October 17, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Marie: I seldom do polls, but since the latest semi-reliable polls are finding pretty much the same thing, here's one: ~~~

~~~ Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Republicans enter the final weeks of the contest for control of Congress with a narrow but distinctive advantage as the economy and inflation have surged as the dominant concerns, giving the party momentum to take back power from Democrats in next month's midterm elections, a New York Times/Siena College poll has found. The poll shows that 49 percent of likely voters said they planned to vote for a Republican to represent them in Congress on Nov. 8, compared with 45 percent who planned to vote for a Democrat. The result represents an improvement for Republicans since September, when Democrats held a one-point edge among likely voters in the last Times/Siena poll. (The October poll's unrounded margin is closer to three points, not the four points that the rounded figures imply.)"

Alan Feuer & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The Justice Department said on Monday that Stephen K. Bannon ... should spend six months in jail and pay a fine of $200,000 after a jury found him guilty this summer of willfully disobeying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Mr. Bannon pursued a bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt' from the moment he received the subpoena last year seeking records and testimony about his knowledge of Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, culminating in the violent assault on the Capitol, prosecutors said in a sentencing memo to Judge Carl J. Nichols, who is overseeing the case. The prosecutors noted that Mr. Bannon, who is set to be sentenced by Judge Nichols on Friday, deserved a penalty harsher than the minimum term of one month in jail because he had blatantly brushed off the committee's demands and then attacked it in a series of brazen public statements." An AP story is here.

The Big Grifter's Gotta Grift. David Fahrenthold & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The Trump Organization charged the Secret Service up to $1,185 per night for hotel rooms used by agents protecting ... Donald J. Trump and his family, according to documents released on Monday by the House Oversight Committee.... The committee released Secret Service records showing more than $1.4 million in payments by the department to Trump properties since Mr. Trump took office in 2017. The committee said that the accounting was incomplete, however, because it did not include payments to Mr. Trump's foreign properties -- where agents accompanied his family repeatedly -- and because the records stopped in September 2021. The records the panel managed to obtain provided new details about an arrangement in which Mr. Trump and his family effectively turned the Secret Service into a captive customer of their business -- by visiting their properties hundreds of times, and then charging the government rates far above its usual spending limits.... Mr. Trump's son Eric -- who ran the family business while his father was in office -- provided a misleading account of what his company was charging. In 2019, Eric Trump said the Trump Organization charged the government only 'like $50' for hotel rooms during presidential visits. APolitico story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't call "like $50" misleading; I call it a "honking big lie" when the rate is more "like $1,200," or 24 times as much as the figure he cited.

Jenny Gross & Tiffany Hsu of the New York Times: "Kanye West has agreed in principle to buy Parler, the social media service that has attracted fans of ... Donald J. Trump, the service's parent company, Parlement Technologies, said in a news release on Monday.... The announcement came a little over a week after Twitter and Instagram restricted [West's] accounts in response to antisemitic remarks that he posted." An NPR story is here.

The Philadelphia Inquirer may have endorsed John Fetterman (D) for U.S. Senate, but wait! Why not vote for this guy? ~~~

~~~ Pennsylvania Senate Race. Meidas Touch: "In a newly resurfaced clip from The Jimmy Kimmel Show discovered by PatriotTakes, Republican Senate Candidate Dr. [Mehmet] Oz [R] talks about his love of drinking urine. Jordy Meiselas reports." ~~~

Vimal Patel of the New York Times: Arthur Cofield, an inmate in a Butts County, Georgia, state prison, ran a massive con from the prison in which he stole $11 million by stealing the identity of an elderly billionaire. "Mr. Cofield, 31, was charged with several federal counts, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to court documents. He has pleaded not guilty." MB: If Cofield is looking for a new job, he has just the right resumé to join Trump's Liars Social, which reportedly has been shedding executives.

Lizzie Johnson of the Washington Post on "how dogs being bred for research at Envigo became the target of the largest animal welfare seizure in the Humane Society's history.... After years of alarm from animal rights advocates and state legislators, after U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors found maggot-infested kibble, 300 dead puppies and injured beagles being euthanized, after an undercover investigation by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and after a lawsuit filed against Envigo by the Justice Department, the Indianapolis-based company had reached a settlement with the federal government. It agreed to shut down the Virginia breeding operation -- admitting no wrongdoing and receiving no punishment or fines -- rather than make what the CEO of its parent company called 'the required investments to improve the facility.' In July, U.S. District Court Judge Norman K. Moon approved the surrender of Envigo's beagles to the Humane Society of the United States.... What followed was two months of beagle mania, as people across the country showered the Humane Society with $2.2 million in donations and clamored to adopt the dogs. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle took in a beagle. So did the governor of New Jersey and the chief meteorologist at a Virginia news station." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The settlement should have included locking that CEO in a cage, cutting off his tail & feeding him maggot-infested kibble.

Ukraine, et al. Nahal Toosi & Matt Berg of Politico: "The United States intends to further crack down on Iran for helping Russia in the war on Ukraine, a U.S. official said Monday following reports that Tehran plans to send Moscow missiles to use on the battlefield. The penalties -- likely to include economic sanctions and possibly some export controls -- would also target third parties that help Tehran and Moscow.... The Washington Post reported over the weekend that Iran -- in addition to continuing to sell Russia drones, some of which are used kamikaze style to crash into targets -- plans to send Moscow surface-to-surface missiles."

