April 9, 2023

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is planning some of the most stringent auto pollution limits in the world, designed to ensure that all-electric cars make up as much as 67 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the country by 2032, according to two people familiar with the matter. That would represent a quantum leap for the United States -- where just 5.8 percent of vehicles sold last year were all-electric -- and would exceed President Biden's earlier ambitions to have all-electric cars account for half of those sold in the country by 2030. It would be the federal government's most aggressive climate regulation and would propel the United States to the front of the global effort to lash the greenhouse gases generated by cars, a major driver of climate change." (Also linked yesterday.)

Republicans in Disarray, Ctd. Zachary Leeman of Mediaite: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is facing backlash from GOP lawmakers after the New York Times published a report suggesting the Republican was blaming his own leadership for the lack of a budget. According to the Times report this week, McCarthy reportedly said he doubted House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-TX) could deliver a budget proposal, and he called Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) an 'ineffective' leader. McCarthy denied the accusation that his leadership team is not unified though.... The Times previously reported McCarthy had been 'trash talking' his GOP colleagues and compared the reported infighting to 'Mean Girls drama' playing out on Capitol Hill."

The Week That Is. Easter, according to the Gospel of Donald ~~~

The Week That Was. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "A surge of youthful activism powered major liberal victories in Wisconsin and Chicago and a boisterous legislative uprising in Tennessee this week, as Republicans absorbed a string of damaging political blows, beginning with the arraignment of their leading presidential contender on criminal charges in Manhattan.... To be sure, there were bright spots for Republicans: They won a special election giving them a supermajority in the Wisconsin Senate, which entails broad impeachment powers. And a Democrat's switch to the G.O.P. in the North Carolina House of Representatives handed Republicans a two-chamber legislative supermajority in the only Southern state where abortion is broadly legal, granting Republicans in Raleigh the ability to override the vetoes of Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat.... [BUT] 'The right wing understands that time is not on their side," said Representative Maxwell Frost, 26, a Florida Democrat who last year became the first member of Generation Z to be elected to the House." ~~~

~~~ Ditto. Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "Americans may be exhausted by the turmoil and chaos of the Trump years, but there seems no slackening or pulling back. Each event in the past week seemed to reinforce the overall stakes.... For Republicans, the past week's news was almost uniformly bad.... There are certain through-lines in all this. The issues around [Donald] Trump have been present since he first ran for president eight years ago. His message now as then touches chords of grievance, alienation and racism that had begun to emerge during Barack Obama’s presidency but which have burst out more dangerously since." ~~~

An Anti-abortion Screed Masquerading as a Judicial Opinion. Abbie VanSickle & Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "The dramatic dueling rulings by two federal district judges on Friday about access to a widely used abortion pill set up a lower court conflict that legal experts say will almost certainly send the dispute to the Supreme Court.... If the Texas case [outlawing the use of the abortion pill mifepristone] reaches the Supreme Court, it could have implications far beyond access to abortion pills. The court could be asked to consider the effects of the Texas ruling not only for abortion but also for the F.D.A.'s authority to approve and regulate other drugs.... In his ruling against the F.D.A.'s approval of mifepristone, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk] often used the language of the anti-abortion movement.... 'This does not read like a judicial opinion, it reads like an activist complaint,' [lawyer and professor of medicine] Dr. [Ameet] Sarpatwari said." ~~~

     ~~~ Rachel Cohen of Vox has quite a comprehensive explanation of the decisions, their immediate effects for pregnant women, and other lawsuits in the works. ~~~

~~~ Alice Ollstein of Politico: "Now, senators, representatives, state officials and advocacy groups are calling on President Joe Biden to defy the U.S. District Court judge [who banned mifepristone] and use his executive powers to protect the drugs' availability even before the case is heard by the conservative-leaning 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 'I believe the Food and Drug Administration has the authority to ignore this ruling, which is why I'm again calling on President Biden and the FDA to do just that,' Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Friday.... Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) ... [argued] that the 'deeply partisan and unfounded nature' of the court's decision undermines its own legitimacy and the White House should 'ignore' it. But the Biden administration is afraid any public defiance of the Friday-night ruling could hurt its position while the case moves through the appeals process.... Biden ... [said] in a statement that while the administration was appealing the case, 'The only way to stop those who are committed to taking away women's rights and freedoms in every state is to elect a Congress who will pass a law restoring Roe versus Wade.'" ~~~

~~~ Lauren Aratani of the Guardian: "Democratic lawmakers are doubling down on outrage against Friday's ruling that threatens access to a widely used abortion medication, saying the ruling sets a 'dangerous new precedent' that could harm future medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration. 'Make no mistake, the decision could throw our country into chaos,' said the Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer on a call with reporters on Saturday. 'Republicans have completely eviscerated the FDA as we know it and threatened the ability of any drug on the market to avoid being prohibited. 'What could come next if some fringe radical group brings a lawsuit? Cancer drugs? Insulin? Mental health treatment?'... Schumer said that Republicans have likely mostly been silent on the ruling because 'they're afraid to speak out.... That is outrageous. They are letting the ... extreme wing of their party ... run the whole show,' he said.... Also on Saturday, more than 40 House Democrats sent Joe Biden a letter calling on the president to 'use all the tools at your disposal to protect access to abortion and reproductive healthcare'." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If the confederate-leaning Fifth Circuit neither reverses nor issues a longer stay of Kacsmaryk's opinion this week, it does seem to me that President Biden will have to do something to protect women's rights and women's health. Oh, and a special thanks to Senate Republicans who confirmed Kacsmaryk's appointment. (Susan Collins was the only GOP senator to vote against his confirmation. No Democrats voted to confirm him.) ~~~

~~~ Caroline Kitchener of the Washington Post writes a profile of Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, which is downright creepy in places. MB: Here's an ominous detail I didn't know: "Kacsmaryk is also presiding over a lawsuit filed by anti-vaccine activists led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that accuses several media outlets, including The Washington Post, of colluding to censor their views on coronavirus vaccines." ~~~

~~~ Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "Congratulations are in order for Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. The competition is fierce and will remain so, but for now he holds the title: worst federal judge in America.... What really distinguishes Kacsmaryk is the loaded content of his rhetoric -- not the language of a sober-minded, impartial jurist but of a zealot, committed more to promoting a cause than applying the law.... This is a judge who knows what conclusion he wants to reach and is going to do what he must to get there -- facts, fairness and law be damned." ~~~

