May 16, 2023

Evening Update:

The New York Times liveblogged developments in the debt-ceiling standoff: "President Biden and congressional leaders in both parties emerged from a White House meeting on Tuesday offering glimmers of hope about eventually reaching a deal to raise the nation's borrowing limit, even as they conceded they were still far from averting a default that could come as soon as June 1. After an hourlong Oval Office meeting, Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters that he could see a deal reached by the weekend, but he said negotiations about spending cuts remained far apart. The administration said Mr. Biden would cut short his seven-day foreign trip that begins Wednesday, skipping visits to Papua New Guinea and Australia to be on hand for talks."

Marie: Earlier today, I linked a Guardian story about a lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani that included this allegation: "The lawsuit also included an allegation that Giuliani asked [the complainant Noelle] Dunphy 'if she knew anyone in need of a pardon' because 'he was selling pardons for $2m, which he and President Trump would split'. The complaint added that he told Dunphy she could refer people seeking pardons to him as long as she avoided 'the normal channels' of going through the office of the pardon attorney, a role within the Department of Justice, which could be subject to public disclosure." In her first segment, Nicole Wallace of MSNBC ran a segment on the suit. NYT reporter Michael Schmidt reminded us that a story he & Ken Vogel in January 2021, reported a story that had, well, surprisingly similar content:

"A onetime top adviser to the Trump campaign was paid $50,000 to help seek a pardon for John Kiriakou, a former C.I.A. officer convicted of illegally disclosing classified information, and agreed to a $50,000 bonus if the president granted it, according to a copy of an agreement. And Mr. Kiriakou was separately told that Mr. Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani could help him secure a pardon for $2 million. Mr. Kiriakou rejected the offer, but an associate, fearing that Mr. Giuliani was illegally selling pardons, alerted the F.B.I. Mr. Giuliani challenged this characterization.... Mr. Kiriakou said he also broached his quest for a pardon during a meeting last year with Mr. Giuliani and his associates on another subject at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, which involved substantial alcohol. When Mr. Giuliani went to the bathroom at one point, one of his confidants turned to Mr. Kiriakou and suggested Mr. Giuliani could help. But 'it's going to cost $2 million -- he's going to want two million bucks,' Mr. Kiriakou recalled the associate saying." ~~~

     ~~~ I guess we know now why, as he was being ushered out the White House door, Trump pardoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), who went to jail for attempted to sell the U.S. Senate seat Barack Obama vacated in 2021 just before he became president.

Sad News from the Gossip Pages. Jesse Paul & Nancy Lofholm of the Colorado Sun: "U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert has filed for divorce from her husband, Jayson, the Garfield County Republican announced Tuesday. The couple has been married for roughly two decades.

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Adam Cancryn, et al., of Politico: "The emerging outline of a debt limit deal between [President] Biden and House Republicans has fed growing dismay among progressive Democrats over the White House's negotiating strategy -- and raised fears that a president who once dared Republicans to test his resolve is preparing to give on a host of GOP demands to make the issue go away. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) described herself as 'very concerned' about the direction of the talks, including mentions of a long-term cap on spending and additional work requirements. The unease by progressives about both, she said, has been conveyed to the White House.... The rising discontent on the left complicates an extremely delicate negotiating period for Biden, who is slated to meet Tuesday with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders before leaving for a weeklong international trip to Japan and Australia.... The White House argues it is not actually negotiating over the debt ceiling, but merely having budget negotiations with a debt ceiling component attached."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "As [President] Biden campaigns for re-election, he is trying to bridge an educational divide that is reshaping the American political landscape.... College-educated voters are now more likely to identify as Democrats, while those without college degrees are more likely to support Republicans.... Mr. Biden rarely speaks about his signature piece of legislation, a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, without also emphasizing that it will lead to trade apprenticeships and, ultimately, union jobs. 'Let's offer every American a path to a good career whether they go to college or not, like the path you started here,' Mr. Biden said at [a] trades institute.... The White House says apprenticeship programs, which typically combine some classroom learning with paid on-the-job experience, are crucial to overcoming a tight labor market and ensuring that there is a sufficient work force to turn the president's sprawling spending plan into roads, bridges and electric vehicle chargers. Mr. Biden has offered incentives for creating apprenticeships, with hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants for states that expand such programs." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is a reason why it's good to have an older president, one with an institutional memory. When I went to college in 1962, unions were strong, and a line worker at say, the Ford Motor Company, made more money than I ever hoped to make, even as I embarked upon the journey to earn a college degree. A great appeal then to obtaining a college degree, or at least get through a few years of college, was not to get rich but to be able to carve out a career in some kind of "office job." Working as a teacher or other civil servant, as an accountant or an office manager was not considered to be better paying, but it was both more prestigious, far less physically taxing and often less dangerous.

