January 2, 2023
Late Morning Update:
The House January 6 Select Committee released more transcripts Monday. Links to those transcripts are here. ~~~
~~~ Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee has unloaded a vast database of its underlying evidence -- emails between Trump attorneys, text messages among horrified White House aides and outside advisers, internal communications among security and intelligence officials -- all coming to grips with Donald Trump's last-ditch effort to subvert the 2020 election and its disastrous consequences. The panel posted thousands of pages of evidence late Sunday in a public database that provide the clearest glimpse yet at the well-coordinated effort by some Trump allies to help Trump seize a second term he didn't win. Much of the evidence has never been seen before and, in some cases, adds extraordinary new elements to the case the select committee presented in public -- from voluminous phone records to contemporaneous text messages and emails.... Here's a look at some of the most extraordinary and important evidence in the select committee's files." MB: I'll be darned if I can find the database. The committee & the Googles are letting me down. Update: I'd say this is it.
The New York Times story on the Woes of Kevin, by Catie Edmondson, is here.
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Enjoy your day. Unless you care about the Woes of Kevin, there is no news in the land.
Melanie Zanona & Lauren Fox of CNN: "House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy outlined some of the concessions that he has agreed to in his campaign for speaker on a Sunday evening conference call -- including making it easier to topple the speaker, according to multiple GOP sources on the call. But McCarthy could not say whether he would have the votes for the speakership, even after giving in to some of the right's most hardline demands. Later Sunday evening, House Republicans unveiled their rules package for the 118th Congress, which formalizes some of the concessions that McCarthy has agreed to. The House adopts its rules package only after it selects a speaker, which McCarthy has not locked down, so there could be additional compromises made in the coming days."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Georgia. AP: "A Republican arrested after winning> his race for a seat in the Georgia House has decided to step aside instead of facing a possible suspension as soon as he was sworn into office later this month[.] The decision by Danny Rampey means a special election will be held on Jan. 31 to choose the new representative for the House seat based around Winder, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Rampey, 67, was arrested last month after investigators said he stole prescription narcotics at the retirement complex he manages."
Brazil. Jack Nicas & André Spigariol of the New York Times: "President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took the reins of the Brazilian government on Sunday in an elaborate inauguration, complete with a motorcade, music festival and hundreds of thousands of supporters filling the central esplanade of Brasília, the nation's capital. But ... the departing far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro..., [was missing. He] was supposed to pass Mr. Lula the presidential sash on Sunday, an important symbol of the peaceful transition of power in a nation where many people still recall the 21-year military dictatorship that ended in 1985.... Mr. Bolsonaro flew to Orlando on Friday night and plans to stay in Florida for at least a month.... In a sort of farewell address on Friday, breaking weeks of near silence, he said that he tried to block Mr. Lula from taking office but failed.... In an address to Congress on Sunday, Mr. Lula said that he would fight hunger and deforestation, lift the economy and try to unite the country. But he also took aim at his predecessor, saying that Mr. Bolsonaro had threatened Brazil's democracy."
Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Monday is here: "Key infrastructure facilities in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, were targeted by drones overnight, officials said. The assaults were part of the latest wave of attacks throughout the country over New Year's weekend that left at least four civilians dead.... Ukrainian forces shot down 45 drones on Sunday, [President Volodymyr] Zelensky said in his first nightly address of the new year.... Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin both discussed the war in their New Year's addresses, with Zelensky promising victory in 2023 and Putin giving an aggressive and nationalistic speech."
News Ledes
New York Times: "After days of pounding rain, winds and snow, Californians woke up to sunny skies and waterlogged streets on New Year's Day, scrambling to recover during a brief intermission before the next rainstorms that are forecast to hit the region later this week. Northern California bore the brunt of an intense 'atmospheric river' system that brought floods and landslides to parts of the West Coast on Saturday. On Sunday, rescuers were still plucking trapped passengers from submerged vehicles, while bloated rivers and creeks spilled over banks. Streets in downtown San Francisco were still draining after the city nearly broke its record for the most rainfall on a single day. The National Weather Service's downtown site recorded 5.46 inches on New Year's Eve, 0.08 inch shy of the 1994 record in more than 170 years of record keeping there -- and 46.8 percent of the monthly rainfall."
New York Times: "Anita Pointer, the sweet and occasionally sultry lead vocalist on many hits of her family band the Pointer Sisters in the 1970s and '80s, died on Saturday at home in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was 74."
Reader Comments (3)
""I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."
- Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America
Could Melanie have her status revoked for her involvement, or lack thereof, in Jan 6 (i.e. violating her oath for naturalization?) Maybe even for misprision?
@unwashed: Melanija Knauss, AKA Melania Trump, came here in
1996 on a visitor's visa. She worked illegally without a H-1B work
visa.
She was granted permanent residency under EB-1 Program for people
with "extraordinary abilities".
Those abilities were swimsuit modeling and posing nude.
I think our immigration laws are a little outdated, but I really don't
care, do you?
Forest: NO