;)
March 2, 2023
Afternoon/Evening Update:
South Carolina. Jeffrey Collins & James Pollard of the AP: "Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was convicted of murder Thursday in the shooting deaths of his wife and son in a case that chronicled the unraveling of a powerful Southern family with tales of privilege, greed and addiction. The jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder at the end of a six-week trial that pulled back the curtain on the once-prominent lawyer's fall from grace. The judge said sentencing would take place at 9:30 a.m. Friday. Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison without parole for each murder charge." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times has a liveblog here. ~~~
~~~ Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Twelve jurors began deliberating on Thursday afternoon over whether Alex Murdaugh murdered his wife and son, weighing the prominent South Carolina lawyer's fate after listening to nearly six weeks of testimony in a closely watched trial. Before the jury began deliberating, Mr. Murdaugh's lawyer, Jim Griffin made the case in his closing argument that the police had become so fixated on the idea that Mr. Murdaugh himself was the killer that they 'fabricated' evidence and a dubious theory about his possible motive."
Burgess Everett, et al., of Politico: "President Joe Biden told Senate Democrats on Thursday that he would not veto a GOP-backed bid to repeal changes to the D.C. criminal code, raising the stakes of an upcoming Senate vote on the proposal. Biden's plans not to veto, relayed by three attendees at the party meeting, leave Republicans on track to roll back the new D.C. law when the Senate takes up the House-passed measure as soon as next week. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) had already said he will support the disapproval bid, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) backed it on Thursday and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is on an extended leave for health issues, eliminating the margin for error in the 51-49 Senate."
Michael Gold & Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday that it had opened an investigation into Representative George Santos, the embattled Republican from New York under scrutiny for lies about his background and questions about his campaign finances. The inquiry will cover several areas where Mr. Santos has been accused of financial or sexual misconduct. The committee said in a statement that it would seek to determine whether Mr. Santos had failed to properly disclose information on his House financial disclosures, violated federal conflict of interest laws or engaged in other unlawful activity during his 2022 congressional campaign. It will also examine an allegation of sexual misconduct from a prospective congressional aide who briefly worked in Mr. Santos's office. The action began on Tuesday when the 10-member body, split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, voted unanimously to create an investigative subcommittee to scrutinize Mr. Santos...." NPR's story is here. ~~~
~~~ A statement by the chairman & ranking member of the Ethics Committee is here.
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Justice Department told a federal appeals court on Thursday that it should reject ... Donald J. Trump's claims that he is absolutely immune from being sued over his actions related to the attack on the Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. Members of Congress and Capitol Police officers have contended in a lawsuit that Mr. Trump incited the attack, including by delivering a fiery speech falsely claiming that the 2020 election had been stolen and urging his supporters to march on the Capitol. In a 23-page brief, lawyers for the Justice Department's civil division urged the appeals court to allow their lawsuit to proceed.... The Justice Department's filing was notable in part because the department usually takes a broad view of executive power and defending the prerogatives of the presidency. But its brief asserted that if Mr. Trump did incite violence then the speech fell outside a president's legally shielded official responsibilities." The AP's report is here.
~~~~~~~~~~
Confederates Behaving Badly. And Other Ancillary News:
Despicable Jim. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) criticized a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for not prosecuting President Biden's late son when he was still alive, a notion the White House slammed as 'despicable.' Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, suggested Monday on a right-wing podcast that U.S. Attorney David Weiss had sat on his hands when it came to campaign finance investigations of the Bidens. Weiss was appointed by ... Donald Trump to serve as the U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware in 2018, and had previously prosecuted Christopher Tigani, a Biden donor who was sentenced in 2012 for illegally funneling contributions to campaigns. Weiss is now supervising a federal investigation of the president's younger son, Hunter Biden.... On Monday's episode of the podcast 'The Great America Show with Lou Dobbs,' Comer suggested without evidence that Joe Biden and his elder son, Beau Biden -- the former Delaware attorney general who died in 2015 of brain cancer -- should have been indicted along with Tigani.... Beau Biden, then Delaware's attorney general, recused himself from the investigations into his father's campaign donations. A subsequent report by a special prosecutor found no credible evidence that the Bidens had been aware of Tigani's fraudulent campaign reimbursements. When asked Wednesday on [MSNBC's 'Morning Joe,'] about Comer's comments, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield ... [said,] 'It's despicable. And frankly it says quite a lot -- none of it good -- about Jim Comer.'..."
