;)
Monday
Jul312023
July 31, 2023 -- The Last Gasp
Marie: So here's the "plan." I've paid for this site for the next month or so. I'm not going to do any more on it, except that I will set up a page each day, and anyone who wants to can comment. I won't timely monitor the comments, as I've tried to do, so there might be some "inappropriate" comments that sit untended for hours. Occasionally, I'll likely post a link to some news item or opinion piece that I happen to read, but I'm not sitting around waiting for Jack Smith's last shoe to drop, or whatever, as I sometimes do. We'll see how things are going at the end of the month. If the site kind of "works" until this so-called plan, I might continue in that vein.
~~~~~~~~~~
Afternoon Update:
Another "Star" GOP Witness Reveals ... an "Illusion." Zachary Cohen & Kara Scannell of CNN: "Devon Archer told the House Oversight Committee on Monday that his former business partner, Hunter Biden, was selling the 'illusion' of access to his father, according to a source familiar with the closed-door interview, the latest development in the Republican-led congressional investigations into the president's son. The source also reiterated that Archer provided no evidence connecting President Joe Biden to any of his son's foreign business dealings. Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat on the panel who sat through the portion of Archer's interview where he was questioned by Republicans, also said there was a lack of evidence connecting the president to his son's foreign dealings. Goldman said Archer told the panel that Hunter Biden did put his father on speaker phone in the presence of business partners, but that business was never discussed.... Goldman told reporters during a break in the hearing that Archer later said that Hunter Biden putting his father on speaker phone with business associates was 'part of the daily conversations' between father and son, adding, 'The witness was very consistent that none of those conversations ever had to do with any business dealings or transactions." Goldman said that it is 'kind of a preposterous premise to think that a father should not say hello to the people that a son is at dinner with and that is literally all the evidence is.'" Archer is awaiting incarceration on an unrelated fraud case. The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "President Joe Biden's White House roasted Republicans over a 'much-hyped witness' they say ended up 'debunking' claims against Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Former Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer testified for Congress behind closed doors Monday, and while Republicans have not had much to say, Democratic New York Congressman and House Oversight Committee member Rep. Dan Goldman has been outspoken in making the case that the testimony backs up the president." ~~~
~~~ Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Fox News host Sean Hannity got a less-than-emphatic answer when he flat-out asked House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer if he will be able to prove allegations that President Joe Biden is guilty of participating in a bribery scheme. ~~~
Hannity: '... Do you believe that this is now officially the Joe Biden bribery allegation? And do you believe that you will be able to prove that?...'
Comer: 'I sure hope so.... And I do believe that there's a lot of smoke.'
Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "... the installation of orange security barriers near the main entrance of the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta ... was the most visible sign yet of the looming charging decision in a case that has ensnared not only [Donald] Trump but several high-profile Republicans who could either face charges or stand witness in a potential trial unlike anything seen before in this Southern metropolis.... Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis took the unusual step of publicly telegraphing that she plans to announce a charging decision in the Georgia case during the first three weeks of August, a period that opens Monday. 'The work is accomplished,' Willis (D) told Atlanta's WXIA-TV Saturday. 'We've been working for two-and-a-half years. We're ready to go.'... The county courthouse has already been subject to enhanced security because of ongoing threats to Willis and her staff -- including racist, threatening phone calls related to the election investigation...."
Sara Murray & Jason Morris of CNN: "A judge in Fulton County, Georgia, on Monday rejected efforts by Donald Trump's legal team to toss evidence in the criminal investigation into the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia and to disqualify the district attorney investigating him. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney also rejected efforts by Cathy Latham, who served as one of the GOP fake electors in Georgia, to join Trump's push." The New York Times story is here.
Second Trump Co-conspirator Just Can't Find a Florida Lawyer. Shayna Jacobs & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "Carlos De Oliveira -- the second person charged alongside Donald Trump in a case involving the alleged hoarding of sensitive government materials at Mar-a-Lago -- made his first court appearance here on Monday morning and was released on a personal surety bond, with an arraignment scheduled for Aug. 10. Chief Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres read De Oliveira the charges against him and informed him of his legal rights. De Oliveira did not have an attorney who is accredited to practice in Florida, so he was unable to enter a plea before the judge. His Washington, D.C.-based attorney, John Irving, was in court with him." CNN's report is here.
