November 18, 2021

Seung Min Kim & Dino Grandoni of the Washington Post: "President Biden continued his infrastructure sales tour Wednesday with a visit to the Detroit area, promoting American-made electric vehicles and his broader public works law while the rest of his climate agenda hangs in the balance in Washington. The car-aficionado-in-chief took a spin through a General Motors plant retooled to manufacture electric cars, proclaiming that Detroit has led the world in electric vehicles and that the new infrastructure law would further boost the use of non-gasoline-powered vehicles across the country." ~~~

~~~ The text of President Biden's speech as delivered, via the White House, is here. Video of the full speech is here. The President began with remarks that should (but probably won't) shut up Democratic social infrastructure bill critics like Joe Look-at-Me Manchin:

... two of the leading rating agencies on Wall Street confirmed today -- not a liberal think tank, two Wall Street outfits -- that the economic proposals we put forward for the nation -- the infrastructure law we just signed and the Build Back Better plan are being considered this week in Congress -- will not add to inflationary pressures in the economy. And at one -- and here's what one of the agencies said, and I quote, 'The bills do not add to inflation pressures.'... The reason? Because the policies I proposed, quote, 'help ...; lift long-term economic growth via stronger productivity ... labor force growth,' as well as taking 'the edge off of inflation. -- President Biden, Wednesday, Detroit

House Votes to Censure Gosar; Almost All Republicans Favor Incitement to Murder AOC. Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "The House voted Wednesday to censure Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) for tweeting an anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and swinging swords at President Biden -- a move that comes amid growing worries about violent political rhetoric 10 months after a mob of former president Donald Trump's supporters attacked the Capitol. The 223-to-207 vote, with one member voting present, marks the first time in more than a decade that the House has censured one of its members. The resolution also removes Gosar from his assignments on the House Oversight and Natural Resources committees. Two Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), joined Democrats in backing the measure. Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) voted 'present.'"(Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In a normal country, a few Republicans on the radical right would have supported Gosar. We do not live in a "normal country" when almost all of the elected House members of one party tacitly endorse violence against another member, specifically against a woman of color. Republicans are a party of violent, misogynistic cowards. They are reprehensible. ~~~

     ~~~ Gosar Repeats Censured Offense. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Wednesday, Newsweek reported that Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) retweeted an account promoting his own anime video depicting himself murdering Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) -- just minutes after the House voted to censure him and strip him of committee assignments for the original tweet. 'Gosar had previously deleted the controversial video, which shows him slaughtering Ocasio-Cortez before turning the blade towards President Joe Biden, refusing to apologize but explaining that he had "self-censored" due to a sense of "compassion for those who generally felt offense."'" The Newsweek story, which is firewalled, is here.

~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "... Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) is the one who truly has earned the censure of posterity. In his craven attempt to maintain himself as the House Republican leader, McCarthy showed once again that there is no level of violent, hateful or authoritarian speech that goes too far. By condoning threats and intimidation in the people's House, he is inviting actual violence -- and signing democracy's death warrant.... McCarthy was outraged -- not by the unrepentant [Paul] Gosar's homicidal cinematography but by Democrats' move to reprimand him.... McCarthy, on the House floor, mentioned the matter only in passing..., instead reciting a meandering list of grievances: Proxy voting! The Steele dossier! Afghanistan! He threatened that when speaker he would retaliate by stripping committee assignments from five Democrats over various perceived offenses.... There was once a case to be made that McCarthy was simply a weak leader. But now it's clear he is blessing the provocations to violence." ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post points out that Republicans' response to Democrats punishing their members for egregious acts is to threaten that when Republicans return to power, they will punish Democrats for no reason at all. ~~~

~~~ The Party of Killers. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) thanked Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield on Wednesday night for his support of Kyle Rittenhouse, who is currently on trial in Kenosha, Wisconsin.... [Gaetz said of Rittenhouse,] 'He is not guilty. He deserves a not guilty verdict, and I sure hope he gets it because you know what? Kyle Rittenhouse would probably make a pretty good congressional intern. We may reach out to him and see if he'd be interested in helping the country in additional ways.'" MB: "Additional ways"? IOW, killing two people & maiming a third was "helping the country."

Dan Lamothe & Paul Sonne of the Washington Post: "The D.C. National Guard's commanding general was directed twice by Pentagon leadership to send in troops as violence engulfed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, according to a newly released investigation that appears to undercut the now-retired general's claim that he would have responded to the riot more quickly if Trump administration officials had allowed. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy first notified Maj. Gen. William Walker by phone at 4:35 p.m. that Walker was authorized to send troops to Capitol Hill, and then called the general again 'to reissue the deployment order' about 30 minutes after McCarthy 'originally conveyed it,' an unidentified Army witness told investigators with the independent Defense Department Inspector General, according to a newly released report. The investigation's findings bring new scrutiny to Walker, who earlier this year was lauded for his candor in publicly recounting how dysfunction at the Pentagon stalled the National Guard's response as supporters of ... Donald Trump brutalized police and panicked lawmakers pleaded for help.... Walker said he was not allowed to respond to the anonymous statements before the report...."

Hannah Rabinowitz & Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Jacob Chansley, the so-called 'QAnon Shaman,' was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the US Capitol riot.... Judge Royce Lamberth has had Chansley held in jail since his arrest, despite his multiple attempts to gain sympathy and his release. Other judges are likely to look to Lamberth's sentence as a possible benchmark, since Chansley is one of the first felony defendants among more than 660 Capitol riot cases to receive a punishment." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

Rebecca Beitsch & Harper Neidig of the Hill: "... Stephen Bannon moved to plead not guilty Wednesday to criminal contempt of Congress charges after he failed to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.... The filing anticipates an arraignment scheduled for Thursday for Bannon in which he was expected to plead not guilty. His lawyers filed a motion Wednesday to enter the not guilty plea and skip the arraignment -- a move that requires approval from the judge."

