The Ledes

Thursday, September 26, 2024

The New York Times:' live updates of Hurricane Helene developments today are here. “Hurricane Helene was barreling through the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday en route to Florida, where residents were bracing for extreme rain, destructive winds and deadly storm surge ahead of the storm’s expected landfall. The storm could intensify to a Category 4, if not higher, before making landfall late Thursday, and forecasters warned Helene’s anticipated large size could make its impacts felt across an extensive area. Areas as distant as Atlanta and the Appalachians are at risk for heavy rains.... Many forecast models show the storm making landfall late Thursday near Florida’s Big Bend Coast, a sparsely populated stretch....” ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post has forecasts for some cites in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina & Tennessee that are in or near the probable path of Helene. ~~~

     ~~~ This morning, an MSNBC weatherperson said Tallahassee (which is inland) would experience wind gusts of up to 120 m.p.h. and that the National Weather Service said expected 20-foot storm surges near the coast would be “unsurvivable.”

The Wires
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The Ledes

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

The New York Times is live-updating developments in the progress of Hurricane Helene. “Helene continued to power north in the Caribbean Sea, strengthening into a hurricane Wednesday morning, on a path that forecasters expect will bring heavy amounts of rain to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula and western Cuba before it begins to move toward Florida’s Gulf Coast.” ~~~

~~~ CNN: “Helene rapidly intensified into a hurricane Wednesday as it plows toward a Florida landfall as the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in over a year. The storm will also grow into a massive, sprawling monster as it continues to intensify, one that won’t just slam Florida, but also much of the Southeast.... Thousands of Florida residents have already been forced to evacuate and nearly the entire state is under alerts as the storm threatens to unleash flooding rainfall, damaging winds and life-threatening storm surge.... The hurricane unleashed its fury on parts of Mexico’s Yucátan Peninsula and Cuba Wednesday.“

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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
Jul212023

July 21, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "President Biden has asked CIA Director William J. Burns to become a member of his Cabinet, reflecting the central role the veteran diplomat has taken carrying out the administration's foreign policy and his key role as a messenger to Russia. The move, which is largely symbolic, will not give Burns any new authorities. But it underscores the influence Burns has in the administration and will be read as a victory for the CIA, which was among the agencies in the U.S. intelligence community that accurately forecast the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.... Burns, who repeatedly stresses that he is not engaged in diplomacy, has nevertheless emerged as a sort of 'secretary of hard problems,' U.S. officials have said. Since well before Russia invaded Ukraine, Burns has been the White House's key interlocutor to Moscow, having had the most direct interactions with Russian President Vladimir Putin of anyone in the administration.... Burns, who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008, has been one of the sharpest public critics of Putin...."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The federal judge overseeing ... Donald J. Trump's prosecution on charges of illegally retaining dozens of classified documents set a trial date on Friday for May 2024, taking a middle position between the government's request to go to trial in December and Mr. Trump's desire to push the proceeding until after the 2024 election. In her order, Judge Aileen M. Cannon said the trial was to be held in her home courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., a coastal city two-and-a-half hours north of Miami that will draw its jury pool from several counties that Mr. Trump won handily in his two previous presidential campaigns. Judge Cannon also laid out a calendar of hearings, throughout the remainder of this year and into next year.... The date Judge Cannon chose to start the trial -- May 20, 2024 -- falls after the bulk of the primary contests. But it is less than two months before the start of the Republican National Convention in July and the formal start of the general election season."

** Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "The Fulton county district attorney investigating Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state of Georgia has developed evidence to charge a sprawling racketeering indictment next month, according to two people briefed on the matter.... In the Trump investigation, the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, has evidence to pursue a racketeering indictment predicated on statutes related to influencing witnesses and computer trespass, the people said." MB: We don't know what's happening the grand jury Willis has convened, and we don't know that the grand jury will direct Willis to bring any charges. But treating Trump as a dirty mob boss seems entirely appropriate to me.

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "Michael D. Cohen, the longtime fixer to Donald J. Trump, who was set to go to trial next week against his former boss's company in a dispute over legal fees, has agreed to settle his lawsuit with the Trump Organization, lawyers for both parties said at a brief court hearing on Friday. Mr. Cohen's lawsuit, filed in 2019, accused the Trump Organization of failing to abide by the terms of a deal and refusing to pay more than $1 million in legal costs. Jury selection for the trial began earlier this week, and opening arguments were scheduled for Monday."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Over a forceful dissent from its three liberal members, the Supreme Court early Friday morning refused to halt the execution of a death row inmate in Alabama who said that the state's history of botched executions made it likely that he would suffer intense pain as he was put to death. The inmate, James Barber, was executed about two hours after the court's 1 a.m. order. Early news reports did not note major flaws in the procedure. Mr. Barber was convicted in 2003 of beating Dorothy Epps, 75, to death with his fists and a claw hammer. The Supreme Court's brief order gave no reasons for denying the stay.... In an 11-page dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, said the majority had empowered 'Alabama to experiment again with a human life.'"

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "Hunter Biden's attorney on Friday requested that a congressional ethics panel take action against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), citing her use of sexually explicit images of the president's son that she displayed during a congressional hearing earlier this week. 'Your colleague has lowered herself, and by extension the entire House of Representatives, to a new level of abhorrent behavior that blatantly violates House Ethics rules and standards of official conduct,' Abbe Lowell wrote in a four-page letter sent to the Office of Congressional Ethics."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "After pressure from the White House..., seven leading A.I. companies in the United States have agreed to voluntary safeguards on the technology's development, the White House announced on Friday, pledging to strive for safety, security and trust even as they compete over the potential of artificial intelligence. The seven companies -- Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI -- will formally announce their commitment to the new standards at a meeting with President Biden at the White House on Friday afternoon. The announcement comes as the companies are racing to outdo each other with versions of A.I. that offer powerful new tools to create text, photos, music and video without human input. But the technological leaps have prompted fears that the tools will facilitate the spread of disinformation and dire warnings of a 'risk of extinction' as self-aware computers evolve." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: President* Trump could not get such an agreement because he thought "A.I." stood for "Article I" of the Constitution, which covers the powers of Congress, powers that under Trump's thumb are themselves already under a "risk of extinction." (See today's "My Kevin" news, for instance.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved legislation that would impose strict new ethics rules on justices, moving over fierce objections from Republicans to address a string of revelations about Supreme Court justices taking free luxury trips and receiving other financial benefits from wealthy benefactors. The legislation, which stands little chance of advancing given the strong G.O.P. opposition, would require the Supreme Court to, at a minimum, adopt and adhere to ethics and disclosure rules equivalent to those applied to members of Congress. It would also impose new transparency requirements and create a panel of appellate judges to review misconduct complaints made against the justices. Democratic members of the committee said the action was necessary because the court has refused to police itself." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I acknowledge that it is a given that Republicans are horrified that confederate justices should have to abide by some kind of ethics code. But will somebody please remind me of why. What is the rationale -- real or fake -- behind "It's so wrong for our vaunted justices-for-life to be required to demonstrate that they're following ethical principles." I really cannot think of a quasi-reasonable excuse for the GOP's "strong opposition" to the proposed legislation. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Near the end of yesterday's Comments section, Ken W. responded. His answer to my question, if not satisfactory, sounds right to me. And in today's thread, Akhilleus thinks up several rationales. I suspect his final thought is most apt. ~~~

     ~~~ Update 2: Come now Fox "News" & Sen. Foghorn Leghorn with this remarkable excuse: "Senator John Kennedy, R-La., called a new bill from Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats to install a Supreme Court code of ethics a 'court-killing machine' that was both 'dangerous' and 'unserious.'... It would allow any jackaloon out there in America in a tinfoil hat, whose own dog thinks he's an utter nutter, to file a motion to recuse a United States Supreme Court Justice.'"

Kayla Guo of the New York Times: "The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for the next half-decade, [also] moving ... to make a number of changes that affect passengers. The bill would address airlines' refunds and reimbursement obligations to passengers, enhance protections for passengers with disabilities, boost hiring of air traffic controllers, shore up aviation safety, unlock funding to modernize airport infrastructure, invest in upgrades to the agency's technology and more. The House passed it on a vote of 351 to 69, sending it to the Senate." MB: Apparently, anti-regulation Republicans, most of whom fly regularly, favor "deep-state" regs that help keep them safe.

Marie: If you would like to know what-all happened in Wednesday's House Biden Crime Family Hearing -- other than MTG displaying huge dick pix in front of those assembled in the room -- Aaron Blake of the Washington Post does a good job at explaining the, ah, substance: "It's basically one big he-said, they-said. And despite the hearing Wednesday, it remained in that realm." It appears star wingnut witness Gary Shapley, an IRS supervisor agent, didn't understand the DOJ's distinction between a "special counsel" & a "special attorney" when he spoke to Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss a while back. Now, I don't think the average person would know the difference, either, nor would the average surly IRS agent. Necessarily. But Weiss wrote a much-publicized letter to the committee last week, explaining Shapley's apparent misapprehension and assuring the committee that AG Merrick Garland did nothing to limit Weiss's investigation and charging decisions re: Hunter Biden. So one would think Shapley would have an Emily Litella moment and back out of the hearing. But no. He insisted to Democratic interrogators that Weiss was not telling the truth. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I wonder if Miss Margie should be prosecuted for displaying pornographic photos on C-SPAN (available in all major cable network packages) during children's viewing hours. Imagine some little kid tiring of Sesame Street's alphabet lesson and deploying the remote to switch to C-SPAN, whereupon the heretofore innocent child sees this.

Desperate Measures. Lucien Bruggeman, et al., of ABC News: "Sen. Chuck Grassley on Thursday released a confidential FBI informant's unverified claim that, years ago, the Biden family 'pushed' a Ukrainian oligarch to pay them $10 million. The exceedingly rare step by Grassley, R-Iowa, further promulgates an allegation that Democratic critics warned against accepting at face value and which the White House continues to deny, saying it has been investigated under the Trump administration and 'debunked.'... Grassley's office said he obtained his version of the FD-1023, which is only lightly redacted, 'via legally protected disclosures by Justice Department whistleblowers,' though the bureau said in a statement that such a release 'at a minimum - unnecessarily risks the safety of a confidential source.'"

My Kevin Makes a Deal. Rachel Bade of Politico: "After House Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested on national television last month that Donald Trump may not be the GOP's best presidential nominee in 2024, the former president was furious.... 'He needs to endorse me -- today!' Trump fumed to his staff.... But [McCarthy] ... wasn't ready to do that. To calm Trump, McCarthy made him a promise...: The House would vote to expunge the two impeachments against the former president. And -- as McCarthy would communicate through aides later that same day -- they would do so before August recess. That vow -- made reflexively to save his own skin -- may have bought McCarthy some time, staving off a public war with the man who almost single-handedly rehabilitated his entire career and ensured he won the gavel in January." But the plan may not go down well with so-called moderate House Republicans, Constitutionalist Republicans, and those who want to forget about January 6. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ My Kevin Denies He Made a Deal. Arthur Jones & Lauren Peller of ABC News: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday denied a report claiming he promised ... Donald Trump that the House would hold a vote before its August recess on expunging Trump's past impeachments. 'There's no deal, but I've been very clear from long before -- when I voted against impeachments -- that they put them in for purely political purposes. I support expungement but there's no deal out there,' McCarthy said." MB: IOW, McCarthy would have prostrated himself before the Lord High Executioner no matter what. That's the way to stand up to a commander-in-chief* who denied your frantic pleas to him to call off the barbarians who had crashed the gate on January 6. ~~~

