The Ledes

Thursday, September 26, 2024

The New York Times:' live updates of Hurricane Helene developments today are here. “Hurricane Helene was barreling through the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday en route to Florida, where residents were bracing for extreme rain, destructive winds and deadly storm surge ahead of the storm’s expected landfall. The storm could intensify to a Category 4, if not higher, before making landfall late Thursday, and forecasters warned Helene’s anticipated large size could make its impacts felt across an extensive area. Areas as distant as Atlanta and the Appalachians are at risk for heavy rains.... Many forecast models show the storm making landfall late Thursday near Florida’s Big Bend Coast, a sparsely populated stretch....” ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post has forecasts for some cites in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina & Tennessee that are in or near the probable path of Helene. ~~~

     ~~~ This morning, an MSNBC weatherperson said Tallahassee (which is inland) would experience wind gusts of up to 120 m.p.h. and that the National Weather Service said expected 20-foot storm surges near the coast would be “unsurvivable.”

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The Ledes

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

The New York Times is live-updating developments in the progress of Hurricane Helene. “Helene continued to power north in the Caribbean Sea, strengthening into a hurricane Wednesday morning, on a path that forecasters expect will bring heavy amounts of rain to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula and western Cuba before it begins to move toward Florida’s Gulf Coast.” ~~~

~~~ CNN: “Helene rapidly intensified into a hurricane Wednesday as it plows toward a Florida landfall as the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in over a year. The storm will also grow into a massive, sprawling monster as it continues to intensify, one that won’t just slam Florida, but also much of the Southeast.... Thousands of Florida residents have already been forced to evacuate and nearly the entire state is under alerts as the storm threatens to unleash flooding rainfall, damaging winds and life-threatening storm surge.... The hurricane unleashed its fury on parts of Mexico’s Yucátan Peninsula and Cuba Wednesday.“

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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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July 20, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ... appeared before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government ... [and] said he had 'never been anti-vax' and had taken all recommended vaccines except the coronavirus vaccine. Thursday's hearing ... was rooted in a lawsuit, filed last year by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana and known as Missouri v. Biden, that accused the [Biden] administration of colluding with social media companies to suppress free speech on Covid-19, elections and other matters. The subcommittee's chairman, Representative Jim Jordan..., opened the hearing by citing an email that emerged in that case, in which a White House official asked Twitter to take down a tweet in which Mr. Kennedy suggested -- without evidence -- that the baseball legend Hank Aaron may have died from the coronavirus vaccine.... Thursday's session had all the makings of a Washington spectacle." ~~~

     ~~~ Daniel Dale of CNN fact-checks Kennedy's stunning claim (under oath) that he's never been anti-vaccine. Definitely worth watching:

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved legislation that would impose strict new ethics rules on justices, moving over fierce objections from Republicans to address a string of revelations about Supreme Court justices taking free luxury trips and receiving other financial benefits from wealthy benefactors. The legislation, which stands little chance of advancing given the strong G.O.P. opposition, would require the Supreme Court to, at a minimum, adopt and adhere to ethics and disclosure rules equivalent to those applied to members of Congress. It would also impose new transparency requirements and create a panel of appellate judges to review misconduct complaints made against the justices. Democratic members of the committee said the action was necessary because the court has refused to police itself." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I acknowledge that it is a given that Republicans are horrified that confederate justices should have to abide by some kind of ethics code. But will somebody please remind me of why. What is the rationale -- real or fake -- behind "It's so wrong for our vaunted justices-for-life to be required to demonstrate that they're following ethical principles." I really cannot think of a quasi-reasonable excuse for the GOP's "strong opposition" to the proposed legislation.

