;)
June 3, 2022
Afternoon Update:
What Happens When a Republican MOC Opposes Child Sacrifice? Nicholas Fandos & Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "In the wake of deadly mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, Representative Chris Jacobs of New York, a congressman serving his first full term in the House, stunned fellow Republicans by embracing a federal assault weapons ban and limits on high-capacity magazines.... It took only seven days for political forces to catch up with him. On Friday, facing intense backlash from party leaders, a potential primary from the state party chairman and a forceful dressing down from Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Jacobs announced that he would abandon his re-election campaign." CNN's report is here. MB: Now the GOP is just the Party of Sick Fucks.
** It Couldn't Have Happened to a Bigger Jerk. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro has been indicted on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department announced Friday. Navarro, who was a trade adviser to Trump, also revealed he received a grand jury subpoena in a lawsuit he filed Tuesday against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the bipartisan House committee. Navarro, 72, is charged with one contempt count involving his refusal to appear for a deposition and another involving his refusal to produce documents to the committee, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Washington. The indictment was returned Thursday and unsealed Friday, and Navarro is to make his initial appearance this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia." The Hill's report is here. ~~~
~~~ The DOJ's statement is here. ~~~
~~~ Update: At 1:00 pm ET, MSNBC reports that Navarro "is in federal custody" & will appear in court this afternoon. MB: Perp walk, please. ~~~
~~~ Update 2: So, according to MSNBC, the reason the FBI decided to keep Navarro's indictment under seal Thursday and then to toss him in the slammer before his court appearance was that officials were concerned he was a flight risk. Sure enough, agents picked up Pete at the airport, & clapped him into cuffs & legirons. Outstanding! MB: Lordy, I hope there is video.
** Top Trump Aide Warned Secret Service of Danger to Pence. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The day before a mob of ... Donald J. Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff called Mr. Pence's lead Secret Service agent to his West Wing office. The chief of staff, Marc Short, had a message for the agent, Tim Giebels: The president was going to turn publicly against the vice president, and there could be a security risk to Mr. Pence because of it. The stark warning -- the only time Mr. Short flagged a security concern during his tenure as Mr. Pence;s top aide -- was uncovered recently during research by this reporter for an upcoming book ... to be published in October."
Whitney Wild of CNN: "The US Capitol Police on Friday charged a retired New York police officer with unlawful possession of high-capacity magazines and unregistered ammunition, according to the agency. Officers arrested Jerome Felipe of Michigan around 5 a.m. ET Friday, the agency said. Felipe had parked his 2017 Dodge Charger near the Capitol and allowed officers to search it, according to a USCP statement. Officers found a 'BB gun, two ballistic vests, several high capacity magazines, and other ammunition in the car,' the statement said. Felipe, 53, presented officers with a fake badge with the words 'Department of the INTERPOL' printed on it, and made a statement that he was a criminal investigator with the agency, USCP said."
Portion of a Rolling Stone article republished in LG&$: "When the Supreme Court's draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade leaked, Sen. Susan Collins said she was flabbergasted, deeply troubled, even shocked. After all, soon-to-be-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh had promised her in 2018 that Roe was a matter of settled law -- despite his deeply conservative track record on abortion. Turns out, Collins ... was deliberately manipulated by Trump administration officials -- and a future Supreme Court Justice -- who viewed her as an easy mark. Two former senior Trump White House officials tell Rolling Stone that the pro-choice Collins wasn't even considered a serious threat to the devoutly conservative Kavanaugh. Instead, the team predicted she'd need only a vague assurance that the nominee would uphold the half-century-old ruling defending abortion rights. And they were right." ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux demurs: "... [The] bullshit is not Collins, it's the marginal voter in Maine. Collins knew what she was doing and what she was getting; the kayfabe is for Clinton/Biden-Collins voters who needed to be reassured that Roe was safe. It worked!" More on Susan So Concerned linked below.
