;)
September 13, 2022
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Amy Wang & Caroline Kitchener of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday introduced a bill that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy nationwide, the most prominent effort by Republicans to restrict the procedure since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.... The White House criticized the bill, saying it is 'wildly out of step with what Americans believe.'... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the bill the 'latest, clearest signal of extreme MAGA Republicans' intent to criminalize women's health freedom in all 50 states and arrest doctors for providing basic care.'... The timing of Graham's announcement is curious -- two months before the midterm elections, after abortion has already shown to be a galvanizing issue for some Democratic voters." Politico's report is here. MB: Maybe Lindsey wants to help Democrats win the midterms, which is very bipartisan of him.
Megan Specia of the New York Times: "King Charles III continued his tour of the nations of the United Kingdom on Tuesday with a visit to Northern Ireland before a planned return to London in the evening to meet Queen Elizabeth's coffin at Buckingham Palace alongside other members of the royal family."
"You're Fired!" Pippa Crerar & Caroline Davies of the Guardian: "Dozens of Clarence House staff have been given notice of their redundancy as the offices of King Charles and the Queen Consort move to Buckingham Palace after the death of the Queen, the Guardian has learned. Up to 100 employees at the King's former official residence, including some who have worked there for decades, received notification that they could lose their jobs just as they were working round the clock to smooth his elevation to the throne. Private secretaries, the finance office, the communications team and household staff are among those who received notice during the thanksgiving service for the Queen, at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh on Monday, that their posts were on the line."
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The National Archives has informed congressional aides that it is still unsure whether ... Donald J. Trump has surrendered all of the presidential records he removed from the White House as required, even after months of negotiations, a subpoena and a search of his Florida property, Mar-a-Lago, according to the House Oversight Committee. The archives staff 'recently informed the committee that the agency is not certain whether all presidential records are in its custody,' Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York and the chairwoman of the committee, wrote in a letter on Tuesday to Debra Steidel Wall, the acting national archivist.... In her letter, Ms. Maloney requested a formal assessment from the archives of what presidential records, if any, removed from the White House by Mr. Trump remain unaccounted for and whether the archives believes they are potentially still in his possession." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I know he hasn't returned them all, because I saw his staff moving the papers around this past Sunday. (Okay, a slight exaggeration.) See note attached to Independent story linked below.
Kate Kelly, et al., of the New York Times: Ninety-seven "current senators or representatives ... reported trades by themselves or immediate family members in stocks or other financial assets that intersected with the work of committees on which they serve, according to an extensive analysis of trades from the years 2019 to 2021 by The New York Times. The potential for conflicts in stock trading by members of Congress -- and their choice so far not to impose stricter limits on themselves -- has long drawn criticism, especially when particularly blatant cases emerge. But the Times analysis demonstrates the scale of the issue: Over the three-year period, more than 3,700 trades reported by lawmakers from both parties posed potential conflicts between their public responsibilities and private finances.... Both the House and the Senate have been trying to develop legislation to tighten the rules, but whether a bill will be passed by both chambers and make it to President Biden's desk this year remains in doubt, despite rare bipartisan support."
New York. Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: "Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo filed a lengthy state ethics complaint on Tuesday against Letitia James, the New York State attorney general, accusing her of deliberately mishandling the investigation that found he sexually harassed multiple former and current government employees. Mr. Cuomo, who resigned in August 2021 shortly after Ms. James unveiled the investigation's findings, filed the complaint with a committee in the state's court system tasked with disciplining lawyers found to have violated professional conduct rules. The committee could dismiss the complaint because of insufficient evidence, move to investigate the charges or even initiate disciplinary proceedings. Disciplinary actions could range from a confidential or public letter of admonishment to censure, disbarment or suspension from practicing law."
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Cleve Wootson, et al., of the Washington Post: "Leaning into the symbolism of President John F. Kennedy's aspirational effort to send a man to the moon, President Biden on Monday sought to give a renewed boost to his own 'cancer moonshot' initiative, aimed at cutting the U.S. death toll from the disease in half over the next 25 years. Biden delivered the speech on the 60th anniversary of Kennedy's moonshot speech, speaking from the late president's museum and library. It was a less-than-subtle effort to convince Americans that the goal of eradicating cancer is not hopelessly out of reach."
