The Commentariat -- June 18, 2021

Late Morning Update:

Darlene Superville of the AP: "President Joe Biden took a cautious victory lap Friday in his quest to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control, announcing that 300 million vaccine shots have been administered in the 150 days since he took office. Biden credited scientists, companies, the American people and his whole-of-government effort. The president noted that the widespread vaccination campaign had set the stage for most Americans to have a relatively normal summer as businesses reopen and employers hire.... But as Biden marks one milestone, he is in danger of failing to meet another: his target to have 70% of American adults at least partially vaccinated by July Fourth, in a little over two weeks.""

Elizabeth Dias of the New York Times: "The Roman Catholic bishops of the United States, flouting a warning from the Vatican, have overwhelmingly voted to draft guidance on the sacrament of the Eucharist, advancing a political push by conservative bishops to deny President Biden communion because of his support of abortion rights. The decision, made public on Friday afternoon, is aimed at the nation's second Catholic president, perhaps the most religiously observant commander in chief since Jimmy Carter, and exposes bitter divisions in American Catholicism. It capped three days of contentious debate at a virtual June meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The measure was approved by a vote of 73 percent in favor and 24 percent opposed.... The move to target a president, who regularly attends Mass and has spent a lifetime steeped in Christian rituals and practices, is striking coming from leaders of the president's own faith, particularly after many conservative Catholics turned a blind eye to the sexual improprieties of ... Donald J. Trump because they supported his political agenda. It reveals a uniquely American Catholicism increasingly at odds with Rome." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Those old farts, with all due respect, should read the part of Matthew's Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says not to do as the hypocrites do. The hypocrites Jesus calls out are rabbis -- that is, the equivalent of priests & bishops.

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Tucker Carlson's quickly debunked assertion that the FBI may have helped organize the January 6 insurrection is gaining GOP backers. Among them, Gohmert, Gaetz & Greene. It's a convenient story because it relieves Trump -- and them -- of responsibility for the insurrection; the fact that they story is bogus matters not a whit.

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

Glenn Thrush & Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Missouri has become the latest state to throw down a broad challenge to the enforcement of federal firearms laws.... A bill signed by Gov. Mike Parson over the weekend -- at a gun store called Frontier Justice -- threatens a penalty of $50,000 against any local police agency that enforces certain federal gun laws and regulations that constitute 'infringements' of Second Amendment gun rights. At least eight other states -- Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia -- have taken similar action this year, passing laws of varying strength that discourage or prohibit the enforcement of federal gun statutes by state and local agents and officers."MB: You know, Mike, you aren't just dangerous; you're damned silly. How is anyone supposed to take seriously a governor who signs a bill at a gun store, much less a store called "Frontier Justice"? Did you wear a cowboy hat, boots & spurs, and sport a packed holster riding low on your hips?

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Kate Sullivan & Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "President Joe Biden said that signing legislation into law on Thursday establishing June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day -- a US federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States -- will go down as 'one of the greatest honors' of his presidency.... 'I regret that my grandchildren aren't here, because this is a really, really, really important moment in our history. By making Juneteenth a federal holiday, all Americans can feel the power of this day and learn from our history -- and celebrate progress and grapple with the distance we've come (and) the distance we have to travel,' Biden said. Th ceremony, which took place in the East Room, included some 80 members of Congress -- including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, local elected officials, community leaders and activists. The President specifically noted that Opal Lee, the activist who campaigned to establish Juneteenth as a federal holiday, was in attendance. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Major General Gordon Granger announced the end of slavery in Galveston, Texas, in accordance with President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Only a handful of states currently observe Juneteenth as a paid holiday." ~~~

     ~~~ Annie Karni & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "At the White House, Mr. Biden singled out Opal Lee, an activist who at the age of 89 decided to walk from her home in Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., in an effort to get Juneteenth named a national holiday. The president called her 'a grandmother of the movement to make Juneteenth a federal holiday' and got down on one knee to greet her in the audience." ~~~

     ~~~ Video of the full ceremony is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Ashley Vaughn of CNN profiles Opal Lee. ~~~

     ~~~ John Wagner, et al., of the Washington Post: "Because June 19 falls on a Saturday this year, most federal employees will get this Friday off." ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Collins of USA Today: "Mail delivery will go on as scheduled on Friday and Saturday even though Friday is a federal holiday under a new law signed Thursday by President Joe Biden.... 'The U.S. Postal Service is fully supportive of the new Juneteenth National Independence Day Act and making June 19 a federal holiday. Unfortunately, it is not possible to cease the operations of the Postal Service to accommodate an observance over the next 24-48 hours,' the postal service said in a statement."

Reuters, via Yahoo! News: "Russian President Vladimir Putin lavished praise on ... Joe Biden on Thursday, a day after the two leaders held a summit, saying Biden was incorrectly portrayed in the Russian and U.S. media as being unfocused and vague.... Speaking to university graduates by video link later on Thursday, Putin, 68, had only warm words for Biden, 78, in contrast to Russian state media which has sometimes portrayed the U.S. president as struggling to do his job both physically and mentally. 'I want to say that the image of President Biden that our press and even the American press paints has nothing in common with reality,' Putin told the graduates. 'He was on a long trip, had flown across the Ocean, and had to contend with jet lag and the time difference. When I fly it takes its toll. But he looked cheerful, we spoke face-to-face for two or maybe more hours. He's completely across his brief,' said Putin. 'Biden is a professional, and you have to be very careful in working with him to make sure you don't miss anything. He doesn't miss anything, I can assure you.'"

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "U.S. prosecutors for the first time have charged a defendant in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach with violating a federal law that makes it a crime to transport a firearm or explosive for unlawful use in a riot. The rare weapons charge was handed up Wednesday in a five-count superseding indictment against Guy Wesley Reffitt, 48, who prosecutors say brought a rifle and semiautomatic handgun to Washington and recruited members to a right-wing Texas Three Percenters group claiming he had created a new security business to circumvent gun laws.... Prosecutors in court filings said he brought an AR-15 rifle and a Smith & Wesson on his trip, and was recorded telling his family he carried them to the Capitol."

