;)
March 22, 2022
~~~ Springtime for Climate Change Deniers. Jason Samenow of the Washington Post: "Aided by unseasonably warm weather since mid-February, Washington's famed cherry blossoms hit peak bloom on Monday. This year';s peak is 10 days ahead of the recent 30-year average of March 31."
Late Morning Update:
New York Times reporters are live-updating the questioning/posturing in the Senate confirmation hearing of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here.
Maria Varenikova & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Nearly a month into the fighting, one of the biggest surprises of the war in Ukraine is Russia's failure to defeat the Ukrainian Air Force. Military analysts had expected Russian forces to quickly destroy or paralyze Ukraine's air defenses and military aircraft, yet neither have happened. Instead, Top Gun-style aerial dogfights, rare in modern warfare, are now raging above the country.... The success of Ukrainian pilots has helped protect Ukrainian soldiers on the ground and prevented wider bombing in cities, since pilots have intercepted some Russian cruise missiles. Ukrainian officials also say the country's military has shot down 97 fixed-wing Russian aircraft. That number could not be verified but the crumpled remnants of Russian fighter jets have crashed into rivers, fields and houses.... Ukrainian fighter jets ... are vastly outnumbered: Russia is believed to fly some 200 sorties per day while Ukraine flies five to 10."
Adela Suliman, et al., of the Washington Post: "Forest fires broke out around the Chernobyl nuclear site, Ukraine's parliament said Monday, raising fears that radiation could spread from the crippled facility. Ukraine's minister of natural resources later told the Associated Press that the fires had been extinguished, easing the immediate alarm. At least seven fires within the plant's exclusion zone had been observed on satellite imagery from the European Space Agency, the parliament said in a statement. The lawmakers blamed Russian forces who captured the site in February for the blazes."
Anton Troianovski & Valeriya Safronova of the New York Times: "A Russian court sentenced Aleksei A. Navalny to nine years in a high-security prison on Tuesday, imposing a new punishment on the imprisoned opposition leader at a time when the war in Ukraine has made him even more of a liability for ... Vladimir V. Putin. Prosecutors had claimed that Mr. Navalny, a relentless critic and frequent target of Mr. Putin, and Mr. Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation -- which the Russian authorities banned as extremist last year -- had embezzled donations from supporters.... The fraud case was widely seen as a move by the Kremlin to keep him behind bars...."
~~~~~~~~~~
Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russia has used hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, President Biden confirmed Monday, a move he suggested was in response to Moscow's stalled ground campaign. Russia said last week that it had twice launched the missiles, which travel faster than five times the speed of sound and have not previously been used in combat.... The Pentagon also said it has detected 'increased naval activity' in the northern Black Sea, where the port city of Odessa is bracing for a potential assault.... Western officials have said that the Kremlin, frustrated with its lack of gains on the ground, is now relying on strikes from afar to support its bloody invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in remarks Monday, said Russia has bombarded some of his country's cities beyond recognition and accused Russian military pilots of having 'emptiness instead of heart.' He also said that any political compromises needed to end the Russian assault would require Ukrainian voter approval via referendum." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Tuesday are here: "The Ukrainian military has claimed Russian forces have stockpiles of ammunition and food that will last for 'no more than three days' in its operational report this morning. Officials said the situation is similar with fuel.... Ukraine also claimed its forces have retaken the town of Makariv, just 50km west of Kyiv.... [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy told the Italian parliament that 'For Russian troops, Ukraine is the gates of Europe, where they want to break in.'... Zelenskiy has also tweeted that he has spoken to Pope Francis.... Residential areas in Odesa were reportedly targeted for the first time during the war on Monday.... Dmitry Muratov, the Nobel peace prize-winning editor of Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta has announced he will be putting his Nobel medal up for auction to raise money for Ukrainian refugees.... European Union leaders intend to set up a 'trust fund' for Ukraine as it battles Russia's invasion and to help it rebuild after the war, according to a draft document prepared ahead of Thursday's EU summit. Ireland is preparing for up to 200,000 refugees from Ukraine."
