April 11, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Anna Cooban of CNN: "Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt because it offered bondholders payments in rubles, not dollars, credit ratings agency S&P has said. Russia attempted to pay in rubles for two dollar-denominated bonds that matured on April 4, S&P said in a note on Friday. The agency said this amounted to a 'selective default' because investors are unlikely to be able to convert the rubles into 'dollars equivalent to the originally due amounts.' According to S&P, a selective default is declared when an entity has defaulted on a specific obligation but not its entire debt."

Cora Engelbrecht of the New York Times: "Two days after a Russian missile strike hit a train station in eastern Ukraine's city of Kramatorsk, killing more than 50 people, volunteer drivers across the Donetsk region are coming forward to help residents still looking to flee before an anticipated onslaught from Russian forces.... Yuroslav Boyko, who is from Kramatorsk..., heads Everything Will Be Fine, a Ukrainian aid organization that has been working to evacuate people from Donetsk since the start of Russia's invasion.... Two train stations are still operational in the Donetsk region -- in the towns of Sloviansk and Pokrovsk -- but residents have become wary of gathering in stations since the attack [on the Kramatorsk station].... The volunteer fleet consists of at least 400 vehicles -- including city buses and private vans -- operated by approximately 1,000 volunteer drivers, who fan out daily to towns and villages across Donetsk to retrieve passengers."

BBC News: "has warned Finland and Sweden against joining Nato, arguing the move would not bring stability to Europe. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that 'the alliance remains a tool geared towards confrontation'.... US officials expect the Nordic neighbours to bid for membership of the alliance, potentially as early as June."

Glenn Thrush & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "President Biden is expected on Monday to nominate a former federal prosecutor from Ohio ... Steven M. Dettelbach ... to run the embattled Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, administration officials said, part of a series of measures meant to demonstrate the White House&'s modest progress on gun control. The moves include the completion of a rule banning online sales of 'ghost guns' -- untraceable firearms without serial numbers, assembled from components bought online -- and come as Mr. Biden faces intensifying pressure from gun control groups to revive a key element of his policy agenda that has been stymied in Congress."

** Fox "News" Viewers Can Be Deprogrammed! Adam Gabbatt of the Guardian: "In an unusual, and labor intensive, project, two political scientists paid a group of regular Fox News viewers to instead watch CNN for a month. At the end of the period, the researchers found surprising results; some of the Fox News watchers had changed their minds on a range of key issues, including the US response to coronavirus and Democrats' attitude to police. The findings suggest that political perspectives can be changed -- but also reveals the influence partisan media has on viewers' ideology.... David Broockman and Joshua Kalla, political scientists at the University of California, Berkeley and Yale university, respectively, paid 304 regular Fox News viewers $15 an hour to instead watch up to seven hours of CNN a week during the month of September 2020." MB: I think Akhilleus mentioned this study last week in the Comments.

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The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "... Vladimir Putin will meet with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Monday in the first face-to-face meeting between Putin and a European leader since his country's invasion of Ukraine. Austria has been militarily neutral since the 1950s, but Nehammer has spoken against Russia's war. In a tweet announcing the Moscow meeting, he called for 'humanitarian corridors, a cease-fire & full investigation of war crimes,' adding that Putin 'has to stop!'... Evacuees have been trickling out of the seaside city of Mariupol, which faces continued heavy assault. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that 213 Mariupol residents were evacuated on Sunday, among 2,824 evacuees total across the country that day. Russian forces 'made territorial gains' there this weekend but struggled farther inland in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to an assessment by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Monday are here: "Ukrainian authorities are urging citizens in the separatist east to flee as the military battens down for a renewed assault by Russian forces to capture the region. But the road out is a dangerous one, with reports across the country of civilians being killed as they try to escape. On a highway near Kyiv, the capital, as many as 50 bodies of civilians were discovered, according to a local mayor who captured photos of the apparent massacre." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here.

Taylor Telford, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russian forces bombarded several towns in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, destroying an airport and damaging several civilian targets, as the war careens toward a pivotal new phase. The shift of the war and fears of full-scale military confrontation on open terrain prompted Ukrainian officials to again call for Western alliances to step up weapons supply efforts to strengthen Ukraine's position on the battlefield. Ukraine is preparing for a 'massive attack in the east,' its ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, warned Sunday on CBS's 'Face the Nation.' Of the Russian forces, she said: 'There are so many of them and they still have so much equipment. And it looks like they're going to use all of it. So we are preparing for everything.'... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on CBS's '60 Minutes' again called on Western countries to step up in providing arms. 'They have to supply weapons to Ukraine as if they were defending themselves and their own people,' he said in an interview recorded Wednesday and broadcast Sunday." ~~~

     ~~~ Video & transcript of Scott Pelley's "60 Minutes" interview of President Zelensky is here. Pelley went to Kyiv for the interview.

Emma Bubola, et al., of the New York Times: Russia's war on Ukraine has "reached deep into the fertile plains of a region known as Europe's breadbasket, paralyzing harvests, destroying granaries and crops, and bringing potentially devastating consequences to a country that produces a large share of the world's grain. Ukraine has already lost at least $1.5 billion in grain exports since the war began, the country's deputy agriculture minister said recently. And the economic fallout from the war has also disrupted supplies from Russia, the world's leading grain exporter. The combination is creating a global food crisis 'beyond anything we've seen since World War II,' the chief of the United Nations World Food Program has warned. In Ukraine, warehouses are filled with grain that cannot be exported. Russia has blocked access to the Black Sea, Ukraine's main export route, cargo trains face logistical hurdles, and trucking is stymied because most truck drivers are men aged 18 to 60 who are not allowed to leave the country and cannot drive agricultural exports across the border."

Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "We visited Bucha, documented dozens of killings of civilians, interviewed scores of witnesses and followed local investigators to uncover the scale of Russian atrocities." Photos by Daniel Berehulak.

Dusan Stojanovic of the AP: "Russian ally Serbia took the delivery of a sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system in a veiled operation this weekend, amid Western concerns that an arms buildup in the Balkans at the time of the war in Ukraine could threaten the fragile peace in the region. Media and military experts said Sunday that six Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport planes landed at Belgrade's civilian airport early Saturday, reportedly carrying HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems for the Serbian military.... The arms delivery over the territory of at least two NATO member states, Turkey and Bulgaria, was seen by experts as a demonstration of China's growing global reach.... Although Serbia has voted in favor of U.N. resolutions that condemn the bloody Russian attacks in Ukraine, it has refused to join international sanctions against its allies in Moscow or outright criticize the apparent atrocities committed by the Russian troops there."

