The Ledes

Friday, September 27, 2024

The Washington Post's live updates of developments related to Hurricane Helene are here: “Hurricane Helene left one person dead in Florida and two in Georgia as it sped north. One of the biggest storms on record to hit the Gulf Coast, Helene slammed into Florida’s Big Bend area on Thursday night as a Category 4 colossus with winds of up to 140 mph before weakening to Category 1. Catastrophic winds and torrential rain from the storm — which the National Hurricane Center forecast would eventually slow over the Tennessee Valley — were expected to continue Friday across the Southeast and southern Appalachians.”

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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.”

Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

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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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June 28, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Michael Shear & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden began a concerted campaign on Wednesday to claim credit for an economic revival in America, powered by policies that he said represent a fundamental break from the Republican approach 'that has failed America's middle class for decades.' Flanked by blue signs with the word 'Bidenomics,' Mr. Biden delivered to a Chicago crowd what aides called a cornerstone speech of his presidency. In it, he hailed the impact of his economic agenda as the 2024 campaign cycle heats up.... Mr. Biden asserted that his willingness to plunge the American government more directly into supporting key industries like silicon chips has revitalized manufacturing. He said investments in rebuilding crumbling infrastructure have begun to pave the way for growth. And he insisted that spending billions of dollars on programs like student debt relief will let more people find their way to a comfortable, middle-class life."

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times have more on Rudy Giuliani's interview with prosecutors: "The voluntary interview, which took place [last week] under what is known as a proffer agreement, was a significant development in the election interference investigation led by Jack Smith, the special counsel, and the latest indication that Mr. Smith and his team are actively seeking witnesses who might cooperate in the case. The session with Mr. Giuliani, the people familiar with it said, touched on some of the most important aspects of the special counsel's inquiry into the ways that Mr. Trump sought to maintain his grip on power after losing the election.... A proffer agreement is an understanding ... that can precede a formal cooperation deal. The subjects agree to provide useful information to the government ... to stave off potential charges or to avoid testifying under subpoena before a grand jury. In exchange, prosecutors agree not to use those statements against them in future criminal proceedings unless it is determined they were lying. Prosecutors working for Mr. Smith asked Mr. Giuliani about a plan to create fake slates of pro-Trump electors in key swing states that were actually won by Mr. Biden....

"They focused specifically on the role played in that effort by John Eastman, another lawyer who advised Mr. Trump about ways to stay in office after his defeat. Mr. Giuliani also discussed Sidney Powell, a lawyer who was briefly tied to Mr. Trump's campaign and who made baseless claims about a cabal of foreign actors hacking into voting machines.... Prosecutors further asked Mr. Giuliani about the scene at the Willard Hotel days before the attack on the Capitol."

     ~~~ Thanks to RAS for the link.

Glenn Thrush & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "... House Republicans released testimony last week from a senior Internal Revenue Service investigator on the [Hunter Biden] case that appeared to contradict [Attorney General Merrick] Garland's assurances to [Sen. Chuck] Grassley and others that [U.S. Attorney David] Weiss had all the freedom and authority he needed to pursue the case as he saw fit. The I.R.S. official, Gary Shapley, oversaw the agency's role in the investigation of Mr. Biden's taxes and says his criticism of the Justice Department led to him being denied a promotion. He told the House Ways and Means Committee that Mr. Weiss had been rebuffed by top federal prosecutors in Los Angeles and Washington when he had raised the prospect of pursuing charges against the president's son in those jurisdictions.... Mr. Shapley gave Republicans a fresh opening to raise questions about the case and to cast doubt on the Justice Department's repeated statements that Mr. Weiss[, a Trump appointee,] had complete control of the investigation with no political interference. But it remains unclear how much of the difference in the accounts reflects possible factors like miscommunication, clashing substantive judgments..., or personal enmity among officials.... Investigators like Mr. Shapley whose job it is to uncover evidence often have different perspectives from prosecutors who have to take into account how to treat defendants fairly and present cases to juries."

Jonathan Allen, et al., of NBC News: "... in interviews with more than a half-dozen advisers, it was clear that -- even in his private conversations -- [Donald] Trump is leaning heavily toward skipping [the first GOP presidential] debate. Trump is also exploring options for counterprogramming during the first debate.... Trump's absence would deprive the RNC, Fox News and GOP primary voters of the Republican Party's most compelling -- and most powerful -- figure. And Trump knows he can keep attention on himself by making his appearance conditional, at best."

