U.S. House Results

By 2:00 pm ET Saturday, the AP had called 213 seats for Democrats & 220 seats for Republicans. (A majority is 220 218.)

Trump is removing some members of the House & Senate to serve in his administration, which could -- at least in the short run -- give Democrats effective majorities.

The Ledes

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

New York Times: “Arthur Frommer, who expanded the horizons of postwar Americans and virtually invented the low-budget travel industry with his seminal guidebook, 'Europe on 5 Dollars a Day: A Guide to Inexpensive Travel,' which introduced millions to an experience once considered the exclusive domain of the wealthy, died on Monday at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 95.”

The Wires
powered by Surfing Waves
The Ledes

Monday, November 18, 2024

New York Times: “One person has died and 39 people have become ill in an E. coli outbreak linked to organic carrots, federal regulators said on Sunday. The infections were tied to multiple brands of recalled organic whole bagged carrots and baby carrots sold by Grimmway Farms, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Fifteen people have been hospitalized, according to the agency. Carrots currently on store shelves are unlikely to be affected by the recall but those in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers may be, the authorities said.”

Public Service Announcement

Mashable: "Following the 2024 presidential election results and [Elon] Musk's support for ... Donald Trump, users have been deactivating en masse. And this time, it appears most everyone has settled on one particular X alternative: Bluesky.... Bluesky has gained more than 100,000 new sign ups per day since the U.S. election on Nov. 5. It now has over 15 million users. It's enjoyed a prolonged stay on the very top of Apple's App Store charts as well. Ready to join? Here's how to get started on Bluesky[.]"

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

Link Code:   <a href="URL">text</a>

OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

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

New York Times: “Chris Wallace, a veteran TV anchor who left Fox News for CNN three years ago, announced on Monday that he was leaving his post to venture into the streaming or podcasting worlds.... He said his decision to leave CNN at the end of his three-year contract did not come from discontent. 'I have nothing but positive things to say. CNN was very good to me,' he said.”

New York Times: In a collection of memorabilia filed at New York City's Morgan Library, curator Robinson McClellan discovered the manuscript of a previously unknown waltz by Frédéric Chopin. Jeffrey Kallberg, a Chopin scholar at the University of Pennsylvania as well as other experts authenticated the manuscript. Includes video of Lang Lang performing the short waltz. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The Times article goes into some of Chopin's life in Paris at the time he wrote the waltz, but it doesn't mention that he helped make ends meet by giving piano lessons. I know this because my great grandmother was one of his students. If her musical talent were anything like mine, those particular lessons would have been painful hours for Chopin.

New York Times: “Improbably, [the political/celebrity magazine] George[, originally a project by John F. Kennedy, Jr.] is back, with the same logo and the same catchy slogan: 'Not just politics as usual.' This time, though, a QAnon conspiracy theorist and passionate Trump fan is its editor in chief.... It is a reanimation story bizarre enough for a zombie movie, made possible by the fact that the original George trademark lapsed, only to be secured by a little-known conservative lawyer named Thomas D. Foster.”

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

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

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

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

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

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

Click on photo to enlarge.

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

 

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A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. -- Edward R. Murrow

Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Wednesday
Jun092021

The Commentariat -- June 10, 2021

Late Morning, Afternoon Update:

Denise Lu of the New York Times: "More than half of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and it's the remaining unvaccinated population that is driving the lingering deaths, experts say. After the first vaccines were authorized for emergency use in December, with priority given to senior populations before younger groups, the share of those dying who were 75 or older started dropping immediately. In turn, younger populations began to make up higher shares of Covid-19 deaths compared with their shares at the peak of the pandemic -- a trend that continued when vaccine eligibility opened up to all adults. While the number of deaths dropped in all age groups, about half of Covid-19 deaths are now of people aged 50 to 74, compared with only a third in December." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If I were a person who for some reason was afraid to receive the vaccine, this report would make me afraid not to. However, I doubt the vaccine-shy read the lying' librul NYT.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: As part of a plea deal, Emma Coronel Aispuro, 'the wife of Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, the infamous drug lord known as 'El Chapo,' pleaded guilty Thursday morning in Washington to helping his multibillion-dollar criminal enterprise smuggle at least 100 tons of marijuana, cocaine and heroin into the United States."

Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "Democrats and Republicans lobbed withering questions at the FBI as Director Christopher A. Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee Thursday, though their concerns diverged significantly along partisan lines. Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) blasted Wray for the bureau's failure to detect in advance and respond to the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, while ranking Republican Jim Jordan (Ohio) accused the bureau of intruding on Americans' civil liberties in an eclectic mix of circumstances." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In his presumably-prepared opening statement, Jim Jordan claimed that when the FBI aided Rudy Giuliani's home, officers "kicked in his door." This was news to me, so I looked it up. According to Rudy himself, agents wakened him at 6 am with a "bang, bang, bang" on his door. So that was a lie, Jim. "Wray repeatedly declined to answer questions about ... the search involving Giuliani." Oh, and Matt Gaetz, whom the FBI is investigating, showed up for the committee hearing & asked questions about the origins of the coronavirus.

The New York Times' live updates of President Biden's European trip Thursday are here.

Patrick Wintour of the Guardian: "Senior US embassy diplomats in London, backed by the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, have directly warned the UK's Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, that he will inflame tensions in Northern Ireland if he does not compromise over border checks. A meeting between the US charge d'affaires Yael Lampert, currently America's most senior diplomat in London, and Frost led to an urging by the US for Britain to come to a negotiated settlement with the EU, according to an internal UK government note.... Sullivan told a briefing on Air Force One before Joe Biden landed in the UK on Wednesday evening: 'Any steps that imperil or undermine the Good Friday agreement will not be welcomed by the US.'... The US tone suggests the Biden administration is taking close interest in details of the talks, given it has a formal role to uphold the Good Friday deal."

Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "Prices rose by 5 percent in May compared with a year ago, the largest increase since the Great Recession, continuing a steady climb in inflation even as policymakers insist on staying the course. Price spikes often coincide with downturns, and officials from the White House and Federal Reserve have predicted that prices will climb over the coming months, especially compared to a year ago, when the economy was reeling from coronavirus pandemic shutdown. However, the move adds new fuel to the Republican criticism that the Biden administration is spending too much, which could lead to an overheated economy. The most recent inflation figures, released Thursday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are not rattling the Biden administration nor the Fed. Both predict that prices will continue to rise until supply chains and consumer demand recalibrate and the economy has time to heal."

Michael Wayland of CNBC: "The immediate past president of the United Auto Workers was sentenced Thursday to 28 months in prison for his part in a scheme with other leaders to steal as much as $1.5 million in union funds for lavish trips, golfing, alcohol and other luxuries. Gary Jones is the second UAW president to be sentenced as part of a multiyear corruption probe into the prominent American labor union. He is one of 15 people to have been charged, including three Fiat Chrysler executives and his predecessor, Dennis Williams, who was sentenced last month to 21 months in prison. His sentencing is among the last in the investigation, which has tarnished the union's reputation, created mistrust among its members and led to federal oversight of the UAW." MB: These guys are such cliches.

Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "Finding a Proud Boys member's complaints of inadequate medical care behind bars 'without merit,' a federal judge [Royce Lambeth] issued a scathing ruling on Wednesday explaining why he kept him in jail -- and highlighting his vulgar Facebook tirades against the 'pu**y ass bitch' he believed 'ratted' him out following an FBI visit. 'Believe I know who ratted,' Christopher Worrell, 49, told an unidentified user on Jan. 18, the day the FBI interviewed him, according to the ruling. Then, prosecutors quote him indiscreetly posting publicly on his Facebook page: 'SO WHOMEVER [sic] CALLED THE "FEDS" ON ME REST ASSURED I KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND WE WILL BE DISCUSSING THIS SOON!! The best part is you have NOTHING accept [sic] empty accusations!! You are the piece of shit I knew you were!!'"

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

Jenny Gross of the New York Times: "... companies are legally permitted to make employees get vaccinated, according to recent guidance from the federal agency that enforces workplace discrimination laws, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Here's the latest about the rules in the United States on vaccinations in the workplace."

