;)
June 9, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Bryan Schott of the Salt Lake Tribune: "Leaked text messages between Utah Sen. Mike Lee and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows suggest Lee was a participant in the plot to keep Donald Trump in office, a charge Lee vehemently disputes. Recently released court documents could prove problematic for Lee's defense.... His text messages with [White House Chief of Staff Mark] Meadows make repeated references to alternate electors in the run-up to Jan. 6.... On December 8, Lee texted Meadows, 'If a very small handful of states were to have their legislatures appoint alternative slates of delegates, there could be a path.'... On Jan. 3, 2021, Lee texted Meadows several times, stressing the need for action by state legislators. 'Everything changes, of course, if the swing states submit competing slates of electors pursuant to state law, Lee wrote in one message. 'Again, all of this could change if the states in question certified Trump electors pursuant to state law,' Lee texted later. The next day, Lee texted Meadows, claiming he was 'spending 14 hours a day' working on electoral objections.... Lee has repeatedly claimed he was [merely] investigating 'rumors' that states were considering appointing Trump electors...."
Max Tani of Politico: "The Washington Post has fired Felicia Sonmez after the well-known reporter complained publicly about a perceived lack of institutional willingness to confront misogynistic treatment of female staffers. Sonmez's firing comes days after the paper suspended a fellow reporter, Dave Weigel, for a month after he retweeted a crude joke about women. Sonmez was highly critical of Weigel for the tweet, prompting WaPo Executive Editor Sally Buzbee to put out a memo encouraging staff members to treat one another with respect and kindness, including on social media platforms, and reminding staff that criticizing fellow employees was a violation of company policies.... But the infighting continued to spill out into public view from there."
Betsy Swan of Politico: "Cassidy Hutchinson -- a top aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows during the Trump era — has parted ways with her lawyer and brought on new representation. Her new lawyer, Jody Hunt of Alston Bird, confirmed the move to Politico. The change in counsel signals an increased willingness from Hutchinson to cooperate fully with the Jan. 6 select committee's probe, according to a person familiar with her thinking. The panel has signaled that it views her as a key witness. Hutchinson's former attorney, Stefan Passantino, has deep Trump World connections. Her new lawyer, Jody Hunt, is a longtime close ally of Jeff Sessions and served as his chief of staff when the former attorney general enraged Trump by recusing from the Russia probe."
Robert Snell, et al., of the Detroit News: "FBI agents arrested [Michigan] Republican gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley on misdemeanor charges related to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The arrest and search unfolding at Kelley's home in Allendale add more uncertainty to a chaotic race for governor that has seen several Republican candidates blocked from the ballot for submitting fraudulent nominating petition signatures. Kelley, 40, is expected to make an initial appearance later Thursday in federal court in Grand Rapids. Prosecutors filed four charges against Kelley.... Federal court records describe Kelley as being an active participant in the riot, climbing onto portions of the Capitol, encouraging yelling, gesturing to participants and removing a covering from a temporary structure outside the Capitol.... Kelley unwittingly helped FBI investigators by wearing identical clothing to various rallies and marches in the first few months of the pandemic in 2020." Read on. MB: Besides needing a more extensive wardrobe, the guy is a real nutjob. I just hope his arrest today doesn't mean he'll have to miss watching the Jan. 6 hearing tonight.
Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "A team of scientists convened by the World Health Organization to better understand the origins of the coronavirus pandemic and possible future outbreaks has said a theory that the virus could have escaped from a laboratory needs 'further investigations.' However, in a report released Thursday, the WHO-backed team said it had not received any new data that would allow it to better evaluate that theory. Members of the group from Brazil, China and Russia objected to the calls for further investigation into the 'lab leak' theory. The report also said that available data suggests SARS-CoV-2 had a zoonotic origin, which means it spread between animals in a natural setting, but that neither the animal that infected humans nor the place where this infection occurred could be identified."
