;)
November 23, 2021
Afternoon Update:
** Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "Jurors on Tuesday found the main organizers of the deadly right-wing rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 liable under state law for injuries to counterprotesters, awarding more than $25 million in damages. But the jury deadlocked on federal conspiracy charges. The case in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville was brought by nine plaintiffs, four men and five women, including four people injured in the same car attack that killed one counterprotester, 32-year-old Heather Heyer.... All were seeking compensatory and unspecified punitive damages.... The defendants, 10 individuals and 14 organizations, were a mix of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and white supremacists who used the rally in Charlottesville to mobilize supporters and show that they were a force on the streets, not just on the internet. This developing story will be updated." The NBC News story is here.
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Capitol attack issued subpoenas on Tuesday to three militia or paramilitary groups, including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, that investigators believe have information about the deadly siege on Jan. 6. The subpoenas were issued to the Proud Boys International, L.L.C., and its chairman Henry 'Enrique' Tarrio; the Oath Keepers and its president Elmer Stewart Rhodes; and the 1st Amendment Praetorian and its chairman Robert Patrick Lewis.... Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the chairman of the committee, said in a statement[,] 'We believe the individuals and organizations we subpoenaed today have relevant information about how violence erupted at the Capitol and the preparation leading up to this violent attack.'"
Josh Boak & Colleen Long of the AP: "President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered 50 million barrels of oil released from America's strategic reserve to help bring down energy costs, in coordination with other major energy consuming nations, including India, the United Kingdom and China. The U.S. action is aimed at global energy markets, but also at U.S. voters who are coping with higher inflation and rising prices ahead of Thanksgiving and winter holiday travel. Gasoline prices are at about $3.40 a gallon, more than 50% higher than a year ago, according to the American Automobile Association. The government will begin to move barrels into the market in mid to late December. But the action is unlikely to immediately bring down gas prices significantly as families begin traveling for the holidays. Gasoline usually responds at a lag to changes in oil prices, and administration officials suggested this is one of several steps toward ultimately bringing down costs."
Teaganne Finn of NBC News: "President Joe Biden's Build Back Better package would raise, not lower, taxes for millionaires, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation in a major correction from the group's original analysis. The committee an official scorekeeper of tax-related legislation, originally estimated that the $1.7 trillion safety net and climate change bill would give millionaires a net tax cut in 2022, but the revised estimates released Tuesday show millionaires' average tax rate going up by 3.2 percentage points next year."
Dollar-and-a-Quarter Tree Store. Nathaniel Meyersohn of CNN: "Dollar Tree will soon be $1.25 tree. The company -- one of America's last remaining true dollar stores -- said Tuesday it will raise prices from $1 to $1.25 on the majority of its products by the first quarter of 2022. The change is a sign of the pressures low-cost retailers face holding down prices during a period of rising inflation. Dollar Tree (DLTR) said in a quarterly earnings release Tuesday that its decision to raise prices to $1.25 permanently, however, was 'not a reaction to short-term or transitory market conditions.'"
Georgia. Tim Craig & Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "Jurors began deliberations just before noon Tuesday in the murder trial of the three men accused of killing 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery last year. Judge Timothy Walmsley read jurors their instructions after prosecutors made their final rebuttal to the defense's closing argument. Cobb County senior district attorney Linda Dunikoski told jurors that the three White men -- Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and their neighbor William 'Roddie' Bryan -- jumped to conclusions about a 'Black man running down the street' before pursuing Arbery in pickup trucks and confronting him in their suburban Georgia neighborhood. Rebutting the defense's closing arguments Tuesday morning, she called part of their strategy 'offensive' and clashed with them over the meaning of a law central to the case -- Georgia's since-overhauled statute allowing citizen's arrests." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the trial of three men accused of killing of Ahmaud Arbery.
New York. Jeffery Mays & Annie Correal of the New York Times: "New York City lawmakers are poised to allow more than 800,000 New Yorkers who are green card holders or have the legal right to work in the United States to vote in municipal elections and for local ballot initiatives. The bill, known as 'Our City, Our Vote,' would make New York City the largest municipality in the country to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections."
