;)
Thursday
Jun292023
June 29, 2023
Marie: Very late start this morning.
~~~~~~~~~~
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Florida. Mirna Alsharif & Minyvonne Burke of NBC News: "A former school security officer was found not guilty Thursday over a failure to confront the gunman who massacred 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. Scot Peterson, who was a Broward County sheriff's deputy and worked as a resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, was charged in 2019 with seven counts of neglect of a child and three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury."
Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Three weeks after ... Donald J. Trump was indicted on charges of illegally retaining national security records and obstructing the government's efforts to reclaim them, a federal grand jury in Miami is still investigating aspects of the case.... In recent days, the grand jury has issued subpoenas to a handful of people who are connected to the inquiry.... Post-indictment investigations can result in additional charges against people who have already been accused of crimes in the case. The investigations can also be used to bring charges against new defendants."
Trump's Investors Are Crooks, Feds Allege. Matt Egan & Kara Scannell of CNN: "Federal prosecutors arrested three investors on Thursday on insider trading charges related to a deal to take ... Donald Trump's media business public. According to the indictment, the three individuals together made more than $22 million in October 2021 by illegally trading on nonpublic knowledge of Digital World Acquisition Corporation's secret plan to buy Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group. The defendants allegedly tipped off friends and colleagues, who also purchased securities in Digital World before the blank-check firm's Trump Media deal became public. Once the deal was announced, the value of those securities spiked. The defendants and individuals they tipped off then sold their securities for a significant profit, according to prosecutors. The three men charged in the indictment are Michael Shvartsman, Gerald Shvartsman and Bruce Garelick, who served as a director on Digital World's board of directors.... There is no allegation that Donald Trump had any involvement at all in the alleged insider trading."
President Biden speaks against the Supreme Court's decision to effectively end affirmative action in college admissions: ~~~
~~~ Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina that relied in part on racial considerations, saying they violate the Constitution. The vote split along ideological grounds, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts writing for the conservative members in the majority, and the liberals dissenting.... As recently as 2016, the court upheld an affirmative action program at the University of Texas, concluding for the third time that educational diversity justifies the consideration of race as one factor in admission decisions." This is a developing story. The New York Times story, which currently appears in a liveblog, is here. ~~~
~~~ You have to scroll all the way down to Page 140 of the opinions to get to Justice Sotomayor's dissent, and on to Page 209 to get to Justice Jackson's dissent, which even more than Sotomayor's, calls the majority ignoramuses:
"With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces 'colorblindness for all' by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life. And having so detached itself from this country's actual past and present experiences, the Court has now been lured into interfering with the crucial work that UNC and other institutions of higher learning are doing to solve America's real-world problems. No one benefits from ignorance.... The best that can be said of the majority's perspective is that it proceeds (ostrich-like) from the hope that preventing consideration of race will end racism.... Ultimately, ignoring race just makes it matter more.... The Court's meddling not only arrests the noble generational project that America's universities are attempting, it also launches, in effect, a dismally misinformed sociological experiment." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here's what really pisses me off about this decision. When I was applying for admission to colleges and university in late 1961 and 1962, a number of southern schools -- like the University of Texas -- required me to include my picture as part of my application. I didn't apply to the schools that required the photo because it was obvious to me why they wanted the picture: to make sure I was white. I'm sure that for many years, many schools excluded applicants based on their race. So white people no doubt had their own "affirmative action" program for decades. The whole purpose of affirmative-action programs -- in education and other fields -- was to make up for the long-standing discrimination against people of color.
~~~ Marie: I just heard a clip of mike pence applauding the decision. Of course quoted the only sentence he knows among Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s many famous remarks: "... they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," of course misappropriating Dr. King's intention. There is no occasion in which mike pence opens his mouth that I don't want to forcefully put my fist in it. ~~~
Aw, but this is sweet: ~~~
~~~ Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday strengthened protections for religious rights in the workplace, siding in part with a Sabbath-observant mail carrier who quit the U.S. Postal Service after he was forced to deliver packages on Sundays. Gerald Groff, the former postal worker, had asked the justices to overturn a decades-old Supreme Court decision, which his lawyers said undermines religious protections by allowing employers to deny accommodations that would cause them more than a minor inconvenience. In a unanimous decision, authored by Justice Samuel A. Alito, the justices declined to get rid of past precedent, and instead clarified that employers must meet a higher standard to reject a workers' request related to religious observance." See also Jeanne's comment below.
