Russia's Defense Ministry rejected the accusations as 'provocation.'" The New York Times story, from its live updates, is here. ~~~

~~~ Annabelle Timsit & Jennifer Hassan of the Washington Post: "Ukrainian officials said they have asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to visit the mass graves seen in Bucha, a suburb northwest of Kyiv, so experts can gather evidence of possible Russian war crimes. The request comes as Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said the discovery of the graves -- made as Ukrainian troops recaptured territory and Russian forces pulled back from towns they had seized in the war's earliest days -- could 'only be described as genocide.'... Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, in a tweet Sunday accusing Russia of carrying out a 'massacre,' requested that the ICC visit the scene 'to collect all the evidence of these war crimes' and use it to prosecute those responsible.'" ~~~

~~~ Sam Sokol & Jonathan Lis of Haaretz: "Israel's ambassador to Ukraine denounced the killing of civilians in a Kyiv suburb as a 'war crime' on Sunday, in a break from the more restrained rhetoric exhibited by Israeli officials since Russia invaded the former Soviet republic just over a month ago. 'Deeply shocked by the photos from #Bucha. Killing of civilians is a war crime and cannot be justified,' Ambassador Michael Brodsky tweeted on Sunday morning, using the hashtag #UkraineRussiaWar."

Eddy Wax of Politico: "Ninety years ago, Joseph Stalin's Soviet regime inflicted a devastating famine on Ukraine, killing 3.9 million people in what became known as the Holodomor, or genocide by hunger. Now Vladimir Putin, whose invasion has stalled on the battlefield, is trying to starve Ukraine into submission again. Russian troops have laid waste to farmland, destroying agricultural equipment and planting landmines in the rich soil where crops should grow. Ukraine's traditional supply routes have been wrecked, its ports now under Russian control. In the besieged city of Mariupol -- where 170,000 people are still struggling to survive -- food had virtually run out by March 13. Aid convoys have not made it through."

Justin Gomez of ABC News: "White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain is warning that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is 'far from over,' despite the claim by Moscow that they are retreating from Kyiv and surrounding areas. 'I think there's a lot of evidence that Putin is simply taking his troops out of the northern part of the country to redeploy them to the eastern part of the country to relaunch a battle there,' Klain said during an ... interview with ABC 'This Week' anchor George Stephanopoulos."

Cora Engelbrecht of the New York Times: "A Lithuanian documentary filmmaker has been killed in the besieged southern city of Mariupol, according to his colleagues and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's information agency. The agency said on Sunday that the award-winning filmmaker, Mantas Kvedaravicius, had been killed in an attack by Russia 'while trying to leave Mariupol."

Tom Friedman of the New York Times has a thought that's actually worth passing through your brain: "... I'm beginning to wonder if this conflict isn't our first true world war -- much more than World War I or World War II ever were. In this war, which I think of as 'World War Wired,' virtually everyone on the planet can either observe the fighting at a granular level, participate in some way or be affected economically -- no matter where they live.... Though this war is far from over, and Vladimir Putin may still find a way to prevail and come out stronger, if he doesn't, it could be a watershed in the conflict between democratic and undemocratic systems. It is worth recalling that World War II put an end to fascism, and that the Cold War put an end to orthodox communism, eventually even in China. So, what happens on the streets of Kyiv, Mariupol and the Donbas region could influence political systems far beyond Ukraine and far into the future."

This guy's head is stuffed with more crap than his pillows. And by the way, I was told not to say this, but I will: His stuff is crap. I mean, it's absolute crap. You only find that kind of stuff in the Trump Hotel. -- Gov. Chris Sununu (R-N.H.) on Mike Lindell ~~~