Marie's Sports Report. Tariq Panja of the New York Times: "The PGA Tour on Thursday said it had suspended the 17 players who have taken part in the first event of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour, a move that punished the rebel pros but also seemed aimed at dissuading further defections. In a memo sent to his membership, the PGA Tour's commissioner, Jay Monahan, said those golfers who teed off in the first LIV Golf event, which began Thursday outside London, were 'no longer eligible to participate' in events on the American-based tour or any of its affiliated tours. He also vowed to apply the same suspension to any pro who joins one of the rival tour's coming events. Ahead of the event at the Centurion Club, the majority of players who had signed on with LIV Golf, including Dustin Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen, Kevin Na and Sergio García, said they had resigned from the PGA Tour, perhaps to avoid a suspension or lifetime ban. But Monahan's letter said they faced excommunication anyway."
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Marie: Late start today. There's no late morning update because I posted about half of today's entries in more-or-less the late morning.
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol plans to open a landmark series of public hearings on Thursday by playing previously unreleased video of ... Donald J. Trump's top aides and family members testifying before its staff, as well as footage revealing the role of the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group, in the assault. Committee aides say the evidence will show that Mr. Trump was at the center of a 'coordinated, multi-step effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election' that resulted in a mob of his supporters storming the halls of Congress.... 'We'll demonstrate the multipronged effort to overturn a presidential election, how one strategy to subvert the election led to another, culminating in a violent attack on our democracy,' said Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California and a member of the committee."
** Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: &"... Jan. 6 has ... become a somewhat misleading shorthand for something bigger: a monthslong campaign by [Donald] Trump and his allies to subvert American democracy and cling to power by reversing an election.... At its heart is a grievance-filled, insecure president, unable to face the fact of his defeat, working with a cabal of loyalists in and out of government to pursue an evolving plan that unfolded in successive chapters, each in effect taking aim at a pillar of democracy. There was a failed legal strategy that clogged the courts with fantastical conspiracy theories. It was followed by a plot to twist the Justice Department into backing Mr. Trump's repeated lie that the election had been rigged and stolen from him, and consideration of proposals that he direct the military or the Homeland Security Department to seize voting machines. Those were followed by a strong-armed attempt to subvert the Electoral College process and bludgeon Mr. Pence into taking part, all leading to the violent effort to keep Congress from formally affirming Mr. Trump's loss on Jan. 6. Taken as a whole, the narrative that has emerged -- elements of which the House select committee on Jan. 6 will begin setting out on Thursday evening in the first of a series of hearings -- is as chilling as it is audacious." This is a long, multi-part narrative that summarizes what we know through public reporting.
Zach Montague of the New York Times: "The House committee that has spent nearly a year investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the events that led up to it will hold a public hearing on Thursday evening to begin setting out its findings.... The committee will begin the session at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday.... The committee's next hearing is scheduled for Monday at 10 a.m. The panel has yet to announce dates and times for subsequent sessions, but it is expected to hold two more next week and others the following week."
Emma Hurt & Andrew Solender of Axios: "Georgia election officials Brad Raffensperger and Gabriel Sterling are in talks to testify at one of the House Jan. 6 committee's public hearings.... Raffensperger, Georgia's Republican secretary of state, and Sterling, the chief operating officer for Raffensperger's office, resisted Trump's entreaties and publicly debunked his claims the election was stolen.... The two would testify together as part of a panel."
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Gregory Jacob, a top adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, will testify publicly before the Jan. 6 select committee on June 16.... Jacob's appearance will be under subpoena, according to a person familiar with the panel's schedule. Jacob, who helped Pence fend off efforts by Trump attorney John Eastman to single-handedly disrupt the transition of power to President Joe Biden, testified at length before the House's Capitol riot investigators in February.... Jacob was instrumental in preparing Pence for the showdown with Eastman, preparing a memo on Dec. 7, 2020, outlining his initial interpretation of the role of the vice president in counting electoral votes. Over the next month, Pence and Jacob worked closely with the House and Senate parliamentarians and ultimately concluded that Pence did not have the authority that Eastman and Trump claimed."
