December 17, 2021

By Adam Zyglis of the Buffalo News.~~~ Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Senate Democrats on Thursday began to accept the prospect that they may not be able to adopt a roughly $2 trillion package to overhaul the country's health care, education, climate, immigration and tax laws before the end of this year, threatening a major political setback for the final piece of President Biden's economic agenda.... In a statement, [Biden] said discussions remain ongoing with Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), a key swing vote in the chamber who has expressed sustained concern about the size and scope of the economic package. But he appeared to leave open the door that the debate could easily drag into 2022. 'We will advance this work together over the days and weeks ahead,' Biden said, noting that he and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) are 'determined to see the bill successfully on the floor as early as possible.'" ~~~

~~~ Burgess Everett & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Senate Democrats ended a frustrating day in a frustrating week with President Joe Biden acknowledging that his sweeping social spending bill will wait until next year -- a setback that comes as the party also spins its wheels on election reform.... Democrats faced no shortage of other issues.... The Senate parliamentarian is still reviewing key elements of the House-passed version of the legislation to ensure that it complies with Senate rules. [She nixed] immigration ... on Thursday night.... 'We missed an opportunity. But I'm not giving up,' [said] Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). 'Apparently Manchin's approach to this has changed a lot. I don't know where he is today or where he'll be tomorrow.'"

Paul Krugman of the New York Times on inflation: "... I believe that what we're seeing mainly reflects the inherent dislocations from the pandemic, rather than, say, excessive government spending. I also believe that inflation will subside over the course of the next year and that we shouldn't take any drastic action. But reasonable economists disagree, and they could be right.... [Today's] inflation hasn't followed a simple script. What we're seeing instead is a strange episode that exhibits some parallels to past events but also includes new elements." MB: A longer-than-usual column, with no clear answer. ~~~

~~~ Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "The latest sticking point over President Biden's ambitious Build Back Better agenda? You guessed it: inflation. Asked this week about his reservations toward the legislation, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) told reporters that inflation is 'alarming. It's going up, not down. And I think that should be something we're concerned about.' Concerns about inflation are justified.... But inflation concerns are not a good reason to block this particular bill. They're also not a compelling reason to support this legislation, despite what the White House and its allies often argue. Realistically, the bill is likely to have little effect on price growth either way."

Zachary Basu of Axios: "The Senate voted 75-18 on Thursday to confirm Nicholas Burns, a widely respected former career diplomat, as U.S. ambassador to China.... Burns -- the first Senate-confirmed ambassador in Beijing in more than 14 months -- will inherit the most complex and high-stakes bilateral relationship in the world.... Burns' nomination in August drew bipartisan praise and support, but his confirmation was held up last month by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Rubio agreed to release the hold when the Senate voted unanimously on Thursday to ban imports from the Chinese region of Xinjiang over forced labor concerns. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) argued that the U.S. needs Burns at his post in order to effectively implement the bill, which is designed to punish the Chinese government for its genocide of Uyghur Muslims."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), who is up for reelection in 2022, announced on Thursday that she supports getting rid of the 60-vote legislative filibuster for voting rights legislation. Hassan is the latest in a growing number of Senate Democrats who back changes to the Senate rules as voting rights legislation has been stuck in limbo for months -- though Democrats don't yet have the 50 votes needed in order to reform the filibuster." MB: Today was the first time in a while I've sent an email to a senator using my real address, this time giving her an attagirl.

Stephen Collinson of CNN: "If politics still turned on truth and facts, this would be the week when the lie-filled foundations of Donald Trump's movement imploded.... But it is the ex-President's greatest, most subversive victory that his empire of falsehoods will surely survive new disclosures that lay bare his own abuses of power and the voter-mocking deceit of his political and media enablers.... The House select committee probing the January 6 insurrection has released fresh details of the elaborate behind-the-scenes plot to subvert the certification of President Joe Biden's election." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The House committee's revelations are effectively a condemnation of most of the Republican party -- all the way to the top. While House Minority "Leader" Kevin McCarthy may not have known just how deeply enmeshed Jim Jordan was in the plot to overturn the election, which the committee is now exposing, he knew some of it when he decided it would be a good idea to appoint Jordan to the very committee that is investigating Jordan. "Of the [five] Republicans McCarthy has put forth for the committee, [Jim] Banks [Indiana], Jordan and [Troy] Nehls [Texas] were among the 139 House Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential results in Arizona and Pennsylvania." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jan Wolfe & Patricia Zengerle of Reuters, via Yahoo! News: "Longtime Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone will invoke the constitutional protection against self-incrimination during an interview on Friday with the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Stone's lawyer said on Thursday. Stone's attorney, Grant Smith, said in an e-mail that his client will appear for a closed-door deposition before the House of Representatives committee on Friday but will not answer any questions, invoking his rights under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."

Jacqueline Alemany & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob announced Thursday it had issued a subpoena to retired Army Col. Phil Waldron as it investigates the causes of the insurrection. Waldron worked with [Donald] Trump's outside legal team and circulated and briefed members of Congress on a PowerPoint presentation that outlined various proposals to overturn the results of the 2020 election. A version of the presentation that Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows handed over to the committee surfaced last week after the panel made some of its findings public." Politico's report is here.

Remember Gohmert! Kyle Cheney of Politico: "As Donald Trump and his allies squeezed then-Vice President Mike Pence to single-handedly stop Joe Biden's presidency in the weeks ahead of Jan. 6, they used one particular tool that's been largely ignored ever since. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) sued Pence on Dec. 27, just as Trump was ratcheting up his pressure campaign against his vice president. Backed by a squad of lawyers associated with Trump ally and conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell, Gohmert argued Pence should assert unilateral control over certification, governed only by the vague wording of the Twelfth Amendment. Gohmert's move forced Pence to publicly resist Trump's subversion of the election, only a week before the fateful Jan. 6 joint session of Congress. When the Justice Department stepped in to defend Pence from the lawsuit on Dec. 29, it marked the first time Pence signaled he wouldn't fold to Trump's demands.... What remains unknown is just how involved Trump was in Gohmert's legal strategy.... '[Gohmert's ill-fated suit -- he lost in multiple courts -- is] a significant detail in that it was part of a plan to isolate and coerce Pence,' said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)."

Another GOP 2020 Presidential Election Scam. Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "'New documents show Kanye West's doomed White House campaign -- styled as an "independent" third-party effort -- appears to have disguised potentially millions of dollars in services it received from a secretive network of Republican Party operatives, including advisers to the GOP elite and a managing partner at one of the top conservative political firms in the country,' The Daily Beast reported Friday.... 'The Kanye 2020 campaign committee did not even report paying some of these advisers, and used an odd abbreviation for another -- moves which campaign finance experts say appear designed to mask the association between known GOP operatives and the campaign, and could constitute a violation of federal laws,' The Beast reported."

