The Ledes

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Washington Post: “ John Amos, a running back turned actor who appeared in scores of TV shows — including groundbreaking 1970s programs such as the sitcom 'Good Times' and the epic miniseries 'Roots' — and risked his career to protest demeaning portrayals of Black characters, died Aug. 21 in Los Angeles. He was 84.”

New York Times: “Pete Rose, one of baseball’s greatest players and most confounding characters, who earned glory as the game’s hit king and shame as a gambler and dissembler, died on Monday. He was 83.”

The Ledes

Monday, September 30, 2024

New York Times: “Kris Kristofferson, the singer and songwriter whose literary yet plain-spoken compositions infused country music with rarely heard candor and depth, and who later had a successful second career in movies, died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday. He was 88.”

~~~ The New York Times highlights “twelve essential Kristofferson songs.”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

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

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

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

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

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

Click on photo to enlarge.

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

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

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

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Sunday
Aug072022

August 7, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

** Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Sunday approved a sweeping package to combat climate change, lower health-care costs, raise taxes on some billion-dollar corporations and reduce the federal deficit, as Democrats overcame months of political infighting to deliver the centerpiece to President Biden's long-stalled economic agenda.... The party-line vote marked a key milestone in a tumultuous journey that began last year when Democrats took control of Congress and the White House with a promise to bring financial relief to average Americans. With a tiebreaking vote from Vice President Harris, the 50-50 Senate sent the bill to the House, which aims to approve it and send it to the White House for Biden's signature later this week." This is an update of a story linked earlier. The Guardian's report is here.

The New York Times liveblogged developments in the Senate's "vote-a-rama" on the Democrats' spending bill. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Now pinned at the top of the liveblog: "The Senate passed legislation on Sunday that would make the most significant federal investment in history to counter climate change and lower the cost of prescription drugs, as Democrats banded together to push through major pieces of President Biden's domestic agenda over unified Republican opposition.... Altogether, the bill could allow the United States to cut greenhouse gas emissions about 40 percent below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. It would achieve Democrats' longstanding goal of slashing prescription drug costs by allowing Medicare for the first time to negotiate the prices of medicines directly and capping the amount that recipients pay out of pocket for drugs each year at $2,000. The measure also would extend larger premium subsidies for health coverage for low- and middle-income people under the Affordable Care Act for three years. And it would be paid for by substantial tax increases, mostly on large corporations, including establishing a 15 percent corporate minimum tax and imposing a new tax on company stock buybacks.... The House planned to interrupt its summer break to reconvene briefly on Friday to clear the measure, sending it to Mr. Biden for his signature.... On Sunday morning, Republicans successfully forced the removal of a $35 cap on insulin prices for patients on private insurance, challenging it as a violation of Senate rules. While Democrats could not secure the 60 votes needed to keep that proposal, a cap on insulin prices for Medicare patients remained untouched in the legislation." ~~~

     ~~~ Evan Halper & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Republican lawmakers on Sunday successfully stripped a $35 price cap on the cost of insulin for many patients from the ambitious legislative package Democrats are moving through Congress this weekend, invoking arcane Senate rules to jettison the measure.... The insulin cap is a long-running ambition of Democrats, who want it to apply to patients on Medicare and private insurance. Republicans left the portion that applies to Medicare patients untouched but stripped the insulin cap for other patients.... The Senate parliamentarian earlier in the weekend ruled that part of the Democrats' cap, included in the Inflation Reduction Act, did not comply with the rules that allow them to advance a bill under ... reconciliation.... Some Republicans did support the price cap in the 57-43 vote for the measure, but not enough joined Democrats in support of it to meet the threshold for passage.... 'Republicans have just gone on the record in favor of expensive insulin,' said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). 'After years of tough talk about taking on insulin makers, Republicans have once against wilted in the face of heat from Big Pharma.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The NBC News story is here: "Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy Susan Collins of Maine; Josh Hawley of Missouri; Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi; and Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska joined Democrats in voting to keep the insulin cap for private insurers on Sunday."

New Mexico. Elise Kaplan of the Albuquerque Journal: "On Friday afternoon, Naeem Hussain attended the funeral service for two Muslim men [-- Aftab Hussein & Muhammad Afzaal Hussain --] who were killed in the past two weeks.... Several hours later, a little before midnight, Naeem Hussain was shot to death in a parking lot of an organization that offers services for refugees and asylum seekers.... His death was the latest in what police suspect is a string of homicides [in Albuquerque] targeting Muslim men based on their race and religion.... On Saturday, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman said the recent homicides have led detectives to try to determine whether the Nov. 7 fatal shooting of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, is also related.

Israel/Palestine. From the New York Times liveblog: "Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza agreed to a cease-fire, the two parties announced late Sunday night, a move that was expected to end a three-day conflict that killed dozens of Palestinians, including children as well as key militant commanders; destroyed several residential buildings and militant bases in Gaza; and paralyzed parts of southern Israel. The conflict, which began on Friday afternoon, when Israel launched airstrikes to foil what it said was an imminent attack from Gaza, has left the status quo in Israel and the occupied territories almost unchanged. A 15-year blockade of Gaza remains in place, and there is n prospect of peace talks to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.... If the truce holds, the fighting will end with a death toll of at least 44 in Gaza, including 15 children, according to the health ministry there. Some 311 people were injured, the health ministry there said."

~~~~~~~~~~

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "A divided Senate took a crucial step on Saturday toward approving Democrats' plan to tackle climate change bring down health care costs and raise taxes on large corporations, with a test vote that paved the way to enact a significant piece of President Biden's domestic agenda in the coming days. The measure advanced on a party-line vote of 51 to 50, with all Republicans opposed and Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie. The action suggested that Democrats, after more than a year of internal feuding and painstaking negotiation, had finally coalesced behind legislation that would provide hundreds of billions of dollars for climate and energy programs, extend Affordable Care Act subsidies and create a new federal initiative to reduce the cost of prescriptio drugs, particularly for older Americans.... The vote put the bill on track to pass the Senate as early as Sunday, with the House expected to give its approval by the end of the week." CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "More than eight hours into a slow-moving debate, [Democratic] party lawmakers appeared on track to deliver the political centerpiece of President Biden's long-stalled economic agenda.... As they have for months, Republicans took to the Senate floor for hours to charge that the measure would worsen inflation, which is rising at the fastest rate in four decades. They painted its tax increases as a threat to workers and their wages, even though the bill would not raise tax rates for individuals, and derided its proposed increase in funding for tax collectors at the Internal Revenue Service.... Republicans soon began offering a battery of amendments seeking to undermine the bill -- or force Democrats to take politically difficult votes. But the GOP repeatedly found itself powerless to block or substantively change the legislation, defeated in its attempts to advance proposals that would toughen border enforcement and limit federal authority to regulate emissions.... The chief architect of their more expansive original ambitions, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), took to the Senate floor to express his alarm at its narrow scope." ~~~

