The Ledes

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Washington Post: “Towns throughout western North Carolina ... were transformed overnight by ... [Hurricane Helene]. Muddy floodwaters lifted homes from their foundations. Landslides and overflowing rivers severed the only way in and out of small mountain communities. Rescuers said they were struggling to respond to the high number of emergency calls.... The death toll grew throughout the Southeast as the scope of Helene’s devastation came into clearer view. At least 49 people had been killed in five states — Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. By early counts, South Carolina suffered the greatest loss of life, registering at least 19 deaths.”

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The Ledes

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Washington Post: “Rescue teams raced to submerged homes, scoured collapsed buildings and steered thousands from overflowing dams as Helene carved a destructive path Friday, knocking out power and flooding a vast arc of communities across the southeastern United States. At least 40 people were confirmed killed in five states since the storm made landfall late Thursday as a Category 4 behemoth, unleashing record-breaking storm surge and tree-snapping gusts. 4 million homes and businesses have lost electricity across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, prompting concerns that outages could drag on for weeks. Mudslides closed highways. Water swept over roofs and snapped phone lines. Houses vanished from their foundations. Tornadoes added to the chaos. The mayor of hard-hit Canton, N.C., called the scene 'apocalyptic.'” An AP report is here.

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Wednesday
Feb082023

February 9, 2023

Afternoon Update:

** Katherine Faulders & John Santucci of ABC News: "Former Vice President Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by the special counsel overseeing probes into ... Donald Trump, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. It's not immediately clear what information the subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith is seeking, but it follows months of negotiations between federal prosecutors and Pence's legal team." At 6:30 pm ET Thursday, this is a breaking story. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Either (1) negotiations between Pence & Smith broke down, or (2) Pence requested the subpoena so he could pretend he was not testifying voluntarily. ~~~

     ~~~ ** Update. Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "Special counsel Jack Smith's office is seeking documents and testimony related to January 6, the source said. They want him to testify about his interactions with Trump leading up to the 2020 election and the day of the attack on the US Capitol."

Edward Wong & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "The Chinese spy balloon shot down by the U.S. military over the Atlantic Ocean was capable of collecting some forms of electronic communications and was part of a fleet of surveillance balloons directed by the Chinese military that had flown over more than 40 countries across five continents, the State Department said Thursday. While the balloon was still in the air, American U-2 surveillance planes took images of it to determine its capabilities, the department said in a statement, adding that the balloon's equipment 'was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment on board weather balloons.' The agency said the balloon had multiple antennas in an array that was 'likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications.' Solar panels on the machine were large enough to produce power to operate 'multiple active intelligence collection sensors,' the department said. The agency also said the U.S. government was confident that the company that made the balloon had direct commercial ties with the People's Liberation Army, the Chinese military, citing an official procurement portal for the army." The Guardian's story is here.

But My Kevin Needs Him! Jacqueline Sweet of Politico: "Rep. George Santos was charged with theft in Pennsylvania's Amish Country in 2017 after a series of bad checks were written in his name to dog breeders, according to the court and a lawyer friend who helped him address the charge. Just days after $15,125 in checks were made out for 'puppies,' according to the memo lines, Santos held an adoption event at a Staten Island pet store with his animal rescue charity Friends of Pets United, according to the store's Instagram account and a person who attended the event. The charge was dismissed and his record expunged after Santos claimed someone had stolen his checkbook, according to the court and the lawyer.... Attorney Tiffany Bogosian ... noted [in an email] to [a Pennsylvania state] trooper that the signatures were different on each of the [bad] checks and attached Santos' New York State driver's license to show his signature on that ID didn't match any of the ones on the checks.... A week after [the initial meeting between Santos & Bogosian], he went to Pennsylvania to address the warrant, and told prosecutors that he 'worked for the S.E.C.,' successfully persuading them to drop the charges, she remembered him telling her after he returned."

Robert Legare & Scott MacFarlane of CBS News: "The pro-Trump rioter who marched through the halls of Congress while wielding a Confederate flag on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to 36 months behind bars on Thursday, more than two years after photos of him became some of the most widely recognized images of the attack on the Capitol. Kevin Seefried, 53, was convicted in June 2022 after a bench trial before Judge Trevor McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who found him of multiple charges, including obstructing Congress, entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct and unlawful parading. His son, Hunter, was also convicted on the obstruction charge, but acquitted on other counts. Hunter was sentenced to two years in prison last year."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "In private messages, revealed Thursday by prosecutors at a seditious conspiracy trial stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, members of the [Proud Boys] discussed Trump's Sept. 29 debate-stage exhortation to the Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by' ahead of the November election. Some Proud Boy leaders, like Joe Biggs -- one of five seditious conspiracy defendants -- saw Trump's comment as a command to prepare to violently confront antifa.... After Trump's projected defeat in the presidential election on Nov. 7, the group's concerns about its role grew even more acute.... 'Trumps calling the troops in on the 6th,' Biggs said to the group.... Members of the group discussed a strategy to break into small teams to avoid being choked off by police blockades."

Ron DeSantolini, New President of the College Board. Dana Goldstein, et al., of the New York Times: "While the College Board was developing its first Advanced Placement course in African American studies, the group was in repeated contact with the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, often discussing course concepts that the state said it found objectionable, a newly released letter shows. When the final course guidelines were released last week, the College Board had removed or significantly reduced the presence of many of those concepts ... though it said that political pressure played no role in the changes. The specifics about the discussions, over the course of a year, were outlined in a Feb. 7 letter from the Florida Department of Education to the College Board. The existence of the letter was first reported by The Daily Caller, a conservative news site. A copy of the letter was posted on Scribd.... The back and forth between Florida and the College Board is sure to add to the controversy over the Advanced Placement curriculum...."

New Jersey. Nicholas Fernandez of NJ.com: "Two local politicians from New Jersey have been shot to death in the past week, officials said Wednesday evening. Russell D. Heller, a councilman in Milford, a small borough in Hunterdon County, was fatally shot outside the PSE&G Somerset Central Division Headquarters in Franklin by a former co-worker on Wednesday morning, officials said. Heller, 51, a senior distribution supervisor for the energy company, was pronounced dead on the scene of the Weston Canal Road headquarters, authorities said.... Gary T. Curtis, 58, of Washington in Warren County, was identified as the suspect in the shooting and located at 10:20 a.m. in Bridgewater, inside a car, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office said.... This comes just one week after a separate incident in which Sayreville councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour was fatally shot in a vehicle near her home."

