;)
April 13, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Yellin Steps Up. Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen on Wednesday urged China to persuade Russia to end its war in Ukraine and warned that staying on the sidelines could jeopardize China's standing in the global economy.... 'Going forward, it will be increasingly difficult to separate economic issues from broader considerations of national interest, including national security,' Ms. Yellen said in a speech to the Atlantic Council, a think tank. 'The world's attitude towards China and its willingness to embrace further economic integration may well be affected by China's reaction to our call for resolute action on Russia.' Ms. Yellen added that Russia's actions were at odds with China's longstanding public commitments to sovereignty and territorial integrity and called on China to use its influence with Russia to end the war.... Ms. Yellen singled out countries such as China and India that have continued to engage with Russia despite the global backlash against the atrocities it has committed in Ukraine.... 'And let's be clear: The unified coalition of sanctioning countries will not be indifferent to actions that undermine the sanctions we've put in place,' she said."
Rachel Maddow had quite a good segment Tuesday night on Finland's many efforts to fend off Russian aggression, the latest being a likely decision to join NATO. If, like me, you know little or nothing about the "Winter War," you will find the story illuminating:
~~~ Early last month, only a week after Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the Washington Post published historian Gordon Sander's brief story of the Winter War, highlighting its parallels to Putin's war on Ukraine.
Manu Raju of CNN: "In the weeks after he lost the 2020 election..., [Donald] Trump was certain he could subvert the election outcome, telling [Mitch] McConnell, then the Senate majority leader, and other top Republicans that he had personally been on the phone with officials in Pennsylvania and Michigan -- and they told him they would move to keep him in power, despite the results showing [Joe] Biden had won their states..., according to a soon-to-be-released book by New York Times political reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns.... The phone call was one of the final conversations McConnell had with Trump. Their relationship ... effectively ended after McConnell went to the Senate floor on December 15, 2020, and acknowledged Biden's victory following states' certification of the electoral results. The two haven't spoken since...."
A Different Kind of Mexican Standoff. Aaron Nelsen, et al., of the New York Times: "Trucks attempting to enter Texas loaded with goods from Mexico sat motionless for hours on Tuesday as lengthy vehicle inspections ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott in a clash with the Biden administration over immigration snarled traffic at major commercial crossings. In the city of Pharr, a major international bridge over which about $12 million in produce is shipped to the United States daily has been effectively shut down in both directions since Monday as scores of drivers in Mexico set up a blockade of their own in protest over the new inspections. A similar protest by truckers also blocked a bridge into El Paso.... Mr. Abbott has sought novel strategies to insert the state into immigration enforcement.... The vehicle inspections are part of that effort: a carefully constructed policy aimed at smugglers and migrants but carried out under powers available to the state, namely vehicle safety.... Calls for the governor to end the inspection policy came not just from Democrats [like his rival in the gubernatorial race Beto O'Rourke]. The state's conservative agriculture commissioner, Sid Miller, also urged Mr. Abbott to reverse course." A related Texas Tribune story is here. ~~~
~~~ Alex Gangitano of the Hill: "The White House on Wednesday slammed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) for the delays at the state's border with Mexico after he ordered state troopers to step up truck inspections.... 'Governor Abbott's unnecessary and redundant inspections of trucks transiting ports of entry between Texas and Mexico are causing significant disruptions to the food and automobile supply chains, delaying manufacturing, impacting jobs, and raising prices for families in Texas and across the country,' [Press Secretary Jen] Psaki said in a statement." ~~~
~~~ Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "A group of undocumented migrants arrived in the nation's capital Wednesday on a bus sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, part of the Republican governor's strategy to oppose the Biden administration's rescinding of a Trump-era border policy. 'By busing migrants to Washington, D.C., the Biden Administration will be able to more immediately meet the needs of the people they are allowing to cross our border,' Abbott said in a statement Wednesday, adding that another busload of people are en route.The migrants, from Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, were being dropped off between Union Station and the Capitol as 'part of Governor Abbott's response to the Biden Administration's decision to end Title 42 expulsions,' his office said." MB: I'd like to see Abbott charged with human rights violations.
Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Mark Meadows, a former chief of staff in the Trump White House, has been removed from the voter roll in North Carolina as the state investigates allegations that he committed voter fraud in the 2020 election.... State investigators in North Carolina launched a probe into Meadows's voter registration last month after news organizations reported he had registered to vote in 2020 using the address of a mobile home in Scaly Mountain, N.C. The former owner of the mobile home claimed Meadows never stayed there, prompting the state attorney general to request an investigation." CNN's report is here. MB: If a Texas woman can be sentenced to five years in jail for voting in an election in which she thought she was eligible to vote, it seems the chief of staff to the president* ought to be sentenced to at least 10 years for knowingly casting an illegal vote. Throw the book at him. Lock him up.
Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "Two Florida men charged with filing ballots in two states in the 2020 presidential election confessed to voter fraud, according to court records. Charles F. Barnes and Jay Ketcik, residents of The Villages in Sumter County, Fla., pleaded guilty to casting more than one ballot in the election. Voter fraud is a third-degree felony that can result in a maximum five-year prison sentence. Barnes, 64, and Ketcik, 63, will be able to defer prosecution if they abide by the court-ordered requirements that State Attorney Bill Gladson set, according to pretrial intervention documents.... Ketcik, a registered Republican, was among three Central Florida residents who had expressed support for ... Donald Trump before being arrested in December.... Barnes, who has no party affiliation, was arrested in January and faced similar charges." A Raw Story report is here.
