May 25, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Texas. James Barragan, et al., of the Texas Tribune: "In an unprecedented move, a Texas House committee voted Thursday to recommend that Attorney General Ken Paxton be impeached and removed from office, citing a yearslong pattern of alleged misconduct and lawbreaking that investigators detailed one day earlier. During a specially called meeting Thursday afternoon, the House General Investigating Committee voted unanimously to refer articles of impeachment to the full chamber. The House will next decide whether to approve articles of impeachment against Paxton, which could remove the attorney general from office pending the outcome of a trial to be conducted by the Senate. If a majority of the 149-member House approves the articles before the regular legislative session ends Monday, senators would need to convene a special session to hear the case."

** Scenes from a Heist. Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Two of Donald Trump’s employees moved boxes of papers the day before FBI agents and a prosecutor visited the former president's Florida home to retrieve classified documents in response to a subpoena -- timing that investigators have come to view as suspicious and an indication of possible obstruction, according to people familiar with the matter. Trump and his aides also allegedly carried out a 'dress rehearsal' for moving sensitive papers even before his office received the May 2022 subpoena, according to the people familiar with the matter.... Prosecutors in addition have gathered evidence indicating that Trump at times kept classified documents in his office in a place where they were visible and sometimes showed them to others, these people said. Taken together, the new details of the classified-documents investigation suggest a greater breadth and specificity to the instances of possible obstruction found by the FBI and Justice Department than has been previously reported." Read on.

** Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, was sentenced on Thursday to 18 years in prison for his conviction on seditious conspiracy charges for the role he played in helping to mobilize the pro-Trump attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The sentence, handed down in Federal District Court in Washington, was the most severe penalty so far in the more than 1,000 criminal cases stemming from the Capitol attack -- and the first to be increased for fitting the legal definition of terrorism. It was also the first to have been given to any of the 10 members of the Oath Keepers and another far-right group, the Proud Boys, who were convicted of sedition in connection with the events of Jan. 6." Read on. Rhodes remains an unrepentant danger to society. ~~~

     ~~~ Hannah Rabinowitz & Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "A second Oath Keepers member, Kelly Meggs, the leader of the Florida contingent of the group, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The sentences are the first handed down in over a decade for seditious conspiracy."

** Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to police water pollution, ruling that the Clean Water Act does not allow the agency to regulate discharges into some wetlands near bodies of water. The court held that law covers only wetlands 'with a continuous surface connection' to those waters, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for five justices. The decision was nominally unanimous, with all the justices agreeing that the homeowners who brought the case should not have been subject to the agency's oversight. But there was sharp disagreement about the majority's reasoning. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, joined by the three liberal justices in a concurring opinion, said the decision would harm the E.P.A.'s ability to combat pollution." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The obvious fix for Sam & the Gang's ruling is for Congress to amend the Clean Water Act to include the bodies of water the EPA wants to regulate. Let's just ask My Kevin & Miss Margie to draft some legislation (ha ha ha).

Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Stephen K. Bannon ... is scheduled to stand trial in May of next year for what prosecutors say was his role in defrauding Americans who paid money toward the construction of a southern border wall, a judge said Thursday. The judge, Juan M. Merchan, said that while the May 27, 2024 trial was later than he had anticipated -- he had originally considered a November date -- he was satisfied with the schedule proposed by Mr. Bannon's lawyers as long as prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney's office were satisfied. A prosecutor, Daniel Passeser, said that he was."

Marie: There was something else that went wrong with DeSantis' presidential announcement, and this was something about which he had a couple of weeks' notice -- and still did nothing to adjust his plans. Sally Goldenberg & Meredith McGraw of Politico: "DeSantis' original plan had been for him to do his first post-announcement interview on Fox News with Tucker Carlson, according to two people familiar with his plans. When the Fox News host was fired, the governor kept his commitment to the network. He appeared with fill-in host Trey Gowdy in the 8 p.m. hour although the cable news channel has seen evening viewership plummet since Carlson's ouster." Good leaders know how to plan. Moreover, if their plans don't work out, they know how to pivot to Plan B or C or D. If DeSantolini had had Lincoln's job during the U.S. Civil War, we'd all be living in slave states and singing "Swanee Ribber." But then today's Ron DeSantolini would be good with that.

