;)
December 9, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Last night Chris Hayes remarked on something that we also noticed here yesterday:
~~~ Marie: It's worth noting, of course, that Trump & his violent revolutionary troops had many co-conspirators who wore nice suits to the insurrection: eight Republican senators & 139 Republican representatives voted to reject the Arizona's and/or Pennsylvania's lawfully-chosen Electors. When a vast number of the very people elected to uphold our democracy choose to upend it, we cannot be all surprised that our country does not do as good a job as Germany or Peru in putting down attempted coups.
Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Washington was set to hear arguments at a closed-door hearing on Friday about whether to force a representative of Donald J. Trump's presidential office to swear under oath that there are no more classified documents at any of Mr. Trump's properties, according to two people familiar with the matter. The judge, Beryl A. Howell, is also being asked to decide whether to impose financial penalties or issue a contempt finding if no one from Mr. Trump's office agrees to formally vow that, to the best of their knowledge, all of the classified materials he took from the White House when he left office last year have been returned to the government. The hearing, in Federal District Court in Washington, is being held at the request of federal prosecutors who asked Judge Howell in recent days to declare Mr. Trump in contempt of court for failing to obey a grand jury subpoena that was issued in May seeking the return of all of the classified records in his office's possession. The request by the government came after months of frustration with the former president and his lawyers, who have repeatedly made assurances to prosecutors that the sensitive materials had all been returned -- only to find out there were more."
Paul Campos speculates in LG&$ on Kyrsten Sinema's (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." ~~~
~~~ 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." ~~
~~~ 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." ~~~
~~~ 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."
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."
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."
~~~~~~~~~~
Niha Masih of the Washington Post: "WNBA star Brittney Griner landed in [San Antonio, Texas] early Friday after being released in a prisoner swap with Russia.... Her wife, Cherelle Griner, and her parents are expected to meet the Olympic gold medalist at a medical facility in San Antonio where she will be taken upon arrival, a senior administration official told CNBC on Thursday." ~~~
~~~ No doubt you remember way back when all Americans celebrated the return of POWs & other Americans detained by adversaries, even if we often held our noses at the compromises the U.S. had to make to get those detainees back home. Well, as Akhilleus pointed out at the end of yesterday's thread, that was then. This is now: ~~~
~~~ Lydia O'Connor of the Huffington Post: "Republicans and right-wing media figures have found a litany of reasons to be mad about the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was freed in a prisoner swap Thursday after nearly a year in the Kremlin's clutches. Much of their rhetoric centers on the bigoted assertion that Griner ― a Black, gay athlete who has been vocal about police brutality and racial justice ― is anti-American for being outspoken in politics, and therefore unworthy of rescue by the Biden administration.... Donald Trump had one of the most aggressive attacks Thursday, writing on his social media platform ... that Griner is 'a basketball player who openly hates our Country' and that it was a '"stupid" and unpatriotic embarrassment for the USA' to free her in exchange for Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer. His comments were a not-so-subtle reference to Griner's participation in protests against police brutality.... Others suggested Griner was less worthy of release than Paul Whelan, an ex-Marine who has been detained in Russia since 2018 on accusations of being a spy.... 'Why wasn't former Marine Paul Whelan included in this totally one-sided transaction? He would have been let out for the asking,' insisted Trump, who stayed silent on Whelan throughout his presidency. [MB: Russia refused to release Whelan under any conditions.] 'So [Biden] just traded an enemy who smuggles guns and helps shoot Americans for an American who smuggles drugs and shoots basketballs, all while a former US Marine, Paul Whelan, rots in a Russian prison,' Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) tweeted." ~~~
~~~ Alex Gangitano of the Hill: "The White House stressed on Thursday that it is committed to bringing home former Marine Paul Whelan and will remain vigilant over Viktor Bout's release amid a backlash of criticism over a prisoner swap deal that released WNBA star Brittney Griner from months of detention in Russia.... When asked if Russia got a better deal in the swap, [press secretary Karine] Jean-Pierre said, 'Our choice was Brittney or no one at all.'... In an interview with CNN from a Russian prison, Whelan said he was surprised he was not included in the swap but seemed to agree that it was because Russia is holding him to a different standard because of the espionage charges against him."
