February 15, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Vladimir Isachenkov & Yuras Karmanau of the AP: "President Joe Biden on Tuesday said the U.S. has 'not yet verified' Russia's claim that some of its forces have withdrawn from the Ukraine border and said an invasion of Ukraine remains a distinct possibility. Biden made the remarks at the White House hours after Russia announced that some units participating in military exercises near Ukraine's borders would begin returning to their bases. Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier Tuesday said Russia was ready for talks with the United States and NATO on military transparency, missile deployment limits and other security issues. But Biden continued to express skepticism about Russia's intentions. Biden warned again that if Russia invades Ukraine the U.S. 'will rally the world to oppose its aggression.'" ~~~

~~~ President Biden addressed the nation -- and the world -- about the Russia/Ukraine crisis:

Christina Jewett & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Senate on Tuesday narrowly confirmed Dr. Robert Califf as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, a key federal agency that has been without a permanent chief for more than a yearlong stretch of the coronavirus pandemic. The vote was 50-to-46, with six Republicans crossing the aisle to support him while five Democrats opposed him. One senator voted present. In recent weeks, Dr. Califf's odds of a second confirmation looked increasingly long as opposition mounted over concerns about how he would respond to the opioid epidemic and the agency's handling of abortion drug rules. The White House responded by trying to rally support in Congress and among other allies, with mainstream medical societies and a bipartisan group of six former F.D.A. commissioners coming to Dr. Califf's defense.... Senators in both parties, ranging from liberal Democrats leery of his ties to the pharmaceutical industry to conservative Republicans in lock step with the anti-abortion movement, posed formidable opposition."

Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee boycotted and delayed a Tuesday vote on the White House;s nominees for the Federal Reserve to try to slow the confirmation process and thwart the candidacy of President Biden's pick for banking regulator. The GOP opposition has coalesced on Sarah Bloom Raskin, a former Federal Reserve governor who has pledged to focus on the ways climate change threatens financial stability and the overall economy.... Despite the focus on Raskin, Tuesday's boycott halts progress on filling vacancies on the seven-seat Federal Reserve Board, including the confirmation process for Biden's renomination of Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell, who has broad support among Republicans and Democrats.... Republicans can block votes from happening in Senate committees, which are ... divided evenly between the parties, by refusing to attend, thus denying a quorum."

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Rep. Kathleen Rice (N.Y.) said Tuesday that she would not seek reelection, becoming the 30th House Democrat to announce a planned exit from the chamber ahead of what could be bruising midterm elections for their party in November." Politico's story is here.

Elahi Izadi & Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "A jury ruled against [link fixed] Sarah Palin in her libel case against the New York Times, one day after the judge said he would toss out her claim, saying she had not met the high legal standard required in libel cases involving public figures and journalists. The jury's decision conforms with the one made by U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff. On Monday, he told lawyers for Palin and the Times that he would formally dismiss the former Alaska governor's claim once the jury returned its verdict." At 3 pm ET, this is a breaking story that will be updated. A Politico item is here.

Rick Rojas & Karen Zraick of the New York Times: "Families of people killed in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., said on Tuesday that they had reached a $73 million settlement in their lawsuit against the maker of the AR-15-style weapon the gunman used in the attack. The agreement, reached with the families of five children and four adults who were killed, appears to be the largest such settlement involving a gun maker and relatives of mass shooting victims. It also represents a significant setback to the firearm industry because the lawsuit, by employing a novel strategy, pierced the vast shield enshrined in federal law protecting gun companies from litigation. The families contended that Remington, the gun maker, violated state consumer law by promoting the weapon in a way that appealed to so-called couch commandoes and troubled young men like the gunman who stormed into the elementary school on Dec. 14, 2012, killing 20 first graders and six adults in a spray of gunfire." An ABC News story is here.

Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "Prince Andrew, the disgraced second son of Queen Elizabeth II, has settled a lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, a woman who had accused him of raping her when she was a teenage victim of Andrew's friend, the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a new court filing in Manhattan on Tuesday. The amount that Andrew, 61, will pay Ms. Giuffre is confidential, the parties said in a joint statement attached to the filing. Andrew also 'intends to make a substantial donation' to a charity 'in support of victims' rights,' the statement says. The deal comes just weeks before Andrew was scheduled to sit for a deposition, in which he would have been questioned under oath by Ms. Giuffre's lawyers. Andrew did not admit to any of Ms. Giuffre's accusations against him in the statement announcing the settlement." CNN's report is here.

Nomaan Merchant of the AP: "U.S. intelligence officials on Tuesday accused a conservative financial news website with a significant American readership of amplifying Kremlin propaganda and alleged five media outlets targeting Ukrainians have taken direction from Russian spies. The officials said Zero Hedge, which has 1.2 million Twitter followers, published articles created by Moscow-controlled media that were then shared by outlets and people unaware of their nexus to Russian intelligence. The officials did not say whether they thought Zero Hedge knew of any links to spy agencies and did not allege direct links between the website and Russia.... In a response posted online Tuesday morning, the website said it 'has never worked, collaborated or cooperated with Russia, nor are there any links to spy agencies.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't know much about economics, but I have long been skeptical of Zero Hedge, tho certainly not because I suspected they were publishing Russian propaganda. Some Reality Chex readers have occasionally recommended opinion pieces they found on Zero Hedge, and I've left my response at "Uh-huh."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Tuesday are here.

Canada. Andy Blatchford of Politico: "Ottawa's police chief has resigned on day 19 of a trucker protest in the core of Canada's capital city. Since the start of the crisis, Peter Sloly and his department have come under fire from city councilors and Ottawa residents for failing to respond decisively to demonstrations that have attracted global attention.... The demonstrations have tormented local residents, who have started to push back with counter protests. Many have complained about their evaporating faith in Ottawa;s police force and in Canada's public institutions in general."

Kentucky. Andrew Wolfson of the Louisville Courier Journal: "A Louisville activist has been identified as a suspect in Monday's attempted shooting of mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg. Quintez Brown, 21, was charged with attempted murder and four counts of wanton endangerment after Greenberg was shot at in his campaign headquarters Monday morning in Butchertown, LMPD spokeswoman Elizabeth Ruoff said late Monday. Brown, a civil rights activist, is a former intern and editorial columnist for The Courier Journal.... Brown was an MLK Scholar at [the University of Louisville] and is the founder of From Fields to Arena, a group committed to providing political education and violence prevention training to youths engaged in hip-hop and athletics.... He recently announced he would run for Metro Council in District 5." Related story linked below.

