The Commentariat -- August 7, 2021

Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Biden on Friday gave a sober message on a strong July jobs report, saying the nation needs to get more people vaccinated to keep the economy growing strongly. 'My message today is not one of celebration. It's one to remind us we got a lot of hard work left to be done both to beat the delta variant and to continue our advance of economic recovery,' Biden said in remarks from the White House. 'This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated, so we have to get more people vaccinated.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ President Biden, in bid to be impeached, irresponsibly wears tan suit to deliver "sober message":

     ~~~ Update. Toljaso. Marisa Schultz of Fox "News": "An Ohio congressman on Friday asked his GOP House colleagues to consider filing articles of impeachment against President Biden for an 'unconstitutional' order to extend the eviction moratorium and for his 'dereliction' of duty in securing the southern border. Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, sent a letter to his fellow Republicans urging them to seek impeachment because Biden 'continues to disregard his constitutional duties and boundaries,' he said." The supposed issues Gibbs raises are just covers for the real outrage: the tan suit.

Neil Irwin of the New York Times: "America is getting back to work. That's the simplest, clearest analysis of the labor market that emerges from nearly every line of the July employment numbers released Friday morning. It is a welcome sign that, as of the middle of last month, the economy is healing rapidly -- and that the previous couple of months reflected healthier results than previously estimated. There are caveats worth mentioning: The surveys on which this data are based were taken before people were worrying very much about the Delta variant of the coronavirus; the share of Americans participating in the work force hasn't really budged; and we still haven't achieved the kind of one-million-plus monthly job gains that seemed plausible back in the spring." Related stories linked under today's Ledes. (Also linked yesterday.)

9/11 Familes Play Hardball. Courtney Kube of NBC News: "Nearly 1,800 Americans directly affected by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks are opposing President Joe Biden's participation in any memorial events this year unless he upholds his pledge to declassify U.S. government evidence that they believe may show a link between Saudi Arabian leaders and the attacks. The victims' family members, first responders and survivors will release a statement Friday calling on Biden to skip 20th-anniversary events in New York and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon unless he releases the documents, which they believe implicate Saudi officials in supporting the acts of terrorism. The group says that as a candidate Biden pledged to be more transparent and release as much information as possible but that his administration has since then ignored their letters and requests.... 'Through multiple administrations, the Department of Justice and the FBI have actively sought to keep this information secret and prevent the American people from learning the full truth about the 9/11 attacks,' the participants wrote." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Unless DOJ has this info sitting ready to go, I don't see how they could get it out in a month. But the department should figure out a way.

My Favorite Tycoon.Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Postal Service will pay $120 million over the next five years to a major logistics contractor that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy previously helped lead and with which his family maintains financial ties, according to DeJoy's financial disclosure statements. The new contract will deepen the Postal Service's relationship with XPO Logistics, where DeJoy served as supply chain chief executive from 2014 to 2015 after the company purchased New Breed Logistics, the trucking firm he owned for more than 30 years. Since he became postmaster general, DeJoy, DeJoy-controlled companies and his family foundation have divested between $65.4 million and $155.3 million worth of XPO shares.... But DeJoy's family businesses continue to lease four North Carolina office buildings to XPO.... The previously unreported agreement will see XPO take over operations at two crucial sorting and distribution facilities in Atlanta and Washington, D.C." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Brian Naylor of NPR: "Two of the newly confirmed members of the U.S. Postal Service's Board of Governors spoke out Friday against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's plan to slow delivery of first-class mail. But the board took no steps to stop or even modify the 10-year plan despite the concerns expressed by the board members and regulators. Ronald Stroman, one of three new governors named by President Biden, said ... that the changes 'disproportionally impact our seniors, middle- and low-income Americans, [and] small businesses, who are our most loyal customers and most dependent on us.'"

Lisa Mascaro of the AP:"Edging toward a vote, senators are convening for a rare weekend session on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which could wrap up swiftly with passage of the $1 trillion package or drag out for days by opponents trying to slow President Joe Biden's big priority. The president nudged senators along from the White House, praising their work so far as a potentially 'historic investment' -- on par with the building of the transcontinental railroad or interstate highway system -- that will bring jobs and modernization to millions of Americans. Senators appear on track to approve the bill, despite days of fits and starts." ~~~

~~~ But It's Just a Superfluous, Slow-Moving Show. Alex Pareene, in a New York Times op-ed: "... having to spend so much time tortuously wringing support from the minority party to spend money on things people need and want is not actually a sign of a healthy system of government.... The Senate (with the White House's support) wasted months cajoling and rehabilitating a handful of key Republicans only to pass a smaller version of something Democrats could theoretically have passed entirely on their own.... The time spent finding a way to get 60 votes for the infrastructure bill was time not spent hashing out versions of an infrastructure bill, and the PRO Act, and the For the People Act, that could win 51 votes.... Moving the bill forward only looks like a victory if one accepts the sclerosis and dysfunction of the Senate as a natural obstacle to be overcome with cunning and patience, not a self-imposed limitation on effective and responsive governance.... From a policy perspective, splitting the proposal in two makes little sense." ~~~

~~~ Norm Ornstein in a New York Times op-ed: No, Mitch Machiavelli did not vote for the "bipartisan infrastructure" bill because he suddenly got "reasonable." His support for the bill is all about winning back the Senate in 2022 by making it appear Republicans look reasonable.

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... the Democrats-only part of the public investment [infrastructure] program probably will include some genuine sources of new revenue, if only to satisfy moderates still unduly worried about debt. But when it comes to finding these 'pay-fors,' the G.O.P.'s refusal to raise taxes or even try to collect taxes owed under current law may have done Democrats a favor. Why? Because Democrats can now pay for a lot of what they want with extremely popular policies. Polls consistently show strong support for raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. I haven't seen polling on the idea of getting wealthy tax cheats to pay what they owe, but I think we can safely assume that this would be even more popular. So Republicans have offered Democrats a golden opportunity to show themselves both fiscally responsible and on the side of hard-working Americans as opposed to cheating elites." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jamie Gangel & Rachel Janfaza of CNN: "Former Rep. Denver Riggleman is joining the staff of the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, the third Republican that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has added to the panel that GOP leadership has attacked as a partisan endeavor. Riggleman -- a former Virginia congressman and Air Force intelligence officer who has been an outspoken critic of ... Donald Trump -- will be a senior technical adviser for the committee, according to two sources familiar with the selection."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A New Jersey gym owner and a Washington state man on Friday became the first people to plead guilty to assaulting police in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, facing what they acknowledged in plea deals could be roughly three to five years in prison under sentencing guidelines. The agreements by Scott K. Fairlamb, 44, of Sussex, N.J., and Devlyn D. Thompson, 28, of Seattle, set potential benchmarks for what at least 165 defendants charged with assaulting or impeding officers could expect if they cooperate. Fairlamb, a former mixed martial arts competitor, admitted to shoving and punching a D.C. police officer, identified in plea papers by the initials Z.B.... Thompson admitted to using a baton to strike at an officer deploying pepper spray during what prosecutors called the most violent confrontation between police and rioters at the Capitol, inside the archway and tunnel of the West Terrace's ceremonial entrance."

Chinese Thermometers! Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "Jeffrey Clark, a Donald Trump-appointed environment law chief at the Justice Department at the center of the former President's efforts to overturn the election, received a high-level intelligence briefing around New Year's 2021 that did little to stop his efforts to prove foreign interference had cost Trump reelection.... A stark portrayal of Clark is emerging from former Trump-appointed officials who were alarmed by his backchannel efforts to the White House and to Trump allies, and who now are now providing testimony to congressional committees. Richard Donoghue, acting deputy attorney general beginning in late December, provided a closed-door interview to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday.... By late December, as Trump and his allies pushed conspiracies about alleged irregularities that he claimed stole the election from him, Clark told senior Justice officials that he knew of sensitive information that indicated Chinese intelligence used special kinds of thermometers to change results in machines tallying votes, people briefed on the matter said. The Justice Department by then had made clear it found no evidence of vote-changing in the election."

Mike Lindell absolutely, positively proves Donald Trump won the 2020 election CNN report Drew Griffin confronts MyPillow Guy about his ridiculous claims of 2020 election fraud. It's embarrassing just to watch that Guy:

     ~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Mike Lindell "is so far into his bet and has earned so much celebrity by making it that he keeps pressing forward, using his money to convince himself that he is right and to buy attention from people who tell him the same thing.... As the Atlantic's Anne Applebaum put it after interviewing him last month, Lindell remains ;utterly impervious to any argument of any kind.'... The acute risk of claiming that the election was stolen is that people might act in dangerous ways in response to that belief. The obvious example is what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6.... The long-term danger is that Lindell is contributing to a sense that election results aren't reliable, which is also false.... The American experiment hinges on trust in elections to a very real extent. And Lindell is actively trying to undermine that trust, pretty clearly because he actually incorrectly believes that trust isn't warranted.... It's all pathetic, in the classic, pitiful sense of the term." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The Lindell Corollary to Mitt Romney's "Corporations are people, my friend," is "Money Is Truth." Assuming that Bump is right and Lindell really believes this fantasy, Lindell thinks his fraudulent-election theory must be true because he "spent millions" on meaningless printouts of "data packets" or something. To Lindell, the proof is in the price of the "evidence." BTW, PD Pepe looked into Mike's "C.V." or whatever you want to call it, & she reports on it at the end of yesterday's Comments thread.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

AP: "The U.S. is now averaging 100,000 new COVID-19 infections a day, returning to a milestone last seen during the winter surge in yet another bleak reminder of how quickly the delta variant has spread through the country. The U.S. was averaging about 11,000 cases a day in late June. Now the number is 107,143."