Tyler Pager, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden will travel to Belgium and Poland this week, seeking to hold together a Western alliance that is beginning to show potential cracks and making a symbolic appearance in a country whose leaders fear it could be a future target of Russian aggression. Biden will land in Brussels on Wednesday night, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches the one-month mark with no sign of letting up.... Divisions are emerging between allies who want to supply offensive weapons such as fighter jets and others who are wary of escalating the confrontation with Moscow."
Andriy Yermak of the Zelensky administration, in a Washington Post op-ed: "While the United States, Poland and many other freedom-loving countries are standing firm with Ukraine, some states in Europe seem willing to accept a Ukraine partially occupied by Russian invaders -- anything so they can keep buying Russian gas and oil and conduct business as usual. But business as usual now means accepting Russians bombing maternity hospitals and theaters full of civilians taking shelter.... Many failed to predict the mass atrocities the Russian troops would commit despite their long history of absolute disregard for life, and lust for blood and destruction. Only the establishment of a no-fly zone to protect humanitarian corridors will stop the carnage.... The Ukrainian people have shown they can lead the struggle for democracy against tyranny. We just need more support."
The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Strikes on cities across Ukraine left a patchwork of death and destruction on Monday, including one that blasted a once-bustling shopping mall in Kyiv into a smoldering ruin with one of the most powerful explosions to hit the city since Russia's war on Ukraine began."
Jon Henley & Isobel Koshiw of the Guardian: "Ukraine has said it will never bow to ultimatums to surrender its cities, including devastated Mariupol, as authorities in Odesa accused Russian forces of striking residential areas in their first attack on the vital Black Sea port. After his government rejected out of hand a 5am Monday deadline to cease fighting for Mariupol, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the country would no more give up the besieged southern city than it would Kyiv or Kharkiv. 'We have an ultimatum with points in it -- "Follow it, and then we will end the war,"' Zelenskiy said in an interview with a Ukrainian broadcaster. 'Ukraine cannot fulfil that ultimatum.' The country would never accept Russian occupation, he said."
** "The Last Journalists in Mariupol." AP: "Mstyslav Chernov is a video journalist for The Associated Press. This is his account of the siege of Mariupol, as documented with photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and told to correspondent Lori Hinnant.... The Russians were hunting us down. They had a list of names, including ours, and they were closing in. We were the only international journalists left in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, and we had been documenting its siege by Russian troops for more than two weeks. We were reporting inside the hospital when gunmen began stalking the corridors. Surgeons gave us white scrubs to wear as camouflage. Suddenly at dawn, a dozen soldiers burst in: 'Where are the journalists, for fuck's sake?' I looked at their armbands, blue for Ukraine, and tried to calculate the odds that they were Russians in disguise. I stepped forward to identify myself. 'We're here to get you out,' they said." MB: This you should read.
Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "Water is so scarce [in Mariupol] that people are melting snow. Heating, electricity and gas have disappeared. People are chopping trees for firewood to fuel outdoor cooking stoves shared by neighbors. To walk from one street to another often means passing corpses, or fresh graves dug in parks or grassy medians.... Evacuation buses, including some carrying children, were shelled on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.... More than 300,000 [residents' remain, even as fighting has moved onto the streets of some neighborhoods.... Even as much of Ukraine still has internet access, and cellphone service, Mariupol is without either."
William Broad of the New York Times: "Today, both Russia and the United States have nuclear arms that are much less destructive [than those developed during the Cold War] -- their power just fractions of the Hiroshima bomb's force, their use perhaps less frightening and more thinkable. Concern about these smaller arms has soared as Vladimir V. Putin, in the Ukraine war, has warned of his nuclear might, has put his atomic forces on alert and has had his military carry out risky attacks on nuclear power plants. The fear is that if Mr. Putin feels cornered in the conflict, he might choose to detonate one of his lesser nuclear arms -- breaking the taboo set 76 years ago after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.... Washington expects more atomic moves from Mr. Putin in the days ahead."
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden warned on Monday that Russia is exploring the possibility of waging potential cyberattacks against the United States in retaliation for economic penalties imposed on Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine. In a statement issued days before he is set to travel to Brussels for a NATO summit, Mr. Biden encouraged private sector companies in the United States to strengthen their cybersecurity against a potential breach by Russia." Politico's story is here.