~~~~~~~~~~

Robyn Dixon, et al., of the Washington Post: "NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday he sees reason for 'cautious optimism' after Moscow signaled willingness to continue talks to resolve the crisis over Ukraine, and Russia said some of its troops were returning to base. But the NATO chief noted no signs of Russian de-escalation 'on the ground.'" Politico's story is here.

Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday said that he has been informed that Russia will attack on Wednesday. The comments from the Ukrainian leader [were] made in an address to his nation posted on Facebook.... Zelensky wrote in a statement on Facebook that Ukraine will hold a Day of Unity on Wednesday. He said the relevant decree has already been signed. 'We are told that February 16 will be the day of the attack,' he said, according to a Facebook translation of his comments." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Alexander Smith of NBC News: "Hours after he issued a global statement saying he had heard Russia would attack his country on Feb. 16, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a clarification of his prediction Monday, explaining that he was referring only to media reports of a possible attack." ~~~

~~~ David Martin of CBS News: "Russia has moved some long-range artillery and rocket launchers into firing position, threatening Ukraine, according to a U.S. official. Some Russian units have left their assembly areas -- the bumper-to-bumper formations seen in satellite photos -- and are beginning to move into 'attack positions,' according to the official. This movement marks a change since Sunday, when some of the units had left the assembly areas but had not yet taken what could be viewed as attack positions." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, Robyn Dixon, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putin left the door open Monday to further talks with Western leaders on his efforts to end NATO's open door policy, when his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the scope for dialogue was 'far from exhausted' and called for intensified talks with Washington and NATO. Putin met Lavrov in the Kremlin Monday in what appeared to be a scripted moment on Russia's formal response to the rejection of its key security demands by Washington and NATO -- including its demand that the alliance bar Ukraine from ever joining. Putin opposed 'the endless, in our opinion, and very dangerous expansion of NATO to the East,' but supported the Foreign Ministry's conclusion on a need to keep talking, RIA Novosti reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov." An AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Accountant Fires Dodgy Client. Ben Protess & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's longtime accounting firm abruptly cut ties with his family business last week amid ongoing criminal and civil investigations into whether Mr. Trump illegally inflated the value of his assets, court documents filed on Monday show. In a letter to the Trump Organization on Feb. 9, the accounting firm notified the company of its decision and disclosed that it could no longer stand behind annual financial statements it prepared for Mr. Trump. The firm, Mazars USA, compiled the financial statements based on information the former president and his company provided. The letter instructed the Trump Organization to essentially retract the documents, known as statements of financial condition, from 2011 to 2020.... Given what [Mazars] called 'the totality of circumstances,' the letter directed the Trump Organization to notify anyone who received the statements that they should no longer rely on them." An NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sarah Fortinsky, et al., of CNN: "Rudy Giuliani has been engaging with the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection through his lawyer about the scope of his subpoena and whether he may be able to comply with some requests. The panel is making clear that it still expects Giuliani, a central figure in ... Donald Trump's failed bid to overturn the 2020 election, to 'cooperate fully' with its subpoena. CNN reported last week that Giuliani was among four witnesses scheduled to appear before the committee on Tuesday who had their depositions rescheduled."

