February 4, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday offered his most forceful rebuke of Donald Trump, saying that Mr. Trump is 'wrong' that Mr. Pence had the legal authority to change the results of the 2020 election and that the Republican Party must accept the outcome and look toward the future.... 'The truth is there's more at stake than our party or our political fortunes,' he said. 'If we lose faith in the Constitution, we won't just lose elections -- we'll lose our country.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mariana Alfaro & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Pence said the presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone, and appeared to suggest that calls for him to overturn the results of the election were 'un-American.' 'Frankly there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American President,' Pence said."

Kate Sullivan of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Friday touted the January jobs report that was significantly better than what most economists had predicted, given the rapid surge of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. 'Our country is taking everything that Covid has to throw at us and we've come back stronger,' Biden said, speaking from the White House." See related story linked under today's Ledes. ~~~

Sarakshi Rai of the Hill: "Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Friday criticized the Republican National Committee's (RNC) effort to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), saying he considered the move by their fellow Republicans shameful. Romney ... said in a tweet that 'shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol.' He praised them for seeking answers despite the professional and personal consequences.... 'Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost,' he [said]. Romney's statements stand in stark contrast to those of his niece, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who spoke in favor of the resolution that was passed by the resolutions committee on Thursday. McDaniel has previously condemned her uncle for criticizing Trump." A Washington Post report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Josh Dawsey & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "In an extraordinary rebuke, the Republican National Committee on Friday voted Friday to condemn Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), the two Republican members of a House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. The censure resolution passed overwhelmingly on a voice vote with no debate or discussion. It said the behavior of Cheney and Kinzinger 'has been destructive to the institution of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic.'" This also is an update to a story by Josh Dawsey, linked earlier today. ~~~

The Party of Violent Insurrection

WHEREAS, Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaging in legitimate political discourse ... -- from the RNC's censure resolution

     ~~~ ** Jonathan Weisman & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "The Republican Party on Friday officially declared the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and events that led to it 'legitimate political discourse,' and rebuked two lawmakers in the party who have been most outspoken in condemning the deadly riot and the role of Donald J. Trump in spreading the election lies that fueled it." ~~~

~~~ Marie: This is extraordinary. We have not seen anything like it since the Civil War. What remains a national political party has embraced violent revolution against the federal government, murder of top officials -- "Hang mike pence" "Oh, Naaaaaaancy." -- battering of tens of police officers, destruction of federal property, all with the goal to overturn the results of a presidential election and keep the loser in power. Republicans describe all this as "legitimate political discourse."

Calling Bill Barr. Mike Lillis & Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "Democrats are amping up the pressure on William Barr to testify before the panel investigating the Capitol attack of Jan. 6, 2021, saying the former attorney general has a unique window into the thoughts and actions of former President Trump leading up to the violent siege. Barr has been in informal talks with the special investigative committee, according to the chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). But recent news reports have added layers of detail to Barr's one-on-one interactions with Trump in late 2020, as the former president sought ways to use the powers of the administration to overturn his election defeat. Those revelations have sparked new interest on Capitol Hill for Barr to brief the committee again -- this time in a more formal setting."

Pick a White Man! Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post: "People keep saying that the point of a pledge of the kind President Biden made [-- to choose a Black woman for the Supreme Court --] is not to treat people differently because of the group they belong to but to stop treating people differently because of the group they belong to.... I'm disgusted that we would settle for anything less than picking the most qualified candidate for the job! And that's what I fear we're doing, because we aren't picking a White man. Astonishingly, every other possible selection is just there for reasons of enforced diversity, whereas White men are there because they deserve it!... We must pick the most qualified person, and the only way we can be sure we aren't influenced by traits is if this person is a formless mind floating in a void. Or the next best thing, a White man." ~~~

~~~ Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Justice Neil M. Gorsuch is speaking to the conservative Federalist Society as part of a political lineup of former vice president Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Donald Trump's onetime press secretary [Kayleigh McEnany], an appearance that comes as his fellow justices repeatedly dismiss criticism that the Supreme Court is partisan.... While Gorsuch will not ... share a stage with the GOP leaders, his attendance with major figures close to Trump has stirred questions about the court's impartiality and the insistence of the justices that it remains nonpartisan." MB: Gorsuch cannot be doing anything wrong. He is not just a Supreme Court justice. He is a White Man.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Katie Glueck, et al., of the New York Times: "Amid a rise in murders in cities across the nation, and intense Republican efforts to paint Democrats as hostile to law enforcement, President Biden on Thursday traveled to New York City to assert his party's public safety credentials, affirming his support for law enforcement and detailing his administration's plans to work with the city to confront gun violence. Flanked by elected officials including Mayor Eric Adams -- a former police captain whose messaging around crime and justice has been embraced by some national Democrats -- Mr. Biden highlighted his calls to increase federal investments in policing and pledged that the Justice Department would focus on so-called ghost guns, firearms that are easily assembled from kits but are not regulated by federal gun laws." A related story by Matt Viser of the Washington Post is here.

~~~ Eric Schmitt & Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "A risky predawn raid by U.S. Special Operations forces that resulted in the death of the Islamic State's leader on Thursday was set in motion months ago with a tip that the top terrorist was hiding out on the top floor of a house in northwest Syria. In brief remarks at the White House, President Biden said the decision to send about two doze helicopter-borne commandos to capture or kill the leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, was made to minimize the risk of civilian harm. Military officials said attacking with a bomb or a missile would have been safer for the troops but could have endangered more than a dozen civilians in the house, including several children."

** When the President gave a briefing & the President* gave a "briefing" on military takedowns of ISIS leaders. MB: I doubt anyone has forgotten what an ignorant dolt Trump is, but this juxtaposition of briefings on similar operations is stunning:

Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "The United States has acquired intelligence about a Russian plan to fabricate a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine using a faked video that would build on recent disinformation campaigns, according to senior administration officials and others briefed on the material. The plan -- which the United States hopes to spoil by making public -- involves staging and filming a fabricated attack by the Ukrainian military either on Russian territory or against Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine." (Also linked yesterday.)

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The National Archives decided on Tuesday that it will turn over former Vice President Mike Pence's records to the House Select Committee early next month, after ... Donald Trump said he wanted to keep secret more than 100 documents. This is the first set of records related to Pence's office that the Archives has cleared for release after House investigators sought them and comes as top officials around Pence on January 6 testify to the panel." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "In a body full of MAGA sycophants and Ivy League-educated senators spewing anti-elite rhetoric, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) manages to stand out. From his fist-pumping approval of the Jan. 6 mob to his whining that his canceled book deal amounts to censorship, Hawley has specialized in inflammatory stunts and victimhood to shove himself to the front of the line of wannabe MAGA cult leaders who seek to follow defeated ... Donald Trump. So no one can be surprised when Hawley adopts the talking points of Trump's favorite dictator, Russian President Vladimir Putin. As President Biden draws a tough stance against Putin's designs on Ukraine and deploys troops to our NATO allies, Hawley has taken Putin's side in the central dispute. Does Ukraine have a right to determine its alliance? Hawley's answer: Nyet!" (Also linked yesterday.)

S. V. Date of the Huffington Post: "Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday is expected to rebut, again, claims by Donald Trump that Pence 'could have overturned the election' to let Trump remain in power despite having lost in 2020 by more than 7 million votes. Pence had already been scheduled to speak at the conservative Federalist Society's conference in Florida, and advisers have indicated in recent days that he is likely to respond there to Trump's latest attacks." MB: Gosh, will pence say Trump is a lying, whining loser or that uninformed sources misled the Greatest President* Ever?

Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Republican leaders forged an agreement this week to potentially fund a challenger to Rep. Liz Cheney in Wyoming, and party members are expected to formally condemn her for her work on the Jan. 6 committee Friday, an unprecedented rebuke of an incumbent member of Congress. As the party met in Salt Lake City this week, the leaders of the Wyoming GOP privately signed a special letter that would allow the national party to financially support Harriet Hageman, Cheney's primary challenger. The letter officially recognizes Hageman as the presumptive nominee for the seat."

Old Generals Never Die; They Just Fade Away Waging Fake Wars. Robert Draper in the New York Times Magazine: When Donald Trump granted Michael Flynn a full pardon, Flynn was already deep into pushing military-backed plans to overturn the 2020 presidential election. "One year since Trump's departure from office, his Make America Great Again movement has reconstituted itself as a kind of shape-shifting but increasingly robust parallel political universe, one that holds significant sway over the Republican Party but is also beyond its control. It includes MAGA-centric media outlets...; well-attended events...; its own personalities and merchandise; and above all, its shared catechism -- central to which is the false claim that Trump was the legitimate victor in 2020. In this world, Flynn is probably the single greatest draw besides Trump himself.... In the year since Flynn sought to enlist the military in overturning the election, he has continued to fight the same battle by other means. He has been a key figure in spreading the gospel of the stolen election."

Coral Marcos of the New York Times: "Stocks on Wall Street tumbled on Thursday, with Meta, the parent company of Facebook, leading the way with a drop of 26.4 percent, its worst one-day loss ever and one that erased more than $230 billion off its market value."

Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "... the trial that opened on Thursday morning, pitting the [New York] Times against former Alaska governor Sarah Palin in a high-stakes showdown over First Amendment principles, could put [media legal] protections to the test.... In his opening statements to the jury, an attorney for the New York Times tried to turn down the temperature of the debate, casting the matter as a simple error in presentation that the paper's editors moved 'as quickly as possible' to correct."

Michael Grynbaum & John Koblin of the New York Times: CNN on-air personalities met Wednesday with Warner Media CEO Jason Kilar after Kilar fired CNN CEO Jeff Zucker. The stars were not aligned with Kilar. "It was as if a year's worth of frustrations and pressures had came pouring out: unease over CNN's corporate ownership; the firing of the anchor Chris Cuomo in an embarrassing ethics scandal; a looming merger with Discovery Inc.; and now the sudden exit of a leader who had remade the network, to some praise and some criticism, over his nine-year tenure.... [Jake] Tapper asked about the perception that Mr. Cuomo had successfully used Mr. Zucker's relationship to force him to resign. 'Jeff said we don't negotiate with terrorists, and Chris blew the place up,' Mr. Tapper said.... 'For a lot of us,' [Dana Bash] said, 'the feeling is that, for Jeff, the punishment didn't fit the crime.'" MB: This is just big boys with marbles and no morals playing keepsies. When all the players are bully boys, some will be losers. ~~~

