The Commentariat -- September 27, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A U.S. judge said Monday he will grant the unconditional release of John W. Hinckley Jr. effective in June 2022, 41 years after he shot President Ronald Reagan and three others outside a D.C. hotel. The court acted after the Justice Department agreed last week to end court and medical supervision of Hinckley, who was freed from a government psychiatric hospital to live with his mother in Williamsburg, Va., in 2016."

William Vaillancourt of Rolling Stone: "A Department of Homeland Security whistleblower leveled a series of bombshell accusations Sunday in his first television interview, accusing his Trump administration superiors of pressing for manipulated intelligence on three critical subjects: Russian support for Donald Trump, the Mexican border, and the white supremacist threat inside the United States. Brian Murphy, the former principal deputy undersecretary in DHS's Office of Intelligence and Analysis, filed a whistleblower complaint last year -- as well as a handful of internal complaints and reports -- that all painted a frightening picture of how things were running in the department tasked with keeping Americans safe. 'From the outset, there were three things that I was told that we would look to manipulate intelligence on and bend the truth about,' Murphy told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week. 'And I told them upfront that I wasn't going to do it.'... Murphy said he felt 'intense pressure to try to take intelligence and fit a political narrative' -- accusing administration officials of demanding information be manipulated to burnish Trump's image and help his messaging[.]"

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Luz Lazo, et al., of the Washington Post: "Federal investigators began Sunday to probe the cause of an Amtrak passenger train derailment that killed three people and injured dozens, resulting in a scramble to get those wounded to hospitals across a rural part of the state. Eight of the train's 10 cars derailed about 4 p.m. local time Saturday near Joplin, nearly 200 miles north of Helena, Mont., Amtrak said in a statement, adding that an estimated 141 passengers and 17 crew members were aboard at the time. Liberty County Sheriff Nick Erickson estimated that as many as 30 people were injured. By Sunday, five remained hospitalized in Great Falls, 'all of them stabilized,' said Sarah Robbin, disaster and emergency services coordinator for Liberty County."

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said on Sunday night that the House would vote on a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill on Thursday, giving Democrats more time to reach a consensus on President Biden's sprawling domestic policy package. The vote will come hours before government funding -- as well as key transportation programs addressed in the infrastructure bill -- is scheduled to lapse on Oct. 1, leaving lawmakers with a narrow margin for error." An NBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Maya Parthasarathy of Politico: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday said that Democrats will pass an infrastructure bill with $550 billion in new spending sometime this week but wouldn't specify exactly when or nail down the timing for the $3.5 trillion social spending package. The House last month voted for a Sept. 27 deadline to bring the bipartisan infrastructure plan to the floor. On Sunday, Pelosi didn't specify when this week it would be voted on." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: When I was in college, there were weeks around finals when I had no time to read the daily newspaper, so I would allow the papers to stack up, sometimes for nearly a month. Then, when the crunch had passed, I would read the papers, one by one. Not surprisingly, I discovered that this saved me a lot of time because I didn't have to read all the speculative stories about what could/would happen re: various coming crises. By the time I read the papers, the crises had been resolved, or not. Right now, the media are full of hand-wringing stories about the Biden presidency and how it hangs on what "Democrats in disarray" may do to sink it. My attitude about linking these stories runs sort of on the philosophy of those piled-up newspapers: we'll find out what happens when it happens (or doesn't). Based on stories I have linked, you all know pretty much how the system works, so I don't see much point in linking speculative stories that have little to add to the known facts.

Hmm. Zach Dorfman, et al., in Yahoo! News: "In 2017, as Julian Assange began his fifth year holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London, the CIA plotted to kidnap the WikiLeaks founder, spurring heated debate among Trump administration officials over the legality and practicality of such an operation. Some senior officials inside the CIA and the Trump administration even discussed killing Assange, going so far as to request 'sketches' or 'options' for how to assassinate him. Discussions over kidnapping or killing Assange occurred 'at the highest levels' of the Trump administration, said a former senior counterintelligence official. 'There seemed to be no boundaries.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I was a bit skeptical about this story -- even tho one of the co-authors is Michael Isikoff, whom I like -- until I read Marcy Wheeler's take. Now I'm really skeptical:

     ~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "When last we saw Zach Dorfman get a big scoop, he managed to present claims about Eric Swalwell appropriately cooperating with the FBI in a counterintelligence investigation so wildly out of context that the story fed false claims about Swalwell for most of a year. His big story about Mike Pompeo's vendetta against WikiLeaks -- with Sean Naylor and Michael Isikoff -- is bound to be a similar example.... In short, this is a very long story that spends thousands of words admitting that its lead overstates how seriously this line of thought was pursued." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Our Climate Legacy. Sarah Kaplan of the Washington Post: "If the planet continues to warm on its current trajectory, the average 6-year-old will live through roughly three times as many climate disasters as their grandparents, [a] study finds. They will see twice as many wildfires, 1.7 times as many tropical cyclones, 3.4 times more river floods, 2.5 times more crop failures and 2.3 times as many droughts as someone born in 1960." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: And of course some of the kids won't "live" through the disasters. They will die because of them. This is a legacy born of greed & laziness. Environmentalists were getting plenty of airtime in the 1970s, when the grandparents were young adults, making choices for their families. Most made the right choices for the environment only when local governments forced them to do things like recycle or gas periodically became unaffordable.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

