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Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

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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Thursday
Sep072023

The Conversation -- September 7, 2023

Zach Montague of the New York Times: "A federal jury in Washington began deliberating on Thursday in the criminal trial of Peter Navarro, a top aide to ... Donald J. Trump, who is charged with contempt of Congress after he ignored a subpoena last year from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. In delivering closing arguments, prosecutors and defense lawyers largely agreed on the facts in the case: that Mr. Navarro balked when ordered to cooperate with the panel. But in contention was whether that act amounted to a willful defiance of Congress, or a simple misunderstanding between Mr. Navarro and the committee's staff.... 'The defendant chose allegiance to President Trump over compliance with the subpoena,' [prosecutor Elizabeth Aloi] said. 'That is contempt. That is a crime.' Stanley Woodward Jr., a lawyer for Mr. Navarro, countered that the government had simply failed to show that Mr. Navarro's decision not to comply was anything other than 'inadvertence, accident or mistake.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What? He "accidentally" failed to comply with a lawful subpoena? Well, oopsies. ~~~

     ~~~ Later That Same Afternoon. Oh look, the story has been updated: "Peter Navarro ... was convicted on Thursday of two counts of criminal contempt of Congress over his defiance of a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The verdict, coming after nearly four hours of deliberation in Federal District Court in Washington, made Mr. Navarro the second top adviser of Mr. Trump's to be found guilty of contempt for defying the committee's inquiry. Stephen K. Bannon, a former strategist for Mr. Trump who was convicted of the same offense last summer, faces four months in prison and is appealing his conviction, as Mr. Navarro has also vowed to do."

Lauren Feiner of CNBC: "The Senate voted Thursday to confirm Democrat Anna Gomez to the Federal Communications Commission, breaking the deadlock at the agency that has lasted the entirety of the Biden presidency. The vote in favor was 55-43. Gomez's confirmation comes after a protracted battle to confirm [President] Biden's initia pick for the commissioner seat, Gigi Sohn. As senators remained split on her confirmation, the FCC was left in a 2-2 deadlock of Republican and Democratic commissioners, limiting its agenda to items that both sides could agree on. With the arrival of Gomez, a telecom attorney who's previously worked in several positions at the FCC and in the private sector, the agency has the opportunity to pursue actions without the support of the Republican commissioners. That could include a push to return to net neutrality rules...."

With Due Respect, You Ignorant Nitwit, Up Yours. Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "Soon after the [Fulton County, Georgia,] district attorney, Fani T. Willis, a Democrat, announced last month that she was bringing a racketeering case against [Donald] Trump and 18 other defendants for their efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, [Rep. Jim] Jordan, a Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that he was going to investigate Ms. Willis over whether her prosecution of Mr. Trump was politically motivated. In [a] letter [to Mr. Jordan], Ms. Willis accused Mr. Jordan of trying 'to obstruct a Georgia criminal proceeding and to advance outrageous partisan misrepresentations,' and of not understanding how the state's racketeering law works. 'Your attempt to invoke congressional authority to intrude upon and interfere with an active criminal case in Georgia is flagrantly at odds with the Constitution,' she added. 'The defendants in this case have been charged under state law with committing state crimes. There is absolutely no support for Congress purporting to second guess or somehow supervise an ongoing Georgia criminal investigation and prosecution.'" A CNBC story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Willis's letter to Jordan appears in the CNBC story; it's easier to read here, via CNBC. And it's a doozy, nearly every sentence dripping with contempt for Jungle Gym.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "John Eastman, testifying at his own disbarment trial, sidestepped a question Wednesday about whether he and others in ... Donald Trump's orbit discussed the possibility that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) -- rather than Mike Pence -- would preside over the Jan. 6, 2021, session of Congress. During several hours of sworn testimony in a California disbarment proceeding, Eastman said discussions on that topic were protected by attorney-client privilege. When pressed about which client of his he was referring to, Eastman replied: 'President Trump.'... Despite his criminal risk, Eastman fielded dozens of questions for hours on Wednesday, declining to assert his Fifth Amendment rights and only occasionally asserting attorney-client privilege.... The exchange [about Grassley] underscores that there are still significant unknown details about the behind-the-scenes planning by Trump and his allies ahead of Jan. 6. Grassley started a furor on Jan. 5, 2021, when he told reporters of Pence 'we don't expect him to be there, I will be presiding over the Senate.' His comments prompted an urgent rush by Pence's staff to correct the record, eventually resulting in a statement from Grassley's office indicating the senator had been 'misinterpreted' and was merely saying he might fill in for Pence during some portions of the proceedings that day." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Worth reading if, like me, you forgot or never knew of how deeply Grassley may have been in on the insurrection plot. I was aware there was "talk" about Grassley's replacing pence as President of the Senate but not about Grassley's accidentally sharing his plans to preside over the Electoral College count.

