December 24, 2022

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Congress on Friday cleared a roughly $1.7 trillion government funding package that would provide significant increases to national security and domestic spending and billions of dollars to aid Ukraine, sending the measure to President Biden's desk for his signature. The bill was the last major legislative accomplishment of the 117th Congress and set aside $858 billion in funds for the military that Republicans pushed for and more than $772 billion for the education, health and veterans programs Democrats have championed. The measure, approved just before Christmas Eve, is the second major government funding bill passed during the Biden administration and served as the final opportunity for congressional Democrats to shape the federal budget while they retain control of both chambers." (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's report is here.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Remember this moment: It might be the last time you see a competent government for at least two years. This will all come crashing down when -- if -- [Kevin] McCarthy assumes the speakership on Jan. 3. McCarthy himself is trying to make sure dysfunction will dominate. Not only is he fighting to defeat the bipartisan omnibus spending bill, but he has threatened that any bill sponsored by any lawmaker who votes for the omnibus -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- will be 'dead on arrival.'... McCarthy's threat would essentially shut down the House for two years and eventually bring the government to a halt.... Jewish lasers and phony credentials: For House Republicans, it's going to be a truly fabulist year." (Also linked yesterday.)

The January 6 committee has published transcript of interviews of 46 (if I counted right) more witnesses. The committee page that links to the interviews is here. (Also linked yesterday.) As Neal Katyal said on the teevee, he'd expect people at a stoners' convention to have better memories. At least that's what I think he said; like half the witnesses, I can't recall. ~~~

~~~ Turns Out All of Trump's Security Detail Are Stoners. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The House Jan. 6 committee's final report provides new details of its efforts to get to the bottom of one of the most explosive pieces of the public testimony heard by the committee -- an account of ... Donald J. Trump trying to grab the steering wheel of his S.U.V. just before the assault on the Capitol and lunging at a Secret Service agent -- but was inconclusive about the details of what happened.... The report said that 'another witness, a White House employee with national security responsibilities, provided the committee with a... description [similar to what Cassidy Hutchinson related in live testimony]: Ornato related [to the witness, as he had to Hutchinson,] the 'irate' interaction in the presidential vehicle to this individual in Ornato's White House office with [agent Bobby] Engel present.' [Tony] Ornato, when questioned by the panel, said that he had no memory of the conversations recounted by Ms. Hutchinson and the other witness, and that 'he had no knowledge at all about the president's anger.'... Mr. Engel said he did not recall the conversation with Mr. Ornato described by Ms. Hutchinson and 'indicated he did not recall President Trump gesturing toward him.' The driver, the report said, indicated that Mr. Trump was angrier than described by Mr. Engel in either interview, but 'testified that he did not recall seeing what President Trump was doing and did not recall whether there was movement.' Two other witnesses, a Washington, D.C., police officer and a Secret Service agent, confirmed that Mr. Trump was furious about the decision not to take him to the Capitol."

Washington Post reporters have some more lowlights from the newly-released transcripts.

Ryan Goodman & Justin Hendrix of Just Security write a good rundown of the major highlights of the committee's final report. If you don't think you'll ever have enough time or inclination to read 845 pages, this summary may prove a big help.

Tierney Sneed, et al., of CNN: "In December 2020, after then-Attorney General William Barr publicly refuted ... Donald Trump's claims that the election was rigged, White House staffers drafted a press release that would've called for the firing of anyone who disagreed with Trump's claims, according to a new transcript from the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021. The draft statement ended with, 'Anybody that thinks there wasn't massive fraud in 2020 election should be fired,' according to the deposition. The draft statement -- which was never sent out, and hadn't been revealed before Friday -- was brought up during the committee's deposition of Trump White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, according to the transcript. Congressional investigators told him that they likely obtained the statement from the National Archives, which turned over documents from the Trump White House."

Robert Draper & Luke Broadwater take a deep dive for the New York Times Magazine into the workings of the House January 6 Select Committee. With somber black-and-white photos to make it all look more paper-of-record weighty. (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Gold & others at the New York Times report on what Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) was really doing in the years he told voters he was a college grad & financial whiz kid. (Also linked yesterday.)

Laurie McGinley & Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "The Food and Drug Administration approved a change in labeling for the Plan B 'morning after' pill on Friday to clarify it does not prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus -- language that had been cited by abortion opponents to argue the medication causes abortions and should be restricted. For years, the FDA-approved label for Plan B One-Step and its competitors said the medication works mainly by stopping the release of an egg from the ovary or possibly by preventing fertilization of an egg by sperm. But it also suggested that if an egg is fertilized, the drug may prevent it from attaching to the wall of the uterus. That was revised on Friday to say 'Plan B One-Step works before release of an egg from the ovary. As a result, Plan B One-Step usually stops or delays the release of an egg from the ovary. Plan B One-Step is one tablet that contains a higher dose of levonorgestrel than birth control pills and works in a similar way to prevent pregnancy.'" The AP's report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Judge Rules Against Election-Denier. Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: “An Arizona judge on Friday ruled from the bench against Abe Hamadeh, the unsuccessful Republican candidate for state attorney general who claimed that improper adjudication of ballots and other errors cost him the election and who had asked to be declared the winner. Hamadeh lost to Democrat Kris Mayes by 511 votes, a narrow margin that triggered an automatic recount, the results of which are expected later this month. But the ruling against Hamadeh in his lawsuit all but guarantees that Mayes will be inaugurated next year. Judge Lee F. Jantzen of Mohave County Superior Court told Hamadeh's lawyer, Timothy La Sota, 'You just haven't proven your case.'"

Iowa. Remi Tumin of the New York Times: Mark “Woodley, a sports anchor and reporter for KWWL, an NBC News affiliate in Eastern Iowa, was pressed into service as the massive storm system moved across the plains. Temperatures plunged to 12 degrees in the morning and continued to drop, and it was snowing -- heavily at times -- as Mr. Woodley broadcast live from the streets of Waterloo for more than three hours.... As [a local anchor, ensconced in a warm studio,] continued to check in over the course of the morning, Mr. Woodley became increasingly annoyed." MB: Pretty funny. Unless you're Mark Woodley, I guess. ~~~

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Guardian's live updates of developments of Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Mary Ilyushina & Francesca Abel of the Washington Post: "Despite heavy combat losses over ten months of brutal war, Russia now has more than double the number of troops poised to fight in Ukraine as it did when it invaded in February, including thousands of convicts released from prison and conscripts from a controversial mobilization drive this fall. According to a new U.S. assessment, the Wagner mercenary group, which fights alongside regular Russian troops in Ukraine, in recent months recruited 40,000 prisoners from all over the country into its ranks. Together, with 300,000 new conscripts and 20,000 volunteers, Russia's force is now more than double the 150,000 initially allocated to what President Vladimir Putin termed a 'special military operation.'"

News Lede

The New York Times is liveblogging weather conditions throughout the U.S.: "A swath of the United States is waking up Saturday to the continuing effects of a winter storm that is battering the Northeast with blizzard conditions and keeping temperatures around record lows in parts of the country where freezing cold is rarely a fact of life. The storm and the Arctic air mass will continue bedeviling most of the central, eastern and southern states for a fourth day with frigid cold and blinding snowstorms, forecasters said. There have been at least a dozen deaths, and tens of thousands of holiday travelers and motorists have been stranded. At one point, more than 1.5 million households were without power."

December 23, 2022

Afternoon/Evening Update:

Robert Draper & Luke Broadwater take a deep dive for the New York Times Magazine into the workings of the House January 6 Select Committee. With somber black-and-white photos to make it all look more paper-of-record weighty.

The January 6 committee has published transcript of interviews of 46 (if I counted right) more witnesses. The committee page that links to the interviews is here.

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Congress on Friday cleared a roughly $1.7 trillion government funding package that would provide significant increases to national security and domestic spending and billions of dollars to aid Ukraine, sending the measure to President Biden's desk for his signature. The bill was the last major legislative accomplishment of the 117th Congress and set aside $858 billion in funds for the military that Republicans pushed for and more than $772 billion for the education, health and veterans programs Democrats have championed. The measure, approved just before Christmas Eve, is the second major government funding bill passed during the Biden administration and served as the final opportunity for congressional Democrats to shape the federal budget while they retain control of both chambers."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Remember this moment: It might be the last time you see a competent government for at least two years. This will all come crashing down when -- if -- [Kevin] McCarthy assumes the speakership on Jan. 3. McCarthy himself is trying to make sure dysfunction will dominate. Not only is he fighting to defeat the bipartisan omnibus spending bill, but he has threatened that any bill sponsored by any lawmaker who votes for the omnibus -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- will be 'dead on arrival.'... McCarthy's threat would essentially shut down the House for two years and eventually bring the government to a halt.... Jewish lasers and phony credentials: For House Republicans, it's going to be a truly fabulist year."

Michael Gold & others at the New York Times report on what Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) was really doing in the years he told voters he was a college grad & financial whiz kid.

