;)
The Commentariat -- May 8, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Maureeen Dowd of the New York Times: "How naïve I was to think that Republicans would be eager to change the channel after Trump cost them the Senate and the White House and unleashed a mob on them.... Let's acknowledge who created the template for Trump's Big Lie. It was [Liz's] father, Dick Cheney, whose Big Lie about the Iraq war led to the worst mistake in the history of American foreign policy.... From her patronage perch in the State Department during the Bush-Cheney years, she bolstered her father's trumped-up case for an invasion of Iraq.... She was a staunch defender of the torture program.... She backed the futile, 20-year occupation of the feudal Afghanistan.... Because of 9/11, Dick Cheney thought he could suspend the Constitution, attack nations preemptively and trample civil liberties in the name of the war on terror. (And for his own political survival.)... Trump built a movement based on lies. The Cheneys showed him how it's done."
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Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Biden on Friday defended his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan after a disappointing jobs report, arguing that the new data prove the necessity of the legislation and that it would take more time for the economy to recover. 'When we came into office, we knew we were facing a once-in-a-century pandemic and a once-in-a-generation economic crisis. And we knew this wouldn't be a sprint, it would be a marathon,' Biden said in remarks from the East Room of the White House. 'It was designed to help us over the course of a year. Not 60 days, a year,' he said of the coronavirus relief passed earlier this year. 'We never thought after the first 60 days that everything would be fine.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ "A Great Reassessment." Heather Long of the Washington Post: "One way to make sense of this weak jobs report is to do what Wall Street did and shrug it off as an anomaly. Stocks still rose Friday as investors saw this as a blip.... But another way to look at this is there is a great reassessment going on in the U.S. economy.... At the most basic level, people are still hesitant to return to work until they are fully vaccinated and their children are back in school and day care full time.... There is also growing evidence -- both anecdotal and in surveys -- that a lot of people want to do something different with their lives than they did before the pandemic."
Ben Leonard of Politico: "The Biden White House released its first batch of visitor logs Friday, bringing back the practice that began under former President Barack Obama but stopped under ... Donald Trump.... The batch released included 400 records from Jan. 20 to the end of January, according to a release from the White House. The White House pledged to release the logs monthly. The White House did not include records 'related to purely personal guests of the First and Second Families' nor did it release 'records related to a small group of particularly sensitive meetings.' They described visits of potential Supreme Court nominees as such sensitive meetings.... The White House has declined to release the names of people attending virtual meetings.... The Biden administration has said it can't release the full visitor logs from the Trump White House because they are now the property of the National Archives which must get the former president's permission to make them public." Thanks Akhilleus for the reminder.
Arelis Hernández of the Washington Post: "Federal officials visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday to tout their progress in dealing with migrant children, saying minors are spending less time in Border Patrol stations and being reunited with family or sponsors more quickly. The government has re-engineered the process for managing unaccompanied children and transferring them to shelters and family, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during a news conference at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's processing facility in Donna, Tex. Flanked by five congresswomen from Texas and California, Mayorkas offered few details on how his agency plans to tackle the pressing issues that continue to drive migration and enrich smuggling organizations." ~~~
~~~ Uh, There's This. Eileen Sullivan, et al., of the New York Times: "Biden administration officials have insisted that they have gotten better control of a surge of migrant children that has swamped detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border. But documents obtained by The New York Times indicate that the problem has moved to other facilities, like convention centers in Dallas, San Diego and Long Beach, Calif., which are nearing capacity as funds for more space are scarce. The migrant children are far better cared for at the new facilities, operated by the Department of Health and Human Services, than they were at crammed jails run by the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection, according to administration officials. But health department officials are taking about a month on average to move the children and teenagers out of government custody and into the care of a family member or sponsor in the United States." The White House is allowing DHS to redirect funds to migrant care.
New Justice Department. Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The Justice Department proposed a rule on Friday that would expand the definition of a firearm and help close a loophole that has allowed people to buy so-called ghost guns, firearms that are easily assembled from kits but are not regulated by federal gun laws. The proposal was the latest effort by the Biden administration to crack down on gun deaths.... 'This proposed rule would help keep guns out of the wrong hands and make it easier for law enforcement to trace guns used to commit violent crimes, while protecting the rights of law-abiding Americans,' [AG Merrick Garland] said. President Biden ordered the Justice Department last month to find a way within 30 days to curb the spread of ghost guns, with an eye toward keeping them from criminals who might not otherwise be able to pass a background check and buy a gun."
