August 21, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court temporarily blocked Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, on Sunday from testifying in the investigation into efforts by ... Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. The appeals court instructed a lower court to determine whether Mr. Graham should be exempt from answering certain kinds of questions, given his status as a federal lawmaker. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit gives a temporary reprieve to Mr. Graham, who has been fighting prosecutors' efforts to bring him before a special grand jury.... Mr. Graham has argued, among other things, that he should be exempt from testifying under the U.S. Constitution's speech and debate clause, which prohibits asking lawmakers about their legitimate legislative functions. The appeals court laid out further steps on Sunday that must be taken before Mr. Graham gives any testimony." ~~~

     ~~~ According to a Politico story by Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney, two of the judges were Trump appointees & one was a Clinton appointee. "The appeals court called its Sunday morning action a 'limited remand' and said the subpoena would essentially be put on hold while the possibility of constraints on the scope of questioning of Graham is hashed out at the district court." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm sorry, but "Throw out a bunch of votes in your Democratic-leaning counties" is not a legislative function of the U.S. Congress.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Last Days of the Donald. Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: Donald Trump's "unwillingness to let go of power, including refusing to return government documents collected while he was in office, has led to a potentially damaging, and entirely avoidable, legal battle that threatens to engulf the former president and some of his aides. Although the White House Counsel's Office had told Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump's last chief of staff, that the roughly two dozen boxes worth of material in the residence needed to be turned back to the archives, at least some of those boxes, including those with the Kim [Jong-un] letters and some documents marked highly classified, were shipped to Florida. There they were stored at various points over the past 19 months in different locations inside Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's members-only club, home and office, according to several people briefed on the events." The article goes on to describe what staff did & mostly did not do to preserve documents strewn around the offices Trump used. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: One of the photos accompanying the article is of a couple of young men in suits, each carrying two unsealed boxes out of the White House, on Trump's last day in the White House. If, by chance, there are officers guarding the boxes, those officers are out-of-shot. Are there classified docs in those boxes? Do these young men have the appropriate security clearance to handle classified docs? I don't know. But unless the contents of those boxes in nothing but tschotskes (Russian nesting dolls?) that are the personal property of Donald & Melanie, there is a security breach AND a theft of public property happening in plain sight. Moreover, once the clock strikes noon and Joe Biden takes the oath of office, Donald Trump has no right to view any classified docs that might be in the boxes. ~~~

~~~ Marie: As we read the many diverting stories about what Trump is now calling the "break-in" at Mar-a-Lardo, we should keep a couple of things in mind. The first is that the documents & other items Trump stole from the White House, he stole from us. The second is this: Donald Trump does not have a right to even look at secret government documents, much less to keep them "in different locations inside Mar-a-Lago." Trump never had security clearance per se. Nobody vets the president to "clear" him for access to secret material; rather, every POTUS or POTUS* can view classified documents by virtue of his Constitutional position. But the day a president leaves office, that right disappears. In modern times, every past president could receive classified briefings when and if he needed them, say, when he was planning to travel abroad. Every past president, that is, except Donald Trump. President Biden "took the unprecedented step early in his term of cutting off Trump's access to intelligence briefings, a courtesy previously extended to all former presidents." In a November 2020 article, Ken Dilanian of NBC News surveys some former intelligence officials who explain why Biden would cut off Trump's access to briefings.

Little mike pence
Sat on a fence,
Eating his humble pie.
He stuck in his thumb
And pulled out a plum,
And said, "What a good boy am I." ~~~

~~~ Thomas Beaumont of the AP: "Former Vice President Mike Pence said Friday that he didn't take any classified information with him when he left office."

Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "Donald Trump is expected to seek the appointment of a special court official to determine whether materials that the FBI seized from his Florida resort can be used in a criminal investigation, according to his lead attorney Jim Trusty and two sources familiar with the matter. The motion would be the first formal legal action by the former president after federal agents last week confiscated about 30 boxes of highly-sensitive documents from his Mar-a-Lago resort in connection with an investigation into the unauthorized retention of government secrets. Trump would argue that the court should appoint a special master -- usually a retired lawyer or judge -- because the FBI potentially seized privileged materials in the search, and the justice department should not itself decide what it can use in its investigation, the sources said."

