;)
The Conversation -- February 22, 2024
Kevin Liptak & Michael Williams of CNN: "President Joe Biden met Thursday with the wife and daughter of the late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, the White House said, as the president prepares to levy additional sanctions against Russia. After the meeting, Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin himself will be sanctioned. 'I had the honor of meeting with his wife and daughter and, to state the obvious, he was a man of incredible courage,' Biden told reporters of Navalny. 'We're gonna be announcing sanctions against Putin, who is responsible for his death, tomorrow.' Biden said it was clear from the meeting that Navalny's wife would 'continue to fight.'... Dasha Navalnaya, Navalny's daughter, is a student at Stanford University. In a statement, the White House said Biden 'expressed his admiration for Aleksey Navalny's extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia in which the rule of law applies equally to everyone.'"
For those of us keeping track of developments in The Stupidest Senator contest, I'm here to report Tommy Tuberville just took the lead. First, bear in mind that Mr. Potato Head is a senator from Alabama, and the Alabama supreme court decision has made front-page news all over the country (even in Santa Rosa, Florida, which is apparently Mr. Potato Head's home -- in violation of the Constitution): ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said Thursday that he is 'all for' the Alabama Supreme Court's decision that frozen embryos are children. He also said he opposes the effects of the ruling. And that he supports fertility treatments like IVF that are now being denied to women across his state as a result of the court's ruling. And that he wants to read the legislation more closely before saying more -- except there is no legislation. The Alabama senator delivered this spectacular series of responses in the span of three minutes when asked for his reaction to the court's unprecedented decision on Tuesday.... 'I was all for it,' the Republican senator said cheerfully. 'You know, you just gotta look at everything going on in the country. It's just an attack on families, an attack on kids. You know, anything we can do for the future of our young people because they're our No. 1 commodity.'... 'We need to have more kids,' he continued. 'We need to have an opportunity to do that. I thought this was the right thing to do.'... His remarks made no sense.... When it was pointed out that Alabama health clinics are halting IVF treatments as a result of the court decision, Tuberville started talking about abortion...." And so forth. Read on. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I couldn't find a video of Tuberville's nonsensical remarks, but this one will do in its stead:
Ken Ritter & Rio Yamat of the AP: "A former FBI informant accused of lying about multimillion-dollar bribery allegations against President Joe Biden and his son Hunter and purportedly having links to Russian intelligence was again taken into custody Thursday, two days after a judge said he could be freed ahead of trial, his attorneys said in court documents. The arrest during a meeting Thursday morning with his lawyers came after prosecutors appealed a ruling allowing 43-year-old Alexander Smirnov, who holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship, to be released with a GPS monitor ahead of trial on charges alleging he lied to the FBI. He was taken into custody on a warrant for the same charges issued in California, where the case was originally filed, his lawyers said. Several sealed entries were listed in the court docket, but no additional details about his return to custody were immediately available."
Lauren Sforza of the Hill: "Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) on Wednesday criticized his Republican colleagues for using a former FBI informant's claims in their impeachment inquiry even though the statements hadn't been verified. 'We were warned at the time that we received the document outlining this witness's testimony.... We were warned that the credibility of this statement was not known,' Buck said on CNN's 'The Source.' 'And yet, people, my colleagues went out and talk to the public about how this was credible and how it was damning and how it proved President Biden's -- at the time Vice President Biden's -- complicity in receiving bribes,' he added."
Engoron to Trump: Fuggedaboudit. Kara Scannell of CNN: "The judge overseeing the $355 million civil fraud case has denied Donald Trump's request to delay the judgment for a month. Judge Arthur Engoron told lawyers for Trump and the New York attorney general of his intentions in an email sent Thursday. Once the judgment is officially entered, it will start the 30-day clock for Trump to file an appeal. During that period, Trump will need to put up cash or post bond to cover the $355 million and roughly $100 million in interest he was ordered to pay the state."
Alex Gangitano of the Hill: "President Biden on Wednesday said several foreign leaders have told him he has to beat former President Trump, the likely GOP nominee, in November. 'As I walk out of meetings, a head of state will find an excuse to come up close ... and say, "You've got to win,"' Biden recalled at a fundraiser in San Francisco. 'Not because I'm so special,' he added. '"You've got to win because my democracy is at stake if the other guy wins,"' the president said, quoting heads of state. 'Nine heads of state have done that with me.'" (Since Biden does not claim any of the heads of state addressed him as "sir," I assume his recollections are true.)
Robert Frank of CNBC: "The nation's millionaires and billionaires are evading more than $150 billion a year in taxes, adding to growing government deficits and creating a 'lack of fairness' in the tax system, according to the head of the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS, with billion of dollars in new funding from Congress, has launched a sweeping crackdown on wealthy taxpayers, partnerships and large companies. In an exclusive interview with CNBC, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said the agency has launched several programs targeting taxpayers with the most complex returns to root out tax evasion and make sure every taxpayer contributes their fair share."
