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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Wednesday
Sep212022

September 22, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "A federal watchdog on Thursday found that fraudsters may have stolen $45.6 billion from the nation's unemployment insurance program during the pandemic, using the Social Security numbers of dead people and other tactics to deceive and bilk the U.S. government. The new estimate is a dramatic increase from the roughly $16 billion in potential fraud identified a year ago, and it illustrates the immense task still ahead of Washington as it seeks to pinpoint the losses, recover the funds and hold criminals accountable for stealing from a vast array of federal relief programs.... To siphon away funds, scammers allegedly filed billions of dollars in unemployment claims in multiple states simultaneously and relied on suspicious, hard-to-trace emails. In some cases, they used more than 205,000 Social Security numbers that belonged to dead people. Other suspected criminals obtained benefits using the identities of prisoners who are ineligible for aid." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It appears state employees who processed these claims were as gullible as the marks who fall for emails telling them they have a big inheritance awaiting them in a Nigerian bank account, but they need to send $2,314 in processing & late fees to get the money out.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "As U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon ruled twice in the Mar-a-Lago documents case for the former president who nominated her to the bench, many legal experts -- including conservatives and executive-power advocates -- have strained to understand how she could have reached such conclusions about Donald Trump's claims. On Wednesday night, two fellow Trump nominees joined with another judge to provide the rebuke of Cannon's jurisprudence that those experts suggested might be coming.... They repeatedly rejected not just the Trump legal team's lack of arguments, but also Cannon's acceptance of them. Indeed, they suggested it was inexplicable that Cannon ruled for Trump even by her own logic." MB: I do wonder what lesson Cannon will take from this rebuke.

Charlie Savage of the New York Times explains presidential power to declassify information. It would be a good idea if Donald Trump read the article. Much of the article addresses the declassification system in Q&A format. Here's my favorite: "Can a president secretly declassify information without leaving a written record or telling anyone? That question, according to specialists in the law of government secrecy, is borderline incoherent." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Andrew Weissmann, speaking on MSNBC this morning or last night was amused by Trump's assertion that "if you're the president of the United States, you can declassify ... even by thinking about it." Weissmann called that the "Bewitched Defense." It is my firm opinion that to successfully raise that defense, Trump would have had to wiggle his porky snout.

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A Jan. 6 rioter who has dressed up as Adolf Hitler and held a security clearance was sentenced to four years in federal prison during a hearing on Thursday. Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, 32, of New Jersey, who was an Army reservist when he stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, was convicted in May after he failed to convince jurors that he didn't know that Congress met at the Capitol, a claim he made on the stand to avoid a conviction for obstruction of Congress." MB: As Molly Ivins would have said, his defense "probably sounded better in the original German."

Digby has more on scammer Gov. Ron DeSantis' unrealized promise to fly migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Delaware. Thanks to RAS for the link.

Georgia Senate Race. Another Herschel Walker Lie. David Fahrenthold & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Back when he was a businessman running a food-distribution company, Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia..., pledged that 15 percent of [company] profits would go to charities, a promise the company said was 'part of its corporate charter.' For years, Mr. Walker's company named four specific charities as beneficiaries of those donations, including the Boy Scouts of America and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. But there is scant evidence that Mr. Walker's giving matched those promises. When The New York Times contacted those four charities, one declined to comment and the other three said they had no record or recollection of any gifts from the company in the last decade.... The Times's reporting did not conclusively prove that Mr. Walker's company failed to donate profits. It is possible that his company donated to other charities without naming them in public."

Indiana. Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "An Indiana judge temporarily halted the state's ban on most abortions on Thursday, a week after the law took effect. The decision came as part of a lawsuit brought by abortion providers challenging the state ban, which prohibits most abortions from conception. Indiana was the first state to pass new, sweeping restrictions on abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to the procedure in June. The judge's ruling for now restores wider legal rights to abortion in the state, which has played a prominent role in the nation's abortion debate, while the court case proceeds."

