October 11, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Republicans Miles Taylor & Christie Todd Whitman, in a New York Times op-ed, urge Republicans to vote for "centrist" Democrats: "... for now, the best hope for the rational remnants of the G.O.P. is for us to form an alliance with Democrats to defend American institutions, defeat far-right candidates, and elect honorable representatives next year -- including a strong contingent of moderate Democrats.... Concerned conservatives must join forces with Democrats on the most essential near-term imperative: blocking Republican leaders from regaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives.... As long as [GOP House leader Kevin McCarthy] embraces Mr. Trump's lies, he cannot be trusted to lead the chamber, especially in the run-up to the next presidential election."

Facebook Is for English-speakers! Thanks to Ken W. for the lead. ~~~

Australia. Punctuation Matters! Livia Albeck-Ripka of the New York Times: "A missing apostrophe in a Facebook post could cost a real estate agent in Australia tens of thousands of dollars after a court ruled a defamation case against him could proceed. In the post last year, Anthony Zadravic, the agent, appears to accuse Stuart Gan, his former employer at a real estate agency, of not paying retirement funds to all the agency's workers.... The post ... read, 'Oh Stuart Gan!! Selling multi million $ homes in Pearl Beach but can't pay his employees superannuation,' referring to Australia's retirement system.... Less than 12 hours after the post was published on Oct. 22, Mr. Zadravic ... deleted it. But it was too late. Mr. Gan ... filed a defamation claim against Mr. Zadravic. On Thursday, a judge in New South Wales ruled that the lack of an apostrophe on the word 'employees' could be read to suggest a 'systematic pattern of conduct' by Mr. Gan's agency rather than an accusation involving one employee. So she allowed the case to proceed." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: More consequential punctuation: That extra comma in the poorly-worded Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allowed the Supremes to decide that the Amendment applied to gun rights for individual citizens, not just "a well regulated militia."

U.K., Where Folks Do Speak Various Versions of English. AP: "British police have announced they will not take any action against Prince Andrew after a review prompted by a Jeffrey Epstein accuser who claims that he sexually assaulted her." A Washington Post story is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

~~~ NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 11, 2021, as Indigenous Peoples Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. -- Proclamation, October 8, 2021 ~~

~~~ Melina Delkic of the New York Times: "President Biden has proclaimed Monday, Oct. 11, as Indigenous Peoples' Day, becoming the first U.S. president to formally recognize the day.... Over the past several years, states including Alaska and New Mexico have adopted the holiday, choosing to forgo Columbus Day celebrations and heeding calls from Indigenous groups and other residents not to celebrate Christopher Columbus, the Italian navigator the holiday is named for, who they say brought genocide and colonization to communities that had been in the United States for thousands of years. Many around the country, however, still celebrate Columbus Day or Italian Heritage Day as a point of pride in Italian culture. Not all states have accepted Indigenous Peoples' Day, and some members of Indigenous communities say recognizing the day does not go far enough. It is not yet a federal holiday, though there is a bill in Congress that proposes to make it one. Here's more background."

Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "A nuclear engineer for the U.S. Navy and his wife have been charged with trying to share some of the United States' most closely held secrets on submarine technology with another country, according to court documents unsealed on Sunday. The engineer, Jonathan Toebbe, was accused of trying to sell information on the nuclear propulsion system of Virginia-class attack submarines -- the technology at the heart of a recent deal that the United States and Britain struck with Australia.... Some experts thought the unsolicited offer could have been aimed at a friendly country, not an adversary. There is no allegation from the F.B.I. or the Justice Department that the foreign country obtained any classified information. But Mr. Toebbe had high-level clearances in nuclear engineering, and his service record showed that as a member of the Navy Reserve, he worked for 15 months from the office of the chief of naval operations, the top officer in the Navy." NPR's story is here.

~~~ AND Other Traitors. Meredith McGraw of Politico: "Nine months ago, Republicans were questioning Donald Trump's place as the lead fixture of their party. Saturday night provided the clearest evidence yet that they want him right there. Not one year removed from surviving a second impeachment, the former president rallied before thousands of his most loyal supporters across the Iowa State Fairgrounds on a balmy Midwestern evening. He regaled them with his stories from the White House, his falsehoods and complaints about the 2020 election results, and his criticisms of the Biden administration on everything from immigration to the withdrawal from Afghanistan.... But the notable elements were not what was said by Trump, but who was there with him. Appearing alongside the former president was a who's who of influential Republicans in the Hawkeye state, including Sen. Chuck Grassley and Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson, former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker and Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann. Trump has held rallies since leaving the White House. But never have elected Republicans of such tenure and stature appeared with him." A related AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ BUT. The Secret Views of Senators. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Several Republican senators, who requested anonymity to discuss Trump frankly, said they don't want to see Trump return as the party's standard bearer. 'I think we're better off when he's not part of any story,' said a Republican senator, who said his view is widely shared in the GOP conference. 'He's a clinical narcissist. He threw away the election in the debate with Biden and he threw away the Senate out of spite,' the lawmaker added, referring to Trump's first against Biden, which many Republican senators viewed as a disaster, and his influence on Republican voter turnout in the Georgia special election. One thing is crystal clear: Most GOP senators think Trump announcing a bid before the midterms would hurt them." MB: Because humoring Trump has been such an excellent strategy (January 6). ~~~

~~~ Another Top Republican Normalizes Overturning Elections. Hope Yen of the AP: "The House's second-ranking Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise, repeatedly refused to say on Sunday that the 2020 election wasn't stolen, standing by Donald Trump's lie that Democrat Joe Biden won the White House because of mass voter fraud. More than 11 months after Americans picked their president and almost nine months since Biden was inaugurated, Scalise was unwilling during a national television interview to acknowledge the legitimacy of the vote, instead sticking to his belief that the election results should not have been certified by Congress."

Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "Foreign affairs and national security expert Fiona Hill warned that the U.S. is in a 'dangerous moment' and has already reached a constitutional crisis as political actors try to undermine elections and call for violence.... Hill, a former National Security Council official who served as a key witness in the 2019 Trump impeachment hearings as a Trump administration official, pointed to serious threats as former President Trump is 'clearly prepping for his return to the presidency,' which he says is still rightfully his.... January 6, she said, was a 'dress rehearsal' for an attempt at overtaking the government that could happen in 2022 or 2024."

Joe DePaolo of Mediaite: A new book reports that ... Donald Trump asked his top intelligence official to investigate an absurd conspiracy theory that Chinese thermostats changed votes in the 2020 election. In an excerpt from the soon-to-be-released Betrayal by ABC New's Jonathan Karl, which was shared on Sunday's edition of This Week, the former president was said to be 'intrigued' by the theory -- which was presented to him by Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who Trump wanted to install as acting attorney general." MB: You people might think I'm wasting energy, but I just turned up my thermostat in hopes of getting Biden a few more votes.

You're Grounded! Ramishah Maruf of CNN: "Southwest [airlines] ... canceled more than 2,000 flights Friday through Sunday. The world's largest low-cost carrier canceled three of every 10 departures it had scheduled on Sunday and the disruption continued into Monday, a federal holiday, with 337 flights -- or about one in 10 — canceled so far, according to the aviation tracking website FlightAware. The company blamed the cancellations on air traffic control problems and limited staffing in Florida as well as bad weather. It told CNN late Sunday that getting operations back to normal was 'more difficult and prolonged' because of schedule and staffing reductions made during the pandemic.... In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration said there have bee no air traffic related cancellations since Friday. The agency said that airlines are experiencing delays because of aircraft and crews being out of place."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "The federal government is expected to take a significant step this week toward offering booster doses to a much wider range of Americans as advisers to the Food and Drug Administration meet on Thursday and Friday to discuss recipients of the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna coronavirus vaccines. So far, regulators have authorized booster shots only for certain adults who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine...." ~~~

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

Matthew Perrone of the AP: "Drugmaker Merck asked U.S. regulators Monday to authorize its pill against COVID-19 in what would add an entirely new and easy-to-use weapon to the world's arsenal against the pandemic. If cleared by the Food and Drug Administration -- a decision that could come in a matter of weeks -- it would be the first pill shown to treat COVID-19. All other FDA-backed treatments against the disease require an IV or injection."

Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "Within days of regulators clearing the nation's first coronavirus vaccine for younger children, federal officials say they will begin pushing out as many as 20 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric vaccine to immunize school-age kids across the United States in a bid to control the coronavirus pandemic. The kickoff of the long-awaited children's vaccination campaign is expected as soon as early November. And this time around, the government has purchased enough doses to give two shots to all 28 million eligible children ages 5 to 11." The article is free to nonsubscribers.

Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "Hundreds of thousands of U.S. service members remain unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated against the coronavirus as the Pentagon's first compliance deadlines near, with lopsided rates across the individual services and a spike in deaths among military reservists illustrating how political division over the shots has seeped into a nonpartisan force with unambiguous orders. Overall, the military's vaccination rate has climbed since August, when Defense Department leaders, acting on a directive from President Biden, informed the nation's 2.1 million troops that immunization would become mandatory, exemptions would be rare and those who refuse would be punished. Yet troops' response has been scattershot, according to data assessed by The Washington Post. For instance, 90 percent of the active-duty Navy is fully vaccinated, whereas just 72 percent of the Marine Corps is, the data show, even though both services share a Nov. 28 deadline." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This evident insubordination seems to confound contributor Bobby Lee, who wrote in yesterday's thread, "... I don't remember anyone asking me if I had any objections to getting a shot for anything. In basic training they just lined us up and ran us through the line. Later on in service it was an order to report for a booster." Yeah, I would think so.

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Jan Ransom, et al., of the New York Times: "... the sheer lawlessness inside ... Rikers, New York city's main jail complex ... is difficult to fathom. Detainees in some buildings have seized near total control over entire units, deciding who can enter and leave them, records and interviews show. In other buildings, they have wandered in and out of staff break rooms and similarly restricted areas, with some flouting rules against smoking tobacco and marijuana.... Several have stolen keys and used them to free others in custody, who went on to commit slashings and other acts of violence. The chaos was not limited to incarcerated people. Correction officers have participated in beatings or failed to intervene in hangings and other urgent situations.... City officials have accused jail officers of abusing generous sick leave policies -- hundreds have been out of work -- while the officers' labor union has said guards are not going to work because conditions in the jails are unsafe and inhumane.... The troubles on Rikers Island trace also to physical grounds that have been neglected for decades, leading to doors that do not lock properly, cells that are too deteriorated to contain detainees and aging objects like radiators that can be ripped apart and turned into weapons."

Wisconsin. Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "For the past decade [Wisconsin] has been an incubator for the kind of tribal politics and deep divisions that characterize civic life in Washington and much of the rest of the nation. While Wisconsin has been closely divided for a long time -- four of the last six presidential elections were decided by less than a percentage point -- the widening gulf between the two parties exposed in 2011 foreshadowed the extent to which American politics would come to focus more on the extremes rather than the middle of the political spectrum. This has made Wisconsin not a purple state, as many people suggest, but two states in one -- the first comprising a few heavily populated blue enclaves and the second a red sea of rural, small-town and suburban geography that surrounds those blue pockets." MB: Yo, Dan, the state of Joe McCarthy & Bob LaFollette has not been a "purple" state in my lifetime or before.