Betsy Swan of Politico: "As ... Donald Trump left a rally with his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, he appears to have held out hope until the last minute -- even as chaos unfolded -- that he'd be able to join them at the Capitol. Trump even raised the prospect privately with the head of his Secret Service detail at the time, Robert Engel, according to a person familiar with the agent's congressional testimony. Engel rode with Trump in the presidential armored car called 'The Beast' back to the White House after the Ellipse rally that preceded that day's violent riot. Engel told Jan. 6 select committee investigators that the two men discussed Trump's desire to go to the Capitol and took different views on the topic.... [Engel's] testimony shows just how much Trump wanted to be at the Capitol with his backers as Congress voted to certify his Electoral College loss to Joe Biden. And he expressed his desire to join the protesters even as violence was unfolding."
That Was Then, This Is Now. Mary Jalonick of the AP: "Most every Republican lawmaker expressed outrage in the days after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Some even blamed ... Donald Trump. But the larger GOP narrative shifted in the weeks and months that followed. Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy, who had said in the hours after the attack that it had been 'the saddest day I have ever had serving as a member of this institution,' went on to visit Trump at his Florida home only weeks after the riot.... [Here's] a look at comments from key Republicans in the year-and-a half since the attack as the House committee investigating the riot prepares to begin public hearings Thursday night." ~~~
~~~ Kevin, Then and Now:
Say, Maybe That Insurrection Was Just a False Flag! Alex Rogers & Maju Raju of CNN: "Blake Masters, the Republican Senate candidate from Arizona, met with conservative activists at a Phoenix IHOP this spring ... [where he] floated the conspiracy theory that the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol actually may have been a false-flag operation set up by the FBI, according to a recording of the March 30 meeting obtained by CNN. 'Don't we suspect that like one-third of the people outside of the Capitol complex on January 6 were actual FBI agents hanging out,' Masters asked.... 'What did people know and when did they know it? We got to get to the bottom of this.'... In January, Masters joined Trump at a rally in Arizona, where the former President asked, 'Exactly how many of those present at the Capitol complex on January 6 were FBI confidential informants, agents or otherwise working directly or indirectly with an agency of the United States government?'... Masters is part of a wave of Republicans who have won the coveted endorsement of ... Donald Trump after parroting his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and downplaying the actions of the pro-Trump mob that attacked the Capitol last year.... "
Amy Wang & Theodoric Meyer of the Washington Post: "President Biden made his first in-studio appearance on a late-night talk show Wednesday, discussing gun control and a range of other issues with host Jimmy Kimmel in Los Angeles." ~~~
Annie Karni & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The House on Wednesday voted nearly along party lines to bar the sale of semiautomatic weapons to people under the age of 21 and ban the sale of large-capacity magazines, acting as traumatized parents of victims and survivors of mass shootings made wrenching appeals for Congress to act on gun violence.... Several hours earlier, parents of one of the children killed [in Uvalde, Texas,] and an 11-year-old who survived addressed a House committee to drive home the stakes of the issue. Though the bill passed 223 to 204, it stands no chance in the evenly divided Senate, where solid Republican opposition means it cannot draw the 60 votes needed to break through a filibuster and move forward. Bipartisan negotiations in the Senate continued among a small group of Republicans and Democrats on more modest measures that might actually have a chance of drawing sufficient backing. But one crucial player, Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, warned that there were 'sticking points everywhere.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm sure every House Democrat realizes that passing this bill is akin to tilting at windmills. But passage of the bill also is proof to the American people that if they don't want to risk having a teenager blast off their heads, they had better vote Democratic.
Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "A man with a gun and a knife was detained by police early Wednesday morning near Brett M. Kavanaugh's Maryland home after making threats against the Supreme Court justice, according to federal officials. According to a criminal complaint charging Nicholas John Roske with attempted murder of a federal judge, two U.S. Deputy Marshals spotted Roske get out of a cab in front of Kavanaugh's home at approximately 1:05 a.m. He looked at the marshals and then walked down the street. Not long after, Montgomery County got the call from Roske saying he was suicidal and came to kill Kavanaugh. Montgomery County Police Department officers were dispatched and arrested Roske without incident while he was still on the phone with 911, according to the affidavit. In his suitcase and backpack were a Glock 17 with two magazines and ammunition, pepper spray, a tactical knife, a hammer, a screwdriver, a crow bar, zip ties and duct tape, along with other gear. After his arrest, according to the affidavit, Roske told police he was upset over the leaked draft of an opinion that would overturn the constitutional right to abortion and also over the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Tex. He thought Kavanaugh would support looser gun laws." The story has been updated. NPR's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ A later-written New York Times story is here: "Mr. Roske appeared in U.S. District Court in Maryland on Wednesday afternoon before Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Sullivan, who ordered that he be detained pending a later court hearing."
Michael Balsamo of the AP: "The Justice Department has named a team of nine people, including an FBI official and former police chiefs, to aid in a review of the law enforcement response to the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the team during a meeting in his office in Washington on Wednesday. The critical incident review is being led by the Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. The review will include an examination of police policies, training and communication, along with the deployment of officers and tactics, the Justice Department said. It will also examine who was in command of the incident and how police prepared for potential active-shooter incidents." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC has claimed that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is using the FBI review as an excuse for a prolonged cover-up of what happened in Uvalde. Abbott has apparently said he cannot make public any more findings until all investigations, including the DOJ review, are complete. O'Donnell points out that the DOJ review is not a true investigation and the panel cannot demand cooperation or bring criminal charges.
To the lawmakers who feel that we do not need stricter gun laws, let me paint a picture for you: My son Zaire has a hole in the right side of his neck, two on his back and another on his left leg caused by an exploding bullet from an AR-15.... As I clean his wounds, I can feel pieces of that bullet in his back. Shrapnel will be left inside of his body for the rest of his life. Now, I want you to picture that exact scenario for one of your children. -- Zeneta Everhart of Buffalo, N.Y., in testimony yesterday ~~~
~~~ Amy Wang, et al., of the Washington Post: "The mother of a man who was among those shot during last month's mass shooting at a Buffalo grocery store offered powerful testimony before Congress on Wednesday about how 'America is inherently violent' and admonished lawmakers opposing stricter gun laws after a spate of shootings across the country. Zeneta Everhart, the mother of 21-year-old Zaire Goodman, who was wounded but survived the racially motivated attack on the Tops supermarket on May 14, testified before the House Oversight Committee about how the massacre in Buffalo and recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Tex., and Tulsa reflected what the United States has been in terms of gun violence. She spoke of her son's wounds and invited lawmakers to come to her home to see the damage up close if they would not act on gun laws." ~~~
~~~ Nichols Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Dr. Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician in Uvalde, Texas, described to members of Congress on Wednesday the horrors he saw two weeks ago in the city's emergency room as he treated wounded and dying students after a gunman massacred an elementary school classroom.... Speaking to the House committee, Dr. Guerrero described returning to the emergency room to horrifying sights: two children who he said had been 'pulverized' and 'decapitated' by bullets." ~~~
~~~ CNN is live-updating a House hearing on gun violence. "Dr. Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician in Texas, testified during Wednesday's hearing.... [Includes a transcript of Dr. Guerrero's full remarks -- well worth reading.] In a pre-recorded video, 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo described to lawmakers how she survived the Robb Elementary School massacre by smearing her friend's blood over herself and pretending to be dead. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Morgan Chesky & David Li of NBC News: "Embattled school police chief and newly sworn-in City Councilman Pete Arredondo on Tuesday missed what would have been his first meeting as a town lawmaker. Arredondo has kept an incredibly low profile since ... [a gunman] broke into Robb Elementary School on May 24 and killed 19 children and two teachers.... Mayor Don McLaughlin said he couldn't explain Arredondo's absence and didn't question the newly elected member's legitimacy on the council." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Some "Ban"! Elizabeth Dwoskin & Naomi Nix of the Washington Post: "Facebook prohibits gun sales on its service. But buyers and sellers can violate the rule 10 times before they are kicked off the social network, according to internal guidance obtained by The Washington Post. The policy, which has not previously been reported, is much more lenient than for users who post child pornography, which is illegal, or a terrorist image on Facebook, which prompts immediate removal from the platform. A separate five-strikes policy extends even to gun sellers and purchasers who actively call for violence or praise a known dangerous organization, according to the documents."