In the course of his presidency..., Trump would come more to resemble Putin in political practice and predilection than he resembled any of his recent American presidential predecessors. -- Fiona Hill

She doesn't know the first thing she's talking about. If she didn't have the accent she would be nothing. -- Donald Trump, on Fiona Hill ~~~

Robert Draper in the New York Times Magazine interviews Fiona Hill, who has been an administration expert on Russia, off and on, since Dubya's administration. Trump saw Ukraine as an enemy and a plaything. He spoke with others, too, about Donald Trump's relationships with Russia & Ukraine. "'In real time, I was putting things together,' [Hill] said. 'The domestic political errands, the way Trump had privatized foreign policy for his own purposes. It was this narrow goal: his desire to stay in power, irrespective of what other people wanted.'... [Watching the January 6 insurrection on television, Hill said] a burst of horrific clarity overtook her. 'I saw the thread,' she told me. 'The thread connecting the Zelensky phone call to Jan. 6. And I remembered how, in 2020, Putin had changed Russia's Constitution to allow him to stay in power longer. This was Trump pulling a Putin.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: An interesting (and long) read throughout. What struck me, though, was how long it took most of these "experts" to figure out Trump's intention to hang on at all costs and by any means. I think most of saw this back when Trump started "joking" about a third term or a "presidency for life" as early as March 2018. This was Trump, not just saying the quiet part out loud but priming the pump. And a lot of Americans were read to rev the engine.

Michael Schmidt & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The leaders of the House committee investigating the Capitol attack have grown divided over whether to make a criminal referral to the Justice Department of ... Donald J. Trump, even though they have concluded that they have enough evidence to do so, people involved in the discussions said. The debate centers on whether making a referral -- a largely symbolic act -- would backfire by politically tainting the Justice Department's expanding investigation into the Jan. 6 assault and what led up to it.... The shift in the committee's perspective on making a referral was prompted in part by a ruling two weeks ago by Judge David O. Carter of the Federal District Court for Central California ... found that it was 'more likely than not' that Mr. Trump and Mr. Eastman had committed federal crimes.... [Some committee members and staff felt that] the judge's decision would carry far greater weight with Mr. Garland than any referral letter they could write...." See Patrick's comment in today's thread. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Cheney: We've Got the Goods on Trump. Christina Zhao of NBC News: "The House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol has enough evidence to refer ... Donald Trump for criminal charges, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said Sunday. 'It's absolutely clear that what President Trump was doing -- what a number of people around him were doing -- that they knew it was unlawful. They did it anyway,' Cheney, the vice chair and one of two Republicans on the committee, said on CNN's 'State of the Union.'... 'I think what we have seen is a massive and well-organized and well-planned effort that used multiple tools to try to overturn an election,' Cheney said. The committee has 'got a tremendous amount of testimony and documents that I think very, very clearly demonstrate the extent of the planning and the organization and the objective.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: Cheney "disputed [the New York Times] report which said the panel was split over whether to refer Donald Trump to the Department of Justice for criminal charges regarding his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, leading to the Capitol attack. 'There's not really a dispute on the committee,' the Wyoming representative Liz Cheney told CNN;s State of the Union.... Cheney said: 'We have not made a decision about referrals on the committee....' 'The committee is working in a really collaborative way to discuss these issues,' she said, adding: 'We'll continue to work together to do so. So I wouldn't characterise there as being a dispute on the committee ... and I'm confident that we will we will work to come to agreement on on all of the issues that we're facing.'"

~~~ MEANWHILE. House Team Trump Is in the Dark. Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "One by one, Republicans eviscerated the work of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, each one bemoaning the fact that the chief congressional security officials had not been subpoenaed to examine that day's security lapses. Not interviewing these key officials was proof, they suggested, that the committee was just out to score political points against Republicans. Finally, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) shut down that line of debate on Wednesday with some information these Republicans did not seem to know. 'We have in fact interviewed precisely the people they set up as a test for the validity of our investigation,' Raskin said. Those top security officials 'didn't need a subpoena' to testify..., Raskin said. 'They came voluntarily.'... Dozens of GOP lawmakers are left in the dark about what evidence the committee has collected involving their own contacts with Trump and his senior advisers in the run up to, and during, the attack on the Capitol." Why don't Republicans know what's going on? -- Because Kevin McCarthy decided not to put any semi-rational members on the committee & he iced out the two Republicans who are on the committee. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is an example of how dumb House Republicans are. Story after story has emphasized the hundreds of people the committee has interviewed without need for subpoenaes. Some specifically mention the committee's interviewing security personnel, like this CNN report from March 23, 2022 that ledes with, "More than 80 officials from law enforcement and federal agencies have testified to the House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection, including members of the Secret Service, in what investigators believe will be the most extensive review yet of security failures that led to the US Capitol breach." Yet somehow it doesn't occur to anyone on this team of bozos that maybe, just maybe, top security officials were among those people who sat for interviews.

Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump's once iron-clad grip on the Republican Party appears to have weakened as prominent conservatives are openly griping about his endorsement of Dr. Mehmet Oz in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. But, um, some of the gripers are blaming Trump's staff, not Trump himself. "The ongoing need to blame everyone but Trump for Trump's own choices is striking given that Brooks, who Trump dumped, is one of those doing it," Maggie Haberman of the New York Times tweeted. (Also linked yesterday.)

Mysterious News, Ctd. Somebody Tipped Off the Fake Feds. Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Two men pretending to be Homeland Security agents were arrested this week after being caught and manipulating Secret Service agents and other law enforcement by giving them gifts, free apartments, and other things. Now it's being revealed that someone tipped the men off that they were about to be raided. According to the Daily Beast, federal prosecutor Matthew Graves wrote in a Sunday filing that investigators are still discovering more information about the efforts by the two men. It's still unknown why the men were manipulating the law enforcement and their ultimate end game.... The two men ... were observed trying to ditch incriminating items through a Secret Service agent who is assigned to protect the White House, the filing says. 'This ... suggests that [Arian] Taherzadeh and/or [Haider] Ali shipped the package to the USSS Uniformed Division Officer in an attempt to corruptly enlist him in secreting evidence,' the filing also said."

Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post: "Elon Musk is not joining Twitter's board after all, a reversal following last week's revelation that he had become Twitter's largest shareholder -- and had received a subsequent appointment to the panel. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted the news Sunday night, including a memo sent to his staff. 'Elon's appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning he will no longer be joining the board,' Agrawal wrote. 'I believe this is for the best.' The surprise move came less than a week after Twitter had said the outspoken Tesla CEO would become a board member, following his quietly amassing a 9.2 percent stake in the social media company. But Twitter employees and others agitated over the move, worrying Musk might wield outsize power to undo some moderation decisions that were made -- including banning ... Donald Trump."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: "The unemployment rate is at an encouragingly low point.... But if you ask regular Americans about the jobs climate, a surprising number of them seem to think the opposite is true. This lack of knowledge matters. Political fortunes rise and fall in part on the health of the job market.... In his last post before his tragic death last week, the media critic Eric Boehlert argued that journalists are purposely putting President Biden's accomplishments, including job growth, in a negative light; he asserted that the press is actually 'rooting against Biden.'... The public's lack of knowledge on jobs ought to sound an alarm bell for journalists.... [The media should] find some balance in the current economic coverage, which has pounded away relentlessly at soaring inflation but mentioned job growth or wage increases only in passing.... [They should] examine the knee-jerk media narrative, which goes like this: Biden's approval numbers are down, and that's because the economy is bad." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As far as I can tell, the media generally cover the state of the jobs market only once a week, when the Labor Department reports jobs number, and the reporting is often done in a very pedestrian, formulaic fashion. What's more, even excellent jobs news often gets negative coverage: a lede will read something like, "... the number of Americans filing for unemployment last week was worse than expected"; the report goes on to state that (unnamed) analysts expected 300,000 people to apply for unemployment insurance, but 325,000 people applied. Who cares what unnamed analysts expected? In fact, these analysts could be purposely predicting super-rosy numbers so the reports look bad. I don't know.

Matt Schudel of the Washington Post: "Mimi Reinhard was being held at a Nazi concentration camp near Krakow, Poland, in 1944, but because she spoke flawless German and could take shorthand, she was allowed to work in the camp office. One of her jobs was to compile a list of Jewish prisoners working in factories owned by industrialist Oskar Schindler. Mrs. Reinhard, then known as Carmen Weitmann, typed the names of more than 1,000 Jewish people -- including her own and those of two friends -- to create what became known as 'Schindler's List.' She called herself a 'schreibkraft,' or typist.... As a result, she and more than 1,000 other Jews were saved from near-certain annihilation in the Nazi death camps of World War II. Mrs. Reinhard, who later became Schindler's secretary, has died in Israel at age 107." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Christina Zhao & Molly Roecker of NBC News: "Sixty-eight attendees have tested positive for Covid-19 after attending the Gridiron Dinner in Washington last weekend, including members of the Biden administration and reporters. Gridiron Club President Tom DeFrank said Saturday that the group had reported 67 cases out of the hundreds of people who attended. On Sunday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was also at the dinner, tested positive. This is the first that the Gridiron Dinner has taken place since 2019, before the pandemic." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. Giulia Heyward & Sophie Kasakove of the New York Times: "The murder charge against a woman in Texas in connection with a 'self-induced abortion' will be dismissed, a Texas district attorney announced Sunday. Gocha Allen Ramirez, the district attorney of Starr County, said in a statement that, after reviewing the case, he will file a motion on Monday to dismiss the indictment against the woman, Lizelle Herrera, 26. 'It is my hope that with the dismissal of this case it is made clear that Ms. Herrera did not commit a criminal act under the laws of the State of Texas,' Mr. Ramirez said." (Also linked yesterday.) The Texas Tribune's report is here.

Utah. Ed Scarce of Crooks & Liars: "... there were more proven instances of voter fraud among Salt Lake County Republicans than 'has been proven in Utah's entire 2020 election.' [From the (firewalled) Salt Lake Tribune:] 'For Salt Lake County Republicans, warnings of voter fraud came from inside the party on Saturday. The vote to nominate a GOP candidate for Salt Lake County Clerk was marred when a pair of delegates were caught attempting to vote more than once, with one extra vote making it into a ballot box at Saturday's county nominating convention.'" MB: In fairness to Republicans, perhaps one reason they're so "concerned" about voter fraud is that Republicans themselves are such cheaters. The vast majority of proven cases of intentional fraud during the 2020 election, as far as I recall, were Repubicans, not Democrats, voting twice, voting for their dead relatives, voting in places they don't live (Mark Meadows). It's about projection. (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond

France. John Leicester & Sylvie Corbet of the AP: "Incumbent Emmanuel Macron will face far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen in a winner-takes-all runoff for the French presidency, after they both advanced Sunday in the first round of voting in the country's election to set up another head-to-head clash of their sharply opposing visions for France. But while Macron won their last contest in 2017 by a landslide to become France's youngest-ever president, the same outcome this time is far from guaranteed. Macron, now 44, emerged ahead from Sunday's first round, but the runoff is essentially a new election and the next two weeks of campaigning to the April 24 second-round vote promise to be bruising and confrontational.... With most votes counted, Macron had just over 27% and Le Pen had just under 24%. Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon was third, missing out on the two-candidate runoff, with close to 22%.... ~~~

