January 25, 2022

Afternoon Update:

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

Ana Swanson & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The United States is facing an 'alarming' shortage of semiconductors, a government survey of more than 150 companies that make and buy chips found; the situation is threatening American factory production and helping to fuel inflation, Gina M. Raimondo, the commerce secretary, said in an interview on Monday. She said the findings showed a critical need to support domestic manufacturing and called on Congress to pass legislation aimed at bolstering U.S. competitiveness with China by enabling more American production."

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Chasten Buttigieg, an educator and husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, is speaking out against legislation advancing in Florida that critics have dubbed the 'Don't say gay bill,' arguing that it could lead to more suicides among LGBTQ youths. The legislation, which supporters say is about parental rights, would, among its provisions, bar school districts in Florida from encouraging classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary-grade levels or 'in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.' Parents would be empowered to sue if they think schools are violating the law. 'You're essentially pushing kids back into the closet,' Chasten Buttigieg said Tuesday during an appearance on CNN. 'You're saying we can't even talk about your families.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So in Florida's schools, in the name of "parental rights" -- that would be straight parents' rights -- you can't talk about gay people. In the name of possible white "discomfort," you can't talk about the history (and present) of infringing on Black people's fundamental rights. Who else will cause straight white people "discomfort"? Maybe the straight white people are Christians so talking about other religions will cause them "discomfort." What about other races, like Florida's Native American tribes? When I was in second grade, we little white kids made a field trip to a Seminole community in the Everglades and learned about a lifestyle different from our own. But, gosh, now that might discomfit some white parents. The Sunshine State? Bobby Lee in today's Comments says it's "gotten steadily darker" in Florida. The state may have to dream up a new motto.

Wyoming. There's a New Sheriff in Town. (And He's Black.) Julian Mark of the Washington Post: According to a lawsuit filed by former Laramie, Wyoming, sheriff's deputy Jamin Johnson, Sgt. Sgt. Christian Handley, who is white, made racist remarks for years against Johnson (who is Black), Black arrestees, and even against Johnson's family members. But Johnson's complaints resulted only in "sham" disciplinary actions against Handley. "The lawsuit also reveals that Handley was fired last year following an internal investigation ordered by Wyoming's first Black sheriff, Aaron Appelhans, who was appointed to the post in December 2020."

So sad. Looks as if Mercenary Melanie, former White House denizen, didn't make nearly as much as she'd hoped auctioning off her broad-brimmed white chapeau, thanks to the crash of Solana, the cryptocurrency she required bidders to use. (WashPo link.)

Colby Hall of Mediaite: "Brianna Keilar [of CNN] flatly called Tucker Carlson 'chief propagandist' after Fox News repeatedly called for political support for authoritarian Russian President Vladimir Putin over the emerging democracy of Ukraine. She then simply asked why Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch is letting this 'bs' on the air.... CNN's New Day producers played a clip of Tucker Carlson arguing for Russia that ended with him saying 'Why is it disloyal to side with Russia but loyal to side with Ukraine? They';re both foreign countries that don't care anything about the United States. Kind of strange." ~~~

~~~ Derek Saul of Forbes: "Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor who resigned and pleaded guilty for misleading authorities over his ties to the Russian government -- before later pardoned by former President Donald Trump -- attacked the Biden Administration Monday for its support of Ukraine in an op-ed article on a right-wing site criticized for spreading misinformation, appearing to parrot the views of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Flynn alleged in his column appearing in Western Journal that the White House has 'sold an illusion' that the potential Russian invasion of Ukraine is not justified, reasoning that an increased NATO presence in eastern Europe will cause an 'existential threat' to Russia.... According to Flynn, NATO's bolstering of resources and reinforcements in countries close to Ukraine would be the 'principal cause of a devastating war,' echoing what Putin has suggested, though the NATO measures are in response to Russia's military buildup at the border."

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Robyn Dixon, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Monday held a video call with European leaders to discuss joint efforts to deter further aggression by the Kremlin against Kyiv, amid a massive buildup of Russian forces along Ukraine's border that has raised fears of a renewed invasion. The leaders -- including French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and top NATO and European Union officials -- spoke of their 'shared desire for a diplomatic resolution to the current tensions,' according to a White House readout of the call. They also discussed preparations to impose 'massive consequences and severe economic costs' on Russia, as well as moves to reinforce security on NATO's eastern flank.... Macron said during the virtual meeting that de-escalating the situation would require 'strong, credible warnings to Russia' and 'constant coordination among European partners and allies.' Paris is hosting talks with Berlin, Kyiv and Moscow on Wednesday in a continuation of long-standing discussions between the four powers."

Robyn Dixon, et al., of the Washington Post: "The tense conflict over Ukraine shifted further into full crisis mode Monday, with NATO saying it was moving more military equipment into Eastern Europe and Russia continuing to build up massed forces along the border with Ukraine, amid fears that it will invade its neighbor.... Video surfaced on social media Monday showing Russian military convoys and trains with military equipment moving across southern Russia and Belarus. NATO said Monday that member nations would send additional ships and fighter jets to reinforce the alliance's eastern reaches, just as the Biden administration put 8,500 troops on heightened alert for a potential parallel deployment." An AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"What a Stupid Son of a Bitch." Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "In a hot-mic moment that may enter the annals of presidential insults, [President] Biden directed an under-the-breath expletive on Monday toward Peter Doocy, the White House correspondent for Fox News, that was amplified by a live microphone onto television and laptop screens around the world. The exchange came as reporters were being ushered away from a brief appearance by Mr. Biden in the East Room. Mr. Doocy called out a question: 'Do you think inflation is a political liability in the midterms?'... 'It's a great asset,' the president said in a sarcastic tone, seemingly to himself. 'More inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch.'... On Monday night, Mr. Doocy said on Fox News that the president called his cellphone about an hour after the incident and, in his words, 'cleared the air.'" A CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: More hot-mic moments, please, Mr. President. The only other one I know of -- and it has entered the history books -- is when he whispered to Barack Obama, upon Obama's signing the Affordable Care Act, "This is a big fucking deal." So, to my knowledge, Biden's sotto-voce moments are 100 percent accurate. From herein after, Peter Doocy will be known as "that stupid son-of-a-bitch," an oh-so apt description. ~~~

~~~ This White House Is Extremely Transparent. Marie: The White House released a transcript of President Biden's (and others') remarks before meeting with the White House Competition Council. Last words: "THE PRESIDENT: No, it's a great asset. More inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch." So, already an official record for the history books.

