;)
January 3, 2023
Afternoon Update:
The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the upcoming vote for House speaker. It is not looking good for My Kevin & for Republican House members in general. The liveblog includes a livefeed of the House floor. Also, a photo of Kevin's stuff, boxed up & left out in the hall. CNN's liveblog is here. The Washington Post's liveblog is here. ~~~
~~~ Update: The clerk is only on the letter "C" in the rollcall, & McCarthy already has lost six votes, two more than he could have lost to gain the speakership. ~~~
~~~ Catie Edmondson: "The failed vote on Tuesday showed publicly for the first time the extent of the opposition Mr. McCarthy is facing in his quest for the speaker's gavel. Nineteen Republicans voted against Mr. McCarthy, instead throwing their support behind other conservative lawmakers."
~~~ The clerk reported Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) received 212 votes, Kevin McCarthy received 203 votes.
~~~ Elaine Cochrane: Second Ballot: "All 434 lawmakers have now had their votes recorded. The tally remains the same for Kevin McCarthy: 19 members of his party against him, and Democrats united for Hakeem Jeffries. It appears we are in the exact same scenario as the first ballot, just with the anti-McCarthy votes consolidating for Jim Jordan, who himself is supporting McCarthy." Democrats gave Jeffries a standing O. ~~~
~~~ Nicholas Fandos: "House Democrats formally elevated Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York to be their leader on Tuesday, uniting around a liberal lawyer and disciplined political tactician as the face of their opposition to the new Republican majority." ~~~
~~~ In the third roll call that failed to produce a speaker, Jeffries got 212 votes, My Kevin got 202, & Jungle Gym Jordan 20. The House has adjourned for the day & will reconvene at noon tomorrow when who knows what-all they will do. Without a speaker, the House cannot legislate. As for me, I'm waiting for Der Trumpenmeister to ride in on a white golf cart & offer to be speaker.
Stanley Reed of the New York Times: "European natural gas prices, which soared last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, have now fallen well below their levels before the start of the war, reflecting the continent's success rounding up alternatives to Russian gas, widespread conservation efforts and a relatively mild winter. But the news comes as Europe's economy is slowing -- half of the European Union is expected to be in recession next year, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, said Sunday -- and the slumping gas price also signals diminished demand for energy."
Democrats Can Be Cruel & Stupid, Too. Joe Anuta of Politico: "Colorado Gov. Jared Polis [D] plans to send migrants to major cities including New York, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday, warning that the nation's largest city is already struggling to deal an influx of people sent from Texas and other Republican-led states. The impending move by Polis is unusual because Colorado is not a border state and both leaders are Democrats facing severe challenges over what they say is a national crisis around immigration.... Polis' office did not immediately respond."
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The Woes of Kevin, Ctd. Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and his allies have spent the holiday weekend working the phones and meeting with members, trying to salvage his career goal of becoming speaker on Tuesday as Republicans continue to argue over whether he deserves the top spot. While an overwhelming majority of Republicans want to elect McCarthy (Calif.) as speaker, roughly 15 have put the outcome in serious doubt. McCarthy can afford to lose only four Republicans in Tuesday's floor vote, and the razor-thin margin has emboldened staunch conservatives within the House Freedom Caucus, who have made specific demands in exchange for their votes. If McCarthy fails to win the gavel on the first ballot Tuesday, it would be a historic loss: No leader vying for speaker has lost a first-round vote in a century." ~~~
~~~ Marie: According to on-air reports, Kevin already has moved some of his stuff into the plush speaker's office. So it may be kind of fun to see him carrying a cardboard box full of plaques, framed photos & a gavel out of the office & down the hall. Of course the alternative to McCarthy, possibly Steve Scalise -- the self-described "David Duke without the baggage" -- will not be an improvement over Kevin. I would say "David Duke without the hood," but I'm not 100 percent sure Scalise doesn't keep a neatly ironed & folded hood in his briefcase for unexpected special occasions. ~~~
~~~ The New York Times story on the Woes of Kevin, by Catie Edmondson, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "Brazilian law enforcement authorities intend to revive fraud charges against [George] Santos, and will seek his formal response, prosecutors said on Monday. The matter, which stemmed from an incident in 2008 regarding a stolen checkbook, had been suspended for the better part of a decade because the police were unable to locate him. A spokeswoman for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor's office said that with Mr. Santos's whereabouts identified, a formal request will be made to the U.S. Justice Department to notify him of the charges, a necessary step after which the case will proceed with or without him.... Just a month before his 20th birthday, Mr. Santos entered a small clothing store in the Brazilian city of Niterói outside Rio de Janeiro. He spent nearly $700 using a stolen checkbook and a false name, court records show." MB: Yeah, see, I told you he lied about even his name. Multiple times, evidently.