I was especially stunned that Madison Cawthorn and Matt Gaetz weren't here, because nobody loves a good party more than those guys do. And so, I called Madison up to say, 'What's up, dude?" And it turns out, it was a simple scheduling conflict: The Republicans have their own formal black-tie and white-powder orgy taking place tonight in the Capitol. -- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)

~~~ Rachel Bade of Politico reports on some of the jokes delivered at the annual Gridiron Club dinner after a pandemic hiatus.

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Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "As Russian troops retreated from areas outside Kyiv..., they left behind devastation that is only now becoming clear. Civilians have emerged from basement shelters to clamor for bread distributed by the Ukrainian soldiers retaking territory. The husks of destroyed tanks clutter roads. Mines and booby traps have been hidden amid the wreckage. Bodies lay uncollected in streets littered with debris. The dead include civilians, some of whom Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of executing.... Russia's chief negotiator in peace talks, Vladimir Medinsky, rejected a Ukrainian counterpart's suggestion that Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and Vladimir V. Putin of Russia could soon hold direct talks.... Lithuania has stopped importing natural gas from Russia.... The head of Russia's space agency said that he would submit a proposal to the Russian government to end cooperation on the International Space Station program.... Zelensky ... called out Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, in a video address for being the 'only leader in Europe who openly supports Mr. Putin.' Orban is up for reelection on Sunday." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Sunday are here: "A series of explosions rocked Odessa early Sunday as Russia said its missiles struck an oil refinery and fuel storage facilities -- the first strike on the strategic Black Sea city's downtown as the war in Ukraine grinds into its 39th day.... An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Ukrainians to prepare for 'difficult fights' ahead in the besieged port city of Mariupol -- where Moscow has been concentrating its firepower, vying for a strategic victory that would free up thousands of troops to fight elsewhere. Britain's Ministry of Defense said Sunday that Russia's navy is strategically blockading the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to prevent Ukraine from rearming. Meanwhile, as Ukrainian troops recapture territory around Kyiv, the scope of destruction left by Russian forces has been revealed. Burned-out vehicles and bodies line the streets of nearby towns such as Bucha, which had been at the forefront of Moscow's unsuccessful attempt to encircle the capital and overthrow the government." ~~~

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

Andrew Kramer & Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "The Russian forces that were intent on overwhelming Kyiv at the war's start with tanks and artillery retreated under fire across a broad front on Saturday, leaving behind them dead soldiers and burned vehicles, according to witnesses, Ukrainian officials, satellite images and military analysts. The withdrawal suggested the possibility of a major turn in the six-week war -- the collapse, at least for now, of Russia's initial attempt to seize Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and the end of its hopes for the quick subjugation of the nation. Moscow has described the withdrawal as a tactical move to regroup and reposition its forces for a major push in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. While there are early indications that the military is following through on that plan, analysts say it cannot obscure the magnitude of the defeat.... Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian attacks continued unabated, and the Pentagon has cautioned that the formations near Kyiv could be repositioning for renewed assaults.... Ukraine's military on Saturday moved into Bucha, a key town on the west bank of the Dnipro River -- which divides Kyiv -- days after Russian forces had sacked it on their way out.... As photos of casualties in Bucha emerged, a senior adviser to Ukraine's president said on Saturday that some of the dead wearing civilian clothes appeared to have been bound and executed." ~~~

~~~ Nebi Qena & Yuras Karmanau of the AP: "Ukrainian troops moved cautiously to retake territory north of the country's capital on Saturday, using cables to pull the bodies of civilians off streets of one town out of fear that Russian forces may have left them booby-trapped. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that departing Russian troops were creating a 'catastrophic' situation for civilians by leaving mines around homes, abandoned equipment and 'even the bodies of those killed.' His claims could not be independently verified. Associated Press journalists in Bucha, a suburb northwest of Kyiv, watched as Ukrainian soldiers backed by a column of tanks and other armored vehicles used cables to drag bodies off of a street from a distance. Locals said the dead -- the AP counted at least six -- were civilians killed without provocation by departing Russian soldiers.... In his nightly video address Saturday, the Ukrainian leader said the country's troops were not allowing the Russians to retreat without a fight: 'They are shelling them. They are destroying everyone they can.'"

Daniel Boffey of the Guardian: "Russia has been accused by Ukraine of using children as 'human shields' while regrouping its forces, as the first horrifying witness accounts from the newly liberated town of Bucha, near Kyiv, emerge. Ukraine's attorney general is gathering a dossier of claims about the Russian use of local children to avoid fire when in retreat from around Ukraine's capital and elsewhere. Coaches of children were said to have been placed in front of tanks in the village of Novyi Bykiv, close to the encircled city of Chernihiv, 100 miles north of Kyiv. It was further alleged that children had been taken as hostages in a number of conflict hot spots around the country to ensure locals would not give the coordinates of the enemy's movements to the Ukrainian forces."

Daniel Boffey & Martin Farrer of the Guardian: "The retreat of Russian forces around Kyiv has left horrifying evidence of atrocities against civilians littered across the region's suburbs and towns, turned into hellish war zones by Vladimir Putin's invasion. As Ukrainian armoured columns rolled into Bucha, a town north-west of the capital, they found streets blocked by burned-out Russian tanks and military vehicles, and strewn with the bodies of civilians whom locals said had been killed by the invading forces without provocation. Photographs from the town showed a scene of devastation, with hunks of charred and destroyed tanks and armoured vehicles lined up along one street, along with dead bodies."

Anjali Singhvi, et al., of the New York Times on how Ukraine held Kyiv: "Russia vastly underestimated Ukrainians' resolve to defend their homeland. And a Russian military trained for open spaces has also struggled with basic realities of urban warfare. Even a finely orchestrated military would be challenged by the block-to-block fighting required to secure Kyiv. The Russian army has failed to even surround it. The campaign went wrong on Day 1, when Russian helicopters assaulted the Hostomel airfield on the outskirts of Kyiv and were met with stiff resistance. Because the military failed to hold the airport, it couldn't quickly build up the airborne forces needed to invade the capital."

