;)
The Commentariat -- May 12, 2021
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "An advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Wednesday that the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine be used in children as young as 12, expanding access to adolescents in an important next phase to end the pandemic. The vote was 14 in favor with one recusal. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is expected to sign off within hours, giving the green light for the two-dose vaccine to be used in 12- to 15-year-olds. The Food and Drug Administration cleared the vaccine for emergency use in that age group Monday, saying it was safe and effective at the same dose being given to those 16 and older." Free to nonsubscribers.
Morgan Chalfant & Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Biden hosted the 'Big Four' congressional leaders for the first time at the White House on Wednesday in hopes of finding areas of common agreement amid high partisan tensions in Washington."
Food Fight. Rebecca Kheel of the Hill: "Former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller clashed with Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) on Wednesday over former President Trump's culpability in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack after the ex-Pentagon chief appeared to walk back previous comments blaming Trump. At a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing, Lynch asked Miller whether the attack would have happened without Trump's speech at a rally that preceded the breach, noting comments Miller made to Vice in March blaming Trump. 'I think I'd like to modify my original assessment,' Miller said. 'Why am I not surprised,' Lynch interjected, laughing. Arguing that 'we are getting more information by the day, by the minute, about what happened,' Miller said it now 'seems clear that there was some sort of conspiracy where there were organized assault elements that intended to assault the Capitol that day.' Later in the exchange, when Lynch accused Miller of reversing his stance, Miller replied, 'that's ridiculous.' 'You're ridiculous,' Lynch shot back."
Retired Top Brass Are Bat-shit Crazy. Bryan Bender of Politico: "A day after 124 retired generals and admirals released a letter spreading the lie that President Joe Biden stole the election, current and former military officers are speaking out, calling the missive a dangerous new sign of the military being dragged into the trenches of partisan warfare. The open letter on Monday from a group calling itself Flag Officers 4 America advanced the false conspiracy theory that the presidential vote was rigged in Biden's favor and warned that the nation is 'in deep peril' from 'a full-blown assault on our Constitutional rights.' 'Under a Democrat Congress and the Current Administration,' they wrote, 'our Country has taken a hard left turn toward Socialism and a Marxist form of tyrannical government which must be countered now by electing congressional and presidential candidates who will always act to defend our Constitutional Republic.' The broadside also raises questions about 'the mental and physical condition of the Commander in Chief' and sounds the alarm about a host of hot-button issues, such as the border wall. It goes on to accuse congressional leaders of 'using the U.S. military as political pawns with thousands of troops deployed around the U.S. Capitol Building.'... [The letter's] fiery, even angry, language and conspiracy-mongering struck multiple long-time observers as particularly out of bounds and dangerous."
Israel. Fares Akram & Joseph Krauss of the AP: "Israel killed a string of senior Hamas military figures Wednesday and pounded three multistory towers as it hammered the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and militants in the territory fired barrages of rockets. Dozens have died in the most severe outbreak of violence since a 2014 war, with no resolution in sight. The fighting has taken on many hallmarks of that devastating 50-day conflict between Israel and Hamas, but with a startling new factor: a burst of fury from Israel's Palestinian citizens in support of those living in the territories as well as counterviolence by Jewish Israelis."
Mike Lillis & Scott Wong of the Hill: "In an extraordinary bow to former President Trump, House Republicans voted Wednesday to purge GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney from her leadership post, punishing the conservative Wyoming Republican for daring to refute Trump's lie that the 2020 election was stolen. The closed-door, secret-ballot vote to oust Cheney represented a remarkable shift from a similar challenge to her leadership status in February, when she won handily. And it marked the first time in recent memory that a congressional GOP leader was toppled by rank-and-file Republicans in the middle of their term through a formal vote." MB: According to CNN, there was a quick voice vote, & Minority "Leader" Kevin McCarthy announced Cheney was out. After the vote & out in the hall, Cheney told the press she would do everything she could to make sure Donald Trump never gets near the Oval Office again. ~~~
~~~ Update: The Washington Post story is here.
Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Inflation in April accelerated at its fastest pace in more than 12 years as the U.S. economic recovery kicked into gear and energy prices jumped higher, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. The Consumer Price Index, which measures a basket of goods as well as energy and housing costs, rose 4.2% from a year earlier. A Dow Jones survey had expected a 3.6% increase. The month-to-month gain was 0.8%, against the expected 0.2%."
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Lisa Friedman & Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Tuesday will announce its final approval of the nation's first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, a major step toward President Biden's goal of expanding renewable energy production across the United States, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Vineyard Wind project calls for up to 84 turbines to be installed in the Atlantic Ocean about 12 nautical miles off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Mass. Together, they could generate about 800 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 400,000 homes. The $2.8 billion project is a joint venture of the energy firms Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners." (Also linked yesterday.)
Daniel Strauss of the Guardian: "Joe Biden has picked former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel to be his ambassador to Japan." MB: Oh, that's great. Rahm is so diplomatic. (Also linked yesterday.)
Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Biden Justice Department and lawyers for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have reached an agreement about how to handle a congressional subpoena for testimony from former Trump White House counsel Donald McGahn. The House Judiciary Committee and the Biden administration announced the deal Tuesday in a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The parties told the court they have 'an agreement in principle on an accommodation.'... Donald Trump is 'not a party to the agreement,' the filing states. No additional details were provided about the negotiated settlement."
~~~ Bad News for a Bad Guy. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Trump ... could try to take legal action to block any testimony from McGahn, but the filing from the House and the Justice Department -- now under the control of appointees of President Joe Biden -- seems to try to head off such a move by noting pointedly that Trump 'is not a party to this case.'"
Eric Tucker & Michael Balsamo of the AP: "Two senior Trump administration officials plan to defend their actions during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol when they appear before Congress, with former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller standing behind every decision he made that day. Miller will tell the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday that he was concerned before the insurrection that sending troops to the building could fan fears of a military coup and cause a repeat of the deadly Kent State shootings, according to a copy of prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press.... Miller will be joined by former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who is also testifying for the first time about the Justice Department's role in the run-up to the riot."
Jeremy Herb & Annie Grayer of CNN: "Rep. Liz Cheney vowed Tuesday evening not to remain silent as ... Donald Trump continues to spread lies that the election was stolen from him, striking a defiant tone ahead of an expected vote to remove her from House Republican leadership on Wednesday. The Wyoming Republican struck a defiant tone on Tuesday evening ahead of the vote, which is all but assured to end in her removal as GOP conference chair after her continued criticisms of Trump. She declared that she would not join with other leaders who ignore Trump's lies, emboldening him and threatening democracy.... '... Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar,' Cheney said. 'I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former President's crusade to undermine our democracy.'" ~~~
~~~ Video of Cheney's House floor speech Tuesday night is here. The Hill has the transcript here. It was a pretty good speech, an excellent one if you happen to share all of Liz's views. ~~~
~~~ Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "On the precipice of what looks to be an almost certain ouster, rather than barreling through her Rolodex of lawmakers or rallying her extensive network of backers off Capitol Hill to try to cling to her job, [Rep. Liz] Cheney [R-Wyo.] has defiantly embraced her downfall, offering herself as a cautionary tale in what she is portraying as a battle for the soul of the G.O.P.... Her defiant exit illustrates Ms. Cheney's determination to continue her blunt condemnation of Mr. Trump and her party's role in spreading the false election claims that inspired the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol." ~~~