Phil McCausland of NBC News: "Two state legislatures are considering measures that would permit teachers and other school staff to carry arms in the aftermath of the Texas elementary school shooting that killed 19 children last month, despite opposition from gun safety advocates, teachers' groups and school security experts. While the idea isn't new -- many Republican-controlled legislatures considered similar legislation after the 2018 Parkland, Florida, shooting -- it is a growing talking point as the country has witnessed a number of mass killings in the past few weeks. Two states, Ohio and Louisiana, are now considering either decreasing the requirements to arm school staff or permitting employees to carry a firearm after fulfilling the required training."
~~~~~~~~~~
Will Weissert & Zeke Miller of the AP: "President Joe Biden delivered an impassioned plea to Congress to take action against gun violence in an address to the nation Thursday night, calling on lawmakers to restore a ban on the sale of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines after a string of mass shootings. If legislators fail to act, he warned, voters should use their 'outrage' to turn gun violence into a central issue in November's midterm elections. Speaking at the White House, Biden acknowledged the stiff political headwinds as he sought to drive up pressure on Congress to pass stricter gun limits after such efforts failed following past attacks. He said if Congress won't embrace all of his proposals, they must at least find compromise on other measures, like limiting access to firearms to those with mental health issues or raising the age to buy assault-style weapons from 18 to 21." ~~~
~~~ Michael Shear of the New York Times: "In a rare evening address to the nation, Mr. Biden dared Republicans to ignore the repeated convulsions of anger and grief from gun violence by continuing to block gun measures supported by large majorities in both parties, and even among gun owners. 'My God,' he declared from the Cross Hall, a ceremonial part of the White House residence, which was lined with candles in honor of victims of gun violence. 'The fact that the majority of the Senate Republicans don't want any of these proposals, even to be debated or come up for a vote, I find unconscionable. We can't fail the American people again.'" ~~~
~~~ Here's the transcript, via the White House. MB: It was quite a good speech, except that the President didn't specifically say that Republicans were craven jackasses bent on sacrificing American lives to satisfy the gun lobby. He did briefly finger Republicans, though. ~~~
~~~ Manu Raju of CNN: "Senate Democrats are ready to drop some of their most pressing demands to restrict access to guns amid the nationwide onslaught of massacres. But even that may not be enough to reach a deal with Republicans. 'I'm certainly prepared for failure,' Sen. Chris Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat helping lead the talks, told CNN on Thursday.... Murphy, who is part of a bipartisan group of senators working behind the scenes to respond to deadly gun-related attacks nationwide, acknowledged in an interview that any accord would have to be 'incremental' in order to win at least 10 Republican votes to break a filibuster in the 50-50 Senate -- even as he expressed optimism that a deal could be reached by next week.... As House Democrats plan to move forward with a bill to ban so-called assault weapons, Senate Democrats are not even discussing a ban on firearms like AR-15s.... A push to raise the age to 21 for purchasing semi-automatic rifles has yet to gain much traction in Senate talks, as Republican opposition to the idea begins to mount and Democrats are uncertain whether it can win the necessary 60 votes to break a filibuster."
Realpolitik. Tyler Pager & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "President Biden is planning to visit Saudi Arabia later this month, a remarkable departure from his vow as a presidential candidate to treat the country as a 'pariah' state, according to three administration officials who requested anonymity to share details of a trip not yet announced. The president's trip to Riyadh follows broader efforts by his administration to build ties with the oil-rich nation to reduce the price of gas in the United States.... The stop in Saudi Arabia is expected to be added to Biden's overseas trip later this month, when he will travel to Israel, Germany and Spain, the officials said."
Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Thursday will move to restore authority to states and tribes to veto gas pipelines, coal terminals and other energy projects if they would pollute local rivers and streams, reversing a Trump-era rule that had curtailed that power. For 50 years, the Clean Water Act has given states and tribes the ability to review federal permits for industrial facilities and block projects that could discharge pollution into local waterways. Without their certification, the federal government cannot approve a project. Michael S. Regan, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the agency was proposing a rule that 'builds on this foundation by empowering states, territories, and tribes to use congressionally granted authority to protect precious water resources while supporting much-needed infrastructure projects that create jobs and bolster our economy.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "The White House announced Thursday that it will launch a paid internship program as part of an effort to remove barriers for applicants from diverse backgrounds. 'Too often, unpaid federal internships have been a barrier to hard-working and talented students and professionals, preventing them from contributing their talents and skills to the country and holding them back from federal career advancement opportunities,' the White House said in a statement. The White House internship program had been on hold through President Biden's term because of the coronavirus pandemic. The first intern session of the Biden administration will start in the fall, and prospective interns can begin submitting their applications Monday, according to a White House website about the internship program."
