;)
November 5, 2022
Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "A bill to permanently ... [end daylight savings time] has been stalled in Congress for more than seven months, as lawmakers trade jabs over whether the Senate should have passed the legislation at all. House officials say they've been deluged by voters with split opinions and warnings from sleep specialists who insist that adopting permanent standard time instead would be healthier, and congressional leaders admit they just don't know what to do.... [Frank] Pallone [D-NJ], who chairs the House Energy and Commerce committee that oversees time-change policies, also said he's wary of repeating Congress' previous attempt to institute year-round daylight saving time nearly 50 years ago, which was quickly repealed amid widespread reports that darker winter mornings led to more car accidents and drearier moods.... There is little chance of the legislation being advanced during the lame-duck period that follows next week's election, congressional aides said."
Sadly, much of the news is about the Biggest Jerk & his friends. I just ignored it earlier in the day, but I guess these are things you might want to know.
Michael Bender & Haley Johnson of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump is expected to announce a third White House campaign soon after the midterms, possibly as soon as the week of Nov. 14, according to people familiar with the planning. Advisors cautioned that no final decisions had been made and that the former president could change his mind on the details. The potential announcement date was first reported by Axios. Mr. Trump has been eager to launch a new campaign, in part to shield himself from a stream of investigations, including some focused on his attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 election." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The Justice Department hopes to reach a decision on whether to bring charges against ... Donald J. Trump before the 2024 campaign heats up, and is considering appointing a special counsel to oversee investigations of him if he runs again, according to people familiar with the situation.The department is investigating Mr. Trump's role in the efforts to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and his retention of sensitive government documents at his residence and resort in Florida. It has made no decision in either case.... "CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Delay, Delay. Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump will have an additional week to meet the deadline to turn over documents to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. 'We have received correspondence from the former President and his counsel in connection with the Select Committee's subpoena,' Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said in a joint statement Friday evening. 'We have informed the former President's counsel that he must begin producing records no later than next week and he remains under subpoena for deposition testimony starting on November 14th.'" The Guardian's report is here.
Annie Grayer & Zachary Cohen of CNN: "The House January 6 select committee is getting a window into ... Donald Trump's motorcade on the day of the US Capitol attack, interviewing on Friday the Secret Service agent who was in the lead car on January 6 and scheduling testimony from the driver of Trump's presidential vehicle as soon as next week, multiple sources tell CNN." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Thief-in-Chief. Jacqueline Alemany & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Congressional investigators are looking for dozens of pricey mementos gifted to ... Donald Trump and his family members by foreign governments.... The House Oversight Committee has asked for help in locating the items from the National Archives, which is among the agencies charged with keeping presidential gifts.... The eclectic list ranges from golf clubs given to Trump by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to a 2018 World Cup soccer ball gifted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a gold-plated collar of Horus ... given by Egypt's president, a large painting of Trump from the president of El Salvador, and a $6,400 collar of King Abdulaziz al Saud, a ceremonial honor from Saudi Arabia.... The dozens of gifts are worth in sum an estimated $50,000 or more.... The committee has asked the archives to check whether the gifts are among the items transferred there from the White House at the end of Trump's presidency as required by law.... The Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act ... prohibits presidents and other government officials from personally keeping gifts from foreigners worth more than $415 unless they pay for them." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Can anyone doubt that Trump considers these baubles "mine, all mine"?
Tom Jackman & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes took the stand in federal court Friday in an attempt to convince a jury of Washington, D.C., residents that he committed no crime when members of his group went into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Rhodes asserted his belief -- unsupported by courts -- that the 2020 presidential election was 'unconstitutional,' because of pandemic-related changes made to voting procedures in some states. 'That made it invalid,' Rhodes said. But he also sought to downplay the Oath Keepers' desire for violence. He contrasted his group with the Proud Boys, another far-right organization, saying they 'want to go and street fight' while the Oath Keepers preferred to 'stay calm.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "... Donald Trump’s longtime friend and former fundraiser, Tom Barrack, was found not guilty Friday of charges that he acted as an unregistered foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates during the Trump administration and then lied to the FBI about those contacts. The jury deliberated for about two days in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, before voting to acquit Barrack, who prosecutors alleged had traded on his decades-long friendship with Trump to 'illegally provide' UAE officials with access to -- and inside information on -- the Trump White House and his 2016 presidential campaign." The Washington Post's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Kate Conger, et al., of the New York Times: "When the ax came down at Twitter on Friday, it did not fall smoothly.... Some learned they were unemployed in the middle of their night.... [Some found out] when their email accounts were shut off late Thursday.... [At one product meeting, a] ... worker was locked out of the company's systems during the call.... By early Friday, the scale of the layoffs ... was becoming clear: Roughly half of the company's work force, or about 3,700 jobs, had been eliminated.... The cuts hit across many divisions, including the engineering and machine learning teams, the trust and safety teams that manage content moderation, and the sales and advertising departments.... On Friday, [Elon] Musk addressed Twitter's layoffs while speaking at an investment conference in New York. He said the cuts were needed because 'Twitter was having pretty serious revenue challenges and cost challenges' before the deal [he made to buy the company], which have been made worse by 'activist groups pressuring major advertisers to stop spending money on Twitter.'" The Verge's story is here. MB: I knew it! Musk isn't a cruel, avaricious billionaire. The whole callous middle-of-the-night layoffs thing is the liberals' fault. ~~~
