January 19, 2022

Afternoon Update:

New York Times staff are live-updating Wednesday's Senate proceedings.

President Biden will hold a press conference, scheduled for 4:00 pm ET, marking the end of his first year in office.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Oath Keepers planning to violently subvert the 2020 election stockpiled 30 days of supplies and a cache of rifles and ammunition just outside of Washington, D.C., prosecutors alleged in a late-night court filing. In a memo seeking the pretrial detention of Oath Keeper Ed Vallejo -- one of 11 members of the group charged last week with seditious conspiracy to violently prevent Joe Biden from taking office -- prosecutors provided new details about the weapons stockpile Oath Keepers had assembled at a Comfort Inn in nearby Arlington, Va.... Prosecutors say Vallejo is too dangerous to be released pending trial, noting that he continued to profess support for the violent attack on the Capitol even last month, just days before his arrest." Read on. These nitwits are as scary-crazy as you thought they were.

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

Michigan. Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The University of Michigan said Wednesday that it had agreed to pay $490 million to more than 1,000 people who had accused a doctor who worked with football players and other students of sexual abuse. The agreement, among the largest ever by an American university to settle allegations of sexual abuse, was reached this week and made public on Wednesday morning, more than three years after a former student wrote to Michigan's athletic director and reported misconduct that dated to the 1970s. That former student, and, eventually, scores of others, said that Dr. Robert E. Anderson had molested them during physical examinations, many of which were required to participate in athletic programs at Michigan."

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Shannon Pettypiece of NBC News: "The White House believes Russia could launch an invasion of Ukraine at any moment, press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday, warning that an 'extremely dangerous situation' is building along the Ukrainian border. 'We believe we're now at a stage where Russia could at any point launch an attack on Ukraine. I would say that's more stark than we have been,' Psaki said during her daily press briefing." ~~~

~~~ Michael Crowley & Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "Seeking to head off a potential assault on Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will meet with Russia's foreign minister on Friday as the two sides explore whether there is still a diplomatic path to avoiding a conflict in Eastern Europe. The talks will try to break a deadlock that was thrown into sharp relief last week when a series of three negotiating sessions between Russia and the West ended in an impasse. The thorniest issue was Russia's demand that NATO pledge not to expand eastward, a condition that the United States and Western Europe have rejected. The White House said on Tuesday that Mr. Blinken would 'urge Russia to take immediate steps to de-escalate.'" ~~~

~~~ Vladimir Isachenkov of the AP: "Russia is a sending an unspecified number of troops from the country's far east to Belarus for major war games, officials said Tuesday, a deployment that will further beef up Russian military presence near Ukraine amid Western fears of a planned invasion."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "... on Tuesday, for the first time, evidence emerged in court papers that prosecutors have posed questions to at least one Jan. 6 defendant that were 'focused on establishing an organized conspiracy' involving [Donald] Trump and his allies to 'disrupt' the work of Congress. The papers were filed by a defense lawyer in the case of Brandon Straka, a former hair stylist who founded a group called the Walk Away Foundation, which seeks to persuade Democratic voters to leave the party. On the day before the Capitol was stormed, Mr. Straka spoke at a pro-Trump rally in Washington with prominent right-wing figures like the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Mr. Straka was also at the Capitol on Jan. 6. In October, he pleaded guilty to charges of disorderly conduct, admitting, among other things, that he had urged a crowd outside the building to wrest a riot shield away from a police officer.... Mr. Straka had met with prosecutors earlier this month as part of his plea agreement and had been 'cooperative' in answering their questions.... Straka's lawyer, Bilal Essayli..., said [in his own sentencing memo to the court] that during Mr. Straka's interview with prosecutors, 'the government was focused on establishing an organized conspiracy between defendant, President Donald J. Trump, and allies of the former president to disrupt the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6.' Mr. Straka 'answered all questions truthfully and denied the existence of any such plot,' Mr. Essayli's memo said."

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee is on the verge of obtaining several pages of Donald Trump's White House records that the former president has tried to shield from congressional investigators. In a new court filing, the Justice Department said the National Archives -- which houses Trump's White House files -- planned to release four pages of records to the House on Wednesday evening despite Trump's pending request at the Supreme Court to block the handover of those and other records." The four pages are not specifically covered by any court orders.

