;)
September 17, 2022
Afternoon Update:
** David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "... the United States today finds itself in a situation with little historical precedent. American democracy is facing two distinct threats, which together represent the most serious challenge to the country's governing ideals in decades. The first threat is acute: a growing movement inside one of the country's two major parties -- the Republican Party -- to refuse to accept defeat in an election.... The second threat to democracy is chronic but also growing: The power to set government policy is becoming increasingly disconnected from public opinion. The run of recent Supreme Court decisions -- both sweeping and, according to polls, unpopular -- highlight this disconnect.... Senators representing a majority of Americans are often unable to pass bills, partly because of the increasing use of the filibuster. Even the House, intended as the branch of the government that most reflects the popular will, does not always do so, because of the way districts are drawn. 'We are far and away the most countermajoritarian democracy in the world,' said Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at Harvard University.... '... the Republican Party -- upper level, midlevel and grass roots -- is a party that can only be described as not committed to democracy,' Mr. Levitsky said." Leonhardt goes into the reasons for the crisis. You probably know most of them, but you may not know all of them. A worthwhile read.
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Although the government believes the district court fundamentally erred in appointing a special master and granting injunctive relief, the government seeks to stay only the portions of the order causing the most serious and immediate harm to the government and the public. -- Defendant's Motion, Donald J. Trump v. United States of America ~~~
~~~ ** Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department asked an appeals court on Friday to let the F.B.I. regain access to about 100 sensitive documents taken from ... Donald J. Trump's residence in Florida but did not try to block the appointment of an outside arbiter to review other materials. In a 29-page filing, the department asked the appeals court not to submit the roughly 100 files marked as classified through the vetting process of the arbiter, known as a special master -- acquiescing to the review for 11,000 other documents seized from Mr. Trump's home and resort, Mar-a-Lago. The review has frozen the government's access to the material as it investigates Mr. Trump's handling of the documents.... Mr. Trump would suffer no harm if the government reclaimed and examined material that did not belong in his possession anyway, the department added.... The department also rejected Mr. Trump's argument that he could assert executive privilege to block criminal investigators, who are part of the executive branch, from gaining access to the executive branch-owned materials as part of their work." Politico's story is here.
** Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "Months before National Archives officials retrieved hundreds of classified documents in 15 boxes from ... Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club, they were told that none of the material was sensitive or classified and that Trump had only 12 boxes of 'news clippings,' according to people familiar with the conversations.... During a September 2021 phone call with top Archives lawyer Gary Stern, former deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin ... said he had talked to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who made the assertion about the dozen boxes of clippings, the people familiar with the call said. Trump's team was aware of no other materials, Philbin said, relaying information he said he got from Meadows. The characterization made in the call vastly misrepresented the scale and variety of documents, including classified records, eventually recovered by the Archives or the FBI. Philbin said that Meadows also told him no documents had been destroyed.... Stern had sought the call because he believed there were still more than two dozen boxes of materials that Trump had.... In the year since the call, Archives and Justice Department officials have recovered 42 boxes of records from Trump's Palm Beach, Fla., property.... Some White House advisers had previously said Meadows was deeply involved in the final packing at the White House." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: The good news for Marky-Mark is that he will not have to wait for a special-order orange jumpsuit; I think he'll fit right into a prêt-à-porter number. But wait. He's innocent! ~~~
Mr. Meadows did not personally review the boxes at Mar-a-Lago and did not have a role in examining or verifying what was or wasn’t contained within them. -- Ben Williamson, spokesman for Mark Meadows ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump had told advisers a version of what Mr. Meadows is said to have told Mr. Philbin, that the boxes contained news clippings and personal effects, according to people familiar with the events. Aides to Mr. Trump had told others that there were only 12 boxes of material, which is what Mr. Meadows is also said to have relayed to Mr. Philbin.... Mr. Meadows went to Mar-a-Lago and discussed the boxes of material with Mr. Trump during the summer of 2021, as archives officials were trying to get the materials sent to them. Mr. Philbin was trying to facilitate the return while avoiding being drawn further into the dispute...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Haberman & Schmidt are fingering Trump as the instigator of the "12 boxes of news clippings" lie. More importantly, so is Meadows. No doubt Trump will blame some hapless usher or maybe Kash Patel (would serve Patel right) for packing the classified docs. Ergo, the "I declassified them all" lie Trump told Hugh Hewitt the other day will probably be replaced with, "I had no idea there were any classified docs in the boxes." (Uh, "... or in my desk drawer or in my closet.")
