The Ledes

Thursday, September 19, 2024

New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”

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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Friday
Jun142024

The Conversation -- June 14, 2024

We're all curious, as Forrest M. wrote yesterday, as to what flag Sam & Martha-Ann will be flying on Flag Day and whether it will be upside-down or right-side-up. Update: here are some helpful instructions:

Robert Jimison of the New York Times: "House Republicans banded together on Friday to narrowly pass an $895 billion defense policy bill that would restrict access to abortion and transgender medical care in the military and eliminate all positions and offices of diversity, equity and inclusion across the Pentagon. The 217-to-199 vote, largely along party lines, reflected a dramatic shift in support for the annual National Defense Authorization Act, normally an overwhelmingly popular bill, since it emerged from a House committee last month with broad bipartisan support. Democrats turned against the bill in droves after Republicans insisted for the second year in a row on loading it with conservative policy dictates.... The Democratic-led Senate, which typically produces a bipartisan bill, will almost certainly leave the measures out, and they are unlikely to survive a conference between the two chambers to reconcile competing versions of the legislation. Even if they did, President Biden would be highly unlikely to sign them into law." Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Brooke Migdon of the Hill: "Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) on Thursday protested an amendment added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that bars funding for drag performances with a blown-up photo [displayed on the House floor] of former President Trump and Rudy Giuliani ... dressed in drag. [MB Note: Trump is not in drag; Rudy is.] An amendment filed this week to the annual defense policy bill by Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) would prevent funding made available by the measure from being used for drag events. The amendment passed Thursday by voice vote."

** Mass Murder, They Wrote. Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a ban on bump stocks enacted by the Trump administration after a deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. The decision, by a vote of 6 to 3, split along ideological lines. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, found that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had exceeded its power when it prohibited the device, an attachment that enables a semiautomatic rifle to fire at a speed rivaling that of a machine gun. The agency, he added, had overstepped in issuing a rule that classified bump stocks as machine guns....

"The narrowly written decision was not a Second Amendment challenge. Rather, it is one of several cases this term seeking to undercut the power of administrative agencies.... The man who challenged the bump stock ban is Michael Cargill, a gun shop owner in Texas, backed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, an advocacy group with financial ties to Charles Koch, a billionaire who has long supported conservative and libertarian causes. The organization primarily targets what it considers unlawful uses of administrative power....

"Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a dissent, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Sotomayor summarized her dissent from the bench, a practice reserved for profound disagreements and the first such announcement of the term.... 'A bump stock-equipped semiautomatic rifle fires 'automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.' Because I, like Congress, call that a machine gun, I respectfully dissent.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What I learned from Dahlia Lithwick & Andrew Weissmann -- who discussed the ruling on MSNBC -- is that this is another instance of a right-wing justice (in this case, Thomas), after having read friendly amicus briefs (in this case by the bump-stock industry), then deciding the knowledge he gained from these self-serving briefs allows him to substitute his new-found "expertise" for the actual expertise of administrative agencies (in this case, the ATF). And all the other winger "justices" nod their heads & sign on, even as they pretend to be "calling balls & strikes." Or ascribing to an "originalist" judicial philosophy. So we find out that when the Founders wrote that Second Amendment militia thing, they were just dreaming of the day when Rapid-fire Guns for All would become a legal and technical reality. At last the day has come, folks! Maybe we should forget Flag Day (sorry, Martha-Ann!) and designate June 14 Supreme Boost to Mass Murderers Day.

Benjamin Weiss of Courthouse News Service: "The White House urged Congress on Friday to codify a federal ban on bump stocks for semiautomatic firearms just hours after the Supreme Court struck down Trump-era regulations making such accessories illegal." ~~~

     ~~~ President Biden's statement is here, via the White House.

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)on Friday condemned a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling overturning the Trump-era ban on bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic guns to fire like machine guns, and called on Congress to pass legislation to counter the decision. 'The far-right Supreme Court continues their unprecedented assault on public safety by reversing the commonsense guidance issued in 2018 by the ATF. Bump stocks have played a devastating role in many of the horrific mass shootings in our country, but sadly it's no surprise to see the Supreme Court roll back this necessary public safety rule as they push their out of touch extreme agenda. They're even further to the right of Donald Trump,' Schumer said in a statement responding to the ruling."