Debbie Cenziper, et al., of the Washington Post: "Despite mounting concerns about discriminatory policing, the Trump administration aggressively recruited local law enforcement partners and courted sheriffs who championed similar views on immigration policy, according to dozens of internal ICE emails obtained by The Post.... [A] White House gathering in September 2018 was part of a two-day media and lobbying blitz by the Federation for American Immigration Reform to promote border control and immigration enforcement, including a contentious national program known as 287(g) that for years has drawn support from ... [some] sheriffs. Operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the program empowers state and local law enforcement officers to act with federal authority: questioning, reporting and detaining undocumented immigrants. Although ICE promised that the program would focus only on serious criminals, pro-immigration groups have repeatedly warned that the partnerships enable hard-line sheriffs to target undocumented immigrants leading peaceful lives."
Tim Fitzsimons of NBC News: "Brian Laundrie died from a gunshot wound to the head and his manner of death was a suicide, according to a statement from the Laundrie family attorney.... Investigators named him a 'person of interest' in [Gabby] Petito's disappearance...."
Jill Biden received the White House Christmas tree yesterday:
~~~ Betsy Klein of CNN: "The 18-and-a-half-foot Fraser fir hails from Peak Farms of Jefferson, North Carolina, and was presented by Rusty and Beau Estes, the National Christmas Tree Association's 2021 grand champion growers -- a title they also received during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations."
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Christopher Rugaber of the AP: "President Joe Biden announced Monday he's nominating Jerome Powell for a second four-year term as Federal Reserve chair, endorsing Powell's stewardship of the economy through a brutal pandemic recession in which the Fed's ultra-low rate policies helped bolster confidence and revitalize the job market. Biden also said he would nominate Lael Brainard, the lone Democrat on the Fed's Board of Governors and the preferred alternative to Powell among many progressives, as vice chair. A separate position of vice chair for supervision, a bank regulatory post, remains vacant, along with two other slots on the Fed's board. Those positions will be filled in early December, Biden said. His decision strikes a note of continuity and bipartisanship at a time when surging inflation is burdening households and raising risks to the economy's recovery." The Washington Post's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Miriam Berger of the Washington Post: "The United States for the first time was added to a list of 'backsliding democracies' in a report released Monday by the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. 'The United States, the bastion of global democracy, fell victim to authoritarian tendencies itself, and was knocked down a significant number of steps on the democratic scale,' the International IDEA's Global State of Democracy 2021 report said. The study, which analyzed trends from 2020 to 2021, found that more than a quarter of the world's population now lives in democratically backsliding countries, which International IDEA defines as nations seeing a gradual decline in the quality of their democracy. 'The world is becoming more authoritarian as nondemocratic regimes become even more brazen in their repression and many democratic governments suffer from backsliding by adopting their tactics of restricting free speech and weakening the rule of law...,' the report found. 'The number [of countries] moving in the direction of authoritarianism is three times the number moving toward democracy.'" A CBS News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Patricia Mazzei & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The Justice Department will pay about $130 million to 40 survivors and families of victims of the 2018 massacre at a high school in Parkland, Fla., over the F.B.I.'s failure to properly investigate two tips in the months before the shooting that suggested the gunman might open fire at a school. One of the tips, six weeks before the shooting, detailed how the gunman, Nikolas Cruz, was posting on Instagram about amassing weapons and ammunition. 'I know he's going to explode,' the woman said on the F.B.I.'s tip line, adding that she feared Mr. Cruz, then 19, 'was going to slip into a school and start shooting the place up.'"
