May 21, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Peter Baker & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "In his first meeting with President Yoon Suk-yeol, [President] Biden sought to put the relationship with South Korea, traditionally one of the United States' strongest allies in Asia, on a firmer foundation after the volatile years of ... Donald J. Trump, who frequently undercut ties with the South while wooing the North's mercurial dictator, Kim Jong-un. 'The alliance between the Republic of Korea and the United States has never been stronger, more vibrant or, I might add, more vital,' said Mr. Biden, using South Korea's formal name, at a news conference in Seoul with Mr. Yoon.... Unlike Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden hailed the continuing American troop presence in South Korea.... Mr. Biden said that cooperation between the United States and South Korea showed 'our readiness to take on all threats together.' He also said that his administration would collaborate to confront cyberattacks from North Korea. Mr. Biden's team is focused, through engaging with allies in the region, on returning to a North Korea strategy aimed at deterrence. It views the Trump administration's approach, in which Mr. Trump ignored the usual diplomatic process and directly embraced Mr. Kim, as an aberration in American foreign policy."

Marie: Hard to believe, but another Trumpist told a series of porkers about his aiding and abetting some folks "wearing red baseball caps" the day before the insurrection: ~~~

~~~ Eric Levai of the Daily Dot: The Daily Dot has obtained a radio interview from Jan. 6, 2021, from WBHF in Cartersville, Georgia, in which Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) says, 'about a dozen' people were present in his congressional office in Washington, D.C. the day before the Capitol riot. [Thursday], Loudermilk said in a statement that 'a constituent family' visited him the day before the Capitol riot. That is an updated version of a previous statement by Republicans on the Committee on House Administration -- which Loudermilk is a member of -- that originally stated 'there were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on' given by him or other Republicans in advance of the Capitol riot. But in the interview -- given as the riot was winding down -- Loudermilk made it clear that he met with people who were planning to protest on Jan. 6, and that he discussed how they wanted to be in the crowd that day to protest the results of the 2020 election.... In a video statement released [Friday], Loudermilk claims that the family was wearing red baseball caps, which is why he's being singled out by the committee, but also admits the family brought guests with them, which he had not previously mentioned." Red baseball caps, Barry? Really?

Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Russia is permanently banning nearly 1,000 Americans, including President Biden and Vice President Harris, from entering the country in response to the United State' support of Ukraine and the historic sanctions facing Moscow nearly three months into its invasion. On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry published the list of 963 Americans barred from entering Russia -- a largely symbolic move featuring a wide-ranging collection of Biden administration members, Republicans, tech executives, journalists, lawmakers who have died, regular U.S. citizens and even actor Morgan Freeman.... One prominent name missing from the list: ... Donald Trump. In fact, the only prominent Trump administration official included in the ban is former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is not on the list. Also not listed is Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who delayed a Senate vote on aid for Ukraine last week when he was the only senator to object."

New York. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "A state court formally approved New York's new congressional map late Friday, ratifying a slate of House districts drawn by a neutral expert that could pave the way for Democratic losses this fall and force some of the party's most prominent incumbents to face off in primary matches. The map, approved just before a midnight deadline set by Justice Patrick F. McAllister of State Supreme Court in Steuben County, effectively unwinds an attempted Democratic gerrymander, creates a raft of new swing seats across the state, and scrambles some carefully laid lines that have long determined centers of power in New York City. Jonathan R. Cervas, the court-appointed mapmaker, made relatively minor changes to a draft proposal released earlier this week whose sweeping changes briefly united both Republicans and Democrats in exasperation and turned Democrats against each other. In Manhattan, the final map would still merge the seats of Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, setting the two Democratic committee leaders, who have served alongside each other for 30 years, onto an increasingly inevitable collision course." Read on.

Australia. Michael Miller & Frances Vinall of the Washington Post: "Australia delivered a stinging defeat to the country's ruling conservative coalition on Saturday in what amounted to a personal rebuke of Prime Minister Scott Morrison's abrasive brand of leadership. The result paves the way for opposition leader Anthony Albanese to become the next prime minister. But it was unclear whether his center-left Labor Party would win an outright majority or be forced to negotiate with a handful of independent and Greens candidates elected on platforms of combating climate change." The AP's story is here. MB: Well, let's hope this bodes well for us.

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Justin McCurry of the Guardian: President "Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, have said they are considering expanding joint military exercises in response to the 'threat' posed by North Korea.... Speaking in Seoul on the second day of his visit to South Korea, Biden said he was willing to meet North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, but only if he was 'sincere and serious' about dismantling his nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Yoon, a conservative who took office just 11 days ago, said he and Biden also discussed the timing of a possible deployment in the South of US 'strategic assets' -- a term that typically refers to bombers, submarines and aircraft carriers -- to deter North Korea. The two measures, if implemented, would mark an escalation in US and South Korean efforts to put on a show of force against Pyongyang, and an admission that nuclear talks started by Donald Trump are unlikely to be revived."

Miriam Jordan & David Goodman of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Friday blocked the Biden administration from lifting a pandemic-related health order whose scheduled expiration on Monday would have thrown open the doors of the United States to asylum seekers at the border for the first time in more than two years. The ruling means further delays for thousands of people waiting for a chance to seek refuge in the United States, but it averts a potential crisis on the border by giving the administration more time to roll out its plan to handle the large numbers that are expected. Department of Homeland Security officials have said they were preparing for as many as 18,000 migrants a day, compared with 8,000 currently, if the order were lifted.... The sweeping public health measure, known as Title 42, was put into place in March 2020 to control the transmission of the coronavirus across the border. Under its authority, thousands of migrants arriving at land borders have been swiftly expelled, without an opportunity for those fleeing danger and persecution to request humanitarian protection in the United States."

Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "... inflated fees [for Americans who received Social Security benefits in error] were set in motion during the Trump administration, when attorneys in charge of a little-known anti-fraud program run by the inspector general's office levied unprecedented fines against ... more than 100 ... beneficiaries without due process, according to interviews, documents and sworn testimony before an administrative law judge. In doing so, they disregarded regulations and deviated from how the program had recovered money since its inception in 1995, failing to take into account someone's financial state, their age, their intentions and level of remorse, among other factors.... Unlike in the past, the chief counsel also directed staff attorneys to charge those affected as much as twice the money they had received in error, on top of the fines, interviews and court testimony show.... Fines as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars were imposed on poor, disabled and elderly people, many of whom had no hope of ever being able to pay." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

     ~~~ Marie: Pictured with the story is a grinning Aryan lady, the Trump appointee who ran the program. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. See especially his commentary in yesterday's thread.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani ... sat on Friday for a lengthy interview with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to people familiar with the closed-door interview. Mr. Giuliani's interview, which was virtual, lasted for more than seven hours, the people said. The interview was transcribed, and he was under oath. He took a break in the middle of it to host his hourlong afternoon radio show.... His centrality to [Donald] Trump's various attempts to subvert the election made him a potentially pivotal witness for the panel, with knowledge of details about interactions with members of Congress and others involved in the plans.... Earlier this month, he abruptly pulled out of a scheduled interview with the committee after the panel refused to let him record the session. He later dropped that objection and agreed to testify after the panel threatened to use its 'enforcement options.'..." CNN's report is here.

Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pressed Arizona lawmakers after the 2020 election to set aside Joe Biden's popular-vote victory and choose 'a clean slate of Electors,' according to emails obtained by The Washington Post. The emails, sent by Ginni Thomas to a pair of lawmakers on Nov. 9, 2020, argued that legislators needed to intervene because the vote had been marred by fraud.... She told the lawmakers the responsibility to choose electors was 'yours and yours alone' and said they have 'power to fight back against fraud.'... In sending the emails, Thomas played a role in the extraordinary scheme to keep Trump in office by substituting the will of legislatures for the will of voters.... Thomas's name also appears on an email to the two representatives on Dec. 13, the day before members of the electoral college met.... 'Before you choose your state's Electors ... consider what will happen to the nation we all love if you don't stand up and lead,' the email said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

      ~~~ The New York Times' story is here. A Guardian story is here.

Josh Gerstein & Kelly Hooper of Politico: "The manager of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential bid, Robby Mook, testified Friday that the campaign did not instruct or authorize a lawyer to go to the FBI with claims of a potential data link between then-candidate Donald Trump and a Russian bank owned by allies of ... Vladimir Putin. That lawyer -- former Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussmann -- is on trial in federal court in Washington on a felony false-statement charge brought by special counsel John Durham, who claims Sussmann lied to the FBI when he said he was not acting on behalf of any client in relaying indications and internet data stream between a Trump-related server and one for Moscow-based Alfa Bank. Called as a witness by Sussmann's defense, Mook told jurors that he would have vigorously opposed taking the allegations to the FBI because the campaign had no faith in the bureau after the FBI's then-director James Comey publicly blasted Clinton as he closed an investigation into her use of a private email account when she served as secretary of State. Asked if he would have favored handing the server information to the FBI, Mook said: 'Absolutely not.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Mook's testimony seems to put a huge dollop of reasonable doubt into Durham's Big Case. However, prosecutors claim that Sussmann also represented the DNC, so it's still possible DNC officials authorized him to go to the FBI. We should find out when the defense presents its case. The jury heard from Mook now instead of during the defense's rebuttal only because the judge allowed Mook to testify out of regular order.

Bigots' & Loonies' Convention Going Well. Flora Garamvolgyi and Julian Borger of the Guardian: "A notorious Hungarian racist who has called Jews 'stinking excrement', referred to Roma as 'animals' and used racial epithets to describe Black people, was a featured speaker at a major gathering of US Republicans in Budapest. Zsolt Bayer took the stage at the second day of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Hungary, a convention that also featured speeches from Donald Trump, Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and Trump's former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows. The last featured speaker of the conference was Jack Posobiec, a far-right US blogger who has used antisemitic symbols and promoted the fabricated 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theory smearing prominent Democrats as pedophiles.... [Hungary's] nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, [was] the star speaker on the first day of CPAC Hungary...." MB: This report does make it seem as if Trump is becoming part of the fringe. CPAC was the venue, after all, in which Mitt Romney announced in 2012 that he was "severely conservative." You wouldn't catch Mitch pandering to this crowd now. We'll see what happens.

Annie Karni & Ruth Graham of the New York Times: "An ultraconservative archbishop in San Francisco said on Friday that Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California would not be permitted to receive communion in his archdiocese because of her support for abortion rights. Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, who has repeatedly confronted Ms. Pelosi over abortion, said in a letter on Friday that until Ms. Pelosi was willing to 'publicly repudiate' her position defending the 'legitimacy of abortion,' she would be banned from the sacrament, a central element of Catholic worship." MB: Which raises the question: Why would the Church put "an ultraconservative archbishop" in San Francisco, of all places?

Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "A chaotic day on Wall Street extended the longest period of market turmoil since 2001, with stocks on Friday briefly descending into bear market territory, a symbolic marker of investors' deep pessimism about the health of the global economy and the buying power of the American consumer. The S&P 500 has fallen for seven consecutive weeks, its worst stretch since the dot-com bubble burst more than two decades ago. After a 3 percent drop this week, the index is down 14 percent since early April. Friday afternoon, the S&P 500 crossed the bear market threshold of a 20 percent decline from its peak on Jan. 3. But with less than 30 minutes left before trading ended, after hours of churn and a drop of as much as 2.3 percent, the market rallied and ended a hair above where it had started the day."

Reuters, via the Guardian: "Boeing's new Starliner crew capsule has docked for the first time with the International Space Station, completing a major objective in a crucial test flight into orbit without astronauts aboard. The rendezvous of the gumdrop-shaped CST-100 Starliner with the orbital research outpost ... occurred on Friday nearly 26 hours after the capsule was launched from Cape Canaveral US Space Force Base in Florida. Starliner lifted off on Thursday atop an Atlas V rocket furnished by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA) and reached its intended preliminary orbit 31 minutes later despite the failure of two onboard thrusters."

** Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "In a sign of growing concern among federal health officials about the spread of new coronavirus infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now saying that all people 50 or older should get a second booster shot if at least four months have passed since their first booster dose. Previously, the agency said those 50 and older had the option of the additional shot, but only encouraged people over 65 or with underlying medical conditions to get it. The new guidance, issued in a statement on the C.D.C.'s website on Thursday, also extends to anyone 12 and older with certain immune deficiencies. The C.D.C. said it was changing its advice because of a steady rise in infections over the past month, coupled with 'a steep and substantial increase in hospitalizations for older Americans.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Louisiana. Senator Cassidy: Don't Count Black Women. Sarah Owermohle of Politico: "Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said Louisiana's maternal mortality rate -- one of the worst in the nation -- does not tell the whole story of maternal health in the state because of its large Black population and the uncommonly broad definition Louisiana uses. 'About a third of our population is African American; African Americans have a higher incidence of maternal mortality. So, if you correct our population for race, we;re not as much of an outlier as it'd otherwise appear,' Sen. Bill Cassidy said in an interview with Politico. 'Now, I say that not to minimize the issue but to focus the issue as to where it would be. For whatever reason, people of color have a higher incidence of maternal mortality.' The United States has the worst maternal mortality rate among developed nations." Cassidy is a medical doctor. MB: Could you find some way, Bill, to be a little more dismissive of Black women? They die too much for whatever reason.

Michigan. Amanda Terkel & Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: Jackie Eubanks, "Donald Trump's pick for a Michigan state Senate seat is promising to ban all birth control if she gets the chance. 'I guess we have to ask ourselves, would that ever come to a vote in the Michigan state legislature? And if it should, I would have to side with it should not be legal,' Republican Jacky Eubanks said in a recent interview.... I think it gives people the false sense of security that they can have consequence-free sex, and that's not true and that's not correct. Sex ought to be between one man and one woman in the confines of marriage.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ohio. Secessionist Challenges Kaptur. And He Could Win. Andrew Kaczynski & Em Steck of CNN: "Ohio Republican congressional candidate J.R. Majewski said in a livestream following the 2020 election that he thought every state won by ... Donald Trump should secede from the United States. Majewski, who works in the nuclear industry and is an Air Force veteran, is already under scrutiny over his past promotion of the false QAnon conspiracy theory and his attendance at the January 6, 2020 'Stop the Steal' rally which preceded the Capitol riot. Majewski emerged victorious in a crowded Republican primary earlier this month and will face off against long-serving Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur in the newly drawn congressional district this November. The race is considered to be competitive and is likely to be a toss up.... Before running for Congress, Majewski was best known as the Trump supporter who painted his front lawn into a 19,000-square-foot Trump 2020 sign." Worth clicking on to see what this jamoke looks like.

Pennsylvania. Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "Two decades before he was Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, Doug Mastriano warned in a master's thesis that the United States was vulnerable to a left-wing 'Hitlerian Putsch' that would begin with the dismantling of the U.S. military and end with the destruction of the country's democracy. The thesis, written in 2001 when Mastriano was a major at the Air Force's Air Command and Staff College, is highly unusual for its doomsaying and often fearful point of view, and its prediction that only the U.S. military could save the country from the depredations of the country's morally debauched civilian leaders.... The document displays a disgust for anyone who doesn't hold his view that homosexuality is a form of 'aberrant sexual conduct' and presages the worldview that has led Mastriano to blame rampant fraud for Donald Trump's 2020 defeat and to join a crowd headed toward the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Zach Montellaro & Holly Otterbein of Politico: "A little-watched federal court case could upend the neck-and-neck Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania between Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick. On Friday afternoon, a three-judge panel for the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals issued a judgment saying election officials should count several hundred mail ballots that were submitted without a date written on their mailing envelopes in a November 2021 county judgeship election, as long as they were otherwise received on time. It was not immediately clear how sweeping the reach of the circuit court's ruling will be because a formal opinion from the panel is still forthcoming. But it could have a serious impact on the Senate race. Oz and McCormick were separated by about 1,100 votes as of Friday afternoon, and the ruling could introduce into the pool an as-yet-unknown number of similarly-situated ballots that would not have initially been counted."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, etc.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Severodonetsk, the easternmost city under Ukraine's control, is set to be the war's next major battlefield, with local officials reporting intense Russian shelling in recent days. Some 100 miles to Severodonetsk's west, a cultural center in the Kharkiv region was struck by a missile. Seven people were injured in the attack, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned as 'absolutely evil.'... Russia on Friday claimed full control of the Azovstal steel plant in the Black Sea port city of Mariupol, and said more than 1,900 Ukrainian fighters from the facility have surrendered -- though that figure drastically exceeds other estimates.... Finland's gas transmission network operator said early Saturday that Russia had stopped shipping natural gas. The move is not expected to disrupt the Nordic state's energy network, as Finland is able to make up the shortfall from elsewhere.... Britain also said it is working with partners to provide modern military equipment to Moldova, which is not a NATO member." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Saturday are here: "With Russia's campaign in Ukraine increasingly focused on the south and east, it is making 'incremental progress' in the Donbas region, according to the Pentagon spokesman.... President Biden on Saturday signed a new $40 billion package of military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine, the latest step to help the nation combat Russia.... The Group of 7 economic powers agreed to provide nearly $20 billion to support Ukraine's economy over the coming months to help keep the country's government running." The Times' summary of events Friday is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. The Guardian's daily summary report is here.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. Christopher Clarey of the New York Times: "The men's and women's tennis tours responded to Wimbledon's ban on Russian and Belarusian players on Friday by stripping the event of ranking points this year, the most significant rebuke to date of efforts by global sports organizations to ostracize individual Russian athletes as punishment for their country;s invasion of Ukraine. It is a move without precedent in tennis, and without the points, Wimbledon, the oldest of the four Grand Slam tournaments, will technically be an exhibition event, bringing no ranking boost to those who excel on its pristine lawns this year.... Though Wimbledon, for now, is the only one of the four major tournaments to ban Russians and Belarusians, the power play by the tours could lead to countermeasures, including the possibility of Grand Slam events considering an alternative ranking system or aligning to make more decisions independently of the tours."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Robert J. Vlasic, who by combining a keen sense for business with an even keener sense of humor turned his family business into the nation's largest purveyor of pickles, gherkins, sauerkraut and a host of other briny condiments, died on May 8 at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. He was 96." ~~~

New York Times: "Roger Angell, the elegant and thoughtful baseball writer who was widely considered among the best America has produced, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 101.... For Mr. Angell, The New Yorker was, to some degree, the family shop. His mother, Katharine Sergeant Angell White, was among the magazine's first editors hired by Harold Ross in 1925. His stepfather, the essayist E.B. White, was a frequent contributor. Mr. Angell published his first piece in the magazine, a short story, in 1944 and went to work there in 1956."

New York Times: "Vangelis, the Greek film composer and synthesizer virtuoso whose soaring music for 'Chariots of Fire,' the 1981 movie about two British runners in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, won the Academy Award for best original score, died on Tuesday in Paris. He was 79." ~~~

May 20, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pressed Arizona lawmakers after the 2020 election to set aside Joe Biden's popular-vote victory and choose 'a clean slate of Electors,' according to emails obtained by The Washington Post. The emails, sent by Ginni Thomas to a pair of lawmakers on Nov. 9, 2020, argued that legislators needed to intervene because the vote had been marred by fraud.... She told the lawmakers the responsibility to choose electors was 'yours and yours alone' and said they have 'power to fight back against fraud.'... In sending the emails, Thomas played a role in the extraordinary scheme to keep Trump in office by substituting the will of legislatures for the will of voters.... Thomas's name also appears on an email to the two representatives on Dec. 13, the day before members of the electoral college met to cast their votes and seal Biden's victory. 'Before you choose your state's Electors ... consider what will happen to the nation we all love if you don't stand up and lead,' the email said."

Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "... inflated fees [for Americans who received Social Security benefits in error] were set in motion during the Trump administration, when attorneys in charge of a little-known anti-fraud program run by the inspector general's office levied unprecedented fines against ... more than 100 ... beneficiaries without due process, according to interviews, documents and sworn testimony before an administrative law judge. In doing so, they disregarded regulations and deviated from how the program had recovered money since its inception in 1995, failing to take into account someone's financial state, their age, their intentions and level of remorse, among other factors.... Unlike in the past, the chief counsel also directed staff attorneys to charge those affected as much as twice the money they had received in error, on top of the fines, interviews and court testimony show.... Fines as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars were imposed on poor, disabled and elderly people, many of whom had no hope of ever being able to pay."

     ~~~ Marie: Pictured with the story is a grinning Aryan lady, the Trump appointee who ran the program. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. See especially his commentary in today's thread.

Michigan. Amanda Terkel & Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: Jackie Eubanks, "Donald Trump's pick for a Michigan state Senate seat is promising to ban all birth control if she gets the chance. 'I guess we have to ask ourselves, would that ever come to a vote in the Michigan state legislature? And if it should, I would have to side with it should not be legal,' Republican Jacky Eubanks said in a recent interview.... I think it gives people the false sense of security that they can have consequence-free sex, and that's not true and that's not correct. Sex ought to be between one man and one woman in the confines of marriage.'"

Pennsylvania. Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "Two decades before he was Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, Doug Mastriano warned in a master's thesis that the United States was vulnerable to a left-wing 'Hitlerian Putsch' that would begin with the dismantling of the U.S. military and end with the destruction of the country's democracy. The thesis, written in 2001 when Mastriano was a major at the Air Force's Air Command and Staff College, is highly unusual for its doomsaying and often fearful point of view, and its prediction that only the U.S. military could save the country from the depredations of the country's morally debauched civilian leaders.... The document displays a disgust for anyone who doesn't hold his view that homosexuality is a form of 'aberrant sexual conduct' and presages the worldview that has led Mastriano to blame rampant fraud for Donald Trump's 2020 defeat and to join a crowd headed toward the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021."

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Aamer Madhani & Josh Boak of the AP: "President Joe Biden on Friday opened his trip to Asia by touring a South Korean computer chip factory that will be the model for another plant in Texas, offering it as a way to deepen ties with the Indo Pacific and fuel technological innovation and foster vibrant democracies. 'So much of the future of the world is going to be written here, in the Indo Pacific, over the next several decades,' Biden said. 'This is the moment, in my view, to invest in one another to deepen our business ties, to bring our people even closer together.'"

Cleve Wootson, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden touched down in South Korea on Friday in the first visit to Asia of his presidency.... Biden's first remarks here will nod to a top domestic priority for the administration, calling for final passage of a sweeping bill in Congress meant to boost U.S. competitiveness against China that House and Senate negotiators are scrambling to finalize.... Accompanied by newly inaugurated South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Biden will also tour a Samsung facility that will serve as a model for a plant the company is building in Texas -- a sample of the president's 'foreign policy for the middle class' ethos that has guided his administration.... Biden's visit will be the first head-of-state meeting for Yoon, a first-time politician with no foreign policy experience.... [The] visit kicks off amid signs that North Korea is preparing to conduct a nuclear test or a long-range ballistic missile test as early as this week...."

Peter Baker & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden embarked Thursday on his first diplomatic mission to Asia since taking office, hoping to demonstrate that the United States remained focused on countering China, even as his administration stage-managed a war against Russia in Europe. With his original strategy of pivoting foreign policy attention to Asia effectively blown up by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Biden has now shifted to the argument that there can be no trade-off between Europe and Asia and that only the United States can bring together the democracies of the East and West to stand up to autocracy and aggression in both spheres."

More Secret Service Agents Behaving Badly. Josh Margolin of ABC News: "Two Secret Service employees -- an agent and an armed physical security specialist -- in South Korea to prepare for President Joe Biden's impending arrival are being sent home after an alleged alcohol-fueled incident that ended with a report being filed with local police, according to two sources briefed on the situation. The personnel were assigned to help prepare for the presidential visit when they went out for dinner and then stopped at several bars, the sources told ABC News. As the evening progressed, the two Secret Service staffers became apparently intoxicated and the agent wound up in a heated argument with a cab driver, according to the sources."

David Sanger of the New York Times: "President Biden vowed on Thursday to speed Finland and Sweden to NATO membership, seeking to redraw the map of Europe to the West's advantage less than three months after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia began his invasion of Ukraine. In a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden with President Sauli Niinisto of Finland and Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden, Mr. Biden said he was immediately submitting to the Senate the treaty language needed to make the two countries the newest members of the alliance. Formal accession to the alliance will require the approval of the other 29 member nations as well.

"... Turkey -- which under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has had a sometimes close and sometimes contentious relationship with Moscow -- has expressed objections that could slow the process and require negotiations to address its concerns.... Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met his Turkish counterpart in New York on Wednesday, and Finnish officials said they were in talks with Turkey as well. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Jake Sullivan, Mr. Biden's national security adviser, expressed confidence that 'Turkey's concerns can be addressed' and that Finland and Sweden would ultimately be able to join the alliance. But Mr. Erdogan is famously unpredictable, and he could easily take advantage of his leverage as a potential spoiler to press for his own demands, including a lifting of sanctions on his country for its purchase of Russian-made antiaircraft systems."

Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "Pentagon spokesman John Kirby will move to the White House in a senior communications role, according to two people familiar with the personnel move. Kirby's move to the White House comes after Karine Jean-Pierre took over as White House press secretary from Jen Psaki, who left the administration last week. Kirby met with President Biden at the White House the day after he offered the press secretary job to Jean-Pierre. Kirby's exact title and role remain unclear." ~~~