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Republicans subjected Attorney General Merrick B. Garland to a four-hour grilling before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, a harbinger of the fights that loom ahead as the party targets the Justice Department in the months leading up to the 2024 election. One by one, Republican senators accused Mr. Garland -- testifying before Congress for the first time since appointing special counsels to investigate ... Donald J. Trump and President Biden -- of politicizing the department by aggressively investigating Republicans and conservative activists while shielding Democrats. They also rebuked Mr. Garland over a range of policy and law enforcement issues, including his response to the fentanyl and immigration crises as well as the court's decision in June to end the constitutional right to an abortion.... As the day wore on and the questioning intensified, Mr. Garland, a former federal judge, seemed increasingly impatient." ~~~
~~~ John Wagner & Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Today, Attorney General Merrick Garland said he has stood by his promise not to interfere in an ongoing federal investigation of the finances of Hunter Biden, President Biden's son. His comments came as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee peppered him with questions on multiple controversies during Garland's first testimony before the new Congress. Other members are expected to question the department's decision to conduct a surprise search at former president Donald Trump's Florida property to try to recover classified documents." This is part of a politics liveblog. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ MSNBC ran clips of Ted Cruz, Foghorn Leghorn & Josh Hawley ripping into Garland that was, well, embarrassing. Joe Scarborough suggested the senators needed acting lessons. MB: I'll look for the clip later; it isn't up yet.
Yasmine Abutaleb, et al., of the Washington Post: "Republicans are seizing on the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, to ramp up their attacks against Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, saying he is promoting his own agenda at the expense of families who are grappling with a toxic chemical accident in their backyard. The Transportation Department does not have primary responsibility for the cleanup, and Buttigieg and his supporters are firing back, suggesting the GOP has other motives for its focus on him. The secretary ... has taken the unusual step of responding directly to some of his critics, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)..., Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The result is an unusually personal and, on occasion, vitriolic back-and-forth ... -- far from the usual technocratic and logistical debates that surround the Transportation Department.... Rubio tweeted that Buttigieg is 'an incompetent who is focused solely on his fantasies about his political future & needs to be fired.' McConnell said on the Senate floor that Buttigieg is 'more interested in pursuing press coverage for woke initiatives and climate nonsense than in attending to the basic elements of his day job.'" ~~~
~~~ Stephanie Lai of the New York Times: "A group of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate has proposed legislation to mandate that the Transportation Department tighten safety rules for freight rail, the first glimmer of bipartisan activity on the issue since a train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, last month. The measure by Senators Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and J.D. Vance, a Republican, both of Ohio, would strengthen notification and inspection requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials, increase fines for safety violations by rail carriers and authorize $27 million for research on safety improvements. But it would stop short of dictating major regulatory changes, leaving the matter to the Transportation Department. The bipartisan nature of the bill -- which is co-sponsored by Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Josh Hawley of Missouri, both Republicans -- indicates that it may be able to gain traction in the Senate.... But it is not clear whether the measure can draw support in the Republican-led House." ~~~
~~~ Dominic Pino of the right-wing National Review complains: "Republican senators have been outspoken about their feelings on Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. On February 14, Senator J. D. Vance (R., Ohio) said, 'Yesterday, Pete Buttigieg had the opportunity to address this problem. He instead talked about the excessive amount of -- this is not a joke -- too many white men in the construction industry.... The secretary of transportation needs to focus on real problems, not fake problems.' On February 16, Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) said, 'Yes, my gosh, [Buttigieg] should have resigned after the rail strike. He should certainly resign now.' Hawley has reiterated his call for Buttigieg's resignation since then.... Yet Vance, Hawley, and [Marco] Rubio are now joining with Democrats to expand Buttigieg's power and make significant portions of his response to the recent East Palestine, Ohio, train crash into federal law.... In many cases..., [the bill] does ... exactly ... [what] Buttigieg wants." Firewalled. ~~~
~~~ Alicia Lozano of NBC News: "Western Pennsylvania residents living near the Ohio border say they have been left out of recovery efforts following the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment in neighboring East Palestine, Ohio.... Pennsylvania residents say they are frustrated by a lack of information about the lasting risks from the disaster and demand more transparency from state and federal leaders, who they say are focused too narrowly on recovery efforts within a 2-mile radius surrounding the derailment, a designation set by the EPA.... Last week, [Pennsylvania] Gov. Josh Shapiro [D] met with residents in Darlington who received water testing through the state's Department of Environmental Protection. The department has also been working closely with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the state departments of health to monitor developments in East Palestine.... On Monday, Shapiro announced the opening of a health clinic in Beaver and Lawrence counties that closely mirrors one created for East Palestine residents."