"The Trump Coast." Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: Donald Trump "basks in a 'biosphere' of adoration at [Mar-a-Lago], where he rubs elbows with members and guests who posts photos and videos of the twice-impeached one-term president at engagement parties, memorial services and other events, reported Bloomberg.... 'At every moment of his day, Trump is bathed in adulation,' reported Bloomberg's Joshua Green. 'When he enters the dining room, people stand and applaud. When he returns from golf, he's met with squeals and selfie requests. When he leaves Mar-a-Lago, he often encounters flag-waving throngs organized by Willy Guardiola, a former professional harmonica player and anti-abortion activist who runs weekly pro-Trump rallies in Palm Beach.... A steady stream of Republican lawmakers has visited Trump at his club, and his children Ivanka and Donald Jr. have bought multi-million-dollar homes nearby, as have Fox News broadcasters Sean Hannity and Neal Cavuto.... 'It's like if Rachel Maddow and the Pod Save America guys all bought condos in Chicago because they wanted to be close to Barack Obama,' [said Democratic strategist Eddie Vale]." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is what I mean when I cast Trump as a third-rate "celebrity." His biggest fans are Hannity and "a former professional harmonica player."

~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times is liveblogging President Biden's European adventure. The linked page is Wednesday's liveblog. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ You can watch President Biden's full remarks at RAF Mildenhall, U.K. here. Dr. Jill Biden's remarks begin at about 7:00 minutes in. President Biden's remarks begin at 15:25 minutes in.

Biden Press Plane Bugged! Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "The Brood X cicadas that rose from the earth after 17 years underground ... ground[ed] the White House press corps as it headed to Europe for President Biden's first overseas trip in office.... Reporters gathered at a Marriott hotel near Dulles International Airport were told by a White House aide that the insects had flown into the engine, causing mechanical problems that required the airline to obtain a new plane and a new captain for the flight. The journalists ended up delayed more than five hours." MB: Wow! Reporters stuck for five hours in a hotel with a bar. Whatever will they do? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The Biden administration intends to revive federal environmental protections for millions of streams, marshes and other bodies of water across the country that had been eliminated by ... Donald Trump in his quest to please home builders, farmers and ranchers. The Environmental Protection Agency made the announcement Wednesday after it said it had found that the changes under Mr. Trump caused 'significant environmental degradation.' The problem is particularly glaring in arid states such as New Mexico and Arizona, where nearly every one of more than 1,500 streams lost environmental protections under the Trump rules, said Michael S. Regan, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency."

Matt O'Brien, et al., of the AP: "The White House dropped Trump-era executive orders that attempted to ban the popular apps TikTok and WeChat and will conduct its own review aimed at identifying national security risks with software applications tied to China, officials said Wednesday. A new executive order directs the Commerce Department to undertake what officials describe as an 'evidence-based' analysis of transactions involving apps that are manufactured or supplied or controlled by China. Officials are particularly concerned about apps that collect users' persona data or have connections to Chinese military or intelligence activities. The department also will make recommendations on how to further protect Americans' genetic and personal health information, and will address the risks of certain software apps connected to China or other adversaries, according to senior administration officials." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Zachary Cohen & Christina Carrega of CNN: "Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday defended a series of controversial arguments made by the Justice Department in recent weeks that endorsed legal positions held by ... Donald Trump and the previous administration. Garland was pressed to explain those moves while testifying before several Senate subcommittees. Specifically, he was asked about the department's support for arguments related to an assault allegation against the former President and the release of a memo of regarding handling the Mueller investigation." MB: Gosh, Merrick, I am not persuaded. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Paul Murphy of CNN: "Texas' Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland is on 'active shooter lockdown,' according to the base's Facebook page. 'All base personnel implement LOCKDOWN procedures and immediately take cover," the base posted on Facebook and Twitter. A second post said there were no immediate reports of injuries after the incident that took place outside one of the gates. '(Base) emergency responders are working with the San Antonio police department to clear the area and search for the shooters,' the post says." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post: "Two members of a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel resigned this week after the agency's contentious decision to approve an Alzheimer's drug over the objections of its outside advisers. David S. Knopman, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic, said Wednesday in an email to The Washington Post that he did not 'wish to be part of a sham process' that ultimately resulted in the agency's approval Monday of Biogen's Aduhelm, also known as aducanumab.... Earlier this week, Joel S. Perlmutter, a neurologist at Washington University in St. Louis, resigned from the committee ... 'due to this ruling by the FDA without further discussion with our advisory committee.'"

Jonathan Weisman & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "A jaw-dropping report by ProPublica detailing how America's richest men avoided paying taxes has intensified interest in Congress, even among some Republicans, in changing the tax code to ensure that people like Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett pay their fair share. For Republicans, the idea that the tax code should give preferential treatment to investment has been sacrosanct, ostensibly to promote economic growth and innovation that could benefit everyone. But the news this week showed how the treatment of stocks, bonds, real estate and huge loans taken off those assets has sent the tax bills of the richest Americans plummeting. 'My intention as the author of the 2017 tax reform was not that multibillionaires ought to pay no taxes,' said Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, who helped write the law that slashed taxes by more than $1 trillion. 'I believe dividends and capital gains should be taxed at a lower rate, but certainly not zero.'" The ProPublica report, also linked here Tuesday (June 8), is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Something else that's "jaw-dropping" is that members of Congress either didn't know about this or are pretending it's news to them ... inasmuch as even billionaires like Buffett himself have been complaining publicly about this inequity for at least ten years. How is it we knew but Pat Toomey didn't?

GOP "Negotiator" Doesn't Know What "Negotiation" Means. Ben Leonard of Politico: "Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said Wednesday that she was 'frustrated' that the White House 'kept moving the goalposts on us' after infrastructure negotiations with the Biden administration fell apart Tuesday. 'I'm a bit disappointed and frustrated that the White House really kept moving the ball on me and then just finally brought me negotiations that were untenable and then ended the negotiations altogether,' Capito said in a Fox News interview." MB: Shelley, dear, "moving the goalposts" is exactly what negotiators do. You tell Joe Manchin you'll sell him your golden Trump ring for $5,000. Joe offers you $1,000 & a promise to endorse you in a radio ad. You tell Joe $2,500 & a TV endorsement. Joe counters back at $2,000 & two radio ads. That's negotiating, Shelley. Both of you "move the goalposts." And you do know that ring will turn Joe's finger green, don't you? You Republicans always cheat. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Joel Shannon of USA Today: "U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, appeared to stun a Forest Service official by suggesting the agency fight climate change by altering the orbits of Earth or the moon. The question came during a live-streamed national parks, forests and public lands subcommittee meeting of the National Resources Committee on Tuesday and was followed by social media mockery.... Gohmert said he understood NASA's data shows the Earth's and the moon's orbits are 'changing slightly.... And so, is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM can do to change the course of the moon's orbit or the Earth's orbit around the sun? Obviously, that would have profound effects on our climate.'... '... if you figure out a way that you in the Forest Service can make that change, I'd like to know,' Gohmert said.... 'I know the answer to the question...," tweeted U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California. 'Captain Marvel. She can alter planetary orbits with her superpowers. I’m going to work on a bipartisan resolution asking for her help.'" Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also his commentary below. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Reading about Louie's scientific expertise wasn't a complete waste of time for me. Thanks to the always-well-informed Ted Lieu, I learned that Captain Marvel had changed her sexual identity.

Florida U.S. Senate Race. Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., made her Senate bid official Wednesday, announcing that she plans to challenge Republican Marco Rubio for his seat next year. Demings made the announcement in a three-minute video in which she shared her story serving in Orlando's police department, where she worked her way up to serving as its first female chief of police.... In a statement Wednesday, Rubio bashed Demings...," ... MB: essentially revealing that Demings is a Democrat. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Katelyn Polantz & Evan Perez of CNN: "The Trump administration battled with CNN for half a year to obtain the email records of a reporter and insisted it all take place under an extraordinary order of secrecy, CNN's lead attorney revealed on Wednesday. The pursuit -- which started in July 2020 under then-Attorney General William Barr with a demand for two months' of CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr's 2017 email logs -- continued even after a federal judge told the Justice Department its argument for access to Starr's internal emails was 'speculative' and 'unanchored in any facts.' The Trump administration's secret pursuit represents a highly unusual and unrelenting push for journalists' records. It included putting CNN general counsel David Vigilante under a gag order prohibiting him from sharing any details about the government's efforts with anyone beyond the network's president, top attorneys at CNN's corporate parent and attorneys at an outside law firm."

