March 21, 2022

Elena Moore of NPR: "Confirmation hearings begin Monday for Ketanji Brown Jackson, the federal judge President Biden has picked to fill Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer's seat.... The hearings, led by the Senate Judiciary Committee, is set to last four days, with Jackson appearing in front of lawmakers during the first three.... The hearings begin at 11 a.m. EDT [Monday].

Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukraine rejected Russia's ultimatum that Mariupol surrender after weeks of Russian bombardments and days of street-by-street guerrilla warfare, which have terrorized residents and hampered rescue and evacuation efforts. Russia has threatened the city with more assaults and a 'military tribunal.' Moscow says it is bent on seizing Mariupol, which would be its first strategic victory in a war that appears to be approaching a stalemate in many other parts of the country.... As the human toll of the war continues to climb -- roughly one in four people in Ukraine have been forced to leave their homes, according to the United Nations -- diplomatic efforts towards a resolution have made only minimal advances." ~~~

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

Cara Anna of the AP: "Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged strategic port city. Even as Russia intensified its attempt to bombard Mariupol into surrender, its offensive in other parts of Ukraine has floundered. Western governments and analysts see the broader conflict grinding into a war of attrition, with Russia continuing to barrage cities. In the capital Kyiv, Russian shelling devastated a shopping center near the city center, killing at least eight people and leaving a sea of rubble amid scarred high-rises. Ukrainian authorities also said Russia shelled a chemical plant in northeastern Ukraine, causing an ammonia leak, and hit a military training base in the west with cruise missiles." ~~~

~~~ Bomb Anything, Anybody, Anywhere. Guardian & AFP: "Residents of the northern Ukrainian town of Novoselytsya should seek shelter after shelling caused an ammonia leak at a nearby chemical factory, an official said, as intense fighting with Russian forces in the area continues. According to an update from the Sumy regional military administration, the site of the Sumykhimprom plant, which produces fertilisers, was shelled at 3.55am on Monday morning.... Rescue workers were fixing a damaged pipeline and an employee at the plant was reportedly injured."

Reis Thebault of the Washington Post: "Scores of exhausted workers at the closed Chernobyl nuclear power plant, who have worked for more than three weeks without a break while Russian troops have occupied the facility, were able to change shifts and go home Sunday, the plant said. About 300 people -- including technicians, guards and others -- have been effectively trapped at the facility since Feb. 24, when Russian forces took control. The staff has not been able to rotate work shifts as usual, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. But on Sunday, after about 600 hours inside, 64 people were allowed to leave, the plant said in a post on Facebook, where it has been delivering periodic updates on the perilous situation. Fifty shift workers were among those allowed to go, the plant said, and they were replaced by 46 'employee-volunteers.' It is unclear when or whether the remaining workers will be able to rotate out."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Firing rockets and bombs from the land, air and sea, Russian forces continued to bombard the besieged coastal city of Mariupol on Sunday even as they were also forcibly deporting thousands of residents of against their will to Russia, according to city officials and witnesses. With the Russian advance on Ukraine's major cities stalled and satellite imagery showing soldiers digging into defensive positions around Kyiv, the fierce fighting in the coastal city showed no signs of easing. The bombing of a theater where an estimated 1,300 people were seeking refuge on Thursday was followed on Sunday, according to local officials, by a strike on a drama school where 400 people were hiding." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to CNN, some reports have it that the Ukrainians who have been forced into Russia are being sent to concentration camps deep inside Russia.

Putin's War on Truth. Steven Myers & Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: "In the tense weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian officials denied that it planned anything of the sort, denouncing the United States and its NATO allies for stoking panic and anti-Russian hatred. When it did invade, the officials denied it was at war. Since then, the Kremlin has cycled through a torrent of lies to explain why it had to wage a 'special military operation' against a sovereign neighbor. Drug-addled neo-Nazis. Genocide. American biological weapons factories. Birds and reptiles trained to carry pathogens into Russia. Ukrainian forces bombing their own cities, including theaters sheltering children.... Using a barrage of increasingly outlandish falsehoods..., Vladimir V. Putin has created an alternative reality, one in which Russia is at war not with Ukraine but with a larger, more pernicious enemy in the West. Even since the war began, the lies have gotten more and more bizarre, transforming from claims that 'true sovereignty' for Ukraine was possible only under Russia, made before the attacks, to those about migratory birds carrying bioweapons." ~~~

~~~ Teach Your Children Well. Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "In a dingy Russian classroom with worn-out rugs, elementary school students lined up to form the shape of the letter Z: the symbol used on much of Russia's military equipment in Ukraine and an emblem of support at home, showing up on everywhere from bus stops to car stickers to corporate logos. Now it has become part of the classroom lessons as the Kremlin expands its anti-Ukraine propaganda to students as young as kindergarten. It's another front in ... Vladimir Putin's sweeping crackdowns to criminalize dissent and enforce an unquestioning brand of patriotism even as Russia grows increasingly isolated.... Russia's education minister, Sergey Kravtsov, openly described schools as central to Moscow's fight to 'win the information and psychological war' against the West."

Jane Arraf of the New York Times: "... tens of thousands of young, urban, multilingual Russian professionals who are able to work remotely from almost anywhere, many of them in information technology or freelancers in creative industries," are leaving Russia. Many are going to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia to plot out their next moves. "The speed and scale of the exodus are evidence of a seismic shift that the invasion set off inside Russia." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Masha Gessen has an article in the New Yorker on a similar topic. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Marc Fisher, et al., of the Washington Post: "... the reality is setting in for Ukrainian Americans eager to bring their relatives to safety that despite government pledges of solidarity, getting into the United States is a lengthy and cumbersome process that remains largely unchanged from before the war, according to those trying to bring relatives into the country and advocates who are helping them.... Some lawmakers and advocacy groups are urging the Biden administration to expedite the arrival of Ukrainians. But officials say the refugee system is not built for speed, as the U.S. vetting process often takes years." MB: Our State Department bureaucracy has been a quagmire for decades. There's no excuse for it. State left behind thousands of Afghans because of the sometimes four-year process of vetting even our known friends there. Even if you're an American citizen, you may have had to wait months for a new passport or visa (to a friendly country). (Also linked yesterday.)