Rachel Bade of Politico: Donald Trump and his "inner circle" are still flipping out over My Kevin's remark Tuesday that he wasn't sure if Trump was the best GOP candidate for president*, even though McCarthy made excessive efforts to atone for his infidelity. MB: Fine with me. I hope this leads to a GOP House revolt.

Eeew! Adam Nichols of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump made sexual comments about his daughter Ivanka that were so lewd he was rebuked by his Chief of Staff, former Trump official Miles Taylor writes in a new book.... 'Aides said he talked about Ivanka Trump's breasts, her backside, and what it might be like to have sex with her, remarks that once led (former Chief of Staff) John Kelly to remind the president that Ivanka was his daughter,' Taylor writes. 'Afterward, Kelly retold that story to me in visible disgust. Trump, he said, was "a very, very evil man."'"

~~~~~~~~~~

S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "Donald Trump on Tuesday ramped up his attack on the federal prosecutor whose charges against him could put him behind bars, this time including in his tirade special counsel Jack Smith's family, as well ― potentially increasing his exposure to federal prison. 'COULD SOMEBODY PLEASE EXPLAIN TO THE DERANGED, TRUMP HATING JACK SMITH, HIS FAMILY, AND HIS FRIENDS, THAT AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, I COME UNDER THE PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT, AS AFFIRMED BY THE CLINTON SOCKS CASE, NOT BY THIS PSYCHOS' FANTASY OF THE NEVER USED BEFORE ESPIONAGE ACT OF 1917,' Trump wrote on his personal social media site early Tuesday in the all-capitals style he favors when he is particularly agitated." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Date doesn't say so, but as usual, Trump's screaming post contains a potful of lies. Here's just one: "The Espionage Act is routinely relied upon to prosecute individuals for willful retention or dissemination of national defense information. While the law's name makes one think it only concerns actual spying, its provisions are far broader than that narrow concept and have been upheld by the courts time and time again,' said Bradley Moss, a national security lawyer in private practice." And Trump himself has recently acknowledged that "The Espionage Act has been used to go after traitors and spies."

Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "... Bedminster, where Mr. Trump spends his summers, has turned out ... to have been a focus of investigators [link fixed], a flashpoint in the conflict between prosecutors and Mr. Trump's lawyers, and the scene of a central episode in Mr. Trump's indictment: a meeting in which he was recorded showing off what he described as a 'highly confidential' plan to attack Iran.... Previously unreported details of the investigation show that prosecutors working for Mr. Smith have subpoenaed surveillance footage from Bedminster, much like they did from Mar-a-Lago, and fought a pitched battle with Mr. Trump's lawyers late last year over how best to search the New Jersey property. At one point in the early fall of last year, investigators went so far as to discuss executing a search warrant at Bedminster.... Investigators were concerned that more documents were stashed at the club.... But one of the people [briefed on the matter] said the Justice Department lacked probable cause to obtain a warrant from a judge....

"In an interview with Semafor and ABC News aboard his private plane later on Tuesday, Mr. Trump again insisted he had no classified document in the Bedminster meeting, saying his remarks were simply 'bravado,' and he offered a new explanation for what the documents may have been and why he had mentioned 'plans' to Fox News. 'Did I use the word plans?' he said. 'What I'm referring to is magazines, newspapers, plans of buildings. I had plans of buildings. You know, building plans? I had plans of a golf course.'" Read on. MB: The absurdity of Trump's defenses grows by the day. Is it possible that even the dumbest Trump staffer would look at a sheaf of golf course plans and mistake them for a document Mark Meadows claimed Gen. Mark Milley had personally typed? ~~~

