May 8, 2023
Afternoon Update:
Mark Walker of the New York Times: "The Biden administration announced on Monday that it would seek to require airlines to compensate passengers for extensive flight delays and cancellations. The proposed rule would require airlines to provide cash payments rather than merely refunds for significant travel disruptions that were within the airline's control. No airline currently guarantees cash compensation for delays or cancellations in the United States, according to the Transportation Department. 'When an airline causes a flight cancellation or delay, passengers should not foot the bill,' Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, said in a statement. 'This rule would, for the first time in U.S. history, propose to require airlines to compensate passengers and cover expenses such as meals, hotels and rebooking in cases where the airline has caused a cancellation or significant delay.'"
Laurence Tribe, in a New York Times op-ed, explains why he has changed his mind about whether or not the president can invoke the Fourteenth Amendment to raise the debt ceiling. Tribe realized he had been asking the wrong question. It's not whether the president can do it but whether the Congress "can invoke an arbitrary dollar limit to force the president and his administration to do its bidding. There is only one right answer to that question, and it is no.... Mr. Biden must tell Congress in no uncertain terms -- and as soon as possible, before it's too late to avert a financial crisis -- that the = United States will pay all its bills as they come due, even if the Treasury Department must borrow more than Congress has said it can.... For a president to pick the lesser of two evils when no other option exists is the essence of constitutional leadership, not the action of a = tyrant." MB: I'm sure glad Larry finally got as smart as I am (ha ha). ~~~
~~~ Marie: The debt ceiling has never made sense. Congress passes laws to take in and spend certain amounts of money. Congress cannot, logically or ethically, decide after the fact that it will refuse to make payments it has already authorized -- just as you can't make a credit purchase, use the item you bought, then choose not to pay for it because the payment would be over your "limit." Any federal "debt limit" must precede, not follow, spending authorizations.
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... if you look closely at Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin's [D-Ill.] comments this weekend, you begin to see him applying some pressure [on Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) to resign].... While Durbin offered general and sympathetic comments about how this is up to Feinstein, 89, he also undercut her defense for holding out. And he even seemed to question her pledge that she would be back.... 'I don't want to say that she's going to be put under more pressure than others have been in the past,' he said. 'But the bottom line is: The business of the committee and of the Senate is affected by her absence.'... [And] 'I hope she does what's best for her and her family and the state of California and makes a decision soon as to whether she's coming back,' he said.... Durbin's comments, importantly, indicate even top Democrats don't appear to have clarity on when Feinstein might be able to return." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Mighty subtle. Durbin should have been a diplomat to some very pesky ally. BTW, while I was running around doing something, I vaguely heard some Democratic senator (Wyden or Blumenthal??) on the teevee say that he felt another Senate committee, one with a clear majority of Democrats, could subpoena Clarence Thomas. Sorry I can't be more definitive on this.
The New York Times is live-updating developments in the rape case against Donald Trump: "'Donald Trump's defense here is essentially that there is a vast conspiracy against him,' [E. Jean Carroll's attorney Roberta] Kaplan said [in her closing argument]. 'Donald Trump wants and needs you to disregard all the evidence that you heard in this case.' Mr. Trump's lawyers, who called no witnesses in his defense, began their appeal to the jury in the afternoon, portraying the accusations as improbable, because the store was a public place and Mr. Trump was already famous."
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Jack Douglas, et al., of the Washington Post: "The 33-year-old gunman who opened fire on an outlet mall in a Dallas suburb Saturday, killing at least eight people, had an apparent fascination with white supremacist or neo-Nazi beliefs that are now being examined by investigators as a possible motive for the attack, people familiar with the investigation said Sunday. Mauricio Garcia, a local resident, had multiple weapons on him and five additional guns in his car nearby, said people familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing probe. Authorities have not released a motive, but a patch on his chest said 'RWDS,' an acronym that stands for Right Wing Death Squad, according to people familiar with the investigation. The phrase is popular among right wing extremists, neo-Nazis and white supremacists, they said...." An AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Ken Dilanian & Jonathan Dienst of NBC News: "Texas mall shooting suspect Mauricio Garcia interacted with neo-Nazi and white supremacist content online, two senior law enforcement officials said." This is part of a liveblog. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
~~~ President Biden, in a statement: "Yesterday, an assailant in tactical gear armed with an AR-15 style assault weapon gunned down innocent people in a shopping mall, and not for the first time.... Republican Members of Congress cannot continue to meet this epidemic with a shrug.... Once again I ask Congress to send me a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Enacting universal background checks. Requiring safe storage. Ending immunity for gun manufacturers. I will sign it immediately. We need nothing less to keep our streets safe." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here's my suggestion, Joe. This is a national emergency. Call Congress into session and don't let them go home till they pass an assault weapons ban. ~~~
~~~ Mass Murders Are God's Will. Maya Boddie of AlterNet: "CNN's Paula Reid interviewed Texas State Rep. Keith Self (R-Allen) on Saturday night to get his reaction to the shooting, zeroing in on what Self believes the next steps should be. 'Now, you know, congressman..., many people argue that prayers aren't cutting it, prayers are not preventing the next mass shooting. What is your response to that criticism?' Reid asked. 'Well, those are people that don't believe in an almighty God who, who has, who is absolutely in control of our lives. I'm a Christian. I believe that he is....'"
