;)
Monday
May082023
May 9, 2023
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
** Mark Morales, et al., of CNN: "Federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against New York Rep. George Santos, the Republican lawmaker whose astonishing pattern of lies and fabrications stunned even hardened politicos, according to three sources familiar with the matter. Santos is expected to appear as soon as Wednesday at federal court in New York's eastern district, where the charges have been filed under seal. The exact nature of the charges couldn't immediately be learned but the FBI and the Justice Department public integrity prosecutors in New York and Washington have been examining allegations of false statements in Santos' campaign finance filings and other claims.... House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he will look at the charges before determining if he thinks Santos should be removed from Congress."
Morgan Rimmer & Manu Raju of CNN: "Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who has been away from the Senate since February while recovering from shingles, will return to Washington on Tuesday, according to a spokesperson."
MSNBC reports that the jury in the E. Jean Carroll case against Donald Trump has reached a verdict. The verdict will be announced at 3:00 pm ET. ~~~
Update: The jury voted no on rape, but yes on sexual assault. Jury awarded Carroll $2MM + $1MM + $1.7MM + $20KK + $280KK. You do the math, but looks like about $5MM. ~~~
~~~ Marie: My only regret is that I cannot call Donald Trump a rapist. ~~~
** ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates are here: "A jury has found that Trump sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll, and awarded $5 million in damages. Carroll accused Trump of sexually assaulting her during a chance encounter at a Manhattan department store. He has denied her allegations, calling her a liar. Carroll sued him last year for battery and defamation." ... ~~~
~~~ "Donald Trump, who did not testify or show up in court, wrote on his social media platform: 'I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE -- A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!'"
~~~ The New York Times live updates are here. ~~~
~~~ Sara Boboltz of the Huffington Post: "... Donald Trump cast aside a federal judge's stern warning by claiming falsely on Tuesday that he was 'not allowed to speak or defend' himself in court against E. Jean Carroll's battery and defamation allegations, when he actually declined the chance to testify days earlier. Judge Lewis Kaplan had warned Trump's attorneys that posting to social media about the case could end up hurting him. Defense lawyer Joe Tacopina said last month that he would ask the 2024 presidential candidate to 'refrain' from posting about the case, according to the legal news site Law & Crime.... [But] As Kaplan prepared to instruct jurors..., Trump took to Truth Social to complain, saying he was 'waiting for a jury decision on a False Accusation.'... Trump continued: 'I will therefore not speak until after the trial, but will appeal the Unconstitutional silencing of me, as a candidate, no matter the outcome!'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't think Trump is precisely lying as Boboltz claims. He thinks he should be allowed to say whatever he wants about the trial and the principals outside of court. And Judge Kaplan said he could npt. Trump did not claim, as Boblotz asserts, that he was not allowed to defend himself in court. Trump believes he should be able to tell his lies in the manner he sees fit, unfettered by court control or in the form of cross-examination.
Here's an ad Liz Cheney is running in New Hampshire, beginning Wednesday:
Emily Guskin of the Washington Post: "Two-thirds of Americans say the abortion drug mifepristone, used in the majority of abortions in the United States, should remain on the market, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. The poll finds that 66 percent of U.S. adults say mifepristone should remain on the market, while 24 percent say it should be taken off the market. Just under half, 47 percent, say access to mifepristone should be kept as is; 12 percent say it should remain on the market but be more restricted than it is now." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Somehow I don't think the three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit, which is hearing an appeal of the decision to radically curb the availability of mifepristone, will care about public opinion. ~~~
Susan Rinkunas of Jezebel, republished by Yahoo! News: "We regret to inform you that the nonsense abortion pill lawsuit ... will be heard next on May 17 by a very unfortunate group of judges -- including James Ho, who has connections to both Justice Clarence Thomas and his Republican megadonor benefactor, Harlan Crow. Ho is the Federalist Society/MAGA darling of Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals who's written very aggressive opinions, including one from 2019 in which he said that 'abortion is the immoral, tragic, and violent taking of innocent human life.'... Donald Trump nominated the Texas judge to the appeals court in 2017, and Ho was sworn in in January 2018 by Justice Thomas himself -- in Crow's private library.... The other two judges on the panel are Trump appointee Cory Wilson, who voted for a six-week abortion ban as a Mississippi state lawmaker, and George W. Bush nominee Jennifer Elrod, who said Obamacare was a 'fraud on the American people.'" Thanks to Forrest M. for the link. ~~~
A detail from our story today: Ted Cruz tweeted this photo of Clarence Thomas swearing in 5th Circuit Judge James Ho. Turns out this is in billionaire Harlan Crow's private library, and flight records show Crow's jet dispatched to DC and back to Dallas before + after this event https://t.co/IwNjkwRsS6
— Justin Elliott (@JustinElliott) April 6, 2023
~~~ Marie: After a leisurely tour of the gardens where they admired the tastefully-placed statues of brutal dictators, the party returned to the Crows' palatial dining room to enjoy a light lunch served on Adolf Hitler's personal dinner plates. During the luncheon, Sen. Cruz reminisced about his father's part in the assassination of President Kennedy not far from the site of Mr. Crow's stately Dallas home.
