;)
March 12, 2023
Oren Liebermann of CNN: "The US Air Force unveiled a new color scheme for the new Air Force One jets under construction on Friday, doing away with the darker red, white, and blue chosen by ... Donald Trump and opting for a modernized version of the classic design of the president's aircraft. The color scheme also scraps the design Trump wanted for Air Force One, which featured a deep red stripe down the middle of the aircraft and a dark blue underbelly.... Trump's preferred color scheme had been rejected last year because it would require additional engineering, increasing the time it would take to build and the cost of the aircraft, which has already suffered numerous delays. The dark blue paint threatened to overheat sophisticated electronic components on board and would have required additional Federal Aviation Administration qualification testing, the Air Force said.... The [new] overall scheme stays true to the design Air Force One has sported since President John F. Kennedy was in the White House 60 years ago."
Emily Schmall of the New York Times: "The Naming Commission, a committee created by Congress in response to a public backlash against Confederate memorials in the wake of the 2020 murder of George Floyd, identified two ships to be rechristened in the Navy's fleet. One, a warship deployed in the waters off Japan, called the U.S.S. Chancellorsville after the Confederate Civil War victory in Virginia, will be renamed the U.S.S. Robert Smalls..., after Robert Smalls, a mariner who [in 1862] commandeered a Confederate ship to freedom from slavery.... The other, a Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey ship called the U.S.N.S. Maury, was named after Matthew Fontaine Maury, a U.S. Navy commander who resigned in 1861 to join the Confederate Navy during the Civil War and who is known as 'Pathfinder of the Seas' for his work charting the global paths of ocean currents. It will be rechristened the U.S.N.S.Marie Tharp, after the ocean cartographer, who helped document the phenomenon of continental drift."
Groundhog Day Moved to January 7. Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Two months into their new majority, some House Republicans cannot stop fixating on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.... In deep contrast, senators have largely moved on from that horrific attack, deferring to the Justice Department's investigation.... 'I think they need to watch a little less cable TV,' Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) told CNN. For more than two years running, every day the House is in session can feel as if it's Jan. 7 -- the day after.... 'We have ... a lot of people who are openly using their platforms to promote insurrectionists, to promote the idea that Jan. 6 didn't happen, that it was a friendly thing,' said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).... By 2:15 p.m. on Jan. 6, as rioters began making their way into the building, the Senate was quickly locked down and was fully evacuated within 15 minutes. Almost no one saw a rioter.... When the House finally halted debate, rioters were trying to break into the chamber, forcing Capitol Police into a guns-drawn standoff by the back door." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Aw, Kane forgets all about the panic experienced by some senators, like Josh Hawley, who went from encouraging the insurrectionists with a fist pump ... to this: ~~~
Ben Terris of the Washington Post: "In a speech Saturday night [at the Gridiron dinner], former vice president Mike Pence delivered what amounted to his strongest rebuke of Donald Trump, criticizing the former president for his role in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol as well as attempts to rewrite the history of that day. 'President Trump was wrong,' Pence said. 'I had no right to overturn the election. And his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day. And I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable.... The American people have a right to know what took place at the Capitol on January 6th,' he said. 'But make no mistake about it, what happened that day was a disgrace, and it mocks decency to portray it in any other way.' [At the dinner, which typically features politicians doing their best as stand-up comics,] Pence's performance included his own attempt at a comedy routine.... 'I once invited President Trump to Bible study.... He really liked the passages about the smiting and perishing of thine enemies. As he put it, "Ya know Mike, There's some really good stuff in here."'" The AP's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gosh, mikey indirectly did some smiting of TuKKKer, too. But it case you think God came to mikey in a dream and told him to go forth & speak the truth, it's more likely mikey has a new consultant who told him he might as well let loose, because bending his knee to the fatted Golden Bull was not improving mikey's political prospects. ~~~
~~~ Update: See NiskyGuy's comment below, which is spot-on (although perhaps it's impolite to insinuate that a God-fearing man like mikey is a flaming hypocrite).
Danny Hakim & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: After Rudy Guiliani made outlandish claims about voter fraud a Georgia state senate hearing on December 30, 2020, a "Georgia lawyer named Robert Cheeley ... spent 15 minutes laying out specious assertions that the workers were double- and triple-counting votes, saying their actions 'should shock the conscience of every red blooded Georgian' and likening what he said had happened to the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.... [Cheeley] was among the witnesses questioned last year by a special grand jury in Atlanta that investigated election interference by Mr. Trump and his allies, the grand jury's forewoman, Emily Kohrs, said in an interview last month." Cheeley is among those who could be indicted under Georgia's election-fraud conspiracy statues, said Norm Eisen of the Brookings Institution.
