The Ledes

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

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.

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 -- March 10, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Jordain Carney & Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Merrick Garland to be President Biden's attorney general, a u-turn from a 2016 stalemate that kept him stuck in Senate limbo. Senators voted 70-30 on Garland's nomination to lead the Justice Department, easily topping the 50 votes needed. The vote comes just days before the five-year anniversary from when then-President Obama nominated Garland to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Republicans, who then controlled the Senate, refused to give Garland a hearing or a vote."

A Big Fucking Deal. Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Congress approved a sweeping $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on Wednesday, authorizing a flurry of new federal spending and a temporary yet dramatic increase in anti-poverty programs to help millions of families still struggling amid the pandemic. The 220-211 vote in the House of Representatives almost entirely along party lines now sends to Biden's desk one of the largest economic rescue packages in U.S. history, which Democrats had promised to pass as one of their first acts of governance after securing narrow but potent majorities in Washington after the 2020 presidential election.... The bill now heads to Biden, who is expected to sign it Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. The signing comes a day after the president is set to deliver his first prime-time television address on the country's response to the coronavirus." The AP's story is here.

Geoff Bennett & Shannon Pettypiece of NBC News: "President Joe Biden will announce plans Wednesday to purchase an additional 100 million doses of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, giving the U.S. more than enough supply to vaccinate the entire U.S. population. Biden will announce that he is directing his Health and Human Services team to procure the additional doses during a meeting with executives from J&J and Merck, according to two administration officials."

Ari Berman of Mother Jones: "As Republicans in the Georgia state legislature passed a series of voting restrictions over the past 10 days, Stacey Abrams, the state's leading voting rights activist, saw an ever more pressing need to reform the filibuster in the US Senate. And she has a plan for how to do it.... 'The judicial appointment exception, the Cabinet appointment exception, the budget reconciliation exception, are all grounded in this idea that these are constitutionally prescribed responsibilities that should not be thwarted by minority imposition,' she says. 'And we should add to it the right to protect democracy. It is a foundational principle in our country. And it is an explicit role and responsibility accorded only to Congress in the elections clause in the Constitution.'"

Caroline Davies of the Guardian: "The Queen missed a crucial opportunity to publicly acknowledge and condemn racism in her response to the allegations made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, equality campaigners have said. Casting the issue as a 'private' family matter meant there was 'no public accountability' from a public institution and the head of state and Commonwealth, they said." MB: Elizabeth has plenty of advisors, and evidently they, or she, decided to miss the opportunity.

~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here.

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The White House said Tuesday that President Biden’s name would not appear on the $1,400 stimulus payments set to be sent out to millions of American families as part of the administration's relief package.... White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday that the payments approved under Biden would instead by signed by a career official at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, an office within the Department of Treasury.... The decision marks a reversal from the Trump administration. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin included Trump's signature on the memo line of the payments approved in March last year, as well as a gushing letter signed by Trump taking credit for the benefit."

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "The House is poised to approve a sweeping $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill Wednesday and send it to President Biden to sign, a major early legislative victory for the new president and the Democrats who control Congress. Despite united GOP opposition and a narrow Democratic majority, House Democratic leaders expressed confidence Tuesday that they will have votes to spare."

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.

Alaska. Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "Alaska became the first state in the nation Tuesday to lift all eligibility requirements for adults to get a coronavirus vaccine. Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) announced Tuesday that all individuals who live or work in Alaska and are age 16 and older can get a shot. The vaccine from Pfizer is available to individuals who are 16 years old and up, while the vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and Moderna are available to those who are at least 18 years old.... Alaska has had one of the lowest death tolls in the nation at 305 and recorded just 91 new cases Monday, according to state data."


Rebecca Kheel of the Hill: "Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved keeping nearly 2,300 National Guardsmen at the U.S. Capitol through May 23, the Pentagon said Tuesday evening. The move extends the Guard's deployment more than two months past when it was supposed to end this week. The number of approved troops is about half of the 5,100 currently stationed at the Capitol. 'This decision was made after a thorough review of the request and after close consideration of its potential impact on readiness,' Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement."