~~~ Ah, Chaos Was of the Essence of the Scheme. Drew Harwell, et al., of the Washington Post: "Devastating cuts to Twitter's workforce on Friday, four days before the midterm elections, are fueling anxieties among political campaigns and election offices that have counted on the social network's staff to help them combat violent threats and viral lies. The mass layoffs Friday gutted teams devoted to combating election misinformation.... The layoffs included a number of people who were scheduled to be on call this weekend and early next week to monitor for signs of foreign disinformation, spam and other problematic content around the election.... As of Friday morning, employee access to internal tools used for content moderation continued to be restricted, limiting staff's ability to respond to misinformation.... A representative from one of the national party committees said they are seeing hours-long delays in responses from their contacts at Twitter, raising fears of the toll workplace chaos and sudden terminations is taking on the platform's ability to quickly react to developments." An NBC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Twitter Trends Hate-Speech & Bigotry. Jason Koebler of Vice: "'The Jews' is trending on Twitter, and its algorithm has selected Ye as a 'Top' person to follow while Elon Musk fires roughly half of the company's staff, including many of its policy experts and content moderators. Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, recently had his Twitter access limited after saying he would go 'death con 3' on 'JEWISH PEOPLE,' and has been dropped by the vast majority of his business partners after repeatedly making blatantly antisemitic comments over the last few weeks. The freeze on Ye's account has since been lifted.... '#IStandWithKyrie' is also trending, a reference to Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, who recently recommended that people watch an antisemitic documentary and was suspended for five games after declining to apologize and evasively answering a question on whether he holds 'anti-semitic beliefs.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yeah, but see, this isn't all bad because white supremacist Twitterbugs are suddenly all in with a couple of "The Blacks." For now.
November Elections
North Carolina House. Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "A Republican congressional candidate in North Carolina criticized his Democratic opponent's campaign on Friday for showing one of his homes in a TV ad, saying that someone had recently fired a bullet into his parents' house. The Hickory Police Department confirmed that the parents of the Republican candidate, Pat Harrigan, had reported on Oct. 19 that someone had fired a bullet that put a hole in a window in their home's laundry room the night before. No one was injured.... Mr. Harrigan's Democratic opponent, Jeff Jackson, took down the ad showing a different Harrigan residence. The ad had been running since Oct. 18, apparently the same date the bullet hole was found." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
Colorado. James Anderson of the AP: "A Colorado man ... Richard Patton, 31, of Pueblo ... who is a registered Democratic voter has been arrested on suspicion of tampering with voting equipment by allegedly inserting a USB thumb drive into a voting machine at a polling station during the primary election in June, authorities said. No elections data were accessed, and the June 28 incident didn't cause any major disruption to voting, authorities said. But it heightened concerns among election officials and security experts that conspiracy theories related to the 2020 presidential election could inspire some voters to meddle with -- or even attempt to sabotage -- election equipment. Experts say even unsuccessful breaches could become major problems in the days leading up to and on Tuesday's midterm election, causing delays at polling places or sowing the seeds of misinformation campaigns."
New Jersey. Tracey Tully & Shlomo Schorr of the New York Times: "Hours after issuing a rare warning about a security risk at New Jersey synagogues, the Federal Bureau of Investigation identified a man who holds 'radical extremist views,' and who they say was the source of the threat, a federal official told faith leaders Friday morning. It was not clear if a suspect was in custody, but officials said the threat had been 'mitigated.' 'He no longer poses a threat to the community at this time,' James E. Dennehy, the special agent in charge of the F.B.I.'s Newark office, said during a morning conference call with state and federal law enforcement officials and more than 500 Jewish leaders. Mr. Dennehy said investigators believed that the man, who is from New Jersey, was acting alone, but they are continuing to pursue leads about people he might have been in contact with."
Way Beyond
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 Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Saturday are here: "World leaders fortified their support for Ukraine ahead of the punishing winter months, with the United States announcing a $400 million aid package that includes funding for additional air defenses against Russian attacks on critical infrastructure. The aid package also includes the refurbishment of 45 T-72 tanks for Ukraine -- the first time that Washington has answered pleas from Kyiv to provide such weapons for use on to be sent to the front lines -- as well as drones, air defense missiles, and riverine boats.... [President] Zelensky thanked the U.S. and the Netherlands for 'strengthening' Ukraine's tank units.... White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Friday to reaffirm the United States' 'unwavering' support for Ukraine.... The G-7 ... announced the establishment of a 'coordination mechanism 'to help Ukraine 'repair, restore and defend its critical energy and water infrastructure.'"