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "The Biden campaign is taking over the homepage of a local newspaper in Milwaukee on Friday, seizing on comments from former President Trump a day earlier in which he criticized the city. The Biden campaign will have a homepage takeover ad of The Shepherd Express -- an alt weekly -- and the Journal Sentinel, highlighting Trump calling Milwaukee a 'horrible city' during a meeting on Capitol Hill with Republicans.... The ad is a split-screen image, one highlighting Trump's 'horrible city' critique and the other boasting that President Biden passed legislation to invest in Milwaukee. Trump officials have insisted the former president's remark was specifically referring to crime. In addition to the ad, the Biden campaign created merchandise around the Trump comment, including T-shirts and Wisconsin-shaped stickers that read, '(Not) a horrible city,' and T-shirts and can koozies that play off 'I heart Milwaukee' and feature a mug of beer in place of a heart."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post keeps us up-to-date on what's going on in the Trump campaign and in Republican politics in general. Conspiracy theorists are especially busy. For instance: "Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), on Fox Business, declared that Hunter Biden's guilty verdict 'creates an opening for Democrats to slip someone like Michelle Obama in here' as the Democratic presidential nominee, rather than [Joe] Biden, he said. Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo replied: 'I am buying into what you're saying there.' So, Biden ordered the Justice Department to prosecute his son to create an excuse to decline the presidential nomination? That one is so crazy, it must be true!"

David Kurtz of TPM: "Donald Trump’s return to the scene of the Jan. 6 attack that he instigated was a watershed moment in the whitewashing of his failed auto-coup. Republicans in Congress, many of whom three years ago were running for their lives from the mob Trump unleashed, applauded and celebrated his return in ways that highlighted the party’s cultish, authoritarian turn. It marked a papering over of all the internal divisions and past animosities (which tend to arise when a president of your own party sends over to the Capitol a mob that is intent on hanging his own vice president ) in order to rally together to win in November." ~~~

Putin's Proposal. Dasha Litvinova of the AP: "Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Friday to 'immediately' order a cease-fire in Ukraine and start negotiations if Kyiv began withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced plans to join NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected what he called an ultimatum by Putin to surrender more territory. Putin's remarks came as Switzerland prepared to host scores of world leaders -- but not from Moscow -- this weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine. They also coincided with a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations in Italy and after the U.S. and Ukraine this week signed a 10-year security agreement that Russian officials, including Putin, denounced as 'null and void.'"

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Defending Ukraine with Putin's Money. David Sanger of the New York Times: On Thursday, "President Biden ... signed a 10-year security pact with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that Mr. Biden portrayed as guaranteeing a supply of weapons, intelligence support, advice and technology needed to win the war and deter a new one. He also said the United States would take the lead in providing Ukraine with a $50 billion loan to rebuild its devastated ports and power plants and to buy weapons. The money is to be repaid from interest generated from $300 billion in assets that Mr. Putin, inexplicably, left in Western financial institutions before his February 2022 invasion.... 'We're not backing down,' [Mr. Biden] added, warning Mr. Putin that 'he cannot wait us out.' Mr. Zelensky thanked Mr. Biden warmly, even though the security pact and loan were far short of what he wanted at this grave moment in the war." ~~~

     ~~~ Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, in a New York Times op-ed, explains how the plan will work. ~~~

     ~~~ Trying to Trump-Proof Ukraine. Kevin Liptak of CNN: "President Joe Biden and fellow G7 leaders meeting on the coast of Italy this week are working to harden support for Ukraine and rush western resources to the country as they look uneasily toward November's US election... Yet whether the measures agreed to this week can withstand another Donald Trump presidency remained something of an unknown. As Biden was finalizing his agreements in Italy, Trump was meeting with Republicans on Capitol Hill, where he once again made clear he didn't want to see another $60 billion in aid flowing to Ukraine, according to a person familiar with his comments. Trump argued, as he had before, that if he were president the war wouldn't still be going."

Tyler Pager, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden, whose reelection campaign is centered on mobilizing voters on abortion rights, has been waging a behind-the-scenes battle [at the G-7 meeting in Italy] to ensure that abortion access and reproductive rights are part of a global agreement among the world's leading democracies. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a hard-line conservative, has been intent on changing language that was included in last year's Group of Seven communiqué to exclude mentions of abortion or reproductive rights, according to officials familiar with the negotiations.... But Biden, along with the leaders of France, Germany and Canada, pushed for its inclusion, and Biden threatened to not sign the document if it was not included, the officials said. The debate over the communiqué became a major sticking point, with negotiations lasting until 2 a.m. for several nights over the past week, and the reproductive rights language did not get resolved until the very end, according to one of the officials involved." (Also linked yesterday.)

