;)
November 17, 2021
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
House Votes to Censure Gosar; Almost All Republicans Favor Murderous Video. Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "The House voted Wednesday to censure Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) for tweeting an anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and swinging swords at President Biden -- a move that comes amid growing worries about violent political rhetoric 10 months after a mob of former president Donald Trump's supporters attacked the Capitol. The 223-to-207 vote, with one member voting present, marks the first time in more than a decade that the House has censured one of its members. The resolution also removes Gosar from his assignments on the House Oversight and Natural Resources committees. Two Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), joined Democrats in backing the measure. Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) voted 'present.'"
Hannah Rabinowitz & Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Jacob Chansley, the so-called 'QAnon Shaman,' was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the US Capitol riot.... Judge Royce Lamberth has had Chansley held in jail since his arrest, despite his multiple attempts to gain sympathy and his release. Other judges are likely to look to Lamberth's sentence as a possible benchmark, since Chansley is one of the first felony defendants among more than 660 Capitol riot cases to receive a punishment."
Dan Keating & Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "The U.S. drug epidemic reached another terrible milestone Wednesday when the government announced that more than 100,000 people had died of overdoses between April 2020 and April 2021. It is the first time that drug-related deaths have reached six figures in any 12-month period.... The new figures, which are provisional but rarely change much in final tallies, represent a 28.5 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. The financial, mental health, housing and other difficulties of the covid-19 pandemic are widely blamed for much of the increase." The Guardian's report is here.
Belarus/Poland. Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: "Belarus used buses Wednesday to move hundreds of migrants from the Polish border to a nearby warehouse, providing temporary shelter amid freezing temperatures and potentially easing a standoff with the European Union. The Belarus decision comes a day after violence erupted along the border, where migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere have been stranded. For months, Belarus has opened routes for migrants to reach E.U. borders in retaliation for European sanctions. Polish authorities used water cannons to push back the migrants, an escalation they said was overseen by Belarusian forces."
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Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden on Tuesday began selling his $1 trillion infrastructure law, making the case that the money would do more than rebuild roads, bridges and railways. The law, he said, would help the United States regain its competitive edge against China. 'We're about to turn things around in a big way,' Mr. Biden said in remarks at a bridge over the Pemigewasset River, in snowy New Hampshire. 'For example, because of this law, next year will be the first year in 20 years that American infrastructure investment will grow faster than China's.' The president has cast the legislation as a giant leap for the United States in its battle with China to dominate the 21st-century economy, even though it does not include the full scope of his campaign promises to pour money into research and development and provide incentives for domestic manufacturing and other initiatives." ~~~
~~~ WMUR's (Manchester) report is here. Nothing in it about rabid anti-vaxxers tossing snowballs & epithets at Biden, so I guess the event went all right. Video of the President's speech is here. He begins speaking at about 2:25 minutes in.
Dino Grandoni of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration submitted a treaty amendment aimed at curbing a set of climate super-pollutants for Senate approval on Tuesday, White House officials confirmed. The United States played a key role in forging the Kigali Amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which compels countries to phase down hydrofluorocarbons -- human-made chemicals hundreds to thousands of times as powerful as carbon dioxide -- by 85 percent by 2036. But the Trump administration reversed Obama-era rules aimed at cutting these chemicals, known as HFCs, which are widely used in refrigeration and air conditioning. Curbing the use of hydrofluorocarbons is rare climate policy that garners support from both parties. It will need significant GOP backing to pass. The amendment, like all treaties, will require the approval of a two-thirds supermajority of the chamber to become law.... The White House announcement earned swift praise from both environmentalists and industry representatives."
Guardian & Agencies: "China and the US have agreed to ease restrictions on each other's journalists amid a slight easing of tensions between the two sides. The official China Daily newspaper said on Wednesday that the agreement was reached ahead of the virtual summit between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US president Joe Biden held a day earlier. Under the agreement, the US will issue one-year multiple-entry visas to Chinese journalists and will immediately initiate a process to address 'duration of status' issues, China Daily said. China will reciprocate by granting equal treatment to US journalists once the US policies take effect, and both sides will issue media visas for new applicants 'based on relevant laws and regulations', the report said." The New York Times report is here.
Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. has begun to track threats against school administrators, teachers and board members to assess the extent of the problem, part of the Justice Department's effort to grapple with the heated and occasionally violent clashes over culture war issues like the teaching of racism and mask requirements. Last month the F.B.I. created a 'threat tag' to apply to reports of threats, harassment and violence against school officials, to comply with a memo sent by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, according to a directive issued on Oct. 20 to the bureau's criminal and counterterrorism divisions that House Republicans made public on Tuesday.... Republicans in Congress have seized on the Justice Department's focus on [these] threats of violence ... to buttress their contention that the Biden administration and Democrats are seeking to intimidate or silence parents who object to local school policies." ~~~
~~~ Eric Kleefeld of Media Matters: "Fox News and other right-wing media voices are now hyping a letter from House Republicans claiming that the FBI is targeting parents who show up to complain at school board meetings. But the document they have produced does not even say that at all. Previously, Fox News lied about an FBI letter on efforts to track violent threats against school officials, to then claim that parents across the country would be labeled as 'domestic terrorists.' In fact, an official memorandum specifically differentiated such threats from 'spirited debate about policy matters' that is protected by the Constitution. The outlets are now misusing an FBI term of art, 'threat tag,' to make it sound like individual parents are being tracked." ~~~
~~~ Marie: It seems one of our favorite U.S. senators, Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has responded to the FBI's shocking intimidation of concerned parents by introducing a Parents' Bill of Rights. That's fine, but I'm still awaiting Hawley's much-anticipated Manly Man Bill of Rights, which, at the very least, should return wives to a state of chattel & codify "love, honor and obey" as an essential element of a woman's marriage vow.
Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "House Democrats are planning to hold 1,000 events throughout the country between now and the end of the year to tout their latest legislative accomplishments, including the bipartisan infrastructure bill, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney (N.Y.) announced on Tuesday." MB: The article does not mention the Covid relief package which the House & Senate (through reconciliation) passed on partyline votes late last winter. Everybody -- perhaps including Maloney -- has forgotten that law, which was a huge boost to the economy, no doubt saved millions of American families from near-destitution & substantially reduced the country's child poverty level. Maybe I'll get around to making up a New York address & writing to Maloney to remind him to tout the Covid bill, too.
Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "House Democrats plan to move on Wednesday to formally rebuke Representative Paul Gosar, Republican of Arizona, and strip him of committee assignments for posting an animated video depicting him killing a Democratic congresswoman and attacking President Biden. Democratic leaders intend to hold a vote to censure Mr. Gosar -- the most severe punishment in the House of Representatives short of expulsion -- and oust him from his seats on the House Oversight and Natural Resources Committees. The action comes a week after he used his official social media accounts to circulate a video clip from a popular anime program altered to show a figure with Mr. Gosar's face slashing the neck of another figure bearing the face of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York. It also showed his character swinging swords at Mr. Biden.... Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican leader, has declined to publicly denounce the video, but told reporters on Tuesday that he has told lawmakers that he would not accept 'any action or showing of a violence to another member.'" Politico's report is here.
Maria Cramer of the New York Times: "Former employees of the technology company Afiniti, the broadcaster CBS and the luxury giant LVMH shared accounts of sexual abuse, rape and harassment with a congressional committee on Tuesday, experiences they said they had been required to keep quiet because they had signed contracts with 'forced arbitration' clauses. The testimony, which implicated executives at the companies, came as the House Judiciary Committee was considering legislation that would abolish forced arbitration for victims of sexual assault and harassment. Forced arbitration often requires an employee to go through a private proceeding with his or her employer after bringing an accusation of workplace misconduct, according to legislators.... [The women] testified for hours, under protection of congressional subpoenas."
Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "Daniel Rodriguez, a pro-Trump extremist who electroshocked Metropolitan Police Officer Mike Fanone on Jan. 6, was in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday trying to get his videotaped confession to the FBI tossed on the grounds that special agents engaged in 'coercive questioning' and that Rodriguez wasn't properly advised of his rights. But U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson indicated on Tuesday that she'll likely allow most of Rodriguez's admission to be used if he goes to trial, finding that only a brief portion of the interview that took place before Rodriguez was advised of his Miranda rights had to be suppressed. She'll issue a final ruling down the road, after watching the entirety of the more than three-hour interview herself.... Attorneys for Rodriguez ... tried to argue that the traumatic experience of being arrested by the FBI at his home at 6 a.m. was coercive." MB: Well, Rodriguez has a point. One way to get the incarceration rate way down would be to determine that every arrest is so traumatizing & coercive that anything a defendant says subsequent to his arrest cannot be used against him.
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to block the National Archives from giving Congress quick access to records from his White House related to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, arguing that litigation over whether they are properly shielded by his claim of executive privilege should fully play out first. In a 54-page brief filed before the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Jesse R. Binnall, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, reiterated his argument that the Constitution gives the former president the power to keep those files confidential even though he is no longer in office -- and even though President Biden refused to assert executive privilege over them."