Marshall Cohen & Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The Justice Department on Thursday released horrifying new police body camera footage from the January 6 assault on the US Capitol, after CNN and other outlets requested the tapes. The footage was used in the case against Thomas Webster, a former Marine and retired police officer from the New York City Police Department accused of participating in the Capitol attack. Prosecutors say that the 56-second tape shows Webster, wearing a red coat among a large crowd of pro-Trump rioters, screaming profanities at officers, threateningly wielding a flagpole, and finally rushing at the officers, who engaged in hand-to-hand combat with him and other members of the mob. One of the officers eventually wrestles away the flagpole, but Webster then tackles the cop to the ground."

Ryan Goodman & Andrew Weissman in a Washington Post op-ed: During two days of testimony before House committees, FBI Director Christopher Wray failed to answer where the FBI was during the weeks leading up to the January 6 insurrection. "What is clear is that the FBI knew enough to take further action, but failed to do so.... [Wray's] responsibility for leading the FBI during a foreseeable domestic terrorist attack needs to come under greater scrutiny, as it should in a healthy democracy, and he must do more to give lawmakers the information they need to assure this kind of assault does not happen again." MB: It seems to me Wray has not mentally transitioned from working for Trump to working for Biden. He thinks he still has to hide facts from the American people and a Democratic Congress. Once again, a Democratic president had made the mistake of thinking it's a good idea to have a Republican leading the FBI.

Mike DeBonis & Vanessa Williams of the Washington Post: "Senate Republicans vowed Thursday to block voting legislation from advancing later this month, rejecting ... key Democratic senator [Joe Manchin]'s compromise offer that adopted some GOP ideas in a bid to break partisan gridlock on the issue. The pledge from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) all but guarantees that Republicans will filibuster a sweeping voting bill that Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) is sending to the floor Tuesday. Parts of the bill are meant to overrule provisions contained in a host of GOP-passed state laws that have placed restrictions on early voting, mail-in voting, ballot drop boxes and other policies that make it easier to cast a ballot, in response to ... Donald Trump's false claims of a stolen 2020 presidential election." The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Whaddaya think of the filibuster now, Clueless Joe? ~~~

     ~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "On Thursday morning, leading voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams ... told CNN she supports Sen. Joe Manchin III's (D-W.Va.) compromise bill to protect democracy.... Republicans were thrilled because..., as Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri candidly put it, they now get to rebrand Manchin's compromise as 'the Stacey Abrams substitute.'... Which should illustrate the folly of seeking bipartisanship as a precondition for protecting democracy in the first place." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In an episode of Piling on Metaphors, some pundit said yesterday that senators were playing a game of "kabuki chess" as they positioned themselves on voting rights legislation. This assumes that Manchin, Schumer & McConnell all know what they're doing. I'll reserve judgment until these voting rights bills become laws & Texas legislators can no longer discriminate against the people of Harris County.

Andrew Desiderio & Connor O'Brien of Politico: "The House voted to repeal the 2002 authorization for the use of military force in Iraq on Thursday, a rare and historic effort by lawmakers to rein in presidential war powers.... The 268-161 vote was bipartisan, drawing support from 49 Republicans and all but one Democrat. It was also a victory for Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who has pushed for the repeal for several years while presidents from both parties have undermined Congress' role.... Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced his support for repealing the 2002 authorization and said it would get a vote on the Senate floor sometime this year. President Joe Biden also backs the effort. A complementary bill is making its way through the Senate beginning next week with a Foreign Relations Committee markup; but the upper chamber's version, crafted by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), also repeals the 1991 authorization --which Congress passed in the run-up to the first Gulf War -- in addition to scrapping the 2002 measure."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Affordable Care Act on Thursday survived a third major challenge as the Supreme Court, on a 7-to-2 vote, turned aside the latest effort by Republicans to kill the health care law. The legislation, President Barack Obama's defining domestic legacy, has been the subject of relentless Republican hostility. But attempts in Congress to repeal it failed, as did two earlier Supreme Court challenges, in 2012 and 2015. With the passing years, the law gained popularity and became woven into the fabric of the health care system. On Thursday, in what Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. called, in dissent, 'the third installment in our epic Affordable Care Act trilogy,' the Supreme Court again sustained the law. Its future now seems secure and its potency as a political issue for Republicans reduced." (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's report is here.

