;)
The Conversation -- February 8, 2024
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The special counsel investigating President Biden said in a report released on Thursday that he had decided 'no criminal charges are warranted' against Mr. Biden over his handling of classified material after leaving the vice presidency in early 2017, but had found evidence that Mr. Biden had willfully retained and disclosed some sensitive material. Robert K. Hur, the special counsel, said in his highly unflattering report that Mr. Biden had left the White House after his vice presidency with classified documents about Afghanistan and notebooks with handwritten entries 'implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods' taken from internal White House briefings. The report said that Mr. Biden had shared the content of the notebooks with a ghostwriter who helped him on his 2017 memoir, 'Promise Me, Dad' even though he knew some of it was classified. While Mr. Hur decided not to prosecute Mr. Biden, some of his reasons for doing so are likely to raise new questions about the president's conduct and his mental state.... 'Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,' Mr. Hur wrote.
"White House officials said Mr. Biden had fully cooperated with the investigation and that he took the handling of classified information seriously. 'We disagree with a number of inaccurate and inappropriate comments in the special counsel's report. Nonetheless, the most important decision the special counsel made -- that no charges are warranted -- is firmly based on the facts and evidence,' Richard Sauber, a special counsel for Mr. Biden, said in a statement.... In the report's introduction, Mr. Hur cited Mr. Biden's cooperation with investigators, in stark contrast with ... Donald J. Trump's behavior when documents were discovered at his resort in Florida, as one of the factors in his decision not to bring charges.... Mr. Hur could not establish whether classified documents discovered at Mr. Biden's house had been willfully retained, or whether they had been obtained during his vice presidency and sloppily stored."
~~~ Politico's report, by Betsy Swan, is here: "Biden's memory lapse was a common theme throughout Hur's report.... One of [Biden's] attorneys, Bob Bauer, took umbrage with the portrayal, accusing Hur of 'essentially, "trashing" the subject of an investigation' with 'extraneous, unfounded and irrelevant critical commentary.' Biden's attorneys also wrote directly to Hur and his team before the report's publication to complain about the focus on the president's memory lapses. As documented in the report, they called the focus 'gratuitous' and urged Hur to revise his summarizations, saying it was beyond his 'expertise and remit.'... Biden addressed the report during an appearance at a retreat for House Democrats on Thursday afternoon. 'I was pleased to see the special counsel make clear the stark differences between this case and Trump's,' he said, 'The special counsel in my case decided against moving forward with any charges. This matter is now closed.' He banged the podium with a fist." ~~~
~~~ The report, via the DOJ, is here. It begins with an executive summary. President Biden's statement, via the White House, is here.
Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "A sweeping emergency aid bill for Ukraine and Israel inched ahead in the Senate on Thursday, providing glimmers of hope for the measure after a series of setbacks. But hurdles remained as Republicans slow-walked progress, demanding changes and feuding internally over whether to back it. In a bipartisan show of support, the Senate voted 67 to 32 to advance the bill, with 17 Republicans joining Democrats to move it forward. The legislation would provide $60.1 billion for Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel and $10 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians in global conflicts. But many Republicans were still withholding their backing as they demanded changes to the package, and many others opposed it outright. 'We hope to reach an agreement with our Republican colleagues on amendments,' Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said. 'We are going to keep working on this bill until the job is done.'"
Andrew Kramer & Mark Santora of the New York Times: "President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Thursday removed his top general as part of a sweeping overhaul of his military command, the most significant shake-up in Ukrainian leadership since Russia invaded almost two years ago. The dismissal ended weeks of speculation about the fate of the commander, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, whose relationship with Mr. Zelensky had deteriorated as Ukraine failed to make a breakthrough in its counteroffensive last summer and fall. Mr. Zelensky was prepared to fire the general 10 days ago before temporarily backing off, Ukrainian officials have said. The upheaval comes at a difficult moment for Ukraine in the war, amid intensified Russian attacks, partisan wrangling in the United States over providing aid to the government in Kyiv and the tensions between Ukraine's civilian and military leadership. General Zaluzhny will be replaced by Gen. <Oleksandr Syrsky, the head of Ukraine's ground forces, the president said."
