The Ledes

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Washington Post: “Hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, a spate of unusually strong and long-lived tornadoes touched down across the state, flipping tractor-trailers and ripping off roofs. The twisters surprised anxious residents, even as the storm’s eye still loomed. Authorities said there had been 'multiple' deaths after the intense and destructive tornadoes.” MB: I'm still on Florida's emergency-call list, and I received several calls from Lee County, urging me to shelter in place.

The Washington Post's live updates of Hurricane Milton developments are here: “Hurricane Milton, which has strengthened to a 'catastrophic' Category 5 storm, is closing in on Florida’s west coast and is expected to make landfall Wednesday night or early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane, which could bring maximum sustained winds of nearly 160 mph with bigger gusts, poses a dire threat to the densely populated zone that includes Tampa, Sarasota and Fort Myers. As well as 'damaging hurricane-force winds,' coastal communities face a 'life-threatening' storm surge, the center said.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here: “Milton carved a path of destruction after crashing ashore Wednesday evening on Florida’s Gulf Coast, making landfall near Sarasota as the second powerful hurricane to pound the region in less than two weeks. The storm battered the state for much of the day, with heavy winds, pelting rain and a spate of tornadoes.... By around midnight, the storm had destroyed more than 100 homes, killed several people in a retirement community and ripped the roof off Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays.”

Washington Post: “The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to David Baker at the University of Washington and Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper of Google DeepMind.... The prize was awarded to scientists who cracked the code of proteins. Hassabis and Jumper used artificial intelligence to predict the structure of proteins, one of the toughest problems in biology. Baker created computational tools to design novel proteins with shapes and functions that can be used in drugs, vaccines and sensors.”

Sorry, forgot this yesterday: ~~~

Reuters: “U.S. scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discoveries and inventions in machine learning that paved the way for the artificial intelligence boom. Heralded for its revolutionary potential in areas ranging from cutting-edge scientific discovery to more efficient admin, the emerging technology on which the duo worked has also raised fears humankind may soon be outsmarted and outcompeted by its own creation.”

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The Ledes

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

The New York Times is live-updating developments Tuesday as powerful Hurricane Milton moves through the Gulf of Mexico toward Central Florida.

New York Times: “Cissy Houston, a Grammy Award-winning soul and gospel star who helped shepherd her daughter Whitney Houston to superstardom, died on Monday at her home in Newark. She was 91.”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

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.”

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The Commentariat -- January 28, 2021

