The Commentariat -- September 15, 2021

Late Morning Update:

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "The [California] recall does offer at least one lesson to Democrats in Washington ahead of next year's midterm elections: The party's pre-existing blue- and purple-state strategy of portraying Republicans as Trump-loving extremists can still prove effective with the former president out of office, at least when the strategy is executed with unrelenting discipline, an avalanche of money and an opponent who plays to type.... For Republicans eying [President] Biden's falling approval ratings and growing hopeful about their 2022 prospects, the failed recall is less an ominous portent than a cautionary reminder about what happens when they put forward candidates who are easy prey for the opposition." ~~~

~~~ Eric Bradner & Dan Merica of CNN: "California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered a decisive answer to the question of whether voters would penalize those who enacted strict policies aimed at slowing the coronavirus pandemic.... Republicans sought a replay of 2003, when actor Arnold Schwarzenegger attracted support across ideological lines and voters decided to boot then-Gov. Gray Davis. This time, though, the party's leading candidate, talk radio host Larry Elder, stuck much closer to conservative orthodoxy -- making it difficult to attract the sort of broad bipartisan support that it takes for a GOP candidate to win in deep-blue California.... Here are five takeaways from California's recall election[.]" ~~~

~~~ Marie: It might be worth bearing in mind that Californians know Gavin Newsom is a jerk. I mean, he married Kimberly Guilfoyle, (Don Jr. loud-mouthed girlfriend) then cheated on her with the wife of his campaign manager. But they also know Gavin is no Larry Elder.

Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "The FBI director, Chris Wray, is facing new scrutiny of the bureau's handling of its 2018 background investigation of Brett Kavanaugh, including its claim that the FBI lacked the authority to conduct a further investigation into the then supreme court nominee. At the heart of the new questions that Wray will face later this week, when he testifies before the Senate judiciary committee, is a 2010 Memorandum of Understanding that the FBI has recently said constrained the agency's ability to conduct any further investigations of allegations of misconduct. It is not clear whether that claim is accurate, based on a close reading of the MOU, which was released in court records following a Freedom of Information Act request. The FBI was called to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation process in 2018, after he was accused of assault by Christine Blasey Ford.... The FBI closed its extended background check of Kavanaugh after four days and did not interview either Blasey Ford or Kavanaugh. The FBI also disclosed to the Senate this June -- two years after questions were initially asked -- that it had received 4,500 tips from the public during the background check and that it had shared all 'relevant tips' with the White House counsel at that time. It is not clear whether those tips were ever investigated."

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

~~~~~~~~~~

It appears that we are enjoying an overwhelmingly 'no' vote tonight here in the state of California, but 'no' is not the only thing that was expressed tonight. We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. We said yes to ending this pandemic. We said yes to people's right to vote without fear of fake fraud and voter suppression. We said yes to women's fundamental constitutional right to decide for herself what she does with her body, her faith, her future. We said yes to diversity. -- Gavin Newsom, to reporters, late Tuesday ~~~

~~~ Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: "A Republican-led bid to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom of California ended in defeat late Tuesday.... The vote spoke to the power liberal voters wield in California.... But it also reflected the state's recent progress against the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 67,000 lives in California. The state has one of the nation's highest vaccination rates and one of its lowest rates of new virus cases -- which the governor tirelessly argued to voters were the results of his vaccine and mask requirements.... The Associated Press called the race for Mr. Newsom, who had won in a 62 percent landslide in 2018, less than an hour after the polls closed on Tuesday. About 66 percent of the eight million ballots counted by 10 p.m. Pacific time said the governor should stay in office.... Considered a bellwether for the 2022 midterm elections, the recall outcome came as a relief to Democrats nationally." The AP' story is here. ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post is running a tally of the vote. At 5 am ET, more than 64% of voters voted no on the recall, and almost 36% voted yes. The tally also appears on the Post's front page at this time.

~~~ Thomas Fuller, et al., of the New York Times: "In a state famous for its acts of direct democracy..., detractors of this year's special election say the recall process is democracy gone off the rails, a distraction from crises that require the government's attention, and a waste of hundreds of millions of dollars.... Many voters who went to the polls on Tuesday said the election was an unwelcome distraction that preoccupied Mr. Newsom.... The election, which is costing the state $276 million to administer, has at times had a circus atmosphere to it, not least when one of the 46 candidates on the ballot brought a large bear to a campaign rally. No one in the state's Democratic leadership is suggesting the elimination of recalls, which are baked into the State Constitution. But many are vowing to make it more difficult for them to qualify for the ballot, or to change the rules on how a successor is chosen.... It will take a referendum to decide whether to change this particular referendum.... Critics of the recall process say it is fundamentally antidemocratic. With a simple majority, voters could recall Mr. Newsom, who was well ahead in the polls in the final days of campaigning. But his replacement would be chosen by plurality." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It isn't just that the recall is anti-democratic, as the article well explains, but it is also a useful tool for Republicans in a majority-Democratic state. For statewide offices, recalls are about the only way a Republican can win an election (unless she's a popular celebrity). ~~~

     ~~~ A related KGO (San Francisco) story is here.

** Milley, Pelosi Agreed Trump Was Crazy. Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "Two days after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol..., Donald Trump's top military adviser, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, single-handedly took top-secret action to limit Trump from potentially ordering a dangerous military strike or launching nuclear weapons, according to 'Peril,' a new book by legendary journalist Bob Woodward and veteran Washington Post reporter Robert Costa. Woodward and Costa write that Milley, deeply shaken by the assault, 'was certain that Trump had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election, with Trump now all but manic, screaming at officials and constructing his own alternate reality about endless election conspiracies.' Milley worried that Trump could 'go rogue,' the authors write.... In response, Milley took extraordinary action, and called a secret meeting in his Pentagon office on January 8 to review the process for military action, including launching nuclear weapons.... Milley's fear that Trump could do something unpredictable came from experience. Right after Trump lost the election, Milley discovered the President [secretly] had signed a military order to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by January 15, 2021, before he left the White House." Read on. Whodathunk, for instance, that Dan Quayle would save the day? (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. The Washington Post's story, by Isaac Stanley-Becker, is here: "Twice in the final months of the Trump administration, the country's top military officer was so fearful that the president's actions might spark a war with China that he moved urgently to avert armed conflict. In a pair of secret phone calls, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assured his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People's Liberation Army, that the United States would not strike, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward and national political reporter Robert Costa." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times story by Michael Schmidt is here: "... the book details how Mr. Trump's presidency essentially collapsed in his final months in office, particularly after his election loss and the start of his campaign to deny the results. Top aides -- including General Milley, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Attorney General William P. Barr -- became convinced that they needed to take drastic measures to stop him from trampling on American democracy or setting off an international conflict, and General Milley thought that Mr. Trump had declined mentally in the aftermath of the election, according to the book." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "In their new book 'Peril,' Bob Woodward and Robert Costa document how top Republicans struggled to manage Donald Trump's exit from the White House while also trying to convince him to help the party down the road. Filled with scenes of backbiting, temper tantrums, and expletive-filled phone calls, the book depicts a GOP in chaos, desperately trying to preserve its relationship with Trump." ~~~