~~~~~~~~~~

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Declaring that the central cause of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was 'one man,' the House committee investigating the assault delivered its final report on Thursday, setting out in extensive detail how ... Donald J. Trump had carried out what it called 'a multipart plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election' and offering recommendations for steps to assure nothing like it could happen again.The release of the full report was the culmination of the panel's 18-month inquiry.... The report was largely an expanded version of the panel's widely watched set of hearings this summer, with its chapter topics mirroring the themes of those sessions.... The committee on Wednesday and Thursday also released more than 40 witness testimony transcripts, which showed nearly two dozen witnesses invoking their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. More of them, as well as attachments, will be released before the end of the year."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post notes some key findings here. "One of the most striking new revelations is a text message from a Trump aide, Robert Gabriel. At 2:49 p.m., as the Capitol was under siege, Gabriel texted, 'Potus im sure is loving this.'... White House aide Sarah Matthews has said White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told her that Trump resisted calling on the rioters to be 'peaceful' in a tweet.... The committee also detailed new evidence linking [Rudy] Giuliani, [Donald] Trump and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to the early fake-elector effort. Trump campaign lawyer Joshua Findlay testified that 'it was my understanding that the President made' the decision to have someone look into the feasibility of appointing alternative electors around Dec. 7 or 8."

Politico republishes the full committee report here.

On Thursday, the January 6 committee released the transcripts of the testimony of 34 witnesses. Links, via the committee, to these transcripts is here.

Eric Tucker of the AP: "Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson told the House Jan. 6 committee that her first lawyer advised her against being fully forthcoming with the panel, telling her it was acceptable to testify that she did not recall certain events when she actually did and that 'the less you remember, the better,' according to a transcript of one of her interviews released Thursday. The lawyer, Stefan Passantino, denied the allegations, saying in a statement that he had done nothing wrong and had acted 'honorably, ethically, and fully consistent with her sole interests.'... The committee released a copy of Hutchinson's interview on Thursday." MB: Yo, Stefano, you might want to study up on "obstruction of justice" and "witness tampering." (Also linked yesterday.)~~~

     ~~~ Update. Luke Broadwater & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who was a standout witness of the House Jan. 6 committee investigation, told the panel in an interview in September that [] a lawyer aligned with ... Donald J. Trump had tried to influence her testimony, the latest example of what the committee says was an effort to stonewall its inquiry. 'We just want to focus on protecting the president,' Ms. Hutchinson recalled Stefan Passantino, a former Trump White House lawyer who represented her during her early interactions with the committee, telling her. 'We all know you're loyal,' she said Mr. Passantino told her. 'Let's just get you in and out, and this day will be easy, I promise.'... She told the committee that on the night before her initial interview, another aide to Mr. Meadows, Ben Williamson, called her with a message. 'Mark wants you to know that he knows you're loyal and he knows you'll do the right thing tomorrow and that you're going to protect him and the boss,' she quoted Mr. Williamson as saying, in an apparent reference to Mr. Trump. 'You know, he knows that we're all on the same team and we're all a family.'... After [her first committee interview, while Mr. Passantino was representing her,] Ms. Hutchinson said, Mr. Passantino told her that he would help her get her 'a really good job in Trump world.'" ~~~

... it's just a good reminder that the boss [i.e., Trump] does read transcripts.... And we want to make sure that, like, whatever he's reading isn't going to put you in a bad situation. -- Stefan Passantino, to Cassidy Hutchinson, according to her testimony

Nice little life you've got there, Sweetheart. Wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you. ~~~