This decision might as well be written on the dissolving paper sold in magic shops. -- Justice Samuel Alito, Fulton v. Philadelphia, dissent ~~~

~~~ Supremes Say It's A-OK to Discriminate Against Gay Couples. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled that Philadelphia may not bar a Catholic agency that refused to work with same-sex couples from screening potential foster parents. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for six members of the court, said that since the city allowed exceptions to its policies for some other agencies it must also do so in this instance. The Catholic agency, he wrote, 'seeks only an accommodation that will allow it to continue serving the children of Philadelphia in a manner consistent with its religious beliefs; it does not seek to impose those beliefs on anyone else.'" The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ "Alito Was Just Pissed." Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The key fault line in the Supreme Court that Donald Trump built is not the ideological clash between right and left -- it's the increasingly acrimonious conflict within the court's now-dominant conservative wing. Those rifts burst wide open on Thursday with two of the highest-profile decisions of the court's current term. In both the big cases -- involving Obamacare and a Catholic group refusing to vet same-sex couples as foster parents in Philadelphia -- conservative justices unleashed sharp attacks that seemed aimed at their fellow GOP appointees for failing to grapple with the core issues the cases presented.... Leading the charge from the right in both cases Thursday was Justice Samuel Alito, who penned caustic opinions taking his colleagues to task for issuing narrow rulings that seemed to him to be aimed at defusing political tensions rather than interpreting the law.... There was little doubt his criticism was aimed primarily at Chief Justice John Roberts, who provided the pivotal vote to uphold Obamacare nine years ago and voted Thursday to leave the law intact by concluding that the Republican-led states seeking to overturn it lacked legal standing to sue."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in favor of two American corporations accused of complicity in child slavery on Ivory Coast cocoa farms. The decision was the latest in a series of rulings imposing strict limits on lawsuits brought in federal court based on human rights abuses abroad. The case was brought by six citizens of Mali who said they were trafficked into slavery as children. They sued Nestlé USA and Cargill, saying the firms had aided and profited from the practice of forced child labor. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, said the companies' activities in the United States were not sufficiently tied to the asserted abuses." (Also linked yesterday.)

Colby Itkowitz & Peter Hermann of the Washington Post: "Rep. Andrew S. Clyde (R-Ga.), who voted against awarding police officers the Congressional Gold Medal for their bravery in protecting the U.S. Capitol against violent, pro-Trump rioters on Jan. 6, refused to shake hands with D.C. police officer Michael Fanone on Wednesday. Fanone was beaten unconscious after he voluntarily rushed to the Capitol to help defend it from those who breached the building. He suffered a concussion and a mild heart attack. In the months since, Fanone has been one of the leading voices pushing back against Republicans who have sought to downplay the severity of what happened Jan. 6. Fanone, joined by Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, returned to the Capitol on Wednesday, the day after 21 House Republicans voted against the Gold Medal resolution, in an effort to meet them and tell his story. [Fanone] said he recognized Clyde at an elevator and that he and Dunn hopped in with the congressman. 'I simply extended my hand and said, "How are you doing today, Congressman." I knew immediately he recognized me by the way he reacted. He completely froze. He just stared at me,' Fanone said...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post (June 16): Fox "News" host Tucker Carlson is claiming that the FBI helped organize the January 6 insurrection. Here's Tucker's "logic": some indictments of alleged Capitol insurectionists & planners refer to unnamed "unindicted co-conspirators"; since the feds won't name these individuals, they must be FBI agents. Tucker bases his conclusion on a "report" by a former White House speechwriter who was fired from that job because he was associated with white supremacists. Just to be clear, there are a number of reasons court filings don't name unindicted co-conspirators, and "because they're federal agents" is not one of them. MB: As for the logical fallacy here, I don't know; maybe it's argumentum ad tucquer's assholium. It is absolutely senseless.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Fraudit Takes a Road Trip. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "Data collected from the widely criticized pro-Trump Arizona vote 'audit' has now been shipped to a mysterious 'lab' in Montana to be 'forensically evaluated.'... However, the so-called lab's exact location in the state remains a secret. CNN reporter Gary Tuchman did some detective work and discovered a piece of property owned by Cipher's CEO in Montana, but he could not determine whether that location was the one where the data was taken." MB: I'm sure we don't have to worry about the integrity of the vote count now. (Also linked yesterday.)

Missouri. Jim Salter of the AP: "A St. Louis couple who gained notoriety for pointing guns at social justice demonstrators pleaded guilty Thursday to misdemeanor charges, but the man left the courthouse defiantly pledging to 'do it again' if faced with the same circumstances. Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was fined $2,000. Her husband, Mark McCloskey, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was fined $750. They also agreed to give up the weapons they used during the confrontation.... Mark McCloskey, who announced in May that he was running for a U.S. Senate seat in Missouri, was unapologetic after the hearing." ~~~

     ~~~ Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "Video and photographs of rifle-wielding Mark McCloskey and pistol-toting Patricia McCloskey in front of their mansion on June 28 captured the attention of the country, including ... Donald Trump, who spoke out in defense of the couple.... The couple has touted themselves as conservative defenders against 'the liberal mob,' earning newfound celebrity status and a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention."

Oregon. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "A group of about 50 police officers who had served voluntarily on a specialized crowd control unit in Portland, Ore., have stepped down from the squad after a year of sometimes violent clashes with protesters, the city's Police Department said on Thursday. The resignations came just hours after a member of the unit, Officer Corey Budworth, was indicted on a misdemeanor assault charge that he physically injured an independent photojournalist during a protest in August. Video of the episode shows an officer using his baton to shove a woman to the ground and then pushing the baton in her face.... The officers ... had complained not only about the indictment, but about what they viewed as a broader lack of support after more than 150 nights of sustained protests...."

Marie: We must never lose sight of the sheer malevolence of the Republican party. Whether it's trying to keep Americans from elemental human rights, like voting and adequate health care; whether it's discriminating against women, or ethnic or religious minorities, or LGBTQ people; whether it's inciting, participating in and then denying an insurrection against their own government; whether it's turning guns on peaceful demonstrators or making assault weapons widely available to irresponsible Americans; whether it's giving economic advantage to the rich at the expense of everyone else; whether it's slandering others or lying or cheating. Whatever. These are nasty people, and it is not "enlightened" or "even-handed" or "fair" to try to "understand" them or "appreciate their points of view."

The Commentariat -- June 17, 2021

Late Morning Update:

John Kruzel of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld ObamaCare against the latest Republican challenge, preserving the landmark law and its key protections for millions of people with preexisting health conditions. The justices ruled 7-2 that the GOP challengers lacked standing to sue." MB: @10:12 am ET, this is a breaking story, so that's all there is. The argument will almost certainly come before the Court again, the next time with a plaintiff that the Court would deem had standing (i.e., someone who claimed "injury" under the law). It ain't over till it's over. Update: The New York Times report, by Adam Liptak, is here.