Spencer Hsu & Aaron Davis of the Washington Post: "U.S. prosecutors alleged Monday that Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was in direct contact before, during and immediately after the Jan. 6 Capitol breach with members since charged with plotting to prevent Congress from confirming the results of the 2020 presidential election. In a late-night court filing, prosecutors alleged that Rhodes directed the right-wing, anti-government group to rally during the riot to the southeast steps of the Capitol, after which several members forcibly entered the east side of the building.... Prosecutors said they found 'no discussion of forcibly entering the Capitol until January 6.' But they said the chat messages, combined with Rhodes's previous statements, 'all show that the co-conspirators joined together to stop Congress's certification of the Electoral College vote, and they were prepared to use violence, if necessary, to effect this purpose....'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Now put that together with this, also from the Hsu/David report: "Separately Monday, prosecutors arrested Roberto Minuta, 36, who prosecutors alleged was an Oath Keepers associate who illegally entered the Capitol after appearing to provide security for Republican strategist Roger Stone outside a Washington hotel on the morning of Jan. 6." We're getting mighty close to Trump here. ~~~

~~~ AND Now This. Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A second member of the Oath Keeper militia who provided security to longtime Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone has been charged with storming and breaching the Capitol. Joshua James, who has been seen in photos flanking Stone ahead of the Jan. 6 riot, was later seen on camera inside the building amid a crush of rioters who overran police. Court records show James, 33, was arrested in his home state of Alabama on Tuesday and appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Birmingham. Prosecutors there asked that he be detained pending trial. A bail hearing was set for Thursday. The arrest -- made public a day after prosecutors revealed they had charged fellow Oath Keeper and Stone security guard Roberto Minuta for entering the Capitol -- is the latest evidence that prosecutors are homing in on the extremist group with key ties to organizers of pro-Trump 'Stop the Steal' events."

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A former State Department staffer with a top-secret security clearance betrayed his oath of office when he joined the Capitol mob that attempted to subvert the electoral process on Jan. 6, a federal magistrate judge said Tuesday. Quoting that oath, which requires federal workers and appointees to 'defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,' Judge Zia M. Faruqui said that on Jan. 6, domestic enemies were striking 'directly at the heart of our democracy' and Federico Klein 'switched sides.' Faruqui ordered Klein, 42, detained until his trial on charges of assaulting police, trespassing and obstructing Congress. Klein worked on Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and then served under him as a political appointee; he resigned the day before President Biden took office."

Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The FBI on Tuesday released new video footage of a person suspected of placing pipe bombs near the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees the night before the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, asking for the public's help in identifying the elusive figure." And ABC News story is here. ~~~

Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "Jacob Anthony Chansley, often referred to as the 'QAnon Shaman' who donned horns and red-white-and-blue face paint to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, has spent nearly two months pleading with a judge -- and with the public in high-profile interviews -- to let him go free.... U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth was not impressed. On Monday, Lamberth denied Chansley's motion for release in a scathing memorandum that rejected his arguments as 'meritless,' 'mistaken' and 'so frivolous as to insult the Court's intelligence.' The judge said that Chansley was too dangerous to release and continues to pose a threat to the public." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eleanor Mueller & Sarah Ferris of Politico: "The House passed Democrats' wide-ranging overhaul of labor laws Tuesday, inching President Joe Biden closer to fulfilling a campaign promise and coinciding with Amazon workers' ongoing push to unionize an Alabama warehouse.... Just five Republicans voted for the measure.... But the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which advanced mostly along party lines, is unlikely to win the 60 votes needed for passage in the narrowly controlled Senate. And already, some union leaders -- who hold outsize sway in the Biden administration -- are amping up pressure on Democrats to eliminate the filibuster so they can see one of their top priorities enacted.... The executive board of the AFL-CIO -- the nation's largest federation of unions -- plans to meet Wednesday to discuss its position on eliminating the filibuster, likely the only path forward for seeing the PRO Act enacted.... Businesses, fiercely opposed to the PRO Act, spent the days leading up to passage lobbying against it." ~~~