~~~ Everything Old Is New Again. Matthew Perrone of the AP: "A 19th century 'anti-vice' law is at the center of a new court ruling that threatens access to the leading abortion drug in the U.S. Dormant for a half-century, the Comstock Act has been revived by anti-abortion groups and conservative states seeking to block the mailing of mifepristone, the pill used in more than half of U.S. abortions." ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... just a year ago, the idea of a judge using the Comstock Act to halt medication abortion nationwide would have seemed hysterical.... The Comstock Act, the notorious anti-obscenity law used to indict the Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, ban books by D.H. Lawrence and arrest people by the thousands, turned 150 last month.... Yet suddenly, the prurient sanctimony that George Bernard Shaw called 'Comstockery' is running rampant in America.... Thanks to a rogue judge in Texas, the Comstock Act itself could be partly reimposed on America. Though the act had been dormant for decades..., it was never fully repealed. And with Roe v. Wade gone, the Christian right has sought to make use of it. The Comstock Act was central to the case brought by a coalition of anti-abortion groups in Texas seeking to have Food and Drug Administration approval of mifepristone, part of the regimen used in medication abortion, invalidated. And it is central to the anti-abortion screed of an opinion by Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, the judge, appointed by Donald Trump, who on Friday ruled in their favor.... 'The Comstock Act plainly forecloses mail-order abortion in the present,' wrote Kacsmaryk.... a ['textual'] reading of the Comstock Act [by right-wing justices] could do far more than prohibit patients from getting mifepristone by mail." ~~~

~~~ Ken W., in yesterday's Comments: "That conservative jurisprudence has to reach so deep into the past to find its precedents for its abortion decisions -- into English Common Law for Dodd, into our own dim past to the 150 year old Comstock Act -- should tell us something, many somethings, none of them good. Bringing forward precedents from pre-Enlightenment English Law, when kings still reigned, peasants worked the soil, human slavery was acceptable, the franchise, what there was of it, was limited, when woman had no voice and in many jurisdictions couldn't even inherit property, all beg the question: Why abortion only? Why not the rest of the social/legal/economic/package? Oh, but that's exactly what is happening." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Steven Shepard of Politico: "Conservatives are finding out the hard way that abortion isn't a 50-50 issue anymore. Janet Protasiewicz's 11-point blowout victory this week for a state Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin was just the latest example of voters who support abortion rights outnumbering -- and outvoting -- their opponents.... The Supreme Court's Dobbs decision last year ending [the] constitutional right [to abortion] has exposed Americans' broad opposition to the strict abortion bans adopted or proposed in GOP-controlled states."

MAGA = Make Attorneys Get Attorneys. Lawyers inevitably are sorry for taking on assignments with him. They spend a lot of time before grand juries or depositions themselves. -- Former AG Bill Barr on Fox "News" ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: The lawyers surrounding Donald Trump during his arraignment "revealed more about the client than about the case at hand. It was emblematic of his relentless search for the perfect lawyer -- and of his frequent replacement of his lawyers when they fail to live up to his ideal for how the perfect lawyer should operate. Mr. Trump has long been obsessed with lawyers: obsessed with finding what he thinks are good lawyers, and obsessed with ensuring that his lawyers defend him zealously in the court of public opinion. His lawyers' own foibles are seldom disqualifying, so long as they defend him in the manner he desires. That often means measuring up to the example of Roy M. Cohn, Mr. Trump's first fixer-lawyer, who represented him in the 1970s and early 1980s.... Mr. Trump's continual efforts to identify and recruit the newest Roy Cohn have always been unusual and impulsive.... 'He picks his lawyers literally off of TV,' said one lawyer who used to represent Mr. Trump.... Until he announced his presidential campaign in November, Mr. Trump had paid at least $10 million to his lawyers over the prior two years using money donated to his political action committee."

Richard Fawcett & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "While nothing is certain, there are numerous signs that [Fulton County, Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis] may go big, with a more kaleidoscopic indictment charging not only [Donald] Trump, but perhaps a dozen or more of his allies.... Nearly 20 people are already known to have been told that they are targets who could face charges, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump's former personal lawyer, and David Shafer, the head of the Georgia Republican Party.... The wide scope of the investigation has been evident for months, and Ms. Willis has said that seeking an indictment under the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, statute is an option that she is considering.... Ms. Willis has extensive experience with racketeering cases...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Race to Indict. Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "The Fulton County district attorney's investigation into ... Donald J. Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia is nearing a decision point, posing fresh challenges for federal prosecutors considering charging him in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.... Both [investigations] rely on similar documentary evidence, some of the same criminal targets and a small, shared pool of witnesses with knowledge of the former president's actions and intent.... The federal investigation into Jan. 6 focuses on several charges, according to two law enforcement officials: wire fraud for emails sent between those pushing the false electors scheme; mail fraud for sending the names of electors to the National Archives and Records Administration; and conspiracy, which covers the coordination effort. (A fourth possible charge, obstruction of an official proceeding before Congress, has been used in many cases brought against participants in the Capitol attack.)... The Atlanta case has put additional pressure on [federal special prosecutor Jack] Smith. Justice Department officials have said they wanted to make charging decisions in the spring or summer, before the 2024 election kicks into high gear -- which raises the question of whether Mr. Smith will try to bring charges before Ms. Willis does." (Also linked yesterday.)

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Enrique Tarrio, then chairman of the far-right extremist group [Proud Boys], repeatedly shared outlines of members' plans in D.C. and elsewhere at the request of Shane Lamond, a 22-year veteran of the D.C. police department, according to text exchanges read by Tarrio's defense in his trial on seditious conspiracy charges with four other Proud Boys leaders. Tarrio argues that his relationship with Lamond showed there was no Proud Boys conspiracy to oppose police or federal authority, or plan to disrupt Congress's confirmation of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory on Jan. 6. But prosecutors say the bulk of the exchanges occurred long before the alleged conspiracy.... U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly has previously said in court that other conversations between the officer and Tarrio cited by prosecutors revealed a 'closeness' and 'inappropriateness' that undercut Tarrio's defense.... Lamond remains under federal investigation for his exchanges with Tarrio." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Thomas-Crow Affair. (MB: My best headline ever!) From the original ProPublica report on Clarence Thomas and billionaire Harlan Crow: "On the weekend of Oct. 16, 2021..., Thomas and Crow traveled to a Catholic cemetery in a bucolic suburb of New York City. They were there for the unveiling of a bronze statue of the justice's beloved eighth grade teacher, a nun, according to Catholic Cemetery magazine." Crow & his wife paid for the statue. Marie: Turns out the Crows are right fond of sweet commemorative statues: ~~~

     ~~~ The Company He Keeps. Sylvie McNamara of the Washingtonian: "When Republican megadonor Harlan Crow isn't lavishing Justice Clarence Thomas with free trips on his private plane and yacht..., he lives a quiet life in Dallas among his historical collections. These collections include Hitler artifacts -- two of his paintings of European cityscapes, a signed copy of Mein Kampf, and assorted Nazi memorabilia -- plus a garden full of statues of the 20th century's worst despots.... Among the figures in the 'Garden of Evil' are Lenin and Stalin, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, and Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito.... Crow has said that [the statues are] bona-fide artifacts from public squares across Europe and Asia that citizens toppled at the end of dictatorial regimes.... [The] collections caused an uproar> back in 2015 when Marco Rubio attended a fundraiser at Crow's house on the eve of Yom Kippur. Rubio's critics thought the timing was inappropriate given, you know, the Hitler stuff."(Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Connecticut. Stephanie Guerilus of ABC News: "Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., suffered a broken leg Saturday at the UConn men's championship parade in Hartford, Connecticut, and will undergo surgery. Blumenthal's injury occurred when another parade goer fell on him.... 'FYI after he broke his femur he got back up, dusted himself off, and FINISHED THE PARADE,' [fellow Connecticut Sen. Chris] Murphy [D] tweeted. 'Most Dick Blumenthal thing ever.'"

New York. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Three months into her administration, [New York City fire commissioner Laura Kavanagh] faced a mutiny by several of her male staff chiefs, giving one retired female firefighter I talked to flashbacks to reports of those early days of vitriol [and physical attacks on female firefighters]. Progress has been made, but the paternal, parochial 1950s mind-set has never really gone away in the overwhelmingly white, male, tradition-bound hierarchy, some female firefighters told me."

Texas. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said on Saturday that he would pardon a man who was convicted on Friday of murdering a protester in Austin, as long as a state board brought such a request to his desk. The announcement from the governor directly places the fate of Daniel S. Perry, who was found guilty of killing Garrett Foster, 28, at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in 2020, in the hands of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. The board's members, who are appointed by the governor, determine who should be granted a pardon.... 'Texas has one of the strongest "Stand Your Ground" laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,' Mr Abbott wrote on Twitter.... The governor's statement came a day after Matt Rinaldi, the chairman of the Republican Party in Texas, expressed his disdain for the verdict, saying that 'this case should have never been prosecuted' and that a pardon from the governor was 'in order.'... This week, Republican lawmakers introduced a bill in the State Senate that would curtail the power of elected prosecutors, particularly those in left-leaning counties who decline to pursue certain cases, like some related to abortion bans." The Texas Tribune's story is here.

Way Beyond

China. Helen Davidson of the Guardian: "China has sent dozens of warplanes towards Taiwan for a second day of military drills, launched in retaliation to the island's president, Tsai Ing-wen, meeting the US House Speaker during a brief visit to the US.Taiwan's defence ministry said it was monitoring the movements of China's missile forces, as the US said it too was on alert. China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) sent 58 war planes, including fighter jets, reconnaissance planes, and refuellers, into Taiwan's air defence identification zone on Sunday morning, according to Taiwans defence ministry."

Israel. John Hudson & Louisa Loveluck of the Washington Post: "As the Biden administration races to investigate a leak of classified U.S. documents, Washington and Jerusalem are remaining silent about a particularly sensitive disclosure within the trove of files: an alleged revolt by Israel's top spy service against the judicial overhaul proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The leaked document labeled top secret says that in February, senior leaders of the Mossad spy service 'advocated for Mossad officials and Israeli citizens to protest the new Israeli Government's proposed judicial reforms, including several explicit calls to action that decried the Israeli Government, according to signals intelligence.' By itself, the direct intervention into Israeli politics by Mossad, an external spy service forbidden from wading into domestic matters, would be a significant revelation. That the information surfaced as a result, apparently, of U.S. espionage on its closest Middle East ally could further inflame what has been a time of historic political unrest in Israel." More on the leaks linked below.

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukraine is bolstering its defenses on its border with Russian-aligned Belarus, laying down thousands of antitank mines. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with his top military and intelligence officials to discuss how to 'prevent the leakage of information regarding the plans of the defense forces of Ukraine,' his office said in a statement after the unauthorized release of classified Pentagon documents that appear to detail Ukraine's combat capabilities and Western support.... Facing a critical shortage, Ukrainian troops ration ammunition[.]" ~~~

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

Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "A trove of leaked Pentagon documents reveals how deeply Russia's security and intelligence services have been penetrated by the United States, demonstrating Washington's ability to warn Ukraine about planned strikes and providing an assessment of the strength of Moscow's war machine. The documents portray a battered Russian military that is struggling in its war in Ukraine and a military apparatus that is deeply compromised. They contain daily real-time warnings to American intelligence agencies on the timing of Moscow's strikes and even its specific targets. Such intelligence has allowed the United States to pass on to Ukraine crucial information on how to defend itself. The leak, the source of which remains unknown, also reveals the American assessment of a Ukrainian military that is itself in dire straits. The leaked material, from late February and early March but found on social media sites in recent days, outlines critical shortages of air defense munitions and discusses the gains being made by Russian troops around the eastern city of Bakhmut." ~~~

~~~ Shane Harris & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "On Saturday, as U.S. officials and their foreign allies scrambled to understand how dozens of classified intelligence documents had ended up on the internet, they were stunned -- and occasionally infuriated -- at the extraordinary range of detail the files exposed about how the United States spies on friends and foes alike.... According to one defense official, many of the documents seem to have been prepared over the winter for Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other senior military officials, but they were available to other U.S. personnel and contract employees with the requisite security clearances.... The 5o pages reviewed by The Washington Post involved nearly every corner of the U.S. intelligence apparatus."