** Luke Broadwater & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Tuesday subpoenaed Rudolph W. Giuliani and other members of the legal team that pursued a set of conspiracy-filled lawsuits on behalf of ... Donald J. Trump in which they made unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. In addition to Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Trump's personal lawyer and a ringleader of the group, the panel subpoenaed three others who played central roles in his effort to use the courts, state legislatures and Congress to try to overturn his defeat. Jenna Ellis drafted a memo on how Mr. Trump could invalidate the election results by exploiting an obscure law. Sidney Powell, a lawyer who worked on many of the lawsuits with Mr. Giuliani, ran an organization that raised millions of dollars based on false claims that election machines were rigged. Boris Epshteyn pursued allegations of election fraud in Nevada and Arizona and is said to have participated in a call with Mr. Trump on the morning of Jan. 6, 'during which options were discussed to delay the certification of election results,' the committee said." ~~~

~~~ CNN's story is here: "'The four individuals we've subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former President about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes,' Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chairs the committee, said in a statement Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Committee's press release is here. The page includes links to the letters the Committee wrote to Giuliani & the other individuals subpoenaed Tuesday. MB: I'm hoping the parking lot in front of Four Seasons Total Landscaping will be available on a hot day in July to serve as the venue for Giuliani's public testimony before the committee. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "The House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol has subpoenaed and obtained records of phone numbers associated with one of ... Donald Trump's children, Eric Trump, as well as Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Donald Trump Jr., sources tell CNN. It appears to be the first time the select committee has issued a subpoena that targeted a member of the Trump family, in what marks a significant escalation of the investigation into Trump's role in the January 6 insurrection. The decision to subpoena communication records involving the Trump family underscores the aggressive tack the committee is taking as it races to complete its investigation while battling Trump in court over access to documents from his administration.... These records provide the committee with logs that show incoming and outgoing calls, including the date, time and length of calls. The records also show a log of text messages, but not the substance or content of the messages."

New York State Attorney General: "New York Attorney General Letitia James [Tuesday] took legal action to compel Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump to appear for sworn testimony as part of the office's ongoing civil investigation into the Trump Organization's financial dealings." This is the lede to a press release from James' office. The release spells out in some detail the Trump Organization's financial dealings which the AG is investigating. MB: I'll put up a news story when one becomes available. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As contributor Patrick pointed out months ago, no lending institution would grant a loan on the basis of the loan applicant's statement of valuation. The purpose of a civil lawsuit is to right or alleviate some harm caused by the defendant. So we were wondering what harm the Trump Crime Family caused here. The press release partially answers this question: "The evidence to date indicates that banks and other financial institutions relied on Mr. Trump's financial statements in considering whether to grant Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization access to credit and coverage ... and to comply with covenants on existing loans.... Evidence indicates that ... appraisal[s] commissioned by the Trump Organization and submitted to the IRS substantially overstated the value of ... land donation[s]... [The false appraisals] resulted in several million dollars of benefit to Mr. Trump." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "The New York State attorney general, Letitia James, accused Donald J. Trump's family business late Tuesday of repeatedly misrepresenting the value of its assets to bolster its bottom line, saying in court papers that the company had engaged in 'fraudulent or misleading' practices.... The filing marked the first time that the attorney general's office leveled such specific accusations against the former president's company.... The filing outlined what Ms. James's office termed misleading statements about the value of six Trump properties, as well as the 'Trump brand.'" The AP's story is here.

If the Senate cannot protect the right to vote, which is the cornerstone of our democracy, then the Senate rules must be reformed. -- Sen. Chuck Schumer, on the Senate floor Tuesday ~~~

~~~ Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Democrats pushed forward on Tuesday with what appeared to be a futile bid to enact voting rights protections over Republican opposition, taking up legislation that they said was urgently needed to counter widespread balloting suppression efforts and laying out a plan to try to steer it around G.O.P. obstruction. Using a procedural shortcut, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, avoided a Republican blockade that has stalled the legislation for months to force it to the floor. But Democrats were far short of the votes needed to win its passage over Republican opposition, and lacked the votes needed in their own party to change Senate rules and enact it unilaterally." ~~~

     ~~~ Good for Emily's List. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "One of the largest contributors to Senator Kyrsten Sinema's political rise announced on Tuesday that it would cut off its financial support if the senator continues to refuse to change the Senate's filibuster rules to allow for passage of far-reaching voting rights legislation. Emily's List, the largest funder of female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights, made the extraordinary announcement as the Senate barreled toward votes this week on a bill to reverse restrictions on voting passed by a number of Republican-led state legislatures." ~~~

     ~~~ Ellie Silverman of the Washington Post: "Twenty-eight people were arrested outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday as a group of college students, faith leaders and civil rights organizers on a hunger strike demanded that the Senate pass federal voting rights legislation."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The City of Boston, which refused to let a private group raise a Christian flag in front of its City Hall, seemed to be headed for a loss after a Supreme Court argument on Tuesday. Justices across the ideological spectrum, noting that the city had approved many similar requests from organizations seeking to celebrate their backgrounds or to promote causes like gay pride, seemed ready to rule that the city had violated the free speech rights of Camp Constitution, which says it seeks 'to enhance understanding of our Judeo-Christian moral heritage.' The group's application said it sought to raise a 'Christian flag' for one hour at an event that would include 'short speeches by some local clergy focusing on Boston's history.' The flag bore the Latin cross.... Justice Elena Kagan said the city had made an understandable mistake in relying on the part of the First Amendment that prohibits government establishment of religion when it should have been focusing on its free speech clause. Putting a permanent cross on the roof of City Hall would violate the establishment clause, she said, but banning a religious group from conveying its message in a transient setting open to lots of speakers violates the amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech."

Presidential Election 2024. Jake Tapper of CNN: "Around three dozen former Trump administration officials, disillusioned with their former boss and concerned about his impact on the GOP and the nation, held a conference call last Monday to discuss efforts to fend off his efforts to, in their view, erode the democratic process, several participants told CNN. The only items the group seemed to agree upon in its first meeting, however, were that they're not sure what their way forward should be, and that they are way behind the efforts of ... Donald Trump and his allies to set the stage for 2022, 2024, and beyond. The highest-ranking participant was former White House chief of staff and retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, who told CNN that because of a prior commitment he was only able to 'monitor' about 10 minutes of the call, which lasted about an hour." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ian Duncan & Lori Aratani of the Washington Post: "Wireless companies AT&T and Verizon said Tuesday they would limit the rollout of new high-speed 5G networks near airports, a step the Federal Aviation Administration said should avert possible flight disruptions and much of the potential for interference with airplane safety technology. Airlines had begun preparing employees for a wave of disruptions tied to the rollout, while some international operators canceled flights to the United States. Tuesday's deal marked another temporary fix in a dispute that has put different parts of the federal government at loggerheads, while leaving two of the nation's major industries at odds. The White House helped broker the deal, which President Biden said would still enable 90 percent of new wireless towers to launch as planned."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The Biden administration, facing calls from public health experts to distribute high-quality masks to the American public, will announce on Wednesday that it is making 400 million nonsurgical N95 masks available, free of charge, at community health centers and retail pharmacies across the United States. The move, which officials are calling the 'largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history,' comes just days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance to acknowledge that cloth masks do not offer as much protection as surgical masks or respirators.... According to the C.D.C.'s new description of masks, well-fitting respirators, including N95s, offer the highest level of protection. Wednesday was also the formal launch day for covidtests.gov, the administration's new website enabling Americans to order at-home coronavirus tests free of charge. The site was quietly rolled out on Tuesday."