The House January 6 Select Committee released more transcripts Monday. Links to those transcripts are here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ 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." ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "... the House Jan. 6 committee ... released a whirlwind of documents in its final days and wrapped up its work on Monday. Since Friday night, the panel has released several troves of evidence, including about 120 previously unseen transcripts along with emails and text messages obtained during its 18-month inquiry, totaling tens of thousands of pages.... The panel said it has now turned over an 'enormous volume of material to the Justice Department as Jack Smith, the special counsel, conducts a parallel investigation into the events of Jan. 6.... Here are some takeaways from the recently released evidence:...
"Several Trump advisers made clear that Mr. Trump had intended for days to join a crowd of his supporters marching on the Capitol. 'POTUS expectations are to have something intimate at the ellipse, and call on everyone to march to the capitol,' Katrina Pierson, a Trump spokeswoman, wrote in a Jan. 2, 2021, email. Kayleigh McEnany, Mr. Trump's press secretary, also wrote in a note on Jan. 6 that Mr. Trump had wanted to walk alongside the crowd as it descended on the Congress: 'POTUS wanted to walk to capital. Physically walk. He said fine ride beast.'... Anthony Ornato, a former deputy chief of staff at the White House who had also been the special agent in charge of Mr. Trump's Secret Service detail..., said he did not remember significant moments that multiple witnesses recounted to the panel. 'I don't recall any conversation taking place about the possible movement of the president to the Capitol,' Mr. Ornato testified....
Mr. Trump personally involved himself in the false elector scheme, according to Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. Ms. McDaniel recounted a call after the election in which Mr. Trump introduced her to John Eastman, the lawyer who wrote a now-infamous memo that laid out a path for the former president to remain in power. Mr. Eastman, she said, then spoke about how he believed it was important for the committee to help the Trump campaign 'gather these contingent electors,' she said."
~~~ Marie: A-googling I did go, in search of said database. I had no luck yesterday, but I think this must be the place. At any rate, there are links here to pdf files of a boatload of raw documents, including the committee report itself. The page is titled, "Select January 6th Committee Final Report and Supporting Materials Collection."
Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "The culture war is no longer just posturing by politicians mainly interested in cutting taxes on the rich; many elected Republicans are now genuine fanatics.... One can almost feel nostalgic for the good old days of greed and cynicism. Oddly, the culture war turned real at a time when Americans are more socially liberal than ever.... I don't understand ... how the U.S. government is going to function. President Barack Obama faced an extremist, radicalized G.O.P. House, but even the Tea Partiers had concrete policy demands that could, to some extent, be appeased. How do you deal with people who believe, more or less, that the 2020 election was stolen by a vast conspiracy of pedophiles?" MB: Maybe take them in small groups on field trips to Comet Ping Pong Pizza.
Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "In states with permissive gun laws, the police and prosecutors have limited tools at their disposal when a heavily armed individual's mere presence in a public space sows fear or even panic. The question of how to handle such situations has been raised most often in recent years in the context of political protests, where the open display of weapons has led to concerns about intimidation, the squelching of free speech or worse. But it may become a more frequent subject of debate in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court decision in June, which expanded Americans' right to arm themselves in public while limiting states' ability to set their own regulations." For instance,
"Two days after a gunman killed 10 people at a Colorado grocery store, leaving many Americans on high alert, Rico Marley was arrested as he emerged from the bathroom at a Publix supermarket in Atlanta. He was wearing body armor and carrying six loaded weapons -- four handguns in his jacket pockets, and in a guitar bag, a semiautomatic rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun.... His lawyer, Charles Brant, noted that he had not made any threats or fired any shots, and had legally purchased his guns. Mr. Marley did not violate Georgia law, Mr. Brant said; he was 'just being a person, doing what he had the right to do.'"
Ruth Graham of the New York Times: "Under pressure amid a boycott by top law schools, U.S. News & World Report told law school deans on Monday that it will make several changes in the next edition of its influential ratings. In a letter to American law school deans published on its site, U.S. News said its next list would give more credit to schools whose graduates go on to pursue advanced degrees, or school-funded fellowships to work in public-service jobs that pay lower wages. The magazine, which has been publishing the ratings for decades, is responding to criticism that its rankings overvalue high-paying private-sector jobs. The 2023-24 rankings, scheduled to be published this spring, will also rely less on surveys of schools' reputations submitted by academics, lawyers and judges, the magazine said."