~~~ The story has been updated. New Lede: "In the hours before facing a vote that will almost certainly purge her from House Republican leadership, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming remained unrepentant on Tuesday, framing her expulsion as a turning point for her party and declaring in an extraordinary speech that she would not sit quietly by as Republicans abandoned the rule of law." And this: "Ms. Cheney's remorseless last stand -- and the chilly reception it received from House Republicans, who cleared from the chamber as she began her remarks -- also highlighted how Republican leaders, even in their eagerness to rebuild their party after the riot and Mr. Trump's stormy departure from the White House, have tethered themselves to his election lies as a matter of survival." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Funny thing is, these Republican "leaders" "have tethered themselves" to a falling star: Michael Scherer, et al., of the Washington Post (May 8): "When staff from the National Republican Congressional Committee rose to explain the party's latest polling in core battleground districts, they left out a key finding about Trump's weakness, declining to divulge the information even when directly questioned about Trump's support by a member of Congress, according to two people familiar with what transpired. Trump's unfavorable ratings were 15 points higher than his favorable ones in the core districts, according to the full polling results, which were later obtained by The Washington Post. Nearly twice as many voters had a strongly unfavorable view of the former president as had a strongly favorable one. [Liz] Cheney was alarmed, she later told others, in part because Republican campaign officials had also left out bad Trump polling news at a March retreat for ranking committee chairs. Both instances, she concluded, demonstrated that party leadership was willing to hide information from their own members to avoid the truth about Trump and the possible damage he could do to Republican House members...." ~~~
~~~ AND. Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "Four months after ... Donald Trump was banished from most mainstream social media platforms, he returned to the web last Tuesday with 'From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,' essentially a blog for his musings. A week since the unveiling, social media data suggests things are not going well.... Trump's new blog has attracted a little over 212,000 engagements, defined as backlinks and social interactions -- including likes, shares and comments -- received across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Reddit.... Users can't comment or engage with the actual posts beyond sharing them to other platforms, an action few people do, according to the data.... Before the ban, a single Trump tweet was typically liked and retweeted hundreds of thousands of times.... rump's bans cost him the ability to communicate with millions of people: 88 million followers on Twitter, 32 million on Facebook, and 24 million on Instagram. Trump had just around 3 million YouTube subscribers, but his videos regularly racked up millions of views."
Marianne Levine & Zach Montellaro of Politico: "The typically staid Senate Rules Committee hosted a rare dramatic showdown on Tuesday: the majority leader versus the minority leader, sparring over Democrats' expansive election and ethics bill. In dueling remarks, Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell each accused the other's party of trying to weaponize voting laws to expand its political power.... Tuesday's markup lasted hours as Republicans sought to offer more than 100 amendments. While Schumer has vowed to take the bill to the Senate floor, its ultimate fate remains uncertain at best. The Senate Rules Committee tied on whether to advance it out of committee, which means Schumer will need to discharge it.... [Joe] Manchin remains the only Senate Democrat to not publicly sign on as a co-sponsor of the bill. But even if he does eventually get on board, the elections measure is still short of the 10 GOP votes necessary to overcome a filibuster. Privately, Senate Democrats and senior aides have agonized over the bill, with no clear path for it to become law."
Zach Montague of the New York Times: "More than 100 Republicans, including some former elected officials, are preparing to release a letter this week threatening to form a third party if the Republican Party does not make certain changes, according to an organizer of the effort. The statement is expected to take aim at ... Donald J. Trump's stranglehold on Republicans, which signatories to the document have deemed unconscionable.... The list of people signing the statement includes former officials at both the state and national level who once were governors, members of Congress, ambassadors, cabinet secretaries, state legislators and Republican Party chairmen, [and organizer, Miles] Taylor said."
Bad News for a Bad Guy. Paula Reid, et al., of CNN: "Federal investigators scrutinizing Rep. Matt Gaetz are seeking the cooperation of a former Capitol Hill intern who was once a girlfriend of the Florida Republican, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. Investigators could also soon gain the formal cooperation of a second key witness, former Florida county tax collector Joel Greenberg, who is approaching a deadline this week to strike a plea agreement with the government on more than two dozen charges he's facing. The pursuit of the cooperation comes as investigators are nearly finished collecting evidence, one source said. The probe, which is examining whether Gaetz broke federal sex trafficking, prostitution and public corruption laws and whether he had sex with a minor, has been ongoing for months." (Also linked yesterday.)