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

Beyond the Beltway

Colorado. Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "... events in Mesa County[, Colorado, where the county clerk, Tina Peters, who is also the elections supervisor, is an adherent to right-wing conspiracy theories & a "protectee" of the MyPillow Guy,] represent an escalation in the attacks on the nation's voting system, one in which officials who were responsible for election security allegedly took actions that undermined that security in the name of protecting it. As baseless claims about election fraud are embraced by broad swaths of the Republican Party, experts fear that people who embrace those claims could be elected or appointed to offices where they oversee voting, potentially posing new security risks.... [Donald] Trump in recent months has endorsed several proponents of the 'big lie' to become secretaries of state in key battlegrounds. And experienced election administrators at the local level have been fleeing their jobs amid skyrocketing stress and threats to their personal safety." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. David Cohen of Politico: "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday defended U.S. Border Patrol agents seen charging at migrants on horseback, saying he would hire them if they fear being fired. 'You have a job in the state of Texas,' he told host Chris Wallace on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'I will hire you to help Texas secure our border.'... Abbott said the fault for any misbehavior should be placed on [President] Biden and members of his administration because they didn't keep the Haitian migrants from crossing from Mexico into Del Rio, Texas. He also said that Texas was going to assume some of the functions of border control, even though the U.S. Constitution assigns the federal government that responsibility." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: OR, Greg, you could get those agents to start patrolling the major roads between Texas & Oklahoma to whip the young women trying to travel to Oklahoma to get abortions. ~~~

Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times: "As soon as the [Texas law largely banning abortions] took effect this month, Texans started traveling elsewhere, and Oklahoma, close to Dallas, has become a major destination.... Oklahoma does not require two trips to a clinic to get an abortion in most cases, so it has been a common choice.... The effects of the new law have been profound: Texans with unwanted pregnancies have been forced to make decisions quickly, and some have opted to travel long distances for abortions. As clinics in surrounding states fill up, appointments are being scheduled for later dates, making the procedures more costly. Other women are having to carry their pregnancies to term."

Way Beyond

Germany. The New York Times' live updates of developments in Germany's elections Monday are here: "As Germany's election results came into sharper focus on Monday, no party won decisive majority but the loser was clear: Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats. After 16 years in power under Ms. Merkel's leadership, they saw their share of the vote collapse by nearly nine points, garnering only 24.1 percent of the vote. It was the party's worst showing in its history, and the election signaled the end of an era for Germany and for Europe." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times' live updates of developments in Germany's elections Sunday are here: "Germans appeared to vote for change on Sunday. With a majority of voting districts reporting, the Social Democratic Party had a slim lead, hovering around 26 percent, more than a percentage point ahead of Christian Democratic Union, which had just over 24 percent of the vote. With final results not likely to come until early Monday, the race could still tip either way. But as the hours wore on and more results came in, the Social Democrats' lead looked increasingly likely to hold." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates are here. Politico has a liveblog of the election results here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Colin Meyn of the Hill: "Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) won a narrow victory in Sunday's general election, topping the outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the race to replace her after she stepped down following 16 years in power.... However, the slim margin of 1.6 percentage points separating the top two parties means that both could potentially form a ruling coalition and it could take weeks or months of horse trading before a new government takes shape."

Iceland. Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: "Iceland heralded a weekend election result that would have made it the first country in Europe to have more women than men in parliament. But the celebrations were brief: A late recount put it just below gender parity. Early results showed women won 33 seats in Iceland's 63-seat parliament, known as the Althing, up from 24 in the previous vote. Hours later, a surprise recount in the west of the country changed the outcome, leaving female candidates with 30 seats, according to state broadcaster RUV. That is still the highest representation for women in Europe, at nearly 48 percent, ahead of Sweden and Finland with 47 percent and 46 percent, respectively."

Switzerland. AP: "Switzerland voted by a wide margin to allow same-sex couples to marry in a referendum on Sunday, bringing the Alpine nation into line with many others in western Europe. Official results showed the measure passed with 64.1% of voters in favor and won a majority in all of Switzerland's 26 cantons, or states. Switzerland's parliament and the governing Federal Council supported the 'Marriage for All' measure. Switzerland has authorized same-sex civil partnerships since 2007." (Also linked yesterday.)

U.K. Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Responding to an escalating crisis, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain reversed course this weekend and offered thousands of visas to foreign truckers to combat a driver shortage that has left some supermarket shelves empty and caused long lines at gas stations. The decision, announced late Saturday, reflects the growing alarm within the government over a disruption to supplies that has prompted panic buying and, in some places, caused fuel to run out and gas stations to close."

The Commentariat -- September 26, 2021

Afternoon Update:

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

David Cohen of Politico: "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday defended U.S. Border Patrol agents seen charging at migrants on horseback, saying he would hire them if they fear being fired. 'You have a job in the state of Texas,' he told host Chris Wallace on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'I will hire you to help Texas secure our border.'... Abbott said the fault for any misbehavior should be placed on [President] Biden and members of his administration because they didn't keep the Haitian migrants from crossing from Mexico into Del Rio, Texas. He also said that Texas was going to assume some of the functions of border control, even though the U.S. Constitution assigns the federal government that responsibility." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: OR, Greg, you could get those agents to start patrolling the major roads between Texas & Oklahoma to whip the young women trying to travel to Oklahoma to get abortions. ~~~

Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times: "As soon as the [Texas law largely banning abortions] took effect this month, Texans started traveling elsewhere, and Oklahoma, close to Dallas, has become a major destination.... Oklahoma does not require two trips to a clinic to get an abortion in most cases, so it has been a common choice.... The effects of the new law have been profound: Texans with unwanted pregnancies have been forced to make decisions quickly, and some have opted to travel long distances for abortions. As clinics in surrounding states fill up, appointments are being scheduled for later dates, making the procedures more costly. Other women are having to carry their pregnancies to term."

Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "... events in Mesa County[, Colorado, where the county clerk, Tina Peters, who is also the elections supervisor, is an adherent to right-wing conspiracy theories & a "protectee" of the MyPillow Guy,] represent an escalation in the attacks on the nation's voting system, one in which officials who were responsible for election security allegedly took actions that undermined that security in the name of protecting it. As baseless claims about election fraud are embraced by broad swaths of the Republican Party, experts fear that people who embrace those claims could be elected or appointed to offices where they oversee voting, potentially posing new security risks.... [Donald] Trump in recent months has endorsed several proponents of the 'big lie' to become secretaries of state in key battlegrounds. And experienced election administrators at the local level have been fleeing their jobs amid skyrocketing stress and threats to their personal safety."

Germany. The New York Times' live updates of developments in Germany's elections are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. Politico has a liveblog of the election results here.

Switzerland. AP: "Switzerland voted by a wide margin to allow same-sex couples to marry in a referendum on Sunday, bringing the Alpine nation into line with many others in western Europe. Official results showed the measure passed with 64.1% of voters in favor and won a majority in all of Switzerland's 26 cantons, or states. Switzerland's parliament and the governing Federal Council supported the 'Marriage for All' measure. Switzerland has authorized same-sex civil partnerships since 2007."

Hmm. Zach Dorfman, et al., in Yahoo! News: "In 2017, as Julian Assange began his fifth year holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London, the CIA plotted to kidnap the WikiLeaks founder, spurring heated debate among Trump administration officials over the legality and practicality of such an operation. Some senior officials inside the CIA and the Trump administration even discussed killing Assange, going so far as to request 'sketches' or 'options' for how to assassinate him. Discussions over kidnapping or killing Assange occurred 'at the highest levels' of the Trump administration, said a former senior counterintelligence official. 'There seemed to be no boundaries.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I was a bit skeptical about this story -- even tho one of the co-authors is Michael Isikoff, whom I like -- until I read Marcy Wheeler's take. Now I'm really skeptical:

     ~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "When last we saw Zach Dorfman get a big scoop, he managed to present claims about Eric Swalwell appropriately cooperating with the FBI in a counterintelligence investigation so wildly out of context that the story fed false claims about Swalwell for most of a year. His big story about Mike Pompeo's vendetta against WikiLeaks -- with Sean Naylor and Michael Isikoff -- is bound to be a similar example.... In short, this is a very long story that spends thousands of words admitting that its lead overstates how seriously this line of thought was pursued."

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Alan Fram of the AP: "Democrats pushed a $3.5 trillion, 10-year bill strengthening social safety net and climate programs through the House Budget Committee on Saturday, but one Democrat voted 'no,' illustrating the challenges party leaders face in winning the near unanimity they'll need to push the sprawling package through Congress. The Democratic-dominated panel, meeting virtually, approved the measure on a near party-line vote, 20-17. Passage marked a necessary but minor checking of a procedural box for Democrats by edging it a step closer to debate by the full House. Under budget rules, the committee wasn't allowed to significantly amend the 2,465-page measure, the product of 13 other House committees."

How the Rich Get Richer and the Poor ... Don't. Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein in a New York Times op-ed: "According to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies, the 27 richest American dynastic families have seen their wealth grow by a combined 1,007 percent since 1983, while the typical family has seen its wealth increase only by 93 percent over nearly the same period. This divergence has only become more pronounced with the onset of the pandemic: Since March 2020, the median growth in the net worth of the top 10 families was 25 percent.... The divergence ... [is] the result of fastidious lobbying that creates powerful dynasties with the cash to create a skewed debate." One very consequential loophole is called the "stepped-up basis" for taxing inherited assets: Here's how that works: "Say [a] stock was worth $100 when the person died. If the child sells it later for, say, $150, the child would owe taxes only on the $50 upside, instead of the entire $149 profit the family made off the stock over the course of two generations.... The longer we fail to constrain inherited wealth, the sooner the dream of a democratic society dies." There's an easy fix: Eric Kades said ['rules against perpetuities'] emerged centuries ago in England when judges noticed that inherited wealth was getting out of hand. In England, those laws are still on the books. But in America, rules against perpetuities have effectively disappeared. It's a bizarre twist in history. 'Today,' Mr. Kades said, 'we're a more feudal society than the British.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "Downton Abbey" fans will recall how the fictional Earl of Grantham had to marry an American heiress to save the estate, and his daughter Mary had to sell off some land and open their fancy digs to the public to collect a little cash to keep the place running. This is a reflection of the real-life travails of England & Scotland's landed gentry.

Celine Castronuovo of the Hill: "During a rally Saturday evening in Perry, Ga., [Donald] Trump, while once again advancing his unsupported claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, compared his resistance to admitting defeat to [Stacey] Abrams's refusal to concede in the Georgia [gubernatorial] race, a parallel she has previously dismissed. Trump argued that unlike the reaction to his refusal to concede, 'When Stacey Abrams says I'm not going to concede, that's okay.... Of course, having her I think might be better than having your existing governor, if you want to know the truth,' he noted, prompting overwhelming boos from his crowd of mostly maskless supporters. 'Might very well be better,' he added." MB: Yes, Donald, because Abrams definitely would have found you those extra 11,780 votes.