Alex Rogers, et al., of CNN: "Former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn confirmed before a congressional panel last week that ... Donald Trump urged him to oust special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated his 2016 campaign's ties to Russia, according to a transcript released Wednesday.... McGahn told the committee that he didn't call [Deputy AG Rod] Rosenstein in part because he feared that Rosenstein could resign if he felt pressured. 'What I was not going to do is cause any sort of chain reaction that would cause this to spiral out of control in a way that wasn't in the best interests, at least as a lawyer, what I thought was in the best interests of my client, which was the President,' said McGahn.... McGahn's retelling of his interactions largely affirmed Mueller's final, public report, and the questioning was limited to topics documented in the Mueller investigation.... Trump has denied the episodes with McGahn -- but the interview with Congress has allowed McGahn to again put on record -- under threat of criminal penalty if he were to lie -- that Trump pushed to shut down the Mueller investigation." ~~~

~~~ Betsy Swan & Sarah Ferris of Politico: "Former White House lawyer Don McGahn said he felt 'trapped' by ... Donald Trump's relentless insistence that he have Special Counsel Robert Mueller ousted, according to newly released transcript of his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee." The New York Times report is here.

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "A federal watchdog said on Wednesday that the United States Park Police had been planning to clear protesters from a park near the White House well before they learned that ... Donald J. Trump was going to walk through the area last year. The report by the Interior Department's inspector general concluded that 'the evidence did not support a finding' that the Park Police had cleared the area just for Mr. Trump, who strode through it on June 1 last year before posing for photographs in front of St. John's Episcopal Church holding a Bible.... The 30-page report by the Interior Department's inspector general offers new details about the Park Police's decision-making. And the sequence of events described in the report suggests that the operation to clear the area turned violent soon after the Park Police were informed of Mr. Trump's arrival. But the report's author was careful to warn it was not to be seen as a definitive account of the day, in part because so many other law enforcement agencies were involved. The inspector general, Mark L. Greenblatt, noted that it was not in his jurisdiction to investigate what the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies knew and who might have ordered them to use force to clear the park." The Washington Post's report is here. A CNN report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to Karni, Greenblatt calls his report "a fulsome review of everything in our jurisdiction." I wonder if Greenblatt is aware that "fulsome" means "complimentary or flattering to an excessive degree." I don't think if I had written a fulsome report, I would advertise it. I did write to Greenblatt asking him about his remarkable admission. ~~~

     ~~~ The fulsome report, via the Interior Department, is here.

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "The editorial board for the Boston Globe made the case this week for holding [Donald] Trump criminally accountable for his obstruction of justice, efforts to overturn his election loss in Georgia and inciting an insurrection Jan. 6 aimed at stopping the certification of Joe Biden's electoral win, arguing that prosecution was the only way to ensure future presidents conducted themselves honorably and lawfully.... The editors agreed the decision to prosecute a former president for crimes committed in office was a heavy responsibility, but they argued that it was necessary to preserve the rule of law -- and other democracies had successfully charged former leaders.... 'A commander in chief tried his very best to subvert democracy,' they argued. 'He attacked his own country. Five people died. Allowing him to go unpunished would set a far more dangerous precedent than having Trump stand trial. To reform the presidency so that the last four years are never repeated, the country must go beyond passing laws: It must make clear through its actions that no person, not even the president, is above them.'" The Globe editorial is here.

Samantha Gross & Martin Vassolo of the Miami Herald: "The Doral city council on Wednesday voted 4-0 to ban gambling and casinos from the city unless approved by residents in a referendum, weeks after Gov. Ron DeSantis negotiated a $500 million gaming deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Critics believe the compact was tailored to allow casinos at properties such as the Trump National Doral Miami resort or the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel, which local officials fear will bring negative impacts to their communities. DeSantis has dismissed those concerns as 'idiotic politics.'... The gaming deal, among other things, stops the Tribe from objecting to the transfer of existing slot machine licenses to anywhere 15 miles from its flagship casino in Hollywood, language that opens the door to ... Donald Trump purchasing a license and transferring it to his Doral golf resort. The Trump Doral resort is about 18 miles from the Hollywood casino and is run by Eric Trump, who told The Washington Post in March that a Doral location would be 'unmatched from a gaming perspective.'... Local gambling bans alone may not be enough. Miami Beach, which banned casinos in 2017, retained law firm Shubin & Bass to help fend off any attempts from the Legislature to bring gambling to the city." MB: You have to sign in to read the story. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is such a shame, because you only have to look at Donald to see how perfectly he fits the role of sleazy casino owner, strutting around a slot machine room, putting his hand too low on the back of a scantily-clad waitress, sitting down at a large table with a bunch of small-time gangsters while a Sinatra impersonator sings "I Did It My Way." Donald Trump was born to be a creepy casino owner, and those thoughtless Doral councilmembers have a nerve depriving him of his destiny.

** Brady Dennis & Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "The firm behind the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline officially scrapped the project on Wednesday, months after President Biden revoked a cross-border permit for the controversial pipeline and more than a decade after political wrangling over its fate began. The pipeline, which would have stretched from Alberta's boreal forests to the refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast, became the center of a broader controversy over climate change, pipeline safety, eminent domain and jobs. Those same concerns have spawned similar battles to stop pipelines in states including Montana, Minnesota and Virginia.... Donald Trump approved a right of way for the Keystone XL on his third day in office, though the pipeline remained bogged down in courts and by the Nebraska Public Service Commission.... 'When this fight began, people thought Big Oil couldn't be beat,' Bill McKibben, the founder of environmental activism group 350.org who led sit-ins against Keystone XL in 2011 at the White House, said in a statement. 'But when enough people rise up we"re stronger even than the richest fossil fuel companies.'"

Nicole Perlroth, et al., of the New York Times: "Criminals, often operating in hidden reaches of the internet,flocked to Bitcoin to do illicit business without revealing their names or locations. The digital currency quickly became as popular with drug dealers and tax evaders as it was with contrarian libertarians. But this week's revelation that federal officials had recovered most of the Bitcoin ransom paid in the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack exposed a fundamental misconception about cryptocurrencies: They are not as hard to track as cybercriminals think. On Monday, the Justice Department announced it had traced 63.7 of the 75 Bitcoins -- some $2.3 million of the $4.3 million -- that Colonial Pipeline had paid to the hackers...."

Brian Fung of CNN: "The meat supplier JBS USA paid an $11 million ransom in response to a cyberattack that led to the shutdown of its entire US beef processing operation last week, the company said in a statement Wednesday evening. The ransom was paid after most of the company's facilities had come back online, JBS said." The Washington Post's story is here.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Sharon LaFraniere, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden, under pressure to aggressively address the global coronavirus vaccine shortage, will announce as early as Thursday that his administration will buy 500 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and donate them among about 100 countries over the next year, according to people familiar with the plan. The White House reached the deal just in time for Mr. Biden's eight-day European trip.... 'We have to end Covid-19, not just at home, which we're doing, but everywhere,' Mr. Biden told American troops after landing at R.A.F. Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. 'There's no wall high enough to keep us safe from this pandemic or the next biological threat we face, and there will be others. It requires coordinated multilateral action.'" MB: That's half-a-billion doses, in case you didn't notice.

Ohio. Andrea Salcedo of the Washington Post: "Sherri Tenpenny, a Cleveland-based doctor invited as an expert witness Tuesday to a hearing in the Ohio House..., falsely told legislators that the drugs could leave people 'magnetized.'... 'They can put a key on their forehead. It sticks. They can put spoons and forks all over them and they can stick..., [she testified].... Her baseless remarks -- which also suggested that vaccines 'interface' with 5G cellular towers -- didn't elicit strong pushback from legislators.... Instead, some GOP representatives thanked Tenpenny for testifying in front of the Ohio House Health Committee, with one praising a podcast she hosts as 'enlightening in terms of thinking.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I've been vaccinated, so as soon as I heard Dr. Tenpenny's testimony, I tossed all my keyrings, what with their now being useless, antiquated hardware. Well, imagine my surprise when I tried to slap my housekey on my forehead & the sucker fell right off!

Beyond the Beltway

Massachusetts. Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "Verda Tetteh used her graduation speech [at Fitchburg High School, where most students are 'economically disadvantaged,] to talk about resilience.... Tetteh, whose family is from Ghana..., had secur[ed] a prestigious state scholarship and admission to Harvard. Later at last Friday's graduation she got her school's highest honor: a 'General Excellence' award that came with $40,000.... The ceremony went on. But as the assistant principal wrapped up his address, Tetteh made her way back to the podium for something unscripted.... She hoped that administrators would consider giving her award money to someone going to a community college like the one that helped her mom. 'I am so very grateful for this, but I also know that I am not the one who needs this the most,' she said. Out on the grass, her classmates [gave her] ... her second standing ovation that day.... The school will honor Tetteh's wishes for the money."

Texas. Jake Bleiberg of the AP: "The Texas bar association is investigating whether state Attorney General Ken Paxton's failed efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election based on bogus claims of fraud amounted to professional misconduct. The State Bar of Texas initially declined to take up a Democratic Party activist's complaint that Paxton's petitioning of the U.S. Supreme Court to block Joe Biden's victory was frivolous and unethical. But a tribunal that oversees grievances against lawyers overturned that decision late last month and ordered the bar to look into the accusations against the Republican official. The investigation is yet another liability for the embattled attorney general, who is facing a years-old criminal case, a separate, newer FBI investigation, and a Republican primary opponent who is seeking to make electoral hay of the various controversies."

Way Beyond

Russia. Andrew E. Kramer & Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "A Russian court on Wednesday designated Aleksei A. Navalny's political movement as an extremist network, a remarkable move that sent a message to President Biden ahead of his meeting next week with President Vladimir V. Putin: Russian domestic affairs are not up for discussion. The court decision -- taken almost certainly with Mr. Putin;s blessing -- is bound to push the movement further underground after several months in which the Kremlin;s yearslong effort to suppress dissent had entered a more aggressive phase. Under the law, Mr. Navalny's organizers, donors, or even social-media supporters could now be prosecuted and face prison time."

News Lede

USA Today: "Hiring picked up in May as employers added 559,000 jobs amid falling COVID-19 cases, a loosening of business constraints and stepped-up vaccinations, more than offsetting persistent worker shortages. The unemployment rate fell sharply from 6.1% to 5.8%, the Labor Department said Friday. The labor shortages continued to temper hiring. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated that 674,000 jobs were added last month."

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Tuesday
Jun082021

The Commentariat -- June 9, 2021

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times is liveblogging President Biden's European adventure.

Paul Murphy of CNN: "Texas' Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland is on 'active shooter lockdown,' according to the base's Facebook page. 'All base personnel implement LOCKDOWN procedures and immediately take cover," the base posted on Facebook and Twitter. A second post said there were no immediate reports of injuries after the incident that took place outside one of the gates. '(Base) emergency responders are working with the San Antonio police department to clear the area and search for the shooters,' the post says."

Zachary Cohen & Christina Carrega of CNN: "Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday defended a series of controversial arguments made by the Justice Department in recent weeks that endorsed legal positions held by ... Donald Trump and the previous administration. Garland was pressed to explain those moves while testifying before several Senate subcommittees. Specifically, he was asked about the department's support for arguments related to an assault allegation against the former President and the release of a memo of regarding handling the Mueller investigation." MB: Gosh, Merrick, I am not persuaded.

Matt O'Brien, et al., of the AP: "The White House dropped Trump-era executive orders that attempted to ban the popular apps TikTok and WeChat and will conduct its own review aimed at identifying national security risks with software applications tied to China, officials said Wednesday. A new executive order directs the Commerce Department to undertake what officials describe as an 'evidence-based' analysis of transactions involving apps that are manufactured or supplied or controlled by China. Officials are particularly concerned about apps that collect users' persona data or have connections to Chinese military or intelligence activities. The department also will make recommendations on how to further protect Americans' genetic and personal health information, and will address the risks of certain software apps connected to China or other adversaries, according to senior administration officials."

Biden Press Plane Bugged! Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "The Brood X cicadas that rose from the earth after 17 years underground ... ground[ed] the White House press corps as it headed to Europe for President Biden's first overseas trip in office.... Reporters gathered at a Marriott hotel near Dulles International Airport were told by a White House aide that the insects had flown into the engine, causing mechanical problems that required the airline to obtain a new plane and a new captain for the flight. The journalists ended up delayed more than five hours." MB: Wow! Reporters stuck for five hours in a hotel with a bar. Whatever will they do?

GOP "Negotiator" Doesn't Know What "Negotiation" Means. Ben Leonard of Politico: "Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said Wednesday that she was 'frustrated' that the White House 'kept moving the goalposts on us' after infrastructure negotiations with the Biden administration fell apart Tuesday. 'I'm a bit disappointed and frustrated that the White House really kept moving the ball on me and then just finally brought me negotiations that were untenable and then ended the negotiations altogether,' Capito said in a Fox News interview."; MB: Shelley, dear, "moving the goalposts" is exactly what negotiators do. You tell Joe Manchin you'll sell him your golden Trump ring for $5,000. Joe offers you $1,000 & a promise to endorse you in a radio ad. You tell Joe $2,500 & a TV endorsement. Joe counters back at $2,000 & two radio ads. That's negotiating, Shelley. Both of you "move the goalposts." And you do know that ring will turn Joe's finger green, don't you? You Republicans always cheat.

Andrea Salcedo of the Washington Post: "Sherri Tenpenny, a Cleveland-based doctor invited as an expert witness Tuesday to a hearing in the Ohio House..., falsely told legislators that the drugs could leave people 'magnetized.'... 'They can put a key on their forehead. It sticks. They can put spoons and forks all over them and they can stick..., [she testified].... Her baseless remarks -- which also suggested that vaccines 'interface' with 5G cellular towers -- didn't elicit strong pushback from legislators.... Instead, some GOP representatives thanked Tenpenny for testifying in front of the Ohio House Health Committee, with one praising a podcast she hosts as 'enlightening in terms of thinking.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I've been vaccinated, so as soon as I heard Dr. Tenpenny's testimony, I tossed all my keyrings, what with their now being useless, antiquated hardware. Well, imagine my surprise when I tried to slap my housekey on my forehead & the sucker fell right off!

Florida Senate Race. Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., made her Senate bid official Wednesday, announcing that she plans to challenge Republican Marco Rubio for his seat next year. Demings made the announcement in a three-minute video in which she shared her story serving in Orlando's police department, where she worked her way up to serving as its first female chief of police.... In a statement Wednesday, Rubio bashed Demings...," ... MB: essentially revealing that Demings is a Democrat.

