;)
April 19, 2022
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Dino Grandoni & Anna Phillips of the Washington Post: "The White House on Tuesday announced it has restored key protections to a landmark environmental law governing the construction of pipelines, highways and other projects that ... Donald Trump had swept away as part of an effort to cut red tape. The new rule will require federal agencies to scrutinize the climate impacts of major infrastructure projects under the National Environmental Policy Act, a 1970 law that required the government to assess the environmental consequences of federal actions, such as approving the construction of oil and gas pipelines." MB: Trump was not trying "cut red tape." He was purposely undermining the federal government's mandate to protect the environment from his voracious corporate friends. Another "journalistic" effort to make the malign Trump appear benign.
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "John Eastman, a far-right lawyer for ... Donald Trump who wanted to block his electoral loss in 2020, is still withholding about 3,200 documents from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, according to a new court filing this week.... Federal Judge David Carter in Santa Ana, California, may continue to weigh whether Eastman can keep those pages secret."
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah are two of the most prominent [self-described] 'constitutional conservatives' in the Senate.... It is interesting, then, that Lee and Cruz were among the Republican senators most involved in Donald Trump's attempt to subvert the Constitution and install himself in office against the will of the voters. As The Washington Post reported last month, Cruz worked 'directly with Trump to concoct a plan that came closer than widely realized to keeping him in power.'... Lee supported and encouraged the president's effort to overturn the election, with both ideas and political assistance.... Which gets to the truth of what that 'constitutional conservatism' really seems to be: not a principled attempt -- however flawed in conception -- to live up to the values of the founding, but a thin mask for the will to power."
Michael Grynbaum & Jim Windolf of the New York Times: "Joseph F. Kahn, a Pulitzer Prize-winning China correspondent who rose to lead the international desk of The New York Times, and then as managing editor helped steer the newspaper into the digital era, has been selected to be The Times's next executive editor, the top newsroom job. Mr. Kahn, 57, currently the No. 2-ranking editor at The Times, will take on one of the most powerful positions in American media and the global news business. He is to succeed Dean Baquet, whose eight-year tenure is expected to conclude in June. The announcement was made on Tuesday by the publisher of The Times, A.G. Sulzberger."
AND in Other Media News.... Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post: "Libs of TikTok [-- a Twitter account --] reposts a steady stream of TikTok videos and social media posts, primarily from LGBTQ+ people, often including incendiary framing designed to generate outrage. Videos shared from the account quickly find their way to the most influential names in right-wing media. The account has emerged as a powerful force on the Internet, shaping right-wing media, impacting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and influencing millions by posting viral videos aimed at inciting outrage among the right.... Its content is amplified by high-profile media figures, politicians and right-wing influencers.... The content it surfaces shows a direct correlation with the recent push in legislation and rhetoric directly targeting the LGBTQ+ community." Republicans wallow in this homophobic, anti-trans crap. And it isn't just Tucker Carlson & Joe Rogan who traffic in this: Glenn Greenwald calls himself the account's "Godfather."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russian troops 'have begun the battle for Donbas,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said as Moscow launched its long-planned offensive in eastern Ukraine. The assault is also coalescing around the neighboring Kharkiv region. The Pentagon warned that Russia appears to be learning from its failure to take Kyiv, attempting to improve its command and control as well as logistics. The devastated Black Sea port city of Mariupol is still being contested by Russia and Ukraine, according to the Pentagon, after a Kremlin-imposed deadline to surrender expired. The United States assesses that Ukraine's stubborn resistance has tied up roughly a dozen Russian units.... President Biden is due to host a call Tuesday with U.S. allies to discuss the ongoing war. His administration said it has stepped up equipment deliveries to Ukraine, which are taking place at 'unprecedented speed.'" ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here. The Guardian's live updates for Tuesday are here.
Luke Harding of the Guardian & Agency: "Russia has begun its long-expected large-scale military action to seize the east of Ukraine, the country's president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.... The president's comments follow a dramatic escalation of attacks by Russia ahead of the long-anticipated operation. Vladimir Putin has declared his intention to seize Donbas, the industrial heartland in the east of the country already partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Zelenskiy made clear that the Ukrainian army would battle any attempted advance by Moscow.... French president Emmanuel Macron earlier said talks with Putin had stalled after mass killings were discovered in Ukraine."