So Unfa-a-a-air! David Klepper of the AP: "X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has threatened to sue a group of independent researchers whose research documented an increase in hate speech on the site since it was purchased last year by Elon Musk. An attorney representing the social media site wrote to the Center for Countering Digital Hate on July 20 threatening legal action over the nonprofit's research into hate speech and content moderation. The letter alleged that CCDH's research publications seem intended 'to harm Twitter's business by driving advertisers away from the platform with incendiary claims.' Musk is a self-professed free speech absolutist who has welcomed back white supremacists and election deniers to the platform, which he renamed X earlier this month. But the billionaire has at times proven sensitive about critical speech directed at him or his companies." MB: So free speech for racists & liars but not for anyone who writes about racists & liars. That seems reasonable.
~~~~~~~~~~
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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Aliens Among Us. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: Last week, the "House Oversight Committee [held a] hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena, the curiosity formerly known as UFOs. The panel's national security subcommittee brought in, as its star witness, one David Grusch, a former Defense Department intelligence official.... [Grusch made numerous claims, including the assertion that the U.S. government (and the Vatican!) had conspired in a massive, decades-long cover-up.] Alas, Grusch has no documents, photos or other evidence to corroborate any of his fantastic claims. It's classified, you see.... Republicans on the panel ... greeted his out-of-this-world claims with total credulity, using them as just more evidence that the deep-state U.S. government is lying to the American people.... Just over a year ago, a House Intelligence subcommittee held a similar hearing.... The panel's bipartisan leadership ... assured the public there was no evidence of 'anything nonterrestrial in origin,' and they cautioned against conspiracy theories.... The truth is out there. Just don't expect to learn it from the alien life forms currently running the People's House."
Still Crazy After All These Years. Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump made the odd claim on Friday that Special Counsel Jack Smith can't charge him for crimes related to his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election and the Jan. 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. 'How can Deranged Jack Smith bring a case on January 6th., as ridiculous as it is anyway, when I have already won such a case, and been fully acquitted, in the U.S. Senate? In other words, I was Impeached on this, and WON!!! ELECTION INTERFERENCE & PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT, all rolled up as one. We are truly a Nation In Decline!' Trump raged on his Truth Social platform." ~~~
~~~ And throughout the land, Trumpbots arose and screamed "DOUBLE JEOPARDY!!"
Zachary Cohen, et al., of CNN: "Yuscil Taveras, a Mar-a-Lago employee who oversees the property's surveillance cameras, received a target letter from federal prosecutors after ... Donald Trump was first indicted in June on charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office, sources told CNN. Taveras also met with investigators following the initial indictment in the classified documents case overseen by special counsel Jack Smith, sources said. While it is unclear whether Taveras is cooperating with prosecutors, some of the new allegations against Trump that were included in a superseding indictment filed last week were based, at least in part, on information he provided during that interview, CNN has learned.... The updated indictment, which adds major accusations against Trump and a new co-defendant to the case, refers to Taveras as 'Trump Employee 4.'... After receiving the target letter, Taveras changed lawyers because his attorney, Stan Woodward, also represented [Walt] Nauta, which presented a conflict, sources said." ~~~
~~~ MB: I've read elsewhere that Trump is paying the fees of Taveras' current lawyer John Irving; it's not 100% definite that's true, as Irving has declined to comment on whether or not he represents Taveras.
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
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Yellow, the beleaguered trucking company that received a $700 million pandemic loan from the federal government, notified staff on Friday that it is shutting down and laying off employees at all of its locations. The move comes ahead of an expected bankruptcy filing by Yellow in the coming days. The closure of the company would mean the loss of approximately 30,000 jobs and mark the end of a business that just three years ago was deemed so critical to the nation's supply chains that it warranted a federal bailout.... Yellow is one of the largest freight trucking companies in the United States, and its downfall could have a ripple effect across the nation's supply chain.... In 2020, the Trump administration, which had ties to the company and its executives, agreed to give the firm a pandemic relief loan in exchange for the federal government assuming a 30 percent equity stake in the company."
Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Now that climate change has raised the Earth's temperatures to the highest levels in recorded history, with projections showing that they will only climb further, new research shows the impact of heat on workers is spreading across the economy and lowering productivity. Extreme heat is regularly affecting workers beyond expected industries like agriculture and construction. Sizzling temperatures are causing problems for those who work in factories, warehouses and restaurants and also for employees of airlines and telecommunications firms, delivery services and energy companies. Even home health aides are running into trouble.... The cost is high. In 2021, more than 2.5 billion hours of labor in the U.S. agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and service sectors were lost to heat exposure, according to data compiled by The Lancet."