~~~~~~~~~

Seung Min Kim & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden ended negotiations with a group of Republicans led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) over his infrastructure package Tuesday as the two sides failed to strike a deal after weeks of talks. A key part of Biden's domestic agenda now enters a new, uncertain phase, as the president shifts his focus to a separate group of Democrats and Republicans in hopes of reaching a deal. But the failure to reach a deal with Capito, something liberals had warned was inevitable, could increase pressure on Biden to ultimately try to forge ahead with only Democrats as he did during the push for a stimulus law earlier this year." An NBC News report is here. Politico's story is here.

Natasha Bertrand, et al., of CNN: "The day before the White House announced that President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin would hold their first in-person meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, the US ambassador to Russia privately told lawmakers he's worried about Washington giving concessions to Moscow without getting anything in return. In a two-hour briefing to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in May..., Ambassador John Sullivan suggested that Putin is not acting in good faith with the US and the Biden administration risks repeating the same mistakes of its predecessors if it does not approach the issue with clear eyes, according to one of the sources.... And within Biden's administration there has been vigorous debate about the right way to engage with Putin, according to multiple people familiar with the matter, particularly within the State Department.... Sullivan, who was appointed by ... Donald Trump but was asked by Biden to stay on..., has been advising the President's national security team ahead of the summit and has attended all of the White House's meetings on Russia leading up to the meeting."

Carol Lee & Courtney Kube of NBC News: "President Joe Biden has quietly begun efforts to close the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, using an under-the-radar approach to minimize political blowback and to try to make at least some progress in resolving a long-standing legal and human rights morass before the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001."

Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "In Guatemala, Vice President Harris spoke of the bonds between the nations of the Western hemisphere and offered millions in aid and investment. In Mexico, she stressed the 'interdependence and interconnection' between the United States and its neighbor to the south. But her tone was far more stern toward potential migrants mulling a trip to the U.S. border. 'Do not come,' she instructed during a news conference with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei. 'Do not come. You will be turned back.' And she warned Tuesday in Mexico, 'It can be a very treacherous and dangerous trek.' The strong words were a nod to the shifting political ground facing the Biden administration as Harris concluded a trip aimed at tackling the root causes of migration. The recent tough tone of Harris and other Biden officials presented a contrast with the emphasis of Biden's campaign, which vowed a humane, gentler approach."

Yan Zhuang, et al., of the New York Times: "For years, organized crime figures around the globe relied on [cellphones with encryption capabilities & purchased on the black market] to orchestrate international drug shipments, coordinate the trafficking of arms and explosives, and discuss contract killings, law enforcement officials said. Users trusted the devices' security so much that they often laid out their plans not in code, but in plain language, mentioning specific smuggling vessels and drop-off points. Unbeknown to them, however, the entire network was actually a sophisticated sting run by the F.B.I., in coordination with the Australian police. On Tuesday, global law enforcement officials revealed the unprecedented scope of the three-year operation, saying they had intercepted over 20 million messages in 45 languages, and arrested at least 800 people, most of them in the past two days, in more than a dozen countries." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The photo that accompanies the article claims to depict the arrest of a suspect in Australia. But the guy sure looks like that fat man on his bed in New Jersey whom Trump blamed for hacking Hillary's emails.

** Good Grief! Ctd. Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department in a court filing Tuesday said it can 'vigorously' defend a religious exemption from federal civil rights law that allows federally funded religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students, a move that surprised some LGBTQ advocates who said the wording went further than just an obligation to defend an existing law. In the filing, the Biden administration said it 'shares the same ultimate objective' as the conservative Christian schools named in the case. 'What this means is that the government is now aligning itself with anti-LGBTQ hate in order to vigorously defend an exemption that everyone knows causes severe harm to LGBTQ students using taxpayer money,' said Paul Carlos Southwick, director of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project...."