Florida. Andrew Lapin of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: "Months before a Miami-area mother persuaded a local school to restrict access to an Amanda Gorman poem, she was posting antisemitic memes on her Facebook page. Now, Daily Salinas is apologizing for one of those things -- and unrepentant about the other. 'I want to apologize to the Jewish community,' Salinas told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Wednesday. She was saying sorry for a Facebook post she shared in March offering a summary of 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,' a notorious antisemitic forgery written more than a century ago in Russia. 'I'm not what the post says,' Salinas said. 'I love the Jewish community.'... [Salinas' Facebook] account, which JTA reviewed, features a flood of political posts reflecting right-wing ideologies -- and the antisemitic Protocols." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This struck me from the JTA story: "[Salinas] added that English is not her first language." She used her unfamiliarity with English as part of her excuse for not knowing about the Protocols. English is my first language, and I've taken a lot of English classes over the years. But I'm still baffled by a lot of poetry that critics tell us is billiant. Do you suppose Salinas, who admits to having trouble with English, and member of that Miami Lakes school board, just might not "get" Gorman's poem? (Children, on the other hand, have open, receptive minds, and they are as likely as I or more likely than I to interpret the poem in positive ways. But I suppose that's what worries all the wingers: that their own children might grow up to be decent, caring human beings.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Leigh Ann Caldwell, et al., of the Washington Post: "House Democratic lawmakers are voicing frustration over President Biden's approach to negotiating a debt ceiling deal with Republicans, worrying that their priorities are not being championed aggressively enough and that Biden hasn't more forcefully pushed back publicly against Republican demands.... Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.), who has served in the House for almost 30 years, encouraged Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) during Democrats' weekly caucus meeting Tuesday to ask the president to immediately address the nation, detailing how Republicans are toying with the economy and explaining that a default would catastrophically affect their lives. Jeffries acknowledged Jackson Lee's request and assured lawmakers that he and his leadership team would take a more aggressive approach to messaging while the White House adheres to a strategy of keeping negotiation behind closed doors." ~~~

~~~ Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Every House Democrat has endorsed the discharge petition to force a vote on legislation to hike the debt ceiling and prevent a default, party leaders announced Wednesday. The signatures of the last final holdouts -- Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Ed Case (D-Hawaii) -- puts the total number at 213, meaning Democratic leaders still need to find five Republicans if the petition is to be successful. 'It takes a handful of members of the GOP to say, "Enough,"' Rep. Katherine Clark (Mass.), the Democratic whip, told reporters in the Capitol. That's a heavy lift, since it would require GOP lawmakers to buck the wishes of Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who is in tense negotiations with the White House over a debt-ceiling package and is opposed to a vote on the 'clean' debt-limit hike preferred by Democrats." (Also linked yesterday evening.) ~~~

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Dan Pfeiffer of the Message Box: "When speaking with reporters about his 'negotiations' with the White House over extending the debt limit, [Kevin] McCarthy was asked what concessions his side was willing to make. Were the Republicans willing to raise taxes on the wealthy? Close a single tax loophole? Provide additional funding for one of [President] Biden's priorities? Nope. McCarthy responded: 'We're going to raise the debt ceiling.' And with that one sentence, the Speaker of the House admitted ... [that] what is happening between the White House and the House Republicans is not a negotiation; it's extortion, pure and simple.... The Republican position is this: give us what we want or we will blow up the global economy. McCarthy admits that if his requests aren't met, he will let the U.S. default on its obligations. That's not a negotiation. And the media should stop calling it that.... The legacy media is incapable of accurately portraying the MAGA era of American politics."

     ~~~ Monmouth University: "Half of Americans say the debt ceiling issue should be dealt with cleanly, while just 1 in 4 want to tie it to federal spending negotiations, according to the Monmouth ... University Poll. A plurality agrees with predictions that the country will suffer significant economic problems if the debt ceiling is not raised -- a view that increases to a clear majority among those who have been paying a lot of attention to the issue." (Also linked yesterday evening.)

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "President Biden intends to nominate Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the Air Force chief of staff, on Thursday to become the country's most senior military officer, formalizing what had been one of the worst kept secrets in Washington. If confirmed by the Senate, General Brown would be only the second Black man, after Colin L. Powell, to hold the job of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the senior military adviser to the president. General Brown would succeed Gen. Mark A. Milley, whose term has spanned four tumultuous years that encompassed efforts by ... Donald J. Trump to use active-duty troops against American protesters; the riots at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan; and the war in Ukraine."

Jared Gans of the Hill: "The White House on Wednesday ripped GOP Reps. James Comer (Ky.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) for what it called 'bizarre' congressional probes of President Biden and his family members, arguing that the investigations are politically motivated. White House spokesperson Ian Sams said in a memo that Comer, who serves as the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and other members of the panel have 'aggressively' pursued politically motivated investigations of Biden and his family that are designed to hurt Biden personally instead of look into potential wrongdoing.... Sams also pointed to an interview that Comer gave Fox News on Monday in which he connected the investigation into the Biden family to the poll numbers showing former President Trump improving in his standing in a hypothetical matchup against Biden in 2024."

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "As the Supreme Court deliberates the future of President Biden's student loan forgiveness program, the House voted Wednesday to overturn the controversial plan to cancel more than $400 billion in debt, as well as restart loan payments for tens of millions of borrowers. The 218-to-203 vote fell largely along party lines, with two Democrats -- Reps. Jared Golden (Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.) -- joining Republicans in endorsing a resolution to scrap the president's plan to cancel up to $20,000 of federal student debt per eligible borrower. The measure would also end the pause on federal student loan payments, a policy first introduced by the Trump administration in response to the coronavirus pandemic more than three years ago. The resolution also would prevent the Education Department from pursuing similar policies in the future. The measure now heads to the Senate, but Biden has already threatened a veto if it passes."

Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Democrats in the House chamber burst into raucous laughter when Marjorie Taylor Greene called for 'decorum'. The far-right Georgia Republican, controversialist and conspiracy theorist was presiding over the House on Wednesday as Steve Scalise, the Republican majority leader, was speaking." ~~~

Gail Collins of the New York Times: "Dianne Feinstein is giving old age a bad name.... It's time for her to set a good example and retire immediately. The country shouldn't discriminate against older workers, and older workers shouldn't insist on staying in jobs they can no longer really carry out."

Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "In the last two fiscal years, federal judges considering appeals for denied [Social Security] benefits found fault with almost 6 in every 10 cases and sent them back to administrative law judges at Social Security for a new hearing -- the highest rate of rejections in years, agency statistics show. Court remands are on pace to reach similar levels this year. Federal judges have complained of legal errors, inaccurate assessments of whether claimants can work, failures to consider medical evidence and factual mistakes.... The scathing opinions have come from trial and appellate judges across the political spectrum.... The high rate of rejections for cases handled by administrative law judges and the attorneys who write their decisions is driven by stringent monthly quotas set by Social Security officials and growing pressure to deny more cases, according to current and former officials, audits and attorneys who represent the disabled.... The result has been an unmistakable shift to an adversarial disability system...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Don't worry, folks. If Congressional Republicans have their way, Social Security won't be paying any benefits at all. Lorie Konish of CNBC: "... experts are warning that Social Security checks could be at risk if there is a default. Based on the payment schedule for those monthly payments, the oldest and poorest beneficiaries could be the first who may have their payments affected, according to Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities."

Alan Feuer & Zach Montague of the New York Times: "An Arkansas man who became notorious for putting his foot on a desk in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the attack on the Capitol by supporters of ... Donald J. Trump was sentenced on Wednesday to four and a half years in prison. The man, Richard 'Bigo' Barnett, was found guilty at a trial in January of eight criminal offenses, including interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder and obstructing the certification of the 2020 election that took place at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. After deliberating for less than three hours, a jury in Federal District Court in Washington rejected Mr. Barnett's testimony that he had ended up in Ms. Pelosi's office suite while looking for a bathroom and that the 950,000-volt stun gun he was carrying that day was not working." The NBC News story is here.

Melanie Zanona, et al., of CNN: Former Congressman & White House Chief of Staff Mark "Meadows is viewed as a critical first-hand witness to the investigations of both special counsel Jack Smith and Georgia's Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. He's been ordered to testify before the grand jury in both investigations, and to provide documents to the special counsel after a judge rejected [Donald] Trump's claims of executive privilege.... It is unclear whether Meadows has responded to the special counsel's requests or appeared in front of that grand jury in Washington.... A source close to Trump's legal team said Trump's lawyers have had no contact with Meadows and his team and are in the dark on what Meadows is doing in the investigation, fueling speculation about whether Meadows is cooperating with the special counsel's probe -- or if Meadows himself is a target of the investigation.... One Trump adviser told CNN. 'No one really knows what he's doing....'" This story is largely about how Meadows advised MAGA-crazed members of the House on how to game out the disastrous House speaker selection process and how he's now advising them to blow up the economy in the debt-ceiling hostage-taking.

Trump, More Crazy After All These Years. Isaac Arnsdorf, et al., of the Washington Post: "On ... a host of subjects, from sexual assault to foreign and domestic policy, Trumps positions have become even more extreme, his tone more confrontational, his accounts less tethered to reality, according to a Washington Post review of Trump's speeches and interviews with former aides. Where he was at times ambiguous or equivocal, he's now brazenly defiant.... To experts who have reviewed his proposals, Trump is sketching out the contours of a second term potentially more dangerous and chaotic than his first. Critics across the political spectrum have voiced alarm at his increasingly menacing rhetoric. [For instance:] Not only has Trump never acknowledged his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, but over time his false claims of rampant fraud have become more elaborate." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Andrea Cambron, et al., of CNN: "A man arrested for having an AK-47 on school property walked up to the CIA Headquarters' gate in Virginia and allegedly said, 'I'm here and I have a gun,' a law enforcement source told CNN. Uniformed federal officers turned him away at the gate Tuesday and notified Fairfax County police of his description, the source said Wednesday. The suspect, identified as 32-year-old Eric Sandow of Gainesville, Florida, was later arrested and charged with felony possession of a firearm on school property, police said. He allegedly trespassed on the grounds of Dolley Madison Preschool around 11 a.m. Tuesday, police said. The preschool is less than 1.5 miles from CIA Headquarters and about a 10-minute drive to major landmarks in Washington, DC, including the National Mall." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post: "The man with a Nazi flag who authorities say crashed a U-Haul truck into a security barrier outside the White House Monday and told investigators he would kill President Biden is not a U.S. citizen or lawful resident, a prosecutor said in court Wednesday.... [At a hearing Wednesday,] Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather ordered Kandula held until a bond hearing on Tuesday."

David Ingram of NBC News: "Elon Musk's claims that he'd bring political balance to Twitter were already under heavy scrutiny given his ongoing embrace of Republican politicians and far-right politics. Now, after joining Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as he announced his presidential bid, the idea has taken hold among the left that Twitter is just another part of the conservative media apparatus. Democratic strategists said the joint Musk-DeSantis event was only the latest example of the tech billionaire aligning himself and Twitter with increasingly conservative politics in a rightward shift from the San Francisco company's previous identity.... The roughly hour-long event featured a series of people tapped to ask questions, all of whom were well-known conservative pundits and operatives who almost universally fawned over DeSantis. And those questions almost entirely centered on GOP culture war politics: Covid lockdowns, government overreach, the mainstream media, immigration, critical race theory and even bitcoin regulation." Much more on the DeSantis rollout linked below. ~~~

