January 2, 2023

Late Morning Update:

The House January 6 Select Committee released more transcripts Monday. Links to those transcripts are here. ~~~

~~~ Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee has unloaded a vast database of its underlying evidence -- emails between Trump attorneys, text messages among horrified White House aides and outside advisers, internal communications among security and intelligence officials -- all coming to grips with Donald Trump's last-ditch effort to subvert the 2020 election and its disastrous consequences. The panel posted thousands of pages of evidence late Sunday in a public database that provide the clearest glimpse yet at the well-coordinated effort by some Trump allies to help Trump seize a second term he didn't win. Much of the evidence has never been seen before and, in some cases, adds extraordinary new elements to the case the select committee presented in public -- from voluminous phone records to contemporaneous text messages and emails.... Here's a look at some of the most extraordinary and important evidence in the select committee's files." MB: I'll be darned if I can find the database. The committee & the Googles are letting me down. Update: I'd say this is it.

The New York Times story on the Woes of Kevin, by Catie Edmondson, is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Enjoy your day. Unless you care about the Woes of Kevin, there is no news in the land.

Melanie Zanona & Lauren Fox of CNN: "House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy outlined some of the concessions that he has agreed to in his campaign for speaker on a Sunday evening conference call -- including making it easier to topple the speaker, according to multiple GOP sources on the call. But McCarthy could not say whether he would have the votes for the speakership, even after giving in to some of the right's most hardline demands. Later Sunday evening, House Republicans unveiled their rules package for the 118th Congress, which formalizes some of the concessions that McCarthy has agreed to. The House adopts its rules package only after it selects a speaker, which McCarthy has not locked down, so there could be additional compromises made in the coming days."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Georgia. AP: "A Republican arrested after winning> his race for a seat in the Georgia House has decided to step aside instead of facing a possible suspension as soon as he was sworn into office later this month[.] The decision by Danny Rampey means a special election will be held on Jan. 31 to choose the new representative for the House seat based around Winder, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Rampey, 67, was arrested last month after investigators said he stole prescription narcotics at the retirement complex he manages."

Brazil. Jack Nicas & André Spigariol of the New York Times: "President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took the reins of the Brazilian government on Sunday in an elaborate inauguration, complete with a motorcade, music festival and hundreds of thousands of supporters filling the central esplanade of Brasília, the nation's capital. But ... the departing far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro..., [was missing. He] was supposed to pass Mr. Lula the presidential sash on Sunday, an important symbol of the peaceful transition of power in a nation where many people still recall the 21-year military dictatorship that ended in 1985.... Mr. Bolsonaro flew to Orlando on Friday night and plans to stay in Florida for at least a month.... In a sort of farewell address on Friday, breaking weeks of near silence, he said that he tried to block Mr. Lula from taking office but failed.... In an address to Congress on Sunday, Mr. Lula said that he would fight hunger and deforestation, lift the economy and try to unite the country. But he also took aim at his predecessor, saying that Mr. Bolsonaro had threatened Brazil's democracy."

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Monday is here: "Key infrastructure facilities in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, were targeted by drones overnight, officials said. The assaults were part of the latest wave of attacks throughout the country over New Year's weekend that left at least four civilians dead.... Ukrainian forces shot down 45 drones on Sunday, [President Volodymyr] Zelensky said in his first nightly address of the new year.... Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin both discussed the war in their New Year's addresses, with Zelensky promising victory in 2023 and Putin giving an aggressive and nationalistic speech."

News Ledes

New York Times: "After days of pounding rain, winds and snow, Californians woke up to sunny skies and waterlogged streets on New Year's Day, scrambling to recover during a brief intermission before the next rainstorms that are forecast to hit the region later this week. Northern California bore the brunt of an intense 'atmospheric river' system that brought floods and landslides to parts of the West Coast on Saturday. On Sunday, rescuers were still plucking trapped passengers from submerged vehicles, while bloated rivers and creeks spilled over banks. Streets in downtown San Francisco were still draining after the city nearly broke its record for the most rainfall on a single day. The National Weather Service's downtown site recorded 5.46 inches on New Year's Eve, 0.08 inch shy of the 1994 record in more than 170 years of record keeping there -- and 46.8 percent of the monthly rainfall."

