;)
January 20, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "President Biden insisted Thursday that the United States would not accept even a 'minor incursion' of Ukraine by Russia, as the White House continued efforts to clarify Biden's remarks Wednesday suggesting that it might. 'I've been absolutely clear with President [Vladimir] Putin. He has no misunderstanding: Any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion,' Biden told reporters Thursday at the start of a White House event on infrastructure. Such an invasion would be met with a 'severe and coordinated economic response,' Biden added, noting that those consequences have been 'laid out very clearly for President Putin.... Let there be no doubt at all: If Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price,' Biden said. In the second news conference of his presidency Wednesday, Biden said..., 'It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera.... But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the force they've massed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine.' Biden was swiftly criticized for appearing to give a green light to Russia to attack Ukraine as long as it didn't amount to a full-scale invasion. Soon after, the White House issued a statement seeking to clarify Biden's comments...."
In today's Comments, contributor Jeanne has a good summary of how President Biden's press conference went Wednesday. I concur with her impressions.
Lots of bad news for Trump this afternoon.
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol sent a letter on Thursday to Ivanka Trump ... seeking her cooperation with its inquiry. The letter to Ms. Trump, who served as one of the president's senior advisers, comes after Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming and the vice chairwoman of the Jan. 6 select committee, said the panel had gathered evidence that Ms. Trump had implored her father to call off the violence as a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol. 'We know his daughter -- we have firsthand testimony -- that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence,' Ms. Cheney said in an interview on ABC News this month. The letter to Ivanka, linked above, is worth reading. CNN's story is here.
Beth Reinhard, et al., of the Washington Post: "On Dec. 14, 2020, the day of the electoral college vote, Republican electors convened in the capitals of five states that Joe Biden had won. They declared themselves 'duly elected and qualified' and sent signed certificates to Washington purporting to affirm Donald Trump as the actual victor. At the time, the gatherings in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin -- all states that had officially approved Biden electors -- were widely derided as political stunts.... Understanding the origins of the rival slates has now become a focus of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.... Internally, [Rudy] Giuliani oversaw the effort.... One of the people familiar with the plan said Giuliani was assisted at times by an anchor from the right-wing network One America News. The extent and particulars of the behind-the-scenes coordination -- and the refusal by some Trump electors to go along with the plan -- have not been previously reported. The campaign scrambled to help electors gain access to Capitol buildings, as is required in some states, and to distribute draft language for the certificates.... The campaign also worked to find replacements for the electors who were unable to participate, or unwilling.... The rival slates were leveraged as evidence in last-ditch efforts to give Vice President Mike Pence the ability to reject Biden's victory when he presided over the electoral vote count....&"
Zachary Cohen & Jason Morris of CNN: "A district attorney in Georgia investigating ... Donald Trump's effort to overturn election results in the state is requesting a special grand jury in an effort to gather information relevant to the probe, according to a letter sent to the court. This story is breaking and will be updated." MB: According to CNN on-air reports, the special grand jury is necessary to issue subpoenas to compel testimony & obtain documents. A critical witness, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, reportedly told the DA he would only testify under subpoena. ~~~
~~~ Update. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "In a letter Thursday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) told the chief judge of Fulton County's Superior Court that the move was needed because a 'significant number of witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate with the investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony.' Willis cited Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) as an example. Fani has previously confirmed that part of her probe centers on the Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Raffensperger in which Trump asked Raffensperger to 'find' enough votes to overturn Joe Biden's win in the state's presidential election."
Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "A federal court in Boston on Thursday dismissed charges against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor accused of failing to disclose research ties to China, after the government acknowledged it could 'no longer meet its burden of proof' at trial. The dropping of the case against Gang Chen, a Chinese American nanoscientist, is a major public relations blow to a Justice Department program aimed at curbing economic espionage. The program, dubbed the China Initiative, has drawn complaints that it amounts to ethnic profiling and is under department review. U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris's order dismissing Chen's case came shortly after federal prosecutors requested that action on Thursday morning."
New York. Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "A statue of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, was removed overnight Wednesday from its spot outside the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The towering bronze statue depicts Roosevelt riding a horse, as two nameless African and Native American men flank him on foot. It has provoked strong debate in the city, as many criticized the apparent subservience of the pair to the White man in the center -- calling the scene a symbol of racism and colonialism. 'The statue was meant to celebrate Theodore Roosevelt ... as a devoted naturalist and author of works on natural history,' the museum website has said about the removal. 'At the same time, the statue itself communicates a racial hierarchy that the Museum and members of the public have long found disturbing.'"
