November 13, 2022

Marie: Thank you to all the Democratic candidates & their campaign staffs, to all the harried elections workers & poll workers, to all the Democratic voters who performed their civic duty, no matter how inconvenient or difficult. And a one-handed clap for Sam Alito & the Dancing Supremes for their clueless arrogance in blowing up women's rights -- a motivating factor for Democratic votes.

** Democrats Keep Senate Majority. Hannah Knowles & Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "Democrats were projected to retain control of the Senate on Saturday, clinching a narrow majority as they showed strength in battleground races in a daunting midterm year that handed President Biden a major victory as he looks to his next two years in office. The final blow to Republican hopes of retaking the chamber came in Nevada, where on Saturday Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) was projected to win reelection, edging past Adam Laxalt (R), a former state attorney general. Cortez Masto's projected win ensures Democrats a 50th seat, with a runoff election still to come in Georgia on Dec. 6. Vice President Harris is empowered to cast tiebreaking votes in the Senate. Control of the House was still up in the air on Saturday, as vote counting continued days after an election in which Democrats overperformed expectations in many contested areas across the country.... In Nevada, Cortez Masto's win was part of a perfect record so far by incumbent senators seeking reelection in the midterms, as voters tilted strongly against upending the established order in the chamber. It was part of a strong showing by Democrats in battleground areas...." The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "The Democratic Party's stunning hold on Senate control will enable President Joe Biden and his allies in the chamber to do something that has been a low-key success: churning out federal judges without the threat of Republican obstruction. The Senate majority, inked by a Democratic win in Nevada, gives Biden a clear runway to continue one of his most consequential pursuits: reshaping federal courts with a diverse array of lifetime-appointed liberal judges, including record numbers of women, minorities, former public defenders and civil rights lawyers. The Senate has confirmed 84 Biden-nominated judges, including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson ... and 25 appeals court judges, confirming judges at a faster rate than ... Donald Trump before the 2022 election."

Nevada Secretary of State. Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "Democrat Cisco Aguilar is projected to win Nevada's secretary of state race, beating a Republican nominee, Jim Marchant, who sought oversight of Nevada's elections while baselessly denying the results from 2020. It was the latest defeat for GOP candidates who campaigned on ... Donald Trump's false insistence the 2020 election was stolen and would have wielded power over the voting process in 2024. Marchant remained in close competition to oversee voting in a 2024 battleground state, where the current secretary of state -- a Republican -- has defended the integrity of the voting process amid an onslaught of baseless claims. Aguilar, who chairs the board of trustees for a school in North Las Vegas, campaigned on making voting more accessible and said he would 'protect our democracy.'"

Voters Save Democracy. For Now. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Every election denier who sought to become the top election official in a critical battleground state lost at the polls this year, as voters roundly rejected extreme partisans who promised to restrict voting and overhaul the electoral process. The national repudiation of this coalition reached its apex on Saturday, when Cisco Aguilar, the Democratic candidate for secretary of state in Nevada, defeated Jim Marchant, according to The Associated Press. Mr. Marchant, the Republican nominee, had helped organize a national right-wing slate of candidates under the name 'America First.' With Mr. Marchant's loss to Mr. Aguilar, all but one of those 'America First' candidates were defeated. Only Diego Morales, a Republican in deep-red Indiana, was successful, while candidates in Michigan, Arizona and New Mexico were defeated."

Arizona. Stacey Barchenger of the Arizona Republic: "A pivotal day of vote counting in Arizona on Saturday saw Democratic candidate for governor Katie Hobbs slightly widen her lead over her Republican opponent, though the race was still too close to call. Hobbs, Arizona's secretary of state and a former lawmaker, now leads Kari Lake, the Republican nominee and former television news anchor, by more than 34,000 votes, such a slight change the race was still separated by 1.4 percentage points. County election officials have counted about 2.3 million votes statewide, but another approximately 265,000 are left to tally. Most of those are from counties that house Arizona's population centers...."

Elizabeth Warren, in a New York Times op-ed, in praise of Joe Biden (and progressive policies): "... this electoral success belongs to Mr. Biden, who ignored ivory-tower economists and out-of-touch pundits claiming that bold action to help families was bad politics. Instead, Mr. Biden delivered significant economic progress for working people.... A few lobbyist-friendly Democrats in our own party blocked much of the president's agenda for working families."

Ezra Klein of the New York Times with a theory of now: ";In September, John Sides, Chris Tausanovitch, and Lynn Vavreck released 'The Bitter End: The 2020 Presidential Campaign and the Challenge to American Democracy.'... What they found clarifies not just 2020, but 2016 and 2022: Because politics is so calcified, virtually nothing matters, but because elections are so close, virtually everything matters.... The parties are so closely matched that even minuscule shifts in the electoral winds can blow the country onto a wildly different course. And even in a time of profound economic dislocation, American politics has become less about which party is good for your wallet and more about whether the cultural changes of the past 50 years delight or dismay you."

