;)
December 28, 2022
Late Morning Update:
Michigan. Joey Cappelletti of the AP: "A Delaware trucker described as a co-leader of the conspiracy to kidnap Michigan's governor was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison Wednesday, a day after an accomplice received 16 years behind bars. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Barry Croft Jr., 47, who was the fourth and final federal defendant to learn his fate. Croft and Adam Fox were convicted in August of conspiracy charges in Grand Rapids. Croft also was found guilty of possessing an unregistered explosive. They were accused of hatching a stunning plot to abduct Gov. Gretche Whitmer from her vacation home just before the 2020 presidential election. The conspirators were furious over tough COVID-19 restrictions that Whitmer and officials in other states had put in place during the early months of the pandemic, as well as perceived threats to gun ownership."
Frances D'Emilio of the AP: "The health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has worsened due to his age, and doctors are constantly monitoring the frail 95-year-old's condition, the Vatican said Wednesday. Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said Pope Francis, who asked the faithful earlier Wednesday to pray for Benedict, went to visit his predecessor in the monastery on Vatican grounds where the retired pontiff has lived since retiring in February 2013."
Jeremy Herb, et al., of CNN: "The January 6 committee released another batch of transcripts Tuesday, including two more of its interviews with blockbuster witness Cassidy Hutchinson and testimony from several other Trump White House officials.... The new batch of transcripts show the deepening divide between Hutchinson, the former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and [her attorney Stefan] Passantino[, who was paid by Trump allies,] just weeks before she hired hew new lawyer. The two bicker several times, according to the transcript of her May deposition, and Passantino cut off Hutchinson on a few occasions, interrupting her with warnings about her testimony, and sometimes trying to finesse what she said.... After Hutchinson parted ways with Passantino, her new attorney [Jody Hunt] told the January 6 committee during her June deposition that she needed to clarify and 'correct' some of her previous testimony, according to the newly released transcript....
"[In a later interview, with Hunt as her attorney, Hutchinson] told the committee that she saw Meadows burn documents in his office fireplace around a dozen times -- about once or twice a week -- between December 2020 and mid-January 2021. On several occasions, Hutchinson said, she was in Meadows' office when he threw documents into the fireplace after a meeting. At least twice, the burning came after meetings with GOP Rep. Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican, who has been linked to the efforts to use the Justice Department to overturn the 2020 election." MB: So, uh, violation of the Official Records Act AND obstruction of justice AND maybe conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Nice work, Mark.
~~~~~~~~~~
Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: "President Biden and his team have begun responding faster and more sharply to provocative comments and actions by ... Donald Trump and his allies, potentially preparing the ground for Biden's expected reelection announcement early next year. The rapid responses, coming in the weeks since Democrats outperformed expectations in the November midterms, come as some Democratic strategists see a political advantage in pointedly -- and frequently -- drawing a contrast with Trump, the Republican Party, and the Republican lawmakers poised to take over the House of Representatives." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Amy Wang & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Tuesday signed a bill that would remove a bust at the U.S. Capitol of Roger B. Taney, the chief justice who wrote the majority Supreme Court opinion protecting slavery in Dred Scott v. Sandford. The measure passed the House and Senate by voice votes this month. It directs the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library to remove Taney's bust no more than 45 days after the bill is signed into law. The bill would also direct the committee to replace Taney's bust with one of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice.... Taney's opinion ... came to be viewed as one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in history. A bust of Taney's likeness sits outside the Old Supreme Court Chamber on the first floor of the Capitol.... On the House floor Dec. 14, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said the bill was literally about 'who we put on a pedestal.'"
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is closing a major loophole in a new federal rule intended to regulate the sale of pistol parts that can readily be turned into untraceable homemade firearms, in an aggressive expansion of its crackdown on so-called ghost guns. On Tuesday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives directed vendors who sell partially finished frames of Glock-style handguns == the pistol grip and firing mechanism -- to treat them like fully completed firearms, which are subject to federal regulations. The move, outlined in an open letter to federally licensed gun dealers, requires sellers to mark the parts with serial numbers, and for buyers to undergo criminal background checks."