~~~ Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times profiles Karine Jean-Pierre: "Karine Jean-Pierre began her debut briefing as President Biden's press secretary on Monday by acknowledging the unusual nature of her presence behind the White House lectern. 'I am a Black, gay, immigrant woman, the first of all three of those to hold this position,' she said. Left unsaid were the other ways in which her path to becoming the president's chief spokeswoman sharply diverged from that of her predecessors."

Tara Bahrampour of the Washington Post: "The 2020 Census undercounted people in six states and overcounted them in eight states, according to a post-count survey released Thursday by the Census Bureau.The results, along with other analyses by the bureau and outside researchers..., cannot legally be used to reapportion seats in the House of Representatives, which are calculated based on decennial census data. The bureau found that ... found that Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Illinois and Mississippi probably have more people than the census counted. It also found that Hawaii, New York, Minnesota, Utah, Massachusetts, Delaware, Rhode Island and Ohio probably have fewer people than the census counted.... Post-enumeration survey findings released earlier this year showed the 2020 Census missed counting Hispanics, Blacks and other typically undercounted minority groups and overcounted Whites and Asians at a higher rate than in 2010. The undercount for Hispanics more than tripled." An NPR report is here.

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The Senate voted Thursday to deliver more than $40 billion in new military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, sending the measure to President Biden after a week-long delay sparked by a lone senator's objection. The vote was 86 to 11, with all opposition to the package coming from Republicans." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Related stories linked under "Way Beyond the Beltway" below.

