January 23, 2022

Michael Schwirtz, et al., of the New York Times: "The British government said Saturday that the Kremlin was developing plans to install a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine -- and had already chosen a potential candidate -- as President Vladimir V. Putin weighs whether to order the Russian forces amassed on Ukraine's border to attack.The highly unusual public communiqué by the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, issued late at night in London, comes at a moment of high-stakes diplomacy between the Kremlin and the West." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

BBC News: "The head of the German navy has resigned over controversial comments he made over Ukraine. Kay-Achim Schönbach said the idea that Russia wanted to invade Ukraine was nonsense. He added that all President Putin wanted was respect. A number of countries have supplied weapons to Ukraine, including the US and UK. But Germany has refused Ukraine's request for ammunition."

Matthew Chance, et al., of CNN: "The US Embassy in Kyiv has requested that the State Department authorize the departure of all nonessential staff and their families, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. A State Department spokesperson said they have 'nothing to announce at this time,' adding, 'We conduct rigorous contingency planning, as we always do, in the event the security situation deteriorates.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Will Russia Attack Ireland Next? (Irish) Journal: "Russian bombers and naval ships are set to test missiles off the coast of Ireland. The Journal has learned that the Irish Government has received a warning of a major exercise by the Russian navy and air force in the Atlantic off the South West coast. The missile test, or range practice as it is known in military terms, will take place in international waters off the coast of County Cork in the first week of February. The missiles are expected to be launched by ships and from aircraft although exact details are not known. The Irish Aviation Authority has confirmed that it is to re-route commercial flights and issue a warning."

     ~~~ In case you're wondering what Wordle is all about, the Verge has the answer, plus instructions on where & how to play.

Griff Witte of the Washington Post: "The central committee of Arizona's Democratic Party voted on Saturday to censure Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a symbolic rebuke that follows her decision to buck her party's leadership on an effort to scrap the filibuster. While the reprimand has no practical consequences, it reflects the growing estrangement between the first-term senator and her fellow Democrats, who have been angered by her willingness to help stymie the party's agenda on issues such as the minimum wage and voting rights. State party chair Raquel Terán said Saturday's censure vote, which was taken behind closed doors, was a direct consequence of Sinema’s unwillingness to endorse Senate rule changes to pass voting rights legislation. The senator's move, she said, crossed a red line at a time when voting rights are under attack." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "What are Republicans for?... Name me one thing they're for.'... President Biden posed that question at his news conference Wednesday.... Today's Republicans are for whatever they think can restore them to power. When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was asked on Wednesday what agenda Republicans plan to run on in their bid to regain control of Congress in this year's midterm elections, he replied: 'That is a very good question, and I'll let you know when we take it back.'... That Republicans had become completely dismissive of policy was obvious at least by 2020, when the party didn't even bother to write a platform for its convention." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Tumulty, like most commentators on the subject, notes that "a solid majority of Republicans have embraced the lie that the 2020 election -- one of the most secure in history -- was stolen from Trump through massive fraud." I'm not sure these Republicans are as dumb as the statistics imply. Trump won the white vote in 2016 & 2020. That may be what these Republicans mean: that non-whites should not have the vote, so counting their ballots is inherently fraudulent. This is why Mitch's gaffe -- "African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans" -- is a gaffe only to people who think all Americans should have equal access to the ballot. "Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democratic Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, described McConnell's remarks as a 'dogwhistle'." Kenyatta is right. Mitch is telling white people that Blacks are voting "too much." This is why he and all other Senate Republicans opposed the voting rights bills.

GOP Voter Stasi. Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "In the battle over voting rights, an idea is starting to move around in Republican circles: designated police forces designed to hunt down voter fraud. On the basis of available evidence, this is a solution in search of a problem. It is another example of what comes from ... Donald Trump&'s false claims about the 2020 election. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has put a proposal for such a force in his new budget. In Georgia, former U.S. senator David Perdue, who is running as a Trumpian candidate in the GOP primary for governor..., says he wants something like it to assure that only legal votes are counted." MB: Since I first heard about Ron Baby Don's secret voter police plan, I have held an image in my mind of white voter Nazis banging on the door of a Black voter in the middle of the night demanding that he show himself. Then I remembered I had seen such a scene in a film, based on a true story, about the civil rights movement in the early 1960s. You can pick an era Republicans want to return to, but whatever you choose, it definitely must be pre-1965.

Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "In her column for the Daily Beast, longtime Washington D.C. insider Margaret Carlson claimed it is not beyond the realm of possibilities that Donald Trump will let his kids take the brunt of the prosecution for instances of fraud that are being investigated by New York Attorney General Leticia James and newly elected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. As Carlson notes, the children of Trump, Ivanka, Don Jr and Eric have their fingerprints all over financial documents that investigators believe show the family and the Trump Organization committed fraud. According to the columnist, 'We've been lulled into believing Donald Trump is made of Teflon.... But Trump's luck began to run out in early 2021 -- when he lost the White House, Air Force One, and his Twitter account inside a few weeks.... He could even start losing so much that he'll get sick of losing.'... You can read her whole piece here -- subscription required." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Daddy's Little Girl. "They Go After Children." Brad Dress of the Hill: "... Donald Trump slammed the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol insurrection after it asking his daughter Ivanka Trump to sit for an interview. 'It's a very unfair situation for my children. Very, very unfair,' Donald Trump told The Washington Examiner in an interview for an op-ed published Friday. 'It's a disgrace, what's going on. They're using these things to try and get people's minds off how incompetently our country is being run. And they don't care. They'll go after children,' Donald Trump said." MB: Ivanka Trump is 40 years old, not a child. But if Trump thinks she is such a child, why would he give her a top job with serious responsibilities? To keep an eye on her to make sure she's doing her homework & not sneaking out with her friends?

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Footnote to an Obituary. Natalie O'Neal of the New York Post: "The late rocker Meat Loaf was outspokenly anti-vaccine mandate and anti-mask before his death -- once telling a reporter, 'If I die, I die, but I'm not going to be controlled,' according to reports Friday. The 74-year-old 'Bat Out of Hell' singer -- who was reportedly critically ill with COVID-19 before he passed away Thursday -- was opposed to pandemic restrictions, slamming lockdowns and mask mandates during an interview last summer."

Virginia. Paul Murphy of CNN: "Police in Virginia said a woman has been charged after she claimed at a school board meeting she would show up with loaded guns if her children were required to wear masks at school. In the post on the department's Facebook page, authorities said Amelia King, 42 of Luray, was charged with making an oral threat while on school property Friday afternoon. A magistrate judge released her on a $5,000 unsecured bond." A related story was linked on Saturday's page.

Marie: Not sure what we're seeing here. Is it just vanity -- "This mask makes me look lame" -- or are we a nation in which nearly half of the adult population has out-of-control anger management problems? Or maybe many people's inner lives are so empty that they don't know how to live in relative isolation & they couldn't figure out how to manage it. Anyway, presuming the story about the cause of Meat Loaf's death is true (and it's the New York Post, so...), both he & Amelia from Virginia had the same problem. Meat Loaf solved his by dying (probably in agony) and Amelia sought to solve hers by threatening to mow down the local school board.

