March 6, 2022
Afternoon Update:
A Murder of Crows, a Conspiracy of Ravens, A Convoy of Loons. AP: "A large group of truck drivers and their supporters who object to COVID-19 mandates began their mobile protest in the Washington, D.C., area Sunday, embarking on a drive designed to snarl traffic and make their objections known to lawmakers. Protesters staged at the Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland during the weekend before heading down a single lane of Interstate 81. Their plan was to drive onto the Capital Beltway, circle it twice and then return to Hagerstown, news outlets reported.... The Washington Post reported that convoy organizer Brian Brase intends for protesters to travel on the beltway every day during the upcoming week until its demands are met." MB: Should endear them to everyone who has to take the Beltway to work.
If Trump Were Calling the Shots Again. Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump mused Saturday to the GOP's top donors that the United States should label its F-22 planes with the Chinese flag and 'bomb the s--t out of Russia.' He also praised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as 'seriously tough,' claimed he was harder on Vladimir Putin than any other president, reiterated his false claims that he won the 2020 election, urged his party to be 'tougher' on supposed election fraud, disparaged a range of prominent party opponents and called global warming 'a great hoax' that could actually bring a welcome development: more waterfront property. 'And then we say, China did it, we didn't do it, China did it, and then they start fighting with each other and we sit back and watch,' he said of labeling U.S. military planes with Chinese flags and bombing Russia, which was met with laughter from the crowd of donors...." ~~~
~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The audience laughed. A joke, perhaps! But also one about something that might well violate international law. And that's if you can get past the idea that Russia would ever mistake F-22s -- a highly recognizable airplane that the Chinese don't use -- for Chinese aircraft." MB: Speaking of false flags! Trump's a genius. Why, think where we'd be if he made Lindsey Graham his secretary of defense and the two of them put their heads together. Okay, dead. We'd all be dead. But other than that.
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Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war are here: "... President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Sunday called on the entire nation to resist the Russian invasion. He cheered the courage of protesters who filled the streets of occupied cities and towns, saying that 'every meter of our Ukrainian land won by protest and humiliation of the invaders is a step forward, a step toward victory.' Russian forces appeared to be struggling in their primary objective of encircling and capturing Kyiv, the capital. There has been fierce fighting just north of the city, where the Ukrainian military says it is successfully defending its position. The Ukrainians say they are also halting the Russian advance from the east, with the Russians bogged down in clashes around an airport.... Zelensky ... warned the residents of Odessa to be ready for an aerial bombardment." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates are here: "Pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine's National Guard accused each other of failing to establish a humanitarian corridor out of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Sunday, the second time the sides have attempted to arrange it. Ukraine 24 television showed a fighter of the Azov Regiment of the National Guard who said Russian and pro-Russian forces that have encircled the port city of about 400,000 continued shelling the areas that were meant to be safe. The Interfax news agency cited an official of the Donetsk separatist administration who accused the Ukrainian forces of failing to observe the limited ceasefire." ~~~
~~~ CNN's live updates are here: "More than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed into neighboring countries in 10 days, UN refugee agency commissioner Filippo Grandi said Sunday. In a Twitter post, Grandi called it 'the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.'... The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed 'several attacks on health care [centers] in Ukraine, causing multiple deaths and injuries,' WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Sunday."
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Eleven days after it began, the war in Ukraine is entering a more treacherous phase, with Russian forces employing siege tactics and pummeling civilian infrastructure in an attempt to suppress Ukrainian resistance. A rocket blast ripped through homes south of Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. Russia is responding to the surprising 'scale and strength' of Ukrainian resistance by targeting populated areas of several cities -- Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Mariupol -- in an apparent effort to 'break Ukrainian morale,' Britain's Defense Ministry said Sunday, noting that Russia deployed 'similar tactics' in Chechnya in 1999 and in Syria in 2016.... The financial fallout for Russia continued to mount, with Visa and Mastercard announcing Saturday that they would suspend transactions in Russia."
Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "With a line of refugees streaming into Poland behind them, the top American and Ukrainian diplomats met at Ukraine's border on Saturday in a brief but extraordinary encounter to assess what additional support and protection the United States might deliver to address Russia's invasion, which appeared certain to continue. The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, thanked U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken for 'coming here to Ukraine, literally.' The two men stood at the border where, over the course of one hour, hundreds of refugees had crossed into Poland by foot in bone-chilling temperatures. For Mr. Blinken, the brief meeting was a chance to take stock of the humanitarian disaster -- Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II -- caused by the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, in his invasion of Ukraine. For Mr. Kuleba, it was a moment to remind the world anew, in stark terms, of the possibility of an enduring conflict with high numbers of human casualties and the rupture of the global order if foreign assistance stopped short of what Ukraine was demanding."
Alexander Ward & Paul McCleary of Politico: "The U.S. remains in discussions with Poland to potentially backfill their fleet of fighter planes if Warsaw decides to transfer its used MiG-29s to Ukraine, four U.S. officials tell Politico. The ongoing talks, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleads with Congress for help, underscore the frantic push to find weapons to equip Ukrainian forces as they continue to fight off the massive Russian invasion. As Poland weighed sending its warplanes to Ukraine last week, Warsaw asked the White House if the Biden administration could guarantee it would provide them with U.S.-made fighter jets to fill the gap. The White House said it would look into the matter. The Biden administration didn't oppose the Polish government giving Kyiv the MiGs, which could potentially escalate tensions between NATO and Moscow. Poland, for now, has held on to its fighter jets."
AFP: "Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in cities including Santiago, Vancouver Paris and New York in support of Ukraine, demanding an end to Russia's invasion. The protesters rallied on Saturday against Russian ... Vladimir Putin's attack.... One of the largest rallies to demand the withdrawal of Russia's troops from Ukraine on the invasion's 10th day was in Zurich, where organisers believed 40,000 people took part, Switzerland's ATS news agency reported."
The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "As his troops continued to run into stiff resistance in Ukraine..., Vladimir V. Putin of Russia delivered an ominous message to Ukrainians on Saturday, telling government leaders they might lose their statehood and likening the withering sanctions imposed on his country to a 'declaration of war.' 'The current leadership needs to understand that if they continue doing what they are doing, they risk the future of Ukrainian statehood,' Mr. Putin said. He also said any third-party countries that tried to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine would be considered enemy combatants. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has beseeched Western countries to declare such a no-fly zone." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ An AP story is here.
From CNN live updates Friday: "The US Embassy in Kyiv said on Friday that Russia committed a war crime by attacking a nuclear power plant in Ukraine." Marie: Later Friday, I heard on the teevee that the U.S. was downplaying the accusation, even to the point of telling other U.S. embassies not to retweet it. According to the same CNN item, "There is a loud and growing chorus of calls for the International Criminal Court to pursue Vladimir Putin. On Wednesday, the court said it would ;immediately proceed with an active investigation of possible war crimes following Russia's invasion of Ukraine." But this seems to be a general charge against Russia. Could we please stop being so squeamish? Let every country on Earth charge Putin personally with war crimes. Let him know that if he leaves Russia, any other country where he lands will lock him up & try him, in that order. He needs to understand that sanctions are going to him him in places outside his pockets. Trying to avoid hurting his puti-putin feelings is not working, is it? Unlike Lindsey Graham, I don't want to deprive him of his life; I want to deprive him of his freedom for the rest of his sickening natural life. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy implored U.S. lawmakers on Saturday to do more to force Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table and end the war on his country -- including the establishment of a no-fly zone, additional direct aid and a ban on oil imports from Moscow. In a private Zoom call with Senate and House members, Zelenskyy expressed appreciation for the actions taken so far by the U.S. and NATO allies as Russia continues assaulting Ukraine, including sanctions and weapons transfers, according to five people who participated in the call. But Zelenskyy made a direct appeal for more, those people said, including planes, drones and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. The Ukrainian leader also urged the U.S. to ban Russian oil imports -- a cause with bipartisan support on the Hill but plenty of domestic political volatility -- and target its sanctions regime directly at the Russian people, the people said. He called on lawmakers to pressure eastern-flank NATO partners to approve the transfer of planes that Ukrainian pilots are already trained to fly." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ WTF Is the Matter with These Asses? Haley Talbot, et al., of NBC News: "Two Republican senators are facing criticism after tweeting photos of a video call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy even though participating lawmakers were told to not share pictures on social media while it was in progress. Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Steve Daines of Montana posted pictures of Zelenskyy on their Twitter accounts during the Zoom meeting Saturday morning, writing that they were on a call with him. Democratic Reps. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and Jason Crow of Colorado criticized the senators on Twitter. Phillips noted that the 'Ukrainian ambassador very intentionally asked each of us on the Zoom to NOT share anything on social media during the meeting to protect the security of President Zelenskyy.' 'Appalling and reckless ignorance by two U.S. Senators,' Phillips wrote." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Someone should warn Marco & Steve not to put their fingers in a light socket because lives might depend upon it. With any luck, both of them will run, not walk, to the nearest outlet.