~~~ "The election outcome will have wide international influence as Europe struggles to contain the havoc wreaked by Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Macron has strongly backed European Union sanctions on Russia while Le Pen has worried about their impact on French living standards. Macron also is a firm supporter of NATO and of close collaboration among the European Union's 27 members.... [As one Macron voter noted, Le Pen's] long-standing hostility to the EU could see her try to take France out of the bloc, even though she has dropped that from her manifesto." The Washington Post's story is here. The New York Times story is here.

News Lede

Another Saturday Night in Drunk-Shooting America. AP: "A shooting inside a crowded Cedar Rapids nightclub left a man and a woman dead and 10 people wounded early Sunday, authorities said. Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman said investigators believe two men fired more than a dozen shots inside the Taboo Nightclub and Lounge just before 1:30 a.m. Sunday. He said officers who were just outside the club because of an earlier incident rushed inside just as 100-150 people streamed out of the bar and found the victims." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If I were young & looking for a good time on a Saturday night, I definitely would not seek out fun in an American nightclub or bar.

April 10, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

From the New York Times' live updates of the French presidential election, also linked earlier today: "President Emmanuel Macron will face Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, in the runoff of France's presidential elections, according to projections based on preliminary ballot counts published by French polling agencies on Sunday at the close of voting. The projections, which may still shift but are generally a good indicator of the outcome, showed Mr. Macron leading with about 28.5 percent of the vote, and Ms. Le Pen in second place with 24.2 percent, after a late surge that reflected widespread disaffection over rising prices, security and immigration."

Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump's once iron-clad grip on the Republican Party appears to have weakened as prominent conservatives are openly griping about his endorsement of Dr. Mehmet Oz in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. But, um, some of the gripers are blaming Trump's staff, not Trump himself. "The ongoing need to blame everyone but Trump for Trump's own choices is striking given that Brooks, who Trump dumped, is one of those doing it," Maggie Haberman of the New York Times tweeted.

Texas. Giulia Heyward & Sophie Kasakove of the New York Times: "The murder charge against a woman in Texas in connection with a 'self-induced abortion' will be dismissed, a Texas district attorney announced Sunday. Gocha Allen Ramirez, the district attorney of Starr County, said in a statement that, after reviewing the case, he will file a motion on Monday to dismiss the indictment against the woman, Lizelle Herrera, 26. 'It is my hope that with the dismissal of this case it is made clear that Ms. Herrera did not commit a criminal act under the laws of the State of Texas,' Mr. Ramirez said."