Ruth Graham of the New York Times: "The Roman Catholic bishops of the United States backed away from a direct conflict with President Biden on Wednesday, approving a new document on the sacrament of the eucharist that does not mention the president or any politicians by name.... For some conservative Catholics, the real question was ...: Should Catholic politicians who publicly support and advance abortion rights be denied the sacrament?... The document ... highlighted a divide between conservative American bishops and the Vatican, and pitted some of the nation's most powerful prelates against the country's second Catholic president.... An emboldened Catholic right wing, including media outlets and activist groups, now feels increasingly free to antagonize Pope Francis and his agenda."

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "About 10,000 workers at the agriculture equipment maker Deere & Company will go back to work after the approval of a contract on Wednesday, bringing to an end a five-week strike that affected 14 facilities primarily in Iowa and Illinois. The six-year contract was ratified, 61 percent to 39 percent, after workers voted down two earlier agreements between the United Automobile Workers and the company.... The new contract raises wages and includes language that makes the company's performance pay more generous."

Dan Keating & Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "The U.S. drug epidemic reached another terrible milestone Wednesday when the government announced that more than 100,000 people had died of overdoses between April 2020 and April 2021. It is the first time that drug-related deaths have reached six figures in any 12-month period.... The new figures, which are provisional but rarely change much in final tallies, represent a 28.5 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. The financial, mental health, housing and other difficulties of the covid-19 pandemic are widely blamed for much of the increase." The Guardian's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Thursday are here: "Mask-wearing reduces the incidence of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, by 53 percent, according to a study published on Thursday that looked at the results of dozens of earlier research examining the efficacy of the face-coverings. The meta-analysis, which is a method that combines the results of multiple scientific studies, was conducted by researchers from Australia's Monash University and Scotland's University of Edinburgh and published on the BMJ, a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal published by the British Medical Association, a trade union."

** Laura Strickler of NBC News: "A federal agency that was run by a college friend of Jared Kushner and assigned $100 million to spend on fixing the Covid supply chain crunch has so far failed to invest a single dime, according to a new government watchdog report. In 2020, the Trump administration directed the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to loan out $100 million in Pentagon funds through the CARES Act to 'finance the domestic production of strategic resources needed to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, and to strengthen any relevant domestic medical supply chains.'... Adam Boehler, briefly a college roommate of ... Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, ran the International Development Finance Corporation starting in fall 2019.... Boehler left the DFC on Jan. 20, the day of President Joe Biden's inauguration, and was succeeded by [an acting CEO, Dev] Jagadesan." Jagadesan blamed the Departments of Defense & Health & Human Services for the interminable delays in "emergency" funding. In fairness to the agency, it apparently has spent about $1MM (it doesn't keep very good records so no telling the exact figure) shuffling papers.

     ~~~ Marie: So if you thought putting Jared in charge of stuff was a terrible idea, look what you get when you put a "friend of Jared" in charge of something. Bupkis. Minus a million dollars (or so).

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia. Giulia Heyward of the New York Times: "Travis McMichael, the man who shot Ahmaud Arbery to death after chasing him through a suburban Georgia neighborhood, testified in his own defense on Wednesday, arguing that pointing his gun at Mr. Arbery was an attempt to 'de-escalate' the situation, a tactic he said he had learned during use-of-force training while serving in the U.S. Coast Guard. 'If you pull a weapon on someone, from what I've learned in my training, usually that tells people to back off,' Mr. McMichael said, describing it as 'compelled compliance.'... He described the encounter as 'the most traumatic experience of my life.'" MB: A little more traumatic for the man you murdered. I'd like to know if the Coast Guard really trains its personnel to fire on burglary suspects. McMichael's testimony, IMO, was bizarre.

New York. Ashley Southall & Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Two of the men found guilty of the assassination of Malcolm X are expected to have their convictions thrown out on Thursday, the Manhattan district attorney and lawyers for the two men said, rewriting the official history of one of the most notorious murders of the civil rights era. For decades, historians have cast doubt on the case against the two men, Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam, who each spent more than 20 years in prison. Their exoneration represents a remarkable acknowledgment of grave errors made in a case of towering importance: the 1965 murder of one of America's most influential Black leaders.... A 22-month investigation conducted jointly by the Manhattan district attorney's office and lawyers for the two men found that prosecutors and two of the nation's premier law enforcement agencies -- the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York Police Department -- had withheld key evidence that, had it been turned over, would likely have led to the men's acquittal.... The case against them was questionable from the outset, and in the decades since, historians and amateur investigators have raised doubts about the official story." The AP's report is here.

