;)
January 7, 2023
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday honored 14 people who stood against election denialism in 2020 and fought the violent mob at the Capitol two years ago, telling them in a White House ceremony that history 'will remember your names, remember your courage, remember your bravery.' Speaking from the East Room, he awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to nine police officers -- three of whom died after protecting the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 -- and five local officials who were subjected to personal violence but resisted pressure to undermine the election in 2020. Together, Mr. Biden said, the individuals he honored represented the 'extraordinary Americans' whose service to the country helped thwart the efforts of ... Donald J. Trump and his allies as they sought to keep Mr. Trump in power." ~~~
~~~ An uplifting, emotionally-satisfying event, in contrast to ~~~
~~~ Chaos in the House
Lisa Mascaro & Fanoush Amiri of the AP: "Republican Kevin McCarthy was elected House speaker on a historic post-midnight 15th ballot early Saturday, overcoming holdouts from his own ranks and floor tensions that boiled over after a chaotic week that tested the new GOP majority's ability to govern.... Eager to confront President Joe Biden and the Democrats, he promised subpoenas and investigations. 'Now the hard work begins,' the California Republican declared. He credited ... Donald Trump for standing with him and for making late calls 'helping get those final votes.' Republicans roared in celebration when his victory was announced, chanting 'USA! USA!' Finally elected, McCarthy took the oath of office, and the House was finally able to swear in newly elected lawmakers who had been waiting all week for the chamber to formally open and the 2023-24 session to begin." The New York Times story, by Annie Karni, is here. ~~~
~~~ Before McCarthy's swearing-in, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries introduced him. MB: A good speech:
~~~ Then Temp Speaker Kevin McCarthy addressed the House. MB: A good speech -- for an occasion in which you have eaten something poisonous & your doctor advises you to induce vomiting:
Paul Kane & Dylan Wells of the Washington Post: "In a scene seemingly more familiar to a developing world legislature, the House turned into a near-brawl late Friday after another failed vote to elect a speaker as Republicans held back one of their most senior members [Mike Rogers] from a potential clash with Matt Gaetz of Florida. Gaetz had just delivered the fatal last vote that left California's Kevin McCarthy one vote shy of the bare majority he needed to win the gavel, after the flamboyant Republican had spent the long roll call maneuvering to make himself the last vote that mattered.... Quickly the GOP leader and his closest allies ... homed in on Gaetz. Other Republicans came around as well, clearly trying to convince Gaetz to switch his vote [from 'present' to McCarthy] before the clerk and vote counters officially counted up the ballots and gaveled the vote shut.... Video and pictures from photographers show Rogers beginning to yell at Gaetz, when [Richard] Hudson [R-N.C.] grabbed Rogers, including across his mouth, and physically yanked him back and sent him away from the group." See video below. The story goes on to relate more of the various maneuvers. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Melanie Zanona of CNN reported on-air that Rogers told Gaetz, "You're finished." Ryan Nobles of NBC News said that earlier in the week Rogers had threatened to throw Gaetz off the Armed Services Committee, which Rogers will chair. ~~~
~~~ BTW, video of the set-top was available only because ... C-SPAN Unchained! Niall Stanage of the Hill (Jan. 5): "The failure to elect a Speaker so far in the House has one silver lining, at least for TV viewers. C-SPAN, the public service network that televises congressional proceedings and other matters, has full freedom to focus on whatever its camera operators find interesting -- for the moment. Under normal circumstances, the majority party imposes strictures on the kind of shots that can be filmed. The limits have held during periods of both Republican and Democratic control. But [this week], with everything in flux, C-SPAN camera operators have been able to pick up far more interesting details.... The new -- and presumably temporary -- freedom has been greeted with enthusiasm ... by a number of ... journalists and politics-watchers on Twitter[.]" ~~~
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times:"In yet another day of Representative Kevin McCarthy of California trying to become speaker of the House, this much was clear: The United States should brace for the likelihood of a Congress in perpetual disarray for the next two years. The recipe for the chaos already existed: A toxic combination of the Republicans' slim governing majority, an unyielding hard-right flank that disdains the normal operations of government and a candidate for speaker who has repeatedly bowed to that flank in his quest for power. But to see it play out repeatedly on the House floor this week has left little doubt that Congress as an entity would struggle to carry out even its most basic duties in the coming two years, such as funding the government, including the military, or avoiding a catastrophic federal debt default."
