March 1, 2023

Late Morning Update:

John Wagner & Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Today, Attorney General Merrick Garland said he has stood by his promise not to interfere in an ongoing federal investigation of the finances of Hunter Biden, President Biden's son. His comments came as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee peppered him with questions on multiple controversies during Garland's first testimony before the new Congress. Other members are expected to question the department's decision to conduct a surprise search at former president Donald Trump's Florida property to try to recover classified documents." This is part of a politics liveblog.

** Carol Leonnig, et al., of the Washington Post: "Months of disputes between Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents over how best to try to recover classified documents from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club and residence led to a tense showdown near the end of July last year, according to four people familiar with the discussions. Prosecutors argued that new evidence suggested Trump was knowingly concealing secret documents at his Palm Beach, Fla., home and urged the FBI to conduct a surprise raid at the property. But two senior FBI officials who would be in charge of leading the search resisted the plan as too combative and proposed instead to seek Trump's permission to search his property, according to the four people.... Prosecutors ultimately prevailed in that dispute, one of several previously unreported clashes in a tense tug of war between two arms of the Justice Department over how aggressively to pursue a criminal investigation of a former president....

"Starting in May, FBI agents in the Washington field office had sought to slow the probe, urging caution given its extraordinary sensitivity, the people said.Some of those field agents wanted to shutter the criminal investigation altogether in early June, after Trump's legal team asserted a diligent search had been conducted and all classified records had been turned over, according to some people with knowledge of the discussions." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IMO, some of these FBI agents were corrupt and worked to halt an investigation that yielded tens of classified documents by pretending to believe that the Big Liar had turned over all documents, despite evidence to the contrary.

~~~~~~~~~~

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "resident Biden on Tuesday announced his intention to nominate Julie Su, the deputy labor secretary, to succeed Labor Secretary Martin J. Walsh, who has said he plans to leave the department in March. Ms. Su has helped oversee a department that put forth a series of rules meant to benefit workers, including rules designed to protect workers from Covid-19, a rule making it more likely for workers to be classified as employees rather than contractors, and a rule that would probably raise the wages paid to workers on federally funded construction projects.... Ms. Su, a fluent speaker of Mandarin whose parents were immigrants, served as head of California's Labor and Workforce Development Agency before joining the Biden administration in 2021." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Biden administration urged Congress on Tuesday to renew a controversial warrantless surveillance law, emphasizing that security officials use it for a broad range of foreign policy and national security goals like detecting espionage by countries like China and Iran or stopping hackers. The administration's effort is likely to face particularly steep headwinds because many Republicans have adopted ... Donald J. Trump's distrust of security agencies and surveillance, bolstering privacy advocates who have long been skeptical of the law, known as Section 702.... In a letter to lawmakers, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, described the law as vital." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "Republicans in Congress sharply questioned senior Pentagon officials on Tuesday about the tens of billions of dollars in military and other aid the United States has sent to Ukraine, casting fresh doubt on whether they would embrace future spending as Democrats pleaded for a cleareyed assessment of how much more money would be needed. The exchanges at two House committee hearings, coming just days after the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, highlighted how concerns about the high cost of sending weapons to Kyiv have intensified on Capitol Hill.... The steep price tag of the war has prompted Congress to issue a battery of oversight requirements for information about how the money has been spent. Some of those details have been provided to lawmakers, but few have reached the public. The accelerating spending and dearth of detailed information have fueled the resolve of several naysayers, who doubled down this week on a campaign to cast the Ukraine assistance program as a failed boondoggle, with the apparent tacit blessing of party leaders." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "Sharply questioned"? Some of those questions weren't so sharp. ~~~

     ~~~ A Planned Gotcha Moment that Went Terribly Wrong. Wherein Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Media Whore, Fla.) favorably cites a Chinese propaganda outlet while attempting to grill a Biden administration undersecretary. The Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, politely shot down Gaetz: "I as a general matter, I don't take Beijing's propaganda at face value." Via Mediaite. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post elaborates on Gaetz's boo-boo, noting that Gaetz "has emerged a leading critic of the Ukraine funding": "Gaetz has promoted his question-and-answer period from the hearing on Twitter, while cutting off the video before the above exchange.... Even if you don't know the Global Times's background [as the Fox 'News' of China], the article itself has some real red flags." And it is more derivative than investigative, though Gaetz can't tell the difference. He described the article as a "Global Times investigative report" and asked that it be entered into the Congressional Record. More on the Global Times linked below under The Pandemic, Ctd.

** GOP Members of Congress Will Aid Insurrectionists. Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "House Republicans are moving to provide defendants in Jan. 6-related cases access to thousands of hours of internal Capitol security footage, a move that could influence many of the ongoing prosecutions stemming from 2021's violent attack. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), who chairs the House Administration Committee's oversight subpanel, said that the access for accused rioters and others -- which Speaker Kevin McCarthy has greenlighted -- would be granted on a 'case-by-case basis.'... McCarthy's decision to let [Tucker] Carlson view the footage from the violent riot by ... Donald Trump's supporters has already been raised in two ongoing Jan. 6 criminal cases. In one instance, a lawyer for one of the Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy has asked prosecutors to determine whether they will access and share the footage; then on Tuesday morning, Joseph McBride, an attorney for Jan. 6 defendant Ryan Nichols, claimed he had already been given permission to review the footage." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday defended his decision to give conservative TV host Tucker Carlson access to roughly 40,000 hours of security footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, telling reporters that the footage will soon be released broadly and that his office is taking measures to address concerns about security risks. 'It almost seems like the press is jealous,' McCarthy said in a one-on-one interview with The Washington Post.... McCarthy added that he has been in consultation with U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) on the release of the footage and dismissed concerns that Carlson will mislead viewers about the events of the day. A spokesperson from the USCP would not confirm McCarthy's assertion that he or Carlson's team are requesting security review of any footage that may be used on his show.... McCarthy instead condemned the House select committee tasked with investing the Jan. 6 attack for airing video showing part of the exit route from his office and a portion of Vice President Mike Pence's escape from the Senate chamber as a mob invaded the Capitol.... Tim Mulvey, a former senior staff member and spokesman for the Jan. 6 committee, previously said in a statement that when the panel obtained access to U.S. Capitol Police video footage, "... the public use of any footage was coordinated in advance with Capitol Police. It's hard to overstate the potential security risks if this material were used irresponsibly.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So the order of distribution is (1) TuKKKer, (2) violent insurrectionists, (3) some media outlets. Seems prudent. ~~~

     ~~~ Emily Brooks & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "... [Kevin] McCarthy and other Republicans, following days of silence on the topic, made clear Tuesday that no information would be released to [Tucker] Carlson's team -- let alone broadcast publicly -- before the footage is screened to ensure it doesn't compromise the security of the Capitol complex.... '... We work with the Capitol Police as well, so we'll make sure security is taken care of,' McCarthy told reporters in the Capitol.... [McCarthy] stressed that the Fox News host's team specifically said they do not want to see 'exit routes.'... Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chairman of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, said that his panel is still working through those procedures.... While Carlson's team has full access to watch the tens of thousands of hours of footage, Loudermilk said, he will work with the sergeant-at-arms and Capitol Police to ensure that any copies of that footage given to Carlson do not pose security risks. 'There hasn't been a release of tapes,' Loudermilk said."

     ~~~ Marie: Wait just one minute. TuKKKer has boasted he had "unfettered" access to the tapes. Now My Kevin & Loudermilk are saying they're "fettering" access: According to Loudermilk, "It';s basically controlled access to be able to view tapes. Can't record, can't take anything with you. Then they will request any particular clips that -- that they may need, and then we'll make sure that there's nothing sensitive, nothing classified -- you know, escape routes." The Hill reporters write, "It's unclear if McCarthy's most vocal Republican detractors -- whose backing he needs to pass legislation in a narrowly divided House -- will accept [this] more limited release of the footage." ~~~

     ~~~ If McCarthy & Loudermilk are telling the truth, TuKKKer may have a long wait to get those tapes. According to the Capitol Police, there are nearly 42,000 hours of tapes. So if McCarthy has three staff reviewing the tapes eight hours a day every single day, it will take them 1,750 days to complete the review. That's close to five years. Of course, the Congressional staff could release the tapes to TuKKKer as they approve them. I'd be surprised if TuKKKer still has his job five years from now. Are the real media supposed to wait another five years or more to gain access to the tapes while TuKKKer puts together his Fake Show exposing the insurrection as a hoax? There's definitely a hoax in this tape release story, but I don't think it's the insurrection.

Spartan of National Zero: "House Oversight Committee chair Congressman James Comer [R-Ky.] on Tuesday lamented in a podcast interview with batshit former Fox News host Lou Dobbs that Beau Biden was never prosecuted for some probably made-up campaign finance scandal before he died, the Daily Beast reports. 'This US attorney had had an opportunity to go after the Bidens years ago.... But nothing ever happened...," said Comer, apparently upset that Beau Biden had escaped justice by dying of brain cancer." MB: Sorry I can't read the Beast's story.

Robert Barnes & Daniel Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "Conservative Supreme Court justices on Tuesday seemed highly skeptical that President Biden has authority from Congress to provide more than $400 billion in student loan forgiveness to borrowers as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.Over more than three hours of argument in two cases, conservatives led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. questioned how what Roberts repeatedly called a 'half-trillion dollar' program could be implemented without more direct involvement from Congress, which controls the purse of federal spending. The justices on the right seemed unsatisfied with assertions from their liberal colleagues and U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar that blocking the program would actually thwart the will of Congress, which provided for the secretary of education to act on student loan debt in times of emergency." The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Wherein Elena Kagan Tries in Vain to Explain Separation of Powers to Six Jerks Who Think They Can Run All Three Branches of the Federal Government. Ian Millhiser of Vox: "If you were hoping that your student loans would be forgiven under a program that President Joe Biden announced last summer, you should, unfortunately, make other plans. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases, Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown, that ask the Court to strike down the student loan relief program.... The Brown case is laughably weak, and no justice appeared to believe that federal courts have jurisdiction to hear this case. But the Supreme Court only to needs to assert jurisdiction over one of these two cases to kill the loan relief program, and the Court appeared likely to split along party lines in the Nebraska case.... A handful of questions by [Justices Brett] Kavanaugh and [Amy Coney] Barrett aside, the six Republican appointees spent much of the argument fixated on concerns that if this student debt relief program is upheld, then the Biden administration would have too much power.... The Court's Republican appointees spent much of the argument discussing policy disagreements with President Biden that have nothing whatsoever to do with the question of whether this loan forgiveness program is legal."

Olivia Rubin of ABC News: "After the foreperson of the Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury investigating ... Donald Trump and a push to overturn the 2020 election spoke out in several headline-making interviews, the judge overseeing the case told ABC News on Monday that jurors 'can talk about the final report.' But Judge Robert C. McBurney noted the matter can get 'problematic' if jurors start to 'synthesize the testimony' and the group's thoughts on it.... 'I explained [to the jurors in a "farewell session" that] you don't talk about what the group discussed about the witnesses' testimony, but you can talk about witness testimony,' he said. 'You could talk about things that the assistant district attorneys told you.... And then finally, you can talk about the final report because that is the product of your deliberations, but it's not your deliberations.'... McBurney declined to say if he saw anything in [foreperson Emily] Kohrs' public comments that overstepped his guidance or her oath." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "According to a report from the Daily Beast, it appears that Donald Trump's attempt to raise cash to finance a recount of the 2020 election returns is the subject of an unpublicized investigation by the Federal Elections Commission. As the Beast's Roger Sollenberger reports, a recent FOIA request he made on Trump fundraising and use of funds was turned down with an explanation of, 'To the extent that the records you requested concern an ongoing FEC enforcement matter, we can neither confirm nor deny that any such records exist,' which is an indication that they can't say anything because an investigation is underway." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beth Reinhard & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "For nearly a decade, Matt Schlapp has captained the blockbuster Conservative Political Action Conference, bringing together influential figures on the right and establishing himself as a key voice in ... Donald Trump's movement.... But as Schlapp rebuffs the allegation [of sexual misconduct] by a former staffer from Herschel Walker's Senate campaign in Georgia, who says Schlapp groped him during an Atlanta trip last fall, dozens of current and former employees and board members interviewed by The Washington Post described a wider range of complaints about the longtime Republican power broker and CPAC's culture under his leadership.... Schlapp is facing multiple challenges, including the exodus of more than half of its staff since 2021, according to the current and former employees and board members.... The Fox Nation streaming service is not returning as a sponsor, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ... is skipping it.... As CPAC's flagship event in the Washington area kicks off Wednesday, ticket sales are lagging from past years....

"A Post review of the Walker staffer's [sexual assault] claims also corroborated that he shared his story with friends and colleagues in the immediate aftermath.... The Post review found that call logs, texts and videos provided by the Walker staffer and his confidants broadly match his account of Schlapp making unwanted sexual advances after buying him drinks at two Atlanta bars on the night of Oct. 19...."

Annals of “Journalism,” Ha Ha Ha. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Ever since Donald J. Trump announced his presidential campaign in 2015, Rupert Murdoch and his Fox News Channel have struggled with how to handle the man and the movement they helped create.... For the most part, Mr. Murdoch has been wildly successful at striking the balance [between truth and 'crazy']. Fox converted Mr. Trump's mass following into loyal viewers who deliver Mr. Murdoch and his shareholders huge profits. But the emails among the Murdochs and the senior leadership of their companies, along with depositions of both men as part of the case, revealed just how Fox and its leaders strained to push back against Mr. Trump when he began spreading unfounded claims about widespread election fraud.... In the wake of the election, they appeared fearful of alienating Mr. Trump's supporters, almost to the point of powerlessness.... By early December 2020, as Mr. Trump's claims of being cheated grew more far-fetched, Mr. Murdoch acknowledged how difficult it had become to continue delivering coverage that didn't insult loyal, pro-Trump viewers without stating the obvious: The president was lying to them about his loss." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While the Murdochs, Fox hosts & others at the network were pursuing lies in the service of the company's profits & stock values, all of the principals who weren't multi-millionaires were billionaires. That is, they lied to the rubes to make money they absolutely didn't need. Yeah, capitalism is awesome, all right. I've noticed commentators on the teevee complaining in the wake of the Dominion revelations that truth in advertising should preclude Fox from calling itself "Fox News." I've been doing that for more than a decade. And Al Franken, in his book Lies and the Lying Liars, beat me to that conclusion by several years. ~~~

