December 18, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Forgot this one this morning: ~~~

~~~ Zachary Cohen & Holmes Lybrand of CNN: "Roger Stone ... met briefly Friday with the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot and asserted his Fifth Amendment rights to every question asked, he said."

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "A congressional year that began with an assault on the seat of democracy ended at 4 a.m. Saturday with the failure of a narrow Democratic majority to deliver on its most cherished promises, leaving lawmakers in both parties wondering if the legislative branch can be rehabilitated without major changes to its rules of operations. 'It has been a horrible year, hasn't it?' asked Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, as she looked back on failed efforts to convict a former president and to create a bipartisan commission to examine the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, as well as numerous legislative endeavors that could not find bipartisan majorities." MB: If Lisa had wanted to make it a little less horrible, she could have announced she would vote in favor of the Buiid Back Better bill, no matter what was in it. (She was the only GOP senator to vote to advance restoration of part of the voting rights act.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Jake Tapper & Jamie Gangel of CNN: "Members of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol believe that former Texas Governor and Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry was the author of a text message sent to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows the day after the 2020 election pushing an 'AGRESSIVE (sic) STRATEGY' for three state legislatures to ignore the will of their voters and deliver their states' electors to Donald Trump, three sources familiar with the House Committee investigation tell CNN. A spokesman for Perry told CNN that the former Energy Secretary denies being the author of the text. Multiple people who know Rick Perry confirmed to CNN that the phone number the committee has associated with that text message is Perry's number.... The text was first presented publicly on the House floor Tuesday night by Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, and reads: 'HERE's an AGRESSIVE (sic) STRATEGY: Why can t (sic) the states of GA NC PENN and other R controlled state houses declare this is BS (where conflicts and election not called that night) and just send their own electors to vote and have it go to the SCOTUS.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Rick Perry isn't all that bright, but apparently he has a Smartphone because if we're to believe his spokesperson, the phone must have generated the coup plot all by itself. The real bottom line: there is now solid evidence that a former Trump Cabinet member was plotting a coup even before all the votes were counted & sharing those nefarious plans with Trump's top aide. (North Carolina eventually went to Trump.) And Perry, being a former governor, would know how to manipulate state legislatures. ~~~

     ~~~ Steve M.: "As I always say, Donald Trump didn't turn the GOP into an anti-democratic party. The GOP has been opposed to democracy since at least the era of George W. Bush and his obsession with voter fraud. Trump vastly increased the level of anti-democratic aggression, but pre-Trump Republicans were already with the program. Some have preferred to create a veneer of legitimacy about their anti-democratic activities, which would explain why Republicans in the states resisted Trump's efforts to steal the 2020 election after the votes were in and counted, but they're all fine with the notion of putting a thumb or two on the scale to ensure Republican victories."

Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signaled support for the bipartisan House committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, saying what the panel is trying to uncover is 'something the public needs to know.' In an interview with Spectrum News that aired Thursday, McConnell said he looks forward to hearing what else the committee will reveal about the insurrection, a view that puts him at odds with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who has attacked the work of the panel as purely political. 'I think the fact-finding is interesting. We're all going to be watching it,' McConnell said. 'It was a horrendous event, and I think what they're seeking to find out is something the public needs to know.' McConnell's statements are noteworthy given that earlier this year he opposed the creation of [a fact-finding commission]...." ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "On Tuesday, CNN's Manu Raju asked [Mitch] McConnell about the revelation that Trump allies ... had pleaded with [Trump chief-of-staff Mark] Meadows during the riot to get Trump to stop it. The text messages showed those people recognized Trump was the catalyst for the events, despite their later comments. McConnell ... responded: 'I do think we're all watching, as you are, what is unfolding on the House side, and it will be interesting to reveal all of the participants who were involved.'... [McConnell's possible motive: he recognizes that the committee's findings will] reflect quite poorly on those involved, and McConnell recognizes it will be difficult to dispute that.... Whatever the [motive]..., what he's saying is a departure from his party that significantly hamstrings efforts to undermine the committee."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Brandon Straka, a Donald Trump ally who spoke at a Jan. 5 'Stop the Steal' rally in Washington -- and has since pleaded guilty for joining the mob that stormed onto the grounds of the U.S. Capitol the next day -- has provided investigators with information they say 'may impact the government's sentencing recommendation.' It's an indication that Straka, one of the few Jan. 6 defendants who is also of interest to congressional investigators, has cooperated with prosecutors in a substantive way.... Straka pleaded guilty in October to a single misdemeanor charge and was set to be sentenced next week. But prosecutors have asked for a 30-day sentencing delay so that his new evidence 'can be properly evaluated.'"

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A Florida man [Robert Palmer] who hurled a fire extinguisher at police officers during some of the most ferocious fighting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was sentenced on Friday to more than five years in prison, the longest term handed down so far to any of the more than 700 people charged in the attack.... Prosecutors say he threw a wooden plank-like spear at the police, sprayed a fire extinguisher at officers and then hurled the empty canister at them.... Before his sentencing hearing in Federal District Court in Washington, Mr. Palmer, 54, wrote a letter to Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, saying that he had come to recognize that Mr. Trump and his allies had lied to their supporters by 'spitting out the false narrative about a stolen election and how it was "our duty" to stand up to tyranny.'"

Jesse Wegman of the New York Times: "While [voter fraud scam artists] pretend to care about real election crimes, their purpose ... is to concoct a world in which the votes of certain people (and it always seems to be the same people) are presumptively invalid. That's why they are not chastened by data demonstrating -- again and again and again and again — that there is essentially no voter fraud anywhere in this country. Thanks to their efforts, about three quarters of Republicans believe the 2020 election was stolen, and they won't be convinced by evidence to the contrary.... Voter fraud is vanishingly rare. It is virtually never coordinated. And when it does happen, it is often easily discovered and prosecuted by authorities.... Donald Trump turned fact-free charges of voter fraud into an art form, but the exploitation of the predictable public fear generated by that sort of rhetoric has been a central feature of the Republican playbook for years.... The goal of the voter-fraud brigade ... was to indoctrinate voters with the terror of stolen elections, and to pave the way for a hostile takeover of American democracy in the future." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: We probably should stop thinking of the voter-fraud nonsense as a conspiracy theory and think of it more as the promotion of bigotry against Democratic voters, particularly Democratic voters of color. Racist bigotry has been the defining appeal of the Republican party since Richard Nixon & Lee Atwater developed their "Southern stragegy"; fake voter fraud is just another iteration of "you can't trust them Nee-gros."