     ~~~ Jordain Carney & Caitlin Emma of Politico: "A few more potential threats loomed at sunrise Sunday, particularly on the legislation's insulin price cap. But Republicans otherwise made little headway during a legislative endurance run of politically tricky votes on immigration, taxes and other issues.... Democrats are still facing a Republicans challenge to their proposed $35 monthly cap on what people pay out-of-pocket for insulin, a plan championed by [Sen. Raphael] Warnock [D-Ga.]. Republicans have argued that the provision doesn't comply with Senate budget rules. The Senate parliamentarian, or the upper chamber's rules referee, could decide in real-time whether the insulin provisions should stay or go. If the parliamentarian rules against it, Democrats are expected to try to muster 60 votes to overrule the decision and keep it in the bill. That would require finding support from 10 Republicans, which they're not expected to get. The outcome of the insulin provision was the biggest question mark as the hours-long voting marathon stretched into Sunday." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It should not be lost on any American, and specifically on any voter, that every Senate Republican is for burning down Earth, for keeping U.S. healthcare services and prescription drugs unaffordable, and for tax breaks for wealthy Americans & corporations. ~~~

~~~ Caitlin Emma & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Democrats have survived the vetting of the Medicare portions of their prescription drug reform plan, but lost ground on a separate pillar that penalizes drug companies for raising prices on individuals with private health insurance, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Saturday.... The Senate's nonpartisan rules referee, who decides which provisions are eligible for sidestepping a GOP filibuster under the chamber's strict rules, signed off on Medicare-related drug price negotiation.... The Senate's rules arbiter [also] signed off on that the bill's energy provisions, including electric vehicle tax credits and a bonus tax credit to encourage clean energy developers to pay the prevailing wage." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You might ask, "Okay, then, the Senate can just pass the parts that didn't pass muster under regular order." But no, that requires meeting the 60-vote filibuster threshold, and Republicans want you to have to pay high prices for drugs. If that's not true, let Republicans prove it by finding at least ten GOP senators who will vote for (or sponsor) a comparable stand-alone bill.

Josh Margolin of ABC News: "The U.S. Secret Service has given the House Jan. 6 committee a listing of agency-issued cell phone numbers belonging to agents based in Washington, D.C., for the period the panel is investigating, according to sources familiar with the matter. The move is an unusual step amid heightened scrutiny of the agency's cooperation with the congressional panel investigating last year's insurrection and the role ...t Donald Trump played in it. The committee can now determine which agents' call records they may want to review and, if they decide to do so, could either request them directly or conceivably issue subpoenas to their cell phone providers, an official familiar with the situation explained."

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "The timing of your exit can determine your place in the history books. This is something Joe Biden should keep in mind as he is riding the crest of success. His inner circle, irritated by stories about concerns over his age and unpopularity, will say this winning streak gives Biden the impetus to run again. The opposite is true. It should give him the confidence to leave, secure in the knowledge that he has made his mark.... He could leave on a high, knowing that he has delivered on his promises for progress and restored decency to the White House.... The country really needs to dodge a comeback by Trump or the rise of the odious Ron DeSantis.... Usually, being a lame duck weakens you. But in Biden's case, it could strengthen him..., freeing him from typical re-election pressures.... These are dangerous times .... It might be best to have a president unshackled from the usual political restraints." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I have a feeling Biden already has made the decision not to seek re-election. Dowd is right about timing (she cites Ruth Bader Ginsburg's disastrous decision to stay on despite her advanced age & multiple health issues), but I'd guess Biden thinks the time to announce his intentions is -- later.

Christopher Rowland of the Washington Post: There is a "hesitancy among some doctors and medical students who are reconsidering career prospects in red states where laws governing abortion have changed rapidly since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, according to interviews with health-care professionals and reproductive health advocates. One large medical recruiting firm said it recently had 20 obstetrician-gynecologists turn down positions in red states because of abortion laws. The reluctance extends beyond those interested in providing abortion care, as laws meant to protect a fetus could open doctors up to new liabilities or limit their ability to practice.... Doctors said they are grappling with the fallout from broadly worded legislation written by politicians without detailed medical knowledge.... Additionally, many OB/GYN doctors, even if they don't perform abortions themselves, believe strongly in patient autonomy and decision-making, said academic and clinical leaders." See also links to stories below about the new Indiana abortion law.

You can't make up this stuff: ~~~

"Drop Box for Babies." Dana Goldstein of the New York Times: “The Safe Haven Baby Box at a firehouse in Carmel, Ind., looked like a library book drop. It had been available for three years for anyone who wanted to surrender a baby anonymously. No one had ever used it, though, until early April. When its alarm went off, Victor Andres, a firefighter, opened the box and found, to his disbelief, a newborn boy wrapped in towels.... Later that month, Mr. Andres pulled another newborn, a girl, from the box. In May, a third baby appeared. By summer, three more infants were left at baby box locations throughout the state. The baby boxes are part of the safe haven movement, which has long been closely tied to anti-abortion activism.... All 50 states have safe haven laws meant to protect surrendering mothers from criminal charges.... But what began as a way to prevent the most extreme cases of child abuse has become a broader phenomenon, supported especially among the religious right, which heavily promotes adoption as an alternative to abortion.... (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ "During oral arguments in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested that safe haven laws offered an alternative to abortion by allowing women to avoid 'the burdens of parenting.' In the court's decision, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. cited safe haven laws as a 'modern development' that, in the majority's view, obviated the need for abortion rights." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Contributor Forrest M. is baffled: "... Republicans are fine with having drop boxes for newborn unwanted babies, but drop boxes for votes is dangerous."

Jared Gans of the Hill: "Former President Trump won a comfortable majority of the vote in the Conservative Political Action Conference's (CPAC) straw poll, maintaining his position as the favorite for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Organizers announced at CPAC's convention in Texas that Trump won 69 percent of the vote, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) with 24 percent. Trump expanded his lead from the last CPAC straw poll in February, when he received the support of 59 percent of voting attendees to DeSantis' 28 percent." ~~~

~~~ Adam Schrader of UPI: "... an art performance dedicated to those who have faced criminal prosecution for their involvement in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, [is] creating a stir at the [CPAC] conference. Video footage of the installation published by CNN featured a mock prison cell with Brandon Straka, a pro-Trump activist..., performing as a crying inmate in an orange jumpsuit...."

To the Right Wing, Even Cracker Barrel Is Too "Woke." Allison Morrow of CNN: "Cracker Barrel added Impossible sausage to its menus. Perhaps because they realized (20 years too late, in my case) that they weren't really providing for the growing number of vegetarians and vegans in America.... To be clear, Cracker Barrel isn't replacing its meat sausages with veggie alternatives. It's not mandatory or anything.... Ironically, an Impossible sausage is supposed to look and taste just like a real meat sausage -- it's designed to pass for meat, not make an obvious statement against it.... But of the more ravenous carnivores out there didn't like the addition of 'fake' meat, and they didn't hold back in their Facebook comments replying to Cracker Barrel's post announcing the update.... Several commenters decried the menu addition as 'woke.'..."


Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden finally tested negative for the coronavirus on Saturday, a week after his rebound case emerged, but the White House physician said the president would remain in isolation 'in an abundance of caution' until a second negative test. In an expression of optimism, the White House separately announced on Saturday night that the president would leave Sunday morning for Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, finally escaping for a summer break after two weeks stuck at the White House with his dog Commander. The trip depends on a negative test on Sunday morning before he departs." An ABC News story is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Amanda Holpuch of the New York Times: "A small city in Alabama moved this week to disband its three-member police force after one of them sent a racist text message that then circulated on social media. Pending an investigation into the text message, the City Council in Vincent, Ala., suspended the police chief and assistant chief at a meeting on Thursday and moved to dissolve the department, the mayor, James Latimer, said on Saturday. After that decision, the remaining member of the department resigned, the mayor said. After the suspensions and resignation, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office said in a statement on Friday that it was handling law enforcement emergency calls for the city. The statement added that officials at the Sheriff's Office 'equally condemn' the allegations of misconduct." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There is a certain irony in this little Shelby County town's racist crisis; it was Shelby County v. Holder in which, in their wisdom, the confederate Supreme decided it would be a good idea to decimate the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which protected Americans in certain state and local governments from implementing racist voting laws.

