;)
The Conversation -- February 23, 2024
** Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary on Friday declared an end to a monthslong spat with Sweden over the expansion of NATO, saying that a visit by his Swedish counterpart had rebuilt trust and paved the way for the Hungarian Parliament to vote on Monday to ratify the Nordic nation's membership in the alliance. 'We are ready to fight for each other, to give our lives for each other,' Mr. Orban said at a joint news conference in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, with the visiting Swedish leader, Ulf Kristersson. Hungary has been the last holdout in formally endorsing Sweden's NATO membership."
Adam Reiss, et al., of NBC News: "A clerk in New York has officially entered a more than $464 million fraud judgment against ... Donald Trump and top executives at his company -- an amount that will grow by over $111,000 a day until it's paid. The action starts the clock on the amount of time Trump has to file an appeal and to post a bond for the award. If he does not do so, the New York attorney general's office will be able to begin collection proceedings against Trump and his co-defendants in the civil fraud case. The vast majority of the $464,576,230.62 judgment -- $454,156,783.05 of it, to be exact -- is against Trump and his companies. The rest of the judgment is against his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who've been running the Trump Organization since 2017, and former top executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney."
** Georgia. Uh-oh. Dinged by Pings. Sky Palma of the Raw Story: "According to cellphone data submitted to court Friday, Nathan Wade visited Fani Willis' home at least 35 times before she hired him to be the lead prosecutor in Donald Trump's Georgia election interference case. Willis had previously claimed that their romantic relationship didn't begin until after Wade was hired into the case, and the filing raises new questions as to the truthfulness of her claims. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the data seems to contradict testimony from Willis last week, in which she said he had visited her condo in Hapeville no more than 10 times before he was hired in November of 2021. The data also shows that he arrived late at night at her home and left early the next morning, long before she said their romantic relationship began. Both Wade and Willis testified that he did not spend the night at her Hapeville condo.... The filing includes an affidavit from Charles Mittelstadt, a longtime investigator for defense attorneys, who used a subpoena to obtain the data from AT&T, and then used the online tool CellHawk to track Wade's movements." ~~~
~~~ The AP story, by Kate Brumback, is here. Brumback reports it was Wade, not Willis, who testified that he had visited Willis' neighborhood fewer than 10 times before she hired him as a special prosecutor. ~~~
~~~ Marie: So I'm right back to where I was before Willis testified: she must recuse herself. Fast. Maybe you can think of a good explanation for Wade's cellphone pings -- "I was baking cupcakes in Fani's kitchen"; "I had another girlfriend in Hapeville"; "I kept my cell in Fani's briefcase" -- but I can't. ~~~
Wisconsin. What? Unethical? Felonies? You Don't Say! Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "The [bipartisan] Wisconsin Ethics Commission this week found probable cause that [Donald] Trump's Save America committee and several state and local Republican officials committed felonies and recommended several district attorneys investigate and prosecute them, according to records released Friday. The commission's investigation centers on the 2022 primary race between Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, one of the most powerful Republicans in Wisconsin, and Adam Steen, a political newcomer who embraced Trump.... The commission alleges Steen, Steen's campaign and three county Republican parties arranged to sidestep campaign finance laws by having donors give money to one of the county parties, which would then steer it to Steen's campaign or his vendors, according to the records released Friday." A Wisconsin Politics story is here.
Believe What They Say. Alex Woodward of the Independent: "Far-right activist and prominent 'Pizzagate' influencer Jack Posobiec hailed the 'end of democracy' at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where prominent Republicans and GOP officials trotted out January 6 conspiracy theories and downplayed the attack on the US Capitol to overturn 2020's election results. 'Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely,' Posobiec said during a panel moderated by former Donald Trump aide Steve Bannon on Thursday. 'We didn't get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this, right here,' he added."