"Green Jobs." Lisa Friedman, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden on Wednesday signed a sweeping series of executive actions -- ranging from pausing new federal oil leases to electrifying the government's vast fleet of vehicles -- while casting the moves as much about job creation as the climate crisis. Mr. Biden said his directives would reserve 30 percent of federal land and water for conservation purposes, make climate policy central to national security decisions and build out a network of electric-car charging stations nationwide. But much of the sales pitch on employment looked intended to counteract longstanding Republican attacks that Mr. Biden's climate policies would inevitably hurt an economy already weakened by the pandemic. Mr. Biden argued instead that technological gains and demands for wind and solar infrastructure would create work that would more than make up for job losses even in parts of the country reliant on the fracking boom. Using the government's purchasing power to buy zero-emissions vehicles, Mr. Biden said, would help speed the transition away from gasoline-powered cars and ultimately lead to 'one million new jobs in the American automobile industry.'" ~~~

~~~ Juliet Eilperin, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden will make tackling America's persistent racial and economic disparities a central part of his plan to combat climate change, prioritizing environmental justice for the first time in a generation. As part of an unprecedented push to cut the nation's greenhouse gas emissions and create new jobs as the United States shifts toward cleaner energy, Biden will direct agencies across the federal government to invest in low-income and minority communities that have traditionally borne the brunt of pollution, White House officials said. Biden will sign an executive order establishing a White House interagency council on environmental justice, create an office of health and climate equity at the Health and Human Services Department, and form a separate environmental justice office at the Justice Department. The order also directs the government to spend 40 percent of its sustainability investments on disadvantaged communities." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Sanger of the New York Times: "When President Biden swore in a batch of recruits for his new administration in a teleconferenced ceremony late last week..., a far less visible transition was taking place: the quiet dismissal of holdovers from the Trump administration, who have been asked to clean out their offices immediately, whatever the eventual legal consequences. If there has been a single defining feature of the first week of the Biden administration, it has been the blistering pace at which the new president has put his mark on what ... Donald J. Trump dismissed as the hostile 'Deep State' and tried so hard to dismantle.... The Biden team arrived in Washington not only with plans for each department and agency, but the spreadsheets detailing who would carry them out.... The president's real grasp on the levers of power has come several layers down [from Cabinet-level jobs].... The contrast with the Trump administration at a similar point in time is striking.... Many of Mr. Trump's appointees ... arrived with instructions to cut, and it became a point of pride among Trump administration officials to leave jobs open." MB: IOW, Biden is giving us back a functioning federal government. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Josh Gerstein & Sabrina Rodriguez of Politico: "The Biden administration on Wednesday made its first move to set the nation's immigration courts in a new direction, announcing plans to replace the official who has overseen the system for nearly four years. One week into President Joe Biden's term, the Justice Department said Jean King will soon take over on an acting basis as director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review. King, a former EOIR general counsel who currently serves as the office's chief administrative law judge, will replace James McHenry, a close ally of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.... The personnel change comes after complaints from immigration advocates who were troubled to see McHenry's name on the agency-wide list the Justice Department released last Thursday of those holding top posts on an acting or continuing basis for the first weeks of the Biden presidency." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ She Really Does Care. Jim Acosta, et al., of CNN: "The Biden administration's planned task force aimed at reuniting children who were separated from their parents at the border under the Trump-era enforcement policies will include input from first lady Jill Biden, according to three sources familiar with the planning. Biden is tasking her East Wing with taking an active role in the reunification project. Her interest in the task force could offer something of a stark contrast with ... Melania Trump. Trump made her first trip to visit a border facility for children and families in Texas in June 2018 in the midst of the zero-tolerance separation controversy, but did so wearing a jacket emblazoned with the words, 'I really don't care. Do U?'"

Susannah Luthi of Politico: "President Joe Biden is taking the first step toward rebuilding Obamacare, ushering in a new era for the health care law after a decade of Republican attacks. The Biden administration on Thursday announced it's throwing open the doors to the law's enrollment site, HealthCare.gov, making it easier for the uninsured to get coverage during the pandemic.... The White House said it will reopen enrollment on HealthCare.gov, which serves most states, for a three-month window starting Feb. 15. The dozen-plus states that run their own enrollment websites may also reopen.... [The administration] is also expected to restore Obamacare marketing funds that the Trump administration had gutted, and it will soon begin the process of reversing the previous administration's changes seen as undermining the health law and Medicaid. The actions are the first in a series of moves Biden is planning to shore up a law he campaigned on expanding. Though ... Donald Trump failed to repeal Obamacare, his administration weakened the law through executive action and advanced policies that would shrink enrollment in its expansion of Medicaid to poor adults. But Biden's more ambitious plans for bolstering the Affordable Care Act will require help from Congress."

Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is reviewing some weapons sales to Gulf Arab states approved by the Trump administration, including tens of billions of dollars of advanced fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates and precision munitions to Saudi Arabia. A State Department official speaking on background said on Wednesday that the administration was temporarily pausing some of the arms sales and transfers, calling the move a routine action typical of presidential transitions. But it drew unusual attention because the arms deals with the Gulf Arab nations, approved in the last months of the Trump administration, were the subject of intense political debate even before the review.... Democrats in Congress have strongly opposed the sales out of disgust over the Saudi and Emirati role in Yemen's grueling civil war, which has inflicted vast civilian suffering, but they failed to attract enough Republican support to block the deals in Congress in December. Many Democrats began pressuring President Biden even before his inauguration to halt the sales."

Dan Diamond & Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "Federal officials repeatedly raided a fund earmarked for biomedical research in the years leading up to the covid-19 pandemic, spending millions of dollars to pay for unrelated salaries, administrative expenses and even the cost of removing office furniture, according to the findings from an investigation into a whistleblower complaint shared with The Washington Post. The investigation, conducted by the Health and Human Services Department's inspector general and overseen by the Office of Special Counsel, centered on hundreds of millions of dollars intended for the development of vaccines, drugs and therapies by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority or BARDA, an arm of the federal health department. The unidentified whistleblower alleged that officials in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at HHS, which oversaw the biomedical agency, wrongly dipped into the money set aside by Congress for development of lifesaving medicines, beginning in fiscal year 2010 and continuing through at least fiscal year 2019, spanning both the Obama and Trump administrations. The inspector general substantiated some of the whistleblower's claims, finding that staff referred to the agency as the 'bank of BARDA' and told investigators that research and development funds were regularly tapped for unrelated projects, sometimes at 'exorbitant' rates." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Rick Bright -- who led BARDA for a time until Trump had him removed -- had to do with the illegal transfers. Was he a whistleblower, did he try to stop the transactions, or did he facilitate them?