Eugene Scott & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "House GOP leaders were among the 192 Republicans who voted against providing $28 million in aid to the Food and Drug Administration to address the shortage of baby formula -- within days of criticizing President Biden for not doing enough on the issue. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Whip Steve Scalise (La.) and Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) voted late Wednesday against the measure to provide new FDA funding, which the House approved on a largely party-line vote of 231 to 192. Twelve Republicans broke ranks and joined with Democrats in backing the money. On a separate bill, the House voted Wednesday overwhelmingly to ease the burden on low-income parents by allowing the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program -- a major national purchaser of formula -- to source it from more foreign suppliers. The vote was 414 to 9 with all the opposition coming from Republicans. The Senate approved the legislation Thursday by voice vote. It now heads to Biden, who will sign it into law." Related story linked below under "Oklahoma." (Also linked yesterday.)

MEANWHILE. Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "It was only one half-hour into Wednesday's congressional hearing on abortion access when it became clear that the Republican contributions to the day would be loonier than a QAnon message board. 'In places like Washington D.C.,' fetuses are 'burned to power the light's of the city's homes and streets,' claimed Catherine Glenn Foster, who had, just minutes before, sworn not to lie under oath. The GOP-summoned witness let loose the wild and utterly false accusation that municipal electrical companies are powered by incinerated fetuses. 'The next time you turn on the light, think of the incinerators,' she said, apparently repeating a misleading talking point from the same anti-choice activists caught stashing fetuses at home.... [Foster] is a Georgetown law school graduate who is paid $190,000 a year to be the president of Americans United for Life, one of the largest anti-abortion non-profits in the country.... The GOP contributions to the hearing were a blizzard of bullshit, meant to totally white out the efforts by Democrats and reproductive rights activists to remind the public of the great human cost that results from banning abortion."

Emily Birnbaum & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Republican senators laid into a Google executive at the Capitol Wednesday over allegations that the company's filters target GOP emails as spam. It quickly turned confrontational. The Senate Republican Steering Committee, the policy arm of the Senate GOP, had invited Google's chief legal officer, Kent Walker, to discuss a recent study that found the company has disproportionately filtered Republican lawmakers' emails into hidden spam folders compared to emails from Democratic lawmakers. Walker said there is no bias in how Google deals with spam. The group lunch grew unusually tense, according to three people familiar with the meeting, granted anonymity to discuss private matters. 'The lunch was spirited,' said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), one of the more vocal attendees. 'Google deflected, refused to provide any data, repeatedly refused to answer direct questions.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gee, Ted, do you think the spam drop might be caused by the fact that you wingers write way more fake crap than Democrats do? I'll bet if you all quit lying -- as if you had the capacity to tell the truth -- you'd find that your spammed quotient went way down.

Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "Congressional investigators have obtained a batch of official White House photographs, including images taken on Jan. 6, 2021, according to two sources familiar with the evidence. The previously unreported cache, which arrived via the National Archives, may provide the committee with real-time visual evidence of ... Donald Trump's actions and movements as a mob of his supporters battered their way into the Capitol and threatened the transfer of power to Joe Biden. At least some of the photos were taken by official White House photographer Shealah Craighead, the sources indicated.... Asked whether the panel had spoken to Craighead as a direct witness, [committee chair] Bennie Thompson said, 'Not yet.'" MB: Hope there's a time-stamped snap of Trump's stubby fingers trying to make a call on a $10 burner phone. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nicholas Wu & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee says it has reviewed evidence that reveals a Republican lawmaker, Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, gave a tour through the Capitol complex the day before a pro-Trump mob attacked. 'We believe you have information regarding a tour you led through parts of the Capitol complex on January 5, 2021,' Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) wrote to Loudermilk.... The committee noted that Republicans on the House Administration Committee, who had previously reviewed security footage from that day, had publicly claimed that there were 'no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on.' The GOP comments called into question allegations made by three dozen Democrats in the days after Jan. 6 that they observed suspicious, 'unusually large' groups, perhaps led by Republican lawmakers or staffers, walking through the Capitol complex in the days preceding the attack.... The select committee noted that Loudermilk is a member of the House Administration Committee. And they said their review of the evidence 'directly contradicts that denial.'" The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The committee's letter to Loudermilk, via the committee, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Consigliere Fingers the Capo. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "John Eastman, the attorney who architected Donald Trump's last-ditch legal strategy to overturn the 2020 election, revealed Friday that he routinely communicated with Trump either directly or via 'six conduits' during the chaotic weeks that preceded the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. In a late-night court filing urging a federal judge to maintain the confidentiality of his work for Trump, Eastman provided the clearest insight yet into the blizzard of communications between Trump, his top aides, his campaign lawyers and the army of outside attorneys who were working to help reverse the outcome in a handful of states won by Joe Biden. The filing also describes the direct role of Trump himself in developing strategy, detailing 'two hand-written notes from former President Trump about information that he thought might be useful for the anticipated litigation.' Those notes are among the documents Eastman is seeking to shield via attorney-client privilege."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "While little is known about what was said on the chat, the membership list of Friends of Stone, provided to The New York Times by one of its participants, offers a kind of road map to [Roger] Stone's associations, showing their scope and nature in the critical period after the 2020 election. During that time, Mr. Stone was involved with a strikingly wide array of people who participated in efforts to challenge the vote count and keep Mr. Trump in the White House.... As prosecutors deepen their inquiry into the storming of Capitol, the list suggests that Mr. Stone had the means to be in private contact with key players in the events of Jan. 6 -- political organizers, far-right extremists and influential media figures who subsequently played down the attack.... Members of the group were among those who took part in a conference call on Dec. 30, 2020, when a social media expert who formerly worked for Mr. Stone urged his listeners to 'descend on the Capitol' one week later, promising that Joseph R. Biden Jr. 'will never be in that White House.'"

Jamie Gangel & Evan Perez of CNN: "Former Attorney General William Barr has 'tentatively agreed to give sworn testimony behind closed doors' to the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations. Barr has already talked informally to the committee, including at a meeting at his home last fall with committee lawyers and committee Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming, according to sources familiar with the matter. The meeting lasted approximately two hours, and it focused on interactions between Barr and ... Donald Trump before and after the election, according to one of the sources. The committee also inquired about Barr informing Trump there was no widespread election fraud."

How Not to Spend Winter Break. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A far-right Republican leader at UCLA with white supremacist ties pleaded guilty Thursday after admitting to sitting in Vice President Mike Pence's chair in the Senate during the Jan. 6 Capitol breach. Christian Secor, a member of America First Bruins, admitted to obstructing an official proceeding -- namely Congress's certification of the election of Joe Biden -- in a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors."

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A former top official at the FBI told a federal jury on Thursday that he was '100 percent confident' that Michael Sussmann, a prominent cybersecurity lawyer, said he wasn't acting on behalf of any of his clients when he gave the FBI information weeks before the 2016 presidential election about an alleged data link between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank. The daylong testimony from former FBI General Counsel James Baker in federal court in Washington backed the central claim of the narrow false-statement case special counsel John Durham brought against Sussmann last year: that he lied to Baker by hiding the involvement of the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee in promoting the alleged link." The New York Times report is here.

Mitchell Clark of the Verge: "SpaceX reportedly paid a flight attendant $250,000 to ensure she didn't speak out or sue the company after Elon Musk allegedly exposed himself and propositioned her for sex, according to a report from Business Insider." Oh, read on.

Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: "Boeing's Starliner spacecraft finally reached orbit Thursday on its way to docking with the International Space Station, completing a major step after two previous failed attempts that became part of the company's many woes and a symbol of its fall from grace. But the accomplishment was marred when at a postlaunch briefing, Boeing revealed that two of the four thrusters that were to put the spacecraft into the correct orbit failed."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "The United States has officially surpassed one million known deaths from Covid-19, according to a New York Times database.... [This is] the world's highest known total."

Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Thursday that children ages 5 to 11 get a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to boost their immunity as cases and hospitalizations tick upward in many pockets of the United States. CDC director Rochelle Walensky greenlit the recommendation Thursday evening, and she also encouraged parents of children in that age group who have not yet been vaccinated to get their first shot soon." Free to nonsubscribers.

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia Senate Race. Marc Caputo, et al., of NBC News: "Former Sen. David Perdue's once-spirited primary challenge to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp appears to be sputtering in the homestretch ahead of Tuesday's vote. Even the man who recruited Perdue to run against Kemp -- ... Donald Trump -- seems to have given his campaign up for dead, said three Republicans who have spoken to Trump. They say Trump has groused about what he believes is a lackluster campaign effort from Perdue. Trump isn't planning to make any more personal appearances in Georgia in Perdue's behalf, having sunk enough of his own political capital in a race that looks like a lost cause, said a fourth source...."

Michigan. Cynthia McFadden, et al., of NBC News: "Jocelyn Benson, Michigan's top election official, faced an onslaught of threats after the 2020 presidential election for refusing to overturn results that showed Joe Biden had won the state.... She says she also received an especially disturbing piece of information: ... Donald Trump suggested in a White House meeting that she should be arrested for treason and executed.... 'It certainly amplified the heightened sense of anxiety, stress and uncertainty of that time -- which I still feel in many ways -- because it showed there was no bottom to how far he (Trump) and his supporters were willing to stoop to overturn or discredit a legitimate election,' [Benson said in an interview with NBC News.]"