~~~~~~~~~~
Peter Baker & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden will meet with Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the White House on Tuesday in a critical face-to-face confrontation that will frame their showdown over the federal debt and spending in the weeks before the nation is set to default on its obligations for the first time in history. With the American and perhaps the global economy hanging in the balance, the meeting will be the first sit-down session between the Democratic president and Republican speaker since February. But even the terms of the discussion are in dispute: Mr. McCarthy insists the president negotiate a debt ceiling deal with him, while Mr. Biden insists the meeting will just be an opportunity to tell the speaker that there will be no negotiations over the limit."
** 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). (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ 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.
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.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Liz Goodwin & Marianne LeVine of the Washington Post: "The Senate Judiciary Committee in a letter Monday asked billionaire Harlan Crow to provide a full accounting of the free travel and other gifts he has made to Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas or any other justice, marking an escalation of the powerful committee's efforts to convince the Supreme Court to adopt stricter ethical standards for itself. Judiciary Committee Chair Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and the committee's 10 other Democrats [including Dianne Feinstein] signed on to the letter asking Crow to provide an itemized list of gifts worth more than $415 that he's made to Thomas, any other justice or any justice's family member, as well as a full list of lodging, transportation, real estate transactions and admission to any private clubs Crow may have provided.... The Judiciary Committee also sent letters Monday to three companies associated with the Republican donor's travels that facilitated the private resort, private jet and superyacht travel where Thomas has joined Crow, asking those companies to provide a list of other guests whose travel overlapped with Thomas's or that of any other justice." ~~~
~~~ 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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ 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.
Brandy Zadrozny, et al., of NBC News: "A social media page appearing to belong to a gunman who killed eight people at a Dallas-area outlet mall had shared extremist beliefs with rants against Jews, women and racial minorities posted since September, as well as posts about struggling with mental health." ~~~
~~~ Jack Douglas, et al., of the Washington Post: "The gunman who killed eight people at an outlet mall in suburban Dallas posted photographs of the shopping center three weeks before the attack on a social media account where he fantasized about race wars and the collapse of society. The social media posts, the last of which went online Saturday shortly before he stormed into the shopping mall, included violent, hateful references that included singling out Asians with slurs. Mauricio Garcia, 33, also used his account on Odnoklassniki, a Russian social media platform, to reference 'the noble war,' a phrase that many white supremacists use to describe their belief in an impending race war. On Monday, as Texans grieved over the state's second mass killing in a little more than a week, authorities largely avoided discussing a possible motive for Garcia's rampage. But details of his background continued to trickle out, including news that he briefly received military training but was discharged from the U.S. Army over a mental health condition after three months of service." ~~~