Ukraine, et al. Frank Bajak of the AP: "Ukrainians reacted Thursday with puzzlement and some ire to comments by a top Starlink official that their country has 'weaponized' the satellite internet service, which has been pivotal to their national survival. President Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX, which runs Starlink, was also reported to have said at the same venue Wednesday that the Elon Musk-controlled company has taken unspecified action to prevent Ukraine's military from using Starlink technology against Russian invaders. The network of low-orbiting satellites has been crucial to Ukraine's use of battlefield drones -- a central fixture of the year-old war -- and the country's defenders have no viable alternative. The satellite links help Ukrainian fighters locate the enemy and target long-range artillery strikes.... It was not clear whether Shotwell's comments Wednesday were made at the urging of Musk, the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX."

~~~~~~~~~~

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "With his call for a 'blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America,' President Biden on Tuesday night acknowledged rhetorically wha Democrats have been preparing for two years: a fierce campaign to win back white working-class voters through the creation of hundreds of thousands of well-paid jobs that do not require a college degree.... In truth, much of that path was already laid by the last Congress with the signing of a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, a $280 billion measure to rekindle a domestic semiconductor industry and the Inflation Reduction Act, which included $370 billion for low-emission energy to combat climate change.... But Democrats will have to match those jobs [created by the act] against Republican appeals aimed at white grievances." MB: For as long as I can remember, blue-collar and other poor Republicans have been voting against their own interests. They don't have any sense, and no one is going to knock the sense into most of them.

Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "... the best part of the night happened right after [President] Biden's speech was over, when most (but not all) networks weren't airing his comments anymore and he made his way through the crowd. It was here, where the president could actually talk to all the dignitaries, members of Congress and other people in the room, that he was truly in his element.... Biden spent another 20 minutes cracking jokes with Supreme Court justices, telling stories, taking countless selfies, talking to people's kids on cell phones, listening to Democratic and Republican lawmakers' requests for help, and offering comfort to people who needed it." Bendery relates those parts of the conversations she could hear.

Paul Waldman & Gret Sargent of the Washington Post: "While delivering the Republican response to President Biden's State of the Union address, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to link the 80-year-old Biden to a 'woke' mob and bragged of banning 'CRT' in her state. Sanders didnt define either term. She used the initials 'CRT' without spelling out 'critical race theory,' apparently certain most Americans know what that means. Watching Sanders toss around those extremely online terms -- only months after her party badly underperformed in the midterm elections while campaigning against those very things -- vividly demonstrates a problem for the GOP.... Given a rare opportunity to communicate a conservative vision to the entire country, Sanders delivered a message that was, as Matthew Sheffield put it, 'filled with far-right buzzwords that were likely incomprehensible to most Americans who had bothered to watch.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Tales from the Darkside. Marie: Waldman & Sargent don't mention it, perhaps because the criticism is definitely politically incorrect, but I found the worst part of Sanders' little video to be the visual. She looked like an Addams family member talking to the camera from a dark, scary cabin in the deep backwoods; the original Grimms' Hansel & Gretel site as remade by GOP Pictures, Ltd. Little children (like many adults) might not understand a word she said, but the image itself would give the kiddies nightmares. Good thing the horror show aired well past their bedtimes. I should like to think video of this frightening monologue will go down in history as the iconic representation of the Republican party in the 2020s. (BTW, at 2 am ET Thursday, the Waldman-Sargent post was the most-read article on the WashPo site; I'd guess Gov. Sarah unsettled a lot of readers.) ~~~

     ~~~ As Akhilleus did in yesterday's Comments, Robin Givhan of the Washington Post remarks on Marjorie Taylor Greene's outfit -- and her bad behavior: "She was a sideshow in the chamber.... She took on the demeanor of a hooligan in a chamber where violent insurrectionists remain a vivid memory -- insurrectionists she has defended and an incursion she has played down.... Later, she put her own assessment of the union [in a Twitter video in which] ... she reaches just out of frame to grab hold of a white, helium-filled balloon on a string. It was an evening-long set piece of grievances and grudges."

Stephen Collinson, opinion columnist at CNN, covers the SOTU antics as well as those in the hearing over the Vast Left-wing Conspiracy to Suppress Conservative Free Speech (related stories linked below). MB: I don't agree with all Collinson writes, but he picks up several threads worth unraveling. The main point I take issue with is this: "... [Kevin]McCarthy's comment on Fox that it was one of the most partisan State of the Union addresses he’d ever heard was not totally wide of the mark." It's easy enough to see how Collinson could make what I consider a mistake, because he -- like so many other opinionators -- doesn't take into account that Biden (as well as other Democrats and some Republicans) are not trying to advocate against Republicans as much as they are trying to save our democratic institutions.

I'm thinking primarily of the right to full participation in voting, protesting, bodily autonomy and other prerogatives of democracy, but I'm also talking about the right to benefit from those programs and policies that Americans have come to rely on over the last five to seven decades, like Social Security and Medicare. Or longer, like public education. These programs, and others, are now well-woven into the fabric of American life. It isn't just that to some extent or the other, we have individually prepaid into some of those programs, it's that they are necessary for the country to function. We can certainly tweak and improve them, but to cripple or eliminate them is a threat to the nation such that the president is sworn to defend against. That almost all of these existential threats are coming from Republicans and their allies is not Joe Biden's fault.

Biden Name-Checks the Perps. Mariana Alfaro & Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "In his State of the Union address, [President] Biden said some -- but not all -- Republicans want to target programs such as Social Security and Medicare, drawing jeers and catcalls from certain members of the GOP caucus. On Wednesday, the president used his speech at a labor training center in Wisconsin to identify the Republicans he was talking about Tuesday night, reading direct comments the lawmakers have made when proposing changes. 'When I raised the plans of some of their members in their caucus to cut Social Security ... Marjorie Taylor Greene and others stood up and said: "Liar, liar,"' Biden said. 'Well, guess what? ... I [will] remind you that Rick Scott from Florida, the guy who ran a U.S. Senate campaign, has a plan. I got his brochure right here!' Biden was referring to Scott's plan that would require all legislation -- including that relating to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare -- to be "sunset," which would require votes every five years to continue them.... Speaking in DeForest, Wis., the president also noted that one of the state's own senators, Republican Ron Johnson, also has expressed support for targeting the two programs in a budget-cutting move. Among those jeering or expressing disbelief during Biden's speech Tuesday night was Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).... On Wednesday, Biden quoted from a 2010 video of Lee saying that it is his 'objective to phase out Social Security' and that 'Medicare and Medicaid ... need to be pulled up' by their roots.'" Politico's story is here.

     ~~~ Thanks to NiskyGuy for the lead.

** GOP Paranoia Panel Holds a Hearing. Luke Broadwater & Kate Conger of the New York Times: "House Republicans on Wednesday summoned former Twitter executives to answer to accusations that the social media platform has tried to silence voices on the right, but the hourslong hearing yielded new revelations about how the company failed to limit hateful speech or material that could incite violence, sometimes altering its own rules to avoid doing so. The Oversight and Accountability Committee called the hearing to investigate a decision that the company has for years admitted was a mistake: blocking an unsubstantiated New York Post article about the activities of Hunter Biden, President Biden's son, in Ukraine before the 2020 election, in which his father was running against President Donald J. Trump....

“But the session also served as a forum for Democrats to press their concerns about the behavior of the company. They have accused Twitter of playing a critical role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, including by changing internal rules to allow Mr. Trump to keep posting up until the riot.... Anika Collier Navaroli, a former Twitter executive who was a whistle-blower during the Jan. 6 investigation, recalled an incident from 2019 when a White House official tried to persuade the company to delete a tweet by the model Chrissy Teigen. She had insulted Mr. Trump in vulgar terms after he referred to her as 'filthy-mouthed.'... Ms. Navaroli also testified that Twitter changed its rules to avoid adding labels to some of Mr. Trump's tweets that would have identified them as violating the company's rules.... [Rep. Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez responded, 'So much for bias against right wing on Twitter.'" MB: Well worth a read. If Democrats stay aggressive, they will be able to turn the Crazy Subcommittee into a vehicle against the GOP's paranoia panel. ~~~

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

     ~~~ Cat Zakrzewski & Cristiano Lima of the Washington Post: “On Wednesday, [Elon] Musk's 'Twitter Files' took center stage in a combative Capitol Hill hearing, as GOP leaders attempted to turn Twitter's decision to briefly block sharing a New York Post story about President Biden's son into evidence of a broad conspiracy.... The testimony of former Twitter executives repeatedly contradicted these accusations.... Some Republicans took a hostile tone toward the Twitter leaders during their time in front of the cameras. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said she was happy that they lost their jobs, and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) referred to former executives as 'fascist Twitter 1.0.'"

     ~~~ Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out Wednesday that it took Twitter a whole two days to link the New York Post story. ~~~