The Little Town That Could. Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "Hyperboles aside, the people of [Vasylkiv, the] quiet provincial town of tree-lined streets and low-rise buildings dating back to the Russian empire managed to fight off Russian troops in the critical opening days of the war, preventing Russian forces from capturing strategic bases that could have allowed the nation's capital, Kyiv, to be encircled.... Accounts from residents, government officials, armed forces personnel and civilians who have enlisted territorial defense units described how Ukraine rebuffed the Russian assault and helped prevent Russia's wider aims to seize control of the country."

Thomas Gibbons-Neff & Natalia Yermak of the New York Times: "A monthlong Russian occupation ... [of] Trostyanets, a strategically located town in the country's northeast..., reduced much of the town to rubble, a decimated landscape of mangled tank hulks, snapped trees and rattled but resilient survivors.... The Ukrainian victory in Trostyanets came on March 26 -- what residents call 'Liberation Day' -- and is an example of how disadvantaged and smaller Ukrainian units have launched successful counterattacks. It also shows how the Russian military's inability to win a quick victory -- in which they would 'liberate' a friendly population -- left their soldiers in a position that they were vastly unprepared for: holding an occupied town with an unwelcoming local populace.... The unrelenting violence from both Ukrainian and Russian forces fighting to retake and hold the town raged for weeks and drove people into basements or anywhere they could find shelter. On Friday, dazed residents walked through the destroyed town, sorting through the debris as some power was restored for the first time in weeks."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is putting public and private pressure on his Senate Republican colleagues to oppose President Biden's nominee to the Supreme Court, despite the historic nature of her nomination to be the first Black woman on the court. McConnell has dug in against Biden's nominee, arguing the vote isn't about 'race or gender' but about Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's record, which he says is too soft on crime and indicates she'll likely turn into an activist judge on the bench. McConnell made an impassioned plea at a recent Senate GOP lunch for his colleagues to oppose Biden's choice, according to senators who attended the meeting." MB: Yeah, it's not about race or gender; Mitch just doesn't want a gal with cornrows messing of the Court's class picture.

Jacob Heilbrunn in Politico Magazine: "... as Putin's deadly and unprovoked assault [on Ukraine] drags on, the GOP is also going to war -- against itself. As so often, the battle revolves around the America First doctrine first espoused by ... Donald Trump in April 2016.... Trump did manage to shift conservative thinking about Putin himself, a powerful adversary of the U.S. who wields power with an autocratic strength that Trump and his followers openly admire. Even the invasion of Ukraine has not prompted Trump to alter his fundamentally adoring view of the Russian leader.... Though Trump's view of Putin may be little changed, the Russian invasion has broken open the uneasy marriage between the followers of Trump, who abhor foreign entanglements, and the hawks of the Republican Party, who have rarely seen a war they didn't want to enter." MB: Anti-hawkish though I may be, I can't see why the America First crowd doesn't understand that America First means just the opposite: the U.S. in decline & retreat, its head in the sand, denying the rest of the world exists and therefore weakening itself relative to other powerful nations.

Jodi Kantor & Karen Weise of the New York Times: "In the first dark days of the pandemic, as an Amazon worker named Christian Smalls planned a small, panicked walkout over safety conditions at the retailer's only fulfillment center in New York City, the company quietly mobilized.... In the end, there were more executives -- including 11 vice presidents -- who were alerted about the protest than workers who attended it.... The company fired Mr. Smalls, saying he had violated quarantine rules by attending the walkout. in dismissing and smearing him, the company relied on the hardball tactics that had driven its dominance of the market.... Mr. Smalls and his best friend from the warehouse, Derrick Palmer, had set their sights on unionizing after he was forced out. Along with a growing band of colleagues -- and no affiliation with a national labor organization -- the two men spent the past 11 months going up against Amazon, whose 1.1 million workers in the United States make it the country's second-largest private employer.... The union spent $120,000 overall, raised through GoFundMe, according to Mr. Smalls.... Amazon spent more than $4.3 million just on anti-union consultants nationwide last year, according to federal filings." An NPR story is here.