Gabby Orr, et al., of CNN: "Top officials from Donald Trump's political fundraising and former campaign operation are among dozens of people in the former President's orbit who received grand jury subpoenas in recent days -- as the Justice Department intensifies its criminal investigation into January 6, 2021, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Among them are former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and Sean Dollman, who worked for Trump's 2020 presidential campaign as chief financial officer, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN." ~~~
~~~ ** Update. Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "Justice Department officials have seized the phones of two top advisers to ... Donald J. Trump and blanketed his aides with about 40 subpoenas in a substantial escalation of the investigation into his efforts to subvert the 2020 election, people familiar with the inquiry said on Monday. The seizure of the phones, coupled with a widening effort to obtain information from those around Mr. Trump after the 2020 election, represent some of the most aggressive steps the department has taken thus far in its criminal investigation into the actions that led to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.... Federal agents with court-authorized search warrants took phones last week from at least two people: Boris Epshteyn, an in-house counsel who helps coordinate Mr. Trump's legal efforts, and Mike Roman, a campaign strategist who was the director of Election Day operations for the Trump campaign in 2020.... Mr. Epshteyn and Mr. Roman have been linked to [the fake electors scheme].... The new subpoenas encompass a wide variety of those in Mr. Trump's orbit, from low-level aides to his most senior advisers." One of those subpoenaed was Rudy's felonious helper Bernie Kerik. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Among 40 people, some will be forthcoming & tell the truth to the grand jury. And some won't accidentally lose their emails & other communications. That's bad news for the Biggest Liar.
Alan Feuer & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump asked a federal judge on Monday to deny the Justice Department's request to immediately restart a key part of its criminal investigation into his hoarding of sensitive government documents at his residence in Florida. Renewing their request for an expansive independent review of records seized from Mr. Trump, the former president's legal team argued that documents marked as classified should remain off limits to the F.B.I. and prosecutors. They asked the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, to maintain her order barring agents from using any of the materials taken from his estate until an outside arbiter, known as a special master, has vetted all of them. The 21-page filing was an aggressive rebuke of the Justice Department's broader inquiry into whether Mr. Trump or his aides illegally kept national security secrets at his property, Mar-a-Lago, or obstructed the government's repeated attempts to retrieve the materials. It played down the criminal inquiry as a 'storage dispute' and insinuated that officials might have leaked information about the contents of the files." Politico's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The Justice Department said on Monday that it was open to accepting one of ... Donald J. Trump's proposed candidates for the job of an independent arbiter to review thousands of documents seized last month by the F.B.I. from Mr. Trump's residence in Florida. In a brief court filing, prosecutors said they would not object if the judge presiding over the case appointed Judge Raymond J. Dearie of the Federal District Court in Brooklyn as special master to oversee an evaluation of the trove of sensitive materials seized from Mr. Trump's estate, Mar-a-Lago. Mr. Trump's lawyers and lawyers for the Justice Department are also engaged in a separate court fight over how a potential special master should review the seized documents.... Judge Dearie, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, has also served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court overseeing highly classified matters." The Guardian's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Andrew Weissmann, on MSNBC, said that Judge Cannon, who has little judicial experience, would have a hard time overruling decisions by someone with Judge Dearie's extensive experience. I dunno; these Trumpists possess a lot more hubris than they do sense & good judgment. And Cannon clearly sees her job as helping Donald Trump, not as impartially administering the law.
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Monday rejected former Trump White House trade adviser Peter Navarro's claim that he is the victim of a Biden administration political vendetta, denying his request to probe why he has been charged with criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Navarro asserted that he was selectively prosecuted compared to two other former high ranking Trump White House aides against whom the Justice Department declined to bring charges -- chief of staff Mark Meadows and deputy chief Dan Scavino. But U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta found that Navarro failed to make a plausible legal claim." Mehta noted significant difference between Navarro's case & those of Meadows & Scavino. MB: Apparently "Waaah! Everybody's picking on me" is not always a convincing argument.
Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "The Senate Judiciary Committee will investigate allegations that the Justice Department under ... Donald J. Trump sought to use the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan to support Mr. Trump politically and pursue his critics, the committee's chairman said on Monday. The allegations are in a new book by Geoffrey S. Berman, who was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2018 through June 2020, when he was fired by Mr. Trump. The chairman, Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, made the announcement in a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland, which cited a New York Times report on Thursday detailing the book's allegations.... Mr. Durbin said in his letter, 'These reported claims indicate astonishing and unacceptable deviations from the department's mission to pursue impartial justice, which requires that its prosecutorial decisions be free from political influence.' He added that the allegations 'also compound the already serious concerns' raised by then-Attorney General William P. Barr's efforts in 2020 'to replace Mr. Berman with a Trump loyalist.'" CNN's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Rachel Maddow devoted several segments of her Monday night show to the allegations in Berman's book, culminating in an interview with Berman. She covered more incidents than those mentioned in the Times article from last Thursday, linked above. If you're an MSNBC cable subscriber, you can watch the segments on her Website; otherwise, people usually pirate the show & republish the video on YouTube. You can go to youtube.com, then use the You Tube search engine to call up "rachel maddow show," then use the "Filter" function & click on "Today." NBC may take down these pirated copies, but there's apt to be one up. I watched most of her show Monday, and it was time well-spent. As Maddow says, "something must be done about this so it doesn't happen again." We'll see if Congress does something. And DOJ should consider prosecuting Barr & some of his underlings who pressured Berman & his staff.
Gino Spocchia of the Independent, republished by Yahoo! News: "Donald Trump has insisted that an unannounced visit to Washington DC is a 'working trip' amid a mountain of online speculation about the reason for his visit to the US capital.... In an apparent bid to stamp out speculation about his activities, he said [on his own social media site]: 'Working today at Trump Washington DC on the Potomac River. What an incredible place!'" MB: Perhaps you are skeptical that Trump was working at his D.C. golf course, especially after some reports said he was seen golfing there yesterday. But if hiding stolen documents constitutes "working," I'm ready to buy it. While news reports yesterday indicated his aides were seen carrying suitcases at Dulles Airport, I saw a very brief clip that showed aides carrying large cardboard boxes from his plane -- boxes the right size to stuff with top-secret documents & perhaps some gifts from the Saudis.
A Bridge Too Far? Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Former President Trump's promise to grant pardons to the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is running into strong opposition from Senate Republicans. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump's closest allies, told The Hill that granting pardons to Jan. 6 protesters is 'a bad idea.' Other Republican senators are joining Graham in criticizing Trump's promise to pardon the Jan. 6 protesters as inappropriate."
Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has joined the list of other right-wing justices (Samuel A. Alito Jr., Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas) whining about public criticism of the court.... He really doesn't get it. The degree to which this court is utterly and completely tone-deaf to its role in the destruction of its own integrity remains a powerful reason for court expansion or term limits.... Joyce White Vance, a former prosecutor..., told me, 'The Supreme Court has a proud history of defending our rights, not taking them away. The Roberts court will go down in history as the first one' to strip away people's rights.... ~~~
"Roberts would rather not address the root of the court's credibility crisis: its conservative members' blatant disregard of nearly 50 years of precedent, their misuse and abuse of facts and history, their penchant for delivering public screeds in political settings, their misleading answers in confirmation hearings, their improper use of the shadow docket, their prior placement on the shortlist of potential justices by right-wing dark-money groups attempting to transform the judiciary, their opposition to adhering to a mandatory code of judicial ethics -- and a refusal by Thomas to recuse himself from cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, despite the anti-democracy activism of his wife, Ginni. And let's not forget: The court got its 6-3 supermajority largely through GOP hypocrisy and Congress's refusal to take up the nomination of Merrick Garland in the last year of Barack Obama's presidency." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Phil Mattingly of CNN: "Top White House officials have been closely watching US freight rail labor negotiations, keenly aware that any strike would create significant economic and political risk for the Biden administration. For months, officials have sought avenues to forestall a strike that would threaten to cripple critical arteries of the US economy, but those efforts have grown more intense -- and elevated -- in recent days as the Friday deadline for an agreement looms. About 60,000 union members who work for the railroad are set to go on strike, including the engineers and conductors who make up the two-person crews on each train. Even though 45,000 other union members belong to unions that have reached tentative deals with the railroads, a strike by engineers and conductors would bring the freight rail system, which carries nearly 30% of the nation's freight, to a grinding halt." The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Myah Ward of Politico: "The looming possibility of a national rail strike is bad news for an already fragile economy. And it's especially bad for Democrats. Democrats have scored some wins as of late, but an economic shock like this one -- an industry estimate projects a railroad shutdown could cost $2 billion a day, threatening recovering U.S. supply chains -- could put a big damper on the party's rebounding November prospects. The Biden administration is well aware of this. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh have sprung into action to help avoid disaster, and President Joe Biden has been working the phones today, speaking directly with companies and unions."