~~~ ** Remembering Zucker. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: Jeff "Zucker's relationship with Donald Trump will define his legacy. Zucker, as much as any other person in the world, created and burnished the Trump persona -- first as a reality-TV star who morphed into a worldwide celebrity, then as a candidate for president who was given large amounts of free publicity.... Zucker created Trump the TV sensation, which was the necessary foundation for Trump the candidate.... CNN infamously took his campaign speeches live, sometimes going so far as to broadcast images of an empty lectern with embarrassing chyrons such as 'Breaking News: Standing By for Trump to Speak.'... Zucker also brought on the air Trump surrogates who should have had no place on a national news network: ... Corey Lewandowski..., Jeffrey Lord and Kayleigh McEnany...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "Margaret Sullivan points out that Jeff Zucker played a crucial role ... in transforming Donald Trump from a washed up bit of cultural detritus from the least appetizing parts of 1980s celebrity culture into an utterly fake tycoon, who was given a media launching pad he would use to eventually destroy democracy in America[.]... The most perverse aspect of the infotainment world that [Paddy Chayefsky's film] Network foresaw and that we're living through now is that it destroys any sense in the public that running a government actually requires some real expertise...." Campos goes on to look at why people would vote for a complete incompetent like Trump, and Campos' take is interesting. Also, a short read.

News You Can Use. Maybe. Rachel Lerman of the Washington Post: "Amazon is raising the price of its Prime membership in the U.S. from $119 to $139 annually, the first time the company has boosted the price of its popular subscription service since 2018. The new prices will go into effect Feb. 18 for new members, and beginning after March 25 for people who already have a membership. The monthly cost will also jump, from $12.99 to $14.99."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here.

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "A broad and bipartisan group of senators is coalescing around legislation to create a high-level independent commission, modeled after the one that examined the Sept. 11 attacks, with broad powers to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic and the response across the Trump and Biden administrations. Under a plan proposed by the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Health Committee -- Senators Patty Murray of Washington and Richard M. Burr of North Carolina -- a 12-member panel would have subpoena power to 'get a full accounting of what went wrong during this pandemic,' Ms. Murray said in an interview, and make recommendations for the future." MB: Let's have Sens. Ron Johnson & Rand Paul co-chair the commission.

Beyond the Beltway

Courts Likely to Undo Some GOP Gerrymandering. Ally Mutnick of Politico: "The redistricting wars are shifting into a new arena: the courtroom. Most states have finished their maps already, but state and federal courts will direct the drawing of some 75 congressional districts in at least seven states in the coming months, marking a new phase in the process before the first 2022 primaries begin. In the next few weeks alone, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania courts are likely to impose new maps blocking Republican legislators' attempts to relegate Democrats to small slivers of those congressional delegations.... So far, the decisions have validated the [Democratic] party's state-by-state legal strategy and, critically, offered a surprising reprieve from several Republican gerrymandering attempts before a single election could be held under the new lines."

Alabama. Noam Scheiber & Karen Weise of the New York Times: "On Friday, the National Labor Relations Board will mail out ballots to workers at [Amazon's Bessemer, Ala.,] warehouse in a so-called re-run election, which the agency ordered after finding that Amazon behaved improperly during the last campaign.... For this election, which runs through March 25, the labor movement is pulling few punches. Several national unions have collectively sent dozens of organizers to Bessemer to help rally workers. And organizers and workers have spent the past several months going door-to-door to build support for the union.... Turnover at Amazon is high -- over 150 percent a year even before a recent surge of quitting nationwide -- and could introduce uncertainty because it';s unclear how new workers will respond to arguments on either side."

Arizona. Andy Rose and Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "A Republican bill that would have overhauled elections in Arizona -- including giving the state legislature the power to reject election results -- proved to be too much even for state GOP leaders this week. Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican, quietly doomed House Bill 2596 on Tuesday with an unusual parliamentary maneuver. The speaker assigns all new bills to a committee for consideration before they can have full House votes, a choice that often has a great effect on a measure's chance of success. But on Tuesday, Bowers took the unprecedented step of ordering all 12 House committees to consider the elections bill, virtually ensuring it will never reach the floor. The bill's lead sponsor, Republican state Rep. John Fillmore, referred to the move as a '12-committee lynching' in an interview with CNN affiliate KPHO/KTVK." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Charming the way the sponsor of a bill designed to deprive minority voters of their rights describes the bill's defeat as a "lynching." Co-opting words designed to describe real atrocities is a GOP specialty.

Florida. Madison Czopek of Politifact: "After the Biden administration announced that the new bipartisan infrastructure law would provide $1.1 billion to protect and restore the Everglades in South Florida, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., visited the region to celebrate the investment. '... [I] am proud that Senator Rubio and I were able to help secure an unprecedented $1 billion for Everglades restoration, the largest single amount ever allocated by the federal government.' But Scott didn't vote for the law that's funding the Everglades project. Neither did Sen. Marco Rubio, the Florida colleague he shared the credit with.... That makes Scott part of [a] growing political tradition: lawmakers claiming credit for things made possible by legislation they opposed." Thanks to Forrest M. for the lead.

Maryland AG Race. Ovetta Wiggins of the Washington Post: "A former Anne Arundel County Council member who once had ties to the League of the South, an Alabama-based organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified as a hate group, is running to become Maryland's next attorney general. Michael Anthony Peroutka, an attorney, served on the council from 2014 to 2018 and was elected chairman in his final year on the board. During his 2014 run, Peroutka said he opposed same-sex marriage, believes in creationism and favors the dismantling of public education, which he has called 'a plank in the Communist Manifesto.' At a League of the South conference in 2012, he sang 'Dixie,' calling it 'the national anthem.'" MB: Look for a Trump endorsement any day now.