~~~ The technical problems that delayed the DeSantis-Musk event by more than 20 minutes and greatly reduced the live audience were a disaster for both DeSantis & his lovely host Elon Musk:

     ~~~ Ryan Mac of the New York Times: "The technical problems on Wednesday showed how Twitter is operating far from seamlessly, turning what was supposed to be a crowning event for Mr. Musk into something of an embarrassment.... As the Twitter audio livestream faltered, the reaction -- including on Twitter itself -- was shock and scorn that what should have been a carefully choreographed announcement of a presidential run had stumbled so badly.... Inside Twitter, employees had been alarmed by Mr. Musk's turn into politics and whether the social media site could handle the influx of traffic, three employees said. There was no planning for what are known as 'site reliability issues' for the event with Mr. DeSantis, two ... people said.... Mr. Musk later said that his account, which has 140 million followers and which promoted and launched the livestream, had brought in too many listeners and that Twitter's systems had been unable to handle them. Twitter's systems recovered, the employees said, but the restarted livestream with Mr. DeSantis had a smaller audience, with about 275,000 listeners. Even before the glitches, the event had drawn criticism, especially since Mr. Musk has said Twitter is a politically neutral platform." ~~~

~~~ Presidential Farce 2024.

     ~~~ Via Steve M. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link.

New York Times liveblog: "Ron DeSantis's long-awaited official entry into the 2024 presidential campaign went haywire at its start on Wednesday during a glitch-filled livestream over Twitter.... On Wednesday, Mr. DeSantis's official run for the White House got off to an embarrassing start as the planned livestream with Twitter's eccentric billionaire owner, Elon Musk, was marred by technical problems and dead air. The audio cut in and out amid talk of 'melting the servers,' hot mic whispering and on-the-spot troubleshooting.... The extended social media hiccup -- as more than 500,000 people were waiting -- was gleefully cheered on the very platform Mr. DeSantis was supposed to be commandeering for his campaign. Donald Trump Jr. wrote a single word: '#DeSaster.' Mr. Biden posted a donation button to his re-election campaign with the words, 'This link works.' The audience when Mr. DeSantis did deliver his remarks was smaller than it had been during the initial minutes when no one was speaking." The article, which is the item pinned to the top of the liveblog, goes on to discuss DeSantis' strengths (a rich campaign chest) & weaknesses (he's Ron DeSantis). ~~~

     ~~~ An NBC News story is here. Politico's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Stephen Collinson of CNN: "The Florida governor has been preparing for months to run for president, but his official campaign launch committed a cardinal political sin -- offering his opponents, especially ... Donald Trump, an opening to turn him into an object of ridicule.... The cliche that the best day of any presidential candidate's campaign is when they first announce will not apply to DeSantis, who managed to obliterate his own message. And even when the event got up and running, it felt more like a fan fest for Musk, as various conservative opinion leaders called in to boost DeSantis but seemed more effusive about his host.... DeSantis ... had almost nothing to say to Americans who do not share his stark conservative ideology. There was no outreach to a wider, less partisan audience. And no sense that DeSantis, if elected, would represent all Americans or has any vision for how he would lead the Western world at a time of great international instability." ~~~