Matt Viser & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden emphatically defended his son at a summit of world leaders here, commenting directly for the first time since Hunter Biden was convicted this week on federal gun charges, while also reiterating that he would not use his presidential powers to soften whatever penalty his son faces.... As Biden was walking away from the stage, he was also asked whether he would commute his son's sentence -- that is, reduce its severity. 'No,' Biden responded."

Maya Miller of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked legislation that would codify the right to access fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization, in the latest election-year bid by Democrats to spotlight G.O.P. opposition to protecting reproductive freedoms. On a vote of 48 to 47, all but two Republicans [Susan Collins & Lisa Murkowski] opposed advancing the bill, which would give Americans the statutory right to receive fertility treatments and decide how their reproductive material is used, stored and disposed of." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This strikes me as a little odd. I thought Republicans mostly had it in for poor women. But IVF treatment is expensive, so it's wealthier young families who opt for it -- you know, the lovely kind of people one would think Republicans would want to welcome into their base. Update: See Eugene Robinson's column, linked below, for an explanation.

What if you held a hearing and Adam Schiff stepped all over your message? ~~~

~~~ Miranda Nazzaro of the Hill: "Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) sought to make a statement about former President Trump's criminal conviction Thursday, repeating the word 'guilty' 34 times in a row, once for each of the former president's guilty counts in the Manhattan hush money case. The move by Schiff came at the beginning of his line of questioning during the House Judiciary Committee's hearing on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's (D) office and its investigation into Trump's hush money scheme during the 2016 election.... 'My Republican colleagues don't really contest Donald Trump's guilt, this is the fascinating thing,' Schiff ... (D), said. '... They don't contest -- not really -- that Donald Trump was making hush money payments to a porn star to hide their affair from voters,' the lawmaker continued. 'What they're really saying is they're more than comfortable electing -- nominating and electing as the president of the United States -- someone making hush money payments to a porn star.'"

Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to limit access to a widely used abortion medication, rejecting a challenge from antiabortion doctors ... on procedural grounds. In a unanimous ruling, the court sided with the Biden administration and the manufacturer of mifepristone and reversed a lower court decision that would have made it more difficult to obtain the drug used in more than 60 percent of U.S. abortions. The ruling was not on the substance of the case, but on a procedural ruling that the plaintiffs did not have legal grounds to bring the case.... Individual physicians and the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine filed the initial lawsuit in Amarillo, Tex., where the only sitting District Court judge is Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump nominee known for his long-standing opposition to abortion." Here's the ScotusBlog report. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I wouldn't get all excited about this decision. All the justices agreed on was that the doctors who brought suit didn't have standing/weren't harmed by the distribution of mifepristone. Update: In fact, in the the New York Times' liveblog of the decision, Kate Zernicke wrote, "Cecile Richards, the former president of Planned Parenthood, noted that the decision does not rule out future challenges." And ~~~

Pam Belluck: "The decision will fuel efforts on the anti-abortion side to restrict abortion pills in other ways. One recent example involved Louisiana classifying abortion pills as Schedule IV drugs, a category that suggested they were dangerous or addictive substances, contrary to medical evidence."

Elizabeth Dias: "Anti-abortion activists are vowing that this will not be the end of their mission. They noted the case was decided on standing, not the merits of arguments about medication abortion itself. 'We'll be back,' said Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America."

Zernicke: "Abortion rights groups reacted with wary relief. 'The attacks on abortion pills will not stop here,' Nancy Northup, the president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. 'The anti-abortion movement sees how critical abortion pills are in this post-Roe world, and they are hell bent on cutting off access. In the end, this ruling is not a "win" for abortion -- it just maintains the status quo, which is a dire public health crisis in which 14 states have criminalized abortion.'"

Now, this sounds more like the Supreme Court we all know and despise: ~~~

Santul Nerkar & Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Starbucks on Thursday in a challenge against a labor ruling by a federal judge, making it more difficult for a key federal agency to intervene when a company is accused of illegally suppressing labor organizing. Eight justices backed the majority opinion, which was written by Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a separate opinion concurring with parts of the majority opinion, dissenting from other portions and agreeing with the overall judgment. The ruling came in a case brought by Starbucks over the firing of seven workers in Memphis who were trying to unionize a store in 2022. The company said it had fired them for allowing a television crew into a closed store, while the workers said that they were fired for their unionization efforts and that the company didn't typically enforce the rules they were accused of violating. After the firings, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint saying that Starbucks had acted because the workers had 'joined or assisted the union and engaged in concerted activities, and to discourage employees from engaging in these activities.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

** Clarence Committed More Crimes of Omission. Justin Elliott, et al., of ProPublica: "Billionaire political donor Harlan Crow provided at least three previously undisclosed private jet trips to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in recent years, an investigation by Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats has found. The flights, which were detailed by Crow's lawyer in response to inquiries from the committee, took the justice to destinations including the region near Glacier National Park in Montana and Thomas' hometown in Georgia.... ProPublica could not immediately find evidence of Thomas making public appearances in Montana, Georgia or California on the dates in question.... Thomas has not reported the recent private jet trips from Crow, which many legal experts have described as a violation of the federal financial disclosure law." The New York Times story is here.

No outsider knows what goes on inside a family, but the contrast between Joe Biden's embrace of his drug-addicted, criminal son and Clarence Thomas' rejection of his is at least notable: ~~~