Your Tax Dollars Going Down Rabbit Holes. Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "John Durham, the Trump-era special counsel who for four years has pursued a politically fraught investigation into the Russia inquiry, accused the F.B.I. of a 'lack of analytical rigor' in a final report made public on Monday that examined the bureau's investigation into whether the 2016 Trump campaign was conspiring with Moscow. Mr. Durham's 306-page report appeared to show little substantial new information about the F.B.I.'s handling of the Russia investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane, and it failed to produce the kinds of blockbuster revelations impugning the bureau that ... Donald J. Trump and his allies had once suggested that Mr. Durham would find. Instead, the report -- released without substantive comment or redactions by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland -- repeated previously exposed flaws in the inquiry, including from a 2019 inspector general report, while concluding that the F.B.I. suffered from a confirmation bias as it pursued leads about Mr. Trump's ties to Russia." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Read on. The Durham "report" sounds less like a report than a documented conspiracy theory that -- after four years of "investigating" -- couldn't find any facts to support it. David Corn of Mother Jones, appearing on MSNBC, called the report a "seven-million-dollar opinion column." Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC went full deconstructionist Seinfeld & called it "a report about nothing." ~~~

     ~~~ Devlin Barrett & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "The report, coming almost four years to the day since [John] Durham's assignment began, will probably be derided by Democrats as the end of a partisan boondoggle. Republicans will have to wrestle with a much-touted investigation that has cost taxpayers more than $6.5 million and didn't send a single person to jail, even though [Donald] Trump once predicted that Durham would uncover the 'crime of the century.'... Much of the FBI conduct described by the Durham report was previously known and had been denounced in a 2019 report by the Justice Department's inspector general, which did not find 'documentary or testimonial evidence of intentional misconduct.'"

     ~~~ Politico's report is here. The so-called Durham report, via the DOJ, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The AP report, by Eric Tucker, is fairly comprehensive.

Courtney Kube & Carol Lee of NBC News: "Some defense and congressional officials believe the White House is laying the groundwork to halt plans to move U.S. Space Command's headquarters to Alabama in part because of concerns about the state's restrictive abortion law, according to two U.S. officials and one U.S. defense official familiar with the discussions.... The White House directed the Air Force last December to conduct a review of the process that led to the Trump administration's decision to move Space Command's headquarters from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama. The review was ordered up in the months after Alabama's law banning nearly all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest, went into effect last summer. The law is considered among the most restrictive in the U.S.... The White House said Alabama's abortion ban was not a factor in its ongoing review of the decision to build Spacecom's permanent headquarters there."

Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "The Internal Revenue Service audits Black taxpayers at significantly higher rates than other Americans, Commissioner Daniel Werfel told lawmakers Monday, confirming earlier findings by researchers at leading universities and the Treasury Department. In a letter to the Senate Finance Committee, Werfel said the agency would review audit algorithms for certain anti-poverty tax credits to search for systemic racial bias. Tax examiners do not know the race of the people they are auditing, but the algorithms the IRS uses to monitor fraud around the earned income tax credit -- one of the U.S.'s largest social safety net programs -- target filers that make errors on their returns and do not report business income. The result, the researchers found, is that the algorithms are more likely to identify Black taxpayers for audits." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's why you want a Democratic appointee to be running an institution with the power to be extremely abusive. Werfel says he'll try to fix the discriminatory algorithms, and that's believable. A GOP appointee would most likely shrug off the criticism as impossible to adjust.

Luke Broadwater & Remy Tumin of the New York Times: "A man armed with a baseball bat and demanding to see Representative Gerald E. Connolly, Democrat of Virginia, attacked and injured two staff aides ... with what appeared to be a metal baseball bat ... in a destructive rampage inside the congressman's Fairfax, Va., office, the latest episode in a surge of political violence across the country. Xuan Kha Tran Pham, 49, of Fairfax, was facing charges for one count of felony aggravated malicious wounding and one count of malicious wounding, according to the Fairfax City Police Department. He was being held without bond. Police said they had not yet identified a motive, and Capitol Police said in a statement that the suspect was not known to them.... The two aides [were] taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Update: "Speaking later to reporters on Capitol Hill, Mr. Connolly said the attacker struck one of his senior aides in the head with the metal bat, and hit an intern in the side -- on her first day on the job. 'Imagine your first day in the office,' a man 'comes in with a baseball bat and beats you,' Mr. Connolly said.... 'This is a gentleman with a long history of mental illness,' Mr. Connolly said. 'He's been engaged in bizarre and untoward behavior in the past, including violent behavior. And he decided today, for whatever reason, to descend upon us and inflict more of the same. He needs intense treatment, I think.'" The AP's report is here.

Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "Fani T. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., asked a judge to dismiss ... Donald J. Trump's efforts to have her disqualified from leading an investigation into whether he and his allies interfered in the 2020 election in the state. She also asked the judge, in a 24-page court document filed on Monday, to reject a request from Mr. Trump to suppress the final report of a special grand jury that weighed evidence last year in the election meddling case. Ms. Willis was responding to an earlier motion filed by Mr. Trump's lawyers that accused her of making biased statements over the course of her investigation."