~~~ Jordain Carney, et al., of Politico: "Roughly a half-dozen swing district Republicans said Thursday they were skeptical -- or even downright opposed -- to any vote designed to symbolically rescind one or both of Trump's impeachments." ~~~

~~~ digby: "I think McCarthy needs to call for that vote. It will either lose because the GOP moderates refuse to go along in which case Trump gets furious and there is hell to pay or it passes and every Democratic challenger in those swing districts use that vote to illustrate how Trump owns them. It's a good plan. Go for it."

Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "On Thursday, two of [the] legal proceedings [against Donald Trump] collided in an unusual spectacle, as a federal judge hauled the prosecutor leading the election interference investigation out of a grand jury proceeding and summoned him into his courtroom. The judge, Trevor N. McFadden, was apparently upset that the prosecutor, Thomas P. Windom, had kept a lawyer [-- Stanley Woodward Jr. --] representing a witness in front of the grand jury from appearing on time for the reading of a verdict for a Jan. 6 defendant whom the lawyer was also representing. While the incident came to an end quickly and seemed to have resulted in little more than a public display of tension, it nonetheless reflected the complexities that have ensued from Mr. Trump's crowded legal calendar." The article explains the delay, which was caused by Woodward's consultations with Trump bodyman Will Russell, who was appearing in a grand jury hearing. Politico's story is here. MB: Teevee commenters yesterday said it was unusual for one attorney to represent so many clients in so many different aspects of cases related to Donald Trump's misadventures.

Paula Reid, et al., of CNN: "As anticipation builds for ... Donald Trump to be indicted for the third time this year, investigators in the special counsel's election interference probe are expected to speak with additional witnesses over the next several weeks, including at least one former Trump attorney.... Prosecutors have been in talks with at least two witnesses to schedule interviews with investigators that won't be completed for at least another month. Former New York City police commissioner Bernie Kerik, a Trump ally, is still in the process of scheduling his upcoming interview, and a former Trump lawyer plans to talk to investigators next month, sources familiar with the planned meetings told CNN. It is unclear if prosecutors would wait until after their interviews have been completed before indicting Trump."

Marie: Wednesday night I read U.S. Code Section 241 of Title 18, which is a "surprise" citation in Trump's target letter. I came to much the same conclusion, based on the same recent evidence, Marcy Wheeler reached: "The recent news that Jack Smith has subpoenaed the security footage from the State Farm arena vote count location in Georgia, taken in conjunction with Trump's efforts in places like Michigan -- where his efforts focused on preventing a fair count of Detroit, where he had actually performed better than in 2016, rather than Kent County, the still predominantly white county where he lost the state -- is a reminder that Trump and his mobs, many associated with overt white supremacists like Nick Fuentes, aggressively tried to thwart the counting of Black and Latino people's votes." We have known for a long time that Trump ran a Jim Crow presidency*. You see it in his political appointees, you see it in his judicial nominations. You see it in his immigration sentiments: more Norwegians, fewer people from "shithole countries," no Mexican "rapists," no Muslims. "There are very fine people on both sides." Message to violent white nationalist Proud Boys: "Stand back and stand by." The only Black people Trump has ever been able to make friends with are entertainers or sports figures, and many White racists have long given a pass to Black celebrities. If we failed to notice that Trump was picking on areas with primarily Black voters, then we haven't been paying attention to Republicans back to Richard Nixon. Wheeler gives a big shout-out to Roger Stone, and he is obviously provides a through-line from Nixon to Trump. But the racism is party-wide and hardly concealed. Just ask Paul Ryan why he and Mitt Romney lost the 2012 election:"urban voters." If the DOJ is catching up to reality -- and that remains a supposition -- well, good for them. (Also linked yesterday.)

Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: “The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday that it had reached a settlement with the cash-rich shell company that planned to merge with ... Donald J. Trump’s social media company, potentially paving the way for the much-delayed deal to proceed. Under the settlement, Digital World Acquisition Corp. will pay a penalty of $18 million and revise some of its corporate filings to comply with federal securities laws. The S.E.C. was investigating whether Digital World had flouted merger laws governing special purpose acquisition companies. The S.E.C. charged Digital World, a special purpose acquisition company, with misleading investors with its disclosures.... But many hurdles remain for Digital World to complete its merger with Trump Media & Technology Group.... It is unclear why ... Trump Media has not yet signaled it is willing to keep the pending deal alive...."

Trump Appointee Found Guilty in Jan. 6 Insurrection. Spencer Hsu & Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "A former political appointee of ... Donald Trump was found guilty Thursday of joining assaults on police on Jan. 6, 2021, that included one of the most prolonged attacks on officers by rioters in a tunnel at the Lower West Terrace of the U.S. Capitol. Federico G. Klein, a State Department appointee with a top-secret clearance, was convicted on all counts, including 10 felony charges involving six violent confrontations with multiple law enforcement officers and obstruction of the electoral vote count, after a week-long bench trial before U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden. A co-defendant, Steven Cappuccio, was convicted of six felony counts, but McFadden acquitted him of the obstruction charge and a misdemeanor, ruling that Cappuccio was not politically savvy enough to intend to stop the electoral vote count.... One [of their victims was] D.C. police officer Daniel Hodges, who in one of the day's most harrowing events was recorded on camera being pinned to a metal door frame by the mob with Klein's help, while Cappuccio ripped away his baton and gas mask while yelling, 'How you like me now, f[uck]er!'... Klein, 42, served in the Marine Corps Reserves in Iraq before working on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and gaining a mid-level State Department appointment." The NBC News story is here.

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Thursday denied a bid from Jacob Chansley to withdraw his guilty plea to obstructing Congress on Jan. 6 and rebuked the so-called 'QAnon Shaman' for going on a Tucker Carlson program that gave a distorted view of the riot.... Judge Royce C. Lamberth sentenced [Chansley] in November 2021 to 41 months in prison, the low end of federal sentencing guidelines, after Chansley said he was 'truly repentant' and called his behavior 'indefensible.'... But after leaving prison, he asked Lamberth to undo his conviction, saying security camera footage from inside the Capitol aired by Fox News host Tucker Carlson a few weeks prior showed police allowed him to wander around the building on Jan. 6. The attorney who represented Chansley when he took his plea told Carlson he did not have that video at the time.... All but 10 seconds of the video Carlson showed was produced to Chansley before his sentencing, Lamberth said, and the surveillance video Chansley now claims undermines his conviction is duplicative of police body-camera footage he was given months before he decided to plead guilty.

"'These videos are decidedly not exculpatory,' Lamberth wrote. 'Such footage, conveniently omitted by the [Fox News] program, shows nearly all of Mr. Chansley's actions that day, including: carrying a six-foot-long pole armed with a spearhead, unlawfully entering the Capitol through a broken door, disobeying orders from law enforcement on more than a half-dozen occasions, screaming obscenities, entering the Senate chamber, climbing onto the Senate dais, sitting in the Vice President's chair, and leaving a threatening message for the Vice President.... That law enforcement officers outnumbered by the quantity of rioters did not physically engage Mr. Chansley or impede his progress is irrelevant.'" MB: Otherwise, the bare-chested, spear-carrying, horn-wearing Chansley was just a patriotic tourist enjoying the sights in our nation's capitol. Why, I wouldn't mind seeing him in a Trump campaign video, all decked out in his patriotic touring outfit.

The Lionization of Clarence Thomas (Sponsored by a Guy Named Leo). Shawn Boberg, et al., of the Washington Post: "In 2016, after HBO produced & aired a drama about Clarence Thomas & Anita Hill, there arose a "rush of favorable content [that] was part of a coordinated and sophisticated public relations campaign to defend and celebrate Thomas.... The campaign would stretch on for years and include the creation and promotion of a laudatory film about Thomas, advertising to boost positive content about him during internet searches and publication of a book about his life. It was financed with at least $1.8 million from conservative nonprofit groups steered by the judicial activist Leonard Leo, [a Washington Post] examination found." (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race 2024

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ... appeared before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government ... [and] said he had 'never been anti-vax' and had taken all recommended vaccines except the coronavirus vaccine. Thursday's hearing ... was rooted in a lawsuit, filed last year by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana and known as Missouri v. Biden, that accused the [Biden] administration of colluding with social media companies to suppress free speech on Covid-19, elections and other matters. The subcommittee's chairman, Representative Jim Jordan..., opened the hearing by citing an email that emerged in that case, in which a White House official asked Twitter to take down a tweet in which Mr. Kennedy suggested -- without evidence -- that the baseball legend Hank Aaron may have died from the coronavirus vaccine.... Thursday's session had all the makings of a Washington spectacle." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Daniel Dale of CNN fact-checks Kennedy's stunning claim (made under oath) that he's never been anti-vaccine. Definitely worth watching:

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: As Republicans & Fox "News" fawn over RFK Jr., his poll numbers turn south.

Marie's Sports News

Ken Belson of the New York Times: "Owners of the N.F.L.'s 31 other teams unanimously approved the sale of the Washington Commanders to a group led by Josh Harris, the private equity billionaire, who agreed to pay a record $6.05 billion to Daniel Snyder, the scandal-plagued owner of the team. The figure surpassed the previous highest price paid for an American sports team...."

Ken Belson & Jenny Vrentas of the New York Times: "Daniel Snyder was fined $60 million, by far the largest penalty ever levied against an N.F.L. team owner, after he was found to have sexually harassed a woman who was both a former cheerleader and a marketing employee for the Washington Commanders. A league-sponsored investigation released Thursday found credible claims made by Tiffani Johnston, the former team employee, who said that Snyder put his hand on her thigh without her consent at a work dinner in 2005 or 2006, and that he later attempted to push her toward the back seat of his car after the event.... White's report also substantiated claims made by a former Washington ticket executive, Jason Friedman, who said the team had intentionally shielded and withheld revenues that were intended to be shared among the league's 32 teams." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's report, which is more detailed, is here.


Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "Unionized workers at Anchor Brewing Company, the oldest craft brewer in the United States, want to buy the 127-year-old company and run it as a co-op to save it from shutting down, a union official said. The company said last week that economic pressures ... had left it 'with no option but to make this sad decision to cease operations.' But employees, who were given 60 days' notice and promised severance packages, have proposed a way to keep the beer flowing."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Way Down Upon de Swanee Ribber. Antonio Planas of NBC News: "Florida's public schools will now teach students that some Black people benefited from slavery because it taught them useful skills, part of new African American history standards approved Wednesday that were blasted by a state teachers' union as a 'step backward.' The Florida State Board of Education's new standards includes controversial language about how 'slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit,' according to a 216-page document about the state's 2023 standards in social studies, posted by the Florida Department of Education. Other language that has drawn the ire of some educators and education advocates includes teaching about how Black people were also perpetrators of violence during race massacres.... Updates to the African American history curriculum were required by a controversial 2022 law that Gov. Ron DeSantis dubbed the 'Stop Wrongs To Our Kids and Employees Act,' or 'Stop WOKE Act,' NBC South Florida reported." See also Forrest M.'s comment at the top of today's thread.