~~~ Carl Gibson of AlterNet: "When he was six years old, Mark Martin was legally adopted by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni, who raised him from ages six to 19. But according to Martin, they've both cut off all contact with him, and now he's facing up to 25 years in prison. Business Insider recently interviewed Martin from the South Carolina jail where he's being held without bail. Martin, who was arrested for allegedly trafficking 400 grams of meth and heroin in 2021, was also arrested for drug trafficking and gun possession in June of last year. Because South Carolina considers those 'violent' crimes, Martin is ineligible for bond.... Clarence and Ginni Thomas reportedly cut off contact with Martin when he entered his teenage years, and Martin said the two 'just didn't have time to deal with' him when he was in high school." Thanks to RAS for the lead. See also Akhilleus' commentary in yesterday's thread.

Presidential Race

Trump Approaches the Scene of the Crime

~~~ Mariana Sotomayor, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump swooped down on Capitol Hill on Thursday to rally congressional Republicans behind a political and policy message aimed at establishing a GOP lock on Washington in the November elections.... This was the first time Trump has appeared on Capitol Hill since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection intended to prevent the installation of Joe Biden as president.... House and Senate Republicans rallied behind their leader in a show of unusual support among their divided ranks. At a Senate lunch, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who nearly broke with Trump over Jan. 6 and had not spoken with him since, sat on his right.... Trump and McConnell even shook hands.... Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) said they had scheduling conflicts and did not attend." ~~~