Andrew Kaczynski & Em Steck of CNN: "In a December 2020 radio interview..., Meshawn Maddock, one of the 16 fake electors in Michigan charged by the state attorney general for the alleged scheme [to overturn the Electoral College results], detailed the Trump campaign-directed plan and said the crucial decision on which electors to use would ultimately rest with a constitutional attorney and Vice President Mike Pence and Congress. The newly uncovered interview reveals Maddock's detailed knowledge of the Trump campaign's involvement in the plot and undermines her more recent comments claiming only a 'vague' recollection of [the plot].... Her newly uncovered comments about Pence show her understanding that the slate of fake electors could eventually usurp the legitimate elector votes on January 6, 2021. Despite Trump losing the state by more than 150,000 votes, Maddock and 15 others signed phony certificates claiming to be the legitimate electors from the state just days before the interview and attempted to enter their state capitol to deliver the votes."

Presidential Race 2024. Mike Memoli of NBC News: "President Joe Biden's reelection campaign is highlighting the most high-stakes journey of his presidency -- a surprise visit to Ukraine in February -- to make the case for what it calls the 'quiet strength of a true leader' while drawing a major foreign policy contrast with the GOP. The new, 60-second advertisement will air in battleground states this weekend during the prime-time broadcast of '60 Minutes' while Biden is due to attend the G-20 Summit here, a gathering of leaders of the world's largest economies that won't include two geopolitical rivals, Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping." ~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~

All of the Presidents. v. Donald J. Trump. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "A coalition representing nearly every former president from Herbert Hoover to Barack Obama issued a collective call on Thursday to protect the foundations of American democracy and maintain civility in the nation's politics. The alliance of presidential centers and foundations for U.S. leaders dating back nearly a century, both Democrats and Republicans, is a historic first. Never before has such a broad coalition of legacy institutions from former administrations joined together on a single issue. The statement is largely anodyne in its prose.... But some of its wording, and its timing, appear to serve as a subtle rebuke of ... Donald J. Trump.... The coalition says that 'civility and respect in political discourse' are 'essential,' a contrast for a politician known for demeaning nicknames and occasionally violent messaging.... The Eisenhower Foundation was the only organization in the lineage of presidents from Mr. Hoover to Mr. Obama to not sign the statement, and the organization did not detail its reasoning."

     ~~~ Here's the statement. The AP story is here.

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "In its most aggressive move yet to protect federal land from oil and gas exploration, the Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it would prohibit drilling in 13 million acres of pristine wilderness in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and cancel all drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The new regulations would ensure what the administration called 'maximum protections' for nearly half of the petroleum reserve but would not stop the enormous $8 billion Willow oil drilling project in the same vicinity, which President Biden approved this year.... The Biden administration had promised some new protections in the Arctic when it approved the Willow project. The policies announced on Wednesday, however, go significantly farther by canceling the refuge leases and explicitly prohibiting new oil and gas leasing in 10.6 million acres of the petroleum reserve."

Andrew Kramer & Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken traveled to Ukraine's capital on Wednesday and met with President Voloydmyr Zelensky, delivering a U.S. vote of confidence -- and the promise of more aid -- even as Russia made one of the deadliest attacks of the war on civilians. A Russian missile struck Kostyantynivka, an eastern city near the front lines, killing at least 17 people and wounding at least 32 others, and more might still be trapped in the rubble, according to Ukrainian officials. They said the attack hit an outdoor marketplace at about 2 p.m., when it was busy with vendors and shoppers, while Mr. Blinken was in Kyiv."

Amy Wang & Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged lawmakers Wednesday to continue supporting Ukraine, more than a year and a half after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of the country and as some Republicans have wavered in their commitment to sending aid.... Congress is weighing a roughly $40 billion supplemental funding request put forward last month by the Biden administration that includes aid for Ukraine, border security and domestic disaster relief."