Carlotta Gall, et al., of the New York Times: "In the 13 months since [Russia's] invasion [of Ukraine], thousands of Ukrainian children have been displaced, moved or forcibly transferred to camps or institutions in Russia or Russian-controlled territory, in what Ukraine and rights advocates have condemned as war crimes. The fate of those children has become a desperate tug of war between Ukraine and Russia, and formed the basis of an arrest warrant issued last month by the International Criminal Court accusing President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Maria Lvova-Belova, his commissioner for children's rights, of illegally transferring them.Once under Russian control, the children are subject to re-education, fostering and adoption by Russian families.... In March ... a group of women assisted by Save Ukraine completed a nerve-wracking, 3,000-mile journey through Poland, Belarus and Russia to gain entry to Russian-occupied territory in eastern Ukraine and Crimea to retrieve ... [16] children. Then they had to take another circuitous journey back ... [although the children were] only a few hours away by car but in territory closed off by the war." Several charity groups are helping mothers get their children home. The report features some individual stories. (Also linked yesterday.)

Vatican. Frances D'Emilio of the AP: "In an Easter message highlighting hope, Pope Francis on Sunday invoked prayers for both the Ukrainian and Russian people, praised nations which welcome refugees, and called on Israelis and Palestinians wracked by the latest surge in deadly violence to forge a 'climate of trust.' Francis, along with dozens of prelates and tens of thousands of faithful, marked Christianity's most joyful day with Mass in a flower-adorned St. Peter's Square."

News Lede

New York Times: "Benjamin B. Ferencz, the last surviving prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials, who convicted Nazi war criminals of organizing the murder of a million people and German industrialists of using slave labor from concentration camps to build Hitler's war machine, died on Friday at an assisted living facility in Boynton Beach, Fla. He was 103." An AP obituary is here.

April 8, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is planning some of the most stringent auto pollution limits in the world, designed to ensure that all-electric cars make up as much as 67 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the country by 2032, according to two people familiar with the matter. That would represent a quantum leap for the United States -- where just 5.8 percent of vehicles sold last year were all-electric -- and would exceed President Biden's earlier ambitions to have all-electric cars account for half of those sold in the country by 2030. It would be the federal government's most aggressive climate regulation and would propel the United States to the front of the global effort to slash the greenhouse gases generated by cars, a major driver of climate change."

Richard Fawcett & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "While nothing is certain, there are numerous signs that [Fulton County, Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis] may go big, with a more kaleidoscopic indictment charging not only [Donald] Trump, but perhaps a dozen or more of his allies.... Nearly 20 people are already known to have been told that they are targets who could face charges, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump's former personal lawyer, and David Shafer, the head of the Georgia Republican Party.... The wide scope of the investigation has been evident for months, and Ms. Willis has said that seeking an indictment under the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, statute is an option that she is considering.... Ms. Willis has extensive experience with racketeering cases...." ~~~

     ~~~ The Race to Indict. Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "The Fulton County district attorney's investigation into ... Donald J. Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia is nearing a decision point, posing fresh challenges for federal prosecutors considering charging him in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.... Both [investigations] rely on similar documentary evidence, some of the same criminal targets and a small, shared pool of witnesses with knowledge of the former president's actions and intent.... The federal investigation into Jan. 6 focuses on several charges, according to two law enforcement officials: wire fraud for emails sent between those pushing the false electors scheme; mail fraud for sending the names of electors to the National Archives and Records Administration; and conspiracy, which covers the coordination effort. (A fourth possible charge, obstruction of an official proceeding before Congress, has been used in many cases brought against participants in the Capitol attack.)... The Atlanta case has put additional pressure on [federal special prosecutor Jack] Smith. Justice Department officials have said they wanted to make charging decisions in the spring or summer, before the 2024 election kicks into high gear -- which raises the question of whether Mr. Smith will try to bring charges before Ms. Willis does."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Enrique Tarrio, then chairman of the far-right extremist group [Proud Boys], repeatedly shared outlines of members' plans in D.C. and elsewhere at the request of Shane Lamond, a 22-year veteran of the D.C. police department, according to text exchanges read by Tarrio's defense in his trial on seditious conspiracy charges with four other Proud Boys leaders. Tarrio argues that his relationship with Lamond showed there was no Proud Boys conspiracy to oppose police or federal authority, or plan to disrupt Congress's confirmation of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory on Jan. 6. But prosecutors say the bulk of the exchanges occurred long before the alleged conspiracy.... U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly has previously said in court that other conversations between the officer and Tarrio cited by prosecutors revealed a 'closeness' and 'inappropriateness' that undercut Tarrio's defense.... Lamond remains under federal investigation for his exchanges with Tarrio."

From the original ProPublica report on Clarence Thomas and billionaire Harlan Crow: "On the weekend of Oct. 16, 2021..., Thomas and Crow traveled to a Catholic cemetery in a bucolic suburb of New York City. They were there for the unveiling of a bronze statue of the justice's beloved eighth grade teacher, a nun, according to Catholic Cemetery magazine." Crow & his wife paid for the statue. Marie: Turns out the Crows are right fond of sweet commemorative statues: ~~~

     ~~~ The Company He Keeps. Sylvie McNamara of the Washingtonian: "When Republican megadonor Harlan Crow isn't lavishing Justice Clarence Thomas with free trips on his private plane and yacht..., he lives a quiet life in Dallas among his historical collections. These collections include Hitler artifacts -- two of his paintings of European cityscapes, a signed copy of Mein Kampf, and assorted Nazi memorabilia -- plus a garden full of statues of the 20th century's worst despots.... Among the figures in the 'Garden of Evil' are Lenin Stalin, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, and Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito.... Crow has said that [the statues are] bona-fide artifacts from public squares across Europe and Asia that citizens toppled at the end of dictatorial regimes.... [The] collections caused an uproar back in 2015 when Marco Rubio attended a fundraiser at Crow's house on the eve of Yom Kippur. Rubio's critics thought the timing was inappropriate given, you know, the Hitler stuff."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "President Volodymyr Zelensky and top military and intelligence officials have discussed ways to 'prevent the leakage of information regarding the plans of the defense forces of Ukraine,' a government statement said, without giving further details. The discussions came shortly after the unauthorized release of classified Pentagon documents that appear to detail Ukraine's combat capabilities and Western support.... Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak asserted that the leaked documents contained largely 'fictitious information' and had 'nothing to do with Ukraine's real plans.'... Moscow's fighters appear to have made further gains in the city center [of Bakhmut], the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank reported Friday evening.... Russian attempts to 'severely degrade' Ukraine's energy infrastructure have 'likely failed,' Britain;s Defense Ministry said in an update Saturday."