** Will Steakin of ABC News: "In the aftermath of the 2020 election, some of Donald Trump's closest allies embarked on an unprecedented effort to get the Department of Defense to chase down outlandish voter fraud conspiracy theories in hopes of helping Trump retain power, ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl writes in his new book..., scheduled to be released [Tuesday]. Karl reports that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump attorney Sidney Powell tried to enlist a Pentagon official to help overturn the election. According to the book, Flynn -- who had just received an unconditional pardon from President Trump after pleading guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI during the Russia probe -- made a frantic phone call to a senior Trump intelligence official named Ezra Cohen..., who previously worked under Flynn at both the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the National Security Council." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Do read on, especially if you didn't know about Germany's jailing former CIA Director Gina Haspel after she went on a secret mission to seize a computer server in Germany. Shouldn't Haspel have given the assignment to Jason Bourne? And now I really would like to know what part Michael's brother, Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn, played in slowing the Pentagon's response to the insurrection.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The White House, under pressure from activists to increase the supply of coronavirus vaccines to poor nations, is prepared to invest billions of dollars to expand U.S. manufacturing capacity, with the goal of producing at least one billion doses a year beginning in the second half of 2022, two top advisers to President Biden said in an interview on Tuesday. The investment is the first step in a new plan, to be announced on Wednesday, for the government to partner with industry to address immediate vaccine needs overseas and domestically and to prepare for future pandemics, said Dr. David Kessler, who oversees vaccine distribution for the administration, and Jeff Zients, Mr. Biden's coronavirus response coordinator." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Wednesday are here.
Noah Weiland & Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration is aiming to authorize booster doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine for all adults as early as Thursday, a move that would expand the number of Americans eligible for additional shots by tens of millions, according to people familiar with the agency's plans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's independent committee of vaccine experts has scheduled a meeting for Friday to discuss data on the booster dose's efficacy and safety. If both the F.D.A. and the C.D.C. sign off this week, they will have acted strikingly quickly -- a little more than a week after Pfizer asked for authorization of boosters for everyone 18 and older." ~~~
~~~ Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "While federal officials continue to limit who can receive a coronavirus booster shot, a growing number of governors from both political parties and other officials are circumventing that guidance to offer boosters to anyone over 18 in hopes of staving off a spike in cases over the holidays. California made the first move to expand access when public health officials quietly sent a letter to local health jurisdictions and vaccine providers on Nov. 9 instructing them to trust patients to decide whether a booster is appropriate.... Within days, officials in Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas, West Virginia and New York City endorsed boosters for all adults -- and more states and jurisdictions are expected to follow."
Tyler Pager, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration is planning to purchase 10 million courses of Pfizer's covid pill, a $5 billion investment in a treatment that officials think will help change the trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic by reducing severe illness and deaths, according to two people with knowledge of the transaction. As the administration and Pfizer on Tuesday hammered out the final details, the company asked federal regulators to authorize the five-day antiviral pill regimen called Paxlovid. The medication is the second easy-to-take treatment aimed at keeping newly infected people out of the hospital to go before the Food and Drug Administration. The other is by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Biden aides see both treatments as potential game-changers to help restore a sense of normalcy heading toward the pandemic's second anniversary and are eager to add them to a still-small collection of treatments for Americans who contract the coronavirus...." The article is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~
~~~ Adam Taylor & Claire Parker of the Washington Post: "U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has agreed to a license-sharing deal that would allow its experimental covid-19 drug to be manufactured more widely around the globe. It's an agreement that the company says could give more than half of the world's population access to the treatment, even as Pfizer rebuffs calls to grant poorer countries access to its coronavirus vaccine formula.... 'This license is so important because, if authorized or approved, this oral drug is particularly well-suited for low- and middle-income countries and could play a critical role in saving lives, contributing to global efforts to fight the current pandemic,' said Charles Gore, executive director of Medicines Patent Pool, the nonprofit group that reached the agreement with Pfizer."
Nancy, Bar the Door. Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Tuesday that she has accumulated $63,000 in fines for refusing to wear a mask on the House floor, with additional fines likely to be imposed as she continues to defy the chamber's mask requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic. 'I'm up to $63,000,' Greene told The Hill outside the House chamber while not wearing a mask and confirmed that the fines are automatically 'deducted out of my check.' Greene also volunteered that she is not vaccinated against COVID-19 after declining to disclose her vaccination status for months." MB: While it is essential to democracy that Margie's constituents be represented in Congress, even if they chose Margie to be that representative, there must be some way to preclude her from endangering her House colleagues. How will the residents of other districts be represented if Margie kills their Congressmembers?
Beyond the Beltway
Alabama. Igor Bobic of the Washington Post: "In a press release issued by his office on Monday, Alabama Rep. Gary Palmer [R-Ala.] touted funding in the [newly-signed infrastructure] bill aimed at connecting communities in the Appalachian region of the country to national interstate highways, something that will benefit his district, which encompasses the city of Birmingham. 'Birmingham is currently one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country without a complete beltline around it. Completing the Northern Beltline will benefit the entire region and enhance economic development and employment opportunities,' Palmer said in a statement. An accompanying tweet issued by the congressman also touted funding for the project, though it left out the fact that he voted against it."
California. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who has represented parts of San Mateo County and San Francisco in Congress since 2008, announced Tuesday she will not seek reelection in 2022."
Colorado. Ernest Luning of Colorado Politics: "Federal, state and local authorities searched the homes of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and three of her associates on Tuesday as part of an investigation into accusations the elected official was involved in voting machine security breaches, according to an official who helped conduct the searches. The FBI carried out a court-ordered search of Peters' home in Mesa County early Tuesday morning, leaving her 'terrified,' Peters said Tuesday night in an appearance on Lindell TV, an online channel run by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.... '... They were not men in suits with badges,' Peters said. 'They looked very much like they were in a combat zone -- soldiers with automatic weapons and combat gear.'... Lindell said one of the homes raided by law enforcement authorities belongs to Sherronna Bishop, a Garfield County resident and former campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert."
Florida. Your Vote Counts. Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "A Florida primary to select the Democrat who will run in a special election to fill the House seat of the late Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (D) was decided by five votes. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a health-care executive, emerged victorious Tuesday after Florida Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee ordered a machine ballot recount of the tight race. An initial vote count found Cherfilus-McCormick nearly deadlocked with Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness, with Holness leading by 12 votes out of more than 49,000 cast."
Virginia. School Board Members Come to Their Senses, Get Over Fear of Sex. Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "A school board in Virginia has reversed a recent decision to remove 'sexually explicit' books from school libraries after the move stirred community outrage and drew harsh national criticism -- especially over two board members' apparent suggestion to burn the books. The Spotsylvania County School Board voted 5 to 2 Tuesday to rescind its decision, a week after two parents complained about inappropriate content. At the Nov. 8 meeting, the board unanimously directed Schools Superintendent S. Scott Baker to reconsider whether every sexually explicit book in school libraries should be kept or permanently removed -- forcing a team of about three dozen staffers, including all of the district's librarians, to start poring through tens of thousands of titles.... Many Spotsylvanians spoke during a public comment period that stretched for more than four hours. A high-schooler told the board that censorship is 'contagious and leads to much worse,' according to the Free Lance-Star. A county librarian added, 'If you have a worldview that can be undone by a novel, let me suggest that the problem is not the novel,' the Free Lance-Star reported."
Way Beyond
Belarus/Poland. AP: "A Polish government official said Wednesday that migrants who have spent days in a makeshift camp on the Belarusian side of Poland's eastern border are being taken away by bus by Belarusian officials." The New York Times is live-updating developments here.
News Lede
AP: "As many parts of western Washington began drying out Tuesday after a storm that dumped rain for days, waters in some areas continued rising, more people were urged to evacuate and crews worked to restore power and reopen roads. Officials in the small city of Sumas, Washington, near the Canada border called the flood damage there devastating. Officials said on Facebook Tuesday that hundreds of people had been evacuated and estimated that 75% of homes had water damage."
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HUGGER-MUGGERY:
While the Biden administration is trying to move forward we are awash in conspiracy theories and with congress critters defying basic rules of engagement. The Q nitwits are once again going to that grassy knoll to welcome not only John Jr. but JFK himself. We learn that demented Sidney Powell engaged the Pentagon in a bizarre story (see above) that takes your breath away. Imagine Gina Haspel, sitting in her kitchen having breakfast one morning learning that she has been captured in Germany and is being held hostage. The list of loonies is long and I think perhaps Ken is right about this time being especially noteworthy re: dangerous upheaval even though I argued that we have had a history as dark as this. But I see, for instance, that someone like MTG who defies House rules in that egregious way just gets fined? and meanwhile she's exposing others to her unvaccinated self? And of course, the biggie: A past president is responsible for fucking up his own presidency, refusing to relinquish it, while gathering his flock to continue fucking up that thing called democracy. So yes––we are dealing with a different kind of landscape.
Watch this exchange between Christy and Nicole–-she being one of the few who, early on, held her guests' feet to the fire when she told a GOP guest: "I had you on for an honest discussion--if you continue to lie I want you to leave."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nicolle-wallace-chris-christie_n_61947a41e4b044a1cbff6785
Thanks for keeping Chris' BS to 1:09, PD. You notice in that interview he uses the word "we" to describe authorship. There is no other cited author when you look up this book. If Nicole really wanted to do a public service, she would pick up on this lack of attribution to the ghost-writer who did most of the heavy lifting to write the book. His whole party is beset with fraud passing as effort.
"Connecting Climate Goals to Industrial Goals
Biden’s Green Steel Deal with the EU is a model for future progress—and it beats anything that came out of Glasgow.
by Robert Kuttner"
https://prospect.org/environment/connecting-climate-goals-to-industrial-goals/