Stephanie Lai of the New York Times: "Congress on Wednesday cleared a measure to block a Labor Department rule that allows retirement plan managers to incorporate climate and social considerations into their investment decisions, setting up a veto fight with President Biden over an otherwise obscure regulation that has become a flash point in the culture wars. The Senate passed the resolution by a vote of 50 to 46 after two Democrats, Senators Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, joined every Republican. Coming the day after the House approved the measure on a mostly party-line vote, that cleared the measure to be sent to the White House, where Mr. Biden's advisers have said he plans to veto it. The vote was the latest piece of a broader Republican political strategy to portray Mr. Biden's policies as extreme liberalism run amok, and to characterize his administration's actions as attempts to force progressive values into every area of American life." CNN's report is here. ~~~
~~~ David Gelles of the New York Times: "... Republicans around the country say Wall Street has taken a sharp left turn, attacking what they term 'woke capitalism' and dragging businesses, their onetime allies, into the culture wars. The rancor escalated this week as Congress entered the fray. Republicans used their new majority in the House on Tuesday to vote, 216 to 204, to overturn a Department of Labor rule that allows retirement funds to consider climate change and other factors when choosing companies in which to invest." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. See also Ken's commentary below.
Daniel Dale of CNN: “Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia falsely claimed Tuesday that the Biden administration is responsible for the fentanyl deaths of two young men who actually died during the Trump administration -- and her congressional spokesperson profanely dismissed questions about the false claim as irrelevant.... 'Listen to this mother, who lost two children to fentanyl poisoning, tell the truth about both of her son's murders because of the Biden administrations refusal to secure our border and stop the Cartel's from murdering Americans everyday by Chinese fentanyl,' Greene tweeted.... [Greene spokesperson Nick ]Dyer responded in an email by asking whether CNN thinks the many Americans who have died from drugs under Biden 'care about the details' of this particular case. He added, 'Do you think they give a f**k about your bullsh*t fact checking?'...
"At a Tuesday meeting of congressional Republicans' caucus on 'election integrity,' Greene castigated a Georgia Republican election official, Gabriel Sterling, who has repeatedly vouched for the integrity of the 2020 election in the state. Greene's comments, which she also posted on Twitter, featured a variety of lies that were long ago debunked by Sterling and many others. Greene falsely claimed that 'Trump won Georgia,' though he lost by 11,779 votes, fair and square, in a state with a Republican governor, Republican elections chief and Republican-controlled legislature. She falsely claimed that there were 'thousands of dead voters in Georgia,' though Georgia elections officials have found only four such cases in the 2020 election to date and Trump allies' claims about various other supposedly deceased voters have been disproven by CNN and others. And she falsely claimed that a video showed workers in Atlanta's Fulton County doing something nefarious while counting ballots, though the workers were simply doing their jobs and though false claims about the video have been debunked not only by Sterling but by Trump's deputy attorney general and a Trump-appointed former US attorney in Georgia, among others."
** Carol Leonnig, et al., of the Washington Post: "Months of disputes between Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents over how best to try to recover classified documents from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club and residence led to a tense showdown near the end of July last year, according to four people familiar with the discussions. Prosecutors argued that new evidence suggested Trump was knowingly concealing secret documents at his Palm Beach, Fla., home and urged the FBI to conduct a surprise raid at the property. But two senior FBI officials who would be in charge of leading the search resisted the plan as too combative and proposed instead to seek Trump's permission to search his property, according to the four people.... Prosecutors ultimately prevailed in that dispute, one of several previously unreported clashes in a tense tug of war between two arms of the Justice Department over how aggressively to pursue a criminal investigation of a former president....