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times:"A New York Times analysis of about 30 false business records cases brought by [Manhattan D.A. Alvin] Bragg and his predecessor -- based on court records, interviews and information the office provided -- shows that ... the case against [Donald] Trump stands apart [in this respect:] In all but two of the indictments reviewed by The Times, the defendant was charged with an additional crime on top of the false records charge. The decision to charge Mr. Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records -- and no other crimes -- highlights the unique nature of the case...." MB: Hey, NYT, maybe you could quit doing the Trump legal team's work for them.
Larry Newmeister of the AP: "... Donald Trump rejected his last chance Sunday to testify at a civil trial where a longtime advice columnist has accused him of raping her in a luxury department store dressing room in 1996. Trump ... was given until 5 p.m. Sunday by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to file a request to testify. Nothing was filed. It was not a surprise.... Without Trump's testimony, lawyers were scheduled to make closing arguments Monday, with deliberations likely to begin on Tuesday." MB: What? What? You mean when Trump said last week that he was cutting short his European vacation to "confront" Carroll, he was lying?
Aileen Graef of CNN: "Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin said Sunday that 'everything is on the table' as the panel scrutinizes new ethics concerns around Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. 'The bottom line is this: Everything is on the table. Day after day, week after week, more and more disclosures about Justice Thomas -- we cannot ignore them,' the Illinois Democrat told CNN's Jake Tapper on 'State of the Union.' 'The thing we're going to do first, obviously, is to gather the evidence, the information that we need to draw our conclusions. I'm not ruling out anything,' he added.... Durbin made clear Sunday that he hasn't reached 'any conclusion' on pursuing subpoenas in relation to Supreme Court ethics issues, but he acknowledged that the absence of Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein of California would pose a challenge to the committee 'if we go down that path.... Right now, with her absence, it's a 10-to-10 Committee, and the majority is not there, and a proxy vote doesn't count in this circumstance,' Durbin said." MB: Yeah, "the table" is where everything is going to sit until Feinstein resigns & Gov. Gavin Newsom can appoint a new Democrat. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Kelly Garrity of Politico: "Sen. Kyrsten Sinema [I-Az.] ... is 'absolutely' done with parties and will never join the Republican Party, she said Sunday during a pre-taped interview on CBS' 'Face the Nation.'... 'You don't go from one broken party to another.' Sinema, who left the Democratic Party in December 2022, has not said whether she plans to run for reelection in 2024." MB: In an ideal political world, she's right. In the real world, she stupid, thoughtless and dangerous.
Marie: I don't do polls, but this is shocking: ~~~
~~~ Presidential Race 2024. Today, a Majority of American Voters Are Fascists. Lauren Sforza of the Hill: "Former President Trump leads President Biden by 7 points in a hypothetical 2024 matchup between the two, according to a new survey. The Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 49 percent of Americans said they would definitely or probably vote for Trump or are leaning toward casting their ballots for him in a hypothetical matchup with Biden in 2024 if Trump and Biden are the Republican and Democratic nominees. About 42 percent said they would definitely or probably vote for Biden or are leaning toward supporting him in 2024. When asked who they would vote for if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis were the Republican nominee instead of Trump in a matchup with Biden, the governor also led the president by 7 points." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Dan Balz, et al., of the Washington Post: "As he begins his campaign for reelection, President Biden faces substantial and multiple challenges, according to a Washington Post-ABC News survey. His overall approval ratings have slipped to a new low, more Americans than not doubt his mental acuity, and his support against leading Republican challengers is far shakier than at this point four years ago.... Even among fellow Democrats, most say they prefer that their party nominate 'someone other than Biden,' a view that has been consistent in polls since before the midterm elections in which Democrats performed far better than expected."