New York Times: "Anita Pointer, the sweet and occasionally sultry lead vocalist on many hits of her family band the Pointer Sisters in the 1970s and '80s, died on Saturday at home in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was 74."

January 1, 2023

Bobby Calvan of the AP: "The new year began in the tiny atoll nation of Kiribati in the central Pacific, then moved across Russia and New Zealand before heading deeper, time zone by time zone, through Asia and Europe and into the Americas.... A man wielding a machete attacked three police officers near the [Times Square] celebration, authorities said, striking two of them in the head before an officer shot the man in the shoulder about eight blocks from Times Square, just outside the high-security zone.... In a sign of that hope, children met St. Nicholas in a crowded metro station in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Yet Russian attacks continued New Year's Eve. At midnight, the streets of the capital, Kyiv, were desolate. The only sign of a new year came from local residents shouting from their balconies, 'Happy New Year!' and 'Glory to Ukraine!' And only half an hour into 2023, air raid sirens rang across Ukraine's capital, followed by the sound of explosions."

Marie: Perhaps we should pause to remember that January 1 doesn't really signify anything. It's a marker of the new year first imposed by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE, and it did fall on the winter solstice. That is, January 1 meant something. In 1582, Pope Gregory's incorporated January 1 as the first day of the in his "new" or "Gregorian" calendar, which we use today. Although Caesar's calendar was meant to follow the solar year, the miscalculation of Sosigenes, Caesar's Alexandrian astronomer, meant the date gradually migrated days away from the winter solstice -- ten days away by the time Gregory imposed the calendar calculated by Jesuit astronomer Christopher Clavius. I'm not sure why Gregory & Clavius decided to stick with the old, adrift new year's day. I'd have told them to go back to using the winter solstice -- or some natural phenomenon -- to mark the first day of the year. But, hey, I'm just a girl.

News You Can Use. Shanon Osaka of the Washington Post: "Earlier this year, Congress passed the biggest climate bill in history -- cloaked under the name the 'Inflation Reduction Act.'... It could do one important thing for a country trying to move away from fossil fuels: Spur millions of households across America to switch over to cleaner energy sources with free money. Starting in the new year, the bill will offer households thousands of dollars to transition over from fossil-fuel burning heaters, stoves and cars to cleaner versions. On Jan. 1, middle-income households will be able to access over a half-dozen tax credits for electric stoves, cars, rooftop solar and more. And starting sometime in mid-2023, lower-income households will be able to get upfront discounts on some of those same appliances -- without having to wait to file their taxes to get the cash back. This handy online tool shows what you might be eligible for, depending on your Zip code and income."

The Party of Fakes

"The Invention of Elise Stefanik." Nicholas Confessori of the New York Times: "For years, [Elise] Stefanik had crafted her brand as a model moderate millennial.... But as her third term unfolded [in 2018], according to current or former friends and advisers, it was becoming painfully clear that she was the future of a Republican Party that no longer existed.... [So] she embarked on one of the most brazen political transformations of the Trump era. With breathtaking speed and alacrity, Ms. Stefanik remade herself into a fervent Trump apologist, adopted his over-torqued style on Twitter and embraced the conspiracy theories that animate his base, amplifying debunked allegations of dead voters casting ballots in Atlanta and unspecified 'irregularities' involving voting-machine software in 2020 swing states.... Ms. Stefanik's reinvention has made her a case study in the collapse of the old Republican establishment and its willing absorption into the new, Trump-dominated one.... Eager to advance..., she has spent years embedding herself wherever the action seems to be at the time."

