June 24, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Here's the latest news from the New York Times liveblog (also linked below) on the latest Russian revolution, a skirmish which seems not to have lasted long: "The Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny V. Prigozhin announced that his troops marching toward Moscow would turn around, minutes after the leader of Belarus, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, said he had successfully negotiated with the Wagner boss. The statements offered the possibility that the rapidly evolving security crisis embroiling President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia's government could be resolved without armed fighting between Russian authorities and Mr. Prigozhin's forces. But Mr. Prigozhin did not say whether his forces were leaving the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, a Russian military hub he has seized. In an audio statement posted to Telegram, Mr. Prigozhin said his forces were within 200 kilometers, or about 125 miles, of Moscow, and had reached that point without any bloodshed among his fighters. 'Now the moment has come when blood could be shed,' Mr. Prigozhin said. 'So, understanding all responsibility for the fact that Russian blood will be spilled, on one side, we are turning around our column and are leaving in the opposite direction to field camps in accordance with the plan.'" The liveblog includes a map that shows how far the Wagner troops had got on the road to Moscow before the stand-down. It appears they were more than half-way there. The AP's story is here. ~~~

~~~ NYT liveblog update: "... Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told reporters that under an agreement brokered by Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, the leader of Belarus, Mr. Prigozhin would go to Belarus and the criminal case opened against him for organizing an armed insurrection would be dropped. The Wagner fighters who didn't participate in the uprising would be given the option of signing Russian Defense Ministry contracts, Mr. Peskov said, and the rest would avoid prosecution, considering their 'heroic deeds on the front.'"

Louisa Loveluck, et al., of the Washington Post: "The story of how as many as 750 migrants came to board a rickety blue fishing trawler and end up in one of the Mediterranean's deadliest shipwrecks is bigger than any one of the victims.... About half the passengers are believed to have been from Pakistan. The country's interior minister said Friday that an estimated 350 Pakistanis were on board, and that many may have died.... This account of what pushed them to risk a notoriously dangerous crossing is based on interviews with survivors in Greece and relatives of the dead in Pakistan, Jordan and Egypt...."

~~~~~~~~~~

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden denounced on Friday new restrictions on abortion imposed in Republican-led states in the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and warned that the right to privacy, which has been the foundation for other rights like same-sex marriage and access to birth control, could be at risk next if Democrats do not win next year's elections. Marking Saturday's anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision eliminating a national right to abortion for women, Mr. Biden decried its 'devastating effects,' telling an abortion rights rally that women had been deprived of basic health care and noting that some leading Republicans, not content to leave the issue to the states as they had long advocated, are now seeking a national ban on the procedure. 'They're not stopping here,' said Mr. Biden, who was joined at the rally by his wife, Jill Biden, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff. 'Make no mistake, this election is about freedom on the ballot.' The president collected the endorsement of the nation's leading abortion rights groups, Emily's List, Planned Parenthood Action Fund and NARAL Pro-Choice America. While the endorsement was hardly a surprise, the early timing underscored the role that Democrats believe abortion rights will play in next year's election." More on the effects of Dobbs linked below.

Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "Attorney General Merrick B. Garland defended the Justice Department's five-year investigation of Hunter Biden on Friday, forcefully rebutting claims promoted by House Republicans that he blocked federal prosecutors in Delaware from expanding the inquiry to encompass a greater range of crimes. On Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee released testimony from two I.R.S. officials who said that David C. Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware who has overseen the inquiry, told them that Justice Department officials prevented him from bringing cases in Washington, D.C., and California. The I.R.S. officials also claimed in their testimony that Mr. Weiss told them that he was rebuffed in his request to be appointed a special counsel.... Mr. Garland denied both assertions during a news conference at the department's headquarters, saying he had given Mr. Weiss 'complete authority' to 'continue his investigation and to make a decision to prosecute any way in which he wanted to and in any district in which he wanted to.'... Mr. Garland and Mr. Weiss have both made public statements that Mr. Weiss had full authority over the case." Read on for more details. (Also linked yesterday.)

