March 26, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Poland Chooses Soverignty Over Nationalism, For Now. Tyler Pager, et al., of the Washington Post: President "Biden's two-day visit to Poland ... underscores the rapidly changing nature of the U.S.-Poland relationship, which has transformed into a close partnership in the face of Russia's invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Arriving at Poland's Presidential Palace for a meeting with [President Andrzej] Duda on Saturday afternoon, Biden embraced the Polish leader and the two men beamed at the cameras as they shook hands and Biden placed his other hand on Duda's shoulder. At the start of an expanded bilateral meeting, Duda said that the relationship between the United States and Poland is 'flourishing' and that the bond was 'strengthened immensely' by Biden's visit. In his remarks, Biden emphasized United States' enduring commitment to defending NATO member states, seeking to reassure the Polish people, who Duda said feel a 'great sense of threat' because of Russia's aggression.... In recent weeks, Polish leaders have pivoted from attacking some of the core institutions of liberal democracy to touting their role as defenders of European unity and values.... The fortified bond between Poland and the United States could be temporary, however."

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: Ginni Thomas' text messages to Mark Meadows "once again show how ... Donald Trump's conspiracies, lies and obsessions infected the Republican Party (and in many quarters still do), from its rank-and-file base to some of its most establishment figures. The more that is known..., the clearer it is just how extensive the efforts to overturn the election were and how high up they went.... Now it's known just how much Ginni Thomas pushed senior officials in the government to embrace allegations that were unproven at the time and ultimately disproved, claims that embodied some of the most outlandish of the ideas that were circulating then.... For anyone who thought that Trump's claims of a stolen election were a game to salve a bruised presidential ego and that those around him went along to humor him, the Thomas texts speak to the real threats that existed at the time."

Addy Bink of Nexta Media Wire, published by KLTA: "Just a day after [Sen. Ted] Cruz questioned [Judge Ketanji Brown] Jackson on [a children's book titled] 'Antiracist Baby' while showing pages of the book on posters, the title sits atop Amazon's list of best sellers in children's books on prejudice and racism." This gave "The Daily Show" a marketing idea. Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the lead: ~~~

     ~~~ AND, as Akhilleus points out in today's Comments, being a huckster for books he dislikes is not Cancun Ted's only recent winger nitwittery.

Ray Hartmann in the Raw Story: "Sen. Josh Hawley was residing in a glass house when he metaphorically hurled rocks at Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson -- falsely suggesting that she was soft on sex-related crimes during her U.S. Supreme Court nomination hearing.... On multiple instances in his fleeting two-year stint as Missouri attorney general -- before he was elected to the U.S. Senate -- Hawley was either disinterested or inept in prosecuting sex crimes. Some of that history was laid out today in a National Memo report [Saturday]."

When All the President's Men Plotted to Assassinate an American Journalist. Mark Feldstein in the Washington Post: Before the Watergate break-in, White House special counsel Charles Colson, top White House operative, E. Howard Hunt & his sidekick G. Gordon Liddy conspired to assassinate syndicated columnist Jack Anderson, who was long a thorn in Richard Nixon's side. Nixon had earlier tried to get Anderson with a number of dirty tricks, but the stunts backfired or fizzled. "In the aftermath [of Watergate], a Senate committee investigated and confirmed the plot to poison Anderson. Liddy and Hunt eventually acknowledged their participation in the conspiracy. Colson never did.... Nixon['s] ... role in the Anderson plot has never been definitively established. Hunt believed that Colson didn't have the 'balls' to order the assassination on his own and had acted at Nixon's behest. Colson denied that. But it is hard to imagine Nixon's closest advisers plotting to execute America's leading investigative reporter without the tacit -- if not explicit -- authorization of the president."

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Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "President Biden wraps up a three-day trip to Europe on Saturday, having met with NATO leaders over the military and economic responses to ... Vladimir V. Putin's aggression in Ukraine, as Russian military officials signaled that the war could be entering a new phase focused on securing control of separatist regions in the east of the country.... White House officials said President Biden would participate in a meeting on Saturday morning between Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Ukraine's foreign minister and Ukraine's defense minister.... Mr. Biden is scheduled to meet with President Andrzej Duda of Poland, a key NATO ally, on Saturday and is expected to visit in Warsaw with some of the more than two million refugees who have arrived in the country after fleeing the fighting in Ukraine.... A statement by a senior Russian general on Friday seemed to suggest that Russia was giving up, at least for now, on its unstated goal of taking all of Ukraine, and that taking the capital, Kyiv, and other major cities was not currently a primary military objective. Analysts cautioned that the statement could be intended as misdirection.... But it is clear that fierce Ukrainian resistance has exacted a heavy toll on Russian troops and pushed back attempts to capture a number of major cities." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Saturday are here: President "Biden, on the last day of a European trip intended to bolster the NATO alliance, will also deliver a speech at Warsaw's Royal Castle focused on defending democratic principles, meet with his Polish counterpart and the mayor of Warsaw, and visit a soccer stadium sheltering Ukrainian refugees." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's liveblog for Satuday is here.

Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "... a senior aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky said officials were 'very disappointed' in the outcome of the series of summits Wednesday among NATO and European Union leaders in Brussels that brought Biden to Europe. 'We expected more bravery. We expected some bold decisions,' Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's chief of staff, told the Washington-based Atlantic Council via live video Friday.... By issuing a general statement of ongoing military support, while continuing to deny Ukraine's requests to send it Soviet-era jet fighters, impose a no-fly zone against Russian aircraft over Ukraine, and speed the flow of more heavy weaponry, Yermak said, NATO 'is just trying to ensure that it is not provoking Russia to a military conflict' with the West, calling the alliance's inaction 'appeasement.'... Yermak's remarks served as a reminder that Ukraine remains outmanned, outgunned and facing more destruction each day."

Chris Megerian & Darlene Superville of the AP: "President Joe Biden visited U.S. troops stationed near Poland's border with Ukraine on Friday and was getting a first hand look at the growing humanitarian response to the millions of Ukrainians who are fleeing to Poland to escape Russia's assault on their homeland. Biden's first stop was with members of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, visiting a barber shop and dining facility set up for the troops, where he invited himself to sit down and share some pizza. The Americans are serving alongside Polish troops.... With the troops, he shared an anecdote about visiting his late son, Beau Biden, while he was deployed in Baghdad and going by his mother's maiden name so as not to draw attention to himself." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "Russia has begun to mobilize ilitary reinforcements to send into Ukraine as its combat losses continue to grow, the Pentagon said Friday, citing its latest intelligence assessments. 'We now have indications that they are drawing on forces from Georgia,' said a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.... 'Russian troops that are based in Georgia. We don't have an exact number.' Thousands of Russian troops are stationed at military outposts from Georgia to Syria to Tajikistan, many of them assigned to motorized rifle brigades that experts consider combat-capable and ready to deploy immediately. Those forces have become the centerpiece of what the Pentagon believes is the Kremlin's plan to keep its ground offensive going, as Russian commanders in Ukraine sustain heavy casualties."