Ho Ho Ho. The lovely Mrs. Trump a/k/a Melanie has announced a new grift just in time for Christmas. It's an NFT (David Smith of the Guardian explains) featuring a portrait of Melanie that highlights her "cobalt blue eyes, providing the collector with an amulet to inspire." Not to worry; "a portion" of the proceeds will go to orphans! Please, Ma'am, may we have more? And you wonder why the old families of New York never invited the Trumps to their parties. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Robert Barnes & Anne Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court returned the lawsuit over Texas's restrictive abortion law to [the (conservative) Fifth Circuit] federal appeals court Thursday, rejecting a request by abortion providers to send the case to a district judge who had previously declared the law unconstitutional. The order came from Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who last week wrote the majority opinion that left in place the law, which bans most abortions after six weeks. The decision granted a narrow path for providers to challenge the law's unique enforcement structure. The Thursday order granted part of the request from abortion providers -- returning the case immediately rather than after the court's standard 25-day delay." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe this is all an anti-science thing. Back in the dark ages when I was a schoolgirl, it was common to ask if one "believed in" evolution. A respect for this scientific hypothesis, including the survival-of-the-fittest theory, was posed largely as a faith-type question. And if you did "believe in" evolution, then you didn't believe in the Bible & God & Jesus & all that. So here are the confederate justices, proving their holy creds by demonstrating they don't "believe in" survival of the fittest by ensuring that women who are most unfit -- because they are most unwilling -- to rear a child are the very ones who must do so. Keeping 'em barefoot & pregnant is a religious belief as much as a social credo. Kinda warms a person to the Christmas story, doesn't it? ~~~

~~~ Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "The federal government on Thursday permanently lifted a major restriction on access to abortion pills. It will allow patients to receive the medication by mail instead of requiring them to obtain the pills in person.... The decision, by the Food and Drug Administration, comes as the Supreme Court is considering whether to roll back abortion rights or even overturn its landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that made abortion legal nationwide. The F.D.A.'s action means that medication abortion ... will become more available to women who find it difficult to travel to an abortion provider or prefer to terminate a pregnancy in their homes. It allows patients to have a telemedicine appointment with a provider who can prescribe abortion pills and send them to the patient by mail.... The current practice is that women who live in states that don't allow telemedicine for abortion must travel to a state that does -- although they don't have to visit a clinic. But legal experts said they expected supporters of abortion rights to try to find ways to make the pills available without requiring a patient to travel...." An NPR report is here.

Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "With the accuracy of a drone strike, the three justices appointed by ... Donald Trump and strong-armed through to confirmation by Senator Mitch McConnell ... are doing exactly what they were sent to the court to do. The resulting path of destruction of settled precedent and long-established norms is breathtaking.... The imminent evisceration of the constitutional right to abortion ... is only the beginning.... [The cases the conservative justices have chosen to hear from among the thousands they receive for review tell the real story.] Each involves a touchstone issue for conservatives: easing restrictions on firearms, overturning Roe v. Wade and elevating the place of religion in a secular society, in part by granting entitlement to public benefits as a matter of equal treatment."

Adam Goldman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "... the Justice Department is deep into an investigation of how the diary [of Ashley Biden, President Biden's daughter,] found its way into the hands of supporters of [Donald] Trump at the height of the campaign. Federal prosecutors and F.B.I. agents are investigating whether there was a criminal conspiracy among a handful of individuals to steal and publish the diary. Those being scrutinized include current and former operatives for the conservative group Project Veritas; a donor Mr. Trump appointed to a political position in the final days of his administration; a man who once pleaded guilty in a money laundering scheme; and a financially struggling mother of two.... The investigation has focused new attention on how Mr. Trump or his allies sought to use the troubles of Mr. Biden's two surviving children to undercut him."

Judge Rejects Multi-Billion-Dollar Sackler Opioid Deal. Jan Hoffman of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday evening unraveled a painstakingly negotiated settlement between Purdue Pharma and thousands of state, local and tribal governments that had sued the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin for the company's role in the opioid epidemic, saying that the plan was flawed in one critical area. The judge, Colleen McMahon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, said that the settlement, part of a restructuring plan for Purdue approved in September by a bankruptcy judge, should not go forward because it releases the company's owners, members of the billionaire Sackler family, from liability in civil opioid-related cases. Although the Sacklers did not file for personal bankruptcy protection, they had made immunization from opioid claims an absolute requirement in exchange for contributing payments amounting to $4.5 billion to the agreement.... Within hours of the ruling, Purdue said it would appeal." The AP's story is here.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Lena Sun & Frances Sellers of the Washington Post: "The nation's top public health official recommended Thursday that people seeking the safest and most effective coronavirus vaccines and boosters go with the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shots, instead of those made by Johnson & Johnson. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, endorsed the policy several hours after the unanimous vote from the agency's vaccine advisory panel, which cited concerns over the increased risk of a potentially fatal blood clot issue associated with the Johnson & Johnson shots." The article is free to nonsubscribers.

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "The vast majority of active-duty troops in the Army and the Navy are vaccinated against the coronavirus, and the small number of those still refusing shots will soon be dismissed from the military, officials said on Thursday.... Thousands of troops requested religious exemptions, but none have been granted, officials said." A CNN report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Kentucky. Deon Hampton & Corky Siemaszko of NBC News: "Some employees who survived a tornado that leveled their candle factory are considering taking legal action against the company, according to an attorney who is representing some of the workers. The move by several injured Mayfield Consumer Products employees comes after five workers told NBC News that as the twister was bearing down on the city Friday their supervisors warned they could be fired if they tried to flee. At least eight workers died, Kentucky officials have said." See also Akhilleus' comment below. We should hope that if this case goes to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch does not write the majority opinion. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Louisiana. Ryan Young, et al., of CNN: "A judge in Lafayette, Louisiana, is taking a leave of absence and facing calls for her resignation after a video with racist language recorded at her home surfaced.... The video, appearing to show surveillance footage of an outdoor altercation with a burglary suspect being played on a television while people, who are not visible, view and comment on the footage using racist language, was shared with local media in Lafayette and is now being shared widely across social media.... In the video circulating online, a male voice can be heard saying, 'And Mom's yelling n***er, n***er." Then after what appears to be some jovial banter, a female voice is heard saying, 'We have a n ***er, It's a n***er, like a roach,' while laughing." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ MB: Presumably "Mom" and the "female" are Judge Michelle M. Odinet, who's facing calls for her resignation. Odinet is blaming her racist rant on a sedative she took. There is no sedative or other condition that would cause me to use the language she used because I just don't think that way. Would I use profanity to describe a person who was robbing me? Well, yes I would.

Virginia. Protecting Women? Sorry, We'll Be on Vacay. Reid Epstein & Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "Democrats have less than a month left controlling Virginia before Republicans take over the House of Delegates and the governor's mansion. With the clock ticking, many in the party want to seize what they see as a fleeting opportunity: protecting abortion rights by codifying them into state law. But Democratic leaders in the State Senate have dismissed the idea ... [because] several of the chamber's members don't want to change their vacation plans. One senator is traveling in Africa. Others are in Europe. And the majority leader is headed to Hawaii.... Democrats in the Virginia Senate argue that it would be impossible to call the chamber back to Richmond in the next month, and that even if they did, there was no guarantee that the party would have enough votes."

Way Beyond

Haiti. Evens Sanon & Peter Smith of the AP: "The remaining members of a U.S. missionary group who were kidnapped two months ago in Haiti have been freed, Haitian police and the group said Thursday. The spokesman for Haiti's National Police, Gary Desrosiers, confirmed to The Associated Press that the hostages had been released, but did not immediately provide additional details." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

Washington Post: "At least five people are dead after a powerful storm system of more than 20 tornadoes swept through the central United States on Wednesday with high winds that spread wildfires and knocked down power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands of customers without electricity. Most of the fatalities occurred in vehicle crashes.... The National Weather Service confirmed that at least 21 tornadoes touched down in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin. At least 13 of those touched down in Iowa, officials said Thursday."

December 16, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Robert Barnes & Anne Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court returned the lawsuit over Texas's restrictive abortion law to [the (conservative) Fifth Circuit] federal appeals court Thursday, rejecting a request by abortion providers to send the case to a district judge who had previously declared the law unconstitutional. The order came from Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who last week wrote the majority opinion that left in place the law, which bans most abortions after six weeks. The decision granted a narrow path for providers to challenge the law's unique enforcement structure. The Thursday order granted part of the request from abortion providers -- returning the case immediately rather than after the court's standard 25-day delay."

Stephen Collinson of CNN: "If politics still turned on truth and facts, this would be the week when the lie-filled foundations of Donald Trump's movement imploded.... But it is the ex-President's greatest, most subversive victory that his empire of falsehoods will surely survive new disclosures that lay bare his own abuses of power and the voter-mocking deceit of his political and media enablers.... The House select committee probing the January 6 insurrection has released fresh details of the elaborate behind-the-scenes plot to subvert the certification of President Joe Biden's election." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The House committee's revelations are effectively a condemnation of most of the Republican party -- all the way to the top. While House Minority "Leader" Kevin McCarthy may not have known just how deeply enmeshed Jim Jordan was in the plot to overturn the election, which the committee is now exposing, he knew some of it when he decided it would be a good idea to appoint Jordan to the very committee that is investigating Jordan. "Of the [five] Republicans McCarthy has put forth for the committee, [Jim] Banks [Indiana], Jordan and [Troy] Nehls [Texas] were among the 139 House Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential results in Arizona and Pennsylvania."

AND the lovely Mrs. Trump a/k/a Melanie has announced a new grift just in time for Christmas. It's an NFT (David Smith of the Guardian explains) featuring a portrait of Melanie that highlights her "cobalt blue eyes, providing the collector with an amulet to inspire." Not to worry; "a portion" of the proceeds will go to orphans! Please, Ma'am, may we have more? And you wonder why the old families of New York never invited the Trumps to their parties.

Deon Hampton & Corky Siemaszko of NBC News: "Some employees who survived a tornado that leveled their candle factory are considering taking legal action against the company, according to an attorney who is representing some of the workers. The move by several injured Mayfield Consumer Products employees comes after five workers told NBC News that as the twister was bearing down on the city Friday their supervisors warned they could be fired if they tried to flee. At least eight workers died, Kentucky officials have said." See also Akhilleus' comment below. We should hope that if this case goes to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch does not write the majority opinion.

Ryan Young, et al., of CNN: "A judge in Lafayette, Louisiana, is taking a leave of absence and facing calls for her resignation after a video with racist language recorded at her home surfaced.... The video, appearing to show surveillance footage of an outdoor altercation with a burglary suspect being played on a television while people, who are not visible, view and comment on the footage using racist language, was shared with local media in Lafayette and is now being shared widely across social media.... In the video circulating online, a male voice can be heard saying, 'And Mom's yelling n***er, n***er." Then after what appears to be some jovial banter, a female voice is heard saying, 'We have a n ***er, It's a n***er, like a roach,' while laughing." ~~~

     ~~~ MB: Presumably "Mom" and the "female" are Judge Michelle M. Odinet, who's facing calls for her resignation. Odinet is blaming her racist rant on a sedative she took. There is no sedative or other condition that would cause me to use the language she used because I just don't think that way. Would I use profanity to describe a person who was robbing me? Well, yes I would.

Evens Sanon & Peter Smith of the AP: "The remaining members of a U.S. missionary group who were kidnapped two months ago in Haiti have been freed, Haitian police and the group said Thursday. The spokesman for Haiti's National Police, Gary Desrosiers, confirmed to The Associated Press that the hostages had been released, but did not immediately provide additional details."