New Jersey. Matt Friedman of Politico: "A Republican challenge to the new congressional district map has failed. The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday voted 5-0 to side with Democrats and dismiss a GOP lawsuit that asked the court to remand the map to the redistricting commission for further consideration and require the tie-breaker commissioner, former Supreme Court Justice John Wallace, to recuse himself. The state's highest court ruled that for all the Republicans' complaints about the process, the lawsuit did not challenge the map itself as unlawful or unconstitutional."

Texas Voting Restrictions Law Is "Already a Clusterfuck." Sam Levine of the Guardian: "Officials in Texas are rejecting thousands of mail-in ballots ahead of the first 2022 midterm primary votes next month, raising serious alarm that a new Republican law is going to disenfranchise droves of eligible voters. The state's 1 March primary is being closely watched as the first important test of one of the dozens of voting restrictions GOP-controlled state legislatures enacted in 2021. Last August, Texas Republicans passed a sweeping new voting law, SB 1, that imposes new identification requirements in the mail-in voting process, prohibits election officials from soliciting mail-in ballots, provides partisan poll watchers with more autonomy at the polls and outlaws 24-hour and curbside voting.... 'It's already a clusterfuck,' said Charlie Bonner, a spokesperson for Move Texas, a group that works on voter mobilization in Texas."

Way Beyond

China/Russia, etc.. Andrew Jeong & Emily Rauhala of the Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met Friday on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympics in a show of solidarity amid a spiraling crisis over the Kremlin's military buildup around Ukraine that could further complicate the diplomatic standoff. In a rambling joint statement to mark the occasion, Moscow and Beijing espoused shared views on a range of geopolitical issues but avoided mentioning the crisis by name. Instead they expressed opposition to NATO enlargement and called out 'forces representing a minority on the world stage' who 'continue to advocate unilateral approaches to solving international problems.' Xi, who has not met another foreign leader in person in almost two years, said the two sides 'firmly support each other in safeguarding their core interests,' according to a summary of the meeting by the state news agency Xinhua." ~~~

     ~~~ An AP story is here. The New York Times has a liveblog of the meeting, & presumably, of reactions to it.

U.K. Bye-Bye Boris. Mark Landler & Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "An exodus of senior officials from 10 Downing Street on Thursday deepened the crisis engulfing Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as he fought to hold on to power in the wake of a scandal over get-togethers that breached lockdown restrictions. Mr. Johnson's chief of staff, private secretary, communications chief, and head of policy all resigned, leaving the top of British government rudderless at a time when Mr. Johnson is struggling to avert a mutiny in the ranks of his Conservative Party. About a dozen party lawmakers have called publicly for a no-confidence vote in the prime minister. Some of the departures fulfilled Mr. Johnson's promise to overhaul the Downing Street operation, following the release of a government report on Monday that criticized the office for 'excessive' workplace drinking, citing 16 social gatherings.... But ... his policy chief, Munira Mirza..., sent the prime minister a sharply critical letter...." A related AP story is here; the headline describes Johnson as being in "a weakened position."

U.K. Danica Kirka of the AP: "The woman who became Queen Elizabeth II will mark 70 years on the throne Sunday, an unprecedented reign that has made her a symbol of stability as the United Kingdom navigated an age of uncertainty. From her early days as a glamorous young royal in glittering tiaras to her more recent incarnation as the nation's grandmother, the queen has witnessed the end of the British Empire, the advent of multiculturalism, the rise of international terrorism, and the challenges posed by Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. In a world of relentless change, she has been a constant -- representing the U.K.'s interests abroad, applauding the nation's successes and commiserating in its failures, and always remaining above the fray of politics." Includes a short history of her reign, with photos.

News Ledes

CNBC: "Payrolls rose far more than expected in January despite surging omicron cases that seemingly sent millions of workers to the sidelines, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls surged by 467,000 for the month, while the unemployment rate edged higher to 4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Dow Jones estimate was for payroll growth of 150,000 and a 3.9% unemployment rate. The stunning gain came a week after the White House warned that the numbers could be low due to the pandemic."

New York Times: "A tenacious winter storm that has already canceled flights, closed schools and created slick roadways across the South and the Midwest was expected on Friday to dump snow, sleet and ice upon the Northeast. Heavy snow is projected in northern parts of New York and New England, with ice the primary concern farther south, said Rich Otto, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's prediction center." ~~~

~~~ Washington Post: "More than 300,000 customers from Texas to Pennsylvania were without power Thursday night as a major winter storm continued moving east across the United States, bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain to Midwest and eastern U.S. The National Weather Service warned of 'impossible' travel conditions, and local authorities urged drivers to stay off the roads."

The New York Times has live updates of the Winter Olympics here: "With seamless footwork and high-flying quadruple jumps, Nathan Chen, the gold medal favorite in figure skating's men's singles event, easily finished first on Friday in the men's short program of the team event, giving the U.S. team an edge to win an early medal at the Beijing Games." The Washington Post's liveblog is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times also is liveblogging the Olympics opening ceremonies.

February 3, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "The United States has acquired intelligence about a Russian plan to fabricate a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine using a faked video that would build on recent disinformation campaigns, according to senior administration officials and others briefed on the material. The plan -- which the United States hopes to spoil by making public -- involves staging and filming a fabricated attack by the Ukrainian military either on Russian territory or against Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine."

**Remembering Zucker. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: Jeff "Zucker's relationship with Donald Trump will define his legacy. Zucker, as much as any other person in the world, created and burnished the Trump persona -- first as a reality-TV star who morphed into a worldwide celebrity, then as a candidate for president who was given large amounts of free publicity.... Zucker created Trump the TV sensation, which was the necessary foundation for Trump the candidate.... CNN infamously took his campaign speeches live, sometimes going so far as to broadcast images of an empty lectern with embarrassing chyrons such as 'Breaking News: Standing By for Trump to Speak.'... Zucker also brought on the air Trump surrogates who should have had no place on a national news network: ... Corey Lewandowski..., Jeffrey Lord and Kayleigh McEnany...."

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The National Archives decided on Tuesday that it will turn over former Vice President Mike Pence's records to the House Select Committee early next month, after ... Donald Trump said he wanted to keep secret more than 100 documents. This is the first set of records related to Pence's office that the Archives has cleared for release after House investigators sought them and comes as top officials around Pence on January 6 testify to the panel."

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "In a body full of MAGA sycophants and Ivy League-educated senators spewing anti-elite rhetoric, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) manages to stand out. From his fist-pumping approval of the Jan. 6 mob to his whining that his canceled book deal amounts to censorship, Hawley has specialized in inflammatory stunts and victimhood to shove himself to the front of the line of wannabe MAGA cult leaders who seek to follow defeated ... Donald Trump. So no one can be surprised when Hawley adopts the talking points of Trump's favorite dictator, Russian President Vladimir Putin. As President Biden draws a tough stance against Putin's designs on Ukraine and deploys troops to our NATO allies, Hawley has taken Putin's side in the central dispute. Does Ukraine have a right to determine its alliance? Hawley's answer: Nyet!"

~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah Dadouch, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden said Thursday that a U.S. Special Operations forces counterterrorism mission overnight in northwestern Syria had killed the leader of the Islamic State militant group. The raid killed thirteen people, including children, local first responders said. No U.S. casualties were reported in the operation, which left a U.S. helicopter destroyed on the ground. In a statement Thursday, Biden said: 'Last night at my direction, U.S. military forces in northwest Syria successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation to protect the American people and our Allies, and make the world a safer place. Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi -- the leader of ISIS. All Americans have returned safely from the operation.'... A U.S. official with knowledge of the situation said the civilian casualties were caused by a man in the targeted compound who detonated explosives, killing multiple women and children." ~~~

     ~~~ Ghaith Alsayed, et al., of the AP: "U.S. special forces landed in helicopters and assaulted a house in a rebel-held corner of Syria, clashing for two hours with gunmen, witnesses said. Residents described continuous gunfire and explosions that jolted the town of Atmeh near the Turkish border...." The New York Times is liveblogging developments.

Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden is dispatching additional U.S. military personnel to Eastern Europe at the recommendation of the Pentagon, and about 3,000 service members are expected to deploy in the coming days, U.S. officials said Wednesday. The deployments of U.S. troops from Germany and Fort Bragg, N.C., are temporary moves intended to reassure NATO allies, according to two U.S. officials in Washington who spoke on the condition of anonymity.... The moves reflect concerns that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine, and other service members could also be ordered to go and remain on a heightened alert status, the officials said." An AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Republican senators are unmoved by Tucker Carlson's relentless warpath against support for Ukraine -- even as it widens an existing rift in their party. The Fox News prime time host and others on the far-right have excused and even rationalized Russia's aggression toward Ukraine and downplayed its relevance to U.S. national security. And while GOP senators are shrugging off his name-and-shame campaign, Carlson's views are permeating the GOP base in a way that could undermine Republicans' efforts to emphasize cross-party unity as they seek to deter a Russian invasion of Ukraine." (Also linked yesterday.) But it looks like Josh loves Tucker. ~~~

     ~~~ Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "The White House on Wednesday pushed back against Sen. Josh Hawley's suggestion that the United States would be worse off if Ukraine were admitted to NATO, accusing the Missouri Republican of 'parroting Russian talking points.' Ukraine is not a member of NATO, the military alliance of 30 mainly Western countries -- including the United States -- united by a mutual defense treaty. But as Russia once again threatens to invade Ukraine, NATO members have been sending troops and other reinforcements to the region, and the question of the country's potential admission to the alliance has risen to the forefront."

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "President Biden unveiled a plan on Wednesday to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years -- an ambitious new goal, he said, to 'supercharge' the cancer 'moonshot' program he initiated and presided over five years ago as vice president. Mr. Biden, joined by his wife, Jill Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris, also announced a campaign to urge Americans to undergo screenings that were missed during the coronavirus pandemic. And he said he would create a new 'cancer cabinet' to center the fight against cancer inside the White House." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.)

Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "The White House is formally tapping three outside advisers who are veterans of politics and communications to help shepherd President Biden's eventual Supreme Court pick through the Senate confirmation process. The new team is led by former senator Doug Jones (D-Ala.), whose selection as the Supreme Court nominee's guide was made public this week. The two others are Minyon Moore, political director in the Clinton White House who is tasked with mobilizing a nationwide constellation of outside groups to build support for Biden's nominee, and Ben LaBolt, who served as both campaign and White House spokesman for former president Barack Obama. LaBolt will be advising on communications and messaging."

Anna Phillips & Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration launched a last-minute push Wednesday to derail the U.S. Postal Service's plan to spend billions of dollars on a new fleet of gasoline-powered delivery trucks, citing the damage the polluting vehicles could inflict on the climate and Americans' health.... The EPA and the White House Council on Environmental Quality sent letters to the Postal Service on Wednesday that urge it to reconside plans to buy mostly gas-powered vehicles and conduct a new, more thorough technical analysis. The EPA also asked the Postal Service to hold a public hearing on its fleet modernization plans, a request the agency had rejected when California regulators made it Jan. 28.... Over the past week, environmentalists and California's top air quality regulator have called on the EPA to block the Postal Service from moving forward with what they described as a poorly thought-out purchase...." ~~~