~~~ Josephine Harvey of the Huffington Post: "Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) erupted Tuesday on the House floor, imploring his Republican colleagues to stop their obsession with stoking culture wars and shift focus to helping Democrats pass legislation to aid Americans struggling through the coronavirus pandemic. 'Stop talking about Dr. Seuss and start working with us on behalf of the American workers!' he shouted...." ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Lemire & Jill Colvin of the AP: "President Joe Biden and the Democrats were on the brink of pushing through sprawling legislation with an eyepopping, $1.9 trillion price tag. But many Republican politicians and conservative commentators had other priorities in recent days. A passionate defense of Dr. Seuss. Serious questions about the future of Mr. Potato Head. Intense scrutiny of Meghan Markle. The conservatives' relentless focus on culture wars rather than the new president highlights both their strategy for regaining power in Washington and their challenge in doing so. Unlike previous Democratic leaders, Biden himself simply isn't proving to be an easy target or animating figure for the GOP base, prompting Republicans to turn to the kind of cultural issues the party has used to cast Democrats as elitist and out of touch with average Americans." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Brian Williams mentioned in an aside that Fox "News" was busy knocking Meghan Markle. Why would that be? Oh, she's black. Be assured that the United States has a staunchly racist cable "news" network.

The Chief Stands Alone. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday revived a former student's lawsuit against the college that blocked his evangelizing on campus, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. -- apparently for the first time in his 16-year tenure -- casting a lone dissenting vote. The issue was not the conduct of Georgia Gwinnett College, which kept student Chike Uzuegbunam from spreading the Gospel on campus. The issue was whether Uzuegbunam's demand the college pay him a nominal amount of money in damages -- which could be as little as $1 -- kept his civil rights case alive or whether it was moot once the university agreed to his complaint and ended its offending speech policy. Justice Clarence Thomas said the request for nominal damages was enough to keep the suit alive, in an 8-to-1 opinion." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Moldy Leftovers

Trump Attempts Hostile Takeover of GOP. Aaron Rupar of Vox: "... Monday night [Donald Trump made a] a tweet-like statement asking supporters to give to him instead of to the party.... 'Send your donation to Save America PAC at DonaldJTrump.com. We will bring it all back stronger than ever before!'... Save America PAC is Trump's 'leadership PAC': a type of political committee formed by current or former elected officials that has relatively few restrictions on what it can do with donations. And, as a result, Trump may have more than just political revenge on his mind in asking supporters to give to him instead of to the Republican Party. 'If you're going to direct a lot of money from a political committee to yourself, this is the way to do it,' Jordan Libowitz ... of CREW told me in an interview.... '... It was a little naive to ever believe he'd become a team player when there were tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars on the table.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times story, by Annie Karni & Maggie Haberman, is here.

Marc Tracy of the New York Times: "A New York State court on Tuesday dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by the re-election campaign of Donald J. Trump against The New York Times Company, ruling that an opinion essay that argued there had been a 'quid pro quo' between the candidate and Russian officials before the 2016 presidential election was protected speech. The Times published the Op-Ed, written by Max Frankel, a former executive editor of The Times who was not named as a defendant in the suit, in March 2019 under the headline 'The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo.' Mr. Frankel made the case that in 'an overarching deal' before the 2016 election, Russian officials would help Mr. Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in exchange for his taking U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Russia direction."

Note to Unwashed. Chris Sommerfeldt of the New York Daily News, republished by Yahoo! News: "Donald Trump is in New York City this week to get up to speed about the ins-and-outs of his embattled namesake company, a person close to him said Monday, as the former president and his business associates remain in the cross-hairs of multiple state prosecutors. The Queens-born ex-president, who was spotted arriving at his Trump Tower apartment in Midtown on Sunday night, has recently expressed interest in re-engaging with the Trump Organization, and 'a major part' of his Big Apple trip is about that, said the source...." MB: That's his excuse, anyway.


Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "When >BuzzFeed announced last year that it would buy HuffPost, it was expected that cost-cutting would follow the completion of the deal. On Tuesday, less than a month after the acquisition went through, BuzzFeed laid off 47 workers at HuffPost and closed the publication's Canadian edition. At a virtual company meeting, BuzzFeed's chief executive, Jonah Peretti, said the layoffs were meant to stem losses at HuffPost. HuffPost, which was previously owned by Verizon Media, lost more than $20 million last year and was on track to lose the same amount this year, Mr. Peretti told the staff according to an account of the meeting provided by BuzzFeed.... The HuffPost Union, which is affiliated with the Writers Guild of America East, said in a statement that the layoffs had affected 33 of its members, nearly a third of the local union." The Defector story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Peretti's method of notifying employees they were being laid off was, ah, insensitive, to say the least. In the Defector photo, he looks as if he's having a good time ruining other people's lives.

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Bill Baxley in a Washington Post op-ed: "As the attorney general of Alabama in the 1970s [and] as a lifelong defender of the death penalty, I do not lightly say what follows: An innocent man is trapped on Alabama's death row. His name is Toforest Johnson, and Alabama must not execute him. Johnson's murder trial was so deeply flawed, the evidence presented against him so thin, that no Alabamian should tolerate his incarceration, let alone his execution. This is why I have joined eight former Alabama prosecutors and two former chief justices of Alabama in calling for Johnson's conviction to be set aside.... The facts point to the outright innocence of the defendant, Johnson. No physical evidence links him to the crime. Multiple alibi witnesses place him across town at the time of Hardy's death. The only witness against him was paid $5,000 for her testimony (which was that, while eavesdropping, she overheard someone she thought was Johnson admitting to the crime)."

Arkansas. AP: "Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday signed into law legislation banning nearly all abortions in the state, a sweeping measure that supporters hope will force the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit its landmark Roe v. Wade decision but opponents vow to block before it takes effect later this year. The Republican governor had expressed reservations about the bill, which only allows the procedure to save the life of the mother and does not provide exceptions for those impregnated in an act of rape or incest."

Georgia. Abigail Weinberg of Mother Jones: "Former President Jimmy Carter issued a statement on Tuesday condemning Georgia Republicans' efforts to 'turn back the clock' and make it harder for people to vote. Ca[r]ter spoke out after Georgia Republicans passed some of the most restrictive voting laws since Jim Crow. The state Senate passed a bill that would end no-excuse absentee voting." President Carter's statement is here.

Iowa. Ryan Foley of the AP: "An Iowa journalist recounted getting pepper-sprayed and arrested while covering a protest for racial justice last year, testifying in her own defense Tuesday at her trial on charges stemming from the incident. Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri told jurors she was running away from a scene where riot police had shot tear gas and were advancing to disperse protesters outside a mall in Des Moines, Iowa. She said that after she rounded the corner of a Verizon store, she saw an officer charging at her and put her hands up. 'I wasn't doing anything wrong,' Sahouri said. "I said, "I'm press, I'm press, I'm press." He grabbed me, pepper-sprayed me and as he was doing so said, "That's not what I asked".'... Body camera video played for jurors before Sahouri's testimony backed up her account, showing that she was temporarily blinded and hurting from pepper spray and repeatedly told police she was a reporter.... Sahouri's testimony came on the second day of a trial in which Sahouri and her former boyfriend, Spenser Robnett, are charged with failure to disperse and interference with official acts."

Minnesota. Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "The arduous task of seating a jury in the trial of the former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd's death began in earnest on Tuesday, as prosecution and defense attorneys began questioning the first of a large pool of potential jurors even as ongoing appeals over charges in the case threaten to delay the proceedings. Three jurors were selected and six others dismissed after hours of slow and sometimes intense questioning in which nearly all of those questioned admitted to holding 'very negative views' of Derek Chauvin, the White officer filmed with his knee on Floyd's neck who is facing second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the Black man's death."

New York. AP: "Another woman is accusing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of workplace misconduct, a newspaper reported Tuesday. The details of the allegations weren't immediately clear, but the Times Union of Albany reported Tuesday that the woman said Cuomo inappropriately touched her late last year at the governor's mansion, where she had been summoned to work. The newspaper didn't reveal her identity or detail what type of touching was alleged to have taken place. It did not speak to the woman. The paper cited 'an official close to the matter' as confirming the existence of the complaint."