Kate Kelly & David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times: "A House committee said on Thursday that it was investigating whether Jared Kushner ... traded on his government position to land a $2 billion investment in his new private equity firm from a prominent Saudi Arabian wealth fund. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, the New York Democrat who leads the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, gave Mr. Kushner a two-week deadline in a letter sent on Thursday to furnish documents related to the Saudi fund's investment last year in his firm, Affinity Partners. She also asked for any personal correspondence between Mr. Kushner and the Saudi kingdom&'s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during or after the Trump administration. The committee, Ms. Maloney wrote in the eight-page letter, is investigating 'whether your personal financial interests improperly influenced U.S. foreign policy during the administration of your father-in-law, former President Trump.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "Within minutes of the US Capitol breach on January 6, 2021, messages began pouring into the cell phone of White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Among those texting were Republican members of Congress, former members of the Trump administration, GOP activists, Fox personalities -- even the President's son. Their texts all carried the same urgent plea: ... Donald Trump needed to immediately denounce the violence and tell the mob to go home....One of the key questions the January 6 House committee is expected to raise in its June hearings is why Trump failed to publicly condemn the attack for hours, and whether that failure is proof of 'dereliction of duty' and evidence that Trump tried to obstruct Congress' certification of the election. The Meadows texts show that even those closest to the former President believed he had the power to stop the violence in real time." (Also linked yesterday.)
The DOJ Is Doing ... Something. Peter Stone of the Guardian: "Legal experts believe the US Justice Department has made headway with a key criminal inquiry and could be homing in on top Trump lawyers who plotted to overturn Joe Biden's election, after the department wrote to the House panel probing the January 6 Capitol attack seeking transcripts of witness depositions and interviews. While it's unclear exactly what information the DoJ asked for, former prosecutors note that the 20 April request occurred at about the same time a Washington DC grand jury issued subpoenas seeking information about several Trump lawyers including Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, plus other Trump advisers, who reportedly played roles in a fake electors scheme."
Stephen Fowler of Georgia Public Radio: Georgia "Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is one of the first subpoenaed witnesses to testify in front of a special grand jury impaneled in Fulton County as part of a wide-ranging investigation into efforts by Trump and others to subvert Georgia's election process and undo President Joe Biden's narrow victory. Raffensperger's testimony lasted for four hours and his wife, Tricia, spoke for about 10 minutes, according to someone briefed on the matter but not authorized to speak on his behalf.... The call [in which Trump asked Raffensperger to 'find' 11,780 votes] -- and its aftermath -- is only a fraction of what Willis and the grand jury could look at. In December..., Rudy Giuliani made numerous false and misleading claims to state lawmakers in unofficial hearings about elections. The Georgia GOP held a meeting where fake electors claimed to sign Electoral College documents as alternates. The U.S. Attorney in Atlanta abruptly resigned one day before the January 2021 runoffs. And Raffensperger held another call with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in November 2020 where Raffensperger said Graham asked about rejecting absentee ballots. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Zachary Cohen, et al., of CNN: "Several close allies of Steve Bannon have been subpoenaed to testify before a New York state grand jury investigating his fundraising for a private border wall effort, people familiar with the investigation tell CNN. The subpoenas were sent to several witnesses in recent weeks, requiring them to appear and provide testimony for the Manhattan district attorney's probe, the people said.... The subpoenas are the clearest indication that the Manhattan district attorney's criminal investigation into Bannon's fundraising efforts is intensifying and could lead to possible charges.... The district attorney's office launched the criminal investigation into Bannon's 'We Build the Wall' crowd-fundraising activities early last year after Trump pardoned Bannon on federal fraud charges relating to the same alleged scheme."
