;)
The Commentariat -- August 12, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Missy Ryan & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration will temporarily send thousands of additional military personnel to Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Thursday, as the United States bolsters security and braces for what could be a dramatic and dangerous departure after 20 years at war. Approximately 3,000 combat troops will deploy to the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, facilitating the withdrawal of civilian staff from the U.S. embassy and assisting as the United States speeds up the departure of Afghans who have assisted the U.S. government in the war effort. John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, declined to call the deployment a combat mission, but said infantry soldiers and Marines will deploy with machine guns, mortars and other heavy weapons, and authorization to defend themselves if attacked."
Ann Marimow & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's last acting attorney general has told U.S. senators his boss was 'persistent' in trying to pressure the Justice Department to discredit the results of the 2020 election. In closed-door testimony Saturday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jeffrey Rosen said he had to 'persuade the president not to pursue a different path' at a high-stakes January meeting in which Trump considered ousting Rosen as the nation's most powerful law enforcement officer. According to a person familiar with the testimony, Rosen's opening statement also characterized as 'inexplicable' the actions of his Justice Department colleague, Jeffrey Clark, who was willing to push Trump's false claims of election fraud and whom Trump considered installing as acting attorney general to replace Rosen."
Betsy Swan & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "During Donald Trump's final weeks in office, top Justice Department officials wrangled over how the FBI should handle a particularly wacky voter fraud allegation promoted by the then-president and his allies. Unreleased emails obtained by Politico show just how tense the episode got. The dispute pitted a senior career section chief against one of the DOJ's top officials, with the FBI caught in the crossfire. Trump's appointees at DOJ ultimately prevailed, and their investigation -- a probe into a viral video from Georgia that didn't actually find any evidence of fraud -- ended up playing a role in torpedoing the president's narrative.... Trump's allies [falsely] claimed [the video] showed the workers secretly pulling ballots out of 'suitcases' and using them to commit election fraud. Officials in the office of Georgia's secretary of state quickly debunked those claims.... The DOJ had a long-standing approach to voter fraud probes: Agents waited to open these investigations until the elections were over, ballots were cast, and winners were certified.... But ... on Nov. 9, 2020, a few days after the networks called the election for Joe Biden, [William] Barr issued a memo letting the FBI investigate some voter fraud allegations much more quickly." An interesting read.
Fenit Nirappil, et al., of the Washington Post: "Two-thirds of Americans in highly vaccinated counties now live in coronavirus hot spots, according to an analysis by The Washington Post, as outbreaks of the highly transmissible delta variant -- once concentrated in poorly vaccinated pockets -- ignite in more populated and immunized areas still short of herd immunity. The Post analysis illustrates how rapidly the state of the pandemic changed in July from a problem for the unvaccinated to a nationwide concern.... While covid cases are rising almost everywhere, the vaccinated states still have consistently lower case rates than states with less vaccination."
Texas. Eva Moravec & Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "The Texas Senate on Thursday approved a bill that contains new voting restrictions after a Democratic senator filibustered for 15 hours to try to stop the legislation, moving it one step closer to being enacted and increasing pressure on Republicans in the House to reestablish a quorum to move the measure forward. The state Senate voted 18-11 in favor of Senate Bill 1 around 9 a.m. local time, after Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Carol Alvarado left the floor for the first time since 5:50 p.m. on Wednesday -- the latest long-shot effort by state Democrats to try to stymie passage of the legislation."
Afghanistan. Ezzatullah Mehrdad & Susannah George of the Washington Post: "As Ghazni's capital fell to the Taliban on Thursday amid days of sweeping territorial gains by militants, the province's governor was arrested while fleeing, according to a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry. Ghazni is the 10th provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in less than a week. The city -- about 80 miles southwest of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul -- had been under siege by the militants for over three months."