Alabama. Elizabeth Wolfe, et al., of CNN: "A bipartisan effort is underway in the Alabama House and Senate to draft 'clarifying' legislation that would 'protect' in vitro fertilization treatments following the court's ruling, state legislative sources told CNN. Alabama House Democrats introduced a bill Thursday that would establish fertilized human eggs stored outside a uterus are not considered human beings under state law. Republican state senators are soon expected to file similar legislation, one source said, but they were unsure of the exact timing.... Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall ... on Friday ... said he 'has no intention of using the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision as a basis for prosecuting IVF families or providers,' in a statement from Chief Counsel Katherine Robertson." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm not sure any of these efforts protects IVF clinics, doctors, patients & facilities from prosecution. First, the basis of the state supremes' ruling was the state constitution, not state law, and no law can trump the constitution; laws must comply with the constitution. Second, just because this one AG says he won't prosecute, that doesn't mean that county prosecutors couldn't bring charges or that future AGs could not do so. When old men start messing with women's parts, there will be trouble. Too bad Sam Alito, medieval enthusiast, didn't figure that out.
Joe Sommerlad of the Independent: "Donald Trump appeared on stage more than 90 minutes late in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday night, where he delivered a speech that was as wild as it was incoherent. The Republican presidential front-runner appeared flushed and visibly exhausted as he arrived to address the National Religious Broadcasters' (NRB) International Christian Media Convention, tripping over simple words like 'evangelical' during an address littered with verbal miscues and false claims. At various points, Mr Trump declared that he had made 'Israel' the capital of Israel during his presidency (presumably confusing the decision to move its US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem), said that he planned to close down the Department of Education and praised the Capitol rioters, whom he again characterised as political prisoners and referred to as 'the J6 hostages', for their 'tremendous spirit'." ~~~
~~~ Marie: You know, I read stories this morning about the same speech in the NYT, WashPo & AP. No mention of Trump's confusion & incoherence. Yet they sure made a big deal a couple of weeks ago when Biden said (once) "Mexico" when he meant "Egypt." What gives?
Alan Rappaport of the New York Times: "The United States on Friday unleashed its most extensive package of sanctions on Russia since the invasion of Ukraine two years ago, targeting Russia's financial sector and military-industrial complex in a broad effort to degrade the Kremlin's war machine. The sweeping sanctions come as the war enters its third year, and exactly one week after the death of the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny, for which the Biden administration blames President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.... Announcing the sanctions on Friday, President Biden reiterated his calls on Congress to provide more funding to Ukraine before it is too late." ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Lemire & Matt Berg of Politico: "The bulk of the sanctions were already in the works for the invasion anniversary, though a few were added this week to target those involved in Navalny's death at an Arctic penal colony.... The Treasury Department will impose additional price cap sanctions that will make it more costly for Russia to get around sanctions, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told reporters in a Thursday night call previewing the sanctions.... In December, Politico reported that Moscow has been successful in skirting some oil sanctions imposed by G7 nations and the European Union." Thanks to RAS for the link.
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Kevin Liptak & Michael Williams of CNN: "President Joe Biden met Thursday with the wife and daughter of the late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, the White House said, as the president prepares to levy additional sanctions against Russia. After the meeting, Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin himself will be sanctioned. 'I had the honor of meeting with his wife and daughter and, to state the obvious, he was a man of incredible courage,' Biden told reporters of Navalny. 'We're gonna be announcing sanctions against Putin, who is responsible for his death, tomorrow.' Biden said it was clear from the meeting that Navalny's wife would 'continue to fight.'... Dasha Navalnaya, Navalny's daughter, is a student at Stanford University. In a statement, the White House said Biden 'expressed his admiration for Aleksey Navalny's extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia in which the rule of law applies equally to everyone.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Alexander Smith of NBC News: “Vladimir Putin is a 'crazy SOB,' President Joe Biden said Wednesday -- a direct stab at the Russian leader that drew a furious reaction from the Kremlin. In comments at a fundraiser in San Francisco, Biden also took aim at ... Donald Trump, ridiculing his likely opponent in the November presidential election for comparing himself to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died last week.... The Biden administration is set to announce a major sanctions package Friday to hold Russia accountable." (Also linked yesterday.)