Utah. Ed Scarce of Crooks & Liars: "... there were more proven instances of voter fraud among Salt Lake County Republicans than 'has been proven in Utah's entire 2020 election.' [From the (firewalled) Salt Lake Tribune:] 'For Salt Lake County Republicans, warnings of voter fraud came from inside the party on Saturday. The vote to nominate a GOP candidate for Salt Lake County Clerk was marred when a pair of delegates were caught attempting to vote more than once, with one extra vote making it into a ballot box at Saturday's county nominating convention.'" MB: In fairness to Republicans, perhaps one reason they're so "concerned" about voter fraud is that Republicans themselves are such cheaters. The vast majority of proven cases of intentional fraud during the 2020 election, as far as I recall, were Republicans, not Democrats, voting twice, voting for their dead relatives, voting in places they don't live (Mark Meadows). It's about projection.

Christina Zhao & Molly Roecker of NBC News: "Sixty-eight attendees have tested positive for Covid-19 after attending the Gridiron Dinner in Washington last weekend, including members of the Biden administration and reporters. Gridiron Club President Tom DeFrank said Saturday that the group had reported 67 cases out of the hundreds of people who attended. On Sunday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was also at the dinner, tested positive. This is the first that the Gridiron Dinner has taken place since 2019, before the pandemic."

Matt Schudel of the Washington Post: "Mimi Reinhard was being held at a Nazi concentration camp near Krakow, Poland, in 1944, but because she spoke flawless German and could take shorthand, she was allowed to work in the camp office. One of her jobs was to compile a list of Jewish prisoners working in factories owned by industrialist Oskar Schindler. Mrs. Reinhard, then known as Carmen Weitmann, typed the names of more than 1,000 Jewish people -- including her own and those of two friends -- to create what became known as 'Schindler's List.' She called herself a 'schreibkraft,' or typist.... As a result, she and more than 1,000 other Jews were saved from near-certain annihilation in the Nazi death camps of World War II. Mrs. Reinhard, who later became Schindler's secretary, has died in Israel at age 107."

Michael Schmidt & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The leaders of the House committee investigating the Capitol attack have grown divided over whether to make a criminal referral to the Justice Department of ... Donald J. Trump, even though they have concluded that they have enough evidence to do so, people involved in the discussions said. The debate centers on whether making a referral -- a largely symbolic act -- would backfire by politically tainting the Justice Department's expanding investigation into the Jan. 6 assault and what led up to it.... The shift in the committee's perspective on making a referral was prompted in part by a ruling two weeks ago by Judge David O. Carter of the Federal District Court for Central California ... found that it was 'more likely than not' that Mr. Trump and Mr. Eastman had committed federal crimes.... [Some committee members and staff felt that] the judge's decision would carry far greater weight with Mr. Garland than any referral letter they could write...." See Patrick's comment in today's thread. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. House Team Trump Is in the Dark. Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "One by one, Republicans eviscerated the work of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, each one bemoaning the fact that the chief congressional security officials had not been subpoenaed to examine that day's security lapses. Not interviewing these key officials was proof, they suggested, that the committee was just out to score political points against Republicans. Finally, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) shut down that line of debate on Wednesday with some information these Republicans did not seem to know. 'We have in fact interviewed precisely the people they set up as a test for the validity of our investigation,' Raskin said. Those top security officials 'didn't need a subpoena' to testify..., Raskin said. 'They came voluntarily.'... Dozens of GOP lawmakers are left in the dark about what evidence the committee has collected involving their own contacts with Trump and his senior advisers in the run up to, and during, the attack on the Capitol." And why don't Republicans know what's going on? -- Because Kevin McCarthy decided not to put any semi-rational members on the committee & he iced out the two Republicans who are on the committee. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is an example of how dumb House Republicans are. Story after story has emphasized the hundreds of people the committee has interviewed without need for subpoenaes. Yet somehow it doesn't occur to anyone on this team of bozos that security officials were among those hundreds of people who sat for interviews.

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The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukrainian officials and their allies warned that Russian forces will likely target civilian areas in the east as Russia appointed a new battlefield commander accused of using scorched earth tactics in Syria. The general, Aleksandr V. Dvornikov, oversaw forces accused of bombing residential neighborhoods to break support for groups opposed to Syria's leader, Bashar al-Assad. Similar assaults have been reported in Ukraine in recent days.... Britain's defense intelligence service said Saturday that Russia's pullback from Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, revealed 'evidence of the disproportionate targeting of non-combatants.' And there are no signs Russian forces will change tactics." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Sunday are here: "Officials in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine this weekend urged residents to evacuate immediately, as shelling intensified amid Russia's shift to the country's east. Luhansk's governor, Serhiy Haidai, on Saturday said there were 'far fewer people' willing to evacuate after a missile strike on a railway station killed at least 52 people and injured 98. The shift east, away from Ukraine's largest cities, could prove challenging for Ukrainian troops and advantageous for Russian troops, who Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted last week are more skilled at fighting in rural terrain.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the international community to push harder against Moscow, specifically in refusing to buy Russian oil -- something the United States has done but Europe has resisted. In an address Saturday night, he said Russian oil and gas were the 'two sources of Russian self-confidence, and their sense of impunity.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Sunday are here.

Guardian & Agencies: "Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Russia is targeting all of Europe with its aggression and that stopping the invasion of Ukraine is essential for the security of all democracies.... In his late-night address to Ukrainians on Saturday, the Ukrainian president said Russian aggression 'was not intended to be limited to Ukraine alone' and the 'entire European project is a target for Russia.... That is why it is not just the moral duty of all democracies, all the forces of Europe, to support Ukraine's desire for peace,' he said. 'This is, in fact, a strategy of defence for every civilised state.'"

Luke Harding & Clea Skopeliti of the Guardian: U.K. Prime Minister "Boris Johnson is meeting the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy during an unannounced visit to Kyiv, Ukrainian officials have said. A picture posted on Twitter by the embassy of Ukraine to the UK showed the two leaders sitting across a table in the capital, with their respective flags in the background.... 'The prime minister has travelled to Ukraine to meet President Zelenskiy in person, in a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people,' [a No. 10] spokesperson said. 'They will discuss the UK's long-term support to Ukraine and the PM will set out a new package of financial and military aid.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Bethan McKernan & Toby Helm of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson made a surprise trip to Kyiv yesterday to meet the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, pledging a major new infusion of British arms and financial aid to help counter the expected deadly new phase in Russia's military offensive. After the meeting, the prime minister said: 'Ukraine has defied the odds and pushed back Russian forces from the gates of Kyiv, achieving the greatest feat of arms of the 21st century. It is because of president Zelenskiy's resolute leadership and the invincible heroism and courage of the Ukrainian people that Putin's monstrous aims are being thwarted.... We are stepping up our own military and economic support and convening a global alliance to bring this tragedy to an end, and ensure Ukraine survives and thrives as a free and sovereign nation.'"

Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "Slovakia's decision to provide Ukraine with a Soviet-era S-300 air defense unit, a move made with the blessing of the United States, represents a new phase in the war, as allied countries look to help the Ukrainian military hold off an expected offensive from a newly concentrated Russian force and better prepare for a potentially long conflict.... Now the allied governments have shown a willingness to send heavier weaponry more suited to the coming battle in Donbas, including tanks and longer-range defensive weapons such as the S-300s, a Russian-made surface-to-air system used mainly to attack enemy aircraft.... Kyiv's commanders now need better air defense systems and longer-range weapons than they currently have to defend the bulk of the Ukrainian army in the country's east. So far, the Biden administration has not been willing to provide weapons that would allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia, though some experts say that damaging Russian military airfields would improve Ukraine's chances of withstanding a renewed offensive." ~~~

     ~~~ Liz Sly & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The wide open spaces will make it harder for the Ukrainians to run guerrilla operations as they did in the forests of the north and west and play to Russia's ability to muster large mechanized formations of tanks and armored vehicles. But much will depend on whether the Russians can rectify the mistakes they made in the first phase of their invasion, ranging from the failure of supply lines, logistical challenges and poor planning to using insufficient manpower for the size of the area they were attempting to seize, analysts say."

Cara Anna of the AP reports on a walk-through of Bucha, Ukraine, "part of an ongoing investigation from The Associated Press and Frontline that includes the War Crimes Watch Ukraine interactive experience and an upcoming documentary." Very hard to read.

I Had a Dream: ~~~

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. No, There Will Not Be a Better Fox "News." Sarah Ellison & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "In a speech in Sydney celebrating a new initiative at a conservative think tank, Lachlan Murdoch -- now 50 and the co-chairman of the family's News Corp., which owns the Wall Street Journal and New York Post, and chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation -- took swipes at the 'elites' whom he believes disdain traditional values. He also blasted governments for imposing mandates and business shutdowns to control the pandemic and alleged conspiratorially that 'practically all the media suppressed the discovery of Hunter Biden's laptop.' It was a monologue that could have fit in seamlessly with the lineup of right-wing commentary served up every night by Fox News's prime time opinion hosts.... And he echoed the culture-war battles raging on cable news over school curriculums by painting a dire picture of what he sees happening in Australia." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm just noticing that SNL joke journalism is more accurate than Fox "News" fake journalism.

Beyond the Beltway

Pennsylvania Senate Race. Craven Phonies Stick Together. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Wading into a tight Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania..., Donald J. Trump endorsed Mehmet Oz on Saturday, throwing his weight behind the former star of 'The Dr. Oz Show,' who has been attacked by rivals as a closet liberal. Dr. Oz's celebrity appears to have been a deciding factor for the former president, whose own political career was grounded in reality television." Politico's story is here.

Puerto Rico. Coral Marcos of the New York Times: "Power has been restored to 90 percent of Puerto Rico, according to the island's power operator, though more than 200,000 residents remained without electricity on Saturday, three days after the outage began.... But ... many customers across the island who saw their power get turned back on were still experiencing service disruptions.... The outage, which started on Wednesday after a fire at one of Luma's largest power plants, is only the latest in a series of problems with the island's energy grid that has persisted for years."

Texas. Pablo De La Rosa, et al., of Texas Public Radio: "Police in Starr County on the Texas-Mexico border have arrested and charged a woman with murder for allegedly performing what they called a 'self-induced abortion.' The Starr County Sheriff's Office arrested 26-year-old Lizelle Herrera on Thursday. TPR confirmed Friday night that Herrera was in the custody of the Starr County Sheriff's Office with bond set at $500,000. By Saturday night, Herrera was released from custody." Saturday at 8:30 pm ET this was a developing story. According to an AP story, "It's unclear whether Lizelle Herrera is accused of having an abortion or whether she helped someone else get an abortion."

Virginia. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "A Republican official in Virginia is refusing to step down after a racist Facebook post he apparently authored last year surfaced recently. The post attributed to Hampton, Virginia Electoral Board Chair David Dietrich was added to the platform in February 2021 and is just coming into public view for some reason. The post appeared to be prompted by an effort by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, to expunge White supremacists and other far-right elements in the United States military. Dietrich specifically mentioned Austin, who is Black, and claimed the measure was in fact a plot 'to remove conservative, freedom-loving Americans from the roles.' He added, 'These so-called "leaders" are so vile and racist, there's no way to describe them other than in terms their own people understand. They are nothing more than dirty, stinking ni***rs....'"

Way Beyond

France. The New York Times is live-updating developments Sunday in France's presidential race. The first round of voting is today.

Pakistan. Christina Goldbaum & Salman Masood of the New York Times: "Imran Khan, the former international cricket star turned politician who oversaw a new era of Pakistan's foreign policy that distanced the country from the United States, was removed as prime minister early on Sunday after losing a no-confidence vote in Parliament. The vote, coming amid soaring inflation and a rift between Mr. Khan's government and the military, capped a political crisis that has embroiled the country for weeks and came down to the wire in a parliamentary session that dragged into the early morning hours. Pakistan remains in a state of turmoil as it heads into an early election season in the coming months. The recent crisis has charged the country's already polarized political climate and has exacerbated tensions between civilian institutions and the country's powerful military establishment." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A BBC News story is here.

April 9, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Christina Goldbaum & Salman Masood of the New York Times: "Imran Khan, the former international cricket star turned politician who oversaw a new era of Pakistan's foreign policy that distanced the country from the United States, was removed as prime minister early on Sunday after losing a no-confidence vote in Parliament. The vote, coming amid soaring inflation and a rift between Mr. Khan's government and the military, capped a political crisis that has embroiled the country for weeks and came down to the wire in a parliamentary session that dragged into the early morning hours. Pakistan remains in a state of turmoil as it heads into an early election season in the coming months. The recent crisis has charged the country's already polarized political climate and has exacerbated tensions between civilian institutions and the country's powerful military establishment."