~~~ ** Pence Is No Hero. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Ever since Mike Pence announced on Jan. 6 that he lacked power to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election in Congress, it's been widely suggested that the vice president was one of the few heroes in this ugly tale. But new revelations in the forthcoming book by Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa cast doubt on this account. And the new details also hint at lines of inquiry about Jan. 6 that will shape aspects of the House select committee's examination of those events." ~~~

~~~ Steve M.: "I think [Trump] was unlikely to drop a bomb on a foreign enemy under the circumstances -- one important reason being that the people he truly hates are his domestic enemies.... General Milley's efforts to prevent the president from doing something rash and irreversible seem understandable (and reminiscent of the last days of Nixon) -- but to your right-wing relatives, what Woodward and Costa are reporting just confirms everything they've suspected throughout Trump's time in politics: that a globalist Deep State exists, that it spent the years of Trump's presidency seeking to thwart everything he tried to do, and that this cabal cares more about China than it does about America. Marco Rubio has already called on President Biden to fire General Milley, but that's mild compare to what's coming...."

Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "Senior advisers in the Trump administration in February 2020 privately discussed the government's 'critical mistakes' in preparing for the coronavirus, countering optimistic claims ... Donald Trump made in public, according to emails obtained by the House select subcommittee on the pandemic. 'In truth we do not have a clue how many are infected in the USA. We are expecting the first wave to spread in the US within the next 7 days,' adviser Steven Hatfill wrote to Peter Navarro, the president's trade director, on Feb. 29, 2020.... After receiving Hatfill's message -- accompanied by an admonishment that 'from now on, the Government must be honest' -- Navarro privately warned Trump in a March 1, 2020, memo that the federal response was 'NOT fast enough' and that a 'very serious public health emergency' was looming. Trump continued to downplay the virus's risks in public, assuring Americans the pandemic was being contained and that his government was being "totally proactive" in its response.'"

Brady Dennis, et al., of the Washington Post: "The United States and Europe will launch an international push to reduce global methane emissions by nearly a third by 2030, as part of a broader effort to more aggressively combat climate change, according to people familiar with the plan and a planning document provided to The Washington Post. U.S. and European Union officials plan to ask other key nations to sign on to the Global Methane Pledge as soon as this Friday, when President Biden and leaders of major economies gather for a virtual, closed-door meeting on climate and energy issues."

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "An FBI agent accused of failing to properly investigate former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar -- and lying about it later -- has been fired by the FBI, days before a high-stakes public hearing into the bureau's flawed investigation of the child sex-abuse case involving Simone Biles and other world-famous gymnasts. Michael Langeman, who as a supervisory special agent in the FBI's Indianapolis office interviewed gymnast McKayla Maroney in 2015 about her alleged abuse at the hands of Nassar, lost his job last week, two people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.... A July report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz harshly criticized Langeman -- without naming him -- as well as his former boss, Jay Abbott, for their handling of the Nassar case.... FBI firings are relatively rare; most investigators facing serious discipline choose to retire or resign before they can be terminated."

Manu Raju of CNN: "Senate Democrats are proposing new legislation to overhaul voting laws after months of discussions to get all 50 of their members behind a single bill, allowing their caucus to speak with one voice on the issue even though it stands virtually no chance of becoming law.... The new proposal will almost certainly fall well short of the 60 votes needed to break a GOP-led filibuster. Plus Democrats lack the votes to change the rules and weaken the filibuster as many in their party want them to do, meaning the plan is expected to stall when the Senate casts a procedural vote on the matter next week. The proposal, which will be introduced by Senate Rules Chair Amy Klobuchar, also has the endorsement of Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who had been the lone member of his caucus to oppose his party's more sweeping overhaul -- known as the For the People Act -- which passed the House earlier this year." The Washington Post's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "On Tuesday...., Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, used a hearing intended for sworn testimony from the secretary of state on the Afghanistan withdrawal to allege that President Biden is mentally incompetent. Risch first devoted his opening statement to continuing the long-running Republican narrative. 'We know for a fact the president of the United States is somewhat disadvantaged here in that someone is calling the shots. He can't even speak without someone in the White House censoring it or signing off on it,' the senator claimed. 'As recently as yesterday, in mid-sentence, he was cut off by someone in the White House who makes the decision that the president of the United States is not speaking correctly.... This is a puppeteer act.' Then, as the first Republican questioner, Risch used his time to elaborate on the slander.... [Secretary of State Antony] Blinken chuckled as he replied that the loose-lipped Biden 'speaks very clearly and very deliberately for himself.'" Risch continued in this vein. "The episode is worth unpacking because it shows, in miniature, how misinformation infects the Republican Party, rapidly spreads through partisan media and contaminates elected GOP leaders -- who amplify and defend the falsehood, even when it's shown to be wrong." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Risch's lie is ludicrous, and he has to know it. He based it on a report that staff cut off President Biden during a reporters' pool spray. At nearly every presidential pool spray in recent American history, staff cut off the Q&A after a predetermined period of time. The president or president* may want to continue the back-and-forth, or he at least wants to appear to be happy to answer questions, so staff are assigned to play their part by cutting short the session. Risch's own staff probably has done the same for him. As a supporter of a president* who actually was/is mentally unstable, Risch is trying to project Trump's mental deficiencies onto a Democratic president. ~~~

~~~ Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post's fact-checker, dives into the particulars and gives Risch (and the RNC, which initiated the fake story), four Pinocchios for their "bogus claim."

Zachary Cohen of CNN: "A few months before rioters stormed the US Capitol, the Department of Homeland Security restricted the flow of open-source intelligence reports about 'election-related threats' to law enforcement, citing First Amendment concerns, according to documents reviewed by CNN. The revelations not only add to a growing concerns about intelligence gathering, but they also raise questions about a key staffer on the committee investigating the insurrection and his previous role in determining how threat information that came from public sources, was shared with law enforcement prior to the Capitol attack. Joseph Maher, who changed the protocols around disseminating open-source information as head of DHS' intelligence arm, is now on the staff of the House Select Committee on January 6." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "You can draw a straight line from the 'war on terror' to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, from the state of exception that gave us mass surveillance, indefinite detention, extraordinary rendition and 'enhanced interrogation' to the insurrectionist conviction that the only way to save America is to subvert it.... It is with all of this in mind that I found it galling to watch George W. Bush speak on Saturday.... In Shanksville, Pa..., Bush voiced his dismay at the stark polarization and rigid partisanship of modern American politics.... Bush spoke as if he were just an observer.... But ... Bush was an active participant in the politics he now bemoans.... Bush was noteworthy for the partisanship of his White House and the ruthlessness of his political tactics, for using the politics of fear to pound his opponents into submission.... His critique of the Trump movement is not wrong, but it is fatally undermined by his own conduct in office." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mark Mazzetti & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "Three former American intelligence officers hired by the United Arab Emirates to carry out sophisticated cyberoperations admitted to hacking crimes and to violating U.S. export laws that restrict the transfer of military technology to foreig governments, according to court documents made public on Tuesday. The documents detail a conspiracy by the three men to furnish the Emirates with advanced technology and to assist Emirati intelligence operatives in breaches aimed at damaging the perceived enemies of the small but powerful Persian Gulf nation. The men helped the Emirates, a close American ally, gain unauthorized access to 'acquire data from computers, electronic devices and servers around the world, including on computers and servers in the United States,' prosecutors said. The three men worked for DarkMatter, a company that is effectively an arm of the Emirati government. They are part of a trend of former American intelligence officers accepting lucrative jobs from foreign governments...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't understand why these guys weren't charged with treason, but they weren't. To use skills learned in the employment of the U.S. government against that government looks like treason to me. I would welcome the advice of anybody who wants to explain me out of my perception.