Beyond the Beltway
Nebraska, etc. Colby Itkowitz & Sabrina Rodriguez of the Washington Post: "In the days since state Sen. Merv Riepe [R] cast the lone vote that blocked a near-total abortion ban in his conservative state, he's faced protests at his office, the cold shoulder from irate colleagues and calls for his resignation. A stranger left an angry note inside his home mailbox. Yet the 80-year-old Republican has also raked in accolades, becoming an unlikely hero for those fighting to protect abortion access in Nebraska and around the country in the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.... 'I've told the party this. My vote belongs to the people of my district, not to the Republican Party.'... Riepe's vote reflects a growing realization among some Republicans that staking out extreme positions on abortion might be politically perilous.... On the same day Riepe, who describes himself as 'pro-life,' bucked his party here, three Republican women in South Carolina blocked a near-total abortion ban in that state. Republicans in the North Carolina state legislature backed off a total abortion ban, and instead voted on Thursday for a 12-week ban, swayed by what had happened in other states." An AlterNet story, relying on the Post's reporting, is here.
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Several people were injured in a spate of early-morning drone attacks Monday in the Ukrainian capital, according to Kyiv officials. Air raid sirens rang out across the city days after Ukraine's air force cheered the apparently successful downing of one of Russia's most feared weapons, a hypersonic missile, in the skies above Kyiv. Military officials said 35 Iranian-made drones were shot down across Ukraine. Nearly 1,700 people -- including 660 children -- have been evacuated from areas surrounding Europe's largest nuclear plant, according to a Moscow-installed official, amid warnings from United Nations officials that the situation around the Zaporizhzhia plant is becoming 'increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous' because of increased military activity.Meanwhile, Russia has apparently agreed to provide the weapons and ammunition needed for Wagner mercenaries to continue the bitter battle for Bakhmut, the head of the mercenary group said Sunday."
News Lede
AP: "The driver of an SUV that killed eight people when it slammed into a bus stop in Brownsville, Texas has been charged with manslaughter, police said Monday as investigators tried to determine if the crash was intentional. Authorities believe driver George Alvarez, 34, of Brownsville, lost control after running a red light Sunday morning and plowed into a crowd of Venezuelans outside a migrant center." The New York Times report is here.
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Reader Comments (10)
This may be old news, don't know, been internetless since the wind
blew over the weekend and don't watch TV news.
https://news.yahoo.com/biden-accuser-tara-reade-posts-055705879.
html?.tsrc.daily_mail&uh_test=0_00
Someone named Tara Reade has an invitation from Matt Gaetz and
Marjorie Taylor Greene to testify before Congress about that time
in the 90's when she was supposedly raped by then Senator Biden.
No details given yet other than she worked for him at one time.
@Forrest Morris: Here's Reade's Wikipage, which goes in some depth into her allegations about Biden. The substance of her remarks have changed over time.
I can tell you that Joe Biden once embraced me, and I don't think the embrace was in any way a sexual advance or sexual in nature. I can see how someone who was so inclined could convince themselves that Biden had made a pass when he had not. Since Biden and I didn't know each other, I have to assume that he has embraced thousands of women (and men!) over the years, so it isn't surprising that a few have felt uncomfortable about it.
But Tara Reade's accusations have been so inconsistent, it's hard to find her a reliable complainant. It's not hard, of course, to learn that Gaetz & Greene, Inc. would think it was a good idea to haul her before Congress to accuse Biden.
In the wake of all the needless deaths in (where the fuck else) Texas, MTG has opened her big mouth to declare that nothing can be done except to pray, because there’s evil in the world.
Got that right Margie. And it follows wherever you go.
@Akhilleus: Yes, and isn't it odd that no other developed countries experience mass murders at least once a week? Do you suppose their thought and prayers are way better than ours?
@Marie: The Wiki page explains a lot, especially when her
occupation is given as a writer. I'm going out on a limb and say
that she must be a writer of fiction.
And Gaetz + Greene? Sounds mighty suspicious.
The Prime of their Lives
Last week, reading a book about how metaphor and language shape the way we see the world (and how could they not?), I came across a fascinating experiment. A social psychologist at Yale, John Bargh, conducted numerous tests using words to “prime” subjects. Priming refers to the use of specific stimuli to trigger unconscious responses and actions.
One experiment required subjects to read a series of words that reflected hostility and rudeness. A second group read a list of words connected to polite behavior, comity, and kindness. A third was given a list of neutral words, words that had nothing to do with social interactions. The subjects were then introduced into a staged social setting. Those exposed to words referencing rudeness, were more likely to interrupt others and behave more aggressively. Those who read words about politeness more frequently exhibited that trait.
All of this was done without the subjects being consciously aware of these subtle changes in their behavior.
And this was after a single instance of priming.