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Russian mercenaries with combat experience in Syria and Libya are gearing up to assume an increasingly active role in a phase of the war in Ukraine that Moscow now says is its top priority: fighting in the country's east. The number of mercenaries deployed to Ukraine from the Wagner Group, a private military force with ties to ... Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, is expected to more than triple to at least 1,000 fighters from about 300 a month ago, just before the invasion, a United States official said on Friday. The official added that the mercenaries would focus on defeating Ukrainian forces in the country's Donbas region, where Russia-backed separatists have been fighting a war since 2014, and elsewhere in eastern Ukraine." ~~~

~~~ Robert Burns of the AP: "Russian forces in Ukraine seem to have shifted their focus from a ground offensive aimed at Kyiv, the capital, to instead prioritizing what Moscow calls liberation of the contested Donbas region in the country's industrial east, officials said Friday, suggesting a new phase of the war. It appears too early to know where this will lead. Has ... Vladimir Putin scaled back his ambitions in search of a way out of the war? The dug-in defensive positions taken recently by some Russian forces near Kyiv indicate a recognition of the surprisingly stout Ukrainian resistance. On the other hand, Russian forces might be aiming to continue the war with a narrower focus, not necessarily as an endgame but as a way of regrouping from early failures and using the Donbas as a new starting point, one U.S. analyst said."

Anton Troianovski & Javier C. Hernández of the New York Times: "In a speech on Friday from the nondescript, beige-walled office in which he has been conducting much of his public business this month, [Vladimir] Putin made no mention of Ukraine. Instead, he expanded upon a personal obsession: 'cancel culture.'... 'The names of Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff are being removed from playbills. Russian writers and their books are being banned,' Mr. Putin said. 'The last time such a mass campaign to destroy objectionable literature was carried out was by the Nazis in Germany almost 90 years ago.'... That the Russian president delivered a disquisition on Western public discourse on Friday may seem odd at a time when Russia is fighting what some analysts believe to be its bloodiest war since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. But it underscores how Mr. Putin tries to channel cultural grievances and common stereotypes for political gain -- while using language that also allows him to speak directly to possible allies in the West." A Guardian story is here.

Rachel Treisman of NPR: "Russian soldiers are kidnapping Ukrainian journalists in contested territories and holding them hostage, according to international groups and survivor accounts. The Paris-based global nonprofit Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Friday that Russians have kidnapped, detained and tortured dozens of journalists, while the U.N.'s Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights told the BBC that it has verified at least 36 cases of civilian detentions in Ukraine."

Nebi Qena & Andrea Rosa of the AP: "About 300 people were killed in the Russian airstrike last week that blasted open a Mariupol theater, Ukrainian authorities said Friday in what would make it the war's deadliest known attack on civilians yet. In a vain attempt to protect the hundreds of people taking cover inside the theater, 'CHILDREN' in Russian had been printed in huge white letters on the ground in two places outside the grand, columned building to make it visible from the air. For days, the government in the besieged and ruined city of Mariupol was unable to give a casualty count for the March 16 attack. In announcing the death toll on its Telegram channel Friday, it cited eyewitnesses. But it was not immediately clear whether emergency workers had finished excavating the ruins of the Mariupol Drama Theater or how witnesses arrived at the figure." (Also linked yesterday.)

Reuters, via the Guardian: "US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) is planning to close a troubled detention center [for immigrants] in Alabama and will significantly scale back the number of beds contracted at three other facilities, citing concerns about conditions, according to an internal government document seen by Reuters.... Immigration advocates have for years raised complaints about a lack of adequate medical care and other problems at several Ice facilities and urged the administration of Joe Biden to close down the centers. Ice is currently detaining nearly 22,000 immigrants at facilities across the country."

Morning Has Broken, Manchin Has Spoken. Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senator Joe Manchin III said on Friday that he would vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court, signaling that Democrats are uniting behind her after a bruising set of hearings that showed deep opposition by Republicans. The backing of Mr. Manchin, a centrist Democrat from West Virginia and a crucial swing vote, appeared to all but ensure Judge Jackson's confirmation. Mr. Manchin's support was critical, since all 50 Senate Democrats may be needed to approve her nomination, given that few if any Republicans appear ready to support her in a vote that Democrats hope to hold early next month."

Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "The pretense is gone -- the pretense that Supreme Court confirmation hearings are about determining nominees' fitness for office, gleaning a sense of their legal acumen and approach to judging, and gathering the information necessary to exercise a solemn senatorial power. No longer. Advise and consent has yielded to smear and degrade. The goal is not to illuminate but to tarnish: If a nominee can't be stopped, at least the other side can inflict some damage on her and the opposition party.... Never has a confirmation hearing been less about law and more about partisan point-scoring and presidential campaign-launching."

A Warning to Peasants with Pitchforks from the Order of the Coif. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post writes an amusing column on Republican muck-a-mucks with elite pedigrees & degrees who are warning us peasants about "a bunch of elite lawyers," "coastal elites," and "managerial elites." MB: I particularly liked Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), a/k/a Sen. Foghorn Leghorn, "has been heard denouncing the 'goat's-milk-latte-drinkin', avocado-toast-eating insider's elite,' and "whose bio says he has a 'degree with first class honors from Oxford University (Magdalen College).' This man of the people -- Phi Beta Kappa at Vanderbilt, executive editor of the law review at the University of Virginia and a member of something called the Order of the Coif...."

Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: The House January 6 committee's "Republican vice chairwoman, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, has led the charge in holding Mr. Trump to account for his efforts to overturn the election, but has wanted to avoid any aggressive effort that, in her view, could unfairly target Justice Thomas, the senior member of the Supreme Court. So although a debate has broken out inside the committee about summoning [Ginni] Thomas to testify, the panel at this point has no plans to do so, leaving some Democrats frustrated. That could change, however: On Friday, despite the potential for political backlash, Ms. Cheney indicated she has no objection to the panel asking Ms. Thomas for a voluntary interview.... ~~~

"Justice Thomas could in the coming months consider a long list of important legal issues surrounding Jan. 6.... A main strategist in the effort to try to overturn the election, the lawyer John Eastman, was a former clerk of Justice Thomas's.... Federal judge, Carl J. Nichols, who is hearing cases related to the Capitol riot, is also a former clerk of Justice Thomas's.... Judge Nichols is the only federal jurist in Washington so far to have thrown out the key obstruction of Congress charge that the Justice Department has used against hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants...." A CNN story is here.

Justice Thomas' conduct on the Supreme Court looks increasingly corrupt. Judges are obligated to recuse themselves when their participation in a case would create even the appearance of a conflict of interest. A person with an ounce of common sense could see that bar is met here. -- Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) ~~~

~~~ Robert Barnes & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "Democratic lawmakers and many legal ethicists said they were shocked by revelations that Virginia Thomas, known as Ginni, repeatedly pressed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to pursue efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, at a time when ... Donald Trump was saying he would challenge the results at the Supreme Court.... Legal ethicists, even some who in the past have been sympathetic to the notion that justices' spouses are entitled to their own political activities, said the revelations presented a serious problem for the Supreme Court.... In January, [Clarence Thomas] was the only justice to note his dissent when the court turned down Trump's request to block the National Archives from sending White House documents requested by the House committee as part of its investigation." An NBC News story is here. A Guardian report is here. ~~~

Any justice, judge or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.... He shall also disqualify himself ... [where] he knows that ... his spouse ... has a financial interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding, or any other interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding.... -- 28 U.S. Code § 455~~~

     ~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The messages from [Ginni] Thomas to Mark Meadows ... sent during and just after the fraught weeks between the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, demonstrated that she was an active participant in shaping the legal effort to overturn the election.... Ms. Thomas's activities should have prompted Justice Thomas to disqualify himself from cases related to them, said Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University.... Justice Thomas, [Sen. Ron] Wyden said, 'needs to recuse himself from any case related to the Jan. 6 investigation, and should Donald Trump run again, any case related to the 2024 election.'... [Besides the National Archives documents case, Justice Thomas] also participated in the court's consideration of whether to hear a related appeal, one in which Mr. Meadows filed a friend-of-the-court brief saying that 'the outcome of this case will bear directly' on his own efforts to shield records from the House committee investigating the attacks beyond those he had provided. The Supreme Court last month refused to hear the case, without noted dissent. There was no indication that Justice Thomas had recused himself. In December 2020, around the time of the text messages, Justice Thomas participated in a ruling on an audacious lawsuit by Texas asking the court to throw out the election results in four battleground states. The court rejected the request, with Justices Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. issuing a brief statement suggesting the majority had acted too soon in shutting the case down. In February 2021, Justice Thomas addressed election fraud in a dissent from the Supreme Court's decision to turn away a challenge to Pennsylvania's voting procedures." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, Clarence's failure to recuse was not only unethical; it also broke federal law. ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux, in LG&$: "Of course, the larger problem here is that Ginni's actions pale in comparison to what her husband already did: (citing a tweet by Ian Millhiser of Vox): 'If you think the Ginni Thomas texts are bad, wait until you learn about how Clarence Thomas successfully conspired with four other high-ranking government officials to overturn the result of the 2000 election.'"

AP: "Justice Clarence Thomas was discharged from the hospital Friday after a stay of nearly a week, the Supreme Court said. Thomas, 73, had entered the hospital last Friday evening after experiencing 'flu-like symptoms.' He was treated for an infection with intravenous antibiotics, the court said Sunday in announcing his hospitalization. He had been expected to be released from the hospital Monday or Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Proof Is in the Pudding. Philip Bump of the Washington Post on how the complaint in Trump's big case against Hillary Clinton, the DNC, et al., accidentally disproved his case that Clinton & her allies were behind the Russia probe: the source of documents the complaint cites was a group of pro-Trump Russian hackers. "In other words, as Trump and his lawyers were trying to prove that Clinton was the driving force behind the investigation into Russian interference, they were relying on documents released as part of that interference effort.... Even in October 2020, it was clear that the probe wasn't a function of Clinton's campaign. There was lots of information about what actually launched the investigation, none of which was downstream from Clinton.... The feds had evidence of Russia trying to intervene in the election (through the hacking), evidence of various people linked to Russia working for Trump (through public and private information) and a by-then obvious soft spot from Trump for Putin, in particular."