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The Justice Department asked a federal judge late Tuesday to issue an order that would prevent Texas from enacting a law that prohibits nearly all abortions, ratcheting up a fight between the Biden administration and the state's Republican leaders. The Justice Department argued in its emergency motion that the state adopted the law, known as Senate Bill 8, 'to prevent women from exercising their constitutional rights,' reiterating an argument the department made last week when it sued Texas to prohibit enforcement of the contentious new legislation. 'It is settled constitutional law that "a state may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability,"' the department said in the lawsuit. 'But Texas has done just that.'"

How Amy ... Might Know She's a Political Hack. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "Justice Amy Coney Barrett's recent remarks in Louisville, alongside Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the architect of the frantic rush to put her on the Supreme Court in 2020 even as people were voting in the presidential election, set off gales of laughter, much eye-rolling and a new appreciation for the necessity of term limits for justices.... Are we really to believe that the conservative justices who held up the former president's anti-Muslim travel ban, who knocked down an extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, who undercut unions' ability to organize, who repeatedly tried to overturn the Affordable Care Act and who adhered to a disingenuous if not tortured reading of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act just coincidentally stumbled onto positions supported by the right-wing promoters of their nominations and confirmations?... When the highest court is now a forum for raw exercise of political power, a president's picks should not be empowered to serve for decades." (Also linked yesterday.)

Heather Long & Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "U.S. poverty fell overall in 2020, a surprising decline that is largely a result of the swift and large federal aid that Congress enacted at the start of the pandemic to try to prevent widespread financial hardship as the nation experienced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The U.S. Census reported that the official poverty rate rose slightly in 2020 to 11.4 percent, up from a record low 10.5 percent in 2019, but that figure mostly reflects cash payments to Americans. After accounting for all the government aid payments, the so-called supplemental poverty measure declined to 9.1 percent in 2020 from 11.8 percent in 2019. The decline in the poverty rate means that millions of Americans were lifted out of severe financial hardship last year, the U.S. Census said. Poverty is defined as having an income of less than $26,200 a year for a family of four." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here.

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. (Also linked yesterday.)

Charlie Smart of the New York Times: "Hospitals in the southern United States are running dangerously low on space in intensive care units, as the Delta variant has led to spikes in coronavirus cases not seen since last year's deadly winter wave. One in four hospitals now reports more than 95 percent of I.C.U. beds occupied -- up from one in five last month. Experts say it can become difficult to maintain standards of care for the sickest patients in hospitals where all or nearly all I.C.U. beds are occupied."

New Hampshire. Reid Wilson of the Hill: "A New Hampshire state representative said Tuesday he had formally left the Republican Party in protest of what he said was an emerging strain of anti-vaccination rhetoric coming from state House leaders. State Rep. William Marsh, an ophthalmologist who has won election to four terms in the state House, said he had met with the town clerk of Brookfield to change his registration to affiliate with Democrats. 'I have come to realize a majority of Republicans, both locally and in the NH House, hold values which no longer reflect traditional Republican values...,' Marsh wrote in a press release. He said he had been content to ride out the rest of his term without attracting any attention until state Republican leaders held a rally Tuesday in opposition to President Biden's vaccine mandates for federal and private sector workers." MB: It sure takes a lot for some Republicans to "come to realize" this ain't your father's GOP.

Beyond the Beltway

South Carolina. The Murdaugh Saga, Ctd. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Alex Murdaugh, the prominent South Carolina lawyer whose wife and son were shot and killed in June, asked a former client to kill him this month so his other son could collect a $10 million insurance payment but survived being shot in the head, the police said on Tuesday night. It was the latest startling twist in a series of mysteries that have brought intense scrutiny to the Murdaugh family and the rural slice of South Carolina where their family has held sway for more than a century, though the central question of who killed Mr. Murdaugh's wife and son remains unsolved. The former client, Curtis Edward Smith, 61, of Walterboro, S.C., was arrested and charged with assisted suicide, aggravated assault and battery, and insurance fraud in connection with the shooting on Sept. 4, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said. The state police agency said that Mr. Murdaugh, 53, had admitted to the scheme on Monday and that Mr. Smith had admitted to being at the scene and getting rid of the gun."

Way Beyond

Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "Pope Francis on Tuesday rejected in stark terms the use of the cross as a political tool, an apparent swipe at nationalist forces in Europe and beyond that have used the imagery of Christianity for personal gain.... 'The cross is not a flag to wave, but the pure source of a new way of living,' Francis said, adding that a Christian 'views no one as an enemy, but everyone as a brother or sister.'"

Denmark-ish. This Is Horrifying. Let Them Eat Kelp. Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: "The slaughter of nearly 1,500 dolphins in the remote Faroe Islands has revived a debate about a centuries-old tradition that environmentalists condemn as cruel. The pod of white-sided dolphins was driven into the largest fjord in the North Atlantic territory by hunters in speed boats and on Jet Skis on Sunday, where they were corralled into shallow waters and killed. Many locals defend the hunt as an important local custom, with meat and blubber shared by the local community of the semi-independent Danish territory, which is located halfway between Scotland and Iceland. But the size of this year's hunt -- which conservationists estimate is the largest in Faroese history, and possibly the largest single-day hunt ever worldwide -- may be too much to feed the rocky archipelago's population of around 50,000 people."

Germany. Loveday Morris of the Washington Post: "After a decade and a half, the era of German Chancellor Angela Merkel is coming to an end. Having chosen not to run in national elections this month, she will become the country's first premier to leave power of her own volition. If negotiations to form a new government drag on after the Sept. 26 vote, she could overtake Helmut Kohl as modern Germany's longest-serving leader.... Her admirers have hailed her as everything from the leader of the free world to a contemporary Joan of Arc -- grand portrayals she has always spurned.... President Barack Obama, among her most enduring advocates, described her as an outstanding global political leader. But she leaves a complicated legacy. Some applaud her humble, consensus-driven political style. Others see a lack of bold leadership, particularly in the face of a more aggressive Russia and rising Chinese power. In 2015, she opened the door to more than 1 million refugees, mostly from war-battered Syria. But Merkel's watch has also seen a surge in nationalist sentiment that has propelled the far right into parliament. While dubbed the 'climate chancellor' for her environmental promises, she leaves office with Germany the world's biggest producer of air-choking brown coal." (Also linked yesterday.)

