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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Friday
Sep222023

The Conversation -- September 23, 2023

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The [Justice D]epartment's aggressive pursuit of [Sen. Robert] Menendez [D-N.J.] appeared to undercut claims that [Donald] Trump is the victim of pervasive political bias that targets leaders on the right while shielding transgressors on the left.... Barbara Comstock, a former Republican congresswoman from Virginia, said recent indictments showed the department was functioning as it should. 'The department goes where the facts lead them," she wrote on X-...Twitter. 'Trump, Hunter Biden, Menendez now. That's how it's supposed to work.'... Shortly after the charges were announced, Mr. Menendez issued a blistering one-page-long denial that was not unlike the vehement pushback by Mr. Trump and his supporters in response to his multiple criminal indictments." ~~~

~~~ Matt Friedman of Politico: "Democrats figured there would be new developments in the Bob Menendez investigation, but the charges are far more serious than any of them anticipated.... The statements late Friday afternoon [from New Jersey Democrats urging Sen. Bob Menendez (D) to resign] came after a meeting in Newark between [Gov. Phil] Murphy [D] and a small group of high-ranking Democratic leaders.... The allegations involving Egyptian arms sales and the passing on of sensitive information to foreign sources in particular caught them off guard and have left them privately frustrated that a senator who already imperiled a safe seat in 2018 over corruption allegations would now put them in an even worse position.... The Democrats' response starkly contrasts with the unified front of support last time Menendez was indicted." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Gov. Murphy's statement. ~~~

~~~ ** Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: "Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has been charged in a sweeping federal corruption indictment, the authorities said on Friday. The three-count indictment, which also charges the senator's wife and three New Jersey businessmen, accuses him of using his official position in a wide range of corrupt schemes at home and abroad. In one, he sought to benefit the government of Egypt, including secretly providing it with sensitive U.S. government information, while in two others, he aimed to influence criminal investigations of two New Jersey businessmen, one of whom was a longtime fund-raiser for Mr. Menendez.... In exchange for all those actions, the indictment said, the senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes, including cash, gold bars, payments toward a home mortgage, a luxury vehicle and other valuable things....

"The businessmen named in the indictment, which was unsealed in Manhattan federal court, are Fred Daibes, a prominent New Jersey real estate developer and fund-raiser for Mr. Menendez; Wael Hana, a longtime friend of Ms. Menendez's who founded a halal meat certification business and Jose Uribe, who works in the trucking and insurance business.... The 39-page indictment charges the senator, his wife and the businessmen with conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. It also charges Mr. Menendez and his wife with conspiracy to commit extortion under the color of official right, meaning using his official position to force someone to give them something of value." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

The story has been updated to add: "Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey, a close Democratic ally, called on Mr. Menendez to resign, an admonition that unleashed a torrent of similar messages from political leaders throughout the state. Mr. Menendez gave no indication that he would heed them. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he said in a statement Friday evening. Mr. Menendez did send a letter to Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate majority leader, informing him that he was stepping down as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, as required by rules the Senate Democrats adopted to govern themselves."

     ~~~ Erica Orden & Matt Friedman of Politico: "During a search of the Menendezes' New Jersey home in June 2022, federal agents probing the alleged scheme found 'over $480,000 in cash -- much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe' along with $70,000 in Nadine Menendez's safe-deposit box, the indictment says.... Menendez has survived two previous federal investigations." (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ The indictment, via Politico, is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Congrats to Bob Menendez for extending & enhancing New Jersey's long tradition of (allegedly!) crooked Democratic pols! And he made it a family affair. Lovely. Which brings us to ~~~

~~~ Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "James E. McGreevey, a former [Democratic] New Jersey governor who resigned two decades ago in scandal..., is making plans to do what he had said he would not: re-enter politics. Over the past several months, Mr. McGreevey has begun cobbling together support for an expected run for mayor of Jersey City, the state's second-largest city, where he has lived for eight years.... He expects to make a final decision before Thanksgiving.... The current mayor, Steven Fulop, who is running for governor, does not intend to run for re-election. But the contest is not until November 2025...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Thankfully, Clarence Thomas continues to do his bit for (alleged!) GOP corruption: ~~~

     ~~~ ** Joshua Kaplan, et al., of ProPublica: "On Jan. 25, 2018..., some of the richest people in the country were arriving for the annual winter donor summit of the Koch network, the political organization founded by libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch. A long weekend of strategizing, relaxation in the California sun and high-dollar fundraising lay ahead. Just after 6 p.m., a Gulfstream G200 jet touched down on the tarmac. One of the Koch network's most powerful allies was on board: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.... The justice was brought in to speak, staffers said, in the hopes that such access would encourage donors to continue giving. That puts Thomas in the extraordinary position of having served as a fundraising draw for a network that has brought cases before the Supreme Court, including one of the most closely watched of the upcoming term. Thomas never reported the 2018 flight to Palm Springs on his annual financial disclosure form, an apparent violation of federal law requiring justices to report most gifts....

"Thomas' involvement in the events is part of a yearslong, personal relationship with the Koch brothers that has remained almost entirely out of public view. It developed over years of trips to the Bohemian Grove, a secretive all-men's retreat in Northern California. Thomas has been a regular at the Grove for two decades, where he stayed in a small camp with real estate billionaire Harlan Crow and the Kochs, according to records and people who've spent time with him there.... The dinners' purpose was 'giving donors access and giving them a reason to come or to continue to come in the future,' a former Koch network executive told ProPublica.... Thomas' appearances were arranged with the help of Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society leader, according to the former senior network employee." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I gather that Thomas did not report on his financial statements the gifts of travel and hospitality he received on the 2018 bucolic retreat/fundraiser and on other all-male (good grief!) Koch vacay ventures. Apparently, Clarence thinks the Supreme Court "ethics rules" require a justice to report only gifts he and his spouse have been caught accepting. The fact that he didn't report these Koch jaunts on the "amended report" he was forced to file this year is telling. And damning. ~~~

    ~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "... this increasingly absurd situation is just illustrative of the accelerating pace at which the anti-democratic features of the American constitutional system are becoming more and more self-evident. Lifetime tenure for unelected judges, appointed by a radically unrepresentative Senate, after being nominated by a president who lost the election -- in the sense of the definition of losing usually employed in democratic nations, i.e., getting less votes than your opponent -- mixes especially poorly with practically open New Gilded Age bribery of the Koch persuasion. There are mornings when I sincerely wonder how much longer this train can stay on the track, or even if it should."

~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Justice Elena Kagan said on Friday ... [during] a wide-ranging live-streamed public interview [link fixed]at Notre Dame Law School ... that the Supreme Court should adopt a code of ethics.... Justice Kagan did not discuss the [ProPublica] report [linked above], = but she said that an ethics code 'would, I think, go far in persuading other people that we were adhering to the highest standards of conduct.' She added that 'I hope we can make progress.' G. Marcus Cole, the law school's dean, asked her to identify the holdout among the justices. She refused, saying the justices' deliberations are private." Read on. Cole asked Kagan some good questions; her answers, not surprisingly, were fairly oblique. CNN's report is here.


Erica Green of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday announced a new office dedicated to gun violence prevention, his latest effort to combat a growing national crisis through executive action instead of the more sweeping reforms that would require congressional approval. The office will be led by Vice President Kamala Harris, who pursued gun safety measures when she was California's top prosecutor. Its focus will be on helping the administration coordinate gun policy and pressing congressional leaders to act on the issue. 'We all want our kids to have the freedom to learn how to read and write instead of duck and cover, for God's sake,' Mr. Biden said during remarks in the Rose Garden, where survivors of school shootings were among the hundreds of attendees." Politico's story is here.

Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden announced that he would travel to Michigan on Tuesday to 'join the picket line' with members of the United Automobile Workers who are on strike against the nation's leading automakers, in one of the most significant displays of presidential support for striking workers in decades.... The trip is set to come a day before Mr. Biden's leading rival in the 2024 campaign, Donald J. Trump, has planned his own speech in Michigan, and was announced hours after Shawn Fain, the union's president, escalated pressure on the White House with a public invitation to Mr. Biden." ~~~

     ~~~ Ali Velshi of MSNBC noted Friday night that this is the first time in U.S. history that a sitting POTUS would join a picket line. ~~~