A House Divided Cannot Stand. Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "In full view of the C-SPAN cameras, the [Republican] party has shown itself this week to still suffer from the incoherence and ungovernability that has been central to Republican politics, with rare exception, since 2013."
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "This is what happens when a political party, year after year, systematically destroys the norms and institutions of democracy. This is what happens when those expert at tearing things down are put in charge of governing. The dysfunction has been building over years of government shutdowns, debt-default showdowns and other fabricated crises, and now anti-government Republicans used their new majority to bring the House itself to a halt. This is insurrection by other means: Two years to the day since the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol, Republicans are still attacking the functioning of government. McCarthy opened the door to the chaos by excusing Donald Trump's fomenting of the attack and welcoming a new class of election deniers to his caucus. Now he;s trying to save his own political ambitions by agreeing to institutionalize the chaos.... Finally, on the 15th ballot early Saturday morning, McCarthy's abject surrender secured him the speakership, at least temporarily. But it was the most pyrrhic of victories. To save himself, he sacrificed the Congress itself. The saboteurs won." ~~~
~~~ Thanks to Ken W. for the link. As Ken wrote, Milbank must have been reading Reality Chex.
Steve M. notes that the House Game Show is bad news for Fox "News": While Sean Hannity & Brian Kilmeade have supported Kevin McCarthy, Fox viewers are behind the flamethrowers. "They're told every day (on Fox and elsewhere) that the country is run by pedophile communists who want to turn all white people in America in second-class citizens, if not out-and-out slaves. No wonder they think blowing everything up seems like a neat idea.... But Rupert Murdoch wants a functional right-wing party that only embraces extremism in order to drive angry whites to vote for corporatist Republicans. It doesn't want insurrection or chaos or a government that literally ceases to function.... For years, Rupert Murdoch and other right-wing billionaires have assumed that they can tell rank-and-file right-leaning voters that they're living in one of the most brutally repressive societies in human history, and the voters will just ... vote for people whose main concern is cutting rich people's taxes. I suspect it won't work for much longer."
On Friday, the New York Times liveblogged Republican House members' intranecine squabbles that for three days have prevented them from selecting a speaker. (Also linked yesterday.)~~~
~~~ Annie Karni & Catie Edmondson: "After a humiliating three-day stretch of 11 consecutive defeats in an election that is now the most protracted such contest since 1859, [Kevin] McCarthy briefed Republicans on a morning conference call on concessions he had made to the ultraconservative rebels, including agreeing to conditions he had previously refused to countenance. Mr. McCarthy told the group, 'we're in a good position,' but noted that there was no deal yet, according to a person on the private call...." ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater: "There is an increased security presence outside the Capitol on Friday, two years after the Jan. 6 attack on Congress. More officers are stopping visitors and checking IDs."