Way Beyond

Czech Republic. Rick Noack & Ladka Bauerova of the Washington Post: "Czech President Milos Zeman was rushed to the intensive care unit of a military hospital on Sunday, hours after the party of his political ally, billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis, was defeated in the country's general election.The unexpected development complicates efforts to form a new government. Zeman and Babis, who appears to have been weakened by revelations in the Pandora Papers leaks, were expected to meet on Sunday morning in what some opposition members interpreted as a sign that the president might seek to keep the prime minister in power despite the election result.... Zeman has been reported to suffer from diabetes and neuropathy."

News Lede

New York Times: "David Card, Joshua D. Angrist and Guido W. Imbens have made a career of studying unintended experiments -- Mr. Card in labor economics and Mr. Angrist and Mr. Imbens in analyzing cause and effect. On Monday, their work earned them the 2021 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. All three winners are based in the United States. Mr. Card, who was born in Canada, works at the University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Angrist, born in the United States, is at M.I.T. and Mr. Imbens, born in the Netherlands, is at Stanford University. 'Uncovering causal relationships is a major challenge,' said Peter Fredriksson, chairman of the prize committee. 'Sometimes, nature, or policy changes, provide situations that resemble randomized experiments. This year's laureates have shown that such natural experiments help answer important questions for society.'" The AP's report is here.

October 10, 2021

Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "... as the national [Democratic] party starts to create a new calendar for the 2024 presidential nomination that could remove Iowa from its privileged [first-in-the-nation] position for the first time since 1972, when candidates started flocking to the state for an early jump on the race to the White House. The caucuses' reputation has been damaged by high barriers to participation, a dearth of racial diversity, the rightward drift in the state's electorate and a leftward drift in the Democratic participants. The state party's inability to count the results in 2020 only deepened dismay in the party.... '... Iowa is not representative of America,' [former DNC Chair Tom] Perez said Friday in an interview. 'We need a primary process that is reflective of today's demographics in the Democratic Party.'"

Shah Baloch & Julian Borger of the Guardian: "A senior US official visiting Islamabad has made clear to Pakistan that the Biden administration has downgraded the bilateral relationship. On the eve of her arrival, the deputy secretary of state, Wendy Sherman, used a public event in Mumbai to lay out in blunt terms the new parameters of US-Pakistan relations, stressing there would be no equivalence with Washington's deepening ties to India. The Islamabad trip was for 'a very specific and narrow purpose', Sherman said, to talk about Afghanistan and the Taliban. 'We don't see ourselves building a broad relationship with Pakistan, and we have no interest in returning to the days of hyphenated India-Pakistan,' she added."

Manchinema & Republicans Don't Care about Children. Claire Miller of the New York Times: "In the developed world, the United States is an outlier in its low levels of financial support for young children's care -- something Democrats, with their safety net spending bill, are trying to change.... The U.S. spends ... about $200 a year for most families [with children under age two], in the form of a once-a-year tax credit for parents who pay for care.... Denmark, for example, spends $23,140 annually per child on care for children 2 and under." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In yesterday's Comments thread, Forrest M. noted that crooked, richy-rich Florida Senator Rick Scott (R) had advice for how the peons should weather tough times: "Most families in this country survive by not being wasteful, but by clipping coupons, by buying necessities when they are on sale, by cutting their own grass and by reusing aluminum foil." Akhilleus translated: "What Ricky means is that the vast majority of Americans should expect no help from him and his rich confederate pals. They're too busy helping themselves."

Daniel Hemel in a Washington Post op-ed: "The Pandora Papers ... shine a light on South Dakota's role as an offshore financial center. For the most part, the revelations relate to the Mount Rushmore State's status as a magnet for foreign wealth, including money derived from international drug smuggling and exploitative labor practices. But it's not just foreigners who are moving assets to the 'little tax haven on the prairie': High-net-worth Americans also are shifting billions to South Dakota and a handful of other domestic havens, shortchanging federal and home-state tax collectors in the process. The rise of domestic tax havens marks a troubling new chapter in the history of American federalism.... The biggest loser in all this is the U.S. Treasury. Carefully designed, a South Dakota dynasty trust can operate as a perpetual estate-tax-avoidance machine." Congress could and should close the loopholes that allow South Dakota and other states to shield tax evaders.

Washington Post Editors: A new (Democratic) Senate Judiciary Committee report "details how [Donald] Trump tried persistently to enlist the Justice Department in his scheme to overturn the 2020 election results.... Senate Republicans played down these revelations.... But ... Mr. Trump ... was not exercising reasonable skepticism [as GOP senators claimed]; he was trying to hold on to power against the wishes of the American people, based on widely debunked mistruths about the 2020 vote. Anyone seeking to play down that fact today is complicit in his plot to undermine U.S. democracy.... Congress must reinforce elements of the nation's democratic infrastructure vulnerable to exploitation by bad actors such as Mr. Trump. It should revamp the ancient Electoral Count Act to limit partisan interference in presidential vote tallying, and it should impose federal election standards that insulate state election officials from political pressure. Republicans who still respect the Constitution should be willing to join in this effort."

