;)
The Commentariat -- May 25, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Shayna Jacobs & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Manhattan's district attorney has convened the grand jury that is expected to decide whether to indict ... Donald Trump, other executives at his company or the business itself should prosecutors present the panel with criminal charges, according to two people.... The panel was convened recently and will sit three days a week for six months. It is likely to hear several matters -- not just the Trump case -- during the duration of its term, which is longer than a traditional New York state grand-jury assignment, these people said.... The move indicates that District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.'s investigation ... has reached an advanced stage after more than two years. It suggests, too, that Vance believes he has found evidence of a crime -- if not by Trump then by someone potentially close to him or by his company."
Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Monday formally dismissed the fraud case against Stephen K. Bannon, the conservative provocateur and ex-adviser to ... Donald Trump, ending months of litigation over how the court system should handle his pardon while related criminal cases remain unresolved. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres, citing examples of other cases being dismissed following a presidential reprieve, granted Bannon's application -- saying in a seven-page ruling that Trump's pardon was valid and that 'dismissal of the Indictment is the proper course.' Bannon was charged with fraud last year alongside three others in what prosecutors described as a massive fundraising scam targeting the donors of a private campaign to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Bannon was accused of pocketing more than $1 million from his involvement with 'We Build the Wall' while representing to the organization's backers that all of the money was being used for construction."
The New York Times is liveblogging how the country is marking the first anniversary of George Floyd's murder.
Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin are planning to meet next month in Geneva, the first face-to-face meeting between the two adversaries and one that comes at a time of deteriorating relations. The day-long summit is scheduled for June 16, according to an official familiar with the meeting, and will cover a wide range of topics including nuclear proliferation, Russian interference in U.S. elections, climate change and covid-19."
Ellen Nakashima & Lori Aratani of the Washington Post: "The Department of Homeland Security is moving to regulate cybersecurity in the pipeline industry for the first time in an effort to prevent a repeat of a major computer attack that crippled nearly half the East Coast's fuel supply this month -- an incident that highlighted the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to online attacks. The Transportation Security Administration, a DHS unit, will issue a security directive this week requiring pipeline companies to report cyber incidents to federal authorities, senior DHS officials said. It will follow up in coming weeks with a more robust set of mandatory rules for how pipeline companies must safeguard their systems against cyberattacks and the steps they should take if they are hacked, the officials said. The agency has offered only voluntary guidelines in the past."
Make That "Leaders." Ryan Nobles of CNN: "House Republican leaders have condemned incendiary remarks from GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene five days after she first publicly compared Capitol Hill mask rules to the Holocaust, amid a wave of criticism from Republican and conservative critics as well as Jewish groups aimed at the Georgia congresswoman and the party leaders' silence. 'Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling,' House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement five days after Greene's original comments and after she made similar comparisons Tuesday. 'Let me be clear: the House Republican Conference condemns this language.' The No. 2 House Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, also responded [in a written statement] to Greene's comments for the first time on Tuesday.... Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the newly elected No. 3 House Republican, also responded to the controversy in a tweet that didn't include Greene's name.... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke out against Greene on Tuesday morning when asked about her latest comments on the Holocaust. 'Once again an outrageous and reprehensible comment,' McConnell ... said." ~~~
~~~ Marie: A tweet, Elise? Here it is: "'Equating mask wearing and vaccines to the Holocaust belittles the most significant human atrocities ever committed. We must all work together to educate our fellow Americans on the unthinkable horrors of the Holocaust. #NeverAgain,' Stefanik wrote Tuesday morning, following McCarthy and Scalise's remarks." Wow! I'll bet Margie feels terrible now. ~~~
Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi's forced Jewish people to wear a gold star. -- Marjorie Taylor Greene, in tweeted early Tuesday morning, linking to a news story on a Tennessee supermarket chain's decision to include a special logo on the name badges of vaccinated employees ~~~
~~~ AND She's Still at It. Mike DeBonis & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Top congressional leaders condemned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday after the Georgia Republican compared a supermarket's face-mask policy to the Nazi practice of labeling Jews with Star of David badges.... [In his statement, House GOP 'Leader' Kevin McCarthy said,] 'At a time when the Jewish people face increased violence and threats, anti-Semitism is on the rise in the Democrat Party and is completely ignored by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.'... Following the widespread condemnations Tuesday, Greene posted tweets explaining, but not apologizing for, her remarks. Echoing McCarthy, she accused the media and others of seeking to hide 'the disgusting anti-semitism within the Democrat Party.... Their attempts to shame, ostracize, and brand Americans who choose not to get vaccinated or wear a mask are reminiscent of the great tyrants of history who did the same to those who would not comply,' she wrote.... No elected Democrats recently have made any similar comparison, and prominent party leaders have condemned a spate of antisemitic attacks."
Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Violence between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East is often accompanied by spikes in anti-Semitic activity in the United States, but what's happened over the last week or so has been different.... What's new, and more reminiscent of the sort of anti-Semitic aggression common in Europe, is flagrant public assaults on Jews -- sometimes in broad daylight -- motivated by anti-Zionism.... These apparent hate crimes are, first and foremost, a catastrophe for Jewish people in the United States, who've just endured four years of spiking anti-Semitism that started around the time Republicans nominated Donald Trump in 2016.... But this violence also threatens to undermine progress that's been made in getting American politicians to take Palestinian rights more seriously. Right-wing Zionists and anti-Semitic anti-Zionists have something fundamental in common: Both conflate the Jewish people with the Israeli state."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "Moderna said on Tuesday that its coronavirus vaccine, authorized only for use in adults, was powerfully effective in 12- to 17-year-olds, and that it planned to apply to the Food and Drug Administration in June for authorization to use the vaccine in adolescents. If approved, its vaccine would become the second Covid-19 vaccine available to U.S. adolescents. Federal regulators authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this month for 12- to 15-year-olds." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates Tuesday are here.
~~~~~~~~~~
Juliet Eilperin, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden announced Monday that he was doubling the amount of money the U.S. government will spend helping communities get set for extreme weather events, proclaiming the need for full readiness as he visited government workers and told them to prepare for another season of natural disasters. In announcing $1 billion in spending, Biden also emphasized his administration's attempts to steer the country toward confronting the looming effects of climate change, which scientists say will make severe weather events more frequent and less predictable. He announced a new NASA-led effort to collect more sophisticated climate data." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.)
Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "On Tuesday, a year after George Floyd was killed at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, his family members will fly to Washington, D.C., for a private audience with President Biden, their first in-person meeting with the president since they buried Floyd. While White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden is 'eager to listen to their perspectives and hear what they have to say,' an unfulfilled promise looms over the meeting as progress on police reform has stagnated, including legislation bearing Floyd's name that Biden had hoped would be law on the anniversary of his death.... During his first joint address to Congress, [Biden] urged lawmakers to pass police reform by May 25.... A sweeping voting-rights measure faces an even tougher climb in Congress than the police overhaul...."
Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "... government officials are moving to make a pandemic experiment permanent by allowing more employees than ever to work from home -- a sweeping cultural change that would have been unthinkable a year ago. The shift across the government, whose details are still being finalized, comes after the risk-averse federal bureaucracy had fallen behind private companies when it came to embracing telework -- a posture driven by a perception that employees would slack off unless they were tethered to their office cubicles. That position hardened during the Trump administration, which dialed back work-from-home programs that had slowly expanded during the Obama era. But the coronavirus crisis -- and a new president eager to rebuild the trust of federal workers who had been attacked by ... Donald Trump as 'the swamp' -- has convinced the country's largest employer that in many departments, employees can serve the public just as well from home, officials said."