~~~~~~~~~~

** Katie Benner, et al., of the New York Times: "... a half-dozen right-wing members of Congress became key foot soldiers in [Donald] Trump's effort to overturn the election, according to dozens of interviews and a review of hundreds of pages of congressional testimony about the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. The lawmakers -- all of them members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus -- worked closely with the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, whose central role in Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn a democratic election is coming into focus as the congressional investigation into Jan. 6 gains traction.... They bombarded the Justice Department with dubious claims of voting irregularities. They pressured members of state legislatures to conduct audits that would cast doubt on the election results. They plotted to disrupt the certification on Jan. 6 of Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory." The men were Jim Jordan (Ohio), Andy Biggs & Paul Gosar (Arizona), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Mo Brooks (Alabama) & Scott Perry (Pennsylvania)." MB: This is a long article worth reading as it puts the actions of these traitors into context. I have a feeling we'll learn more about what they did. Let's hope they all end up in orange jump suits.

     ~~~ PolitiFact has a print story here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "Members of the Jan. 6 select committee are homing in on a politically explosive question: Did Donald Trump's actions amid the Capitol attack amount to criminal obstruction of Congress? Twice this week, committee vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has raised the possibility that Trump's conduct while a mob of his supporters overtook the Capitol could qualify as an effort to obstruct the certification of Joe Biden's victory.... Cheney's statement includes precise terminology from the criminal obstruction statute.... [Enforcement of this law has also] become the subject of intense debate in the cases of dozens of Jan. 6 rioters whom prosecutors allege obstructed Congress' effort to count electoral votes on Jan. 6.... There are several obstruction statutes in the criminal code, but the one deployed by prosecutors in Jan. 6 cases ... [carries] a whopping 20-year maximum sentence." MB: This makes me wonder if, when Trump gets his daily hour of exercise, he'll be allowed to ride a golf cart around the prison's exercise yard.

Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: Mark Meadows' "proximity as [Donald] Trump's former gatekeeper and top aide has thrust Meadows into legal jeopardy -- even as the revelations in the texts and his new book also threaten his standing with Trump.... Interviews with former Trump aides and allies -- many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity ... -- depict Meadows as unwilling or unable to moderate the president's worst impulses, and as a willing hub for conspiracy theories and false claims about the election.... Meadows also believed there might be credence to the theories that foreign governments had interfered in the counting of ballots, and asked intelligence officials and others to look into the claims, former officials said.... 'It used to be that there were a lot of contenders for worst chief of staff in history,' [Chris] Whipple[, who has written about presidential chiefs-of-staff,] said. 'That's no longer the case. Meadows owns it by a country mile.'"