Supremes Say It's A-OK to Discriminate Against Gay Couples. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled that Philadelphia may not bar a Catholic agency that refused to work with same-sex couples from screening potential foster parents. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for six members of the court, said that since the city allowed exceptions to its policies for some other agencies it must also do so in this instance. The Catholic agency, he wrote, 'seeks only an accommodation that will allow it to continue serving the children of Philadelphia in a manner consistent with its religious beliefs; it does not seek to impose those beliefs on anyone else.'" The AP's report is here.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in favor of two American corporations accused of complicity in child slavery on Ivory Coast cocoa farms. The decision was the latest in a series of rulings imposing strict limits on lawsuits brought in federal court based on human rights abuses abroad. The case was brought by six citizens of Mali who said they were trafficked into slavery as children. They sued Nestlé USA and Cargill, saying the firms had aided and profited from the practice of forced child labor. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, said the companies' activities in the United States were not sufficiently tied to the asserted abuses."

Colby Itkowitz & Peter Hermann of the Washington Post: "Rep. Andrew S. Clyde (R-Ga.), who voted against awarding police officers the Congressional Gold Medal for their bravery in protecting the U.S. Capitol against violent, pro-Trump rioters on Jan. 6, refused to shake hands with D.C. police officer Michael Fanone on Wednesday. Fanone was beaten unconscious after he voluntarily rushed to the Capitol to help defend it from those who breached the building. He suffered a concussion and a mild heart attack. In the months since, Fanone has been one of the leading voices pushing back against Republicans who have sought to downplay the severity of what happened Jan. 6. Fanone, joined by Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, returned to the Capitol on Wednesday, the day after 21 House Republicans voted against the Gold Medal resolution, in an effort to meet them and tell his story. [Fanone] said he recognized Clyde at an elevator and that he and Dunn hopped in with the congressman. 'I simply extended my hand and said, "How are you doing today, Congressman." I knew immediately he recognized me by the way he reacted. He completely froze. He just stared at me,' Fanone said...."

Fraudit Takes a Road Trip. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "Data collected from the widely criticized pro-Trump Arizona vote 'audit' has now been shipped to a mysterious 'lab' in Montana to be 'forensically evaluated.'... However, the so-called lab's exact location in the state remains a secret. CNN reporter Gary Tuchman did some detective work and discovered a piece of property owned by Cipher's CEO in Montana, but he could not determine whether that location was the one where the data was taken." MB: I'm sure we don't have to worry about the integrity of the vote count now.

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Jonathan Lemire, et al., of the AP: "President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded their summit on Wednesday with an agreement to return their nations' ambassadors to their posts in Washington and Moscow and a plan to begin work toward replacing the last remaining treaty between the two countries limiting nuclear weapons. But the two leaders offered starkly different views on difficult simmering issues including cyber and ransomware attacks originating from Russia. Putin insisted anew that his country has nothing to do with such attacks, despite U..S. intelligence that indicates otherwise. Biden, meanwhile, said that he made clear to Putin that if Russia crossed certain red lines -- including going after major American infrastructure -- his administration would respond and 'the consequences of that would be devastating[.]'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "highly anticipated first summit meeting between President Biden and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia ended early on Wednesday and was described by both sides as a series of polite but adamantly stated disagreements about which country is the greater force of global disruption. After about three hours of talks, the two leaders emerged, separately, and offered professional respect for each other, like two skilled boxers describing the other's prowess. Both expressed a desire for a better relationship, but announced no dramatic actions to arrest the downward spiral that has already hurtled them toward the worst U.S.-Russian tensions since the Cold War." ~~~

     ~~~ And He Got It Ju-u-ust Right. Marie: So the New York Times has a front-page analysis about how, after his meeting with Vlad, President Biden demonstrated "a stubborn optimism that critics say borders on worrisome naïveté." And the Washington Post has a front-page article about how Biden's "pessimism about the prospects of changing Putin's mind on issues such as human rights would inform his actions."

Anita Kumar of Politico: "A scuffle broke out among U.S. and Russian journalists outside the much-anticipated meeting between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday, leading the media to be largely shut out of the summit. Journalists from both countries rushed to the site of the meeting -- the Villa La Grange, an 18th century building located in a park near Lake Geneva -- but were stopped by U.S. and Russian security and government officials and told to line up separately and in single file.... Instead, journalists and officials screamed.... Eventually nine U.S. journalists and an unknown number of Russia journalists were allowed inside the villa's library where Biden and Putin were seated.... Journalists pushed and yelled at each other to move. After just a minute or two, Russian security pulled the red rope separating the media from the leaders to try to keep the media further away from the leaders. Russian security yelled at journalists to get out of the room and began pushing journalists. U.S. journalists and White House officials began screaming that the Russian security should stop touching them."

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "The Education Department said on Wednesday that transgender students were protected under Title IX, a law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded schools, reversing a Trump-era policy that effectively had said the opposite.... The decision was rooted in a Supreme Court ruling last year that determined that protections in the Civil Rights Act against discrimination in the workplace extended to gay and transgender people, and similar interpretations of the ruling have appeared in agencies throughout President Biden's government." This is a reversal of the department's position under Trump.

Katie Benner & Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "Attorney General Merrick B. Garland reversed on Wednesday Trump-era immigration rulings that had made it all but impossible for people to seek asylum in the United States over credible fears of domestic abuse or gang violence, marking one of the Justice Department's most significant breaks with the previous administration. His decisions came in closely watched cases where his predecessors, the former attorneys general Jeff Sessions and William P. Barr, broke with precedent to overturn decisions by immigration appeals judges that would have allowed such asylum claims." ~~~

     ~~~ Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "Garland's decisions vacated Trump-era rulings that had limited asylum eligibility for immigrants fleeing gangs or gender-based attacks, which his administration characterized as 'private' forms of violence that did not constitute membership in a persecuted social group. Wednesday's decisions return U.S. asylum processing rules to pre-Trump standards."