Niall Stanage of the Hill: "A quixotic push by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) to impeach President Biden was placed on the back burner Thursday. But even some Republican insiders fear the damage might already have been done. Boebert, one of the fiercest among the GOP's right-wing firebrands, surprised many of her colleagues by introducing an impeachment resolution earlier this week. The move caused disarray in the House Republican conference and the furor was only defused with a deal to send the resolution for consideration by committees.... But [Boebert] is insistent that, if it becomes clear the gambit is solely about delay, she will bring up her resolution 'every day for the rest of my time here in Congress.'... Democrats are ... convinced that the politics of the matter will play to their advantage." (Also linked yesterday.)

Everybody Is Fed Up with Sen. Potato Head. Al Weaver of the Hill: "The chance that Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) will lift his hold on military promotions over the Pentagon's abortion policy anytime soon has dimmed drastically as Senate Republicans struggle to make a deal with him to end the months-long saga.... As of this week, Tuberville is holding up 250 promotions for general and flag officers that are normally approved on the Senate floor via unanimous consent, and the anger among Democrats has not dissipated.... President Biden and the Pentagon also heaped more pressure on Tuberville this week. The president referred to the 'former football coach from Alabama' during a fundraiser in Los Gatos, Calif., earlier this week, calling his hold 'bizarre.'" MB: Maybe if the Senate dining room served baked potato heads, Tuberville would take the hint. (Also linked yesterday.)

Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Michael Roman, a top official in ... Donald J. Trump's 2020 campaign, is in discussions with the office of the special counsel Jack Smith that could soon lead to Mr. Roman voluntarily answering questions about a plan to create slates of pro-Trump electors in key swing states that were won by Joseph R. Biden Jr., according to a person familiar with the matter. If Mr. Roman ends up giving the interview -- known as a proffer -- to prosecutors working for Mr. Smith, it would be the first known instance of cooperation by someone with direct knowledge of the so-called fake elector plan. That plan has long been at the center of Mr. Smith's investigation into Mr. Trump's wide-ranging efforts to overturn the 2020 election."

Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "Special counsel Jack Smith has compelled at least two Republican fake electors to testify to a federal grand jury in Washington in recent weeks by giving them limited immunity, part of a current push by federal prosecutors to swiftly nail down evidence in the sprawling criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.... A parade of related witnesses are being told to appear before the grand jury with no chance for delay.... Prosecutors have played hardball with some of the witnesses in recent weeks, refusing to grant extensions to grand jury subpoenas for testimony and demanding they comply before the end of this month, sources said. In the situations where prosecutors have given witnesses immunity, the special counsel's office arrived at the courthouse in Washington ready to compel their testimony after the witnesses indicated they would decline to answer questions under the Fifth Amendment, the sources added.... The two Nevada Trump electors who were given the limited immunity -- the state's Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald and another Nevada GOP official, Jim DeGraffenreid -- both testified before the grand jury last week." (Also linked yesterday.)

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: Attorney John "Eastman faces 11 charges from the California State Bar, most concerning his lawyerly lies about election fraud. Importantly, the bar also accused Eastman of advising Vice President Mike Pence that a fabricated legal rationale empowered him to reverse or delay the presidential electoral count in Congress.... If Eastman is disbarred for that charge, it would be genuinely novel.... In a dramatic moment, lawyer Greg Jacob -- who advised Pence to resist pressure from Trump to halt the electoral count -- testified that Eastman's invented legal theory had inspired the Jan. 6 rioters.... Trump's coup-plotters carried out all manner of other corrupt acts, yet none has faced serious professional discomfort."

David McAfee of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump's ally and attorney Sidney Powell is among those who Friday largely lost their bid to overturn sanctions related to frivolous claims made in election fraud lawsuits challenging the 2020 results in Michigan. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that a lower court mostly got it right when it sanctioned Powell and other attorneys in connection with false claims made in an attempt to reverse the election in favor of Trump. The news comes a month after Powell and other attorneys were hit with a lawsuit by a Michigan attorney regulations agency alleging they committed professional misconduct."

