April 29, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The Department of Homeland Security's creation of a Disinformation Governance Board has set off a backlash on the right -- even as it's not entirely clear what the perhaps unfortunately named board will do. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas mentioned the creation of the board in multiple congressional hearings this week.... Amid growing anti-censorship fervor on the right, a bevy of Republicans have suggested that the initiative amounts to policing speech. Elon Musk declared it 'messed up.' Many on the right likened it to the 'Ministry of Truth' from George Orwell's book '1984.'... 'Rather than police our border, Homeland Security has decided to make policing Americans' speech its top priority,' Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) claimed.... Despite Republicans' expressed concern, they didn't press Mayorkas i much detail at hearings Wednesday and Thursday. And the DHS does have a history of tackling disinformation, including during the Trump administration." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Clearly, in the wrong hands (say, a Trumpbot's), such a board could become Orwellian. Nevertheless, right now, it looks more like a hilarious way to "own the wingers."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "It has belatedly occurred to fellow Republicans that [Rep.] Madison Cawthorn [R-N.C.] might be a liability.... But Cawthorn is a monster of Republicans’ own creation. His character flaws were fully displayed when he first ran for Congress in 2020: nods to white supremacists, extravagant lies, accusations of sexually predatory behavior, overt racism and a long list of driving offenses. Craven Republican leaders knew all that -- and embraced him unreservedly. Ousting Cawthorn ... won't cure this Republican illness; the North Carolina congressman is just a symptom. More than 50 QAnon believers have run for Congress as Republicans in 2022, the liberal watchdog Media Matters reports. Several who participated in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, have run for Congress.... Cawthorn and the many rising oddballs and extremists are the inevitable result of Republican leaders' choices: drawing increasingly uncompetitive districts, blessing unlimited dark money, exercising timid leadership, embracing disinformation, flirting with white nationalism, stoking conspiracies and undermining elections."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A second member of the extremist group Oath Keepers pleaded guilty Friday to seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and will cooperate with federal prosecutors to avoid a possible multiyear prison term. Brian Ulrich, 44, of Guyton, Ga., was arrested in August on charges of joining a group of right-wing Oath Keepers members who planned and organized travel to Washington, stashed firearms in an Arlington hotel, then sent several individuals with tactical gear, helmets and radios into the Capitol.... Ulrich pleaded guilty to two of five felony counts, seditious conspiracy and obstructing an official proceeding (Congress's certification of the 2020 election results on Jan. 6).... Prosecutors agreed in a plea deal to drop the three other counts -- conspiring to prevent an officer from discharging his or her duties, aiding and abetting, and evidence tampering." Politico's report is here.

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "... in the weeks since the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, stopped presenting evidence to [grand] jurors about [Donald] Trump, new signs have emerged that the former president will not be indicted in Manhattan in the foreseeable future -- if at all. At least three of the witnesses once central to the case have either not heard from the district attorney's office in months, or have not been asked to testify, according to people with knowledge of the matter. In recent weeks, a prosecutor at the Manhattan district attorney's office who played a key role in the investigation has stopped focusing on a potential case against Mr. Trump, other people with knowledge of the inquiry said -- a move that followed the resignation earlier this year of the two senior prosecutors leading the investigation. And the remaining prosecutors working on the Trump investigation have abandoned the 'war room' they used to prepare for their grand jury presentation early this year...."

Michael Sisak of the AP: "Donald Trump's lawyers, seeking to reverse their client's $10,000-per-day contempt fine, provided a New York judge Friday with an affidavit in which the former president claims he didn't turn over subpoenaed documents to the state attorney general's office because he doesn't have them. The judge, though, was unmoved and refused to lift sanctions he imposed on Trump on Monday. Judge Arthur Engoron criticized the lack of detail in Trump affidavit, which amounted to two paragraphs, saying that he should have explained the methods he uses to stores his records and efforts he made to locate the subpoenaed files.... Frank Runyeon, a reporter for the legal publication Law360, said that Engoron held an impromptu hearing Friday, without a court stenographer, in which he addressed the affidavits from Trump and his lawyers and ruled to keep the contempt fine in place."

Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Fox's Sean Hannity exchanged more than 80 text messages between Election Day 2020 and Joe Biden's January 2021 inauguration, communications that show Hannity's evolution from staunch supporter of ... Donald Trump's election lies to being 'fed up' with the 'lunatics' hurting Trump's cause in the days before January 6.... Initially after the November 2020 election, Hannity appeared to be all in with Trump's false election claims. On November 29, he texted Meadows saying he had his team trying to prove election fraud: 'I've had my team digging into the numbers. There is no way Biden got these numbers. Just mathematically impossible...." But several weeks later, as Trump's team lost court challenges and the wild claims from attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell failed to materialize into anything more than false conspiracy theories, Hannity's tone shifted.... By New Year's Eve, Hannity ... appeared to accept the fact that the election was over...." The Hannity/Meadows texts are here, via CNN.

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Max Tani in Politico Magazine: It's not easy for White House reporters to be journalistic stars now that Joe Biden is president. "Biden ... has been a journalistic sedative.... Attention isn't his brand, the way it is with Trump, and his staff exerts far more control over his time and his media interactions, alongside their efforts to eliminate traces of palace intrigue from political coverage. The president does few interviews and his communications team has an informal policy of not engaging in gossip stories ... and chide reporters who they don't think focus enough on policy. Press secretary Jen Psaki rarely expresses emotion from the podium, where she speaks slowly and avoids lengthy confrontations with reporters.... 'Jen ... is very good at her job, which is unfortunate,' one reporter who has covered the past two administrations from the room said. 'And the work is a lot less rewarding, because you're no longer saving democracy from Sean Spicer and his Men's Wearhouse suit. Jawing with Jen just makes you look like an asshole.'"