     ~~~ Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "In addition to her own lawyer, Hutchinson claimed that Trump's former campaign lawyer, chief of staff, White House lawyers and other close confidants to the former president showered her with praise and promised that her loyalty would be rewarded.... She said she started hearing from multiple people in Trump's orbit about potential employment opportunities soon after Passantino started representing her. Those communications escalated on the eve of her March 7 interview with the committee, Hutchinson testified. Hutchinson said she received texts from Justin Clark, a former Trump campaign lawyer, on 10 different days in March, beginning four days ahead of her scheduled testimony. She also testified that Jason Miller, another Trump loyalist and chief executive of the social media platform Gettr, arranged a job interview for her with one of his executives there on March 8 -- the day after one of her committee interviews.... Pam Bondi, Florida's former attorney general, even let Hutchinson know one night in March that she had been the topic of conversation during a dinner with Trump himself in which a job working with a Republican heavyweight was discussed.... 'Pam texted me that night and said something to the effect of: "Susie, Matt Schlapp, and I had dinner with POTUS at Mar-a-Lago tonight. Call Matt next week. He has a job for you that we all think you'd be great at...."'" ~~~

     ~~~ Lawrence O'Donnell said on-air Thursday that Stefan Passantino has resigned from his law firm & is being investigated by his local bar association. MB: I can't find a print story on this, but if and when I do, I'll link it. Passantino -- who had been "a top Trump ethics lawyer" (ha ha) -- took a leave of absence from his firm earlier this week when news surfaced of his efforts to silence Hutchinson.

     ~~~ Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News on how Cassidy Hutchinson decided to cooperate with the January 6 committee.

     ~~~ The January 6 committee released Cassidy Hutchinson's attorney. The links, via the committee, are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The January 6 committee released the testimony of five additional witnesses. The links, via the committee, are here.

Links to all of the committee's press releases begin here.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), in a New York Times op-ed: "... one line of effort to overturn the election is given scant attention, and that involved the willingness of so many members of Congress to vote to overturn it. Even after Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police put down the insurrection at great cost to themselves, the majority of Republicans in the House picked up right where they left off, still voting to overturn the results in important states."

Emily Brooks of the Hill: "A 'shadow committee' of the five House Republicans who were originally nominate to sit on the House Jan. 6 select committee released a counter-report about security failures on Wednesday, ahead of the official select committee's final report. The report focuses on changes to Capitol Police intelligence protocols in the run-up to Jan. 6, constraints on the House Sergeant at Arms, and communications between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) office and the House Sergeant at Arms. It is based on already-public documents and news reports, interviews with Capitol security officials and rank-and-file Capitol Police officers, and documents provided to the House Administration Committee Republican staff by the House Sergeant at Arms in January 2022.... House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had nominated Republican Reps. Jim Banks (Ind.), Rodney Davis (Ill.), Jim Jordan (Ohio), Kelly Armstrong (N.D.), and Troy Nehls (Texas) to sit on the Jan. 6 select committee last year. But after Pelosi vetoed the appointment of Banks and Jordan, McCarthy pulled the rest of his picks." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm pretty sure a "report" one of Jungle Gym Jordan's unpaid interns ripped from the headlines of the Washington Star opinion page is quite valuable. I hope no trees died for this effort.

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times reports on the IRS's failure to examine Donald Trump's tax return, which the agency blames on understaffing. "After he left office, the I.R.S. said it was beefing up the audit team, [from one] to three.... The [House Ways & Means C]ommittee reports released this week highlight how depleted the I.R.S. has become in the last decade, as Republicans starved it of funding. They also show how the agency has become increasingly unable to crack down on wealthy taxpayers who push the legal limits to lower their tax bills and have the means to fend off audits if they get caught. That has led to a $7 trillion 'tax gap' of revenue over a decade that is owed but goes uncollected, in many cases from superrich taxpayers such as Mr. Trump, who has boasted that he fights to pay as little tax as possible.... Republicans have for years accused the I.R.S. of political bias and unfairly targeting conservatives. For that reason, they have fought to cut the agency's funding or, in some cases, called to abolish it altogether. The spending package that Congress is voting on this week reduces the base funding levels for the I.R.S. by $275 million to $12.32 billion, which Republicans hailed as a victory. However, that does not account for the $80 billion in supplemental funding that the I.R.S. was granted through the Inflation Reduction Act this year...."

Andrew Blankstein & Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A man who carried what appeared to be a hammer at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, got into a standoff Thursday with the FBI for hours before special agents arrested him for his role in the riot, law enforcement officials said. The FBI arrested Eric Christie on Thursday after several hours in which he refused to cooperate with authorities after they arrived at a home in Sherman Oaks, California. Two law enforcement officials confirmed his arrest."

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Senate on Thursday approved a roughly $1.7 trillion spending package that would fund the federal government into next fall and send another round of financial assistance to Kyiv, a day after lawmakers welcomed President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to Capitol Hill. Approval of the sprawling package came less than three days after it was unveiled, as lawmakers raced to avert a government shutdown and codify dozens of fiscal and legislative priorities. Mr. Zelensky's daring decision to visit Washington intensified the pressure to act on the measure, which includes nearly $50 billion in assistance to Ukraine. The Senate voted 68 to 29 to send the legislation to the House, which is set to take it up on Friday. Once it passes the House, President Biden is expected to sign the measure." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.) An NBC News report is here.

Amy Wang & Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "A bipartisan bill that would change how members of Congress could object to electoral votes -- Congress's response to the Jan. 6 insurrection -- passed the Senate on Thursday as part of sweeping spending bill to fund the government.The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, sponsored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), would amend the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and reaffirm that the vice president has only a ministerial role at the joint session of Congress where electoral college votes are counted. The measure also would raise the threshold necessary for members of Congress to object to a state's electors. The bill was driven by the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol...."

Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times: "Congress gave final approval on Thursday to a bill to expand the U.S. government's power to prosecute international war crimes suspects who are in the United States, allowing them to be tried in a federal court regardless of the nationality of the victim or the perpetrator, or where the crime was committed. Experts say the legislation, shepherded by a bipartisan group of lawmakers amid reports of Russian forces committing war crimes in the brutal conflict in Ukraine, brings the U.S. legal code in line with international law and prevents the United States from being seen as a potential haven for war criminals. The bill, called the Justice for Victims of War Crimes Act, now goes to President Biden. It sped through the Senate and then the House in the hours surrounding a congressional address on Wednesday night by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who condemned President Vladimir V. Putin's Russia for targeting civilians and urged the United States to continue sending financial and military aid amid a winter assault."