Christina Wilkie & Dan Mangan of CNBC: "The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it summoned U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan on Monday in Moscow to formally protest President Joe Biden's decision last week to label Russian President Vladimir Putin a 'war criminal.' Sullivan was told that Biden's accusation had put 'Russian-American relations on the verge of rupture,' according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry translated by NBC News."
You Mean, It's Not the Farmland? Jane Burbank in a New York Times op-ed: "Since the 1990s, plans to reunite Ukraine and other post-Soviet states into a transcontinental superpower have been brewing in Russia. A revitalized theory of Eurasian empire informs Mr. Putin's every move. The end of the Soviet Union disoriented Russia's elites.... Emerging from the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, [Eurasianism] posited Russia as a Eurasian polity formed by a deep history of cultural exchanges among people of Turkic, Slavic, Mongol and other Asian origins.... In 1920, the linguist Nikolai Trubetzkoy ... called on Russian intellectuals to ... build on the 'legacy of Chinggis Khan' to create a great continent-spanning Russian-Eurasian state.... Suppressed for decades in the Soviet Union, Eurasianism ... burst [back] into public awareness during the perestroika period of the late 1980s.... Eurasianism was injected directly into the bloodstream of Russian power in a variant developed by the self-styled philosopher Aleksandr Dugin.... Russia had a new opponent -- no longer just Europe, but the whole of the 'Atlantic' world led by the United States.... Mr. Dugin ... in [a] 1997 text [wrote that] Ukrainian sovereignty presented a 'huge danger to all of Eurasia.'... Mr. Putin has taken that message to heart. In 2013, he declared that Eurasia was a major geopolitical zone where Russia's 'genetic code' and its many peoples would be defended against 'extreme Western-style liberalism.'... The goal, plainly, is empire. And the line will not be drawn at Ukraine." ~~~
~~~ Marie: If this "philosophy" sounds odiously familiar, you may not be thinking of Nazis. You may be haunted instead by the theory of "American exceptionalism," a concept, BTW, embedded in the Republican party's platform. And although Republicans had no platform in 2020, Donald Trump put out a two-page manifesto in which he had only two educational goals and one of them was to "Teach American Exceptionalism."
George Bass in the Washington Post: "In 1986, near the end of the Soviet Union, a Russian satirical novelist tried to imagine the future of his homeland. He envisioned a head of state who had risen through the ranks of the KGB, used a war to cement his power, elevated his former security colleagues into positions of influence, claimed to derive authority from the Russian Orthodox Church and ruled Russia for decades. In other words, he predicted Vladimir Putin. The writer was Vladimir Voinovich, and his novel was 'Moscow 2042,' a dystopic satire about a man who takes a journey into the next century."
Marie: Yesterday I complained about the State Department's long delays in issuing visas, especially to refugees. Contributor Patrick pointed out that the problem wasn't only with State: "The big drag comes from DHS and the US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. You can thank your congress for seeking to ensure your safety from all of those refugees, each of whom could be a terrorist, even the grandmas and babies. Boogedy boogedy." Here's an idea of the gauntlet(s) applicants have to run.
Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "A Russian state TV host attacked Arnold Schwarzenegger, days after the actor made a personal appeal to the people of Russia [to oppose Putin's war on Ukraine].... The Daily Beast reported that despite efforts to ensure the video did not go viral, it was viewed millions of times."
Mary Jalonick & Mark Sherman of the AP: "Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson will face senators' questions for the first time Tuesday as Democrats push to quickly confirm the only Black female justice in the court's 233-year history." A New York Times story is here. C-SPAN coverage begins at 9 am ET.