Florida. Steve Contorno & Danielle Wiener-Bronner of CNN: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is urging the state's pension fund manager to consider legal action against Bud Light's parent company amid conservative backlash to the beermaker's recent marketing efforts, the latest attempt by the Republican presidential candidate to inject himself and the state he runs into the country's culture wars. In a Thursday letter obtained by CNN, DeSantis suggests AB InBev 'breached legal duties owed to its shareholders' when it decided to associate with 'radical social ideologies.' Sales of Bud Light have plummeted in the months since it entered into a minor partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney that precipitated a boycott from conservatives.... Earlier this year, DeSantis praised conservative consumers for boycotting the company, telling the right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson: 'I'll never drink Bud again.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's how this works: DeSantis encourages and says he will participate in a boycott of Bud products, a boycott that is in line with DeSantis's infamous anti-woke campaign. The boycott brings down sales, which leads to a fall in the stock prices; ergo, also a fall in the stock's value in the state pension fund. So DeSantis says to sue Bud's parent company for falling prey to a boycott he aided. Can anyone see anything wrong with that?

Missouri. Anna Betts of the New York Times: "The Missouri Supreme Court ruled against the state attorney general's position on an abortion ballot initiative, a decision that allows an effort to restore abortion rights there to move forward. The court ruled that the attorney general, Andrew Bailey, who opposes abortion, had improperly held up his approval of a ballot initiative that would ask voters whether they want to change the constitution to include a right to abortion.... The delay prevented proponents of the initiative from beginning to collect signatures to try to place the question on the ballot for next year's election."

New York. Jake Offenhartz of the AP: "New York City has agreed to pay more than $13 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought on behalf of roughly 1,300 people who were arrested or beaten by police during racial injustice demonstrations that swept through the city during the summer of 2020. If approved by a judge, the settlement, which was filed in Manhattan federal court Wednesday, would be among the most expensive payouts ever awarded in a lawsuit over mass arrests, experts said.... With certain exceptions, people arrested or subjected to force by NYPD officers at those events will each be eligible for $9,950 in compensation, according to attorneys for the plaintiffs."

Way Beyond

China. Peter Alexander & Carol Lee of NBC News: "China-linked hackers accessed the email account of the U.S ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, as part of a recent targeted intelligence-gathering campaign, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter confirmed. The hackers also breached the email account of Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, the officials said. Kritenbrink recently traveled to China with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The breach, first reported Thursday by The Wall Street Journal, was limited to the diplomats' unclassified email accounts, the officials said."

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Friday is here: "Russia struck Odessa early Friday in the fourth day of pounding the Ukrainian port region, the governor said. The attack on an agricultural facility there injured two employees and destroyed tons of peas and barley ... days after the Kremlin pulled out of a U.N.-backed grain export deal. Moscow's withdrawal from the agreement suspends the flow of shipments from Ukraine, a major grain exporter, via Black Sea routes, raising fears for global food supplies.... On the battlefield, Ukraine is using U.S.-provided cluster munitions in an attempt to push through Russian lines in the southeast, The Washington Post reported. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the weapons were 'actually having an impact on Russia's defensive formations' and Ukrainian forces were using them 'effectively.'... [President] Zelensky called for limits on funding cultural activities during the war in his nightly address. The cultural minister, Oleksandr Tkachenko, announced his resignation soon after, citing a 'misunderstanding about the importance of culture during war' with the president."

Julian Barnes & David Sanger of the New York Times: "In the most detailed public account yet given by a U.S. official, the director of the C.I.A. offered a biting assessment on Thursday of the damage done to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia by the mutiny of the Wagner mercenary group, saying the rebellion had revived questions about his judgment and detachment from events. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, an annual national security conference, William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, said that for much of the 36 hours of the rebellion last month, Russian security services, the military and decision makers 'appeared to be adrift.'... Mr. Burns confirmed that the United States had some notice that the uprising might take place.... Mr. Burns's remarks on the Kremlin's paralysis during the uprising carried out by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin and his mercenary group built on comments a day earlier from his British counterpart, Richard Moore, the chief of MI6, who said the rebellion showed cracks in Mr. Putin's rule."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Tony Bennett, a singer whose melodic clarity, jazz-influenced phrasing, audience-embracing persona and warm, deceptively simple interpretations of musical standards helped spread the American songbook around the world and won him generations of fans, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan, where he had lived for many decades. He was 96.... Mr. Bennett's career of more than 70 years was remarkable not only for its longevity, but also for its consistency. In hundreds of concerts and club dates and more than 150 recordings, he devoted himself to preserving the classic American popular song....

"A lifelong liberal Democrat, Mr. Bennett participated in the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march in 1965, and, along with Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis Jr. and others, performed at the Stars for Freedom rally on the City of St. Jude campus on the outskirts of Montgomery on March 24, the night before the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the address that came to be known as the 'How Long? Not Long' speech. At the conclusion of the march, Viola Liuzzo, a volunteer from Michigan, drove Mr. Bennett to the airport; she was murdered later that day by members of the Ku Klux Klan.... [Mr. Bennett] was among the troops who arrived to liberate the prisoners at the Landsberg concentration camp, a subcamp of Dachau."

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Wednesday
Jul192023

July 20, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ... appeared before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government ... [and] said he had 'never been anti-vax' and had taken all recommended vaccines except the coronavirus vaccine. Thursday's hearing ... was rooted in a lawsuit, filed last year by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana and known as Missouri v. Biden, that accused the [Biden] administration of colluding with social media companies to suppress free speech on Covid-19, elections and other matters. The subcommittee's chairman, Representative Jim Jordan..., opened the hearing by citing an email that emerged in that case, in which a White House official asked Twitter to take down a tweet in which Mr. Kennedy suggested -- without evidence -- that the baseball legend Hank Aaron may have died from the coronavirus vaccine.... Thursday's session had all the makings of a Washington spectacle." ~~~

     ~~~ Daniel Dale of CNN fact-checks Kennedy's stunning claim (under oath) that he's never been anti-vaccine. Definitely worth watching:

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved legislation that would impose strict new ethics rules on justices, moving over fierce objections from Republicans to address a string of revelations about Supreme Court justices taking free luxury trips and receiving other financial benefits from wealthy benefactors. The legislation, which stands little chance of advancing given the strong G.O.P. opposition, would require the Supreme Court to, at a minimum, adopt and adhere to ethics and disclosure rules equivalent to those applied to members of Congress. It would also impose new transparency requirements and create a panel of appellate judges to review misconduct complaints made against the justices. Democratic members of the committee said the action was necessary because the court has refused to police itself." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I acknowledge that it is a given that Republicans are horrified that confederate justices should have to abide by some kind of ethics code. But will somebody please remind me of why. What is the rationale -- real or fake -- behind "It's so wrong for our vaunted justices-for-life to be required to demonstrate that they're following ethical principles." I really cannot think of a quasi-reasonable excuse for the GOP's "strong opposition" to the proposed legislation.

Marie: Last night I read U.S. Code Section 241 of Title 18, which is a "surprise" citation in Trump's target letter. I came to much the same conclusion, based on the same recent evidence, Marcy Wheeler reached: "The recent news that Jack Smith has subpoenaed the security footage from the State Farm arena vote count location in Georgia, taken in conjunction with Trump's efforts in places like Michigan -- where his efforts focused on preventing a fair count of Detroit, where he had actually performed better than in 2016, rather than Kent County, the still predominantly white county where he lost the state -- is a reminder that Trump and his mobs, many associated with overt white supremacists like Nick Fuentes, aggressively tried to thwart the counting of Black and Latino people's votes." We have known for a long time that Trump ran a Jim Crow presidency*. You see it in his political appointees, you see it in his judicial nominations. You see it in his immigration sentiments: more Norwegians, fewer people from "shithole countries," no Mexican "rapists," no Muslims. "There are very fine people on both sides." Message to violent white nationalist Proud Boys: "Stand back and stand by." The only Black people Trump has ever been able to make friends with are entertainers or sports figures, and many White racists have long given a pass to Black celebrities. If we failed to notice that Trump was picking on areas with primarily Black voters, then we haven't been paying attention to Republicans back to Richard Nixon. Wheeler gives a big shout-out to Roger Stone, and he is obviously provides a through-line from Nixon to Trump. But the racism is party-wide and hardly concealed. Just ask Paul Ryan why he and Mitt Romney lost the 2012 election: "urban voters." If the DOJ is catching up to reality -- and that remains a supposition -- well, good for them.

Kevin Makes a Deal. Rachel Bade of Politico: "After House Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested on national television last month that Donald Trump may not be the GOP's best presidential nominee in 2024, the former president was furious.... 'He needs to endorse me -- today!' Trump fumed to his staff.... But [McCarthy] ... wasn't ready to do that. To calm Trump, McCarthy made him a promise...: The House would vote to expunge the two impeachments against the former president. And -- as McCarthy would communicate through aides later that same day -- they would do so before August recess. That vow -- made reflexively to save his own skin -- may have bought McCarthy some time, staving off a public war with the man who almost single-handedly rehabilitated his entire career and ensured he won the gavel in January." But the plan may not go down well with so-called moderate House Republicans, Constitutionalist Republicans, and those who want to forget about January 6.

Marie: If you would like to know what-all happened in Wednesday's House Biden Crime Family Hearing -- other than MTG displaying huge dick pix in front of those assembled in the room -- Aaron Blake of the Washington Post does a good job at explaining the, ah, substance: "It's basically one big he-said, they-said. And despite the hearing Wednesday, it remained in that realm." It appears star wingnut witness Gary Shapley, an IRS supervisor agent, didn't understand the DOJ's distinction between a "special counsel" & a "special attorney" when he spoke to Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss a while back. Now, I don't think the average person would know the difference, either, nor would the average surly IRS agent. Necessarily. But Weiss wrote a much-publicized letter to the committee last week, explaining Shapley's apparent misapprehension and assuring the committee that AG Merrick Garland did nothing to limit Weiss's investigation and charging decisions re: Hunter Biden. So one would think Shapley would have an Emily Litella moment and back out of the hearing. But no. He insisted to Democratic interrogators that Weiss was not telling the truth.

The Lionization of Clarence Thomas (Sponsored by a Guy Named Leo). Shawn Boberg, et al., of the Washington Post: In 2016, after HBO produced & aired a drama about Clarence Thomas & Anita Hill, there arose a "rush of favorable content' [that] was part of a coordinated and sophisticated public relations campaign to defend and celebrate Thomas.... The campaign would stretch on for years and include the creation and promotion of a laudatory film about Thomas, advertising to boost positive content about him during internet searches and publication of a book about his life. It was financed with at least $1.8 million from conservative nonprofit groups steered by the judicial activist Leonard Leo, [a Washington Post] examination found."