About Those College Rankings. Anemona Hartocollis of the New York Times: "U.S. News & World Report likes to say that it is performing a consumer service when it puts out its annual college rankings. But on Monday, those ratings were again called into question after the publication demoted Columbia University to No. 18 from No. 2 in its newest annual list, after a monthslong controversy over whether the school had fudged its numbers. The drop suggests that the highly influential rankings -- which have been criticized for having an outsize influence on parents and college admissions -- can be easily manipulated, since they rely heavily on data submitted by the universities that directly benefit from them. Columbia's No. 2 status was not questioned until one of its own math professors, Michael Thaddeus, in a February blog post, accused the school of submitting statistics that were 'inaccurate, dubious or highly misleading.' Last week, the university said in a statement that it had miscalculated some data. Columbia's public humiliation raises questions for many parents and educational policymakers: Can the quality of a college be ranked by a single number, the way critics rate movies with stars? And should students choose where to go to college based on what has become a proxy for prestige?"
Beyond the Beltway
Florida. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Monday, The Daily Beast reported that Michael Flynn..., Donald Trump's short-lived first National Security Adviser and notorious conspiracy theorist, was just elected to a local GOP leadership position in Sarasota, Florida. 'On Thursday evening, Flynn was one of several dozen new members of the local Republican executive committee elected by voice vote at the Morgan Family Community Center in North Port, Florida,' reported Michael Daly. 'As if that were not scary enough, they also elected James Hoel, a local leader of the Proud Boys.... Hoel and fellow Proud Boy Nicholas Radovich were active in the Aug. 23 Sarasota County School Board election that saw a longstanding 3-2 liberal majority become a 4-1 conspiracy minority,' noted the report. 'Radovich showed up at the victory party in a Proud Boys hat and T-shirt and flashed a white power sign during a group picture....' Flynn ... will also get to work as a poll watcher in upcoming elections...." The Daily Beast story, which here, is firewalled.
Way Beyond
Italy. Chico Harlan & Stefano Pitrelli of the Washington Post: "In a matter of weeks, if all goes as expected, Giorgia Meloni stands to become Italy's first female leader. She's also set a benchmark for a far-right politician in Western Europe, earning a level of power that's been out of reach for her counterparts in Germany and France, and doing so even after the forces propelling nationalism on the continent -- a migration backlash and Euroskepticism -- have waned.... Meloni takes shots at the 'LGBT lobby' and the 'globalist' left. She highlights anecdotes about immigrant crime. She has said that 'everything we stand for is under attack' -- Christian values, gender norms."
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Tuesday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here: "Ukraine's counteroffensive in Kharkiv could mark a turning point in the war, Western officials said, while Moscow described its pullback as a 'regroup.' The lightning advance in the Kharkiv region could raise pressure on Moscow to call up more forces. 'The question will be how the Russians will react, but their weaknesses have been exposed and they don't have great manpower reserves or equipment reserves,' a U.S. official told The Washington Post.... Fighting is still raging in Kharkiv as Ukrainian forces advance, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar told Reuters on Tuesday.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces recaptured more than 2,300 square miles in the country's south and east this month. Ukraine's military said Monday it took 20 more towns and villages in 24 hours. The claims could not be independently verified.... Oleksandr Shapoval, a renowned dancer at Ukraine's National Opera ballet, was killed in combat in eastern Ukraine.... Kyiv and Moscow appear interested in an agreement on a safety zone around Europe's largest nuclear plant, according to Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog."