Uh, Bon Chance, Tony. Matthew Lee of the AP: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head to the Middle East on Monday to press the Israelis, Palestinians and regional players to build on and strengthen last week's Gaza cease-fire, start an immediate flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and lay the groundwork for an eventual resumption in long-stalled peace talks. President Joe Biden announced that he was dispatching Blinken to the region for what will be his administration's highest-level, in-person talks on the crisis that erupted earlier this month. The State Department said Blinken will visit Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt on a trip that comes as the administration has faced broad criticism for its initial response to the deadly violence." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Good news! Tony will get some "help": ~~~
~~~ Betsy Swan & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is making plans to travel to Israel later this week, three people with knowledge of the plans said. Pompeo's potential trip could come the same week that Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also traveling there.... A [person close to Pompeo said] ... Pompeo, a former CIA director, would travel as a private citizen to celebrate the retirement of Yossi Cohen, the head of Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad. Pompeo may also meet privately with nongovernmental officials, according to the person, who added that Pompeo alerted Blinken of his plans."
Shawn Boburg of the Washington Post: "An obscure security unit tasked with protecting the Commerce Department's officials and facilities has evolved into something more akin to a counterintelligence operation that collected information on hundreds of people inside and outside the department, a Washington Post examination found. The Investigations and Threat Management Service (ITMS) covertly searched employees' offices at night, ran broad keyword searches of their emails trying to surface signs of foreign influence and scoured Americans' social media for critical comments about the census, according to documents and interviews with five former investigators. In one instance, the unit opened a case on a 68-year-old retiree in Florida who tweeted that the census, which is run by the Commerce Department, would be manipulated 'to benefit the Trump Party!' records show.... Incoming Commerce leaders from the Biden administration ordered ITMS to pause all criminal investigations on March 10, and on May 13 ordered the suspension of all activities after preliminary results of an ongoing review, according to a statement issued by department spokeswoman Brittany Caplin."
Liz Cheney Is No Champion of Democracy: Big Lie, No; Voter Suppression, Yes. Tim Elfrink of the Washington Post: "... when pressed on Sunday about whether Trump's falsehoods [about the 2020 election] were the cause of Republican moves to pass restrictive new voting laws in dozens of states, [Rep. Liz] Cheney [R-Wyo.] disputed the suggestion..... Cheney's exchange [with Jonathan Swan of Axios], which went viral on Twitter with more than 800,000 views, suggests the limits of her increasingly lonesome stance in the Republican Party.... Republicans in at least 43 states have moved to limit in-person, mail and Election Day voting ... -- moves that could make it more difficult for tens of millions of Americans to cast ballots. GOP lawmakers have justified the bills, The Washington Post reported, by noting that many conservatives no longer trust voting systems thanks to Trump's false claims that the election was 'stolen.'"
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said on Monday that he would support a House-passed bill to create a commission to probe the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Romney's comments make him the first GOP senator to say he would vote for the bill, which needs the support of 10 Republicans to pass the Senate. Asked how he would vote if Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) tried to start debate on the House bill, a move that requires 60 votes to defeat a filibuster, Romney told reporters, 'I would support the bill.'"
Carol Robinson of AL.com: “A north Alabama man facing multiple charges in connection with the January riots at the U.S. Capitol must remain in jail until trial a federal judge ruled, citing in part new revelations that he drove to the home of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and he seemed 'unbalanced' in a call to the senator's office. Lonnie Coffman, a 70-year-old Falkville resident up until his arrest, was arrested by federal authorities just hours after the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Since then, he has been indicted on 17 charges following the seizure of nearly a dozen Molotov cocktail explosive devices from his pickup truck, as well as a number of guns, ammo and concerning handwritten notes." MB: Creepy story. This is just the kind of person Cruz's own demagoguery riles up.