Ukraine/Russia. Robyn Dixon, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russian families bade tearful farewells on Thursday to thousands of sons and husbands abruptly summoned for military duty as part of President Vladimir Putin's new mobilization, while pro-war Russian nationalists raged over the release of commanders of Ukraine's controversial Azov Regiment in a highly secretive prisoner exchange.... More than 1,300 people were arrested at anti-mobilization protests in cities and towns across Russia on Wednesday and Thursday.... In the city of Togliatti, a military commissariat, or local military recruitment and draft office, was set on fire, one of dozens of similar attacks across Russia in recent months.... The dual backlash over mobilization and the prisoner exchange showed Putin facing his most acute crisis since the he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine." MB: Putin does seem to be on increasingly shaky ground. I hope he ends his rule not with a bang, but a whimper.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Slo-Mo Trump Disaster Series, Episode 1,198 or So

** Bada Bing. Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Wednesday freed the Justice Department to resume using documents marked as classified that were seized from ... Donald J. Trump, blocking for now a lower court's order that had strictly limited the investigation into Mr. Trump's handling of government materials. In a strongly worded 29-page decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit set aside key parts of an order by a Florida federal judge that has kept the department from using about 100 files with classification markings in its inquiry into whether Mr. Trump illegally retained national defense documents and obstructed repeated efforts to recover them. The appeals court also agreed with the Justice Department that Mr. Trump's lawyers -- and an independent arbiter recently appointed to review the seized materials -- need not look at the classified documents that the F.B.I. carted away from Mr. Trump's estate, Mar-a-Lago, on Aug. 8. The Justice Department 'argues that the district court likely erred in exercising its jurisdiction to enjoin the United States' use of the classified records in its criminal investigation and to require the United States to submit the marked classified documents to a special master for review,' a three-judge panel of the appeals court wrote. 'We agree.'...

"The appeals court agreed with the Justice Department's argument that prosecutors needed access to the classified materials in order to assist the national security review. It also forcefully rebutted Mr. Trump's attempts to claim in public -- but not in court -- that he had declassified the sensitive records at issue. Mr. Trump 'suggests that he may have declassified these documents when he was president,' the appeals court wrote. 'But the record contains no evidence that any of these records were declassified.'... The appellate panel consisted of two other Trump appointees, Judges Britt Grant and Andrew L. Brasher, and Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum, an Obama appointee." Politico's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The appeals court also disagreed with the rationale used by U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon in agreeing to have the classified documents reviewed by a special master... 'For our part, we cannot discern why [Trump] would have an individual interest in or need for any of the one-hundred documents with classification markings,' the court wrote, noting that the stay it issued is temporary and should not be considered a final decision on the merits of the case. The lower court 'abused its discretion in exercising jurisdiction ... as it concerns the classified documents,' the panel wrote....

"In particular, Cannon said that a risk assessment of the case ... could continue, while the criminal investigators were not allowed to use the classified documents for the time being. The Justice Department said such a distinction was impractical because much of the DNI's work would necessarily be done by FBI agents, and the two tasks were 'inextricably intertwined.' Cannon did not accept that characterization.... But the appeals court rejected her reasoning...: 'This distinction is untenable.' The panel also used its ruling to offer a public primer on how the government classifies and declassifies government secrets, and why that process is important." MB: IOW, the appeals court soundly rebuked Little Miss Judge Aileen. And they did it in one day.

~~~ A copy of the order, via Politico, is here.

I declassified the documents when they left the White House.... There doesn't have to be a process as I understand it. You're the president of the United States, you can declassify ... even by thinking about it. -- Donald Trump, on Fox "News" Wednesday night ~~~

~~~ Marie: Trump also said Wednesday night on the Fox "News" teevee, "I declassified everything." And he added that the reason for the search of Mar-a-Lardo was that they "were looking for the Hillary Clinton emails." Yeah, that's the first thing I thought. (Well, okay, it never occurred to me.) ~~~

     ~~~ Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Legal experts on Wednesday largely disagreed with Donald Trump's Fox News argument that he had the >ability to declassify documents with his mind.... Attorney and former FBI Agent Asha Rangappa joked, 'he's actually invoking the Secret Telepathic Unilateral Preemptive Irreversible Declassification (S.T.U.P.I.D.) defense.'... On MSNBC, anchor Lawrence O'Donnell played a clip of the interview and asked national security lawyer Bradley Moss for analysis. 'Yeah, I saw that clip right before I came on and I tried not to burst out laughing,' Moss replied. Moss noticed that judges ruled three times during the Trump administration that the declassification process must occur." Includes video of the O'Donnell segment.