This Is Awkward. Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen will boycott several meetings of the powerful Group of 20 nations this week to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with a conference in Washington emerging as a key test for world leaders who have condemned the war. Yellen will attend the opening session of the G-20 finance ministers' meeting Wednesday to show support for Ukraine's finance minister, who has flown in from Kyiv for the conference.... But Yellen will skip other sessions over Russia's presence.... This week's meetings -- the first gathering of the G-20 since the war began -- are emerging as a gauge of how the world's leading international bodies will respond to Russian aggression."
Jeanne Whalen of the Washington Post: "Patriarch Kirill "leads his flock from a soaring, gilded cathedral built to celebrate Russia's victory over Napoleon, where week after week the powerful head of the Russian Orthodox Church is working to ensure that the faithful are all in on their country's invasion of Ukraine.... His sermons echo, and in some cases even supply, the rhetoric that ... Vladimir Putin has used to justify the assault on cities and civilians.... Kirill has caused deep schisms in the global Orthodox Church, with priests in Ukraine, elsewhere in Europe and the United States condemning his support. Even dozens of lower-ranking clergy in Russia have broken with the 75-year-old patriarch, adding their signatures to an open letter decrying the invasion.... In an open appeal last week, more than 320 [Orthodox priests in Ukraine] accused the patriarch of preaching 'heresy' and asked global church leaders to bring him before a tribunal to decide whether he should be deposed."
Jeanne Whalen & Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "The sinking of the Russian warship Moskva is causing tension back home, where some families are reporting sailors dead or missing despite a Defense Ministry claim that the whole crew had been evacuated.... Russia confirmed that the ship sank but said only that it had been damaged by 'heavy storms' and a fire that caused ammunition on board to detonate. On April 14, the Russian Defense Ministry said all crew members were evacuated. The authorities have not confirmed any dead or wounded.... Social media groups ... are filling up with photos and pleas from parents looking for their missing sons." MB: BTW, I have been wondering why we have seen no photos of the sinking ship. So there's this, which the Guardian published Monday: ~~~
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "As millions of Americans race to finish filing their tax returns on Monday, the Biden administration made another plea for Congress to give the Internal Revenue Service more money. The call for funding to modernize the agency and beef up its enforcement staff comes as I.R.S. and Treasury Department officials have complained that they are facing an extraordinarily challenging tax season because of staff shortages and the complexity associated with distributing pandemic relief money. The Biden administration's proposals to provide the I.R.S. with $80 billion over a decade have thus far fallen flat in Congress.... It was not clear if that proposal would make it into any legislation that Democrats could pass. Republicans have staunchly opposed providing the I.R.S. with more funding." MB: Because Republicans don't want their big tax cheats friends to get caught. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Richard Cowan of Reuters: "... Donald Trump attempted a coup on Jan. 6, 2021, and that will be a centerpiece of committee hearings in Congress next month, said Democrat Jamie Raskin, a committee member who led the prosecution of Trump's second impeachment.... Raskin said the hearings will lay out for the public the steps the former president and his associates took to try to stay in power despite a clear-cut defeat. Had the rioters succeeded in preventing the certification, Raskin said, Trump 'was prepared to seize the presidency' and likely declare martial law." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Ankita Rao from the same interview: Jamie Raskin, a "progressive congressman from Maryland believes that no other crisis, even the existential threat of the changing climate, can be solved without first protecting the fabric of American democracy[.]... He said America can't fix the planet without fixing its government.... 'We've got to save the democracy in order to save the climate and save our species,' he said in an interview with the Guardian in collaboration with Reuters and Climate One public radio, as part of the Covering Climate Now media collaboration. Later Raskin added: 'We're never going to be able to successfully deal with climate change if we're spending all our time fighting the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and Ku Klux Klan, and the Aryan nations and all of Steve Bannon's alt-right nonsense.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Kathryn Joyce of Salon: Republicans are trying "to normalize the [January 6, 2021,] riot at the Capitol, and to cast its perpetrators as overwhelmingly 'ordinary people' who got caught up in the momentum of something beyond their control. But last week came decisive evidence that this simply isn't true: At least a third of those arrested in conjunction with Jan. 6 belong to a far-right network that is not just deeply interconnected but resilient and adaptable. Last Thursday, Michael Jensen, a senior researcher at the University of Maryland's National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START center), released preliminary findings on the ideological motivations and connections of about 30 percent of all Jan. 6 defendants. While his research is ongoing, Jensen has already found that at least 244 of the 816 people arrested to date were either members of 'extremist' organizations or self-identified with them." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