Kelly Garrity of Politico: "The future of the Republican Party isn't Donald Trump, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Thursday. 'It won't be his party forever. Right? It just won't. At some point, Donald Trump won't be here forever,' Sununu said during Politico's Governors Summit.... 'Let me put it a different way: Assholes come and go. But America is here to stay,' he said.... During the interview, Sununu, a moderate and self-described 'pro-choice' Republican, also panned an Alabama Supreme Court ruling granting legal personhood to frozen embryos as 'scary.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Sununu is not as pro-choice as he advertises. Before Dobbs, in June 2021, "... Sununu signed the most regressive anti-reproductive health care budget in New Hampshire history, ignoring public opinion and opposition from more than 200 of the state's leading medical experts," Planned Parenthood reported The budget "include[d] an extreme abortion ban, medically unnecessary ultrasound requirements, criminal penalties for doctors, and inadequate funding for the NH Family Planning Program." Still, it would seem he knows an asshole when he sees one.
Alexander Smith of NBC News: “Vladimir Putin is a 'crazy SOB,' President Joe Biden said Wednesday -- a direct stab at the Russian leader that drew a furious reaction from the Kremlin. In comments at a fundraiser in San Francisco, Biden also took aim at ... Donald Trump, ridiculing his likely opponent in the November presidential election for comparing himself to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died last week.... The Biden administration is set to announce a major sanctions package Friday to hold Russia accountable."
Nathan Layne of Reuters: "Lara Trump, who Donald Trump has endorsed to be the new co-chair of the Republican National Committee, said on Wednesday that the organization needed to raise $500 million for the 2024 general election and did not rule out using raised funds to pay her father-in-law's mounting legal fees.... Trump's daughter-in-law said the party needed a strong fundraising push to help Trump in his bid to return to the White House and for congressional races also up for grabs.... Lara Trump was asked by media at Wednesday's event whether she would use funds raised by the RNC to pay legal fees for her father-in-law's numerous criminal and civil cases. In response, she said she didn't know whether it would be allowed under RNC rules but could see such payments as being in line with the interests of the party's rank-and-file members." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gee, just last week Lara said that "every single penny" the RNC raised would go to re-electing Donald Trump; now she's mentioning money for Congressional candidates. But it's worth noting that the $500MM figure she hit on tracks rather closely with what Donald has to pay, not in legal fees, but in penalties, interest & compensation in civil suits he lost recently.
Mike Allen of Axios: "New York Times investigative reporters Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner -- who in 2018 revealed tax data about then-President Trump that documented widespread tax dodges -- will be out Sept. 10 with a book, 'Lucky Loser,' that draws on new confidential records and insider interviews.... 'Over the final era of his business career,' Buettner says, 'the less his judgment was involved in a project, the greater its chances of success.'" MB: Let's hope some of the reporters' findings get baked into undecided voters' minds, and helps them realize what a loser Trump is.
Charles Blow of the New York Times: "If you don't think this country is sliding toward theocracy, you're not paying attention.... In his concurring opinion [in the Alabama embryos case], the chief justice of the court, Tom Parker, wrote, 'Even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.'... The Alabama decision ... essentially turns cryopreservation tanks into frozen nurseries. The idea is absurd and unscientific. It is instead tied to a religious crusade to downgrade the personhood of women by conferring personhood on frozen embryos.... The only thing that seems to be temporarily stopping congressional Republicans from pushing for a national abortion ban ... is that the issue of reproductive choice is an electoral loser for their party." See Akhilleus' commentary in today's thread.
Russia. Anton Troianovski & Ivan Nechepurenco of the New York Times: "Russian authorities have declared that the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny died of natural causes but are refusing to release his remains until his mother agrees to a 'secret funeral,' Mr. Navalny's mother and his spokeswoman said on Thursday. Lyudmila Navalnaya, Mr. Navalny's mother, said she had been 'secretly' taken to a morgue Wednesday night, 'where they showed me Aleksei.' She was shown a medical report on Mr. Navalny's death that said he died of natural causes, according to the Navalny team's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh.... [Ms. Navalnaya] said the authorities warned that if she did not 'agree to a secret funeral,' then 'they will do something with my son's body.' 'They're blackmailing me,' Ms. Navalnaya said in a video posted on her son's YouTube channel. 'They are setting me conditions on where, when and how Aleksei should be buried.'"
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Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "Starting Wednesday, President Biden will email 153,000 student loan borrowers enrolled in his signature repayment plan to let them know their debts -- totaling $1.2 billion -- have been forgiven. The notice makes good on the administration's promise to accelerate forgiveness for borrowers with low original balances who are enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (Save) plan. Rather than wait 20 to 25 years for relief through other income-driven repayment plans, enrollees in the Save plan who borrowed less than $12,000 can have their debt wiped clean after 10 years of payments. The Education Department had originally planned to begin forgiveness in July but started identifying eligible borrowers this month." (Also linked yesterday.)