Federal Judges Tie Their Retirements to Biden's Election & Inauguration. Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "... five federal judges with lifetime appointments who have announced plans to retire or semi-retire since last Wednesday, the day Donald Trump left the White House, according to data provided by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. That's after eight judges had already announced their plans to step down since Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election. The retirements keep coming. On Tuesday, two more U.S. district judges announced their plans to take senior status, though their names aren't yet listed on the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts' website. And there are likely others in the queue with similar plans.... In total, eight of these retiring judges were appointed by President Bill Clinton, and two were appointed by President Barack Obama; it would make sense that they'd want a Democratic president to fill their vacancies. But five of these judges were appointed by President George W. Bush. ... As of Wednesday, Biden has 46 district court vacancies and three appeals court vacancies to fill...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you think you're jubilant about getting rid of Whozit, think how these judges & their families must feel. Biden's election freed them to do what they want to do. P.S. Take a hint, Stephen Breyer. Bendery even provides a couple of model letters you could copy & send on to President Biden over your signature.

Remembering the Kaiser, Ctd.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & David Sanger of the New York Times: "Warning that the deadly rampage of the Capitol this month may not be an isolated episode, the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday said publicly for the first time that the United States faced a growing threat from 'violent domestic extremists' emboldened by the attack. The department's terrorism alert did not name specific groups that might be behind any future attacks, but it made clear that their motivation would include anger over 'the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives,' a clear reference to the accusations made by ... Donald J. Trump and echoed by right-wing groups that the 2020 election was stolen.... The warning contained in a 'National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin' was a notable departure for a Department of Homeland Security accused of being reluctant during the Trump administration to publish intelligence reports or public warnings about the dangers posed by domestic extremists and white supremacist groups for fear of angering Mr. Trump, according to current and former homeland security officials.... Even after the Department of Homeland Security in September 2019 singled out white supremacists as a leading domestic terrorism threat, analysts and intelligence officials said their warnings were watered down, delayed or both. Former officials in the Trump administration have even said that White House officials sought to suppress the phrase 'domestic terrorism.'" A CNN story is here.

The Chickenshits Come Home to Roost. David Siders of Politico: "For a moment, it looked like Donald Trump might be losing his iron grip on the GOP.... Not anymore. Local and state Republican parties are censuring Republicans for disloyalty in states across the country. The lawmakers who broke with him are weathering a storm of criticism from Trump-adoring constituents at home, with punitive primary challenges already taking shape. In Washington, party leaders who once suggested Trump bore some responsibility for the Jan. 6 violence are backtracking. On Tuesday, 45 Republican senators -- all but five members of the GOP conference -- voted that putting a former president on trial for impeachment is unconstitutional, all but guaranteeing the Senate won't convict him. If the Republican Party seemed to be at a crossroad about its post-Trump future, it now appears to have concluded in which direction to travel." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ "Republicans Come Crawling Back to Trump." Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "Top Republican lawmakers are increasingly signaling that they are ready to let Trump off the hook yet another time, and the former president has been working the phones from his new home base in Florida in an effort to make sure GOP senators vote to acquit him in an upcoming impeachment trial.... After the Capitol riot, [House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)] had what was described as a 'tense' and 'aggressive' phone conversation with the then-president, pushing back on some of Trump's ludicrous conspiracy theories and telling him, 'Stop it. It's over. The election is over.' But that was in the distant past, two whole weeks ago. Now, McCarthy is making nice with the former president -- and his family, too.... Multiple news outlets reported on Wednesday that former President Trump and McCarthy are scheduled to meet in person in Florida on Thursday." Nikki Haley, who was "deeply disappointed" with Trump's "badly wrong .. words," is now arguing it's time to "give the man a break." MB: Right. He only aided, abetted & encouraged the murders of five people, and that was, like, weeks ago. ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Fandos & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Three times in recent weeks, as Republicans grappled with a deadly attack on the Capitol and their new minority status in Washington, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky carefully nudged open the door for his party to kick Donald J. Trump to the curb, only to find it slammed shut.So his decision on Tuesday to join all but five Republican senators in voting to toss out the House's impeachment case against Mr. Trump as unconstitutional seemed to be less a reversal than a recognition that the critical mass of his party was not ready to join him in cutting loose the former president.... By Wednesday, the Republican Party stated an official position against holding Mr. Trump's impeachment trial.... Far from elucidating his position, Mr. McConnell has adopted a sphinx-like silence in public." MB: Both McConnell's willingness to distance himself from Trump & his retreat on the matter are political calculations; they have nothing to do with the morality or the treachery of inciting an insurrection.

Matthew Choi of Politico: "Rep. Jimmy Gomez [D-Calif.] ... announced on Wednesday that he planned to introduce a resolution to oust Rep. [Marjorie Taylor Greene,] the conspiracy-theory-peddling Republican from Georgia, after recent news reports revealed that Greene had previously called for violence against Democrats on social media. A two-thirds majority is required to expel a member from the House, meaning Gomez's resolution is almost certain to fail.... Still, the measure is one of the starkest rebukes yet against the congresswoman, who has antagonized her peers by flouting coronavirus guidelines and has garnered national attention for engaging in the QAnon conspiracy theory. She has also denied the Parkland school shooting, and was filmed spreading racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic comments, prompting condemnation from the leadership of her own party. CNN on Tuesday unveiled a series of Greene's past social media posts from as recently as 2019 that called for executing Democrats and federal law enforcement officers. In one comment, she said that 'a bullet to the head would be quicker' to get rid of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi." ~~~

     ~~~ A photo accompanying the story, which appears to have been taken January 26, pictures Greene speaking on the House floor to another member with about two feet between them. She is wearing a mask (required in the House) pulled down to her chin, with her nose AND mouth exposed. Emblazoned on the mask: "TRUMP WON." ~~~

     ~~~ Allan Smith of NBC News: "Rep. Jim McGovern, R-Mass., tweeted: 'And they wonder why we don't want members carrying guns onto the House Floor.'... 'If you don't understand that calling for the murder of political rivals is a threat to democracy, you shouldn't be allowed to represent one,' [Rep. Jake] Auchincloss [D-Mass.] tweeted.... In[ a] Facebook post, Greene promoted a conspiracy theory about [Hillary] Clinton, a top aide, and child murder and mutilation.... Clinton tweeted: 'This woman should be on a watch list. Not in Congress.'... Greene was recently appointed to the House Education and Labor Committee." MB: Yeah, that's a perfect spot for someone who thinks the Parkland massacre didn't happen. Smith's story get around crediting someone for assigning Greene to the Education Committee, but it's fair to assume Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) approved it even if it wasn't his bright idea. ~~~

     ~~~ Lachlan Markay of Axios: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is setting up a new test for House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.... Media Matters for America ... previously noted her endorsements of claims that 9/11 was perpetrated by the American government, and that the Parkland school shooting was staged.... Mark Bednar, a spokesperson for McCarthy, told Axios he is aware of the comments and will discuss them with Greene. 'These comments are deeply disturbing and Leader McCarthy plans to have a conversation with the Congresswoman about them,' Bednar said in an emailed statement." ~~~