~~~ Emily Cochrane: "Democrats, along with families of officers who lost their lives because of the Jan. 6 riot, are holding a somber vigil on the steps of the Capitol.... Some Democrats are wiping away tears as they listen to the party's incoming and outgoing leadership, Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi. It is still difficult for many in this building to be in the House and Senate chambers and be reminded of what they experienced on Jan. 6. ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater: "The event is billed as bi-partisan, but almost all of the attendees are Democrats. There is at least one Republican: Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a former FBI agent." MB: Not surprisingly, there is no honor among insurrectionists. ~~~
~~~ ** Annie Karni: "It appears that on the 12th vote, McCarthy has for the first time received more votes for speaker than Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic nominee. He still does not have the required majority." ~~~
~~~ ** Marie: McCarthy flipped 14 anti-McCarthy votes. Final (but unofficial) total: McCarthy 213, Jeffries 211, Jordan 4, Hern 3. There are a couple of pro-McCarthy votes & one Jeffries voter who are "out of the office" today. Still, with 7 no votes, McCarthy does not have enough to gain the speakership. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Whatever his other faults, the guy who nominated My Kevin in Round 13 -- James Comer, who unfortunately will chair the Oversight Committee -- is remarkably stupid. Besides spouting some Covid conspiracy theories & knocking Dr. Fauci, he insists on a balanced federal budget & causing international economic chaos by not paying the debt. I don't think he can handle the job of oversight chairman of the dog poop bin at the local park. ~~~
~~~ Maggie Astor: "David Trone of Maryland, a Democrat, was back to vote for Hakeem Jeffries this round after missing the last one, and received raucous applause from his fellow Democrats. He returned to the Capitol in hospital socks and slippers after having surgery this morning." ~~~
~~~ ** Marie: Looks like the final tally of the 13th vote for speaker is McCarthy 214 (one Republican returned from wherever he was), Jeffries 212 & Jordan 6. Still not enough for My Kevin to grab the brass gavel (and as Akhilleus suggested the other day, pound the thumb of his free hand). ~~~
~~~ Marie: The House adjourned after the 13th roll call, to reconvene at 10 pm ET. ~~~
~~~ Annie Karni & Catie Edmondson: "Representative Kevin McCarthy of California clawed his way closer to becoming House speaker on Friday, winning over a bloc of right-wing holdouts and pressing forward with a late-night vote that he hoped would allow him to finally clinch the post after a historic floor fight and 13 failed attempts. Lawmakers assembled at 10 p.m. to vote for a 14th time." ~~~
~~~ Emily Cochrane: "Part of the talks between Mr. McCarthy and his detractors have focused on curtailing government spending, though the details have yet to be made public. Here's a blistering statement, however, from Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee: 'This backroom deal not only contradicts Republican calls for transparency, but it also kills the 2024 government funding process before it has even started, all but guaranteeing a shutdown.'" ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater: "On Friday, the two-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack, many of the same hard-right lawmakers who served as top lieutenants to [Donald] Trump during the buildup to the assault spent the day blocking the bid of Representative Kevin McCarthy of California to be speaker and extracting major concessions from him." ~~~
~~~ Carl Hulse: "No alternative nominee for speaker from the Republicans, showing this is moving to a conclusion." ~~~
~~~ Annie Karni: "The House is back to the floor for its 14th vote for speaker, and the one that Representative Kevin McCarthy is saying will finally clinch the deal for him." ~~~
~~~ Emily Cochrane: "It's all down to [Matt Gaetz] now." ~~~
~~~ Catie Edmondson: "Gaetz votes present and gets a big round of applause, but it's not enough to get [McCarthy] to the speakership." ~~~
~~~ Ali Velshi of NBC News: Rep. Mike Rogers lunged at Gaetz. Another rep grabbed Rogers & held his shoulder & face to stop him from physically attacking Gaetz. ~~~
~~~ ** Marie: The clerk read the roll: McCarthy 216, Jeffries 212, Jordan 2, Biggs 2. Clerk Cheryl Johnson: "No member-elect has received the majority of the votes cast. A speaker has not been elected." A motion to adjourn till Monday followed. Voice vote: "In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it.... The yeas & nays are ordered." ~~~
~~~ Catie Edmondson: "Hard to overstate how devastating of a blow this is to McCarthy, who seemed sure he had the vote sewn up this time."