U.K. NEVER MIND! Mark Landler & Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Britain's new chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, said on Monday that he would reverse virtually all the government's planned tax cuts, sweeping away Prime Minister Liz Truss's free-market economic plan in a desperate bid to steady the financial markets and stabilize her government. Mr. Hunt also announced that the government would end its massive state intervention to cap energy prices next April, replacing it with a still-undefined program that he said would promote energy efficiency, but that could increase uncertainty for households facing rising gas and electricity bills. Ms. Truss's Conservative government had planned to announce the tax and spending details of its fiscal plan on Oct. 31, but with the markets still gyrating, Mr. Hunt rushed forward the schedule. His announcement constituted one of the most dramatic reversals in modern British political history."

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Colleen Long & Zeke Miller of the AP: "Two years ago, candidate Joe Biden loudly denounced ... Donald Trump for immigration policies that inflicted 'cruelty and exclusion at every turn,' including toward those fleeing the 'brutal' government of socialist Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. Now, with increasing numbers of Venezuelans arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border as the Nov. 8 election nears, Biden has turned to an unlikely source for a solution: his predecessor's playbook. Biden last week invoked a Trump-era rule known as Title 42 -- which Biden's own Justice Department is fighting in court -- to deny Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-torn country the chance to request asylum at the border. The rule, first invoked by Trump in 2020, uses emergency public health authority to allow the United States to keep migrants from seeking asylum at the border, based on the need to help prevent the spread of COVID-19." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Robert Barnes & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "Over eight oral arguments, [Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson] dominated the questioning and commentary, speaking twice as much as her next most loquacious colleague. It is likely a record for a new justice.... Her contributions ranged from the sweeping -- a rejection of an originalist interpretation of a colorblind Constitution that provoked swoons from the liberal legal community -- to the kind of mundane minutiae upon which even Supreme Court decisions turn." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump attacked American Jews in a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, saying Jews in the United States must 'get their act together' and show more appreciation for the state of Israel 'before it is too late.' American Jews have long been accused of holding secret loyalty to Israel rather than the United States, and Trump's post leaned on that antisemitic trope, suggesting that by virtue of their religion, American Jews should show more appreciation to Israel. Trump also complained in the post that 'no president' had done more for Israel than he had but that Christian evangelicals are 'far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.'... Trump's latest diatribe about Jews came as Republican candidates have made overt appeals to racial animus and resentments in the closing weeks of the midterm election campaign." An NBC News report is here.

Marc Fisher of the Washington Post: "In a flurry of elections, some of the world's major democracies have been leaning toward or outright embracing far-right authoritarian leaders, who have echoed one another by promising to crack down on loose morals, open borders and power-hungry elites.... In the United States..., Donald Trump has presumptively rejected future election results, and a majority of Republican candidates on the ballot this fall for major state and federal elective offices have joined him in repudiating the outcome of the 2020 presidential election -- an epidemic of election denialism in the United States that historians and political scientists define as a core element in any country's drift toward authoritarian rule. Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Soviet communism heralded a new era of democratic governance and a huge expansion of global trade, that democratic wave has been replaced in many countries by a tide of authoritarianism."

November Elections

Arizona Governor. Zach Schonfeld of the Hill: "Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake sparred with CNN's Dana Bash over unfounded claims of mass election fraud in 2020 during an interview on Sunday. 'You called the 2020 election corrupt, stolen, rotten and rigged, and there was no evidence of any of that presented in a court of law or anywhere else that any of those things are true. So why do you keep saying that?' Bash asked Lake on CNN's 'State of the Union.'... A series of investigations into Arizona's 2020 elections failed to find evidence of substantial fraud that would have overturned President Biden's victory in the state. Lake went on to portray the media as covering only 'one side' of the issue, while Bash repeatedly contested Lake's claims of electoral fraud.... During a subsequent interview on 'State of the Union' with Lake's opponent, Katie Hobbs, the Arizona Democrat lambasted Lake's position. 'This is disqualifying,' Hobbs said. 'This is a basic core of our democracy, and she has nothing else to run on.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mary Astor of the New York Times: "Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for governor of Arizona, refused on Sunday to commit to accepting the results of her election, using much of the same language that ... Donald J. Trump did when he was a candidate." CNN's report is here.

Georgia Senate. Maya King of the New York Times: "Herschel Walker was not onstage on Sunday night for Georgia's second U.S. Senate debate. But he was one of its main topics anyway. Senator Raphael Warnock, the incumbent and a Democrat, excoriated his Republican opponent, Mr. Walker, who chose not to attend the debate, arguing tha Mr. Walker's history of domestic violence, lies about his past and refusal to participate in the forum made him unqualified for office. Throughout the hourlong matchup in Atlanta, Mr. Warnock stepped out of character, opting for direct attack lines over the thinly veiled criticisms he has leveled at Mr. Walker for most of the campaign. He answered panelists' questions with a mix of policy points and full-throated rebukes of Mr. Walker's claims about his personal life, business prowess and academic record. He described Mr. Walker's 'well-documented history of violence' in reference to reports about Mr. Walker's domestic violence against his ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, calling them 'disturbing.'"

