The Ledes

Friday, September 27, 2024

New York Times: “Maggie Smith, one of the finest British stage and screen actors of her generation, whose award-winning roles ranged from a freethinking Scottish schoolteacher in 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' to the acid-tongued dowager countess on 'Downton Abbey,' died on Friday in London. She was 89.”

The Washington Post's live updates of developments related to Hurricane Helene are here: “Hurricane Helene left one person dead in Florida and two in Georgia as it sped north. One of the biggest storms on record to hit the Gulf Coast, Helene slammed into Florida’s Big Bend area on Thursday night as a Category 4 colossus with winds of up to 140 mph before weakening to Category 1. Catastrophic winds and torrential rain from the storm — which the National Hurricane Center forecast would eventually slow over the Tennessee Valley — were expected to continue Friday across the Southeast and southern Appalachians.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here.

Mediaite: “Fox Weather’s Bob Van Dillen was reporting live on Fox & Friends about flooding in Atlanta from Hurricane Helene when he was interrupted by the screams of a woman trapped in her car. During the 7 a.m. hour, Van Dillen was filing a live report on the massive flooding in the area. Fox News viewers could clearly hear the urgent screams for help emerging from a car stuck on a flooded road in the background of the live shot. Van Dillen ... told Fox & Friends that 911 had been called and that the local Fire Department was on its way. But as he continued to file the report, the screams did not stop, so Van Dillen cut the live shot short.... Some 10 minutes later, Fox & Friends aired live footage of Van Dillen carrying the woman to safety, waking through chest-deep water while the flooding engulfed her car in the background[.]”

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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.”

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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
Jun022023

June 3, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 into law on Saturday, ending for now the threat of economic calamity from a default on the nation's debt and putting limits on spending for two years. The White House issued a statement saying that Mr. Biden had signed the legislation, days after it was passed by the House and the Senate following weeks of sometimes bitter negotiations with Republicans. Mr. Biden's signature came just two days before the so-called X-date, when Janet L. Yellen, the Treasury secretary, had said the government would run out of cash to pay its debts. Economists had predicted that if it did so, the resulting collapse in faith in America's financial promises would cause economic instability around the world."

Tennessee. Caroline Anders of the Washington Post: "A federal judge has struck down a Tennessee law that banned drag shows in public or where children could watch them, writing that the unconstitutional measure was passed 'for the impermissible purpose of chilling constitutionally-protected speech.' In his ruling issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker wrote that the law violates First Amendment freedom of speech protections and was 'unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad.'... Parker, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee by ... Donald Trump, had issued a preliminary injunction at the end of March to block the law from taking effect."

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John Wagner & Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Friday expansively praised the rocky, 11th-hour passage of legislation to suspend the debt ceiling, cut federal spending and avoid a government default, claiming victory for the bipartisan philosophy that is likely to be central to his reelection argument. Speaking from the Oval Office in a 13-minute address, Biden said the nation had narrowly avoided economic catastrophe and that the wide-ranging agenda he had pushed through during his first two years in office would not be derailed.... [Despite touting the bipartisanship demonstrated during negotiations,] it was not all bipartisan comity. Biden's remarks also provided an opening version of the tougher side of his campaign message, including an emphasis on making the wealthy pay more in taxes and a denunciation of those he depicted as radicals on the other side.... Biden said he would sign the bill Saturday, after the House and Senate complete the technical actions needed to send the legislation to his desk."

How Joe Biden & Shalanda Young Owned the Rebs. Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "In pursuit of an agreement, the Biden team was willing to give Republicans victory after victory on political talking points, which they realized [Kevin] McCarthy needed to sell the bill to his conference. They let Mr. McCarthy's team claim in the end that the deal included deep spending cuts, huge clawbacks of unspent federal coronavirus relief money and stringent work requirements for recipients of federal aid. But in the details of the text and the many side deals that accompanied it, the Biden team wanted to win on substance. With one large exception -- a $20 billion cut in enforcement funding for the Internal Revenue Service -- they believe they did. The way administration officials see it, the full final agreement's spending cuts are nothing worse than they would have expected in regular appropriations bills passed by a divided Congress." Read on.

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Work requirements for federal assistance programs do not, well, work.... But Republicans still want them, so much so that they threatened to crash the global economy to get them. Why? The obvious answer is that work requirements are an effective way to cut programs without actually cutting them. With a little extra paperwork and another layer of bureaucracy, states can keep thousands of people who qualify from getting access to benefits. Does any of this save money? Not really. It cost states tens of millions of dollars to institute work requirements... For [Republicans]..., the state of the real economy is less important than that of the moral economy, which is to say the conservative vision of the proper order for the distribution of rights and privileges in society." (Also linked yesterday.)

Chris D'Angelo of the Huffington Post: "President Joe Biden's administration on Friday ordered a 20-year ban on new drilling and mining around New Mexico's Chaco Canyon, a high-desert landscape rich in Indigenous cultural sites. The action applies to all federally managed lands within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park, but does not affect existing oil and gas leases or any mineral development on private, state or tribal lands. Biden first moved to protect the area in November 2021.... First established as a national monument in 1907 by President Theodore Roosevelt, Chaco Culture National Historical Park spans more than 30,000 acres of northwestern New Mexico, and it is home to some of the most significant Ancestral Puebloan cultural sites in the U.S. The landscape is sacred to Native American tribes that for years have sought more permanent protections for the surrounding area, where oil and gas development has surged in recent decades."

Andrea Salcedo of the Washington Post: "Fort Bragg, one of the largest military bases in the United States, has officially been renamed Fort Liberty, following a ceremony Friday. The North Carolina post's new name is part of a congressionally mandated plan to rename military bases, ships and streets that previously honored Confederate leaders. The plan is the culmination of a years-long effort that intensified in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd and the reckoning it brought over the nation's history of racism. A panel established by Congress recommended the Army rename nine installations that honored Confederate military officers."

Miss Margie Has Second Thoughts Because Lefties. Jared Gans of the Hill: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has changed her position on the public release of the tapes documenting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, warning Friday that their release could 'put the security of the Capitol at risk.'... She said she is concerned about left-wing groups that would use facial-recognition technology to identify those seen in the videos to 'hand them over' to the FBI and Justice Department.... Greene has previously called for the public release of the tapes so 'everyone knows what did or didn't happen.' She announced Wednesday that that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) planned to release the tapes to three outlets that would receive 'unfettered access.' She said two of the recipients of the tapes would be Just the News founder John Solomon, who interviewed Greene on Friday, and American Greatness senior writer Julie Kelly."

Jeremy Herb & Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The Justice Department has closed its investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents found at former Vice President Mike Pence's home and will not bring any charges, according to a letter from the DOJ obtained by CNN.... In January, Pence's attorney found about a dozen documents marked classified in Pence's Indiana home after the former vice president asked his lawyer to search his records following the disclosure of classified documents in Joe Biden's possession in Delaware. Pence turned over the classified records to the FBI following their discovery, and the FBI and Justice Department's National Security Division launched a review of how they ended up at Pence's home. Pence has said that he had been unaware the documents were at his home but said that 'mistakes were made' and took responsibility for it. The Justice Department is still investigating the handling of classified records by Trump and Biden. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel in each investigation, citing the fact that they are candidates for president." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former President Trump on Friday argued he should be cleared of wrongdoing for his handling of classified documents after the Justice Department said it would not bring charges against former Vice President Mike Pence on the issue, despite vast differences in their cases. 'Just announced that they are not going to bring charges against Mike Pence on the document hoax,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'That's great, but when am I going to be fully exonerated, I'm at least as innocent as he is.'"

Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "A recording like the voice memo [Donald Trump's attorney Evan] Corcoran made last year -- during a long drive to a family event ... -- is typically shielded by attorney-client or work-product privilege. But in March, a federal judge ordered Mr. Corcoran's recorded recollections -- now transcribed onto dozens of pages -- to be given to the office of the special counsel Jack Smith.... The decision by the judge, Beryl A. Howell..., set aside [those protections] under what is known as the crime-fraud exception, a provision that allows prosecutors to work around attorney-client privilege if they have reason to believe that legal advice or legal services were used in furthering a crime. Judge Howell, in a sealed memorandum that accompanied her decision, made clear that prosecutors believe Mr. Trump knowingly misled Mr. Corcoran about the location of documents that would be responsive to the subpoena.... Mr. Corcoran's notes, which have not been previously described in such detail, will likely play a central role as Mr. Smith and his team move toward concluding their investigation...."

Yeah, Trump Is Still Hiding Documents. Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "Attorneys for Donald Trump turned over material in mid-March in response to a federal subpoena related to a classified US military document described by the former president on tape in 2021 but were unable to find the document itself, two sources tell CNN. Prosecutors issued the subpoena shortly after asking a Trump aide before a federal grand jury about the audio recording of a July 2021 meeting at Trump's golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. On the recording, Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran.... The special counsel's office complained late last year to a federal judge that they couldn't be sure Trump had turned over all documents with classified markings in his possession, even after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago last August, CNN previously reported. The dispute resulted in several sealed court proceedings where the prosecutors sought to hold Trump in contempt, but the judge declined at that time, and Trump's team hired two people to search his properties." The New York Times story, by Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Amy Gardner & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "An Atlanta-area investigation of alleged election interference by former president Donald Trump and his allies has broadened to include activities in Washington, D.C., and several other states, according to two people with knowledge of the probe -- a fresh sign that prosecutors may be building a sprawling case under Georgia's racketeering laws. Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) launched an investigation more than two years ago to examine efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn his narrow 2020 defeat in Georgia. Along the way, she has signaled publicly that she may use Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute to allege that these efforts amounted to a far-reaching criminal scheme. In recent days, Willis has sought information related to the Trump campaign hiring two firms to find voter fraud across the United States and then burying their findings when they did not find it, allegations that reach beyond Georgia's borders, said the two individuals.... At least one of the firms has been subpoenaed by Fulton County investigators." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Spencer Hsu & Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "Four Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy in a second trial following the conviction of leader Stewart Rhodes were sentenced to terms of 3 to 4½ years in prison this week for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack -- all far less than the 10- to 17-year terms sought by the government. Tattoo artist Roberto Minuta, 38; chiropractor Joseph Hackett, 52; neurophysiologist David Moerschel, 45, and Army veteran Edward Vallejo, 64, were convicted in January of multiple additional felony counts including conspiring to obstruct Congress's confirmation of the 2020 election results and actually obstructing the proceeding."

Daysia Tolentino & David Ingram of NBC News: "On Thursday, Twitter was roiled by an organized pressure campaign by conservative pundits seeking to promote a 95-minute anti-transgender video called 'What Is A Woman?' [Elon] Musk, who has staked out views hostile to transgender advocates, initially responded in ways that seemed to satisfy no one before he eventually relented and agreed to promote the video himself. The incident resulted in two high-level departures within 24 hours. The episode was another window into Musk's improvisational approach to rewriting Twitter's rules. The chief of Twitter's trust and safety division, Ella Irwin, left the company that same day, after a tenure leading its efforts around content moderation. A second executive, A.J. Brown, whose job was to reassure advertisers that Twitter was a safe place for their brands, also decided to quit, The Wall Street Journal reported. A third person, a program manager who worked on brand safety, said on her Twitter profile that she was now 'ex-Twitter.' Musk said in a tweet Friday that the departures were related to his decision to allow the conservative outlet The Daily Wire to post 'What Is A Woman?'"

YouTube Is Good with Trump Election Lies Again. Todd Spangler of Variety, republished by Yahoo! News: "On Dec. 9, 2020, YouTube enacted a ban on videos that falsely claimed then-President Trump won the U.S. presidential election. Since then, according to the platform, it has removed 'tens of thousands' of videos that violated the policy. As of June 2, 2023, YouTube has reversed that decision: The video giant announced that it 'will stop removing content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors or glitches occurred in the 2020 and other past U.S. Presidential elections.'... The Google-owned service, in an unsigned blog post Friday, tried to explain [the reversal] this way: 'In the current environment, we find that while removing this content does curb some misinformation, it could also have the unintended effect of curtailing political speech without meaningfully reducing the risk of violence or other real-world harm.'"

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian reports on Tim Alberta's Atlantic profile of CNN CEO Chris Licht., which includes Licht's catastrophic airing of a Trump "town hall/rally." If you can access the Atlantic, Alberta's lengthy profile is here. According to Pengelly, the profile is brutal: "Bill Grueskin, a Columbia Journalism School professor, said: 'It wouldn't be fair to say a trained seal could do a better job running CNN than Chris Licht. It's just that, after reading this piece, it feels like we should give the trained seal a shot.'"

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times recalls the old Washington Times-Herald's "Inquiring Camera Girl," Jacqueline Bouvier.

Beyond the Beltway

Kentucky. Gus Garcia-Roberts of the Washington Post: "Churchill Downs, one of the most famous horse racing tracks in the world and the home of the Kentucky Derby, announced Friday it is suspending racing following 12 horse deaths, including seven in the run-up to the sport's premier race last month. The decision followed a recommendation by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the newly installed watchdog overseeing thoroughbred racing, which said time was needed to investigate the spate of horse deaths that marred the Kentucky Derby and have persisted since. The suspension is a historic move for the fabled, 148-year-old track and signals a potential sea change in the regulation of horse racing. HISA, created by a federal act in 2020, was fully implemented late last month." CNN's story is here.

Utah. Bible Gets the Heckler-Veto Treatment. Logan Stefanich of KSL Salt Lake City: "The Bible has been removed from all elementary and middle school libraries throughout the Davis School District after someone challenged its contents. A committee tasked with reviewing books that fall under review for sexual content last week determined that the Bible will be retained at district high schools, but removed from all elementary and middle schools, Christopher Williams, Davis School District's director of communication, told KSL.com. In lieu of the initial ruling -- which came last week -- a new appeal to the ruling was filed Wednesday, asking for the district to retain the Bible in all district schools, meaning the religious book will again be reviewed by a committee."

Way Beyond

Haiti. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Florida sentenced businessman and former drug trafficker with Haitian and Chilean citizenship to life in prison on Friday for his role in the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti. Rodolphe Jaar is the first person to be convicted and sentenced in what federal prosecutors have described as a sprawling conspiracy to murder the Haitian leader and seize power, aided by Haitian officials, Colombian mercenaries and illegal arms shipments from the United States. The killing unraveled the already fragile Haitian government, giving rise to lawlessness and extreme violence as gangs have stepped into the power vacuum."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here. The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

News Lede

Guardian: "... on Friday evening the Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata in West Bengal to Chennai in Tamil Nadu, [India,] collided with a freight train in the eastern state of Odisha. The freight train in turn derailed some carriages of the Howrah Superfast Express train, which was travelling in the opposite direction. As of Saturday morning, the death toll stood at 280, with 900 more injured, but the authorities said it was likely to rise as rescue efforts continued with thousands deployed to the scene to help. Rescue dogs and metal cutters were used to try to locate and reach those trapped in the mangled carriages."