Jacqueline Alemany and other Washington Post reporters tell a related story here: "... current and former advisers said Trump regularly transported boxes of government documents to and from Bedminster, where he holds residence each year for the summer.... Advisers said he was personally attached to and hyper-aware of the boxes, instructing that at least some of them accompany him from place-to-place, and appeared aware of what was inside.... Bedminster is not a private home. Rather, it is a club frequented by hundreds of visitors and a destination for large events.... There, he installed a makeshift office among the luxury cottages that surround the club's 25-meter swimming pool and has resided in a separate cottage in the same complex, where he stores his belongings.... At least some of his prized 'beautiful mind paper boxes' ... usually trailed close behind him, staying in his private cottage.... The [Bedminster confessional] recording, according to people familiar with the investigation, was discovered late in the probe and is viewed as one of the government's strongest pieces of evidence." The story identifies those present at the meeting: staffers Margo Martin & Liz Harrington, publisher Kate Hartson & Sean McGowan, both of whom were working on Mark Meadows' fake autobiography.

I had a whole desk full of lots of papers, mostly newspaper articles, copies of magazines, copies of different plans, copies of stories, having to do with many, many subjects, and what was said was absolutely fine. I don't do things wrong. I do things right. I'm a legitimate person. -- Donald Trump, during a Fox "News" interview aired Tuesday (from the NYT article linked above)

Steve Benen of MSNBC: "Late last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that there were some disagreements among Justice Department and FBI officials about how best to handle Donald Trump's classified documents scandal. 'What turned the tide,' the article added, 'was an audio tape.' The Journal went on to report that 'momentum shifted' in the probe when investigators obtained an audio recording in which Trump 'could be heard showing' people working on former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows' autobiography 'a document that laid out a U.S. plan to attack Iran.' The tape, the report added, 'gave prosecutors direct evidence that Trump knew what he was doing was wrong.'... On Monday night..., Trump turned to his social media platform to declare that what appears to be a highly incriminating audio recording 'is actually an exoneration, rather than what they would have you believe. 'This is one of the former president's underappreciated tells: When he uses the word 'exonerated,' it means he's found himself in real trouble and feels the need to try to gaslight the public."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post recounts how Sean Hannity, having just received notice of the damning Bedminster tape, tried to explain away Trump's cavalier and unlawful dissemination of information contained in a classified document. (It's not clear from the tape whether or not Trump handed the doc to his little audience or held it up to them at a readable distance.) Hannity's original plan was to center his Fox show on The Great Hunter Biden Scandal. The pivot was, well, awkward. Bump admits that some of Hannity's rants and hypotheses will be lost in translation to those of us who live in the reality-based world. So it probably would help to read David Firestone's explanation -- linked below -- of how the right defines crime. (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: I probably should have highlighted Josh Dawsey & Devlin Barrett's WashPo report (linked first yesterday) on the scope of Jack Smith's investigation into efforts to overturn the election because the reporters include quite a few details indicating that top Trump officials didn't believe what campaign operative Jason Miller called "the bullshit being beamed down from the mothership." (Also linked yesterday.)

Paula Reid & Sara Murray of CNN: "Former Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has been interviewed by federal investigators as part of the special counsel's investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, multiple sources familiar with the meeting told CNN. The meeting between Giuliani, his attorney Robert Costello, and investigators took place in recent weeks. The sources declined to say what investigators' questions focused on during the meeting, which has not been previously reported."

Justice Delayed. Blayne Alexander, et al., of NBC News: "Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger will be interviewed by investigators from special counsel Jack Smith's office Wednesday in Atlanta, his office confirmed to NBC News. Raffensperger's interview with the special counsel's office will be his first with the Justice Department." MB: Well, that's just great. It's been more than two-and-a-half years since Raffensperger released audio of Trump's infamous call pleading with Raffensperger to "find" 11,780 Trump votes: enough to overturn Georgia's presidential election results and flip the win from Biden to Trump. (Also linked yesterday.)