AP: "An Algerian man imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for nearly 20 years has been released and sent back to his homeland. The Department of Defense announced Saturday that Sufyian Barhoumi was repatriated with assurances from the Algerian government that he would be treated humanely there and that security measures would be imposed to reduce the risk that he could pose a threat in the future." A New York Times story is here.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Davey Alba of the New York Times: "Dr. [Robert] Malone spent decades working in academic centers and with start-ups seeking to bring new medical treatments to market and to combat the Zika and Ebola outbreaks. But in recent months, as the coronavirus pandemic has persisted, he has taken up an entirely different role: spreading misinformation about the virus and vaccines on conservative programs. In many of his appearances [on shows like 'The Joe Rogan Experience' and Fox's 'Hannity'], Dr. Malone questions the severity of the coronavirus, which has now killed nearly one million people in the United States, and the safety of the coronavirus vaccines, which have been widely found to be safe and effective at preventing serious illness and death.... Dr. Malone also routinely sells himself on the shows as the inventor of mRNA vaccines, the technology used by Pfizer and Moderna for their Covid-19 shots.... In addition to his regular appearances on conservative shows, Dr. Malone has more than 134,000 subscribers to his Substack newsletter. About 8,000 pay the $5 monthly cost, he said, which would amount to at least $31,200 in monthly revenue."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Pakistan. Pamela Constable of the Washington Post: "Pakistan's embattled prime minister, Imran Khan, outmaneuvered his political opponents Sunday as they attempted to oust him from power through a vote of no confidence. Within two hours, Parliament had been dissolved at Khan's request so the country can prepare for new elections. Khan orchestrated an abrupt suspension of the expected no-confidence vote by the legislature's acting speaker, a member of his party, then immediately announced on live TV that new elections would be held."

News Lede

Another Saturday Night in the U.S. AP: "Six people were killed and 10 injured in a mass shooting early Sunday as bars and nightclubs were closing in downtown Sacramento and police in California's state capital were searching for at least one suspect.... No arrests have been made and no information about a suspect has been released. Authorities urged witnesses or anyone with recordings of the shooting to contact police. They said they don't know whether one or more suspects were involved."

April 2, 2022

Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukrainians were taking stock of the destruction left behind by Russian troops that have pulled out of parts of the country's north and areas near the capital, Kyiv, as a humanitarian convoy was set to try again on Saturday to deliver much-needed aid to the besieged southern city of Mariupol. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, in his videotaped nightly address, accused Russians of planting mines and booby-trapping the dead with explosives as they retreated. He said the country was bracing for scaled-up attacks in the east.... Military analysts say that Russia appears to be following through on its stated intention of pulling away from areas around the capital and concentrating on the east, in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance and counterattacks and mounting supply and morale problems among Russian forces.... In the southeast, the International Committee of the Red Cross said that its convoy would try again on Saturday to reach Mariupol. Its relief workers hope to bring critical supplies to the tens of thousands who have been trapped there for weeks amid relentless Russian shelling, and to serve as an escort to help more of them leave the city safely. The Red Cross said its convoy, consisting of three cars and nine personnel, was not given the security guarantee it needed to make it to Mariupol on Friday, despite earlier Russian pledges to establish a cease-fire and a humanitarian corridor." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Saturday are here: "Ukrainian officials said at least 3,000 people fled the war-torn port city of Mariupol on Friday, some in private vehicles and others in at least 42 buses that carried residents to safety.... [Red Cross] teams were 'on the move' from Zaporizhzhia to Mariupol, a spokesman told The Post early Saturday. Roughly 100,000 people remain trapped in Mariupol, according to Ukrainian officials. Virtual peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv took place Friday, with no major breakthrough, following a fuel depot fire in a Russian city near the border that the Kremlin blamed on a Ukrainian strike.... Kyiv would not confirm or deny its role, although some military experts said it was probably responsible. The Pentagon on Friday announced a new $300 million security assistance package for Ukraine that will include drones, counter-drone systems and armored vehicles.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video posted early Saturday, threatened to punish Ukrainians who collaborate with Russian occupying forces, a day after he ousted two generals he accused of disloyalty. He also urged Russian families to keep their sons away from Moscow's latest military draft." ~~~

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

Anton Troianovski, et al., of the New York Times: "Five weeks into... Vladimir V. Putin's invasion of Ukraine, there are signs that the Russian public's initial shock has given way to a mix of support for their troops and anger at the West.... Polls and interviews show that many Russians now accept Mr. Putin's contention that their country is under siege from the West and had no choice but to attack. The war's opponents are leaving the country or keeping quiet." ~~~