On Pearl Harbor Day, President Biden welcomed World War II veterans to the White House:
Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The House on Thursday gave final approval to legislation to mandate federal recognition for same-sex marriages, with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers voting in favor of the measure in the waning days of the Democratic-led Congress. With a vote of 258-169, the landmark legislation cleared Congress, sending it to President Biden to be signed into law and capping an improbable path for a measure that only months ago appeared to have little chance at enactment. Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the tally triumphantly, banging the gavel repeatedly as if to applaud as members of the House cheered." An NBC News report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed an $858 billion defense policy bill that would rescind the Pentagon's mandate that troops receive the coronavirus vaccine, pushing past the objections of the Biden administration as lawmakers in both parties united behind another huge increase in military spending." ~~~
~~~ Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration fumed Wednesday at the near-certainty that Congress will strip away the Defense Department's requirement that all military personnel be vaccinated against the coronavirus, upending a politically divisive policy that has led to the dismissal of nearly 8,500 service members and numerous lawsuits disputing its fairness. The agreement, brokered as part of the Pentagon's next spending bill, was celebrated by Republicans as a victory for individual choice. It comes despite opposition from President Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who characterized the vaccine mandate as a way of protecting troops from covid-19 and preventing sprawling outbreaks that sideline entire units, undermine the military's readiness and endanger national security.... One senior defense official said that when service members 'inevitability get sick, and if they should die, it will be on the Republicans who insisted upon this.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ann Marimow & Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Evangelical minister Robert L. Schenck recruited wealthy Christian couples to serve as 'stealth missionaries' at the Supreme Court for about two decades, forging friendships with conservative justices to 'bolster' their views, particularly on abortion, Schenck told the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday. 'Our overarching goals were to gain insight into the conservative justices' thinking and to shore up their resolve to render solid, unapologetic opinions,' Schenck said, describing the mission of the influence campaign he dubbed 'Operation Higher Court.' In written testimony, Schenck, who in recent years has broken with the religious right over issues including abortion and gun rights, said he encouraged his recruits to use tactics like donations to the Supreme Court Historical Society to meet justices -- and to parlay those encounters into deeper relationships to achieve their objectives. Some recruits wrote amicus briefs in cases before the court, his testimony says.... He was subpoenaed to testify as part of an effort by Democrats on the Judiciary Committee to strengthen ethics rules for justices, who -- unlike lower court judges -- are not bound by any code of conduct and are responsible for policing themselves." ~~~
~~~ Marie: That last bit isn't precisely true, according to Laurence Tribe, who appeared on Lawrence O'Donnell's MSNBC show last night. Tribe cited two statues that do "bind justices to a code of conduct"; the problem is that there is no enforcing mechanism & no penalty when a justice refuses to abide by the statute. Tribe said that the solution is to "get better justices."
Senate's Drama Queen Retains Her Crown. Jeremy Herb of CNN: "Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is leaving the Democratic Party and registering as a political independent, she told CNN's Jake Tapper in an ... interview.... Sinema's move away from the Democratic Party is unlikely to change the power balance in the next Senate. Democrats will have a narrow 51-49 majority that includes two independents who caucus with them: Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine. While Sanders and King formally caucus with Democrats, Sinema declined to explicitly say that she would do the same. She did note, however, that she expects to keep her committee assignments -- a signal that she doesn't plan to upend the Senate composition, since Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer controls committee rosters for Democrats.... Sinema wrote an op-ed in the Arizona Republic released Friday explaining her decision, noting that her approach in the Senate has 'upset partisans in both parties.'" MB: Oh, somewhere Mitch is smiling.