~~~ Stephanie Ruhle of NBC News: "If this is democracy in action...." ~~~
~~~ Ali Velshi: McCarthy talked to Gaetz & walked away looking glum. ~~~
~~~ Ali Vitali of NBC News: When Nancy Pelosi went to the floor, she always knew she had the votes -- unlike McCarthy. ~~~
~~~ Ali Velshi: The motion to adjourn passed 218 to 215; then McCarthy, after talking to Gaetz, raised his hand, holding a red card & changed his vote to nay. A number of Republicans followed, so the nays have it. ~~~
~~~ Stephanie Ruhle said she got a note from a Democrat on the floor: "I think they got Gaetz." Gaetz will change his vote from "present" to McCarthy, Ruhle hears from a Democrat. Update: Now she hears McCarthy got "more of them" to change their votes from Somebody Else to "present." ~~~
~~~ Trump Saves McCarthy! Maggie Haberman: "... Donald J. Trump made a crucially timed call to Rep. Matt Gaetz on Friday night after the Florida congressman voted 'present' and sunk Kevin McCarthy's 14th effort to be elected House speaker.... CNN reported that Mr. Trump also called Rep. Andy Biggs, who switched from voting against Mr. McCarthy to voting 'present' on the 15th round." MB: Gaetz voted present in the 15th round.
~~~ Marie: At about the stroke of midnight, and on the 15th ballot, Kevin McCarthy appears to have received enough "present" votes from the Crazy Caucus to win the speakership. He won't get 218 votes -- a majority of the House -- but he'll get a majority of those voting. Rolled by the wingnuts & not even getting all their votes, McCarthy will be, at least technically, the speaker. But he's got a host of "junior speakers" who will pull his strings till they push him out. Presumably, there will one day be a portrait of My Kevin hanging on a wall in the Capitol. So that's nice. ~~~
~~~ ** Marie: McCarthy gains the speakership with 216 votes, 212 for Jeffries & 6 Republicans voting "present." At 12:38 am ET the clerk announced McCarthy had won the speakership, "having received a majority of the votes cast." ~~~
~~~ Annie Karni: "Representative Kevin McCarthy of California won election early Saturday as House speaker in a historic five-day, 15-ballot floor fight, after giving major concessions to right-wing holdouts and weathering a dramatic late-night setback that underscored the limits of his power over the new Republican majority. Mr. McCarthy clawed his way to victory by cutting a deal that won over a sizable contingent of ultraconservative lawmakers on the 12th and 13th votes earlier in the day, and then wearing down the remaining holdouts in a tense session that dragged on past midnight, ultimately winning with a bare majority, after a spectacle of arm-twisting and rancor on the House floor." This item has been expanded into a full story, which is linked near the top of this page. ~~~
~~~ Okay, I'll give My Kevin Buck Owens, because he devoted most of his acceptance speech to promising to lead a gang who would ruin the country. As Phil Mattingly of CNN summarized the House's prospects, "Nobody thinks this is going to go well":
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of House proceedings Friday are here. NBC News updates for Friday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Among the representatives who were sworn in Saturday morning was George Santos (R-N.Y.). While My Kevin is issuing all those subpoenas he promised, he ought to slip in one for George: ~~~
~~~ David Wright of CNN: "The Federal Election Commission has flagged issues with contributions made to embattled Rep.-elect George Santos' campaign, according to a letter addressed to the New York Republican's fundraising committee this week. The commission has requested clarification and more information on certain donors and about apparent excessive contributions to Santos' winning 2022 campaign for his Long Island seat. The FEC letter informed Santos that the information listed for three of his listed donors -- 'Best Efforts/Best Efforts, 'NYCBS/MD' and 'NYCBS/Self Employed' -- is 'not acceptable' and that his campaign 'must provide the missing information.'... In addition, the FEC letter says that Santos' latest fundraising report 'discloses one or more contributions which appear to exceed' federal contribution limits, and it identifies three donors who each contributed at least $25,000 to his campaign. Candidates are allowed to receive a maximum of $5,800 from individuals during an election cycle. The FEC letter also notes that 'the amounts disclosed --- appear greater than the total amount the three (3) participant committees of the Joint Fundraising Committee can accept.'"