Garland DOJ Sticks Up for Lying Bill Barr. Harper Neidig of the Hill: "The Department of Justice is appealing a judge's decision ordering the release of a 2019 legal memo prepared for then-Attorney General William Barr in the wake of the Mueller investigation. In a pair of court filings submitted late Monday, the DOJ under Attorney General Merrick Garland said it would fight against the full release of the memo, but would agree to make parts of it public. The internal legal memo prepared by the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel is said to provide justifications for Barr's stance that the former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation did not support obstruction of justice charges against former President Trump. Earlier this month, District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered that the document be made public and accused Barr and Justice Department lawyers of making misrepresentations about why it should be kept secret." Neal Katyal said on MSNBC it would take about a year for an appeals court to render a decision. Katyal opined that the appeal was not justified. ~~~
~~~ Update. Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department late Monday night released part of a key internal document used in 2019 to justify not charging ... Donald Trump with obstruction.... The central document at issue is a March 2019 memo written by two senior Justice Department officials [Steven Engel & Edward O'Callaghan (MB: both Trump political appointees)] arguing that aside from important constitutional reasons not to accuse the president of a crime, but that the evidence gathered by Mueller did not rise to the level of a prosecutable case, even if Trump were not the president.... Earlier this month..., [Judge Amy Berman Jackson] concluded that, rather than Barr following OLC advice, his decision and the OLC memo 'were being written by the very same people at the very same time,' working 'hand in hand to craft the advice' that the office supposedly delivered to Barr." The memo, in redacted form, via the courts, is here. ~~~
~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The move to appeal the judge's ruling rather than meet a Monday deadline for release of the legal opinion puts the Biden administration in the curious position of seeking to maintain secrecy surrounding some of the most pivotal legal decisions of the Trump era.... A department spokesperson declined to comment on whether Attorney General Merrick Garland, who promised at his confirmation hearing to read the Freedom of Information Act 'generously,' had signed off on the decision. However, the move appeared to reflect an institutional decision to take some action to protect the department's internal deliberations on highly sensitive matters."
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's former White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, has agreed to testify behind closed doors before the House Judiciary Committee sometime next week about Mr. Trump's efforts to obstruct the Russia investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter. Lawyers for House Democrats, the Justice Department and Mr. McGahn had tentatively struck a deal to provide the testimony earlier in May. But the scheduling was delayed for weeks while they waited to see what Mr. Trump, who was not a party to the agreement, would do. Mr. McGahn's agreement to testify -- with President Biden's permission -- was contingent upon there being no active legal challenge to his participation in the matter...."
Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "A federal judge unsealed nearly half a dozen files on Monday itemizing the 'principal lies' Donald Trump's since-pardoned former campaign chair Paul Manafort allegedly told special counsel Robert Mueller's team.... According to a government memo dated Dec. 7, 2018, the first of these lies involved Manafort's associate Konstantin Kilimnik, whom the Senate Intelligence Committee would later describe as a Russian intelligence operative. Both the Mueller report and the bipartisan Senate committee found that Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates 'periodically' gave Kilimnik the Trump campaign's internal polling data, even though Gates told the special prosecutor that he suspected that Kilimnik was a Russian 'spy.'... According to the Mueller report, Kilimnik had been pursuing a Ukrainian so-called 'peace plan' at least four times before and after the 2016 presidential election, and Manafort misled prosecutors about these plans.... Manafort's misdirection went beyond Kilimnik, prosecutors said. According to the unsealed memo, Manafort claimed after signing his plea agreement that he had 'no direct or indirect communication with anyone' in the Trump administration -- 'on any subject matter.' 'The evidence demonstrates that Manafort lied about his contacts,' the memo stated."