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Annie Linskey, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden escalated his partisan rhetoric Wednesday during his first news conference in 10 months, laying the blame for his stalled agenda at the feet of Republicans and suggesting on the eve of his one-year anniversary that he has been surprised by their intransigence.... In what appeared to be a carefully calculated message he repeatedly excoriated Republicans for having no goal except opposing him, no leader except Trump and no agenda at all.... 'I honest to God don't know what they're for,' Biden said at one point during his nearly two-hour exchange with reporters.... He said the GOP is thoroughly cowed by former president Donald Trump. 'Did you ever think that one man out of office could intimidate an 'entire party where they're unwilling to take any vote?' Biden asked.... The president also made news by confirming rumors that he plans to break up his roughly $2 trillion social welfare and climate legislation, called the 'Build Back Better' package, into smaller bills.... Biden telegraphed that he will spend more time traveling the country and talking to voters, and less time embroiled in prolonged negotiations with Congress.... 'I have not been out in the community nearly enough,' Biden said." ~~~
~~~ Zeke Miller & Josh Boak of the AP: "President Joe Biden acknowledged Wednesday that the pandemic has left Americans exhausted and demoralized but insisted at a news conference marking his first year in office that he has 'outperformed' expectations in dealing with it. Facing sagging poll numbers and a stalled legislative agenda, Biden ... promised to further attack inflation and the pandemic and blamed Republicans for uniting in opposition to his proposals rather than offering ideas of their own." ~~~
~~~ David Sanger of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Wednesday that he now expected President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would order an invasion of Ukraine, delivering a grim assessment that the diplomacy and threat of sanctions issued by the United States and its European allies were unlikely to stop the Russian leader from sending troops across the border. 'Do I think he'll test the West, test the United States and NATO, as significantly as he can? Yes, I think he will,' Mr. Biden told reporters during a nearly two-hour-long news conference in the East Room of the White House. He added, almost with an air of fatalism: 'But I think he will pay a serious and dear price for it that he doesn't think now will cost him what it's going to cost him. And I think he will regret having done it.' Asked to clarify whether he was accepting that an invasion was coming, Mr. Biden said: 'My guess is he will move in. He has to do something.'" CNN's story is here.
Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "Newly declassified surveillance footage provides additional insights about the final minutes and aftermath of a botched U.S. drone strike last year in Kabul, Afghanistan, showing how the military made a life-or-death decision based on imagery that was fuzzy, hard to interpret in real time and prone to confirmation bias. The strike on Aug. 29 killed 10 innocent people -- including seven children -- in a tragic blunder that punctuated the end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan. The disclosure of the videos was a rare step by the U.S. military in any case of an airstrike that caused civilian casualties, and is the first time any footage from the Kabul strike has been seen publicly. The videos encompass about 25 minutes of silent footage from two drones -- a military official said both were MQ-9 Reapers -- showing the minutes before, during and after the strike." Includes a portion of the video.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "The Central Intelligence Agency has determined that a foreign country is probably not mounting a global attack aimed at U.S. personnel who have reported painful and sometimes debilitating physical symptoms, a significant finding that could undermine some officials' suspicion that Russia is to blame for a years-long series of mysterious illnesses.... [But the agency left] open the possibility that a foreign power could be responsible for cases that cannot be attributed to medical conditions or other factors, the official said.... 'Our work is continuing, and we are not done yet, [an official said]." A CNN report is here.
Jim Crow Caucus Wins Expected Victory. Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The year-long Democratic push for federal voting rights legislation died in the Senate on Wednesday night, after Republicans blocked an elections bill for the fifth time in six months and Democrats failed to unite their caucus behind a plan to rewrite the Senate's rules and pass it anyway. The final clash, which has been brewing since Democrats won congressional majorities a year ago as Republican legislatures in 19 states embarked on a campaign to roll back election access, began with an evening vote to close debate on a sprawling voting rights bill. That vote, at the Senate's traditional 60-vote margin for legislation, failed on party lines. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) then moved to reconsider the legislation to propose a rules change allowing for the bill's advancement with a simple majority of 51 votes. The Senate rejected that maneuver 52 to 48, with two Democrats, Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), joining all 50 Republicans in opposition." The Guardian's report is here. ~~~
New York Times staff live-updated Wednesday's Senate proceedings. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Republican opposition to updating the Voting Rights Act in response to recent Supreme Court rulings underscores how far the party has moved against providing a significant role for the federal government in elections, even in states with a history of discriminating against Black voters.... Seventeen [Senate] Republicans who in 2006 supported the reauthorization of the 1965 law, including [Mitch] McConnell, now oppose the legislation that attempts to address issues the court raised in 2013 and 2021 when striking down provisions that gave the Justice Department more authority over state voting laws." MB: Susan Collins, who was a co-sponsor of the 2006 reauthorization bill, is not even "concerned" now.