Israel. Anna Getmansky & Eugene Finkel in a Haaretz op-ed: "Military supplies that Ukraine has received since the outbreak of the war, such as anti-tank Javelins, anti-aircraft Stingers, artillery and light weapons are ... not designed to counter the missile and the artillery threat [to civilian targets]. One Western country has the capacity, both military and civilian, to help Ukraine to protect civilians. This country is Israel. Unfortunately, it prefers not to do so [despite requests from Kyiv].... Israel ... has deep expertise in protecting civilians from missile and artillery threats. This is why the U.S. has tried -- so far unsuccessfully -- to convince Israel to sell Ukraine the Iron Dome air-defense system that Israel developed with American funding.... Iron Dome is just a single component of a multilayer response that Israel has developed to counter ballistic and artillery threats.... Israel [has] sought to remain 'neutral,' i.e. not to do anything that would provoke Moscow's ire.... Israel's concerns are valid, but the country's unique ability to help Ukraine save civilians lives outweighs them. Israel should revise its current stand, and act." ~~~

~~~ Joseph Federman of the AP: "Ukraine's president on Sunday called on Israel to take a stronger stand against Russia, delivering an emotional appeal that compared Russia's invasion of his country to the actions of Nazi Germany. In a speech to Israeli lawmakers over Zoom, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was time for Israel, which has emerged as a key mediator between Ukraine and Russia, to finally take sides. He said Israel should follow its Western allies by imposing sanctions and providing arms to Ukraine. 'One can ask for a long time why we can't accept weapons from you or why Israel didn't impose sanctions against Russia, why you are not putting pressure on Russian business,' he said. 'It is your choice, dear brothers and sisters.'... 'Everyone in Israel knows that your missile defense is the best. Everyone knows that ... you know how to defend your national interests, interests of your people and you can definitely help defend ours,'..."

Marie: Last week, someone wrote in the Comments that Arnold Schwarzenegger was exhibiting delusions of grandeur when he made a video urging Russians to oppose the war. As is too often the case, I didn't know enough about the topic to address it. However, this morning Jake Tapper said on CNN that Schwarzenegger has a huge following in Russia. So it would seem his video might do some good, after all.

Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "Five years after Myanmar's military began a killing spree against ethnic Rohingya, driving nearly one million people from their country, the United States has concluded that the widespread campaign of rape, crucifixions, and drownings and burnings of families and children amounted to genocide. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is set to announce the determination -- a legal designation for crimes that American investigators documented in 2018 -- at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on Monday. It almost certainly will trigger additional economic sanctions, limits on aid and other penalties against Myanmar's military junta. The Tatmadaw overthrew Myanmar's civilian government and its nascent democratic efforts, led by the Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in February 2021. In one of its first acts in office, the Biden administration declared that the military takeover amounted to a coup." An AP story is here.

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Republicans are intensifying their attacks on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson after weeks of publicly reserving judgment on President Biden's Supreme Court nominee, ahead of historic hearings on the first Black woman to be put forward as a justice. Republican leaders, wary of engaging in a potentially racially charged spectacle that could prompt a political backlash, have promised a more dignified review of the latest Supreme Court candidate, after a series of bitter clashes over the court. But in recent days, with the approach of the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings on her nomination that begin on Monday, their tone has shifted." MB: Leading the pack of wolves in that smarmy little insurrectionist Josh Hawley. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yesterday, someone wrote in complaining that I was being too cruel to wolves. I take his point. I work at this damned job 8 hours a day, in the neighborhood of 365 days a year. I do it not to influence people but to provide a helpful guide to anyone who would like a quick guide to what's going on in American politics. In return, I deeply appreciate the thoughtful commentary that many of you write. I also appreciate constructive criticism, and a complaint about being mean to wolves is valid. However, when a person reciprocates 35,000 hours of work with one complaint (which he attaches to a two-day-old page, BTW), well, you know, he can fuck off. So wolves it is, though, to be fair, they deserve a better advocate.

Christine Chung of the New York Times: "Justice Clarence Thomas, the longest-serving member of the U.S. Supreme Court, was hospitalized with an infection on Friday after experiencing flulike symptoms, the court said in a statement on Sunday. Justice Thomas was being treated with intravenous antibiotics at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, the statement said. 'His symptoms are abating, he is resting comfortably, and he expects to be released from the hospital in a day or two,' it said." An AP report is here.

Ellie Silverman of the Washington Post: "The 'People's Convoy' of truck drivers and supporters that has been honking its way around D.C.-area roads and highways, backing up traffic in protest of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, has taken aim at government leaders, pharmaceutical and technology companies and the mainstream media. Now, as the convoy encounters roadblocks on its routes, it has a new perceived enemy: D.C. police leadership. This progression reflects the right-wing movement's penchant to search for obstacles to overcome in its fight for vague yet lofty goals like 'freedom,' extremism researchers say.... [At first, convoy organizers said they would not go into the District.] Then last week, they switched tactics and set their aims on the District, seemingly provoked by D.C. police blocking interstate exits into downtown Washington, a move those in the convoy call a violation of their First Amendment rights." Because the D.C. police were instrumental in saving the Capitol from Trump's insurrectionists, many in the convoy already despise the Metropolitan Police. ~~~