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the longtime Republican leader whose recent medical episodes have raised questions about his ability to continue steering his party in the Senate, declared on Wednesday that he had no intention of relinquishing his top post or leaving Congress ahead of schedule. 'I'm going to finish my term as leader and I'm going to finish my Senate term,' Mr. McConnell, wan in appearance and defiant in tone, told reporters at the Capitol as he took questions outside the Senate chamber. In a crowded news conference, Mr. McConnell's first at the Capitol since two alarming episodes in which he froze midsentence on camera while addressing the media, the 81-year-old minority leader refused to engage with questions about his health or his political future, even as he appeared to leave the door open to giving up his leadership post after 2024."

What Leadership? Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has spoken critically of Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) for putting a total blockade on confirming military appointments and promotions -- but he doesn't appear willing or able to actually do anything about it. And Tuberville 'thumbing his nose' at the leadership is a sign that McConnell's once-legendary mastery and power over Senate institutions is slipping, argued Eleanor Clift for The Daily Beast on Wednesday. 'McConnell in his prime would have ended the Alabama senator's siege in a millisecond. He told reporters in early May, four months ago, he didn't support what Tuberville is doing,' wrote Clift.... '... McConnell is no longer invincible, and it's a rube like Tuberville that has driven that point home,' concluded Clift."

Katherine Faulders & Mike Levine of ABC News: Attorney Evan "Corcoran's recollections, captured in a series of voice memos..., help illuminate [Donald] Trump's alleged efforts to defy a federal grand jury subpoena, and appear to shed more light on his frame of mind when he allegedly launched what prosecutors say was a criminal conspiracy to hide classified documents from both the FBI and Corcoran, his own attorney.... ABC News has reviewed copies of transcripts of the recordings, which appear to show the way Trump allegedly deceived his own attorney, and how classified documents, according to prosecutors, ended up at Mar-a-Lago in the first place." (Also linked yesterday.)

Andrew Goudsward of Reuters: "A key witness in the case accusing ... Donald Trump of mishandling classified documents after leaving office has entered into a deal with prosecutors to provide testimony, his former attorney said in a Wednesday court filing. The deal was reached after U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith's office threatened to prosecute the witness, who is the head of information technology at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Florida resort, for lying to a grand jury, the attorney, Stanley Woodward, said in the filing.... Prosecutors previously said that the witness, who has been identified by media outlets Politico and CNN as Yuscil Taveras, had information about efforts by Trump's personal aide [Walt] Nauta [whom Woodward represents] and others to obstruct the classified documents investigation."

So Much Losing. “Decline to Sign.” Kevin Brueninger of CNBC: "A New York judge on Wednesday rejected Donald Trump;s request to delay his sweeping civil fraud trial, calling the former president's request 'completely without merit.' One day earlier, attorneys for Trump, his two adult sons and his businesses had asked the judge to stay the case until three weeks after he has ruled on competing motions for summary judgement. The trial is currently scheduled to begin Oct. 2.... 'Decline to sign,' [Judge Arthur] Engoron wrote in a brief, handwritten note at the bottom of Trump's proposed order for a stay. 'Defendants' arguments are completely without merit.' The order keeps the case on track to become Trump's first trial since he left the White House in 2021."

So Much Losing. Dan Mangan of CNBC: "A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that Donald Trump is civilly liable for defamatory statements he made about writer E. Jean Carroll in 2019 when she went public with claims he had raped her decades earlier. Judge Lewis Kaplan, as part of that ruling, said the upcoming trial for Carroll's lawsuit against Trump will only deal with the question of how much the former president should pay her in monetary damages for defaming her. Normally, a jury would determine at trial whether a defendant is liable for civil damages claimed by a plaintiff. But Kaplan found that Carroll was entitled to a partial summary judgment on the question of Trump's liability in the case." IOW, Carroll doesn't have to prove again in the second case against Trump that he defamed her; Kaplan says it's a given. The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

So Much Losing. Zach Schonfeld of the Hill: “A state judge denied Kenneth Chesebro's attempt to sever his charges in the Georgia election interference case from Sidney Powell on Wednesday. But Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee signaled he is skeptical of prosecutors' request to try alongside them the other 17 co-defendants, including former President Trump, though McAfee has not yet made a final ruling on that question." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

Zach Montague of the New York Times: "Prosecutors rested their case on Wednesday in the criminal trial of Peter Navarro, who served as ... Donald J. Trump's trade adviser, saying he willfully ignored lawmakers in refusing to appear last year before the House committee investigating the Capitol attack. After delivering their opening statement, government lawyers took just three hours to introduce all their evidence, arguing that convicting Mr. Navarro revolved around one straightforward question: Did he show contempt for Congress when he disregarded the committee's subpoena for documents and testimony?... The defense also rested, calling no witnesses and presenting no evidence, with closing arguments expected to begin Thursday morning."