Ohio Senate. Cleveland Plain Dealer Editors Endorse Democrat Tim Ryan for U.S. Senate: "There is not much question as to what the state would get from either of the two candidates -- Ryan, as a congressman, having voted with Democrats virtually all of the time and [Republican J.D.] Vance having signed on to Donald Trump's Big Lie and extremist approach to politics after being highly critical of the former president during the 2016 campaign and afterward.... During his [20] years in Congress, Ryan has shown himself to be an able collaborator who is willing to work across the aisle, an important quality in a deeply divided Senate.... The pragmatic grasp he showed in discussing the need to stand firm against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the potential threat of China doing the same with Taiwan add up to a strong argument for Ryan to replace [Rob] Portman [R] in the Senate.... Who can forget [Vance's] initial reaction to the Russian invasion: 'I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.' Unfortunately, Vance elected not to appear before our editorial board to explain his indefensible embrace of Trump's Big Lie or clarify where he stands on Ukraine, abortion restrictions, domestic violence against women or other matters." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Pennsylvania Senate. Julia Mueller of the Hill: "The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday endorsed Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) in the state's Senate race after declining to endorse him in his party's primary earlier this year. 'There is no reason Fetterman cannot serve effectively after his stroke,' the editorial board wrote, noting that the Democrat struggles with slightly delayed auditory processing after suffering a stroke shortly before the primary but contending that the lag of a 'couple of moments ... should not significantly impair him' from serving as a senator. The editors added that 'Fetterman knows what his values are and is capable of communicating them. The same cannot be said for his opponent, Mehmet Oz, a man wholly unprepared to be Pennsylvania's U.S. senator.' Republican nominee Mehmet Oz, a former cardiothoracic surgeon-turned-television personality, has mocked his opponent's stroke and painted Fetterman as unfit." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russia launched another attack on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, using explosive Iranian drones to hit the city early Monday, one week after it unleashed a deadly missile barrage on the capital and other cities across the country that killed at least 19 people." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Monday are here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Russia's attack on the capital city with kamikaze drones, insisting Moscow 'terrorizes the civilian population' as a residential building was hit.... The E.U. Foreign Affairs Council is scheduled to meet Monday and discuss 'Russian aggression against Ukraine.'... Ukraine has sent about 8 million tons of food to countries since it resumed shipping in July, Zelensky said."

Charlotte Higgins & Artem Mazhulin of the Guardian: "Russian soldiers have shot dead a Ukrainian musician in his home after he refused to take part in a concert in occupied Kherson, according to the culture ministry in Kyiv. Conductor Yuriy Kerpatenko declined to take part in a concert 'intended by the occupiers to demonstrate the so-called "improvement of peaceful life" in Kherson', the ministry said in a statement on its Facebook page.... Kerpatenko, who was also the principal conductor of Kherson's Mykola Kulish Music and Drama Theatre, had been posting defiant messages on his Facebook page until May. The Kherson regional prosecutor's office in Ukraine has launched a formal investigation 'on the basis of violations of the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder'.... Condemnation by Ukrainian and international artists was swift." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

New York Times: "The police in a small Oklahoma city found four bodies in a river on Friday, three days after they said four men, all described as friends, had been reported missing. The discovery of the bodies deepened the mystery surrounding the missing men in Okmulgee, a city of about 11,000 people about 40 miles south of Tulsa. The police said the bodies were males but were awaiting a medical examiner's confirmation of their identities. The Okmulgee Police Department said a passer-by had noticed something suspicious in the Deep Fork River on Friday, leading investigators to find what appeared to be human remains protruding from the water." ~~~

     ~~~ Update: New York Times: "The mysterious disappearance of four friends in Oklahoma took a grim turn on Monday after the police confirmed that their remains had been found in a river after they had been fatally shot and then dismembered. Joe Prentice, the police chief in Okmulgee..., said at a news conference on Monday that the remains had been identified as those of Mark Chastain, 32; Billy Chastain, 30; Mike Sparks, 32; and Alex Stevens, 29, all of Okmulgee. The chief said the Chastains were brothers. Chief Prentice said that investigators believed the men had planned to 'commit some type of criminal act' after they left Billy Chastain's home on Okmulgee's west side around 8 p.m. on Oct. 9. All four were reportedly riding bicycles, the police said. Their plan to engage in criminal activity was based on information from a witness who had been invited to join the men to 'hit a lick big enough for all of them,' the chief said, quoting the witness. 'That is common terminology for engaging in some type of criminal behavior...,' he added." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I once lived in Okmulgee County. It is that kind of place, a place where your friends & neighbors just might dismember you.

October 16, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Colleen Long & Zeke Miller of the AP: "Two years ago, candidate Joe Biden loudly denounced ... Donald Trump for immigration policies that inflicted 'cruelty and exclusion at every turn,' including toward those fleeing the 'brutal' government of socialist Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. Now, with increasing numbers of Venezuelans arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border as the Nov. 8 election nears, Biden has turned to an unlikely source for a solution: his predecessor's playbook. Biden last week invoked a Trump-era rule known as Title 42 -- which Biden's own Justice Department is fighting in court -- to deny Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-torn country the chance to request asylum at the border. The rule, first invoked by Trump in 2020, uses emergency public health authority to allow the United States to keep migrants from seeking asylum at the border, based on the need to help prevent the spread of COVID-19."

Robert Barnes & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "Over eight oral arguments, [Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson] dominated the questioning and commentary, speaking twice as much as her next most loquacious colleague. It is likely a record for a new justice.... Her contributions ranged from the sweeping -- a rejection of an originalist interpretation of a colorblind Constitution that provoked swoons from the liberal legal community -- to the kind of mundane minutiae upon which even Supreme Court decisions turn."