"The Talented Mr. Santos." Azi Paybarah & Camila DeChalus of the Washington Post: "The Republican who won a congressional seat on Long Island before his claims of being a wealthy, biracial, Ukrainian descendant of Holocaust survivors were debunked had, for a while, been generally consistent about two details in his improbable life: He has long said his first name is George and his last name is Santos. But not always. Before George Santos, 34, made a name for himself in politics, he had insisted on being called Anthony -- one of his middle names -- and often used his mother's maiden name, Devolder, eventually incorporating a company in Florida with that name.... He said he is part Black. He said he is the grandson of Holocaust survivors. He claimed he helped develop 'carbon capture technology.'... Santos has already spawned new proposed legislation in Congress. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) said he will introduce legislation requiring that when candidates for federal office provide details of their education, employment and military history, they do so under oath. Torres calls the bill the Stop Another Non-Truthful Office Seeker (SANTOS) Act.

"The offices of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly (R) and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz (D) each said they are examining whether Santos broke any laws in their jurisdiction. ABC News reported that the U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York, which covers Long Island, was also examining Santos's activities.... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters on Wednesday that Santos is now 'tattooed' on Republicans in Congress." MB: As I said yesterday, he lied about even his name.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "At the end of a wrenching year at the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. devoted his annual report on the state of the federal judiciary to threats to judges' physical safety.... Some observers had hoped that the chief justice would use his year-end report for an update on the investigation announced in May into the leak of a draft opinion eliminating the constitutional right to abortion. Others had wished that he would announce revisions to judicial ethics rules in the wake of revelations about the efforts of Virginia Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, to overturn the results of the 2020 election." MB: But no. He smoothed an errant strand of his hair-helmet and marched on, chin-up, defiantly blind to the harm he has wreaked upon the nation. An AP report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Shelter from the Storm. Andrea Salcedo of the Washington Post: Jay Withey of Buffalo spent the night of December 23 in his truck with two strangers he had taken in to save them from the storm & subfreezing temperatures. But his truck was running out of fuel, and he could not find help. So he broke into the Cheektowaga high school. "Once both strangers had settled inside, Withey walked up to other cars stranded nearby, offering their occupants a place to spend the night.... By the end of the weekend, Withey had offered shelter to about two dozen strangers, including children and two dogs.... Once inside, Withey managed to open the cafeteria and found cereal, juice, water and coffee for the group. He cooked pizza for lunch and meatballs for dinner.... He left behind a handwritten note explaining the break-in. It read: 'To whoever it may concern, I am terribly sorry about breaking the school window and for breaking in the kitchen. Got stuck at 8 p.m. Friday and slept in my truck with two strangers just trying not to die. There were 7 elderly also stuck and out of fuel. I had to do it to save everyone and get them shelter, food and a bathroom. Merry Christmas -- Jay.'... Before the last person left on Christmas Day, the crew of strangers ... cleaned the school, washed the dishes and took out the trash before parting ways."

Way Beyond

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

David Stern & Francesca Ebel of the Washington Post: "As Moscow launched a fresh barrage of strikes against Ukraine on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an unusually aggressive prerecorded address, which was broadcast as Russians in the Far East began their New Year's celebrations.... In the address, which was broadcast at midnight on Russian state television in line with the country's 11 different time zones, Putin said Russia was fighting in Ukraine to protect its 'motherland' and called 2022 'a year of hard, necessary decisions' and 'fateful events' that had laid the foundation of Russia's future and independence.... As the first footage of the speech was broadcast, dozens of missiles rained down on Kyiv and other regions in Ukraine."

North Korea. Hyung-Jin Kim of the AP: "North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the 'exponential' expansion of his country's nuclear arsenal, the development of a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile and the launch of its first spy satellite, state media reported Sunday, after he entered 2023 with another weapons firing following a record number of testing activities last year."

News Ledes

New York Times: "The police shot a machete-wielding man who attacked three officers on Saturday night near Times Square, injuring him and creating a chaotic scene just hours before the ball dropped to mark New Year's Day in New York City, the authorities said."

AP: Bryan Kohberger, the "suspect arrested in connection with the slayings of four University of Idaho students plans to waive an extradition hearing so he can be quickly brought to Idaho to face murder charges, his defense attorney said Saturday." ~~~