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How to Blow Up Peace Talks. Well, blow them up. With missiles. ~~~

~~~ The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Five Russian missiles flew into Kyiv on Thursday just after talks ended there between President Volodymyr Zelensky and the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, Mr. Zelensky said in his nightly address.... Russian forces have continued to strike the Azovstal complex, where Mariupol's last defenders and an unknown number of civilians remain. In the latest attack, Russian bombs landed in a field hospital there, killing or further injuring dozens of wounded soldiers, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.... The British military is expanding its participation in a British-led multinational deployment to Europe to deter further Russian aggression by sending 8,000 troops, British officials said." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here: "... senior U.S. officials are laying the groundwork for a different global security order. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told U.S. lawmakers the world had changed dramatically and declared support for Finland and Sweden joining NATO.... In the battle for eastern Ukraine, Russian forces are making 'slow and uneven' progress and moving forward at a pace of just several kilometers a day, hampered by logistical challenges, according to the Pentagon." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary of developments is here.

Alan Fram, et al., of the AP: "President Joe Biden asked Congress on Thursday for an additional $33 billion to help Ukraine fend off Russia's invasion, a signal that the U.S. is prepared to mount a robust, long-term campaign to bolster Kyiv and weaken Moscow as the bloody war enters its third month with no sign of abating. Biden's latest proposal -- which the White House said was expected to support Ukraine's needs for five months -- has more than $20 billion in military assistance for Kyiv and for shoring up defenses in nearby countries. There is also $8.5 billion in economic aid to help keep Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government functioning and $3 billion for food and humanitarian programs around the world." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Bryan Pietsch, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House on Thursday announced a proposal to allow U.S. authorities to liquidate the assets of Russian oligarchs and donate the proceeds to Ukraine, seeking what appears to be broad new legal powers to expand America's financial war on the Kremlin amid bipartisan pressure in Congress.... The White House has not revealed the legislative text behind its Russian oligarchs proposal but said the proposal 'would improve' the federal government's ability to send seized funds to Ukraine. Under current law, the United States can typically only freeze -- not seize or liquidate -- the assets of sanctioned individuals. Civil liberties groups had raised concerns that prior congressional proposals to do so ran afoul of constitutional protections by allowing federal law enforcement to circumvent judicial procedure. It was not immediately clear how the White House would seek to change existing statute without violating those protections." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed legislation that would allow President Biden to use a World War II-era law to quickly supply weapons to Ukraine on loan, sending the measure to Mr. Biden's desk hours after he urged Congress to approve tens of billions of dollars' worth of additional emergency aid for Kyiv. The 417-to-10 vote to invoke an extraordinary, eight-decade-old law created to battle Hitler reflected a growing bipartisan sense of urgency in Congress to bolster the Ukrainian military as it digs in for an ugly and protracted artillery war in the south and east of the country. The Senate passed the legislation unanimously this month."

Amy Cheng of the Washington Post: "Prosecutors filed their first war crimes charges Thursday against 10 Russian service members accused of torturing and taking civilians hostage on the outskirts of the capital. The Russians are not in custody, and the charges were filed in absentia to Ukrainian courts.... Zelensky said Thursday that the Russian servicemen were part of the 64th Guard Motorized Brigade, which ... Vladimir Putin recently honored in a presidential decree.... It is highly unlikely that the Russian troops will ever stand trial in Ukraine, but it is still useful for Kyiv to continue legal proceedings, said Steven Freeland, an international law expert at Western Sydney University."

Paul Sonne & Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "The U.S. government has assessed that Russian intelligence was behind an attack earlier this month on a Nobel Prize winner and prominent Russian editor who had criticized the Kremlin's war against Ukraine. Dmitry Muratov, the editor of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was about to travel on a train from Moscow to Samara, Russia, on April 7 when an assailant attacked him with a mixture of red paint and acetone, leaving his eyes with a chemical burn. The assailant yelled, 'Muratov, here's one for our boys' -- a reference to Russian forces fighting in Ukraine."

Justin McCurry of the Guardian: "The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has described how Russian forces came close to capturing or assassinating him in the early hours of the invasion [in an interview with Time magazine reporter Simon Shuster.]... The Ukrainian military told Zelenskiy that Russian strike teams had parachuted into Kyiv to kill or capture him and his family.... Gunfights broke out around the government quarter as night fell on the first day of the war, Shuster wrote. 'Guards inside the compound shut the lights and brought bulletproof vests and assault rifles for Zelenskiy and about a dozen of his aides.'... Russian troops made two attempts to storm the compound while Zelenskiy's family were still inside, according to Shuster."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Thursday that he is considering wiping out some student loan debt and will make a final decision 'in the coming weeks.'... During the campaign in 2020, he said he would 'make sure that everybody in this generation gets $10,000 knocked off of their student debt.'... The president made clear that his decision would disappoint at least some progressive Democrats and advocates who ... want him to wipe out $50,000 or more per borrower."

Christina Jewitt of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced a plan to ban sales of menthol-flavored cigarettes in the United States, a measure many public health experts hailed as the government's most meaningful action in more than a decade of tobacco control efforts. The ban would most likely have the deepest impact on Black smokers, nearly 85 percent of whom use menthol cigarettes, compared with 29 percent of white smokers, according to a government survey.... Menthol cigarettes make up about one third of the $80 billion U.S. cigarette market, and about 18.5 million Americans smoke them."

Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Sixteen states, the District of Columbia and environmental activist groups are suing the U.S. Postal Service to block its purchase of 148,000 gas-guzzling delivery trucks over the next decade, alleging the agency has vastly underestimated the vehicles' costs and adverse ecological impact. The suits brought on by the state attorneys general, Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council contend the mail service relied on faulty assumptions and miscalculations to justify spending as much as $11.3 billion on gas-powered vehicles that get 8.6 mpg...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Dividing 6 to 3 along ideological lines, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that victims of discrimination that is forbidden by four federal statutes may not sue if the only harm was emotional distress."

Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol is expected to issue letters requesting voluntary cooperation from House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and around a dozen other Republican members of Congress, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The panel intends to issue a letter to McCarthy -- the top House Republican -- and is considering further letters to Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Mo Brooks, Lauren Boebert, Andy Biggs, as well as some Republican senators, the sources said.... The scope and subjects of the letters are not yet finalized, and the sources cautioned that the members of Congress approached for cooperation may still change. On Thursday, [committee Chairman Bennie] Thompson said only that he would send letters to McCarthy and other Republicans."

Alexandra Ulman & Nathan Layne of Reuters: There have been "eight known attempts to gain unauthorized access to voting systems in five U.S. states since the 2020 election. All involved local Republican officeholders or party activists who have advanced Trump's stolen-election falsehoods or conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines, according to a Reuters examination of the incidents.... [For example,] in southern Michigan, a pro-Trump clerk who has expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory on social media defied state orders to perform maintenance on a voting machine on the unfounded belief that doing so could erase proof of alleged fraud. In another Michigan case, a Republican activist impersonated an official from a made-up government agency in a plot to seize voting equipment. Some of the people and groups involved in the vigilante election-investigator movement are drawing financial support from [Mike] Lindell, the My Pillow Inc chief executive and one of the most visible backers of Trump's false fraud claims." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: My guess is that in 2024, some of this voting-machine tampering will be "authorized" by the new pro-Trump QAnon-type elections officials who are now running to take over local & state elections offices.

Yet Another Reason to Be Askeert of "Illegals." Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: The border "between Mexico and the United States has once again become a fixation of the Republican Party.... Republican leaders and candidates are increasingly claiming without basis that unauthorized immigrants are gaining access to the ballot box. Voter fraud is exceptionally rare, and allegations that widespread numbers of undocumented immigrants are voting have been repeatedly discredited. Yet that fabricated message -- capitalizing on a concocted threat to advance Mr. Trump's broader lie of stolen elections -- is now finding receptive audiences in more than a dozen states across the country, including several far from the U.S.-Mexico border.... In Ohio..., Mr. Trump whipped up fears of 'open borders and horrible elections' at a rally on Saturday, calling for stricter voter ID laws and proof of citizenship at the ballot box.... In Macomb County, Mich..., many voters at the county G.O.P. convention this month said they feared that immigrants were entering the country illegally ... to ... [cast] fraudulent ballots for Democrats."

The following is an ill-advised link, for a number of reasons: ~~~

~~~ Laura Collins of the Daily Mail: "New video of scandal-ridden GOP Rep Madison Cawthorn having his crotch felt by a close male friend and staff member is at the center of a complaint calling for an investigation into him and filed with the Office of Congressional Ethics today.... The extraordinary footage ... shows Cawthorn, 26, in a car with his close aide and his scheduler Stephen Smith, 23. Cawthorn sits in the driver's seat apparently filmed by Smith as he adopts an exaggerated accent and says, 'I feel the passion and desire and would like to see a naked body beneath my hands.' The camera then pans back to Smith who says, 'Me too' as Cawthorn can be heard laughing. Smith then films himself reaching his hand over and into Cawthorn's crotch. The video is one of several exhibits filed in support of the ethics complaint drafted by political group Fire Madison Cawthorn.... Among the many allegations is the claim that representative for North Carolina's 11th district provided thousands of dollars in loans and gifts to Smith...."

"Ask Me Nicely." Reid Wilson of the Hill: "In the aftermath of devastating storms that knocked out power to tens of thousands of people in Connecticut in August 2020, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) called the White House seeking federal help. Hours later, then-President Trump called back. 'There's something you want to ask me about FEMA?' Trump said, according to Lamont's recollection. 'Well, ask me nicely.' The anecdote, reported by the New York Times journalists Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns in their forthcoming book, 'This Will Not Pass,' is just one of a series of Trump's interactions with governors that struck many state executives as blatant departures from the norms of cooperative governing. The book, obtained by The Hill prior to its release on Tuesday, depicts Trump as a mafia don, demanding loyalty from supplicants and political opponents alike...." Read on.

Trump fans are (a) Sadists; (b) Masochists; (c) Sadomasochists; (d) All of the above; (e) None of the above. Only one answer is wrong.

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Paul Manafort, the former Donald Trump campaign chairman who was convicted of financial crimes then pardoned by his old boss, was sued Thursday by the Justice Department, which is seeking $3 million over undeclared foreign bank accounts.... The lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in West Palm Beach, Fla., seeks a court order forcing Manafort to pay millions of dollars in fines and interest 'for his willful failure to timely report his financial interest in foreign bank accounts' -- specifically, for failing to report his foreign accounts in 2013 and 2014.... Manafort's lawyer, Jeff Neiman, said in a statement that his client has been trying for months to resolve the reporting issue, which he dismissed as 'simply failing to file a tax form.'" Politico's report is here.