John Hudson of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's former ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, is suing former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and the U.S. government for $1.8 million to compensate for legal fees incurred during the 2019 House impeachment probe. The suit, filed Monday in federal court in the District of Columbia, alleges that Pompeo reneged on his promise that the State Department would cover the fees after Sondland delivered bombshell testimony accusing Trump and his aides of pressuring the government of Ukraine to investigate then presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter in exchange for military aid. Sondland, a Portland hotel magnate appointed by Trump to serve as ambassador, became a key witness of the impeachment probe because of his firsthand knowledge of conversations with Trump, his attorney Rudy Giuliani and senior Ukrainian officials -- as well as his punchy answers, affable demeanor and colorful language." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. Update: Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: The suit accuses Pompeo of corruption: Pompeo's promise, Sondland argues, "was self-serving, made entirely for personal reasons for his own political survival in the hopes that Ambassador Sondland would not implicate him or others by his testimony": that is, the "deal" was that if Sondland testified the way Pompeo wanted him to, he would get his attorneys' fees paid as a sort of "bonus." What Pompeo wanted, of course, would require Sondland to perjure himself, which in fact he did, before he drastically modified his testimony upon learning of evidence against his fake version of events. Sondland's decision to dump the fake Trump narrative & tell a tale approximating the truth cost him the promised bonus. The offer of attorneys' fees, then, whether or not the State Department ever would pay them under any circumstances, constituted a bribe to testify falsely. This suit may be a loser, but with any luck, it will provide us with some laughs. So far, the funniest bit is that Sondland thought that -- after casting his lot with a den of corrupt politicians -- there was honor among corrupt politicians.
Tara Palmeri of Politico: "The FBI and Capitol Hill police are investigating a suspicious package containing white powder that was delivered to the home of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Monday, according to a senior adviser to the senator. A large envelope arrived at the senator's home in Kentucky and is currently being examined for harmful substances, Sergio Gor said. The sender is unknown.... Fox News reported later Monday that the outside of the envelope had a picture of a bandaged Paul with a gun pointed at his head and this quote: 'I'll finish what your neighbor started you motherf------'"
Jonny Hallam & Sharif Paget of CNN: "An American journalist working in Myanmar was detained by local authorities Monday, his family and his news organization told CNN. Danny Fenster, 37, was stopped at the Yangon airport as he tried to board a flight out of the country, his brother Bryan Fenster said. Fenster, a US citizen originally from Detroit, Michigan, works for the news site Frontier Myanmar in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon. 'Frontier's managing editor, Danny Fenster, was detained at Yangon International Airport this morning shortly before he was due to board a flight to Kuala Lumpur,' the news organization said in a statement.... The news organization also said it understands Fenster has been transferred to Insein Prison near Yangon. Insein is one of the country's most notorious prisons, known for its deplorable conditions."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
** David Leonardt of the New York Times: "It is common to hear about two different demographic groups that are hesitant to receive a Covid-19 vaccination: Republican voters and racial minorities.... For Republicans, the attitude is connected to a general skepticism of government and science. For Black and Hispanic Americans, it appears to stem from the country's legacy of providing substandard medical treatment, and sometimes doing outright harm, to minorities. These ideas all have some truth to them. But they also can obscure the fact that many unvaccinated Republicans and minorities have something in common: They are working class. And there is a huge class gap in vaccination behavior.... The class divide is bigger than the racial divide."
Beyond the Beltway
Florida. Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday that aims to punish social media companies for their moderation decisions, a move that Silicon Valley immediately criticized and likely sets the stage for potential legal challenges. The legislation would bar Internet companies from suspending political candidates in the run-up to elections. It also would also make it easier for the Florida state attorney general and individuals to bring lawsuits when they think the tech companies have acted unfairly. Legal experts and tech industry trade groups immediately raised concerns about the constitutionality of the law and warned that it gives the government too much power over online speech. DeSantis, a potential 2024 Republican presidential contender, pushed for the legislation's passage amid conservatives' complaints that tech companies censor them -- charges that the companies vehemently deny. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube's decisions to suspend ... Donald Trump's account in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot have only heightened the stakes." The Hill has a story here.
Louisiana. Jim Mustian of the AP: "In perhaps the strongest evidence yet of an attempted cover-up in the deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene, the ranking Louisiana State Police officer at the scene falsely told internal investigators that the Black man was still a threat to flee after he was shackled, and he denied the existence of his own body camera video for nearly two years until it emerged just last month. New state police documents obtained by The Associated Press show numerous inconsistencies between Lt. John Clary's statements to detectives and the body camera footage he denied having. They add to growing signs of obfuscation in Greene's death, which the white troopers initially blamed on a car crash at the end of a high-speed chase and is now the subject of a federal civil rights investigation." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Although I don't have enough raw evidence to justify my suspicions, it's beginning to look as if the state police officers deliberately executed Greene to prevent his recounting the torture to which they subjected him. At least some of these officers belong in jail for life. One way to cover up an atrocity is to murder the victim. Also, how did the AP get hold of bodycam footage Clary had withheld? Seems to me your average murdering scumbag would destroy evidence against him. Does the footage automatically record at a remote location?