Sheryl Stolberg & Lola Fadulu of the New York Times: "The Biden administration's new website allowing people to order up to four free at-home coronavirus tests quietly went live on Tuesday -- a day in advance of its formal launch -- and demand already appeared to be significant. A combined total of more than 1 million visitors were on the home page and the ordering page of covidtests.gov at one point Tuesday evening -- more than 40 times as many as were on the government site with the next highest traffic, the U.S. Postal Service's package-tracking page, according to analytics.usa.gov, which monitors traffic on participating federal websites. At a White House news conference on Tuesday, President Biden's press secretary, Jen Psaki, said the official launch would take place on Wednesday morning, but that the site had begun taking orders during what she described as a 'beta testing phase' conducted by the U.S. Digital Service, the government's technology support division." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Marie: I tried out covidtests.gov at 8:35 am ET. I've ordered zillions of things online. This was the easiest order I ever placed. The page came up right away (to my surprise), and I didn't have to enter much more than my name, mailing address & email address.

John Kruzel of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a request to block a federal mask mandate for air travel. The emergency application was filed by a father on behalf of himself and his 4-year-old autistic son, both of whom claim to be medically incapable of wearing masks for extended periods. Their request was filed to Justice Neil Gorsuch, who handles emergency applications arising in several Western states, and he referred the matter to the full court. The justices denied the request without comment or noted dissent." MB: Which goes to show that the conservoSupremes are reasonable people frequent flyers. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ GorSuch-a-Dick. Nina Totenberg of NPR: Supreme Court Justice Sonia "Sotomayor has diabetes, a condition that puts her at high risk for serious illness, or even death, from COVID-19. She has been the only justice to wear a mask on the bench since last fall when, amid a marked decline in COVID-19 cases, the justices resumed in-person arguments for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. Now, though, the situation had changed with the omicron surge, and according to court sources, Sotomayor did not feel safe in close proximity to people who were unmasked. Chief Justice John Roberts, understanding that, in some form asked the other justices to mask up. They all did. Except [Neil] Gorsuch, who, as it happens, sits next to Sotomayor on the bench. His continued refusal since then has also meant that Sotomayor has not attended the justices' weekly conference in person, joining instead by telephone." Sotomayor is not the only justice who doesn't like Gorsuch.