The Federalist Outs Gym Jordan. Ryan Nobles & Zachary Cohen of CNN: "Rep. Jim Jordan forwarded a text message to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on January 5, outlining a legal theory that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to stand in the way of the certification of the 2020 election. A portion of that message was read by [Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) of] the January 6 select committee during their contempt report presentation against Meadows in a meeting this week.... A spokesperson for Jordan, an Ohio Republican, confirmed to CNN that he forwarded a text to Meadows on January 5 that was sent to him by Joseph Schmitz, a former Department of Defense inspector general. Schmitz's text included a draft presentation arguing that Pence had the constitutional authority to object to the certification of election results from certain states.... The conservative website 'The Federalist' was the first to report that Jordan forwarded the text to Meadows." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course the Federalist, being the Federalist, outed Jordan in the sixth graf of a post the gist of which was a complaint that Schiff had doctored Jordan's message. Comically, the Federalist later published a "BREAKING" news story, touting the fact that the committee "confessed" it had doctored the test. Here's the actual "confession": "In the graphic [Schiff presented], the period at the end of that sentence was added inadvertently. The Select Committee is responsible for and regrets the error." I too should confess I sometimes add periods to the ends of sentences where the writer has left out the dot (tho I do usually bracket my addition because God forbid anyone should think a writer put a period at the end of a sentence).

Betsy Klein of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday suggested Mark Meadows was 'worthy' of being in held in contempt of Congress after the Democratic-controlled House referred the ex-White House chief of staff to the Department of Justice for failing to appear for a deposition with the committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol." (Also linked yesterday.)

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "A team of former military officers organized by retired general Mike Flynn is conducting a large-scale operation to delegitimize the 2020 presidential election. Flynn and his former colleague Phil Waldron, an Army Reserve colonel who says he served under the former general at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, are working with at least two other retired and reserve officers to persuade Americans that last year's election was stolen from Donald Trump, reported Reuters."

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden flew to Kentucky on Wednesday to survey the damage wrought by a series of deadly tornadoes last weekend, reprising a role comforting disaster victims that has become a staple of his presidency and promising that the federal government would cover the full cost of emergency response efforts for the next month. Mr. Biden walked the storms' paths of destruction in a pair of communities in the southeastern corner of the state, past entire blocks of buildings leveled by the high winds. He hugged survivors and promised that his administration would partner in relief efforts until residents and business owners could fully rebuild.... 'I intend to do whatever it takes,' Mr. Biden said in brief remarks from an intersection in battered Dawson Springs, Ky., 'as long as it takes, to support your state, your local leaders, as you recover and rebuild -- because you will recover and you will rebuild.'"

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Wednesday that he would nominate two high-profile women who were early supporters of his candidacy, the former ambassador Caroline Kennedy and the decorated figure skater Michelle Kwan, to ambassadorships in his administration. The president tapped Ms. Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and the ambassador to Japan under President Barack Obama, to be ambassador to Australia. He said he would nominate Ms. Kwan, who earned Olympic silver and bronze medals as a skater before pursuing a career in diplomacy and politics, to be ambassador to Belize." The Hill's report is here. MB: I don't think Kwan will be doing all that much ice skating in Belize.

News You Can Use (Sooner or Later). Natalie Compton of the Washington Post: "President Biden signed an executive order Monday to allow Americans to renew their passports online, eliminating the need for physical documents and paper checks to be sent through the mail.... According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, the order could take between six to 12 months to take effect.... [Currently,] travelers are ... plagued by inconsistent and lengthy wait times to get their passports renewed."

Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "Federal Reserve policymakers moved into inflation-fighting mode on Wednesday, saying they would cut back more quickly on their pandemic-era stimulus at a moment of rising prices and strong economic growth, capping a challenging year with a policy shift that could usher in higher interest rates in 2022. The central bank's policy statement set up a more rapid end to the monthly bond-buying program that the Fed has been using throughout the pandemic to keep money chugging through markets and to bolster growth. A fresh set of economic projections released on Wednesday showed that officials expect to raise interest rates, which are now set near-zero, three times next year."

John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken cut short his trip to Southeast Asia on Wednesday after a member of the press corps accompanying him on his visits tested positive for the coronavirus. Blinken dropped a slate of planned meetings with government officials in Thailand from his swing through the region, which included stops in Indonesia and Malaysia.... The journalist had tested negative in Blinken's previous stop in Jakarta but, after testing positive in Kuala Lumpur, began a quarantine for at least 10 days before returning to the United States.... In a statement, [State Department spokesman Ned] Price said Blinken and his 'senior staff' tested negative, leaving open the possibility that other members of his crew tested positive." (Also linked yesterday.)

GSA Ignored Trump Grift. Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "The federal agency managing the government's lease of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., failed to examine ethical conflicts an constitutional issues posed by ... Donald Trump's refusal to divest from the property, a new congressional report says. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's report ... found that the General Services Administration did not track foreign government payments to the hotel or identify the origins of more than $75 million in loans made by Trump and his family to shore up its troubled finances. The GSA 'washed its hands of any responsibility' to review whether the emoluments clauses of the Constitution were being followed, the report said.... The agency did not take any steps to identify expenditures by foreign or domestic government officials..., the committee found."

Manchin Defeats America. Tony Romm & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "A push by Senate Democrats to pass a roughly $2 trillion tax-and-spending measure before Christmas appeared in dire political peril Wednesday, as talks soured between President Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) over the size and scope of the economic package. Despite days of negotiations, the gaps between the two sides seemed newly immense. Biden sought to safeguard his economic agenda from significant cuts, while Manchin continued to insist on steep spending reductions.... The impasse left party lawmakers on Capitol Hill impatient and frustrated, after they spent months trying to slim down their original spending ambitions to win Manchin's still-elusive support." The New York Times report is here. An NBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Burgess Everett, et al., of Politico: "Tensions are boiling over as discussions about finishing Democrats' $1.7 trillion domestic spending bill drag on between President Joe Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin. The legislation looks increasingly likely to stall over the impending holiday break, prompting Biden himself to bemoan the slow pace. And Manchin (D-W.Va.) grew frustrated on Wednesday when questioned about whether he opposes a provision in the bill to extend the expanded child tax credit, deeming those queries 'bullshit' and denying that he wants to end the $300 monthly check many families receive for children.... Manchin has suggested pulling the child tax credit from the bill, according to a source briefed on the conversations [between Biden & Manchin]. 'The talks between [Biden] and Manchin have been going very poorly. They are far apart,' the source said."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: ...."Senate Democrats are scrambling to find a way to pass voting rights legislation they have portrayed as necessary to protect democracy in the coming weeks amid increasing pressure to counter Republican changes to election laws in key states and as progress on the domestic policy bill ... has stalled. Several lawmakers said Wednesday they are optimistic the new push could succeed where previous efforts have failed due to growing support for changing the Senate's filibuster rule.... But it remained far from certain that the rules changes under consideration would ultimately go beyond nibbling around the edges of the filibuster's 60-vote supermajority requirement for most legislation. 'If we can get the congressional voting rights done, we should do it. If we can't, we've got to keep going,' President Biden said while visiting storm-ravaged Kentucky on Wednesday. 'There's nothing domestically more important than voting rights.'"

