The Ledes

Friday, September 27, 2024

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

Mediaite: “Fox Weather’s Bob Van Dillen was reporting live on Fox & Friends about flooding in Atlanta from Hurricane Helene when he was interrupted by the screams of a woman trapped in her car. During the 7 a.m. hour, Van Dillen was filing a live report on the massive flooding in the area. Fox News viewers could clearly hear the urgent screams for help emerging from a car stuck on a flooded road in the background of the live shot. Van Dillen ... told Fox & Friends that 911 had been called and that the local Fire Department was on its way. But as he continued to file the report, the screams did not stop, so Van Dillen cut the live shot short.... Some 10 minutes later, Fox & Friends aired live footage of Van Dillen carrying the woman to safety, waking through chest-deep water while the flooding engulfed her car in the background[.]”

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The Ledes

Thursday, September 26, 2024

The New York Times:' live updates of Hurricane Helene developments today are here. “Hurricane Helene was barreling through the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday en route to Florida, where residents were bracing for extreme rain, destructive winds and deadly storm surge ahead of the storm’s expected landfall. The storm could intensify to a Category 4, if not higher, before making landfall late Thursday, and forecasters warned Helene’s anticipated large size could make its impacts felt across an extensive area. Areas as distant as Atlanta and the Appalachians are at risk for heavy rains.... Many forecast models show the storm making landfall late Thursday near Florida’s Big Bend Coast, a sparsely populated stretch....” ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post has forecasts for some cites in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina & Tennessee that are in or near the probable path of Helene. ~~~

     ~~~ This morning, an MSNBC weatherperson said Tallahassee (which is inland) would experience wind gusts of up to 120 m.p.h. and that the National Weather Service said expected 20-foot storm surges near the coast would be “unsurvivable.”

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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Monday
Jun192023