~~~ Pandering for Profit = Fox's Business Model. Amanda Carpenter of the Bulwark: "Fox News loves to project bravado, but the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit shows how deeply threatened the network is by flimsy, fringe competitors and how executives and hosts talked themselves into dishonestly pandering to viewers to keep ratings and profits up.... Dominion ... filings are already proving something significant, beyond the shadow of a doubt: that Fox casually and knowingly feeds its viewers lies." Carpenter gives quite a good tick-tock narrative of how Fox executives & stars "handled" the Big Lie.

The Pandemic, Ctd. Anumita Kaur & Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "FBI director Christopher A. Wray said Tuesday that covid-19 'most likely' originated from a lab incident in Wuhan, China, his first public comments on the agency's position on the origins of the coronavirus. They come as Republican leaders have reignited probes into the possible source of the pandemic, with GOP House leaders holding a roundtable Tuesday to review the government's response and scheduling a hearing for next week to delve into the virus's origins. 'The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,' Wray said Tuesday in an interview with Fox News. 'The Chinese government, seems to me, has been doing its best to try and thwart and obfuscate the work here, the work that we're doing, and that's unfortunate for everybody.'... Among the nine entities investigating the pandemic's origin, most still favor the theory that the virus naturally spread from animals to humans, with, as The Post reported, only the FBI concluding that the cause of the pandemic was a lab accident, a view that the agency held with 'moderate' confidence." NPR's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Akhilleus wondered yesterday why Republicans were so exercised about the origins of Covid, inasmuch as they characterized the deadly illness as "no big deal, no worse than a cold, nothing to worry about. Mask and vaccine mandates were tantamount to communist Russia's stealing their freeeedoms and sending them to a Siberian gulag for fingernail removal." ~~~