** Bada Boom. Kara Scannell of CNN: "The New York state attorney general filed a sweeping lawsuit Wednesday against ... Donald Trump, three of his adult children and the Trump Organization, alleging they were involved in an expansive fraud lasting over a decade that the former President used to enrich himself. In the more than 200-page lawsuit, Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, alleges the fraud touched all aspects of the Trump business, including its properties and golf courses. According to the lawsuit, the Trump Organization deceived lenders, insurers and tax authorities by inflating the value of his properties using misleading appraisals.... Trump and his children, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, are named as defendants in the lawsuit. Allen Weisselberg, former CFO for the Trump Organization, and Jeff McConney, another longtime company executive, are also named. James said she believes state and criminal laws may have been violated and referred the matter to the US attorney's office for the Southern District of New York and the Internal Revenue Service." This is an update of a story linked yesterday. ~~~

     ~~~ Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "Attorney General Letitia James of New York filed a sweeping lawsuit on Wednesday that accused Donald J. Trump, his family business and three of his children of lying to lenders and insurers by fraudulently overvaluing his assets by billions of dollars. Ms. James is seeking to bar the Trumps, including Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka, from ever running a business in the state again.... The ... lawsuit ... lay out in new and startling detail how Mr. Trump's annual financial statements were a compendium of lies, according to Ms. James. The statements -- yearly records that include the company's estimated value of its holdings and debts -- wildly inflated the worth of nearly every one of its marquee properties, according to the lawsuit." ~~~

~~~ Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "Penalties being sought in the civil fraud suit brought by the New York state attorney general's office against Donald Trump and three of his adult children could potentially result in the end of the Trump Organization, his real estate empire, in its current form.... The restrictions being sought by the New York attorney general include permanent bans on Trump and his three children from serving as executives in any company in New York.... The other penalties being sought would prevent Trump from attempting to circumvent that principal restriction to establish his business under a different guise: [State AG Letitia] James is also seeking to bar Trump from acquiring commercial real estate and applying for loans in New York for five years. Trump could also lose two loyal executives named in the suit -- Trump Organization's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, and its controller, Jeffrey McConney -- with James asking the New York state supreme court to bar them from serving in top roles of any company in New York.... Even some of the restrictions would spell the end of Trump's family business ... while any federal charges would complicate re-establishing it elsewhere."

Unwashed was wondering "if the Orange Jesus is singing this song to himself as he wanders about his personal space in Marred-a-Lardo given the news over the last few hours/days." @unwashed: I heard on the teevee yesterday that Trump was playing DJ at Mar-a-Lardo events, wherein he is spinning Bee Gees numbers. As of today, he can add "Going Down" to his playlist.

Luke Broadwater & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Virginia Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas and a conservative activist who pushed to overturn the 2020 election, has agreed to sit for an interview with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The development could represent a breakthrough for the committee, which for months has sought to interview Ms. Thomas, who goes by Ginni, about her communications with a conservative lawyer in close contact with ... Donald J. Trump." CNN's report, which broke the news, is here.

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The House on Wednesday took the first major step to respond to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, voting mostly along party lines to overhaul the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act, the law that ... Donald J. Trump tried to exploit that day to overturn his defeat. The bill was the most significant legislative answer yet to the riot and the monthslong campaign by Mr. Trump and his allies to invalidate the 2020 presidential election, but it also underscored the lingering partisan divide over Jan. 6 and the former president's continuing grip on his party. It cleared a divided House, passing on a 229 to 203 vote. All but nine Republicans opposed the measure, wary of angering Mr. Trump and unwilling to back legislation co-written by Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming and a leader of the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 and what led to them. The partisan division could complicate future negotiations with the Senate, which is moving ahead with its own bipartisan version of the legislation that differs from the House bill in some significant respects." A Politico story is here.