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Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday criticized the Senate for not moving more quickly to confirm President Biden's ambassadorial nominees, as only one of Biden's political ambassadors has been confirmed more than six months after the inauguration.... Hours earlier, the Senate confirmed Ken Salazar, the former interior secretary and senator from Colorado, as U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Salazar is the first of Biden's political ambassadors to be confirmed by the Senate.... So far, Psaki said, Biden has tapped nearly 275 nominees -- including many outside the State Department -- who have yet to be confirmed by the Senate.... Many of Biden's State Department nominees have been held up by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who has sought to pressure the administration over a controversial natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany." MB: So she's saying one in 275 is, like, not enough?
Let the Games Begin! Ally Mutnick & Zach Montellaro of Politico: "The Census Bureau's long-awaited release of redistricting data Thursday will unleash a torrent of new state political maps in the weeks and months to come, starting with the handful of states pressed against early fall deadlines to enact new district boundaries.... The topline data that the Census Bureau unveiled in April answered the biggest redistricting question: Which states are gaining and losing congressional seats? This new data trove will help shape the contours of those districts, showing which of the existing seats are currently over- or under-populated and where new districts could be drawn."
Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: "The National Security Agency has quietly awarded a contract worth up to $10 billion to Amazon Web Services, setting off another high-stakes fight among rival tech giants over national security contract dollars. On July 21 ... Microsoft filed a formal bid protest with the Government Accountability Office, an independent federal agency that handles contract disputes, after Microsoft applied for the opportunity and was rejected. A decision is expected by Oct. 29. The contract award comes on the heels of a protracted and bitter dispute over a Pentagon contract, also worth up to $10 billion, which was given to Microsoft before getting bogged down in lawsuits and ultimately scrapped. If the NSA can fight through an often bruising bid protest process, the new contract could extend Amazon's lead in the fast-growing cloud computing market where rivals are gaining on it."
Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "... the Senate adjourned on Wednesday for a monthlong recess with only the slimmest of paths left for passing federal voting rights legislation that Democrats hope can stop a wave of Republican state laws clamping down on ballot access. Before dawn on Wednesday, Senate Republicans blocked last-minute attempts to debate a trio of elections bills, but Democratic leaders vowed that more votes would be the 'first matter of legislative business' when they return in mid-September. First up is likely to be a scaled-back version of the party's far-reaching Senate Bill 1, the For the People Act, or S. 1, that Democrats believe will unite all 50 senators who caucus with them." ~~~
~~~ Clare Foran & Daniella Diaz of CNN: "Senate Republicans blocked an attempt by Democrats to advance their signature voting and elections overhaul bill in the early hours of Wednesday morning. This was an effort by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats in the chamber to put Republicans on the record on the voting rights package and to demonstrate that they are still trying to pass it despite stiff GOP opposition, a priority for the party and the Biden administration."
Cameron Joseph of Vice: "As the Senate closed in on passing a bipartisan infrastructure bill, President Trump couldn't resist taking one more poke at the guy who was once his most important ally on Capitol Hill. 'I have quietly said for years that Mitch McConnell is the most overrated man in politics -- now I don't have to be quiet anymore,' Trump groused in a Tuesday statement about the Senate minority leader. 'He is working so hard to give Biden a victory.'... No matter what McConnell does, Trump won't stop picking fights with [him].... McConnell even praised Biden after the infrastructure package passed, telling the Wall Street Journal that Biden 'deserves a lot of credit for getting the Democrats open to reaching a bipartisan agreement on this bill.'"MB: I considered McConnell's faint praise of Biden payback for Trump's slamming McConnell.
Will Steakin & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "As the federal investigation into Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz [R] continues into the summer, sources tell ABC News that Gaetz's one-time wingman has been steadily providing information and handing over potential evidence that could implicate the Florida congressman and others in the sprawling probe. Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, as part of his ongoing cooperation with prosecutors, has provided investigators with years of Venmo and Cash App transactions and thousands of photos and videos, as well as access to personal social media accounts, sources said."
The Trump Crime Blotter, Ctd.
Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Byung J. Pak, a former U.S. attorney in Atlanta, told congressional investigators on Wednesday that his abrupt resignation in January had been prompted by Justice Department officials' warning that ... Donald J. Trump intended to fire him for refusing to say that widespread voter fraud had been found in Georgia, according to a person familiar with his testimony. Mr. Pak, who provided more than three hours of closed-door testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, stepped down with no notice on Jan. 4.... [Pak] told the Senate panel that the president had been dismayed that Mr. Pak had investigated allegations of voter fraud in Fulton County, Ga., and not found evidence to support them, according to the person familiar with the statements.... He also described work done by state officials and the F.B.I. to vet Mr. Trump's claims of voter fraud, and said they had not found evidence to support those allegations." Law & Crime has a summary story here.
Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "House Democrats investigating Donald Trump can have access to his persona financial records from 2017 and 2018, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, as well as information related to his lease of a building near the White House. U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta of Washington had previously ruled that the former president's accountants must turn over a broader array of records. But the U.S. Supreme Court subsequently ruled that courts must take separation of powers concerns into account when members of Congress want personal information from the president. Because of Congress's role in overseeing the president's foreign business interests, Mehta said, release of the records from 2017 and 2018 is justified. If lawmakers could not access the records, he wrote, 'presidents could simply conceal foreign emoluments from Congress to avoid scrutiny -- a result contrary to the Framers' intent." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: Mehta's "decision is likely to be appealed by Trump's lawyers and could also be challenged by the House panel." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
MEANWHILE, in Scotland. Judge Opens the High Road for a McMafia Order Against Trump. Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "A Scottish judge on Wednesday opened a path to a possible investigation into the purchase of Donald Trump's two golf courses in Scotland, in a ruling that could force the former president to explain how he funded the deals. The Scottish government had resisted pressure to demand financial details from Mr. Trump through an 'unexplained wealth order,' a powerful legal instrument usually deployed against leading figures in organized crime or drug trafficking. But on Wednesday a judge ruled that Avaaz, an online campaign group, should be given the right to challenge the government's rejection of calls for such a move. Nicknamed 'McMafia orders,' unexplained wealth orders were introduced in 2018 to strengthen the government's armory against organized crime."
Oh, Merrick, where are you?
Erica Orden & Kara Scannell of CNN: "New York federal prosecutors came to suspect the Trump Organization's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, lied in testimony during their investigation of former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen three years ago, according to four people familiar with prosecutors' thinking. Despite their suspicions, federal prosecutors did not pursue perjury charges against Weisselberg, but his past interactions with them could now become relevant to the Manhattan district attorney's office as it seeks his cooperation in a tax fraud case brought against Weisselberg and the company last month."
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge has rejected bids by three top promoters of ... Donald Trump's election fraud claims to throw out defamation lawsuits they face over a slew of allegedly false statements they made about the election-technology firm Dominion. Lawyers for former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and My Pillow founder Mike Lindell argued that the suits were legally deficient, but U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols ruled on Wednesday that the suits could proceed."
Liars, Inc. Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Rudolph W. Giuliani's promise of a 'big surprise' to help Donald Trump's election in October 2016 led to Democratic accusations the FBI was feeding him secrets about an investigation of Hillary Clinton. But a newly obtained transcript shows the former New York mayor told federal agents it was okay to 'throw a fake' when campaigning, to which his then-law partner added, 'there's no obligation to tell the truth.' Giuliani's comments came in a 2018 interview with agents for the Justice Department inspector general, conducted in a room at Trump's hotel in downtown Washington. The Project on Government Oversight, a government watchdog group, sued for a copy of the interview transcript and provided it to The Washington Post on Wednesday. Giuliani's private defense of his actions has come to light as he and other Trump lawyers face discipline and possible court sanctions for their unfounded statements surrounding the 2020 election, raising questions about lawyers' integrity in a democracy.... 'You're under no obligation to tell the truth,'" said Marc Mukasey, then Giuliani's law partner & lawyer during the 2018 interview.