     ~~~ Speaking of China's Global Times. Rohan Goswami of CNBC: "A Chinese state-run newspaper issued a warning to Tesla CEO Elon Musk after he shared reporting on the U.S. Department of Energy's 'low confidence' assessment that the global Covid pandemic originated in a Wuhan laboratory. CNBC's Eunice Yoon reported Tuesday morning on the warning from the social media pages of the Global Times, the English-language subsidiary of the government-controlled People's Daily. The Global Times warned Musk that he could be 'breaking the pot of China' after the Tesla and Twitter CEO responded to tweets that asserted that the Covid pandemic originated in a Wuhan research laboratory.... The saying is akin to the idiom 'to bite the hand that feeds you,' Yoon reported."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Mike Wright of Florida Politics: State "Sen. Blaise Ingoglia is sponsoring the 'Ultimate Cancel Act,' which would eliminate all political parties that once used slavery as part of its platform. While 'Democratic Party' isn’t mentioned in the bill, Ingoglia said that's his target. 'For years now, leftist activists have been trying to "cancel" people and companies for things they have said or done in the past. This includes the removal of statues and memorials, and the renaming of buildings,' he said. 'Using this standard, it would be hypocritical not to cancel the Democratic Party itself for the same reason.'... According to Ingoglia's bill, the Division of Elections would decertify any political party that has 'previously advocated for, or been in support of, slavery or involuntary servitude.'" Thanks to Bobby Lee for the lead. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I guess this is supposed to be a joke inasmuch as it is Republicans who are trying to suppress Black Florida voters and Black & LGBTQ cultures by a number of means. The Republican party of Florida isn't pro-slavery (I guess), but the modern Florida GOP was born in "Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy, which took advantage of objections to the advances of the American Civil Rights Movement."

Georgia. Jane Timm of NBC News: "Georgia Republicans introduced legislation Tuesday to make it easier to kick voters off the rolls through mass challenges.... A draft of proposed legislation was released hours after NBC News exclusively revealed that at least 92,000 voter registrations were challenged in Georgia last year. Amateur fraud hunters largely used voter rolls, public records (including change-of-address data from the U.S. Postal Service) and some door-to-door canvassing in their claims that voters were ineligible. Most of the challenges were rejected, and some counties said broadly that having mail forwarded was not enough evidence to conclude a voter had moved.... The new SB 221 would change that, noting that appearing on the postal service's change-of-address database 'shall constitute sufficient cause to sustain the challenge against the elector' unless a voter is determined meet certain exceptions, like being a student.... 'If being on the [National Change of Address System] meant it was enough to take you off the voter rolls, that would be disastrous and I hope immediately thrown out of court,' said Vasu Abhiraman, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, arguing that federal voting rights law would prohibit such a rule." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Those who vaguely recall that Donald Trump told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that "I just want 11,780 votes" will realize that dumping 92,000 voters often can change the results of statewide elections.

** Illinois. Julie Bosman & Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago lost her bid for a second term on Tuesday, a resounding defeat that reflected widespread dissatisfaction from voters over her handling of crime and policing in the nation's third-largest city. Four years ago, Ms. Lightfoot made history as the first Black woman to be elected mayor of Chicago when she swept all 50 of the city's wards. But she saw her popularity plunge during the coronavirus pandemic as Chicago suffered a spike in violent crime, with looting and destruction on its famed Magnificent Mile in 2020. The two candidates to emerge from Tuesday's first round of voting and advance to an April 4 runoff, according to The Associated Press, were Paul Vallas, a former public schools executive, and Brandon Johnson, a county board commissioner." The NBC News story is here.

Iowa. They Just Won't Quit. Matt Lavietes of NBC News: "Nearly eight years after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage and several months after Congress codified gay nuptials, Iowa legislators proposed banning such unions in their state constitution." Eight members of the state's house sponsored the bill to amend the state's constitution.

