;)
November 12, 2022
** New Mexico Senate. Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: “Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona won a tough campaign for re-election on Friday, The Associated Press reported, defeating his Trump-backed Republican rival, Blake Masters, to put Democrats within one seat of retaining control of the Senate. Democrats hope to clinch the chamber when votes are fully counted in the Nevada contest between Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, and her Republican challenger, Adam Laxalt, who held a tiny lead late Friday but was expected to fall behind.... Mr. Masters, a venture capitalist and political newcomer who embraced ... Donald J. Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, burst into Arizona politics with millions of dollars in support from the technology billionaire Peter Thiel, his former employer. With an ideological fervor that excited the state Republican Party’s ascendant right wing, he portrayed himself as an internet-savvy insurgent while playing to xenophobic and racist fears, claiming that Democrats were trying to bring more immigrants to the country to change its demographics and gain a political edge.” Masters was one of those Trump faves. The Guardian's story is here.
Arizona Secretary of State. A Big Win for Democracy. Republican Mark Finchem, a prominent election denier, has lost to Democrat Adrian Fontes in the race for Arizona secretary of state race, NBC News projects. Fontes, a former top elections official for Maricopa County, will succeed Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the Democratic nominee for governor. Finchem was among a host of GOP candidates for statewide office who have repeatedly cast doubt over Joe Biden’s presidential victory or falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from ... Donald Trump in Arizona. Last year, Trump backed Finchem's candidacy and highlighted his record of defending the stolen election claims. 'Mark was willing to say what few others had the courage to say' about the 2020 election, Trump said in offering his public support.”
Nevada Governor. Jennifer Medina of the New York Times: “Joseph Lombardo, the Clark County sheriff who rose to prominence after the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, defeated Gov. Steve Sisolak of Nevada, a Democrat who faced intense criticism over pandemic-era shutdowns, according to The Associated Press. Mr. Sisolak conceded to Mr. Lombardo shortly before The A.P. called the race on Friday.” The NBC News story is here.
Republicans in Disarray! Marinna Sotomayor, et al., of the Washington Post: “... angry Republicans mounted public challenges to their leaders in both chambers Friday as they confronted the possibility of falling short of the majority, eager to drag Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) down from their top posts as consequence.... 'It’s an unworkable majority. Nothing meaningful will get passed,' a dejected aide to a senior House Republican said.... The staunchly conservative House Freedom Caucus is calling for a delay to [leadership elections] efforts [and nailing down conference rules] — especially if control of the House is not decided by then.” ~~~
~~~ Gabby Orr, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump is calling up his allies in the Senate ... and making a suggestion as he seeks to divert blame for Republicans’ lackluster midterm performance: Take aim at Mitch McConnell.... [And] McConnell is facing new dissension within the ranks as a faction of Senate Republicans are grumbling internally about the timing of the leadership elections next week and are now calling for a delay – something that several GOP sources and a member of Republican leadership have signaled is unlikely to happen. The internal back-biting has prompted a new round of fears: That Republicans will be at odds over their future and hurt their ability to unite ahead of the December 6 runoff for the US Senate seat in Georgia." MB: And wouldn't that be a shame?
Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: “Donald Trump..., who boosted some inexperienced Senate candidates in their primaries who underperformed on Tuesday, declared before the midterms that he wanted 'all the credit' if Republicans won. 'If they lose, I should not be blamed at all,' he told NewsNation. But now that Republicans are facing the prospect of being in the minority in the Senate and are still waiting to see whether they will officially nab an uncomfortably narrow majority in the House, some unexpected voices within the party are beginning to question Trump’s influence.... The volume of open criticism illustrates a rare moment of weakness for Trump among Republicans just as he prepares to announce his 2024 presidential bid next week.... 'We’ve heard this song before,' said Doug Heye, a former spokesman for the Republican National Committee who has long been critical of Trump. 'The question is: Will this time be different?'”