~~~ Josh Marshall of TPM: "One way to summarize the conversation was that about 50% of it was various guests saying Elon Musk is totally awesome; the other 40% was DeSantis saying DeSantis is totally awesome. I'm budgeting 10% for times the connection crashed.... The one through-line that united most of these together was relitigating COVID lockdowns.... Most people probably wouldn't even know half the things these guys were talking about. Lots of jargon, very inside stuff.... Toward the end when they got deep into the 'woke mob', weaponized banking and more an excited [David] Sacks [-- a venture capitalist/DeSantis backer who joined the conversation --] said President DeSantis would be a 'cool headed ruthless assassin' destroying the woke mob. To most people that kind of language is a mix of laughable and disturbing. Most people aren't trying to elect a chief ninja or a mass shooter." ~~~

~~~ Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "The Florida governor's chosen rollout venue was always going to be a risk, an aural gamble on Mr. Musk, a famously capricious and oxygen-stealing co-star, and the persuasive powers of Mr. DeSantis's own disembodied voice.... Twitter's streaming tool, known as Spaces, has been historically glitchy. Executive competence, core to the DeSantis campaign message, was conspicuously absent. And for a politician credibly accused through the years of being incorrigibly online -- a former DeSantis aide said he regularly read his Twitter mentions -- the event amounted to hard confirmation, a zeitgeisty exercise devolving instead into a conference call from hell.... At 6:26 p.m., Mr. DeSantis finally announced himself, long after his campaign had announced his intentions, reading from a script that often parroted an introduction video and an email sent to reporters more than 20 minutes earlier." ~~~

Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "With Donald Trump holding a lock on the populist right, and the remnants of the GOP establishment split between several low-polling alternatives, Ron DeSantis is casting in his lot with a third group: very online, anti-'woke' Silicon Valley moguls.... DeSantis' decision to announce his presidential run on Twitter Spaces, scheduled for Wednesday evening with Elon Musk and the outspoken venture capitalist David Sacks, represents an embrace of a strain of right-leaning, anti-establishment politics that has gained currency in recent years among the tech set.... By announcing his run with the two moguls on Twitter Spaces, DeSantis is betting that his ultra-wealthy supporters will be useful not just for writing checks, but for framing his campaign for public consumption." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Schreckinger never mentions how perfect it is that a guy who can't stand to associate with the hoi polloi launches his presidential campaign in the company of one of the world's richest people and a wealthy venture capitalist. What he needed to do was establish some bona fides with the unwashed masses. Instead, he sent a clear signal that he'd rather hang with smarmy billionaires. (As Steve M. put it in a headline the other day, "DeSANTIS: I WANT TO BE YOUR PRESIDENT, EVEN THOUGH I HATE PEOPLE.")

Jared Gans of the Hill: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) cleared his own path to keep his current position while running for president, signing a bill that will allow him to remain as governor while being a presidential candidate. DeSantis announced in a release on Wednesday that he signed 20 bills, including one that will create an exception to a state election law that has required official candidates for federal office to resign from their positions if the terms of the two posts would overlap were the candidate [t]o win their race. The bill that DeSantis signed will exempt candidates for president or vice president from the resign-to-run law."

Beyond the Beltway

Gloria Oladipo of the Guardian: "Cities across the US have agreed to pay out a total of more than $80m in settlements to protesters injured by police during 2020 racial justice protests -- a figure experts believe is unprecedented and will rise further as many lawsuits are still playing out.... Litigation has done little to curb excessive force and police departments face no direct financial consequences.... Individual officers are also largely spared from criminal charges."

Florida. Alisha Ebrahimji of CNN: "Minorities, immigrants and now members of the LGBTQ community are being warned of the risks of visiting Florida after the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy group issued a travel advisory following newly passed laws and policies that may be harmful to people in those communities. On Tuesday, the Human Rights Campaign in partnership with Equality Florida, a state LGBTQ advocacy group, issued an updated travel notice outlining potential impacts of six bills that were recently passed, many of which have already been signed by the state's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis. 'While not a blanket recommendation against travel nor a call for boycott, the travel advisory outlines the devastating impacts of laws that are hostile to the LGBTQ community,' the advocacy group said in a statement. Over the weekend, the NAACP issued a travel advisory for Florida 'in direct response to ... DeSantis' aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools.' And days earlier, LULAC -- the League of United Latin American Citizens -- issued its travel advisory after DeSantis signed a new immigration law that will go into effect in July."