Marie: Last night I read U.S. Code Section 241 of Title 18, which is a "surprise" citation in Trump's target letter. I came to much the same conclusion, based on the same recent evidence, Marcy Wheeler reached: "The recent news that Jack Smith has subpoenaed the security footage from the State Farm arena vote count location in Georgia, taken in conjunction with Trump's efforts in places like Michigan -- where his efforts focused on preventing a fair count of Detroit, where he had actually performed better than in 2016, rather than Kent County, the still predominantly white county where he lost the state -- is a reminder that Trump and his mobs, many associated with overt white supremacists like Nick Fuentes, aggressively tried to thwart the counting of Black and Latino people's votes." We have known for a long time that Trump ran a Jim Crow presidency*. You see it in his political appointees, you see it in his judicial nominations. You see it in his immigration sentiments: more Norwegians, fewer people from "shithole countries," no Mexican "rapists," no Muslims. "There are very fine people on both sides." Message to violent white nationalist Proud Boys: "Stand back and stand by." The only Black people Trump has ever been able to make friends with are entertainers or sports figures, and many White racists have long given a pass to Black celebrities. If we failed to notice that Trump was picking on areas with primarily Black voters, then we haven't been paying attention to Republicans back to Richard Nixon. Wheeler gives a big shout-out to Roger Stone, and he is obviously provides a through-line from Nixon to Trump. But the racism is party-wide and hardly concealed. Just ask Paul Ryan why he and Mitt Romney lost the 2012 election: "urban voters." If the DOJ is catching up to reality -- and that remains a supposition -- well, good for them.

Kevin Makes a Deal. Rachel Bade of Politico: "After House Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested on national television last month that Donald Trump may not be the GOP's best presidential nominee in 2024, the former president was furious.... 'He needs to endorse me -- today!' Trump fumed to his staff.... But [McCarthy] ... wasn't ready to do that. To calm Trump, McCarthy made him a promise...: The House would vote to expunge the two impeachments against the former president. And -- as McCarthy would communicate through aides later that same day -- they would do so before August recess. That vow -- made reflexively to save his own skin -- may have bought McCarthy some time, staving off a public war with the man who almost single-handedly rehabilitated his entire career and ensured he won the gavel in January." But the plan may not go down well with so-called moderate House Republicans, Constitutionalist Republicans, and those who want to forget about January 6.

Marie: If you would like to know what-all happened in Wednesday's House Biden Crime Family Hearing -- other than MTG displaying huge dick pix in front of those assembled in the room -- Aaron Blake of the Washington Post does a good job at explaining the, ah, substance: "It's basically one big he-said, they-said. And despite the hearing Wednesday, it remained in that realm." It appears star wingnut witness Gary Shapley, an IRS supervisor agent, didn't understand the DOJ's distinction between a "special counsel" & a "special attorney" when he spoke to Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss a while back. Now, I don't think the average person would know the difference, either, nor would the average surly IRS agent. Necessarily. But Weiss wrote a much-publicized letter to the committee last week, explaining Shapley's apparent misapprehension and assuring the committee that AG Merrick Garland did nothing to limit Weiss's investigation and charging decisions re: Hunter Biden. So one would think Shapley would have an Emily Litella moment and back out of the hearing. But no. He insisted to Democratic interrogators that Weiss was not telling the truth.

The Lionization of Clarence Thomas (Sponsored by a Guy Named Leo). Shawn Boberg, et al., of the Washington Post: In 2016, after HBO produced & aired a drama about Clarence Thomas & Anita Hill, there arose a "rush of favorable content' [that] was part of a coordinated and sophisticated public relations campaign to defend and celebrate Thomas.... The campaign would stretch on for years and include the creation and promotion of a laudatory film about Thomas, advertising to boost positive content about him during internet searches and publication of a book about his life. It was financed with at least $1.8 million from conservative nonprofit groups steered by the judicial activist Leonard Leo, [a Washington Post] examination found."