Beyond the Beltway
New York/Maine. An Improbably Islamic Terrorist. Andy Newman & Mihir Zaveri of the New York Times: "The man charged with attacking three police officers with a machete near Times Square on New Year's Eve had traveled to New York from his home in Maine to injure the police in an act of Islamic extremism, a senior law enforcement official said on Monday.... Sometime on Saturday before the attack, the official said, Mr. Bickford wrote a farewell letter to his family in a diary that was found on him afterward. In it, he wrote to his mother, 'I fear greatly you will not repent to Allah and therefore I hold hope in my heart that a piece of you believes so that you may be taken out of the hellfire.' Mr. Bickford also referred in his diary to his brother, who is in the U.S. military, as having assumed the uniform of the enemy, the law enforcement official said."
Virginia. Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post: "Over the past three years, as the former capital of the Confederacy [Richmond] has taken down more than a dozen monuments to the Lost Cause, [Devon] Henry -- who is Black -- has overseen all the work. He didn't seek the job. He had never paid much attention to Civil War history. City and state officials said they turned to Team Henry Enterprises after a long list of bigger contractors -- all White-owned -- said they wanted no part of taking down Confederate statues.... He has endured death threats, seen employees walk away and been told by others in the industry that his future is ruined." Read on.
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Tuesday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing is here: "More than 80 Iranian-made drones have been shot down in Ukraine so far in 2023, [President] Zelensky said in his nightly address Monday. Ukraine and the West have repeatedly accused Iran of supplying unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia for use in the war. Tehran has denied those claims.... The governor of Kherson said Russian forces attacked the region dozens of times on Monday with artillery, multiple rocket launchers, mortars and tanks."
Matthew Bigg, et al., of the New York Times: "In one of their deadliest attacks yet on Russian forces, Ukrainians used American-made rockets to kill dozens -- and perhaps hundreds -- of Moscow's troops in a New Year's Day strike behind the lines, prompting outraged Russian war hawks to accuse their military of lethal incompetence. The strike by the HIMARS rockets killed 63 Russian soldiers in a building housing them in the occupied city of Makiivka, in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday -- an unusual admission for a military that has often refused to acknowledge serious losses. A former Russian paramilitary commander in Ukraine, Igor Girkin, wrote on the Telegram app that 'many hundreds' were dead and wounded and that many 'remained under the rubble.' Ukrainian military officials said it appeared that 'about 400' Russian troops had been killed, though they did not explicitly say that Kyiv was behind the attack. None of the claims could be independently verified, but even the lowest number would represent one of the worst Russian losses in a single episode in the war, and an embarrassment for President Vladimir V. Putin." The AP's report is here.
Brazil. Andrew Downie of the Guardian: "Thousands of mourners braved punishing heat to pay their final tribute to footballing legend Pelé on Monday as the president of Fifa said he would ask every member country to name a stadium after the recently deceased Brazilian player. Fans lined up outside the 106-year-old Vila Belmiro ground in Santos -- the city in south-eastern Brazil where Pelé first made his name as a star goal scorer in the 1950s -- overnight and at about 10am mourners began filing past the coffin that had been placed under a shaded tent in the middle of the field."
Vatican. Angela Giuffrida of the Guardian: "Thousands of Catholics have begun queueing at the Vatican to pay their respects to the former pope Benedict XVI, with some hoping he would be canonised as a saint. Benedict died on Saturday, aged 95, and his body was transferred from a Vatican monastery to St Peter's Basilica on Monday at 7am, where it will lie in state for three days before his funeral on Thursday."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "The criminology graduate student accused of killing four college students in Idaho told a judge Tuesday that he will voluntarily go to that state for court proceedings, probably shortening the time before officials will make public more details in their case. Flanked by Pennsylvania law enforcement officers, handcuffed and wearing a red jumpsuit as he was guided into the courtroom, Bryan Kohberger appeared before news cameras for the first time since his arrest at his parents' home in northeastern Pennsylvania. Judge Margherita Patti-Worthington asked Kohberger whether he agreed to be taken to Idaho, where authorities are expected to make their case against him public once he appears in Idaho court. The 28-year-old confirmed as much and signed a waiver. The judge said he could be surrendered to Idaho authorities within 10 calendar days."
New York Times: "Frank R. James, who is charged with shooting 10 people last April in one of the worst attacks in recent years on the New York subway, is expected to plead guilty to terrorism on Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Brooklyn, according to court records. Mr. James, 63, had initially entered a not guilty plea, but his court-appointed lawyers from the Federal Defenders of New York said last month that he would plead guilty to an 11-count indictment that charged him with 10 counts of terrorist attack -- one for each of the 10 people struck in the subway shooting -- as well as with a firearms charge."