Old "Justice" Department: "What First Amendment?" Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The Trump Justice Department secretly obtained Washington Post journalists' phone records and tried to obtain their email records over reporting they did in the early months of the Trump administration on Russia's role in the 2016 election, according to government letters and officials. In three separate letters dated May 3[, 2021,] and addressed to Post reporters Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller, and former Post reporter Adam Entous, the Justice Department wrote they were 'hereby notified that pursuant to legal process the United States Department of Justice received toll records associated with the following telephone numbers for the period from April 15, 2017 to July 31, 2017.' The letters listed work, home or cellphone numbers covering that three-and-a-half-month period. Cameron Barr, The Post's acting executive editor, said: '... The Department of Justice should immediately make clear its reasons for this intrusion into the activities of reporters doing their jobs, an activity protected under the First Amendment.'"
So Here's What the Deep State Looks Like. Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration's controversial mental health chief, who criticized last year's coronavirus response as overblown, is now serving as a senior civil servant in the Drug Enforcement Administration, raising concerns she has 'burrowed' into the federal bureaucracy to shape policy, said three officials.... Elinore McCance-Katz, who served as ... Donald Trump's assistant secretary for mental health and substance abuse, was hired as a legislative policy analyst focused on drug diversion, or the illegal use of drugs. The role, which officials said is GS-15, or the highest level under the federal General Schedule, positions McCance-Katz to help shape the Biden administration's strategy on drug enforcement, particularly with Biden's nominee to run DEA still awaiting Senate confirmation."
A woman wearing a camo hat tricked Tricky Ted Cruz into admitting his purpose in leading a group of senators to object to Pennsylvania vote totals after the Capitol insurrection was an effort to overturn the election. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post reports.
Jessie Balmert of the Cincinnati Enquirer: "The Ohio Republican Party's leaders called on Rep. Anthony Gonzalez to resign for voting to impeach ... Donald Trump, a stunning rebuke of one of their own. On Friday, the party's governing board called on Gonzalez, R-Rocky River, to resign in a divided vote. They also voted to censure Gonzalez and nine other members of Congress for "their votes to support the unconstitutional, politically motivated impeachment proceeding against President Donald J. Trump," according to the resolution. Gonzalez was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Over and above their general group stupidity, it's clear the "Ohio Republican party leaders" are mightly ignorant. Their claim that the "impeachment proceedings" were "unconstitutional" is unsupportable. Under the Constituion, the House can impeach a president or judge for undefined "high crimes & misdemeanors" that most people would consider specious, and their actions would still be "constitutional." Additionally, "incitement of insurrection," the charge for which Gonzales voted, is pretty damned serious.
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The prosecutors overseeing the vast investigation into the riot at the Capitol this winter have started offering plea deals to defendants, several lawyers said, a significant step in advancing the inquiry into the attack. The plea negotiations, which have largely been informal, are in an early stage, and as of late last week, only one defendant among hundreds charged had pleaded guilty. But many lawyers have recently acknowledged having private conversations with the government.... The extension of plea deals, even on a large scale, is typical in a legal system in which the vast majority of criminal cases never reach a jury. The likelihood that many, if not most, of the more than 400 defendants charged in connection with Jan. 6 will eventually plead guilty will have an added benefit in Washington: It will relieve the city's federal court of the burden of conducting scores of trials at once." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Can we in the public at least get a video loop of all of these traitorous reprobates pleading guilty & being carted off in cuffs?
Marie: Some were wondering in yesterday's Comments thread if this story was true. As I wrote yesterday morning, it is. Hannah Rabinowitz & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "Alleged US Capitol rioter Anthony Antonio was hooked on Fox News and developed 'Foxitis,' his lawyer said Thursday in a virtual hearing interrupted multiple times by another defendant's profane outbursts. Antonio, his lawyer Joseph Hurley said, had lost his job at the beginning of the pandemic and for the next six months watched Fox News constantly. Antonio developed what his lawyer called 'Foxitis' and 'Foxmania,' and believed the lies about the 2020 election from Fox News and ... Donald Trump." The Washington Post's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Gillian Brockell of the Washington Post: "On Friday, the State Department and the professional association and union representing Foreign Service officers will unveil 71 more names [honoring Foreign Service officers who have died on duty] after an exhaustive search through the archives to find forgotten or overlooked people who qualify. Included are three envoys who died of yellow fever in the Republic of Texas, then an independent country; a Black diplomat who was born enslaved and died an ambassador to Liberia; and [F.R.] Engdahl, who died in an accidental fall while he was a Japanese prisoner of war." (Also linked yesterday.)