Glenn Thrush & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson ... vowed to make the words inscribed on [the Supreme Court's] edifice -- 'Equal Justice Under Law' -- 'a reality and not just an ideal' in opening remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.... In remarks that lasted just under 15 minutes, she committed to adopt a 'neutral stance' if confirmed and promised to continue to produce expansive, 'transparent' opinions so that 'each litigant knows that the judge in their case has heard them, whether or not their arguments prevail.' Judge Jackson spoke late on Monday afternoon, after hours of alternating celebrations of her achievements by Democrats and probing attacks from Republican leaders, who have acknowledged they do not have the votes to stop her. One by one, they lobbed a range of criticisms, including her work on behalf of defendants in criminal cases and her seat on the board of a school that 'pushes an anti-racist education program for white families,' according to Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican from Tennessee.... Judge Jackson, who sat impassively as senators made their speeches appeared at ease in a hearing room where she has successfully navigated three prior confirmations.... [Sen. Chuck] Grassley [(R-Iowa), the committee's ranking member,] was one of several Republicans who said on Monday that they were intent on not turning the hearing process into a 'circus' they associate with the politically toxic Senate confirmation hearings of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh in 2018." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I liked Ted Cruz's [R-Texas] comment on the Kavanaugh Plaint: "No one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits." Right. Where "dating habits" is a euphemism for "attempted rape" and other forms of sexual assault. Still, I hope Ted or Josh will ask Judge Jackson if she likes beer. ~~~
~~~ Here's Judge Jackson's opening statement, as prepared, via CNN.
Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "Republican lawmakers are misleadingly portraying Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson ... as uncommonly lenient on felons who possess images of child sexual abuse.... Here's a fact check." ~~~
~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "'We won't try to turn this into a spectacle,' proposed Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the committee's ranking Republican. 'It won't be a circus,' promised Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.). Even Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), a regular ringmaster, said 'this will not be a political circus.' Then the clown car rolled in. Republicans used their opening statements to portray [Judge] Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the high court, as not just a pedophile enabler but also a terrorist sympathizer with a 'hidden agenda' to indoctrinate Americans with the 'racist vitriol' of critical race theory.... Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) seemed to be trying to associate the nominee with a host of evils in an inchoate tirade about 'anarchists, rioters and left-wing street militias,' the 'breakdown of society,' and 'Soros prosecutors' who 'destroy our criminal justice system from within." ~~~
~~~ Funny part: a number of GOP senators congratulated Republicans in the audience for not raising a ruckus the way a few audience members did at the start of the Kavanaugh hearings. "There was a good reason for that: As the senators surely knew, the Jackson confirmation hearing is entirely closed to the public." ~~~
~~~ But Some Senators Have a Great Excuse! Blake Hounshell & Leah Askarinam of the New York Times: "Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a future president, the old saw goes.... Four Republican senators [-- Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley & Ben Sasse --] on the committee have flashed signs of larger aspirations.... And all approach these hearings knowing they are just as much onstage as [Judge] Jackson is. For the supremely ambitious, a Supreme Court nomination battle is an irresistible opportunity. It's a chance to build email lists, rustle up campaign cash and impress base voters."
Missy Ryan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Myanmar's military carried out actions that amount to genocide against the country's Rohingya Muslims, the Biden administration said on Monday, taking a long-delayed step to highlight what U.S. officials say was a premeditated attempt to wipe out a vulnerable minority.... Monday's declaration comes as the Biden administration attempts to keep paying attention to Asia, especially the countries in China's backyard, even as the war in Ukraine remains a priority. It could help bolster an ongoing genocide case against the Myanmar military at the International Court of Justice."
Benjamin Siegel & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "... Donald Trump's personal assistant in the White House, Nick Luna, appeared virtually on Monday before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, multiple sources tell ABC News. Luna, who served as Trump's body man in the West Wing, was initially subpoenaed by the committee in November. He was granted a short postponement in December but previously engaged with the committee before Monday's virtual appearance. The panel said Luna was with the former president on Jan. 6, and was nearby when Trump called former Vice President Mike Pence that morning and urged Pence not to certify the results of the 2020 election."
This Was Bound to Happen. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Monday, The Daily Beast reported that the D.C. Metropolitan Police are investigating the so-called 'People's Convoy' after an allegation that one of the truckers in the group struck a local pedestrian. 'According to an incident report obtained and reviewed by The Daily Beast on Monday, Dupont Circle resident Kerry Lynn Bedard told D.C. police she was on the west side of the 1600 block of Connecticut Ave NW "when [the convoy member] struck her with his vehicle and drove on top of her right ankle,'" reported Zachary Petrizzo. 'For his part, the convoy member, Donald Bryan Thomas II of Butler, Ohio, who was driving a silver BMW 550i plastered with stickers like "TRUCKERS RULE!!! MSM LIES," claimed to police that he was merely "driving forward slowly when [Bedard] walked into the street and in front of his vehicle while yelling and then laid down in the roadway."'" The Daily Beast story is firewalled. It's here.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "People who had covid-19 were at greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes within a year than those who managed to avoid the coronavirus, according to a large review of patient records released Monday. The finding is true even for people who had less severe or asymptomatic forms of coronavirus infection, though the chances of developing new-onset diabetes were greater as the severity of covid symptoms increased, according to researchers who reviewed the records of more than 181,000 Department of Veterans Affairs patients diagnosed with coronavirus infections between March 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021." The article is free to nonsubscribers.