The Party of Violence. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post reflects on the resignations from Fox "News" of its contributors Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg on account of their objections to Tucker Carlson's fake-umentary "Patriot Purge." "Much of the discussion [about crap generated by Carlson & others] treats the possibility of violence as a mere incidental byproduct of that propaganda, depicting it merely as conspiracy-theorizing-for-profit getting out of control. But ... this bundle of propagandistic devices ... has a purpose.... It ... appears designed to lay the justificatory foundation for efforts to resist or subvert legitimate democratic outcomes by any means necessary or available in the future.... Which brings us to a new letter signed by dozens of scholars. They warn that attacks on the 'legitimacy of America's elections' and, importantly, the use of this as justification to lay the groundwork to subvert democratic outcomes later, has grown to a crisis point." ~~~
~~~ Max Boot of the Washington Post: The Republican party "continue[s] to fan the flames of hatred, violence and division. At one recent conference, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said, 'The left hates America,' while Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said: 'Their grand ambition is to deconstruct the United States of America.' At the same time, Republicans make a fetish of gun ownership and use; weapons of war are the hottest fashion accessory in GOP campaign ads. The message many Republicans receive is that violence is justified to save the United States from a leftist takeover.... Republicans are complicit in fomenting violent extremism -- and they have also become hostage to the extremists in their ranks. It's an ugly situation familiar from other people's civil wars...."
Marie: I thought I had made an original observation when I equated Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) to the cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn. I found out last week I was wrong. Now I know a lot of people have noticed the similarities: ~~~
~~~ Robert Mann in a Washington Post op-ed: "An acerbic Biden critic, [Sen. John] Kennedy [R-La.] is a fount of sharp-but-folksy one-liners. He punctuated his 2016 Senate campaign spots with, 'I will not let you down. I'd rather drink weedkiller.' With his exaggerated Southern accent, he affects a mixture of Mr. Haney, the con artist of the 1960s CBS sitcom 'Green Acres,' and the bombastic Looney Tunes rooster, Foghorn J. Leghorn.... Whenever Kennedy appears on Fox News or launches an attention-getting stunt, those of us in Louisiana who know him well roll our eyes and reflect on the Kennedy we knew before his Senate election. Mostly, we wonder what happened to the reasonable, non-incendiary Kennedy we once knew.... Kennedy is acting. He's a shape-shifting, attention-hungry politician who found a role -- wily country boy -- that brings him some fame.... What bothers me ... is what [Kennedy's performance] says about Louisiana politics, and today's Republican Party, that Kennedy could expose himself as a xenophobic demagogue and pay no price for it."
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Capitol attack on Jan. 6 issued five new subpoenas on Monday, targeting allies of ... Donald J. Trump who helped draw crowds to Washington before the riot, including the political operative Roger J. Stone Jr. and the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The subpoenas, which come after the committee has interviewed more than 200 witnesses, indicate that investigators are intent on learning the details of the planning and financing of rallies that drew Mr. Trump's supporters to Washington based on his lies of a stolen election, fueling the violence that engulfed Congress and delayed the formalization of President Biden's victory.... The committee is also demanding documents and testimony from Dustin Stockton and his fiancée, Jennifer L. Lawrence, who reportedly assisted in organizing a series of rallies after the election advancing false claims about its outcome.... The committee also issued a subpoena to Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, who reportedly solicited nonprofit organizations to conduct a social media and radio advertising campaign...."
Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "A supporter of ... Donald Trump was sentenced to 19 months in prison for threatening to 'slaughter' members of Congress days after the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol -- a threat that tested the limits of free speech in an era of contentious political division. Brendan Hunt, 37, still doesn't recognize the severity of the violent rhetoric in the 88-second message he posted online 12 days before Joe Biden's inauguration, said the judge [Pamela Chen] who sentenced him Monday in federal court in Brooklyn.... Hunt did not go to Washington on Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump supporters attacked police and forced their way into the Capitol to try to disrupt the certification of Biden's presidential victory. But he posted a video to the online site BitChute on Jan. 8 citing Trump's false claims that the election was tainted and saying Trump's followers should 'take up arms' and head to Washington to kill lawmakers he thought were traitors for confirming the Biden win."
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "An Indiana man charged with carrying a loaded firearm to the Capitol on Jan. 6 told investigators that if he had found Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 'you'd be here for another reason,' according to court documents posted over the weekend. Mark Mazza, 56, is the latest of about half a dozen Jan. 6 defendants charged with bringing a gun to the Capitol. In this case, Mazza allegedly carried a Taurus revolver known as 'The Judge,' which is capable of firing shotgun shells -- two of which were in the chamber, along with three hollow-point bullets. A Capitol Police sergeant obtained the weapon after allegedly fending off an assault from Mazza.... Prosecutors obtained the gun from the alleged assailant himself and used its serial number to trace it back to him. Mazza himself [falsely] reported the gun stolen to local authorities."
Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "A federal judge [N. Reid Neureiter] has ordered two Colorado lawyers who filed a lawsuit late last year challenging the 2020 election results to pay nearly $187,000 to defray the legal fees of groups they sued, arguing that the hefty penalty was proper to deter others from using frivolous suits to undermine the democratic system.... The two lawyers, Gary D. Fielder and Ernest John Walker, filed the case in December 2020 as a class action on behalf of 160 million American voters, alleging there was a complicated plot to steal the election from ... Donald Trump and give the victory to Joe Biden."
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court should permit Congress to see White House records about ... Donald J. Trump and the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, lawyers for House Democrats and the Biden administration argued on Monday.... In a 69-page brief, lawyers for the House urged the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to permit the House committee investigating the riot to see the files without waiting for litigation over Mr. Trump's privilege claim to be fully resolved. They stressed that the constitutional privilege exists to protect the executive branch, not an individual person, and that the incumbent president [Biden] had declined to assert the privilege in this case. The lawyers for the House called Mr. Trump's assertion of executive privilege 'unprecedented and deeply flawed' and said the judiciary should not permit it to interfere with the work of Congress."
Hannah Rabinowitz & Holmes Lybrand of CNN: "A federal judge took aim at ... Donald Trump on Monday for lying about voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election, saying that former Vice President Al Gore had a better standing to challenge the 2000 election results but that he was 'a man' and walked away. 'Al Gore had a better case to argue than Mr. Trump, but he was a man about what happened to him,' Senior District Judge Reggie Walton said of Gore's decision to end his presidential bid following weeks of legal battles. 'He accepted it and walked away.' The comments from Walton came during a plea hearing for Capitol riot defendant Adam Johnson, who was photographed carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's lectern through the Capitol building. He pleaded guilty on Monday to a low-level charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This must really wound Trump, who effects the persona of what he imagines is a manly man. a/k/a a violent bully.
David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Trump Organization owns an office building at 40 Wall Street in Manhattan. In 2012, when the company was listing its assets for potential lenders, it said the building was worth $527 million.... But just a few months later, the Trump Organization told property tax officials that the entire 70-story building was worth ... just $16.7 million.... That was less than one-thirtieth the amount it had claimed the year before. That property is now under scrutiny from the Manhattan district attorney and New York attorney general, along with several others like it for which the Trump Organization gave vastly different value estimates, according to public records and people familiar with their investigations...." ~~~
David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Republican National Committee is paying some personal legal bills for ... Donald Trump, spending party funds to pay a lawyer representing Trump in investigations into his financial practices in New York, a party spokeswoman said Monday.... Trump is a wealthy businessman with dozens of properties, and he has built an independent political operation, which at last count had more than $100 million on hand."
Larry Neumeister of the AP: “Michael Cohen, who was ... Donald Trump's longtime personal lawyer until his 2018 arrest, said Monday that his three-year prison sentence -- mostly spent in home confinement -- was over as he took another swipe at his former boss and vowed to continue cooperating with law enforcement probes. A smiling Cohen emerged from Manhattan federal court after signing documents and speaking with authorities about his upcoming three-year term of supervised release. 'I feel great today. It's been long overdue,' Cohen said to a collection of camera crews alerted to his presence by a tweet he had sent Sunday."