Rachel Siegel & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The Federal Reserve expects inflation will climb to 3.4 percent this year, higher than the central bank's previous forecasts, while also projecting for the first time that there could be two interest rate hikes in 2023. As recently as March, the Fed predicted inflation would be 2.4 percent for this year. Earlier estimates didn't project an initial rate hike until 2024. Fed leaders also moved up estimates for when interest rates could rise from near zero. Projections released after the Fed's two-day policy meeting showed that the Fed now expects to make two rate increases by the end of 2023, sooner than previously expected." The AP's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michael Schmidt & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The Justice Department closed a criminal investigation into whether a disparaging memoir by ... Donald J. Trump's national security adviser John R. Bolton illegally disclosed classified information and dropped a lawsuit aimed at recouping profits from the book.... The agreement ends an effort that began under the Trump administration to silence Mr. Bolton after Mr. Trump waged a campaign pressuring investigators to prosecute him. Dropping the legal action against him is a rebuke by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland of the previous administration's use of government power to suppress former Trump officials who became critics of Mr. Trump.... The White House's efforts to interfere with Mr. Bolton's book came to light in September when a career administration official [Ellen Knight] accused Trump aides of improperly intervening to prevent Mr. Bolton's account of his time as Mr. Trump's national security adviser from becoming public." A CBS News story is here.

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Congress on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to establish Juneteenth as a federal holiday, elevating the day marking the end of slavery in Texas to a national commemoration of emancipation amid a larger reckoning about America's turbulent history with racism. It is the first new federal holiday created by Congress since 1983, when lawmakers voted to establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day after a 15-year fight to commemorate the assassinated civil rights leader. The congressional fight to establish Juneteenth as a national holiday was, in comparison, a relatively rapid affair -- approved Wednesday by the House on a 415 to 14 vote just a day after the bill establishing the holiday moved suddenly and unanimously through the Senate. The push to establish June 19 as a national holiday celebrating emancipation only gained serious traction last year, as the nation erupted in turmoil over the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Great! Only a couple of days now till I try out my re-education camp lesson plans on all those white male executives. (See yesterday's Commentariat for context.) Seriously, I'm very happy for everyone who is looking forward to celebrating this new holiday, which is getting the recognition it deserves. And all those white male executives can go stuff themselves. If President Biden signs the bill today or tomorrow, looks as if Saturday will be our first official Juneteenth federal holiday. Update: President Biden is scheduled to sign the bill at 3:30 pm ET today.

Seung Min Kim of Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "A bipartisan group of senators sketching out an infrastructure proposal expanded their base of support Wednesday, even as they continue to haggle over how to pay for billions of dollars in new spending in line with President Biden's vision for a massive overhaul of the nation's public works system. The initial framework, written by the likes of Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and seven other senators, falls far short of the sweeping infrastructure proposal that Biden has pitched, yet aims to try to satisfy the president's hunger for bipartisanship. But their efforts received a big boost Wednesday, when 11 more senators joined the original 10 and said they supported the still-unreleased blueprint of a deal. The group now includes 11 Republicans, nine Democrats and one independent who caucuses with the Democrats.... However, Senate Democrats huddled privately Wednesday to devise a path forward for trillions of dollars in additional spending in infrastructure improvements and other economic initiatives that may not make it into a bipartisan deal." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I get the impression these guys want to do things like rebuild a bridge halfway across the river and repave one lane of a four-lane highway.

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Sen. Joe Manchin III, the lone Senate Democrat who is not sponsoring a sweeping voting rights and campaign finance bill, has outlined for the first time a list of policy demands on election legislation -- opening the door to a possible compromise that could counter a bevy of Republican-passed laws that have rolled back ballot access in numerous states. A three-page memo circulated by Manchin's office this week indicates the West Virginia centrist's willingness to support key provisions of the For the People Act, the marquee Democratic bill that the House passed in March -- including provisions mandating at least two weeks of early voting and measures meant to eliminate partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts[.] But Manchin's memo also sketches out several provisions that have historically been opposed by most Democrats, including backing an ID requirement for voters and the ability of local election officials to purge voter rolls using other government records." ~~~

     ~~~ Half a Loaf ... Rick Hasen in Election Law Blog: "Yes, Democrats should jump at the opportunity to pass such a bill, but it is also fair to acknowledge it is far from perfect. Many of the darlings in the For the People Act are not on Manchin's list, such as felon re-enfranchisement, public financing of congressional elections, restructuring the often-deadlocked Federal Election Commission, and limiting state voter purges." Here Hasen has published the first several paragraphs of a a piece he wrote for Slate. The Slate article is firewalled. ~~~

     ~~~ Lee Fang & Ryan Grim of the Intercept, well, intercept a Zoom call Joe Manchin made with the No Labels crybabies & some supportive billionaire donors, where they discuss how the Senate might be able to do some legislating even while hanging onto the filibuster, which they all just love. Because bipartisanship.

At Least Manchin Isn't Insane. Josh Kovensky of TPM: In "a letter that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) sent to President Biden this week..., Cotton warns Biden that Beijing plans on using the 2022 Winter Olympics as a giant funnel for precious American DNA, harvesting the nation's fittest and finest for their genomic information as part of a plan to achieve military dominance. Written in the language of a Cold War-era B-movie and filled with a mixture of sci-fi scheming, eugenics, and stentorian warning, Cotton demands that Biden withdraw American participation from the 2022 winter Olympics absent guarantees from China that it will not collect the data or DNA of visiting American olympians.... 'The CCP has reportedly conducted tests to develop biologically-enhanced soldiers and intends to use DNA data to catapult Chinese biotechnology companies to global market dominance,' Cotton wrote, citing a column written by Trump-era Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.: ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: When you join the Trump GOP now, you get a glowing magic code ring. (As we knew all along, those ole boys wear tinfoil hats that fit perfect under their KKK hoods.)

Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "A few months before Alan Hostetter stood in triumph on the U.S. Capitol's upper West Terrace, proclaiming that the people had 'taken back their house' as rioters stormed the building, the California native launched a nonprofit that promised to protect citizens' rights, educate people on vaccines and call out media misinformation. But in the months that followed, his nonprofit, the American Phoenix Project, instead organized rallies to support ... Donald Trump's false claims of a stolen election and used it 'as a platform to advocate violence against certain groups and individuals that supported the 2020 presidential election results,' federal prosecutors said in an indictment filed last Thursday. As Hostetter faces felony charges of obstructing official proceedings and breaching restricted government property, federal prosecutors also say the 56-year-old might have run afoul of IRS regulations on nonprofits' political activities."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. One GOP Congressional Candidate Threatened to Narrow the Field by Bumping off an Opponent. Marc Caputo of Politico: "A little-known GOP candidate in one of Florida's most competitive congressional seats was secretly recorded threatening to send 'a Russian and Ukrainian hit squad' to a fellow Republican opponent to make her 'disappear.' During a 30-minute call with a conservative activist that was recorded before he became a candidate, William Braddock repeatedly warned the activist to not support GOP candidate Anna Paulina Luna in the Republican primary for a Tampa Bay-area congressional seat because he had access to assassins. The seat is being vacated by Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.), who is running for governor. 'I really don't want to have to end anybody's life for the good of the people of the United States of America,' Braddock said at one point in the conversation last week, according to the recording ... obtained by Politico. 'That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a f---ing speed bump in the road. She's a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.' Reached by text message, Braddock refused to say whether he made any threats about Luna to the person who recorded him, Erin Olszewski."