Michael Kunzelman of the AP: "Infowars host Owen Shroyer, who promoted baseless claims of 2020 election fraud on the far-right internet platform, pleaded guilty on Friday to joining the mob of Donald Trump supporters who rioted at the U.S. Capitol. Shroyer, who didn't enter the Capitol but led rioters in chants near the top of the building's steps, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegally entering a restricted area.... U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly scheduled a Sept. 12 sentencing hearing for the 33-year-old Shroyer, who has hosted a daily show called 'The War Room With Owen Shroyer' for the website operated by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones."

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Jack Smith, the special counsel, has asked a federal judge to move back the start of the trial of ... Donald J. Trump and his co-defendant, Walt Nauta, in the classified documents case from August to Dec. 11, according to a Justice Department filing made public late Friday. The Justice Department proposal still calls for a relatively speedy timetable; Judge Aileen M. Cannon's earlier ruling set the initial trial date at Aug. 14, but it was considered something of an administrative place holder, with both sides anticipating significant procedural delays.... Mr. Smith and his team argued in the filing that the trial should still be fast-tracked despite its enormous political implications, because it 'involves straightforward theories of liability, and does not present novel questions of fact or law,' nor is it particularly 'unusual or complex' from a legal perspective."

Vaughn Hillyard & Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "Former President Trump spoke on Thursday at a fundraiser on behalf of people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.... 'I'm going to make a contribution,' Trump told the gathering hosted at his own private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The group, Patriot Freedom Project, included at least one actual defendant along with multiple family members of those charged in the attack. An attendee of the fundraiser verified a video posted online of Trump's remarks. The former president heralded the defendants.... Trump said ... that 'BLM and antifa' were behind the Capitol attack." MB: Don't hold your breaths, you reprobates, waiting for the contribution. (Also linked yesterday.)

Dan Mangan of CNBC: “Donald Trump put up $5.6 million as security while the former president appeals a civil verdict that he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and defamed her decades later, a court filing Friday revealed. If Trump loses the appeal, Carroll will collect the $5 million a jury awarded her in the case in May, or any adjusted judgment, according to a joint stipulation submitted by his lawyers and attorneys for Carroll.... Judge Lewis Kaplan approved the arrangement later Friday afternoon. After news of the deal broke, the attorney George Conway, a harsh critic of Trump, tweeted 'He. Couldn't. Get. A. Bond.'... Trump's lawyer Joseph Tacopina ... said Trump 'didn't want to waste the money on securing a bond,' which would have required Trump to pay the bond guarantor a premium for the service, which typically is 1% of the value of the bond."

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday boosted President Biden's authority to focus the government's immigration enforcement policies on those who are a threat or recently entered the country, and said states generally lacked the legal standing to challenge the federal government's priorities on whom to arrest or prosecute. It was the court's second decision in a year that affirmed the executive branch's power in matters of immigration. In this case, the justices said the Department of Homeland Security has the authority to focus on arresting recent border crossers and those who commit violent crimes, rather than the millions of other noncitizens who have lived here for years. The Biden administration policy is a departure from that of the Trump administration, which said anyone in the country illegally could be targeted for deportation.... Friday's decision was 8-1, with Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. the lone dissenter." Kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion. CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court avoided a difficult First Amendment question on Friday, ruling that an unusual 1986 federal law that makes it a crime to 'encourage' or 'induce' unauthorized immigrants to come to or stay in the United States should be read narrowly to require complicity in a criminal conduct. A broader interpretation of the law would give rise to constitutional concerns, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the majority in the 7-to-2 decision. She added that the law's key words were terms of art used in a 'specialized, criminal-law sense' and mean something different than they do in ordinary usage. For purposes of the law, she wrote, the terms require proof of solicitation or facilitation of a crime.... In dissent on Friday, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justice [Sonia] Sotomayor, rejected the majority's approach and said the court should have struck down the law on First Amendment grounds. She gave ... examples of the law's sweep if its words bore their ordinary meaning."

