;)
December 10, 2022
Michael Sisak & Michael Balsamo of the AP: “The AP has spent months investigating [Thomas Ray Hinkle, a high-ranking federal Bureau of Prisons official].... Together, [records] show that while the Bureau of Prisons has vowed to change its toxic culture in the wake of Dublin and other scandals -- a promise recently reiterated by the agency's new director, Colette Peters -- it has continued to elevate a man involved in one of the darkest, most abusive periods in its history.... Hinkle's rise is a stark example of what Bureau of Prisons employees call the agency's 'mess up, move up' policy -- its tendency to promote and transfer troubled workers instead of firing them.... The Bureau of Prisons responded to detailed questions about Hinkle with a statement from Peters defending him and the agency's decisions to promote him."
Natasha Bertrand, et al., of CNN: "Russia refused to release Paul Whelan alongside Brittney Griner unless a former colonel from Russia's domestic spy organization currently in German custody was also released as part of any prisoner swap, US officials told CNN, even as the US offered up the names of several other Russian prisoners in US custody that they would be willing to trade. The US was unable to deliver on the request for the ex-colonel, Vadim Krasikov, because he is serving out a life sentence for murder in Germany.... US officials made quiet inquiries to the Germans about whether they might be willing to include Krasikov in the trade, a senior German government source told CNN earlier this year. But ultimately, the US was not able to secure Krasikov's release."
First, Save All the White People! Jonathan Weisman & Ken Bensinger of the New York Times: "There was a time when the release of American citizens who had been unjustly imprisoned by a foreign adversary was a moment for bipartisan relief and celebration.... Those moments felt like sepia-toned artifacts on Friday as Brittney Griner ... slipped quietly into a military base in Texas.... Within hours of Ms. Griner's release, much of the right wing was in full outrage mode.... A considerable amount of attention was ... paid to who Ms. Griner is: a Black woman, a celebrity, a married lesbian and, though it had gone largely unnoticed until now, an assertive liberal.... Tucker Carlson led his top-rated Fox News show on Thursday night with a diatribe, accusing Ms. Griner of being unpatriotic and suggesting that [Paul] Whelan had been left behind because of his politics. 'Whelan is a Trump voter, and he made the mistake of saying so on social media,' Mr. Carlson said in his monologue. 'He's paying the price now. Brittney Griner is not. She has very different politics. Brittney Griner despises the United States.... ;Brittney Griner is not white, and she's a lesbian.'"
Doktor Zoom of Wonkette tries to figure out when it's okay for a Democratic president to negotiate a prisoner swap. Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: I know one thing for sure: if the American is not a white guy, preferably an ex-Marine (apparently even one who has been dishonorably discharged), it is never okay.
Valerie Hopkins, et al., of the New York Times: "After almost 10 months of war, sanctions, nuclear threats and the constant monitoring of the Russian security state, some American and European citizens continue to live and work in Russia, drawn in many cases by professional opportunities and higher salaries..., but there are also examples of Americans who made Russia their home for political reasons.... Athletes have long provided one of the biggest streams of prominent Westerners to Russia.... These athletes have stayed despite warnings from the State Department, which is advising all Americans to leave Russia immediately, weighing the risks of playing in Russia against professional and financial opportunities in a major sports market."
Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Congressional leaders have all but abandoned the idea of acting to raise the debt ceiling this month before Democrats lose control of the House, punting the issue to a new Congress when Republicans have vowed to fight the move, and setting up a clash next year that could bring the American economy to the brink of crisis.... Senior Republicans, particularly in the House, have repeatedly signaled that they plan to leverage any vote to avoid a default to force President Biden and congressional Democrats to accept a series of fiscal overhauls, deep cuts to federal spending and potentially reductions to Social Security and Medicare.... [BUT] In an institution where action is driven largely by legislative and political deadlines, focus instead remains on avoiding a government shutdown Dec. 16, when a stopgap spending bill lapses." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yeah But. This is not just kicking the can down the road; it's kicking a can of worms down the road till it ends up right at the feet of Kevin McCarthy, who will pick it up & force-feed you the worms.
Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: "The one constant in Senator Kyrsten Sinema's political career, from her start as a left-wing rabble rouser and Ralph Nader aide to her announcement on Friday that she was leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent, is her boundless ability to draw attention to herself.... In Arizona's Democratic circles, distaste for the senator runs deep, and her announcement immediately shifted the spotlight to the 2024 race for her Senate seat.... Democrats in Arizona signaled on Friday that they still planned to support a candidate against Ms. Sinema.... A Civiqs survey conducted shortly before Election Day found she had an approval rating of just 7 percent among the state's Democrats, 27 percent among Republicans and 29 percent among independents." ~~~
~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "This is who [Kyrsten Sinema has] always been. The content of Sinema's politics has changed over time, from Green Party progressivism to pro-corporate centrism. Her approach to elected office as a vehicle for the refinement of the self has not.... 'One of her deep flaws is that she doesn't realize our actions have impacts every day on people who need our help,' said Ruben Gallego, a Democratic Arizona congressman who'd been considering a primary campaign against Sinema.... [Sen. Mark Kelly's (D-Az.) win] meant Sinema could no longer hold the rest of the Democratic caucus hostage, or argue that only Democrats who defy their base are electable in her state.... Sinema wouldn't need to get that many swing voters [in the 2024 Arizona Senate race] to thwart a Democrat. But ... she doesn't have a winning coalition herself." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Sinema would make a great running-mate for Donald Trump. They're peas in a pod -- a couple of rudderless narcissists who have no political philosophy and no party loyalty. ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$ republishes part of a post by New York's Jonathan Chait: "Sinema's declaration of independence from the party is a ploy to avoid the primary and keep her job. Democrats could still run a candidate against her in the general election, of course, but they would face an extremely difficult prospect of winning. So her calculation in leaving the party is that she can bluff it into sitting out the campaign altogether, endorsing her as the lesser-evil choice against the Republican nominee.... It would be more accurate to say she is playing a game of chicken.... In a three-way race, Sinema would almost certainly finish a very distant third." Lemieux responds that he would be "pretty strongly inclined to call her bluff." ~~~
~~~ Paul Campos speculates in LG&$ on Kyrsten Sinema's (del>D-I-Az.) future: "My favorite detail in this is that she won't commit to caucusing with the Democrats, but she expects to keep all her committee assignments!... I do wonder what this means for the 2024 election: Is Arizona going to have an 'independent' on the ballot, along with Democratic and Republican candidates -- a circumstance that would surely hand the seat to the GOP?... Or maybe she's delusional enough to run as the No Labels/Forward reactionary centrist grift candidate for president two years from now, although she would probably have to wrestle Andrew Yang for that particular prize. Maybe the most likely outcome of all this is that she's just going to bail from electoral politics altogether and take an eight-figure bribe from some VC outfit to thank her for her service. Yeech." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Robert Farley in LG&$: "... Krysten Sinema has the firm grip on political reality that one would expect of a former member of the Green Party[.]... A fitting end to a pretty useless political career." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ mister mix of Balloon Juice is equally impressed with gentlelady from Arizona: :Krysten Sinema (Clown-AZ) has issued letters patent declaring that she will no longer sully herself with the grimy trappings of partisanship and is therefore a no-labels 'independent'.... Sinema's actions make a seat that was never a gimme an even harder reach for a party that already has an extremely constrained path to holding the Senate in 2024.... I could go on and on about this feckless clown, but instead I;ll give Arizona Democrats a suggestion: ask for your money back.... Democrats in Arizona should start a campaign against her now, to drive her negatives to the bottom of the god damned ocean. Her campaign as an 'independent' will end only when her corporate backers get the message that giving her money is throwing it away." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Tom Sullivan of Hullabaloo, whose post is topped with a big piece of toast: "Like Donald Trump, the only team she plays for is her own.... Perhaps all the attention Sen. Raphael Warnock has received has starved her of attention.... The switch may shore up her flagging leverage in the Democrats' 51-seat Senate majority. Plus, give her (in her mind) the only hope for hanging onto her seat in 2024. Kari Lake isn't going away." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Washington on Friday ended a hearing without acting on a Justice Department request to find representatives of Donald J. Trump's post-presidential office in contempt of court for failing to comply fully with a subpoena demanding that he return all classified documents he had taken with him when he left office, two people familiar with the matter said. They said that the judge left it to the Justice Department and Mr. Trump's team to resolve the department's concerns about whether the former president might have more classified documents at his properties after more than a year of efforts by the federal government to retrieve them. It was unclear after the closed-door proceeding if the judge, Beryl A. Howell, had left open the possibility of ruling on the matter at a future date. Several news outlets filed a letter asking the judge to unseal the proceedings, including The New York Times.... The hearing was not open to the public because of grand jury secrecy rules." (This is an update of a story also linked yesterday afternoon.) An ABC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I have heard judges tell attorneys to "get your client under control." I'm not talking about clients who were disrupting the courtroom but ones who were otherwise not complying with court orders. It seems to me that "get your client under control" would be appropriate here, albeit impossible for the attorneys to manage.
Rachel Weiner & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Three men who prepared for violence in advance of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, fought or confronted police protecting the U.S. Capitol and then celebrated by smoking inside the building were sentenced Friday to years in prison and ordered to forfeit money they had raised off their prosecution. Ronald Sandlin, 35, a tech entrepreneur from Las Vegas who brought a gun to Washington and assaulted police, received the longest sentence of the three at 63 months.... Nicholas Ochs, 36, of Honolulu, and Nicholas DeCarlo, 32, of Fort Worth, are both affiliated with the far-right Proud Boys movement. Neither expressed contrition.... Chief U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell ... sentenced them both to four years in prison." MB: It's worth reading about these reprobates, especially Sandlin.
** New York Times Editors: "'The most important case for American democracy' in the nation's history -- that's how the former appeals court judge J. Michael Luttig described Moore v. Harper, an extraordinary lawsuit that the Supreme Court considered in oral arguments Wednesday morning. Judge Luttig, a conservative and a widely respected legal thinker, is not one for overstatement.... It is essential that people understand just how dangerous this case is to the fundamental structure of American government, and that enough justices see the legal fallacies and protect our democracy." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The irony here is that the headline is, "This Case Should Never Have Made It to the Supreme Court." And it should not have, as the editors explain: "To be clear, this is a political power grab in the guise of a legal theory. Republicans are trying to see if they can turn state legislatures -- 30 of which are controlled by Republicans -- into omnipotent, unaccountable election bosses with the help of the conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court." I suppose it's because I so despise Alito, but I wanted to scream -- I could have, no one would hear me, but I didn't -- when I read the bit about that arrogant SOB complaining about state justices being political actors, thus falsely implying that he -- of all the hacks in all the world -- is not.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. David Corn of Mother Jones: "The day after Donald Trump ... called for the 'termination' of provisions of the US Constitution governing elections and essentially demanded that he be declared the 'rightful winner' of the 2020 election, neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post ran a front-page story reporting Trump's call for ripping up portions of the nation's founding document. No mention of this even appeared in the Times that day. Trump's unprecedented and dangerous statement was not deemed a big deal.... The coverage [of other recent Trump debacles also] does not seem to capture fully the danger posed by a wannabe-tyrant validating forces of hatred and irrationality.... [The media] followed the same-old/same-old formula: Trump does outrageous thing X; friends and foes say Y. Rinse. Repeat.... Even against the steady stream of Trump excesses over the past seven years, a demand to burn the Constitution stood out.... Like climate change, a pandemic, or a financial crisis, Trump, a would-be, Constitution-defying autocrat, and those enabling and supporting him jeopardize the nation. He and his movement ought to be covered not as yet another subject for the politics section but as a direct danger to American democracy." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The MSM are deluding themselves if they think the dangers Trump poses will go away when he does. DeSantolini, Kari Lake and dozens of dangerous elected Republicans -- not to mention the majority of Supremes -- will still be around when Trump bites the dust, and these Republicans will keep this brand of fascism alive.
Derrick Taylor of the New York Times: "The Keystone pipeline system was shut down Wednesday night after its operator, TC Energy, said it had detected an oil spill in northern Kansas. Federal environmental officials said the public was not at risk. An estimated 14,000 barrels of oil spilled into a creek in Washington County, Kan., south of the Nebraska border, TC Energy said in a statement on Thursday. Washington County has a population of about 5,500, according to government data. The Washington County Emergency Management Office said on Facebook on Thursday that residents in and around the county had reported waking up to the smell of gas." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona Gubernatorial Election. Alexandra Berzon, et al., of the New York Times: "Kari Lake, the losing Republican candidate for governor of Arizona, filed a lawsuit Friday contesting the results of an election that was certified by the state this week. Ms. Lake's lawsuit came after she had spent weeks making a series of public statements and social media posts aimed at sowing doubt in the outcome of a contest she lost by more than 17,000 votes to her Democratic opponent, Katie Hobbs. That loss was certified in documents signed on Monday by Ms. Hobbs, who currently serves as secretary of state.... 'If the process was illegitimate, then so are the results,' Ms. Lake said on Twitter on Friday evening after announcing her lawsuit.... Ms. Hobbs called Ms. Lake's suit 'baseless' in a post of her own on Twitter, describing it as the 'latest desperate attempt to undermine our democracy and throw out the will of the voters.'"
Florida. Matt Dixon of Politico: "Kent Stermon, a prominent Jacksonville-area Republican donor and friend of Gov. Ron DeSantis found dead in his car Thursday night, was under 'active investigation' by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.... Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters ... said that because the investigation remains active, there is 'limited information available to release at this time.' The Florida Times-Union reported, citing unidentified law enforcement sources, that authorities were examining allegations of sexual misconduct. Stermon was president of Jacksonville-area defense contractor Total Military Management." According to A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics, Stermon's death "is being treated as a suicide."
Florida. Steve Benen of MSNBC: "The pattern is unmistakable: Cases from Gov. Ron DeSantis' election crimes office keep ending up in court, and as The Miami Herald reported, they keep collapsing.... In October, a Miami judge tossed out a criminal case against a Floridian accused by DeSantis' election fraud force. A month later, prosecutors in Tampa dropped the case against another defendant. This week, a judge threw out a third case." Benen points out that the cases are likely to fail because the law requires that the voters intended to break the law. MB: But here's the thing: when an elections official tells a person it is legal for him to vote, then he votes, then the DeSantis Squad comes out & arrests him, that seems to me more like entrapment than intent. If there's any intent here, it's DeSantis's "intent to commit publicity stunt at other's expense," which probably is not a crime. But maybe it should be.
Tennessee. Jonathan Mattise of the AP: "The Tennessee Supreme Court has suspended the law license of a former Tennessee state senator who pleaded guilty last month to violating federal campaign finance laws. The court suspended former Republican Sen. Brian Kelsey's law license Thursday at the request of the Board of Professional Responsibility, pending further orders by the court. The state Supreme Court cited its own rules requiring the suspension because of Kelsey's guilty plea. The board, which oversees regulates the practice of law in Tennessee, said it will hold formal proceedings to determine the final discipline against Kelsey. Kelsey had previously pleaded not guilty to the campaign finance charges in the case related to his failed 2016 congressional campaign, calling them a 'political witch hunt' and claiming he was 'totally innocent.' He then changed his plea in front of a federal judge late last month." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way Beyond
Afghanistan. Pamela Constable of the Washington Post: "The Taliban regime, stepping up the pace and severity of Islamic punishments, carried out its first public execution this week since taking power 15 months ago. A convicted murderer was shot Wednesday, followed a day later by the lashing of 27 men and women in a soccer stadium on charges that included adultery, theft, drug use and running away from home. The man put to death in western Farah province was not identified, but officials said he was accused of murder five years ago and found guilty after three recent court hearings. Under the Islamic legal tenet of 'qisas,' which allows personal retribution for crimes, the father of the murder victim carried out the death sentence as a crowd watched, shooting the killer three times."
Israel. Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "Benjamin Netanyahu, struggling for more than a month to form a coalition government, on Friday was granted another 10 days to do so. But his hopes rest on a contentious quest: shepherding in a new law that would allow convicted criminals who have suspended jail terms to serve in his cabinet. The latest development shows the precariousness of the task ahead for the former Israeli prime minister -- who himself faces prosecution. The proposed new law would allow Aryeh Deri -- a key Netanyahu ally recently convicted of tax fraud -- to hold three ministerial positions, including the important position of interior minister." MB: Congrats to Israeli voters, who picked a pack of pathetic pikers to run their government.
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russia is adding to its nuclear stockpiles, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested his country's military doctrine could be changed to allow for a preemptive first strike. [NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg] had earlier said he was worried the conflict in Ukraine could spread 'into a major war.'... Russia is 'modernizing and expanding its nuclear arsenal,' Austin said Friday at a ceremony at the Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, where the U.S. Strategic Command oversees the country's nuclear operations. He said the United States was on the verge of facing 'two major nuclear powers as strategic competitors,' as China was also increasing and updating its nuclear forces."
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Reader Comments (8)
Raise the debt ceiling now? Why in the world would we ever do that? It makes too much sense.
Instead we'll wait for those fiscally responsible R's to take over the House, hand them the gavel, and beg them to start taking hostages.
The only good thing I can see coming our of this certain cluster f___ is a reminder of just how short-sighted and mean the R's are.
Social Security and Medicare on the block? That oughta be popular, just like the other Republican fiscal priorities: no new taxes and an ever-expanding and already bloated defense budget.
Can only hope that in the negotiations sure to ensue in the next Congress, the R's will be as visibly unreasonable and heavy-handed as they were during the Obama years.
As I remember, that was not a pretty picture.
But just maybe....
Is it possible Dems aren't raising the ceiling now because they are looking forward to putting Republican stumblebums on public display?
Probably not. More likely another case of the plan is no plan at all.
@Ken Winkes: I think it's more likely that waiting till Republicans hold the House majority is Democrats' plan to "put Republican stumblebums on public display," as you were wondering. Chuck Schumer will be Senate Majority Leader next term because Republican candidates & the right-wing Supremes put GOP excesses at the top of voters' minds. Hey, it worked pretty well in November, so let's keep watched the seals perform.
Either of us could be right. But I'm betting the dumber plan is what's in play.
I’m sorry, but if hoping the voting public would be turned off by the chaos-creating traitors is the plan, it should have worked years ago.
Sure, the Democrats did better than expected in the midterms, but an absolute moron—not to mention the dangerous morons already debasing that body—almost made it to the senate, and plenty of election denying schemers and liars WERE elected.
Of course a huge part of this problem is the media which took years—years!—to officially call Donald Trump a liar, long after he set all world records for lying. Oh, it’s a fib, a falsehood, he’s not telling the complete truth. And we don’t want to make his thugs angry with us, so we’ll just sugarcoat it and look the other way. Hey! How about those Packers! Aaron Rodgers is having a tough season!
Next they’ll be fixated by the upcoming Hunter Biden dick pix bread and circus for jackasses.
There’s no question that the entirety of the Party of Traitors is an inert stink bomb of hatred, incompetency, ignorance, and bigotry. But they still control the House and are just a couple of seats away from collapsing the senate into the same malevolent GQP-made maelstrom
The traitors on the Supreme Court are getting ready to chloroform democracy, but oh well, let’s see what the Kardashians are doing, and check out the 17 hour documentary about how awful certain royals have it.
Yippee! Just received my notice from Social Security Administration
advising that I will receive a raise of about $150.00 after we take out
some deductions.
Was looking for that P.S. saying it's only good until sometime in
2023 because Republicans need some of that back for padding the
pockets of their donors. Looking at you, Military Industrial Complex.
Forrest, I'm glad to hear those are going out. Now maybe those of us on the civil service list will start getting ours as well. It will be nice to get a COLA where the increased health benefits don't eat it all.
Quote of the week:
"You can't trust anyone. You can only trust me."
-- Vladimir ("Epimenides") Putin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epimenides_paradox
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/10/world/europe/putin-ukraine-nuclear.html
Wasn't it Epimenides who said 'all Republican politicians are liars?'
@Forrest Morris: Only if you assume Epimenides was a Republican politician.