Comments Off
Friday
Jun022023

June 2, 2023

Marie: Reality Chex is screwed up again and is not loading properly more than half of the time. Please SAVE your comments before you submit them, because the odds are high the submission will fail the first (and maybe the second and third) time.

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Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Yeah, Trump Is Still Hiding Documents. Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "Attorneys for Donald Trump turned over material in mid-March in response to a federal subpoena related to a classified US military document described by the former president on tape in 2021 but were unable to find the document itself, two sources tell CNN. Prosecutors issued the subpoena shortly after asking a Trump aide before a federal grand jury about the audio recording of a July 2021 meeting at Trump's golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. On the recording, Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran.... The special counsel's office complained late last year to a federal judge that they couldn't be sure Trump had turned over all documents with classified markings in his possession, even after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago last August, CNN previously reported. The dispute resulted in several sealed court proceedings where the prosecutors sought to hold Trump in contempt, but the judge declined at that time, and Trump's team hired two people to search his properties." The New York Times story, by Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman, is here.

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Work requirements for federal assistance programs do not, well, work.... But Republicans still want them, so much so that they threatened to crash the global economy to get them. Why? The obvious answer is that work requirements are an effective way to cut programs without actually cutting them. With a little extra paperwork and another layer of bureaucracy, states can keep thousands of people who qualify from getting access to benefits. Does any of this save money? Not really. It cost states tens of millions of dollars to institute work requirements... For [Republicans]..., the state of the real economy is less important than that of the moral economy, which is to say the conservative vision of the proper order for the distribution of rights and privileges in society."

Jeremy Herb & Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The Justice Department has closed its investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents found at former Vice President Mike Pence's home and will not bring any charges, according to a letter from the DOJ obtained by CNN.... In January, Pence's attorney found about a dozen documents marked classified in Pence's Indiana home after the former vice president asked his lawyer to search his records following the disclosure of classified documents in Joe Biden's possession in Delaware. Pence turned over the classified records to the FBI following their discovery, and the FBI and Justice Department's National Security Division launched a review of how they ended up at Pence's home. Pence has said that he had been unaware the documents were at his home but said that 'mistakes were made' and took responsibility for it. The Justice Department is still investigating the handling of classified records by Trump and Biden. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel in each investigation, citing the fact that they are candidates for president."

Amy Gardner & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "An Atlanta-area investigation of alleged election interference by former president Donald Trump and his allies has broadened to include activities in Washington, D.C., and several other states, according to two people with knowledge of the probe -- a fresh sign that prosecutors may be building a sprawling case under Georgia's racketeering laws. Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) launched an investigation more than two years ago to examine efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn his narrow 2020 defeat in Georgia. Along the way, she has signaled publicly that she may use Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute to allege that these efforts amounted to a far-reaching criminal scheme. In recent days, Willis has sought information related to the Trump campaign hiring two firms to find voter fraud across the United States and then burying their findings when they did not find it, allegations that reach beyond Georgia's borders, said the two individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the investigation. At least one of the firms has been subpoenaed by Fulton County investigators." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

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Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "After weeks of political impasse, tense negotiations and mounting economic anxiety, the Senate gave final approval on Thursday night to bipartisan legislation suspending the debt limit and imposing new spending caps, sending it to President Biden and ending the possibility of a calamitous government default. The approval by the Senate on a 63-to-36 vote brought to a close a political showdown that began brewing as soon as Republicans narrowly won the House in November, promising to use their new majority and the threat of a default to try to extract spending and policy concessions from Mr. Biden.... On Thursday night, Mr. Biden cheered its passage, promising to sign it as soon as possible and address the nation from the Oval Office on Friday evening.... The agreement suspends the $31.4 trillion debt limit until January 2025, allowing the government to borrow unlimited sums to pay its debts and ensuring that another fight will not occur before the next presidential election." (This is a substantial update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This sentence, from the linked story, annoys me: "The president refused for months to engage with Speaker Kevin McCarthy but finally did so after the California Republican managed in April to pass a G.O.P. fiscal plan, spurring negotiations with the White House that produced the compromise last weekend." How the hell can you negotiate from a starting point of "I've got a gun to your head"? Even a real hostage negotiator in a life-and-death situation in which a gunman has taken hostages inside a bank, say, doesn't start with the gun-to-their-heads but with "What do you want, Kevin?" And Kevin there has to tell the negotiator what he wants. He has to have some solid demands: $50,000 and free passage to Brazil or something. My Kevin had nothing. Nothing. Even the so-called "fiscal plan" he eventually came up with was written on a napkin. It wasn't anything like a proposed budget. So characterizing President Biden as "refusing to engage" is ridiculous. Listening to the hostage-taker rant would have gotten the White House hostages nowhere. But, hey, that's "journalism," courtesy of the Paper of Record. ~~~

     ~~~ An NBC News report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's how each senator voted, via the New York Times: Forty-four Democrats voted yes; 4 voted no. Seventeen Republicans voted yes; 31 voted no. Two independents voted yes; one voted no.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The president calculated that the more he bragged that the deal was a good one for his side, the more he would inflame Republicans on the other side, jeopardizing the chances of pushing the agreement through the narrowly divided House. His reticence stood in striking contrast to his negotiating partner, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has been running all over the Capitol in recent days asserting that the deal was a 'historic' victory for fiscal conservatives.... In private briefing calls following the agreement, White House officials told Democratic allies that they believed they got a good deal, but urged their surrogates not to say that publicly lest it upset the delicate balance. The strategy paid off.... The president's approach to the negotiations -- and especially their aftermath -- reflects a half-century of bargaining in Washington."

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Just a few days ago it looked as if G.O.P. extremism might set off a global financial crisis.... In fact, [Republicans] barely scratched Biden's paint. And the mystery is why. Like many -- I think most -- observers, I didn't see this coming.... First, Democrats are no longer intimidated by deficit scolds.... Second, Republicans don't actually care about the budget deficit. Third, the Republican Party has largely backed off on its push to drastically shrink government. We've come a long way from 2005, when President George W. Bush tried to privatize Social Security.... Maybe it came down to this: Kevin McCarthy wasn't willing to blow up the economy to extract policy concessions because he's the leader of a party that no longer cares about policy."

Stefan Becket of CBS News: "President Biden tripped and fell onstage at the commencement ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado on Thursday as he returned to his seat after nearly two hours of shaking hands with graduates. The president was walking across the raised platform when he stumbled over a black sandbag and fell to the ground. He was quickly helped to his feet and appeared to be unhurt. He took a seat behind the lectern and left the stage when the ceremony concluded soon afterward, jogging to his motorcade."

Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post: "President Biden has officially nominated Sean Patrick Maloney, the former congressman from New York who chaired the committee to elect Democrats to the House, to become U.S. representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The nomination with the rank of ambassador was sent to the Senate, the White House announced Thursday. If confirmed by the Senate, Maloney would replace the current ambassador, former Delaware governor Jack Markell (D), who was nominated to serve as ambassador to Italy. The OECD, founded in 1961 and based in Paris, is an intergovernmental organization of more than 30 democracies with market-based economies dedicated to promoting economic growth."