~~~ Pedal Power! A lone bicyclist slowed down the fake "Freedom Convoy" Saturday as the truckers attempted to disrupt traffic again in D.C. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. And do see his commentary in yesterday's thread. Funny thing is, the truckers were all pissed off when somebody disrupted their own disruption. Lacking any self-awareness or sense of humor, the truckers began blaring their horns at the biker. Turning up the volume is the bully's Plan B. At one point, a pick-up truck pulled up alongside the leisurely bike-rider (who, sadly, was not wearing a mask!) & the driver asked him what he was doing. "You've got a bunch of trucks behind you!" the pick-up driver shouted. The biker responded, "Say what? I can't hear you. It's too loud!" BTW, this is not the first time a biker has stymied a fake "Freedom Convoy." Six weeks ago in Vancouver, B.C., courier Tyrone Siglos slowed down & stopped a convoy in that city. He rode his bike slowly, completely stopping from time to time in order to split up the line of trucks between lights. He said he stopped for as long as a half-hour at one point. (Also linked yesterday.)

Hunter Walker of Rolling Stone: "Donald Trump's White House Chief of Staff [Mark Meadows] and a national campaign spokesperson [Katrina Pierson] were involved in efforts to encourage the president's supporters to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. That's according to a person who says he overheard a key planning conversation between top Trump officials and the organizers of the Jan. 6 rally [-- Kylie Kremer, director of Women For America First --] on the White House Ellipse -- and has since testified to House investigators about the phone call.... Scott Johnston -- who worked on the team that helped plan the Ellipse rally -- ... claims that leading figures in the Trump administration and campaign deliberately planned to have crowds converge on the Capitol, where the 2020 election was being certified -- and 'make it look like they went down there on their own.'" Firewalled. The Raw Story has a summary report here.

More Trumpish Dirty Tricks, with a WhoDunIt Element. Michael Schmidt & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "... new details of Project Veritas's effort to establish that [a personal] diary [they were about to purchase for $40,000] was [written by Joe Biden's daughter Ashley] Biden are elements of a still-emerging story about how Trump supporters and a group known for its undercover sting operations worked to expose personal information about the Biden family at a crucial stage of the 2020 campaign. Drawn from interviews, court filings and other documents, the new information adds further texture to what is known about an episode that has led to a criminal investigation of Project Veritas by federal prosecutors who have suggested they have evidence that the group was complicit in stealing Ms. Biden's property and in transporting stolen goods across state lines. And by showing that Project Veritas employed deception rather than traditional journalistic techniques in the way it approached Ms. Biden ... the new accounts could further complicate the organization's assertions in court filings that it should be treated as a publisher and granted First Amendment protections." An interesting read.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Vatican. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "Pope Francis on Saturday issued a new constitution, nearly a decade in the making, to govern the bureaucracy that runs the Roman Catholic Church. The constitution, running 54 pages, newly stipulates that baptized lay Catholics, including women, can lead departments traditionally headed by cardinals and increases institutional efforts to protect minors by incorporating the pope's clergy abuse commission into the church's government. The new text -- titled 'Praedicate Evangelium,' or 'Proclaiming the Gospel' -- concluded a process that has, over the years, introduced in dribs and drabs overhauls regarding Vatican finances and the consolidation of Vatican offices. It reflects Francis' emphasis on a more pastoral and ground-up church, and leaves a concrete mark on the church's workings."

March 20, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Pedal Power! A lone bicyclist slowed down the fake "Freedom Convoy" Saturday as the truckers attempted to disrupt traffic again in D.C. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. And do see his commentary below. Funny thing is, the truckers were all pissed off when somebody disrupted their own disruption. Lacking any self-awareness or sense of humor, the truckers began blaring their horns at the biker. Turning up the volume is the bully's Plan B. At one point, a pick-up truck pulled up alongside the leisurely bike-rider (who, sadly, was not wearing a mask!) & the driver asked him what he was doing. "You've got a bunch of trucks behind you!" the pick-up driver shouted. The biker responded, "Say what? I can't hear you. It's too loud!" BTW, this is not the first time a biker has stymied a fake "Freedom Convoy." Six weeks ago in Vancouver, B.C., courier Tyrone Siglos slowed down & stopped a convoy in that city. He rode his bike slowly, completely stopping from time to time in order to split up the line of trucks between lights. He said he stopped for as long as 20 minutes or a half-hour at one point.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Firing rockets and bombs from the land, air and sea, Russian forces continued to bombard the besieged coastal city of Mariupol on Sunday even as they were also forcibly deporting thousands of residents of against their will to Russia, according to city officials and witnesses. With the Russian advance on Ukraine's major cities stalled and satellite imagery showing soldiers digging into defensive positions around Kyiv, the fierce fighting in the coastal city showed no signs of easing. The bombing of a theater where an estimated 1,300 people were seeking refuge on Thursday was followed on Sunday, according to local officials, by a strike on a drama school where 400 people were hiding." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to CNN, there are some reports that the Ukrainians who have been forced into Russia are being sent to concentration camps deep inside Russia.

Jane Arraf of the New York Times: "... tens of thousands of young, urban, multilingual Russian professionals who are able to work remotely from almost anywhere, many of them in information technology or freelancers in creative industries," are leaving Russia. Many are going to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia to plot out their next moves. "The speed and scale of the exodus are evidence of a seismic shift that the invasion set off inside Russia." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Masha Gessen has an article in the New Yorker that seems to be on a similar topic; if someone who has a New Yorker subscription would like to link Gessen's article in the Comments section, that would be greatly appreciated. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Marc Fisher, et al., of the Washington Post: "... the reality is setting in for Ukrainian Americans eager to bring their relatives to safety that despite government pledges of solidarity, getting into the United States is a lengthy and cumbersome process that remains largely unchanged from before the war, according to those trying to bring relatives into the country and advocates who are helping them.... Some lawmakers and advocacy groups are urging the Biden administration to expedite the arrival of Ukrainians. But officials say the refugee system is not built for speed, as the U.S. vetting process often takes years." MB: Our State Department bureaucracy has been a quagmire for decades. There's no excuse for it. State left behind thousands of Afghans because of the sometimes four-year process of vetting even our known friends there. Even if you're an American citizen, you may have had to wait months for a new passport or visa (to a friendly country).