Farnoush Amiri of the AP: "The House unanimously passed a bill Wednesday to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Emmett Till, the Chicago teenager murdered by white supremacists in the 1950s, and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. The bill, which passed the Senate in January, is meant to honor Till and his mother -- who had insisted on an open casket funeral to demonstrate the brutality of his killing -- with the highest civilian honor that Congress awards. The medal will be given to the National Museum of African American History where it will be displayed near the casket Till was buried in." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times report is here.

Matt Levietes of NBC News: “The New York attorney general's office said it is 'looking into a number of issues' surrounding Rep.-elect George Santos, who was the subject of a bombshell New York Times investigation that questions whether the incoming Republican lawmaker fabricated much of his biography, including his education, work history and financial dealings. The office, however, did not confirm whether it had opened an official investigation into Santos and declined to comment further on the matter.... 'To the people of #NY03 I have my story to tell and it will be told next week. I want to assure everyone that I will address your questions and that I remain committed to deliver the results I campaigned on; Public safety, Inflation, Education & more,' [Santos tweeted Thursday]."

~~~ Bryan Metzger of Insider, republished by Yahoo! News: George Santos (R-N.Y.) "Santos is the first non-incumbent out gay Republican ever elected to Congress.... The Daily Beast reported on Thursday that Santos divorced a woman named Uadla Santos in 2019, just two weeks before launching his ill-fated 2020 congressional campaign against Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi. The outlet was also unable to obtain records of his marriage to his husband. While it's possible that Santos is, in fact, gay, the marriage complicates public statements that Santos has made about his own sexuality. 'I'm a gay married man,' Santos told USA Today in October of this year. 'I am openly gay, have never had an issue with my sexual identity in the past decade, and I can tell you and assure you, I will always be an advocate for LGBTQ folks.' Santos never publicly disclosed his marriage to the woman." (Also linked yesterday.)

Rohan Goswami of CNBC & Marlene Lenthang of NBC News: "FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried will be released on $250 million bail, a federal judge in New York ruled Thursday. The 30-year-old appeared in court one day following his extradition from the Bahamas, where he was arrested on Dec. 12 following his indictment on a slew of charges related to the collapse of the crypto currency exchange. The $250 million bail is part of a deal designed by federal prosecutors and Bankman-Fried's defense attorneys, CNBC reported. His parents, both Stanford Law professors who were present in the courtroom, will put up the equity in their home to partially satisfy bail conditions." The rich are different from you and me. (Also linked yesterday.)

Robert Gebeloff & Dana Goldstein of the New York Times: "The pace of population growth picked up in the United States this year, driven primarily by immigration, but it remains near historically low levels, according to new estimates released on Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The population as of July 1 stood at 333.3 million, up about 0.4 percent compared with 12 months earlier, the biggest single-year increase since 2019 but still one of the slowest growth rates in the nation's history. The nation grew by less than 0.2 percent in 2021, which was the lowest one-year increase on record."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Maya Yang of the Guardian: "Florida's rightwing Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has appointed a judge who was previously ousted over a controversial ruling where he denied a teenager an abortion, citing her school grades. DeSantis appointed Jared Smith to the newly established sixth district court of appeal, an appointment which will begin on 1 January 2023. Smith previously served as a judge on the Hillsborough county court until he was ousted in August after his decision on the abortion-related case.... An appeals court eventually overturned the ruling. In August, Smith lost his re-election bid against Nancy Jacobs, a Tampa criminal defense and family law attorney."

New York. Kashmir Hill & Corey Kilgannon of the New York Times: "MSG Entertainment, the owner of [Madison Square Garden] and Radio City Music Hall, has put lawyers who represent people suing it on an 'exclusion list' to keep them out of concerts and sporting events.... [The company's] chief executive, James L. Dolan, is a billionaire who has run his empire with an autocratic flair, and his company instituted the ban this summer not only on lawyers representing people suing it, but on all attorneys at their firms. The company ... is enforcing the list with the help of [facial recognition] computer software.... Facial recognition technology is legal in New York, but lawyers have sued MSG Entertainment, saying the exclusion list is forbidden. The use of facial recognition technology to enforce it has raised an outcry not just from people turned away from Knicks games, but from civil liberties watchdogs, who called it a startling new frontier that demonstrated why the federal government should regulate the technology."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "North Korea's foreign ministry on Friday denied providing weapons to Russia, following a Japanese newspaper report that North Korea had shipped munitions to Russia, and recent White House claims that North Korea has been covertly supplying Russia with artillery rounds.... The White House has accused North Korea of secretly transferring artillery shells to aid Russia, and of making a separate sale and delivery of missiles to Russia's Wagner group for use in Ukraine.... Wagner forces have been particularly active in and around the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, National Security Council Lohn Kirby said Thursday, adding that 40,000 of the estimated 50,000 Wagner forces fighting in Ukraine are convicts directly recruited from Russian prisons.... Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video of himself back in his office in Kyiv Friday, following his visit to Washington D.C.... Zelensky met with President of Poland Andrzej Duda for two hours on his way back from his trip to the United States.... A suspected spy who is an employee of Germany's foreign intelligence agency was arrested in Berlin after an internal investigation alleged he was sharing state secrets with Russia, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.... The United States Senate unanimously agreed to a plan that would use some assets seized from Russian oligarchs to support Ukraine. The amendment, which is linked to the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that is up for a vote in the House on Friday, is expected to bring billions of dollars to Ukraine."

Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "After nearly 10 months of war, but referring to the brutal invasion of Ukraine instead as 'a special military operation,' Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday finally called it a 'war' for the first time, setting off an uproar among antiwar Russians who have been prosecuted for merely challenging the Kremlin-approved euphemism. 'Our goal is not to spin this flywheel of a military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war,' Putin said during a televised news conference following a government meeting on Thursday."

The New York Times has the full transcript of President Zelensky's speech before the Congressional joint meeting Wednesday evening. (Also linked yesterday.)

Reuters, via the Guardian: "Volodymyr Zelenskiy's surprise visit to Washington ... started with a secretive train ride to Poland late on Tuesday. The next morning he arrived in the southern Polish city of Przemysl, where he was spotted at the train station, according to footage from private broadcaster TVN, along with the US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, who accompanied him. Zelenskiy's visit had been planned for days and organised in secret because of concerns about his safety, but details were tweeted on Tuesday by a reporter from US-based newsletter Punchbowl News. In Poland, Zelenskiy boarded a US government plane which landed at about noon EST on Wednesday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland near Washington. He traveled by motorcade to Blair House, the presidential guest house along Pennsylvania Avenue...."