North Carolina. A Very Unhappy Ending. Maria Cramer of the New York Times: "In 2017, Kathy Gillcrist, newly retired from her job as a high school teacher ... took a DNA test, the first step of a genealogical journey that led her to a stunning discovery: Her father was most likely William Bradford Bishop Jr., who vanished in 1976 after bludgeoning his family to death with a sledgehammer, law enforcement officials believe.... The search has also resurrected public interest in a horrifying case that the authorities have been unable to solve." MB: The story provides a broad description of the murders, too grisly for me even to read.

Way Beyond

U.K. We Are Not Amused. Isabella Kwai of the New York Times: "Buckingham Palace broke nearly 48 hours of silence Tuesday about a bombshell interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, saying 'the whole royal family is saddened' and expressing concern about the issue of racism the couple had raised.... In a brief statement, Buckingham Palace said that the issues raised by the couple in the interview, 'particularly that of race,' were concerning.... On Tuesday, Piers Morgan, the co-host of 'Good Morning Britain' on ITV news, who came under attack for saying he 'didn't believe a word' of the interview, resigned, the network said. Britain's communications regulator received more than 41,000 complaints about his comment, it said." MB: The Palace has expressed so much "concern," you'd think they had hired Sen. Susan Collins as their PR manager. And of course it's teddibly, teddibly sad Piers lost his job. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

New York Times: "Allan J. McDonald, an engineer who on a chilly January morning in 1986 tried to stop the launch of the Challenger space shuttle, citing the possible effect of the cold on its booster rockets, and who, after it broke apart on liftoff, blew the whistle when government officials tried to cover up his dissent, died on Saturday in Ogden, Utah. He was 83."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (26)

I've been watching the new videos of the capitol bomb planter. I agree with Marie that the movements of the unknown person look like a female; but these new shots seem to consistently show that the shoulders of this person are wider than the hips - more typical of a male. Definitely ambiguous.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterVictoria

Last night Lawrence discussed Eric Swalwell's law suit against Trump and his fellow fiends with another Lawrence. Tribe tells Lawrence that he has studied the 7 count suit carefully and gives a rousing heads up. The possibility that other members of congress could also bring suits would put Trump in litigation for years. Interesting prospect for the man who scammed us for four years and believes he's untouchable.

INVASION OF THE BIGLY BUGS:

No iron fencing is going to keep these critters out and although nary a one will try and take over the Capitol they will cause a messy bit of business: they are the Brood X Cicadas and they are getting ready to invade. The show they will put on will be one of the wildest in nature and D.C. is the main stage.

"They’ve been buried — alive — for 17 years.
And now, Brood X, one of the world’s largest swarms of giant fly-like bugs called cicadas, is ready to rise. When the ground warms to 64 degrees, they’ll stop gnawing on tree roots and start scratching toward the surface by the hundreds of billions.
Georgia and other Southern states will probably be where they first emerge around the end of March, experts say. But residents of the Washington area are standing at ground zero. The District, Maryland and Virginia are likely to host more of these animals than any other of the 14 states that share the experience."

Now given our current swarm of GOP dipwads, I'd say those bugs might very well want to target the mass of moribund Republicans (how many years have they been asleep?) who refuse to vote for one of the most innovative and important bills in our history. Fly in the eye, so to speak.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Jill Biden is in my back yard today. She is visiting all the elementary schools in Meriden, Ct. ( one town away from ours) with Miguel Cardona ( who is from Meriden), our new Secretary of State.
https://www.courant.com/photos/3114821-hc-jill-biden-visits-meriden-20210303-aatmpfjhozewxmga32p7dhtyf4-photogallery.html

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Why the intractable Southern Baptists need firm control: https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/03/09/beth-moore-lifeway-southern-baptist-split/. The fact that our taxes subsidize the jokers in charge of these White-Men-Only clubs is amazing.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered Commentercitizen625

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/goodbye-clinton-welfare-reform-hello-child-tax-credit/2021/03/09/22628de2-80ed-11eb-81db-b02f0398f49a_story.html

Like Lane, I see the the expansion of the child tax credit contained in the Covid relief bill as a profound change, even revolutionary in its implications.