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden opened the three-day Summit of the Americas on Wednesday by promising leaders from Latin America that the United States was committed to helping the region combat crime, corruption and its economic struggles.... The United States is serving as the host to the ninth of these summits, which began in Miami in 1994. In brief remarks, Mr. Biden delivered a version of his domestic economic pitch, urging governments in the hemisphere to invest in workers and the middle class. 'What's true in the United States is true in every country: Trickle-down economics does not work,' he said, prompting some applause from the audience inside the Microsoft Theater near the Los Angeles Convention Center.... Mr. Biden proceeded on Wednesday night as if the snub [by several prominent leaders] had made no difference, saying that the gathering in Los Angeles would announce what he called 'a groundbreaking, integrated new approach to managing migration and sharing responsibility across the hemisphere.'"
Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Electric vehicle charging stations built with federal dollars should be positioned along Interstates every 50 miles, be able to recharge cars quickly and be located no more than a mile from a major highway, according to new rules proposed by the Biden administration on Thursday. 'EV drivers should be able to count on finding a place to recharge easily wherever they go,' Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters Wednesday. Mr. Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm outlined the proposed regulations, which are designed to make sure that rural areas and communities with few services would have the same access to electric charging stations as more urbanized areas that already have access."
Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Hudson Canyon, a vast gorge in the Atlantic Ocean that is home to endangered whales, sharks, sea turtles, would become a national marine sanctuary under a proposal made by the Biden administration on Wednesday. Located about 100 miles southeast of the Statue of Liberty, the Hudson Canyon would be off limits to oil and gas drilling in order to protect marine life and cold-water coral as well as several shipwrecks. Details, including the boundaries of the proposed sanctuary and prohibited activities beyond drilling, have yet to be announced. The proposal will undergo a public comment period through Aug. 8 before it is finalized."
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Colorado officials are examining allegations that Representative Lauren Boebert, a Republican representing the state's western half, inflated the mileage she logged on the campaign trail in 2020 and then used more than $20,000 in reimbursements from donors to pay off years of tax liens on her restaurant. The allegations have bounced around liberal circles since The Denver Post first reported in February 2021 that Ms. Boebert had cashed two checks from her campaign totaling $22,259 for mileage reimbursement. The number equated to 38,712 miles -- well more than the 24,901-mile circumference of the planet. But the same group that unleashed a torrent of unflattering information about Representative Madison Cawthorn that helped defeat his bid for a second term in North Carolina last month has brought the matter to the Colorado attorney general's office, which has referred it for an interagency examination."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The owner of an inn on the Canadian border who said he had been assaulted by a Border Patrol agent may not sue the agent for violating the Constitution by using excessive force, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday. The decision, by a 6-to-3 vote along ideological lines, stopped just short of overruling a 1971 precedent, Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, that allowed federal courts, rather than Congress, to authorize at least some kinds of lawsuits seeking money from federal officials accused of violating constitutional rights. But the basic message of Wednesday's decision, Egbert v. Boule, No. 21-147, was that only Congress can authorize such suits." Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion.