Isabelle Khurshudyan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Blue-and-yellow flags were raised in more liberated towns and villages in northeast Ukraine on Monday, as the stunning counteroffensive that pushed Russia into a messy retreat boosted optimism at home and abroad over a potential turning point in the war, and renewed international calls to send Ukraine more weapons in hopes of hastening Russia's defeat. The lightning push by Ukrainian forces, in which they recaptured in a matter of days nearly all of the Kharkiv region occupied since the early days of the war last winter, left Moscow reeling. Despite the setback, the Kremlin and its proxies insisted that the war would go on until ... Vladimir Putin's goals are achieved, and they blamed NATO and the United States for Ukraine's refusal to surrender."
Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "More than 40 local elected officials across Russia signed a two-sentence petition on Monday that ended with: 'We demand the resignation of Vladimir Putin from the post of president of the Russian Federation!' The petition, pushed by opponents of the Ukraine invasion, had no practical impact, and it was roundly ignored in Russia's state-controlled media. But it was striking in its very existence, showing that despite the Kremlin's extraordinary crackdown on dissent, Ukraine's counteroffensive successes have left opponents of President Vladimir V. Putin newly emboldened -- and his supporters looking for someone else to blame.... On Russian state television, where criticism of the Kremlin is rare, supporters of the war are increasingly pointing fingers over what they cast as a disorganized and insufficiently concerted invasion; others are raising the idea of suing for peace. With anger spreading over the embarrassing withdrawal of Russian troops from more than a thousand square miles of northeastern Ukraine, one senior lawmaker said in an interview that an 'urgent adjustment' to the war effort was needed." ~~~
~~~ Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "A group of district council members in St. Petersburg..., Vladimir Putin's hometown, called for the Russian leader to be charged with treason and removed from office in a rare but brazen protest against the war in Ukraine.... A day after the resolution against Putin was made public, a local police station told the lawmakers they were facing legal charges 'due to actions aimed at discrediting the current Russian government.' The district council's statement came in the form of a request to the Russian parliament, the State Duma, and asserted that Putin's decision to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24 led to a massive loss of life, turned countless Russian men into disabled veterans, hindered the national economy, and fast-tracked NATO's eastward expansion." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
United Kingdom
Severin Carrell of the Guardian: "King Charles III has pledged he will 'seek always the welfare of our country' as he addressed Scotland's nationalist-led parliament for the first time as monarch.... His appearance was part of an intensely emotional day for the King, which began at Westminster with an address to MPs and peers with a similar pledge of 'selfless duty'. In Edinburgh several hours later, he had walked more than a kilometre through the medieval old town behind the Queen's hearse, from the royal family's official home in Scotland, the palace of Holyroodhouse, to a service at St Giles' Cathedral. The queen's coffin will lie at rest in the cathedral overnight until late on Tuesday afternoon, to allow mourners and well-wishers to pay their respects." Includes video. MB: Charles is a surprisingly good speaker, and his speechwriters are to be commended for hitting the right notes. He's a quick-change artist, as well: he had changed to a kilt for the the Scottish ceremonies. As Ken W. points out in today's Comments, Charles can afford good speechwriters; see NYT story, linked below.
Charles Keyton, et al., of the AP: "As Queen Elizabeth II's four children walked silently behind, a hearse carried her flag-draped coffin along a crowd-lined street in the Scottish capital Monday to a cathedral, where a service of thanksgiving hailed the late monarch as a 'constant in all of our lives for over 70 years.'... A military bagpiper played as her oak coffin, draped in the red-and-yellow Royal Standard of Scotland, was borne from the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.... King Charles III, dressed in army uniform, and Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward walked behind as the hearse traveled to St. Giles' Cathedral, flanked by a bearer party of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and a detachment of the Royal Company of Archers, the king's ceremonial bodyguard in Scotland." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jane Bradley & Euan Ward of the New York Times: "Charles, who formally acceded to the British throne on Saturday, spent half a century turning his royal estate into a billion-dollar portfolio and one of the most lucrative moneymakers in the royal family business.... Over the past decade, he has assembled a large team of professional managers who increased his portfolio's value and profits by about 50 percent.... [His] 130,000-acre real estate portfolio [-- centered on the Duchy of Cornwall --] is nearly the size of Chicago and generates millions of dollars a year in rental income. The conglomerate's holdings are valued at roughly $1.4 billion, compared with around $949 million in the late queen's private portfolio. These two estates represent a small fraction of the royal family's estimated $28 billion fortune. On top of that, the family has personal wealth that remains a closely guarded secret. As king, Charles will take over his mother's portfolio and inherit a share of this untold personal fortune. While British citizens normally pay around 40 percent inheritance tax, King Charles gets this tax free. And he will pass control of his duchy to his elder son, William, to develop further without having to pay corporate taxes."