~~~~~~~~~~

Patrick Marley, et al., of the Washington Post: "For 2½ years after rioters swarmed the Capitol, criminal investigations into Donald Trump and his allies for attempting to overturn the 2020 election percolated quietly. Now, just as another presidential campaign featuring Trump accelerates toward primary season, the assorted local, state and federal probes are bursting into highly visible action -- seemingly all at once."

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors have introduced a new twist in the Jan. 6 investigation by suggesting in a target letter that they could charge ... Donald J. Trump with violating a civil rights statute that dates back to the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, according to three people familiar with the matter.... Section 241 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which makes it a crime for people to 'conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person' in the 'free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States.' Congress enacted that statute after the Civil War to provide a tool for federal agents to go after Southern whites, including Ku Klux Klan members.... The modern usage of the law raised the possibility that Mr. Trump, who baselessly declared the election he lost to have been rigged, could face prosecution on accusations of trying to rig the election himself."

It is a ghastly reality that the only job left that Donald Trump could get in this country is president of the United States. -- Tom Nichols in a Bulwark podcast

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Former New York City police commissioner Bernie Kerik is preparing to sit down with special counsel Jack Smith's team.... [Donald] Trump pardoned Kerik, who rose to fame after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, after he pleaded guilty in 2010 to eight felony charges, including failure to pay taxes and lying to White House officials during a failed nomination to be the secretary Homeland Security. Kerik served three years in prison...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Dan Mangan of CNBC: "... on Wednesday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that [Jack] Smith's prosecutors had subpoenaed surveillance video footage recorded at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta during vote counting there after the 2020 election. Trump's campaign lawyers had used surveillance footage from the vote count to argue without success in December 2020 that Georgia's presidential election was tainted by fraud." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "A judge on Wednesday denied ... Donald J. Trump's request to move the Manhattan criminal case against him from state to federal court. The federal judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein, had signaled in a hearing last month that he was predisposed against moving the case brought by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg. Mr. Bragg's prosecutors have charged Mr. Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, stemming from a hush money payment made to a porn star in 2016."