~~~ Juliegrace Brufke & Andrew Solender of Axios: "... Donald Trump boasted about his polling in New York, New Jersey, New Mexico and other blue states - and showered praise on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) - during his first visit to Capitol Hill since leaving office 2.5 years ago.... At a closed-door meeting with House GOP lawmakers Thursday, Trump talked about his own electoral and legal grievances, while praising loyalists and touching on policy issues like abortion, according to sources in the room." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Annie Grayer, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump led House Republicans through a gripe-filled closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill on Thursday, airing grievances about his legal and electoral challenges, attacking his critics in the room, and only briefly addressing policy matters like abortion and taxes, according to multiple GOP lawmakers in the room.... Trump called the Department of Justice 'dirty no good bastards.'..." ~~~

~~~ Michael Gold, et al., of the New York Times: "According to various people in the room, Mr. Trump, during his meeting with House members at the Capitol Hill Club, complained that the pop music megastar Taylor Swift would support President Biden over him.... He falsely claimed that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi's daughter once told him that he and her mother might have been a good match.... And perhaps most striking, he disparaged the city of Milwaukee -- the most populous city in the swing state of Wisconsin and the site of the Republican National Convention in July -- over its crime rate.... Punchbowl News reported that he had called Milwaukee 'horrible.'" ~~~

     ~~~ In His Dreams. Matt Arco of NJ Online: "Trump, who called [Nancy] Pelosi's daughter a 'whacko,' told party leaders, 'Her daughter told me if things were different Nancy and I would be perfect together, there's an age difference though.' Christine Pelosi ... [posted on X]: 'Speaking for all 4 Pelosi daughters -- this is a LIE. His deceitful, deranged obsession with our mother is yet another reason Donald Trump is unwell, unhinged and unfit to step foot anywhere near her -- or the White House,'..." she posted to X.... Nancy Pelosi had her own thoughts about the former president on his trip[:]

"Today, the instigator of an insurrection is returning to the scene of the crime. January 6th was a crime against the Capitol, that saw Nazi and Confederate flags flying under the dome that Lincoln built. It was a crime against the Constitution and its peaceful transfer of power, in a desperate attempt to cling to power. And it was a crime against members, heroic police offices and staff, that resulted in the death, injury, and trauma that endure to this day. With his pledges to be a dictator on day one and seek revenge against his political opponents, Donald Trump comes to Capitol Hill today with the same mission of dismantling our democracy...."


National Crime Blotter. Rachel Bade of Politico: Donald Trump "has been obsessed in recent weeks with harnessing the powers of Congress to fight on his own behalf and go to war against the Democrats he accuses of 'weaponizing' the justice system against him. It's a campaign he orchestrated in the days after his May 31 conviction on 34 felony counts in New York, starting with a phone call to the man he wanted to lead it: Speaker Mike Johnson. Trump was still angry when he made the call, according to those who have heard accounts of it from Johnson, dropping frequent F-bombs as he spoke with the soft-spoken and pious GOP leader. 'We have to overturn this,' Trump i[said]."

Jack Ewing & Peter Eavis of the New York Times: "Tesla shareholders have reaffirmed a pay award of more than $45 billion for Elon Musk, the chief executive, after it was thrown out in a legal challenge. The vote result, announced at Tesla;s annual meeting at its headquarters in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, is a strong sign that shareholders still believe in Mr. Musk, and it could persuade the judge who voided the award to reinstate it.... The vote was a setback for investors who had hoped it would send a message about the accountability of chief executives and the limits of executive pay." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you don't think executive compensation is way, way out of whack, I will remind you that back in the day, auto exec George Romney (father of Greedy Mitt) turned down big bonuses because he said no one should make more than $225,000 a year. The only point of a $45BB compensation package, IMO, is to get the recipient into trouble. Nevertheless, Trump has promised today's execs even lower tax rates, including for those billionaires who pay zero taxes now (NYT link).

Eli Tan of the New York Times: "Eight former employees of Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, sued the company and Mr. Musk on Wednesday, contending they were wrongfully fired for raising concerns about sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. The employees were fired in 2022 after they circulated an open letter urging SpaceX executives to condemn Mr. Musk's comments on Twitter, later renamed X, which amounted to 'a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us.' After being made aware of the letter, Mr. Musk ordered the terminations, according to the complaint." (Also linked yesterday.)

Molly Escobar, et al., of the New York Times: "... more than 171,000 patients ... traveled for an abortion in 2023, new estimates show, demonstrating both the upheaval in access since the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the limits of state bans to stop the procedure.... Out-of-state travel for abortions -- either to have a procedure or obtain abortion pills -- more than doubled in 2023 compared with 2019, and made up nearly a fifth of recorded abortions." Includes lots of maps & some charts.

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "On Wednesday, the Southern Baptist Convention ... adopted a resolution denouncing in vitro fertilization (IVF).... How can the religious right, a movement that calls itself pro-life, take a stance against a procedure that creates life? The answer lies in the concept of fetal personhood -- in this case, embryonic personhood. That is clearly where the zealots who seek 'The Handmaid's Tale' control over women's bodies are headed, now that the obstacle of Roe v. Wade no longer stands in their way.... With public opinion against them, antiabortion activists are already waging the next battle: to give embryos full personhood rights and protections. They are coming hard after IVF.... This is, simply, a forever war. Remain vigilant because there is no end in sight."

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Ron, it's raining. -- Florida Democratic party ~~~

~~~ Florida. Ja'han Jones of MSNBC: "Massive flooding in Florida is bringing new attention to the climate change denial of Gov. Ron DeSantis and his Republican allies in the state Legislature. In May, DeSantis took steps to deprioritize climate change resilience, a truly reckless and cruel decision considering the existential crisis climate change poses to the state.... Florida Democrats used the current flooding in Florida to highlight DeSantis' neglectful approach to climate resilience, and to highlight the fact that the governor on Wednesday signed a budget that vetoed more than $200 million in funding for projects related to stormwater, wastewater and sewer water."