Indiana. Amber Phillips & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Indiana's new sweeping ban on abortion produced immediate political and economic fallout Saturday, as some of the state's biggest employers objected to the restrictions, Democratic leaders strategized ways to amend or repeal the law, and abortion rights activists made plans to arrange alternative locations for women seeking procedures.... The Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce ... warned the ban was passed too quickly and without regard for how it will affect the state's tourism industry.... 'This has nothing to do with being "pro-life,"' tweeted California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). 'It's about power and control.'... Indiana University Health, a major health-care provider in the state, issued a statement saying it was trying to determine what the ban meant for its doctors and patients.... Meanwhile, activists began discussing plans to raise funds and provide transportation for those seeking abortion access after the ban goes into effect, said Carol McCord, a former employee at Planned Parenthood.... Katie Blair, the advocacy and public policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Indiana, said Saturday that her organization will examine legal action." ~~~

     ~~~ Lora Kelley of the New York Times: "On Friday, the governor of Indiana signed into law a near-total abortion ban, making the state the first to approve sweeping new restrictions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. On Saturday morning, one of Indiana's biggest employers, the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, issued a strong objection to the new restrictions. 'Given this new law,' it said in a statement, 'we will be forced to plan for more employment growth outside our home state.' Shortly after, Jon Mills, a spokesman for Cummins, an engine company that employs about 10,000 people in the state, [also spoke out against the new law].... Some companies with a large presence in Indiana have previously stated that they will cover travel for employees." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As I predicted some while back, red-state abortion bans could prove to be a boon for blue states whose laws allow for abortions and other medical care that protect women's rights to bodily autonomy. Economically-speaking, misogyny is not the best policy.

Florida. Selene San Felice of Axios publishes some apt reactions to King/Gov. Ron DeSantis' suspending elected Hillsborough County (Tampa) state attorney Andrew Warren. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ "Orban 2.0." digby: "This is how a true autocrat operates. He doesn't tweet insults (although his spokesperson does) he just acts and lets everyone else scream.... No abortion ban or LGBT cases to which DeSantis objects have been brought before the DA. The 15 week ban is still being decided in the courts. He removed him for what he said, not what he did. This is an ugly turn but it's how DeSantis operates. Unlike Trump he knows how to work the lever of government." digby republishes an article from Boltsmag that goes into not only what DeSantis did but how he failed to follow the law he used to justify suspending Warren. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. Jolie McCullough & Jaden Edison of the Texas Tribune: "Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed an indicted Austin police officer accused of using excessive force during 2020 protests to Texas' regulatory law enforcement agency. Justin Berry was among 19 Austin police officers indicted earlier this year in the protests spurred by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Berry is charged with two counts of aggravated assault by a public servant. He also ran as a Republican for Texas House District 19 but lost in the primary runoff election this year. Abbott had endorsed Berry in the race, saying his 'strong conservative values and experience stopping violent crime are exactly what we need in the Texas House.' Now, at the governor's hand, Berry will serve on the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which sets minimum licensing and training standards for police." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It looks as if Ron-con & Greggers are in battle to prove who can be the worst governor and therefore most viable candidate for the Republican party's presidential nomination.

Way Beyond

China/Taiwan. Christian Shepherd of the Washington Post: "China has announced additional live-fire drills in the Bohai and Yellow Seas, as Beijing broadcasts its fury over a visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) with military exercises near the island.... China's Maritime Safety Administration on Saturday announced five exclusion zones in the Yellow Sea where exercises would take place from Aug. 5 to 15, as well as an additional four zones in the Bohai Sea where a month of unspecified Chinese military operations would take place from Aug 8.... The Eastern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on Sunday said it would continue joint air and navy exercises in the areas around Taiwan as planned, focusing on long-distance strikes against targets in the sky." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: China really is overreacting. While Pelosi is without question a federal VIP, she is not head-of-state, and it so happens that the head-of-state did not endorse her visit to Taiwan. Even if he had, or even if President Biden himself had gone to Taiwan, these extended military and other actions are unwarranted.

Israel/Palestine. Shira Rubin, et al., of the Washington Post: “Palestinian militants fired rockets toward Jerusalem Sunday morning after overnight Israeli air strikes killed a senior militant leader in Gaza, the second since the start of the operation. The escalation threatens to push the bout of violence that has already killed at least 31 in Gaza and sent thousands of Israelis running to shelters into an all-out war. The Israeli military and domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet killed Khaled Mansour, the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's (PIJ) operations in the south of Gaza, in an air strike late Saturday night on a house in Rafah. Israel said that Mansour, who has survived at least five other assassination attempts, was responsible for dozens of terror attacks against Israelis. His killing follows a similar air strike against Tayseer Jabari, the chief of PIJ's operations in the north of Gaza, on Friday. PIJ has since responded with nearly 600 rockets toward Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv, Israel's financial capital, and dozens of southern towns surrounding the Gaza Strip."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefings on developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Four ships carrying almost 170,000 metric tons of grain headed out under the deal to ease the global food crisis, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said. The first foreign-flagged ship arrived in Ukraine to be loaded with grain since Russia's invasion, he said a day earlier == while the first ship to leave, the Razoni, will not arrive in Lebanon on Sunday as planned. [MB: The link is to a Reuters article, which is firewalled. I was able to check the Reuters report, and it gave no cause for the delay.] Ukraine's largest and most profitable port will join those restarting operations following months of blockades, Mustafa Nayyem, deputy infrastructure minister said on Facebook.... The United Nations is warning of a potential 'nuclear disaster' after heavy shelling struck Europe's largest atomic power plant, sparking a blame game between Russia and Ukraine over who was responsible.... The head of Amnesty International in Ukraine resigned following a report from the human-rights organization that criticized Ukraine's military, accusing troops of repeatedly endangering civilians by stationing themselves in heavily-populated areas. [President] Zelensky and other officials swiftly condemned the investigation, arguing that it unfairly blames the victim in Russia's war and would likely fuel Russian propaganda."

News Ledes

NBC News: "At least nine people were injured in a mass shooting in downtown Cincinnati early Sunday, police said. As the shooter was actively firing, Officer Joe Shook, who has been with the Cincinnati Police Department since 2016, fired a shot, Lt. Col. Mike John said at a news conference. It was unknown whether the bullet struck the shooter, he added. The shooter fled, he said, and nobody was in custody."

Washington Post: "Death Valley National Park was closed Saturday after exceptional amounts of rain drenched the park Friday, triggering flash floods that left about 1,000 visitors and park staff stranded. The park received 1.46 inches of rainfall at the Furnace Creek area -- just shy of the previous calendar day record of 1.47 inches, set on April 15, 1988. This amounts to about three-quarters of what the area typically receives in an average year, 1.94 inches, and is the greatest amount ever recorded in August, The lowest, driest and hottest location in the United States, Death Valley averages just 0.11 inches of rain in August."