In his effort to undermine Ron DeSantolini, Donald Trump claimed on Liars Social that Ron never would have become governor in 2018 but for Trump; Trump claimed he sent the FBI into Broward County to stop the vote counting: “I stopped his Election from being stolen.…” Philip Bump of the Washington Post proves this is not true. RickScott did allege that the Broward vote count was suspicious, but that was two days after DeSantolini was declared the winner. And Bump says there is no evidence Trump sent in the FBI; the counting in Broward continued for another two weeks or so. “We know that Trump worked very hard to get the FBI to intervene in the 2020 election results, but that no intervention followed. There’s no reason to think that the Bureau was influenced more successfully two years prior.” ~~~
~~~ Bump also notes that Trump claimed that he is a better vote-getter than DeSantolini: “... I got 1.1 Million more votes in Florida than Ron D got this year, 5.7 Million to 4.6 Million?” Marie: Actually, based on Trump's "logic," Trump is a worse vote-getter than Ronnie D. In 2020, Joe Biden got about 5,297,000 votes, or only about 370,000 votes fewer than Trump. In 2022, Charlie Crist, DeSantolini's opponent, got 3,103,260 votes, or about 1.5 million fewer than Ron's. That is, Trump got only 51.2% of the Florida vote, while in 2022, DeSantis got 59.4% of the vote for governor. Of course, you're really comparing apples to Orange Jesus here: different electorate, different rate of turnout, different conditions, different jobs (president* & governor). But Trump, once again, is a winner only in his own mind, the Walter Mitty of American politics. Pitiful. ~~~
~~~ Oh, and according to Akhilleus & Patrick, writing in today's Comments, former Physicist*-in-Chief Donald Trump is charging (ha ha) that Democrats “stole the electron” in Arizona's Senate race.
Chris Buckley & David Sanger of the New York Times: “Just weeks after President Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, laid out competing visions of how the United States and China are vying for military, technological and political pre-eminence, their first face-to-face meeting as top leaders will test whether they can halt a downward spiral that has taken relations to the lowest level since President Nixon began the opening to Beijing half a century ago. Their scheduled meeting Monday in Indonesia will take place months after China brandished its military potential to choke off Taiwan, and the United States imposed a series of export controls devised to hobble China’s ability to produce the most advanced computer chips — necessary for its newest military equipment and crucial to competing in sectors like artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Compounding the tension is Beijing’s partnership with Moscow, which has remained steadfast even after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Kevin Liptak & Ella Nilsen of CNN: “President Joe Biden on Friday used a short visit to the United Nations climate change summit in Egypt to tell the world the United States was ready to take back its leadership role on fighting a warming planet after the passage of one of the president’s key priorities. In a speech to the United Nations COP27 summit, Biden proclaimed the US is back as a global leader on climate change following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included around $370 billion in clean energy incentives meant to slash the use of harmful greenhouse gases. 'My friends, I came to the presidency determined to make … transformational changes that are needed, that America needs to make and we have to do for the rest of the world, to overcome decades of opposition and obstacles of progress on this issue alone,' Biden said, 'to reestablish the United States as a trustworthy and committee global leader on climate. As I stand here before you, we’ve taken enormous strides to achieve that.' Biden added that other nations must similarly raise to the challenge.”
Mark Mazzetti & Ronen Bergman of the New York Times: “During a closed-door session with lawmakers last December, Christopher A. Wray, the director of the F.B.I., was asked whether the bureau had ever purchased and used Pegasus, the hacking tool that penetrates mobile phones and extracts their contents. Mr. Wray acknowledged that the F.B.I. had bought a license for Pegasus, but only for research and development.... But dozens of internal F.B.I. documents and court records ... produced in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by The New York Times against the bureau, show that F.B.I. officials made a push in late 2020 and the first half of 2021 to deploy the hacking tools — made by the Israeli spyware firm NSO — in its own criminal investigations.... In January, The Times revealed that F.B.I. officials had also tested the NSO tool Phantom, a version of Pegasus capable of hacking phones with U.S. numbers. The F.B.I. eventually decided not to deploy Pegasus in criminal investigations in July 2021, amid a flurry of stories about how the hacking tool had been abused by governments across the globe. But the documents offer a glimpse at how the U.S. government ... wrestled with the promise and peril of a powerful cyberweapon. And ... court documents indicate the bureau remains interested in potentially using spyware in future investigations.”