Nina Totenberg of NPR: "At the Supreme Court, nothing is as usual this term after the leak of Justice Samuel Alito's draft opinion in the biggest abortion case in nearly a half-century. Normally at this time of year, the justices would be exchanging hundreds of pages of draft opinions and working with each other to resolve differences and reach consensus in the most challenging cases of the term. Instead, the court is riven with distrust among the law clerks, staff and, most of all, the justices themselves. The atmosphere behind the scenes is so ugly that, as one source put it, 'the place sounds like it's imploding.'... Justice Clarence Thomas in a speech a few weeks ago seemed to say he no longer trusts his colleagues." An interesting read, particularly the part where it appears CJ John Roberts may be ready to subvert the Fourth Amendment in order to find out who leaked Alito's draft opinion. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump and two of his adult children have agreed to be questioned under oath in mid-July by lawyers from the New York State attorney general's office, unless the state's highest court intervenes. The agreement, filed Wednesday in New York State Supreme Court, says that Mr. Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump have agreed to appear for testimony that will begin on Friday, July 15, and end the following week. The questioning will come as the state attorney general, Letitia James, concludes the final phase of her investigation into Mr. Trump and the business practices of his company, The Trump Organization. The agreement follows a number of legal setbacks for the former president, whose lawyers had fought the attorney general for months, hoping to avoid questioning." ~~~
~~~ Marie: At his swearing-in, Donald Trump will give a repeat performance of the only gymnastic feat of which he is capable: simultaneously placing his left hand on the Bible and crossing his fingers.
A Dear-John Letter for the General. Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "John R. Allen, the retired four-star general who once commanded American troops in Afghanistan, has been placed on administrative leave as president of the Brookings Institution amid a federal inquiry into whether he secretly lobbied for the government of Qatar, the think tank announced on Wednesday."
Senator Foghorn Leghorn Proposes a Way to Curb Inflation. Victor Nava of the Washington Examiner: "Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) joked on Tuesday that because of gas prices, it would be cheaper in his state 'to buy cocaine and just run everywhere' rather than drive." Kennedy, in typical GOP fashion, went on to complain about President Biden's economic policies, without suggesting any real solutions.
Elizabeth Dwoskin of the Washington Post: "After a weeks-long impasse, Twitter's board plans to comply with Elon Musk's demands for internal data by offering access to its full 'firehose,' the massive stream of data comprising more than 500 million tweets posted each day, according to a person familiar with the company's thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the state of negotiations. The move aims to end a standoff with the billionaire, who has threatened to pull out of his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter unless the company provides access to data he says is necessary to evaluate the number of fake users on the platform." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here: "The White House has outlined the early stages of its plan for making coronavirus vaccines available this month to roughly 18 million children under 5, the last group of Americans yet to be eligible for the shots. The Biden administration has made 10 million doses available to states and health providers; half were made available for order last week, the other half this week. It is offering equal numbers of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. Orders from states have been somewhat tepid so far, according to data that senior administration officials provided to reporters in a briefing on Wednesday evening." ~~~
~~~ An ABC News story, by Cheyenne Haslett, on the vaccine for children under age 5 is here.
Yasmeen Abutaleb & Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "Moderna said it will seek authorization for an updated coronavirus vaccine designed to protect against omicron subvariants that the company described as its lead candidate' for a fall booster, but it remains unclear how effective the shot will be against the latest versions of the omicron variant spreading in the United States. Preliminary data released by the company on Wednesday showed that its omicron-targeting coronavirus booster candidate produced 1.75 times as many neutralizing antibodies against the version of omicron that circulated over the winter, known as BA.1, compared with its existing vaccine."