** Retired Army Generals Paul Eaton, Antonio Taguba & Steven Anderson, in a Washington Post op-ed: "As we approach the first anniversary of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, we -- all of us former senior military officials -- are increasingly concerned about the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election and the potential for lethal chaos inside our military, which would put all Americans at severe risk. In short: We are chilled to our bones at the thought of a coup succeeding next time.... The potential for a military breakdown mirroring societal or political breakdown is very real. The signs of potential turmoil in our armed forces are there. On Jan. 6, a disturbing number of veterans and active-duty members of the military took part in the attack on the Capitol.... Recently, and perhaps more worrying, Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino, the commanding general of the Oklahoma National Guard, refused an order from President Biden mandating that all National Guard members be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Mancino claimed that while the Oklahoma Guard is not federally mobilized, his commander in chief is the Republican governor of the state, not the president. The idea of rogue units organizing among themselves to support the 'rightful' commander in chief cannot be dismissed."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: A new book by political scientist Barbara Walter argues: "'We are closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe.'... The United States has already gone through what the CIA identifies as the first two phases of insurgency -- the 'pre-insurgency' and 'incipient conflict' phases -- and only time will tell whether the final phase, 'open insurgency,' began with the sacking of the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters on Jan. 6. Things deteriorated so dramatically under Trump, in fact, that the United States no longer technically qualifies as a democracy.... Other [studies] have reached similar findings.... It is no exaggeration to say the survival of our country is at stake."

Sonia Rao of the Washington Post: “Peloton dropped its ad featuring 'Sex and the City' actor Chris Noth on Thursday after he was accused of sexually assaulting two women in separate incidents. Later that same day, actress Zoe Lister-Jones referred to him as a 'sexual predator.' The Hollywood Reporter detailed the allegations against Noth in an article published Thursday, stating that the women had reached out earlier in the year in response to the promotion of .. [a] 'Sex and the City' reboot that premiered last week. According to the publication, the press cycle 'stirred painful memories' of the alleged incidents, said to have occurred in Los Angeles in 2004 and New York in 2015. Both women [-- who said Noth raped them --] remained anonymous. Noth ... said in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter that the allegations were 'categorically false' and described the encounters as consensual."

Marie: Over the past ten years or so, I have made quite a few purchases from Wayfair, an online furniture & decor store. Now, according to QAnon, it turns out Wayfair is a hub for child sex trafficking! (Washington Post link.) According to QAnon -- and many "regular people" taken in by the hoohah -- products Wayfair markets as pricey cabinets are actually kidnapped girls. It seems sex-trafficking conspiracy theories have been a major boon for QAnon, which grew out of the fake Pizzagate child sex-trafficking hoohah and then expanded to pro-Trump propaganda, on the insane theory that Trump would save girls from become victims of the sex-traffickers. Rosanne Boyland, an insurrectionist who died at the January 6 siege of the Capitol, bought into the Wayfair story. "She was certain that on Jan. 6, Trump was going to announce the arrest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and his master plan to save the children.... To those studying QAnon, Rosanne's story was further proof that conspiracy theories about child sex trafficking were serving as on-ramps to far-right radicalization and disturbing acts of violence. Outside of the insurrection, there have been at least nine QAnon-inspired crimes in 2020 and 2021 committed by people who believed they were in the midst of saving the children, according to data from a University of Maryland analysis." If you have a WashPo subscription, this long article is worth reading.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "About 1,300 Americans are dying from the coronavirus each day. The national case, death and hospitalization rates remain well below those seen last winter, before vaccines were widely available. But suddenly, positive tests are growing. State officials in New York reported more than 20,000 coronavirus cases on Friday, which they said was more than on any other day of the pandemic. In Connecticut and Maine, reports of new infections have grown by around 150 percent in the last two weeks. In Ohio and Indiana, hospitalization rates are approaching those seen during last winter's devastating wave. "Living in a constant crisis for 20 months-plus is a little overwhelming," said Dr. Matthew Deibel, the medical director for emergency care at Covenant [in Saginaw, Michigan].... With coronavirus hospitalizations increasing 20 percent nationally over the last two weeks, to 68,000 people, doctors and nurses are speaking with renewed alarm about conditions and pleading with people to get vaccinated."

Lauren Hirsch, et al., of the New York Times: "A federal appeals panel on Friday reinstated a Biden administration rule requiring larger companies to mandate that their workers get vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to weekly testing by early January. The decision, by a split three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, overturned a ruling last month by its counterpart in New Orleans, the Fifth Circuit, that had blocked the government from carrying out the rule. The contested rule, issued by the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, has faced a wave of lawsuits from businesses and Republican-controlled states. Several challengers immediately said they planned to file or already had filed emergency motions with the Supreme Court to block the rule." A CNBC report is here.

** Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "The Trump administration engaged in 'deliberate efforts' to undermine the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic for political purposes, a congressional report released Friday concludes. The report, prepared by the House select subcommittee investigating the nation's Covid response, says the White House repeatedly overruled public health and testing guidance by the nation's top infectious disease experts and silenced officials in order to promote ... Donald Trump's political agenda."

Pete Muntean of CNN: "Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly, who testified unmasked at a Senate hearing on Wednesday, has since tested positive for the coronavirus, the airline said in a statement. 'Although testing negative multiple times prior to the Senate Commerce Committee Hearing, Gary tested positive for COVID-19 after returning home, experiencing mild symptoms, and taking a PCR test,' Southwest (LUV) said. 'Gary is doing well and currently resting at home, he has been fully vaccinated and received the booster earlier this year.'... Kelly testified at the hearing that he believes masks do not add substantial protection to airplane passengers and cited aircraft ventilation systems."

Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "Moderna is pausing a patent dispute with the federal government over its groundbreaking coronavirus vaccine, saying it is 'grateful' to government scientists who collaborated with the company and wants to 'avoid any distraction' in the fight against the omicron variant. The decision could have implications for the Biden administration's global vaccination strategy, as officials look for leverage to share mRNA vaccine discoveries with developing countries in an effort to ramp up worldwide supply. It is also expected to turn down the heat on the Cambridge, Mass., vaccine maker, which projected as much as $18 billion in sales from its vaccine this year, and has received stinging criticism for doing too little to share its breakthroughs with poorer nations." MB: Yes, because $18 billion (and counting) is kind of a "distraction."

Beyond the Beltway

Minnesota. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Testifying in front of the jurors who will decide her fate, Kimberly Potter broke down on Friday as she watched body camera video that captured her fatal shooting of a 20-year-old Black man during an encounter that began with a traffic stop over an air freshener. The shooting of Daunte Wright, she said, was the only time she had ever fired her gun in 26 years of policing in Brooklyn Center, a Minneapolis suburb. And, Ms. Potter said, it had been a mistake. She had meant to stun Mr. Wright with her Taser, a weapon she said she had also never used in the field. Ms. Potter, who is white, shook her head and tightly closed her eyes as a prosecutor played a video of her shouting 'I'll Tase you!' and 'Taser! Taser! Taser!' before firing a single bullet into Mr. Wright's chest."

Puerto Rico. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "Two years ago, federal agents arrested Puerto Rico's former education secretary, Julia Keleher, as part of a sprawling corruption investigation whose accusations helped uncork public dissatisfaction with the island's leaders and contributed to the furious ouster of a young and ambitious governor.... On Friday, a federal judge in Puerto Rico sentenced Ms. Keleher to serve six months in prison and 12 months of house arrest and pay a $21,000 fine. She had pleaded guilty in June to two felony counts involving conspiracies to commit fraud. Ms. Keleher's sentencing came amid a new spate of corruption arrests -- three mayors in three weeks -- that has dominated headlines in Puerto Rico."

December 17, 2021

By Adam Zyglis of the Buffalo News.~~~ Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Senate Democrats on Thursday began to accept the prospect that they may not be able to adopt a roughly $2 trillion package to overhaul the country's health care, education, climate, immigration and tax laws before the end of this year, threatening a major political setback for the final piece of President Biden's economic agenda.... In a statement, [Biden] said discussions remain ongoing with Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), a key swing vote in the chamber who has expressed sustained concern about the size and scope of the economic package. But he appeared to leave open the door that the debate could easily drag into 2022. 'We will advance this work together over the days and weeks ahead,' Biden said, noting that he and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) are 'determined to see the bill successfully on the floor as early as possible.'" ~~~