** Supreme Court Expected to Make Major Decision Based on Fake Case. David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement: "Attorneys for a Colorado web designer using her personal Christian beliefs to sue over the state's anti-discrimination law have reportedly included in their court filings a claim that a man, after their case was initially filed in 2016, asked her to create a website for his upcoming same-sex wedding. The case, 303 Creative vs. Elenis, went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in December and likely will hand down its decision Friday. The web designer, Lorie Smith, says she wants to expand her business to make wedding websites, but says she can't because rejecting a same-sex couple's request could violate Colorado law, and her religious beliefs do not support same-sex marriage.... After the case was filed, a same-sex couple named Stewart and Mike, according to court documents as The New Republic reports, [asked] Smith for a wedding website. Stewart's name, email address, phone number, and even his website URL were included in the filings, yet no reporter appears to have ever contacted him to verify his story. Until now. He says it's false.... [Melissa] reports Stewart says his contact information is accurate, but 'he never sent this form, he said, and at the time it was sent, he was married to a woman.'" Moreover, Stewart himself is a web designer living in California, so it doesn't make much sense for him to ask a Colorado web designer to design his wedding website. MB: This is really is extraordinary.
~~~~~~~~~~
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." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "A number of congressional Republicans who voted against the bipartisan infrastructure law are now spotlighting and at times celebrating how it will fund broadband expansion in their home states. And President Biden is mocking them for touting money they opposed.... Hours after [releasing the tweet below]..., during a speech on his economic agenda, Biden kept at it, calling out [Sen. Tommy] Tuberville [R-Ala.] by name.... 'There's a guy named Tuberville ... senator from Alabama,' who 'strongly opposed the legislation,' Biden told the crowd. 'Now, he's hailing its passage.' The Biden administration's plan aims to deliver reliable broadband to the entire country by 2030. Alabama is among the 10 states receiving the most funding through the plan -- $1.4 billion. In 2021, Tuberville argued that he could not vote for the infrastructure legislation, saying it 'fails to give Alabama a fair slice of the pie while also saddling Alabama taxpayers with even more debt.'" ~~~
See you at the groundbreaking. https://t.co/1kJZ2h3JZW
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 28, 2023
~~~ Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~
~~~ Thanks, GOP! Jonathan Weisman & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "... in a speech on Wednesday in Chicago about the economy, Mr. Biden ... put a renewed focus on the two most significant bipartisan legislative accomplishments of his term, the infrastructure bill and the CHIPS and Science Act. He hopes these measures will help brand him as the cross-aisle deal maker he sold to voters in 2020, appeal to political moderates who formed a core of his winning electoral coalition and impress upon tuned-out voters what he has done in office. One significant benefit for Mr. Biden: Republicans helped pass those bills.... Mr. Biden's infrastructure bill won votes from 19 Republican senators and 13 Republican House members. Sixteen Senate Republicans and 24 Republicans in the House voted for the semiconductor legislation. It will be difficult for Republicans to land criticism when they themselves are taking credit for the same achievements."
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." (Also linked yesterday.)
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." (Also linked yesterday.)
Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "One of the top advisers on Donald Trump's 2024 campaign is among the individuals identified but not named by special counsel Jack Smith in his indictment against the former president for allegedly mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House and obstructing the government's efforts to retrieve them, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Susie Wiles, one of Trump's most trusted advisers leading his second reelection effort, is the individual singled out in Smith's indictment as the 'PAC Representative' who Trump is alleged to have shown a classified map to in August or September of 2021, sources said.... Sources have also further identified some of the other figures mentioned by Smith's team in the indictment. Hayley Harrison and Molly Michael are said to be 'Trump Employee 1' and 'Trump Employee 2,' respectively. The indictment details their text messages back and forth about moving Trump's boxes out of the business center as his Mar-a-Lago estate to create room for staff to work. Michael, whose name was previously reported as an individual identified in the indictment, is Trump's former executive assistant who no longer works for him, while Harrison is currently an aide to Trump's wife, Melania Trump."