David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "One of the defining characteristics of the pandemic's early stages was its disproportionate toll on Black and Latino Americans.... These large racial gaps seemed as if they might persist throughout the pandemic, especially because white and Asian Americans were initially quicker to receive vaccine shots. Black and Latino Americans, by contrast, had less convenient access to the shots and many were skeptical of them.... Instead, Covid's racial gaps have narrowed and, more recently, even flipped. Over the past year, the Covid death rate for white Americans has been 14 percent higher than the rate for Black Americans and 72 percent higher than the Latino rate, according to the latest C.D.C. data.... [The] bad news: The share of white Americans who have received a Covid vaccine shot has barely budged since last summer. The main culprit is politics. Only about 60 percent of Republican adults are vaccinated, compared with about 75 percent of independents and more than 90 percent of Democrats, according to Kaiser. And Republicans are both disproportionately white and older." ~~~
~~~ Marie: One of the most mystifying aspects of this story -- to me -- is why Trump, TuKKKer & Co. would purposely & literally kill off righty-right voters. And it isn't for any discernible political advantage, like "proving" that Joe Biden has failed to curb Covid; this rolling mass murder-suicide epidemic began when Trump was still President*.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "... President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has described the battle for [Sievierodonetsk] as a crucial moment in the war as his outgunned forces struggle to deny Russian forces another foothold in the Donbas region. Mr. Zelensky said late Wednesday that his troops were continuing to inflict losses on Russian forces. But from across a river in the Ukrainian-held city of Lyschansk, the perils facing the Ukrainian side are clear as barrages of artillery from the better-armed Russian forces send soldiers scrambling for cover.... In Ukrainian areas under Russian control, guerrilla-style attacks on Kremlin loyalists and proxies hint at continuing challenges from Ukrainians against Russia's rule. Radiation detectors at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine are back online for the first time since the Russian invasion and are showing readings of normal radiation levels, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The European Parliament recommended that Ukraine be granted candidate status for membership in the European Union, according to Ukraine's prime minister. The E.U.'s decision on Ukraine's candidacy is expected in late June." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' summary of developments Wednesday is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "Some 10,000 civilians remain stuck in the strategic eastern city of Severodonetsk -- and evacuations are 'impossible' for most because of the intensity of Russian attacks, Oleksandr Stryuk, the city's mayor, said Thursday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the fight for the city as 'a very fierce battle ... probably one of the most difficult throughout this war,' adding that the battle for control of the Donbas region was 'being decided' there.... Tensions are rising over a looming global food crisis, with top U.N. officials working on a deal to export Ukrainian and Russian food products. The foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey said they held 'substantial' talks on opening a shipping corridor for wheat from Ukraine, but did not announce any agreement.... European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on food supplies a 'cold, callous and calculated siege' by ... Vladimir Putin on 'some of the most vulnerable countries and people in the world.' The U.S. military has devised a plan to train Ukrainian soldiers a platoon at a time on how to use sophisticated multiple-launch rocket artillery, the Pentagon's top general said Wednesday, raising the likelihood that more of the weapons could be sent to Ukraine."
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Reader Comments (12)
Trump, Tucker and Co. are infallible and therefore are unable to even consider that they were ever wrong or that their lies may have real world consequences. Also the people dying are older and most likely poorer, the kind of people Trump and Tucker look down for not being smart enough, clever enough, or conniving enough to make it in their me first world. That is when they actually consider those lessers at all.
RAS,
And (irony alert) it is largely the old, white ignorant masses whom Tucker, etc. are killing off that eagerly lap up their drivel..... he said optimistically.
Perhaps more interesting than the contents of today's and the succeeding hearings will be the size and demographics of those who tune in...
My fear is that Jan. 6 will be old news to most and thus passed over, but we'll see.
Sorry, Marie.
Missed your comment on Tucker. etc.the first time through.
But then I never claimed to be original...just a little different.