~~~ WRCB-TV 3 (Chattanooga): "A Whitfield County Sheriff's Deputy escorted a Channel 3 crew out of a public town hall meeting Wednesday night and threatened them with arrest after attempting to ask Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene a question.... Citizens were asked to register for the event and submit questions for Greene ahead of time. Greene's office invited the media to the event, including Channel 3's crew which had credentials to attend. Once on property, members of the media were told they would not be permitted to speak to anyone attending or ask any questions.... Channel 3's reporter attempted to ask a question of Greene about [her social media] posts and the resolution to expel her from the House, but Greene said she was there to talk to her constituents. That's when a member of Greene's staff approached Channel 3's reporter and told her to leave the event. Greene's staff waived [waved] over a deputy who escorted Channel 3's reporter and photographer out of the building." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Video & a still photo show that there were loads of empty chairs in the hall, but the (white) townfolk seated themselves close together. Though many appeared to be elderly, most were not wearing masks. Neither was Greene. Because freeedumb, I guess. Too bad freedom of the press is not among the freedoms Greene supports.

Liar, Liar. Eddie Burkhalter of the Alabama Political Reporter: "Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville through a spokeswoman Tuesday denied meeting with the then-director of the Republican Attorneys General Association and others inside Trump's private residence at the Trump International Hotel on Jan. 5 -- on the eve of the deadly U.S. Capitol attack. But a photo posted to social media appears to show Tuberville in the hotel's lobby that day, and a company CEO in a separate post describes meeting with Tuberville and others at the hotel that day and discussing 'illegal votes.'" In addition to a post by Charles W. Herbster, who was then the national chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Advisory Committee, & who first confirmed the meeting, there was this January 5 late-evening Facebook post from Daniel Beck, CEO of an Idaho technology company: "The Trump hotel is Amazing!! Fifteen of us spent the evening with Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Tommy Tuberville, Michael J. Lindell, Peter Navarro, and Rudy Giuliani. We talked about the elections, illegal votes, court cases, the republics' status, what to expect on the hill tomorrow. TRUMP WILL RETAIN THE PRESIDENCY!!!"