Juneteenth 2023

Julia Mueller of the Hill: "The National Archives plans to place the Emancipation Proclamation on permanent public display in its Rotunda alongside the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the agency announced on Saturday.... The 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, in which former President Abraham Lincoln wrote that 'all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free,' will be up for the National Archives Museum's annual temporary display to mark Juneteenth, from June 17 to 19.... The Archives says it's assessing the best display environment to protect the document condition, and may rotate the original pages on display to preserve the material from light exposure. A timeline for the permanent display was not shared in the Saturday announcement." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As for me, I'm hoping the Archives soon will put on permanent display at least one of thousands of documents it retrieved after Donald Trump stole them. Perhaps a rotating display of the documents will help preserve them.

~~~~~~~~~~

Morning/Afternoon Update:

Tierney Sneed of CNN: "A magistrate judge has signed off on special counsel Jack Smith's request that ... Donald Trump and his co-defendant Walt Nauta be prohibited from disclosing information the discovery handed over to the defense in the criminal case Trump and Nauta now face from the special counsel. Among the restrictions approved by US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who previously approved the search warrant the FBI executed at Mar-a-Lago last year, is that 'The Discovery Materials, along with any information derived therefrom, shall not be disclosed to the public or the news media, or disseminated on any news or social media platform, without prior notice to and consent of the United States or approval of the Court.'"

Republicans Suppress Truth about Themselves by Burying Truthtellers in Lawsuits & Subpoenas. Steven Myers & Sheera Frenkel of the New York Times: "... Republican lawmakers and activists are mounting a sweeping legal campaign against universities, think tanks and private companies that study the spread of disinformation, accusing them of colluding with the government to suppress conservative speech online. The effort has encumbered its targets with expansive requests for information and, in some cases, subpoenas -- demanding notes, emails and other information related to social media companies and the government dating back to 2015.... [The targets] and others warned that the campaign undermined the fight against disinformation in American society when the problem is, by most accounts, on the rise -- and when another presidential election is around the corner. Many of those behind the Republican effort had also joined ... Donald J. Trump in falsely challenging the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.... The House Judiciary Committee ... has sent scores of letters and subpoenas to the researchers -- only some of which have been made public.... A conservative advocacy group led by Stephen Miller, the former adviser to Mr. Trump, filed a class-action lawsuit last month in U.S. District Court in Louisiana that echoes many of the committee's accusations and focuses on some of the same defendants."

Edward Wong & David Pierson of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Xi Jinping, China's leader, on Monday in Beijing, as the two governments sought to pull relations out of a deep chill that has raised global concerns about the growing risk of a conflict between them. The 35-minute meeting, which capped a two-day visit by Mr. Blinken, sent a signal, at least for now, that the United States and China do not want their relationship to be defined by open hostility, and that they recognize that their rivalry and their diplomatic efforts carry enormous stakes. Mr. Blinken and Mr. Xi held talks at the Great Hall of the People, the grand building on the west side of Tiananmen Square where Mr. Xi often receives dignitaries. Striking a congenial note at the top of the meeting, Mr. Xi praised the two sides for making progress on some unspecified issues during Mr. Blinken's visit...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's worth remembering that Republicans excoriated Blinken for trying to normalize relations with China (NYT link).

Marie: Perhaps you remember how we all were complaining that DOJ was doing nothing about Trump, et al.'s incitement of the January 6 insurrection, the worst treachery of any president* in U.S. history. Meanwhile, calmer voices were reminding us how the DOJ & FBI did their investigating in secret, so the public had no idea how hard they were working to ferret out Trump's culpability. Well, we wuz right: ~~~

** Merrick the Unready, Ctd. Carol Leonnig & Aaron Davis of the Washington Post: “A Washington Post investigation found that more than a year would pass before prosecutors and FBI agents jointly embarked on a formal probe of actions directed from the White House to try to steal the election. Even then, the FBI stopped short of identifying the former president as a focus of that investigation. A wariness about appearing partisan, institutional caution, and clashes over how much evidence was sufficient to investigate the actions of Trump and those around him all contributed to the slow pace. [Attorney General Merrick] Garland and the deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco, charted a cautious course aimed at restoring public trust in the department while some prosecutors below them chafed, feeling top officials were shying away from looking at evidence of potential crimes by Trump and those close to him, The Post found....

"Senior Justice Department [and FBI] officials ... quashed a plan by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office to directly investigate Trump associates for any links to the riot, deeming it premature, according to five individuals familiar with the decision. Instead, they insisted on a methodical approach -- focusing first on rioters and going up the ladder. The strategy was embraced by Garland, Monaco and [FBI Director Christopher] Wray.... The National Archives inspector general's office asked the Justice Department's election crimes branch to consider investigating the seemingly coordinated ['fake electors'] effort in swing states. Citing its prosecutors' discretion, the department told the Archives it would not pursue the topic, according to two people with knowledge of the decision." This is a long investigative article, well-worth reading. It confirms and even magnifies what we hair-on-fire skeptics had suspected all along. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's a shorter version by Davis & Leonnig, but you really need to read the full version to get a good understanding of how Garland, Monaco & Wray dragged their feet and only allowed investigations into Trump & his cronies when press reports, a federal judge's ruling and January 6 House committee findings embarrassed them into it. ~~~

     ~~~ Marcy Wheeler has many thoughts.

Ronen Bergman, et al., of the New York Times: "As President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has pursued enemies abroad, his intelligence operatives now appear prepared to cross a line that they previously avoided: trying to kill a valuable informant for the U.S. government on American soil. The clandestine operation, seeking to eliminate a C.I.A. informant in Miami who had been a high-ranking Russian intelligence official more than a decade earlier, represented a brazen expansion of Mr. Putin's campaign of targeted assassinations. It also signaled a dangerous low point even between intelligence services that have long had a strained history.... The assassination failed, but the aftermath in part spiraled into tit-for-tat retaliation by the United States and Russia.... Sanctions and expulsions, including of top intelligence officials in Moscow and Washington, followed."

What Facebook Giveth, Meta Taketh Away. Rebecca Tan of the Washington Post: "When Facebook took off in Vietnam about a decade ago, it was like a 'revolution,' said two of the company's early employees in Asia. For the first time, people across the country could communicate directly about current affairs. Users posted about police abuse and government waste, poking holes in the propaganda of the ruling Communist Party.... But as Facebook's popularity exploded in Vietnam, soon making this country the company's seventh largest market worldwide, the government increasingly demanded greater restrictions. Since then, the social media giant Meta, which owns Facebook, has been making repeated concessions to Vietnam's authoritarian government, routinely censoring dissent and allowing those seen as threats by the government to be forced off the platform...."

Punishing the Publishers. Emily Flitter of the New York Times: "In most of the country, state and local laws require public announcements -- about town meetings, elections, land sales and dozens of other routine occurrences -- to be published in old-fashioned, print-and-ink newspapers, as well as online, so that citizens are aware of matters of public note. The payments for publishing these notices are among the steadiest sources of revenue left for local papers. Sometimes, though, public officials revoke the contracts in an effort to punish their hometown newspapers for aggressive coverage of local politics. Such retaliation is not new, but it appears to be occurring more frequently now.... In recent years, newspapers in Colorado, North Carolina, New Jersey and California, as well as New York, have been stripped of their contracts for public notices after publishing articles critical of their local governments. Some states, like Florida, are going even further, revoking the requirement that such notices have to appear in newspapers."