Amy Wang & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "The Atlanta area prosecutor weighing whether ... Donald Trump and others committed crimes by trying to pressure Georgia election officials has been granted a special purpose grand jury to aid in her investigation. Fulton County Superior Court judges on Monday approved the request made last week by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and said Willis will be allowed to seat a special grand jury on May 2, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The special grand jury can continue for a period 'not to exceed 12 months,' Christopher Brasher, chief judge of Fulton County Superior Court, wrote in an order." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Hill's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So maybe no decision till late spring 2023? At least that will leave Herr Trump twisting slowly, slowly in the wind for a good long time.

Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "The National Archives has turned over to the House select committee investigating the assault on the Capitol last Jan. 6 a large batch of documents that ... Donald J. Trump had sought [unsuccessfully] to keep out of the panel's hands.... Here is a list of [the documents] as identified in the court filings, what is known about them and how they might fit into the larger narrative being assembled by the committee[.]"

Betsy Swan of Politico: "A former member of ... Donald Trump's legal team told the Jan. 6 committee that former Army colonel Phil Waldron first came up with the idea of Trump issuing an executive order to seize voting machines, according to a person familiar with the matter. Earlier this month, Bernie Kerik -- who worked with Rudy Giuliani on Trump's legal efforts to find evidence of voter fraud -- told the select committee that Phil Waldron originated the scheme, which would almost certainly have been illegal.... Waldron is best known for circulating a 38-page PowerPoint presentation that urged Trump to declare a state of emergency in the wake of the election, as The Washington Post has detailed."

Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "A federal judge indicated Monday he will reject an urgent bid by John Eastman -- the attorney who spearheaded Donald Trump's effort to pressure Mike Pence to single-handedly overturn the 2020 election -- to invalidate a subpoena issued last week by the Jan. 6 select committee to Chapman University, Eastman's former employer. Instead, Judge David Carter ordered Eastman to work with the Jan. 6 panel to produce a log of documents that Eastman wants the university to withhold.... Eastman was a central figure in Trump's last-ditch effort to subvert the 2020 election...." MB: Bill Clinton appointed Carter.

Rudy Tries to Profit Off 9/11 Catastrophe. Todd Niekirk of the Hill Reporter: "WABC Radio, where [Rudy] Giuliani has a regular show, is selling signed 9/11 shirts for $911.00. Customers can choose from 1 of 3 colors to be signed by the former Mayor. The fine print below notes that a 'portion of proceeds go to the WABC Radio Foundation, a 501c3 charity.['] How much that portion is, wasn't revealed."

Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "A report by the Office of Congressional Ethics alleges that Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) misused his congressional staff and resources having aides run errands for his family and that he solicited or accepted improper gifts from his subordinates. The report issued Monday found that Lamborn's staffers were often asked to help out his children, including preparing his son for interviews for a job in the federal government, and throwing a party for his daughter-in-law after she became a U.S. citizen.... Lamborn's congressional office drew the OCE's attention after a former aide, Brandon L. Pope, accused Lamborn in a May lawsuit of allowing his son to live in a storage space in the basement of the U.S. Capitol for several weeks and recklessly exposing staffers to the coronavirus."

Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's challenge to House proxy voting rules, which were proposed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The rules allow absentee voting procedures, meaning House members can cast votes remotely because of the ongoing pandemic. The Supreme Court, as is typical, did not comment on why it declined to hear McCarthy's case.... Pelosi, in a statement, welcomed the court's decision to turn away Republicans' 'frivolous lawsuit,' describing it as 'a victory for the Congress, the rule of law and public health.'" McCarthy said nothing.

Adam Liptak & Anemona Hartocollis of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide whether race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Caolina are lawful, raising serious doubts about the future of affirmative action in higher education. The court has repeatedly upheld similar programs, most recently in 2016. But the court's membership has tilted right in recent years, and its new conservative supermajority is almost certain to view the challenged programs with skepticism, imperiling more than 40 years of precedent that said race could be used as one factor among many in evaluating applicants."

Uh-oh. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court will take up a challenge to the Clean Water Act that could narrow the law's reach in ways long sought by businesses and home builders. The justices said Monday that they will consider, probably in the term beginning in October, a long-running dispute involving an Idaho couple who already won once at the Supreme Court in an effort to build a home near Priest Lake. The Environmental Protection Agency says there are wetlands on the couple's roughly half-acre lot, which brings it under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act, and thus requires a permit. The case raises the question of the test that courts should use to determine what constitutes 'waters of the United States,' which the Clean Water Act was passed to protect in 1972."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "The weekend began with the March for Life. It ended with a march for death. Anti-vaccine activists decided to piggyback on Friday's annual antiabortion march in the capital by having a 'Defeat the Mandates' rally on Sunday. Combined, the two groups of (mostly) conservative activists engaged in a demonstration of mass inconsistency.... The crowds weren't the same, but collectively, the two rallies captured the hypocrisy of the right at this moment: Protect the unborn, but feel free to infect -- and perhaps kill -- innocent people already born, including, er, pregnant women. And yet both movements claim to be operating under the authority of 'God's mandate' and 'God's law.'... The dual events showed the changing nature of the political right. The March for Life, in its 49th year, is where the right has been; the march for death shows where it is going." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I've always thought the so-called "pro-life" movement was actually pro-death, and that the advocates hit on the pro-life label to hide the fact that some women who don't have access to legal abortions will surely die as a result of illegal attempts to abort fetuses.