Amy Wang & Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Newly obtained emails indicate that several individual donors were willing to fund the official portraits of [Donald] Trump and former first lady Melania Trump for the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, but that the Smithsonian ultimately agreed to instead accept a $650,000 contribution from Trump's Save America PAC. The donation marked the first time in recent memory that a political organization has financed a former president's portrait for the museum, as they are typically paid for by individual donors solicited by the Smithsonian.... Museum rules dictate that portraits of a former president cannot be unveiled if that person runs for office again. Therefore, [Smithsonian spokesperson Linda] St. Thomas told The Post that the museum probably would not release the names of the two artists commissioned until after the 2024 presidential election. If Trump wins that election, the portraits would not be displayed until after his second term, per museum rules.... Though unusual, the donation is legal because Save America is a leadership PAC with few restrictions on the use of its money.... Most of the money in Trump's PAC comes from small-dollar donors responding to emails and other solicitations."

** Criminal AND Raunchy (Allegedly!). Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "A former associate of Rudy Giuliani sued the former New York mayor, presidential candidate and attorney to Donald Trump for $10m on Monday, alleging 'abuses of power, wide-ranging sexual assault and harassment, wage theft and other misconduct' including 'alcohol-drenched rants that included sexist, racist and antisemitic remarks'. Filed in New York state, Noelle Dunphy's suit includes the allegation that Giuliani 'often demanded oral sex while he took phone calls on speaker phone from high-profile friends and clients, including then-President Trump'. Giuliani is alleged to have told Dunphy 'he enjoyed engaging in this conduct while on the telephone because it made him "feel like Bill Clinton"'.... The lawsuit also included an allegation that Giuliani asked Dunphy 'if she knew anyone in need of a pardon' because 'he was selling pardons for $2m, which he and President Trump would split'. The complaint added that he told Dunphy she could refer people seeking pardons to him as long as she avoided 'the normal channels' of going through the office of the pardon attorney, a role within the Department of Justice, which could be subject to public disclosure.... The suit contains remarks it says were recorded." Read on. "Borat" has a part in this lawsuit. The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Jacob Kornbluh of the Forward: "Dunphy claimed Giuliani made comments about "'freakin Arabs' and Jews,' and that in one instance, talking about Jewish men, 'implied that their penises were inferior due to "natural selection."' She also alleged that Giuliani, who served as an attorney for former President Donald Trump during his first impeachment trial and after the 2020 presidential election, mocked Jewish people for observing the holiday of Passover, which marks the exodus from Egypt. 'Jews want to go through their freaking Passover all the time, man oh man,' Giuliani is quoted as saying in one of the recordings mentioned in the lawsuit. 'Get over the Passover. It was like 3,000 years ago. The Red Sea parted, big deal. It's not the first time that happened.'" MB: Does Giuliani think Christians should "get over" the crucifiction, which was supposed to have happened 2,000 years ago? What exactly is the sell-by date for religious myths?

     ~~~ Marie: This woman may be a complete loon who is making up stuff. On the other hand, if she has recordings that incriminate Giuliani and/or others, the woman's mental stability probably won't matter much to prosecutors.

Jessica Corbett of Common Dreams: "On the heels of similar decisions last month, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday delivered 'another win for climate accountability,' rejecting fossil fuel corporations' attempt to quash lawsuits filed by the city of Hoboken, New Jersey, and the state of Delaware.... The Supreme Court's decision means that both of these cases will now move forward in state court.... There were no noted dissensions on Monday. However, like last month, Justice Samuel Alito, who owns stock in some fossil fuel companies, did not participate in the decision about these two cases -- but Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whose father spent nearly three decades as an attorney for Shell, did."

Health Services Spared, For Now. Emily Baumgaertner of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Monday temporarily blocked a lower court decision that overturned the Affordable Care Act's requirement that all health plans fully cover certain preventive health services. The move by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans will put on hold a decision from March that had threatened insurance coverage for recommended services like depression screenings for teenagers and drugs that prevent transmission of H.I.V. The Justice Department had appealed the decision, and the appeals court's stay will stand while the appeals process plays out."

Presidential Race 2024.

Whoopty-Doo. Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: "Former Vice President Mike Pence is expected to soon declare a long-shot campaign for the White House against the president under whom he served, pitching himself as a 'classical conservative' who would return the Republican Party to its pre-Trump roots, according to people close to Mr. Pence. Mr. Pence is working to carve out space in the Republican primary field by appealing to evangelicals, adopting a hard-line position in support of a federal abortion ban, promoting free trade and pushing back against Republican efforts to police big business on ideological grounds. He faces significant challenges, trails far behind in the polls and has made no effort to channel the populist energies overtaking the Republican Party."

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "ReAwaken America's association with anti-Semites did not stop Donald Trump from calling into the [group's] rally [at the Trump Doral Saturday] to offer his support. 'It's a wonderful hotel, but you're there for an even more important purpose,' he told a shrieking crowd, before promising to bring [ReAwaken's co-founder Michael] Flynn back in for a second Trump term.... Flynn has long been a paranoid Islamophobe, and toward the end of Trump's presidency, he emerged as a full-fledged authoritarian, calling on Trump to invoke martial law after the 2020 election. Now he's become, in addition to an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and QAnon adherent, one of the country's most prominent Christian nationalists.... The issue isn't whether the next Republican presidential candidate is going to be a Christian nationalist..., [but] what sort of Christian nationalism will prevail.... Trump ran afoul of some more traditional evangelical leaders ... [when on Monday] he criticized the six-week abortion ban [Florida Goobernor Ron] DeSantis signed in Florida.... [But f]or the religious following that Trump has nurtured, he's less a person who will put in place a specific Christian nationalist agenda than he is the incarnation of that agenda.... If a Republican wins in 2024, the victor will preside over a Christian nationalist administration. The question is whether that person will champion an orthodoxy or a cult."