So Many Lawsuits. Kara Scannell of CNN: "... Donald Trump and his two adult sons have agreed to sit for depositions in May and June as part of a class-action lawsuit alleging they collaborated with a fraudulent marketing company. The former President agreed to be deposed on June 16 while Eric Trump will sit for questioning on May 12 and Donald Trump Jr. on May 10, according to a letter filed with the court. The letter said a date for Ivanka Trump's deposition had not been proposed. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2018, alleges that in exchange for 'secret' payments, Trump and three of his adult children used his reality TV show 'The Celebrity Apprentice' and other promotional events as vehicles to boost ACN Opportunity, a telecommunications marketing company linked to a nonprofit that used Trump's brand to appeal to teens. The Trumps are accused of pocketing millions in payments between 2005 and 2015 to promote what they described as promising business opportunities...."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is planning to give Americans age 50 or older the option of a second booster of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna coronavirus vaccine without recommending outright that they get one, according to several people familiar with the plan. Major uncertainties have complicated the decision, including how long the protection from a second booster would last, how to explain the plan to the public and even whether the overall goal is to shield Americans from severe disease or from less serious infections as well, since they could lead to long Covid."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday restored the Navy's ability to consider the vaccination status of 35 of its service members in decisions about where they should be assigned or deployed. The court's brief, unsigned order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. The court's three most conservative members -- Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch -- dissented. In a concurring opinion, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said courts should not second-guess military officials." The AP's report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

The Party That Hates Teenagers. Kimberly Kindy of the Washington Post: "Nationwide, GOP lawmakers have filed nearly two hundred state bills this year that seek to erode protections for transgender and gay youth or to restrict discussion of LGBTQ topics in public schools. The explosion of legislation is in part the culmination of efforts by a trio of conservative organizations, which are helping state legislators write and promote the bills. One of the most active -- the Alliance Defending Freedom -- has a decades-long history of fighting LGBTQ rights, including in battles to preserve state laws criminalizing consensual sex between gay adults, court records show. Today, at least 166 measures to restrict LGBTQ rights are still pending in state legislatures across the nation -- nearly quadruple the number of similar bills introduced just three years ago, according to data from Freedom for All Americans, an LGBTQ advocacy group." MB: From the Wingers' Approved Dictionary: "sex: a brief and occasional meeting between a married adult man and his adult wife poised in the missionary position for the purpose of procreation. Synonym: a woman's burden." (Also linked yesterday.) See also link under Utah below.

Maryland. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "A Maryland judge ruled on Friday that Democrats in the state had drawn an 'extreme gerrymander' and threw out the state's new congressional map, the first time this redistricting cycle that a Democratic-controlled legislature's map has been rejected in court. The ruling by Senior Judge Lynne A. Battaglia of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County found that the map drawn by Democrats had 'constitutional failings' and ignored requirements of focusing on 'compactness' and keeping similar communities together.... Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican whose veto of the map was overridden by the Democratic-controlled legislature, praised the decision and called on the General Assembly to pass a map drawn by an independent commission he created.... The office of Brian Frosh, the attorney general of Maryland and a Democrat, said that it was reviewing the decision and that it had not yet decided whether to appeal it."

Utah. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "The Utah State Legislature voted on Friday to override the governor's veto and enacted a bill that would bar young transgender athletes from participating in girls' sports, making the state the 12th in the country to enact such legislation. The new law, which is known as H.B. 11, will most likely be challenged in court, legislators said." CNN's report is here.

March 25, 2022

Late Morning Update

Chris Megerian & Darlene Superville of the AP: "President Joe Biden \ visited U.S. troops stationed near Poland's border with Ukraine on Friday and was getting a first hand look at the growing humanitarian response to the millions of Ukrainians who are fleeing to Poland to escape Russia's assault on their homeland. Biden's first stop was with members of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, visiting a barber shop and dining facility set up for the troops, where he invited himself to sit down and share some pizza. The Americans are serving alongside Polish troops.... With the troops, he shared an anecdote about visiting his late son, Beau Biden, while he was deployed in Baghdad and going by his mother's maiden name so as not to draw attention to himself." ~~~

Nebi Qena & Andrea Rosa of the AP: "About 300 people were killed in the Russian airstrike last week that blasted open a Mariupol theater, Ukrainian authorities said Friday in what would make it the war's deadliest known attack on civilians yet. In a vain attempt to protect the hundreds of people taking cover inside the theater, 'CHILDREN' in Russian had been printed in huge white letters on the ground in two places outside the grand, columned building to make it visible from the air. For days, the government in the besieged and ruined city of Mariupol was unable to give a casualty count for the March 16 attack. In announcing the death toll on its Telegram channel Friday, it cited eyewitnesses. But it was not immediately clear whether emergency workers had finished excavating the ruins of the Mariupol Drama Theater or how witnesses arrived at the figure."

AP: "Justice Clarence Thomas was discharged from the hospital Friday after a stay of nearly a week, the Supreme Court said. Thomas, 73, had entered the hospital last Friday evening after experiencing 'flu-like symptoms.' He was treated for an infection with intravenous antibiotics, the court said Sunday in announcing his hospitalization. He had been expected to be released from the hospital Monday or Tuesday."

The Party That Hates Teenagers. Kimberly Kindy of the Washington Post: "Nationwide, GOP lawmakers have filed nearly two hundred state bills this year that seek to erode protections for transgender and gay youth or to restrict discussion of LGBTQ topics in public schools. The explosion of legislation is in part the culmination of efforts by a trio of conservative organizations, which are helping state legislators write and promote the bills. One of the most active -- the Alliance Defending Freedom -- has a decades-long history of fighting LGBTQ rights, including in battles to preserve state laws criminalizing consensual sex between gay adults, court records show. Today, at least 166 measures to restrict LGBTQ rights are still pending in state legislatures across the nation -- nearly quadruple the number of similar bills introduced just three years ago, according to data from Freedom for All Americans, an LGBTQ advocacy group." MB: From the Wingers' Approved Dictionary: "sex: a brief and occasional meeting between a married adult man and his adult wife poised in the missionary position for the purpose of procreation. Synonym: a woman's burden."

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Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "After meeting with NATO allies and announcing a deal to help secure more liquefied natural gas for the European Union to reduce its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, President Biden is traveling to the Polish border with Ukraine on Friday to highlight the growing humanitarian catastrophe caused by the war and to underscore the moment of peril for Europe as it confronts Russian aggression."

Emily Rauhala, et al., of the Washington Post: "The United States and the European Commission announced Friday a joint task force to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian fossil fuels, as the West looks to further punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. As part of the partnership, the United States will seek to increase liquefied natural gas exports to Europe by at least 15 billion cubic meters this year with the aim of providing larger shipments in the future. President Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the new agreement Friday in a joint appearance, stressing that the initiative will both reduce Europe's dependence on Russian energy while keeping the countries on track to meet their climate goals."

Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "The United States and its European allies reinforced their tough stand against Russia on Thursday, sharply warning Moscow against using chemical weapons in Ukraine and announcing new sanctions on Russians. The White House also announced the United States will accept 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine. The statement on chemical weapons issued by the Group of Seven nations reflects growing concern among the world's democracies that ... Vladimir Putin, facing setbacks on the battlefield and abroad, would resort to more extreme actions. The Biden administration, along with the G-7 and the European Union, also unveiled Thursday a new set of sanctions targeting more than 400 individuals and entities, including the Duma, or legislature, and its members; additional members of the Russian power elite; and state-owned defense companies.... The Biden administration announced Thursday that the United States will provide more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance for those affected by Russia's war with Ukraine, as well as more than $11 billion over the next five years to mitigate food security threats stemming from the crisis.... ~~~

"Speaking to reporters at a news conference before departing NATO for additional meetings at the E.U., President Biden said he supported removing Russia from the Group of 20, an assembly of the world's largest economies.... Putin is expected to attend a G-20 summit hosted by Indonesia in October, and Biden said the ultimate decision to exclude Russia would be up to the entire group. But, he added, if any nations object, one option would be 'basically Ukraine being able to attend the G-20 meeting to observe' -- an idea he said he broached with NATO leaders on Thursday."

Nebi Qena & Cara Anna of the AP: "Ukraine accused Moscow on Thursday of forcibly taking hundreds of thousands of civilians from shattered Ukrainian cities to Russia, where some may be used as 'hostages' to pressure Kyiv to give up. Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukraine's ombudsperson, said 402,000 people, including 84,000 children, had been taken to Russia. The Kremlin gave nearly identical numbers for those who have been relocated, but said they wanted to go to Russia. Ukraine's rebel-controlled eastern regions are predominantly Russian-speaking, and many people there have supported close ties to Moscow."

The Kastus Kalinouski Battalion. Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "... hundreds of Belarusian dissidents ... have joined the Kastus Kalinouski battalion, a volunteer unit that is helping to defend Ukraine as part of the official army. Unlike the thousands of foreign fighters who have poured into Ukraine to fight against Russia..., thousands of Belarusians ... [had already] fled to Ukraine to avoid prison for their activism at home.... 'We have a common enemy, Putin and [Belarusian President Aleksandr] Lukashenko,' said Sergey Bespalov, a former journalist from the Belarusian capital, Minsk, who went into exile in Ukraine and then joined the battalion. 'These are the two people who unleashed this war.' Mr. Bespalov, speaking in a phone interview, said the fate of Ukraine and Belarus were intermingled."

Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: Vladimir "Putin's invasion of Ukraine has led some Russians who long worked for the government to cut ties with it, a sign of how the Kremlin is struggling to keep society fully unified behind the war. Thousands have been arrested protesting the invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands have fled the country, and on Wednesday, Mr. Putin's climate envoy, Anatoly Chubais, became the first senior government official reported to have quit since the invasion began on Feb. 24. There have been at least four high-profile resignations at Russia's state television channels, a crucial pillar of Mr. Putin's dominance over the country's domestic politics.... All of Russia's national television networks are controlled by the Kremlin.... And most state television journalists have, for now, stayed in their jobs...."

Business More-or-Less as Usual. Liz Alderman of the New York Times: One of Europe's largest retail chains, "Leroy Merlin[, a home improvements store,] shut its six stores in Ukraine after the war started, and paid employees the equivalent of three months' salary. It has even helped workers and their families cross the border to Poland and Romania for safety. But in Russia, the company operates 112 stores, and has given no public signs that it plans to leave.... After Ukrainian employees ... posted messages on social media, Leroy Merlin shut down the Ukrainian unit's internal Gmail accounts... On Monday, a Russian rocket destroyed Leroy Merlin's store in Kyiv.... The Adeo Group [-- Leroy Merlin's French parent company --] is among a number of companies making a decision to stay [in Russia]." The French company that controls Adeo -- Association Familiale Mulliez, run by the multi-billionaire Mulliez family -- has more than 400 stores in Russia, including a supermarket company & sporting goods chain. "On Thursday, President Emmanuel Macron said during a news conference that French companies should be 'free to decide for themselves' whether to stay in Russia.... Wednesday during a video address to the French Senate, [Volodymyr Zelensky called] on Leroy Merlin, Auchan and the French carmaker Renault to halt business and to 'stop being responsible for Russia's war machine.'... Hours later, Renault announced that it would immediately suspend the activities of its Moscow factory and review its Russia business."

Mystery Crew Members Quit Mystery Yacht. Gaia Pianigiani of the New York Times: "Russian crew members on a mysterious $700-million luxury yacht that U.S. officials say could be owned by ... Vladimir V. Putin of Russia abruptly left their jobs and the Tuscan coastal town where it is undergoing repairs a couple of weeks ago amid scrutiny of the vessel, local union leaders and workers say. The crew members had been fixtures in the small port of Marina di Carrara since the fall of 2020, when the 459-foot-long yacht, Scheherazade, arrived at a dry dock less than four months after being built. No owner has been publicly identified. 'They were replaced by a British crew,' said Paolo Gozzani, the local leader of Italy's General Confederation of Labor trade union, on Wednesday.... This week, the research team of Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, published a video in which it argued, based on a 2020 crew manifest, that a dozen of the Russian crew members of the Scheherazade either worked for or had a connection with Russia's Federal Protective Service."

Katie Benner & Kate Conger of the New York Times: "The Justice Department unsealed charges on Thursday accusing four Russian officials of carrying out a series of cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure in the United States, including a nuclear power plant in Kansas, and evidently compromising a petrochemical facility in Saudi Arabia. The announcement covered hackings from 2012 to 2018, but served as yet another warning from the Biden administration of Russia's ability to conduct such operations.... The four officials, including three members of Russia's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., are accused of breaching hundreds of energy companies around the world, showing the 'dark art of the possible,' a Justice Department official said at a briefing with reporters." Politico's report is here.

John Wagner, et al., of the Washington Post: "The fourth and final day of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson concluded Thursday after the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from an array of outside witnesses, including representatives of the American Bar Association, who said President Biden's nominee would bring 'impeccable' credentials to the job." This is the Post's liveblog of Thursday's hearing.

Lisa Mascaro of the AP: "Democrats are on track to confirm President Joe Biden's pick, with a vote expected by [the] time senators leave for a scheduled spring recess April 8.... Much the way senators opposed to the first Black nominee to the court, Thurgood Marshall, a half-century ago portrayed the storied civil rights lawyer as soft on crime in his work defending Black people, Republicans have spotlighted Jackson's sentencings in criminal cases, they show too much 'empathy' for defendants. A witness for the Republican side, Attorney General Steven T. Marshall of Alabama, said he believes Jackson shows more deference to criminals appearing in her courtroom than she does victims. He said her views of law enforcement reforms are 'outside the mainstream.'" MB: And Marshall is such a consequential witness with such excellent creds. ~~~

~~ Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "Day four of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearing veered into conspiracy territory on Thursday when one of the GOP's witnesses, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, repeatedly refused to say that Joe Biden is the lawfully elected president. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, pressed Marshall on his ties to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Marshall runs the Rule of Law Defense Fund, a nonprofit under the Republican Attorneys General Association that helped organize the protests in support of ... Donald Trump that fed into the insurrection.... After some tense back-and-forth, Whitehouse then asked, 'Is Joseph R. Biden of Delaware the duly elected and lawfully serving president of the United States of America?' 'He is the president of this country,' replied Marshall." Whitehouse continued to press, & Marshall repeatedly refused to state that Biden was the"duly-elected & lawfully-serving president." ~~~

~~~ Marie: It's hardly a surprise that Republicans chose a witness who "veered into conspiracy territory" because ~~~

~~~ It's the Party of Q. David Kirkpatrick & Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: "The online world of adherents to the QAnon conspiracy theory sprang into action almost as soon as Senator Josh Hawley tweeted his alarm: that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the Biden administration's Supreme Court nominee, had handed down sentences below the minimum recommended in federal guidelines for possessing images of child sexual abuse.... By Wednesday..., claims that she was lenient toward people charged with possessing the illegal imagery had emerged as a recurring theme in her questioning by Republicans. 'Every judge who does what you are doing is making it easier for the children to be exploited,' said Senator Lindsey Graham.... In 2017 a believer [in 'Pizzagate'] armed with an assault rifle stormed in and fired his weapon. Judge Jackson, as a district court judge, sentenced him to four years in prison.... Slogans about protecting the children became catchphrases that QAnon adherents used to identify one another, and their bizarre fantasy ... appeared to spread widely among Trump supporters.... Polls suggest that QAnon supporters have continued to make up a significant portion of the Republican base...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I guess I should count myself naive, but it still astounds me that several U.S. senators have eagerly defamed a sitting federal Appeals Court judge and Supreme Court nominee for the purpose of appealing to believers in Pizzagate & other bizarro conspiracy theories. The question of a senator, "Have you no sense of decency, Sir?" need no longer be asked. We know the answer. Update: See also Akhilleus' commentary in two entries in today's thread. It's spot on. In the hearings, Rethuglicans didn't bring out one fact that sullied Jackson's excellent reputation & judicial record, yet they won't vote to confirm her. Because.

IOKIYAR. Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "Several Republican senators repeatedly and misleadingly suggested during this week's Supreme Court confirmation hearings that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson had given uncommonly lenient sentences to felons convicted of child sex abuse crimes. But all of the Republican critics had previously voted to confirm judges [whom Donald Trump nominated] who had given out prison terms below prosecutor recommendations, the very bar they accused Judge Jackson of failing to clear." MB: Yeah but, in fairness to Hawley, Graham, Cruz & Cottonhead, none of those Trump appointees was a Black woman.

Bob Woodward of the Washington Post & Robert Costa of CBS News in the Washington Post: "Virginia Thomas, a conservative activist married to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, repeatedly pressed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to pursue unrelenting efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in a series of urgent text exchanges in the critical weeks after the vote, according to copies of the messages obtained by The Washington Post and CBS News. The messages -- 29 in all -- reveal an extraordinary pipeline between Virginia Thomas, who goes by Ginni, and ... Donald Trump's top aide during a period when Trump and his allies were vowing to go to the Supreme Court in an effort to negate the election results.... The messages, which do not directly reference Justice Thomas or the Supreme Court, show for the first time how Ginni Thomas used her access to Trump's inner circle to promote and seek to guide the president's strategy to overturn the election results -- and how receptive and grateful Meadows said he was to receive her advice. Among Thomas's stated goals in the messages was for lawyer Sidney Powell, who promoted incendiary and unsupported claims about the election, to be 'the lead and the face' of Trump's legal team." CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Barbara McQuade pointed out on CNBC that Clarence Thomas was the only Supreme to oppose the January 6 committee's acquisition of White House documents related to the insurrection & attempts to overturn the election results. Did Thomas believe that his wife's emails might be included among the docs the committee would receive, McQuade wondered. McQuade says this story is more evidence that the Supreme Court needs to expand its narrow recusal standards. ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Kranish of the Washington Post: Justice Clarence Thomas' critics say his sole vote to block release of Trump White House records "illustrates a gaping hole in the court's rules: Justices essentially decide for themselves whether they have a conflict of interest, and Thomas has rarely made such a choice in his three decades on the court.... Each justice can decide whether to recuse, and there is no way to appeal a Supreme Court member's failure to do so." MB: Unlike Caesar's wife, Ginni's husband does not have to be above reproach.

