May 1, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Alan Rappeport & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said on Monday that the United States could run out of money to pay its bills by June 1 if Congress does not raise or suspend the debt limit, putting pressure on President Biden and lawmakers to reach an agreement swiftly to avoid defaulting on the nation's debt. The more precise warning over when the United States could hit the so-called X-date dramatically reduces the projected amount of time lawmakers have to reach a deal before the government runs out of money to pay all of its bills on time. The new timeline could force a flurry of negotiations between the House, Senate and White House over government spending -- or a high-stakes standoff between Mr. Biden and the House Republicans who have refused to raise the limit without deep spending cuts attached." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Frankly, I think Biden should direct Yellen to raise the debt ceiling, whether My Kevin & his Klan go along with it or not. If Congress has approved spending beyond the debt ceiling it has approved, Congress is in effect compelling leaders of the executive branch to violate their oaths of office. Congress cannot pass a law, IMO, that forbids the President, Vice President, Cabinet officials & other executive branch officials from carrying out their duties under other laws. And, okay, I'm no Laurence Tribe.

Lola Fadulu, et al., of the New York Times: "The writer strong> E. Jean Carroll's case accusing Donald J. Trump of raping her in a department-store dressing room continues Monday in Federal District Court in Manhattan.... Mr. Trump's lawyers on Monday filed an unsuccessful motion for a mistrial, arguing that the court had made 'pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings.'" ~~~

      ~~~ The Washington Post is liveblogging developments in the trial and provides some details of Joe Tacopina's cross-examination of E. Jean Carroll.

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden will meet with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. of the Philippines at the White House on Monday, a visit that is meant to send a message to China that the Filipino leader plans to deepen his country's relationship with the United States. Mr. Marcos's trip comes days after the U.S. and Philippine militaries held joint exercises aimed at curbing China's influence in the South China Sea and strengthening the United States' ability to defend Taiwan if China invades. The exercises were part of a rapid and intensifying effort between the two countries: In February, the Pentagon announced that the U.S. military would expand its presence in the Philippines."

Florida. "Have You Left no Sense of Decency?" Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: "One by one, many of the initial 20 arrests announced by [Florida's] Office of Election Crimes and Security have stumbled in court. Six cases have been dismissed. Five other defendants accepted plea deals that resulted in no jail time. Only one case has gone to trial, resulting in a split verdict. The others are pending. In its first nine months, the new unit made just four other arrests.... Nonetheless..., [Gov. Ron] DeSantis is moving to give the office more teeth, asking the legislature to nearly triple the division's annual budget from $1.2 million to $3.1 million.... [He also] pushed through a bill [making sure a state prosecutor had jurisdiction over the cases].... Defense attorneys say DeSantis is using the statewide prosecutor's office to circumvent the role of local prosecutors, who have declined to pursue such cases." Nope, no sense of decency.