     ~~~ Rodric Hurdle-Bradford of the Raw Story: "... the entire Republican party's discontent with Twitter posts was tracked in a database Twitter kept of GOP requests to remove posts, according to a new Rolling Stone report.... The discovery of this detailed list is contrary to the partisan point-of-view that new Twitter owner Elon Musk has been sharing, as he has strategically been dialed-in on communicating Twitter post removal and content challenges from Democrats.... According to the story in Rolling Stone, the requests not only came from the staffs of both then-President Trump and current President Joe Biden, but also from the staffs of high-profile members of Congress, including Republican Representatives Kevin McCarthy (California) and Elise Stefanik (New York). The requests include reinstating banned right-wing personalities.... During Wednesday's hearing, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) asked for the 'remarkable' Rolling Stone article to be read into the record. 'So for everybody's reading enjoyment, if people think it was biased against, this would lead us to believe it was definitely biased against liberals and progressives,' Raskin said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Skepticism Pays. Although Rolling Stone is subscriber-firewalled, I guess nonsubscribers can still get in at least once a month because I was able to bring up its report, by Adam Rawnsley & Asawan Suebsang. And, lo and behold, Hurdle-Bradford completely misread the RS report. The complaints to Twitter came during the Biden administration from Republicans like McCarthy and Stefanik. Here's the telling RS sentence: "But during both the Trump and Biden presidencies, these types of moderation requests or demands were routinely sent to Twitter by the staff of influential GOP lawmakers -- ones with names like Kevin McCarthy and Elise Stefanik." Nothing else in the RS report contradicts that assessment. So, no, Joe Biden wasn't calling up Twitter to demand it take down tweets that insulted or miffed him. You're safe, Miss Margie.

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The acting director of the National Institutes of Health pushed back on Wednesday against Republicans' assertions that a lab leak stemming from taxpayer-funded research may have caused the coronavirus pandemic, telling lawmakers that viruses being studied at a laboratory in Wuhan, China, bore no resemblance to the one that set off the worst public health crisis in a century. Those viruses 'bear no relationship to SARS-CoV-2; they are genetically distinct,' the N.I.H. official, Dr. Lawrence A. Tabak, told a House panel, using the formal name for the virus.... Dr. Tabak's comments came at a hearing before members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, with the House newly under Republican control.... Republicans have made clear that they intend to tap into Americans' frustration with masking, mandates and other coronavirus restrictions to wage a broad assault on Mr. Biden and his administration."

2024 Presidential Race. Natasha Korecki & Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu [R] has taken his most significant step yet in exploring a White House bid, launching a national political organization that's a popular tool for prospective presidential candidates testing the waters. The governor first confirmed to NBC News on Wednesday that he had formed the 'Live Free or Die' committee (borrowed from his state's nickname), a 501(c)(4) organization where politicians can raise unlimited funds. The donations don't have to be disclosed, and prospective candidates often use these political nonprofits as a way to gauge interest from donors." MB: Sununu is generally characterized as a "moderate Republican." Oh, yeah? As Planned Parenthood NH reminded us last November, he "signed [an] abortion ban into law - without any exceptions for rape, incest, or fatal fetal diagnoses - and he bragged on a national podcast about 'doing more on the pro-life issue ... than anyone.'" The PP article goes on to describe many of Sununu's anti-abortion actions, noting that he "continues to call himself 'pro-choice.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Mississippi Is Still Mississippi. Kayode Crown of the Mississippi Free Press: "White Mississippi lawmakers moved closer Tuesday evening to creating a new system of unelected judges and prosecutors chosen by white officials to oversee a part of the majority-Black capital city. Lawmakers debated House Bill 1020, which would create a new court system in an expanded Capitol Complex Improvement District, for five hours before representatives passed it in a 76-38 vote. Of the chamber's white lawmakers, 74 voted for it and just two voted against it; among Black lawmakers, 36 voted against it and just two voted for it. In remarks to the press at the Capitol after the vote Tuesday night, Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba described the bill as 'oppressive' because it would take jurisdiction away from judges and the prosecutor elected by majority-Black Hinds County voters."

Texas. Emily Schmall of the New York Times: "A Texas man who fatally shot 23 people and injured dozens more at a Walmart store in El Paso in 2019 pleaded guilty on Wednesday to federal hate crimes and weapons charges in connection with the deadliest anti-Latino attack in modern United States history. Lawyers for the gunman, Patrick Crusius, said last month that he would change his plea to guilty days after federal prosecutors notified the court that they would not seek the death penalty. He has agreed to accept a sentence of 90 consecutive life terms, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas. Mr. Crusius is to be formally sentenced in June."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues his Western Europe visit Thursday in Brussels, where he will meet with leaders and address the European Parliament, according to E.U. officials, who said the meetings will explore legal pathways to use frozen Russian assets to pay for reconstruction in Ukraine. He previously visited Britain and France, renewing his calls for warplanes and heavy weapons.... French President Emmanuel Macron awarded the Legion of Honor to Zelensky for his 'courage and commitment,' Macron said. Zelensky said in France, where he met Wednesday with Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, that 'we have very little time,' appealing to the two countries for tanks, jets and long-range missiles.... NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met in Washington on Wednesday with top U.S. officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.... Across Ukraine, troops are bracing for a do-over from Russia, as the Kremlin's efforts to seize the country have largely faltered." ~~~

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

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine pleaded with Britain on Wednesday to supply his country with fighter jets, making his dramatic appeal during a surprise visit to London that began a two-day diplomatic blitz of Ukraine's Western allies.... So far, the British government has resisted Ukraine's request, as has the United States and other NATO countries, fearing that combat aircraft could escalate confrontation with Russia. But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that Britain would train Ukrainian pilots to fly NATO-standard jets, and signaled he was open to eventually sending planes."

Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "There are 'strong indications' that President Vladimir V. Putin decided to supply the antiaircraft missile system that Russia-backed separatists used to shoot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet above eastern Ukraine in 2014, a Dutch-led international team found. But the team said on Wednesday that it had suspended its criminal investigation because of insufficient evidence and immunity privileges that prevent new prosecutions in the crash of Flight MH17, which killed all 298 people aboard. The investigators noted that no evidence suggested that Mr. Putin ordered the downing of the aircraft and that he was, in any case, protected from prosecution under Dutch law because he enjoys immunity as a head of state."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Burt Bacharach, the debonair pop composer, arranger, conductor, record producer and occasional singer whose hit songs in the 1960s distilled that decade's mood of romantic optimism, died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94."

Washington Post: "Anger and despair are mounting in Turkey, as the death toll from a pair of major earthquakes in the country and neighboring Syria climbs above 15,000, and survivors and opposition politicians express frustration at the speed of the government's disaster response. Hope of finding survivors is dimming. Freezing temperatures in the towns and cities flattened b Monday's quakes have lengthened the odds, even as international rescue teams flow into the country with technical equipment and rescue dogs able to detect human scents beneath piles of rubble." The Guardian's live updates are here. At 8 am ET today, the Guardian has the death toll at more than 17,000. Just devastating.

Comments Off
Wednesday
Feb082023

February 8, 2023

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden challenged the new House Republican majority on Tuesday night to work together with him to 'finish the job' of repairing America's unsettled economy and fragile democracy even as the emboldened opposition geared up to try to force him to change course. In the first State of the Union address of a new era of divided government that at times turned strikingly rowdy, Mr. Biden vowed to cooperate with the other party but offered no concessions to it. Instead, he called on Republicans to embrace his program of raising taxes on the wealthy and extending social aid to the needy, citing bipartisan legislation passed when Democrats were in charge." This is an update of a story linked yesterday, before President Biden delivered his SOTU address. The Guardian's report is here.

The White House has released the transcript of the speech, as prepared. (So it leaves out some of the good stuff.)

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden was about midway through a speech of about 7,218-words on Tuesday when ... Republican lawmaker [Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia] tried to shut him down with a single one: 'Liar!'... Later in the speech, when Mr. Biden called for an end to the fentanyl crisis in the United States..., [-- Andy Ogles of Tennessee (R) --] yelled out, 'It's your fault!' -- a reference to the amount of drugs that are smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border. Another lawmaker yelled out an expletive. His second State of the Union address was punctuated by outbursts, jeers and peels of mocking laughter, but Mr. Biden turned the tables on his Republican opponents and argued in real time with the insurgents. It appeared to be the start of his re-election campaign.... The president had a shaky start on the teleprompter as he raced through his remarks and mangled some lines, although he had plenty of energy. He got an even bigger burst once the Republicans heckles and boos began, and was most animated when he veered off the teleprompter and addressed them directly before a live television audience of millions. At times, the House floor seemed like the British Parliament, where catcalls and shouted insults from the opposing party are tradition.

"In 2009, it was considered a travesty when Representative Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, shouted 'you lie' at President Barack Obama during a joint address to Congress. Back then, Mr. Wilson was formally rebuked by the whole House. Times have changed. Republican lawmakers shouted both 'liar' and 'bullshit' at parts of Mr. Biden's speech, and no one appeared shocked.... Some lawmakers even prepared to mock Mr. Biden in advance: Ms. Greene carried a white helium balloon around the Capitol, mocking Mr. Biden's response to a giant Chinese spy balloon.... When the president returned to the White House late Tuesday night, the staff stood and applauded him." ~~~

