The Ledes

Friday, September 27, 2024

New York Times: “Maggie Smith, one of the finest British stage and screen actors of her generation, whose award-winning roles ranged from a freethinking Scottish schoolteacher in 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' to the acid-tongued dowager countess on 'Downton Abbey,' died on Friday in London. She was 89.”

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

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here.

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

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The Ledes

Thursday, September 26, 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click on photo to enlarge.

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

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

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

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

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

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Thursday
May182023

May 19, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Negotiations between top White House and Republican congressional officials over a deal to raise the debt limit hit a snag on Friday when a G.O.P. leader in the talks said it was time to 'press pause,' complaining that President Biden's team was being unreasonable and that no progress could be made. It was a setback in the effort to avert a debt default before a June 1 deadline, though it was not clear whether the delay was a tactical retreat or a lasting blow to chances of getting an agreement. The halt came one day after the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus declared that Republicans should cease negotiations with Mr. Biden and insist on their debt limit legislation, which demanded steep spending cuts in exchange for raising the federal borrowing cap and is a dead letter in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The abrupt announcement of a pause also came just a day after Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, told reporters that he believed negotiators could reach a deal in principle as early as the weekend." CNBC's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Every snag is an opportunity. It's Fourteenth Amendment time, Joe!

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "F.B.I. analysts improperly used a warrantless surveillance program to search for information about hundreds of Americans who came under scrutiny in connection with two politically charged episodes of civil unrest: the protests after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, a newly declassified court ruling shows. While the F.B.I. has tightened restrictions since then, the disclosure of the misuses is likely to provide fodder to critics of the program as the Biden administration seeks to persuade Congress to renew it. The surveillance program, known as Section 702, empowers the government to collect, without a warrant and from American companies like Google and AT&T, the communications of foreigners abroad who are targeted for intelligence purposes -- even when they are talking with or about Americans."

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A Metropolitan Police Department lieutenant who supervised the intelligence branch of the Washington, D.C., police was indicted this week, charged with tipping off former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio about a pending warrant for his arrest just ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.... Shane Lamond, 47, was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said Friday. A federal grand jury charged Lamond with obstructing the investigation into the burning of [a Black Lives Matter] banner Dec. 12, 2020, when the Proud Boys were roaming the streets of Washington for a pro-Trump event. Between July 2019 and January 2021, Tarrio and Lamond communicated 'at least 500 times using cloud-based messaging services...," the indictment said. They sent approximately 145 messages using a secret chat function on Telegram that causes messages to disappear, the indictment charged, adding 'at least 101 of these messages were destroyed.'"

Presidential Race 2024. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The bipartisan political group No Labels is stepping up a well-funded effort to field a 'unity ticket' for the 2024 presidential race, prompting fierce resistance from even some of its closest allies who fear handing the White House back to Donald J. Trump. At the top of the list of potential candidates is Senator Joe Manchin III, the conservative West Virginia Democrat who has been a headache to his party and could bleed support from President Biden in areas crucial to his re-election." MB: These people make me sick.

New York. Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Aidan McLaughlin of Mediaite: "The New York Post dropped a bombshell report last week: amid a nationwide influx of migrants, nearly two-dozen homeless veterans were kicked out of hotels where they were being temporarily housed in order to make room for migrants in upstate New York. The story, which was based on a claim by a veterans advocate, got the front page treatment: 'VETS KICKED OUT FOR MIGRANTS,' bellowed the Post last Saturday.... Naturally, Fox News covered the story enthusiastically, treating it as gospel on nearly every program. Hosts pinned blame for the very local story on [President] Biden.... Then, the story fell apart. First, the hotels that veterans were supposedly booted from told Mid-Hudson News they had no idea what the advocate, YIT Foundation Executive Director Sharon Finch, was talking about. Then, a local Republican New York lawmaker dug into her claims and concluded that she lied.... But wait, it gets worse. The Mid-Hudson News -- kudos to this local paper for some tremendous coverage on this story, by the way -- reported on Friday morning that seven homeless men had come forward to reveal that Finch approached them at a shelter this week, offering to pay them in cash, food, and alcohol to pretend that they were veterans who had been kicked out of the hotels to make way for migrants. [The New York Post printed a correction and a report on their story being false.] Fox News has yet to issue any correction over the story."