Comments Off
Saturday
Aug062022

August 6, 2022

Afternoon Update:

The Senate is meeting today, beginning at noon ET, to advance its big ole spending bill. ~~~

~~~ Caitlin Emma & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Democrats have survived the vetting of the Medicare portions of their prescription drug reform plan, but lost ground on a separate pillar that penalizes drug companies for raising prices on individuals with private health insurance, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Saturday.... The Senate's nonpartisan rules referee, who decides which provisions are eligible for sidestepping a GOP filibuster under the chamber's strict rules, signed off on Medicare-related drug price negotiation.... The Senate's rules arbiter [also] signed off on that the bill's energy provisions, including electric vehicle tax credits and a bonus tax credit to encourage clean energy developers to pay the prevailing wage." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You might ask, "Okay, then, the Senate can just pass the parts that didn't pass muster under regular order." But no, that requires meeting the 60-vote filibuster threshold, and Republicans want you to have to pay high prices for drugs. If that's not true, let Republicans prove it by finding at least ten GOP senators who will vote for (or sponsor) a comparable stand-alone bill. ~~~

~~ Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Senate Democrats were poised to begin debate Saturday on a sprawling bill that aims to lower health-care costs, combat climate change and reduce the federal deficit, a critical step in a grueling legislative journey to deliver on President Biden's long-stalled economic agenda. The new push to consider the measure, which Republicans unanimously oppose, came seven months after internecine bickering scuttled Democrats' last efforts to adopt a package that many in the party regard as essential for retaining the House and Senate in this year's midterm elections. 'Put simply, this legislation will save lives, create jobs, reduce costs and reduce inflation,' Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said during a news conference Friday."

You can't make up this stuff: ~~~

"Drop Box for Babies." Dana Goldstein of the New York Times: "The Safe Haven Baby Box at a firehouse in Carmel, Ind., looked like a library book drop. It had been available for three years for anyone who wanted to surrender a baby anonymously. No one had ever used it, though, until early April. When its alarm went off, Victor Andres, a firefighter, opened the box and found, to his disbelief, a newborn boy wrapped in towels.... Later that month, Mr. Andres pulled another newborn, a girl, from the box. In May, a third baby appeared. By summer, three more infants were left at baby box locations throughout the state. The baby boxes are part of the safe haven movement, which has long been closely tied to anti-abortion activism.... All 50 states have safe haven laws meant to protect surrendering mothers from criminal charges.... But what began as a way to prevent the most extreme cases of child abuse has become a broader phenomenon, supported especially among the religious right, which heavily promotes adoption as an alternative to abortion.... ~~~

~~~ "During oral arguments in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested that safe haven laws offered an alternative to abortion by allowing women to avoid 'the burdens of parenting.' In the court's decision, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. cited safe haven laws as a 'modern development' that, in the majority's view, obviated the need for abortion rights."~~~

     ~~~ Contributor Forrest M. is baffled: "... Republicans are fine with having drop boxes for newborn unwanted babies, but drop boxes for votes is dangerous."

Florida. Selene San Felice of Axios publishes some apt reactions to King/Gov. Ron DeSantis' suspending elected Hillsborough County (Tampa) state attorney Andrew Warren. ~~~

     ~~~"Orban 2.0." digby: "This is how a true autocrat operates. He doesn't tweet insults (although his spokesperson does) he just acts and lets everyone else scream.... No abortion ban or LGBT cases to which DeSantis objects have been brought before the DA. The 15 week ban is still being decided in the courts. He removed him for what he said, not what he did. This is an ugly turn but it's how DeSantis operates. Unlike Trump he knows how to work the lever of government." digby republishes an article from Boltsmag that goes into not only what DeSantis did but how he failed to follow the law he used to justify suspending Warren.