Beyond the Beltway

California. Les Miserables, American-Style. Sam Levin of the Guardian: "Surveillance footage from a Walgreens in San Francisco shows the moment a private security guard killed a young transgender man accused of shoplifting. The footage captures the guard tackling and punching Banko Brown, 24, on 27 April before fatally shooting him as he exited the store. The video, as well as the announcement by the San Francisco district attorney's office it will not seek charges against the guard, is likely to reignite protests, which have popped up in San Francisco and spread through California since the killing, with activists demanding criminal prosecution and calling for increased investments in Black trans youth. Brown was a budding community organizer known for helping Black transgender youth and had been struggling with homelessness in the weeks before his death.... San Francisco police initially arrested [guard Michael] Anthony.... But the district attorney [Brooke Jenkins] released him days later, saying in a statement that security video 'clearly' showed the guard had acted 'in self-defense'.... The guard told investigators Brown had taken 'some beverages and a few snacks'." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Shoplifting food is a petty crime that usually doesn't even garner jail time. It is not a capital offense. Assuming Levin's report is correct, Brown was fleeing at the time Anthony shot him dead; therefore, he did not pose an immediate threat to Anthony or store patrons & personnel. This is Jean Valjean all over again, but American style, where instead of getting a five-year prison sentence for stealing a loaf of bread, you get death. Yes, Americans are worse off than les miserables.

Florida. Still Longin' for de Old Plantation. Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation on Monday that largely banned Florida's public universities and colleges from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and imposed other measures that could reshape higher education at state schools. The legislation also restricts how educators can discuss discrimination in required, lower-level courses -- by forbidding the teaching of 'identity politics,' for example -- and weakens tenure protections. Mr. DeSantis signed it at New College of Florida, a public liberal arts institution that the governor has aggressively sought to transform, replacing trustees with conservative allies and engineering the appointment of a new president. The governor ... was met with loud protests on Monday.... The law has outraged faculty, free speech groups and students, particularly people of color and gay and transgender youth, who see it as a political assault on academic independence and anti-bias efforts. But Democrats could organize little opposition in Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature. 'If you want to do things like gender ideology, go to Berkeley,' Mr. DeSantis said at the bill-signing ceremony." Politico's report is here.

Missouri. Punish the Messenger. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: "Mary Walton thought her teacher repeatedly saying a racist slur in class last week was wrong, so the 15-year-old sophomore at Glendale High School in Springfield, Mo., pulled out her phone and started filming, the student's lawyer said. She recorded him saying the n-word twice before he appeared to notice what she was doing.... [The teacher caught her.] Days later, she was suspended for making the 55-second video, according to her lawyer. Mary and her mother, Kate Welborn, 44, are challenging the punishment and demanding the district apologize.... Officials maintain that, although the teacher's actions were inexcusable, students are prohibited from recording in class without prior approval.... On Monday, Principal Josh Groves announced that the teacher, who was initially placed on administrative leave, is no longer employed by the district." ~~~

Mary was exercising her First Amendment right when she started recording -- to hold a public official in a position of power to account, no less, according to Shelley.... She -- knowingly or unknowingly -- became a journalist by chronicling an important event. -- Dan Shelley, president and CEO of the Radio Television Digital News Association, who attended Springfield public schools, in a letter to the school superintendent (partial paraphrase) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If they still allow subversive books like dictionaries in the district, school officials should look up w-h-i-s-t-l-e-b-l-o-w-e-r.

Way Beyond

Farnaz Fassihi & Hiba Yazbek of the New York Times: "The United Nations for the first time on Monday officially commemorated the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the war surrounding the creation of Israel 75 years ago, drawing a sharp response from the Israeli ambassador to the world body. The event -- marking the Nakba, or 'catastrophe,' by Palestinians -- was attended by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas; many member states from Asia, Africa, Central and South America and the Middle East; and representatives of the African Union and the Arab League, who delivered speeches. The United States and Britain did not attend.... To Israelis, the creation of their state was a heroic moment for a long-persecuted people that deserves celebration. But to Palestinians, it was a moment of profound national trauma."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Early-morning strikes rocked Kyiv early Tuesday, with several missiles fired in a short period of time, the city military administration said on Telegram. The attack, which included drones, cruise missiles and potentially ballistic missiles, was 'exceptional' in its intensity, Ukrainian officials said. The strikes came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Britain, France, Germany and Italy as part of a whirlwind European tour, and secured more military aid for Ukraine from European allies.... Forty-six European leaders in the Council of Europe will meet in Iceland on Tuesday for a summit to show their support for Ukraine through 'concrete measures to help achieve justice for the victims of the Russian aggression,' the group's website says.... Russia has used more than 400 Iranian-supplied drones to attack infrastructure in Ukraine since August, and Moscow wants Tehran to supply more advanced models, U.S. National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby said Monday, adding that more U.S. sanctions will come soon.... A Ukrainian oligarch was delivered a 'notice of suspicion' over allegations that he embezzled close to $500 million through a gas-purchasing plan. Dmytro Firtash lives in Vienna and is wanted for extradition by the United States in a bribery case." MB: Firtash was an associate of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort's. ~~~