Alan Feuer & Natalie Kitroeff of the New York Times: "American law enforcement officials spent years looking into allegations that allies of Mexico's president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, met with and took millions of dollars from drug cartels after he took office, according to U.S. records and three people familiar with the matter. The inquiry, which has not been previously reported, uncovered information pointing to potential links between powerful cartel operatives and Mexican advisers and officials close to the president while he governed the country. But the United States never opened a formal investigation into Mr. López Obrador, and the officials involved ultimately shelved the inquiry. They concluded that the U.S. government had little appetite to pursue allegations against the leader of one of America's top allies...." ~~~
~~~ Mary Beth Sheridan of the Washington Post: "Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador lashed out Thursday at a report that U.S. agents had investigated possible ties between his aides and drug traffickers, in the latest jolt to anti-narcotics cooperation with the United States.... López Obrador responded Thursday that the charges were false and unsupported by any documentation.... López Obrador said Thursday that he intended to maintain good relations with Washington -- but U.S. agencies would not be allowed to investigate Mexican officials."
For those of us keeping track of developments in The Stupidest Senator contest, I'm here to report Tommy Tuberville just took the lead. First, bear in mind that Mr. Potato Head is a senator from Alabama, and the Alabama supreme court decision has made front-page news all over the country (even in Santa Rosa, Florida, which is apparently Mr. Pototo Head's home -- in violation of the Constitution): ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said Thursday that he is 'all for' the Alabama Supreme Court's decision that frozen embryos are children. He also said he opposes the effects of the ruling. And that he supports fertility treatments like IVF that are now being denied to women across his state as a result of the court's ruling. And that he wants to read the legislation more closely before saying more -- except there is no legislation. The Alabama senator delivered this spectacular series of responses in the span of three minutes when asked for his reaction to the court's unprecedented decision on Tuesday.... 'I was all for it,' the Republican senator said cheerfully. 'You know, you just gotta look at everything going on in the country. It's just an attack on families, an attack on kids. You know, anything we can do for the future of our young people because they're our No. 1 commodity.'... 'We need to have more kids,' he continued. 'We need to have an opportunity to do that. I thought this was the right thing to do.'... His remarks made no sense.... When it was pointed out that Alabama health clinics are halting IVF treatments as a result of the court decision, Tuberville started talking about abortion...." And so forth. Read on. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Here's a video clip.
Charles Blow of the New York Times: "If you don't think this country is sliding toward theocracy, you're not paying attention.... In his concurring opinion [in the Alabama embryos case], the chief justice of the court, Tom Parker, wrote, 'Even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.'... The Alabama decision ... essentially turns cryopreservation tanks into frozen nurseries. The idea is absurd and unscientific. It is instead tied to a religious crusade to downgrade the personhood of women by conferring personhood on frozen embryos.... The only thing that seems to be temporarily stopping congressional Republicans from pushing for a national abortion ban ... is that the issue of reproductive choice is an electoral loser for their party." See also Akhilleus' commentary in yesterday's thread. (Also linked yesterday.)
Washington Post Editors: "Until this month, House Republicans referred to information provided by a 'highly credible' FBI informant as the core of their case to impeach President Biden.... Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said this year, 'The most corroborating evidence we have is ... from this highly credible, confidential human source.'... [However, the indictment of their 'highly credible' source, which exposed him as a serial liar & Russian operative demonstrates that] Congressional Republicans have staked their impeachment inquiry on the words of a fabulist. On Wednesday, [Jordan] insisted that ... revelations about [the source] don't 'change the facts.'... [But] this week, [House Republicans] quietly deleted any mention of that source from official documents.... This one small move speaks volumes about an ill-founded GOP crusade that seems finally to be reaching an embarrassing denouement.... The House Republicans' impeachment quest has never been credible.... Now, it has utterly collapsed."
Lauren Sforza of the Hill: "Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) on Wednesday criticized his Republican colleagues for using a former FBI informant's claims in their impeachment inquiry even though the statements hadn't been verified. 'We were warned at the time that we received the document outlining this witness's testimony.... We were warned that the credibility of this statement was not known,' Buck said on CNN's 'The Source.' 'And yet, people, my colleagues went out and talk to the public about how this was credible and how it was damning and how it proved President Biden's -- at the time Vice President Biden's -- complicity in receiving bribes,' he added." (Also linked yesterday.)