Beyond the Beltway

Mississippi. Bobby Harrison of Mississippi Today: "Every Black Mississippi senator walked out of the chamber Friday, choosing not to vote on a bill that sponsors said would prohibit the teaching of critical race theory in the state's public schools and colleges and universities. The historic, unprecedented walkout came over a vote on the academic theory that state education officials and Republican lawmakers acknowledge is not even taught in Mississippi. Republicans hold supermajority control of the Senate, meaning they can pass any bill without a single Democratic vote." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Sharif Paget of CNN: "The bill does not mention or define critical race theory. And it doesn't ban educators from teaching any specific subject matter.... The bill passed in the Senate by 32-2 after the Black lawmakers walked out. Democratic state Sens. David Blount and Hob Bryan -- both White -- were the only two legislators to vote against the bill. It now heads to the state House." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Molly Minta & Bobby Harrison of Mississippi Today: "If made into law, opponents say the bill is likely unconstitutional.... The bill states no public school or public college or university 'shall make a distinction or classification of students based on account of race' and cites specifically that critical race theory is something the legislation would 'prohibit.'... 'Universities are set up with promises of academic freedom as part of their accreditation process,' [Mississippi College constitutional law professor Matthew] Steffey said. 'It's extremely problematic for state law to try to infringe on the existing contractual rights and commitment at the individual professor level and at the university level.'... Jarvis Dortch ... of the ACLU of Mississippi, said K-12 teachers may not be able to challenge the bill if it becomes law.... Compared to university faculty, K-12 teachers have a more limited right to free speech in the classroom because they teach curriculum that is set by the state." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The likelihood that the law is unconstitutional was my first thought. Here's a summary by Donna Euben of the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) on the legal status of academic freedom. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) 

January 22, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Michael Schwirtz, et al., of the New York Times: "The British government said Saturday that the Kremlin was developing plans to install a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine -- and had already chosen a potential candidate -- as President Vladimir V. Putin weighs whether to order the Russian forces amassed on Ukraine's border to attack.The highly unusual public communiqué by the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, issued late at night in London, comes at a moment of high-stakes diplomacy between the Kremlin and the West."

Matthew Chance, et al., of CNN: "The US Embassy in Kyiv has requested that the State Department authorize the departure of all nonessential staff and their families, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. A State Department spokesperson said they have 'nothing to announce at this time,' adding, 'We conduct rigorous contingency planning, as we always do, in the event the security situation deteriorates.'"

Griff Witte of the Washington Post: "The central committee of Arizona's Democratic Party voted on Saturday to censure Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a symbolic rebuke that follows her decision to buck her party's leadership on an effort to scrap the filibuster. While the reprimand has no practical consequences, it reflects the growing estrangement between the first-term senator and her fellow Democrats, who have been angered by her willingness to help stymie the party's agenda on issues such as the minimum wage and voting rights. State party chair Raquel Terán said Saturday's censure vote, which was taken behind closed doors, was a direct consequence of Sinema's unwillingness to endorse Senate rule changes to pass voting rights legislation. The senator's move, she said, crossed a red line at a time when voting rights are under attack." CNN's report is here.

Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "In her column for the Daily Beast, longtime Washington D.C. insider Margaret Carlson claimed it is not beyond the realm of possibilities that Donald Trump will let his kids take the brunt of the prosecution for instances of fraud that are being investigated by New York Attorney General Leticia James and newly elected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. As Carlson notes, the children of Trump, Ivanka, Don Jr and Eric have their fingerprints all over financial documents that investigators believe show the family and the Trump Organization committed fraud. According to the columnist, 'We've been lulled into believing Donald Trump is made of Teflon.... But Trump's luck began to run out in early 2021 -- when he lost the White House, Air Force One, and his Twitter account inside a few weeks.... He could even start losing so much that he'll get sick of losing.'... You can read her whole piece here -- subscription required."

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

Mississippi. Bobby Harrison of Mississippi Today: "Every Black Mississippi senator walked out of the chamber Friday, choosing not to vote on a bill that sponsors said would prohibit the teaching of critical race theory in the state's public schools and colleges and universities. The historic, unprecedented walkout came over a vote on the academic theory that state education officials and Republican lawmakers acknowledge is not even taught in Mississippi. Republicans hold supermajority control of the Senate, meaning they can pass any bill without a single Democratic vote." ~~~

     ~~~ Sharif Paget of CNN: "The bill does not mention or define critical race theory. And it doesn't ban educators from teaching any specific subject matter.... The bill passed in the Senate by 32-2 after the Black lawmakers walked out. Democratic state Sens. David Blount and Hob Bryan -- both White -- were the only two legislators to vote against the bill. It now heads to the state House." ~~~

     ~~~ Molly Minta & Bobby Harrison of Mississippi Today: "If made into law, opponents say the bill is likely unconstitutional.... The bill states no public school or public college or university 'shall make a distinction or classification of students based on account of race' and cites specifically that critical race theory is something the legislation would 'prohibit.'... 'Universities are set up with promises of academic freedom as part of their accreditation process,' [Mississippi College constitutional law professor Matthew] Steffey said. 'It's extremely problematic for state law to try to infringe on the existing contractual rights and commitment at the individual professor level and at the university level.'... Jarvis Dortch ... of the ACLU of Mississippi, said K-12 teachers may not be able to challenge the bill if it becomes law.... Compared to university faculty, K-12 teachers have a more limited right to free speech in the classroom because they teach curriculum that is set by the state." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The likelihood that the law is unconstitutional was my first thought. Here's a summary by Donna Euben of the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) on the legal status of academic freedom.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ariel Gans of Medill News Service/UPI: "President Joe Biden on Friday encouraged local leaders to spend federal funds made available to them through COVID-19 relief and infrastructure packages. The money, he said while speaking at the U.S. Conference of Mayors at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., is part of his administration's effort to 'invest in the future.'... He said the bipartisan infrastructure package was a good example of what can be accomplished when lawmakers tackle problems like mayors." Video of the President's remarks is here. And here's the as-delivered transcript, via the White House.

David Sanger & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "In celebrating a $20 billion investment by Intel in a new semiconductor plant in Ohio, President Biden sought on Friday to jump-start a stalled element of his economic and national security agenda: a huge federal investment in manufacturing, research and development in technologies that China is also seeking to dominate. With two other major legislative priorities sitting moribund in Congress -- the Build Back Better Act and legislation to protect voting rights -- Mr. Biden moved to press for another bill, and one that has significant bipartisan support. But he has lost seven critical months since the Senate passed the measure, a sprawling China competition bill that would devote nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars to domestic chip manufacturing, artificial intelligence research, robotics, quantum computing and a range of other technologies. The bill amounts to the most expansive industrial policy legislation in U.S. history.... Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated on Thursday that House committees would soon turn to negotiations with the Senate to move the China competition legislation toward a vote." ~~~

~~~ President Biden speaks at the White House Friday about the tech bill: ~~~

~~~ Don Clark in the New York Times: "Intel has selected Ohio for a new chip manufacturing complex that would cost at least $20 billion, ramping up an effort to increase U.S. production of computer chips as users grapple with a lingering shortage of the vital components. Intel said Friday that the new site near Columbus would initially have two chip factories and would directly employ 3,000 people, while creating additional jobs in construction and at nearby businesses. Patrick Gelsinger, who became Intel's chief executive last year, has rapidly increased the company's investments in manufacturing to help reduce U.S. reliance on foreign chip makers while lobbying Congress to pass incentives aimed at increasing domestic chip production. He has said that Intel might invest as much as $100 billion over a decade in its next U.S. manufacturing campus, linking the scope and speed of that expansion to expected federal grants if Congress approves a spending package known as the CHIPS Act." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michael Crowley & Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "The United States and Russia scaled back their confrontational rhetoric over Eastern European security on Friday, agreeing to extend negotiations as the Biden administration pursues a fragile diplomatic path to averting a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken told his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov, in a hastily scheduled meeting in Geneva that the United States would provide written responses next week to Russia's demands that the West unwind its military presence in Eastern Europe. Both sides said that the two diplomats planned to speak again after that, and they left the door open to another conversation between President Biden and President Vladimir V. Putin to try to resolve the crisis." ~~~

~~~ Matthew Lee & Jamey Keaten of the AP: "The United States and Russia sought to lower the temperature in a heated standoff over Ukraine, even as they reported no breakthroughs in high-stakes talks on Friday aimed at preventing a feared Russian invasion. Armed with seemingly intractable and diametrically opposed demands, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Geneva for roughly 90 minutes at what the American said was a 'critical moment.' But there was no apparent movement on either side." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jennifer Hansler & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "The first US shipment of recently directed security assistance has arrived in Ukraine, the US Embassy in Kyiv tweeted Friday night. The shipment 'includes close to 200,000 pounds of lethal aid, including ammunition for the front line defenders of Ukraine,' according to the tweet." ~~~

~~~ BUT. Mari Eccles of Politico: "Berlin will not supply weapons to Ukraine for now amid a security crisis on the Russia-Ukraine border, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said in an interview published Saturday.... Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia announced Friday they will send Stinger ground-to-air missiles to Ukraine after receiving approval from the U.S. State Department. Berlin has blocked Estonia from sending German-origin artillery to Kyiv by refusing the issue the necessary permits, according to the Wall Street Journal."

