January 31, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Robyn Dixon, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russia angrily denounced the United States Monday for 'whipping up hysteria' over Ukraine, saying it had brought 'pure Nazis' to power on Russia's border and wanted to make 'heroes out of those peoples who fought on the side of Hitler.' In a blistering attack at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said the United States itself was 'provoking escalation' of the situation by falsely charging Moscow with preparing to invade Ukraine.... With the support of only China, the Russians forced a vote at the beginning of the U.S.-called meeting on whether to hold the session behind closed doors.... But the majority of the 15-member council voted to proceed with the public session...."

Dylan Stableford of Yahoo! News: "The Georgia prosecutor looking into ... Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election results is asking the FBI for protection after Trump called for protests of the 'racist prosecutors' investigating him. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis sent a letter to the FBI's Atlanta field office on Sunday requesting that the bureau conduct a risk assessment of the county courthouse and government center, as well as provide protective resources, including 'intelligence and federal agents' as her office ramps up its own investigation of the former president."

Whitney Wild, et al., of CNN: "Then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris drove within several yards of a pipe bomb lying next to a bench outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters on January 6, 2021, and remained inside the DNC for nearly two hours before the bomb was discovered, according to multiple law enforcement officials familiar with the situation. Details about Harris' proximity to the pipe bomb and the extended period she remained inside the DNC have not been previously reported. The revelations further expose a security lapse on January 6 as law enforcement tried to respond to multiple major events, protect highly visible politicians, and fend off tens of thousands of riotous protesters that had flooded into Washington and attacked the US Capitol."

Tim Miller in the Bulwark: "... Sen. Susan Collins (R-Concerned) was asked on ABC's This Week whether she would support Donald Trump if he ran in 2024. She demurred, leaving the door open to the possibility of having faith in a Trump resurrection, while providing some perfunctory lip service to the notion that there were other people she might prefer, but whom she -- of course -- did not name. She was rewarded a few hours later with the former president attacking her for not having given his coup attempt a full-throated endorsement.... If someone as politically safe as Collins won't stick her neck out, what hope is there that a meaningful group of others will find the mettle not just to privately hope for an alternative but to wage a vigorous, scorched-earth campaign on behalf of the alternative?"

Jessica Bursztynsky of CNBC: "Podcaster Joe Rogan has apologized to Spotify, while also addressing the controversy around his podcast." MB: He didn't apologize to the dopes he duped by presenting Covid disinformation. But then some of them are dead.

Florida. Richard Luscombe of the Guardian: "A slew of bills has advanced [through the GOP-led Florida legislature] attacking everything from diversity rights, abortion protections and free speech in schools, in addition to a proposal that would legally shield white people from feeling 'discomfort' over the state's racist past. Ron DeSantis (R) --] and apathetic about the value of Covid-19 vaccines, was backed unanimously by a Republican senate panel as the next surgeon-general following a walk-out by Democratic politicians frustrated by Joseph Ladapo's evasiveness. To hear DeSantis tell it, the 'freedom state' of Florida is merely following the will of a populist citizenry.... Yet ... more of the state's 21 million people, which elected him in 2018 by barely 32,000 votes, appears displeased at the creeping authoritarianism.... Brandon Wolf [of Equality Florida] ... [says,] '... the thing that connects [these bills] is the concerted attempt by Governor Ron DeSantis and his allies to push themselves to the right of Donald Trump and set DeSantis up to run for president in 2024. 'In Florida you are free, but only free to do and say as you are told.'"

U.K. Esther Webber & Matt Honeycombe-Foster of Politico: "An update from the official inquiry into claims of lockdown-busting parties in Boris Johnson's administration has found 'a serious failure' to observe the standards expected in government. Sue Gray, a senior civil servant, was asked to look into a series of allegations that social gatherings were held in No. 10 Downing Street in breach of COVID-19 rules. In her 12-page update -- truncated while the Metropolitan Police separately investigates some of the allegations -- Gray found there was 'too little thought given to what was happening across the country' when considering whether some of the events should have gone ahead. Johnson told his restive Conservative MPs Monday he was 'sorry' -- and vowed to learn lessons." Johnson refused to resign and instead "announced the creation of an 'office of the prime minister' and promised other improvements to the way No. 10 and the Cabinet Office are run." MB: IOW, add a layer of bureaucracy. That should help. ~~~

