;)
The Commentariat -- January 26, 2021
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "The first step toward victory is a government that can act. So, sure, moderate Democrats [like Senators Joe Manchin & Kyrsten Sinema] can keep the filibuster if they want. But they should prepare for when the voting public decides it would rather have the party that promises nothing and does nothing than the one that promises quite a bit but won't work to make any of it a reality." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link.
Paul Sonne of the Washington Post: "The commander of the D.C. National Guard said the Pentagon restricted his authority ahead of the riot at the U.S. Capitol, requiring higher level sign-off to respond that cost time as the events that day spiraled out of control. Local commanders typically have the power to take military action on their own to save lives or prevent significant property damage in an urgent situation when there isn't enough time to obtain approval from headquarters. But Maj. Gen. William J. Walker, the commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard, said the Pentagon essentially took that power and other authorities away from him ahead of a pro-Trump protest on Jan. 6. That meant he couldn't immediately roll out troops when he received a panicked phone call from the Capitol Police chief warning that rioters were about to enter the U.S. Capitol.... The Pentagon required the highest-level approval for any moves beyond that narrow mission, in part because its leaders had been lambasted for actions the D.C. Guard took during last June's racial justice protests...."
Ken Vogel of the New York Times: In the ad hoc clemency system the White House used, people "skipped the line and got their petitions directly on the president's desk because they had money or connections, or allies who did.... Of the nearly 240 pardons and commutations issued by Mr. Trump, only 25 came through the rigorous process for identifying and vetting worthy clemency petitions overseen by the Justice Department, according to a tally kept partly by Margaret Love, who ran the department's clemency process from 1990 to 1997 as the United States pardon attorney. The system has a backlog of 14,000 applications.... In addition to rewarding people ... whose allies could afford to buy access to the highest levels of the administration, the results included pardons for people with direct personal relationships with the former president.... The Justice Department had recommended against clemency for some of the people granted it by Mr. Trump.... And some pardon recipients -- including [Roger] Stone, [Steve] Bannon and [Paul] Manafort -- would not have been eligible under the department's rules, which require people to wait five years after being released from confinement to apply.... 'This is the ultimate corruption of a system that was set up to serve a public purpose, but has been privatized to allow anybody who has connections to get to the front of the line,' said Ms. Love...."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.
Jonathan Drew of the AP: "An increasing number of COVID-19 vaccination sites around the U.S. are canceling appointments because of vaccine shortages in a rollout so rife with confusion that even the new CDC director [Dr. Rochelle Walensky] admitted she doesn't know exactly how many shots are in the pipeline. States were expected to find out their latest weekly allocation of vaccines on Tuesday amid complaints from governors and top health officials about inadequate supplies and the need for earlier and more reliable estimates of how much is on the way so that they can plan accordingly.... The setup [Biden] inherited from the Trump administration has been marked by frustration, miscommunication and unexplained bottlenecks, with shortages reported in some places even as vaccine doses remain on the shelf." ~~~
~~~ Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "Federal allocations of coronavirus vaccine doses to states and other jurisdictions are expected to increase by about 16 percent next week, easing shortages that have intensified nationwide without fully alleviating supply problems. Jeff Zients, coordinator of the White House's coronavirus response, is expected to inform governors of the increase on a call Tuesday afternoon, according to two people...."
Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "President Biden is scheduled to take executive actions as early as Thursday to reopen federal marketplaces selling Affordable Care Act health plans and to lower recent barriers to joining Medicaid. The orders will be Biden's first steps since taking office to help Americans gain health insurance, a prominent campaign goal that has assumed escalating significance as the pandemic has dramatized the need for affordable health care -- and deprived millions of Americans coverage as they have lost jobs in the economic fallout. Under one order, HealthCare.gov, the online insurance marketplace for Americans who cannot get affordable coverage through their jobs, will swiftly reopen for at least a few months.... Another part of Biden's scheduled actions ... is intended to reverse Trump-era changes to Medicaid that critics say damaged Americans' access to the safety-net insurance."
Benjamin Din of Politico: "Marty Baron, the executive editor of The Washington Post who led the newsroom to 10 Pulitzer Prizes, will retire at the end of February, he announced in a newsroom memo Tuesday."
Derrick Taylor of the New York Times: "CBS has placed two top TV executives on leave after a report detailing accusations that they had created a hostile work environment, including making disparaging remarks about female and Black employees. The executives, Peter Dunn, the president of CBS television stations, and David Friend, the senior vice president of news for TV stations, were placed on administrative leave pending the results of a third-party investigation, the company said in a statement on Monday.... The suspensions came after The Los Angeles Times published a report on Sunday in which employees accused the executives of 'bullying female managers and blocking efforts to hire and retain Black journalists.'"
Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy resigned on Tuesday after weeks of political infighting, thrusting the country into renewed instability as the coronavirus pandemic ravages lives and livelihoods.... As in the rest of Europe, Italy's immunization campaign has been held up by production delays for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. At the current pace, it would take almost five years to vaccinate the majority of Italians, according to the most recent data. Mr. Conte's is serving his second consecutive stint as prime minister -- first as the head of an alliance of right-wing nationalists and populists, and then leading a coalition of populists and the center-left establishment that focused almost exclusively on the pandemic."