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

Daniel Victor of the New York Times: "Robert Shonov, identified as a former employee of the U.S. Embassy in Russia, was arrested in the Russian city of Vladivostok and charged with conspiracy, according to the Russian state news agency Tass. The report did not identify his nationality. Vedant Patel, a [U.S.] State Department spokesman, told reporters at a briefing on Monday that he had seen the report but that 'I don't have anything additional to offer at this time.'"

May 15, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Your Tax Dollars Going Down Rabbit Holes. Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times:"John Durham, the Trump-era special counsel who for four years has pursued a politically fraught investigation into the Russia inquiry, accused the F.B.I. of a 'lack of analytical rigor' in a final report made public on Monday that examined the bureau's investigation into whether the 2016 Trump campaign was conspiring with Moscow. Mr. Durham's 306-page report appeared to show little substantial new information about the F.B.I.'s handling of the Russia investigation..., and it failed to produce the kinds of blockbuster revelations impugning the bureau that ... Donald J. Trump and his allies had once suggested that Mr. Durham would find. Instead, the report -- released without substantive comment or redactions by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland -- repeated previously exposed flaws in the inquiry, including from a 2019 inspector general report, while concluding that the F.B.I. suffered from a confirmation bias as it pursued leads about Mr. Trump's ties to Russia." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Read on. The Durham "report" sounds less like a report than a documented conspiracy theory that -- after four years of "investigating" -- couldn't find any facts to support it. ~~~

     ~~~ Politico's report is here. The so-called Durham report, via the DOJ, is here.

Luke Broadwater & Remy Tumin of the New York Times: "A man armed with a baseball bat and demanding to see Representative Gerald E. Connolly, Democrat of Virginia, attacked and injured two staff aides ... with what appeared to be a metal baseball bat ... in a destructive rampage inside the congressman's Fairfax, Va., office, the latest episode in a surge of political violence across the country. Xuan Kha Tran Pham, 49, of Fairfax, was facing charges for one count of felony aggravated malicious wounding and one count of malicious wounding, according to the Fairfax City Police Department. He was being held without bond. Police said they had not yet identified a motive, and Capitol Police said in a statement that the suspect was not known to them.... The two aides [were] taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries."

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Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "Relative quiet has prevailed along the southern U.S. border since Friday, despite widespread fears that ending a pandemic-era policy to immediately expel most migrants, even asylum seekers, would set off a stampede from Mexico. A surge in migrants did in fact happen, in the run-up to the expiration of the pandemic-era expulsion policy, known as Title 42. Uncertain of the impact of new deterrent measures, migrants braved turbulent rivers, cut through concertina wire and scaled the steel border wall to reach the United States and turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents. On some days last week, apprehensions reached about 11,000, among the highest recorded. Alejandro Mayorkas, Homeland Security secretary, said on Sunday that agents apprehended only 6,300 migrants on Friday and 4,200 on Saturday."

     ~~~ Marie: They "scaled the steel border wall"? Unpossible!

Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) sees the military in a dramatic leftward lurch that has hurt recruiting and combat readiness. The third-year senator believes Pentagon leaders are forcing troops to read liberal books. That they are helping provide abortion services. And, in new remarks the past few days, that they are inappropriately driving 'white nationalists' out of the service. 'They're politicizing the military so much, they're ruining our military,' Tuberville told reporters on Thursday, noting that the Army missed its 2022 recruiting goal by 25 percent. 'Something's going wrong in our military.' These positions have placed Tuberville -- whose military background consists of using war metaphors to inspire his teams during three decades coaching college football -- in the spotlight as the leading conservative antagonist to the Defense Department.... Tuberville made things more complicated when he gave an interview to his local public radio station on Wednesday that criticized Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for trying 'to get out the white extremists, the white nationalists' from the military." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Probably worth at least skimming the whole article so you can catch the nuances of Sen. Potatohead's racism, nuances which seem to have eluded him, of course. A commentator on MSNBC noted that before becoming a U.S. senator, Coach Potatohead enjoyed an entire career as the master of a Black slave plantation system known as college football. You know, where the strong Black kids do all the grueling work for no pay and the master orders them around & berates them? ~~~

~~~ Nice to know the Senate Republican caucus is an equal-opportunity racist outfit: ~~~

     ~~~ Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: "Mexicans 'would be eating cat food out of a can and living in a tent behind an Outback' Steakhouse restaurant if it were not for their nation's proximity to the US, and their country should be invaded because of the presence of drug cartels there, the US senator John Neely Kennedy said. The Louisiana Republican's racist remarks drew a strong condemnation from Mexico's foreign affairs secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, who called Kennedy 'a profoundly ignorant man'. Mexico's president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, meanwhile, urged the 37 million Americans of Mexican descent -- along with other Latinos in the US -- 'not to vote for people with this very arrogant, very offensive and very foolish mentality' in the future."

The Spy Who Went Out in the Cold. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Rep. James Comer (R-KY) revealed on Sunday that Republicans had lost track of a top witness in the investigation of President Joe Biden and his family.... 'Well, unfortunately, we can't track down the informant," Comer [told conspiracy-credulous Fox 'News' star Maria Bartiromo].... Comer ... explain[ed] the informant was in the 'spy business' and 'they don't make a habit of being seen a lot.'" MB: Comer & Jungle Gym Jordan have been "investigating" Joe Biden's supposed rampant corruption for months. Despite their promises of blockbuster revelations, their show hearings have showed nothing. So now they're resorting to dog-ate-my-homework excuses.

Hunter Walker of TPM: “The ChickenRight persona was a unique figure in the [white-supremacist] Groyper movement. [Nick] Fuentes' core audience is made up of young, alienated 'Zoomers' who watch his hours-long streams, in which he rails against minorities and gays.... TPM has uncovered an extensive digital trail of interconnected Groyper social media pages using variations of the 'ChickenRight' and 'Chikken' handles that can be linked to Wade Searle, who works as the digital director for Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), one of the most extreme, far-right members of Congress.... 'The Groypers are essentially the equivalent of neo-Nazis,' said [historian Nicole] Hemmer.... Gosar has his own direct links to Fuentes."

Oh why oh why are so many right-wingers corrupt? ~~~