Katelyn Polantz & Chandelis Duster of CNN: "A conservative lawyer who worked with ... Donald Trump has turned over thousands of pages of emails to the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection but is withholding thousands of others, according to court filing Sunday. John Eastman, a law professor who helped craft Trump's false argument that the 2020 election was stolen, has turned over nearly 8,000 pages of emails to the committee while holding back about 11,000 pages because it is what he calls privileged material. The new numbers come before Eastman and House attorneys meet with a federal judge Monday afternoon about the ongoing dispute over a subpoena of Eastman's Chapman University email account.... Eastman still has to sort through an additional 48,000 pages." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "U.S. District Court Judge James Carter ordered Eastman to review 1,500 pages per day and determine whether any privileges apply. Carter, wh has emphasized the urgency of the Jan. 6 investigation, required Eastman to produce a daily log of documents he is withholding to give committee investigators a chance to object to his privilege claims. Carter has said he intends to review any disputed documents as Eastman nears completion of his full review." House Counsel Douglas Letter has questioned Eastman's attorney-client relationship with Trump. Eastman has not provided any written evidence of a retainer agreement or other formalization of an agreement. MB: A lawyer can't just claim an attorney-client privilege because it's convenient to do so.

Joe Manchin Is Still a Dick. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Monday said he would not support confirming another nominee selected by President Biden for the Supreme Court immediately before the 2024 presidential election, clarifying remarks he'd made earlier about the midterm elections. Manchin said he would prefer to wait until the country knows who will occupy the White House in 2025. Manchin walked back the comment he made earlier afternoon indicating that he would not support confirming a second Biden nominee to the Supreme Court if another vacancy occurs shortly before the Nov. 8 midterm election.... That's the position he and other Democrats took in the fall of 2020 after Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September of that year." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Manchin said it would be hypocritical for him to confirm a Biden nominee right before the 2024 election after he had opposed Republicans' approval of Trump's nominee while people were voting in the 2020 presidential election. That would be fine -- EXCEPT Republicans went ahead and did it, Joe, in case you didn't notice. ~~~

~~~ Theodoric Meyer & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: Joe Manchin's close friend Larry Puccio & other Manchin associates are cashing in on Manchin's power as a swing vote.

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times argues that we won't have another Civil War because the 19th-century war was largely about the money: "The growth of an avowedly antislavery public in the North wasn't just a challenge to the political influence of the slaveholding South; it also threatened to undermine the slave economy itself and thus the economic basis for Southern power." MB: I'm not sure I agree with his analysis. It's true that a new civil war would have some different causes from the last one, but the nature of white grievance isn't all that different: so many white people are economics-ignorant that they think minorities aren't "taking their jobs"; they're contributing to the economy in exactly the same way the lovely white people do. We've already had a violent insurrection that millions of Republicans think was justified. What's to say they won't think the same about a larger call to arms, led by an autocratic charismatic leader who will save them from the next Barack Obama? (Or his former vice president?) ~~~

~~~ For instance, right now Winger USA is going nuts over this: ~~~

~~~ Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "When John H. Durham, the Trump-era special counsel investigating the inquiry into Russia's 2016 election interference, filed a pretrial motion on Friday night, he slipped in a few extra sentences that set off a furor among right-wing outlets about purported spying on ... Donald J. Trump. But the entire narrative appeared to be mostly wrong or old news -- the latest example of the challenge created by a barrage of similar conspiracy theories from Mr. Trump and his allies." Savage explains the fake "spying" details & how right-wing media outlets -- and Trump, of course -- have misinterpreted & exaggerated Durham's filing.