A friend sent along this handy guide for those of us less socially-aware than he:
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The New York Times' live updates of developments in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Wednesday praised President Biden for accusing Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine, describing the remarks as 'true words of a true leader,' as investigators accelerated their efforts to collect evidence of alleged Russian atrocities outside Kyiv.... [Mr. Biden said] his remarks ... were based on his personal belief 'that Putin is just trying to wipe out even the idea of being Ukrainian.'... Mr. Putin on Tuesday dismissed the mounting evidence of atrocities committed by Russian forces as 'fake' and vowed to carry out the invasion to its 'full completion.' In his latest address, Mr. Zelensky offered to exchange a detained pro-Russian politician for Ukrainians being held captive by Moscow's forces. Ukraine's security service said on Tuesday that officers had detained Viktor Medvedchuk, who has long been considered one of Mr. Putin's closest allies in Ukraine. The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia said they were on their way to Kyiv to meet with Mr. Zelensky on Wednesday, in the latest solidarity visit by European leaders to the Ukrainian capital." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here: "Satellite images captured in recent days by U.S. firm Maxar Technologies show Russian forces repositioning in Ukraine's east, likely supplying more troops and military equipment in preparation for a fresh round of offensives in the region. A bird's-eye view of several towns in Kharkiv and Luhansk, two provinces that sit near Ukraine's eastern border with Russia, revealed Russian convoys with more than 200 vehicles traveling along the highway. Meanwhile, the United States is readying a dramatic expansion of its weapons assistance to Ukraine, U.S. officials told The Washington Post.... As the United States, Britain and Australia monitor unconfirmed reports that Russia may have used chemical weapons during its siege of Mariupol, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons notes that Russia and Ukraine are part of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits developing, acquiring or using chemical weapons."
Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Tuesday referred to Russia as committing a 'genocide' in Ukraine, a significant escalation of the president's rhetoric and a notable shift that comes as U.S. officials have avoided using the term, which suggests an effort to wipe out all or part of a specific group. Biden's initial comment came at an event in Menlo, Iowa, where he was decrying the effects of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine on the higher prices Americans are paying for gas and food. 'Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide a half a world away,' Biden said. He later told reporters he intentionally used the word genocide in his speech, though he added that he would 'let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies.' But he said, 'It sure seems that way to me.'"
Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Tuesday that governments around the world, including in Russia and China, grew more repressive last year, as the State Department released its annual report on global human rights. The department's 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices echoes President Biden's warnings that authoritarianism is on the rise worldwide. Its introduction cites 'continued democratic backsliding on several continents, and creeping authoritarianism that threatens both human rights and democracy -- most notably, at present, with Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine.' The report covers the past year and thus does not include details about Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. But it singled out Russia's government as a leading rights abuser, citing reports of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, physical abuse of suspects by the police and other offenses, along with frequent impunity for accused security officials."
Dan Lamothe & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration is poised to dramatically expand the scope of weapons it is providing Ukraine, U.S. officials said Tuesday, with the Pentagon looking to transfer armored Humvees and a range of other sophisticated equipment.... Preliminary plans circulating among government officials and lawmakers in Washington also included Mi-17 helicopters, howitzer cannons, coastal defense drones and protective suits to safeguard personnel in the event of a chemical, biological or nuclear attack, the officials said, though they cautioned that it was not immediately clear if all of those items would end up in the final aid package.... The prospective new delivery [worth perhaps $750 million], first reported by Reuters, comes on top of the more than $2.4 billion in U.S. security assistance provided to Ukraine since President Biden took office last year, including $1.7 billion in id since Russia launched its invasion Feb. 24."
Frank Bajak of the AP: "Russian military hackers attempted to knock out power to millions of Ukrainians last week in a long-planned attack but were foiled, Ukrainian government officials said Tuesday. At one targeted high-voltage power station, the hackers succeeded in penetrating and disrupting part of the industrial control system, but people defending the station were able to prevent electrical outages, the Ukrainians said.... The hackers from Russia's GRU military intelligence agency used an upgraded version of malware first seen in its successful 2016 attack that caused blackouts in Kyiv, officials said, that was customized to target multiple substations. They simultaneously seeded malware designed to wipe out computer operating systems, hindering recovery.... A deputy energy minister, Farid Safarov, said '2 million people would have been without electricity supply if it was successful.'"
Cate Cadell, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called the war in Ukraine a 'tragedy' but insisted the invasion will continue unabated.... Putin said there was no clear end to the conflict and 'no choice' but to forge ahead with the invasion, brushing off the impacts of punitive sanctions during a visit to the Amur region in Russia's far east where he met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.... '... We had no choice. It was just a matter of time' before an attack on Russia, he added. Putin also said peace negotiations had reached a deadlock, blaming the Ukrainian side."
Newer Planes, Please. Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: "While Kyiv's forces have perhaps even outperformed Moscow's on the ground, Russia has continued to inflict heavy losses on Ukraine from the sky.... President Volodymyr Zelensky ... is pushing for more advanced air-defense systems and jets.... For Ukrainian pilots, more MiG-29s aren't the answer.... [One Ukrainian pilot] who is in the United States as part of a training program, said it would probably take Ukrainians [only] about two weeks to learn the nuances of the U.S.-made F-series planes. Many of the pilots already speak English and have participated in joint exercises with the U.S. Air Force, so they're familiar with the terminology of those planes' systems, [pilots] said.... If Western countries are hesitant to give Ukraine modern jets its pilots haven't trained on, [a pilot] said they should at least consider sending more advanced air-defense systems."