Get Out! No! Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: “The Customs and Border Protection commissioner said Friday that he had been asked to step down but was refusing to do so, in what appears to be the Biden administration’s first attempted shake-up after the midterm elections. The commissioner, Chris Magnus, said both Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, and the department’s deputy secretary asked him to resign or face being the first political appointee to be fired by President Biden. Mr. Magnus has been in the position for less than a year. 'I want to make this clear: I have no plans to resign as C.B.P. commissioner,' Mr. Magnus, the head of the agency, said in a statement shared with The New York Times. He said the Department of Homeland Security cut off his access to his Customs and Border Protection Twitter account.... Mr. Magnus said Mr. Mayorkas told him earlier this week that he needed to resign because he had lost confidence in him, in part because he was making things difficult for Raul Ortiz, the chief of the Border Patrol.” A CBS News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yeah, the coup de grace was losing that Twitter account, wasn't it? Don't worry, Chris, for $8/month, you can buy yourself a new, verified account. Update: Oh, wait. No, you can't.
Surprise, Surprise! Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “... Donald J. Trump filed suit on Friday against the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, seeking to block the panel’s subpoena that required him to testify and hand over documents related to the effort to overturn the 2020 election. The 41-page lawsuit, filed in federal court in Florida, comes just days before Mr. Trump was scheduled to appear before the panel for a deposition on Monday. The panel had been in discussions with Mr. Trump’s lawyers and had given them additional time to begin producing documents.” Politico's story is here.
Supremes Don Tuxes & Celebrate Curbing Women's Rights. Guardian & Agencies: “Four of the five US supreme court justices who overturned the constitutional right to abortion in America showed up at the ultra-conservative Federalist Society’s black-tie dinner marking its 40th anniversary. Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the opinion in the shock decision, got a long, loud ovation at the event on Thursday night from a crowd of 2,000 people, most in tuxedos and gowns, when another speaker praised him on the overturning of Roe v Wade in June.... Norm Eisen, an ethics expert who served in the Obama administration..., said the justices had shown a brazen disregard for ethical appearances, because the [Federalist Society]’s mission is to move the law in a conservative direction. 'While there is no legal obstacle to them showing up at the Federalist Society dinner, the appearances are awful,' Eisen wrote in an email.”
A Dickensian Horror Story. Remy Tumin of the New York Times: “One of the largest food safety companies in the United States illegally employed more than two dozen children in at least three meatpacking plants, several of whom suffered chemical burns from the corrosive cleaners they were required to use on overnight shifts, the Labor Department found. The department filed for an injunction in U.S. District Court in Nebraska on Wednesday against Packers Sanitation Services, which Judge John. M. Gerrard swiftly ordered on Thursday. The injunction requires the company to stop 'employing oppressive child labor' and to comply with a Labor Department investigation into the practice. Packers, a cleaning and sanitation company based in Kieler, Wis., provides contract work at hundreds of slaughtering and meatpacking plants across the country. The Labor Department found that Packers employed at least 31 children, ranging in age from 13 to 17, who cleaned dangerous equipment with corrosive cleaners during overnight shifts at three slaughtering and meatpacking facilities....”