"My Documents." David McAfee of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump continued asking his attorneys for 'my boxes' and 'my documents' back from the DOJ, even as they warned him he was about to be indicted, according to ... the Rolling Stone's new report. 'Last month, Donald Trump's lawyers told him he was on the cusp of a federal indictment in the classified documents case. But the former president still wanted "my documents" and "my boxes" back, asking some of his lawyers if they could get them from the federal government, according to a source...,' the outlet wrote. 'It's one of many such conversations Trump has had over the past few months, the sources say. In these conversations, Trump also claimed it was "illegal" that he could no longer have the documents seized in the Mar-a-Lago raid...."
Philip Bump of the Washington Post listens closely to Trump's Bedminster confessional tape and hears this: "'Trump: Declassify. See, as president I could have declassified it. Now I can't, you know. But this is classified.'... The 'but this is classified' does not comport with existing transcripts.... If Trump said 'this is still a secret,' [as the government's transcript has it,] he has some wiggle room on denying that he was showing his audience a document that was legally protected under classification rules. If he said 'this is classified,' that goes out the window. It's Trump admitting that he had something that was classified in his hand, at that moment -- and was showing it to people." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The article includes an audio clip. What I heard from the Bump's clip incorporated in his tweet what I heard was, "... this is classi...." But that clip doesn't tells the whole story. When I listened to the Guardian's audio of the whole conversation, what I heard Trump say was, "this is highly classified, (inaudible) secret. This is secret information." The government of course would have to get expert testimony, but I feel the expert would hear more or less what I heard, not what the transcript in the indictment says. Let me know what you hear.
Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "Legendary journalist Bob Woodward tore into ... Donald Trump in an interview on CNN Wednesday evening, calling him the largest threat to national security he had ever seen from any U.S. government official.... 'Bob, you've interviewed the former president a lot,' said anchor Anderson Cooper. "... What stands out to you about this latest recording?' 'Well, it really shows that Donald Trump is an alarming, dangerous threat to national security,' said Woodward, who ... has recently been caught up in a legal battle with Trump over White House transcripts. "In the book, "Peril" that I did with Robert Costa, we recount two National Security Council meetings where Trump, not General Milley or the Defense Department, was agitating for a possible attack on Iran. And he is pushing it. And General Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the number one military man in the country, is telling Trump, you don't want a war. If you start a war, you're going to get into a conflict that you can't get out of.'"
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."'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Presidential Race 2024
Neil Vigdor & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "It was a photo op intended to turbocharge Republican voters, one showing Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida posing in front of a helicopter on Sunday at the southern border in Texas. But the display is creating an unwanted spotlight for Mr. DeSantis: The helicopter is funded by Texas taxpayers, raising questions about the political nature of the flight and its cost. Federal law requires presidential candidates to pay the fair-market rate for noncommercial air travel and reimburse providers of flights.... Additionally, ethics rules in Texas bar officials there from using state resources in support of political campaigns. Mr. DeSantis's office suggested that he was visiting the border in a dual capacity, as both governor and presidential candidate, but his official schedule as governor omitted mention of it.... Mr. DeSantis's campaign shared the helicopter photo on Twitter on Monday, the same day that he proposed a series of hard-right immigration policies in a campaign speech in Eagle Pass, a small Texas border city." More on Ron's very shady spending linked below under "Florida."
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, according to people familiar with his deliberations. 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." (Also linked yesterday.)
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. (Also linked yesterday.)