Michael Lipin & Igor Tsikhanenka of the Voice of America: "The scale of Russia's looting of Ukraine has become clearer with new photos indicating Russian theft of hazardous materials from a site near Chernobyl's nuclear power plant, and another image from Belarus adding to evidence that Russian soldiers mailed looted goods home. VOA has obtained exclusive photos of a nuclear laboratory from which a Ukrainian official says Russian troops stole radioactive material that could be harmful if mishandled.... [A Ukrainian state agency that manages the Chernobyl exclusion zone said in] a Saturday Facebook post [that] occupying Russian troops stole samples of fuel-containing materials from the lab in addition to ... radioactive calibration instruments [which are about the size of coins].... [Likely] they kept items as 'souvenirs.'"
Washington Post Editors: "Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition politician who has been a strong critic of ... Vladimir Putin and his disastrous war against Ukraine, arrived at his Moscow apartment building Monday evening, hours after saying in a CNN interview that Mr. Putin's government is 'not just corrupt, it's not just kleptocratic, it's not just authoritarian, it is a regime of murderers.'... Mr. Kara-Murza, a Post opinion contributor..., was still in his car at about 6:30 p.m. when five policemen approached him. He asked them to show identification, which they refused, at which point he was immediately detained on charges of disobedience of the police. On Tuesday, Mr. Kara-Murza was taken to court and sentenced to 15 days in jail on this spurious charge.... He must be released, and given liberty to go on telling the truth...."
Kim Bellware & Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "Russian TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova has been hired by the German media company Die Welt, a month after she drew worldwide attention for bursting onto the set of a live broadcast on Russian state television to protest the war in Ukraine. Ovsyannikova, 43, was hired as a freelance correspondent for Die Welt's newspaper and TV channel, publishing firm Axel Springer said Monday."
The Party of White People. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "A bill to name a federal courthouse in Tallahassee after Justice Joseph W. Hatchett, the first Black man to serve on the Florida Supreme Court -- sponsored by the state's two Republican senators and backed unanimously by its 27 House members -- was set to pass the House last month ... with broad bipartisan support. But in a last-minute flurry, Republicans abruptly pulled their backing with no explanation and ultimately killed the measure, leaving its fate unclear, many of its champions livid and some of its newfound opponents professing ignorance about what had happened.... A right-wing, first-term congressman [-- Andrew Clyde (Ga.) --] mounted an 11th-hour effort on the House floor to persuade his colleagues that Judge Hatchett, a trailblazing judge..., was undeserving of being honored.... Shortly before the House vote, he began circulating an Associated Press article from 1999 about an appeals court decision that Judge Hatchett wrote that year that struck down a public school policy allowing student-approved prayers at graduation ceremonies in Florida." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Kudos to Karni for describing Clyde as "right-wing" rather than "conservative." And, no, I don't think Clyde would have bothered to Google Justice Hatchett if Hatchett had been white.
Paula Reid & Kara Scannell of CNN: "Federal prosecutors may soon reach a charging decision regarding Rudy Giuliani's foreign lobbying efforts involving Ukraine, after he helped investigators unlock several electronic devices that were seized by the FBI, according to multiple sources.... Giuliani has also offered to appear for a separate interview to prove he has nothing to hide, his lawyer told CNN, renewing a proposal that federal prosecutors have previously rebuffed. Investigators seized 18 devices during high-profile raids on Giuliani's home and office last April. Since then, a court-appointed special master has been reviewing materials on devices to shield from prosecutors any materials that could be personal or protected by attorney-client privilege. The review has been long-running, in part, because investigators haven't been able to unlock several of the devices. In recent weeks, Giuliani met with prosecutors and during the meeting he assisted them in unlocking three devices that investigators had been unable to open.... Prosecutors are investigating whether Giuliani violated US foreign lobbying laws when he sought the ouster of the US ambassador to Ukraine and an investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter." ~~~
~~~ Marie: How come in the police procedurals I watch, the detectives (sometimes with the aid of one techie) figure out how to open up password-protected phones & computers in 30 seconds or less?
Betsy Swan, et al., of Politico: "Two of Donald Trump's top White House lawyers are slated to speak with the Jan. 6 select committee Wednesday, according to one person with knowledge of the arrangement. Pat Cipollone, Trump's White House counsel, and his deputy Patrick Philbin, are expected to speak informally with the panel, a potential precursor to more formal transcribed testimony later.... Cipollone emerged as a central source of pushback in the frantic final weeks of Donald Trump's presidency.... Cipollone and Philbin had ... been part of a Oval Office meeting on Jan. 3, 2021, with Trump where they made it clear officials would resign if Trump installed Jeffrey Clark as acting attorney general to replace Jeffrey Rosen, according to [a] Senate Judiciary Committee's report...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I find the lede here to be kind of, well, misleading (misleding??) or at least confusing. While it's true that the White House counsel serves at the pleasure of the president* and advises & defends the president*, the counsel serves the White House's interests, not the president*'s. That's why the two lawyers "pushed back" against Trump's wilder plans. It was in Trump's interest to remain president forever, but it was not in the presidency's interest.