Bad News for a Bad Guy. Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "The National Rifle Association's attempt to evade a legal challenge from New York regulators was tossed out by a federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday, in a ruling that cast further doubt on whether the group's embattled chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, would remain at the helm after three decades in power. The ruling was a victory for Letitia James, the New York attorney general, whose office is seeking to remove Mr. LaPierre and shut down the gun rights group amid a long-running corruption investigation. Mr. LaPierre, the face of the American gun lobby, now battered by the N.R.A.'s internecine warfare and revelations of luxuriant personal spending, had sought to end-run Ms. James by relocating to Texas and filing for bankruptcy there. But the gambit instead proved a strategic blunder: The testimony over a 12-day trial only buttressed Ms. James's contentions of corruption, and led the judge, Harlin D. Hale, to declare, 'The N.R.A. is using this bankruptcy case to address a regulatory enforcement problem, not a financial one.'" CNN's story is here.
Bad News for a Bad Guy. The Littlest Grifter. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "The baby-faced Students for Trump founder was denounced as a 'cold-blooded fraudster' by a judge before he was sentenced for posing as a lawyer. John Lambert was sentenced to 13 months in prison for the scam targeting individuals with little experience seeking legal advice, for which he was paid at least $46,654 while delivering little of value to his victims, reported the New York Daily News. 'Mr. Lambert took his money and did nothing,' said District Court Judge Valerie Caproni about one victim, who expected help with a credit problem.... The 25-year-old Lambert posed as Eric Pope, of the Manhattan-based firm Pope & Dunn, and falsely claimed to be a graduate of the New York University School of Law with a finance degree from the University of Pennsylvania, with 15 years of experience in corporate and patent law."
Marie: Remember how the Big Grifter took the unusual step of extending Secret Service protection to his adult children for six months after he was forced out of Washington? And how the extraordinary detail is costing taxpayers $140,000 a month? Well, it turns out that $140K is totally worth it, because it includes a dating service! With "tall, dark and handsome" choices! ~~~
~~~ Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Two Trump family members got 'inappropriately -- and perhaps dangerously -- close' to agents protecting them while Donald Trump was president, according to a new book on the US Secret Service.... [The book's author, Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post,] won a Pulitzer prize in 2015, for her reporting on security failures at the Secret Service.... In her new book, she writes that Secret Service agents reported that Vanessa Trump, the wife of the president's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr, 'started dating one of the agents who had been assigned to her family'. Vanessa Trump filed for an uncontested divorce in March 2018.... Leonnig also writes that Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump's daughter with his second wife, Marla Maples, broke up with a boyfriend and 'began spending an unusual amount of time alone with a Secret Service agent on her detail'. Secret Service leaders, the book says, 'became concerned at how close Tiffany appeared to be getting to the tall, dark and handsome agent'.... The agent was subsequently reassigned."
Clifford Krauss, et al., of the New York Times: "Panicked drivers scrambled to fuel their vehicles across the Southeast on Tuesday, leaving thousands of stations without gasoline as a vital fuel pipeline remained largely shut down after a ransomware attack. The disruption to the Colonial Pipeline, which stretches 5,500 miles from Texas to New Jersey, also left airlines vulnerable, with several saying they would send jet fuel to the region by air to ensure that service would not be disrupted.... Southern stations were selling two to three times their normal amount of gasoline on Tuesday, according to the Oil Price Information Service.... Nearly 8 percent of Virginia stations were without gasoline, more a result of panic buying than of shortage, Gas Buddy, a service that tracks gas prices, reported.... The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline rose 2 cents on Tuesday, with higher prices reported in the Southeast, according to the AAA motor club."
Nick Anderson of the Washington Post: "At Johns Hopkins University, the number of domestic students in certain PhD programs who are Black or Hispanic can be counted on one hand.... Because of a $150 million gift from Mike Bloomberg announced Tuesday the private research university based in Baltimore plans to expand access to PhD programs in science, technology, engineering and math. The money will fund a recruiting and talent-development initiative targeting students in the STEM fields from historically Black colleges and other minority-serving institutions. The gift is the latest from Bloomberg to Hopkins, raising to $3.55 billion the record-shattering lifetime total the billionaire business executive and former New York mayor has given to his alma mater. No philanthropist, according to experts in these matters, has given more to any U.S. university. In 2018, Bloomberg gave Hopkins $1.8 billion for student financial aid." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I realize that Hopkins is a private university so has no obligation to favor local residents, and that a university of its calibre attracts an international pool of applicants. Still, one would think that an educational institution situated in a state where nearly half of the residents are non-White, Johns Hopkins could do a better job of finding minority grad students.
Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "The Washington Post has named longtime journalist Sally Buzbee of the Associated Press as its executive editor, marking the first time a woman has been appointed to lead the 143-year-old news organization. Buzbee, AP's executive editor and senior vice president, will take over leadership of The Post's nearly 1,000-person newsroom next month, said publisher Fred Ryan, who made the announcement to the newspaper's staff on Tuesday."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here.
Prize for Tuesday's Best Sentence Uttered in a Capitol Hill Hearing: Sen. Paul, with all due respect, you are entirely, entirely and completely incorrect. -- Anthony Fauci ~~~
~~~ Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: "Anthony Fauci on Tuesday clashed with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) over the role of the Wuhan, China, virology lab in the origins of COVID-19. During a Senate hearing on the pandemic response, Paul alleged that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had been sending funding to the Wuhan lab, which then 'juiced up' a virus that was originally found in bats to create a supervirus that can infect human cells. Paul pressed Fauci on the theory that the novel coronavirus was created in the Wuhan lab, and then somehow escaped, either because of an accident or because it was deliberately released. 'Sen. Paul, with all due respect, you are entirely, entirely and completely incorrect,' Fauci said. 'The NIH has not ever, and does not now, fund 'gain of function research' in the Wuhan Institute.' Paul continued to argue with Fauci.... The false link between Fauci, the NIH and the Wuhan lab has been circulating among right-wing media and politicians like Paul and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) for months." ~~~
~~~ Marie: A pundit speaking about the exchange on CNN -- I think she was a medical doctor -- said she had a hard time believing Li'l Randy has a medical degree.
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. Republicans Approve Another Voter Suppression Law. Jennifer Medina of the New York Times: "Arizona Republicans passed a law on Tuesday that will sharply limit the distribution of mail ballots through a widely popular early voting list, the latest measure in a conservative push to restrict voting across the country. The legislation will remove voters from the state's Permanent Early Voting List, which automatically sends some people ballots for each election, if they do not cast a ballot at least once every two years. The vote-by-mail system is widely popular in Arizona, used by Republicans, Democrats and independents. The overwhelming majority of voters in the state cast their ballots by mail, with nearly 90 percent doing so last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, and nearly 75 percent of all voters are on the early voting list. Under the new law, the list will be called the Active Early Voting List. The State Senate voted along party lines to approve the bill, and Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, surprised many observers by signing the legislation just hours later." The CBS News story is here. MB: "Laboratories of democracy," my ass.
Arizona Carnival News. Sunday was the last day the Crazy Times Carnival was running outside the Veterans Coliseum where Cyber Ninjas were counting votes and training space lasers on ballots in search of nonexistent watermarks & bamboo splinters. The crazy times carnival inside the coliseum will continue for a few more days until they break for high school graduations. These are not late-nite jokes; this is an accurate account of what's been happening in Phoenix.
California. Carla Marinucci of Politico: "Republican gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner told CNN this week that she never voted for president in the November 2020 election and opted to golf instead because she 'couldn't get excited' about the dozen measures on the California ballot. For someone seeking support in the upcoming recall, it was a head-turning statement. Then came the head-scratcher: Los Angeles County records show she actually did cast a ballot last fall.... 'I didn't even vote,' Jenner told [CNN's Dana] Bash in a wide-ranging interview at her home in Malibu. 'Out here in California, it's like, why vote for a Republican president? It's just not going to work. I mean, it's overwhelming.' But Jenner didn't stop there. Asked further if she voted on downticket races, she said she did not...."
Georgia. Kate Brumback of the AP: "A man accused of killing eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, in shootings at three Atlanta-area massage businesses was indicted Tuesday on murder charges by two separate grand juries, and one prosecutor filed notice that she'll also seek hate crime charges and the death penalty. A Fulton County grand jury indicted Robert Aaron Long, 22, in the March 16 slayings of Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; and Yong Ae Yue, 63. A separate grand jury in Cherokee County indicted Long for a separate shooting there that resulted in the killings of Xiaojie 'Emily' Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; Delaina Yaun, 33; and Paul Michels, 54. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis also filed notice that she intends to seek a hate crime sentence enhancement and the death penalty against Long, who is white."