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "... Trump helped Republicans lose the House in 2018 and lose the White House and the Senate after the 2020 elections. Now he seems to have rescued Democrats from the traditional midterm shellacking.... Trump has been poison for his party.... [But] it's not hard to imagine that this revolt against the revolting Trump will die down in a few days.... 'If blackmailing Ukraine, inciting a riot, trying to overturn the election, hoarding classified documents, using overtly racist language for seven years, including at Glenn Youngkin today, was not enough to cause you to walk away from Donald Trump,' the political analyst Ron Brownstein said on CNN Friday, what makes people think Trump is toast now?" ~~~

~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "The idea that Republican elites could simply swap Trump for another candidate [like Ron DeSantis] without incurring any serious damage rests on two assumptions: First, that Trump's supporters are more committed to the Republican Party than they are to him, and second, that Trump himself will give up the fight if he isn't able to win the party's nomination.... He leads a cult of personality, in which he is an almost messianic figure, practically sent by God himself to purge the United States of liberals (and other assorted enemies) and restore the nation to greatness. He is practically worshiped by a large and politically influential group of Americans, who describe him as 'anointed.'... There is a real chance that Trump, if he loses the nomination, decides to run for president anyway.... Republican elites might be done with Trump, but Trump is not done with the Republican Party." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What all this says to me is something we all knew way back when: Republicans should have dumped Trump, even before the 2016 election. And as Ron Brownstein pointed out, they have had a number of opportunities to do so again. Leave us not forget the Billy Bush tape, the Muslim ban, Trump's refusal to put his assets in a blind trust & many other financial abuses of the presidency*, the support for white supremacists at Charlottesville. Yet Republicans looked away every time. They chose not to be a normal party in the democratic tradition. Now they're paying for that.