"Starting in May, FBI agents in the Washington field office had sought to slow the probe, urging caution given its extraordinary sensitivity, the people said.Some of those field agents wanted to shutter the criminal investigation altogether in early June, after Trump's legal team asserted a diligent search had been conducted and all classified records had been turned over, according to some people with knowledge of the discussions." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: IMO, some of these FBI agents were corrupt and worked to halt an investigation that yielded tens of classified documents by pretending to believe that the Big Liar had turned over all documents to the authorities, despite evidence to the contrary. ~~~
~~~ digby republishes a chunk of an a firewalled column by Adam Serwer of the Atlantic. Serwer writes, "The way conservatives tell it, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is a hive of anti-Trump villainy, filled with agents looking for any excuse to hound the former president with investigative witch hunts. But the thing to understand about Donald Trump's legal troubles is that they exist not because federal agents are out to get him, but despite the fact that the FBI is full of Trump supporters who would really like to leave him alone." digby concurs: "The idea that the poor FBI agents are terrified of Trump -- who is just a private citizen living in Florida at the moment -- is absurd. These agents are Trumpers and they want to protect him. Of course they do."
Sean Piccoli, et al., of the New York Times: "Kellyanne Conway, who managed the final months of Donald J. Trump's 2016 campaign, met with prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office on Wednesday, the latest sign that the office is ramping up its criminal investigation into the former president. The prosecutors are scrutinizing Mr. Trump's role in a hush money payment to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who has said she had an affair with him. The $130,000 payment was made by Mr. Trump's longtime fixer, Michael D. Cohen, in the closing days of the 2016 campaign, and Mr. Trump ultimately reimbursed him. Mr. Cohen has said that Ms. Conway played a small yet notable role in the payment: she was the person Mr. Cohen alerted after making the payment, he wrote in his 2020 memoir." An ABC News story is here.
** A Supreme Crook. Heidi Przybyla of Politico: "A Politico investigation based on dozens of financial, property and public records ... found that [right-wing judicial activist Leonard] Leo's lifestyle took a lavish turn beginning in 2016, the year he was tapped as an unpaid adviser to ... Donald Trump on Supreme Court justices. It's the same period during which he erected a for-profit ecosystem around his longtime nonprofit empire that is shielded from taxes. Leo was executive vice president of The Federalist Society at the time.... A network of political non-profits formed by ... Leo moved at least $43 million to a new firm he is leading, raising questions about how his conservative legal movement is funded. Leo's own personal wealth appeared to have ballooned as his fundraising prowess accelerated since his efforts to cement the Supreme Court's conservative majority helped to bring about its decision to overturn abortion rights. Most recently, Leo reaped a $1.6 billion windfall from a single donor in what is likely the biggest single political gift in U.S. history.... Spending by Leo's aligned nonprofits on his for-profit business ... shows how campaign-style politics -- and the generous paydays that go along with it -- are now adjacent to the Supreme Court, the one U.S. institution that's supposed to be immune to it."
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Starbucks committed 'egregious and widespread' violations of federal labor law while trying to halt union campaigns, ruled a federal administrative law judge, who ordered the coffee giant to reopen closed stores and reimburse backpay and damages to employees who launched a nationwide organizing drive at the company. Starbucks showed 'a general disregard for the employees' fundamental rights,' Judge Michael A. Rosas wrote in a 220-page order released Wednesday. In resolving an extensive case that combined 33 unfair labor practices charges from 21 stores in the Buffalo area, Rosas held that the company retaliated against employees affiliated with Starbucks Workers United as they began a union drive in 2021. Since then, 268 of the roughly 9,000 company-owned U.S. stores have voted to unionize, and Starbucks's interim chief executive Howard Schultz has drawn the ire of liberal political leaders."
Shane Harris & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "The mysterious ailment known as 'Havana syndrome' did not result from the actions of a foreign adversary, according to an intelligence report that shatters a long-disputed theory that hundreds of U.S. personnel were targeted and sickened by a clandestine enemy wielding energy waves as a weapon. The new intelligence assessment caps a years-long effort by the CIA and several other U.S. intelligence agencies to explain why career diplomats, intelligence officers and others serving in U.S. missions around the world experienced what they described as strange and painful acoustic sensations.... Seven intelligence agencies participated in the review of approximately 1,000 cases of 'anomalous health incidents.'..."