David Lim of Politico: "The United States could yet again find itself with too few Covid-19 tests if Congress fails to authorize new funds and cases surge, warn White House officials, diagnostic manufacturers and public health experts.... Covid-19 infections are rebounding in several European countries and Biden officials are monitoring infections in the United Kingdom, where cases have jumped more than 36 percent over the past week. Meanwhile, the number of molecular tests shipped each week by major manufacturers in the United States has fallen by more than 50 percent over the last month." MB: Don't blame "Congress." Blame Republicans.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.
Beyond the Beltway
Alaska. Nathaniel Herz & James Brooks of the Anchorage Daily News: "Alaska politicians, election officials and congressional staffers scrambled Monday to adapt to one of the biggest shifts in the state's political landscape in a half-century: the death of GOP U.S. Rep. Don Young. Young, who was 88, was Alaska's sole member of Congress for 49 years.... Gov. Mike Dunleavy and other officials outlined a preliminary schedule [to include special elections to fill Young's seat] on a Sunday conference call with legislators, according to multiple participants.
Missouri Senate Race. Neil Vigdor & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: Sheena Chestnut Greitens, "the former wife of Eric Greitens, a leading Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Missouri, has accused him of physically abusing her and one of their sons in a sworn affidavit that could have serious implications in the race for the seat of Senator Roy Blunt, who is retiring. Mr. Greitens, whose campaign denied the allegations on Monday, abruptly resigned as governor in 2018 amid a swirling scandal that involved a sexual relationship with his former hairdresser and allegations that he had taken an explicit photograph of her without her permission. He was also accused by prosecutors of misusing his charity's donor list for political purposes. But until the latest revelation, his attempt at a political comeback had appeared improbably successful, despite efforts by Missouri's Republican establishment to block it.... Mr. Greitens, 47, a former Navy SEAL, had aligned squarely with ... Donald J. Trump..., [MB: whose former wife Ivana Trump accused him to sexual abuse, too, before she retracted the charge]. The AP's story is here.
Way Beyond
Russia. Reuters, via the Guardian: "Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been found guilty of large-scale fraud and contempt by a Russian court. The move on Tuesday means that Navalny..., Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic, is likely to face a substantial extension to his jail sentence. He is already serving a two-and-a-half year sentence at a prison camp east of Moscow for parole violations related to charges he says were fabricated to thwart his political ambitions. A further 13 years could now be added due to the latest criminal case against him, which he has also dismissed as politically motivated. A gaunt Navalny stood besides his lawyers in a room filled with prison security officers as the judge read out the accusations against him. The 45-year-old seemed unfazed as he flipped through court documents."
News Lede
New York Times: "Rescue workers searched a remote mountain valley in southern China on Tuesday for any survivors in the crash of a passenger plane carrying 132 people that plunged more than 20,000 feet in just over a minute. No survivors have been found so far, a state broadcaster said on Tuesday, the morning after Monday's crash. China Eastern Airlines, which operated the Boeing 737-800, and the central government are investigating the cause of the crash, which is likely to be the country's biggest aviation disaster in more than a decade." The AP's report is here.
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Back to the fainting couch…
Poor Lindsey Graham. It’s another hissy fit. He spent time yesterday whining about how HIS pick for the Supreme Court, Judge Michelle Childs, a resident of South Carolina (Sen. Pittypat’s state) was overlooked in favor of Biden’s choice, Judge Jackson. He accused “the left” of an all out assault on Childs and stated that the choice of the “radical left” was sitting before the judiciary committee. Waaaaahhh…
Earth to Pittypat: you ain’t the president. Who gives a shit who you wanted? Also, I guarantee you that “the radical left” (whatever that is) would probably opt for a less conventional, less mainstream pick than Jackson. Although the fact that she actually practiced the law, unlike most of the Nazis currently besmirching the Court, is pretty unconventional. (If Jackson was the choice of the “radical left” they ain’t all that radical.)