~~~ Burgess Everett & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Senate Democrats ended a frustrating day in a frustrating week with President Joe Biden acknowledging that his sweeping social spending bill will wait until next year -- a setback that comes as the party also spins its wheels on election reform.... Democrats faced no shortage of other issues.... The Senate parliamentarian is still reviewing key elements of the House-passed version of the legislation to ensure that it complies with Senate rules. [She nixed] immigration ... on Thursday night.... 'We missed an opportunity. But I'm not giving up,' [said] Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). 'Apparently Manchin's approach to this has changed a lot. I don't know where he is today or where he'll be tomorrow.'"

Paul Krugman of the New York Times on inflation: "... I believe that what we're seeing mainly reflects the inherent dislocations from the pandemic, rather than, say, excessive government spending. I also believe that inflation will subside over the course of the next year and that we shouldn't take any drastic action. But reasonable economists disagree, and they could be right.... [Today's] inflation hasn't followed a simple script. What we're seeing instead is a strange episode that exhibits some parallels to past events but also includes new elements." MB: A longer-than-usual column, with no clear answer. ~~~

~~~ Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "The latest sticking point over President Biden's ambitious Build Back Better agenda? You guessed it: inflation. Asked this week about his reservations toward the legislation, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) told reporters that inflation is 'alarming. It's going up, not down. And I think that should be something we're concerned about.' Concerns about inflation are justified.... But inflation concerns are not a good reason to block this particular bill. They're also not a compelling reason to support this legislation, despite what the White House and its allies often argue. Realistically, the bill is likely to have little effect on price growth either way."

Zachary Basu of Axios: "The Senate voted 75-18 on Thursday to confirm Nicholas Burns, a widely respected former career diplomat, as U.S. ambassador to China.... Burns -- the first Senate-confirmed ambassador in Beijing in more than 14 months -- will inherit the most complex and high-stakes bilateral relationship in the world.... Burns' nomination in August drew bipartisan praise and support, but his confirmation was held up last month by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Rubio agreed to release the hold when the Senate voted unanimously on Thursday to ban imports from the Chinese region of Xinjiang over forced labor concerns. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) argued that the U.S. needs Burns at his post in order to effectively implement the bill, which is designed to punish the Chinese government for its genocide of Uyghur Muslims."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), who is up for reelection in 2022, announced on Thursday that she supports getting rid of the 60-vote legislative filibuster for voting rights legislation. Hassan is the latest in a growing number of Senate Democrats who back changes to the Senate rules as voting rights legislation has been stuck in limbo for months -- though Democrats don't yet have the 50 votes needed in order to reform the filibuster." MB: Today was the first time in a while I've sent an email to a senator using my real address, this time giving her an attagirl.

Stephen Collinson of CNN: "If politics still turned on truth and facts, this would be the week when the lie-filled foundations of Donald Trump's movement imploded.... But it is the ex-President's greatest, most subversive victory that his empire of falsehoods will surely survive new disclosures that lay bare his own abuses of power and the voter-mocking deceit of his political and media enablers.... The House select committee probing the January 6 insurrection has released fresh details of the elaborate behind-the-scenes plot to subvert the certification of President Joe Biden's election." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The House committee's revelations are effectively a condemnation of most of the Republican party -- all the way to the top. While House Minority "Leader" Kevin McCarthy may not have known just how deeply enmeshed Jim Jordan was in the plot to overturn the election, which the committee is now exposing, he knew some of it when he decided it would be a good idea to appoint Jordan to the very committee that is investigating Jordan. "Of the [five] Republicans McCarthy has put forth for the committee, [Jim] Banks [Indiana], Jordan and [Troy] Nehls [Texas] were among the 139 House Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential results in Arizona and Pennsylvania." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jan Wolfe & Patricia Zengerle of Reuters, via Yahoo! News: "Longtime Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone will invoke the constitutional protection against self-incrimination during an interview on Friday with the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Stone's lawyer said on Thursday. Stone's attorney, Grant Smith, said in an e-mail that his client will appear for a closed-door deposition before the House of Representatives committee on Friday but will not answer any questions, invoking his rights under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."

Jacqueline Alemany & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob announced Thursday it had issued a subpoena to retired Army Col. Phil Waldron as it investigates the causes of the insurrection. Waldron worked with [Donald] Trump's outside legal team and circulated and briefed members of Congress on a PowerPoint presentation that outlined various proposals to overturn the results of the 2020 election. A version of the presentation that Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows handed over to the committee surfaced last week after the panel made some of its findings public." Politico's report is here.

Remember Gohmert! Kyle Cheney of Politico: "As Donald Trump and his allies squeezed then-Vice President Mike Pence to single-handedly stop Joe Biden's presidency in the weeks ahead of Jan. 6, they used one particular tool that's been largely ignored ever since. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) sued Pence on Dec. 27, just as Trump was ratcheting up his pressure campaign against his vice president. Backed by a squad of lawyers associated with Trump ally and conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell, Gohmert argued Pence should assert unilateral control over certification, governed only by the vague wording of the Twelfth Amendment. Gohmert's move forced Pence to publicly resist Trump's subversion of the election, only a week before the fateful Jan. 6 joint session of Congress. When the Justice Department stepped in to defend Pence from the lawsuit on Dec. 29, it marked the first time Pence signaled he wouldn't fold to Trump's demands.... What remains unknown is just how involved Trump was in Gohmert's legal strategy.... '[Gohmert's ill-fated suit -- he lost in multiple courts -- is] a significant detail in that it was part of a plan to isolate and coerce Pence,' said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)."

Another GOP 2020 Presidential Election Scam. Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "'New documents show Kanye West's doomed White House campaign -- styled as an "independent" third-party effort -- appears to have disguised potentially millions of dollars in services it received from a secretive network of Republican Party operatives, including advisers to the GOP elite and a managing partner at one of the top conservative political firms in the country,' The Daily Beast reported Friday.... 'The Kanye 2020 campaign committee did not even report paying some of these advisers, and used an odd abbreviation for another -- moves which campaign finance experts say appear designed to mask the association between known GOP operatives and the campaign, and could constitute a violation of federal laws,' The Beast reported."

Ho Ho Ho. The lovely Mrs. Trump a/k/a Melanie has announced a new grift just in time for Christmas. It's an NFT (David Smith of the Guardian explains) featuring a portrait of Melanie that highlights her "cobalt blue eyes, providing the collector with an amulet to inspire." Not to worry; "a portion" of the proceeds will go to orphans! Please, Ma'am, may we have more? And you wonder why the old families of New York never invited the Trumps to their parties. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Robert Barnes & Anne Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court returned the lawsuit over Texas's restrictive abortion law to [the (conservative) Fifth Circuit] federal appeals court Thursday, rejecting a request by abortion providers to send the case to a district judge who had previously declared the law unconstitutional. The order came from Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who last week wrote the majority opinion that left in place the law, which bans most abortions after six weeks. The decision granted a narrow path for providers to challenge the law's unique enforcement structure. The Thursday order granted part of the request from abortion providers -- returning the case immediately rather than after the court's standard 25-day delay." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe this is all an anti-science thing. Back in the dark ages when I was a schoolgirl, it was common to ask if one "believed in" evolution. A respect for this scientific hypothesis, including the survival-of-the-fittest theory, was posed largely as a faith-type question. And if you did "believe in" evolution, then you didn't believe in the Bible & God & Jesus & all that. So here are the confederate justices, proving their holy creds by demonstrating they don't "believe in" survival of the fittest by ensuring that women who are most unfit -- because they are most unwilling -- to rear a child are the very ones who must do so. Keeping 'em barefoot & pregnant is a religious belief as much as a social credo. Kinda warms a person to the Christmas story, doesn't it? ~~~

