;)
Sunday
Jul302023
July 30, 2023
Afternoon Update:
It is most likely that, by the time we get on the debate stage on August 23, the [Republican presidential] front-runner will be out on bail in four different jurisdictions. -- Chris Christie, Sunday
Arlette Saenz of CNN: "The Biden administration is launching a beta website for its new income-driven student loan repayment plan today, officials told CNN, allowing borrowers to begin submitting applications for the program as federal student loan payments are set to resume in October. The SAVE, or Saving on a Valuable Education, plan was finalized after the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness initiative in June. It marks a significant change to the federal student loan system that could lower monthly loan payments for some borrowers and reduce the amount they pay back over the lifetime of their loans."
Pakistan. Sophia Saifi & Allegra Goodwin of CNN: "At least 44 people died after a suicide bomber attacked a political convention organized by an Islamist party in northwestern Pakistan, police said. More than 100 were injured, 17 critically, in the attack targeting members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party, who had gathered in the town of Khar, close to the border with Afghanistan. Local police said the attacker detonated explosives near the convention's stage. There has been no initial claim of responsibility for the attack. But the local branch of ISIS has previously targeted JUI-F party leaders as they consider them apostates."
~~~~~~~~~~
David Sanger & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is hunting for malicious computer code it believes China has hidden deep inside the networks controlling power grids, communications systems and water supplies that feed military bases in the United States and around the world, according to American military, intelligence and national security officials. The discovery of the malware has raised fears that Chinese hackers, probably working for the People's Liberation Army, have inserted code designed to disrupt U.S. military operations in the event of a conflict.... The malware, one congressional official said, was essentially 'a ticking time bomb' that could give China the power to interrupt or slow American military deployments or resupply operations by cutting off power, water and communications to U.S. military bases. But its impact could be far broader, because that same infrastructure often supplies the houses and businesses of ordinary Americans, according to U.S. officials."
Thomas Brewster of Forbes: "The Pentagon is investigating what it has called a 'critical compromise' of communications across 17 Air Force facilities by one of its engineers, according to a search warrant obtained by Forbes. The document also details evidence of a possible breach of FBI communications by the same employee, who worked at the Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee. The government had been tipped off by a base contractor that the 48-year-old engineer had taken government radio technologies home, effectively stealing them for his own use, according to the warrant, which alleged the amount of pilfered equipment was worth nearly $90,000. When law enforcement raided his home, they found he had 'unauthorized administrator access' to radio communications tech used by the Air Education and Training Command (AETC), 'affecting 17 DoD installations,' according to the warrant. The AETC is one of nine 'major commands,' defined by the Pentagon as 'interrelated and complementary, providing offensive, defensive, and support elements' to Air Force HQ."
** Mike McIntire of the New York Times: "To understand the ascendancy of gun culture in America, the files of [Rep. John] Dingell, a powerful Michigan Democrat who died in 2019, are a good place to start. That is because he was not just a politician -- he simultaneously sat on the N.R.A.'s board of directors, positioning him to influence firearms policy as well as the private lobbying force responsible for shaping it.... Mr. Dingell was one of at least nine senators and representatives, both Republicans and Democrats, with the same dual role over the last half-century -- lawmaker-directors who helped the N.R.A. accumulate and exercise unrivaled power.... Over decades, politics, money and ideology altered gun culture, reframed the Second Amendment to embrace ever broader gun rights and opened the door to relentless marketing driven by fear rather than sport.... The lawmakers, far from the stereotype of pliable politicians meekly accepting talking points from lobbyists, served as leaders of the N.R.A., often prodding it to action." Read on.
Andrew Zhang of Politico: "House Democrats are putting Justice Samuel Alito on blast over his comments that Congress does not have the constitutional authority to regulate the Supreme Court. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal editorial page published an extensive interview with the conservative justice in which he pushed back against a Democratic-led effort to regulate the Supreme Court's ethics rules.... Senate Democrats last week passed a bill in committee that would revamp ethics and transparency standards for the court's justices. But the bill has little chance of proceeding any further in the Senate.... 'Alito's next opinion piece in the WSJ is about to be "I am a little king, actually. The Constitution doesn't explicitly say I'm not,"' Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) quipped.... 'This view is more than controversial; it's incorrect,' Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) posted on X."
