The Ledes

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Washington Post: “Rescue teams raced to submerged homes, scoured collapsed buildings and steered thousands from overflowing dams as Helene carved a destructive path Friday, knocking out power and flooding a vast arc of communities across the southeastern United States. At least 40 people were confirmed killed in five states since the storm made landfall late Thursday as a Category 4 behemoth, unleashing record-breaking storm surge and tree-snapping gusts. 4 million homes and businesses have lost electricity across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, prompting concerns that outages could drag on for weeks. Mudslides closed highways. Water swept over roofs and snapped phone lines. Houses vanished from their foundations. Tornadoes added to the chaos. The mayor of hard-hit Canton, N.C., called the scene 'apocalyptic.'”

The Wires
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The Ledes

Friday, September 27, 2024

New York Times: “Maggie Smith, one of the finest British stage and screen actors of her generation, whose award-winning roles ranged from a freethinking Scottish schoolteacher in 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' to the acid-tongued dowager countess on 'Downton Abbey,' died on Friday in London. She was 89.”

The Washington Post's live updates of developments related to Hurricane Helene are here: “Hurricane Helene left one person dead in Florida and two in Georgia as it sped north. One of the biggest storms on record to hit the Gulf Coast, Helene slammed into Florida’s Big Bend area on Thursday night as a Category 4 colossus with winds of up to 140 mph before weakening to Category 1. Catastrophic winds and torrential rain from the storm — which the National Hurricane Center forecast would eventually slow over the Tennessee Valley — were expected to continue Friday across the Southeast and southern Appalachians.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here.

Mediaite: “Fox Weather’s Bob Van Dillen was reporting live on Fox & Friends about flooding in Atlanta from Hurricane Helene when he was interrupted by the screams of a woman trapped in her car. During the 7 a.m. hour, Van Dillen was filing a live report on the massive flooding in the area. Fox News viewers could clearly hear the urgent screams for help emerging from a car stuck on a flooded road in the background of the live shot. Van Dillen ... told Fox & Friends that 911 had been called and that the local Fire Department was on its way. But as he continued to file the report, the screams did not stop, so Van Dillen cut the live shot short.... Some 10 minutes later, Fox & Friends aired live footage of Van Dillen carrying the woman to safety, waking through chest-deep water while the flooding engulfed her car in the background[.]”

Help!

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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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April 22, 2023

Marie: Sorry, my Supremes links that I filed as they were published yesterday got "disappeared." I've sort of reconstructed them here. ~~~

~~~ ** Supremes Punt. Ariane De Vogue of CNN: "The Supreme Court on Friday protected access to a widely used abortion drug by freezing lower-court rulings that placed restrictions on its usage. As a result, the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of the drug mifepristone and subsequent actions that made it more easily accessible will remain in place while appeals play out -- potentially for months to come. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito publicly dissented." (Also linked yesterday evening, someplace.) Politico's report is here. ~~~

~~~ You can read the Grant of Stay & dissents here (on the documents cloud, via Politico.) Thomas' dissent is only one line, but Joy Reid describes Alito's dissent as "churlish" & "scathing." In the NYT liveblog linked below, Charlie Savage wrote that Alito "snarked" at liberals. Marie: I'd call it "remarkably whiney" and "inappropriate." Except for the fact that the dissent is literate, it's right down there in Miss Margie territory. What an arrogant, nasty piece of work Alito is, as if you didn't already know that.

     ~~ Robert Barnes & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Friday retained full access for now to a key drug that has been taken by millions of women to terminate early pregnancies, its first major abortion-related decision since overturning Roe v. Wade's constitutional guarantee of abortion rights last year. The court put on hold a lower court's ruling in favor of antiabortion groups, which said the Food and Drug Administration was wrong to make the drug mifepristone more widely available. A legal battle over whether to permanently reimpose restrictions, and whether the FDA had properly approved use of the drug more than 20 years ago, will continue. In the only noted dissents, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. said they would not have granted the Biden administration's request for a stay of the lower court decision. The court's order is the latest development in what has been a rapid and at times confusing legal battle over mifepristone, which is used as part of a two-drug regimen in more than half of the nation's abortion procedures. The second drug, misoprostol, can also be used on its own to terminate early pregnancies, usually with more cramping and bleeding." (Also linked yesterday evening, someplace.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times story, by Amy VanSickle, is here: "The court's decision is, at least temporarily, a victory for the Biden administration. President Biden welcomed the decision, saying the 'administration will continue to defend F.D.A.'s independent, expert authority to review, approve and regulate a wide range of prescription drugs.' The Texas ruling, he added, 'would have undermined F.D.A.'s medical judgment and put women’s health at risk.'"