It's 2020 All Over Again. Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "A group of ... Donald J. Trump's allies and associates spent months trying to overturn the 2020 election based on his lie that he was the true winner. Now, some of the same confidants who tried and failed to invalidate the results based on a set of bogus legal theories are pushing an even wilder sequel: that by 'decertifying' the 2020 vote in key states, the outcome can still be reversed. In statehouses and courtrooms across the country, as well as on right-wing news outlets, allies of Mr. Trump -- including the lawyer John Eastman -- are pressing for states to pass resolutions rescinding Electoral College votes for President Biden and to bring lawsuits that seek to prove baseless claims of large-scale voter fraud. Some of those allies are casting their work as a precursor to reinstating the former president." ~~~
~~~ Marie: For most of these clowns, 2020 was the highlight of their lives: they became quasi-famous (or, in my view, infamous), they got on Fox "News," they met the president*, they held in fun conspiracy confabs, and so forth. They just can't say goodbye to all that. ~~~
~~~ Peter Stone of the Guardian: "An influential conservative group that includes two Trump allies who helped push lies about voter fraud in 2020 is spearheading 'election integrity' summits in battleground states, advocating for expanded poll watching, 'clean' voter rolls and other measures watchdogs say could curb voting rights to help Republican candidates. The Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI) 'election integrity network' is run by the veteran GOP lawyer Cleta Mitchell, who helped to spread misinformation about supposed election fraud in 2020. Mark Meadows, Donald Trump's last White House chief of staff, is a senior partner of the CPI and reportedly had a lead role in at least one of its summits."
Blake Hounshell of the New York Times: "As a young congressional aide, David Price witnessed the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from the Senate gallery.... Now 81 and in the twilight of his career, Price is retiring from Congress after more than 30 years representing his North Carolina district.... He is one of the longest-serving lawmakers in Washington and an especially keen observer of how the place has changed.... Over his time in office, Price has grown alarmed at how Congress has become nastier and more partisan -- a trend he traces to former Speaker Newt Gingrich, Republican of Georgia, whose 'more aggressive and more militant approach' to politics, as Price put it, fundamentally transformed the institution.... 'And I don't, for a moment, think that the polarization is symmetrical. It's asymmetrical.'"
The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race. -- Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, 2007 ~~~
~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday turned away an appeal from a death row inmate in Texas who said his jury had been tainted by racial bias. The inmate, Kristopher Love, a Black man, had objected to the seating of a juror who had said he believed 'nonwhite races' to be the 'more violent races.' The court's three liberal members dissented, saying the Supreme Court should have instructed the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest court for criminal matters, to reconsider Mr. Love's challenge." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ed Shanahan of the New York Times: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid by New York and three other states to overturn a $10,000 cap on federal tax deductions for state and local taxes that Congress imposed as part of the Trump administration's sweeping tax overhaul in 2017. The court's decision not to consider the matter, one of dozens of cases the justices said they would not hear, left intact a lower court's ruling. That ruling rejected the states' argument that, as Democratic bastions, they had been targeted by Republican lawmakers and that the deduction cap was an unconstitutional infringement on their sovereignty. In affirming that ruling in October, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found that it was within Congress's broad authority over tax policy to impose the so-called SALT cap." MB: What a lovely tax day gift from the Supremes to those of us who own homes in high-property-tax states.
Sarah Rumpf of Mediaite writes a post titled, "We Regret to Inform You That Tucker Carlson's New Special Does In Fact Promote 'Testicle Tanning'". MB: I leave it to you to decide whether or not to read on. It does occur to me, however, that every story about something TuKKKer said or did should begin, "We regret to inform you that ..." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. I regret to inform you that Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, on the same topic, is worth reading. He makes some serious observations AND pretends "junk science" is not a double entendre.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Pentagon may take disciplinary action against a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve who refused to be vaccinated against the coronavirus on religious grounds. The court's brief, unsigned order gave no reasons, which is common when the justices act on emergency applications. The court's three most conservative members -- Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch -- noted dissents but did not explain their thinking." MB: They didn't "explain their thinking" because it's hard to write down. It was a choreographic moment that goes like this: their knees jerked in unison.