Look for a Job as a Dowel Inspector, Buddy. Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "Every year, thousands of [Social Security disability] claimants ... find themselves blocked in the arduous process of applying for disability benefits, thanks to labor market data that was last updated 45 years ago.... The vast majority of the 12,700 [job titles] were last updated in 1977.... The government, using strict vocational rules, assesses someone's capacity to work and if jobs exist 'in significant numbers' that they could still do. But in reality, most of these occupations were offshored, outsourced, and shifted to skilled work decades ago. Many have disappeared altogether.... After spending at least $250 million since 2012 to build a directory of 21st century jobs an internal fact sheet shows, Social Security is not using it, leaving antiquated vocational rules in place...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
If you are a pollyanna who thinks House Republicans -- who were very happy with a fake president* -- may find their spines & send fake Rep.-elect George Santos packing, there's this from the New York Post: ~~~
~~~ Jon Levine of the New York Post, via marketwatch: "Senior House Republicans were so keenly aware of alleged inaccuracies and embellishments in U.S. Rep.-elect George Santos's professional biography, that the topic became a 'running joke,' multiple insiders close to House GOP leadership reportedly told the New York Post.... 'As far as questions about George in general, that was always something that was brought up whenever we talked about this race,' said one senior GOP leadership aide. 'It was a running joke at a certain point. This is the second time he's run and these issues we assumed would be worked out by the voters.'... A second insider close to GOP leadership called the allegations against Santos 'mostly stuff we already knew,' adding that 'there were questions. Things weren't adding up.' By the time we knew that there were questions and issues he was basically the nominee. So what can you do? He was the only Republican candidate.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "House Republican leaders were silent on Tuesday after Representative-elect George Santos admitted to a laundry list of falsehoods about his background but still vowed to be seated in Congress. Mr. Santos acknowledged in a series of interviews on Monday that he lied about graduating from college and made misleading claims that he worked for Citigroup or Goldman Sachs. He also acknowledged owing thousands of dollars in unpaid rent and denied committing a crime anywhere in the world, despite a New York Times report to the contrary. The muted response from party leaders suggested that so far they were prepared to mete out little, if any, punishment to an incoming lawmaker who, while deceiving voters, flipped an open seat formerly held by a Democrat and helped Republicans secure their razor-thin House majority." ~~~
~~~ Santos Lies About Lying. Jacob Kornbluh of the Forward: "Congressman-elect George Santos, a Republican from New York who reportedly lied about his Jewish heritage and has admitted he fabricated key details of his resume, said in an interview Monday evening that he never claimed to be Jewish. 'I said I was "Jew-ish,"' Santos told The New York Post. However, in a position paper shared with Jewish and pro-Israel leaders during the campaign and obtained by the Forward, Santos called himself 'a proud American Jew.'" Firewalled. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol released on Tuesday 18 additional transcripts that provided more details about how ... Donald J. Trump considered 'blanket pardons' for those charged in connection with the Capitol riot, and how several of his top political allies pushed unsuccessfully to be included in such pardons.... Johnny McEntee, Mr. Trump's director of personnel, recalled in an interview how, during his final days in office, the former president had floated the idea of a 'blanket pardon' for the breach of the Capitol, but Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel, had rejected it.... In his testimony before the panel, Mr. Cipollone declined to discuss specific pardon discussions, but confirmed he had been opposed to the idea." ~~~
~~~ Links to the 18 newly-released transcripts are here (via the committee). MB: The conversations between Trump & Cipollone on pardons, as related by McEntee, are odd. It's almost as if Cipollone set Trump up for a fall. Either that, or he really believed no one in the White House "did anything wrong."
Should Donald Trump pretend to be shocked, shocked there was an insurrection going on at the Capitol on January 6, there are these details from the January 6 committee report, pulled out by Luke Broadwater of the New York Times (Dec. 23): "After giving a speech to his supporters at the Ellipse, Mr. Trump ran into a member of the White House staff and asked whether he or she had watched his speech on television. 'Sir, they cut it off because they're rioting down at the Capitol,' the employee said around 1:21 p.m., in an early indication Mr. Trump was aware of the violence, according to the report. Shortly after 2:44 p.m., Mr. Trump was made aware the riot had turned deadly. A Capitol Police officer had shot a rioter named Ashli Babbitt, and a handwritten note presented to the president -- dashed off onto a White House pocket card and preserved by the National Archives -- read: '1x civilian gunshot wound to chest @ door of House chaber[sic.].' A White House employee saw the note on the dining table in front of Mr. Trump, according to the committee's report. Still, Mr. Trump waited hours to call for his supporters to go home."