Brandon Gage of the Hill Reporter: "... Donald Trump's multiple attempts to interfere with the 2020 election in Fulton, County Georgia have left him at 'substantial risk of state charges predicated on multiple crimes,' a panel of legal experts determined in an exhaustive report on the matter that was published on Friday. Norman Eisen, President Barack Obama's ethics czar, and Gwen Keyes Fleming, a former DeKalb County district attorney, were among the co-authors of a Brookings Institution think tank analysis of the possible consequences Trump may be facing for demanding that Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, along with GOP Governor Brian Kemp, overturn the will of the voters and award the state's 16 Electoral College votes to himself. Specifically, Trump had pressured Raffensperger and Kemp to 'find 11,780 votes.' President Joe Biden carried the Peach State by 11,779 votes." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here: "Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York is considering calling in the National Guard and recruiting medical professionals from other states to cover looming staff shortages at hospitals and other facilities as the likelihood grows that tens of thousands of health care workers will not meet the state's deadlines for mandated vaccinations."

Andrea Salcedo of the Washington Post: Matthew Trunsky, a Michigan pulmonologist & palliative care doctor, wrote a Facebook post about patients (and family members) who don't accept their Covid-19 diagnoses, sometimes up to their dying breaths. "Trunsky's post detailing his interactions with eight covid patients and their relatives highlights the resistance and mistreatment some health-care workers across the United States face while caring for patients who have put off or declined getting vaccinated.... Whatever their reasons, he told The Post, 'they are paying the price, and they are getting mad at us.'... Trunsky estimates that 9 out of every 10 covid patients he treats are unvaccinated. His post -- a plea for people to get vaccinated -- also reveals the physical and emotional toll the pandemic has had on health-care workers, who have been on the front lines for over a year and a half."

Idaho. Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post: "As covid-19 deaths reach record highs in the state of 1.8 million, hard-hit areas are struggling to keep pace with the surge in victims. Some hospitals, funeral homes and coroners say they've been pushed to the limit.... The backlog is so bad in some places that people have had to wait weeks to cremate their loved ones.... The dire situation in Idaho, one of the least vaccinated states in the country, is another grisly illustration of what happens when a state fails to contain infections.... In the state's major hospitals, the outbreak shows little sign of slowing."

New York. Donna St. George & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "A coronavirus vaccine mandate for teachers and other employees in New York City schools, the nation's largest school district, has been temporarily halted by a federal appeals court just days before the deadline. The injunction, granted Friday by a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, comes as many school districts nationally are adopting vaccine rules in an effort to keep schools open for in-person learning amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. In New York City, 18 percent of the system's nearly 150,000 employees had not yet shown proof of vaccination but had until midnight on Monday to do so, according to school system officials. Under the judge's order, the case will now go to a three-judge panel." The AP's story is here.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Afghanistan. Everything Old Is New Again. AP: "The Taliban hanged a dead body from a crane parked in a city square in Afghanistan on Saturday in a gruesome display that signaled the hard-line movement's return to some of its brutal tactics of the past. Taliban officials initially brought four bodies to the central square in the western city of Herat, then moved three of them to other parts of the city for public display, said Wazir Ahmad Seddiqi, who runs a pharmacy on the edge of the square. Taliban officials announced that the four were caught taking part in a kidnapping earlier Saturday and were killed by police, Seddiqi said. Ziaulhaq Jalali, a Taliban-appointed district police chief in Herat, said later that Taliban members rescued a father and son who had been abducted by four kidnappers after an exchange of gunfire. He said a Taliban fighter and a civilian were wounded by the kidnappers, and that the kidnappers were killed in crossfire."

Germany. Laura Smith-Spark of CNN: "Germans are heading to the polls Sunday to vote in a closely fought federal election that will, in the coming days or weeks, result in a new chancellor taking the helm of the world's fourth-largest economy.... Polling predictions on Saturday suggested the race was too close to call, with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) holding a small but narrowing lead over Merkel's party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The closeness of the race coupled with Germany's complicated voting system means it could take some time before a winning coalition is formed and the ultimate victor is known." ~~~

~~~ U.S. Now Exports Right-Wing Extremism to Germany. Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "... apocalyptic messages -- posted in the run-up to German elections on Sunday -- import conspiratorial, anti-government rhetoric broadcast in the U.S., according to screenshots of the since-deleted chatroom.... This dynamic is accelerating in the anarchic online channels of extremist communities, whose members number anywhere from 1,500 in the deleted 'Day X' group to 150,000 in German-language QAnon groups. The development marks a radical reversal from the years after World War II, when the U.S. helped export principles of constitutional democracy to West Germany. Now, American influence animates far-right activity, including the rise of the militant Reichsbürger movement, whose members -- 'Citizens of the Reich' -- reject the modern German state." ~~~