Charles Blow of the New York Times: "There is quite the convergence at the moment of race and justice as cases featuring white male defendants accused of everything from murder to insurrection dominate news coverage." Blow looks at a number of cases in the news. But here's one that didn't catch his attention: ~~~

~~~ New York. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "A New York man who pleaded guilty to rape and sexual abuse for assaulting four teenage girls during parties at his parents' home will not face jail time after a judge Tuesday sentenced him to eight years probation. Niagara County Court Judge Matthew J. Murphy III said he 'agonized' over the case of 20-year-old Christopher Belter, who was accused of committing the crimes when he was 16 or 17. Belter pleaded guilty in 2019 to felony charges.... Murphy concluded that jail time for [Belter] 'would be inappropriate' in a ruling that shocked the courtroom.... Steven M. Cohen, an attorney for one of the victims..., told The Washington Post on Wednesday..., 'If Chris Belter was not a White defendant from a rich and influential family, in my experience ... he would surely have been sentenced to prison.'... [The rapes were] fueled by [Belter's] mother, Tricia Vacanti, now 50; his stepfather, Gary Sullo, 56; and Jessica M. Long, 42, a family friend, who allegedly supplied teen girls with alcohol and marijuana, according to state police."

South Dakota. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "The daughter of South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) said Tuesday that she would turn in her real estate appraiser license and exit the business by the end of the year amid continuing scrutiny over whether her mother intervened in her licensing. In a letter to the South Dakota Department of Labor, Kassidy Peters, Noem's daughter, insisted that neither she nor her mother had done anything wrong but said that a legislative inquiry into the matter had 'successfully destroyed my business.' 'It is clear that none of this will stop until my reputation and that of my young family are destroyed,' Peters wrote. 'The entire inquiry and media pressure has done irreparable damage to my business.'" MB: The South Dakota legislature is controlled by Republicans. Nonetheless, a Republican governor -- and even her family member -- are the oppressed victims of their ruinous harassment. That's just so wrong.

Way Beyond

Belarus/Poland. Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: "Belarus used buses Wednesday to move hundreds of migrants from the Polish border to a nearby warehouse, providing temporary shelter amid freezing temperatures and potentially easing a standoff with the European Union. The Belarus decision comes a day after violence erupted along the border, where migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere have been stranded. For months, Belarus has opened routes for migrants to reach E.U. borders in retaliation for European sanctions. Polish authorities used water cannons to push back the migrants, an escalation they said was overseen by Belarusian forces." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Backfire! Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "Months after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko unleashed a migrant crisis against the European Union, the gambit has come full circle. Lukashenko's regime is now struggling over what do with thousands of stranded people he lured from the Middle East and beyond -- and the man often called Europe's last dictator is trying to save face after trying to punish his neighbors over sanctions."

November 17, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

House Votes to Censure Gosar; Almost All Republicans Favor Murderous Video. Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "The House voted Wednesday to censure Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) for tweeting an anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and swinging swords at President Biden -- a move that comes amid growing worries about violent political rhetoric 10 months after a mob of former president Donald Trump's supporters attacked the Capitol. The 223-to-207 vote, with one member voting present, marks the first time in more than a decade that the House has censured one of its members. The resolution also removes Gosar from his assignments on the House Oversight and Natural Resources committees. Two Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), joined Democrats in backing the measure. Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) voted 'present.'"

Hannah Rabinowitz & Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Jacob Chansley, the so-called 'QAnon Shaman,' was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the US Capitol riot.... Judge Royce Lamberth has had Chansley held in jail since his arrest, despite his multiple attempts to gain sympathy and his release. Other judges are likely to look to Lamberth's sentence as a possible benchmark, since Chansley is one of the first felony defendants among more than 660 Capitol riot cases to receive a punishment."

Dan Keating & Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "The U.S. drug epidemic reached another terrible milestone Wednesday when the government announced that more than 100,000 people had died of overdoses between April 2020 and April 2021. It is the first time that drug-related deaths have reached six figures in any 12-month period.... The new figures, which are provisional but rarely change much in final tallies, represent a 28.5 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. The financial, mental health, housing and other difficulties of the covid-19 pandemic are widely blamed for much of the increase." The Guardian's report is here.

Belarus/Poland. Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: "Belarus used buses Wednesday to move hundreds of migrants from the Polish border to a nearby warehouse, providing temporary shelter amid freezing temperatures and potentially easing a standoff with the European Union. The Belarus decision comes a day after violence erupted along the border, where migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere have been stranded. For months, Belarus has opened routes for migrants to reach E.U. borders in retaliation for European sanctions. Polish authorities used water cannons to push back the migrants, an escalation they said was overseen by Belarusian forces."

~~~~~~~~~~

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden on Tuesday began selling his $1 trillion infrastructure law, making the case that the money would do more than rebuild roads, bridges and railways. The law, he said, would help the United States regain its competitive edge against China. 'We're about to turn things around in a big way,' Mr. Biden said in remarks at a bridge over the Pemigewasset River, in snowy New Hampshire. 'For example, because of this law, next year will be the first year in 20 years that American infrastructure investment will grow faster than China's.' The president has cast the legislation as a giant leap for the United States in its battle with China to dominate the 21st-century economy, even though it does not include the full scope of his campaign promises to pour money into research and development and provide incentives for domestic manufacturing and other initiatives." ~~~

     ~~~ WMUR's (Manchester) report is here. Nothing in it about rabid anti-vaxxers tossing snowballs & epithets at Biden, so I guess the event went all right. Video of the President's speech is here. He begins speaking at about 2:25 minutes in.

Dino Grandoni of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration submitted a treaty amendment aimed at curbing a set of climate super-pollutants for Senate approval on Tuesday, White House officials confirmed. The United States played a key role in forging the Kigali Amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which compels countries to phase down hydrofluorocarbons -- human-made chemicals hundreds to thousands of times as powerful as carbon dioxide -- by 85 percent by 2036. But the Trump administration reversed Obama-era rules aimed at cutting these chemicals, known as HFCs, which are widely used in refrigeration and air conditioning. Curbing the use of hydrofluorocarbons is rare climate policy that garners support from both parties. It will need significant GOP backing to pass. The amendment, like all treaties, will require the approval of a two-thirds supermajority of the chamber to become law.... The White House announcement earned swift praise from both environmentalists and industry representatives."

Guardian & Agencies: "China and the US have agreed to ease restrictions on each other's journalists amid a slight easing of tensions between the two sides. The official China Daily newspaper said on Wednesday that the agreement was reached ahead of the virtual summit between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US president Joe Biden held a day earlier. Under the agreement, the US will issue one-year multiple-entry visas to Chinese journalists and will immediately initiate a process to address 'duration of status' issues, China Daily said. China will reciprocate by granting equal treatment to US journalists once the US policies take effect, and both sides will issue media visas for new applicants 'based on relevant laws and regulations', the report said." The New York Times report is here.