Stephanie Lai of the New York Times: "Eugene Goodman, the Capitol Police officer who led a pro-Trump mob away from the entrance to the Senate chamber during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, testified for the first time on Monday about his experience holding off the rioters. Officer Goodman, whose heroism was captured in widely circulated video recorded by a reporter inside the Capitol, said rioters sprayed him with what he believed to be bear spray, threw objects at him and tried to shake him and other officers off some scaffolding during the storming of the building. He also recounted throwing up in reaction to the tear gas deployed by the Metropolitan Police when they arrived to reinforce the Capitol Police, who had been overrun.... His testimony came during the court trial of two men charged in connection with the riot.... Officer Goodman said that he attempted to prevent [defendant] Kevin Seefried from progressing toward the Senate chamber and that Mr. Seefried 'jabbed' at him three times with the Confederate flag he was holding."

The Washington Post publishes an excerpt of a book by its reporters Rachel Bade & Karoun Demirjian. The excerpt outlines how Mitch McConnell & most Senate Republicans quickly folded & decided against convicting Trump of his second impeachment. (Also linked yesterday.)

Ben Goggin of NBC News: "QAnon conspiracy theory videos with thinly veiled hashtags are bringing in millions of views on TikTok ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. In a review conducted by NBC News, users were found posting videos with emojis and slight wording variations in hashtags to evade QAnon hashtag bans, bringing attention to the conspiracy theory that helped fuel the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.... TikTok removed some of the videos, all of which were sent to the company in an NBC News inquiry, but many QAnon videos and hashtags continued to remain up on the platform. The findings come as ... Donald Trump is ramping up his public support of the conspiracy theory." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The appeal of QAnon must be that wild conspiracy theories are so much more exciting than their boring lives. I mean, most people go to a pizza place to just order pizza & eat it, but Democrats go to pizza places to eat baby flesh, swap child porn photos & maybe have sex with little children. After they leave the pizza place, the Jewish patrons go home & launch space lasers to start forest fires. It's all disgusting, but maybe more enchanting to believers than leading normal, unimaginative lives.


Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: On Wednesday, "the [Federal Reserve] raised rates by 0.75 percentage points for the third time this year and released new economic projections showing a significant slowdown in the economy later in 2022 and 2023. People are suffering from high inflation -- especially more vulnerable households, [Fed chair Jerome] Powell said -- and they'll ultimately suffer more, and for longer, if the Fed flinches in its commitment to pulling prices back down."

Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "Military officials and lawmakers on Wednesday painted a grim picture of recruiting efforts within the Defense Department, as a recent study suggests worrisome shortfalls could grow worse if more women decline to serve over restrictive abortion laws in many Republican-led states where U.S. personnel are based. The Pentagon has characterized the head winds in stark terms, saying its recruiting environment is the worst it has been since the end of the Vietnam War. Some of the military services will just barely meet their goals as the fiscal year ends later this month, officials said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The Army, the armed forces' largest branch, will miss its target by 30,000 soldiers, said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).... The confluence of problems [the military officials] described include: High school closures during the coronavirus pandemic that strained access to military prospects; a competitive job market luring talent away; and obesity and other health problems drying up an already small pool of Americans who physically qualify for enlistment."

Lisa Friedman & Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Senate voted on Wednesday to approve an international climate treaty for the first time in 30 years, agreeing in a rare bipartisan deal to phase out of the use of planet-warming industrial chemicals commonly found in refrigerators and air-conditioners. By a vote of 69 to 27 the United States joined the 2016 Kigali Amendment, along with 137 other nations that have agreed to sharply reduce the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. The chemicals are potent greenhouse gases, warming the planet with 1,000 times the heat-trapping strength of carbon dioxide. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, called the ratification 'a historic step forward to combating global warming in a huge way.' He predicted that the vote may count as one of the most important bipartisan accomplishments during this Congress. Twenty-one Republicans joined all present members of the Democratic caucus to approve the treaty, including Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader." Grist's story is here.