Minnesota. Minnesota Public Radio: "The chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota apologized Thursday for an image that was projected at the party's state convention of George Soros manipulating the strings of puppets with the faces of two prominent Jewish Democrats. Republican Party Chair David Hann said in a statement that after speaking to staff at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, the party understands concerns that the imagery perpetuated an antisemitic trope.... The image was contained in a video shown by secretary of state candidate Kim Crockett. The faces on the puppets were DFL elections attorney Marc Elias and Secretary of State Steve Simon. Soros is also Jewish."

New York. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the second-highest-ranking Black lawmaker in Congress, has launched an aggressive effort to discredit a proposed congressional map that would divide historically Black neighborhoods in New York, likening its configurations to Jim Crow tactics. Mr. Jeffries is spending tens of thousands of dollars on digital advertising as part of a scorched-earth campaign to try to stop New York's courts from making the new map final without changes later this week. As construed, the map would split Bedford-Stuyvesant in central Brooklyn into two districts and Co-Op City in the Bronx into three, for example, while placing Black incumbents in the same districts -- changes that Mr. Jeffries argues violate the State Constitution.... Mr. Jeffries may be laying the groundwork for an eventual legal challenge, but his more immediate aim was to pressure Jonathan R. Cervas, New York's court-appointed special master, to change congressional and State Senate maps that he first proposed on Monday before he presents final plans to a state court judge for approval on Friday."

New York. Jesse McKinley & Lola Fadulu of the New York Times: "The accused gunman in Saturday's massacre at a supermarket in Buffalo appeared in court on Thursday morning.... The felony hearing, in Erie County court, was adjourned by a judge until June 9, largely a procedural step.... [The suspect] has pleaded not guilty, and appeared briefly in the courtroom, wearing an orange jumpsuit, amid heavy security. He faces life in prison if convicted, and continues to be held without bail, [Erie County D.A. John] Flynn said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Ed Shanahan of the New York Times: "An emergency services dispatcher in Buffalo could be fired after being accused by a supermarket employee of hanging up on a 911 call during a racist shooting rampage at the store last week. The dispatcher, who has not been publicly identified, was placed on administrative leave on Monday after an internal investigation and faces a disciplinary hearing on May 30, at which 'termination will be sought,' Peter Anderson, a spokesman for the Erie County executive, said on Wednesday.... [Latisha] Rogers told The Buffalo News that she had called 911 while hiding from the gunman, whispering on the phone in hopes of eluding his notice. The dispatcher, she said, had admonished her. 'She was yelling at me, saying, "Why are you whispering? You don't have to whisper,"' Ms. Rogers told The News, 'and I was telling her, "Ma'am, he's still in the store. He's shooting. I'm scared for my life. I don't want him to hear me. Can you please send help?" She got mad at me, hung up in my face.' Ms. Rogers, 33, told The News she then called her boyfriend and told him to call 911." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Oklahoma, the State That Hates Women & Infants. Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "The Oklahoma Legislature gave final approval on Thursday to a bill that prohibits nearly all abortions starting at fertilization, which would make it the nation's strictest abortion law. The bill subjects abortion providers and anyone who 'aids or abets' an abortion to civil suits from private individuals. It would take effect immediately if signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who has pledged to make his state the most anti-abortion in the nation." An NPR report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) A Mother Jones report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Good thing Stitt said "anti-abortion," not "pro-life." Because it seems that in Oklahoma, life ends at birth: "'There can be nothing higher or more critical than the defense of innocent, unborn life,' State Representative Jim Olsen, a Republican, said on Thursday on the floor of the Oklahoma House....' AND/BUT. While state legislators busied themselves condemning women and even children to carrying unwanted pregnancies to term, their friends in Washington were trying to make sure those neonates died nearly as soon as they saw the light. All five of Oklahoma's Members of the House, all Republicans, voted against funding the FDA to address the baby formula shortage. You are monsters.

Oklahoma. Livia Albeck-Ripka of the New York Times: "The three known remaining survivors of the 1921 massacre that saw a white mob kill hundreds of Black residents in Tulsa, Okla., have received a $1 million donation from a philanthropic group frustrated that the justice system has yet to compensate them. Hughes Van Ellis, 101, Viola Fletcher, 108, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 107, all survived the rampage, in which a mob burned more than 1,250 homes and erased years of Black success in Greenwood. Once a booming district known as Black Wall Street, Greenwood was made up of some 40 blocks of restaurants, hotels and theaters owned and run by Black entrepreneurs.... 'These families that were clearly wronged never really got any sense of reimbursement,' said Ed Mitzen, an entrepreneur and the co-founder of the organization Business for Good, who on Wednesday in Tulsa presented the survivors with a check to be split equally among them."

Pennsylvania Senate Race. Corrupt, Whining Liar Still Corrupt, Whining & Lying. Colby Itkowitz & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump escalated his baseless assault on Pennsylvania's elections Thursday even as other Republicans declined to embrace his stance and election officials cautioned that his rhetoric could further erode confidence in the democratic system. For the second day, Trump again questioned the legitimacy of mail-in ballots in the stat's too-close-to-call Republican Senate primary race as the former president's preferred candidate saw his narrow lead dwindle. A recount is basically assured as Mehmet Oz, who Trump endorsed, now leads David McCormick by just 1,080 votes with thousands of mail-in ballots left to count out of the million-plus that were cast.... 'That's not the least bit surprising given his history and what we know about Donald Trump,' [Sen. Pat] Toomey [(R-Pa.) who is retiring,] said of Trump's comments. 'It's much to Mehmet Oz's credit that he hasn't adopted that rhetoric and seems to be adhering to what used to be the conventional view that all the legal ballots should be counted.'"

South Carolina. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "A former sheriff's deputy in South Carolina who drove a jail van into floodwaters while transporting two women to a mental health center in 2018, causing them to drown in a cage in the back as the water rose, was convicted on Thursday and sentenced to 18 years in prison. A Marion County jury found Stephen Flood, a former deputy of the Horry County Sheriff's Office, guilty of two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of reckless homicide in the deaths of Nicolette Green, 43, and Wendy Newton, 45."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, etc.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "After Russia's near-total conquest of the southern city of Mariupol this week, Russian officials appeared to be laying the groundwork for annexing swaths of southeast Ukraine. They have already made changes in some areas, introducing the ruble currency, installing proxy politicians and cutting the population off from Ukrainian broadcasts. But in a sign that the Kremlin is recognizing its struggles elsewhere, it suspended at least two commanders whom it blamed for not capturing the northeast city of Kharkiv and for the sinking of the Russian flagship in the Black Sea, Britain's defense intelligence agency said in a report Thursday." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' summary of events Thursday is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here: "Ukrainian troops in the country's eastern region are fighting a Russian assault that President Volodymyr Zelensky described as 'hell.' 'Donbas is completely destroyed,' he said in a nightly address, accusing Russian forces of bombing the city of Severodonetsk." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. A Guardian summary report is here.

Yousur Al-Hlou, et al., of the New York Times: "In two videos, Russian paratroopers march [men] at gunpoint along a street in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv. Some of the Ukrainian captives are hunched over, holding the belts of those in front of them. Others have their hands over their heads. 'Walk to the right, bitch,' one of the soldiers orders them. The videos, filmed on March 4 by a security camera and a witness in a nearby house and obtained by The New York Times, are the clearest evidence yet that the men were in the custody of Russian troops minutes before being executed. 'Hostages are lying there, against the fence,' the person filming one of the videos says. He counts: 'One, two, three, for sure, four, five, six ...' In total, nine people are being held. The men are forced to the ground.... The video ends. But eight witnesses recounted to The Times ... [that] soldiers took the men behind a nearby office building.... There were gunshots. The captives didn't return. A drone video filmed a day later ... showed the dead bodies lying on the ground by the side of the office building...."

Steve Hendrix & Claire Parker of the Washington Post: "A Russian soldier asked the widow of a slain Ukrainian civilian for 'forgiveness' in a dramatic Kyiv court session Thursday, as the trial of two other Russian soldiers began in central Ukraine. Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin, the first Russian soldier to face a war crimes trial in Ukraine, pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing an unarmed 62-year-old civilian in the country's Sumy region. He is facing a life sentence. Prosecutors contend that Shishimarin, 21, who appeared gaunt, violated Ukrainian laws on war crimes when he fired multiple rounds from his Kalashnikov rifle at Oleksandr Shelipov, who was pushing his bicycle near the village of Chupakhivka in late February.... 'Ensign Kafurov ordered the shooting,' Shishimarin said in court, according to reports in Ukrainian media. 'I refused. Then another soldier ordered me to shoot in a threatening tone, arguing that [Shelipov] would betray us. I fired a short burst.'... Acting on orders does not absolve individual soldiers of responsibility for war crimes, according to experts."