Jay Peters of the Verge: "As part of his pitch to raise funds to acquire Twitter, Elon Musk apparently 'floated' the idea of cutting jobs at Twitter to improve its bottom line, according to a Bloomberg report. 'While nothing is set in stone -- and Musk himself had no access to Twitter's non-public financials at the time -- he specifically mentioned job cuts' during discussions with banks, the report says. The Washington Post reported that Musk discussed making 'efficiencies' at the company in the conversations with bankers, 'which could include job cuts.'"

Beyond the Beltway

California. Don Thompson of the AP: "California's attorney general on Thursday subpoenaed ExxonMobil as part of what he called a first-of-its-kind broader investigation into the petroleum industry for its alleged role in causing a global plastic pollution crisis, allegations that the company called meritless. Attorney General Rob Bonta said the industry for decades has encouraged the development and use of petroleum-based plastic products while seeking to minimize public understanding that their widespread use harms the environment and public health."

California. "Steps toward Autocracy." Elahe Izadi & Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: Los Angeles County"Sheriff Alex Villanueva called a news conference to forcefully deny the allegations [published in the Los Angeles Times] -- and to take aim at [LA Times reporter Alene] Tchekmedyian. Standing in front of a placard with photos of the reporter, a political rival and the county's inspector general, Villanueva announced the three were part of a criminal leak investigation.... Villanueva's effort to publicly implicate a reporter for doing her job -- an attempt to intimidate her, some argued -- reflects a brazen trend of officials using government power to punish or push back on journalists for articles they don't like.... 'It is another form of degrading trust in our institutions,' said Tom Rosenstiel, a University of Maryland journalism professor.... 'These are steps toward autocracy.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What with Villanueva's making his remarks at a news conference, reporters recorded his dog & pony show. The fact that he was caught on tape, as it were, apparently made no difference. According to Rachel Maddow, Vinnanueva denied he said what he said anyway. They don't care.

Michigan. Nick Corasaniti & Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "... The state party chose two candidates endorsed by [Donald Trump], both outspoken preachers of 2020 election falsehoods, as its contenders for the state's top law enforcement officer and its chief of election administration. But ... that move at a convention last weekend ... has ruptured the Michigan Republican Party.... This week, Tony Daunt, a powerful figure in Michigan politics with close ties to the influential donor network of the DeVos family, resigned from the G.O.P.'s state committee in a blistering letter, calling Mr. Trump 'a deranged narcissist.' Major donors to the state party indicated that they would direct their money elsewhere. And one of Mr. Trump's most loyal defenders in the State Legislature was kicked out of the House Republican caucus."

Michigan. Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post: Terance Calhoun was arrested in Detroit Nov. 3, 2006, on the suspicion of attempted rape in [one] case and rape in another. He did not match the description of the perp and his DNA did not match DNA collected at one scene. He pleaded no contest to lesser charges, and went to jail. In 2019 Wayne County investigators finally evaluated the DNA the evidence & exonerated Calhoun. He was released from jail April 27, 2021, after 15 years of incarceration.

North Carolina. War on Education, Ctd. Stephanie Saul of the Washington Post: "A prestigious national academic group charged on Thursday that North Carolina's legislature had politically interfered with the operations of the University of North Carolina for more than a decade, creating a hostile academic and racial climate at its campuses, including the flagship in Chapel Hill. A report by the American Association of University Professors details how Republican lawmakers, after taking over the General Assembly in 2010, wrested control of the university system's Board of Governors as well as the trustees of its 17 individual campuses, influencing chancellor appointments and closing academic centers dedicated to fighting poverty, pollution and social injustice. The report concludes that racism is institutionalized in the system."

Oklahoma. War on Women, Ctd. Caroline Kitchener of the Washington Post: "The Oklahoma House approved a Republican bill on Thursday that would ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The law would take effect immediately, cutting off access for patients from Texas who have flooded into Oklahoma since a similar law passed there last fall.... Oklahoma's bill is modeled after the restrictive Texas ban, which has evaded court intervention with a novel legal strategy that empowers private citizens to enforce the law. The bill, which includes exceptions in medical emergencies but not rape or incest, cleared the Oklahoma Senate in March. It now goes to Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), who is expected to sign it, and it will take effect with his signature." (Also linked yesterday.)

April 28, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Alan Fram, et al., of the AP: "President Joe Biden asked Congress on Thursday for an additional $33 billion to help Ukraine fend off Russia's invasion, a signal that the U.S. is prepared to mount a robust, long-term campaign to bolster Kyiv and weaken Moscow as the bloody war enters its third month with no sign of abating. Biden's latest proposal -- which the White House said was expected to support Ukraine's needs for five months -- has more than $20 billion in military assistance for Kyiv and for shoring up defenses in nearby countries. There is also $8.5 billion in economic aid to help keep Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government functioning and $3 billion for food and humanitarian programs around the world." ~~~

     ~~~ Bryan Pietsch, et al., of the Washington Post: “The White House on Thursday announced a proposal to allow U.S. authorities to liquidate the assets of Russian oligarchs and donate the proceeds to Ukraine, seeking what appears to be broad new legal powers to expand America's financial war on the Kremlin amid bipartisan pressure in Congress.... The White House has not revealed the legislative text behind its Russian oligarchs proposal but said the proposal 'would improve' the federal government's ability to send seized funds to Ukraine. Under current law, the United States can typically only freeze -- not seize or liquidate -- the assets of sanctioned individuals. Civil liberties groups had raised concerns that prior congressional proposals to do so ran afoul of constitutional protections by allowing federal law enforcement to circumvent judicial procedure. It was not immediately clear how the White House would seek to change existing statute without violating those protections."

Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Sixteen states, the District of Columbia and environmental activist groups are suing the U.S. Postal Service to block its purchase of 148,000 gas-guzzling delivery trucks over the next decade, alleging the agency has vastly underestimated the vehicles' costs and adverse ecological impact. The suits brought on by the state attorneys general, Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council contend the mail service relied on faulty assumptions and miscalculations to justify spending as much as $11.3 billion on gas-powered vehicles that get 8.6 mpg...."

Alexandra Ulman & Nathan Layne of Reuters: There have been "eight known attempts to gain unauthorized access to voting systems in five U.S. states since the 2020 election. All involved local Republican officeholders or party activists who have advanced Trump's stolen-election falsehoods or conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines, according to a Reuters examination of the incidents.... [For example,] in southern Michigan, a pro-Trump clerk who has expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory on social media defied state orders to perform maintenance on a voting machine on the unfounded belief that doing so could erase proof of alleged fraud. In another Michigan case, a Republican activist impersonated an official from a made-up government agency in a plot to seize voting equipment. Some of the people and groups involved in the vigilante election-investigator movement are drawing financial support from [Mike] Lindell, the My Pillow Inc chief executive and one of the most visible backers of Trump's false fraud claims." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: My guess is that in 2024, some of this voting-machine tampering will be "authorized" by the new pro-Trump QAnon-type elections officials who are now running to take over local & state elections offices.

The War on Women, Ctd. Oklahoma. Caroline Kitchener of the Washington Post: "The Oklahoma House approved a Republican bill on Thursday that would ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The law would take effect immediately, cutting off access for patients from Texas who have flooded into Oklahoma since a similar law passed there last fall.... Oklahoma's bill is modeled after the restrictive Texas ban, which has evaded court intervention with a novel legal strategy that empowers private citizens to enforce the law. The bill, which includes exceptions in medical emergencies but not rape or incest, cleared the Oklahoma Senate in March. It now goes to Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), who is expected to sign it, and it will take effect with his signature."