On the matter of the federal budget, contributor RAS offers this suggestion:

~~~~~~~~~~

On the Left.... Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Speaker Kevin McCarthy's demand that any deal to raise the debt limit must include stricter work requirements for social safety net programs -- and President Biden's hints that he might be willing to accept such a bargain -- has drawn a backlash from liberal Democrats in Congress, underscoring the tricky politics at play in bipartisan talks to avert a default.... Talk of ... a compromise has set off a wave of anger among liberals on Capitol Hill, who have begun openly fretting that the president might agree to a deal they cannot accept. 'I cannot in good conscience support a debt ceiling proposal that pushes people into poverty,' said Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania."~~~

~~~ On the Far Right. Mariana Alfaro & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "The House Freedom Caucus said it's calling on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to suspend his negotiation on raising the debt limit with the White House and instead focus on getting the House-passed 'Limit, Save, Grow Act' through the Senate. 'There should be no further discussion until the Senate passes the legislation,' a statement from the Republican group said." Mediaite has an item here.

U.S. Kills Shepherd Keeping Watch Over His Flocks. Omar Nezhat, et al., of the Washington Post: "U.S. military officials are walking back claims that a recent strike in Syria killed an influential al-Qaeda figure, following assertions by the dead man's family that he had no ties to terrorists but was a father of 10 tending to his sheep when he was slain by an American missile. Lotfi Hassan Misto, 56, whose family identified him as the victim of a Hellfire missile attack on May 3, was a former bricklayer who lived quietly in this town in northwest Syria, according to interviews with his brother, son and six others who knew him.... The operation was overseen by U.S. Central Command, which claimed hours after the strike, without citing evidence or naming a suspect, that the Predator drone strike had targeted a 'senior Al Qaeda leader.' But now there is doubt inside the Pentagon about who was killed, two U.S. defense officials told The Washington Post. 'We are no longer confident we killed a senior AQ official,' one official said. The other, offering a slightly different view, said 'though we believe the strike did not kill the original target, we believe the person to be al-Qaeda.'"

Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post: "One of President Biden's nominees for a federal appeals court position withdrew from consideration on Thursday after months of rare resistance from Democrats in the Senate, who saw the candidate as controversial. Biden nominated former New Hampshire attorney general Michael Delaney to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January. But the nomination languished as Congress members from both sides of the aisle raised concerns about Delaney's legal record. Delaney came under criticism from Democrats and Republicans over his controversial stances defending a parental notification law for abortion and representing a private school amid a sexual assault scandal. Democrats who control the Senate Judiciary Committee held the nomination over several times and never brought it up for a vote.... In a letter to the president..., [Delaney] also noted that he was 'deeply indebted' to New Hampshire Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan for continuing to support his nomination...."

Gym Jordan Holds a Show Hearing Featuring Discredited Witnesses. Lindsay Whitehurst & Farnoush Amiri of the AP: "Former FBI employees accused the bureau of politicization in congressional testimony Thursday, a day after the agency disclosed that two of the men had seen their security clearances revoked over concerns about how their views of the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, affected their work.... Former FBI employees Marcus Allen and Steve Friend testified to the panel just hours after the FBI informed [subcommittee chair Jim] Jordan in a letter Wednesday -- obtained by The Associated Press -- that both men had been stripped of security clearances after either attending the Capitol riot in 2021 or espousing alternate theories about the attack.... Democrats dismissed the testimony, calling the hearing another attempt by Republicans on the committee to help ... Donald Trump. 'This select committee is a clearinghouse for testing conspiracy theories for Donald Trump to use in his 2024 presidential campaign,' [top Democrat Del. Stacey] Plaskett [said]." ~~~