Florida. Maham Javaid & Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff of the Washington Post: "Here is what you need to know about the challenges [poet Amanda] Gorman's book faces[.]... [A Miami-area] school district denied the book was banned or removed but acknowledged moving it so elementary school students had limited access to it." See also Akhilleus' comments in yesterday's thread on the banning of Gorman's poem.

South Carolina. Meredith Deliso of ABC News: "A grand jury has indicted convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced South Carolina attorney, on federal fraud charges, prosecutors announced Wednesday. Murdaugh, 54, is currently serving life in prison after being convicted of murdering his wife and their youngest son. The federal grand jury returned a 22-count indictment against Murdaugh for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud; bank fraud; wire fraud; and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina said.... The alleged schemes involved routing clients' settlement funds to his own accounts as well as a fake account under the name 'Forge,' as well as conspiring with a banker to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. The banker, Russell Laffitte, was convicted on six federal charges in connection with the scheme in November 2022, prosecutors said. The indictment further alleges that Murdaugh conspired with another personal injury attorney to defraud the estate of his former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died after a fall at Murdaugh's home in February 2018, and funnel nearly $3.5 million into his 'fake Forge' account 'for his own personal enrichment,' prosecutors said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "The barely concealed disdain brewing for months among top Republicans in Texas burst into public view this week when the attorney general, Ken Paxton, who is under indictment, accused the speaker of the Texas House of performing his duties while drunk and called for the speaker's resignation. The move on Tuesday sent a shock through Austin. Then, less than an hour later, word came that Mr. Paxton might have had a personal motive for attacking the speaker, Dade Phelan: A House committee had subpoenaed records from Mr. Paxton's office, as part of an inquiry into the attorney general's request for $3.3 million in state money to settle corruption allegations brought against him by his own former high-ranking aides." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Jack Despart & James Barragan of the Texas Tribune: "A Texas House committee heard stunning testimony Wednesday from investigators over allegations of a yearslong pattern of misconduct and questionable actions by Attorney General Ken Paxton, the result of a probe the committee had secretly authorized in March. In painstaking and methodical detail in a rare public forum, four investigators for the House General Investigating Committee testified that they believe Paxton broke numerous state laws, misspent office funds and misused his power to benefit a friend and political donor." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. Joyce Lee, et al., of the Washington Post: "In the year since the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Tex., much of the blame for law enforcement's decision to wait more than an hour to confront the gunman has centered on the former chief of the school district's small police force. But a Washington Post investigation has found that the costly delay was also driven by the inaction of an array of senior and supervising law enforcement officers who remain on the job and had direct knowledge a shooting was taking place inside classrooms but failed to swiftly stop the gunman." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu signed an agreement Thursday with his counterpart in neighboring Belarus, allowing for the storage of tactical nuclear weapons on the Russian ally's territory.... At the same time, he underlined that Russia 'is not giving nuclear weapons to Belarus' and that control over their use and deployment remains 'in the hands' of Moscow. [MB: That's reassuring.]... The delivery of the first F-16 fighter jet to Ukraine will be 'one of the strongest signals from the world that Russia will only lose,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Wednesday.... Russia's Wagner forces began a planned withdrawal from Bakhmut, the mercenary group's chief, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, said in a video Thursday.... Regular Russian army units replaced Wagner forces in Bakhmut's suburbs, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said in a Telegram message Thursday." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Andrew Kramer & Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "Fresh from leading a military incursion into Russian territory, commanders of anti-Kremlin armed groups on Wednesday taunted the Russian Army for its slow response and threatened Moscow with more raids to come. Russia, they told reporters at a news conference in a forest clearing in northern Ukraine near the border, should now understand that any section of the long frontier may become a new place that Moscow will be compelled to defend. Military analysts suggested that the cross-border attack in the region of Belgorod on Monday and Tuesday had twin goals, military and political. It appeared aimed at forcing Russia to divert badly needed troops from the front in eastern and southern Ukraine, even as Ukraine prepares a counteroffensive. And it threatened to embarrass President Vladimir V. Putin's government by showing Russia's vulnerability." ~~~