Dan Diamond & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "President Biden plans to select former North Carolina health secretary Mandy Cohen to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to three people with direct knowledge of the pending announcement. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra spoke with Cohen this week to congratulate her on her selection, the people said. Biden's formal announcement is expected later this month, after White House officials finalize Cohen's paperwork, the people said."

Christopher Wiggins of the Advocate: "On the last day of May, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation Wednesday from the White House declaring June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Pride Month. It comes amid a wave of conservative attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. 'During Pride Month, we honor a movement that has grown stronger, more vibrant, and more inclusive with every passing year,' the proclamation read. 'Pride is a celebration of generations of LGBTQI+ people who have fought bravely to live openly and authentically. And it is a reminder that we still have generational work to do to ensure that everyone enjoys the full promise of equity, dignity, protection, and freedom.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "An 8-year-old girl who died after being held for a week in Customs and Border Protection custody last month was seen by medical professionals 11 times before she was taken to a hospital, according to new details provided by the agency, which is conducting an internal investigation. While the investigation is continuing, the initial findings suggest that the child, Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez, a Panamanian national, was not provided proper medical care while she was in government custody. On Thursday, the agency's acting commissioner, Troy Miller, said that 'several medical providers involved in this incident have now been prohibited from working in C.B.P. facilities.'"

Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "The Senate voted largely along party lines Thursday on legislation to block President Joe Biden's student debt relief program after the measure cleared a key procedural hurdle in the chamber. The 52-46 vote to pass the legislation comes a day after senators took a similarly close vote to proceed to the measure, which would repeal Biden's debt relief program and end the administration's pause on federal student loan payments. A few moderate senators -- Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana and independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona -- voted with Republicans on the final passage vote as well as the motion to take up the measure. Just a simple majority of senators were needed to pass the legislation and send it to Biden's desk. But the White House warned in a Statement of Administration Policy last month that Biden would veto the resolution.... The House passed the measure last week in a 218-203 vote, largely along party lines.... The biggest test for Biden's student loan relief plan, however, could still be ahead. The U.S. Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, is expected to rule on two cases on Biden's debt relief plan this month." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Emily Davies of the Washington Post: "The man accused of attacking Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) in an elevator of her Washington apartment building has pleaded guilty to three assault charges, according to court documents filed Thursday. Kendrid Hamlin is scheduled to be sentenced in September for one count of assaulting a member of Congress and two counts of assaulting law enforcement officers. In court documents, authorities said Hamlin followed Craig into an elevator on Feb. 9, forcefully tried to stop her from pressing emergency buttons and then punched her in the chin. Officials in Craig's office have said the attack did not appear to be politically motivated, and D.C. police have said they believed Hamlin suffered a mental health crisis."

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that federal labor law did not protect a union from liability for damage that arose during a strike, and that a state court should resolve questions of liability. The majority found that actions during a strike by a local Teamsters union were not even arguably protected by federal law because the union took 'affirmative steps to endanger' the employer's property 'rather than reasonable precautions to mitigate that risk.' The opinion, written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Brett M. Kavanaugh. Three conservative justices backed more sweeping concurring opinions. A single justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ BUT. Nina Totenberg of NPR: "At first glance, the Supreme Court did seem poised to issue a decision more damaging to unions.... Labor feared the worst: a decision that would hollow out the right to strike. Thursday's decision, however, was a narrow ruling that generally left strike protections intact.... This was a case of [the business community's] winning a relatively minor battle but losing the war. The high court did not overturn or otherwise disturb its longstanding rule giving the NLRB broad authority in labor disputes, leaving unions free to time when they will strike."

Zach Montague & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Two Oath Keepers militia members convicted of seditious conspiracy were sentenced to several years in prison on Thursday for their roles in a violent plot to disrupt the transfer of presidential power on Jan. 6, 2021. Sentences for the two members, Roberto Minuta and Edward Vallejo, were handed down at back-to-back hearings in Federal District Court in Washington. Mr. Minuta, a tattoo artist from New York and Texas, was given a sentence of four and a half years. Mr. Vallejo, a retired military veteran from Arizona, received a term of three years in prison, plus one year in home confinement."

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "The revelation that federal prosecutors have a recording of ... Donald J. Trump discussing a highly sensitive document in his possession after he left office underscores the weight of the evidence that the special counsel Jack Smith is assembling as he approaches a decision about whether to bring criminal charges.... During the conversation, Mr. Trump signaled his awareness of his inability to declassify the document because he had already left office.... If that description of the recording proves correct -- and Mr. Trump's lawyers have been careful not to confirm or deny it -- ... it would also show Mr. Trump, in his own voice, invoking a sensitive government document to settle a score.... A recording demonstrating that he knew he had material that he had not declassified -- and that it touched on highly sensitive national security issues -- could potentially be compelling evidence that he was aware he should not have kept it even as federal officials were stepping up their efforts to recover what he had taken with him....

"In a town hall interview with the Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday night, Mr. Trump, when asked about the reports about the recording, said, 'I don't know anything about it.'... But the existence of the recording opens up new questions, including what role [Mr. Trump's last chief-of-staff Mark] Meadows might be playing in providing information to investigators.... Mr. Meadows has for months been a source of suspicion and frustration among some in Mr. Trump's orbit." ~~~

~~~ Marie: If this tape proves to be the only "admission" Trump made that disproves his "magic wand" theory of declassification, here's a possible "defense": "Look, I lie all the time. The fake Washington Post said I lied 30,000 times when I was in the White House. So I was lying to these nobodies who came to interview me. I didn't have a classified document proving Mark Milley wanted to go to war with Iran. Milley never wrote such a document. I waved some papers in front of these nobodies because I didn't have the goods on Milley. If I had had a document proving Milley was a warmonger, I would have showed it to them because I had already declassified it in my head. Which I had a perfect right to do.

Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "Donald Trump's legal team for months has weathered deep distrust and interpersonal conflict that could undermine its defense of the former president.... The turmoil inside the legal team only exploded into public view when one of the top lawyers, Tim Parlatore, abruptly resigned two weeks ago from the representation citing irreconcilable differences with Trump's senior adviser and in-house counsel Boris Epshteyn.... The turmoil has revolved around hostility among the lawyers on the legal team who have come to distrust each other as well as their hostility directed at Epshteyn, over what they regard as his oversight of the legal work and gatekeeping direct access to the former president. In one instance, the clashes became so acute that some of the lawyers agreed to a so-called 'murder-suicide' pact where if Parlatore got fired, others would resign in solidarity. And as some of the lawyers tried to exclude Epshteyn, they withheld information from co-counsel who they suspected might brief him."

Presidential Race 2016. Marcy Wheeler outlines how special counsel John Durham fabricated a conspiracy theory in order to criminalize Hillary Clinton and her campaign for doing customary oppo research on Donald Trump. Durham then used the fake conspiracy theory -- which he called the "Clinton Plan" -- as the basis for his entire failed "investigation." "Even on its face, there are real problems with Durham's Clinton conspiracy theory. As Phil Bump (one, two) and Dan Friedman already showed, Hillary's concerns about Trump couldn't have been the cause of the investigation into Trump. By the time (a Russian intelligence product claimed) that Hillary approved a plan to tie Trump to Russia on July 26, 2016, the events that would lead FBI to open an investigation were already in place."

Presidential Race 2024. DeSantis Doesn't Know His Own Name. Josh Dickey of the Wrap, via Yahoo! News: "When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis released a YouTube video last week announcing his presidential candidacy, the way he said his own name at the end hit some folks with a clang. 'I'm Ron DeSantis,' he said, clearly emphasizing the first syllable and pronouncing the long-e -- like 'DEE-Santis.'... Axios .. in a Thursday report, [wrote]: 'Some presidential candidates struggle to nail their message. Ron DeSantis is struggling to nail his NAME. In the early days of his campaign, DeSantis has gone back and forth between pronouncing his name Dee-Santis and Deh-Santis.'... Axios reports that DeSantis used the long-e (DEE-Santis) not just in that video, but also in a radio interview later that day. But during interviews last week with Fox News, Glenn Beck, Erick Erickson, and Mark Levin, he went back to the more casual-sounding (and so far, more widely used) 'Duh-SAN-tis.'... Axios also spoke with Professor William Connell, chair of Italian Studies at Seton Hall. Connell said ... that the proper Italian way would be something like 'Day-SAHN-tees.' But 'DEE-Santis' would be a departure, he said, since the Italian spelling would be 'DiSantis.'" ~~~