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The Senate passed a $768 billion defense bill on Wednesday, sending legislation to President Biden that will increase the Pentagon's budget by roughly $24 billion more than he requested. he bill, which angered antiwar progressives who had hoped Democrats' unified control of Washington would lead to significant cuts in military spending, passed overwhelmingly on an 89-to-10 vote. It includes significant increases for initiatives intended to counter China and bolster Ukraine, as well as for more ships, jets and fighter planes than the Pentagon requested. The lopsided votes, both in the Senate and the House, which passed the legislation last week, underscored the bipartisan commitment in Congress to spend huge amounts of federal money on defense initiatives at a time when Republicans have balked at spending even a fraction as much on social programs." ~~~

     ~~~ Peterson Foundation (July 2021): "The United States spends more on national defense than China, India, Russia, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Australia -- combined." Emphasis added. MB: Sorry to quote a right-wing source, but it appears the authors used reliable sources for their figures. Meanwhile, Joe Manchin & Republicans have put the kibosh on my getting "free stuff" like a tax break on state income taxes (which I got pre-Trump) and a new eyeglasses prescription. As for programs to better prepare children & young people for the future and to reduce the effects of climate change -- which just might be more important than little bits to help me, Marie Burns -- well, forget about all that, too.

There Will Be No Trump Power Shower. Anna Phillips of the Washington Post: "The Energy Department has reversed a Trump-era rule increasing how much water could be used in a shower by allowing multiple nozzles to carry equal amounts of water at once. In closing the loophole Tuesday, Biden officials restored a 2013 standard that most shower heads on the market were already meeting -- or exceeding.... The call for more powerful showers came from [Donald] Trump himself, who complained that the conservation standards led to low water pressure and a dissatisfying shower experience."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Lena Sun, et al., of the Washington Post: "Top federal health officials warned in a briefing Tuesday morning that the omicron variant is rapidly spreading in the United States and could peak in a massive wave of infections as soon as January, according to new modeling analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The prevalence of omicron jumped sevenfold in a single week, according to the CDC.... The warning of an imminent surge came even as federal officials and some pharmaceutical executives signaled that they don't currently favor creating an omicron-specific vaccine. Based on the data so far, they say that existing vaccines plus a booster shot are an effective weapon against omicron." Access to the article is free to nonsubscribers.

Lena Sun & Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post: "Vaccine advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are meeting Thursday to weigh possible limits on the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of continued blood clot issues, mostly in young and middle-aged women, according to clinicians familiar with the agenda. The single-dose vaccine has been linked to a rare and severe type of blood clot, which halted its use for 10 days in April as federal health officials looked more closely at six women who experienced the problem -- the only known cases among more than 7 million people who received the vaccine in the United States at that time. One of the women died. The pause was lifted after an extensive safety review that determined the vaccine's benefits outweighed the risks. On Thursday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will be presented with new data that appears to show the rate of the clots in people who received the Johnson & Johnson shot has increased since April, although the problem is still rare."

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times:"Governors from five states have written a joint letter to Lloyd J. Austin III, the defense secretary, asking that their National Guard troops be exempted from a federal coronavirus vaccine mandate, greatly escalating what had been a single state conflict over inoculations. 'Setting punishment requirements for refusing to be Covid-19 vaccinated, and requiring separation from each state National Guard if unvaccinated are beyond your constitutional and statutory authority,' wrote the governors of Alaska, Wyoming, Iowa, Mississippi and Nebraska, all Republicans, to Mr. Austin, and asked that their states be given an exemption from the requirement. The Pentagon has yet to respond to the letter, which was dated Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday.)

Chris Isidore of CNN: "The CEOs of two of the nation's major airlines say they don't think wearing masks on planes does much to help limit exposure to Covid. The comments from American Airlines (AAL) CEO Doug Parker -- the nation's largest carrier -- and Southwest (LUV) CEO Gary Kelly came during a hearing about the financial support that airlines received from the federal government in 2020 and 2021.... Both Kelly and Parker, who each have announced plans to retire as CEOs in the coming months, mentioned that high-grade HEPA air filters on planes capture virtually all airborne contamination.... After the hearing, American Airlines tried to walk back Parker's remarks.... Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, testified at the hearing that not all aircraft are equipped with the same quality of air filters. For example, some older planes do not have HEPA filters, she said."

Beyond the Beltway

Minnesota. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a federal charge that he used his position as a Minneapolis police officer to violate George Floyd's constitutional rights, a move expected to extend Mr. Chauvin's time in prison beyond a decades-long sentence for murdering Mr. Floyd. Mr. Chauvin, 45, pleaded guilty in the U.S. courthouse in St. Paul, an appearance that was most likely among the longest periods he has spent outside a prison cell since a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in April. Since then, he has been held in solitary confinement in Minnesota's only maximum-security prison, where he is allowed out of his 10-foot by 10-foot cell for one hour a day. A federal prosecutor said that as part of a plea agreement reached with Mr. Chauvin, prosecutors would ask a judge to sentence him to 25 years in prison, a term that would be served in federal prison. The sentence would run concurrent to the state sentence of 22 and a half years for murder, meaning the guilty plea on Wednesday would add about two and a half years to his sentence." An AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Texas. KTRK Houston: "A former Houston Police Department captain accused of running a man off the road and pointing a gun at his head in an effort to prove false election claims has been indicted. A Harris County jury indicted Mark Aguirre Tuesday for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.... According to court documents, Aguirre told police that he was part of a group of private citizens called the 'Liberty Center,' who were conducting a civilian investigation into the alleged ballot scheme. Aguirre said he had been conducting surveillance for four days on [air-conditioning] repairman David Lopez Zuniga because Aguirre thought Zuniga was somehow the mastermind of a giant voter fraud scheme. Aguirre told authorities the man was hiding 750,000 fraudulent ballots in a truck he was driving.... No ballots were in Zuniga's truck. According to Tuesday's indictment, Aguirre never told police that he had been paid a total of $266,400 by Liberty Center, $211,400 of which was deposited into his account the day after the alleged incident." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Wisconsin. Scott Bauer of the AP: "Wisconsin's Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul said in an interview Tuesday that he would not investigate or prosecute anyone for having an abortion should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade and a currently unenforceable state ban takes effect. The comments to The Associated Press are Kaul's strongest to date about how he would react to the Supreme Court undoing the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. A Wisconsin ban enacted in 1849 has been unenforceable under Roe v. Wade, but would take effect again if conservative Supreme Court justices decide to overrule Roe, as they suggested during oral arguments this month in a case over Mississippi's 15-week ban on abortions. A decision is expected this summer." MB: If Wisconsin voters decide to elect a Republican attorney general in 2022, they can expect a nostalgic return to the back-alley abortions of the 19th century. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ AND, Bauer reports, "Wisconsin is one of 21 states with laws or constitutional amendments already in place that would make them certain to attempt to ban abortion as quickly as possible, according to an analysis from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Wisconsin is one of nine states with an abortion ban law that predates Roe v. Wade, according to the analysis."