Kyle Cheney & Olivia Beavers of Politico: "As congressional investigators accelerate their probe of Donald Trump's 2020 election challenges that culminated on Jan. 6, one thing is clear: All roads run through a handful of their GOP colleagues.... The House select committee ... has so far avoided directly roping in fellow lawmakers, even as it homes in on Trump's inner circle. Yet each of its investigative steps so far has further underscored the roles that Trump's staunchest House GOP allies played in his bid to throw out the election results. Those Republicans connected the former president to willing partners in the Justice Department who might fuel inflated claims of fraud. They huddled with Trump to deliver counsel. And they spoke with Trump by phone on Jan. 6 as he watched his own 'Stop the Steal' rally morph into a violent riot that overtook the Capitol."

Jim Acosta & Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "Former Trump aide Dan Scavino has been served a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, bringing an end to the panel's struggle to physically locate him. A process server brought the subpoena to ... Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday, the source said. While Scavino was home in New York at the time, he asked a staff member to accept the subpoena on his behalf." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Pelosi & the Pope. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis on Saturday met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a private audience at the Vatican, amid ongoing criticism of Pelosi by conservative Catholics in the United States over her support for abortion rights. Pelosi, who is Catholic, described the meeting as 'a spiritual, personal and official honor' and praised the pope for his attention to climate change and for his work lifting up the underprivileged. 'His Holiness's leadership is a source of joy and hope for Catholics and for all people, challenging each of us to be good stewards of God's creation, to act on climate, to embrace the refugee, the immigrant and the poor, and to recognize the dignity and divinity in everyone,' Pelosi said in a statement.... Pelosi's meeting with the pope comes a few months after Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco said in May that prominent Catholics who support abortion rights should be denied Holy Communion. The archbishop also ... has since launched a '"Rose and Rosary for Nancy' campaign to push for Pelosi to change her stance on abortion.&"

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Ordinarily staid and silent Supreme Court justices have become whirling dervishes of late, spinning madly to rebut the idea that Americans are beginning to regard the court as a dangerous cabal of partisan hacks.... Many of us have thought that for a long time.... The Least Dangerous Branch, as the court was once known, has become the Most Dangerous Branch.... And please, Justice Breyer, skedaddle. You're playing a dangerous game. You need to get out of there because it looks as if the midterms are going to be bad, and if the Democrats lose the Senate majority, there's no guarantee that Mitch McConnell will let any Biden nominee onto the court, even with two years left on the president's term." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Matt Schudel of the Washington Post: "Raymond T. Odierno, a four-star Army general who was a key architect of the 'surge' in U.S. forces during the Iraq War that was credited with reducing violence and increasing stability in the country and who later became the Army's chief of staff, or highest-ranking general, died Oct. 8 at age 67."

The Week in Review:

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Fed Misunderestimated Delta Variant. Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "The weak September jobs report offered the latest sign of the coronavirus pandemic's hold on major sectors of the economy, conflicting with the type of recovery the Federal Reserve forecast back when the nation was entering its recent surge in cases. A growing number of economists and experts acknowledge that the nation's top economic policymakers underestimated the delta variant's threat to job growth, inflation, global supply chains and people's own comfort levels going into the fall. In recent months, the delta variant of the coronavirus tore through communities with low vaccination rates, spurred sweeping new workplace rules from the Biden administration and rattled consumer sentiment."

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

Rebecca Robbins of the New York Times: "Moderna, whose coronavirus vaccine appears to be the world's best defense against Covid-19, has been supplying its shots almost exclusively to wealthy nations, keeping poorer countries waiting and earning billions in profit. After developing a breakthrough vaccine with the financial and scientific support of the U.S. government, Moderna has shipped a greater share of its doses to wealthy countries than any other vaccine manufacturer, according to Airfinity, a data firm that tracks vaccine shipments.... Of the handful of middle-income countries that have reached deals to buy Moderna's shots, most have not yet received any doses, and at least three have had to pay more than the United States or European Union did...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Russia/Serbia/Croatia. Russians Bring Vaccine Tourism to Serbia. Jovana Gec & Daria Litvinova of the AP: International health authorities have not recognized Russia's Covid-19 vaccine, so ... "Serbia, which is not a member of the European Union, is a convenient choice for vaccine-seeking Russians because they can enter the allied Balkan nation without visas and because it offers a wide choice of Western-made shots. Organized tours for Russians have soared, and they can be spotted in the capital, Belgrade, at hotels, restaurants, bars and vaccination clinics.... Serbia ... offers the Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Chinese Sinopharm shots. By popular demand, Russian tourist agencies are now also offering tours to Croatia, where tourists can receive the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, without the need to return for a second dose."

Beyond the Beltway

California. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "The pipeline that spilled at least 126,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean off the California coast may have been damaged up to a year earlier, according to preliminary results of an ongoing investigation, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Officials have said the leak occurred three miles off the coast of Newport Beach, Calif., and involved a failure in a 17.5-mile pipeline connected to an offshore oil platform called Elly that is operated by Beta Offshore.... Investigators are 'fairly certain' that an anchor from a 'large vessel' struck the pipeline's concrete casing, and dragged the pipeline more than 100 feet from its original location...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. Kathy Gannon of the AP: "The Taliban on Saturday ruled out cooperation with the United States to contain extremist groups in Afghanistan, staking out an uncompromising position on a key issue ahead of the first direct talks between the former foes since America withdrew from the country in August. Senior Taliban officials and U.S. representatives are to meet Saturday and Sunday in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Officials from both sides have said issues include reining in extremist groups and the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans from the country. The Taliban have signaled flexibility on evacuations. However, Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told The Associated Press there would be no cooperation with Washington on containing the increasingly active Islamic State group in Afghanistan." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Austria. Loveday Morris of the Washington Post: "Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz resigned Saturday amid a corruption probe that had triggered moves to oust him, the latest dramatic twist in the turbulent career of a leader once touted as Europe's conservative wunderkind. In a televised address, the 35-year-old premier denied the allegations against him but recommended leadership be handed to Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg. He said he would stay on as head of his party, and take the position of leader of his conservative bloc in parliament. 'My country is more important to me than my person,' he said. 'I want to make space to prevent chaos and ensure stability.'" Politico's story is here.