~~~ CNN: "Authorities tracked the man charged in the killings of four Idaho college students all the way to Pennsylvania and surveilled him for several days before finally arresting him on Friday, sources told CNN. Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested in his home state of Pennsylvania and charged with four counts of murder in the first degree, as well as felony burglary in connection with the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in November, according to Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson. Still, investigators have not publicly confirmed the suspect's motive or whether he knew the victims. The murder weapon has also not been located, Moscow Police Chief James Fry said Friday.... Investigators honed in on Kohberger as the suspect through DNA evidence and by confirming his ownership of a white Hyundai Elantra seen near the crime scene.... The DNA was run through a public database to find potential family member matches.... Kohberger, who authorities say lived just minutes from the scene of the killings, is a PhD student in Washington State University's Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, the school confirmed."

Guardian: "Thirteen bison have died as a result of a road crash in the dark on a Montana highway near Yellowstone national park, authorities have announced. In a statement released on Facebook, the West Yellowstone police department announced that around 6.30pm on Wednesday 'multiple bison were struck by a semi-truck near mile marker 4 on Highway 191', referring to a highway north of the town of West Yellowstone. According to the police, thirteen bison were killed after the truck smashed into a herd, with some of the bison needing to be euthanized 'due to severe injuries'."

December 31, 2022

The Guardian is liveblogging New Year's celebrations around the world.

Joan Greve of the Guardian: President Biden & Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer aim to "repair" the fedeal judiciary.

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday pardoned six people, most of them for minor drug or alcohol offenses, continuing a series of drug-related reprieves this year.... The pardon list also included Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas, 80, of Columbus, Ohio, who was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting her abusive husband nearly a half-century ago. Ms. Ibn-Tamas was pregnant at the time of the killing and testified that her husband had beaten her throughout her pregnancy, including shortly before she shot him. Her case focused new attention on battered woman syndrome. In each case, White House officials stressed that Mr. Biden was issuing pardons to people who had served their sentences and become upstanding members of their communities."CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the clemency recipient list, via the White House. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Friday Was Trumpty Dumpty Day:

Alan Rappeport & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "House Democrats on Friday released six years of ... Donald J. Trump's tax records, making the closely guarded documents public after years of legal battles and speculation about Mr. Trump's wealth and his financial entanglements.... While much of the information in the tax returns has already come to light, including through the two reports released last week [by the House Ways & Means Committee], the full records from 2015 through 2020 are expected to provide a rare window into the complexity of Mr. Trump's finances and whether he may have profited from tax policies he signed into law as president. Those include the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which provided a series of tax breaks and cuts for businesses and wealthy people.... 'The "Trump" tax returns once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises,' [Trump wrote in a statement]." The story is developing. The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The story has been updated. New Lede: "House Democrats released six years of former President Donald J. Trump's tax records on Friday, offering new insight into his business dealings that further undermined his long-cultivated image as a wildly successful businessman." Emphasis added. ~~~

     ~~~ Jim Tankersley, et al., of the New York Times: "The documents contain new details not revealed in those earlier releases. New York Times reporters are combing the pages for key takeaways. Here is a running list.... [For instance:] As a presidential candidate in 2015, Mr. Trump said he would not take 'even one dollar' of the $400,000 salary that comes with the job.... In his first three years in office, Mr. Trump said he donated his salary quarterly. But in 2020, his last full year in office, the documents show that Mr. Trump reported $0 in charitable giving. Also in 2020, as the pandemic recession swiftly descended, Mr. Trump reported heavy business losses and no federal tax liability.... The tax law Mr. Trump signed in late 2017, which took effect the next year, contained some provisions that most likely gave him an advantage at tax time -- including the scaling back of the alternative minimum tax on high earners. But one provision in particular drastically reduced the income tax deductions Mr. Trump could claim in 2018 and beyond: limits that Republicans placed on deductions for state and local taxes paid.... Republicans ... warned Democrats that they had started down a dangerous road [by releasing Trump's returns], and that public pressure could push the incoming majority to release returns from President Biden's family or a wide range of other private individuals." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     Judy Weil & Eugene Scott of the Washington Post also report some takeaways: "Trump's charitable contributions declined over the course of his presidency. He donated $1.8 million in 2017 and about half a million dollars in each of the next two years. In 2020, as many nonprofits intensified their calls for donations as they scrambled to help victims of the coronavirus pandemic and the associated unemployment, the Trumps reported giving no money to charity." MB: IOW, Trump treated charitable donations as tax deductions; in 2020, he claimed negative adjusted gross income, so no need for so-called charitable giving. CNN's key takeaways are here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Bernie Becker & Benjamin Guggenheim of Politico: "Donald Trump's tax returns show the former president received income from more than a dozen countries during his time in office, highlighting a string of potential conflicts of interest.... The six years of tax returns disclosed Friday show that Trump received extensive income from Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom -- including gross business income of at least $35.3 million from Canada in 2017, the year he entered office. That year, Trump also brought in $6.5 million from China, $5.8 million from Indonesia and $5.7 million from India."