Germany. Amy Cheng of the Washington Post: "Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder is facing pressure from his own party, as well as from the European Union, to resign from his board position with Russian state energy giant Rosneft. On Thursday, Schröder was stripped of his office and staff, according to a spokesman for Germany's Green Party. The announcement came one day after representatives from three German political parties said in a statement that the parliament's budget committee was putting in place a new regulation linking the benefits to which former chancellors are entitled to whether they have any official duties. In the same week, a draft resolution put forth by the four largest parties in the European Parliament, the legislative body of the E.U., 'strongly demands' that Schröder resign from Rosneft."

Israel. Shira Rubin of the Washington Post: "A Palestinian Israeli lawmaker on Thursday announced her resignation from Israel's ruling coalition, citing the government's support of Jewish right-wing groups and the recent killing of a prominent Palestinian American journalist. The lawmaker, Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, was the second Knesset member to quit Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's ruling coalition in the past two months, raising the prospect of new elections as the government struggles to keep power amid a surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence."

News Lede

AP: "Two people are dead and another eight wounded following a shooting near a fast food restaurant in Chicago that sent bystanders scattering, authorities said. The shooting happened about 10:40 p.m. Thursday near a McDonald's on the city's Near North Side, a few blocks from the city's Magnificent Mile shopping district. One person was taken into custody and a weapon was recovered, police said in statement."

May 19, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The Senate voted Thursday to deliver more than $40 billion in new military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, sending the measure to President Biden after a week-long delay sparked by a lone senator's objection. The vote was 86 to 11, with all opposition to the package coming from Republicans."

Eugene Scott & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "House GOP leaders were among the 192 Republicans who voted against providing $28 million in aid to the Food and Drug Administration to address the shortage of baby formula -- within days of criticizing President Biden for not doing enough on the issue. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Whip Steve Scalise (La.) and Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) voted late Wednesday against the measure to provide new FDA funding, which the House approved on a largely party-line vote of 231 to 192. Twelve Republicans broke ranks and joined with Democrats in backing the money. On a separate bill, the House voted Wednesday overwhelmingly to ease the burden on low-income parents by allowing the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program -- a major national purchaser of formula -- to source it from more foreign suppliers. The vote was 414 to 9 with all the opposition coming from Republicans. The Senate approved the legislation Thursday by voice vote. It now heads to Biden, who will sign it into law."

Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "Congressional investigators have obtained a batch of official White House photographs, including images taken on Jan. 6, 2021, according to two sources familiar with the evidence. The previously unreported cache, which arrived via the National Archives, may provide the committee with real-time visual evidence of ... Donald Trump's actions and movements as a mob of his supporters battered their way into the Capitol and threatened the transfer of power to Joe Biden. At least some of the photos were taken by official White House photographer Shealah Craighead, the sources indicated.... Asked whether the panel had spoken to Craighead as a direct witness, [committee chair] Bennie Thompson said, 'Not yet.'" MB: Hope there's a time-stamped snap of Trump's short, fat fingers trying to make a call on a $10 burner phone.

Nicholas Wu & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee says it has reviewed evidence that reveals a Republican lawmaker, Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, gave a tour through the Capitol complex the day before a pro-Trump mob attacked. 'We believe you have information regarding a tour you led through parts of the Capitol complex on January 5, 2021,' Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) wrote to Loudermilk.... The committee noted that Republicans on the House Administration Committee, who had previously reviewed security footage from that day, had publicly claimed that there were 'no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on.' The GOP comments called into question allegations made by three dozen Democrats in the days after Jan. 6 that they observed suspicious, 'unusually large' groups, perhaps led by Republican lawmakers or staffers, walking through the Capitol complex in the days preceding the attack.... The select committee noted that Loudermilk is a member of the House Administration Committee. And they said their review of the evidence 'directly contradicts that denial.'" The New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The committee's letter to Loudermilk, via the committee, is here.

Jesse McKinley & Lola Fadulu of the New York Times: "The accused gunman in Saturday's massacre at a supermarket in Buffalo appeared in court on Thursday morning.... The felony hearing, in Erie County court, was adjourned by a judge until June 9, largely a procedural step.... [The suspect] has pleaded not guilty, and appeared briefly in the courtroom, wearing an orange jumpsuit, amid heavy security. He faces life in prison if convicted, and continues to be held without bail, [Erie County D.A. John] Flynn said."

Ed Shanahan of the New York Times: "An emergency services dispatcher in Buffalo could be fired after being accused by a supermarket employee of hanging up on a 911 call during a racist shooting rampage at the store last week. The dispatcher, who has not been publicly identified, was placed on administrative leave on Monday after an internal investigation and faces a disciplinary hearing on May 30, at which 'termination will be sought,' Peter Anderson, a spokesman for the Erie County executive, said on Wednesday.... [Latisha] told The Buffalo News that she had called 911 while hiding from the gunman, whispering on the phone in hopes of eluding his notice. The dispatcher, she said, had admonished her. 'She was yelling at me, saying, "Why are you whispering? You don't have to whisper,"' Ms. Rogers told The News, 'and I was telling her, "Ma'am, he's still in the store. He's shooting. I'm scared for my life. I don't want him to hear me. Can you please send help?" She got mad at me, hung up in my face.' Ms. Rogers, 33, told The News she then called her boyfriend and told him to call 911."

Oklahoma. Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "The Oklahoma Legislature gave final approval on Thursday to a bill that prohibits nearly all abortions starting at fertilization, which would make it the nation's strictest abortion law. The bill subjects abortion providers and anyone who 'aids or abets' an abortion to civil suits from private individuals. It would take effect immediately if signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who has pledged to make his state the most anti-abortion in the nation." An NPR report is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

** Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Republican voters in this week's primary races demonstrated a willingness to nominate candidates who parrot Donald J. Trump's election lies and who appear intent on exerting extraordinary political control over voting systems. The results make clear that the November midterms may well affect the fate of free and fair elections in the country.... The strong showings on Tuesday by election deniers, who have counterparts running competitively in primaries across the country over the coming months, were an early signal of the threat posed by the Trump-inspired movement." Emphasis added. Epstein cites some of the anti-democracy 2022 candidates who will do anything to gain or retain GOP control. MB: The overriding question for me is: will their Democratic opponents have the guts to hammer home what dangerous traitors these Republicans are? The jury is out.

An AP analysis of Tuesday's elections results, by Jill Colvin & Nicholas Riccardi, is here.

Blake Hounshell of the New York Times: Pennsylvania "Republican voters’ choice of Doug Mastriano in the governor's race is giving the G.O.P. fits. Conversations with Republican strategists, donors and lobbyists in and outside of Pennsylvania in recent days reveal a party seething with anxiety, dissension and score-settling over Mastriano's nomination. In the run-up to Tuesday night, Republicans openly used words and phrases like 'suicide mission,' 'disaster' and 'voyage of the Titanic' to convey just what a catastrophe they believed his candidacy will be for their party. An adviser to several Republican governors, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there was wide displeasure with the outcome, calling him unelectable." MB: Notice that all these mostly unnamed Republicans are in knots about is Mastriano's electability; they don't care a whit about the his extremist, anti-democratic, anti-woman beliefs.

     ~~~ Marie: He lost the primary by only two points.

Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday moved to baselessly discredit the too-close-to-call Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania, urging his endorsed candidate, Mehmet Oz, to 'declare victory' over opponent David McCormick before all the votes are counted in a contest with far-reaching implications. State election officials continued tallying ballots, including thousands submitted by mail, with Oz leading McCormick by just one-tenth of a percentage point -- well within the threshold for an automatic recount. There was no evidence of any wrongdoing in the process, which is a normal part of every election. Trump's comments ... echoed his conduct after the 2020 election, but this time he was lashing out in an intraparty competition. In 2020, he falsely claimed victory in Pennsylvania and sought to stop mail-in ballots from being recounted."

"Trumpism Has Metastasized." E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post: "What matters most about Tuesday's Republican primaries is not the scoresheet of how well candidates endorsed by ... Donald Trump did. What counts is how far to the right the GOP's electorate has veered.... [Doug] Mastriano is the fringe of the fringe. He is an ardent 2020 election denier -- 'insurrectionist,' my Post colleague Greg Sargent argues, is not too strong a word -- who attended Trump's rally that preceded the Jan. 6 riot, organized buses to take Pennsylvanians to it and wanted the state legislature to overturn the popular vote for electors committed to Joe Biden. He spoke at a QAnon event last month, at which conspiracy theorists presented him with a ceremonial weapon they called the 'sword of David.'... In a state where the governor appoints the secretary of state who oversees elections. Mastriano said he would 'reset' the state's voters rolls so everyone would 'have to re-register.'"

Peter Jamison of the Washington Post: "Among American politicians, [Alabama Governor George] Wallace would become, according to historian Dan T. Carter, 'the most influential loser' of the 20th century. His enduring relevance, Carter said, lies in his discovery of the 'underground stream' of modern American politics. Wallace tapped a current of grievance and barely muffled racism that would later propel the rise of another combative populist: Donald Trump.... Both Wallace and Trump lamented what they described as America's vilification of the police. Both complained to audiences incessantly about their news coverage. Both insisted that they were not bigots and boasted of large bases of Black support that didn't actually exist. Both threatened to make U.S. allies in Western Europe 'respect' and repay the United States for billions in defense spending. And both were famous for the violent energy of their political rallies, which were frequently marked by clashes between protesters and the candidates' supporters." MB: I'm not sure about Wallace, but I can say without hesitation that Trump is a completely fake "populist."