Jason DeParle of the New York Times: "A study that provided poor mothers with cash stipends for the first year of their children's lives appears to have changed the babies' brain activity in ways associated with stronger cognitive development, a finding with potential implications for safety net policy. The differences were modest -- researchers likened them in statistical magnitude to moving to the 75th position in a line of 100 from the 81st -- and it remains to be seen if changes in brain patterns will translate to higher skills, as other research offers reason to expect.... Evidence that a single year of subsidies could alter something as profound as brain functioning ... comes as President Biden is pushing for a much larger program of subsidies for families with children.... Researchers are still trying to determine why the money altered brain development. It could have purchased better food or health care; reduced damaging levels of parental stress; or allowed mothers to work less and spend more time with their infants." MB: Maybe all of the above??

Joey Roulette of the New York Times: "After traveling nearly one million miles, the James Webb Space Telescope arrived at its new home on Monday. The spacecraft's arrival checks off another tricky step as scientists on Earth prepare to spend at least a decade using the observatory to study distant light from the beginning of time."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "Free N95 masks are now available at some U.S. stores as part of the White House's plan to hand out 400 million of them from the Strategic National Stockpile."

Amanda Sealy of CNN: "Pfizer and BioNTech have begun a clinical trial for their Omicron-specific Covid-19 vaccine candidate, they announced in a news release on Tuesday. The study will evaluate the vaccine for safety, tolerability and the level of immune response, as both a primary series and a booster dose, in up to 1,420 healthy adults ages 18 to 55."

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Sarah Palin has tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing the delay of her defamation trial against The New York Times until next week. The trial, which was set to begin with jury selection on Monday morning, is now scheduled to start on Feb. 3." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "... U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff told his Manhattan courtroom that he had learned Sunday night that Palin had tested positive on an initial test. 'She is, of course, unvaccinated,' he noted." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A CNBC report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Lock Her Up! Priya Krishna of the New York Times: "Sarah Palin, who is not vaccinated against the coronavirus, dined indoors Saturday night at Elio's, an Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan that regularly draws celebrities, despite New York City's requirement that all indoor guests show proof of vaccination. She tested positive for the virus on Monday.... Shawn McCreesh, a features writer for New York Magazine, tweeted Saturday that he had spotted Ms. Palin at Elio's while out to dinner on Saturday night. ('My mom thought she was Tina Fey,' he wrote in a follow-up tweet.)" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

New York. Amy Cheng of the Washington Post: "A New York state judge on Monday struck down an indoor mask mandate imposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) that had been set to expire on Feb. 1. The protocol was put in place last month as New York moved to curb a winter surge in coronavirus cases.... Hochul said in a statement that ... her office would pursue 'every option' to reverse [the decision]."

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Kim Chandler of the AP: “Federal judges on Monday blocked Alabama from using newly drawn congressional districts in upcoming elections, ruling that the state should have two districts -- instead of one -- in which Black voters are a sizeable portion of the electorate.... The three-judge panel wrote in the 225-page ruling that ... plaintiffs are 'substantially likely' to prevail on claims that the current districts violate the Voting Rights Act.... Alabama's seven-member congressional delegation consists of six Republicans elected from heavily white districts and one Democrat elected from the only majority-Black district.... The Alabama Legislature last year approved congressional district lines that maintain one majority-Black district.... Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall's office said the ruling will be appealed.... About 26% of Alabama's population is Black, and some lawmakers argued the state should have a second congressional district with a significant African-American population." MB: If my arithmetic is right, the one majority-Black district represents about 14 percent of Alabama's population.

Florida Is at the Forefront of Empowering Right-Wing Thought Police. Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... freedom is under attack, on more fronts than many people realize.... But there are many ... areas in which freedom is not just under assault but in retreat. Let's talk, in particular, about the attack on education, especially but not only in Florida, which has become one of America's leading laboratories of democratic erosion.... Denunciations of [critical race theory] are basically a cover for a much bigger agenda: an attempt to stop schools from teaching anything that makes right-wingers uncomfortable.... There's a bill advancing in the Florida Senate declaring that an individual 'should not be made to feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race.'... The smear campaign against critical race theory is almost certainly the start of an attempt to subject education in general to rule by the right-wing thought police, which will have dire effects far beyond the specific topic of racism. And who will enforce the rules? State-sponsored vigilantes!"

New Jersey. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: An adorable 22-month-old toddler bought his family a lot of furniture online. Armchairs are still arriving. The parents are "setting up passcodes on their phones and stopping their payment information from automatically loading for future orders."

New York. Jesse McKinley & Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: "Sheldon Silver, the once-indomitable leader of the New York State Assembly whose career and reputation were undone by a 2015 corruption conviction, died on Monday. He was 77. Mr. Silver had been incarcerated at Devens Federal Medical Center in Ayer, Mass., according to Judith Rapfogel, his former chief of staff. Kristie Breshears, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Prisons, said in a statement that Mr. Silver had died at the nearby Nashoba Valley Medical Center." Politico's obituary is here.

Virginia. Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "Virginians are discovering -- a bit late, unfortunately -- that there's no such thing as Trumpism Lite.... [Gov. Glenn] Youngkin's first week in office showed him to be a Trumpian culture-warrior. He immediately issued an executive order banning the teaching of critical race theory or any 'inherently divisive concepts' in Virginia schools. Because critical race theory is not actually being taught at K-12 public schools in the commonwealth, the order could only be an attempt to ban the accurate teaching of African American history.... Youngkin also issued an order banning mask mandates in Virginia's public schools -- although, during the campaign, he said whether to require masks in schools would be left to 'localities' to decide." And there's more. Of course there is. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Youngkin is smart enough & diabolical enough to know how to pander to reasonable people during a political campaign, then turn around & show his true colors -- or at least to pander to Trump -- once he's been elected.