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "One week before an angry mob stormed the Capitol, a communications expert named Jason Sullivan, a onetime aide to Roger J. Stone Jr., joined a conference call with a group of ... Donald J. Trump's supporters and made an urgent plea. After assuring his listeners that the 2020 election had been stolen, Mr. Sullivan told them that they had to go to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021 -- the day that Congress was to meet to finalize the electoral count -- and 'descend on the Capitol,' according to a recording of the call obtained by The New York Times. While Mr. Sullivan claimed that he was 'not inciting violence or any kind of riots,' he urged those on the call to make their presence felt at the Capitol in a way that would intimidate members of Congress, telling the group that they had to ensure that lawmakers inside the building 'understand that people are breathing down their necks.'... 'If we make the people inside that building sweat and they understand that they may not be able to walk in the streets any longer if they do the wrong thing, then maybe they'll do the right thing,' he said [in the call]." Read on. The way the January 6 committee got the recording is interesting.
Carol Leonnig & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Secret Service leaders are downplaying any risk to national security after four of its employees -- including an agent assigned to protect first lady Jill Biden -- were allegedly hoodwinked by two men impersonating federal agents and plying them with gifts, telling congressional committees and allies that the severity of the breach has been overblown by prosecutors and the media.... But several former Secret Service officials warn that the alleged infiltration of the elite protection agency reveals a major vulnerability extending well beyond this particular case. They said the revelations suggest that agents who had regular access to the White House and the Biden family -- and who are supposed to be trained to spot scammers or spies seeking to ingratiate themselves -- were either too greedy or gullible to question a dubious cover story. The case is the latest in a string of embarrassing security breaches and incidents of misconduct involving the Secret Service over the past decade." ~~~
~~~ Marie: It would seem we need a whole new Secret Service that's more secret and more into service.
~~~ Sarah Lynch of Reuters: "A U.S. judge on Tuesday declined to jail two men..., Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35..., accused of impersonating federal agents and supplying Secret Service personnel with gifts, dealing a blow to prosecutors who had argued that the defendants pose a danger and should be detained.... 'There's been no showing that national security information has been compromised,' U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey said. Harvey ordered both men to remain in home confinement, subject to GPS monitoring, with their parents and that they surrender their passports and stay away from airports and embassies. Harvey agreed to stay his order until Wednesday morning while the government mulls whether to appeal.... Harvey said neither defendant is charged with a violent crime and neither one faces a stiff prison term if convicted - all elements that work against the prosecution's claims they pose a danger to the community." There's more: about how the Secret Service tipped off the defendants that the FBI was surveilling them.
Joshua Zitser of Business Insider, republished in Yahoo! News (April 10): "Speaking at a rally in Selma, North Carolina on Saturday evening..., Donald Trump claimed that he is one of the most honest human beings to walk on earth.... 'I think I'm the most honest human being, perhaps, that God ever created.' There were ripples of laughter from his supporters as he said it.... Trump became the first president to be impeached twice. According to The Washington Post's Fact Checker database, he made 30,573 false or misleading claims during his presidency. He told 21 lies a day on average, per The Post. During his time as president, Trump also promoted several conspiracy theories[.]..." Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. See also his commentary -- and others' -- in Tuesday's thread. (Also linked yesterday.)
Reed Albergott & Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post: "Elon Musk's sudden decision this weekend to decline a board seat at Twitter coincided with a prolific tweetstorm, providing clues to the dramatic reversal.... Musk aimed tweets at Twitter's most popular users, its San Francisco headquarters and its process for authenticating accounts. Before he was done, he made a lewd joke about the company where he is now its largest shareholder.... Musk 'liked' a tweet from another user early Monday that posited the theory: 'Elon became the largest shareholder free Speech. Elon was told to play nice and not speak freely.'... On Tuesday, Musk was accused of securities fraud in Manhattan federal court by a Twitter shareholder. The case centers on Musk's late disclosure of his ownership stake in Twitter.... The suit claims that Musk had motive to delay disclosure because he continued to acquire millions of shares after the [SEC-required] disclosure date.... Musk reached that benchmark March 14, but waited until April 4 to disclose the holdings, when the disclosure caused the stock to jump roughly 30 percent. The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, alleges that anyone who sold Twitter stock during that window missed out on the price increase and are thus owed compensation."
Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "Mark Zuckerberg, who donated nearly half a billion dollars to election offices across the nation in 2020 and drew criticism from conservatives suspicious of his influence on the presidential election, won't be making additional grants this year, a spokesman for the Facebook founder confirmed on Tuesday. The spokesman, Ben LaBolt, said the donations by Mr. Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, and his wife, Priscilla Chan, were never intended to be a stream of funding for the administration of elections. The couple gave $419 million to two nonprofit organizations that disbursed grants in 2020 to more than 2,500 election departments, which were grappling with a shortfall of government funding as they adopted new procedures during the coronavirus pandemic.... Critics ... frequently claimed, without evidence, that the money was used to help secure Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory. Several states controlled by Republicans banned private donations to election offices in response." ~~~
~~~ Republicans Want Unreliable Election Results. Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "The founder of a nonprofit that has become a target of Republican ire for funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to election administrators in 2020 announced this week that her organization will spearhead a similar new effort starting this year. Tiana Epps-Johnson, who leads the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), said Monday evening that the new U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence would send $80 million in the next five years to election departments across the United States in need of basic funding for equipment replacement and other resources.... In [a] TED talk, Epps-Johnson noted that election resources are designated critical infrastructure by the Department of Homeland Security, putting it 'on par with things like the power grid and water supply.' Yet counties spend half of 1 percent of their budgets on elections, she added -- about the same proportion as they spend on parking facilities.... Sparked by backlash to [Mark] Zuckerberg and [Priscilla] Chan's [2020] donations, 16 GOP-controlled state legislature have banned private funding of elections.... On top of that, Republicans have balked at a Democratic proposal in Congress to pump $5 billion into election administration in the coming year's federal budget." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Republicans' opposition to secure election systems is further evidence that they place a high value on anti-democratic (small "d") activities. The more insecure election systems are, the more they can (1) claim voter fraud, and (2) disrupt free & fair elections. The Republican party is a corrupt, sinister organization whose goal is to destroy the democratic elements of our society and our system of government.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here.: Earth has exceeded 500 million known cases of Covid-19. "The number is most likely an undercount, with many cases going undetected or unreported, and the reporting gap may only grow wider as some countries scale back official testing."