Confederate Supremes Knock Down Part of the Sixth Amendment. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the conviction of an American who participated in a plot to assassinate a real estate agent in the Philippines in 2012, rejecting his claim that his constitutional rights had been violated in allowing testimony about a confession from an accomplice.... The vote was 6 to 3, with the court's Republican appointees in the majority and its Democratic appointees in dissent." Thomas wrote the majority opinion.... 'Now, defendants in joint trials will not have the chance to confront some of the most damaging witnesses against them. And a constitutional right once guaranteeing that opportunity will no longer. It will become, in joint trials, a shell of its former self,' [Justice Kagan wrote.]"

Allison McCann & Amy Walker of the New York Times: "In the year since Roe fell, 20 states enacted laws banning or restricting abortion, forcing a rapid shift in the country's patchwork of abortion access. Clinic owners scrambled to adjust, canceling appointments and helping patients travel elsewhere. Some clinics relocated, while others stayed open to provide the services they still could. Many simply closed, leaving behind empty buildings.... At least 61 clinics, Planned Parenthood facilities and doctors' offices stopped offering abortions in the last year. Most were in the 14 states that banned abortion outright. But the uncertainty surrounding laws in several other states also caused providers there to shut down. Physicians said the laws in some states were unclear. Others pointed to the possibility of criminal penalties, including prison time, making the prospect of offering abortion services risky. About half of the clinics have shifted their focus to other services, such as birth control and prenatal care.... At least a dozen providers moved and opened new clinics in friendlier states." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ The Alito Five Don't Care about Truth OR Consequences. Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "The crisis in reproductive health care that Dobbs propelled is acute and growing. There have been, in other words, alarming consequences.... And so the question: A year after sowing so much chaos and misery, are any of the five members in Justice Samuel Alito's Dobbs majority sorry? Even a little?... Valuing fetal life over the lives of women and girls was no doubt a feature, not a bug, in the majority's view; that was, after all, the point of Dobbs.... So, no, I don't think the Dobbs justices are sorry. They did what they were put there to do, what they wanted to do, and they were quite explicit in washing their hands of the consequences." (Also linked yesterday.)

Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "Earlier this week, ProPublica, which had previously exposed the bottomless corruption of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, scored another big hit on Justice Samuel Alito, who is best known for citing a medieval witch-burner as a legal authority in his Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.... The details are infuriating, but not surprising because Alito tried to get ahead of the story by writing a 'prebuttal' for the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, which ended up reading as a confession to deep and long-standing corruption.... What was really remarkable to me was just how whiny Alito's op-ed read.... Alito expects women to stoically undergo forced childbirth as penance for the sin of fornication, but when asked to be a little less greedy, he reacts like he just got framed for murder.... But while Alito is an especially comical example, the grim truth is that 'petulant crybaby' is the dominant personality trait of the conservative justices, now a majority." Marcotte points out how Leonard Leo is acting as matchmaker between confederate justices and billionaires. "Slate's Dahlia Lithwick concurs: 'It's like the oligarch Big Brothers program for underprivileged jurists who just want to live large on the hog.'... Well-heeled puffery makes it much easier to buy your own hype. The side effect, of course, is a dramatically weakened ability to handle criticism."