One of These Men Has Way Too Much Money. Nicholas Kulish of the New York Times: "Former President Barack Obama's private foundation announced on Monday that it had been promised a donation of $100 million from the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The gift, the largest yet for the Obama Foundation, was one in a series of splashy donations by Mr. Bezos, one of the world's richest men, in recent months. Last week, Mr. Bezos announced $96.2 million in grants to groups working to end family homelessness. Since stepping down as chief executive of Amazon in July, Mr. Bezos has significantly raised his profile as a philanthropist, in addition to traveling to space on a ship made by his rocket company, Blue Origin." MB: That's nice. And it has no bearing on the fact that you and Amazon should pay much higher taxes, Jeff. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Pandemic, Ctd., Brought to You by the Unvaccinated
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "Coronavirus cases in children in the United States have risen by 32 percent from about two weeks ago, a spike that comes as the country rushes to inoculate children ahead of the winter holiday season, pediatricians said. More than 140,000 children tested positive for the coronavirus between Nov. 11 and Nov. 18, up from 107,000 in the week ending Nov. 4, according to a statement on Monday from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.
Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "A month ago, new coronavirus cases in the United States were ticking steadily downward and the worst of a miserable summer surge fueled by the Delta variant appeared to be over. But as Americans travel this week to meet far-flung relatives for Thanksgiving dinner, new virus cases are rising once more, especially in the Upper Midwest and Northeast. Federal medical teams have been dispatched to Minnesota to help at overwhelmed hospitals. Michigan is enduring its worst case surge yet, with daily caseloads doubling since the start of November. Even New England, where vaccination rates are high, is struggling, with Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire trying to contain major outbreaks." MB: And let me just reiterate my contempt for those who, for no good reason, have chosen not to be vaccinated or not to have their children vaccinated, thus making the holidays more dangerous for everyone. (Also linked yesterday.)
Beyond the Beltway
Florida. Amanda Holpuch of the New York Times: "Four Black men wrongly charged with raping a white woman more than 70 years ago in Florida were exonerated on Monday.... The accused -- Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd and Ernest Thomas, known as the Groveland Four -- died before Florida officials re-examined the case, which a prosecutor said lacked due process and would not be tried today. It all began on July 16, 1949, when a 17-year-old white woman and her estranged husband told the police that after their car broke down in Lake County, Fla., the four men had stopped to provide help, then took the woman from the car and raped her. The accusation left a trail of destruction." Read on. ~~~
~~~ Elise Elder of the Miami Herald: "New details are emerging about the newest dozen police officers lauded by Gov. Ron DeSantis for moving to Central Florida from New York City to escape what the governor described as low morale and a lack of support from Democratic politicians there. The new hires include one previously fired as a Walmart security guard, one with only three years of experience who demanded more than double his salary and others with mysterious gaps in their résumés." MB: Uh, it might not be a coincidence that these officers were hired by the Lakeland Police Department, and Lakeland is about an hour's drive from Groveland, and there's not much "civilization" between them. Law enforcement officials in this part of Florida were crackers then, and I suspect they're crackers now.
Georgia. Russ Bynum of the AP: "Prosecutors were scheduled to go before a jury one last time Tuesday before the panel begins deliberations in the trial of three white men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. The prosecution gets the final word in the case of the 25-year-old Black man's death because it carries the burden of proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent hours on Monday delivering closing arguments that spilled into a second day."
New York. Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "An eight-month impeachment investigation of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo by the New York State Assembly found 'overwhelming evidence that the former governor engaged in sexual harassment,' reinforcing the conclusions reached in a damning report by the state attorney general. In a 46-page report released on Monday, the Assembly Judiciary Committee also found that Mr. Cuomo used state workers and other public resources to write, publish and promote his memoir about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a likely violation of state ethics laws. The inquiry also concluded that Mr. Cuomo 'was not fully transparent regarding the number of nursing home residents who died as a result of Covid-19,' and its findings had led one committee member to say that there 'would be a very reasonable inference' that there was some correlation between Mr. Cuomo's $5.1 million book deal and his administration's manipulation of nursing home death data." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Let's acknowledge here that the state Assembly is controlled by Democrats, who -- it turns out -- know how to police their own, unlike Republicans who are good with Republicans who instigate a violent insurrection or threaten the lives of Democrats. ~~~
~~~ Joseph Goldstein & Sharon Otterman of the New York Times: "Long before Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned in August amid a sexual harassment scandal, he was lauded as a hero of the pandemic, whose daily Covid-19 briefings left viewers feeling less isolated during New York's devastating first wave. But his pandemic leadership has since come under reappraisal, in large part because of the high death toll among nursing home residents and a slow-burning scandal over whether Mr. Cuomo tried to cover it up. His deal to write a book about his leadership during the pandemic is being investigated by a state ethics panel, and he could be forced to forfeit millions he made from the book. Now his reputation as an effective governor during a public health emergency is coming under further scrutiny, as recently released testimony from a former high-ranking state health official accuses the governor's office of repeatedly stymieing and undermining the state's public health experts in the first year of the pandemic." ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you can't shake the impression that someone is sleazy, your instincts are probably right.