~~~ Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Representative Gerald Connolly, the Virginia Democrat who leads the House subcommittee overseeing the United States Postal Service..., called on Wednesday for the resignation of Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general, saying he flouted President Biden's plan to electrify the federal fleet by placing a multibillion-dollar order for mostly gasoline-powered vehicles.... The order, for up to 165,000 trucks, would be the Postal Service's first large-scale vehicle purchase in three decades, according to a statement from Oshkosh Defense. Both the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality wrote to Mr. DeJoy on Wednesday to say that the Postal Service had made the wrong decision to buy gasoline powered trucks based on a flawed environmental analysis.... Other Democrats said they wanted the board that oversees the post office to remove Mr. DeJoy.... The E.P.A. estimated the climate damages that would be caused by the new fleet at $900 million."

Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: A December 18, 2020 memo that circulated among Trump allies advocated that "Donald Trump should invoke the extraordinary powers of the National Security Agency and Defense Department to sift through raw electronic communications in an attempt to show that foreign powers had intervened in the 2020 election to help Joe Biden win. Proof of foreign interference would 'support next steps to defend the Constitution in a manner superior to current civilian-only judicial remedies.'... The previously unreported proposal, whose provenance remains murky, in some ways mirrors other radical ideas that extremists who denied Biden's victory were working to sell to Trump.... By law, the NSA cannot target a U.S. person's communications without a court order." The story goes on to describe a meeting at the Trump hotel, organized by MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell & attended by several Republican senators & some goofy "self-styled technical consultants and intelligence experts ... [who] laid out a variety of baseless conspiracy theories that included foreign powers such as China and Venezuela hacking voting machines...."

Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "Fifteen days after Election Day in 2020, James R. Troupis, a lawyer for the Trump campaign in Wisconsin, received a memo setting out what became the rationale for an audacious strategy: to put in place alternate slates of electors in states where ... Donald J. Trump was trying to overturn his loss.... The memos show how just over two weeks after Election Day, Mr. Trump's campaign was seeking to buy itself more time to undo the results. At the heart of the strategy was the idea that their real deadline was not Dec. 14, when official electors would be chosen to reflect the outcome in each state, but Jan. 6, when Congress would meet to certify the results.... The plan to employ alternate electors was one of Mr. Trump's most expansive efforts to stave off defeat, beginning even before some states had finished counting ballots and culminating in the pressure placed on Mr. Pence...."

There's Witness Tampering & There's Witness Suppression. Tara Palmeri of Politico: "In the final days of his presidency, Donald Trump seriously considered issuing a blanket pardon for all participants in the Jan. 6 riot, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. Between Jan. 6 and Joe Biden's inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump made three calls to one adviser to discuss the idea.... 'Is it everybody that had a Trump sign or everybody who walked into the Capitol' who could be pardoned? Trump asked, according to [another] adviser. 'He said, "Some people think I should pardon them." He thought if he could do it, these people would never have to testify or be deposed.'... Trump's consideration of preemptive pardons quickly hit a wall. It was unclear how he could pardon an entire class of people that hadn't been charged." Emphasis added. MB: IOW, Trump's "compassion & generosity" were once again merely means to ensure that none of the hundreds of co-conspirators & actors in the coup plot would testify against him.

Holmes Lybrand, et al., of CNN: "Former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark and his attorneys met with the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection for nearly two hours on Wednesday, two months after the panel voted to hold him in contempt for his lack of cooperation.... [Committee chair Bennie] Thompson [D-Miss.] said he had not gotten a readout of the proceedings and could not say if Clark plead the Fifth Amendment, as he had previously said he would.... Clark is key to the panel's investigation as he was one of the officials within the Justice Department pushing to pursue unfounded claims of voter fraud in the weeks after the 2020 election, and, according to officials who interacted with him was in touch with ... Donald Trump repeatedly."

Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee has subpoenaed the phone records of Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward and her husband, Michael Ward, who both signed documents falsely claiming to be among their state's presidential electors in 2020.... T-Mobile indicated it would turn over the records by Feb. 4 unless the Wards filed suit.... The Wards filed suit Tuesday against the House panel in federal court in Arizona seeking to block the couple's phone provider, T-Mobile, from sharing their records with the committee. The lawsuit was initially assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Susan Brnovich -- the wife of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who is running for Senate and is an ally of ... Donald Trump -- but she quickly recused herself from the matter." MB: Kelli Ward was the driving force behind the Cyber Ninja's "fraudit" of Maricopa County 2020 ballots.

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who served on the National Security Council and emerged as a star witness against ... Donald Trump during the 2019 Ukraine impeachment, is suing Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and former Trump White House staffers, alleging they conspired against him. Vindman, in a new lawsuit filed in DC District Court, said Trump's family, his lawyers, right-wing media and others in the White House tried to intimidate and retaliate against him because he was willing to testify against the President, calling out Trump's entreaties of Ukraine for his personal political gain. He bluntly called the efforts to intimidate him obstruction. And the lawsuit, articulating over 73 pages Vindman's saga in Trump's first impeachment, aims to capture the plight whistleblowers face after standing up to a powerful political machine." (Also linked yesterday.)