~~~ Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "The federal government on Thursday permanently lifted a major restriction on access to abortion pills. It will allow patients to receive the medication by mail instead of requiring them to obtain the pills in person.... The decision, by the Food and Drug Administration, comes as the Supreme Court is considering whether to roll back abortion rights or even overturn its landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that made abortion legal nationwide. The F.D.A.'s action means that medication abortion ... will become more available to women who find it difficult to travel to an abortion provider or prefer to terminate a pregnancy in their homes. It allows patients to have a telemedicine appointment with a provider who can prescribe abortion pills and send them to the patient by mail.... The current practice is that women who live in states that don't allow telemedicine for abortion must travel to a state that does -- although they don't have to visit a clinic. But legal experts said they expected supporters of abortion rights to try to find ways to make the pills available without requiring a patient to travel...." An NPR report is here.

Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "With the accuracy of a drone strike, the three justices appointed by ... Donald Trump and strong-armed through to confirmation by Senator Mitch McConnell ... are doing exactly what they were sent to the court to do. The resulting path of destruction of settled precedent and long-established norms is breathtaking.... The imminent evisceration of the constitutional right to abortion ... is only the beginning.... [The cases the conservative justices have chosen to hear from among the thousands they receive for review tell the real story.] Each involves a touchstone issue for conservatives: easing restrictions on firearms, overturning Roe v. Wade and elevating the place of religion in a secular society, in part by granting entitlement to public benefits as a matter of equal treatment."

Adam Goldman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "... the Justice Department is deep into an investigation of how the diary [of Ashley Biden, President Biden's daughter,] found its way into the hands of supporters of [Donald] Trump at the height of the campaign. Federal prosecutors and F.B.I. agents are investigating whether there was a criminal conspiracy among a handful of individuals to steal and publish the diary. Those being scrutinized include current and former operatives for the conservative group Project Veritas; a donor Mr. Trump appointed to a political position in the final days of his administration; a man who once pleaded guilty in a money laundering scheme; and a financially struggling mother of two.... The investigation has focused new attention on how Mr. Trump or his allies sought to use the troubles of Mr. Biden's two surviving children to undercut him."

Judge Rejects Multi-Billion-Dollar Sackler Opioid Deal. Jan Hoffman of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday evening unraveled a painstakingly negotiated settlement between Purdue Pharma and thousands of state, local and tribal governments that had sued the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin for the company's role in the opioid epidemic, saying that the plan was flawed in one critical area. The judge, Colleen McMahon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, said that the settlement, part of a restructuring plan for Purdue approved in September by a bankruptcy judge, should not go forward because it releases the company's owners, members of the billionaire Sackler family, from liability in civil opioid-related cases. Although the Sacklers did not file for personal bankruptcy protection, they had made immunization from opioid claims an absolute requirement in exchange for contributing payments amounting to $4.5 billion to the agreement.... Within hours of the ruling, Purdue said it would appeal." The AP's story is here.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Friday are here.

Lena Sun & Frances Sellers of the Washington Post: "The nation's top public health official recommended Thursday that people seeking the safest and most effective coronavirus vaccines and boosters go with the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shots, instead of those made by Johnson & Johnson. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, endorsed the policy several hours after the unanimous vote from the agency's vaccine advisory panel, which cited concerns over the increased risk of a potentially fatal blood clot issue associated with the Johnson & Johnson shots." The article is free to nonsubscribers.