Erin Mansfield of USA Today, republished in Stars & Stripes: "USA Today confirmed with all five branches of the U.S. military that 81 people signed up for the Oath Keepers while in uniform. The names are from a hacked list that a watchdog group shared with journalists last fall.... At least 20 are still serving.... The Defense Department has known for decades that its members were joining extremist groups but often did not punish them.... [Oath Keepers sign an oath that] they would never obey potential government orders that group leaders considered acts of war or cause for a revolution.... Fourteen of the 20 service members who are still in uniform signed up for the Oath Keepers using their military email addresses. The Department of Defense generally bans service members from using military email for personal affairs and expressly bans them from using their emails in ways that would 'reflect adversely' on the military or 'other uses that are incompatible with public service.'"

Tik Root of the Washington Post: "The mobile homes in which 22 million Americans live -- also known as manufactured houses-- are governed by federal requirements that haven't changed in nearly 30 years. Spurred by a court order, the Biden administration is proposing long-awaited updates to energy-efficiency standards for manufactured homes that it projects will save mobile-home owners thousands of dollars and prevent millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere in the coming decades. But the new standards, due in May, have also sparked a fierce debate about costs, equity and the future of manufactured housing. The changes that the Biden administration has put forward include updates to insulation and windows, as well as heating and cooling systems."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "For three months, Republican officeholders and Fox News personalities have been" claiming Joe Biden, Merrick Garland & the Biden administration in general have been labeling upstanding, concerned parents as domestic terrorists. "There's just one wee problem with the whole Biden-says-parents-are-terrorists claim, reported dozens of times on Fox News airwaves and echoed at each link down the Republican media food chain: It's horse excrement." Milbank quotes the usual suspects, among them House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, Gym Jordan, Josh Hawley, TuKKKer, Kellyanne Alternate Facts Conway. MB: I dunno. Look at Amelia from Virginia (story linked under Beyond the Beltway). She seems like a domestic terrorist to me.

Luke Broadwater & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Law enforcement officials, members of Congress and the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol are digging deeper into the role that fake slates of electors played in efforts by ... Donald J. Trump to cling to power after he lost the 2020 election. In recent days, the state attorneys general in Michigan and New Mexico have asked the Justice Department to investigate fake slates of electors that falsely claimed that Mr. Trump, not Joseph R. Biden Jr., had won their states. Representative Mark Pocan, Democrat of Wisconsin, wrote to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on Friday demanding an investigation into the same issue in his state. And this week, members of the House committee scrutinizing the Jan. 6 riot said that they, too, were examining the part that the bogus electoral slates played in Mr. Trump's scheme to overturn the election.... The false slates, put forth in seven contested swing states, appear to have been part of a strategy by Mr. Trump's allies to disrupt the normal workings of the Electoral College. After election officials in those states sent official lists of electors who had voted for Mr. Biden to the Electoral College, the fake slates claimed that Mr. Trump had won."

Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "As Capitol attack investigators dig into efforts by state-level Republicans to send Congress 'alternative' slates of 2020 presidential electors, they're zeroing in on the involvement of Donald Trump's White House and campaign operations.... 'We want to look at the fraudulent activity that was contained in the preparation of these fake Electoral College certificates,' said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the Capitol riot committee. 'And then we want to look to see to what extent this was part of a comprehensive plan to overthrow the 2020 election.' The select committee is expecting a new tranche of documents from the National Archives related to its false-electors inquiry, according to its chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). The Archives has confirmed it's compiling materials on the matter, Thompson told reporters, describing the Trump political or governing apparatus's apparent involvement in the certificates as a 'concern.' Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), another panel member, said the submission of the electoral certificates == claiming to be legitimate -- was a 'dangerous precedent.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "A Milwaukee County prosecutor has consulted with [state] Attorney General Josh Kaul on whether 10 Republicans committed fraud by claiming to be presidential electors even though Donald Trump lost in Wisconsin. Assistant District Attorney Matthew Westphal sent a letter Wednesday saying Kaul's Department of Justice or federal prosecutors were best suited to investigate the matter."

Oriana Gonzalez of Axios: "The National Archives on Thursday evening released records of ... Trump's White House to the House Jan. 6 Select Committee, the agency said.... 'Yesterday evening NARA provided the Select Committee with all the records at issue in the litigation,' the National Archives said in a statement [Friday]." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Betsy Swan of Politico: "Among the records that Donald Trump's lawyers tried to shield from Jan. 6 investigators are a draft executive order ... dated Dec. 16, 2020... that would have directed the defense secretary to seize voting machines and a document titled 'Remarks on National Healing.'... Together, the two documents point to the wildly divergent perspectives of White House advisers and allies during Trump's frenetic final weeks in office.... [The draft order] credulously cites conspiracy theories about election fraud in Georgia and Michigan, as well as debunked notions about Dominion voting machines.... The draft document labeled 'Remarks on National Healing,' also now in the select panel's possession, provides a first look at the remarks Trump would deliver the next day, which stand in jarring contrast to other rhetoric Trump employed at the time and continues to use when discussing the insurrection." The draft order is reproduced in Swan's article. The proposed speech -- from which she quotes -- is a hoot, given what Trump actually said & did. Read the whole story. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Swan speculates that Sidney Powell wrote the draft order: "It's not clear who wrote either document. But the draft executive order is dated Dec. 16, 2020, and is consistent with proposals that lawyer Sidney Powell made to the then-president.... In [a Dec. 18, 2020] meeting, Powell urged Trump to seize voting machines and to appoint her as a special counsel to investigate the election, according to Axios" Then Betty Cracker of Balloon Juice noticed a telltale pronoun in the draft order: "The appointment of a Special Counsel to oversee this operation and institute all criminal and civil proceedings as appropriate based on the evidence collected and provided all resources necessary to carry out her duties...." Emphasis Cracker's. She writes, "He meant Sidney Powell, fellow citizens, the Kraken lady. This slobbering lunatic[.]" C'mon, Betty, try to look at the draft order as a super-clever job application in which Powell creates a job for herself. ~~~

     ~~~ BTW, Swan further notes that "the draft executive order also cites two classified documents: National Security Presidential Memoranda 13 and 21." Assuming Sydney McKraken is the author of this draft order, just how did she get access to classified documents? Does she have a security clearance? If so, I doubt she got it through standard vetting. The president* can grant clearance to individuals even when they don't merit it (see Kushner, Jared), either generally or for access to specific information. But, gosh, if Trump granted clearance to Sydney, can't we infer that he was in on this plot to seize voting machines, a plot which, according to multiple legal experts on the teevee Friday, violates the Posse Comitatus Act -- an 1878 law that prevents presidents from using the military as a domestic police force.

George Conway in the Washington Post: On Wednesday, the Supreme Court "summarily rejected [Donald Trump]'s 'emergency' request to block, on grounds of executive privilege, the release of documents to the select House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The court's decision was a brutal, and personally stinging, loss for Trump.... Trump lost the case in virtually record time.... The justices actually cut back on the court of appeals&' decision [against Trump].... The justices relied solely on the reasoning that Trump's claims were so paltry, his privilege arguments so weak, that Trump would have lost even were he still in office.... The justices left open the possibility that an ex-president could assert executive privilege over the current officeholder's objection. The result was an even more devastating rejection of Trump's privilege claim -- in effect, an unambiguous, blanket holding by the Supreme Court that presidents who incite insurrections in office don't get to invoke executive privilege."

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "The retired federal judge assigned to review the contents of 18 electronic devices seized from Rudolph W. Giuliani's home and offices in Manhattan last spring has withheld about half of what ... Donald Trump's personal lawyer argued should be kept out of the hands of investigators because it was privileged. More than 3,000 communications were released to prosecutors on Wednesday.... The Manhattan U.S. attorney's office has been investigating Giuliani's dealings in Ukraine while he was representing Trump. Prosecutors have said Giuliani might have acted as an unregistered foreign agent, which was the basis for the agents' search."