Boebert Family Values. Arwa Mahdawi of the Guardian: "Congratulations to Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert who is becoming a grandma at the tender age of 36. Speaking at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Moms for America event on Tuesday, the Colorado congresswoman shared the news that her 17-year-old son is expecting a baby with his teenage girlfriend in April.... Speaking at the CPAC event, the extremely anti-abortion Boebert said that her biggest fear was whether her son and his partner 'would choose life'. When they did, she was so proud that she decided to turn them into a parable about rural family values.... This shouldn't need to be said in 2023, but forcing teenagers to become parents isn't good for the teenagers, the baby or society in general.... Access to abortion is one way to reduce teenage pregnancies. Quality sexual health education in schools is another. Boebert, of course, is against both."
Perry Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Texas judge who could undo government approval of a key abortion drug has scheduled the first hearing in the case for Wednesday but took unusual steps to keep it from being publicized, according to people familiar with the plans. The hearing will be an opportunity for lawyers for the Justice Department, the company that makes the drug and the conservative group that is challenging it to argue their positions before U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. After they do, the judge could rule at any time.... Kacsmaryk said he would delay putting the hearing on the public docket until late Tuesday to try to minimize disruptions and possible protests, and asked the lawyers on the call not to share information about it before then.... Public access to federal court proceedings is a key principle of the American judicial system, and Kacsmaryk's apparent delay in placing the hearing on the docket is highly unusual." MB: Kacsmaryk is a right-wing Trump appointee who opposes women's reproductive rights. And a lot of other human rights.
Gerrit De Vynck & Rachel Lerman of the Washington Post: "... thousands of people [are] likely to be affected by the stunning collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday, marking the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history and sending shock waves through the tech and finance worlds.... Silicon Valley Bank had relationships with more than half of the venture-backed companies in the United States, according to its website.... While the government took over the bank, which is known for lending to start-ups but also does private banking providing mortgages and other services, deposits are only insured up to $250,000. The bank's assets totaled more than $200 billion. Around $42 billion was withdrawn from the bank on Thursday alone.... Start-up founders worried they'd be forced to lay off workers if money held by the bank was frozen or lost. Large companies such as connected TV provider Roku and video game maker Roblox warned investors that they had hundreds of millions in cash deposited with Silicon Valley Bank that may be in jeopardy." ~~~
~~~ Jeff Stein & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Federal officials faced growing pressure Saturday to bail out even the biggest customers of the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank, igniting a ferocious political debate over Washington's role in tamping down potential threats to the broader U.S. financial sector. Tech executives, former government officials and at least two Democratic lawmakers called for safeguarding depositors with money at stake in the collapse if a buyer for the bank's assets isn't found by Monday, arguing that it's the only way to limit a cascade of bigger problems." ~~~
~~~ Dan Primack of Axios: "Silicon Valley Bank on Friday paid out annual bonuses to eligible U.S. employees, just hours before the bank was seized by the U.S. government, Axios has learned from multiple sources.... The bonuses were for work done during 2022, and were previously scheduled to be disbursed on March 10. That date ultimately coincided with the bank's takeover by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation." ~~~
~~~ Hannah Levintova of Mother Jones: Silicon Valley Bank might not have failed "were it not for the work of SVB's President Greg Becker, who eight years ago asked a Senate committee to relax regulations that would soon be applied to his own bank.... A key rule in the [Dodd-Frank] law required that 'Too Big To Fail' banks -- which Dodd-Frank defined as those with more than $50 billion in assets -- undergo stricter oversight, including higher capital ratio requirements designed to shore up the big banks' ability to withstand financial shocks.... Becker [told senators] ... that there was no need for these expensive, federal-government-mandated checks because SVB's activities had a 'low risk profile' -- and because the bank was perfectly capable of keeping itself in check with its 'strong risk management practices.'... Following the hearing and three years of SVB lobbying lawmakers, Becker got his wish: In 2018, Trump signed a bill into law raising the threshold for stricter bank oversight to $250 billion in assets.... The result: major losses at the bank and, on Friday, a full-on collapse -- the exact sort of bank failure that the original regulations that Becker fought against had set out to prevent." ~~~
~~~ Ken Klipperstein of the Intercept: "After successfully lobbying, for the rollback of new rules applied to Wall Street in the wake of the financial crisis, lobbyists for Silicon Valley Bank immediately began pressing their case further to the federal authority that insures bank deposits in the event of another crisis, according to lobbying disclosures reviewed by The Intercept. The lobbying effort managed to exempt banks the size of SVB from more stringent regulations, including stress tests aimed at uncovering the type of weaknesses that led to the bank's implosion last week. Two of the bank's top lobbyists previously served as senior staffers for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.... A chief [reason for SVB's collapse], economists say, is legislation signed into law by President Trump in 2018, which rolled back key parts of the Dodd-Frank banking regulations passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. That 2018 legislation ... passed with strong support from the Republican Party and critical support from some Democrats. Among those leading the charge was then-House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.... Other SVB lobbyists worked for political figures cutting across both parties including President Bill Clinton, former Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wy., former Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., former Sen. Arlen Specter D/R-Pa., and former Rep. Jay Inslee [D], now governor of Washington."