~~~ Ellen Francis of the Washington Post: "The United Auto Workers (UAW) union has filed a labor complaint against Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) after he suggested that workers who join a strike against the nation's three biggest carmakers should be fired. UAW President Shawn Fain reported Scott to the National Labor Relations Board after the senator criticized the strike against the Big Three automakers at a Monday campaign event, praising former president Ronald Reagan's response to federal air traffic controller strikes.The form filed Thursday against Scott, who has condemned the UAW more forcefully than other Republican candidates, alleges he violated the rights of his own employees by threatening the right to strike. A day after the complaint, Scott doubled down on his position, accusing unions of not representing workers' interests and tweeting that UAW 'want to threaten me & shut me up. They don't scare me.'... UAW members ... are legally protected from being fired for striking...." ~~~

~~~ Neal Boudette of the New York Times: "The United Automobile Workers union on Friday significantly raised the pressure on General Motors and Stellantis, the parent of Jeep and Ram, by expanding its strike against the companies to include all the spare parts distribution centers of the two companies. Shawn Fain, the union's president, said Friday that workers at 38 distribution centers, which provide parts to dealerships for repairs, at the two companies would walk off the job at noon. He said talks with two companies had not progressed significantly, contrasting them with Ford Motor, which he said had done more to meet the union's demands.... The union said it was not striking more facilities at Ford because of the gains it had achieved in talks with that company, including on cost-of-living adjustments, the right to strike if the company decides to close plants and two years of pay and health care benefits for workers who are laid off indefinitely.... Mr. Fain also invited President Biden to join workers on the picket line." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Rothfeld of the New York Times: "A former top F.B.I. spy hunter pleaded guilty on Friday in Federal District Court in Washington to concealing payments he received from an Albanian-born businessman -- a former intelligence agent he had helped in business dealings overseas. The official, Charles F. McGonigal, the F.B.I.'s former director of counterintelligence in New York, had been the bureau's highest-ranking official to be accused of corruption in recent years. His plea marked the second time in as many months that Mr. McGonigal admitted to criminal wrongdoing. On Aug. 15, he pleaded guilty in federal court in New York to conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and to laundering payments from a prominent Russian oligarch, Oleg V. Deripaska."

Kim Bellware & Kyle Rempfer of the Washington Post: "In the strange saga of the downed, and briefly missing, military F-35 jet, the 911 call received after the pilot ejected into a suburban Charleston, S.C., family's backyard is fittingly as bizarre as the incident. 'I guess we got a pilot at our house and he says he got ejected. He ejected from a plane,' the resident says as he requests an ambulance, according to a recording of the call from Charleston County.... As the call continues, the 47-year-old pilot jumps on the line to explain he ejected from a military plane and parachuted 2,000 feet to the unidentified family's backyard in North Charleston.... The Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II jet, which has a current cost of $145 million, continued flying away from Joint Base Charleston, S.C., on Sunday afternoon after the pilot safely ejected. Investigators soon enlisted the public's help to find where the costly jet might have crashed before eventually locating a debris field Monday evening in Williamsburg County.... 'Normally, when a pilot ejects from an aircraft, the aircraft crashes really close to where the pilot lands,' [former Marine captain Dan] Grazier told The Post. 'So why did the pilot eject from an aircraft that flew for another 60 miles?...'" Included redacted audio of the 911 call.

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "The judge overseeing New York Attorney General Letitia James's $250 million business fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump, on Friday became visibly annoyed with defense lawyers for what he called false statements and previously used arguments.... 'You cannot make false statements used in business, [New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur] Engoron told Christopher Kise, banging his fist on his bench and raising his voice. 'That's what this statute prohibits, and that's what's alleged here.'... One of [the Trump lawyers'] arguments was that James (D), the top legal authority in the state, does not have standing to sue. 'When I first heard those arguments I thought it was a joke,' Engoron [said]...." MB: The upside for Trump is that this a civil case, so it won't put him in jail if he loses.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Special counsel Jack Smith has added a veteran war crimes prosecutor -- who served as Smith's deputy during his stint at the Hague -- to his team as it prepares to put ... Donald Trump on trial in Washington and Florida. Alex Whiting worked alongside Smith for three years, helping prosecute crimes against humanity that occurred in Kosovo in the late 1990s.... He also spent seven years prosecuting organized crime in Boston for the Justice Department from 1995 to 2002.... Whiting's precise role on Smith's team is unclear.... But a Politico reporter observed Whiting at the U.S. district courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and Thursday, spending several hours monitoring the trial of a Jan. 6 defendant. The judge in the case is Tanya Chutkan.... During a break..., Whiting introduced himself to prosecutors as a new member of Smith's team, saying he 'just joined' the office."~~~

     ~~~ Marie: War crimes and organized crimes? Sounds like the right experience for a Trump prosecution.

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times cites numerous examples of Donald Trump's being and boasting that he was the "abortion president*. Then: "Whether or not Trump is personally opposed to abortion is immaterial. The truth, established by his record as president, is that he is as committed to outlawing abortion in the United States as any other conservative Republican. There is no reason, then, to take seriously his remarks on Sunday, in an interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' where he criticized strict abortion bans and tried to distance himself from the anti-abortion policies of his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.... Trump is triangulating. He sees, correctly, that the Republican Party is now on the wrong side of the public on abortion. By rejecting a blanket ban and making a call for compromise with Democrats, Trump is trying to fashion himself as an abortion moderate, a strategy that also rests on his pre-political persona as a liberal New Yorker with a live-and-let-live attitude toward personal behavior.... There's a ... [great] chance that this gambit falls flat."