I see at least three elements of that revolution..

One is what it says about the meaning our culture has assigned to work, and how that might be changing.

By eliminating any work requirement for the payments, the sweat of the brow sense of work’s moral value is being boldly extracted from the effort-reward equation.

Simultaneously, that same provision suggests that child rearing itself might be worthy of being considered work, an idea our culture has too seldom acknowledged.

Secondly, the child tax credit payment to families perched on the bottom two-thirds (?) of the economic ladder explicitly recognizes the vast inequality in income distribution and overall wealth we have allowed to take place over the last fifty years. And if we actually tax some of that excess wealth to pay for those child tax credits, we will reverse some of that noisome and anti-democratic trend.

Finally, I take the child tax credit provision be be an acknowledgement that the system of private ownership and crony capitalism we have been taught to worship exclusively is both a false and flawed god.

More a ravening beast than a gentle, fair and equitable distributor of the world’s resources, if kept around at all, it should be kept on a leash during the day and always locked up at night.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Let's give the Seuss books a rest and celebrate Norton Juster, the author of one of the best children's books, "The Phantom Toll Booth", a book that spurned a new way of thinking for those little ones. Here is a portrait of Juster ( who recently died) who was an architect–-and that makes perfect sense given the makeup of the book.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/09/books/norton-juster-dead.html?referringSource=articleShare

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

What is happening to education in this country? The
Secretary of Education visited a public school without
the intent of selling it to for-profit friends. Unheard of.
Signed: Betsy de V.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterForrest Morris

I love the cicadas. Although I live in the middle of suburbia, my neighborhood is heavily wooded (bears destroyed my birdfeeders last fall, yikes!) and we had a metric shit-ton of cicadas 17 years ago. The noise when I drove onto my street was incredibly loud. They are a little creepy looking, especially when squirming in the mouth of a squirrel, but the path that they take and their patience to wait 17 years to emerge is amazing.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterRockygirl

@Victoria: On the new video of the bomber: my thoughts exactly.

March 10, 2021 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Dear Betsy de V.: Thanks so much for writing. Couldn't agree more. What's the point of having a top job if you don't use it to enrich yourself and/or your friends? Marie. P.S. All donations to the Democrat party and Democrat candidates should be directed to my superPAC, Super Contributions @ Marie, a/k/a SCAM.

March 10, 2021 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Cicadas: It's only the male that makes that shrill sound by
vibrating a special organ, sorta like Rudy G. laying back
on that bed searching for his _________(microphone?).

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterForrest Morris

Correction: Cordona is Secretary of Education not Secretary of State, as Forest's comments stated. Slip of the old fingers or maybe Betsy on my mind doth cause the error.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

And Forest! Best ever!!! Love it!

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Commented to someone the other day that the simple explanation for why Biden is getting so much done and will continue to do so is that he is and will not be occupied day in, day out, personally signing all those checks.

Also, very little tweeting....or watching Faux News. Amazing how that frees up one's schedule.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Forrest,

I bet ok’ Rudy doesn’t wait 17 years between microphone “adjustments”.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Just wondering...

Will the intransigent Party of Traitors “legislators” (why are they referred to thusly? They don’t legislate jack shit) who agree with Fox that Biden’s Trump virus relief bill is nothing but a “blue state bailout” and a waste of money, accept the billions earmarked for their states or, in a demonstration of righteous indignation backing up their virulent criticisms, give that money back to the federal government?

Will Li’l Randy, who struts around braying that tax dollars are spent foolishly on bailouts return the money his state is set to pick up? Kentucky will get over $5bn just for residents, another $2.4bn for state government, an additional $1.6bn for local governments, and hundreds of millions for K-12 schools. And this is chicken feed compared to what big red states like Texas and Florida will receive.

Will he be a big shot Ayn Randian hee-roe and tell Uncle Joe to keep his dough, or will he, like the rest of those red state moochers, bask in the glow of reflected glory for the assistance being given to their states and their constituents?