Marie: The seat-of-the-pants analyses I'm hearing on the teevee re: the Colorado disqualification case is that the Supremes will rule, perhaps 9-0 against Colorado. I'm having oral surgery again this afternoon, so I won't be around to post links to relevant commentary. On the up side, I think oral surgery will be more fun than reading how the Supremes are horrified by the idea of kicking an insurrectionist leader off the ballot.
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CNN is liveblogging developments in the Supreme Court's hearing of Colorado voters' effort to keep Donald Trump off the state's ballot on the basis of his disqualification under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates are here. The New York Times' liveblog is here.
Marie: The Supreme Court has announced on its main Web page that it will livestream an audio feed of oral arguments this morning. Update: The livefeed is up on the Supremes' main page. The Constitution Center has a list of page URLs where you can hear the livefeed, which is set to begin at 10 am ET. ~~~
~~~ The AP will have live audio on this YouTube page. (MB: uh, supposedly -- when I linked to the page the WashPo listed for carrying the audio, the feed had been removed). Looks as if MSNBC & CNN will carry the audio live, too.
Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday will confront the critical question of Donald Trump's eligibility to return to the White House, hearing arguments in an unprecedented case that gives the justices a central role in charting the course of a presidential election for the first time in nearly a quarter-century.... The justices will have to weigh untested legal issues against the backdrop of broad concerns about democracy. Put simply, should the ramifications of disqualifying the leading Republican candidate in the midst of the primary election outweigh the consequences of allowing a candidate to run again after he tried to subvert the outcome of the last election" ~~~
~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Thursday in an extraordinary case that could alter the course of the presidential election by deciding whether ... Donald J. Trump's conduct in trying to subvert the 2020 race made him ineligible to hold office again.... The sweep of the court's ruling is likely to be broad. It will probably not only resolve whether Mr. Trump may appear on the Colorado primary ballot, but it will also most likely determine his eligibility to run in the general election and to hold office at all."
Marie: Ever since (or maybe even before) Colorado decided Donald Trump was disqualified from appearing on the state's presidential ballot, I have been wondering if this couldn't be a state-by-state decision. Comes now law professor Akhil Amar and says, well, yes. ~~~
~~~ ** Akhil Amar, in a New York Times op-ed: "A 50-state solution allows each state to use its own distinct procedures and protocols for applying Section 3 [of the Fourteenth Amendment].... Section 3's authors actually had not one but two recent insurrections in mind. Before the bloody insurrection that began when cannons roared at Fort Sumter in April 1861, there was the first insurrection of the 1860s, led by cabinet members of outgoing President James Buchanan, including John B. Floyd, the war secretary, and Philip Francis Thomas, the treasury secretary, among many others. A shadowy network of affiliates and co-conspirators aimed in several and nefarious ways ... to prevent the lawful counting of President-elect Abraham Lincoln's electoral votes and to thwart his lawful inauguration in early March 1861.... In 1860, Lincoln was not on the ballot in every state; ditto for Ralph Nader in 2000. Welcome to the Electoral College.... The Constitution is best read to safeguard intricate federalism over pure nationalism -- and the Supreme Court's ruling should reflect that principle." ~~~
~~~ BTW, Hillary Clinton, in an interview on MSNBC, more-or-less endorsed Amar's approach and hypothesized that the Supremes might go along with it, too, in order to avoid making the larger decision on Trump's self-disqualification.
Meet the Lawyers! Ann Marimow of the Washington Post profiles the two lawyers who are leading the arguments the Trump disqualification case before the Supreme Court, Jonathan Mitchell for Trump and Jason Murray for the Colorado voters.
Charlie Savage of the New York Times profiles Seth Barrett Tillman, a professor at the University of Ireland, who asserts that "the particular phrase 'officer of the United States' refers only to appointed positions, not the presidency.... With Josh Blackman, who teaches at South Texas College of Law Houston, Professor Tillman submitted a friend-of-the-court brief and asked to participate in arguments, but the court declined. Still, his hobbyhorse will be on the Supreme Court's agenda, and it has drawn as much zealous backing as it has ferocious pushback.... Akhil Reed Amar, a Yale Law School professor who submitted a brief siding with Colorado's top court, portrayed Professor Tillman's theory as a 'gimmick' that relied on tracing words in "all these interesting little ways that makes no sense of the thing as a whole." He predicted it would get at most three votes on the nine-member court."