Paul Butler in a Washington Post op-ed: "... the Justice Department is still fighting transparency and accountability in a way that must delight the former attorney general who led the department into the abyss during the Trump administration. The Justice Department is now defending two of the most controversial acts of the previous administration -- using arguments cribbed from Donald Trump himself.... The ... question may be to what lengths the Justice Department will go to defend the Trump administration's abuse of power -- with its primary concern being preserving that power for the Biden administration and beyond.... There is a fine line between protecting the confidentiality of important records and shielding corrupt officials. [AG Merrick] Garland is walking on the wrong side of that line.... Garland should uphold the values of the Justice Department by exposing the misdeeds of the previous administration and ensuring accountability." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "Let's not mince words here: Merrick Garland's position is that the president of the United States should be able to rape a woman when he's a private citizen, and then be totally immunized forever from lying to the world about this, if he lies about it when he's president.... [Contributor DamnYankee writes,] '... The analogy here would be Nazi judges. People who were judges in the Weimar Republic, who were not Nazis when it started. But then Hitler took power and banned alternative parties, and the judges just ... went along. They just continued doing their job, submitting to Nazi rule and acting on their behalf, because ultimately their job was to be judges, nothing more. We talk all the time about how we can/t let Trump be normalized, but he has been. And the highest levels of Democratic governance are not just letting it happen, but actively abetting it....'... I realize that in the abstract a 'politicized' DOJ is a really bad thing. A worse thing is when someone is trying to literally kill you and you keep trying to get them to appear at an Aspen Institute panel moderated by David Brooks." ~~~

~~~ Rachel Maddow let Merrick Garland have it last night. She says Garland is not only failing to clean up some of the worst, most corrupt stuff of strong> Trump's "Justice" Department, he is continuing it. She says so far Garland's DOJ "is AWOL on all of the important things that are happening right now." Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney, appeared on Maddow's show later. Lawyers, and especially government lawyers, are loath to criticize judges, but McQuade said she believed that Garland, who promised to "clean up" Trump's DOJ has "overcorrected" in attempted to appear nonpartisan. Uh, yeah. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: President Biden has rightly said that he would not interfere with Justice Department actions. But he can fire Merrick Garland. I think he should call Garland into the Oval toot sweet, ask him WTF he's doing, and if the answer isn't satisfactory, thank Garland for his service and hand him a pen and a resignation letter ready for signature. P.S. Here's what we should do: not put up with this. We can't just think, "Well, Biden -- and maybe Garland -- are Democrats, so they must have A Very Good Reason, and it must be all right." No, it's not all right.

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "The Senate voted on Tuesday to adopt an approximately $250 billion bill to counter China's growing economic and military prowess, hoping that major investments in science -- and fresh punishments targeting Beijing -- might give the United States a lasting edge.... Democrats and Republicans found rare accord over the sprawling measure, known as the United States Innovation and Competition Act, as lawmakers warned that Washington risked ceding the country's technological leadership to one of its foremost geopolitical adversaries. The proposal commits billions of dollars in federal funds across a wide array of research areas."

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked debate on a bill to combat pay discrimination against women and L.G.B.T.Q. workers, the first in a series of votes set up by Democratic leaders this month to highlight the power of the filibuster to stop even the consideration of legislation. The Paycheck Fairness Act, which failed, 49 to 50, was never going to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster and bring it to the Senate floor under existing rules. The bill, which passed the House in April, has been on the Democratic wish list since 1997. Among other legal provisions, it would require employers to prove that pay disparities between men and women are job related and would strengthen the hand of plaintiffs filing class-action lawsuits that challenge pay discrimination." The Hill's report is here.

Mike DeBonis, et al., of the Washington Post: "An all-hands push by some of the nation's top civil rights leaders Tuesday failed to move Sen. Joe Manchin III's opposition to a major Democratic voting rights bill, leaving advocates with few clear options and as they seek to override a passel of new Republican-passed state voting laws.... Manchin said the meeting was 'constructive,' 'respectful,' 'informative' and 'excellent' at various points in a brief exchange with reporters. But asked whether talking to the civil rights leaders -- who included the heads of the NAACP, the National Urban League and other groups -- had changed his views, the senator said they had not." An NPR story is here.

Ezra Levin in Medium: "... you might have seen Senator Manchin's op-ed explaining his opposition to the For the People Act.... The piece is riddled with historical falsehoods and bizarre, antiquated political analysis.... Worth noting upfront: despite the intransigence of Senate Republicans, the For the People Act has overwhelming bipartisan support in West Virginia and across the country, including overwhelming majorities amongst Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. I'm here to give you my best take on what this means, what comes next, and what is to be done."

The full public report of two Senate committees' January 6 insurrection investigation is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

A Stinkweed by Any Other Name ... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post demonstrates how Republicans -- even those like Mitch McConnell who once referred to the January 6 storming of the Capitol as an "insurrection" -- are now excising the world "insurrection" from the, um, insurrection. Blake notes, "The Senate early in the day released the first big report on Jan. 6, but the report conspicuously avoided a specific word: 'insurrection.' The word appeared 11 times in the report, but only when directly quoting someone or citing a report that used it. CNN quoted those involved saying it was left out to ensure the bipartisanship of the report -- i.e. Republicans, at best, viewed it as overly provocative."

Where Are They Now? Tom Dreisbach of NPR: "Attorneys Michael van der Veen and Bruce Castor defended ... Donald Trump at his Senate impeachment trial over allegedly inciting the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.... They argued in a legal brief that the rioters' actions deserve 'robust and swift investigation and prosecution.' Now, van der Veen and Castor [are] defending at least three people charged in connection with the Capitol breach."

Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Rep. Mo Brooks(R-Ala.) is continuing to promote the false claim that ... Donald Trump won the 2020 election, ahead of a battle for the seat of Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.).... In an interview Monday with the Washington Examiner, Brooks asserted that Trump beat President Biden 'if only lawful votes cast by eligible American citizens were counted.'" MB: Where "eligible American citizens" = "white people." ~~~

~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post makes mincemeat of Confederate Rep. Mo Insurrection Brooks (Ala.), who was ALL-CAPS angry that a process-server working for Rep. Eric Swalwell (D.-Calif.) finally managed to catch up with the wife of the elusive representative of the white people while the wife was puttering in the garage. Brooks tweeted "a photo of Alabama's trespassing statute ... in such haste that he evidently didn't notice it included what appeared to be a PIN and his Gmail password taped to his monitor. Apparently, taking a screenshot exceeded Brooks's technical capabilities. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) helpfully tweeted advice to his colleague: 'Never tape PW to computer.'... [Brooks] ... is a member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems. And consider Brooks's absurdly selective outrage. He provoked hundreds of Trump supporters to invade the Capitol, injuring hundreds of police and leading to several deaths. But now he's ALL-CAPS enraged because a nonviolent process server walked into his open garage. Brooks is hoping Alabama voters will reward his stupidity by promoting him to the Senate next year."

Thomas Edsall of the New York Times: "Determined to enforce white political dominance in pivotal states like Georgia, Arizona, Texas and North Carolina, Republicans are enacting or trying to enact laws restricting the right to vote, empowering legislatures to reject election outcomes and adopting election rules and procedures designed to block the emergence of multiracial political majorities.... In an email, [Tom] Ginsburg [of the University of Chicago's law school] wrote that there are two forces that lead to the erosion of democracy: 'charismatic populism and partisan degradation, in which a party just gives up on the idea of majority rule and seeks to end democratic competition. Obviously the U.S. has faced both forces at the same time in Trumpism.'"

Not My Fault, Man. Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: "Colonial Pipeline Co. chief executive Joseph Blount took a defensive stance Tuesday during a Senate hearing amid questioning about his company's handling of a devastating ransomware attack that shut off fuel access to much of the Eastern Seaboard last month. In his first remarks to Congress since the breach, he cast his company as a victim of forces beyond its control.... Hackers were able to gain access to the company's network through an account that was not protected with multi-factor authentication, a basic tenet of corporate cybersecurity. Rather, the account was protected by a single password.... Though companies like Colonial play key roles within the nation's economic infrastructure, they are largely left on their own with respect to cybersecurity...." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The coronavirus might be receding in much of the United States, but it continues to spread in communities with low Covid-19 vaccination rates, where highly contagious virus variants pose a threat to those who have not had shots."

Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "A highly transmissible coronavirus variant first identified in India accounts for 6 percent of new infections in the United States, the Biden administration said Tuesday. Yet vaccines appear to be highly effective against this version of the virus that has quickly spread into Great Britain and elsewhere. Anthony S. Fauci ... revealed the extent of the variant's push into the United States, but said it appears to be slowed by vaccines. 'It's essentially taking over' in the United Kingdom, Fauci said at a briefing for reporters. 'We cannot let that happen in the United States, which is such a powerful argument' for vaccination, he said."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "Dozens of staff members at a Houston-area hospital protested on Monday night against a policy that requires employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19. The hospital, Houston Methodist, had told employees that they had to be vaccinated by Monday. Last month, 117 employees filed a lawsuit against the hospital over the vaccine policy.... Those who did not meet the hospital's vaccination deadline on Monday will be placed on a two-week unpaid suspension. If they do not meet the requirements by June 21, Houston Methodist said it would 'initiate the employee termination process.'... On Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed a law prohibiting businesses or government entities in the state from requiring vaccine passports, or digital proof of vaccination, joining states such as Florida and Arkansas. It's unclear how or if the new law will affect employer mandates like Houston Methodist's." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Tuesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Washington State. "Joints for Jabs." Far Out, Man. Jesus Jiménez of the New York Times: "As part of its strategy to vaccinate more of its population, Washington State will allow adults to claim a free marijuana joint when they receive a Covid-19 vaccination shot. The state's liquor and cannabis board announced on Monday that the promotion, called 'Joints for Jabs,' was effective immediately and would run through July 12."

Wisconsin. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "A hospital pharmacist who pleaded guilty to trying to spoil more than 500 doses of a Covid-19 vaccine was sentenced on Tuesday to three years in prison, federal prosecutors in Wisconsin announced. The pharmacist, Steven R. Brandenburg, 46, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay nearly $84,000 in restitution to the Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wis., where he worked an overnight shift. Mr. Brandenburg was 'an admitted conspiracy theorist' who believed the vaccine could harm people and 'change their DNA,' according to the police in Grafton, Wis."

Beyond the Beltway

But She Said a Whole Lotta Hail Marys. California. Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: For ten years, the principal of the St. James Catholic School in Torrance, Calif., was stealing tuition and fee checks, "along with donations.... Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79..., [was] using [the money] to bankroll her gambling habit, federal prosecutors said, violating her vow of poverty. On Tuesday, prosecutors charged the now-retired nun with wire fraud and money laundering for embezzling more than $835,000 from the school. Kreuper pleaded guilty and is due in court for arraignment on July 1. In a statement to The Washington Post early Wednesday, Kreuper's lawyers, Mark A. Byrne and Daniel V. Nixon, said she is 'very remorseful' and 'sorry for any harm she has caused.'" MB: Seriously, I wonder if Sister Mary Margaret confessed her sins in the confessional. If so, her priests kept her confidence.

New Jersey Election 2021. Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "Jack Ciattarelli, a businessman and former lawmaker, beat back challenges from candidates loyal to ... Donald J. Trump to win Tuesday's Republican primary in New Jersey, setting the stage for one of only two governor's races in the nation in November. Mr. Ciattarelli, a moderate former assemblyman making his second bid for governor, will now face Gov. Philip D. Murphy, who ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination and is hoping to ride high approval ratings for his handling of the pandemic to a second term. Democrats control all branches of government in New Jersey and outnumber Republicans by nearly 1.1 million voters."