Blame It on Barr. Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "The indictment of Alexander Smirnov, a trusted FBI confidential source, on charges of lying about an alleged Ukrainian bribery scheme involving President Biden and his son Hunter is a new twist in a saga that has its roots in a project launched by then-Attorney General William P. Barr soon after ... Donald Trump was impeached for the first time.... On Jan. 3, 2020, Barr tasked [Scott] Brady, a U.S. attorney in Western Pennsylvania, with vetting material regarding Biden and Ukraine -- some of it supplied by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani -- for possible distribution to prosecutors who could use a grand jury to investigate further.... [Smirnov's] story didn't gain much traction among investigators in 2020 but emerged in 2023 and was immediately embraced as true by many GOP lawmakers.... Barr spoke briefly to The Fact Checker, off the record, before hanging up the phone." Kessler provides the tic-toc of how the fake scandal came to the forefront of the fake impeachment effort.
Ken Ritter & Rio Yamat of the AP: "A former FBI informant accused of lying about multimillion-dollar bribery allegations against President Joe Biden and his son Hunter and purportedly having links to Russian intelligence was again taken into custody Thursday, two days after a judge said he could be freed ahead of trial, his attorneys said in court documents. The arrest during a meeting Thursday morning with his lawyers came after prosecutors appealed a ruling allowing 43-year-old Alexander Smirnov, who holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship, to be released with a GPS monitor ahead of trial on charges alleging he lied to the FBI. He was taken into custody on a warrant for the same charges issued in California, where the case was originally filed, his lawyers said. Several sealed entries were listed in the court docket, but no additional details about his return to custody were immediately available." (Also linked yesterday.)
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Dan Froomkin: "The Hunter Biden impeachment drama has been transformed by the revelation that the most essential witness for the GOP is a pathological liar and Russian intelligence asset. The story is no longer whether Joe Biden committed high crimes and misdemeanors by maintaining relations with his ne'er-do-well son. In fact, there has never been any credible evidence to support that conclusion. The real story is that the ludicrous Republican impeachment investigation has now been exposed as a Russian intelligence op. This, even as Republicans do Russian President Vladimir Putin's bidding by blocking support for Ukraine.... But the political reporters at our most esteemed newsrooms who went to great lengths to portray the Biden impeachment investigation as a serious inquiry seem unable to change gears.... This is now a major scandal, worthy of the kind of multiple-day front-page pile-on involving legions of reporters and opinion writers that Biden's age got recently. But the response from the Washington Post and the New York Times has been tepid, with a grand total of one buried print story since the news about Alexander Smirnov's Russian connections emerged in a Tuesday afternoon court filing by special counsel David Weiss." Read on.
Engoron to Trump: Fuggedaboudit. Kara Scannell of CNN: "The judge overseeing the $355 million civil fraud case has denied Donald Trump's request to delay the judgment for a month. Judge Arthur Engoron told lawyers for Trump and the New York attorney general of his intentions in an email sent Thursday. Once the judgment is officially entered, it will start the 30-day clock for Trump to file an appeal. During that period, Trump will need to put up cash or post bond to cover the $355 million and roughly $100 million in interest he was ordered to pay the state." (Also linked yesterday.)
And I Have a Right to Keep Classified Docs in a Public Loo. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump launched a flurry of attacks on Thursday night against the federal charges accusing him of illegally holding on to classified documents after he left office, filing more than 70 pages of court papers seeking to have the case thrown out. In four separate motions to dismiss the case, Mr. Trump's lawyers made a barrage of legal arguments in seeking to circumvent a criminal case that many legal experts consider the most ironclad of the four against him. They attacked the law he is accused of violating, questioned the legality of the special counsel prosecuting him and argued that he is shielded from prosecution by presidential immunity. Some of the arguments tested the boundaries of credulity and flew in the face of prior court rulings.... In one of their most brazen motions, Mr. Trump's lawyers claimed that he was immune from prosecution on the classified documents charges even though a federal appeals court roundly rejected that argument this month when he sought to use it in a separate case...." ~~~
~~~ Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Judge [Aileen] Cannon is facing a series of decisions that will further test her legal acumen and give an indication of how she views the case and its famous main defendant.... How much of a delay [in the trial] she decides on -- and whether she postpones the trial until after the election -- will signal how much she intends to indulge Trump's strategy of trying to run the clock out.... But there are smaller decisions on Judge Cannon's plate as well that will serve to flesh out perspectives on her handling of the case.... Prosecutors have already shown their frustration with the judge, accusing her in recent court papers of having committed a 'clear error' after she initially agreed to let Trump's lawyers release ... witnesses' names -- a move that she quickly put on hold after the government complained." ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you've watched MSNBC much, you know that some of their legal experts are on sort of a "mandate watch," waitng for prosecutors to either lodge an appeal of a Cannon ruling and/or ask the appeals court to remove her. One possibility, according to Andrew Weissmann, would be for the appeals court to overrule a Cannon decision and at the same time "invite" her to recuse herself to save face.