Michael Crowley & Jonathan Abrams of the New York Times: "Russia said on Saturday that it had detained an American basketball player -- later identified as Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner -- on drug charges, entangling a U.S. citizen's fate in the dangerous confrontation between Russia and the West over Ukraine.... Also on Saturday, the State Department, which for weeks had warned Americans against traveling to Russia, released an updated advisory urging U.S. citizens to leave the country immediately, citing the invasion in Ukraine, the 'potential for harassment against U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials' and the limited ability of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to assist American citizens in the country.... Video released by Russia's Customs Service showed ... [footage of events that] occurred in February, according to the Customs Service, raising the possibility that Griner, 31, has been in custody for at least several days." An ABC News story is here. MB: Stupid to think it was okay to travel to Russia.
Ten Days in February. Mark Landler, et al., of the New York Times: "In a few frantic days, the West threw out the standard playbook that it had used for decades and instead marshaled a stunning show of unity against Russia's brutal aggression in the heart of Europe.... [Ten] days in February shook the world, upending long-held assumptions, sundering decades of productive engagement, and wiping out billions of dollars of investment in Russia. It was anything but normal. Much as the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 set off a tumultuous cascade of changes across Europe, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has brought the West to a comparable, if far more ominous, historical reckoning.... It has reverberated not just in the councils of state, but also in corporate suites, cultural institutions and sports leagues -- to say nothing of city streets from Mexico City to Madrid, where tens of thousands of demonstrators have waved the yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flag and chanted against Russia's aggression."
Dave Phillips of the New York Times: "... a surge of American veterans ... say they are now preparing to join the fight in Ukraine, emboldened by the invitation of the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who earlier this week announced he was creating an 'international legion' and asked volunteers from around the world to help defend his nation against Russia.... After years of serving in smoldering occupations, trying to spread democracy in places that had only a tepid interest in it, many are hungry for what they see as a righteous fight to defend freedom against an autocratic aggressor with a conventional and target-rich army.... A number of mainstream media outlets, including Military Times and Time, have published step-by-step guides on joining the military in Ukraine.... The risk of unintended escalation has led the U.S. federal government to try to keep citizens from becoming freelance fighters, not just in this conflict, but for centuries.... Despite the risks -- both individual and strategic -- the United States government has so far been measured in its warnings."
Kelsey Ables of the Washington Post: "In the wake of Russia's crackdown on news coverage and the imposition of a new law criminalizing reporting that accurately characterizes the Ukrainian invasion, some international news outlets have taken to technology to circumvent the news blackout, pointing readers to VPNs (virtual private networks), the encrypted Tor browser and even old-fashioned radio.... Media outlets including the BBC, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) have been blocked by the Kremlin, along with several Ukrainian sites, Twitter and Facebook.... But some outlets are refusing to be silenced.... Circumventing censorship is sometimes low-tech. In China, social media users have taken to posting upside-down screenshots of articles on platforms such as Weibo (akin to Twitter). Russian readers still have access to RFE/RL's newsletter 'The Week In Russia,' for instance, because email has not been restricted." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Turning my laptop upside-down? That's about my speed. (In fact, I did it once when somebody sent me an upside-down document, until it dawn on me I could flip the doc 180 degrees.)