Oh Dear. Cyber Symposium Gone Wrong. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's own hand-picked 'cyber expert' has now admitted in an interview with the conservative Washington Times that the evidence unveiled this week at Lindell's 'Cyber Symposium' cannot actually prove the claim that China hacked the 2020 election. Even though Lindell has claimed that he has dozens of terabytes of 'irrefutable' evidence to prove China stole the election for President Joe Biden, Lindell-approved cyber expert Josh Merritt admitted to the Washington Times that 'packet captures are unrecoverable in the data and that the data, as provided, cannot prove a cyberincursion by China.'" ~~~
~~~ Oh Dear. Daniel Villareal of Newsweek, republished on MSN News: "Right-wing media figure Steve Bannon has slammed MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's cyber symposium for failing to present evidence that actually proves Lindell's long-touted claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential elections. Bannon ... has been at the symposium broadcasting War Room, his show on the right-leaning media network Real America's Voice. 'I think this is a mistake,' Bannon in his Wednesday broadcast.... 'You've laid a theory of the case that is very powerful,' Bannon continued, 'but in laying that case out, you've got to bring the receipts.'" ~~~
~~~ If you just couldn't get to South Dakota for the cyber symposium, Lucas Ropek of Gizmodo gives you a flavor for what you're missing. Or, as Ropek points out, you could livestream what's left of this amazing extravaganza -- it runs through today -- which Mike promised would bring "world-changing" information on Mike's "buggy farce of a website, Frank."
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Jeanne Bourgault & Ahmed Rashid in a New York Times op-ed: "Today, vibrant networks of radio, television and online media reach all 34 provinces [of Afghanistan]. Female journalists, in a country that previously barred women from education, number over 1,100. Local media, according to a 2019 survey, is the second most-trusted public institution in Afghanistan, behind only religious leaders. Now the withdrawal of United States forces from the country threatens to upend the progress Afghans have made toward a more open and inclusive society.... In the next weeks and months, there's a chance to protect one of Afghanistan's greatest achievements in the past two decades: a thriving, dynamic press.... The first priority is to protect journalists. Many are in imminent danger and need emergency assistance.... Visa restrictions for all Afghan journalists ... should be eased.... International financial and material support can help them broadcast remotely.... For 20 years, Afghan journalists were among the West's greatest allies. We cannot be bystanders to their undoing."
Nadja Popovich & Winston Choi-Schagrin of the New York Times: "During the deadly heat wave that blanketed Oregon and Washington in late June, about 600 more people died than would have been typical, a review of mortality data for the week of the crisis shows. The number is three times as high as the states' official estimates of heat-related deaths so far. It suggests that the true toll of the heat wave, which affected states and provinces across the Pacific Northwest, may be much larger than previously reported. This week, the region is once again steeling itself for extreme heat." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: While I'm not "blaming" right-wingers for climate change, since we are all contributing to it to one extent or another, I am blaming them for encouraging global warming with their aid to the fossil fuel industry and their aversion to almost all attempts to reduce climate change. So there's no question in my mind that climate catastrophes -- like heat waves & stronger, more frequent hurricanes -- are among the ways that wingers are actually killing us.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here.
Kaitlan Collins & John Bonifield of CNN: "The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to announce within the next 48 hours that it is authorizing Covid-19 vaccine booster shots for some people who are immunocompromised, according to a source familiar with the discussions. This would be a third shot of the current two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines." Update: The New York Times story is here.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "Federal health officials on Wednesday bolstered their recommendation that pregnant people be vaccinated against Covid-19, pointing to new safety data that found no increased risk of miscarriage among those who were immunized during the first 20 weeks of gestation. Earlier research found similarly reassuring data for those vaccinated later in pregnancy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Rand Paul Secretly Tried to Make Money off of Covid. Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "Sen. Rand Paul revealed Wednesday that his wife bought stock in Gilead Sciences -- which makes an antiviral drug used to treat covid-19 -- on Feb. 26, 2020, before the threat from the coronavirus was fully understood by the public and before it was classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The disclosure, in a filing with the Senate, came 16 months after the 45-day reporting deadline set forth in the Stock Act, which is designed to combat insider trading. The investment, but especially the delayed reporting of it, alarmed experts in corporate and securities law, who said it undermined trust in government and raised questions about whether Paul's family had sought to profit from non-public information about the looming health emergency and plans by the U.S. government to combat it.... Remdesivir [-- Gilead's anti-viral drug --] was backed on Feb. 24, 2020 -- two days before [Kelley Paul's] purchase -- by a WHO assistant director-general, who described it as the only known drug that 'may have real efficacy' in treating the novel virus." The WHO & FDA, which initially approved use of Remdesivir, later recommended against its use on Covid patients.