Matt Viser & Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "President Biden arrived [in Phnom Penh, Cambodia,] Saturday, the second stop of a week-long foreign trip seeking to reassure the world community that, no matter the political disruptions back home, the United States can still be a reliable global leader. On the heels of a midterm election that gave him better-than-expected results -- yet still could cost his party full control of Congress when final results are in, complicating his goals -- he has used both appearances so far to press that theme and rally other nations. During a speech in Egypt at the COP27 climate conference, Biden touted the United States as the global pacesetter in fighting climate change. And in Phnom Penh for a summit of southeast Asian nations, he immediately began trying to unite other nations to provide a counterweight to the rising economic and military threat that China poses." ~~~

~~~ Katie Rogers & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden told members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Saturday in Cambodia that the United States was committed to deepening 'peace and prosperity throughout the region' by protecting against threats like climate change and the economic fallout of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The president was betting that an in-person appearance at the ASEAN gathering in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, would help reinforce his administration's broad efforts to promote human rights in a country where democracy has been suppressed and to counter China's rise, even as ASEAN countries embrace economic ties with Beijing."

Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus resigned late Saturday, the White House said in a short statement, ending an awkward standoff between the country's top border official and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Mayorkas asked Magnus to step down on Wednesday but the CBP commissioner refused to go quietly, insisting he would not leave unless asked by the White House. The White House said President Biden accepted Magnus's resignation...."

John Hudson of the Washington Post: "U.S. intelligence officials have compiled a classified report detailing extensive efforts to manipulate the American political system by the United Arab Emirates, an influential, oil-rich nation in the Persian Gulf long considered a close and trusted partner. The activities covered in the report, described to The Washington Post by three people who have read it, include illegal and legal attempts to steer U.S. foreign policy in ways favorable to the Arab autocracy. It reveals the UAE's bid, spanning multiple U.S. administrations, to exploit the vulnerabilities in American governance, including its reliance on campaign contributions, susceptibility to powerful lobbying firms and lax enforcement of disclosure laws intended to guard against interference by foreign governments, these people said."

Way Beyond the Beltway

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Sunday are here: "Ukrainian troops reentering Kherson, one of the first Ukrainian cities to be captured after Russia's invasion, discovered the regional capital without water, heat or electricity, an official who had spoken to residents there told The Washington Post. According to Ukrainian officials, the city's Russian occupiers destroyed Kherson's critical infrastructure as they withdrew, leaving inhabitants without enough to eat or drink. The city's liberation after eight months of Russian occupation -- a major morale boost for all of Ukraine with winter approaching -- was celebrated over the weekend by jubilant residents who greeted Ukrainian soldiers with music and blue and yellow flags.... [President] Zelensky warned residents returning to Kherson to avoid handling objects left behind by the Russians as bomb disposal teams have removed some 2,000 explosive devices in the Kherson region -- 'mines, trip wires and unexploded ammunition.'... Ukrainian forces are on the defensive in the eastern Donetsk region, Zelensky said. 'It's just hell there,' he added, describing the 'extremely brutal battles' that Kyiv's troops are engaged in every day to prevent Russian forces from advancing further into the region, which Putin illegally claimed to annex in September.... Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba thanked Washington for its support months into the conflict during a meeting Saturday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Cambodia with a U.S. delegation that includes President Biden."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Two World War II-era airplanes collided in midair at an air show in Dallas on Saturday, the authorities said, turning the commemorative Veterans Day weekend event into a scene of horror. Six people were killed in the crash, the National Safety Transportation Board said on Sunday. The planes -- a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra -- crashed at about 1:20 p.m. local time, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The crash happened at the Wings Over Dallas air show at Dallas Executive Airport, which is about 10 miles south of downtown Dallas."

Washington Post: "The 77-year-old Iranian refugee whose ordeal inspired the 2004 movie 'The Terminal' died Saturday inside the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, where he had previously lived for 18 years. Mehran Karimi Nasseri died around noon local time of a heart attack, a spokesperson for the Paris airport authority said Sunday. 'He was an iconic, charismatic character. There is a lot of emotion at the airport in the wake of his death.'... In 1988, French authorities stopped him at the Paris airport as he tried to pass through without identity papers, which he said had been stolen. Authorities held him for several days in limbo in a transit zone, and then released him into one of Charles de Gaulle's terminals.Caught in an immigration trap, he soon set up a makeshift home of his own in the airport and lived for many years in Terminal 1.... By 1999, France offered him a residency permit. But he continued to live inside the airport until 2006. After leaving the airport, he appeared to struggle to adapt to outside life."

November 12, 2022

** New Mexico Senate. Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: “Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona won a tough campaign for re-election on Friday, The Associated Press reported, defeating his Trump-backed Republican rival, Blake Masters, to put Democrats within one seat of retaining control of the Senate. Democrats hope to clinch the chamber when votes are fully counted in the Nevada contest between Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, and her Republican challenger, Adam Laxalt, who held a tiny lead late Friday but was expected to fall behind.... Mr. Masters, a venture capitalist and political newcomer who embraced ... Donald J. Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, burst into Arizona politics with millions of dollars in support from the technology billionaire Peter Thiel, his former employer. With an ideological fervor that excited the state Republican Party’s ascendant right wing, he portrayed himself as an internet-savvy insurgent while playing to xenophobic and racist fears, claiming that Democrats were trying to bring more immigrants to the country to change its demographics and gain a political edge.” Masters was one of those Trump faves. The Guardian's story is here.

Arizona Secretary of State. A Big Win for Democracy. Zoë Richards of NBC News: “Republican Mark Finchem, a prominent election denier, has lost to Democrat Adrian Fontes in the race for Arizona secretary of state race, NBC News projects. Fontes, a former top elections official for Maricopa County, will succeed Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the Democratic nominee for governor. Finchem was among a host of GOP candidates for statewide office who have repeatedly cast doubt over Joe Biden’s presidential victory or falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from ... Donald Trump in Arizona. Last year, Trump backed Finchem's candidacy and highlighted his record of defending the stolen election claims. 'Mark was willing to say what few others had the courage to say' about the 2020 election, Trump said in offering his public support.”

Nevada Governor. Jennifer Medina of the New York Times: “Joseph Lombardo, the Clark County sheriff who rose to prominence after the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, defeated Gov. Steve Sisolak of Nevada, a Democrat who faced intense criticism over pandemic-era shutdowns, according to The Associated Press. Mr. Sisolak conceded to Mr. Lombardo shortly before The A.P. called the race on Friday.” The NBC News story is here.

Republicans in Disarray! Marinna Sotomayor, et al., of the Washington Post: “... angry Republicans mounted public challenges to their leaders in both chambers Friday as they confronted the possibility of falling short of the majority, eager to drag Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) down from their top posts as consequence.... 'It’s an unworkable majority. Nothing meaningful will get passed,' a dejected aide to a senior House Republican said.... The staunchly conservative House Freedom Caucus is calling for a delay to [leadership elections] efforts [and nailing down conference rules] — especially if control of the House is not decided by then.” ~~~

~~~ Gabby Orr, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump is calling up his allies in the Senate ... and making a suggestion as he seeks to divert blame for Republicans’ lackluster midterm performance: Take aim at Mitch McConnell.... [And] McConnell is facing new dissension within the ranks as a faction of Senate Republicans are grumbling internally about the timing of the leadership elections next week and are now calling for a delay – something that several GOP sources and a member of Republican leadership have signaled is unlikely to happen. The internal back-biting has prompted a new round of fears: That Republicans will be at odds over their future and hurt their ability to unite ahead of the December 6 runoff for the US Senate seat in Georgia." MB: And wouldn't that be a shame?

Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: “Donald Trump..., who boosted some inexperienced Senate candidates in their primaries who underperformed on Tuesday, declared before the midterms that he wanted 'all the credit' if Republicans won. 'If they lose, I should not be blamed at all,' he told NewsNation. But now that Republicans are facing the prospect of being in the minority in the Senate and are still waiting to see whether they will officially nab an uncomfortably narrow majority in the House, some unexpected voices within the party are beginning to question Trump’s influence.... The volume of open criticism illustrates a rare moment of weakness for Trump among Republicans just as he prepares to announce his 2024 presidential bid next week.... 'We’ve heard this song before,' said Doug Heye, a former spokesman for the Republican National Committee who has long been critical of Trump. 'The question is: Will this time be different?'”

In his effort to undermine Ron DeSantolini, Donald Trump claimed on Liars Social that Ron never would have become governor in 2018 but for Trump; Trump claimed he sent the FBI into Broward County to stop the vote counting: “I stopped his Election from being stolen.…” Philip Bump of the Washington Post proves this is not true. RickScott did allege that the Broward vote count was suspicious, but that was two days after DeSantolini was declared the winner. And Bump says there is no evidence Trump sent in the FBI; the counting in Broward continued for another two weeks or so. “We know that Trump worked very hard to get the FBI to intervene in the 2020 election results, but that no intervention followed. There’s no reason to think that the Bureau was influenced more successfully two years prior.” ~~~

     ~~~ Bump also notes that Trump claimed that he is a better vote-getter than DeSantolini: “... I got 1.1 Million more votes in Florida than Ron D got this year, 5.7 Million to 4.6 Million?” Marie: Actually, based on Trump's "logic," Trump is a worse vote-getter than Ronnie D. In 2020, Joe Biden got about 5,297,000 votes, or only about 370,000 votes fewer than Trump. In 2022, Charlie Crist, DeSantolini's opponent, got 3,103,260 votes, or about 1.5 million fewer than Ron's. That is, Trump got only 51.2% of the Florida vote, while in 2022, DeSantis got 59.4% of the vote for governor. Of course, you're really comparing apples to Orange Jesus here: different electorate, different rate of turnout, different conditions, different jobs (president* & governor). But Trump, once again, is a winner only in his own mind, the Walter Mitty of American politics. Pitiful. ~~~

     ~~~ Oh, and according to Akhilleus & Patrick, writing in today's Comments, former Physicist*-in-Chief Donald Trump is charging (ha ha) that Democrats “stole the electron” in Arizona's Senate race.

Chris Buckley & David Sanger of the New York Times: “Just weeks after President Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, laid out competing visions of how the United States and China are vying for military, technological and political pre-eminence, their first face-to-face meeting as top leaders will test whether they can halt a downward spiral that has taken relations to the lowest level since President Nixon began the opening to Beijing half a century ago. Their scheduled meeting Monday in Indonesia will take place months after China brandished its military potential to choke off Taiwan, and the United States imposed a series of export controls devised to hobble China’s ability to produce the most advanced computer chips — necessary for its newest military equipment and crucial to competing in sectors like artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Compounding the tension is Beijing’s partnership with Moscow, which has remained steadfast even after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Kevin Liptak & Ella Nilsen of CNN: “President Joe Biden on Friday used a short visit to the United Nations climate change summit in Egypt to tell the world the United States was ready to take back its leadership role on fighting a warming planet after the passage of one of the president’s key priorities. In a speech to the United Nations COP27 summit, Biden proclaimed the US is back as a global leader on climate change following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included around $370 billion in clean energy incentives meant to slash the use of harmful greenhouse gases. 'My friends, I came to the presidency determined to make … transformational changes that are needed, that America needs to make and we have to do for the rest of the world, to overcome decades of opposition and obstacles of progress on this issue alone,' Biden said, 'to reestablish the United States as a trustworthy and committee global leader on climate. As I stand here before you, we’ve taken enormous strides to achieve that.' Biden added that other nations must similarly raise to the challenge.”