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. has begun to track threats against school administrators, teachers and board members to assess the extent of the problem, part of the Justice Department's effort to grapple with the heated and occasionally violent clashes over culture war issues like the teaching of racism and mask requirements. Last month the F.B.I. created a 'threat tag' to apply to reports of threats, harassment and violence against school officials, to comply with a memo sent by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, according to a directive issued on Oct. 20 to the bureau's criminal and counterterrorism divisions that House Republicans made public on Tuesday.... Republicans in Congress have seized on the Justice Department's focus on [these] threats of violence ... to buttress their contention that the Biden administration and Democrats are seeking to intimidate or silence parents who object to local school policies." ~~~

     ~~~ Eric Kleefeld of Media Matters: "Fox News and other right-wing media voices are now hyping a letter from House Republicans claiming that the FBI is targeting parents who show up to complain at school board meetings. But the document they have produced does not even say that at all. Previously, Fox News lied about an FBI letter on efforts to track violent threats against school officials, to then claim that parents across the country would be labeled as 'domestic terrorists.' In fact, an official memorandum specifically differentiated such threats from 'spirited debate about policy matters' that is protected by the Constitution. The outlets are now misusing an FBI term of art, 'threat tag,' to make it sound like individual parents are being tracked." ~~~

~~~ Marie: It seems one of our favorite U.S. senators, Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has responded to the FBI's shocking intimidation of concerned parents by introducing a Parents' Bill of Rights. That's fine, but I'm still awaiting Hawley's much-anticipated Manly Man Bill of Rights, which, at the very least, should return wives to a state of chattel & codify "love, honor and obey" as an essential element of a woman's marriage vow.

Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "House Democrats are planning to hold 1,000 events throughout the country between now and the end of the year to tout their latest legislative accomplishments, including the bipartisan infrastructure bill, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney (N.Y.) announced on Tuesday." MB: The article does not mention the Covid relief package which the House & Senate (through reconciliation) passed on partyline votes late last winter. Everybody -- perhaps including Maloney -- has forgotten that law, which was a huge boost to the economy, no doubt saved millions of American families from near-destitution & substantially reduced the country's child poverty level. Maybe I'll get around to making up a New York address & writing to Maloney to remind him to tout the Covid bill, too.

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "House Democrats plan to move on Wednesday to formally rebuke Representative Paul Gosar, Republican of Arizona, and strip him of committee assignments for posting an animated video depicting him killing a Democratic congresswoman and attacking President Biden. Democratic leaders intend to hold a vote to censure Mr. Gosar -- the most severe punishment in the House of Representatives short of expulsion -- and oust him from his seats on the House Oversight and Natural Resources Committees. The action comes a week after he used his official social media accounts to circulate a video clip from a popular anime program altered to show a figure with Mr. Gosar's face slashing the neck of another figure bearing the face of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York. It also showed his character swinging swords at Mr. Biden.... Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican leader, has declined to publicly denounce the video, but told reporters on Tuesday that he has told lawmakers that he would not accept 'any action or showing of a violence to another member.'" Politico's report is here.

Maria Cramer of the New York Times: "Former employees of the technology company Afiniti, the broadcaster CBS and the luxury giant LVMH shared accounts of sexual abuse, rape and harassment with a congressional committee on Tuesday, experiences they said they had been required to keep quiet because they had signed contracts with 'forced arbitration' clauses. The testimony, which implicated executives at the companies, came as the House Judiciary Committee was considering legislation that would abolish forced arbitration for victims of sexual assault and harassment. Forced arbitration often requires an employee to go through a private proceeding with his or her employer after bringing an accusation of workplace misconduct, according to legislators.... [The women] testified for hours, under protection of congressional subpoenas."

Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "Daniel Rodriguez, a pro-Trump extremist who electroshocked Metropolitan Police Officer Mike Fanone on Jan. 6, was in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday trying to get his videotaped confession to the FBI tossed on the grounds that special agents engaged in 'coercive questioning' and that Rodriguez wasn't properly advised of his rights. But U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson indicated on Tuesday that she'll likely allow most of Rodriguez's admission to be used if he goes to trial, finding that only a brief portion of the interview that took place before Rodriguez was advised of his Miranda rights had to be suppressed. She'll issue a final ruling down the road, after watching the entirety of the more than three-hour interview herself.... Attorneys for Rodriguez ... tried to argue that the traumatic experience of being arrested by the FBI at his home at 6 a.m. was coercive." MB: Well, Rodriguez has a point. One way to get the incarceration rate way down would be to determine that every arrest is so traumatizing & coercive that anything a defendant says subsequent to his arrest cannot be used against him.

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to block the National Archives from giving Congress quick access to records from his White House related to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, arguing that litigation over whether they are properly shielded by his claim of executive privilege should fully play out first. In a 54-page brief filed before the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Jesse R. Binnall, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, reiterated his argument that the Constitution gives the former president the power to keep those files confidential even though he is no longer in office -- and even though President Biden refused to assert executive privilege over them."

** Will Steakin of ABC News: "In the aftermath of the 2020 election, some of Donald Trump's closest allies embarked on an unprecedented effort to get the Department of Defense to chase down outlandish voter fraud conspiracy theories in hopes of helping Trump retain power, ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl writes in his new book..., scheduled to be released [Tuesday]. Karl reports that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump attorney Sidney Powell tried to enlist a Pentagon official to help overturn the election. According to the book, Flynn -- who had just received an unconditional pardon from President Trump after pleading guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI during the Russia probe -- made a frantic phone call to a senior Trump intelligence official named Ezra Cohen..., who previously worked under Flynn at both the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the National Security Council." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Do read on, especially if you didn't know about Germany's jailing former CIA Director Gina Haspel after she went on a secret mission to seize a computer server in Germany. Shouldn't Haspel have given the assignment to Jason Bourne? And now I really would like to know what part Michael's brother, Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn, played in slowing the Pentagon's response to the insurrection.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The White House, under pressure from activists to increase the supply of coronavirus vaccines to poor nations, is prepared to invest billions of dollars to expand U.S. manufacturing capacity, with the goal of producing at least one billion doses a year beginning in the second half of 2022, two top advisers to President Biden said in an interview on Tuesday. The investment is the first step in a new plan, to be announced on Wednesday, for the government to partner with industry to address immediate vaccine needs overseas and domestically and to prepare for future pandemics, said Dr. David Kessler, who oversees vaccine distribution for the administration, and Jeff Zients, Mr. Biden's coronavirus response coordinator." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Wednesday are here.

Noah Weiland & Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration is aiming to authorize booster doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine for all adults as early as Thursday, a move that would expand the number of Americans eligible for additional shots by tens of millions, according to people familiar with the agency's plans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's independent committee of vaccine experts has scheduled a meeting for Friday to discuss data on the booster dose's efficacy and safety. If both the F.D.A. and the C.D.C. sign off this week, they will have acted strikingly quickly -- a little more than a week after Pfizer asked for authorization of boosters for everyone 18 and older." ~~~