~~~~~~~~~~

Patrick Marley, et al., of the Washington Post: "For 2½ years after rioters swarmed the Capitol, criminal investigations into Donald Trump and his allies for attempting to overturn the 2020 election percolated quietly. Now, just as another presidential campaign featuring Trump accelerates toward primary season, the assorted local, state and federal probes are bursting into highly visible action -- seemingly all at once."

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors have introduced a new twist in the Jan. 6 investigation by suggesting in a target letter that they could charge ... Donald J. Trump with violating a civil rights statute that dates back to the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, according to three people familiar with the matter.... Section 241 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which makes it a crime for people to 'conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person' in the 'free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States.' Congress enacted that statute after the Civil War to provide a tool for federal agents to go after Southern whites, including Ku Klux Klan members.... The modern usage of the law raised the possibility that Mr. Trump, who baselessly declared the election he lost to have been rigged, could face prosecution on accusations of trying to rig the election himself."

It is a ghastly reality that the only job left that Donald Trump could get in this country is president of the United States. -- Tom Nichols in a Bulwark podcast

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Former New York City police commissioner Bernie Kerik is preparing to sit down with special counsel Jack Smith's team.... [Donald] Trump pardoned Kerik, who rose to fame after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, after he pleaded guilty in 2010 to eight felony charges, including failure to pay taxes and lying to White House officials during a failed nomination to be the secretary Homeland Security. Kerik served three years in prison...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Dan Mangan of CNBC: "... on Wednesday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that [Jack] Smith's prosecutors had subpoenaed surveillance video footage recorded at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta during vote counting there after the 2020 election. Trump's campaign lawyers had used surveillance footage from the vote count to argue without success in December 2020 that Georgia's presidential election was tainted by fraud." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "A judge on Wednesday denied ... Donald J. Trump's request to move the Manhattan criminal case against him from state to federal court. The federal judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein, had signaled in a hearing last month that he was predisposed against moving the case brought by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg. Mr. Bragg's prosecutors have charged Mr. Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, stemming from a hush money payment made to a porn star in 2016."

Erica Orden of Politico: "A federal judge on Wednesday denied Donald Trump's bid for a new trial two months after a jury found that he sexually abused and defamed the writer E. Jean Carroll.... In a 59-page decision, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote that ... the former president's argument '... ignores the bulk of the evidence at trial, misinterprets the jury's verdict, and mistakenly focuses on the New York Penal Law definition of "rape" to the exclusion of the meaning of that word as it often is used in everyday life and of the evidence of what actually occurred between Ms. Carroll and Mr. Trump.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Ian Swanson of the Hill: "Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla. announced on his podcast Tuesday he is introducing legislation to defund investigations into former President Trump led by special counsel Jack Smith." (Also linked yesterday.)

Laura Sforza of the Hill: "A Pennsylvania woman accused of directing Jan. 6 rioters into the Capitol building with a bullhorn was found guilty on federal charges. Rachel Marie Powell, 41, was convicted of all charges brought against her, including eight felonies and one misdemeanor related to her actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington announced Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth heard testimony without a jury, and a sentencing hearing was scheduled for Oct. 17." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Company He Keeps. Corky Siemaszko of NBC News: "A New Jersey con man with a 'bad reputation' who was pardoned two years ago by ... Donald Trump has been arrested again and accused of defrauding investors out of millions of dollars. Eliyahu 'Eli' Weinstein and four other men are charged with fleecing more than 150 people out of $35 million in a 'Ponzi-like scheme,' according to an arrest complaint unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Trenton and a statement from the office of the U.S. attorney for New Jersey. Using the alias Michael Konig, Weinstein and the others formed a company called Optimus Investments Inc. and allegedly began 'orchestrating another substantial scheme to defraud investors' shortly after he was released from prison in January 2021 -- but still on probation, the complaint says."