Presidential Race 2024. Scott Wong & Kate Santaliz of NBC News: "President Joe Biden hasn't announced whether he's running for a second term yet, but his address to a gathering of House Democrats [in Baltimore] Wednesday sounded a lot like a 2024 stump speech. Biden dared House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California to reveal Republicans' budget full of spending cuts, mocked GOP Sen. Rick Scott's reversal on targeting Social Security and Medicare and knocked 'MAGA Republicans' like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. an acolyte of ... Donald Trump who recently called for a 'national divorce' between red states and blue states....
"Biden also claimed credit for drugmaker Eli Lilly's announcing Wednesday that it would cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month. '... I called on the prescription drug companies to bring down the price of insulin to $35 to everyone -- not just seniors. And today, Eli Lilly, the largest manufacturer of insulin in the United States of America, agreed to do just that: 35 bucks,' Biden said. 'But guess what that means? Every other company making insulin is going to have to lower their prices to 35, because they can't compete.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: "Claimed credit"? He deserves credit.
Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "Former Vice President Mike Pence still won't say whether he's running for president next year, and he won't speak ill of ... Donald Trump. But in an interview with CBS News in Michigan on Wednesday, he also twice declined to commit to supporting Trump if he is the Republican presidential nominee. Instead, Pence said he believes voters in 2024 will choose 'wisely again,' as they did in 2016. But said he thinks 'different times call for different leadership.'" MB: The headline here is "Pence won't commit to supporting Trump if he's the nominee." It should be "Pence won't commit to anything." He deflected most of the interviewer's questions. What a sissy.
The Pandemic, Ctd. Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Nearly three years after criminals first set their sights on the government's generous coronavirus aid programs, President Biden on Thursday called on Congress to approve $1.6 billion to combat fraud, hoping to empower federal prosecutors and prevent such historic theft from targeting taxpayer money again. The new request for funds foreshadows the years of costly and complicated work now ahead of Washington, after malicious actors set their sights on the more than $5 trillion that lawmakers intended for workers, families and businesses amid the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. But the push from the White House could still face familiar political obstacles on Capitol Hill. Seeking to punish criminals and secure new savings at a moment of rising deficits, lawmakers long have expressed alarm about the vast sums stolen during the pandemic -- yet they have done little to address the root causes of the problem." The AP's report is here.
Beyond the Beltway
Michigan. Michelle Watson, et al., of CNN: "A Michigan man allegedly threatened on social media to kill Jewish members of the Michigan government, the FBI said, and state Attorney General Dana Nessel says she was among those targeted. The incident adds to recent concerns about threats against public officials as well as reports of increasing antisemitic incidents across the country. It also evokes the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as well as the at-times threatening demonstrations against Covid-19 protocols. On February 18, the FBI National Threat Operations Center told the Detroit FBI office that a person on Twitter by the handle of 'tempered_reason' said he was heading to Michigan and 'threatening to carry out the punishment of death to anyone that is Jewish in the Michigan govt.' Any attempt to 'subdue' him would 'be met with deadly force in self-defense,' the user said. Authorities traced the Twitter handle to a man named Jack Eugene Carpenter III, who had a protection order against him and had previously been arrested by state police, according to the complaint filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Carpenter also had three 9mm handguns registered in Michigan's Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN), the complaint said."
Pennsylvania. April Rubin of the New York Times: "A 40-year-old man was arrested this week on federal charges after he checked a suitcase containing an explosive for a flight to Florida at a Pennsylvania airport, the F.B.I. said. The suitcase checked by Marc Muffley, of Lansford, Pa., at an Allegient Air counter at Lehigh Valley International Airport for a flight to Orlando, Fla., on Monday was flagged by an alarm during a Transportation Security Administration screening, Eddie Garcia, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.... The F.B.I. said that Mr. Muffley, who was paged over the airport's speaker system at about 11:40 a.m. on Monday after the T.S.A. screening, left the airport five minutes after being asked to report to the security desk, security camera footage shows. He was arrested late Monday night and charged with possession of an explosive in an airport and possessing or attempting to place an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft."