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Marie: It looks like the new leader of both the House and Senate is Donald Trump, (maybe with an assist from aide Vladimir Putin).
Seth Meyers comments on Wednesday's House debacle. Thanks to RAS for the link:
Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The Senate bogged down on Wednesday over a bill to send tens of billions of dollars to Ukraine and Israel after Senate Republicans blocked a compromise that would have paired the aid with stringent border security measures, adjourning without moving forward on the emergency national security spending package. Democrats, pressing to salvage the aid from becoming a casualty of ... Donald J. Trump's political campaign, promised a Thursday vote to advance a stand-alone foreign aid bill stripped of the immigration measures. But after a day of stalemate on Capitol Hill, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, announced that senators needed more time to agree on how to move forward on that alternative, which Democrats and Republicans alike said they hoped would be successful.
"Mr. Schumer had hoped for a quick vote on Wednesday on what he called his 'Plan B for reviving the aid package after the border deal failed. But by Wednesday evening, action had stalled, as Senate Republicans slow-walked business on the floor while they regrouped. They held open a procedural vote for hours as they sought assurances from Democrats that if they voted to allow the stripped-down aid bill to move forward, they would be allowed to propose changes. Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, told reporters that there were ongoing discussions about how the money to Ukraine and Israel would be distributed." ~~~
~~~ The AP report on the Senate fail is here. CNN's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The NYT, AP & CNN reports do not mention this: Alex Wagner reported on MSNBC on-air that the stripped-down foreign aid bill failed a cloture vote Wednesday 58-41, "and Democrats have till tomorrow to convince two more Republicans to vote for cloture." Wagner put up a graphic showing the 58-41 count. ~~~
~~~ Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a bill to pair tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine and Israel with stringent border security measures, thwarting a compromise they had demanded in the latest setback to the emergency national security spending package. But Democrats quickly moved to salvage the aid, with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, pivoting to advance a stand-alone foreign aid bill stripped of the immigration deal. A vote on that alternative was expected later on Wednesday." This is the pinned item in a liveblog.
Sahil Kapur & Frank Thorp of NBC News: "Within 48 hours of the release of a long-awaited immigration and foreign aid bill he had championed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's Republican conference rejected his pitch to support it, knifed the deal and left it for dead. Just four Republicans voted for it. In the end, even McConnell backtracked and voted against the package that he had helped develop. It was a jarring moment on Capitol Hill that pointed to a changed landscape: The Kentucky Republican, a one-man power center for more than a decade, is seeing his influence with fellow senators wane as his party continues to transform into the right-wing populist mold of Donald Trump."
Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "As Republicans tanked their own bid to impeach Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, [Speaker Mike] Johnson, who minutes before had been buttonholing holdouts on the House floor, was the face of the failure, a slightly panicked look on his face and his cheeks flushed as he announced the loss. Then the House moved on to a second vote Mr. Johnson had orchestrated, on a $17.6 billion aid package for Israel that he knew would not muster the votes it needed to pass. It also failed. The back-to-back defeats highlighted the litany of problems Mr. Johnson inherited the day he was elected speaker and his inexperience in the position.... The next phase of that game could be even more challenging." ~~~
~~~ Brett Meiselas of Meidas Touch: "Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans were shocked as their impeachment resolution against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas went down in flames on Tuesday by a vote of 214-216. Republicans Ken Buck, Tom McClintock, Blake Moore, and Mike Gallagher voted against the measure. Moore changed his vote to a 'no' at the last second for procedural reasons, after Democratic Rep. Al Green arrived straight from the hospital in a wheelchair and scrubs to make what would be the deciding vote. Johnson and House Republicans were infuriated by Green's presence at the vote, and apparently had not counted on this possibility. In fact, the vote was planned with Green's absence in mind. Speaker Johnson planned the vote for Tuesday because he thought the Democrats would be down a vote while Green was in surgery.... On Wednesday, when asked about the failed vote, Speaker Johnson acknowledged that House Republicans were not prepared for Green's presence." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't rely on the Meisalas boys for factual reporting, but Brett is right about this. Nancy Pelosi, who is famous for knowing how to count votes, appeared on MSNBC yesterday and told Andrea Mitchell that a leader has to count her own votes and not worry about how many votes the other side thinks it has. Catie Edmondson wrote (report linked above), "Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a famed vote counter, couldn't help but offer unsolicited advice to Mr. Johnson. 'You have to have your votes. Don't worry about the other side -- you have to have your votes.... You know what's a majority. If you don't have that -- don't bring it to the floor.'"; Obviously, Mike Johnson was unaware of (or ignored) that arithmetical principle. ~~~
~~~ The Implosion of the GOP. Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: Wednesday's House meltdown "was the latest in a tenure marred by chaos and frustration, with members starting to lose patience with an inexperienced leader who they feel has made serious tactical missteps overseeing an unwieldy conference that even Republicans admit may be impossible to corral. The dysfunction in the House Republican conference was rivaled only by that of its counterpart in the Senate.... The GOP leaders' shaky hold over their conferences has led Democrats to fret about whether the House can again avert a government shutdown ahead of a March 1 deadline -- as well as whether Congress may abandon key U.S. allies during wartime. The chaos that has plagued congressional Republicans has intensified as Trump has tightened his grip on the party in his bid to lock up the GOP presidential nomination. Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have applied dramatically different approaches to Trump.... But Trump's influence has minimized their credibility with and sway over their colleagues. It has also caused some members to fear that the emerging leadership vacuum and their inability to govern could cost them politically."
Garcia Gets the Better of Miss Margie. Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post: "... during a hearing on crime..., [Rep. Marjorie Taylor] Greene ... went on a lengthy rant on everything from crime in the nation's capital to gun rights to Donald Trump to Black Lives Matter and beyond.... Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) ... pointed out what he found 'ironic' about Greene talking about crime in Washington, D.C. 'She literally supported an insurrection and attack on the Capitol,' Garcia said. He said Greene 'coddled' the insurrectionists when she visited them last year in jail, where she offered them handshakes and pats on the back and said they were 'political prisoners.... They actually tried to overthrow our government,' Garcia reminded her. That caused Greene ― who last month called Hunter Biden a 'coward' for leaving a hearing when she was speaking about him ― to walk out of the hearing." (Also linked yesterday.)
Joe Davidson of the Washington Post: "The Democratic chairman of a powerful Senate committee on Wednesday called on President Biden to fire the lead watchdog for the Social Security Administration, pointing to stalled investigations and plunging staff morale. In a letter sent Wednesday to the White House, Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said promises by Inspector General Gail Ennis to 'establish a culture that welcomes debate, collaboration, and transparency ... appear to have been hollow.... I urge you to remove her.'... Wyden's letter comes as Ennis, a 2019 Trump administration appointee, faces multiple long-running investigations into her leadership.... Ennis has drawn particular scrutiny for an anti-fraud program run by the inspector general's office that leveled large penalties against disabled claimants -- and for allegedly retaliating against staffers who raised alarms about that practice, which began under Ennis's predecessor and continued on her watch."
Surprise, Surprise! Expedient-Friend-of-Clarence Harlan Crow Is [an Alleged!] Tax Cheat. Paul Kiel of ProPublica: "A key congressional committee is pressuring billionaire Harlan Crow for answers after investigators turned up additional evidence that he misrepresented his yacht as a business to score a tax break.... Drawing on the trove of leaked tax data that was the basis of our 'Secret IRS Files' series, ProPublica reported that, from 2003 to 2015, Crow and his father reported nearly $8 million in net losses from operating the ship, with about half flowing to Harlan Crow.... Yacht owners who regularly lease out their ships can write off losses related to chartering, but ProPublica could find no evidence of the [yacht] Michaela Rose being chartered. In fact, former crew members said the ship was used solely by Crow's family, friends and executives of his company, along with their guests. Congressional investigators found the same thing when they spoke to former crew members, [Sen. Ron] Wyden [D-Ore.] wrote.... The committee's investigators were able to confirm that the ship lacked the proper registrations [in the U.S. & U.K. for chartering]." Thanks to RAS for the link.
Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: "A congressional committee examining campus antisemitism accused Harvard on Wednesday of obstructing its investigation, saying that the university failed to submit documents it had requested while flooding the committee with publicly available pages containing 'inexplicable' redactions. Representative Virginia Foxx, a Republican of North Carolina, said Harvard was providing a 'limited and dilatory' response to her investigation of the school's handling of alleged campus antisemitism. Ms. Foxx, chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, threatened to use subpoena power to force Harvard to submit more documents.... Harvard said that it was cooperating with the inquiry and that it 'has provided extensive information.'..." MB: Foxx is a well-known right-wing rabble-rouser, and Harvard, generally speaking, is the Snob Center of America, so I withhold judgment on who's in the right here.
The Trials of Trump & the Trump Gang
Holmes Lybrand & Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Donald Trump's legal team is outlining how he intends to fight the classified documents case against him in Florida, including by claiming presidential immunity, despite a significant defeat on that issue in the election subversion case in Washington, DC. In a filing Tuesday, Trump's attorneys asked Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over the Florida case, for more time to follow certain pretrial motions they're considering, including to suppress discovery and allege prosecutorial misconduct. The attorneys also say they expect to file arguments on presidential immunity in the case, a defense that was decidedly tossed out by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, the same day as Trump's filing in Florida.... Trump has said he intends to appeal the DC Circuit Court's ruling. The former president's attorneys indicated in the filing they may argue special counsel Jack Smith's prosecution in Florida has been selective and vindictive, that prosecutors violated Trump's due process rights and are misusing information gathered during the investigation." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I heard some expert on MSNBC (sorry, can't recall who) say that Trump's bringing an immunity claim to the documents case could force the Supremes to hear the D.C. case because two separate courts in two different judicial districts would be ruling on immunity. Seems to me the Supremes could simply affirm the lower court's ruling without elaborating in one of their "shadow docket" type rulings. This would more-or-less require Cannon to reject whatever immunity claim Trump's lawyers assert in the case she's overseeing. But we all know I'm no expert.
Kara Scannell of CNN: “A federal judge denied Donald Trump's motions for a mistrial in the defamation case brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll saying the former president's arguments had no 'merit.'... Judge Lewis Kaplan denied Trump's motions from the bench during the civil trial and said a written order would follow. In the written order on Wednesday, the judge said granting a request for a mistrial 'would have been entirely pointless' because it would only mean that the case would start over.... He also denied Trump's request for sanctions and criticized Trump's attorneys for first making the motion for a mistrial in front of the jury during Carroll's cross-examination when they had known about the deletion of messages for over a year. He said if he were to grant any remedy to Trump, which he was not inclined to do, it would consist of cross-examining Carroll about deleting messages, which his attorneys did at trial."
Joseph Harvey of the Huffington Post: "MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell was flabbergasted by a detail in a new court filing from special counsel Jack Smith in the classified documents case against Donald Trump and two co-defendants. According to the Friday filing, an attorney for Carlos De Oliveira, a co-defendant and maintenance supervisor at Mar-a-Lago, said he was unable to review CCTV footage the prosecution had obtained from the Trump Organization and provided during discovery because he did not own or have access to a laptop or desktop computer. De Oliveira's attorney said he had been attempting to review the entirety of the government's discovery documents on a handheld tablet, the filing stated. To resolve the issue, the government offered to loan the attorney a laptop, and 'hand-delivered a computer to him,' according to the filing. The prosecution said it has since offered assistance to the attorney, 'providing tips and examples, and offering to set up calls,' whenever he has flagged technical issues.' The unprofessionalism and incompetence of the Trump team of lawyers continues to amaze,' O'Donnell said Monday...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't own a tablet, but I'm pretty sure you can review documents on one. Maybe this is a ploy to get De Oliveira off in an appeal based on incompetence of counsel. It could work!
More on the Presidential Race
Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden traveled to New York on Wednesday to headline three fund-raisers, where he presented himself as the last line of defense against the re-election of Donald Trump and as a dedicated -- if imperfect -- leader who had been around long enough to recognize the existential threat Mr. Trump poses to democratic institutions, including the presidency.... At all three events, Mr. Biden largely stayed away from the war in Gaza, and though protests were barely visible from the presidential motorcade, people angry over his support for Israel's campaign against Hamas had gathered to demonstrate at different points throughout the city."