Marie: Without looking into the matter too closely, I've been of the impression that New York City's mayor Eric Adams was a jerk. He confirmed my suspicions yesterday. This was kindly of him; it's one less thing for me to ponder. ~~~

~~~ New York. What First Amendment? Dana Rubenstein of the New York Times: At "the annual interfaith breakfast hosted on Tuesday by Mayor Eric Adams..., the mayor's closest aide, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, took the stage to declare that the Adams administration 'doesn't believe' in the separation of church and state, characterizing the mayor of New York City as 'definitely one of the chosen' as she introduced him.... 'Ingrid was so right,' Mr. Adams said.... 'Don't tell me about no separation of church and state. State is the body. Church is the heart. You take the heart out of the body, the body dies. I can't separate my belief because I'm an elected official,' he continued, over scattered applause. He went on to suggest that his path to the mayoralty was divinely ordained, saying that when he implements policies, he does so in a 'godlike approach.' At another point, Mr. Adams seemed to suggest that it was a mistake for the Supreme Court to ban mandated prayer in public schools, as it did in 1962. 'When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools,' he said." The Huffington Post's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Shorter Eric Adams: 'Some people say that the Supreme Court misinterpreting the 2nd Amendment is a major reason why there's so much gun violence, but the real problem is the Supreme Court enforcing the First Amendment.'"

Tennessee. Do As I Say, Not As I Do. Matt Lavietes of NBC News: "By the time Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee confirmed Monday that he would sign a recently passed bill criminalizing drag performances in public and in front of children, a photo that appears to show him dressed in drag as a high school student had already started to circulate on Reddit and Twitter. Just before midnight Saturday, a Reddit user shared an image that appears to show Lee as a high school student wearing a short-skirted cheerleader's uniform, a pearl necklace and a wig, posing on a school sports field next to two girls in men's suits. The caption says, 'Governor Bill Lee in drag (1977 high school yearbook).'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Wednesday is here: "The war in Ukraine is due to dominate conversations at the Group of 20 summit in India, where foreign ministers from the world's most powerful economies are gathering on Wednesday. Those set to attend include Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. In Ukraine, the besieged city of Bakhmut is facing the 'most difficult situation' in the country as battle for control of the symbolic city in the east intensifies, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Russia has deployed mercenaries from the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group in a bid to break through the city's defenses, according to Ukrainian military officials.... Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin-friendly president of Belarus, is continuing his state visit to China on Wednesday. The two sides are expected to sign agreements deepening cooperation on trade, education and technology. Finland's Parliament is expected to vote Wednesday on the country's accession to NATO, a step that would bring it closer to joining the trans-Atlantic military alliance. The bid still needs to be approved by Turkey, which has indicated that it views Finland's application more favorably than Sweden's because of concerns around Stockholm's approach to groups Ankara considers to be terrorists. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday called on Turkey and Hungary to urgently ratify both countries' accession." ~~~

     ~~~ Related stories about a Congressional hearing on U.S. spending for Ukraine linked above.

U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "King Charles III had nothing to do with the Northern Ireland trade agreement unveiled on Monday by Britain and the European Union. But one could be forgiven for thinking that he had put his royal imprimatur on the deal. It is called the Windsor Framework, which happens to be the king's family name. It was sealed at a luxury hotel in Windsor, west of London, where he has a castle. And it was there, at Windsor Castle, that Charles welcomed one of the negotiators, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, for tea just minutes after she and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak presented the deal to the world. That courtesy call, and the resulting photo of a smiling king appearing to celebrate his guest, prompted angry recrimination from critics, who said the government improperly recruited King Charles to be an ally in one of the most divisive issues in British politics."

News Lede

Greece. Washington Post: "A passenger train and a freight train collided overnight in northern Greece, killing at least 36 people and injuring 85 others as plumes of smoke filled the sky. The crash occurred shortly before midnight near Tempe Valley in northern Greece, the Hellenic Fire Service said."

February 28, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "President Biden on Tuesday announced his intention to nominate Julie Su, the deputy labor secretary, to succeed Labor Secretary Martin J. Walsh, who has said he plans to leave the department in March. Ms. Su has helped oversee a department that put forth a series of rules meant to benefit workers, including rules designed to protect workers from Covid-19, a rule making it more likely for workers to be classified as employees rather than contractors, and a rule that would probably raise the wages paid to workers on federally funded construction projects.... Ms. Su, a fluent speaker of Mandarin whose parents were immigrants, served as head of California's Labor and Workforce Development Agency before joining the Biden administration in 2021." Politico's story is here.

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Biden administration urged Congress on Tuesday to renew a controversial warrantless surveillance law, emphasizing that security officials use it for a broad range of foreign policy and national security goals like detecting espionage by countries like China and Iran or stopping hackers. The administration's effort is likely to face particularly steep headwinds because many Republicans have adopted ... Donald J. Trump's distrust of security agencies and surveillance, bolstering privacy advocates who have long been skeptical of the law, known as Section 702.... In a letter to lawmakers, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, described the law as vital."

** GOP Members of Congress Will Aid Insurrectionists. Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "House Republicans are moving to provide defendants in Jan. 6-related cases access to thousands of hours of internal Capitol security footage, a move that could influence many of the ongoing prosecutions stemming from 2021's violent attack. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), who chairs the House Administration Committee's oversight subpanel, said that the access for accused rioters and others -- which Speaker Kevin McCarthy has greenlighted -- would be granted on a 'case-by-case basis.'... McCarthy's decision to let [Tucker] Carlson view the footage from the violent riot by ... Donald Trump's supporters has already been raised in two ongoing Jan. 6 criminal cases. In one instance, a lawyer for one of the Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy has asked prosecutors to determine whether they will access and share the footage; then on Tuesday morning, Joseph McBride, an attorney for Jan. 6 defendant Ryan Nichols, claimed he had already been given permission to review the footage."

Wherein Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Media Whore, Fla.) favorably cites a Chinese propaganda outlet while attempting to grill a Biden administration undersecretary. The Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, politely shot down Gaetz: "I as a general matter, I don't take Beijing's propaganda at face value." Via Mediaite.

Robert Barnes & Daniel Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "Conservative Supreme Court justices on Tuesday seemed highly skeptical that President Biden has authority from Congress to provide more than $400 billion in student loan forgiveness to borrowers as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.Over more than three hours of argument in two cases, conservatives led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. questioned how what Roberts repeatedly called a 'half-trillion dollar' program could be implemented without more direct involvement from Congress, which controls the purse of federal spending. The justices on the right seemed unsatisfied with assertions from their liberal colleagues and U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar that blocking the program would actually thwart the will of Congress, which provided for the secretary of education to act on student loan debt in times of emergency." The NBC News story is here.

Olivia Rubin of ABC News: "After the foreperson of the Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury investigating ... Donald Trump and a push to overturn the 2020 election spoke out in several headline-making interviews, the judge overseeing the case told ABC News on Monday that jurors 'can talk about the final report.' But Judge Robert C. McBurney noted the matter can get 'problematic' if jurors start to 'synthesize the testimony' and the group's thoughts on it.... 'I explained [to the jurors in a "farewell session" that] you don't talk about what the group discussed about the witnesses' testimony, but you can talk about witness testimony,' he said. 'You could talk about things that the assistant district attorneys told you.... And then finally, you can talk about the final report because that is the product of your deliberations, but it's not your deliberations.'... McBurney declined to say if he saw anything in [foreperson Emily] Kohrs' public comments that overstepped his guidance or her oath."

Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "According to a report from the Daily Beast, it appears that Donald Trump's attempt to raise cash to finance a recount of the 2020 election returns is the subject of an unpublicized investigation by the Federal Elections Commission. As the Beast's Roger Sollenberger reports, a recent FOIA request he made on Trump fundraising and use of funds was turned down with an explanation of, 'To the extent that the records you requested concern an ongoing FEC enforcement matter, we can neither confirm nor deny that any such records exist,' which is an indication that they can't say anything because an investigation is underway."

Tennessee. Do As I Say, Not As I Do. Matt Lavietes of NBC News: "By the time Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee confirmed Monday that he would sign a recently passed bill criminalizing drag performances in public and in front of children, a photo that appears to show him dressed in drag as a high school student had already started to circulate on Reddit and Twitter. Just before midnight Saturday, a Reddit user shared an image that appears to show Lee as a high school student wearing a short-skirted cheerleader's uniform, a pearl necklace and a wig, posing on a school sports field next to two girls in men's suits. The caption says, 'Governor Bill Lee in drag (1977 high school yearbook).'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Jim Tankersley & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "Semiconductor manufacturers seeking a slice of nearly $40 billion in new federal subsidies [under the CHIPS Act] will need to ensure affordable child care for their workers, limit stock buybacks and share certain excess profits with the government, the Biden administration will announce on Tuesday. The new requirements represent an aggressive attempt by the federal government to bend the behavior of corporate America to accomplish its economic and national security objectives.... The rules for chip makers come on top of other requirements written into the law... As the Biden administration makes the nation's first big foray into industrial policy in decades, officials are also using the opportunity to advance policies championed by liberals that seek to empower workers.... On Tuesday, the Commerce Department will release its application for manufacturers seeking funds under the law.... Gina Raimondo, the Commerce secretary, said in an interview that the financial rules would encourage companies to ask only for funding they really need and prevent them from diverting taxpayer dollars to pad the pockets of their shareholders." MB: Tankersley & Swanson seem pretty upset about the new rules.

** Hannah Dreier of the New York Times: "Migrant children ... are part of a new economy of exploitation: ... children, who have been coming into the United States without their parents in record numbers, are ending up in some of the most punishing jobs in the country, a New York Times investigation found. This shadow work force extends across industries in every state, flouting child labor laws that have been in place for nearly a century. Twelve-year-old roofers in Florida and Tennessee. Underage slaughterhouse workers in Delaware, Mississippi and North Carolina. Children sawing planks of wood on overnight shifts in South Dakota.... The federal government knows they are in the United States, and the Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for ensuring sponsors will support them and protect them from trafficking or exploitation.... While H.H.S. checks on all minors by calling them a month after they begin living with their sponsors, data obtained by The Times showed that over the last two years, the agency could not reach more than 85,000 children. Overall, the agency lost immediate contact with a third of migrant children.

"'It's getting to be a business for some of these sponsors,' said Annette Passalacqua, who left her job as a caseworker in Central Florida last year. Ms. Passalacqua said she saw so many children put to work, and found law enforcement officials so unwilling to investigate these cases, that she largely stopped reporting them. Instead, she settled for explaining to the children that they were entitled to lunch breaks and overtime.... Caseworkers at [child welfare] agencies said that H.H.S. regularly ignored obvious signs of labor exploitation, a characterization the agency disputed.... [Under the leadership of Secretary Xavier Becerra, H.H.S.] began paring back protections that had been in place for years, including some background checks and reviews of children's files, according to memos reviewed by The Times and interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If Jungle Gym Jordan is looking for something to investigate, this should be it. A featured company in this story is called Hearthside, which makes products like Cheerios, Lucky Charms & Nature Valley granola bars for General Mills. Such warm & fuzzy happy names: "I'm going to sit hearthside here in the verdant Nature Valley & munch on a bowl of Cheerios." Never mind that those Cheerios were packaged by children working on assembly lines in the middle of the night. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Why Investigative Journalism Matters. Hannah Dreier of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Monday announced a wide crackdown on the labor exploitation of migrant children around the United States, including more aggressive investigations of companies benefiting from their work. The development came days after The New York Times published [the results, linked above, of] an investigation into the explosive growth of migrant child labor throughout the United States.... The White House laid out a host of new initiatives to investigate child labor violations among employers and improve the basic support that migrant children receive when they are released to sponsors.... Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, called the revelations in The Times 'heartbreaking' and 'completely unacceptable.' As part of the new effort, the Department of Labor, which enforces these laws, said it would target not just the factories and suppliers that illegally employ children, but also the larger companies that have child labor in their supply chains.... The Department of Labor has begun an investigation into Hearthside, administration officials said....

"[MB: And guess what?] Both the House Judiciary and Oversight committees pledged investigations, and Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio and the Judiciary chairman, demanded in a letter sent Monday that Robin Dunn Marcos, the director of the division of H.H.S. in charge of child migrants, submit to a transcribed interview.... A spokesman for Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Xavier Becerra, the secretary of health and human services, 'cut corners on vetting procedures to prioritize the expedited release of minors, and as a result more migrant children are being handed off to traffickers and exploited.'" MB: It's damned sad when Kevin McCarthy's criticism of Democrats is wholly justified. (Also linked yesterday evening.)

Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "Nearly 100 immigrants who were rounded up during a 2018 raid at a meat processing plant in Tennessee have reached a $1.17 million settlement against the U.S. government and federal agents, who they said used racial profiling and excessive force during the operation, stepping on a person's neck and punching another in the face. The agreement, approved late Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, is very likely the first class settlement over an immigration enforcement operation at a work site, according to immigration experts.... Under the terms of the settlement, members of the lawsuit will receive $550,000, or more than $5,700 each. Six named plaintiffs will receive a total of $475,000 from the federal government to resolve their claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act.... Legal experts called it a rare victory for undocumented immigrants."

Ian Duncan of the Washington Post: "An internal Transportation Department watchdog said Monday that it will audit Secretary Pete Buttigieg's use of Federal Aviation Administration jets for official trips, as well as travel by his predecessor, Elaine Chao. The Transportation Department said Buttigieg made 18 flights on FAA planes over seven trips. In all but one trip, it was less expensive to use FAA aircraft than to fly commercially, Buttigieg's office said. The cost of the flights for Buttigieg and accompanying staff members was $41,905.20, according to the department.... The audit will come at a time when Republicans have been ratcheting up pressure on Buttigieg over the derailment of a freight train in Ohio and disruptions to air travel. The audit of Buttigieg's travel was requested by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who cited a report by Fox News. Kerry Arndt, a spokeswoman for Buttigieg, said in an emailed statement that his team welcomed the review, which it said would be a chance to 'put some of the false, outlandish, and cynical claims about the Secretary's mode of travel to rest.'" MB: Huh. Maybe Marco shouldn't be relying on the veracity of Fox "News" reports. We could ask Rupert about that. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Andrew Blankstein, et al., of NBC News: "The U.S. Marshals Service suffered a security breach over a week ago that compromises sensitive information, multiple senior U.S. law enforcement officials said Monday. In a statement Monday, U.S. Marshals Service spokesperson Drew Wade acknowledged the breach, telling NBC News: 'The affected system contains law enforcement sensitive information, including returns from legal process, administrative information, and personally identifiable information pertaining to subjects of USMS investigations, third parties, and certain USMS employees.' Wade said the incident occurred Feb. 17, when the Marshals Service 'discovered a ransomware and data exfiltration event affecting a stand-alone USMS system.'" A New York Times story is here.

Seung Min Kim, now of the AP: "The White House is giving all federal agencies 30 days to wipe TikTok off all government devices, as the Chinese-owned social media app comes under increasing scrutiny in Washington over security concerns. The Office of Management and Budget calls the guidance, issued Monday, a 'critical step forward in addressing the risks presented by the app to sensitive government data.' Some agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, already have restrictions in place; the guidance calls on the rest of the federal government to follow suit within 30 days. The White House already does not allow TikTok on its devices." MB: It isn't clear to me what will happen to any government documents that must be preserved. Won't those TikTok docs be wiped like the Secret Service's texts around January 6, 2021? Related story linked under "Way Beyond the Beltway."

** Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Rupert Disses the Help. Jeremy Peters & Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the conservative media empire that owns Fox News, acknowledged in a deposition that several hosts for his networks promoted the false narrative that the election in 2020 was stolen from ... Donald J. Trump, court documents released on Monday showed. 'They endorsed,' Mr. Murdoch said under oath in response to direct questions about the hosts Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo, a legal filing by Dominion Voting Systems said. 'I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it in hindsight.' Mr. Murdoch's remarks, which he made last month as part of the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox by Dominion, added to the evidence that ... the people running the country's most popular news network knew Mr. Trump's claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election were false but broadcast them anyway.... Dominion's latest filing also described how Paul D. Ryan, a former Republican speaker of the House and current member of the Fox Corporation board of directors, said in his deposition that he had told Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Murdoch's son Lachlan, the chief executive officer, 'Fox News should not be spreading conspiracy theories.'... In [a] deposition, [Fox's chief legal officier Viet] Dinh, when asked if Fox executives had an obligation to stop hosts of shows from broadcasting lies, said: 'Yes, to prevent and correct known falsehoods.'" Read on. MB: So surprising that Paul Ryan casts himself as the hero in a white hat. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post story is here. CNN's story is here. The Guardian's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch handed Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner 'confidential information' about then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's 2020 campaign ads before they aired on the conservative network, according to a new court filing.... 'During Trump's campaign, Rupert provided Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, with Fox confidential information about Biden's ads, along with debate strategy,' read the filing. It's unclear exactly how Murdoch assisted with 'debate strategy.'... 'These actions by Rupert Murdoch seem illegal,' said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). 'At the very least, it would appear to be a campaign contribution of significant value, well over federal campaign limits.' 'Trump falsely accused Biden of "spying on his campaign,"' commented the progressive PAC MeidasTouch. 'Today, it was revealed that Trump and Fox News colluded to *actually* spy on Biden's campaign. Every accusation is always a confession.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course none of Fox's deception troubles insurrection leader Donald Trump. The big news about Trump today comes from Josephine Harvey of the Huffington Post: "... Donald Trump renewed his attacks on Fox News on Monday, accusing the network of downplaying his popularity over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). 'FoxNews is promoting Ron DeSanctus so hard and so much that there's not much time left for Real News,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'The new Fox Poll, which have always been purposely terrible for me, has "TRUMP Crushing DeSanctimonious," but they barely show it.'"

Lisa Rein & Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "... a newly empowered GOP House majority [is] eager to ramp up scrutiny of the army of civil servants who run the government's day-to-day operations. The effort includes seeking testimony from middle- and lower-level workers who are part of what Republicans have long derided as the 'deep state,' while some lawmakers are drafting bills that have little chance of passing the Democrat-led Senate but give Republicans a chance to argue for reining in the federal bureaucracy of 2.1 million employees." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tenn.), who is facing allegations of embellishing his résumé, acknowledged Monday that he misstated the degree he received from Middle Tennessee State University, claiming he learned of the discrepancy only last week after requesting an official copy of his transcript. Ogles said he mistakenly stated that he received a degree in international relations. In a statement Monday, he said his degree was for liberal studies. That is a general education degree typically for those who cannot settle on a major. Nashville television station WTVF has reported on a wider range of misrepresentations by Ogles about his background, including calling himself an 'economist' when, in fact, he took only one community college economics course that he barely passed. The station has also raised questions about Ogles's representations of having law enforcement experience, including a claim that he handled 'international sex crimes.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Phil Williams of WTVF Nashville published a big ole picture of the transcript. Besides taking 17 years to earn his undergraduate degree in "Liberal Studies," the transcript is dotted with quite a number of courses he flunked. He did get a "D" in "British Pop Culture." (MB: I don't know what the rules are at Middle Brow University, but at the schools I went to, a course didn't count toward graduation credits if you got a "D.") ~~~

     ~~~ Rachel Maddow makes fun of Ogles, which is so unfa-a-a-a-ir: ~~~

Adam Nichols of the Raw Story: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene [(R-Ga.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) were the only two Congress members who] voted against a resolution to mourn the nearly 50,000 people who died in earthquakes that rocked Syria and Turkey earlier this month." MB: It's impossible to guess what "principle" moved these jerks to oppose something as uncontroversial as mourning the victims of a natural disaster.

Democrats won't sing "Happy Birthday" until every kid in America has a cupcake. -- MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle

A Brit told me, 'You Democrats fight with one hand behind your back, and it's usually the upper hand.' -- Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.)

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... the events in East Palestine would seem, on the face of it, to strengthen the progressive case for stronger regulation of industry and hurt the conservative case against regulation. Instead, however, the right is on the attack, claiming that blame for the disaster in Ohio rests on the Biden administration, which it says doesn't care about or is even actively hostile to white people.... As far as I can tell, right-wing commentators have just invented a whole new class of conspiracy theory, one that doesn't even try to explain how the alleged conspiracy is supposed to work.... How did Biden officials engineer a derailment by a private-sector train company, running on privately owned track...?... But never mind. Something bad happened to conservative white people, so surely woke progressives must have been responsible.... It's a good bet that the [Fox 'News'] network and other right-wing commentators know perfectly well that their accusations about the derailment are junk. But they know their audience, and probably believe that it's good business to propound racist conspiracy theories even if they make no logical sense."

A Fallacy of the Right-wing Echo Chamber. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Scott Adams, the creator of the comic strip "Dilbert," "enjoys presenting himself as smarter and more clever than everyone else, leading him to couch controversial statements with belated winks in the manner of Twitter owner Elon Musk (who rushed to support Adams in the wake of the new controversy).... He (like [Donald] Trump and Musk) has been able to tread further into controversy thanks to celebrity and power." Bump goes on to dismantle the Rasmussen Report question upon which Adams based his racist conclusions. Then he demonstrates that Adams was already a racist before the rant: "You don't simply jump from one poll about the views of Black Americans to a position of 'I endorse avoiding Black people at all cost.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ana Marie Cox in a New York Times op-ed: "Name a recurring Fox News segment, and there is a Republican congressional investigation for it.... Joe Biden should clearly call for his son to cooperate -- not with the Republican circus on the Hill but with the Justice Department. That would let Hunter Biden stand on his own and allow the administration to focus on issues that matter most to the American people.... Even the most optimistic Democrats know Hunter Biden has some explaining to do.... Being willing to fight for his son against all comers has been one way for Joe Biden to show love. Letting his son stand on his own two feet and loving him all the same is another."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Tuesday over the legality of one of the most ambitious and expensive executive actions in the nation's history: the Biden administration's plan to wipe out more than $400 billion in student debt because of the coronavirus pandemic.... The law the administration relies on, the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, usually called the HEROES Act, gives the secretary of education the power to 'waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision' to protect borrowers affected by 'a war or other military operation or national emergency.'... In separate cases, six Republican-led states -- Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina -- and two individuals sued to stop the new plan."

The Woes of Greedy Capitalists. Julian Mark of the Washington Post: "Months after cutting ties with rapper and fashion designer Kanye West over his flagrant antisemitism, the German company [Adidas] on Feb. 9 warned it was looking at massive losses if it couldn't sell its inventory, raising questions about its options for the now-tainted brand, including literally burning the shoes.... Newly installed CEO Bjørn Gulden signaled this month that the company might not sell any existing product, which analysts valued from $300 million to $500 million. The company said it could lose as much 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in revenue this year and 500 million euros in operating profit if it cannot repurpose the merchandise.... Elizabeth Napier ... of the University of Toledo..., said the best option for Adidas would be to donate the shoes to disaster relief, such as efforts in Turkey and Syria following an earthquake in February that killed more than 46,000 people. 'I don't know why they just won&'t come out right now and do that,' Napier said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Neither do I. Presumably Adidas made billions on those ridiculously overpriced glorified sneakers. (A pair -- I assume it's a pair! -- retail from about $200 to nearly $600. They can afford to give away $500MM to needy people. There's a reason I have never bought clothes with somebody else's name enblazoned on them. Hell, I cried when I opened a two-pack of Nature Valley granola bars this morning; I'm too cheap to share them with the birds.

The Pandemic, Ctd. Joby Warrick, et al., of the Washington Post: "The theory that covid-19 started with a lab accident in central China received a modest boost in the latest U.S. intelligence assessment after the work of a little-known scientific team that conducts some of the federal government's most secretive and technically challenging investigations of emerging security threats, current and former U.S. officials said Monday. An analysis by experts from the U.S. national laboratory complex -- including members of a storied team known as Z-Division -- prompted the Energy Department to change its view earlier this year about the likely cause of the 2019 coronavirus outbreak, the officials said. Though initially undecided about covid-19's origins, Energy officials concluded as part of a new government-wide intelligence assessment that a lab accident was most likely the triggering event for the world's worst pandemic in a century. But other intelligence agencies involved in the classified update -- completed in the past few weeks and kept under wraps -- were divided on the question of covid-19's origins, with most still maintaining that a natural, evolutionary 'spillover' from animals was the most likely explanation. Even the Energy Department's analysis was carefully hedged, as the officials expressed only 'low confidence' in their conclusion, according to U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity...." ~~~