** Supremes Laugh Trump Out of Court. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused a request from ... Donald J. Trump to block the release of White House records concerning the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, effectively rejecting Mr. Trump's claim of executive privilege and handing a major victory to the special House committee investigating the riot. The court, with only Justice Clarence Thomas noting a dissent, let stand an appeals court ruling that Mr. Trump's desire to maintain the confidentiality of internal White House communications was outweighed by the need for a full accounting of the attack and the disruption of the certification of the 2020 electoral count. The ruling means that there is no legal obstacle to prevent the National Archives from providing hundreds of pages of White House records to the committee.... 'Because the court of appeals concluded that President Trump's claims would have failed even if he were the incumbent, his status as a former president necessarily made no difference to the court's decision,' the [unsigned] order said." MB: IOW, Trump didn't have a pudgy leg to stand on. The AP report is here. Politico's report is here.
Luke Broadwater & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued two subpoenas on Wednesday for the leaders of a white nationalist movement that helped bring a crowd to Washington ahead of the riot. The committee issued subpoenas to Nicholas J. Fuentes and Patrick Casey, whom the panel described as leaders of the 'America First' or 'Groyper' movement and who were on the Capitol grounds last Jan. 6. Mr. Fuentes, a white nationalist, online provocateur and activist, has allied with Representative Paul Gosar, a far-right Republican from Arizona who helped lead objections in Congress to the certification of President Biden's victory."
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Oath Keepers planning to violently subvert the 2020 election stockpiled 30 days of supplies and a cache of rifles and ammunition just outside of Washington, D.C., prosecutors alleged in a late-night court filing. In a memo seeking the pretrial detention of Oath Keeper Ed Vallejo -- one of 11 members of the group charged last week with seditious conspiracy to violently prevent Joe Biden from taking office -- prosecutors provided new details about the weapons stockpile Oath Keepers had assembled at a Comfort Inn in nearby Arlington, Va.... Prosecutors say Vallejo is too dangerous to be released pending trial, noting that he continued to profess support for the violent attack on the Capitol even last month, just days before his arrest." Read on. These nitwits are as scary-crazy as you thought they were. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Marie: The public first learned about plans to submit fake Electoral College slates showing Trump as the winner in five states in which Joe Biden won on the day the real Electors voted: December 14, 2020. Andrew Prokop of Vox noted at the time, "White House senior adviser Stephen Miller said on Fox Monday [Dec. 14] that Trump's team planned to support an 'alternate' set of electors in key states Biden won.... 'As we speak, today, an alternate slate of electors in the contested states is going to vote and we're going to send those results up to Congress,' Miller said. 'This will ensure that all of our legal remedies remain open.'" At the time, and for a year, I regarded these fake slates as part of the Trump sideshow. Lately, Rachel Maddow has made a big deal of them, describing the fake slates as "forgeries," noting that mike pence crafted special language, adding a clause to in the standard script veeps follow in the Congressional certification ritual to explain why he was ignoring the fake slates, revealing that the Michigan AG had referred the state's fake slate stunt to the DOJ, and speculating -- based on similarities among the various states' filings -- that the fake slates were part of a coordinated effort. (Well, yeah, they were; the odious Stephen Miller pretty much copped to that on Trump State Teevee.) So now there's this: ~~~
~~~ Philip Rotner in the Bulwark: "... an offense committed by relatively unknown people acting at the state level could grow into 'Trump's Watergate.'... If state and federal law enforcement authorities convene grand juries to investigate the low-level GOP officials who signed and submitted phony electoral certificates in the 2020 election, the entire conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election could unravel.... Law enforcement officials investigating the phony documents, as distinguished from a broader conspiracy, would not have to search for a crime -- they already have the smoking guns, documents that are fraudulent on their face.... This open-and-shut election fraud is a gift to [AG Merrick] Garland and his federal prosecutors.... Historian Heather Cox Richardson, writing in her January 17 newsletter, lays it all out in detail, leading to the inescapable conclusion that the scheme 'appears to have been a coordinated attempt by members of the Trump administration and sympathizers around the country to overturn our government by committing election fraud.'"