Presidential Race
Alex Gangitano of the Hill: "President Biden on Wednesday said several foreign leaders have told him he has to beat former President Trump, the likely GOP nominee, in November. 'As I walk out of meetings, a head of state will find an excuse to come up close ... and say, "You've got to win,"' Biden recalled at a fundraiser in San Francisco. 'Not because I'm so special,' he added. '"You've got to win because my democracy is at stake if the other guy wins,"' the president said, quoting heads of state. 'Nine heads of state have done that with me.'" (Since Biden does not claim any of the heads of state addressed him as "sir," I assume his recollections are true.) (Also linked yesterday.)
Natalie Allison of Politico: "The Alabama Supreme Court ruling jeopardizing access to in vitro fertilization has left Republicans across the country scrambling to stake out positions on a procedure that is broadly popular with Americans. It's also provided President Joe Biden's reelection campaign with what it sees as a freighter-size political opening to pin much of the blame squarely on Donald Trump.... 'Tonight Donald Trump will come face to face with the horrific reality he created: speaking in a state [-- Tennessee --] that has banned abortion entirely with no exceptions for rape or incest," Kevin Munoz, spokesperson for Biden's campaign, said in a statement. After the Dobbs Supreme Court ruling, a decision Trump has taken credit for, Tennessee banned nearly all abortions, allowing the procedure only when a woman's life is at risk. 'Next door in Alabama,' Munoz continued, 'couples who face challenges becoming pregnant are cruelly being denied the right to start a family.'"
Michael Gold of the New York Times: "During Thursday's speech at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville, [Donald] Trump portrayed the threat [to the U.S.] as liberals -- more specifically, a 'radical left, corrupt political class' -- whom he broadly cast as intrinsically bent on attacking Christianity. 'Christians, they can't afford to sit on the sidelines in this fight,' Mr. Trump said. He later added, without offering evidence, that liberals were persecuting Christians because 'they know that our allegiance is not to them. Our allegiance is to our country, and our allegiance is to our creator.'... He also repeated a vow to create a federal task force to focus on 'anti-Christian' bias. Mr. Trump has tried to appeal to Christian voters by accusing the Biden administration of criminalizing Americans for their faith.... During his third run for office, Mr. Trump has often cast himself as a staunch defender of the Christian right." An AP story is here. ~~~
Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump further ratcheted up his inflammatory language against Americans who oppose him politically by likening them to the foreign enemies that the United States fought in World War II. Donald Trump further ratcheted up his inflammatory language against Americans who oppose him politically by likening them to the foreign enemies that the United States fought in World War II.... 'Our country was at war with the enemy, and they wanted to extinguish our way of life forever,' Trump said ... in a speech on Thursday to the National Religious Broadcasters in Nashville.... 'This time, the greatest threat is not from the outside of our country, I really believe this. It's the people from within our country that are more dangerous. They're very sick people. The audience cheered, and Trump went on to describe his cause as a holy war, adding: 'To achieve victory in this fight, just like in the battles of the past, we still need the hand of our Lord.'... He called [President] Biden's actions 'evil and a threat to democracy' and vowed to 'reclaim our government from these tyrants.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is what authoritarians do: diminish their detractors by accusing the detractors of the bad acts they themselves have committed. So it is Biden -- a devout Christian (unlike Trump) -- who is leading a battle against Christianity, and it is Biden, not Trump, who is threatening democracy, even though Trump tried to overturn a presidential election & promises many more anti-democratic undertakings. For autocrats, narcissism is not a mental illness and social liability so much as it is a political asset. ~~~
~~~ Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump has been clear about his intentions to govern in a more authoritarian way if he's president again.... An authoritarian is someone who amasses power to amass more power, often exploiting gray areas in the law to do it -- or ignoring the rule of law outright.... For example: Trump ignored dozens of court rulings saying he had lost the 2020 election as he tried to stay in power anyway. Now Trump and his allies are aspiring to break even more norms to get what they want.... Here are some of the authoritarian-like actions Trump or his allies say he'll take in his second term[.]"