~~~ Wherein Our Miss Brooks Got Tipsy at Newark Airport. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Unfortunately for [David] Brooks, a conservative [New York Times columnist] whose books include The Road to Character and The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life, large numbers of his followers on X[...Twitter, decided to look into his complaint.... Kurt Eichenwald..., reporter for the Conversation, wrote: 'That same meal at Newark airport cost me just over $17 (Smokehouse Restaurant, right?).['] Jacob Bacharach, a novelist and critic, wrote: 'A typical airport burger and fries is in the $18 range; a typical double .. whiskey rocks is in the $20 range. Solve for x: 18+20x=78.'" [MB: So three double whiskeys.]... [Comedian Jay] Black said: '... My family has had to cut back to only eating at airport restaurants four nights a week. THANKS JOE BIDEN!'" Thanks to Monoloco for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "The restaurant [-- the 1911 Smoke House Barbeque] ... has also made a new meal available to customers: the 'D Brooks Special.' Instead of paying $78, customers can get a burger, fries and a double shot of whiskey for $17.78..., [which] will be available at [the restaurant's] Trenton location.... 'There's a lot I'd love to say, but I will leave it with no comment -- and please continue to support small business, especially small Black businesses,' [restaurant owner Michael Hallett] said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: On a more serious note, there is scarcely anyone better at deflecting blame for various right-wing excesses & failures than David Brooks. He's a masterful dissembler, an expert at twisting, exaggerating or disguising the facts. The airport tweet is a too-perfect example: the photo he provided as "evidence" is misleading: he asserts the photo includes everything in the $78 order. But someone quickly realized that the bill did not cover just the one drink in the photo but three drinks. Maybe Brooks was angry he had to wait a while for his plane, maybe he was a little drunk, maybe he was pissed the restaurant makes so much money pouring liquid & ice into a glass, maybe his wife (whom he met when she assisted him in writing that Road to Character book) has been complaining he drinks too much. Whatever. But instead of directing his anger at its source, he conjures up a scapegoat: the "terrible economy" that liberals are overseeing. Oh, and never mind that the economy isn't terrible, and restaurant drinks have been overpriced for as long as anyone alive can recall.

~~~~~~~~~~

Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "Mayor Eric Johnson of Dallas announced on Friday that he had switched his party affiliation to become a Republican, saying that leaders in the Democratic Party had focused on 'virtue signaling' and had not done enough to help residents of the nation's cities. The decision was surprising for its timing: Mr. Johnson was re-elected to a second term last year after running unopposed, and cannot run for a third. But the move appeared in line with how he had increasingly been positioning himself politically: At his second inauguration, Mr. Johnson was joined by Texas's two Republican U.S. senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn. Technically, the position of mayor in Texas is nonpartisan. But Mr. Johnson served in the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat before he ran for mayor, and was long aligned with the party's moderate wing." The Texas Tribune's story is here.

News Ledes

Weather Channel: Hurricane "Ophelia is headed into North Carolina, then the mid-Atlantic states, spreading heavy rain, strong wind gusts, high surf, and coastal flooding up the Eastern Seaboard into the weekend." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Weather Channel: "Tropical Storm Ophelia is spreading heavy rain, strong wind gusts, high surf, and coastal flooding along the Eastern Seaboard this weekend. T​he storm made landfall at about 6:15 a.m. EDT near Emerald Isle, North Carolina, according to the National Hurricane Center. At landfall, Ophelia had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, just shy of hurricane strength." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post is live-updating developments.

Comments Off
Friday
Sep222023

The Conversation -- September 22, 2023

** Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: "Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has been charged in a sweeping federal corruption indictment, the authorities said on Friday. The three-count indictment, which also charges the senator's wife and three New Jersey businessmen, accuses him of using his official position in a wide range of corrupt schemes at home and abroad. In one, he sought to benefit the government of Egypt, including secretly providing it with sensitive U.S. government information, while in two others, he aimed to influence criminal investigations of two New Jersey businessmen, one of whom was a longtime fund-raiser for Mr. Menendez.... In exchange for all those actions, the indictment said, the senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes, including cash, gold bars, payments toward a home mortgage, a luxury vehicle and other valuable things....

"The businessmen named in the indictment, which was unsealed in Manhattan federal court, are Fred Daibes, a prominent New Jersey real estate developer and fund-raiser for Mr. Menendez; Wael Hana, a longtime friend of Ms. Menendez's who founded a halal meat certification business and Jose Uribe, who works in the trucking and insurance business.... The 39-page indictment charges the senator, his wife and the businessmen with conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. It also charges Mr. Menendez and his wife with conspiracy to commit extortion under the color of official right, meaning using his official position to force someone to give them something of value." ~~~

     ~~~ Erica Orden & Matt Friedman of Politico: "During a search of the Menendezes' New Jersey home in June 2022, federal agents probing the alleged scheme found 'over $480,000 in cash -- much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe' along with $70,000 in Nadine Menendez's safe-deposit box, the indictment says.... Menendez has survived two previous federal investigations."

     ~~~ The indictment, via Politico, is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Congrats to Bob Menendez for extending & enhancing New Jersey's long tradition of (allegedly!) crooked Democratic pols! And he made it a family affair. Lovely. Which brings us to ~~~

~~~ Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "James E. McGreevey, a former [Democratic] New Jersey governor who resigned two decades ago in scandal..., is making plans to do what he had said he would not: re-enter politics. Over the past several months, Mr. McGreevey has begun cobbling together support for an expected run for mayor of Jersey City, the state's second-largest city, where he has lived for eight years.... He expects to make a final decision before Thanksgiving.... The current mayor, Steven Fulop, who is running for governor, does not intend to run for re-election. But the contest is not until November 2025...."

Thankfully, Clarence Thomas continues to do his bit for (alleged!) GOP corruption: ~~~

     ~~~ Joshua Kaplan, et al., of ProPublica: "On Jan. 25, 2018..., some of the richest people in the country were arriving for the annual winter donor summit of the Koch network, the political organization founded by libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch. A long weekend of strategizing, relaxation in the California sun and high-dollar fundraising lay ahead. Just after 6 p.m., a Gulfstream G200 jet touched down on the tarmac. One of the Koch network's most powerful allies was on board: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.... The justice was brought in to speak, staffers said, in the hopes that such access would encourage donors to continue giving. That puts Thomas in the extraordinary position of having served as a fundraising draw for a network that has brought cases before the Supreme Court, including one of the most closely watched of the upcoming term. Thomas never reported the 2018 flight to Palm Springs on his annual financial disclosure form, an apparent violation of federal law requiring justices to report most gifts....