Texas. Jolie McCullough & Jaden Edison of the Texas Tribune: "Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed an indicted Austin police officer accused of using excessive force during 2020 protests to Texas' regulatory law enforcement agency. Justin Berry was among 19 Austin police officers indicted earlier this year in the protests spurred by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Berry is charged with two counts of aggravated assault by a public servant. He also ran as a Republican for Texas House District 19 but lost in the primary runoff election this year. Abbott had endorsed Berry in the race, saying his 'strong conservative values and experience stopping violent crime are exactly what we need in the Texas House.' Now, at the governor's hand, Berry will serve on the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which sets minimum licensing and training standards for police."

~~~~~~~~~~

Hedged in by Sinema's Hedge-Fund Donors. Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that Democrats had 'no choice' but to drop a key tax provision from their major spending bill in order to gain Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's support. Sinema, a centrist Democrat from Arizona, had withheld her support of the Inflation Reduction Act, the sweeping bill that includes much of the Biden administration's tax, climate and health care agenda.... 'Senator Sinema said she would not vote for the bill, not even move to proceed unless we took it out,' [Schumer] said. 'So we had no choice.'... The so-called carried interest loophole [is] a feature of the tax code that both Democrats and Republicans -- including ... Donald Trump -- have tried to close. Carried interest refers to compensation that hedge fund managers and private equity executives receive from their firms' investment gains. After three years, that money is taxed at a long-term capital gains rate of 20%, instead of a short-term capital gains rate, which tops out at 37%.... While the carried interest provision was nixed, Schumer said Democrats added in an excise tax on stock buybacks that will bring in $74 billion. He said that multiple legislators are 'excited' about that update."

CBS News: "Former Attorney General Bill Barr called the newest federal grand jury subpoenas probing the Jan. 6, 202, Capitol riot 'a significant event,' one that suggests that government prosecutors are probing high-ranking Trump administration officials and allies, and even ... Donald Trump. 'This suggests to me that they're taking a hard look at the group at the top, including the president and the people immediately around him who were involved in this,' Barr told CBS News' Catherine Herridge in an interview Friday.... While Barr thinks that Trump might be able to block some testimony with an executive privilege argument, he said, 'I don't think it would block all the testimony.' He ticked off a list of ways in which a privilege argument 'is inapplicable here.'" Barr noted that President Biden has waived executive privilege; that privilege does apply when a crime is involved; and that Trump was acting as a candidate, not as president*, in the subject discussions.

Marie: If you want to know what the Republican party "stands for" today, as of 5:00 am ET, I had posted only three stories: one about a prominent GOP-aligned man who repeatedly lied about & defamed the innocent victims of the mass murder of little children and now is trying to cheat them out of damages by pretending to be bankrupt, one about a state legislature and governor depriving women of bodily autonomy, and a third about another mass shooting, also with a semi-automatic rifle. So there you go: lying and cheating, extinguishing women's freedom, and extinguishing children's lives. Your modern Republican party.

Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "The Republican National Committee announced Friday that Milwaukee will be the host for the 2024 GOP convention, tapping a swing state that helped decide the outcome of the past two presidential elections. RNC Chairwoman Ronna [Romney] McDaniel said the vote was unanimous for a 'world-class city,' while expressing her eagerness to work with local leaders for the multiday event at which the party crowns its presidential and vice-presidential nominees." MB: Also, they probably hope Milwaukee won't be as hot as some other possible choices. Because they support global warming only up to the point where it makes them sweat.

Kim Bellware, et al., of the Washington Post: "A Texas jury has determined Infowars host Alex Jones must pay the parents of a Sandy Hook school shooting victim $45.2 million in punitive damages. The Friday decision comes a day after the same jury awarded the plaintiffs $4.1 million in compensatory damages, culminating the final phase of a defamation case first brought in 2018 over Jones's repeated false claims that the deadliest elementary school shooting in U.S. history was a hoax." (Also linked yesterday evening.) An NPR report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "One by one, the relatives and friends of the 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., took the stand in court this week and divulged to a jury the depths of their despair since losing loved ones to gunfire four years ago on Valentine's Day. Over four days of profoundly emotional testimony, they shared painful and intimate details that laid bare how their internal lives remain shattered and how massacres like Parkland leave families with years of unresolved sorrow. The heart-rending testimony concluded on Thursday after the jury deciding the fate of the gunman, Nikolas Cruz, toured the school building where the mass shooting took place. Prosecutors left the viewing of the crime scene, an exceedingly rare and visceral occurrence in a criminal trial, for the last day of their nearly three-week presentation and rested their case.... As victim after victim spoke, many people in the courtroom gallery wept. So did several defense lawyers." A Guardian story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: When I was in grade school, a boy in another classroom accidentally killed his brother with a gun; when I was in high school, a boy I didn't know even to nod to in the hall killed himself. I still remember those kids and shudder, even though I had little to no direct contact with them. It is hard, therefore, to imagine the pain these families suffer because Republicans thought it was a good idea for a troubled young man to have access to a semi-automatic rifle.

Indiana. Mitch Smith & Julie Bosman of the New York Times: "Indiana lawmakers passed and the governor signed a near-total ban on abortion on Friday, overcoming division among Republicans and protests from Democrats to become the first state to draw up and approve sweeping new limits on the procedure since Roe v. Wade was struck down in June.... It came despite some Indiana Republicans opposing the measure for going too far, and others voting no because of its exceptions.... The Indiana bill -- which bans abortion from conception except in some cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormality or when the pregnant woman faces risk of death or certain severe health risks -- was signed into law within minutes of its final passage late Friday night by Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican who had encouraged legislators to consider new abortion limits during a special session that he called." An AP story is here.

North Carolina. Fighting Fire-Power with Fire-Power. Johnny Casey of the Asheville Citizen Times: " In response to the Texas school shooting that left 19 children dead May 24, the local school system [in Madison County, N.C.,] and Sheriff's Office are rolling out some beefed up security measures in 2022-23, including putting AR-15 rifles in every school.... According to [County Sheriff Buddy] Harwood, the county's school resource officers have been training with instructors from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College." The school system has initiated other measures to enhance safety. MB: The answer to too many high-powered weapons is more high-powered weapons.

Pennsylvania Senate Race. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democratic Senate nominee, will hold his first public rally next week since suffering a near-deadly stroke four days before the May 17 primary election, his campaign announced Friday. The rally is planned for Erie, Pa., one of the state's swing counties, on Aug. 12. Fetterman has only recently resumed attending in-person fundraising events and has made a few brief public appearances -- but nothing on the scale of what is planned next week.... Fetterman faces celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz in the November election. Oz has remained active on the campaign trail since prevailing in the Republican primary, although he has faced criticism for reportedly taking trips to Ireland and Palm Beach, Fla. Despite his absence from the campaign trail, a recent poll showed Fetterman with the advantage." ~~~

     ~~~ Gideon Taaffe of Media Matters: "Fox News is in attack mode after its own polling showed Republican nominee Mehmet Oz trailing Democratic nominee Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the Pennsylvania Senate race.... The network has long had a cozy relationship with Oz. At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Oz became one of Fox News' most prominent voices by downplaying the severity of the virus and promoting unproven therapeutics.... Fox News personalities have repeatedly pushed narratives portraying Fetterman as an elitist and a far-left radical and have given favorable coverage to Oz while attacking Fetterman[.]"

Tennessee. Memphis D.A. Race. Sam Levine of the Guardian: "Amy Weirich, the Memphis prosecutor who stirred national outrage for bringing criminal charges against a Black woman [-- Pamela Moses --] for trying to register to vote, has lost her re-election bid. Weirich, a Republican who has been the district attorney general in Shelby county since 2011, lost to Democrat Steve Mulroy, a law professor at the University of Memphis and a former county commissioner. Weirich's defeat marks a major victory for criminal justice reform advocates, who had pressured her office over its use of cash bail, diversity and decisions to try juveniles as adults." Read on.

Washington State Congressional Race. Michael Bender of the New York Times: "Representative Dan Newhouse of Washington, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach ... Donald J. Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, will advance to the November general election to seek a fifth term after finishing in the top two in a crowded primary, according to The Associated Press. He will face Doug White, a Democratic businessman, who narrowly trailed him as of Friday night. Under Washington election laws, the top two candidates in the primary, regardless of party, advance to the general election.... [A] super PAC's most-watched TV spot attacked Mr. Newhouse's Trump-endorsed challenger, Loren Culp, over an unpaid corporate tax bill and accused him of 'padding his own pockets' with campaign donations."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russia and Ukraine are accusing each other of shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, located in southeast Ukraine. It was seized by Russian forces in March and its closeness to front line fighting is triggering international fears of a nuclear crisis. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has appealed for access to the plant and called the situation 'extremely grave and dangerous.' The deal to lift a Russian blockade on millions of tons of Ukrainian grain appears to be working.... Vladimir Putin met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the Russian resort city of Sochi on Friday, their second meeting in 2½ weeks. In a joint statement, the leaders said they had agreed to increase the volume of trade between their countries, and reaffirmed the Ukraine grain deal. Turkey, a NATO member, also agreed to switch part of its payments for Russian gas to rubles." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. They include a summary report.

China/Taiwan. Vivian Wang of the New York Times: "China continued on Saturday to project its ire at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent visit to Taiwan, with its third straight day of military drills that have encroached ever closer to the island and raised concerns about potential conflict. The Taiwanese defense ministry said on Saturday that several batches of Chinese military aircraft and warships had been detected around the Taiwan Strait, with some crossing the informal median line that divides the island from the Chinese mainland. They appeared to be engaged in an exercise simulating an attack on the main island of Taiwan, the ministry said." The Guardian is live-updating developments.

France. It's a Star! It's a Planet! It's Chorizo. Sophia Galer of Vice: "A photo tweeted by a famous French physicist supposedly of Proxima Centauri by the James Webb Space Telescope was actually a slice of chorizo. Étienne Klein, research director at France's Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission posted the photo last week, claiming it showed the closest star to the sun.... A few days [after tweeting the photo], Klein revealed that the photo he tweeted was not the work of the world's most powerful space telescope, as he had in fact tweeted a slice of chorizo sausage. 'According to contemporary cosmology, no object belonging to Spanish charcuterie exists anywhere but on Earth,' he said after apologising for tricking so many people.... Klein told French news outlet Le Point that his intention had been to educate people about fake news online...."

Israel/Palestine. Fares Akram & Tia Goldenberg of the AP: "Israeli jets pounded militant targets in Gaza on Saturday as rockets rained on southern Israel, hours after a wave of Israeli airstrikes on the coastal enclave killed at least 11 people, including a senior militant and a 5-year-old girl. The fighting that began Friday with Israel's dramatic targeted killing of a senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad continued throughout the night, drawing the sides closer to an all-out war. But the territory's Hamas rulers appeared to stay on the sidelines of the conflict, keeping its intensity somewhat contained, for now. Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and several smaller battles over the last 15 years at a staggering cost to the territory's 2 million Palestinian residents."

Comments Off
Thursday
Aug042022

August 5, 2022

Evening Update:

Kim Bellware, et al., of the Washington Post: "A Texas jury has determined Infowars host Alex Jones must pay the parents of a Sandy Hook school shooting victim $45.2 million in punitive damages. The Friday decision comes a day after the same jury awarded the plaintiffs $4.1 million in compensatory damages, culminating the final phase of a defamation case first brought in 2018 over Jones's repeated false claims that the deadliest elementary school shooting in U.S. history was a hoax."

~~~~~~~~~~

** Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) said she would soon be ready to 'move forward' on a revised version of Senate Democrats' health care, climate and deficit-reduction package, after party leaders agreed to scale back some of their original tax proposals. The new approach -- along with other changes to the proposal known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 -- satisfied Sinema's chief concerns and helped set in motion a plan to approve it as soon as this weekend. In a statement, Sinema said Democrats had 'agreed to remove' a key tax policy targeting wealthy investors that aimed to address what is known as the 'carried interest loophole.' She also said they had made additional changes to a second provision that aims to impose a new minimum tax on corporations that currently pay nothing to the U.S. government. The revisions would benefit manufacturers, according to two people familiar with the matter.... Democrats opted to seek a new 1 percent tax on corporate stock buybacks, a move that would make up at least some of the revenue that might have lost as a result of the changes...." A Guardian story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Still, there certainly will be less "inflation reduction" with Sinema's changes. She is, as you know, a captive of wealthy donors, especially those from the financial biz. ~~~

~~~ Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced that the Senate will begin consideration of a $740 billion budget reconciliation package that would reform the tax code and tackle climate change on Saturday afternoon, setting up a weekend of around-the-clock votes.... If a majority of senators vote to proceed to the legislation, they will then debate for up to 20 hours before holding an open-ended series of votes, known as a vote-a-rama, before a final up-or-down vote, which is now expected Sunday or perhaps early Monday morning. The announcement signals that Schumer expects maverick Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) to vote with all 49 other members of the Senate Democratic caucus to proceed to the legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, which would spend $369 billion on an energy and climate program and spend more than $300 billion to reduce the deficit." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "The White House summoned China's ambassador on Thursday to condemn Beijing's escalating actions against Taiwan and reiterate that the United States does not want a crisis in the region, after a visit to the island by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sharply escalated tensions in the Taiwan Strait this week.... China's show of force against Taiwan on Thursday included firing missiles into the sea and threatening the island's territorial waters. Taiwan said China fired 11 ballistic missiles into the waters off its northeastern and southwestern coasts, and Japanese officials said five Chinese missiles landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone." ~~~