~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, was in Ukraine on Thursday as part of his efforts to broker peace and the evacuation of civilians, after meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and agreeing 'in principle' on relief for civilians trapped in the port city of Mariupol. Mr. Guterres's visit came as European leaders accused Russia of engaging in blackmail by cutting off supplies of natural gas to the continent, leaving two nations [Poland and Bulgaria] to scramble to find alternate sources for the fuel and feeding concerns that the conflict could spread beyond Ukraine's borders.... European Union countries are scrambling to work out how to pay for Russian gas without running afoul of their own economic sanctions and still meet the Kremlin's demand for payment in rubles. Natural gas prices jumped on Wednesday. Military analysts say Russia is making slow and measured advances as it confronts entrenched Ukrainian troops. 'More than half' of the 90 Howitzers the United States is sending to Ukraine have been delivered, the Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, said at a news briefing." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of weaponizing energy after Russia cut gas supply to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday, putting the European Union on alert for further retaliation. In a speech after the move..., Vladimir Putin warned other nations against interfering in the war and threatened 'lightning fast' counterstrikes. President Biden will speak Thursday morning about U.S. support for Kyiv as battles rage across Ukraine's east, from the city of Kharkiv to the Donbas region." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's full report is here.

Flipper Is Not Our Friend. Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: "Satellite photos show Russia has placed trained dolphins at the entrance to a key Black Sea port, in a move that may be designed to help protect a significant Kremlin naval base there, according to a naval analyst. The images, provided to The Washington Post by Maxar Technologies, show two dolphin pens at the entrance to Sevastopol harbor in Crimea -- which Russian forces annexed from Ukraine in 2014. H I Sutton, a submarine analyst..., said the dolphins could be used to counter specialist Ukrainian divers attempting to enter the port to sabotage Russian warships -- a role he said the United States and Russia have previously trained marine mammals for." The Guardian's story is here.

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a mostly symbolic bill urging President Biden to sell the frozen luxury assets of Russian oligarchs hit with sanctions and use the funds to provide additional military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The legislation is nonbinding, but its 417-to-8 passage reflected a bipartisan desire on Capitol Hill for the president to take a more aggressive posture as the United States and European allies grapple with what to do with Russian assets seized in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. It came a day after Attorney General Merrick B. Garland told a Senate panel that the administration would ask Congress for expanded authority to confiscate and liquidate Russian property."

Amy Cheng of the Washington Post has a tougher take on Rand Paul's pro-Russia remarks than did the CNN report linked earlier: "In a contentious exchange at a congressional hearing Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that U.S. support for Ukraine to join NATO contributed to Russia's decision to invade. Blinken vehemently objected to Paul's remarks, which were also criticized by Russia experts.... 'You could also argue that the countries that it has attacked were ... part of the Soviet Union,' the senator said; Putin has long wanted a 'sphere of influence' over former Soviet states. Charles Booker, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run against Paul in November, accused his opponent of 'pushing Putin's propaganda in the Senate.'... Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman ... criticized Paul's remarks. 'By that logic, Britain is justified in attacking the U.S. and colonial powers their former holdings. What century does he live in?' Vindman said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "The United States and Russia announced on Wednesday a prisoner swap that has freed Trevor R. Reed, a former Marine who was convicted on charges that his family said were bogus, an unexpected diplomatic breakthrough with tensions running high over the Ukraine war. Mr. Reed, who was initially detained in August 2019, was released in exchange for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot sentenced to a lengthy term in the United States on cocaine-trafficking charges." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

If Madeleine were here with us today, she would also remind us this must be a season of action, and yes, once again we must heed the wisdom of her life and the cause of her public service. Stand up to dictators and demagogues from the battlefields of Ukraine to the halls of our own Capitol. Defend democracy at home just as vigorously as we do abroad. -- Hillary Clinton, memorial service for Madeleine Albright, Wednesday ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: "... her adopted country bade farewell on Wednesday to Madeleine Korbel Albright, who in the course of a storybook life became a relentless evangelist for American ideals at home and abroad and an implacable foe of tyranny everywhere. The little immigrant girl who survived Nazis and Communists before growing up to become the first female secretary of state was honored by presidents, cabinet secretaries, members of Congress, diplomats, generals, foreign leaders and dissidents at one of those only-in-Washington memorial services that was about this moment in history as much as it was about the dearly departed. In death as in life, Ms. Albright evoked the eternal struggle between democracy and autocracy that flared again in her final days in a land not far from her own native country." ~~~

~~~ Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "More than 1,400 people, including several foreign leaders, attended the service [for former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright], which began shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday at Washington National Cathedral, to which Albright had close ties for several decades. In addition to [President] Biden, former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton were slated to deliver eulogies in memory of Albright's life, including her distinction as the nation's first female secretary of state." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Funniest remark, IMO, during the service: one of Albright's daughters said that when she was a child, she called her mother at the office, only to be told that her mother was otherwise occupied: "She's on the floor with Senator Kerry."

Ellie Kaufman of CNN: "Approximately $7 billion of military equipment the US transferred to the Afghan government over the course of 16 years was left behind in Afghanistan after the US completed its withdrawal from the country in August, according to a congressionally mandated report from the US Department of Defense viewed by CNN. This equipment is now in a country that is controlled by the very enemy the US was trying to drive out over the past two decades: the Taliban. The Defense Department has no plans to return to Afghanistan to 'retrieve or destroy' the equipment, reads the report, which has been provided to Congress."

Tony Romm, et al., of the Washington Post: "Top congressional Democrats are exploring new proposals to suspend the gas tax and penalize giant energy corporations, hoping to lower prices as part of a broader effort to blunt the financial and political fallout from soaring inflation. The legislative push reflects a growing sense of urgency among party lawmakers, who returned to Washington this week after hearing from voters who have seen the costs of housing, groceries and other goods spike at their highest rate in roughly four decades. Democrats specifically have expressed renewed interest in pausing the roughly 18-cent-per-gallon federal gasoline tax, which Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) described at a news conference early Wednesday as 'part of the discussion' around a more 'comprehensive' solution to rising prices."

Steve Benen of MSNBC: The Raleigh News & Observer reports, "'U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis called on the House Ethics Committee to investigate fellow Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn on Tuesday morning after the Washington Examiner broke a story Monday afternoon saying Cawthorn could be implicated in insider trading.' 'Insider trading by a member of Congress is a serious betrayal of their oath, and Congressman Cawthorn owes North Carolinians an explanation,' Tillis said in a tweet. 'There needs to be a thorough and bipartisan inquiry into the matter by the House Ethics Committee.'... A red-state Republican senator calling for an investigation into a GOP colleague from his home state just doesn't happen often."

Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) tore into the Catholic Church in a recent interview with right-wing activist Michael Voris of Church Militant. In the wild interview, flagged online by Right Wing Watch, Greene charges 'Satan's controlling the church.' In a clip from the interview, Voris charges that U.S. Bishops 'taken enormous sums of money from the federal government, federal taxpayers to assist in illegal immigration, some refugee resettlement also' to 'essentially skirt around U.S. immigration laws.' 'I thought we had a separation of church and state,' Greene said in response."

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday released a report alleging that top Trump administration officials awarded a $700 million pandemic relief loan to a struggling trucking company [now called 'Yellow'] in 2020 over the objections of career officials at the Defense Department. The report, released by the Democratic staff of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, describes the role of corporate lobbyists during the early months of the pandemic in helping to secure government funds as trillions of dollars of relief money were being pumped into the economy. It also suggests that senior officials such as Steven Mnuchin, the former Treasury secretary, and Mark T. Esper, the former defense secretary, intervened to ensure that the trucking company, Yellow Corporation, received special treatment despite concerns about its eligibility to receive relief funds.... Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, was a 'key actor' coordinating with Yellow's lobbyists.... The loan raised immediate questions from watchdog groups because of the company's close ties to the Trump administration and because it had faced years of financial and legal turmoil.... Yellow had many connections to the Trump administration." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ha Ha. George Will of the Washington Post suggests a Constitutional amendment: "No senator or former senator shall be eligible to be president." "The federal government's growth, and the national media's focus on Washington, has increased the prominence of senators eager for prominence, although it often is the prominence of a ship's figurehead -- decorative, not functional.... The Senate has ... [become] increasingly a theater of performative behaviors by senators who are decreasingly interested in legislating, and are increasingly preoccupied with using social media for self-promotion.... Josh Hawley ... exemplifies the worst about would-be presidents incubated in the Senate.... Nimbly clambering aboard every passing bandwagon that can carry him to the Fox News greenroom, he treats the Senate as a mere steppingstone for his ascent to an office commensurate with his estimate of his talents.... One of today's exemplary senators, Mitt Romney, surely is such partly because, his presidential ambitions retired, he nevertheless wants to be a senator." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: One thing you have to say about George Will: he has the best words. No really. That line about Josh Hawley's "nimbly clambering aboard every passing bandwagon ..." is superb.

Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "... discussions involving the Trump White House about using emergency powers have become an important -- but little-known -- part of the House Jan. 6 committee's investigation of the 2021 attack on the Capitol. In subpoenas, document requests and court filings, the panel has demanded information about any Trump administration plans to use presidential emergency powers to invoke martial law or take other steps to overturn the 2020 election. Interviews with committee members and a review of the panel's information requests reveals a focus on emergency powers that were being considered by Trump and his allies in several categories: invoking the Insurrection Act, declaring martial law, using presidential powers to justify seizing assets of voting-machine companies, and using the military to require a rerun of the election."

** A Warning from a Right-Wing Judge. Michael Luttig in a CNN opinion piece: "The Republicans' mystifying claim to this day that Trump did, or would have, received more votes than Joe Biden in 2020 were it not for actual voting fraud, is but the shiny object that Republicans have tauntingly and disingenuously dangled before the American public.... Trump's and the Republicans' far more ambitious objective is to execute successfully in 2024 the very same plan they failed in executing in 2020 and to overturn the 2024 election if Trump or his anointed successor loses again.... The cornerstone of the plan was to have the Supreme Court embrace the little known 'independent state legislature' doctrine, which, in turn, would pave the way for exploitation of the Electoral College process and the Electoral Count Act, and finally for Vice President Mike Pence to reject enough swing state electoral votes to overturn the election.... Republicans had every reason to believe there were at least five votes on the Supreme Court for the doctrine in November 2020, with Amy Coney Barrett having just been confirmed in the eleventh hour.... Trump and the Republicans can only be stopped from stealing the 2024 election at this point if the Supreme Court rejects the independent state legislature doctrine ... and Congress amends the Electoral Count Act to constrain Congress' own power to reject state electoral votes and decide the presidency." You have to read the whole essay to follow Luttig's thread.

Guardian & Agencies: "A member of the far-right Proud Boys group on Wednesday pleaded guilty to obstructing police officers when he joined the 6 January 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol by supporters of ... Donald Trump, in their attempt to overturn his election defeat. The plea agreement filed in federal court in Washington, DC, calls for Louis Enrique Colon of Missouri to admit to a single felony charge and cooperate with prosecutors. Colon admitted to crossing police barricades during the riot before climbing a wall to gain access to a higher level of the Capitol. While inside the Capitol building, Colon used his hands and a chair to obstruct police officers who were trying to lower retractable doors to stop rioters from streaming into the building."

Kara Scannell of CNN: "A special grand jury seated to hear evidence in the Manhattan district attorney's investigation into the Trump Organization's finances is set to expire at the end of the week and will not be extended, people familiar with the investigation tell CNN. The six-month special grand jury, which was empaneled in October, heard evidence late last year from several witnesses, including reporters to whom ... Donald Trump boasted about his personal wealth. Presentations to the grand jury were halted earlier this year after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was sworn into office and raised concerns about the strength of the evidence. The decision to not extend the jury's term is not surprising because prosecutors already had pulled back from presenting evidence, but the development does indicate that over the past few months, the investigation has not escalated to the point that Bragg's calculus has changed." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This despite the fact that we learned earlier this week in the release of excerpts of Trump's deposition testimony in the case linked below (fear of fruit) that Trump admitted/insisted he personally decided all Trump Org employee compensation matters. Bragg still could call another grand jury, but at this point, I'm afraid it appears he either suffers from fear of Trump or is corrupt. It's hard to claim you don't have a provable case when a person has repeatedly admitted under oath the he did the crime. ~~~