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "A Navy nuclear engineer pleaded guilty Monday to charges he tried to sell nuclear secrets to a foreign country, and will likely spend at least a dozen years behind bars after admitting he conspired with his wife in the high-profile espionage case.... [Jonathan] Toebbe, 43, has been in custody since October, when FBI agents arrested him on charges that he and his wife, Diana, conspired to share 'restricted data,' a violation of the Atomic Energy Act that carries the possibility of a life sentence. Toebbe's Valentine's Day plea deal does not resolve the charges against his wife of more than 18 years who worked as a private-school teacher until her arrest. But it does undercut her claims of innocence."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A U.S. judge on Monday jailed a New York husband but set free his wife as they await trial on charges alleging they tried to launder $3.6 billion in stolen bitcoin. During a detention hearing Monday in Washington, the judge cited searches of the couple's apartment and office that yielded $40,000 in cash, more than 50 electronic devices and bitcoin wallets, hollowed-out books and a bag marked 'Burner Phone.' Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of Washington called the government's evidence against tech entrepreneur and dual U.S.-Russia citizen Ilya 'Dutch' Lichtenstein, 34, and his rapper wife, Heather Morgan, 31, 'so weighty as to be overwhelming.' In her decision, the judge pointed to what she called the electronic equivalent of a 'smoking gun' -- the encrypted key codes in Lichtensteins's cloud storage account that unlocked the largest single seizure of funds two weeks ago in Justice Department history.&"

Sorry, Sarah. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "A federal judge said Monday that he planned to dismiss Sarah Palin's libel lawsuit against The New York Times, ruling that her legal team had failed to meet the extremely high legal standard required to prove that the newspaper defamed her when it published a 2017 editorial erroneously linking her to a mass shooting. The move came as the jury was still behind closed doors in a Lower Manhattan courthouse deliberating on the case. In an unexpected and unusual decision, the judge, Jed S. Rakoff, said he would allow the jury to continue working. If it rules in favor of Ms. Palin, he will set aside their verdict and dismiss the case, he said.... Ms. Palin is very likely to appeal. And his decision to allow the jury to continue weighing the evidence was intended to avoid any complications should the case continue moving through the federal courts.... Judge Rakoff [also] ... faulted The Times for a series of poor decisions that led to this point." ~~~

     ~~~ Politico's report is here. A Law & Crime story is here. See also Akhilleus' commentary in yesterday's Comments thread.

China to Make an Unplanned Moon Landing. Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "On March 4, a human-made piece of rocket detritus will slam into the moon. But it turns out that it is not, as was previously stated in a number of reports, including by The New York Times, Elon Musk's SpaceX that will be responsible for making a crater on the lunar surface. Instead, the cause is likely to be a piece of a rocket launched by China's space agency."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

New York. Amanda Eisenberg of Politico: "New York City fired 1,430 municipal workers after they refused to get fully vaccinated for Covid-19 or submit proof of their shots, City Hall confirmed Monday. That figure represents less than 1 percent of the city's 370,000-person workforce."