California. Mackenzie Mays of Politico: "Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that California will require all teachers and school employees to be vaccinated or submit to weekly Covid-19 testing amid growing Delta variant concerns.Under the policy, school employees would have to show proof of vaccination to their districts. The move comes after three large California districts announced similar requirements on their own Tuesday and just two days after American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten voiced support for such a mandate."
Mississippi. Governor AWOL During Hospital Crisis. Ashton Pittman of the Mississippi Free Press: "'Hospitals and healthcare workers need you to help us,' Neshoba General Hospital CEO Lee McCall tweeted desperately at Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves [Tuesday] as COVID-19 continued to overwhelm the state's least vaccinated county. 'Where are you?' The answer, Arizona's governor inadvertently revealed, was that the Mississippi governor was once again out of state. He was attending a Republican Governors' Association meeting just one day after the state health officer announced that <no intensive-care beds remained statewide. Mississippi Today's Adam Ganucheau also reported that Reeves was attending the RGA event [Tuesday].... Meanwhile, Neshoba County's hospital was overflowing with patients and, according to McCall, he and hospital workers were 'all at our breaking point.' Meanwhile in Jackson at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where there is no longer enough staff to tend to all patients in need of ICU treatment, officials were asking the federal government for help setting up a field hospital in the medical center's parking garage." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Like most people, I'm glad to help people suffering the consequences of a disaster, but the Mississippi hospital crisis is a disaster precipitated by reflexively stupid & irresponsible people. It was, in all likelihood, avoidable. And it irritates the hell out of me to have to pay for somebody else's stupid. Also too, thanks, Trump!
Tennessee. Julian Mark of the Washington Post: "After a school board in Franklin, Tenn., voted on Tuesday night to require masks at local elementary schools, dozens of angry parents gathered outside the building and started chanting: 'We will not comply!' A video of the unruly parents, which has amassed 2.7 million views since it was posted early Wednesday, shows some anti-mask parents aim their scorn directly at their pro-mask peers.... [One] parent approached a man sitting in his car, identified by WTVF as one of the health care experts who testified at the school board meeting, and pointed at him. 'We know who you are,' the parent said. 'You can leave freely, but we will find you.'... In Tennessee, covid-19 cases among children nearly doubled in July, and a surge of another illness -- respiratory syncytial virus -- has left children's hospitals in the state with fewer beds to meet the covid surge, the Tennessean reported."
Texas. Azi Paybarah & Adeel Hassan of the New York Times: "Two court rulings on Tuesday cleared the way for local leaders who oppose a ban by Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican, on mask mandates to at least temporarily require face coverings to help curb a rise in coronavirus cases. The first ruling came in Bexar County, which includes San Antonio. Masks can now be required in public schools and other public buildings there. Masks will also be required for county and city employees, said Andy Segovia, the city attorney for San Antonio.... The second ruling was delivered by a district judge in Dallas County who said the ban prevented officials from protecting residents during an emergency. 'Dallas County citizens will be irreparably harmed' if local leaders cannot require face coverings to stop the transmission of the virus, the judge, Tonya Parker, wrote in the ruling. In light of the decision, Clay Jenkins, the county's chief elected official, said he planned to issue an emergency order on Wednesday. Dallas and San Antonio now join Austin, Fort Worth and Houston in instituting mask mandates in schools. That means the state's five largest cities are defying Mr. Abbott's ban for schools."