     ~~~ So maybe these pro-war Russians haven't heard the next story. Or maybe they have. ~~~

~~~ Extraordinary War Crimes. Martin Farrer of the Guardian & Agencies: "Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned that retreating Russian forces are creating 'a complete disaster' by leaving mines on homes and corpses in their wake, as renewed missile strikes on Ukrainian cities were reported. Ukraine's president issued the warning on Saturday morning as the humanitarian crisis in the encircled city of Mariupol deepened, with Russian forces reportedly blocking evacuation operations for the second day in a row.... 'They are mining the whole territory. They are mining homes, mining equipment, even the bodies of people who were killed,' Zelenskyy said in his customary video address to the nation. 'There are a lot of trip wires, a lot of other dangers.'"

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "The Biden administration will work with allies to transfer Soviet-made tanks to bolster Ukrainian defenses in the country's eastern Donbas region, a U.S. official said on Friday. The decision to act as an intermediary to help transfer the Soviet-made tanks, which Ukrainian troops know how to use, comes in response to a request from President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, the official said. It marks the first time in the war that the United States has helped transfer tanks."

David Klepper & Amanda Seitz of the AP: "As that war rages, Russia is launching falsehoods into the feeds of Spanish-speaking social media users in nations that already have long records of distrusting the U.S. The aim is to gain support in those countries for the Kremlin's war and stoke opposition against America's response. Though many of the claims have been discredited, they're spreading widely in Latin America and helping to make Kremlin-controlled outlets some of the top Spanish-language sources for information about the war. Russian outlet RT en Español is now the third most shared site on Twitter for Spanish-language information about Russia's invasion."

President Biden speaks about the March jobs report:

     ~~~ See related stories linked under Friday's News Ledes.

Michael Laris of the Washington Post: "The Department of Transportation released tailpipe pollution standards Friday that would require average fuel efficiency of new cars and light trucks to reach 49 miles per gallon in less than four years. Biden administration officials said the new standards, which largely reverse a Trump-era rollback, would help cut greenhouse gas emissions and save consumers money at the pump. The regulation finalizes the Biden administration's rejection of the approach taken under the Trump administration, which in 2020 weakened standards set during the Obama presidency. The new rule requires the nation's automakers to increase fuel efficiency fleetwide by 8 percent starting late next year, another 8 percent the year after and 10 percent for model year 2026."

Jake Tapper of CNN: "The Biden administration on Friday secured the release of Safi Rauf, 27, an Afghan-American Naval reservist who was doing humanitarian work in Kabul and who had been in captivity under the Taliban since December. Rauf and his brothers, all former Afghan refugees, founded the Human First Coalition, which, along with others in the 'Digital Dunkirk' movement, worked to evacuate those desperately trying to flee after Kabul fell.... Rauf and his brother Anees Khalil, a green card holder, were taken into custody by the Taliban on December 18.... In a statement first obtained by CNN, Safi Rauf announced that on Friday, 'we were released due to the efforts of the US government (most especially political officer JP Feldmayer, Special Representative Tom West, and Lt. Col. Jason Hock), our family and loved ones, the Qatari government, the British government, our team at Human First Coalition, and countless friends in country, in the region, and all over the world.' A source with the Human First Coalition tells CNN that Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, former New York Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey and national security adviser Jake Sullivan were also very helpful in securing Rauf's release." A Washington Post report is here.

Eric Tucker of the AP: "An American man kidnapped in Afghanistan two years ago is seen in a video pleading for his release so that he can be reunited with his family, according to a recording posted Friday by The New Yorker magazine. The video of Mark Frerichs marks the first time that the Navy veteran and civilian contractor has been seen by the public since his abduction in Kabul on Jan. 31, 2020. Frerichs, of Lombard, Illinois, is believed to be held by the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network, and U.S. officials across two presidential administrations have tried unsuccessfully to get him home."

Felicia Sonmez & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The House on Friday passed legislation that would remove marijuana from the federal schedule of controlled substances, a move that comes as an increasing number of states have passed decriminalization laws.... The House passed similar legislation in December 2020, but it was not brought up for a vote in the Senate, which was controlled by Republicans at the time. Friday's 220-to-204 vote largely took place along partisan lines, with only three Republicans joining most Democrats to back the legislation. Two Democrats voted 'no.' It remains unclear whether the latest measure will receive a vote in the Senate. The White House has not yet issued a statement on whether President Biden supports the legislation.... The three Republicans voting 'yes' on Friday were Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Brian Mast (Fla.) and Tom McClintock (Calif.). The two Democrats voting 'no' were Reps. Henry Cuellar (Tex.) and Chris Pappas (N.H.)." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So an honest vote from Matt Gaetz, but not so from Madison "Key Bump" Cawthorn. And, no, I had no idea what a key bump was until Merriam-Webster picked up on Madison's false assertion. In fact, the term is so specialized -- a bump of powder cocaine (or other drug) off a key -- that Webster's doesn't recognize it yet. So Madison's greatest contribution to society might be popularizing a drug term. What an influencer!

Lock Him Up. Mary Jalonick of the AP: "... increasingly, lawmakers on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault are pressing Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate [Donald] Trump and his associates. They've been laying out possible crimes in at least one court filing and openly discussing others, all related to that day's violent attack by Trump supporters looking to disrupt Congress' formal certification of his reelection defeat. Here's a look at some of the suggested crimes floated by the House panel[.]" ~~~

~~~ Tierney Sneed of CNN: "After several recent developments in the January 6 investigations that put the Justice Department in the center of the political whirlwinds, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday that the only pressure his agency feels is to 'do the right thing' by following 'the facts and the law.'"