Aamer Madhani & Josh Boak of the AP: "President Joe Biden departs on a six-day trip to South Korea and Japan aiming to build rapport with the two nations' leaders while also sending an unmistakable message to China: Russia's faltering invasion of Ukraine should give Beijing pause about its own saber-rattling in the Pacific. Biden departs Thursday and is set to meet newly elected South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Their talks will touch on trade, increasing resilience in the global supply chain, growing concerns about North Korea's nuclear program and the explosive spread of COVID-19 in that country. While in Japan, Biden will also meet with fellow leaders of the Indo-Pacific strategic alliance known as the Quad, a group that includes Australia, India and Japan."

Annie Karni & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Biden took urgent action on Wednesday to address the nationwide baby formula shortage, invoking the Defense Production Act to increase production and creating 'Operation Fly Formula' to deploy Defense Department planes and speed formula shipments into the United States from overseas.... The White House announced its plan only hours before the House took action of its own, approving an emergency infusion of $28 million for the Food and Drug Administration and a bill to loosen restrictions on what kind of formula can be purchased through the federal food aid program for women and babies.... In recent days, lawmakers have announced plans to haul administration and industry officials to Capitol Hill for testimony, demanded answers from Mr. Biden's team on how the shortage was allowed to develop, and launched investigations into the crisis and Abbott Nutrition, the company that recalled several of its formula products after at least two infants died." The NBC News report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Washington Post Editors: "This is a uniquely American crisis.... The United States relies primarily on three companies == Abbott, Gerber and Reckitt -- to supply the vast majority of baby formula for the nation..., and imports of baby formula are almost nonexistent.... The simple solution, from the outset, would have been to import more formula from abroad, from places such as the European Union, Britain, Canada, Australia and Japan. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that it was streamlining its review process so that foreign manufacturers could begin shipping more formula into the United States. That should have happened weeks ago.... The nation needs a full and rational accounting of this mess and the troubling questions about why it took so long for the FDA to look into the Abbott plant after a whistleblower came forward in October.... The trade deal the Trump administration struck with Canada and Mexico that made it even harder to import formula from Canada has had unintended consequences." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Isn't this also a problem because the U.S. is so comfortable with monopolies? If this were a baked bean monopoly, it wouldn't matter much except to people accustomed to eating a full English breakfast. But it's baby formula, for Pete's sake, the only food that nourishes millions of American babies. Parents cannot just switch infants to zwieback and applesauce. Or baked beans.

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Justice Department employees pressed the Biden administration on Wednesday to grant federal employees time off if they or their family members need to travel out of state to obtain abortions.... The letter was sent to the White House's budget office and Gender Policy Council as well as the Office of Personnel Management.... As of now, about 150,000 federal employees in Texas and Mississippi have little access to abortion, and an additional 227,000 federal employees in 11 other states could immediately lose access to the procedure if the Supreme Court overturns Roe, the group said.... Granting leave could open the federal government up to lawsuits that claim the benefit violates the Hyde Amendment. Under the provision, federal funds cannot be used to pay for abortions, except in special circumstances...."

Someone who calls himself "The Critical Mind" responds in the Huffington Post to Sen. Tim Scott's (R-S.C.) explanation -- delivered in a Washington Post op-ed -- as to why abortion rights do not help Black women. MB: I had scanned Scott's opinion early yesterday and considered it such garbage I didn't even consider linking it as an example of right-wing garbage. The crux of Scott's philosophy of depriving American women of a Constitutional right is that abortion rights allow women to escape the grueling struggles his mother survived rearing two children on the income of a nurse's aid. When Scott gets through celebrating the limits of his mother's options, he goes on to denegrate Janet Yellen, a Jewish woman at the other end of the educational spectrum and one who has translated that education into spectacular accomplishments. Scott completely misinterprets and mischaracterizes Yellen's testimony before a Senate committee by pretending that all she cares about is money: the usual bigotry about Jews. "The Critical Mind" guy does quite a good job of tearing down Scott's stupid, cruel arguments, but not good enough to lessen my ire at Scott's arrogant mansplaining aimed at dismissing the value of a Black woman and a Jewish woman. Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Disinformation Board Defeated by ... Right-wing Disinformation. Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post: "On ... April 27, the Department of Homeland Security announced the creation of the first Disinformation Governance Board with the stated goal to 'coordinate countering misinformation related to homeland security.' The Biden administration tapped Nina Jankowicz, a well-known figure in the field of fighting disinformation and extremism, as the board's executive director.... Jankowicz ... became a primary target on the right-wing Internet. She has been subject to an unrelenting barrage of harassment and abuse while unchecked misrepresentations of her work continue to go viral. Now, just three weeks after its announcement, the Disinformation Governance Board is being 'paused,' according to multiple employees at DHS.... On Wednesday morning, Jankowicz officially resigned from her role within the department.... ~~~

~~~ "Jankowicz';s experience is a prime example of how the right-wing Internet apparatus operates, where far-right influencers attempt to identify a target, present a narrative and then repeat mischaracterizations across social media and websites with the aim of discrediting and attacking anyone who seeks to challenge them. It also shows what happens when institutions, when confronted with these attacks, don't respond effectively." Read on. MB BTW: I have no doubt the attackers magnified their fake criticisms of Jankowicz because she is a woman, and an attractive young woman at that. Right-wing World is the province of incels & fat old farts who despise both women -- and men who have normal relationships with women.

Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "The House on Wednesday passed legislation that would create domestic terrorism offices across three federal agencies, spurred by alarm over the rise in incidents of homegrown violent extremism in recent years. Rep. Bradley Schneider (D-Ill.) pushed for a vote on the bill, known as the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, in the wake of Saturday's mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo.... The measure was approved on a 222-to-203 vote. One Republican, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), joined all Democrats present in voting 'yes.' The legislation's future remains uncertain in the Senate, where ... a unanimous vote on similar legislation was blocked by Republicans two years ago."

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A group formed in the hopes of disbarring lawyers who worked on cases in which ... Donald J. Trump tried to subvert the results of the 2020 election filed a complaint with the Texas bar association on Wednesday against Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, for his efforts to keep Mr. Trump in power. The complaint against Mr. Cruz, filed by a group called the 65 Project, focuses on baseless assertions by Mr. Cruz about widespread voting fraud in the weeks between Election Day in 2020 and Jan. 6, 2021, as well as his participation in lawsuits protesting the results in Pennsylvania.... [The complainants assert] that Mr. Cruz moved beyond simply working within the confines of Congress. 'He chose to take on the role of lawyer and agreed to represent Mr. Trump and Pennsylvania Republicans in litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court,' the complaint said, citing his role in two cases, neither of which succeeded. 'In doing so, Mr. Cruz moved beyond his position as a United States senator and sought to use more than his Twitter account and media appearances to support Mr. Trump's anti-democratic mission.'"

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Army Col. Yevgeny Vindman, who along with his twin brother raised alarm about ... Donald Trump's actions toward Ukraine, precipitating the first of two impeachments, suffered a 'swift' reduction in responsibilities advising the White House and probably was punished for speaking out, according to the findings of an investigation released Wednesday. The Defense Department inspector general's office determined it is 'more likely than not' that Vindman, an Army officer who in 2019 was assigned to the National Security Council, 'was the subject of unfavorable personnel actions and that these were in reprisal for his protected communications' with superiors.... The inspector general's office recommended no action be taken in Vindman's case, noting that Army officials promoted him to his current rank last year and removed an unfavorable performance review that Trump administration officials had issued. Vindman and his brother, Alexander Vindman, were among those dismissed from their jobs by national security adviser Robert O'Brien in February 2020 shortly after Trump's first impeachment trial ended with a Senate acquittal." CNN's report is here.

Putin Didn't Think Trump Had "a Very Good Brain." Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "... Vladimir Putin grew frustrated with Donald Trump's inability to understand foreign policy issues, his former top National Security Council advisor on the country said.... Business Insider reports, 'One of the reasons Putin invaded Ukraine with President Joe Biden in the White House is because he expected the US to "sue for peace" and thought it would be better to deal with Biden than trying to negotiate with someone like Trump, who the Russian leader had "to explain everything to all the time,"' said [Fiona] Hill.... 'You could see that he got frustrated many times with President Trump because he had to keep explaining things, and Putin doesn't like to do that.'" The Insider story is firewalled.

Will Oremus of the Washington Post: "At a time when Elon Musk and others are decrying Big Tech censorship, the Buffalo shooting video reminds us why content moderation matters.... This past weekend, Twitter and other major platforms were once again scrambling to take down posts and videos that were legal under the First Amendment but violated their policies. In this case, the videos showed a gunman, allegedly an 18-year-old white supremacist, slaughtering 10 people in a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo. And the posts included the suspect's racist screed, for which he seems to have intended the massacre to serve as an advertisement.... Musk's past statements would seem to imply that, if he were in charge, Twitter would have let the videos and manifesto circulate, at least in the United States. After all, hate speech and depictions of graphic violence are not against the law here.... ~~~

~~~ [The Buffalo massacre] "was planned online, influenced by ideas that spread online, live-streamed online and motivated in part by the gunman's apparent belief that his words and deeds would ultimately be shared by millions online.... A growing number of conservatives ... see a liberal bias in both the rules that the tech companies have set out and in how they enforce them.... They're upset by those that seem to have a political dimension, such as policies against misinformation and hate speech." MB: That, obviously, is because the majority of misinformation and hate speech, especially of a type that promotes or provokes violence, comes from the right. I'm not suggesting there are no leftist revolutionaries; I'm saying there are fewer of them.