~~~ Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "While federal officials continue to limit who can receive a coronavirus booster shot, a growing number of governors from both political parties and other officials are circumventing that guidance to offer boosters to anyone over 18 in hopes of staving off a spike in cases over the holidays. California made the first move to expand access when public health officials quietly sent a letter to local health jurisdictions and vaccine providers on Nov. 9 instructing them to trust patients to decide whether a booster is appropriate.... Within days, officials in Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas, West Virginia and New York City endorsed boosters for all adults -- and more states and jurisdictions are expected to follow."

Tyler Pager, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration is planning to purchase 10 million courses of Pfizer's covid pill, a $5 billion investment in a treatment that officials think will help change the trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic by reducing severe illness and deaths, according to two people with knowledge of the transaction. As the administration and Pfizer on Tuesday hammered out the final details, the company asked federal regulators to authorize the five-day antiviral pill regimen called Paxlovid. The medication is the second easy-to-take treatment aimed at keeping newly infected people out of the hospital to go before the Food and Drug Administration. The other is by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Biden aides see both treatments as potential game-changers to help restore a sense of normalcy heading toward the pandemic's second anniversary and are eager to add them to a still-small collection of treatments for Americans who contract the coronavirus...." The article is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~

~~~ Adam Taylor & Claire Parker of the Washington Post: "U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has agreed to a license-sharing deal that would allow its experimental covid-19 drug to be manufactured more widely around the globe. It's an agreement that the company says could give more than half of the world's population access to the treatment, even as Pfizer rebuffs calls to grant poorer countries access to its coronavirus vaccine formula.... 'This license is so important because, if authorized or approved, this oral drug is particularly well-suited for low- and middle-income countries and could play a critical role in saving lives, contributing to global efforts to fight the current pandemic,' said Charles Gore, executive director of Medicines Patent Pool, the nonprofit group that reached the agreement with Pfizer."

Nancy, Bar the Door. Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Tuesday that she has accumulated $63,000 in fines for refusing to wear a mask on the House floor, with additional fines likely to be imposed as she continues to defy the chamber's mask requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic. 'I'm up to $63,000,' Greene told The Hill outside the House chamber while not wearing a mask and confirmed that the fines are automatically 'deducted out of my check.' Greene also volunteered that she is not vaccinated against COVID-19 after declining to disclose her vaccination status for months." MB: While it is essential to democracy that Margie's constituents be represented in Congress, even if they chose Margie to be that representative, there must be some way to preclude her from endangering her House colleagues. How will the residents of other districts be represented if Margie kills their Congressmembers?

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Igor Bobic of the Washington Post: "In a press release issued by his office on Monday, Alabama Rep. Gary Palmer [R-Ala.] touted funding in the [newly-signed infrastructure] bill aimed at connecting communities in the Appalachian region of the country to national interstate highways, something that will benefit his district, which encompasses the city of Birmingham. 'Birmingham is currently one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country without a complete beltline around it. Completing the Northern Beltline will benefit the entire region and enhance economic development and employment opportunities,' Palmer said in a statement. An accompanying tweet issued by the congressman also touted funding for the project, though it left out the fact that he voted against it."

California. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who has represented parts of San Mateo County and San Francisco in Congress since 2008, announced Tuesday she will not seek reelection in 2022."

Colorado. Ernest Luning of Colorado Politics: "Federal, state and local authorities searched the homes of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and three of her associates on Tuesday as part of an investigation into accusations the elected official was involved in voting machine security breaches, according to an official who helped conduct the searches. The FBI carried out a court-ordered search of Peters' home in Mesa County early Tuesday morning, leaving her 'terrified,' Peters said Tuesday night in an appearance on Lindell TV, an online channel run by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.... '... They were not men in suits with badges,' Peters said. 'They looked very much like they were in a combat zone -- soldiers with automatic weapons and combat gear.'... Lindell said one of the homes raided by law enforcement authorities belongs to Sherronna Bishop, a Garfield County resident and former campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert."

Florida. Your Vote Counts. Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "A Florida primary to select the Democrat who will run in a special election to fill the House seat of the late Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (D) was decided by five votes. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a health-care executive, emerged victorious Tuesday after Florida Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee ordered a machine ballot recount of the tight race. An initial vote count found Cherfilus-McCormick nearly deadlocked with Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness, with Holness leading by 12 votes out of more than 49,000 cast."

Virginia. School Board Members Come to Their Senses, Get Over Fear of Sex. Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "A school board in Virginia has reversed a recent decision to remove 'sexually explicit' books from school libraries after the move stirred community outrage and drew harsh national criticism -- especially over two board members' apparent suggestion to burn the books. The Spotsylvania County School Board voted 5 to 2 Tuesday to rescind its decision, a week after two parents complained about inappropriate content. At the Nov. 8 meeting, the board unanimously directed Schools Superintendent S. Scott Baker to reconsider whether every sexually explicit book in school libraries should be kept or permanently removed -- forcing a team of about three dozen staffers, including all of the district's librarians, to start poring through tens of thousands of titles.... Many Spotsylvanians spoke during a public comment period that stretched for more than four hours. A high-schooler told the board that censorship is 'contagious and leads to much worse,' according to the Free Lance-Star. A county librarian added, 'If you have a worldview that can be undone by a novel, let me suggest that the problem is not the novel,' the Free Lance-Star reported."

Way Beyond

Belarus/Poland. AP: "A Polish government official said Wednesday that migrants who have spent days in a makeshift camp on the Belarusian side of Poland's eastern border are being taken away by bus by Belarusian officials." The New York Times is live-updating developments here.

News Lede

AP: "As many parts of western Washington began drying out Tuesday after a storm that dumped rain for days, waters in some areas continued rising, more people were urged to evacuate and crews worked to restore power and reopen roads. Officials in the small city of Sumas, Washington, near the Canada border called the flood damage there devastating. Officials said on Facebook Tuesday that hundreds of people had been evacuated and estimated that 75% of homes had water damage."

November 16, 2021

Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met Monday in a virtual summit that featured no breakthroughs but enabled the two global superpowers to engage on a slew of sensitive issues that have strained ties -- including Taiwan, trade and human rights. In a three-and-a-half-hour conversation that the White House characterized as 'respectful, straightforward and open,' the two sides did not make pledges or depart from established positions.... Biden raised concerns about China's suppression of minorities in Xinjiang province, about unfair trade and economic practices and its recent aggression against Taiwan. Xi, according to China's central broadcaster, offered assurances that China, which has pledged to unify Taiwan with China by force if necessary, would do its 'utmost' to achieve peaceful 'reunification.'" The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Partly because the exchange between Presidents Biden & Xi was so long, and partly because this is what the Times does, the New York Times story is still (at 7 am ET) presented as a series of live updates.

Felicia Sonmez & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Monday signed into law a sweeping $1.2 trillion infrastructure measure, notching an achievement that had long eluded his predecessor in the White House, Donald Trump. Republicans and Democrats gathered at the White House on Monday as Biden signed the legislation, which is aimed at improving the country's roads, bridges, pipes, ports and Internet connections. Trump had repeatedly tried and failed to secure a bipartisan infrastructure deal. 'Here in Washington, we've heard countless speeches, promises and white papers from experts. But today, we're finally getting this done,' Biden said. Vice President Harris and several lawmakers spoke ahead of Biden at the ceremony, including Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio). 'This is what can happen when Republicans and Democrats decide we're going to work together to get something done,' Portman said.... At one point, Biden praised Portman as a 'hell of a good guy,' then quipped: 'I'm not hurting you, Rob, because I know you're not running again.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: But of course Biden is, indirectly, hurting Portman, because Portman's office will get hate calls & hate mail from Trumpbots. This may be the last time in the next three years that anyone talks about bipartisanship in anything other than wistful longing for the mostly-mythical "good old days." Finally, finally, some mainstream journalists & opinionators seem to have caught up with Reality Chex contributors who have long recognized the anti-democratic, white-nationalist, violent power-grabbing essential core of the Republican party. ~~~

     ~~~ Politico's report is here. ~~~