Mark Mazzetti & Ronen Bergman of the New York Times: “During a closed-door session with lawmakers last December, Christopher A. Wray, the director of the F.B.I., was asked whether the bureau had ever purchased and used Pegasus, the hacking tool that penetrates mobile phones and extracts their contents. Mr. Wray acknowledged that the F.B.I. had bought a license for Pegasus, but only for research and development.... But dozens of internal F.B.I. documents and court records ... produced in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by The New York Times against the bureau, show that F.B.I. officials made a push in late 2020 and the first half of 2021 to deploy the hacking tools — made by the Israeli spyware firm NSO — in its own criminal investigations.... In January, The Times revealed that F.B.I. officials had also tested the NSO tool Phantom, a version of Pegasus capable of hacking phones with U.S. numbers. The F.B.I. eventually decided not to deploy Pegasus in criminal investigations in July 2021, amid a flurry of stories about how the hacking tool had been abused by governments across the globe. But the documents offer a glimpse at how the U.S. government ... wrestled with the promise and peril of a powerful cyberweapon. And ... court documents indicate the bureau remains interested in potentially using spyware in future investigations.”

Get Out! No! Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: “The Customs and Border Protection commissioner said Friday that he had been asked to step down but was refusing to do so, in what appears to be the Biden administration’s first attempted shake-up after the midterm elections. The commissioner, Chris Magnus, said both Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, and the department’s deputy secretary asked him to resign or face being the first political appointee to be fired by President Biden. Mr. Magnus has been in the position for less than a year. 'I want to make this clear: I have no plans to resign as C.B.P. commissioner,' Mr. Magnus, the head of the agency, said in a statement shared with The New York Times. He said the Department of Homeland Security cut off his access to his Customs and Border Protection Twitter account.... Mr. Magnus said Mr. Mayorkas told him earlier this week that he needed to resign because he had lost confidence in him, in part because he was making things difficult for Raul Ortiz, the chief of the Border Patrol.” A CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, the coup de grace was losing that Twitter account, wasn't it? Don't worry, Chris, for $8/month, you can buy yourself a new, verified account. Update: Oh, wait. No, you can't.

Surprise, Surprise! Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “... Donald J. Trump filed suit on Friday against the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, seeking to block the panel’s subpoena that required him to testify and hand over documents related to the effort to overturn the 2020 election. The 41-page lawsuit, filed in federal court in Florida, comes just days before Mr. Trump was scheduled to appear before the panel for a deposition on Monday. The panel had been in discussions with Mr. Trump’s lawyers and had given them additional time to begin producing documents.” Politico's story is here.

Supremes Don Tuxes & Celebrate Curbing Women's Rights. Guardian & Agencies: “Four of the five US supreme court justices who overturned the constitutional right to abortion in America showed up at the ultra-conservative Federalist Society’s black-tie dinner marking its 40th anniversary. Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the opinion in the shock decision, got a long, loud ovation at the event on Thursday night from a crowd of 2,000 people, most in tuxedos and gowns, when another speaker praised him on the overturning of Roe v Wade in June.... Norm Eisen, an ethics expert who served in the Obama administration..., said the justices had shown a brazen disregard for ethical appearances, because the [Federalist Society]’s mission is to move the law in a conservative direction. 'While there is no legal obstacle to them showing up at the Federalist Society dinner, the appearances are awful,' Eisen wrote in an email.”

A Dickensian Horror Story. Remy Tumin of the New York Times: “One of the largest food safety companies in the United States illegally employed more than two dozen children in at least three meatpacking plants, several of whom suffered chemical burns from the corrosive cleaners they were required to use on overnight shifts, the Labor Department found. The department filed for an injunction in U.S. District Court in Nebraska on Wednesday against Packers Sanitation Services, which Judge John. M. Gerrard swiftly ordered on Thursday. The injunction requires the company to stop 'employing oppressive child labor' and to comply with a Labor Department investigation into the practice. Packers, a cleaning and sanitation company based in Kieler, Wis., provides contract work at hundreds of slaughtering and meatpacking plants across the country. The Labor Department found that Packers employed at least 31 children, ranging in age from 13 to 17, who cleaned dangerous equipment with corrosive cleaners during overnight shifts at three slaughtering and meatpacking facilities....”

Ryan Mac, et al., of the New York Times: “After Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, revamped a subscription service to give users a coveted verification check mark for $8 a month, users began abusing the program this week. Twitter accounts with check marks posed as companies like Eli Lilly and PepsiCo, sending spoof messages about free insulin and the superiority of Coca-Cola. One account with a check mark pretended to be Tesla, Mr. Musk’s electric car company, and bragged about using child labor. By Thursday night, the disorder on Twitter seemed to have become too much for Mr. Musk. 'We need to urgently roll out official labels for big advertisers due to impersonation,' a Twitter engineering manager wrote in an internal message seen by The New York Times. 'Request is from Elon.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Rachel Lerman & Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: “Twitter on Thursday night pressed pause on Elon Musk’s first major product launch — a paid-for blue check mark — after misinformation flooded the site.... Twitter temporarily disabled sign-ups for the new service Thursday night, according to an internal note viewed by The Washington Post, to 'help address impersonation issues.' But in several cases, the damage was already done, and some fake accounts were still active as of Friday. On Friday afternoon, Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Musk asking several questions about the blue check mark subscription program. A Washington Post columnist set up an account impersonating Markey this week, with the senator’s permission, and paid for a blue check mark.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The main reason I find this amusing is that there is no circumstance in which I would rely on Twitter as a source of accurate information. If I saw something of interest on Twitter that looked credible or at least possible, I would check it out in other media.