Marie: Last weeks, someone wrote in the Comments that Arnold Schwarzenegger was exhibiting delusions of grandeur when he made a video urging Russians to oppose the war. As is too often the case, I didn't know enough about the topic to address it. However, this morning Jake Tapper said on CNN that Schwarzenegger has a huge following in Russia. So it would seem his video might do some good, after all.

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Republicans are intensifying their attacks on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson after weeks of publicly reserving judgment on President Biden's Supreme Court nominee, ahead of historic hearings on the first Black woman to be put forward as a justice. Republican leaders, wary of engaging in a potentially racially charged spectacle that could prompt a political backlash, have promised a more dignified review of the latest Supreme Court candidate, after a series of bitter clashes over the court. But in recent days, with the approach of the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings on her nomination that begin on Monday, their tone has shifted." MB: Leading the pack of wolves in that smarmy little insurrectionist Josh Hawley.

~~~~~~~~~~

Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Sunday are here.

Loveday Morris, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Volodymyr Zelensky defiantly told Moscow the time had come for 'meaningful negotiations on peace' as a barrage of Russian attacks continued across his nation over the weekend.... There was no immediate response from Moscow, which has been frustrated in its effort to enter Kyiv and topple Zelensky's government. As Russian tank columns stalled in the wake of Ukrainian resistance, which relied significantly on U.S.-supplied weapons, Moscow continued its strategy of siege and terror, killing civilians, bombing apartment buildings and kidnapping local officials.... At least 40 people were killed when a Russian bomb hit the barracks of a military facility in the city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine on Friday morning, according to journalists who documented the scene hours after the attack.... Moscow claimed it had for the first time fired a Kinzhal hypersonic missile, a long-range weapon that it says could not be intercepted by a defense system. Moscow said the missile was used to attack an underground arms depot in western Ukraine, a claim that had not been verified."

Khrystyna Bondarenko, et al., of CNN: "Residents of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol are being taken to Russia against their will by Russian forces, the Mariupol City Council said Saturday.... Captured Mariupol residents were taken to camps where Russian forces checked their phones and documents, then redirected some of the residents to remote cities in Russia, the statement said, adding that the 'fate of the others is unknown.' 'What the occupiers are doing today is familiar to the older generation, who saw the horrific events of World War II, when the Nazis forcibly captured people,' Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said in the statement."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russian forces made significant gains in Ukraine, advancing into the port of Mariupol, destroying an underground weapons depot and leaving a barracks in ruins following one of the deadliest rocket strikes on Ukraine's military in the nearly month-old war."

Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "Along Russia's borders, in post-Soviet countries like Georgia that remain caught between Russian and Western influence, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has presented governments with a strategic dilemma. Apart from Belarus, none have backed the Russian offensive. But nor have they strongly opposed it -- fearful of upsetting a dominant neighbor that is a major source of trade and remittances, a guarantor of some countries' security and a potential aggressor to others. A small, mountainous country of 3.7 million people at the southeastern extreme of the European continent, Georgia is perhaps running the narrowest gauntlet.... Russia [is] in de facto control of roughly a fifth of Georgian territory.... But [the government's] cautious approach has put the Georgian government at odds with most of its population -- creating a far more pointed clash between majority opinion on Ukraine and government policy than in most other European countries."

U.K. Toby Helm & Daniel Boffey of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson has caused fury among political leaders across Europe -- and outrage among opponents of Brexit at home -- after he compared the resistance of the Ukrainian people to Russia's invasion to the UK's decision to leave the EU.... [At a speech to a Conservative conference, Johnson said,] 'And you say that we're better off making accommodations with tyranny.... And I know that it's the instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom, every time.... When the British people voted for Brexit, in such large, large numbers..., it was because ... they wanted to be free to do things differently and for this country to be able to run itself.' The remarks caused astonishment not only because Ukraine applied last month, after the Russian invasion began, to become a member of the EU, but because the comments suggested that the EU was itself a form of tyranny...."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "It took just 14 seconds to approve an order moving Americans' clocks an hour ahead, permanently." It also took a conspiracy between Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), the presiding officer, with a little help from the incompetent Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.). And in that 14 seconds, as Sen. Tommy Potatohead opined, the Senate had initiated a remarkable change that would create "more sunshine." "The former football coach apparently believes the Senate time-change bill altered the rotation of the Earth -- by unanimous consent." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life. Marie: There are, I'll admit, too many things I don't know much about. I'm in awe of the people who do understand these things, and many of you readers are among those awesome people. But what is it like to be Tommy Tuberville, whose knowledge of the universe would seem to be limited to the four corners of a football field? Perhaps more unsettling, Tommy doesn't know what he doesn't know, and he is happy to offer his childish misunderstandings about many things: like the three branches of the U.S. government, which Tommy volunteered were "the House, the Senate, and the executive"; or the cause of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which Tommy told constituents was, "It's a communist country, so [Putin] can't feed his people, so they need more farmland."