South Carolina. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "The prosecutor seeking to convict Alex Murdaugh of murdering his wife and son said in his closing argument on Wednesday that a 'gathering storm' had been threatening to expose Mr. Murdaugh's thefts of millions of dollars, leading him to kill his family in a last-ditch effort to preserve his legacy and wealth. Creighton Waters, the prosecutor, argued that evidence in the case could only lead jurors to conclude that Mr. Murdaugh, a fourth-generation lawyer in South Carolina, had carried out the June 2021 murders to halt the expanding inquiries into his finances and reported thefts from clients and his law firm.... The closing arguments took place on the 27th day of a trial that lasted far longer than expected. Over five weeks, prosecutors outlined an extensive case against Mr. Murdaugh, accused of killing his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and their younger son, Paul Murdaugh, 22.... One of Mr. Murdaugh's lawyers was to deliver the defense's closing argument on Thursday morning, and 12 jurors will then begin deliberations. Earlier on Wednesday, the jury toured the Murdaughs' rural hunting estate, known as Moselle, where the victims were found dead near dog kennels on the property."
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "The Russian Volunteer Corps, a group of anti-Kremlin fighters, claimed responsibility for an attack on their country on Thursday. The claim comes after Russia's federal police force said that 'armed Ukrainian nationalists' had entered Bryansk after unconfirmed reports suggested that Russian civilians were being held hostage while others were shot. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, called the Russian report a 'classic deliberate provocation.' Secretary of State Antony Blinken briefly met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting of foreign ministers in New Delhi. It is their first face-to-face encounter since Russia's war on Ukraine.... Blinken and Lavrov's encounter lasted less than 10 minutes, in which Blinken urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend cooperation in the New START nuclear arms treaty, and to accept a U.S. proposal for the release of American citizen Paul Whelan, said a senior State Department official familiar with the discussion. Russia's war on Ukraine is expected to dominate the agenda at the G-20 meeting.... Ukrainian authorities will exhume a newly discovered burial ground in Bucha, the area near Kyiv where alleged atrocities last spring set off worldwide outrage last year.... Russian forces are making advances in Bakhmut, the besieged city in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has intensified...." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
~~~ The New York Times is live-updating developments at the G-20 meeting.
Edward Wong & Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken came to Central Asia to press his case that the region should hold the line against Russian efforts to seek economic aid as Moscow grapples with Western sanctions. Within hours of landing in Astana, the snow-draped capital of Kazakhstan, he received a sign that the United States had some leverage. The Kazakh president stood next to Mr. Blinken in the blue-domed presidential palace and thanked the Americans for their support of his nation's 'independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty.' The president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has not criticized Russia's war, and neither have leaders of the four other Central Asian nations, former Soviet republics with decades-long ties with Moscow. But his pointed statement suggested that, after the invasion of Ukraine, also a former Soviet republic, there was concern that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia could try to seize parts of their own nations or encourage separatists."
U.K. King Evicts Harry & Meghan. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have been asked to move out of Frogmore Cottage, their five-bedroom Georgian house on the grounds of Windsor Castle, the couple's press secretary said, in a further sign of the bitter rupture between them and the British royal family since they withdrew from royal duties and left Britain. Queen Elizabeth II offered the house to the couple, known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, at the time of their wedding in 2018. It has served as their home base on infrequent visits to Britain since they relocated to Montecito, Calif.... The Sun, a British tabloid..., said that King Charles III had made the decision shortly after the publication of Harry's memoir, 'Spare,' which is replete with scorching accounts of Harry's dysfunctional relationship with Charles, his father; and with his brother, Prince William. Buckingham Palace has declined to comment on the report...."
News Ledes
Hong Kong. New York Times: "A 42-story building under construction in Hong Kong caught fire late Thursday, showering a bustling shopping district with sparks and debris and lighting up the nighttime sky. Onlookers flocked to the waterfront neighborhood of Tsim Sha Tsui to take in the spectacle, as the flames made their way through the skyscraper and the scaffolding around it and explosions pierced the air. News reports put the number of people injured at two, and firefighters were still batting the blaze early Friday.... Several nearby buildings also caught fire, but firefighters were able to douse those flames."
New York Times: "Wayne Shorter, the enigmatic, intrepid saxophonist who shaped the color and contour of modern jazz as one of its most intensely admired composers, died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 89."
Washington Post: "With as much as 12 feet of new snow over the past week, and seasonal totals surpassing 41 feet, California's Sierra Nevada is buried. So much snow has fallen that homes are engulfed and roads resemble canyons. More is on the way this weekend, with the National Weather Service office in Sacramento forecasting an additional three to four feet. 'Expect disruptions to daily life including dangerous/impossible driving conditions with road closures and whiteout conditions at times,' the agency tweeted. 'MOUNTAIN TRAVEL IS HIGHLY DISCOURAGED![']"
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Reader Comments (11)
To continue yesterday's attempt to locate the soul of the soulless Republican Party, I think this House vote comes pretty close to doing so.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/28/climate/esg-climate-backlash.html
Sure wouldn't want to burden business with any environmental, social or governance considerations. Apparently to R's, even allowing, not requiring, such considerations when making investment decisions, is anathema.