~~~ If you want to know who-all was at the signing ceremony, this interactive WashPo article has the answers.

~~~ Here's one of the more "traditional" ways Republicans are trashing democracy to consolidate their power & cheat Democratic voters: ~~~

~~~ Reid Epstein & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "A year before the polls open in the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans are already poised to flip at least five seats in the closely divided House thanks to redrawn district maps that are more distorted, more disjointed and more gerrymandered than any since the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. The rapidly forming congressional map, a quarter of which has taken shape as districts are redrawn this year, represents an even more extreme warping of American political architecture, with state legislators in many places moving aggressively to cement their partisan dominance. The flood of gerrymandering, carried out by both parties but predominantly by Republicans, is likely to leave the country ever more divided by further eroding competitive elections and making representatives more beholden to their party's base." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Say, Joe Manchin, et al., I know how we could fix this & take a step toward saving democracy: suspend the filibuster & pass the voting rights bills.

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "President Biden's pledge to fully pay for his $1.85 trillion social policy and climate spending package depends in large part on having a beefed-up Internal Revenue Service crack down on tax evaders, which the White House says will raise hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue. But the director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Monday that the I.R.S. proposal would yield far less than what the White House was counting on to help pay for its bill -- about $120 billion over a decade versus the $400 billion that the administration is counting on. A formal tally is expected to be released on Friday, but the projection by Phillip Swagel, who heads the budget office, could pose another setback for Mr. Biden's domestic policy legislation, which is already facing steep hurdles in the House and Senate." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Every setback is an opportunity. The opportunity here: Akhilleus answered this yesterday in his post "Tax the Rich."

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has ordered the military's top commander in the Middle East to brief him on details of a U.S. airstrike in Syria in 2019 that killed dozens of women and children, the Pentagon said on Monday. The Pentagon's top spokesman, John F. Kirby, said Mr. Austin, who became secretary this year after the Biden administration took office, requested the briefing after reading an investigative report published over the weekend by The New York Times detailing the strike and allegations that top officers and civilian officials sought to conceal the casualties.... [The strike] was one of the largest civilian casualty incidents of the yearslong war against ISIS, but had never been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. military."

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Stephen K. Bannon, who served as a senior aide to ... Donald J. Trump, surrendered to authorities and appeared in federal court on Monday, three days after he was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to provide information to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Mr. Bannon's formal booking and first court appearance in the case ... marked an escalation in the clash between Mr. Trump's allies and the committee, which has issued scores of subpoenas seeking testimony and documents that could help it assemble a definitive account of the attack and what led to it. The charges against Mr. Bannon served as a warning to those who choose to defy the committee's requests for information. But Mr. Bannon also showed that he intends to use the attention on the criminal case to push his own views to a broad audience. Before entering the F.B.I.'s Washington field office, where he surrendered at around 9:30 a.m., and after leaving court later that afternoon, Mr. Bannon made statements that falsely implied that Mr. Trump had won the 2020 election. He told his supporters to remain focused on taking on 'the illegitimate Biden regime.'"