When a Self-help Guru Gives Up. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "Marianne Williamson, the self-help author, is suspending her long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, she said in a video address on Wednesday.... Ms. Williamson on Tuesday placed a very distant third place in Nevada's primary election, behind President Biden -- who won nearly 90 percent of the vote -- and behind 'none of these candidates,' a ballot option that earned less than 6 percent of the vote. She had put significant effort into campaigning in the state before the primary, but ultimately drew under 3 percent of the vote." The AP story is here.
Another Loser to "None of These Candidates' Soldiers On. Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: "Nikki Haley on Wednesday blasted Donald J. Trump for his backroom effort to twist delegate and primary rules in his favor, calling it 'ironic' that a former president who fueled lies about his 2020 election loss was now trying to 'bully' his way to the 2024 Republican nomination.... She went on to say that the reason he was trying so hard to win the election was because he needed 'to get off all these court issues that he's dealing with.... And I think Americans need to see this for what it is,' she said. The rebuke is among the sharpest attacks Ms. Haley has aimed at Mr. Trump yet...." MB: Sorry, I see no irony here. Rather, Trump is behaving consistently: he tried to bully his way to staying in the White House in 2020/21 by fomenting an insurrection; he's bullying his hoped-for path back to the White House by intimidating Republican officials at every level of government and rigging some state primary procedures to favor him.
Hawaii. Daryl Huff of Hawaii News Now: "A proposal that would allow Donald Trump to be disqualified from the Hawaii ballot for causing an insurrection survived a close vote in a state Senate committee Tuesday. While other states have tried to block Trump because of his role in sparking the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol. Hawaii law doesn't provide for that. The measure, Senate Bill 2392, would establish a process through the chief elections officer. The bill drew more than 300 pieces of negative testimony and only about 20 testimonies in favor. The small conference room was dominated by Trump supporters, who often cheered each other's testimony.... The committee voted 3-to-2 to send the bill to the full Senate."
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The final report of Robert K. Hur, the special counsel investigating President Biden's handling of classified documents retained from his vice presidency, has been sent to the White House and to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, two of the final steps before its public release, officials said on Wednesday. Mr. Garland received the report on Monday, he told congressional leaders in a letter on Wednesday. He said that Mr. Hur had previously sent a copy to the White House Counsel's Office for possible revisions based on claims of executive privilege, and that the White House was still reviewing the report. Ian Sams, a spokesman for the White House Counsel's Office, said the review would be completed by the end of the week.... Mr. Garland's letter contained no indication that the department would pursue an indictment, and people around Mr. Biden have said they do not expect one."
You Do Not Have a Constitutional Right to Spit Your Germs & Viruses at Others. Mike Catalini of the AP: "A federal appeals court shot down claims Monday that New Jersey residents refusal to wear face masks at school board meeting during the COVID-19 outbreak constituted protected speech under the First Amendment. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in two related cases stemming from lawsuits against officials in Freehold and Cranford, New Jersey. The suits revolved around claims that the plaintiffs were retaliated against by school boards because they refused to wear masks during public meetings. In one of the suits, the court sent the case back to a lower court for consideration. In the other, it said the plaintiff failed to show she was retaliated against." MB: But, but how can speech be free if you're forced to speak through a device that muffles speech? (Also linked yesterday.)
Hecho en Mexico. Anna Swanson & Simon Romero of the New York Times: "New data released on Wednesday showed that Mexico outpaced China to become America's top source of official imports for the first time in 20 years -- a significant shift that highlights how increased tensions between Washington and Beijing are altering trade flows. The United States' trade deficit with China narrowed significantly last year, with goods imports from the country dropping 20 percent to $427.2 billion, the data shows. American consumers and businesses turned to Mexico, Europe, South Korea, India, Canada and Vietnam for auto parts, shoes, toys and raw materials.... Economists say the relative decrease in trade with China is clearly linked to the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and then maintained by the Biden administration." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: So how about this? Trump's radical China tariffs improved U.S. trade with Mexico. This, in turn, means there are more jobs in Mexico, so immigration to the U.S. from Central and South America may decrease by the increase in the number of jobs these would-be U.S. immigrants can get in Mexico. So in one fell swoop, Trump has not only cut trade with China but also solved the border crisis. The guy is a stable genius.