News Ledes
CNBC: “Inflation rose more than expected in August as rising shelter and food costs offset a drop in gas prices, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. The consumer price index, which tracks a broad swath of goods and services, increased 0.1% for the month and 8.3% over the past year. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, CPI rose 0.6% from July and 6.3% from the same month in 2021." ~~~
~~~ CNBC: “Stocks fell sharply on Tuesday after a key August inflation report came in hotter than expected, hurting investor optimism for cooling prices and a less aggressive Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1,276.37 points, or 3.94%, to close at 31,104.97. The S&P 500 dropped 4.32% to 3,932.69, and the Nasdaq Composite sank 5.16% to end the day at 11,633.57."
New York Times: "Jean-Luc Godard, the daringly innovative director and provocateur whose unconventional camera work, disjointed narrative style and penchant for radical politics changed the course of filmmaking in the 1960s, leaving a lasting influence on it, has died. He was 91. President Emmanuel Macron of France confirmed Mr. Godard's death in a statement on social media on Tuesday, calling him the 'most iconoclastic' of New Wave filmmakers."
New York Times: "An uncrewed New Shepard rocket launched by Blue Origin -- the company started by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon -- malfunctioned on Monday, causing the rocket booster to crash. An emergency escape system took the capsule, which carried three dozen experiments, to safety. The flight, lifting off from Blue Origin's launch site in West Texas, did not have any people aboard. The rocket was the same design as New Shepard vehicles that have taken celebrities ... to the edge of space."
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Reader Comments (13)
Charles III can afford good speechwriters:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/13/world/europe/king-charles-wealth.html?
Before I pull my horse up short, reverse course, and head back up yesterday's nostalgia trail to the present world of rail and teacher strikes, war, and all we are learning about the extensive corruption in the Pretender's WH and even his so-called DOJ, I wanted to mention our recent experience with The Lone Ranger in glorious black and white.
One of our son's eight and six year old boys were with us for another visit, the last before school was supposed to start (it didn't; Seattle teachers are as of this morning still on strike). Another week of family-arranged summer camp. swimming, soccer, and this time...pony rides, all at no cost to their parents.
Those pony rides were a real hit, and meshed neatly with the boys' interest the few cowboy shows they had seen on the tv and especially the very old Big/Little Book about The Lone Ranger that I still had on my shelves from those thrilling days of yesteryear....
So we we Roku-ed a couple of those old tv shows; over two nights the first four episodes of The Lone Ranger that we adults had watched as kids. We got the Lone Ranger origin story (which I don't think I had seen but read and remembered), his rescue by Tonto, the Ranger's acquisition of Silver--he nursed him back to health from a grievous buffalo-inflicted wound--and the eventual capture of the Bad Guy and the Gang who had left for dead the man we came to know as the Lone Ranger. Hi-Yo (or Hi-Ho) Silver.
And what a contrast to the present those stories and the culture they reflected were. It was almost like visiting a foreign land. The good guys were so good. At every opportunity the L. R. spoke solemnly of the virtues. Courage. Honesty. Helping the downtrodden and protecting the powerless. And at the top of the list, eschewing violence whenever possible, never shooting to kill.
So where did we get all those funny ideas? Those ideals that caused some of us so much trouble about the time of Vietnam?
When we thought people of different skin colors should get along?
When honesty was not only the best but the only acceptable policy? When slime balls were shunned and thieves were punished? When we knew violence was always a last resort and then employed only reluctantly and only in a good cause.
Blame it all on the Masked Man back there when things really were in black and white.