~~~ Whatsizname Has a Short Temper. Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis lashed out at a reporter -- twice barking 'Are you blind?' -- at the end of his first campaign event in New Hampshire on Thursday. DeSantis, who delivered his stock stump speech to an audience of more than 100 people at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Laconia, became noticeably agitated when Steve Peoples of The Associated Press asked why he wasn't taking questions from the audience like most presidential candidates do in this state. 'People are coming up to me, talking to me,' DeSantis said. 'What are you talking about? Are you blind? Are you blind? People are coming up to me, talking to me whatever they want to talk to me about.' At the time, DeSantis was shaking hands and taking pictures with individual members of the crowd on his way out of the VFW hall. But he did not answer questions from his lectern so that voters could all hear his answers at once."

Trump ... Edited. Maanvi Singh of the Guardian: "Fox News hosted a town hall event in Iowa with Donald Trump on Thursday night, allowing the president to repeat his well-worn grievances and lies. But remarkably, the pre-taped hour-long prime-time special hosted by Sean Hannity excluded any mention of Trump's conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from him.... Fox News pre-taped the event, allowing the network to edit out lies that could provoke further lawsuits.... On Thursday, Trump's very strong tendency to compound his own legal troubles by repeating lies and conspiracy theories that have already landed him in trouble were tamped by Hannity's gentle questioning and redirection -- and perhaps some strategic editing." MB: It isn't clear whether (1) Trump did not repeat his false election claims or (2) he did repeat them and Fox edited out those claims to spare itself another lawsuit.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Christopher Flavelle & Jack Healy of the New York Times: "Arizona has determined that there is not enough groundwater for all of the housing construction that has already been approved in the Phoenix area, and will stop developers from building some new subdivisions, a sign of looming trouble in the West and other places where overuse, drought and climate change are straining water supplies. The decision by state officials very likely means the beginning of the end to the explosive development that has made the Phoenix area the fastest growing metropolitan region in the country. The state said it would not revoke building permits that have already been issued and is instead counting on new water conservation measures and alternative sources to produce the water necessary for housing developments that have already been approved. On Thursday, Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said Arizona was not immediately running dry and that new construction would continue in major cities like Phoenix. The analysis prepared by the state looked at groundwater levels over the next 100 years."

Arizona. Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "After facing an onslaught of harassment and violent threats for certifying the results of the 2020 election, a Republican on the governing board of Arizona's largest county will not seek reelection during the 2024 cycle. Bill Gates, a longtime conservative and Harvard-educated attorney, told The Washington Post that he intends to serve his term through the end of 2024 and carry out the election-related duties that come with it."

Florida. Brooks Barnes of the New York Times:"A federal judge in Florida disqualified himself from a court case brought by Disney against Gov. Ron DeSantis, but not before blasting the governor's legal team for engaging in 'rank judge shopping.' In a ruling late Thursday, Mark E. Walker, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, said he would no longer preside over the case, filed by Disney last month. Disney accused Mr. DeSantis and a board that oversees government services at Disney World of engaging in 'a targeted campaign of government retaliation.' The case was reassigned to Judge Allen C. Winsor, who was appointed to the court in 2019 by ... Donald J. Trump.Lawyers for Mr. DeSantis had sought to disqualify Judge Walker, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, because he twice mentioned Mr. DeSantis's actions against Disney in unrelated court cases last year.... Disney lawyers opposed the disqualification request -- and Judge Walker agreed with them. He ruled that the cited remarks 'cannot raise a substantial doubt about my impartiality in the mind of a fully informed, disinterested lay person.' But in a surprise, Judge Walker recused himself, saying that he learned last week that a relative of his owned 30 shares of Disney stock."

Florida. Greg Sargent & Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: In "conservative" Hernando County, Florida, parents push back against right-wing attacks on teachers. At a raucous school board meeting Tuesday night, "again and again, parents and students forcefully defended teachers. They cast the right's attacks, the censoring of educators and the removal of books as the real threats to education.... Things like this are happening all over. As Sarah Jones of New York magazine reports, liberal parents in states as far-flung as New York, North Carolina and Montana are organizing local groups, pressuring school boards and running for office to challenge the right's education takeover.... Nine Democratic governors representing nearly 9 million students have sent a letter to leading textbook companies decrying 'the negative impact that censorship and book-banning has on this nation's students.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "Ukraines army commander said air defenses shot down more than 30 missiles and drones as Russia launched a new round of air attacks overnight. No casualties were immediately reported in Kyiv early Friday, while air raid sirens blared around the country, from the Ukrainian capital to the Black Sea port of Odessa.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused local officials of negligence after civilians who were locked out of a shelter in Kyiv were killed in a Russian attack.... As he wraps up a Nordic tour, Secretary of State Blinken is in Finland and is giving a speech Friday on Russia's war in Ukraine.... President Biden, speaking at the Air Force Academy, said he expects Sweden to become the newest member 'as soon as possible,' while Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Norway that Washington anticipates Sweden's accession will happen by next month. Turkey and Hungary have held up Swedens bid to join NATO."

Italy. Spy Boat. Elisabetta Povoledo & Ronen Bergman of the New York Times: "A weather warning ... had not foreseen the violence of the storm that burst over [Lake Maggiore in Northern Italy], with winds so extreme they sank a boat, killing four of its 23 passengers.... In subsequent days, the story took off in the Italian media when it emerged that 21 people on the boat were spies, or former spies -- including 13 from the Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, and eight Italian ones.... Two of those who died belonged to Italy's intelligence service, according to a note issued by Italian intelligence, while Israel said that another victim had been a retired Mossad operative. The fourth victim, a Russian woman, had been married to the boat's skipper.... Adding to the intrigue, the surviving passengers appeared to have been spirited away from the lake within hours of the accident. The Mossad sent an aircraft to return the Israeli survivors home, and tried to prevent publication of details about the incident in Israel, according to two Israeli defense officials.... None of the survivors had identification documents with them when they gave statements about the accident to Italian military police officers on Sunday night. They said they had lost them when the boat capsized, prosecutors said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A Guardian story is here.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Two trains derailed in India in the eastern state of Odisha on Friday, government officials said, killing more than 200 people and injuring hundreds more in an accident that shook the country. Odisha's chief secretary, Pradeep Jena, said on Twitter that 207 people had been killed and another 900 injured. Indian news reports described harrowing scenes as teams of rescue workers with dogs and cutting equipment labored frantically to free the injured who were trapped in the train wreckage. Amitabh Sharma, a railroad ministry spokesman, was quoted by The Times of India as saying that 10 to 12 coaches of one train had derailed and that some of the debris then landed on a nearby track, where it was hit by another train."