Horrors! Just possibly might get in the way of profit.
Laundry equipment sales must be skyrocketing.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1630671252883996673
Herschel Walker's campaign paid $595,000.00 to a company called
'Jetts' to supposedly charter private planes. However, 'Jetts' is a
defunct car wash that was owned by a Walker donor.
Sounds like a chapter from the trump crime family book.
I watched the second part of the hearing with Garland yesterday. The usual suspects on the right laid into him one right after the other until the poor man looked frazzled and irritated. They essentially were accusing him of being politcal. Here is one exchange between Cruz and Garland:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/merrick-garland-ted-cruz-protests_n_640026b1e4b05f1e793d6d02
LIZ DONE GOT ANOTHER JOB!
https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/liz-cheney-to-serve-as-professor-of-practice-with-uva-center-for-politics/
U.K. King Evicts Harry & Meghan, linked above.
I just this week finished reading James Patterson's book 'Diana,
Willian, and Harry.'
It's my understanding that the Queen gave Frogmore House to
Harry and Meghan as a wedding gift, but I could be wrong.
My advice to anyone here is don't marry into royalty.
Forest: "My advice to anyone here is don't marry into royalty." Aw, shucks, you mean all those fairy tales were wrong?
Another reason Republicans don't want to learn history, they may find out that some of the original Republicans were woke.
"Wide Awakes, the Lincoln-era youth movement
In 1860, on the brink of civil war, caped young men with lanterns sought to safeguard democracy.
It was a genuine feeling, as if young people were waking from a long slumber, and seeing for the first time how much corruption and rot had set in.
Southern politicians ridiculed the young marchers as “infants whose mammas didn’t know they were out”, and threatened violence against them. But they were intimidated by the sight of thousands of young men, disciplined, standing up for their non-violent ideals."
@Forrest Morris & @P.D. Pepe: Thank you for your concern. Luckily for me, all of the royals I've courted have rejected my advances.
According to Vanity Fair (not necessarily a go-to source for news, but likely right about this): "Though the house was a gift from the late queen, they technically held it through a long-term loan from the palace, as is the case with most royal residences."
IMO, the real problem with Frogmore House was that, in Charles' estimation, the prince turned into a frog. So, P.D., fairy tales do have some veracity.
@RAS: Thanks. Another interesting story that did not appear in my South Florida school history books.
From the story above, on freight train regs:
"... proposed legislation to mandate that the Transportation Department tighten safety rules for freight rail, ... would strengthen notification and inspection requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials, increase fines for safety violations by rail carriers and authorize $27 million for research on safety improvements. But it would stop short of dictating major regulatory changes, leaving the matter to the Transportation Department. "
That last sentence's concept will prove problematical if the SCOTUS and certain GOP MOCs continue to insist, a la the SCOTUS' opinions on EPA air quality regs, that executive agencies can't create detailed requirements to implement congressional intent, that congress has to spell everything out in originating legislation (which is insane).
Next we'll find that R MOC's are willing to vote for progressive (bipartisan!!!), non-apprpriating, policy initiatives, expecting that as long as the text is general, the 5th Circuit or the "Amarillo Fix-It Judge" will nullify it for them. They'll get the credit from their marginal good-government constituents, but still earn their donors' cash and gratitude for keeping regulators at bay.
Am I becoming cynical? No. Just observant.
It makes me sad to see how Charles, the ex-husband of the late Princess Diana, treats her younger son and his wife. I am not surprised, as it seems like Charles is missing a few genes passing on empathy, compassion, humility, justice, loyalty etc etc etc. I'm sure he was egged on by questions of what to do with Harry's uncle who is persona non grata through his own stupidity. Surely they have another palace somewhere, but nooooo... Harry was on Colbert the other night and he was charming. After having seen their documentary, but not yet reading the book, I am firmly on the side of the Windsor-Markels. Poor Harry and Meghan-- both have difficulties with spoiled vengeful family members. I hope they feel they are building a life in the US that suits them better.