Coup Cabinet Met in White House Residence. Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "The former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack that Donald Trump hosted secret meetings in the White House residence in days before 6 January, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The former senior Trump aide also told House investigators that the details of whether Trump actually intended to march to the Capitol after his speech at the Ellipse rally would be memorialized in documents provided to the US Secret Service, the sources said. The select committee's interview with Grisham, who was Melania Trump's chief of staff when she resigned on 6 January, was more significant than expected, the sources said, giving the panel new details about the Trump White House and what the former US president was doing before the Capitol attack.... Grisham recounted that [the secret meetings] were mostly scheduled by Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and that the former chief usher, Timothy Harleth [-- previously a Trump Hotels employee --] would wave participants upstairs, the sources said."
Josephine Harvey of the Huffington Post: "Eric Trump and Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg [each] invoked their Fifth Amendment rights more than 500 times when questioned by the New York attorney general's office for its investigation into the company's finances, according to a Tuesday court filing." Their invocation of the Fifth Amendment was revealed in a motion to compel Donald Trump, Donald Junior & Ivanka Trump to testify under oath in civil matters concerning possible wrongdoing by the Trump Organization. See also Akhilleus' commentary below. MB: Akhilleus doesn't seem to understand that when Trump's adversaries invoke the Fifth, it "proves they're guilty"; when Trump, et al., invoke, it proves they're victims of a witch hunt.
Blake Hounshell & Leah Askarinam of the New York Times: "An obscure 19th-century provision of the U.S. Constitution that barred members of the Confederacy from holding political office is back in the national conversation -- and some are hoping it can keep Donald J. Trump and his allies off the ballot.... Fearing that the grandees of the Old South would slink back to power, [Congress] crafted Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, known as the Disqualification Clause. The provision applied to anyone who had previously taken an oath to support the Constitution and then either 'engaged in insurrection or rebellion' against the United States or gave 'aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.'... Last week..., lawyers representing a group of North Carolina voters filed a novel legal challenge[, invoking the Disqualification Clause,] seeking to keep Representative Madison Cawthorn off the ballot this year." ~~~
~~~ Marie: One big hiccup: before Trump's second impeachment trial, Democratic lawyers "determined that the Disqualification Clause was not 'self-executing' -- that is, Congress would need to pass a law or resolution to use it and clarify how it applies today."
They Walked Out on the Streets of Laredo. Abby Livingston & Brooke Park of the Texas Tribune: "The FBI was on the scene Wednesday near the Laredo home of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar [D] for what authorities described as a court-authorized ongoing investigation. FBI spokesperson Rosanne Hughes confirmed law enforcement's presence in the area but did not clarify what authorities were investigating. Hughes said in a statement that the FBI was present on two streets around Cuellar's house in Laredo 'conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity.'... Agents were seen taking cases and other items from the congressman's home, according to MyRGVNews. FBI officials were also present at a downtown building owned by Cuellar that reportedly houses his campaign office as well as other private businesses, according to KGNS News."
Cancun Ted Seems to Sway ConservoSupremes to Make Campaign Financing Even Dirtier. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "In the final days of the 2018 election, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) loaned his campaign $260,000, specifically so he could challenge an obscure campaign finance restriction that only $250,000 in personal loans can be repaid with money raised after an election. Oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Wednesday indicated Cruz is in position to collect on his investment. Only the court's three liberal justices seemed receptive to the Justice Department's argument that the restriction was a legitimate way to keep politics just a little bit cleaner that meets constitutional muster."
The Tree Line Is Moving On Up. Ben Rawlence in the Guardian: "As the planet warms, the Arctic treeline is accelerating towards the pole, turning the white landscape to green. The trees used to creep forward a few centimetres every year; now they are leaping north at a rate of 40 to 50 metres a year. In the European Arctic, the birch is the leader of the pack. Downy birch is one of few broadleaved deciduous trees in the Arctic and it is hardier even than most conifers.... And now reindeer herding, a way of life [for the Sami people] that has survived intact for 10,000 years, is under threat. This time it is not the Norwegian government that poses the greatest danger, but the climate. Warmer winters are deadly for the reindeer in two ways: one is short and sharp, leading to a quick death -- ice; the other is slow but sure -- too many trees."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Thursday are here.