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "The vast majority of active-duty troops in the Army and the Navy are vaccinated against the coronavirus, and the small number of those still refusing shots will soon be dismissed from the military, officials said on Thursday.... Thousands of troops requested religious exemptions, but none have been granted, officials said." A CNN report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Kentucky. Deon Hampton & Corky Siemaszko of NBC News: "Some employees who survived a tornado that leveled their candle factory are considering taking legal action against the company, according to an attorney who is representing some of the workers. The move by several injured Mayfield Consumer Products employees comes after five workers told NBC News that as the twister was bearing down on the city Friday their supervisors warned they could be fired if they tried to flee. At least eight workers died, Kentucky officials have said." See also Akhilleus' comment below. We should hope that if this case goes to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch does not write the majority opinion. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Louisiana. Ryan Young, et al., of CNN: "A judge in Lafayette, Louisiana, is taking a leave of absence and facing calls for her resignation after a video with racist language recorded at her home surfaced.... The video, appearing to show surveillance footage of an outdoor altercation with a burglary suspect being played on a television while people, who are not visible, view and comment on the footage using racist language, was shared with local media in Lafayette and is now being shared widely across social media.... In the video circulating online, a male voice can be heard saying, 'And Mom's yelling n***er, n***er." Then after what appears to be some jovial banter, a female voice is heard saying, 'We have a n ***er, It's a n***er, like a roach,' while laughing." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ MB: Presumably "Mom" and the "female" are Judge Michelle M. Odinet, who's facing calls for her resignation. Odinet is blaming her racist rant on a sedative she took. There is no sedative or other condition that would cause me to use the language she used because I just don't think that way. Would I use profanity to describe a person who was robbing me? Well, yes I would.

Virginia. Protecting Women? Sorry, We'll Be on Vacay. Reid Epstein & Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "Democrats have less than a month left controlling Virginia before Republicans take over the House of Delegates and the governor's mansion. With the clock ticking, many in the party want to seize what they see as a fleeting opportunity: protecting abortion rights by codifying them into state law. But Democratic leaders in the State Senate have dismissed the idea ... [because] several of the chamber's members don't want to change their vacation plans. One senator is traveling in Africa. Others are in Europe. And the majority leader is headed to Hawaii.... Democrats in the Virginia Senate argue that it would be impossible to call the chamber back to Richmond in the next month, and that even if they did, there was no guarantee that the party would have enough votes."

Way Beyond

Haiti. Evens Sanon & Peter Smith of the AP: "The remaining members of a U.S. missionary group who were kidnapped two months ago in Haiti have been freed, Haitian police and the group said Thursday. The spokesman for Haiti's National Police, Gary Desrosiers, confirmed to The Associated Press that the hostages had been released, but did not immediately provide additional details." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

Washington Post: "At least five people are dead after a powerful storm system of more than 20 tornadoes swept through the central United States on Wednesday with high winds that spread wildfires and knocked down power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands of customers without electricity. Most of the fatalities occurred in vehicle crashes.... The National Weather Service confirmed that at least 21 tornadoes touched down in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin. At least 13 of those touched down in Iowa, officials said Thursday."

December 16, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Robert Barnes & Anne Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court returned the lawsuit over Texas's restrictive abortion law to [the (conservative) Fifth Circuit] federal appeals court Thursday, rejecting a request by abortion providers to send the case to a district judge who had previously declared the law unconstitutional. The order came from Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who last week wrote the majority opinion that left in place the law, which bans most abortions after six weeks. The decision granted a narrow path for providers to challenge the law's unique enforcement structure. The Thursday order granted part of the request from abortion providers -- returning the case immediately rather than after the court's standard 25-day delay."

Stephen Collinson of CNN: "If politics still turned on truth and facts, this would be the week when the lie-filled foundations of Donald Trump's movement imploded.... But it is the ex-President's greatest, most subversive victory that his empire of falsehoods will surely survive new disclosures that lay bare his own abuses of power and the voter-mocking deceit of his political and media enablers.... The House select committee probing the January 6 insurrection has released fresh details of the elaborate behind-the-scenes plot to subvert the certification of President Joe Biden's election." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The House committee's revelations are effectively a condemnation of most of the Republican party -- all the way to the top. While House Minority "Leader" Kevin McCarthy may not have known just how deeply enmeshed Jim Jordan was in the plot to overturn the election, which the committee is now exposing, he knew some of it when he decided it would be a good idea to appoint Jordan to the very committee that is investigating Jordan. "Of the [five] Republicans McCarthy has put forth for the committee, [Jim] Banks [Indiana], Jordan and [Troy] Nehls [Texas] were among the 139 House Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential results in Arizona and Pennsylvania."

AND the lovely Mrs. Trump a/k/a Melanie has announced a new grift just in time for Christmas. It's an NFT (David Smith of the Guardian explains) featuring a portrait of Melanie that highlights her "cobalt blue eyes, providing the collector with an amulet to inspire." Not to worry; "a portion" of the proceeds will go to orphans! Please, Ma'am, may we have more? And you wonder why the old families of New York never invited the Trumps to their parties.

Deon Hampton & Corky Siemaszko of NBC News: "Some employees who survived a tornado that leveled their candle factory are considering taking legal action against the company, according to an attorney who is representing some of the workers. The move by several injured Mayfield Consumer Products employees comes after five workers told NBC News that as the twister was bearing down on the city Friday their supervisors warned they could be fired if they tried to flee. At least eight workers died, Kentucky officials have said." See also Akhilleus' comment below. We should hope that if this case goes to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch does not write the majority opinion.

Ryan Young, et al., of CNN: "A judge in Lafayette, Louisiana, is taking a leave of absence and facing calls for her resignation after a video with racist language recorded at her home surfaced.... The video, appearing to show surveillance footage of an outdoor altercation with a burglary suspect being played on a television while people, who are not visible, view and comment on the footage using racist language, was shared with local media in Lafayette and is now being shared widely across social media.... In the video circulating online, a male voice can be heard saying, 'And Mom's yelling n***er, n***er." Then after what appears to be some jovial banter, a female voice is heard saying, 'We have a n ***er, It's a n***er, like a roach,' while laughing." ~~~

     ~~~ MB: Presumably "Mom" and the "female" are Judge Michelle M. Odinet, who's facing calls for her resignation. Odinet is blaming her racist rant on a sedative she took. There is no sedative or other condition that would cause me to use the language she used because I just don't think that way. Would I use profanity to describe a person who was robbing me? Well, yes I would.