"Thomas' involvement in the events is part of a yearslong, personal relationship with the Koch brothers that has remained almost entirely out of public view. It developed over years of trips to the Bohemian Grove, a secretive all-men's retreat in Northern California. Thomas has been a regular at the Grove for two decades, where he stayed in a small camp with real estate billionaire Harlan Crow and the Kochs, according to records and people who've spent time with him there.... The dinners' purpose was 'giving donors access and giving them a reason to come or to continue to come in the future,' a former Koch network executive told ProPublica." Thanks to RAS for the link.

Neal Boudette of the New York Times: "The United Automobile Workers union on Friday significantly raised the pressure on General Motors and Stellantis, the parent of Jeep and Ram, by expanding its strike against the companies to include all the spare parts distribution centers of the two companies. Shawn Fain, the union's president, said Friday that workers at 38 distribution centers, which provide parts to dealerships for repairs, at the two companies would walk off the job at noon. He said talks with two companies had not progressed significantly, contrasting them with Ford Motor, which he said had done more to meet the union's demands.... The union said it was not striking more facilities at Ford because of the gains it had achieved in talks with that company, including on cost-of-living adjustments, the right to strike if the company decides to close plants and two years of pay and health care benefits for workers who are laid off indefinitely.... Mr. Fain also invited President Biden to join workers on the picket line."

~~~~~~~~~~

Groundhog Day All Over Again. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Right-wing House Republicans dealt another stunning rebuke to Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday morning, blocking a Pentagon funding bill for the second time this week in a vivid display of G.O.P. disunity on federal spending that threatens to lead to a government shutdown in nine days. Just hours after Mr. McCarthy signaled he had won over some of the holdouts and was ready to move forward, a handful of Republicans broke with their party to oppose the routine measure that would allow the military appropriations bill to come to the House floor for debate, joining with Democrats to defeat it. It was a major black eye for Mr. McCarthy, who has on multiple occasions admonished his members in private for taking the rare step of bringing down such votes, known as rules, proposed by their own party -- a previously unheard-of tactic.... 'This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down,' Mr. McCarthy said on Thursday." The NBC News report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yo, Kevin, "burning the whole place down" has been a GOP tactic at least since the Gingrich era, and you've lit a few matches yourself. So don't act all shocked when the mob nails you to the stake. ~~~

     ~~~ House Nihilists Take a Long Weekend. Here's an update to the NYT story: "By Thursday afternoon, lawmakers were flying home for the weekend, scrapping plans to stay in session to pass spending legislation after a week in which they were unable to make any progress toward resolving their impasse." ~~~

     ~~~ The NBC News story linked above, by Scott Wong & others:, "'We are very dysfunctional right now,' Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said, adding that the failure proves that GOP leaders 'obviously can't count' votes, unlike Democrats.... 'Speaker Pelosi, love her or hate her, she put something out there and they'd rally around it.'... Moderate Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who faces a tough re-election bid next year, has described the GOP dysfunction as a 'clown show' and warned that pragmatists would work with Democrats to keep the government funded. 'For my colleagues, they have to come to a realization: If they are unable or unwilling to govern, others will. And in a divided government where you have Democrats controlling the Senate, a Democrat controlling the White House, there needs to be a realization that you're not going to get everything you want,' he said. 'And just throwing a temper tantrum and stomping your feet, frankly not only is it wrong -- it's pathetic,' he added." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In fairness to House Republicans, they need to go home to boast to constituents that they're showing their unwavering support for the Great Pretender. Reuters: "... Donald Trump has urged fellow Republicans in Congress to shut down the government to thwart the federal prosecutions against him, although any funding lapse was unlikely to stop the cases from being pursued.... 'Republicans in Congress can and must defund all aspects of Crooked Joe Biden's weaponized Government,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social media site late on Wednesday, calling it 'the last chance to defund these political prosecutions against me and other Patriots.' The U.S. Justice Department has previously said activities funded by 'permanent indefinite appropriations" would continue during any funding lapse." ~~~

     ~~~ MEANWHILE, a Tweet of His Own. Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post: "President Joe Biden ... fired off a tweet reminding lawmakers that the last shutdown led to some 800,000 government workers ― more than a third of the federal workforce ― being furloughed without pay. 'But enjoy your weekend,' he added sarcastically[.]... The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the 35-day shutdown in 2018-2019 cost the economy about $3 billion, according to Reuters." MB: The 2018-2019 shutdown was a wholly owned-and-operated GOP production: Donald Trump was president*, and Republicans controlled (well, maybe "controlled" isn't the best word here) both the Senate and House. ~~~

     ~~~ Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "White House officials have begun preparing for a government shutdown that they are confident the public will blame on the GOP.... With less than two weeks until federal funding lapses, Biden aides are in communication with congressional leaders in the House and Senate about the best path forward to extend the Sept. 30 deadline. But congressional aides and experts on both sides of the aisle say a shutdown is likely to redound to the White House's political benefit, particularly as the GOP House is consumed in a fierce internal battle. The result is that while Biden aides do not want the government to close down, the White House isn't working as urgently to avert one as it did earlier this year to head off a breach of the U.S. debt ceiling." ~~~

     ~~~ AND. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "... Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday set up a path for the Senate to move first on a bill to fund the government beyond Sept. 30. Schumer filed cloture on a motion to proceed to H.R. 3935, the House-passed bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which could serve as a legislative vehicle to pass a continuing resolution to fund government through the Senate.... Traditionally, the House moves first on spending and revenue bills but senators feel they must make the first move to keep the government funded because Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has not been able to round up 218 Republican votes in the House to move a stopgap funding measure.... The Senate will hold a pro-forma session Friday and not reconvene until 3 pm on Tuesday in observance of Yom Kippur, which ends at sundown Monday."

Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly confirmed Gen. Randy George of the Army and Gen. Eric Smith of the Marines as the chiefs of staff of their respective services, circumventing a single senator's blockade against senior military promotions but leaving hundreds more still in limbo. The action followed the confirmation on Wednesday night of Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. to serve as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The three moved forward after Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, steered around a longstanding roadblock by Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, who has halted military promotions in protest of a Pentagon policy on abortion access. But Mr. Tuberville made it clear that he had no intention of lifting his blockade.... The Alabama senator said the only way to get around his obstruction would be for Mr. Schumer to continue to consider the promotions one by one, a time-consuming process that Democrats and many Republicans agree is untenable." Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While Sen. Potato Head deserves all the criticism he is receivng and then some, the stupid part nobody mentions is retaining a Senate rule that allows a single senator to impose a sweeping hold on routine Senate actions like wholesale approval of noncontroversial military promotions by voice vote. While changing standing rules normally takes a 2/3rds vote, a single senator can invoke the "nuclear option," which -- if supported by a simple majority -- overrides the standing ruling. In view of Tuberville's six-month-old hold on all military officers' promotions & nominations, I can't understand why Senate Democrats won't go that route. Unless Manchin. ~~~