Carlotta Gall, et al., of the New York Times: "In the 13 months since [Russia's] invasion [of Ukraine], thousands of Ukrainian children have been displaced, moved or forcibly transferred to camps or institutions in Russia or Russian-controlled territory, in what Ukraine and rights advocates have condemned as war crimes. The fate of those children has become a desperate tug of war between Ukraine and Russia, and formed the basis of an arrest warrant issued last month by the International Criminal Court accusing President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Maria Lvova-Belova, his commissioner for children's rights, of illegally transferring them.Once under Russian control, the children are subject to re-education, fostering and adoption by Russian families.... In March ... a group of women assisted by Save Ukraine completed a nerve-wracking, 3,000-mile journey through Poland, Belarus and Russia to gain entry to Russian-occupied territory in eastern Ukraine and Crimea to retrieve ... [16] children. Then they had to take another circuitous journey back ... [although the children were] only a few hours away by car but in territory closed off by the war." Several charity groups are helping mothers get their children home. The report features some individual stories.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Fascist Insurrection Rolls On

** In Texas and Across the Nation ... the War on Women. Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Texas issued a preliminary ruling invalidating the Food and Drug Administration's 23-year-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, an unprecedented order that -- if it stands through court challenges -- could make it harder for patients to get abortions in states where abortion is legal, not just in those trying to restrict it. The drug will continue to be available at least in the short-term since the judge, Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, stayed his own order for seven days to give the F.D.A. time to ask an appeals court to intervene. Less than an hour after Judge Kacsmaryk's ruling, a judge in Washington state issued a ruling in another case, which contradicted the Texas decision, ordering the F.D.A. to make no changes to the availability of mifepristone in the 18 states that filed that lawsuit. The conflicting orders by two federal judges, both preliminary injunctions issued before the full cases have been heard, appear to create a legal standoff likely to escalate to the Supreme Court.... On Friday night, the Justice Department filed a notice that it is appealing the Texas ruling.... [Attorney General Merrick Garland] said the department is reviewing the ruling in the Washington case."

     ~~~ CNN's report is here. Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Amy Walker, et al., of the New York Times: "More than 100 scientific studies, spanning continents and decades, have examined the effectiveness and safety of mifepristone and misoprostol, the abortion pills that are commonly used in the United States. All conclude that the pills are a safe method for terminating a pregnancy. ~~~

     ~~~ President Joe Biden, in a statement: "Today a single federal district judge in Texas ruled that a prescription medication that has been available for more than 22 years, approved by the FDA and used safely and effectively by millions of women here and around the world, should no longer be approved in the United States. The Court in this case has substituted its judgment for FDA, the expert agency that approves drugs. If this ruling were to stand, then there will be virtually no prescription, approved by the FDA, that would be safe from these kinds of political, ideological attacks.... The lawsuit, and this ruling, is another unprecedented step in taking away basic freedoms from women and putting their health at risk.... If [the] stands, it would prevent women in every state from accessing the medication, regardless of whether abortion is legal in a state. It is the next big step toward the national ban on abortion that Republican elected officials have vowed to make law in America. My Administration will fight this ruling.... The only way to stop those who are committed to taking away women's rights and freedoms in every state is to elect a Congress who will pass a law restoring Roe versus Wade."

In Tennessee and Elsewhere ... the War on Minorities & Free Speech. Liz Goodwin & Matthew Brown of the Washington Post: "Vice President Harris led a chorus of Democratic outrage raining down on Tennessee Republicans on Friday, making a surprise visit to greet the state Democratic lawmakers who were kicked out of their posts by their GOP colleagues on Thursday for protesting in the statehouse for gun control laws.... 'That is not a democracy,' Harris said of the move to expel the lawmakers in a speech to Fisk University students after she met with [Justin] Jones and [Justin] Pearson.... It's a debate national Republicans appear to want no part in, however, as they largely stayed silent while Democrats ranging from former president Barack Obama to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) loudly condemned the votes. 'This nation was built on peaceful protest,' Obama said in a statement. 'No elected official should lose their job simply for raising their voice -- especially when they're doing it on behalf of our children.' Ocasio-Cortez said Republicans are 'radicalizing and awakening an earthquake of young people' who would demand change and vote them out." ~~~

~~~ Eliza Fawcett & Rick Rojas of the New York Times: "Expelled by their Republican colleagues for an act of protest, Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson were no longer members of the Tennessee House of Representatives on Friday.... But instead of sidelining the Democratic lawmakers, the expulsions have sparked outrage and galvanized national support within their party, and the two young Black lawmakers are poised to return to the state legislature -- as soon as next week -- with a platform and profile far surpassing what they had just days ago. On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris made a hastily arranged visit to Nashville to meet with the state lawmakers, and President Biden, who described the Republicans' actions as 'shocking' and 'undemocratic,' called the ousted Democrats to offer his support and invite them to the White House." Local boards may return both men to the legislature within the next few weeks. ~~~

~~~ Rose Horowitch & Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: "A majority of members of the Nashville Metropolitan Council will vote to reinstate Justin Jones to the Tennessee state Legislature after he was expelled from the House of Representatives on Thursday over his protests on the chamber floor against gun violence. Twenty-three members of the 40-seat Metropolitan Council confirmed to NBC News or on social media that they plan to vote to reinstate Jones to the Legislature. The council, which currently has 39 members, will hold a special meeting Monday to discuss an interim replacement for Jones' seat. Vice Mayor Jim Shulman said he expects the council will take action to suspend the rules at the meeting to vote on a successor to fill Jones' seat instead of holding a monthlong nomination period. In interviews with NBC News, members expressed outrage at Jones' expulsion and said hundreds of constituents have reached out to demand that he be reinstated." ~~~

~~~ Dean Obeidallah in a Substack post: "... the Tennessee GOP succeeded where Trump and his followers failed. They successfully overturned an election in order preserve white supremacy. We can expect going forward from the GOP a combination of legal and violent efforts to preserve white right supremacy. This is both our nation's history and -- tragically --; its future." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Annie Gowen & Tim Craig of the Washington Post: "Tennessee Republicans’ dramatic expulsion of two Democrats who agitated for gun control in the state Capitol after a mass killing is the latest move by Republican state leaders around the country to stifle dissent and expand their power base, free speech experts say. In Montana, Texas, Florida, Virginia and elsewhere, Republicans have moved in other ways to silence opposition in recent months, actions that might ultimately erode the country's democratic ideals, they said.... According to some who have studied authoritarian behavior, it has already come to some states.... 'This Tennessee case is an example of norm-eroding legislative tactics that will further disrupt a healthy political system,' said Jake Grumbach ... [of] the University of Washington. The expulsion of the legislators is a 'more extreme version' of earlier GOP tactics, such as recent restrictions Republicans placed on incoming Democratic governors in Wisconsin and, to a lesser degree, Michigan, he said." Read on. The reporters cite Ron DeSantis & Florida's legislature as an example of a state that has "unapologetically" curtailed free speech. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Kimberly Kindy of the Washington Post: "As Republican lawmakers nationwide have pushed a historic wave of legislation targeting LGBTQ rights this year, Tennessee is in the vanguard of the movement after years of passing similar legislation and emerging as one of the most restrictive states in the nation on the issue. This week, Tennessee was set to become the first state to enforce wide-ranging restrictions on drag performances while nearly a dozen other states consider similar bills, before a federal judge temporarily blocked the law. Since 2015, Tennessee has enacted at least 13 laws that restrict LGBTQ rights -- the most in the nation in that time frame, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from two groups that track such legislation. Georgia and Arkansas enacted at least nine similar laws in the same time frame, followed by Alabama with six laws."

Clarence the Corrupt. Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "Justice Clarence Thomas said on Friday that he had followed the advice of 'colleagues and others in the judiciary' when he did not disclose lavish gifts and travel from a wealthy conservative donor. In a statement released by the Supreme Court, the justice said that he had followed guidance from others at the court and that he believed he was not required to report the trips. 'Early in my tenure at the court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the court, was not reportable,' Justice Thomas said. 'I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.'... The vacations are at odds with the justice's public portrayal of himself as a man of the people. 'I prefer the R.V. parks I prefer the Walmart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. There's something normal to me about it,' Justice Thomas said in a documentary about his life. 'I come from regular stock, and I prefer that -- I prefer being around that.'" The Huffington Post report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

     ~~~ Shorter Clarence: If Nino & Ruth hadn't told me to hide my free half-million-dollar vacations, I'd have reported them. Especially since I would have preferred to be hanging out with Ginni and the poors in a camper parked at an Alabama Walmart. MB: Totally credible. ~~~

     ~~~ Joshua Kaplan, et al., of ProPublica: Clarence Thomas's "statement Friday did not dispute ProPublica's reporting about his trips. It also did not address broader criticisms from ethics experts and other judges that by repeatedly accepting such trips, he broke long-standing ethical norms for judges' conduct.... Seven legal ethics experts consulted by ProPublica ... said the law clearly requires that gifts of transportation, including private jet flights, be disclosed. If Thomas is arguing otherwise, the experts said, he is incorrect.... A law passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal, the Ethics in Government Act, requires Supreme Court justices and many other federal officials to report most gifts to the public. Justices are generally required to report all gifts worth more than $415.... There are exceptions, and experts parsing the legality of Thomas' failure to disclose the travel have been focused on a carve-out known as the 'personal hospitality' exemption.... [But] all [seven experts] said that the law's language clearly requires that gifts of transportation, such as private jet travel or cruises on a yacht, be disclosed and said Thomas appears to have violated the law by failing to report them." ~~~

     ~~~ Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post parses Clarence Thomas's "carefully-worded statement," "[Thomas said,] 'Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years.' Thomas was appointed to the Supreme Court 32 years ago, so this friendship between the justice and Harlan Crow developed after he joined the court.... [Thomas said,] 'As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips....' [One of those trips] ... would have cost Thomas more than $500,000 if he had funded it himself.... Notably, Thomas's statement does not address his use of Crow's private plane for other reasons. [Thomas' statement that advisers told him the gifts were 'not reportable'] is vague.... [Thomas says Crow never had any cases come before the Supreme Court, but ] the statement ... sidesteps the question of whether Crow puts Thomas in contact with people who might have pending matters before the court." ~~~

     ~~~ Chris Geidner of Lawdork makes an extensive and similar analysis to Kessler's. Geidner concludes, "In the coming months, as the Supreme Court term comes to a close, Thomas will continue -- as he has for more than 30 years -- to be one of nine people writing the rules for the rest of us. With his Friday statement, however, Justice Clarence Thomas has made clear that he does not believe the rules apply to him."

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A felony statute criminalizing obstruction of government proceedings can be used to prosecute members of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The decision empowers prosecutors pursuing hundreds of cases involving participants in the Capitol riot, while blessing an interpretation of the law that both judges and lawmakers have argued applies to ... Donald Trump. But it also split the three-judge panel and left key questions open for future court challenges. Judge Florence Y. Pan, a President Biden appointee, and Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, ruled together for the government, despite a partial disagreement. Judge Gregory G. Katsas, also a Trump appointee, dissented. While federal guidelines generally call for far lower sentences, obstruction of an official proceeding carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison. A misdemeanor conviction for trespassing or illegally demonstrating in the Capitol garners a sentence of a year at most."

Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has told aides to hire Laura Loomer, a far-right and anti-Muslim activist with a history of expressing bigoted views, for a campaign role, according to four people familiar with the plans. Mr. Trump met with Ms. Loomer recently.... On Tuesday, after Mr. Trump's arraignment in Manhattan, Ms. Loomer attended the former president's speech at Mar-a-Lago.... Ms. Loomer has not yet been hired, the people familiar with the discussions said.... She once described Islam as a 'cancer' and tweeted under the hashtag '#proudislamophobe,' and she has celebrated the deaths of migrants crossing the Mediterranean." MB: Hey, there are good people on both sides. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A Guardian story is here. ~~~