     ~~~ The New York Times ran a liveblog here. (Also linked yesterday evening, someplace.) An interesting post in the liveblog comes from Supreme Court reporter Adam Liptak who writes,

"A recent study by two researchers, Peter Grossi and Daphne O'Connor, in The Journal of Law and the Biosciences on what it called 'the looming battle over abortion medications' concluded that Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and other conservative members of the court had, in four decisions since 2009, said there should be 'one consistent, national policy for the distribution and regulation of drugs, under the science-based decisions of the F.D.A.' Indeed, even in the context of access to the abortion pill, mifepristone, the Supreme Court has recently affirmed the authority of the F.D.A. In 2021, the court reinstated a requirement that women seeking to end their pregnancies using the pill pick it up in person from a hospital or medical office. A federal judge in Maryland had blocked the requirement in light of the coronavirus pandemic, overriding the agency's determination. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the only member of the majority to set out his reasons, said that the trial judge should have deferred to the F.D.A....

"In 2020, in an earlier encounter with the case, Justice Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, expressed incredulity that 'a district court judge in Maryland took it upon himself to overrule the F.D.A. on a question of drug safety.'... In a dissent in 2009, Justice Alito, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia, praised the agency's expertise, saying 'the F.D.A. has the benefit of the long view.'" MB: Clearly, Clarence & Sam forgot all about their previous opinions, so wrapped up are they in their misogynistic preoccupation.

Fenit Nirappil & Frances Sellers of the Washington Post: “States that have enacted abortion bans saw a 10.5 percent drop in applicants for obstetrics and gynecology residencies in 2023 from the previous year, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. That decline carries a potential long-term impact on the availability of doctors to care for pregnant people and deliver babies across a large swath of the South and Midwest because medical residents often choose to stay and work where they trained."

Casey Tolan & Isabelle Chapman of CNN: "The federal judge who issued a nationwide ruling blocking the approval of a common abortion medication redacted key information on his legally mandated financial disclosures, [link fixed] in what legal experts described as an unusual move that conceals the bulk of his personal fortune. In his 2020 and 2021 annual disclosures, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk wrote that he held between $5 million and $25 million in 'common stock' of a company -- a significant majority of the judge's personal wealth. The name of the company he held stock in is redacted, despite the fact that federal law only allows redactions of information that could 'endanger' a judge or their family member. CNN obtained a previous financial disclosure for Kacsmaryk ... from 2017, when he was a judicial nominee. On that unredacted form, Kacsmaryk reported owning about $2.9 million in stock in the Florida-based supermarket company Publix. It's not clear whether that's the same holding as the redacted stock.... Redactions are approved by a judicial committee.... The redacted holding accounted for at least 85% of Kacsmaryk's total reported wealth in 2021, and potentially more." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figure out why revealing that he held stocks in Publix would pose a danger to Kacsmaryk or his family. So maybe he sold his Publix stock and dumped the proceeds into what? -- a drug company that makes Covid vaccines? Comet Ping Pong Pizza? George Soros Investments?


** Presidential Race 2024. Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: “President Biden on Friday plans to announce the creation of a White House Office of Environmental Justice, one of several actions to address the unequal burden that people of color carry from environmental hazards, according to the White House. But Mr. Biden, who has indicated that he will run for re-election, is also expected to use the opportunity to portray Republicans as extremists who support the fossil fuel industry at the expense of public health and the planet, said a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly. At a ceremony planned for the Rose Garden, the president plans to sign an executive order making environmental justice a focus of every federal agency and requiring agencies to develop plans to address the disproportionate impact of pollution and climate change on minority and tribal communities, and to report their progress...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Stories about fascist candidates Fatty Short-Fingers & Mini Trump are linked below.