But Nina Totenberg, a longtime Court watcher, put the kibosh on Graham’s fantasy that his choice would have been the winner if only those mean lefties hadn’t tried to destroy her. “Jackson was Biden’s clear choice pretty early on” she stated on NPR prior to Jackson’s opening remarks.
Anddddd…oh, oh, oh, leave us not forget that R’s will be “nice” to Jackson, not like the way those evil Democrats treated poor Bart O’Kavanaugh! But here’s the thing: Jackson has no history of predatory sexual assault. If you want people to be “nice” to your candidates, stop picking criminal assholes and hyper partisan maniacs.
Oh, and about these charges that Jackson was easy on child pornographers…hmmm…why do these people still support a serial sexual abuser whom they put on a pedestal? And if I recall correctly, the Republican Party is the one that put a child molester up for the senate in Alabama. Matt Gaetz is under investigation for being part of an underage sex ring.
Oh, but let’s not mention any of that.
Anyways, can’t wait to see what these whiny scumbags consider “nice”.
I believe every word that Ak uttered about the so-called hearing. When hearings devolve into opportunities for the peanut gallery to rail and rave and provide the popinjays with a tv appearance in case they become presidential candidates, they are useless. The other side simply makes up crap and flings it out there, and the candidate for the SC is forced to "defend" her/himself against the hooters and howlers. Sorry that Pittipat continually finds himself irrelevant-- he really thought he was a player. Too bad his vaunted "career" was taken down by the Liar of the Century. His own stupid fault.
Yesterday's "bombshell" about the close ick-factor "advisors" to the blowhard using burner phones and planning the invasion of the Capitol was sooo not one-- why does every bombshell turn out to be something we knew long ago? Is it because the committee finally has proof, real proof? Sorry, but I have lost faith in anyone ever being held accountable for treason, corruption and murder. When people like Gaetz and Hawley and Greene and Cotton and Cruz still have their jobs and platforms, there really is no hope for much.
I am still reading, but not watching much-- The war makes me sick. The hooters/howlers make me actively nauseous. Hello Netflix...Hulu...Prime...Apple Plus...anything but the news.
Amending my list of ridiculous posturing fools: I should have put Pittipat in that list instead of vaguely referring him as a past flamethrower...it isn't past. He just threw some "facts" at Brown about some other judge Joe Biden was formerly possibly rude to, and asked her how she felt about it. Brown didn't know Brown. Only of her. She said she couldn't really speak to facts she had heard 4 seconds ago... Let me say that, in light of the muting again of the "hearings," I amend my opinion of Pittipat: he is a viper. Purely as toxic as the ones mentioned above. But there are so many on that list, I amend my screed to include all of them. All the R "statesmen." And women: can't forget that moron Marsha...
Speaking of R women, has anyone heard whether Susan Collins is Concerned ™ yet about the Jackson nomination?
Just listened to Cancun Cruz going after Judge Jackson for being “soft on child pornographers”. But guess what? He lied about her record.
What a surprise!
These guys have learned that they can lie through their teeth because outlets like Fox will repeat the lie, not the subsequent corrections.