Erica Orden of Politico: "A federal judge on Wednesday denied Donald Trump's bid for a new trial two months after a jury found that he sexually abused and defamed the writer E. Jean Carroll.... In a 59-page decision, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote that ... the former president's argument '... ignores the bulk of the evidence at trial, misinterprets the jury's verdict, and mistakenly focuses on the New York Penal Law definition of "rape" to the exclusion of the meaning of that word as it often is used in everyday life and of the evidence of what actually occurred between Ms. Carroll and Mr. Trump.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Ian Swanson of the Hill: "Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla. announced on his podcast Tuesday he is introducing legislation to defund investigations into former President Trump led by special counsel Jack Smith." (Also linked yesterday.)

Laura Sforza of the Hill: "A Pennsylvania woman accused of directing Jan. 6 rioters into the Capitol building with a bullhorn was found guilty on federal charges. Rachel Marie Powell, 41, was convicted of all charges brought against her, including eight felonies and one misdemeanor related to her actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington announced Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth heard testimony without a jury, and a sentencing hearing was scheduled for Oct. 17." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Company He Keeps. Corky Siemaszko of NBC News: "A New Jersey con man with a 'bad reputation' who was pardoned two years ago by ... Donald Trump has been arrested again and accused of defrauding investors out of millions of dollars. Eliyahu 'Eli' Weinstein and four other men are charged with fleecing more than 150 people out of $35 million in a 'Ponzi-like scheme,' according to an arrest complaint unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Trenton and a statement from the office of the U.S. attorney for New Jersey. Using the alias Michael Konig, Weinstein and the others formed a company called Optimus Investments Inc. and allegedly began 'orchestrating another substantial scheme to defraud investors' shortly after he was released from prison in January 2021 -- but still on probation, the complaint says."

... this Inspector Clouseau-style quest for something that doesn't exist has turned our committee into a theater of the absurd, an exercise in futility and embarrassment. --- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) ~~~

~~~ Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Two veteran I.R.S. investigators leveled harsh criticism on Wednesday against the Justice Department over its handling of the tax case against Hunter Biden, accusing the agency of shielding him from felony charges because of politics and preferential treatment. During an hourslong hearing of the House Oversight Committee, the investigators, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, detailed how they believed their work investigating Mr. Biden, the president's son, was stymied and slow-walked by Justice Department officials during both the Trump and Biden presidencies.... Mr. Shapley accused both Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and David C. Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware, of stating falsely that Mr. Weiss had been fully empowered to pursue the Hunter Biden -- allegations both men have denied....

"But if the proceeding at times was a sober recounting of facts and details..., it also veered into rank partisanship, hyperbole and -- in a spectacle seldom seen in a Capitol Hill hearing room -- sexually explicit material. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the right-wing Republican from Georgia, displayed naked photos of Hunter Biden engaging in sex acts as she questioned whether the evidence found on his laptop that he solicited prostitutes amounted to human trafficking.... Ms. Greene had held up several blown-up photographs and video screenshots. Democrats repeatedly expressed disgust at the tenor of the hearing, and the White House condemned it." MB: I doubt Miss Margie to charm school would help at all; she needs a super-ego implant. This is a woman who has no idea whatsoever of how to behave.

     ~~~ Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "in her closing remarks, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who also sits on the panel, called the images 'pornographic' and accused Republicans of reaching a 'new low.' 'Frankly, I don't care who you are in this country, no one deserves that,' she said. After the hearing ended, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the panel's top Democrat, said in an interview that displaying the images was 'completely irrelevant' to the hearing and 'did not advance in any way the putative objective of the hearing.'"

Presidential Race 2024

Marjorie Taylor Greene cuts a campaign ad for Joe Biden. MB: I opened the video with a brief intro to the ad; you can pretty much skip what-all comes after the ad:

     ~~~ "Alongside the ad, the White House tweeted, 'Caught us. President Biden is working to make life easier for hardworking families.'"

David Smith of the Guardian: "Robert Kennedy Jr, a long-shot Democratic candidate for US president, has a long history of racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, and should be denied a national platform, according to a damning report seen by the Guardian.... The Congressional Integrity Project, a political watchdog, called for Republicans to disinvite Kennedy after releasing a report that details his meetings with and promotion of racists, antisemites and extremist conspiracy theorists.... [For instance,] the Project details how Kennedy himself has frequently invoked Nazi Germany when pushing debunked theories about vaccines. He put out a video that showed the infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci with a moustache reminiscent of Adolf Hitler and used the word 'holocaust' to describe children he believes were hurt by vaccines in 2015." (Also linked yesterday.)

Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "From the moment he entered the White House in 2017, Donald Trump was at war with the government he led; as his close adviser Stephen K. Bannon said at the time, the administration's goal was the 'deconstruction of the administrative state.' It was a war Trump mostly lost. But as he campaigns for another term, his loyalists are planning to refight that war, and win.... Working through established conservative organizations and newer Trump-centric ones such as the America First Policy Institute, Trump's associates are developing a plan to concentrate federal authority in his hands.... The Heritage Foundation's massive plan for the next GOP administration states, 'Nothing is more important than deconstructing the centralized administrative state.'... 'A lot of Trump's frustration with what he called the deep state was as much as anything frustration towards his own political appointees,' says Donald Moynihan, a Georgetown University political scientist.... 'He has solved that problem,' because now he has 'thousands of vetted loyalists' ready to staff the executive branch." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I am tired of news media covering the presidential race treating Trump as any other candidate. That serves to normalize his dangerous plans. Every mention of him in every article about the presidential contest should describe him as something like, "Donald Trump, who is running on an authoritarian, anti-democratic platform...."


Caroline Kitchener of the Washington Post: "A new procedure adopted in mid-June by one of the largest abortion pill suppliers, Europe-based Aid Access, now allows U.S. medical professionals in certain Democrat-led states that have passed abortion 'shield' laws to prescribe and mail pills directly to patients in antiabortion states.... The telemedicine shield laws, enacted over the past year in New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Vermont and Colorado, explicitly protect abortion providers who mail pills to restricted states from inside their borders. The result is a new pipeline of legally prescribed abortion pills flowing into states with abortion bans.... Aid Access started sending abortion pills to women in the United States long before the June 2022 Supreme Court ruling."

Stella Kim & others of NBC News have some details about the nitwit who bolted across the DMZ into North Korea. The kid is not your model soldier. (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. A Frightening Story Gets Strange. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "The police in Alabama said on Wednesday that they had not found any evidence to substantiate a woman's report that she had been abducted and held for two days after she pulled over to help a toddler whom she had seen walking along the side of an interstate. The police said that an investigation showed that the woman, Carlee Russell, 25, had searched online for information about Amber Alerts and the movie 'Taken,' which is about a kidnapping, before she called 911 on Thursday night to report a toddler walking along the interstate in Hoover, Ala., a suburb of Birmingham. When the police arrived at the interstate minutes later, they found Ms. Russell's vehicle and some of her belongings, including her cellphone and purse, but could not find her. The ensuing search for her and the child she had reported seeing drew national attention and intense speculation about what had happened." A Guardian report is here.

California. Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: "Following months of intense scrutiny of his scientific work, Marc Tessier-Lavigne announced Wednesday that he would resign as president of Stanford University after an independent review of his research found significant flaws in studies he supervised going back decades." ~~~

~~~ Marie: When good people (and I don't know whether or not Tessier-Lavigne is a good person) get caught doing bad things, they take their lumps and resign or at least apologize. They do not run for re-election, deny obvious wrongdoing & attack those holding them to account. This is an essential difference between civilized and uncivilized people.

Mississippi. Illysa Daly & Jerry Mitchell of the New York Times: "... an investigation by The New York Times and ... Mississippi Today, which included dozens of interviews and a review of court records and exclusively obtained internal documents, found that during his 11 years in office, Sheriff [Eddie] Scott has repeatedly been accused of using the power of his position to harass women, coerce them into sex and retaliate against those who criticize him or allege abuse. In rural communities like Clay County -- dominated by farmland and economic hardship -- some sheriffs rule like kings. They can arrest anyone they choose, smear reputations and hand out reprieves and other favors. They have enormous latitude to hold people in jail as long as they please and they answer to no one, typically facing little press or prosecutorial scrutiny." MB: f you wonder why people believe Donald Trump's stories about how the DOJ & FBI are persecuting him, it could be that some of them live in places like Clay County, where the law enforcement apparatus is entirely corrupt.

Mississippi. Chang Che of the New York Times: "Federal authorities have opened an investigation into a Mississippi chicken plant after a 16-year-old boy died following a workplace accident there, officials said on Tuesday. The boy, identified by the local authorities as Duvan Tomas Perez, died on Friday night after becoming ensnared in a machine he was cleaning at the Mar-Jac Poultry processing plant in Hattiesburg, Miss., according to a statement by the company.... Duvan immigrated to the United States from Guatemala roughly six years ago, according to Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, a nonprofit organization that supports migrants in Mississippi.... Federal labor laws prohibit people under the age of 18 from operating and cleaning meat processing and packing equipment, which the U.S. Labor Department defines as 'particularly hazardous.' Mississippi's state labor laws ban minors from working in packing industries or positions that involve processing meat and poultry." The Guardian's report is here.~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I heard on CNN that Perez was cleaning the machine while it was running. Not surprisingly, it is supposed to be turned off while being cleaned.