Beyond the Beltway
Charles Blow of the New York Times: "Republicans' anti-woke, anti-vote crusade has crashed into the Constitution.... Across states, we're seeing promising signs that the judiciary may wind up serving as a check on the relentless Republican campaign to disempower and disenfranchise. G.O.P. attempts to impose a kind of semi-fascist federalism is being trumped by our own constitutional democracy." ~~~
~~~ Kentucky, Tennessee. Anna Betts & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Federal judges in two states intervened on Wednesday to temporarily block laws that would ban gender-transition care for minors, the latest instances where legislation targeting transgender people have been halted by the judiciary. The separate rulings in Kentucky and Tennessee came days before key provisions of the laws were set to go into effect, as a wave of legislation aimed at curbing L.G.B.T.Q. rights has cleared Republican-controlled legislatures across the country this year. Several of those laws either remain tangled in legal battles, or have been ruled unconstitutional by federal judges."
** Florida. Michael Scherer, et al., of the Washington Post: "The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) steered $92 million last year in leftover federal coronavirus stimulus money to a controversial highway interchange project that directly benefits a top political donor, according to state records. The decision by the Florida Department of Transportation to use money from the 2021 American Rescue Plan for the I-95 interchange at Pioneer Trail Road near Daytona Beach fulfilled a years-long effort by Mori Hosseini, a politically connected housing developer who owns two large tracts of largely forested land abutting the planned interchange. The funding through the DeSantis administration, approved shortly after the governor's reelection, expedited the project by more than a decade, according to state documents.... Since the money arrived in Florida, he has used it for favored projects unrelated to the pandemic, including using interest from the federal funds to pay for the flight of mostly Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard last year." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Read on to see just how corrupt the entire enterprise is. I think the federal government should begin now to claw back the Covid grant. DeSantolini is trying to make the Most Corrupt President* in U.S. History look like a piker.
Way Beyond
China. Matt Seyler & Jon Haworth of ABC News: "The Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean in early February was built -- at least partly -- using American off-the-shelf parts, a U.S. official has confirmed to ABC News. A second U.S. official was also able to confirm that the balloon did not appear to have transmitted any of the data it collected on its journey above North America, as was initially reported by the Wall Street Journal.... [One] official could not say whether any of the American gear was sold illicitly to China but said determining whether any of it came from illegal trade was a topic of serious concern among officials since some items -- like chips -- are forbidden to sell to certain markets." At 9:00 am ET, this is a developing story.
France. The New York Times' live updates of developments in the unrest in France following the shooting of a teenager are here: "French prosecutors on Thursday urged that a police officer be placed under investigation for voluntary homicide after the deadly shooting of a 17-year-old driver set off violent riots in more than a dozen cities overnight, with protesters burning cars, lighting buildings on fire and setting off fireworks for the second day in a row. President Emmanuel Macron, convening a crisis meeting on Thursday morning, called the violent protests 'absolutely unjustifiable' and appealed for calm after the death of the teenager, who has been identified only as Nahel M. Gérald Darmanin, France's interior minister, said on Thursday that 180 people had been arrested nationwide and that 170 officers had been injured in what he called 'a night of intolerable violence against symbols of the Republic.' Police stations were vandalized or targeted with fireworks in cities including Trappes, near Paris, and Rouen, in the north. In Clamart, a Paris suburb, a tramway was briefly set ablaze."