~~~ Olivia Olander of Politico: "The Pentagon has directed the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan to remain in the area near Taiwan 'to monitor the situation' as China launches missiles in the region, the White House announced on Thursday. In addition, the U.S. has delayed a planned test of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile to avoid increasing tensions, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters." ~~~

~~~ Vincent Ni of the Guardian: "China has halted ties with the US on a range of critical issues, from talks on the climate crisis to dialogue between their militaries, following the visit by the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan. The announcement of the countermeasures came as Beijing conducted military drills surrounding the island of Taiwan. Earlier, China announced sanctions against Pelosi and her direct family members. Beijing called Pelosi's visit 'vicious and provocative'. The cancelled interactions ranged from climate talks, to dialogue between the leaders of Chinese and US military theatres, to a working meeting of Chinese and US defence ministries and a consultation mechanism on maritime military safety between the countries. Analysts say the suspension of such activities threaten to break what the White House calls 'guardrails' between the two countries, which could prevent the situation from spiralling out of control."

Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's legal team is in direct communication with Justice Department officials, the first sign of talks between the two sides as the criminal probe into January 6, 2021, accelerates, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. The talks revolve around whether Trump would be able to shield conversations he had while he was president from federal investigators.... The Trump team's discussions are with the US attorney's office in Washington, DC, which is in charge of the investigation, and its top January 6 prosecutor Thomas Windom, the sources said."

Dan Mangan of CNBC: "... Donald Trump 'probably' will be indicted on criminal charges along with officials in his White House as part of a Justice Department investigation of efforts to reverse the 2020 election results nationally, ex-Attorney General Eric Holder said in an interview Thursday. But Holder suggested that before that happens, Trump is more likely to first face possible criminal charges from the Georgia state prosecutor who is investigating attempts by Trump and his allies to undo President Joe Biden's win there in 2020." ~~~

~~~ Eric Bradner of CNN: "Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney said if the Justice Department does not prosecute ... Donald Trump for his role in the insurrection at the US Capitol and 'the facts and the evidence are there,' the decision could call into question whether the United States can 'call ourselves a nation of laws.'"

Brittany Shammas, et al., of the Washington Post: "Infowars founder Alex Jones must pay $4.1 million in compensatory damages to the parents of a 6-year-old boy [Jesse Lewis] killed in the Sandy Hook mass shooting, an Austin jury announced Thursday, after the right-wing conspiracy theorist's false claims that the deadliest elementary school shooting in U.S. history was a 'giant hoax' created a 'living hell' for the family.... But it remains to be seen how much Jones, 48, might be ordered to pay in punitive damages. The jury is expected to return Friday to weigh that amount -- a sum that could be considerably higher." The AP's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Luke Broadwater & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The lawyer for plaintiffs who are suing the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said Thursday that he plans to turn over two years of text messages from Mr. Jones's phone to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The lawyer, Mark Bankston, who represents Sandy Hook parents suing Mr. Jones in defamation lawsuits for lies he had spread about the 2012 school shooting, said in court in Austin, Texas, that he planned to turn over the texts unless a judge instructed him not to do so.... The judge, Maya Guerra Gamble, who appeared unsympathetic to requests from Mr. Jones's lawyers that Mr. Bankston return the materials to them.... A person familiar with the House committee';s work said the panel had been in touch with the plaintiffs" lawyers about obtaining materials from Mr. Jones's phone." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie. According MSNBC's Ali Velshi, when Bankston informed Jones' lawyers that he had received the text messages, Jones' lawyers wrote back, "Please disregard," which does not constitute a legal demand for return of the texts. Commenters in yesterday's thread were discussing the incompetence of wingers' lawyers; I'd say this is one more example.

** Dana Milbank of the Washington Post from his book about the crackup of the Republican party: "On Sept. 27, 1994, more than 300 Republican members of Congress and congressional candidates gathered where the insurrectionists would one day mount the scaffolding.... 'Newt! Newt! Newt! Newt!' the candidates and lawmakers chanted.... The pejoratives piled up in Gingrich's shouted, finger-wagging harangue.... The rise of Gingrich and his shock troops set the nation on a course toward the ruinous politics of today.... Republicans have become an authoritarian faction fighting democracy -- and there's a perfectly logical reason for this: Democracy is working against Republicans.... Concurrent with the rise of Gingrich was the ascent of conservative talk radio, followed by the triumph of Fox News, followed by the advent of social media.... The biggest cause is race.... Because Trump is merely a reflection of the sickness in the GOP, the problem won't go away when he does.... Republicans ... destroyed truth, they destroyed decency, they destroyed patriotism, they destroyed national unity, they destroyed racial progress, they destroyed their own party, and they are well on their way to destroying the world's oldest democracy." Includes audio of Milbank reading from his book. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While I agree with Milbank's analysis in general, I would attribute the fall of the Republican party to the success of the civil rights movement, not only for racial, ethnic & religious minorities but also for women, gays, people with disabilities. Until the 1960s, there were many liberal Republicans and the "Solid South" was solidly Democratic. But the Warren court & LBJ changed all that, and Southern Democrats (and Dixiecrats!) became Republicans -- because they were racists. Moderate Republicans from other parts of the country quickly became an endangered species. Now most are gone, replaced by the Gym Jordans & Steve Kings. As the parties became more homogeneous, the GOP morphed into the party of racists, anti-feminists & anti-gays. And now -- as Milbank notes, out of necessity -- it also is the party of anti-truth, anti-democracy & pro-authoritarianism. Although Milbank does write about Nixon's "Southern Strategy," the evolution of the Republican party took longer than he lets on. ~~~

~~~ For Instance. Dave Weigel & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "It was a Trump rally with a Hungarian accent. Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister who has consolidated autocratic power with hard-right opposition to immigration and liberal democracy, addressed a crowd of thousands of American admirers [at a CPAC convention] in Dallas on Thursday with a red-meat speech that could have easily been delivered by any Republican candidate on the campaign trail this year. Orban presented the two countries as twin fronts in a struggle against common enemies he described as globalists, progressives, communists and 'fake news.'... Orban's latest controversy: a speech in which he railed against Europe becoming 'mixed race,' saying that Europeans did not want to live with people from outside the continent.... Orban has found defenders among prominent American conservatives, including ... Donald Trump, Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance. On his way to Dallas, Orban stopped to visit Trump at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. In a statement, Trump called Orban his 'friend.'... Orban spoke to a half-full but enthusiastic ballroom, receiving a standing ovation and frequent bursts of applause and cheers.... 'The mother is a woman, the father is a man, and leave our kids alone,' Orban said, cracking a smile as many in the crowd got up and cheered." CNN's report is here.