The Winter of Their Discontent Has Turned to Spring -- and More Discontent. Charles Homans of the New York Times: "... the ['Freedom Convoy''s] protest is perhaps most notable as a window onto the evolution of the American right in the wake of Donald J. Trump's presidency, and one that Republican politicians are watching. Although organizers insist that their demonstration is nonpartisan and narrowly focused on Covid restrictions, in practice, it is animated by a broad, familiar array of conservative and right-wing issues and grievances. Complaints about schools mix with far-right conspiracy theories and refusal to accept the 2020 election results.... This week, one side of the stage [at the Hagerstown, Maryland Speedway, where the truckers and sundry followers are encamped,] was piled with books written by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist; while near the other, a vendor sold stickers saying 'WHEN I DIE DON'T LET ME VOTE DEMOCRAT.' On Wednesday evening, Dr. Paul Alexander, a former official in Mr. Trump's Health and Human Services Department..., called for President Biden to pardon the defendants facing charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol." MB: I don't suppose any of this comes as a surprise to you.

Washington Post Editors: "Violent and threatening political rhetoric, normalized and encouraged by ... Donald Trump, is metastasizing in the Republican Party. As nearly a third of GOP voters tell pollsters that violence might be required to 'save our country,' some officeholders and candidates who espouse menacing views are rewarded with fundraising and social media success. Too often, mainstream party leaders -- the very voices who should be drawing the line at hate speech -- are silent. Silence is complicity.... History provides abundant evidence that rhetorical violence begets actual violence. By countenancing vile, dehumanizing, bloody-minded rhetoric, Republicans are paving a dangerous road to the future."

Beyond the Beltway

Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "On Monday, Ohio became the 23rd state to enact a law eliminating permits as a requirement for concealed carry. The Buckeye State closely followed Alabama, where Gov. Kay Ivey signed a similar law on March 10. The back-to-back wins for gun-rights advocates who want to see fewer restrictions on the Second Amendment signal how partisan divides and relentless activism at the state level are significantly reshaping the landscape around gun possession." Experts attribute the lax permitting to increased polarization: Republican primary candidates try to out-extreme one another.

Michigan. Meet Your Fellow American. Tresa Baldas & Arpan Lobo of the Detroit Free Press: "... the COVID-19 vaccines, and the thought of them becoming mandatory..., pushed the alleged Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnap plotters over the edge, an undercover FBI informant testified Friday.... 'Buildings that manufacture vaccines -- blow them up,' [defendant Brandon] Caserta is heard telling [the informant known as] Dan [in a recording played in court]. He also called for killing police officers who would enforce vaccine mandates, and killing the lawyers who support vaccines by cutting off their heads.... Caserta was so angry about the vaccine that he wanted to target groups responding to the pandemic, including contact tracers, doctors and companies manufacturing the vaccines.... 'Doctors who advocated mandated vaccines -- bullet to the face,' Caserta is heard saying in recordings captured by Dan.... Caserta ... wanted to identify those participating in contact tracing. 'I don't call it contact tracing, I call it constitutional trampling,' Caserta said in a recording made in Aug. 2020 during a meetup in Munith. 'We create a dynamic where no one wants to be a contact tracer because they might f****** die.'... 'I want Zionist banker blood,' Caserta is heard saying in one recording, likely referring to an antisemitic conspiracy theory that 'Zionists' have infiltrated the government...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The most amazing part, to me, is that these guys don't think they are toughs who are plotting to pull off heinous crimes; no, they think they are super-patriots who are going to save the country and the Constitution by slaughtering public officials, healthcare workers and "Zionist bankers."

News Lede

You Are Not Safe in the U.S.A. Washington Post: "Two people were killed and three others wounded in a shooting outside a popular Norfolk[, Virginia,] restaurant early Saturday morning, police said. Sierra M. Jenkins, a 25-year-old journalist for the Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press, was among those killed, her employer and police confirmed.... When officers arrived they found five people had been shot. One of them, Devon M. Harris, 25, of Portsmouth, was pronounced dead at the scene." ~~~

     ~~~ The Virginian-Pilot story is here. The reporter is Jane Harper, who was called in to the paper when editors couldn't reach Jenkins to cover the shooting.

March 19, 2022

Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war against Ukraine are here: "Ukrainian forces continued to put up a defiant defense of their country's cities, limiting Russian ground advances as the Kremlin's invasion entered its 24th day. Major population centers such as Kyiv and Kharkiv remain in Ukrainian hands, and Russia's troops are still 'stalled across the country,' the Pentagon said, even as it cautioned that Moscow retains 90 percent of its assembled combat power.... On Saturday, the Ukrainian military said it has been cut off from the Sea of Azov, immediately south of [Mariupol].... The United Nations said Friday that roughly 9.8 million people have either fled Ukraine or are internally displaced as a result of the fighting, while 12 million are stranded or otherwise face dangerous living conditions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said early Saturday that Russian forces have committed war crimes by blocking critical aid deliveries to Ukraine's embattled cities.... Vladimir Putin, at a rally in Moscow, celebrated the invasion and again baselessly claimed that he was stopping a genocide. Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged more humanitarian assistance to Ukraine during his Friday call with President Biden...." ~~~

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