Hannah Rabinowitz, et al., of CNN: "Walt Nauta, an aide charged alongside ... Donald Trump for the alleged mishandling of classified documents from the White House, had an arraignment hearing rescheduled after his flight to Florida was canceled due to storms. Nauta had been set to be arraigned on Tuesday, but the judge postponed the date after Nauta did not make it to Miami for the court hearing.... In addition, Nauta still does not have a local attorney who can practice in the Southern District of Florida, [Nauta's lawyer Stanley] Woodward said. At Tuesday's brief hearing, the magistrate judge told Woodward to make July 6 'your drop-dead deadline to get somebody on board,' referring to the need for Nauta to hire an attorney who can practice in southern Florida." MB: Why can't Walt get a Florida lawyer? It's been two weeks since Trump's arraignment. Trump (or rather his small donors! [NYT link]) is paying Woodward; is he not paying for a Florida-barred lawyer for Nauta? This is odd. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Hugo Lowell of the Guardian explains Nauta's lawyer problem: Walt Nauta "was forced to abandon his top choice Florida lawyer over a dispute about legal fees, according to two people familiar with the matter.... Two weeks [after Donald Trump's arraignment], Nauta remains without a lawyer admitted to practice in the southern district of Florida after the person at the top of the shortlist drawn up by Nauta's defense team decided he needed to charge higher fees to represent him the night before the arraignment.... The reason for the rate hike was not clear, but at least one Florida lawyer who had seriously considered representing Nauta decided several days ago that the reputational and legal risks of working with Trump's co-defendant ... were too great... And [since Trump's PAC Save America is paying Nauta's legal fees,] anyone Nauta retains would also need the blessing of Trump and his own defense team, who see no need to make a decision quickly." Lowell also points out that (1) Nauta was not required to appear in person at the arraignment, (2) the judge could have assigned him a public defender, and (3) the real reason for his failure to find an attorney may have been to delay the trial. ~~~

     ~~~ Marcy Wheeler backs up Lowell's reporting on Points 1-3 and she chastises media for buying into the bad-weather excuse.

Kara Scannell of CNN: "Donald Trump has sued E. Jean Carroll for defamation after a jury found he sexually abused the former magazine columnist and defamed her. In a counter claim filed Tuesday night, Trump alleges that Carroll defamed him when she appeared on CNN the morning after the jury awarded her $5 million in damages. Carroll was asked about the verdict finding Trump sexually abused Carroll but did not rape her as she alleged. Carroll said, 'Oh, yes he did.' In response to the new claim, Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan said in a statement, 'Donald Trump again argues, contrary to both logic and fact, that he was exonerated by a jury that found that he sexually abused E. Jean Carroll.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: I have a new birther conspiracy theory, and unlike the perps behind the Obama birther theory, I have evidence! Here's my theory: Donald Trump was not born in the United States and therefore is not eligible to be president*.

     (1) The most prominent purveyor of the Obama birther story was Donald Trump. Trump is infamous for projecting his own misdeeds onto others; that is, when he accuses someone else of committing some bad act, it's almost always the case that the bad act in question is one he himself committed. Ergo, Trump's enthusiasm for the Obama birther nonsense is effectively an admission he was not born in the U.S. But there's more:

     (2) Donald Trump is not a native English speaker. Many have commented on Trump's limited vocabulary and weird sentence constructions. He has been defensive about this shortcoming: he famously said, again speaking in the childish construction employed by those unfamiliar with the language he's speaking: "I know words, I know the best words." I was struck again today by a peculiar remark he made twice in the Bedminister confession tape: "They presented me this." Except in the way doctors sometimes use "presented," (where it has a slightly different meaning) "present" is a transitive verb; that is, it requires an object. So we always say, "They presented this to me, not "They presented me this." Native speakers don't have to think about this. But Donald Trump, who was born in and spent his early years in, say, Germany, doesn't know this. So he routinely makes unusual grammatical mistakes and has a limited English vocabulary.

     Of course I'm not serious about my Trump birther theory, but it's way better than the Obama theory. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: See Forrest M.'s comment below for Proof No. 3.