     ~~~ Annie Grayer, et al., of CNN: "Three self-described FBI whistleblowers, [two of whom have had their security clearances revoked,] who are key to the Republican narrative that the FBI is weaponized against conservatives, testified at a House hearing Thursday, the latest escalation of Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan's investigation into allegations of discrimination and bias within the FBI.... Democrats ... raised concerns about their access to information about some of those claims and questioned the credibility of the individuals testifying. Del. Stacey Plaskett, the top Democrat on the weaponization subcommittee, pressed Jordan during the hearing on whether Democrats can get access to the testimony from [former agent Marcus] Allen's interview with GOP members of the committee. But much to the dismay of Democrats, Jordan would not budge on providing the interview transcript or video. Jordan said Allen wasn't comfortable including Democrats in his interview and said Democrats aren't entitled to all the evidence collected when it comes to whistleblowers.... 'I find it incredible that evidence that one side has garnered is not going to be shared with the other side,' said Democratic Rep. Linda Sanchez. 'That's now how committees work.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post highlights some key remarks made during the hearing.

Foghorn Leghorn Smears Anti-Corruption Judge. Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: Senior Judge "Mark L. Wolf has spent his career fighting against corruption and for the rule of law -- as a public corruption prosecutor, as a federal judge, as a crusader against international kleptocracy. For that, at a hearing on judicial ethics this week, he was rewarded with some of the most shameful treatment in memory by a pair of Republican senators ... -- John Neely Kennedy of Louisiana and Mike Lee of Utah -- ... seemingly more intent on smearing the messenger and defending Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas than on exercising their constitutional oversight responsibilities."

Miss Margie Profiles Black Male Colleague. Jared Gans of the Hill: "Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) criticized Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Thursday for 'reckless' and 'dangerous' remarks after she said she felt 'threatened' following an encounter the two had the day before on the steps of the Capitol. Bowman mentioned the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955 and the killing by police in Ferguson, Mo., of Michael Brown in 2014 in criticizing Greene, saying she was putting him in danger with her remarks and playing on racist tropes that demonized Black men.... 'Throughout history, Black men have continually been characterized as aggressive because, one, of our skin color, but two, because we happen to be outspoken and passionate about certain issues,' Bowman said. Greene at a press conference earlier in the day had said that Bowman has a 'history of aggression' toward her and others that she is 'very concerned' about. 'Yelling, shouting, raising his voice. He has aggressive -- his physical mannerisms are aggressive,' she said.... '...I feel threatened by him.'... Bowman said he never invaded Greene's personal space during their interaction and was laughing during the exchange." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I guess this is Miss Margie showing how fearful she is:

~~~ Marie: Fortunately, she is not at all askeert of Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), a big ex-cop who forcibly removed a heckler from a sidewalk "press conference" a few of Margie's friends were holding earlier this week. Yesterday, when I linked to an item about the Higgins incident, I wrote that Higgins reactions might have been justified as a reasonable person might have found the heckler's actions to be threatening. I still think that's true, but there's a mitigating factor I didn't know yesterday: Higgins resigned from a Louisiana force in 2004 after using excessive force against an innocent Black bystander, then lied about it. According to a Times-Picayune report (July 2020), "Without justification, Higgins struck [Andre] Richard, grabbed him by the neck and may have kicked him as he lay handcuffed, face-down. Higgins then lied about it to his superiors and falsely accused Richard of battery, records show. He quit the force soon after, as the department was about to impose hefty discipline on Higgins for his misconduct, says Perry Gallow, then chief of the Opelousas Police Department." So that tells you a lot about what you need to know about Higgins' judgment and, in my mind, calls into question his decision to use force against a protester this week.

Annie Karni & Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "When she arrived at the Capitol last week after a more than two-month absence recovering from shingles, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, 89, appeared shockingly diminished. Using a wheelchair, with the left side of her face frozen and one eye nearly shut, she seemed disoriented.... Ms. Feinstein's frail appearance was a result of several complications after she was hospitalized for shingles in February, some of which she has not publicly disclosed. The shingles spread to her face and neck, causing vision and balance impairments and facial paralysis known as Ramsay Hunt syndrome. The virus also brought on a previously unreported case of encephalitis, a rare but potentially debilitating complication of shingles, according to two people familiar with the senator's diagnosis.... And even before this latest illness, Ms. Feinstein had already suffered substantial memory issues that had raised questions about her mental capacity.” Feinstein continues to refuse to retire. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Democrats' failure to politely force Feinstein into retirement is elder abuse.

Robert Barnes & Cat Zackrzewski of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court ruled for Google and Twitter in a pair of closely watched liability cases Thursday, saying families of terrorism victims had not shown the companies helped foster attacks on their loved ones. 'Plaintiffs' allegations are insufficient to establish that these defendants aided and abetted ISIS in carrying out the relevant attack,' Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a unanimous decision in the Twitter case. The court adopted similar reasoning in the claim against Google. The court's narrowly focused rulings sidestepped requests to limit a law that protects social media platforms from lawsuits over content posted by their users, even if the platform's algorithms promote videos that laud terrorist groups. That law, Section 230, has emerged as a lightning rod in the politically polarized debate over the future of online speech, as tech companies come under increased pressure to police offensive, harmful and violent posts on their platforms." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Andy Warhol was not entitled to draw on a prominent photographer's portrait of Prince for an image of the musician that his estate licensed to a magazine, limiting the scope of the fair-use defense to copyright infringement in the realm of visual art. The vote was 7 to 2 Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the majority, said the photographer&'s 'original works, like those of other photographers, are entitled to copyright protection, even against famous artists.' She focused on the fact that Warhol and Lynn Goldsmith, the photographer whose work he altered, were both engaged in the commercial enterprise of licensing images of Prince to magazines.... In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., wrote that the decision 'will stifle creativity of every sort.'" MB: Copyright lawyers must be thrilled by the ruling. ~~~

     ~~~ "You're a Drama Queen!" "You're a Philistine!" Sotormayor & Kagan had a spat, reflected in their opinions: Liptak writes, "Justice Kagan's opinion, Justice Sotomayor wrote, was made up of 'a series of misstatements and exaggerations, from the dissent's very first sentence to its very last.' Justice Kagan responded that Justice Sotomayor wholly failed to appreciate Warhol's art. 'The majority does not see it,' Justice Kagan wrote. 'And I mean that literally. There is precious little evidence in today's opinion that the majority has actually looked at these images, much less that it has engaged with expert views of their aesthetics and meaning.'"

Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "The Georgia prosecutor leading an investigation into ... Donald J. Trump and his allies has taken the unusual step of announcing remote work days for most of her staff during the first three weeks of August, asking judges in a downtown Atlanta courthouse not to schedule trials for part of that time as she prepares to bring charges in the inquiry. The moves suggest that Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, is expecting a grand jury to unseal indictments during that time period. Ms. Willis outlined the remote work plan and made the request to judges in a letter sent on Thursday to 21 Fulton County officials...."