Pennsylvania. Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was speeding and at fault for a Sunday morning auto accident in western Maryland, where he rear-ended another driver, a 62-year-old woman who was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, according to a Maryland State Police report.... The accident was the latest example of unsafe driving by Fetterman, according to public records and people with knowledge of the situation. He has received two speeding tickets for violations of at least 24 miles per hour above the speed limit, one in 2016 and one in March, according to Pennsylvania state records. After the ticket this year, when he was driving 34 miles per hour over the limit, he was required by the state to complete a driver's improvement course.... At other times, aides have said Fetterman has texted and FaceTimed while driving, prompting concern among his staff and fears about riding with him.... The concerns sparked an informal practice recently instituted in the office that aides should not be in the car when Fetterman is driving...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The guy had a massive stroke. He shouldn't be driving anyway. And he's one of a small number of Americans who has the luxury of having drivers available to him. Family and staff should have intervened before this.

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.

Russia. Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "American journalist Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal will soon stand trial in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on charges of spying for the CIA, Russian authorities said Thursday, after announcing that they had finalized an indictment. Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 while on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg and accused of espionage. Gershkovich, the journal and U.S. officials have repeatedly rejected the charges as baseless." At 11:30 am ET, this was a developing story. (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

CNN: "Heavy rainfall that's caused unrelenting flooding in South Florida since Tuesday will continue for a fourth consecutive day after turning roads into canals and forcing some residents to stand on the roofs of their cars or trudge through waist-deep waters. Even as the robust tropical moisture fueling the soaking storms slowly starts to shift out of the area, Friday marks yet another drenching day for South Florida and multiple cities could see more than 2 feet of rain Tuesday through Friday.... Flood watches remain in effect for over 7 million people across South Florida, including in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, through Friday evening. An additional 2 to 4 inches or more of rainfall is expected through Friday night but thunderstorm activity is expected to subside by the weekend. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for Broward, Collier, Lee, Miami-Dade and Sarasota counties, and officials have urged locals to stay at home instead of walking or driving through the floodwater...."

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Reader Comments (11)

Sounds like Clarence and Ginni should have gotten a dog instead of
adopting an unsuspecting child.
But then, that dog would probably have wound up in the pound due
to neglect.
That's the main reason abortion might be a good thing. So many
people are not capable of parenting.

June 14, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

"Embryos are corporations, my friend."

June 14, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy

Forrest,

My guess is that Clarence and Ginni’s dog, once it was no longer needed as a prop, would have been taken care of in the following manner:

Gin I: “Clarence, can we get rid of this damn mutt now? We’ve conned everyone into thinking we’re regular, loving people. Time for this flea magnet to go.

Clarence: “I know, I know. Besides, Harlan is sending his private jet for our month long trip to the Greek Isles. I’ll call Kristi Noem. She’ll know what to do.”

June 14, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

This Flag Day, the Scurvylitos should be banned from flying the Stars and Stripes in any fashion, upside down, right side up, sideways, or any other ways. They are as unAmerivan as they come. Talk about sailing under false colors! Maybe the Jolly Roger would be a more appropriate indicator of their loyalty and disposition, or the Union Jack, given Sammy’s affinity for obscure Medieval English legalisms.

Fuckers.

June 14, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Still trying to figure it out.

Trump signs are beginning to pop up on lawns here and there, so the season of wondering what's wrong with these people is back in full swing. Back, too, to wondering when I see someone walking down the sidewalk or driving down the street if that person is one of THEM, one of the pod people who has no apparent concern for civil rights or discourse, little for fact or morality and apparently none at all for the planet. Someone, in short, who is out to do me harm

The only way I can make sense of it is to think that party allegiance for those who persist in their support for the Pretender stems from the same motivators as experienced by die hard adherents of sports teams, who pay to attend games so they can dress outlandishly in look-at-me outfits and shout their support for what is ultimately a trivial pursuit.

It's not that I don't feel tribal and geographic attachment myself. I like it when the Mariners win. And back when they were at the top, hitting threes from all over the court, in part because of my associations with the Bay Area, I took special pleasure in the Warriors success. But....

I think it comes back to the difference between thought and feeling.
The wealthy Pretender supporters who like his no tax and no regulation policies are not the ones with the signs in their yard or on their pickups. They have thought it out, and while their reasons may. be for supporting such an awful human being may be selfish and socially destructive, they are reasons.