~~~ Any Yet. And Yet. Tom Sullivan of Digby's Hullabaloo: "The only debate the extremist right will have over the next few days is whether to take a break from demonizing transgender people, immigrants, and public education, and from its embrace of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, to attend to demonizing China. Media executives at Fox will have to ask themselves whether the network and its audience has the bandwidth."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Anthony Isaguierre of the AP: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill that gives him control of Walt Disney World's self-governing district, punishing the company over its opposition to the so-called 'Don't Say Gay' law.... 'Today the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,' he said at a bill signing ceremony in Lake Buena Vista. 'There's a new sheriff in town, and accountability will be the order of the day.'" MB: Lake Buena Vista is the mailing address for Disney World. The new sheriff, BTW, wears immaculate white boots. ~~~

     ~~~ So Then. Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis completed the state takeover of a taxing district controlled by Disney for more than half a century Monday by appointing political supporters.... Capping a year-long feud with one of the state's largest employers, DeSantis signed into law a bill officially granting a new state-appointed board the responsibilities of Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District and named a slate of conservative leaders. The newly appointed members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District include Bridget Ziegler, a vocal proponent of DeSantis's education policies, including the ... 'don't say gay' law that Disney leaders opposed last year. Also named to the board: Ron Peri, who heads the Gathering USA, a Christian ministry, and three attorneys, including the president of the Federalist Society;s Orlando chapter."

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Many on the American right admire the way [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban uses the power of the state against cultural liberalism, but few are imitating him as faithfully as the Florida governor and likely Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. Last week, one of DeSantis's legislative allies filed House Bill 999, which would, as The Tampa Bay Times reported, turn many of DeSantis's 'wide-ranging ideas on higher education into law.' Even by DeSantis's standards, it is a shocking piece of legislation that takes a sledgehammer to academic freedom.... The bill, of course, is only one part of DeSantis's culture war.... 'DeSantis seems to be putting into practice some of the political lessons Orban has to teach the American Right,' Rod Dreher, an American conservative living in Budapest, recently wrote with admiration."

Michigan Senate Race. Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "Representative Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat and former C.I.A. analyst who has notched several high-profile victories in a challenging district, said Monday that she would run for the Senate seat being vacated by Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat. Ms. Slotkin is the first Democrat running in what could be a hotly contested primary followed by a marquee fight in the general election, held during a presidential year in a major battleground state." A CBS News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Tuesday is here: "The battle for the besieged, Ukrainian-held city of Bakhmut has intensified, with a top Ukrainian military commander saying Tuesday that Russian forces had deployed specialized Wagner mercenary units to break through the eastern city's defenses.... Meanwhile, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko -- one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest allies -- has embarked on a three-day trip to China. He is due to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of the state visit, which comes as Washington and Beijing exchange tense messages over China's position over the war.... Senior U.S. defense officials will appear in front of two House committees to discuss U.S. security assistance to Ukraine on Tuesday, as Republicans step up scrutiny of the Biden administration's aid efforts for Kyiv.... A wave of drone attacks across Ukraine is further evidence that Kyiv needs modern combat aircraft, [President] Zelensky said in his nightly address.

Marc Santora & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "A week after President Biden traveled to Ukraine to pledge American support in the fight to repel Russia, he has dispatched two senior cabinet members to redouble efforts to prop up the Ukrainian economy and to try to curb the Kremlin's ability to skirt Western sanctions. The visits, by Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen to the capital, Kyiv, and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken into the heart of what Moscow considers its sphere of influence in Central Asia, underscore the Biden administration's commitment to blocking Moscow's ambitions in Ukraine as the war enters its second year..... Arriving on an overnight train from Poland as air raid sirens blared -- just as Mr. Biden did only days ago -- Ms. Yellen crisscrossed Kyiv, meeting with the country's top officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky; honoring those who had been killed in the conflict; and publicly making the case that the billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money were being well spent.... Ms. Yellen announced the transfer of $1.25 billion in economic aid to Ukraine -- money to help finance schools, firefighters and doctors. It is the first installment of about $10 billion that the United States is providing to Kyiv this year as part of a $45 billion aid package approved by Congress in December.... Mr. Blinken was to arrive on Tuesday in Kazakhstan to urge senior Central Asian officials from the former Soviet republics convening there to maintain their independence from Russia and China and not to be complicit in Moscow's attempts to evade sanctions.... None of the Central Asian nations voted yes on the United Nations resolution last week calling for Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and agree to a lasting peace recognizing Ukraine's full sovereignty."

Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "For months, military analysts have been anticipating that the Russian military, under pressure from President Vladimir V. Putin, would seek to regain momentum in the war as the first anniversary approached. A recent series of attacks along the front lines in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine were at first regarded as exploratory thrusts. But increasingly, they are seen as the best the exhausted Russian forces can manage.... Many of its most elite, best-trained and experienced units have been decimated, left in a shambles that experts say will probably take years, rather than months, to recover from.In their places, Russia is being forced to rely on tens of thousands of newly conscripted soldiers rushed to the front with little time for instruction.... The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based analytical group, said the Russian assault near Lyman had already entered its most intensive phase, without Russia winning any territorial gains."

Canada, Europe. Rob Gillies of the AP: "Canada announced Monday it is banning TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices, reflecting widening worries from Western officials over the Chinese-owned video sharing app. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it might be a first step to further action or that it might be it.... The European Union's executive branch said last week it has temporarily banned TikTok from phones used by employees as a cybersecurity measure."