Michael Larison & Justin George of the Washington Post: "Federal officials stopped enforcement of a federal mask mandate Monday in transportation settings after a federal judge struck down the requirement, raising public health concerns and prompting several airlines to announce that face coverings are optional on domestic flights. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the Middle District of Florida said the mandate exceeds the statutory authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal officials last week had extended the mask mandate for commercial flights and in other settings, including on buses, ferries and subways, until at least May 3.... The Justice Department will 'make any determinations about litigation,' [White House Press Secretary Jen] Psaki said." Mizelle is a Trump appointed who clerked for Clarence Thomas. ~~~
~~~ CNN's report is here: Mizelle "had been rated 'not qualified' by the American Bar Association for 'the short time she has actually practiced law and her lack of meaningful trial experience.'" MB: If you read some of her tortured rationale for ending the mandate, you may find yourself agreeing Mizelle is "not qualified."
Beyond the Beltway
Georgia Congressional Race. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "A federal judge cleared the way on Monday for a group of Georgia voters to move forward with legal efforts seeking to disqualify Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from running for re-election to Congress, citing her role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The disqualification effort is based on a constitutional provision adopted after the Civil War that barred members of the Confederacy from holding office. It mirrors several other cases involving Republican members of Congress, whose roles leading up to and during the deadly riot have drawn intense criticism. The judge, Amy Totenberg, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia by President Barack Obama, denied Ms. Greene's request for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order in the high-profile legal feud.... The decision by Judge Totenberg stood in stark contrast with a recent ruling in a similar case involving Representative Madison Cawthorn in North Carolina. In blocking that disqualification effort, U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II, an appointee of Mr. Trump, ruled that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution narrowly applied to members of the Confederacy after the Civil War." CNN's report is here.
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Reader Comments (17)
Could one say that the legal parallel to Tucker's "junk science" might be Mizelle's "junk law?"
Her knees, at least, seems to have jerked in unison with Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch's lower extremities.
I guess one could say it, even if one shouldn't.
Wait…testicle.tanning??
This is a thing?
I guess in TuKKK World, sadly depleted testosterone levels require, what? Sunbathing in the altogether?
It’s classic wingnutology that a condition like unmanliness, or whatever they call it, demands such a stoopid, stoopid, stoopid treatment.
Doucheknobs like TuKKKums (and, for that matter Trump, and a huge number of his groveling lickspittles) envision manliness and virility in terms of bully boy, faux tough guy machismo. Their idea of what it means to be a “real man” is mired in simplistic comic book violence. It’s a weenie poseur like Ted Cruz cooking bacon wrapped around the muzzle of an automatic weapon, or a murdering anal cyst like Vladimir Putin strutting around bare chested to the cheers of pre-pubescent little boys (like Trump).
Real men are guys like my dad. He lived his entire life with a debilitating heart condition and died at 51. But he got out of bed every day, no matter how sick he was, no matter how hard it was for him to even walk up a flight of stairs, and go to work so his kids didn’t have to go hungry or go without shoes and decent clothes, and never complain or whine like rich assholes who have everything handed to them, like KKKarlson or Trump.
These weenie-ass, strutting phonies have no idea what it means to be a real man. They think kicking people when they’re down, people who have nothing and can’t fight back, makes them tough. People like DeSantis and Cotton and McConnell who think pissing on the poor and the sick and the hopeless makes them look manly.
It does nothing of the kind. It makes them look small and cowardly. And if that doesn’t work…sunburned balls??
Jesus Christ.
Not a one of these sad, whiny bullies could measure up to my dad.
AK: Sorry to know you lost your Dad at such a young age but your portrayal of him makes me think you took up the reins, He'd be mighty proud.
A man like Tucker –--such a pretty boy–-threw away his bow tie some years ago and decided he had to present as more of a manly man with wise guy rhetoric to boost the image. Sadly, he has succumbed to the lower depths of spurious vitriol ––-or something we could call "junk weenie roasting"–––served with coleslaw and baked beans.
Ken,
Re: that Mizelle person, a Trump (traitor) appointee who clerked for Thomas (far-right hack).
“Unqualified” is about the nicest thing you can say.
My best friend's ex husband died a few weeks ago. Here is the write up in the NYT. Sidney Altman was a molecular biologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry for sharing in the discovery of ribonucleic acid (RNA) was not just a carrier of genetic info but could also be as catalyst for chemical reactions in cells.