Ron Dicker of the Huffington Post:"Hillary Clinton said Thursday that the classified documents ... Donald Trump allegedly hoarded at his home are the kind that required a military escort when she was secretary of state.... Clinton told 'Late Night' host Seth Meyers that when she read top-secret material, an officer 'would come into my office and would have a handcuff that was attached to a suitcase in order to show me something that was so secret he literally had to have it tied to his hand.' The officer would watch Clinton read it and sign that she had reviewed it, and then he would take it back, she recalled. The idea that Trump reportedly squirreled away top-secret information on a foreign government's nuclear capabilities and the like at a country club prompted Clinton to say: 'I don't care what political party you are.... This is a threat to our national security.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Crazier & Crazier. David Klepper & Ali Swenson of the AP: "After winking at QAnon for years, Donald Trump is overtly embracing the baseless conspiracy theory, even as the number of frightening real-world events linked to it grows. On Tuesday, using his Truth Social platform, the Republican former president reposted an image of himself wearing a Q lapel pin overlaid with the words 'The Storm is Coming.' In QAnon lore, the 'storm' refers to Trump's final victory, when supposedly he will regain power and his opponents will be tried, and potentially executed, on live television.... He's published dozens of recent Q-related posts, in contrast to 2020, when he claimed that while he didn't know much about QAnon, he couldn't disprove its conspiracy theory.... Trump's recent postings have included images referring to himself as a martyr fighting criminals, psychopaths and the so-called deep state. In one now-deleted post from late August, he reposted a 'q drop,' one of the cryptic message board postings that QAnon supporters claim come from an anonymous government worker with top secret clearance." (Also linked yesterday.)
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post has some thoughts about Mike Lindell, the MyPillow Guy.
Marie: I have no idea whether or not Akhilleus is an eminent immigration lawyer disguised as a Greek warrior in need of a podiatrist, but this comment (in yesterday's thread) sounds good to not-a-lawyer me: "Here's a thought: Section 274(a)(1)(A)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act makes it a federal crime to knowingly transport undocumented persons across state lines. -- Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott should be immediately arrested." ~~~
~~~ Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "Massachusetts authorities announced Friday that they will move approximately 50 migrants from the island of Martha's Vineyard to a military base in Cape Cod so they can find shelter and chart next steps. The move is voluntary for the migrants, the state said. Gov. Charlie Baker (R) said the migrants will be offered 'shelter and humanitarian supports' in dormitory-style rooms at Joint Base Cape Cod in Bourne. State and local officials will also ensure migrants have food, shelter and other services. Baker said he plans to activate up to 125 members of the Massachusetts National Guard to aid in the relief effort. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) surprised federal and state officials on Wednesday by sending migrants who recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border to the affluent resort island.... In a speech at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's annual gala on Thursday night,[President] Biden lashed out at Republicans. 'Instead of working with us on solutions, Republicans are playing politics with human beings, using them as props,' he said. 'What they're doing is simply wrong, it's un-American, it's reckless.'" The Hill's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: It's worth noting that a major reason the U.S. has not done a better job of dealing with immigration problems is that Congressional Republicans refuse to participate in realistic solutions. So when heartless Republican governors play games using human beings as pawns in order to curry favor with their racist, xenophobic base, it is heartless Republican members of Congress who have exacerbated the problems these governors think they are so brilliantly highlighting. ~~~
~~~ William Melhado, et al., of the Texas Tribune & Boston Globe: "Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis chartered the flights, though his administration did not respond to questions as to why Florida taxpayers paid to transport people from Texas to Massachusetts in a political stunt meant to draw attention to the increasing number of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border[.] ~~~
~~~ Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times look at the legal implications of DeSantis' and Abbott's stunts. "Under American law, any migrant has the right to [claim asylum], starting a process ... that ... faces a yearslong backlog, meaning that these migrants ... are living in a state of immigration limbo. It is not illegal for a state government to pay for [their] travel. But if there is evidence the migrants were lied to by state officials about where they were going or what awaited them, as some attorneys have alleged, the migrants could pursue tort suits for fraud or severe emotional distress, according to Heidi Li Feldman, a professor at Georgetown University. Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, the executive director for Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston who is representing some of the migrants sent to Martha's Vineyard, said his clients were denied their constitutional right to due process, since the trip to Massachusetts likely means they will be unable to attend their immigration court appointments in San Antonio, Texas.... While critics have compared the actions of Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Abbott to human trafficking or kidnapping, multiple lawyers cast doubt on the possibility that they could be prosecuted for such crimes because no evidence has surfaced that the migrants boarded the flights or buses unwillingly." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Sorry, I don't see how one can argue the people went "willingly" when they were induced to get on the plane under false pretenses. It's still kidnapping, for instance, whether a kidnapper snatches a child off the street or induces her into his car by promising her they'll go to the store & buy her a teddy bear.