Caitlin Emma & Sarah Ferris of Politico: "A second police officer who responded to the violent insurrection that rocked the Capitol Building on Jan. 6 has died by suicide, according to testimony obtained by Politico. Acting Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee told House appropriators during a closed-door session on Tuesday that Jeffrey Smith, a D.C. Police officer, and Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood both 'took their own lives in the aftermath of that battle.'"

Spencer Hsu, et al., of the Washington Post: "Three self-styled militia members charged in the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol began soliciting recruits for potential violence within days of the 2020 presidential election, later training in Ohio and North Carolina and organizing travel to Washington with a busload of comrades and a truck of weapons, U.S. authorities alleged Wednesday. A four-count indictment returned in D.C. laid out fresh details and allegations against Jessica Marie Watkins, 38, and Donovan Ray Crowl, 50 -- both of Woodstock, Ohio -- and Thomas E. Caldwell, 66, of Berryville, Va. The three, all U.S. military veterans, are accused of conspiring to obstruct Congress and other counts, punishable by up to 20 years in prison." The plotting began as early as November 9, 2020. two days after the AP & other media organizations called the presidential election for Joe Biden. NPR's story, by Dustin Jones, is here.: "All three have ties to the Oath Keepers...."

Matt Zapotosky & Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors alleged in charges made public Wednesday that a California man who wrongly believed Donald Trump had won the election built pipe bombs and planned to go to 'war' against Democrats and others to keep him in power. Ian Benjamin Rogers had been taken into custody earlier this month on state charges after Napa County authorities and the FBI searched his home and business and found 49& guns and five pipe bombs, according to an FBI affidavit in the case.... Rogers already was being held on $5 million bail on state charges when prosecutors filed the federal case. He was charged federally with unlawful possession of unregistered destructive devices." ~~~

     ~~~ Lexi Lonas of the Hill: "Federal prosecutors in California said on Wednesday that a man found with pipe bombs and ammunition may have been targeting Gov. Gavin Newsom and the offices of Facebook and Twitter in the wake of the social media platforms banning the accounts of former President Trump. Prosecutors said Ian Benjamin Rogers was charged on Tuesday after he was found with five pipe bombs and other guns after authorities searched his business on Jan. 15.... Rogers claimed the pipe bombs were only for entertainment purposes and were not intended to be used against anyone." MB: Yes, when I'm not fashioning oragami birds & flowers, I make pipe bombs to wile away my free time.

Militiaman Agrees to Sing. Pilar Melendez of the Daily Beast: "One of the Michigan militiamen accused of conspiring to overthrow the state government, kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and put her on trial for 'treason' before Election Day has pleaded guilty in the foiled plot. Ty Garbin, 25, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the kidnapping conspiracy, marking the first conviction in the bizarre case that made national headlines in October. Fourteen men were accused of plotting to kidnap Whitmer and discussing plans to attack the state Capitol building and a police facility, and possibly take out Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, too. Prosecutors allege the group, which included several militia group members, were frustrated over strict COVID-19 lockdown orders in Democrat-run states. According to the plea agreement, Garbin has agreed to 'fully cooperate' with the federal authorities, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Michigan State Police, and other law enforcement agencies." (Also linked yesterday.)

You Just Can't Trust Nobody. Aram Roston of Reuters: "Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys extremist group, has a past as an informer for federal and local law enforcement, repeatedly working undercover for investigators after he was arrested in 2012, according to a former prosecutor and a transcript of a 2014 federal court proceeding obtained by Reuters. In the Miami hearing, a federal prosecutor, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and Tarrio's own lawyer described his undercover work and said he had helped authorities prosecute more than a dozen people in various cases involving drugs, gambling and human smuggling. Tarrio, in an interview with Reuters Tuesday, denied working undercover or cooperating in cases against others. 'I don't know any of this,' he said, when asked about the transcript. 'I don't recall any of this.' Law-enforcement officials and the court transcript contradict Tarrios denial." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Mack Lamoureux, et al., of Vice: "After Reuters broke the news that Enrique Tarrio, 36, the current chairman of the Proud Boys, was a 'prolific' police informant, online supporters and members of the right-wing extremist group were defiant, suspicious, and in disbelief at the revelation their leader was reportedly a rat. On Telegram, a popular messaging app on the far right, reactions to the story came hard, fast, and varied: some believed this was the classic case of a 'fake news' smear campaign, while others said his treachery was all an attempt to counter the 'Deep State' and antifascist activists.... 'They're trying to take down the Proud Boys -- our beacon of light -- we won't let that happen so no worries,' wrote [a] Proud Boys fan.... On Wednesday afternoon, Tarrio broke his hours of silence to finally address his supporters in a screed published on his public-facing Telegram channel in which he accused Reuters of sensationalizing his cooperation with law enforcement as part of a larger conspiracy to destabilize the Proud Boys."