~~~~~~~~~~

John Hudson & Meaghan Tobin of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday, said a U.S. official, capping a string of discussions aimed at lowering tensions between the two superpowers while leaving unresolved their most bitterly contested issues. The meeting follows a careful encounter between Blinken and Wang Yi, China's top foreign policy official, in which both men made sure not to repeat the rancorous tit-for-tat exchange of their first meeting, in Anchorage, at the outset of the Biden presidency." The Guardian's story is here.

Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "William P. Barr, who served as attorney general under ... Donald J. Trump, excoriated his former boss on Sunday for 'reckless conduct' that led to Mr. Trump's indictment on charges of mishandling classified documents, saying that the case was 'entirely of his own making.' Mr. Barr, in an interview with CBS News's 'Face the Nation,' walked through the severity of the charges against Mr. Trump. He described the former president's actions -- laid out in a 49-page indictment -- as harmful not only to the country, but also to the Republican Party and the conservative movement that Mr. Trump leads. Mr. Barr also attacked Mr. Trump's character in extraordinary language, describing him as 'a consummate narcissist' and a 'fundamentally flawed person' who would always put his own ego ahead of everything else. He added that he believed Mr. Trump had lied to the Justice Department about the classified documents in his possession. 'He's like a defiant 9-year-old kid who is always pushing the glass towards the edge of the table, defying his parents from stopping him from doing it,' Mr. Barr said, adding that 'our country can't be a therapy session for a troubled man like this.'... In an interview on CNN's 'State of the Union,' [one of Trump's defense secretaries, Mark] Esper, laid out the risks of state secrets being held at Mr. Trump's Florida estate." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yo, Chris, Donald Trump does not lead a "conservative movement." BTW, I can't think of a more appropriate Friend of Trump than Bill Barr. They're peas in a giant pod. Both will turn on a dime against anyone any time it suits them. It's no wonder Republicans don't trust liberals. They can't trust each other. Ever. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the full transcript of the interview, via CBS News. A CBS News story is here: BUT "'I don't like the idea of a former president serving time in prison,' Barr told "Face the Nation" on Sunday when asked whether Trump should serve a prison sentence if he is convicted." MB: Me neither. But a former president*? That's fine.