Betsy Swan & Kyle Cheney of Politico: Katherine Friess, a top consultant to Rudy Giuliani during the campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, seems to have "vanished." Oh, and even though she charged modest rates for her work, the Trump campaign paid her only a fraction of what she was owed.

More on the Misadventures of Donald Trump filed under "Presidential Race 2024."


Kara Scannell, et al., of CNN: "Special counsel David Weiss intends to seek an indictment against President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, relating to gun charges by the end of the month, the Justice Department said Wednesday.... The probe appeared to be winding down in June, when Weiss announced a two-pronged agreement where Hunter Biden would plead guilty to two federal tax misdemeanors, and enter into a 'diversion agreement' where the gun charge would be dropped in two years if he passed drug tests and stayed out of legal trouble. But at a stunning court hearing in July, the deal collapsed under scrutiny from the federal judge overseeing the case.... Prosecutors did not say how many charges would be brought.... In addition to the gun case, Weiss is still weighing whether to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes. He said in a court filing last month that 'a trial is now in order' on the tax offenses ad that he 'may bring tax charges' possibly in California or Washington, DC.... House Republicans made their first official ask to Hunter Biden's attorneys for documents on Wednesday related to the defunct plea agreement, two sources told CNN, laying the groundwork for a potential subpoena down the line." This is an update of a developing story linked yesterday. The New York Times story is here.

Presidential Race 2024

Joe Jacquez of the Hill: "Chris Christie slammed GOP presidential rival Ron DeSantis for 'playing politics' after the Florida governor chose not to meet with President Biden during his trip to the Sunshine State to survey damage from Hurricane Idalia.... Christie, the former governor of New Jersey who met with then-President Barack Obama in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, said DeSantis failed in his job as governor of the state. 'You're the governor of the state, the President of the United States comes and you're asking .. the Congress for significant aid.... You should have been there with the president to welcome him,' Christie said.... 'Fortunately, [Sen.] Rick Scott ... who knows what it means to be governor, showed up and made sure the president saw what he needed to see,' Christie said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: "Former Vice President Mike Pence devoted an entire speech on Wednesday to what he called a 'fundamental' and 'unbridgeable' divide within the Republican Party -- the split between Reaganite conservatives like himself and propagators of populism like ... Donald J. Trump and his imitators.... [Mr. Pence cast] casting Mr. Trump's populism as a 'road to ruin.' 'Should the new populism of the right seize and guide our party, the Republican Party as we have long known it will cease to exist,' Mr. Pence said at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. 'And the fate of American freedom would be in doubt.'... He said populists trafficked in 'personal grievances and performative outrage.' And he said they would 'abandon American leadership on the world stage,' erode constitutional norms, jettison fiscal responsibility and wield the power of the government to punish their enemies." MB: Once in a while, mike pence acts as if he's not as dumb as he pretends to be.

Hannah Demissie & Isabella Murray of ABC News: "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW), a Washington-based watchdog group, on Wednesday filed a lawsuit on behalf of a handful of voters seeking to bar former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot in Colorado under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment based on his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The suit -- quickly dismissed by Trump's team -- marks one of the first serious challenges to his qualifications as a presidential candidate based on a 14th Amendment argument.... Wednesday's suit against Trump was filed, with CREW's attorneys, by six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters, including former state, federal and local officials. The suit accuses Trump of inciting and aiding the mob that stormed the Capitol two years ago." (Also linked yesterday.)

Thanks, Elon! Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "Ever since Meta lifted its two-year ban on ... Donald Trump earlier this year, its Facebook and Instagram platforms have emerged as a key element of Trump's presidential campaign fundraising plan, according to data from Meta's archives and interviews with campaign strategists and Trump advisors. Meta's platforms offer Trump a vital resource that he can't get from his own social media site, Truth Social, or via his countless mass emails: Access to millions of potential donors who may not be part of his traditional political base of supporters." (Also linked yesterday.)