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Nina Totenberg of NPR: "Three Supreme Court justices issued statements Wednesday addressing an NPR story about relations among the justices. On Tuesday, NPR reported that Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a longtime diabetic, had indicated to Chief Justice John Roberts that because of the omicron surge, she did not feel safe being in a room with people who are unmasked, and that the chief justice 'in some form asked the other justices to mask up.' On Wednesday, Sotomayor and [Justice Neil] Gorsuch issued a statement saying that she did not ask him to wear a mask. NPR's report did not say that she did. Then, the chief justice issued a statement saying he 'did not request Justice Gorsuch or any other justice to wear a mask on the bench.' The NPR report said the chief justice's ask to the justices had come 'in some form.' NPR stands by its reporting."
Texas. James Barragan of the Texas Tribune: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has tested positive for COVID-19, his office said Wednesday.... Paxton, a second-term Republican, has challenged attempts by President Joe Biden to mandate vaccines for health care employees at facilities that receive funding from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and troops serving in the Texas National Guard. He has also fought attempts by the Biden administration to require staff and volunteers at Head Start programs to be vaccinated and for all parents, staff, volunteers and children over the age of 2 to wear a mask while at schools."
U.K. The Virus That Ate Boris Johnson. Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday announced an easing of coronavirus restrictions in England amid growing calls from outside -- and inside -- his party for him to resign over repeated revelations of rule-flouting parties held at his residence and office. The scandal-hit British leader told Parliament that starting next Thursday, the 'Plan B' restrictions that were introduced in England to stem the rise of the omicron wave, including more mask-wearing, guidance to work from home and covid passports, would end.:
Beyond the Beltway
Kentucky. Derrick Taylor & Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "A Kentucky man who was pardoned by the state's former governor in 2019 was sentenced to 42 years in prison this week on federal charges for the same murder, the Justice Department said. Federal officials were able to put the man, Patrick Baker, 43, on trial for a second time under the dual sovereignty doctrine, which allows defendants to be prosecuted for the same crime in both federal and state court. The case came under scrutiny after The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., reported that Mr. Baker's brother had hosted a fund-raiser at his home for the governor, Matt Bevin [R].... Posing as a United States marshal, Mr. Baker killed Donald L. Mills Jr. during a home invasion in May 2014, the U.S. attorney's office said. Mr. Mills's wife and children were held at gunpoint while Mr. Baker ransacked the home for oxycodone pills, the [U.S. attorney's] office said.... The [Louisville] Courier-Journal ... won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020 for its reporting on [Bevin's] pardons."
Michigan. Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The University of Michigan said Wednesday that it had agreed to pay $490 million to more than 1,000 people who had accused a doctor who worked with football players and other students of sexual abuse. The agreement, among the largest ever by an American university to settle allegations of sexual abuse, was reached this week and made public on Wednesday morning, more than three years after a former student wrote to Michigan's athletic director and reported misconduct that dated to the 1970s. That former student, and, eventually, scores of others, said that Dr. Robert E. Anderson had molested them during physical examinations, many of which were required to participate in athletic programs at Michigan." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Texas/U.K. Jessica Murray of the Guardian: "Two men have been arrested in Birmingham and Manchester as part of the investigation into the Texas synagogue attack by the British hostage-taker Malik Faisal Akram. The men, whose ages have not been released, were 'in custody for questioning', Greater Manchester police said, and were held on Thursday morning as part of an 'ongoing investigation'."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "Humanitarian aid reached disaster-struck Tonga for the first time Thursday after residents of the Pacific island nation swept volcanic ash off the main airport by hand. A Royal Australian Air Force cargo plane bearing bottled water and other supplies landed on Tonga's main island, five days after a powerful undersea volcanic eruption and tsunami rocked the archipelago.... Tongans cleared part of the runway by hand because equipment was destroyed or inaccessible, according to New Zealand's defense minister, Peeni Henare.... Henare told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. late Wednesday, adding that there were reports the ash was up to a meter (3.3 feet) deep in places."
CNBC: "Jobless claims took an unexpected turn higher last week in a potential sign that the wintertime omicron surge was hitting the employment picture. Initial filings for the week ended Jan. 15 totaled 286,000, well above the Dow Jones estimate of 225,000 and a substantial gain from the previous week's 231,000. The total was the highest since the week of Oct. 16, 2021 and marks a reversal after claims just a few weeks ago had hit their lowest level in more than 50 years."
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“If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”
Donald Trump
Crime boss
“I refuse to answer these questions according to my rights under the Fifth Amendment.”
Eric Trump
Pleaded the Fifth 500 times
QED
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-19/eric-trump-invoked-fifth-amendment-about-500-times-n-y-ag-says
Up here in The Great Land, you can end your day with Hannity at 10pm followed by a blond who is definately-overrated, Laura somebody. Imagine ending your day with such insufferable deplorables? No wonder their followers are the way they are.