~~~ Another Trumpophobia: Fear of Fruit. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump said he feared protesters would hit him with tomatoes, pineapples and other 'very dangerous' fruit at his campaign rallies, declaring in a sworn deposition that 'you can be killed if that happens.' Trump's comments about the potentially lethal effects of projectile produce were made public Tuesday with the release of excerpts of 4½ hours of videotaped testimony in a lawsuit filed by a group of protesters who allege that Trump's security guards assaulted them in 2015.... Trump was being questioned about his remarks at a February 2016 campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he encouraged members of the audience to 'knock the crap' out of any protesters who might try to pelt him with tomatoes. The incident was one of several in which Trump encouraged violence against his detractors, often framing such actions as justifiable in the name of 'self-defense.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Rachel Maddow read this part of the transcript on her show last night. You can watch it here, (it's third in the queue) although I can't isolate the segment, so you'll have to catch it today. You also can watch it on YouTube, though this is a pirated copy, so I assume this too will disappear. No sockpuppets, but entertaining nonetheless. ~~~

     ~~~ AND, according to Trump, had he not urged his audience to beat the crap out of anyone getting ready to throw a tomato, this is what would have happened at his rally. RAS is amazed that no one at Spain's Tomatina festival was maimed or killed: ~~~

Brian Chen of the New York Times tried out Trump's "Truth Social"; it's crap (a word you might not be able to use on "Truth Social"): "The Trump-backed social media app is inundated with phony accounts and features that don't work. It also hides some posts, including those with curse words."

Edward Wong of the New York Times: "Richard G. Olson, a retired diplomat who recently served as ambassador to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, said he would plead guilty to charges of illegally lobbying for the government of Qatar and failure to disclose gifts he received while he was an ambassador, according to court documents. Mr. Olson, who worked as a Foreign Service officer for 34 years, was U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2015 until 2016, when he retired." An Axios report is here.

Noah Bressner of Axios: "A federal judge on Wednesday denied Elon Musk's request to scrap a 2018 settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that required some of his tweets to be preapproved. The decision means Musk could remain barred from freely tweeting about Tesla despite reaching an agreement to buy Twitter for $44 billion.... The settlement also required him to step down as Tesla's chair and pay a $20 million fine." Politico's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Some observers already are speculating that, for myriad reasons, Musk won't buy Twitter. (Reuters link.)

Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "Vaccine maker Moderna requested emergency use authorization Thursday of its coronavirus vaccine for babies, toddlers and young children -- a highly anticipated step toward making shots available to the last group in U.S. society lacking access.... Moderna's announcement will intensify pressure on the Food and Drug Administration to move quickly, as parents, pediatricians and politicians have become increasingly impatient about the lack of vaccines and treatments to protect young children. Politico reported last week that the agency may not make a decision on the vaccine until June and was leaning toward reviewing the Moderna shot for children younger than 6 alongside a three-dose regimen from Pfizer and German partner BioNTech. That has stoked anger and suspicion among some parents, who maintain that the agency is delaying vaccines." The Guardian's report is here.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here: "Dr. Anthony S. Fauci ... said on Wednesday that the pandemic was not yet over, after telling the 'PBS NewsHour' on Tuesday that the United States was 'out of the pandemic phase.' He offered clarification on NPR's '1A' on Wednesday, saying: 'I want to clarify one thing. I probably should have said the acute component of the pandemic phase. And I understand how that can lead to some misinterpretation.'"

Joel Achenbach & Bryan Pietsch of the Washington Post: "The United States is finally 'out of the full-blown explosive pandemic phase' that has led to nearly 1 million deaths from covid-19 and more than two years of suffering and hardship, Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser, said Wednesday. 'We're really in a transitional phase, from a deceleration of the numbers into hopefully a more controlled phase and endemicity,' Fauci told The Washington Post."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "After ... man fatally shot a man [in the Coconut Grove section of Miami], witnesses and tipsters said the gunman was named Thomas James or Tommy James. That led the police to put a photo of Thomas Raynard James in a lineup, setting in motion a case of mistaken identification that led Mr. James, then 23, to be convicted of first-degree murder and armed robbery on Jan. 11, 1991. He was sentenced to life in prison.... On Wednesday..., a judge approved a motion by prosecutors to vacate Mr. James's conviction and sentence, setting him free after ... over [more than!] 31 years -- in prison.... Katherine Fernandez Rundle, the Miami-Dade state attorney, said the case pointed to the vulnerability of eyewitness identification.... No physical evidence tied Mr. James or anyone else to the crime, prosecutors said."