~~~ ** Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "'When it came to guns,' writes Jeffrey Toobin in 'Homegrown,' his compelling new book about the Oklahoma City attack, '[Oklahoma City bomber Timothy] McVeigh ... joined an ascendant political crusade, which grew more extreme over the course of his lifetime and beyond.' Reading Toobin's book, it's startling to realize how much McVeigh's cause has advanced in the decades since his 2001 execution. McVeigh, who was a member of the K.K.K. and harbored a deep resentment of women, hoped that blowing up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building would inspire an army of followers to make war on the government.... Mass shootings are increasingly part of the background noise of life in a country coming apart at the seams.... Many politicians have views on guns that aren't far afield from McVeigh's.... The normalization of both right-wing terrorism and periodic mass shootings by deranged loners is possible only because McVeigh's views have been mainstreamed.... The Republican Party's fetishization of guns and its fetishization of insurrection -- one that's reached a hysterical pitch since Donald Trump's presidency -- go hand in hand." ~~~
~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "One problem I have with the whole 'mental illness' frame for talking about mass shooters, is that the 'mental illness' often appears to be garden variety authoritarian ethno-nationalist misogyny, with the misogyny being the really critical ideological lynchpin (h/t commenter Karen from Texas)[.]... Sexual frustration is an almost universal human experience, but in the last couple of decades the Internet has allowed sexually frustrated young men to transform that experience into a politics of misogynistic resentment, that quickly morphs into a violent hatred of all women, and most especially women who deviate in some way from traditional gender roles, by for example going to college and getting professional employment of some sort.... That fascism is a wildly misogynistic ideology is not exactly some sort of coincidence." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The fact that Campos cites Umberto Eco, a lifelong friend of my husband's, may be why it occurred to me that most serious literature is about or partly about frustrated love. Hanging out on chat rooms & whining about mean women doesn't allow young men time to read literature and learn that, as Campos writes, "Sexual frustration is an almost universal human experience...," much less to find ways to sublimate that frustration (in socially-acceptable and productive ways). As the Eco citation emphasizes, "the Ur-Fascist transfers his will to power to sexual matters." There have always been fascists, of course, so we can't blame the Internet as anything more than a catalyst for spreading an ideology that arises out of ignorance, resentment and lack of creativity. (BTW, if you read Wikipedia's summary of the properties Eco ascribes to ur-Fascist ideology, you will recognize Donald Trump in all but one of the 14 properties. It's uncanny.) ~~~
~~~ Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: “As an ex-police and US army officer, Steven Spainhouer is comfortable around firearms and goes so far as to describe himself as a 'gun lover'. But Spainhouer is now passionately arguing in favor of meaningful gun control after witnessing a rifle-wielding man murder several people before being shot to death by police outside a suburban Dallas shopping mall Saturday.... 'The first girl I walked up to was crouched down covering her head in the bushes,' he told CBS. 'So I felt for a pulse, pulled her head to the side and she had no face.... It wasn't mental health that killed these people. It was an automatic rifle with bullets.'" MB: How lacking in imagination is someone who has to see a child with her face shot off before it dawns on him that ordinary people don't need assault weapons? Can't we at least force lawmakers to look at the photos of victims of assault-rifle killers? ~~~
~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: What gun advocates have created "is a world of fear and alienation, where people live in a state of heightened awareness, even anxiety. It is not a world of trust or hope or solidarity or any of the values we need to make democracy work as a way of life, much less a system of government." ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Bahney of Mediaite: "MSNBC contributor and Texas resident Matthew Dowd recounted how the federal government took action after three children died from playing lawn darts in the 1980s, yet thousands of Texans are being killed by guns each year without any movement on gun control."