Michigan. David Eggert of the AP: "Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration on Monday rescinded a rule that limits restaurant tables to no more than six people, a day after she apologized for violating the COVID-19 regulation while gathering with friends at an East Lansing bar. The Democratic governor has said tables at the Landshark Bar & Grill were pushed together as more people arrived in her party of roughly a dozen fully vaccinated people." MB: Still, "governor" is a pretty good gig: break your own rule, then rescind it. (Also linked yesterday.)
Oklahoma. Yuliya Parshina-Kottas, et al., of the New York Times: "In May 1921, the Tulsa, Okla., neighborhood of Greenwood was a fully realized antidote to the racial oppression of the time. Built in the early part of the century in a northern pocket of the city, it was a thriving community of commerce and family life to its roughly 10,000 residents. Greenwood was so promising, so vibrant that it became home to what was known as America's Black Wall Street. But what took years to build was erased in less than 24 hours by racial violence -- sending the dead into mass graves.... Hundreds of Greenwood residents were brutally killed, their homes and businesses wiped out. They were casualties of a furious and heavily armed white mob of looters and arsonists." The main features of this article are graphics that show what the mob destroyed, at least in physical terms. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Stories about Greenwood have particular meaning to me as in the 1980s, I worked in a building overlooking the neighborhood. The head of the outfit where I worked was a prominent Tulsan, and deeply enmeshed in the city's political life, so much so that he was named chairman of the Tulsa Urban Renewal Authority. One day at the office, he was recounting his work on the authority and complaining about having to grant monetary awards to black businesses: "You might as well have opened the window here & thrown money down on the niggers." That guy is long dead, but I'm sure his attitude is not.
Way Beyond
Belarus. Michael Birnbaum & Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: "Belarus on Monday was facing international isolation, with European leaders discussing measures to deal a crushing blow to the economy and the White House calling for an investigation, a day after Belarusian authorities forced down a civilian jet and pulled off a dissident journalist. Outrage mounted about the brazen move by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who on Sunday sent a MiG-29 fighter jet to snatch a Ryanair plane out of the sky as it was flying from Athens to Vilnius and arrest one of its passengers, Roman Protasevich, the founder of an opposition media outlet. Protasevich faces at least 12 years in prison. The power play set a fearsome precedent for journalists and political opponents, who must now worry about flying through the airspace of repressive regimes, even if they are moving from one free capital to another." CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Sheena McKenzie & Anna Chernova of CNN: "Dissident journalist Roman Protasevich has appeared in a new video after his arrest by Belarusian authorities on Sunday, following the government's extraordinary diversion of his Ryanair flight to capital city Minsk. The video -- the first since Protasevich's arrest -- comes amid mounting fears for his safety and widespread fury over the diversion of a European commercial flight. 'The attitude of the [Interior Ministry] employees towards me has been as correct as possible and in compliance with the law,' Protasevich says in the video, which was posted Monday evening to a pro-government social media channel.... His supporters believe the video was made under duress." MB: No kidding. Rachel Maddow noted, & as the video that accompanies the story linked here shows, this is a hostage video. Protasevich's face is marked with bruises. ~~~
~~~ Caroline Kelly of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Monday lambasted Belarus' sudden grounding of a commercial flight and subsequent arrest of onboard dissident journalist Roman Pratasevich as 'a direct affront to international norms.... The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms both the diversion of the plane and the subsequent removal and arrest of Mr. Pratasevich,' Biden said in a statement following the release of a new video with an appearance by Pratasevich that his supporters believe was coerced. 'This outrageous incident and the video Mr. Pratasevich appears to have made under duress are shameful assaults on both political dissent and the freedom of the press.'"