Way Beyond the Beltway

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 Washington Post's live updates for Saturday are here: “After months of fighting, Kyiv’s forces have retaken much of the strategic city of Kherson from Russian occupation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced. A crowd of chanting revelers, some draped in Ukrainian flags, gathered Friday in Kherson’s central square to celebrate, according to videos shared widely on social media and verified by The Washington Post.... Russia’s retreat from Kherson 'has broader strategic implications,' Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said on Air Force One.... Sullivan added that Ukraine’s ability to push Russian troops across the Dnieper River reduces the “long-term threat” to places such as Odessa and the Black Sea shore.... Ukraine is moving to restore the area around Kherson.... [The area's] military administrator Vitaliy Kim ... said that officials were working on providing electricity and communications, and that more humanitarian aid was expected to reach local warehouses on Saturday.... At least seven people were killed in a Russian attack on a residential building in the southern Mykolaiv region Friday, a stark reminder that, even as Kherson city comes under Ukrainian control, Russian forces on the eastern bank of the river will still be able to hit Mykolaiv with drones or missiles.”

November 11, 2022

Late Morning Update:

Kevin Liptak & Ella Nilsen of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Friday used a short visit to the United Nations climate change summit in Egypt to tell the world the United States was ready to take back its leadership role on fighting a warming planet after the passage of one of the president's key priorities. In a speech to the United Nations COP27 summit, Biden proclaimed the US is back as a global leader on climate change following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included around $370 billion in clean energy incentives meant to slash the use of harmful greenhouse gases. 'My friends, I came to the presidency determined to make ... transformational changes that are needed, that America needs to make and we have to do for the rest of the world, to overcome decades of opposition and obstacles of progress on this issue alone,' Biden said, 'to reestablish the United States as a trustworthy and committee global leader on climate. As I stand here before you, we've taken enormous strides to achieve that.' Biden added that other nations must similarly raise to the challenge." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments at the COP27 summit. The Guardian's live updates are here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Blake Hounshell of the New York Times: "Democrats grew increasingly optimistic on Thursday that they would hold on to their control of the Senate as votes were counted in Arizona and Nevada.... Republicans need to flip at least one seat to take control of the chamber, but their path appeared to be narrowing on Thursday, with Democrats holding a shrinking but durable lead in Arizona and picking up mail ballots in Nevada at a rate that seemed to give the party a slight edge. The G.O.P.'s odds of success were greater in the House, where the party had won or was leading in the races for 221 seats, just three more than it needs to retake the chamber.... If Democrats prevail in Arizona and Nevada, they will clinch control of the Senate even before the Georgia runoff contest. This would lower the stakes of that Dec. 6 rematch between Senator Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker...."

The New York Times is live-updating election results & developments.

Marie: Just to give you an idea of how seriously Republicans have lost the trust of the voters, in the first midterm after President Clinton's election, Republicans gained 54 House seats; in President Obama's first midterm, Republicans gained 64 House seats. They cannot come anywhere close to that number this year. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Aaron Blake of the Washington Post does an actual analysis (as compared to my little Wowza: "The 2022 election wasn't that good for today's Democrats. But it's clearly the exception to the rule that the opposition party benefits quite a bit in the midterms the vast majority of the time. And that's even more striking considering how many on the right assured just a few days ago that we were headed toward a 'red wave.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Scott Wong, et al., of NBC News: Kevin "McCarthy has spent years trying to position himself to be the next Republican House speaker. The job holds tremendous power, including the ability to control legislation on the floor and influence the makeup of committees. Some House Freedom Caucus members are outright opposed to McCarthy, while others are demanding concessions from him that would greatly water down his power as speaker. Because the majority could be so thin, McCarthy will need the support of nearly every Republican. That has given the Freedom Caucus enormous leverage.... He needs 218 Republican votes on the House floor -- Democrats won't help -- meaning it's possible fewer than a dozen conservatives could derail McCarthy's chances and throw the process into certain chaos." A number of the usual suspects already have expressed their reservations about McCarthy.

Phil McCausland of NBC News: "... Democrats had a much better [election] night on the state level than expected. With votes still being counted across the country, the party has flipped the Michigan state Senate away from Republican control, according to The New York Times, citing AP data. And Democrats appear on track to flip the state House in Michigan, as well as in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), the nonpartisan organization that represents legislative chambers. Democrats are also competitive in races to flip the legislative chambers in Arizona and New Hampshire, the NCSL said. Republicans, meanwhile, consolidated power by creating supermajorities in both Florida legislative chambers as well as the North Carolina Senate, Wisconsin Senate, Iowa Senate and South Carolina House. They have not flipped any chambers as of yet."

Rick Scott Has a Sudden Change of Plans. Jonathan Martin, now back at Politico, in Politico Magazine: "Senator Rick Scott of Florida was poised to challenge [Mitch] McConnell [as GOP Senate leader], Republicans briefed on his plans told me, until he decided against a bid Wednesday morning, when it became clear Republicans may not capture the majority and there was to be a Senate runoff in Georgia. Scott had cut an announcement video declaring his intentions, word had reached some prominent conservatives outside the Senate and a handful of GOP senators had gotten wind of his plan and started calculating just how many votes his longshot campaign could accrue at the leadership vote next week in the Capitol.... Scott's challenge was not so much aimed at unseating the longtime Senate Republican leader as it was channeling the anger of grassroots conservatives, and the former president, who were peeved at McConnell's criticism of the 'candidate quality' of this year's roster of Senate GOP candidates.... But only one of those candidates -- Ohio's J.D. Vance -- won his race outright."

Trumpty-Dumpty Had a Great Fall. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "For a second consecutive day, the recriminations about Republicans' unexpectedly weak Election Day performance played a prominent role on the pages and over the airwaves of Rupert Murdoch's media properties. And the consensus wasn't kind to ... Donald J. Trump. 'Trump is the Republican Party's biggest loser,' declared the headline on a Wall Street Journal editorial on Thursday, which accused Mr. Trump of having 'flopped in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022.' The cover of the New York Post on Thursday ... had an illustration of Mr. Trump depicted as Humpty Dumpty.... Inside, the Post ran an opinion piece by the conservative writer John Podhoretz, a frequent critic of the former president, that called Mr. Trump 'the most profound vote repellent in modern American history.' Fox News spent all day Wednesday featuring commentators who blamed Mr. Trump for dragging the entire party down, and the criticism continued into prime time."

Daniel Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Texas on Thursday struck down President Biden's student loan forgiveness program, delivering a victory to a conservative advocacy group that sued to halt the plan. The Job Creators Network Foundation filed a lawsuit in October on behalf of a borrower who does not qualify for the full $20,000 in debt relief and one who is ineligible altogether. The suit alleges the administration violated federal procedures by denying borrowers the opportunity to provide public comment before unveiling the program. U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman, who was appointed by Donald Trump, declared the policy unlawful in the Thursday order.... In a statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration said: 'We strongly disagree with the District Court's ruling on our student debt relief program and the Department of Justice has filed an appeal....'... Pittman's order comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit last month granted a temporary stay against the loan forgiveness program in a separate lawsuit brought by six Republican-led states." Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm not sure why Republicans think it's such a good idea to squelch the student loan forgiveness program unless they figure that none of their voters is smart enough to get into college and wrack up loan debt.

AP: "A man already in custody in last month's attack on the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges of assault and attempted kidnapping. The charges against David DePape stem from the Oct. 28 break-in at the Pelosis' San Francisco home are the same as but supersede those in an earlier federal complaint that was filed on October 31." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Florida imposed sanctions on Thursday against a group of lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump who handled a sprawling lawsuit that accused Hillary Clinton and a range of Mr. Trump's perceived enemies of a vast conspiracy against him. The judge, Donald M. Middlebrooks of the Southern District of Florida, had thrown out the case in September, and in a scathing 19-page ruling, he accused Mr. Trump's lawyers of abusing the legal system by suing for political purposes.... 'Every claim was frivolous, most barred by settled, well-established existing law,' he said.... Judge Middlebrooks, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, wrote, Mr. Trump put forward 'political grievances masquerading as legal claims.' He added, 'The courts are not intended for performative litigation for purposes of fund-raising and political statements.'... Mr. Trump's lawyers were also ordered to cover about $16,000 in legal fees paid by one of the defendants, Charles Dolan, a Democratic public-relations executive." Politico's story is here.

Joseph Menn, et al., of the Washington Post: "Several top executives resigned from Twitter on Thursday, some of whom cited fears over the risks from Elon Musk's leadership in a stunning exodus that prompted federal regulators to warn they might step in. One of the most surprising was the company's head of moderation and safety, Yoel Roth, who had become the public face of the company's efforts to reassure users and advertisers that Twitter would not descend into a 'free-for-all.'... Several other members of the site's privacy and security unit also had resigned and those remaining were trying to stop a wave of abuse in the company's expanded paid service, Twitter Blue.... The privacy departures prompted a rare warning from the Federal Trade Commission.... It marked the second time in two days that a federal official has expressed concern about the chaotic developments at the company, coming less than 24 hours after President Biden said Musk's relationships with other countries deserved scrutiny. The agency said that ... it was prepared to take action to ensure the company was complying with ... a consent order, which requires Twitter to comply with certain privacy and security requirements because of allegations of past data misuse." ~~~

~~~ Oliver Darcy of CNN: "The world is watching the world's richest man single-handedly destroy one of the world's most powerful and important communication platforms, just weeks after acquiring it for $44 billion.... The loss of the senior executives ... will make it extraordinarily difficult to lure already skeptical advertisers back to the social media site.... In his first all-staff email, where he abruptly announced mandatory return-to-office, Musk warned that 'the economic picture ahead is dire' and said 'without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn.' In his first meeting with Twitter employees, Bloomberg reported that Musk said bankruptcy is on the table if the company doesn't soon start generating more cash." ~~~

~~~ New York Times reporters write about the "Two Weeks of Chaos" inside Twitter since Scrooge McMusk took over the company. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Looks like the only out now is for Musk to follow the Trumpian model & make a successful run for U.S. president* so he can scam the federal government into buying Teslas, communicating via Twitter & replacing NASA with SpaceX. Update: Oops! See RAS's comment below. So unfa-a-a-air!

Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "The Infowars conspiracy broadcaster Alex Jones must pay the families of eight Sandy Hook shooting victims an additional $473 million in punitive damages for defaming them, a judge in Connecticut ruled on Thursday, bringing the total damages to nearly $1.5 billion." Law & Crime's story is here.

Beyond the Beltway

New Jersey. Hurubi Meko of the New York Times: "An 18-year-old man from Middlesex County, N.J., has been arrested and charged with threatening to attack a synagogue and Jews earlier this month, an episode that led to warnings from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New Jersey of a broad security risk to synagogues in the state. The man, identified as Omar Alkattoul, of Sayreville, N.J., shared a document titled 'When Swords Collide' with several people through a social media application on Nov. 1, prosecutors said. Mr. Alkattoul admitted to writing the document, which included inflammatory language about relations between Jews and Muslims, and told a person he shared it with that the manifesto was 'in the context of an attack on Jews,' according to prosecutors. An individual who received a link to the document from Mr. Alkattoul informed law enforcement officials, according to the charging documents." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

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 are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "Russia said it had finished withdrawing all its troops from the west bank of the Dnieper River in Kherson on Friday, and claimed that no troops or military equipment had been left behind. The retreat from the city, if confirmed, would mark the latest major battlefield setback for the Kremlin in Ukraine. However, it comes sooner than Western officials had predicted -- U.S. Army Gen. Mark A. Milley said Tuesday that the retreat would take 'days and maybe even weeks,' while Ukraine's defense minister had also expressed skepticism that Russia could withdraw so quickly.... The United States pledged an additional $400 million in security assistance for Ukraine, including Avenger air defense systems that come equipped with Stinger missiles, on Thursday."

Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "The Ukrainian Army is moving cautiously into areas abandoned by Russian troops along a front line in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, a day after Russia's defense minister announced a retreat from the western bank of the Dnipro River, in the latest significant setback for Russia's military. President Vladimir V. Putin in September declared parts of this region Russian land, in a claimed annexation rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies.... Ukrainian soldiers are advancing into heavily mined towns and villages, and navigating around bridges the Russians blew up to cover their withdrawal. Heavy fighting continues in some places. But the Ukrainian advance without a fight into Snihurivka, an important> hub north of Kherson City that was abandoned overnight, indicates the Russians are, indeed, retreating. Ukrainian officials had initially been skeptical; they feared a ruse in the Russian announcement of a pullback...."

Germany. The Worst Promo in World History. Tim Carman of the Washington Post: "... on Nov. 9, 1938, mobs took to the streets across Nazi Germany, laying waste to Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues in riots that police and firefighters did nothing to stop. Over the course of two days, sometimes in broad daylight, rioters looted and ransacked thousands of Jewish homes and business, and killed at least 91 Jews. Another 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. The riots became known as 'Kristallnacht,' a reference to the shattered glass in the streets afterward.... On Wednesday, the 84th commemoration of those brutal riots, KFC Germany sent out push notifications to users of the fried chicken chain's app. The notification suggested that for the '[c]ommemoration of the Reich pogrom night,' customers could '[f]eel free to add more tender cheese to the crispy chicken,' according to a Google translation of the original message. 'Now at KFCheese.' The blow back was immediate.... [KFC Germany said the message was a mistake:] '... an automated push notification was accidently [sic] issued to KFC app users in Germany that contained an obviously unplanned, insensitive and unacceptable message and for this we sincerely apologise....'"