     ~~~ Rowena Mason of the Guardian has more on Boris's Very Bad Hair Day. ~~~

I'm sorry for the parties during Covid.
I'm sorry that I couldn't find my mask.
But more than anything else,
I'm sorry for myself,
'Cause you're taking me to task.

~~~~~~~~~~

New York Times Liveblog: "The United States and Russia prepared for confrontation Monday at the United Nations Security Council over the Ukraine crisis, with the Americans vowing to make the Russians justify their massing of troops on Ukraine's borders and Kremlin diplomats dismissing the meeting as farcical theatrics." The Guardian's liveblog of the Russian threat to Ukraine is here.

Laura Meckler of the Washington Post: "Public education is facing a crisis unlike anything in decades, and it reaches into almost everything that educators do: from teaching math, to counseling anxious children, to managing the building. Political battles are now a central feature of education, leaving school boards, educators and students in the crosshairs of culture warriors. Schools are on the defensive about their pandemic decision-making, their curriculums, their policies regarding race and racial equity and even the contents of their libraries. Republicans -- who see education as a winning political issue -- are pressing their case for more 'parental control,' or the right to second-guess educators' choices. Meanwhile, an energized school choice movement has capitalized on the pandemic to promote alternatives to traditional public schools.... Remote learning, the toll of illness and death, and disruptions to a dependable routine have left students academically behind -- particularly students of color and those from poor families.... Many students and teachers say they are emotionally drained, and experts predict schools will be struggling with the fallout for years to come." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This really is a crisis. And Republicans are doing their part to make it even worse. Just as they are happy to sacrifice the lives of Americans for their own political benefit -- think Covid disinformation & gun proliferation -- so they are happy to sacrifice the well-being of educators, students & parents for their small political advantage.

Welcome to America! Antonio Olivo of the Washington Post: "Scores of Afghan evacuees in the Washington region have been languishing inside cramped hotel rooms, where parents sleep on the floor while their bored children share one bed. Months after their arrivals, overwhelmed resettlement groups have been unable to find many of the evacuees affordable permanent homes. So while those organizations attend to other newly arrived families, the evacuees are left to their own devices for weeks at a time inside rooms shared by as many as five people, community activists say. During the day, the families have little to do, because the adults have yet to receive Social Security numbers or federal work authorization documents. The children, lacking a permanent address, are unable to enroll in school. The problem is particularly acute in Maryland -- and may soon grow worse, resettlement groups say, as federal officials plan to send more evacuees to the area." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump Confesses! Ayman Mohyeldin of MSNBC noted that Donald Trump issued a statement Sunday evening opposing efforts in Congress to update the Electoral College Act. In the statement, Trump wrote, "... Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they are now trying to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn't exercise that power, he could have overturned the election." Mohyeldin remarked, "I see that as a flat-out admission of guilt for what he was trying to do on January the 6th." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Right-wing wag Bill Kristol tweeted, "Talk about saying the quiet part loud. Trump here admits or rather boasts that what he wanted Mike Pence to do was to 'overturn the election.." Law expert Joyce Vance agrees. She tweeted, "This is what prosecutors call guilty knowledge. And also, intent." AND Olivia Troye, a former pence staffer, has some practical advice for 2022 candidates: "Trump boasting in his latest statement: the goal was to overturn the election -- after touting at his rally that he'll pardon Jan 6 insurrectionists. Every Republican candidate & official should go on record with their answer: Do you support sedition & pardoning domestic terrorists?" Tweets via Josephine Harvey of the Huffington Post. ~~~

     ~~~ Steve M. is pessimistic: "Maybe Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, and other Republican presidential wannabes ... will refrain from backing the rioters, but [Ted] Cruz and [Ron] DeSantis will certainly portray them as pitiable freedom fighters locked in an American gulag. And there'll be no downside for them. There's no evidence in America of a bloc of voters who are Republican-curious for 2024 but who regard support for the January 6 crowd as a dealbreaker.... It's one more issue that Republican extremists can milk for maximum base motivation because swing voters can't be bothered to focus on it." ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Saturday night sent his strongest signal to date that he will fight his legal problems outside of a court of law. He encouraged people to engage in massive demonstrations in jurisdictions pursuing criminal investigations against him over Jan. 6 and tax-related issues. Then, minutes later, he said that if he's reinstalled as president, he would consider pardoning some of the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters. Both Trump comments were ... carefully tailored. (Trump seemed to be reading them off a teleprompter....) The combination of the two comments, though, can't help but conjure a repeat ... of the kind of lawlessness we saw just over a year ago.... He's suggesting that those who rise up in support of him will earn his protection, even while urging them to rise up again (in peaceful protest, of course!)." ~~~

~~~ Erik Loomis in LG&$: "Worth noting that last night, our ex-president not only promised to pardon his fascist coup supporters, but also basically promised a race war by calling the Black prosecutors investigating his many crimes to be 'racists.'"

Jennifer Medina, et al., of the New York Times: "Nearly two dozen Republicans who have publicly questioned or disputed the results of the 2020 election are running for secretary of state across the country, in some cases after being directly encouraged by allies of ... Donald J. Trump.... All told, some 21 candidates who dispute Mr. Biden's victory are running for secretary of state in 18 states, according to States United Action, a nonpartisan group tracking races for secretary of state throughout the country.... Their candidacies are alarming watchdog groups, Democrats and some fellow Republicans, who worry that these Trump supporters, if elected to posts that exist largely to safeguard and administer the democratic process, would weaponize those offices to undermine it -- whether by subverting an election outright or by sowing doubts about any local, state or federal elections their party loses. For decades, secretaries of state worked in relative anonymity.... Several ..., who have formed a coalition calling itself the America First slate, are running in states won by Mr. Biden in 2020.... The coalition's members are coordinating talking points and sharing staff members and fund-raising efforts -- an unusual degree of cooperation for down-ballot candidates from different states." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It isn't just secretaries of state. See the story on the Spalding County, Georgia, board of elections, linked under "Georgia" below.