Way Beyond

Ethiopia. Declan Walsh of the New York Times: "New evidence shows that Ethiopia's prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, had been planning a military campaign in the northern Tigray region for months before war erupted one year ago, setting off a cascade of destruction and ethnic violence that has engulfed Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country. Mr. Abiy, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate..., insists that war was foisted upon him -- that ethnic Tigrayan fighters fired the first shots in November 2020 when they attacked a federal military base in Tigray, slaughtering soldiers in their beds.... In fact, it was a war of choice for Mr. Abiy -- one with wheels set in motion even before the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 that turned him, for a time, into a global icon of nonviolence.... The Nobel emboldened Mr. Abiy and ... Isaias [Afwerki, the authoritarian leader of Eritrea,] to secretly plot a course for war against their mutual foes in Tigray, according to current and former Ethiopian officials...."

Italy. The Bishop Wore Grinch Vestments. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "All that separated the giddy Sicilian school children from meeting Old Saint Nick -- arriving on horseback with his long white beard, crimson robe and bag full of gifts -- was a Christmas message from the bishop of Noto. 'Santa Claus,' thundered Bishop Antonio Staglianò, 'is an imaginary character.' Children's jaws dropped ... as, for many long minutes in the Santissimo Salvatore Basilica, the bishop continued to stick it to Santa, who he said had no interest in families strapped for cash. 'The red color of his coat was chosen by Coca-Cola for advertising purposes,' the bishop said. Big soda, he added, 'uses the image to depict itself as an emblem of healthy values.' The bishop's broadside against Babbo Natale, as Father Christmas is called here, constituted only the latest installment in what has become a new Italian holiday tradition. Just about every year, Roman Catholic clerics insist that for Italians to keep Christ in Christmas, Santa must be kept out of it." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

Market Watch: "New applications for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed by 18,000 in mid-December to 206,000, but the increase likely reflected statistical quirks tied to temporary hiring during the holiday shopping season. Even after last week's increase, new jobless claims are still extremely low. Two weeks ago, they fell to the lowest level since 1969. Businesses are trying to avoid layoffs due the a major labor shortage that's made it hard to fill open jobs."

December 15, 2021

Late Morning Update:

    ~~~ PolitiFact has a print story here.

Betsy Klein of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday suggested Mark Meadows was 'worthy' of being in held in contempt of Congress after the Democratic-controlled House referred the ex-White House chief of staff to the Department of Justice for failing to appear for a deposition with the committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol."

John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken cut short his trip to Southeast Asia on Wednesday after a member of the press corps accompanying him on his visits tested positive for the coronavirus. Blinken dropped a slate of planned meetings with government officials in Thailand from his swing through the region, which included stops in Indonesia and Malaysia.... The journalist had tested negative in Blinken's previous stop in Jakarta but, after testing positive in Kuala Lumpur, began a quarantine for at least 10 days before returning to the United States.... In a statement, [State Department spokesman Ned] Price said Blinken and his 'senior staff' tested negative, leaving open the possibility that other members of his crew tested positive."

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Governors from five states have written a joint letter to Lloyd J. Austin III, the defense secretary, asking that their National Guard troops be exempted from a federal coronavirus vaccine mandate, greatly escalating what had been a single state conflict over inoculations. 'Setting punishment requirements for refusing to be Covid-19 vaccinated, and requiring separation from each state National Guard if unvaccinated are beyond your constitutional and statutory authority,' wrote the governors of Alaska, Wyoming, Iowa, Mississippi and Nebraska, all Republicans, to Mr. Austin, and asked that their states be given an exemption from the requirement. The Pentagon has yet to respond to the letter, which was dated Tuesday."

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a federal charge that he used his position as a Minneapolis police officer to violate George Floyd's constitutional rights, a move expected to extend Mr. Chauvin's time in prison beyond a decades-long sentence for murdering Mr. Floyd. Mr. Chauvin, 45, pleaded guilty in the U.S. courthouse in St. Paul, an appearance that was most likely among the longest periods he has spent outside a prison cell since a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in April. Since then, he has been held in solitary confinement in Minnesota's only maximum-security prison, where he is allowed out of his 10-foot by 10-foot cell for one hour a day. A federal prosecutor said that as part of a plea agreement reached with Mr. Chauvin, prosecutors would ask a judge to sentence him to 25 years in prison, a term that would be served in federal prison. The sentence would run concurrent to the state sentence of 22 and a half years for murder, meaning the guilty plea on Wednesday would add about two and a half years to his sentence." An AP story is here.

KTRK Houston: "A former Houston Police Department captain accused of running a man off the road and pointing a gun at his head in an effort to prove false election claims has been indicted. A Harris County jury indicted Mark Aguirre Tuesday for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.... According to court documents, Aguirre told police that he was part of a group of private citizens called the 'Liberty Center,' who were conducting a civilian investigation into the alleged ballot scheme. Aguirre said he had been conducting surveillance for four days on [air-conditioning] repairman David Lopez Zuniga because Aguirre thought Zuniga was somehow the mastermind of a giant voter fraud scheme. Aguirre told authorities the man was hiding 750,000 fraudulent ballots in a truck he was driving.... No ballots were in Zuniga's truck. According to Tuesday's indictment, Aguirre never told police that he had been paid a total of $266,400 by Liberty Center, $211,400 of which was deposited into his account the day after the alleged incident."

** Scott Bauer of the AP: "Wisconsin's Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul said in an interview Tuesday that he would not investigate or prosecute anyone for having an abortion should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade and a currently unenforceable state ban takes effect. The comments to The Associated Press are Kaul's strongest to date about how he would react to the Supreme Court undoing the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. A Wisconsin ban enacted in 1849 has been unenforceable under Roe v. Wade, but would take effect again if conservative Supreme Court justices decide to overrule Roe, as they suggested during oral arguments this month in a case over Mississippi's 15-week ban on abortions. A decision is expected this summer." MB: If Wisconsin voters decide to elect a Republican attorney general in 2022, they can expect a nostalgic return to the back-alley abortions of the 19th century. ~~~

~~~ AND, Bauer reports, "Wisconsin is one of 21 states with laws or constitutional amendments already in place that would make them certain to attempt to ban abortion as quickly as possible, according to an analysis from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Wisconsin is one of nine states with an abortion ban law that predates Roe v. Wade, according to the analysis."

The Bishop Wore Grinch Vestments. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "All that separated the giddy Sicilian school children from meeting Old Saint Nick -- arriving on horseback with his long white beard, crimson robe and bag full of gifts -- was a Christmas message from the bishop of Noto. 'Santa Claus,' thundered Bishop Antonio Staglianò, 'is an imaginary character.' Children's jaws dropped ... as, for many long minutes in the Santissimo Salvatore Basilica, the bishop continued to stick it to Santa, who he said had no interest in families strapped for cash. 'The red color of his coat was chosen by Coca-Cola for advertising purposes,' the bishop said. Big soda, he added, 'uses the image to depict itself as an emblem of healthy values.' The bishop's broadside against Babbo Natale, as Father Christmas is called here, constituted only the latest installment in what has become a new Italian holiday tradition. Just about every year, Roman Catholic clerics insist that for Italians to keep Christ in Christmas, Santa must be kept out of it."