New Hampshire. Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "Gov. Chris Sununu (R-N.H.) on Wednesday announced that he will not seek a fifth term in office -- just one month after he said he would not seek the 2024 Republican presidential nomination."

Way Beyond

China. Lisa Friedman, et al., of the New York Times: "Chinese leaders rebuffed attempts by John Kerry, President Biden's climate envoy, to persuade them to commit to tougher climate action during three days of talks in Beijing, a response that suggested that tensions between the countries are making it difficult to work together on a crisis that threatens the planet. Mr. Kerry emerged late Wednesday from the lengthy negotiations in Beijing with no new agreements. In fact, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, insisted in a speech that China would pursue its goals to phase out carbon dioxide pollution at its own pace and in its own way. Still, Mr. Kerry appeared buoyed that the world's two biggest polluters had restarted discussions, which had been frozen for a year because of strained relations over Taiwan, trade and other issues." MB: Apparently the excellent HVAC system in the Great Hall of the People prevented Chinese negotiators from noticing that China is among the nations experiencing a record-breaking, climate-change-induced heat wave.

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "For a third successive night, missile strikes pummeled Ukraine's Odessa region, where the country's Black Sea ports are located.... Eight aircraft carrying long-range supersonic missiles were recorded flying in the direction of the Black Sea, while anti-ship cruise missiles were launched toward the Odessa region, Ukraine's air force said on Telegram.... In Mykolaiv, 18 people were wounded -- including five children.... All ships headed to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea will be considered potential carriers of military cargo starting Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Helen Davidson of the Guardian: "The head of MI6 has accused China';s government and its leader, Xi Jinping, of being 'absolutely complicit' in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in a rare public address in Prague. Sir Richard Moore, who has been chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service since 2020, also offered comment on the extraordinary mutiny in June by the mercenary Wagner group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.... 'When Putin invaded Ukraine, the Chinese very clearly supported the Russians,' Moore said at the event hosted by Politico on Wednesday. 'They have completely supported the Russians diplomatically, they've abstained in key votes at the United Nations, they've absolutely cynically repeated all the Russian tropes, particularly in places like Africa and Latin America -- [by] blaming Nato....'"

Mary Ilyushina & Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putin, facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, will not attend next month's summit of the BRICS group of nations in South Africa 'by mutual agreement,' South Africa's presidential administration said Wednesday. The agreement with the Kremlin puts an end to a diplomatic quandary for South Africa: As a member of the ICC, it would have an obligation to arrest Putin upon his arrival in the country." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "Wagner boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin, in what appeared to be the first video of him since he led a short-lived rebellion in late June, said the Russian mercenary group will for now not fight in Ukraine and repeated his criticism that Russia's Ukraine invasion has been botched. The blurry clip, apparently filmed at dusk, showed a man resembling Prigozhin addressing a crowd of at least several hundred men in military fatigues. He vowed to continue operating the Wagner Group in Africa and turn the military of Belarus, his new host country, into 'the second army in the world.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Comments Off
Wednesday
Jul192023

July 19, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Marjorie Taylor Greene cuts a campaign ad for Joe Biden. MB: I opened the video with a brief intro to the ad; you can pretty much skip what-all comes after the ad:

Mary Ilyushina & Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putin, facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, will not attend next month's summit of the BRICS group of nations in South Africa 'by mutual agreement,' South Africa's presidential administration said Wednesday. The agreement with the Kremlin puts an end to a diplomatic quandary for South Africa: As a member of the ICC, it would have an obligation to arrest Putin upon his arrival in the country."

Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "Wagner boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin, in what appeared to be the first video of him since he led a short-lived rebellion in late June, said the Russian mercenary group will for now not fight in Ukraine and repeated his criticism that Russia's Ukraine invasion has been botched. The blurry clip, apparently filmed at dusk, showed a man resembling Prigozhin addressing a crowd of at least several hundred men in military fatigues. He vowed to continue operating the Wagner Group in Africa and turn the military of Belarus, his new host country, into 'the second army in the world.'"

Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "From the moment he entered the White House in 2017, Donald Trump was at war with the government he led; as his close adviser Stephen K. Bannon said at the time, the administration's goal was the 'deconstruction of the administrative state.' It was a war Trump mostly lost. But as he campaigns for another term, his loyalists are planning to refight that war, and win.... Working through established conservative organizations and newer Trump-centric ones such as the America First Policy Institute, Trump's associates are developing a plan to concentrate federal authority in his hands.... The Heritage Foundation's massive plan for the next GOP administration states, 'Nothing is more important than deconstructing the centralized administrative state.'... 'A lot of Trump's frustration with what he called the deep state was as much as anything frustration towards his own political appointees,' says Donald Moynihan, a Georgetown University political scientist.... 'He has solved that problem,' because now he has 'thousands of vetted loyalists' ready to staff the executive branch."

It is a ghastly reality that the only job left that Donald Trump could get in this country is president of the United States. -- Tom Nichols in a Bulwark podcast

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Former New York City police commissioner Bernie Kerik is preparing to sit down with special counsel Jack Smith's team.... [Donald] Trump pardoned Kerik, who rose to fame after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, after he pleaded guilty in 2010 to eight felony charges, including failure to pay taxes and lying to White House officials during a failed nomination to be the secretary Homeland Security. Kerik served three years in prison...."

Dan Mangan of CNBC: "... on Wednesday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that [Jack] Smith's prosecutors had subpoenaed surveillance video footage recorded at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta during vote counting there after the 2020 election. Trump's campaign lawyers had used surveillance footage from the vote count to argue without success in December 2020 that Georgia's presidential election was tainted by fraud." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution story is here.

Erica Orden of Politico: "A federal judge on Wednesday denied Donald Trump's bid for a new trial two months after a jury found that he sexually abused and defamed the writer E. Jean Carroll.... In a 59-page decision, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote that ... the former president's argument '... ignores the bulk of the evidence at trial, misinterprets the jury's verdict, and mistakenly focuses on the New York Penal Law definition of "rape" to the exclusion of the meaning of that word as it often is used in everyday life and of the evidence of what actually occurred between Ms. Carroll and Mr. Trump.'"

Ian Swanson of the Hill: "Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) announced on his podcast Tuesday he is introducing legislation to defund investigations into former President Trump led by special counsel Jack Smith."

Laura Sforza of the Hill: "A Pennsylvania woman accused of directing Jan. 6 rioters into the Capitol building with a bullhorn was found guilty on federal charges. Rachel Marie Powell, 41, was convicted of all charges brought against her, including eight felonies and one misdemeanor related to her actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington announced Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth heard testimony without a jury, and a sentencing hearing was scheduled for Oct. 17."

David Smith of the Guardian: "Robert Kennedy Jr, a long-shot Democratic candidate for US president, has a long history of racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, and should be denied a national platform, according to a damning report seen by the Guardian.... The Congressional Integrity Project, a political watchdog, called for Republicans to disinvite Kennedy after releasing a report that details his meetings with and promotion of racists, antisemites and extremist conspiracy theorists.... [For instance,] the Project details how Kennedy himself has frequently invoked Nazi Germany when pushing debunked theories about vaccines. He put out a video that showed the infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci with a moustache reminiscent of Adolf Hitler and used the word 'holocaust' to describe children he believes were hurt by vaccines in 2015."