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "An associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani ... tried to pass a message to Mr. Trump asking him to grant Mr. Giuliani a 'general pardon' and the Presidential Medal of Freedom just after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to a new book. The associate, Maria Ryan, also pleaded for Mr. Giuliani to be paid for his services and sent a different note seeking tens of thousands of dollars for herself, according to the book ... by Andrew Kirtzman, who had covered Mr. Giuliani as a journalist. The New York Times obtained an advance copy of the book, which is set to be released next month. Bernard B. Kerik, Mr. Giuliani's close adviser and the New York City police commissioner for part of his time as mayor, stopped the letter from getting to Mr. Trump. And it is unclear if Mr. Giuliani, who ... has repeatedly insisted he did not seek a pardon shielding him from potential charges, was involved in the request."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Blake Hounshell & Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: Chris Stirewalt was part of the Fox "News" team that called Arizona for Joe Biden in 2020, much earlier the AP & other networks did. The call infuriated Donald Trump & his supporters, and Fox subsequently laid of Stirewalt. Now Stirewalt has written a book in which "he describes how, over his 11 years at the network, he witnessed Fox feeding its viewers more and more of what they wanted to hear, and little else. This kind of affirming coverage got worse during the years that Trump was president, he says, and turbocharged the reaction of Trump supporters once Fox called Arizona for Biden.... Stirewalt ... [takes] particular aim at Tucker Carlson...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It occurs to me that the country's two Biggest Whiney Babies -- TuKKKer & Trumper -- both have little whiney-baby voices. Maybe there's a reason for that. Back in the good ole days when men were men & so forth, America's reprobates looked to fake he-men like John Wayne & Charlton Heston as their role models & fake heroes. Our generation(s) of reprobates seems to prefer Whiney Babies. These 21st-century reprobates don't dream of charging up San Juan Hill or around the Colosseum or whatever; they would rather just bitch & moan in comfort. Pathetic.

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. In Ever-so Loco Parentis. Steven Walker of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: "Hundreds of dictionaries earmarked for donation from a Venice [Florida] Rotary Club sit collecting dust, precluded from being given to Sarasota County students.... Ahead of the 2022-23 school year, the Sarasota County School District stopped all donations and purchases of books for school libraries while it waits for additional guidance from the Florida Department of Education about how to navigate the effects of new education laws.... The freeze comes as HB 1467 took effect July 1, requiring all reading material in schools to be selected by an employee with a valid education media specialist certificate. The district was still looking to hire three media specialists to vet books as of Friday." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In yesterday's thread, Akhilleus expressed somewhat bemused amazement that schools would ban dictionaries the Rotary Club had donated. But Akhilleus is just not thinking this through. I mean, what if some preciously kid was looking up "trans-por-ta-tion" in his Rotary Club dictionary and came across "transgender"? Oh, my. Or an innocent child was looking for "radio" when he came upon "racism"? Or "koala bear" only to find "Koran"? Dictionaries are subtle but dangerous woke indoctrination tools, and school districts are so right to protect the children. From words.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Sunday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Sunday are here: "The daughter of the key Putin adviser Alexander Dugin referred to as 'Putin's brain' was killed in a car explosion overnight in the Moscow region, according to Russia's main investigative authority, which said it was opening a criminal murder investigation. Daria Dugina, 29, was reportedly driving her father's car from a festival they attended when the vehicle erupted in flames, per Russia's state-run media outlet Tass. Dugina was sanctioned by the United States as part of a list of Russian elites and Russian intelligence-directed disinformation outlets, alongside her father who has been designated for sanctions since 2015. Drone attacks, including one on the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea fleet, were reported in Crimea on Saturday.... Ukraine paraded defunct Russian tanks through the streets of Kyiv on Saturday. The display of 'rusty Russian metal is a reminder to all dictators how their plans may be ruined by a free and courageous nation,' Ukraine's armed forces said."

Marina Lopes of the Washington Post: "One of the worst droughts on record in Europe has parched the continent's major waterways, revealing relics such as a long-submerged village and World War II-era battleships. This week, low water levels on the Serbian section of the Danube River exposed a graveyard of sunken German warships filled with explosives and ammunition. The vessels, which emerged near the port town of Prahovo, were part of a Nazi Black Sea fleet that sank in 1944 while fleeing Soviet forces. More ships are expected to be found lodged in the river's sandbanks, loaded with unexploded ordnance.... In July, a Roman bridge built during the first century B.C. was uncovered in the Tiber River, and ... earlier this week, the unrelenting heat wave that left the Iberian Peninsula drier than any time in the last 1,200 years also exposed dozens of prehistoric stones [known as the 'Spanish Stonehenge' --] in a reservoir in central Spain."