Minnesota. Shaila Dewan of the New York Times: "The Minneapolis Police Department routinely engages in several forms of racially discriminatory policing, fails to hold officers accountable for misconduct and has used fake social media accounts to target Black people and organizations, according to a damning investigation released on Wednesday by the state's Department of Human Rights. The department has a 'culture that is averse to oversight and accountability,' and city and department leaders have failed to act with 'the necessary urgency, coordination and intentionality required' to correct its extensive problems, the investigation concluded." The Guardian story is here.

New York. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "New York's highest court ruled on Wednesday that Democratic leaders had violated the State Constitution when they took it upon themselves to draw new congressional and State Senate districts, and ordered that a court-appointed special master draft replacement lines for this year's critical midterm elections. In a sweeping 32-page ruling, a divided New York State Court of Appeals chided Democrats for ignoring a constitutional amendment adopted by voters in 2014 to curb political influence in the redistricting process. The amendment also created a new outside commission to guide the process. The judges additionally found that the congressional districts designed by Democrats violated an explicit state ban on partisan gerrymandering, undercutting the party's national campaign to brand itself as the champion of voting rights."

News Lede

AP: "The U.S. economy shrank last quarter for the first time since the pandemic recession struck two years ago, contracting at a 1.4% annual rate, but consumers and businesses kept spending in a sign of economic durability. The economy's overall decline in the January-March quarter does not mean a recession is likely in the coming months. Most economists expect a rebound this quarter as solid hiring and wage gains sustain growth. Instead, the steady spending by households and companies suggests that the economy will likely keep expanding this year even though the Federal Reserve plans to raise rates aggressively to fight the inflation surge. The first quarter was hampered mainly by a slower restocking of goods in stores and warehouses and by a sharp drop in exports."

April 27, 2022

Morning/Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here.

Amy Cheng of the Washington Post has a tougher take on Rand Paul's pro-Russia remarks than did the CNN report linked earlier: "In a contentious exchange at a congressional hearing Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that U.S. support for Ukraine to join NATO contributed to Russia's decision to invade. Blinken vehemently objected to Paul's remarks, which were also criticized by Russia experts.... 'You could also argue that the countries that it has attacked were ... part of the Soviet Union,' the senator said; Putin has long wanted a 'sphere of influence' over former Soviet states. Charles Booker, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run against Paul in November, accused his opponent of 'pushing Putin's propaganda in the Senate.'... Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman ... criticized Paul's remarks. 'By that logic, Britain is justified in attacking the U.S. and colonial powers their former holdings. What century does he live in?' Vindman said." MB: Nice to see Vindman reads Reality Chex comments.

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "More than 1,400 people, including several foreign leaders, attended the service [for former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright], which began shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday at Washington National Cathedral, to which Albright had close ties for several decades. In addition to [President] Biden, former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton were slated to deliver eulogies in memory of Albright's life, including her distinction as the nation's first female secretary of state." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Funniest remark, IMO, during the service: one of Albright's daughters said that when she was a child, she called her mother at the office, only to be told that her mother was otherwise occupied: "She's on the floor with Senator Kerry."

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday released a report alleging that top Trump administration officials awarded a $700 million pandemic relief loan to a struggling trucking company [now called 'Yellow'] in 2020 over the objections of career officials at the Defense Department. The report, released by the Democratic staff of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, describes the role of corporate lobbyists during the early months of the pandemic in helping to secure government funds as trillions of dollars of relief money were being pumped into the economy. It also suggests that senior officials such as Steven Mnuchin, the former Treasury secretary, and Mark T. Esper, the former defense secretary, intervened to ensure that the trucking company, Yellow Corporation, received special treatment despite concerns about its eligibility to receive relief funds.... Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, was a 'key actor' coordinating with Yellow's lobbyists.... The loan raised immediate questions from watchdog groups because of the company's close ties to the Trump administration and because it had faced years of financial and legal turmoil.... Yellow had many connections to the Trump administration."

Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "The United States and Russia announced on Wednesday a prisoner swap that has freed Trevor R. Reed, a former Marine who was convicted on charges that his family said were bogus, an unexpected diplomatic breakthrough with tensions running high over the Ukraine war. Mr. Reed, who was initially detained in August 2019, was released in exchange for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot sentenced to a lengthy term in the United States on cocaine-trafficking charges." The AP's report is here.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "An infuriated Kremlin took direct aim at Europe's economy by cutting off supplies of natural gas to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday, stoking fear that ... Vladimir V. Putin would target more countries that have come to Ukraine's aid. The move by state-run Gazprom came after days of heightened warnings from the United States and its allies that culminated on Tuesday with at least 40 nations pledging to arm Ukraine 'for the long haul.' The most significant shift was from Germany, which announced that it would send dozens of armored anti-aircraft vehicles. Both Poland and Bulgaria, along with most European countries, had rejected a demand by Mr. Putin that natural gas be paid for in rubles, though the contracts for foreign sales generally require payment in dollars." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here: "The United States and the United Nations said Tuesday that they were monitoring reports of explosions in Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova.... Meanwhile, the U.N. said that Putin, during a Tuesday meeting with the organization's Secretary General António Guterres, had agreed 'in principle' to allow civilian evacuations from a Mariupol steel plant that is surrounded by Russian troops. Kyiv said that in recent days the Kremlin has inflicted airstrikes on the plant, where Ukrainian fighters are also holed up. Putin on Tuesday repeated a pledge not to attack the plant, though he has made similar assurances in recent weeks.... Ukrainian officials in Kherson said the Kremlin has installed a pro-Moscow administration in the city, a day after Russian forces seized the city council building."

Karen DeYoung & Annabelle Timsit of the Washington Post: "Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a gathering of military leaders in Germany that Ukraine's 'resistance has brought inspiration to the free world and even greater resolve to NATO' -- and that ... Vladimir Putin 'never imagined that the world would rally behind Ukraine so swiftly and surely.'... Senior defense officials from [40] NATO and non-NATO countries attended the meeting, part of the new Ukraine Defense Consultative Group. Some nations, such as Israel and Qatar, had representatives at the table, although they were not included on the official list of attendees.... In separate remarks to the group, Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered a stark picture of the next phase of the war, as Russia attempts to take full control of southeastern and southern Ukraine.... 'The outcome of this battle, right here, today, is dependent on the people in this room.'"

Unintended Consequences. Robert Burns of the AP: "The longer Ukraine's army fends off the invading Russians, the more it absorbs the advantages of Western weaponry and training -- exactly the transformation ... Vladimir Putin wanted to prevent by invading in the first place. The list of arms flowing to Ukraine is long and growing longer.... If Ukraine can hold off the Russians, its accumulating arsenal of Western weapons could have a transformative effect in a country that has, like other former Soviet republics, relied mainly on arms and equipment from the Soviet era.... U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin convened a meeting Tuesday at Germany's Ramstein air base to work out ways to keep it going, now and for the long run. Defense ministers and top military leaders from approximately 40 countries participated. After the meeting, Austin told a news conference ... the participating nations had agreed to continue similar consultations through monthly meetings, either in person or virtually. 'We've got to move at the speed of war,' Austin said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Komrade Rand Paul Toes the Kremlin Line. Kylie Atwood & Jennifer Hansler of CNN: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken forcefully pushed back Tuesday when Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky pointed out that Ukraine and Georgia were once part of the Soviet Union as Paul appeared to raise Moscow's alleged rationale about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.... The back and forth was prompted by Paul questioning why the US had been 'agitating' for Ukraine to join NATO last fall, which was something Russia ardently opposed as a 'red line.' Blinken argued that it was important to continually defend NATO's open door policy."

Aamer Madhani of the AP: "President Joe Biden has granted the first three pardons of his term, providing clemency to a Kennedy-era Secret Service agent convicted of federal bribery charges that he tried to sell a copy of an agency file and to two people who were convicted on drug-related charges but went on to become pillars in their communities. The Democratic president also commuted the sentences of 75 others for nonviolent, drug-related convictions. The White House announced the clemencies Tuesday as it launched a series of job training and reentry programs for those in prison or recently released." (Also linked yesterday.)