Ryan Mac, et al., of the New York Times: “After Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, revamped a subscription service to give users a coveted verification check mark for $8 a month, users began abusing the program this week. Twitter accounts with check marks posed as companies like Eli Lilly and PepsiCo, sending spoof messages about free insulin and the superiority of Coca-Cola. One account with a check mark pretended to be Tesla, Mr. Musk’s electric car company, and bragged about using child labor. By Thursday night, the disorder on Twitter seemed to have become too much for Mr. Musk. 'We need to urgently roll out official labels for big advertisers due to impersonation,' a Twitter engineering manager wrote in an internal message seen by The New York Times. 'Request is from Elon.'” ~~~
~~~ Update. Rachel Lerman & Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: “Twitter on Thursday night pressed pause on Elon Musk’s first major product launch — a paid-for blue check mark — after misinformation flooded the site.... Twitter temporarily disabled sign-ups for the new service Thursday night, according to an internal note viewed by The Washington Post, to 'help address impersonation issues.' But in several cases, the damage was already done, and some fake accounts were still active as of Friday. On Friday afternoon, Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Musk asking several questions about the blue check mark subscription program. A Washington Post columnist set up an account impersonating Markey this week, with the senator’s permission, and paid for a blue check mark.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The main reason I find this amusing is that there is no circumstance in which I would rely on Twitter as a source of accurate information. If I saw something of interest on Twitter that looked credible or at least possible, I would check it out in other media.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Saturday are here: “After months of fighting, Kyiv’s forces have retaken much of the strategic city of Kherson from Russian occupation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced. A crowd of chanting revelers, some draped in Ukrainian flags, gathered Friday in Kherson’s central square to celebrate, according to videos shared widely on social media and verified by The Washington Post.... Russia’s retreat from Kherson 'has broader strategic implications,' Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said on Air Force One.... Sullivan added that Ukraine’s ability to push Russian troops across the Dnieper River reduces the “long-term threat” to places such as Odessa and the Black Sea shore.... Ukraine is moving to restore the area around Kherson.... [The area's] military administrator Vitaliy Kim ... said that officials were working on providing electricity and communications, and that more humanitarian aid was expected to reach local warehouses on Saturday.... At least seven people were killed in a Russian attack on a residential building in the southern Mykolaiv region Friday, a stark reminder that, even as Kherson city comes under Ukrainian control, Russian forces on the eastern bank of the river will still be able to hit Mykolaiv with drones or missiles.”
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Reader Comments (12)
You knew this was coming…but, um…
Waaaahhh! The Orange Infant is having a major tantrum because his guy, a racist idiot, Blake Masters, lost in Arizona. Must be fraud, right?
But wait…according to the Fat Fascist, who posted a stamping baby feet claim on his Lie Antisocial site, Democrats “stole the electron” from his guy. Whoops! Does this mean Blake Masters has undergone oxidation? That’s what happens when an atom loses an electron. But really, it should be a good thing, right? Cuz atoms losing electrons become positively charged by having more protons than electrons.
But hey, I’m sure Fatty knows all this. He has all the best physics. Plus! A first in American electoral history, the oxidation candidate! Congrats, Blakey!
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/109328881878688824
But actually, as usual, it’s Republicans who stole the electron, or election, whatever.
Take away the seats in the House gained in ridiculously gerrymandered states like Florida and elsewhere (seats that would have gone to Democrats in fairly districted areas), and Democrats easily maintain control of that chamber. Look at Michigan. A fairly drawn electoral map, and the traitors get creamed.
The takeaway, for the traitors, is that democracy IS terrible. For them, anyway. Look what happens when the wrong people are allowed to vote! And that after all their beautiful wickedness in trying to make sure that didn’t happen! Cheating. That’s the only way to go. From here on out, it’s Steal More Electrons!
Pundit pearl-clutch-a-thon!
One of the biggest reasons so many “experts” twisted themselves into knots (naughts?) to declare an imminent and unavoidable Red Wave seems to have arisen from the generally held belief that women would forget about Roe being overturned. “Ahhh…those silly broads, the Roe thing happened way back in June. Who cares about that now? They’re all pissed about the economy.” Because they can only care about one thing at a time?
A similar position seems to have been “Voters are stupid”. Well, certainly in some cases that’s true (lookin’ at you, Georgia), but no one seems to have forgotten about how the traitors on the Supreme Court made every Republican’s dream come true by taking away women’s right to choose how to live their lives.