~~~ Filip Timotija of Mediaite: "Controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) went off on Twitter regarding new reporting that ... Donald Trump wants to add far-right activist Laura Loomer to his 2024 campaign staff. In her Twitter post, the Republican firebrand slammed Loomer as 'mentally unstable' and a 'documented liar.'" And so forth.

Elon Goes to War. Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post: "On Wednesday, Substack announced that it would be releasing Notes, which looks like Twitter and functions almost identically to it. The platform had been testing it for weeks, wooing high-profile figures away from Twitter. On Thursday, Substack writers discovered that they were no longer able to embed tweets in their Substack posts.... On Friday morning, Twitter began blocking users from retweeting, liking or engaging with posts that contained links to Substack articles. Users also could not pin posts containing links to Substack to the top of their profiles. On Friday evening, Twitter began marking links to Substack as 'unsafe.' Even Substack's corporate Twitter account was restricted.... Twitter had been a primary driver of traffic and growth for many large Substack writers, and many independent journalists were left reeling from the news Friday.... Matt Taibbi, who was chosen by Twitter owner Elon Musk to write segments of the controversial 'Twitter Files,' announced Friday that he's quitting the platform to protest new restrictions to links to Substack.... In December, Musk temporarily banned links to all other social media platforms.... He quickly rolled back the policy after backlash from large creators and the discovery that such a rule could violate European law." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe in the past few months you have come to the conclusion that the richest man in the world doesn't know WTF he's doing. You would be right. He makes sweeping decisions to which he has given little thought, then (usually) reverses them when they prove to be ridiculous or counterproductive.

From the "This Could Happen to You" File. Daniel Wu of the Washington Post: "Army special operators and FBI agents closed in on a 15th-floor hotel room in downtown Boston on Tuesday night. As part of a training exercise, they entered the room and detained their target. The team handcuffed and interrogated the man in a bathroom for 30 minutes.... Then the group realized .... the soldiers and federal agents ... had the wrong room. They'd expected to detain and interrogate a role player posing as a target -- but they'd been given the wrong room number at the Revere, an upscale hotel in downtown Boston.... Instead, they shook down a ... Delta Air Lines pilot who happened to be staying at the hotel, according to [Boston news channel] WCVB.... Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told reporters on Thursday that city officials expect a thorough investigation." A hotel security person called 911 to report that that "people claiming to be FBI agents barge[d] into their room and handcuff them to the bathroom." An Army Special Ops Command spokesman said ... "We're extremely apologetic about it." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's hard to exaggerate how stupid this failed "training" operation was. These commandos didn't just get the wrong room; they didn't even share their plans to invade a privately-operated hotel with the hotel's security staff or local authorities, much less seek approval to conduct a military-style raid in a facility housing hundreds of civilian guests. By chance, their victim was an airline pilot, who would have been trained to handle highly-stressful situations -- though not this one. The invaders might have traumatized a more feeble guest.

Beyond the Beltway

North Dakota. Conover Kennard of Crooks & Liars: "In a stunning act of hypocrisy, the North Dakota Senate approved legislation to increase the amount of money that lawmakers and other state employees receive in meal reimbursements just after they voted against hungry kids getting free lunch at school. Late last month, North Dakota State Sen. Mike Wobbema said that hungry children are not their problem. 'I can understand kids going hungry, but is that really the problem of the school district?' he asked. 'Is that the problem of the state of North Dakota? It's really the problem of parents being negligent with their kids if their kids are choosing to eat in the first place.'" MB: Yeah, Mike, I can understand lawmakers get hungry, but is that really the problem of North Dakota taxpayers? Maybe ask your spouse to slip a baloney sandwich into a brown bag and STFU. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Mexico. Maria Abi-Habib & Galia Palafox of the New York Times: Gustavo Ángel Suárez Castillo, an American citizen, was traveling with friends in his pickup truck with Texas plates when "four vehicles filled with armed men began chasing and firing at them. The pickup truck crashed and as the passengers tumbled out, the armed men threw some to the ground, shooting one in the back, survivors told The New York Times. One recounted how he watched his brother slowly stop breathing while the assailants blocked medics from arriving. When it ended, five of the men, including Mr. Suárez, were dead and the other two severely injured. The attackers? Uniformed Mexican soldiers.... The episode ... underscores what human rights advocates and analysts say is a dangerous flaw in Mexico's governing system: one of the country's most powerful institutions operates with little oversight." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ukraine, et al.

Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: "A new batch of classified documents that appear to detail American national security secrets from Ukraine to the Middle East to China surfaced on social media sites on Friday, alarming the Pentagon and adding turmoil to a situation that seemed to have caught the Biden administration off guard. The scale of the leak -- analysts say more than 100 documents may have been obtained -- along with the sensitivity of the documents themselves, could be hugely damaging, U.S. officials said. A senior intelligence official called the leak 'a nightmare for the Five Eyes,' in a reference to the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the so-called Five Eyes nations that broadly share intelligence. The latest documents were found on Twitter and other sites on Friday, a day after senior Biden administration officials said they were investigating a potential leak of classified Ukrainian war plans, include an alarming assessment of Ukraine's faltering air defense capabilities." ~~~

     ~~~ Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the leak of classified Pentagon documents appearing to detail Ukraine's combat capabilities, its potential vulnerabilities and NATO's broad efforts to help repel Russia's invasion, the agency said Friday, as the U.S. government raced to determine how the material surfaced online and what value it may hold for the Kremlin.... Earlier Friday, The Washington Post obtained dozens of what appeared to be photographs showing classified documents, dating to late February and early March, that range from worldwide intelligence briefings to tactical-level battlefield updates and assessments of Ukraine's defense capabilities.... The materials also reference highly classified sources and methods that the United States uses to collect such information, alarming U.S. national security officials who have seen them." ~~~

     ~~~ A Clue for the Investigation. Lara Seligman, et al., of Politico: "A tranche of leaked documents that detail plans about Ukraine's spring military offensive circulated online as early as March -- a month earlier than previously reported, according to researchers with Bellingcat and a review of social media postings. The batch includes more pages than originally known and also outlines sensitive information about other global hotspots. The Ukraine-specific documents ... date from the end of February to the end of March -- around the same time as senior American generals hosted the Ukrainian military at a U.S. base in Germany to wargame the spring operation. The materials that circulated in early March were uploaded on a Discord, an encrypted messaging app. They appear to be photos of slide deck printouts that were folded up and then smoothed out again. They have since been posted on other social media websites, including Twitter and Telegram."

Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal correspondent jailed in Moscow, was formally charged with espionage on Friday, according to Russian state media.... The official charge had been expected ever since the American reporter was detained last week in the central Russian city of Yekaterinburg and brought to the Lefortovo prison in Moscow. The Russian authorities accused him of espionage, allegations that The Journal and U.S. officials have vehemently rejected.The arrest of Mr. Gershkovich, the American-born son of Soviet émigrés and a reporter for The Journal since January 2022, brought relations between the United States and Russia to a new low." ~~~

~~~ Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "In a rare joint statement, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday demanded the immediate release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia since he was arrested during a reporting trip last month. 'We strongly condemn the wrongful detention of U.S. citizen and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and demand the immediate release of this internationally known and respected independent journalist,' Schumer and McConnell wrote, noting that Gershkovich had been accredited to work as a journalist in Russia by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

April 7, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Jasmine Wright of CNN: &"Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Nashville on Friday to advocate for gun control and meet with the a pair of state lawmakers who were expelled from the General Assembly after they protested in favor of gun control on the state House floor. Harris is set to meet with advocates and lawmakers including two former Tennessee Democratic Reps. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson, both Black men, who were expelled for protesting for gun control. Harris' trip is meant to convey the administration's seriousness about gun reform and democracy at large, and Harris will renew the Biden administration's call for a ban on assault-style weapons while there, a White House official said." ~~~

~~~ Dean Obeidallah in a Substack post: "... the Tennessee GOP succeeded where Trump and his followers failed. They successfully overturned an election in order preserve white supremacy. We can expect going forward from the GOP a combination of legal and violent efforts to preserve white right supremacy. This is both our nation's history and -- tragically -- its future."

Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "Justice Clarence Thomas said on Friday that he had followed the advice of 'colleagues and others in the judiciary' when he did not disclose lavish gifts and travel from a wealthy conservative donor. In a statement released by the Supreme Court, the justice said that he had followed guidance from others at the court and that he believed he was not required to report the trips. 'Early in my tenure at the court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the court, was not reportable,' Justice Thomas said. 'I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.'... The vacations are at odds with the justice's public portrayal of himself as a man of the people. 'I prefer the R.V. parks. I prefer the Walmart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. There's something normal to me about it,' Justice Thomas said in a documentary about his life. 'I come from regular stock, and I prefer that -- I prefer being around that.'" The Huffington Post report is here.

     ~~~ Shorter Clarence: If Nino & Ruth hadn't told me to hide my free half-a-million-dollar vacation, I'd have reported it. Especially since I would have preferred to be hanging out with Ginni and the poors in a camper parked at the Walmart. MB: Totally credible. ~~~

     ~~~ OR, as Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post put it, "Please keep in mind, my fellow Americans, that each moment I spent on the yacht was torment! That is why I did not disclose it. It was not my idea of a vacation. Every second I spent on those magnificent islands, in those bucolic retreats, eating meals cooked by private chefs, I was seething internally, wishing I were in a Walmart parking lot."

Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has told aides to hire Laura Loomer, a far-right and anti-Muslim activist with a history of expressing bigoted views, for a campaign role, according to four people familiar with the plans. Mr. Trump met with Ms. Loomer recently.... On Tuesday, after Mr. Trump's arraignment in Manhattan, Ms. Loomer attended the former president's speech at Mar-a-Lago.... Ms. Loomer has not yet been hired, the people familiar with the discussions said.... She once described Islam as a 'cancer' and tweeted under the hashtag '#proudislamophobe,' and she has celebrated the deaths of migrants crossing the Mediterranean." MB: Hey, there are good people on both sides.

North Dakota. Conover Kennard of Crooks & Liars: "In a stunning act of hypocrisy, the North Dakota Senate approved legislation to increase the amount of money that lawmakers and other state employees receive in meal reimbursements just after they voted against hungry kids getting free lunch at school. Late last month, North Dakota State Sen. Mike Wobbema said that hungry children are not their problem. 'I can understand kids going hungry, but is that really the problem of the school district?' he asked. 'Is that the problem of the state of North Dakota? It's really the problem of parents being negligent with their kids if their kids are choosing to eat in the first place.'" MB: Yeah, Mike, I can understand lawmakers get hungry, but is that really the problem of North Dakota taxpayers? Maybe ask your spouse to slip a baloney sandwich into a brown bag and STFU.

Mexico. Maria Abi-Habib & Galia Palafox of the New York Times: Gustavo Ángel Suárez Castillo, an American citizen, was traveling with friends in his pickup truck with Texas plates when "four vehicles filled with armed men began chasing and firing at them. The pickup truck crashed and as the passengers tumbled out, the armed men threw some to the ground, shooting one in the back, survivors told The New York Times. One recounted how he watched his brother slowly stop breathing while the assailants blocked medics from arriving. When it ended, five of the men, including Mr. Suárez, were dead and the other two severely injured. The attackers? Uniformed Mexican soldiers.... The episode ... underscores what human rights advocates and analysts say is a dangerous flaw in Mexico's governing system: one of the country's most powerful institutions operates with little oversight."

~~~~~~~~~~

Tennessee Trilogy: From the State that Brought Us the Ku Klux Klan & the Scopes Monkey Trial, Here's Part III:

Emily Cochrane & Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "The Tennessee House voted on Thursday to expel two Democrats one week after they interrupted debate by leading protesters in a call for stricter gun laws in the wake of a shooting that left six dead at a Christian school.The extraordinary punitive action against the Democrats -- Representatives Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson -- for an act of protest marks just the third time since the Civil War era that the Tennessee House has expelled a lawmaker from its ranks and threatens to further inflame the partisan rancor within a bitterly divided state. An effort to expel a third Democrat, Representative Gloria Johnson, who had stood by the two men in the front of the chamber and joined in the chants during the protest, fell short by one vote. The expulsions of two of the state's youngest Black representatives, carried out before lawmakers were scheduled to leave for the Easter weekend, were a stunning culmination to a week that saw the conclusion of the funerals for the six killed in the shooting, hundreds of students and teachers walk out of school to protest at the General Assembly and a vitriolic debate about democracy in the state."

As it Happened: ~~~

We called for you all to ban assault weapons, and you respond with an assault on democracy. -- Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones, shortly before Republicans expelled him from the state House ~~~

~~~ ** Dakin Andone, et al., of CNN: "The Tennessee House of Representatives has voted to expel Justin Jones a week after he joined two other Democrats in a protest on the House floor as demonstrators at the Capitol called for gun reform following a mass shooting at a Nashville school. The vote was 72-25. Expulsion from the Tennessee House requires a two-thirds majority. Two other lawmakers, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson, also face possible votes on their removal from office Thursday." ~~~

     ~~~ Update: "A vote to expel Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson from Tennessee's Republican-controlled House of Representatives has failed, a week after she and two other Democrats led a gun reform protest on the House floor.... The vote over rules violations for Johnson was 65-30.... Johnson, who is White, was asked why there was a difference in the outcome for her and Jones, who is Black-Filipino. 'I will answer your question. It might have to do with the color of our skin,' she said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update. "In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest that called for more gun control in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Nashville. The banishment of Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson was a move the chamber has used only a handful times since the Civil War. Most state legislatures possess the power to expel members, but it is generally reserved as a punishment for lawmakers accused of serious misconduct, not used as a weapon against political opponents. The GOP supermajority in the House declined by a single vote to expel a third Democrat, Rep. Gloria Johnson.... Thousands of people flocked to the Capitol on Thursday to support the Democrats, cheering and chanting outside the House chamber so loudly that the noise drowned out the proceedings." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ As Nicolle Wallace of MSMBC said moments after the first vote, "This is what the slide to autocracy looks like." Marie: I'd like to think those pink porcine GOP bullies will pay at the polls for unilaterally expelling a young Black representative whose "crime" was protesting for the rights of children to be safe from terrorists with assault weapons. Oh, and thanks, you fat fucks, for making a star of Justin Jones, someone I never would have heard of if you-all hadn't merrily skipped down the fascist brick road.

Marie: Tennesseans have forever lost the right to complain about "East Coast liberals" mocking them as hillbillies and rubes. Tennessee lives in disgrace. As for the Republican party, we should stop thinking of it as a political party. Rather, it is the most powerful insurgency in the country, a vast, well-organized hate group bent on reversing the hard-won freedoms of the last 150 years of slow -- but until-now certain -- progress in that proverbial arc of justice. Republicans plan to and are engaged in taking over the country not through political means but through corrupt methods and direct force.