~~~ Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "As Russia vowed to respond 'extremely harshly' to a rare, two-day border incursion by pro-Ukrainian fighters, the leader of Russia's largest mercenary force warned that it faced further setbacks unless its ruling elite took drastic, and likely unpopular, measures to win the war. 'The most likely scenario for us in a special operation would not be a good one," Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, said in a profanity-laced interview with a pro-Kremlin political observer published late Tuesday on the Telegram messaging platform. 'We are in such a condition that we could lose Russia,' he continued, his speech laced with profanity. 'We have to prepare for a very hard war that will result in hundreds of thousands of casualties." A related AP story is here.

Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "U.S. officials said the drone attack on the Kremlin earlier this month was likely orchestrated by one of Ukraine's special military or intelligence units, the latest in a series of covert actions against Russian targets that have unnerved the Biden administration. U.S. intelligence agencies do not know which unit carried out the attack and it was unclear whether President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine or his top officials were aware of the operation, though some officials believe Mr. Zelensky was not.... U.S. officials say their level of confidence that the Ukrainian government directly authorized the Kremlin drone attack is 'low' but that is because intelligence agencies do not yet have specific evidence identifying which government officials, Ukrainian units or operatives were involved."

Comments

[Akhilleus]

Don’t you just live all those rough and tough macho traitors who stormed the Capitol tucking tail when their sorry asses are on trial?