Sophie Reardon of CBS News: "Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani ['03] and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn ['14] will no longer hold honorary degrees from the University of Rhode Island, the school announced Friday. The Board of Trustees and the president approved the motion after an investigation by the URI Honorary Degree Committee.... Upon review, the committee noted Giuliani's role in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol last year. 'His words encouraged domestic terrorist behavior aimed at preventing Congress from certifying the outcome of the 2020 presidential election,' it said.... The committee pointed to the former general pleading guilty to 'willfully and knowingly' lying to the FBI.... The URI decision also cited two speeches Flynn gave -- one in Dallas in which he said 'a military coup was needed in the U.S.' and another in San Antonio in which he 'called for the establishment of "one religion" in the U.S.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I wonder if board members have learned the lesson that honoring men who are already well-known assholes can prove problematic. Nah.

Igor! A Florida Man... Larry Neumeister of the AP: "A Florida man who helped Rudy Giuliani seek damaging information against Joe Biden in Ukraine was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and fined $10,000 Friday in an unrelated campaign finance case. Igor Fruman was told to report to prison March 14. He pleaded guilty in September to a single charge of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national. As part of the plea, he admitted soliciting a million dollars from a Russian entrepreneur, Andrey Muraviev, to donate to Republicans in Nevada, Florida and other states as part of an effort to launch a recreational marijuana business." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Cameron Jenkins of the Hill: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) this week refused to turn over records of his participation at a pro-Trump rally that occurred just before supporters of the former president stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 last year. The Travis County district attorney's office allotted Paxton four days to turn over the records or face a lawsuit, according to The Associated Press. But in a Friday letter, Paxton's office reportedly denied the district attorney's demands and refused to acknowledge any violations, the news outlet noted. The request from the DA's office comes after several Texas news outlets including The Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman, filed a complaint to investigate an alleged violation of open records laws.... Paxton ... made a speech at the rally detailing an unsuccessful attempt to overturn Biden's victory in the presidential election...."

Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department on Friday arrested a Texas man and charged him with threatening election and other government officials in Georgia, in the first case brought by a task force formed over the summer to combat such threats, according to court records and a department spokesman. In an indictment, prosecutors alleged that Chad Christopher Stark posted a message on Craigslist on Jan. 5, 2021, saying it was 'time to kill' an elections official, whose name is not included in the court documents.... Georgia officials, in particular, were targeted by a flood of hostile messages after officials there refused to back ... Donald Trump's bogus claims of election fraud. Trump himself called Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) the 'enemy of the people.'..." A CNN report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump Made Us Sick. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... a striking new study from Kevin B. Smith, chair of the political science department at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, suggests the universe of people who find our politics a torment might be much larger than I'd realized. 'Politics is a pervasive and largely unavoidable source of chronic stress that exacted significant health costs for large numbers of American adults between 2017 and 2020,' writes Smith in 'Politics Is Making Us Sick: The Negative Impact of Political Engagement on Public Health During the Trump Administration.' 'The 2020 election did little to alleviate those effects and quite likely exacerbated them.'... People from both parties reported that political stress during the Trump years has damaged their health, but Democrats have, unsurprisingly, had it worse.... The country is, psychologically, in an awful place.... [Smith] speculates that even those who aren't intensely interested in politics are still affected by the ambient climate of hatred, chaos and dysfunction." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has broadened its investigation into the role of fossil fuel companies in misleading the public about climate change, asking members of the boards of directors of ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and Shell Oil to testify before Congress next month about their firms' commitments to curbing global warming." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court will consider limiting a controversial 2020 decision that greatly expanded the amount of Indian land in Oklahoma and disrupted criminal prosecutions in the area, the justices announced Friday. The court declined the state's request to overturn its decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma, which sided with tribal leaders in finding that a large portion of land in the eastern part of the state qualifies as an Indian reservation[.] But the justices said they will consider a more limited question: 'Whether a State has authority to prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians in Indian country."

Kate Zernicke & Madeleine Ngo of the New York Times: "Anti-abortion protesters descended on Washington from across the country on Friday for the annual March for Life, a ritual that this year took on a tone of hopeful celebration as they anticipated the Supreme Court overturning the decision that established a constitutional right to abortion half a century ago." MB: Whaddaya bet some of these same jerks who would deny women the freedom to choose also are demanding the freedom to infect others with Covid-19.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Lena Sun, et al., of the Washington Post: "Vaccine boosters provide robust protection against severe disease from the omicron variant in the United States, according to three reports released Friday that offer the first real-world data in this country showing the utility of the additional shots in keeping vaccinated people out of the hospital. But the reports by scientists the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are arriving late to the winter surge in coronavirus cases that have choked the corridors of hospitals across much of the country.... Despite laboratory studies that show an extra dose jacks up antibodies, repeated urgings from Biden administration officials and more recently, a succession of reports from multiple countries affirming that protection, the boosters have not been embraced by Americans to the extent the initial shots were." The article is free to nonsubscribers. (Also linked yesterday.)

Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post: "Federal regulators Friday authorized the antiviral drug remdesivir for covid-19 outpatients at high risk of being hospitalized, providing a new treatment option for doctors struggling with shortages of effective drugs to counter the coronavirus. The Food and Drug Administration said the intravenous treatment, which had been limited to patients in the hospital, could be administered to outpatients with mild-to-moderate illness. Remdesivir, manufactured by Gilead Sciences, was among the first coronavirus treatments authorized in 2020. The drug received full agency approval later that year for people 12 and older."

AP: "A U.S. judge in Texas issued a nationwide injunction on Friday barring the federal government from enforcing President Joe Biden's requirement that federal workers without qualifying medical or religious exemptions be vaccinated for COVID-19. Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of Texas by ... Donald Trump, ruled that opponents of Biden’s vaccination mandate for federal employees were likely to succeed at trial and blocked the government from enforcing the requirement." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ian Duncan of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Transportation Department issued an order Friday blocking 44 passenger flights by Chinese airlines after the Chinese government took the same step against American carriers as part of its strict coronavirus control policies. The restrictions begin Jan. 30 and run until March 29. They affect flights between Los Angeles and New York and five Chinese cities."

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "Unvaccinated adults age 65 or older who contracted the coronavirus were 49 times more likely to require hospitalization than seniors who had received booster vaccine doses, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Unimmunized adults in that age group were also 17 times more likely to be admitted to a hospital than those who had received either two shots of an mRNA vaccine or one Johnson & Johnson dose. Meanwhile, unvaccinated people between 50 and 64 years old were 44 times more likely to need hospitalization compared with their boosted counterparts." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Virginia. Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "Just before the Page County School Board voted Thursday night on whether to keep requiring masks in schools -- as dozens of school districts throughout Virginia grappled this week with a hotly contested executive order from Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) declaring masks optional -- parent Amelia King stepped to the microphone.... She threatened the board with a promise to show up with guns if it did not make masking optional for the rural Virginia district of 3,000. 'My children will not come to school on Monday with a mask on,' she said. 'That's not happening, and I will bring every single gun loaded and ready to, I will call every--' A board member interjected that King had run over her allotted three minutes of speaking time. King replied: 'Mm-hm. I'll see y'all on Monday' and stalked from the room. School officials later contacted police, who launched an investigation, and raised the alarm to federal and state officials...."

China. Amy Qin & Amy Chien of the New York Times: "China, which has largely kept the coronavirus at bay since 2020, is going to ever more extreme lengths to quell outbreaks that have proliferated around the country in recent weeks, and a growing number of people are finding their lives suddenly upended as a result." Authorities are locking people in stores & offices & strangers' homes when suspected Covid-19 cases are traced to the locales. "At least 20 million people in three cities were under full lockdown as recently as last week.... The case numbers themselves are minuscule by global standards, and no Covid deaths have been reported in China's current wave. On Friday, the health authorities reported a total of 23 new locally transmitted cases in five cities. But many cases have involved the highly transmissible Omicron variant, and with each passing day, the government's dogged pursuit of 'zero Covid' is looking harder to achieve. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie's Plan for 95% Vaccinations Rates in the U.S.: deport Amelia from Virginia there and a bunch of other nutters screaming "Freeedumb!" from vaccines & masks. Send them to China, where they'll be quarantined forevah to give them a taste of what it means to lose substantial freedom -- as opposed to being subjected to minor inconveniences. Publicize the plan. Most of the nitwits not yet caught up in the Freeedumb! dragnet will suddenly find masks & shots A-okay.

Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "Brian Laundrie claimed responsibility for killing his fiancée, Gabrielle Petito, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Friday, as it prepared to close a case that had galvanized social media and prompted widespread sleuthing by amateur detectives. The F.B.I. disclosed that a notebook that was found near Mr. Laundrie's body in October included a written confession, as the agency provided what it called a final investigative update on a case that had drawn thousands of tips from the public and engaged law enforcement agencies across the country. The F.B.I. did not reveal details of the incriminating statements other than to say that the notebook contained 'written statements by Mr. Laundrie claiming responsibility for Ms. Petito's death.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "A federal judge handed a crucial free-speech victory to six University of Florida professors Friday, ordering the university to stop enforcing a policy that had barred them from giving expert testimony in lawsuits against the state. The stinging ruling, by Judge Mark E. Walker of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, accused the university of trying to silence the professors for fear that their testimony would anger state officials and legislators who control the school's funding.... Technically, the 74-page order limits the university only temporarily, until there is a ruling in the professors' lawsuit challenging the policy. But the judge, who was appointed in 2012 by President Barack Obama, left scant doubt that his opinion of the school's conduct was unlikely to change.... The order was a turning point in a dispute that has tarred the reputation of one of the nation's leading public universities and sparked an investigation by the body that accredits it. It also has fueled criticism of Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who has denied pressuring the school to rein in faculty conduct that questions his administration's policies." ~~~

     ~~~ Mike Vasilinda of WJHG Panama City (January 11): "Governor Ron DeSantis declared Florida to be the freest state in America during his annual state of the state address to open the 2022 legislative session." MB: Uh-huh. It's a bit more free today, free from DeSantis, that is.

Georgia. America the Unsafe. Amy Cheng & Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "A British astrophysicist visiting his girlfriend just outside Atlanta was killed by a stray bullet on Jan. 16 that struck him while he was lying in bed. Matthew Willson, 31, died of a single gunshot wound to the head after being transported to a hospital, local law enforcement said Thursday.... The shooting appeared to be a 'random act involving individuals participating in the reckless discharge of' one or more firearms, Brookhaven police said in a statement."

Michigan. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "A Michigan judge has apologized to a 72-year-old cancer patient after she shamed him in court for not maintaining his yard and faced widespread condemnation for her harsh remarks. District Judge Alexis G. Krot told Burhan Chowdhury during a Michigan state court appearance over Zoom earlier this month that he 'should be ashamed' of himself for being unable to clean up the grass that had overtaken the property. Chowdhury struggled to breathe as he explained to the judge that he was 'very weak,' but Krot continued to criticize him for the neighborhood blight in Hamtramck, Mich., saying, 'If I could give you jail time on this, I would.'... A Change.org petition calling for her to be removed from the bench had more than 230,000 signatures as of early Friday. Krot said she recently self-reported her behavior to the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, which evaluates and investigates any complaints alleging misconduct by judicial officers...."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Over 500 residents in the Big Sur area in California were told to evacuate Friday night as a brush fire spread through the mountainous coastal region known for its winding turns and dramatic cliffs.... The blaze swept through an area with little or no fire history, according to the National Weather Service.... 'Anecdotally it seems as though the long-term drought is acting like a chronic illness where even recent rains' and cold winter weather 'isn't helping to keep fires from developing,' the National Weather Service said."

Washington Post: "Peru has appealed for international assistance to respond to a major oil spill connected to the eruption of an underwater volcano near Tonga last week. An Italian-flagged tanker spilled 6,000 barrels of oil in the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 15, close to La Pampilla refinery outside Lima, Peruvian authorities said. The Spanish company Repsol, which operates the refinery, blamed the volcanic eruption near Tonga that sent large tsunami waves across the ocean. The eruption triggered tsunami warnings in neighboring countries Chile and Ecuador, but Peru did not issue a similar alert. Two women in northern Peru were reportedly swept out to sea and drowned when massive waves crashed over a beach. The Italian shipping company transporting the oil said the tanker was unloading its cargo at La Pampilla, the country's largest refinery, when the terminal's underwater pipeline ruptured."

New York Times: "One New York City police officer was killed and another was critically wounded when a gunman opened fire on them inside a Harlem apartment on Friday, the police said. They were the third and fourth officers to be shot in the line of duty this week, according to the police." This is a liveblog.

January 21, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Oriana Gonzalez of Axios: "The National Archives on Thursday evening released records of former President Trump's White House to the House Jan. 6 Select Committee, the agency said.... 'Yesterday evening NARA provided the Select Committee with all the records at issue in the litigation,' the National Archives said in a statement [Friday]." ~~~

~~~ Betsy Swan of Politico: "Among the records that Donald Trump's lawyers tried to shield from Jan. 6 investigators are a draft executive order ... dated Dec. 16, 2020... that would have directed the defense secretary to seize voting machines and a document titled 'Remarks on National Healing.'... Together, the two documents point to the wildly divergent perspectives of White House advisers and allies during Trump's frenetic final weeks in office.... [The draft order] credulously cites conspiracy theories about election fraud in Georgia and Michigan, as well as debunked notions about Dominion voting machines.... The draft document labeled 'Remarks on National Healing,' also now in the select panel's possession, provides a first look at the remarks Trump would deliver the next day, which stand in jarring contrast to other rhetoric Trump employed at the time and continues to use when discussing the insurrection." The draft order is reproduced in Swan's article. The proposed speech -- from which she quotes -- is a hoot, given what Trump actually said & did.

Igor! A Florida Man... Larry Neumeister of the AP: "A Florida man who helped Rudy Giuliani seek damaging information against Joe Biden in Ukraine was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and fined $10,000 Friday in an unrelated campaign finance case. Igor Fruman was told to report to prison March 14. He pleaded guilty in September to a single charge of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national. As part of the plea, he admitted soliciting a million dollars from a Russian entrepreneur, Andrey Muraviev, to donate to Republicans in Nevada, Florida and other states as part of an effort to launch a recreational marijuana business."

AP: "A U.S. judge in Texas issued a nationwide injunction on Friday barring the federal government from enforcing President Joe Biden's requirement that federal workers without qualifying medical or religious exemptions be vaccinated for COVID-19. Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of Texas by ... Donald Trump, ruled that opponents of Biden's vaccination mandate for federal employees were likely to succeed at trial and blocked the government from enforcing the requirement."

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "Unvaccinated adults age 65 or older who contracted the coronavirus were 49 times more likely to require hospitalization than seniors who had received booster vaccine doses, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unimmunized adults in that age group were also 17 times more likely to be admitted to a hospital than those who had received either two shots of an mRNA vaccine or one Johnson & Johnson dose. Meanwhile, unvaccinated people between 50 and 64 years old were 44 times more likely to need hospitalization compared with their boosted counterparts."

Lena Sun, et al., of the Washington Post: "Vaccine boosters provide robust protection against severe disease from the omicron variant in the United States, according to three reports released Friday that offer the first real-world data in this country showing the utility of the additional shots in keeping vaccinated people out of the hospital. But the reports by scientists the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are arriving late to the winter surge in coronavirus cases that have choked the corridors of hospitals across much of the country.... Despite laboratory studies that show an extra dose jacks up antibodies, repeated urgings from Biden administration officials and more recently, a succession of reports from multiple countries affirming that protection, the boosters have not been embraced by Americans to the extent the initial shots were." The article is free to nonsubscribers.

Don Clark in the New York Times: "Intel has selected Ohio for a new chip manufacturing complex that would cost at least $20 billion, ramping up an effort to increase U.S. production of computer chips as users grapple with a lingering shortage of the vital components. Intel said Friday that the new site near Columbus would initially have two chip factories and would directly employ 3,000 people, while creating additional jobs in construction and at nearby businesses. Patrick Gelsinger, who became Intel's chief executive last year, has rapidly increased the company's investments in manufacturing to help reduce U.S. reliance on foreign chip makers while lobbying Congress to pass incentives aimed at increasing domestic chip production. He has said that Intel might invest as much as $100 billion over a decade in its next U.S. manufacturing campus, linking the scope and speed of that expansion to expected federal grants if Congress approves a spending package known as the CHIPS Act."

Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "As Capitol attack investigators dig into efforts by state-level Republicans to send Congress 'alternative' slates of 2020 presidential electors, they're zeroing in on the involvement of Donald Trump's White House and campaign operations.... 'We want to look at the fraudulent activity that was contained in the preparation of these fake Electoral College certificates,' said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the Capitol riot committee. 'And then we want to look to see to what extent this was part of a comprehensive plan to overthrow the 2020 election.' The select committee is expecting a new tranche of documents from the National Archives related to its false-electors inquiry, according to its chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). The Archives has confirmed it's compiling materials on the matter, Thompson told reporters, describing the Trump political or governing apparatus's apparent involvement in the certificates as a 'concern.' Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), another panel member, said the submission of the electoral certificates -- claiming to be legitimate -- was a 'dangerous precedent.'"

Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department on Friday arrested a Texas man and charged him with threatening election and other government officials in Georgia, in the first case brought by a task force formed over the summer to combat such threats, according to court records and a department spokesman. In an indictment, prosecutors alleged that Chad Christopher Stark posted a message on Craigslist on Jan. 5, 2021, saying it was 'time to kill' an elections official, whose name is not included in the court documents.... Georgia officials, in particular, were targeted by a flood of hostile messages after officials there refused to back ... Donald Trump's bogus claims of election fraud. Trump himself called Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) the 'enemy of the people.'..." A CNN report is here.

Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has broadened its investigation into the role of fossil fuel companies in misleading the public about climate change, asking members of the boards of directors of ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and Shell Oil to testify before Congress next month about their firms' commitments to curbing global warming."

Matthew Lee & Jamey Keaten of the AP: "The United States and Russia sought to lower the temperature in a heated standoff over Ukraine, even as they reported no breakthroughs in high-stakes talks on Friday aimed at preventing a feared Russian invasion. Armed with seemingly intractable and diametrically opposed demands, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Geneva for roughly 90 minutes at what the American said was a 'critical moment.' But there was no apparent movement on either side."

Trump Made Us Sick. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... a striking new study from Kevin B. Smith, chair of the political science department at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, suggests the universe of people who find our politics a torment might be much larger than I'd realized. 'Politics is a pervasive and largely unavoidable source of chronic stress that exacted significant health costs for large numbers of American adults between 2017 and 2020,' writes Smith in 'Politics Is Making Us Sick: The Negative Impact of Political Engagement on Public Health During the Trump Administration.' 'The 2020 election did little to alleviate those effects and quite likely exacerbated them.'... People from both parties reported that political stress during the Trump years has damaged their health, but Democrats have, unsurprisingly, had it worse.... The country is, psychologically, in an awful place.... [Smith] speculates that even those who aren't intensely interested in politics are still affected by the ambient climate of hatred, chaos and dysfunction."