Beyond the Beltway
California. Return of the Condor. Alice Li, et al., of the Washington Post: "Once pushed to the brink of extinction, condors are soaring in Northern California skies again with the help of an Indigenous tribe and a team of scientists. Among the world's tallest trees, next to the world's biggest ocean and along the state's longest highway, the largest birds in North America are returning to Northern California after a 130-year absence.... The Northern California Condor Restoration Program, the native Yurok Tribe and government agencies have introduced a program to blend the species back into the natural landscape of the Pacific Northwest over the next two decades.... Researchers say the population declined due to lead poisoning, which was caused by ingesting fragments of lead ammunition in carcasses killed and left by hunters, as well as habitat destruction and poaching.... The Yurok Tribe and government partners drafted a plan to release condors into Redwood National Park. The towering old-growth coastal redwoods provided ample space for them to nest and rest, while the birds could forage in vast open prairies. Consistent winds also help the birds glide for extended periods of time...."
New Hampshire Senate Race. General Chickenshit. Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Like a driver making a screeching U-turn, Don Bolduc, [a retired army general and] the Republican Senate nominee in New Hampshire, pivoted on Thursday from his primary race to the general election, saying he had 'come to the conclusion' that the 2020 presidential election 'was not stolen,' after he had spent more than a year claiming it was.... He continued to falsely claim there had been fraud in the election but acknowledged that the outcome was not in question.... Mr. Bolduc ran on an uncompromising right-wing platform.... [Sen. Maggie] Hassan's [D] campaign responded quickly to Mr. Bolduc's reversal, sharing a series of videos and quotes of the many times Mr. Bolduc had promoted the lie that the 2020 election was stolen.... At least 10 [GOP] candidates in competitive races, including the Senate nominees Blake Masters in Arizona, Adam Laxalt in Nevada and Ted Budd in North Carolina, have updated their websites to downplay endorsements from Mr. Trump or to soften anti-abortion language." (Also linked yesterday.)
New York. Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: "Yeshiva University abruptly announced on Friday that it had placed all undergraduate club activities on hold, the latest maneuver in the legal battle by the Modern Orthodox Jewish institution to keep from recognizing an L.G.B.T.Q. student group. The move came two days after the U.S. Supreme Court had ordered the university to recognize the student group. In a 5 to 4 vote, the justices said the university would first have to make its arguments in New York State courts before returning to the Supreme Court.... The move by Yeshiva 'is a throwback to 50 years ago when the city of Jackson, Mississippi, closed all public swimming pools rather than comply with court orders to desegregate,' [a lawyer for the students] said." MB: Time to protest, kids.