** Wow! Western Intel Agencies Asleep on the Job. Aric Toler of Bellingcat & New York Times reporters, of the New York Times, published by the NYT: "The Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified documents to a small group of gamers had been posting sensitive information months earlier than previously known and to a much larger chat group, according to online postings reviewed by The New York Times. In February 2022, soon after the invasion of Ukraine, a user profile matching that of Airman Jack Teixeira began posting secret intelligence on the Russian war effort on a previously undisclosed chat group on Discord, a social media platform popular among gamers. The chat group contained about 600 members. The case against Airman Teixeira, 21, who was arrested on April 13, pertains to the leaking of classified documents on another Discord group of about 50 members, called Thug Shaker Central....

"It is not clear whether authorities are aware of the classified material posted on this additional Discord chat group.... The additional information raises questions about why authorities did not discover the leaks sooner, particularly since hundreds more people would have been able to see the posts.... The Times learned about the larger chat room from a Discord user. Unlike Thug Shaker Central, the second chat room was publicly listed on a YouTube channel and was easily accessed in seconds." MB: Seriously, WTF are our crack intel agencies doing? This stuff has been up, in full view, for more than a year. ~~~

~~~ Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "The FBI has been interviewing members of a private Discord server where a 21-year-old National Guardsman is alleged to have shared classified documents, an indication that law enforcement officials are trying to understand how potentially dozens of people may have had access to highly sensitive information before it circulated on the internet and was obtained by journalists.... In at least one instance, the FBI has seized the electronic devices of a former member of the server, according to people familiar with the matter." MB: Yeah But. Thanks to the revelations in the NYT story above, now we know the investigators may be looking in the wrong place. They have 600 more guys to interrogate.

Grace Ashford & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: :... as federal and local prosecutors examine the web of deceit [Rep. George] Santos [R-N.Y.] spun on his way to winning a closely contested House seat last November, they appear to be focused on a trail of financial dealings that suggests possible campaign finance violations or outright fraud.... No one may be more central to that inquiry than [Santos' former campaign treasurer Nancy] Marks, who was, until now, an unheralded cog in New York politics.... She helped him meet donors and signed off on nearly every campaign invoice and financial filing.... Battling for self-preservation, Mr. Santos has sought to blame Ms. Marks for his financial troubles.... Ms. Marks, in turn, has told at least two associates in recent months that she, like others, was duped by Mr. Santos. In late January, amid growing interest from the Federal Election Commission about financial irregularities, she resigned.... A review by The New York Times ... shows that even as her stature grew over two decades, Ms. Marks waded into ethically and legally murky territory.... The Times found that Ms. Marks's accounting and business practices repeatedly drew suspicion." The report details some of Marks' shady dealings with shady Republicans & her mismanagement of her personal finances. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jonathan Easley of Politics USA: "Jim Jordan and House Judiciary Republicans got caught editing witness interviews to smear the Sec. of State and push their Hunter Biden laptop scandal.... [They tweeted] 'Testimony Reveals Secretary Blinken and the Biden Campaign Were Behind the Infamous Public Statement from Former Intel Officials on the Hunter Biden Laptop' [and released what purported to be copies of testimony by Mike Morell, former acting CIA director].... House Judiciary Committee Democrats provided PoliticusUSA with the unedited testimony where Mike Morell testifies that he was never asked by now Sec. Blinken to write a letter about Hunter Biden’s laptop[.]... In a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, a spokesperson for the House Judiciary Democrats said: 'To smear Secretary Blinken and sensationalize a three-year-old tabloid story, Jim Jordan has released cherry-picked excerpts of a transcribed interview. To be clear, no part of that interview demonstrates that Tony Blinken or any other Biden campaign official asked Mike Morell to write a letter about Hunter Biden's laptop.'" MB: I don't often link Easley's posts because he's a hyper-partisan liberal, but he sure seems to have the goods on Jordan here.

Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "A former prosecutor who once helped lead an investigation of Donald J. Trump will testify before Congress next month, ending for now a legal dispute between Republican lawmakers and Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, who had sought to block the testimony. The former prosecutor, Mark F. Pomerantz, is now scheduled to testify under oath to representatives of the House Judiciary Committee in a closed-door deposition on May 12.... A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office said in a statement that the resolution would allow the office's general counsel, Leslie Dubeck, to be present for the questioning of Mr. Pomerantz. A lawyer for Mr. Pomerantz is also expected to be present, and Mr. Pomerantz may decline to answer questions that he is not authorized to discuss. Congressional Republicans may contest his right to remain silent in future proceedings." CNN's story is here. MB: From what I heard on the teevee, which might not be correct, Dubeck will be able to prevent Pomerantz from answering certain questions.

** Oh, Look: Fat Little Fingerprints. Richard Faucett & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump took part in a discussion about plans to access [by seizure!] voting system software in Michigan and Georgia as part of the effort to challenge his 2020 election loss, according to testimony from former Trump advisers. The testimony, delivered to the House Jan. 6 committee, was highlighted on Friday in a letter to federal officials from a liberal-leaning legal advocacy group [Free Speech for People]. Allies of Mr. Trump ultimately succeeded in copying the elections software in those two states, and the breach of voting data in Georgia is being examined by prosecutors as part of a broader criminal investigation into whether Mr. Trump and his allies interfered in the presidential election there. The former president's participation in the discussion of the Georgia plan could increase his risk of possible legal exposure there. A number of Trump aides and allies have recounted a lengthy and acrimonious meeting in the Oval Office on Dec. 18, 2020, which one member of the House Jan. 6 committee would later call 'the craziest meeting of the Trump presidency.'" MB: The plan to seize the machines was so crazy even Rudy Giuliani opposed it.

Trump Conspirators Undeterred by Insurrection. Zachary Cohen of CNN: "In mid-January 2021, two men hired by ... Donald Trump's legal team discussed over text message what to do with data obtained from a breached voting machine in a rural county in Georgia, including whether to use it as part of an attempt to decertify the state's pending Senate runoff results. The texts, sent two weeks after operatives breached a voting machine in Coffee County, Georgia, reveal for the first time that Trump allies considered using voting data not only to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, but also in an effort to keep a Republican hold on the US Senate. 'Here's the plan. Let's keep this close hold,' Jim Penrose, a former NSA official working with Trump lawyer Sidney Powell to access voting machines in Georgia, wrote in a January 19 text to Doug Logan, CEO of Cyber Ninjas, a firm that purports to run audits of voting systems.... In the text..., Penrose references the upcoming certification of Democrat Jon Ossoff's win over Republican David Perdue. The plot to breach voting systems in Coffee County, coordinated by members of Trump's legal team including Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, is part of a broader criminal investigation into 2020 election interference led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis."

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "With or without [Donald] Trump in control, the Republican Party has a clear, well-articulated agenda.... Republicans have a vision for intrusive government, aimed at the most vulnerable people in our society.... The crown jewel of the Republican effort to build a more intrusive, domineering government is the set of laws passed to ban or sharply limit abortion, regulate gender expression and otherwise restrict bodily autonomy. These laws, by their very nature, create a web of state surveillance that brings the government into the most private reaches of an adult's life, or a child's.... Not everyone is subject to the Republican vision of intrusive government. There are vanishingly few limits in most Republican-led states on the ability to buy, sell, own and carry firearms.... When it comes to the demands of capital or the prerogatives of the right kind of Americans, Republicans believe, absolutely, in the light touch of a 'small' government.... But when it comes to Americans deemed deviant for their poverty or their transgressions against a traditional code of patriarchal morality, Republicans believe ... that the only answer is the heaviest and most meddlesome hand of the state." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Dana Milbank of the Washington Post reprises some of Marjorie Taylor Greene's most recent outrageous remarks, then writes, "extremists such as Greene can't be dismissed as gadflies. They are central to the new majority.... Chairman [Mark] Green [R-Tenn.] opened [a Homeland Security committee hearing] with a bit of Great Replacement theory. 'You have not secured our borders, Mr. Secretary, and I believe you've done so intentionally,' he alleged, [speaking to Homeland Security Secretary [Alejandro Mayorkas] saying the administration policy is all about 'moving people into the country,' to welcome 'illegal aliens' and 'settle them into the interior of our country.' Epithets flew: 'Reckless.' 'Insult.' 'Insane.'.... 'Not only have you lied under oath, you just admitted your own incompetence!'... [House Judiciary Committee] Chairman Jim Jordan took his House Judiciary Committee on a field trip to Manhattan this week in his capacity as unofficial cheerleader for Trump's legal defense.... Rep. Troy Nehls (Tex.) recommended that people use deadly force if they fear for their lives. 'I would encourage residents ... to defend yourself. You are given that God-given right, and that means pulling out a weapon and put two at center mass,' he said, pointing at his chest.... There really is no bottom." A column worth reading. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Proud Boys' Self-defense Continues Apace. Alan Feuer & Zack Montague of the New York Times: "A defendant in the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy case lashed out at prosecutors from the witness stand on Thursday, attacking them for conducting what he described as a 'corrupt trial' marred by 'fake charges.' The outburst by the defendant, Dominic Pezzola, came during testimony that was meant to humanize him for the jury but seemed instead to expose his combative nature." Related WashPo story linked yesterday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marshall Cohen of CNN: "A top lawyer for Smartmatic, the voting technology company whose [$2.7BB] defamation lawsuit against Fox News is still pending, said Thursday that he won't accept any settlement smaller than the $787 million Fox agreed to pay Dominion, and that his client needs a 'full retraction' from the right-wing network disavowing the lies it spread about the 2020 presidential election.... That is something Dominion Voting Systems wasn't able to extract from Fox as part of its historic $787 million settlement...." The case is being tried in New York. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Patrick Greenfield of the Guardian: "Denis Hayes, the American environmental activist who coordinated the first Earth Day in 1970, denounced the 'appalling' environmental messaging by oil, gas and other extractive companies and said he hoped it did not distract attention from the threats posed by the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, which he compared to the threat of nuclear conflict during the cold war. Protests and events have been planned across the globe for this year's Earth day, with millions of people expected to take part today. Hayes was hired to organise a national teach-in about environmentalism by the US senator Gaylord Nelson [D-Wis.] while at Harvard in 1970, and helped transform it into the largest environmental movement in history."

It Wasn't Only the Spectacular Rocket Explosion. Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: "... when [SpaceX's Starship] lifted off Thursday, the nearly 400-foot-tall Starship scattered debris for hundreds of yards like mortar fire, leaving a crater under its launch mount, dents in nearby storage tanks and questions about the extent of the repairs and when SpaceX might be able to attempt to launch again.... Videos shared on social media showed a piece of debris slamming into a van several hundred feet away from the launch site.... They also showed shrapnel striking the nearby beach and pummeling the shoreline, making it seem like a war zone.... As a result [of keeping people on land and see miles away], the FAA said that no one was hurt and no public property was damaged.... Leading up to Thursday's launch, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said success would be measured by a simple metric: 'Just don't blow up the launchpad.'" ~~~