August 20, 2022

Lisa Friedman & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "Fresh off signing expansive climate legislation, President Biden and his administration are planning a series of executive actions to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help keep the planet from warming to dangerous temperatures, senior White House officials said. Mr. Biden is on track to deploy a series of measures, including new regulations on emissions from vehicle tailpipes, power plants and oil and gas wells, the officials said. In pushing more executive action, Mr. Biden is trying to make up for the compromises his party made on climate measures to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes the largest single American investment to slow global warming." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Executive orders are no substitute for legislation because a future climate-change-denying wingnut president beholden to special interests can, with the stroke of a pen, undo them. But this is still a take-that-Joe-Manchin move. Anyhow, good for President Joe.

Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said at a roundtable Friday that Democrats were forced to narrow a key provision of the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act because of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.... 'We had a senator from Arizona who basically didn't let us go as far as we needed to go with our negotiations and made us wait two years,' Manchin said in a video of the event that was viewed by NBC News. 'Those type of things -- I don't question anybody, everyone's responding to their own constituent base. But we did get something. And it's the first time we made a positive move in that.' The law allows Medicare to negotiate the cost of 10 drugs in 2026, a number that is slated to rise gradually in the years after. Many Democrats wanted to begin earlier and give the government broader power to negotiate prices with the industry." MB: Isn't it great that Manchin suddenly sees the downside to holding up a bill for a couple of years while you whittle away the beneficial provisions all your colleagues favor?

Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times: "The leaders of two House panels sent letters on Friday to eight social media companies demanding that they take 'immediate action' to address threats on their platforms toward federal law enforcement officials after a surge in right-wing calls for violence following the F.B.I.'s search of ... Donald J. Trump's home in Florida. In the letters, Representatives Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York and the chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, and Stephen F. Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts and the chairman of its National Security Subcommittee, also expressed concern about 'reckless statements' from Mr. Trump and some Republican members of Congress. The statements have 'coincided with a spike in social media users calling for civil war and violence toward law enforcement,' they said. The letters were sent to mainstream platforms like Twitter, TikTok and Facebook's parent company, Meta, as well as right-wing social media sites like Gab, Gettr and Rumble. A letter also went to Truth Social, Mr. Trump's social media site, which erupted with calls for violence last week...." A CNBC story is here.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post points out that if Judge Bruce Reinhart does order the release of a redacted form the affidavit underlying the search warrant for Mar-a-Lago, it won't satisfy Trump or his lemmings. "If this document is released, Trump and many of his supporters will seize on the redactions as 'evidence' that the 'real rationale' for the search is being covered up -- and that the entire process is irredeemably illegitimate.... [Trump] is all but certain to do all he can to ensure that [release of the affidavit] only escalates [his followers'] rage."

Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "White House officials have privately expressed deep concern over the tranche of classified material taken to ... Donald Trump's home in Florida, including some documents that are only meant to be viewed only in secure government facilities.... Current administration officials have become increasingly concerned about what Trump took and whether that information ... could potentially put the sources and methods of the US intelligence community at risk.... Asked Wednesday whether [President] Biden needs to be briefed on the national security implications, White House chief of staff Ron Klain insisted the President would maintain his distance [from the DOJ investigation].... Intelligence officials have also expressed concern about what Trump might have taken.... Intelligence community representatives have had discussions with the Justice Department, congressional intelligence committees, and the National Archives in recent months about potentially missing sensitive documents, [a] source said." ~~~

~~~ Rudy, however, is not concerned ~~~

~~~ Wherein Giuliani Admits Trump Stole Classified Documents. Andrew Feinberg of the Independent, republished in Yahoo! News: "Donald Trump's former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on Thursday appeared to admit that Mr Trump had classified documents that are the property of the US government, during an appearance on the right-wing Newsmax television network. Mr Giuliani, who is currently facing disbarment for making false statements in the course of his representation of the ex-president during his push to overturn the 2020 election, was attempting to defend Mr Trump when he said the Espionage Act -- the law FBI agents said may have been violated when they asked for a warrant to search Mr Trump's home -- was 'really not about taking the documents.... It's about destroying them or hiding them or giving them to the enemy. It's not about taking them and putting them in a place that's roughly as safe as they were in in the first place,' he said.... Writing on Twitter, [national security law expert Bradley] Moss said: 'This is 100% false'. In fact, the section of the US criminal code referenced in the FBI's application for a search warrant ... makes it a crime for anyone 'entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document ... relating to the national defense' to '[permit] the same to be removed from its proper place of custody' with 'gross negligence'." MB: Because an unlocked basement closet at a Florida resort is "roughly as safe" as a SKIF. This throwing fake defenses at a wall the way some might toss ketchup to see if it sticks, is not going well for the Trumplodytes. See also Akhilleus' comment below. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Having a butler or usher cart classified from the Oval Office to the White House residence is part of Trump's "defense." It was, according to his defenders, SOP. Yet it strikes me that this "gross negligence" would include having someone without top-secret clearance tote the docs around the building. The same would be true for leaving the documents lying around the residence for Melanie & the maid to rifle through as Donald was fixing his hair (a 45-minute operation) or whatever. It would be worthwhile for the DOJ to find out exactly how this process worked & how the documents were (ha-ha) "secured" when they were being moved or left in the residence.