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "An Alabama man who brought a truckload of weapons, ammunition, and Molotov cocktails near the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 was sentenced to 46 months in prison on Friday. Lonnie Coffman, 72, who has been detained since his arrest nearly 15 months ago, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. He pleaded guilty in November. Under a plea deal, 46 months was at the top of the agreed upon sentencing guideline range. Kollar-Kelly agreed with the probation office that 46 months was appropriate in Coffman's case. 'I don't think in all my years as a judge I've had such a collection of weapons,' Kollar-Kotelly said. 'He had like almost a small armory in his truck, ready to do battle.'" The Washington Post's report is here.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A lawsuit by D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D) seeking to bankrupt groups and individuals it asserts are responsible for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress added more defendants Friday, following criminal charges filed against leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. The original lawsuit filed Dec. 14 in federal court in Washington named the two groups as defendants and sought damages under the modern version of an 1871 law known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, which was enacted after the Civil War to safeguard government officials carrying out their duties and protect civil rights.... The new defendants include Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was charged in January and who has pleaded not guilty to seditious conspiracy; and Matthew Greene, who in late December became the first Proud Boys member named in a lead criminal conspiracy case to plead guilty and cooperate with U.S. prosecutors."

"Iced Out." Zachary Cohen, et al., of CNN: "Just days before the US Capitol riot, White House officials started providing fewer details about ... Donald Trump's calls and visits, the person in charge of compiling those activities for the official record told the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, according to two sources with knowledge of the probe. The committee interviewed Trump's presidential diarist roughly two weeks ago.... Other witnesses also have told the panel there was significantly less information being shared with those involved in White House record-keeping during the same time period, according to three sources.... One source described how White House record-keepers appeared to be 'iced out' in the days leading up to January 6. 'The last day that normal information was sent was the 4th,' said another source.... 'So, starting the 5th, the diarist didn't receive the annotated calls and notes. This was a dramatic departure. That is all out of the ordinary.'... ~~~

~~~ "The Presidential Records Act outlines that the office of the presidency has an obligation to adequately document activities of the president. But there is little to no enforcement mechanism to ensure the law is followed. While there are criminal consequences for the destruction of government records, there are none that penalize the failure to create them in the first place."

The Rip-off Artiste. Timothy Carney of the right-wing Washington Examiner: "When Donald Trump's handpicked White House photographer Shea Craighead asked him to write the foreword to her book of Trump-era White House photos, he had one thought: How can I make money off this? Trump's first idea, according to a New York Times story, was to take a cut from Craighead's royalties. In the end, the former president decided to simply beat her to market by publishing his own book of photos and pocketing millions in royalties himself.... . Donald Trump never looks out for the little guy, the working man, or even his own supporters.... Donald Trump is a conman and always has been a conman. Since 2015, he's just added tens of millions of new marks."

The Enabler. Alex Henderson of the National Memo: "... according to Daily Beast reporters Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley, one of Trump's worst enablers during his four years in the White House was far-right GOP activist and conspiracy theorist Ginni Thomas.... Ginni Thomas, Suebsaeng and Rawnsley emphasize in an article published by the Beast on April 1, encouraged ... [Trump's demand for absolute loyalty] and offered lists of people she recommended hiring or firing.... 'Years before she became one of then-President Donald Trump's most prominent coup supporters, Ginni Thomas was already notorious in his West Wing for, among other things, ruining staffers' afternoons by working Trump into fits of vengeful rage'''. Thomas ... had perfected a proven formula of enthralling and manipulating the president's emotions and mood.... On multiple occasions throughout the Trump era, Thomas would show up in the White House, sometimes for a private meeting or a luncheon with the president. She often came armed with written memos of who she and her allies believed Trump should hire for plum jobs -- and who she thought Trump should promptly purge -- that she distributed to Trump and other high-ranking government officials. The fire lists were particularly problematic, as they were frequently based on pure conjecture, rumor, or score-settling, where even steadfastly MAGA aides were targeted for being part of the 'Deep State'..." The Daily Beast story is firewalled.

John Koblin & Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, is in advanced talks with MSNBC to join the network after she leaves the Biden administration, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. Ms. Psaki could leave the White House as soon as next month, one of the people said.... It's unusual for a White House press secretary to be linked to a news organization before formally leaving their government post.... During Ms. Psaki's regularly scheduled briefing..., she faced tough questions -- including from a potential future colleague -- about her possible new job after an Axios report.... Kristen Welker, NBC News's co-chief White House correspondent, pressed her repeatedly.... 'How is it ethical to have these conversations with media outlets while you continue to have a job standing behind that podium?' Ms. Welker asked.... The White House said in a statement: 'Jen is here and working hard every day on behalf of the president to get you the answers to the questions that you have, and that's where her focus is.'" Okay then. ~~~

     ~~~ Sara Fischer of Axios broke the news here.

Marie: I found it! I found it! Here's where to begin to look for your family records in the 1950 Census. ~~~

Click to see larger image.

~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "On Friday, the Census Bureau released the individual records collected during the 1950 Census. (Bureau policy is to maintain the privacy of census documents for 72 years.) There has probably never been a census release in which so many living Americans can trace their own roots, given the size of the baby boom and the extended life expectancy that boomers enjoy.... America's first three baby-boom presidents -- Bill Clinton, George W. Bush andDonald Trump -- were all born within about two months of each other in mid-1946.... As you will see, [finding their records] is not as easy as it might seem." Neither Bush nor Trump appears in the records.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Good News. Ben Finley & Kimberlee Kruesi of the AP: "COVID-19 hospitalization numbers have plunged to their lowest levels since the early days of the pandemic, offering a much needed break to health care workers and patients alike following the omicron surge. The number of patients hospitalized with the coronavirus has fallen more than 90% in more than two months, and some hospitals are going days without a single COVID-19 patient in the ICU for the first time since early 2020. The freed up beds are expected to help U.S. hospitals retain exhausted staff, treat non-COVID-19 patients more quickly and cut down on inflated costs. More family members can visit loved ones. And doctors hope to see a correction to the slide in pediatric visits, yearly checkups and cancer screenings."

Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS "News": "CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said she decided to terminate the order that authorized the border expulsions because of improving pandemic conditions, including increased vaccination rates in the U.S. and migrants' home countries and the drop in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations since the Omicron surge this winter.... Walensky said she delayed the termination until late May to give Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials time to implement coronavirus mitigation measures, including a migrant vaccination campaign launched earlier this week. Walensky's order on Friday marks the beginning of the end of an unprecedented Trump-era border policy started in March 2020 that the Biden administration continued for over a year, despite concerns about the validity of its public health justification. U.S. authorities along the Mexican border have used Title 42 to expel migrants over 1.7 million times in two years.... After Title 42 is terminated, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday, migrants who enter the U.S. illegally will be placed in deportation proceedings, and his department will strive to deport those who don't qualify for asylum using longstanding immigration laws." The Washington Post's report is here. ~~~