** World Meteorological Association: "Earth just had its hottest three months on record, according to the European Union-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) implemented by ECMWF. Global sea surface temperatures are at unprecedented highs for the third consecutive month and Antarctic sea ice extent remains at a record low for the time of year."

~~~~~~~~~~

Florida. Okay, Kids, Write Out Martin Luther's 95 Theses. Dana Goldstein of the New York Times: "An alternative to the SAT and ACT for only a small number of mostly religious colleges, the [Classical Learning Test] is known for its emphasis on the Western canon, with a big dose of Christian thought. But on Friday, Florida's public university system, which includes the University of Florida and Florida State University, is expected to become the first state system to approve the Classic Learning Test, or CLT, for use in admissions.... It's the latest move by Gov. Ron DeSantis to shake up the education establishment, especially the College Board, the nonprofit behemoth that runs the SAT program.... The company [that developed & administers the CLT] ... describes the CLT as part of 'the larger educational freedom movement of our time' -- language that echoes that of conservative supporters of private-school vouchers and tax credits for home-schoolers.... While there is no single definition of classical education, the CLT celebrates canonical works from Western civilization, with an emphasis on Greek, Roman and early Christian thought. Memorization, logic and debate are considered important skills." (Also linked yesterday.)

Tennessee Senate Race. Thanks to RAS for the link: ~~~

Texas. A Victory (However Shortlived) for Human Decency. Paul Weber of the AP: "A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Texas to move a large floating barrier to the bank of the Rio Grande after protests from the the U.S. and Mexican governments over Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's latest tactic to stop migrants from crossing America's southern border. The decision by U.S. District Judge David Ezra of Texas is likely to be appealed by the state, which for the past two years has aggressively pushed legal boundaries to curb the the flow of migrants under a sprawling mission known as Operation Lone Star. The judge said the state must move the barrier by Sept. 15. Dozens of bright orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys have created a water barrier longer than a soccer field on a stretch of river where migrants often try crossing from Mexico. Texas also has installed razor wire and steel fencing on the border, while also empowering armed officers to arrest migrants on trespassing charges."; (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

Texas. The Girlfriend. Zach Despart of the Texas Tribune: "At the end of September 2020, it finally made sense to Jeff Mateer why his boss, Attorney General Ken Paxton, was devoting so much of the agency's attention to Paxton's friend, Austin real estate investor Nate Paul...., [even after] repeated warnings that assisting Paul in his business disputes was an improper use of state resources. And then, as the office was erupting in crisis when senior deputies learned that Paxton had quietly hired an outside lawyer to conduct an investigation on Paul's behalf, Mateer said he learned ... Paul had hired the woman with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair, allowing her to move to Austin, where the attorney general could more easily visit her.... As expected, the attorney general's affair with Laura Olson, the former Senate aide Buzbee identified by name during the trial, took center stage in the trial." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: List five reasons you, or a woman you know, would have an affair with Ken Paxton. Couldn't think of even one, could you?

News Lede

Pennsylvania. New York Times: A resident discovers that prison escapee & convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante is in his house. "In a news conference on Wednesday, Howard Holland, the acting warden of the prison, described for the first time how Mr. Cavalcante escaped. A little before 9 a.m., while a basketball game was going on outside in the exercise yard, he said, Mr. Cavalcante crab-walked up two parallel walls -- putting his hands on one wall and his feet on the other and quickly climbing to the roof, a feat captured on video that was shown at the news conference."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (23)

Old age mutant ninja turtle report

Okay, he might not be a fearsome ninja (see the link, above, re: Mr. Potato Head thumbing is nose turtleward); a mutant? Very likely a mutated form of Republicanis Assholia (and not a good mutation either); but still a turtle, and still old.

Nonetheless, PoT colleagues are still giving Mitch McConnell their support and well wishes. Oops! All except a certain sadly bewigged little pest from McConnell’s home state of Kentucky, who while the rest of the party offers wishes for continued turtleature, bleats out What about meeeee?!?

So here’s Li’l Randy demanding that everyone pay attention to his medical advice, such as it is, cuz he knows best, even if he hasn’t ever examined McConnell (apart from a very close relationship to his butt cheeks whenever he needed help), and even though he’s not a neurologist, AND in point of the very real fact that he’s not even a real doctor, he just plays one in his head.

“That diagnosis is all wrong!” sez the self-certified eye poker. Listen to MEEEEE!!