China/Taiwan. Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "China's President Xi Jinping on Saturday vowed to achieve peaceful 'unification' with Taiwan, just days after a record number of Chinese military jets conducted drills close to the island, escalating tensions between the two sides.... Xi's tone took a more conciliatory approach than that of a speech he made in July, when he vowed to 'smash' any attempts at Taiwan independence.... Nearly 150 warplanes were flown into Taiwan's air defense identification zone over the past week -- prompting Taiwan's defense minister to say Wednesday that military tensions with Beijing were at their worst point in more than four decades."

Czech Republic. Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "In a blow to Europe's once surging populist politicians, the prime minister of the Czech Republic, a pugnacious businessman who has compared himself to Donald Trump and railed against migrants, suffered a surprising defeat in a parliamentary election that ended on Sunday. After two days of voting, near-final results indicated that a center-right coalition of parties led by a button-down former academic had won the largest share of votes, narrowly ahead of a party led by the scandal-singed prime minister, Andrej Babis." A UPI story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ digby: "We don't hold our right wing leaders accountable for breaking the law here in America because it might make someone mad. But it's good to see that other countries still have some standards[.]"

News Ledes

New York Times: "A passenger whose erratic behavior prompted pilots to make an emergency landing at La Guardia Airport on Saturday afternoon was not charged after the authorities determined that he 'did not make a verbal threat' and was not carrying a suspicious item, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said. The man, who was not identified by the Port Authority Police Department, was briefly detained and questioned by the authorities, including the F.B.I., and then released, the spokesman, Thomas Topousis, said on Sunday."

New York Times: "A mysterious boom jolted New Hampshire and at least one adjoining state on Sunday morning, rattling homes, spooking pets and prompting several hundred amateur sleuths to go online to try to find out what possibly could have caused all the commotion." MB: Didn't hear the mysterious boom in my neck of the woods; we did have a boom here that jolted my neighbor and me a few weeks ago, but that was caused by a tree falling in the forest -- which, of course, we heard.

The Commentariat -- October 9, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "... as the national [Democratic] party starts to create a new calendar for the 2024 presidential nomination that could remove Iowa from its privileged [first-in-the-nation] position for the first time since 1972, when candidates started flocking to the state for an early jump on the race to the White House. The caucuses' reputation has been damaged by high barriers to participation, a dearth of racial diversity, the rightward drift in the state's electorate and a leftward drift in the Democratic participants. The state party's inability to count the results in 2020 only deepened dismay in the party.... '... Iowa is not representative of America,' [former DNC Chair Tom] Perez said Friday in an interview. 'We need a primary process that is reflective of today's demographics in the Democratic Party.'"

Jim Acosta & Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "Former Trump aide Dan Scavino has been served a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, bringing an end to the panel's struggle to physically locate him. A process server brought the subpoena to ... Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday, the source said. While Scavino was home in New York at the time, he asked a staff member to accept the subpoena on his behalf."

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Ordinarily staid and silent Supreme Court justices have become whirling dervishes of late, spinning madly to rebut the idea that Americans are beginning to regard the court as a dangerous cabal of partisan hacks.... Many of us have thought that for a long time.... The Least Dangerous Branch, as the court was once known, has become the Most Dangerous Branch.... And please, Justice Breyer, skedaddle. You're playing a dangerous game. You need to get out of there because it looks as if the midterms are going to be bad, and if the Democrats lose the Senate majority, there's no guarantee that Mitch McConnell will let any Biden nominee onto the court, even with two years left on the president's term."

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

Rebecca Robbins of the New York Times: "Moderna, whose coronavirus vaccine appears to be the world's best defense against Covid-19, has been supplying its shots almost exclusively to wealthy nations, keeping poorer countries waiting and earning billions in profit. After developing a breakthrough vaccine with the financial and scientific support of the U.S. government, Moderna has shipped a greater share of its doses to wealthy countries than any other vaccine manufacturer, according to Airfinity, a data firm that tracks vaccine shipments.... Of the handful of middle-income countries that have reached deals to buy Moderna's shots, most have not yet received any doses, and at least three have had to pay more than the United States or European Union did...."

California. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "The pipeline that spilled at least 126,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean off the California coast may have been damaged up to a year earlier, according to preliminary results of an ongoing investigation, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Officials have said the leak occurred three miles off the coast of Newport Beach, Calif., and involved a failure in a 17.5-mile pipeline connected to an offshore oil platform called Elly that is operated by Beta Offshore.... Investigators are 'fairly certain' that an anchor from a 'large vessel' struck the pipeline's concrete casing, and dragged the pipeline more than 100 feet from its original location...."