Donie O'Sullivan of CNN: "Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, was banned from Twitter Monday night, according to a Twitter spokesperson. Twitter made its decision based on a new policy it enacted after the Capitol insurrection whereby people who repeatedly share election misinformation can be permanently banned....It is not immediately clear which tweets lead [led] to Lindell's ban." MB: Sure hope Mike wasn't your very favorite tweeter.
Is Kellyanne Conway the Mom from Hell? MB: I don't know whether or not this story is true, but according to numerous media reports, Conway posted on Twitter a topless photo of her teenaged daughter Claudia. Claudia & her parents Kellyanne & George have been in a well-publicized battle over the past several months. (Supposedly, Kellyanne quit her White House gig to actually spend more time with her family; posting a nude photo of her daughter does not seem like good use of that time.) Still, it's hard to believe a parent would do this to a child, so I'll give Mrs. Alternate Facts the benefit of the doubt unless & until I learn otherwise.
Rachel Lerman of the Washington Post: "People across the East Coast were having trouble accessing core Internet services Tuesday morning, just as they were logging on for work and school. Users reported trouble loading Gmail, Slack and Zoom -- apps that have become necessities to keep work-from-home life running smoothly during the coronavirus pandemic. On Twitter, which many still were able to access, people reported they were seeing issues with their Verizon Fios Internet service. DownDetector, which tracks reports of outages, showed widespread issues with Verizon, Google, Zoom, YouTube, Slack, Amazon WebServices and others Tuesday just before noon. It was not immediately clear what was causing the outages."
Trouble in Oregon.
Crazy People Run Oregon GOP. Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "In Oregon, the state Republican Party isn't just backing ... Donald Trump -- its official position falsely claims that the entire [siege of the U.S. Capitol] was a 'false flag' operation staged to discredit the GOP and silence Trump's supporters. Last week, the state party released a resolution passed by its executive committee that says the supposedly fake operation was meant to undermine Trump and give more power to President Biden, citing websites by John Solomon and the Trump-friendly Epoch Times. 'The violence at the Capitol was a "false flag" operation designed to discredit President Trump, his supporters, and all conservative Republicans; this provided the sham motivation to impeach President Trump in order to advance the Democratic goal of seizing total power,' the resolution says."
Shane Kavanaugh of the Oregonian: "Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler blasted with pepper spray an unmasked man who confronted him and former Mayor Sam Adams with a video camera as the two left a pub Sunday night, the two men told police." Wheeler had an exchange with the man who complained Wheeler had not worn a mask while dining. "The man then followed Wheeler closely as he walked to his car, the mayor told police. 'He had no face mask on and got within a foot or two of my face while he was videoing me,' Wheeler said, according to the police report.... 'I clearly informed him that he needed to back off. He did not do so I informed him that I was carrying pepper spray and that I would use it if he did not back off. He remained at close distance, I pulled out my pepper spray and I sprayed him in the eyes.' Afterward, Wheeler said, he provided the man with a bottle of water to rinse his face."
~~~~~~~~~~
David Lynch, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Monday signed an executive order aimed at forcing the federal government to buy more goods produced in the United States, a key part of his campaign pledge to revive domestic manufacturing. Standing in front of a blue backdrop reading 'The Future Will Be Made in America,' the president said he was directing regulators to tighten the definition of American-made products and creating a position in the Office of Management and Budget to oversee stepped-up purchases of domestic goods. The president's order also will make it harder for federal agencies to issue waivers allowing the government to purchase some products made overseas. Under the new rules, agency officials will be required to justify such choices to the White House."
Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "... on Monday ... President Biden signed an executive order reversing the ban on transgender troops that was imposed by the Trump administration. Mr. Biden's order also called an immediate halt to involuntary discharges of transgender troops who were already serving, and for the Pentagon to review the files of any troops forced out under the ban in recent years. The order requires the secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to report on progress within 60 days." (Also linked yesterday.)
Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "President Biden on Wednesday will direct federal agencies to determine how expansive a ban on new oil and gas leasing on federal land should be, part of a suite of executive orders that will effectively launch his agenda to combat climate change, two people with knowledge of the president's plans said Monday. An eventual ban on new drilling leases would fulfill a campaign promise that infuriated the oil industry and became a central theme in the fight for the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania, where the natural gas extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has become big business.... The president also will direct the government to conserve 30 percent of all federal land and water by 2030, create a task force to assemble a governmentwide action plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, issue a memorandum elevating climate change to a national security priority. Mr. Biden will also create several new commissions and positions within the government focused on environmental justice and environmentally friendly job creation, including one to help displaced coal communities."
Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration will resume the process to replace President Andrew Jackson's face on the note with famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during her Monday news briefing. A Treasury Department spokesperson confirmed the change. Tubman will become the first Black person on the face of American paper currency and the first woman in generations; Martha Washington appeared on a $1 bill in the 1890s, and Pocahontas was in a group picture on the $20 bill in the 1860s, according to Reuters.... The Obama administration announced plans to put Tubman on the bill in 2016, after she was chosen from among several women in an informal nationwide poll.... Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin scuttled those plans in 2019."
Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration has selected nurse Susan Orsega to serve as the nation's acting surgeon general, said two people.... Orsega, a career-commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service corps and a longtime infectious-disease specialist, would be among the first nurses to serve in the role of surgeon general, which is often referred to as 'the nation's doctor.' The announcement of Orsega's selection could come as soon as Tuesday, one of the people said. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, a Trump appointee, resigned last week at Biden's request, and Deputy Surgeon General Erica Schwartz, a career official, chose to retire after being passed over as acting surgeon general.... Biden has nominated Vivek H. Murthy, a close adviser who served as surgeon general in the Obama administration, to return to his previous role as the nation's top doctor. However, Murthy's confirmation hearings have yet to be scheduled, said an aide with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee." The Hill's story is here.
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The Senate confirmed Janet L. Yellen, a labor economist and former Federal Reserve chair, to be Treasury secretary on Monday, putting in place a key lieutenant to President Biden at a perilous economic moment, as the new administration tries to revive an economy that has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic. By a vote of 84 to 15, the Senate confirmed Ms. Yellen, making her the first woman to hold the top job at Treasury in its 232-year history. Her quick bipartisan confirmation underscored the support she has from both Republicans and Democrats given her previous stint as Fed chair from 2014 to 2018."
Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Before the Senate can get down to business under new Democratic management, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and new minority leader, has forced a confrontation over the [filibuster] rule -- which effectively imposes a 60-vote threshold to take any action -- by refusing to cooperate in organizing the Senate unless Democrats promise not to gut it. Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the new majority leader, has rebuffed the demand, which has infuriated Democrats who regard it as evidence that Mr. McConnell intends to obstruct Mr. Biden's proposals.... Democrats say they must retain at least the threat that they could one day end the filibuster.... The stalemate has created a bizarre situation in which most Senate committees are frozen under Republican control and new senators cannot be seated on the panels even though Democrats now command the Senate majority." ~~~
~~~ ** Update. New Lede: "Senator Mitch McConnell on Monday dropped his demand that the new Democratic Senate majority promise to preserve the filibuster -- which Republicans could use to obstruct President Biden's agenda -- ending an impasse that had prevented Democrats from assuming full power even after their election wins. In his negotiations with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the new majority leader, Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, had refused to agree to a plan for organizing the chamber without a pledge from Democrats to protect the filibuster, a condition that Mr. Schumer had rejected. But late Monday, as the stalemate persisted, Mr. McConnell found a way out by pointing to statements by two centrist Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, that said they opposed getting rid of the procedural tool — a position they had held for months -- as enough of a guarantee to move forward without a formal promise from Mr. Schumer.... But as in past fights over the filibuster, the outcome is likely to be only a temporary solution." The Hill's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Today's Civics Lesson. Marie: The filibuster takes minority rule to the extreme. And because so many low-population states send Republicans to the Senate, the filibuster favors Republicans. As Philip Bump of the Washington Post wrote (Jan. 22), Since it takes only 41 senators to block a vote on a bill, "... you're talking about just under 11 percent of the population. Meaning that senators representing a bit over one-10th of the country could block any legislation from passing.... The point, though, is that even achieving a majority in the Senate is already weighted to less-populous states, which often means more Republican ones. Raising the bar for passing legislation means weighting things even more favorably toward those states. That initial imbalance was written into the Constitution, mind you. The filibuster was not -- and is therefore endlessly under threat." ~~~
~~~ Which Makes This Stupid. Burgess Everett of Politico: "'If I haven't said it very plain..., I want to basically say it for you. That I will not vote in this Congress, that's two years, right? I will not vote' to change the filibuster, [Sen. Joe] Manchin (D-W.Va.) said in an interview on Monday afternoon. And I hope with that guarantee in place [Mitch McConnell] will work in a much more amicable way.'" ~~~
~~~ AND It Makes This Stupid. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona recently doubled down on her objections to eliminating the Senate filibuster rule.... A spokesperson for Sinema told the Post that the senator is 'against eliminating the filibuster, and she is not open to changing her mind about eliminating the filibuster.'"
Remembering the Kaiser
~~~ Seung Min Kim, et al., of the New York Times: "The House on Monday formally delivered an article of impeachment charging ... Donald Trump with inciting the deadly insurrection at the Capitol, as Democrats prepared to use his own words as evidence against him in his Senate trial next month. With solemn looks on their mask-covered faces, the nine House impeachment managers walked over to the Senate shortly after 7 p.m. Monday to deliver the article against Trump, setting in motion his second Senate impeachment trial. While no final decisions on trial strategy have been made, House managers are concentrating on building their case around Trump personally -- both what he said in the run-up to the Jan. 6 attack and at a rally that day, and how his words were interpreted within the White House and outside of it, according to people familiar with the deliberations." ~~~
~~~ Alexander Bolton & Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will not preside over former President Trump's Senate impeachment trial, which is scheduled to begin in earnest on Feb. 8. Instead, Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy (Vt.), the most senior member of the Senate Democratic Conference, will preside over the trial. Leahy on Monday confirmed he would wield the gavel and promised to administer 'impartial justice.' 'The president pro tempore has historically presided over Senate impeachment trials of non-presidents. When presiding over an impeachment trial, the president pro tempore takes an additional special oath to do impartial justice according to the Constitution and its laws. It is an oath that I take extraordinarily seriously,' he said in a statement. Leahy vowed he would 'not waver from my constitutional and sworn obligations to administer the trial with fairness, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws.' A spokesman for Leahy said the decision on presiding over the trial is up to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).... Republican critics say [Leahy's presiding] creates a conflict of interest...." NPR's story is here. MB: As you can see in the video above, Leahy presided over the House's delivery of the article of impeachment.
Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Monday offered his most extensive comments since taking office on ... Donald Trump's impeachment trial, telling CNN, 'I think it has to happen.' Biden made the comment during a brief one-on-one interview with CNN in the halls of the West Wing. He acknowledged the effect it could have on his legislative agenda and Cabinet nominees but said there would be 'a worse effect if it didn't happen.' Biden told CNN he believed the outcome would be different if Trump had six months left in his term, but said he doesn't think 17 Republican senators will vote to convict Trump."
When a "Reassurance" Is a Threat. Burgess Everett, et al., of Politico: "A top political aide to ... Donald Trump spent the weekend quietly reassuring Republican senators that the former president has no plans to start a third party -- and instead will keep his imprint on the GOP. The message from Brian Jack, Trump's former political director at the White House, is the latest sign that Republicans considering an impeachment conviction will do so knowing that Trump may come after them in upcoming primaries if they vote to convict him for 'incitement of insurrection.' Jack did not mention impeachment in his calls. But he wanted the word to get around that Trump is still a Republican -- and for many, still the leader of his party." MB: This, of course, is the Trump version of the mobster (fill-in-the-blank) line: "That's a nice little job you have there, Senator . You wouldn't wanna lose it."
Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post :"The Justice Department's inspector general announced Monday that its office is opening an investigation into whether any current or former department official tried to improperly 'alter the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election' -- a broad review that comes on the heels of a revelation that ... Donald Trump considered replacing his acting attorney general with an official more amenable to his unfounded claims of voter fraud. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced the review in a two paragraph news release, though he noted his jurisdiction would be limited to 'allegations concerning the conduct of former and current DOJ employees,' and he could not examine other government officials [like, say, Donald Trump].... While Horowitz will likely have broad access to Justice Department files and emails, he cannot compel the cooperation of former officials -- which could limit his probe." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times' story is here. ~~~
~~~ Sam Dunklau of WITF Radio (Harrisburg, Pa.): "U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-York, Dauphin and Cumberland) said he introduced ... Donald Trump to Department of Justice lawyer Jeffrey Clark -- who, the New York Times reported, was part of Trump's plan to pressure Georgia to overturn its certified election results. In a statement Monday afternoon, Perry also said he talked with Trump and Clark about claims of election fraud. It's unclear when exactly those conversations took place. An email to Perry's spokesman asking for clarification has not been returned yet." (Also linked yesterday.)
Rachel Weiner & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A prominent speaker at a 'Stop the Steal' rally held by Trump supporters in Washington the day before the storming of the Capitol was taken into custody Monday on charges of impeding police during the riot. Brandon Straka, 44, of New York was arrested in Nebraska on a felony charge of interfering with police during civil disorder, and illegal entry and disorderly conduct on restricted Capitol grounds.... Straka has since said on social media that he saw 'nobody committing any acts of violence' or vandalism on Jan. 6 and that Trump supporters were able to file into the Capitol.... However..., in one [video], the FBI affidavit [accompany the warrant for Straka's arrest] said, Straka recorded himself in front of a mobbed entrance to the Capitol, urging a crowd to wrest away a riot shield from a police officer and shouting: 'Take it away from him.... Take the shield!... Take it! Take it!'"
Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "The woman alleged to have stolen a laptop from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the U.S. Capitol insurrection may have encouraged others to destroy evidence while released to her mother's custody, prosecutors claimed in court on Monday. Prosecutors previously alleged that Riley June Williams, 22, tried to delete her own social media trail to prevent her identification, but they now believe the cover-up continued after a federal judge in Pennsylvania authorized her release to home confinement.... The government is now requesting that the conditions of Williams's release be altered to cut off her internet access and allow investigators to monitor her compliance with that prohibition."
Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "In the weeks since Adam Newbold, a former member of the Navy SEALs, was identified as part of the enraged crowd that descended on the Capitol on Jan. 6..., [nothing] has shaken his belief, against all evidence, that the presidential election was stolen and that people like him were right to rise up.... It is surprising because ... in the Navy, he was trained as an expert in sorting information from disinformation, a clandestine commando who spent years working in intelligence paired with the C.I.A., and he once mocked the idea of shadowy antidemocratic plots as 'tinfoil hat' thinking.Even so..., Mr. Newbold bought into the fabricated theory that the election was rigged by a shadowy cabal of liberal power brokers who had pushed the nation to the precipice of civil war. No one could persuade him otherwise.... Mr. Newbold says he did not enter the Capitol, and he has not been charged with any crimes."