Beyond the Beltway
Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "Nine months after the 2020 election, local officials across the country are coping with an ongoing barrage of criticism and personal attacks that many fear could lead to an exodus of veteran election administrators before the next presidential race.... As Trump continues to promote the false notion that the 2020 White House race was tainted by fraud, there is mounting evidence that his attacks are curdling the faith that many Americans once had in their elections -- and taking a deep toll on the public servants who work to protect the vote.... Officials from counties large and small say they are inundated with false claims, such as unsubstantiated allegations that Chinese hackers siphoned votes or that ballots marked by Sharpie pens were disqualified. The anger is palpable and personal, leading many to fear for their safety."
California. QAnon Dad Murders His Toddlers to "Save the World." Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: "Instead of the family camping trip he had planned, [Matthew] Coleman [of Santa Barbara] took his children ... -- a 2-year-old son and a 10-month-old daughter -- ... some 250 miles to Rosarito, a resort city on the Pacific coast in Mexico, just south of the U.S. border, FBI agent Jennifer Bannon said in a nine-page sworn affidavit. Then, he shot each of them in the chest with a spearfishing gun, the agent said.... [Two days later, upon his return, alone, to the U.S., a]n FBI agent interviewed Coleman, and he confessed to killing his children, Bannon said in her affidavit. Coleman said he had been enlightened by QAnon and the Illuminati, both baseless theories that claim secret elites are maliciously controlling national and world affairs from the shadows. He had received visions and signs revealing his wife 'possessed serpent DNA,' which she passed on to their children, according to the affidavit. By killing them, he allegedly said, 'he was saving the world from monsters.'" A CBS News story is here.
New York. Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: "Speaking publicly for the first time since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced his resignation, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, the state's governor-in-waiting, quickly distanced herself Wednesday from Mr. Cuomo and signaled she would shift the political tone and workplace culture in the state capital.Ms Hochul, who is set to take office on Aug. 24, said that she had not been aware of the behavior that was described in a damning report released last week from the New York State attorney general.... She stated bluntly there would be 'turnover' [in the executive offices] and she would move to jettison Cuomo staffers who were named 'doing anything unethical in that report.'"
Texas. Eva Moravec & Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "Texas Republicans hit fresh roadblocks Wednesday in their effort to enact new voting restrictions, facing a Democratic filibuster in the state Senate and signs that legal maneuvering could protect House quorum breakers from arrest. Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Carol Alvarado on Wednesday evening launched a filibuster of Senate Bill 1, the controversial elections measure, which she planned to maintain deep into the night. In the House, which remained without a quorum, deputies for the sergeant-at-arms apparently failed to find any absent Democrats as they delivered civil arrest warrants to their offices."
Way Beyond
Afghanistan. Susannah George & Ezzabullah Mehrdad of the Washington Post: "Hundreds of Afghan forces surrendered to the Taliban in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the military's most significant single collapse since the withdrawal of U.S. forces triggered a wave of territorial gains for the militants. After holding out for days at a military base on the edge of Kunduz, an entire Afghan army corps surrendered to Taliban fighters Wednesday morning, handing over valuable equipment -- much of it American -- according to two Afghan officers who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The move essentially ceded the last island of government control in the provincial capital to the Taliban. The group overran much of Kunduz over the weekend, one advance amid days of sweeping gains by the fighters across northern and western Afghanistan."
Peru. Everything Is Going Very Smoothly. Simeon Tegel of the Washington Post: "... just two weeks into his historic presidency, [Pedro] Castillo's inexperience, and his appointment to senior government positions of Marxist hard-liners, some implicated in criminality, have left this country that went through three presidents in one month last year once again on the brink of a political meltdown. The chaos has sounded the starting gun on an existential battle between the executive and an antagonistic, conservative-dominated legislature, with increasing talk of either the impeachment of the president or the dissolution of congress."
News Ledes
AP: "The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell for a third straight time last week, the latest sign that employers are laying off fewer people as they struggle to fill a record number of open jobs and meet a surge in consumer demand. Thursday's report from the Labor Department showed that jobless claims fell to 375,000 from 387,000 the previous week. The number of applications has fallen steadily since topping 900,000 in early January as the economy has increasingly reopened in the aftermath of the pandemic recession."
