;)
December 14, 2021
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Marie: Patrick's comment, below, reminded me of something I first heard to the teevee yesterday. Eli Honig, a former prosecutor & a CNN pundit, pointed to a question Liz Cheney asked in her prepared remarks Monday: "Did Donald Trump, though action or inaction, corruptly seek to obstruct or impede Congress's official proceeding to count electoral votes?" Good question, said Honig. If it sounded like legalese, that's because it was; according to Honig, the language comes right from federal criminal law: it's a crime to obstruct Congress. Honig said Congress may make a criminal referral to the DOJ.
Hannah Rabinowitz of CNN: "A Georgia man who drove cross-country with an assault rifle and threatened to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was sentenced to 28 months behind bars in an emotional hearing on Tuesday. Cleveland Meredith Jr. pleaded guilty in September to sending threatening communications. Though he missed the January 6 rally because of car troubles, Meredith was one of the first people charged in relation to the Capitol riot after his mother reported concerning texts to the FBI on January 7. Agents found Meredith in a hotel one mile from the Capitol with thousands of rounds of ammunition, a handgun and an assault rifle stashed in his trailer.... He will get credit for the 11 months he has already spent behind bars."
The New York Times is live-updating developments in the aftermath of the Midwest tornadoes. The Washington Post's live updates are here.
Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D) on Tuesday sued the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers over the Jan. 6 attack on Congress, seeking to use a law written to cripple the Ku Klux Klan to exact stiff financial penalties from the far-right groups that Racine alleges were responsible for the violence. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., cites the modern version of an 1871 law known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, which was enacted after the Civil War to safeguard government officials carrying out their duties and protect civil rights. Two similar suits have been filed already this year related to Jan. 6 -- one by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, and another by a number of police officers who fought the rioters that day." ~~~
~~~ Jessica Schneider of CNN: "More than two dozen members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are being sued by District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine in an effort to recover the millions of dollars the city spent to defend the US Capitol during the January 6 attack. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, DC, accuses 31 members of the extremist groups of 'conspiring to terrorize the District' on January 6, calling their actions 'a coordinated act of domestic terrorism.'"
Michael Nedelman of CNN: "Pfizer's updated results for its experimental treatment for Covid-19 showed it cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% if given to high-risk adults within a few days of their first symptoms, the company announced in a news release Tuesday. Pfizer hopes it can eventually offer the pills, under the name Paxlovid, for people to take at home before they get sick enough to go to the hospital. Paxlovid combines a new antiviral drug named nirmatrelvir and an older one called ritonavir. After a month of follow-up, the study found five hospitalizations and no deaths among 697 people who received the drug within the first three days of symptoms. Among 682 who received placebo, 44 were hospitalized, including 9 who died. All of the adults in this study were unvaccinated."
~~~~~~~~~~~
** Luke Broadwater & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: The House committee on the January 6 insurrection "voted 9 to 0 on Monday evening to recommend that [Mark] Meadows be charged with criminal contempt of Congress for defying its subpoena, after Mr. Meadows shifted from partially participating in the inquiry to waging a full-blown legal fight against the panel, in line with [Donald] Trump's directive to stonewall the investigation.... According to dozens of text messages that members of the panel read aloud on Monday, Mr. Meadows fielded requests from terrified lawmakers and even members of Mr. Trump's family begging for Mr. Trump to call off the rioters on Jan. 6, and Mr. Meadows told people that day that he was trying to persuade the president to do so.... The committee found that Mr. Meadows, a former congressman from North Carolina who led the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, essentially served as Mr. Trump's right-hand man throughout various steps of the effort to undermine the 2020 election." NPR's report is here. The Guardian's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Jeremy Barr of the Washington Post: "Three Fox News hosts who have been among Donald Trump's most ardent media boosters were so horrified by the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that they begged the then-president's chief of staff to convince him to intercede, according to newly aired messages from that day. 'Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home,' Fox News prime-time star Laura Ingraham texted Mark Meadows. 'This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy.... Ingraham, as well her colleagues Sean Hannity and Brian Kilmeade, urged Meadows to implore Trump to take the riot seriously.... The texts stand in contrast with some of the messages that Ingraham, Hannity and Kilmeade sent to Fox News viewers in appearances on the night of Jan. 6.... Ingraham ... suggested on-air that some of the rioters might have been left-wing agitators rather than Trump supporters.... suggested on-air that some of the rioters might have been left-wing agitators rather than Trump supporters.... Hannity ... also cast doubt about whether Trump supporters were largely responsible." CNN's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "Donald Trump Jr. said in a series of text messages to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that his father needed to 'condemn' the US Capitol insurrection as it unfolded. The messages from Trump Jr. -- which the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot revealed before voting to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress -- provide a window into the kind of urgent messages that top Trump surrogates and officials traded as the riot unfolded." ~~~
~~~ Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.), committee vice-chair, reads from some text messages Meadows received during the insurrection: ~~~
~~~ ** Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "In his new book, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows offers up a version of Donald Trump's conduct on Jan. 6 that is almost comically sanitized.... In a passage that would embarrass a North Korea disinformation specialist, Meadows writes that the mob assault left Trump 'mortified.' The House select committee examining Jan. 6 has just released its report recommending contempt charges against Meadows for defying its subpoena. It blows a big hole in Meadows's pleasing little propaganda piece.... The report reads like a blueprint for a coup -- not just for the attempt that just happened, but also for a future one." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "What we currently understand about the White House's effort [to flip the presidential election results] is that it was largely focused on the finalization of the electoral vote. On Jan. 6, that culminated with Trump's attempts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence into rejecting the submitted votes from several states.... This effort sat on the foundation of months of false claims from Trump about voter fraud and operated in parallel with efforts by Trump and his allies to get institutional buy-in on those assertions. His consideration of overhauling the leadership at the Justice Department to put pressure on Georgia, his call to officials in that state, his embrace of debunked allegations from there and elsewhere.... At the same time, there was an enormous and robust economy for other nonsense and conspiratorial thinking outside of the administration.... Then there was the violence on Jan. 6, an occurrence that was entirely a function of Trump's claims about the election and his calls for people to show up in Washington on that day." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater of the New York Times has more on the House committee report laying out "its case for a contempt of Congress charge against Mark Meadows..., presenting evidence of Mr. Meadows's deep involvement in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "... American politics today ... may ... be in the midst of a radical shift away from the democratic rules and traditions that have guided the country for a very long time. An anti-democratic movement, inspired by Donald Trump but much larger than him, is making significant progress.... The movement has encountered surprisingly little opposition.... The main battlegrounds are swing states where Republicans control the state legislature, like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Marie: Yesterday afternoon I watched President Biden speaking off the cuff to reporters about the tornadoes & FEMA's reponse & so forth. Three things struck me: (1) his compassion for those affected by the tornadoes; (2) his knowledge about minutia on a number of related topics; (3) Donald Trump lobbing rolls of paper towels at Puerto Rican hurricane victims. How any single person, including Marjorie Traitor Greene, could prefer to Trump to Biden really is beyond me. Here's video of Biden's remarks. You can drop in anywhere and you'll see what I mean. ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates of developments re: the tornadoes that devastated parts of four U.S. states are here: "After grimly fluctuating death tolls since Friday's devastating swarm of tornadoes, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky said on Monday that there were 64 confirmed deaths in the state, though he expected that number to rise as crews continued to search through the ruins." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of developments stemming from the tornadoes are here: "President Biden will travel to Kentucky on Wednesday to assess the impact after a string of tornadoes killed at least 64 there and at least 13 people in numerous other states." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "President Biden's immigration advisers are discussing proposals to set up European-style reception centers along the Mexican border that would transform the way asylum seekers are processed and potentially curb the large-scale release of migrants into the United States, according to administration officials and others with knowledge of the conversations. The proposals remain in development, these people said, but the reception center model represents a possible breakthrough.... Katie Tobin, Biden's top immigration adviser on the National Security Council, said the administration's goal is to move in a direction 'where we are testing innovative ideas that are humane, that maintain the due process that's required in an asylum adjudication but that get us away from a system where people wait five years for a decision.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Now read Catherine Rampell's column, linked below, on Ron DeSantis's "idea" of how to get rid of immigrant children. While Democrats explore humane means to solve problems, Republicans ramp up their inherent sociopathologies. I'm not suggesting Democratic officials are perfect, but I am saying that their first impulse is to help the most vulnerable, while Republicans' first thought is how to punish them.
Michael Laris of the Washington Post: "The White House on Monday detailed elements of a multibillion-dollar plan to make electric vehicle charging 'ubiquitous,' saying a host of new and continuing efforts will help to spur a national network that will put special emphasis on disadvantaged and rural areas.... As part of a broader effort to help reduce emissions, the White House announced the creation of a Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. The office is a shared effort by the departments of Transportation and Energy that federal officials said would create a 'one-stop-shop' to help smooth the rollout and management of electric vehicle and other initiatives in the infrastructure law passed last month." MB: IOW, another example of Democrats working to solve problems. I'm so surprised the Trump administration didn't try to make sure there were charging stations in "disadvantaged areas."
Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "None of the military personnel involved in a botched drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed 10 civilians will face any kind of punishment after Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III approved recommendations from two top commanders, a senior Pentagon official said. The Pentagon acknowledged in September that the last U.S. drone strike before American troops withdrew from Afghanistan was a tragic mistake that killed the civilians, including seven children, after initially saying it had been necessary to prevent an Islamic State attack on troops. A subsequent high-level investigation into the episode found no violations of law but stopped short of fully exonerating those involved, saying that was 'commander business.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Trump Has Rejoined the Great Unwashed. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A lawyer for ... Donald J. Trump urged a federal appeals court to quash a congressional subpoena seeking years of financial records from his accounting firm, arguing on Monday that the demand is too broad and could open the door for lawmakers to routinely harass and intimidate future presidents.... Douglas Letter, a lawyer for the House of Representatives, urged the appeals court to uphold the subpoena -- including removing limits placed upon it by a district court judge in August.... 'The Constitution does draw a clear line between a president and an ex-president,' Mr. Letter said. 'An ex-president is somebody who rejoins the great unwashed.'... Questions asked by the judges -- Ketanji Brown Jackson, Judith W. Rogers and Sri Srinivasan -- gave little indication that they were likely to quash the subpoena. But the judges spent extensive time exploring whether there was a basis to narrow the scope of the subpoena...."
Juliet Macur of the New York Times: "Hundreds of female gymnasts who were sexually abused by Lawrence G. Nassar, the former team doctor of the national gymnastics team, have agreed to a $380 million settlement with U.S.A. Gymnastics and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, ending the latest dark chapter in one of the biggest molestation cases in sports history. The settlement, announced on Monday during U.S.A. Gymnastics' bankruptcy proceedings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, is among the largest ever for a sexual abuse case. The funds would compensate more than 500 gymnasts -- including Olympic gold medalists like Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman -- who were abused by Nassar or someone else in the sport." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Presidential Race 2024. DeSantis Takes on Immigrant Children. Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Lately, [Republican politicians with presidential aspirations have] decided the most promising [path to the White House] is paved on the backs of vulnerable immigrant children. Among the most brazen to adopt this strategy: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.... Governors from such far-flung states as Arkansas, South Dakota and Florida sent their National Guard troops and highway patrol troopers to the southwestern border this year.... DeSantis, for instance, had his own photo op in July; Florida taxpayers are now on the hook for at least $1.6 million for his various border-related boondoggles.... For months, the DeSantis administration has been jerking around shelters and foster families that care for unaccompanied migrant kids, including by refusing to renew these providers' licenses.... [Florida's Lutheran Services] shelter sued over the state's unexplained stonewalling. On Thursday, on the eve of a court hearing, the new license magically materialized. DeSantis then released a confusing new 'emergency rule' the following morning, which said existing shelters could continue operating and renewing their licenses for the next 45 days only."
Kimberly Wehle in a Politico Magazine opinion piece: "By the time the Supreme Court heard oral argument recently in Jackson Women's Health Organization v. Dobbs, the Mississippi case that abortion rights supporters fear the newly conservative court will use to overturn Roe, [Brett] Kavanaugh's views on judicial respect for precedent appeared to have shifted [from what he asserted during his confirmation hearings]. 'If you think about some of the most important cases, the most consequential cases in this court's history,' he said, 'there's a string of them where the cases overruled precedent.'... But in his survey of court history, he neglected to point out a notable fact those cases have in common. In those small number of overrulings, the court has almost always expanded constitutional rights, not constrained them."
Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: "Russia has vetoed the passage of a United Nations Security Council resolution that for the first time would have treated climate change as a threat to peace, even as many Western powers increasingly take climate risk into account as part of their security strategies. The resolution, co-sponsored by Ireland and Niger, would have required the top U.N. body to consider climate change as a possible cause of conflicts, and to look for ways to address the risks and head off potential clashes. Twelve of the Security Council's 15 members voted in favor of the resolution Monday. India voted against it, alongside Russia, while China abstained. Russia is one of the council's five veto-wielding permanent members with the power to block resolutions."
The Pandemic Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates are here.
Julie Bosman, et al., of the New York Times: "As the coronavirus pandemic approaches the end of a second year, the United States stands on the cusp of surpassing 800,000 deaths from the virus, and no group has suffered more than older Americans.... Seventy-five percent of people who have died of the virus in the United States -- or about 600,000 of the nearly 800,000 who have perished so far -- have been 65 or older. One in 100 older Americans has died from the virus. For people younger than 65, that ratio is closer to 1 in 1,400." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday refused to block New York's requirement that health care workers be vaccinated against the coronavirus even when they cite religious objections. As is often the court's practice in rulings on emergency applications, its unsigned order included no reasoning. But Justice Neil M. Gorsuch filed a 14-page dissent saying that the majority had betrayed the court's commitment to religious liberty. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. joined Justice Gorsuch's dissent. Justice Clarence Thomas also said he would have blocked the vaccine requirement, but he gave no reasons."
Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "The number of active-duty U.S. military personnel declining to be vaccinated against the coronavirus by their prescribed deadlines is as high as 40,000, with new Army data showing that, days ahead of its cutoff, 3 percent of soldiers either have rejected President Biden's mandate or sought a long-shot exemption. While overall the vast majority of service members are fully vaccinated, military analysts have characterized the number of refusals and holdouts as a troubling indicator in a rigid, top-down culture where decision-making often is predicated on the understanding that the troops will do as they are told. It also suggests the nation's divisive politics have influenced a small but significant segment of the Defense Department, historically an apolitical institution." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Lolita Baldor of the AP: "The Air Force has discharged 27 people for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine, making them what officials believe are the first service members to be removed for disobeying the mandate to get the shots.... While the Air Force does not disclose what type of discharge a service member gets, legislation working its way through Congress limits the military to giving troops in vaccine refusal cases an honorable discharge or general discharge under honorable conditions."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Monday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Lesley Wroughton of the Washington Post: "Omicron appears to cause less severe illness than earlier variants of the coronavirus but is more resistant to the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine widely used in South Africa, according to the first major private study since omicron was first detected last month. The study by Discovery Health, South Africa's largest health insurer, of 211,000 positive coronavirus cases, of which 78,000 were attributed to omicron, showed that risk of hospital admissions among adults who contracted covid-19 was 29 percent lower than in the initial pandemic wave that emerged in March 2020." ~~~
~~~ Andrew Meldrum of the AP: "A two-dose Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination provides just 33% protection against infection by the omicron variant of the coronavirus, but 70% protection against hospitalization, according to a large-scale analysis in South Africa released Tuesday."
Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times: "A new Covid-19 pill from Merck has raised hopes that it could transform the landscape of treatment options for Americans at high risk of severe disease at a time when the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is driving a surge of cases in highly vaccinated European countries. But two weeks after a Food and Drug Administration expert committee narrowly voted to recommend authorizing the drug, known as molnupiravir, the F.D.A. is still weighing Merck's application. Among the biggest questions facing regulators is whether the drug, in the course of wreaking havoc on the virus's genes, also has the potential to cause mutations in human DNA. Scientists are especially worried about pregnant women, they said, because the drug could affect a fetus's dividing cells, theoretically causing birth defects. Members of the F.D.A. expert committee expressed those same concerns during a public meeting on Nov. 30." Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
Minnesota. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "A federal court on Monday set a hearing for Derek Chauvin to change his plea, signaling that the former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd intended to plead guilty to charges that he also deprived Mr. Floyd of his civil rights."
Way Beyond
Israel/U.A.E. Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "The Israeli prime minister met the crown prince of Abu Dhabi on Monday on the first official visit by an Israeli leader to the United Arab Emirates, a historic encounter that would have been unimaginable a few years ago and showcased the rapid realignment of the Middle East, driven by shared fears of a nuclear Iran. Naftali Bennett, the Israeli prime minister, spent four hours with the de facto Emirati leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed -- two hours longer than planned. They met in Abu Dhabi amid renewed tensions between the United States and Israel, which opposes revived efforts by Washington to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief." MB: As reflected in a photo that accompanies the story, the two men agreed that their biggest differences were their hats.
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Reader Comments (8)
A few thoughts on the "border problem."
Glad to read the Biden administration is grappling with it in a rational, relatively humane way. The geopolitical problems created by the mass movement of peoples in the 21st century is not going to go away on its own.
Of course, the Pretenders and their ilk don't see it as a humanitarian crisis; they see it rather as a political opportunity. Your stance toward immigration serves is a clear indicator of what kind of person you are: Concerned only about self and your advancement or concerned with the plight of others.
We know what the Pretender types are. By their immigration "solutions" ye shall know them.
Read the Rampell column and some of the comments. Responded thusly to one commenter who was all excited because Rampell didn't call those hapless kids "illegal."
"So....(name edited out) you like what DeSantis is doing? Like him, you also picture these brown kids growing older and returning some day with uzis in hand mowing you down?
I'd imagine the way DeSantis is treating them is designed to make them just love his state, this country and the people in it...
What exactly would you do to deal with immigration from those brown-skinned countries, in addition to saying some human beings are "illegal," maybe build a wall or six, and decide the problem will just magically go away--maybe like climate change?
BTW, if you don't like scammers, presume you really hate the perpetrators of the "stolen election" scam, more details of which are available in other sections of this paper and on which one very corrupt political party is still making millions on the backs of their willing marks, many of whom don't much like brown people either.
Must be a coincidence in their somewhere."
@Ken Winkes: It's horrible to be indifferent to the fates of little children just because they don't look exactly like your kids or because their parents are poor. It's much worse to make the lives of those children even more insecure & uncertain. And it's worse still to do this for what you hope will be your own personal gain. Ron DeSantis makes the Grinch & Scrooge look pretty wimpy.
The Republican politician's modus operandi:
1. Oppose any and all legislation which would help the majority
of Americans and even if it's something the majority is for.
2. When such legislation as would help the majority of Americans
is voted into law, be sure to tell your constituents what a great job
you did getting help for them.
3. Get re-elected since most of your constituents don't know squat
about what's going on in Washington, only what they hear on Fox
Noise, or read in right wing propaganda blogs.
WHO WOULDA THUNK that Dick Cheney's daughter would be sitting on the Jan. 6 panel with Democrats and one other Republican. Over the weekend I was reading parts of Robert Draper's "To Start a War: how the Bush Administration took America into War." Draper's central insight is to place Bush at the center of the action but of course bringing in all the other players, Dick Cheney among them. But what I found interesting was the comparison of Bush with Trump. Draper convincingly shows that under Bush there was "no process of any kind" at any stage of the war, from the decision to invade to figuring out how post-Saddam Iraq should be governed.
Trump is never mentioned in this book since I imagine it was written before Fatty foisted himself upon us but it's hard not to draw parallels. His foibles––nice word for major "fuck-ups–-were similar to Bush's:
"the unearned self confidence, the intense parochialism (the inability to understand how the outside world viewed the U.S.), the obliviousness to nuance, the demand that subordinates support the president's value judgement rather than question them."
Of course–– the difference is in Trump these traits were compounded by a "prideful ignorance" which is again a nice way of describing Trump's sociopathic tendencies. Bush, by the way, at least read books and intelligence reports but rarely questioned––never followed through with operations that went awry.
And now so many years later we are trying to clean up another mess, ferret out the bad guys, and Liz Cheney is front and center in helping us do just that.
The DC AG's suit against the Proud Boys and 3%ers is superficially like the KKK law's use a few years back to put the KKK out of business by breaking its bank. And with luck these suits will bankrupt these yoyos.
But probably more useful ... at some point, you can expect the defendants to haul out proof that they were authorized to do what they did, and so they aren't responsible for damages. And they will testify that so-and-so told them that the Prezdet* asked them to take the actions in question. And those assertions will be made in court.
And the liability will expand to take in those who carried the Prezdet's* word to the muscle, and with luck you'll get at least one of them to roll.
This is in addition to what is being done by the House and what may be done by the DOJ.
Time's a wastin' ... I find it offensive that DiJiT is not in prison yet.
@Patrick: I find it highly unlikely that Donald Trump will end up in the hoosegow. But I do think it's possible that he eventually will be tried for & convicted of a crime (see, for instance, my comment at the top of the page). However, I feel certain he will stay out of jail till the last appeal fails, after which he will either (a) abscond to Brazil or (b) will himself to die.
Marie,
If the Pretender successfully wills himself to die, he will have my best wishes to propel him along. I've been wishing for that same thing for the last five years.
I've been wondering how many conspiracies will be hatched when Trump checks out. I suspect that even if he committed suicide live on Fox News it would be like the Hitler myths. "He is still alive".