South Carolina. The Rule of Law in a Barbarous land. Michelle Liu & Meg Kinnard of the AP: "The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked the planned executions of two inmates by electrocution, saying they cannot be put to death until they truly have the choice of a firing squad option set out in the state's newly revised capital punishment law. The high court halted this month's scheduled executions of Brad Sigmon and Freddie Owens, writing that corrections officials need to put together a firing squad so that inmates can really choose between that or the electric chair. The state's plans, the court wrote in an unanimous order, are on hold 'due to the statutory right of inmates to elect the manner of their execution.'"

Texas. Edgar Sandoval of the New York Times: "... Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas announced last week a vague ambition to pick up where former ... Donald J. Trump left off and complete the construction of a multibillion-dollar wall along the border with Mexico.... On Wednesday, Mr. Abbott revealed how he would pay for it: Donations.... He said he would set aside $250 million from the state's general revenue as a down payment and hire a program manager who would determine the total cost of the project and the length of the wall. But he was short on other details.... His posture comes amid a massive surge of migrants." MB: You know, Greg, the last time one of Donald's friends (Steve Bannon) decided to build a donor-funded border wall, it didn't take him long to get the feds to charge him with fraud. Are you racing Bannon to Club Fed, or what?

The Commentariat -- June 16, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Jonathan Lemire, et al., of the AP: "President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded their summit on Wednesday with an agreement to return their nations' ambassadors to their posts in Washington and Moscow and a plan to begin work toward replacing the last remaining treaty between the two countries limiting nuclear weapons. But the two leaders offered starkly different views on difficult simmering issues including cyber and ransomware attacks originating from Russia. Putin insisted anew that his country has nothing to do with such attacks, despite U..S. intelligence that indicates otherwise. Biden, meanwhile, said that he made clear to Putin that if Russia crossed certain red lines -- including going after major American infrastructure -- his administration would respond and 'the consequences of that would be devastating[.]'"

Rachel Siegel & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The Federal Reserve expects inflation will climb to 3.4 percent this year, higher than the central bank's previous forecasts, while also projecting for the first time that there could be two interest rate hikes in 2023. As recently as March, the Fed predicted inflation would be 2.4 percent for this year. Earlier estimates didn't project an initial rate hike until 2024. Fed leaders also moved up estimates for when interest rates could rise from near zero. Projections released after the Fed's two-day policy meeting showed that the Fed now expects to make two rate increases by the end of 2023, sooner than previously expected." The AP's story is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times is liveblogging the meeting today between President Biden & Vladimir Putin. The Washington Post's liveblog is here. MB: Unless the two get in an armed duel that spills out into the hall, I don't see what there is to blog about. According to what I read/heard yesterday, Biden & Putin were supposed to meet for four or five hours behind closed doors.

David McCabe & Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "President Biden named Lina Khan, a prominent critic of Big Tech, as the chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, the White House said on Tuesday, a signal that the agency is likely to crack down further on the industry's giants. Earlier in the day, the Senate voted across party lines, 69 to 28, to confirm Ms. Khan as a commissioner. The president may name any commissioner to lead the agency, which investigates antitrust violations, deceptive trade practices and data privacy lapses in Silicon Valley and throughout corporate America. Ms. Khan, 32, was sworn in on Tuesday, making her the youngest chair in the F.T.C.'s history." The AP's story is here.

Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden announced his first slate of political ambassadors Tuesday, selecting longtime Washington hands for key foreign postings. Biden will nominate Thomas R. Nides, a former State Department official, to serve as the ambassador to Israel; Julie Smith, a former Biden national security adviser, as the ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; and Ken Salazar, the former secretary of the interior and senator from Colorado, as the ambassador to Mexico.... Biden also will nominate C.B. 'Sully' Sullenberger III,who safely landed a plane on the Hudson River after a dual engine failure in 2009, as the ambassador to the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization and Cynthia Ann Telles, a UCLA professor of psychiatry, to serve as ambassador to Costa Rica."

Adrian Blanco of the Washington Post: "President Biden and the Democrat-led Senate have moved quickly to boost minority and female representation on the federal courts following Donald Trump's four-year push to remake the judiciary, in which he nominated a large share of White, male justices. Biden's early judicial slate represents a departure from his recent predecessors; his initial picks are more diverse, and Biden rolled out more nominations earlier in his presidency than others.... In his first four months, Biden nominated as many minority women to the federal bench as Trump had confirmed in his entire four years. A Washington Post analysis of Federal Judicial Center data shows all women, regardless of race or ethnicity, are underrepresented on the judiciary."

Cleaning Up After Betsy. Collin Binkley of the AP: "The U.S. Education Department said Wednesday it's erasing student debt for thousands of borrowers who attended a for-profit college chain that made exaggerated claims about its graduates' success in finding jobs. The Biden administration said it is approving 18,000 loan forgiveness claims from former students of ITT Technical Institute, a chain that closed in 2016 after being dealt a series of sanctions by the Obama administration. The new loan discharges will clear more than $500 million in debt. The move marks a step forward in the Biden administration's effort to clear a backlog of claims in the borrower defense program, which provides loan forgiveness to students who were defrauded by their colleges. Claims piled up during the Trump administration, which stalled the program and only started processing claims after a federal court demanded it. There are now more than 100,000 pending claims."

Andrew Desiderio & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Hill Democrats are intensifying pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland to clean house at the Justice Department following revelations that Donald Trump's DOJ secretly seized communication records belonging to Democratic lawmakers, congressional staffers and journalists. Garland, who served as a federal judge for two decades, has worked to reassure Democrats that he's taking the issue seriously and pledged to support an independent inspector general's investigation into the matter. But Democrats are quickly growing impatient and already taking matters into their own hands -- opening a formal probe this week to determine who was responsible and hold them accountable." ~~~