Afghanistan. Kathy Gannon of the AP: "The Taliban on Saturday ruled out cooperation with the United States to contain extremist groups in Afghanistan, staking out an uncompromising position on a key issue ahead of the first direct talks between the former foes since America withdrew from the country in August. Senior Taliban officials and U.S. representatives are to meet Saturday and Sunday in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Officials from both sides have said issues include reining in extremist groups and the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans from the country. The Taliban have signaled flexibility on evacuations. However, Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told The Associated Press there would be no cooperation with Washington on containing the increasingly active Islamic State group in Afghanistan."

~~~~~~~~~~

President Biden often talks about a 'foreign policy for the middle class.' Today, is what foreign policymaking for the middle class looks like in practice. -- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in a statement Friday ~~~

~~~ Alan Rappeport & Liz Alderman of the New York Times: "The world's most powerful nations agreed on Friday to a sweeping overhaul of international tax rules, with officials backing a 15 percent global minimum tax and other changes aimed at cracking down on tax havens that have drained countries of much-needed revenue. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which has been leading the negotiations, said the new minimum tax rate would apply to companies with annual revenue of more than 750 million euros ($866 million) and would generate around $150 billion in additional global tax revenue per year.... The agreement is the culmination of years of fraught negotiations that were revived this year after President Biden took office and renewed the United States' commitment to multilateralism. Finance ministers have been racing to finalize the agreement, which they hope will reverse a decades-long race to the bottom of corporate tax rates that have encouraged companies to shift profits to low-tax jurisdictions...."

Maegan Vazquez & Betsy Klein of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Friday attributed the disappointing September jobs report to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic but sought to frame the new data as steady progress toward the nation's economic recovery. In a speech at the White House, Biden pointed to the specific week when the survey for the monthly jobs report was done as one reason the number of jobs added in September fell below expectations. 'Today's report is based on a survey that was taken during the week of September 13. Not today, September the 13th -- when Covid cases were average more than 150,000 per day,' Biden said. 'Since then, we've seen the daily cases fall by more than one-third and they're continuing to trend down, and we're continuing to make progress.'" The full proclamation, via the White House, is here.

Zeke Miller & Ellen Knickmeyer of the AP: "President Joe Biden on Friday issued the first-ever presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples' Day, lending the most significant boost yet to efforts to refocus the federal holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus toward an appreciation of Native peoples. The day will be observed Oct. 11, along with Columbus Day, which is established by Congress. While Native Americans have campaigned for years for local and national days in recognition of the country's indigenous peoples, Biden's announcement appeared to catch many by surprise." (Also linked yesterday.)

David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden signed into law on Friday a new government program to compensate C.I.A. officers, State Department diplomats and other federal officials who have suffered traumatic neurological injuries that the intelligence community has yet to figure out, launched by assailants it cannot yet identify. With no ceremony and little public comment, Mr. Biden signed the Havana Act, authorizing Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and the C.I.A. director, William J. Burns, to give financial support to employees who have suffered brain injuries. The act is named for what has become known as 'Havana Syndrome,' a series of unexplained injuries whose victims were first identified five years ago at the United States Embassy in Cuba.... The president's signature came just as the episodes appear to be increasing in frequency and some have become more brazen.... Mr. Biden's silence about the new law ..." reflects the fact that so little is known about the cause of the illnesses and the identities of the perpetrators.

Mr. Biden Regrets He's Unable to Cover Your Ass. Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden rejected ... Donald Trump's request to block documents from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the White House said on Friday, likely setting up a legal and political battle. Trump has claimed executive privilege in seeking to evade the committee's demands for details about Trump and his aides' activities during the Jan. 6 attack. But in the letter to the National Archives and Records Administration, the White House said Biden 'determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States.' Trump responded with a letter of his own Friday that formally claimed executive privilege over about 50 documents requested by the select committee. At a White House briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden decision reflected the gravity of the attack.... Biden's decision on Friday came after former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon told the House committee that he cannot comply with the panel's sweeping request for documents and testimony. But the committee said two other Trump advisers -- former chief of staff Mark Meadows and national security aide Kash Patel -- are 'engaging with the committee.'..." The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to legal experts who have appeared on CNN & MSNBC, all Trump's claims to executive privilege, real and imagined, ended on January 20 at noon. Bannon, who hasn't even had an administration job since 2017 is, of course, full of it. And frankly, my dear, I think the DOJ is compelled to bring conspiracy charges against Trump and that self-aggrandizing twerp Jeffrey Clark, at the very least. Also too, I don't think executive privilege covers criminal acts. ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot threatened on Friday to pursue criminal charges against Stephen K. Bannon, the former chief strategist to ... Donald J. Trump, for refusing to comply with its subpoena, announcing it would consider initiating criminal contempt of Congress proceedings. In a statement after Mr. Bannon informed the panel that he would not cooperate in the inquiry, the panel's leaders [-- Reps. Bennie Thompson & Liz Cheney --] said they would 'swiftly consider' the contempt referral, raising the prospect of what could be a prolonged legal battle over what could be crucial evidence in the investigation." CNN's report is here. MB: Time to clear out the perhaps-mythical cell in the Capitol crypt and fit it with a cot & a bucket. (Also linked yesterday.)

Daniel Lippman & Betsy Swan of Politico: "A former high-ranking Capitol Police official with knowledge of the department's response to the Jan. 6 attack has sent congressional leaders a scathing letter accusing two of its senior leaders of mishandling intelligence and failing to respond properly during the riot. The whistleblower, who requested anonymity for privacy reasons and left the force months after the attack, sent the 16-page letter late last month to the top members of both parties in the House and Senate. His missive makes scorching allegations against Sean Gallagher, the Capitol Police's acting chief of uniformed operations, and Yogananda Pittman, its assistant chief of police for protective and intelligence operations -- who also served as its former acting chief. The whistleblower accuses Gallagher and Pittman of deliberately choosing not to help officers under attack on Jan. 6 and alleges that Pittman lied to Congress about an intelligence report Capitol Police received before that day's riot. After a lengthy career in the department, the whistleblower was a senior official on duty on Jan. 6.... Without naming specific lawmakers, his letter [also] accuses congressional leaders of having 'purposefully failed' to tell the truth about the department's failures."