Myah Ward of Politico: "The Biden administration is considering a string of new executive actions and federal regulations in an effort to curb migration at the U.S. southern border, according to three people familiar with the plans. The proposals under consideration would represent a sweeping new approach to an issue that has stymied the White House since its first days in office and could potentially place the president at odds with key constituencies. Among the ideas under discussion include using a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act to bar migrants from seeking asylum in between U.S. ports of entry. The administration is also discussing tying that directive to a trigger -- meaning that it would only come into effect after a certain number of illegal crossings took place, said the three people...."
Dog Bites Man. 24 Times. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The Secret Service had to 'adjust our operational tactics' to protect President Biden because the first family's dog kept biting agents, including one who required six stitches and another whose blood spilled onto the floor of the White House, according to newly released internal emails posted online. The agency recorded at least 24 biting episodes between October 2022 and July 2023 involving Commander, a German shepherd who became the terror of the West Wing, Camp David and the president's homes in Delaware, about half of which required medical attention, according to the documents. Commander was banished from the White House last fall to an undisclosed location." MB: IMO, it should not have taken 24 incidents to remove the dog. CNN's story is here.
David Sanger of the New York Times: "American intelligence agencies have told their closest European allies that if Russia is going to launch a nuclear weapon into orbit, it will probably do so this year -- but that it might instead launch a harmless 'dummy' warhead into orbit to leave the West guessing about its capabilities. The assessment came as American intelligence officials conducted a series of rushed, classified briefings for their NATO and Asian allies, as details of the American assessment of Russia's intentions began to leak out. The American intelligence agencies are sharply divided in their opinion about what President Vladimir V. Putin is planning...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Undeterred, House Republicans Remain Putin/Trump Tools
Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President Biden's younger brother James, in a lengthy opening statement at the start of a deposition for the House Republican-led impeachment inquiry, said Joe Biden had no role in any of his business dealings that are now under scrutiny. 'I have had a 50-year career in a variety of business ventures,' he said, according to a copy of his opening statement obtained by The Washington Post. 'Joe Biden has never had any involvement or any direct or indirect financial interest in those activities. None.' He testified that he has kept his professional life separate from their personal relationship, adding, 'I never asked my brother to take any official action on behalf of me, my business associates, or anyone else.'... The appearances of James and Hunter Biden before the Oversight and Judiciary committees could provide Republicans with a final chance to alter the trajectory of an impeachment inquiry that so far has produced mostly exculpatory statements, despite Republicans' efforts to prove that the president benefited improperly from his family's businesses." (Hunter Biden is scheduled to appear before committee investigators next week.) ~~~
~~~ Andrew Feinstein of the Independent: "... over the course of [a] year, it has become increasingly apparent that the sources of whatever 'dirt' Republicans claim to have can all be traced back to ... Donald Trump.... James Biden's testimony largely squares with what was said under oath by a former associate of [President] Biden's son Hunter, an ex-US Navy officer called Tony Bobulinski.... Just hours before Mr Trump and Mr Biden met for their final general election debate [in 2020], reporters covering the debate were summoned by the president's campaign to ... [meet] Mr Bobulinski, who proceeded to ... claim that Mr Biden had been a co-stockholder in a failed business venture his son had explored with a Chinese energy conglomerate. But when Mr Bobulinski appeared before [James] Comer and [Jim] Jordan's panels last week, he was unable to produce any evidence backing up his claims.... [Bobulinski] was represented during his House interview by Stefan Passantino, a Republican elections lawyer and former Trump White House attorney who ... pushed former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to conceal testimony during the House's investigation into the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.... Mr Passantino [was then and] is still on the Trump campaign payroll...."
Glenn Thrush & Ken Vogel of the New York Times try to profile Alexander Smirnov, the FBI informant who falsely claimed "the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had arranged to pay $5 million bribes to both President Biden and his son Hunter. The explosive claim was leaked to Republicans, who made Mr. Smirnov's allegations a centerpiece of their now-stalled effort to impeach President Biden, apparently without verifying the allegation.... Little is known about Mr. Smirnov beyond a few public records and snippets of biography in papers filed in federal court in Las Vegas, where he lives and was taken into custody on Thursday."
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The cast of characters Republicans have sought out to substantiate President Biden's purported corruption over the years has come to include half a dozen convicted and accused criminals, as well as multiple people the U.S. government has linked to Russia, corruption and subverting American democracy.... [For instance, one such] witness was Gal Luft, who the government said had skipped bail after his indictment for alleged arms trafficking and foreign lobbying violations was handed down months earlier. Days before the indictment was unsealed, House GOP impeachment leader Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) called Luft a 'a very credible witness on Biden family corruption.'" Do read on. MB: The list of dodgy "witnesses" is shocking, and elected Republicans' collaboration with them is far more problematic than Hunter Biden's opportunistic business ventures. Hunter has never been elected to anything, unlike the suspect GOP gang who are collaborating with foreign spies and criminals.