Elizabeth Harris & Alexandra Alter of the New York Times: "Parents, activists, school board officials and lawmakers around the country are challenging books at a pace not seen in decades. The American Library Association said in a preliminary report that it received an 'unprecedented' 330 reports of book challenges, each of which can include multiple books, last fall.... Such challenges have long been a staple of school board meetings, but it isn't just their frequency that has changed..., it is also the tactics behind them and the venues where they play out. Conservative groups in particular, fueled by social media, are now pushing the challenges into statehouses, law enforcement and political races." ~~~

~~~ Backfire! Banned in Bumpkinville, a 30-Year-Old Novel Is Now a Bestseller. David Cohen of Politico: "Just days after the banning of 'Maus' by a Tennessee school district made national news, two editions of Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel about the Holocaust have reached the top 20 on Amazon.com and are in limited supply. 'Maus' was No. 12 on Amazon as of early Friday evening, and was not available for delivery until mid-February. 'The Complete Maus,' which includes a second volume, was No. 9 and out of stock." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Ben Sisario of the New York Times: "The chief executive of Spotify responded on Sunday to growing complaints from musicians and listeners over the role of Joe Rogan, the streaming service's star podcaster, in spreading what has been widely criticized as misinformation about the coronavirus.... [Also t]his month, a group of more than 200 professors and public health officials called on Spotify to crack down on Covid-19 misinformation on its platform, and pointed to a recent episode of Rogan's podcast.... [CEO Daniel] Ek said that Spotify would add a 'content advisory' notice to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about the coronavirus, directing listeners to a 'Covid-19 hub' with facts and information.... Ek made no specific mention of Rogan.... Ek also wrote that for the first time, the service is publishing its platform rules, which address dangerous, deceptive, sensitive and illegal content. Among them are rules barring 'content that promotes dangerous false or dangerous deceptive medical information that may cause offline harm or poses a direct threat to public health.'..." The Verge's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Ek's letter. You Spotify users can decided whether or not you think it's good enough.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia. Justin Glawe of the Guardian: A Republican takeover of the Spalding County board of elections "is part of Republican efforts to dominate elections mechanisms nationwide. [In Spalding County, as position on the board] was only vacant because of a new law, specific only to Spalding county, recently introduced by the area's two Republican state lawmakers. In the end, the judges chose a Republican, someone who had never served in a government position related to elections, to be the fifth and deciding vote for the Spalding county board of elections and registration. Almost immediately, that Republican, James Newland, cast that deciding vote to cancel Sunday voting -- a historically heavy turnout day for Black, largely Democratic voters."

Georgia. Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Prosecutors have reached a plea deal with [Travis & Gregory McMichaels.] two of the three white men, facing federal hate-crimes charges for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, 25, the Black man who was chased through a Georgia neighborhood and fatally shot, court documents show.But Mr. Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, denounced the pleas.... Ms. Cooper-Jones said she would try to persuade a judge to reject the plea agreements in a hearing Monday morning."

Michigan. Calling All Donors. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: :Oakland University -- where the campus extends into two cities, Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, each about 30 miles from Detroit -- said it mistakenly told 5,500 incoming students [via email] that they had won [four-year] scholarships [worth $48,000].... But then, more than two hours later, came another email with a subject line that read, 'CORRECTION.... Because you are not a recipient of the Platinum Presidential Scholar Award, this message was unfortunately sent to you in error.'... [Several weeks later,] Central Michigan University told 58 high school seniors ... that they had won [scholarships] which would cover their tuition and room and board, and award them $5,000 to study abroad. But days later, the students were told that the email was a mistake and that they had not won the prestigious scholarship. The university then told those students that it would still pay their full tuition for four years, but that they would not receive other perks of the scholarship." No word that Oakland is going to do anything to mitigate its mistake. MB: Which sucks. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Say, there's this billionaire lady who lives in Michigan & cares so much about education that Donald Trump made her Secretary of Education. This would be a nice time for her to cough up $264 million to make it up to those disappointed students. The University could rename the Presidential Scholar Award to something like the De Vos Scholar Award. Alas, that would remind the recipients they didn't quite measure up.

New York. Grace Ashford & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "New York Democrats on Sunday proposed a starkly partisan redesign of the state's congressional map that would be one of the most consequential in the nation, offering the party's candidates an advantage in 22 of the state's 26 House districts in this fall's midterm election. Party leaders in Albany insisted that the redrawn districts were not politically motivated, but the map immediately exposed Democrats to charges that they were engaging in the same kind of gerrymandering that many in the party have denounced as anti-democratic and accused Republicans of carrying out elsewhere." Politico's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Wikipedia: "The term gerrymandering is named after American politician Elbridge Gerry, Vice President of the United States at the time of his death, who, as Governor of Massachusetts in 1812, signed a bill that created a partisan district in the Boston area that was compared to the shape of a mythological salamander."

Way Beyond

Edith Lederer of the AP: "The United Nations has received 'credible allegations' that more than 100 former members of the Afghan government, its security forces and those who worked with international troops have been killed since the Taliban took over the country Aug. 15, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says. In a report obtained Sunday by The Associated Press, Guterres said that 'more than two-thirds' of the victims were alleged to result from extrajudicial killings by the Taliban or its affiliates, despite the Taliban's announcement of 'general amnesties' for those affiliated with the former government and U.S.-led coalition forces. The U.N. political mission in Afghanistan also received 'credible allegations of extrajudicial killings of at least 50 individuals suspected of affiliation with ISIL-KP,' the Islamic State extremist group operating in Afghanistan, Guterres said in the report to U.N. Security Council."

Yemen. Jon Gambrell & Isabel Debre of the AP: "The United Arab Emirates intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels early Monday as the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, was visiting the country, authorities said, the third such attack in as many weeks."

January 30, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Backfire! Banned in Bumpkinville, a 30-Year-Old Novel Is a Bestseller. David Cohen of Politico: "Just days after the banning of 'Maus' by a Tennessee school district made national news, two editions of Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel about the Holocaust have reached the top 20 on Amazon.com and are in limited supply. 'Maus' was No. 12 on Amazon as of early Friday evening, and was not available for delivery until mid-February. 'The Complete Maus,' which includes a second volume, was No. 9 and out of stock."

Welcome to America! Antonio Olivo of the Washington Post: "Scores of Afghan evacuees in the Washington region have been languishing inside cramped hotel rooms, where parents sleep on the floor while their bored children share one bed. Months after their arrivals, overwhelmed resettlement groups have been unable to find many of the evacuees affordable permanent homes. So while those organizations attend to other newly arrived families, the evacuees are left to their own devices for weeks at a time inside rooms shared by as many as five people, community activists say. During the day, the families have little to do, because the adults have yet to receive Social Security numbers or federal work authorization documents. The children, lacking a permanent address, are unable to enroll in school. The problem is particularly acute in Maryland -- and may soon grow worse, resettlement groups say, as federal officials plan to send more evacuees to the area."

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