China. Good Grief! Al Jazeera: "Nearly 37 million people in China may have been infected with COVID-19 on a single day this week, the Bloomberg news agency has reported, citing minutes from an internal meeting of the country's National Health Commission held on Wednesday. In all, the report which was published on Friday said about 18 percent of the country's population -- 248 million people -- are likely to have contracted the virus in the first 20 days of December. China is witnessing a dramatic surge in coronavirus cases since it dropped its controversial zero-COVID policy following widespread protests in recent weeks."

News Ledes

The Washington Post is live-updating developments in the winter storm that is pummeling much of the country. The New York Times' live updates are here.

Guardian: "More than 200 million people in nearly every US state are under various winter weather alerts, including for wind chill, ice and heavy snow, as a huge winter storm system threatens travel chaos and one of the coldest Christmas days on record. The coast to coast alerts extend as far south as Florida, with blizzard conditions expected in the Great Lakes region, up to 2in (5cm) of rain and a flash freeze on the East Coast, and wind gusts of 60 miles (100 km) an hour on the Mexican border.... The National Weather Service (NWS) said it expected a weather phenomenon known as a bomb cyclone -- a rapidly strengthening storm that drops 24 millibars of pressure within 24 hours -- to develop as it moves into the Great Lakes on Friday.... 'This is not like a snow day, when you were a kid, this is serious stuff,' the president, Joe Biden, said on Thursday."

New York Times: "A 69-year-old man was taken into custody on Friday in connection with shootings at a Kurdish community center, a hair salon and a restaurant in central Paris that left at least three people dead. Three other people were wounded, one of them seriously, according to the Paris prosecutor, in the attack shortly before noon on Rue d'Enghien a narrow street in the 10th Arrondissement of the French capital. Later on Friday, sadness in the local community turned to anger, and chaotic clashes between protesters and the police engulfed some streets in the area."

December 22, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Eric Tucker of the AP: "Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson told the House Jan. 6 committee that her first lawyer advised her against being fully forthcoming with the panel, telling her it was acceptable to testify that she did not recall certain events when she actually did and that 'the less you remember, the better,' according to a transcript of one of her interviews released Thursday. The lawyer, Stefan Passantino, denied the allegations, saying in a statement that he had done nothing wrong and had acted 'honorably, ethically, and fully consistent with her sole interests.'... The committee released a copy of Hutchinson's interview on Thursday." MB: Yo, Stefano, you might want to study up on "obstruction of justice."

Farnoush Amiri of the AP: "The House unanimously passed a bill Wednesday to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Emmett Till, the Chicago teenager murdered by white supremacists in the 1950s, and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. The bill, which passed the Senate in January, is meant to honor Till and his mother -- who had insisted on an open casket funeral to demonstrate the brutality of his killing -- with the highest civilian honor that Congress awards. The medal will be given to the National Museum of African American History where it will be displayed near the casket Till was buried in."

Rohan Goswami of CNBC & Marlene Lenthang of NBC News: "FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried will be released on $250 million bail, a federal judge in New York ruled Thursday. The 30-year-old appeared in court one day following his extradition from the Bahamas, where he was arrested on Dec. 12 following his indictment on a slew of charges related to the collapse of the crypto currency exchange. The $250 million bail is part of a deal designed by federal prosecutors and Bankman-Fried's defense attorneys, CNBC reported. His parents, both Stanford Law professors who were present in the courtroom, will put up the equity in their home to partially satisfy bail conditions." The rich are different from you and me

The New York Times has the full transcript of President Zelensky's speech before the Congressional joint meeting Wednesday evening.

Manu Raju of CNN reported on-air that all 100 senators have approved the omnibus spending bill. No link. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Senate on Thursday appeared poised to pass a mammoth spending package and avoid a government shutdown after lawmakers overcame an impasse over immigration policy. Senators returned to the Capitol on Thursday morning for a lengthy series of votes after reaching an agreement to expedite passage of the roughly $1.7 trillion measure that would fully fund the federal government and send another round of financial assistance to Ukraine. While the overall package has significant bipartisan support, a deadlock over immigration sapped valuable time on Wednesday that was needed if lawmakers were to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the week. The measure is the last must-pass bill before the end of the congressional session, and senators were anxious to avoid a looming winter storm and head home for the holidays. To beat the shutdown deadline, however, lawmakers had sought to use a fast-track process that requires the consent of all 100 senators. But before agreeing to the process, several senators demanded the opportunity to vote on a series of amendments in a bid to secure last-minute changes or force politically freighted votes, delaying an agreement on expediting passage of the bill."

Bryan Metzger of Insider, republished by Yahoo! News: George Santos (R-N.Y.) "Santos is the first non-incumbent out gay Republican ever elected to Congress.... The Daily Beast reported on Thursday that Santos divorced a woman named Uadla Santos in 2019, just two weeks before launching his ill-fated 2020 congressional campaign against Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi. The outlet was also unable to obtain records of his marriage to his husband. While it's possible that Santos is, in fact, gay, the marriage complicates public statements that Santos has made about his own sexuality. 'I'm a gay married man,' Santos told USA Today in October of this year. 'I am openly gay, have never had an issue with my sexual identity in the past decade, and I can tell you and assure you, I will always be an advocate for LGBTQ folks.' Santos never publicly disclosed his marriage to the woman."

Emily Brooks of the Hill: "A 'shadow committee' of the five House Republicans who were originally nominated to sit on the House Jan. 6 select committee released a counter-report about security failures on Wednesday, ahead of the official select committee's final report. The report focuses on changes to Capitol Police intelligence protocols in the run-up to Jan. 6, constraints on the House Sergeant at Arms, and communications between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) office and the House Sergeant at Arms. It is based on already-public documents and news reports, interviews with Capitol security officials and rank-and-file Capitol Police officers, and documents provided to the House Administration Committee Republican staff by the House Sergeant at Arms in January 2022.... House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had nominated Republican Reps. Jim Banks (Ind.), Rodney Davis (Ill.), Jim Jordan (Ohio), Kelly Armstrong (N.D.), and Troy Nehls (Texas to sit on the Jan. 6 select committee last year. But after Pelosi vetoed the appointment of Banks and Jordan, McCarthy pulled the rest of his picks." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm pretty sure a "report" one of Jungle Gym Jordan's unpaid interns ripped from the headlines of the Washington Star opinion page is quite valuable. I hope no trees died for this effort.