Eric Hananoki of Media Matters: "The Trump National Doral resort will host two antisemites who have promoted pro-Adolf Hitler propaganda and spread virulently antisemitic conspiracy theories. They will be speaking at an event in Miami alongside numerous Team Trump personalities, including Eric Trump, Lara Trump, and Devin Nunes. Trump Doral speaker Scott McKay, who has a streaming show on Rumble, has claimed that Jewish people orchestrated 9/11 and were responsible for the assassinations of Presidents Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and William McKinley. He has also said that Jewish people routinely torture children and eat their hearts. He has praised Hitler for supposedly trying to take down a Jewish banking system and said, 'Hitler was actually fighting the same people that we're trying to take down today.' Trump Doral speaker Charlie Ward, who also streams a show on Rumble, has shared posts praising Hitler for supposedly 'warning us' about Judaism; claiming that 'VIRUSES are Man (JEW) made'; and attacking the alleged Jewish media for supposedly lying about the Holocaust." ~~~
~~~ Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "MSNBC host Rachel Maddow began her Monday show with a list of pro-Nazi speakers that are being welcomed to the Trump Hotel in Miami for an event where a number of former White House officials will also be speaking.... The event is part of Michael Flynn's new Christian nationalism cult." ~~~
Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: "On Tuesday, the jurors [in the Donald Trump rape case] are to begin deliberations after the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, instructs them on the law. [E. Jean] Carroll's lawsuit, brought under a New York law that provides a one-year window for sexual abuse victims to sue, seeks damages for battery and defamation: Mr. Trump on his Truth Social website had called Ms. Carroll's case 'a complete con job' and 'a Hoax and a lie.'... As closing arguments began Monday morning, Roberta A. Kaplan, Ms. Carroll's lead lawyer, took the jury through the evidence, Ms. Carroll's testimony and witnesses' statements that she said supported it.... [Mr. Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina,] called Ms. Carroll's lawsuit a 'scam' and said that she had brought her false claim 'for, amongst other things, money, status, political reasons.'" ~~~
~~~ 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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Adam Reiss & Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "The New York state judge presiding over the criminal hush money case against Donald Trump issued an order Monday restricting the former president from posting about some evidence in the case on social media. Judge Juan Merchan largely sided with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg by limiting what Trump can publicly disclose about new evidence from the prosecution before the case goes to trial. The order says that 'any materials and information provided by the People to the Defense in accordance with their discovery obligations ... shall be used solely for the purposes of preparing a defense in this matter.' Merchan's order said anyone with access to the evidence being turned over to Trump's team by state prosecutors 'shall not copy, disseminate or disclose' the material to third parties, including social media platforms, 'without prior approval from the court.'"
Zachary Cohen & Sara Murray of CNN: "Lawyers representing David Shafer, the embattled chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, are arguing their client should not be charged with any crimes for his actions following the 2020 election because he was following advice provided by attorneys working for ... Donald Trump, according to a letter sent to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last week. Specifically, Shafer's attorneys say their client was relying on 'repeated and detailed advice of legal counsel' when he organized a group of 'contingent' electors from Georgia and served as one himself, thus 'eliminating any possibility of criminal intent or liability,' according to a copy of the May 5 letter."
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A Navy reservist assigned to do intelligence work in Northern Virginia was sentenced Monday to four additional years in prison for obstructing Congress's confirmation of the 2020 election results and committing four other misdemeanor offenses in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot by Trump supporters. Hatchet M. Speed, a petty officer first class formerly assigned to Naval Warfare Space Field Activity at the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Va., was convicted in March after a bench trial before U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden.... U.S. prosecutors said Speed was a Nazi sympathizer with top-level U.S. government security clearance who breached the Capitol with members of the Proud Boys extremist group." ~~~
~~~ Michael Kunzelman of the AP: "A military veteran [Hatchet Speed] who told an undercover FBI agent about his admiration for Adolf Hitler and discussed a plan to 'wipe out' the nation's Jewish population was sentenced on Monday to four years in prison for storming the U.S. Capitol.... He ... 'outlined a plan to enlist Christians to wipe out the country's entire Jewish population,' prosecutors said in a court filing.... He told [an] undercover agent that he believes Jewish people control [President Biden."
Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A woman who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 while wearing a pink beret and was recently identified to the FBI by an ex-romantic partner was charged with four federal counts Monday. As NBC News first reported, an ex identified Jennifer Inzunza Vargas Geller of California and reported her to the FBI after the bureau featured her in a viral tweet last month. She faces four misdemeanor counts: entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in the Capitol grounds or buildings and unlawfully parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. She was not in custody Monday, a law enforcement source said, but there is now a warrant out for her arrest."
Beyond the Beltway
The Stealth Campaign of the Vast Right-wing Conspiracy. Nick Corasaniti & Alexandra Berzon of the New York Times: "The first recent wave of legislation tightening voting laws came in 2021, when Donald J. Trump's false claims of voter fraud spurred Republican lawmakers to act over loud objections from Democrats. Two years later, a second wave is steadily moving ahead, but largely under the radar. Propelled by a new coalition of Trump allies, Republican-led legislatures have continued to pass significant restrictions on access to the ballot, including new limits to voting by mail in Ohio, a ban on ballot drop boxes in Arkansas and the shortening of early voting windows in Wyoming. Behind the efforts is a network of billionaire-backed advocacy groups that has formed a new hub of election advocacy within the Republican Party, rallying state activists, drafting model legislation and setting priorities. The groups have largely dropped the push for expansive laws, shifting instead to a strategy one leader describes as 'radical incrementalism' -- a step-by-step approach intended to be more politically palatable than the broad legislation that provoked widespread protest in 2021."
Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "What had for years been a solid wall of opposition among Texas Republicans to gun control showed small signs of cracking on Monday as a bipartisan committee of the State Legislature voted to advance a bill raising the minimum age to purchase AR-15-style rifles. The preliminary vote was remarkable in a State Capitol dominated by Republicans, all the more so because it had been entirely unexpected: When the day began, the 13-member committee had not been scheduled to meet at all.... The bill, which would raise the age to purchase an AR-15-style rifle from 18 to 21, must still be considered by the entire Texas House, with deadlines to do so looming this week. Even if it were to pass -- still an unlikely prospect -- it would face almost certain rejection by the State Senate, where the hard-right lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, holds powerful control." ~~~
~~~ Marie: And Rachel Maddow pointed out Monday that Gov. Greg Abbott (Arrr!) said last year that raising the minimum age requirement for purchase of assault rifles would be "unconstitutional" and he would veto it.
Texas. James Barragan of the Texas Tribune: "Rep. Bryan Slaton resigned from the Texas House on Monday after an investigation determined that he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 19-year-old woman on his staff, providing her with enough alcohol before their encounter that she felt dizzy and had double vision. Pressure had mounted on the Royse City Republican to resign since Saturday, when the House General Investigative Committee released a 16-page report finding Slaton, who is 45 and married, had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with his aide. The committee of three Republicans and two Democrats recommended that Slaton be the first state representative expelled from the body since 1927. Slaton's resignation, however, may not stop a planned Tuesday vote on a House resolution expelling him from office.... Slaton was among the most socially conservative lawmakers in the chamber and had been one of this session's loudest voices for cracking down on drag shows and decrying drag artists as 'groomers' who want to sexualize kids.
"The committee report said Slaton had invited the 19-year-old woman to his Austin apartment late March 31 and gave her a large cup of rum and coke, then refilled it twice -- rendering her unable to 'effectively consent to intercourse and could not indicate whether it was welcome or unwelcome.'" MB: Sounds like rape to me.
Way Beyond
Canada/China. Amanda Coletta & Christian Shepherd of the Washington Post: "Beijing on Tuesday ordered a Canadian diplomat to leave China, in a swift retaliatory move after Ottawa expelled a Chinese diplomat who allegedly had targeted a Canadian lawmaker. The moves threaten to further inflame ties between Ottawa and Beijing, which were locked in a diplomatic dispute for three years over the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Mélanie Joly, Canada's foreign minister, on Monday said she was expelling Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat based in Toronto. Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail reported last week that the diplomat was involved in a campaign to punish Michael Chong, a Conservative lawmaker, and his family in Hong Kong because of his support for a parliamentary motion that called China's treatment of its Uyghur minority a 'genocide.'... China's foreign ministry responded with a formal diplomatic protest and asked Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, a diplomat at the Canadian consulate in Shanghai, to leave the country before May 13."
Israel/Palestine. Steve Hendrix, et al., of the Washington Post: "Israel launched surprise airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing three leaders of the Islamic Jihad militant organization and several other civilians, prompting promises of retaliation from militant groups and leaving the region braced for an escalation of violence. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strikes -- which came a week after a cease-fire with Palestinian armed factions -- targeted ... three senior members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group who it said were responsible for recent rocket fire and attacks against Israelis."
Pakistan. Christina Goldbaum & Salman Masood of the New York Times: "Pakistan's ousted prime minister, Imran Khan, was arrested on Tuesday in a major escalation of a political crisis that raises the prospect of mass unrest by his steadfast supporters.... The military on Monday accused the former leader of making false accusations against a senior intelligence official. He was at a court hearing in Islamabad when he was arrested by paramilitary troops. Mr. Khan, who was removed from office in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April last year, is facing dozens of court cases on charges that include terrorism and corruption. The arrest instantly intensified a showdown between the current government and Mr. Khan, a populist former cricket star, who has staged a political comeback in the months since his removal from office. His party has drawn tens of thousands to political rallies across the country, at which Mr. Khan and others have called for fresh elections and accused Pakistan's powerful military establishment of orchestrating his ouster."