Men who believed in that right didn’t forget either. My favorite part of voting this year was coloring in the little box that said NO to the theocrats who wanted to enshrine “No Abortions, Ever” in my state’s constitution. This🖕for them, and this🖕for their horse.
Will that give the traitors pause as they plan to eviscerate additional rights? Never. But at least they can be sure that voters won’t forget it. But you know who will?
Pearl clutching pundits!
Voters were positively repelled when Masters dropped his electron and, ionically, showed his true metal.
Patrick,
Ion not surprised.
Wait…so…Fatty is demanding kudos for illegally stopping an election in progress to ensure a fraudulent victory for DeSantolini?
See? He was right! Electoral fraud is a real thing!
(But only by Republicans, even if, in this case, it’s only fantasy fraud.)
@Akhilleus: Yes, imagine that! A former POTUS* (and possible future presidential* candidate) imagines he illegally sent in the FBI to stop imaginary fraud. And then he imagines that makes him some kind of hero. Fantasy upon fantasy upon fantasy. And at the bottom of it all: corrupt intent.
"I can't quit you" said one of the guys in that film I can't remember the name of ––but that statement hovers over our current obsession with the Donald who refuses to go quietly into the night. Poor bloke is in a pickle not only politically but rumor is that Melanie is not happy! How bout that! She hates all this publicity and is not in favor of her hubby possibly running again. He even blamed her for getting cozy with Oz––another Trumpy candidate that lost. Jared and Ivanka have no interest in another campaign which must set off the electrons in Fatty's head of mush. Obviously Nicole did not do him in and so we continue to follow the fella like a Penny Dreadful and hang on to the possibility that one of these days–––ONE of these days HE will have to quit!
@PD Pepe: That film was 'Brokeback Mountain."
Have to go now, got to ion a tablecloth.
I supported a young progressive candidate for a local state rep position.
All votes are not yet counted but at this point looks like he has a better chance than I would have thought. Fingers crossed to the extent that arthritis allows...
Drove him around for some door-belling a few weeks back and had a chance to talk. Learned a bit about him but still couldn't figure the origins of his ambition. Since then learned more about him and his family as his opponent released a scurrilous letter about him from his father, who had not coincidentally been in the capital if not in the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021.
Aha! I said, reaction formation, a trait I'm personally familiar with. A boy who didn't want to be like his father.
All of which led to two associated thoughts about the wellsprings of ambition.
Drawn from my limited store of literary references, Budd Schulberg's "What Makes Sammy Run" comes to mind. Sammy's motivation was sourced in poverty and his minority (Jewish) status. Not so much a reaction to a father but to the life he inherited and wished to change.
But consider the Pretender and his dreams of glory. First, the nuts part, for he is obviously narcissistically nuts. And yes, his good ole dad has more than a little to do with that.
But I have to think there's another factor or two at work. At this point, when some part of him has to feel he overreached himself and fallen into the black pit of public failure, he has two other motivators.
First, the old one. Since it's all he knows, he has to keep the con a going.
The other? The Pretender is running from The Law. In recent photos you can see the sweat on his face.
BTW, no surprise that the candidates the Pretender backed were so deplorable and did so poorly. He practiced by selecting such a deplorable Cabinet.
With all the gerrymandered results one could say that the Republicans and the Supreme Court once again stole elections from the American people.
Looking at the Kentucky abortion vote I can't help but think about the disconnect of voting for women in your state to be allowed to make choices about their bodies while still overwhelmingly voting for Mitch and Rand who were crucial to taking away those rights for women around the country. But I guess that is a main feature of being a Republican, protection for me and mine while the rest of the world can burn.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/11/12/uae-meddled-us-politics-intel-report/?
As my long-dead father would have said, all those folks, the UAE, the Republicans who hate campaign finance laws, the K Street cesspool, and our tainted SCOTUS who by pretending money is speech loosed a flood of dark money on our democracy are in cahoots.
While I appreciate the report, it's been kinda obvious for a long time.