Nicole Hong of the New York Times: "A man who was known as a far-right Twitter troll was arrested on Wednesday and charged with spreading disinformation online that tricked Democratic voters in 2016 into trying to cast their ballots by phone instead of going to the polls. Federal prosecutors accused Douglass Mackey, 31, of coordinating with co-conspirators to spread memes on Twitter falsely claiming that Hillary Clinton's supporters could vote by sending a text message to a specific phone number. The co-conspirators were not named in the complaint, but one of them was Anthime Gionet, a far-right media personality known as 'Baked Alaska,' who was arrested after participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.... As a result of the misinformation campaign, prosecutors said, at least 4,900 unique phone numbers texted the number in a futile effort to cast votes for Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Mackey was arrested on Wednesday morning in West Palm Beach, Fla., in what appeared to be the first criminal case in the country involving voter suppression through the spread of disinformation on Twitter.... Some of their memes appeared to target Black and Latino voters." ~~~

     ~~~ The BuzzFeed News story, by Tasneed Nashrulla & Ryan Mac, is here. BuzzFeed describe Mackey as "a white nationalist troll who ran a racist and highly influential pro-Trump account on Twitter using the name 'Ricky Vaughn.'... In 2016, Mackey amassed a huge Twitter following across multiple troll accounts using anti-Semitic memes and racist messages. At the time, MIT Media Lab listed the anonymous personality as one of the top 150 influencers of the 2016 presidential election, placing him ahead of NBC News, Stephen Colbert, and Newt Gingrich."

Georgia. New Poll Tax + Hassle. Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "Freshman State Sen. Jason Anavitarte on Wednesday introduced Senate Bill 29 which would make it mandatory for voters to make physical copies of their photo IDs and then mail them to election officials not once, but twice, before they are permitted to cast an absentee ballot, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The state's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who refused to endorse former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, gave the measure his full backing. During Kemp's former tenure as a Georgia's secretary of state, he was responsible for a massive voter roll purge before his race against then-gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams (D).... 'By requiring access to a printer, which many Georgians obviously do not have, Republicans are attempting to purposely take away the ability of many Georgians to vote by mail simply because they believe too many Democrats and too many people of color voted by mail,' wrote Fair Fight, the voter-rights organization Abrams founded. 'Georgians will see through these cynical power grabs, but it's going to take a big fight on the part of everyone who cares about the right to vote in Georgia; Republicans are more desperate than ever to hold onto their waning power.'"

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) 

House to Investigate a Totally Trumpy Scam. Reed Albergotti & Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: "A House subcommittee is investigating a government deal to buy $70 million worth of ventilators for the coronavirus pandemic response that a Washington Post investigation found were inadequate for treating most covid-19 patients. Last spring..., the Department of Health and Human Services and the Defense Logistics Agency purchased 11,200 AutoMedx SAVe II+ ventilators from Combat Medical Systems.... But the ventilators were inadequate for treating covid-19 patients and remain in warehouses, according to Stephanie Bialek, a spokeswoman for the Strategic National Stockpile. 'AutoMedx appears to be the beneficiary of a potentially tainted procurement process,' Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the chairman of the House subcommittee on economic and consumer policy.... The Post previously reported that Adrian Urias, AutoMedx's co-founder and current shareholder, advised the Trump administration's covid-19 task force on ventilator purchases. In March, when the government posted the minimum specifications that ventilator manufacturers had to meet..., those specifications were nearly identical to a spec sheet listed on AutoMedx's website at the time." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This isn't one of those sexy scandals, & by federal government standards, a fairly small amount of change got dropped. So (1) the government tells a vendor to tell the government what it needs; (2) the vendor tells the government it needs the vendor's own product; (3) the government buys the vendors's product; and (4) the vendor's product doesn't work. And Americans died because of it. This is a very Trumpy scam.

Thanks to RAS for this link: ~~~


Gillian Brockell of the Washington Post: "Chiune 'Sempo' Sugihara..., a Japanese diplomat who ... had been sent to the Lithuanian city of Kaunas to monitor German and Soviet troop movements under the guise of handling consular affairs," saved as many as 6,000 Jews in 1940 by giving them transit visas thru the Soviet Union to Japan.

News Ledes

CNBC: "After a year in which a pandemic and politics posed challenges unlike the U.S. has seen in generations, the economy closed in fairly good shape. Gross domestic product increased at a 4.0% pace in the fourth quarter, slightly below the 4.3% expectation from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The annualized pace closed out a 2020 that saw GDP overall decline 3.5% for the full year and by 2.5% from the fourth quarter of 2019. The economy fell into recession in February, a month before the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. The economy contacted a post-Depression record 31.4% in the second quarter then rebounded to a 33.4% gain in the following three months."