Erica Green of the New York Times: "The Education Department announced Friday that it would continue a moratorium on federal student loan payments through Jan. 31, extending emergency relief for millions of borrowers that had been set to expire next month. The department said that this would be the 'final extension' of the pause, which the Trump administration instituted in March 2020 at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, and that the additional time would allow the agency to transition borrowers back into repayment and reduce the risk of default and delinquency. More than 40 million borrowers have federally held loans, and during the moratorium, they have been interest-free and not subject to repayment or penalties for nonpayment."

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

Laurie McGinley & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "Federal health officials are racing to ensure that millions of Americans with weakened immune systems can get additional shots of coronavirus vaccines to protect them against the highly contagious delta variant. The actions could mean the extra shots would be authorized in days or weeks, according to federal officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not been announced. (Also linked yesterday.)

Arkansas. Andrew DeMillo of the AP: "An Arkansas judge on Friday temporarily blocked the state from enforcing its ban on mask mandates after lawmakers left the prohibition in place despite a rising number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox issued a preliminary injunction against the law that Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed in April banning mask requirements by governmental entities. The ban was being challenged by two lawsuits, including one from an east Arkansas school district where more than 900 staff and students are quarantining because of a coronavirus outbreak. Fox ruled the law violates Arkansas' constitution, saying it discriminates between public and private school students. He said it also infringes on the governor's emergency powers, as well as the authority of county officials and the state Supreme Court.... Fox issued the ruling hours after lawmakers adjourned a special session that Hutchinson had called to consider rolling back the ban for some schools."

Florida. Dean Obeidallah, in an MSNBC opinion piece: "There should be a special place in hell -- or potentially in prison -- for politicians who put their political goals ahead of the health and safety of our children. That is exactly what Gov. Ron DeSantis is doing in Florida with the executive order he signed last Friday barring school districts from mandating that students and school employees wear masks during the spike in Covid cases.... DeSantis is the future of the GOP."

Florida, Texas, Etc. Lying, Craven Scapegoaters. Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "Faced with rapidly rising cases in their states and criticized by President Biden for their opposition to mask mandates, the governors of Florida and Texas have pointed to the administration's border policies as a primary cause of the new cases. That sentiment has also echoed on social media, among members of Congress and among the unvaccinated.... Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said of Mr. Biden on Wednesday, 'Whatever variants are across the world, they're coming through that southern border.'... But public health experts said there was no evidence that migrants were driving the surge of coronavirus.... There is not evidence that any of four variants of concern tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially entered through the southern border." ~~~

     ~~~ The Only Real Covid Is Mexican Covid. Charlie Sykes of the conservative Bulwark, in Politico Magazine: "Even as many Republicans rail against mask mandates and spread skepticism about vaccines, GOP leaders have settled on one place where they take the spread of Covid very seriously -- the border. The pivot occurred quickly. This week, one Republican leader after another rushed to blame the spread of the virus, not on the unvaccinated but on immigrants.... With remarkable unanimity -- and a stunning lack of actual evidence -- conservative media has seized on the specter of disease-infested immigrants as the real danger to public health." MB: Kinda reminds me of the 1918 "Spanish flu" pandemic -- that didn't originate in Spain (or any Spanish-speaking country) but (perhaps) in Kansas.

South Dakota to Hold Second Annual Super-Spreader Bash. Erin Shumaker of ABC News: "South Dakota's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which begins Friday and runs through Aug. 15, is expected to draw upwards of 700,000 attendees. Last year's rally, which took place during the height of the United States' summer surge, had more than 400,000 estimated attendees, many of whom didn't wear masks as they patronized bars, restaurants and concerts.... Republican Gov. Kristi Noem supports the rally, a major economic driver in the state. 'There's a risk associated with everything that we do in life,' Noem wrote on Twitter Wednesday." MB: Yup. There's a risk with jumping out of a plane without of a chute, too. So, hey, why not? (Also linked yesterday.)

Anne Innocenzio of the AP: "Starting Monday, Amazon will be requiring all of its 900,000 U.S. warehouse workers to wear masks indoors, regardless of their vaccination status. The move follows steps by a slew of other retailers, including Walmart and Target, to mandate masks for their workers. In many of those cases the mandates apply to workers in locations of substantial COVID-19 transmission. Amazon said Friday that its call for a nationwide mask mandate for its warehouse workers was in response to the spread of COVID-19 variants in the U.S., and guidance from public health authorities and its own medical experts. Amazon has been requiring only warehouse workers not vaccinated against COVID-19 wear masks."

Leslie Josephs of CNBC: "United Airlines will require its 67,000 U.S. employees to get vaccinated against Covid by no later than Oct. 25 or risk termination, a first for major U.S. carriers that will likely ramp up pressure on rivals. Airlines including United have so far resisted vaccine mandates for all workers, instead offering incentives like extra pay or time off to get inoculated. Delta Air Lines in May started requiring newly hired employees to show proof of vaccination. United followed suit in June." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Mary Jo Pitzi of the Arizona Republic: "State Sen. Otoniel 'Tony' Navarrete [D] is facing seven felony counts involving allegations of sexual conduct with two teenagers, which would add up to a minimum of 49 years in prison if he were convicted. Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Steve McCarthy set a $50,000 bond and placed numerous restrictions on Navarrete, D-Phoenix, should he be released from jail. The lawmaker made his initial court appearance Friday afternoon. Before the afternoon was over, Navarrete's 48 Democratic colleagues in both the House and Senate called on him to resign, and other elected officials joined the chorus asking him to step down.... Police [had] interviewed the alleged victims and then had one of them call Navarette.... In the recorded call, monitored by police, Navarrete, 35, acknowledged touching the victim's penis and performing oral sex on the youth multiple times over several years...." Firewalled.

New York. Jonah Bromwich & Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: "On the day news broke that a woman who has accused Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of groping her breast had filed a formal criminal complaint against him, his lawyers responded with their most detailed defense of the governor yet and sought to cast doubt on key parts of the woman's story. In a news conference streamed online, the governor's personal lawyer, Rita Glavin, suggested that the woman, an executive assistant who has not been named, was not alone with Mr. Cuomo at the Executive Mansion on the day in question, was sent there for different reasons than she has said and had expressed no qualms about the day in emails to colleagues.... Ms. Glavin and lawyers for the executive chamber also used the news conference to question the fairness of a report released this week by the New York state attorney general, Letitia James, that accused the governor of sexually harassing the woman and 10 others, and questioned the impartiality of the investigators who compiled it."

A Guide to Bullies. Chapter 4: Sexual Abuse
     1. Grope the Mark.
     2. Gaslight: deny the Mark's report.
     3. Smear and/or insult the Mark.

Pennsylvania Senate Primary Races. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: The open Senate seat in Pennsylvania "is the only open seat now in Republican hands in a state that Mr. Biden carried, and Democrats see it as their best opportunity to expand their hairbreadth control of the Senate.... On Friday..., [Rep. Conor] Lamb [D] announced his long-expected entry into Pennsylvania&'s 2022 Senate race.... The question is whether he is liberal enough to win the Democratic primary.... The early favorite of progressives and presumed front-runner for the Democratic nomination is Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, something of a folk hero to the national left.... Mr. Fetterman's challenge is [that] ... he could win the May primary but be seen as too liberal for Pennsylvania's general-election voters.... [Other candidates include] Val Arkoosh, a county official in the electorally key Philadelphia suburbs and the only woman in the race, and Malcolm Kenyatta, a telegenic young state lawmaker from North Philadelphia.... [On the Republican side,] almost everyone has elbowed into the 'Super-MAGA-Trumpy' lane." A Politico story is here.

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. Adam Nossiter, et al., of the New York Times: "The Taliban captured a regional hub city in western Afghanistan on Friday, officials said, the first provincial capital to fall to the insurgency since the Biden administration announced the full withdrawal of U.S. troops. The successful takeover marks a significant milestone in the insurgents' relentless march to increase their stranglehold on the Afghan government and retake power in the country. The Taliban have besieged a host of such cities for weeks, and the fall of Zaranj, the provincial capital of Nimruz Province on the Afghanistan-Iran border, is the Taliban's first breakthrough."