Way Beyond

U.K. Happy Birthday, Boris, & Get Lost! William Booth of the Washington Post: "A British broadcaster on Monday reported that yet another alleged 'bash' occurred at 10 Downing Street during strict lockdown, this one to celebrate Prime Minister Boris Johnson's birthday in June 2020, at a time when rules designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus forbid indoor social gatherings. ITV News also said that on the evening of the same day, June 19, 2020, Johnson hosted family and friends upstairs in the prime minister's residence, another breach of the government's own orders.... The prime minister is facing a rebellion in his own Conservative Party by lawmakers upset over what they see as reckless hypocrisy." ~~~

~~~ Policing Boris. Annabelle Dickson of Politico: "The Metropolitan Police will investigate whether lockdown-busting parties were held in No. 10 Downing Street in breach of COVID-19 rules, head of the force Cressida Dick said. Appearing before the London Assembly's police and crime committee Tuesday, the police chief said that as a result of information provided by the U.K. government's investigation led by senior civil servant Sue Gray, the Met was 'now investigating a number of events that took place at Downing Street and Whitehall in the last two years in relation to potential breaches of COVID-19 regulations.' The Metropolitan Police chief has come under increasing pressure to investigate the Downing Street parties because other social gatherings held in London at the same time were investigated, and members of the public have been fined for breaching lockdown rules."

January 24, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Robyn Dixon, et al., of the Washington Post: "The tense conflict over Ukraine shifted further into full crisis mode Monday, with NATO saying it was moving more military equipment into Eastern Europe and Russia continuing to build up massed forces along the border with Ukraine, amid fears that it will invade its neighbor.... Video surfaced on social media Monday showing Russian military convoys and trains with military equipment moving across southern Russia and Belarus. NATO said Monday that member nations would send additional ships and fighter jets to reinforce the alliance's eastern reaches, just as the Biden administration put 8,500 troops on heightened alert for a potential parallel deployment." An AP report is here.

Amy Wang & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "The Atlanta area prosecutor weighing whether ... Donald Trump and others committed crimes by trying to pressure Georgia election officials has been granted a special purpose grand jury to aid in her investigation. Fulton County Superior Court judges on Monday approved the request made last week by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and said Willis will be allowed to seat a special grand jury on May 2, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The special grand jury can continue for a period 'not to exceed 12 months,' Christopher Brasher, chief judge of Fulton County Superior Court, wrote in an order." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So maybe no decision till late spring 2023? At least that will leave Herr Trump twisting slowly, slowly in the wind for a good long time.

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Sarah Palin has tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing the delay of her defamation trial against The New York Times until next week. The trial, which was set to begin with jury selection on Monday morning, is now scheduled to start on Feb. 3." ~~~

     ~~~ Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "... U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff told his Manhattan courtroom that he had learned Sunday night that Palin had tested positive on an initial test. 'She is, of course, unvaccinated,' he noted." ~~~

     ~~~ Lock Her Up! Priya Krishna of the New York Times: "Sarah Palin, who is not vaccinated against the coronavirus, dined indoors Saturday night at Elio's, an Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan that regularly draws celebrities, despite New York City's requirement that all indoor guests show proof of vaccination. She tested positive for the virus on Monday.... Shawn McCreesh, a features writer for New York Magazine, tweeted Saturday that he had spotted Ms. Palin at Elio's while out to dinner on Saturday night. ('My mom thought she was Tina Fey,' he wrote in a follow-up tweet.)"

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Helene Cooper & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "President Biden is considering deploying several thousand U.S. troops, as well as warships and aircraft, to NATO allies in the Baltics and Eastern Europe, an expansion of American military involvement amid mounting fears of a Russian incursion into Ukraine, according to administration officials. The move would signal a major pivot for the Biden administration, which up until recently was taking a restrained stance on Ukraine, out of fear of provoking Russia into invading. But as President Vladimir V. Putin has ramped up his threatening actions toward Ukraine, and talks between American and Russian officials have failed to discourage him, the administration is now moving away from its do-not-provoke strategy. In a meeting on Saturday at Camp David..., senior Pentagon officials presented Mr. Biden with several options that would shift American military assets much closer to Mr. Putin's doorstep, the administration officials said." An NBC News story is here.

Ellen Nakashima & Jeanne Whelan of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration is threatening to use a novel export control to damage strategic Russian industries, from artificial intelligence and quantum computing to civilian aerospace, if Moscow invades Ukraine, administration officials say. The administration may also decide to apply the control more broadly in a way that would potentially deprive Russian citizens of some smartphones, tablets and video game consoles, said the officials."

John Hudson & Paul Sonne of the Washington Post: "The State Department ordered the departure of all family members of U.S. Embassy personnel serving in Kyiv on Sunday, citing the 'threat of Russian military action.' The department also told nonessential staff they can leave the country...." ~~~

     ~~~ Matthew Lee of the AP: "The [State D]epartment's travel advisory ... to Ukraine ... was changed Sunday to carry a stronger warning. 'Do not travel to Ukraine due to the increased threats of Russian military action and COVID-19....' The travel advisory for Russia was also changed: 'Do not travel to Russia due to ongoing tension along the border with Ukraine, the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens, the embassy's limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia, COVID-19 and related entry restrictions, terrorism, harassment by Russian government security officials, and the arbitrary enforcement of local law.'"

Fiona Hill in a New York Times op-ed: Vladimir "Putin ... wants to evict the United States from Europe.... He believes that the United States is currently in the same predicament as Russia was after the Soviet collapse: grievously weakened at home and in retreat abroad.... America's domestic travails after four years of ... Donald Trump's disastrous presidency, as well as the rifts he created with U.S. allies and then America's precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan, signal weakness.... Ukraine is both Russia's target and a source of leverage against the United States.... Mr. Putin plays a [long], strategic game and knows how to prevail in the tactical scrum.... Forging a united front with its European allies and rallying broader support should be America's longer game. Otherwise this saga could indeed mark the beginning of the end of America's military presence in Europe." MB: The op-ed seems to be a letter to Joe Biden.

It's About Time. Paula Span of the New York Times: "Challenging the policy that limited survivor's benefits to married couples took years and a class-action lawsuit.... In November, the [Social Security Administration] dropped its Trump-era appeals against Thornton v. Commissioner of Social Security and Ely v. Saul, two federal lawsuits brought by surviving same-sex partners or spouses. The Social Security Administration now allows gay men and lesbians to receive survivor's benefits if they can show that they were in a committed relationship and would have married had that been possible."

I Love Bernie. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Bernie Sanders on Sunday sought to turn fire aimed by Democrats at two of their own, Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, onto Republican senators he said were 'pushing an anti-democratic agenda'. 'Republicans are laughing all the way to election day,' the Vermont senator told CNN's State of the Union. 'They have not had to cast one bloody vote which shows us where they're at.' But the Vermont progressive also confirmed that he will campaign against Manchin and Sinema, both Democrats, should they face viable primary challengers."

Amy Wang & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Former attorney general William P. Barr has spoken with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, the committee chairman [Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)] said Sunday.... Barr had been closely allied with Trump through most of his tenure at the Department of Justice but resigned in December 2020 after publicly disputing claims of widespread election fraud." An NBC News story is here.

Devlin Barrett & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Within days of ... Donald Trump's election defeat, [Oath Keepers founder] Stewart Rhodes began talking about the Insurrection Act as critical to the country's future.... Invoking the Insurrection Act was an idea sparked in conservative circles [in the] spring [of 2020] as a means of subduing social justice protests and related rioting, a goal Trump seemed to embrace..., and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) penned a New York Times opinion piece urging the law's use.... Trump didn't let it go, declaring later that summer that he was still considering it..... By the end of the year, it had become a rallying cry to cancel the results of a presidential election.... 'It is hard to put into words how mind-boggling this idea was, to use a statute designed to protect the country from insurrection to support an actual insurrection,' said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino.... Trump's public flirtation with the Insurrection Act fit into what Levin said was a longer, disturbing trend among far-right extremists who oppose the government." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No doubt his "flirtation" with the Insurrection Act is why Trump has said repeatedly that that the "real insurrection" occurred on Election Day 2020.

Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "A series of emails expose an Arizona effort to retroactively hand the 2020 Arizona election to Donald Trump, even though the GOP's own audit showed he lost. According to Rolling Stone, 'the technology was complicated, but the plan was simple: Scan mail-in and absentee ballots in populous Maricopa County, remove the 'invalid votes,' and recertify the state's 2020 election count, surely declaring then-President Donald Trump the rightful winner....' 'The emails also reveal that several Trump advisers, including campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis and legal adviser Bernie Kerik, were included in the discussion.'... Those also linked to the conspiracy, according to the emails, include Reince Priebus, the former Republican Party chair and Trump White House chief of staff, as well as Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani.... One of those involved in the overthrow attempt, Mark Finchem, is running to take over the elections in Arizona" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Since I don't have access to the Rolling Stone article, I'm a little unsure if the emails provide evidence that the conspirators planned to manipulate/rig the Maricopa County vote totals. If they planned to fraudulently & substantially reduce the county's vote totals or switch ballots from Biden to Trump, then this is a big deal. (Maricopa County voted 50.3% for Biden & 48.1 for Trump.) However, if this was just the usual claim that Trump won Maricopa county & another recount would prove it, then there's not much here. We'll see if other news outlets pick up the story. Also, Mark Finchem, a state house representative & Oath Keeper, is running for Arizona secretary of state.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: Sarah "Palin is set to take on the colossus of the establishment press, The New York Times, in a libel suit she filed over a 2017 editorial that erroneously linked her political activities to the 2011 shooting attack in Tucson, Ariz., that left six people dead and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) badly wounded. Within a day, the Times corrected the editorial and noted that no connection was ever established between the rampage and a map that Palin's political action committee circulated with crosshairs superimposed on the districts of 20 Democrats, including Giffords. The Times also acknowledged it erred by suggesting that the crosshairs appeared over images of the candidates themselves. But less than two weeks after the errant editorial ran, Palin filed suit against the Times, accusing the news outlet of defaming her. After years of litigation, as well as delays because of the coronavirus pandemic, a trial in Palin's suit is scheduled to begin with jury selection on Monday in federal court in New York City. Some media advocates say the fact that the case is going to trial at all is a sign that almost a half-century of deference to the press in the courts is giving way to a more challenging legal landscape for journalists, media companies and their attorneys." ~~~