Fashion Tip: Do Not Wear Your Letter Jacket to an Insurrection. Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "Brian Gundersen, a former varsity football player for Byram Hills High School in North Castle Township, New York, is facing charges after the FBI received tips about a man seen storming the Capitol while wearing a letterman's jacket. The jacket included the name of his high school and his former jersey number.... [Gundersen] initially claimed that he never entered the U.S. Capitol but later admitted he had, but he claimed he was pushed into the building by the crowd. He consented to a search of his phone, which turned up a message in which he referenced a photo showing members of Congress taking cover during the attack on the Capitol as 'scared little bitches.' In one message, sent two days after the attack, Gundersen admitted his role in the attack. 'We all stormed the us capital and tried to take over the government,' he wrote. 'We failed but fuck it.'"
Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit on Monday against Rudolph W. Giuliani.... The 107-page lawsuit, filed in the Federal District Court in Washington, accuses Mr. Giuliani of carrying out 'a viral disinformation campaign about Dominion' made up of 'demonstrably false' allegations, in part to enrich himself through legal fees and his podcast. The suit seeks damages of more than $1.3 billion and is based on more than 50 statements Mr. Giuliani made at legislative hearings, on Twitter, on his podcast and in the conservative news media, where he spun a fictitious narrative of a plot by one of the biggest voting machine manufacturers in the country to flip votes to President Biden.... Taken together with a lawsuit the company filed this month against Sidney Powell, another lawyer who was allied with Mr. Trump, the suit represents a point-by-point rebuke of one of the more outlandish conspiracy theories surrounding last year's election." CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Here are four of the most common false statements Mr. Giuliani made about Dominion Voting Systems. 1.... Mr. Giuliani regularly stated, falsely, that Dominion 'really is a Venezuelan company' and that it 'depends completely on the software of Smartmatic,' a company 'developed in about 2004, 2005 to help Chavez steal elections.'... 2.... Dominion had programmed its machines to flip votes: 'In other words when you pressed down Biden, you got Trump, and when you pressed down Trump you got Biden.'... 3.... Mr. Giuliani zeroed in on Antrim County, Mich., falsely claiming that a 'Dominion machine flipped 6,000 votes from Trump to Biden' there, and that machines in the county were '62 percent inaccurate,' had a '68 percent error rate' and had an '81.9 percent rejection rate.'... 4.... Mr. Giuliani claimed that his accusations, particularly in Antrim County, were backed up by experts. But he largely relied on one man, Russell Ramsland Jr., a former Republican congressional candidate from Texas, who, according to the lawsuit filed by Dominion, had also publicly favored false conspiracy theories."
It's Not Over! David Gilbert of Vice: "Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 19th president of the United States on March 4, 2021. This is the latest conspiracy that QAnon followers have embraced in the wake of President Joe Biden's inauguration last week, and extremist experts are worried that it highlights the way QAnon adherents are beginning to merge their beliefs -- about the world being run by an elite cabal of cannibalistic satanist pedophiles -- with even more extreme ideologies. The latest claims being made by QAnon supporters echo those of the [violent, extremist] sovereign citizen movement, a group of people who believe they are not governed by the same laws as everyone else.... Sovereign citizens believe that a law enacted in 1871 secretly turned the U.S. into a corporation and did away with the American government of the founding fathers." March 4 is the date presidents took office before 1933.
AP: "The Supreme Court on Monday brought an end to lawsuits over whether Donald Trump illegally profited off his presidency. The justices threw out Trump's challenge to lower court rulings that had allowed lawsuits to go forward alleging that he violated the Constitution's emoluments clause by accepting payments from foreign and domestic officials who stay at the Trump International Hotel and patronize other businesses owned by the former president and his family. The high court also ordered the lower court rulings thrown out as well and directed appeals courts in New York and Richmond, Virginia, to dismiss the suits as moot now that Trump is no longer in office. The outcome leaves no judicial opinions on the books in an area of the law that has been rarely explored in U.S. history." MB: I suppose we'll learn more later, but this doesn't make a lot of sense to me. What about all the money Trump collected while he was in office? That's not moot; it happened. (Also linked yesterday.)
Nikhel Sus, et al., of CREW: "National Park Service employees spent nearly 4,000 hours working on the Republican National Convention's massive pro-Trump fireworks show at the National Mall this summer, according to Park Service records obtained by CREW. The display immediately followed former President Trump's final RNC acceptance speech, and culminated with fireworks spelling out 'TRUMP' over the National Mall. The Park Service's total labor costs for the show were more than $177,000, which the RNC appears to have reimbursed. The new records quantify the amount of time one agency spent promoting Trump's reelection campaign, and raise questions about why the RNC was allowed to commandeer so many federal employees, at cost, to put on a political spectacle during their convention."