MACHO MEN:
Today Krugman takes on the love of leaders who display fist thumping on their naked chests in relation to the Ukrainians fight for freedom. He begins by citing Tuckee babe-ee who attacked Biden's policy on Ukraine–-- said that Putin was NOT losing the war, that Biden is supporting Ukraine only because he wants to destroy the West. Well, hell, who woulda thought! Then Krugman brings in the MAGA misfits whose embrace of the tough guy persona makes their lower members rise up in admiration and salute. And evidently it's ok-dokey with them that Putin's Russia is autocratic, brutal and homophobic with a personality cult built around its ruler. "What's not to like" says Krugman.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/12/opinion/ukraine-deflates-maga-macho-myths.html
We are still awash with masculine strength displayed in tough-guy pursuits. It was interesting to me to learn that Reagan was one of the Queen's favorite presidents because they shared the love of horses and rode together over hill and dale and of course, Ron was fun to be around–--an actor skilled in the art of capturing your attention and holding it. But this Queen would not be fooled by the likes of Trump who, ignorant of protocol, walked ahead of the Queen who I would have loved to see her smack her purse on his rear end but knowing her sense of humor, she probably joked about it in private. She once drove the Saudi prince around in her jeep, going very fast and getting quite a kick out of his frozen face and clenched fists. In his country at that time women were not allowed to drive.
@Ken Winkes: It might not have been just us little kids who believed in the virtues back then. My husband wrote a book about the literature of the medieval courts, which I edited. He had a chapter on how the popularity of the virtues survived -- though it had its ups and downs -- through the ages. Queen Victoria was so enamored of the courtly virtues that she had Alfred & herself buried in tombs in which they were depicted as a medieval courtier & his lady. The Victorian era itself, partly because of Victoria's obsession, revived the courtly traditions.
It appears that sort of happened in the U.S. in the 20th century -- reactions to the Roaring 20s perhaps, & to the horrors of the World Wars. So when the Lone Ranger expressed those virtues (including the fact, as you've noted, that he was not a racist), I think it may have been part of the zeitgeist of the time. As much as I give credit to civil rights leaders for cracking the racist barrier, it took white men to push through legislation & judicial decisions to make that happen, albeit at the insistence of Black activists. As wild as the 1960s were -- a reaction to the perfection demanded by the 1950s quasi-courtiers who "respected ladies," obeyed the Boy Scout motto and so forth -- I think the noble virtues remained in evidence & were reflected not just in the Lone Ranger but also in our (admittedly hypocritical) "leaders."
The legal community is continually telling us that this person or that person are still reliable neutral arbiters, but they've been dead wrong on many of their claims. So I will wait to see the rulings before I put any trust in this latest judge who will save us from TFG's antics. I think that too many of these retirees fall down the Fox News wormhole once they don't have something to take up their time.
Graham showed how much he cares when he was asked about what should happened when someone finds out after 15 weeks that their fetus is unviable and will suffer if the pregnancy is carried out.
RAS,
Don’t be gaslighted by the special master mishigas. It’s all a ruse. Fatty is trying to run out the clock and pour sugar in the DoJ’s gas tank. This Cannon person knows less about a special master than she does about medieval trouvères or jongleurs. Although, now that I think of it, this particular Trump water carrier probably knows more—lots more—about Chrétien de Troyes than she knows about the law. After all, Federalist hacks aren’t required to understand the law, they’re there to do what they’re told by authoritarian fascists like Fatty.
And the concept of chivalry is unknown to GOP goons who would force a raped 10 year old to give birth, which could kill her or ruin her life, rather than allow her to go against the rulings of Father Alito and Monsignor Thomas..
Their guiding star is not (and never has been, for these misogynistic mooks) chivalry. Their goal is shivalry. Stick that shiv right in the neck, and twist it, to the cheers of their vicious Christianist horde.
Yay! To hell with that 10 year old slut. She probably seduced that 23 year old man.
And I just got a text from the Democrat National Committee that the R misogynists are pushing for a nationwide abortion ban.
See, that bullshit about “let the states decide” was just that. Bullshit.
THEY decide. Not you.
Shivs. Right in the neck. The Party of Shivalry.
Democratic…
Ken Starr is dead–-at 76. Such dimples the man had––when he smiled–- and if you didn't know him you'd think he was as cuddly as a soft teddy bear until he opened his mouth.
Ken Star's dead. Good. Fuck 'em Bucky,
".", not ",".
Ken Starr dead? I guess he’s got a new position. Blow Job Investigator in Hell.