Max Boot of the Washington Post: "... ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl ... has unearthed a memorandum from Johnny McEntee, Trump's director of presidential personnel, listing 14 reasons for ousting Esper. That document was dated Oct. 19, 2020. Three weeks later Esper was fired by a Trump tweet. The very premise of McEntee's memo was both sinister and ludicrous -- a 30-year-old of no professional or intellectual distinction, whose path to power was carrying Trump's bags, was making the case for getting rid of a senior Cabinet officer for insufficient loyalty to the president.... [Trump] appears determined to turn the military into his personal goon squad.... The most damning and telling grievance against Esper was near the bottom of [McEntee's] pathetic document: 'When he assumed his role, he vowed to be apolitical.'... Trump tried to destroy the professional, apolitical ethos of the armed forces -- and if given the opportunity, he will almost certainly do so again."

Jennifer Szalai, book reviewer for the New York Times, catches out Jon Karl, veteran White House correspondent & all-around dolt: "... in his new book, 'Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show,' Karl comes across as almost poignantly ingenuous and polite to a fault, repeatedly flummoxed by what he saw in the last year of the Trump administration. 'Front Row [at the Trump Show,' also by Karl], which had the unfortunate timing of being published in March 2020, before the consequences of Trump's governance were fully laid bare, began with a solemn tribute to 'objectivity and balance' and a complaint that 'the mainstream media coverage of Donald Trump is relentlessly and exhaustively negative.' Just a year-and-a-half later, after 750,000 American Covid deaths and an attack on the Capitol, Karl allows that the 'Trump show' may have in fact been more sinister than mere theatrics after all.... 'Betrayal' is less insightful about the Trump White House and more revealing of Karl's own gradual, extremely belated awareness that something in the White House might in fact be awry.... For all the high-minded talk in his books about the journalistic pursuit of accuracy, he gives little indication that he had the imagination to handle the truth."

Flynn Attacks Foundational American Principle. Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn's call for 'one religion' in the US to win the battle of good versus evil has garnered sharp backlash from a range of critics. Flynn, who was subpoenaed last week by the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack, made the comment during a speech to a conservative Christian audience on the ReAwaken America tour in Texas this weekend. 'If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion,' he said. 'One nation under God and one religion under God, right? All of us, working together.' His message -- the latest in a lengthy history of outlandish remarks -- appears to be an inflammatory contradiction of the First Amendment, which protects freedom of religion.... Asked to react to Flynn's comments, Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina told CNN's Jim Acosta Sunday, 'This country was (founded) on independent and religious freedoms. Folks left to come here in search of these freedoms. Now, he would love to see that taken away.' Clyburn went on to say that it's another attempt by a former Trump official to undermine democracy." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I wonder what religion Flynn is espousing. According to LeBlanc, Flynn was addressing a group of "conservative Christians," but it's a safe bet those in the audience adhere to a variety of denominations. Flynn himself was reared as a Roman Catholic, and that's a denomination of an entirely different color, one that tends to view Protestants as heretics. Sorry, Episcopalians. Sorry, Jews. Sorry, Muslims. Sorry, Buddists, etc. And you'll be damned, atheists. Does Flynn get to pick the One & Only U.S. Religion? Maybe President*-for-Life Trump, he of the "little crackers," will pick the Faith of Our People. Or will there be a vote? Will Italian hackers or George Soros or Hugo Chavez (deceased) rig the vote? Sadly, Flynn has not responded to CNN's request for comment.

Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "A state court in Connecticut granted a sweeping victory to the families of eight people killed in a 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., who had sued the far-right broadcaster and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars media outlet for defamation. The judge ruled on Monday that because Mr. Jones had refused to turn over documents ordered by the courts, including financial records, he was liable by default. The decision, combined with previous rulings in Texas in late September, means Mr. Jones has lost all the defamation lawsuits filed against him by the families of 10 victims. Lawyers for Mr. Jones said he would appeal." MB: Just to be clear, Mr. Jones is one of the most reprehensible people on the planet.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Stephanie Nolen & Rebecca Robbins of the New York Times: "Pfizer announced a deal on Tuesday to allow its promising Covid-19 treatment to be made and sold inexpensively in 95 poorer nations that are home to more than half of the world's population. The agreement follows a similar arrangement negotiated by Merck last month, and together the deals have the potential to vastly expand global production of two simple antiviral pills that could alter the course of the pandemic by preventing severe illness from the coronavirus." The AP's story is here. MB: Evidently, Moderna has not followed suit, because this morning I saw a harsh anti-Moderna ad (running on CNN, I think), complaining that the company was not giving breaks to poor nations. (If the ad is unfair to Moderna, somebody let me know, please. [I could not find the ad on the YouTubes.])

Linda Searing of the Washington Post: "At least 50 percent of people who survive covid-19 experience a variety of physical and psychological health issues for six months or more after their initial recovery, according to research on the long-term effects of the disease, published in the journal JAMA Network Open. Often referred to as 'long covid,' the adverse health effects vary from person to person. But the research, based on data from 250,351 adults and children, found that more than half experience a decline in genera well-being, resulting in weight loss, fatigue, fever or pain. About 20 percent have decreased mobility, 25 percent have trouble thinking or concentrating (called 'brain fog'), 30 percent develop an anxiety disorder, 25 percent have breathing problems, and 20 percent have hair loss or skin rashes. Cardiovascular issues -- chest pain and palpitations -- are common, as are stomach and gastrointestinal problems." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Not that wingers will find out about this science-y report, but this evidently-peer-reviewed study puts another deep crimp in the popular anti-vax theory that contracting Covid-19 is the best way to get immunity. (The other well-known crimp: as a deterrence, infection does not appear to work as well as vaccination.)

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

Oklahoma. Quint Forgey of Politico: "The Pentagon's top spokesperson [John Kirby] on Monday insisted Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had the authority to require National Guard members to get vaccinated against Covid-19, despite new resistance from Oklahoma's highest-ranking military official.... 'Refusing to [comply], absent an approved exemption, puts them in the same potential [for disciplinary action] as active-duty members who refuse the vaccine,' [Kirby said]."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey [R] bragged about the exciting new funding for his state that will fund rural broadband to anyone who wants it.... The funding is coming from President Joe Biden's 'American Rescue Plan' that no Republican supported. Speaking to MSNBC on Monday, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) laughed with host Chris Hayes at the Republican governor for taking credit for Democratic policies.... Ironically, Ducey penned an op-ed last week for the Wall Street Journal, claiming that Biden has left Arizona behind...." MB: Not "ironical"; "duplicitous mendacity." According to Hayes, the title of Ducey's broadband press release was, "Gov. Ducey Invests $100 Million in Broadband." I hope this makes the front page of some of Arizona's major papers. Yo, Joe: this is how "bipartisanship" really works.