Luke Harding & Clea Skopeliti of the Guardian: U.K. Prime Minister “Boris Johnson is meeting the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy during an unannounced visit to Kyiv, Ukrainian officials have said. A picture posted on Twitter by the embassy of Ukraine to the UK showed the two leaders sitting across a table in the capital, with their respective flags in the background.... 'The prime minister has travelled to Ukraine to meet President Zelenskiy in person, in a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people,' [a No. 10] spokesperson said. 'They will discuss the UK's long-term support to Ukraine and the PM will set out a new package of financial and military aid.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Residents of eastern Ukraine were coming to terms Saturday with the aftermath of a missile attack on a railway station that killed at least 50 people and injured scores of others who were caught in the line of fire while trying to flee the region at the urgent warning of local officials. Friday's attack at the station in Kramatorsk, which killed children and left behind a gruesome scene of bodies scattered between suitcases, is the latest Russian action that should be investigated by a war-crimes tribunal, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in his nightly address.... A chorus of world leaders, including President Biden and President Emmanuel Macron of France, condemned the attack.... Mr. Zelensky said he discussed the possibility of a special tribunal with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who visited Kyiv on Friday and surveyed a mass grave in the suburban city of Bucha....

"Slovakia supplied Ukraine with an S-300 air defense system to help defend against Russian missiles and airstrikes, the country's prime minister, Eduard Heger, said during a visit to Kyiv. The United States sent a U.S. Patriot missile system to Slovakia as a replacement for its own defenses to enable the transfer.... Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain announced fresh shipments to Ukraine of an antiaircraft missile system, known as Starstreak, and 800 antitank missiles. The defense minister, Ben Wallace, said Britain would also provide Ukraine with armored vehicles." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Saturday are here: "More than 6,600 people fled from embattled areas in [eastern and southern Ukraine] via humanitarian corridors Friday, according to Kyiv, the highest count this week. The evacuations came as Russia dispatches thousands more troops to eastern Ukraine, according to Washington, suggesting fighting there would intensify. The Kremlin is also concentrating air attacks on southern and eastern Ukraine, the Pentagon said, with Russian planes flying some 240 sorties daily. But some Russian forces deploying east are likely to have already incurred heavy losses, according to U.S. assessment. Combat ahead will be a 'knife fight ... very bloody and very ugly,' a senior U.S. defense official said." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here: "A Ukrainian government minister has said she expects Ukraine to be granted EU candidate country status in June. Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine's deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, said her country was 'ready to move fast' with its application to become a member of the European Union. Her remarks come a day after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, pledged to offer a speedy response to Ukraine's bid for bloc membership. At a joint news conference with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Von der Leyen handed the Ukrainian president a questionnaire that will form a starting point for a decision on membership, saying: 'It will not as usual be a matter of years to form this opinion but, I think, a matter of weeks.'"

The Arrogance of the Depraved. The Hill: "A Russian missile that struck a train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine -- killing at least 50 -- had a Russian phrase scribbled on its side that translated to 'for the children.'... In the Kramatorsk strike, 5 children were among the 50 people killed. One hundred people were injured. Ukraine's prosecutor general's office said women and children made up a majority of the nearly 4,000 people who were taking shelter inside the station, according to the BBC. The train station was being used to assist in civilian evacuations."

Thomas Gibbons-Neff & John Ismay of the New York Times: Via rockets, Russians are shooting PTM-1S land mines, a type of scatterable munition, into parts of Ukraine. "The weapons roar in like any rocket, but instead of exploding instantly, they eject up to two dozen mines that explode at intervals, parceling out death in the hours afterward.... These scatterable mines, banned under some interpretations of international law and never officially recorded during this war, have appeared only sparingly in Bezruky and elsewhere in the periphery of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.... The mines are green tubes about the size of a liter of soda, packed with three pounds of explosives."