Jason Williams, et al., of the Cincinnati Enquirer: "Republican Rob Portman will not seek a third term in the U.S. Senate in 2022, he told The Enquirer -- a move that will unsettle politics in both Greater Cincinnati and Washington D.C.... Portman said he hasn't decided how he will vote on impeachment during ... Donald Trump's trial. 'I'm a juror, it's going to happen,' Portman said. 'As a juror, I'm going to listen to both sides. That's my job.' Portman said Trump contributed to partisan gridlock in Washington, and he also laid blame on Trump for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. 'I don't excuse anything President Trump did on Jan. 6 or in the runup to it,' Portman said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Carl Hulse & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Given the Republican tilt of Ohio, which supported Mr. Trump in the presidential election, Republicans would hold the advantage in the race, particularly in a midterm election where the party out of presidential power typically fares well. But the open seat could make it easier for Democrats to compete, particularly if Republicans choose a hard-right candidate with the potential to alienate independents and suburban voters. One of those hard-right prospects, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, was among the first names mentioned on Monday as a possible replacement for Mr. Portman.... Yet his [high] profile has also made Mr. Jordan a political lightning rod, and a number of Ohio Democrats believe he would be the easiest Republican to defeat."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "President Biden, under pressure to speed up the pace of coronavirus vaccination, said on Monday that he was now aiming for the United States to administer 1.5 million vaccine doses a day -- a goal that is 50 percent higher than his initial target but one that the nation already appears on track to meet."
Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post: "Minnesota officials announced Monday they have identified a person infected with a highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus that has been spreading at alarming rates in recent weeks in Brazil. This is the first report in the United States of the P.1 variant, which has been of particular concern to scientists as they have observed the disastrous surge in infections in the Brazilian city of Manaus. One research study published in the journal Science estimated that 76 percent of the Manaus population already had been infected by the coronavirus. That should have put Manaus close to herd immunity. The new surge has raised fears that the P.1 variant has mutations that allow it to evade the human immune system. Evidence to support this hypothesis remains limited." Free to nonsubscribers.
Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "As the previous administration's coronavirus response coordinator, Deborah Birx provided ... Donald Trump with hard numbers to guide the fight against the pandemic. But all along, she said, Trump was receiving different statistics from someone else. 'Someone out there, or someone inside, was creating a parallel set of data and graphics that were shown to the president,' she said Sunday on CBS's 'Face the Nation.'... 'I saw the president presenting graphs that I never made,' she said. Birx added that she believed at least some of the data had been funneled along by Scott Atlas, then a White House coronavirus adviser. He was widely rebuked for playing down the pandemic despite having no infectious-disease or public health background." The CBS News story is here. CBS News has the full transcript of the interview here. (Also linked yesterday.)
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.
Guess What Government Worker Has the Highest Salary. Adam Andrzejewski of Forbes: "Dr. Anthony Fauci made $417,608 in 2019, the latest year for which federal salaries are available. That made him ... the highest paid out of all four million federal employees.... Only federal employees whose salaries were funded by taxpayers were included in the study." MB: I wonder if Trump knew Fauci's salary was higher than his (at $400K).
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Reader Comments (19)
Unless Senators Manchin and Sinema have joined the Confederacy of Connivers (thanks to Brian Williams, who seems to be getting ever more caustic, for that last word) I don't see how their public bow in McConnell's direction in any way advanced the state of senate affairs, so I hope they were themselves engaged in a little conniving, lying just enough about the filibuster to get the ship under weigh, holding their real intentions in reserve to be deployed as needs must.
Otherwise....what they did gives literal meaning to "disarming" in a sense entirely devoid of being fetchingly naive.
Moot: debatable, doubtful, iffy, inconclusive, questionable.
I, for one, prefer the antonyms, given the facts (FACTS, I say) of the case of Fatty's nose thumbing and parade of one finger salutes to the Constitution: irrefutable, unambiguous, decisive, conclusive.
The idea that we should forget all about Trump's pitchforking the Constitution in order to line his own pockets because he's no longer president* is....hold on....let me get back to my thesaurus....
atrocious, ghastly, appalling, hideous, and downright stupid.
But this gives me an idea. My next career will be as a bank executive, and after four years on the job embezzling the crap out of the place, when caught, I will resign and inform the authorities that, because I am no longer employed by my former piggy bank, the issue of my malfeasance is "moot", cf Supreme Court, 2021, case of US Constitution v Donald Trump, crime lord and constitutional scofflaw.
I'm sure to wear out the word "casuistry" as the current future Nuremberg trial defendants on the Trump court proceed to piss on the rule of law, but "rationalization" and "specious arguments" don't seem to quite get there.
Nonetheless, we have been given a look-see into future decisions by this court regarding the plethora of criminal actions by the Trump Crime Family and their adherents, psychophants, and boot lickers in congress.
Just disgusting: abhorrent, abominable, foul, scandalous, shocking.
But eminently Republican.
The goal of 1.5 million vaccinations a day is an admirable goal. But then I get the newsletter from my local County executive in Virginia with the news that the state “will only receive 105,000 vaccine doses per week from the federal government. For context, last week the Fairfax County Health Department alone received over 22,000 doses from VDH for the 168,000 residents eligible for a vaccine .... starting tomorrow, Inova will be cancelling all further first dose vaccine appointments.”