CNBC: "The U.S. economy continued to crank out jobs in May, with nonfarm payrolls surging more than expected despite multiple headwinds, the Labor Department reported Friday. Payrolls in the public and private sector increased by 339,000 for the month, better than the 190,000 Dow Jones estimate and marking the 29th straight month of positive job growth."

Comments Off
Thursday
Jun012023

June 1, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Debate on a bipartisan bill to suspend the debt limit and impose spending caps moved on Thursday to the Senate, where leaders of both parties were racing to shut down efforts to derail it in time to clear it for President Biden's signature before a potential government default on Monday. The morning after the House overwhelmingly passed legislation, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said the Senate would remain in session until it approved the package. He warned lawmakers against engaging in brinkmanship before the so-called X-date, when Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen has said the government will run out of cash to pay its bills."

Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "The Senate voted largely along party lines Thursday on legislation to block President Joe Biden's student debt relief program after the measure cleared a key procedural hurdle in the chamber. The 52-46 vote to pass the legislation comes a day after senators took a similarly close vote to proceed to the measure, which would repeal Biden's debt relief program and end the administration's pause on federal student loan payments. A few moderate senators -- Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana and independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona -- voted with Republicans on the final passage vote as well as the motion to take up the measure. Just a simple majority of senators were needed to pass the legislation and send it to Biden's desk. But the White House warned in a Statement of Administration Policy last month that Biden would veto the resolution.... The House passed the measure last week in a 218-203 vote, largely along party lines.... The biggest test for Biden's student loan relief plan, however, could still be ahead. The U.S. Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, is expected to rule on two cases on Biden's debt relief plan this month."

Christopher Wiggins of the Advocate: "On the last day of May, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation Wednesday from the White House declaring June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Pride Month. It comes amid a wave of conservative attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. 'During Pride Month, we honor a movement that has grown stronger, more vibrant, and more inclusive with every passing year,' the proclamation read. 'Pride is a celebration of generations of LGBTQI+ people who have fought bravely to live openly and authentically. And it is a reminder that we still have generational work to do to ensure that everyone enjoys the full promise of equity, dignity, protection, and freedom.'"

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that federal labor law did not protect a union from liability for damage that arose during a strike, and that a state court should resolve questions of liability. The majority found that actions during a strike by a local Teamsters union were not even arguably protected by federal law because the union took 'affirmative steps to endanger' the employer's property 'rather than reasonable precautions to mitigate that risk.' The opinion, written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Brett M. Kavanaugh. Three conservative justices backed more sweeping concurring opinions. A single justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented."

Florida. Greg Sargent & Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: In "conservative" Hernando County, Florida, parents push back against right-wing attacks on teachers. At a raucous school board meeting Tuesday night, "again and again, parents and students forcefully defended teachers. They cast the right's attacks, the censoring of educators and the removal of books as the real threats to education.... Things like this are happening all over. As Sarah Jones of New York magazine reports, liberal parents in states as far-flung as New York, North Carolina and Montana are organizing local groups, pressuring school boards and running for office to challenge the right's education takeover.... Nine Democratic governors representing nearly 9 million students have sent a letter to leading textbook companies decrying 'the negative impact that censorship and book-banning has on this nation's students.'"

Italy. Spy Boat. Elisabetta Povoledo & Ronen Bergman of the New York Times: "A weather warning ... had not foreseen the violence of the storm that burst over [Lake Maggiore in Northern Italy], with winds so extreme they sank a boat, killing four of its 23 passengers.... In subsequent days, the story took off in the Italian media when it emerged that 21 people on the boat were spies, or former spies -- including 13 from the Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, and eight Italian ones.... Two of those who died belonged to Italy's intelligence service, according to a note issued by Italian intelligence, while Israel said that another victim had been a retired Mossad operative. The fourth victim, a Russian woman, had been married to the boat's skipper.... Adding to the intrigue, the surviving passengers appeared to have been spirited away from the lake within hours of the accident. The Mossad sent an aircraft to return the Israeli survivors home, and tried to prevent publication of details about the incident in Israel, according to two Israeli defense officials.... None of the survivors had identification documents with them when they gave statements about the accident to Italian military police officers on Sunday night. They said they had lost them when the boat capsized, prosecutors said."

~~~~~~~~~~

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation negotiated by President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy to suspend the debt ceiling and set federal spending limits, as a broad bipartisan coalition lined up to cast a critical vote to pull the nation back from the brink of economic catastrophe. The bill would defer the federal debt limit for two years -- allowing the government to borrow unlimited sums as necessary to pay its obligations -- while imposing two years of spending caps and a string of policy changes that Republicans demanded in exchange for allowing the country to avoid a disastrous default. The 314-to-117 vote came days before the nation was set to exhaust its borrowing limit, and days after a marathon set of talks between White House negotiators and top House Republicans yielded a breakthrough agreement.... On the final vote, 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats backed the measure, while 71 Republicans and 46 Democrats opposed it." CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ President Biden's statement is here.

     ~~~ Marianna Sotomayor, et al., of the Washington Post: The "bill ... now heads to the Senate, where lawmakers will rush to enact the legislation before Monday -- when the United States will no longer be able to pay its bills." ~~~

     ~~~ Li'l Randy to Force Dickensian Vote. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Conservative Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says he will force the Senate to vote this week on cutting total federal spending by 5 percent in each of the next two years, a proposal that could put popular programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act under scrutiny. Paul told reporters Tuesday that he would insist on a vote on his amendment in exchange for yielding back time on the Senate floor and giving leaders a chance to pass the debt-limit bill before the nation faces default next week."

~~~ Earlier That Same Day. Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The House was heading toward a final vote Wednesday night on a bipartisan plan that would suspend the nation's debt ceiling for two years, after the package cleared a major procedural hurdle as lawmakers raced to act before a looming June 5 default. With Republicans in revolt over the measure, it fell to Democrats to help clear the way for the legislation, in a 241-187 vote that reflected a bitter G.O.P. split over the compromise between Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden.... In the end, 29 Republicans opposed the measure while 52 Democrats crossed party lines to support it." This is the top pinned item in a liveblog. (Also linked yesterday.)

Ella Nilsen of CNN: "Sen. Joe Manchin's monthslong effort to greenlight the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline -- a project that will pipe methane gas across parts of West Virginia and Virginia -- is likely to prevail in the bipartisan debt ceiling deal, angering environmental groups and some Democratic lawmakers. Manchin helped secure a provision in the deal that would compel federal agencies to approve all remaining permits for the approximately 300-mile natural gas pipeline, as well as shield the project from further litigation. The conservative Democrat from West Virginia, who has been critical of the Biden administration's environmental goals, praised the White House and congressional Republicans this week.... A White House official said the debt limit provision makes good on a compromise that the White House and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer struck with Manchin last year to secure his vote for the Inflation Reduction Act.... As recently as last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit had struck down permits for the project on the grounds that they violate the Clean Water Act."