Marie: This site has what appears to be a pirated copy of a subscriber-firewalled Miami Herald article about how "Operatives linked to [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis promised to fly migrants to Delaware -- but left them stranded." Same headline, same lede. However, the linked article is riddled with grammatical mistakes and odd syntax that I doubt would appear in the Herald. I can't access the Herald article, but it probably conveys the same basic info more awkwardly conveyed in this linked version. I did not get any "dangerous site" warnings from my security apps about the linked page, but you know, click at your own risk. If the Raw Story or some other reliable outlet picks up the story, I'll link that instead.

Josh Campbell & Mary Kay Mallonee of CNN: "Leonard Francis, the former military contractor known as 'Fat Leonard' who orchestrated the largest corruption scandal in US Navy history, was arrested Tuesday morning by authorities in Venezuela at the request of the US Marshals Service, according to the agency. Francis is currently detained by authorities in Venezuela and US government officials have started proceedings with Venezuela in an attempt to seek extradition, Supervisory Deputy US Marshal Omar Castillo told CNN Wednesday."

Mark Walker of the New York Times: "The Transportation Security Administration is on pace this year to again break the record for the number of guns intercepted at airport security checkpoints, underscoring a persistent challenge for security officials amid brisk gun sales in the United States. So far this year, T.S.A. officers have already discovered more than 4,600 guns at airport checkpoints, and about 87 percent of them were loaded, according to the agency. Last year, the T.S.A. found nearly 6,000 guns at airport checkpoints, which itself was a record. The number of guns discovered at security checkpoints has been trending upward for more than a decade, with the only decrease coming during the pandemic.... When a gun is found at a checkpoint, the T.S.A. does not seize it. Instead, agents are instructed to call law enforcement to handle the situation. There is no federal criminal penalty for passengers caught with a gun at a checkpoint, but the T.S.A. can impose a fine of up to about $14,000 and the loss of PreCheck membership -- which allows for expedited security screening -- for up to five years. Potential criminal charges, if any, vary by state."

Daniel Victor & Amanda Holpuch of the New York Times: "In recent weeks, some people on TikTok, Twitter and other sites discovered years-old videos and images of people pouring blue-green NyQuil, a nighttime cold medicine, over chicken breasts in a pan or pot. It was, to be clear, a dangerous idea that no one should do -- it could lead to consuming unsafe levels of the product, and over-the-counter medicines should be used only as directed. But it was not clear if people were actually trying it themselves in significant numbers; most people commenting were expressing horror at the concept or making jokes about it. There have been no reports of hospitalizations or deaths related to NyQuil chicken, a tongue-in-cheek recipe that first surfaced in the notorious 4chan forum in 2017 and also received a spike of attention in January. Still, the new flurry of interest in recent weeks caught the attention of the Food and Drug Administration, which issued a straight-faced notice on Sept. 15 advising against participating in what it called 'a recent social media video challenge.'" MB: Well, gosh, there goes my favorite chicken dish. Guess I'll have to go back to Pollo al Pepto.

Scott Cacciola, et al., of the New York Times: "Bowing to what he called an 'unforgiving climate,' Robert Sarver said Wednesday that he planned to sell the Phoenix Suns and Mercury amid public pressure after an N.B.A. investigation found that he had mistreated team employees for years. It was a swift turnabout for Sarver, who seemed determined to hold onto his stakes in both basketball franchises after the N.B.A. last week fined him $10 million and suspended him from team operations for one year. According to the investigation's report, Sarver had engaged in more than a decade of workplace misconduct, including using racial slurs, making sexual remarks and treating women inequitably."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Marie: The top headlines of this Washington Post online edition this morning are, in this order, (1)Ukraine war briefings; (2) the Appeals Court ruling again the Trump/Cannon alliance; and (3) the growing popularity of pickle ball. Pickle ball? Really? A Russian president who is threatening nuclear war, a former American president* who is trying to keep the American secret docs he stole, and pickle ball. I guess we should be encouraged that pickle ball seemed a little less important to the WashPo editors than Putin's & Trump's shenanigans (although the Post tends to rotate the headlines a lot, so the emphasis could change).

Beyond the Beltway

