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.”

The Wires
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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 8, 2023

Late Morning Update:

Marie: Maureen Dowd's column about Joe Biden's 7th grandchild is one that -- as Dowd herself emphasizes -- is one that people of all political persuasions can agree.

Ian Ward of Politico, in Politico Magazine, dives into :the darker corners of the Internet" to find the sources of Ron DeSantis' weird anti-gay video. (DeSantis' team did not create the video; rather, they distributed it with the message "To wrap up 'Pride Month.'")

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: Check out the latest entry under "Infotainment." Clearly, I am easily amused.

Alan Rappeport , et al., of the New York Times: "The Biden administration called on China on Saturday to do more to help developing countries combat climate change, urging the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases to back international climate finance funds that it has so far declined to support. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen delivered the message during her second day of meetings in Beijing, where she is seeking to cultivate areas of cooperation between the United States and China. While China has expressed support for programs to help poor countries cope with the effects of climate change, it has resisted paying into such funds, arguing that it is also a developing nation."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The investigations into ... Donald J. Trump's hoarding of government files and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election cost taxpayers about $5.4 million from November through March as the special counsel, Jack Smith, moved toward charging Mr. Trump, the Justice Department disclosed on Friday. Budgeting documents also showed that Robert K. Hur, the special counsel investigating President Biden's handling of classified documents after he left the vice presidency, spent just under $616,000 from his appointment in January through March. And John H. Durham, who was appointed special counsel during the Trump administration to investigate the Russia inquiry, reported spending a little over $1.1 million from October 2022 to the end of March, representing the first half of the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Mr. Durham's investigation had ended, but he was writing a final report he delivered in May....

"To date, Mr. Durham has reported spending about $7.7 million in taxpayer funds since Attorney General William P. Barr gave him special counsel status in October 2020, entrenching him to continue his investigation after Mr. Trump lost the election. Mr. Durham, however, began his assignment in the spring of 2019, and the Justice Department has not disclosed what taxpayers spent on about the first 16 months of his work. That period included trips to Europe as Mr. Barr and Mr. Durham fruitlessly pursued a pro-Trump conspiracy theory that the Russia inquiry had originated in a plot by Western spy agencies."

Rudy's Bad Hair Dye Day. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A legal ethics committee in Washington that oversaw a disciplinary case late year against Rudolph W. Giuliani recommended on Friday that he be disbarred for his 'unparalleled' attempts to overturn the 2020 election in favor of his client at the time..., Donald J. Trump.... The panel from the D.C. Bar's board on professional responsibility said that Mr. Giuliani's efforts to 'undermine the integrity' of the election had 'helped destabilize our democracy' and 'done lasting damage' to the oath to support the U.S. Constitution that he had sworn when he was admitted to the bar. While the panel acknowledged a record of public service by Mr. Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and U.S. attorney in Manhattan, it also noted that 'all of that happened long ago.'" Politico's story is here. MB: There is a palpable irony in a man once hailed as "America's Mayor" was at the center of an attempt to destroy America's government. ~~~

~~~ So this is what you get: ~~~

     ~~~ This Felon Who Violently Attacked Cops Should Become a Cop! Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A federal judge nominated by ... Donald Trump gave a 'break' Friday to a man who used bear spray during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, saying he did not deserve the prison sentence requested by prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden sentenced Tyler Bensch, who pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts in connection with the riot, to two years of probation and 60 days home incarceration. Prosecutors had requested nine months in federal prison..... [Bensch's court-appointed lawyer] went on to say that Bensch hopes to start a career in law enforcement, adding that it's 'not beyond the realm of possibility' that he could do so even with his misdemeanors." MB: After all, under the premise that cops should not be too bright, I suppose Bensch would be a pretty standard police academy cadet.

Philip Bump of the Washington Post delves into right-wing "logic": many wingers believe that the police acted badly on January 6, that they should have accommodated the insurrectionists instead of fighting to defend the leftists who were depriving President* Trump of a second term. From that notion flow the views that "the government cracked down on Jan. 6 rioters as a proxy for the political right more broadly and/or that those imprisoned were 'political prisoners' and that the insurrectionists were honorable, rational people acting to defend the government, not trying to subvert the peaceful transfer to a lawfully-elected new president. MB: It's axiomatic, I suppose, that if you start with a false or flawed premise, you are going to reach a false or flawed conclusion.

Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "John F. Kelly, who served as ... Donald J. Trump's second White House chief of staff, said in a sworn statement that Mr. Trump had discussed having the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies investigate two F.B.I. officials involved in the investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia. Mr. Kelly said that his recollection of Mr. Trump's comments to him was based on notes that he had taken at the time in 2018. Mr. Kelly provided copies of his notes to lawyers for one of the F.B.I. officials, who made the sworn statement public in a court filing. 'President Trump questioned whether investigations by the Internal Revenue Service or other federal agencies should be undertaken into Mr. Strzok and/or Ms. Page,' Mr. Kelly said in the statement. 'I do not know of President Trump ordering such an investigation. It appeared, however, that he wanted to see Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page investigated.' Mr. Kelly's assertions were disclosed on Thursday in a statement that was filed in connection with lawsuits brought by Peter Strzok, who was the lead agent in the F.B.I.'s Russia investigation, and Lisa Page, a former lawyer in the bureau, against the Justice Department for violating their privacy rights when the Trump administration made public text messages between them." Read on.

Change is unstoppable. And to the extent Bruen and decisions like it try to stop that change, they will not last long. The only question is how long the People will let them remain. -- U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves, in a decision forced by a Supreme Court ruling ~~~