CNBC: "The number of Americans who filed for unemployment benefits for the first time rose less than expected last week as the Covid-19 vaccine rollout continued under the new Biden administration. Jobless claims totaled 847,000 for the week ended Jan. 23, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones had expected first-time claims to total 875,000. The previous week's level (for the week ended Jan. 16) was revised up by 14,000 from 900,000 to 914,000."

AP: "Cicely Tyson, the pioneering Black actor who gained an Oscar nomination for her role as the sharecropper's wife in 'Sounder,' a Tony Award in 2013 at age 88 and touched TV viewers' hearts in 'The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,' died Thursday at age 96." ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Tyson's New York Times obituary is here.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (14)

In yesterday's Comments thread, citizen625 wrote, "I'm reminded that fully 30% of the Beverly Hills zip code has handicapped plates on their cars."

That sounded like an urban legend to me, and I did a number of Google searches to see if I could verify or refute it. I also checked Snopes. No luck. Several, mostly very old, stories indicated there had been a statewide crackdown on the misuse of handicapped placards, but Beverly Hills didn't even make the cut of cities where a number of abuses turned up. One story said police found two incidents of misuse of the cards way back when.

Nearly 18 percent of Beverly Hills residents are over age 65. That does suggest that many residents could be old enough & sick enough to actually merit disabled plates or cards. (Not that everyone over 65 is disabled -- I'm in my 70s & not disabled.) Also, of course, some residents under 65 are disabled. That would mean, say, 12 percent (or more) of Beverly Hills residents are cheating. I didn't find anything to indicate that was the case.

My search doesn't necessarily mean citizen625's story is untrue. But absent some evidence, I don't believe it.

January 28, 2021 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Not the greatest of sources, but the Daily Mail reports that the city of Palm Beach is reviewing Donald Trumps living at his club/resort Mar a Lago. The story carried copies of the legal papers. BTW: Eric Trump says his father has every legal right to live at the club.

January 28, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

Beverly Hills - a plague zip of tennis knee and bone spurs. Also, dermatologists are MDs so can sign the handicap plate forms for the facially challenged.

January 28, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

I find the situation of MT Greene baffling and outrageous and given that Kevin McCarthy has given her a seat on the House Education & Labor Ct., bizarre. What the hell kind of "conversation" would he be having with her––-"So sweetie, we need you to remove your "TrumpWon" mask and get with the program and try and keep your weirdness at bay–-mind your P's and Q's, girl, or we'll have to have another conversation." Listen to this video that a Parkland Dad took of Greene harassing David Hogg outside of the Capitol in D.C.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/marjorie-taylor-greene-parkland-dad-david-hogg_n_60117565c5b6c5586aa587c8

On a saner note and one that warms my heart: For nine years Sheldon Whitehouse took to the senate floor on a weekly basis and gave a speech about our need to act on Climate Change. Yesterday he dropped the mike––done!–– because at last we had an administration who was going to put it on top of their list. I've admired this man for many years but never knew of this act of tenacity and deep concern for our planet.

And somewhere in a little house on the fairy fields of a Hampshire not so new, there resides a woman, most treasured for her abilities, who wiles away her free time by fashioning origami birds & flowers and as a side line, makes pipe bombs for the fun of it––-or just in case–-ya just never know when they will come in handy.

January 28, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Bobby Lee,

RE: Eric Trump's legal opinioning.

Probably worth less than his mooching, treasonous old man's grasp on the Constitution.

Maybe he'll start his own YouTube channel: Legally Speaking, with Eric Trump! (Sounds like "Aerospace Design, with Dave the
Dumpster Diver").

"And now....please welcome famous legal opinionator, ERIC TRUMP!"

"Thanks, Don (jr). Our first question comes from Scooter McDildo of Buttfuck, Arkansas. 'Der Eric, wen u becum prezdint, can u pleze make ottomatic wepons legal agin? Demycraps need shootin'"

"Why, of course, Scooter. I'll be able to do anything I want, 'cause I'll have an Article II. Thanks for writing. And happy hunting."

(This isn't entirely a joke.)

January 28, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Same ol', same ol'

The Party of Traitors have two, and only two, responses to any attempts to stave off imminent environmental disaster.

One. Any attempt to deal with global warming is a job killer.

Two. It's all a hoax anyway.

So....the upshot? Do nothing.