David Kurtz of TPM: "The implications of this Russian operation are staggering, especially for the willing Republicans and right-wing media stooges who were the useful idiots propagating the disinformation for years. The James Comers, Chuck Grassleys, Jim Jordans of the world have been trafficking in this stuff as the purported basis for a Biden impeachment, which is itself tightly yoked to Trump's campaign for re-election. Right-wing outlets, most notably Fox News, have been amplifying the claims not dozens or hundreds but thousands of times over the past several months.... We're nearly a decade into Putin's sustained, unrelenting attack on American democracy through misinformation and mischief. Among other things, the Republican Party and its standard bearer have been successfully enmeshed in it and thoroughly compromised."
But the Laptop! digby republishes a portion of a (firewalled) "memo" by Josh Marshall of TPM: There is "a larger canvas that goes back to the 'Hunter Biden laptop' and really all the way back to 2015, a continuing Russian information operation that has been ongoing for almost a decade.... Russia's effort to meddle in the 2016 election was obviously bad. And Rudy Giuliani's dumpster diving in Ukraine and other parts of the former USSR in 2018 and 2019, which led to Donald Trump's first impeachment, was probably hoovering up Russian disinformation too.... For years I&'ve continued saying, against what seems like the unified thinking of every reporter, editorialist and credentialed smart person, that the fabled 'Hunter Biden Laptop' was obviously the product of a Russian influence operation. The story was absurd on its face. Somehow Hunter Biden decided in a drugged-up fugue that he needed to take his laptop to a computer repair shop. He then forgot about it. The legally blind owner of the repair shop decided to crack it open and look at the files (as one does, of course) and then somehow managed to get the contents to Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon.... This entire thing has been based on Russian plants and intelligence operations from the start. Every bit of it."
Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "The real Russiagate ... has always been the ongoing Russian efforts to ratfuck American elections with the active collaboration of the Republican Party and in many cases the mainstream political press[.]... [BUT] Fake scandal on A1 [of the New York Times] for days on end, story on how it was all malicious bullshit on A16 -- same as it ever was."
Dominick Mastrangelo of the Hill: "Fox News co-host Jessica Tarlov mocked House Republicans on Wednesday for their pursuit of impeachment charges against President Biden. 'This is the path that they've chosen to take, and honestly I'm surprised that they have this high of a threshold for humiliation,' Tarlov said during an appearance on the network. 'Every witness they have called has decimated their argument.'... Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Wednesday told reporters on Capitol Hill that the Smirnov indictment 'doesn't change the fundamental facts' of his caucus's case against the president. 'It's so embarrassing,' Tarlov, who serves as a liberal panelist on the popular table talk program 'The Five,' said. 'I think [Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)] was spot on when he said this impeachment really ended yesterday, when we found out that we have a Russian asset that is foundational to this impeachment inquiry.'"
Marie: Over the past few days, I have seen clips of Gym Jordan referred to a "1023" as the core document in his impeachment inquiry. (And here's Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) releasing a 1023 [July 2023] as "proof" Joe Biden "engaged in a scheme" with a Ukrainian businessman.) A 1023 is an FBI form that records raw, unverified information obtained from a source. Allegations on a 1023 should not be the "core" of any investigation. It is in no way a reliable record of something that happened. It is a "tip." It is not "evidence." A prosecutor might put a 1023 into evidence as part of the paper trail to explain why the FBI undertook a line of inquiry and how they later developed evidence of the crime being prosecuted. But the DOJ would not be presenting the 1023 itself as evidence of a crime or other wrongdoing.
Tom Winter, et al. of NBC News: "Federal prosecutors mistakenly claimed in a court filing that a photo of sawdust they found while searching Hunter Biden's electronics was cocaine, attorneys for the president's son said Tuesday." MB: Things that look more like cocaine than sawdust: sugar, salt, white sand. Look forward to court filings of photos of Hunter's sugar bowl, salt shaker, trip to Florida Panhandle beach.
Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's attorneys Wednesday requested a month-long delay in enforcement of a civil fraud judgment of more than $350 million against the former president, saying they had concerns with a proposal drafted by the state attorney general's office.... [New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur] Engoron, in an email exchange with [a Trump attorney], indicated there was 'no need for a motion or conference on this' because the judgment the attorney general proposed mirrored the terms of his order. The judge, however, invited Trump's side to provide specific disagreements with the proposed document. Trump's lawyers cited two items they said were incorrect and requested more time to evaluate the document and propose any other changes due to what they considered inaccuracies." ~~~
~~~ Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: “... Donald Trump is gearing up to fight a massive fine in the New York business fraud case that threatens to erase most of the cash he says he has on hand. But first, he has to secure a bond -- and that might not be so easy.... This is typically up to 120% of the judgment plus the current interest. At that rate, Trump's original ruling with interest would indicate he will need to secure a bond worth more than $540 million. But it's unlikely that the real estate baron will be able to use his properties as collateral.... 'Who ever is going to bond [Trump] is committing that they're going to make good on that judgment,' said New York business attorney David Slarskey. 'Who's going to do that?'... Every day, the accruing interest adds $87,502 to Trump's bill." MB: I heard on the teevee that Trump is bond-shopping.