~~~ Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "Lower-court judges are bound to follow the law as decreed by the Supreme Court. They aren't bound to like it. And so, lost amid the end-of-term flurry at the high court, came another remarkable ruling by U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves of Mississippi. Reeves declared that the court's interpretation of the Second Amendment compels the unfortunate conclusion that laws prohibiting felons from having guns violate the Second Amendment. He took a swipe at the conservative justices' zealous protection of gun rights even as they diminish other constitutional guarantees. And, for good measure, he trashed originalism, now 'the dominant mode of constitutional interpretation' of the Supreme Court's conservative majority.... 'And, one hopes, a future Supreme Court will not rest until it honors the rest of the Constitution as zealously as it now interprets the Second Amendment.'... Indeed, 'many of our Nation's finest moments came when we rejected the original public meaning of a constitutional provision,' he noted, citing rulings on school desegregation, gender equality and gay rights."

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times debunks the notion that Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan's lone dissent in Plessey v. Ferguson was a milestone in civil rights jurisprudence. Rather, Bouie posits that Harlan embraced the notion that Jim Crow laws were unnecessary because white people were naturally superior to Blacks. Bouie notes that later justices, like Renquist, Thomas and most infamously, Roberts, have adopted and exploited Harlan's theory of a "colorblind Constitution" just as Harlan did: to quash advancements in civil rights legislation & executive actions. Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race 2024

Michelle Price of the AP: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed President Joe Biden's reelection campaign, sending a strong sign of Democratic unity from one of the party's most liberal members. 'I think he's done quite well, given the limitations that we have,' Ocasio-Cortez said on the 'Pod Save America' podcast Thursday. 'I do think that there are ebbs and flows.' Ocasio-Cortez, a self-described democratic socialist from New York, has sometimes bucked Biden and the party's leaders, including voting against the deal the president negotiated with Republicans in May to raise the nation's debt ceiling and casting the lone Democratic vote against a spending bill to keep the government operating and avoid a partial government shutdown."

Sarah Ferris & Olivia Beavers of Politico: "Kevin McCarthy is risking Donald Trump's wrath by not officially endorsing his third White House bid, but the speaker is also fulfilling an important mission: sparing the House GOP a civil war over 2024. While scores of McCarthy's members have already backed Trump, plenty of other Republicans are steering clear of the polarizing former president in the GOP primary. That camp includes virtually every swing-seat lawmaker, many of whom fear that embracing Trump could spell their electoral doom next fall -- as well as allies of Trump's rivals, from Ron DeSantis to Doug Burgum."

Gideon Rubin of the Raw Story: "Former Central Intelligence Director Michael Hayden in a new ad slammed Donald Trump over allegations the former president mishandled classified documents that led to a 37-count federal indictment, Bloomberg News reports. Hayden said Trump 'must face consequences' in the ad.... 'We don&'t know who saw them, but we have to assume those documents were compromised,' Hayden says.... The one-minute ad, which was funded by the Republican Accountability Project, will start running Monday in three battleground states, the report said.... Hayden is a political independent who has served under presidents of both parties, but the retired four-star general put aside his political differences with Democrats in 2020 to back Joe Biden's candidacy, saying at the time that 'Biden is a good man. Donald Trump is not.'"

Rafael Bernal of the Hill: "Two civil rights organizations [-- Mi Familia Vota and Free Speech for People --] are launching a campaign to pressure state governments to disqualify former President Trump from appearing on ballots in 2024. The groups say secretaries of state are empowered by the 14th Amendment to bar Trump from running for office because of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.... The groups believe Trump's role in the Jan. 6 insurrection -- for which he is also under investigation -- does fit the constitutional clause's definitions. That clause bars from a series of public offices people who 'having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.'"

Kari Lake for Veep! Tom Sullivan in Hullabaloo: "Kari Lake's oh-so-unsubtle efforts to audition as Donald Trump's 2024 running mate may be backfiring.... The failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate and championship election-denier seems not to know to avoid upstaging The Donald. Lake has spent more time at Mar-a-Lago than Melania Trump lately, a source told People, in 'a suite there that she practically lives in.' The Daily Beast reports that Lake is falling out of Trump's favor: 'She's a shameless, ruthless demagogue who wants power and will do whatever she has to do to get it,' a Trump adviser told The Daily Beast."

Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "... as the 2024 Republican contenders maneuver for position and respond to the news of each day, a strange contradiction has emerged. On one hand, they tell voters that America's deepest problems have been solved and that we bask in the light of the Almighty's favor. On the other, they insist that our country is a nightmare of moral depravity and suffering.... The loudest negative voices in American politics..., aren't Democrats, they're Republicans.... As [Donald Trump] said in a recent post on his social platform (I'll spare you the all caps), 'Crime & inflation are rampant, our borders are open, our elections are rigged, our economy is in shambles, our energy independence is gone, our "leader" is mercilessly mocked, & our country is being destroyed both inside & out.'... Meanwhile..., Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is running one of the grimmest campaigns in memory, painting a picture of a nation in the grip of depravity." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Why, it's almost as if Trump can't see himself: he complains that "our 'leader' is mercilessly mocked" even as he is the most merciless mocker of all. But I'm mostly wondering about his complaint about rigged elections: if the cause of rigged elections flows from the top, as he implies, how is it that the most rigged election in American history happened during Trump's own watch?

The Fee Is Too Damn High. Ryan Mac & Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times: "Twitter's parent company sued a leading corporate law firm on Friday for what it said were unjust payments related to Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of the social media company last year. A $90 million payment that Twitter made to Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, a top mergers and acquisitions firm, amounted to 'unjust enrichment' and should be paid back, according to the lawsuit, which the parent company, X Corp., filed in San Francisco Superior Court.... Twitter's previous management hired Wachtell Lipton after Mr. Musk tried to terminate his agreement to acquire the company last year. He was unsuccessful, and the purchase closed in October."

Bill Barrow of the AP: "Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are marking their 77th wedding anniversary with a quiet Friday at their south Georgia home, extending their record as the longest-married first couple ever as both nonagenarians face significant health challenges. The 39th president is 98 and has been in home hospice care since February. The former first lady is 95 and has dementia. The Carter family has not offered details of either Jimmy or Rosalynn Carter's condition but has said they both have enjoyed time with each other and a stream of family members, along with occasional visits from close friends, in recent months."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Dana Rubenstein, et al., of the New York Times: "A retired inspector who worked and socialized with Mayor Eric Adams when they were both members of the New York Police Department was charged on Friday with conspiring with four construction executives and a bookkeeper to funnel illegal donations to Mr. Adams's 2021 campaign. The 27-count indictment accuses the defendants, some of whom had sophisticated knowledge of campaign finance law, of trying to conceal the source of thousands of dollars in donations by making them in the names of colleagues and relatives. The indictment, announced by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, says the group sought influence and perhaps city contracts, but it does not accuse Mr. Adams or his campaign of misconduct and does not suggest he was aware of the scheme."

Marie: I was opining in yesterday's Comments that dumb people believe whatever fits into their skewed worldview. So whaddaya think about this guy? ~~~

     ~~~ Oklahoma. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "Far-right Oklahoma State [School] Superintendent Ryan Walters suggested at a public hearing in Norman that lessons about the infamous racial massacre that destroyed the most prosperous Black community in Oklahoma don't have to mention race, reported Fox 25 News.... Someone asked him if teaching about the infamous 'Black Wall Street' massacre in the city of Tulsa would be banned under his restrictions on teaching 'Critical Race Theory.' 'Let's not tie it to the skin color and say that the skin color determined that,' Walters replied." MB: Let that sink in: whites massacred Black people & burned of their neighborhood. But that had nothing to do with race. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Washington Post: "... an impeachment trial Sept. 5 [of state attorney general (and [alleged!] crook) Ken Paxton] ... is likely to further divide [Republicans] and spur primary challenges next year. Democrats, meantime, are sensing opportunities as they expect the battle to drive a party that's already among the most conservative in the country even further to the right ahead of the 2024 election, turning a slew of state legislative and congressional races competitive. The Texas Republican infighting mimics the party's national dispute, which has pitted traditional conservatives against Trump allies -- and has largely gone Trump's way so far. Paxton is perhaps the most powerful Trump surrogate in Texas. He's an evangelical champion of anti-immigrant, antiabortion, anti-transgender and so-called 'election integrity' legislation revered by his party for his legal battles against the Biden administration. Paxton spoke at Trump's 'Stop the Steal' rally ... ahead of the insurrection.... Paxton ... had faced criminal investigations, legal battles and accusations of wrongdoing for years." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. Morgan Lee & Paul Weber of the AP: "A white gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack on Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart in ... [El Paso] was sentenced Friday to 90 consecutive life sentences but could still face more punishment, including the death penalty. Patrick Crusius, 24, pleaded guilty earlier this year to nearly 50 federal hate crime charges in the 2019 mass shooting in El Paso, making it one of the U.S. government's largest hate crime cases. Crusius, wearing a jumpsuit and shackles, did not speak during the hearing and showed no reaction as the verdict was read. The judge recommended that Crusius serve his sentence at a maximum security prison in Colorado." The Washington Post's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Wisconsin. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Abortion-rights supporters in Wisconsin secured an incremental but important legal victory on Friday when a judge allowed a lawsuit seeking to restore abortion access in the state to proceed. The case, which centers on a law passed in 1849 that has been seen as banning abortion, could eventually end up at the State Supreme Court. Liberal justices will be in the majority on that court starting next month after winning a contentious judicial election this year that focused largely on abortion."