~~~ Matt Viser & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Midway through the State of the Union address, the room turned feisty as some Republican lawmakers began booing President Biden. Some pointed fingers toward his position at the center of the House chamber. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) stood and yelled at him: 'Liar!'... Hours before the speech, [Speaker Kevin] McCarthy (Calif.) and other Republican leaders had told lawmakers during their weekly conference meeting that all eyes would be on them as Biden delivered his remarks.... Halfway through a speech that was by turns folksy and feisty -- and contained more than a hint of swagger -- [Biden] looked to the Republicans sitting in the chamber to his left, chiding them for a lack of specificity in their approach to cutting the budget. Their decisions under Trump, he said, added more to the national debt than any president, triggering boos from Republicans. 'They're the facts!' Biden responded. 'Check it out. Check it out!' It was one of a number of moments in which he was heckled in the chamber, and he seemed to relish the open exchanges that broke out in the House chamber and played on national television. McCarthy, sitting directly behind Biden and in view of the cameras, several times appeared to shush his colleagues.

"As Biden mentioned potential cuts to Social Security and Medicare — and how some Republican-backed proposals could lead to cuts in the entitlement programs — it triggered one of the most disruptive moments of the night, and loud protests that had been kept at bay for much of the speech were unleashed.... 'I enjoy conversion,' Biden quipped, suggesting that minds in the room had changed on the topic. After some of the commotion had died down, Biden said that everyone in the room apparently agreed that 'Social Security and Medicare is off the books! We got unanimity!... So tonight, let's all agree -- and apparently we are -- and stand up for seniors,' Biden added, after which most in the chamber stood up. 'Stand up and show them! We will not cut Social Security! We will not cut Medicare! Those benefits belong to the American people. They earned it. ... If anyone tries to cut Medicare, I'll stop them. I'll veto it ... But apparently it's not going to be a problem.'" A Huffington Post story, by Arthur Delaney, is here. ~~~

Marie: Why, it's almost as if those who predicted yesterday that Republicans would behave badly were right.

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: President "Biden came prepared for catcalls from far-right members of the new House majority.... Rather than being rattled or angered by GOP outbursts, Biden seemed to relish them -- at times, even to provoke them. And he tossed out an ample supply of folksy Bidenisms in response.... While he was touting the benefits of the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that he signed into law in 2021, he noted that some Republican members of Congress had voted against it. Nevertheless, he said, 'I'll see you at the groundbreaking.'... Biden used the august occasion -- and used undisciplined Republicans as foils -- to display his own vigor, sense of humor and aura of command.... There is ... great peril for the slim Republican majority, in spending the next two years saying no to everything that Biden and the Democrats propose, while passing 'statement' bills that have no chance of making it through the Senate. Republicans might believe their planned kangaroo-court investigations of Hunter Biden and other manufactured villains will win them support, but I am skeptical."

Amy Wang & Leigh Ann Caldwell of the Washington Post: "Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) exchanged harsh words on the House floor Tuesday night before the State of the Union began, with the Republican senator telling the freshman GOP lawmaker that he should not be in Congress.... Romney glared at Santos, who smiled slightly, nodded and seemed to dismiss Romney before continuing to greet others.... 'I didn't expect that he'd be standing there trying to shake hands with every senator and the president of the United States,' Romney told reporters after Biden's speech concluded Tuesday night, when asked why he had confronted Santos. 'Given the fact that [Santos is] under ethics investigation, he should be sitting in the back row and staying quiet instead of parading in front of the president and people coming into the room,' Romney added.... [MB: Santos reportedly arrived early to grab a prime seat near the aisle where dignitaries entered the chamber.] After the State of the Union concluded, Santos lashed out at Romney on social media. 'Hey @MittRomney just a reminder that you will NEVER be PRESIDENT!' he posted to Twitter.... Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) later defended Santos, describing Romney's words as 'the rudest I've ever seen a human being be to another human being.'" MB: Because yelling "liar" and "bullshit" at the POTUS is polite. CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Manu Raju of CNN: "New York Republican Rep. George Santos is expected to face an investigation from the House Ethics Committee, a probe that could derail his already imperiled political career depending on the secretive panel's findings. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy initially told CNN 'yes' on Tuesday when asked if the embattled freshman is under investigation by the committee, something that even Republicans acknowledge could lead to his expulsion from Congress if the panel turns up serious evidence of wrongdoing. But McCarthy later clarified his remarks and said that he meant that Santos is the subject of ethics committee complaints.... 'Ethics is moving through, and if ethics finds something, we'll take action,' McCarthy told CNN on Tuesday when asked about calls for his resignation. 'Right now, we're not allowing him to be on committees from the standpoint of the questions that have arisen.'" MB: Gee, Kevin, George Anthony said he initiated the decision to step away from his committee assignments.