Beyond the Beltway

Arkansas. Lawsuit: Detainees Treated for Covid-19 with Horse Dewormer. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "Detainees at an Arkansas jail who had Covid-19 were unknowingly treated by the detention center's doctor with ivermectin, a drug that health officials have continually said is dangerous and should not be used to treat or prevent a coronavirus infection, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of four detainees. The four men ... say in the lawsuit that after testing positive for the coronavirus in August, they were taken to the 'quarantine block' of the Washington County Detention Center and given a 'cocktail of drugs' twice a day by Dr. Robert Karas, who runs Karas Correctional Health, the jail's health provider. The complaint, filed this month in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, says that the men took the drugs -- which Dr. Karas told them consisted of vitamins, antibiotics and steroids -- unaware that they were actually ingesting ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug commonly used for livestock that the Food and Drug Administration has warned should not be taken for Covid-19." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Florida. Anthony Izaguirre of the AP: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has submitted a proposal to reshape the state's congressional map and carve up districts held by Black Democrats, as the Republican takes the unusual step of inserting himself into the redistricting process. The proposed congressional map, submitted Sunday on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, signaled the governor's priorities as the state moves to redraw political maps in the coming months. Governors typically do not submit map proposals but can veto district plans after they pass in the statehouse. DeSantis, who is running for reelection and is considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate, has largely shaped the legislative agenda in the Republican-controlled statehouse this year.... 'From what I can tell, the governor rolled out his own maps, unrequested, on Martin Luther King Day that will probably end up leaving less African-American representation in Congress,' Democratic state Rep. Evan Jenne told reporters." MB: A guest on MSNBC said DeSantis had the gall to invoke Dr. King in his bid for a redistricting map that would cut the number of Black representatives. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ DeSantis Wants Brown Shirts to Control Elections. Lori Rozsa & Beth Reinhard of the Washington Post: "A plan by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would establish a special police force to oversee state elections -- the first of its kind in the nation -- and while his fellow Republicans have reacted tepidly, voting rights advocates fear that it will become law and be used to intimidate voters. The proposed Office of Election Crimes and Security would be part of the Department of State, which answers to the governor. DeSantis is asking the GOP-controlled legislature to allocate nearly $6 million to hire 52 people to 'investigate, detect, apprehend, and arrest anyone for an alleged violation' of election laws. They would be stationed at unspecified 'field offices throughout the state' and act on tips from 'government officials or any other person.'... Unlike many past elections, the 2020 general election in Florida had few problems. The governor touted it as 'the gold standard.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Sam Levine of the Guardian: "The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, has proposed the formation of a large and unprecedented state agency to investigate election crimes -- in a state where there is little evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election or otherwise." ~~~

~~~ Brendan Farrington of the AP: "A bill pushed by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that would prohibit public schools and private businesses from making white people feel 'discomfort' when they teach students or train employees about discrimination in the nation's past received its first approval Tuesday. The Senate Education Committee approved the bill that takes aim at critical race theory -- though it doesn't mention it explicitly -- on party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. Democrats argued the bill isn't needed, would lead to frivolous lawsuits and said it would amount to censorship in schools. They asked, without success, for real-life examples of teachers or businesses telling students or employees that they are racist because of their race." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Aw, thanks for the memories, Ron, though they bring me such "discomfort." You remind me of those happy days when our plump, pink & jolly second-grade teacher Mrs. Woosley enthusiastically taught us white kiddies to sing "Swanee River," the racist state song, using (probably an imaginary) extra-racist Negro dialect, even though our school songbook contained standard English lyrics:

All de world am sad and dreary,
Eb-rywhere I roam;
Oh, darkeys, how my heart grows weary,
Far from de old folks at home!

Louisiana Senate Race. Dude! John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Gary Chambers, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate from Louisiana, unveiled a new ad Tuesday in which he is shown smoking marijuana." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Pennsylvania. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "Three Pennsylvania police officers have been charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an 8-year-old girl outside a high school football game in August during which they fired a barrage of bullets after two teenagers began shooting, the authorities said. Officers Devon Smith, Sean Dolan and Brian Devaney of the Police Department in Sharon Hill, a Philadelphia suburb, were each charged with a total of 12 counts, including both voluntary and involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment, Jack Stollsteimer, the district attorney in Delaware County, said in a statement. 'We have now concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that it was, in fact, shots from the officers that struck and killed Fanta Bility and injured three others,' he said."

Puerto Rico. Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times: "Puerto Rico received approval from a federal judge on Tuesday to leave bankruptcy under the largest public-sector debt restructuring deal in the history of the United States, nearly five years after the financially strapped territory declared it could not repay its creditors. Since Puerto Rico entered bankruptcy, its economic crisis has only been further deepened by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, a series of earthquakes and the coronavirus pandemic. The restructuring plan will reduce the largest portion of the Puerto Rico government's debt -- some $33 billion -- by about 80 percent, to $7.4 billion. The deal will also save the government more than $50 billion in debt payments."

Texas/U.K. Dan Sabbagh of the Guardian: "The British man who took hostages at a Texas synagogue had been under investigation by MI5 as a possible Islamist terrorist threat as recently as 2020, Whitehall sources have acknowledged. British intelligence closed the investigation, however, after officers had concluded Malik Faisal Akram from Blackburn posed no threat, and as a result he was able to travel freely to the US and purchase a gun. It is understood the investigation was 'mid-level' and took place in the second half of 2020 -- but once it had ended Akram was left as a closed subject of interest on MI5's records, and no information of concern appears to have been passed to the US authorities before the synagogue attack."

January 18, 2022

Afternoon Update:

** Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "The House Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani Tuesday, along with three other campaign attorneys linked with efforts to overturn the 2020 election results: Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, and Boris Epshteyn." This is a breaking story. CNN's breaking story is here: "'The four individuals we've subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former President about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes,' Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chairs the committee, said in a statement Tuesday." ~~~

     ~~~ The Committee's press release is here. The page includes links to the letters the Committee wrote to Giuliani & the other individuals subpoenaed Tuesday. MB: I'm hoping the parking lot in front of Four Seasons Total Landscaping will be available on a hot day in July to serve as the venue for Giuliani's public testimony before the committee.

Florida. Anthony Izaguirre of the AP: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has submitted a proposal to reshape the state's congressional map and carve up districts held by Black Democrats, as the Republican takes the unusual step of inserting himself into the redistricting process. The proposed congressional map, submitted Sunday on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, signaled the governor's priorities as the state moves to redraw political maps in the coming months. Governors typically do not submit map proposals but can veto district plans after they pass in the statehouse. DeSantis, who is running for reelection and is considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate, has largely shaped the legislative agenda in the Republican-controlled statehouse this year.... 'From what I can tell, the governor rolled out his own maps, unrequested, on Martin Luther King Day that will probably end up leaving less African-American representation in Congress,' Democratic state Rep. Evan Jenne told reporters." MB: A guest on MSNBC said DeSantis invoked Dr. King in his bid for a redistricting map that would cut the number of Black representatives. ~~~

~~~ DeSantis Wants Brown Shirts to Control Elections. Lori Rozsa & Beth Reinhard of the Washington Post: "A plan by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would establish a special police force to oversee state elections -- the first of its kind in the nation -- and while his fellow Republicans have reacted tepidly, voting rights advocates fear that it will become law and be used to intimidate voters. The proposed Office of Election Crimes and Security would be part of the Department of State, which answers to the governor. DeSantis is asking the GOP-controlled legislature to allocate nearly $6 million to hire 52 people to 'investigate, detect, apprehend, and arrest anyone for an alleged violation' of election laws. They would be stationed at unspecified 'field offices throughout the state' and act on tips from 'government officials or any other person.'... Unlike many past elections, the 2020 general election in Florida had few problems. The governor touted it as 'the gold standard.'"

John Kruzel of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a request to block a federal mask mandate for air travel. The emergency application was filed by a father on behalf of himself and his 4-year-old autistic son, both of whom claim to be medically incapable of wearing masks for extended periods. Their request was filed to Justice Neil Gorsuch, who handles emergency applications arising in several Western states, and he referred the matter to the full court. The justices denied the request without comment or noted dissent." MB: Which goes to show that the conservoSupremes are reasonable people frequent flyers.