Andrew Das of the New York Times: "... landmark contracts with the U.S. Soccer Federation ... will guarantee, for the first time, that soccer players representing the United States men's and women's national teams will receive the same pay when competing in international matches and competitions. In addition..., the deals include a provision, believed to be the first of its kind, through which the teams will pool the unequal prize money payments U.S. Soccer receives from FIFA, world soccer's governing body, for their participation in the quadrennial World Cup. Starting with the 2022 men's tournament and the 2023 Women's World Cup, that money will be shared equally among the members of both teams." Read on.

Sarah Min & Jesse Pound of CNBC: "The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its biggest loss since 2020 on Wednesday after another major retailer warned of rising cost pressures, confirming investors' worst fears over rising inflation and rekindling the brutal 2022 sell-off. The Dow shed 1,164.52 points, or 3.57%, to 31,490.07, the average's biggest decline since June 2020. It was the lowest close for the Dow since March 2021. Markets returned to heavy selling after two back-to-back quarterly reports from Target and Walmart stoked investor fears of rising inflation taking a bite out of corporate profits and consumer demand."

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

Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "Top Biden administration officials warned Wednesday that one-third of Americans live in communities experiencing rising levels of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations and urged them to resume taking personal protection measures, including wearing masks.... Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, strongly encouraged those living in [high-risk] communities ... to consider wearing masks in indoor public spaces and taking other steps to protect themselves.... Wednesday's warnings from Walensky and two other officials -- Ashish Jha, White House coronavirus coordinator, and Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser -- came on the same day the United States surpassed the grim milestone of 1 million covid-19 deaths, a toll that even the starkest predictions at the start of the pandemic in 2020 did not anticipate." The article is free to nonsubscribers.

Beyond the Beltway

Colorado. One Person, One Vote? Fageddaboudit. Kyle Clark of KUSA-TV Denver: Greg Lopez, the GOP candidate for governor, said he will propose "... doing away with the popular vote for statewide elected officials and doing an electoral college vote for statewide elected officials." Instead, he would introduce an intra-state electoral college system that, Clark reports, "would give far more voting power to Coloradans in rural, conservative counties and dilute the voting power of Coloradans in more populous urban and suburban areas. Even as turnout numbers vary over time, the sheer number of rural conservative counties would create a built-in advantage for Republicans." MB: Republicans are relentless in their schemes to dilute and disallow Democratic votes.

Georgia. Where White Supremacy Was an Economic Disaster. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: In 1912, the white people of Forsyth County, Georgia, violently expelled all the Black people from the county. "For much of the 20th century, they would guard Forsyth's borders as [the city of Atlanta] encroached, through violence, intimidation and a menacing understanding in Greater Atlanta that this county was to remain for whites only.... The county's whites-only century was one of stagnation and isolation. Only after the sprawl of Greater Atlanta eventually overwhelmed Forsyth's defenses in the late 1990s and 2000s did this county boom."

Kansas. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "The Kansas Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the state to adopt a new congressional map that a lower court had ruled unconstitutional, handing a victory to Republicans and very likely costing the state's Democrats their only seat in Congress. The map, enacted by the Republican-controlled State Legislature over a veto by the governor, splits metropolitan Kansas City along both racial and partisan lines, the lower court had ruled last month, in an effort to break Democrats' hold on the Third Congressional District.... The Supreme Court's two-page ruling overturning the lower court decision explained neither the reasoning behind the verdict nor how the seven justices had voted. It said a full opinion would be issued later, but the ruling means that the Republican map boundaries will be used in elections in November."

Minnesota. Brad Parks & Eric Levenson of CNN: "Former Minneapolis Police officer Thomas Lane pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter Wednesday related to his role in the killing of George Floyd in May 2020, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement.... Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng faced state charges of aiding and abetting murder and aiding and abetting manslaughter for their actions -- or lack thereof -- as their colleague Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into the neck and back of Floyd, who was handcuffed and lying on his stomach, for over nine minutes. During the arrest, Lane held down Floyd's legs, Kueng held down Floyd's torso, and Thao stood nearby and kept a crowd of upset bystanders back." (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "As hundreds more Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol surrendered to Russia on Thursday, Moscow was also seeking to project control over southeastern Ukraine, where a high-ranking official declared that seized parts of the region would 'take a worthy place in our Russian family.' The visit this week by a deputy Russian prime minister, Marat Khusnullin, to the occupied city of Melitopol suggested that the Kremlin is trying to lay the groundwork for annexing the region -- even without having announced such plans outright. The Ukrainian military has warned that Russia is fortifying its defensive positions in southern Ukraine, even as its forces have retreated in the northeast and failed to gain ground in the eastern Donbas region, despite ferocious bombardment.... The Russian Defense Ministry said that more than 700 Ukrainian fighters from the Azov battalion had surrendered over the past 24 hours at the steel plant in Mariupol. A total of 1,730 fighters have surrendered so far, Moscow said.... Sweden's defense minister said the Pentagon had pledged several interim security measures to shore up the defenses of Sweden and Finland while NATO considers their requests to join the alliance." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's a New York Times summary of developments Wednesday: "Russia seized on the mass surrender of Ukrainian troops at a Mariupol steel plant as a propaganda gift on Wednesday, moving to falsely label them as terrorists and create a parallel narrative to Ukraine's portrayal of Russian soldiers as heinous war criminals.... Images of the surrendering Ukrainians were publicized by the Russians just as a Russian soldier pleaded guilty in a Ukrainian courtroom to fatally shooting an unarmed civilian, in a widely followed case.... Russian commentators celebrated the fall of the steel plant and, in particular, the capture of members of the Azov battalion, a Ukrainian regiment with roots as a far-right group, which Mr. Putin has exploited to fictitiously portray the invasion as a battle to rid Ukraine of Nazis. The Russian Supreme Court said it would hold a hearing next week on whether to declare the Azov group a 'terrorist organization,' which could give Moscow cover to deprive the prisoners of rights." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "President Biden is set to host the leaders of Finland and Sweden at the White House on Thursday to discuss their applications to join NATO, as well as Russia's war in Ukraine.... The International Committee of the Red Cross said it logged the details of hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war to 'track those who have been captured' after their negotiated surrender from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol this week. Moscow and Kyiv have given different accounts of how many fighters evacuated their last holdout.... Russian forces are making 'incremental progress' in the southern Kherson region toward the Black Sea, while in the northeast, Ukrainian troops have in some cases pushed them 'back to as close as three to four kilometers from the border,' a senior U.S. defense official said." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian has a summary of developments here.

Emily Rauhala, et al., of the Washington Post: "Turkey blocked the start of Finland's and Sweden's accession talks to NATO on Wednesday shortly after the Nordic nations submitted their applications, a signal of what could be a bumpy process to expand the alliance and reshape Europe's post-Cold War security architecture. Turkey's resistance deprived Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of the consensus he needed to move forward with the membership process.... At a meeting of NATO ambassadors, Turkey said it still needed to work through some issues related to Finland and Sweden joining the alliance, according to two officials familiar with the discussion.... Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has objected to Sweden's granting of asylum to members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and he has indicated that he will seek other concessions if he is to allow the expansion to go forward.... Russia's Foreign Ministry tweeted Wednesday that 'Russia will have to take retaliatory measures,' with 'their essence, including military and technical aspects,' to be determined...."

AP: "The Senate confirmed Bridget Brink late Wednesday as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, filling the post as officials plan to return American diplomats to Kyiv.... The veteran foreign service officer, who has spent most of her career in the shadow of the former Soviet Union, was nominated to the position last month by President Joe Biden. She was confirmed unanimously by the Senate without a formal roll call vote. American diplomats evacuated Kyiv when the war began three months ago, but the U.S. reopened the embassy Wednesday.... The ambassador's post has been vacant since ... Donald Trump abruptly forced out Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch in 2019."

China. Nectar Gan & CNN Beijing Bureau: "Black box data recovered from a China Eastern flight that crashed in March suggests someone in the cockpit intentionally downed the plane, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a preliminary assessment from United States officials. The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou when it nosedived from 29,000 feet mid air into the mountains, killing all 132 passengers and crew on board. It was China's deadliest air disaster in decades. Information extracted from the plane's damaged flight-data recorder shows human input orders to the controls sent the plane into its deadly dive, according to the Journal, citing people familiar with the probe." (Also linked yesterday.)