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Rescue efforts ended in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk after a 12th body was pulled from the rubble of a popular restaurant hit by a Russian missile strike on Tuesday. Three Colombians who were in the country to increase Latin American support for Ukraine were among the dozens of people injured.... The possible relocation of the Wagner troops to Belarus has provoked anxiety among nations in NATO's eastern flank. Visiting Kyiv on Wednesday, President Andrzej Duda of Poland called the potential transfer of Wagner fighters to Belarus a threat." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Thursday is here: "Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare public appearance, traveling to the southern city of Derbent in an apparent bid to demonstrate the strength of his support. State media outlets reported that Putin received an enthusiastic reception from residents.... Belarus said it agreed to establish joint military training centers with Russia on its territory." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
Liz Sly of the Washington Post: "The weekend mutiny by the Wagner Group and its chaotic aftermath have jeopardized [Vladimir Putin's image as a strongman], jolting many assumptions about Putin's autocratic credentials, Russia's stability and the likely course of the war in Ukraine. With events continuing to unfold, it is still too early to tell how badly Putin has been weakened, analysts caution. The Wagner Group could be dismantled and its leader, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, now in exile in neighboring Belarus, could end up detained or killed. Putin may yet launch a broad crackdown against all his critics that could leave him more firmly in control than he was before. But the Russian leader's failure so far to take a tough stance against the mercenaries, or punish those involved in the mutiny, is denting the cultivated image that he always controls events..., said Dmitri Alperovitch, a foreign-policy analyst who heads the Silverado Policy Accelerator think tank." ~~~
~~~ BUT. Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "As President Vladimir V. Putin seeks to assert control in Russia, he is moving to punish people who enabled the mercenary boss Yevgeny V. Prigozhin's rebellion over the weekend, but Mr. Prigozhin's deep connections with the ruling elite are complicating those efforts. The question of who gets punished for the mutiny carries high stakes for the Russian leadership, especially because some of Mr. Prigozhin's key allies and sympathizers are believed to be inside the military and the government. There was intense focus in Moscow about the fate of Gen. Sergei Surovikin, a senior military official whom Mr. Prigozhin praised publicly and who is said to have known about the rebellion in advance; he has not been seen publicly since early Saturday.... Mr. Putin fed speculation about a broader crackdown on Tuesday evening in a closed-door meeting with Russian media figures at the Kremlin. In the meeting, he presented himself as a leader in total control, and said he was delving into Mr. Prigozhin's business contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry."
Christoph Koetti, et al., of the New York Times: "Satellite imagery shows that Belarus is rapidly building what appear to be temporary structures at a deserted military base, revealing a possible location for Wagner fighters who were given the option of relocating to the country after the group's failed mutiny against President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. The construction was first visible in satellite images taken on Monday by Planet Labs, a private company with a network of shoebox-size satellites, two days after Wagner forces suddenly stopped their march on Moscow."
News Ledes
New York Times: "An oppressive heat wave that baked Texas and Oklahoma last week, contributing to several deaths, is raising the heat index to dangerous levels from Kansas City, Mo., to the Florida Keys. Temperatures will climb up to 20 degrees above normal for much of the region through at least the weekend, reaching the high 90s or low 100s in many places The heat index -- a measure of how heat and humidity make the air feel -- will be even higher." This is a liveblog.
Washington Post: “Much of the United States felt like a blazing inferno on Wednesday, as record heat attacked the South like a blowtorch, thick smoke from Canadian wildfires blanketed the Great Lakes region, and triple-digit temperatures threatened to wallop California for the first time this year. Scientists said climate change helped shape the weather conditions that were causing misery and putting lives at risk from Mexico to Canada. There was no disputing the impact: If it wasn't way too smoky, it was way too hot." This is a liveblog.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Alan Arkin, who won a Tony Award for his first lead role on Broadway, received an Academy Award nomination for his first feature film, and went on to have a long and diverse career as a character actor who specialized in comedy but was equally adept at drama, died on Thursday in San Marcos, Calif. He was 89."
New York Times: "At least 10 states from the Midwest to the Northeast on Friday were again facing smoky conditions created by raging wildfires in Canada, capping a week in which millions of people struggled to cope with poor air quality.Smoke that has obscured skylines and made it difficult for some to breathe was expected to linger into the long Fourth of July weekend, according to the National Weather Service. However, the air quality was expected to slowly improve as thunderstorms help disperse the smoke and possibly clear the way for Independence Day firework celebrations." ~~~
~~~ This site will tell you the air quality in your area.
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Reader Comments (18)
Things to come…
It’s worth recalling that most of the Wagner group mercenaries are convicts, released from Russian prisons to be used as cannon fodder by Putin in an attempt to fill the breaches in his illegal war on Ukraine left exposed by incompetent and poorly trained (and reticent) members of the official Russian military.
Given the choice of decades of hard labor in prison or a chance to make it out alive as members of a pseudo military brigade, many, it seems, opted for the battlefield.
But it quickly became apparent that Wagner’s criminal class of mercs were being killed at an alarming rate, making their decision to follow General Hot Dog in that short-lived revolt an easy one.