Jake Tapper of CNN: "Around three dozen former Trump administration officials, disillusioned with their former boss and concerned about his impact on the GOP and the nation, held a conference call last Monday to discuss efforts to fend off his efforts to, in their view, erode the democratic process, several participants told CNN. The only items the group seemed to agree upon in its first meeting, however, were that they're not sure what their way forward should be, and that they are way behind the efforts of ... Donald Trump and his allies to set the stage for 2022, 2024, and beyond. The highest-ranking participant was former White House chief of staff and retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, who told CNN that because of a prior commitment he was only able to 'monitor' about 10 minutes of the call, which lasted about an hour."

Arkansas. Lawsuit: Detainees Treated for Covid-19 with Horse Dewormer. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "Detainees at an Arkansas jail who had Covid-19 were unknowingly treated by the detention center's doctor with ivermectin, a drug that health officials have continually said is dangerous and should not be used to treat or prevent a coronavirus infection, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of four detainees. The four men ... say in the lawsuit that after testing positive for the coronavirus in August, they were taken to the 'quarantine block' of the Washington County Detention Center and given a 'cocktail of drugs' twice a day by Dr. Robert Karas, who runs Karas Correctional Health, the jail's health provider. The complaint, filed this month in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, says that the men took the drugs -- which Dr. Karas told them consisted of vitamins, antibiotics and steroids -- unaware that they were actually ingesting ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug commonly used for livestock that the Food and Drug Administration has warned should not be taken for Covid-19."

Louisiana Senate Race. Dude! John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Gary Chambers, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate from Louisiana, unveiled a new ad Tuesday in which he is shown smoking marijuana."

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Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Senate Democrats plan to press ahead this week with an effort to push new voting rights protections through Congress, in an all but doomed attempt to enact a key piece of President Biden's agenda that has been undercut by members of his own party. The Senate on Tuesday will begin to debate legislation that combines two separate bills already passed by the House -- the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act -- and folds them into an unrelated measure. The move would allow the Senate to bring the bill directly to the floor, avoiding an initial filibuster. But that strategy would still allow Republicans to block it from coming to a final vote, and Democrats lack the unanimous support needed in their party to change Senate rules to muscle through the legislation themselves. Still, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said late last week that Democrats would forge ahead anyway, forcing Republicans to publicly declare their opposition to the bill." ~~~

~~~ Chris Cameron of the New York Times: This year, Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday "came one day before the Senate returns to debate what is expected to be a doomed effort to pass the legislation. Despite the near certain defeat, voting rights activists, Democratic officials and relatives of Dr. King said they were not giving up.... Speakers at a news conference after the march [across the new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in Washington, D.C.,] sharply criticized members of the Senate and President Biden for their failure to enact voting reforms as they focused on other Democratic priorities -- and as voters' rights have eroded under Supreme Court rulings and laws passed by Republican state legislatures that make it harder for people of color to vote.... [Some speakers] had sharp words for two centrist Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.... 'History will not remember them kindly,' [Martin Luther King III] said, recounting his father's criticism of the 'white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice." An AP story is here.

What [Sen. Kyrsten Sinema] said is, 'I support voting rights, but not as much as I support the ability of someone to take those rights away.' The filibuster is a meaningless Senate rule. It's a remnant of slavery used to block civil rights for generations.... Senator Sinema says if the voting rights bill doesn't get bipartisan support, it shouldn't pass. Well, the 14th Amendment, which granted citizenship to slaves in 1868, that didn't have bipartisan support. Should formally enslaved people have been denied citizenship, Senator Sinema? The 15th Amendment that gave formerly enslaved people the right to vote in 1870, that didn't have bipartisan support. Should former slaves have been denied the right to vote, Senator Sinema? I'm just applying her logic here and showing that it's not logical at all. -- Martin Luther King III, in Phoenix, Jan. 15

Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: "A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is in Ukraine to show solidarity with the Eastern European country as it faces ongoing tension with Russia. The seven U.S. senators plan to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top officials on Monday, they announced. The visit comes amid a showdown between Russia and the West over Ukraine's territory and the threat of further Russian incursion." The seven senators are Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) More on the Russia/Ukraine crisis linked under Way Beyond the Beltway.

Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "Halfway through his pained dissent from the Supreme Court's decision blocking the Biden administration's workplace Covid vaccine rule, Justice Stephen Breyer made a glancing reference to a now-obscure case from 1981, American Textile Manufacturers Institute v. Donovan. It was one of the court's first efforts to interpret the 1970 law that created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.... But what jumped off the page to me was the contrast between how the court behaved in 1981 and what happened last Thursday in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, when six justices yielded to politics to disable an agency from carrying out its statutory mission to protect the health and safety of the American work force. That is where we are now. That's how far the court has fallen." Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marie: Yesterday I complained about newly-minted GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.) lifting a portion of Dr. Martin Luther King's famous remark -- "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" -- to justify meddling in the state's education curricula. Well, Mehdi Hasan, on MSNBC, played clips of multiple Republicans using the last clause of that sentence to justify ignoring racism. Unbeknownst to me, it's a GOP go-to cop-out. And the way these Republicans twist Dr. King's words to the point of inverting his meaning is diabolical.

Trump Stokes Racism on MLK Weekend. The left is now rationing lifesaving therapeutics based on race, discriminating against and denigrating ... white people to determine who lives and who dies. If you're white you don't get the vaccine or if you're white you don't get therapeutics. ... In New York state, if you're white, you have to go to the back of the line to get medical health. -- Donald Trump, at his Arizona rally

No, white people are not being excluded from vaccines, of which there is a plentiful supply. And there is no evidence they being sent to the "back of the line" for COVID-19 care as a matter of public health policy. Trump distorted a New York policy that allows for race to be one consideration when dispensing oral antiviral treatments, which are in limited supply. The policy attempts to steer those treatments to people at the most risk of severe disease from the coronavirus. -- AP Fact-Check

Mike Pence to Be Replaced by Dead Man. Meredith McGraw of Politico: “Ray Kallatsa is a die-hard Trumper who [attended Trump's Tucson rally and] 'definitely' wants to see ... Donald Trump run for office again in 2024. [As to who should be Trump's running mate,] 'JFK Jr.,' he said, referencing the son of the 35th president who died in a plane crash in 1999.... 'I don't want to sound too much like a conspiracy theorist, but he's coming back,' he explained. 'He's supposed to reveal himself on the 17th if he's truly alive. I think we'll see him.'... [Kallatsa] was not alone among the crowd in believing that JFK Jr. is not only still alive but is also a secret Trump supporter embedded far in the 'deep state.'" ~~~