~~~ Not satisfied with wrecking the country, Republicans work to wreck Earth: ~~~

David Gelles of the New York Times: "Nearly two dozen Republican state treasurers around the country are working to thwart climate action on state and federal levels, fighting regulations that would make clear the economic risks posed by a warming world, lobbying against climate-minded nominees to key federal posts and using the tax dollars they control to punish companies that want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Over the past year, treasurers in nearly half the United States have been coordinating tactics and talking points, meeting in private and cheering each other in public as part of a well-funded campaign to protect the fossil fuel companies that bolster their local economies. Last week, Riley Moore, the treasurer of West Virginia, announced that several major banks -- including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo -- would be barred from government contracts with his state because they are reducing their investments in coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel.... At the nexus of these efforts is the State Financial Officers Foundation, a little-known nonprofit organization based in Shawnee, Kan...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A photo of Riley Moore accompanying the article pictures a handsome young man looking ever-so-smug. When he looks in a mirror, he should see a monster.

Abbott, Ducey Stunts Stress East-Coast Cities. Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "A political tactic by the governors of Texas and Arizona to offload the problems caused by record levels of migration at the border is beginning to hit home in Washington, [D.C.,] as hundreds of undocumented migrants arriving on the governors' free bus rides each week increasingly tax the capital's ability to provide emergency food and housing. With no money and no family to receive them, the migrants are overwhelming immigrant nonprofits and other volunteer groups, with many ending up in homeless shelters or on park benches. Five buses arrived on a recent day, spilling young men and families with nowhere to go into the streets near the Capitol. Since April, Texas has delivered more than 6,200 migrants to the nation's capital, with Arizona dispatching an additional 1,000 since May. The influx has prompted Muriel E. Bowser, Washington's Democratic mayor, to ask the Defense Department to send the National Guard in.... A vast majority of recent bus riders are Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-ridden country, and many have also been arriving in New York, often via Washington. Eric Adams, mayor of New York City, announced emergency measures on Monday to enable the city to quickly build additional shelter capacity.... Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, both Republicans, blame President Biden for record numbers of migrants crossing the southern border." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "Rural school districts in Texas are switching to four-day weeks this fall due to lack of staff. Florida is asking veterans with no teaching background to enter classrooms. Arizona is allowing college students to step in and instruct children. The teacher shortage in America has hit crisis levels -- and school officials everywhere are scrambling to ensure that, as students return to classrooms, someone will be there to educate them.... Experts point to a confluence of factors including pandemic-induced teacher exhaustion, low pay and some educators' sense that politicians and parents -- and sometimes their own school board members -- have little respect for their profession amid an escalating educational culture war that has seen many districts and states pass policies and laws restricting what teachers can say about U.S. history, race, racism, gender and sexual orientation, as well as LGBTQ issues. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Who wants to be a teacher if you have to pretend there's no such thing as sex and that slavery made for a safe and comfy "lifestyle," you have to fend off threats from angry parents, and if you're gay or non-Christian, you pretty much have to go back in the closet?

Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "An Air Force explosives expert has been charged in connection with a suspected insider attack that wounded four other U.S. troops at an austere outpost in Syria earlier this year, a highly unusual case of alleged betrayal in an organization that prizes fidelity above all else. Tech. Sgt. David D. Dezwaan Jr. is accused of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and wrongfully obtaining classified information, among other crimes, the Air Force said Thursday. The charges stem from a military investigation into the April incident at Green Village, a base the Americans share with partner forces in eastern Syria."


Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency on Thursday in an effort to galvanize awareness and unlock additional flexibility and funding to fight the virus's spread.... The health secretary is also considering a second declaration empowering federal officials to expedite medical countermeasures, such as potential treatments and vaccines, without going through full-fledged federal reviews. That would also allow for greater flexibility in how the current supply of vaccines is administered, Becerra said." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.)

Vimal Patel of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a West Virginia man to more than three years in prison for sending threatening emails to Anthony Fauci, including one in which he said the immunologist and his family would be beaten to death and set on fire, prosecutors said. The man, Thomas Patrick Connally Jr., 56, had pleaded guilty in May to making threats against a federal official and also admitted to sending threatening messages to other health officials, including Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institutes of Health, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona Gubernatorial Race. Jonathan Cooper of the AP: "Kari Lake, a former news anchor who ... embraced by Donald Trump and his staunch supporters, won the Republican primary for Arizona governor on Thursday. Lake's victory was a blow to the GOP establishment that lined up behind lawyer and businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson in an attempt to push their party past the chaotic Trump era. Lake said she would not have certified President Joe Biden's 2020 victory and put false claims of election fraud at the center of her campaign.... Lake will face Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in the November election."

Florida. More on DeSantoni. (OR Moron DeSantolini. Florida Politics: "Gov. Ron DeSantis is suspending State Attorney Andrew Warren of the 13th Judicial Circuit [Hillsborough County], replacing the progressive prosecutor with County Judge Susan Lopez [whom DeSantis appoint to her judgeship].... 'Andrew Warren has put himself publicly above the law,' DeSantis said. 'The Constitution of Florida has vested the veto power in the Governor, not an individual State Attorney.' In announcing Warren's suspension, the Governor cited Warren's refusal to enforce bans on abortion and gender-affirming surgery. Most recently, Warren pledged he would not enforce Florida's new law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 'It's been a very, very troubling record,' DeSantis said. 'They're literally chopping off the private parts of kids.' Warren, who was elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020, has pushed for justice reform throughout his tenure. Under the state constitution, a Governor has the power to suspend a local official for 'misfeasance, malfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, or commission of a felony.' The suspension, though, is not a permanent removal from office. Warren can dispute the suspension and a trial in the Senate could be held to reinstate him or uphold DeSantis' suspension and remove him from office." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's worth noting that Warren, contrary to DeSantis's claims is not exercising "veto power." Rather, he is exercising prosecutorial discretion, which is SOP. More important, Warren is an elected official, not an appointee. That is to say, DeSantolini is unilaterally overruling the voters, who elected Warren twice. On the other hand, it's nice to see that Ron has such a grasp of (and such fluency in) medical procedures. ~~~

     ~~~ ** Update. The New York Times story is here. Marie: To make my points, Patricia Mazzei writes: "In June, Mr. Warren, a Democrat, was among 90 elected prosecutors across the country who vowed not to prosecute those who seek or provide abortions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.... The decision immediately raised concerns among Democrats, including Mr. Warren, who say that the governor has become increasingly heavy-handed.... Mr. Warren said in a statement that his suspension 'spits in the face of the voters.... The people have the right to elect their own leaders -- not have them dictated by an aspiring presidential candidate who has shown time and again he feels accountable to no one.'... On Thursday, the two leading Democrats vying to challenge him, Representative Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried, the state's agriculture commissioner, reacted to Mr. Warren's suspension by referring to Mr. DeSantis in statements as a 'wannabe dictator' (Mr. Crist) and a 'dictator' (Ms. Fried)." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Years ago, when I was on a small town council in New Jersey, the majority of the council passed an ordinance with which I didn't agree. I happened to see the county prosecutor -- a Republican -- a little later. I guess he saw an article in the local newspaper about the ordinance, which probably noted I was the sole vote against the ordinance. He confided in me he had no intention to prosecute any cases that might be brought under the ordinance. As I wrote, this is SOP.

Georgia. Ava Sasani of the New York Times: "Georgia's abortion ban counts a fetus as a person. And now, so does its tax code. The state's Department of Revenue announced this week that 'any unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat' can be claimed as dependent, providing a $3,000 tax exemption for each pregnancy within a household, months before the child is born. Georgia’s law bans most abortions after six weeks, which is usually around when doctors can begin to detect fetal cardiac activity. The announcement marks a new frontier of anti-abortion policymaking in a post-Roe America, where conservative lawmakers have moved beyond banning abortion, and are now trying to expand the legal rights and protections afforded to a fetus under 'fetal personhood' laws. Georgia, Alabama and Arizona have passed abortion bans that include language broadly defining a fetus as a person."