~~~~~~~~~~

Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "The White House on Saturday issued a forceful rebuke to a U.S. senator [-- Roger Wicker (R) --] from Mississippi who said President Biden's promise to pick a Black woman for the Supreme Court would ensure that the nominee is a 'beneficiary' of affirmative action.... On Saturday, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement that Biden's promise to elevate a Black woman to the highest U.S. court 'is in line with the best traditions of both parties and our nation.' Bates noted that Ronald Reagan had pledged during his presidential campaign to send the first woman to the court, saying that it 'symbolized' the American ideal that 'permits persons of any sex, age, or race, from every section and every walk of life to aspire and achieve in a manner never before even dreamed about in human history.'" See related report linked yesterday.

Matt Viser, et al., of the Washington Post: In April of 2021, there began "a remarkably public push on the political left to pressure [Justice Stephen] Breyer, 83, the high court's oldest justice and one of its three liberals, to retire while Democrats controlled the White House and Senate and make way for a younger nominee installed by President Biden.... The campaign was carried out by various groups and politicians -- not always acting together, and with some delivering their messages far more discreetly than others.... Breyer's brother, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, said in an interview, 'Of course he was aware of this campaign. I think what impressed him was not the campaign but the logic of the campaign. And he thought he should take into account the fact that this was an opportunity for a Democratic president -- and he was appointed by a Democratic president -- to fill his position with someone who is like-minded.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In her column last week, Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times decried the "vociferous" campaign to encourage Breyer to retire, arguing that "he certainly deserves better." I disagreed with her then, and I disagree with her now. It's evident from his brother's statement that Stephen Breyer needed that push out the door. He really didn't understand, according to Charles, what all the fuss was about. You may recall that when Stephen Breyer went on a book tour last year, he repeatedly made the most disingenuous statements about how he didn't know when he would retire but, in any event, he would not hitch his retirement to "political" considerations.

Ian Dennis & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Nearly three months after President Biden signed a roughly $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill into law, federal transportation officials say much of their work is on hold -- stuck in limbo as a result of an unresolved congressional fight over federal spending. The result is billions of dollars unable to be spent, blunting the immediate impact of one of Biden's signature accomplishments."

Victory at Sea! Stephen Murphy of Sky News: "Russia has announced it will move controversial naval exercises out of Ireland's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The war games had angered Irish fishermen, who said up to 60 trawlers would continue to fish as normal in the area, peacefully disrupting the Russian manoeuvres. But while Ireland did fire a broadside at Russia over the drills, it lacked the military muscle to do much else. This evening, however, Russia's ambassador to Ireland said the exercises would be moved." An AP story is here. ~~~

Another Crack in the Great Wall of Trumpty-Dumpty. Katherine Huggins of Mediaite: "Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) made it clear on Saturday that he does not want ... Donald Trump to run for -- or win -- a second term. 'I do not believe Trump is the one to lead our party and our country again, as president,' Hutchinson told Insider during a National Governors Association meeting. Hutchinson, the chairman of the NGA, told Insider that determining who should be president instead is 'what the election is all about,' and noted there's many possible choices. Hutchinson's comments follow a video from earlier this week in which Trump called himself both the 45th and 47th president of the United States."

And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons. Because they are being treated so unfairly. -- Donald Trump, on the January 6 insurrectionists ~~~

~~~ The Insurrectionist-in-Chief. David Goodman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump said on Saturday that if elected to a new term as president, he would consider pardoning those prosecuted for attacking the United States Capitol on Jan. 6 of last year. He also called on his supporters to mount large protests in Atlanta and New York if prosecutors in those cities, who are investigating him and his businesses, take action against him. The promise to consider pardons is the furthest Mr. Trump has gone in expressing support for the Jan. 6 defendants." A CNN report is here.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Anti-Vax Disinformation Is a Human Rights Abuse -- Pope Francis. María Paúl & Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis denounced on Friday the 'distortion of reality based on fear' that has ripped across the world during the coronavirus pandemic, but he also called for compassion, urging journalists to help those misled by coronavirus-related misinformation and fake news to better understand the scientific facts. 'We can hardly fail to see that these days, in addition to the pandemic, an "infodemic" is spreading: A distortion of reality based on fear, which in our global society leads to an explosion of commentary on falsified if not invented news,' the leader of the world's Catholics said. Meeting with members of the International Catholic Media Consortium on COVID-19 Vaccines -- a fact-checking network that aims to combat misinformation -- the pope said that being fully informed by scientific data was a human right."

Aidin Vaziri of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Spotify lost $4 billion in market value this week after rock icon Neil Young called out the company for allowing comedian Joe Rogan to use its service to spread misinformation about the COVID vaccine on his popular podcast.... At the end of the day Friday, Jan. 28, shares of Spotify were down about 12% from where they closed last week, according to data from Nasdaq, against a broader index that was flat over the same period. The hashtags #DeleteSpotify and #CancelSpotify also gained traction on social media, with many websites offering step-by-step instructions for users to remove the app from their devices. Spotify took down nearly all of Young's music on Wednesday, Jan. 26, two days after the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame musician reportedly issued the streaming service an ultimatum via his management and record company: 'They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.'" ~~~