** Richard Pérez-Peña of the New York Times: "On one vessel, five people died on a very expensive excursion that was supposed to return them to the lives they knew. On the other, perhaps 500 people died just days earlier on a squalid and perilous voyage, fleeing poverty and violence in search of new lives. After contact was lost with the five inside a submersible descending to the Titanic, multiple countries and private entities sent ships, planes and underwater drones to pursue a faint hope of rescue. That was far more effort than was made on behalf of the hundreds aboard a dangerously overcrowded, disabled fishing trawler off the Greek coast while there were still ample chances for rescue. And it was the lost submersible, the Titan, that drew enormous attention from news organizations worldwide and their audiences, far more than the boat that sank in the Mediterranean and the Greek Coast Guard's failure to help before it capsized.... The contrast between the two disasters, and how they were handled, has fueled a discussion around the world in which some see harsh realities about class and ethnicity." ~~~

~~~ Ben Brasch, et al., of the Washington Post: "The catastrophic implosion that killed all five people aboard a submersible vessel is likely to intensify calls for stronger regulations and oversight of an industry that has long operated in a legal gray area, experts say.... Maritime regulation experts and experienced mariners say the material and shape of the vessel gave them concern. They also said OceanGate shouldn't have eschewed the typical inspection process by independent agencies, which is not legally mandated but routinely followed by others in the submersible community. Past lawsuits also raised questions about OceanGate's safety standards.... The company's missions fell outside any single country's jurisdiction, said Salvatore Mercogliano, a maritime historian with Campbell University. The American-made Titan was diving into international waters after launching from the Canadian-flagged vessel Polar Prince. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Friday that it had dispatched a team to investigate the Canadian ship's involvement." ~~~

Alex Horton & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "It appears ... that the Canadian government deployed more assets to the search area than the United States did, a function of Canada's proximity to the site and the time required to dispatch vessels.... The complete costs, and who ultimately pays them, are unknown and depend on several factors. The search employed private companies and research vessels carrying remote operated vehicles, including the one that ultimately found the Titan. It is unclear if the U.S. government will pay those entities, but it is possible if the Defense Department put them under contract..."

Okay, Class, Give Us an Example of “Dripping with Irony.” Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: “Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School ... [has been accused of fabricating] results in multiple studies, including at least one purporting to show how to elicit honest behavior.... Maurice Schweitzer, a behavioral scientist at the Wharton School..., said that he was now going through the eight papers on which he collaborated with Dr. Gino for indications of fraud, and that many other scholars were doing so as well.”

Presidential Race 2024. Sky Palma of the Raw Story: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s supporters created a super PAC last month called 'Heal the Divide,' touting the 2024 presidential candidate as the only one who can 'unite the Nation to start healing America.' But, while RFK Jr. is running as a Democratic, the PAC's founders have deep ties' to far-right Trump-supporting Republicans, Rolling Stone reported.... Rolling Stone reports that other MAGA figures are backing RFK Jr.'s run against [President] Biden. 'MAGA influencers and longtime Trump associates such as Roger Stone have praised Kennedy's candidacy as a way to "soften Joe Biden up,'" Rolling Stone's report stated. 'Former top Trump political adviser and campaign strategist Steve Bannon also reportedly spent 'months' encouraging Kennedy to run...."

The Pandemic, Ctd. Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "Freshly declassified U.S. government intelligence about the origins of the covid-19 pandemic reveals some new insights into China's virus research but no additional clarity about how the global outbreak began and is unlikely to settle that debate, which has exacerbated tensions between Washington and Beijing and fueled a heated dispute among scientists, lawmakers and government officials."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Jack Healy of the New York Times: "Gov. Katie Hobbs of Arizona on Friday stripped local prosecutors of the power to criminally charge abortion providers, a move aimed at protecting abortion rights in a narrowly divided political battleground. An executive order signed by Ms. Hobbs, a Democrat, would take authority away from elected county attorneys, a largely Republican group, and transfer it to Arizona's attorney general, a Democrat who has vowed not to prosecute abortion providers. Abortion-rights groups applauded the governor's move as a 'promising and welcome' measure in a state with a law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy." The Hill's report is here.