Hopefully this state of affairs is based on vaccine supplies under the previous regime and will improve rapidly, but it definitely puts a damper on expectations. I am in a relatively low tier for getting the vaccine and don’t expect to get my first shot until Memorial Day. Sigh ....
I thought we might learn more about the Supremes' rationale/excuse for dumping the emoluments lawsuits against Trump, but the NYT story, by Adam Liptak, who's usually pretty good at explaining stuff, adds nothing in the way of explanation. Maybe Linda Greenhouse will come thru.
BTW, Ken Winkes' & Akhilleus' embezzlement analogies are spot on. And they work for impeachment, too, mimicking the Republicans' argument that it doesn't make sense to impeach Trump because he's already gone (never mind that failing to impeach him would allow him to return -- kinda like expecting the victim of embezzlement to give the embezzler a good job reference so he can go on to his next caper).
And speaking of eminently Republican...
The imperious figure of a scum slathered turtle continues to hover over a senate paralyzed by his unending injections of toxic hypocrisy (toxocrisy?--I blame Forrest for any attempts at neologistic experimentation).
Here's the plan. Obstruct, lie, obstruct, and demand concessions as if he were still in charge. Why? Because all of the above have worked his entire career. It worked (mostly) against Obama, why not against Biden? And better yet, McConnell can use Biden's urge for a more civil way to run the country, promising to be president of all Americans, against him.
As Marie points out, the filibuster has been weaponized beyond recognition by confederate schemers whose intransigence regarding anything that could be vaguely described as bipartisan demands that they kill any legislation that doesn't come from Federalists, Wall Street, or white supremacists.
It allows a tiny minority the ability to monkey wrench the rest of the country into submitting to their warped wills. McConnell understands this. He also knows one other big thing. The press will let him get away with almost anything if he plays them right. And he's learned how to play the press like Paganini on coke.
By holding up the filibuster as a necessary tool for not allowing the majority party to crush the poor minorities (R's), McConnell correctly sees that the both-siders will rush to his defense and dutifully upbraid Biden and the Democrats for not being nice to the downtrodden R's.
This ruse is being (equally dutifully) aided by Democrats who, to be kind are misguided; to be truthful, are imbecilic assholes in need of a six day shellacking.
How often do you hear about Democrats filibustering some piece of legislation? Now, how often do you hear about Republicans pulling that crap as yet another attempt to get their way despite representing fewer people than live on a desert island? Why, the littlest obstructionist, Li'l Randy, goes full filibuster almost every week.
It's simply a tool for pouring sugar into the Democrats' gas tank. It's not ever like they have a better, alternative solution to whatever problem Democrats are trying to solve. They don't. EVER. It's just what they do: Say No.
McConnell knows this. Schumer should too. Kill that fucking filibuster bullshit dead, Chuck. And right soon. Otherwise McConnell will continue to hold court over a senate hobbled by his smug employment of sneaky tricks and douchebag dissembling. You guys might only have two years to get anything done, also something McConnell knows. All he has to do is keep everyone dancing to his tune until 2022 then hope he can slither back into the majority leader's chair and REALLY go to work screwing Biden.
Don't help him.
There is just simply never enough news: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/25/business/leon-black-apollo-jeffrey-epstein.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage. Maybe Joe Biden and the new administration can look at if Leon Black's $158 million was expensed properly against taxes due. I bet every cent was not his and it was all declared as business expenses to deduct. Maybe Joe's admin can do the same for the private jet expenses the realtor from Texas used on her way to storm the Capital. Truly, idle hands are the devil's workshop. As long as we roll over and take the fleecing of America so overtly, like how Chump did it for decades, we will have no accountability.
Rockygirl,
What Biden (and the rest of us) is looking at, is what George Marshall saw after the bombs stopped dropping in Europe when WWII was brought to a close: a landscape destroyed.
We are looking at the same sort of thing, bombed out government agencies, departments hollowed out and grifted to a within an inch of their effective lives by Trump, his crime family and the unqualified crooks and schemers he shoved into power.
What we need is a kind of Marshall Plan to recover and move ahead, especially on the Covid front. But as we find out with each passing day, not only did Fatty and his ass licking acolytes spread vicious, deadly disinformation, they actively worked against any kind of solution, pretending that they were being kind by letting states figure out stuff for themselves (funny how that federalist bullshit comes into play only when it suits these assholes).
Tony Judt, in his book "Postwar" (highly recommended, by the way), describes how the difficulties of the war continued on for years. Food rationing went on in England until the 50's, and the shattered infrastructures of other European nations required serious injections of cash and creative planning in order to recover.
For Europeans, the cause of all that misery was dead long before they were trying to put the pieces back together.
The cause of our misery and death is still strutting around, munching on Big Macs, plotting his return.
Lucky us.
Citizen,
You're right about the news. It never stops and it's often bad.
But as I just said to my wife, there is satisfaction, bordering on pleasure, when looking at the morning paper I see "Biden" instead of the no-longer-Pretend president "Trump" in the headlines.