Pennsylvania Senate Race. Sara Murray of CNN: "Laurie Snell -- the estranged wife of Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Sean Parnell -- was awarded primary physical custody and sole legal custody of the couple's three children, according to a judge's order that was made public Monday. Parnell will still have partial physical custody of the children various weekends each month. The decision comes amid a contentious divorce and custody proceedings between Snell and Parnell, who are still legally married but have been separated for years. Snell has accused her husband of choking her and injuring their children -- all claims that Parnell has denied. While Parnell has enjoyed ... Donald Trump's endorsement in his Pennsylvania Senate bid, the allegations from his estranged wife have taken a toll on Parnell's campaign...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Amy Wang & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "Republican Sean Parnell, who was endorsed by ... Donald Trump in a closely watched Pennsylvania Senate race, said Monday he will not continue with his campaign, hours after it was made public that a judge had granted his estranged wife primary custody of the couple's three children. The judge's order last week, made public in court documents Monday, outlined in detail the allegations of domestic and other abuse Laurie Snell had made against her estranged husband, and concluded that'Parnell did commit some acts of abuse in the past.' Parnell has denied the allegations.... Parnell said in a statement that he was 'devastated by the decision' and that he intends to appeal the judge's ruling."
Texas. Maybe You Thought Texas Could Not Have a Worse AG. Myah Ward of Politico: "Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, a staunch Trump ally, made it official on Monday: He's joining the crowded primary to unseat GOP incumbent Ken Paxton for state attorney general. The congressman announced earlier this month that he was exploring a late entry, basing his decision on whether he could raise $1 million in 10 days. He said on Monday that he'd reached that goal.... It's sure to be a competitive, brutal election, with ... Donald Trump endorsing Paxton for reelection this past summer, even as the incumbent faces a criminal indictment on fraud charges and a separate FBI corruption investigation."
Wisconsin. Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Law enforcement has identified a suspect who allegedly drove through a Christmas parade after fleeing from a knife fight in Waukesha, Wis., on Sunday, killing at least five people and injuring more than 40 -- a violent end to the otherwise festive scene where children were dancing in the street and a marching band played 'Jingle Bells.' A law enforcement official told The Washington Post that suspect Darrell Brooks, 39, was at the scene of a reported knife fight, then sped away in the red SUV when police arrived at that scene. Brooks was allegedly behind the wheel when it drove into the parade route.... The law enforcement official told The Post that Brooks has a number of prior criminal arrests, but investigators have not yet found anything tying the vehicular violence to any sort of terrorism or ideology. So far, it appears his main intent was to escape the police at the prior incident, the official said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mitch Smith, et al., of the New York Times: "... Darrell E. Brooks, 39..., had been arrested time and again since he was a teenager, accused of battery and domestic abuse and resisting the police. Earlier this month, prosecutors in Milwaukee said, he intentionally ran over a woman he knew with a maroon Ford Escape. [He] was quickly freed from jail on bond after prosecutors requested what they now say was an inappropriately low bail. By Sunday evening, as a Christmas parade was making its way through downtown Waukesha, Wis., the police were coming for Mr. Brooks again after receiving a report of a domestic dispute involving a knife."
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Am not a Tweeter at all , but I have become an avid follower of Scott Macfarlane, who is doing an incredible job of covering the Jan 6 cases in DC.
https://mobile.twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Highly recommended.
Colbert last night: "I'm not a legal expert, so I can't tell you whether kyle rittenhouse broke the law, but I can tell you this: If he didn't break the law, we should change the law."