... this Inspector Clouseau-style quest for something that doesn't exist has turned our committee into a theater of the absurd, an exercise in futility and embarrassment. --- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) ~~~

~~~ Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Two veteran I.R.S. investigators leveled harsh criticism on Wednesday against the Justice Department over its handling of the tax case against Hunter Biden, accusing the agency of shielding him from felony charges because of politics and preferential treatment. During an hourslong hearing of the House Oversight Committee, the investigators, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, detailed how they believed their work investigating Mr. Biden, the president's son, was stymied and slow-walked by Justice Department officials during both the Trump and Biden presidencies.... Mr. Shapley accused both Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and David C. Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware, of stating falsely that Mr. Weiss had been fully empowered to pursue the Hunter Biden -- allegations both men have denied....

"But if the proceeding at times was a sober recounting of facts and details..., it also veered into rank partisanship, hyperbole and -- in a spectacle seldom seen in a Capitol Hill hearing room -- sexually explicit material. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the right-wing Republican from Georgia, displayed naked photos of Hunter Biden engaging in sex acts as she questioned whether the evidence found on his laptop that he solicited prostitutes amounted to human trafficking.... Ms. Greene had held up several blown-up photographs and video screenshots. Democrats repeatedly expressed disgust at the tenor of the hearing, and the White House condemned it." MB: I doubt Miss Margie to charm school would help at all; she needs a super-ego implant. This is a woman who has no idea whatsoever of how to behave.

     ~~~ Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "in her closing remarks, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who also sits on the panel, called the images 'pornographic' and accused Republicans of reaching a 'new low.' 'Frankly, I don't care who you are in this country, no one deserves that,' she said. After the hearing ended, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the panel's top Democrat, said in an interview that displaying the images was 'completely irrelevant' to the hearing and 'did not advance in any way the putative objective of the hearing.'"

Presidential Race 2024

Marjorie Taylor Greene cuts a campaign ad for Joe Biden. MB: I opened the video with a brief intro to the ad; you can pretty much skip what-all comes after the ad:

     ~~~ "Alongside the ad, the White House tweeted, 'Caught us. President Biden is working to make life easier for hardworking families.'"

David Smith of the Guardian: "Robert Kennedy Jr, a long-shot Democratic candidate for US president, has a long history of racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, and should be denied a national platform, according to a damning report seen by the Guardian.... The Congressional Integrity Project, a political watchdog, called for Republicans to disinvite Kennedy after releasing a report that details his meetings with and promotion of racists, antisemites and extremist conspiracy theorists.... [For instance,] the Project details how Kennedy himself has frequently invoked Nazi Germany when pushing debunked theories about vaccines. He put out a video that showed the infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci with a moustache reminiscent of Adolf Hitler and used the word 'holocaust' to describe children he believes were hurt by vaccines in 2015." (Also linked yesterday.)

Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "From the moment he entered the White House in 2017, Donald Trump was at war with the government he led; as his close adviser Stephen K. Bannon said at the time, the administration's goal was the 'deconstruction of the administrative state.' It was a war Trump mostly lost. But as he campaigns for another term, his loyalists are planning to refight that war, and win.... Working through established conservative organizations and newer Trump-centric ones such as the America First Policy Institute, Trump's associates are developing a plan to concentrate federal authority in his hands.... The Heritage Foundation's massive plan for the next GOP administration states, 'Nothing is more important than deconstructing the centralized administrative state.'... 'A lot of Trump's frustration with what he called the deep state was as much as anything frustration towards his own political appointees,' says Donald Moynihan, a Georgetown University political scientist.... 'He has solved that problem,' because now he has 'thousands of vetted loyalists' ready to staff the executive branch." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I am tired of news media covering the presidential race treating Trump as any other candidate. That serves to normalize his dangerous plans. Every mention of him in every article about the presidential contest should describe him as something like, "Donald Trump, who is running on an authoritarian, anti-democratic platform...."


Caroline Kitchener of the Washington Post: "A new procedure adopted in mid-June by one of the largest abortion pill suppliers, Europe-based Aid Access, now allows U.S. medical professionals in certain Democrat-led states that have passed abortion 'shield' laws to prescribe and mail pills directly to patients in antiabortion states.... The telemedicine shield laws, enacted over the past year in New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Vermont and Colorado, explicitly protect abortion providers who mail pills to restricted states from inside their borders. The result is a new pipeline of legally prescribed abortion pills flowing into states with abortion bans.... Aid Access started sending abortion pills to women in the United States long before the June 2022 Supreme Court ruling."

Stella Kim & others of NBC News have some details about the nitwit who bolted across the DMZ into North Korea. The kid is not your model soldier. (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. A Frightening Story Gets Strange. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "The police in Alabama said on Wednesday that they had not found any evidence to substantiate a woman's report that she had been abducted and held for two days after she pulled over to help a toddler whom she had seen walking along the side of an interstate. The police said that an investigation showed that the woman, Carlee Russell, 25, had searched online for information about Amber Alerts and the movie 'Taken,' which is about a kidnapping, before she called 911 on Thursday night to report a toddler walking along the interstate in Hoover, Ala., a suburb of Birmingham. When the police arrived at the interstate minutes later, they found Ms. Russell's vehicle and some of her belongings, including her cellphone and purse, but could not find her. The ensuing search for her and the child she had reported seeing drew national attention and intense speculation about what had happened." A Guardian report is here.

California. Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: "Following months of intense scrutiny of his scientific work, Marc Tessier-Lavigne announced Wednesday that he would resign as president of Stanford University after an independent review of his research found significant flaws in studies he supervised going back decades." ~~~

~~~ Marie: When good people (and I don't know whether or not Tessier-Lavigne is a good person) get caught doing bad things, they take their lumps and resign or at least apologize. They do not run for re-election, deny obvious wrongdoing & attack those holding them to account. This is an essential difference between civilized and uncivilized people.