The House January 6 Select Committee released more witness transcripts Friday. Links to the transcripts are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Friday released more than 40 additional transcripts of its interviews, bringing the total number of transcripts published to more than 160.... Here are some takeaways from the thousands of pages released this week."

Bad News. McKenna Oxenden of the New York Times: "Mark Meadows, a former chief of staff in the Trump White House, will not face voter fraud charges after officials determined that he did not fraudulently register to vote and cast a ballot in North Carolina during the 2020 presidential election, the state attorney general said on Friday. The attorney general, Josh Stein, said there was 'not sufficient evidence' to bring charges against Mr. Meadows or his wife, Debra Meadows. The State Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation and found that because Mr. Meadows was 'engaged in public service' in Washington, he was qualified for a residency exception, officials said. Under North Carolina law, if a person moves to Washington or other federal territories for government service, then the individual will not lose residency status in the state."

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "Transcripts of interviews with law enforcement officials released this week by the Jan. 6 committee reveal the panel learned that numerous security concerns had been raised in the days leading up to the attack on the Capitol.... The new revelations add to a growing body of evidence from news reports and court proceedings that illustrate how federal law enforcement officials were in possession of ample information that indicated Jan. 6 was going to be violent. As NBC News first reported last month, [committee] staffers were informed that chapters prepared by committee staff -- including material focused on law enforcement and intelligence failures -- would be cut from the final version.

"Among the revelations from the transcripts: One FBI employee wrote in a Dec. 26, 2020, memo about planning for Jan. 6 that was unfolding on a pro-Trump forum called TheDonald. 'They think they will have a large enough group to march into DC armed, and it will outnumber the police so they can't be stopped,' read the notification in the eGuardian system, which is meant to help federal, state and local law enforcement officials coordinate. 'They believe that since the election was stolen, that it's their constitutional right to over take the government and during this coup no U.S. laws apply. Another group of Proud Boys will be in DC already and are planning on blocking the roads with their cars in order to stop traffic.'... Days before the attack, the FBI lost use of the program it had been using to track threats on social media, as the bureau transitioned to a new product to gather open source information.

     ~~~ Marie: Needless to say, it defies common sense to take down a security system before its replacement is up, tested, & running properly.

Jo Becker & Julie Tate of the New York Times: "The charity, the Supreme Court Historical Society, is ostensibly independent of the judicial branch of government, but in reality the two are inextricably intertwined. The charity's stated mission is straightforward: to preserve the court's history and educate the public about the court's importance in American life. But over the years the society has also become a vehicle for those seeking access to nine of the most reclusive and powerful people in the nation. The justices attend the society's annual black-tie dinner soirees.... The society has raised more than $23 million over the last two decades. Because of its nonprofit status, it does not have to publicly disclose its donors -- and declined when asked to do so. But The New York Times was able to identify the sources behind more than $10.7 million raised since 2003, the first year for which relevant records were available. At least $6.4 million -- or 60 percent -- came from corporations, special interest groups, or lawyers and firms that argued cases before the court.... ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It appears to me that it's way cheaper to corrupt the Supremes than it is to corrupt the president* or members of Congress. This is like bargain-basement corruption.

Jim Rutenberg, et al., of the New York Times: "Surveys [by GOP-aligned pollsters] showing strength for Republicans ... set Democratic klaxons blaring in [Washington state,] Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Colorado. Coupled with the political factors already favoring Republicans -- including inflation and President Biden's unpopularity -- the skewed polls helped feed what quickly became an inescapable political narrative: A Republican wave election was about to hit the country.... Not for the first time, a warped understanding of the contours of a national election had come to dominate the views of political operatives, donors, journalists and, in some cases, the candidates themselves. The misleading polls of 2022 did not just needlessly spook some worried candidates into spending more money than they may have needed to on their own races. They also led some candidates -- in both parties -- who had a fighting chance of winning to lose out on money that could have made it possible for them to do so, as those controlling the purse strings believed polls that inaccurately indicated they had no chance at all.... The skewed red-wave surveys polluted polling averages, which are relied upon by campaigns, donors, voters and the news media.... Yet questionable polls were not only put out by Republicans.

Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times: "Barbara Walters, who broke barriers for women as the first female co-host of the 'Today' show and the first female anchor of a network evening news program, and who as an interviewer of celebrities became one herself, helping to blur the line between news and entertainment, died on Friday. She was 93." Walters' Washington Post obituary is here. Her ABC News obituary was here.

Marie: Maybe I should be embarrassed for never having heard of this guy, but his arrest has garnered a good deal of media attention, so here ya go: ~~~

~~~ McKenna Oxenden & Jenny Gross of the New York Times: "Andrew Tate, a former professional kickboxer and online personality who frequently made misogynistic comments to his large following on social media sites, has been remanded into custody for 30 days by a judge in Romania after the police charged him and three others with human trafficking, rape and forming an organized criminal group." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, guess I should have watched more TuKKKer: ~~~

     ~~~ Aidan McLaughlin of Mediaite: "Clips of Tucker Carlson defending Andrew Tate have resurfaced after the kickboxer turned controversial internet personality was detained in Romania on suspicion of human trafficking, rape, and organized crime. Prosecutors said Tate, his brother and two other suspects, 'appear to have created an organized crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialized websites for a cost.'... In the months that followed, Tate -- who achieved notoriety online for his misogynistic commentary and support for former President Donald Trump -- was banned from a slew of social media platforms. As a result, he received gushing coverage from conservative media, including a lengthy interview in August with Fox News host Tucker Carlson."

For an explanation of why today's crop of right-wingers are better-viewed as "confederates" than as "conservatives," see Monoloco's post at the top of today's Comments thread.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Some Bad News for Misogynists. Jack Healy of the New York Times: "Arizona cannot prosecute doctors under an 1864 ban on abortions that would have outlawed the procedure in nearly every circumstance, a state appeals court ruled on Friday. The ruling, which abortion-rights groups celebrated as a qualified victory, offers some clarity after months of uncertainty and legal fights over the fate of abortion in Arizona -- and effectively allows licensed doctors in Arizona to perform abortions through the 15th week of pregnancy. The decision resolved, for the moment, the question of which abortion ban in Arizona would be the law of the land in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion. The Supreme Court decision effectively sent the issue back to states to decide, and many have been caught up in litigation over state bans."

Kansas 2020 Senate Race. John Hanna of the AP: "Incoming Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach agreed to help pay a $30,000 penalty to resolve a federal complaint over the improper use of a group's email list during his unsuccessful 2020 campaign for the U.S. Senate.... The issue was the $2,000 paid by Kobach's Senate campaign to rent We Build the Wall's email list. While Kobach's campaign initially considered that to be a fair market price, the agreement said, it later conceded that it was below market value, resulting in an illegal campaign contribution from We Build the Wall. Kobach served on the group's board of directors and as its general counsel but resigned in early September, after the group and Steve Bannon ... were indicted in New York on allegations of money laundering, conspiracy and fraud... Kobach, who is a polarizing advocate of tough immigration measures, lost the Republican primary for an open U.S. Senate seat in August 2020." MB: Every little thing they do is crooked.

Way Beyond

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

Vatican. Anthony Faiola, et al. of the Washington Post: "Pope Benedict, 95, died Saturday in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican." The Guardian's obituary is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments.

Brazil. Gabriela Sá Pessoa of the Washington Post: "Two days before leaving office, ending a tumultuous four years as the race-baiting, Amazon-developing, coronavirus-downplaying, vaccine-skeptical leader of Latin America's largest country, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro remained defiant in a teary farewell address on Friday, defending his record and saying the election that led to his ouster was not impartial, but condemning violence against the result. Then he flew to Florida, Brazilian media reported, where in the past he has met with ... Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. He apparently planned to skip the inauguration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday, when the outgoing leader traditionally presents the presidential sash to his successor, a ceremony intended to reaffirm the country's young democracy."