Nathan Layne of Reuters: "Lara Trump, who Donald Trump has endorsed to be the new co-chair of the Republican National Committee, said on Wednesday that the organization needed to raise $500 million for the 2024 general election and did not rule out using raised funds to pay her father-in-law's mounting legal fees.... Trump's daughter-in-law said the party needed a strong fundraising push to help Trump in his bid to return to the White House and for congressional races also up for grabs.... Lara Trump was asked by media at Wednesday's event whether she would use funds raised by the RNC to pay legal fees for her father-in-law's numerous criminal and civil cases. In response, she said she didn't know whether it would be allowed under RNC rules but could see such payments as being in line with the interests of the party's rank-and-file members." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gee, just last week Lara said that "every single penny" the RNC raised would go to re-electing Donald Trump; now she's mentioning money for Congressional candidates. But it's worth noting that the $500MM figure she hit on tracks rather closely with what Donald has to pay, not in legal fees, but in penalties, interest & compensation in civil suits he lost recently.
Never Mind. Gregory Krieg & Kit Maher of CNN: "... Nikki Haley said Thursday that while she personally believes a frozen embryo is a baby, she disagreed with the Alabama Supreme Court's in vitro fertilization ruling last week and felt it may be time for the state to 'go back and look at the law.' In an interview on CNN..., Haley sought to clarify her initial responses to the ruling, which found that frozen embryos are children in the eyes of the law and those who destroy them can be held to blame for wrongful death.... When asked Wednesday by NBC News whether she agreed that embryos are children following the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling, Haley responded: 'Embryos, to me, are babies.' She then brought up her own fertility challenges. 'I had artificial insemination. That's how I had my son,' Haley said. 'One thing is to save sperm or to save eggs. But when you talk about an embryo, you are talking about, to me, that's a life. So, I do see where that's coming from when they talk about that.'"
Kelly Garrity of Politico: "The future of the Republican Party isn't Donald Trump, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Thursday. 'It won';t be his party forever. Right? It just won't. At some point, Donald Trump won't be here forever,' Sununu said during Politico's Governors Summit.... 'Let me put it a different way: Assholes come and go. But America is here to stay,' he said.... During the interview, Sununu, a moderate and self-described 'pro-choice' Republican, also panned an Alabama Supreme Court ruling granting legal personhood to frozen embryos as 'scary.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Sununu is not as pro-choice as he advertises. Before Dobbs, in June 2021, "... Sununu signed the most regressive anti-reproductive health care budget in New Hampshire history, ignoring public opinion and opposition from more than 200 of the state's leading medical experts," Planned Parenthood reported The budget "include[d] an extreme abortion ban, medically unnecessary ultrasound requirements, criminal penalties for doctors, and inadequate funding for the NH Family Planning Program." Still, it would seem he knows an asshole when he sees one.
Mike Allen of Axios: "New York Times investigative reporters Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner -- who in 2018 revealed tax data about then-President Trump that documented widespread tax dodges -- will be out Sept. 10 with a book, 'Lucky Loser,' that draws on new confidential records and insider interviews.... 'Over the final era of his business career,' Buettner says, 'the less his judgment was involved in a project, the greater its chances of success.'" MB: Let's hope some of the reporters' findings get baked into undecided voters' minds, and helps them realize what a loser Trump is. (Also linked yesterday.)
Shane Goldmacher & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "State Republican parties in roughly half of the most important battleground states are awash in various degrees of dysfunction, debt and disarray. In Arizona, the chairman of the state's Republican Party recently resigned after a leaked tape surfaced in which he appeared to offer a bribe to persuade a candidate to stay out of a Senate race. In Georgia, the state party's treasury has shrunk by more than 75 percent as it has spent more than $1.3 million on legal fees since 2023, largely to defend fake electors facing criminal charges, including the former party chairman. And in Nevada, the party chairman is himself under indictment for his role as a fake elector in the 2020 election.... In Michigan..., Pete Hoekstra, the new party chairman officially recognized by the Republican National Committee, remains locked out of the state party servers and emails by the person clinging to power, Kristina Karamo. That fight comes as questions mount over where all the money has gone in the state."