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Friday turned down a request by Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to avoid testifying next week before a special grand jury investigating attempts by former President Trump and his allies to overturn his November 2020 election loss in Georgia. The order, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May, means that Mr. Graham, a South Carolina Republican and staunch Trump ally, is on track to appear in a closed-door session of the special grand jury on Tuesday at a downtown Atlanta courthouse. However, Mr. Graham already has taken his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which has the ability to step in to postpone his appearance. Judge May had earlier issued an order forcing the senator to give testimony, but Mr. Graham asked the judge to stay the order while he pursued his appeal in the case. On Friday, the judge wrote that 'the public interest would not be served' by granting a stay and delaying Mr. Graham's testimony." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I have a feeling this judge finds it a bit irregular that a South Carolina senator would be calling the top Georgia elections official & asking him to figure out a way to throw out a slew of ballots.

Judges Determined to Reveal that Bill Barr Is a Big Fat Liar. Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court has ordered the release of a secret Justice Department memo discussing whether ... Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The unanimous panel decision issued Friday echoes that of a lower court judge, Amy Berman Jackson, who last year accused the Justice Department of dishonesty in its justifications for keeping the memo hidden. The panel of three judges, led by Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan, said that whether or not there was 'bad faith,' the government 'created a misimpression' and could not stop release under the Freedom of Information Act. The memo was written by two senior Justice Department officials for then-attorney general William P. Barr, who subsequently told Congress that there was not enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's inquiry.... 'The court's ... review of the memorandum revealed that the Department in fact never considered bringing a charge,' the [three-judge] panel wrote.” An AP story is here.