Edward Helmore of the Guardian recounts remarks made by Chris Christie, Mike Pence & Asa Hutchinson, all candidates for the GOP presidential nomination. They all faulted Trump for stealing the documents & refusing to return them, but they also blamed the DOJ for "inequitable" application of the law. MB: Apparently none of these DOJ critics mentioned that FBI directors Jim Comey & Chris Ray are Republicans and that Republican AGs Jeff Sessions & Bill Barr also decided not to bring charges against Hillary Clinton. It was a Democratic AG who dismissed charges against mike pence (as he should have), and we don't know what will happen with the Biden investigation. And they didn't highlight the huge differences between what Trump did and what the other supposed miscreants did.

Marie: Planning to revamp my bathrooms as I was following the release of a photo of a Mar-a-Lardo accommodation featuring a huge, crystal (acryllic?) chandelier hanging right over the toilet, I noticed that one of the boxes in the Trump bathroom, located off the public "Lake Room," was marked "MAL Bedroom." Presumably, that means "Mar-a-Lago Bedroom." So if a "beautiful mind" box destined for Trump's bedroom later ended up in a public-area bathroom, doesn't that suggest the box was moved? Admittedly, it doesn't tell us when the box was moved? The photo is undated.

Jonathan Landay of Reuters: "Even when he was president, Donald Trump lacked the legal authority to declassify a U.S. nuclear weapons-related document that he is charged with illegally possessing, security experts said, contrary to the former U.S. president's claim. The secret document, listed as No. 19 in the indictment charging Trump with endangering national security, can under the Atomic Energy Act only be declassified through a process that by the statute involves the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense.... The special status of nuclear-related information further erodes what many legal experts say is a weak defense centered around declassification. Without providing evidence, Trump has claimed he declassified the documents before removing them from the White House.... Not everyone agrees that the president lacks the power to declassify nuclear data." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to some (mostly right-wing, I think) experts, the Congress cannot constrain the president. Evidently, this is what Trump meant when he said, "Then I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president." Of course, this "unitary executive theory" pretty much kills the central idea of the Constitution, which is supposed to operate under a system of checks & balances.

Presidential Race 2024. Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "As President Biden ramps up his re-election campaign, his team is focused not on the various investigations into ... Donald J. Trump but rather on spotlighting the ways, however mundane, his administration can assist Americans in their daily lives.... While Republican candidates bicker over the case of Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden hopes to showcase his governing. While his opponents attack -- or promise to pardon -- Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden would rather discuss infrastructure and cracking down on undisclosed fees." (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his troops for waging tough counteroffensive battles in several regions during what he described in his nightly address as a 'very important week.' Ukrainian forces continued to make limited gains in at least four sectors, the Institute for the Study of War said in an analysis.... The United Nations has called out Moscow for continuing to block humanitarian aid shipments to Russian-controlled areas in eastern Ukraine affected by the Kakhovka dam collapse." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here.

James Glanz, et al., of the New York Times: Russia denies it blew up the Kakhovka Dam, causing massive, lasting devastation to downwater Ukraine. But the Russian military controlled the dam, Russia had the plans to the Soviet-era dam, and infrared signals to a Western satellite indicate an explosion occurred. An AP report is here.

News Ledes

New York Times: "A submersible went missing in the area of the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic on Monday, setting off a search-and-rescue operation by the U.S. Coast Guard, according to the agency and the tourism company operating the craft. Petty Officer Lourdes Putnam confirmed that Coast Guard officials were searching for the submersible, which is operated by OceanGate Expeditions. It was not clear how many people were on board the vessel, and Officer Putnam offered no further details. The company's website said its submersibles carry five people." This is a liveblog. A BBC story is here.

New York Times: "At least one person was killed and 22 others wounded in a shooting just after midnight Sunday at a large Juneteenth celebration in a strip mall parking lot in Willowbrook, Ill., southwest of Chicago, officials said.... [Deputy Chief Eric] Swanson said the motive behind the shooting was unclear. It was also not clear what types of firearms were used. No suspects were in custody."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (15)

Thought this one worth a look because it brought into focus the power of words and the manner in which we choose to parse them...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/18/opinion/us-supreme-court-voting-rights.html

According to French, the Court has decided that political gerrymanders might be okay enough for the SCOTUS to blink at but racial gerrymanders are not. Hence its recent Alabama decision.