Charlie Savage & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Thursday brought to an end a special master's review of sensitive documents the F.B.I. had seized from ... Donald J. Trump's private club and residence in Florida, concluding a court fight that had delayed the Justice Department's investigation for nearly three months. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta acted after Mr. Trump's lawyers chose not to contest its decision last week shutting down a lawsuit by Mr. Trump that had imposed a special master. The court had given him a week to challenge the decision before it took effect. The move ended the special master's review and lifted an injunction that had blocked prosecutors from using the seized materials as evidence. The step formally removed a significant obstacle to the inquiry...." CNN's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: It may seem surprising that Trump didn't appeal the court's decision just to delay the inevitable. After all, it's a ploy he has used innumerable times. But Trump declared his presidential candidacy a few weeks ago, & the RNC has said it could no longer pay his legal bills. Sure, there are tens of millions available to Trump in some scam PACs. But Trump likely considers the PAC money his own, so he's less enthusiastic about squandering it. And maybe he's noticed even the special master is costing him. According to the Times report, Trump already has to pay for three month's of his work, as well as ancillary costs.
Basta! Spencer Hsu, et al., of the Washington Post: "Prosecutors have urged a federal judge [-- Beryl Howell --] to hold Donald Trump's office in contempt of court for failing to fully comply with a May subpoena to return all classified documents in his possession, according to people familiar with the matter -- a sign of how contentious the private talks have become over whether the former president still holds any secret papers.... One of the key areas of disagreement centers on the Trump legal team's repeated refusal to designate a custodian of records to sign a document attesting that all classified materials have been returned to the federal government.... If the judge were to agree [to hold Trump's team in contempt], the most likely scenario would be a daily fine until the demands of the contempt motion are met." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An ABC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Stephen Ryan, a defense lawyer, told the WashPo that a normal business has a records custodian, but Trump doesn't have one: "The department is in effect asking for something that doesn't exist," Ryan said. Marie: But really, no matter what, would you agree to be Trump's "custodian of records"? What if somebody found, say, top-secret designs for the stealth bomber down at the West Palm Beach U-Stor after the "custodian of records" had signed a sworn affidavit that all classified materials had been returned to the DOJ? A perfectly plausible scenario, frankly. Maybe Trump thought the pictures were cool. Maybe he wanted to share him with one of his children or some Saudi friends. Seems to me the custodian could be charged with a crime or fined and if a custodian were a lawyer, she would lose her law license.
Lock 'em Up. Annie Grayer, et al., of CNN: "The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection is considering criminal referrals for at least four individuals in addition to ... Donald Trump, multiple sources told CNN. The panel is weighing criminal referrals for former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, right wing lawyer John Eastman, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani...."
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The 2022 election was more or less a status-quo election. But the small shifts had some rather significant consequences. The nine seats House Republicans gained was modest, compared with midterms over the past century, but it was enough for the party to reclaim the chamber. And in the Senate, Democrats surprised most everyone by actually gaining a seat.... But perhaps nowhere were small, targeted victories as key as they were in the battle for state government. As in the Senate, Democrats notched important victories that allowed them to expand their control, despite an environment that narrowly tilted in the GOP's favor. And in the end, Democrats are now in better shape in state government than at any point since the 2010 election.... Despite Republicans winning slightly more seats overall, it was Democrats who were able to flip chambers. They took over four: both chambers in Michigan, and the state Houses in both Minnesota and Pennsylvania."
Mark Maske, et al., of the Washington Post: "Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder evaded questions by saying more than 100 times that he did not know or could not recall information and gave 'misleading' answers when he testified remotely in July as part of a congressional investigation of his team's workplace, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform said Thursday in its final report after a nearly 14-month probe. The 79-page report on the Democratic-led investigation gave the strongest indication yet that the team or someone working on its behalf leaked the inflammatory emails that prompted Congress to get involved in October 2021. According to the report, former team president Bruce Allen testified to the committee that a top NFL official told him the team's 'side' leaked the emails that led to Jon Gruden's resignation as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders."