Senate Races 2022. Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "Republican Senate hopefuls are getting crushed on airwaves across the country while their national campaign fund is pulling ads and running low on cash -- leading some campaign advisers ... to demand an audit of the committee's finances, according to Republican strategists involved in the discussions.... The NRSC&'s retreat came after months of touting record fundraising..., according to Federal Election Commission disclosures. But the committee has burned through nearly all of it.... 'If they were a corporation, the CEO would be fired and investigated,' said a national Republican consultant.... The NRSC's chairman, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, has already taken heat from fellow Republicans for running ads featuring him on camera and releasing his own policy agenda that became a Democratic punching bag -- leading to jokes that 'NRSC' stood for 'National Rick Scott Committee' in a bid to fuel his own presumed presidential ambitions." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In my little state, I've seen/heard maybe a hundred TV ads for the Democratic candidate for Senate. I truly have no if she even has a Republican challenger. Anyway, I'm quite un-sad & unsurprised that Rick Scott is mismanaging/stealing other people's money. It's what he does. ~~~

~~~ Trump Fever. Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "GOP Senate candidates are underperforming in multiple states, as the homestretch of the midterms approaches.... [On Thursday, Mitch] McConnell said, 'Senate races are just different, they're statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.' Writing in Vanity Fair, Eric Lutz reported, "He didn't mention any of those candidates directly, but he almost certainly could have been talking about any of Donald Trump's handpicked contenders, who earned the former president's support seemingly for one of two reasons: He knows them from television, or they're loyalists who have organized their campaigns almost entirely around his 2020 election lies.... In reality, the Senate minority leader only has himself to blame for the rise of these dangerous weirdos.'... [In New York magazine, Jonathan Chait wrote,] '... The [GOP] Establishment is not worried about kooks being elected. It is worried about the kooks losing to Democrats.... And given that power is the only language Republicans seem to understand, the best hope defenders of democracy have is that the Republicans underperform in the midterm elections, and the party Establishment comes to regret its appeasement of Trump.'" (Both Vanity Fair & New York are subscriber-firewalled.)

House Races 2022. Trump Fever. Melanie Zanona of CNN: "The man in charge of the House GOP's campaign strategy has been doling out advice to Republican candidates and incumbents in key battleground races as they prepare for the general election: Don't be distracted by Donald Trump on the campaign trail, and instead focus on the issues Republicans believe will be most salient to voters in the midterms. The guidance from Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, relayed by three GOP sources familiar with the internal conversations, reflects a tacit acknowledgment among Republican leaders that the former president could knock the GOP's midterm messaging off course.... It also represents a shift from the strategy deployed in many Republican primaries, where embracing Trump -- or at least not alienating him and his base -- was seen as essential to survival.... 'I don't say his name, ever. I just avoid saying his name generally,' said one of the GOP lawmakers in a competitive race. 'I talk about the policies of his that I like.'" MB: Really? What policies? As far as I can tell, Trump's "policies" consist entirely of the old opera-singer warm-up: "Me me me me me."

Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "Walmart is expanding its employee health-care plans to cover more situations in which its staff might seek an abortion, making the nation's largest private employer the latest firm to offer enhanced access to reproductive health services after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Arkansas-headquartered Walmart, which has 1.6 million employees in the United States, said it would cover abortions 'when there is a health risk to the mother, rape or incest.' It will also pay for the procedure in the event of miscarriage, a lack of fetal viability or an ectopic pregnancy, when a fetus implants outside the uterus. The company will provide 'travel support' for employees and dependents if they require access to a health service covered by Walmart's insurance plan but there is no viable provider within 100 miles of their location." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The way I read the report, Walmart will not cover abortions for employees experiencing a viable but unwanted pregnancy without extenuating circumstances. I might be wrong. But if I'm right, this isn't much of a concession, even though it will be a lifeline for a few employees.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona Gubernatorial Race. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "This week, GOP Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake caused controversy when she endorsed Jarrin Jackson -- an Oklahoma legislator who has proclaimed that 'the Jews' are evidence that 'evil exists' and that 'Jews will go to hell.' On Friday, a member of Congress [Ruben Gallego (D-Az.)] demanded to know whether she endorses those views -- and she responded with a bizarre attack insinuating he may have associated with a Chinese spy." Read the story for the details. Suffice it to say that Lake smeared both Gallego & Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) with a false accusation AND she did not rescind her endorsement of Jackson.

Florida. Philip Bump of the Washington Post puts Gov. Ron DeSantis's big election-fraud-arrests party into context. If you read Bump's column, you might just conclude that the "real fraudster" is -- Ron DeSantis. Includes the best "chart" ever. ~~~

     ~~~ Romy Ellenbogen & Bianca Ocasio of the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau: "Five of those arrested Thursday on voter fraud charges told the Herald/Times they believed they were able to vote and had faced no issue registering. They said they would not have voted had they known their previous convictions made them ineligible.... [Those arrested] were charged with a third-degree felony, which can result in up to $5,000 in fines and up to five years in prison." The article explains why these voters had no idea they were ineligible to vote.

     ~~~ Marie: Other than DeSantis's obnoxious showboating, the purpose of his so-called voter fraud team seems to be to pile on another gross form of voter suppression. Every ex-felon (and I think there are something like 20,000 of them), whether or not he can legally vote in Florida, will be afraid to do so in case there's some quirk somewhere in Republicans' bag of tricks that renders him both ineligible to vote AND eligible for arrest if he does so. This is another cruel stunt perpetrated on people who should be trying to put their lives back together by, among other things, participating in one of a citizen's most important civic responsibilities.

Georgia. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court a federal judge's ruling that the state had adopted voting rules that disadvantaged Black voters in violation of a federal civil rights law. In an unsigned order without noted dissents, the justices wrote that an appeals court's reason for staying the judge's ruling -- that it had come too close to the election in November -- was flawed because state officials had told the judge that there was enough time to make the required adjustments. The Supreme Court vacated the stay and returned the case to the appeals court for reconsideration. The court's order was an exception to what legal experts say is a growing trend: a near-categorical ban on late changes to state election procedures even when those changes have been ruled necessary to address illegal infringements of the right to vote. But the exception was based on an unusual concession from state officials and therefore may not have larger implications."