Haiti. Maria Abi-Habib & Anatoly Kurmanaev of the New York Times: "Haiti's chief prosecutor said on Tuesday that there was evidence linking the acting prime minister to the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, and prohibited him from leaving the country until he answers questions about it. Last week, the prosecutor issued a police summons for the prime minister, Ariel Henry, requesting that he testify about contact he had with one of the chief suspects in the killing. Phone records show that Mr. Henry spoke with the suspect -- Joseph Badio, a former intelligence official -- in the hours after Mr. Moïse was killed in July in his home in Port-au-Prince, the capital."

North Korea. Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "North Korea fired two ballistic missiles off its east coast Wednesday, just two days after it announced a test of a new long-range cruise missile, in what is likely a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The projectiles were identified as short-range ballistic missiles by the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff. If confirmed, it would be the first such test since March. North Korea's back-to-back weapons tests come amid stalled nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington and puts renewed pressure on the Biden administration's efforts to end North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile program."

News Lede:

New York Times: "Norm Macdonald, the acerbic, sometimes controversial comedian familiar to millions as the 'Weekend Update' anchor on 'Saturday Night Live' from 1994 to 1998, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 61." ~~~

~~~ And do watch Norm tell the story where "a moth walks into a podiatrist's office," which is embedded in the NYT obituary. (It's here, too.) MB: Norm was an original in a genre where almost everything has been done. ~~~

~~~ Remember how Trump often claimed he had invented the term "fake news"? From the Washington Post's obituary of Norm Macdonald: "Mr. Macdonald often introduced 'Weekend Update' by saying, 'Now for the fake news.'... He was one of the first comedians on SNL to joke about Donald Trump, then a publicity-seeking real estate developer in New York. When Trump's second marriage to Marla Maples was breaking up, Mr. Macdonald joked, 'According to Trump, Maples violated part of their marriage agreement when she decided to turn 30.'" Norm's story about meeting Trump during a break in Jimmy Fallon's show seems to be true.

The Commentariat -- September 14, 2021

It's recall election day in California.

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

** Milley, Pelosi Agreed Trump Was Crazy. Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "Two days after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol..., Donald Trump's top military adviser, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, single-handedly took top-secret action to limit Trump from potentially ordering a dangerous military strike or launching nuclear weapons, according to 'Peril,' a new book by legendary journalist Bob Woodward and veteran Washington Post reporter Robert Costa. Woodward and Costa write that Milley, deeply shaken by the assault, 'was certain that Trump had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election, with Trump now all but manic, screaming at officials and constructing his own alternate reality about endless election conspiracies.' Milley worried that Trump could 'go rogue,' the authors write.... In response, Milley took extraordinary action, and called a secret meeting in his Pentagon office on January 8 to review the process for military action, including launching nuclear weapons.... Milley's fear that Trump could do something unpredictable came from experience. Right after Trump lost the election, Milley discovered the President [secretly] had signed a military order to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by January 15, 2021, before he left the White House." Read on. Whodathunk that Dan Quayle would save the day? ~~~

     ~~~ Update. The Washington Post's story, by Isaac Stanley-Becker, is here: "Twice in the final months of the Trump administration, the country's top military officer was so fearful that the president's actions might spark a war with China that he moved urgently to avert armed conflict. In a pair of secret phone calls, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assured his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People's Liberation Army, that the United States would not strike, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward and national political reporter Robert Costa." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times story, by Michael Schmidt, is here: "... the book details how Mr. Trump's presidency essentially collapsed in his final months in office, particularly after his election loss and the start of his campaign to deny the results. Top aides -- including General Milley, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Attorney General William P. Barr -- became convinced that they needed to take drastic measures to stop him from trampling on American democracy or setting off an international conflict, and General Milley thought that Mr. Trump had declined mentally in the aftermath of the election, according to the book."

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.

Manu Raju of CNN: "Senate Democrats are proposing new legislation to overhaul voting laws after months of discussions to get all 50 of their members behind a single bill, allowing their caucus to speak with one voice on the issue even though it stands virtually no chance of becoming law.... The new proposal will almost certainly fall well short of the 60 votes needed to break a GOP-led filibuster. Plus Democrats lack the votes to change the rules and weaken the filibuster as many in their party want them to do, meaning the plan is expected to stall when the Senate casts a procedural vote on the matter next week. The proposal, which will be introduced by Senate Rules Chair Amy Klobuchar, also has the endorsement of Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who had been the lone member of his caucus to oppose his party's more sweeping overhaul -- known as the For the People Act -- which passed the House earlier this year." The Washington Post's story is here.

Zachary Cohen of CNN: "A few months before rioters stormed the US Capitol, the Department of Homeland Security restricted the flow of open-source intelligence reports about 'election-related threats' to law enforcement, citing First Amendment concerns, according to documents reviewed by CNN. The revelations not only add to a growing concerns about intelligence gathering, but they also raise questions about a key staffer on the committee investigating the insurrection and his previous role in determining how threat information that came from public sources, was shared with law enforcement prior to the Capitol attack. Joseph Maher, who changed the protocols around disseminating open-source information as head of DHS' intelligence arm, is now on the staff of the House Select Committee on January 6."

Heather Long & Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "U.S. poverty fell overall in 2020, a surprising decline that is largely a result of the swift and large federal aid that Congress enacted at the start of the pandemic to try to prevent widespread financial hardship as the nation experienced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The U.S. Census reported that the official poverty rate rose slightly in 2020 to 11.4 percent, up from a record low 10.5 percent in 2019, but that figure mostly reflects cash payments to Americans. After accounting for all the government aid payments, the so-called supplemental poverty measure declined to 9.1 percent in 2020 from 11.8 percent in 2019. The decline in the poverty rate means that millions of Americans were lifted out of severe financial hardship last year, the U.S. Census said. Poverty is defined as having an income of less than $26,200 a year for a family of four."

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "You can draw a straight line from the 'war on terror' to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, from the state of exception that gave us mass surveillance, indefinite detention, extraordinary rendition and 'enhanced interrogation' to the insurrectionist conviction that the only way to save America is to subvert it.... It is with all of this in mind that I found it galling to watch George W. Bush speak on Saturday.... In Shanksville, Pa..., Bush voiced his dismay at the stark polarization and rigid partisanship of modern American politics.... Bush spoke as if he were just an observer.... But ... Bush was an active participant in the politics he now bemoans.... Bush was noteworthy for the partisanship of his White House and the ruthlessness of his political tactics, for using the politics of fear to pound his opponents into submission.... His critique of the Trump movement is not wrong, but it is fatally undermined by his own conduct in office."

How Amy ... Might Know She's a Political Hack. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "Justice Amy Coney Barrett's recent remarks in Louisville, alongside Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the architect of the frantic rush to put her on the Supreme Court in 2020 even as people were voting in the presidential election, set off gales of laughter, much eye-rolling and a new appreciation for the necessity of term limits for justices.... Are we really to believe that the conservative justices who held up the former president's anti-Muslim travel ban, who knocked down an extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, who undercut unions' ability to organize, who repeatedly tried to overturn the Affordable Care Act and who adhered to a disingenuous if not tortured reading of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act just coincidentally stumbled onto positions supported by the right-wing promoters of their nominations and confirmations?... When the highest court is now a forum for raw exercise of political power, a president's picks should not be empowered to serve for decades."