Antonio Planas & Ron Allen of NBC News: "Six 'tech savvy' juveniles have been identified as persons of interest by the FBI in threats to historically Black colleges and universities that appear to be racially motivated. More than a dozen historically Black colleges and universities received bomb threats on Tuesday, the first day of Black History Month.... A law enforcement official ... says [the teens used] sophisticated methods to try to disguise the source of the threats, which appear to have a racist motivation."

Oh Dear. Zucker Rhymes with.... Michael Grynbaum & John Koblin of the New York Times: "Jeff Zucker resigned on Wednesday as the president of CNN and the chairman of WarnerMedia's news and sports division, writing in a memo that he had failed to disclose to the company a romantic relationship with another senior executive at CNN.... The abrupt end of his nine-year tenure immediately throws into flux the direction of CNN and its parent company, WarnerMedia, which is expected to be acquired later this year by Discovery Inc. in one of the nation's largest media mergers. In a memo to colleagues that was obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Zucker wrote that his relationship came up during a network investigation into the conduct of Chris Cuomo.... [Mr. Zucker had a relationship with] Allison Gollust..., one of the highest-ranking leaders of the network.... Ms. Gollust said in a statement on Wednesday that she was remaining in her role at CNN." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's report, by Brian Stelter & Oliver Darcy, is here. MB: I don't think Zucker really had to resign. Gollust would have been required to reveal the relationship, too. She didn't, and she's staying. Neither was married & they had worked together for years prior to beginning their relationship, so the so there's no fake "scandal." It all seems perfectly natural to me. Seems to me Zucker is using his failure to report the affair when it began as an excuse to "explore other opportunities." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Dominic Patten & Ted Johnson of Deadline: "... the relationship itself is not what triggered WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar's call to Zucker in recent days informing him that he had to exit or face termination, we've learned. Rather, it was Zucker's failure to disclose the relationship, in violation of WarnerMedia policy. Mere days afte Kilar was informed of Zucker's omissions by outside lawyers probing the now-fired Chris Cuomo's stint at CNN, the exec called Zucker and told him, 'You can't remain here.'... Discovery's largest shareholder, John Malone, a critic of CNN, made it known that corporate procedures had to be followed to the letter in regards to Zucker, we hear. Being that WarnerMedia's standards of business conduct require disclosure of relationships that develop with a boss and subordinate, Zucker's goose was officially cooked." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Okay, I was wrong. This was other men's excuse for getting rid of Zucker.

Lachlan Markay of Axios: "Some big-name 2022 [Republican] candidates are cutting checks to high-profile backers who endorsed their campaigns, records show.... Key endorsements are a known boon to campaigns battling for support, especially among ideologically committed primary voters. The payments raise the specter of a quid pro quo." MB: It would be a surprise if Donald Trump wasn't getting in on this "paid endorsement" racket.

Groundhog Day News. As previously reported in yesterday's Comments, Amanda Watts of CNN also reports, "Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Wednesday, meaning that if you believe in a groundhog's ability to predict the weather -- we're in for six more weeks of winter." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Thursday are here.

Lolita Baldor of the AP: "The Army said Wednesday it will immediately begin discharging soldiers who have refused to get the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine, putting more than 3,300 service members at risk of being thrown out soon. The Army's announcement makes it the final military service to lay out its discharge policy for vaccine refusers. The Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy have already discharged active-duty troops or entry-level personnel at boot camps for refusing the shots. So far, the Army has not discharged any."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Michael Wilson of the New York Times: "On Wednesday, 12 days after he was trapped in a bullet-fueled attack in a Harlem hallway..., [NYPD] officer Wilbert D. Mora, who at 27 impressed his seniors with his diligence and quiet manner in just three years on the job, was laid to rest before thousands at a funeral under the soaring arches of St. Patrick's Cathedral."

New York. Benjamin Weiser & Troy Closson of the New York Times: "A Brooklyn man was charged on Wednesday with selling a deadly dose of fentanyl-laced heroin to the actor Michael K. Williams, who was best known for his portrayal of the gay stickup man Omar Little in the television series 'The Wire.' The man who was charged, Irvin Cartagena, and three others were accused of being part of a drug-trafficking crew that continued to sell the drug even after knowing it had killed Mr. Williams -- operating in broad daylight amid apartment buildings in Brooklyn and Manhattan, according to a criminal complaint. The sale of the fatal dose to Mr. Williams in a hand-to-hand transaction in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood on Sept. 5, 2021, was captured on security video, the authorities said.... The other men charged along with Mr. Cartagena, 39, were Hector Robles, 57; Luis Cruz, 56; and Carlos Macci, 70. All are from Brooklyn, the government says."

Texas. A Conspiracy of Butterflies. Sharon Pruitt-Young of NPR: "The National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, has announced that it's closing its doors 'for the immediate future' after ongoing harassment directed at employees and the center itself. The center, a nonprofit nature reserve nestled near the U.S.-Mexico border, unwittingly became the subject of conservative conspiracy theories and political conflict in recent years, having been locked in a years-long legal battle with the Trump administration and We Build the Wall regarding a planned border wall.... The National Butterfly Center filed a lawsuit in 2017 after the Trump administration allegedly began construction of a wall, using chainsaws to destroy trees and other plant life, on center-owned property without permission." ~~~

     ~~~ Sneha Day of the Texas Tribune: "The National Butterfly Center, along the U.S.-Mexico border in Mission, has long been the target of QAnon conspiracy theories falsely tying the organization to human trafficking. The center is a 20-year-old nature conservatory for wild butterflies. There are no law enforcement investigations into the organization or its staff for human trafficking.... In 2019, Brian Kolfage, a supporter of ... Donald Trump, tweeted out false rumors accusing Treviño-Wright of human trafficking. The National Butterfly Center responded by suing Kolfage and his organization, We Build the Wall, for defamation and disparagement in state court. Kolfage and others were indicted in 2020 over allegedly redirecting funds from We Build the Wall to personal expenses.... The harassment escalated in late January when a right-wing congressional candidate from Virginia, Kimberly Lowe, visited the nature conservatory, [center director Marianna] Treviño-Wright said. Lowe demanded the center give her access to the river 'to see all the illegals crossing on the raft.' Treviño-Wright said Lowe tackled her when she asked Lowe to leave the premises."

Washington State, etc. Mike Baker of the New York Times: "Among the thousands of mail-in ballots that were rejected in Washington State during the 2020 election, auditors have found that the votes of Black residents were thrown out four times as often as those of white voters. The rejections, all of them because of problematic signatures, disqualified one out of every 40 mail-in votes from Black people -- a finding that already is causing concern amid the national debate over voter access and secure balloting. Washington, a state with broad experience in mail-in balloting, found that rejection rates were also elevated for Native American, Hispanic, and Asian and Pacific Islander voters.... The findings in Washington State mirror mail-ballot research that has been conducted in other states in recent years, including Georgia and Florida."