New York Times: "Damar Hamlin, a 24-year-old safety in his second season with the Buffalo Bills, was in critical condition in a hospital after suffering cardiac arrest during a Monday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Bills said. Team officials said in a statement early Tuesday that Hamlin's heart stopped after he was hit during a play in the first quarter. His heartbeat was restored by medical personnel on the field before Hamlin was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, the Bills said, adding that Hamlin was undergoing 'further testing and treatment' and had been sedated." The AP's report is here.
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Reader Comments (16)
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-jr-gets-holy-075812235.html
Donald Jr now promoting "We the People" Bibles on social media.
Some are calling it the "peak grift".
Grifters gotta grift and he's out of that lucrative White House job so
"thoughts and prayers".
Krugman wonders how you deal with drooling fanatics who believe the 2020 election was stolen by pedophiles as part of a grand conspiracy. Marie suggests taking them on field trips to Comet Ping Pong Pizza. Not a bad idea. I might offer an alternative. Put them all on buses and kick them off in the middle of the night up in Buffalo with no food, no water, no warm clothing, and no shelter, except for the nearest snow drift. It’s not a crime, right? It’s just an exercise of first amendment rights.
http://www.healthjusticemonitor.org
Physicians for a National Healthcare Plan annual report of the state of medical care in US 2022.
Forrest,
Looks like a rotten apple and diseased tree thing going on here. These cheap hustlers will do anything to cadge a buck. Trump Bibles? Talk about your textbook oxymoron. And you’re correct, having been yanked away from the federal government teat, Junior, who has never worked for anything in his life, is forced, not to find honest work somewhere—Heavens! No—Rather, he cooks up one new crooked scheme after another. Because that’s what daddy does, the Trump Way. That’s what they all do.
But does this life of leisurely theft and con artistry provide this little weasel with the tiniest sliver of self awareness?
Fuck no.
This clutching, grasping, scheming slob of nuisance nabobbery takes aim at anyone he considers a target worthy of his room temperature IQ and his opportunistic ideological idiocy.
Recently, he screamed that reporters who were being let go by the publisher of the Washington Post, Fred Ryan, are nothing but spoiled rich kids who have never had to exist in the real world and are now complaining because daddy cut off their cell phone payments.
The real story is this: Ryan convened a staff meeting at which he regaled reporters and editors with how great things were going under his leadership, then, right at the end, said “Oh yeah, and I’m firing a bunch of you.” Ryan then ran off and refused to answer any questions.
I think I’d be a little miffed too. But to Junior, who truly has never had to exist in the real world, except for maybe a couple of years just out of college when he was a fall down drunk, is outraged. Take the name away and the unearned privilege, position, and money and this moron would be lucky to have a job cleaning toilets in a buck-a-night whorehouse.
Stunning disconnection from reality is a family specialty for this whiny loser, but this bullshit is an order of magnitude beyond standard Trump obliviousness.
https://www.alternet.org/amp/donald-trump-junior-fake-utopia-2658971112
Can you imagine the concessions My Kevin is agreeing to in order to see himself as the big cheese? Well, it’s looking more and more like the cheese stands alone. Even if he gets the speakership, he’s now beholden to crooks, liars, con men, and traitors whose idea of government service is how much shit can I make off with before I go to prison.
And all these pro-Kevin schmucks will disappear faster than Elise Stefanik can change her spots when the going gets tough. And it will, because there ain’t a one if these frauds who knows the first thing about governing. Unless your idea of governing is sharing pictures of Hunter Biden’s dick on your Twitter page.
Freeeeedom!!!
Let the chaos and the idiocy reign supreme!
But first things first for the new Rulers of the House.
Call out the Paper Shredders! And start shredding every J6 committee doc they can find.
I was worried that it might not be a great idea for the committee to release all these transcripts because if Justice wanted to go after traitors not named Trump, and there are hundreds of them, defense attorneys now have access to all that information so they can start preparing the lies necessary to get their crooked clients to walk.
But it’s doubtful that Merrick Garland will indict anyone anyway. And at least now those transcripts are out there.
Rest assured, however, that the newly installed pigs will do everything they can to try to hide their own culpability and destroy every piece of evidence collected by the committee. Either that or put everything in a trunk and drop it into the Mariana Trench.
@Akhilleus: Apparently, House Republicans are already working the plan. According to Erin Doherty of Axios, "House Republicans are eyeing a new rule to keep hold of the host of records generated by the Jan. 6 select committee during its broad inquiry into the attack on the Capitol.... The proposed rules package says the panel must send the documents to the House Committee on House Administration by Jan. 17. The package also orders the Archivist of the U.S., who leads the National Archives, to return any records it received by Jan. 17."