Luke Broadwater & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol said on Thursday that it would consider contempt of Congress charges against two more allies of ... Donald J. Trump for refusing to comply with its subpoenas. The potential charges against Peter Navarro, a former White House adviser, and Dan Scavino Jr., a former deputy chief of staff, could result in jail time and a hefty fine, and must be approved by a vote of the House. The committee said it would hold a public vote on whether to recommend the charges on Monday."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Thursday that elected bodies do not violate the First Amendment when they censure their members. The case concerned David Wilson, a former elected trustee of the Houston Community College System and an energetic critic of its work.... In 2018, Mr. Wilson's fellow board members issued a formal verbal reprimand against him in a censure resolution.... He sued, saying the punishment violated the First Amendment by retaliating against him for things he had said.... The Supreme Court reversed a unanimous decision from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, which had allowed the case to proceed, ruling that punishing an elected official for his speech can run afoul of the Constitution."

Erwin Chemerinsky & Howard Gillman in a Washington Post op-ed: "Freedom of speech does not include a right to shout down others so they cannot be heard. Two recent incidents at law schools where protesting students sought to keep invited speakers from addressing their audiences are deeply troubling. In both cases, those defending the disruptive students have said their actions came under the constitutional protection of freedom of speech. That is wrong in terms of both the law and appropriate campus policy.... College campuses should be a place where all ideas and views can be expressed. A primary goal of higher education is to empower students to critically analyze ideas across a broad spectrum of disciplines.... [Shouting down speakers] is especially problematic when the students attempting to silence other viewpoints are lawyers in training." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Chemerinsky & Gillman are arguing in support of two events sponsored by the right-wing Federalist Society. While I have no objection to the principal they pose, I had been thinking earlier in the day about the efforts of universities in recent decades to appeal to a broad spectrum of political ideologies. What got me thinking about this were the performances of the asswipes on the Judiciary Committee who excoriated Judge Jackson for imaginary bad judgment, not to mention the Supreme confederates themselves, many of whom -- like Hawley & Cruz -- have Ivy League law degrees. The idea that students should choose from a "menu" of legal philosophies may be too ivory-towerish. Young people are not great critical thinkers, and employing right-wing law professors gives the students the impression that winger "philosophies" are just as palatable as those that promote Western liberal democracy. I think these university law schools need to get back to suffering the ignominy of being "liberal coastal elites." For all their faults, liberal coast elites seem to have done a better job of educating young people.

Trump Thinks Up "an Unthinkable Plot." Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "... Donald Trump is suing ... Hillary Clinton in a sprawling case that accuses her of conspiring with dozens of other actors -- frequent targets of Trump's conspiracy theories and rage -- to topple his presidency. The new lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Fort Pierce, Fla., accuses Clinton, her campaign, various campaign aides, former FBI Director James Comey, the Democratic National Committee and others of racketeering conspiracy for allegedly joining in 'an unthinkable plot' to falsely accuse Trump of colluding with Russia in the 2016 presidential election.... The suit accused the defendants of obstruction of justice and theft of trade secrets, as well as unlawful hacking into Trump's private communications.... The sprawling, 108-page complaint reads like a greatest-hits of Trump's long-held grievances against the public figures most closely associated with the investigation of his campaign's ties to Russia in 2016. It stitches together disparate details unearthed in the ongoing investigation by special counsel John Durham, as well as long-known details about the FBI's Russia probe and special counsel Robert Mueller's subsequent investigation. The suit appears to seek more than $72 million in damages.... In another court filing in the case, Trump's attorneys asked for only $21 million." MB: Yeah, whatever. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ In yesterday's Comments, Patrick wrote, "DiJiT got himself a $200/hour attorney who can annoy every defendant named in his suit for years. He gets his red-hat donors to send in their nickels and dimes to pay for it. It's win-win for the big blob, this can drag on for his lifetime and allow him another ring in his mobile circus. So, he doesn't believe this shit (the allegations in the suit), but he believes in the utility of the courts in the long con, and the infinite supply of marks. It's easy when you have no shame." MB: I hope Patrick is wrong (and I don't think he is). My wish list is that (1) each & every defendant gets to separately depose Trump; after which (2) a Trump-appointed judge dismisses the suit with prejudice; and (3) said judge forces Trump to personally pay the legal expenses of all defendants. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's report, by Felicia Sonmez & Matt Zapotosky, is here: "The Trump lawsuit seems to draw heavily on indictments brought by Special Counsel John Durham, who had been tasked by former attorney general William P. Barr with reviewing the FBI's 2016 investigation of Trump's campaign. But it often exaggerates or misstates Durham's allegations or other facts of the case.... Michael Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general now in private practice, said in an email: 'I hope Trump's lawyers got their money up front. I hope they have something other than Fox News stories to support their allegations so they can avoid Rule 11 sanctions. And if the case ever gets to discovery, I would expect Trump's own deposition to last days if not weeks. It would be the opportunity many have sought for the past 5 years to have him testify under oath. He's proven in the past he's not so good at that.'... Rule 11 is a federal rule requiring, among other things, that when lawyers make court filings, they certify that their factual representations will most likely be supported by the evidence."

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

Beyond the Beltway

Michigan. Ed White of the AP: "A man who pleaded guilty in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said her abduction could have been the 'ignition' for a U.S. civil war involving antigovernment groups, possibly before the 2020 election. Ty Garbin described a scheme to get the Democratic governor during his testimony Wednesday against four former allies who are charged with conspiracy. He told jurors that they wanted to attack before the election to prevent Joe Biden from winning the presidency." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

** Nebraska. Brian Melley of the AP: "U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska was convicted Thursday on charges that he lied to federal authorities about an illegal $30,000 contribution to his campaign from a foreign billionaire at a 2016 Los Angeles fundraiser. A federal jury in [Los Angeles] deliberated about two hours before finding the nine-term Republican guilty of one count of falsifying and concealing material facts and two counts of making false statements. Fortenberry was charged after sitting for two interviews with FBI agents who were investigating the donor, Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigerian billionaire of Lebanese descent.... Outside the courthouse, Fortenberry said the process had been unfair and he would appeal immediately. He would not say if he would suspend his campaign for reelection...." MB: Obviously Fortenberry's "poor cellphone reception" defense was a loser.

Way Beyond

U.K. Colonialist Royals Go on Tour. Karen Attiah of the Washington Post: "Two years after the global wave of protests against anti-Blackness and white supremacy, the British Royal family apparently thought it would be a swimmingly good idea to send Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, on a royal promenade through Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas.... William and Kate are definitely touring like it's 1952.... To keep it real, this supposed charm offensive feels more offensive than charming. I'd say there's never a good time for retro-colonial gallivanting, but the timing of this tour de faux pas feels especially bad.... At the same time, maybe it's good for the world to see the British monarchy for the symbolic mess that it is, an outdated relic of imperialism.

March 24, 2022

Late Morning Update:

The Party of Q. David Kirkpatrick & Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: "The online world of adherents to the QAnon conspiracy theory sprang into action almost as soon as Senator Josh Hawley tweeted his alarm: that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the Biden administration's Supreme Court nominee, had handed down sentences below the minimum recommended in federal guidelines for possessing images of child sexual abuse.... By Wednesday..., claims that she was lenient toward people charged with possessing the illegal imagery had emerged as a recurring theme in her questioning by Republicans. 'Every judge who does what you are doing is making it easier for the children to be exploited,' said Senator Lindsey Graham.... In 2017 a believer [in 'Pizzagate'] armed with an assault rifle stormed in and fired his weapon. Judge Jackson, as a district court judge, sentenced him to four years in prison.... Slogans about protecting the children became catchphrases that QAnon adherents used to identify one another, and their bizarre fantasy ... appeared to spread widely among Trump supporters.... Polls suggest that QAnon supporters have continued to make up a significant portion of the Republican base...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I guess I should count myself naive, but it still astounds me that several U.S. senators have eagerly defamed a sitting federal Appeals Court judge and Supreme Court nominee for the purpose of appealing to believers in Pizzagate & other bizarro conspiracy theories. The question of a senator, "Have you no sense of decency, Sir?" need no longer be asked. We know the answer.

Ed White of the AP: "A man who pleaded guilty in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said her abduction could have been the 'ignition' for a U.S. civil war involving antigovernment groups, possibly before the 2020 election. Ty Garbin described a scheme to get the Democratic governor during his testimony Wednesday against four former allies who are charged with conspiracy. He told jurors that they wanted to attack before the election to prevent Joe Biden from winning the presidency."