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Abdi Dahir of the New York Times: Vanessa "Nakate, a 24-year-old Ugandan, had participated in a news conference at the World Economic Forum with four white activists, including the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg. But when The Associated Press released a picture of the five from the event, Ms. Nakate had been cropped out. The omission shocked and saddened Ms. Nakate, who in a tearful 10-minute video posted on Twitter denounced the 'racism' in the global environmental movement.... Yet her presence at the event and the effect that the episode had on her elicited a response that reverberated across the world.... The A.P., which apologized to her both publicly and privately, said it would expand diversity training for its journalists and editors worldwide. And by the time Ms. Nakate's flight landed in Uganda a day after she posted her video, she had solidified her place as a leading voice among young Africans passionately arguing for action against climate change.... The A.P., which called the decision a 'terrible mistake,' said the picture had been edited to create a close-up of Ms. Thunberg and to remove a building that was behind Ms. Nakate."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "Pfizer and the German company BioNTech have become the first companies to apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for full approval of their Covid-19 vaccine for use in people 16 and older. The vaccine is currently being administered to adults in America under an emergency use authorization granted in December. The approval process is likely to take months. The companies said in a statement on Friday that they had submitted their clinical data, which includes six months of information on the vaccine's safety and efficacy, to the F.D.A. They plan to submit additional material, including information about the manufacturing of the vaccine, in the coming weeks." (Also linked yesterday.)
Linda Qiu of the New York Times doubles down on debunking Tucker Carlson's latest whopper: "For months, popular social media posts have cited an unverified national health database to falsely suggest that Covid-19 vaccines have caused thousands of deaths, possibly even more than the virus itself. These claims have been repeatedly debunked. But they remain in circulation as prominent public figures like the Fox News host Tucker Carlson continue to promote them. 'Between late December of 2020 and last month, a total of 3,362 people apparently died after getting the Covid vaccine in the United States,' Mr. Carlson said on his show on Wednesday, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS.... But, as the federal Department of Health and Human Services notes in a disclaimer on its website, the database relies on self-reporting, and its reports may include unverified information." Qiu goes on to cite several experts who elaborate on Tucker's gross mistake.
Marisa Iati of the Washington Post: "Dutch researchers on Monday said they have trained honeybees to stick out their tongues when presented with the virus's unique scent, acting as a kind of rapid test. Although it's a less conventional method than lab tests, the scientists said teaching bees to diagnose the coronavirus could help fill a gap in low-income countries with limited access to more sophisticated technology, like materials for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.... The scientists trained roughly 150 bees with a Pavlovian conditioning method...." MB: So I guess it's okay if I play the queen bee & stick out my tongue at vaccine skeptics. Oh, Tucker ....
Raf Cassert & Barry Hatton of the AP: "The European Union called on the United States Friday to start boosting its vaccine exports to contain the global COVID-19 crisis, and said that the U.S. backing of patent waivers would provide only a long-term solution at best.... While the U.S. has kept a tight lid on exports of American-made vaccines so it can inoculate its own population first, the EU has become the world's leading provider, allowing about as many doses to go outside the 27-nation bloc as are kept for its 446 million inhabitants.... [French President Emmanuel] Macron said it was more important for Biden to work on exports. 'The Anglo-Saxons block many of these ingredients' needed to make vaccines, the French leader said, referring to Washington and London." MB: Clearly, Macron doesn't properly appreciate "uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions" -- like Me-First selfishness. Meanwhile, can't people in vaccine-needy countries start teaching tricks to honeybees?
Beyond the Beltway
Alabama. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "A police officer in Huntsville, Ala., was convicted of murder on Friday for fatally shooting a man who had called 911 to report that he was suicidal and who was holding a gun to his head when the police arrived, prosecutors said. The officer, William Darby, who had been strongly defended by the Police Department and cleared of wrongdoing by a city review board, will face 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced for the killing of Jeffrey Parker, 49, on April 3, 2018, according to prosecutors. The verdict stunned city leaders, who had maintained that Officer Darby was justified in using deadly force."