I know My Kevin is desperate, but he is only a little less smelly and toxic than the rest of them. I don't care whom they elect-- I can't stand the "talking points" (of course, no "thinking points--") so I have turned off all the crap this afternoon. All they do is whine and lie about Biden, Democrats in general, and the work that has actually been achieved and the plans going forward. They, like Ms Stefanic, the robot lady from NY who transported herself willy-nilly onto the trump train, haven't got the first idea what they are lying about. I really think they are all morons, for the transfer to the mythical world of the GQP, and it is bad for my mental health to listen to any of it. This is going to be awful, if anyone can bear to listen to these "statesmen" and "-women." Governing? What the hell is that?? Sweaty Gym couldn't even be bothered to cover up his stink for this "occasion" with families there... The stench is remarkable from the whole kaboodle.
As we watch this clusterbump on roller skates unfold, I dare any media journalist to write a "Democrats in Disarray" lead again.
“The clerk is only on the letter ‘C’ in the rollcall, & McCarthy already has lost six votes, two more than he could have lost to gain the speakership.”
Hahahaha…
Christ, he couldn’t even make it past ABC. Guess he’s not Their Kevin. Empty suits used to proliferate on the R side (“Lyin’ Ryan”). Now they want their suits full of bile and shit.
More concessions must be in order. I’m guessing the concessions the knuckle draggers are most interested in are those they’ll have Kevvy selling in the lobby. “Ice cream here. Git yer popcorn!” That’s all he’s good for anyway.
The traitors are off to a good start! The hateful engine that couldn’t. Chooo-chooo!
Bobby Lee,
Sorry, brother, MSM hacks have that headline always ready to go in their emergency cut-and-paste file, along with “Both Sides to Blame”, “Gun Control not Working”, and “Elites Look Down on Trump Voters”.
Can someone please explain to me why a NFL player having a heart attack during a game is the biggest headline of the day? It doesn't affect my life one nit or mote or iota? I feel bad for the guy, but...
@unwashed: I asked myself the same question. Apparently the tackle was "normal," and still it was life-threatening. And I'm still opposed to American football. It's not much more civilized than throwing the Christians to the lions.
@unwashed
For the same reasons that high schools can fill stadiums for football contests but might have only parents present for high school debates or knowledge bowl contests...
Would also guess millions more watched MNF last night than viewed even snippets from today's Kevin Crash, brutal as it was.
Felt far sorrier for the football player. Worthwhile or not, the football player was doing his job.
To answer Unwashed’s questions, it involved an incident broadcast live on TV. Adding to that, it was an NFL game between two teams with chances of making the Super Bowl this year, so the audience was, I’m guessing, pretty large. That audience likely grew dramatically as word spread about a player getting CPR and being defibbed on the field.
I was watching the game and, of course, you feel for the player and his family. His mom was at the game. But after the fifth or sixth time tongue-tied announcers repeated that “the whole nation was shocked and is praying for Damar Hamlin”, I said to my wife “Just think of the dozens of people right this minute, lying by the side of the road after a car accident, or having been shot, breathing their last. Is the whole nation praying for them too?”
Live TV changes everything. I thought of sitting in my grandmother’s living room on that Sunday in 1963, seeing Oswald shot, live on TV.
But as the announcers struggled to say anything beyond the most pallid sorts of comments (and in fairness, this would be a big job for anyone, never mind people whose job involves talking about touchdowns and interceptions), I thought of another sports announcer tasked with reporting something far graver.
I thought of Jim McKay. McKay was a highly respected ABC sports announcer who happened to be on the air, live, from the Munich Olympics when Israeli athletes were murdered. McKay stayed on the air for (I think) 13 hours, pretty much doing it all himself. It was an amazing example of broadcasting aplomb, seriousness, and sensitivity. He never resorted to “thoughts and prayers” type boilerplate. When news came through about the debacle at the airport, he looked into the camera and said simply, “They’re all gone”.
For better or worse, we’re a TV culture. If it doesn’t happen on TV or there’s no cell phone video of it, it might as well be the tree falling in the woods.
Thanks for the explanations. I attribute my ignorance to following neither collegiate nor professional recreational activities, as well as getting rid of the boob tube 10 years ago (we just got tired of the incessant noise and nonsense.)
The word "sports" brings to mind a quote from Ernest Hemingway:
"There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”
The gist being that if you fuck up, you have a strong probability of ending up dead. I've never done the first but having done the latter two I certainly appreciate his sentiment. Fortunately, I didn't end up as a splat upon the earth's surface. I never felt that risk playing water polo.