Oops! Aaron Schaffer & Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "When the House Jan. 6 committee wrapped up its work in recent weeks, it posted hundreds of records online, including interview transcripts, audio recordings and text messages. Also buried in the massive cache was a spreadsheet with nearly 2,000 Social Security numbers associated with visitors to the White House in December 2020, including at least three members of Trump's Cabinet, a few Republican governors and numerous Trump allies. While the spreadsheet with the numbers was taken down Wednesday, the high-profile nature of the people whose data was exposed probably puts them at an 'elevated risk.'... Exposed individuals don't appear to have been notified about the leak.... 'Any release of such information was inadvertent,' [a January 6 committee aide said]."
State AG to Pursue Michigan's Fake Electors. Ed White of the AP: "The Michigan attorney general said Friday there's 'clear evidence' to pursue charges against pro-Donald Trump Republicans who claimed they were the state's presidential electors in 2020, despite Democrat Joe Biden's 154,000-vote victory. Dana Nessel [D] referred the matter to federal prosecutors last year, but no public action has been taken. A year later, she said it's time for state authorities to step in.”
James Bromwich & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "A New York judge declined on Friday to throw out the state attorney general's civil fraud case against ... Donald J. Trump, increasing the likelihood that he will face a trial this fall. In a sharply worded order, the judge, Justice Arthur F. Engoron of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, denied Mr. Trump's motion to dismiss the case, granting the attorney general, Letitia James, another victory in the matter. In September, Ms. James filed a lawsuit accusing Mr. Trump, three of his adult children and their family business of overvaluing his assets by billions of dollars. In his written order, Justice Engoron said that some of the arguments repeatedly made by Mr. Trump's lawyers were 'frivolous,' and had been 'borderline frivolous even the first time defendants made them.' The judge also rejected a separate attempt by Mr. Trump's daughter Ivanka, who is named as a defendant in Ms. James's lawsuit, to dismiss the accusations against her."
Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "Matt Schlapp, one of the nation's most prominent conservative leaders and a top ally of ... Donald Trump, is being accused of sexually groping a male aide on Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker's campaign in October. 'He reached in between my legs and fondled me,' the former Walker staffer told NBC News in a telephone interview Thursday night. 'To my shame, I didn't say anything' to stop Schlapp. NBC News is withholding the staffer's name at his request.... A senior official on the Walker campaign confirmed that the aide shared the allegation with his supervisors at the time.... Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, is married to former Trump White House aide Mercedes Schlapp. His organization hosts [CPAC]...."
Kevin McGill of the AP: "A Trump administration ban on bump stocks -- devices that enable a shooter to rapidly fire multiple rounds from semi-automatic weapons after an initial trigger pull -- was struck down Friday by a federal appeals court in New Orleans. The ban was instituted after a gunman perched in a high-rise hotel using bump stock-equipped weapons massacred dozens of people in Las Vegas in 2017. Gun rights advocates have challenged it in multiple courts. The 13-3 ruling at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals is the latest on the issue, which is likely to be decided at the Supreme Court. The decision doesn't have an immediate effect on the ban though because the case now moves back to the lower court to decide how to proceed."
Hannah Rabinowitz of CNN: "A Connecticut judge suspended the law license of a lawyer for right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones after he allegedly improperly released court documents from the Sandy Hook defamation case. The files included two years of Jones' text messages, medical records from some of the Sandy Hook families and other confidential discovery items. 'At a basic level, attorneys must competently and appropriately handle the discovery of sensitive materials in civil cases,' Judge Barbara Bellis wrote in a court order that suspended attorney Norman Pattis' license for six months. 'Otherwise, our civil system, in which discovery of sensitive information is customary and routine, would simply collapse.' Bellis said she 'flatly rejected' Pattis' assertion that his release of the confidential records was an 'inadvertent mistake,' writing that Pattis 'failed to provide even the minimal amount of attention and care required when it came to handling the plaintiffs' sensitive discovery materials.'" MB: I'm all surprised that Alex Jones has a shoddy lawyer.
Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a new Alzheimer's drug that may modestly slow the pace of cognitive decline early in the disease, but also carries risks of swelling and bleeding in the brain. The approval of the drug, lecanemab, to be marketed as Leqembi, is likely to generate considerable interest from patients and physicians. Studies of the drug -- an intravenous infusion administered every two weeks -- suggest it is more promising than the scant number of other treatments available. Still, several Alzheimer's experts said it was unclear from the medical evidence whether Leqembi could slow cognitive decline enough to be noticeable to patients." The Guardian's story is here.
Beyond the Beltway
California. The Bigots of Bakersfield Are as Dumb as the Town's Favorite Son, My Kevin. Max Lamoureux of Vice: "Two men set themselves on fire after dumping an accelerant on a California immigration services building and setting it ablaze, video shows. On Monday night, a Ring surveillance camera captured two men dressed in black with masks covering their faces walking up to Servicio de Inmigracion in Bakersfield, California. The two men proceed to dump the accelerant over the side of the building and parking lot in front. As one of the men continued to spread the fuel, the second squatted over a puddle of the accelerant and tried to light it on fire, the video shows. The fire ignited violently ... and the man sprinted away with his leg on fire. The second man panicked and fell down twice, and like his comrade, sprinted away from the scene of the crime on fire. The man could be heard screaming as he ran into the night."
Idaho. Ava Sasani of the New York Times: "Idaho's Supreme Court upheld the state's prohibition on abortion in a ruling Thursday night that said the State Constitution does not include a right to the procedure. The decision means the state's three abortion bans -- including one that outlaws the procedure from conception -- can remain in effect. The ruling came just hours after South Carolina's State Supreme Court went the other direction and overturned an abortion ban there, saying the state's constitutional right to privacy includes the right to abortion." New State Motto: Idaho, a great place to live if there's no chance you can accidentally get pregnant or accidentally get someone pregnant. Young people, fertile people: be safe, beware.
New Mexico. Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "Federal and local authorities in New Mexico are investigating whether several shootings since early December at the offices or homes of five elected Democratic leaders were connected and possibly politically motivated, officials said. No one was injured in the shootings in Albuquerque involving three residences, a workplace and a campaign office associated with a pair of county commissioners, two state senators and New Mexico's newly elected attorney general. Three of the shootings took place in December and two this month, the latest of which was on Thursday, the authorities said. The Albuquerque police chief, Harold Medina, said at a news conference on Thursday that there could be a pattern to the shootings, possibly tied to political affiliation."
South Carolina. Gerrymandering Out Black Voters. Caitlin Byrd of the [Charleston] Post & Courier: "South Carolina lawmakers drew the coastal 1st Congressional District held by Republican Nancy Mace in a way that discriminates against Black voters and must be recrafted by the end of March, a [three-judge] panel of federal judges has concluded. Mace's hold on the office is not immediately affected by the decision issued Jan. 6 but it likely means a much different congressional map will be in place in 2024 for voters in Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Colleton, Beaufort and Jasper counties.... The General Assembly has until March 31 to present an alternate map for the court's consideration."
Virginia. Paul Duggan & Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post: "A 6-year-old boy shot and wounded an elementary school teacher Friday in Newport News, Va., in a classroom with other pupils present, authorities said. The female teacher, whose name was not disclosed, was shot with a handgun at about 2 p.m. at Richneck Elementary School, Newport News Police Chief Steve R. Drew said at a news briefing. He said the 6-year-old first-grader, who was taken into custody, had been involved in an altercation with the teacher. No students in the classroom were hurt. 'This was not an accidental shooting,' Drew said. Authorities said the teacher, a woman in her 30s, was hospitalized at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News and described her wounds as life-threatening." Neither this story nor the NYT story on the shooting recounts how staff found out about the shooting. The AP's story is here; no help on how the kid's apprehension went down.