~~~ Wackadoo, Wackadoo, Wackadoo. David Gilbert of Vice: "Having spent the last two-and-a-half months holed up in Dallas awaiting the reappearance of John F. Kennedy and his son, a group of two dozen or so QAnon followers, led by an antisemitic guru called Michael Protzman, made the 1,000 mile trip to hear Trump speaking at his first major rally of 2022.... In an audio chat with his followers on Sunday, Protzman claimed that Kari Lake, the former TV anchor who is now running for Arizona governor, had just finished speaking but was brought back up on stage by Trump, in order to show people that Trump was in fact JFK in disguise. The basis for Protzman's unhinged claim? Trump appeared to be shorter than he should have been." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm confused. Protzman made his claim on Sunday, after the rally, during which the star of the show did not zip himself out of his Trump suit to reveal he was JFK. Anyhow, I guess it's safe to tell you now that I'm Marilyn Monroe.

Michael Kaplan of CBS News: "Prosecutors granted immunity to an ex-girlfriend of Representative Matt Gaetz before she testified last week in front of a federal grand jury hearing evidence in the investigation of the congressman, according to a source familiar with the matter. Gaetz has been under investigation to determine if he violated sex trafficking laws and obstructed justice in that probe.... [a source] said she has information related to the investigation of both the sex trafficking and obstruction allegations."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

China. Eva Dou & Pei Lin Wu of the Washington Post: "China has announced that tickets to the Winter Olympics will no longer be sold to the general public, as the country's capital recorded its first case of the highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus. Last fall, Beijing had already limited tickets to the Games to domestic spectators. On Monday, Beijing's Winter Olympics Organizing Committee said this would be further restricted: Only certain approved groups will be allowed to watch the Olympics in person, after undergoing strict measures to prevent transmission of the virus."

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The nation's most restrictive abortion law remains in effect in Texas after a federal appeals court on Monday rejected a request from abortion providers to immediately return their legal challenge to a trial court judge who had previously blocked the measure. In a 2-to-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit temporarily transferred the case to the Texas Supreme Court, a step requested by state officials that could leave the dispute in limbo for months." The Texas Tribune's report is here.

Texas. Staying Alive in America. Ruth Graham, et al., of the New York Times: The three hostages held for hours by a gunman in the synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, discreetly moved closer to an exit door before they made their dramatic escape. "In an interview, Rabbi [Charlie] Cytron-Walker said he had taken part in at least four separate [security] trainings in recent years, from the Colleyville Police Department, the F.B.I., the Anti-Defamation League and the Secure Community Network, a nonprofit group that provides security resources to Jewish institutions nationally.... 'This kind of instruction is necessary for all of us as a society,' [Rabbi Cytron-Walker] said. 'Whether it's synagogues or grocery stores or mosques or shopping malls, it can happen.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Nelson Oliveira of CBS News reports on the account of Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker on how he and two other hostages escaped the gunman in the Colleyville, Texas, synagogue. Includes video.

     ~~~ Caitlin Yilek of CBS News reports on the account of Jeffrey Cohen, another of the hostages in the synagogue attack. Includes video.

Way Beyond

Russia/Ukraine. Michael Schwirtz & David Sanger of the New York Times: "The week before intensive diplomatic meetings began over the buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border..., Russia began emptying out its embassy in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. On Jan. 5, 18 people -- mostly the children and wives of Russian diplomats -- boarded buses and embarked on a 15-hour drive home to Moscow, according to a senior Ukrainian security official. About 30 more followed in the next few days, from Kyiv and a consulate in Lviv, in western Ukraine. Diplomats at two other Russian consulates have been told to prepare to leave Ukraine, the security official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.... How to interpret the evacuation has become part of the mystery of divining the next play by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Thinning out the Russian Embassy may be part propaganda, part preparation for a looming conflict or part feint, Ukrainian and U.S. officials say. It could be all three."

News Lede

The New York Times has published an obituary for "Charles E. McGee, one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-Black unit of the World War II Army Air Forces, who as a fighter pilot flew a remarkable total of 409 combat missions in that conflict and in the Korean and Vietnam Wars...."

January 17, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: "A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is in Ukraine to show solidarity with the Eastern European country as it faces ongoing tension with Russia. The seven U.S. senators plan to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top officials on Monday, they announced. The visit comes amid a showdown between Russia and the West over Ukraine's territory and the threat of further Russian incursion." The seven senators are Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "Halfway through his pained dissent from the Supreme Court's decision blocking the Biden administration's workplace Covid vaccine rule, Justice Stephen Breyer made a glancing reference to a now-obscure case from 1981, American Textile Manufacturers Institute v. Donovan. It was one of the court's first efforts to interpret the 1970 law that created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.... But what jumped off the page to me was the contrast between how the court behaved in 1981 and what happened last Thursday in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, when six justices yielded to politics to disable an agency from carrying out its statutory mission to protect the health and safety of the American work force. That is where we are now. That's how far the court has fallen." Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the link.