Meanwhile, here’s manly man Putin, strutting around trying to look large and in charge while dealing with what could soon become increasing resistance from his very own “deep state” and putting the kibosh on any form of serious democracy.
All this is to point out what a second Trump presidency could look like. A vicious, often incompetent leader, surrounded by nodding bobble head yes men, chaos at home and abroad, a population kept in the dark by a strangling hold on the media, retribution and revenge, and a stupid, poorly planned and executed unnecessary war dreamed up to bolster the ego of a single despotic asshole.
Fatty is now trying to say that those Iran war plans were all General Milley’s idea but eyewitness accounts indicate that they were spurred along by Trump himself. And let’s not forget that Trump has made noises about pardoning members of his own Wagner group, violent criminals who tried to overthrow the government in his favor.
We’re not Russia, thank god, but a lot of what’s happening there now offers a glimpse into some of what could be in store for us should that narcissistic traitor fuck get back into the White House, supported by bug-eyed authoritarian morons in congress and a supine both-sides media.
AK: "Meanwhile, here’s manly man Putin, strutting around trying to look large and in charge"–––now them words would reign high on the list of lyrics for a Pussy Riot song me thinks.
From yesterday: Patrick! I thanked Forest instead of you for helping me out with my mushrooms----so today I thank you kindly.
There's a list of 27 people trump claimed should be in jail while he
was president*, making America grate again.
And in his speech in 2016, in Grand Rapids, MI., he also said that
Hillary is a criminal and shouldn't be allowed to run for president.
As far as I know, Hillary isn't and wasn't under indictment for any
crimes and wasn't a criminal. More projection me thinks.
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/trump-faces-criminal-charges-27-
090543289.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_=0_00
We can finally see across the street again after breathing and eating
smoke all day yesterday. Mask time again.
Why didn't Pres. Biden install giant fans to blow that smoke back
into Canada? Or at least, blow it to Bedminster.
But maybe all that smoke is actually secret documents being burned
by you-know-who.
Supremes kill affirmative action.
Clarence sez “It helped me, but to hell with everyone else!”
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/06/29/supreme-court-rejects-affirmative-action-at-colleges-says-schools-cant-consider-race-in-admission.html
Forrest,
We’ve got smoky skies way down here in the land of cotton too. Good thing global warming isn’t a real thing, like the traitors say. But I haven’t yet heard Jim and Gym (Comer and Jordan) or MTG, Bobo, or the usual whiners and liars explain who really is to blame for Canadian forest fires:
Joe Biden. Natch.
@Akhilleus: Aah, I mostly agree with @Forrest: I think Trump is blowing it out his ass.
But you're right, too: "importing Canadian smoke" will soon be added to the House's articles of impeachment against Biden. Of course they may want to hold a special hearing featuring Herschel Walker on this: he'll provide the scientific explanation of how Biden is sending our "good air" to Canada so they can send us their bad air.
Seems a chickenshit decision to me.
So, okay, colleges can't consider race in their selection process. Easy enough for a "color-blind" Court that pretends racism doesn't exist to say.
But why not decide what colleges can consider? GPA? Test scores? Personal interviews? Demonstrated artistic talents? Family wealth or lack thereof? Athletic prowess? Legacy? Bribes (this Court should be familiar with those...)?
Those decisions are still tough, and in the absence of clear direction from this Court the colleges will still have to make them.
And what is all this bullshit about RFK, Jr. working out without a shirt*? This is news? I read somewhere that some idiot media moron is proclaiming that working out in jeans with no shirt and out in the sun proves that he could never “Betray our great country”
What??
Obviously an F in Logic 101. See, this is why the traitors hate education and critical thinking. It’s why Trump loves stupid people. As my old pal David Hume would say, “No ought from is”. In other words, you can’t get from what is: working out without a shirt, to what you believe ought to be true: won’t betray the country.
Oh…wait. Unless you’re a moron, then you can go from “Fights a talking mouse” to “Will kill all drug dealers at the border!”
Perfect sense.
Will Fox now insist that GOP presidential candidates do shitless workouts prior to debates? Chris Christie? TRUMP?