Robert Leonard in a New York Times op-ed: "In under two years in office, President Biden has done more for ... rural America than Mr. Trump ever did. The rural economy is stronger, wages are higher and infrastructure projects are popping up all over. Mr. Biden and his fellow Democrats are responsible for many of the improvements and for bringing back a sense of stability. For the midterms, they should run on these successes -- the American Rescue Plan, the infrastructure bill. And they should run on why they have worked: Democrats should run on Democratic values.... It's not all about what the president has done; some of his success is in what he has undone or cleaned up." Worth reading through because Leonard gives good examples.

He's putting people in jeopardy. -- House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), January 10, 2021, referring to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)

It's potentially illegal what he's doing. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), January 10, 2021, speaking of Gaetz ~~~

~~~ ** Alexander Burns & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, feared in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack that several far-right members of Congress would incite violence against other lawmakers, identifying several by name as security risks in private conversations with party leaders. Mr. McCarthy talked to other congressional Republicans about wanting to rein in multiple hard-liners who were deeply involved in Donald J. Trump's efforts to contest the 2020 election and undermine the peaceful transfer of power.... But Mr. McCarthy did not follow through on the sterner steps that some Republicans encouraged him to take, opting instead to seek a political accommodation with the most extreme members of the G.O.P. in the interests of advancing his own career. Mr. McCarthy's remarks represent one of the starkest acknowledgments from a Republican leader that the party's rank-and-file lawmakers played a role in stoking violence on Jan. 6, 2021 -- and posed a threat in the days after the Capitol attack." Includes audio. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Stephen Collinson of CNN: "... it's now clear that McCarthy and top lieutenants feared that members of their party -- who could have an outsize influence on the lives of Americans next year -- were a security risk. 'This is serious sh[i]t,' McCarthy said on the January 2021 call. Either he doesn't seem to believe that anymore or his political ambitions are more important.... On Tuesday evening, McCarthy ... shrugged off the report, telling reporters 'nope' when asked if the new drama could hurt his hopes of becoming speaker if Republicans win back the House in November. He also told his members to ignore a previous Times report and audio clip of him telling GOP leaders in the days after January 6 that he was considering advising Trump to resign over the insurrection. 'Don't let things like this divide us,' McCarthy said in a closed-door leadership meeting on Tuesday.... As almost always happens in the Trump era, personal ambition and a quest for power triumphed over prudence in the GOP.... While the latest revelations about the possible future speaker's inability to confront his members might alarm a broader electorate, his lax policing of his conference will not harm him inside the GOP. ~~~

~~~ And Yet. Despite McCarthy's Olympics-worthy performance of Backflips for Extremists, they're still criticizing him: ~~~

     ~~~ Benjamin Siegel, et al., of ABC News: "... Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla...., tweeted..., 'Rep. McCarthy and Rep. Scalise held views about President Trump and me that they shared on sniveling calls with Liz Cheney, not us,' Gaetz said. 'This is the behavior of weak men, not leaders,' he wrote. 'While I was protecting President Trump from impeachment, they were protecting Liz Cheney from criticism.' Earlier Tuesday, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., a senior member of the House Freedom Caucus, told the conservative One America News Network that McCarthy's recorded comments regarding social media accounts were 'problematic' and 'the most serious thing.' Fox News host Tucker Carlson also criticized McCarthy on Tuesday, saying on his show, 'Congressman Kevin McCarthy [is] a man who, in private, turns out, sounds like an MSNBC contributor.... And yet unless conservatives get their act together right away, Kevin McCarthy or one of his highly liberal allies ... is very likely to be speaker of the House in January. That will mean we will have a Republican Congress led by a puppet of the Democratic Party,' Carlson said."

Cloak & Daggar. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post explores why the Secret Service attempted to take Mike Pence away from the Capitol in an armored vehicle on January 6, 2021, and why Pence refused, saying dramatically, "I'm not getting in the car." "On MSNBC, host Chris Hayes wagered Monday night that it 'sure sounds like it was a Trump loyalist in charge of Pence's security movements attempting to help Donald Trump effectuate his coup by removing the vice president from the building.'"

Emily Brooks of the Hill: "House Democrats on Wednesday will hold a hearing on Supreme Court ethics and the possibility of impeaching justices, a move that follows the revelation of controversial text messages from Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas. The texts from Ginni Thomas to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot have set off a political firestorm in Washington, raising Democratic ... calls for Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from decisions related to the election and former President Trump.... A memo from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), the chairman of the House Judiciary courts subcommittee, distributed to members ahead of Wednesday's hearing..., explores codes of conduct for federal judges outside the Supreme Court and summarizes legislative proposals to impose ethics requirements on Supreme Court justices. Notably, the memo also discusses Congress's impeachment authority in the Constitution as one form of regulation of the conduct of Supreme Court justices."

Paul Krugman of the New York Times on Florida Republicans' attack on Disney: "... what Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies ... are symptoms of the transformation of the G.O.P. from a normal political party into a radical movement built around conspiracy theories and intimidation.... Not long ago, using state power to impose financial penalties on corporations for expressing political views you dislike would have been considered beyond the pale. Indeed, it may well be unconstitutional.... The obvious role model here is Viktor Orban's Hungary.... I don't think political reporting has caught up with how thoroughly QAnonized the G.O.P. has become." See also Akhilleus' comments in yesterday's thread. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Big Lie, from the Creation. Doug Clark, et al., of ProPublica: "ProPublica has obtained a trove of internal emails and other documentation that, taken together, tell the inside story of a group of people who propagated a number of the most pervasive theories about how the election was stolen, especially that voting machines were to blame, and helped move them from the far-right fringe to the center of the Republican Party. Those records, as well as interviews with key participants, show for the first time the extent to which leading advocates of the stolen-election theory touted evidence that they knew to be disproven or that had been credibly disputed or dismissed as dubious by operatives within their own camp. Some members of the coalition presented this mix of unreliable witnesses, unconfirmed rumor and suspect analyses as fact in published reports, talking points and court documents. In several cases, their assertions became the basis for Trump's claims that the election had been rigged." MB: Based on sworn testimony & a series of algorithms, I have proved that Trump shot J.R. on Fifth Avenue. Wackadoo, wackadoo, wackadoo. (Also linked yesterday.)

Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "'In a lawsuit's never-before-seen testimony, Donald Trump admitted to personally overseeing the compensation of an executive whose corporate perks have been under scrutiny by the Manhattan district attorney, potentially strengthening the case against the former president and his company for tax fraud,' The Daily Beast reported Tuesday. 'Trump's sworn testimony was filed in New York state court on Tuesday, as part of a lawsuit against the Trump Organization over the way its security guards manhandled protesters outside Trump Tower in 2015.' In the Oct. 18, 2021 deposition, Trump was asked about Matthew Calamari, Sr., the Trump Organization bodyguard who rose to become the company's chief operating officer. When asked who has 'authority' over Calamari's compensation, Trump repeatedly said, 'It would be me.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This testimony, obtained in a civil lawsuit, would seem to make it more problematic for Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg to decide against bringing criminal charges against Donald Trump.

Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "Representative Madison Cawthorn was briefly detained by the police on Tuesday after trying to bring a loaded gun through airport security in Charlotte, N.C., in his carry-on bag, the second time in a little more than a year that the North Carolina Republican has been stopped from flying with a firearm.... The police said they cited the congressman with possession of a dangerous weapon on city property." ~~~

~~~ Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Tuesday, the Washington Examiner reported that experts suspect Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) may have violated insider trading laws when he promoted a cryptocurrency named after a vulgar chant against President Joe Biden. 'On Dec. 29, the beleaguered North Carolina congressman posed at a party with James Koutoulas, a hedge fund manager and the ringleader of the Let's Go Brandon cryptocurrency, a meme coin set up in the wake of the chant mocking President Joe Biden,' reported Andrew Kerr. "'LGB legends. ... Tomorrow we go to the moon!" Cawthorn, who has stated publicly he owns the cryptocurrency, posted on Instagram in response to the picture posted on Koutoulas's Instagram page.' Just one day later, Brandon Brown, the NASCAR driver from which the anti-Biden chant originated, said the meme coin would sponsor his 2022 racing season. 'Multiple watchdog groups told the Washington Examiner that Cawthorn's Dec. 29 Instagram post suggests the lawmaker may have had advanced nonpublic knowledge of LGBCoin's deal with Brown,' said the report."

Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard was confirmed to the Fed's No. 2 role on Tuesday, rising in the leadership ranks as the central bank attempts to rein in the highest inflation in 40 years without wreaking havoc on the economy. Brainard, who has been on the Fed board since 2014, is the first of President Biden's Fed nominees to be confirmed by the full Senate by a vote of 52-43. She was also the only other serious contender for Fed chair."

Carol Rosenberg of the New York Times: "The youngest detainee at Guantánamo Bay, a Yemeni man who has spent his entire adult life in U.S. custody, has been cleared for release, the Pentagon disclosed on Tuesday, but must wait for the Biden administration to find a country willing to offer him rehabilitation. At a Periodic Review Board hearing on Jan. 25, an unidentified U.S. military officer described the detainee, Hassan bin Attash, as believing that 'his capture and subsequent detention had changed the trajectory of his life.' The officer said the now-cleared prisoner was influenced by American culture during his 20 years of detention, which according to a Senate study included at least 120 days at a C.I.A. black site."

The Dancing Trumpettes. Sophia Cai of Axios: "A number of young and prominent Trump-appointed judges are writing their opinions with provocative language, diving into the culture wars in ways offering a audition for a future Supreme Court opening.... Most judges who are would-be justices try to avoid controversy, preserving themselves for a confirmation hearing. But with the specter of former President Trump mounting another run for office, their opinions may not only create opportunity but curry favor with the person who could fulfill their ambitions.... Sarah Isgur, a former Trump administration Justice Department senior official..., said..., 'Once the filibuster was gone for the lower-court judges, what you see is that people no longer need to get votes from the opposing party, but they need to be the most extreme version of their own party,' she told Axios."

Elon Is in for Some Big Surprises. Shira Ovide of the New York Times: "Like Facebook, YouTube and other internet companies, Twitter was forced to morph from hard-liner on free expression to speech nanny. Today, Twitter has pages upon pages of rules prohibiting content such as material that promotes child sexual exploitation, coordinated government propaganda, offers of counterfeit goods and tweets 'wishing for someone to fall victim to a serious accident.'... Soon, [Elon] Musk will be the one confronting the gap between an idealized view of free speech and the zillion tough decisions that must be made to let everyone have a say.... Mr. Musk is a relative dilettante on the topic [of free speech] and hasn't yet tackled the difficult trade-offs in which giving one person a voice may silence the expression of others, and in which an almost-anything-goes space for expression might be overrun with spam, nudity, propaganda from autocrats, the bullying of children and violent incitements.... New laws, including the Digital Services Act in the European Union, require Twitter and its peers to do more to scrub their sites of misinformation and abuse." (Also linked yesterday.)

Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "Sixty percent of Americans, including 75 percent of children, had been infected with the coronavirus by February, federal health officials reported on Tuesday -- another remarkable milestone in a pandemic that continues to confound expectations.... There may be good news in the data [which the CDC compiled], some experts said. A gain in population-wide immunity may offer at least a partial bulwark against future waves. And the trend may explain why the surge that is now roaring through China and many countries in Europe has been muted in the United States. A high percentage of previous infections may also mean that there are now fewer cases of life-threatening illness or death relative to infections.... At a news briefing on Tuesday, Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House's new Covid coordinator, said that stopping infections was 'not even a policy goal. The goal of our policy should be: obviously, minimize infections whenever possible, but to make sure people don't get seriously ill.'"

Victor Reklaitis of Market Watch: "Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive Tuesday for COVID-19 on rapid and PCR tests, said the VP's press secretary, Kirsten Allen, in a statement. Harris 'has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the vice president's residence. She has not been a close contact to the president or first lady due to their respective recent travel schedules,' Allen added." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

California. Never Mind. Ross Lincoln of the Wrap: "Hours after attempting to intimidate an Los Angeles Times reporter with the threat of criminal charges in retaliation for breaking a story of inmate abuse at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department, LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is walking it back. 'I must clarify at no time today did I state an L.A. Times reporter was a suspect in a criminal investigation. We have no interest in pursuing, nor are we pursuing, criminal charges against any reporters,' he said in a statement provided to the LA Times. This despite the easily accessible video of him implying just that. His statement follows widespread outrage from politicians and press freedom organizations over his initial remarks, which came during a press conference that was livestreamed on Tuesday morning. Villanueva announced his department is investigating LA Times reporter Alene Tchekmedyian for a 'leak' involving a use-of-force video that showed deputy violently abusing an inmate."

Florida. Mary Klas of the Miami Herald: "As Florida legislators were rushing through passage of a bill to repeal the special district that governs Walt Disney World last week, they failed to notice an obscure provision in state law that says the state could not do what legislators were doing -- unless the district's bond debt was paid off. Disney, however, noticed and quietly sent a note to its investors to show that it was confident the Legislature's attempt to dissolve the special taxing district operating the 39-square mile parcel it owned in two counties violated the 'pledge' the state made when it enacted the district in 1967, and therefore was not legal.... The [Disney] statement ... quotes the statute which says, in part, that the 'State of Florida pledges ... it will not limit or alter the rights of the District ... until all such bonds together with interest thereon ... are fully met and discharged.... Gov. Ron DeSantis ... [said] that Disney will also be required to pay all outstanding bonds, but he didn't explain how it will happen.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Sarah Rumpf of Law & Crime has more on the bond fiasco, including an opinion by tax attorney Jacob Schumer that eliminating Disney's special district is legally pretty much un-possible.

Massachusetts. Anemona Hartocollis of the New York Times: A "report by a committee of Harvard faculty members, released on Tuesday, is Harvard's effort to begin redressing the [university's past dependence on slavery], as some other universities have been doing for decades. As part of the process, the university's governing corporation has pledged $100 million in part to create an endowed 'Legacy of Slavery Fund' that would allow scholars and students to bring Harvard's connections to slavery into the light for generations to come.... [The report] says that enslaved people were an 'integral' part of the university in its early days.... While New England's image has been linked in popular culture to abolitionism, the report said, wealthy plantation owners and Harvard were mutually dependent. 'Well into the 19th century, the university and its donors benefited from extensive financial ties to slavery,' the report said." Read on. The report is here.

Michigan. Jonathan Oosting of Bridge Michigan: "State Rep. Matt Maddock, a Trump loyalist and husband of a top Michigan Republican Party official, was kicked out of the House GOP caucus on Tuesday, according to two sources familiar with the development. Sources say current House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Wentworth, booted Maddock for 'violating caucus rules.' He allegedly discussed confidential caucus matters publicly, prompting his removal.... Maddock is vying to be the Michigan House GOP's next leader. Trump has endorsed him to replace Wentworth, who is term limited.... The caucus ouster means Maddock will no longer be able to meet with House Republicans behind closed doors to discuss legislative and session strategy ahead of floor votes."

Michigan Republican Unloads on Trump Toadies. Craig Mauger of the Detroit News: "Tony Daunt, a longtime Michigan Republican insider, resigned Tuesday night from the GOP's state committee, saying party leaders had made the coming election a test of 'who is most cravenly loyal' to ... Donald Trump.... Daunt described Trump as a 'deranged narcissist.' 'Incredibly, rather than distancing themselves from this undisciplined loser, far too many Republican 'leaders' have decided that encouraging his delusional lies -- and, even worse -- cynically appeasing him despite knowing they are lies, is the easiest path to ensuring their continued hold on power, general election consequences be damned,' Daunt wrote in his email."

North Dakota. Aysha Qamar of Daily Kos: "One of North Dakota's most powerful lawmakers announced his plans to resign Monday after reportedly exchanging texts with a jailed man facing child pornography charges. According to the Associated Press, the Republican senator identified as Ray Holmberg is the state's longest-serving senator.... According to [an] investigative report [by the Forum of Fargo], Holmberg exchanged at least 72 text messages in August with Nicholas James Morgan-Derosier. Morgan-Derosier is serving charges[*] of possessing thousands of images and videos of sexually abused children.... The text messages themselves were [have not been made?] not public." However, in a court filing that seems to refer to Holmberg (it does not name him) "the text messages requested Morgan-Derosier to bring his boyfriend over for a massage." ~~~

     ~~~ * Marie: "Serving charges"? An odd construct (in my experience). As far as I can tell, Morgan-Derosier has been charged by not prosecuted.