It's a well wrought piece but at the end you will see a correction to its first publishing. It misspelled my friend's name and professional name (she ,too, is a molecular biologist)–-they did mention she was an ex wife but referred to her as Sidney's "first wife" implying he had a second, which he did not. She wrote a rather scathing letter to the Times and they corrected their mistakes but as she says, once again "the little woman" takes a back seat especially if you marry someone who gets a Nobel Prize. "They can't even get your bloody name right."
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/science/sidney-altman-dead.html
@P.D. Pepe: Ah, "the little woman." If you Google "Ann Korner Yale", your friend's name comes up again & again. It's not as if the Times couldn't possibly find the spelling of her name, as it's spelled "Ann" with no "e" over & over again. Moreover, Sidney Altman was 82 years old when he died. The Times (and other papers) often pre-writes obituaries for older people, tho maybe they do that only for super-famous people. I don't know. But let's just say they have little excuse for misspelling your friend's name. And then making a mistake in the correction! Perfect.
I don't usually join in with the wags who mention the names of their next rock bands, but I could not resist:
1. Groveling Lickspittles
2. Murdering Anal Cysts
In other news, Florida simply SUCKS. Rotten ignorant judge.
@Jeanne: You forgot the Sunburned Scrotums. Playing only on
Faux News.
I also was concerned about not seeing an image of the Moskva, because the only background I had seen of Russians' boats being sent to the bottom was from my favorite show, "Rocky and Bullwinkle." Boris and Natasha were my favorite characters. I remember one of their plots going wrong (again) wherein the Russian boat was hit directly amidships, leaving a satisfying jagged hole, and shortly thereafter, the boat sank, bow up. That film clip was not satisfying at all: where was the big hole?
Victoria: the Big Hole is in Palm Beach this week, I think. Maybe Bedminster.
Forrest,
I think you meant “Teensy Sunburned Scrotums” (scrota?).
Victoria,
Ahhh…”Rocky and Bullwinkle”! “Boris! Moose and squirrel, they are escaping!”
A classic, not only for the excellent, pun-filled writing, but for the Cold War knee slappers (like Soviet ships heading for Davy Jones’ locker. And Bullwinkle’s sidelong takedowns of contemporary political silliness).
The show featured a bevy of world class voice actors like Paul Frees, June Foray, Hans Conreid, William Conrad, a staple announcer for radio dramas in the 40’s and 50’s, and the great Edward Everett Horton “Oh my! There are lots of stairs at Happydale!”
A great show, which today would be ripped by the right for making fun of them (it made fun of everyone, but that would never matter to confederate snowflakes).
And not for nothin’, but how funny is it that Putin-style agents spend their entire careers chasing a seven foot tall bipedal talking moose and a flying squirrel?
"MB: Trump was not trying "cut red tape." He was purposely undermining the federal government's mandate to protect the environment from his voracious corporate friends. Another "journalistic" effort to make the malign Trump appear benign."
YES!!!!!!!!
Jeanne,
Yeah, those might be great band names. Gotta say though, my all time favorite punk rock band name was “Hornets Attack Victor Mature”. Right up there with “Smegma and the Nunz” and “Surf Nazis Must Die”.
Here's A Michigan legislator who has had enough. Nice to see a Democrat stand up and call out the Republican lies. We need more of this.
I just heard that the right is going wacko about Biden walking away from the giant white rabbit at the egg roll. They all blabbed about how "out of it" Biden is. I guess there just is never enough diarrhea-of-the- mouth by this president. They loved it when IQ45 just burped enough word salad to be meaningless. Kinda like the new trump on SNL does. He's soooo real!! I never run out of rage directed at the usual suspects.
@Jeanne: I saw that, too. It turns out that no Democratic president has any idea what's going on. When Obama was president, my realtor asked me if I thought Obama actually knew anything or if he was just having his aides tell him what to say. That's when I realized she must have been hearing on Fox "News" or wherever that Obama couldn't possibly be bright enough to figure things out on his own. I just told her that, like all presidents, Obama had aides to advise him, but I'd seen a lot of his press conferences and other times when he'd spoken off-the-cuff and it was clear he was really on the ball and had a deep knowledge of an amazing number of topics.
And of course it's all projection. The former hero of the right, Ronald Reagan, especially in his later years, was confused and didn't ever have much in-depth knowledge of many important topics, and Trump was in WAY over his head in every regard. An utter nincompoop.