Josh Dawsey, et al, of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's political group spent more than $40 million on legal costs in the first half of 2023 to defend Trump, his advisers and others, according to people familiar with the matter, financing legal work that has drawn scrutiny from prosecutors about potential conflicts of interest between Trump and witnesses. Save America, the former president's PAC, is expected to disclose about $40.2 million in legal spending in a filing expected Monday.... Trump's advisers say the costs of providing lawyers for dozens of people are necessary and will continue mushrooming as investigations continue trials are scheduled, and the possibility of indictment looms.... In an indictment unsealed Thursday ... in the classified documents case, authorities allege that Trump called [Carlos] De Oliveira last August to tell him he would pay for his attorney. That same day, authorities said, [Walt] Nauta had a conversation with a different Trump employee who assured Nauta that De Oliveira was loyal to Trump.... The PAC's own fundraising and creation is under investigation, The Post has reported, though the group has not been accused of wrongdoing. Much of the money it is using to pay for legal bills was raised on false claims that the 2020 election was stolen." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "The political action committee that ... Donald J. Trump is using to pay his legal bills faced such staggering costs this year that it requested a refund on a $60 million contribution it made to another group supporting the Republican front-runner, according to two people familiar with the matter. The decision signals a potential money crisis for Mr. Trump, who has so far refused to pay his own voluminous bills directly and has also avoided creating a legal-defense fund for himself and people who have become entangled in the various investigations related to him." ~~~
~~~ Marie: We should bear in mind that this is all wasted money. It would never have been necessary had Trump not been corrupt. For instance, his stupid, stupid donors are spending their own money to bail out Trump because he insisted on stealing and keeping some classified souvenirs. And of course all of us bear the cost of prosecuting him.
Caroline Anders of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Friday dismissed Donald Trump's lawsuit against CNN, in which the former president said the network defamed him by associating him with Adolf Hitler. Trump argued that by using the phrase the 'big lie' in reference to his unfounded claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, the network created an unfair association between him and the Nazi regime. Hitler and Nazi minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels used the term as a propaganda tool that involved repeating a falsehood until the public started to believe it. A quote, 'If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it,' is often attributed to Goebbels, though it's unclear where the comment came from." The judge, Raag Singhal, is a Trump appointee. Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Singhal called CNN's use of the term "repugnant." Frankly, I don't find calling a big lie a big lie repugnant at all. If claiming you won an election you lost (then directing a coup based on that false claim) isn't a big lie, what is?
Presidential Race 2024
Toluse Olorunnipa, et al, of the Washington Post: "The 2024 presidential race ... is increasingly being consumed by a roiling debate over reexamining, redefining and reimagining its past. Over the past 10 days, candidates from across the political spectrum have discussed the intricacies of slavery, Reconstruction, military desegregation and lynching -- a rare moment in modern presidential politics when Black history has become a more dominant subject than more traditional topics like taxes or crime."
Crazy, Corrupt Old Man Holds Rally. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump lashed out at Republicans in Congress while campaigning in Pennsylvania on Saturday, threatening members of his party who do not share his appetite for pursuing corruption investigations against President Biden and his family -- and for retribution. In a litany of grievances about his deepening legal woes and the direction of the country, the twice-indicted former president cast G.O.P. holdouts as meek during a rally in Erie, Pa., criticizing their response to what he described as politically motivated prosecutions against him.... 'Any Republican that doesn't act on Democratic fraud should be immediately primaried,' said Mr. Trump, to the roaring approval of several thousand supporters at the Erie Insurance Arena. Throughout the night he referenced the case against Hunter Biden and accused the president of complicity in his son's troubles." ~~~
~~~ Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump called on congressional Republicans to withhold military support for Ukraine until the Biden administration cooperates with their investigations into the president and his son Hunter Biden's business dealings. The demand, delivered at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, echoed Trump's conduct at issue during his first impeachment, when Trump withheld aid from Ukraine while pressuring the country's president to announce an investigation of Biden." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I wish Joe Biden's infrastructure bill had concentrated on building giant insane asylums all over the country for Trumpbots. You have to be crazy to think this guy should run anything. I doubt he can run his own bath.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: "Political reporters at our leading news organizations routinely put a thumb on the scale in favor of the far right -- both by failing to call out its racist and increasingly homophobic nature, and by adopting right-wing frames in reporting current events." MB: I've linked some of the stories Froomkin cites, and I couldn't agree more. You have to look for the references to racism & homophobia in MSM stories about racism & homophobia if you find them at all. The whole journalistic project seems to embrace the rationale, "Let's not insult bigots because we might lose some bigoted subscribers."