Oliver Darcy of CNN: "A 24-hour strike at The New York Times, a historic demonstration in which more than 1,100 employees are expected to participate, began Thursday at midnight, after management and the union representing staffers failed to reach an agreement for a new contract after more than a year and a half of negotiating.... The NewsGuild of New York, which represents journalists and other staffers at The Times, said in a statement that the walkout was 'due to the company's failure to bargain in good faith, reach a fair contract agreement with the workers, and meet their demands.' The act of protest, which has not been staged by employees at the newspaper of record in decades, will leave many of its major desks depleted of their staff, creating a challenge for the news organization that millions of readers rely on." (Also linked yesterday.)
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "A new examination by Senate Democrats of how the federal government bungled its early response to the coronavirus pandemic faults ... Donald J. Trump and his administration for numerous missteps while also laying blame on 'multiple systemic problems' that long predated his time in office. The 241-page report, released on Thursday, was produced by the Democratic staff of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.... The report cited inadequate funding, supply chain vulnerabilities, overlapping government roles and other problems that it said 'have been flagged by experts and oversight agencies for years, yet have been largely overlooked by all branches of the federal government.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
Colorado. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "The person accused of opening deadly fire in an L.G.B.T.Q. nightclub in Colorado last month had earlier felony charges dropped because family members who the authorities say had been threatened with weapons, ammunition and a homemade bomb would not cooperate with prosecutors, the chief prosecutor in Colorado Springs said on Thursday.... Asked if a red-flag order last year could have prevented the defendant from legally buying more weapons, [D.A. Michael] Allen noted that an initial, temporary order lasts only 14 days. Securing a yearlong order requires meeting a higher burden of proof. 'I don't think based on the conduct of the witnesses in this case that they would have been successful on that,' he said."
Florida. Zoë Richards of NBC: News: "The Florida state representative who sponsored legislation opponents dubbed the 'Don't Say Gay' bill resigned Thursday, a day after he was accused of fraudulently obtaining tens of thousands of dollars from a federal Covid-relief program. State Rep. Joseph Harding, a Republican, said his resignation would be 'effective immediately.' He has been indicted on a slew of charges, including wire fraud, money laundering, making false statements and other crimes."
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russian President Vladimir Putin doubled down on attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine. He accused Kyiv of provoking the strikes, which have battered the country's power grid. 'Yes, we are doing this. But who started it?' Putin asked Thursday, highlighting the attack on Russia's prized Crimea Bridge. International condemnation 'will not prevent us from completing our military objectives,' he said." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
U.K. Megan Specia of the New York Times: "Anne Sacoolas, an American who fled Britain in 2019 after fatally striking a teenager with her car, has been handed an eight-month suspended sentence, which likely means she will never face time behind bars. Ms. Sacoolas, who was a U.S. government employee at the time of the crash, was driving on the wrong side of the road in Croughton in central England on Aug. 27, 2019, when she struck 19-year-old Harry Dunn, who was riding a motorcycle. He died a short time later at the hospital. Ms. Sacoolas pled guilty by video link in October to causing Mr. Dunn's death by careless driving."
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Reader Comments (20)
A walk out at the Times? No problem. Editors can simply recycle some of the paper’s many, many both-sides stories. Or maybe a few dozen of those old chestnuts “Let’s all try to understand those poor Trump voters”, replete with 12,000 word interviews with Wingers in Red State Diners. That oughta chew up some major column inches.
As the anti-democracy traitors on the high court gleefully considered handing full control of federal elections to their brothers and sisters in treason by allowing legislatures to ignore state constitutions, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked an important question the traitors will have a hard time answering:
“I guess I don’t understand how you can cut the state constitution out of the equation when it is giving the state legislature authority to exercise the legislative power.”
In other words, state constitutions created the legislatures that now want to functionally throw out the documents that empowered them. How is it possible to say “We can do whatever we want because we have the power to do so” while at the same time effectively obliterating the legal construct that created you?