~~~ Rip Van Garland. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "After days of tumult following revelations that the Trump administration deployed warrants to investigate news reporters and members of Congress in leak investigations, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a tepid response on Monday.... Garland entered office without a clear commitment to investigate all problematic conduct in the prior administration.... He has also never indicated as to whether, now that ... Donald Trump is out of office, the department would follow up on alleged illegal conduct examined by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III (e.g., obstruction of justice, perjury, witness tampering).... Garland seems to be operating as though we had not undergone four years of the Justice Department running afoul of ethical standards and department policy -- or worse, of the law."

Documents obtained by the Committee ... show that in December 2020 and early January 2021, President Trump, his Chief of Staff, and outside allies repeatedly put pressure on senior DOJ officials to challenge the results of the presidential election and advance unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud, with the apparent goal of keeping President Trump in power despite losing the 2020 election. -- House Oversight Committee ~~~

~~~ digby publishes the full Oversight Committee release. It's not that long, and it is worth reading. And digby lays out the simple truth of the current situation: "They're all getting away with plotting a coup. Nothing is happening to any of them." (Why is that? See also Jennifer Rubin's WashPo column on Garland, linked above) ~~~

~~~ "Pure Insanity." Whitney Wild, et al., of CNN: "... a batch of emails released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday ... show how Trump's White House assistant, chief of staff and other allies pressured the Justice Department to investigate claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election -- and how Trump directed allies to push [Acting AG Jeffrey] Rosen to join the legal effort to challenge the election result.... The emails also provide new detail into how Mark Meadows, then-White House chief of staff, directed Rosen to have then-Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark -- who reportedly urged Trump to make him acting attorney general instead of Rosen -- investigate voter fraud issues in Georgia before the US attorney there resigned in January. Amid the pressure, Rosen said he refused to speak to Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani about his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.... When Meadows sent Rosen a YouTube video link about Italian satellites, Rosen forwarded it to Donoghue, who responded, 'Pure insanity.'" ~~~

~~~ Washington Post Editors: "Many Republicans want the nation to ignore and forget ... Donald Trump's poisonous final months in office -- the most dangerous moment in modern presidential history, orchestrated by the man to whom the GOP still swears allegiance. Yet the country must not forget how close it came to a full-blown constitutional crisis, or worse. Tuesday brought another reminder that, but for the principled resistance of some key officials, the consequences could have been disastrous. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Tuesday released emails showing that the White House waged a behind-the-scenes effort to enlist the Justice Department in its crusade to advance Mr. Trump's baseless allegations of fraud in the 2020 election.... The country cannot forget that Mr. Trump betrayed his oath, that most Republican officeholders remain loyal to him nonetheless -- and that it could be worse next time." ~~~