Teevee News. Roxanne Roberts of the Washington Post: "Fifty years after the Watergate break-in, [John] Dean is the star of 'Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal,' a new CNN special on the conspiracy and corruption that took down Richard M. Nixon's presidency. For Dean, the timing is fortuitous: The four-part series comes as the House prepares to begin public hearings on the Jan. 6 insurrection, which he plans to watch closely. The lesson is unmistakable: Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.... Dean may not be the hero America deserves but the one it needs. In the past few years, he has become a touchstone for political morality, an imperfect figure in uncertain times. At a screening Wednesday night at the National Archives, the 83-year-old reflected on his ambition, his mistakes and his concerns for democracy in a brief discussion with CNN's Jim Acosta." ~~~
~~~ Alayna Treene & Andrew Solender of Axios: "Former President Trump and his allies, in conjunction with top House GOP leadership and conservative groups, have begun pulling documents and coordinating a behind-the-scenes effort to counterprogram the Jan. 6 committee's televised hearings this month.... Republicans are plotting to compete with wall-to-wall cable coverage by using their own platforms to argue the committee is a partisan fishing expedition that lacks legal legitimacy.... [Trump] surrogates will be fanning the airwaves -- especially on networks and social media platforms they feel are more favorable to their cause.... Members of Congress and other conservative 'influencers' are also planning to write op-eds and push their own rapid responses through their personal social media."
Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) plans to unveil a strategy today outlining how Republicans would address climate change, energy and environmental issues if the party gains control of the House in the midterm elections...." MB: Needless to say, Kevin's "plan," which includes increasing U.S. fossil fuel production & exports, is an abomination designed to turn Earth into an uninhabitable planet.
Molly Roberts of the Washington Post profiles "concerned" Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) & calls the impending Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade Collins' "moment of truth." MB: Unless the Supremes do a turnaround & relegate Sam Alito's leaked opinion to the dustbin of history, it seems to me it's more a "moment of mendacity."
Colin Moynihan of the New York Times: "In February, [attorney Michael] Avenatti was convicted of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as part of a scheme to steal almost $300,000 from [actor Stormy] Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. On Thursday, Judge Jesse M. Furman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York sentenced Mr. Avenatti to four years in prison, saying ... he had ... committed 'brazen and egregious' crimes and 'breached the highest duty a lawyer owes' to a client." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here.
Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "White House coronavirus response coordinator Ashish Jha said Thursday that long-awaited vaccinations for children younger than 5 could begin as early as June 21, pending decisions by regulators and public health officials. States can begin to order vaccines Friday, with 10 million doses initially available. States have been asked to prioritize distribution to high-risk children, hard-to-reach areas and sites such as children's hospitals that will be able to vaccinate large numbers of children quickly. Most shots are expected to be administered in pediatricians' offices. There are about 19 million children under 5 in the United States." Politico's report is here.
Beyond the Beltway
Florida. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "The Florida Supreme Court refused on Thursday to step into a challenge to a new map of the state's 28 congressional districts approved by the Republican State Legislature, paving the way for November elections to be based on districts that a lower court said diluted the voting power of Black residents in violation of the State Constitution. The court's two-sentence denial said it was premature for the justices to intervene in a suit seeking to overturn the congressional map because the case had not yet wound its way through the state court system, which could take months or years. The new House map, personally ordered by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, dismantles a House district held by Representative Al Lawson, an African American Democrat, and strongly boosts Republican odds of capturing other competitive House seats." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Guardian's story is here.
Florida. Marc Caputo of NBC News: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration Thursday asked the state board regulating doctors to essentially ban transition-related care for transgender minors, according to a letter obtained by NBC News. The state Health Department made the request hours after another state agency issued a 46-page report to justify banning Medicaid coverage for transgender people of any age who want puberty blockers, hormone therapies or gender-assignment surgery. The two-pronged effort, which ensures DeSantis can act quickly and without the need for legislative approval, drew instant opposition from activists and medical professionals." MB: DeSantis must have a whiteboard in his office filled with a checklist of fanatical, hate-filled right-wing policy objectives, and he's checking them off, one by one.