What French does not say is how he thinks the Court should handle a political party that is racist.

Or....a distinction without a difference?

June 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Ken Winkes: In fairness to Republicans, I think they gerrymander in states where there is not a significant, geographically-concentrated minority population. Both parties gerrymander when they get a chance, but Jim Crow Republicans (i.e., most Republicans) -- as you note -- are famous for racist gerrymandering.

June 19, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

R's do gerrymander racist-y -- but down south will tell you that they want to hobble Democrats, not black voters, it's just that the Venn circles of those two groups down south are almost identical.

Many say they are not racist, they just think that most of "those" people don't really have the sense to vote for the right party, so waterugonnadew? You cain't edoocate 'em, so you gotta keep 'em from the vote.

June 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

@Patrick: Huh. Sounds a lot like those old count-the-jelly-beans tests.

June 19, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Murder Time

In an incredible interview with Fox “News” pond scum Jesse Watters, former baseball player and all around Nazi loving bigot, Curt Schilling, sez it’s time for MAGAts to start shooting Democrats.

He says exactly that: “time to pull the trigger” on “these people”.

There is, as there always seems to be these days, a mountain of projection here. According to Schilling, wingers might get excited about things but they play by the rules, obey the law, and don’t go in for violence. But not Democrats:

“‘We’re up against a side and a force that doesn’t play by the rules – refuses to play by the rules,’ Schilling said, adding of conservatives: ‘We get excited, and we get emotional; that’s it. They break the law; they do the things they need to do to ensure their agenda is driven forward – and we’re watching them gut our nation from the inside out, and I don’t know where the rubber’s gonna meet the road.’”

He then plays the Founders Card, referencing the violence used to break away from Britain in 1776 (their favorite year). This is followed by:

“‘And I feel like we’re getting back to a point where somebody’s gonna have to pull a trigger, because everything we hold dear – everything this country was founded on – is being just dragged through the mud and mocked and made fun of,’ he said. ‘This country was founded on godly principles – no matter how offensive that is to the left, it’s true.’”

What pisses him off is that he feels “the left” is responsible for him losing his job at ESPN as a baseball analyst because of vile comments about the transgender community. “Waaah! I can’t be a bigot? Time to start shooting people!”

Schilling is also, like Harlan Crow, owner of a Supreme Court Justice, a big collector of Nazi memorabilia (kind of a giveaway with these authoritarian assholes) and posted some pretty nasty comments in support of the Dear Leader.

But it gets better (better? Hmmm..,after a fashion, I guess).

This call to start murdering Democrats even seems a tad too much for Watters who tries to give Schilling an out by suggesting that he probably only meant “pull the trigger”…metaphorically?

Now it’s victim time. “I mean, it doesn’t matter if I say ‘metaphorically,’ because they’re gonna run with that quote no matter how I put it. I could’ve phrased it in any possible way, saying ‘stand up and fight and blah blah blah’ – and I would be inciting a riot.”

So…wait…first he says “pull the trigger” while referencing a shooting war, then when Watters tries to give him an out, he whines that people are gonna repeat what he said—exactly what he said—and make stuff up about how he’s inciting violence?

“Oh…I could have said ‘stand up and fight’…”

Yeah. But he didn’t! He said “pull the trigger”. But now he’s a victim of the evil left???

And to be clear, his answer to Watters’ question about this call to violence being metaphorical was “Absolutely. Well, no.” So first he thinks he’ll get out of it by agreeing that he was being metaphorical, but he immediately backtracks and doubles down. “No”.

And let’s agree that calls on the right for violence, for revolution, for Second Amendment solutions, for pulling the trigger are NOT metaphorical.