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Speaking after [a meeting between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson & German Chancellor Olaf Scholz], Mr. Johnson said Germany had committed to weaning itself off Russian energy, even if the European Union has rejected British calls for a clear timetable to eliminate imports of Russian gas.... Britain, under Mr. Johnson, has staked out the most aggressive role of any major European power in its support for Ukraine and its condemnation of Russia. Yet its influence on Germany and France is questionable, given that Britain, having left the European Union, no longer has a seat at the table in Brussels.... For Mr. Scholz, the economic and political costs of cutting off Russian gas outweigh anything Mr. Johnson can say to him." ~~~

~~~ Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Vladimir Putin's war of aggression runs on the money Russia gets by selling fossil fuels to Europe.... Putin won't be definitively stopped until Europe ends its energy dependence. Which means that Germany -- whose political and business leaders insist that they can't do without Russian natural gas, even though many of its own economists disagree -- has in effect become Putin's prime enabler. This is shameful; it is also incredibly hypocritical given recent German history.... Germany has been warned for decades about the risks of becoming dependent on Russian gas. But its leaders, focused on the short-run benefits of cheap energy, ignored those warnings. On the eve of the Ukraine war, 55 percent of German gas came from Russia.... One member of the German Council of Economic Experts ... [said that] an embargo on Russian gas would be difficult but 'feasible.'... German industrialists refuse to accept economists' estimates, insisting that a gas embargo would indeed be catastrophic.... Unfortunately, Germany's political leaders, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have taken the side of the scaremongers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Stupid AND Depraved. Andrew Kramer & Ivor Prickett of the New York Times: "As the staging ground for an assault on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, one of the most toxic places on earth, was probably not the best choice. But that did not seem to bother the Russian generals who took over the site in the early stages of the war. 'We told them not to do it, that it was dangerous, but they ignored us,' Valeriy Simyonov, the chief safety engineer for the Chernobyl nuclear site, said in an interview. Apparently undeterred by safety concerns, the Russian forces tramped about the grounds with bulldozers and tanks, digging trenches and bunkers -- and exposing themselves to potentially harmful doses of radiation lingering beneath the surface.... The soldiers had apparently camped out for weeks in the radioactive forest.... As they retreated from Chernobyl, Russian troops blew up a bridge in the exclusion zone and planted a dense maze of anti-personnel mines, trip wires and booby traps around the defunct station. Two Ukrainian soldiers have stepped on mines in the past week, according to the Ukrainian government agency that manages the site."

You're Paying for Elon Musk's "Charitable" Gifts & PR. Cristiano Lima of the Washington Post: "After Russia launched its invasion, Ukrainian officials publicly pleaded for Elon Musk's SpaceX to dispatch their Starlink terminals to the region to boost Internet access. 'Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route,' Musk replied to broad online fanfare. Since then, the company has cast the actions in part as a charitable gesture. 'I'm proud that we were able to provide the terminals to folks in Ukraine,' SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said at a public event last month, later telling CNBC, 'I don't think the U.S. has given us any money to give terminals to the Ukraine.' But according to documents obtained by The Technology 202, the U.S. federal government is in fact paying millions for a significant portion of the equipment and for the transportation costs to get it to Ukraine On Tuesday, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced it has purchased 1,333 terminals from SpaceX to send to Ukraine, while the company donated 3,667 terminals and the Internet service itself." Emphasis original. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday basked in the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, hailing what he called a moment of 'real change' in American history as he and his supporters celebrated the ascension of the first Black woman to the court. Flanked by Judge Jackson and Vice President Kamala Harris -- the first Black woman to hold her role and whom he called the first 'smart' decision of his presidency -- Mr. Biden said the judge's confirmation had changed not only his own trajectory but the course of American life itself.... Mr. Biden said on Friday that Judge Jackson had endured 'verbal abuse' and 'vile' personal attacks but had shown poise through more than 20 hours of questioning in confirmation hearings that at times turned bruising.... In her remarks, Judge Jackson ... recalled substantive meetings with 97 senators and thanked them for their role in the nomination process, providing a graceful coda to hours of televised interactions with senators who had often acted emotionally as they questioned her." MB: "Emotionally"? How about with rancor, lies, abuse, character assassination, racism & misogyny? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Video of the remarks is here. A Guardian story is here. Politico's story is here.

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "... there's nothing that [soon-to-be Justice Jackson] or the other liberals on the court (or Chief Justice John Roberts, for that matter) can do to restrain a hard-right conservative majority that seeks to unravel what's left of postwar jurisprudence.... The liberal mythology around the Supreme Court -- the idea that it stands in defense of marginalized groups and underrepresented minorities -- took shape when the court changed to meet the demands of the New Deal and the postwar welfare state.... In the hands of the current conservative majority, the court will most likely remain a defender of minority rights that adjudicates social and political conflict. But rather than marginal and oppressed minorities, this court will turn its attention to the interests and prerogatives of powerful political minorities -- you might call them factions -- that seek to dominate others free of federal interference.... Large corporations, right-wing activists and conservative religious groups ... will approach the court knowing a majority of justices are almost certainly on their side." An interesting read, all the way through.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) has had enough of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Hypocrite):

     ~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Schatz ripped ...[Hawley] over his hold on a senior staffing nominee to the Defense Department, even as the United States is calibrating its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.... [Hawley's] arguments are saturated in almost bottomless levels of bad faith. That's the real topic of Schatz's tirade.... Beyond this, Schatz noted that it's absurd to use these differences as an excuse to apply a hold, especially given Hawley's vote against a spending bill that contained billions in military aid to Ukraine sought by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. And Schatz derided the call for [Defense Secretary Lloyd] Austin to resign as ludicrous grandstanding.... 'Spare me the new solidarity with the Ukrainians,' Schatz said of Hawley on the floor. 'Because this man's record is exactly the opposite.'" Sargent writes that Democrats don't call out Republican absurdities nearly enough. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** The Coup Plot Was Born Before the Election Was Called. Ryan Nobles, et al., of CNN: "Two days after the 2020 presidential election, as votes were still being tallied, Donald Trump's eldest son texted then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that 'we have operational control' to ensure his father would get a second term, with Republican majorities in the US Senate and swing state legislatures.... In the text, which has not been previously reported, Donald Trump Jr. lays out ideas for keeping his father in power by subverting the Electoral College process, according to the message reviewed by CNN. The text is among records obtained by the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021. 'It's very simple,' Trump Jr. texted to Meadows on November 5, adding later in the same missive: 'We have multiple paths We control them all.'... The November 5 text message outlines a strategy that is nearly identical to what allies of the former President attempted to carry out in the months that followed. Trump Jr. makes specific reference to filing lawsuits and advocating recounts to prevent certain swing states from certifying their results, as well as having a handful of Republican state houses put forward slates of fake 'Trump electors.' If all that failed, according to the Trump Jr. text, GOP lawmakers in Congress could simply vote to reinstall Trump as President on January 6."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Ali Alexander, a prominent organizer of pro-Trump events after the 2020 election, has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department's investigation of the attack on the Capitol last year, the first high-profile political figure known to have offered assistance to the government's newly expanded criminal inquiry. Speaking through a lawyer, Mr. Alexander said on Friday that he had recently received a subpoena from a federal grand jury that is seeking information on several broad categories of people connected to pro-Trump rallies that took place in Washington after the election." A Guardian story is here.

Tom Jackman & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A North Carolina man [-- Charles Donohue --] who was one of the leaders of the far-right Proud Boys as they assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, pleaded guilty Friday to two felony counts with a minimum sentence of nearly six years in prison and agreed to cooperate against other defendants in hopes of getting a lighter sentence. Court records filed Friday show he has provided numerous insights into the group's plans and intention to disrupt the electoral vote confirmation.... Donohoe, 34, of Kernersville, N.C., admitted to conspiring to help organize an attack on Congress by supporters of ... Donald Trump and to assaulting law enforcement officers. Donohoe is the first among six of the charged Proud Boys leaders, including chairman Enrique Tarrio, to admit to planning an attack on Congress and assaulting law enforcement officers." CNN's story is here.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge has informed a defendant in the highest-profile conspiracy cases stemming from the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol that he will need to find a new attorney because his lawyer has been disbarred. During a hearing Friday in the seditious conspiracy case against 10 alleged leaders and members of the Oath Keepers militia, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta informed defendant Kelly Meggs that lawyer Jonathon Moseley cannot continue to defend him as a result of an action a panel of Virginia judges took last week to revoke Moseley's right to practice law in that state. Politico first reported Tuesday that Moseley, who also represents other individuals in Jan.6-related litigation, had been disbarred in the state following a disciplinary hearing in Virginia's Prince William County last week.... Meggs, who was a leader of the Oath Keepers' Florida chapter, complained that finding a new attorney will be all but impossible due to restrictions on prisoners at the D.C. Jail.... Mehta said he would reach out to officials at the jail to see if restrictions on Meggs' phone use can be relaxed." ~~~