President Joe Biden, in a statement: "... On Monday, 7,000 Tennesseans, many of them students, marched to their state capitol to call on their lawmakers to take action and keep them safe. Instead, state Republican lawmakers called votes today to expel three Democratic legislators who stood in solidarity with students and families and helped lift their voices. Today's expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent...."

Lauren Sforza of the Hill: "A wave of [Congressional] Democrats has now rallied behind the [Democratic Tennessee] lawmakers, as many have denounced the move as 'racist' and 'fascist,' as well as undemocratic.... Nashville Mayor John Cooper said that Nashville and Memphis were 'disenfranchised' after [Justin] Pearson and [Justin] Jones were expelled Thursday. He said in a tweet that the Nashville city council will meet Monday to fill the vacancy, saying he believes that they will vote to send Jones, who represents Nashville, right back to the House."

Joyce Vance, posted on Substack: "Several months after his election [to the Georgia legislature] in June 1965, a civil rights organization that [Julian] Bond belonged to issued an anti-war statement about Vietnam, which he subsequently endorsed in statements to the press. White members of the Georgia House challenged Bond's right to be seated.... [Bond] filed a lawsuit, and a three-judge panel in the federal district court in Georgia ruled against him 2-1. Bond filed an appeal ... to the United States Supreme Court. While the appeal was pending, he was re-elected to the Georgia House in a special election, and, again, the House refused to seat him. He was elected again in the regular election in 1966, and the Supreme Court decided his case shortly afterwards. The unanimous Supreme Court decision in Bond's favor ... [held] that although a state may impose a requirement that legislators take an oath of allegiance, it cannot limit their capacity to express views on local or national policy. '[D]ebate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open,' the Court wrote.... Members of the Tennessee legislature do not lose their First Amendment rights by virtue of their election, and especially not when they are seeking to represent the constituents who elected them. A challenge to those members' First Amendment rights cannot be dressed up as a violation of decorum rules.... And when two Black representatives are expelled while a white one narrowly avoids expulsion, no amount of dissembling can erase the obvious conclusion."

Sarah Mervosh, et al., of the New York Times: "The Biden administration proposed a rule change on Thursday that would allow schools to block some transgender athletes from competing on sports teams that match their gender identities. But the proposal would also prevent schools from enacting across-the-board bans. Under the Department of Education proposal, 'categorically' barring transgender athletes in that way would be a violation of Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funding. But it would give universities and K-12 schools the discretion to limit the participation of transgender students, if they conclude that including transgender athletes could undermine competitive fairness or potentially lead to sports-related injuries, a key part of the debate about transgender athletes in women's sports." CNN's report is here.

The Buck Stops Elsewhere. Zeke Miller & Nomaan Merchant of the AP: "President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday laid the blame on his predecessor..., Donald Trump, for the deadly and chaotic 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan that brought about some of the darkest moments of Biden's presidency. The White House publicly released a 12-page summary of the results of the so-called 'hotwash' of U.S. policies around the ending of the nation's longest war, taking little responsibility for its own actions and asserting that Biden was 'severely constrained' by Trump's decisions. It does acknowledge that the evacuation of Americans and allies from Afghanistan should have started sooner, but blames the delays on the Afghan government and military, and on U.S. military and intelligence community assessments. The brief document was drafted by the National Security Council, rather than by an independent entity, with input from Biden himself."

Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "A nearly two-year investigation into allegations of misconduct by the Department of Homeland Security's chief watchdog expanded this week to include his role in missing Secret Service text messages from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. On Monday, investigators demanded records related to the deleted texts from the Office of Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari, an appointee of ... Donald Trump whose office shut down an inquiry into the Secret Service messages last year amid the House's probe of the insurrection. The records request, which was revealed in a federal lawsuit this week filed by Cuffari and his staff against the panel of inspectors leading the probe, suggests new urgency in a high-profile investigation that began in May 2021 and has since evolved into a wide-ranging inquiry into dozens of allegations of misconduct, including partisan decision-making, investigative failures and retaliation against whistleblowers.

"The probe has paralyzed the inspector general's office, alienated Cuffari from the watchdog community and led to calls for President Biden to fire him. The president has signaled that he intends to stay out of the process until the panel from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) completes its work."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "House Republicans issued a subpoena on Thursday to a former Manhattan prosecutor who investigated ... Donald J. Trump, moving quickly after Mr. Trump's arraignment this week to dissect the active criminal case against him and scrutinize the office pursuing it. Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio and the Judiciary Committee chairman, sent the order to compel a deposition from Mark F. Pomerantz, a former New York County special assistant district attorney, on April 20. The move was an escalation of the G.O.P.'s bid to use its power in Congress to try to protect Mr. Trump.... Mr. Pomerantz had led the investigation into Mr. Trump's finances before resigning in protest in February after Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, appeared reluctant to move forward with a case against Mr. Trump.... Republicans argue that Mr. Pomerantz's public criticism of Mr. Bragg and the fact that he wrote a memoir that disclosed details and deliberations about the investigation strengthen their case for why he should testify. Mr. Pomerantz ... previously told the Judiciary Committee he would not be providing documents or testimony to the panel, citing instructions from the district attorney's office."

Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has teased to television audiences over the past month that four different people have appeared before committee investigators to provide information regarding his inquiry into whether President Biden and members of his family were involved in an influence-peddling scheme.... After [committee Democrats inquired of] Comer's staff about the reported new witnesses, they were assured that Comer's statements 'in fact referred only to two individuals' and 'no new witness information ... had actually been provided,' according to a letter sent by the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (Md.), to Comer on Thursday.... House rules require that committee records are to be made available to every member of the committee -- majority and minority." Comer claims the (two) witnesses are whistleblowers and therefore merit secret interviews; Raskin wrote they 'are not whistleblowers.... Your repeated statements about "four people" suggest that either you have intentionally misrepresented the Committee's investigative progress to your conservative audience or that key investigative steps have been deliberately withheld from Committee Democrats."

David Corn of Mother Jones: "Though vengeful wrath has always been standard operating procedure for Trump, he has raised the danger level of such conduct by pulling other Republicans and conservatives into his crusade of revenge.... In the immediate aftermath of the arraignment, Trump ... gave a green light to the right to mount an extreme counter-attack.... In recent days, his defenders have issued calls for reprisals, urging an all-out political war that weaponizes law enforcement agencies.... Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, disclosed that on the day of Trump's arraignment he took calls from Republican county attorneys in Kentucky and Tennessee who eagerly asked 'if there are ways they can go after the Bidens.' Comer did not disavow their brazen proposals to abuse their powers for political purposes.... Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), the QAnonish pal of white nationalists, issued a tweet that vowed retribution: 'Our side chants "lock her up" and their side is going to get a mug shot based on a witch hunt. It's time to change that. Gloves are off.'... Multiple conservatives called for Bragg's arrest."

There was a crooked justice who walked a crooked mile,

He took a crooked fortune, then cracked a crooked smile;

He met a crooked gal and took her for his spouse,

And the two lived together in a fancy crooked house.