Russia. Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "A Russian court sentenced on Friday an American businessman who is one of the country's most prominent foreign investors to a suspended sentence of five-and-a-half years in a penal colony for a conviction on embezzlement charges.... The suspended sentence for the businessman, Michael Calvey, the founder of Baring Vostok, a private equity firm with $3.7 billion under management, means he will not spend time in Russia's notoriously harsh penal colony system, the successor to the gulag camps, unless he violates parole conditions. But the threat of prison that still hangs over Mr. Calvey, and his six co-defendants in the case, was expected nonetheless to put a damper on foreign interest in doing business in Russia, where foreign direct investment is already complicated by weak property rights and Western sanctions."

Japan. Tim Reynolds of the AP: After a rocky start, the U.S. men's basketball team won gold at the Olympics in an 87-82 win over France.

News Lede

Politico (August 6): "The Dixie Fire burning in two Northern California counties is now the largest single wildfire in recorded state history, exploding in size overnight as drought-stricken lands continue to fuel the flames."

The Commentariat -- August 6, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Biden on Friday gave a sober message on a strong July jobs report, saying the nation needs to get more people vaccinated to keep the economy growing strongly. 'My message today is not one of celebration. It's one to remind us we got a lot of hard work left to be done both to beat the delta variant and to continue our advance of economic recovery,' Biden said in remarks from the White House. 'This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated, so we have to get more people vaccinated.'" ~~~

~~~ President Biden, in bid to be impeached, irresponsibly wears tan suit to deliver "sober message":

South Dakota to Hold Second Annual Mass Infection Event, Again Plans to Spread Covid Around the U.S. Erin Shumaker of ABC News: "South Dakota's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which begins Friday and runs through Aug. 15, is expected to draw upwards of 700,000 attendees. Last year's rally, which took place during the height of the United States' summer surge, had more than 400,000 estimated attendees, many of whom didn't wear masks as they patronized bars, restaurants and concerts.... Republican Gov. Kristi Noem supports the rally, a major economic driver in the state. 'There's a risk associated with everything that we do in life,' Noem wrote on Twitter Wednesday." MB: Yup. There's a risk with jumping out of a plane without of a chute, too. So, hey, why not?

Laurie McGinley & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "Federal health officials are racing to ensure that millions of Americans with weakened immune systems can get additional shots of coronavirus vaccines to protect them against the highly contagious delta variant. The actions could mean the extra shots would be authorized in days or weeks, according to federal officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not been announced.

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

Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Postal Service will pay $120 million over the next five years to a major logistics contractor that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy previously helped lead and with which his family maintains financial ties, according to DeJoy's financial disclosure statements. The new contract will deepen the Postal Service's relationship with XPO Logistics, where DeJoy served as supply chain chief executive from 2014 to 2015 after the company purchased New Breed Logistics, the trucking firm he owned for more than 30 years. Since he became postmaster general, DeJoy, DeJoy-controlled companies and his family foundation have divested between $65.4 million and $155.3 million worth of XPO shares.... But DeJoy's family businesses continue to lease four North Carolina office buildings to XPO.... The previously unreported agreement will see XPO take over operations at two crucial sorting and distribution facilities in Atlanta and Washington, D.C."

Mike Lindell absolutely, positively proves Donald Trump won the 2020 election CNN report Drew Griffin confronts MyPillow Guy about his ridiculous claims of 2020 election fraud. It's embarrassing just to watch that Guy:

Leslie Josephs of CNBC: "United Airlines will require its 67,000 U.S. employees to get vaccinated against Covid by no later than Oct. 25 or risk termination, a first for major U.S. carriers that will likely ramp up pressure on rivals. Airlines including United have so far resisted vaccine mandates for all workers, instead offering incentives like extra pay or time off to get inoculated. Delta Air Lines in May started requiring newly hired employees to show proof of vaccination. United followed suit in June."

Neil Irwin of the New York Times: "America is getting back to work. That's the simplest, clearest analysis of the labor market that emerges from nearly every line of the July employment numbers released Friday morning. It is a welcome sign that, as of the middle of last month, the economy is healing rapidly -- and that the previous couple of months reflected healthier results than previously estimated. There are caveats worth mentioning: The surveys on which this data are based were taken before people were worrying very much about the Delta variant of the coronavirus; the share of Americans participating in the work force hasn't really budged; and we still haven't achieved the kind of one-million-plus monthly job gains that seemed plausible back in the spring." Related stories linked under today's Ledes.

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... the Democrats-only part of the public investment [infrastructure] program probably will include some genuine sources of new revenue, if only to satisfy moderates still unduly worried about debt. But when it comes to finding these 'pay-fors,' the G.O.P.'s refusal to raise taxes or even try to collect taxes owed under current law may have done Democrats a favor. Why? Because Democrats can now pay for a lot of what they want with extremely popular policies. Polls consistently show strong support for raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. I haven't seen polling on the idea of getting wealthy tax cheats to pay what they owe, but I think we can safely assume that this would be even more popular. So Republicans have offered Democrats a golden opportunity to show themselves both fiscally responsible and on the side of hard-working Americans as opposed to cheating elites." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link.

9/11 Familes Play Hardball. Courtney Kube of NBC News: "Nearly 1,800 Americans directly affected by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks are opposing President Joe Biden's participation in any memorial events this year unless he upholds his pledge to declassify U.S. government evidence that they believe may show a link between Saudi Arabian leaders and the attacks. The victims' family members, first responders and survivors will release a statement Friday calling on Biden to skip 20th-anniversary events in New York and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon unless he releases the documents, which they believe implicate Saudi officials in supporting the acts of terrorism. The group says that as a candidate Biden pledged to be more transparent and release as much information as possible but that his administration has since then ignored their letters and requests.... 'Through multiple administrations, the Department of Justice and the FBI have actively sought to keep this information secret and prevent the American people from learning the full truth about the 9/11 attacks,' the participants wrote." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Unless DOJ has this info sitting ready to go, I don't see how they could get it out in a month. But the department should figure out a way.

~~~~~~~~~~

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "President Biden on Thursday announced a multistep strategy aimed at rapidly shifting Americans from gasoline-powered cars and trucks toward electric vehicles -- a central part of his plan to reduce the pollution that is heating the planet. Mr. Biden is first restoring and slightly strengthening auto mileage standards to the levels that existed under President Barack Obama but were weakened during the Trump administration. The new rules, which would apply to vehicles in the model year 2023, would cut about one-third of the carbon dioxide produced annually by the United States and prevent the burning of about 200 billion gallons of gasoline over the lifetime of the cars, according to a White House fact sheet.... Mr. Biden's actions amount to an attempt to overhaul a major American industry in order to better compete with China, which makes about 70 percent of the world's electric vehicle batteries." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Video of President Biden's remarks is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Josh Lederman of NBC News: "President Joe Biden took the wheel of a plug-in Jeep Wrangler to tout electric vehicles on Thursday after signing an executive order setting a national goal for zero-emissions vehicles to make up half of new cars and trucks sold by 2030. Aiming to show buy-in from the auto industry, Biden was joined at the White House by Ford and GM executives, along with leaders from the United Auto Workers. In addition to setting the 50 percent-by-2030 goal, the executive order will also kick off the process to replace ... Donald Trump's more relaxed tailpipe and emissions standards with stricter ones, officials said." (This is an update of story linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Uh, Here's a Downside to Electric Vehicles. Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post: "Automakers including General Motors, Audi and Hyundai have recalled electric vehicles over fire risks in recent years and have warned of the associated dangers. Chevrolet last year advised owners not to charge their vehicles overnight or keep their fully charged vehicles in garages. It recalled more than 60,000 of its Bolt electric vehicles over concerns about the cars spontaneously combusting while parked with full batteries or charging, after reports of five fires without prior impact damage. The company issued another recall last month covering the same vehicles after two reports of battery fires in repaired vehicles."

Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden signed legislation Thursday to award the Congressional Gold Medal to police who defended the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection, taking the opportunity to mount his starkest pushback yet against an emerging narrative that the attack was a patriotic protest. 'It wasn't dissent. It wasn't debate. It wasn't democracy,' Biden said during a somber ceremony in the Rose Garden. 'It was insurrection. It was riot and mayhem. It was radical and chaotic, and it was unconstitutional. Maybe most important, it was fundamentally un-American.... The tragedy of that day deserves the truth above all else,' the president said. 'We cannot allow history to be rewritten. We cannot allow the heroism of these officers to be forgotten. We have to understand what happened -- the honest and unvarnished truth. We have to face it. That's what great nations do.'" ~~~

Alan Rappeport & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Republicans and Democrats rushed on Thursday to line up a Senate vote to pass the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, working to clear away the final obstacles despite a finding by Congress's official scorekeeper that the bill would add more than $250 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade.... It followed an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on the cost of the legislation, which was one of the last major hurdles to passing it. The office calculated that nearly half of the new spending -- $256 billion -- would be financed by adding to the nation's debt from 2021 to 2031, contradicting the claims of Republican and Democratic proponents that the measure would fully pay for itself." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah But. Wa-a-ay down the page (Paragraph 17!) the reporters mention the reason for the deficit spending: "... Republicans ruled out raising taxes and beefing up I.R.S. enforcement of tax cheats and Democrats balked at increasing fees for drivers." ~~~

     ~~~ Kevin Freking & Lisa Mascaro of the AP: "The package had appeared on track for eventual Senate passage, a rare accord between Republicans and Democrats joining on a shared priority that also is essential to President Joe Biden's agenda. But senators hit new problems late Thursday as they worked late into the night on amendments. A procedural vote was set for Saturday."