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Robyn Dixon & Natalia Abbakumova of the Washington Post begin with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's takedown of a blatant lie TuKKKer Carlson told about his interview of Vladimir Putin. Then they write, "The Kremlin's decision to allow the interview demonstrated Putin's interest in building bridges to the disruptive MAGA element of the Republican Party, and it seemed to reflect the Kremlin's hope that Donald Trump would return to the presidency and that Republicans would continue to block U.S. military aid to Ukraine. Halting aid from the United States, which is Ukraine's biggest Western supporter, could provide Russia with a path to victory in the nearly two-year war.... Putin portrays himself as a guardian of traditional conservative values, showing common cause with MAGA conservatives.... Pro-Trump Republicans are a natural ally for Putin on LGBTQ+ and other issues but also because the Kremlin has long sought to exploit divisions in American society and interfere in U.S. politics.... Carlson has often echoed Kremlin propaganda about Russia's war on Ukraine, by attacking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and opposing U.S. military aid to help Ukraine defend itself."
Trolling Racists -- A Half Century Ago. Noah Berlatsky, in a CNN opinion piece, remarks on how the right wing misunderstands Mel Brooks' presentation of race in the 1974 film "Blazing Saddles." Berlatsky writes a useful review of the film. "Blazing Saddles," Berlatsky writes, "presents everyday good White townspeople, as racist -- and as irredeemable fools because they are racist.... Gene Wilder as Bart's (Cleavon Little) fast-drawing friend Jim, is ... explicit. 'You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers,' Jim reassures Bart after he's endured racist insults from a nice White grandma. 'These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know .. morons.'... You're really not supposed to outright say that rural White MAGA voters -- the 'people of the land' -- are deplorable racist dunderheads. You're supposed to be respectful. But 'Blazing Saddles,' 50 years ago, said that treating racists with respect is BS -- even if those racists look like your grandma, even if those racists live in small towns and hang out in diners." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link to the video:
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Voter Suppression, Campus Component. Maddie Kasper of the Washington Post: "After voting rules were loosened in many states for the 2020 election, which was held in the depths of the coronavirus pandemic, GOP lawmakers have sought to tighten restrictions for 2024. Although the efforts have been ostensibly aimed at curbing fraud, elections experts say voter fraud is already exceedingly rare. Democrats say they believe the real objective is to limit voting among college students, who voted in historic numbers in 2020 and overwhelmingly supported Joe Biden, helping to power his victory.... Voters in Idaho, for example, can no longer use student ID cards at the polls.... Numerous other forms of identification, including concealed weapons licenses, remain acceptable.... Students at public universities in Ohio could previously vote with their student ID card if it met certain criteria.... The new Ohio law would require [students] to give up [IDs issued by other states] for one issued by Ohio.... In Democratic-led states such as New York or Colorado, for instance, lawmakers have passed bills that will likely lead to easier access to polling places on college campuses. Several Republican-led states have moved in the other direction."
Florida. Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: "The Florida Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday regarding a proposed amendment enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution, the last hurdle in getting the issue before voters after a successful grass-roots signature drive. The group Floridians Protecting Freedom gathered more than 1.5 million signatures in less than nine months to put the proposal on the ballot -- far more than the 891,523 needed. But Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has objected to the language in the proposed amendment and asked the state's high court to reject it.... Legal analysts said it was difficult to gauge how justices might rule based on the questions asked and comments made."
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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Hamas's response to a proposed cease-fire deal in exchange for the release of hostages included some 'non-starters' but creates space to 'pursue negotiations,' U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Israel, in contrast with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called the militant group's demands 'delusional.' In Iraq, a U.S. military strike Wednesday in Baghdad killed a key commander of a militia group that has plotted attacks on American troops throughout the region, officials said.... Blinken met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday in the West Bank, where Abbas called for an immediate halt to Israel's war in the Gaza Strip, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported."
U.K. Your Royal Gossip Fix. Jesus Jiménez of the New York Times: "Prince Harry did not meet with his brother, Prince William, during a roughly 24-hour trip to Britain after Buckingham Palace announced that their father had cancer, an indication that relations between the siblings remain tense.... The king's eldest son [William] resumed his duties as the Prince of Wales, carrying out an honors ceremony at Windsor Castle and attending a charity fund-raiser. It was unknown what Harry and King Charles, 75, discussed during a visit that lasted between 30 and 45 minutes at Clarence House, the king's residence in London."
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