Virginia Election 2021. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe captured the Democratic nomination for his old job on Tuesday, easily dispatching four party rivals to set up an expensive general election that will test how liberal Virginia has become and present the first major referendum at the ballot box on the Democratic Party under President Biden. Mr. McAuliffe was winning more than 60 percent of the vote when The Associated Press declared him the winner less than an hour after the polls closed."

Comments Off
Monday
Jun072021

The Commentariat -- June 8, 2021

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "Dozens of staff members at a Houston-area hospital protested on Monday night against a policy that requires employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19. The hospital, Houston Methodist, had told employees that they had to be vaccinated by Monday. Last month, 117 employees filed a lawsuit against the hospital over the vaccine policy.... Those who did not meet the hospital's vaccination deadline on Monday will be placed on a two-week unpaid suspension. If they do not meet the requirements by June 21, Houston Methodist said it would 'initiate the employee termination process.'... On Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed a law prohibiting businesses or government entities in the state from requiring vaccine passports, or digital proof of vaccination, joining states such as Florida and Arkansas. It's unclear how or if the new law will affect employer mandates like Houston Methodist's." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Tuesday are here.

Not My Fault, Man. Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: "Colonial Pipeline Co. chief executive Joseph Blount took a defensive stance Tuesday during a Senate hearing amid questioning about his company's handling of a devastating ransomware attack that shut off fuel access to much of the Eastern Seaboard last month. In his first remarks to Congress since the breach, he cast his company as a victim of forces beyond its control.... Hackers were able to gain access to the company's network through an account that was not protected with multi-factor authentication, a basic tenet of corporate cybersecurity. Rather, the account was protected by a single password.... Though companies like Colonial play key roles within the nation's economic infrastructure, they are largely left on their own with respect to cybersecurity....

Yan Zhuang, et al., of the New York Times: "For years, organized crime figures around the globe relied on [cellphones with encryption capabilities & purchased on the black market] to orchestrate international drug shipments, coordinate the trafficking of arms and explosives, and discuss contract killings, law enforcement officials said. Users trusted the devices' security so much that they often laid out their plans not in code, but in plain language, mentioning specific smuggling vessels and drop-off points. Unbeknown to them, however, the entire network was actually a sophisticated sting run by the F.B.I., in coordination with the Australian police. On Tuesday, global law enforcement officials revealed the unprecedented scope of the three-year operation, saying they had intercepted over 20 million messages in 45 languages, and arrested at least 800 people, most of them in the past two days, in more than a dozen countries." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The photo that accompanies the article claims it depicts the arrest of a suspect in Australia. But the suspect sure looks like that fat man on his bed in New Jersey whom Trump blamed for hacking Hillary's emails.

Paul Butler in a Washington Post op-ed: "... the Justice Department is still fighting transparency and accountability in a way that must delight the former attorney general, who led the department into the abyss during the Trump administration. The Justice Department is now defending two of the most controversial acts of the previous administration -- using arguments cribbed from Donald Trump himself.... The ... question may be to what lengths the Justice Department will go to defend the Trump administration's abuse of power -- with its primary concern being preserving that power for the Biden administration and beyond.... There is a fine line between protecting the confidentiality of important records and shielding corrupt officials. [AG Merrick] Garland is walking on the wrong side of that line.... Garland should uphold the values of the Justice Department by exposing the misdeeds of the previous administration and ensuring accountability."

The full public report of two Senate committees' January 6 insurrection investigation is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Technical Difficulties. Marie: At 6:30 am ET, looks as if there may be a big Internet failure around New York City as I am unable to get a connection to sites in that area, including the New York Times. Update: The Times is partially up now, but it doesn't recognize me, & the sign-in page has a "Page Not Found" error message on it. Update 2: CNN reports that "Countless websites and apps around the world went down Tuesday after Fastly, a major content delivery network, reported a widespread failure. Fastly supports news sites and apps like CNN, the Guardian, the New York Times and many others. It also provides content delivery for Twitch, Pinterest, HBO Max, Hulu, Reddit, Spotify and other services. Other major internet platforms and sites including Amazon, Target, and the UK government website -- Gov.uk -- were affected."

** Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Capitol Police had specific intelligence that supporters of ... Donald Trump planned to mount an armed invasion of the Capitol at least two weeks before the Jan. 6 riot, according to new findings in a bipartisan Senate investigation, but a series of omissions and miscommunications kept that information from reaching front-line officers targeted by the violence. A joint report, from the Senate Rules and Administration and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees, outlines the most detailed public timeline to date of the communications and intelligence failures that led the Capitol Police and partner agencies to prepare for the 'Stop the Steal' protest as though it were a routine Trump rally, instead of the organized assault that was planned in the open online. Released Tuesday, the report shows how an intelligence arm of the Capitol Police disseminated security assessments labeling the threat of violence 'remote' to 'improbable,' even as authorities collected evidence showing that pro-Trump activists intended to bring weapons to the demonstration and 'storm the Capitol.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Luke Broadwater & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: “The first congressional report on the Capitol riot is the most comprehensive and detailed account of the dozens of intelligence failures, miscommunications and security lapses that led to what the bipartisan team of senators that assembled it concluded was an 'unprecedented attack' on American democracy and the most significant assault on the Capitol in more than 200 years.... 'If they don't show up, we enter the Capitol as the Third Continental Congress and certify the Trump Electors,' one [online] post said. 'Bring guns. It's now or never,' said another.... 'The failures are obvious,' said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota and the chairwoman of the Rules and Administration Committee. 'To me, it was all summed up by one of the officers who was heard on the radio that day asking a tragically simple question: "Does anybody have a plan? Sadly, no one did.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Nicholas Wu of Politico: "... now-acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman told congressional investigators that data on the social media posts was sent only to 'command staff' and never reached the department's highest level.... leading up to and during the attack. The report faults Pittman, among other officials, for the 'discrepancy' between her division's reports on Trump supporters' public, online threats of violence and a more widely-circulated security assessment issued in late December.... The Senate report cited Donald Trump's speech on Jan. 6 to a massive crowd of supporters that then marched to the Capitol, in an apparent attempt at balance, but did not conduct any thorough analysis of the former president's involvement." An NBC News report is here.


Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "During her first foreign trip as vice president, Kamala Harris said the United States would bolster investigations into corruption and human trafficking in Guatemala, while also delivering a clear, blunt message to undocumented migrants hoping to reach the United States: 'Do not come.'... Ms. Harris announced new steps in the effort on Monday. The Biden administration will deploy homeland security officers to Guatemala's northern and southern borders to train local officials -- a tactic similar to one used by previous administrations to deter migration. The State and Justice Departments will also establish a task force to investigate corruption cases that have links to Guatemala and the United States, while also training Guatemalan prosecutors.... Rachel Schmidtke, the Latin America advocate for Refugees International..., said in a statement Monday that the organization was concerned Ms. Harris's remarks discouraging migrants from trying to cross to the border undermined their right to seek asylum in the United States."

Evan Perez, et al., of CNN: "US investigators have recovered millions of dollars in cryptocurrency paid in ransom to hackers whose attack prompted the shutdown of the key East Coast pipeline last month, according to people briefed on the matter. The Justice Department on Monday is expected to announce details of the operation led by the FBI with the cooperation of the Colonial Pipeline operator, the people briefed on the matter said. The ransom recovery is a rare outcome for a company that has fallen victim to a debilitating cyberattack in the booming criminal business of ransomware." MB: I would not normally be thrilled when a pipeline company gets $5MM, but I'm damned glad the FBI thwarted the hackers. (Also linked yesterday.) the New York Times story is here.

Wake Up, Merrick Garland! Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department's Civil Division under President Biden is continuing the Trump-era push to represent the former president in a defamation lawsuit brought by author E. Jean Carroll, according to a Monday night appellate court filing. The lawsuit brought by Carroll -- who accused Donald Trump two years ago of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s -- has been stalled in litigation over whether the Justice Department had standing to represent him on the grounds that his denials in response to her claim were made while performing his presidential duties." ~~~

     ~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The brief filed on Monday night with a federal appeals court is an illustration of how administrations of sharply different political outlooks often flock to the same legal positions in court, even if it means seeming to excuse or immunize alleged bad conduct by their predecessors. In the filing with the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Justice Department insisted that it was not endorsing Trump's conduct toward the writer, E. Jean Carroll, even as it argued that a law governing suits against federal officials justified the government's move to take over the former president's defense in the case."

Pam Belluck & Rebecca Robbins of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the first new medication for Alzheimer's disease in nearly two decades, a contentious decision, made despite opposition from the agency's independent advisory committee and some Alzheimer's experts who said there was not enough evidence that the drug can help patients. The drug, aducanumab, which will go by the brand name Aduhelm, is a monthly intravenous infusion intended to slow cognitive decline in people with mild memory and thinking problems. It is the first approved treatment to attack the disease process of Alzheimer's instead of just addressing dementia symptoms. Recognizing that clinical trials of the drug had provided incomplete evidence to demonstrate effectiveness, the F.D.A. granted approval on the condition that the manufacturer, Biogen, conduct a new clinical trial." A CBS News report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jesse Eisinger, et al., of ProPublica: "ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth -- sometimes, even nothing.... Taken together, [the trove of files] demolishes the cornerstone myth of the American tax system: that everyone pays their fair share and the richest Americans pay the most. The IRS records show that the wealthiest can -- perfectly legally -- pay income taxes that are only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions, if not billions, their fortunes grow each year.... According to Forbes, [the] 25 [richest] people saw their worth rise a collective $401 billion from 2014 to 2018. They paid a total of $13.6 billion in federal income taxes in those five years, the IRS data shows. That's a staggering sum, but it amounts to a true tax rate of only 3.4%. It's a completely different picture for middle-class Americans, for example, wage earners in their early 40s who have amassed a typical amount of wealth for people their age. From 2014 to 2018, such households saw their net worth expand by about $65,000 after taxes on average, mostly due to the rise in value of their homes. But ... their tax bills were almost as much, nearly $62,000, over that five-year period."

** Christopher Flavelle of the New York Times: "A growing body of research shows that FEMA, the government agency responsible for helping Americans recover from disasters, often helps white disaster victims more than people of color, even when the amount of damage is the same. Not only do individual white Americans often receive more aid from FEMA; so do the communities in which they live, according to several recent studies based on federal data. Leaders at FEMA are wrestling with the complicated question of why these disparities exist -- and what to do about them. The problem seems to stem from complex systemic factors, like a real estate market that often places higher values on properties in communities with many white residents, or the difficulty of navigating the federal bureaucracy, which tends to favor people and communities that have more resources from the beginning. The impact from this disparity is long-lasting.... The racial disparities in FEMA's disaster assistance present a test for President Biden...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is one more example -- albeit a glaring one -- of systemic racism for wingers to deny. In fact, everyone -- and especially Joe Manchin -- needs to quite pretending that the leading proponents of systemic racism are Republican politicians, and not just the batshit crazy ones. ~~~