McConnell Threatens to Cripple Federal Government. Alan Fram of the AP: "Republicans will oppose raising the federal debt limit if Democrats pursue their $3.5 trillion, 10-year plan to strengthen social and environment programs, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday. The Kentucky Republican's threat was the most explicit he has been about his desire to force Democrats to either take the politically unpopular step of unilaterally renewing the government's borrowing authority or pare back President Joe Biden's domestic policy agenda. His remarks suggest that another high-stakes budget showdown between the two parties, with the government's financial soundness in the balance, may be on tap."

Betsy Swan & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "A key House committee has postponed multiple scheduled witness interviews about Donald Trump's final days in office, handing them off to the select panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. 'As the Oversight Committee continues its crucial oversight work, we look forward to the Select Committee fully exposing the former president's unconstitutional attacks on our democracy and attempts to stay in power after the American people voted him out of office,' House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement to Politico Thursday.... The shift in the investigation did not appear to affect the upper chamber; a Senate Judiciary Committee spokesperson said Thursday that the panel is beginning to interview witnesses this week in its own inquiry. The chair of that panel, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), told Politico that his committee planned to interview two Trump-era DOJ Justice Department officials soon."

Laurence Tribe, Barbara McQuade & Joyce Vance in a Washington Post op-ed: "As evidence of Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election mounts, the time has come for the Justice Department to begin, if it hasn't already, a criminal investigation of the former president's dangerous course of conduct.... If [Merrick] Garland's Justice Department is going to restore respect for the rule of law, no one, not even a former president, can be above it. And the fear of appearing partisan cannot be allowed to supersede that fundamental precept..... None of [the] facts alone proves a crime beyond a reasonable doubt, but together they clearly merit opening a criminal investigation, which would allow prosecutors to obtain phone and text records, emails, memos and witness testimony to determine whether Trump should be charged." The authors list a number of federal crimes that may have occurred. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Evan Perez of CNN noted on-air Thursday that DOJ has turned over to Congress documents that appear to be evidence of criminal activity on the part of Trump & some of his allies. Since DOJ would normally keep confidential evidence of crimes, it appears the Department is not conducting or contemplating a criminal investigation. Another pundit (whose name I don't know) contributing to the discussion pointed out that Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election were of a piece with Republicans' continuing effort to suppress Democratic votes. Therefore if the DOJ does not pursue charges against Trump, Garland's stated interest in promoting voting rights seems mighty hollow. ~~~

     ~~~ Why, Here's Merrick Now. Merrick Garland in a Washington Post op-ed: "[The] invaluable framework [provided by the Voting Rights Act of 1965] was upended in 2013, when the Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County v. Holder effectively eliminated the act's preclearance protections. Without that authority, the Justice Department has been unable to stop discriminatory practices before they occur. Instead, the Justice Department has been left with costly, time-consuming tools that have many of the shortcomings that plagued federal law prior to 1965. Notwithstanding these setbacks, the Justice Department is using all its current legal authorities to combat a new wave of restrictive voting laws.... It is time for Congress to act again to protect that fundamental right."

Ned Foley of Election Law Blog: "As much as I'm concerned about the risk that on January 6, 2025 there will a successful subversion of the popular vote caused by an abuse of the procedures set forth in the Electoral Count Act, I'm concerned about other ways that the Electoral College system might be gamed so that partisan manipulation of the process prevents the winner of the 2024 presidential election being the candidate preferred by a majority of the nation's voters.... The Constitution's system for presidential elections remains ... profoundly undemocratic and susceptible to manipulation.... It won't necessarily take a coup to defeat the will of the majority; all it may take is using the existing procedures enshrined in the Constitution for over two hundred years."

Steve M. "Richard Hasen ... thinks a 2024 steal of the election could come about not as the result of a riot, but from the courts accepting the notion that (Republican-controlled) legislatures can simply reject vote counts.... Hasen believes the courts could well hand one or more GOP-run legislatures the right to overturn election results.... Challenges to this Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling failed in the federal courts, and other pro-Trump challenges also failed, but four Republican judges on the U.S. Supreme Court expressed support for the notion that legislatures have absolute power to decide how elections are conducted... [But] As I've said before, [most Republicans] want to steal elections the old-fashioned way: by making sure that many Democrats can't vote. That way the results never show a Democrat winning, and the election looks fair. They're working on that in Georgia...." Steve liberally cites an article by Hasen in Slate. It's firewalled, and it's here.

"It's Going to Be Huge." Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "The former data chief for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign has announced a protest next month at the nation's Capitol -- to rail on behalf of so-called 'political prisoners' charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection. 'We're going back to the Capitol, right where it started. And it's going to be huge,' Matt Braynard told former White House strategist Steve Bannon as he announced the rally on Bannon's podcast last week. The protest, 'Justice for J6,' has been set for Sept. 18 at the Capitol. It's being orchestrated by the group Look Ahead America, headed by Braynard.... Braynard told Bannon the crowd [January 6] was 'largely peaceful' -- and simply 'egged on in many cases by the Capitol Police.'"

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "A four-year probe by the Justice Department Inspector General could not determine who in the FBI spoke to reporters about sensitive subjects during the 2016 election, or find evidence that Rudolph W. Giuliani had inside information about an investigation into Hillary Clinton that upended the race in its final days. The report issued Thursday by Inspector General Michael Horowitz said there were 'substantial media contacts' with numerous FBI employees, but the evidence could not determine 'whether these media contacts resulted in the disclosure of nonpublic information.' Horowitz faulted what he called 'a cultural attitude at the FBI that was far too permissive of unauthorized media contacts in 2016.'... A 2018 inspector general report about the Clinton case was highly critical of [then-FBI Director James] Comey and his former boss, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. But Horowitz's office spent three more years working on the leak-hunting portion of the investigation, and came up largely empty." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

FTC Calls BS on Facebook. Cristiano Lima of the Washington Post: "The Federal Trade Commission has dismissed as 'inaccurate' Facebook's claim that it cut off a group of researchers' access to data to comply with a privacy agreement with the agency.... On Tuesday, the social media giant disabled the accounts of researchers at the New York University Ad Observatory, which tracks digital advertisements on the platform, saying in a blog post it did so to comply with a privacy order it struck with the FTC.... The decision and Facebook's justification drew backlash from lawmakers who accused the company of erroneously citing privacy concerns to escape scrutiny from independent researchers. The agency rejected Facebook's assertion in a letter sent to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, penned by Acting Director for the Bureau of Consumer Protection Samuel Levine. 'Had you honored your commitment to contact us in advance, we would have pointed out that the consent decree does not bar Facebook from creating exceptions for good-faith research in the public interest,' he wrote." Levine's letter to Zuckerberg is here.