~~~~~~~~~~

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House voted on Tuesday night to recommend holding Mark Meadows, who served as chief of staff to ... Donald J. Trump, in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with its investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, escalating a legal battle against a potentially crucial witness in a widening inquiry. The vote of 222 to 208 sent the matter to the Justice Department to consider whether to prosecute Mr. Meadows, who would be the first former member of Congress to be held in contempt of the body he once served in nearly 200 years, according to congressional aides." (The story covers some of the content in the WashPo & CBS News stories linked below.) ~~~

~~~ And the Hits Just Keep on Coming. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "During floor debate on the contempt resolution Tuesday, members of the Jan. 6 committee sought to portray [Mark] Meadows as involved in or aware of all the plotting [Donald] Trump and his allies were doing to keep him in power. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) read one message to Meadows from an unidentified sender regarding the possibility that Jeffrey Clark -- the former acting head of the Justice Department's Civil Division, who appeared open to pursuing Trump's attempts to overturn the election results -- would replace Jeffrey Rosen, then the acting attorney general. 'I heard Jeff Clark is getting put in on Monday. That's amazing. It will make a lot of patriots happy. And I'm personally so proud that you are at the tip of the spear and I could call you a friend,' Schiff said the Jan. 3 text read." ~~~

~~~ Zak Hudak & Ellis Kim of CBS News: During the House hearing Tuesday, "Congressman Jamie Raskin [read a] message from an unknown lawmaker on November 4. 'HERE's an AGGRESSIVE STRATEGY: Why can't [sic] the states of GA NC PENN and other R controlled state houses declare this is BS (where conflicts and election not called that night) and just send their own electors to vote and have it go to the SCOTUS.'" MB: IOW, the plot to use GOP-controlled state legislatures to overturn election results was hatched the day after the election, even while votes were still being counted. ~~~

~~~ Marie: Patrick made a comment in yesterday's thread that reminded me of something I first heard on the teevee Monday night or Tuesday morning. Eli Honig, a former prosecutor & a CNN pundit, pointed to a question Liz Cheney asked in her prepared remarks Monday (update: and again, word-for-word, in her remarks during a House debate Tuesday): "Did Donald Trump, though action or inaction, corruptly seek to obstruct or impede Congress's official proceeding to count electoral votes?" Good question, said Honig. If it sounded like legalese, that's because it was; according to Honig, the language comes right from the federal criminal code: it's a crime to obstruct Congress. Honig said Congress may make a criminal referral to the DOJ. More Trumpty-Dumpty news linked below.

David Corn of Mother Jones contrasts Mark Meadows' account in his $28 dollar book of what-all happened on January 6 against what we know, including some newly-revealed text messages, about what really happened. "Meadows is hiding what happened in the White House on January 6. It's no wonder he does not want to testify.... This book is disinformation.... Meadows is conning the public." MB: Meadows should send Corn's review to Trump with a note, "See, I told you the book was covering your ass. Will you quit dissing me now?"

Mariana Alfaro & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "President Biden, in a video message Tuesday, sent his sympathies to the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Conn., and demanded that Congress take action on his gun-control agenda. 'No matter how long it's been, every one of those families relives the news they got that day: 20 precious first-graders, six heroic educators, a lone gunman and an unconscionable act of violence,' Biden said. 'Everything changed that morning for you, and the nation was shocked.' Calling Dec. 14, 2012, one of the 'saddest days' of the Obama presidency, Biden said he found hope in the families' fight 'to change the laws of a culture around gun violence.'" Video of President Biden's remarks is here.

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "On Thursday, more than 16 years after he died in a Texas burn center, his widow, Tamara, will accept the Medal of Honor from President Biden at a ceremony celebrating [Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn] Cashe, 35, and two fellow soldiers heralded for their valorous acts in separate battles. Joining Cashe's family will be Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee, 41, who faced down suicide bombers at close range during a Taliban assault in Afghanistan in 2013, and the family of Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Celiz, 32, who will posthumously receive the award, for protecting a medical evacuation helicopter there in 2018 until he was cut down by gunfire. All three cases have met congressionally mandated standards, including a risk to one's life that is 'above and beyond the call of duty.' But Cashe's actions, especially, have captured the imagination of a generation of U.S. troops, while raising an often-repeated question about his award: What took so long?... Notably, Cashe will become the first Black service member since 9/11 to be recognized with the military's top combat award."

Brian Slodysko of the AP: "Congress averted a catastrophic debt default early Wednesday morning after Democratic majorities in both chambers voted to send a $2.5 trillion increase in the nation's borrowing authority to President Joe Biden over lockstep Republican opposition. Capping a marathon day, the House gave final approval to the legislation early Wednesday morning on a near-party-line 221-209 vote, defusing a volatile issue until after the 2022 midterm elections. The action came just hours shy of a deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who warned last month that she was running out of maneuvering room to avoid the nation's first-ever default." MB: Of course the Senate had to suspend the filibuster to pass the bill.

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D) on Tuesday sued the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers over the Jan. 6 attack on Congress, seeking to use a law written to cripple the Ku Klux Klan to exact stiff financial penalties from the far-right groups that Racine alleges were responsible for the violence. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., cites the modern version of an 1871 law known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, which was enacted after the Civil War to safeguard government officials carrying out their duties and protect civil rights. Two similar suits have been filed already this year related to Jan. 6 -- one by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, and another by a number of police officers who fought the rioters that day." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Jessica Schneider of CNN: "More than two dozen members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are being sued by District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine in an effort to recover the millions of dollars the city spent to defend the US Capitol during the January 6 attack. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, DC, accuses 31 members of the extremist groups of 'conspiring to terrorize the District' on January 6, calling their actions 'a coordinated act of domestic terrorism.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Hannah Rabinowitz of CNN: "A Georgia man who drove cross-country with an assault rifle and threatened to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was sentenced to 28 months behind bars in an emotional hearing on Tuesday. Cleveland Meredith Jr. pleaded guilty in September to sending threatening communications. Though he missed the January 6 rally because of car troubles, Meredith was one of the first people charged in relation to the Capitol riot after his mother reported concerning texts to the FBI on January 7. Agents found Meredith in a hotel one mile from the Capitol with thousands of rounds of ammunition, a handgun and an assault rifle stashed in his trailer.... He will get credit for the 11 months he has already spent behind bars." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Travails of Trump, Ctd.

William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "As prosecutors in Manhattan weigh whether to charge Donald J. Trump with fraud, they have zeroed in on financial documents that he used to obtain loans and boast about his wealth, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The documents, compiled by Mr. Trump's longtime accountants..., could help answer a question at the heart of the long-running criminal investigation into the former president: Did he inflate the value of his assets to defraud his lenders?... If the prosecutors seek an indictment, the case's outcome could hinge on whether they can use the documents to prove that ... his penchant for hyperbole ... was so extreme and intentional when dealing with his lenders that it crossed the line into fraud.... Prosecutors found that the accountants who put together the statements relied on underlying information provided by the Trump Organization, Mr. Trump's family business.... The prosecutors, working with the office of the New York State attorney general, Letitia James, have examined the possibility that Mr. Trump and his deputies ... essentially [misled] the accountants into presenting an overly rosy picture of his finances." ~~~