Germany. Loveday Morris of the Washington Post: "After a decade and a half, the era of German Chancellor Angela Merkel is coming to an end. Having chosen not to run in national elections this month, she will become the country's first premier to leave power of her own volition. If negotiations to form a new government drag on after the Sept. 26 vote, she could overtake Helmut Kohl as modern Germany's longest-serving leader.... Her admirers have hailed her as everything from the leader of the free world to a contemporary Joan of Arc -- grand portrayals she has always spurned.... President Barack Obama, among her most enduring advocates, described her as an outstanding global political leader. But she leaves a complicated legacy. Some applaud her humble, consensus-driven political style. Others see a lack of bold leadership, particularly in the face of a more aggressive Russia and rising Chinese power. In 2015, she opened the door to more than 1 million refugees, mostly from war-battered Syria. But Merkel's watch has also seen a surge in nationalist sentiment that has propelled the far right into parliament. While dubbed the 'climate chancellor' for her environmental promises, she leaves office with Germany the world's biggest producer of air-choking brown coal."

~~~~~~~~~~

Michael BLood & Kathleen Ronayne of the AP: "California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom ended his campaign to retain his job in a recall election with a final push from President Joe Biden, who warned that the outcome of the contest could shape the country's direction on the pandemic, reproductive rights and the battle to slow climate change.... Speaking to hundreds of cheering supporters during a twilight rally in the coastal city of Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, Biden referred to the leading Republican candidate Larry Elder as 'the clone of Donald Trump.'"

Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden continued his nationwide tour Monday of areas devastated by extreme weather, making his first visit to the West Coast since taking office to highlight one of the worst fire seasons in the nation's history and renew his push for significant investments to combat climate change. Amid a summer of unrelenting climate catastrophes exacerbated by a warming planet, the president has sharply escalated his rhetoric, once again warning that the country faces a 'code red' moment.... The president's trip began a week filled with climate events, part of a broader push to tout the environmental initiatives that are part of the infrastructure bills his administration is pushing. Democrats are hoping to commit billions of dollars to combat climate change, modernize the country"s infrastructure and make it more resilient."

Tyler Pager & Scott Wilson of the Washington Post: "President Biden, arrived in [California] with a message for California voters that keeping the incumbent in office was the most effective way to ensure a quick-as-possible end to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the advent of coronavirus vaccines and an easing of requirements in some states and cities, the pandemic has again become priority one for [Gov. Gavin] Newsom (D) and Biden, a pair of politically vulnerable Democrats whose vaccine and mask rules have helped to revive their approval ratings. The visit, ostensibly a political favor for Newsom, served both politicians' purposes for the eve-of-election stage it gave them to again implore the nation to get vaccinated and wear masks."

John Hudson & Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken clashed with Republican lawmakers Monday over the Biden administration's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in his first hearing before Congress since the Taliban's takeover of the country. Republicans excoriated the administration for ending the U.S. military evacuation before every American left the country, the sluggish pace of visa processing for Afghan allies, and other tactical decisions, such as the abandonment of its largest military base at Bagram air base.... Republicans stopped short of advocating for a new surge of U.S. troops into the country -- an unpopular proposal that Blinken said would have been the only real alternative to withdrawing all personnel.... Blinken spent much of his testimony defending the administration's decision-making, saying Washington could not have anticipated that the Western-backed government would fall in 11 days. 'Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. forces remained.'" A Guardian story is here. ~~~

We inherited a deadline. We did not inherit a plan. -- Antony Blinken, in prepared remarks to a House Committee, Monday ~~~

~~~ Conor Finnegan of ABC News: "In his first appearance on Capitol Hill since the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced more than five hours of questions from members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He faces more questions from the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Here are some key takeaways from Monday's hearing in the House."

Dan Lamothe & Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: The CIA orchestrated "-- alongside elite U.S. troops and Afghan counterterrorism forces -- ... the dangerous extraction of Americans, Afghans and foreign nationals facing threats of reprisal from the Taliban.... A spokeswoman for the agency, Tammy Thorp, declined to detail the operation, saying only that CIA personnel, in concert with other U.S. agencies, supported the broader evacuation effort 'in various ways.' Five current and former U.S. officials familiar with the missions said the CIA used a compound known as Eagle Base, located just a few miles from Hamid Karzai International Airport, to carry out rescues.... The rescues traveling through Eagle Base involved multiple helicopter flights to Kabul's airport." A compelling story: it's easy to place yourself in the position of Shaqaiq Birashk, a USAID worker and one of those rescued in this operation.

Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "The Federal Election Commission has dismissed Republican accusations that Twitter violated election laws in October by blocking people from posting links to an unsubstantiated New York Post article about Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s son Hunter Biden, in a decision that is likely to set a precedent for future cases involving social media sites and federal campaigns. The F.E.C. determined that Twitter's actions regarding the Hunter Biden article had been undertaken for a valid commercial reason, not a political purpose, and were thus allowable, according to a document outlining the decision obtained by The New York Times. The commission's ruling, which was made last month behind closed doors and is set to become public soon, provides further flexibility to social media giants like Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat to control what is shared on their platforms regarding federal elections." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Paul Waldman & Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Many of the spending items in the reconciliation bill Democrats are negotiating could be described as transformative. If we had universal pre-K, free community college, paid family leave and enhanced Medicare benefits, millions of lives would be changed for the better. But there's nothing radical about the tax changes Democrats are proposing to pay for these items. Yet Republicans -- and even a few Democrats -- are acting as though the bill represents some kind of terrifying tax apocalypse. It's nonsense.... Many changes Democrats want to make are simply reversing provisions of the Republicans' 2017 tax cut (and in some cases only partially). Paying taxes something like five years ago can't be that radical a change.... Democrats appear to fear the [GOP] talking point that [estate] taxes would devastate the owners and operators of farms passed down from one generation to the next. But, according to a senior Senate Democratic aide, the current negotiations had already carved out an exemption for family-owned farms that would only tax gains valued from $25 million and up.

Marie's Fashion Report. She Really Does Care, Do U? Judy Kurtz of the Hill: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is letting her dress do the talking, appearing in a gown with the message 'tax the rich' at the Met Gala. The House member was eyed on the red carpet for the star-studded event in New York City on Monday. The statement-making get-up was created by Brother Vellies, according to Vogue.... The theme of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Benefit this year is American-made fashion."

Mike DeBonis, et al., of the Washington Post: "Fencing around the U.S. Capitol will be reinstalled 'a day or two' before a rally on Saturday, when demonstrators plan to demand 'justice' for those arrested in the Jan. 6 riot. U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger confirmed the security measure to reporters Monday after briefing congressional leaders on the 'Justice for J6' rally, for which local law enforcement has increased staffing.... Organizers of Saturday's demonstration ... describe those arrested as 'political prisoners' -- an assertion that has exploded beyond the far right and been embraced in mainstream conservatism.... D.C. police will be 'fully activated' Friday and Saturday, meaning all officers must work those days.... Capitol Police have requested support from neighboring police departments in Arlington and Montgomery counties Saturday...."