For them, if they don’t get their way, it’s always Murder Time.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/jesse-watters-curt-schilling-fox-news-b2360175.html

June 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Akhilleus,

Typical RWN nonsense. The libs "don't play by the rules...they break the law..."

I think it was L. Sprague de Camp who many years ago said it doesn't pay a prophet to be too specific.

The same might be said of the Right.

Pray tell, what rules? What law? Could it be that it might be hard to name them? Or that saying exactly what you don't like about the liberal agenda might paint you as the bigoted, ignorant asshole you are?

Sure 'nuff.

June 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

"Juneteenth was primarily celebrated by those who lived in or were from Texas. In recent years, it has been more widely observed, but still overwhelmingly by African-Americans. The Trump team, in designing the Juneteenth stunt, dramatically elevated awareness of the day. Companies across the country have made Juneteenth a paid vacation day; governors, including Ralph Northam, of Virginia, announced plans to declare it an official state holiday. The backlash prompted Trump to postpone the rally by twenty-four hours. In another sense, though, the Administration’s actions were entirely apt for a day bound up with the ambivalent history of freedom in the United States.,,

There’s a paradox inherent in the fact that emancipation is celebrated primarily among African-Americans, and that the celebration is rooted in a perception of slavery as something that happened to black people, rather than something that the country committed. The paradox rests on the presumption that the arrival of freedom should be greeted with gratitude, instead of with self-reflection about what allowed it to be deprived in the first place. Emancipation is a marker of progress for white Americans, not black ones. Trump, in planning to go to Tulsa for Juneteenth, was not trolling black people. He was trolling the United States Constitution. " Jelani Cobb

June 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterP.D.Pepe

AK: The exchange between Wishy Watters and Slippery Schilling struck me as something Fox could go on the road with–--sort of like a vaudevillian act where answers to political questions are so stupid or so alarming that they bring the house down. If the audience boos loudly enough the hook comes out and drags the offender away like they did in the day. Hey––they could give it a shot!

June 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterP.D.Pepe

@P.D.Pepe: Absolutely correct about Juneteenth and Texas.
Emancipation caused a huge population increase, at least where my
family farmed in East Texas.
You can't harvest a thousand acres of strawberries and watermelons
without lots of kids to work after the slaves are gone. Some slaves
stayed on, living in their shacks and working for probably almost
no wages, but food at least.
The thousand acres were acquired by the Scottish ancestors who were
lured to Texas by free land, 10 acres for each slave.
Texas needed an increase in population to be admitted into the union.
That's the reason for the free land.

June 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

Those of you who read my drivel know that it doesn't take much to make me see red. But knowing through this column that all three of the people to whom we look for "doing something" about the wrongs perpetrated by the other party, incendiary rhetoric not being their thing, DID NOTHING, is absolutely frying my cockles. I don't know what Lisa Monaco does or is or looks like, but the other two soft-spoken, "reasonable" R men need to be spit upon. They were just trying to save their own skins, I guess. Yes, Marie-- we all tried to give the "leader of the conservative party"and the leaders who are hired to run this country in a sane way the benefit of umpteen barrels of doubts, even though we knew better, and look what it got us. Decent people need not apply. The b******* and w***** in high places do not care if they break laws or destroy standards. That has led to millions of sickos swallowing lies wholesale, to an entire network becoming the purveyor of unbelievable fictions, name-calling and lies, and to people being unable or unwilling to even educate themselves so they would know the truth. I don't know where this goes. I am so tired of those Rs in charge slow-walking everything. If Obama had gotten Garland onto the supreme court, a lot of this would have been cleaned up, if there were ANY Dems ever permitted to be hard-nosed FBI and DOJ leaders. Don't listen to Bill Barr. He does anything to favor himself, just like his ex-boss.


Where does this leave us? Who knows. Our hair and our houses are on fire and there is no fire department to save us. Things are much worse than in 2015 before the "leader of the conservatives" tossed in the matches. Hello Nazis and sheep. No one is coming to fix it all.