Florida. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Florida temporarily blocked a new law allowing the state to penalize businesses that admit children to 'adult live performances' such as drag shows.... Judge Gregory A. Presnell of the Federal District Court in Orlando issued a preliminary injunction blocking the new law, which went into effect last month.... The Republican-controlled Legislature passed the measure in April. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who is running for president and has made anti-L.G.B.T.Q. policies central to his agenda, signed the legislation in late May.... Judge Presnell's ruling ... on Friday found that existing obscenity laws already gave the state the authority necessary to protect children. In the 24-page ruling, he also found that the state failed to narrowly tailor the law, and that its broad attempt to regulate content would very likely violate the First Amendment's free speech protections." An NBC News story is here.

New York. Jonah Bromwich & Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: "Amid a suicide crisis in New York City's jails, a correction officer falsified records to show that scores of her peers had taken a suicide prevention course that they had not actually completed, Bronx prosecutors and the Department of Investigation said on Friday. The Rikers Island officer, Vinette Tucker-Frederick, was said by the Bronx district attorney's office to have awarded credit for the course to 74 officers who were on leave in 2021. She gave their login information to colleagues and told them to take the digital training in the place of the absent officers, prosecutors said.... A nine-year veteran of the Department of Correction, Ms. Tucker-Frederick, 41, was charged with tampering with public records and identity theft and has been suspended indefinitely without pay." (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: “President Vladimir V. Putin vowed 'decisive actions' early Saturday to quell what he called an armed rebellion by the outspoken mercenary tycoon Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, whose forces had claimed control of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and were threatening to march to Moscow. In a five-minute address to the nation, Mr. Putin called the rebellion by Mr. Prigozhin treasonous and 'a stab in the back of our country and our people.' Mr. Putin said that Rostov's military and civilian functions had 'essentially been blocked,' appearing to acknowledge some success by Mr. Prigozhin.... Security forces were scrambled across western Russia as regional governors urged residents to stay off the roads, and a 'counterterrorist operation regime' was declared in Moscow, giving the authorities expanded legal powers." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Saturday is here: "... Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin .... told the country's military commanders that he would march on Moscow unless he could confront his enemies in Russia's Ministry of Defense.... The U.K.'s defense ministry said Saturday that Wagner units were 'moving north'..., 'almost certainly aiming to get to Moscow.'... Minutes after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his five-minute urgent address..., scores of officials began posting videos and messages pledging support to the country's leader.... At 7.30 a.m. Saturday..., Prigozhin recorded an astonishing video from within Russia's Southern Military District headquarters, a key command center, claiming to have everything under control -- something he has repeatedly accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, of failing to manage.... Russian forces launched one of their biggest overnight missile barrages in weeks against Ukrainian cities early Saturday morning, firing some 51 cruise missiles and two self-destructing drones, the Ukraine's air force said in a Telegram post.... Three people were killed when a rocket fragment struck a high-rise apartment building in Kyiv early Saturday, as Russian forces targeted the capital and several other cities with air strikes, Ukrainian officials said. Fourteen others were injured."

Mike Ives of the New York Times tries to summarize what-all is happening.

Robyn Dixon & Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "Russia's Federal Security Service late Friday announced a criminal case against Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin, accusing him of 'incitement to armed rebellion' after he declared an open conflict with Russia's military leadership and called on Russians to join 25,000 Wagner fighters against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other top commanders.... At least one senior general, Vladimir Alekseyev, the deputy head of Russia's military intelligence, accused Prigozhin of attempting a 'state coup' but there was no evidence of an attempted overthrow of the government.... Security was tightened in Moscow at government facilities and key infrastructure, and the Russian National Guard and security forces were on alert, Tass, the state-owned news agency, reported." MB: What began as what looked like Prigozhin -- a/k/a "Putin's chef" -- is now looking rather serious. NBC News is airing unconfirmed reports that Prigozhin has led a column of troops from Ukraine into Russia in the direction of Moscow. ~~~