~~~~~~~~~~

December 21 was the best day of 2022: an amazing world hero visited us, a horrible American villain got his comeuppance and the days began to grow longer. And you have borne witness.

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

Zeke Miller, et al., of the AP: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked 'every American' for their support of Ukraine as he delivered an address to Congress on Wednesday aimed at sustaining U.S. and allied support for his country's defense against Russia's brutal invasion. Zelenskyy called U.S. support vital to Ukraine's efforts to beat back Russia, and thanked lawmakers and everyday citizens for tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance over the last year. The Ukrainian leader predicted that next year would be a 'turning point' in the conflict, 'when Ukrainian courage and American resolve must guarantee the future of our common freedom -- the freedom of people who stand for their values.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Yasmeen Abutaleb & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "... Zelensky, who has found his closest ally in Biden, faced a far greater challenge on Capitol Hill, where a growing number of House Republicans -- who are poised to take control of the chamber in January -- have expressed skepticism or outright opposition to continuing to send more aid to Ukraine.... Still, Zelensky -- who donned his signature military green sweater and heavy boots -- received several standing ovations from the hundreds of lawmakers gathered Wednesday, at times almost moving him to tears. But he told Congress he needs more aid and weapons to defeat Russia. 'We have artillery, yes, thank you. Is it enough? Honestly, not really,' Zelensky said. 'Your money is not charity. It's an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.'" ~~~

Zeke Miller, et al., of the AP: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked President Joe Biden, U.S. lawmakers and 'ordinary people' of America for their support as he visited the White House on Wednesday. Biden told Zelenskyy that Ukrainians 'inspire the world,' before the two leaders began an Oval Office summit that was Zelenskyy's first known trip outside his home country since Russia invaded in February." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

Presidents Biden & Zelensky meet in the White House (a tearjerker):

     ~~~ Terry Moran of ABC News noted that "the White House hasn't seen anything like this since December 1951 when Winston Churchill sailed across submarine-infested seas ... and arrived to spend weeks with Franklin Roosevelt..." ~~~

~~~ Karen DeYoung & Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "Beyond the sincere expressions of Ukrainian gratitude and firm pledges of ongoing American support, President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Biden came together Wednesday with specific, and sometimes differing, goals for their meeting." This report, and another WashPo report by Toluse Olorunnipa get at the points where Biden & Zelensky disagree.

Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) reportedly 'blew past' Capitol security checkpoints on Wednesday on their way to attend a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to the UK Independent, two Capitol security officials stopped Gaetz and Boebert after they tried to enter into the chamber of the House of Representatives without going through metal detectors.... 'The Florida congressman was heard briefly questioning the officer's direction, before turning away.' One of the officer's then called after Gaetz in an attempt to make him comply, but Gaetz ignored him and continued walking." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Assuming the story is true, Capitol police should have locked Gaetz & Boebert (who likes to carry a gun into the Capitol) in a basement cell until Zelensky had left the building. Oh, and Gaetz is all for letting Rep. Bobblehead pack heat in the Capitol. Beobert & Gaetz refused to join a standing ovation for Zelensky and both demanded an "investigation" of aid to Ukraine.

Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Postal Service will buy 66,000 vehicles to build one of the largest electric fleets in the nation, Biden administration officials announced Tuesday.... Postal officials' plans call for buying 60,000 'Next Generation Delivery Vehicles' from defense contractor Oshkosh, of which 45,000 will be electric, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told The Washington Post. The agency will also purchase 46,000 models from mainstream automakers, of which 21,000 will be electric.... By 2026, the agency expects to purchase zero-emissions delivery trucks almost exclusively, DeJoy said. It's a major achievement for a White House climate agenda that leans heavily on reducing greenhouse gases from vehicles." ~~~

~~~ BUT. Timothy Puko of the Washington Post: "The Senate is now debating a bipartisan, roughly $1.7 trillion deal to fund the U.S. government, but it includes roughly just $1 billion to help poor countries transition to clean energy and fund adaptation programs, a blow to [President] Biden's efforts on the worldwide fight against climate change. The president had personally pledged more than ten times that -- $11.4 billion annually -- and made that promise central to his pitch to other countries that all of them should do more to reduce planet-warming emissions."

Christine Chung of the New York Times: "On Tuesday, President Biden signed a bill into law that seeks to halt the exploitation of big cats by preventing unlicensed people from owning, breeding and transporting these animals. The law also bans licensed exhibitors -- mainly zoos and sanctuaries -- from allowing the public to touch the animals or hold cubs. [A hit Netflix series called] 'Tiger King' ... shone a light on the fraught world of private big cat ownership and highlighted the 'miserable conditions thousands of tigers, lions, leopards, and pumas are kept in by irresponsible owners,' Representative Mike Quigley, Democrat of Illinois, said in a statement.... In January 2021, several months after the show's release, Mr. Quigley introduced the 'Big Cat Public Safety Act,' which in July of this year passed in the House of Representatives with a 278-134 vote and then in the Senate unanimously earlier this month. The animals covered under the bill are species of lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, cougar and hybrids of these cats." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So I s'pose if you have a leopard-petting zoo out on the highway, you'd better prepare to make yourself a nice fur coat & dine on catmeat for Christmas. And don't say Congress is completely useless.

Senate Republicans Admit House Republicans Are Careless Nitwits. E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post: "The agreement between top Senate Republicans and House and Senate Democrats on a $1.7 trillion deal to fund the federal government through September reflects the politics of fear -- fear that the narrow GOP majority in the House might be unfit to govern and is prepared to engage in reckless brinkmanship in future budget battles. Republican senators came close to saying as much. 'My concern is that a new House, very small majority, new leadership, is going to have to take over, and to have to start from behind?' said Sen. Kevin Cramer (N.D.). 'That concerns me. That could have negative consequences.'... [And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a floor speech,] made clear that, for many Republicans, particularly in the House, the moral argument for supporting a democratic nation against a despotic invader is not a sufficient rationale for U.S. action."