Way Beyond
Kenya. AFP: "Police investigating the death of an LGBTQ+ rights campaigner whose body was discovered stuffed in a metal trunk have arrested a suspect, they said. Edwin Chiloba, a 25-year-old fashion designer and model, was found dead by the roadside earlier this week about 40km (25 miles) outside the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, media reports said.... [Peter] Kimulwo [of the directorate of criminal investigations] said the suspect was believed to have been a longtime friend of the victim, adding that police were also looking for people seen loading a metal container into a car at Chiloba's home."
Mexico. Richard Pérez-Peña of the New York Times: "Ten soldiers and 19 drug cartel members were killed and dozens of people were wounded in a series of gun battles surrounding the capture of the son of the notorious drug kingpin known as El Chapo, Mexican officials said on Friday. Ovidio Guzmán López, a son of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, who is said to be a leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel that his father once headed, was arrested on Thursday in what the government described as a major blow to one of the country's most notorious criminal organizations. But the scale and high cost of the operation were not made public until a day later, at a news conference led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador."
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces carried on despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's unilateral declaration of a 36-hour cease-fire that started at noon Friday to mark the Orthodox Christmas holiday. Moscow and Kyiv [and Washington] blamed each other for the continued shelling.... One of the most fiercely contested sectors during the Orthodox Christmas period was around the Ukrainian town of Kreminna, located about 30 miles north of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, the British Defense Ministry said Saturday.... The Biden administration announced Friday a $2.85 billion military aid package for Ukraine, the largest drawdown from U.S. defense stockpiles to date. Officials said the package will include additional howitzers and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. In his nightly address, [President] Zelensky praised the aid package and said the armored vehicles -- which Kyiv had long called for -- were 'exactly what [Ukraine] needed.' Russia is seeking to mobilize 500,000 additional troops, a senior Ukrainian military intelligence official said, according to the Guardian.... U.S. instructors will later this month start training Ukrainian troops to use Patriot missiles, the anti-air systems that the United States and Germany have pledged to supply to Ukraine." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
News Lede
New York Times: "After weeks of unease over the murders of four University of Idaho students in a house near campus, the authorities this week released their most detailed account yet of the investigation that led them to arrest a criminology student from a nearby university. The documents detail an array of evidence about the suspect, Bryan Kohberger, 28, a graduate student at Washington State University, who said through a lawyer that he looks forward to being exonerated. The records also provided jarring new details about the night the four students were murdered, while raising fresh questions about a mystifying case in which authorities have not explained a possible motive. Here are 10 key revelations made public on Thursday."
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Reader Comments (14)
I wish that I was a lip reader to understand the discussions between/with Gaetz & McCarthy and their handlers at the end of the vote.
Slow đź‘Ź for My Kevin.
It should be interesting to see how this speakership goes given all the crap he was forced to agree to by the terrorists, including that they can order a voice vote to have him booted anytime it suits them.
The one I’m most curious to see is his bowing to the demand that he change his underwear every three hours, and wear them on the outside so they can check. Also the demand that he open every session in Pig Latin while dancing the Macarena.
A final indignity involves his Speaker portrait that will hang next to the last two failed R speakers. My Kevin had to agree that Matt Gaetz gets to paint a Marcel Duchamp mustache on his face.
I’m surprised they didn’t make him walk their dogs and use his tie as a pooper scooper.
But hey, at least he learned how to govern.
Shoot me now.
Just wondering if Gaetz and the other moochers will be returning the money they collected to “save the nation” by promising to keep McCarthy off the podium.
Guess not.
Waiting now for Fatty to claim victory for dragging My Kevin’s sorry ass to the Speaker’s podium, which is a little like taking credit for the Maginot Line. “I stopped the invasion!”
Yeah. For half an hour.