Marie: On the day reports emerged of the mass shooting in Cleveland, Texas, Forrest M. opined there would be no "thoughts and prayers" because the victims weren't straight, white & mostly male. Well, Forrest, Gov. Greggers has not let you down: ~~~

~~~ Texas. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "On Friday night, a man living in a small town north of Houston allegedly responded to a request from his neighbor to stop firing his rifle by shooting and killing five people in his neighbor's house, including a 9-year-old boy.... On Twitter, [Gov. Greg] Abbott announced a reward for his capture -- including identifying both [the shooter] and the five victims as undocumented immigrants. For what it's worth, that last point appears not to be true. Diana Velasquez Alvarado, 21, seems to have been a legal permanent resident of the country. If the slain boy was born in the United States, he would be a citizen; if not, he would have fallen into the group of minor immigrants that has been long segmented out of discussions about illegal immigration.... The point is that Abbott and his team decided to highlight the immigration status of five people killed in a mass killing.... Had all parties involved been U.S. citizens, that would not have been mentioned by Abbott at all."

Sudan. Ruth Maclean of the New York Times: "Thousands of people have descended on a port city in eastern Sudan in recent days, fleeing the violence in the capital and trying to secure their escape aboard vessels heading over the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia. The coastal city of Port Sudan -- the country's biggest seaport -- has been transformed into a hub for displaced people, with people stringing together makeshift tents, packing an amusement park for shelter and waiting for help in three-digit heat. The conflict that erupted on April 15 between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group, has killed more than 500 civilians, according to the World Health Organization, and has thrust Africa's third-largest nation into chaos, with many people displaced but unsure of how to escape the violence. The true number of casualties is likely much higher."

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Maureen Farrell, et al., of the New York Times: "Regulators seized control of First Republic Bank and sold it to JPMorgan Chase on Monday, a dramatic move aimed at curbing a two-month banking crisis that has rattled the financial system. First Republic, whose assets were battered by the rise in interest rates, had struggled to stay alive after two other lenders collapsed last month, spooking depositors and investors. First Republic was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and immediately sold to JPMorgan. The deal was announced hours before U.S. markets are set to open, and after a scramble by officials over the weekend. Later on Monday, 84 First Republic branches in eight states will reopen as JPMorgan branches." The AP's report is here.

Joe Davidson of the Washington Post: "In fiscal 2022, [the federal government] dished out $200 billion in overpayments related to various government programs that racked up a total of $247 billion in improper disbursements, according to the chief federal watchdog auditing agency. And that does not count everything.... Surprisingly, that astronomical number represents an improvement from the previous fiscal year, when improper payments, which include all those that cannot be properly accounted for, totaled $281 billion.... The 2022 improper payments were spread across 18 agencies and 82 programs. About 78 percent were from five programs: Medicaid, Medicare, the Paycheck Protection Program, Unemployment Insurance and the Earned Income Tax Credit."

Steve Eder & Jo Becker of the New York Times: "George Mason University;s law school cultivated ties to [right-wing] justices, with generous pay and unusual perks. In turn, it gained prestige, donations and influence.... Its renaming after Justice Scalia in 2016 was the result of a $30 million gift brokered by Leonard Leo, prime architect of a grand project then gathering force to transform the federal judiciary and further the legal imperatives of the right.... Since the rebranding, the law school has developed an unusually expansive relationship with the justices ... -- welcoming them as teachers but also as lecturers and special guests at school events. Scalia Law, in turn, has marketed that closeness with the justices as a unique draw to prospective students and donors." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Read on. This is more than just schmoozing among like-minded people. Besides giving the poor justices (they make a little less than $300K/year) easy teaching gigs, speaking engagements and lovely vacations, the justices' co-professors at the school practically write their opinions for them, in the form of amicus briefs: "Scalia Law professors are not simply regular filers; a quarter of the school's briefs submitted to the court since the justices joined the faculty have been written by professors who served as the justices' co-teachers, some while classes were ongoing." It's obvious why Roberts, et al., are pushing back against ethics constraints. They don't want to have to give up (or reveal) any of their high-flying lifestyle, paid for with a few opinions in favor of their benefactors.

"Cabaret" All Over Again. Robert Reich, in a Guardian op-ed: "... bigotry against minority groups based on sexual orientation or gender identity, such as the trans community, is a way fascism takes root. As the world tragically witnessed in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, the politics of sexual anxiety gains traction when traditional male gender roles of family provider and protector are hit by economic insecurity. Fascist politics distorts and expands this male anxiety into fear that one's family is under existential threat from LGBTQ+ people."

Presidential Race 2024. Not that I care but, ~~~