~~~ The Great Mancini. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Friday slammed President Biden's decision to rescind Title 42, a Trump-era health order used to rapidly deport people who cross the border without authorization, as 'a frightening decision' that would likely increase the volume of migrants at the southern border.... 'Title 42 has been an essential tool in combatting the spread of COVID-19 and controlling the influx of migrants at our southern border. We are already facing an unprecedented increase in migrants this year, and that will only get worse if the Administration ends the Title 42 policy,' Manchin warned." MB: Thank you for your support, Joe. Manchin's grandparents were all immigrants. (Manchin is an anglicization of the name Mancini (pronouned Man-chee-nee). But, you know, that was then; this is now.

Beyond the Beltway

Alaska Congressional Race. Jazmine Ulloa & Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Sarah Palin ... said Friday that she was entering the race for Alaska's lone congressional seat.... She will be joining a crowded field of nearly 40 candidates to fill the House seat left vacant by Representative Don Young, whose unexpected death last month has spurred one of the largest political shifts in the state in 50 years. Ms. Palin said in a statement that she planned to honor Mr. Young's legacy, while painting a dystopian picture of a nation in crisis and criticizing the 'radical left,' high gas prices, inflation and illegal immigration." The Guardian's story is here. MB: Those of you who think I was wrong to link this story will get no argument from me.

Florida/New York. Mafia Mystery. Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "After decades in prison, and less than a year before his likely release, Dominic Taddeo apparently decided he couldn't wait to get out. Mr. Taddeo, a convicted hit man for the mafia in upstate New York, has seemingly restarted his criminal career after escaping custody in Florida, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Mr. Taddeo, 64, had been, until recently, an inmate at a medium-security correctional facility in Sumterville, Fla., about 50 miles northwest of downtown Orlando. But in mid-February, he was transferred to a residential halfway house nearby. And after a recent 'authorized appointment,' he did not return, according to the prison bureau, and was officially declared as having escaped on Monday.... 'Either there's something wrong upstairs, or something bad happened to him,' [Jerry Capeci, a Mafia reporter, said.]"

Georgia Senate Race. Walker Claimed He Was Graduated in the Top One Percent of His University Class. He Wasn't Graduated at All. Andrew Kaczynski & Em Steck of CNN: "For years, Herschel Walker has told the same inspiring story: that he graduated in the top 1% of his class at the University of Georgia. He's told the story, according to a review of his speeches by CNN's KFile, during motivational speeches over the years and as recently as 2017. The only problem: it's not true. Walker, who is a candidate in the Republican primary race for US Senate in Georgia, acknowledged in December that he did not graduate from Georgia after the Atlanta-Journal Constitution first reported that the false claim was listed on his campaign website.... 'So that Herschel that all the kids said was retarded become valedictorian of his class. Graduated University of Georgia in the top 1% of his class,' [Walker has said]." Walker also claimed to be his high school class's valedictorian. He was not. ~~~