Steve Karnowski of the AP: "A federal judge on Wednesday affirmed a $5 million arbitration award against MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell in favor of a software engineer who challenged data that Lindell said proves China interfered in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and tipped the outcome to Joe Biden. Lindell said he plans to appeal.... Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the 2020 election, launched his 'Prove Mike Wrong Challenge' ... in August 2021. Lindell offered a $5 million reward through Lindell Management for anyone who could prove that 'packet captures' and other data he released ... were not valid data 'from the November 2020 election.' Robert Zeidman entered the challenge with a 15-page report that concluded the data from Lindell don't 'contain packet data of any kind and do not contain any information related to the November 2020 election.'... A panel of three arbitrators last April unanimously ordered Lindell to pay Zeidman $5 million, concluding that he had satisfied the contest rules."
Presidential Race
Florida Grapes Are Sour. Henry Gomez of NBC News: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told backers of his unsuccessful presidential bid Wednesday that ... Donald Trump should not play 'identity politics' when picking a 2024 running mate.... The 34-minute chat, organized by DeSantis political allies, was notable for how candid -- and, at times, critical -- the governor was in sharing concerns about Trump, whom he endorsed for the GOP nomination immediately upon suspending his own campaign last month.... While assessing Trump's vice presidential prospects, DeSantis denied any interest in being chosen." He also said that in a second Trump presidency*, neither his staff nor right-wing media would hold Trump accountable for his errors.
Isaac Arnsdorf, et al., of the Washington Post: Donald Trump & his allies are planning massive, militarized deportations & detention camps for undocumented immigrants, should he be re-elected. "... his deportation proposal is one part of his emerging platform that experts, current and former government officials and others described as especially alarming, impractical and prone to significant legal and logistical hurdles.... Reflecting on the ideas Trump and his team discussed during his presidency, former Immigration & Customs official Jason Houser said, 'Their ideas were psychotic.'... 'Trump is following the 20th century dictator's playbook of dehumanizing vulnerable groups in order to isolate them and justify cruelty by the state,' Genevieve Nadeau, a former DHS lawyer, said in a report by the nonpartisan organization Protect Democracy." (Also linked yesterday.)
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Alabama. Anna Betts of the New York Times: "The University of Alabama at Birmingham health system announced on Wednesday that it was pausing in vitro fertilization treatments as it evaluated the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling that frozen embryos should be considered children. 'We are saddened that this will impact our patients' attempt to have a baby through I.V.F.,' a statement from the health system said, 'but we must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for I.V.F. treatments.'"
Arizona/New York. Arizona GOP Prosecutor Fears Manhattan D.A. Will Release Murder Suspect. Chelsia Marcius of the New York Times: The Republican prosecutor of Maricopa County, Arizona, Rachel Mitchell, has refused to extradite a murder suspect to Manhattan because she believes Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg would release the suspect, who also is accused of stabbing two Arizona women. "Emily Tuttle, a spokeswoman for Mr. Bragg, called Ms. Mitchell's statement a grave insult. 'It is deeply disturbing that D.A. Mitchell is playing political games in a murder investigation,' Ms. Tuttle said in a statement. She also noted that killings and shootings had dropped since Mr. Bragg took office. 'New York's murder rate is less than half that of Phoenix, Ariz., because of the hard work of the N.Y.P.D. and all of our law enforcement partners,' Ms. Tuttle said.... Ms. Mitchell became the county's top prosecutor in a 2022 special election and is currently running for a second term. On her campaign website she inveighs against President Biden and big cities that she claims 'turn a blind eye to rising crime.'" Mitchell is white. The AP's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Hmmm. Is this because Bragg is prosecuting that nice Donald Trump or because Bragg is Black? Or both?
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China, et al. Christian Shepherd, et al., of the Washington Post: "A trove of leaked documents from a Chinese state-linked hacking group shows that Beijing's intelligence and military groups are carrying out large-scale, systematic cyber intrusions against foreign governments, companies and infrastructure -- exploiting what the hackers claim are vulnerabilities in software systems from companies including Microsoft, Apple and Google. The cache ... offers an unprecedented look inside the operations of one of the firms that Chinese government agencies hire for on-demand, mass data-collecting operations. The files -- posted to GitHub last week and deemed credible by cybersecurity experts ... -- detail contracts to extract foreign data over eight years and describe targets within at least 20 foreign governments and territories, including India, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Taiwan and Malaysia." The New York Times report is here.
Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas was war here: "The leaders of 19 U.N. organizations outlined urgent steps they said were needed to salvage the humanitarian operation in Gaza, which the head of the World Health Organization described as a 'death zone' amid spiraling violence and deteriorating conditions. Iran and Lebanon are among a dozen countries slated to speak Thursday at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the legality of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.... Benny Gantz, a member of Israel's war cabinet, said in a news briefing that efforts are being made to promote a new hostage deal and that there are 'promising early signs of possible progress.' Asked to comment on Gantz's remarks, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, 'We do think that there is space to reach an agreement here.' The Gaza Health Ministry accused Israeli forces of delaying the evacuation of 110 patients from Nasser Hospital, the site of a multiday raid by the Israeli military." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Thursday are here.
News Lede
Washington Post: "A nationwide cell service outage is preventing some AT&T customers from making or receiving calls, including emergency calls, some 911 centers say. The website DownDetector reported more than 38,000 AT&T outages as of 7 a.m. Eastern time, with the first reports coming in shortly after 4 a.m. The site also saw a smaller number of outages for Verizon and T-Mobile." CNN's report is here. ~~~
~~~ New York Times Update: "AT&T said on Thursday it was working to fully restore its network after being hit by a widespread outage for hours early Thursday that disrupted service for thousands of users across the United States.... A spokesman did not respond to questions about what had caused the outage or when service would be back.... Reports surfaced early Thursday that FirstNet, the network AT&T maintains for emergency services personnel, had experienced outages, but AT&T said around 10:30 a.m. that the network was fully operational."
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Speaking of Tools: Lindsey F. Graham
The NYT et al. will have their best memory-holers this story... (As a long-ago comrade in arms used to bellow "Lord have mercy!!!)
@mkj: Well, sure, Lindsey. But isn't it equally possible that either Blumenthal or Warren said something negative about Biden or Biden policies? I don't mean a big-deal something, but even seemingly inconsequential remarks may have potential as kompromat.
Fer instance, suppose Sen. Warren said something like this in a phone call to a staffer: "Biden is wrong in his approach to aid for Ukraine thru Congress. After all, he's very old-school." That could get a little creative editing: "Biden is wrong to aid Ukraine. After all, he's very old." Instant Kompromat!
Life in Alabama.
And now a word from Justice Savonarola on the Sanctity of Life (harrumph, harrumph)
News that IVF procedures in Alabama have been halted for fear of prosecution and imprisonment by the theocrats now running the state prompts a revisiting of the recent ruling that confers the full status of legal personhood on embryos (does this mean that sperm and egg cells get half-personhood status?).
Reading through this thing, written by Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice, Tom Parker (wasn’t that the name of the grifter con artist and crook who stole millions from Elvis Presley?), one is struck by it’s language and tone. It comes across not as a well reasoned legal opinion with a basis in facts, precedence, and law, but as a sermon, and not one delivered by kindly Pastor Bob either, but by some fire breathing Elmer Gantry waving his Bible at the congregation and intoning on the wages of sin and the pains of hell.
Then one realizes that the opinion is cites, not the Constitution, but the Bible.
“‘When the People of Alabama adopted (the ‘sanctity of life’ provision of the state constitution), they did not use the term ‘inviolability,’ with its secular connotations, but rather they chose the term ‘sanctity,’ with all of its connotations,’ Parker wrote…‘The Alabama Constitution’s recognition that human life is an endowment from God emphasizes a foundational principle of English common law, which has been expressly incorporated as part of the law of Alabama.’
Parker then went on to cite two overtly Christian texts – ‘Theology Today’ and ‘Manhattan Declaration: The Call of Christian Conscience’ – to help define the phrase ‘sanctity of life’ and argue that life begins at conception because, ‘all human beings bear God’s image from the moment of conception.’”
This sermonizing is followed by more Biblical quotes.
So…an opinion based not on settled law and the Constitution, but “Theology Today” and the Bible. Got it. But those poor Christians never get a break. They are so put upon, so hounded, so persecuted.
In a more normal world, the former world (however normal or ab that world might have been, it ain’t the world we’re living in now), such sulfurous pulpit declarations masquerading as legal opinion would be laughed out of court in an appeal, but today? It’s not even clear that the Supreme Court would overturn this theocratic nonsense. Trump and the Federalists have been so successful salting the legal earth with theocratic, white Christian nationalist, and authoritarian judges that nothing is certain anymore. And when I use the term “salting the earth”, I mean it in the same way that action was used by conquering forces after capturing and razing the cities of their enemies, or used as a punishment against landowners considered evildoers (to use the expression favored by the holier than thou Decider, man of god that he was).
These theocrats and fascists don’t want to just rule, they aim to punish as well. And scaring medical providers into withholding care and treatment from those in need, fearing that they could be fined, lose their license, or be imprisoned is the exact desired end these mustache twirling Savonarolas are hoping for.
Sanctity of life, my ass.
And while we’re at it, how about looking at Alabama. (and most other red states) as havens where the sanctity of life is foremost in their minds.