As for the job killing response, it's pretty much a Swiss army knife for the traitors. Economic equality? Job killer. Racial equality? Job killer. Living wage? Job killer. Healthcare for all? Job killer. Mind you, they don't do a blessed thing to create jobs. But they've been so successful at being able to paint attempts they don't like as "job killers" and have been allowed to get away with it by a lazy, supine press who treat imbeciles like Larry Kudlow and total frauds like Lyin' Ryan as economic geniuses, that they have no reason not to keep on keepin' on. Doing nothing, that is. And attacking any who try to do something.

As for the coming environmental disaster, they've been so conditioned by the likes of the Koch brothers to dismiss it as lib'rul hogwash that any action on the global warming front is about as close to their hearts as voting rights for blahs.

Will attempts to transition to renewable energy have an economic impact? Absolutely. For a while, things for the paleo-energy corporations will be unstable. Trump tried to convince the coal industry that he was going to fire up the Way Back Machine and take them all back to 1920 West Virginia, complete with slave labor and company towns. But the economy sez otherwise. Coal is losing its grip because other forms of energy are cheaper. That's it. They all love to blame Hillary and Obama, but it's much simpler than that. It's dollars and cents (but no sense).

But in the longer run, renewable energy and the jobs it will create, an entirely new source of power and economic well being, will make the world safer and more secure. And richer.

But as long as we have grasping, clutching evil pricks like the Kochs who snap the whip and make the confederates jump, that will take much longer to realize. (And I don't want to hear any bullshit about how Charles Koch is sorry about fucking things up. That's like Stalin (who made the Kochs rich) saying he's sorry for that thing in Ukraine.

But as the Decider once opined, "Who cares? We'll all be dead by then." Yeah. And millions will die and trillions lost while you're painting pictures of your toes.

But until then, Job Killer! Job Killer! Then, it's off to meet with Big Oil and Gas donors.

January 28, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

My apologies about taking up valuble cognitive space with urban legend versus facts (thanks for the update, BTW); the point of Republicans incentivizing dishonesty remains as is illustrated by the 'ventilators scam'.

https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2021/01/27/parkland-parent-to-rep-greene-she-is-going-to-confront-her-lies-1360541. Nowhere in these articles do they mention that the object of attack just ceased being a teenager. These QA/Republicans are basically attacking kids...and not just any kids, kids who witnessed a horrific, life-changing spasms of violence. How low can these QA/Republicans go?

January 28, 2021 | Unregistered Commentercitizen625

Citizen625: How low? There is no bottom limit. They have proved this over and over. Can't dismiss someone who is a danger to their fellow legislators cuz 3/4 vote, can't actually kneecap dump so he can never serve again...cuz 3/4 vote again. (Not that I ever believed they were appalled by the January 6 event-- they got over that really fast.) If I were on that committee with Marjorie the Monster, I would quit really fast. I would not want to be anywhere near her.

Sheldon Whitehouse was always one of my three favorites: Sheldon, Sherrod and (strangely enough, before he was a prez candidate) Bernie... There actually are some great people in there, but they are run over by the masses of idiots, and the voting rules.

Fcking filibuster.

January 28, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

The Tuesday vote to throw out the impeachment vote shows once again that Republicans cannot be impartial, some like Rand Paul have already declared they will vote to acquit Minus Million$ Donnie no matter what. "The Senate practice has been to require each Senator to swear or affirm that he will "do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws." Republicans are incapable of affirming any oath. Therefore all 45 Senators that voted to dismiss should be disqualified from the trial. A trial with 50 Democrats and 5 Republicans might actually be able to come to a fair and just judgement.

January 28, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

The timing of the 2 suicides by capitol police is curious. People in shock immediately after major trauma usually have difficulty with taking any initiative, much less kill themselves. Because I don't belong to the QA club, I won't make any guesses about this unusual phenomenon. But it is kinda strange. I believe there is a story there.

January 28, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterVictoria

I saw this clip the other day of Biden being asked about his call with Putin, but didn't realize that the reporter asking the question was from Fox News. Putin sends his regards for all their help.

January 28, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Marjorie Taylor Greene will pull out her Trump Card and get away scot free.

January 28, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

The GOP has been doing a lot of whining about Joe Biden's unity, but the numbers show that he his unifying with the country just fine. In the words of the GOP, "Fuck you feelings." Biden and the Democrats' policies are mostly supported by the majority of Americans, that looks like unity to me.

January 28, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Line jumping for the vaccine: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/opinion/covid-vaccine-line.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage.

P.S. Thanks for posting the Google Political News about Berkshire East ski area. A lifetime ago I was a National Ski Patroller there while in college. Capitalists with a conscience interested in doing good work; normal people are honest and try to do good work all the time. It's nice see it reported.

January 28, 2021 | Unregistered Commentercitizen625
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