“Oh…oh…I…um, I wasn’t doin’ nothin’. I got lost…I was just a patriotic tourist admiring our beautiful capitol! I…um..was looking for a bathroom. Yeah, that’s it. A bathroom.”

“The sign on the door said Speaker’s Office.”

“Oh yeah? Well, I don’t read so good.”

“And what about that million volt stun gun? What was that for?”

“Oh, that? Um…it doesn’t really work…”

Right. You just like to carry it around. On your tour of the Capitol.

Brave proud boys!

[P.D.Pepe]

Sometimes––-just sometimes, we get a two-for on the same day for two of the "enemies of the people" persons: Miss Margie being laughed at on the congress floor after calling for decorum and Satalini being humiliated by a botched up presidential intro. I take great pleasure in these occurrences because it eases my fury and frustration––just a bit.

Tina Turner is dead. We remember her well and celebrate her courage, her talent and her sense of "sock it to em" message for those who needed it. "What's love got to do with it" may be her signature sign off and she does it with a smile.

[Bobby Lee]

I love the irony of the man making war on Disney having such a Mickey Mouse entrance to the campaign.

Note that yesterday before the grand performance DeSantis signed a bill that allows him to run for president or vice president without having to resign as governor. What this means is after being dumped out of the GOP primary dumpster fire he can go back to the mansion in Tallahassee and take it out on us for the next two years.

[Jeanne]

We may never know how many and which laws and bills the wingers are quietly removing (Clean Water Act: us little subsidized farmers don't want y'all policing our puddles and ditches, even though they are filthy--) and the goody two-shoes Democrats decline to cross a "picket line" someone else has declared must be put up...This is happening in legislatures across the country. Dems are already guilty of adhering to "rules" invented in the past (Mueller could not indict or suggest indictment, and Dems can't appoint a SC justice "in an election year,"etc) and now we have a "rule" that we can't pay out above the artificial limit so "negotiations" must take place to pay our bills and screw our programs and mess with people's lives, and we get nothing in return EXCEPT paying the bills-- I guess we know who the mice are and of course who the old white men are...DeathSentence just did it again, he and they of the secret passage of seering legislation in the dead of night, so now he just declared himself King of Floriduh, just in case he doesn't get elected prez. I suppose the next year and a half will be on hold, so he can go on with his timing as gov as soon as he loses the presidency...

I heard someone say on NPR that it could be Dumpsterfire as prez and DeathSentence as veep on the ticket...rubbish. Those two would never "work together", both feel they are unbeatable in the top slot, and we already know what they think of the second slot, seeing as how they tried to hang Pence and they are incurably nasty to Kamala Harris...

There is no shoddy chicanery the Repugnants haven't or won't try to make it finally dawn on the Dems that repugs are cooking the books on all fronts to prevent Dems from being elected, appointed or serving adequately if elected...

[Akhilleus]

Marie posits that the DeSantolini Land woman who complained about Amanda Gorman’s poem might simply be unable to “get” it because of an incomplete grasp of English (in my comment, yesterday, I wondered, somewhat sarcastically, if the writer was an ESL person).

Okay, sure. That might be. But then it becomes a case of criticizing something you know very little about.

I’m a big fan of medieval music including (especially) the works of Guillaume de Machaut. Now my French is not bad, but Machaut wrote in a form of French in use in the early 14th century (plus he was employing trouveres tropes I might not be at all familiar with). Do I throw my hands up and say “Quelle merde!” and start writing letters to classical music stations to get Machaut’s stuff banned?

Pas de tout.

Instead, I listen to the music (something I do understand) and enjoy myself.

Complaining about stuff you don’t know much about is SOP in right wing world.

[RAS]

No matter how bad her reading comprehension is misreading Amanda Gorman as Oprah tells you all you need to know about her sincerity.

[Akhilleus]

And speaking of people not knowing much about something…

MTG demanding decorum is a hoot. “The House will come to order!” she yells, banging her little hammer, the most churlish, discourteous, indecorous creature in Congress (and that’s a title with serious competition) clamoring for order. No wonder they laughed. It’s like the village idiot telling everyone to smarten up.