~~~ Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "When Donald J. Trump called for scrapping laws that offer the news media broad protection from libel suits -- 'We're going to have people sue you like you've never got sued before,' he said in 2016 as he was running for president -- many journalists and the lawyers who defend them brushed it off as an empty threat. But a libel case that begins Monday in federal court in Lower Manhattan, Sarah Palin v. The New York Times Company, shines a spotlight on the many ways that Mr. Trump's seemingly far-fetched wish may no longer be so unthinkable.... Most libel suits against The Times are dismissed before they ever reach a jury, making this case particularly uncommon. Though defenders of broad First Amendment protections for the media have said Ms. Palin's evidence is weak, they also acknowledged that a jury could decide otherwise."

Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "Research has shown that lower-end retailers like dollar stores or convenience shops still extensively stock their shelves with traditional or halogen incandescent bulbs, even as stores serving more affluent communities have shifted to selling far more efficient LEDs. One Michigan study, for instance, found that not only were LED bulbs less available in poorer areas, they also tended to cost on average $2.50 more per bulb than in wealthier communities. The continued prevalence of incandescent bulbs in the United States is one result of a successful effort during the Trump presidency, by an industry group representing the world's biggest light-bulb makers, to stall energy efficiency standards in the United States.... In its corporate reports, Signify ... -- ... the Dutch multinational that makes Phillips light bulbs -- ... has called extracting value from its conventional lighting a 'cash engine' for the company." MB: So one more way big corporations exploit the poor.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

This Too Shall Pass. Mitch Smith, et al., of the New York Times: "New coronavirus cases have started to fall nationally, signaling that the Omicron-fueled spike that has infected tens of millions of Americans, packed hospitals and shattered records has finally begun to relent. More and more states have passed a peak in new cases in recent days, as glimmers of progress have spread from a handful of eastern cities to much of the country. Through Friday, the country was averaging about 720,000 new cases a day, down from about 807,000 last week. New coronavirus hospital admissions have leveled off."