The Washington Post captures photo & video highlights & lowlights here.

Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday sought to draw distinctions between her fellow Republicans and President Biden following his State of the Union address, characterizing the differences between the GOP and Democrats as extending beyond policies, but rather a choice between 'normal and crazy.'... Sanders focused her response on many of the "culture war" issues that have motivated conservatives, and largely bucked the message of unity and bipartisanship that wound through Mr. Biden's address. Instead, she attacked the president as the 'first man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob that can't even tell you what a woman is.'... Declaring Mr. Biden 'unfit' to serve, Sanders sought to contrast Republicans' agenda with that of Democrats, and vowed the GOP will resist political correctness to 'do what's right.'... 'It's time for a new generation to lead...,' she said." MB: Hmmm, doesn't sound like she's advocating for her old boss, the aged Trump.


CBS Boston News: "Former Boston mayor Marty Walsh is leaving the White House for the NHL. Walsh, who is the current US labor secretary under President Joe Biden, is set to become the next executive director of the NHL Players' Association. He'll be formally installed in his new gig in the coming days, according to Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff. The league's executive board will still have to vote on Walsh's appointment, and 18 of the 32 player reps will have to vote in favor of Walsh for him to become the next executive director. But the Daily Faceoff is reporting that Walsh is expected to be unanimously approved." (Also linked yesterday.) Update: A Washington Post story is here.

Ellen Nakashima, et al., of the Washington Post: "The U.S. intelligence community has linked the Chinese spy balloon shot down on Saturday to a vast surveillance program run by the People's Liberation Army, and U.S. officials have begun to brief allies and partners who have been similarly targeted. The surveillance balloon effort, which has operated for several years partly out of Hainan province off China's south coast, has collected information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, according to several U.S. officials.... Officials have said these surveillance airships, operated in part by the PLA air force, have been spotted over five continents." ~~~

~~~ Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "U.S. service members have recovered substantial remnants of the Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down over the Atlantic on Saturday, according to newly released photos that provided the closest glimpse yet of the craft. Photos from the Sunday recovery show Navy sailors dragging the deflated balloon and parts of its structure onto inflatable boats off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C.... While officials said it is too early to tell how much of the craft would be intact, the photos provide a sense that some material has survived the encounter with a fighter jet's missile. The balloon itself is about 200 feet tall and carrying equipment measuring roughly the size of a regional jetliner, [Gen. Glen] VanHerck said, estimating its weight at about 2,000 pounds."

Eileen Sullivan & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "On Tuesday, federal border officials began testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. The hearing is the latest piece of an aggressive push to scrutinize [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas that some Republicans have said should result in his impeachment. The panel is led by Representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky, who has already made up his mind that Mr. Mayorkas, 63, should be removed for his handling of the record number of unauthorized crossings at the southern border since President Biden has been in office. Even though the spike in illegal entries is part of a global migration trend, Mr. Mayorkas has become the face of the intractable problem, particularly for Republicans who see failures at the border as a winning political strategy...." (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Marie: In the few snippets I've seen of Comer speaking, he strikes me as the pre-Alpha version of a Gym Jordan clone: as nasty as Jordan, but dumber and uglier.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has subpoenaed top Justice Department officials, supposedly to investigate the department's suppression of information about the persecution of conservative parents.... Democrats should make these hearings about what Republicans did. This entails using spectacle to show what happened to educators as a result of Republicans systematically smearing them with hateful propaganda.... The country deserves a real debate about the real consequences of our culture wars, not one that unfolds strictly in the information universe Republicans are manufacturing." MB: I get the idea from Sargent's post that Democrats on the committee have not organized any kind of response. They need to get their act together. (Also linked yesterday.)

A Stealth Committee Assignment. Scott Wong of NBC News: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has quietly appointed Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who led the unsuccessful push to derail McCarthy's bid for speaker, to the select committee investigating the so-called weaponization of the federal government. There was no announcement of Gaetz's appointment by either McCarthy, R-Calif., or Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who chairs both the Judiciary Committee and the weaponization subcommittee. Instead, McCarthy's appointments to the special committee, including Gaetz, were read into the Congressional Record a week ago and only noticed by reporters on Tuesday. Gaetz, who had been under FBI investigation of allegations of underage sex trafficking, was not part of the original slate of names McCarthy rolled out for the panel two weeks ago. According to the select panel's roster on its website, Gaetz replaced Rep. Chip Roy of Texas.... A member of the weaponization panel said Roy asked for the change because he will serve on three demanding committees...."

News You Can Use. Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "The Internal Revenue Service is telling taxpayers -- including more than 16 million in California -- to hold off filing their taxes until the agency can issue guidance on state-issued inflation payments. Dozens of states distributed stimulus-like payments or tax rebates in 2022 to counter inflation, which reached a 40-year high in 2022. The IRS on Tuesday said it needed more time to determine which of those payments are federally taxable and told taxpayers not to submit returns until it finalizes those rules.... Nearly two dozen states issued payments to combat inflation over the summer."

>Beyond the Beltway

Pennsylvania. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "Democrats swept three special elections in solidly blue House districts in western Pennsylvania on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, putting the party in the majority by a single seat and breaking a Republican legislative monopoly that has recently focused on election restrictions and anti-abortion bills. All three races were in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh.... Control of the Pennsylvania House had been shrouded by uncertainty since the midterms in November, grinding legislative business to a halt while the parties clashed over ground rules and the timing of the special elections. Democrats had appeared to flip the chamber in the fall for the first time in a dozen years, but one lawmakers death and the election of two others to higher offices delayed the final outcome."

Tennessee. Alexander Cardia, et al., of the New York Times: "Tyre Nichols faced an onslaught of impossible demands and brutal beatings at the hands of Memphis police officers on Jan. 7 -- much of which was caught on three police body cameras and a street camera.... The New York Times analyzed the available footage and radio traffic to identify and track which of the six officers threatened, chased and beat Mr. Nichols after he was pulled over for alleged reckless driving. The videos do not show what initially prompted the traffic stop. The Times found no verbal communications or actions by officers during the encounter that signaled Mr. Nichols posed a potential threat or was even acting aggressively. Yet each of the six officers immediately used physical force. The analysis also found the officers' actions lacked coordination and served no clear tactical purpose. They continued to escalate their use of force even as Mr. Nichols became increasingly incapacitated and incoherent." The analysis goes into detail about who did what when. ~~~<

Jessica Jaglois, et al., of the New York Times: "As Tyre Nichols sat propped against a police car, bloodied, dazed and handcuffed after being beaten by a group of Memphis police officers, one of those officers took a picture of him and sent it to at least five people, the Memphis Police Department said in documents released by the state on Tuesday. The documents painted a picture of repeated misconduct by the officers, starting in the first moments after Mr. Nichols was pulled over for a traffic stop, through an arrest carried out with excessive force and continuing on through the many minutes when Mr. Nichols lay on the street in dire need of medical help. Sending the photograph to acquaintances, including at least one outside of the Police Department, violated policies about keeping information confidential, according to the documents. But police officials said it was also part of a pattern of mocking, abusive and 'blatantly unprofessional' behavior by the officers that also included shouting profanities at Mr. Nichols, laughing after the beating and 'bragging' about their involvement."

Way Beyond

France. They Paved Paradise to Put Up a Solar Plant. Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "French parking lots could soon generate as much electricity as 10 nuclear power plants, after a law is expected to win final passage on Tuesday requiring canopies of solar panels to be built atop all substantial lots in the country. The plan makes France a world leader in efforts to cover as many surfaces as possible with solar panels, a step advocates say will be crucial in broader plans to phase out fossil fuels in the coming years. The expansion could add as much as 8 percent to France's current electrical capacity." (Also linked yesterday.)

New Zealand. Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "New Zealand authorities have seized more than three tons of cocaine that was wrapped into 81 bales and cached at a floating transit point in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in the single largest drug bust in the nation's history. The cache, estimated to be worth $315 million, is large enough to supply the Australian market for a year, and New Zealand's for three decades, New Zealand Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told reporters Wednesday. The cocaine -- which weighed 3.2 metric tons, or 3.5 tons in the United States -- came from South America and was destined for Australia, police said."

Switzerland. Catherine Hickley of the New York Times: "Bruno Stefanini, a Swiss real estate magnate who died in 2018, spent his life collecting huge numbers of buildings, fine art and historic memorabilia, everything from castles to paintings to the toothbrush Napoleon is said to have used at Waterloo.... But Stefanini was better at collecting things than caring for them.... Items in his collection became contaminated with mildew, woodworm or worse -- asbestos, mercury and radioactivity.... Now Stefanini's Foundation for Art, Culture and History, led by his daughter, is trying to clean things up, not just of grunge, but of any taint of Nazi-era looting.... Last month, Bettina Stefanini ... announced that an independent panel of experts would evaluate the research and make binding decisions on whether to return items originally owned by Jews and deemed lost due to Nazi persecution."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to visit the United Kingdom on Wednesday to meet with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and address Parliament, Downing Street said in a statement.... The trip will be Zelensky's second out of Ukraine and first to Britain since Russia's invasion nearly a year ago. He spoke to Congress in Washington in December. Britain has recently pledged to increase its support for Ukraine and help train fighter pilots and marines.... President Biden reiterated U.S. support for Ukraine during his State of the Union address Tuesday, calling Russia's invasion 'a test for America' and the world. Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, was present at the event, representing 'not just her nation, but the courage of her people,' Biden said. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will meet with senior Biden administration officials in Washington on Wednesday, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.... The [U.S.] State Department has 'made a determination approving' the potential sale of $10 billion in artillery rocket systems to Poland, a NATO ally that shares a border with Ukraine."

News Lede

New York Times: "Transporting international aid and rescue workers to the quake-stricken areas of Turkey and Syria has become a huge logistical hurdle as time is running out to find survivors, two days after an earthquake hit the two countries and left more than 9,600 dead.Crews have rescued more than 8,000 people in Turkey alone. But the chances of unearthing people still alive in the heaps of rubble dropped quickly as the third day of rescue efforts dawned on Wednesday." This is a liveblog.

Comments Off
Tuesday
Feb072023

February 7, 2023

President Biden will make his State of the Union address at 9:00 pm ET.

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

CBS Boston News: "Former Boston mayor Marty Walsh is leaving the White House for the NHL. Walsh, who is the current US labor secretary under President Joe Biden, is set to become the next executive director of the NHL Players' Association. He'll be formally installed in his new gig in the coming days, according to Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff. The league's executive board will still have to vote on Walsh's appointment, and 18 of the 32 player reps will have to vote in favor of Walsh for him to become the next executive director. But the Daily Faceoff is reporting that Walsh is expected to be unanimously approved."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden plans to challenge the new House Republican majority on Tuesday night to raise taxes on the wealthy, extend more social aid to the needy and rule out cuts to Social Security and Medicare as he opens an era of divided government. In his first State of the Union address since his fellow Democrats lost control of the House, aides said Mr. Biden would call on lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to rally around his economic agenda, even as the newly empowered opposition gears up to try to force him to change direction. No one expects the Republicans now running the House to embrace Mr. Biden's legislative program, nor is the president likely to agree anytime soon to the other side's demands for deep spending cuts in exchange for an increase in the debt ceiling. But the speech and the G.O.P. response will frame the terms of debate heading into the coming year, even as Mr. Biden prepares to announce a campaign for re-election this spring." ~~~