Georgia. Richard Fausset & Tariro Mzezewa of the New York Times: "Lawyers for the three white Georgia men on trial for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, tried unsuccessfully on Monday to convince a judge to declare a mistrial, with one of the lawyers reiterating his argument that prominent Black pastors should not be allowed in the courtroom because they unfairly influence the jury. Kevin Gough, who represents the defendant William Bryan, 52, unleashed a wave of condemnation last week when he declared that 'we don't want any more Black pastors coming in here' after the Rev. Al Sharpton spent a day observing the trial in the courtroom's public gallery. On Monday, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson came to the courtroom and sat between Mr. Arbery's parents, prompting a second effort from Mr. Gough to ban the prominent civil rights leaders from the proceedings." MB: Hey, white pastors: time for you to show up, too, in support of the Arbery family.

Texas. High Noon. David Goodman of the New York Times: "Beto O'Rourke entered the race for Texas governor on Monday, criticizing what he described as the ultraconservative policies and anti-immigrant rhetoric of Gov. Greg Abbott. It is a long-shot bid to win an office Democrats last occupied in 1995. In a video announcing his run and in an interview on Monday, Mr. O'Rourke, a former El Paso congressman and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, presented his campaign as a corrective to what he said were the 'extremist policies' of the state's Republican leadership, including Mr. Abbott, the Republican incumbent who has overseen a sharp turn to the right in Texas." MB: Remember, all the townfolks thought Gary Cooper would lose, too.

Vermont. Amy Wang, et al., of the Washington Post: "Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the longest-serving member in the Senate, announced Monday that he will retire at the end of his term rather than run for reelection next year. Leahy, 81, who was first elected in 1974, would have been up for reelection to a ninth term in 2022.... Leahy [announced his retirement] at a news conference Monday at the Vermont State House in Montpelier from the same room where he announced his first Senate candidacy."

Virginia. Ellie Silverman of the Washington Post: "Ahead of the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville four years ago, lead organizer Jason Kessler appeared to instruct supporters to mislead law enforcement, in communications presented in court on Monday. 'If the police ask you how many people we have coming don't tell them,' Kessler wrote in a July 18, 2017, Facebook message. 'If they think we have more than 400 they might be able to help the city pull our permit. Privately we can tout the 800-1,000 number better for our enemies to underestimate us.'... Kessler is one of two dozen defendants - including some of the country's most infamous white supremacists and hate groups -- testifying during a federal civil trial to determine whether they engaged in a conspiracy to commit racially motivated violence during that weekend."

Wisconsin. Julie Bosman, et al., of the New York Times: "The jury will begin on Tuesday to deliberate the fate of [Kyle] Rittenhouse, who is accused of first-degree intentional homicide and four other felonies in the shootings of three men in the aftermath of protests in 2020. Throughout the morning and afternoon on Monday, ... lawyers delivered dueling narratives [during their closing arguments]." The AP's story is here. MB: I watched a few minutes here and there of the closing arguments, which included video of the murders, sometimes screened frame-by-frame. It was really hard to watch. Well, reportedly for the jury, and for me. But not for Kyle. He sat there looking bored & otherwise unemotional through all of it. I suppose that would be the how many psychopaths react to recitations of their crimes. Over the weekend, I saw a clip of his mother telling Fox "News" she was so proud of Kyle. So a family of psychopaths.

Wyoming GOP Goes All-in for former Criminal-in-Chief. AP: "The Wyoming Republican Party will no longer recognize Liz Cheney as a member of the GOP in its second formal rebuke for her criticism of ... Donald Trump. The 31-29 vote Saturday in Buffalo, Wyoming, by the state party central committee followed votes by local GOP officials in about one-third of Wyoming's 23 counties to no longer recognize Cheney as a Republican. In February, the Wyoming GOP central committee voted overwhelmingly to censure Cheney, Wyoming's lone U.S. representative, for voting to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol."

Way Beyond

Belarus/Poland, etc. Andrew Roth of the Guardian: "Polish riot police on the country's border with Belarus have fired water cannon and teargas at people forcibly attempting to cross into the European Union. The clashes come a day after EU governments approved sanctions against the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, for allegedly engineering the crisis by allowing thousands of asylum-seekers from the Middle East to travel through Belarus to the border with Poland. Televised footage from the border on Tuesday morning showed dozens of men throwing rocks and approaching a fence near the border crossing at the Polish town of Kuźnica."

North Korea. He's Ba-a-ack. Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: "North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made his first public appearance in more than a month, visiting a new state-developed alpine city billed a 'model' socialist 'utopia,' as he looks to cement his legacy during a period of widespread food shortages."

Russia. "Reckless Risk." Paul Sonne, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russia conducted a strike against a Soviet-era satellite in space on Monday, creating more than 1,500 pieces of debris that U.S. officials said posed a reckless risk and showed Moscow's insincerity when it says it doesn't want to weaponize space. The test marked the first time that Russia has demonstrated an ability to strike a satellite using a missile launched from Earth. During a briefing, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the anti-satellite test had created more than 1,500 pieces of sizable debris that could damage other satellites or affect astronauts at the International Space Station." ~~~

     ~~~ Kylie Atwood, et al., of CNN: "The US strongly condemned a Russian anti-satellite test on Monday that forced crew members on the International Space Station to scramble into their spacecraft for safety, calling it 'a reckless and dangerous act' and saying that it 'won't tolerate' behavior that puts international interests at risk."