Joe B. Looked good and projected well (the volume was off). If he takes it to the streets (thanks Doobies), there is 'there there' in terms of publically calling attention to the lack of any policy by Rs. Hit it hard because their lack of policy really connects their complete absence of principles. 85% of people in their day to day do have principles; Joe B's message will resonate.
Lots of good material here delineating where the Republican Party and Republicans more generally are these days, tho’ Edsall hasn’t lost his unerring touch. He can still make trenchant commentary boring.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/opinion/trump-big-lie.html
And a followup by by Dean Baker, who makes an important distinction about the “free-market” lie, which works hand in glove with the stolen election fable.
https://cepr.net/gaslighting-on-the-big-lie-by-thomas-edsall-in-the-nyt/
THE REAL KING SPEAKS OUT:
Senator Angus King from Maine, an Independent, has ridden centrism to power for nearly thirty years. Here's his take on our present debacle:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-senates-dangerous-inability-to-protect-democracy
"Without a few people–-almost all Republicans–-with integrity and adherence to the Constitution, there's no telling where we would've been. Now the GOP's stance since then has been stone-cold obstruction. If we continue in this downward spiral of loss of trusr in our system, it's going to be hard to restore–-it leaves you with ––
A: you view elections as Armageddon and your opponent will destroy the country if elected.
B: you can't trust the elections. Violence is not an unlikely outcome.
Good news about about the S.C. decision. Before I learned who was the lone NO, I thought, I bet it's our Pin Point Georgia guy cuz Ginny wouldn't have wanted the truth spilling out that way. I'm kidding, but maybe I'm right.
Intra party rift in the swamp state, It seems the State Senate (GOP) isn't willing to get a tummy rub from DeSantis and substitute his version on congressional maps that went through committee. GOP senators have said the boundaries will reduce the voting power from blacks and latins and also violate laws on partisan gerrymandering.
P.D., you are not alone. My first thought when I saw Thomas was the dissent was Ginny will probably make an appearance in the papers sent over to the Jan. 6 committee. Though it was Thomas's objections that reminded me to look closer at his corrupt motives in protecting Trump. Very Donald-like to wrap a bow around his corruption in public.
I watched a bit of the "press conference"/roasting yesterday, but could not stand it. Biden was almost unfailingly kind and polite, respectful to a fault. Why should he have to take numbingly rancid questions from people who just want the nation to know they are "press?" Newsmax? Really? Anyhow, they were rude and condescending as they whined their complaints and queries, and I was still infuriated three hours later. I'm not on twitter, but a friend said it was blowing up about the stupid gotcha questions being flung. Someone even asked about his cognitive ability! None of these sorts of questions were ever asked to the Orange Traffic Cone of Death (Colbert called him Girth, Wind and Liar last night--) and no followup was ever pursued, as the press "professionals" dutifully tugged their forelocks and whispered Yessir, thank you sir... That was followed by some poll this morning, showing that no matter what Biden does or says, he will be spit upon and lied about. And Manchin and Sinema win their little battles to join the most reprehensible GQP congress in decades. All deserve a nice swim in the Potomac, followed by a thorough icing.
Jay Rosen and digby give an explanation about the press conference yesterday
"In politics, our journalists believe, it is better to be savvy than it is to be honest or correct on the facts. It’s better to be savvy than it is to be just, good, fair, decent, strictly lawful, civilized, sincere, thoughtful or humane. Savviness is what journalists admire in others. Savvy is what they themselves dearly wish to be. (And to be unsavvy is far worse than being wrong.)
Savviness is that quality of being shrewd, practical, hyper-informed, perceptive, ironic, “with it,” and unsentimental in all things political. And what is the truest mark of savviness? Winning, of course! Or knowing who the winners are."
Jeanne: Yes, you assessed it well––-and well, it ain't gonna change. Biden will be battered and bleated about as long as he is president. I find myself shouting to Andrea Mitchell who always seems to turn up the temperature just enough to put Biden in a state of questionable rhetoric–––I would be ashamed to tell you what I say to her––I am that frustrated.
PD—. Daughter says she had to turn off the self-righteous Mme. Greenspan today— I did not see it…. I was probably writing screeds to Mansion and Mean Girl at that point…I will not ever voluntarily listen to the frogs and toads issuing from their lips anymore. Exercising that mute button will probably wear it out prematurely.