Katie Mettler, et al., of the Washington Post: "Thousands of protesters from across the country -- including some of the biggest names in the anti-vaccination movement -- descended on the nation's capital Sunday for a rally against vaccine mandates.... A crowd of demonstrators, many unmasked, [decried] vaccine mandates in the middle of a city that has adopted mask and vaccine mandates to reduce sickness and death from the surge of the virus's omicron variant, which has battered D.C. for weeks." ~~~

~~~ Bobby Kennedy, Jr. Is a Colossal Ass. Sarah Fortinsky & Aileen Graef of CNN: "At a rally against vaccine mandates in Washington, DC, on Sunday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likened vaccine policies in the US to the actions of a totalitarian state, even suggesting Anne Frank was in a better situation when she was hiding from the Nazis. 'Even in Hitler Germany (sic), you could, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland. You could hide in an attic, like Anne Frank did,' said Kennedy, a prominent anti-vaccine advocate, in a speech at the Lincoln Memorial. 'I visited, in 1962, East Germany with my father and met people who had climbed the wall and escaped, so it was possible. Many died, true, but it was possible.'... The Auschwitz Memorial responded to Kennedy in a statement on Twitter, saying, 'Exploiting of the tragedy of people who suffered, were humiliated, tortured & murdered by the totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany - including children like Anne Frank - in a debate about vaccines & limitations during global pandemic is a sad symptom of moral & intellectual decay.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yes, why didn't the Frank family just skip over the Alps from Amsterdam to Switzerland? It would have entailed a hike of a mere 535 miles, all of it through Nazi-occupied territory. If Trump is looking for a Kennedy to put on his 2024 ticket, instead of choosing a dead one, may I suggest Bobby Jr.?

The Inherent Tyranny of Wealth. Stephanie Nolen of the New York Times: "Canada is among numerous wealthy nations, including the United States and United Kingdom, that are aggressively recruiting medical workers from the developing world to replenish a health care work force drastically depleted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The urgency and strong pull from high-income nations -- including countries like Germany and Finland, which had not previously recruited health workers from abroad -- has upended migration patterns and raised new questions about the ethics of recruitment from countries with weak health systems during a pandemic.... About 1,000 nurses are arriving in the United States each month from African nations, the Philippines and the Caribbean, said Sinead Carbery, president of O'Grady Peyton International, an international recruiting firm."

Washington State. Sopan Deb of the New York Times: "John Stockton, one of the most celebrated basketball players in history, is barred from attending games at his alma mater, Gonzaga University, because of an unwillingness to comply with the school's mask mandate. Stockton revealed that his season tickets were revoked in an interview with The Spokesman Review published on Sunday." See also Ken W.'s commentary below.

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Giulia Heyward & Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "The former president of Florida International University in Miami revealed the reasons for his sudden resignation last week: He said that he had 'caused discomfort for a valued employee.' In a newly released statement on Sunday, the former president, Mark B. Rosenberg, said that caring for his wife, who has advanced dementia and diabetes, hurt his own mental health.... But according to two people close to the administration, [an] investigation began around mid-December when a young female employee told another colleague about Dr. Rosenberg's inappropriate behavior. The university hired an outside lawyer, Eric D. Isicoff, to investigate. That investigation is ongoing. Last week, the woman sat down for an interview, and the counsel obtained text messages showing communications between her and Dr. Rosenberg.&" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Presumably the "discomfort" Rosenberg caused is not precisely the same sort of "discomfort" that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his legislative cohort worry white students will feel if they are forced to learn about the history & effects of racial discrimination. Anyhow, it's great to learn that as early as January Florida already has made "discomfort" a contender for the Word of the Year.

Michigan. Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times on the very messy case against the domestic terrorists who plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer because of the Covid-19 lockdown measures she imposed in 2020." If you have a NYT subscription, worth reading, especially if you're a screenwriter looking for the bones of a thriller plot.

Michigan. A Lede the Likes of Which You Thought You Would Never, Ever See in the New York Times. Isabella Paz: "It started with a comment at a school board meeting, which was later amplified by a Michigan state Republican leader, and culminated with a school superintendent explaining that, no, there were no litter boxes on school grounds for students to use if they identified as furries." The following, however, you might have expected, given what you known about Republican "leaders": "Kids who identify as '"furries" get a litter box in the school bathroom,' [Meshawn] Maddock[, a chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party,] wrote in a Facebook post sharing the video of [a Michigan school] board meeting. 'Parent heroes will TAKE BACK our schools.'" Thanks to Patrick for the link. See also his comment in yesterday's thread.

Minnesota. A Trial that Could Fray the Thin Blue Line. Tim Arango of the New York Times: "Three others who were on the scene [when Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd] face a trial beginning Monday in a federal courthouse in downtown St. Paul, Minn., accused of willfully failing to intervene against Mr. Chauvin and help Mr. Floyd. The case is an extraordinarily rare example of federal civil rights charges being filed against rank-and-file officers for not stopping the actions of a superior officer. Several experts say its outcome could have a greater impact on policing than even Mr. Chauvin's convictions. That is because the case is about a far more common aspect of police culture than Mr. Chauvin's brutality: officers who do not intervene in the conduct of fellow officers. Federal law requires police officers to intervene in the actions of other officers to stop constitutional violations, and courts have affirmed that obligation for decades. At the same time, police departments train officers to move against other officers to stop misconduct."

New York. Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: How a Long Island grandmother foiled a telephone scammer. She "inviting [the scammer] to pick up the cash from her house. But it was a setup, and moments after Jean handed over an envelope stuffed with paper towels, police tackled the man to the ground."