Iran. Michael Crowley & Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times: "Iran agreed on Monday to a one-month extension of an agreement with international inspectors that would allow them to continue monitoring the country's nuclear program, avoiding a major setback in the continuing negotiations with Tehran.... The extension prevents a new crisis that could derail talks among world powers, including the United States, aimed at bringing Washington back to the 2015 nuclear deal that ... Donald J. Trump withdrew from three years ago. Restoring the deal, including a commitment from Iran to resume all its obligations under the agreement, is a top priority for President Biden."
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Reader Comments (13)
This NYT map of COVID restrictions by state is rather disconcerting. States with low vaccination rates are fully open, those with high rates are still pensive. I live on a state line so I have to take into consideration states' various rules.
I went shopping today for the first time since early March. On the way to a grocery store in MA, I passed a road-side stand that sells gourmet sandwiches. All of the people waiting in line to order were masked and still maintaining social distance. People sitting at picnic tables to eat had their masks pulled down to below their chin.
Within the grocery store itself, masks are still required. 100% of the customers were masked, 100% of counter-workers, stockers, and check-out clerks were masked. I didn't see a single person without a mask. Given the perceived demographic of the customers, based on their estimated age and according to car models in the parking lot, I would guess that at least 95% were fully vaccinated. Nonetheless, all still observed masking and distancing recommendations for unvaccinated individuals.
Last stop was to an auto parts store back in CT. Again, all were masked except for one younger woman who I've never seen wearing a mask. (She must think she's invulnerable, so far.)
I've been thinking about applying a henna tattoo of a large capitol V on my eighthead to make people aware that I'm OK to safely be around. Good or bad idea?
@unwashed: Forget the tattoo. It will only prove you're an elitist, like those people waiting in line (or on line, as they say in NYC) for their pricey gourmet sandwiches. (See David Leonhardt's column, linked above.)
THE BANALITY OF DEMOCRATIC COLLAPSE:
Paul Krugman argues that focusing on the insanity of the Republicans can hinder our understanding of how all this became possible. Conspiracy theorizing has always been a "thing" in our national life: See Hofstadter's "The Paranoid Style in American Politics"--1964. White rage, Krugman reminds us, has been a powerful force at least since the Civil Right's movement. The difference is , he posits, is the acquiesce of Republican elites. He doesn't address the many who have left the Party but does mention someone like Romney who remains.
"The point is that neither megalomania at the top nor rage at the bottom explain why American democracy is hanging by a thread. Cowardice, not craziness is the reason government by the people may soon perish from the earth."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/opinion/republicans-donald-trump-loyalty.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
Questions for Unwashed: What the dickens is "an eighthead"? And if this was the first time you went shopping since early March where were you getting your food?
@PD Pepe: An "eighthead" is a person who needs eight fingers to cover his forehead. Your "regular" adult forehead requires only four fingers. (Try it.) And, yeah, I hadda look it up earlier. The Googles are a wonderful thing. More or less.
I figured that was the definition for eighthead. I’m approaching twelve myself. My daughter, bless her heart, liked to tease me about rabbits marching backwards.
Receding hairline.
@NiskyGuy: Your spelling is atrocious. You mean "hareline."
A couple sixty hour weeks on the road will do that...
Elise Stefanik, newly installed jiggly bowl of petrified jello in the R hierarchy, is apparently Concerned ™ that gun wielding psychotic liar and deranged primal scream provocateur, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is comparing herself to Jews murdered in death camps during the Holocaust. Because no amount of outrageous hyperbolic wailing is too much for the babyfied Trump crowd, always the victims.
What would it look like if Elise or the rest of the cowardly Trump sycophants were actually concerned?
We’ll never know. It will never happen. At least not until they lose another election they tried to steal.