Ellen Nakashima, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden, in a nearly two-hour video call Friday, warned China's leader, Xi Jinping, that his country would face significant repercussions if it provided aid to Russia.... The call was part of an urgent U.S. effort to head off any Chinese moves to provide economic or military help to Russia as America and its allies try to shut down Moscow's financial lifelines.... There was little indication Friday that Xi was receptive to Biden's entreaties that his country not come to Russia's aid, however.... Administration officials would not say whether Biden explicitly outlined the types of consequences Beijing might face if it should aid Russia in its war on Ukraine.... Most of the discussion between the two leaders was devoted to the Ukraine crisis, the official said.... Biden and Xi on Friday also discussed Taiwan." CNBC's report is here. The White House's readout is here.

John Simpson of BBC News: "On Thursday afternoon..., Vladimir Putin rang the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and told him what Russia's precise demands were for a peace deal with Ukraine.... The Russian demands fall into two categories[, according to Ibrahim Kalin, Mr. Erdogan's leading advisor].... Chief among [those in the first category] is an acceptance by Ukraine that it should be neutral and should not apply to join Nato. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has already conceded this.... Ukraine would have to undergo a disarmament process to ensure it wasn't a threat to Russia. There would have to be protection for the Russian language in Ukraine. And there is something called de-Nazification.... Mr Putin said that it would need face-to-face negotiations between him and President Zelensky before agreement could be reached on [demands in the second category].... Mr Kalin was much less specific about these issues, saying simply that they involved the status of Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, parts of which have already broken away from Ukraine and stressed their Russianness, and the status of Crimea. Although Mr Kalin didn't go into detail, the assumption is that Russia will demand that the Ukrainian government should give up territory in eastern Ukraine." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Nothing is fair in love and war, but I don't think Putin should get a prize for invading Ukraine, killing, maiming & starving Ukrainians & bombing their homes & hospitals. Rather, in any negotiation, Russia should have to give up its occupation of Donbas & Crimea & pay reparations to Ukraine. And it would be nice if Putin were forced to spend the rest of his unnatural life in modest accommodations on a tiny Pacific atoll, one that was not too radioactive. Without a yacht.

Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "Thousands of flag-waving Russians crammed into Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium ... during a triumphal celebration Friday of the eighth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea.... Vladimir Putin, breaking from his recent image as a remote figure at the end of a very long table, strode about the stage, extolling the war against Ukraine as testament to Russia's 'Christian values.'... He said Russia took military action to stop 'neo-Nazis and extreme nationalists' in Ukraine committing 'genocide.' But the video feed of his speech abruptly cut off mid-sentence, an interruption that was later described by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as a technical problem. 'Well, or sabotage,' tweeted the exiled Anti-Corruption Foundation of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Russian state television replayed the speech in full.... As usual for such events, some of the attendees were state employees ordered to attend."

Just a Coincidence! AP: "Three Russian cosmonauts have arrived at the International Space Station wearing yellow flight suits with blue accents, colours that match the Ukrainian flag. The men were the first new arrivals on the space station since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine last month.... When the cosmonauts were able to talk to family back on Earth, [Oleg] Artemyev was asked about the suits. He said every crew chose their own. 'It became our turn to pick a colour. But, in fact, we had accumulated a lot of yellow material so we needed to use it,' he said. 'So that's why we had to wear yellow.'"

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war against Ukraine are here: "At least 130 survivors have escaped the ruins of a theater that was nearly leveled in a Russian attack in the embattled southern city of Mariupol, a Ukrainian official said on Friday, but hundreds remained unaccounted for in the wreckage.... A missile strike on the outskirts of Lviv, a western city that has been a haven for people fleeing areas under siege, rattled the relative peace there on Friday. The strike may have been an attempt to target the abilities of Ukraine's air force because the local news media has reported that a plant at the airport was 'the only enterprise in Ukraine that refurbishes MiG-29s for the Ukrainian Air Force.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

John Ismay of the New York Times describes the NLAW -- Next Generation Light Anti-Tank Weapon -- an anti-tank missile made by Saab that is half the weight of a Javelin, that costs much less, & that a soldier can easily carry on his back. "In perhaps 15 seconds, and sometimes even faster than that, the soldiers can unsling the weapon, unfold its aiming sight, release a safety catch and wait for their prey to appear." NLAWs are something of an equalizer between a foot soldier & an armored tank. The U.K. reportedly has given 4,200 of them to Ukraine. An NLAW hit kills everybody in the tank.

Rachel Lerman & Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "Elon Musk recently challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to a one-handed fistfight for the future of Ukraine. But the entrepreneur's real defense of the besieged country is his effort to keep Ukrainians online with shipments of Starlink satellite Internet service. Starlink is a unit of Musk's space company, SpaceX. The service uses terminals that resemble TV dishes equipped with antennas and are usually mounted on roofs to access the Internet via satellite in rural or disconnected areas. When war broke out in Ukraine, the country faced threats of Russian cyberattacks and shelling that had the potential to take down the Internet.... So the country's minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, tweeted a direct plea to Musk urging him to send help. Musk replied just hours later: 'Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.' Ukraine has already received thousands of antennas from Musk's companies and European allies, which has proved 'very effective,' Fedorov said in an interview with The Washington Post Friday."