Tucker Is So Orwellian. Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Tucker Carlson is only the latest -- and most famous -- American conservative to find inspiration in the autocratic government of Hungary under Viktor Orban.... To critics, Orban's Hungary is corrupt, repressive and authoritarian, a place where democracy is little more than window-dressing and the state exists to plunder the public on behalf of a tiny ruling elite. To Carlson, it's a model for the United States, a showcase for anti-immigrant policies and reactionary cultural politics.... We've seen this before. Many times, in fact.... I am inclined to follow the lead of Jeet Heer, a columnist at The Nation, who sees this enthusiasm as a form of 'transferred nationalism,' a term borrowed from George Orwell's famous 1945 essay 'Notes on Nationalism.'" ~~~

~~~ ** Zack Beauchamp of Vox: "This week, America's most watched cable news host is broadcasting from an authoritarian state -- not to criticize its leadership but to praise it. Fox's Tucker Carlson is currently in Budapest, airing his show from Hungary's capital city. In his Monday monologue, Carlson told his listeners that they should pay attention to Hungary 'if you care about Western civilization, and democracy, and family -- and the ferocious assault on all three of those things by leaders of our global institutions.' He tweeted out a friendly photo with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and is confirmed to speak at a government-supported conference in Budapest on Saturday.... Fox's marquee host is aligning himself with a ruler who has spent the past 11 years systematically dismantling Hungary's free political system.... Right-wing observers, typically social conservatives and nationalists, see Orbán's willingness to use state power against the LGBT community, academics, the press, and immigrants as an example of how conservatives can fight back against left-wing cultural power.... Carlson's visit to Budapest, a follow-up to previous pro-Orbán coverage, shows that this authoritarian envy is no longer confined to a fringe." (Also linked yesterday.)

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "Richard Trumka, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the nation's pre-eminent labor federation, for the last 12 years and an influential voice in Democratic politics, died on Thursday. He was 72. The federation confirmed the death. The cause was a heart attack, according to an A.F.L.-C.I.O. official, who did not say where Mr. Trumka died. Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, announced the death on the Senate floor. 'The working people of America have lost a fierce warrior at a time when we needed him most,' Mr. Schumer said in an emotional tribute." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Annie Linskey & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration is considering using federal regulatory powers and the threat of withholding federal funds from institutions to push more Americans to get vaccinated -- a huge potential shift in the fight against the virus and a far more muscular approach to getting shots into arms, according to four people familiar with the deliberations. The effort could apply to institutions as varied as long-term-care facilities, cruise ships and universities, potentially impacting millions of Americans, according to the people.... The conversations are in the early phases and no firm decisions have been made...."

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "After White House legal advisers found he could not extend a national eviction moratorium, President Biden told Chief of Staff Ron Klain to seek the advice of Harvard law professor emeritus Laurence Tribe about whether an alternative legal basis could be devised for protecting struggling renters across the country, according to a person familiar with the matter. The private phone call between Klain and Tribe -- held Sunday amid a national outcry over the expiring moratorium -- set in motion a rapid reversal of the administration's legal position that it could not extend the eviction ban. Tribe suggested to Klain and White House Counsel Dana Remus that the administration could impose a new and different moratorium, rather than try to extend the existing ban in potential defiance of a warning from Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, the person said.... After the administration announced last week that it could not find a legal justification for extending the ban, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) recommended to the White House that Biden seek out Tribe's counsel, according to one person familiar with the matter." (Also linked yesterday.)

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here: "The powerful protection offered by Moderna's Covid vaccine does not wane in the first six months after the second dose, according to a statement released by the company on Thursday morning in advance of its earnings call. But in slides prepared for the call, the company said it anticipated that boosters would be necessary this fall to contend with the Delta variant, which became common in the United States after the results were collected." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Robert Towey of CNBC: "White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has warned that a more severe Covid variant could emerge as the U.S. daily new case average is now approaching 100,000 per day, exceeding the level of transmission last summer before vaccines were available. Fauci, in an interview with McClatchy, said the U.S. could be 'in trouble' if a new variant overtakes delta, which already has a viral load 1,000 times higher than the original Covid strain." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ben Kennedy & Andrea Torres of WPLG Miami: Florida "Gov. Ron DeSantis fired back at President Joe Biden on Wednesday. The Republican governor and the Democratic president disagree on the need for face mask mandates amid a surge in COVID cases. Florida faced more than 50,000 coronavirus infections in just three days. 'If you're not going to help, get out of the way,' Biden said during a news conference Tuesday.... 'If you are coming after the rights in Florida, I am standing in your way,' DeSantis said in response during a news conference Wednesday.... He also added a message about immigration to Biden: 'Why don't you do your job? Why don't you get this border secure? And until you do this, I don't want to hear a blip about COVID from you.[']" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ "Governor Who?" Shannon Crawford of ABC News: "... during an afternoon event [Thursday] on curbing auto emissions, reporters asked [President] Biden about [Gov.] DeSantis' recent comments slamming him and his response to the pandemic. "Governor who?" Biden responded." Earlier, at Thursday's briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki, in answer to a question about DeSantis's remarks, said, "... from Day One, we've approached this not as a political issue but a public health issue," Psaki began. "We remain in touch with officials in Florida, just like we're in touch with officials from around the country about how we can provide assistance from the federal level to help address this public health crisis.... It is a fact ... that 25% of hospitalizations in the country are in Florida. It is also a fact that the governor has taken steps that are counter to public health recommendations.... Frankly our view is that this is too serious, deadly serious to be doing partisan name-calling."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Christina Carrega & Devan Cole of CNN: "The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is launching an investigation into policing practices in the city of Phoenix, Arizona, with a focus on how the city treats residents experiencing homelessness, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday.... The Justice Department's probe will look into unlawful seizes or disposes of the belongings of individuals experiencing homelessness.... Investigators will also determine whether Phoenix police officers engaged in a pattern of deadly force, retaliatory activity against people for conduct protected by the US Constitution's First Amendment as well as discriminatory policing. The department's focus on officers' conduct toward people experiencing homelessness represents the first time the department has specifically focused on the constitutional rights of this community.... Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego [D] said Thursday that she welcomes the government's investigation...."

Michigan. Househunting While Black. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: Roy "Thorne and his son[, who are Black,] were touring a home with real estate agent Eric Brown, who's also Black, in Wyoming, Mich., when police suddenly surrounded the house with guns drawn. The officers were responding to a neighbor's 911 call about a break-in. They ordered the three out of the house, handcuffed them and put them in separate vehicles.... [While] Still handcuffed [in the police car], [Brown] showed them his credentials and said he had a confirmed appointment to show the home. He explained how he had used an app on his phone to access a lockbox with the house key. That's when officers realized the mistake and freed Thorne, Brown and his son. Thorne estimated they were in handcuffs for about 20 minutes. Several officers apologized, and Thorne said he thinks one was genuinely sorry. He said he saw that officer talking with the White couple who called 911. The officer returned to say he had chewed them out, apologized again and left, Thorne said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: HGTV should feature the episode on its show "Househunters," a show which I've read is regularly faked anyway, so a re-enactment would be de rigueur. BTW, I started watching HGTV in the early 90s, and its shows were at the forefront of equal opportunity programming. It regularly featured minority and LGBTQ hosts & guests. At the time, that was refreshing, encouraging & unusual.

New York. Buh-Bye. Michael Gold, et al., of the New York Times: "The State Assembly's impeachment investigation into Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is 'nearing completion' and the body will soon consider 'potential articles of impeachment' against him, the chair of the committee overseeing the inquiry said in a statement on Thursday. Charles D. Lavine, who leads the Assembly's Judiciary Committee, said that lawyers conducting the inquiry have directed Mr. Cuomo and his legal team to submit any evidence in the governor's defense by next Friday. The lawyers had previously issued a subpoena for relevant documents. The move was the latest and most vivid indication yet that the Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, was moving quickly to impeach Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Luis Ferré-Sadurní & Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times on how Andrew "Cuomo & his team retaliated against his accusers.... The fear of retaliation also had a chilling effect: Many of the women who have now accused Mr. Cuomo said it was one of the underlying reasons that they did not immediately report their sexual harassment.... In the governor's decade-long tenure, he has navigated Albany's byzantine ways and steered the state's bureaucracy using brute political force and heavy-handed tactics of bullying and intimidation.... Mr. Cuomo's special counsel, Judith Mogul, who handled complaints from some of the governor's accusers, resigned this week. On Wednesday, he lost support from key labor leaders and one of his staunchest allies, Jay Jacobs, the chairman of the state's Democratic Party. Others had abandoned him earlier this year, as additional women accused the governor of sexual misconduct, and his tone and strategy shifted from apologetic to increasingly defiant." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As you read the story, it may sound familiar to some of you old enough to remember the Lewinsky affair. These are exactly the tactics Bill & Hillary Clinton & some of their top aides used to discredit Monica Lewinsky. Cuomo served as Bill Clinton's HUD secretary. ~~~

~~~ Lachlan Markay of Axios: "The Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue has removed a donation page that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's campaign committee used to solicit contributions, the company confirmed to Axios.... ActBlue is the lifeblood of grassroots Democratic fundraising."

Texas. Nick Corasaniti & David Montgomery of the New York Times: "Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas on Thursday called a new special session of the Legislature that is set to begin on Saturday, renewing Republican efforts to overhaul the state's elections and putting pressure on Democratic lawmakers who left the state for Washington last month to block the legislation. Mr. Abbott, a Republican, stuck to his pledge 'to call special session after special session,' releasing a 17-item agenda for the Republican-controlled Legislature with a new voting bill at the top. The list also included a host of other conservative goals, like restricting abortion access, limiting the ways that students are taught about racism and tightening border security. His announcement sent national attention swinging back to a hotel in downtown Washington, where several dozen Democrats from the Texas House of Representatives are grappling with a familiar question: Stay or go back?"

Way Beyond

Earth. Jonathan Watts of the Guardian: "Last month was the world's worst July for wildfires since at least 2003 when satellite records began, scientists have said, as swaths of North America, Siberia, Africa and southern Europe continue to burn. Driven by extreme heat and prolonged drought, the ignition of forests and grasslands released 343 megatonnes of carbon, about a fifth higher than the previous global peak for July, which was set in 2014. 'This stands out by a clear margin,' said Mark Parrington, a senior scientist in the EU's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, which estimates the carbon releases."

Japan. The New York Times' live updates of the Olympic games Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live Olympics updates for Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ BBC News: "Two Belarusian coaches have lost their Olympic accreditations after allegedly attempting to force an athlete to leave the Games in Tokyo. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed that Artur Shimak and Yury Maisevich had left the Olympic Village. An investigation is under way. The case of Krystina Timanovskaya caught global attention after she refused her team's orders to fly home. She is now in Poland, where she has been granted a humanitarian visa."