Trump's Very Bad Year Ends on a Low Point. Lauren Fox of CNN: "The House Ways and Means Committee will release [six years of] ... Donald Trump's tax returns Friday morning, a source familiar confirmed to CNN. The returns will be placed into the congressional record on Friday morning during a House pro forma session. That pro forma session will occur around 9 a.m. ET on Friday. There will also be a formal announcement Friday from the committee."
Looks as if Chaya Raichik is the latest right-wing cause célèbre: ~~~
~~~ Zachary Leeman of Mediaite: "The face behind the Libs of TikTok account was revealed Tuesday on Fox Nation's Tucker Carlson Today. Fox News host Tucker Carlson sat down with the formerly anonymous creator Chaya Raichik, who declared the 'LGBTQ community' has become a 'cult.'... Raichik made stunning comments in her interview with Carlson, accusing 'evil' people within the 'LGBTQ community' of trying to hurt kids." ~~~
~~~ Conover Kennard of Crooks & Liars: "... Chaya ... has over 1.7 million followers on Twitter, and she uses her account to falsely accuse the LGBTQ community of grooming children and spread hate online. This past summer, Chaya launched attacks on children's health facilities, targeting a hospital in Omaha in June and another in Pittsburgh in August, The Washington Post reported. Her dangerous rhetoric resulted in a flood of online harassment and phoned-in threats at both hospitals. Next, threats poured in against children's hospitals in Boston and Washington, D.C., after she targeted them in tweets." ~~~
~~~ What Else Has Chaya Been Doing? Extremism & Disinformation Research Newsletter: "Newly-released analysis of footage appears to show Chaya Raichik, the woman behind the LibsOfTikTok account, trespassing on restricted grounds of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021. Today Chaya Raichik, a professional bigot whose anti-LGTBQ posts have been blamed for threats on children's hospitals, revealed her face for the first time in an interview with Tucker Carlson...." ~~~
~~~ So, Naturally.... David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Right-wing activist Chaya Raichik said that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) offered to 'hide' her after she was exposed as the person behind the @libsoftiktok Twitter account. In an interview that aired on Tuesday, Raichik told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that a DeSantis staffer offered her help despite her California residency. 'When I was doxxed, someone from Ron DeSantis' team called me and she said, "The governor wanted me to give you a message,'" she recalled. 'He said if you don't feel safe -- you or your family -- if you need a place to go, to hide, to stay, you can come to the governor's mansion.'"
Adam Liptak, et al., of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court said on Tuesday that a pandemic-era health measure that restricted migration at the southern border would remain in place for the time being, delaying the potential for a huge increase in unlawful crossings. In a brief unsigned order, the justices halted a trial judge's ruling that would have lifted the measure, known as Title 42, which has allowed even migrants who might otherwise qualify for asylum to be swiftly expelled at the border. The court said that it would hear arguments in the case in February and that the stay would remain in place pending a ruling. The justices said they would address only the question of whether the 19 mainly Republican-led states that had sought the stay could pursue their challenge to the measure. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil M. Gorsuch and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented." The AP's report is here.
Sahil Kapur & Allan Smith of NBC News remember "the seven most shocking results from the 2022 midterm elections."
Why Have Millions of Americans Emigrated? Andrew Van Dam of the Washington Post: "... very few Americans leave their homeland for political reasons.... Instead, Klekowski von Koppenfels's research with Helen B. Marrow of Tufts University shows that a large majority of Americans want to move abroad to explore or have an adventure. Emigration almost always has more than one cause, they say, and some especially common ones are the desire to retire abroad, work abroad and get out of a bad situation at home. However, the desire to explore -- 'to lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies,' as Kerouac wrote -- is the American impulse that dominates. And when Americans go abroad in search of adventure, they often find something else. A significant other or a significant paycheck turns a traveler into an expatriate before they know it." MB: Talk about burying a lede; this one was 19 grafs into the story.