~~~ Speaking of Manchin, he's addressing serious Senate matters: ~~~

     ~~~ Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is circulating a proposal to reestablish the Senate's dress code, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) loosened over the weekend to allow senators to wear whatever they want on the Senate floor, according to senators familiar with the proposal.... Schumer's decision appeared aimed at catering to first-term Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), whose hoodie was a signature look on the campaign trail in 2022 and who wore a dark short-sleeved collared shirt and dark shorts to work Thursday. But the decision to loosen the dress code is getting bipartisan pushback, including from Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), who says the Senate should have standards." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Personally, I think Fetterman looks ridiculous wearing shorts & a hoodie on the Senate floor. But I also think that senators are supposed to be smart enough to know how to dress appropriately without being required to conform to a dress code. Those who aren't, like Fetterman & Krysten Sinema, may or may not pay a price at the ballot box for sloppy or outlandish attire. Besides, there may be times a dress code is itself ridiculous; for instance, should a senator have to wear a necktie when appearing for a 2:00 am vote? I don't think so.

In His Unrelenting Search for Impeachable Offenses, Comer Uncovers Evidence That Some Women Find Joe Biden Sexy. Heidi Przybyla of Politico: :House Oversight Chair James Comer, who is investigating President Joe Biden for what Republicans call potentially impeachable offenses, was given unrestricted access Thursday to a batch of his emails from his time as vice president, according to two sources familiar with them. Comer has made gaining access to redacted portions of Biden&'s emails a major target as he tries to build a case that the former vice president sought to dictate U.S. policy on Ukraine to benefit the business interests of his son, Hunter. But the new emails do not provide any evidence that Joe Biden personally benefited from his son's business dealings.... They include schedules with ordinary family get-togethers.... And then there are the private musings of multiple Georgian [the country, not the U.S. state] women saying they found Joe Biden 'sexy' during a 2009 trip that also included a stop in Ukraine."

Benjamin Mullin of the New York Times: "A Biden administration rule that allows employee retirement plans to consider environmental, social and governance issues in investment decisions survived a legal challenge by 26 states on Thursday. Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas, said in a 14-page opinion that he would not block the rule, part of the so-called E.S.G. investment trend that places emphasis on companies' records on labor issues, social justice and environmental factors." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is kind of amazing inasmuch as the states clearly chose Kacsmaryk's lonely Amarillo court because the Trump appointee has been a reliable rubber stamp for far-out right-wing causes.

Luke Barr & Jack Date of ABC News: "The Justice Department has arrested and charged an IT contractor with two counts of espionage for allegedly taking secret and top-secret information from the State Department and sending it to a foreign country. Abraham Teklu Lemma, a foreign national with U.S. citizenship, was working as an evening help desk technician assigned to the Bureau of Intelligence and Research with the U.S. Department of State when he is alleged to have copied large amounts of classified information, including documents, photographs, notes, maps and satellite imagery, and transmitted it to a foreign country using an encrypted messaging application.... The Justice Department alleges Lemma was paid over $100,000 in exchange for the information.... In addition to his work at the State Department, he is currently employed during the day as a contract management analyst at the Justice Department, according to court records." ~~~

     ~~~ Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The New York Times revealed this month that [Lemma] had been arrested in August and charged with spying for Ethiopia, a country that is a significant recipient of aid from the United States, but little else was known. While the complaint does not disclose what country Mr. Lemma was working for, U.S. officials identified it as Ethiopia and described the suspected spying as narrow in focus." Lemma is of Ethiopian descent.

Marie: If you have a subscription to the Atlantic, editor Jeffrey Goldberg has written an article on outgoing Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, which details how Milley dealt with irrational President* Donald Trump. The Atlantic article is here. Tatyana Tandanpolie of Salon summarizes a couple of the highlights of Goldberg's report. Another reminder that when Trump calls special counsel Jack Smith "deranged," Trump is projecting; that is, talking about himself.