“Here’s the reality: Alabama is third nationally in infant mortality. We have the highest child poverty rate in America. We have the second highest maternal mortality rate, with our mothers dying at a rate more than twice the national average. We rank fifth in gun deaths per capita. We rank second in COVID deaths per capita. And we rank ninth in prison deaths.
Last year, [2020] more Alabamians died than were born. First time that’s ever happened.”
In fact, infant mortality in some red states is more than triple that of blue states. Food insecurity is highest in red states by an absurd rate. This is especially bad for children in red states like Kentucky where one in four children go hungry on a regular basis. Hunger leads to malnutrition. Malnutrition leads to all kinds of life shortening complications. But red states consistently pass laws curtailing food assistance because “those people” don’t deserve “handouts”. The same is true for states (all red) that refused Medicaid expansion to help ensure the health of less well off citizens. Why? Fox sez it’s sochulsism, and we can’t be giving handouts to “those people”. But health issues end up creating huge financial burdens down the line. But no biggie. As long as TuKKKer and Hannity and Ingraham, and Trump and the rest of the traitors are happy.
And let’s not forget the death penalty states where judges routinely cast aside exculpatory evidence that comes to light later on. Because evildoers need to be punished. Even if they’re innocent. And the ones who aren’t? Let’s find even more painful ways to execute them.
So tell me again about sanctity of life.
Oh, forgot this yesterday…
Marie…”Smear-nov”? Haha. 👍
So yesterday, scofflaw and supporter of sexual abuse of students supposedly under his watchful eye, Jumpin’ Gym Jordan (Fatty points, he jumps), when confronted with the damning proof that the charges he and fellow traitor Jumpin’ Jim Comer (see above) are trying to hang around the Biden family necks are based on the lies of a Russian double agent, after a little Jackie Gleason “hummeda, hummeda, hummeda”, responded “But that doesn’t change the facts”
What? What fucking facts? There are no facts.
“Gym. It’s dark outside.”
“No it’s not.”
“Gym. It’s 2 AM. It’s pitch black.”
“Ummm…no it’s not.”
“Look outside. Dark. No light. Nighttime.”
“Ahhh… well, that doesn’t change the facts…”
“You’re an idiot.”
But you just know, you KNOW…that Foxbots out there are nodding their Cream of Wheat filled noggins going “That’s right, Gym. Facts is facts. Yup.”
Morons. All.
Heritage Foundation's views on sex. Get rid of the pill and rewild sex.
The Teamsters are giving the RNC a $45K contribution (WaPo). Reasons are obscure, other than the obvious hedge. The amount is much smaller than that given to the Democrats this cycle. But when the new Teamsters president was elected. he said that he wanted to ensure that the brothers' (and sistrens'?) views are reflected in policy decisions. Some of those brothers are Rs. So, maybe a sop to them, to cover his own flank a bit.
Whatever the reason(s), this is a big departure from recent Teamsters policy.
When I was a "college boy" working at a moving and storage business in summers, everyone not an office worker had to have a Teamsters card. Most of the white guys were pretty redneck. I can sort of see why the union might want to mollify such members. I think of the Teamsters as pretty clean these days, but maybe the leadership is aware that they still have an element that could Hoffa them on a bad day.
@Akhilleus: I know that at my ripe old age I'm not supposed to be shocked by the shocking things, but it's still shocking to read that state supreme court justices (okay, Alabama supreme court justices, but still) cite the Bible & Theology Today as sources for a decision.
It would have been wiser -- if unpossible in a Christian nation -- to strike down the portion of the state constitution that refers to "sanctity of life" as a term that is inconsistent with U.S. Constitutional law inasmuch as "sanctity" implies a state of being sacred, and federal law is wholly (not holy) secular.
In Planned Parenthood v. Pennsylvania, the Supremes ruled that the state had an interest in the life of the unborn, but even in that decision -- which watered down Roe -- the justices didn't rule that the church had an interest in the unborn and law was required to take into account the church's interest. But you're right; today's Supremes will be unlikely to correct the Alabama ruling should it come their way.
I used to be embarrassed about some aspects of being an American (& I tried to be super-polite to make up for it when I traveled to Europe); now I'm pretty much plain ole embarrassed to be an American.
@Patrick: Not all teamsters are truckers. When I had my first jobs at ABC-TV in Southern California, some of the clerical staff -- including me -- had to belong to the clerical union -- and that union was the Teamsters. Probably a majority of the clerical workers (we did a variety of jobs, probably most of them not secretarial) were women. They called us mothertruckers.
Fools are called fools because they want to be fooled, and they frequently are.
Anyone who believes that the appearance of snow disproves climate change, that the surgical implantation goat glands can cure impotence, that an accusation is proof, that the Pretender has been anointed by god to save us from (something), and who lives in a country where dis-and misinformation is a money maker is the very definition of a fool inhabiting a fools' paradise.
The USA.