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. Stephanie Becker of CNN: "A Maricopa County judge on Tuesday ordered Arizona Republican Kari Lake to compensate Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs for some legal fees related to the election lawsuit Lake had brought challenging her loss, but he stopped short of sanctioning Lake for filing the lawsuit. Judge Peter Thompson had rejected Lake's lawsuit on Saturday, concluding that there wasn't clear or convincing evidence of misconduct and affirming Hobbs' victory. It was a major defeat for Lake, who had lost to Hobbs by about 17,000 votes and sued in an effort to overturn the election. She appealed that Christmas Eve ruling and will seek a direct review from the Arizona Supreme Court.... Attorneys for Hobbs -- the current secretary of state -- had charged that Lake and her lawyers knew their challenges to the election could not be substantiated, which would violate legal ethic rules. They wanted sanctions against Lake and her team. Thompson did not agree. 'The Court finds that Plaintiff's claims presented in this litigation were not groundless and brought in bad faith,' he wrote on Tuesday. But he ordered Lake to pay Hobbs $33,040.50 in compensation for expert witness fees and again reaffirmed the election of Hobbs, who will be sworn in on January 5."
Florida. Nicholas Nehamas of the Miami Herald: "A top aide to Gov. Ron DeSantis used a private email address with the alias 'Clarice Starling' -- a reference to the Hannibal Lecter serial killer novels -- to help his former client win a state contract to operate Florida's controversial migrant flight program, recently released public records show. The records suggest that Larry Keefe, DeSantis' public safety czar, wrote some of the language that the private contractor, Vertol Systems Company, used in its bid proposal to fly migrants from Texas to Democratic states. Keefe, a former U.S. attorney under the Trump administration, represented Vertol for many years in private practice. DeSantis appointed him last year as a top adviser with a portfolio that included combating illegal immigration. The emails between Keefe and his former client, Vertol CEO James Montgomerie, first reported by NBC6, show a close relationship that continued after Keefe entered government service. It was a relationship that helped Vertol land a lucrative taxpayer contract, which Keefe discussed without using his standard, state-issued email account." Firewalled. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Republicans are all so cruel & corrupt it's hard to keep up.
Michigan. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "A man convicted in a plot to abduct Michigan's Democratic governor from her vacation home was sentenced on Tuesday to 16 years in federal prison, the longest so far for any of the defendants convicted in federal court in one of the country's most closely watched domestic terrorism cases. At two trials earlier this year, prosecutors repeatedly showed recordings and online posts in which the defendant, Adam Fox, called Gov. Gretchen Whitmer a 'tyrant,' railed against her Covid-19 restrictions and mused about a second American revolution. Prosecutors described him as a threat to the governor's safety and to democracy itself." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Wednesday is here: "Moscow announced it would ban the sale of its oil to countries involved in capping its price on the global market, even as an official projected the Russian economy would shrink by up to 1 percent in 2023, marking a continuation of its slump this year.... Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lashed out at the United States and its allies, as he issued a fresh warning that the war in Ukraine will continue until Kyiv agrees to Moscow's demands of demilitarization."
Share Article
Reader Comments (11)
I'm bringing forward this comment Akhilleus made last night:
By Akhilleus:
Incredible lede:
“Greg Abbott pushes back on criticism after busing migrants to VP's home on freezing Christmas Eve”.
How does one “push back” against effectively kidnapping poor immigrants, driving them hundreds of miles, then kicking them off the bus in freezing temperatures all so you can piss on the Vice President of the United States?
What’s your excuse?
There is none. It’s all about evil assholes using vulnerable human beings in a way that improves their standing with inhumane scumbags who believe that punishing poor people makes them feel somehow superior.
What sort of degenerates believe this to be a worthwhile effort? And what sort of amoral, debauched charlatan sees this sort of horrific treatment of vulnerable people as his job, as a way to increase his political currency with equally debased, evil scumbags?
A Republican. That’s who.
Assholes or Idiots? (Answer below)
Party of Traitor pols pin the needle on both, but some are particularly egregious.
Kentucky moron, Rep. James Comer, who has promised wall to wall investigations beginning in January (pictures of Hunter Biden’s dick will top the list, but Comer also promises to investigate the crossing guard at a school attended by Biden’s grandchildren, to get to the bottom of reports that the president’s deep state agents have paid off that guy to give special treatment to those kids, like they get to cross before other, more deserving Republican kids!), is still railing about how Biden instructed government agencies to ratfuck Twitter in order to silence conservative voices back in 2020.