Nick Niedzwiadek of Politico: "U.S. Capitol Police arrested a California man on weapons charges after finding multiple illegal knives in a pickup adorned with white supremacist iconography near the Democratic National Committee's Capitol Hill headquarters. Capitol Police said Monday that 44-year-old Donald Craighead was charged with possession of prohibited weapons after a patrolling Special Operations Division officer noticed that the Dodge Dakota did not have a visible license plate and pulled the driver over around midnight. Police said that the officer then spotted a bayonet and machete, both of which are types of knives that are illegal in Washington, D.C., inside the truck. Capitol Police also said that Craighead espoused white supremacist rhetoric while he was pulled over. Photos of his car released by police showed Nazi swastikas on the truck's side mirror; a pentagram on the steering wheel; what appears to be the word 'confederate' across the dashboard and other symbols. A pair of horns were also affixed to the truck's front grill." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "... Craighead espoused white supremacist rhetoric while he was pulled over." In D.C., there's a good chance the officer who pulled over this dude was Black. So use your imagination of that "white supremacist rhetoric."

Another Intersection between Trump & Q. David Gilbert of Vice: "A Nevada businessman who once cleared out his company's warehouse to host a Trump rally in violation of state lockdown laws, has become the new host for the country's biggest QAnon conference. At the end of August, the 'For God & Country Patriot Double Down' was left without a home, when Caesars in Las Vegas pulled the plug.... The new venue is the Ahern Hotel and Convention Center, a premises close to the Las Vegas Strip owned by Don Ahern, a multi-millionaire businessman who is the finance chairman of the Nevada Republican Party and one of the biggest supporters of ... Donald Trump."

Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "Not every justice would have the sheer gall to make a speech about the importance of the court staying above politics while appearing at a celebration for Mitch McConnell. But that's what [Amy] Barrett did.... But with McConnell by her side, Barrett insisted that she and the other justices are unsullied by politics.... And she showed how the Supreme Court can pursue a radical ideological agenda, one aimed at creating a conservative legal and political revolution in America, while simultaneously protesting that they would never consider something as unseemly as politics.... The truth, however, is that everything the Supreme Court does is political, and that's particularly true of its conservative majority." Emphasis original. See related story linked yesterday. MB: Akhilleus has renamed our Junior Justice Amy Phony Barrett (see yesterday's Comments), and that seems apt to me. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Amy Phony Barrett, as played by Claude Rains:

     ~~~ Dahlia Lithwick, on the teevee, likened Barrett's protestations about political bias as she stood next to Mitch McConnell to Captain Renault's declaring "I'm shocked! Shocked to find that gambling is going on in here," as an employee of Rick's Cafe hands Renault his winnings.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

News to Confuse. Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "None of the data on coronavirus vaccines so far provides credible evidence in support of boosters for the general population, according to a review published on Monday by an international group of scientists, including some at the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization. The 18 authors include Dr. Philip Krause and Dr. Marion Gruber, F.D.A. scientists who announced last month that they will be leaving the agency, at least in part because they disagreed with the Biden administration's push for boosters before federal scientists could review the evidence and make recommendations. The Biden administration has proposed administering vaccine boosters eight months after the initial shots. But many scientists have opposed the plan, saying the vaccines continue to be powerfully protective against severe illness and hospitalization."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: A big Republican "talking point is that [President Biden's] move [to require large companies to make sure employees are vaccinated or tested weekly] is needlessly divisive.... The thing is, though, that this isn't a vaccine mandate at all, strictly speaking. And it's also a move that, in the absence of [GOP] pushback, wouldn't seem to be all that divisive.... You could just as easily call it a testing mandate with a vaccination opt-out." A number of polls have showed that 75 percent or more of Americans favor a testing mandate.

Brian Beutler of Crooked takes on pro-Covid Republican "leaders" and Jon Chait of New York Mag. Beutler argues that the Republicans were pro-Covid both to help Trump and to hurt President Biden and he explains why. Thanks to citizen625 for the link. MB: I do think this is a case where Republicans like DeSantis & Noem have been remarkably consistent throughout. Like Trump, they're for freeedumb and Biden's Covid vaccine mandates -- just like the mandates they already have in their states for other diseases -- are gross violations of constitutional liberties. Trump tended to treat the virus as a hoax and Biden takes it seriously. And perhaps the main thing that is guiding GOP consistency is their base's antipathy to vaccines. (They even booed Trump at his own rally when he mildly suggested they should get the vaccine.) (Also linked yesterday.)

Meant to embed this yesterday: Chris Wallace challenges Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts' far-out stance on Covid-19 vaccine mandates. It did not go well for Pete:

~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Ricketts treats it as a natural fact of life that people lack confidence in federal officials overseeing national vaccination efforts, then uses that as justification for opposing vaccine mandates. But Ricketts himself essentially endorses the idea that people have good reason to lack confidence in the feds on vaccines.... The critical point here is that Republicans such as Ricketts are themselves actively undermining people's trust in vaccines, while piously citing that mistrust as the basis for opposing mandates.... Republicans have played this game for months. Though a good number have urged vaccines, in some cases they simultaneously try to tacitly discourage confidence about them out of the other side of their mouths." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

~~~ Florida. Comes Now Ron DeSantis. Gary Fineout of Politico: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday opened up another front in his ongoing battle against Covid-19 related mandates, threatening to fine cities and counties thousands of dollars if they impose vaccine requirements on their employees. The latest move from the governor comes after his weekslong fight with Florida schools over student mask mandates and after President Joe Biden last week said he will impose vaccine mandates on federal employees and health care providers that rely on federal funding, as well as employers with 100 or more workers.... DeSantis' Monday press conference functioned more as a campaign rally, with the audience cheering on the Republican governor as he lashed out at Biden for his 'arrogance' and being 'dismissive' of those who do not share his position on vaccine mandates.... DeSantis was standing side-by-side by people opposed to the vaccine, including one Gainesville worker who falsely said that the vaccine alters genes. DeSantis said nothing about the misinformation, which was swiftly criticized by critics and experts. (MB: Notice here how Fineout makes Aaron Blake's point: he describes Biden's order as imposing "vaccine mandates" & never mentions testing.)

Colorado. A Covid Victim Who Deserved His Untimely Death. Sam Tabachnik of the Denver Post: "Conservative firebrand Bob Enyart, the pastor of the Denver Bible Church and indelible talk show host, has died from COVID-19, his radio co-host announced Monday on Facebook.... Enyart and his wife refused to get the vaccine due to abortion concerns, he said on his website. In October, Enyart successfully sued the state over mask mandates and capacity limits in churches, a rare legal victory against broad public health mandates instituted during the pandemic. Pushing the limits never bothered Enyart.... On his old TV show, Bob Enyart Live, the host would 'gleefully read obituaries of AIDS sufferers while cranking "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen,' Westword reported." MB: That's not my idea of "pushing the limits" nor is it "conservative." It's despicably inhuman.

Beyond the Beltway

California. Larry Has Seen the Future, and It Is Gavin. Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "Republicans in Tuesday's California gubernatorial recall election are already laying the groundwork to argue the election was stolen -- even before a single ballot is reported or a victor declared, an increasingly common tactic in conservative circles. Republican Larry Elder appealed on Monday to his supporters to use an online form to report fraud, which claimed it had 'detected fraud' in the 'results' of the California recall election 'resulting in Governor Gavin Newsom being reinstated as governor.'"

Florida. Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "Two Florida middle-schoolers are being held at a juvenile detention center after being accused of planning a mass school shooting inspired by Columbine. The 14-year-old and 13-year-old boys, whom The Washington Post is not naming because they are minors, are eighth-graders at Harns Marsh Middle School in Lee County, about two hours away from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a gunman killed 17 people in 2018. They were charged with conspiracy to commit a mass shooting and have been ordered to be held at a juvenile detention center for three weeks, according to the county sheriff's office. Police investigations suggest the boys had looked for guns on the black market, studied ways to build pipe bombs and researched the 1999 school shooting that occurred at Columbine High School in Colorado, County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Kansas. GOP Legislator Kicked a Student in the Nuts. John Hanna of the AP: "A Kansas legislator accused of kicking a high school student in the testicles pleaded guilty Monday to three lesser misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and was placed on a year's probation under a deal with the local prosecutor. Republican Rep. Mark Samsel also agreed not to use social media for personal purposes or have any contact with the high school student who said he was kicked and another another student who complained of an interaction with Samsel. The lawmaker also agreed to write letters of apology to both students.... The lawmaker said in a Facebook post last month that 'extreme' stress caused him to have 'an isolated episode of mania with psychotic features' in a classroom. He disclosed that he was undergoing mental health treatment and surrendered his state substitute teacher's license."

The Commentariat -- September 13, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "The Federal Election Commission has dismissed Republican accusations that Twitter violated election laws in October by blocking people from posting links to an unsubstantiated New York Post article about Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s son Hunter Biden, in a decision that is likely to set a precedent for future cases involving social media sites and federal campaigns. The F.E.C. determined that Twitter's actions regarding the Hunter Biden article had been undertaken for a valid commercial reason, not a political purpose, and were thus allowable, according to a document outlining the decision obtained by The New York Times. The commission's ruling, which was made last month behind closed doors and is set to become public soon, provides further flexibility to social media giants like Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat to control what is shared on their platforms regarding federal elections."

Nick Niedzwiadek of Politico: "U.S. Capitol Police arrested a California man on weapons charges after finding multiple illegal knives in a pickup adorned with white supremacist iconography near the Democratic National Committee's Capitol Hill headquarters. Capitol Police said Monday that 44-year-old Donald Craighead was charged with possession of prohibited weapons after a patrolling Special Operations Division officer noticed that the Dodge Dakota did not have a visible license plate and pulled the driver over around midnight. Police said that the officer then spotted a bayonet and machete, both of which are types of knives that are illegal in Washington, D.C., inside the truck. Capitol Police also said that Craighead espoused white supremacist rhetoric while he was pulled over. Photos of his car released by police showed Nazi swastikas on the truck's side mirror; a pentagram on the steering wheel; what appears to be the word 'confederate' across the dashboard and other symbols. A pair of horns were also affixed to the truck's front grill." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "... Craighead espoused white supremacist rhetoric while he was pulled over." In D.C., there's a good chance the officer who pulled over this dude was Black. So use your imagination of that "white supremacist rhetoric."

Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "Not every justice would have the sheer gall to make a speech about the importance of the court staying above politics while appearing at a celebration for Mitch McConnell. But that's what [Amy] Barrett did.... But with McConnell by her side, Barrett insisted that she and the other justices are unsullied by politics.... And she showed how the Supreme Court can pursue a radical ideological agenda, one aimed at creating a conservative legal and political revolution in America, while simultaneously protesting that they would never consider something as unseemly as politics.... The truth, however, is that everything the Supreme Court does is political, and that's particularly true of its conservative majority." Emphasis original. See related story linked below. MB: Akhilleus has renamed our Junior Justice Amy Phony Barrett (see today's Comments), and that seems apt to me.

Brian Beutler of Crooked takes on pro-Covid Republican "leaders" and Jon Chait of New York Mag. Beutler argues that the Republicans were pro-Covid both to help Trump and to hurt President Biden and he explains why. Thanks to citizen625 for the link. MB: I do think this is a case where Republicans like DeSantis & Noem have been remarkably consistent throughout. Like Trump, they're for freeedumb and Biden's Covid vaccine mandates -- just like the mandates they already have in their states for other diseases -- are gross violations of constitutional liberties. Trump tended to treat the virus as a hoax and Biden takes it seriously. And perhaps the main thing that is guiding GOP consistency is their base's antipathy to vaccines. (They even booed Trump at his own rally when he mildly suggested they should get the vaccine.)

Florida. Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "Two Florida middle-schoolers are being held at a juvenile detention center after being accused of planning a mass school shooting inspired by Columbine. The 14-year-old and 13-year-old boys, whom The Washington Post is not naming because they are minors, are eighth-graders at Harns Marsh Middle School in Lee County, about two hours away from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a gunman killed 17 people in 2018. They were charged with conspiracy to commit a mass shooting and have been ordered to be held at a juvenile detention center for three weeks, according to the county sheriff's office. Police investigations suggest the boys had looked for guns on the black market, studied ways to build pipe bombs and researched the 1999 school shooting that occurred at Columbine High School in Colorado, County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said."

~~~~~~~~~~

Aamer Madhani & Alexandra Jaffe of the AP: "President Joe Biden will promote his administration's use of the Defense Production Act to aid in wildfire preparedness during a western swing in which he'll survey wildfire damage in Idaho and California. The administration activated the wartime provision in early August to boost the supply of fire hoses for the U.S. Forest Service, by helping to ease supply chain issues affecting the agency's primary firehose supplier. It marks the second use of the wartime law, after the president used it to boost vaccine supplies, and the administration had not previously announced it publicly."

Senate Democrats Agree on Voting Rights Bill That Can't Pass. Leigh Ann Caldwell & Teaganne Finn of NBC News: "Senate Democrats are close to an agreement on updated voting rights legislation that can get the support of all 50 Democratic-voting senators, three Democratic aides familiar with negotiations said.... The member-level discussions are complete, a source said, but staff members are going through the text to fix technical issues.... The legislation would require the votes of 60 senators, including 10 Republicans, and it's unlikely that Democrats will get enough Republican supporters." Joe Manchin claims he's been working with "quite a few" GOP senators to develop a bill that will pass. Marie: Uh-huh. There's a work-around, Joe; it's a fun game called "Drop the Filibuster" for voting rights.

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Senior House Democrats are coalescing around a draft proposal that could raise as much as $2.9 trillion to pay for most of President Biden's sweeping expansion of the social safety net by increasing taxes on the wealthiest corporations and individuals. The preliminary proposal, which circulated on and off Capitol Hill on Sunday, would raise the corporate tax rate to 26.5 percent for the richest businesses and impose an additional surtax on individuals who make more than $5 million. The plan could be a critical step for advancing the $3.5 trillion package, which is expected to include federally funded paid family leave, address climate change and expand public education." Politico's story is here.