Canada. Rob Gillies & Ted Shaffrey of the AP: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has decided to invoke emergency powers to quell the protests by demonstrators who have paralyzed Ottawa and blocked border crossings in anger over the country's COVID-19 restrictions, a senior government official said Monday. The prime minister met virtually with the leaders of Canada's provinces and planned to address the nation late in the afternoon." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Justin Trudeau Is Tired of Trying to Reason with You People. Miriam Berger, et al., of the Washington Post: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, under mounting pressure to end the disruption caused by weekslong demonstrations against public health restrictions in the capital and on the border, on Monday became the first Canadian leader to invoke the country's Emergencies Act. The law, approved in 1988 but never before applied, gives the federal government sweeping authority to override provincial powers, to ban public assembly in certain locations and to remove people and property from prohibited spaces. Separately on Monday, police arrested 11 people and seized guns, body armor and 'a large quantity of ammunition' in Coutts, Alberta, one of several sites around Canada where demonstrators have been protesting vaccine mandates and other coronavirus restrictions, authorities said." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The CBC News story is here. The Toronto Star's report is here.

~~~ David Gilbert of Vice: "The Christian crowdfunding site that helped raise $8.7 million for the anti-vax 'freedom convoy' in Canada was hacked on Sunday night, and the names and personal details of over 92,000 donors were leaked online. The database of 92,845 donors is no longer available on the site, but VICE News was able to review a copy of the data. While some of the donors did not provide their names -- such as the person behind the current top donation of $215,000 -- the vast majority did provide them, including American software billionaire Thomas Siebel, who donated $90,000...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ ** Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "The 'Freedom Convoy' has been marketed as a backlash by truckers angry about Covid-19 vaccination mandates. In reality, there don't seem to have been many truckers among the protesters at the bridge (about 90 percent of Canadian truckers are vaccinated).... So this ... [is] more like a slow-motion Jan. 6, a disruption caused by a relatively small number of activists, many of them right-wing extremists.... [The economic costs per day of the 'Freedom Convoy's demonstrations] roughly comparable to insurance industry estimates of total losses associated with the Black Lives Matter protests that followed the killing of George Floyd -- protests that seem to have involved more than 15 million people.... What [the fake trucker protest] is really about is an attempt to exploit pandemic weariness to boost the usual culture-war agenda. As you might expect, the U.S. right is loving it.... The right is perfectly fine, indeed enthusiastic, about illegal actions and disorder as long as they serve right-wing ends."

Beyond the Beltway

Seth Borenstein of the AP: "The American West's megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest in at least 1,200 years and is a worst-case climate change scenario playing out live, a new study finds. A dramatic drying in 2021 -- about as dry as 2002 and one of the driest years ever recorded for the region -- pushed the 22-year drought past the previous record-holder for megadroughts in the late 1500s and shows no signs of easing in the near future, according to a study Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study calculated that 42% of this megadrought can be attributed to human-caused climate change." A Washington Post report is here.

Colorado Secretary of State Race. Felicia Sonmez & Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "A Republican county clerk in Colorado who was stripped of her election-oversight duties last year after she allowed an outsider to copy voting-machine hard drives said Monday that she is launching a bid to become the state's top elections official. Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who has embraced the false claim that ... Donald Trump won the 2020 election, made the announcement during an appearance on former Trump White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon's 'War Room' podcast. Peters said she is running to 'restore trust' and 'put an end to government overreach in our election process.'... A Colorado judge in October barred Peters from overseeing her county's elections.... Peters was also arrested last week for allegedly resisting authorities' attempts to seize an iPad in an unrelated case. In the podcast interview Monday, Bannon called Peters 'an American hero' and likened her to Trump." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: For a while, Peters was hiding out in an undisclosed location provided by MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell. She has all the qualifications to make an excellent secretary of state.

Kentucky. Piper Blackburn & Bruce Schreiner of the AP: "A Democratic mayoral candidate in Kentucky's largest city said he is 'shaken but safe' after a man stormed his campaign headquarters Monday morning and fired a weapon point-blank at him. Craig Greenberg, who is running for mayor of Louisville, said he was at his campaign office with four colleagues when a man appeared in the doorway with a weapon. 'When we greeted him, he pulled out a gun, aimed directly at me and began shooting,' Greenberg said at a news conference several hours after the attack. The person closest to the door managed to get the door shut, he said. The staffers barricaded the door using 'tables and desks,' and the suspect fled, he said. 'Despite one bullet coming so close that it grazed my sweater and my shirt, no one was physically harmed,' Greenberg said.... The suspect was apprehended outside the building shortly after the shooting, Louisville Metro Police Chief Erika Shields said earlier. She concurred that Greenberg appeared to have been the target of the attack."

Minnesota. Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors concluded their case against three former Minneapolis police officers accused of violating George Floyd's civil rights with testimony from the teenage girl [-- Darnella Frazier --] whose viral Facebook video of the fatal arrest sparked worldwide protests."

Comments

[RAS]

Here's a description of Republicans that I can get behind,
"The GOP used to be evil like Lex Luthor (ruthless and corrupt businesspeople who want power) instead of evil like The Joker (chaotic, sociopathic death cultists). But with each concession the GOP has made to the worst elements of its base, it's moved a little further down that Joker path, which is also the path of of its toxic, bigoted messiah Donald Trump."

[P.D. Pepe]

RAS: Well, and it's NOT a joke–-those descriptions of the GOP pretty well sums it up. I agree with Marie re: Jamelle Boule's piece in which he argues that we won't have a Civil War––-what we are experiencing IS a civil war –-same colors but much more complicated.

The news of Trump's accounting firm cutting him and family off is the best news ever–--cut those ties that bind and in this case has caused the Family Trump to be in a much bigger bind. We wait with anticipation.

And then there's Tina Peters who has dabbled in disastrous doings and yet decides to run for a Colorado state election official. Hell, why not? In these days and times you could get elected president of the U.S. by showing how corrupt, self-absorbed, and bonkers you are and get millions of people to vote for you–––plus you could have Steve Bannon call you "An American Hero" just like Trump.

"For Americans to see ourselves as the center of political enlightenment and as teachers to a great part of the world [is] unthought-through, vainglorious and undesirable...this planet is never going to be ruled from any single political center, whatever its military power." George Kennan 1999