     ~~~ P.S. Some Judges Keep Up with the News. From Gerstein's report: “Mehta indicated that Moseley sought to have the portion of Friday's hearing about his disbarment held under seal, but the judge rejected that. He said the bar action had drawn public attention and wasn't much of a secret at this point. 'There has been public reporting about your circumstances. I've read a number of articles about it,' said Mehta."

We're Crooks, We're Crooks, We're Crookedy-Crooked Crooks. Matthew Lee of the AP: "The State Department says it is unable to compile a complete and accurate accounting of gifts presented to ... Donald Trump and other U.S. officials by foreign governments during Trump's final year in office, citing missing data from the White House. In a report to be published in the Federal Register next week, the department says the Executive Office of the President did not submit information about gifts received by Trump and his family from foreign leaders in 2020. It also says the General Services Administration didn't submit information about gifts given to former Vice President Mike Pence and White House staffers that year. The State Department said it sought the missing information from National Archives and Records Administration and the General Services Administration, but was told that 'potentially relevant records' are not available because of access restrictions related to retired records.... [The report] also noted that there had been a 'lack of adequate recordkeeping pertaining to diplomatic gifts' betwee" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "A Canadian steel industry billionaire illegally helped steer $1.75 million in donations to a pro-Trump super PAC and has agreed to pay one of the largest fines ever levied by the Federal Election Commission to settle the case, the commission said on Friday. The $975,000 fine will be paid by entities controlled by Barry Zekelman, a steel industry executive from Ontario who had lobbied the Trump administration to use its power to tighten import restrictions on Mr. Zekelman's competitors from around the world. The action came as the election commission continues a multiyear crackdown on foreign influence in American politics. Mr. Zekelman's donations in 2018 to the America First Action super PAC helped him secure an invitation to a private dinner with ... Donald J. Trump at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, where Mr. Zekelman personally pushed Mr. Trump about the steel tariffs and other matters.... Mr. Zekelman, in a settlement deal that his lawyer signed in late March but that was finalized on Friday, also agreed to ask America First Action, which helped support Mr. Trump's 2020 election efforts, to return the donated money, or to redirect it to the U.S. Treasury." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Ha ha. Good luck with that. These are crookedy-crooked crooks, and they don't just cheerfully return ill-gotten gains.

A Bronx Cheer for Trump. Michael Gold of the New York Times: "The Trump Organization can continue to operate a city-owned golf course in the Bronx after a judge ruled on Friday that New York City had wrongly terminated the company's contract following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol in Washington. New York City moved to cancel the lucrative contract at the course, the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, just days after the attacks on the Capitol last year...." Politico's story is here.

Little by Little. Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: "Employees at six more Starbucks coffee shops in Upstate New York voted to unionize Thursday and Friday, delivering a string of wins for the nascent organization effort at one of America's most ubiquitous coffee retailers. Workers United, a labor union affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, announced Thursday afternoon that two stores in Rochester and another in Buffalo had voted in its favor. Then on Friday afternoon the National Labor Relations Board confirmed that workers at three more coffee shops, in Ithaca, N.Y., voted overwhelmingly to form a union, bringing the number of unionized company-owned stores to 16 out of almost 9,000."

Karen Weise of the New York Times: "Amazon objected on Friday to a landmark union election at its Staten Island fulfillment center, saying an upstart union's unorthodox tactics there crossed legal lines, according to a copy of its filing to the National Labor Relations Board obtained by The New York Times. The company argued that the result should be thrown out because the labor board had conducted the election in a way that favored the union and members of the union had coerced workers into supporting their cause."

Extreme Tourism. Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: "A crew comprised entirely of private citizens blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center on a flight to the International Space Station Friday morning, marking yet another milestone in the evolution of human spaceflight and the growth of the commercial space sector. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 11:17 a.m., carrying three wealthy entrepreneurs, each of whom paid $55 million for the mission, and a former NASA astronaut, who is serving as their guide. While private citizens have for years flown to the space station on Russian rockets, the mission -- which was commissioned by Axiom Space, a Houston-based company -- is the first all-private mission to the station. It also is the first time private citizens have flown to the station from American soil." The Guardian's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I suppose there is some minimal value to sending these super-rich bozos into space (like maybe finding out how the bodies of super-rich bozos react to weightlessness or whatever), but there are better places for super-rich bozos to deposit their money, one of them being into the coffers of the U.S. Treasury.

From the New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday: "At least 53 people have tested positive for the coronavirus since attending The Gridiron Club and Foundation's annual dinner last Saturday in Washington, the group's president confirmed on Friday. The Gridiron Club dinner, an annual white-tie roast between journalists and presidential administrations, was held at the Renaissance Hotel. But a night of good-natured ribbing has devolved into an outbreak of cases among Washington's elite, including members of Congress, members of the president's cabinet and journalists."

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Rick Rojas of the New York Times: "Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama signed legislation on Friday that prevents medical professionals from providing care that aids transgender young people in transitioning, adopting some of the country's most restrictive measures and threatening doctors and nurses with up to 10 years in prison. Ms. Ivey, a Republican, also approved legislation that requires students to use restrooms and locker rooms for the sex listed on their original birth certificates. It also limits classroom discussions on gender and sexual orientation -- a version of what critics call a 'Don't Say Gay' measure that goes further than some other states.... Legal challenges are being prepared by the Transgender Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union, among other groups, to stop the legislation from being carried out. Last year, a federal court blocked Arkansas from enforcing a similar law." (See yesterday's page for related link to related story (and the link to that story is fixed.) The Guardian's report is here.

California. Anemona Hartocollis of the New York Times: "A federal jury found a former water polo coach at the University of Southern California guilty on Friday of taking thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for designating high school applicants as recruits so they would be favored in the college admissions process. The defendant, Jovan Vavic, has been the only coach to stand trial rather than take a guilty plea in the federal investigation known as Operation Varsity Blues, in which wealthy parents paid bribes to have their children admitted to elite schools. Mr. Vavic was a star at U.S.C. who had stewarded the men's and women's water polo teams to 16 national championships.... Prosecutors ... said that Mr. Vavic received more than $200,000 in bribes from William Singer, a college admissions consultant to the rich, in exchange for facilitating the recruitment of athletes with trumped-up credentials.... [The U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case, Rachel] Rollins, said the verdict resolved all the cases connected to Mr. Singer, with 54 convictions, one deferred prosecution agreement and one person pardoned by ... Donald J. Trump."

Idaho. AP: "The Idaho Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a new state law that would ban abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and allow the law to be enforced through lawsuits. Idaho last month had become the first state to enact legislation modeled after the Texas statute banning abortions after about six weeks. The ruling from Idaho's high court in a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood means the new law won't go into effect as planned on April 22. The state Supreme Court instructed both sides to file further briefs as it considers the case before its ultimate decision."

Michigan. Josh Flesher & Ed White of the AP: "Two of four men were acquitted Friday in a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, motivated by fury at the Democrat's tough COVID-19 restrictions early in the pandemic. The jury's verdicts against Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were read in the federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the case presided over by U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker. Jurors said they couldn't agree on verdicts again Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. Prosecutors described Fox as a ringleader of an anti-government group. Fox, Croft and Harris faced additional charges. The two most serious charges, kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to use explosives, both carry potential life sentences. Defense attorneys portrayed their clients as credulous weekend warriors prone to big, wild talk, who were often stoned. They said FBI undercover agents and informants tricked and cajoled the men into agreeing to a conspiracy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Detroit Free Press story is here. MB: I guess you can't convict right-wing white terrorists in upstate Wisconsin.

Way Beyond

France. Jonathan Lemire of Politico: "The White House has begun to harbor fears that Vladimir Putin could soon notch his biggest victory of Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- in Paris. There is growing concern within President Joe Biden's administration about the narrowing polls in the French presidential election that show a tight race between incumbent Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen. A possible victory by Le Pen, a Putin sympathizer, could destabilize the Western coalition against Moscow, upending France's role as a leading European power and potentially giving other NATO leaders cold feet about staying in the alliance, according to three senior administration officials not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations."