;)
December 14, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Christopher Rugaber of the AP: "The Federal Reserve reinforced its inflation fight Wednesday by raising its key interest rate for the seventh time this year and signaling more hikes to come. But the Fed announced a smaller hike than it had in its past four meetings at a time when inflation is showing signs of easing. The Fed boosted its benchmark rate a half-point to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, its highest level in 15 years.... The policymakers also forecast that their key short-term rate will reach a range of 5% to 5.25% by the end of 2023. That suggests that the Fed is poised to raise its benchmark rate by an additional three-quarters of a point and leave it there through next year."
Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The House scheduled action on Wednesday on a weeklong spending bill to avert a government shutdown this weekend, as top lawmakers rushed to cement an emerging deal on a sprawling spending package to keep federal programs running into next fall. The measure, expected to pass as early as Wednesday evening, would buy time to finalize an agreed-upon outline announced late Tuesday by a trio of senior lawmakers in both parties, backed by party leaders, for a longer-term package expected to total about $1.7 trillion. While no details were given, the lawmakers projected optimism that it would smooth the way for final action before Christmas to resolve remaining disputes and fund the government.... Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader who hopes to become speaker and is toiling to win over far-right colleagues who oppose government spending, has instructed his members to vote against any such funding package."
Florida. Laura Strickler & Rich Schapiro of NBC News: "A Florida pastor and his son were arrested Wednesday on charges of fraudulently obtaining more than $8 million in federal Covid relief funds and attempting to use some of the money to buy a luxury home near Walt Disney World. Evan Edwards and his son, Josh, 30, were taken into custody five months after an NBC News report raised questions over why they hadn't been charged in the alleged scam, which federal prosecutors first identified in court papers in December 2020." ~~~
~~~ Marie: When this pastor asked himself, "What Would Jesus Do?" the answer that came up was, "Get in your Mercedes, flee up I-75 with 'shredded documents in the vehicle, as well as suitcases full of financial records and ... electronic devices stuffed into so-called Faraday bags, which block radio frequencies to keep ... from being tracked.'"
Georgia. Kate Brumback & Jeff Amy of the AP: "Georgia's top elections official urged lawmakers on Wednesday to end general election runoffs -- this month's bitter Senate contest was the latest example -- but offered no specific proposals, saying there is a 'wide range of options.' The push by Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to discard the unusual format for general elections comes after high-profile Senate races went into overtime this year and in 2020, with Democrats winning each time.... Raffensperger said in a statement that Georgia is 'one of the only states that always seems to have a runoff' and that the legislature should 'consider reforms.' Georgia is one of four states that have runoffs in general elections, though only Georgia and Louisiana use them for all races. Nine states hold runoffs in primaries, though the rules vary."
Ukraine, et al. Victoria Bisset, et al., of the Washington Post: <"A U.S. Air Force veteran captured by Russian forces in Ukraine this year has been released from occupied territory as part of a prisoner swap between Moscow and Kyiv, a senior Ukrainian official and the detainee's family said Wednesday. Suedi Murekezi, a native of Rwanda who has lived in Ukraine since 2018, was detained in June. He had been working in the technology industry and decided not to leave after Russia invaded, his family said. His captors accused him of taking part in pro-Ukrainian protests, and he is not believed to have been involved in the fighting, they said. Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, wrote on Twitter that Murekezi was released alongside 64 Ukrainian prisoners of war who had been fighting in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. He described Murekezi as 'a U.S. citizen who helped our people.'"
Peru. Mitra Taj & Julie Turkewitz of the New York Times: "The government of Peru said on Wednesday that it would declare a nationwide state of emergency as it sought to control widespread violence resulting from the ouster of the country's elected president, an extraordinary measure even in a country accustomed to political upheaval and protest. The measure, which has not yet been published into law, would suspend the rights of assembly and freedom of transit, among other civil liberties, for 30 days, said Alberto Ótarola, the country's defense minister. The move is the most significant government response to a crisis that erupted last Wednesday when the president, Pedro Castillo, tried to dissolve Congress, which he had been feuding with since taking office last year. Within hours, Peru's Congress impeached him and Mr. Castillo was arrested, setting off waves of angry protests by supporters who believe his removal was illegitimate."
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Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law on Tuesday, mandating federal recognition for same-sex marriages and capping his own personal evolution toward embracing gay rights over the course of a four-decade political career. In an elaborate signing ceremony on the South Lawn, complete with musical performances from Cyndi Lauper and Sam Smith, Mr. Biden told thousands of supporters and lawmakers that the new law represents a rare moment of bipartisanship.... The landmark legislation, passed by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, officially erases the Defense of Marriage Act, which a quarter of a century ago formally defined marriage as between a man and a woman. The new law prohibits states from denying the validity of out-of-state marriages based on sex, race or ethnicity." The AP's report is here. MB: A holiday gift for all of us.
Ben Lefebvre of Politico: "U.S. scientists have scored a breakthrough in fusion technology, showing for the first time that humans can wield the technology in a controlled reaction that combines atoms to create a net increase in energy, a major breakthrough that could eventually lead to a new source of clean, inexpensive power, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Tuesday. 'It's the first time it's ever been done at a laboratory. Simply put, this is one of the most impressive scientific feats in the 21st century,' Granholm said in a capacity-filled auditorium at the Department of Energy's headquarters in Washington." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ At Tuesday's press conference, Marv Adams explained how the experiment worked. MB: This is a big deal to me because experts -- teachers, publications -- have been telling me for 65 years that fusion is unpossible:
Julia Mueller & Al Weaver of the Hill: "Lawmakers have struck a much-anticipated deal on a framework for an omnibus package to fund the government for fiscal 2023. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Tuesday night said negotiators had 'reached a bipartisan, bicameral framework that should allow us to finish an omnibus appropriations bill that can pass the House and Senate and be signed into law by the President.' Leahy said he reached the deal with Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.).
Quinn Owen of ABC News: "Widespread sexual abuse of female inmates continues to plague federal prisons and accountability measures for staff have not contained the scourge of such violence, according to a Senate investigative report released Tuesday. Women were abused by prison staff in at least 19 of the 29 federal facilities that held female inmates since 2012, the bipartisan report from the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found. The Bureau of Prisons opened 5,415 cases alleging sexual abuse by federal employees from 2012 to 2022.... The slow pace of accountability for inmate sexual abuse, combined with limited resources for internal investigators, puts inmates at continued risk, the report found."
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The Justice Department has tried to gain access to Republican Rep. Scott PerryJack Smith, is significant given that Perry texted then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about advice from a 'cyber forensic team' he was in touch with after the 2020 election.... Perry's phone was seized in August as part of the federal criminal probe into January 6 and efforts to impede the transfer of presidential power to Joe Biden.... Perry sued the Justice Department days after the search, then quickly asked the court to put the public-facing lawsuit on hold. The Justice Department approached Perry's phone seizure and other phone seizures from Trump allies in two parts.... DOJ would image the phone through an initial warrant and then seek a second warrant through confidential court proceedings to access the data."
Jana Winter of Yahoo! News: "On Dec. 20, 2020, a 21-year-old intelligence analyst went online to search for local Washington, D.C., fishing holes and stumbled upon the blueprint of a plot to storm the Capitol and execute members of Congress and law enforcement officers to prevent the certification of electoral votes to make Joe Biden the next president. The domestic terrorism analyst with the Department of Homeland Security saw a link to a website where people 'actively at that moment were discussing the commission of acts of terroristic violence and the violent overthrow of the government of the United States,' according to the analyst's written account later provided to investigators.... What started as a literal fishing expedition turned into a failed 16-day effort to sound the alarm and push the various parts of the DHS intelligence apparatus into action.... In the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, this arm of DHS produced no warnings, no bulletins and no alerts or other reports on threats it was seeing, documents obtained by Yahoo News show.... The account of the young intelligence analyst exposes broader institutional failures across the department and reveals the deeply flawed intelligence collection guidelines in place at that time."
Annie Grayer, et al., of CNN: "Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, told reporters the committee will hold its final public meeting on Monday and that the panel's full report will come out December 21. Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, said the committee will approve the panel's final report on December 19 and make announcements about criminal referrals to the Justice Department, but the public will not see the final report until two days later." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jacqueline Alemany & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The House Oversight Committee sent a letter to the National Archives on Tuesday requesting a review to determine whether ... Donald Trump has retained any additional presidential records at his storage facility in Florida.The request from the committee's chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), follows a report from The Washington Post that at least two items marked classified were found by an outside team hired by Trump to search a storage unit, along with at least two of his properties, after his legal team was pressed by a federal judge to attest that it had fully complied with a May grand jury subpoena to turn over all materials bearing classified markings." MB P.S.: If y'all can't find the key to the padlock on the West Palm Beach U-Stor Unit #45, use boltcutters like the Russian spies do. And if you'll send us copies of all the secret docs you find, you know, please send them certified. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "The U.S. Postal Service announced Tuesday it would memorialize the late Rep. John Lewis with a new stamp next year. In its announcement, the Postal Service said the stamp 'celebrates the life and legacy' of Lewis. 'Devoted to equality and justice for all Americans, Lewis spent more than 30 years in Congress steadfastly defending and building on key civil rights gains that he had helped achieve in the 1960s. Even in the face of hatred and violence, as well as some 45 arrests, Lewis remained resolute in his commitment to what he liked to call "good trouble,'" the Postal Service said." MB: I'll be buying a dozen panes of these stamps when they come out.
Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's family business lost a criminal contempt trial that was held in secret last fall, according to a newly unsealed court document and several people with knowledge of the matter, with a judge ruling against the company almost exactly a year before it was convicted of a tax fraud scheme last week. The document, a judicial order released Tuesday, showed that in October 2021, a one-day contempt trial was held after prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney's office requested that the company be punished for 'willfully disobeying' four grand jury subpoenas and three court orders enforcing compliance."
Other People's Money. Ken Sweet of the AP: "The U.S. government charged Samuel Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, with a host of financial crimes on Tuesday, alleging he intentionally deceived customers and investors to enrich himself and others, while playing a central role in the company's multibillion-dollar collapse. Federal prosecutors say that beginning in 2019 Bankman-Fried devised 'a scheme and artifice to defraud' FTX's customers and investors. He diverted their money to cover expenses, debts and risky trades at his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, and to make lavish real estate purchases and large political donations prosecutors said in a 13-page indictment." A CNBC story is here. MB: Sounds more like a Bernie Madoff scandal than a Winklevoss Twins hoohah. Update: I see the NYT says so, too. (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: According to Chris Hayes, over there at Fox "News," Sam Bankman-Fried is the main story: someone who has gotten away with massive fraud because he's a big Democratic donor. One problem with their story -- a problem they don't acknowledge -- is that SBF says he has contributed as much (in GOP-preferred dark money) to Republicans as he has contributed to Democrats. Another problem, effective Tuesday: two federal agencies -- quite swiftly -- brought charges against young SBF. Fortunately, Fox was able to take this development in stride: they just as swiftly pivoted to explaining that only reason the "Democrat agencies" dinged the kid was that he was due to testify before a Congressional committee & you know, spill the beans about Democrats.
Musk Is One Cheap-assed Billionaire. Ryan Mac, et al., of the New York Times: "Over the past two weeks, Elon Musk has shaken up Twitter's legal department, disbanded a council that advised the social media company on safety issues and is continuing to take drastic steps to cut costs.... He and his team have revamped Twitter's legal department and pushed out one of his closest advisers in the process. They have also instructed employees to not pay vendors in anticipation of potential litigation.... To cut costs, Twitter has not paid rent for its San Francisco headquarters or any of its global offices for weeks.... Twitter has also refused to pay a $197,725 bill for private charter flights made the week of Mr. Musk's takeover.... Twitter's leaders have also discussed the consequences of denying severance payments to thousands of people who have been laid off since the takeover, two people ... said.... The aggressive moves signal that Mr. Musk is still slashing expenditures and is bending or breaking Twitter's previous agreements to make his mark." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gosh, it's almost as if Elon is trying to give billionaires a bad name. And here I thought they were such likable folks.
Joanna Partridge of the Guardian: "Elon Musk has lost his crown as the world's richest person, after further falls in the value of shares in his electric car company Tesla. Forbes and Bloomberg, which track the wealth of billionaires, reported that Musk had lost the top spot to France's Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of the luxury group LVMH. South Africa-born Musk, who recently took ownership of Twitter, is the chief executive of Tesla and its largest shareholder. The electric car company has lost more than half of its market value since Musk first made a bid for Twitter in April."
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. Jennifer Hassan of the Washington Post: Gov. Doug Ducey is still building his costly, unsightly, useless shipping-container border wall despite a federal order to stop it. "The latest criticism came from Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway, who warned over the weekend that anyone found to be helping to build the wall in his county will be arrested." MB: Okay, so Ducey is building this unlawful, expensive eyesore which is reputed to be a danger to some forms of wildlife. That's bad. But Florida's governor -- re-elected in a landslide -- is way worse. ~~~
~~~ Florida, Where the Governor Is a Health Hazard. Marc Caputo of NBC News: "At a roundtable [Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis] convened of Covid vaccine skeptics and opponents -- including his own surgeon general -- he formally called on the state Supreme Court to impanel a grand jury to investigate whether pharmaceutical companies criminally misled Floridians about the side effects of vaccines, a position at odds with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. DeSantis was a major booster of the vaccines last year and once called them lifesaving, but he later turned against them, mirroring a shift in conservative Republican opinion. By January, he refused to say if he even got a booster, and that prompted Trump -- whose Operation Warp Speed led to the rapid development of the vaccines -- to take a thinly veiled shot at him, albeit not by name, for being 'gutless.' The decision by DeSantis to now investigate the vaccines was widely panned by those in Trump's orbit.... DeSantis' announcement came just hours after a study found the vaccines have saved 3.2 million American lives." ~~~
~~~ Steve M. is really pissed off at Caputo for framing this as a horserace story instead of a serious public health issue. ~~~
~~~ Update: The Washington Post story is much better ... and damning.
Oregon. Hillary Borrud of the Oregonian: "Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that she would commute the sentences of all 17 individuals on Oregon's death row to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the latest in her end-of-term string of clemency decisions. 'I have long believed that justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should not be in the business of executing people -- even if a terrible crime placed them in prison,' Brown said in a statement sent out in a press release. 'This is a value that many Oregonians share.'"
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Wednesday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Wednesday are here: "... attacks early Wednesday on Kyiv, in the central Shevchenkivsky district, were the first in weeks. The district covers the center of the city, extending to the east, and includes Kyiv's city hall and some ministries and universities. Air raid sirens ended about 9 a.m. Wednesday morning. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said preliminary information on the attacks indicated that 13 drones were sent and all were shot down. The claims could not be immediately verified by The Post.... Dozens of nations and institutions at a conference in Paris also upped their commitment to Ukraine on Tuesday, pledging to donate more than $1 billion in aid aimed at short-term support for the country during the winter months. More than $440 million of that aid is expected to go to Ukraine's energy network."
Eric Schmitt & John Ismay of the New York Times: "The United States is poised to approve sending its most advanced ground-based air defense system to Ukraine, responding to the country's urgent request to help defend against an onslaught of Russian missile and drone attacks, two U.S. officials said on Tuesday. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III could approve a directive as early as this week to transfer one Patriot battery already overseas to Ukraine, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Final approval would then rest with President Biden."
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Reader Comments (10)
I am back from my trip which has been physically and emotionally exhausting. I want to thank Ken and Akhilleus for their kind messages re: my brother's death. We have joked here that when Ken leaves things fall apart; apparently my leaving produced some positives like Griner being released, a same sex marriage bill passed, and the dynamite news of Fusion ––––perhaps I should leave more often but then there was the man who is in love with his own musk and has made Twitter into a sink hole.
Re: Griner's release: I couldn't help thinking of all those––mostly black–- souls who have been in prison for years because of either possessing marijuana or the selling of––-we need to take a closer look at OUR system, doncha think?
And the Mark Meadow messages I find shocking. The"right side" of our Congress houses those who wanted (still want?) to overthrow our government. When you let that sink in it's terrifying.
Can we reclassify DeSantis as a pharmaceutical company because he certainly has misled Floridians about covid vaccines. It would be sweet if they investigated public officials' statements and actions with regards to covid. Too we are talking about Florida.
I posted early this morning ––"your post has been admitted and will appear shortly" but so far nothing.
Learned something this AM about the WAPO's delicate nature.
Its prissy WAPO algorithm immediately rejected my comment on DeSantis' latest nod to stupidity.
And all I wrote was that the best two word DeSantis descriptor I could come up with began with the word "batshit."
More to the (or one) point:
When politicians make decisions like DeSantis' latest that fly in the face of all available evidence, they are either cynically calculating something or they are simply deluded.
It's a pattern we should be very familiar with after the Pretender years.
In De Santis' case, if it's a calculation, I have to wonder who he's appealing to. The diminishing portion of the Pretender's die-hard! base?
If so, assuming he can do arithmetic, the midterms should have told him that won't get him very far.
Therefore, I chose batshit.
These people remain a wonderment to me.
@P.D. Pepe: Your early-morning post got sent to spam for no apparent reason. I've liberated it.
@P.D. Pepe: And last Monday, Musk lost $7.4 billion, mostly in stock
from that exploding car he sells.
Also, reported Tuesday, inflation rose only .1% in November. How
can Republicans turn that into a negative? They'll find a way.
How many millions of $ is 7.4 billion? Is it 74 thousand millions of $?
I'd be really upset if I lost that much money.
So the Georgia Secretary of State is concerned (Susan Collins “concerned” or really concerned?) that Georgia has been having too many runoff elections and now he wants to do away with such pain-in-the-ass democracy thingies.
First, perhaps if Georgia hadn’t instituted so many egregious vote suppression tactics to tilt the table far to the right, elections wouldn’t be rigged to give atrociously unqualified Republicans a chance to come close to winning, necessitating these runoffs,
But more to the point, would Raffensperger even be talking about this had a Democrat not won both runoffs?
I believe it's call the Prosperity Gospel.
God brought Covid so the pastor could dip into the pile of money the rest of us made available to those who needed it.
All part of the Plan.
While we're talking about Florida governor DeSantis, he's just made a statement that he "sees no need for the respect of marriage act". Here's a link: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/576245-gov-desantis-sees-no-need-for-respect-for-marriage-act/