Marie: I posted a few links after 9 am ET below. I've marked them NEW.

~~~~~~~~~~

Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "As President Biden geared up for an extraordinary set of strategy summits with NATO allies and the European Union on Thursday, Ukrainian forces made gains in beating back Russian troops in the battle for the capital, Kyiv. Russian troops were pushed back by several miles to the east of Kyiv and appeared to be stopping their advance an digging in defensive positions to the northwest of the city, a senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday evening. Britain's defense intelligence agency confirmed that assessment, saying that Ukrainian forces were carrying out successful counterattacks on Kyiv's outskirts.... President Biden's trip to Europe includes a rare day of three back-to-back global summits on Thursday as the world's leaders gather in a variety of forums to discuss their response to Russia's war in Ukraine. Here is a look at the three summits: NATO..., G7..., [and the] European Council...." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here.

Chris Megerian, et al., of the AP: "U.S. President Joe Biden and Western allies opened the first of three summits Thursday focused on increasing pressure on ... Vladimir Putin over his war in Ukraine while tending to the economic and security fallout spreading across Europe and the world. Biden and the leaders of other NATO countries met at the alliance's headquarters where they posed for a group photo memorializing the urgent gathering before retreating behind closed doors for their summit, which was expected to last several hours."

David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "The White House has quietly assembled a team of national security officials to sketch out scenarios of how the United States and its allies should respond if ... Vladimir V. Putin of Russia -- frustrated by his lack of progress in Ukraine or determined to warn Western nations against intervening in the war -- unleashes his stockpiles of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The Tiger Team, as the group is known, is also examining responses if Mr. Putin reaches into NATO territory to attack convoys bringing weapons and aid to Ukraine, according to several officials involved in the process. Meeting three times a week, in classified sessions, the team is also looking at responses if Russia seeks to extend the war to neighboring nations, including Moldova and Georgia, and how to prepare European countries for the refugees flowing in on a scale not seen in decades."

Tyler Pager, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden and European leaders are expected to announce a major initiative to direct shipments of liquefied natural gas to Europe during his visit to Brussels this week, part of a broader effort to help reduce Europe's dependence on Russian energy, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the plan. The announcement, a dramatic effort to deprive Russia of leverage as it continues to batter Ukraine, would mark an unusual move to reorder the world's energy flow -- a shift that could have an impact long after the war is over.... Biden is also expected to use his stop in Brussels on Thursday and Friday -- where he is meeting with NATO, the Group of Seven and the European Council -- to announce additional sanctions against Moscow, as well as a crackdown on evasions of the current sanctions."

Caitlin Dickson of Yahoo! News: "The Biden administration declared Wednesday that Russian forces have committed war crimes by attacking civilians in Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the announcement, which he said was based on a 'careful review of available information from public and intelligence sources.' 'We've seen numerous credible reports of indiscriminate attacks and attacks deliberately targeting civilians, as well as other atrocities,' Blinken said in a statement, which was released Wednesday afternoon as he and President Biden were en route to Brussels for an emergency meeting with NATO leaders.... The formal announcement on Wednesday did not indicate whether the U.S. will seek to prosecute Putin or any other specific individuals for the alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine." The Washington Post's more nuanced report is here.

Keith Collins, et al., of the New York Times: "In the weeks since Russia began its invasion, at least 1,500 civilian buildings, structures and vehicles in Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed. More than 953 civilians have been killed, including at least 78 children, according to the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, who noted that the real toll was likely to be considerably higher." Emphasis original. Interactive, with map, photos, video clips. MB: Horrible.

John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Repeated attempts by the United States' top defense and military leaders to speak with their Russian counterparts have been rejected by Moscow for the last month, leaving the world's two largest nuclear powers in the dark about explanations for military movements and raising fears of a major miscalculation or battlefield accident. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have tried to set up phone calls with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov but the Russians 'have so far declined to engage,' said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby in a statement Wednesday."

NEW. Spies ᴙ Us. Now Hiring. Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The FBI is trying a novel strategy to recruit Russian-speaking individuals upset about the country's invasion of Ukraine: aiming social media ads at cellphones located inside or just outside the Russian Embassy in Washington. The ads, which appear on Facebook, Twitter and Google, are carefully geographically targeted.... The ads are designed to capitalize on any dissatisfaction or anger within Russian diplomatic or spy services -- or among Russian emigres to the United States -- over the invasion of Ukraine, an event that counterintelligence experts call a huge opportunity for the U.S. intelligence community to recruit new sources." Includes a tweeted ad & explanation.

The Fog of War. Sudarsan Raghavan of the Washington Post: "Since Tuesday, top Ukrainian government officials had been touting what they called a key victory in their month-long war against invading Russians. They said Makariv, a key gateway for Russian forces to potentially surround and seize Kyiv, had been liberated from Russian forces -- and that Ukraine's flag was now flying victoriously over the town's center.... But as a team of Washington Post journalists passed through the checkpoint on Wednesday, Ukrainian soldiers ordered them to quickly leave the town, warning of incoming Russian rockets or artillery. Minutes later, reporters heard the sound of shells falling. Black plumes of smoke rose over the houses. Soon more blasts followed. Makariv remains a contested front line."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "As the war in Ukraine is poised to enter its second month, the United States and its allies are marshaling a united front against ... Vladimir V. Putin..., pushing for tougher sanctions and moving to deploy more forces to Europe's eastern flank, even as they seek to prevent the war from metastasizing into a wider conflict. President Biden is set to land in Brussels on Wednesday evening and is expected to announce sanctions on Russian lawmakers before meeting with NATO allies and the European Union.... NATO's chief, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Wednesday that the alliance would double the number of battlegroups in its eastern flank by deploying four new battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, a significant bolstering of NATO's presence in the region. In recent days, Ukrainian forces have retaken ground in the northwestern suburbs of Kyiv, the capital, and around the southern Black Sea port of Mykolaiv, according to military analysts. Their advances have reinforced the sense that Russia is struggling in its efforts to overtake the country." (Also linked yesterday.)

Alexander Smith & Yuliya Talmazan of NBC News: "An adviser to ... Vladimir Putin has become the first senior Kremlin official to quit since the invasion of Ukraine, Putin's spokesman said Wednesday. Anatoly Chubais left his role as Russia's envoy to international organizations and sustainable development of his own accord, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency. The news was first reported by Bloomberg, which cited two people familiar with the situation saying Chubais had left Russia over his opposition to the war. Reuters also cited two anonymous sources saying he had left the country." (Also linked yesterday.)

Sheera Frenkel & Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: "As war has raged, the Kremlin's talking points and some right-wing discourse in the United States -- fueled by those on the far right -- have coalesced. On social media, podcasts and television, falsehoods about the invasion of Ukraine have flowed both ways, with Americans amplifying lies from Russians and the Kremlin spreading fabrications that festered in American forums online.... After ... Vladimir V. Putin ... claimed that action against Ukraine was taken in self-defense, the Fox News host Tucker Carlson and the conservative commentator Candace Owens repeated the assertion. When Mr. Putin insisted he was trying to 'denazify' Ukraine, Joe Oltmann, a far-right podcaster, and Lara Logan, another right-wing commentator, mirrored the idea. The echoing went the other way, too. Some far-right American news sites, like Infowars, stoked a longtime, unfounded Russian claim that the United States funded biological weapons labs in Ukraine. Russian officials seized on the chatter, with the Kremlin contending it had documentation of bioweapons programs that justified its 'special military operation' in Ukraine." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mary Jalonick & Mark Sherman of the AP: "Legal experts and interest groups will weigh in on Ketanji Brown Jackson as the Senate Judiciary Committee wraps up four days of hearings on her historic nomination.... On Thursday, the last day of hearings, interest groups including the American Bar Association and civil rights organizations will testify about Jackson's suitability for the court. Witnesses chosen by Republican senators will also speak. The American Bar Association, which evaluates judicial nominees, last week gave Jackson its highest rating, unanimously 'well qualified.'" C-SPAN coverage begins at 9 am ET.

** Carl Hulse & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson emerged on Wednesday from two grueling days of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee having weathered escalating Republican attacks on her record but leaving Democrats confident that she would become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. Questioning of President Biden's nominee by Republicans grew increasingly hostile as they stepped up their criticism of what they portrayed as a pattern of leniency in her sentencing of child sex abusers and tried to paint her as a liberal on issues of race, gender, guns and abortion rights.... Even Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, vented his exasperation at 'the jackassery we see around here' of 'people mugging' for the cameras.... Reflecting on the historic nature of that moment as her testimony drew to a close, Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey and the only Black member of the committee, reminded Judge Jackson -- and the country -- of the significance of her quest, eliciting tears from the nominee when he invoked Harriet Tubman's struggles from slavery to freedom. 'You are my star. You are my harbinger of hope,' he told her. 'This country is getting better and better.'"

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "One senator asked Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden's Supreme Court pick, how religious she was 'on a scale of 1 to 10.' Another asked her to define the word 'woman.' A third wanted to know if babies are racist.... The questioning this week has been ... marked by increasing partisan warfare, with Republicans seizing the chance to introduce conservative grievances they intend to press in the midterm elections, including opposition to critical race theory and transgender women in sports."

Cruz: MLK Opposed CRT; Do U? Jennifer Schuessler of the New York Times: "On Tuesday afternoon, during the confirmation hearings of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Senator Ted Cruz quoted the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of a world where children would be judged 'not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character' -- before sharply questioning Judge Jackson about her views on critical race theory. He held up two books by Ibram X. Kendi that he said had been assigned or recommended at a school where she is on the board of trustees, describing their contents as 'the exact opposite' of Dr. King's famous 'I Have a Dream' speech.... It was a salvo aimed squarely at today's pitched battles over critical race theory..., [which Republicans have] painted as the antithesis of the colorblind America that Dr. King supposedly wanted to create. But some scholars who tuned into the hearings said they saw a familiar distortion.... 'It is clear from the broader speech that King thought we were far from realizing that ideal and that, in the meantime, some race-conscious policies would be necessary, [Harvard Prof. Tommie Shelby] said." ~~~