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: Congrats to USA Today for knowing how to celebrate the life of a champion of the poor & disadvantaged. Many news outlets are carrying reports of what facilities and open & closed on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, but only USA Today has a headline on the "Best MLK Day sales to shop."

Colleen Long of the AP: "President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden packed carrots and apples into food boxes for the hungry and chatted with volunteers Sunday at a food bank as part of a day of service for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The couple traveled about a half-hour from their Wilmington, Delaware, residence to Philabundance, a hunger relief organization in Philadelphia which serves about 140,000 people a week in the Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey region. Before heading to the warehouse floor where conveyor belts carried cardboard boxes full of donated food, Biden said the child tax credit needed to be renewed. The traditional day of service is on the holiday, Monday, but there was a bad winter storm heading for the area and events were being rescheduled around the region."

Hannah Farrow of Politico: "Sen. Mitt Romney said Sunday that he 'never got a call from the White House' to negotiate bringing Republicans and Democrats together to create bipartisan voting reform." Marie: Romney goes on to spout the usual hoohah, but the fact that there was no indication the White House tried to engage so-called "moderate" Republicans has surprised me for months. True, such outreach probably would have been fruitless, but Biden at least could have garnered some "bipartisan" photo-ops from the invitations. And it's more convincing to claim "Republicans won't help" when you've asked for a hand. The White House's failure to try to engage some Republicans was a big mistake.

Waiting for Garland. In Vain. Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "... so far the [Justice D]epartment does not appear to be directly investigating the person whose desperate bid to stay in office motivated the [Jan. 6 attack] -- ... Donald Trump -- either for potentially inciting a riot or for what some observers see as a related pressure campaign to overturn the results of the election. The House select committee on Jan. 6 is investigating both matters..., and has aggressively pursued information about Trump and those closest to him. But FBI agents have not, for example, sought to interview or gather materials from some of Trump's most loyal lieutenants about their strategy sessions at the Willard hotel on how to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to participants in those meetings.... The department has not reached out to the Georgia secretary of state's office about Trump urging its leader to 'find' enough votes to reverse his defeat.... The Trump campaign has not received requests for documents or interviews from the FBI or Justice Department related to Jan. 6 or the effort to overturn the election results, and federal prosecutors have not sought to interview those with knowledge of Trump's consideration of a plan to install an attorney general more amenable to his unfounded claims of massive voter fraud.... The Justice Department inspector general is investigating the aborted plan and could ultimately ask prosecutors to consider whether crimes were committed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "So far"? If DOJ has done zip a year after the fact, the department obviously plans to do nothing, ever. There seems to be a longstanding, high-level DOJ pact that recognizes an "Article I Pass," where presidents don't get charged with anything. The only time that agreement might have broken was in the case of Richard Nixon, who abused the DOJ itself when he essentially forced AG Elliot Richardson to resign. That could explain Gerald Ford's preemptive pardon of Nixon. ~~~

     ~~~ Or Maybe Not. Marcy Wheeler: "... apparently none of the four WaPo journalists [bylined above] are familiar enough with the investigation to know where to look to test their questions about whether DOJ is investigating Trump. But I guess it's a good thing that WaPo relied on the expertise of their embedded Mar-A-Lago journalist (!!!) for these issues. Nevertheless, WaPo does break news in the thirtieth paragraph of the story. It reveals that Rob Jenkins, a lawyer representing a bunch of militia defendants, keeps getting asked about Roger Stone and Rudy Giuliani's ties to militia members.... For some reason, the WaPo decided to bury the fact that prosecutors are pursuing this angle (even while claiming -- Rudy’s phones notwithstanding -- that prosecutors are not investigating what went down at the Willard), in paragraph 30." Thanks to unwashed for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Still, Roger & Rudy are a couple of stock comic characters, & neither had an official job even in an administration packed with of lowlifes & halfwits. Roger was on his way to prison when Trump FedExed him a get-out-of-jail-free card, and Rudy's law licenses in New York & D.C. were suspended. It's reasonable to think the DOJ could indict these two losers for some insurrection-related crimes even as it let the Mob Boss skate.

Courtney Kube & Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBC News: "Christopher Miller, who was acting secretary of defense during the Jan. 6 riot, met Friday with members of the House committee investigating the origins of the attack on the Capitol, a source familiar with the panel's activities told NBC News.... The former Pentagon chief has provided conflicting testimony to Congress in the past, at one time saying that ... Donald Trump had 'encouraged the protesters' with his remarks on Jan. 6 and then later saying he believed an 'organized conspiracy' played a role in the Capitol attack." MB: That's not necessary conflicting: Trump seems to have headed up the "organized conspiracy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Here's an Amusing Thought. S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "Should ... Donald Trump run for the White House again, an obscure Reconstruction-era law could keep him off the ballot in six southern states..., because of his incitement of the Jan. 6 insurrection. The third section of the 14th Amendment prohibits people who swore to defend the Constitution, but who subsequently took part in an insurrection against the United States, from holding state or federal office. Other language in that post-Civil War amendment, though, makes many experts believe that only Congress can enforce the ban, which means Senate Republicans could block any such action.... The six states affected by the 1868 law -- North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida -- together have 88 electoral votes, or 33% of the total needed to win the presidency. Trump won all of them in 2020 except for Georgia, which he lost by 12,000 votes." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This won't happen, but it's a nice pipedream.