Not only is the Pretender no longer dominating the news, but as my eyes drop to the articles themselves, I am pleased to report I no longer fear learning about the next awful thing that truly awful man has done now.
And I'm grateful for that.
Jamelle Boule has written a scathing piece in the NYT scolding Democrats and offering some balls of brass: He says Dems should act like they won the election! What was the point of of putting together a majority in the Senate if they weren't going to wield it? And he takes us back sixty years ago when Sam Rayburn, the Democratic speaker of the House faced a similar situation:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/opinion/democrats-schumer-mcconnell-filibuster.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
I am so sick of these lukewarm simpering Susan Collins- like- sops that whimper their mealy mouthed screeds over and over and over and YES, Marie, I'd love to know what the hell the S.C. was thinking.
Something that keeps popping up when thinking about the invasion of the Capitol by those Pod people: Here they were, smashing down doors, breaking glass, calling for heads to be severed or hung, even managed to dump dumps on the senate floor and yet––––and yet nary a statue or a painting was sullied or torn down. I find that miraculous!
@AK: "Postwar" on my bookshelf; Judt, one of my heroes and such a pity his voice is no longer heard.
Interesting that Rudy "hands in pants" Giuliani picked up and ran with the Antrim County Michigan debacle since Antrim is almost totally Republican, so the people there knew something was not kosher when Biden got 6,000 more votes than *****. The lady in charge of updating their system via computer admitted that she did it wrong and took total blame. She is a Republican with 40 years experience with the department.
Nevertheless, "hands in pants" and other fellow Republicans called her a liar. She must be covering up for that voting machine company.
Seems like she should also be using his a_ _.
@Forrest, I hate that auto-correct function too.
...unless you meant for target practice.
That letter jacket to the Let's-Overthrow-the-Government party story reminded me of one of my favorite anecdotes.
A friend once told me about a bank robbery committed in a wealthy community outside of Boston by a gang from Charlestown, a tough, blue collar, largely Irish neighborhood of that city. The USS Constitution is docked in the Charlestown Navy Yard. It's an old neighborhood with a lot of tradition.
One of those traditions, at least at one point, was bank robbery. Charlestown was once known as Bank Robbers U. But, it seems, not all of the students paid close attention to the finer points of a successful (ie, un-incarcerated) life of crime.
The Townies (as they're called thereabouts) got into the bank and pulled off the heist with clockwork precision. During the hour or so ride back to Charlestown, they celebrated their morning's work, but when they pulled up to the home of one of the gang members, they found the FBI waiting in his mother's kitchen. CLICK go the cuffs. SLAM goes the jailhouse door.
The problem? This particular kid wore his Charlestown High School hockey jersey--with his name on it!--to the robbery.
Slick. I think he later went to work for Trump, after serving his sentence. He's now working as a financial consultant for Bill Barr (only kidding--but only just).
I really did type "suing" and it really is a word. Don't know what else anyone would be doing to Rudy's a _ _.
Our governor (or as trump calls her--that woman in Michigan) is doing a fantastic job lining up vaccinations.
We just received a phone call from the county health department reminding us of the upcoming Feb 8 appointment for the second shot and assuring us that they would have it available. Hooray!
Five myths about bipartisanship
"Today, Republicans are one of the most extreme (even radical) conservative parties in the democratic world, with no members in the House and arguably barely one in the Senate who would qualify as moderates or traditional conservatives, while Democrats look like a traditional center-left party...The asymmetric nature of this polarization makes bipartisanship almost impossible."
Democrats can pass a big bill through the Senate without any Republican votes. Here’s how.
"If President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress want to get anything done, they will likely depend on an obscure but powerful procedural tool.
This tool is called “budget reconciliation,” and it’s something you’re bound to hear a lot about in the coming weeks. This complicated Senate process is the vehicle by which important Democratic priorities could actually pass Congress and reach President Joe Biden’s desk."
Forrest,
Kicking it? Hard? Oh, wait. Didn't get that last kick quite right. Give me a few more tries. Like 17.
Texas worked in secret with Trump officials to obstruct Biden’s immigration policy
"The Trump administration signed agreements designed to cripple Biden’s DHS
Ken Cuccinelli, formerly the second-highest-ranking official at DHS, secretly signed a memorandum of understanding with Texas [and others] during his final days at the agency, in an apparent attempt to impede the Biden administration from dismantling Trump’s immigration legacy.
The agreements are designed to delay the Biden administration from “taking any action or making any decision that could reduce immigration enforcement” or that could increase the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the US"
Like anyone would expect anything but ratfcking from the Cooch? What a surprise that he was involved in messing with the future administration before they got there...
I tell you, these people never disappoint. They have, as a group, done as much damage as we might have been afraid they would do. I scrolled through the Faux domain on teevee this morning, and did not stop to read of their high dudgeon about how insulted they are to be accused of having no vaccine plan. Honestly, I am almost as angry now as I have been for five years. Everything done by everyone in the previous "administration" is showing up to be simply as horrible as we thought. As Steve just said: staggering incompetence and malice.
And add to that the fact that the cowardly weasels in the Senate will not convict. Today's vote pretty much says that. I. Hate. Them. All.