~~~ Adam Schrader of UPI: "Nils Lofgren, the renowned rock guitarist and longtime member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, has joined Neil Young and Joni Mitchell in pulling his music from Spotify."

New York. Another Amityville Horror. Jessica Bursztynsky of CNBC: "Two nurses on New York's Long Island are being charged with forging Covid-19 vaccination cards and entering the fake jabs in the state's database, a scam that allegedly raked in more than $1.5 million. The Suffolk County District Attorney on Friday arrested Julie DeVuono, 49, the owner and operator of Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Amityville and her employee, Marissa Urraro, 44, according to a complaint. From November 2021 to January 2022, the pair allegedly forged vaccination cards, charging adults $220 apiece and $85 per child for a fake record that would land in the New York State Immunization Information System database.... During a search of DeVuono's home, officials said officers seized roughly $900,000.... DeVuono's husband Derin DeVuono, who is a New York Police Department officer, is being investigated by the department&'s Internal Affairs Bureau in terms of his possible involvement in his wife's alleged scheme, sources told the New York Daily News." A New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So that means about 7,000 Long Islanders would rather pay a couple of hundred dollars each not to get vaccines than accept free, life-saving vaccines. People are stupid. Very stupid. And how did so many stupid people find out about this fake ID shop? It's not as if the nurses could advertise in Your Weekly Shopper: "Anti-Vaxxers Alert! Qualified nurses will give you fake Covid shots and issue fake Covid ID cards. Only $220 each. Cut rates for families with children. Make an appointment now! Phone 631-555-1212."

Canada. John Tasker of CBC News: "A convoy of thousands of truckers and other protesters converged on Parliament Hill [in Ottawa] Saturday to call for an end to COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other public health restrictions -- a raucous demonstration that has police on high alert for possible violence even as organizers urge the crowd to be peaceful. Hundreds of protesters on foot flooded into the parliamentary precinct on Saturday in the midst of an extreme cold warning, joining a lineup of truckers that started to arrive on the scene late Friday night.... The convoy has snarled traffic throughout the region.... The many trucks that have gathered along Wellington Street in front of the Parliament Buildings are adorned with banners denouncing public health measures and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.... Amid security concerns, Trudeau and his family have been moved from their home to an undisclosed location in the nation's capital, sources said."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Howard Hesseman, the actor and improvisational comedian best known for playing a stuck-in-the-'60s radio disc jockey in the TV sitcom 'WKRP in Cincinnati,' died on Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 81."

AP: "Gusty winds and falling temperatures have plunged the East Coast into a deep freeze as people dig out after a powerful nor'easter dumped mounds of snow, flooded coastlines and knocked out power to tens of thousands. Dangerous wind chills have fallen below zero in many locations across the region on Sunday after the storm dumped snow from Virginia to Maine.... Massachusetts bore the brunt of the storm, with the town of Sharon getting more than 30 inches (76 centimeters) of snow before the storm moved out. The wind continued raging as over 100,000 lost power, mostly in Massachusetts, hampering crews' ability to work on overhead lines. No other states reported widespread outages." MB: It's a balmy 6 degrees in my hometown. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, one Reality Chex reader "baked" a perfect snowconut cake in his back yard:

January 29, 2022

Timothy Bella, et al., of the Washington Post: "A major bridge collapsed in [Pittsburgh, Pa.,] just hours before President Biden arrived to tout his new infrastructure law, providing a vivid illustration of the country's crumbling transportation system -- but also highlighting that it will take years for many of the benefits to be felt." Video of President Biden's speech is here. ~~~

~~~ Shannon Pettypiece of NBC News: "President Joe Biden visited the site of a bridge collapse in Pittsburgh on Friday during a trip to the city to promote an infrastructure package that he said would help repair the nation's infrastructure and prevent similar incidents. As he surveyed the damage, Biden thanked first responders and spoke with local officials. 'We're going to fix them all. Not a joke, this is going to be a gigantic change,' he said, noting that the collapsed bridge in Frick Park had been rated in poor condition for 10 years." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ A New York Times report about the bridge collapse is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Pittsburgh is called the City of Bridges. The federal government, as you would expect, tracks the condition of those bridges." The bridge that collapsed is one the feds had determined was in "poor" condition. "... it sits at the end of one of ... Forbes Avenue..., a major thoroughfare into and out of downtown.... A review of the most recent report indicates that more than 7,500 bridges in the 50 states and D.C. are both in poor condition and rated lower or the same [as the Forbes Avenue bridge] on the four main measures of condition.... President Biden was already slated to be in Pittsburgh on Friday, to give a speech focused on infrastructure. This bridge collapse offers a useful if unwelcome demonstration of the need for the recently passed infrastructure bill to be implemented." (Also linked yesterday.)

Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "The White House on Friday confirmed that President Biden is considering a South Carolina federal judge and favorite of House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) as a potential candidate for the Supreme Court. The statement is the first time the White House has publicly confirmed a name under consideration to replace Justice Stephen G. Breyer.... At the same time, the White House indicated that Judge J. Michelle Childs is one of several people under consideration by the president, who has pledged to live up to his campaign promise of nominating the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court." ~~~

Mississippi state flag until 2020.     ~~~ ** Let's Find Out What the Sexist Racists Are Saying. Ashton Pittman of the Mississippi Free Press: "The first Black woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court in history will be a 'beneficiary' of affirmative action, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker told a radio show this afternoon. The senior Republican senator from Mississippi made clear that he has no plans to vote for [President] Biden's yet-to-be-announced pick. 'The irony is that the Supreme Court is at the very time hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination while adding someone who is the beneficiary of this sort of quota,' Wicker told host Paul Gallo on SuperTalk Mississippi Radio today, referring to a pending U.S. Supreme Court case challenging affirmative action in college admissions.... 'We're going to go from a nice, stately liberal [-- Stephen Breyer --] to someone who's probably more in the style of Sonia Sotomayor,' Wicker said. '... I hope it's at least someone who will at least not misrepresent the facts. I think they will misinterpret the law.'... Wicker notably did not raise an objection when ... Donald Trump vowed to appoint a woman to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she died weeks before the 2020 election." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Wicker was speaking on a radio show, so he probably didn't bother to wear his pointy white hood. I'll bet he would not find Justice Breyer so "nice and stately" if it dawned on him that Breyer is Jewish. ~~~

... there's never been a president that has made race and gender the defining factor. -- Sean Hannity, January 26

The claim ignored that both Trump and Reagan made similar vows to nominate women to the Supreme Court, then followed through on those promises. Other presidents in history have also considered race and religion as they have made their picks. -- Politifact

There was never a president prior to Lyndon Johnson who did not make race and gender the defining factor. -- Marie Burns

~~~ Katie Rogers & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "President Biden had hoped that Justice Stephen G. Breyer would retire soon. But as he and his advisers waited for the most senior member of the Supreme Court's liberal wing to make up his mind, the president had made it clear: No one was to do anything to pressure him. Part of the reason, three advisers to Mr. Biden said, was because the president, who was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1994 when Justice Breyer was confirmed, had respect for the man. Part of it was because he had respect for the role. And part of it was that he knew liberal groups were already applying plenty of pressure -- any more could backfire.... His reticence meant that the two men spoke for the first time since Mr. Biden took office on Thursday, when Justice Breyer hand-delivered his resignation letter to the White House, according to ... advisers...."