Adam Satariano, et al., of the New York Times: Elon "Musk, who leads SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter, has become the most dominant player in space as he has steadily amassed power over the strategically significant field of satellite internet. Yet faced with little regulation and oversight, his erratic and personality-driven style has increasingly worried militaries and political leaders around the world, with the tech billionaire sometimes wielding his authority in unpredictable ways. Since 2019, Mr. Musk has sent SpaceX rockets into space nearly every week that deliver dozens of sofa-size satellites into orbit. The satellites communicate with terminals on Earth, so they can beam high-speed internet to nearly every corner of the planet. Today, more than 4,500 Starlink satellites are in the skies, accounting for more than 50 percent of all active satellites. They have already started changing the complexion of the night sky, even before accounting for Mr. Musk's plans to have as many as 42,000 satellites in orbit in the coming years.... Starlink is often the only way to get internet access in war zones, remote areas and places hit by natural disasters." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
North Carolina. The Turncoat. Kate Kelly & Davi Perrmutt of the New York Times: "When Tricia Cotham, a former Democratic lawmaker, was considering another run for the North Carolina House of Representatives, she turned to a powerful party leader for advice. Then, when she jumped into the Democratic primary, she was encouraged by still other formidable allies. She won the primary in a redrawn district near Charlotte, and then triumphed in the November general election by 18 percentage points, a victory that helped Democrats lock in enough seats to prevent, by a single vote, a Republican supermajority in the state House. Except what was unusual -- and not publicly known at the time -- was that the influential people who had privately encouraged Ms. Cotham to run were Republicans, not Democrats.... Three months after Ms. Cotham took office in January, she delivered a mortal shock to Democrats and to abortion rights supporters: She switched parties, and then cast a decisive vote on May 3 to override a veto by the state's Democratic governor and enact a 12-week limit on most abortions -- North Carolina's most restrictive abortion policy in 50 years."
Way Beyond
Africa. From Sea to Sea. Declan Walsh of the New York Times: "Africa's coup belt spans the continent: a line of six countries crossing 3,500 miles, from coast to coast, that has become the longest corridor of military rule on Earth. This past week's military takeover in the West African nation of Niger toppled the final domino in a band across the girth of Africa, from Guinea in the west to Sudan in the east, now controlled by juntas that came to power in a coup -- all but one in the past two years.... Russia has positioned itself as the torch bearer of anti-Western, and especially anti-French, sentiment in a swath of Africa in recent years.... For Wagner's mercurial boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin the run of coups is a business opportunity. His forces already operate openly in Mali and Sudan in the coup belt, as well as in the nearby Central African Republic and Libya. Hovering on the margins of the St. Petersburg summit this past week, Mr. Prigozhin praised the coup in Niger, then proposed sending his own armed fighters to help." Read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Colombia. AP: "Colombian police arrested the president's son Saturday as part of a high-profile money laundering probe into funds he allegedly collected from convicted drug traffickers during last year's presidential campaign. President Gustavo Petro, a former rebel who rose through Colombia's political ranks as an anti-corruption crusader, said he wouldn't interfere with the investigation."
Haiti. Justine McDaniel, et al, of the Washington Post: "An American woman and her child were allegedly kidnapped near Haiti's capital city on Thursday, according to the nonprofit organization she works for. The woman, Alix Dorsainvil, 31, is from New Hampshire but lives in the Caribbean nation and is married to the organization's director, Sandro Dorsainvil.... [Alix] is the organization's community health nurse.... On Thursday, the U.S. State Department ordered non-emergency U.S. government workers at the embassy in Port-au-Prince and diplomatic family members to evacuate and advised all American citizens in Haiti to leave."