Stella Kim & others of NBC News have some details about the nitwit who bolted across the DMZ into North Korea. The kid is not your model soldier.

~~~~~~~~~~

** Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has been informed that he could soon face federal indictment for his efforts to hold onto power after his 2020 election loss, potentially adding to the remarkable array of criminal charges and other legal troubles facing him even as he campaigns to return to the White House. Mr. Trump was informed by his lawyers on Sunday that he had received a so-called target letter from Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating his attempts to reverse his defeat at the polls, Mr. Trump and other people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Prosecutors use target letters to tell potential defendants that investigators have evidence tying them to crimes and that they could be subject to indictment. 'Deranged Jack Smith' sent Mr. Trump a letter on Sunday night informing him he was a 'TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury' investigation, Mr. Trump said in a post on his social media platform. Such a letter 'almost always means an Arrest and Indictment,' wrote Mr. Trump, whose campaign is rooted in accusations of political persecution and a promise to purge the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation of personnel he sees as hostile to him and his agenda....

"The target letter cited three statutes that could be applied in a prosecution of Mr. Trump by Mr. Smith's team, a person briefed on the matter said. They include a potential charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States and a broad charge related to a violation of rights, the person said.... At least two grand juries in Washington have been hearing matters related to Mr. Trump's efforts to stay in office.... Mr. Trump spent much of Tuesday promoting a scorched-earth political strategy, consulting with allies in Washington including Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Representative Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican...." ~~~

     ~~~ Yesterday, the New York Times ran a liveblog of developments in this story. The link to the liveblog has been moved to the main story above. MB: I posted parts of some of the entries on yesterday's page. It appears that the remarks reporters made on the liveblog have otherwise been "disappeared."~~~

     ~~~ The AP story is here. The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Katelyn Polantz & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "'Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden's DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment,' Trump posted on Truth Social." MB: Hilariously, Trump seems upset that Smith sent target letters on Sundays, Trump's day of prayer. (Probably amuses the two Corinthians, too.) (Also linked yesterday.)

CNN's liveblog of developments contains quite a number of interesting points: "... Donald Trump reached out to some of his top allies on Capitol Hill to discuss how they're going to go on offense against the special counsel's investigation, according to sources familiar with the conversation." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ CNN: "Will Russell, a close adviser to ... Donald Trump is expected to appear before a grand jury in Washington, DC, on Thursday in the special counsel's investigation into the aftermath of the 2020 election, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Russell, who has testified to the grand jury at least twice before, served as a special assistant to the president as well as deputy director of advance and trip director in the Trump White House. He has continued to work for Trump after he left office. His appearance indicates there will be additional activity in the grand jury, which is meeting today at the federal courthouse in Washington, DC." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN: "In the Department of Justice's criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, a key issue for prosecutors will be looking into ... Donald Trump's intent and his direct role, a CNN senior legal analysts said." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN: "The [target] letter caught Trump's team off guard, who had not been anticipating Smith to potentially bring charges this month, or against Trump. The letter indicates he could do so soon."

     ~~~ Sources have confirmed to both the NYT & CNN that Trump received a target letter.

     ~~~ The Washington Post story, by Perry Stein, is here. The story has been updated.

Gideon Rubin of the Raw Story: "The special counsel's letter to Donald Trump alerting the former president that he's the target of Jack Smith's investigation over efforts to overturn the 2020 election lists conspiracy and obstruction among the federal statutes under which Trump is likely to be charged, Rolling Stone reports. The letter doesn't include sedition or insurrection as statutes under investigation by the special counsel, an unnamed source told the outlet.... The letter identifies three federal statutes: Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States; deprivation of rights under color of law; and tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant, according to the report." This reporting jibes with a portion of the New York Times report on the contents of target letter.

Marcy Wheeler provides a redacted version of Trump's Liars Social post announcing receipt of a target letter (well, okay, a TARGET letter) to spare you "the whining and lies." Thanks to unwashed for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post, on the other hand, read Trump's whole damned post, which ran to nearly 800 words: "His lengthy statement, offered with his idiosyncratic grammar and capitalization, offers a wide-ranging litany of excuses, rationalizations and attacks, few of which actually address what is likely to be the focus of the criminal probe. The approach appears to be the one that Trump has deployed often previously: throw out every possible bit of flotsam to which those inclined to be sympathetic can cling.... The lengthy rant is worth parsing closely, though, because it is also replete with misinformation and false claims that demand contextualization." MB: Kind of a fun read, anyway, right down to that "perfect phone call" Trump made to Georgia's secretary of state asking the secretary to find exactly enough votes to wipe out Joe Biden's win in the state.

They Are Not Serious People. Shane Goldmacher & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Like so much of the Trump presidency itself, the extraordinary has become so flattened that Mr. Trump's warning on Tuesday that he was facing a possible third indictment this year ... drew shrugs from some quarters of his party and a muddled response from his rivals.... Some opposing campaigns' strategists all but ignored the development. And on Capitol Hill, Mr. Trump's allies quickly resumed their now-customary defensive positions.... 'We have yet again another example of Joe Biden's weaponized Department of Justice targeting his top political opponent, Donald Trump,' Representative Elise Stefanik, the No. 4 House Republican, told reporters on Capitol Hill. When Mr. Trump and Ms. Stefanik spoke by phone on Tuesday, the former president ... discussed ways to use the Republican-led House committees to try to attack the investigations.... Few prominent elected officials were as directly affected on Jan. 6 as former Vice President Mike Pence. But even he declined to suggest that Mr. Trump should be prosecuted and said the election should be how the matter is arbitrated."

Tierney Sneed, et al., of CNN: "US District Judge Aileen Cannon signaled she is likely to push back the start of a trial in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case beyond the mid-December date proposed by federal prosecutors -- but appeared deeply skeptical of arguments from Donald Trump's lawyers that he couldn't get a fair trial while running for president.... During [a] hearing in Fort Pierce, Florida, Cannon said a proposal from federal prosecutors that the trial of Trump and his aide be held in mid-December was 'a bit rushed.' Cannon did not decide on a trial date but said she plans to 'promptly' issue an order on the matter. The judge also pressed the Trump legal team to commit to a timeline for at least some of the steps in the pre-trial process.... Trump himself did not attend to the hearing on Tuesday. [Walt] Nauta, a bodyman and aide to the former president, did appear for the hearing with his two attorneys." Includes some helpful background info. The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I was wondering why it took Trump a day-and-a-half to announce receipt of his TARGET letter. Then a teevee pundit (sorry, can't recall who) gave the answer: he wanted to use the probable impending charges during yesterday's hearing on the classfied docs case as part of his excuse menu for why the trial should be delayed till he can pardon himself. And, sure enough according to the Haberman, et al., report linked above,: "Two of Mr. Trump's lawyers, Todd Blanche and Christopher M. Kise, briefly mentioned the new target letter at a pretrial hearing in Florida on Tuesday on the documents case." ~~~

     ~~~ There is some question, BTW, as to whether or not the president's pardon power under the Constitution includes a self-pardon. It seems to me an easy way Trump could get around that would be to make his vice-president the President for a Day under a provision of the 25th Amendment, during which day the veep would pardon Trump.

Jane Timm of NBC News: "Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday that she has filed charges against 16 people who signed paperwork falsely claiming that ... Donald Trump had won the 2020 election as part of a scheme to overturn the results.... The 16 people being charged in Michigan allegedly met [in December 2020] in the basement of the state's Republican Party headquarters and signed multiple certificates claiming they were 'the duly elected and qualified electors for president and vice president of the United States of America for the state of Michigan,' Nessel said in recorded remarks. 'That was a lie. They weren't the duly elected and qualified electors, and each of the defendants knew it,' she continued.... The documents were later sent to the U.S. Senate and the National Archives 'with the intent that Vice President Pence would overturn the results of the election, using the false electoral slate,' Nessel said. Nessel said the 'false electors' are being charged with eight felony counts each, including forgery." The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "Special counsel Jack Smith's team has contacted former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who[m] Donald Trump pressured to overturn the 2020 election, a source familiar with the outreach confirmed first to CNN. A spokesman for Ducey confirmed the outreach from Smith's team, which has not been previously reported.... As Ducey was certifying the election results in November 2020, Trump appeared to call the governor -- with a 'Hail to the Chief' ringtone heard playing on Ducey's phone. Ducey did not take that call but later said he spoke with Trump, though he did not describe the specifics of the conversation. Ducey, behind closed doors, said that the former president was pressuring him to find fraud in the presidential election in Arizona that would help him overturn the election, a source with knowledge told CNN earlier this month after The Washington Post first reported the news. There was no recording made of that call, a source familiar with the matter said."

** Trump, International Religious Antiquities Thief. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that Israeli officials have been trying without success to get [Donald Trump] to return government-owned antiquities that were sent to the White House in 2019 on the condition that they be returned shortly afterward. Not only were the artifacts not returned, but they were taken down to the former president's resort after he left the White House in 2021. According to Haaretz, the artifacts included 'ancient ceramic candles which are part of Israel's national treasures collection' and were shipped to the White House to be used at a Hanukkah candle-lighting event that was attended by Trump personally." MB: So is this what Trump meant by golf shirts & shoes when he described the contents of the boxes? I have to give credit where credit is due: after all this, the extent of Trump's venality still occasionally manages to astound me.

Real News