Amy Cheng & Siobhán O'Grady of the Washington Post: "The United States does not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin has reached a decision on whether to again attack Ukraine, but Moscow 'clearly now has that capability' to seize important territories from Kyiv, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday." ~~~

~~~ New York Times Liveblog (Friday): "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has deployed the troops and military hardware needed to invade all of Ukraine, the Pentagon's top leaders said on Friday, as senior Defense Department officials warned that the tense standoff was leading the United States, its NATO allies and Russia into uncharted territory.... Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III described a bristling array of Russian combined arms formations, artillery and rockets assembled at the Ukrainian border, which he said 'far and away exceeds what we would typically see them do for exercises.' Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was more blunt: 'I think you'd have to go back quite a while to the Cold War days to see something of this magnitude.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ David Stern, et al., of the Washington Post: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday criticized Western nations, including the United States, for their handling of Russia's military buildup at his border, taking aim at his most important security partners as his own military braced for a potential attack. The 44-year-old leader faulted the West for waiting to impose more damaging sanctions on Moscow -- 'that's not the way to do it,' Zelensky said -- while assailing decisions by the United States, Britain and Australia to withdraw some embassy staff and families, and accusing Western leaders of inciting 'panic' with repeated suggestions that an invasion was imminent. 'I can't be like other politicians who are grateful to the United States just for being the United States,' Zelensky told reporters during a news conference [in Kyiv]."

Ronen Bergman of the New York Times Magazine & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: In June of 2019, "the F.B.I. [began setting up] a version of Pegasus, NSO's premier spying tool. For nearly a decade, the Israeli firm had been selling its surveillance software on a subscription basis to law-enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world, promising that it could do what no one else -- not a private company, not even a state intelligence service -- could do: consistently and reliably crack the encrypted communications of any iPhone or Android smartphone.... But by the time the company's engineers walked through the door of the New Jersey facility in 2019, the many abuses of Pegasus had also been well documented.... ... This version of Pegasus was 'zero click' -- unlike more common hacking software, it did not require users to click on a malicious attachment or link -- so the Americans monitoring the phones could see no evidence o an ongoing breach.... The details of the F.B.I.'s purchase and testing of Pegasus have never before been made public." ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Levenson of the New York Times has a summary report here.

** Luke Broadwater & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack issued 14 subpoenas on Friday to people who falsely claimed to be electors for ... Donald J. Trump in the 2020 election in states that were actually won by Joseph R. Biden Jr., digging deeper into Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn the results. The subpoenas target individuals who met and submitted false Electoral College certificates in seven states won by President Biden: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 'The select committee is seeking information about attempts in multiple states to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including the planning and coordination of efforts to send false slates of electors to the National Archives,' Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the chairman of the committee, said in a statement." (Also linked yesterday.) The Guardian's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What's so fascinating here is that journalists & the January 6 committee have woven this seemingly tangential thread into Trump's plot to overturn a democratically-held election. The trouble with a "vast right-wing conspiracy" is that the vaster it is, the more likely it is that someone will unravel it.

Gloria Borger & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "The House Select Committee investigating January 6 has issued a subpoena Friday for a former White House spokesman with firsthand knowledge of Donald Trump's behavior before and during the January 6 attack on the Capitol, according to a copy of a letter accompanying the subpoena obtained by CNN. The committee is seeking both documents and a deposition next month from former deputy White House press secretary Judd Deere, who helped with 'formulating White House's response to the January 6 attack as it occurred,' according to the panel's letter. In its letter to Deere, the committee specifically said it wanted to speak with him about the January 5 staff meeting in the Oval Office with the President. The committee said it had obtained information that Trump repeatedly asked in the meeting: 'What are your ideas for getting the RINOs to do the right thing tomorrow? How do we convince Congress?'"

The Big Lie Is A-Okay with Twitter. Daniel Dale of CNN: "Twitter quit taking action to try to limit the spread of lies about the 2020 election, the company said on Friday -- a day after another social media platform, YouTube, removed a Republican congressman's campaign ad because it included a 2020 lie. Twitter spokesperson Elizabeth Busby told CNN on Friday that 'since March 2021,' Twitter has not been enforcing its 'civic integrity policy' in relation to lies about the 2020 election.... That's because the policy is designed to be used 'during the duration' of an election or other civic event, and 'the 2020 U.S. election is not only certified, but President Biden has been in office for more than a year.' Lies about the 2020 election, however..., continue to play a major role in American politics.... Donald Trump continues to relentlessly repeat lies about the 2020 election. Intelligence analysts say members of far-right extremist groups continue to subscribe to these lies. Driven by the lies, Republican activists around the country continue to press for so-called election audits and they hunt, sometimes door to door, for supposed fraud. And numerous Republican candidates running in 2022 primaries are campaigning on lies about what happened in 2020."

Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: Scammers scam Trumpbots with a "Trump coin" which some marketers claimed was cryptocurrency (it's not) & others claim -- often on fake social media accounts of celebrities like actor Denzel Washington & John F. Kennedy, Jr. (deceased) -- will replace American money. MB: Most surprising part: there's no suggestion Trump himself is making a dime off the cheap Trump coins. HOWEVER, ~~~

~~~ Michael Scherer & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Years after shuttering businesses selling Trump steaks, Trump vodka and Trump mattresses, the Trumps have returned to unconventional direct-to-consumer appeals that trade on his continued popularity among a devoted base to the tune of millions of dollars in receipts. Even as some of his traditional businesses have struggled after a polarizing presidency, Trump and his family have been launching a whole set designed to target his die-hard followers.... [One product is a picture] book, based largely on photographs in the public domain..., [is] sold unsigned for $75 and over three times that with Trump's signature, [and] has been published by a new company founded by his son, Donald Trump Jr. It paid the former president a multimillion-dollar advance for signing copies, writing captions and helping curate photos...." Trump also is making money on the lecture circuit & continues to promote his properties: "He released a statement this month, using his taxpayer-funded post-presidential office, boasting of a recent investment in his Doral golf course in Miami and promising that thousands of homes would be built on the property."

Ben Weiser of the New York Times on Michael Avenatti's courtroom cross-examination of Stormy Daniels, who has accused him of defrauding her. "Rounding out the courtroom time capsule of a peculiar moment in American politics, Michael D. Cohen -- who, as Mr. Trump's former lawyer and fixer, paid Ms. Daniels $130,000 to buy her silence about her claim that she had an affair with [Donald] Trump -- watched from the spectator gallery.... Last July, [Mr. Avenatti] was sentenced to two and a half years behind bars after being convicted in February 2020 on charges of trying to extort more than $20 million from the apparel giant Nike. He is to surrender to the authorities on Feb. 28." ~~~

     ~~~ Tom Hays & Larry Newmeister of the AP: "Michael Avenatti sought Friday at his fraud trial to portray his former client Stormy Daniels as someone who might be delusional as he questioned the porn actor about her belief that her house was once haunted by ghosts. Avenatti, who is acting as his own lawyer, got to cross-examine Daniels for a second day about allegations that he stole $300,000 the performer was supposed to get from a publisher for writing a tell-all book about an alleged sexual tryst with ... Donald Trump.... Avenatti is defending himself against wire fraud and aggravated identify theft charges." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Assuming prosecutors have hard evidence that Avenatti diverted to himself funds designated for Daniels, I don't see what Daniel's mental competence has to do with the matter. I would guess that many victims of fraud are not competent at the time the fraud is perpetrated on them.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Spotify on the Spot. Harriet Sherwood of the Guardian: "... Joni Mitchell has joined Neil Young in removing her music from Spotify in protest at it hosting a popular anti-vax podcast. Mitchell, whose 1971 album Blue is regarded as one of the greatest of all time, is the first high-profile musician to take a stand alongside Young against the streaming behemoth." ~~~

     ~~~ On her Website, Mitchell republishes an open letter to Spotify from "a coalition of scientists, medical professionals, professors, and science communicators spanning a wide range of fields" who say they "are calling on Spotify to take action against the mass-misinformation events which continue to occur on its platform. With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE is the world's largest podcast and has tremendous influence. Though Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, the company presently has no misinformation policy."