Georgia Senate Race. Justin Bailey of WMAZ (Macon): "Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker says he's declined an invitation to participate in a debate in Macon against Senator Raphael Warnock.... Warnock accepted the invitation to participate about a month ago." BUT WAIT. Walker has a very good excuse, and here it is: "I'm not going to respond to anything because you know that's not a debate, and you know that.... You've got people that are contributors to his campaign and it's in this room that only two people gonna see it on a Sunday night, I think. NFL Football, I am giving you an opportunity to be statewide so everybody can see what it is, see the contrast between the two of us. I don't know how you can ask for anything better." WMAZ: "The debate is set for a Thursday night, not a Sunday."

New York Congressional Race. Hope Everybody Got the "Joke." Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "A Republican candidate for Congress in New York said he was 'being facetious' when, in the same interview, he said the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, should be executed for authorising the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago.... The candidate, Carl Paladino, recently caused controversy when he praised Adolf Hitler, as 'the kind of leader we need today'. Paladino made his remark about the attorney general in an interview with the far-right site Breitbart. Paladino said: 'So we have a couple of unelected people who are running our government, in an administration of people like Garland, who should be not only impeached, he probably should be executed.'" MB: I suppose it isn't lost on Paladino that Garland is Jewish. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Say, Carl, if you're looking for an endorsement, give Kari Lake a call. She's totally good with those of you in the pro-Hitler crowd. Seriously, the Lakes, the Paladinos, they all bring me to tears. And they are dangerous.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russia and Ukraine both signaled their support for allowing international inspectors to visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, after warnings from both sides of a possible attack on the plant, currently under Russian control, set the world on edge.... The Pentagon announced Friday that it would send Ukraine $775 million in anti-armor missiles, drones and other military hardware. The package includes more howitzers and ammunition to support ongoing artillery battles in the east, plus new types of small arms and blast-resistant vehicles to aid an anticipated counteroffensive in occupied areas to the south."

Loveday Morris, et al., of the Washington Post: "Dire warnings from Russia and Ukraine about a possible attack at a nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine sent some nearby residents fleeing Friday and others hunkering down amid heightened international fears of a radioactive disaster. The ominous threat to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, alarmed world powers and renewed calls by U.N. Secretary General António Guterres for an immediate cessation of hostilities and access for international nuclear experts. 'Any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia is suicide,' Guterres said after a meeting in Ukraine with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ukrainian officials said the Kremlin was behind explosions at the plant meant to create a 'provocation.'... Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of shelling the plant and risking a 'large-scale catastrophe.'"

FSB Intelligence Fail. Greg Miller & Catherine Belton of the Washington Post: "So certain were FSB [-- Russia's Federal Security Service --] operatives that they would soon control the levers of power in Kyiv, according to Ukrainian and Western security officials, that they spent the waning days before the war arranging safe houses ... for the planned influx of personnel.... The FSB's plans collapsed amid the retreat of Russian forces in the early months of the war. The communications exposing these preparations are part of a larger trove of sensitive materials obtained by Ukrainian and other security services.... They offer rare insight into the activities of the FSB -- a sprawling service that bears enormous responsibility for the failed Russian war plan and the hubris that propelled it.... The FSB has spent decades spying on Ukraine, attempting to co-opt its institutions, paying off officials and working to impede any perceived drift toward the West.... And yet, the agency failed to incapacitate Ukraine's government, foment any semblance of a pro-Russian groundswell or interrupt President Volodymyr Zelensky's hold on power. Its analysts either did not fathom how forcefully Ukraine would respond, Ukrainian and Western officials said, or did understand but couldn’t or wouldn't convey such sober assessments to Russian President Vladimir Putin."

Mexico. Mary Beth Sheridan & Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post: "Mexican authorities arrested the country's former attorney general on Friday and accused him of torture and forced disappearance in the mass kidnapping of 43 students in 2014, as the government made its boldest move yet to resolve one of the most severe human rights scandals in recent decades.... On Thursday, the government's point person on the case, Alejandro Encinas, labeled the disappearances a 'crime of state' that involved police, the armed forces and civilian officials, in addition to a drug-dealing gang based in Guerrero state. Scores of people have been arrested in the case, including police and alleged gang members, with many subsequently released because of a lack of evidence or signs that they were tortured. But Jesús Murillo Karam, the former attorney general detained Friday, was the highest-ranking former official to be charged." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Hard to tell, I guess, if there is substance to the charges against Murillo Karam or if this is a banana-republic-style arrest. And no, Bo, I'm not talking about the former AG's fashion choices.

August 19, 2022

Patricia Mazzei & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A federal judge ordered the government on Thursday to propose redactions to the highly sensitive affidavit that was used to justify a search warrant executed by the F.B.I. last week at ... Donald J. Trump's private home and club, saying he was inclined to unseal parts of it. Ruling from the bench, the judge, Bruce E. Reinhart, said it was 'very important' that the public have as 'much information' as it can about the historic search at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's Florida residence, noting that there were portions of the affidavit that 'could be presumptively unsealed.'... Judge Reinhart's decision appeared to strike a middle course between the Justice Department, which had wanted to keep the affidavit entirely under wraps as its investigation into Mr. Trump's handling of classified documents continued, and a group of news organizations, which requested that it be released in full to the public....

"... Although Mr. Trump himself has called on social media for the affidavit to be released -- echoing similar demands made by congressional allies like Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina -- his lawyers were conspicuously absent from the legal proceeding surrounding the unsealing process. At any time, Mr. Trump could have filed papers asking Judge Reinhart to make the affidavit public, but he chose not to." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A Guardian story is here.