~~~ The White House announces the First Lady's guests at the State of the Union address. ~~~

~~~ SNL Alert! Marie: I plumb forgot about this: Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Ark.) will deliver the Republican rebuttals to the SOTU speech. David Siders of Politico writes about that.

Eileen Sullivan & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "On Tuesday, federal border officials began testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. The hearing is the latest piece of an aggressive push to scrutinize [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas that some Republicans have said should result in his impeachment. The panel is led by Representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky, who has already made up his mind that Mr. Mayorkas, 63, should be removed for his handling of the record number of unauthorized crossings at the southern border since President Biden has been in office. Even though the spike in illegal entries is part of a global migration trend, Mr. Mayorkas has become the face of the intractable problem, particularly for Republicans who see failures at the border as a winning political strategy...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In the few snippets I've seen of Comer speaking, he strikes me as the pre-Alpha version of a Gym Jordan clone: as nasty as Jordan, but dumber and uglier.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has subpoenaed top Justice Department officials, supposedly to investigate the department's suppression of information about the persecution of conservative parents.... Democrats should make these hearings about what Republicans did. This entails using spectacle to show what happened to educators as a result of Republicans systematically smearing them with hateful propaganda.... The country deserves a real debate about the real consequences of our culture wars, not one that unfolds strictly in the information universe Republicans are manufacturing." MB: I get the idea from Sargent's post that Democrats on the committee have not organized any kind of response. They need to get their act together.

France. They Paved Paradise to Put Up a Solar Plant. Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "French parking lots could soon generate as much electricity as 10 nuclear power plants, after a law is expected to win final passage on Tuesday requiring canopies of solar panels to be built atop all substantial lots in the country. The plan makes France a world leader in efforts to cover as many surfaces as possible with solar panels, a step advocates say will be crucial in broader plans to phase out fossil fuels in the coming years. The expansion could add as much as 8 percent to France’s current electrical capacity."