New York. The Advantages of Living in a State Controlled by Democrats. Luis Ferré-Sadurní & Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "Democratic lawmakers in Albany plunged into the national [gun-safety] debate on Thursday, wielding supermajorities to enact protections denied elsewhere in the wake of recent mass shootings and a conservative shift in other states and on the Supreme Court. The State Legislature passed a broad package of gun bills that will raise the minimum age to buy a semiautomatic rifle to 21, ban most civilians from purchasing bullet-resistant body vests and revise the state's so-called red flag laws, making New York the first state to approve legislation following shootings in Buffalo and Texas that left a total of 31 dead. Lawmakers approved bills to broaden abortion protections and bolster voting rights, using the final hours of the 2022 legislative session to deliver the most robust response yet by a state in the face of federal gridlock.... Legislators also approved new measures to combat voter suppression under the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York, invoking the former congressman and civil rights leader in a nod to the voting rights bill that failed to pass in Congress. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat who has already expressed support for many of the bills, is widely expected to sign them into law."
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "As the war in Ukraine marked its 100th day, Africa was urgently seeking relief from the disruptions of critical supplies of grain and other staple foods. Some of the world's poorest countries face alarming levels of hunger and starvation and the United Nations has warned that Russia's naval blockade of Ukraine could lead to famines around the world. President Macky Sall of Senegal, the African Union chairman, was meeting with ... Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday at the Black Sea resort of Sochi to urge the Russian leader to lift the blockade on urgently needed cereals and fertilizer from Ukraine.... As sanctions tighten on Moscow, Russian troops are making slow but substantial gains in Ukraine.... President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Russian forces now controlled one-fifth of his country.... Ukrainian forces have retaken 20 small towns and villages in the south of the country, an official said on Thursday, as part of a counteroffensive at a time when Moscow is intensely focused on its offensive in the east." ~~~
~~~ Here's the New York Times' summary of developments Thursday. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here: "Ukraine marked 100 days of war Friday with its troops in brutal combat for the key eastern city of Severodonetsk, which is now mostly controlled by Russian forces.... President Volodymyr Zelensky said the military situation in the eastern region was dire and called the 20 percent of Ukraine under Russian occupation a 'zone of total catastrophe.'... Russia has urged China to provide more support as the Kremlin's war drags on, but Beijing has set limits on what it will do, wary of running afoul of Western sanctions. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday in an interview with The Washington Post that Ukraine faced a 'war of attrition' and had the right to seek the full expulsion of Russian forces from its territory." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here.
AP: "When Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in late February, the Russian president vowed his forces would not occupy the neighboring country. But as the invasion reached its 100th day Friday, Russia seemed increasingly unlikely to relinquish the territory it has taken in the war. The ruble is now an official currency in the southern Kherson region, alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia. Residents there and in Russia-controlled parts of the Zaporizhzhia region are getting offered Russian passports. The Kremlin-installed administrations in both regions have talked about plans to become part of Russia. The Moscow-backed leaders of separatist areas in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, which is mostly Russian-speaking, have shared similar intentions. Putin recognized the separatists' self-proclaimed republics as independent states two days before launching the invasion. Fighting has intensified in Ukraine's east as Russia seeks to 'liberate' all of the Donbas."
A Hundred Days of War. Michael Safi & Courtney Yusuf of the Guardian: "How the Russian invasion has unfolded, from the desperate fight for Mariupol to economic turmoil around the world."
Jacob Bogage & Evan Halper of the Washington Post: "The consortium of the world’s largest oil-producing countries agreed to boost fossil fuel production faster than expected Thursday as energy prices rise worldwide due to Russia's drawn-out war in Ukraine. The member nations of OPEC+ announced the group would add 648,000 barrels per day in July and August, a modest acceleration of plans that were already in motion to reverse drawdowns related to the pandemic. The boost in production came amid pressure from the White House for OPEC+ to do more to fill the gap created by sanctions on Russia. But while the White House touted the move as a positive step for global energy security, it is unlikely to provide much relief at the pump. Gas prices jumped to another record high Thursday, averaging $4.71 per gallon nationwide, according to AAA." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Politico's story is here.