Arizona. Hannah Knowles & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "The Arizona Senate will hold off on a plan to contact voters as part of a Republican-commissioned election recount that raised concerns from the Justice Department about voter intimidation, state Senate President Karen Fann said Friday. The head of the department's civil rights division, Pamela S. Karlan, wrote to Fann (R) on Wednesday suggesting that the recount of nearly 2.1 million ballots in the state's largest county by a private contractor may not comply with federal law, leaving ballots at 'risk of damage or loss.' She also raised questions about the contractor's stated plans to 'identify voter registrations that did not make sense' and interview voters via phone and 'physical canvassing.'... Arizona's Democratic secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, an outspoken critic of those promoting baseless election fraud theories..., has gotten a 24/7 security detail after contacting the governor's staff requesting the protection in light of an incident in which a man chased her, as well as threatening or harassing messages...."
Some people can't understand why anyone would oppose the death penalty's being imposed on those who commit heinous crimes. Well, here's one reason: ~~~
~~~ Arkansas Executed the Wrong Man. Heather Murphy of the New York Times: "For 22 years, Ledell Lee maintained that he had been wrongly convicted of murder. 'My dying words will always be, as it has been, "I am an innocent man,"' he told the BBC in an interview published on April 19, 2017 -- the day before officials in Arkansas administered the lethal injection. Four years later, lawyers affiliated with the Innocence Project and the American Civil Liberties Union say DNA testing has revealed that genetic material on the murder weapon -- which was never previously tested -- in fact belongs to another man. In a highly unusual development for a case in which a person has already been convicted and executed, the new genetic profile has been uploaded to a national criminal database in an attempt to identify the mystery man.... The Innocence Project and the A.C.L.U. ... pushed for additional DNA testing ... on the eve of Mr. Lee's execution. The request was denied. A federal judge rejected Mr. Lee's request for a stay of the execution, saying that he had 'simply delayed too long,' according to a complaint filed by [Mr. Lee's sister]." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Assuming the "new" evidence is dispositive, this is a case of state-sponsored murder. And, yes, it's murder because agents of the state, including that federal judge, acted intentionally.
Florida. Daniel Dale, CNN's fact-checker on some provisions of Florida's new voter suppression law: "The law reduces the number of hours that ballot drop boxes can be made available to voters.... The law requires Florida voters to do extra labor to obtain mail-in ballots.... The law requires voters to provide a form of identification -- their driver's license number, Florida identification card number, or last four digits of their Social Security number -- to obtain a mail-in ballot.... The law makes it a first-degree misdemeanor to possess or deliver more than two mail-in ballots per election, other than a voter's own ballot and the ballots of "immediate" family members.... The law says state and local governments are not allowed to send a voter a mail-in ballot unless the voter has requested one." And more!
Minnesota. Amy Forliti & Michael Balsamo of the AP: "A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd's arrest and death, accusing them of willfully violating the Black man's constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air. A three-count indictment unsealed Friday names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here.
Texas. Marie: Yesterday, I linked to an AP story about Texas Republicans' latest big voter suppression bill. According to the AP, "... Democrats ... deployed technical challenges and hours of questioning that the bill's author, Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain, appeared unprepared at times to answer." That sentence has since been removed from the story, which, in its latest iteration, is here. The AP story never mentioned Cain's inability to answer the central question Democrat Rep. Rafael Anchia asked him. The exchange between the two men was classic -- in the Katie Porter tradition. (If you're short on time, you may want to start watching at 6:30 minutes in, when Rachel Maddow begins her intro that's specific to the legislative exchange, or at about 8:25 minutes in, when video of the exchange begins.) ~~~
~~~ It's way fun to watch the change in the facial expressions of Cain & his entourage, which devolve from smug and smiley-faced at the outset to really uncomfortable as they realize Anchia has caught them accidentally revealing the real rationale for the bill. I liked the part, too, where Cain attempts to white-splain to Anchia that laws derive their authority from the state constitution, as if this would be news to Anchia. BTW, Cain ultimately struck the "purity" language from the bill.
Virginia Governor's Race. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Larry J. Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said the Republican candidates for governor this year fit into three categories: 'Trumpy, Trumpier, Trumpiest.'... One candidate brands himself a 'conservative outlaw.' Another boasts of her bipartisan censure by the State Senate for calling the Capitol rioters 'patriots.' A third, asked about Dominion voting machines -- the subject of egregious conspiracy theories on the right -- called them 'the most important issue' of the campaign. These are ... three of the leading contenders in a race that in many ways embodies the decade-long meltdown of Republican power in Virginia, a once-purple state that has gyrated more decisively toward Democrats than perhaps any in the country." (Also linked yesterday.)