~~~~~~~~~~

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "President Biden insisted Thursday that the United States would not accept even a 'minor incursion' of Ukraine by Russia, as the White House continued efforts to clarify Biden's remarks Wednesday suggesting that it might. 'I've been absolutely clear with President [Vladimir] Putin. He has no misunderstanding: Any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion,' Biden told reporters Thursday at the start of a White House event on infrastructure. Such an invasion would be met with a 'severe and coordinated economic response,' Biden added, noting that those consequences have been 'laid out very clearly for President Putin.... Let there be no doubt at all: If Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price,' Biden said. In the second news conference of his presidency Wednesday, Biden said..., 'It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera.... But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the force they've massed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine.' Biden was swiftly criticized for appearing to give a green light to Russia to attack Ukraine as long as it didn't amount to a full-scale invasion. Soon after, the White House issued a statement seeking to clarify Biden's comments...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The photo accompanying the New York Times' report on President Biden's "clarification" has a chilling World War II look to it. ~~~

~~~ Conor Finnegan of ABC News: "Ahead of a key meeting on Friday between the U.S. and Russia, the Biden administration on Thursday pushed a full-scale campaign to pressure Moscow as Russian leader Vladimir Putin weighs a possible attack on its neighbor Ukraine. The U.S. approved its NATO allies in the Baltics to provide additional arms to Ukraine, including critical anti-aircraft missiles that escalate U.S. support. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned four Ukrainian officials it accused of working with Russian intelligence, including to form a new government backed by Russian occupying forces. The State Department blasted a Russian disinformation campaign it said was part of its 'pretext' to invade Ukraine and 'divide the international reaction to its actions.' One day before his sit-down with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Secretary of State Antony Blinken tried to push back on Russia's narrative and make clear just how high the stakes are in the standoff. 'It's bigger than a conflict between two countries. It's bigger than Russia and NATO. It's a crisis with global consequences, and it requires global attention and action, the top U.S. diplomat said in Berlin, hours after meeting his German, French, and British counterparts to coordinate a response." ~~~

     ~~~ A transcript (as delivered) of Secretary Blinken's full remarks, via the State Department, is here. ~~~

~~~ Julian Borger, et al., of the Guardian: "The US has alleged that Russian intelligence is recruiting current and former Ukrainian government officials to take over the government in Kyiv and cooperate with a Russian occupying force. The US Treasury on Thursday imposed sanctions on two Ukrainian members of parliament and two former officials it said were involved in the alleged conspiracy, which involved discrediting the current government of the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy." The Treasury Department's public statement is here.

In yesterday's Comments, contributor Jeanne has a good summary of how President Biden's press conference went Wednesday. I concur with her impressions.