Evens Sanon & Peter Smith of the AP: "The remaining members of a U.S. missionary group who were kidnapped two months ago in Haiti have been freed, Haitian police and the group said Thursday. The spokesman for Haiti's National Police, Gary Desrosiers, confirmed to The Associated Press that the hostages had been released, but did not immediately provide additional details."

~~~~~~~~~~

** Katie Benner, et al., of the New York Times: "... a half-dozen right-wing members of Congress became key foot soldiers in [Donald] Trump's effort to overturn the election, according to dozens of interviews and a review of hundreds of pages of congressional testimony about the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. The lawmakers -- all of them members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus -- worked closely with the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, whose central role in Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn a democratic election is coming into focus as the congressional investigation into Jan. 6 gains traction.... They bombarded the Justice Department with dubious claims of voting irregularities. They pressured members of state legislatures to conduct audits that would cast doubt on the election results. They plotted to disrupt the certification on Jan. 6 of Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory." The men were Jim Jordan (Ohio), Andy Biggs & Paul Gosar (Arizona), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Mo Brooks (Alabama) & Scott Perry (Pennsylvania)." MB: This is a long article worth reading as it puts the actions of these traitors into context. I have a feeling we'll learn more about what they did. Let's hope they all end up in orange jump suits.

     ~~~ PolitiFact has a print story here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "Members of the Jan. 6 select committee are homing in on a politically explosive question: Did Donald Trump's actions amid the Capitol attack amount to criminal obstruction of Congress? Twice this week, committee vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has raised the possibility that Trump's conduct while a mob of his supporters overtook the Capitol could qualify as an effort to obstruct the certification of Joe Biden's victory.... Cheney's statement includes precise terminology from the criminal obstruction statute.... [Enforcement of this law has also] become the subject of intense debate in the cases of dozens of Jan. 6 rioters whom prosecutors allege obstructed Congress' effort to count electoral votes on Jan. 6.... There are several obstruction statutes in the criminal code, but the one deployed by prosecutors in Jan. 6 cases ... [carries] a whopping 20-year maximum sentence." MB: This makes me wonder if, when Trump gets his daily hour of exercise, he'll be allowed to ride a golf cart around the prison's exercise yard.

Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: Mark Meadows' "proximity as [Donald] Trump's former gatekeeper and top aide has thrust Meadows into legal jeopardy -- even as the revelations in the texts and his new book also threaten his standing with Trump.... Interviews with former Trump aides and allies -- many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity ... -- depict Meadows as unwilling or unable to moderate the president's worst impulses, and as a willing hub for conspiracy theories and false claims about the election.... Meadows also believed there might be credence to the theories that foreign governments had interfered in the counting of ballots, and asked intelligence officials and others to look into the claims, former officials said.... 'It used to be that there were a lot of contenders for worst chief of staff in history,' [Chris] Whipple[, who has written about presidential chiefs-of-staff,] said. 'That's no longer the case. Meadows owns it by a country mile.'"

The Federalist Outs Gym Jordan. Ryan Nobles & Zachary Cohen of CNN: "Rep. Jim Jordan forwarded a text message to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on January 5, outlining a legal theory that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to stand in the way of the certification of the 2020 election. A portion of that message was read by [Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) of] the January 6 select committee during their contempt report presentation against Meadows in a meeting this week.... A spokesperson for Jordan, an Ohio Republican, confirmed to CNN that he forwarded a text to Meadows on January 5 that was sent to him by Joseph Schmitz, a former Department of Defense inspector general. Schmitz's text included a draft presentation arguing that Pence had the constitutional authority to object to the certification of election results from certain states.... The conservative website 'The Federalist' was the first to report that Jordan forwarded the text to Meadows." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course the Federalist, being the Federalist, outed Jordan in the sixth graf of a post the gist of which was a complaint that Schiff had doctored Jordan's message. Comically, the Federalist later published a "BREAKING" news story, touting the fact that the committee "confessed" it had doctored the test. Here's the actual "confession": "In the graphic [Schiff presented], the period at the end of that sentence was added inadvertently. The Select Committee is responsible for and regrets the error." I too should confess I sometimes add periods to the ends of sentences where the writer has left out the dot (tho I do usually bracket my addition because God forbid anyone should think a writer put a period at the end of a sentence).

Betsy Klein of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday suggested Mark Meadows was 'worthy' of being in held in contempt of Congress after the Democratic-controlled House referred the ex-White House chief of staff to the Department of Justice for failing to appear for a deposition with the committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol." (Also linked yesterday.)

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "A team of former military officers organized by retired general Mike Flynn is conducting a large-scale operation to delegitimize the 2020 presidential election. Flynn and his former colleague Phil Waldron, an Army Reserve colonel who says he served under the former general at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, are working with at least two other retired and reserve officers to persuade Americans that last year's election was stolen from Donald Trump, reported Reuters."

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden flew to Kentucky on Wednesday to survey the damage wrought by a series of deadly tornadoes last weekend, reprising a role comforting disaster victims that has become a staple of his presidency and promising that the federal government would cover the full cost of emergency response efforts for the next month. Mr. Biden walked the storms' paths of destruction in a pair of communities in the southeastern corner of the state, past entire blocks of buildings leveled by the high winds. He hugged survivors and promised that his administration would partner in relief efforts until residents and business owners could fully rebuild.... 'I intend to do whatever it takes,' Mr. Biden said in brief remarks from an intersection in battered Dawson Springs, Ky., 'as long as it takes, to support your state, your local leaders, as you recover and rebuild -- because you will recover and you will rebuild.'"

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Wednesday that he would nominate two high-profile women who were early supporters of his candidacy, the former ambassador Caroline Kennedy and the decorated figure skater Michelle Kwan, to ambassadorships in his administration. The president tapped Ms. Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and the ambassador to Japan under President Barack Obama, to be ambassador to Australia. He said he would nominate Ms. Kwan, who earned Olympic silver and bronze medals as a skater before pursuing a career in diplomacy and politics, to be ambassador to Belize." The Hill's report is here. MB: I don't think Kwan will be doing all that much ice skating in Belize.

News You Can Use (Sooner or Later). Natalie Compton of the Washington Post: "President Biden signed an executive order Monday to allow Americans to renew their passports online, eliminating the need for physical documents and paper checks to be sent through the mail.... According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, the order could take between six to 12 months to take effect.... [Currently,] travelers are ... plagued by inconsistent and lengthy wait times to get their passports renewed."

Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "Federal Reserve policymakers moved into inflation-fighting mode on Wednesday, saying they would cut back more quickly on their pandemic-era stimulus at a moment of rising prices and strong economic growth, capping a challenging year with a policy shift that could usher in higher interest rates in 2022. The central bank's policy statement set up a more rapid end to the monthly bond-buying program that the Fed has been using throughout the pandemic to keep money chugging through markets and to bolster growth. A fresh set of economic projections released on Wednesday showed that officials expect to raise interest rates, which are now set near-zero, three times next year."

John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken cut short his trip to Southeast Asia on Wednesday after a member of the press corps accompanying him on his visits tested positive for the coronavirus. Blinken dropped a slate of planned meetings with government officials in Thailand from his swing through the region, which included stops in Indonesia and Malaysia.... The journalist had tested negative in Blinken's previous stop in Jakarta but, after testing positive in Kuala Lumpur, began a quarantine for at least 10 days before returning to the United States.... In a statement, [State Department spokesman Ned] Price said Blinken and his 'senior staff' tested negative, leaving open the possibility that other members of his crew tested positive." (Also linked yesterday.)

GSA Ignored Trump Grift. Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "The federal agency managing the government's lease of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., failed to examine ethical conflicts an constitutional issues posed by ... Donald Trump's refusal to divest from the property, a new congressional report says. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's report ... found that the General Services Administration did not track foreign government payments to the hotel or identify the origins of more than $75 million in loans made by Trump and his family to shore up its troubled finances. The GSA 'washed its hands of any responsibility' to review whether the emoluments clauses of the Constitution were being followed, the report said.... The agency did not take any steps to identify expenditures by foreign or domestic government officials..., the committee found."

Manchin Defeats America. Tony Romm & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "A push by Senate Democrats to pass a roughly $2 trillion tax-and-spending measure before Christmas appeared in dire political peril Wednesday, as talks soured between President Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) over the size and scope of the economic package. Despite days of negotiations, the gaps between the two sides seemed newly immense. Biden sought to safeguard his economic agenda from significant cuts, while Manchin continued to insist on steep spending reductions.... The impasse left party lawmakers on Capitol Hill impatient and frustrated, after they spent months trying to slim down their original spending ambitions to win Manchin's still-elusive support." The New York Times report is here. An NBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Burgess Everett, et al., of Politico: "Tensions are boiling over as discussions about finishing Democrats' $1.7 trillion domestic spending bill drag on between President Joe Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin. The legislation looks increasingly likely to stall over the impending holiday break, prompting Biden himself to bemoan the slow pace. And Manchin (D-W.Va.) grew frustrated on Wednesday when questioned about whether he opposes a provision in the bill to extend the expanded child tax credit, deeming those queries 'bullshit' and denying that he wants to end the $300 monthly check many families receive for children.... Manchin has suggested pulling the child tax credit from the bill, according to a source briefed on the conversations [between Biden & Manchin]. 'The talks between [Biden] and Manchin have been going very poorly. They are far apart,' the source said."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: ...."Senate Democrats are scrambling to find a way to pass voting rights legislation they have portrayed as necessary to protect democracy in the coming weeks amid increasing pressure to counter Republican changes to election laws in key states and as progress on the domestic policy bill ... has stalled. Several lawmakers said Wednesday they are optimistic the new push could succeed where previous efforts have failed due to growing support for changing the Senate's filibuster rule.... But it remained far from certain that the rules changes under consideration would ultimately go beyond nibbling around the edges of the filibuster's 60-vote supermajority requirement for most legislation. 'If we can get the congressional voting rights done, we should do it. If we can't, we've got to keep going,' President Biden said while visiting storm-ravaged Kentucky on Wednesday. 'There's nothing domestically more important than voting rights.'"

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The Senate passed a $768 billion defense bill on Wednesday, sending legislation to President Biden that will increase the Pentagon's budget by roughly $24 billion more than he requested. he bill, which angered antiwar progressives who had hoped Democrats' unified control of Washington would lead to significant cuts in military spending, passed overwhelmingly on an 89-to-10 vote. It includes significant increases for initiatives intended to counter China and bolster Ukraine, as well as for more ships, jets and fighter planes than the Pentagon requested. The lopsided votes, both in the Senate and the House, which passed the legislation last week, underscored the bipartisan commitment in Congress to spend huge amounts of federal money on defense initiatives at a time when Republicans have balked at spending even a fraction as much on social programs." ~~~

     ~~~ Peterson Foundation (July 2021): "The United States spends more on national defense than China, India, Russia, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Australia -- combined." Emphasis added. MB: Sorry to quote a right-wing source, but it appears the authors used reliable sources for their figures. Meanwhile, Joe Manchin & Republicans have put the kibosh on my getting "free stuff" like a tax break on state income taxes (which I got pre-Trump) and a new eyeglasses prescription. As for programs to better prepare children & young people for the future and to reduce the effects of climate change -- which just might be more important than little bits to help me, Marie Burns -- well, forget about all that, too.

There Will Be No Trump Power Shower. Anna Phillips of the Washington Post: "The Energy Department has reversed a Trump-era rule increasing how much water could be used in a shower by allowing multiple nozzles to carry equal amounts of water at once. In closing the loophole Tuesday, Biden officials restored a 2013 standard that most shower heads on the market were already meeting -- or exceeding.... The call for more powerful showers came from [Donald] Trump himself, who complained that the conservation standards led to low water pressure and a dissatisfying shower experience."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Lena Sun, et al., of the Washington Post: "Top federal health officials warned in a briefing Tuesday morning that the omicron variant is rapidly spreading in the United States and could peak in a massive wave of infections as soon as January, according to new modeling analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The prevalence of omicron jumped sevenfold in a single week, according to the CDC.... The warning of an imminent surge came even as federal officials and some pharmaceutical executives signaled that they don't currently favor creating an omicron-specific vaccine. Based on the data so far, they say that existing vaccines plus a booster shot are an effective weapon against omicron." Access to the article is free to nonsubscribers.