Beyond the Beltway
Arkansas. Annabelle Timsit of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Arkansas temporarily blocked a state law that would have made it a crime for librarians and booksellers to give minors materials deemed 'harmful' to them -- a move celebrated by free-speech advocates, who had decried the law as a violation of individual liberties. Act 372 would have taken effect Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks issued a preliminary injunction Saturday, siding with bookstores, libraries and patrons in the state that argued in a lawsuit filed last month that parts of the law were unconstitutional."
Colorado. Amanda Holpuch of the New York Times: "A Colorado police officer was found guilty of two misdemeanors on Friday after facing charges for putting a handcuffed woman in a patrol car that was parked on active railroad tracks and then struck by a freight train. The Fort Lupton police officer, Jordan Steinke, is one of two officers facing criminal charges after Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, 21, was pulled over on the night of Sept. 16, 2022, and then struck by the train while trapped in the police car.... Ms. Rios-Gonzalez ... suffered 'severe head trauma' and 'serious bodily injury,' according to court records."
North Carolina. Livia Albeck-Ripka of the New York Times: "A man driving an S.U.V. plowed into a group of six migrant workers outside a Walmart in Lincolnton, N.C., on Sunday in an 'intentional assault,' the police said. The attack took place just after 1:15 p.m., when the man, who was behind the wheel of a midsize black S.U.V. with a luggage rack, steered toward the group, according to a statement released on Sunday evening by the Lincolnton Police Department. The episode was caught on video, and the department was asking the public for help in identifying the vehicle or the driver. All six of the workers were transported to Atrium Health Lincoln with 'various injuries' that were not life-threatening, the police said."
Way Beyond
A Climate Warning from the Fertile Crescent. Alissa Rubin, et al., of the New York Times: "The word itself, Mesopotamia, means the land between rivers.... The rivers here, some scholars say, fed the fabled Hanging Gardens of Babylon and converged at the place described in the Bible as the Garden of Eden. Now, so little water remains in some villages near the Euphrates River that families are dismantling their homes, brick by brick, piling them into pickup trucks -- window frames, doors and all -- and driving away.... Nearly 40 percent of Iraq, an area roughly the size of Florida, has been overtaken by blowing desert sands that claim tens of thousands of acres of arable land every year. Climate change and desertification are to blame, scientists say. So are weak governance and the continued reliance on wasteful irrigation techniques that date back millenniums to Sumerian times."
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." (Also linked yesterday.)
Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Monday is here: "At least four people died, and 43 were injured after Russian missiles struck the southern city of Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine's Internal Affairs Ministry said Monday. Kryvyi Rih is President Zelensky's home town.]... On Sunday, Zelensky did not directly address Russia's accusation that Ukraine was behind weekend drone attacks in Moscow and Crimea, all of which Kremlin officials said were thwarted.... The Russian Defense Ministry said it thwarted a drone attack Sunday on Moscow and blamed Ukraine for the strike...."
News Ledes
New York Times: "Paul Reubens, the comic actor whose childlike alter-ego Pee-wee Herman became a movie and television sensation in the 1980s, and whose career was briefly derailed by a sex scandal in the early 1990s, died on Sunday. He was 70."
AP: "At about summer's halfway point, the record-breaking heat and weather extremes are both unprecedented and unsurprising.... Globally, June this year was the hottest June on record -- and scientists say July has been so hot that even before the month was over they could say it was the hottest month on record. But it's individual places where people live that the heat has stuck around and killed.Phoenix, where the last day of June and each day of July has been at least 110 degrees (43 degrees Celsius), set records for the longest mega-heat streak and longest stretch when the temperatures didn't go below 90 degrees (32 degrees Celsius) at night.... 'We are favoring above normal temperatures for the next three months,' said NOAA Climate Prediction Center meteorologist Matt Rosencrans." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, July 31 is forecast to be the coolest July 31 on record. Really.
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Reader Comments (15)
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More than a decade ago, I started commenting on NY Times editorials and op-eds. And there was this Marie Burns person out there whose comments quite often garnered the most reader recommendations. The reasons were obvious. Her commentary was smart, incisive, witty. Rather than seeking the jugular, as some other commenters (won’t say which) we’re won’t to do, she preferred Dorothy Parkerish puncture wounds. But most of all, she was fair. And not a Nazi! Even better!
Those were the Teabagger days and the political demesne was target rich. Her sign-off held out the intriguing proposition that more of the same could be had at a place called Realitychex.
So I came to visit. And like Sheridan Whiteside, I never left. There, I bumped into the most interesting and thoroughly fascinating bunch of iconoclasts and ruthless slayers of the bunk. An oasis, I thought.