I think we all know the answer.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Women got run out of the brewing business by accusations of witchcraft. The symbols of witchcraft came from the brewing process. "So if you traveled back in time to the Middle Ages or the Renaissance and went to a market in England, you’d probably see an oddly familiar sight: women wearing tall, pointy hats. In many instances, they’d be standing in front of big cauldrons.
But these women were no witches; they were brewers.
They wore the tall, pointy hats so that their customers could see them in the crowded marketplace. They transported their brew in cauldrons. And those who sold their beer out of stores had cats not as demon familiars, but to keep mice away from the grain.
Male brewers saw an opportunity. To reduce their competition in the beer trade, these men accused female brewers of being witches and using their cauldrons to brew up magic potions instead of booze."
So much damage just because a couple of men were afraid to compete with women over who brewed the better beer.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

@AK: While I don't know what Florida will do with it's share of the money from the relief bill I do know appreciating it is not on the menu.
Governor DeSantis is spending his time denouncing it as a bail out for poorly governed states.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

MB: When I get my stimulus money, I plan to send to
your superPAC all that's left over after purchasing
that Maserati I've been wanting. Use it wisely.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterForrest Morris

Bobby Lee,

Yeah, because DeSantis is the ne plus ultra of efficient, effective, and ethical governance. The level of chutzpah listening to these incompetent douchebags is astounding. Listening to them bragging about themselves (very Trumpian), is like hearing a barely literate lowlife thug pronouncing himself a combination of Gandhi, Jefferson, and FDR.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Forrest,

You’re getting enough to buy a Maserati? With change left over?

Dang. I’m moving to Michigan. Even if I don’t get a Maserati, I can ring Betsy’s doorbell and run.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Making shit up. Accent on shit.

So yesterday, running some errands, I flipped on AM radio looking for the broadcast of a pre-season baseball game (listening to baseball on the radio is an instant trip on the way-back machine to when I’d go to bed with my little transistor radio under the pillow to listen Red Sox games from the west coast), I ran into one of the legion of right wing religious/political screamers (they’re pretty much interchangeable here). This guy was spouting all species of complete tommyrot but one claim in particular caught my ear.

Screeching about how liberals are striving to turn all American kids into gender bending automatons (shit, I meant to get on that yesterday! I’ll do better today...), he shouted into the mic (I hope they use mic screens at that station, spittle and drool aren’t great for the equipment) that IN CALIFORNIA, BROTHERS AMD SISTERS, they have made it illegal...ILLEGAL!...for stores selling clothes to put up signs saying “boys” and “girls”, and all the stores have to jumble the boys and girls clothes in together in hopes that boys will go home in pink tutus and girls will get their liberal idiot parents to buy them football jerseys! They are KILLING America!

I am not even kidding. Do they offer creative writing classes in wingnut schools? Cuz this is some pretty creative bullshit.

What’s even worse is that I will bet all of my kid’s future earnings (we expect him to find—and heavily monetize—the cure for cancer) that most of his drooling listeners believe this crap.

And this goes on—has been going on—day and night. For years.

This is why pizzagate and Trump’s lies about stolen elections all have lengthy shelf lives.

At least I found the ballgame. But the reverberations of this screaming liar pretty much killed my enjoyment of it.

These fucking people ruin everything.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Akhilleus : Isthis about what that right wing, the Dems are coming for you, religious/political screamer sounded like?

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

RAS,

No. That little doggie actually has something to complain about (sort of—but “sort of” is a damn sight more appreciable than “in my crystal meth winger abyss nightmare”). Besides, he/she sounds far more reasonable.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@PD The Phantom Tollbooth was my most favoritist book when I was a kid. Even as an 8-year old I loved its vaguely subversive messaging and smartness. Absolutely The Best.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterRockygirl

@Marie: Thanks for the updates on DiJiT's recent visit to NYC. As you say, it sounds like an excuse. I had thought, based on media reports, that he had been in regular contact with idiot son and interim corporate chieftain, Eric, regarding the the status of his empire. Was their a lack of familial trust?

I say my suppositions are just as plausible, if not more so, than his.

March 10, 2021 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed
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