Virginia. Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The top staff investigator on the House committee scrutinizing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has been fired by [Virginia]'s new Republican attorney general from his position as the top lawyer for the University of Virginia, from which he was on leave while working on the congressional inquiry. The office of the attorney general, Jason S. Miyares, said the firing of the investigator, Timothy J. Heaphy, was not related to the Jan. 6 investigation, but the move prompted an outcry from Democrats in the state, who accused him of taking the highly unusual action as a partisan move to further ... Donald J. Trump's attempts to undermine the committee's work. 'This is purely payback for Jan. 6 -- there is no other reason that makes any sense,' said Scott Surovell, a top Democrat in the Virginia State Senate, who said that he knew of no other similar example in recent history where a new attorney general had immediately removed a school's top lawyer. 'In our state, we normally leave those decisions to the school's board of visitors and president.'... In addition to dismissing Mr. Heaphy, Mr. Miyares also had the top lawyer at George Mason University removed.... The posts are typically held by career lawyers who are rarely replaced when new attorneys general take over.... The University of Virginia ... made clear that it had no role in [Heaphy's firing]."

Way Beyond

Burkina Faso. Danielle Paquette of the Washington Post: "Mutinous soldiers have detained the president of Burkina Faso after gunfire erupted at military bases across the West African nation in an apparent coup d’etat, making him the third head of state overthrown in this region in the past eight months, according to a Western official and an army officer in the country. Authorities initially denied that President Roch Marc Kaboré was taken into military custody, asserting that all was calm even as soldiers battled for control of several barracks. Then the mutineers reached the presidential palace late Sunday, Reuters reported, and Kaboré was physically removed from office less than 24 hours after the uprising began, said the Western official...."

Ireland/Russia, etc. Lorne Cook of the AP: "NATO said Monday that it's putting extra forces on standby and sending more ships and fighter jets to eastern Europe, as Ireland warned that new Russian war games off its coast are not welcome given tensions over whether President Vladimir Putin intends to attack Ukraine. The U.S.-led military organization said that it is beefing up its 'deterrence' presence in the Baltic Sea area. Denmark is sending a frigate and deploying F-16 war planes to Lithuania; Spain will also send warships and could send fighter jets to Bulgaria; and France stands ready to send troops to Romania. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO will 'take all necessary measures to protect and defend all allies.'"

U.K. Megan Specia of the New York Times: "A British court ruled on Monday that the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal a decision that would allow for his extradition to the United States, where he would face charges under the Espionage Act in connection with obtaining and publishing secret government documents. The latest twist in the long-running case comes after a decision last month that Mr. Assange could be extradited, a reversal of a lower-court decision in a legal battle that has turned on whether prison conditions in the United States during his detention would be too harsh for his mental health."

January 23, 2022

Michael Schwirtz, et al., of the New York Times: "The British government said Saturday that the Kremlin was developing plans to install a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine -- and had already chosen a potential candidate -- as President Vladimir V. Putin weighs whether to order the Russian forces amassed on Ukraine's border to attack.The highly unusual public communiqué by the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, issued late at night in London, comes at a moment of high-stakes diplomacy between the Kremlin and the West." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

BBC News: "The head of the German navy has resigned over controversial comments he made over Ukraine. Kay-Achim Schönbach said the idea that Russia wanted to invade Ukraine was nonsense. He added that all President Putin wanted was respect. A number of countries have supplied weapons to Ukraine, including the US and UK. But Germany has refused Ukraine's request for ammunition."

Matthew Chance, et al., of CNN: "The US Embassy in Kyiv has requested that the State Department authorize the departure of all nonessential staff and their families, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. A State Department spokesperson said they have 'nothing to announce at this time,' adding, 'We conduct rigorous contingency planning, as we always do, in the event the security situation deteriorates.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Will Russia Attack Ireland Next? (Irish) Journal: "Russian bombers and naval ships are set to test missiles off the coast of Ireland. The Journal has learned that the Irish Government has received a warning of a major exercise by the Russian navy and air force in the Atlantic off the South West coast. The missile test, or range practice as it is known in military terms, will take place in international waters off the coast of County Cork in the first week of February. The missiles are expected to be launched by ships and from aircraft although exact details are not known. The Irish Aviation Authority has confirmed that it is to re-route commercial flights and issue a warning."

     ~~~ In case you're wondering what Wordle is all about, the Verge has the answer, plus instructions on where & how to play.

Griff Witte of the Washington Post: "The central committee of Arizona's Democratic Party voted on Saturday to censure Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a symbolic rebuke that follows her decision to buck her party's leadership on an effort to scrap the filibuster. While the reprimand has no practical consequences, it reflects the growing estrangement between the first-term senator and her fellow Democrats, who have been angered by her willingness to help stymie the party's agenda on issues such as the minimum wage and voting rights. State party chair Raquel Terán said Saturday's censure vote, which was taken behind closed doors, was a direct consequence of Sinema’s unwillingness to endorse Senate rule changes to pass voting rights legislation. The senator's move, she said, crossed a red line at a time when voting rights are under attack." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "What are Republicans for?... Name me one thing they're for.'... President Biden posed that question at his news conference Wednesday.... Today's Republicans are for whatever they think can restore them to power. When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was asked on Wednesday what agenda Republicans plan to run on in their bid to regain control of Congress in this year's midterm elections, he replied: 'That is a very good question, and I'll let you know when we take it back.'... That Republicans had become completely dismissive of policy was obvious at least by 2020, when the party didn't even bother to write a platform for its convention." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Tumulty, like most commentators on the subject, notes that "a solid majority of Republicans have embraced the lie that the 2020 election -- one of the most secure in history -- was stolen from Trump through massive fraud." I'm not sure these Republicans are as dumb as the statistics imply. Trump won the white vote in 2016 & 2020. That may be what these Republicans mean: that non-whites should not have the vote, so counting their ballots is inherently fraudulent. This is why Mitch's gaffe -- "African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans" -- is a gaffe only to people who think all Americans should have equal access to the ballot. "Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democratic Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, described McConnell's remarks as a 'dogwhistle'." Kenyatta is right. Mitch is telling white people that Blacks are voting "too much." This is why he and all other Senate Republicans opposed the voting rights bills.