I’m guessing Sen. Yard Waste Over the Fence can’t wait to be acknowledged as the senior senator from Kentucky. Probably already has a giant bronze plaque ready to be screwed onto his office door.

But let’s get the opinion of a real doctor vis-a-vis Aqua Buddha’s medical chops:

"Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I want to say that officially”

That was Dr. Anthony Fauci in July 2021 making a stark, and very public rebuke of the littlest eye poker’s tirades about virology, another subject he knows nothing about.

Ah well, the fact that another R loser, the fat one, has sucked all the oxygen out of the room must have the little yard waste wastrel wasting away for lack of attention.

It’s a common sound from the right these days:

“Waaaaaaaaahhhhh!”

My fervent hope is that the turtle stays unfrozen long enough to perform a little eye poking of his own.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Akhilleus: Ten years ago when MSNBC's Rachel Maddow & CNN's (oops! then BuzzFeed's) Andrew Kaczynski accused Rand Paul of plagiarism -- because he plagiarized from several sources -- Rand Paul said he regretted the law would not allow him to challenge his critics to a duel.

While I tend to agree with Fake Dr. Paul's fake diagnosis, if Dr. Monahan is a good shot (or a good swordsman or whatever), I'd favor his challenging Fake Dr. Paul to a duel. In case of a disagreement about facts, a duel is always the best way to determine who's right.

September 7, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

While I can't think of a reason a woman would want an affair with Ken Paxton, not even for a job paying $65,000 annually :-) ,
I'm more curious why 53.4% of voters wanted to continue their affair with Ken Paxton in 2022, despite "numerous scandals" as described by Julia Guilbeau and Maria Mendez, writing in the Tribune in May Ken Paxton Impeachment

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered Commenterlaura hunter

From the Be Careful What You Wish For Department…

Former Teabagging liar, all-around scumbagger, and chief of staff (one of many) for the now numerously indicted former president*, Mark Meadows wanted out of that Georgia RICO mess. He didn’t want to be tried with the rest of those traitors and nutjobs, especially the big traitor and nutjob, his former boss. So he asks for his own speedy trial (at which he’s sure to whine “That devil Trump made me do it!”).

But guess who also wants a speedy trial? Sidney Powell, the nutjob who’s gonna say “That lady who talks to the wind while I was in a semi-conscious time traveling state made me do it!”

Hey, it’s good to be tried with a stable co-defendant, right?

So now Meadows is chained to the time traveling Kraken Lady! And it’s gonna be televised—worldwide!

Hahahahaha. May they both go time traveling together. To the days of the Spanish Inquisition.

Release the Crapper!

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Still trying to figure it out.

What's with this country, so willing to turn its back on its many proud traditions centered on its claim to be the home of individual freedom and democracy?

We see the slavering adoration of a large portion of the country for an obvious crook who is running for office to run away from jail. Alabama thumbing its nose at a Supreme Court that insists it allow its citizens to vote. Wisconsin Republicans threatening to impeach a justice elected by the overwhelming will of the voters before she has made a single decision. A "Freedom Caucus" in the House that will refuse to fund the government unless it impeaches a president for doing--nothing wrong.

Maybe a partial explanation:

I was thinking the other day that the majority in this country have become spoiled by all the freedoms we have come to take for granted and by the material abundance we have come to expect as our birthrights. That maybe we've become soft, no longer tough enough to do the work necessary to defend democracy. I wondered that even about myself.

Then I thought specifically of Republicans. What's the difference between them and me? I think there is one.

They are even more spoiled than the average it would seem. They are, in fact, lazy, spoiled brats who can't take it when they don't get their way and are willing, even eager, to sacrifice democracy on the altar of their desire to impose their will on everyone else.

Republicans have become the very definition of poor losers ( lavishly financed by capitalism's winners, selfish rich people).

And who better to lead them than that embarrassing avatar of spoiled brat-dom?

He gives them permission to be who they are.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Marie,

If Li’l Randy challenged me to a duel, I’d show up with a rake and hedge trimmers. That ratty wig-thing would come right off!

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Laura,

You are right on the money about any kind affair with an oleaginous creep like Ken Paxton. A political affair is bad enough, but up close and personal? Ewww. $650,000 wouldn’t be enough.

As for the voters, it’s what I was saying yesterday. Evangelical holy rollers don’t care if Paxton and his girlfriend (not his wife) are doing the prone polka as long as he gives them what they want, power over the libs, and the ability to force their belief system on the rest of us.*