~~~ Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "In the days since the FBI seized classified and top secret documents from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, the former President and his allies have claimed that Trump had a 'standing order' to declassify documents he took from the Oval Office to the White House residence. But 18 former top Trump administration officials tell CNN they never heard any such order issued during their time working for Trump, and that they believe the claim to be patently false.... 'Nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given,' said John Kelly, who served as Trump's chief of staff for 17 months from 2017 to 2019.... Mick Mulvaney, who succeeded Kelly as acting White House chief of staff, also dismissed the idea and told CNN he was 'not aware of a general standing order' during his tenure." ~~~

     ~~~ Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Thursday, Rolling Stone reported that FBI investigators are now questioning former Trump administration officials to check on the former president's alibi that he issued a 'standing order' to declassify the government material found at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida -- and that among those interrogated were top national security staff.... Prior reports have indicated that among the documents the FBI searched for as part of the Mar-a-Lago warrant were high-level nuclear weapons secrets -- which, according to legal experts, the president doesn't actually have unilateral authority to declassify even if he wants to." The Rolling Stone story, which is firewalled, is here.

Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "One of Donald J. Trump’s most trusted executives pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiring with Mr. Trump's company to carry out a long-running tax scheme, an admission that painted a damning picture of the former president's family business but did not advance a broader investigation into the man himself. As part of the plea deal with the Manhattan district attorney's office, the executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, is required to testify at the company's trial if prosecutors choose to call on him, and to admit his role in conspiring with Mr. Trump's company to carry out the tax scheme." (Also linked yesterday.)