Ukraine, et al.
The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Russia celebrated Victory Day on Tuesday, a holiday commemorating the Soviet Union's role in the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. In a brief address at a scaled-down parade in Moscow's Red Square under tight security, President Vladimir Putin claimed that 'real war' is being waged against Russia and accused Western nations of stoking conflict and treating Ukraine as a 'bargaining chip.' The traditional flyover was canceled, as were celebrations in at least 20 cities due to security concerns, after what Moscow alleges was a drone attack on the Kremlin last week.... The leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, issued a blistering statement denouncing Russia's defense leaders for 'treason' and 'destruction.' He repeated a claim that his troops had 'no ammunition' and that Russian troops were fleeing their positions in Ukraine.... 'Victory Day is the victory of our grandfathers. We don't deserve this victory one millimeter,' [Prigozhin said]." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here. The Guardian's live updates for Tuesday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: ""Britain, which has prided itself on being ahead of its Western allies in introducing new weapons systems to Ukraine, now appears poised to send Kyiv the long-range missiles the Biden administration has long denied it.... Ukraine has long pleaded with Western nations for longer range missiles, arguing that such weapons could change the course of the war by allowing its forces to target Russian command centers, supply lines, ammunition and fuel dumps deep inside Crimea and Russian-held territory in eastern Ukraine."
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Reader Comments (22)
Beat me to it…
Reading about that Texas “lawmaker” who plied a young woman with enough booze to pretty much incapacitate her before having sex with her, I thought “Nothing consensual about this…this sounds like rape”…
But Marie had already opined as much. And really, it’s not so much an opinion as it is a fact. Besides, have you seen this pig? What 19 year old would say “Oh yeah, I wanna have sex with that guy!”?
Not to say that Democrats can’t be assholes about sex, or anything else, but the Traitors are making assholism THE prime component of their collective personality.
And not for nothin’, but what kind of lawmaking can a prick like this be good at? So you don’t have to be Solon, but Christ…at least have a baseline of judiciousness, and a touch of common sense. (In hindsight, I’m trying to think of a single Party of Traitors pol that this describes…offhand, I can’t think of a one.)
Both Sides Forever
It doesn’t matter how horrific, how authoritarian, how averse to democracy, decency, and the rule of law Traitors are, someone, somewhere will say “Yeah, but Democrats do it too!”
Yesterday morning on our morning constitutional, Rocket, again, stopped to look my way as if to say “What is it now?” after an outburst while listening to a New Yorker podcast (he much prefers that I don’t listen to political stuff on our walks…it crimps the nice “out for a walk” vibe).
This particular podcast started off well, with a rundown of just a few of the latest R outrages, kicking elected lawmakers out of a legislature, silencing a trans elected official, the book banning, support for mass murder, and the tsunami of “laws” attacking the LGBTQ communities.
The point of the program was to illuminate out how even local and state elected bodies have gone national, adopting whatever au courant culture war bullshit will get them national attention, regardless of far more important local concerns.
Then the guest, political scientist and writer Jacob Grumbach, stops and says “And Democrats do it too!” If I didn’t pay so much for my iPhone, I would have fired it into the woods, but I waited, egg frying on my head, for the example of how “Democrats do it too.”
Here it is. Democrats, even at state levels, have been attempting to address environmental concerns.
That’s it?
Republicans attack trans people, kick elected officials out, burn books, silence critics, support mass murder…but Democrats who work to save the planet are just as bad??
First, concern for the health of the environment is NOT THE SAME as support for mass murder, gerrymandering elections, lying about a stolen election, or sieg heiling a fat fascist.
But what do I know?
The right, by its constant whining about how they’re always treated so unfairly, has succeeded in brainwashing even (supposedly) smart people into making sure to throw in the obligatory both sides reminder no matter how asymmetrical the situation. The other day on NPR, I heard the director of this new HBO comedy about the Watergate plumbers (still trying to figure out how that’s funny) talking about political schemes, and he just had to say “But of course, both parties do this stuff”.