Now take your average Fox viewer who is exposed hourly—for years—to words referencing grooming, election theft, critical race theory, dirty immigrants, Hunter Biden Anything: bad, George Soros (Jews) anything: bad, good guys with guns, snowflake liberals, gay anything: really bad, fear, country being stolen, replacement theory, white good, black evil. Then look at a similar litany of words and concepts on white supremacy-neo-Nazi sites, words and concepts also featured in the speech of people like TuKKKer KKKarlson, Trump, and Steve Bannon.
You see where this is going.
Yes, it sounds simplistic, but it’s no wonder right-wing politicians, also exposed to this crap, believe that compromise, understanding, social justice, even the most anodyne gun control are horrible ideas to be avoided at all costs. And where the idea of mowing down people of a different race might seem perfectly acceptable to some others exposed to words priming them for hatred and violence.
Our ideas about the world and the words we use to express our understanding of it have a huge impact on our actions*.
In an early Martin Scorsese film (one of his best), “Mean Streets”, one of the characters, played by Harvey Keitel, is talking with his uncle, a mob boss, about a cousin who has epilepsy.
Uncle: You still hanging around with that girl who’s sick in the head?
Nephew: She’s not sick in the head, she has epilepsy.
Uncle: That’s what I said, she’s sick in the head.
If your lexicon describing your understanding of the world foregrounds a phrase like “grab ‘em by the pussy”, that’s what you’re more likely to do. If your lexicon includes phrases like dirty immigrants, or good guys with guns…well…
To paraphrase philosopher Cornel West, words matter.
*One might suggest that Christians (or adherents of any other religion) exposed to ideas in the Bible about love and turning the other cheek, should behave much differently if this priming idea actually worked. But Biblical teachings are not all you get at church. Years ago, I spent an extremely unpleasant two hours at a Baptist church listening to the “word of god” followed by many, many, many words of the preacher who went on at great length about what a good and holy man George W. Bush was and his righteous was his war against evil Muslims, and how liberals sided with the devil, etc, etc., etc.
Now do you think most members of that congregation left primed with “Turn the other cheek”, or “Muslims and liberals, evil!”?
Marie,
The flip side of that is that if more guns equaled increased safety, the US would be an invincible haven of security. Instead it’s like a bad night in a war zone. How could that be? We have more guns than any nation on earth. How could a snowflake country like Denmark be safer than the good ol’ United States of Glock?
Oh, wait…
With regard to the story headline about Americans being fascists, I had a text from a friend yesterday that mentioned exactly that comment, and she doesn't read this column. I think it was after the massacres in TX and the comment of my daughter that twitter thought it was all cuz libruls and made sarcastic remarks about banning SUVs. I guess I had still the mindset that these horrible people in Congress, the former fatface prez and the R base are still a minority-- but I guess I am wrong. Add into that the killing, accidental or not, on the NYC subway, and it seems none of us have a clue how the last forty years or so have led to this place: that is, killing other people one disagrees with is good, guns intended for war are a fun collectible, and maybe shooting people is even fun, and sadly, blue voters can't talk to red voters. See the Jordan Klepper interviews...red voters are too mean and possibly nuts to even talk to... No hope there for any productive congressional work, and Dems are too shellshocked to do meaningful strong work against the horrible other side.
And no excuses, like absorption of toxic words and deeds from that "news" network by these fascists, are valid.
Dick Durbin, along with Sheldon Whitehouse, Chris Coons, Amy Klobuchar, and Richard Blumenthal, needs to fly out to California and knock on Feinstein’s door, sit her down and have a serious come to Jesus with her.
They need to explain, in stark terms, that not only is her legacy on the line, but the fate of the country (this is not hyperbole). They need to tell her that the traitors consider her a hero, that they’re reveling in her decision to refuse retirement, that they’re gleefully rubbing their hands at the way she, personally, has stopped judicial balance in its tracks and guaranteed continued Supreme Court malfeasance by her fantasies of a return to the Senate (any year now).
Years ago, during a run for a league championship, one of our baseball teammates, whose best days were behind him, refused to sit prior to the final game. But he was also the team manager. His fielding skills had deserted him and he was an automatic out at the plate. Myself and three other guys sat him down and, after commending him for his good play in previous years, put it to him point blank. “You play, we lose. You sit, we win.”
He sat. We won.
Durbin needs to do the same. If Feinstein refuses, well…her people need to get through to her that this isn’t Hippity Hop at the Barber Shop, and I’ll be back at some point, this is letting the traitors win, and fucking the country she’s served with honor for decades.
@Akhilleus: Good idea, but if reports are true, five minutes later Feinstein won't remember the intervention ever happened. I think her staff, or someone on her staff, is responsible for Feinstein's supposed decision to hang in there. Democrats might have better luck if they had that heart-to-heart with Feinstein's top staff, promising them all they'd get great positions with other senators if they convinced Feinstein to resign.