News Ledes

CNBC: "Hiring rose in July at its fastest pace in nearly a year despite fears over Covid-19's delta variant and as companies struggled with a tight labor supply, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 943,000 for the month while the unemployment rate dropped to 5.4%, according to the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. The payroll increase was the best since August 2020." The New York Times story is here.

Guardian & Agencies: "The fast-moving Dixie fire tore through the northern California mountain town of Greenville on Wednesday evening, leaving much of the downtown in ashes.... The community, which was partially destroyed by an 1881 fire, dates to California's Gold Rush era and has some buildings more than a century old."

The Commentariat -- August 5, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Buh-Bye. Michael Gold, et al., of the New York Times: "The State Assembly's impeachment investigation into Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is 'nearing completion' and the body will soon consider 'potential articles of impeachment' against him, the chair of the committee overseeing the inquiry said in a statement on Thursday. Charles D. Lavine, who leads the Assembly's Judiciary Committee, said that lawyers conducting the inquiry have directed Mr. Cuomo and his legal team to submit any evidence in the governor's defense by next Friday. The lawyers had previously issued a subpoena for relevant documents. The move was the latest and most vivid indication yet that the Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, was moving quickly to impeach Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat...."

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "Richard Trumka, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the nation's pre-eminent labor federation, for the last 12 years and an influential voice in Democratic politics, died on Thursday. He was 72. The federation confirmed the death. The cause was a heart attack, according to an A.F.L.-C.I.O. official, who did not say where Mr. Trumka died. Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, announced the death on the Senate floor. 'The working people of America have lost a fierce warrior at a time when we needed him most,' Mr. Schumer said in an emotional tribute."

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "A four-year probe by the Justice Department Inspector General could not determine who in the FBI spoke to reporters about sensitive subjects during the 2016 election, or find evidence that Rudolph W. Giuliani had inside information about an investigation into Hillary Clinton that upended the race in its final days. The report issued Thursday by Inspector General Michael Horowitz said there were 'substantial media contacts' with numerous FBI employees, but the evidence could not determine 'whether these media contacts resulted in the disclosure of nonpublic information.' Horowitz faulted what he called 'a cultural attitude at the FBI that was far too permissive of unauthorized media contacts in 2016.'... A 2018 inspector general report about the Clinton case was highly critical of [then-FBI Director James] Comey and his former boss, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. But Horowitzs office spent three more years working on the leak-hunting portion of the investigation, and came up largely empty."

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "President Biden on Thursday will roll out a two-step strategy that uses tailpipe regulations to try to rapidly shift Americans from gasoline-powered cars and trucks toward electric vehicles — a central part of his plan to cut pollution that is heating the planet. Mr. Biden plans to first restore and slightly strengthen auto mileage standards to the levels that existed under President Barack Obama but were weakened during the Trump administration. Next, his administration will draft a set of even more stringent auto pollution rules for both passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks that are designed to ramp up sales of electric vehicles. 'When I say electric vehicles are the future, I'm not joking,' Mr. Biden wrote in a tweet on Wednesday evening. 'Tune in for big news tomorrow.'" An NBC News story is here.

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "After White House legal advisers found he could not extend a national eviction moratorium, President Biden told Chief of Staff Ron Klain to seek the advice of Harvard law professor emeritus Laurence Tribe about whether an alternative legal basis could be devised for protecting struggling renters across the country, according to a person familiar with the matter. The private phone call between Klain and Tribe -- held Sunday amid a national outcry over the expiring moratorium -- set in motion a rapid reversal of the administration's legal position that it could not extend the eviction ban. Tribe suggested to Klain and White House Counsel Dana Remus that the administration could impose a new and different moratorium, rather than try to extend the existing ban in potential defiance of a warning from Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, the person said.... After the administration announced last week that it could not find a legal justification for extending the ban, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) recommended to the White House that Biden seek out Tribe's counsel, according to one person familiar with the matter."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here: "The powerful protection offered by Moderna's Covid vaccine does not wane in the first six months after the second dose, according to a statement released by the company on Thursday morning in advance of its earnings call. But in slides prepared for the call, the company said it anticipated that boosters would be necessary this fall to contend with the Delta variant, which became common in the United States after the results were collected." ~~~

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

Robert Towey of CNBC: "White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has warned that a more severe Covid variant could emerge as the U.S. daily new case average is now approaching 100,000 per day, exceeding the level of transmission last summer before vaccines were available. Fauci, in an interview with McClatchy, said the U.S. could be 'in trouble' if a new variant overtakes delta, which already has a viral load 1,000 times higher than the original Covid strain."

Ben Kennedy & Andrea Torres of WPLG Miami: Florida "Gov. Ron DeSantis fired back at President Joe Biden on Wednesday. The Republican governor and the Democratic president disagree on the need for face mask mandates amid a surge in COVID cases. Florida faced more than 50,000 coronavirus infections in just three days. 'If you're not going to help, get out of the way,' Biden said during a news conference Tuesday.... 'If you are coming after the rights in Florida, I am standing in your way,' DeSantis said in response during a news conference Wednesday.... He also added a message about immigration to Biden: 'Why don't you do your job? Why don't you get this border secure? And until you do this, I don't want to hear a blip about COVID from you.[']"

** Zack Beauchamp of Vox: "This week, America's most watched cable news host is broadcasting from an authoritarian state -- not to criticize its leadership but to praise it. Fox's Tucker Carlson is currently in Budapest, airing his show from Hungary's capital city. In his Monday monologue, Carlson told his listeners that they should pay attention to Hungary 'if you care about Western civilization, and democracy, and family -- and the ferocious assault on all three of those things by leaders of our global institutions.' He tweeted out a friendly photo with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and is confirmed to speak at a government-supported conference in Budapest on Saturday.... Fox's marquee host is aligning himself with a ruler who has spent the past 11 years systematically dismantling Hungary's free political system.... Right-wing observers, typically social conservatives and nationalists, see Orbán's willingness to use state power against the LGBT community, academics, the press, and immigrants as an example of how conservatives can fight back against left-wing cultural power.... Carlson's visit to Budapest, a follow-up to previous pro-Orbán coverage, shows that this authoritarian envy is no longer confined to a fringe."

The New York Times' live updates of the Olympic games Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live Olympics updates for Thursday are here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Only one day after the Biden administration issued a new policy protecting renters from eviction, a series of real estate and landlord groups is trying to invalidate it.... The group asked a federal judge in D.C. to halt the new protections, citing the district court's prior ruling that found the government's first eviction ban to be unlawful. In filing the new legal salvo, the real estate, landlord and property-management groups at times cite the White House's own, previous admissions that it did not have the authority to issue another ban.... If successful, the challenge threatens fresh uncertainty for perhaps millions of Americans who are behind on their monthly rents, facing the prospect of eviction or struggling to obtain federal aid."

David Sanger & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "In a warning to all federal employees, leading defense contractors and the 3.4 million uniformed, civilian and reserve personnel serving in the military, the National Security Agency issued an unusually specific admonition late last week that logging on to public Wi-Fi 'may be convenient to catch up on work or check email,' but it is also an invitation to attackers. In an eight-page document, the agency described how, in a year marked by ransomware attacks on pipelines, meatpackers and even the police force in Washington, D.C., clicking on to the local coffee shop’s network was asking for trouble.... 'Avoid connecting to public Wi-Fi, when possible,' the warning says, stating that even Bluetooth connections can be compromised. 'The risk is not merely theoretical; these malicious techniques are publicly known and in use.'... Hooking on to public Wi-Fi ... in coffee shops, airports, hotel rooms and similar venues..., or enabling Bluetooth connections, or even the capability to make a purchase by tapping a reader with a phone, is an invitation to have nonencrypted data seen by anyone."

Todd Frankel of the Washington Post: "Trump's administration last year rolled back regulations on dishwashers along with shower heads, clothes washers and dryers. The rules relaxed limits on water and energy use. Trump said the goal was to give consumers choices. But almost no one was clamoring for the changes. Manufacturers did not support them. They said there was no need. Environmental groups called the new rules wasteful. Consumer groups said modern appliances already work pretty well. On Tuesday, President Biden's Energy Department said it planned to reverse the Trump-era changes. The still-new rules for dishwashers, washing machines and clothes dryers would go back to what they were before Trump. It comes a couple weeks after the Energy Department said it was doing the same with shower heads."

Justin Jouvenal, et al., of the Washington Post: "... a Georgia man stepped off a bus outside the Pentagon Tuesday, stabbed a police officer and struggled with him, the FBI said. During the melee, Austin Lanz shot Pentagon officer George Gonzalez with the officer's service weapon, before turning the gun on himself, the FBI said. Other Pentagon officers engaged Lanz and he was killed. The officer later died. The account released Wednesday was the first detailed description of the encounter, which prompted a lockdown of the Pentagon and drew a massive response from police and fire agencies. Officials said a bystander was injured. The FBI statement did not shed light on what prompted the horrific attack and the agency said the investigation into the incident was ongoing, but Lanz had been ordered for a mental health evaluation by a judge in Georgia and had acted violently and erratically in recent months, court and police records show." (This is a substantial update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.)

Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday advanced legislation to repeal decades-old authorizations for U.S. military missions in the Middle East, a first-time step in a larger effort in Congress to reclaim lawmakers' war powers from the executive branch. A bipartisan majority of the panel voted 14 to 8 in favor of repealing authorizations Congress passed in 1991 and 2002 to approve of hostilities against Saddam Hussein's erstwhile regime, first to push Iraqi troops out of Kuwait and later to depose him. That legislative coalition all but guarantees that when the measure comes to the Senate floor -- which Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has promised will happen this year -- it will pass." (Also linked yesterday.)

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Attorneys for Donald Trump on Wednesday blasted a Justice Department ruling that directed the Treasury Department to turn over his tax returns to Congress, formally asking a court to block their release and arguing that records of former presidents as well as presidents should be similarly protected from subpoenas by lawmakers. Trump lawyers called last week's decision by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel the latest effort at partisan retaliation against him by Democrats, and denied that the House Ways and Means Committee sought six years of his tax returns out of a legitimate interest in closing tax loopholes exploited by wealthy Americans." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) asked a federal judge to grant him immunity from a lawsuit accusing him of inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol that resulted in five deaths and hundreds of people being injured. On March 5, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) sued Brooks..., Donald Trump and several others after they gave speeches at a Jan. 6 rally in which they falsely claimed the 2020 election results were fraudulent and encouraged rallygoers to march on the Capitol, where Congress was holding an accounting of the electoral college votes.... Brooks previously asked the Justice Department to determine that he was covered by the Westfall Act, legislation that protects federal employees from being sued for doing their jobs." Brooks is representing himself. ~~~

     ~~~ Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "Floating a theory of immunity in a 44-page filing on Tuesday, [Mo] Brooks claimed he was simply 'cooperating' with the 'White House,' a decision affecting his ability to perform his congressional duties.... The lawmaker also noted that he has been 'faithful to his wife' of 45 years, has never received a speeding ticket or smoked tobacco, and that none of his four children have been divorced.... The DOJ last week issued a decision concluding that it could not defend Brooks because his rally speech did not constitute an act within the scope of his employment as a member of Congress, stressing that a lawmaker's job is to pass laws, not instigate an attack on the U.S. Capitol.... In the wake of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Brooks ... falsely claim[ed] the whole ordeal was orchestrated by Trump's political opponents." MB: Yes, but doesn't it seem morally wrong to sue a man who (allegedly) never smoked tobacco?

"That Is Revolution, Not Patriotism." Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge rejected claims that detained defendants in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach are 'political prisoners' or that riot participants acted out of patriotism before sentencing a Michigan man to six months in prison Wednesday.... In a string of plea and sentencing hearings in the riot cases, federal judges appointed by presidents of both parties condemned such claims. Some have gone further to challenge U.S. prosecutors' acceptance of misdemeanor plea deals for individuals involved in 'terrorizing members of Congress.'... Judges at sentencings have been delivering a cold splash of reality to defendants, including some who say they were lied to by Trump or led astray by right-wing commentators or social media.... [On Wednesday,] U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of Washington said Karl Dresch, 41, of Calumet, Mich, was held because of his actions, not his political views.... 'He was not a political prisoner,' Jackson said. 'We are not here today because he supported former president Trump ... He was arrested because he was an enthusiastic participant in an effort to subvert and undo the electoral process.'..."

"One Enormous Conspiracy Theory." Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Colorado has disciplined two lawyers [-- Gary D. Fielder and Ernest John Walker --] who filed a lawsuit challenging the 2020 election late last year, finding that the case was 'frivolous,' 'not warranted by existing law' and filed 'in bad faith.'... Calling the suit 'one enormous conspiracy theory,' Neureiter ordered that the duo must pay the legal fees of all the individuals and companies they had sued -- 18 separate entities in all -- as a way to deter future similar cases.... In a scathing 68-page opinion, Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter found that the lawyers made little effort to corroborate information they had included in the suit [including a tweet by Donald Trump], which argued there had been a vast national conspiracy to steal the election from ... Donald Trump.... 'Albeit disorganized and fantastical, the Complaint's allegations are extraordinarily serious and, if accepted as true by large numbers of people, are the stuff of which violent insurrections are made.'"

Washington Crosses the Rubicon. Sanjana Karanth & Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: After receiving a tip, "Federal agents arrested a man on Wednesday who stormed the U.S. Capitol in a George Washington costume during the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection.... The 'About Us' section of Yoder Lock and Key's website displays a photo of its owners, Isaac and Kelly Yoder, with Isaac Yoder clearly posing in colonial-era clothes[.... In March,] Newsweek published an interview with [Isaac] Yoder, who told the publication that if the Capitol rioters had wanted to cause trouble, there would have been 'piles of bodies.' He again admitted to entering the Capitol that day after hearing ... Donald Trump speak, and that wearing a George Washington costume was his way of paying tribute to the founding of America." The FBI also used a facial recognition program to ID Isaac as an insurrectionist.

Marie: At the end of 2020, as we were all going about our daily lives, perhaps enduring a somewhat joyless holiday season & distracted by our hopes for better as the new year loomed, Donald Trump & his cohort were plotting to pull off a coup that was the greatest threat to our country since the Civil War. Bumbling as they might have been, they nearly succeeded. ~~~

** Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "In recent months..., we've learned that Trump's most direct effort to steal the election unfolded ... over the last few days of 2020. On Tuesday, ABC News published a letter circulated by the then-acting head of the Department of Justice's civil rights division, a man named Jeffery Clark.... [Clark's letter] was ... a road map to overthrowing the will of voters. The amount of detail given to the mechanism for handing the electors to Trump was matched by the dearth of specificity about the alleged 'irregularities' in the state.... [Richard] Donoghue's lengthy response, one likely written with an eye toward it eventually being read by external eyes..., made all of the points you might expect. The purported 'irregularities amounted to nothing more than a few ticky-tack questions about individual votes.... 'I do not think the Department's role should include making recommendations to a State legislature about how they should meet their Constitutional obligation to appoint Electors.' In other words: it is not DOJ's place to tell states how to overturn election results.... Clark's letter was almost certainly not something that occurred independently of Trump.... [Clark was] talking to Trump directly." Worth reading. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Clark's letter, published by ABC News & also linked here yesterday, is here. ~~~

~~~ Marie: You think I might have exaggerated? Top DOJ officials didn't think so. ~~~

~~~ Betsy Swan & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "In early January 2021, one top Justice Department official was so concerned that ... Donald Trump might fire his acting attorney general that he drafted an email announcing he and a second top official would resign in response. The official, Patrick Hovakimian, prepared the email announcing his own resignation and that of the department's second-in-command, Richard Donoghue, as Trump considered axing acting attorney general Jeff Rosen. At the time, Hovakimian was an associate deputy attorney general and senior adviser to Rosen. But Trump didn't fire Rosen, and Hovakimian's draft email -- a copy of which was obtained by Politico -- remained unsent.... 'This evening, after Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen over the course of the last week repeatedly refused the President's direct instructions to utilize the Department of Justice's law enforcement powers for improper ends, the President removed Jeff from the Department,' Hovakimian wrote in his never-sent email. 'PADAG Rich Donoghue and I resign from the Department, effective immediately.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Congress could begin taking testimony as soon as this week from top Justice Department officials who bore witness to... Donald Trump's desperate attempt to overturn his 2020 reelection loss based upon lies and misinformation. And in the increasingly apparent real-time Justice Department efforts to combat that attempt, one man who has agreed to testify is emerging as something of a potential star witness in the effort: Richard P. Donoghue.... The building record of Donoghue's resistance to the gambit makes him one of the most eagerly anticipated witnesses in the investigation. Trump's team has for now signaled it won't fight such testimony."

Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The State Department is investigating the whereabouts of a $5,800 bottle of whiskey the Japanese government gave to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2019, according to two people briefed on the inquiry and a document made public on Wednesday. It was unclear whether Mr. Pompeo ever received the gift, as he was traveling in Saudi Arabia on June 24, 2019, the day that Japanese officials gave it to the State Department, according to a department filing on Wednesday.... American officials can keep gifts that are less than $390. But if the officials want to keep gifts that are over that price, they must purchase them. The department also took the unusual step of noting that the whereabouts of the whiskey is unknown." MB: It doesn't take a helluva lot of imagination to figure out that somebody drank the evidence. Pompeo claims he's not the guy.