Michigan Congressional Race. Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "A Michigan candidate for the US House backed by ... Donald Trump once railed against giving women the right to vote, arguing that America has 'suffered' since women's suffrage. John Gibbs, who defeated in the primary an incumbent Republican [-- Rep. Peter Meijer --] who had voted to impeach Trump, also made comments in the early 2000s praising an organization trying to repeal the 19th Amendment which also argued that women's suffrage had made the United States into a 'totalitarian state.' As a student at Stanford University in the early 2000s, Gibbs founded a self-described 'think tank' called the Society for the Critique of Feminism that argued women did not 'posess (sic) the characteristics necessary to govern,' and said men were smarter than women because they are more likely to 'think logically about broad and abstract ideas in order to deduce a suitable conclusion, without relying upon emotional reasoning.'...Gibbs is a former Trump administration official who served in the Department of Housing and Urban Development and was later nominated to be director of the Office of Personnel Management. CNN's KFile previously reported that Gibbs' history of conspiratorial and inflammatory tweets included baselessly accusing Democrats of taking part in satanic rituals and defending a notorious anti-Semitic troll banned by Twitter."

Minnesota. Remy Tumin & Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "A former Minneapolis police officer, Thomas Lane, was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for his role in the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Mr. Lane, 39, who pleaded guilty in May to a second-degree manslaughter charge, has been serving a two-and-a-half-year federal sentence for violating Mr. Floyd's civil rights and will serve the three-year sentence concurrently. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a more serious charge of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder."

Ohio Congressional Race. Brian Slodysko & James Laporta of the AP: "Campaigning for a northwestern Ohio congressional seat, Republican J.R. Majewski presents himself as an Air Force combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, once describing 'tough' conditions including a lack of running water that forced him to go more than 40 days without a shower. Military documents obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request tell a different story. They indicate Majewski never deployed to Afghanistan but instead completed a six-month stint helping to load planes at an air base in Qatar, a longtime U.S. ally that is a safe distance from the fighting. [Majewski's] ... post-military career has been defined by exaggerations, conspiracy theories, talk of violent action against the U.S. government and occasional financial duress.... [He] dabbled in politics as a pro-Trump hip-hop performer and promoter of the QAnon conspiracy theory. He was also at the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.... Still, thanks to an unflinching allegiance to ... Donald Trump -- Majewski once painted a massive Trump mural on his lawn -- he also stands a chance of defeating longtime Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur in a district recently redrawn to favor Republicans." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A photo of Majewski that accompanies the article shows me he is someone I would cross the street to avoid.

Pennsylvania. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "A former Philadelphia police officer was convicted of voluntary manslaughter on Wednesday in the 2017 fatal shooting of an unarmed 25-year-old Black man after a high-speed chase that ended in a crash. Jurors convicted the former officer, Eric Ruch Jr., 34, of voluntary manslaughter and possession of an instrument of crime -- his handgun.... Jurors found that Mr. Ruch, who is white, had acted recklessly when he fired directly at Dennis Plowden Jr.'s head following the crash on Dec. 27, 2017."

Way Beyond

** Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Thursday are here: "U.S. and European leaders on Wednesday swiftly condemned ... Vladimir Putin's decision to call up as many as 300,000 reservists in his war against Ukraine, a move that sparked protests across Russia and soaring demand for one-way flights out of the country.... Two U.S. military veterans and five Britons were among the nearly 300 people released Wednesday as part of an elaborate prisoner exchange between Moscow and Kyiv. The deal, brokered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also led to the release of 215 Ukrainians and 55 Russians. [Ukraine's President Volodymyr] Zelensky's passionate appeal to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday focused on his desire for peace and 'just punishment' for Russia.... The U.N. Security Council will meet to discuss the war in Ukraine on Thursday during the U.N. General Assembly.... North Korea has denied claims that it exported weapons or ammunition to Russia and said it has 'no plans' to do so, according to a statement released Thursday by the government-run Korean Central News Agency."

Jim Tankersley, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden used his first speech at the United Nations since the invasion of Ukraine to accuse one man, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, of seeking to 'erase' another nation from the map and of trying to drag the world back to an era of nuclear confrontation. Hours after Mr. Putin mobilized reservists for Ukraine and issued new threats to deploy Russia's nuclear arsenal, Mr. Biden drew a sharp contrast between Russia and the West and described a growing competition with China as it pursues its own authoritarian vision. 'Let us speak plainly,' Mr. Biden said as he opened his address to the General Assembly, accusing Mr. Putin of violating the U.N. Charter. 'A permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor.'... 'If nations can pursue their imperial ambitions without consequences..., Mr. Biden went on, the post-World War II order crumbles. 'We will stand in solidarity against Russia's aggression.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the transcript of President Biden's remarks, as delivered, via the White House.