~~~ David Fahrenthold & Tiff Fehr of the New York Times: "A group of conservative operatives using sophisticated robocalls raised millions of dollars from donors using pro-police and pro-veteran messages. But instead of using the money to promote issues and candidates, an analysis by The New York Times shows, nearly all the money went to pay the firms making the calls and the operatives themselves, highlighting a flaw in the regulation of political nonprofits.... A group of five linked nonprofits ... have exploited thousands of donors in ways that have been hidden until now by a blizzard of filings, lax oversight and a blind spot in the campaign finance system.... Just 1 percent of the money they raised was used to help candidates.... The groups ... paid $2.8 million, or 3 percent of the money raised, to three Republican political consultants from Wisconsin who were the hidden force behind all five nonprofits...."

Talmon Smith of the New York Times: "An intergenerational transfer of wealth is in motion in America -- and it will dwarf any of the past.... Born in midcentury as U.S. birthrates surged in tandem with an enormous leap in prosperity after the Depression and World War II, [baby] boomers are now beginning to die in larger numbers, along with Americans over 80.... The wealthiest 10 percent of households will be giving and receiving a majority of the riches. Within that range, the top 1 percent -- which holds about as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, and is predominantly white -- will dictate the broadest share of the money flow.... The scale of the transfer is made possible in part by the U.S. tax code. Individuals can transmit up to $12.9 million to heirs, during life or at death, without federal estate tax (and $26 million for married couples).... Legally approved forms of tax avoidance are the major tool of wealth preservation."

Julia Mueller of the Hill: "Former President Trump has said he'll bring back his former national security adviser Michael Flynn if he wins another four years in the White House in 2024. 'I will say, General Flynn, he's some general. He's some man. He took abuse like nobody could have handled, and he came out bigger, better, stronger than ever before,' Trump said via phone to the 'ReAwaken America' rally at Trump National Doral Miami, according to a Rolling Stone report.... [Flynn] has been tied to QAnon and backed Trump's claims of widespread election fraud." ~~~

     ~~~ The AP & Frontline describe the ReAwaken America tour, which Michael Flynn co-founded after January 6, 2021, "as a traveling roadshow and recruiting tool for an ascendant Christian nationalist movement that's wrapped itself in God, patriotism and politics and has grown in power and influence inside the Republican Party." ~~~

     ~~~ Alex Deluca of the Miami News Times (May 11): "Scott McKay and Charlie Ward, two purveyors of anti-Semitic and occult conspiracy theories, have been removed from the scheduled list of speakers for the ReAwaken America tour stop at the Trump National Doral Miami resort on May 12-13. Prominent attorney and Trump family confidant Alan Dershowitz said on his podcast on the Rumble platform that Eric Trump, one of the event headliners, confirmed McKay would not be allowed on the Trump property."

Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: "The US rental car giant Hertz has apologized and pledged to retrain its staff after an employee denied a Puerto Rican customer a prepaid vehicle on the mistaken belief that he was from a foreign country and needed a passport. During the encounter with the customer at New Orleans's Louis Armstrong international airport, the Hertz employee also waved over a law enforcement officer who allegedly threatened to turn the man over to immigration authorities even though Puerto Rico has been a US territory since 1898 and has a representative in Congress as well, according to a stunning report which CBS correspondent David Begnaud published on Twitter and Instagram late Saturday."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "A Florida teacher under investigation because she showed her class the Disney animated movie Strange World which features a gay character has defended herself on social media, insisting the film related to the curriculum and warning that state investigators were traumatizing her 10- and 11-year-old students. Jenna Barbee, a teacher at Winding Waters school in Hernando county, Florida, released a six-minute TikTok video in which she gave her side of the story. She said she had been reported to the local school board by one of her students' mother, who sits on the board and was on a 'rampage to get rid of every form of representation out of our schools', Barbee alleged.... On Sunday, the Tallahassee Democrat named the parent and board member who had reported Barbee as Shannon Rodriguez. A member of the rightwing group Moms for Liberty, Rodriguez has been a leader of demands to have books she describes as 'smut' and 'porn' taken off library and school shelves." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You call this smut? What about Donald Duck doesn't wear pants?