~~~~~~~~~~

** Supremes Decide States Legislatures Are Not Invincible. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected ... the 'independent state legislature' theory ... that would have radically reshaped how federal elections are conducted by giving state legislatures largely unchecked power to set all sorts of rules for federal elections and to draw congressional maps warped by partisan gerrymandering. The vote was 6 to 3, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. writing the majority opinion. The Constitution, he said, 'does not exempt state legislatures from the ordinary constraints imposed by state law.' Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch dissented.... The case, Moore v. Harper, No. 21-1271, concerned a voting map drawn by the North Carolina Legislature that was initially rejected as a partisan gerrymander by the state's Supreme Court....

"The composition of the North Carolina Supreme Court changed after elections in November, favoring Republicans by a 5-to-2 margin. In what a dissenting justice called a 'shameful manipulation of fundamenta principles of our democracy and the rule of law,' the new majority reversed course, saying the Legislature was free to draw gerrymandered voting districts as it saw fit. Many observers had expected the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss the case in light of that development. But Chief Justice Roberts concluded that the Supreme Court retained jurisdiction over the case." The Washington Post's report is here. MB: Neither report makes clear where the decision leaves North Carolina. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: I didn't know till I listened to the teevee that Neal Katyal argued (and won) this case for Common Cause. In an appearance on MSNBC, Katyal credited retired conservo-judge Michael Luttig for his help. Luttig, appearing on CNN, reiterated his view that this was the most important case for American democracy in our history. He also remarked that the independent state legislature theory, the wacky legal premise tested in this North Carolina case, was precisely the theory that Donald Trump employed (thanks to John Eastman) when he attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results with his fake elector hoohah. The idea was that pence would accept or at least acknowledge the fake elector slates, whereupon Republican state legislatures -- they whom no court can police -- would certify the fake electors and overturn the voters' choice. ~~~

~~~ Update. As I Was Saying. Zach Montellaro, et al., of Politico: "The Supreme Court’s rejection of a controversial election theory may also have another huge political consequence for future presidential contests: It obliterated the dubious fake elector scheme that Donald Trump deployed in his failed attempt to seize a second term. That scheme relied on friendly state legislatures appointing 'alternate' slates of pro-Trump presidential electors -- even if state laws certified victory for Joe Biden. Backed by fringe theories crafted by attorneys like John Eastman, Trump contended that state legislatures could unilaterally reverse the outcome and override their own laws and constitutions to do so.... Eastman and other Trump allies argued that state legislatures could determine unilaterally that Trump was the rightful winner, appointing their own electors to be counted on Jan. 6, 2021. No state legislatures embraced Eastman's calls, and the effort collapsed when then-Vice President Mike Pence refused a simultaneous pressure campaign to single-handedly postpone the counting of electoral votes."

Robert Barnes & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed the conviction of a man who made extensive online threats to a stranger, saying free speech protections require prosecutors to prove the stalker was aware of the threatening nature of his communications. In a 7-2 ruling authored by Justice Elena Kagan, the court emphasized that true threats of violence are not protected by the First Amendment. But to guard against a chilling effect on non-threatening speech, the majority said states must prove that a criminal defendant has 'disregarded a substantial risk that his communications would be viewed as threatening violence.' Justices Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett dissented. The case concerned a Colorado law used to convict Billy Raymond Counterman of stalking and causing 'emotional distress' for Coles Whalen, a singer-songwriter he had never met.... The case now returns to the lower courts, where prosecutors could decide to retry the case under the new standards set by the Supreme Court's decision." (Also linked yesterday.)

Glenn Thrush & Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in a cell with a bedsheet tied around his neck in 2019, died by suicide, not foul play -- following a cascade of negligence and mismanagement at the now-shuttered federal jail in Manhattan where he was housed, according to the Justice Department's inspector general. The inspector general, who released a report on Tuesday after a yearslong investigation, found that the leadership and staff members at the jail, the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center, created an environment in which Mr. Epstein, a financier charged with sex trafficking, had every opportunity to kill himself. The inspector general, Michael Horowitz, referred two supervisors at the facility responsible for ensuring Mr. Epstein's safety for criminal prosecution by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York after they were caught falsifying records and lying to investigators. But prosecutors declined to bring charges." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Election 2024