Rachel Reads the News. Marie: Rachel Maddow did a great job Thursday of reading from the Democratic Senators' report on Trump's January 6 coup attempt. The full show is here, and it begins with the reading. However, I'm not sure you'll be able to access the link, since it may be specific to my IP address. If you cannot access it with that link and you get MSNBC through your ISP, link on the show's general page (here), then click on "Full Episodes," and follow the instructions from there. If neither of those works for you, there could be some pirated copies of the show on YouTube. Anyway, her reading is worth going to a little trouble to watch, as she gives you a very good sense of the report's findings & what they say about the administration's coup-plot participants. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post outlines all of Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, then tears into Senate Republicans' conclusion that since the coup failed, it was okay: "That [Vice President Pence didn't throw out slates of Electors] and that Trump gave up on replacing [Acting AG Jeffrey] Rosen and that the physical violence at the Capitol didn't derail the electoral-vote counting for long have all been elevated as reasons to shrug at Trump's efforts. He tried all these things and they didn't work, this line of argument goes, so why should we be concerned about their working in the future?... This argument has two critical flaws, though. The first is that it misunderstands Trump's intent. The second is that it underestimates the assistance he received....[Trump's] pre-Jan. 6 effort [arose from an] an incoherent strategy except that it was wide-ranging. This is what he always did.... His was a spaghetti-at-the-wall presidency; his was a spaghetti-at-the-wall coup.... But if you learned where the wall was weak, it was worth it."

Carlos Lozado of the Washington Post reviews a memoir by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) in which Schiff discusses the January 6 insurrection. In the book, Midnight in Washington, Schiff writes, "What took place inside our chamber, with the challenge to the electors, was every bit as much an attack on our democracy. We can reinforce the doors and put up fences. But we cannot guard our democracy against those who walk the halls of Congress, have taken an oath to uphold our Constitution, but refuse to do so." "In effect, there were two insurrections, not one, Schiff argues, and he is more interested in the insurrectionists wearing suits and ties than in the shirtless ones in buffalo horns."

Even When Trump Uses Corrupt Practices to Prop up His Businesses, He Fails. Jonathan O'Connell & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's luxury Washington hotel lost more than $70 million while he was in office despite reaping millions in payments from foreign governments, according to federal documents released by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Friday. The committee, chaired by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), released hundreds of pages of financial documents on the property Friday that it received from the General Services Administration, the agency that leased the federally owned property to Trump's company beginning in 2013. Maloney and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) allege the documents show that Trump received an estimated $3.7 million from foreign governments and received preferential treatment from Deutsche Bank when the bank allowed Trump to defer payments for six years on the principal of the property's $170 million loan. The findings 'raise new and troubling questions about former President Trump's lease with GSA and the agency's ability to manage the former President's conflicts of interest during his term in office when he was effectively on both sides of the contract, as landlord and tenant,' the two Democrats said in a news release." The AP's story is here. MB: Worst U.S. President*, Failed Businessman, Horrible Human Being. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Donald Trump hid losses of more than $70m at his eponymous Washington DC hotel while he was in the White House, House Democrats said on Friday.... According to the House committee [on oversight]: 'On his federally mandated financial disclosures, President Trump reported that the Trump Hotel earned him over $150m in revenue during his time in office. However, the records obtained by the committee show that the Trump Hotel actually incurred net losses of over $70m, leading the former president's holding company to inject at least $24m to aid the struggling hotel. By filing these misleading public disclosures, President Trump grossly exaggerated the financial health of the Trump Hotel. He also appears to have concealed potential conflicts of interest stemming not just from his ownership of this failing business but also from his roles as the hotel's lender and the guarantor of its third-party loans.' The committee said that in 2018 Trump received preferential treatment from Deutsche Bank, which allowed him to delay payments on a $170m loan." (Also linked yesterday.)

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: When Donald Trump first became President*, his staff issued hollow denials of reports that he had made cruel, racist remarks. "Now, he just goes on Fox News and says it. 'You know,' he said to the network's Sean Hannity on Thursday night, 'there's one other thing that nobody talks about. So we have hundreds of thousands of people flowing in from Haiti. Haiti has a tremendous AIDS problem.... Many of those people will probably have AIDS, and they're coming into our country. And we don't do anything about it. We let everybody come in. Sean, it's like a death wish. It's like a death wish for our country.'... There is no flood of migrants from Haiti entering the country unchecked, healthy or not."

Andrew Desiderio & Lara Seligman of Politico: "The U.S. government's investigation into the mysterious illnesses impacting American personnel overseas and at home is turning up new evidence that the symptoms are the result of directed-energy attacks, according to five lawmakers and officials briefed on the matter. Behind closed doors, lawmakers are also growing increasingly confident that Russia or another hostile foreign government is behind the suspected attacks, based on regular briefings from administration officials -- although there is still no smoking gun linking the incidents to Moscow. The National Security Council has recently been convening more frequent high-level meetings on the topic, according to a current and a former official with direct knowledge -- a sign that the government's review is accelerating." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If compelling evidence emerges, the perps should be marched off to the Hague. This is torture.