Wisconsin. Marie: When I linked to an AP story Thursday about how Democratic Gov. Tony Evers used his line-item veto power to increase school funding for four centuries, I neglected to include the part that explained how he did it: According to Alex Wagner of MSNBC, the governor is prohibited by law from striking strategic words to change the meaning of legislation. That is, the governor can't just cross out a "not" to reverse the legilature's intent. But the law doesn't say anything about vetoing numbers. So the AP notes that "Evers took language that originally applied [a] $325 increase for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years and instead vetoed the '20' and the hyphen to make the end date 2425." Ergo, "... 2024-2025" became "...2024-2025:; i.e. "... 2425". Sweet. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Despite Zelensky's last-minute appeals, 'Ukraine will not be joining NATO' at the alliance's upcoming summit in Lithuania, [U.S. National Security Advisor Jake] Sullivan said at a briefing on Friday, though he called the summit 'an important moment on the pathway toward [Kyiv's] membership.' But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a Friday news conference that he expects the bloc's leaders to reaffirm at the summit 'that Ukraine will become a member of NATO' and 'unite on how to bring Ukraine closer to its goal.'... The Kremlin's propaganda apparatus is in overdrive working to discredit Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin and to cast President Vladimir Putin as the wise leader who saved Russia from civil war, Robyn Dixon [of the Washington Post] reports. But even as the state-controlled media is trashing Prigozhin as a greedy, treasonous opportunist, the Kremlin has permitted him to return to Russia and recover millions in cash and personal weapons, showing that it's not so easy to make him disappear."

Katie Rogers & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "President Biden defended his decision on Friday to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, which are outlawed by many of America's closest allies, saying it was a difficult decision but 'the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition' in the fight against Russian forces.... 'It was a very difficult decision on my part -- and by the way, I discussed this with our allies, I discussed this with our friends up on the Hill,' Mr. Biden said in an interview with CNN.... 'And so, what I finally did, I took the recommendation of the Defense Department to -- not permanently -- but to allow for this transition period,' he added.... 'Ukraine would not be using these munitions in some foreign land,' [National Security Advisor Jake] Sullivan said. 'This is their country they're defending. These are their citizens they're protecting, and they are motivated to use any weapon system they have in a way that minimizes risks to those citizens.'" Worth reading on if this decision makes you uncomfortable.

Anushka Patil of the New York Times: "The United States confirmed on Friday that it was in talks with Russia about a potential prisoner swap for the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, but cautioned that the discussions had not yet produced 'a clear pathway to a resolution.' The Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov said this week that the two countries were in contact about the possibility of a swap. President Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, confirmed the Kremlin's remarks on Friday, but he said that he did not want to give 'false hope.'"


Netherlands. Claire Moses & Dan Bilefsky of the New York Times: "The Dutch government collapsed on Friday after the parties in its ruling coalition failed to reach an agreement on migration policy, underlining how the issue of asylum seekers coming to Europe continues to divide governments across the continent. Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who was overseeing his fourth cabinet and is one of Europe's longest-serving leaders, told reporters on Friday that he would submit his resignation to the king.... The disintegration of the government triggers new general elections in the fall, and a caretaker government headed by Mr. Rutte will remain in place until then. For months, the parties in the coalition government had struggled to come to an agreement about migration, debating terms of family reunification and whether to create two classes of asylum: a temporary one for people fleeing conflicts, and a permanent one for people fleeing persecution." Politico's story is here.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (3)

Two photos from the year 1921. One labeled Tulsa Race Riot
6/1/1921 and one labeled Running the Negro out of Tulsa 6/1/1921.
They weren't labeled Peaceful Removal of Locals in Tulsa.

https://democraticunderground.com/100218071476#post41

July 8, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

If I get my arithmetic right, $90 million is 0.2% of $44 billion. As lawyers fees go, that seems mighty cheap. A big number can become a small number when put in context.

July 8, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy

If we apply the racist "one drop of blood" rule to the entire reach of our ancestries, my guess is we're all bastards.

July 8, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes
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