Guardian: "An 800-page report set to be released on Thursday by House investigators will conclude that Donald Trump criminally plotted to overturn his 2020 election defeat and 'provoked his supporters to violence' at the Capitol with false voter fraud claims. Before the release, on Wednesday night, the January 6 committee released 34 transcripts from 1,000 interviews conducted over 18 months. Most of the interviewees were witnesses who invoked their fifth-amendment right against self-incrimination. More transcripts and some video were also expected to be released." MB: This committee page has links to the transcripts that have been released.

The Biggest Failure, Ctd. And Worst Tax Cheat. Russ Buettner, et al., of the New York Times: "At first glance, the income-tax data released this week by a House committee seems to show a turnaround in 2018 for ... Donald J. Trump. After a decade in which he declared no taxable income, his 2018 return reported taxable income of more than $24 million. He paid nearly a million dollars in federal income taxes. In fact, his year in the black appears to have resulted largely from the final windfall of the vast inheritance that financed much of his business career -- more than $14 million in gains from the sale of his father's 1970s investment in the Brooklyn housing development of Starrett City. But precedent soon reasserted itself. Because of business losses, he paid no income taxes in 2020, his last year in the White House.... The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, a bipartisan panel that is known for reviewing the impact of tax legislation and has a staff with deep tax law expertise, reviewed the Trump returns and found dozens of red flags that it believed required further investigation."

** The IRS Is a Corrupt, Trumpian Adjunct. Charlie Savage & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The I.R.S. subjected both ... Donald J. Trump's predecessor and his successor to annual audits of their tax returns once they took office, spokespeople for Barack Obama and President Biden said on Wednesday, intensifying questions about how Mr. Trump escaped such scrutiny until Democrats in the House started inquiring.... The I.R.S. initiated its first audit of one of his filings as president in April 2019, the same day that Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts and the committee's chairman, had inquired about the matter. The I.R.S. has yet to complete that audit, the report added, and the agency started auditing filings covering Mr. Trump's income while president only after he left office. Even after the agency belatedly started looking, it assigned only a single agent to examine Mr. Trump's returns, going up against a large team of lawyers and accountants who objected when the I.R.S. added two more people to help....

"The committee's discovery that the I.R.S. flouted its rules is bringing new scrutiny to concerns about potential politicization at the I.R.S. during the Trump administration and spurring calls for the inspector general that oversees the agency to investigate what went wrong. It has also raised questions about why the I.R.S. devoted so few resources to auditing Mr. Trump, who, as a business mogul, had far more complicated tax filings than any previous president.... The New York Times reported this year that the I.R.S. had initiated particularly invasive audits of two of Mr. Trump's perceived enemies, the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey and his deputy, Andrew G. McCabe. Mr. Trump also repeatedly told his chief of staff that he wanted his perceived rivals, including those two, to face tax investigations." ~~~

~~~ Benjamin Guggenheim of Politico: "House Democrats will keep the spotlight on their disclosure of ... Donald Trump's tax information by taking up a bill Thursday that would require the IRS to audit presidents' tax returns and make reports of the audits available to the public. The legislation stands virtually no chance of passing the 50-50 Senate, making it a largely symbolic move. But it affords Democrats one more chance to give Trump a high-profile punch before they surrender their House majority to Republicans in January.... Although it is unclear whether Trump was subject to ongoing audits that were initiated before his inauguration, the IRS dropping the ball on mandatory presidential audits of Trump raises questions about his stated rationale for not releasing his taxes, former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said. 'I suppose in retrospect you shouldn't be totally surprised if that was erroneous information he was putting out since it wouldn't be the first time,' Koskinen said. He added that the agency's delays on the presidential audit program are particularly troubling in light of the fact that the former president's taxes were an issue since Trump announced his first bid for the presidency in 2015." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Other than the fact that Republicans don't want any rich people to be audited because they don't think lucky duckies should have to pay taxes, I don't see why they would oppose audits of presidents. After all, the bill would require every presidents, whatever his political party & whatever his financial status, to be subject to audits. Oh, and here's a doozy from Politico's report: "An internal IRS memo dug up by the Ways and Means Committee said it would not be possible with agency resources to examine every potential issue reported on Trump's personal tax return, given it reported more than 400 pass-through returns." IOW, they can audit Obama, Biden, Comey & McCabe, none of whom are super-rich, but they couldn't audit Trump because that would be way too hard.

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "FBI officials had a lot to worry about in late July as they discussed whether to search one of Donald Trump's homes for evidence of crimes. Two concerns were paramount: Any search warrant should be authorized by the attorney general himself, and they did not want the former president to be at Mar-a-Lago when it happened. The FBI also was wary of the remote possibility of a 'blue on blue' confrontation -- between the federal agents searching the location and the Secret Service agents who guard the former president, according to people familiar with the matter, who like others interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions." This is a blow-by-blow account of why it took so long for agents to conduct a search of Mar-a-Lago; the big hold-up, according to the report, was caused by FBI agents in the Washington, D.C. field office who didn't want to conduct a criminal investigation of the White House papers thief. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Lies & the Lying Liars. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "On Nov. 30, 2020, Sean Hannity hosted Sidney Powell on his prime-time Fox News program.... Ms. Powell, a former federal prosecutor, spun wild conspiracy theories about what she said was 'corruption all across the country, in countless districts,' in a plot to steal re-election from the president, Donald J. Trump. At the center of this imagined plot were machines from Dominion Voting Systems, which Ms. Powell claimed ran an algorithm that switched votes for Mr. Trump to votes for Joseph R. Biden Jr.... Did Mr. Hannity believe any of this? 'I did not believe it for one second.' That was the answer Mr. Hannity gave, under oath, in a deposition in Dominion's $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News.... Mr. Hannity's disclosure -- along with others that emerged from court on Wednesday about what Fox News executives and hosts really believed as their network became one of the loudest megaphones for lies about the 2020 election -- is among the strongest evidence yet to emerge publicly that some Fox employees knew that what they were broadcasting was false." A Huffington Post report is here.

How Low Did He Go? Michael Gold & Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "... The Forward, a Jewish publication based in New York City, reported that [Congressman-elect George] Santos, a Republican, may have misled voters about having Jewish ancestry, a claim he made on his website and in statements during his political campaign. In his current biography, Mr. Santos says that his mother, Fatima Devolder, was born in Brazil to immigrants who 'fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during WWII.' But according to The Forward -- which cited information from myheritage.com, a genealogy website; Brazilian immigration cards; and databases of refugees -- Ms. Devolder's parents seemed to have been born in Brazil before World War II. CNN later published a similar report that also cited interviews with several genealogists." The Forward's report is here. MB: Pretending your parent was a Holocaust survivor to gain sympathy -- and votes -- for yourself is despicable.

Royston Jones, et al., of the New York Times: "Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced cryptocurrency executive, is set to be flown back to the United States to face fraud charges in federal court after he told a judge in the Bahamas on Wednesday that he agreed to be extradited. Mr. Bankman-Fried will soon arrive in New York to face charges of wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering and a campaign finance violation. His departure from the Bahamas was delayed by several hours as officials completed the final paperwork, but the local government eventually announced that Mr. Bankman-Fried would leave the country on Wednesday night." ~~~