No! No no no no no!! They don’t. Both parties don’t break into the other’s national headquarters to fuck with them, both parties don’t lie to get us into a war, both parties don’t stop an election to declare their guy the winner, both parties don’t engage in insurrection to take over the country!!!!!!
Later on, I heard the same guy on a much more niche-y (as opposed to a Nietzsche) podcast and there was no both sides do it bullshit. Likely he figured that Traitors weren’t listening to “The New Abnormal”. But that’s the point, right? He can tell the truth there, but if he thinks some traitor piece of shit might be listening, god forbid he doesn’t say “Yeah, Republicans are screaming asshole traitor fucks, but so are Democrats”.
Oh look, that Republican just robbed a bank, killed a teller, and ran over a little girl with his escape vehicle. But see? A democrat crossed the street against the lights. They’re both the same.
So sick of this shit.
This morning I’ll be listening to a “Sticky Notes” podcast on Schubert’s quintet. Blood pressure won’t be sky high. And Rocket will be happier. So will I…sort of.
I realize you don’t “illuminate out” anything, and I can’t blame Otto for this one. This was just editing while pissed off.
Here's and interesting photo of Ted Cruz & Clarence Thomas
swearing in judge James Ho in billionaire Harlan Crow's private
Dallas library.
He flew them from D.C. and back home.
The abortion pill lawsuit will be heard May 17 by James Ho &others.
Why would a bunch old men be worried about an abortion pill that
can keep a number of women from complications or from dying?
And why is the business of our country being carried on in a donors
private library? I don't get it.
https://news.yahoo.com/judge-set-hear-abortion-pill-212000175.html
"Springtime for Hitler " can no longer be looked at as a humiliation and comedic show tune put down/ disgrace. We now have a re-run of the Nazi regime right here in the land of milk and honey.
And I, along with millions of others, no longer feel safe.
And how ironic that we fought so bravely and so hard during WW2 and here we are with the same enemies trying to replace the same peoples. Would we have had this resurgence without Trump? Perhaps, but would it have been nurtured as well without him? I doubt it.
Meanwhile we wait for Biden to take Tribe's advice.
Marie wrote:
“Somehow I don't think the three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit, which is hearing an appeal of the decision to radically curb the availability of mifepristone, will care about public opinion.”
Nope. But I bet he cares very much what Harlan Crow and the Federalist confederates think. That’s why he’s there, after all.
Texas Governor Abbott opines that Texas (and I presume he'd include the nation as a whole) does not have a gun problem but a mental-health problem. And we are learning that the murderer who killed shoppers at a Texas mall held regrettably familiar views about "Jews, women and racial minorities." Typical right-wing views, white nationalism, waving the Nazi flag. So, would Gov. Abbott agree that people who hold those views have mental-health problems? Do we need a new designation in the DSM, citing these views as indication of a psychiatric disorder? Can people who feel threatened request that anyone and everyone who holds these beliefs be evaluated and perhaps incarcerated for their own good?
Trump is, after a fashion, a sort of empiricist. Oh, not about everything. Not about stuff that matters in the real world (like incontrovertible evidence that he lost the election—sure, he probably at first realized that he lost, but at this point—because weak minds are easy to manipulate—he’s probably convinced himself that he really did win) but about crap that matters only to him.
And what he’s learned, empirically, is that the mouth breathing droolers who support him will swallow even the most zeppelin-sized, indigestible whoppers.
Empiricists like Locke and Hume state that knowledge comes primarily from experience and observation. And Fatty has learned from a boatload of experience that his supporters are credulous cretins.
So here we are on the verge of a verdict in E. Jean Carroll’s civil suit, and Rape Boy, realizing that his deposition tape was not “perfect”, like that phone call, is yapping to the lemmings that he was unconstitutionally prevented from testifying in his own defense. Never mind that the judge personally invited him several times to wedge his fat ass into the witness box and have at it, never mind that the tape played for the jurors was about as close to a confession of guilt as one could want, apart from beating a suspect with a rubber hose to sign on the bottom line, never mind that he said he’d fly back to New York to “confront that woman”!!
He didn’t. He could have said “I’d go but they’re not letting me speak!” if that were true. But suddenly, now that court proceedings are finito, and the jury is getting ready to deliver its verdict, he sez “I got screwed!”
Always the victim.
And his minions?
Always the morons.