More reason to be embarrassed to be an american:
gold sneakers
Manhattan car rental agent and teamster card holder, 1979,
Lawrence O'Donnell last night about the media's dump Biden BS. "Pundits suggest replacing President Biden as the Democratic nominee because they don’t understand the job of the presidency or how conventions work. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell gives a history lesson in governing in the age of television."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/02/22/yale-sat-act-admissions-requirement-reinstated/
I know standardized tests have their problems, both because of how and of what they measure, but this is not much of a surprise.
Bodyguards of Lies
Many years ago, a friend, much given to somewhat outré military historiography, impressed upon me a copy of the book “Bodyguard of Lies”, a compendium of wartime deceptions, misdirections, and conspiracies designed to slip the other side a sort of intelligence Mickey. Fascinating stuff it was.
I’m currently back into a John le Carré mode (reading “A Perfect Spy”), and am once again inveigled by his carefully wrought, Chinese puzzle plots, filigreed with his encyclopedic knowledge of the spy world, and it got me thinking about the latest entanglement of the usual useful idiots in the whole Hunter Biden fiction.
It strikes me that Putin, as a lifelong creator of lies designed to ratfuck the other side, is well versed in the set up of such fantasies. At a very basic level, it might involve simply telling an idiot loudmouth at the local watering hole some load of fermented fecal matter with the expectation that said idiot will spread it around, with relish, adding in whatever additional bullshit he feels might enhance the story. Typically, you’d pick an idiot already predisposed to this type of lie about someone they already hate. These are the Gym Jordan-Jim Comers. They ain’t gonna check to see if it’s true or not.
But a more advanced fiction requires a set up that will at least pass muster by the merely curious. Then there are the tales that demand nearly bulletproof protection from investigators. Putin is no doubt conversant with all manner of lies and the liars who tell them, and how to make it all work. His past plot already got one huge idiot elected president*, so why stop there?
I’m thinking now that the Hunter Biden laptop imbroglio has been a fiction from the get go. A not very elaborate set up, but one that required several elements. A start up story (he brought his laptop into a repair shop and forgot about it), some nicely salacious bits to dim the bulbs (dick pics), a proper patsy whose past offers the perfect fall guy status (Hunter), and then the marks, witless but nonetheless willing participants, panting at a chance to stick it to someone they hate (the entire PoT-Trump-Fox universe).
The fact that so-called legitimate news operations bit on this fabrication was a huge extra for Putin.
And now I’m thinking that Smear-nov and his lies aren’t the only irons in the Russian fire. Doubtless, Putin has other plans in the works. And, at least in this country, he’s got an entire political party and its glorious leader as willing bodyguards to his lies.
In the film “The Departed”, a character setting up a mole operation tells the prospective mole “Here, we deal in deception. What we do not deal in is self-deception.”
Unfortunately for America, we have millions who live to self deceive. Many of them hold elected office.
A thought about the hold up of assistance to Ukraine. If, at long last, Bible Mike, Trump’s leashed monkey, allows a vote in the House, it will be too little too late, and as Russian tanks roll into Kyiv and the mass murders start in earnest, Bible Mike and the PoT cowards will whine “But we gave them help! You can’t blame us!”
Yeah, but $75 and change, the day the tanks rolled into town probably wasn’t much help, now was it, Mike?
It goes both ways…
Who said the teacher can’t learn from his idiot pupils?
Putin is telling Navalny’s widow that she can’t have her murdered husband’s body unless she agrees to a secret, behind closed doors funeral.
He must have read about Jumpin’ Jim Comer’s demands that Hunter Biden testify in secret, behind closed doors.
Great idea, Dim Jim.
ENTA. (Evil minds think alike)
@Akhilleus: It's a shame Putin can't award Trump, Jordan & Comey with Hero of Russia medals, but I guess that would be too obvious.
Marie,
It’s like the CIA where they put stars up on the wall in honor of unnamed spies. Trump already has his Order of Lenin medal which he keeps in the bathroom at Marred a Lardo next to stolen intelligence documents and his medal for bed making prowess. Dim Jim and Jumpin’ Jim have their own stars on a wall behind Lenin’s tomb. Tools for the State.
За здоровье!
@Akhilleus: Reality Chex is the place to learn stuff. Since I hadda look up the meaning of За здоровье, I learned that a Cyrillic "Z" looks kinda like an Arabic "3." I have only 32 letters to go. So thanks!
Glad to hear you're (re-?)reading le Carré. I loved his books. Don't buy any. If you need another, let me know and I'll send it to you - gratis.
Thanks for years ago turning me onto Philip Kerr. I thoroughly enjoyed works, too -- dark as they were.
Unwashed,
Thanks for the offer. I’ve read most of them, but there are still a few outstanding. Glad you enjoyed Kerr’s stuff. Bernie Gunther is an exceptional character. A sardonic guy in a searing time. It was fun to see how he made out after the maelstrom.