Bombs Away! CentCom Was Lying Then; CentCom Is Lying Now. Dave Philipps, et al., of the New York Times: "Near the height of the war against the Islamic State in Syria, [on March 26, 2017,] a sudden riot of explosions rocked the country's largest dam, a towering, 18-story structure on the Euphrates River that held back a 25-mile-long reservoir above a valley where hundreds of thousands of people lived.... The Islamic State, the Syrian government and Russia blamed the United States, but the dam was on the U.S. military's 'no-strike list' of protected civilian sites and the commander of the U.S. offensive at the time, then-Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, said allegations of U.S. involvement were based on 'crazy reporting.'... In fact, members of a top secret U.S. Special Operations unit called Task Force 9 had struck the dam using some of the largest conventional bombs in the U.S. arsenal.... Former officials said the task force used a procedural shortcut reserved for emergencies, allowing it to launch the attack without clearance.... The unit routinely circumvented the rigorous airstrike approval process and hit Islamic State targets in Syria in a way that repeatedly put civilians at risk." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Read on for the twisted logic CentCom is pushing now to explain away the bombing. The claim now is that the fact that the dam didn't collapse is proof that the purpose of the bombing was not to destroy the dam. The problem with that "analysis" is that the reason the dam didn't collapse is that one of the bunker-buster bombs the U.S. dropped was a dud. ~~~

~~~ Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Congressional Democrats on Thursday urged President Biden to overhaul his counterterrorism strategy and targeting criteria for drone strikes, citing grave concerns about 'repeated civilian casualties arising from secretive and unaccountable lethal operations.' The letter came a day after The New York Times published newly declassified surveillance footage providing additional details about the final minutes and aftermath of a botched drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August that killed 10 innocent civilians, including seven children. Eleven senators and 39 members of the House, led by Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Christopher S. Murphy of Connecticut, cited that strike as 'emblematic of this systemic failure that has persisted across decades and administrations.'"

Christina Wilkie of CNBC: "Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm violated the STOCK Act at least 9 times last year, by selling shares of stock worth up to $240,000 and failing to disclose those sales within the 45-day window that the 2012 law requires.... 'This was an inadvertent clerical oversight on reporting stock sales that ethics officials previously determined did not pose a conflict in her role as Energy Secretary and the Secretary paid the late filing fee,' said Department of Energy spokeswoman Charisma Troiano, in response to questions Thursday from CNBC."

Thursday Was Donald Trump's Very Bad Hair Day

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol sent a letter on Thursday to Ivanka Trump ... seeking her cooperation with its inquiry. The letter to Ms. Trump, who served as one of the president's senior advisers, comes after Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming and the vice chairwoman of the Jan. 6 select committee, said the panel had gathered evidence that Ms. Trump had implored her father to call off the violence as a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol. 'We know his daughter -- we have firsthand testimony -- that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence,' Ms. Cheney said in an interview on ABC News this month" The letter to Ivanka, linked above, is worth reading. CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "The Atlanta-area prosecutor weighing whether ... Donald Trump and others committed crimes by trying to pressure Georgia election officials has requested a special purpose grand jury to aid in her investigation. In a letter Thursday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) told the chief judge of Fulton County's Superior Court that the move was needed because a 'significant number of witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate with the investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony.' Willis cited Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) as an example. Fani has previously confirmed that part of her probe centers on the Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Raffensperger in which Trump asked Raffensperger to 'find' enough votes to overturn Joe Biden's win in the state's presidential election." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Many commentators see Trump's blatant ask of Raffensperger as slam-dunk proof that Trump was asking the Georgia official to fraudulently overturn the results of the election. But a legal analyst on CNN said that if Trump really believed he won the Georgia vote, then he would not have committed a crime. So it strikes me as possible that one big reason Trump has continued to perpetuate the Big Lie, not because he believes it, but because pretending he believes it might save him from a sojourn on a Georgia chain gang. (The image of Trump working on the chain gang brings me such pleasure.) So when Trump advisor & part-time Fox "News" employee Sean Hannity told Trump, "No more stolen election talk," Trump had good reason to ignore the advice.

Marie: Yesterday, I noted that Rachel Maddow had been elevating the importance of fake Electoral College slates that Republicans in seven states had sent to Congress in late 2020, and that there was more evidence than even Maddow let on that this was a coordinated effort. Now comes this: ~~~

~~~ Beth Reinhard, et al., of the Washington Post: "On Dec. 14, 2020, the day of the electoral college vote, Republican electors convened in the capitals of five states that Joe Biden had won. They declared themselves 'duly elected and qualified' and sent signed certificates to Washington purporting to affirm Donald Trump as the actual victor. At the time, the gatherings in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin -- all states that had officially approved Biden electors -- were widely derided as political stunts.... Understanding the origins of the rival slates has now become a focus of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.... Internally, [Rudy] Giuliani oversaw the effort.... One of the people familiar with the plan said Giuliani was assisted at times by an anchor from the right-wing network One America News. The extent and particulars of the behind-the-scenes coordination -- and the refusal by some Trump electors to go along with the plan -- have not been previously reported. The campaign scrambled to help electors gain access to Capitol buildings, as is required in some states, and to distribute draft language for the certificates.... The campaign also worked to find replacements for the electors who were unable to participate, or unwilling....

"The rival slates were leveraged as evidence in last-ditch efforts to give Vice President Mike Pence the ability to reject Biden's victory when he presided over the electoral vote count.... Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, told The Post that Giuliani and his associates forwarded letters from individual state legislators objecting to Biden's electors and arguing the Trump electors should be recognized instead. Short and Pence's legal team reviewed the unsolicited letters but were not persuaded there was any legal basis to accept Trump electors who had not been certified by their states, Short said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marshall Cohen, et al., of CNN: "Trump campaign officials, led by Rudy Giuliani, oversaw efforts in December 2020 to put forward illegitimate electors from seven states that Trump lost, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the scheme. The sources said members of ... Donald Trump's campaign team were far more involved than previously known in the plan, a core tenet of the broader plot to overturn President Joe Biden's victory when Congress counted the electoral votes on January 6. Giuliani and his allies coordinated the nuts-and-bolts of the process on a state-by-state level, the sources told CNN.

"One fake elector from Michigan boasted at a recent event hosted by a local Republican organization that the Trump campaign directed the entire operation. 'We fought to seat the electors. The Trump campaign asked us to do that,' Meshawn Maddock, co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, said at a public event last week that was organized by the conservative group Stand Up Michigan, according to a recording obtained by CNN.... Maddock was also one of the 16 Trump supporters from Michigan who served as fake electors and signed the illegitimate certificate that was sent to the National Archives." Includes audio. ~~~

     ~~~ Thursday night, Rachel Maddow played a voicemail left for a Michigan state Republican legislator in which a young Trump campaign worker casually & advised the politician he had the right and power to overturn Biden's victory in Michigan. "So, you know, get back to me and we'll get it done. Bye now." This attempt to subvert the people's vote was not Rudy in a trenchcoat in a dark alley scheming with a couple of crooked local political bosses; it was sprightly young things leaving voicemails. Albeit incriminating voicemails.

Amanda Carpenter of the Bulwark lays out "the six main strands of the Trump coup attempt.... Although Trump wasn't successful in overturning the election, his schemes captured the hearts and minds of the Republican base, many members of the Republican elite, conservative media, and fringe militia groups alike. Those groups worked in concert toward an end goal of rejecting Electoral College votes on Jan 6th."

"Otherizing" Americans:

1. Mitch Suggests Black U.S. Citizens Are Not Americans. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Shortly after the Senate voted down a proposed change to filibuster rules -- thereby dooming a Democratic push to implement federal voting standards -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other top Republicans held a brief news conference.... 'What's your message for voters of color who are concerned that without the John L. Lewis Voting Rights Act they're not going to be able to vote in the midterm?' [a reporter] asked. McConnell replied, 'Well, the concern is misplaced, because if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.' As you might expect, this phrasing was poorly received.” Bump goes on to take down McConnell's (& CJ John Roberts') fallacious argument that voting rights legislation is not necessary. MB: McConnell made a classic Freudian slip, one in which he inadvertently revealed that he feels Black Americans are not "real" Americans.

2. Kadia Goba of BuzzFeed News: "Rep. Lauren Boebert left a group of Jewish visitors to the Capitol bewildered Thursday morning when she asked them if they were doing 'reconnaissance' after seeing them at an elevator at the Capitol. Members of the group, which was meeting with Rep. Tom Suozzi, were wearing yarmulkes, and the person coordinating the group is Orthodox, with a traditional beard. One witness said the group, along with other members of Congress, was waiting for an elevator. When the doors opened, Boebert stepped out of the elevator and looked the group of visitors 'from head to toe,' the witness said. Boebert then asked if they were there to conduct 'reconnaissance.'... Boebert ... [is] the communications chair of the [right-wing] House Freedom Caucus." Boebert told BuzzFeed she had "made a joke." MB: Very funny.

Haley Britzky of Task & Purpose: "Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), a 26-year-old lawmaker and sweetheart of the far-right, 'fiddled with his black pistol' for several minutes during a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday, according to The Daily Beast. The hearing's focus was the lasting impact of toxic exposure from burn pits on U.S. service members -- a topic that advocacy groups have fought to have more attention on for years.... When asked by The Daily Beast if Cawthorn thought it was appropriate to use that time to clean his gun, his communications director Luke Ball told the outlet: 'What could possibly be more patriotic than guns and veterans?'" MB: Had I been in the hearing room & observed the kid "fiddling with his pistol," I'd have yelled "Gun!" and hit the floor. Really.

Mike Levine of ABC News: "The FBI on Wednesday raided Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar's home and campaign office in Texas as part of a wide-ranging federal probe relating to the former Soviet state of Azerbaijan and several U.S. businessmen, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News. A federal grand jury in Washington is investigating the matter, but it's unclear if Cuellar is a target of the grand jury's probe, ABC News was told."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request from abortion providers in Texas that a federal judge be allowed to take prompt action on their challenge to a state law that bans most abortions after six weeks. The practical effect of the order, the three liberal justices wrote in dissent, was to let the law stay in place indefinitely. 'This case is a disaster for the rule of law and a grave disservice to women in Texas, who have a right to control their own bodies,' Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent. The majority gave no reasons for its ruling...." The Texas Tribune's report is here. The ruling, via the Court, is here.