Ben Collins & Natasha Korecki of NBC News: "Twitter has banned more than 100 accounts that pushed the pro-Russian hashtag #IStandWithPutin for participating in 'coordinated inauthentic behavior,' days after the hashtag trended on Twitter amid the invasion in Ukraine." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Laura & TuKKKer host SNL's cold open (with special guest stars!). (See also Akhilleus' commentary below.):
Senate Republicans Threaten U.S. Faith & Credit, Ukraine. Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Senate Republicans have issued a series of early threats against a still-forming deal to fund the federal government, signaling that they could delay the package -- which may include emergency aid to Ukraine -- over concerns about excessive spending and vaccine mandates.... In the first letter, sent Thursday, eight GOP [senators] ... demanded 'appropriate time' to read and review any funding bill. It also called for an official analysis by the Congressional Budget Office to assess the impact of the legislation on inflation and the federal debt.... In the second note, sent Friday, 10 Republicans revived their campaign against federal vaccine and testing requirements." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Zach Montague of the New York Times: "The founder of America's Frontline Doctors, an activist group known for spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories about the pandemic and Covid vaccines, has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge related to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 last year. According to a filing from the Justice Department, the doctor, Simone Gold, stood by as a Capitol Police officer was assaulted and dragged to the ground in front of her. She then entered the Capitol and delivered a speech in the National Statuary Hall denouncing vaccine mandates and lockdowns. On Thursday, according to the filing, Dr. Gold pleaded guilty to one count of entering a restricted building...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times write an account of how the Manhattan D.A.'s criminal investigation into Donald Trump's business practices unravelled. It is "drawn from interviews with more than a dozen people knowledgeable about the events [and attempts to pull] back a curtain on one of the most consequential prosecutorial decisions in U.S. history. Had the district attorney's office secured an indictment, Mr. Trump would have been the first current or former president to be criminally charged. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "Donald Trump was aware long before he took the stage at the 'Save America' rally on 6 January that he would not march to the Capitol to protest the congressional certification of Joe Biden's election win, according to his White House private schedule from that day. The former president started his nearly 75-minute long speech at the Ellipse by saying he would go with the crowd to the Capitol, and then repeated that promise when he said he would walk with them down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol.... The newly-released private schedule indicates Trump deliberately lied to his supporters, raising the spectre that he made a promise he had no intention of honoring so that they would descend on the Capitol and disrupt Congress from certifying Biden as president."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
New Jersey, Where Murder & Politics Mix. Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "... in May 2014, [Sean Caddle, a New jersey campaign consultant,] ... hired two men to kill a friend and colleague, Michael Galdieri. Mr. Caddle, 44, has been cooperating with the F.B.I. since at least the fall, federal court records show, but the motive for the murder remains unclear. The revelations, combined with a family's request to reopen an investigation into the unsolved 2014 deaths of a couple prominent in state Republican politics, in light of what relatives called 'eerily similar' circumstances to the murder-for-hire killing, have sent tremors through New Jersey political circles.... At the center of the mystery are Mr. Caddle and Mr. Galdieri, both of whom built careers in the shadows of powerful senators, mayors and councilmen in Hudson County, N.J., a famously bare-knuckle political proving ground. Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, and Raymond Lesniak, a retired Democratic state senator, were among his many clients, election records show."
News Ledes
We Are Iowa: "Officials said seven people were killed, including two children, when tornado-spawning thunderstorms swept through central Iowa. Emergency management officials in Madison County said four were injured and six people were killed Saturday when the tornado touched down near the town of Winterset. Among those killed were two children under the age of five.Another death was confirmed in Lucas County."
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Reader Comments (7)
The Dictator and the Cowardly Lyin’
For weeks, Vladimir Putin, current CEO of War Criminals R Us, LLC, has received lengthy and tender back rubs and plenty of “Attaboys” from that manly-man sooth sayer and friend to democracy, TuKKKer KKKarlson. The gushing encomiums accompanying Putin’s war on a neighboring sovereign state were so pro-dictator and anti-democracy that TuKKKums was featured nightly on state television in Russia as he attacked Biden and NATO, pissed on Ukraine, and lovingly massaged Putin’s pecker.
But now that his old pal is raining cluster bombs down on civilian targets and pretty much every country in the world not run by vicious autocrats has denounced Russia as a pariah state, TuKKKums has announced that maybe, possibly, could be, perhaps….he might have made a tiny mistake.
Backtrack and CYA time has arrived. But! Surprise, surprise, surprise! It wasn’t TuKKKy’s fault that he bent over and grabbed his ankles for Uncle Vlad. No sirree Bob! Who, then, is responsible for poor TuKKKy’s appalling, unqualified support of a vicious war criminal?