~~~ Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times: "As Chancellor Angela Merkel prepares to leave office after 16 years, her country is among the richest in the world. A broad and contented middle class is one facet of Ms. Merkel's Germany that has been central to her longevity and her ability to deliver on a core promise of stability. But her impact has been far greater. To travel the country she leaves behind is to see it profoundly transformed.... As Ms. Merkel steered her country through successive crises and left others unattended, there was change that she led and change that she allowed. She decided to phase out nuclear power in Germany. She ended compulsory military service. She was the first chancellor to assert that Islam 'belongs' to Germany. When it came to breaking down her country's and party's conservative family values, she was more timid but ultimately did not stand in the way.... No other democratic leader in Europe has lasted longer. And Ms. Merkel is walking out of office as the most popular politician in Germany." ~~~

~~~ The Birds. David Mack at BuzzFeed News: While out campaigning Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a surprise stop at the Marlow Bird Park in northern Germany. Here the Australian rainbow lorikeets had a surprise for her: they pecked her. "Merkel let out a screech...." MB: Probably not the photo I would have chosen as what is likely to be one of the most memorable of a 16-year career as head of state (although her reaction to Dubya's sexual assault is likely to stand the test of time also).

News Lede

New York Times: "At least three people were killed and 50 others were injured after an Amtrak train derailed in Montana on Saturday afternoon, setting off a frantic response by rescuers who scrambled to extricate passengers from cars, the authorities said. Amtrak said that eight cars on an Empire Builder train had derailed at about 4 p.m. local time near Joplin, Mont., which is about 200 miles north of Helena.... Amanda Frickel, the disaster and emergency services coordinator for Hill County, Mont., said in an interview that 'well over' 50 people had been injured. The train was heading west when it derailed, she said. She said that rescuers from six counties were responding to the scene and that as many as five hospitals were on standby to receive injured passengers. There were also a number of medical helicopters standing by, she said. 'Everybody who is alive has been extricated from the wreck,' Ms. Frickel said." An ABC News story is here.

The Commentariat -- September 25, 2021

Late Morning Update:

Brandon Gage of the Hill Reporter: "... Donald Trump's multiple attempts to interfere with the 2020 election in Fulton, County Georgia have left him at 'substantial risk of state charges predicated on multiple crimes,' a panel of legal experts determined in an exhaustive report on the matter that was published on Friday. Norman Eisen, President Barack Obama';s ethics czar, and Gwen Keyes Fleming, a former DeKalb County district attorney, were among the co-authors of a Brookings Institution think tank analysis of the possible consequences Trump may be facing for demanding that Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, along with GOP Governor Brian Kemp, overturn the will of the voters and award the state's 16 Electoral College votes to himself. Specifically, Trump had pressured Raffensperger and Kemp to 'find 11,780 votes.' President Joe Biden carried the Peach State by 11,779 votes."

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** Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "As the full picture of Jan. 6 begins to come into view, I think we should consider it a kind of revolution or, at least, the very beginning of one.... Donald Trump's fight to keep himself in office against the will of the voters has upturned the political order.... This week we learned that [Trump] had an actual plan in mind, devised by John Eastman, a prominent conservative lawyer.... [If you haven't read Eastman's memo, Bouie does a good job of summarizing Eastman's plan for Congress & Republican-led states to throw the election to Trump.] Eastman's confidence throughout this memo (he dismisses potential Democratic objections as 'howls') belies his shoddy legal, political and constitutional thinking." [Here Bouie explains Eastman's "shoddy ... thinking." He concludes ... Meaning, in short, that at noon on Jan. 20, [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi would become acting president of the United States. Pence would lose authority as vice president (and president of the Senate) and the joint session would resume, with Congress putting its stamp of approval on Biden's victory.... [BUT] In [the world Trump & many of his prominent cohort envision], the voters, as filtered through the Electoral College, no longer choose the president. It becomes ... a question of ... power, of who holds the right positions at the right time, and especially, of who can bring the military to their side." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you don't have a NYT subscription & have been saving your freebies, Bouie's column is a good place to spend one. I can't do it justice in a summary. ~~~

     ~~~ Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Media Ignore Blueprint for a Coup. Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "The Paper of Record, which sent six reporters to write four stories about Alan Dershowitz's dinner invitations and did two news and three opinion pieces about whether a Harvard Law professor would be able to keep his side gig as a dorm RA, still has no news stories about the Eastman memo. But at least there is now an excellent Jamelle Bouie column[.]... Network news has also completely ignored the story. ~~~

      ~~~ Tim Murphy of Mother Jones: "... I sort of think [the Eastman memo & Trump's dedication to following it] is a pretty big deal.... But it is not such a big deal, apparently, if you watch network TV news. On Wednesday, Media Matters' Matt Gertz reported that the total number of minutes devoted to the story on either the morning or evening editions of ABC, NBC, or CBS News in the first two days after the memo was published was zero. 'In fact,' Gertz wrote, 'the only national network broadcasts to mention Trump's coup memo were the late-night variety shows hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and Seth Meyers.'... Some institutions [are] not programmed to take on problems like this -- it disturbs the comfortable equilibrium that defines a lot of political media. Republicans come on to speak to one side of things, and Democrats come on (slightly less often) to speak to the other side of things.... But what happened at the close of Trump's presidency, and seems likely to happen again if we continue mostly ignoring it, is an existential problem." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I haven't watched the evening news, much less the morning network fluff, in years. But apparently the network suits are still concerned, just as they are at PBS & NPR, about conveying anything of substance, especially if it might upset confederate viewers. If Americans are going to get upset at breakfast or around the dinner table, best that it be over the disappearance and murder of a white girl, something everyone can agree is horrible.

Seung Min Kim & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "President Biden promised Friday that his sweeping domestic agenda package will cost 'nothing' because Democrats will pay for it through tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations, a show of confidence despite the struggles of congressional Democrats to bridge internal divisions on myriad issues. The remarks were an attempt by Biden to assuage some of the cost concerns pointedly expressed by the moderate Democrats about the size of the legislation -- composed of significant investments in health care, climate, education and the social safety net -- as the bill's fate teeters on Capitol Hill. The total spending outlined in the plan is $3.5 trillion, but moderates such as Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have said they will not support so high a figure.... Though he expressed confidence that he would ultimately sign the pillars of his 'Build Back Better' plan, Biden acknowledged that the legislative process is 'just going to take some time.'"

There will be consequences. It's an embarrassment, but it's beyond an embarrassment -- it's dangerous, it's wrong, it sends the wrong message around the world and sends the wrong message at home. It's simply not who we are. -- President Joe Biden, speaking to reporters Friday about Border Patrol agents on horseback trying to corral refugees as if they were cattle

Yeah, Joe, this is who we are. -- Marie ~~~