Don’t worry. The traitors won’t bother worrying their little Nazi heads about this essential ontological question. Ontology demands rigor. When it comes to democracy, the only kind of rigor sought by the traitors is rigor mortis.
Breaking News?
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/politics/kyrsten-sinema-leaves-democratic-party/index.html
Was for me early this AM.
But on second thought?
Guess I'm allowed to have one....Sinema did.
Say, what if the Congress passed & the president signed a bill into law that limited the terms of Supreme Court justices, called for a reasonable mandatory retirement age, and so forth? THEN the Supreme Court -- for good or specious reasons -- declared the law unconstitutional? (I guess the plaintiff would be Clarence Thomas, because he would have standing, but of course he would not recuse himself!)
@Ken Winkes: Question: will Arizona Democrats choose a different Senate candidate? We'll see. Sinema's term ends in 2025; so this looks like a good chance for a GOP Senate pickup in a year when Democrats are in bad shape even without the Sinema shenanigans.
Sinema, a conniving creep, waited for the outcome in Georgia before making this, what I’m sure is a completely “honest and sincere” (*cough, cough*) switch to “independent”. Had Warnock lost, she might have been able to retain some of her unearned power. But now that things turned out differently, she has decided to say “Fuck the country, fuck the Democrats. I have to do what’s best for Krysten!”
So, as an (*ahem*) independent, she can demand that Democrats continue to deliver the tribute she believes is her due, otherwise she votes with the traitors (of which she is a great example). And now she can weasel concessions out of those traitors as well, if a vote is close.
I’m thinking Shakespeare should have written “First, let’s kill all the slimy politicians”.
@Akhilleus: CNN aired part of Sinema's interview with Tapper this morning, and it's a good thing I can't afford a new TV or I would have punched the one I have. She is reputed to be very smart, so when she says stuff, as she did, like, "Well, I'm representing Arizonans, and they don't care about Senate rules & party politics," it's clear to me she's just a complete fake. Obviously, she knows those little "Senate rules" affect every outcome, & not just the final votes on legislation.
So what you said.
Ran across this story the other day ( must have missed it). A restaurant in Virginia was set to host a large party until a member of the staff looked up the group, the Family Foundation, and discovered they were a far-right Christianist group that routinely advocates against the right of women to choose how to live their lives, and the right of LGBTQ folks to have, well, any rights at all. So the restaurant owner told the bigots, sorry, no can do.
Of course, outrage ensued. You see, these people can discriminate against any groups they hate, but no one can do that to them.
Which leads me to wonder, why couldn’t many more businesses tell these assholes to fuck off because their political stances endanger lives and make the nation less safe and civil.
How about American Indian tribes telling these people to forget traveling through their areas or visiting their casinos? After all, it was Christian missionaries who abused their ancestors and deprived them of their cultural heritage through forced conversion.
I’m sure the religious bigots on the Supreme Court would also be outraged because only far-right Christian groups can legally discriminate against anyone they decide isn’t “biblical”.
How about a little of their own medicine? And as legal scholars have pointed out, this would not be discrimination based on religion. Not all Christians are assholes. But groups like these Family Foundation pricks, could be excluded from one’s business purely on the basis of their political positions.
And if they don’t like it, they can complain to Alito’s Black Santa.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/12/06/metzger-restaurant-family-foundation/
Marie,
Yeah, Sinema is a conniving creep. I see where she said that her positions have pissed off both Democrats and Republicans, as if that somehow proves her non-partisanship bona fides.
Puh-leeeze! Republicans hate her? I’m betting most of them have big cheesecake posters of her on their bedroom walls like teenage boys used to ogle posters of Farrah Fawcett back in the day. Republicans LOVE how she and Joe (I’m the King) Manchin screwed Biden and the Democrats on a regular basis.
It’s one thing to use whatever leverage you have to help pass legislation you honestly believe will help your constituents. It’s a much different thing when your only constituent is yourself.
https://newrepublic.com/post/169392/full-list-republicans-vote-
against-same-sex-marriage
A full list of all Republicans who voted against protecting same-sex
marriage.