Mississippi. Illysa Daly & Jerry Mitchell of the New York Times: "... an investigation by The New York Times and ... Mississippi Today, which included dozens of interviews and a review of court records and exclusively obtained internal documents, found that during his 11 years in office, Sheriff [Eddie] Scott has repeatedly been accused of using the power of his position to harass women, coerce them into sex and retaliate against those who criticize him or allege abuse. In rural communities like Clay County -- dominated by farmland and economic hardship -- some sheriffs rule like kings. They can arrest anyone they choose, smear reputations and hand out reprieves and other favors. They have enormous latitude to hold people in jail as long as they please and they answer to no one, typically facing little press or prosecutorial scrutiny." MB: f you wonder why people believe Donald Trump's stories about how the DOJ & FBI are persecuting him, it could be that some of them live in places like Clay County, where the law enforcement apparatus is entirely corrupt.

Mississippi. Chang Che of the New York Times: "Federal authorities have opened an investigation into a Mississippi chicken plant after a 16-year-old boy died following a workplace accident there, officials said on Tuesday. The boy, identified by the local authorities as Duvan Tomas Perez, died on Friday night after becoming ensnared in a machine he was cleaning at the Mar-Jac Poultry processing plant in Hattiesburg, Miss., according to a statement by the company.... Duvan immigrated to the United States from Guatemala roughly six years ago, according to Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, a nonprofit organization that supports migrants in Mississippi.... Federal labor laws prohibit people under the age of 18 from operating and cleaning meat processing and packing equipment, which the U.S. Labor Department defines as 'particularly hazardous.' Mississippi's state labor laws ban minors from working in packing industries or positions that involve processing meat and poultry." The Guardian's report is here.~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I heard on CNN that Perez was cleaning the machine while it was running. Not surprisingly, it is supposed to be turned off while being cleaned.

New Hampshire. Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "Gov. Chris Sununu (R-N.H.) on Wednesday announced that he will not seek a fifth term in office -- just one month after he said he would not seek the 2024 Republican presidential nomination."

Way Beyond

China. Lisa Friedman, et al., of the New York Times: "Chinese leaders rebuffed attempts by John Kerry, President Biden's climate envoy, to persuade them to commit to tougher climate action during three days of talks in Beijing, a response that suggested that tensions between the countries are making it difficult to work together on a crisis that threatens the planet. Mr. Kerry emerged late Wednesday from the lengthy negotiations in Beijing with no new agreements. In fact, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, insisted in a speech that China would pursue its goals to phase out carbon dioxide pollution at its own pace and in its own way. Still, Mr. Kerry appeared buoyed that the world's two biggest polluters had restarted discussions, which had been frozen for a year because of strained relations over Taiwan, trade and other issues." MB: Apparently the excellent HVAC system in the Great Hall of the People prevented Chinese negotiators from noticing that China is among the nations experiencing a record-breaking, climate-change-induced heat wave.

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "For a third successive night, missile strikes pummeled Ukraine's Odessa region, where the country's Black Sea ports are located.... Eight aircraft carrying long-range supersonic missiles were recorded flying in the direction of the Black Sea, while anti-ship cruise missiles were launched toward the Odessa region, Ukraine's air force said on Telegram.... In Mykolaiv, 18 people were wounded -- including five children.... All ships headed to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea will be considered potential carriers of military cargo starting Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Helen Davidson of the Guardian: "The head of MI6 has accused China';s government and its leader, Xi Jinping, of being 'absolutely complicit' in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in a rare public address in Prague. Sir Richard Moore, who has been chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service since 2020, also offered comment on the extraordinary mutiny in June by the mercenary Wagner group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.... 'When Putin invaded Ukraine, the Chinese very clearly supported the Russians,' Moore said at the event hosted by Politico on Wednesday. 'They have completely supported the Russians diplomatically, they've abstained in key votes at the United Nations, they've absolutely cynically repeated all the Russian tropes, particularly in places like Africa and Latin America -- [by] blaming Nato....'"