Virginia. Justin Jouvenal, et al., of the Washington Post: "Virginia's public colleges and universities don't have the authority to require students to get a coronavirus vaccine to enroll or attend in-person classes, the state's new attorney general found in his first opinion since taking office this month. The opinion by Jason Miyares, a Republican, is the most recent move by the state's new GOP leadership to challenge coronavirus mandates. It is unclear if the step will have any practical effect on students currently on campuses. More than 90 percent of students at most of the state's four-year public schools are already vaccinated and, in some cases, boosted."

Washington State. Kyle Morris of Fox "News": "A Washington State Patrol officer who defied a statewide vaccine mandate and signed off for the last time by telling Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee to 'kiss my a--' ... over forced vaccine mandates ... is dead from COVID-19. Former Trooper Robert LaMay, 51, who served 22 years with the State Patrol and retired last October, died on Friday." MB: I don't know the pension rules for Washington state troopers, and I don't know if LeMay was married, but it's nice to know that -- since he served 22 years -- his widow might get the pension benefits he won't need because he killed himself with Covid.

Beyond the Beltway

Minnesota. Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "The three former Minneapolis police officers on trial for violating George Floyd's civil rights had been trained to verbally and physically intervene to stop a colleague from using unreasonable force and broke department policy when they didn't stop Derek Chauvin from kneeling on Floyd's neck,> a police supervisor testified Friday. Katie Blackwell, a Minneapolis Police Department inspector who commanded the agency's training division at the time of Floyd's May 2020 death, testified that former officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane and Tou Thao had undergone hours of training on the department's use of force guidelines, including the duty to intervene and the obligation to render medical aid when someone in their custody needs it."

Ohio Senate Race. Liz Skalka of the Huffington Post on a debate between Ohio U.S. Senate candidates Morgan Harper (D) & Josh Mandel (ARrrr). Good grief. P.D. Pepe discusses the debate in yesterday's Comments. (Also linked yesterday.)

Pennsylvania. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "A state court in Pennsylvania on Friday struck down the state's landmark election law as unconstitutional, dealing a temporary blow to voting access in one of the nation's most critical battleground states. In a 3-to-2 decision, the state court sided with 14 Republican lawmakers who sued last year, arguing that the law was unconstitutional. Pennsylvania filed an appeal to its Supreme Court on Friday afternoon, triggering an automatic stay that keeps the law in place during the appeal process. The law, known as Act 77, was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed by Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, in 2019. It permitted no-excuse absentee voting, created a permanent mail-in voter list, reduced the voter registration deadline from 30 days to 15 and provided for $90 million in election infrastructure upgrades. It also eliminated straight ticket voting. The majority opinion, written by Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt, a Republican, said that voting 'requires the physical presence of the elector' and ruled that the legislature could not make changes to voting laws without amending the state Constitution.... In a statement, Josh Shapiro, the Democratic Pennsylvania attorney general who is also running for governor, criticized the state court's decision as 'faulty[.]'" A CBS News report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In the modern day, a voting law that "requires the physical presence of the elector" sounds kinda unconstitutional to me. That would mean no absentee voting under any conditions: not for people in nursing homes, not for people with debilitating illnesses, not for military personnel serving away from home, etc.

Wisconsin. Brad Parks of CNN: "The gun that Kyle Rittenhouse used in the Kenosha, Wisconsin, shootings will be destroyed, Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger said Friday. 'The parties -- the defense, the state, and also Dominick Black, who purchased that firearm -- have all signed off on a stipulation whereby the Kenosha Police Department and Joint Services will destroy that firearm, as well as the magazine, and the scope,' Binger told Judge Bruce Schroeder at a hearing Friday.... [Rittenhouse's attorney Mark] Richards also confirmed the rest of Rittenhouse's property that was seized when he was arrested was returned earlier this week. Rittenhouse was not present for the hearing."

News Ledes

ESPN: "Tom Brady is retiring from football after 22 seasons in which he won a historic seven Super Bowl titles, sources told ESPN.... Brady [is] widely considered the greatest quarterback in NFL history...." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN: Or maybe not.

AP: ";A nor'easter with hurricane-force wind gusts battered much of the East Coast on Saturday, flinging heavy snow that made travel treacherous or impossible, flooding coastlines, and threatening to leave bitter cold in its wake. The storm thrashed parts of 10 states, with blizzard warnings that stretched from Virginia to Maine. Philadelphia and New York saw plenty of wind and snow, but Boston was in the crosshairs. The city could get more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow by the time it moves out early Sunday. Winds gusted as high as 83 mph (134 kph) on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Southwest of Boston, the town of Sharon, Massachusetts, had received more than 30 inches (76 centimeters) of snow by Saturday night, while Islip, New York, and Warren, Rhode Island, both saw more than 24 inches (61 centimeters)."

The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the winter storm that is pummeling the East Coast of the U.S. The Weather Channel has links to stories about on its front page.