Kamala Harris!
Bet you didn’t see that coming, did you?
But sadly, how was TuKKKface to know that if Kamala Harris was involved in high level discussions about possible American responses to the invasion it might be serious? After all, woman, black…it had to be a joke.
What a fucking rat bastard cowardly liar. None of these assholes EVER accept personal responsibility for anything they might consider impediments to their personal glory. It’s always someone else’s fault.
https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-admits-wrong-russia-blames-kamala-harris-2022-3?amp
Speaking of backtracking, when the Party of Traitors fucks up like it did with so many big and little traitors being, well, traitors, by shitting on Biden, NATO, and pretty much all our Western allies in order to demonstrate their fealty to a lawless murderer, they need to make it right with a crazy-ass big swing in the other direction, so everyone will forget what pieces of shit they are. So! We have tough guy Lindsey Graham yapping about murdering Putin.
Jesus. Really?
“I know we used to love Putin, but now we want him shot, stabbed, poisoned, tossed into the river in a bag full of snakes and then set on fire. After he’s drawn and quartered, then strapped into an electric chair for three days.”
Can’t you just say “Putin’s war is unconscionable and we wholeheartedly support the democratic nation of Ukraine”?
But never fear. Pretty soon they’ll all deny they ever said anything nice about Putie. It was Biden who said all those terrible things! Yeah!
AK: Here's a finish to your comical comments that I enjoyed while eating my Sunday eggs and bagel–-no tea, but hey, some of us still drink coffee.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/laura-ingraham-tucker-carlson-snl-fox-news-putin_n_62244917e4b012a2628bb670
A Sunday Sermon that in light of events in Ukraine since I wrote it seems to lack an appropriate level of outrage...in fact, this morning it brings the word "milquetoast" to mind....but it's all I have:
Ryan Zinke, Trump’s first Interior Secretary, is back in the news. It took a while, but the recent report from the Interior Department’s Inspector General concluded that Zinke had indeed used his position to advance his personal interests ahead of the country’s.
Zinke was only one of a half dozen Trump cabinet secretaries so tainted by corruption they were forced to leave the “drain the swamp” president’s administration before Trump's ethically challenged term ended. The number of such departures set an American record (huffpost.com).
Old news, perhaps, but it’s not as if corruption's ravages no longer remain a concern. They do matter, at least in the Democrat-majority House which is drafting legislation that would ban stock trading by members of Congress (cnbc.com), and to the Federal Reserve, which has already enacted rules restricting the investment behavior of Fed officials and staff (pbs.org).
Of course, not all legislators and officials like these changes. Senator Tuberville (R-Alabama), who is under investigation for his own stock trades, has called them “ridiculous,” implying that only the opportunity to personally profit could convince anyone to engage in public service (independent. co. uk).
But the Tubervilles of the world are only one reason fighting corruption is so hard, for corruption is not limited to what people do. Corruption often infects what people say and can even affect how they think.
Putin’s claim that he’s “de-nazifying” a Ukraine governed by a Jewish president and Trump calling Putin’s invading army a “peacekeeping” force, both lies cut from the same Orwellian “war is peace” cloth (newsweek.com), are two glaring examples.
But even when laughable, the harm corrupt language inflicts is never trivial. With lies everywhere around us, our ability to identify reality weakens.
And for many, the lies others tell them soon become the lies they tell themselves.
The Times today is featuring one of my favorite Auden poems––"about suffering that hides in plain sight."
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/06/books/auden-musee-des-beaux-arts.html
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/american-patriots-support-vladimir-putin-on-the-media. Brook Gladstone has some enlightening discussion about 'Righty Whities' in Russia and USA and Ukraine and Eastern Europe. I love how the Jewish woman from Brooklyn has got her lens right onto these fellas.
Much less well done than Gladstone's work: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/04/washington-examiner-times-charlie-savage/. https://www.legistorm.com/person/bio/59590/Conn_M_Carroll.html. These fascist bastards just aren't clever enough to scrub their personal backstories. His little circle jerk club is pretty small for its outsized influence. Yet, he wastes the time of NYT and WAPO. And me.
Dowd's column today compares two previous actors who became leaders of their countries –––one tried to destroy––the other is fighting to save it:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/05/opinion/zelensky-ukraine-trump.html