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Reader Comments (10)
Re: the wrong man put to death in Arkansas. There is no statute of limitation for murder but there clearly is for valid proof of a black man’s innocence in red states like Arkansas.
Despite DNA evidence proving that someone else committed the crime, the Arkansas AG (R-natch) wasn’t having any of it. But she was “prayerful” about the wrongful execution, and it was perfectly okay I guess, because Jesus. And, oh yeah, because the guy they killed was black. A judge said “Well, he waited too long. Kill him.” rather than allowing a simple DNA test that would have provided evidence one way or the other. But no. Black guy. Kill him.
Oh, he was innocent? Well, never mind.
There’s also no statute of limitation on lethal racism in America. I’m prayerful about that.
If there is DNA material available in a capital case and the state refuses to test that material, thereby condemning an innocent person to death, everyone in the chain who had a hand in denying that test should be jailed and tried for murder. Bet they’d all cry for a DNA test then.
News of the release of the first batch of White House visitor logs in four years points up the vast difference between a real, law abiding administration and the Trump Crime Family.
But Trump was never about doing the people’s business, he was forever busy doing Trump business, and like any mob boss, he worked hard at keeping his machinations and crooked deals secret. Don’t forget that this is the guy who routinely tore up official documents, in direct violation of the official records act which maintains that presidential documents are the property of the people, not the president.
But Trump has always believed that there isn’t anything he shouldn’t own or control. Remember how he confiscated notes taken during a private meeting he had with his Russian handler and campaign manager, Vladimir Putin? Historians looking to uncover what exactly went on between those two famously crooked and self serving politicians are shit out of luck.
In any event, even some of the most secretive and conspiratorial crime bosses have been brought to heel. Trump has been shown to be both a fraud and a loser. And the Party of Traitors is following him down the trail of loserdom, which is why they’re working so hard to rig the game in their favor. They realize that if voters can oust a crook like Trump, they could be next. The answer is simply to remove voters from the equation. And that’s no secret.
Thank you, Marie, for putting on the Maddow–-loved the way she began with the 1918 vote in Texas–-come on down, all you womens–-ya'll can finally vote in this great state of Texas but only if you are white. Then the exchange between Cain and Anchia–-a classic–-real Texas boiler plates.
Note to Jeanne:
The RAIN in Spain falls mainly on the plains.
The Reign of the King of Spain was cut short
Due to the Reining in by Spanish flies.
And I will be more careful next time–-she says not very convincingly.
Wait...bees have tongues? You learn all kinds of neat stuff out here.
PD,
Hmmm...I thought Spanish fly achieved the opposite effect of reining in.
Who thought of this crap in the first place? “Hey, man, I got a hot date tonight!” “Cool. And here’s a bug you and your date can eat.” “Wow. Thanks. A bug. And we eat it? Okay. Sounds normal.”
This guy with the “Foxitis” plea, I’m guessing he could easily switch to an insanity (inHannity?) defense. Not because it made him crazy, but because you’d have to be nuts in the first place to watch that much Fox. But if this Foxitis defense works, look for a ton of those traitors and Trump thugs to try it out.
“Your honor, I watched too much Fox!”
“Okay. Not guilty. Case dismissed.”
On a more serious note, I’ve been reading a lot about how these traitors are really nice people who were just misled. Oh,you mean the way bank robbers are misled about how easy it is to break into a vault? Fuck that misled bullshit. Even if these people are Kool-Aid addicts, which most are, idiocy (or hatred) is no defense. Misled, my ass.
They may have been misled, but most of them should be
missiled, even though I don't believe in capital punishment,
or is that capitol punishment?
The Root went through some of the history lessons Republicans took growing up to see what they were taught about slavery and Black history.
"Even though no teacher in America has been hogtied and forced to teach the curriculum devised by historians, journalists and people who know things, The Root was curious. If The 1619 Project is an attempt to rewrite history, which version of history does the GOP fear is being altered?
The Root decided to see what some of the signatories to Mitch McConnell’s Strawberry Letter knew about slavery and Black history. We dug through state curriculum standards, yearbooks and spoke with teachers to see which interpretation of history the white tears-spewing politicians learned when they were in elementary and high school."
The family of grifters keep grifting (as we knew they would.) The taxpayer teat needs to be terminated. (even though they say it is supposed to end in July. Can we believe them?)
MoDo saying better than most: "Trump built a movement based on lies. The Cheneys showed him how it’s done." The crocodiles versus the hyena. They have so much, but it will never be enough to suffice. Sad excuse for "leaders".