Kentucky. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: “Federal officials on Thursday charged four current and former police officers in Louisville, Ky., who were involved in a fatal raid on the apartment of Breonna Taylor, accusing them of several crimes.... The charges stem from a nighttime raid of Ms. Taylor's apartment in March 2020, during which officers knocked down Ms. Taylor's door and fired a volley of gunshots after her boyfriend shot an officer in the leg, believing that intruders had burst into the home. Two officers shot Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Merrick Garland, the attorney general, said at a news conference that members of an investigative unit within the Louisville Metro Police Department had included false information in an affidavit that was then used to obtain a warrant to search Ms. Taylor's home." An ABC News story is here. MB: Huh. I wonder why these officers weren't charged with Trump's DOJ was running this. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Puerto Rico. Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "Federal law enforcement agents on Thursday arrested former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced, charging her in a bribery scheme that was allegedly aimed at financing her failed 2020 gubernatorial campaign, the Justice Department said.... Officials said that said that while Vázquez Garced was governor in 2019 and 2020, she allegedly took campaign donations from a banker, Julio Martin Herrera Velutini, and a former FBI agent, Mark Rossini, who was consulting for the bank. Herrera Velutini's bank was under investigation by the regulatory agency that oversees Puerto Rico's financial institutions. He and Rossini allegedly paid more than $300,000 to consultants who supported Vázquez Garced's campaign. In exchange for the campaign donations, the governor allegedly said she would appoint a new commissioner to the regulatory agency of Herrera Velutini's choosing. In February 2020, Vázquez Garced demanded the resignation of agency head. She appointed a new director a few months later, according to the federal indictment. Vazquez Garced, Herrera Velutini and Rossini are each charged with conspiracy, federal programs bribery and wire fraud." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "... to the regulatory agency of Herrera Velutini's choosing." Well, that's confusing. From the wording, I thought HV got to pick which regulatory agency for which he wanted VG to appoint a new commissioner. But reading the whole graf (more than once), I think VG promised HV he could pick whoever he wanted to head up the regulatory agency that oversees the banks.

Wyoming Congressional Race. Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Former vice president Dick Cheney, in a campaign ad for his eldest daughter Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), said ... Donald Trump is a 'coward' and the greatest threat to the nation in its 246-year history.... 'A real man wouldn't lie to his supporters. He lost his election, and he lost big. I know it, he knows it, and deep down I think most Republicans know it.' Liz Cheney faces a tough primary on Aug. 16 for Wyoming's sole congressional seat, with Trump-backed Harriet Hageman favored to win."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "Three ships are carrying grain from Ukraine's Black Sea ports to a world worried about food security. In Moscow, WNBA superstar Brittney Griner's lawyers pledged to appeal a 9½-year prison sentence, as U.S. officials urge Moscow to accept an offer to free Griner..... [President] Biden described Griner's verdict as 'unacceptable,' after a Russian judge in the trial on drug charges handed down a prison sentence close to the maximum possible.... [Vladimir] Putin is set to meet his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the Russian resort city of Sochi on Friday, their second meeting in 2½ weeks."

Robyn Dixon & Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "A Russian judge on Thursday handed down a harsh, 9½-year prison sentence for WNBA star Brittney Griner, rejecting the player's plea for leniency and her apology for 'an honest mistake' in bringing less than a gram of cannabis oil into the country in February.... Her fate is now in the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will make the final decision on any prisoner swap. She also was fined 1 million rubles ($16,590)." MB: Of course this is an "offense" that is not illegal in many U.S. states & probably would not be prosecuted where it may be illegal, especially with a doctor's note saying she needed the cannibis for pain control. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)


Iceland. Tourists Behaving Badly, Ctd. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "Three tourists were injured in Iceland Wednesday night as they trekked across rough terrain to a volcanic eruption drawing awe-struck onlookers to its sputtering fountains of red-hot lava, a spokeswoman for Iceland's civil protection agency said. The injuries, including a broken ankle, were not serious, but they underscored the risks that tourists face trying to hike to the lava flowing from the Fagradalsfjall volcano in southwest Iceland, the spokeswoman, Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, said in an interview on Thursday."

Understatement of the Year. The conditions were very adverse. -- Laurent Camprubi, after surviving under his sailboat in rough seas for 16 hours ~~~

~~~ Spain. Lindsey Bever & Paulina Villegas of the Washington Post: "A French sailor trapped beneath a capsized sailboat in the Atlantic Ocean used an air bubble to stay alive until his rescue 16 hours later, according to Spanish coast guard officials. The sailor, who has been identified by Spanish news media as Laurent Camprubi, sent out a distress signal on Monday when his sailboat ... capsized about 14 miles from the coast of Spain's Sisargas Islands.... In a rescue mission that has been described as 'on the edge of the impossible,' rescue crews battled the rough seas. Vicente Cobelo, a member of the coast guard's special operations team, told the laSexta TV station that when the rescuer banged on the boat Monday night to see whether there were any survivors, he got a response.... But the waters were too rough to attempt a rescue. So the team had to wait until next morning to try again." With video. MB: This has nothing to do with politics, but the story was too amazing to pass up.

Lebanon. Sarah Dadouch of the Washington Post: "On a nationwide day of mourning, Beirut's port burned.... It was two years to the day after a fire in a hangar at the port triggered one of history's largest nonnuclear explosions, a blast that killed 200 people and leveled vast swaths of the capital. The current fire is triggering anger and fear here.... Family members, activists and others were marching to an overlook to mark the anniversary and again demand justice and accountability when parts of the silos began to fall.... Three weeks ago, the oils from the grains [stored in the silos] sparked a fire, which has been growing and licking the gutted sides of some of the 157-foot-tall structures ever since. On Sunday, four of 16 silos in the port's northern bloc began collapsing. On Thursday, the flames continued to weaken the structures. Four more silos leaned to the side and then fell, throwing up a cloud of sand-colored dust a few hundred feet away from the marchers." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Not mentioned in the story is that first Ukrainian grain-carrying ship to leave port. It was bound for Lebanon. Is that grain going to end up in hungry people's mouths or in an unstable silo in Beirut?

News Ledes

CNBC: "Hiring in July was far better than expected, defying signs that the economic recovery is losing steam, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls rose 528,000 for the month and the unemployment rate was 3.5%, easily topping the Dow Jones estimates of 258,000 and 3.6% respectively. Wage growth also surged higher, as average hourly earnings jumped 0.5% for the month and 5.2% from the same time a year ago. Those numbers add fuel to an inflation picture that already has consumer prices rising at their fastest rate since the early 1980s. Markets initially reacted negatively to the report, with Dow Jones futures down more than 120 points."

Washington Post: "Two men and two women were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries Thursday evening after an apparent lightning strike in Lafayette Square, just north of the White House, according to D.C. fire officials. The four adults were found just before 7 p.m. in the center of the park, in a grove of trees about 100 feet southeast of the statue of Andrew Jackson, fire department spokesman Vito Maggiolo said at a news briefing Thursday night. The U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Park Police rendered aid to the victims, which fire officials credited to the ability of the victims to initially survive." Apparently the four had sought shelter under the trees. ~~~

     ~~~ New York Times Update: Two of the people hit by lightning have died. They were a couple in their 70s from Janesville, Wis.. MB: I find it hard to believe that any American about my age doesn't know that you don't stand under trees during a thunderstorm. As amazed as we little children may have been by the instruction, we were taught in grade school that lightning will jump -- or run underground -- from a tree to a person standing under it. ~~~

     ~~~ Washington Post Update: A third person -- a 29-year-old man -- has died of injuries sustained in the lightning strike.

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