[The Supreme Court] is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks. -- Justice Amy Barrett, at a Mitch McConnell event ~~~

~~~ Piper Blackburn of the AP: "Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett expressed concerns Sunday that the public may increasingly see the court as a partisan institution. Justices must be 'hyper vigilant to make sure they're not letting personal biases creep into their decisions, since judges are people, too,' Barrett said at a lecture hosted by the University of Louisville's McConnell Center. Introduced by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who founded the center and played a key role in pushing through her confirmation in the last days of the Trump administration, Barrett spoke at length about her desire for others to see the Supreme Court as nonpartisan." MB: Sorry, Amy, our masks don't cover our eyes and ears. We know what you're doing (Texas abortion law).

On 9/11, Rudy Forgets "A Noun, a Verb & 9/11." Sam Raskin of the New York Post: "Ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani at a 9/11 commemoration on Saturday called a top US general an 'idiot' and 'a-hole,' imitated Queen Elizabeth and distanced himself from Prince Andrew, video shows. During an appearance at an annual Sept. 11 dinner held at Cipriani, Giuliani wondered of Gen. Mark Milley, 'How's that guy a general?' while imagining physically assaulting the decorated joint Chiefs of Staff chairman because of his advice to close Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Back in 2007, when Joe Biden & Rudy were running for president, Biden delivered one of the more memorable lines from a presidential debate when he said, "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and 9/11." Now look who's President & who's nuttier than a pecan pie.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

David Cohen of Politico: “Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Sunday defended the administration's new Covid vaccine requirements, calling them 'an appropriate legal measure' that fit in with traditional safety requirements in schools and workplaces. 'We have to put this in context. There are requirements that we put in workplaces and in schools every day to make sure that workplaces and schools are safe,' Murthy said on ABC's 'This Week.'... Murthy also said he believed the administration's new policy would withstand legal challenges.... Speaking on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' Murthy also challenged the notion that Biden's new policies reflect a flip-flop from the idea that vaccination should not be mandated. The surgeon general said it was merely a case of responding to a situation that had been changed by the emergence of the Delta variant." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. The Party of Extreme Hypocrisy. Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Resistance to vaccine mandates was once a fringe position in both parties, more the realm of misinformed celebrities than mainstream political thought. But the fury over Mr. Biden's mandates shows how a once-extreme stance has moved to the center of the Republican Party. The governors' opposition reflects the anger and fear about the vaccine among constituents now central to their base, while ignoring longstanding policy and legal precedent in favor of similar vaccination requirements.... Republican outrage is really boiling over [President Biden's] plan to require all private-sector businesses with more than 100 employees to mandate vaccines or weekly testing for their work forces.... But each of [the] states [these GOP governors lead] -- indeed every state in the country -- already mandates certain vaccinations for children, and sometimes for adults, including health care workers and patients in certain facilities."

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

Idaho/Washington. "Their Crisis Is Our Problem." Mike Baker of the New York Times: "Washington State is reeling under its own surge of coronavirus cases. But in neighboring Idaho, 20 miles down Interstate 90 from Spokane, unchecked virus transmission has already pushed hospitals beyond their breaking point.... At a time when Washington State hospitals are delaying procedures and struggling with their own high caseloads, some leaders in the state see Idaho's outsourcing of Covid patients as a troubling example of how the failure to aggressively confront the virus in one state can deepen a crisis in another.... Idaho now has more than 600 patients hospitalized with Covid-19, about 20 percent higher than a previous peak in December. Only 40 percent of the state's residents are fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates in the nation, compared with 61 percent in Washington State, one of the highest."

Beyond the Beltway

California. Michael Blood & Eugene Garcia of the AP: "In a blitz of TV ads and a last-minute rally, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom urged voters Sunday to turn back a looming recall vote that could remove him from office, while leading Republican Larry Elder broadly criticized the media for what he described as double standards that insulated Newsom from criticism and scrutiny throughout the contest. The sunny, late-summer weekend was a swirl of political activity, as candidates held rallies, continued bus tours and cluttered the TV airwaves with advertising offering their closing arguments in advance of the election that concludes Tuesday." ~~~

~~~ Fake Voter Fraud All Over Again. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Soon after the [California governor's] recall race was announced in early July, the embers of 2020 election denialism ignited into new false claims on right-wing news sites and social media channels. This vote, too, would supposedly be 'stolen,' with malfeasance ranging from deceptively designed ballots to nefariousness by corrupt postal workers. As a wave of recent polling indicated that [Gov. Gavin] Newsom was likely to brush off his Republican challengers, the baseless allegations accelerated. Larry Elder, a leading Republican candidate, said he was 'concerned' about election fraud. The Fox News commentators Tomi Lahren and Tucker Carlson suggested that wrongdoing was the only way Mr. Newsom could win. And ... Donald J. Trump predicted that it would be 'a rigged election.' This swift embrace of false allegations of cheating in the California recall reflects a growing instinct on the right to argue that any lost election, or any ongoing race that might result in defeat, must be marred by fraud."

Way Beyond

Eric Schmitt & Madeleine Ngo of the New York Times: "An initial group of Afghan pilots who flew themselves and their family members to safety in Uzbekistan aboard Afghan Air Force aircraft were transferred to a U.S. military base in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, according to the office of Representative August Pfluger, which has been in contact with one of the pilots and his wife. Two other groups of Afghan pilots and their relatives are expected to fly out in the next day or so under an arrangement the United States negotiated with Uzbekistan to move more than 450 Afghans. The Afghan pilots, whom the Taliban consider among the most reviled members of the Afghan military for their role in conducting airstrikes against Taliban fighters, have been caught in a delicate diplomatic tug of war since fleeing their country as the government in Kabul was collapsing last month. Taliban leaders have been pressuring the Uzbek government to turn over the pilots.... The United States, for its part, has been leaning on the Uzbeks to let the Afghans leave and fulfill its pledge to secure safe passage to pivotal members of the Afghan military who fought alongside the United States."

North Korea. Min Joo Kim of the Washington Post: "North Korea said it successfully test-fired a new long-range cruise missile over the weekend, stoking tensions in a first public testing activity in months amid a prolonged deadlock in nuclear talks with Washington.... The test launches took place ahead of a Tokyo trip for President Biden's nuclear envoy, Sung Kim, who is scheduled to meet with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts this week." An AP story is here.

News Lede

AP: "Tropical Storm Nicholas was moving up the Gulf Coast on Monday, threatening to bring heavy rain and floods to coastal areas of Texas, Mexico and storm-battered Louisiana. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Nicholas was strengthening, churning up top winds of 60 mph (95 kph) in a 1 a.m. CDT update. It was traveling north-northwest at 15 mph (24 kph) on a forecast track to pass near the South Texas coast later Monday, then move onshore along the coast of south or central Texas by Monday evening. A hurricane watch was issued from Port Aransas to Freeport, Texas. Much of the state's coastline was under a tropical storm warning as the system was expected to bring heavy rain that could cause flash floods and urban flooding."