Washington Post: "Punishing heat waves are roasting the Pacific Northwest and the central and eastern United States simultaneously, placing more than half of the Lower 48 states under alerts from the National Weather Service. Excessive-heat warnings or heat advisories are in place for nearly 175 million Americans, and some of these alerts will remain in effect until the weekend. The most intense heat is set to roast the Pacific Northwest.... In the central and eastern United States, a sprawling area of heat advisories covers the zone from eastern Texas to southeastern Michigan and large parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast along the Interstate 95 corridor and parts of the interior New England. Cities under heat advisories include Little Rock, Chicago, Detroit, Raleigh, N.C., Washington and Boston.... Climate change is intensifying the frequency and intensity of extreme heat as increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel burning warm the atmosphere. On Monday, the landmark review of climate science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that exceptional heat events will strengthen in the coming decades."
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Reader Comments (10)
I don't often waste time reading stories about people committing crazy crimes since it's enough to deal with Congress' flapdoodles but this story caught my eye:
A 40 yr, old male Surf Instructor killed his two children and claimed QAnon––the pro-Trump conspiracy movement–– made him to it. As horrific and deeply sad this account is, the fact that we have legislators in Congress who adhere to this movement must be addressed by the FBI, I would think. I understand they are on IT on the outside but what about the INSIDE.?
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/us/matthew-coleman-children-mexico.html?action=click&module=In%20Other%20News&pgtype=Homepage
Rudy Giuliani and partner: “We are under no obligation to tell the truth”.
Gee, guys, I think you just did.
Re: the littlest insider trading “senator”. Don’t you just love these smug, finger wagging hypocrites who constantly lecture the rest of us about rights? The problem is, for assholes like Li’l Randy, really, all of them, they take the rights but show no responsibility. But taking advantage of inside information to make money, then breaking the law by covering it up for a year and a half? Reprehensible little snake in the shithole. But don’t worry, he’ll find a way to twist this so that he’s the victim here. He always does. All of them do. Like the drunk driver who, after he runs someone over, blames the bartender.
@Akhilleus: Of course you're right about Li'l Randy: he immediately blamed his wife. "Kelsey Cooper, a spokeswoman for Paul, said ... Paul’s wife, Kelley, an author and former communications consultant, lost money on the investment, which she made with her own earnings." Cooper also said Randy had in fact filled out the disclosure paperwork timely "but learned only recently ... that the form had not been transmitted." The passive voice is so handy. Who exactly didn't transmit the form?
As Randy bandies about with his Libertarian B.S. he keeps digging holes in his forceful theories that become empty vessels of cockamamy. I still want to know why that neighbor of his beat him up–-surely not over a leaf dispute.
I will admit forthrightly right now that I was one who did not forward Randy's form, and I wouldn't do it again if given the chance.
Here's Ronan Farrow's New Yorker piece on "Andrew Cuomo's War Against a Federal Prosecutor."
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/andrew-cuomos-war-against-a-federal-prosecutor
The Ackerman book mentioned a couple days ago is the talk of the town: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/the-war-on-terror-is-inescapable.html. “Obama’s Sustainable War on Terror presented itself as more lawful than Bush’s. That presentation was important to the self-image of the lawyers, from Obama on down, shaping it.” That is why Barry O and Merrick G are kindred spirits in normalcy. I love how Sarah Jones, the author of the article, upsets apple carts of conventional thinking. Just like the 'war on drugs' at the heart of 'war on terror' is the use of the military industrial complex to target others. See Report from Iron Mountain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Report_from_Iron_Mountain.
@Patrick: Ha ha. Point taken. I just tried to rephrase the question to make it clearer, and I didn't do very well: "Who exactly had the responsibility to transmit the form & failed to do so?" Clunky.
This week is the 50th anniversary of the Dr Seuss story "The Lorax". We didn't listen.