Frances Sellers, et al., of the Washington Post: "Coronavirus cases are again climbing in the Northeast as the BA.2 omicron subvariant -- which is even more contagious than its predecessor -- becomes the predominant strain in the United States.... The Northeast recorded at least 126 new infections per 100,000 people last week, double the rate one month ago.... New infections in the Northeast were more than twice as high as in the West, Midwest and southeast last week, according to federal data."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Beyond the Beltway
Marie: I didn't think I could learn much from the Third Way, but in yesterday's thread, RAS proved me wrong: ~~~
~~~ Kylie Murdock & Jim Kessler of the Third Way (March 15): "The rate of murders in the US has gone up at an alarming rate. But, despite a media narrative to the contrary, this is a problem that afflicts Republican-run cities and states as much or more than the Democratic bastions. In 2020, per capita murder rates were 40% higher in states won by Donald Trump than those won by Joe Biden. [Eight] of the 10 states with the highest murder rates in 2020 voted for the Republican presidential nominee in every election this century.... Murder rates are far higher in Trump-voting red states than Biden-voting blue states. And sometimes, murder rates are highest in cities with Republican mayors.... Many of the states with the worst murder rates -- like Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, South Carolina, and Arkansas -- are ones that few would describe as urban.... Not a single one of the top 10 murder states registers in the top 15 for population density.... These red states are not generating 'murder is out of control' national headlines." ~~~
~~~ So Georgia. Fox 5 Atlanta: "Gov. Brian Kemp [R] signed a bill allowing Georgia residents to carry handguns in public without a license or background check into law Tuesday. The governor signed a second measure that gives concealed weapons permit holders from other states the ability to carry legally in Georgia as well." MB: Apparently Kemp & his legislative colleagues are dismayed Georgia doesn't have quite the murder rates of other southern states.
Georgia Senate Race. Timothy Evans of the Raw Story: "A new investigation by The Daily Beast finds that [Herschel Walker,] the longtime friend of Donald Trump - who bestowed upon him his 'complete and total endorsement' - habitually inflates his success in the business world since his retirement from football in 1997. While Walker's business record has been scrutinized before -- including in an Associated Press review of 'exaggerated claims of financial success' -- the new Daily Beast review found documents and other records that 'shine new light on previously unexamined, and particularly egregious, false claims.' 'Those [false] claims include running the largest minority-owned food company in the United States; owning multiple chicken plants in another state; and starting and owning an upholstery business which was also, apparently, at one point in his telling, the country's largest minority-owned apparel company,' according to the [Beast] report." The title of the Daily Beast report which is here (and firewalled) is 'Herschel Walker Claims to Own Companies That Don't Exist.'
New York. Wowza! William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "Lt. Gov. Brian A. Benjamin of New York, the state's second-in-command to Gov. Kathy Hochul, surrendered early Tuesday morning to face a federal indictment charging him with bribery, fraud and falsification of records in connection with a scheme to funnel illegal donations to a previous campaign. The five-count indictment accused Mr. Benjamin of conspiring to direct state funds to a Harlem real estate investor in exchange for orchestrating thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to Mr. Benjamin's unsuccessful 2021 campaign for New York City comptroller.... The investor was arrested on federal charges in November.... There is no suggestion that Ms. Hochul was aware of Mr. Benjamin's alleged criminal conduct, which prosecutors said occurred when he was a state senator. Still, she took office last year promising to end an era of impropriety in Albany, and selecting Mr. Benjamin, 45, was among her first major decisions as governor.... Even if he were to step down, [Mr. Benjamin] will likely remain on the ballot in June, when he faces two spirited primary challengers." An AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Benjamin Resigns. New Lede: "Lt. Gov. Brian A. Benjamin of New York resigned on Tuesday, hours after federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment implicating him in a brazen scheme to enrich his political campaigns with illegal donations." ~~~
~~~ Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: Gov. Kathy Hochul swiftly chose Brian Benjamin as her lieutenant governor "despite a string of ethics questions that had followed Mr. Benjamin and that centered on some dubious campaign finance practices during his time as senator and his unsuccessful run for city comptroller last year.... The criminal case against Mr. Benjamin could undermine the governor's efforts to seek her first full term this year, and may be a campaign distraction as the Democratic primary in June nears. Ms. Hochul has led the field comfortably in early public polls, but Mr. Benjamin's arrest and resignation could throw the race ... into flux.... Ms. Hochul must now decide who will fill the lieutenant governor vacancy. It was unclear on Tuesday whether she would also seek to remove Mr. Benjamin from the Democratic ballot, an extremely complicated task because of the timing of his resignation and New York's archaic election laws." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gosh, there are many politicians of color in New York. Couldn't Hochul have found one who was not pulling "a string of ethics questions"?