~~~ The Cruz Kids' School Is "Anti-Racist" Like the Jackson Kids' School. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Sen. Ted Cruz seldom overlooks a chance to be underhanded, and, sure enough, the Texas Republican led the effort to imbue this week's Supreme Court confirmation hearings with the latest effort by the right to make White America fear Black America. Cruz attempted to tie Ketanji Brown Jackson ... to the supposed menace of 'critical race theory' -- because, he said, this theory is taught at the private school [Georgetown Day] where she serves on the board (and where she sent her daughters).... Georgetown Day School, in the nation's capital, does indeed take a strong 'anti-racism' approach. So does St. John's School, the private school in Houston where, as the New Republic's Timothy Noah noted, Cruz sends his daughters. A St. John's class called 'Issues of Justice and Equity in the Twenty-First Century' is labeled a 'Critical Race Training Course' by the right-wing Legal Insurrection Foundation. And there in the St. John&'s library catalog is -- wait for it -- [Ibram] Kendi's 'Stamped (for Kids),' the very book Cruz demanded Jackson account for at Georgetown Day School. [And more!]"

Marie: For all of their rhetoric slamming critical race theory, Republicans have failed to point out during the Jackson hearings the obvious point that Akhilleus made in yesterday's Comments: "We’ve already had a critical race theory operating in this country since before it was a nation. It’s called white supremacy."

Marie: And here I was, worrying for a while that Lindsey wouldn't ask Jackson the Kwanzaa question: ~~~

~~~ Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday tried to make a point that Republicans were angry about how Democrats had questioned a previous GOP-backed Supreme Court nominee [-- Amy Barrett --] about her religion -- by questioning Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson at length about her own faith, then trying to reassure her after the fact that interrogations about her religion would not happen.... 'What faith are you, by the way?' [Graham asked.] Though it would be potentially illegal under federal law for an employer to ask a job candidate about their religious beliefs, Jackson started to respond that she was a nondenominational Protestant -- before Graham cut in and asked if she felt she could judge a Catholic person fairly.... Graham interrupted Jackson several ... times, as she tried to state that it was important to set aside one's personal views when considering cases. 'On a scale of 1 to 10, how faithful would you say you are, in terms of religion? You know, I go to church probably three times a year, so that speaks poorly of me. Or do you attend church regularly?'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No doubt Lindsey was hoping Jackson would blurt out that she was Muslim or that she was a member of the Santeria cult that reportedly sacrifices chickens in its religious ceremonies.

Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "Republicans know they can't stop Ketanji Brown Jackson from being confirmed to the Supreme Court.... What they can do is use her confirmation hearings for other political purposes.... Some Republicans have chosen to do so with bad-faith attacks on Jackson; Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), in an apparent attempt to secure the QAnon vote when he runs for president, tore a few sentences in previous rulings and writings out of context to make the repulsive accusation that she is 'soft' on child porn. But so far, their clearest focus has been on their own victimization. You may be under the hot lights and being cross-examined, they are telling Jackson, but we are the real victims here.... Jackson will have to suffer through a few more sessions of Republicans beating their breasts about the terrible trials they have endured, with the gripping tale of Kavanaugh, that modern-day Job, told again and again." (Also linked yesterday.)

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "In the hours since [Sen. Marsha] Blackburn [asked Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson] on Tuesday night [to define 'woman,'] it's become a celebrated example on the political right of how beholden Jackson purportedly is to leftist subjectivism.... It was a cascade of bad faith, from Blackburn's question to the coverage to the response.... This question was one in a battery aimed solely at tripping Jackson up.... [Jackson's] declination to answer is not informative; it is expected. All that was gained was a way to disparage her in exactly the way that Blackburn did.... In fact, Blackburn even appeared to be reading from notes..., suggesting that she was ready for Jackson's response even if Jackson couldn't be." See related story, linked below. (Also linked yesterday.)

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "As the first Black woman nominated to a seat on the Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson ... has been subjected to questioning from some Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee that has been explicitly or implicitly all about race. She has been asked about critical race theory and the history of America's slaveholding past and whether she has been too lenient in her sentencing as a trial judge -- issues that are cultural flash points in today's caustic political debate but the first two of which have little to do with the actual work of the Supreme Court." MB: Poor Dan Balz; it's so hard for him to dismount his favorite hobby horse Mr. Both Sides, but here he's trying. ~~~

~~~ Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "How is it that the first Black woman nominated to the Supreme Court was treated so shabbily?... From much of the mealy-mouthed coverage of the circus, one would have a hard time guessing that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) angrily interrupted Jackson over and over again and shouted over hapless Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.)... Similarly, from the media descriptions, one might not have understood the extent of the nonstop bullying from Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.)... And one might have never imagined that Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) plowed over the same debunked allegations about her being 'soft' on child pornography defendants.... The media might be able to curtail such haranguing if they accurately described what had happened. For reasons that confound me, reporters often play down the extraordinarily obnoxious behavior of Republicans, instead casting it as the normal back-and-forth nominees encounter.... The media in particular fails to convey the visual image of angry White men screaming and interrupting a Black woman.... Combined with the insinuations about her 'softness' on child pornography and the hysterics on critical race theory, the aggression barely masked the Republican outpouring of White grievance."

Washington Post Editors: "Throughout her Senate confirmation hearings, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has been a model of composure, which is made all the more impressive by the egregious behavior of some on the Republican side. During the hearings, Republicans such as Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) have congratulated themselves for declining to treat Judge Jackson the way Democrats handled the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh. In fact, by the most relevant measures, Mr. Graham and a handful of other Judiciary Committee Republicans have handled themselves worse. A woman credibly accused Mr. Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Democrats rightly asked the committee to investigate.... In the end, it was Mr. Kavanaugh who behaved intemperately, personally attacking Democratic senators and revealing partisan instincts that raised questions about his commitment to impartiality.... Republicans have smeared Judge Jackson based on obvious distortions of her record and the law."

** Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "... for those of us watching and waiting to see Democrats support and back the nominee, there was an immense sense of underreaction. Judge Jackson looked alone fending off the QAnon smear brigade for much of these hearings because she was alone, at least until Sen. Cory Booker took it upon himself in his last colloquy to offer up a powerful corrective to the hatred being levelled at her.... Chairman Dick Durbin's inability to control some of the most shocking bullying and abuse from [Ted] Cruz, [Lindsey] Graham, Tom Cotton, and [Josh] Hawley left observers speechless. At some point, you need to just start gaveling. But there was also a pervasive sense of Democratic Senators' almost chilling unwillingness to go to the mat for their nominee, who was being savaged by Cotton, who called her 'not credible,' and Graham, who berated her with the claim that he was sparing her from being bullied like Justice Amy Coney Barrett." Firewalled.

     ~~~ A video of Sen. Booker's full remarks Wednesday are here.

It's funny listening to the same people who let the president try to overthrow the government call anyone soft on crime.... I think your dog whistle's busted guys, everyone can hear it now. -- Jimmy Kimmel, Wednesday

New York Times reporters live-blogged Wednesday's confirmation hearing for Judge Kentanji Jackson. Snark included, thankfully. (Also linked yesterday.)

NEW. Get Out! Donald Jud & Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "President Joe Biden has formally asked two Trump-appointed members of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition to resign from their posts or be terminated. Herschel Walker and Mehmet Oz, who are now Republican Senate candidates in Georgia and Pennsylvania, respectively, were appointed in 2018 by ... Donald Trump to serve on the council. Trump reappointed them to two-year terms in December 2020, shortly before he left office."