U.K., etc. Lisa O'Carroll & Jessica Elgot of the Guardian: UK Prime Minister "Rishi Sunak hailed a 'new chapter' in the UK's relationship with the EU as he agreed a deal to end the dispute over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol. The prime minister said he had secured a significant change to the original text of the protocol. Now termed the Windsor framework, it will create a new green lane for traders, scrapping all trade restrictions between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and new freedoms for medicines, chilled meats and pets to move over the Irish Sea. A new 'Stormont brake', a surprise measure in Monday's package, means the Northern Ireland assembly can oppose new EU goods rules that would have significant and lasting effects on everyday lives in Northern Ireland." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.

February 27, 2023

Afternoon/Evening Update:

** Hannah Dreier of the New York Times: "Migrant children ... are part of a new economy of exploitation: ... children, who have been coming into the United States without their parents in record numbers, are ending up in some of the most punishing jobs in the country, a New York Times investigation found. This shadow work force extends across industries in every state, flouting child labor laws that have been in place for nearly a century. Twelve-year-old roofers in Florida and Tennessee. Underage slaughterhouse workers in Delaware, Mississippi and North Carolina. Children sawing planks of wood on overnight shifts in South Dakota.... The federal government knows they are in the United States, and the Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for ensuring sponsors will support them and protect them from trafficking or exploitation.... While H.H.S. checks on all minors by calling them a month after they begin living with their sponsors, data obtained by The Times showed that over the last two years, the agency could not reach more than 85,000 children. Overall, the agency lost immediate contact with a third of migrant children.

"'It's getting to be a business for some of these sponsors,' said Annette Passalacqua, who left her job as a caseworker in Central Florida last year. Ms. Passalacqua said she saw so many children put to work, and found law enforcement officials so unwilling to investigate these cases, that she largely stopped reporting them. Instead, she settled for explaining to the children that they were entitled to lunch breaks and overtime.... Caseworkers at [child welfare] agencies said that H.H.S. regularly ignored obvious signs of labor exploitation, a characterization the agency disputed.... [Under the leadership of Secretary Xavier Becerra, H.H.S.] began paring back protections that had been in place for years, including some background checks and reviews of children's files, according to memos reviewed by The Times and interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If Jungle Gym Jordan is looking for something to investigate, this should be it. A featured company in this story is called Hearthside, which makes products like Cheerios, Lucky Charms & Nature Valley granola bars for General Mills. Such warm & fuzzy happy names: "I'm going to sit hearthside here in the verdant Nature Valley & munch on a bowl of Cheerios." Never mind that those Cheerios were packaged by children working on assembly lines in the middle of the night. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Hannah Dreier of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Monday announced a wide crackdown on the labor exploitation of migrant children around the United States, including more aggressive investigations of companies benefiting from their work. The development came days after The New York Times published [the results, linked above, of] an investigation into the explosive growth of migrant child labor throughout the United States.... The White House laid out a host of new initiatives to investigate child labor violations among employers and improve the basic support that migrant children receive when they are released to sponsors.... Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, called the revelations in The Times 'heartbreaking' and 'completely unacceptable.' As part of the new effort, the Department of Labor, which enforces these laws, said it would target not just the factories and suppliers that illegally employ children, but also the larger companies that have child labor in their supply chains.... The Department of Labor has begun an investigation into Hearthside, administration officials said....

"[MB: And guess what?] Both the House Judiciary and Oversight committees pledged investigations, and Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio and the Judiciary chairman, demanded in a letter sent Monday that Robin Dunn Marcos, the director of the division of H.H.S. in charge of child migrants, submit to a transcribed interview.... A spokesman for Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Xavier Becerra, the secretary of health and human services, 'cut corners on vetting procedures to prioritize the expedited release of minors, and as a result more migrant children are being handed off to traffickers and exploited.'" MB: It's damned sad when Kevin McCarthy's criticism of Democrats is wholly justified.

Ian Duncan of the Washington Post: "An internal Transportation Department watchdog said Monday that it will audit Secretary Pete Buttigieg's use of Federal Aviation Administration jets for official trips, as well as travel by his predecessor, Elaine Chao. The Transportation Department said Buttigieg made 18 flights on FAA planes over seven trips. In all but one trip, it was less expensive to use FAA aircraft than to fly commercially, Buttigieg's office said. The cost of the flights for Buttigieg and accompanying staff members was $41,905.20, according to the department.... The audit will come at a time when Republicans have been ratcheting up pressure on Buttigieg over the derailment of a freight train in Ohio and disruptions to air travel. The audit of Buttigieg's travel was requested by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who cited a report by Fox News. Kerry Arndt, a spokeswoman for Buttigieg, said in an emailed statement that his team welcomed the review, which it said would be a chance to 'put some of the false, outlandish, and cynical claims about the Secretary's mode of travel to rest.'" MB: Huh. Maybe Marco should not be relying on the veracity of Fox "News" reports. We could ask Rupert about that.

** Rupert Disses the Help. Jeremy Peters & Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the conservative media empire that owns Fox News, acknowledged in a deposition that several hosts for his networks promoted the false narrative that the election in 2020 was stolen from ... Donald J. Trump, court documents released on Monday showed. 'They endorsed,' Mr. Murdoch said under oath in response to direct questions about the hosts Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo, a legal filing by Dominion Voting Systems said. 'I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it in hindsight.' Mr. Murdoch s remarks, which he made last month as part of the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox by Dominion, added to the evidence that ... the people running the country's most popular news network knew Mr. Trump's claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election were false but broadcast them anyway.... Dominion's latest filing also described how Paul D. Ryan, a former Republican speaker of the House and current member of the Fox Corporation board of directors, said in his deposition that he had told Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Murdoch's son Lachlan, the chief executive officer, 'Fox News should not be spreading conspiracy theories.'... In [a] deposition, [Fox's chief legal officier Viet] Dinh, when asked if Fox executives had an obligation to stop hosts of shows from broadcasting lies, said: 'Yes, to prevent and correct known falsehoods.'" Read on. MB: So surprising that Paul Ryan casts himself as the hero in a white hat.

Lisa Rein & Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "... a newly empowered GOP House majority [is] eager to ramp up scrutiny of the army of civil servants who run the government's day-to-day operations. The effort includes seeking testimony from middle- and lower-level workers who are part of what Republicans have long derided as the 'deep state,' while some lawmakers are drafting bills that have little chance of passing the Democrat-led Senate but give Republicans a chance to argue for reining in the federal bureaucracy of 2.1 million employees."

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tenn.), who is facing allegations of embellishing his résumé, acknowledged Monday that he misstated the degree he received from Middle Tennessee State University, claiming he learned of the discrepancy only last week after requesting an official copy of his transcript. Ogles said he mistakenly stated that he received a degree in international relations. In a statement Monday, he said his degree was for liberal studies. That is a general education degree typically for those who cannot settle on a major. Nashville television station WTVF has reported on a wider range of misrepresentations by Ogles about his background, including calling himself an 'economist' when, in fact, he took only one community college economics course that he barely passed. The station has also raised questions about Ogles's representations of having law enforcement experience, including a claim that he handled 'international sex crimes.'"

A Fallacy of the Right-wing Echo Chamber. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Scott Adams, the creator of the comic strip "Dilbert," "enjoys presenting himself as smarter and more clever than everyone else, leading him to couch controversial statements with belated winks in the manner of Twitter owner Elon Musk (who rushed to support Adams in the wake of the new controversy).... He (like [Donald] Trump and Musk) has been able to tread further into controversy thanks to celebrity and power." Bump goes on to dismantle the Rasmussen Report question upon which Adams based his racist conclusions. Then he demonstrates that Adams was already a racist before the rant: "You don't simply jump from one poll about the views of Black Americans to a position of 'I endorse avoiding Black people at all cost.'"

Michigan Senate Race. Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "Representative Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat and former C.I.A. analyst who has notched several high-profile victories in a challenging district, said Monday that she would run for the Senate seat being vacated by Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat. Ms. Slotkin is the first Democrat running in what could be a hotly contested primary followed by a marquee fight in the general election, held during a presidential year in a major battleground state." A CBS News story is here.