~~~ Meg Kinnard of the AP: "Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is nearly ready to reveal his decision on entering the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, saying Sunday that he would make an announcement on May 22." AND ~~~

~~~ Harry Enten of CNN: "Things have gotten so bad for [Ron] DeSantis that a recent Fox News poll shows him at 21% -- comparable with the 19% that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has pushed debunked conspiracy theories about vaccine safety, is receiving on the Democratic side." MB: IOW, one-fifth of Americans say they will vote for anything that moves.

Beyond the Beltway

North Carolina. Tom Sullivan in Hullabaloo: "... librul college professors oppose mandating even one course in U.S. history for graduating from the UNC system, alleges Fox's Pete Hegseth. Never mind that a high school course in United States history is a prerequisite for admission to the system's colleges. 'They think learning about America is, and this is their words, "indoctrination",' Hegseth tells viewers his network indoctrinates 24-7-365. I'm having trouble even finding indoctrination among 'their words.' You're not surprised, I know. And even less surprised that Fox does not find room for a link to the actual letter in its four-paragraph story.... The GOP-controlled NC state legislature proposes to set the course of study for this required history that degreed professionals will teach.... Let's see, sponsors include Rep. Keith Kidwell who knows something vaguely about business management and whose name appears on the Oath Keeper's roster. Majority Whip Rep. John Hardister has a B.A. in Political Science and worked in marketing for his family's mortgage firm. And Rep. Ray Pickett who seems to have no higher education and can barely manage a web or Facebook page; he's the primary sponsor."

     ~~~ Marie: Bills like this are the result of the conceit that "common sense" trumps expertise or "book-learning." This rule doesn't apply only to rubes v. educators, of course. The "common sense" legislators bring to their state houses tops the expertise of doctors, researchers & scientists of all stripes. "Common sense" bromides like "The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" beat all fact-based statistics: "If more guns everywhere made us safer, America would be the safest country on earth. Instead, we have a gun homicide rate 26x that of other high-income countries." You cannot win a logic-based argument against these guys because "you don't have the sense you were born with."

Way Beyond

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 briefings for Monday are here: "Air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine early Monday, including in Kyiv, as Russia retaliated after a weekend drone strike by Ukrainian forces on a fuel depot in Kremlin-occupied Crimea. No casualties were reported in an assault on the capital lasting several hours, according to local authorities, with missiles and drones shot down above the city. Ukraine's armed forces said in an operational update early Monday that 15 of the 18 missiles launched by Russia had been destroyed. Ukrainian officials say Saturday's attack on the depot in Sevastopol -- home to the Russian navy's Black Sea Fleet -- was part of the buildup to a long-awaited counteroffensive by Kyiv's forces to retake territory seized by Moscow.... President Volodymyr Zelensky ... has pledged to take back all Ukrainian territory including Crimea, the peninsula Russia illegally annexed in 2014.... Pope Francis said over the weekend that the Vatican is involved in a secret peace mission."

Iran/U.K. Farnaz Fassihi & Ronen Bergman of the New York Times: "... on Jan. 11, the execution in Iran of a former deputy defense minister named Alireza Akbari on espionage charges brought to light something that had been hidden for 15 years: Mr. Akbari was [a] British mole [who provided British intelligence with critical information about Iran's nuclear and defense secrets.]... In addition to accusing Mr. Akbari of revealing its nuclear and military secrets, Iran has also said he disclosed the identity and activities of over 100 officials, most significantly Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the chief nuclear scientist whom Israel assassinated in 2020."

Sudan. Ellen Knickmeyer of the AP: "In the wholesale looting that has accompanied fighting in [Sudan's] capital, Khartoum, a city of 5 million, a roving band of strangers surrounded [American doctor Bushra Ibnauf Sulieman] in his yard Tuesday, stabbing him to death in front of his family. Friends suspect robbery was the motive. He became one of two Americans confirmed killed in Sudan in the fighting, both dual nationals.... He was a well-respected colleague at the Gastroenterology Clinic and Mercy Hospital in Iowa City, hospital president Tom Clancy said. Sulieman's older children live in Iowa. He traveled back to Sudan several times a year with medical supplies he had collected for that country, colleagues said."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Gordon Lightfoot, the Canadian folk singer whose rich, plaintive baritone and gift for melodic songwriting made him one of the most popular recording artists of the 1970s, died on Monday night in Toronto. He was 84."

Washington Post: "Hundreds of law enforcement agents descended on [Cleveland, Texas,] to search door-to-door for a man accused of shooting and killing five people, including a 9-year-old, using an AR-15-style rifle, shattering life's normal rhythm for locals. More than 250 officers from local, state and federal agencies are part of the manhunt for the suspect, who has been at large since allegedly gunning down his neighbors on Friday night after they asked him to stop shooting in his yard while their baby was trying to sleep." ~~~

     ~~~ The AP's story is here.

Hill: "A baseball player with Texas A&M University-Texarkana was hospitalized after being struck by a stray bullet during a game Saturday evening.... 'The shots came from a neighborhood to the west of Spring Lake Park and was the result of some type of disturbance that happened there,' Shawn Vaughn, the department's public information officer, explained. 'The bullet traveled travel several hundred feet and struck the victim as he was standing near the bullpen area of the ball field in the park. He was not targeted nor was the shooting related to any activity going on in the park....'"

April 30, 2023

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post reports on the White House Correspondents' Dinner. "In a ... serious part of his speech, [President Biden] drew a sharp contrast with his predecessor, who called the news media 'the enemy of the people,' telling the throng, 'The free press is a pillar, maybe the pillar of a free society -- not the enemy.' The president also paid tribute to two captive journalists, freelancer Austin Tice and the Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich. Tice has been held captive in Syria for nearly 11 years. Gershkovich was arrested last month and held by Russian authorities on spying charges -- the first American journalist to be held captive in Russia since the Cold War. 'I'm working like hell to get them home,' he said. And Biden acknowledged the presence of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was released by Russian officials in December after 10 months of captivity in a prisoner exchange negotiated by his administration. As he turned things over to 'The Daily Show's' Roy Wood Jr..., Biden referenced an internet meme, which his camp has lately embraced, that suggests the existence of a sinister presidential alter ego called 'Dark Brandon.' 'I'm gonna be fine with your jokes,' he said; then added, while putting on aviator sunglasses: 'But I'm not sure about Dark Brandon.'"

David Wallace-Wells interviews Anthony Fauci for the New York Times Magazine.

Marie: Here's an important Senate vote I missed. Thanks to Forrest M. for highlighting it. Forrest is wondering when Republicans will deem women and minorities to be more than 3/5ths persons. And Patrick, in yesterday's thread, was wondering why CNN didn't notice that it was Senate Republicans, not "the Senate" that blocked passage. ~~~