Dominick Mastrangelo of the Hill: "Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) is suing NBCUniversal for defamation, citing comments made by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow in March regarding his dealings with an individual sanctioned by the U.S. government. The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas alleges that Maddow and the network 'harbor an institutional hostility, hatred, extreme bias, spite and ill-will' toward Nunes. The congressman's lawyers argue that Maddow's criticisms of Nunes are based on his 'emergence as the most prominent skeptic in Congress of Maddow's marquee news narrative from 2017 to 2019: that the Trump campaign colluded with Russians to hack the 2016 presidential elections.'" MB: Maybe Rachel should have a drink with Devin Nunes' Cow & the two can discuss how sorry they are for making fun of Devin. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eduardo Castillo of the AP: "The Mexican government sued United States gun manufacturers and distributors Wednesday in U.S. federal court, arguing that their negligent and illegal commercial practices have unleashed tremendous bloodshed in Mexico. The unusual lawsuit was filed in U.S. federal court in Boston. Among those being sued are some of the biggest names in guns, including: Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc.; Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc.; Beretta U.S.A. Corp.; Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC, and Glock Inc. Another defendant is Interstate Arms, a Boston-area wholesaler that sells guns from all but one of the named manufacturers to dealers around the U.S." The Washington Post's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

David Gilbert of Vice: "Facebook has made good on its threat to kick out a group of researchers who've been among the platform's biggest critics. The Cybersecurity for Democracy project at New York University has revealed major flaws in Facebook political ad transparency tools and highlighted how Facebook's algorithms were amplifying misinformation. Most recently, it helped track vaccine disinformation.... Despite the obvious benefits of the work being done by these researchers, on Tuesday evening, the company cut the cord. 'This evening, Facebook suspended my Facebook account and the accounts of several people associated with Cybersecurity for Democracy, our team at NYU,' Laura Edelson, one of the researchers at NYU, tweeted.... Edelson's colleague Damon McCoy called Facebook's decision 'disgraceful' at a time when the disinformation around COVID-19 and vaccines is literally costing lives." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is developing plans to require all foreign travelers to the United States to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, with limited exceptions, according to an administration official with knowledge of the developing policy. The plan, reported earlier by Reuters, will be part of a new system to be put in place after the current restrictions on travel into the country are lifted, but officials have yet to determine when that might be done." Politico's story is here.

Matt Seyler & Luis Martinez of ABC News: "Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is expected to announce his recommendation to President Joe Biden that COVID-19 vaccines be made mandatory for troops, officials told ABC News Wednesday evening. A senior official said the announcement will come 'soon,' while a separate U.S. official said an announcement is expected by the end of this week."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Arkansas. Jade Jackson of KTHV Little Rock: "Governor Asa Hutchinson [R-Ark.] on Tuesday expressed regret for signing Act 1002 into Arkansas law. The new law bans the state and local officials from enacting any mask mandates. During a press conference, Hutchinson answered questions about why he signed the proposal into law. He said that when he initially approved it a few months ago, both COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations were at a 'low point' in Arkansas and were declining. Now as the delta variant is causing a new wave in the state along with low vaccination rates, Hutchinson said that in hindsight he wishes that Act 1002 had not become law.... Hutchinson expressed his support for an amendment to the mask mandate ban to allow for school districts to enact mask wearing rules." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. Reese Oxner of the Texas Tribune: "A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Gov. Greg Abbott and the state of Texas from ordering state troopers to pull over drivers transporting migrants 'who pose a risk of carrying COVID-19.' U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone granted a temporary restraining order against Abbott's move, meaning it will be blocked while the case continues to unfold. The U.S. Justice Department sued Abbott and Texas on Friday, a day after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland threatened to take legal action if Abbott didn't rescind his order, calling it 'dangerous and unlawful.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: In April, a Texas Republican leader called H Scott Apley"responded to what Baltimore's former health commissioner was heralding as 'great news' -- clinical trials showed the Pfizer vaccine was effective at fighting the coronavirus for at least six months, including one of the recent variants. 'You are an absolute enemy of a free people,' he wrote in a Twitter reply. And on Friday, the 45-year-old Dickinson City Council member republished a Facebook post implying that vaccines don't work. Two days later, Apley was admitted to a Galveston hospital with 'pneumonia-like symptoms' and tested positive for covid, according to an online fundraising campaign.... On Wednesday, he died...." The Raw Story's report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Karen DeWitt of WAMC Radio Albany: "The New York State Assembly Judiciary Committee held its first meeting of an impeachment inquiry into Governor Andrew Cuomo Tuesday, over allegations that he sexually harassed several women, as well as other controversies. But the chair of the committee, Democrat Charles Lavine, says it could be quite a while before it reaches any conclusions.... Lavine laid out the scope of the investigation, which will include charges by multiple women of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior by the governor, and whether Cuomo and his aides covered up nursing home COVID death numbers and safety concerns over the Thruway's Mario M. Cuomo bridge." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "A blistering state attorney general's report alleging that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women has pushed state legislators to expedite impeachment proceedings -- but the process is still expected to last months, lawmakers said.... The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to meet Monday in Albany to work out a timetable. In addition to the harassment allegations, lawyers hired by the committee have been looking into allegations that the Cuomo administration intentionally undercounted Covid-19 nursing home deaths and misused state resources on Cuomo's book about leadership during the pandemic. Cuomo has denied wrongdoing in those cases, as well. Assembly investigators are 'very far along' in the inquiries, [Assemblyman Michael] Montesano [R] said." ~~~

~~~ Marina Villeneuve & Jennifer Peltz of the AP: "A majority of state Assembly members support beginning impeachment proceedings against Gov. Andrew Cuomo if he doesn't resign over investigative findings that he sexually harassed at least 11 women, according to an Associated Press count Wednesday. At least 86 of the body's 150 members have said publicly or told The AP that they favored initiating the process of ousting the third-term Democratic governor if he doesn't quit. It takes a simple majority to authorize an impeachment trial. The tally reflects a governor plunged into a political deep freeze -- a Democratic scion who has now lost most, if not all, of his allies in the party establishment, just a year after basking in national attention as a blunt-but-relatable voice of fighting the coronavirus." ~~~

~~~ Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "The district attorneys for Manhattan and Westchester County asked New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday for evidence related to her office's bombshell report accusing Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment. Westchester DA Mimi Rocah, in a letter obtained by NBC News, told James she plans to conduct an inquiry into whether the alleged sexual misconduct by Cuomo that occurred in her jurisdiction was 'criminal in nature.' A spokesperson for Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. told NBC later Wednesday that, 'When our office learned yesterday that the Attorney General's investigation of the Governor's conduct was complete, our office contacted the Attorney General's Office to begin requesting investigative materials in their possession pertaining to incidents that occurred in Manhattan.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: MSNBC reports on-air that the Nassau County (Long Island) D.A. also is requesting documents. ~~~

~~~ Michael Scherer & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Days after the first accusation of misconduct surfaced last year against New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), his staff began reaching out to a prominent advocate for sexual harassment victims and the head of the largest gay rights group for guidance as they mulled how to discredit his accuser. This week, an independent investigation commissioned by New York Attorney General Letitia James found that the subsequent effort by the governor's office to undermine the credibility of former Cuomo adviser Lindsey Boylan -- by leaking her private employee records and circulating a draft of a letter that impugned her credibility -- amounted to 'unlawful retaliation.'" ~~~

~~~ Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: Andrew Cuomo's many troubles have put his brother Chris Cuomo, CNN's top anchor, in an awkward position. Many think the network is not handling the situation properly.

Hawaii. From the "It Could Happen to You" Department. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: "Joshua Spriestersbach fell asleep on a sidewalk one hot day in May 2017 while waiting for food outside of a Honolulu homeless shelter. He woke up to a police officer arresting him ... because [the officer] believed Spriestersbach was a man named Thomas Castleberry, who had an arrest warrant out for allegedly violating probation in a 2006 drug case. It was the first mistake of many that led to Spriestersbach spending two years and eight months in jail and a mental institution for crimes he didn't commit, according to a 36-page petition filed Monday by the Hawaii Innocence Project. While locked up, doctors pumped him full of powerful psychiatric drugs, judges ruled that he was unfit to stand trial and his lawyers ignored his assertions that police had the wrong man, the document claims.... '[T]he more Mr. Spriestersbach vocalized his innocence by asserting that he is not Mr. Castleberry, the more he was declared delusional and psychotic by the [hospital] staff and doctors and heavily medicated,' [Innocence Project lawyer Jennifer] Brown wrote. This went on for more than two more years, even though the public defenders representing him could have easily verified his claims, the petition argues."

Way Beyond

Turkey. Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "As Turkey battles its worst forest fires in decades, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is under ferocious attack for his handling of the disaster, as well as his broader management of a country that was already battered by an economic crisis and the pandemic. Fires blazed uncontrollably for the eighth day on Wednesday, aggravated by a record-breaking heat wave that follows a prolonged drought. The nation has watched in horror images on television and social media, as thousands of people have been forced to evacuate homes, coastal resorts and whole villages, primarily in the south, and herds of livestock have perished in fast-moving blazes.... The disaster has affected mostly southern coastal districts that are held by the largest opposition party, the Republican People's Party, or C.H.P., and local mayors and party officials ... soon complained in interviews and video appeals that they were not receiving the help needed from the central government -- planes and helicopters to douse the blazes."

Japan. The New York Times' live Olympics games updates Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.);