My eyes! I can’t see!!
*And not for nothin’, but I watched (slack jawed) Kennedy’s “workout video”. He did about six pushups then quit, looking tired out. Not exactly Jack LaLanne. I guess that means he’d only betray the country a little bit. What’s next? A video of him and TuKKKer tanning their balls?
@Akhilleus: They can't do 'shitless' workouts since most of them
are always full of it.
@Akhilleus: Here's twofer. In our local newspaper today there's
an article about the old dump site, which closed in 1976.
It's being researched by professionals (?).
The editor states "in one area old tires proturded". Guess we can't
afford a proof reader.
Another chickenshit decision:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/29/supreme-court-sabbath-work-religious-protections/?
Instead, the court clarified Thursday that an undue hardship is “shown when a burden is substantial in the overall context of an employer’s business…”
So who decides that? Not this Court.
Well, are we surprised about white grievance winning again? Nope, nope and nope.
Ken: have not heard that decision yet-- That Mennonite guy lives and worked in our county. He whined that he just could not work on Sunday and Amazon hired the postal service to deliver packages on Sundays. He switched post offices twice to be able to say he could not work on Sunday, thereby necessitating OTHERS to work on Sundays, even if they did not want to. He should have been fired for not doing his job, as defined by his employers. Religious freeeeedom to not work for those evil nonChristians even as they paid him a paycheck. I will read your link to see what they have done-- our local paper has mentioned the case at least three time this week.
Forrest,
Hahaha. Copy editing may be a thing of the past, or they might have been referring to the local MAGA monsters. They’re all pro turd, right?
@Forrest: Was the article about how the local council had reclaimed the dumpsite for seniors housing? Maybe they meant to write, "in one area old turds retired."
@Marie: No, they have another site in mind for senior housing.
An office furniture plant that had been polluting a few square miles
for years was finally condemned and torn down.
A builder has plans for senior housing and it has been approved.
They just have to figure out how to get the pollutants out.
Hey, those old people are gonna' die anyway so what the hell.
Obama weighs in:
Writing on the website Medium, Obama said that the policy had afforded generations of marginalized Americans opportunities that they otherwise would not have received, despite its imperfections.
“Affirmative action was never a complete answer in the drive towards a more just society,” he wrote. “But for generations of students who had been systematically excluded from most of America’s key institutions — it gave us the chance to show we more than deserved a seat at the table.”
I am furious about this decision! And I envision Thomas and Alito sunning themselves on an island owned by their benefactors who ask them to jump and they ask "How high!"
I’m MTG. I love my country (the white, Christian nationalist traitor part), I’m happy! I don’t take drugs! I’m not vaccinated! (Natch), I work out! I’m smart! But someone is spying on me! THROUGH MY TV!
AIEEEEEEEE!!!
Holy fucking shit. This is a member of the House of Representatives. An elected official, who votes on laws, many of which involve technology, who hasn’t the faintest idea of how technology (beyond how white supremacist treason sites spew their poison) works.
Someone’s trying to connect to your smart TV? Yeah. It’s called screen casting. Both myself and my 12 year old kid know how to do this. And if you’re within Wi-Fi range of other routers in nearby apartments, someone could be trying to mistakenly connect with your TV.
It’s not rocket science. But to a moron like MTG, who, as a member of Congress, should have at least the techno-savvy of a guy who just bought his first color TV in 1967, and someone who owns a smart TV, she shouldn’t be breaking out the medieval protective magic spells when something crawls across the screen her primitive goo-goo brain can’t comprehend.
First of all, if you wanted to spy on someone, wouldn’t you pick a smart person? Someone who, like, knows something real? Would you really choose to spy on someone who is an idiot? “Oh, look! She’s a bigot and a traitor!” Yeah. We already know that. She comes right out and says it. No spying needed.
But this complete, farcically fatuous idiot is pleading with her farcically fatuous idiot supporters that someone is out to get her.
Yeah. The 12 year old next door who wants to screen cast the home run he hit in has last little league game for his grandparents.
Call Homeland Security!!!