~~~~~~~~~~

Trump's Team Was Asleep at the Wheel. Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "The top military commander overseeing North American airspace said Monday that some previous incursions by Chinese spy balloons during the Trump administration were not detected in real time, and the Pentagon learned of them only later. 'I will tell you that we did not detect those threats, and that's a domain awareness gap,' said Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, the commander of the Pentagon's Northern Command. One explanation, multiple U.S. officials said, is that some previous incursions were initially classified as 'unidentified aerial phenomena,' Pentagon speak for U.F.O.s. As the Pentagon and intelligence agencies stepped up efforts over the past two years to find explanations for many of those incidents, officials reclassified some events as Chinese spy balloons.... In 2021, the intelligence agencies announced an intensified effort to collect more and better data on unexplained incidents near military bases and exercises.... 'We enhanced our capacity to be able to detect things that the Trump administration was unable to detect,' said [White House National Security Advisor Jake] Sullivan, speaking at an event hosted by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.... Mr. Trump, on his social media site..., called the claims of intrusions during his administration 'fake disinformation,' and his last director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, has also denied it." The article includes more administration remarks about U.S.-China diplomatic relations. ~~~

     ~~~ Zachary Cohen of CNN: "White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan also said on Monday that past surveillance balloons were discovered at the beginning of the Biden administration because [President] Biden directed the intelligence community 'to increase both our vigilance and the assets that we were deploying to be able to detect Chinese efforts to spy against the United States.' 'Because the intelligence community made this a priority at the direction of President Biden, we enhanced our surveillance of our territorial airspace, we enhanced our capacity to be able to detect things that the Trump administration was unable to detect,' Sullivan said. 'And were also able to go back and look at the historical patterns. And that led us to come to understand that during the Trump administration..., there were multiple instances where the surveillance balloons traversed American airspace and American territory,' he added." ~~~

     ~~~ Biden to Offer Remedial Classes to Trumpies. The Washington Post story, by Alex Horton & others, is here: "The Biden administration has 'reached out to key officials from the previous administration and offered them briefings on the forensics we did' on Chinese balloon flights that took place when Trump was in office, John Kirby, the National Security Council strategic communications coordinator, said earlier Monday." MB: I wonder if they "reached out" to Fake Disinformation Guy. As Akhilleus pointed out the other day, "fake disinformation," translated, is "real information." Apparently Trump doesn't understand the concept of double negatives.

Note to Gym Jordan. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "A Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that Americans, by and large, don't think the ... purpose [of Republicans' subcommittee on weaponization of the government] is legitimate. Americans say, by a margin of 56 percent to 36 percent, that the committee is 'just an attempt to score political points,' according to the poll."

The Day George Santos Told the Truth. Beth Harpaz & Jacob Kornbluh of the Forward: "When Rep. George Santos marked Holocaust Remembrance Day on the House floor by saying that the grandmother of one of his staff members had survived Auschwitz, some were skeptical.... But the unnamed woman Santos saluted in Congress on Jan. 27 is real. And her story deserves to be known -- not only to counter those who deny that the Holocaust happened, but also to honor a woman who was deported to Nazi death camps at age 14, then rebuilt her life after the war with fortitude and joy. Her name is Eva Lipsky. She's 92, was born in Hungary, and survived both the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. Her granddaughter Gabrielle Lipsky was press secretary for Santos' campaign and now works in his Washington office. In a two-hour testimony recorded in 1997 by the USC Shoah Foundation, the organization founded by Steven Spielberg, Eva Lipsky told of being forced out of her home in 1944 with her mother and four siblings. (Her father, a Hungarian soldier, had disappeared earlier in the war.)"

About that Pet Charity. Michael Gold & Grace Ashford of the New York Times: George "Santos ran a pet charity that he claimed saved 2,500 animals. But several people questioned the way he handled funds that were raised to benefit the pets.... Few public records exist to corroborate [Mr. Santos' claims], and Friends of Pets United's operations appear to have centered on a Facebook group that is now defunct. Only traces of the organization remain on public social media posts and GoFundMe campaigns, and Mr. Santos's campaign biography no longer mentions it.... Several people said Mr. Santos assured them he was operating a registered nonprofit, but no records exist to confirm that.... They said the group rescued far fewer pets than the more than 2,500 animals that Mr. Santos claimed it saved. The group was not registered as a rescue organization in New York State, and there was no record that it was authorized to take dogs from New York City shelters. And several people took issue with how Mr. Santos handled his group's funds,saying they never received the thousands of dollars he raised on their behalf, often through GoFundMe." GoFundMe eventually kicked Mr. Santos off the site. (Also linked yesterday.)

Rachel Weiner & Jasmine Hilton of the Washington Post: "A neo-Nazi leader recently released from prison has been arrested again and accused of plotting an attack on the Maryland power grid with a woman he met while incarcerated.Brandon Russell, 27, and Sarah Clendaniel, 34, are expected to make their first appearance Monday in Baltimore and Florida federal courts on a charge of conspiring to destroy an energy facility, which carries up to 20 years in prison.... According to prosecutors, their plan was to attack with gunfire five substations that serve the Baltimore area. The charges come after similar attacks on the power grid in North Carolina and Oregon that remain unsolved...." An ABC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge in Washington, D.C., suggested Monday that there may be a constitutional right to abortion baked into the 13th Amendment -- an area she said went unexplored by the Supreme Court in its momentous decision last year overturning Roe v. Wade. In a pending criminal case against several anti-abortion activists, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization concluded only that the 14th Amendment included no right to abortion but stopped short of definitively ruling out other aspects of the Constitution that might apply.... Kollar-Kotelly noted that there is some legal scholarship suggesting that the 13th Amendment -- which was ratified at the end of the Civil War and sought to ban slavery and 'involuntary servitude' -- provides just such a right. She is asking the parties in the criminal case, which involves charges of blocking access to abortion clinics, to present arguments by mid-March." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Don't get your hopes up. According to Wikipedia, in 1975 and 1993, the Supreme Court rejected the involuntary servitude argument applied to unwanted pregnancies. The Wiki article references the cases.

Eric Hananoki of Media Matters: "Eric Trump has been touring with antisemitic conspiracy theorist Scott McKay, who claims that many Jewish people are working 'under the cover of this religion called Judaism' to carry out a massive and evil conspiracy. In McKay's telling, these fraudulent Jewish people have perpetrated 9/11; set up banking systems 'in exchange for the child blood sacrifices'; and engineered presidential assassinations, among many other crimes. McKay has also praised Hitler as a like-minded ally. In his narrative, Jewish people supposedly 'created' and 'built' Hitler to profit from war, but 'Hitler broke away' from his Jewish creators and their evil banks by trying to create 'a banking system for the people and the free world.... Hitler was actually fighting the same people that we're trying to take down today,' McKay claimed last year.... McKay, who is also a QAnon conspiracy theorist, has begun to gain more prominence because of his featured speaking role on the ReAwaken America tour, which was founded by Clay Clark and Michael Flynn.... In addition to McKay, its 'featured speakers' include Charlie Kirk, Kash Patel, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Peter Navarro, Mike Lindell, and Alex Jones.... Donald Trump Jr. has also spoken on the tour." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michael Rosenwald of the Washington Post: "Harry Whittington, the prominent Texas lawyer and Republican operative whom Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot with a 28-gauge shotgun during a 2006 quail hunting trip, leaving over two dozen birdshot pellets lodged in his body, died Feb. 4 at his home in Austin. He was 95." ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Harry Whittington didn't want to be known as The Man Dick Cheney Shot.... Whittington ... never blamed Cheney for nearly killing him, nor the White House for distorting the events of that late afternoon in 2006.... It was nearly five years after the fact that he opened up about what happened that day. He didn't assign blame but he did sketch out circumstances that clearly suggested Cheney had been careless, at best. His account suggested that much of what had been reported -- and much of what the White House wanted reported -- was wrong, or at least shaded in terms favorable to the vice president.... Though Whittington wouldn't say so explicitly [in an interview with Farhi], his description suggested that Cheney had violated two fundamental safety protocols. First, in wheeling on a bird winging from the scrub, Cheney had fired without checking if his line of fire was clear. Second, he'd aimed downward, ignoring a rule obliging bird hunters to observe 'blue sky' before firing.... The injuries he'd suffered were far worse than initially reported." We are left to assume Cheney never apologized.