The highest court in the land shouldn't have the lowest ethical standards. -- Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) ~~~

~~~ Zach Montague of the New York Times: "Democratic lawmakers reiterated calls on Thursday to tighten ethics rules for the Supreme Court after a report revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas had accepted luxury gifts from a major conservative donor without disclosing them.... The disclosure early Thursday renewed scrutiny of Justice Thomas, who has long faced questions over conflicts of interest in part because of the political activities of his wife, Virginia Thomas. No formal code of conduct on the Supreme Court specifically bars the justice from taking the trips mentioned in ProPublica's reporting. But under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, justices, like federal judges, must file a financial disclosure each year that lists gifts of more than $415 in avoidance of even an 'appearance of impropriety.' The cost of one of the trips with Mr. Crow may have exceeded $500,000, according to ProPublica.... Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, called for [Thomas's] impeachment. 'This is beyond party or partisanship,' she added on Twitter. 'This degree of corruption is shocking - almost cartoonish.'" A Guardian story is here. ProPublica's follow-up story on its blockbuster report on Thomas is here.

L.A. Times 2004 Report Caused Thomas to Hide His Bounty. David Savage of the Los Angeles Times: "It was 2004 when the Los Angeles Times disclosed that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had accepted expensive gifts and private plane trips paid for by Harlan Crow, a wealthy Texas real estate investor and a prominent Republican donor.... Thomas refused to comment on the article, but it had an impact: Thomas appears to have continued accepting free trips from his wealthy friend. But he stopped disclosing them.... In his recent annual disclosure statements, Thomas has checked a box indicating he had no gifts to report." Firewalled. The Washington Post's story (also firewalled, of course) is here.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a transgender girl may compete on the girls' cross country and track teams at her middle school in West Virginia while her appeal moved forward, signaling that a majority of the justices are not ready to enter another battleground in the culture wars. The Supreme Court's brief order, which let stand an appeals court's temporary injunction, gave no reasons, which is not unusual when the justices rule on emergency applications filed on what critics call the court's shadow docket. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, issued a dissenting opinion indicating that states are entitled to enact laws 'restricting participation in women's or girls' sports based on genes or physiological or anatomical characteristics.'" An AP report is here.

Bobby Allyn of NPR: "Twitter CEO Elon Musk said the platform's recent labeling of NPR as 'state-affiliated media' might not have been accurate during a series of email exchanges.... Regardless, as of late Thursday, the designation remained.... It was a turnaround from a tweet he sent hours earlier that the state-affiliated label for NPR 'seems accurate.'... In one email exchange, Musk appeared to be unclear about the difference between public media and state-controlled media when he decided to affix a state-affiliated media label on NPR's account.... Musk's comments to NPR over the past two days only further clouded what was already a confusing situation.... Despite professing an interest in fairness, Musk appears to have run afoul of Twitter's own guidelines in giving NPR a label that can harm its credibility.... Besides potentially besmirching the reputation of NPR, the label influences the reach of the network's tweets. Under Twitter's rules, and according to the former executive, accounts that have been given the state-affiliated mark are not recommended or amplified on the platform...."

Presidential Race 2024. Biden Is All President-y While Trump Is Fingerprinted. Michael Scherer & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden's daily intelligence briefing Tuesday coincided with protests outside a Manhattan courthouse over his predecessor. By the time Donald Trump appeared before a judge to face 34 felony counts, Biden was meeting with top science and technology advisers to talk about artificial intelligence in the State Dining Room.... The likely Democratic candidate for president in 2024 was doing his day job, while the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination was getting fingerprinted. The split screen has been implied, without explicit acknowledgment, in nearly everything that Biden does these days. 'How great is it to come to a political rally where we talk about solutions and the future,' Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said at an event with Biden on Monday in Fridley, Minn.... Democratic election strategists, while muted in their public responses, have been privately overjoyed with the contrast."

Beyond the Beltway

Michael Wines of the New York Times: "For more than a decade, states around the country have steadily chipped away at one of the biggest roadblocks to voting in the United States -- laws on the books that bar former felons from casting a ballot. But there are now signs that trend could be reversing. Last month, Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, a Republican..., revealed that he had rescinded a policy of automatically restoring voting rights to residents who have completed felony sentences. In a February hearing, North Carolina's Supreme Court, which has a 5-2 Republican majority, appeared deeply skeptical that a lower court had constitutional authority when it restored voting rights last year to people who had completed their sentences. A ruling is expected soon.And then there's Florida -- whose Republican-dominated Legislature effectively nullified a citizen ballot initiative granting voting rights to a huge number of former felons in 2020."

Florida. Gary Fineout of Politico: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday promised a new round of action against Disney in his ongoing dispute with the entertainment giant, including looking at the taxes on Disney's hotels and imposing tolls on roads that serve its theme parks. The DeSantis administration is also examining if a recent agreement approved between a Central Florida board that had been controlled by Disney and the company runs afoul of the state's growth laws, according to senior administration officials. One of those laws explicitly states that development agreements must be modified or revoked to comply with laws even if the law is passed after the agreement was executed.... Disney 'tried to pull a fast one on the way out the door,' DeSantis said ... [Thursday in] Michigan. 'That story's not over yet. Buckle up. There's more coming down the pike.'..."

Michigan. Another Republican Crook. Mona Zhang of Politico: "Rick Johnson, a former Republican Michigan House speaker turned cannabis regulator, received more than $110,000 in bribes in exchange for supporting companies seeking medical marijuana licenses, alleges a federal charging document filed in federal district court Thursday. Johnson was charged alongside three defendants: John Dalaly, a business owner charged with paying bribes; and Brian Pierce and Vincent Brown, lobbyists charged with conspiracy to commit bribery. All four defendants signed plea deals admitting guilt to the charges.... Johnson served as a state representative from 1999 to 2004, including three years as House speaker. After leaving office, he ran a lobbying firm in Lansing, before serving as the chair of the Michigan marijuana licensing board from 2017 to 2019, according to court documents. Johnson was 'at the heart of this corrupt scheme,' [U.S. Attorney Mark] Totten said, outlining cash payments and other perks like private chartered flights through Dalaly's companies."

New York. Karen Zraick of the New York Times: "Nearly seven years to the day that four men were lured to a bar in Chester, N.Y., and killed 'gangland style,' a retired police officer turned drug dealer was found guilty in their murders. Nicholas Tartaglione, the former officer, was convicted on all counts in federal court in White Plains, N.Y., and faces life in prison.... After his arrest, Mr. Tartaglione shared a cell for a time with Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier jailed on sex trafficking charges. Mr. Tartaglione alerted guards to a suicide attempt by Mr. Epstein in 2019, his lawyer said at the time." The article describes the crimes, which read like something out of a gruesome TV show or film.

North Dakota. Kimberly Kindy of the Washington Post: "North Dakotans are awaiting word on whether Gov. Doug Burgum (R) will sign or veto a hefty package of bills that would restrict transgender rights, which was passed by the state Senate on Tuesday. The eight pieces of legislation would have wide-ranging effects on transgender minors and adults -- from school sports to health care to workplace rights. If Burgum signs the bills, medical professionals would be prohibited from providing gender-affirming care to minors, transgender girls and women wouldn't be allowed to join girls' sports teams from kindergarten through high school and college, and another would create a new rule for gender markers on birth certificates."

Way Beyond

France. John Leicester & Oleg Cetinic of the AP: "Protesters disrupted vehicle traffic at Paris' main airport and police fired clouds of tear gas in other French cities as people marched in a new round of strikes and nationwide demonstrations Thursday seeking to get President Emmanuel Macron to scrap pension reforms that have ignited a monthslong firestorm of public anger. Talks between trade union leaders and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne broke up Wednesday without a breakthrough, setting the stage for protesters' return to the streets. However, the number of strikers has fallen, particularly in the transport sector, since the beginning of the movement in January. On Thursday, the Paris Metro was operating a near-normal service, in stark contrast to previous days of action, a sign that some in the movement are beginning to slow. Less than 8% of teachers are on strike, according to the Education Ministry." (Also linked yesterday.)

Israel. New York Times: "Israeli fighter jets struck parts of south Lebanon and the Gaza Strip early Friday, in response to an unusually heavy rocket barrage from Lebanon on Thursday that the Israeli military blamed on Gaza-based Palestinian militias with branches on Lebanese territory. The violence was considered the most serious along the Israel-Lebanon border since 2006, when Israel fought a war against Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militia, and raised the risk of a wider multi-front conflagration between Israel, Palestinian militias and their allies." This is part of a liveblog. A Guardian report is here.

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "U.S. efforts to gain consular access to Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter detained by Russian authorities last week, remain unsuccessful, the White House said.... Russian prosecutors requested a 25-year prison sentence for Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition politician, author and Washington Post opinions contributor, one of his attorneys told local news outlets Thursday. Kara-Murza has been imprisoned in Moscow since April 2022 on charges of treason and spreading 'false' news about Russia's military by speaking out against the war on Ukraine....

"In Beijing, French President Emmanuel Macron said the world was looking to Chinese leader Xi Jinping to 'bring Russia back to reason' and to the negotiating table with Ukraine. Macron's comments are a contrast to U.S. political rhetoric and a win for Xi, met with the two leaders in Beijing, called on China 'not to provide any military equipment, directly or indirectly, to Russia.'... Putin hosted Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a staunch Russian ally, in Moscow on Thursday, according to Russian state-owned news agency according to Reuters." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Helene Cooper & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Classified war documents detailing secret American and NATO plans for building up the Ukrainian military ahead of a planned offensive against Russia were posted this week on social media channels, senior Biden administration officials said. The Pentagon is investigating who may have been behind the leak of the documents, which appeared on Twitter and on Telegram, a platform with more than half a billion users that is widely available in Russia. Military analysts said the documents appear to have been modified in certain parts from their original format, overstating American estimates of Ukrainian war dead and understating estimates of Russian troops killed.... Early on during the war, Ukrainian officials were hesitant about sharing their battle plans with the United States, for fear of leaks, American and European officials said.... An intelligence leak of this sort, posted on social media and available around the world, is bound to harm intelligence sharing between Ukraine and the United States."

News Lede

CNBC: "Nonfarm payrolls rose about in line with expectations in March as the labor market showed increased signs of slowing. The Labor Department reported Friday that payrolls grew by 236,000 for the month, compared to the Dow Jones estimate for 238,000. The unemployment rate ticked lower to 3.5%, against expectations that it would hold at 3.6%."