A Day After Sheathing His Sabre, Mitch Pulls It Out & Starts Rattling. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "A day after dropping his party's blockade and allowing action to temporarily increase the federal debt ceiling, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, warned President Biden on Friday that he had no intention of doing so again, reviving the threat of a first-ever federal default in December. In a phone call with Mr. Biden, Mr. McConnell, who toiled to corral the votes needed to break his own party's filibuster against the debt limit increase -- and voted himself to do so -- said Democrats should not expect such help in the future...." The Hill's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Karoli Kuns of Crooks & Liars: "According to Beltway media and cable yakkers, Republicans have hurt fee-fees because Chuck Schumer didn't politely look the other way when they broke their own filibuster in order to raise the debt ceiling ... and keep the nation from economic ruin..., as they should have done without a filibuster in the first place." Read Kuns' report and you'll realize anew that as long as the GOP exists, and no matter how many crooks and liars are its stars, Beltway reporters will wallow in both-siderisms.

Looks as if Fossil-Fuel Donors Got to Sinema. Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who began her political career with the Green Party and who has voiced alarm over the warming planet, wants to cut at least $100 billion from climate programs in major legislation pending on Capitol Hill, according to two people.... Last month, Ms. Sinema told The Arizona Republic, 'We know that a changing climate costs Arizonans. And right now, we have the opportunity to pass smart policies to address it -- looking forward to that.'... A spokesman for Ms. Sinema, John LaBombard, forcefully denied that Ms. Sinema requested the cuts." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sinema may have a reputation for being very smart, but what this report shows is that she is in way over her head. I think her refusal to talk to reporters is a reflection of that; silence is her only defense against public revelations that she is lost or duplicitous.

When the Ordinary Privileges of Wealth Are Not Enough. Alanna Richer of the AP: "Two wealthy parents were convicted Friday of buying their kids' way into school as athletic recruits in the first case to go to trial in the college admissions cheating scandal that embroiled prestigious universities across the country. Gamal Abdelaziz, a former casino executive, and John Wilson, a former Staples Inc. executive, were found guilty after about 10 hours of deliberations in the case that exposed a scheme to get undeserving applicants into college by falsely portraying them as star athletes." (Also linked yesterday.)

Debbie Cenziper, et al., of the Washington Post: "The U.S. government has long condemned prominent offshore financial centers, where liberal rules and guarantees of discretion have drawn oligarchs, business tycoons and politicians. But a burgeoning American trust industry is increasingly sheltering the assets of international millionaires and billionaires by promising levels of protection and secrecy that rival or surpass those offered in overseas tax havens. That shield, which is near-absolute, has insulated the industry from meaningful oversight and allowed it to forge new footholds in U.S. states.... [Investigators combing the 'Pandora Papers'] identified 206 U.S.-based trusts linked to 41 countries. Nearly 30 of the trusts held assets connected to people or companies accused of fraud, bribery or human rights abuses in some of the world's most vulnerable communities.... The trust documents come mostly from the Sioux Falls office of Trident Trust.... Other states competing to lure wealth include Alaska, Delaware, Nevada and New Hampshire.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Beyond the Beltway

North Carolina Congressional Race. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post (October 5): "At the beginning of a campaign ad announcing his candidacy for Congress, North Carolina state Rep. Charles Graham reflects on the divisions the country faces today -- but also those of decades ago, when the Ku Klux Klan sought to terrorize his home county.... The campaign video had drawn more than 3.4 million views on Twitter as of Tuesday afternoon." MB: Five million by Friday, according to MSNBC. ~~~

North Carolina. Danielle Battaglia & Brian Murphy of the Raleigh News & Observer: "The Biden White House condemned on Friday North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's comments calling transgenderism and homosexuality 'filth.' 'These words are repugnant and offensive,' said Andrew Bates, White House deputy press secretary and a native of North Carolina, in a statement. 'The role of a leader is to bring people together and stand up for the dignity and rights of everyone; not to spread hate and undermine their own office.' Robinson, the state's highest-ranking Republican, made the comments in June at Asbury Baptist Church in Seagrove. Part of the speech was posted Tuesday at Right Wing Watch's Twitter account, prompting an outpouring of criticism."

** Texas. Paul Weber of the AP: "A federal appeals court Friday night allowed Texas to temporarily resume banning most abortions, just one day after clinics across the state began rushing to serve patients again for the first time since early September. Abortion providers in Texas had been bracing for the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals to act quickly, even as they booked new appointments and reopened their doors during a brief reprieve from the law known as Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks." The Washington Post's story is here.

Virginia. Graham Moomaw of the Virginia Mercury: "The Virginia Redistricting Commission's first-ever attempt to draw fair political maps collapsed in spectacular fashion Friday, when frustrated Democrats walked out of a meeting after Republicans rebuffed their suggestions for reaching a compromise. The commission, which has been holding regular meetings for more than a month, never came close to reaching an agreement on final General Assembly maps. Partisanship dominated the process from the start, with the commission hiring two teams of overtly partisan consultants and repeatedly failing to agree on how to merge two sets of maps. The process now appears headed to the Supreme Court of Virginia...."

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. Samya Kullab & Tameem Akhgar of the AP: "An Islamic State suicide bomber struck at a mosque packed with Shiite Muslim worshippers in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 46 people and wounding dozens in the latest security challenge to the Taliban as they transition from insurgency to governance. In its claim of responsibility, the region's IS affiliate identified the bomber as a Uygher Muslim, saying the attack targeted both Shiites and the Taliban for their purported willingness to expel Uyghers to meet demands from China. The statement was carried by the IS-linked Aamaq news agency. The blast tore through a crowded mosque in the city of Kunduz during Friday noon prayers...." (Also linked yesterday.)