Pennsylvania. David Wildstein of the New Jersey Globe: "New Jersey is serving as an incubator for Republican candidates in Pennsylvania, with two statewide candidates being New Jersey natives and longtime residents. Gubernatorial candidate Douglas Mastriano was a registered voter in New Jersey for 28 years until July 2021 when election officials changed his status to inactive. Records show that Mastriano voted from his family's Hightstown home from 1982, when he turned 18, through the 2010 general election. He remained on the voter rolls until a sample ballot was returned roughly six months after the death of his mother last year. Dr. Mehmet Oz lived and voted in New Jersey until 2021, when he moved to Pennsylvania to seek a U.S. Senate seat. He remains on New Jersey's voter rolls as a resident of Cliffside Park and could legally vote in his home state this November if he chose to not vote in Pennsylvania." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: If the name David Wildstein sounds familiar to you, it should. Think, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."
Texas. David McCabe of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Friday reversed a lower court's order blocking a Texas law that stops large social media platforms from removing political posts, a blow for tech companies that say their content moderation decisions are protected by the Constitution.... The Fifth Circuit ... is known to be conservative.... One member of the three-judge panel dissented from portions of the ruling. The law makes it possible for individuals or the Texas attorney general's office to sue social media platforms with more than 50 million monthly users in the United States for taking down political viewpoints." MB: This sounds like the We Love Trump Law.
Virginia. Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "In a major rollback of LGBTQ rights, the administration of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) will require that transgender students in Virginia access school facilities and programs that match the sex they were assigned at birth and is making it more difficult for students to change their names and genders at school." MB: Again, cruelty is the point.
Wisconsin. A.J. Bayatpour of WKOW Madison: "Speaking at a Republican dinner event in Appleton last week, newly-released audio captured Michael Gableman suggesting revolution was the 'only way to keep government honest.'... Gableman broached the subject of Americans being too comfortable to carry out a rightful revolution.... 'It's that very comfort that is keeping us from what our founders knew to be the only way to keep an honest government, which is revolution,' Gableman said. 'Thomas Jefferson said that the Tree of Liberty must be watered by the blood of revolution every generation.'" MB: Gableman is the wingnut former state supreme court justice whom Wisconsin assembly speaker Robin Vos hired to examine the results of the 2020 presidential election. According to Wikipedia, "Gableman's fourteen month investigation resulted in various unsubstantiated accusations against municipal clerks and members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, but found nothing of substance." Vos fired Gableman as soon as Vos won his primary election.
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: "Ukrainian authorities and United Nations monitors are investigating a mass burial site in the eastern city of Izyum. Military and police investigators at the site said there are 445 single graves and at least one mass grave containing 17 bodies. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the bodies show signs of torture and include children.... White House spokesman John Kirby said Friday ... that the United States would continue to help efforts to document war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine to hold alleged Russian perpetrators accountable.... Several pro-Moscow officials in occupied areas of Ukraine were killed Friday, including in shelling or explosions that Russian media reports blamed on Ukrainian forces.... [President] Biden met with [Brittney] Griner's wife and [Paul] Whelan's sister Friday. The White House suggested that negotiations with Russia to release them have not advanced."
Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "Challenged bluntly and publicly by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the war in Ukraine..., Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia would strive to stop the conflict 'as soon as possible.' But then he accused Ukraine of refusing to negotiate, although Putin ordered the invasion and his troops are still occupying a large swath of Ukrainian territory.... In a stunning public rebuke, Modi told Putin: 'Today's era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this.' The rare reproach showed the 69-year-old Russian strongman coming under extraordinary pressure from all sides. Internationally, he is facing calls to end the war not only from his traditional critics in the West, but also from Asian partners whom he cannot paint as beholden to the U.S." ~~~
~~~ Anton Troianovski, et al., of the New York Times: Taken together, the distancing from Mr. Putin by the heads of the world's two most populous countries [India & China] -- both of which have been pivotal to sustaining Russia's economy in the face of Western sanctions -- punctured the Kremlin's message that Russia was far from a global pariah.... The implicit criticism of Mr. Putin underscored that he now faces perhaps his most challenging moment of recent months, suffering not just these diplomatic setbacks but also retreats on the battlefield and intensifying questions back home over how he has conducted the war. But ... Western officials believe that he could still drastically escalate the intensity of Russia's assault if he is confronted with further defeats. In a news conference Friday after the summit of Asian leaders, Mr. Putin described recent Russian cruise missile attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure as 'warning strikes' that could portend an even more vicious campaign."