As the Cookie Crumbles. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "Blame the coronavirus pandemic for the wildly vacillating supply and demand [for Girl Scout cookies] over the past two years: a surplus of unsold cookies in 2021 and supply chain issues in 2022. This year is seeing similar problems. Last month, the Girl Scouts's hotly anticipated new cookie sold out faster than Beyoncé tickets, and wound up on eBay for four times the price. Louisville-based Little Brownie Bakers [-- which bakes about 75 percent of all Girl Scout cookies --] this week blamed the familiar forces of supply chain and labor shortages, with extreme weather thrown into the mix, for production delays that have disrupted this season's cookie fulfillment efforts."
The Pandemic, Ctd. Mark Johnson of the Washington Post (March 10): "In a rare show of bipartisanship near the third anniversary of the pandemic, the House voted unanimously Friday to declassify all U.S. intelligence information on the origins of the coronavirus. The 419-0 vote in favor of the bill, which passed the Senate by unanimous consent last week, sends it to President Biden's desk. If the bill is signed, the declassified information would have to be released within 90 days, although the language in the bill does not establish a mechanism for enforcement. When asked Friday evening whether he would sign the measure, Biden told reporters outside the White House, 'I haven't made that decision yet.' 'This is strong on symbolic value,' said Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, adding that the measure does allow Biden 'wide discretion' to withhold information to protect sources and keep methods secret."
Beyond the Beltway
** Florida. Alexandra Berzon & Ken Besinger of the New York Times: "When Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida announced last summer that he had taken the extraordinary step of removing a local prosecutor from his job, he cast his decision as a bold move to protect Floridians. The prosecutor, Andrew H. Warren, a twice-elected state attorney for Hillsborough County and a Democrat, had signed a public pledge not to prosecute those who seek or provide abortions.... Mr. DeSantis and his advisers had failed to find a connection between Mr. Warren's policies and public safety in his community.... A close examination of the episode ... reveals ... a governor's office that seemed driven by a preconceived political narrative, bent on a predetermined outcome, content with a flimsy investigation and focused on maximizing media attention for Mr. DeSantis.... A federal judge ruled in January that the governor had violated Mr. Warren's First Amendment rights and the Florida Constitution in a rush to judgment. 'The actual facts,' Judge Robert L. Hinkle wrote, 'did not matter. All that was needed was a pretext.' Mr. DeSantis's office, the judge said from the bench, had conducted a 'one-sided inquiry' meant to target Mr. Warren. (The judge said he did not have the authority to reinstate Mr. Warren, who is appealing in state and federal court.)" ~~~
~~~ Marie: DeSantolini's targeting of Warren is all the evidence you need that a President* DeSantolini would not only appropriate governmental agencies and abuse his powers, he would do so specifically to undermine democratic institutions, as he did when he fired Warren, an elected official in good standing, to feed the DeSantolini program of grandstanding for political gain.
Way Beyond
Saudia Arabia/Iran/China. Peter Baker of the New York Times: The Saudi Arabia/Iran rapprochement brokered by China "is among the topsiest and turviest of developments anyone could have imagined, a shift that left heads spinning in capitals around the globe. Alliances and rivalries that have governed diplomacy for generations have, for the moment at least, been upended. The Americans, who have been the central actors in the Middle East for the past three-quarters of a century, almost always the ones in the room where it happened, now find themselves on the sidelines during a moment of significant change.... The Israelis, who have been courting the Saudis against their mutual adversaries in Tehran, now wonder where it leaves them.... [But] After decades of sometimes violent competition for leadership in the Middle East and the broader Islamic world, the decision to reopen embassies that were closed in 2016 represents only a first step.... It is conceivable that this new agreement to exchange ambassadors may not even be carried out in the end...."