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "A barrage of Russian attacks on Saturday left civilians dead and buildings destroyed, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It said Russia launched five missile strikes and 19 airstrikes and fired 30 times with multiple-launch rocket systems on cities and military forces. The attacks come as Ukraine ramps up a counteroffensive that, according to Russia, has included a number of mostly intercepted drone attacks on Moscow."
Share Article
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.
Reader Comments (8)
Wanted to take this opportunity to say from the bottom of my heart as well as the top, thank you to the community and especially to you Marie. I wish you all well in these uncertain times.
At Trump's rally in Erie Saturday, he had lots to say about "the
crooked Biden family." Also, "he's a crooked son of a bitch," and
"the most corrupt president in American history."
"Donald is being persecuted while the Biden crime family" is not.
One of the weirdest ones was "people from South American mental
institutions are pouring into the U.S."
(Future Trump voters?).
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politis-news/donald-trump-
joe-biden-erie-pennsylvania-rally-1234797413/
Re: the North Carolina turncoat (apostate would be a wildly inaccurate term since that word denotes belief in a former state, group, belief system)…
This bait and switch bullshit is pure Republican. Trick the voters, and once you have their confidence, screw them to help yourself and your heretofore unrevealed true allies.
She campaigns as a Democrat, wins, then a few weeks later sez “Oh gee…I’m really a Republican. Soooorry.”
No way. This was the plan all along.
You see, the Party of Traitors leaves no cesspool of dirty tricks unexplored in their grasping quest to ram their ideology down everyone’s throat.
Democrats don’t pull this shit. That’s not to say that Democrats are pure as the driven snow, they just don’t have advanced degrees and post docs in underhanded dirty tricks. PoT operators look at every election, every floor fight, every PR campaign as a question of life and death.
The knife to a gunfight meme doesn’t even apply anymore because sometimes it appears that Democrats aren’t even aware that there’s a fight going on, while Republicans are putting the family pet in a microwave, setting fire to the house, and getting ready with sniper rifles to pick off everyone running out of the burning structure.
Democrats seem to have forgotten that Party of Traitor operations, since at least Richard Nixon, maintain dirty tricks departments on their payroll. They live for this stuff. While Democrats argue policy positions, Republicans are at the shooting range pinning their pictures to targets.
Years ago, when King Charles was Prince Charles, I read a story in some reputable publication that said the Prince's valet put the toothpaste on said Prince's toothbrush. (I guess the story got a lot of attention, because the Palace put out a statement insisting that the toothpaste thing occurred only when Charles had a broken arm and that Charles normally went through the arduous toothpaste-tube-squeezing task like all of us commoners. Whatever.)
I was wondering this morning if Waltine puts the toothpaste on Donald's toothbrush.
MMB'S HOUSE THAT BECAME A HOME:
I have had the privilege of contributing to this site for over a decade and over time we became like a family. How best now to say goodbye and go our separate ways?–-ain't gonna be easy. I wish all of you the best of luck––I could say "God speed" but you'd know I was joking. Through the years we lost two members–-Marvin and Barbarosa who died–-others simply left but left their marks as well. Now we all need to close the doors, say farewell and remember this experience with gratitude and joy. We leave the keys on the doorstep for Marie to gather up along with notes from us all thanking her once again for all she's accomplished.
And may we all deal with life's hairball pin-curves the best that we can!
Ukraine's missiles hit skyscrapers in Moscow.
That just makes it easier for those enemies of Putin to fall out of
windows "accidentally" like 20 floors up, in a building they've
never visited before.
Trump's next move? Nah, he's slow to catch on to new techniques.
I thank Marie most, for her stubborn resolve to be smart and truthful. I will miss all of you very much—. And I wish you were all my neighbors. This is a great loss for all of us. Keep being warriors and try to be happy in the midst of crazy ineptitude and genuine evil. Love and thanks to you all. (Read Charlie in Esquire. I promise you will love his writing). Best to AK and PD and Ken and Forrest and Patrick.
A Sunday story.
While we were out of town--causing more mayhem, Marie?--my older son retired from his local school board position. The local paper reported that he was "moving."
His phone rang all week, his patients wondering if he would still be their doctor, each receiving his reassurance that he was not really moving. The local school superintendent said he had told the paper my son was "moving on." The paper apparently dropped the "on."
My best to all of you, Marie especially, as we all reluctantly move on.