New York. Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "The man whom the police have identified as a person of interest in the subway attack in Brooklyn appears to have posted dozens of videos on social media in recent years -- lengthy rants in which he expressed a range of harshly bigoted views and, more recently, criticized the policies of New York City's mayor, Eric Adams.... The videos featured a man -- who appeared to be the same man in a picture released by the police -- delivering extended tirades, many of them overtly concerned with race and violence, often tying those subjects in with current events, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the policies of Mr. Adams.... In a long, frequently digressive and bigoted rant, the man in the video elaborated on the ease of committing crime in the subway, saying that even with numerous police officers deployed to the subway, 'I'd still get off.'... The man, Frank R. James, 62, has addresses in Wisconsin and Philadelphia, the police said." Related live updates linked under Tuesday's News Ledes.
Oklahoma. Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) on Tuesday signed a bill that makes performing an abortion in the state illegal, as Republican-led states across the country rush to restrict abortion access while the Supreme Court weighs the fate of Roe v. Wade. 'I promised Oklahomans that I would sign every pro-life bill that hits my desk, and that's what we're doing today,' said Stitt, who described himself as a father of six. 'We want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the country. We want to outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma.'... The bill, which passed the Senate last year and the House earlier this month with more than 80 percent support in both chambers, makes performing an abortion a felony. Anyone convicted could face up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.The law makes an exception if the life of the woman is in danger but has no exception for rape or incest."
South Dakota. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "The South Dakota House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to impeach the state's attorney general, Jason R. Ravnsborg, who fatally struck a man with his car in 2020. The impeachment vote, which split the Republicans who dominate South Dakota politics, suspended Mr. Ravnsborg from his official duties while he awaits a trial in the State Senate that could result in his permanent removal from office. 'I believe impeachment should be reserved only for grave and exceptional circumstances, and I believe this is one,' State Representative Will Mortenson, a Republican, said on Tuesday on the House floor." The AP's report is here.
Virginia Is for Haters. Laura Vozzella, et al., of the Washington Post: "Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) continued to stoke partisan rancor this week with a flurry of unusual vetoes and bill amendments that political opponents and analysts saw as punishing Democrats and agitating culture-war talking points. Youngkin vetoed 25 bills that had bipartisan support in the General Assembly, throwing sharp elbows particularly at lawmakers who represent blue areas of Northern Virginia. For instance, he vetoed nine of the 10 bills sponsored by Sen. Adam P. Ebbin (D-Alexandria) while signing identical House bills in six of those cases. Typically a governor signs both versions, allowing both sponsors bragging rights for getting a bill passed into law. Longtime state legislators said they could not think of a case in which a governor signed one bill and vetoed its companion."
Way Beyond
U.K. Police to Fine Downing Street Lockdown Party Animals. Ivana Kottasová & Amy Cassidy of CNN: "Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his finance minister Rishi Sunak have been told they will be fined by police over lockdown-breaking parties held on UK government premises, a Downing Street spokesperson told CNN on Tuesday. London's Metropolitan Police said earlier Tuesday they had issued more than 50 fines as part of their ... investigation into gatherings held on government premises in Downing Street and Whitehall while the rest of the country was living under strict pandemic restrictions. Revelations of the parties sparked national outrage." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "In recent weeks Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain has revived his fortunes at home by becoming Europe's most aggressive supporter of Ukraine's fierce fight against Russian invasion. But on Tuesday Mr. Johnson was battling for his own survival again, after police fined him for attending a lockdown party in Downing Street that broke coronavirus laws made in the very same building. Mr. Johnson said on Tuesday night that he had paid the fine, though he did not say how much it was, insisting that he would continue in his job despite calls for his resignation, including from the opposition Labour leader. He added: 'I once again offer a full apology.' The announcement earlier Tuesday by London's Metropolitan Police made Mr. Johnson the first holder of his office in living memory to be found in breach of the law, and provoked anger from Britons who obeyed strict coronavirus rules that sometimes even forbade contact with dying relatives. It also prompted opposition politicians to accuse Mr. Johnson of lying to Parliament by denying that breaches of coronavirus rules occurred in Downing Street or other government buildings. That is dangerous territory for Mr. Johnson because, in Britain, ministers are normally expected to resign if they mislead their fellow lawmakers."
News Ledes
The New York Times is live-updating developments in the mass-shooting yesterday on a Brooklyn subway train during yesterday morning's rush hour. According to CNN on-air, Frank James, whom authorities had designated a "person of interest" is now considered a "suspect." ~~~
~~~ Update @2:04 pm ET. According to NBC News' Pete Williams, NYPD has James in custody; he was apprehended in the East Village near Tompkins Square Park. ~~~
~~~ AP Update: "The man accused of shooting 10 people on a Brooklyn subway train was arrested Wednesday and charged with a federal terrorism offense after the suspect called police to come get him, law enforcement officials said.... James was due to appear in court Thursday on a charge that pertains to terrorist or other violent attacks against mass transit systems and carries a sentence of up to life in prison, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said."
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Reader Comments (16)
Yesterday at one of the press conferences a reporter asked whether the shooter of the train incident had mental health issues; the answer was, "We don't know that at this time." I almost fell off my couch.
So in this country we still do not have strict gun control but, by George, we gots strict abortion laws. When you try and get your mind around this it's a phenomenon as crazy as the answer above about mental health.
Last night PBS had a documentary on the rise of the Nazis. In June of 1941 Germany began invading Russia. Hitler, like Putin today, wanted to snatch as many countries as possible to form one giant German Union while getting rid of all unsavory peoples along the way. This was only part one.