How on earth will MSM hacks both-sides the insanity in the House this week? They’ll have to be mighty creative. Oh, maybe they’ll point to that time Nancy Pelosi had to run to the ladies room during a roll call: “House was in chaos! Pelosi was to blame!”
Poor Kevin. In his speech, after talking about George Washington crossing the Delaware, said "... there is nothing this body can overcome..."
He was probably really tired.
Now that we have learned that Akhilleus is not Jeanne's mother reincarnated we can concentrate on the dramas of the day. Watching the My Kevin- will he- won't he last night I grew weary and turned to Ken Burn's documentary on the Holocaust and the historical buildup, especially in this country where racism and anti- semitism loomed large; different strokes now but we are still in the middle of a muddle and Lady Liberty's torch is still wobbly.
But such good news! Matt Schlapp's hands got slapped––finally! Once upon a time PBS news had a segment of "he said, she said" with Matt and our Press Secretary Karine who ran circles around Schlapp who thought he was the smartest guy around.
When our tax preparer called yesterday about making an appointment
some time in March, I told him I wouldn't need one since I'm
changing my name to Forrest Trump (not Gump) so that means
I won't have to pay any taxes. Does that make me smart?
He promised to visit me in jail since I'm not a billionaire and can't
get away with stuff like that. Oh well, I tried.
@Forrest Morris: I'm afraid your tax preparer went to the wrong school. You should have picked an accountant with a gen-u-wine certificate from the Donald J. Trump University of Business & Tax Accounting. Then he would know to pick out dozens & dozens of the longest tax forms, fill all the lines with numbers, the more complicated the better. No need for them to add up.
You should have quite a few corporations and at least one charity. F. Trump Enterprises, LLC. F. Trump & Associates Real Estate. F. Trump & Associates Exclusive Hotels. F. Trump Golf, Inc. Trumpty-Dumpty Construction Clean-up Services. F. Trump Widows & Orphans Charitable Fund. And so forth.
It is important to show huge income & losses because you want to avoid an audit. Altogether, the accountant should show a bottom lines of, say, $500 million in income for 2022 and $501 million in deductions. (If he tries to show an income in the low millions, he wasn't paying attention during the Believable Tax Fraud seminar.)
Then you can just sit around the house waiting for your million-dollar refund. Maybe invite your neighbor Betsy to tea and compare tax filings. If your stack of forms is taller than her stack of forms, you should be good.
(I do think the name change to Forrest Trump will be of great help.)
The NYT story about the school shooting by a 6-year old doesn’t even hint in the general direction of the kid’s parents. Whoever owned that gun is responsible for this violence.
@Marie: Thanks for all the tax tips. I'll take those up with the tax
person.
Nope, can't invite Betsy to tea. She's at their 'little' place in the
Cayman Islands right now. They leave right after Christmas, which
is when the 4 kids each receive another corporation to profit from.
Must be nice.
I just watched the Hakeem Jeffries speech prior to giving the gavel to DiJiT's Kevin. The guy is good, even great, at delivering what the D's have been doing and what they will continue to work for. I especially like his clear love for alliteration in cadenced calling-out of his subjects, which I guess is close to an AME sermon oratorical device. Near the end, he went through the whole alphabet of what D's are for, and the opposite of what they are against. Very entertaining.
This footage (I guess digital is not footage. How do we measure videos' anyway?) may be the same as what Marie posted, I'm not sure. It has the A-Z of his speech, which Kevin had to listen to standing by.
https://youtu.be/-1It5Z7dfMY
Katie Porter read the book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k during the speaker votes.
A bit of history on the Republicans and how they haven't changed much in the last century.
"The negativity and obstructionism that we witness daily from the GOP is straight out of their old playbook for contesting the New Deal and crucial areas of World War II policy. The positioning on issues is also much the same: Taft decried Roosevelt and Truman as warmongers, but turned on a dime to extol MacArthur, a general so imperious he was called the American Caesar. Likewise, current GOP issue positioning largely depends on whether a Democrat or a Republican is president."