~~~ Al Weaver & Mychael Schnell of the Hill (April 27): "Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a measure that would have allowed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to be added to the Constitution. Senators voted 51 to 47 to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed, falling short of the 60 votes it it needed. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) were the lone Republicans to vote with every Democrat. The ERA passed Congress in 1972, having been first proposed in 1923. Constitutional amendments, under U.S. law, must be ratified by three-quarters of all state legislatures, meaning 38 states. In 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA, but it did so after the 1982 deadline to ratify the amendment.... The Senate resolution would have removed the deadline so that the ERA could become the 28th Amendment. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Murkowski were the resolution's lead co-sponsors. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued throughout the week that the legislation was needed following the Supreme Court's ruling last summer that overturned Roe v. Wade. 'This resolution is as necessary as it is timely. America can never hope to be a land of freedom and opportunity so long as half of its population is treated like second class citizens,' Schumer said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is infuriating. I don't think Chuck & Friends were serious about passage. Otherwise, they would have raised a stink twice a day every day about Republicans who would not support the most fundamental right of all Americans to be treated equally under the law. Moreover, they should have been educating Americans about what the ERA actually says. There's nothing vaguely radical about it -- unless you're one of those who think women, Black people and others should be chattel.

Rudy Was Always a Shady Character. Maya Yang of the Guardian relates the account Rudy Giuliani gave to Steve Bannon Tuesday about how in his campaign for New York City mayor in 1993, Rudy had operatives who gave out cards all over East Harlem that read, "If you come to vote, make sure you have your green card because INS are picking up illegals." Rudy won the race by 53,000 votes. Rudy's rationale for this particular dirty trick is that he was preventing illegal voting because only people trying to vote illegally would avoid the polls. But of course that's not true. Citizens who are registered to vote don't want to be hassled or subjected to a mistaken-identity foul-up where they wind up in Rikers for three months trying to straighten it out. Given the likelihood INS agents would rough them up or arrest & jail them on some error or pretext, many legal voters most likely chose not to go to the polls. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Reminds me of this quintessential scene from "Frazier" in which Frazier & Niles try to launch an upscale restaurant (play to the end):

From Trump Honcho to Starbucks Barista Trainer. Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "About six months ago, Will Wilkerson was the executive vice president of operations for ... Donald Trump's media business, a co-founder of Trump's Truth Social website and a holder of stock options that might have one day made him a millionaire. Today, he is a certified barista trainer at a Starbucks inside a Harris Teeter grocery store, where he works 5:30 a.m. shifts..., making Frappuccinos for $16 an hour. Wilkerson, 38, has become one of the biggest threats to the Trump company's future: a federally protected whistleblower whose attorneys say has provided 150,000 emails, contracts and other internal documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission and investigators in Florida and New York.... Wilkerson last year publicly accused Trump Media and Technology Group of violating securities laws, telling The Washington Post he could not stay silent while the company's executives gave what he viewed as misleading information to investors, many of whom are small-time shareholders loyal to the Trump brand." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I see where Wilkerson also enjoys the non-exclusive distinction of being sued for defamation by Devin Nunes. (Last week, a federal judge tossed a Nunes (or Devin Nunes' cow) defamation suit against Esquire after the judge determined that the supposedly defamatory story by Ryan Lizza was "substantially, objectively true.")

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out Saturday's drone attack on a fuel depot in Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by the Kremlin in 2014. Ukraine hasn't claimed responsibility for the strike, which comes as Kyiv is preparing for a long-anticipated spring counteroffensive to retake territory seized by Moscow.... Wagner Group founder Yevgeniy Prigozhin reportedly threatened to withdraw his mercenaries from the besieged city of Bakhmut, which Kyiv and Moscow have been fighting over for months. In an interview with a Russian war blogger posted on Telegram, Prigozhin said his fighters will need to 'withdraw in an organized manner or stay and die.' Analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said his remarks are probably intended to secure more ammunition from the Kremlin.... Former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she and members of a U.S. delegation who visited Ukraine a few months after Russia's invasion 'thought we could die' during the trip. 'It was very, it was dangerous,' Pelosi told the Associated Press in an interview."

News Lede

Washington Post: The man who shot five people dead in Cleveland, Texas, escaped the immediate area, probably on foot, and is still on the run. Related story linked yesterday.

April 29, 2023

The White House Correspondents' Dinner is tonight.

Late Morning Update:

Marie: Here's an important Senate vote I missed. Thanks to Forrest M. for highlighting it. Forrest is wondering when Republicans will deem women and minorities to be more than 3/5ths persons. And Patrick, in a comment, is wondering why CNN didn't notice that it was Senate Republicans, not "the Senate" that blocked passage. ~~~

~~~ Al Weaver & Mychael Schnell of the Hill (April 27): "Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a measure that would have allowed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to be added to the Constitution. Senators voted 51 to 47 to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed, falling short of the 60 votes it it needed. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) were the lone Republicans to vote with every Democrat. The ERA passed Congress in 1972, having been first proposed in 1923. Constitutional amendments, under U.S. law, must be ratified by three-quarters of all state legislatures, meaning 38 states. In 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA, but it did so after the 1982 deadline to ratify the amendment.... The Senate resolution would have removed the deadline so that the ERA could become the 28th Amendment. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Murkowski were the resolution's lead co-sponsors. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued throughout the week that the legislation was needed followin the Supreme Court's ruling last summer that overturned Roe v. Wade. 'This resolution is as necessary as it is timely. America can never hope to be a land of freedom and opportunity so long as half of its population is treated like second class citizens,' Schumer said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is infuriating. I don't think Chuck & Friends were serious about passage. Otherwise, they would have raised a stink twice a day every day about Republicans who would not support the most fundamental right of all Americans to be treated equally under the law. Moreover, they should have been educating Americans about what the ERA actually says. There's nothing vaguely radical about it -- unless you're one of those who think women, Black people and others should be chattel.

From Trump Honcho to Starbucks Barista Trainer. Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "About six months ago, Will Wilkerson was the executive vice president of operations for ... Donald Trump's media business, a co-founder of Trump's Truth Social website and a holder of stock options that might have one day made him a millionaire. Today, he is a certified barista trainer at a Starbucks inside a Harris Teeter grocery store, where he works 5:30 a.m. shifts..., making Frappuccinos for $16 an hour. Wilkerson, 38, has become one of the biggest threats to the Trump company's future: a federally protected whistleblower whose attorneys say has provided 150,000 emails, contracts and other internal documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission and investigators in Florida and New York.... Wilkerson last year publicly accused Trump Media and Technology Group of violating securities laws, telling The Washington Post he could not stay silent while the company's executives gave what he viewed as misleading information to investors, many of whom are small-time shareholders loyal to the Trump brand." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I see where Wilkerson also enjoys the non-exclusive distinction of being sued for defamation by Devin Nunes. (Last week, a federal judge tossed a Nunes (or Devin Nunes' cow) defamation suit against Esquire after the judge determined that the supposedly defamatory story by Ryan Lizza was "substantially, objectively true.")

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We Have Seen the Culprits, and They Are Us. Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve on Friday faulted itself for failing to 'take forceful enough action' to address growing risks at Silicon Valley Bank ahead of the lender's March 10 collapse, which raised turmoil across the global banking industry. A sweeping -- and highly critical -- review conducted by Michael S. Barr, the Fed's vice chair for supervision, identified lax oversight of the bank and said its collapse demonstrated 'weaknesses in regulation and supervision that must be addressed.'... The review ... painted a picture of a bank that grew rapidly in size and risk with limited intervention from supervisors who missed obvious problems and moved slowly to address the ones they did recognize. And it outlined a range of potential changes to bank oversight and regulation -- from stronger rules for midsize banks to possible tweaks to how deposits over the $250,000 federal insurance limit are treated -- that the Fed will consider in response to the disaster." ~~~

     ~~~ The Times' “key takeaways” report is here.

Antonio Olivo of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Army garrison in Central Virginia once known as Fort Lee was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams on Thursday, honoring two Black former officers who helped pave the way for more racial inclusivity in the military.... Pentagon officials said the post is one of nine Army installations being re-designated to remove names, symbols and other displays commemorating the Confederacy. The historic figures now honored in the fort's name are Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams. Gregg, the first African American officer to receive such a high rank, began his service in the Army just after World War II.... During his 36-year career, he experienced the backlash of a desegregating military, which began shortly after he enlisted in 1946, Gregg has said. After becoming an officer in 1949, his first assignment was at Fort Lee in 1950. He retired in 1981 as the highest-ranking Black officer in the U.S. military. At age 94, he is now the only living person in modern Army history to have an installation named after him, the Army said. In 1942, Adams became the first Black officer in the newly created Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, also experiencing racism during a short military career that ended in 1946."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: Passage of Kevin McCarthy's debt-ceiling bill "... has achieved one thing that cannot be undone: It has put 217 House Republicans on record in favor of demolishing popular government services enjoyed by their constituents.... Even ... after all the reversals and surrenders, the bill came within one vote of failing. The lawmaker who cast the final, deciding vote? Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.). How apt that this legislation, built on one broken promise after another, should be carried over the finish line by the world's most famous liar.... At the start of this manufactured debt-limit crisis, I worried that ideological extremism might drive the nation to a first-ever default. But an equal threat to America's full faith and credit may be incompetence. Those in the House majority don't know what they don't know."

MTG Explains Motherhood. Althea Legaspi of Rolling Stone, republished by Yahoo! News: "Mother's Day is just around the corner, and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) would like stepmoms to know that, no, that doesn't count as motherhood. In a hearing for the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Select Coronavirus Crisis on school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Georgia congresswoman attacked the American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten for not being 'a biological mother.' 'Are you a mother?' Greene asked. Weingarten responded that she is a 'mother by marriage.' Weingarten is married to Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, and a stepmother to Kleinbaum’s children from her previous marriage. 'I see,' Greene responded. She's 'not a medical doctor, not a biological mother, and really not a teacher either,' Greene went on to say. 'People like you need to admit that you're just a political activist, not a teacher, not a mother, and not a medical doctor,' Greene added." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     I will never leave that woman. I will always take care of her. -- Kevin McCarthy, speaking of MTG in January 2023

     ~~~ Marie: I wonder what Miss Margie would decree about women who give birth through C-sections. Are they "real mothers"? Shakespeare, after all, has an Apparition allude to Macduff as "not of woman born," because Macduff was "untimely ripped" from the womb; i.e., by C-section. I think Miss Margie needs to enter into the Congressional Record a full definition of "mother" and spare us so much uncertainty.

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "Led by the special counsel Jack Smith, prosecutors are trying to determine whether [Donald] Trump and his aides violated federal wire fraud statutes as they raised as much as $250 million through a political action committee by saying they needed the money to fight to reverse election fraud even though they had been told repeatedly that there was no evidence to back up those fraud claims. The prosecutors are looking at the inner workings of the committee, Save America PAC, and at the Trump campaign's efforts to prove its baseless case that Mr. Trump had been cheated out of victory.... Prosecutors have been looking at the nexus between research the Trump campaign commissioned almost immediately after the election to try to prove widespread fraud, public statements that he and his allies made at the time, the fund-raising efforts and the establishment of Save America.... The possibility that the fund-raising efforts might have been criminally fraudulent was first raised last year by the House select committee investigating Mr. Trump's efforts to retain power." ~~~