Following this program we had Frontline's "Putin's War" which follows this ambitious, heartless, evil man who, on his way up the Kremlin climb, fooled Yelsin into thinking he'd make a dandy president. There was footage once again of Trump and Putin at that press conference where Fatty rejects his own Dan Coates and kisses Putin's behind–--and we see Putin grin from ear to ear, absolutely delighted to have a U.S. president in his grip. There is no doubt in my mind that had we had Clinton instead of this mad man as president our country and possibly Ukraine would not be in the situation it is today.
P.D.
Don't know if I learned it or stumbled on it myself--not likely--but your remark about the "we don't know" response to the reporter's question about the mental health of the NY subway shooter reminded me of an old test for the logic of a statement.
Just reverse it. Instead of asking if the shooter had mental health issues, try something like this: "Do you think we assume the shooter was entirely sane?"
Such reversals sharply highlight the absurdity of their opposite.
Reporters don't know what to say. Neither to commentators. Yesterday I heard Jim Kavenaugh speculate for ten minutes about the entire event, what it might be, how it came about, whether it was what the shooter wanted to do, and it was ludicrous. This guy was hired to blab about mass shootings and terrorism (or not) and he had ZERO material! None! But still he went on and on about what the agents were up to, what was customary, what else might happen etc. At the end of ten minutes, I got out of the car, so who knows how much longer he went on earning his stipend for filling time with no info. This was MSNBC on Sirius. Who knows what any of it was about, and they should end their 24 hours a day of malarkey.
It occurs to me that Dumpsterfire Cornpop was lying when he described himself as both honest AND created by his nonexistent god. Add that to the WaPo data base...
Who would ask a dumb question like "did the shooter have mental
problems?"
I'm no psychiatrist or psychologist but someone who intentionally
kills other human beings has a mental problem.
The question should have been "how long has this person had a
mental problem?"
A Break for Some Berlin
Last week here in RC world, the never ending topic of the effects of religion on the political and social spheres was touched upon. Today, PD refers to both Hitler and Putin. Might as well throw in the book burners, the anti-choice crowd, the LGBTQ haters, and pretty much the entire right wing as it currently exists.
What do these people all have in common?
Our old friend Isaiah Berlin has an answer (note, I didn’t say THE answer; that’s an important distinction for Berlin).
For centuries, thinkers, philosophers, as well as demagogues, despots, and religious leaders have all worked hard at developing, through reason, revelation, or brute force, a single all encompassing theory of how stuff works. Or ought to work (here, recall Hume’s famous maxim about trying to get an “ought” from an “is”: no ought from is).
Berlin looks askance at these attempts to say that there is one—and only one—answer to all questions and problems. He calls this monism. And monism, whether in religion or politics, leads to very bad, and often bloody outcomes.
The idea here is that MY system is the only rational one. All others are not just invalid, but evil. MY holy book, political tract, social system is not just the best of many possibilities, it’s the only one, the only possibility. This type of thinking, the concept that MY system has all the answers and you better get on board or else, leads to all sorts of lovely outcomes: the Spanish Inquisition, religious wars, fascism, totalitarianism, Hitler, Stalin, Putin, and…MTG.
I’m not at all being funny or facetious. Although I’m not lumping MTG in with the worst assholes in history (but hey, it’s early yet), she comes from the dominant monist political and social culture in the US today, and as such, she, and those like her, share this belief that all must bow to a set of principles that have all the answers and brook no opposing or even slightly different worldviews. That is, their principles.
Berlin points out that the idea that there is an all encompassing set of hard and fast rules that must apply to billions of people in all circumstances is, frankly, nuts.
He makes the case that pluralistic societies (and I’ll bet you can’t show me a society—even small insular ones—that doesn’t have at least some pluralistic features; how ‘bout your own family?) require pluralistic solutions.
I won’t get into his larger argument here, but let’s just take a couple of examples to show the dangers of a monistic system.
Let’s say you’re a parent (lots of us are). Okay. So you’re not comfortable with your kid reading about “My Two Moms” or finding out about transgender issues, or reading about black history (which, to be clear, is human history, but, whatever…). Okay. You can lower that boom on your own kid.
“I’m not happy with my kid reading….”
But MTG-Cotton-Hawley-Cruz style monism currently vying for complete control (cuz that’s what monistic systems are all about; it’s their raison d’etre) demands:
“I’m not happy with ANY kid reading…”
The same with abortion rights, and the same now with voting rights as well. If you’re not going to toe the line and go along with our monistic system, we simply can’t trust you with the vote. And since democracy allows (mostly) everyone to vote, it has to go as well.
And if you thought my reference to bloody outcomes from monism was a tad hyperbolic, I give you Jan. 6. You go along or we will kill you.
For Berlin, there can be (must be) more than one answer. Not everyone has the same set of beliefs or circumstances. And before someone tosses out the dreaded “relativism!” grenade, Berlin addresses that as well, but you’ll have to take my word for it that he does a nice job of putting that attack to bed.
Berlin grew up in Latvia and lived, later, in Petrograd during the Russian Revolution. Monism was not theoretical for him.
And these days, it ain’t for us either.
But pluralism and pluralistic ideas are absolutely out with monists. Just look at Ukraine. Or Texas.
@Akhilleus: Yes. Berlin's complicated thesis seems to be, in part, what Scott Fitzgerald expressed when he wrote, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” By the time you get to be as old as I am or as smart as Berlin was, you are apt to figure this out on your own, whether through experience or precocious observation. Scott, for all his youthful wisdom, pretty much lost his "ability to function."