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "A federal court in Boston on Thursday dismissed charges against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor accused of failing to disclose research ties to China, after the government acknowledged it could 'no longer meet its burden of proof' at trial. The dropping of the case against Gang Chen, a Chinese American nanoscientist, is a major public relations blow to a Justice Department program aimed at curbing economic espionage. The program, dubbed the China Initiative, has drawn complaints that it amounts to ethnic profiling and is under department review. U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris's order dismissing Chen's case came shortly after federal prosecutors requested that action on Thursday morning." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Kelly McBride, NPR's public editor, issues a "clarification" of Nina Totenberg's report on the Maskless Justice Neil Gorsuch. MB: Sorry, any way you look at it, Gorsuch is a pompous, selfish boor. But we already knew that. ~~~

     ~~~ Nina Is Not Amused. Zachary Petrizzo & Blake Montgomery of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: "The widening controversy over an NPR story on masks in the Supreme Court turned inward as a legendary reporter there blasted the broadcaster's public editor for critiquing her work. The public editor, Kelly McBride, who operates independently of the newsroom but takes a paycheck from the publication, called for a 'clarification, but not a correction' to an article about the Supreme Court written by one of the newsroom's 'founding mothers,' legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. 'She can write any goddamn thing she wants, whether or not I think it's true,' Totenberg told The Daily Beast on Thursday night. 'She's not clarifying anything!' Totenberg laughed, and added: 'I haven't even looked at it, and I don't care to look at it because I report to the news division, she does not report to the news division.'"

Tik Root of the Washington Post: "Expansive, flat and abundant, the rooftops of big-box stores in the United States could produce enough solar energy to meet half their electricity needs, according to a report released Thursday. Walmart leads the way in rooftop solar potential, followed by Target and Home Depot.... There are roughly 7.2 billion square feet of roof space on superstores in the continental United States. [The National Renewable Energy Lab] estimates that about two-thirds of the roofs on large buildings overall are suitable for solar."

Before He Was Infallible. Jason Horowitz, et al., of the New York Times: "A report commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church in Munich and released on Thursday accused the retired Pope Benedict XVI of mishandling at least four cases of sexual abuse by priests when he was the archbishop there. Members of the law firm that conducted the investigation also said Benedict had attended a meeting about a pedophile priest that he claimed he didn't go to, or know the details of.... The investigation, two years in the making, goes to the heart of the culture of cover-up and underscores the tacit policy of protecting church leaders ahead of children and other vulnerable people. Both were pervasive during the years when Benedict, then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was archbishop of Munich and Freising."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: Omicron is spreading to every place on Earth.

Florida. Frank Gluck of the Fort Myers News-Press: "Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration, already facing criticism for downplaying the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccinations, has put on leave Orange County Health Director Dr. Raul Pino for encouraging his staff to get vaccinated. Pino had written in a Jan. 4 email to his staff: 'I have a hard time understanding how we can be in public health and not practice it,' WMFE, a public radio station in Orlando, reported. In an email Wednesday to the USA TODAY Network-Florida, DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw referred to a health department statement on the decision to put Pino on leave: 'As the decision to get vaccinated is a personal medical choice that should be made free from coercion and mandates from employers, the employee in question has been placed on administrative leave, and the Florida Department of Health is conducting an inquiry to determine if any laws were broken in this case....'" MB: Words fail me -- at least words that do not include obscenities.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona, Florida, Georgia. Voter Intimidation. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "Reprising the rigged-election belief that has become a mantra among their supporters, Republican politicians in at least three states [-- Florida, Georgia & Arizona --] are proposing to establish police forces to hunt exclusively for voter fraud and other election crimes, a category of offenses that experts say is tiny at best. The plans are part of a new wave of initiatives that Republicans say are directed at voter fraud. They are being condemned by voting rights advocates and even some local election supervisors, who call them costly and unnecessary appeasement of the Republican base that will select primary-election winners for this November's midterms and the 2024 presidential race.... None of the three states -- and for that matter, none of the other 47 and the District of Columbia -- reported any more than a minuscule number of election fraud cases after the 2020 races."

Maryland Congressional Race. Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: "Donna F. Edwards, the former five-term Maryland congresswoman, has launched a bid for her former seat in the 4th Congressional District, reshaping a race that already includes several former and current Prince George's County public officials. The seat is open this year after Rep. Anthony G. Brown (D-Md.) announced that he would not seek reelection and would instead run for state attorney general.... Edwards served in the House of Representatives from 2008 to 2017 -- a liberal stymied by the Republican majority for much of her tenure -- before running unsuccessfully in 2016 for the seat vacated by former U.S. senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D)."

New York. Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "A statue of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, was removed overnight Wednesday from its spot outside the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The towering bronze statue depicts Roosevelt riding a horse, as two nameless African and Native American men flank him on foot. It has provoked strong debate in the city, as many criticized the apparent subservience of the pair to the White man in the center -- calling the scene a symbol of racism and colonialism. 'The statue was meant to celebrate Theodore Roosevelt ... as a devoted naturalist and author of works on natural history,' the museum website has said about the removal. 'At the same time, the statue itself communicates a racial hierarchy that the Museum and members of the public have long found disturbing.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Vermont. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "A former Vermont lawmaker died last week using a medical aid-in-dying law that he helped pass nearly nine years earlier, before his terminal diagnosis. Willem Jewett (D), who served two years as House majority leader from 2013 to 2014, died Jan. 12 at his home in Ripton, Vt. He was 58. Jewett's palliative-care doctor confirmed to the Vermont-based digital news outlet VTDigger that he died using a prescription obtained through Act 39, also known as Vermont's Patient Choice and Control at End of Life Act. Jewett was diagnosed last year with mucosal melanoma, a rare but aggressive form of cancer, according to his obituary."

Way Beyond

Belarus. Sophie Reardon of CBS News: "Four Belarusian officials have been charged in connection with a Ryanair flight diversion last year that led to the arrest of a dissident Belarusian journalist, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan announced Thursday. The plane was forced to land in Belarus on May 23, 2021, due to an alleged bomb threat.... The Belarusian government is accused of plotting to divert the flight so they could arrest the journalist, Roman Protasevic -- 'who was critical of the Belarusian government, living in exile in Lithuania, and wanted by the Belarusian government on allegations of fomenting "mass unrest"' -- and his girlfriend.... The suspects remain at large, according to the indictment from the U.S. Attorney's Office."

Yemen. Siobhán O'Grady of the Washington Post: "At least 60 people were reportedly killed and 100 others injured in airstrikes in Yemen on Friday, according to an aid organization, as the death toll mounts in a particularly violent week for the war-torn country.... The Saudi-led coalition that intervened in the war in Yemen in 2015 has ramped up its airstrikes in recent days, following a Houthi-claimed attack on Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is a partner in the coalition that intervened on behalf of the Yemeni government following the Houthi takeover of the capital at the beginning of the war. Earlier this week, more than a dozen people were killed in two airstrikes on a home in Sanaa."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Israel S. Dresner, a New Jersey rabbi who worked alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement, was first arrested for civil disobedience in 1947, at age 18, when he joined a protest in New York City in support of the Jewish refugees aboard the Exodus, the ship turned away from the shores of the British mandate of Palestine. He joined his final public protest at age 87, according to his family, the day ... Donald Trump was inaugurated.... Rabbi Dresner died Jan. 13...."

New York Times: "Louie Anderson, the stand-up comedian, actor and television host known for the comedy series 'Baskets,' for which he won an Emmy in 2016, and the cartoon 'Life With Louie,' died on Friday at a hospital in Las Vegas. He was 68."

New York Times: "Meat Loaf, the larger-than-life rocker whose 1977 debut album, 'Bat Out of Hell,' was one of the best-selling albums of all time, died on Thursday. He had given conflicting information about his age over the years, but was widely reported to have been 74." MB: Popular tho he may have been, I think it's likely I have never seen or heard Meat Loaf.