To the Moon, Odysseus. Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "For the first time in a half-century, an American-built spacecraft has landed on the moon. The robotic lander was the first U.S. vehicle on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, the closing chapter in humanity's astonishing achievement of sending people to the moon and bringing them all back alive. That is a feat that has not been repeated or even tried since. The lander, named Odysseus [by Houston-based builder Intuitive Machines] and a bit bigger than a telephone booth, arrived in the south polar region of the moon at 6:23 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday."
Robert Frank of CNBC: "The nation's millionaires and billionaires are evading more than $150 billion a year in taxes, adding to growing government deficits and creating a 'lack of fairness' in the tax system, according to the head of the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS, with billion of dollars in new funding from Congress, has launched a sweeping crackdown on wealthy taxpayers, partnerships and large companies. In an exclusive interview with CNBC, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said the agency has launched several programs targeting taxpayers with the most complex returns to root out tax evasion and make sure every taxpayer contributes their fair share." (Also linked yesterday.)
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Florida. Lena Sun & Lauren Weber of the Washington Post: "As a Florida elementary school tries to contain a growing measles outbreak, the state's top health official is giving advice that runs counter to science and may leave unvaccinated children at risk of contracting one of the most contagious pathogens on Earth, clinicians and public health experts said. Florida surgeon general Joseph A. Ladapo failed to urge parents to vaccinate their children or keep unvaccinated students home from school as a precaution in a letter to parents at the Fort Lauderdale-area school this week following six confirmed measles cases. Instead of following what he acknowledged was the 'normal' recommendation that parents keep unvaccinated children home for up to 21 days -- the incubation period for measles -- Ladapo said the state health department 'is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance.'" ~~~
~~~ MB: Ladapo is a DeSantis appointed, whom Ron chose for his anti-vax views & opposition to standard Covid prevention protocols. No one can say how many lives have been lost because of Ron's dashed presidential ambitions.
Tennessee. Matt Lavietes of NBC News: "Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a new law Wednesday that will allow public officials in the state to refuse to perform marriages if doing so goes against their beliefs. The measure, HB 878, is less than half a page-long and simply states that public officials' shall not be required to solemnize a marriage.' Those who can newly refuse include judges, county clerks and government officials. The law went into effect immediately on Wednesday.... Religious figures in the state have previously been permitted to refuse to marry same-sex couples.... Nathan Higdon ... [of] Tennessee LGBTQ advocacy group Knox Pride, condemned the measure and chalked it up as a political stunt on behalf of lawmakers trying to hold onto power." MB: If I were a Tennessee official, I would not officiate at any wedding because those heathens should get married in a nice church with Jesus looking down from the cross!
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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian affairs said his organization had 'reached breaking point' after 16 donor countries froze funding worth $450 million in the wake of Israel's accusations that some UNRWA staff had participated in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. The U.S. intelligence community has found no reason to doubt Israel's claims but lacks independent information on the subject and is not in a position to verify the allegations with a high degree of confidence, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.... In Rafah, entire buildings were leveled and homes destroyed Thursday after Gazans reported a bombardment. Al-Farouk Mosque was reduced to rubble.... The White House's Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 'to discuss efforts to secure the release of all hostages,' according to a senior Biden administration official...."
Russia. Anton Troianovski & Ivan Nechepurenco of the New York Times: "Russian authorities have declared that the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny died of natural causes but are refusing to release his remains until his mother agrees to a 'secret funeral,' Mr. Navalny's mother and his spokeswoman said on Thursday. Lyudmila Navalnaya, Mr. Navalny's mother, said she had been 'secretly' taken to a morgue Wednesday night, 'where they showed me Aleksei.' She was shown a medical report on Mr. Navalny’s death that said he died of natural causes, according to the Navalny team's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh.... [Ms. Navalnaya] said the authorities warned that if she did not 'agree to a secret funeral,' then 'they will do something with my son's body.' 'They're blackmailing me,' Ms. Navalnaya said in a video posted on her son’s YouTube channel. 'They are setting me conditions on where, when and how Aleksei should be buried.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
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