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Kyiv is renewing calls for more ammunition and stronger air defenses after Russia fired half a dozen hypersonic missiles at Ukraine last week. In an interview with Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper that published Sunday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said ammunition shortages were the 'number one' problem his country was facing and urged Berlin to speed up promised deliveries. He also called on the German government to begin training Ukrainian pilots to use Western fighter jets. Fierce fighting continues in the eastern town of Bakhmut, where Kuleba said Ukrainian troops would continue to defend. Russian fighters have taken control of most of the eastern part of the city in recent days, while Ukrainian forces are holding their ground in the west, British defense officials said.... The head of Ukraine's armed forces [Valery Zaluzhny] also asked the Pentagon's top general, Mark A. Milley, for better air defenses." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Sunday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
U.K. Andrew Das, et al., of the New York Times: "The BBC scrambled to rearrange hours of programming in real time on Saturday after the suspension of the popular host of its cornerstone soccer program set off a revolt by on-air talent, forcing the broadcaster to curtail major portions of its weekend sports coverage and leaving it to face accusations that Britain's culture wars had bled into its decision-making. The crisis began on Friday with the announcement that the BBC had suspended Gary Lineker, the former English soccer star and longtime host of the soccer program 'Match of the Day,' over comments that he made criticizing the Conservative government's immigration plans. By Saturday, the decision to remove Mr. Lineker from 'Match of the Day' ... had led not only his co-hosts but also their potential replacements, related play-by-play commentators, and even players and coaches from the Premier League to join a spreading boycott." Read on. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The Lineker controversy was not the only one this week that highlighted the BBC's distaste for liberal messages: ~~~
~~~ Helena Horton of the Guardian (March 10): "The BBC has decided not to broadcast an episode of Sir David Attenborough's flagship new series on British wildlife because of fears its themes of the destruction of nature would risk a backlash from Tory politicians and the rightwing press, the Guardian has been told. The decision has angered the programme-makers and some insiders at the BBC, who fear the corporation has bowed to pressure from lobbying groups with 'dinosaurian ways'."
U.K. Jim Waterson of the Guardian on PM Rishi Sunak's new heated swimming pool at his estate in North Yorkshire, which "uses so much energy" required an upgrade to the local electricity. And other stuff about Richy Rishi's luxurious lifestyle. MB: Sunak is a guy who once said he had friends who were aristocrats & friends who were upper-class but "not working-class" friends. Maybe he could let a few well-scrubbed serfs use the pool when he's in London & wouldn't have to come into direct contact with them. Sunak & his wife -- a tech heiress, are reportedly twice as rich as King Charles & Queen Camilla. Of course Charles & Camilla get state support & they inherited the use of modest housing accommodations.
News Lede
New York Times: "An audio streamer and her husband were fatally shot in Redmond, Wash., early on Friday morning by a fan who had been stalking the woman, the police said. The audio streamer, Zohreh Sadeghi, 33, and her husband, Milad Naseri, 35, were pronounced dead in a home in Redmond, about 15 miles east of Seattle, around 1:45 a.m. on Friday, said Darrell Lowe, the Redmond police chief. Ms. Sadeghi's mother, who was also in the home at the time, escaped and called the police from a neighbor's house.... [Ramin] Khodakaramrezaei, who had been stalking Ms. Sadeghi, fatally shot himself after shooting the couple, according to a Redmond Police Department news release."
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Reader Comments (12)
Saudi/Arabia rapprochement brokered by China
I think you mean Saudi/Iran??
@pat: Corrected. Thank you.
Deregulation really picked up when Reagan was in the White House
'acting' like he was president.
He started with the trucking industry which led to numerous
bankruptcies and layoffs of thousands of workers (myself being a
victim of a corporation's bankruptcy a little later on).
No one seemed to learn from that, so lets deregulate railroads,
and airlines, and banks.
I'm going to suggest that power plants be deregulated the first part
of July. I really like loud, flaming fireworks (from a distance).
“The American people have a right to know what took place at the Capitol on January 6th,” says the guy who refuses to testify under oath, mike pence.
You can’t make this stuff up.