     ~~~ Natalie Allison of Politico: "In the eight weeks running up to the May 24 primary, two super PACs supporting [Herschel] Walker's GOP rivals plan to drop millions of dollars in ads attacking Walker, according to people familiar with their spending plans -- ad buys that stand to alter the shape of a race that could decide control of the Senate. Walker is still expected to finish first in the primary. But his opponents intend to drive his support under 50 percent and force him into a June runoff, when the second-place finisher will be able to focus attention on what many Georgia Republicans contend is Walker's unique vulnerability to Democratic attack: his history of alleged domestic abuse. With one of the Senate's top fundraisers, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, looming in the fall, some Republicans fear Walker won't be able to survive the onslaught of Democratic attack ads."

We just can't think of enough ways to screw Black Americans, but we're trying. ~~~

~~~ Louisiana. Darryl Fears of the Washington Post: "The city of New Orleans built 67 ranch-style houses on a sprawling former garbage dump in the late 1970s without saying a word to the Black, mostly first-time home buyers who were encouraged to move there by city officials. Under the untreated soil where the new residents planted fruit trees, grew flower gardens and watched their children play in the dirt were 149 toxic contaminants, 49 of them linked to cancer, according to an analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency. The saga of 57 families living on the former Agriculture Street Landfill in the Gordon Plaza housing subdivision is considered by many to be one of the worst examples of environmental injustice in the United States.... And now, nearly three decades after residents finally learned they were living on deadly ground, government officials have refused their demand to be relocated from homes that lost their appeal and nearly all of their value."

Michigan. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Jurors [in the trial of four men who] ... had schemed to abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan ... briefly began deliberations on Friday afternoon and were scheduled to resume those discussions on Monday.... Testimony during the trial, one of the highest-profile domestic terrorism prosecutions in recent memory, has provided a glimpse into increasingly brazen and violent discourse among some on the far right. But the case has also raised questions about when hateful political speech and gun possession cross a line from constitutionally protected acts to crimes."

We wanna thank Jeff Bezos, 'cause while he was up in space we was signing people up. -- Chris Smalls, union organizer ~~~

~~~ New York. Karen Weise & Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "A handful of employees at Amazon's massive warehouse on Staten Island, operating without support from national labor organizations, took on one of the most powerful companies in the world. And, somehow, they won. Workers at the facility voted by a wide margin to form a union, according to results released on Friday, leading to one of the biggest victories for organized labor in a generation.... The win on Staten Island comes at a perilous moment for labor unions in the United States, which saw the portion of workers in unions drop last year to 10.3 percent, the lowest rate in decades, despite high demand for workers, pockets of successful labor activity and rising public approval.... The win by a little-known, independent union with few ties to existing groups appears to raise as many questions for the labor movement as it answers: not least, whether there is something fundamentally broken with the traditional bureaucratic union model that can only be solved by replacing it with grass-roots organizations like the one on Staten Island." The AP's story is here.

New York. Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo sued New York's ethics commission on Friday, contending that its efforts to force him to turn over the proceeds of a $5.1 million book deal were a violation of his constitutional rights. The dispute centers on the commission's approval of Mr. Cuomo's 2020 memoir -- a decision it reversed last year over what it said were misrepresentations of, among other things, his use of state resources. When the panel, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, ordered Mr. Cuomo to turn over the book's proceeds, the state attorney general's office balked at enforcing the directive, saying the commission needed to conduct an investigation before seeking to recoup the money. In the lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Albany, Mr. Cuomo is trying to block such an investigation, arguing that the commission's previous actions and what the suit characterizes as prejudicial comments demonstrated that it had already decided on his guilt."

New York. Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "A Manhattan judge on Friday denied Ghislaine Maxwell's request for a new trial, rejecting her claim that a juror's failure to disclose his personal history of being sexually abused as a child had deprived her of a fair and impartial jury. The decision by Judge Alison J. Nathan appears to clear the way for Ms. Maxwell to be sentenced on June 28. The ruling is also likely to be part of any appeal by Ms. Maxwell of her conviction. Ms. Maxwell, 60, was found guilty on Dec. 29 of sex trafficking and four other counts related to accusations she had helped the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein procure, groom and sexually abuse underage girls." A CNBC story is here.

Way Beyond

Elisabetta Povoledo & Ian Austen of the New York Times: "Pope Francis apologized on Friday for the Roman Catholic Church's involvement in a system of Canadian boarding schools that abused Indigenous children for 100 years, an announcement that comes after the discovery last year of signs of unmarked graves with the remains of hundreds of people, many of them children. 'I feel shame -- sorrow and shame -- for the role' that Catholics played 'in the abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values,' Francis said. Francis also promised he would travel to Canada, where he would be better able to 'express to you my closeness' as part of a process of healing and reconciliation."