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Reader Comments (9)
The DoJ is CONSIDERING bringing charges against the most corrupt, dangerous crook in the history of the nation, a guy who staged a murderous insurrection to hold on to power against the express wishes of millions of voters…maybe…maybe…sometime before the 2024 presidential election. Like, the day before? Why not the day of?
The longer this drags out, the more the Fat Fascist, Fox, the entire Party of Traitors, and every media outlet to the right of the SDS (if it still existed), including the pearl clutchers at the Times and all the major broadcast outfits will describe it as purely politically motivated.
Okay, they’re gonna do that anyway, but Jesus! What’s the hold up? Are we waiting for a signed confession? Trump’s planned announcement of his next run to steal an election is being timed to attempt to inoculate himself against everything from indictments and investigations to anyone saying “Liar, liar, pants on fire”.
I guess Merrick needs time to think about it. Oh, make that CONSIDER it.
@Akhilleus: Couldn't agree more. The DOJ should bring charges against Trump, at least for stealing all that stuff, no later than Thursday, Nov. 10, whether or not control of Congress has been determined yet. The point of waiting till after an election to bring charges against a politician is to avoid the appearance of trying to affect the outcome of an election. The outcome likely cannot be affected after the last polls have closed, even if not a single Republican accepts a single loss.
I get that the DOJ wants to be careful before charging a prominent politician. It should be. But no one with a functioning brain & even a cursory knowledge of the facts can claim the government doesn't already have a solid case against the Thief-in-Chief. D.A.s don't wait to bring charges against ordinary criminals until they've nailed down the last piece of evidence. The DOJ doesn't have to hang back, either. It can gather more facts -- where's them golden golf clubs? and so forth -- between now & all the delays Trump manages to impose before a trial. But the DOJ itself has go to stop delaying.
So, Merrick, come Wednesday afternoon, better sign those charging docs & schedule your Thursday presser. Be seein' ya on the teevee.
MASTRIANO'S PROPHETS IN PENNSYLVANIA:
Some of you may think I'm getting my bloomers in a bunch over all this religious resurgence but it is smack dab hitting us in the face. Here's a look at a shocking weekend with the supporters of the nominee for governor –-full of swords, demons and wild prophecies and shows the theocratic future of the GOP. (with video)
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/doug-mastriano-prophets-christian-nationalism-great-reawakening-pennsylvania_n_6364050ae4b05f221e77b47a
And wha da ya know: On the 8th day "God made Ron DeSantis"
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ron-desantis-god-video_n_6365bdd7e4b08f849aab7820
I still say that inflation is taking a back seat to greed. In the latest
Consumer Reports, there's an article about auto pricing.
Last year when we had to buy a new car we decided on a Toyota
Rav-4. There was only one available in the whole of W. Michigan.
Needless to say, we paid sticker price of 35 thousand.
Now, according to Consumer Reports, dealers are adding 4 to 6
thousand to the sticker price. Take it or leave it.
That's not inflation, that's greed.
I saw the election canvassers coming just now so I stepped out on the porch to assure them I'd be voting on Tuesday only to discover that the two lovely ladies were not election canvassers at at but, oh Lordy, Jehovah's Witnesses. Not sure I converted them, but at least I left them scratching their heads. Anyhow, I was very pleasant, and when they started talking about heaven there at the end of their hopeless protestations -- all of which I countered with inconvenient facts -- I urged them to drive carefully as there was no heaven & should they accidentally drive off a cliff, that will be the end of them: dust to dust.
Next time, I'll be more careful about opening my door. But I do hope they drive carefully. And who knows? Maybe they'll pray for me.
PD: I posted the Mastriano HuffPo piece yesterday but just as info as I don’t know how to do a link. So thanks for doing it as a link. Spooky Nook (and I never know if those two words should rhyme! The road is that name…) is just west of our town. There have been letters in the paper about how bonkers those people are, and I know there have always been crazy religious nuts, but it’s the interlocking politics that are so concerning. Those “people” are serious and spoiling to take over the country. Scares me to death. Fingers crossed for Shapiro and Fetterman. If either loses, PA IS IN DEEP S***.
My standard reply when I open the door to someone I don't know is
"we gave at the office".
The twenty-something young lady yesterday just stood there with
her mouth open, I guess trying to think of a comeback.
She was passing out leaflets for some Republican in the district.
When she recovered I told her we voted two weeks ago and straight
Dem.
Also advised her that she was in the wrong town passing out R.
propaganda as this area is 99% liberal Dem and she would know that
if she paid attention.
(But I said it in a nice way).
Marie,
Another reason the DoJ needs to get a move on is that any trial involving the Fat Don of the Trump Crime Family is that it could take forever. Fatty is the king of delay tactics and it’s a lead pipe cinch that he will be demanding stays from “his” justices on federal benches and the Supreme Court, and getting them. And if any kind of trial is still ongoing in the summer of 2024, you can be sure he’ll be whipping up his base to vote early and often, and the election deniers in positions of power by then will be certain to discount every Democratic vote in sight. This is a huge cluster fuck. Garland should have been on this asshole from the day he took office.