** Wow! Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "Federal prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which ... Donald Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran, multiple sources told CNN, undercutting his argument that he declassified everything. The recording indicates Trump understood he retained classified material after leaving the White House, according to multiple sources.... On the recording, Trump's comments suggest he would like to share the information but he's aware of limitations on his ability post-presidency to declassify records, two of the sources said.... The July 2021 meeting was held at Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, with two people working on the autobiography of Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows as well as aides employed by the former president, including communications specialist Margo Martin. The attendees, sources said, did not have security clearances that would allow them access to classified information." The document Trump was discussing in the meeting was apparently "a four-page report typed up by (Trump's former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Mark Milley himself." He was showing it off waving it around (-- rustling papers can be heard on the tape) to try to contradict a story by Susan Glasser of the New Yorker. Read the whole story. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times story, by Maggie Haberman & others, is here. According to the Times, Ms. Martin "routinely taped the interviews he gave for books being written about him that year.... Ms. Martin was asked about the recording during a grand jury appearance.... Investigators have several if not all of the recordings of book interviews that Mr. Trump gave, according to two of the people familiar with the events. In one interview, Mr. Trump said he had taken 'nothing of great urgency' when asked if he had anything in his possession.... According to a person familiar with the document in question, the report was not written by General Milley and appears to date to an earlier period in the Trump administration, when Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff...." The Guardian report, by Hugo Lowell, is here, and is quite carefully-reported, IMO. ~~~

     ~~~ Juan Cole of Informed Comment: "Trump, typically befuddled, misremembered the document as having been authored by Milley. Trump's incorrect impression that the plan was Milley's led Meadows to write in his memoir that Milley on several occasions urged war on Iran, which is certainly incorrect.... Trump's remarks on the tape create extreme legal jeopardy for him, since they reveal that he was aware that he possessed classified documents, and that he was not actually able any longer to declassify them. Moreover, the 'Secret' classification is a sweet spot for espionage prosecutions, [Hugo] Lowell [of the Guardian] points out, since a mere 'Confidential' classification is considered too trivial to bring charges over, while possession of a 'Top Secret' document might not be prosecuted for fear that the document itself would be exposed to the light of day." ~~~

     ~~~ "Lordy, There Are Tapes!" (And Witnesses!) Marcy Wheeler : "... this is the kind of document that the Saudis would pay billions of dollars for.... No matter what reason Trump originally stole this document, this incident shows how Trump was exploiting it: To prove a critic [-- in this case, Susan Glasser --] wrong.... And Trump had it, at least in part, to avenge what he perceived as a slight by Milley." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: An aside to the main story, which Andrew Weissmann said on MSNBC is a "game-over" moment if true, is the audience for Trump's undoing: they are two people who are working on Mark Meadows' "autobiography." Although Meadows himself was not in the meeting, he appears to have included the meeting in his "autobiography" as if he had been there. IOW, the "autobiographers" seem to have been sort of alter-egos, and Meadows has produced an "autobiography" he did not write, but in which he was where he wasn't. People quip that autobiography is the sincerest form of fiction; looks as Meadows set out to prove that. See also comments at the end of yesterday's thread. Here's a related segment featuring Weissmann:

Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "... recently, investigators ... appear to be pursuing a [question related to obstruction]: whether Mr. Trump and some of his aides sought to interfere with the government's attempt to obtain security camera footage from Mar-a-Lago that could shed light on how those documents were stored and who had access to them.... Investigators ... [have posed] questions to an expanding cast of low-level workers at the [Mar-a-Lago] compound.... Two weeks ago, the latest of these employees, an information technology worker named Yuscil Taveras, appeared before a grand jury in Washington.... Mr. Taveras was asked questions about his dealings with two other Trump employees: Walt Nauta, a longtime aide to Mr. Trump who served as one of his valets in the White House, and Carlos Deoliveira, described by one person familiar with the events as the head of maintenance at Mar-a-Lago.... Lawyer[s] representing Mr. Nauta and Mr. Taveras ... are being paid by Mr. Trump's political action committee, Save America, which itself has been under scrutiny by Mr. Smith's team."

William Rashbaum & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump is asking the judge overseeing his criminal case in Manhattan to step aside, citing ties between the judge's family and Democratic causes, Mr. Trump's lawyers said in a statement Wednesday. The motion for recusal, which has not yet been filed publicly, represents the latest effort by Mr. Trump's lawyers to move his case away from the judge, Juan M. Merchan of State Supreme Court in Manhattan. The Trump legal team also recently sought to shift the case, brought by the Manhattan district attorney, to federal court. On Tuesday, the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, filed court papers opposing that effort, and he is expected to oppose the effort to get Justice Merchan to recuse himself." (Also linked yesterday.)


Oren Liebermann of CNN: "The Pentagon forced an Air Force base in Nevada to cancel a drag show at the start of Pride Month that had already been approved, according to three officials.... The drag show at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada was scheduled for June 1 and recognizes the importance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender service members and civilian personnel. According to a military official, it would have been the third annual drag show held at Nellis..., the Air Force's center for advanced fighter training.... Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken in support Pride Month in the military, saying in 2021 that 'LGBTQ+ citizens have fought to defend our rights and freedoms from the founding of our nation to the Civil War' and beyond. But he has drawn a line at allowing drag events or shows to be hosted at military bases, one of the officials said, making clear that DoD funds cannot be appropriated for such events."

Farnoush Amiri of the AP: "The chairman of the House Oversight Committee said Tuesday he is moving forward with holding FBI Director Chris Wray in contempt of Congress because the department has not turned over a bureau record that purports to relate to President Joe Biden and his family. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., criticized the federal law enforcement agency after he said his committee was told it would not gain access to an unclassified for that describes 'an alleged criminal scheme' involving the president and a foreign national.... The FBI said it offered to give the Oversight committee 'access to information responsive to the Committee's subpoena in a format and setting that maintains confidentiality and protects important security interests and the integrity of FBI investigations.' The bureau called that offer 'an extraordinary accommodation.'... 'This subpoenaed document, by definition, reveals nothing more than an unverified and unsubstantiated tip made to Donald Trump's Justice Department, which presumably led to no evidence of criminal wrongdoing,' Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the committee, said in a statement late Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here.

Little Spud Quits. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "The national security adviser to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has resigned after The Washington Post disclosed in a story that he presented Tuberville with the highly controversial strategy of stalling scores of senior military nominations in an attempt to stop a new Defense Department policy that helps ensure access to abortions for service members. In an email to colleagues Tuesday night obtained by The Post, Morgan Murphy shared that it was his last day working for Tuberville. 'Today is my last day with Coach, the best boss I've ever had,' Murphy wrote...." Politico's report, which broke the story, is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Turns out Little Spud was highly qualified to advise Sen. Potato Head, what with a career path that "included a stint at Vanity Fair, a tour in Afghanistan and multiple appearances on the home-shopping network QVC." Although his interests were eclectic, he often worked as a food critic. Uh, who somehow got a job at the Pentagon running social media accounts & soon became "the de facto press secretary" to the Secretary of Defense. Ben Terris of the Washington Post reports. ~~~

     ~~~ William Thornton of AL.com: "The brother of U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville is speaking out on social media, saying he is 'compelled to distance' himself from some of the lawmaker's recent statements. 'Due to recent statements by him promoting racial stereotypes, white nationalism and other various controversial topics, I feel compelled to distance myself from his ignorant, hateful rants,' Charles Tuberville stated in a Facebook post.... According to his website, Charles Tuberville is a singer/songwriter/guitar player based in Tulsa, Okla. who has been part of its music scene since the 1970s. Over his career, he's played with Leon Russell, Freddie King, Bobby Keys, Johnny Winter, Delbert McClinton, Jimmy Vivino, Kenny Neal, B.B. King and others."