Presidential Race 2024

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: Joe "Biden has been a great president. He's made good on an uncommon number of campaign promises. He should be celebrated on Tuesday. But he should not run again.... The arguments for sticking with Biden are not trivial. In addition to his successful record, he has the benefit of incumbency.... It's hard to ignore the toll of Biden's years, no matter how hard elected Democrats try. In some ways, the more sympathetic you are to Biden, the harder it can be to watch him stumble over his words, a tendency that can't be entirely explained by his stutter.... Chances are good that Biden's competitor will be someone much younger [than Donald Trump], like Ron DeSantis, who will be 46 in 2024.... Barring some radical shift in the national mood, the candidates will be vying for leadership of a deeply dissatisfied country desperate for change. For Democrats, the visual contrast alone could be devastating.... But Democrats have a deep bench, including politicians who've won in important purple states, like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As someone who is near Biden's age, I agree with Goldberg. I am constantly amazed at the things I can't do. Things I didn't even think about several years ago I now do with difficulty. Or don't do at all. Obviously, not everyone suffers the same effects of age, and my limitations are different from Biden's. He is a great president, and I think he should be on Mount Rushmore, if only for putting up with Republican lies. Goldberg points out many of his accomplishments. But Americans are ready for a younger generation to take the helm, and heaven forbid it be anyone in the GOP lineup, and that includes the less rabid potential candidates like Larry Hogan & Chris Sununu, both of whom said they would vote for Trump if he were the nominee. That's disqualify, all by itself. And that doesn't begin to speak to the authoritarians any Republican president would put on the bench. As for Biden, he should keep pretending he will run again to avoid being a lame duck while encouraging candidates he likes to get into the game.

Michael Bender of the New York Times: "The Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax group that spent nearly $150 million in the past two election cycles, has invited a half-dozen potential Republican presidential candidates to its annual donor retreat next month -- but not Donald J. Trump. In a meeting with reporters on Monday, David McIntosh, president of the group, said that Republican chances of winning back the White House next year would be diminished if Mr. Trump were once again at the top of the ticket and that he hoped to introduce Republican donors to other possibilities."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. I'm Going to DeSantis World! Steve Contorno of CNN: Florida's "Republican lawmakers on Monday unveiled a bill to turn over control of Disney's special taxing district, called the Reedy Creek Improvement District, to a five-member board chosen by [Gov. Ron] DeSantis. The proposal also comes with a rebrand; Reedy Creek would become the 'Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.' The move to take over Reedy Creek is the latest step in a yearlong spat between DeSantis and Disney over a bill to restrict certain classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity. DeSantis signed the bill into law over the objections of Disney's then-CEO Bob Chapek.... Democrats criticized the legislation, which was introduced in a special session called in part to address Reedy Creek's future, while stopping short of endorsing Disney's unique arrangement in Central Florida.... State Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat, said of the bill: 'Disney still gets perks but they're now a political prisoner of the governor.'" One purpose of the bill is to get around a "debt bomb" to local taxpayers who might have been liable to pay Reedy Creek's $1BB debt under DeSantis' plan last year to dissolve Reedy Creek altogether.

Mississippi. If Only They Had a "Coloreds Only" Playground. Kristin Hunt of the Washington Post: In April 1970, Mississippi's "all-White [State Commission for Educational Television] ... decided Mississippi was 'not yet ready for it,' according to one member, because 'Sesame Street' showed Black and White kids playing together. In a 3-2 vote, the commission banned 'Sesame Street' from broadcasting on the state-run ETV network.... None of the board's members would speak on the record about the ban.... In the aftermath of the Mississippi decision, letters poured into ETV, protesting the ban.... WDAM, a local station based in Laurel, Miss., urged the commission to reverse the vote and offered to air 'Sesame Street' itself if ETV wouldn't.... ETV scrambled to lift the ban, promising viewers on May 23 that 'Sesame Street' would air in a matter of weeks. The show appeared on local TV listings by June 8, and that fall, the board sponsored a special episode."

Way Beyond

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Tuesday is here: "Ukrainian forces still hold the city of Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address, days after telling the world that the battlefield situation was 'very difficult' in eastern Ukraine. Russian forces are still trying to surround the city, he said Monday evening, but Ukraine is 'countering them.'... U.N. Secretary General António Guterres expressed concern that the war in Ukraine could escalate into a broader global conflict in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Monday. 'The Russian invasion of Ukraine is inflicting untold suffering on the Ukrainian people, with profound global implications,' he said. 'I fear the world is not sleepwalking into a wider war. I fear it is doing so with its eyes wide open.'"

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Charles Silverstein, a psychologist who helped achieve one of the most significant victories of the gay rights movement by persuading the American Psychiatric Association in 1973 to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness, died Jan. 30 at his home in New York City. He was 87." Read on.

Ohio. New York Times: "A rail operator on Monday released toxic fumes from several derailed train cars that it said were at risk of exploding in East Palestine, Ohio, after the authorities ordered residents on both sides of the state's border with Pennsylvania to evacuate to avoid a deadly threat. The train derailed on Friday night, with 50 of its 100 cars running off the tracks, igniting a fire that left much of the town in smoke and prompted repeated calls for evacuation. 'We are ordering you to leave,' Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio said on Monday at a news conference. 'This is a matter of life and death.' He added that there was 'grave danger' of inhaling fumes from chemicals produced by the release, which the authorities identified as phosgene and hydrogen chloride. In high concentrations, both chemicals can cause severe and life-threatening respiratory issues."

Turkey. New York Times: "Rescue teams hunted for survivors in freezing temperatures on Tuesday as the deat toll in a pair of earthquakes rose above 4,800 in Turkey and Syria, one of the deadliest natural disasters this century. The death toll is almost certain to rise significantly. Almost 50 countries offered to send aid to the region already burdened by a refugee crisis, war and the skyrocketing cost of living. In Turkey, many survivors sought shelter in cars while others stayed outdoors and lit bonfires to keep warm, refusing to go indoors because they feared buildings still standing could collapse any minute. In Syria, some people scarred by the civil war first thought they were under attack again.... The cold weather, with snow in the forecast, threatened to complicate rescue efforts, which were already hindered by power cuts and blocked roads. More than 9,000 search and rescue personnel have been deployed in Turkey, according to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with foreign teams expected to join in." This is a liveblog.

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