Of course, support for the poxy Paxton comes with the usual projection baggage. Paxy’s poxy proxies (oooh, that was fun) are now screeching that by impeaching his corrupt ass, Texans are being deprived of their votes (this, a response no doubt to the very real situation in which Trump and his cronies attempted to deprive millions of voters of their choice in an illegal and unconstitutional attempt to hold on to power).

Okay…no voters in Texas are being “deprived” of their votes if and when Paxton is impeached. They went into the booth, they colored in the little box next to “Paxton”, and he was elected. No vote deprivation there. They just voted for the wrong guy. Look, if you vote for a crook and he gets caught, them’s the breaks. Same with Fatty.

Do better next time.

*Of course, once he’s found guilty and tossed out, I’m sure there will be a fair amount of holy roller harrumphing about how “It’s good that Jesus showed us the way with this Paxton person, I hardly even knew him!”

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Ken Winkes: The spoiled-bratdom of the confederates is a big part of the phenomenon, as you suggest. But there's another side of the coin, I think, and it's important, too: the "poorly educated," as Trump calls them, but more accurately, economically unsuccessful white people. These are the descendants (sometime literally, sometimes just philosophically) of poor Confederate rebels. They owned no slaves, they owned no land, the lived hand-to-mouth. In some cases, they were worse off than slaves, like the day-laborers of ancient times who had no value to anyone, unlike the slaves who were assets to their owners.

But what these white ne'er-do-wells did have and do have is a sense that there is a group of people who are "worse" than they are. If, as is the case today, they are not always economically worse-off than these white people, then they are morally inferior: they get too many abortions, they're in the country illegally, they are taking all the government handouts. I once saw an interview of a southern Republican who was clearly on the skids. I think the interviewer was Nancy Pelosi's daughter Alexandra, and this guy was complaining about Nee-gros taking government hands. She asked the guy if he had ever received government assistance, and he let on that he was on the dole even then. Well, why was that okay? Pelosi asked. "Because I deserve it," came the answer. He figured that despite his failures in life, he was intrinsically better than the Nee-gros.

So I don't think the grievance brigade is entirely peopled by self-satisfied bullies. It's also the refuge for people looking for a stereotypical scapegoat. The whole lot of them -- including and especially their Dear Leader -- are pathetic. And they won't go away.

September 7, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Ken,

Spoiled is the word.

I became eligible to vote in 1972. Over the next 20 years, my choice for President was elected only once (Carter in ‘76). It would be another 12 years before my choice was again elected President, and then they went after that guy hammer and tong (of course he didn’t help himself very much). But now they want to make sure, even as their party numbers decrease every year, that no Democrat gets elected to any office ever again. And if they happen to squeak through, “Impeach!”

It hasn’t been an easy road for Democrats, but Republicans would have you believe that European Jews during the Holocaust had it better, which gives them every right to lie, cheat, and steal elections whenever and wherever.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Telling a group that's not collectively intelligent enough to understand irony that they are the Chosen People for 30 or 40 years in the political wasteland that their policies deserve is unlikely to produce a reasonable rabble. When they know in their hearts that Hillary should have been locked up and that Obama is from Africa and that Trump won the last election and that the libs are coming for their guns, how can they trust democracy to get things right? I believe that they believe in their own specialness--true believers are always more scary than cynics like Trump, so being rid of the Orange Pretender will be less of a relief than we imagine. It's only a matter of time before the first stochastic massacre with GOP and Christian apologists assuring us that during Kristallnacht there were good people on both sides.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJack Mahoney

@Akhilleus: It isn't Meadows who asked for a speedy trial and will get stuck sitting side-by-side with the insurrection's No. 1 witch-whisperer; it's memo-writer Ken Chesebro. Meadows asked that his case by tried in federal court, and the District judge hasn't announced a decision on that yet.

September 7, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Marie,

Ah, yes. Of course. The Cheese. I’m getting all the crooks mixed up. Early morning postings should be accompanied by tea, steeped for at least ten minutes. At least that’s my excuse this time. Thanks for the correction. Ya can’t tell the traitors without a scorecard!

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Yesterday I told someone that Nikki Haley is not someone that a woman interviewed can vote for because she, Nikki, got rid of the Confederate battle flag as part of the state flag arsenal. I was momentarily "blinded by pity" for Nikki, who can't break through the morons in her party due to the Endless War of Blue and Gray; well, that pity lasted about 14 seconds as she expressed her deep love for the Moms for Liberty, and how she is working with them. Jesus H Christ on a crutch. Every time I bend one of these characters, they break before they can even be considered as a viable candidate. No Redeeming Value is the only category they excel in.