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday declared Donald J. Trump the 'strongest political opponent' against President Biden, rushing to make clear his loyalty to the former president just hours after suggesting in a televised interview that Mr. Trump might not be the Republican presidential candidate best positioned to prevail in the 2024 election.... His latest difficulties began on Tuesday morning when, during an interview with CNBC, Mr. McCarthy wondered whether it would be good for the party to have Mr. Trump as its presidential nominee given his legal troubles. 'Can he win that election? Yeah, he can win that election,' Mr. McCarthy said. 'The question is, is he the strongest to win the election; I don't know that answer.'... Mr. McCarthy also called Mr. Trump Tuesday, according to three people familiar with the exchange, two of whom characterized the conversation as an apology."

Gideon Rubin of the Raw Story: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday suggested that vaccine research was responsible for the HIV and the Spanish flu, among other illnesses, Rolling Stone reports.... Kennedy also attributed Lyme disease to the list of illnesses he blames on vaccine research." MB: I'm feeling a bit logy this morning. It could be for want of sleep, but it's probably because of vaccine research.


Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) on Tuesday celebrated his state getting more than $1 billion for broadband efforts, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ― a bill he voted against. 'Broadband is vital for the success of our rural communities and for our entire economy,' Tuberville tweeted, along with a link to an article about his state getting $1.4 billion for expanding broadband access to underserved areas. 'Great to see Alabama receive crucial funds to boost ongoing broadband efforts.'... [President] Biden's investment in broadband builds on funding provided by the American Rescue Plan, which Tuberville also voted against.... Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) similarly tweeted about his state getting $3.3 billion for broadband expansion. And just like Tuberville, he voted against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act."

Here's a bizarre story I missed last week: ~~~

     ~~~ Hey, Let's Just Pretend Those Impeachments Never Happened! David Morgan of Reuters (June 23): "Two of Donald Trump's staunchest allies in the U.S. Congress have introduced legislation aimed at expunging the former president's two impeachments, a legislative maneuver without precedent in U.S. history. Representative Elise Stefanik, the No. 4 House of Representatives Republican, and hardline Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a pair of resolutions that if enacted would aim to change the record 'as if such articles had never been passed.' Republicans control the House 222-212."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Jeffery Mays of the New York Times: "Yusef Salaam, one of the so-called Central Park 5, wrongfully convicted of the rape and assault of a female jogger, held a commanding lead over two Assembly members in what would be a major upset in the Democratic primary for a Harlem City Council seat. Mr. Salaam had nearly twice the number of votes of his closest competitor, Assemblywoman Inez Dickens, 73, who conceded defeat on Tuesday night, according to her spokeswoman. It was not clear if Mr. Salaam had drawn more than 50 percent of the votes; if he fell short of that threshold, voters' ranked choices would be tabulated next week." The article includes other City primary results. MB: My only regret is that Salaam's district does not include Trump Tower.

New York. Remi Tumin of the New York Times: "For 20 years, a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professor had been working on what the university described as potentially groundbreaking work. It all ended with the accidental flip of a switch. The university is seeking $1 million in damages from Daigle Cleaning Systems in Albany, N.Y., for breach of contract and for failing to properly train a janitor who turned off a circuit breaker in September 2020, cutting power to the freezer and destroying its contents, according to a lawsuit filed this month in Rensselaer County Supreme Court."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is trying to recast last weekend's brief uprising as an affirmation of the country's unity, even as he seeks to contain the fallout from the aborted rebellion.... U.S. officials briefed on American intelligence said on Tuesday that Gen. Sergei Surovikin, a senior Russian general and former top commander of Moscow's forces in Ukraine, had advance knowledge of the rebellion, raising the possibility of support for the uprising inside the top ranks of the military.... The [Wagner] group's leader, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, arrived in neighboring Belarus on Tuesday as part of an agreement that secured his amnesty in exchange for exile. President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus said that Mr. Putin had entertained the possibility of killing Mr. Prigozhin. But the Belarusian leader, a loyal Putin ally, said he had talked Mr. Putin out of doing so, while also warning Mr. Prigozhin that Mr. Putin could 'squash him like a bug.'...