~~~ Maria Verza & Juan Lozano of the AP: "No migrants remained Friday at the Texas border encampment where almost 15,000 people -- most of them Haitians -- had converged just days earlier seeking asylum, local and federal officials said. It's a dramatic change from last Saturday, when the number peaked as migrants driven by confusion over the Biden administration's policies and misinformation on social media converged at the border crossing connecting Del Rio, Texas, and Ciudad Acuña, Mexico.... [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas said [Friday] about 2,000 Haitians have been rapidly expelled on 17 flights since Sunday.... He said the U.S. has allowed about 12,400 to enter the country, at least temporarily, while they make claims before an immigration judge to stay in the country under the asylum laws or for some other legal reason. They could ultimately be denied and would be subject to removal. Mayorkas said about 5,000 are in DHS custody and being processed to determine whether they will be expelled or allowed to press their claim for legal residency. Some returned to Mexico. A U.S. official with direct knowledge of the situation said six flights were scheduled to Haiti on Friday, with seven planned Saturday and six Sunday...." ~~~

     ~~~ A photo accompanying the AP story shows the Del Rio bridge encampment area completely clear of people and makeshift shelters. ~~~

~~~ Kevin Liptak & Kate Sullivan of CNN: "President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday harshly condemned the actions depicted in images showing Border Patrol agents on horseback rounding up Haitian migrant families in Texas after they crossed over from Mexico. 'It's horrible what you saw. To see people like they did, with horses, running them over, people being strapped, it's outrageous,' Biden said at the White House. The President said: 'I promise you: those people will pay... There is an investigation underway right now and there will be consequences.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Why, even at Fox "News," they're very upset about the images. Here's the headline: "Border Patrol stunned as Biden goes to war with his own agents over false 'whipping' allegations." MB: As I said, Joe, this is who we are.

Felicia Sonmez & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The House on Friday passed legislation that would create a statutory right for health-care professionals to provide abortions, amid an intensifying legal battle over a Texas law that is the most restrictive in the nation. H.R. 3755, the Women's Health Protection Act, was approved by the Democratic-controlled House 218 to 211 but faces tough odds in the evenly divided Senate. The measure states that health-care providers have a statutory right to provide, and patients have a right to receive, abortion services without any number of limitations that states and opponents of the procedure have sought to impose. The measure would essentially codify Roe v. Wade.... Rep. Henry Cuellar (Tex.), who opposes abortion rights, was the sole Democrat to vote against the measure. All Republicans present voted 'no.' In a sign of the legislation's importance to Democrats, [Nancy] Pelosi cast a vote in favor. The speaker typically does not vote.... In the Senate, the measure currently has the support of 48 senators who caucus with Democrats. Two key Democrats -- Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. (Pa.) and Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) -- have not yet signaled how they would vote." Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is a no vote.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York and the highest-profile progressive in the House, apologized on Friday to her constituents for an abrupt decision to pull back her vote against providing $1 billion in new funding for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, suggesting she had done so after being subjected to 'hateful targeting' for opposing it.... She was seen weeping on the House floor after she switched her vote from 'no' to 'present.'... In a lengthy letter on Friday, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez told her constituents that she opposed the funding, citing 'persistent human rights abuses against the Palestinian people,' and had pleaded with top Democrats to delay the vote."

Myah Ward of Politico: "The White House on Friday evening clarified an earlier statement by press secretary Jen Psaki suggesting that President Joe Biden had opted against shielding any of Donald Trump's records from the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Following Psaki's comments at a briefing earlier in the day, the White House said it intends to review each request by the former president to prevent the disclosure of such records on a 'case-by-case' basis. Psaki intended to refer to a decision weeks earlier by the Justice Department not to invoke privilege to block officials from providing documents and testimony to the committee.... '... The president already concluded that it would not be appropriate to assert executive privilege,' Psaki said [during Friday's briefing]. 'And so, we will respond promptly to these questions as they arise. And certainly, as they come up from Congress, and certainly we have been working closely with congressional committees and others as they work to get to the bottom of what happened on Jan. 6.'... ~~~