Marie, I worked in Tulsa in 1998 and 1999 at Williams Co. While I was there, Gov Keating formed the commission on Greenwood. Being from Maine, I had no idea what Greenwood was or what had happened back in the 20's. It was quite an education to follow along in the Tulsa paper.
Politicians too often see zero up-side to remembering the past and how fast long developed strength can be destroyed like in Tulsa. Agent Orange, Moscow Mitch, and MTG are chainsaws inside social foliage they can only imagine clear cutting. To help empty the tanks of gas of those three shitters-on-goodwill might I suggest Order, assiduous scrutiny of facts, and powerful Jewish voices to explain how their experience in no way aligns with her experience.
Citizen,
Certain politicians see zero upside to remembering stuff that happened just weeks ago. The entire Party of Traitors believes that they stand to gain nothing from a Jan. 6 commission, except maybe truth and a way to keep such horrific attacks from happening again, neither of which are on their list of “What’s in it for me?” stuff.
An investigation into the Trump-precipitated attack on the Capitol and democracy points to one and only one party. They are solely to blame for that event and they’re having none of that. So either it was a false flag operation mounted by demmycraps, or it was just a few great patriots and other fine people out having a nice tour of the Capitol, or it never happened.
Once you buy into the usefulness of big lies, you can let yourself off the hook for anything, or failing that, blaming someone else.
History isn’t always written by the winners. The losers write their own history. Look at the Civil War, oops, I mean the War of Northern Aggression, or the Noble Struggle for States’ Rights. Slavery had nothing to do with it.
But here’s the thing. We let the traitors get off without even requiring a basic, “Gee, sorry for the treason”. Had Lee and the others been hanged, it might not have eradicated the alternate histories and the lies, but it might have made it harder to maintain that bullshit Noble Lost Cause narrative.
As it is, Lee went on to have a rich (and richly rewarding) life. He’s had schools, streets, towns, a train, barracks at West Point, and at least one muscle car on a redneck TV show named after him, not to mention enough statues to fill a stadium. I recently ran across a story I had trouble believing so I checked it out.
At Washington and Lee University in Virginia, the Lee Chapel has a statue of the great traitor in repose, on the altar, surrounded by Confederate flags, sword in hand, even in death in case any pesky abolitionists wandered in and needed a good skewering. Lee is buried there. No sign of Jesus. Basically,it’s designed for the worship of Robert E. Lee. Outside, his horse Traveler is buried. There’s a tradition at the school that students, visitors, and the odd white supremacist or two, place a Lincoln penny on the horse’s grave. Face down.
Why?
So Lincoln can kiss Lee’s horse’s ass.
How quaint, right? Mighty white of them, I guess. In looking this up, I found a slew of Confederate Civil War sites where commenters rave over being able to shit on Lincoln even as they worship a traitor. And his horse.
This is history continuing to be written by the losers.
We let traitors off once and we’ve been getting screwed since. We shouldn’t do it again.
No slavery, no racism, and no talking about it. Or else!
As a follow-up to my previous post, if anyone thinks I might be exaggerating about the losers writing the history, I bring you The Losers Write the Laws, Too.
Tennessee governor Lee (hmmm...where have we heard that name before?) has signed into law a Bill that makes it illegal...let me say that again, ILLEGAL to talk about racism in Tennessee schools. Should a teacher open his or her mouth and even say the word, their school will lose their funding.
If we can’t beat history, we’ll make it illegal.
And in Alabama, one is forbidden to finish a yoga class with "Namaste." These people are drop-dead stupid morons.
So excited that grubby, disgusting two-shirt Bannon gets off scot-free. I view the banners of "BREAKING NEWS!!" with total blase indifference. So what if there is a grand jury forming...everyone gets off, everyone lies and is not challenged (Manifort, Stone etc) and apparently no one suffers except Michael HooHa, the poor ole attorney, abused for years by Dumpster Man. Hate them all. And I don't care that red state governors turn down free ACA money (another headline--) anymore. Let 'em all perish.