GOP Voter Stasi. Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "In the battle over voting rights, an idea is starting to move around in Republican circles: designated police forces designed to hunt down voter fraud. On the basis of available evidence, this is a solution in search of a problem. It is another example of what comes from ... Donald Trump&'s false claims about the 2020 election. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has put a proposal for such a force in his new budget. In Georgia, former U.S. senator David Perdue, who is running as a Trumpian candidate in the GOP primary for governor..., says he wants something like it to assure that only legal votes are counted." MB: Since I first heard about Ron Baby Don's secret voter police plan, I have held an image in my mind of white voter Nazis banging on the door of a Black voter in the middle of the night demanding that he show himself. Then I remembered I had seen such a scene in a film, based on a true story, about the civil rights movement in the early 1960s. You can pick an era Republicans want to return to, but whatever you choose, it definitely must be pre-1965.

Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "In her column for the Daily Beast, longtime Washington D.C. insider Margaret Carlson claimed it is not beyond the realm of possibilities that Donald Trump will let his kids take the brunt of the prosecution for instances of fraud that are being investigated by New York Attorney General Leticia James and newly elected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. As Carlson notes, the children of Trump, Ivanka, Don Jr and Eric have their fingerprints all over financial documents that investigators believe show the family and the Trump Organization committed fraud. According to the columnist, 'We've been lulled into believing Donald Trump is made of Teflon.... But Trump's luck began to run out in early 2021 -- when he lost the White House, Air Force One, and his Twitter account inside a few weeks.... He could even start losing so much that he'll get sick of losing.'... You can read her whole piece here -- subscription required." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Daddy's Little Girl. "They Go After Children." Brad Dress of the Hill: "... Donald Trump slammed the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol insurrection after it asking his daughter Ivanka Trump to sit for an interview. 'It's a very unfair situation for my children. Very, very unfair,' Donald Trump told The Washington Examiner in an interview for an op-ed published Friday. 'It's a disgrace, what's going on. They're using these things to try and get people's minds off how incompetently our country is being run. And they don't care. They'll go after children,' Donald Trump said." MB: Ivanka Trump is 40 years old, not a child. But if Trump thinks she is such a child, why would he give her a top job with serious responsibilities? To keep an eye on her to make sure she's doing her homework & not sneaking out with her friends?

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Footnote to an Obituary. Natalie O'Neal of the New York Post: "The late rocker Meat Loaf was outspokenly anti-vaccine mandate and anti-mask before his death -- once telling a reporter, 'If I die, I die, but I'm not going to be controlled,' according to reports Friday. The 74-year-old 'Bat Out of Hell' singer -- who was reportedly critically ill with COVID-19 before he passed away Thursday -- was opposed to pandemic restrictions, slamming lockdowns and mask mandates during an interview last summer."

Virginia. Paul Murphy of CNN: "Police in Virginia said a woman has been charged after she claimed at a school board meeting she would show up with loaded guns if her children were required to wear masks at school. In the post on the department's Facebook page, authorities said Amelia King, 42 of Luray, was charged with making an oral threat while on school property Friday afternoon. A magistrate judge released her on a $5,000 unsecured bond." A related story was linked on Saturday's page.

Marie: Not sure what we're seeing here. Is it just vanity -- "This mask makes me look lame" -- or are we a nation in which nearly half of the adult population has out-of-control anger management problems? Or maybe many people's inner lives are so empty that they don't know how to live in relative isolation & they couldn't figure out how to manage it. Anyway, presuming the story about the cause of Meat Loaf's death is true (and it's the New York Post, so...), both he & Amelia from Virginia had the same problem. Meat Loaf solved his by dying (probably in agony) and Amelia sought to solve hers by threatening to mow down the local school board.

Beyond the Beltway

Mississippi. Bobby Harrison of Mississippi Today: "Every Black Mississippi senator walked out of the chamber Friday, choosing not to vote on a bill that sponsors said would prohibit the teaching of critical race theory in the state's public schools and colleges and universities. The historic, unprecedented walkout came over a vote on the academic theory that state education officials and Republican lawmakers acknowledge is not even taught in Mississippi. Republicans hold supermajority control of the Senate, meaning they can pass any bill without a single Democratic vote." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Sharif Paget of CNN: "The bill does not mention or define critical race theory. And it doesn't ban educators from teaching any specific subject matter.... The bill passed in the Senate by 32-2 after the Black lawmakers walked out. Democratic state Sens. David Blount and Hob Bryan -- both White -- were the only two legislators to vote against the bill. It now heads to the state House." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Molly Minta & Bobby Harrison of Mississippi Today: "If made into law, opponents say the bill is likely unconstitutional.... The bill states no public school or public college or university 'shall make a distinction or classification of students based on account of race' and cites specifically that critical race theory is something the legislation would 'prohibit.'... 'Universities are set up with promises of academic freedom as part of their accreditation process,' [Mississippi College constitutional law professor Matthew] Steffey said. 'It's extremely problematic for state law to try to infringe on the existing contractual rights and commitment at the individual professor level and at the university level.'... Jarvis Dortch ... of the ACLU of Mississippi, said K-12 teachers may not be able to challenge the bill if it becomes law.... Compared to university faculty, K-12 teachers have a more limited right to free speech in the classroom because they teach curriculum that is set by the state." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The likelihood that the law is unconstitutional was my first thought. Here's a summary by Donna Euben of the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) on the legal status of academic freedom. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)