Way Beyond

Canada. Amanda Coletta & Annabelle Timsit of the Washington Post: "Ottawa police said Wednesday that a 'significant element' from the United States has been involved in the participation, funding and organization of a self-described 'Freedom Convoy' that has for several days jammed streets in the capital to protest public health measures and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 'They have converged in our city, and there are plans for more to come,' said Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly. He said that the participants, who also include locals and other Canadians, are 'putting our city and our residents, our partners and our officers at great risk.'... Some protesters carried Confederate flags, and at least one flag with a swastika drawn on it could be seen.... Meanwhile, media reported that there had been a breakthrough in a blockade of a busy U.S.-Canada border crossing in southern Alberta, with protesters agreeing to open up one lane of traffic in each direction, citing lawyers working with the group." MB: This takes the bad behavior of American tourists abroad to a whole 'nother level. Congrats, confederate Nazis.

~~~ Netherlands. The Dutchman Definitely Would Not Recognize Rotterdam Now. Miriam Berger of the Washington Post: "Rotterdam has agreed to temporarily dismantle part of its historic Koningshaven Bridge so that Jeff Bezos's 417-foot-long, three-mast yacht can pass through the waterway sometime this summer, according to a spokeswoman for the city. The Dutch company Oceano has been building the massive vessel for an estimated $500 million in the nearby city of Alblasserdam. Once completed this year, the ship, known as Y721, will be the world's largest sailing yacht, according to Boat International. But to reach the open seas it must first pass through Rotterdam -- considered the maritime capital of Europe -- and the city's historic steel bridge, locally known as De Hef, which has a clearance of just over 131 feet.... It was decommissioned in 1994 after being replaced by a tunnel, but later declared a national monument. The bridge underwent a major restoration from 2014 to 2017, after which the city said it would not be dismantled again, according to the Dutch broadcaster Rijnmond.... Oceano and Bezos will pay to dismantle the bridge, Rijnmond reported."

News Ledes

Market Watch: “New requests for U.S. unemployment benefits fell for the second week in a row to 238,000, as the record omicron wave receded and more people were able to go back to work. Initial jobless claims declined by 23,000 from a revised 261,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said Thursday."

Washington Post: Tens of thousands of customers in Texas were without power Thursday morning as a major winter storm continued moving east across the United States, bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain to Midwestern and Southern states. Nearly 53,000 power outages were reported in Texas early Thursday, along with about 15,000 in Arkansas, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide." ~~~

~~~ CNN: "A triple whammy of sleet, snow and ice has bombarded more than 2,000 miles in the eastern US -- and many are now stuck in the storm with no electricity. More than 100 million people in 25 states stretching from the Mexican to Canadian borders were under winter weather alerts Thursday, CNN meteorologist Monica Garrett said." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is live-updating storm developments here.

February 2, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Oh Dear. Zucker Rhymes with.... Michael Grynbaum & John Koblin of the New York Times: "Jeff Zucker resigned on Wednesday as the president of CNN and the chairman of WarnerMedia's news and sports division, writing in a memo that he had failed to disclose to the company a romantic relationship with another senior executive at CNN. Mr. Zucker, 56, is among the most powerful leaders in the American media and television industries. The abrupt end of his nine-year tenure immediately throws into flux the direction of CNN and its parent company, WarnerMedia, which is expected to be acquired later this year by Discovery Inc. in one of the nation's largest media mergers. In a memo to colleagues that was obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Zucker wrote that his relationship came up during a network investigation into the conduct of Chris Cuomo.... [Mr. Zucker had a relationship with] Allison Gollust..., one of the highest-ranking leaders of the network.... Ms. Gollust said in a statement on Wednesday that she was remaining in her role at CNN." ~~~

     ~~ CNN's report, by Brian Stelter & Oliver Darcy, is here. MB: I don't think Zucker really had to resign. Gollust would have been required to reveal the relationship, too. She didn't, and she's staying. Neither was married & they had worked together for years prior to beginning their relationship, so the so there's no fake "scandal." It all seems perfectly natural to me. Seems to me Zucker is using his failure to report the affair when it began as an excuse to "explore other opportunities."

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who served on the National Security Council and emerged as a star witness against ... Donald Trump during the 2019 Ukraine impeachment, is suing Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and former Trump White House staffers, alleging they conspired against him. Vindman, in a new lawsuit filed in DC District Court, said Trump's family, his lawyers, right-wing media and others in the White House tried to intimidate and retaliate against him because he was willing to testify against the President, calling out Trump's entreaties of Ukraine for his personal political gain. He bluntly called the efforts to intimidate him obstruction. And the lawsuit, articulating over 73 pages Vindman's saga in Trump's first impeachment, aims to capture the plight whistleblowers face after standing up to a powerful political machine."

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Republican senators are unmoved by Tucker Carlson's relentless warpath against support for Ukraine -- even as it widens an existing rift in their party. The Fox News prime time host and others on the far-right have excused and even rationalized Russia's aggression toward Ukraine and downplayed its relevance to U.S. national security. And while GOP senators are shrugging off his name-and-shame campaign, Carlson's views are permeating the GOP base in a way that could undermine Republicans' efforts to emphasize cross-party unity as they seek to deter a Russian invasion of Ukraine."

Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden is dispatching additional U.S. military personnel to Eastern Europe at the recommendation of the Pentagon, and about 3,000 service members are expected to deploy in the coming days, U.S. officials said Wednesday. The deployments of U.S. troops from Germany and Fort Bragg, N.C., are temporary moves intended to reassure NATO allies, according to two U.S. officials in Washington who spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of a formal Pentagon announcement. The moves reflect concerns that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine, and other service members could also be ordered to go and remain on a heightened alert status, the officials said." An AP report is here.

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "President Biden will unveil a plan on Wednesday to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years -- an ambitious new goal, senior administration officials say, for the cancer 'moonshot' program he initiated and presided over five years ago as vice president. Mr. Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, will also announce a campaign to urge Americans to undergo screenings that were missed during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the officials...."