~~~ AND. Livia Albeck-Ripka of the New York Times: "As the most powerful rocket ever built blasted from its launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday, the liftoff rocked the earth and kicked up a billowing cloud of dust and debris, shaking homes and raining down brown grime for miles. In Port Isabel, a city about six miles northwest where at least one window shattered, residents were alarmed.... Meanwhile, SpaceX's Starship exploded minutes after liftoff and before reaching orbit. Near the launch site, the residents of Port Isabel ... were left to deal with the mess. Virtually everywhere in the city 'ended up with a covering of a rather thick, granular, sand grain that just landed on everything,' Valerie Bates, a Port Isabel spokeswoman, said in an interview. Images posted to social media showed residents' cars covered in brown debris."

Julia Jacobs & Graham Bowley of the New York Times: "As [Alec] Baldwin returned to the set of 'Rust,' [which has relocated to Montana,] prosecutors in New Mexico filed court papers formally dismissing, at least for now, the involuntary manslaughter charges he had been facing in the shooting of the film's original cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, who was killed outside Santa Fe, where the movie was initially filmed.... The prosecutors held out the possibility that new charges against Mr. Baldwin could still be filed, writing that 'the investigation is active and on-going.'"

Presidential Race 2024

"I Think He's an Asshole." Eugene Daniels of Politico: "Ron DeSantis' popularity problem on Capitol Hill is getting worse. The latest in a growing string of anecdotes about DeSantis' lack of a personal touch during his six years in the House comes via former Rep. David Trott(R-Mich.). He sat next to DeSantis for two years when they both served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The then-Florida lawmaker 'never said a single word to me,' Trott said in an email this week to Politico Playbook. 'I was new to Congress, and he didn't introduce himself or even say hello.... I think he's an asshole,' Trott added in a phone interview. 'I don't think he cares about people.'... While the Florida governor made a much-anticipated trip to Washington this week, [Donald] Trump collected a wave of endorsements from Sunshine State lawmakers.... In an interview with Playbook earlier this week, [Rep. Greg] Steube [R-Fla.] recalled that Trump was the first person to call after the lawmaker suffered significant injuries that landed him in the ICU after in a tree-trimming accident earlier this year. 'To this day, I have not heard from Gov. DeSantis,' Steube said." Steuebe has endorsed Trump. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) More on Mr. Personality linked below. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If he was an asshole when he was one little guy among the 435 members of the House, think what an insufferable boor he would be with the trappings of the presidency pumping his ego. ~~~

~~~ Déjà vu All Over Again. Eric Daugherty of Florida's Voice: "As a potential announcement for president in 2024 from Gov. Ron DeSantis nears..., Donald Trump's campaign has ramped up attacks against the governor. After a blitz of endorsements from representatives in DeSantis' home state, Trump's campaign Friday released 'The Real Ron DeSantis Playbook,' which contains a long list of reasons Florida 'continues to tumble into complete and total delinquency and destruction.' 'The real DeSantis record is one of misery and despair,' [Trump] campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said." ~~~

~~~ Isaac Arnsdorf & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump has steadily begun outlining his vision for a second-term agenda, focusing on unfinished business from his time in the White House and an expansive vision for how he would wield federal power.... Trump ... is proposing to apply government power, centralized under his authority, toward a vast range of issues that have long remained outside the scope of federal control. Experts called some of Trump's ideas impractical, reckless, self-defeating, potentially illegal and even dangerous." The reporters outline some of the elements of Trump's fascist "vision," which somebody in his campaign is developing. ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "As much as I abhor Donald Trump's opponents, I'm desperate for one of them to prevail. Trump might be easier for Joe Biden to beat, but anyone who gets the Republican nomination has a chance of being elected, and the possibility of another Trump term is intolerable. So it's harrowing to see Trump abetted, again, by the cowardice of his opponents.... If Republicans want a non-Trump candidate in 2024, they're going to have to find someone willing to tear him down.... As House speaker, Nancy Pelosi managed to repeatedly emasculate Trump not because she imitated him, but because she treated him like a petulant child."

Beyond the Beltway

Here's even more evidence Ron DeSantis doesn't know WTF he's doing: ~~~

Florida. Ship of a Fool. Frances Robles of the New York Times: In January, when a migrant crisis hit Key West, Gov. Ron DeSantis stepped in, and among other measures, commissioned "a cruise ship to house what [his] administration hoped would become a local army of state employees to help handle the migrant surge. But there was a problem: The $1 million cruise ship contract was signed before anyone realized that the vessel had nowhere to dock.... The hasty state emergency program, including the ill-fated cruise ship contract, highlights the problems that can develop when state officials intervene to help manage the borders, a role traditionally reserved for the federal government. The Florida Division of Emergency Management acknowledged that it was forced to terminate the ship contract, but blamed the Biden administration for failing to authorize the use of U.S. Navy waterways..., but the state never submitted an official request [for access] in writing." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Missouri. Gun-Assisted Grocery Shopping. John Schmidt of Ozarks First: "On April 18, Republic[, Missouri,] Police Department officers were called to a Price Cutter to respond to a call about a robbery in which a man held an employee at gunpoint so that he would be served meat. Larry Gene Gay, 70, of Springfield, is charged with one felony count of unlawful use of a weapon and a felony count of armed criminal action.... [A Price Cutter] employee said he received a call from the meat department about a man packing his own meat. The employee approached Gay and told him that [the meat department was closed and] he could not be there.... The employee said he was not going to help him with the meat. 'Once he held the gun to my throat -- pushed it into my throat -- I decided to comply,' the employee told police." Police said Gay's gun was loaded. Gay told police he had no idea why store staff called the police. MB: Because, you know, if a store won't sell you what you want when you want it, the normal thing to do is press a gun into a clerk's neck. It's your Second Amendment right, i'nit?