Sanity prevails in South Dakota (this time)
Milbank reported on this Repugnant scheme a few days ago; don't know if it was linked here, but it failed.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/voters-reject-gop-scheme-rig-upcoming-medicaid-expansion-vote-rcna32489
RAS,
It’s true that Fatty and KKKarlson believe themselves to be both superior beings and immune to any laws of the land or concerns and decency. More than being narcissistic assholes, they are sociopaths. If people have to die so they can score points, make money, scrounge power, well, it’s just too bad because no one but themselves matters.
But it goes beyond mere sociopathy. People like Trump, and likely KKKarlson, revel in inflicting pain on others. It somehow proved to them their superior position in the food chain. Sometimes this is as simple as the pain and suffering induced by a refusal to allow the most basic gun restrictions, but with Trump it runs to the truly grotesque and inhuman. Remember his plan to dig a 2,000 mile moat next to his big, beautiful wall, and to fill it with venomous snakes and crocodiles? This was not to inflict cruelty, pain, and death on murderers. He wanted to maim and kill poor people looking for a better life. Your average Trumpy crook deserves pain and suffering, but they get pardons.
Trump would have fit right in with the Final Solution crowd. KKKarlson too, I have no doubt.
I've seen, read and heard a lot of reasons why we can't do anything about the gun carnage in this country. Most are from the Second Amendment Santa Muerte worshiping crowd, I'm still reading and listening, waiting for one of the MAGA crowd to say "Yes, children are our most precious resource, but they're a renewable resource".
@RAS & @Akhilleus: Yeah but. My point was that the people Trump, TuKKKer & Co. are killing off are very useful idiots. They vote for Trump; they contribute to his multiple campaign sites; they buy MAGA products. They're the only people besides the unlucky Media Matters staff who would regularly watch TuKKKer's ridiculous teevee rants.
Trump himself said in 2016 that he "loved the poorly educated." Of course he would say that. They're his base. They're the Whitey-white people who are going to make America great again. So why kill them? Mind you, I don't disagree at all with your contention that TT&C have contempt for these people, but if they were all dead, there would be nobody to vote for Trump except Elon Musk & a few other fat cats. And nobody to buy whatever the TT&C crowd is selling.
@Bobby Lee: Excellent. In fact, that's sorta what Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) did say a few years back when he said the solution to climate change -- and "many of our problems" -- was to get in there & reproduce: “The solution to climate change is ... the serious business of human flourishing. The solution to so many of our problems, at all times and in all places, is to fall in love, get married and have some kids.... More people mean bigger markets for more innovation. More babies mean forward-looking adults, the sort we need to tackle long-term, large-scale problems.”
Other attacks on direct democracy I stumbled onto yesterday in a NYTimes subscribers only newsletter (so no link) article on the South Dakota legislatures' attack on the referendum process.
This on from Arkansas and more.
https://news.ballotpedia.org/2021/05/03/arkansas-passes-bill-with-multiple-restrictions-on-the-ballot-initiative-process/
Those R's sure love democracy...
Eisen and Perry in a NYT piece on the Sedition Hearings, write in a concluding paragraph that
"... If the evidence warrants it, the committee should not shy away from transmitting criminal referrals. Alternatively, it could share a Watergate-style “road map” that could serve as a guide to the evidence without drawing legal conclusions. ... "
No no no no no, and no. There is no "alternatively." We've talked about this before, no? If there are no criminal referrals (which of course should be made only if the evidence warrants), DiJiT and his myrmidons will immediately claim exoneration, and half of the country will buy his codswallop.
No no no no no ... etc.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/09/opinion/january-6-hearings-success.html
Marie,
Yeah, I get your point and I agree with it, but in order for Trump to prevent his base from being decimated he’d have to admit he’d been wrong about Covid, and Trump never admits being wrong. And if people—even his voters—have to die so that he can maintain the fiction that he is infallible, oh well. No one ever said logic was a big part of his thought process.
Also both Trump and Carlson believe, and there is plenty of evidence for it, that there is a sucker born every minute.