~~~ Rick Hasen of Election Law Blog: "... let's not let the ludicrous nature of [a legal] complaint ... -- [which] cites debunked conspiracy theories and dubious legal theories and the Epoch Times as authority ... -- overshadow how dangerous this was: here is the President of the United States directing a lawyer to pressure the Department of Justice into filing a brief in the Supreme Court that would have enjoined the appointment of presidential electors by 5 states that Biden won (and that had already appointed electors pursuant to legal state process). This is nothing less than an attempt to use the courts to steal the election. It is brazen, and dangerous, and an affront to the rule of law. We are lucky that enough election administrators, elected officials, judges, governors and members of Congress blocked these attempts from going forward." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: And let us not rest on the pleasant notion that there were always be honorable officials to thwart Trump or the next Trumpian would-be dictator. Republicans around the country are working hard to put corrupt elections officials into office, curb the powers of honest officials & give state politicians the power to arbitrarily decide election results. MEANWHILE, more Trump-compliant DOJ officials were waiting in the wings, and the next Trump will likely try to make sure corrupt lawyers make the decisions at the DOJ. ~~~

~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Let us be clear that Trump was dead serious about stealing the 2020 election, and he'll have a lot more allies if he tries it again in 2024[.]... This seems like an appropriate time to revisit the definitive stooge amongst Republican elite: '"What is the downside for humoring him for this little bit of time? No one seriously thinks the results will change," said one senior Republican official. "He went golfing this weekend. It's not like he's plotting how to prevent Joe Biden from taking power on Jan. 20. He's tweeting about filing some lawsuits, those lawsuits will fail, then he'll tweet some more about how the election was stolen, and then he'll leave."' Of course, a big reason we're in this place is that this was the attitude of most of the political press toward Trump throughout the 2016 election cycle."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. is pursuing potentially hundreds more suspects in the Capitol riot, the agency's director told Congress on Tuesday, calling the effort to find those responsible for the deadly assault 'one of the most far-reaching and extensive' investigations in the bureau's history. 'We've already arrested close to 500, and we have hundreds of investigations that are still ongoing beyond those 500,' Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, told the House Oversight Committee.... [Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.)] confronted Mr. Wray with messages from the social media site Parler, which she said referred threats of violence to the F.B.I. more than 50 times before the attack on Jan. 6. One message, which Ms. Maloney said Parler had sent to an F.B.I. liaison on Jan. 2, was from a poster who warned, 'Don't be surprised if we take the Capitol building," and "Trump needs us to cause chaos to enact the Insurrection Act.'... [Wray said,] 'I'm not aware of Parler ever trying to contact my office.'... At one hearing, Ms. Maloney presented her committee's research..., which showed that the Capitol Police and Washington officials made 12 'urgent requests' for their support and that Army leaders told the National Guard to 'stand by' five times as the violence escalated." ~~~

~~~ Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: "Army generals involved in the maligned federal response to the attack on the Capitol cast the violence on Tuesday as a chaotic event requiring an 'unforeseen' change in their mission that came only after they received a panicked request for National Guard support. Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt told the House Committee on Oversight and Reform that Army officials 'all immediately understood the gravity of the situation' after receiving a request in a conference call for 'urgent and immediate support' at the Capitol, but that they still needed to develop a plan. Officials on the other end of the phone accused Piatt of denying their requests, he recalled, but he did not have the authority to approve them.... Piatt, the director of Army staff, testified along with Gen. Charles Flynn [Michael Flynn's brother,] who was then a three-star general and Army deputy chief of staff, and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray." Politico's report is here.

Annie Grayer & Kristin Wilson of CNN: "Five months after the January 6 insurrection, the House and Senate have come to an agreement that will award the Congressional Gold Medal to the officers who defended the Capitol. But 21 House Republicans refused to support the legislation, the latest reminder that members of Congress still cannot agree on the facts of the deadly Capitol Hill riot. The final vote in the House on Tuesday was 406-21. The number of House Republicans voting against the bill nearly doubled since the first time a version of the bill came to the House floor, as the vote when the bill first passed the House in March was 413-12."

Mike DeBonis & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed a measure that would establish a federal holiday for Juneteenth, the day that marks the end of slavery in the United States. The bill now heads to the Democratic-led House, where it is likely to be approved, although the timing remains uncertain. Unanimous Senate passage was an anticlimactic culmination to a long effort to commemorate Juneteenth, the day that enslaved Black people in Galveston, Tex., received news on June 19, 1865, that they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation -- more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln had signed it." An NPR story is here. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, Down Alabamy way, Kyle Whitmire, a columnist with the Alabama Media Group, was wondering just what critical race theory was. "So I did what middle-aged white men are prone to do -- I asked another middle-aged white man.... I called an Alabama lawmaker, state Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, who wants to make it illegal to teach critical race theory in Alabama." According to Pringle, all his bill says is '... you can't teach critical race theory in K-12 or higher education in the state of Alabama.' About the most Whitmire "learned" from Pringle was this: "These people, when they were doing the training programs — and the government -- if you didn't buy into what they taught you a hundred percent, they sent you away to a reeducation camp." Apparently those who would be sent to re-education camps were "white male executives." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I myself am a little confused as to how teaching history to K-12 kids would land "white male executives" in forced re-education camps. Maybe all the white male K-12 kids in Alabama are above average and they're already executives???

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Louisiana has blocked the Biden administration's suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters, in the first major legal roadblock for President Biden's quest to cut fossil fuel pollution and conserve public lands. Judge Terry A. Doughty of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana granted a preliminary injunction Tuesday against the administration, saying that the power to pause offshore oil and gas leases 'lies solely with Congress' because it was the legislative branch that originally made federal lands and waters available for leasing.... A spokeswoman for the Interior Department, which manages federal oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters, said in a statement that the administration was reviewing the ruling and would comply with it.... Congressional Democrats said they would move forward with legislative efforts to limit oil drilling on public lands."

William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "The Manhattan district attorney's office appears to have entered the final stages of a criminal tax investigation into Donald J. Trump's long-serving chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg, setting up the possibility he could face charges this summer, according to people with knowledge of the matter. In recent weeks, a grand jury has been hearing evidence about Mr. Weisselberg, who is facing intense scrutiny from prosecutors as they seek his cooperation with a broader investigation into Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization, the people with knowledge of the matter said. The prosecutors have obtained Mr. Weisselberg's personal tax returns.... The investigation into Mr. Weisselberg focuses partly on whether he failed to pay taxes on valuable benefits that Mr. Trump provided him and his family over the years...."

Nicholas Kulash & David Gelles of the New York Times: "Thanks to the soaring value of [Amazon] stock, [MacKenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos' former wife,] is accumulating wealth faster than she can give it away. Though she has donated more than $8 billion over the past 11 months, primarily through direct gifts to nonprofits, today she is richer than ever, worth some $60 billion, according to Forbes. In 2020, a year of incredible need, Ms. Scott gave away nearly $6 billion to 500 organizations. Now, for the third time in under a year, Ms. Scott has announced a new round of grants, worth a combined $2.74 billion, demonstrating that her dedication to rapidly disbursing her fortune has not abated." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Jodi Kantor, et al., of the New York Times: "When the coronavirus shut down New York last spring, many residents came to rely on a colossal building they had never heard of: JFK8, Amazon's only fulfillment center in America's largest city. What happened inside shows how Jeff Bezos created the workplace of the future and pulled off the impossible during the pandemic -- but also reveals what's standing in the way of his promise to do better by his employees.... Amid the pandemic, Amazon's system burned through workers, resulted in inadvertent firings and stalled benefits, and impeded communication.... Amazon continued to track every minute of most warehouse workers' shifts, from how fast they packed merchandise to how long they paused.... If productivity flagged, Amazon's computers assumed the worker was to blame.... Amazon acknowledged some issues with inadvertent firings, loss of benefits, job abandonment notices and leaves, but declined to disclose how many people were affected." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gosh, MacKenzie, maybe you can give away some of those billions to, you know, mistreated Amazon workers.

Just Right-Wing, Not "Far"-Right-Wing. Sarah Bailey of the Washington Post: "The Southern Baptist Convention elected Ed Litton as its president on Tuesday, signaling a defeat for the hard right within the nation's largest Protestant denomination. Litton narrowly defeated Mike Stone, the favored candidate of the far right. For the past few years, the convention has been mired in debates over racism, politics and sexual misconduct that mirror many of the same debates in the Republican Party. The election took place at the convention's annual meeting in Nashville."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Israel/Palestine. Not a Good Start. Patrick Kingsley, et al., of the New York Times: "The Israeli military said early Wednesday that it had conducted airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, after officials said that the militant group Hamas had sent incendiary balloons into southern Israel from Gaza, in the first eruption of hostilities since an 11-day air war between Israel and Hamas ended last month. The Israeli military said that it 'struck military compounds belonging to the Hamas terror organization, which were used as facilities and meeting sites for terror operatives in Hamas' Khan Yunis and Gaza Brigades.' Palestinian news reports said that one of the strikes caused property damage, but there were no immediate reports of casualties in Gaza, a densely populated urban strip. The day of rising tensions was the first test of a new Israeli coalition government just three days into its term. It started when the government permitted a far-right Jewish march to pass through Palestinian areas of Jerusalem on Tuesday night, over the objections of Arab and leftist parties in the coalition, and despite threats from Hamas that it would retaliate." An AP story is here.