I guess empiricism isn’t their thing. Come to think of it, neither is rationalism, or any form of critical thinking.
Big surprise, I know.
https://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-farcically-claims-he-was-forbidden-from-defending-himself-against-rape-claim-i-will-appeal-the-unconstitutional-silencing-of-me/
What about that $19,000.00 bible that Crow gifted Clarence Thomas?
It once belonged to Frederick Douglass.
Wonder if that's the bible that Clarence swears on to uphold the U.S.
constitution and do the peoples work, as opposed to the donors work.
And I remember something Mayor Pete said when he was here.
"If per capita we have the most guns in the world, why aren't we
the safest country in the world?"
DiJiT is unhappy because he was not allowed to defend himself in the press for the few days of the trial, and not under oath.
It would of course be unfair to require him to defend himself on the stand under oath, because then he'd have to be careful not to lie. Even in a civil case, perjury can ruin your day (and case).
You have to give him credit -- he is 100% BS, all the time, in every circumstance. And his fans still like BS.
But for the rest of us it is getting boring.
@ Marie, I'm jealous. I would have loved to have been able to sit in on the conversations between your late Aldo and late Umberto, reminiscing about their youthful fight against fascism as partisans. I would have listened and learned, not speaking a word unless asked. Too bad that I don't know Italian. Eco is one of my favorite authors, kind of a love/hate relationship, having read six of his books and several essays. He had a gift with words and symbols, loquateous as he could be at times.
Reading all the conspiracy theories over the last several years I have been reminded from time to time of reading Umerto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum years ago and how easy it is for people to read deeper messages into the most inane things and how far people will go once they have convinced themselves they have some special knowledge that the rest of us don't.
On the front page of the e-NYT, you can see V. Putin, walking and sitting down. Look at his right arm. It doesn't move at all. People are whispering about Parkinson's. This lack of movement is a physical sign. This is the same arm that had a noticeable parkinsonian tremor in one of his previous videos.
It's a no verdict to rape, but yes on everything else and a 2 million
dollar award. Will she ever get the money?
I was pissed at the end of Foucault's Pendulum. I struggled through the 20-page-long sentences only to find out that the secret was that there was no secret. Sucked me right it.
Hurry, while they last. Get your 'Not Guilty' trump caps for only
$49.95. (They cost him only 95cents, made in China, but he really,
really needs the rubes to pay his fine).
CNN must be loving this. With their move to the right and their genuflecting before the Fat Fascist, they’re sure to get a lotta eyeballs tomorrow night for their bullshit Trumpy town hall thingamajig.
Here’s my question: will they use a lower third that identifies this fat fuck as “Donald J. Trump, Convicted Sexual Abuser”?
I wonder if Trump will now have to register as a "sex offender" under Florida law?
@Bobby Lee: Oh, that would be something. However, Trump has not been found guilty of criminal sexual assault, so I don't think he would have to register.
On a good news item: A toast to the state of Vermont whose governor has signed a bill making it illegal to establish, own or operate a private military training establishment. It seems one of these "Fort Yahoos" had been operating in the south of the state and local citizens objected.
Per AP via Daily KOS
After years, a jury finally has put a monetary cost on the "Access Hollywood" tapes.
In addition, this jury has found, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Trump is a liar. We all know that of course, but this is the first time, at least since he became president*, that a jury has formally charged him with lying -- and made him pay for it. The jury heard parts of his deposition tape in which Trump claimed he did not rape or assault E. Jean Carroll and that her claims were "ridiculous." The jury decided that was not true.
I doubt Ms. Carroll will see a penny. Fatty will appeal the appeal of the appeal. And if she ever does get a dime, it won’t come from Trump, it will be paid by his moron minions. He’ll make millions more off this verdict than he’s been ordered to pay.
As for the business of “defending himself”, defense against a charge takes place in the court, not out on the street. He had every chance to properly defend himself. This bullshit about how they wouldn’t let him slander his accuser online might play (will play) with the cretins, but he was given enormous leeway, more than many defendants might get. But more than the average guy is never enough for this disgusting pig.
Nonetheless, his obit (which I hope to read) will include “convicted sexual abuser” and “insurrection as will all history books not scribbled by “historians” partial to treason and authoritarianism.