President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency. As a lawyer, I've repeatedly advised President Trump that Jan. 6 was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks. Period. -- Rep. Mo Brooks [R-Ala.], in a statement, Wednesday ~~~

~~~ Luke Broadwater & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: “Representative Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican who was deeply involved in ... Donald J. Trump's effort to use Congress to upend the 2020 election and stay in office, claimed on Wednesday that the former president had asked him repeatedly in the months since to illegally 'rescind' the election, remove President Biden and force a new special election. Mr. Brooks made the extraordinary charge as the two onetime allies were engaged in a bitter political feud.... But the account from the Alabama congressman, who played a central role in challenging electoral votes for Mr. Biden on Jan. 6, 2021, suggested that Mr. Trump has continued his efforts to overturn his defeat and be reinstated.... His statement came after Mr. Trump withdrew his endorsement of Mr. Brooks in the Republican primary for Alabama's Senate seat...." The ABC News story is here. Related story linked under Beyond the Beltway. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Mo's full statement. Somehow everything is Mitch McConnell's fault. Nice to know, "I wish President Trump wouldn't fall for McConnell’s ploys, but, once again, he has."

He's a Crook, He's a Crook, He's a Crooked-Crooked Crook. William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "One of the senior Manhattan prosecutors who investigated Donald J. Trump believed that the former president was 'guilty of numerous felony violations' and that it was 'a grave failure of justice' not to hold him accountable, according to a copy of his resignation letter. The prosecutor, Mark F. Pomerantz, submitted his resignation last month after the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, abruptly stopped pursuing an indictment of Mr. Trump.... Mr. Pomerantz's Feb. 23 letter, obtained by The New York Times, offers a personal account of his decision to resign and for the first time states explicitly his belief that the office could have convicted the former president. Mr. Bragg's decision was 'contrary to the public interest,' he wrote.... While [Carey R. Dunne, another senior prosecutor,] and Mr. Pomerantz were confident that the office could demonstrate that the former president had intended to inflate the value of his golf clubs, hotels and office buildings, Mr. Bragg was not. He balked at pursuing an indictment against Mr. Trump, a decision that shut down Mr. Pomerantz's and Mr. Dunne's presentation of evidence to a grand jury and prompted their resignations.... A spokeswoman for Mr. Bragg, Danielle Filson, said that the investigation was continuing...." An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The full text of Mark Pomerantz's resignation letter, via the New York Times, is here. It's a doozy.

AP: "Former Trump adviser Paul Manafort was removed from a plane at Miami International Airport before it took off for Dubai because he carried a revoked passport, officials said Wednesday. Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta confirmed that Manafort was removed from the Emirates Airline flight without incident Sunday night but directed further questions to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That agency did not immediately respond to an email Wednesday seeking comment." (Also linked yesterday.)

From the Supreme's Stealth Docket: We Gerrymandering. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court sided with Wisconsin's Republican-led Legislature on Wednesday in a dispute over competing voting maps for the state's legislative districts. The justices' unsigned decision reversed a ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court that had selected the map drawn by Gov. Tony Evers over other proposals, and it sent the case back to the state court for another look. The majority said the state court had not considered carefully enough whether the Voting Rights Act, a federal law that protects minority voting power, required the addition of a seventh assembly district in which Black voters made up a majority. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Elena Kagan, dissented, saying that 'the court's action today is unprecedented.' She added that 'the court today faults the State Supreme Court for its failure to comply with an obligation that, under existing precedent, is hazy at best.'" ~~~

     ~~~ NEW. But We Don't Black People. Rick Hasen of Election Law Blog: "... the way this case was handled is quite bizarre and is another signal of a conservative supermajority of the Supreme Court showing increasing hostility to section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.... To sum up: the Court used a case in an emergency procedural posture to reach out and decide an issue that could have waited for full briefing and argument either in a lower court in a challenge to the maps or if the Supreme Court had set the case for argument. It decided these issues in ways hostile to minority voting rights without giving a full opportunity for airing out the issues and pointing out how this will further hurt voters of color. It continues to chip away at the Voting Rights Act without acknowledging that it is killing off the last major protection for minority voters from discriminatory districting plans."

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Justice Clarence Thomas missed oral arguments at the Supreme Court this week because of his hospitalization for treatment of an infection. A court spokeswoman declined to provide an update on Thomas's condition."

** Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "Madeleine K. Albright, a child of Czech refugees who fled from Nazi invaders and Communist oppressors and then landed in the United States, where she flourished as a diplomat and the first woman to serve as secretary of state, died on Wednesday in Washington. She was 84." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

NEW. Your Tax Dollars at Work. Brian Slodysko of the AP: "Thanks to a sudden $140 million cash infusion, officials in Broward County, Florida, recently broke ground on a high-end hotel that will have views of the Atlantic Ocean and an 11,000-square-foot spa. In New York, Dutchess County pledged $12 million for renovations of a minor league baseball stadium to meet requirements the New York Yankees set for their farm teams. And in Massachusetts, lawmakers delivered $5 million to pay off debts of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate in Boston, a nonprofit established to honor the late senator that has struggled financially. The three distinctly different outlays have one thing in common: Each is among the scores of projects that state and local governments across the United States are funding with federal coronavirus relief money despite having little to do with combating the pandemic...."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "Moderna said on Wednesday that it would seek emergency authorization of its coronavirus vaccine for children younger than 6, after interim results from its clinical trial showed that volunteers in that age group had a similar immune response to young adults when given a dose one-fourth as strong. But the firm said the vaccine proved only about 44 percent effective in preventing symptomatic illness among children 6 months to 2 years old, and 37 percent effective in children 2 through 5 years old. The company is studying the effectiveness of a booster shot, and one of its top officials said she expects a booster will be necessary for that age group, just as it is for adults." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama Senate Race. Sad News: Trump Dump = No Mo Mo. Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump retracted his endorsement of Representative Mo Brooks's bid for Senate in Alabama on Wednesday, abandoning one of his staunchest allies after months of simmering frustration and as polls showed Mr. Brooks falling behind in the state's Republican primary. In a sign of Mr. Trump's continued focus on the 2020 election, he cited Mr. Brooks's remarks at a rally last summer urging voters to move on from Mr. Trump's defeat.... In a last-ditch effort to keep Mr. Trump in his corner, Mr. Brooks, who spoke at the rally that preceded the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021, used footage from that speech in a new television ad last week. Looking straight into the camera, Mr. Brooks said in the ad, 'On January 6th, I proudly stood with President Trump in the fight against voter fraud.' But it was not enough. Mr. Trump still accused him on Wednesday of going 'woke.' Mr. Trump is obsessed with the success rate of his endorsement in Republican primaries....” Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Idaho. Mike Baker of the New York Times: "Gov. Brad Little of Idaho signed a strict new abortion bill into law on Wednesday, even as he expressed grave concerns about the wisdom and constitutionality of the measure and warned that it could retraumatize victims of sexual assault. Modeled after a new law in Texas, the Idaho legislation bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy -- before many women are aware they are pregnant -- and allows family members of what it calls 'a preborn child' to sue the abortion provider. Mr. Little, a Republican, said the law could conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, which established a constitutional right to abortion."

Michigan. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "... a judge freed [brother George and] Melvin DeJesus, 48, overturning their convictions in the 1995 murder of their neighbor Margaret Midkiff.... The brothers had always maintained that they were at a party when Ms. Midkiff was murdered, but they were convicted and sentenced to life without parole in 1997 based on the testimony of Brandon Gohagen, who claimed that the brothers had forced him to rape Ms. Midkiff and had then killed her by stomping on her. Robyn B. Frankel, director of the Michigan attorney general's Conviction Integrity Unit, said that an extensive review of evidence in the case showed that Mr. Gohagen had blamed the brothers in exchange for a deal with prosecutors that allowed him to plead guilty to lesser charges and avoid a mandatory life sentence.... '... in reality, what we found is that he, Brandon Gohagen, did this crime alone.' Both brothers credited their mother, Elizabeth DeJesus, with helping them keep their fight to be exonerated alive.... The brothers were helped by the Cooley Innocence Project at Western Michigan University and the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic...."

Ohio & Pennsylvania Senate Races. Gail Collins of the New York Times: "Let's take a look at a couple of the biggest upcoming [Senate] contests: races in Ohio and Pennsylvania. One recent [Ohio Republican] candidate forum featured Mike Gibbons, an investment banker, yelling 'You don't know squat!' at one of his adversaries, a former state treasurer, Josh Mandel, who retorted, 'Two tours in Iraq!'... If you're a Democrat, there are two ways to view these Republican Senate primaries. One is to hope the nominee is somebody so nuts, he or she will have less of a chance of winning in the fall. The other is to figure that if there's very likely going to be a Republican majority next year, we'd be better off with as many reasonable Republicans as possible."

Way Beyond

U.K. Society Page. Derrick Taylor of the New York Times: "Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who is fighting extradition to the United States on espionage charges, married Stella Moris..., on Wednesday in a prison in London. The ceremony was held at Belmarsh Prison, a high-security men's facility in southeast London, where Mr. Assange has been held since 2019.... WikiLeaks published footage on Twitter of Ms. Moris briefly addressing journalists and supporters who gathered outside the prison, where she cut into a tiered wedding cake after the private ceremony." MB: Happily, the couple pre-consummated the marriage: according to the report, Moris is Assange's "longtime partner with whom he has two young children."