Julian Barnes & Michael Forsythe of the New York Times: "The U.S. government leveled sanctions against a yacht management company and its owners, describing them as part of a corrupt system that allows Russian elites and ... Vladimir V. Putin to enrich themselves, the Treasury Department announced on Thursday. Imperial Yachts, which is based in Monaco and controlled by the Moscow-born Evgeniy Kochman, caters to Russian oligarchs. The Treasury Department said Mr. Kochman and his company provide yacht-related services to'Russia's elites, including those in President Putin's inner circle.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
U.K. The New York Times is live-updating events in Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee: "After the military pomp and pageantry of Thursday's Platinum Jubilee celebrations honoring Queen Elizabeth II's 70 years as Britain's monarch, the focus on Friday turned to a service at St. Paul's Cathedral and the first public appearance at the jubilee for her grandson Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan.... The queen had initially been expected to attend Friday's event, but Buckingham Palace said late Thursday that she had decided to skip the service after experiencing discomfort on a busy first day of festivities.... The queen appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace twice on Thursday, in the second instance uniting four generations of Britain's royal family in what was the symbolic centerpiece of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. She was joined by three heirs to the British throne: her eldest son, Prince Charles; his eldest son, Prince William; and William's eldest son, Prince George. Also on the balcony were two of the queen's other children, Princess Anne and Prince Edward.... She also led the lighting of the Platinum Jubilee Beacon on Thursday evening from Windsor Castle, in a dual ceremony with Prince William." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates of the festivities are here. ~~~
~~~ Ziyu Zhang of CNN: "As Britain celebrates the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, an opulent 260-year-old gilded carriage is hitting the streets again for the first time in two decades. The Gold State Coach, which first transported a young Queen Elizabeth II from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey on her coronation day in 1953, will lead a spectacular procession on the streets of London as part of the Platinum Jubilee pageant on Sunday. Adorned with ornate sculptures of cherubs and tritons, as a show of national unity and strength, and featuring panel paintings, the eye-catching coach is [a] moving work of art."
News Ledes
CNN: "Two college students were shot to death Thursday evening in a church parking lot in Ames, Iowa, police said, before the shooter fatally turned his gun on himself. The shooting at the Cornerstone Church was the result of a 'domestic situation' between the shooter, a 33-year-old man from the city of Boone, and one of the women, said Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald at a news conference Friday. Both women, ages 22 and 21, were students at nearby Iowa State University, he said."
CNBC: "The U.S. economy added 390,000 jobs in May, better than expected despite fears of an economic slowdown and with a roaring pace of inflation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. At the same time, the unemployment rate held at 3.6%, just above the lowest level since December 1969."
New York Times: "One of the most dramatic manhunts in Texas history ended late Thursday when a convicted murderer who had escaped from a prison bus last month was killed in a shootout with the police, hours after he became the prime suspect in the killing of five people at a home, the authorities said. The convict, Gonzalo Artemio Lopez, had been the prime suspect in the murders of four minors and one adult whose bodies were discovered on Thursday at a home near where he had escaped in May. The authorities said he had taken a vehicle from the home ... to drive out of the area. Late on Thursday night, police officers in Jourdanton, Texas, spotted Mr. Lopez, 46, driving the missing vehicle and disabled it by putting spike strips on the road.... After a short chase, Mr. Lopez crashed the vehicle into a tree and began shooting at the officers, who returned fire and ultimately killed him.... Mr. Lopez, who was armed with an AR-15 rifle and a pistol, fired several rounds at the officers but none of them were [was!] struck'..." The AP's report is here.
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Reader Comments (10)
yahoo.com/gma/ohio-teachers-terrified-over-bill-214821571.html
So teachers in Ohio should be strapping on guns (AR-15s?) for
that upcoming gunfight in the study hall, or the basketball court.
With what training? Maybe just reading the manual that comes with
the weapon?
Sounds like something being promoted by the gun lobby. Yahoo!
We can sell millions more guns to teachers and maintenance people.
Also a boon for the casket industry. Do I sound hypocritical?
So instead of that ruler across the fingers and detention, I would have
been very quiet and studious if the teachers were packing.
@Forrest Morris: A gunman, dressed in body armor & sporting an AR-15 and 500 rounds of ammo, bursts into a second-grade classroom, firing away. The teacher, wearing a cotton dress, is sitting in a low chair, leading a reading group. She now is expected to struggle up from the chair, rush to her desk across the room, pick up her purse from the kneehole, rifle through it to find her special desk key (which is at the bottom of the purse, under a stack of papers she plans to grade at home & the usual paraphernalia a woman keeps in her purse), put the key in the lock that opens the "gun drawer," pull out a pistol and fire at the gunman. That should work.
With all the news that's fit to print and all the horrors of that news one needs to skip some side stories that in saner times one would take the time to read. So for all the hoopla about the Depp/Heard story I ignored it. But this morning Michell Goldberg, whom I have always thought has a good pulse on most things, has a column whose headline is:
"The Amber Heard Verdict was a Travesty: Others Will Follow."
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/02/opinion/amber-heard-johnny-depp-verdict.html
The physical abuse of women is something I abhor and have always been stymied by relationships that continue under these circumstances albeit many reasons why. This particular duo 's relationship sounds bizarre and the verdict even more so.
"I had the rare vantage point of seeing in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse." Heard
and Goldberg adds: "The trial that she lost proved her point."
During Biden's speech last night I kept shouting "raise your voice!"––show your utter frustration and anger with those that show no mercy, no willingness to change their stance, have ice water in their veins, and refuse to open doors ( the actual ones that Cruz wants closed) on changing our gun laws. And diss the "God help us" stance–--sounds good but has absolutely NO purchase.
Midyear summary. Let's see now. What are Republicans really up to this summer?
In one sense, not much.
Nothing to address gun violence.
Nothing to address climate issues.
Nothing to address economic inequality.
Nothing to address racial inequality.
Nothing to address real gender issues.
Nothing to support or expand voting rights or ballot access.
Nothing to address the corrupting power of money in elections and legislative lobbying
Nothing to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Instead: Silence absolute, or blanket denial that problems in these areas even exist, and when Democrats propose solutions, one Senate filibuster after another
Which leaves Republicans free (especially at the state level) to propose or enact legislation or policies that worsen or exacerbate every problem they ignore. It’s not as if Republicans do nothing at all. They:
Loosen gun laws.
Pump more CO2 into the atmosphere
Make taxes more regressive and lower them on the rich
Codify gender discrimination
Restrict ballot access. Manipulate voting maps.
Attack election integrity with wild, unsupported claims and frivolous lawsuits. Threaten election officials.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/washington-ag-wins-sanctions-against-attorney-behind-voter-fraud-lawsuit-2022-06-01/
(Our AG is my hero)
Loosen restrictions on money in election and govenment
Overall, pursue and take measures to tighten their grip on minority government.
Milbank has an interesting comment on this one:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/02/south-dakota-ballot-initiative-gop-subvert-voters/
Please, someone, say something positive, anything positive about Republicans. There must be something. I just can't think of it.
Ken: Could we say "tenacity"–––they stick to their guns––that attribute could be positive for someone who doesn't give up trying to fix his lawn mower or is damned determined to get exactly the right light for a photo–––but even this attribute cannot be hung around the necks of these Republicans because they make it negative. They are determined to soil the soul of America where they reign supreme; their success or failure will be determined, in part, by a divided populace.
so, no––I cannot say anything positive.
Forrest,
Funny you should mention caskets. I was thinking the other day that those lists you come across now and then touting growth industries and professions, as in “2022 students should consider the following job openings…”, should include coroner, mortician, funeral home director, and casket making as professions with solid outlooks for years. Or at least as long as the Party of Baby Killers holds sway, which with the current gerrymandering, vote suppression, and election thefts should be the foreseeable future.