Marie: For those of you who are unfamiliar with the name Jude Wanniski -- as I was -- I commend to you an illuminating article by Thom Hartmann, which RAS linked in yesterday's Comments. Wanniski, according to Hartmann, "literally transformed American politics with a plan that the American mainstream media, astonishingly, continues to ignore.... Wanniski's 'Two Santas' strategy dictates, when Republicans control the White House they must spend money like a drunken Santa and cut taxes on the rich, all to intentionally run up the US debt as far and as fast as possible. They started this during the Reagan presidency and tripled down on it during the presidencies of Bush and Trump with massive tax cuts for billionaires and increases in spending across-the-board.... Then ... when a Democrat is in the White House, Republicans must scream about the national debt as loudly and frantically as possible, freaking out about how 'our children will have to pay for it!' and 'you must cut spending to solve the crisis!' The 'debt crisis,' that is, that they themselves created with their massive tax cuts and wild spending." ~~~

~~~ Presidential Race 2024. Here, BTW, is Nikki Haley, criticizing her old pal Trump for "spending a lot of money" and predicting "we're all paying for it." Funny she doesn't mention the massive Trump tax cut for the rich. You can bet that, should she become president*, Haley would be advocating for reducing taxes on the rich & spending on GOP pet projects. Because that's the job of a Republican president*.

Joel Cappelletti & Michelle Price of the AP: "When ... Donald Trump visits Detroit next week, he'll be looking to blunt criticisms from a United Auto Workers union leadership that has said a second term for him would be a 'disaster' for workers. Trump will bypass the second Republican presidential debate on Sept. 27 to instead visit striking autoworkers in Michigan, where he has looked to position himself as an ally of blue-collar workers by promising to raise wages and protect jobs if elected to a second term.... A Trump campaign radio ad released Tuesday in Detroit and Toledo, Ohio, praised auto workers and said the former president has 'always had their back.'... But ... Union leaders have said his first term was far from worker-friendly, citing unfavorable rulings from the nation's top labor board and the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as unfulfilled promises of automotive jobs. While the United Auto Workers union has withheld an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race, its leadership has repeatedly rebuffed Trump." ~~~

     ~~~ Olivia Olander, et al., of Politico report on Trump's anti-labor policies and his false boasts about supporting labor when his slapdash efforts to preserve or create jobs failed.

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Another Dr. Frankenstein Horrified by His Own Monster. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "It's nice to know that Fox News, which has so deranged America while making Rupert Murdoch ungodly sums of money, has in the end made Murdoch miserable, at least if the journalist Michael Wolff is to be believed. But the consolation is a small one. Murdoch's unhappiness and befuddlement is the throughline of Wolff's amusingly vicious and very well-timed book, 'The Fall: The End of Fox News,' which is to hit shelves next week, days after Murdoch, 92, announced his retirement from the Fox Corporation and News Corporation boards. Wolff paints Fox's owner as embarrassed by the channel's vulgarity and horrified by its ultimate political creation, Donald Trump.... Few people bear more responsibility for Trump than Murdoch.... The electorate that Fox helped shape, and the politicians it indulges, have made this country ungovernable. An unbound Trump may well become president again, bringing liberal democracy in America to a grotesque end." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yes, isn't it gut-wrenching when a billionaire has a sad when he doesn't get his way?

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New York. Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: "Days after a 1-year-old died and three children exposed to drugs at a Bronx day care site were hospitalized, investigators uncovered a trap door under a play area that was concealing fentanyl, other narcotics and drug paraphernalia. The police had already discovered a kilogram of fentanyl near nap mats at Divino Niño on Morris Avenue, but the new search was triggered by a tip that more drugs had been hidden, Lieutenant John Russo said on Thursday. A neighbor had said last week that the owners of the facility had spent months sprucing it up -- including laying down new floors. On Saturday, the day care program's operator, Grei Mendez, and a tenant, Carlisto Acevedo Brito, who lived in the apartment, were both arrested and charged with murder in the death of the toddler, Nicholas Feliz Dominici, as well as criminal possession of drugs and other related charges. In addition to the kilogram, the police had already recovered two so-called kilo presses used by drug dealers to package large quantities of drugs."

South Carolina. Ben Brasch of the Washington Post: "Alex Murdaugh pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to financial crimes that factored heavily in the trial earlier this year that led to his conviction on charges of murdering his wife and son. This is the first time Murdaugh has admitted legal guilt in a web of lies and violence that rocked the South Carolina Lowcountry and drew national attention. Murdaugh pleaded guilty to 22 counts, including money laundering and bank fraud, according to court documents. The former lawyer stole money from clients, including teenagers and a quadriplegic man, to fund the family's extravagant lifestyle and his addiction to opioid pills that forced him into a rehabilitative-care facility three times before the June 2021 slayings. Prosecutors argued that Murdaugh killed his wife and son to shift the focus away from himself and prevent his financial crimes from being uncovered. In all, Murdaugh is accused of swindling nearly $9 million."

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Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefings of developments in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Canada in a surprise visit after his trip to the United States, according to the office of Canadia Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Zelensky had just wrapped up a whirlwind day in Washington, where he visited the White House, the Pentagon and talked to congressional leaders, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), whose party includes lawmakers skeptical about sending additional aid to Kyiv. In a nightly address made to the Ukrainian people summarizing the day's events, Zelensky expressed thanks to President Biden for approving the latest tranche of U.S. military aid. 'Thank you, Mr. President Biden!' he said. The Ukrainian leader also thanked 'Congress -- both parties, both houses,' before saying that he had 'very frank, detailed conversations' with U.S. lawmakers.... Zelensky will spend Friday in Canada, Trudeau's office said. 'While in Ottawa, President [Zelensky] will deliver an address to Parliament,' it said. Trudeau and Zelensky 'will then travel to Toronto, where they will meet with Canadian business leaders to strengthen private sector investment in Ukraine';s future.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's main story, by Tyler Pager & others, on President Zelensky's visit to Washington, is here.

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Thursday
Sep212023

The Conversation -- September 21, 2023

Groundhog Day All Over Again. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Right-wing House Republicans dealt another stunning rebuke to Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday morning, blocking a Pentagon funding bill for the second time this week in a vivid display of G.O.P. disunity on federal spending that threatens to lead to a government shutdown in nine days. Just hours after Mr. McCarthy signaled he had won over some of the holdouts and was ready to move forward, a handful of Republicans broke with their party to oppose the routine measure that would allow the military appropriations bill to come to the House floor for debate, joining with Democrats to defeat it. It was a major black eye for Mr. McCarthy, who has on multiple occasions admonished his members in private for taking the rare step of bringing down such votes, known as rules, proposed by their own party -- a previously unheard-of tactic.... 'This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down,' Mr. McCarthy said on Thursday." The NBC News report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yo, Kevin,"burning the whole place down" has been a GOP tactic at least since the Gingrich era, and you've lit a few matches yourself. So don't act all shocked when the mob nails you to the stake.

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The New York Times is including President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Capitol Hill and the White House in its regular daily Ukraine liveblog.

Succession. Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "Rupert Murdoch is retiring from the Fox and News Corporation boards, the company announced Thursday morning, making his son Lachlan the sole executive in charge of the global media empire he built from a small local newspaper concern in Australia starting 70 years ago. The elder Mr. Murdoch will become chairman emeritus of the two companies, the company said in a release. Mr. Murdoch, 92, had shown no intention to step down or even slow down -- even after he named Lachlan as the heir to his business empire in 2019, when he sold his vast entertainment holdings to the Walt Disney Company.Even now, in his emeritus status, he will continue to offer counsel, Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement." Here's the AP story.

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Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The Biden administration said late Wednesday that it would allow hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans already in the United States to live and work legally in the country for 18 months. The decision followed intense advocacy by top New York Democrats, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams and party leaders in Congress. It will affect about 472,000 Venezuelans who arrived in the country before July 31, temporarily protecting them from removal and waiving a monthslong waiting period for them to seek employment authorization. In an unusual break with a president of their party, the New York Democrats had argued that the city's social safety net would tear under the weight of more than 110,000 recently arrived migrants unless they were allowed to work and support themselves more quickly. Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, said that he made the decision because conditions in Venezuela 'prevent their safe return' but stressed that immigrants who had entered the country since August were not protected and would be 'removed when they are found to not have a legal basis to stay.'" Politico's story is here.

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Attorney General Merrick B. Garland offered a fiery defense of the Justice Department's investigation of Hunter Biden on Wednesday, telling a House committee he was 'not Congress's prosecutor' -- and would not reveal details of the inquiry no matter how much pressure lawmakers applied. During a grueling hearing before the House Judiciary Committee that foreshadowed a bruising impeachment fight ahead, Mr. Garland repeatedly refused to answer questions about internal deliberations or offer explanations for decision-making in the investigation, or the two federal indictments of ... Donald J. Trump.... Many of the claims and insinuations [Republicans] leveled against Mr. Garland -- that he is part of a coordinated Democratic effort to shield the Bidens and persecute Mr. Trump -- were not supported by fact. And much of the specific evidence presented, particularly the testimony of an investigator who questioned key decisions in the Hunter Biden investigation, was given without context or acknowledgment of contradictory information.... Countering their claims, [Mr. Garland] denounced escalating threats Trump supporters have directed against prosecutors, including the special counsel Jack Smith, and F.B.I. agents, prompting significant increases in security." ~~~

     ~~~ Farnoush Amiri & Lindsay Whitehurst of the AP: "House Republicans clashed with Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday, accusing him and the Justice Department of the 'weaponization' of the department's work in favor of President Joe Biden's son Hunter.... Republicans on the committee -- led by chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio -- set the tone with accusations that the Justice Department is favoring the Biden family while targeting his likely 2024 opponent, [Donald] Trump.... Questioning in the Republicans' arsenal focused on allegations that the Justice Department interfered in the yearslong case into Hunter Biden and that the prosecutor in charge of that case [-- whom Trump appointed --] did not have the full authority he needed to bring necessary charges." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I listened to about a half-hour of the hearing until I couldn't stand it anymore. Jordan, as usual, was outrageous in his disrespect for Garland and his refusal to let Garland answer the "questions" (okay, accusations) he raised.

Today, in a hearing with the Attorney General of the United States, Jim Jordan boldly, and perhaps proudly, demonstrated just how astonishingly stupid he thinks Republican voters are. -- Lawrence O'Donnell, Wednesday ~~~