~~~ Gabriel Gavin, et al., of Politico: "Vladimir Putin is facing a major military crisis after Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin declared war on Moscow's own defense ministry, claiming Kremlin officials had killed thousands of his soldiers. In a statement issued Friday night, the FSB security agency said it had 'legally and reasonably begun criminal proceedings' against the Wagner Group warlord 'for the organization of armed insurrection.' Prigozhin, meanwhile, claimed he had pulled his troops back from Ukraine and into Russia's Rostov, and vowed: 'If anyone gets in our way, we will destroy everything!'" ~~~

~~~ Tara John, et al., of CNN: "Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of private military group Wagner, has vowed to retaliate after accusing Russia's military leadership of killing a 'huge amount' of his forces in strikes -- prompting Russia's domestic intelligence service to open a criminal case against him. In a series of Telegram posts on Friday, Prigozhin -- who has frequently criticized Russia's traditional military hierarchy – ... said strikes were launched 'on our camps' and that 'a huge amount of our fighters were killed, our comrades in arms. We will make a decision about how to respond to these atrocities. The next step is ours.' Russia's Ministry of Defense has denied the claims, calling it an 'informational provocation.' The mercenary then warned that retribution would be meted out." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Patrick Reevell of ABC News: "The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said the Kremlin's justifications for its invasion of Ukraine are based on lies, in another extraordinary attack on the country's military and political leadership. Prigozhin, a key ally of Putin, in a video posted Friday, contradicted the public explanations for the war, including the central claim made by Putin that the 2022 invasion was necessary to prevent an attack from Ukraine.... But in his video address, Prigozhin, whose fighters have played a leading role in the war, said that was not true and there had been no imminent risk of attack from Ukraine.... He blamed [Sergey] Shoigu, the defense ministry and a 'clan of oligarchs' for starting the war. He accused Shoigu of seeking glory and wanting 'to rob' Ukraine and divide up its assets." (Also linked yesterday.)

U.S./Syria. Raja Abdulrahim of the New York Times: "The Rukban [refugee] camp, a few miles from the United States base at al-Tanf in southeastern Syria, ended up almost cut off from aid largely because of closed borders and a Syrian government policy to block almost all relief efforts for areas outside its control. That has left many of its 8,000 residents, who live in tents or mud homes, struggling to survive without sufficient food and health care. One Syrian-American aid group worked for years to find a way to ease their plight. In recent days, the group has sent a first wave of critically needed supplies with the help of an obscure United States military provision known as the Denton Program. It lets American aid groups use available space on U.S. military cargo planes to transport humanitarian goods such as food and medical supplies to approved countries."

Comments

[Akhilleus]

You put some secrets in
You take some secrets out
You steal some secret docs
And you wave them all about
They put you in the pokey
You turn your ass around
And that’s what it’s all about

Gym Jordan sez:

“If the FBI can do this to a presidential candidate, they can do it to you!”

Right you are, Gym. You steal top secret documents and you wave them all around and the FBI will come after you too. Moron.

Cuz that’s what it’s all about.

What an idiot.

https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1671591433915056128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1671591433915056128%7Ctwgr%5E24faddf0498f89769bbd4714e092c32fa55e5bd5%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-946309435995873962.ampproject.net%2F2305252018001%2Fframe.html

[Akhilleus]

What dictionaries (and a solid liberal arts education) are for…

If one is going to pursue a career as a writer, whether as a journalist, poet, novelist, or plagiarizing bumpkin (especially as a plagiarizing bumpkin), one really should be familiar with word definitions, if not origins.

Niall Stanage, ostensibly in the capacity of a journalist (not the other stuff) refers, in a pice linked above, to Bobo’s Party of Traitor efforts to impeach Joe Biden, presumably for existing, as “quixotic”.

No. No, no, no, no, and triple no. Quixotic, as befits Cervantes’ lovable if impractical hero, describes actions that, while largely unreachable, are at heart chivalrous, well meaning, and romantic. This impeachment scam is a cheap trick run up the MAGA flagpole by a cynical, authoritarian butthead. Nothing remotely romantic, chivalrous or heroic about it. If you mean “impractical” or “unrealistic”, then say that, even though neither of those words properly convey the sleazy machinations at play here, but at least they don’t cover the sleaze with a false patina of romantic purpose.