~~~ "The National Archives has identified hundreds of pages of relevant documents, which will be sent to Biden and Trump lawyers, as required by statute. Once the documents are delivered, Trump has 30 days to approve or deny the release, according to the statute. If Trump decides to object, Biden can still turn the material over, since his White House has the final say on the matter." ~~~

~~~ Earlier That Same Day. Amy Wang, et al., of the Washington Post: President "Biden ... probably plans to share ... information [related to the insurrection] with Congress if asked, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Friday. 'The president has already concluded that it would not be appropriate to assert executive privilege,' Psaki said. 'And so we will respond promptly to these questions as they arise and certainly as they come up from Congress.' She added the White House has already been working closely with congressional committees and others 'as they work to get to the bottom of what happened on January 6th, an incredibly dark day in our democracy.' Psaki also noted that no one from Trump's team has reached out to the Biden administration to formally request that Biden use executive privilege to block information requests from the Jan. 6 select committee.... 'The highly partisan, Communist-style 'select committee' has put forth an outrageously broad records request that lacks both legal precedent and legislative merit,' Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich said in a statement Thursday." An NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No doubt Bennie Thompson & Liz Cheney will soon be spotted wearing "Communist-style" cloth worker's caps as they go about directing the committee.

Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has begun to solicit testimony from the rioters, issuing requests for some defendants to voluntarily provide an account of their decision to travel to Washington and join the angry mob. Lawyers for multiple riot defendants who have already pleaded guilty say they have received communications from the panel in recent days requesting their clients' cooperation with the committee.... It's not immediately clear how many, if any, of those charged will agree to speak with House investigators. Such cooperation might help defendants get more lenient sentences, but some have already been sentenced, with most escaping jail time." ~~~

~~~ Marie: One thing to bear in mind -- and this is something I think most reasonable Americans haven't figured out -- is that the select committee, no matter how thorough and enlightening its investigation -- cannot produce a smoking gun that will change hearts and minds. First, we pretty much know now what Trump and company did. At best, the committee will find additional or more concrete proofs of malfeasance. Second, Republicans don't care. They are invested in anti-democratic, extra-legal and extra-Constitutional exercises. They no longer accept Western liberal democracy as the most desirable, workable, normative form of government.

What Did the FBI Know & When Did It Know It? Alan Feuer & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "In the middle of an unfolding melee that shook a pillar of American democracy [on Jan. 6] -- the peaceful transfer of power -- the [F.B.I.] had an informant in the crowd, providing an inside glimpse of the action, according to confidential records obtained by The New York Times. In the informant's version of events, the Proud Boys, famous for their street fights, were largely following a pro-Trump mob consumed by a herd mentality rather than carrying out any type of preplanned attack.... The records obtained by The Times do not directly address whether the informant was in a good position to know about plans developed for Jan. 6 by the leadership of the Proud Boys, why he was cooperating, whether he could have missed indications of a plot or whether he could have deliberately misled the government. But the records, and information from two people familiar with the matter, suggest that federal law enforcement had a far greater visibility into the assault on the Capitol, even as it was taking place, than was previously known.... Moreover, the records indicate that F.B.I. officials in Washington were alerted in advance of the attack that the informant was traveling to the Capitol with several other Proud Boys."

Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A federal judge tore into a low-level defendant in the Capitol Riot Friday, moments after the man entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge stemming from the Jan. 6 unrest. 'You've disgraced this country in the eyes of the world and my inclination would be to lock you up, but since the government isn't asking me to do that ... I won't,' U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton shouted at Fort Pierce, Fla., resident Anthony Mariotto during a video hearing. 'I find it outrageous that American citizens would do what you did, so you better walk the straight and narrow, sir, you understand?'"