The myriad of others are just stupid fans, yelling at the refs, hurling insults at their opponents, mindlessly supporting a team that is more interested in ripping them off than in making any effort to do their job of governing well--or at all.

For them, it all just feels good.

June 14, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Ken Winkes: Yes, I'm feeling as you are -- wondering which of the people I see are careless pod people. But I no longer think most of the pod people are simply ignorant; rather, I suspect they are either (a) so lazy and irresponsible that they think a dictator is someone who will just take care of everything so they don't have to, or (b) are crass enough to fancy themselves in the "in" crowd who will get the benefits of the dictator's largesse, at the expense of the "others."

Here's something else I've been thinking about, which is tangentially related to my wonderings about the neighbors. If I were not just a neighbor but a famous person -- a person so famous or consequential that I was likely to be remembered in the history books -- I think I'd care about my legacy, about what the history books said about me. So even if I were a narcissistic, grasping orange-tinted pervert, I think I'd behave more like Joe Biden and less like Donald Trump and, say, Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney. I guess the question is -- Why are Republicans so shortsighted?

June 14, 2024 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Agree about Ken and Marie's wonderings about the mindless but mind-blowing support for the Orange Pig-- "it wonders me" too, as the PA "Dutch" folks might say... I doubt if we will ever know, unless one of the truck-driving, flag-waving, bumper sticker stick-er, shouting, screaming, hat-wearing crapweasels writes a book, although, maybe with crayon? It IS just a sports team luv.

Did not know that Fetterman has a history of speeding-- I think like I did yesterday: someone needs to admit him for a once-over. Surprised Giselle hasn't pushed that. The next accident may be his last, and he has young children.

And the swamp known as the high court has done it again: "Gosh, that bumpstock does not make it a machine gun--" regardless of the ability to kill hundreds in 11 seconds. It is incredible.

And Putin has spoken: I will not give back part of Ukraine and will never let Evan go(Give him money, Wall Street Journal-- you have it--) and a few other things nonsurprising. It's about as valuable to deal with him as it is to deal with the House and Senate, never mind the "high" court.

Getting quite pessimistic about the "total immunity" decision--why wait this long? Less blowback? What world features respect for this poor body of "justice?" And speaking of that, F***Justice and Mrs. F***Justice dumped their son some years ago, even after he was paid-for by Crowe? They are inhumane "people" in every way.

Real anxious that Mrs. ReligiousNut be able to fly any ole flag she wants--and lie about it and threaten the neighbors...glad they don't live in my 'hood.

June 14, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

Wondering if we should categorize this as inflation or greed. I'm
going with greed.
Our W. Michigan electric company has notified us that power used
between 11:00 A.M. and 7:00 P.M. will be charged a higher rate in
July and August.
They must have seen our weather report: hot-hot-dry-dry every day.
Is there such a thing as a gas fired air cooling system?
Bet they will be paying out some big bonuses to those genius CEOs
this year.

June 14, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

Thinking about why so many fellow citizens seem hopelessly mired in love for a self-professed first day dictator who spews constant streams of hate, lies, conspiracy theories, and promises of violent revenge, it might be worth a peek at a comparison between existential worldviews.

The Brookings site has a breakdown and analysis of a recent Economist/YouGov poll in which their Worlds apart graphs display the contours of vastly differing worldviews.

The poll questions are simple:

It's a big beautiful world mostly full of good people and we must find a way to embrace each other and not allow ourselves to become isolated

Or…

Our lives are threatened by terrorists, criminals, and illegal immigrants and our priority should be to protect ourselves.

To which worldview do you subscribe?

Overwhelmingly, Democrats and liberals (Biden voters) choose to believe that the world is essentially good place full of good people (about 76%).

Just as overwhelmingly, Republicans and conservatives (Trump voters) believe that the world is a scary, dark, dangerous place full of evil people out to get them (about 71%).

People prone to being fearful, to seeing others as dangerous and evil are much more likely to gravitate to a demagogue who spouts the same line and who promises violent payback to those the group sees as threatening, and who offers simple, bumper sticker bromides, no matter how silly, unworkable, and themselves dangerous.

June 14, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

How do these people survive?

"However, in recent weeks, as the number of bird flu cases have climbed, so have sales of raw milk. This is because numerous Republican public figures have decried what they perceive to be attempts from the government and “Big Milk” to infringe on their right to consume the beverage, regardless of whether it contributes to the human-to-human spread of bird flu."

June 14, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS
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