~~~ Trump Embraces Woman Who Wants Mike Pence, MOCs Executed. Ryan Reilly & Olympia Sonnier of NBC News: "... Donald Trump embraced a Jan. 6 defendant at a [Manchester, N.H.] diner during a campaign stop Thursday night, calling the woman, who served prison time for her actions during the Capitol attack and wants former Vice President Mike Pence executed for treason, 'terrific.'... Micki Larson-Olson ... was convicted last year of unlawful entry on Capitol grounds.... On Jan. 6, Larson-Olson climbed the scaffolding set up for Joe Biden's inauguration and held on when police tried to remove her; she later bragged on social media and in an interview that it took six officers to remove her.... Larson-Olson said she believes that the members of Congress who voted to certify Biden's presidential election should be executed.... Larson-Olson added that she 'would like a front seat of Mike Pence being executed' and that he should be the 'No. 1' person on her list of those who committed treason....

"Larson-Olson was introduced to Trump as a 'Jan. 6er,' and he signed the backpack that she said she was carrying with her that day and waived [waved!] her past security so he could embrace her. 'Listen, you just hang in there,' Trump said, calling her a 'terrific woman' and kissing her on the cheek. Trump said it was 'so bad' what has been done to Jan. 6 'patriots.'... The meeting comes as Trump has said he may pardon those charged in the Capitol attack and just a month after he opened a campaign rally with a song performed by the 'J6 choir' made up of Jan. 6 defendants who are incarcerated awaiting trial." A related WashPo story was linked earlier today, but it lacked the details of Larson-Olson's views & actions. I've skipped some stuff the reporters cover, so it's worth your reading their story. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Andrew Weissmann noted on MSNBC last night that, after January 6, Trump had a choice: he could condemn the insurrection or he could embrace it. Obviously, Trump chose the latter, and as Weissmann remarked, Jack Smith is making a list of incidents like the diner hug to bolster the case against Trump. So why, years out, would Trump keep implicating himself? I think it's the P.T. Barnum angle. Trump believes he can beat the raps, just as he has usually done in the past. He thinks lawsuits are merely a cost of doing business, and in most Trump cons, what Trump rakes in is greater than the costs they engender. Those money-raising schemes Smith is exploring are the engines that drive the big con; they're not just gigantic gift cards to Trump; they're also funding the defense of the big con.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the author of the majority opinion that overruled Roe v. Wade last June, told The Wall Street Journal's opinion pages that he had 'a pretty good idea who is responsible' for leaking a draft of his opinion to Politico. Justice Alito added that he did not have 'the level of proof that is needed to name somebody.' That echoed language in the Supreme Court's report on its investigation of the leak, which said that 'investigators have been unable to determine at this time, using a preponderance of the evidence standard, the identity of the person(s) who disclosed the draft majority opinion.'... Justice Alito rejected the theory that the Politico leak had come from the right side of the court.... 'Look,' Justice Alito said in the new interview, 'this made us targets of assassination. Would I do that to myself? Would the five of us have done that to ourselves? It's quite implausible.'...