The leaked report conclusively shows there were enough fraudulent votes, mystery votes, and fake votes to change the outcome of the election 4 or 5 times over. There is fraud and cheating in Arizona and it must be criminally investigated! -- Donald Trump, Friday ~~~

~~~ Reid Epstein & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "... for those who have tried to undermine confidence in American elections and restrict voting, the actual findings of the Maricopa County [fraudit] review that were released on Friday [-- which found that Joe Biden won the county by more votes than the official count recorded --] did not appear to matter in the slightest.... Donald J. Trump and his loyalists redoubled their efforts to mount a full-scale relitigation of the 2020 election.... As draft copies of the report began to circulate late Thursday, Trump allies ignored the new tally, instead zeroing in on the report's specious claims of malfeasance, inconsistencies and errors by election officials.... Cherry-picking from the report on Friday, the former president and his allies cited a series of eye-popping statistics that, on first glance, appeared to bolster their case.... Peter Navarro, a former adviser to Mr. Trump, falsely claimed on Twitter that the report had shown that 50,000 potentially illegal votes were cast in Maricopa County." See related story, linked below under Beyond the Beltway. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Steve Schmidt who said on MSNBC Friday that a democracy cannot function in an essentially two-party system where one of the parties operates on facts and the other ignores facts. And that's where we are. (Paraphrase.)

David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department reached an agreement on Friday clearing the way for a senior executive of Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecommunications giant, to return to China after admitting some wrongdoing in a sanctions violation case, removing one major irritant between the two superpowers. Within hours, China reciprocated, releasing two Canadians whom it had held since shortly after the executive, Meng Wanzhou, was detained, and who had appeared to be jailed as hostages to Ms. Meng's case.... In China, Ms. Meng..., the daughter of Huawei's founder..., is considered a member of the new Chinese royalty -- technology executives who have used their power to expand China's influence across the globe."

Peter Hermann & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A D.C. police officer was indicted Friday on a murder charge accusing him of leading an improper pursuit that resulted in the death of a young man in a moped crash, and conspiring with his supervisor to cover up the chase and the severity of the victim's injuries.... The death of [Karon] Hylton, which came amid a nationwide movement for police reform, had roiled his Brightwood Park neighborhood and put law enforcement tactics under renewed scrutiny. D.C. police officials and prosecutors said they could not recall any other cases in which a D.C. police officer has been charged in an on-duty death."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Noah Weiland, et al., of the New York Times: "State health officials rushed on Friday to roll out campaigns to provide coronavirus booster shots for millions of vulnerable people who got the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and to help a confused public understand who qualifies for the extra shots. Among their challenges: making sure that recipients of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines know that they are not yet eligible for boosters, reaching isolated elderly people and informing younger adults with medical conditions or jobs that place them at higher risk that they might be eligible under the broad federal rules.... President Biden said 20 million people could get boosters immediately because they had gotten their second Pfizer-BioNTech shot at least six months ago.... State and federal officials said the booster program would look much different than earlier coronavirus vaccination drives, which relied heavily on mass inoculation sites at sports stadiums and convention centers. Instead, pharmacies, primary care physicians and smaller vaccination clinics that have become accustomed to offering shots will deliver boosters.... CVS said on Friday that its pharmacies were ready to provide booster shots and would rely on customers to 'self-attest' regarding their eligibility."

Who Could Have Known? Moriah Balingit of the Washington Post: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday offered more evidence that school mask requirements can help keep children healthy and in classrooms, showing lower spikes in pediatric coronavirus cases and fewer school outbreaks in places that require them. In an analysis of 520 U.S. counties, the CDC found that pediatric cases rose more sharply in places without school mask requirements. And in a separate report that looked at Arizona's two most populous counties, the agency found that schools without mask requirements were 3.5 times as likely to experience an outbreak than schools with them."

John Koblin of the New York Times: "A dramatic scene played out on 'The View' on Friday morning when two of the show's hosts, Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin, were directed to leave the set live on the air after both had apparently tested positive for the coronavirus. 'The View' had just returned from a commercial break about 15 minutes into the show and the four hosts of were on the verge of introducing Vice President Kamala Harris for an in-person interview.... [After some minutes of confusion & an abrupt cut to an untimely commercial break, co-hosts Joy] Behar and Sara Haines scrambled and took questions from the studio audience as they tried to, as Ms. Behar put it, 'tap dance' their way through what would hav been an interview with the vice president. Ms. Harris was ushered to a remote location and joined the show for a brief interview via satellite in the final 10 minutes of the show."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Jack Healy, et al., of the New York Times: "After months of delays and blistering criticism, a review of the 2020 election in Arizona's largest county, ordered up and financed by Republicans, has failed to show that ... Donald J. Trump was cheated of victory. Instead, the report from the company Cyber Ninjas said it found just the opposite: It tallied 99 additional votes for President Biden and 261 fewer votes for Mr. Trump in Maricopa County.... The hourslong presentation before the State Senate the [Cyber Ninja] review officials did not focus on the numbers showing [Joe] Biden's victory but instead presented a blizzard of hypotheticals, none verified, most hinting darkly at a tainted election. They came prepared with slides, ballot scans and discussions of arcane election rules.... At the presentation's end..., Karen Fann, the Republican Senate president who commissioned the vote review..., called for Arizona's attorney general, a Republican, to investigate the claims of irregularities. None of the claims held up, according to experts on election administration who monitored the proceedings.... Maricopa County officials devoted their Twitter feed to debunking allegations as they were made on the floor." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As Rachel Maddow highlighted, one of the charges the Cyber Ninja team claimed needed investigation was that the Maricopa County's election Website appeared to be online. It is. You know, it tells citizens how the can register to vote and so forth. This is not a site that counts votes or is hooked up to the county's vote-counting mechanisms. This "charge" is as earth-shattering a revelation as would be a charge that Reality Chex and the New York Times Websites access the Internet. They do. (Shockingly, the Cyber Ninjas themselves have a Website, and if you click on the link, you will discover that it, too, is connected to the Internet.)

Way Beyond

Karla Adam & Rick Noack of the Washington Post: "Young people around the world spilled into streets, city squares and local parks on Friday, following the call of Swedish teen Greta Thunberg, for the first big, in-person, coordinated climate protests since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Thunberg, who started the Fridays for Future student movement in 2018, was in Berlin, where the turnout was especially high, and where voters are gearing up to select a successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel in national elections Sunday.... With coronavirus-related restrictions relaxing in many countries, street protests can resume once more. Students demonstrated in more than 1,500 locations around the world on Friday, though not in the numbers they achieved in 2019."

Preview: Lauren Boebert & Josh Hawley at CPAC 2022:

~~~ Hungary. Yay! Fascisto Tourism. Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God: "The Budapest Business Journal reports: 'Budapest will host the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a gathering of conservative activists and elected officials from the United States and beyond, in 2022, the Budapest-based Center for Fundamental Rights said....'... Last month CPAC also held a conference in Brazil in support of Jair Bolsonaro. Anywhere there's a budding dictatorship, CPAC will follow." MB: In a tweet embedded in Joe's post, David Frum expresses skepticism about the BBJ's report. Knowing as much as I do about the BBJ (which is nothing), I share his skepticism. On the other hand, what with TuKKKer's and mike pence's pilgrimages to New Nationalist Mecca, the story is plausible.