Mary Ilyushina & Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putin, facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, will not attend next month's summit of the BRICS group of nations in South Africa 'by mutual agreement,' South Africa's presidential administration said Wednesday. The agreement with the Kremlin puts an end to a diplomatic quandary for South Africa: As a member of the ICC, it would have an obligation to arrest Putin upon his arrival in the country." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "Wagner boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin, in what appeared to be the first video of him since he led a short-lived rebellion in late June, said the Russian mercenary group will for now not fight in Ukraine and repeated his criticism that Russia's Ukraine invasion has been botched. The blurry clip, apparently filmed at dusk, showed a man resembling Prigozhin addressing a crowd of at least several hundred men in military fatigues. He vowed to continue operating the Wagner Group in Africa and turn the military of Belarus, his new host country, into 'the second army in the world.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Comments Off

Reader Comments (15)

Tradition!

Ronito DeSantolini, currently running to be dictator of the United States has a sad.

The other dictator wannabe, the Fat Fascist, Donaldovich Trumpskyev, is not being charged with “traditional crimes”. You know, like bank robbery, murder, arson, money laundering, sexual assault…oh…sorry, he actually was charged with that… and found guilty.

But hey, who knew there were traditional crimes, good ol’ All ‘Merican type, GOP approved traditional crimes?

And as far as DeSantolini is concerned, this just ain’t right. According to the Mouse Warrior, stuff like obstruction of an official proceeding, defrauding the government, conspiring to injure, oppress, or otherwise screw with people are “opaque” charges that will make people “wince”.

Ya know what, Ronnie? Nothing “opaque” about you. You, in your white go-go boots and permanent sneer are a weenie apologist for treason, and if there’s any wincing going on, it happens every time you open your mouth and say something stupid, illegal, insulting, obsequious, or threatening. And Trump has committed plenty of traditional crimes. But as president*, he decided to be non-tradional, and bring down the government.

Opaque, my ass.

“Traditional crimes”. What’s next? Ronnie dressed up like Tevye from “Fiddler on the Roof” singing “Tradition! TRADITION!”?
We gotta go back to good old fashioned crimes. Like lynching, kidnapping, and embezzlement. What’s happening to our country??

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ron-desantis-says-donald-trump-is-not-being-accused-of-traditional-crimes

July 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Akhilleus: Aah, I think DeSantolini is right. About a decade ago, I read a story about how two New Hampshire legislators (Rs, of course) introduced a bill that every state law had to have a foundation in the Magna Carta and had to cite the passage of the Magna Carta that applied, like the one where it says, “We shall straightway return the son of Llewelin and all the Welsh hostages.”

But, as I said, that was some 10 years ago, and times have changed. "Traditional" is getting older. So I think what Ronnie means by traditional is, like, the Ten Commandments. So murder, robbery, adultery, lying, going to church on Sunday and such. As far as we know, Trump hasn't directly murdered anyone, but I would point out to Ronnie-boy that Jack Smith is getting after Trump for not keeping at least one of the other commandments: stealing classified docs. As for adultery and lying and all, well, we have evidence there, too. Are we supposed to thrash him, or what?

July 20, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Let's have some more derailments, bridges crumbling, more water
pollution, please, to satisfy those Republicans who previously
agreed on a bipartisan infrastructure funding bill.
Now they don't like it for some reason. The House GOP wants to
cut billions of dollars that was appropriated for repair of aging
infrastructure.
Maybe just cut the spending in red states. That would save lots of $.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/07/18/republican-
spending-bills-infrastructure-cuts/

July 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

I think RD / Tevye will be singing “PROJECTION, projection!”

July 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy

How 'bout theft or kidnapping? Successful and not.

Of pretty much anything the Pretender could get his mitts on: government documents, cheap mementos, elections, of migrant children and most of what remained of the national honor...

Seems pretty traditional to me...

July 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Marie,

The Magna Carta? Sheesh. Did these guys visit England and get drunk at Runnymede? If they want real traditional, why not Hammurabi’s Code? Hmmm…maybe not. Thieves (like Trump) were put to death. So were assholes who falsely accused innocents of a crime. And then there’s the punishment for lying: tongue cut out. Now, would that mean Gym Jordan’s tongue would be removed before or after he was put to death? Oh, please say before!

Going back further (extra traditional?) there’s Leviticus. Loads of good stuff there, such as the punishment for disobedience, like, oh…say, not returning stolen documents after you’ve been told 278 times to do so:

The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron.

Yikes. Oh, but that would be after his hands were cut off for stealing.