John Reinan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Jimmy Hill's last act was gathering food for hospital patients in Ukraine. The Mahtomedi native, 67, was killed Thursday in the northern Ukraine city of Chernihiv when Russian forces attacked people standing in a bread line. He is among several U.S. citizens to die so far in the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24."

Michael Luciano of Mediaite recounts an exchange between Sens. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) & Chris Murphy (D-Ct.) in which Sasse in particular seemed to forget he was speaking in the chamber of "the world's greatest deliberative body." Eventually, the presiding officer had to ask the senators to address their remarks to the president of the Senate & not to each other. Luciano notes that Sasse's remarks might include "the first time in history a senator has directly addressed another senator as 'dude' on the floor." Marie: But I find it rather more notable that Sasse used the venue to accuse another senator of verbal masturbation when he asked Murphy, "Do you think a single person that your Twitter self-pleasuring was for ... voted against it because they were against Ukrainian aid?" (Also linked yesterday.)

Melanie Zanona & Manu Raju of CNN: Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-Russia) "infuriated members of his own party this week for calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a 'thug' and the Ukrainian government 'incredibly evil' -- comments that surfaced just days before Zelensky made a passionate plea to Congress on Wednesday for more help in defending Ukraine against Russia's bloody assault on the country.... Cawthorn's latest comments have put GOP leaders in an awkward spot -- just as they're trying to show a unified front against Russia and paint President Joe Biden as weak against ... Vladimir Putin. The remarks from a freshman firebrand with the ear of ... Donald Trump risks undermining their anti-Russia position.... 'Madison is wrong, if there's any thug in this world it's Putin,' House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said at his weekly news conference on Friday, though he said he's still supporting Cawthorn's reelection bid."

Finally, Some Appreciation for Fox "News"' Fair & Balanced Coverage. Joanna Walters of the Guardian: "Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has praised Fox News for its coverage, appearing on the Russian state-controlled RT network to hail the right-leaning US cable channel, whose primetime host Tucker Carlson has played down the invasion. 'We know the manners and the tricks that are being used by the western countries to manipulate media, we understood long ago that there is no such thing as an independent western media,' said Lavrov, speaking in English in a studio interview on Friday. 'If you take the United States, only Fox News is trying to present some alternative point of view.'..."

Ellen Francis & Amy Cheng of the Washington Post: "Four American service members were killed on Friday night after a U.S. military aircraft crashed in Norway while taking part in a NATO exercise, the Norwegian prime minister said.... The U.S. 2nd Marines Expeditionary Force, in a statement, had not specified how many people were in the MV-22B Osprey, which is capable of vertical takeoffs and landings and is primarily used to transport troops and equipment in support of amphibious assaults. Norwegian civilian authorities led search and rescue efforts, the Marines said. The aircraft was assigned to participate in Exercise Cold Response 2022, a 'long-planned and regular' routine that Norway hosts biannually, according to the NATO military alliance. Around 30,000 troops from more than 27 NATO countries have gathered to train in Norway's cold-weather conditions. Norway announced Friday that it would step up defense spending in support of forces near its border with Russia.... NATO stressed that the exercise was not in response [to Russia's war on Ukraine]."

Maria Sachetti of the Washington Post: "Homeland Security's inspector general on Friday called for the immediate evacuation of dozens of immigrants detained at a privately run detention facility in New Mexico, saying it is 'critically understaffed' and has unsanitary conditions such as clogged toilets, moldy sinks and water leaks throughout the facility.... The report drew a highly unusual rebuke from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and CoreCivic, the private company that runs the facility, with both accusing the government watchdog of staging photos and fabricating claims. Filthy sinks and clogged toilets, for instance, were in unoccupied areas undergoing renovations, company officials said. ICE officials signaled the agency would not withdraw the 60 detainees from the facility...."

Felicia Sonmez & Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "The House on Friday passed the Crown Act, legislation that would ban discrimination against individuals based on how they choose to wear their hair. The measure, H.R. 2116 ... passed on a vote of 235 to 189, with 14 Republicans joining all Democrats in supporting the measure. The legislation was introduced by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) and prohibits discrimination 'based on the individual's hair texture or hairstyle, if that hair texture or that hairstyle is commonly associated with a particular race or national origin.'... The measure's future in the Senate remains uncertain.... The White House has said it strongly supports the House bill.... More than a dozen states have already enacted similar legislation, often with bipartisan support."

Maybe It's Her Hair. Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "How desperate can you get? This desperate: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is pushing the argument that Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is dangerously soft on sex offenders, child pornographers in particular. 'I've noticed an alarming pattern when it comes to Judge Jackson's treatment of sex offenders, especially those preying on children,' Hawley tweeted. 'I'm concerned that this [is] a record that endangers our children.'" Hawley then takes snippets of Jackson's writings and her rulings way out of context or otherwise misrepresents them to try to make his case. "Douglas Berman, an expert on sentencing policy at Ohio State University, reviewed Jackson's sentences in child pornography cases and pronounced them 'not at all out of the ordinary.'&" ~~~