A lot of whining today about the Rotten Potato from Alabama and his proud stand against allowing women in the military to get their transport paid for when having to go to another state for health care. I do not understand how even the Dems allow this poisonous toad to put a hold on the military promotions because of his personal religious beliefs...No, the nasty vacant-eyed slit-mouthed turtle won't do anything about it, so, in my opinion, they need to proceed as if the Tuber had died in transit. And I do not care about the military. I just hate how this is being handled, or indeed, NOT HANDLED by anyone with a brain.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

Re: the excuse being floated by that asshole Navarro and his winger mouthpiece, that, oops, it was a accident that he ignored a high profile subpoena. Such bullshit. These traitors are all big and bad when strutting in front of the MAGA droolers, “I told those Biden stooges where to get off!”, but when they’re up before a judge it’s “Oh, it’s a mistake, I didn’t mean it, this is so unfaaaiir! It was a accident!”

The “it was a accident” excuse was something tried by my kid when he was five and he broke something he shouldn’t have been playing with. These creeps shouldn’t have been playing with our democracy in the first place, but when they ding it, it’s “Waaaah. I was a accident”.

Fuck off and die, Petey.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

And the Gym Jordan threat to “investigate” Fani Willis about blah, blah, blah political motivation is one more sad bit of performative woo-woo, the sort of hippity-hop at the barber shop these charlatans pull on a regular basis. Gym is either too stupid to know that he has no jurisdiction over a state prosecution, or he’s sure the MAGAts he’s playing to don’t know that. But that’s fine by him, he couldn’t properly investigate a wormy apple. “That worm is politically motivated! Aieee! Investigation! Impeachment! Firing squad!”

Talk about political motivation, every thing these vermin do is politically motivated. They can’t legislate, they don’t know the first thing about governance, or ethics, or responsibility, but they know how to announce an “investigation!”.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Peter Navarro gets heckled .
You'd think he would be able handle being around crazy and annoying people with as much practice he has had over a lifetime of hanging out with conseratives.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Arrogant little bastard is convicted. And sentenced to not enough, I predict.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

@RAS: I don't know that Navarro has had a lifetime of hanging out with conservatives. From about 1994 till 2018, he was a registered Democrat, though he served as a 2016 Trump campaign advisor (real economists roundly criticized his advice as based on far-out, other-worldly assumptions). I'd guess he's always been a kooky fish out of water who is constantly buffeted by reality, even when that reality is nothing more serious than a protester.

September 7, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

RAS posts a link about whiny traitor Petey Navarro being convicted and still crying about it (a good post, btw). As I read through the Sorrows of Petey who is now begging the droolers to send him money so’s he can pay for his upcoming appeal, I spotted a story about Cancun Ted fulminating on Fox about OMG! lies from the White House Press Secretary?? That never happened under Trump!!

Cancun Boy never actually says what lies he’s talking about (details like actual facts don’t matter on Fox), but given the fact that Trump accused Cruz’s father of being in on killing Kennedy, his astonishment at the possibility of a lie emanating from the Press Secretary’s podium is itself pretty astonishing, if not surprising.

I doubt a single minute in any Trump administration interaction with the press went by without at least four or five lies, (Sarah Liarbee Sanders?) but Cancun Ted has no memory of a scintilla of mendacity during the four year Trump Liathon.

Sad.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Marie: That's my bad. I forget how many current day Republicans are failed Democrats. So many of them take advantage of the many opportunities for power, money, and fame available to grifters, idiots and bigots on the Right. It's also a lot easier when you no longer have to fight fair or follow the established rules of a normal society or worry about your fellow human beings. They just lie, cheat, and steal to line their pockets while screwing the rest of us. Navarro is just one of the many, but hopefully he'll get a little bit of what he deserves at sentencing.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Navarro makes a habit of forgetting. Like the sources for his writing.

Not an opinion. piece to be swallowed whole (consider the source), but playing fast and loose with his citations is documented here.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/04/peter-navarro-trump-china-adviser-bad-economics/

A thorough-going slime ball. Dresses better than Bannon though.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Michael Cohen gives his two cents.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed

Ken,

Homeless guys dress better than Bannon.

September 7, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
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