~~~ Telling It Like It Is. Chandelis Duster of CNN: "New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman on Monday compared fellow Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and said he is trying to thwart President Joe Biden's agenda after the West Virginia lawmaker stood by his decision to vote against a sweeping voting rights bill and opposition to gutting the filibuster. 'Joe Manchin has become the new Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell during Obama's presidency said he would do everything in his power to stop (then-President Barack Obama)," Bowman told CNN's John Berman on 'New Day.' 'He's also repeated that now during the Biden presidency by saying he would do everything in his power to stop President Biden, and now Joe Manchin is doing everything in his power to stop democracy and to stop our work for the people, the work that the people sent us here to do.' Bowman continued, 'Manchin is not pushing us closer to bipartisanship. He is doing the work of the Republican Party by being an obstructionist, just like they've been since the beginning of Biden's presidency.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Tim O'Donnell of the Week: Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) wrote in a tweet, "Manchin's op-ed might as well be titled, 'Why I'll vote to preserve Jim Crow.'&" ~~~

~~~ Eugene Robinson of the New York Times: Joe Manchin's "party and his nation will pay a terrible price for his hallucinations about the nature of today's Republican Party. And even this sacrifice might not guarantee that Manchin can hold on to support back home.... Manchin is asking Democrats to respond to ruthlessness with delusion."

More Republicans Double Down on the Party's Relentless Attack on Democracy. Reid Epstein & Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "Across the country, a rising class of Republican challengers has embraced the fiction that the 2020 election was illegitimate, marred by fraud and inconsistencies. Aggressively pushing Mr. Trump's baseless claims that he was robbed of re-election, these candidates represent the next generation of aspiring G.O.P. leaders, who would bring to Congress the real possibility that the party's assault on the legitimacy of elections, a bedrock principle of American democracy, could continue through the 2024 contests. Dozens of Republican candidates have sown doubts about the election as they seek to join the ranks of the 147 Republicans in Congress who voted against certifying President Biden's victory. There are degrees of denial.... [But] they are united by a near-universal reluctance to state outright that Mr. Biden is the legitimately elected leader of the country.... To build a campaign in the modern G.O.P., most candidates must embrace -- or at least not openly deny -- conspiracy theories and election lies, and they must commit to a mission of imposing greater voting restrictions and making it easier to challenge or even overturn an election's results." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Democrats must not ignore their opponents' insanity. They must use the Big Lie these Republicans embrace as evidence the candidates are unfit to hold any public office because they oppose the most fundamental principle of democracy.

"My Lips Were Near His Ass So I Kissed It." -- McCarthy. Caroline Kelly of CNN: "Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney accused ... Donald Trump of having committed the worst violation of a president's oath of office by inciting the January 6 Capitol insurrection -- and taking a jab at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy over his subsequent visit to Trump at Mar-a-Lago. 'I was stunned. I could not imagine any justification for doing that,' Cheney said of McCarthy's visit to Trump during an episode of David Axelrod's 'The Axe Files' podcast, which was taped Saturday afternoon as part of a University of Chicago alumni weekend event. 'And I asked him why he had done it, and he said, well, he had just been in the neighborhood, essentially.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Matthew Chance & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "Never-before-heard audio, obtained exclusively by CNN, shows how ... Donald Trump's longtime adviser Rudy Giuliani relentlessly pressured and coaxed the Ukrainian government in 2019 to investigate baseless conspiracies about then-candidate Joe Biden. The audio is of a July 2019 phone call between Giuliani, US diplomat Kurt Volker, and Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The call was a precursor to Trump's infamous call with Zelensky, and both conversations later became a central part of Trump's first impeachment, where he was accused of soliciting Ukrainian help for his campaign. During the roughly 40-minute call, Giuliani repeatedly told Yermak that Zelensky should publicly announce investigations into possible corruption by Biden in Ukraine, and into claims that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election to hurt Trump. (These separate claims are both untrue.)"

You might be washed up if ... you're a super-Trumpy politician & you can't get a gig on any super-Trumpy, sleazy cable "news" network. ~~~

     ~~~ Joseph Choi of the Hill: "A spokesman for Newsmax said on Monday that the company had no plans to take up a job request from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).... Shortly after Axios reported that the three-term congressmen would leave his House seat to pursue a career in television, reports emerged that Gaetz was being investigated by the Department of Justice over an alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl, charges he has denied.... [Gaetz had been] setting his sights on prominent conservative news channels such as Fox News, One America News Network (OANN) and Newsmax.... In April, Fox News confirmed that it had no plans to hire Gaetz.... The founder and CEO of OANN, Robert Herring, later told the Daily Beast that he was 'not really hiring anybody for talk shows,' as Gaetz reportedly desired. Herring said that he advised Gaetz to remain in Congress."

Mark Sherman of the AP: "A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Monday that thousands of people living in the U.S. for humanitarian reasons are ineligible to apply to become permanent residents. Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court that federal immigration law prohibits people who entered the country illegally and now have Temporary Protected Status from seeking 'green cards' to remain in the country permanently. The designation applies to people who come from countries ravaged by war or disaster. It protects them from deportation and allows them to work legally. There are 400,000 people from 12 countries with TPS status. The outcome in a case involving a couple from El Salvador who have been in the U.S. since the 1990s turned on whether people who entered the country illegally and were given humanitarian protections were ever 'admitted' into the United States under immigration law." (Also linked yesterday.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge to a federal law that requires only men to register for the military draft. As is the court's custom, it gave no reasons for turning down the case. But three justices issued a statement saying that Congress should be allowed more time to consider what they acknowledged was a significant legal issue. 'It remains to be seen, of course, whether Congress will end gender-based registration under the Military Selective Service Act,' Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the statement, which was joined by Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Brett M. Kavanaugh. 'But at least for now, the court's longstanding deference to Congress on matters of national defense and military affairs cautions against granting review while Congress actively weighs the issue.'" The denial of certiorari & Justices' statement are here, via the Supreme Court. The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

A Very Stupid Federal Judge. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: In his "ruling striking down an assault-weapons ban in California..., U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez ... likened the guns to Swiss army knives.... 'The evidence described so far proves that the "harm" of an assault rifle being used in a mass shooting is an infinitesimally rare event,' Benitez wrote. 'More people have died from the Covid-19 vaccine than mass shootings in California.'... This is, to put it diplomatically, completely baseless." Blake speculates that Benitez got his disinformation from sources like, um, medical expert Tucker Carlson. Emphasis added. MB: As grotesquely Trumpy as Benitez is, he's a Dubya appointee.

Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post: "By midmorning [Monday], hundreds of protesters, led by Native American women and joined by celebrities such as Jane Fonda and Catherine Keener, had marched into a construction site operated by Enbridge, the Canadian company behind the pipeline, and strapped themselves to bulldozers and other heavy machinery ... to try to stop a border-crossing oil pipeline running from Canada across the wetlands and forests of northern Minnesota.... Protesters hope to intensify pressure on the Biden administration to suspend the pipeline permit before the project is completed.... So far, the activism has done little to impede the $4 billion project, which is a replacement of a decades-old pipeline, although portions of it travel a new route."

Brady Dennis & Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "Economies worldwide nearly ground to a halt over the 15 months of the coronavirus pandemic, leading to a startling drop in global greenhouse gas emissions. But the ... [economic downturn] barely made a dent in the steady accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday had reached the highest levels since accurate measurements began 63 years ago. The new figures serve as a sober reminder that even as President Biden and other world leaders make unprecedented promises about curtailing greenhouse gas emissions, turning the tide of climate change will take even more massive efforts over a much longer period of time.... 'Fossil fuel burning is really at the heart of this. If we don't tackle fossil fuel burning, the problem is not going to go away,' Ralph Keeling, a geochemist at Scripps, said in an interview...."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "Experts are concerned that states across the South, where vaccination rates are lagging, could face a surge in coronavirus cases over the summer." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Monday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed material related to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's book about leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. As part of a broader probe into Covid-19 deaths in New York nursing homes, officials in the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York requested contracts and preparations used to pitch the book ... to publishers, the people told the Journal, adding that the subpoenas signaled interest in nursing home issues in the memoir. The Journal reported Monday that the subpoenas were sent last month to people -- including state officials -- who were involved in editing early drafts of Cuomo's book."

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