~~~ Book Reviews. Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Josh Hawley's (R-Mo.) book on manhood ― called, of course, 'Manhood' ― is finally out, and the reviews have not been very kind. Mazza provides excerpts from some reviews." MB: Not surprisingly, the reviews are a lot funnier than what reviewers found to be a humorless book. And apparently Hawley fails to address his famously manly flight away from the mob of marauders he had hours before given a solidarity air-fist pump.

Beyond the Beltway

Florida Mouse Poop. Brooks Barnes of the New York Times: After warning there could be a price for Gov. Ron DeSantis' retaliation against Disney for the company's criticism of DeSantis' "Don't Say Gay" law, Disney CEO Robert "Iger and Josh D'Amaro, Disney's theme park and consumer products chairman, showed that they were not bluffing, pulling the plug on a nearly $1 billion office complex that was scheduled for construction in Orlando. It would have brought more than 2,000 jobs to the region, with $120,000 as the average salary, according to an estimate from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.... The company's battle with Mr. DeSantis and his allies in the Florida Legislature figured prominently into Disney's decision to cancel the Lake Nona project, according to two people briefed on the matter...." The AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Montana. Sapna Maheshwari & David McCabe of the New York Times: "A court battle over First Amendment rights kicked off in Montana on Thursday after a group of TikTok users challenged the state's new TikTok ban, which is set to take effect Jan. 1 and is the first of its kind in the nation. The TikTok users said in a lawsuit that the law violated their First Amendment rights and claimed that the ban, which Gov. Greg Gianforte [R] signed on Wednesday, far outstripped Montana's legal authority as a state. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court but was added to a public court records system on Thursday. The ban has also set off an outcry from TikTok and civil liberty and digital rights groups."