U.K., etc. Lisa O'Carroll & Jessica Elgot of the Guardian: UK Prime Minister "Rishi Sunak hailed a 'new chapter' in the UK's relationship with the EU as he agreed a deal to end the dispute over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol. The prime minister said he had secured a significant change to the original text of the protocol. Now termed the Windsor framework, it will create a new green lane for traders, scrapping all trade restrictions between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and new freedoms for medicines, chilled meats and pets to move over the Irish Sea. A new 'Stormont brake', a surprise measure in Monday's package, means the Northern Ireland assembly can oppose new EU goods rules that would have significant and lasting effects on everyday lives in Northern Ireland."

~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "During ... Donald Trump's time in office, White House reporters asked about a train derailment on one occasion according to a review of transcripts.... On December 18, 2017, an Amtrak passenger train derailed near DuPont, Washington State, killing three people and injuring 65 others.... Trump spoke about the fatal crash once, for a total of 23 seconds, and did not visit the site or send his transportation secretary: 'Let me begin by expressing our deepest sympathies and most heartfelt prayers for the victims of the train derailment in Washington State. We are closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with local authorities. It is all the more reason why we must start immediately fixing the infrastructure of the United States.'... Trump never did get his infrastructure plan going, and in 2019 killed a raft of train safety regulations...."

digby publishes a big chunk of a Rolling Stone story: "... according to two former Trump administration officials, [in early 2018 Donald Trump] was so upset by [Jimmy] Kimmel's comedic jabs that he directed his White House staff to call up one of Disney's top executives in Washington, D.C., to complain and demand action. (ABC, on which Jimmy Kimmel Live! has long aired, is owned by Disney.) In at least two separate phone calls that occurred around the time Trump was finishing his first year in office, the White House conveyed the severity of his fury with Kimmel to Disney, the ex-officials tell Rolling Stone. Trump's staff mentioned that the leader of the free world wanted the billion-dollar company to rein in the Trump-trashing ABC host, and that Trump felt that Kimmel had, in the characterization of one former senior administration official, been 'very dishonest and doing things that [Trump] would have once sued over.'...

"In 2018, Trump's FCC chairman Ajit Pai announced that the agency would investigate a crass joke from Late Show host Stephen Colbert about Trump's cozy relationship with Vladimir Putin. Trump fumed at Colbert in an interview and called him a 'no-talent' who uses 'filthy' language.... The FCC ultimately declined to take action against the late night host. As the matter was being examined, the then-president took enough of an interest in it to repeatedly ask aides for updates on if the FCC had made a decision yet, a source with direct knowledge of the queries says."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Joe DePaulo of Mediaite: "A Fox News host said the network is not allowing him to cover the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed against Fox News by Dominion voting systems. Speaking at the midway point of his weekly media roundup show MediaBuzz on Sunday, Howard Kurtz said that the company has forbidden him from covering the case. 'The company has decided that as part of the organization being sued, I can't talk about it or write about it, at least for now,' Kurtz said. [']I strongly disagree with that decision. But as an employee, I have to abide by it.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Real news media regularly cover newsworthy stories in which they are litigants. ~~~

~~~ David French of the New York Times: "Fox News became a juggernaut not simply by being 'Republican,' or 'conservative,' but by offering its audience something it craved even more deeply: representation. And journalism centered on representation ultimately isn't journalism at all.... As the Trump years wore on, the prime-time messaging became more blatant. Supporting Trump became a marker not just of patriotism, but also of courage.... So you can start to understand the shock when, on Election Day in 2020, Fox News accurately, if arguably prematurely, called Arizona for Joe Biden. It broke the social compact.... In the emails and texts highlighted in the Dominion filing, you see Fox News figures, including Sean Hannity and Suzanne Scott and Lachlan Murdoch, referring to the need to 'respect' the audience. To be clear, by 'respect' they didn't mean 'tell the truth' -- an act of genuine respect. Instead they meant 'represent.'"

Get to Know a Billionaire. He Might Be a Cold-hearted, Racist Control Freak. ~~~

~~~ We White People Are So Lucky to Have Elon Defend Us. Will Oremus of the Washington Post: "Twitter and Tesla chief Elon Musk defended Scott Adams, the under-fire creator of 'Dilbert,' in a series of tweets Sunday, blasting media organizations for dropping his comic strip after Adams said that White people should 'get the hell away from Black people.' Replying to tweets about the controversy, Musk said it is actually the media that is 'racist against whites & Asians.' He offered no criticism of Adams's comments, in which the cartoonist called Black people a 'hate group' and said, 'I don't want to have anything to do with them.' Musk previously tweeted, then later deleted, a reply to Adams's tweet about media outlets pulling his comic strip, in which Musk asked, 'What exactly are they complaining about?' The billionaire's comments continue a pattern of Musk expressing more concern about the 'free speech' of people who make racist or antisemitic comments than about the comments themselves." A Reuters story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ AND He's Giving Twitter Employees Their Freeeedom. Kate Conger, et al., of the New York Times: "Twitter laid off at least 200 of its employees on Saturday night, three people familiar with the matter said, or about 10 percent of the roughly 2,000 who were still working for the company. Elon Musk, who acquired the social media platform in October, has steadily pared back its work force from about 7,500 employees as he has sought to reduce costs. The layoffs came after a week when the company made it difficult for Twitter employees to communicate with each other. The company's internal messaging service, Slack, was taken offline, preventing employees from chatting with each other or looking up company data, five current and former employees told The New York Times."

** The Pandemic, Ctd. A Right-Wing Conspiracy Theory May Be True. Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "New intelligence has prompted the Energy Department to conclude that an accidental laboratory leak in China most likely caused the coronavirus pandemic, though U.S. spy agencies remain divided over the origins of the virus, American officials said on Sunday. The conclusion was a change from the department's earlier position that it was undecided on how the virus emerged. Some officials briefed on the intelligence said that it was relatively weak and that the Energy Department's conclusion was made with 'low confidence,' suggesting its level of certainty was not high. While the department shared the information with other agencies, none of them changed their conclusions, officials said. Officials would not disclose what the intelligence was. But many of the Energy Department's insights come from the network of national laboratories it oversees, rather than more traditional forms of intelligence like spy networks or communications intercepts....

"In addition to the Energy Department, the F.B.I. has also concluded, with moderate confidence, that the virus first emerged accidentally from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a Chinese lab that worked on coronaviruses.... Early in the Biden administration, the president ordered the intelligence agencies to investigate the pandemic's origins, after criticism of a W.H.O. report on the matter." The Guardian's report is here. ~~~

Lauren Sforza of the Hill: "The lack of confidence or details on the assessment didn't stop Republicans from claiming validation and calling for urgent action against China."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Israel/Palestine. Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "Hours after a Palestinian gunman fatally shot two Israeli brothers as they drove through a town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday, Jewish settlers went on a rampage in the area to avenge the killings, stoning and burning dozens of Palestinian homes, stores and cars. The shooting occurred early Sunday afternoon on a road south of the city of Nablus even as Israeli, Palestinian and other Arab officials were participating in a summit in Jordan, along with senior U.S. representatives, to discuss ways to de-escalate rising tensions. After nightfall, with the summit concluded, settlers held marches in the same area as the shooting and began attacking Palestinians and their property. The Palestinian Health Ministry said that one man, Sameh Aqtash, 37, had been killed by live fire as a result of Israeli 'aggression.'"

Mexico. Natalie Kitroeff of the New York Times: "More than 100,000 people took to the streets of Mexico on Sunday to protest new laws hobbling the nation's election agency, in what demonstrators said was a repudiation of the president's efforts to weaken a pillar of democracy. Wearing shades of pink, the official color of the electoral watchdog that helped end one-party rule two decades ago, protesters filled the central square of the capital, Mexico City, and chanted, 'Don't touch my vote.' The protesters said they were trying to send a message to the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who backed the measures and lives in the national palace on the square's edge. They were also speaking directly to the nation's Supreme Court, which is expected to hear a challenge to the overhaul in the coming months. Many see the moment as a critical test for the court, which has been a target of criticism by the president." An AP story is here.

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

News Lede

New York Times: "A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey on Monday, killing at least one person and trapping others in collapsed buildings three weeks after a devastating quake struck the same region, leaving more than 50,000 people dead in the country and in neighboring Syria. The latest quake struck just after noon on Monday, south of the city of Malatya, according to the United States Geological Survey. Malatya is the capital of the province of the same name, one of 11 Turkish regions affected by the Feb. 6 tremor."