Way Beyond

Thailand. Sui-Lee Wee & Muktita Suhartono of the New York Times: "Voters in Thailand overwhelmingly sought to end nearly a decade of military rule on Sunday, casting ballots in favor of two opposition parties that have pledged to curtail the power of the country's powerful conservative institutions: the military and the monarchy. With 97 percent of the votes counted early Monday morning, the progressive Move Forward Party was neck and neck with the populist Pheu Thai Party. Move Forward had won 151 seats to Pheu Thai's 141 in the 500-seat House of Representatives. In most parliamentary systems, the two parties would form a new governing coalition and choose a prime minister. But under the rules of the current Thai system, written by the military after its 2014 coup, the junta will still play kingmaker."

Turkey. Ben Hubbard & Gulsin Harman of the New York Times: "Turkey's presidential election appeared on Sunday to be headed for a runoff after the incumbent, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, failed to win a majority of the vote, a result that left the longtime leader struggling to stave off the toughest political challenge of his career. The outcome of the vote set the stage for a two-week battle between Mr. Erdogan and Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the opposition leader, to secure victory in a May 28 runoff that may reshape Turkey's political landscape. With the unofficial count nearly completed, Mr. Erdogan received 49.4 percent of the vote to Mr. Kilicdaroglu's 44.8 percent, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency. But both sides claimed to be ahead."

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Monday is here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the United Kingdom Monday morning, the latest stop on a tour of Western European countries aimed at securing new aid commitments for the war and maintaining the support of Kyiv's allies. Zelensky previously secured fresh commitments from Berlin and Paris for military aid and support during weekend visits to those cities.... Zelensky will meet with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at his official countryside retreat, Chequers, for talks about the war, the prime minister's office said in a statement.... Chinese envoy Li Hui arrives in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, on Monday. He will be the highest-ranking Chinese diplomat to visit since the start of the war.... The head of the Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group offered to give Russian troop locations to Ukraine if Ukraine's commanders withdrew their soldiers from the area around Bakhmut, leaked intelligence documents reveal. Wagner mercenaries are taking heavy losses in the beleaguered Ukrainian city."

News Lede

New York Times: "An 18-year-old gunman fired indiscriminately while roaming a residential street in Farmington, N.M., on Monday morning, killing three people before the police arrived and killed the suspect, the authorities said. Six other people, including two officers, were injured.... Chief Steve Hebbe of the Farmington Police Department said in a video statement released on Monday night ... that the rampage appeared to be 'purely random.' Chief Hebbe said that the gunman, whom he did not name, had used at least three different weapons, including an 'AR-style rifle,' a gun commonly used in mass shootings, as he roamed through the neighborhood, randomly firing 'at whatever entered his head to shoot at' including at least six houses and three cars."

May 14, 2023

Peter Baker & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden declared on Saturday that white supremacy is 'the most dangerous terrorist threat to our homeland' and warned a predominantly Black audience that 'sinister forces' embraced by his predecessor and putative challenger are trying to reverse generations of racial progress in America. Mr. Biden never named ... Donald J. Trump in his sometimes stark commencement address to the graduating class of Howard University, the nation’s most prestigious historically Black college. He alluded, however, to Mr. Trump's past statements to link him to racist elements in American society and suggest that the presidential campaign that has just gotten underway will determine whether justice will prevail over hate, fear and violence." CNN's story is here.