Lena Sun & Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post: "Vaccine advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are meeting Thursday to weigh possible limits on the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of continued blood clot issues, mostly in young and middle-aged women, according to clinicians familiar with the agenda. The single-dose vaccine has been linked to a rare and severe type of blood clot, which halted its use for 10 days in April as federal health officials looked more closely at six women who experienced the problem -- the only known cases among more than 7 million people who received the vaccine in the United States at that time. One of the women died. The pause was lifted after an extensive safety review that determined the vaccine's benefits outweighed the risks. On Thursday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will be presented with new data that appears to show the rate of the clots in people who received the Johnson & Johnson shot has increased since April, although the problem is still rare."

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times:"Governors from five states have written a joint letter to Lloyd J. Austin III, the defense secretary, asking that their National Guard troops be exempted from a federal coronavirus vaccine mandate, greatly escalating what had been a single state conflict over inoculations. 'Setting punishment requirements for refusing to be Covid-19 vaccinated, and requiring separation from each state National Guard if unvaccinated are beyond your constitutional and statutory authority,' wrote the governors of Alaska, Wyoming, Iowa, Mississippi and Nebraska, all Republicans, to Mr. Austin, and asked that their states be given an exemption from the requirement. The Pentagon has yet to respond to the letter, which was dated Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday.)

Chris Isidore of CNN: "The CEOs of two of the nation's major airlines say they don't think wearing masks on planes does much to help limit exposure to Covid. The comments from American Airlines (AAL) CEO Doug Parker -- the nation's largest carrier -- and Southwest (LUV) CEO Gary Kelly came during a hearing about the financial support that airlines received from the federal government in 2020 and 2021.... Both Kelly and Parker, who each have announced plans to retire as CEOs in the coming months, mentioned that high-grade HEPA air filters on planes capture virtually all airborne contamination.... After the hearing, American Airlines tried to walk back Parker's remarks.... Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, testified at the hearing that not all aircraft are equipped with the same quality of air filters. For example, some older planes do not have HEPA filters, she said."

Beyond the Beltway

Minnesota. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a federal charge that he used his position as a Minneapolis police officer to violate George Floyd's constitutional rights, a move expected to extend Mr. Chauvin's time in prison beyond a decades-long sentence for murdering Mr. Floyd. Mr. Chauvin, 45, pleaded guilty in the U.S. courthouse in St. Paul, an appearance that was most likely among the longest periods he has spent outside a prison cell since a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in April. Since then, he has been held in solitary confinement in Minnesota's only maximum-security prison, where he is allowed out of his 10-foot by 10-foot cell for one hour a day. A federal prosecutor said that as part of a plea agreement reached with Mr. Chauvin, prosecutors would ask a judge to sentence him to 25 years in prison, a term that would be served in federal prison. The sentence would run concurrent to the state sentence of 22 and a half years for murder, meaning the guilty plea on Wednesday would add about two and a half years to his sentence." An AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Texas. KTRK Houston: "A former Houston Police Department captain accused of running a man off the road and pointing a gun at his head in an effort to prove false election claims has been indicted. A Harris County jury indicted Mark Aguirre Tuesday for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.... According to court documents, Aguirre told police that he was part of a group of private citizens called the 'Liberty Center,' who were conducting a civilian investigation into the alleged ballot scheme. Aguirre said he had been conducting surveillance for four days on [air-conditioning] repairman David Lopez Zuniga because Aguirre thought Zuniga was somehow the mastermind of a giant voter fraud scheme. Aguirre told authorities the man was hiding 750,000 fraudulent ballots in a truck he was driving.... No ballots were in Zuniga's truck. According to Tuesday's indictment, Aguirre never told police that he had been paid a total of $266,400 by Liberty Center, $211,400 of which was deposited into his account the day after the alleged incident." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Wisconsin. Scott Bauer of the AP: "Wisconsin's Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul said in an interview Tuesday that he would not investigate or prosecute anyone for having an abortion should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade and a currently unenforceable state ban takes effect. The comments to The Associated Press are Kaul's strongest to date about how he would react to the Supreme Court undoing the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. A Wisconsin ban enacted in 1849 has been unenforceable under Roe v. Wade, but would take effect again if conservative Supreme Court justices decide to overrule Roe, as they suggested during oral arguments this month in a case over Mississippi's 15-week ban on abortions. A decision is expected this summer." MB: If Wisconsin voters decide to elect a Republican attorney general in 2022, they can expect a nostalgic return to the back-alley abortions of the 19th century. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ AND, Bauer reports, "Wisconsin is one of 21 states with laws or constitutional amendments already in place that would make them certain to attempt to ban abortion as quickly as possible, according to an analysis from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Wisconsin is one of nine states with an abortion ban law that predates Roe v. Wade, according to the analysis."

Way Beyond

Ethiopia. Declan Walsh of the New York Times: "New evidence shows that Ethiopia's prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, had been planning a military campaign in the northern Tigray region for months before war erupted one year ago, setting off a cascade of destruction and ethnic violence that has engulfed Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country. Mr. Abiy, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate..., insists that war was foisted upon him -- that ethnic Tigrayan fighters fired the first shots in November 2020 when they attacked a federal military base in Tigray, slaughtering soldiers in their beds.... In fact, it was a war of choice for Mr. Abiy -- one with wheels set in motion even before the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 that turned him, for a time, into a global icon of nonviolence.... The Nobel emboldened Mr. Abiy and ... Isaias [Afwerki, the authoritarian leader of Eritrea,] to secretly plot a course for war against their mutual foes in Tigray, according to current and former Ethiopian officials...."

Italy. The Bishop Wore Grinch Vestments. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "All that separated the giddy Sicilian school children from meeting Old Saint Nick -- arriving on horseback with his long white beard, crimson robe and bag full of gifts -- was a Christmas message from the bishop of Noto. 'Santa Claus,' thundered Bishop Antonio Staglianò, 'is an imaginary character.' Children's jaws dropped ... as, for many long minutes in the Santissimo Salvatore Basilica, the bishop continued to stick it to Santa, who he said had no interest in families strapped for cash. 'The red color of his coat was chosen by Coca-Cola for advertising purposes,' the bishop said. Big soda, he added, 'uses the image to depict itself as an emblem of healthy values.' The bishop's broadside against Babbo Natale, as Father Christmas is called here, constituted only the latest installment in what has become a new Italian holiday tradition. Just about every year, Roman Catholic clerics insist that for Italians to keep Christ in Christmas, Santa must be kept out of it." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

Market Watch: "New applications for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed by 18,000 in mid-December to 206,000, but the increase likely reflected statistical quirks tied to temporary hiring during the holiday shopping season. Even after last week's increase, new jobless claims are still extremely low. Two weeks ago, they fell to the lowest level since 1969. Businesses are trying to avoid layoffs due the a major labor shortage that's made it hard to fill open jobs."