~~~ Eric Swawell (D-Calif.) strikes back at Jordan and "the law firm of Insurrection, LLP":

Carl Hulse & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "House Republicans inched closer on Wednesday to overcoming deep internal divisions and reaching an agreement that would allow them to advance stalled spending legislation, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy bowed to the demands of far-right lawmakers for steep spending cuts that stood little chance of surviving in the Senate. The emerging deal was unlikely to bring Congress closer to averting a shutdown in 10 days, and it remained unclear whether Republicans could even reach agreement among themselves on a purely symbolic measure that underscored Mr. McCarthy's precarious hold on his job." MB: IOW, McCarthy may or may not have the votes to pass pass spending bills that have no chance of passing the Senate. Congrats, My Kev. You're a real leader.

Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "The long-shot idea that Democrats could bail out the beleaguered Speaker Kevin McCarthy is suddenly getting real. Small groups of centrist Democrats are holding secret talks with several of McCarthy's close GOP allies about a last-ditch deal to fund the government, according to more than a half-dozen people familiar with the discussions." MB: Is something really secret if it's published in Politico?

"The Tyranny of the Small Minority." Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "... the increasing accumulation of power by a small band of Republicans has left the House almost completely dysfunctional.... With a very narrow Republican majority, rules and tradition have been so contorted that as few as five members -- out of 435 districts -- are controlling the chamber and dictating outcomes.... In addition to threatening to block rule votes to sabotage legislation deemed insufficiently conservative, these few hard-right Republicans are also issuing threats to use even more obscure procedural motions to toss [Speaker Kevin] McCarthy out of his job. The most rational option for the speaker would normally be to negotiate with Democrats.... But McCarthy has badly damaged his ties to Democrats by, first, reneging on the debt-and-budget deal he cut with President Biden in May in an attempt to appease his hard-line faction.... Then, last week, McCarthy declared an impeachment inquiry centered on the business dealings of Biden's son, Hunter, though lawmakers have yet to produce direct evidence linking the president to those activities.... Democrats dealt with their own ideological flank in the last four years of the tenure of Rep. Nancy Pelosi's (Calif.) as speaker, but they never lost a procedural rule vote and she never faced a call to get expelled from her post. 'Because we didn't have any nihilists,' Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), who served as Pelosi's deputy for 20 years, said Wednesday."

Karoun Demirjian & Kayla Guo of the New York Times: "The Senate confirmed Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. of the Air Force on Wednesday as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, circumventing Senator Tommy Tuberville's blockade of Pentagon promotions. The vote was 83 to 11, and was expected to be followed by confirmations of the Marine Corps and Army chiefs, which also have been held up for months by Mr. Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, over the Defense Department's abortion-access policies. General Brown is set to succeed Army Gen. Mark A. Milley when he steps down as Joint Chiefs chairman at the end of the month." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.)