"LOOK AWAY, LOOK AWAY, DIXIE LAND...."
After reading about the Groveland Four I was reminded of a review I read on two new books on Slave trading which mentioned that in recent years a debate has erupted about the relationship between slavery and American capitalism. A previous generation of scholars presented slavery as pre-capitalism or even feudal: most now agree that enslavers drew upon the tools of capitalism to create one of the largest slave society anywhere on earth.
Given this history it isn't a mystery why a large swath of Americans are twisting in the wind over those "Others" taking over our country–-there has always been this fear–-Communists, Jews, Muslims, Blacks, Women–-and of course the main man–-now being called unmanly for not accepting his loss–- stirred up this pot of fear and let it boil over.
It has not been that long ago when the makers of Cheerio ran a commercial depicting an interracial couple and all hell broke loose ( on right wing stations). General Mills followed that ad with another–-even more explicit racially. Finally we had the force of Black Lives Matter–-long time coming. The MAGA majority, I think, aren't so much enamored with Trump –-they are using him to get back power and make America in their own image which is white and Right in every way possible.
"The two lawyers, Gary D. Fielder and Ernest John Walker, filed the case in December 2020 as a class action On Behalf of 160 million American voters, alleging there was a complicated plot to steal the election from ... Donald Trump and give the victory to Joe Biden."
I don't remember signing up to overthrow the election, did you?
RAS,
You're right, but don't be too quick to judge. You certainly can't fault their generosity. They filed the suit on your behalf and now they're even paying for it..
Considering all the talk about us losing democracy, here is a pivotal piece about a small local paper, the Arkansas Times, under pressure to sign a pledge to not be engaged in a boycott against Israel and the story behind the paper's decision to fight against it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/22/opinion/israel-arkansas-bds-pledge.html
Here's the fun part: words from one Bart Hester, a conservative that sits on the Arkansas Ledge. He explains that his religious belief motivates EVERYTHING he does as a government official. I leave it to you to read his scenario of Christ's return. It's a doozy!
@RAS: Do you think if we ever have to answer some questionnaire about whether or not we've been the plaintiffs in any lawsuits we'll have to list the Fielder & Walker suit and then admit we lost? Lost big. Thrown out of court. Mocked. Ridiculed. Derided. I'm so humiliated.
" ... On Behalf of 160 million American voters, alleging there was a complicated plot to steal the election ... "
It is even more complicated than they thought!
Ballotpedia says Joe got 81.2, Donnie got 74.2, for a total of 155.4 million votes.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER 4.6 MILLION???????????
These lawyers should be made to produce those 4.6 or walk the plank. They have that count, they need to produce that paper.
Senator Kennedy will probably be asking us for all our documents on the lawsuit soon enough. Make sure you keep a copy of any resignation letters. (Not to be disrespectful, but how can we trust the loyalties of a man who spent his formative college years hobnobbing with our former colonial masters over in England. Kind of suspicious.)
Also, doesn't this mean that Joe Biden was a plaintiff against his own election victory? Wow, there is that 4d chess I keep hearing about.
And Patrick finally found the millions of missing votes, congrats.
Sanity does not lose them all.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/11/23/charlottesville-verdict-live-updates/
How the mythology of cleverness becomes fact:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/22/opinion/israel-arkansas-bds-pledge.html. At base, apartheid was white power over blacks. Apartheid's removal was white sharing of power with blacks. This opinion piece and accompanying lawsuit demonstrate that Democrats and Republicans alike just talk about "justice" for certain groups favored in the moment.
For people like me who met the patriots and sons and daughters of Israeli patriots, the cynical denial of the dual class system that is now Israel exactly mirrors those who claim the US blacks are treated equally. I just finished Pearl Buck's classic "The Good Earth". Some things seem to never change. Buy local, support your neighbors, and the velocity of modern "civilization" may not differ much from what came before in terms of outcomes. P.D.: I missed your comments about the same stuff. The Arkansas preacher man is why the word "hick" hasn't gone out of fashion.