Words like quixotic are wonderful if you wish to convey a sense of one’s learned background. But like all good tools, the right words must be selected for the right job. Breaking out an expensive band saw when all you need is a flat head screwdriver makes you look stupid, not learned. And turning Bobo into a quixotic figure is right the fuck out.

In the future, please to be consulting the dictionary before whipping out improper literary metaphors.

[Marie Burns]

@Akhilleus: As to your quixotic reworking of "Here We Go Loopty Loo," well, yes. Yesterday, Ari Melber of MSNBC noted how the right demands that suspects immediately obey official commands, and if they don't, they get shot in the back, after which a right-wing lawyer like Lindsey Graham will justify shooting a man in the back because he failed to immediately obey a command. BUT these self-same law-and-order advocates, Melber noted, are way okay with Donald Trump & Steve Bannon, et al., not obeying an official subpoena, well, ever.

Your comment also raises the question of whether or not it's polite to call a member of the U.S. Congress a "moron." I'd say definitely yes -- for many reasons, one of which is that said congressman refused to obey a subpoena issued by a committee of the august body in which he sits. Let's see what he does if the FBI (or more likely the DOJ) subpoenas him, which could happen.

[P.D.Pepe]

AK: Yes~ you bet---the right words should be selected for the right meanings and may I say–- I enjoyed your ditty–-so good to be amused so early in the morning. Another clever writer/songwriter has done a bang up job with our favorite punching bag. Randy Rainbow takes Lucy out of the sky and puts the diamonds down in the muddy waters of Fatty's favorite hiding places.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/randy-rainbow-donald-in-the-john-with-boxes_n_6495c78ce4b0aec6b8008a51

The story above on the missing vessel ends with this:

"The contrast between the two disasters, and how they were handled, has fueled a discussion around the world in which some see harsh realities about class and ethnicity.”

It takes an incident like this to "fuel a discussion"––––REALLY????

[Ken Winkes]

Akhilleus,

Enjoyed your etymological rant immensely, but I fear that in today's environment of generally debased language such idealistic attempts to set the record straight, to keep words and their meaning in their proper place, might in itself be declared a bit quixotic.

While the world is indeed poorer if visions of well-meaning windmill tilting don't automatically accompany "quixotic," dictionaries sadly do allow a separation of the ideal and the impractical in the word's use.

Just as Boebert and her coterie have done with their politics.

[Marie Burns]

@Ken Winkes: Since I've never been fluent in any other language, I can't tell how much ordinary, as well as super-educated, people butcher other languages. But English is a horror, and few speak it correctly. I have been watching some shows recently which tend to feature upper-crust Brits, and they're not much better at English than are Americans. There should be a Great Preposition Reformation, so that native speakers can master their own damned language. I don't mean only people who say, "Her and me went to the movies," but also those who say, "It was good for her and I," in an effort to sound high-falutin, I guess. "This is him and me's house," or "him and I's house." Stuff like that. We should just pick six or eight prepositions and use them for everything: subject, object, possessive.

But if the day comes when Donald Trump has occasion to say, "There's many that says it is sad the DOJ have sent Walt and I to jail," all is forgiven.

[Akhilleus]

Some new ones…

So now we’ve got to add a bunch of new entries to the list of famous lies, lies such as…

The check is in the mail
Of course I love you
Drinking? Why no, officer
We can still be friends
Oh, my dog?. He’s never bitten anyone
Don’t worry, I can go another 20 miles when it says “empty”
I gave at the office
Okay, here’s the truth…

And now with appropriate fanfare and a sad trumpet sound effect, we have…

I’m making a contribution
Go ahead, beat that guy up. I’ll pay your legal bills
I have an Article II
The documents are mine
I declassified them in my mind
Of course I’m all for democracy
I have all the best words
The blacks love me
You can grab them by the pussy when you’re famous..they let you!

Geez, now that I think of it, this list could go on forever.

No lie.

[Akhilleus]

Marie,

Unlike David Sedaris, Fatty will never be able to say “Me talk pretty one day”.

[Marie Burns]

@Akhilleus: But at least Sedaris was struggling with another language. Americans more or less say that when they suppose they are speaking English. But true, Donald Trump don't talk pretty any day.

[Patrick]

The English language, she haz change much n de past few hunnerd years an'l change mor now that we text and tock nsteduv corespond. N az we go bak to fonix, even mor. Yur gransill luv it.

[ForrestMorris]

June 24th is International Fairy Day.
Are kids still allowed to read books about Tinker Bell and the like?
After all, fairies aren't drag queens.

I'm off to the library. They have a new shipment of banned books in.