When Trump was president. And Biden was a private citizen.
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/gop-congressman-asks-if-president-biden-used-the-government-to-bully-twitter-in-2020-when-trump-was-in-office/
Assholes or Idiots? Answer: both.
@Akhilleus: I expect that if I ran a new "Asshole or Idiot?" poll every day (which, thanks to Republicans, I nearly could), "Both" would win most of the time.
Looks like them Asshole idiots don't got nothin so they make up somethin so nefarious ( fancy word for batshit crazy). Poor sods, they be so desperate in their search for vengeance they fall flat on their faces––only their butts are visible and the smell stinks to high heaven!
Jon Blitzer of the New Yorker wrote a piece about Kevin McCarthy whose persona smacks of a "go along, get along kind of guy and always an eye out for what's good for Kevin. I found the following interesting:
"When Kevin Spacey was preparing for the role of Frank Underwood, the Machiavellian schemer on the Netflix show “House of Cards,” he shadowed McCarthy. (McCarthy joked that he agreed to it after learning that Underwood would be a Democrat.) Outgoing and personable, he is intensely social, “a happy warrior,” in the words of his friend the pollster Frank Luntz. Patrick McHenry, a House Republican and a confidant of McCarthy’s, once asked, “If Kevin McCarthy is alone, does he exist?”
We've been gifted ('tis the season) with three grandchildren this week, all of whom have been sick, one after the other, puking their little guts out. The washing machine is doing double time and the house smells of disinfectant.
Between bouts of upchucking, heard my wife reading a new book to the boys yesterday to the sounds of high hilarity that met the book's succession of poop jokes. Not exactly the children's books I heard in my youth.
The old man found it more tiresome than funny. Told himself to get with it, but he never did. Don't think he'll ever be with it again.
And now P.D.'s clever description of the A-holes...with their butts and stink.
Seems there's no escape.
Ken,
As the daddy of a (just turned) 12 year old boy, I’m here to report that poop jokes still get a chuckle (you’ve got a few years to go, my friend). Maybe not the guffaws of earlier years, but giggles are still to be had when poop pops into a jocular equation.
And speaking of jokes, my kid and my wife both get on me for my penchant for weak humor, which tends to run to eye-rolling puns. To wit:
Why couldn’t the pony speak?
He was a little horse.
(Hey, I still think that’s funny…)
And my (sort of) version of poop jokes travel that same sorry road. I’ll leave you with a slightly less, shall we say, wet one:
Why do ducks have feathers?
To cover their butt quacks.
Don’t say I never gave you nothin’.
Dear "old man" I hear you. In our family Josh tested positive for Covid after having it once and getting a second booster; Paul got pneumonia, and David in Germany got the flu, then got a horrible cold from his daughters who came home from University for Xmas. So the holidays for all of us, as one member said, "sucked." But having three grandchildren upchucking is a whole other matter. And I think your futility to "get with it" comes with realizing we face a new age, one that, at our age, we can't quite embrace. And–––that's the way of it as the Irish are wont to say––and did for decades.
Akhilleus,
Thanks. Gave me a chance to re-explain puns to the now recovering boys, six and eight.
One of their current favorites is the answer "Because "seven, eight ten" to the question "Why was six afraid of seven?" and your contributions fit neatly.
And rest assured, I've never said you give me nuttin.
Ken,
Well, you can regale the boys with these:
What did the librarian say to the clock?
Don’t tock so loudly.
What do you say to the person who invented zero?
Thanks for nothing!
Why did the spider turn on his computer?
To check his web site.
I’ve always heard from the literary Matty Matures about how puns are the lowest form of humor, to which I say “You’re only young once, but you can always be immature.”
And remember. A pun is not matured until it’s fully groan.
So there.
Enjoy those little men!
Thanks for the jokes!! Henry the seven-year-old enjoyed them and actually knew a couple of them.. And I enjoyed thinking about something other than GQP perfidy and selfish evilness.
Did you hear about the pathetic little zoo? All they have is a dog.
It’s a shih tzu…
I love puns…