Texas/Colorado. Olafimihan Oshin of the Hill: "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) confirmed Thursday that the first bus of migrants has arrived in Colorado.... Abbott [noted] in a news release ... that the migrants were dropped off near the Civic Center Park in Denver." MB: Colorado's governor and U.S. senators are Democrats, as is the mayor of Denver.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Friday is here: "The Biden administration has informed European allies that Washington will not block their export of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, a person familiar with the decision told The Washington Post. President Biden has said previously that he opposes the United States sending F-16s to Ukraine. President Biden is in Japan to attend the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, where the Russian invasion of Ukraine is one of the top items on the agenda. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to attend the meeting in person.... The United States will roll out a 'substantial package' of sanctions that will make it 'even harder for Russia to sustain its war machine,' a senior Biden administration official said Thursday. This involves restricting categories of goods essential to battle and cutting off dozens of Russian and third-country entities from receiving U.S. exports, among other measures, the official said."

COMMUNITY CHEST CARD -- Accounting Error In Your Favor. Collect $3 Billion. Karoon Demirjian, et al., of the New York Times: "The Pentagon has significantly reduced its estimate of the value of weapons it has sent to Ukraine, freeing up at least $3 billion to keep Ukrainian troops supplied in their war against Russia over the next several months. The Biden administration has faced intensifying pressure to explain how it intended to continue supporting Ukraine without asking Congress to replenish its budget. On Thursday, Pentagon and State Department officials told congressional staff members that they had discovered an accounting issue that could make more resources available.... Administration officials said their mistake was one of improper valuation, explaining that they had been calculating the price of each item based on how much it would cost to replace it with new equipment, instead of its sale value.... But instead of placating Congress's concerns, the revelation was met with frustration and anger, as some lawmakers criticized the Biden administration for what they said was an extremely troublesome error."

Nigeria. Sammy Westfall of the Washington Post (May 17): "Assailants attacked a two-vehicle U.S. government convoy in Nigeria on Tuesday, killing four people and leaving some members of the convoy 'unaccounted for,' Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a Wednesday statement. No U.S. citizens were involved, National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby said in a Tuesday briefing."

News Lede

Washington Post: "Sam Zell, the proudly foul-mouthed real estate tycoon whose daring buyout of the Tribune Co., the publisher of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, was riddled by mismanagement, allegations of sexual harassment and financial calamity that ultimately sent the company into bankruptcy, died May 18 at 81."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (12)

14th Amendment, 14th Amendment, 14th Amendment, 14th Amendment, 14th Amendment, 14th Amendment!!!

Did Biden learn nothing from his eight years with Obama? These are not normal people. They don’t recognize a side that’s not their own, needs that others might have, a position they haven’t scrawled on the Capitol building parking lot in playground chalk. And misspelled it.

You cannot negotiate with people who say “Everything for me—nothing for you”. That’s not negotiating, that’s a ransom demand.

“Give us a million dollars in pennies within one hour or we kill your whole family.” You get the pennies. “Waaahhh! No! No! We want only pennies minted in 1964!” You get the ‘64 pennies. “Waaaah! No! These pennies aren’t shiny enough! We want shiny pennies!” You find shiny 1964 pennies. “What? We don’t want 1964 pennies. Who said 1964 pennies?” “You did.” “Lies! Call Fox! They’re trying to screw us! We want 1899 Indian head pennies. Right now!! Waaaahhhh!”

Biden looks like he’s going to cave on My Kevin’s stupid demands (work requirements? I’ll give you work requirements. How ‘bout you pieces of shit do some work for once instead of screaming photo ops on Fox about missing witnesses and scary black guys?) and here comes the Freedumb Cock ups. “Waaaaahhh! We want more! We have a winning hand! Give us everything we want and FUCK YOU!!”