     ~~~ Oh Dear, Oh Dear. David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "A longtime accountant for ... Donald Trump -- who helped prepare Trump's taxes and the financial statements his company used to woo lenders -- testified recently before a New York grand jury investigating Trump's financial practices, according to two people familiar with that investigation. Accountant Donald Bender, of the firm Mazars, appeared before a grand jury that was impaneled this fall by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) to weigh potential criminal charges, the people said. In addition, in recent weeks prosecutors have interviewed Rosemary Vrablic, a former managing director at Deutsche Bank who arranged hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to Trump, according to people familiar with the investigation. Vrablic's interview was not before the grand jury. Instead, one person said, prosecutors pressed Vrablic about Trump's role in dealings with the bank." A CNN story is here.

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit by Donald J. Trump that sought to block Congress from obtaining his tax returns, ruling that the law gives a House committee chairman broad authority to request them despite Mr. Trump's status as a former president. In a 45-page opinion, Judge Trevor McFadden of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia held that the Treasury Department can provide the tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, which could vote to publish them. Judge McFadden, however, stayed his ruling for 10 days to give Mr. Trump time to file an appeal, which he is very likely to do." Politico's report is here. MB: If you think you've read this before, it's because this case, in two different iterations, has been going on for two-and-a-half years.

More Voter Fraud News. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Tuesday, Click Orlando reported that there are now three separate reported cases of Republicans in the Florida retirement community The Villages who have been arrested for fraudulently casting multiple ballots in 2020. The three suspects have been identified as Jay Ketcik, 63, Joan Halstead, 71, and John Rider, 61. Each of them are [is!] accused of casting more than one ballot in the election.... Previous reporting revealed Halstead was an avid Trump supporter on social media...."

The New York Times is live-updating Tuesday's developments in the aftermath of the Midwest tornadoes. The Washington Post's live updates are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jim Duncan of the Washington Post explains why the U.S. has the world's highest tornado risk: "Tornadoes tend to form where cold, dry air clashes with warm, humid air. These contrasts are maximized over the mid-latitudes, where the majority of Earth's tornadoes occur. A good-size portion of the Lower 48 sits smack-dab in the center of that not-so-sweet ordinate zone. Add in the proximity to the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, mid-level dry air sloping down from the Rockies, plus unfettered access to cold air from northern environs (particularly notable due to the flat topography of the Great Plains), and you bring together a nearly perfect set of otherwise harmless ingredients that can suddenly become a volatile mix of atmospheric terror."

A Teensy Bit of Press Freedom Is Okay, Judge Rules. Michael Grynbaum & Marc Tracy of the New York Times: "A New York trial court judge on Tuesday issued a clarification in an order that has temporarily prevented The New York Times from seeking out or publishing certain documents related to the conservative group Project Veritas, allowing The Times some latitude to report on the organization until a final ruling is reached. The clarification, by Justice Charles D. Wood of State Supreme Court in Westchester County, came in response to a formal request from Times lawyers on Monday. In the request, The Times asked that the order be dissolved, while also requesting that the court clarify what it could and could not publish."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The proportion of coronavirus cases in the United States caused by the Omicron variant has increased sharply, and may portend a significant surge in infections as soon as next month, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During the week that ended on Saturday, Omicron accounted for 2.9 percent of cases across the country, up from 0.4 percent in the previous week, according to agency projections released on Tuesday. In the region comprising New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the percentage of Omicron infections had already reached 13.1 percent." ~~~

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

Heather Hollingsworth of the AP: "The U.S. on Tuesday hit another depressing pandemic milestone -- 800,000 deaths. It's a sad coda to a year that held so much promise with the arrival of vaccines.... [By the spring,] case numbers began falling.... The delta variant struck just as vaccination rates were stalling amid a wave of misinformation, devastating poorly immunized portions of the Midwest and South.... Now, as the year ends, the delta variant is fueling another wave of hospitalizations, court battles are brewing over vaccine mandates and fresh questions are swirling about the new omicron variant."

Michael Nedelman of CNN: "Pfizer's updated results for its experimental treatment for Covid-19 showed it cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% if given to high-risk adults within a few days of their first symptoms, the company announced in a news release Tuesday. Pfizer hopes it can eventually offer the pills, under the name Paxlovid, for people to take at home before they get sick enough to go to the hospital. Paxlovid combines a new antiviral drug named nirmatrelvir and an older one called ritonavir. After a month of follow-up, the study found five hospitalizations and no deaths among 697 people who received the drug within the first three days of symptoms. Among 682 who received placebo, 44 were hospitalized, including 9 who died. All of the adults in this study were unvaccinated." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Republican leaders across the country have been engaged in a[n] ... awkward dance over the past few months as they accept -- and often champion -- money from the $350 billion bucket of state and local aid included in the stimulus bill, which passed Congress without a single Republican vote. In some states, like Ohio and Arizona, Republican governors are spending the funds while attempting to undercut the law that allowed the money to flow. Other governors are faulting Congress for not giving their state enough money. And, like their counterparts in Congress, many Republicans have blasted Mr. Biden's stimulus bill for fueling inflation, even as they take the funds, and criticized Democrats for pushing for additional government spending plans."

Nevada. Ken Ritter of the AP: "O.J. Simpson is a free man. The 74-year-old former football hero and actor, acquitted California murder defendant and convicted Las Vegas armed robber was granted good behavior credits and discharged from parole effective Dec. 1, Nevada State Police spokeswoman Kim Yoko Smith said Tuesday."

New York. Ouch! Grace Ashford & Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: " New York State ethics board ordered former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday to turn over millions of dollars in profits from his coronavirus pandemic memoir, giving him 30 days to comply. The extraordinary directive is the latest development in a fall from grace for the former governor, who in the span of just four months lost his job and reputation, and who is now facing a criminal trial after being accused of groping an aide in the Executive Mansion.... By a 12-1 vote on Tuesday, the stat's Joint Commission on Public Ethics stripped him of all of the book's proceeds. The board had previously ruled that Mr. Cuomo had received authorization for the deal under false pretenses, and it decided on Tuesday that he was not entitled to keep any of the profits from it. The board's decision rests on Mr. Cuomo's application for approval of the book deal, in which his lawyer vowed that 'no state property, personnel or other resources may be utilized for activities associated with the book.' The commission contended that Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, broke that promise when he availed himself of administration officials and lower-paid aides to help him with writing, editing and publication." The Huffington Post's report is here.

News Lede

New York Times: "bell hooks, whose incisive, wide-ranging writing on gender and race helped push feminism beyond its white, middle-class worldview to include the voices of Black and working-class women, died on Wednesday at her home in Berea, Ky. She was 69."