"He added that he was disappointed that lawyers had not come to the defense of the court, which has faced mounting scrutiny for what critics say are serious ethical lapses. 'This type of concerted attack on the court and on individual justices' is, he said, 'new during my lifetime.' He added: 'We are being hammered daily, and I think quite unfairly in a lot of instances. And nobody, practically nobody, is defending us. The idea has always been that judges are not supposed to respond to criticisms, but if the courts are being unfairly attacked, the organized bar will come to their defense.' Instead, Justice Alito said, 'if anything, they've participated to some degree in these attacks.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Self-serving prick. First, Alito uses innuendo to slander & implicate some unknown liberal (so suspect all liberals of being criminals!), then he has the temerity to whine that lawyers are not sticking up for the corrupt members of the court. Besides being a preposterous complaint, it comes across as a threat, IMO. You won't help us out? Watch us rule against your clients. Liptak, BTW, implies that Alito -- if not the leaker of the Dobbs decision -- is a leaker.

I Will Not Speak, and You Cannot Make Me. Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "... the framers trusted Congress -- the representative branch -- with far more authority than it did the president or the Supreme Court.... When Congress calls, the other branches are supposed to answer -- not as a courtesy, but as an affirmation of the rules of the American constitutional order.... Last week, Congress called the chief justice.... He said, in a word, no. 'I must respectfully decline your invitation,' Roberts wrote. 'Testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee by the chief justice of the United States is exceedingly rare as one might expect in light of separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence.'... It is with real chutzpah ... that Roberts has claimed judicial independence in order to circumvent an investigation into judicial independence.... Roberts is essentially using this letter to make plain to Congress the reality of the situation: I will not speak, and you cannot make me. And he's right, not because Congress doesn't have the power, but because it doesn't have the votes." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It strikes me that the vast majority of the GOP Congressional caucus are sadomasochists. Even as they relentlessly bully those who are not able to stand up to them, they give up almost all of their power to the rulers of the other branches of government, so long as the MOCs can convince themselves that those rulers really are on their side. So the kaiser of the executive can send a mob to kill MOCs & within days, the masochists are again pledging allegiance to the Great One. And the caesar of the judiciary can diminish senators with a threatening letter, and the Senate masochists go into hiding & cede their legal power. ~~~

~~~ AND No, Caesar's Wife Is Not Above Reproach. Julia Conley of Common Dreams: "A whistleblower from the legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa says Jane Sullivan Roberts, the wife of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, earned $10.3 million in commissions over seven years from her job as a headhunter at the company, where she placed attorneys with law firms -- including at least one that argued a case before the Supreme Court after the placement was made. Sullivan Roberts earned the money between 2007 and 2014, having taken a job with the company two years after her husband was confirmed to the Supreme Court, according to a report out Friday from Business Insider. The whistleblower, Kendal Price, said in a sworn affidavit in December that he believed 'at least some of [Roberts'] remarkable success as a recruiter has come because of her spouse's position.' Price's complaint was reported on earlier this year by Politico and The New York Times, and Insider published new documents regarding the case."

Jane Coaston of the New York Times: "There's a direct line from ['The Jerry Springer Show'] -- which peaked in 1998 as the most-watched daytime television program in America, entertaining and horrifying nearly seven million Americans every single day -- to the semi-staged mayhem of reality TV, which exploded following ]Big Brother' and 'Survivor' in 2000 and continues today with shows like 'Real Housewives.'... [Springer] was showing Americans [not as they were but] as they quickly learned to portray themselves to be, to an eager audience that wanted to see people at their most base.... But the social media era has smashed that barrier between performative awfulness and its audience.... We're no longer just watching a version of 'The Jerry Springer Show.' We're trapped inside one."

Presidential Race 2024. Justice McDaniel of the Washington Post: "Florida lawmakers on Friday cleared the path for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to run for president without resigning as governor, approving the measure as part of a broader elections bill. The bill, which passed on a party-line vote in the Republican-controlled legislature, stipulates that a rule requiring political candidates already holding office to resign does not apply to anyone running for president or vice president."

Beyond the Beltway

Emmanuel Felton & Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff of the Washington Post: "Black politicians and activists [in states across the South & Midwest] say that Republican lawmakers have used racial gerrymandering and voter suppression to secure those majorities and are using their political might to further consolidate power among mostly White Republicans. This also has meant there has been little movement on issues that matter most to members of the Black community and other groups, issues including gun control, low wages and police violence, said Todd Shaw, a University of South Carolina political science professor.... 'The tactic of expulsion, like excessive registration requirements, purging voter rolls and other tactics we're seeing today, echo the kind of disenfranchisement that we saw during Reconstruction and its aftermath,' said Ariela Gross, a historian at the University of Southern California...."