Marie,
Funny, I was thinking of that exact quote while writing that comment.
But an over abundance of alcohol will definitely impair your thought process.
So does right wing ideology.
I love the Story of The Winter War. The US military has studied it carefully and to this day those"northern exercises" held for the various militaries are to train the newbies in winter warfare. The Finns in 1939, for instance, knew that the socks and linings of their boots needed changing about every 8 hours, so they did. But the Russians knew nothing about this. The Finns would withdraw and withdraw and drew the Russians further into the cold. Within a very short time, large numbers of the Russians were crippled by trench foot, which makes one unable to walk and which resolves slowly. Another efficient way of warming the feet is for 2 buddies to sit opposite each other and place the bottom of each others' feet on the others' abdomen. Efficient and relatively quick method. Much of the "modern" techniques of managing ones extremities in the cold come from those studies of the Winter War.
@Jeanne: I wouldn't be too hard on the reporters & commentators who were covering the NYC subway shooting. I had the TV on, and the NYPD scheduled a press conference, then didn't show up for about an hour, as I recall. The on-air people had to stretch and s-t-r-e-t-c-h, and since they didn't know much, there just wasn't much to say. That they could think of words to fill blank air is more impressive to me than off-putting.
(I used to be management at an ABC-owned radio station, and I had actual nightmares of being thrown on-air during a union strike -- a real-life possibility -- and having no copy and no idea of what to say. Fortunately, I was never caught in the situation that filled my bad dreams.)
@Victoria: Thanks for that interesting addition to the Winter War history.
Thanks for the Winter War reminder (which I had missed):
In addition to the account's haunting parallels with the present (tho one might still hope for a more triumphant ending for Ukraine), it reminded me of all those great correspondents in addition to Gellhorn and Cowles (print and radio) the so-called Greatest Generation produced.
Many of their books, intelligent mixtures of reporting and personal history, remain prominent on my shelves, the life stories they reveal often an inspiration. I was particularly taken by Shirer's and Sevareid's autobiographies and Smith's "Last Train from Berlin."
Shirer, Sevareid, Howard K. Smith, Murrow and others that made up the long list.
There were giants on the earth (and in journalism) in those days.
And interestingly, many came out of the American Midwest, well-educated, curious and eager to learn more of the wider world.
Contrasts with the present come to mind.
@Ken Winkes: If you recall, despite the prominence of Bible-thumping fundamentalists, the American Midwest, with its one-room schoolhouses and land-grant colleges, was a great leveling force in the first half (plus) of the 20th century. I was reminded of this some while back when I read a book by my grandfather, who got three degrees from Harvard, and was a first-class snob. He disdained these schools that allowed women to teach. (No wonder Americans have no respect for education, when mere women are the face of education, he reasoned.) It might not have been a prep-school-to-Ivy-League education, but some of the brighter boys came out of it with heads on their shoulders & an ability to get jobs where they could explain what-all was going on in the world.
Alas, those land-grant colleges are no longer providing cheap higher education to young people who otherwise would remain down on the farm. But there are still bright young men and women -- who go into hock for 20 years -- to get a decent education at schools like the University of Wisconsin. Unfortunately, those college loans are forcing a lot of them to take jobs at the bank instead of roaming around Europe & "finding themselves" in Paris cafes. Today's young "journalists" are apt to be rich kids like TuKKKer I-Grew-up-in-La-Jolla Carlson who couldn't get the jobs they wanted (see TuKKKer's Wiki page) so they put on make-up and pontificate on Fox "News" to the hoi polloi.
It's not quite as bad as I'm suggesting, but that's sort of the trend in the first decades of the 21st century.
@Marie.
Lost the first one, so will try again....
Good summary of how things have changed, not all for the better.
Yes, most of those I mentioned were products of public, land-grant colleges in the Midwest back in the real Populist Era, the Progressive one.
In college they heard professors, read books and hung out with fellow students who had have the same midwestern upbringing, most of whom had lived lives that we would call less-than-privileged.
Their education and experience led them to believe in the power of learning, thought, and hard work; and they left their respective schools (U. of Wisconsin prominent among them) eager to see and learn more of the world and to convey what they had learned (buoyed by a touch of missionary zeal) to others.
Your remark about the financialization of college education struck oa cord.
Purse-mouthed George Will touched on the subject in his WAPO column earlier today but in his typical narrow-minded way managed to talk about it at length and still miss the real point.
I responded thusly:
Easy to point out a few, selected absurdities in a system that has been allowed to become absurd top to bottom.
The main problem, Mr. Will, is that we have turned over the financing of education, a public good, to the private, profit-making financial industry. The student loan charade is now a trillion dollar industry that has enslaved millions.
Those of our generation who could achieve bachelors' degrees virtually debt free who now complain about the current way we "pay for college" without taking into account the many things (unaffordable higher education even in two earner households, rampant inequality more generally) that have changed in the last fifty years are mounting arguments--particularly when they are knee-jerk antigovernment--on incomplete, and hence false premises.
I call it dishonest.
(And I'd add: not sinking to the level of Tucker.)
@Ken, you mention UW (I assume Madison). What is your association to the Badgers?
@unwashed
No association. Merely responding to Marie's mention of that U of W (not the one I grew up and live near).
Have some memory that Marie might know much more about the Badger school than I do...
I attended college in the Bay Area during the 60's at a school that used to be called the Indians (so much has changed)....a story (many, really) in itself.