June 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

Re the DOJ and FBI Jan 6 strategies:

Some things:
1. The House investigation got off to a slow start, because the R's would not cooperate, then the Speaker (Pelosi) put together the special committee. All that time the FBI was working their bottom up investigation. This minimized overlap or unintentional fouling (DOJ was going after the punks; the House was going after DiJiT and friends). DOJ hoped to capitalize on the House's work after the House did its major work.
2. DOJ's new leadership had to be extremely wary of controlling the FBI in any investigation of DiJiT's treason. They needed to run the lower level cases in part to develop the higher cases ("organized crime strategy") but they ALSO needed to see how key people in the law enforcement agencies behaved on those low cases. (Non seq: recall that FBI Miami opposed the MAL documents subpoena enforcement action. Some of those folks wear red hats). Clearly there are some FBI folks who will foul a case to foil prosecution.
3. Lisa Monaco is notoriously willing to defer decisions, always has, always will. It drives her people crazy.
4. Before DiJiT declared his candidacy, I suspect that many DOJ leaders considered the Jan 6 case to be sort of academic. Once DiJiT declared, they needed to expedite and indict or clear. So here we are.

June 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Garland's actions have been as nakedly partisan as Barr's. If Obama or Biden had done what TFG did there would be no hesitation to investigate and prosecute their crimes. In fact Garland rushed to put a Republican in charge of Biden's classified documents case. He put a Republican in charge of investigating Hunter Biden without dragging his feet. He bent over backwards to let Durham continue his nakedly partisan witch hunt unimpeded. Jack Smith had to stand on his own because Garland was afraid to back him up. But Republican Trump tries to overthrow democracy on live television and then they become reluctant to even investigate.

I'm not sure a Supreme Court with Garland would as much better as we once believed. I could see him as either a half measures kind of guy like Roberts or getting bullied by Thomas and Alito into siding with them. He would not be as bad as the Trump justices, but he has shown that he was never worthy of sitting on the highest court in the land. Not that there are many there now who are worthy of the job.

June 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Just skimmed Marcy— can’t get WaPo piece—
This novel about missed opportunities blows my mind. And terrifies me about the future because of the time crunch involved. I hope there are surprises ahead. Most people I know are also terrified and angry. Secret investigating may or may not be happening. I wondered for months how fake electors were unscathed. Still wondering.

June 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

From the NYTimes above:

"Republican lawmakers and activists are mounting a sweeping legal campaign against universities, think tanks and private companies that study the spread of disinformation, accusing them of colluding with the government to suppress conservative speech online "


If that reflects what Republicans say in their filings, it sounds like a clear admission that "conservative speech' is lying.

But we knew that...

June 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Here’s how it’s been working:

Democrats (some) slow walk, or outright decline to investigate actual criminality, including acts that are arguably treasonous.

Republicans (all) go fast and furious to investigate fantasies.

This is the classic double whammy. Democrats being overly cautious about looking into actual, provable crimes against the state, and soft peddling or outright declining public comments or explanations, allow outside observers and low information voters to assume that there must not be anything there.

Right?

So we get screwed there. THEN…

Republicans go hammer and tong investigating complete, fabricated bullshit peddled by drunk guys who walk around with their flies down, screaming from the rooftops at anyone who will listen about crimes and coverups and treason.

Which prompts outside observers and low information voters to assume that there MUST be something there.

Screwed a second time.

We’re playing a chess game in which black leaves his queen stupidly unprotected and white repeatedly refuses to take advantage of this amazing gift. Instead, white allows black pawns to chase his king around the board hoping that at some point he can craft a draw out of an easy win. Not recognizing that at that rate, a draw is the best you can hope for because while white is trying to keep his king out of check, black is cheating, and going hard for mate.

If I wasn’t already a Democrat, I’d be concerned about joining such a bunch a namby-pamby weenies.

June 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
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