Arizona. Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "... the case of the Arizona legislator [Sen. Liz Harris] who helped perpetuate the groundless belief that the Sinaloa drug cartel was orchestrating election fraud ended this month with an unusual twist: She was expelled from office by her colleagues, Republicans included. The story of how Republicans decided to oust Harris -- marking only the fourth time in history that an Arizona state House member has been expelled -- illuminates what it takes for GOP lawmakers to police their own when it comes to election-related misinformation.... [Republicans said] she was done in both by her dishonesty with colleagues about whether she knew in advance the substance of her witness's [conspiracy-drenched] testimony as well as her willingness to help spread conspiracy theories targeting her party's own leaders.... Democrats -- who also supported Harris's expulsion -- said they believed another factor was at play in the GOP. 'If Liz Harris had only gone after Democrats and not Republicans, particularly the House speaker, perhaps they would not have begged us to proceed with the expulsion,' said House Minority Leader Andrés Cano (D)."

Colorado. Adeel Hassan of the New York Times: "Gov. Jared Polis signed three bills into law on Friday that tighten restrictions on gun purchases and possession, as well as a fourth that makes it easier for victims of gun violence to sue firearm companies. The new laws will raise the age to buy any firearm to 21 from 18, and make it illegal to sell any gun to someone younger than 21; mandate a three-day waiting period between buying and receiving a gun; and expand the state's red flag law.... The fourth law makes it easier to sue gun manufacturers by eliminating the requirement that plaintiffs automatically pay the legal fees of gun-industry defendants when cases are dismissed. The law also will allow manufacturers to be sued under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, which applies to all other businesses in the state."

Montana. Jim Robbins & Jacey Fortin of the New York Times: "The Republican governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, signed a bill into law on Friday to restrict transition care for transgender minors, joining about a dozen states that have adopted similar laws since the beginning of the year. The bill, which prohibits transitional hormone treatments and surgeries for transgender people under 18, led to a standoff this month between House leadership and Representative Zooey Zephyr, one of the Legislature's only transgender lawmakers."

** North Carolina. Back to GOP Gerrymandering! Michael Wines of the New York Times: "Barely a year after Democratic justices on the North Carolina Supreme Court said new maps of the state's legislative and congressional districts were partisan gerrymanders that violated the State Constitution, a newly elected Republican majority on the court reversed course on Friday and said the court had no authority to overturn those maps. The practical effect is to enable the Republican-controlled State Legislature to scrap the court-ordered State Senate and congressional district boundaries that were used in elections last November, and draw new maps skewed in their favor for elections in 2024. Overturning such a recent ruling by the court was a highly unusual move, particularly on a pivotal constitutional issue in which none of the facts had changed." Politico's story is here. Voters in North Carolina are about evenly divided between Republicans & Democrats, but the gerrymandered districts that the state legislature will likely return to likely would give Republicans 10 of the 14 U.S. House seats. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's notable that when Democrats controlled the court, a court-appointed special master divided the districts fairly, and North Carolina sent seven Congressmembers from each party to Washington, D.C. That is, Democrats don't take advantage; they play fair.

Oregon. Mike Baker of the New York Times: Craig Coyner, once the mayor of Bend, Oregon, ended up in a homeless shelter.

Way Beyond

Sudan. Declan Walsh, et al., of the New York Times: "A convoy of buses carrying about 300 Americans left the war-torn capital of Sudan on Friday, starting a 525-mile journey to the Red Sea that was the United States' first organized effort to evacuate its private citizens from the country. The convoy was being tracked by armed American drones that hovered high overhead, watching for threats. The United Nations and many nations have also evacuated their citizens overland, after receiving security assurances from the warring sides. It renewed questions about why the United States had taken so long to organize a civilian evacuation from Sudan, home to an estimated 16,000 American citizens, many of them dual nationals, when Western and Persian Gulf allies have moved faster and evacuated far more people."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "A drone attack hit a fuel depot in Crimea on Saturday, sparking a fire and damaging four tanks, authorities in the Russian-occupied peninsula said. The fire came a day after Russian strikes killed at least 25 people in Ukraine, including children, highlighting the unrelenting toll on civilians of the war, now in its second year. In Uman, a city in central Ukraine far from the front lines, at least 23 people were killed in an attack that battered apartment buildings, Ukrainian officials said early Saturday.... South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said the world must ensure the invasion of Ukraine cannot succeed, in a Friday speech at Harvard University." ~~~

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

News Lede

Friday Night in Guns America. Washington Post: "A man using an AR-15-style weapon shot and killed five people Friday, including an 8-year-old -- an angry response to the neighbors' request that he stop shooting in his yard while their baby was trying to sleep, Texas authorities said Saturday. The gunman then fled, prompting an ongoing manhunt. Authorities charged Francisco Oropeza, 38, with five counts of murder and were searching for him Saturday morning, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers told The Washington Post. Ten people were in the home during the shooting. Three women, a man and an 8-year-old boy were killed, Capers said. Five others survived, including three children.... All five victims were shot in the head, he said. Two of the women who were killed were found lying on top of the surviving young children in a bedroom, 'trying to protect them,' Capers told The Post by phone from the scene.... The killings add to a growing list of recent shootings carried out by armed Americans who have shot people in response to what should have been normal, everyday interactions."