I personally know the brother of one of them. He worked for us
occasionally after the family fired him from the family business.
Guess lots of R's put money before family. Is that why they're called
conservatives?
Forgot to mention that the fired brother is gay.
Marie: that hypothetical "Say what?" law, term limiting SC justices, would not ever get to the SCOTUS for judicial review -- it would be facially unconstitutional (since Article III says they "... shall hold their offices during good behaviour ...". It would be axed by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell in a DC minute. So, Clarence & Friends would not have to sweat any conflicts of interest. Not that he would anyway.
While we're talking SCOTUS and Clarence, and his earlier stated thought that maybe the same sex marriage right ought to be reviewed a la Roe v. Wade, the very next article in the Constitution, Art. IV, is the one that starts off, from the very tippy-top (meaning: IMPORTANT because first section in the article, according to thought-like opinions of constitutional scholar-thinkers):
"Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof." (capitalizations sic)
What this means is that the constitution has said all along that each state needs to recognize the validity of marriages recognized in any state -- and this is the basis for Obergefell. Clarence knows that -- so why did he say that Obergefell might need review? He has perhaps confused it with the Texas case recognizing the right to privacy of same-sex lovers, because he believes Roe wrongly recognized a right to privacy? Who knows.
But the law recently passed in congress is simply the second half of that first section of Article IV -- the "... Congress ...(prescribing) ... the manner ..." whereby states recognize the legitimacy of marriages. Such a law may seem superfluous given the clarity of Article IV, but, as my Mom used to say, "Repetitio mater studiorum."
One other thing about the Griner situation.
Confederates are all up in arms about how Biden is leaving a white male hero there to rot in favor of bringing home a “black lesbian drug addict” (anything to get even more pissed off).
But here’s the thing. Paul Whelan was in Russian custody for two years during the administration of one Donald Trump, Putin kissy face BFF, and self described stable genius and master negotiator.
How come the usual assholes aren’t whining about how Fatty did nothing to secure his release? And that was before Putin’s Ukraine debacle, when it would have been much easier to negotiate some kind of deal. That is, if we had a president whose first thought wasn’t always and ever “What’s in it for me?”
More on why RR's can deny sick leave to their workers...and why they are not subject to state sick leave provisions...
https://crosscut.com/news/2022/12/why-cant-wa-rail-workers-use-state-sick-leave?
And another irony likely lost on the Right:
Their complaints about an avowedly gay Griner's release from Russian prison follow closely on the day the Respect for Marriage Act became the law of the land.
Another instance of conservatives being far behind the times and not much liking it.
About Peru:
Will retain my skepticism for a while on this one.
Peru's narrowly elected left-wing president was embattled from the beginning of his term, and since I have not been able to determine exactly who and what he was fighting against, while I'm no fan of coups, I want to know more before I jump all over him or decide if we've just witnessed from far too far away an attempted coup from the Left or a successful coup from the Right...
This post has a flow chart on when it is okay for Democratic Presidents to make a deal to bring an American home. Damned if they do, damned if the don't.
Sinema’s provenance as a Green Party doobie is fitting (and predictable as an aid to treason). Recall that the hugely egotistical and worthless candidacy of Green Party hack Jill Stein gave us Donald Trump in 2016.
It’s all about me, me, me, what’s in it for me?
Interesting how not a week goes by that some other Party of Traitors asshole is indicted, arrested, has their law license suspended, or shown to be a textbook example of rank hypocrisy and criminality. Look at that Florida douchebag who beat his chest about how moral he was and put through the Don’t Say Gay bill that bigot DeSantis hopes will propel him into the Don’t Say Gay White House.
This traitor was particularly evil, setting up fake companies to steal money earmarked for Covid relief. I’m guessing his next legislative effort will be a Don’t Say Fraud bill.
"actually the I in Sinema (I-AZ) is just the pronoun"
RAS,
Quite.