Republicans Back Vigilante Killer. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "In the nearly two weeks since Daniel Penny was recorded killing Jordan Neely on a New York City subway with a minutes-long chokehold, the 24-year-old Marine Corps veteran has faced calls to be arrested, been denounced as a vigilante by activists and been labeled a 'murderer' by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). But in the lead-up to the Manhattan district attorney's office charging him with second-degree manslaughter, Penny has found a groundswell of financial and online support from high-profile Republicans such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Fox News personalities and conservatives on Elon Musk's Twitter. Many of them have rallied around Penny and hailed the veteran as a 'hero' and 'good Samaritan.' 'The Marine who stepped in to protect others is a hero,' tweeted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).A legal-defense fund set up by Penny's attorneys on a crowdfunding site that has hosted fundraisers for defendants in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Kyle Rittenhouse had raised more than $1 million as of Saturday afternoon." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Wait, wait. Good Samaritan?? In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan (who represents an "outsider" group) helps a Jewish guy left for dead by the side of the road. Penny, who is a white guy (thus an "insider"), killed the guy in distress by the side of the subway. The point of the Good Samaritan parable is to establish "who is my neighbor?": the outsider Samaritan, or some "insider" priestly fellows who ignored the man in distress. The answer is obvious. That is, DeSantis is holding up Penny as a good neighbor. Katie, bar the door.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times thinks Kaitlin Collins was "terrific" and airing the Trump Show was a good thing. "Trump is spiraling into even more of a self-deluded narcissist, if that's possible.... The town hall was enlightening -- and frightening. But we needed that reminder to be on full alert, because Trump is not just an unhinged and dangerous extremist; he is also a cunning and dominating insurgent. The argument that the media should ignore Trump and keep him under a bushel basket is ridiculous.... President Biden needs to see what he's up against." ~~~

~~~ The Lincoln Project disagrees. Here's a video they have labeled "Wrongump":

Anna Fazackerley of the Guardian/Observer: "Some of the UK's top scientists are struggling to deal with what they describe as a huge rise in abuse from climate crisis deniers on Twitter since the social media platform was taken over by Elon Musk last year. Since then..., several users with millions of followers who propagate false statements about the climate emergency, including Donald Trump and rightwing culture warrior Jordan Peterson, have had their accounts reinstated. Climate scientists say the change has been stark, and they are fighting to make themselves heard over a 'barrage' of often hostile comments. 'There's been a massive change,' said Mark Maslin, professor of earth system science at University College London and the author of popular books including How to Save Our Planet.”

Beyond the Beltway

North Carolina. Kate Kelly of the New York Times: "The governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, vetoed a ban on abortion that was passed by the state's Republican-led legislature. The bill prohibited abortion past 12 weeks, with some exceptions for rape, incest or to preserve the life and health of the mother. The veto by Mr. Cooper, a Democrat, sets him up for a showdown with the legislature, which now has a slim Republican supermajority. That means it has the power to override his veto and enact the ban, if the party can muster enough votes. Hundreds of people gathered Saturday morning in Raleigh for Mr. Cooper's 'veto rally' to watch him sign as a way to call attention to his fight with Republicans."

Way Beyond

Turkey. Kareem Fahim of the Washington Post: "Voters across Turkey headed to the polls Sunday in a crucial election pitting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who has rallied a broad coalition of opposition parties to his side, leaving Erdogan more vulnerable to defeat than ever before.... Kilicdaroglu has promised to usher Turkey, a NATO member, into a new era by revitalizing democracy after years of government repression and refreshing ties with Turkey’s allies in the West."

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Berlin on a visit that could help repair the strained ties between Kyiv and Germany, a country that for decades has preferred to avoid involvement in military conflicts. At a news conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Zelensky described a new German defense package as 'a very strong pillar of support' and thanked Germany 'for every life in Ukraine you saved.'... Zelensky also met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the trip, his first to the country since the Russian invasion began.... For the first time, Russia appeared to acknowledge Ukrainian claims of an advance in the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut. Russian troops retreated from some northwest positions in Bakhmut, according to Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov, who described the move as a decision to 'enhance defense lines.'"

Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "... President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine met [Pope] Francis in the Vatican on Saturday, part of a whirlwind visit to Rome that included talks with Italy's president and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, both of whom offered their full support.... Ms. Meloni, who greeted Mr. Zelensky warmly before a 70-minute meeting, affirm[ed] her staunch support of Ukraine's war effort.... The pope has sought to position himself as a potential peacemaker in a way that critics, including Ukrainian officials, argue is counterproductive to the achievement not only of Ukrainian victory, but also of a real and just peace. To preserve the Vatican's traditional neutrality, Francis, while consistently expressing sympathy for the suffering of Ukrainians, has made often confusing and contradictory remarks about whether he blames President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.... [He said recently he was working on a secret peace plan.] Asked afterwards on Italian television whether Francis ... could be a peacemaker between him and Mr. Putin, Mr. Zelensky said 'with all respect for His Holiness,' Ukraine did not need mediators because 'you can't do mediation with Putin.'"

Erica Solomon & Christopher Schuetze of the New York Times: "Germany on Saturday sent the strongest signal yet of its commitment to backing Ukraine in its battle against Russian occupiers, promising more tanks, armored vehicles and substantial air defense systems in its largest weapons package for Kyiv. The arms package, totaling 2.7 billion euros, or about $2.95 billion, amounted to roughly as much as Germany's total military aid to Ukraine since the war began in February 2022. The move was part of a budding effort by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to draw a line under a year of rocky relations over Germany's hesitancy to provide weapons and solidify a partnership that may prove increasingly critical to maintaining European unity in backing the war."

John Hudson & Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has won the trust of Western governments by refusing to use the weapons they provide for attacks inside Russia.... But behind closed doors, Ukraine's leader has proposed going in a more audacious direction -- occupying Russian villages to gain leverage over Moscow, bombing a pipeline that transfers Russian oil to Hungary, a NATO member, and privately pining for long-range missiles to hit targets inside Russia's borders, according to classified U.S. intelligence documents detailing his internal communications with top aides and military leaders. The documents, which have not been previously disclosed, are part of a broader leak of U.S. secrets circulated on the Discord messaging platform and obtained by The Washington Post. They reveal a leader with aggressive instincts that sharply contrast with his public-facing image as the calm and stoic statesman weathering Russia's brutal onslaught."