Presidential Election 2024. Jonathan Martin & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times on how Donald Trump & Ron DeSantis already are sparring with each other. MB: Not sure how I'm going to handle this; I do not intend to spend the next two-plus years reporting every potshot these odious men take against each other.

Douglass Daniel of the AP: "Charles McGee, a Tuskegee Airman who flew 409 fighter combat missions over three wars and later helped to bring attention to the Black pilots who had battled racism at home to fight for freedom abroad, died Sunday. He was 102."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Beyond the Beltway

Michigan. So Much for Academic Freedom. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "In a profanity-laced introduction video for a history class, Prof. Barry Mehler wears an astronaut-style helmet with air filters, tells his Ferris State University students that they are 'vectors of disease' and says that their grades are predetermined, regardless of their efforts.... The bizarre 14-minute video, which has been viewed more than 360,000 times since it was posted on his YouTube page last Sunday, resulted in Professor Mehler's being placed on paid suspension while university officials investigated his eccentric introduction to the new semester, according to Sandy Gholston, a university spokesman. David Eisler, the president of the university, which is in Big Rapids, Mich., about 150 miles northwest of Detroit, said in a statement that he had been 'shocked and appalled by this video.'"

     ~~~ Here's what you might call a highlights video. If obsenity & profanity offend you, don't watch. If you just can't get enough, the full video is linked in the Times story. Marie: I suppose my student-age self might have been shocked, shocked by Mehler's rant, but I'm not a kid any more and I think it's sort of funny. I even like the fact that he's so piss-poor at recording himself, his face is sometimes half out of the frame:

Oregon. Mike Baker of the New York Times: "A slide show designed to train officers in Portland, Ore., on methods of policing protests concluded with a message that celebrated the use of violence against demonstrators.... The image was included at the end of a 110-slide training session, apparently from 2018, that detailed the types of protests that officers might encounter, along with analyses of crowd behaviors and police tactics that could be used to maintain order. The concluding slide was of a meme that mocked protesters as dirty hippies, celebrating that officers could 'christen your heads with hickory, and anoint your faces with pepper spray.' It included an image of what appeared to be a police officer in riot gear hitting a protester. The office of Mayor Ted Wheeler, who serves as police commissioner, released the document on Friday, saying it had surfaced as part of a lawsuit related to the racial justice protests that consumed the city in 2020. Mr. Wheeler said that he was 'disgusted' by the slide that mocked protesters and that an investigation had begun."

Virginia. Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "Glenn Youngkin launched his tenure as Virginia's 74th governor this weekend with three executive orders devoted to education -- a level of focus on schools that is unprecedented in recent memory and which spells the all-but-certain continuation of polarizing cultural and curricular battles in the divided state. Youngkin's first order forbids the teaching of 'inherently divisive concepts, including Critical Race Theory,' an academic framework that examines how policies and laws perpetuate systemic racism in the United States. Educators in Virginia and nationwide contend the theory is not taught at the K-12 level, but conservatives have weaponized the term as a catchall symbolizing schools' equity and diversity work. Another order promises the investigation of Loudoun County Public Schools, a wealthy Northern Virginia district that has been embroiled in high-profile controversy for more than a year over allegations related to critical race theory and transgender rights, as well as administrators' bungled handling of two sexual assaults. The Republican governor's third order asserts that parents must be allowed to decide whether their child wears a mask in school, regardless of what federal or district-level officials say." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't know if Youngkin is ignorant or just a craven hypocrite. Sunday, Jonathan Capehart of MSNBC aired a clip of Youngkin saying on Fox "News" last October, "[I]n the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we're called to judge one another based on the content of our character and not the color of our skin. And that's why there's no place for critical race theory in our school system, and why, on day one, I'm going to ban it." As former Rep. Donna Edwards pointed out on Capehart's show, Youngkin is distorting (I'd say inverting) King's point: King's most famous sentence was aspirational. What he said in his "I Have a Dream" speech was, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." King clearly was not urging Americans to stop talking about and learning about race relations. Rather, he was encouraging us to learn & change.

Way Beyond

Ukraine/Russia. Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "Microsoft has discovered destructive malware on dozens of Ukrainian government and private-sector computers, raising the risk that government agencies could find it difficult to operate in a crisis. The malware masquerades as ransomware, but rather than encrypting data, the malware -- if triggered -- wipes computers of data and renders them inoperable, Microsoft's threat intelligence team said in a blog post late Saturday. Microsoft said it does not know who was behind the malware, but the threat comes as Russia masses troops on Ukraine's border." ~~~

~~~ Yuras Karmanau of the AP: "Ukraine said Sunday that Russia was behind a cyberattack that defaced its government websites and alleged that Russia is engaged in an increasing 'hybrid war' against its neighbor. The statement from the Ministry of Digital Development came a day after Microsoft said dozens of computer systems at an unspecified number of Ukrainian government agencies had been infected with destructive malware disguised as ransomware. That disclosure suggested the attention-grabbing defacement attack on official websites last week was a diversion." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

New York Times: "After slamming parts of the South over the weekend, a strong winter storm was pushing north on Monday, producing heavy snow over parts of the Lower Great Lakes, Central Appalachians and the Northeast. Rain was forecast for the coast of New England. As of early Monday, a winter storm warning stretched from western North Carolina up through Maine, according to the National Weather Service." The story has been updated. A Weather Channel report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to radar published by the Weather Channel, my house is outside the snow zone. Well, I've got several inches of snow on my covered porch. It's 7:15 am, but it might as well be midnight because the whiteout makes it too dark to see further, so I can't tell how much snow there is on the ground. Rain expected later.