~~~ David Yaffe-Bellany, et al., of the New York Times: "Two former top executives of Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto trading empire have pleaded guilty to federal criminal fraud charges and are cooperating in the case against the disgraced crypto entrepreneur, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said on Wednesday night. The two are Caroline Ellison, who was the chief executive of the cryptocurrency trading company Alameda Research, and Gary Wang, a founder of the FTX crypto exchange. They were key lieutenants in Mr. Bankman-Fried's vast business empire, which rested primarily on FTX and Alameda. The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed civil fraud charges against Ms. Ellison and Mr. Wang on Wednesday."

Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "U.S. life expectancy continued its steady, alarming decline in 2021, as covid-19 and illegal drugs took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans, according to final government data released Thursday. Even as some peer nations began to bounce back from the toll of the pandemic, life expectancy in the U.S. dropped to 76.4 years at birth, down from 77 in 2020, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. That means Americans can expect to live as long as they did in 1996 -- a dismal benchmark for a reliable measure of health that should rise steadily in an affluent, developed nation."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Ducey's Folly. Jack Healy of the New York Times: "Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona agreed on Wednesday to tear down a makeshift border wall built out of old shipping containers, ending a divisive border security effort that sparked protests and legal challenges. The agreement came as part of a lawsuit filed last week by the Biden administration against Mr. Ducey, a Republican. The federal suit sought to force the governor to remove hundreds of steel shipping containers he had ordered stacked up for miles along Arizona's southern border in response to what he called Washington's failure to resolve a migrant crisis. The Biden administration argued that Mr. Ducey's wall was constructed illegally on federal land."

Iowa. Remy Tumin of the New York Times: "... as Bradley Wendt, [Adair, Iowa's] police chief, repeatedly purchased machine guns over the course of four years, purportedly for official use [in a town of about 800 people], federal investigators took note. Between 2018 and 2022, Mr. Wendt requested 90 machine guns, either to demonstrate their use or to buy them for the Adair Police Department, according to the Justice Department.... But in reality, he sold six machine guns registered to the Adair Police Department for personal profit, making thousands of dollars; rented out machine guns in exchange for money; and intended to stockpile guns to sell at a later date, the indictment said.... On Dec. 14, a grand jury in Des Moines indicted Mr. Wendt and a friend, Robert Williams, on charges of conspiracy to make false statements and defraud the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Mr. Wendt was also charged with illegal possession of a machine gun."

New York. Rebecca O'Brien of the New York Times: "Frank R. James, who was accused of carrying out the worst attack on the New York subway system in years, is expected to plead guilty to terrorism in connection with an April shooting spree on a train in Brooklyn, his lawyers said Wednesday. Mr. James's lawyers said in a letter filed Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn that he would plead guilty to an 11-count indictment, which charged Mr. James with 10 counts of terrorist attack for each of the 10 people shot in the assault, as well as with a firearms charge.... On April 12, the authorities said, Mr. James unleashed a barrage of gunfire on an N train during the morning rush hour in Brooklyn. No one was killed, but the attack rattled many in the city and set off a 31-hour manhunt that culminated in Mr. James's arrest in Manhattan."

Virginia Congressional Race. Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: "State Sen. Jennifer L. McClellan, who has served for more than 16 years in the Virginia General Assembly, has won the Democratic nomination to succeed Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-Va.) in the 4th Congressional District after his death last month -- putting her on track to become the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress. McClellan (D-Richmond) defeated state Sen. Joseph D. Morrissey (D-Richmond) in a breakneck campaign that ran just seven days, starting with three major candidates and narrowing to two as Virginia Democratic leaders coalesced behind McClellan and left Morrissey to go his own way. McClellan will face Republican Leon Benjamin in a special election Feb. 21, but the Richmond-based seat is expected to remain blue."

Way Beyond

Israel. Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, announced on Wednesday that he had succeeded in forming a coalition government that is set to bring him back to power at the helm of the most right-wing administration in Israeli history. Once finalized and ratified by Parliament in the coming days, the coalition deal will return Mr. Netanyahu to office just 18 months after he left it, amid concerns that his reliance on far-right factions will cause Israel to drift away from liberal democracy."

Ukraine. Baby Jesus Comes Early in Ukraine. Christian Caryl of the Washington Post: "Earlier this year, the Orthodox Church in Ukraine (OCU), which represents tens of millions of worshipers, announced that member churches would be free to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25, the same as Western Catholics and Protestants. That would place many of Ukraine's Orthodox faithful at odds with the practice of other members of Eastern Orthodoxy who celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7 (according to the old Julian calendar). But that is precisely the point.... A recent poll shows that the number of Ukrainians willing to adopt the Western date has risen from 26 percent to 44 percent over the past year.... Over the years, Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Moscow-based church, has developed a symbiotic relationship with the Russian president..... Kirill gives Putin a valuable sheen of legitimacy -- never more visibly than during the current war. The minions of the Moscow Patriarchy have justified the invasion by describing Ukraine as the 'Antichrist.'... The Ukrainian Orthodox Church ... has gone from acknowledging Moscow's supremacy just a few years ago to breaking off all ties in May."