Oh, and for students looking for jobs that don’t require them to do anything even slightly dangerous, ever, there’s the Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde School Police.
@Akhilleus: Someone on the teevee yesterday -- it might have been Joe Biden -- said that the reason the police were against assault weapons & wanted to extend the assault weapons ban in 2005 was that they were afraid of being outgunned.
You may recall that when the Parkland school shooter showed up with an AR-15, the school's resource officer, who was armed, hid behind a wall and did not try to go into the school or engage the mass murderer. Same thing in Uvalde, although, instead of one lone guard, 19 cops huddled in the hall. It isn't just little children and ordinary citizens who are threatened by assault-rifle-armed madmen; it's armed guards & police, too.
I don't blame them for being afraid. The government should not make them have to face assault weapons. But as long as the nitwits are going to vote in gun-lobby whores, the cops have to unnecessarily put their lives on the line.
Noah Webster’s Wayback Machine
So this morning I found out a primary intellectual source for many of the Christians who now force their views on the rest of us, comes from a book published in 1828.
In 1828, John Quincy Adams was still president. Andrew Jackson would be elected later that year. The father of the Wright brothers was born that year. The big hit in popular music was the song “Jump Jim Crow”, performed in blackface, mocking disabled African-American slaves. Ho-ho. Funny, right?
Anyway, the book published that year that is still used as a primary educational tool in Christian homes is Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.
Why? Webster was a self-described born again Christian who included mini finger-wagging sermons as part of his definitions. For example, in his definition of the word rectitude, Webster offers his position on degrees of that state:
“Perfect rectitude belongs only to the Supreme Being. The more nearly the rectitude of men approaches to the standard of the divine law, the more exalted and dignified is their character. Want of rectitude is not only sinful, but debasing.
There is a sublimity in conscious rectitude - in comparison with which the treasures of earth are not worth naming.”
(These days, “want of rectitude” is fixed by Viagra.)
Yeah. And like that. The etymologies are downright strange and would be completely tossed by later editors. Where today one might find examples of word uses derived from professional journals, literary works, or famous speeches, Webster’s 1828 uses Biblical quotes liberally, and wherever possible. Some definitions are completely marred by his little sermons, and their early 19th C Christianist moralistic tone.
There’s no getting away from Webster’s massive achievement as a lexicographer. Like Dr. Johnson, he labored alone at his task for decades, and his work was a milestone in American language arts.
But to find that this book is touted as the only dictionary Christians should use (understand that it doesn’t include plenty of terms for things not in existence then, which is a boatload) fills out the picture of how we are, through politicians pandering to this group, often at the mercy of people mired in thinking from 1828. Weird, huh?
By the way, an 1828 tariff triggered the Nullification Crisis, another reason throwbacks love that year.
Oh, and the definition of weird? “Skilled in witchcraft”. Waaaayback.
Marie,
Yeah, I wouldn’t be thrilled with having to run in to take in a heavily armed nut brandishing an AR-15, but that’s exactly what these people sign up for. Police departments today have become heavily militarized and are stocked with military grade firearms and equipment, camo suits, night vision gogs, and the whole shebang. Shit, I bet the UPD even has drones. If you’re gonna strut around like John Wayne, you should understand that at some point, you might be required to do something like this. I realize that plenty of these guys join up just for the coolness factor and to be able to roust people they don’t like. But I’m sure there are a fair number of cops who take the job seriously. And as Victoria pointed out recently, even they may have that deer in the headlights moment. But all of them?
And as we’re finding out, accuracy is not a strong suit of the many, many law enforcement outfits standing around outside the school that day. Nor is communication, or, apparently courage under fire.
Understand, I’m not sure I’d want to run in there (if it was my kid in there, that very possibly changes), but this is what they signed up for.
The bottom line is that flooding the streets with these kinds of weapons is insane.
The Republican Party defining itself ever downward.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/facing-backlash-republican-congressman-quits-race-after-supporting-us-gun-2022-06-03/
How low can it go?