Roger Cohen of the New York Times: "Vladimir V. Putin's menacing televised address on Wednesday was much more than a bid to change the course of his faltering war against Ukraine. It attempted to invert a war of aggression against a neighbor into one of defense of a threatened 'motherland,' a theme that resonates with Russians steeped in patriotic history. Mr. Putin ... aimed at nothing less than altering the meaning of the war for his country, raising the stakes for the entire world. He warned the West in unmistakable terms -- 'this is not a bluff' -- that the attempt to weaken or defeat Russia could provoke nuclear cataclysm.... By veering far from his original objective of demilitarizing and 'de-Nazifying' all of Ukraine, he made a nonsense of the Kremlin's far-fetched claims that the war was proceeding according to plan, and tacitly acknowledged something he had always denied: the reality and growing resistance of a unified Ukrainian nation."

Mary Ilyushima of the Washington Post: "Within hours of President Vladimir Putin's speech declaring a partial military mobilization on Wednesday, men all over Russia -- including some who had tried for months to ignore the messy war in Ukraine -- suddenly found their lives thrown into chaos as they were summoned to duty. The men, mostly reservists under 35 who served in the army and have junior military ranks, were handed written notices in their offices or at their homes. In some cases, they had their identity documents checked on the street and were told to appear for a health check. Others got orders by telephone.... Flights to the few cities abroad still offering direct service to Russia -- most destinations have been cut off by sanctions -- were suddenly sold out. Google search trends showed a spike in queries like 'how to leave Russia' and even 'how to break an arm at home,' raising speculation some Russians were thinking of resorting to self-harm to avoid the war.... By Wednesday night, it was clear that the political backlash Putin feared -- and that led him to resist a mobilization for months despite repeated battlefield setbacks -- had begun."

AirLive: "Russian airlines have stopped selling tickets to Russian men aged 18 to 65 unless they can provide evidence of approval to travel from the Ministry of Defense. All flights from Russia to available foreign destinations were sold out Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin declared a 'partial' mobilization of the country's 25 million reservists."(Also linked yesterday.)

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Reader Comments (5)

Re the Annals of Journo: the Wapo may have put the 11th Circuit's slap-down of Aileen as #3 in the online bulldog, but the pulp version carries it on page 7. Below the fold. At least it was in the A section, not Metro as obit or entertainment.

I loved the Freddy King "Goin' Down", I'm waiting for Satchmo's "I'll be glad when you're dead you rascal you."

September 22, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Re Ohio USAF vet candidate Majewski: the idea of an airman without access to full bathroom facilities with running water, and hot food, and laundered sheets, is facially inaccurate. "Tough conditions " for him probably meant he had to bus his own tray in the dining facilities.

September 22, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

The FBI were looking for Hillary's emails at Mar-a-lago? Does that mean that FBI had evidence that Trump has been hiding the emails this whole time or is he claiming Hillary may have snuck in and planted the dastardly emails there to get Trump in trouble?

September 22, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

"My Lord, sergeant, will you look at this! "
"I've seen it, Ma'm."

And it ain't Judy Benjamin this time, it's Letitia James' civil slam on the anointed one. One more notch on the Trumpian belt of sleaze and disgrace otherwise known as corrupt practices. Got a kick out of the little Foxes that were outraged that "the children would be involved" except they forgot that Donald at the outset said he was turning the business over to his children. Amen!

Reading about John Gibbs, I almost lost my Cheerios: Looked him up––no mention of a wife or children–--his hatred of women ought to get lots of votes from men who cotton to his views but I betcha them womens is gonna git him hog tied and stomped on before you can say "Uncle!" Won't they?

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September 22, 2022 | Unregistered Commenter`PD Pepe

Digby has some of the Miami Herald story on the DeSantis fake Delaware flights. It also sounds like Ron gave the contract to the Oregon flight company because he wanted to pay it's president back for all the Florida GOP contributions he had sent their way. Always a scam in there somewhere.

September 22, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterRAS
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