Montana. Amy Hanson & Matthew Brown of the AP: "The latest high-profile example of state legislative leadership deciding who can be heard during statehouse debates is playing out in Montana where a transgender lawmaker was silenced by Republican leaders for a second day Friday. Rep. Zooey Zephyr [D], who was deliberately referred to using male pronouns by conservative colleagues, says she won't apologize for telling lawmakers they would have 'blood on their hands' if they voted for a bill banning gender-affirming care. The measure has passed and is in the hands of the governor, who has indicated he will sign it."

Tennessee. Maria Paúl of the Washington Post: "On Thursday morning, Tennessee state Rep. Scotty Campbell (R) was walking to the Capitol in Nashville when a reporter [-- Phil Williams of Nashville's News Channel 5 --] stopped him to ask about allegations of harassment brought against him by an intern. Campbell told NewsChannel 5 he 'had consensual, adult conversations with two adults off property.' Six hours later, the lawmaker -- who two weeks ago voted to expel three Democratic colleagues over decorum violations -- submitted a letter of resignation, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) announced Thursday afternoon. According to documents obtained by The Washington Post, a bipartisan ethics subcommittee reported to Sexton on March 29 that it found Campbell had violated the Tennessee General Assembly workplace policy on discrimination and harassment after reviewing the results of an internal investigation." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I still think Sexton should go for living in Nashville, far outside his district, & charging taxpayers for fake travel expenses to & from his district. I wrote to the Tennessee Democratic party about Sexton, and their response was ... nothing.

Texas. Steven Monacelli of the Texas Observer: "After an Austin jury unanimously convicted Sergeant Daniel Perry of murder, it took Governor Greg Abbott less than one full day to call for his pardon. Legal experts and lawmakers have described it as an unprecedented move that has injected politics into the parole and pardon system.... 'I think it clearly demonstrates that the conservatives have, by and large, abandoned the idea that they support law and order,' former Travis County Criminal Court Judge David Wahlberg told WFAA.... In the days following Abbott's public pledge to pardon Perry, unsealed documents from the case, including Perry's web searches and text messages, would reveal that he had made racist comments, previously considered killing people involved with racial justice protests, and most inconveniently for Republicans who have jumped on the 'anti-groomer' bandwagon, had inappropriate text exchanges with an apparent 16-year-old girl after searching for 'good chats to meet young girls.'"

West Virginia Senate Race. Holly Otterbein & Ally Mutnick of Politico: "Gov. Jim Justice is planning to launch a long-awaited campaign against Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) next week, handing Republicans a well-funded and popular recruit in their best opportunity to flip a Senate seat." MB: Not that I'm a fan of Joe Manchin, but I do think he can beat Justice (who is a former Democrat). Whether or not Manchin will remain a Democrat, I think is still a question.

Way Beyond

Belgium. Emily Heil of the Washington Post: "... Belgian authorities destroyed a shipment of Miller High Life beer at the urging of the Comité Champagne, an organization devoted to protecting its namesake bubbles. Belgian customs in February seized 2,352 cans of the American beer brand -- which has long marketed the suds as 'the Champagne of Beers' -- that were headed from Antwerp to an unnamed buyer in Germany.... The cans bearing that slogan were emptied and crushed after the organization complained that they violated the European Union's 'designation of origin' rules governing various agricultural products. For a bottle of sparkling wine to be labeled as champagne, it must be made in Champagne, France, and produced using the traditional méthode champenoise.... In a statement, Molson Coors noted that it has used the tagline for more than a century." MB: There seems to be something lost in translation here. Calling beer "the champagne of beers" is not claiming the beer is champagne. And I'm a bit confused about Heil's making fun of Christopher Walken's pronouncing champagne "sham-pan-ya" in an SNL skit, because that's more-or-less the way champagne is pronounced in, you know, French.

France. Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "Forty-three years ago, a bombing outside a Paris synagogue killed four people and stunned France, prompting huge crowds to protest antisemitism and exposing the country to violence it thought had disappeared with the end of World War II. On Friday, after decades of false leads, a lack of evidence and legal wrangling, a verdict finally came. The defendant, Hassan Diab, a Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor, was convicted in the bombing and sentenced to life in prison. Judges also issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Diab, who lives in Canada and was tried in absentia. Mr. Diab has long denied any involvement in the attack. In an earlier investigation into the bombing, charges against him were dropped." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Ukraine is preparing new brigades that will 'show themselves at the front,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, without revealing when and how many fresh units would be deployed.... Nine new mechanized Ukrainian brigades are ready for combat, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters after the 11th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.... NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will eventually join the alliance, [NATO Secretary General Jens] Stoltenberg said Friday.... Fierce fighting continues in Bakhmut, Ukraine's military said early Saturday.... There is still constant shelling near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the U.N. nuclear agency said." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Ukrainian troops will begin training on American M1 Abrams tanks in Germany in the next few weeks, U.S. defense officials say, in what would be a major step in arming Kyiv as it seeks to seize back territory from Russia.Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III announced the timeline on Friday during a meeting with allies at Ramstein Air Base. Defense officials said that about 31 tanks were expected to arrive in Germany to begin a training program for Ukrainian troops that is expected to take 10 weeks. Combat-ready tanks could reach the battlefields in Ukraine by the fall, said the officials.... But the United States stood firm in its refusal to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets. Speaking at a news conference after the meeting, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Ukraine's air-defense system had worked effectively for more than a year and kept Russian warplanes 'cautious' for fear of being shot down."

News Lede

New York Times: "Barry Humphries, the Australian-born actor and comic who for almost seven decades brought that divine doyenne of divadom, Dame Edna Everage, to delirious, dotty, disdainful Dadaist life, died on Saturday in Sydney. He was 89." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You can bet that some of the same old farts who voted to ban drag performances forevah laughed their heads off at Dame Edna skits & performances.

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Reader Comments (4)

That revered law thing that relies on its consistent interpretation and application for its logical and moral force can sure get the pick and choose SCOTUS justices into trouble.

Since the law is supposed to stand outside the desires and actions of individuals, holding all to the same consistent standards, it naturally makes the cherry-pickers on the Court look like the foolish tools they are, while at the same time their obvious hypocrisy makes a mockery of the rule of law, not of men, the nation's foundational, but apparently not Originalist, principle.

April 22, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

"COVID MADE RIGHT-WINGERS INSANE
The fires burned for years, but COVID was a real accelerant.

having to change their way of life for the common good made them nuts -- and it's still making them nuts.
they like living their lives their own way in their own insular communities, where no one tells them what to do. COVID upended that. The rest of us recognized that public health measures were for the good of society -- they were a way to try to keep us alive, and our fellow citizens alive, including our sick and elderly relatives. We didn't like the restrictions, but we cared about other people, so we tried to what was best for society.

Not the angry right. Like modest gun restrictions, COVID public health measures imposed inconvenience on right-wingers. They couldn't do exactly what they wanted to do! That was unfair! It was un-American! It was communism!"

April 22, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Ode to Nature's Worst–––a metaphorical ditty for Earth Day:

Cockleburs and Dingleberries out in the midday sun
See their fiesty nature–-smell their scent of fun–-
How they cling onto a distorted way with words
And in the end become a pile if stinky turds!

PICK AT YOUR PERIL!

April 22, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterP.D.Pepe

RAS,

Had read the same article in the WAPO and concluded yet again that we have become a nation of babies grown into spoiled brats.

The Right may make no sense and may not propose any useful ideas, but it is loud, and even as so-called adults it sounds a lot like this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJZsJBbEx54

April 22, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes
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