"Missiles struck a crowded restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk late Tuesday, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens more. The city, in the Donbas region, has suffered several deadly attacks by Russian forces throughout the war. In Ukraine, heavy fighting was reported in the south and east on Tuesday, with Kyiv claiming incremental progress around the devastated city of Bakhmut. The Pentagon said it was sending an additional $500 million in weapons to Ukraine, including 55 Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles, and equipment for clearing minefields." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Wednesday is here: "The Wagner Group received more than $1 billion over the past year from the Russian government, Russia's state-owned Tass news agency reported Tuesday. Putin said the funds were for paying fighters' salaries, incentives and insurance. He also said Wagner's owner, the Concord company, received just under $1 billion to supply food to the army. The comments were a break from previous Kremlin efforts to disavow state links to Wagner and obscure the cost of the war in Ukraine.... Russia has arbitrarily detained hundreds of people in occupied Ukraine during its invasion, according to a report from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights." ~~~

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

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Lowell P. Weicker Jr., a three-term senator from Connecticut who became one of President Richard M. Nixon's boldest Republican adversaries during the Watergate affair and who engineered dramatic increases in medical research funding despite President Ronald Reagan's efforts to slash domestic spending, died June 28 at a hospital in Middletown, Conn. He was 92."

AP: "Debris from the Titan submersible has been returned to land after a fatal implosion during its voyage to the wreck of the Titanic captured the world's attention last week. The return of the debris to port in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, is a key piece of the investigation into why the submersible imploded, killing all five people on board. Twisted chunks of the 22-foot submersible were unloaded at a Canadian Coast Guard pier on Wednesday." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. New York Times: "Debris and presumed human remains from the Titan submersible have been recovered and returned to land, the U.S. Coast Guard announced Wednesday night, nearly a week after an international search-and-rescue operation ended and the vessel's five passengers were presumed dead. At a Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John's, Newfoundland, on Wednesday, crews unloaded what appeared to be the Titan's 22-foot hull, crinkled and twisted with exposed wires and cables. Images from The Canadian Press showed what looked to be a piece of the hull's siding and other debris being unloaded from the Horizon Arctic, a vessel that had deployed a remotely operated vehicle to search the ocean floor for the submersible. The debris will be taken to a U.S. port where the Marine Board of Investigation will do further analysis and testing. United States medical professionals 'will conduct a formal analysis of presumed human remains that have been carefully recovered within the wreckage at the site of the incident,' the Coast Guard said in a statement."

New York Times: "A smoky haze from Canadian wildfires blanketed Chicago and much of the upper Midwest early Wednesday, a day after a sudden decline in air quality forced many residents of America's third-largest city to don masks when they ventured outside.... Nearly 500 active wildfires were burning in Canada early Wednesday, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre." The story includes air quality indices of several cities and a link to a site where you can look up air quality measurements in your area. This is a liveblog.

New York Times: "Julian Sands, a versatile British actor..., was pronounced dead on Tuesday, more than five months after disappearing while hiking alone on a trail on Mount Baldy in the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California. He was 65. On Sunday, authorities recovered human remains near the mountain where search crews had been looking for Mr. Sands. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said it had been contacted by hikers who had found human remains in the Mount Baldy wilderness.... The coroner's office identified the remains as Mr. Sands on Tuesday. It added that the cause of his death remained under investigation."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (18)

Two morning thoughts:

If the past is indeed prologue, and if the facts didn't contradict his claim, the Pretender's assertion that the Bedminster recording was one of him acting out of "bravado," (read: bragging, or telling a whopper), would certainly ring true.

Bravado backed by a bank account is all the nation had for four years.


And "exile" in Belarus? Wouldn't that be like like banishing the U. S. banishing a political enemy to Puerto Rico....but Belarus doesn't even have the benefit of the Caribbean moat.

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Ken Winkes: Were you lying then or are you lying now? Trump's "bravado" defense, besides most likely being a lie, is that he lied to his staff and to Meadows' publisher. When your defense is, "Hey, I lied to people who trusted me," there's not a good chance a jury will believe your testimony.

Also too, if Trump was waving around classified documents in front of staffers and a couple of publishers, then he would wave them around in front of anyone, from the maid to the leader of another country. Why would anyone -- even a corrupt narcissist -- show off a classified document to these people, especially since there was a danger that the incident would wind up in a book AND he knew someone was taping the interview? The whole thing makes no sense to people whose minds operate normally.

June 28, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

@Marie

Exactly. But the problem for us "normals," is that we can't get used to the presence of so many in our midst whose minds are demonstrably abnormal. Those abnormals sure scare me.

And I see morning and excitement don't go well together. I banished someone twice.

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Trump birther theory #3: Importing wives from the "homeland",
the area of his birth, or near the place of his birth.