Georgia. Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Family members of Andrew Brown Jr., the Black man fatally shot last month by North Carolina sheriff's deputies, on Tuesday were given a second opportunity to view body and dash camera footage of his killing. After viewing a redacted but more extensive chunk of the recordings, they and their legal team came to the same conclusion they had before: The footage, they said, did not show Mr. Brown threatening, or even making contact with, law enforcement officers as he tried to flee in his car as deputies attempted to detain him."
Michigan. GOP State Legislators Fight Facts, First Amendment. Beth LeBlanc & Craig Mauger of the Detroit News: "A Michigan lawmaker who's been at the center of efforts to question the 2020 election introduced a bill Tuesday that would require 'fact checkers' to register with the state. Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford, wrote the legislation, which was co-sponsored by eight other Republican House members, about five months after Maddock floated the idea of licensing fact checkers on Twitter. The 'Fact Checker Registration Act' defines a fact checker as someone who publishes in print or online in Michigan, is paid by a fact-checking organization and is a member of the International Fact Check Network. The network is a reference to the Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network, a unit launched by the journalism group in 2015 to train and develop best practices in fact checking, Maddock said. The bill requires qualifying fact checkers to file proof of a $1 million fidelity bond with the Secretary of State's office.... The bond could be forfeited at the discretion of the judge for 'demonstrable harm' stemming from something a fact checker wrote, Maddock wrote." The bill has several GOP co-sponsors. ~~~
~~~ Marie: BTW, a person cannot just "file a bond." According to the top of the Googles, "Surety bond premiums usually range from 1-15% of the total bond amount." So up to $150,000. A year, I guess. And, arguably, an accurate fact-check could "demonstrably harm" a legislator; for instance, s/he could lose an election because a fact-checker's published reports showed voters s/he was a big fat liar. So $1,000,000. Luckily, under the First Amendment, the bill is bull. "Laboratories of democracy," my ass. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's story, by Katie Shepherd, is here. Lede: "Michigan state Rep. Matt Maddock and his wife, Michigan Republican Party co-chair Meshawn Maddock, have repeatedly been called out by fact-checking journalists for promoting baseless claims of widespread voter fraud and falsely suggesting that covid-19 is comparable to the flu."
Way Beyond
Israel. Patrick Kingsley & Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "The worst fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in seven years intensified on Tuesday night, as Israeli airstrikes began targeting Hamas offices in Gaza City and militants in Gaza fired rockets at the metropolis of Tel Aviv, the southern city of Ashkelon and Israel's main airport. In Gaza, at least 35 Palestinians, including 10 children, had been killed by Tuesday night, and 203 others were wounded, according to health officials. In Israel, five people were killed in strikes on Tel Aviv, Ashkelon and Lod, and at least 100 were wounded, according to medical officials. Away from the military conflict, a wave of civil unrest spread across Arab neighborhoods as Palestinian citizens of Israel expressed fury at the killings in Gaza and longstanding complaints of discrimination inside Israel itself." The AP's story is here. ~~~
~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments here.
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Reader Comments (7)
We start the day with good news: the Vineyard Wind project will be up and running but as we scroll down we bump headlong into the soap opera of our times: Bad guys, lies, Vanessa's & Tiffany's secret liaisons with the Secret Service and those like Gaetz, LaPierre ( silk suits for work?), & John Lambert aka Eric Pope fill in the script. But the biggie today is Liz Cheney–-her character in this script looms large: she presented as a far right conservative and yet she denounced the ex- president of her party and because of this her party is tossing her out, turning their backs and except for a very few she's a lone voice in the COP playbook––AND a new star doth appear here–-she played a role of being against many of her party's policies but now she appears to be one with the numskulls.
But wait! There's more: the last episode in yesterday's show had 100 signatures on a letter to the editor of a Washington paper in favor of organizing a Republican third party–- a Bull Moose kind of thing. Something to get excited about, I reckon.
And on the other side of the world Israel and Hamas are once again killing each other and the Palestinians suffer the most.