Cecilia Kang & David McCabe of the New York Times: "The Biden administration's top antitrust officials unveiled tougher guidelines against tech mergers on Wednesday, signaling their deepening scrutiny of the industry despite recent court losses in their attempts to block tech deal-making. Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission, and Jonathan Kanter, the top antitrust official at the Department of Justice, released draft guidelines for merger reviews that for the first time include a focus on digital platforms and how dominant companies can use their scale to harm future rivals. The guidelines -- which generally provide a road map for whether regulators block or approve deals -- show the Biden administration's commitment to an aggressive antitrust agenda aimed at curtailing the power of companies like Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon."

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is taking steps to impose a 10-year ban on funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Chinese research laboratory at the center of a heated debate over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a memo made public by a House subcommittee on Tuesday evening and an official familiar with the issue. The memo, written by an official in the Department of Health and Human Services, said the institute had failed to comply with repeated requests from the National Institutes of Health for laboratory notebooks and other documents necessary to establish its safety practices." CNN's report is here.

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden met with President Isaac Herzog of Israel on Tuesday at the White House, a diplomatic overture to one of America's key allies amid tensions between the Biden administration and Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister.... [Mr. Biden] gave Mr. Herzog a fist bump and called the relationship between the United States and Israel 'simply unbreakable.' Mr. Herzog said he brought 'greetings and gratitude' from 'all sides of the political spectrum' in Israel." (Also linked yesterday.)

House Republicans Continue Childish Antics. Karoon Demirjian of the New York Times: "The House on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a resolution pledging unfailing support for Israel, condemning antisemitism and declaring that the country is neither racist nor an apartheid state, in an implicit rebuke of Democrats who have criticized the nation ahead of an address by its president to a joint session of Congress. Republican members raced to put the resolution on the floor this week after Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington and the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called Israel 'a racist state,' prompting condemnations from leaders of both parties. Ms. Jayapal later walked back her comments, saying that she had not meant to condemn the idea of Israel but only the policies of its current government, but the G.O.P. pushed ahead with the vote anyway.... Ten Democrats declined to back the resolution, which passed by a vote of 412 to 9, with one voting 'present.' Ms. Jayapal supported it." ~~~

     ~~~ Ishaan Tharour of the Washington Post: "The irony is that [Pramila] Jayapal, who supports a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians and opposes the expansion of Israeli settlements, represents what's becoming a more mainstream position, certainly among Democratic voters.... But Republican lawmakers in Washington have seemingly yoked their agenda to the far-right Israeli settler movement and influential right-wing pro-Israel groups in the United States.... When it comes to the Palestinians, the GOP mainstream has long soured on the two-state solution and can't countenance any talk of rights for millions of Palestinians living under military occupation because they aren't even willing to recognize the fact of the occupation.... At a Christian Zionist forum this week held outside Washington, a stream of Republican presidential hopefuls all stressed their embrace of maximalist vision of Israel."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who purports to be investigating "the Biden family' for wrongdoing, can't stop making a fool of himself. And Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) can't stop showing Comer to be the fool that he is. MB: I suppose it's an unfair fight: Raskin has the facts on his side.

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: In a campaign video dated March 9, 2020, Tommy Tuberville pledged, "I stand with our veterans and I'm going to donate every dime I make when I'm in Washington, D.C., to the veterans of the state of Alabama. Folks, they deserve it. They deserve it a lot more than most of us." "A U.S. senator earns $174,000 a year. We're assuming that Tuberville was proposing to donate only his salary, not the substantial earnings he makes from his investments. (He has an estimated net worth of $20 million.) With Tuberville now having served 2½ years as senator, that would amount to a total of $437,000 in potential donations." There is no evidence Tuberville has donated any of his senatorial salary to veterans. Marie: But, gosh, something about his charitable foundation being under audit. Gee, that excuse sounds so familiar.

Presidential Race 2024

At the moment, he is seeing this broadly as a threat to his freedom, and his advisers have been -- in private conversations -- pretty blunt that they see it as he has to win the election, and that is how he guarantees that he does not face jail time. Now, again, it only takes one juror in any of these cases. He has not been convicted of anything. But the fact that they're looking at an election to the highest office in the land as some kind of an insurance policy or an out for him, really affects and, I think, colors the entire presidential race. -- Maggie Haberman, speaking on CNN yesterday about the special counsel's target letter to Donald Trump

If you're wondering what a second Trump presidency would look like, or at least aspire to be, there's this: ~~~

     ~~~ Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "'Think of President Xi. Central casting, brilliant guy...,' said Trump during [an Iowa 'town hall' yesterday hosted by Sean Hannity]. 'Well, he runs 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. Smart, brilliant, everything perfect.'... In 2018 [Trump] praised the Chinese leader for becoming 'president for life.'... 'President for life. And he's great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll give that a shot someday.'" MB: "Someday" could begin in January 2025.

Still a Weenie. Jonathan Weisman & Maya King of the New York Times: "Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, with his poll numbers sagging and his opponents circling, defended his struggling campaign on Tuesday, saying on CNN that he had been 'taking fire nonstop' but was putting together the political operation he needed to win the early nominating states next year and vault to the presidency. His afternoon appearance in a rare interview in the mainstream news media seemed intended to reset his White House campaign.... But a major shift in tone or strategy from Mr. DeSantis, either toward the former president or in the issues he focuses on, did not appear in the offing. He remained deferential to [Donald] Trump.... Speaking with the CNN host Jake Tapper in an interview recorded earlier in the day, Mr. DeSantis dodged questions on his support for a national abortion ban, whether he would commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan and how to end the war in Ukraine." CNN's story is here.

Gawon Bae, et al., of CNN: "An American believed to have been detained in North Korea after crossing the inter-Korean border during a tour is a US Army soldier, a US official told CNN on Tuesday. He was detained during a Joint Security Area tour after crossing the demarcation line separating North and South Korea, according to the United Nations Command, which oversees the border area. A US defense official said the service member is a junior enlisted soldier assigned to US Forces Korea and was not in uniform when he crossed into North Korea. The official also added that he was on a tour as a civilian." (Also linked yesterday.)

Oh, for Pete's Sake. Henry in China. Vivian Wang of the New York Times: "Henry A. Kissinger, the 100-year-old former secretary of state who has pushed the United States to take a more conciliatory approach to China, has made a surprise visit to Beijing, meeting with China's top foreign policy official and its defense minister. The reception for Mr. Kissinger, who more than 50 years ago helped pave the way for diplomatic ties between the United States and China during President Richard M. Nixon's administration, was warmer than those for current American officials who have visited Beijing recently to try and stabilize U.S.-China relations."

"An Inconvenient Truth." David Gelles of the New York Times: "It's been 17 years since former Vice President Al Gore raised the alarm about climate change with his documentary, 'An Inconvenient Truth.' Since then, he's been shouting from the rooftops about the risks of global warming more or less nonstop. But the events of the past few weeks have Gore even more worried than usual. 'Everywhere you look in the world, the extremes have now seemingly reached a new level,' he told me in an interview.... This summer, the extreme weather chaos that Gore predicted in 'An Inconvenient Truth' seems to have arrived all at once.... Despite the apocalyptic weather news, Gore is also hopeful. Clean energy is cheaper than ever, and electric vehicle sales are surging, turbocharged by government subsidies. Put that all together, and Gore thinks developed economies could draw down their emissions with surprising speed." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "Every night on the TV news is like taking a nature hike through the Book of Revelation," Gore told Gelles. This has me wondering if some perverse, right-wing, evangelical climate-change deniers don't welcome the climate crisis and see it as a precursor to the so-called Second Coming: it's all God's plan.

Beyond the Beltway

Louisiana. Jack Forrest of CNN: "Louisiana's legislature utilized its Republican supermajority Tuesday to enact a ban on gender-affirming care for most minors, overriding its Democratic governor who had vetoed the bill. The law will take effect January 1, 2024. Gov. John Bel Edwards [D], who vetoed House Bill 648 last month, said in a statement that he expected the courts to overturn the legislation, describing it as 'a bill that needlessly harms a very small population of vulnerable children, their families, and their health care professionals.' The state House and Senate voted 76-23 and 28-11, succeeding in blocking Edwards' move with the two-thirds majority in each chamber needed to overpower the governor."

Way Beyond

Israel. Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "Despite temperatures climbing higher than 90 degrees Fahrenheit in some parts of [Israel], tens of thousands of Israelis held dozens of rallies across central Israel on Tuesday to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to finalize a law next week that would limit the power of the Supreme Court. In what has become a regular weekly episode of disruption, demonstrators marched through several cities in a renewed effort to stop the government proceeding with a binding vote on the law in Parliament, which is likely to come on Monday. This is the 28th consecutive week of protest against the judicial plan.... They thronged the platforms of major train stations, waving Israeli flags, creating a sea of blue and white next to railways across central Israel. They blocked highways, tunnels and an access road to the headquarters of the Israeli military. They rallied outside the homes of government ministers, banged on the glass doors of the Tel Aviv stock exchange and chanted outside a branch of the United States Embassy." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Russia attacked the key Ukrainian port city of Odessa with missiles and drones overnight, its regional governor said, marking the second consecutive night of attacks. Six people were injured, including a 9-year-old boy, authorities said. Russia previously said its Tuesday attack was in retaliation for the deadly explosion on the Crimean Bridge. A spokesperson for the U.N. secretary general said 'there are a number of ideas being floated' to help Ukrainian grain reach global markets after Moscow pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal that allowed millions of tons of essential food products to be exported from Ukraine's southern ports.... President Biden will discuss the repatriation of Ukrainian children with a papal envoy this week in Washington, the White House said. Kyiv estimates that thousands of children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory."

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