Weren't there any eligible women in the Bronx? Or did they just know
better than to get mixed up with the trumps.

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

@Forrest Morris: Excellent point. And that helps explain why Trump's English language skills are so poor: he and the wives spoke Czech or Slovak or something at home, so he didn't get the usual amount of practice one who had an English-speaking spouse would get.

June 28, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Sad about Julian Sands, the actor in one of my favorite movies,
A Room With A View.
I suspect he was eaten by bears.
Never go hiking alone, or take a knife and a cell phone at least.

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

Forrest,

Good point about Trump’s mail order brides.

Also, “Room With a View”, great movie adaptation of an excellent book. Sands also did a nice turn as Frank Liszt in “Impromptu”, another favorite film. Much better looking than the real Liszt. Yeah, hiking alone is never a great idea.

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Biden's message for Potatohead, "See you at the groundbreaking."

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Little good news comes from DeSantis's horrible human stunts, "How Migrants Flown to Martha’s Vineyard Came to Call It Home"
“I did not even know where Martha’s Vineyard was. And now I feel welcomed by everybody here. I’m working, making friends and this is home for me now.”

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Hearing that so many people are "concerned" about Biden's age, with regard to the coming election-- Uh, okay, but he fortunately is surrounded with competent people. He is experienced. He may say the wrong word occasionally, as do we all who are his age. People should be more "concerned" about the turkey who had the job before-- not only is he almost as old as Biden, and he was NOT surrounded by anything resembling competency, but now, he is also a nutcase AND indicted and impeached two times and counting. And he is a liar and an asshole. No comparison.

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

Read this morning that some former federal prosecutors think it’s possible that Loose Cannon could disallow the Bedminster tape as “prejudicial” against Trump. Isn’t ALL evidence prejudicial to an extent? “Hey, here’s the smoking gun, hidden under the guy’s bed!” “Guilty!” But of course, if you’re a Trump toady judge you’d want to exclude anything that could allow a jury to put his fat ass in the clink.

The flip side of that is that were Cannon to exclude the tape in Florida, Smith could indict Fatty in New Jersey, where that particular crime was committed, a place where the jury pool might not be so loaded with pro-Trump, pro-fascist Republican voters.

One of the prosecutors brought up the case of Paul Manafort who, when presented with a similar choice, decided to have his indictments split into two jurisdictions, DC, and Virginia, which prompted the reminder that some wag at the time described this as playing Russian Roulette with two bullets in the gun instead of one.

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Jeanne,

Yeah. Old is one thing. Old and insane is quite another thing.

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Govenor Pritzker's speech at Northwestern.
"“Whenever I’m about to do something, I think ‘Would an idiot do that?’ and if they would, I do not do that thing.” – Dwight Schrute

And what is the best way to spot an idiot? Look for the person who is cruel.

The kindest person in the room is often the smartest."

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

This old age thing re: Biden could be helped by people who are 86 coming forward showing that they are competent, successfully fulfilling whatever duties they are required to accomplish and are able to put one foot before the other.

The sexual comments re: Ivanka by her father is not surprising–––he is a demented piece of slime who thinks nothing of what we call boundaries––-he is like an open mouth inhaling whatever comes his way, much like those man eating plants who ingest their prey on any given day except when it rains. It's a thunder storm for Fatty and he's getting more than wet.

Foresr: can you help me out here? discovered a most unusual display of mushrooms under our Tamarack tree: Large orange circular mushrooms beside others the same color but shaped like snakes. Never seen these before.

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterP.D.Pepe

P.D. : Maybe --
https://hikersnotebook.blog/fungi/lichens-slime-mold-and-other-fungi/stinkhorn-mutinus-elegans/

Last time I saw that in my yard, it came from the mulch.

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

@Patrick: from your link: "Common Name: Elegant Stinkhorn, Devil’s Dipstick, Devil’s Horn, Devil’s Stinkpot, Dog Penis – The fetid smell of the fungus coupled with its cornucopian shape is appropriately used for the common name stinkhorn. The more pejorative names are based on its phallic appearance. Elegant may be in reference to its unadorned, almost artistic simplicity, however suggestive."

A few of those common names would fit a former president* we can think of, but not the first one; there's nothing "elegant" about that particular Devil's Dipstick.

June 28, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Thanks Forest––-wow! and with a history, too! and Marie––yes, such apt names for our very own live dipstick!

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterP.D.Pepe

If I didn't know better, based of TFG's verbal contructs, I would have guessed that he grew up in South Milwaukee, WI (where dey uzed throw the dog over the fence a bone, hey.)

June 28, 2023 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed
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