Senate races are just different, they're statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome. -- Sen. Mitch McConnell, on why the GOP may do poorly in the November election ~~~

~~~ Senate Races 2022. Mitch Knocks GOP Senate Candidates. Amy Wang & Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is warning that the GOP may not win back control of the Senate in November's midterm elections -- a cycle that typically would be favorable to the party not in power -- as a political action committee linked to McConnell stages a rescue effort in the Ohio Senate race. Asked Wednesday by reporters in Kentucky about his midterm predictions, McConnell said there's 'probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate.'" The NBC News story is here. MB: This is a swipe at Trump, too: it is Trump-endorsed candidates in states like Georgia, Pennsylvania & Ohio that the quality of the GOP candidates sucks.

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Tim Craig of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Thursday blocked Florida from enforcing a new state law that limits how private companies teach diversity and inclusion in the workplace, saying the measure violates the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression. In a ruling that took aim at one of Gov. Ron DeSantis's top priorities, U.S. District Court Judge Mark E. Walker said Florida has turned 'the First Amendment upside down' by trying to regulate how employers train employees on topics such as racial inclusion and gender equity.... The 'Stop Woke Act' ... prohibits trainings in public schools, colleges and universities, and workplaces that may cause someone to feel guilty or ashamed about the past collective actions of their race or sex.'... The injunction ... only blocks the enforcement of provisions of the law that deal with trainings offered by private employers."

Florida. Anthony Izaguirre of the AP: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced criminal charges against 20 people for illegally voting in 2020, the first major public move from the Republican's controversial new election police unit. The charges mark the opening salvo from the Office of Election Crimes and Security, which from its conception drew widespread criticism from Democrats and voting rights groups who feared the unit would serve as a political tool for the governor. DeSantis said the people charged were convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense and therefore exemptfrom a constitutional amendment that restores voting rights to some felons. He said most of those charged were from Broward, Miami-Dade or Palm Beach counties, all Democratic strongholds. He released few details." The 20 people were among more than 11 million Florida voters who cast ballots in the 2020 election.

Maryland Gubernatorial Race. Ovetta Wiggins & Erin Cox of the Washington Post: "Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has ratcheted up the rhetoric about GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox, describing him earlier this week as mentally unstable. Hogan, who has previously called Cox a 'QAnon whack job,' described the GOP nominee as 'a nut' during a recent radio interview and reiterated his prediction that Cox has 'no chance whatsoever' of being elected as Maryland's governor in November. 'He's not, in my opinion, mentally stable,' Hogan, who is term-limited, said Wednesday on WGMD radio, based on the Eastern Shore. 'He wanted to hang my friend, Mike Pence, and took three busloads of people to the Capitol.'"

Pennsylvania Senate Race. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "In Pennsylvania's contentious Senate race, Democratic nominee Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is hitting his Republican rival, Mehmet Oz, where he lives. Fetterman took aim Wednesday at the number of houses Oz owns.... 'I've never spoken to a PA resident who doesn't know how many houses they have ... let alone be off by 8,' Fetterman quipped on Twitter after a Tuesday report by the Daily Beast that Oz owns 10 properties -- far more than the two 'legitimate' houses he claimed in an exchange with a Democratic operative during a recent public event. Oz defended himself by saying he purchased his houses with his own money -- a swipe at Fetterman, who relied on significant financial assistance from his family until becoming lieutenant governor in 2019.... The social media spat comes as new prognostications show that the tight race is drifting in Fetterman's favor[.]" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It isn't as if Fetterman wasn't working; rather, he worked at extremely low-paying, public-service jobs: at AmeriCorps & as a $150/month small-town mayor.

West Virginia/Massachusetts. Eliza Fawcett of the Washington Post: "Three men were indicted in the death of the notorious gangster James (Whitey) Bulger, who was beaten to death four years ago in a West Virginia federal prison where he was serving a sentence for crimes that terrorized Boston in the 1970s and '80s, prosecutors said on Thursday. Fotios Geas, Paul J. DeCologero and Sean McKinnon were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of West Virginia. All three men were incarcerated with Mr. Bulger in the Hazelton prison in Bruceton Mills, W.Va., where Mr. Bulger, 89, had been serving two life terms for his role in 11 murders committed when he controlled Boston's underworld for several decades.&" A Guardian report is here.

Wyoming. They Lie Even When They Win. Olivia Beavers of Politico: "After Donald Trump-backed Harriet Hageman claimed Wednesday night that Rep. Liz Cheney never fully conceded their Wyoming GOP primary race, the defeated incumbent released her receipts. Hageman told Fox News that Cheney had 'left a very brief two-second message on my cell phone' Tuesday night, without addressing 'any kind of concession or anything else.' According to audio provided by the Cheney campaign to Politico, however, Cheney called Hageman to concede the race at 8:13 p.m. on Tuesday night. Audible in the recording is an aide notifying Cheney that the Associated Press had just called the race for her opponent. 'Hi, Harriet, it is Liz Cheney calling,' Cheney is heard saying in the audio. 'It is about 8:13 on Tuesday the 16th, I'm calling to concede the election and congratulate you on the win. Thanks.' The recording contradicts the narrative Hageman offered host Sean Hannity on Wednesday about Cheney's call on primary night.... Cheney added that she never heard back from Hageman." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here: "Both Russia and Ukraine are warning of a possible attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, currently under Russian control, in southeastern Ukraine. Plant employees have been ordered to stay home, and Russia could be preparing to disconnect the plant from Ukraine's electricity grid. The United Nations has expressed alarm, warning that any damage to the plant would be 'suicide.' Here's the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe."

Liz Sly of the Washington Post: "Until this week, Ukrainians seemed to see President Volodymyr Zelensky as beyond reproach.... Comments he made to The Washington Post justifying his failure to share with Ukrainians details of repeated U.S. warnings that Russia planned to invade have punctured the bubble, triggering a cascade of public criticism unprecedented since the war began. Ordinary people tweeted their experiences of chaos and dislocation after an invasion for which they were unprepared, and described how they might have made different choices had they known what was coming. Public figures and academics wrote harsh critiques on Facebook of his decision to downplay the risk of an invasion, saying he bears at least some responsibility for the atrocities that followed. In the interview with The Post, published Tuesday, Zelensky cited his fears that Ukrainians would panic, flee the country and trigger economic collapse as the reason he chose not to share the stark warnings passed on by U.S. officials regarding Russia's plans."