Arizona. Zach Schonfeld of the Hill: "Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake sparred with CNN's Dana Bash over unfounded claims of mass election fraud in 2020 during an interview on Sunday. 'You called the 2020 election corrupt, stolen, rotten and rigged, and there was no evidence of any of that presented in a court of law or anywhere else that any of those things are true. So why do you keep saying that?' Bash asked Lake on CNN's 'State of the Union.'... A series of investigations into Arizona's 2020 elections failed to find evidence of substantial fraud that would have overturned President Biden's victory in the state. Lake went on to portray the media as covering only 'one side' of the issue, while Bash repeatedly contested Lake's claims of electoral fraud.... During a subsequent interview on 'State of the Union' with Lake's opponent, Katie Hobbs, the Arizona Democrat lambasted Lake's position. 'This is disqualifying,' Hobbs said. 'This is a basic core of our democracy, and she has nothing else to run on.'"

Ohio. Cleveland Plain Dealer Editors Endorse Democrat Tim Ryan for U.S. Senate: "There is not much question as to what the state would get from either of the two candidates -- Ryan, as a congressman, having voted with Democrats virtually all of the time and [Republican J.D.] Vance having signed on to Donald Trump's Big Lie and extremist approach to politics after being highly critical of the former president during the 2016 campaign and afterward.... During his [20] years in Congress, Ryan has shown himself to be an able collaborator who is willing to work across the aisle, an important quality in a deeply divided Senate.... The pragmatic grasp he showed in discussing the need to stand firm against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the potential threat of China doing the same with Taiwan add up to a strong argument for Ryan to replace [Rob] Portman [R] in the Senate.... Who can forget [Vance's] initial reaction to the Russian invasion: 'I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.' Unfortunately, Vance elected not to appear before our editorial board to explain his indefensible embrace of Trump's Big Lie or clarify where he stands on Ukraine, abortion restrictions, domestic violence against women or other matters."

Pennsylvania. Julia Mueller of the Hill: "The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday endorsed Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) in the state's Senate race after declining to endorse him in his party's primary earlier this year. 'There is no reason Fetterman cannot serve effectively after his stroke,' the editorial board wrote, noting that the Democrat struggles with slightly delayed auditory processing after suffering a stroke shortly before the primary but contending that the lag of a 'couple of moments ... should not significantly impair him' from serving as a senator. The editors added that 'Fetterman knows what his values are and is capable of communicating them. The same cannot be said for his opponent, Mehmet Oz, a man wholly unprepared to be Pennsylvania's U.S. senator.' Republican nominee Mehmet Oz, a former cardiothoracic surgeon-turned-television personality, has mocked his opponent's stroke and painted Fetterman as unfit."

Ukraine, et al. Charlotte Higgins & Artem Mazhulin of the Guardian: "Russian soldiers have shot dead a Ukrainian musician in his home after he refused to take part in a concert in occupied Kherson, according to the culture ministry in Kyiv. Conductor Yuriy Kerpatenko declined to take part in a concert 'intended by the occupiers to demonstrate the so-called 'improvement of peaceful life' in Kherson', the ministry said in a statement on its Facebook page.... Kerpatenko, who was also the principal conductor of Kherson's Mykola Kulish Music and Drama Theatre, had been posting defiant messages on his Facebook page until May. The Kherson regional prosecutor's office in Ukraine has launched a formal investigation 'on the basis of violations of the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder'.... Condemnation by Ukrainian and international artists was swift."

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Betsy Klein & Shawna Mizelle of CNN: "President Joe Biden said on Saturday the video and testimony shared at the January 6 hearing this week was 'devastating' and said the committee overall has made an 'overwhelming' case. Asked his thoughts on the hearing during an unannounced stop at a Baskin-Robbins in Portland, Oregon, Biden said, 'I think the testimony, the video are absolutely devastating. And I've been going out of my way not to comment, see what happens, but it's just -- I think it's been devastating.'"

** Whistleblower Outs Trump's Media "Empire." Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "Will Wilkerson, [once] an executive at ... Donald Trump's start-up Trump Media & Technology Group..., [has turned over] hundreds of previously unreported company messages, documents, photos and audio recordings ... in connection with a whistleblower submission [that] reveals a stunning portrait of the animosity that has built up inside Trump Media since its high-profile debut last year.... Inside the company, Wilkerson said..., plans [to create a media empire] gave way to bitter infighting, technical failures and a chaotic jockeying for power among Trump allies that undermined its potential.... Wilkerson, who was fired from his job Thursday ... after he spoke to The Post, filed the whistleblower complaint with the SEC in August.... Wilkerson is cooperating with investigations into Trump Media by the SEC and federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York, said his attorneys...." In an anecdote cited at the top of the story, Trump telephoned Andy Litinsky, a co-founder of Trump Media, & demanded that Litinsky turn over some of his corporate shares to Melania Trump. Five months later, Litinisky was removed from the board of directors in a move Litinsky claimed "was payback for his refusal to turn over a small fortune to the former president's wife."

Kyle Cheney of Politico (Oct. 14): "A federal judge on Friday denied an effort by John Eastman, the attorney who helped devise Donald Trump's last-ditch effort to subvert the 2020 election, to reclaim his phone from the Justice Department. New Mexico-based Senior U.S. District Court Judge Robert Brack ruled that Eastman had failed to show that the government's seizure of his phone -- by FBI agents who confronted him outside a restaurant in June -- had caused 'irreparable harm.' Brack noted that Eastman had obtained a replacement phone and that his desire to bar the government from combing the contents of his seized phone was not a sufficient reason to reclaim it from the Justice Department." MB: Brack is a Bush II appointee.