Think this sounds a tad hyperbolic? You wish. No. This is exactly how they operate. They do nothing. They give nothing. They get what they want, then they demand more. Then call you a traitor after they get everything.

14th Amendment, 14th Amendment, 14th Amendment!

Teach these dirty diaper infants a lesson. They have no interest in debt ceilings. They have no interest in the constitutional requirement to pay the bills. They see this as a way to own the libs, to screw Biden, to say “Yay! We won! And we didn’t have to do anything but say nonononono!”

Enough of this bullshit.

May 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

About this shameful Feinstein situation…

The person to go after is not Feinstein. The poor woman doesn’t know where she is or what’s going on. The person to dress down about this is her chief of staff. Probably the whole staff. These are likely the people saying “Everything is fine, Senator. Look! We got you a nice shiny wheelchair. When we push you around you can go “Chooo-choo!” just like a big train. Oh, and by the way, first can you sign our checks?”

With Feinstein retired, these people are out of work. They’ve had a front row seat for years to the biggest goings-on in official Washington because of Feinstein’s seniority and her snazzy committee assignments. With her out of the Senate and home where she belongs, they’re pounding the pavement looking for work.

Talk to these people. Tell them they’ll have zero chance of getting something other than tending the xerox machine in the BLM office in Yucca Flats unless they come around and help end this shameful charade.

May 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

And then there's
Judge Newman at the Federal Circuit ...

The article is mostly firewalled, but you can get the gist from the first couple of paragraphs. I had always had huge respect for her, but Geez Louise, know when it's time to step the fk down.

May 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRockyGirl

@Akhilleus: I'm in total agreement with you about Feinstein. Like you, I suspect her staff. That's why a while back I suggested Schumer & the gang promise all of Feinstein's staffers great jobs with no drop in pay, either with the senator Newsom appoints or with another senator. The max these staffers make is almost $170,000/year, plus the fabulous prestige and all, so I can see why they don't want to give up their lovely jobs. Nonetheless, it's common for staffers to move around to other staffs as the bosses change out.

And @RockyGirl is right, too. People need to learn to step down. One big problem I see is that there is no particular incentive for federal employees to retire. My husband was still good at his job after retirement age, but the university where he taught "encouraged" him to retire because they could hire two associate professors for the salary they were paying him. So they offered him some small incentives to retire, and he took the hint. And the incentives.

May 19, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

AK: You've addressed the two biggies that have been on my radar so thanks for that. Just want to mention that slippery Gymy Jordan's miserable try at a congressional hearing on F.B.I. whistleblowers who are NOT of that ilk and the Dems smeared egg all over his face.

Diane's condition is beyond repair and she needs to bid adieu. Your mention of her staff being then out of their jobs I hadn't thought about so, yes, that has a play in it. So who will be the designated mourner is up for grabs.

May 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterP.D.Pepe

The story of Bob and Shell.

May 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

More meaningless poll numbers?

I hope not.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/poll-us-religious-disaffiliation-christian-nationalist-power/

May 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/19/debt-ceiling-republicans-pause-negotiations-with-white-house.html

The headline on this one wherein Republicans claim the WH is not being reasonable brings a variation of Dorothy Parker immediately to mind.

"How could they tell?" How would they know?

May 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Ken,

I heard whiny baby traitors yelling about Biden “refuses” to compromise.

The definition of “compromise” for these jackals is “Do what we say”.

So far I have yet to hear a single (actual) compromises offered by the traitors. Like I said earlier, they give nothing but they demand everything, while doing nothing.

14th Amendment!

May 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

From the 14th Admendment, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned,”

Unfortunately we learned with TFG's taxes that "shall" only means what Republicans want it to mean depending on what day of the week it is.

May 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

RAS,

Re: what the traitors want things to mean: It’s the usual blast of tinny tuckets from the same sorry clutch of clumpertons and Dogberries exhaling their ebrious flapdoodle as if they were intoning the Homeric hymns.

May 19, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

The 14th reads like the 2nd.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Too many commas for addled brains to handle. Ever hear of Shays' Rebellion and the impetus it had? No mention of individual/personal rights to bear arms. That's the phantom cause.

May 19, 2023 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed
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