It's Sunday. Must be time for a sermon.
"Tucker Carlson of Fox News, the Republican Party’s propaganda arm, is busily sanitizing the Jan 6th insurrection for his audience, choosing innocuous snippets from official video recordings of the violent attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election to make it appear that the 2000 rioters were no more than sadly misunderstood lovers of peace.
Carlson and Fox’s willingness to lie so baldly raises numerous questions.
The biggest one is why. In Tucker Carlson’s case, the Bible has the obvious answer. Like Esau, Carlson long ago “sold his soul for a mess of pottage,” or what we would today call vegetable soup. Following the 2020 election, he persisted in broadcasting the stolen election lies long after he knew they were false. His texts reveal that at the time his only concerns were his audience share and the price of Fox stock (forbes.com).
Carlson’s brash effort to rewrite history to the Right’s liking offers more proof that the political party that complained so loudly about a woke “cancel culture” is itself passing laws and editing videos to cancel and conceal everything it doesn’t like: Black history, books about gender issues, facts about the efficacy of masks and vaccines, anything that makes Republicans uncomfortable is in their legislative or propaganda crosshairs (thehill.com). A re-telling of of the Jan 6 insurrection’ story, told like it really wasn’t, fits neatly into their practice of denial and deception.
Denying and deceiving are a Republican industry. Carlson enriches himself by delivering meals of numbing message to those who prefer living with their good sense deliberately dulled.
Like all propagandists, Carlson’s message is not about facts. It is instead a prejudice-confirming mental massage designed to ease the aches and pains of those who would rather ignore the complexities of our complicated world.
I hope his audience feels better."
Nisky Guy,
Yeah. Little mikey sez “History will hold Trump accountable! But not me.”
Truth, responsibility, accountability, and morality are always the job of someone else. Never Republicans. Perish the thought!
Besides, in his Fox and Bible battered brain, little mikey sees himself as president, and he can’t piss off the mob with inconvenient and unnecessary crap like truth.
Nisky says "You can’t make this stuff up" but isn't that exactly what these jamokes do? They turn a hurricane into a slight breeze that just ruffles a few trees. Sometimes they got nothin so they come up with quibbles about tan suits and "what! no catsup on a hamburger" ala Obama. Ken's Sunday sermon nicely illustrates the way of it. I especially liked this passage:
"Like all propagandists, Carlson’s message is not about facts. It is instead a prejudice-confirming mental massage designed to ease the aches and pains of those who would rather ignore the complexities of our complicated world."
A nice piece on how eagerly nations are rushing to put their "populist" necks in the capitalist noose.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/12/opinion/economic-zones-global-economy.html
"When will we ever learn?" --Pete Seeger
Pence is actively trying to conceal TFG's actions leading up to J6 and attempting to shield TFG from the the consequences of his actions. But if a Republican's mouth is moving you know they're lying. And Pence is definitely a Republican.
Perlstein - "The most famous Dem economic advisor [Larry Summers] says rich speculators who had the poor judgement to deposit in an untrustworthy bank have to be made whole. Nothing about the moral hazard this presents, nor the message to the proles who only get $250K in protection."
"When the little guy is hurting, the message from the top (and from libertarian tech billionaires) is, “Just hold on. It just hurts right now, but you’ll be all right.”
Until the pain starts hitting them."
The Democrats should let capitalism teach these rich companies a lesson in proper risk management. As the post linked says, we need to stop sending the message that we only really care if you got enough zeros in your bank account. If the Republicans want a bail out for SVB then we should tie it to the student debt relief for the real Americans.
@RAS: And I'm not sure to what societal goal all the disappeared money was meant to be spent. Were these tech start-ups trying to program systems for low-cost, environmentally-friendly housing or for better means to distribute food to hungry people? I don't think so. It's more likely they were thinking up new video games or new, for-pay social media platforms that the kids can't resist (until the next one pops up). So if these tech firms can no longer afford to pay staffs of coders because the bank went bust, I don't much care.
I'll admit it's not fair for the bank to effectively steal their seed money, but we've all lost money relying on crooks, if maybe not so much money. If the masters of technology are so smart, they'll soon find new schemes & new means to part us rubes from our money. In the meantime, the farmers of Salinas are likely looking for day laborers to pick real lettuce.
Why am I supposed to care about the Oscars? I don't care about the other self-serving award shows - Grammys, Emmys, whatever...
They don't impact my life one iota. Ho-hum.