U.K. The Guardian's live updates of events surrounding the mourning of Queen Elizabeth II are here: "The King and Prince of Wales are meeting people waiting in the queue for the Queen's lying in state at Westminster Hall. As King Charles III got out of the car along Albert Embankment, he was immediately greeted with cheers.... The King has thanked emergency service staff for their work during the mourning period and ahead of the Queen's funeral on Monday.... The funeral is expected to be 'the largest international event that the UK has hosted in decades, possibly ever', according to sources."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_books_banned_by_governments
September 18 thru 24 is Banned Books Week. Our local library
notified us last week that they had a bunch of the Banned Books
available. I waited too long. Yesterday they has all been checked out.
Wikipedia lists hundreds of books from every country. Some of the
more recognizable writers are:
Ernest Hemingway; Sinclair Lewis; Norman Mailer; D.H, Lawrence;
Henry Miller; John Steinbeck; and last but not least Hedy Lamarr.
Hedy Lamarr???
Judge cannon wrote: “the principles of equity require the court to consider the specific context at issue, and that consideration is inherently impacted by the position formerly held”.
It seems to me that the position _currently_ held should get significant consideration, which I interpret to mean that President Biden can do whatever he wants without regard to existing law.
I don't think Biden believes that, and neither did President Obama, but Right Wing World was going on forever about "Lawless Obama" without being specific. All of that "lawless Democrat" nonsense was there to camouflage the actual lawless Republican crap we have been seeing. The Rs don't get specific when they are in a courtroom because they know there are actual consequences to lying in court, at least so far.
@Forrest Morris: Hedy Lamarr was no doubt one of the smartest people in Hollywood. Per Wikipedia: "At the beginning of World War II, she and avant-garde composer George Antheil developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes that used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers. Although the U.S. Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960s, the principles of their work are incorporated into Bluetooth and GPS technology and are similar to methods used in legacy versions of CDMA and Wi-Fi. This work led to their induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014."
I imagine the book that was banned was what was supposed to be an autobiography, titled "Ecstasy & Me," but which Lamarr herself claimed she did not write & which she said was full of fiction about her sex life. One non-pro reviewer called the book "a garbled mixture of bad grammar, incoherent 'narrative,' and thinly-veiled male sexual fantasies dreamed up by the ghostwriters in order to boost sales." So probably not being able to check the book out of your local library is not all that much of a loss to your liberal education.
Marie: Thanks for the Hedy Lamarr info. Several years ago PBS had a documentary on this extremely smart woman and apparently few people were aware of her expertise. You may be right about that other sleaze book based on her sexuality that is banned but maybe it's a book about her real scientific accomplishments and god forbid! we can't have that! A movie star with brains––-and a woman to boot!
P.S. RAS: Meant to tell you how much I enjoyed your Jesus spake! video yesterday. I especially liked when he was yelling, arms akimbo. about Christ in Christmas –--sounded so much like you know who.
Years ago while writing a piece on films of the thirties, I skimmed that book, “Ecstasy and Me”. I don’t recall there being anything in there about Lamarr’s intellectual accomplishments (something she likely would not have forgotten to include if she had actually written the thing), but as I say, I was skimming. There could have been the odd paragraph or two in there.
There were a lot of anecdotes about backstage Hollywood sexual antics and gossip about other movie stars (Clark Gable, eg), none of which I could use because none of it could be corroborated by other sources, so I set that aside and moved on to more, shall we say, trustworthy sources. Although “trustworthy sources” and “Hollywood in the thirties” are often incompatible terms, as one quickly discovers. Book A says one thing, Book C strenuously disagrees, and Book B says they’re both full of shit, but here’s the Real Story. It makes for fun reading but tough history. I found it easier to stick with close readings of the actual films, although finding out why directors, actors, DP’s, art directors, composers, or producers made certain decisions meant having to leave the screening room and hit the books. Sometimes the books hit back.
Off to the library to see if any of those banned books came back yet.