And so it’s been. A sort of online Algonquin Round Table where you’d never know who would show up or what choice bon mots and bits of life’s lessons they’d apply to the topics of the day, hand picked and curated by our innkeeper and hostess.
I’ve met fellow travelers, in out of the dark and the cold, warming themselves and others with choice bits of their examined lives. Socrates would approve.
And so do I. Our inn is closing up, the fireplace near that round table dimmed, but I am so thankful for the time I’ve spent here at Chez Marie, and heartily thankful to her and all of you.
Bon chance to us all, and most of all to Marie. Thank you, dear lady. We’ve had some lively times.
As Ovid once observed, vulgus amicitias utilitate probat. But not here. Out here is the real deal.
I’ll save a final farewell for later (might want to give jugular hunting one last go…)
Lively times indeed, but time just gets away from us.
An old Norse metaphor says life is like a bird flying into and through a long house from a night storm. For a brief time, the cold and chaos outside is supplanted by light, warmth, music, friendship and good food. Then, it's on out the far window and back into the night.
Marie's place has been a nice place setting at that feast.
AK: Oh, my dear man, there just might be that tiny little light in that long dark tunnel after all: Marie's comment above about leaving her house open for us ink pissers to continue to party and pontificate might just work. As she says, she ain't waiting around for Jack Sprat to slap Fatty in the gated criminal community, she be busy with getting her own (new) house in order. Toes crossed, not fingers, cuz we need them for punching out our voices. Hail to jugular hunting!!!!
Marie, I like your plan. It's much better than not having your work
at all.
And anyone who plans to vacation in West Michigan (Saugatuck
area) just ask where that garden is near downtown, You'll find
me on my knees or with a shovel moving things around, or giving
tours to touristas.
Well kids, looks like that valediction might have to be postponed.
We’re about to be squatters.
Life is full of surprises. Reminds me of G.B. Shaw’s self-penned epitaph:
I knew if I stayed around long enough, something like this might happen.
"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” I'm chortling in my joy that there is a 2% possibility that maybe, just maybe, we can continue to feed our realitychex addiction. If 2% is good enough for aptly named Dick Cheney, it's good enough for me.
@Forrest Morris: I did stop, especially to enjoy the garden. But the homeowner wasn't there. Just a hired man, decked out in an old T-shirt & grubby shorts. (Obviously, the owners do not supply smart uniforms for the help.) So I walked on by.
Glad to hear the turkey is still lukewarm, not yet as cold as the grave.
So still a watering hole, just self serve. This old man will gladly take it and say "Thanks".
I'm just glad not to lose all links to a diverse community of opinion.
@Marie: Actually I do have a huge supply of work clothes, but I
always considered them too nice to work in and get all grass stainy.
When we had our landscaping business (Lakeshore Landscaping LLC)
one of our clients was the CEO and his wife from the Shedd Aquarium
(Chicago) who had a summer home here, as well as 3 other homes.
The wife was a shopaholic to the extreme. She would buy 10 of everything for the husband. And when he retired, she went through
his closet here and filled our truck with casual type clothes since we
all wore the same size everything.
Unfortunately , she died a few months later of cancer. Her last request
to him was to remarry ASAP because you can't take care of yourself.
And sure enough we took him to a party and introduced him to a
lady we knew and 3 months later they were married.
Chapter 42 in my book.
P.S. The new wife didn't care for the decor of the house so the
husband hauled everything out she didn't like and loaded our truck
again. I think of her when looking at stuff she really loved.
Paul Reubens, better known as Pee Wee Herman, aged 70 has
died of cancer. Won many Grammy awards, etc.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/paul-reubens-best-known-pee-
170902189.html
Yay Marie!! I have been in mourning for the last several days anticipating the loss of the most bestest commentary (and commentarians) on the Web, and am incredibly grateful that it will continue, even if in a different fashion. You all are the best, and I love each and every one of you.
Many thanks to Marie for reading, processing, and posting a fabulous digest of the real news all these years, especially when the news was wall to wall awful. And many thanks to everyone who has contributed, giving added depth and personal presence to many of the stories of the days.
Marie—wow!! Did not see that coming! Happy days are here again!
I hope we can measure up… to Donna: an Edward Lear fan… oh frabjous day indeed! And I hope Marie will provide reports about her house—. We have all had disappointing experiences like hers but it helps to share with friends. And that’s what RealityChex has felt like—a group of friends. I found it like AK did, through the NYT, and it has been great. Thanks to everyone! I look forward to our shared blog! May we all survive the coming tempests!