All in all, traditional punishments for “traditional” crimes would leave almost the entire GOP either dead, maimed, or…WITH MILDEW!

More tradition, please!

July 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Oh…Fatty pardoned a predatory con man who went right back to criming as soon as he got the chance? That reminds me of someone…

Well never mind. It’ll come to me.

And oh, look! Speaking of birds of a feather, that Rex Heuermann guy, just arrested for serial murders, the so-called Gilgo killer, was once hired by Trump. Isn’t that sweet? Maybe if he steals back the White House, Fatty can pardon this guy if he gets convicted.

I realize, of course, that some things are circumstantial, but after several thousand data points are amassed that point to criminality, malfeasance, bad acts, and fraud on a galactic scale, circumstantial can take a hike.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-rex-heuermann-trump-building-new-york-fact-check-1813759?amp=1

July 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Republican touristas.
Guess I'll have to start wearing a dress shirt and tie whilst working
in the garden. On my knees, wearing my ragged pants and hand-me-
down shirt, trimming ivy in front of the house, a man walks past me
and up onto the porch and rings the door bell. (This has happened
twice before).
When no one answers the door, he looks down on me and asks if the
owner is home. Normally I would have said "yes, that's me, can I help
you" but I didn't like his holier than thou attitude, so I told him, no,
they're at their ski place in Switzerland and won't be back until Sept.
So he says his wife would like a garden tour. I told him the boss said
no one in the garden until Sept or Oct.
I used to really like interacting with tourists. Could be that I think
they're all Republicans now and will vote for Trumpolini.

July 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

@Forrest Morris: Everybody knows the owners of glorious gardens do not do real gardening, like cutting back long strands of ivy. No, the owners go out with a trug and high-end pruners & clip roses to arrange in fine vases and place upon tables decorated with the type of precious items Trump would steal. So I'm not sure a nicer outfit would help.

But it is a funny story. You should congratulate yourself on your beautiful garden, and your pride should emanate from the labor you yourself put into it.

July 20, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Trump's original platform was just copy and pasted from some white nationalist wishlist. Deport all Mexicans, ban all Muslims, and bring back law and order, ie lock up the rest of the black and brown people left over.

July 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Forrest,

Your story reminds me:

Don't exactly know why and maybe don't want to know, but I have on occasion taken secret glee when I've been working on one of our properties, fixing fence, mowing, and the like, and once in particular when I had my mower in the back of the pickup in a grocery store parking lot, me next to the truck, festooned with grass clippings, and people have walked up to me and asked if I wanted another job...

July 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Marie,

You asked.

And the answer is the Republican Party has shed its veneer of righteousness (self-righteousness, not so much). They have been the party of greed for generations now, and in the pursuit of the unholy dollar have allowed themselves over time to lose all moral constraints.

They are just admitting who they are. Just as the Pretender admitted his racism, they are admitting their greed and corruption. Most everything they say and do confirms their vileness.

It's not just the D of J. Morality itself is weaponized against them...

July 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Just wondering what the hell is the deal with RFK, Jr. He’s been laying low all these years and now has decided it’s time to let the freak flag fly? I wouldn’t care a bit if he wants to be a douchebag, but he’s polling 9%. Not great, but if he’s still in the race next year and pulls 1 or 2%, and if Joe Manchin decides to go full No Labels and draws 2 or 3%, these assholes could allow the Orange Monster to slither back into the White House, because here’s the thing: no Republicans are going to vote for either of these clowns, so it will be independents and some Democrats who do, taking perhaps enough votes away from Biden to kill his candidacy. And don’t forget Cornel West.

I realize the election is a ways off, but why is it always so hard for Democrats and so easy for the traitors?

July 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

unwashed,

I'm pleased we've mostly agreed. Thanks for your own contributions over the years, and I'd add, for your years of restraint.

You are one of the many RC commenters, virtually all of them, I will greatly miss.


Editor's Note: This is a response to a comment I removed because it centered on a personal assault on another reader.

July 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Marie,

Say it ain't so! Realty Chex has been my go to for these past 10 years. I will miss the bit of sanity I get from you and the amazing commenters, and the daily updates of what's going on in the world. Thank you to everyone! Does my heart good to know you're out there fighting the good fight.

Peace, Julie

July 21, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJulie
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