Groundhog Day News. As previously reported in today's Comments, Amanda Watts of CNN also reports, "Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Wednesday, meaning that if you believe in a groundhog's ability to predict the weather -- we're in for six more weeks of winter."

~~~~~~~~~~

Isabelle Khurshudyan, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Vladimir Putin hit back publicly against the West on Tuesday, accusing the United States and NATO of using Ukraine to hem in Russia and ignoring Moscow's security concerns.The Russian leader, speaking in Moscow during in a news conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said the Kremlin was studying U.S. and NATO replies to recent Kremlin proposals seeking to check NATO military activity in the region...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Yesterday, the New York Times was liveblogging developments. The front-page headline on the liveblog was kinda perfect: "Putin accuses U.S. of stoking war in Ukraine as Russia masses troops." It's so Trumpian. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Carol Rosenberg of the New York Times: "The Biden administration has pledged to no longer invoke statements made by a prisoner [-- Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi man ... accused of plotting Al Qaeda's suicide bombing of the U.S. Navy destroyer Cole --] during his years in C.I.A. custody in his death-penalty proceedings, repudiating an earlier effort to use evidence obtained from torture in a case at Guantánamo Bay.... A 37-page filing submitted Monday night at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the law governing military commission trials at Guantánamo Bay 'prohibits the admission of statements obtained through torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment at all phases of a military commission.' The filing, however, did not entirely foreclose the possibility that a future U.S. government might choose to ... use evidence obtained through torture. Instead, the Justice Department asked the appeals court to step aside and let military judges at Guantánamo Bay decide the question as it comes up."

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Doug Jones, a former Democratic senator from Alabama, will serve as a guide for President Biden's Supreme Court nominee during the Senate confirmation process, two senior administration officials said on Tuesday. Mr. Jones, who left the Senate in 2021 and was on a short list to serve as Mr. Biden's attorney general, will be a so-called Senate sherpa for Mr. Biden's nominee." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "A series of new remarks by Donald J. Trump about the aftermath of the 2020 election and new disclosures about his actions in trying to forestall its result -- including discussing the use of the national security apparatus to seize voting machines -- have stripped away any pretense that the events of Jan. 6, 2021, were anything but the culmination of the former president's single-minded pursuit of retaining power.... Historians say the episodes have newly underscored the fragility of the nation's democratic systems.... In the year since [Mr. Trump] left office, he has systematically tried to remove those who were obstacles to him in 2020 and its aftermath: seeking to drive out of office the Republicans who voted to impeach him..., recruiting challengers to Republican officials who certified the 2020 vote, and backing new candidates to serve as election administrators and legislators in key states."

Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "The House Jan. 6 committee is scrutinizing ... Donald J. Trump's involvement in proposals to seize voting machines after the 2020 election, including efforts to create a legal basis for directing national security agencies to take such an extreme action, according to three people with knowledge of the committee's activities.... The panel for weeks has been studying the actions of Michael T. Flynn, a former national security adviser to Mr. Trump who investigators say was involved in discussions about seizing voting machines, declaring a national emergency and invoking certain national security emergency powers, including during a meeting in the Oval Office on Dec. 18. Mr. Flynn also gave an interview to the right-wing media site Newsmax a day earlier in which he talked about the purported precedent for deploying military troops and declaring martial law to 'rerun' the election." The report goes into some detail about related hairbrained schemes presented by individuals who got into the White House by more-or-less putting a foot between the front door & the jamb. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's unclear from this report & a Times report linked yesterday just what the Trumpies planned to do with the purloined voting machines. According to one scenario, Trump would oversee an "audit" of the machines & vote totals, "justified" by the baseless conspiracy theory "that Chinese officials, international shell companies and the financier George Soros had conspired to hack into Dominion's machines in ... a 'globalist/socialist' plot to steal the election."

Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: In a new "statement Tuesday, [Donald] Trump took renewed aim at the House select committee examining the Jan. 6 insurrection, saying it was filled with 'political hacks, liars, and traitors.' Trump said a better focus for the committee would be 'why Mike Pence did not send back the votes for recertification or approval, in that it has now been shown that he clearly had the right to do so!'" The Post reporters call this "a more nuanced take" on Trump's recent statement in which he said pence should have overturned the election. MB: I call it attempt to wriggle out of a written confession. (Also linked yesterday.)

Quint Forgey of Politico: "Rep. Pete Aguilar, a member of the House Jan. 6 select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection, on Wednesday said ... Donald Trump 'absolutely' was tampering with the panel's witnesses by discussing potential pardons for defendants charged in relation to the attack. 'I think the question is more for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Where are they? Do they support this? When is enough enough?' Aguilar (D-Calif.) said in an interview on CNN.... Trump has repeatedly suggested in recent days that he may pardon the Capitol rioters or other people associated with the insurrection if he wins a second term as president."

Ellis Kim & Rebecca Kaplan of CBS News: "Greg Jacob, who served as then-Vice President Pence's chief counsel, is the latest member of the former vice president's team to speak with the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.... Jacob spoke to the committee behind closed doors for about eight and a half hours, including lunch and other breaks.... According to The Washington Post, Jacob was with Short and Pence in the Capitol on January 6 as pro-Trump rioters overtook the building and they were forced to evacuate to a safe location within the Capitol complex.... Jacob reportedly clashed with Trump attorney John Eastman over the legal authority of the vice president to overturn the election during Congress' counting of the electoral votes."

Jonathan Karl, et al., of ABC News: "Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany turned over text messages to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a source familiar with the investigation.... McEnany, who was at work in the White House and around ... Donald Trump before and during the Capitol attack, was subpoenaed by the panel for records and testimony in November, and turned over text messages to committee investigators." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Everything Will Be Okay; Susan Collins Is Concerned. Lisa Mascaro & Farnoush Amiri of the AP: "Donald Trump's relentless, false claims about the 2020 presidential election have sparked fresh urgency in Congress -- and in both parties -- for changing the Electoral Count Act to ensure no one can undo a future presidential election. Lawmakers are working furiously to update the 135-year-old law that was put in place in the aftermath of the Civil War and came perilously close to unraveling on Jan. 6, 2021.... Trump continues to insist the vice president 'could have overturned the election' -- a deeply troubling development as the former president considers another White House run. 'President Trump's comments underscored the need for us to revise the Electoral Count Act, because they demonstrated the confusion in the law and the fact that it is ambiguous,' Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters at the Capitol.... A bipartisan group led by Collins, the rare and frequent Republican Trump critic, has been meeting behind closed doors and hopes to present a draft as soon as this week.... Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he's open to the effort, as he also rejected the idea Trump floated at a weekend rally of pardoning people who have been criminally charged in the deadly riot at the Capitol."

Chris Cameron & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Senator Ben Ray Luján, Democrat of New Mexico, suffered a stroke last week and is expected to make a full recovery, his chief of staff said on Tuesday.... Mr. Luján's office did not say how long he might be out, but with Senate Democrats' fragile 50-50 majority, a prolonged absence from a member who caucuses with Democrats is likely to imperil, or at least delay, Democratic legislation or presidential appointments that come to the Senate floor without Republican support. Several Democrats said on Tuesday that they were relieved that Mr. Luján would recover, but declined to comment on the political implications of Mr. Luján's stroke...." Politico's story is here.

Sinema's "Gusher of Fossil Fuel Donations." Peter Stone of the Guardian: "With a crucial vote pending over filibuster rules that would have made strong voting rights legislation feasible, Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema flew into Houston, Texas, for a fundraiser that drew dozens of fossil fuel chieftains.... Sinema ... informed a mostly Republican crowd that they could 'rest assured' she would not back any changes with filibuster rules.... The Arizona senator also addressed some energy industry issues according to the executive, who added that overall he was 'tremendously impressed'.... The Houston gusher of fossil fuel donations for Sinema from many stalwart Republican donors underscores how pivotal she has become...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "America's gross national debt topped $30 trillion for the first time on Tuesday, an ominous fiscal milestone that underscores the fragile nature of the country's long-term economic health as it grapples with soaring prices and the prospect of higher interest rates. The breach of that threshold, which was revealed in new Treasury Department figures, arrived years earlier than previously projected as a result of trillions in federal spending that the United States has deployed to combat the pandemic. That $5 trillion, which funded expanded jobless benefits, financial support for small businesses and stimulus payments, was financed with borrowed money."

Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "The surveillance company NSO Group offered to give representatives of an American mobile-security firm [Mobileum] 'bags of cash' in exchange for access to global cellular networks, according to a whistleblower who has described the encounter in confidential disclosures to the Justice Department that have been reviewed by The Washington Post.... In a statement, NSO said that it had 'never done any business with' Mobileum, and that it 'does not do business using cash as a form of payment' and is not 'aware of any DOJ investigation.'... [According to whistleblower & former Mobileum VP Gary Miller, in a 2017 conference call, NSO] officials made clear ... that they wanted access to SS7 so NSO's clients could conduct surveillance of cellphone users to investigate crimes.... When one of Mobileum's representatives pointed out that security companies do not ordinarily offer services to surveillance companies and asked how such an arrangement would work, NSO co-founder Omri Lavie allegedly said, 'We drop bags of cash at your office.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: NSO's denial is a non-denial. If representatives of two companies meet & don't strike a deal, then it's fair to say they have "not done business with each other." There's no reason to think the remark about "dropping bags of cash" was intended to be taken literally; rather, it was likely a metaphor for some other means of illicit payoff, so stating the company doesn't "use cash as a form of payment" is meaningless. As for being "unaware of a DOJ investigation," the DOJ doesn't usually give a heads-up to a target early on.

This Doesn't Look Good. Cate Cadell of the Washington Post: "Chinese drone maker DJI, a leading supplier of drones to U.S. law enforcement, obscured its Chinese government funding while claiming that Beijing had not invested in the firm, according to a Washington Post review of company reports and articles posted on the sites of state-owned and -controlled investors, as well as analysis by IPVM, a video surveillance research group.... Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, which authorizes DJI's equipment for use on U.S. communications networks, labeled reports of the links as 'deeply concerning' in an interview. The FCC proposed changes last year that could severely limit access to U.S. markets for companies deemed a national security risk. Scrutiny of DJI comes as the company is already facing action by U.S. regulators over its ties to Beijing's security apparatus." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tom Krisher of the AP: "Tesla is recalling nearly 54,000 cars and SUVs because their 'Full Self-Driving' software lets them roll through stop signs without coming to a complete halt. Recall documents posted Tuesday by U.S. safety regulators say that Tesla will disable the feature with an over-the-internet software update. The 'rolling stop' feature allows vehicles to go through intersections with all-way stop signs at up to 5.6 miles (9 kilometers) per hour. The recall shows that Tesla programmed its vehicles to violate the law in most states, where police will ticket drivers for disregarding stop signs." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Perfectly understandable. Teslas are manufactured in California. Making a rolling stop is so common in California, it's called a "California stop." Seriously, breaking safety laws is apparently what Tesla engineers do for fun. From the AP report: "Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the governors safety association, said he's not surprised that Tesla programmed vehicles to violate state laws. 'They keep pushing the bounds of safety to see what they can get away with, and they've really been pushing a lot,' he said."

Alisha Ebrahimji, et al., of CNN: "A growing number of historically Black colleges and universities have had to lock down or postpone classes due to bomb threats on the first day of Black History Month. At least 14 HBCUs reported bomb threats Tuesday. At least one of them, Howard University, also received a bomb threat Monday."

Jennifer Hassan of the Washington Post: "Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from ABC's talk show 'The View' for two weeks after claiming on the show that the Holocaust was 'not about race' but rather 'about man's inhumanity to man' -- comments that sparked widespread outrage from viewers and members of the Jewish community.... 'Racism was central to Nazi ideology,' the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum tweeted Monday. 'Jews were not defined by religion, but by race. Nazi racist beliefs fueled genocide and mass murder.'... Late Monday, Goldberg apologized.... There is some debate over how to best define Judaism and Jewishness today. The Anne Frank House has previously written: 'Jews are not a race, and categorizing people according to race is wrong and dangerous. Even so, some people still believe in the concept. If it is the basis for their hatred of Jews, it is undoubtedly racist.'" A Hollywood Reporter story is here.

Ken Belson of the New York Times: "Nearly two years after dropping its longtime name and logo under pressure, the Washington Football Team announced it would rebrand as the Commanders, in a nod to the region's links to the armed forces. The name [was] announced on NBC's 'Today' show on Wednesday.... The team for years faced calls from fans, sponsors and Native American groups to drop the previous franchise name, which had long been considered a racial slur of Native Americans.... But in July 2020, following the murder of George Floyd by the police, and a national debate that followed over the treatment of nonwhite people, [team owner Daniel] Snyder relented and discarded the name 'Redskins,' which had stood for 87 years." The Washington Post is liveblogging this earth-shaking news.

The Pandemic, Ctd., Brought to You by Republicans

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Wednesday are here.

Benjamin Mueller & Eleanor Lutz of the New York Times: "Two years into the pandemic, the coronavirus is killing Americans at far higher rates than people in other wealthy nations.... Deaths have now surpassed the worst days of the autumn surge of the Delta variant, and are more than two-thirds as high as the record tolls of last winter, when vaccines were largely unavailable.... Despite having one of the world's most powerful arsenals of vaccines, the country has failed to vaccinate as many people as other large, wealthy nations. Crucially, vaccination rates in older people also lag behind certain European nations. The United States has fallen even further behind in administering booster shots, leaving large numbers of vulnerable people with fading protection as Omicron sweeps across the country." ~~~