re. Diabetes and other long COVID outcomes, from the one area on which I can comment as an expert (biologist, not physician). Hoping some find this interesting, here goes:
Influenza viruses and SARS-COV-2 have a critical difference in how they target organs. The flu virus infects almost exclusively the lungs, invading directly the cells (alveolar epithelium) that exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide with the blood. Their swelling and weeping fluid cause the trouble. COV-2 also invades the alveolar cells but in addition invades and causes dysfunction of the cells that separate the blood from the alveoli, the vascular endothelium, which bear a recptor for the virus which the lung cell lack. All blood vessels, from the largest arteries and veins to the capillaries are lined with a single layer of endothelium, which is only a tenth of a micron (4 millionth of an inch) thick. If all of our blood vessels were opened and laid into a single layer, the endothelium would have the area of two tennis courts. The endothelium also has the critical function of maintaining blood in its fluid state. My favorite point to make is that blood passing through a wound or shed into a test tube clots within seconds to minutes, wheras mine has been circulating for 79 years without it ever hapenning. So far. Thank you, endothelium. Amongst the havoc COV-2 wreaks in blood vessels, especially in very small arteries and capillaries, is to disable the anticoagulant function, which lets the blood clot within the vessels. It comes as no surprise, then, that COVID can cause dysfunction of any organ, from the brain to the toes (it can affect the latter - chilblains), pancrease included, hence diabetes. Oftentimes it causes general organ failure, hence high mortality, other time very little and sometimes selects one or a few organs. No idea what makes the difference. In this respect it seems to me more like ebola, albeit much less lethal.
Thanks for indulging one of my vices.
So unusual! A nominee for the Supreme Court who doesn’t lie, doesn’t sleaze around the questions, doesn’t weep, doesn’t shout, doesn’t indulge in self-pitying whine-fests. And doesn’t aver that “Hey, I like beer!”
Must not be a Republican.
Man, she’s smart, unflappable, and refuses to rise to the bait of hyper partisan, sleazy casuistries tossed out by the Traitors.
Wingers must HATE her.
Sasse (who sees himself as president) is trying to throw her one gotcha question after another, thinking he’ll strike her out. She hits all his slow, sad, simple, little league pitches out of the park. At one point he tried to get her to say what Justice Breyer would do in a particular case. Like a math professor telling a slow 7 year old why 2+2 doesn’t equal 5, she said that she has no idea what someone else would do or think. He then tried the “Originalist” scam, pretty much suggesting that anyone who disagreed with the Dark Lord Scalia, needs to explain themselves.
It’s just sad.
If this is the best they have, they got nothin’.
But these con men will be portrayed as heroes striving to keep a black lady, who should be washing their clothes and changing the sheets, off THEIR Supreme Court.
Good job, Joe. Great pick.
And here’s the most outrageous part. Judge Jackson’s admission to the Court will do little to change the calculus. The Nazis and traitors still have full control. But they just cannot help themselves from going after a Democratic black woman. They HAVE to attack her. They wouldn’t be able to hold their heads high when bellyaching to their white supremacist, authoritarian supporters if they didn’t try to kneecap a black lady.
Been busy all day with various and sundry but mostly with a dog–-Onyx-- who belongs to our son who is off on excursions. Been a long time since we've had a dog but looking after this beautiful creature has taken a goodly amount of time out of our days in order to deal with him since he is an outdoor dog and used to roaming freely (his home territory has visible fence) but here we are high hills and forests and so we have to monitor his roaming. We even took him to a doggie park where he cavorted with other dogs and kept humping a cute black male––aborted love, in this case. I'm mentioning all this because I didn't get a chance to check in with R.C. until now but did manage to call Susan Collins and ask if, indeed, she was concerned about Judge Jackson. She was in the shower at the time but her assistant told me to butt out and stop harassing. So there!
Want to thank Whyte Owen for his lengthy medical information comment––most interesting.
Also want to answer Ken's question from yesterday about the term "turd blossom" being the name Bush called Carl Rove––-yes, and it was because Rove was known for frequent whiffs of gas otherwise known as farts–-something this dog has in common.
From The Hill:
"Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday grew increasingly combative in his line of questioning of Ketanji Brown Jackson, asking President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee about her religious faith..."
Judge Jackson might have responded: "I'm Catholic. I understand that might make me a shoo-in..."
And P.D, thanks for the etymology. Kinda thought that might have been "turdblossom's" origin...
PD,
I’m guessing that while Onyx* and Turdblossom Rove might share a capacity for flatulence, the dog is by far a more decent and moral creature.
*Great name for a dog, by the way. Is the name related to the his color, or is he just a gem of a dog?
Forgot to mention this earlier. Aunt Pittypat was pretty exercised today about Judge Jackson’s religious beliefs.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t recall there being a religious requirement or test for the Supreme Court (or any other government position—we haven’t yet made the descent to theocracy). They really have nothing on this nominee so might as well make shit up.