Dareh Gregorian & Frank Thorp of NBC News: "Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., on Wednesday offered to 'save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week' if House Republicans 'stop trying to shut our government down.' Fetterman issued the statement poking at congressional Republicans -- or as he put it, 'those jagoffs in the House' -- as he was presiding over the Senate in shorts, a short-sleeve button-down shirt, and no tie. His relaxed attire while presiding comes just days after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., quietly changed the Senate's informal dress code to allow lawmakers to casual attire on the floor.... The loosened dress code has been ridiculed by Republicans, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who joked that she planned to wear a bikini instead." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, a decision that gives policymakers more time to assess whether they have raised interest rates enough over the past 18 months to fully wrestle inflation under control. But policymakers also released a fresh set of economic projections suggesting that they still expect to make another rate increase before the end of 2023 -- and that borrowing costs are likely to remain higher than officials had previously expected in 2024. In all, the Fed's decision and its outlook suggested that a resilient economy is keeping central bankers both optimistic about growth and firmly in inflation-fighting mode." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump is concerned enough by the criminal charges against him that he's been obsessively asking his lawyers and confidants about what jail would be like for him. The former president has one question in particular -- would authorities make him wear 'one of those jumpsuits' -- that he's been consumed with in recent months, sources close to Trump told Rolling Stone.... 'Would he be sent to a "club fed" style prison -- a place that's relatively comfortable, as far these things go -- or a "bad" prison?' the sources told Rolling Stone. 'Would he serve out a sentence in a plush home confinement? Would government officials try to strip him of his lifetime Secret Service protections? What would they make him wear, if his enemies actually did ever get him in a cell[?]'... 'What would happen -- including in the Fulton County, Georgia criminal case against him and various co-defendants -- if he were convicted and sentenced, but also re-elected?' the sources added." ~~~

~~~ One of the best YouTube parody songs ever:

Amy Gardner & Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "Lawyers for three [Georgia] electors who were charged in a sweeping indictment along with [Donald] Trump and 15 others made their first appearance in court Wednesday with ... [this] argument: that the electors were acting as federal officers, empowered by the U.S. Constitution and federal law -- and therefore immune from state-level prosecution. At the very least, the lawyers argued, the three are entitled to prosecution in federal, not state, court.... A key element of their defense Wednesday was that federal law -- as well as the Constitution -- expressly allows states to send more than one slate of electors in the event of a contested election. When they convened, voted and signed electoral certificates that were then sent to Washington, they were acting within the law to preserve Trump's legal remedies while a lawsuit contesting the Georgia election made its way through court, their lawyers said." An NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Zachary Cohen of CNN: "Pro-Donald Trump lawyer Lin Wood is a 'witness for the state' in the Georgia election subversion case, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis revealed Wednesday. The reference to Wood was buried in a new court filing by the DA's office that raised potential conflicts of interest for six defense attorneys because they previously represented witnesses or other defendants in related proceedings. Wood was previously subpoenaed by prosecutors in the Georgia probe but his status as a witness for the state was not previously known." (Also linked yesterday.)

Eewww! Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Cassidy Hutchinson, the former Trump aide turned crucial January 6 witness, says in a new book she was groped by Rudy Giuliani, who was 'like a wolf closing in on its prey', on the day of the attack on the Capitol. Describing meeting with Giuliani backstage at Donald Trump's speech near the White House before his supporters marched on Congress in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, Hutchinson says the former New York mayor turned Trump lawyer put his hand 'under my blazer, then my skirt'." (Also linked yesterday.)

Alan Feuer & Zach Montague of the New York Times: "Ray Epps, the Trump supporter who was swept up in one of the most persistent right-wing conspiracy theories connected to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a single misdemeanor charge for his role in the attack on the Capitol. The 20-minute plea hearing, conducted by video in Federal District Court in Washington, came one day after the Justice Department charged Mr. Epps with disrupting the orderly conduct of government business by entering a restricted area on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6.... Mr. ...Epps, who voted twice for Donald J. Trump, became the unlikely focus of a conspiracy theory promoted on Fox News and by right-wing commentators. It held that he had been a covert government asset who helped instigate the riot as a way of discrediting Trump supporters."

She Couldn't Stomach Bill Barr. Susan Haigh & Eric Tucker of the AP: "A former federal prosecutor who helped investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe said Wednesday she left the team because of concerns with then-Attorney General William Barr's public comments about the case and because she strongly disagreed with a draft of an interim report he considered releasing before the election. 'I simply couldn't be part of it. So I resigned,' Nora Dannehy told Connecticut state legislators during her confirmation hearing as a nominee to the state Supreme Court. It marked the first time Dannehy has spoken publicly about her sudden resignation from the probe overseen by former special counsel John Durham.... [Donald] Trump expected the investigation to expose what he and his supporters alleged was a 'deep state' conspiracy to undermine his campaign, but the slow pace of the probe -- and the lack of blockbuster findings -- contributed to a deep wedge between the president and Barr by the time the attorney general resigned in December 2020. The investigation concluded last May with underwhelming results...."

Elections 2024. A Blue Wave? Nathaniel Rakish of 538: "Democrats just scored a big win in an election on Tuesday: Democrat Hal Rafter defeated Republican James Guzofski 56 percent to 44 percent in a special election to fill a Republican-held seat in the New Hampshire state House.... It's also the latest example of Democrats outperforming in a special election, a trend that could be a harbinger of a very good year for Democrats in 2024.... Democrats have been posting special-election overperformances of that magnitude all year long, in all kinds of districts. And on average, they have won by margins 11 points higher than the weighted relative partisanship of their districts."

** Fenit Nirappil of the Washington Post: "Just as a summer covid wave shows signs of receding, the Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is reviving a program to mail free rapid coronavirus tests to Americans. Starting Sept. 25, people can request four free tests per household through covidtests.gov. Officials say the tests are able to detect the latest variants and are intended to be used through the end of the year. The return of the free testing program comes after Americans navigated the latest uptick in covid cases with free testing no longer widely available. The largest insurance companies stopped reimbursing the costs of retail at-home testing once the requirement to do so ended with the public health emergency in May. The Biden administration stopped mailing free tests in June." Access to this article is free to nonsubscribers.

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Marie: Everyone who has passed through childhood knows that a childish interest in genitalia is as normal as breathing. But the children of Texas -- almost all of whom no doubt have shared that interest -- are not to be schooled about it, lest, I suppose, any shame they may have attached to their curiosity be retained. ~~~

     ~~~ Texas. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "A Texas teacher has been fired after a middle school class was assigned to read a graphic novel adaptation of 'The Diary of Anne Frank' that officials say had not been approved by the school district. The Hamshire-Fannett Independent School District announced that a teacher had assigned an eighth-grade class to read a passage from 'Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation,' which includes passages Frank wrote about female and male genitalia, and a possible attraction to women. The unabridged version of Frank's diary has been removed from schools in Texas and Florida this year after complaints from parents over the book's sexual content." The Guardian's story is here.

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Ukraine, et al. Zelensky Proposes Putting Some Teeth in the U.N. Richard Pérez-Peña, et al., of the New York Times: "President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, denouncing Russia's 'unprovoked aggression,' told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday that if it did not break the grip of Russian veto power, it would be powerless to resolve conflicts around the world, adding his voice to the rising calls to overhaul how the body works. 'Ukrainian soldiers are doing with their blood what the U.N. Security Council should do by its voting,' Mr. Zelensky said on Wednesday, arguing that 'veto power in the hands of the aggressor is what has pushed the U.N. into deadlock.'... Mr. Zelensky advocated changing U.N. rules to allow the General Assembly, which is made up of all member countries, to override a Security Council veto by a two-thirds vote. But that change would, itself, be subject to a veto, making it a nonstarter for the foreseeable future.... Many other countries have raised the issue of recasting the Security Council this week, calling for broader and more equitable representation for them, and at least limitations on veto power, if not its abolition.... Mr. Zelensky argued that the United Nations was wrong to allow the privileges of the Soviet Union, after it collapsed, to be inherited in the 1990s by Russia, 'which, for some reason, is still here among the permanent members of the Security Council.'" MB: Sounds reasonable to me.

News Lede

CNN: "A manhunt is underway for a suspect in a 2021 killing who was accidentally released from a detention center in Indianapolis last week, a sheriff's office said Tuesday, asking for the public's help finding him. Kevin Mason, 28, was 'mistakenly released' from an adult detention center in Marion County on September 13, two days after his arrest, 'due to a faulty records review' by staff, the Marion County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.... Mason was arrested in Indiana on September 11, having been sought on three Minnesota warrants, including one asking he be held on suspicion of murder in connection with a 2021 shooting in Minneapolis, the sheriff's office said.... Two inmate records clerks involved in Martin's release have been fired, and an internal investigation is being conducted.... The sheriff's office waited six days to alert the public of Mason's accidental release because it wanted to maintain a 'tactical advantage,' [James] Martin [of the sheriff's office] told reporters." Emphasis added.

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