~~~ Tierney Sneed of CNN digs a little more deeply into Jackson's record & Hawley's "concerns": "Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's writings, remarks and decisions as she wrestled with the highly sensitive issue of child pornography crimes are the focus of a new GOP line of attack on President Joe Biden's pick for the Supreme Court.... But a CNN review of the material in question shows that Jackson has mostly followed the common judicial sentencing practices in these kinds of cases, and that Hawley took some of her comments out of context by suggesting they were opinions, rather than follow-up questions to subject-matter experts." ~~~

Take It Away, Wingers! She's clearly got a very scary history when it comes to pedophilia, or at least handling people who are pedophiles. It's one more drop in the bucket when it comes to dealing with the left and their problem with pedophilia. -- Red State Editor Brandon Morse, on Ketanji Brown Jackson, OAN interview ~~~

~~~ Zachary Pleat of Media Matters: "Following Sen. Josh Hawley's (R-MO) Twitter rant yesterday against Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a segment on [far-right cable channel] OAN took his unfounded and misleading attacks against her record in a more deranged direction. The host and her guest falsely accused Jackson of being 'kind' to pedophiles, echoing the long-running QAnon conspiracy theory accusing liberal elites of engaging in pedophilia."

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "They were once seatmates in the spare limousine of the White House motorcade, traveling the globe together as part of the president's inner circle. Bonded by the miles they logged on the road and their unique access to power, Pete Souza, the former official White House photographer who took nearly two million photographs of former President Barack Obama, and Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas, the former White House physician who was elected to Congress as a Republican in 2020, were once close friends. Now, they are the most public of enemies on social media, where Mr. Jackson routinely hurls insults and unsubstantiated claims of cognitive decline at President Biden and Mr. Souza responds with bitingly personal, sometimes salacious takedowns of the congressman's character. He often begins them tauntingly with, 'Hey Ronny." MB: All I can say is, "Go Pete!" (Also linked yesterday.)

Maria Cramer of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign has been ordered to pay more than $300,000 in legal fees and expenses to a former employee who the campaign's lawyers said had violated the terms of a nondisclosure agreement when she accused Mr. Trump of forcibly kissing her in 2016. The award, the culmination of an arbitration claim that was dismissed in November, represents the latest instance of Mr. Trump"s failure to use a nondisclosure agreement successfully against an ex-worker."

Tara Bernard of the New York Times: "Equifax, Experian and TransUnion -- the giant credit-reporting companies that each keep files on roughly 200 million Americans -- said on Friday that they will soon [-- beginning July 1 --] wipe away credit stains created by certain medical debts. The changes -- including removing black marks for people who settled a debt after it went to collections -- were cheered by consumer advocates and reflected a growing acceptance that such debts aren't the best predictor of a consumer's financial behavior. The companies said the changes would eliminate up to 70 percent of the medical debt accounts on consumers' credit reports, which contain reams of data used to calculate the all-important three-digit credit score that is the key to mortgages, car loans, rental agreements and more.... And beginning in the first half of 2023, the credit-reporting companies said, they will exclude unpaid medical collection debts under $500.... But the changes will do little to lift the scores of people with the largest unpaid debts, who are often dealing with catastrophic or costly illnesses that result in high bills even with insurance coverage."

Sooner or Later, It All Comes Down to Racism. Brad Dress of the Hill: "A member of the 'People's Convoy' said that he was going to tar and feather Black Lives Matter Plaza while speaking to a crowd gathered in Washington, D.C.... In a video captured by The Daily Beast, a speaker standing on a stage bearing a sign for 'Freedom Convoy 2022' tells a crowd to 'take back' a street adorned with the slogan 'Black Lives Matter,' which stretches for two blocks on 16th Street NW in D.C." MB: Just as I forgot all about the "People's Convoy," this guy seems to have forgot that the idea of the protest was to fight Covid-19 healthcare protocols.

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "Don Young, the Alaska congressman who secured pork-barrel billions for his state over nearly a half-century and became the longest-serving Republican in the House of Representatives and the oldest current member of both the House and Senate, died on Friday. He was 88. Mr. Young died while traveling home to Alaska, his office said. His wife, Anne, was with him. In a state whose small population allows for two senators but only one representative, Mr. Young, who cultivated the image of a rugged frontiersman with outsize clout in Washington, was sometimes called Alaska's 'third senator.'... Most Alaskans have had no congressman in their lifetimes but Mr. Young, who was first elected in 1973, during the Nixon administration.... Gruff and irascible, Mr. Young, who survived occasional allegations of shady ethics, was a staunch opponent of environmental causes and a tough defender of Alaska's oil, mineral and logging industries." MB: IOW, a nasty piece of work, may the Fates rest his soul, if he has one.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: So this Alabama gunshop owner named Nathan Kirk thought it would be funny to get a vanity plate that read, "LGBFJB," which signified to Kirk, "Let's Go Brandon. Fuck Joe Biden." After a while, Kirk got a letter from Alabama's motor vehicle officials telling him his plate was an affront to the "peace and dignity of the State of Alabama" and Kirk would have to turn it in. Well, sez Kirk, "I wasn't going to just lay down." He means "lie down," but he's an Alabama Republican, so. Poor Kirk's plight became a right-wing cause célèbre. So the state Motor Vehicle Division reversed itself & told Kirk they were right sorry for any inconvenience that might have caused him. (Also linked yesterday.)

Ohio Senate Race. Craig Howie of Politico: "An onstage standoff erupted between Ohio Republican Senate candidates Josh Mandel and Mike Gibbons at a primary debate Friday evening. In video from the Gahanna debate, former state treasurer Mandel stood up to challenge investment banker Gibbons during a heated discussion over a stock trade as the crowd jeered the confrontation and a debate official sought to separate the two men.... The men repeatedly told each other to back off before standing eye-to-eye for several seconds, while fellow GOP debate participants Matt Dolan, Jane Timken and JD Vance looked on awkwardly. Mandel eventually took his seat. Mandel and Gibbons continued their feud offstage, with Gibbons' team calling Mandel 'unhinged' and Mandel further criticizing Gibbons' investment record. The two candidates have been locked in a tight race for first place in the Republican Senate primary, according to recent polling."

South Carolina. Meg Kinnard of the AP: "South Carolina has given the greenlight to firing-squad executions, a method codified into state law last year after a decade-long pause in carrying out death sentences because of the state's inability to procure lethal injection drugs. The state Corrections Department said Friday that renovations have been completed on the death chamber in Columbia and that the agency had notified Attorney General Alan Wilson that it was able to carry out a firing-squad execution. Lawmakers set about tweaking state law to get around the lethal injection drug situation. Legislation that went into effect in May made the electric chair the state's primary means of execution while giving inmates the option of choosing death by firing squad or lethal injection, if those methods are available."

Way Beyond

A Heat Wave in Antartica. Jason Samenow & Kasha Patel of the Washington Post: "The coldest location on the planet has experienced an episode of warm weather this week unlike any ever observed, with temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet soaring 50 to 90 degrees above normal. The warmth has smashed records and shocked scientists.... Parts of eastern Antarctica have seen temperatures hover 70 degrees (40 Celsius) above normal for three days and counting, [climate researcher Jonathan] Wille said. He likened the event to the June heat wave in the Pacific Northwest, which scientists concluded would have been 'virtually impossible' without human-caused climate change.

News Lede

New York Times: "At least one person was killed, 50 homes were destroyed and nearly 500 others evacuated in central Texas after a wildfire burned more than 45,000 acres, officials said on Friday. The wildfire, a set of blazes west of the Dallas-Fort Worth area called the Eastland Complex fire, began on Thursday evening. A deputy with the Eastland County Sheriff's Office, Barbara Fenley, died while helping people escape, the authorities said. The blaze was 15 percent contained as of Friday evening, the Texas A&M Forest Service said on Twitter."