November Elections. Mainstreaming Bigotry. Liz Gooswin of the Washington Post: "As the campaign heats up in the final weeks before November's midterm elections, so have [Republicans'] overt appeals to racial animus and resentment. And the toxic remarks appear to be receiving less pushback from Republicans than in past years, suggesting that some candidates in the first post-Trump election cycle have been influenced by the ex-president's norm-breaking example.... 'Here's the difference between Democrats and MAGA Republicans. When a Democrat says something racist or antisemitic, we hold Democrats accountable,' said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. 'When a MAGA Republican says something racist or antisemitic, they are embraced by cheering crowds.'... 'It is not new to see antisemitism or overt racism in politics,' [Jonathan] Greenblatt [of the Anti-Defamation League] said. 'What is new is after years ... in which it was clear that to be credible in public life politicians had to reject prejudice, it's now been normalized in ways that are really quite breathtaking.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. More DeSantis Stunts in the Works. AP: "The Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, plans to continue flying undocumented migrants to Democratic strongholds, his spokeswoman said on Saturday, a day after released records showed the state paid nearly $1m to arrange two sets of flights to Delaware and Illinois. Documents released on Friday showed that the planned flights will transport about 100 migrants. They were scheduled for before 3 October but were halted or postponed. The contractor hired by Florida extended the window for the trips until 1 December, according to memos released by the state transportation department."

Michigan. AP: "A judge has dismissed a young woman from the jury hearing the trial of three men in connection with a 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after attorneys accused her of flirting with one of the defendants. Judge Thomas Wilson announced Friday that the woman has been removed from the jury, two days after attorneys raised concerns the juror was having too much non-verbal communication with defendant Paul Bellar, the Jackson Citizen Patriot reported."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Sunday are here: "Russia's effort to limit Ukrainian counteroffensives by pounding Kyiv and other cities with missiles and mobilizing more troops is unlikely to shift the dynamics of the conflict, which is now clearly tilting in favor of Ukraine, Western intelligence assessments and military experts say.... [Ukrainian President] Zelensky says the Russian death toll is 'approaching 65,000.'... The Kremlin is still conducting massive, forced deportations of Ukrainians, the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said -- and it may be replacing them with imported Russian citizens."

Piper Sauer of the Guardian: "At least 11 people were killed and 15 more wounded at a military training ground in the Belgorod region in south-western Russia on Saturday when two volunteers opened fire on other troops, the Russian defence ministry has said. The ministry said in a statement that the two shooters were nationals from a former Soviet republic and had been shot dead after the attack. The ministry called the incident a terrorist attack."

Robyn Dixon & Natalia Abbakumova of the Washington Post: "In cities and towns across Russia, men of fighting age are going into hiding to avoid the officials who are seizing them and sending them to fight in Ukraine. Police and military press-gangs in recent days have snatched men off the streets and outside Metro stations."

AFP: "Elon Musk on Saturday announced that his company would continue to pay for Starlink satellite internet in war-torn Ukraine, a day after suggesting he could not keep funding the project. 'The hell with it,' the world's richest man wrote on Twitter. 'Even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we'll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.' Musk had said on Friday that SpaceX would not be able to pay for Starlink in Ukraine indefinitely, as the US military confirmed it was communicating with the billionaire's company about funding for the key network."

China. Christian Shepherd & Lily Kuo of the Washington Post: "Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged Sunday to turn China into a 'great modern socialist country' that represents a 'new choice' for humanity, as he opened a Chinese Communist Party meeting where he is expected to secure a precedent-breaking third term. From a lectern onstage at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi spoke without a mask for an hour and 45 minutes to open the twice-per-decade meeting that sets the national agenda for the next five years." ~~~

     ~~~ Helen Davidson & Emma Graham-Harrison of the Guardian: “Xi Jinping celebrated China's crushing of Hong Kong's autonomy and warned Taiwan that the 'wheels of history are turning towards Beijing taking control of the island democracy in his speech opening the Communist party congress. The most important gathering in the five-year Chinese political cycle is expected to hand Xi another five-year term running China, cementing his position as the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is live-updating developments related to the party congress.

Haiti, et al. Danica Coto of the AP: "The U.S. and Canada sent armored vehicles and other supplies to Haiti on Saturday to help police fight a powerful gang amid a pending request from the Haitian government for the immediate deployment of foreign troops. A U.S. State Department statement said the equipment was bought by Haiti's government, but it did not provide further details on the supplies flown on military aircraft to the capital of Port-au-Prince."

Iran. Sarah Dadouch & Babak Denghanpisheh of the Washington Post: "A massive fire broke out Saturday night in Iran's notorious Evin prison, which holds hundreds of dissidents and has detained hundreds more during the past month of street protests. Iran's state news agency IRNA reported that eight people were injured in the fire and that it was under control by Sunday morning, while citing officials who insisted there was no link between the blaze and the recent demonstrations." A BBC report is here.

U.K. Toby Helm & Michael Savage of the Guardian: "Senior Conservatives will this week hold talks on a 'rescue mission' that would see the swift removal of Liz Truss as leader, after the new chancellor Jeremy Hunt dramatically tore up her economic package and signalled a new era of austerity. A group of senior MPs will meet on Monday to discuss the prime minister's future, with some wanting her to resign within days and others saying she is now 'in office but not in control'. Some are threatening to publicly call on Truss to stand down after the implosion of her tax-cutting programme. In a rearguard action to prop up the prime minister, her cabinet allies tonight warned MPs they would precipitate an election and ensure the Tories were 'finished as a party' if they toppled a second leader in just a few months."

However, support for Truss is also evaporating inside the cabinet, with members keeping in close touch with her critics.

News Ledes

New York Times: "A man the police described as a 'potential serial killer' who terrorized residents in California's Central Valley in a string of fatal shootings was arrested early on Saturday while he was 'out hunting' for more victims, the authorities said. The man, Wesley Brownlee, 43, was arrested in Stockton after an investigation that connected five fatal shootings across Stockton along with a killing about 70 miles away." The Guardian's report is here.

AP: "A 15-year-old boy alleged to have killed five people and injured two in a shooting rampage in Raleigh, North Carolina, will be charged as an adult, authorities said.... 'In this situation, there's no question the mass loss of life, in my opinion, this case be transferred and tried in superior court,' [Wake County D.A. Lorrin] Freeman said at a press conference on Friday."

Washington Post: "Widespread flooding caused by extreme rainfall and the release of excess water from a dam in neighboring Cameroon has left 1.4 million Nigerians displaced and claimed 500 lives, according to government officials. The floods also injured 1,546 people, inundated 70,566 hectares of farmland and 'totally damaged' 45,249 homes, said Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, the permanent secretary in Nigeria's Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development."

October 15, 2022

Kristen Holmes & Sara Murray of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Friday does not say whether he will comply with the subpoena by the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol Hill insurrection, in a lengthy response to the committee posted on Truth Social. In a letter addressed to committee chairman Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the former President doubles down on fraudulent claims that the 2020 election was stolen and insists the committee should have instead looked into these claims.... Trump lays blame on DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not utilizing the National Guard. As CNN has previously reported, the speaker of the House is not in charge of Capitol security. That's the responsibility of the Capitol Police Board...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie's Hint to Orange Jesus: If you want to contact Bennie Thompson, you might send a letter through Louis DeJoy's faltering outfit; I would guess Rep. Thompson does not have a subscription to Liars Social. And just as an aside, it's likely you won't convince Thompson that Nancy Pelosi is the perp here. P.S. I guess you didn't see the tape of Pelosi running the show, trying to get your pathetic made guys off their asses. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Luke Broadwater & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The letter [Donald Trump] released on Friday -- a conspiracy theory-filled rehash of his many grievances and false assertions -- underscored the risks for the [January 6] committee of giving Mr. Trump an unfettered public platform. 'The presidential election of 2020 was rigged and stolen!' the letter began in all capital letters. Mr. Trump dedicated page after page to repeating that lie about the 2020 election.... Instead of providing what he claimed was evidence, he included appendices filled with assertions of widespread election irregularities that have been debunked, some by his own former attorney general, William P. Barr, and other top Justice Department officials.... He ... again complained of what he claimed was media censorship that downplayed the size of the crowd [on January 6]." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's a detail in the story. In the video Alexandra Pelosi compiled, Nancy Pelosi is heard conferring with Mike Pence several times. At one point, she advises Pence, "Don't tell anyone where you are." Broadwater & Haberman report, "Mr. Trump never attempted to check on Mr. Pence.... But in a ... phone call sometime that afternoon, Mr. Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, reached out Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff.... But when Mr. Meadows asked where the vice president was, Mr. Short declined to provide specifics, saying only that they were around the Capitol." Seems Pence took Pelosi's advice. ~~~

~~~ Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Trumpworld sources tell New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman that ... Donald Trump says he'll testify before the January 6 Committee if he can do it live -- and at least one of his lawyers is on board." MB: I don't hold much stock in this story; it sounds like something Trump is throwing out there so he can (1) get more attention and (2) later say, "I wanted to testify, but my lawyers insisted the committee would be too unfa-a-a-ir." (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~ Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post: "Never-before-seen video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other congressional leaders on Jan. 6, 2021, offers strikingly vivid evidence undermining ... Donald Trump's long-debunked claim that the failure to adequately protect the Capitol from a pro-Trump mob lay not with him but with Pelosi. In the video shown Thursday by the House committee investigating the attack, Pelosi is on the phone pleading with Trump administration officials for help to stop the violence and secure the Capitol as U.S. Capitol Police were overmatched by the hundreds of rioters storming the building -- including some who demanded her head. Getting nowhere with the officials, she contacts Virginia's governor and says she will contact the D.C. mayor....

"Trump often has suggested that Pelosi failed to do her job, that the breach of the Capitol was her fault and ... not that of the commander in chief. He has falsely claimed that Pelosi rejected his order for 10,000 National Guard troops -- something that never happened. The former president, in a statement posted online Friday responding to the committee, wrote, 'I fully authorized' deployment of National Guard troops, but, he added falsely, the request was refused by officials who answer to Pelosi.... Trump's false claims were echoed by Republican lawmakers, including some who -- according to the newly released video -- were literally in the room when Pelosi and others were calling in reinforcements." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Nancy Pelosi is our Churchill, without the Churchill baggage. ~~~

     ~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post debunks GOP claims that Nancy Pelosi either refused aid from the National Guard or at least "hesitated" when it was offered. In one instance, videotape shows one of the perps -- Minority Whip Steve Scalise -- looking on while Pelosi was on the phone trying to secure assistance from the Guard.

Julia Ainsley & Ali Vitali of NBC News: "The House Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection has asked the Secret Service for records of all communications between the far-right Oath Keepers group and Secret Service agents prior to and on the day of the attack, after a preliminary accounting by the agency indicated multiple contacts in 2020, according to a Secret Service spokesman. The spokesman said the Congressional request follows a short telephonic briefing from the Secret Service to committee staff, in which the agency said an agent from its protective intelligence division had 'numerous' contacts with Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and other group members prior to Trump rallies in fall 2020, but that they were all part of common practice to inform the group of security protocols to follow."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Justice Department asked an appeals court on Friday to end a special master review of thousands of documents that the F.B.I. seized from ... Donald J. Trump's Florida estate, arguing that a federal judge had been wrong to intervene in its investigation into Mr. Trump's hoarding of sensitive government records. In a 53-page brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, the Justice Department broadly challenged the legal legitimacy of orders last month by Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who blocked investigators from using the materials and appointed an independent arbiter to sift them for any that are potentially privileged or Mr. Trump's personal property. The Justice Department already succeeded in persuading a panel of the Atlanta-based court to exempt about 100 documents marked classified from Judge Cannon's move -- a decision the Supreme Court declined to overturn this week. In its new filing, the Justice Department asked the appeals court to reverse her order for the remaining 11,000 or so documents." (Also linked yesterday.) CNN's report is here.

Sadie Gurman & Alex Leary of Market Watch. The Wall Street Journal is reporting: "Federal investigators contacted at least two aides to ... Donald Trump months before the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago resort and have sought to talk to them again in recent weeks, people familiar with the matter said, as the Justice Department examines possible obstruction of its efforts to retrieve hundreds of government and classified documents. The aides, Walt Nauta and Will Russell, are witnesses in the Justice Department's investigation into the handling of presidential and classified records taken from the White House but aren't formally cooperating with the probe.... Russell hasn't personally spoken to investigators, who are communicating with his counsel.... [Russell] served in the Trump White House, including as a coordinator of presidential travel, and went on to work for the former president in Florida after he left office." ~~~

~~~ “Better Check Bedminster.” Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "As many as nine boxes that Donald Trump's aides hauled from his home in Florida this year to his New Jersey resort are raising new questions about the ex-president's hoarding of secret government documents. Video published May 9 by the Trump-friendly Daily Mail with an article about Trump decamping from Mar-a-Lago in the hot weather and settling in at Bedminster, New Jersey, for the summer shows aides loading boxes onto a private plane ferrying Trump. The cartons appear similar to those that FBI agents confiscated at Mar-a-Lago in August with a search warrant. 'Better check Bedminster,' former FBI official Peter Strozok tweeted last month as the video made the rounds on social media.... The National Archives ... has said it believes members of Trump's administration still have failed to turn over documents and electronic records." (Also linked yesterday.)

Why Marc Short Went Back to a Grand Jury. Spencer Hsu, et al., of the Washington Post: "A former top aide to Vice President Mike Pence returned before a grand jury Thursday to testify in a criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election after federal courts overruled ... Donald Trump's objections to the testimony, according to people familiar with the matter. In a sealed decision that could clear the way for other top Trump White House officials to answer questions before a grand jury, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled that former Pence chief of staff Marc Short probably possessed information important to the Justice Department's criminal investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol that was not available from other sources, one of those people said. Trump appealed, but the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to postpone Short's appearance while the litigation continues, the people said, signaling that attempts by Trump to invoke executive privilege to preserve the confidentiality of presidential decision-making were not likely to prevail.... Other senior Trump White House officials could also be affected by the outcome of the court ruling...." (Also linked yesterday.)

digby republishes a big chunk of a Daily Beast story: "In new exclusive footage obtained by The Daily Beast, a yet-to-be-released documentary captured [Roger] Stone's meltdown after learning on President Joe Biden's inauguration day that he wouldn't be granted a second coveted legal protection, this time to shield from any Jan 6 legal fallout. (Trump issued a pardon to Stone in December 2020.)... 'Fuck you and your abortionist bitch daughter,' he concluded,referring to Ivanka Trump, according to the filmmaker Christoffer Guldbrandsen who said there was 'no doubt' who Stone was ranting about. According to the filmmakers, the video clip above was one of the few videos hand-selected by the Jan 6th Committee, but, in the end, the committee elected not to play the clip.... Guldbrandsen ... told The Daily Beast that the tense scene was from inauguration day on Jan. 20, 2021, and recorded in Fort Lauderdale.... 'Aside from Donald Trump, he also held Jared Kush[n]er responsible as being the guy who was the point man on the pardon,' he said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Another Setback for John Durham. (It Depends on What the Meaning of "Talk" Is.) Matthew Barakat of the AP: "A judge on Friday tossed out one of five counts against a think-tank analyst charged with lying to the FBI about his role in the creation of a flawed dossier about ... Donald Trump. The remaining four counts against Igor Danchenko will go to a jury Monday after prosecutors and the defense rested their cases Friday. But Judge Anthony Trenga reserved the right to toss out the other four counts regardless of what the jury decides. In the count that was tossed out, prosecutors alleged that Danchenko lied to the FBI when he told an agent that he never 'talked' with a Democratic operative named Charles Dolan about the information in the dossier[, but the two had communicated via email].... Danchenko is being prosecuted by Special Counsel John Durham, who was appointed by then-Attorney General William Barr to investigate any misconduct in the FBI's investigation of the Trump campaign and its alleged ties to Russia.... Testimony this week at trial has highlighted Durham's difficulty in proving his allegations. Two key FBI witnesses for the prosecution ended up providing testimony that was highly favorable to Danchenko, resulting in the unusual spectacle of Durham seeking to eviscerate the credibility of his own witnesses on re-direct."

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: In most cases, according to Article III of the Constitution, the Court has “appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make." So, Bouie writes, "If Congress can regulate the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, then it can determine which cases it can hear, the criteria for choosing those cases and even the basis on which the court can make a constitutional determination. Congress could say, for instance, that the court needs more than a bare majority to overturn a federal statute.... In the same way that it takes a supermajority of Congress to propose a constitutional amendment, it should probably take a supermajority of the court to say what the Constitution means, especially when it relates to acts and actions of elected officials.... Disputes over the Supreme Court's power of judicial review are not new."

Lauren Hirsch & Julie Creswell of the New York Times: "The grocery giant Kroger announced plans on Friday to acquire Albertsons in a deal that could reshape the supermarket landscape in the United States, uniting the country's largest supermarket chains at a time when rising costs and competition from Walmart and Amazon squeeze the industry. But the deal, which values Albertsons at about $24.6 billion including debt, is likely to invite intense scrutiny from regulator who are focused on the potential for large companies to affect prices, and have a history of blocking deals that may directly impact consumers. Even before the deal was announced Friday, consumer advocates had raised objections to its possibility." (Also linked yesterday.)

November Elections

Georgia Senate. Natalie Allison of Politico: "In his first and likely only debate with Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, [Herschel] Walker maintained he is still 'pro-life' and criticized the incumbent for supporting abortion rights. But he said that he agrees with the state of Georgia's law that allows exceptions for rape, incest and the mother's life while prohibiting abortion after six weeks, a position that differs from Walker's remarks earlier this year.... Despite Walker's accusations that Warnock had not prioritized the people of Georgia in office, Warnock told stories about working to solve his constituent' problems and concerns.... Throughout the debate, both men were repeatedly chastised for interrupting each other. At one point, Walker was reprimanded for bringing a prop to the debate, which appeared to be an identification badge -- likely one showing he was once a 'special deputy sheriff' in Cobb County." ~~~

     ~~~ New York Times reporters liveblogged the debate & pulled out some key moments.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Jonathan Cooper of the AP: "Arizona's Republican attorney general, Mark Brnovich, on Friday asked the FBI and IRS to look into [MB: a right-wing] election integrity group that claimed to have uncovered widespread fraud in the 2020 election but never provided evidence. True the Vote, a nonprofit organization, has raised 'considerable sums of money' on its claim that it had evidence of widespread fraud and may have broken federal tax laws, Reggie Grigsby, a criminal investigator in Brnovich's office, wrote to federal authorities. Leaders from True The Vote promised repeatedly over the course of a year to provide data supporting their claim that people illegally collected ballots and delivered them to drop boxes during the 2020 election, Grigsby wrote. The claim was at the center of '2,000 Mules,' a debunked film that was aggressively promoted by ... Donald Trump.... But True the Vote ... never provided the data they promised to the attorney general's office despite claiming publicly that they had, Grigsby wrote. In June, they told state investigators they had given their data to the FBI while telling the FBI that the materials were given to the attorney general's office."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Saturday are here: "Air raid sirens rang across much of Ukraine early Saturday, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that a days-long barrage of missile and drone attacks across Ukraine was over, saying at a Friday news conference that there was 'no need for massive strikes, at least now' after his military hit most of its targets. Putin defended his decision to invade Ukraine, but also appeared to acknowledge growing discontent with the war at home. He assured Russians that his unpopular partial mobilization of military reservists, which has prompted tens of thousands of men to flee the country, would end in two weeks.... The United States on Friday announced an additional $725 million in security assistance for Ukraine.... Ukrainian officials are urging people across the country to conserve energy and warning of a difficult winter after Russia pummeled critical infrastructure."

Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Throughout this week, the Russian military fired its most intensive barrage of missiles at Ukraine since the start of the war in February, killing three dozen civilians, knocking out electricity and overwhelming air defenses. One thing the missiles did not do was change the course of the ground war. Fought mostly in trenches, with the most intense combat now in an area of rolling hills and pine forests in the east and on the open plains in the south, these battles are where control of territory is decided -- and where Russia's military continued to lose ground, despite its missile strikes. 'They use their expensive rockets for nothing, just to frighten people,' Volodymyr Ariev, a member of Ukraine's Parliament, said.... 'They think they can scare Ukrainians. But the goal they achieved is only making us angrier.'"

Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "... eight months after Russia invaded Ukraine, [Belarus's strongman leader, Aleksandr] Lukashenko's Russian-enabled grip on power risks slipping as Moscow pressures him to get more involved in the faltering military campaign next door in Ukraine.... With his forces now largely bogged down or in retreat, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is looking to Mr. Lukashenko for more robust support. After a meeting with Mr. Putin in St Petersburg last weekend, Mr. Lukashenko on Monday told military and security officials that Ukraine, Poland and NATO were 'trying to drag us into a fight.... We must not let them drag us into a war.'..."

U.K. Peter Walker of the Guardian: "Jeremy Hunt has been appointed as Liz Truss's new chancellor, in a stunning reversal of political fortune and a sign that the beleaguered prime minister wants to reach out to other sections of the Conservative party. Hunt, the former foreign secretary and health secretary, who has twice tried unsuccessfully to become Conservative leader, was named chancellor after Kwasi Kwarteng, in the job for just over five weeks, was sacked by Truss ahead of another U-turn over tax cuts." (Also linked yesterday.)