~~~ Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "A new study of pandemic preparedness across 177 countries and territories appears to have found a key element ... [to] success: trust.... Better outcomes appear to have gone hand in hand with high levels of trust in government and other citizens. Perception of government corruption was correlated with worse outcomes.... Multiple polls have shown that the United States has relatively low levels of trust in government compared with other high-income countries and high levels of political polarization."

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Lloyd J. Austin III, the defense secretary, has written a letter to seven Republican governors, rejecting their requests for exemptions from coronavirus vaccination mandates for their states' National Guard troops. The rejection -- sent to the governors of Alaska, Oklahoma, Texas, Idaho, Mississippi, Nebraska and Wyoming, who have all sought to allow their guard troops to refuse the vaccine without consequences -- sets the stage for a potential legal battle.... Federal officials have long said that governors have no legal standing to allow Guard members to refuse to comply with the military's vaccine mandate. State officials and some legal experts, however, believe that unless National Guard members are federally deployed, they are under the jurisdiction of the governor of their state and therefore not subject to federal mandates." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Michigan. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Republican candidates for governor and the state Senate in Michigan are drawing scrutiny for suggesting that poll workers unplug voting machines if they suspect fraud and that people should 'show up armed' to protect GOP election observers' access to ballot counting. The comments by Ryan D. Kelley, a gubernatorial candidate, and Mike Detmer, a state Senate candidate, were made at an event over the weekend in Livingston County, Mich., and captured on video that has since circulated widely on social media.... Detmer ... was asked what could be done to 'protect' Republican election observers at the venue in Detroit where absentee ballots were counted after the 2020 presidential election. 'The ideal thing is to do this peacefully,' Detmer said. '... But the American people, at some point in time, if we can't change the tide, which I believe we can, we need to be prepared to lock and load... You asked what can we do. Show up armed.'... [In a text exchange with the Detroit News Monday, Detmer wrote,] 'That's what the 2nd Amendment is for.... Worst case ... lock and load.'... Their comments also came swiftly to the attention of Michigan's top election official, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, both Democrats. Benson on Monday referred both men's comments to Nessel's office." The Detroit News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What these mainstream Republicans are saying is that Black people (i.e., Detroit residents & officials) cheat and/or their votes are inherently invalid, so good (white) Republicans may have to resort to deadly violence & election tampering to get a fair(-complexioned) election outcome. Oh, did I mention, Donald Trump endorsed Detmer.

Ohio. Reid Wilson of the Hill: "Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) has referred just 27 potential instances of illegal votes cast in the 2020 presidential election to state and local prosecutors for investigation, an indication of what he called a secure election two years ago.... More than 5.9 million registered voters cast ballots in the 2020 elections in Ohio, setting the rate of potential fraud -- assuming all of the 27 cases are in fact fraud -- at just 0.0005 percent. 'Our state is proof positive you don't have to choose between secure or convenient elections -- we have both,' LaRose said. 'In Ohio, easy to vote and hard to cheat aren't mutually exclusive....'... LaRose has been among the Republicans who defended the integrity of the 2020 elections even in the face of former President Trump's repeated efforts to distract from his own loss with a series of disproven conspiracy theories and outright lies."

Texas. Mike Hixenbaugh of NBC News: "... books ... have been vanishing from the shelves of Katy Independent School District [Houston area] libraries the past few months ... -- all coming-of-age stories that prominently feature LGBTQ characters and passages about sex. Some titles were removed after parents formally complained, but others were quietly banned by the district without official reviews.... Hundreds of titles have been pulled from libraries across the state for review, sometimes over the objections of school librarians, several of whom told NBC News they face increasingly hostile work environments and mounting pressure to pre-emptively pull books that might draw complaints." Among the books parents have asked to be removed are biographies of Michelle Obama & Olympian Wilma Rudolph because they referred to racism. One parent suggested books about racism be replaced by copies of the Christian Bible. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Most public libraries carry newspapers & news magazines & provide access to archived editions. Soon enough, it will dawn on "concerned citizens" that MSM outlets like the New Yawk Times are chock-full of stories that cause "discomfort." I predict demands to ban MSM newspapers & magazines will be next.

Virginia. Yacob Reyes of Axios: "A Virginia state Senate panel voted 9-6 along party lines Tuesday to block former Trump EPA head Andrew Wheeler from joining Gov. Glenn Youngkin's Cabinet as secretary of natural resources.... The majority-Democratic Privileges and Elections Committee voted to remove Wheeler's name from a resolution to approve Youngkin's cabinet picks. But Republicans could still approve Wheeler's nomination with the support of at least one Democrat in the full Senate.... At least one Democrat, state Sen. Joe Morrissey, told Courthouse News he would be open to voting in favor of Wheeler."

Virginia, et al. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post cites excerpts from a textbook "Virginia: History, Government, Geography" by Francis Butler Simkins which Milbank sees as a good candidate for "Glenn Youngkin's No-Guilt History of Virginia for Fragile White People." The views presented in the book are something to behold: "A feeling of strong affection existed between masters and slaves in a majority of Virginia homes.... Most [Negroes] were treated with kindness.... The tasks of each [house slave] were light.... Those Negroes who went to Liberia .. were homesick. Many longed to get back to the plantations.... Life among the Negroes of Virginia in slavery times was generally happy." If you have a WashPo subscription, read the whole column. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Having grown up in the South, I vaguely remember hearing or reading similar accounts of lucky-ducky slaves. Since this is not what I would have heard at home, I must have heard or read it in school.