Here's more info. on the "For the People Act" that senate Republicans are opposed. I saw clips of the hearing yesterday –-looked like Amy K. did a bang up job as Chair–-her exchange with Cruz was perfect and he, ingrate that he is, was playing with his phone, head down, while Amy was admonishing him for being such a Dick.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/for-the-people-act-senate-rules-committee-voting-rights_n_609b002ae4b063dccea2654c
@PD Pepe: If LaPierre weren't such an arrogant numbskull, he would know that the IRS does not consider ordinary clothing (silk or otherwise) required "business attire" (as LaPierre testified was his reason for buying them on the NRA's card) and therefore can't be a tax write-off. By extension, you can't charge it on your business expense account, either. Only work-specific uniforms (like a shirt with a Wendys logo) qualify as business expenses -- something your employer requires but is unsuitable for everyday wear.
Most of us who work or who have worked at an employer's facility are required to follow some kind of dress code, and jobs that don't require a uniform of some kind may specify (or imply) certain standards -- suit and tie, no jeans, whatever. There is no doubt most of us buy "suitable" clothing with our workplace in mind, but even if we never wear those high heels or pricey suits anywhere but work, they're not business expenses.
After this hot weekend of gun deaths, I got into it with a gun-humper on Charlie's site-- and s/he was not a numbskull-- readin' and writin' all good. ...but a gun-lover, misinterpreter of the 2nd amendment, and his/her brother loves "gun-sports." I guess he won, cuz he doesn't care how appalled I am, with all of them-- These "people" are just like followers of the Mad King-- it doesn't matter, it simply does not, what you and I think. Guns will stay and multiply. So will the Tangerine Tosser. While I will never like Liz, or trust her, she showed courage in the space of madness. But there is no hope for any of the rest of them, that they will turn into good citizens.
Our local radio NPR program interviewed a lady who is the director of the Lincoln Cottage, in DC, which I have never heard or read of. It was a place the family went to mourn and find peace, and is on land where a veteran's home is. The discussion was on grief and loss, and that Mary Todd Lincoln has been tarred with an insanity brush, when she was probably in unsupported mourning from loss of three out of four children and her husband. Prior to 2016, we went to DC a lot, love it, but have not been since the Women's March. I hope to see this exhibit-- so many have experienced loss this year, and grief is strewn through so many activities of daily life. I have not, fortunately, save the husband of a friend, but it walks among us. The Lincoln Cottage sounds interesting and has a new view of Mary.
Another day and the surfeit continues: Amy K was the Hennipin county attorney in Minneapolis. That's a real job, unlike unctuous Ted and his first class "education" going to waste. Right on!
Remember, Liz Cheney takes with her the speed dial of the biggest fund raising whales in the Whole World, that includes MBS in Saudi Arabia, Erik Prince of Private Guns for Hire, and the entirity of the oil biz. Good luck Matt Gaetz with that legal defense fund!
Last but never least Wayne L's silk tie budget modeled after all those congresscritters whose power he has long aspired, maneuvered, and triangulated to gain. I can see Matt G and "Eyes too Close Together" MT Greene spending campaign money to get their pedicures so their footsie play is properly detailed. That is likely Wayne's next expense after remedial shooting lessons.
I can see Ike rolling in his grave to see what Republicans have become.
A late addition to yesterday's discussion of JFK. Sometime last year, I read an excellent book that I recommend to all--"Author in Chief" by Craig Fehrman. The author did incredible research, detailing not only books that presidents wrote, some before they became president, but the history of publishing in the US and the effects the one had on the other. I had to skip a couple presidents since this was a library book and my time was limited, but everything I read was fascinating. Including the bit on JFK, who in my estimation, showed himself to be an empty suit.
Trump got short shrift, but from the way the latter part of the book read, I suspect it was because the author was running into his own deadline and just had to get the book done.
People in the SE panicing and hoarding gasoline until pumps run out. Are they the same ones that cleared the shelves of toilet paper last year, and who buy up all the bread and milk when there is a threat of a snow flurry? It appears that the Mad Max scenario isn't too far away.