But He Seems Like Such a Lovely Fellow. Will Sommer of the Washington Post: "In February, conservative undercover-video activist James O'Keefe left the nonprofit he founded, Project Veritas, amid a dispute with his board over his spending and treatment of employees.... Then ... O'Keefe told Donald Trump adviser turned podcaster Stephen K. Bannon that he had been 'removed,' and announced on radio host Mark Levin's show that he had been 'ousted.'... Project Veritas insists that its founder remained an employee until barely two weeks ago -- even as he set up a rival organization. Now Project Veritas is alleging [in a lawsuit] that O'Keefe broke a nondisparagement clause and other parts of his employment contract during his messy exit from the organization.... The board investigated allegations that O'Keefe screamed at his subordinates during meetings and used employees for personal errands, such as cleaning his boat, among other claims."

Alexa, Get Me $25MM. Natasha Singer of the New York Times: "Amazon agreed on Wednesday to pay a civil penalty of $25 million to settle federal charges that it kept sensitive information collected from children for years, including their precise locations and voice recordings, in violation of a children's online privacy law. It was the latest legal action in an intensifying regulatory effort to require some of the world's largest tech platforms to better safeguard their younger users. The case, brought by the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, centers on Amazon's handling of the personal details it collected from children who conversed with Alexa, the company's voice-activated virtual assistant." MB: Seems like a fairly puny fine.

Presidential Race 2024

Jill Colvin of the AP: "Former Vice President Mike Pence will officially launch his widely expected campaign for the Republican nomination for president in Iowa next week.... Pence will hold a kickoff event in Des Moines on June 7, the date of his 64th birthday, according to two people familiar with his plans.... He is also expected to release a video message as part of the launch." MB: To celebrate, I plan to go out in the front yard & wave a couple of those teeny American flags people put on July 4th cakes. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jill Colvin of the AP: "Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is expected to launch a Republican presidential campaign next week in New Hampshire. Christie, who also ran in 2016, is planning to make the announcement at a town hall Tuesday evening at Saint Anselm College's New Hampshire Institute of Politics, according to a person familiar with his thinking who spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm Christie's plans." MB: I see by the Googles that St. Anselm's is 23 minutes from my house. I should drive right over there & cheer on Chrisco. (Also linked yesterday.)

Meredith McGraw of Politico: "In 2026, the U.S. will celebrate the semiquincentennial: the quarter millennial since its declaration of independence. To commemorate the anniversary, [Donald] Trump is proposing a blowout, 12-month-long 'Salute to America 250' celebration. In a new policy video, Trump calls for a 'Great American State Fair,' featuring pavilions from all 50 states, nationwide high school sporting contests, and the building of Trump's 'National Garden of American Heroes' with statues of important figures in American history like Frederick Douglass and Amelia Earhart.... The biggest part of Trump's yearlong party plans is a massive fair -- like a modern world's fair -- showcasing each state. Trump suggests the event 'could be' held at the Iowa state fairgrounds, a conspicuous suggestion that seems designed to appeal to voters in the first caucus state."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Morgan Lee of the AP: "A failed political candidate has been indicted on federal charges including election interference in connection with a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque, according to a grand jury indictment that was unsealed Wednesday. The indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque takes aim at former Republican candidate Solomon Peña and two alleged accomplices with additional conspiracy and weapons-related charges in connection with the shootings in December 2022 and January of this year on the homes of four Democratic officials, including the current state House speaker. The attacks came amid a surge of threats and acts of intimidation against election workers and public officials across the country after ... Donald Trump and his allies spread false claims about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election."

Oklahoma. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down two of the state's abortion bans enacted last year and, in a 6-3 decision, affirmed the right to terminate a pregnancy in life-threatening situations. Abortion remains largely inaccessible in the state despite Wednesday's decision, due to a 1910 ban that makes exceptions for the life of the pregnant person. The high court's ruling affects a pair of laws passed in 2022 that were modeled on a novel legal strategy from Texas that created a civil enforcement mechanism -- decried by abortion rights advocates as a 'bounty' system. The system enabled private citizens to sue for up to $10,000 in damages any individual who performed or enabled an abortion."

Texas. David Montgomery of the New York Times: "Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas on Wednesday named John Scott, a longtime ally and a former Texas secretary of state, to serve as an interim replacement for the suspended attorney general, Ken Paxton, while Mr. Paxton faces trial in the State Senate. Mr. Paxton was impeached by the state House of Representatives on Saturday over charges that he had used his elected position to benefit himself and a campaign donor. Mr. Abbott, in a statement announcing his decision, said he chose Mr. Scott to 'step in as a short-term' replacement while Mr. Paxton battles 20 articles of impeachment in a Senate trial expected to start late this summer."

Way Beyond

Latvia. Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: "Lawmakers in Latvia have chosen Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics as the country's new president, making him the first openly gay head of state in the European Union. The 49-year-old's election -- which was finalized as the Latvian capital of Riga was kicking off Pride celebrations -- was celebrated by gay rights activists across Europe. It also highlights the widening gulf between Latvia, which was occupied by the Soviet Union for about a half-century, and Russia. The war in Ukraine has brought increasingly harsh tactics against gay Russians at home. The Kremlin has tightened restrictions on LGBTQ 'propaganda,' an Russian lawmakers are considering legislation that would ban gender-reassignment surgery."

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Thursday is here: "An early-morning airstrike on Ukraine's capital killed three people, including a child, on International Children's Day, officials said. Preliminary information suggests that cruise and ballistic missiles were used in the attack, authorities said, and there was little time for citizens to seek shelter after the air raid alarm sounded. At least one of the victims died after finding the nearest bomb shelter locked. The governor of Russia's Belgorod region reported fresh strikes in the area overnight and blamed Ukraine's armed forces.... The United States does not support or encourage attacks inside Russia, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday, a day after a drone attack in a civilian area of Moscow. In contrast, German and British officials have indicated support for Ukraine's right to self-defense, though Ukrainian officials have denied responsibility for the Moscow drone attack.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Moldova for a summit of 47 heads of state and government, including those from the European Union and its allies."

Joby Warrick & Evan Hill of the Washington Post: "Iran is arming militants in Syria for a new phase of lethal attacks against U.S. troops in the country, while also working with Russia on a broader strategy to drive Americans from the region, intelligence officials and leaked classified documents say. Iran and its allies are building and training forces to use more powerful armor-piercing roadside bombs intended specifically to target U.S. military vehicles and kill U.S. personnel, according to classified intelligence reports obtained by The Washington Post. Such attacks would constitute an escalation of Iran's long-running campaign of using proxy militias to launch rocket and drone strikes on U.S. forces in Syria."

U.K. Larry Summers Disses Brexit. Joanna Partridge of the Guardian: "Brexit will be remembered as a 'historic economic error', which damaged the UK economy and has helped to drive inflation higher, according to the former US treasury secretary Larry Summers. Singling out Britain's departure from the EU as a factor for higher costs, Summers also criticised the UK's economic policy as 'substantially flawed for some years'. Brexit 'reduced the competitiveness of the UK economy, put downwards pressure on the pound and upwards pressure on prices, limited imports of goods and limited in some ways the supply of labour,' Summers told BBC Radio 4's Today programme." MB: Larry is always so diplomatic. Then again, he's most likely correct here.

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