June 3, 2023
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 into law on Saturday, ending for now the threat of economic calamity from a default on the nation's debt and putting limits on spending for two years. The White House issued a statement saying that Mr. Biden had signed the legislation, days after it was passed by the House and the Senate following weeks of sometimes bitter negotiations with Republicans. Mr. Biden's signature came just two days before the so-called X-date, when Janet L. Yellen, the Treasury secretary, had said the government would run out of cash to pay its debts. Economists had predicted that if it did so, the resulting collapse in faith in America's financial promises would cause economic instability around the world."
Tennessee. Caroline Anders of the Washington Post: "A federal judge has struck down a Tennessee law that banned drag shows in public or where children could watch them, writing that the unconstitutional measure was passed 'for the impermissible purpose of chilling constitutionally-protected speech.' In his ruling issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker wrote that the law violates First Amendment freedom of speech protections and was 'unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad.'... Parker, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee by ... Donald Trump, had issued a preliminary injunction at the end of March to block the law from taking effect."
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John Wagner & Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Friday expansively praised the rocky, 11th-hour passage of legislation to suspend the debt ceiling, cut federal spending and avoid a government default, claiming victory for the bipartisan philosophy that is likely to be central to his reelection argument. Speaking from the Oval Office in a 13-minute address, Biden said the nation had narrowly avoided economic catastrophe and that the wide-ranging agenda he had pushed through during his first two years in office would not be derailed.... [Despite touting the bipartisanship demonstrated during negotiations,] it was not all bipartisan comity. Biden's remarks also provided an opening version of the tougher side of his campaign message, including an emphasis on making the wealthy pay more in taxes and a denunciation of those he depicted as radicals on the other side.... Biden said he would sign the bill Saturday, after the House and Senate complete the technical actions needed to send the legislation to his desk."
How Joe Biden & Shalanda Young Owned the Rebs. Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "In pursuit of an agreement, the Biden team was willing to give Republicans victory after victory on political talking points, which they realized [Kevin] McCarthy needed to sell the bill to his conference. They let Mr. McCarthy's team claim in the end that the deal included deep spending cuts, huge clawbacks of unspent federal coronavirus relief money and stringent work requirements for recipients of federal aid. But in the details of the text and the many side deals that accompanied it, the Biden team wanted to win on substance. With one large exception -- a $20 billion cut in enforcement funding for the Internal Revenue Service -- they believe they did. The way administration officials see it, the full final agreement's spending cuts are nothing worse than they would have expected in regular appropriations bills passed by a divided Congress." Read on.
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Work requirements for federal assistance programs do not, well, work.... But Republicans still want them, so much so that they threatened to crash the global economy to get them. Why? The obvious answer is that work requirements are an effective way to cut programs without actually cutting them. With a little extra paperwork and another layer of bureaucracy, states can keep thousands of people who qualify from getting access to benefits. Does any of this save money? Not really. It cost states tens of millions of dollars to institute work requirements... For [Republicans]..., the state of the real economy is less important than that of the moral economy, which is to say the conservative vision of the proper order for the distribution of rights and privileges in society." (Also linked yesterday.)
Chris D'Angelo of the Huffington Post: "President Joe Biden's administration on Friday ordered a 20-year ban on new drilling and mining around New Mexico's Chaco Canyon, a high-desert landscape rich in Indigenous cultural sites. The action applies to all federally managed lands within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park, but does not affect existing oil and gas leases or any mineral development on private, state or tribal lands. Biden first moved to protect the area in November 2021.... First established as a national monument in 1907 by President Theodore Roosevelt, Chaco Culture National Historical Park spans more than 30,000 acres of northwestern New Mexico, and it is home to some of the most significant Ancestral Puebloan cultural sites in the U.S. The landscape is sacred to Native American tribes that for years have sought more permanent protections for the surrounding area, where oil and gas development has surged in recent decades."
Andrea Salcedo of the Washington Post: "Fort Bragg, one of the largest military bases in the United States, has officially been renamed Fort Liberty, following a ceremony Friday. The North Carolina post's new name is part of a congressionally mandated plan to rename military bases, ships and streets that previously honored Confederate leaders. The plan is the culmination of a years-long effort that intensified in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd and the reckoning it brought over the nation's history of racism. A panel established by Congress recommended the Army rename nine installations that honored Confederate military officers."
Miss Margie Has Second Thoughts Because Lefties. Jared Gans of the Hill: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has changed her position on the public release of the tapes documenting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, warning Friday that their release could 'put the security of the Capitol at risk.'... She said she is concerned about left-wing groups that would use facial-recognition technology to identify those seen in the videos to 'hand them over' to the FBI and Justice Department.... Greene has previously called for the public release of the tapes so 'everyone knows what did or didn't happen.' She announced Wednesday that that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) planned to release the tapes to three outlets that would receive 'unfettered access.' She said two of the recipients of the tapes would be Just the News founder John Solomon, who interviewed Greene on Friday, and American Greatness senior writer Julie Kelly."
Jeremy Herb & Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The Justice Department has closed its investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents found at former Vice President Mike Pence's home and will not bring any charges, according to a letter from the DOJ obtained by CNN.... In January, Pence's attorney found about a dozen documents marked classified in Pence's Indiana home after the former vice president asked his lawyer to search his records following the disclosure of classified documents in Joe Biden's possession in Delaware. Pence turned over the classified records to the FBI following their discovery, and the FBI and Justice Department's National Security Division launched a review of how they ended up at Pence's home. Pence has said that he had been unaware the documents were at his home but said that 'mistakes were made' and took responsibility for it. The Justice Department is still investigating the handling of classified records by Trump and Biden. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel in each investigation, citing the fact that they are candidates for president." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former President Trump on Friday argued he should be cleared of wrongdoing for his handling of classified documents after the Justice Department said it would not bring charges against former Vice President Mike Pence on the issue, despite vast differences in their cases. 'Just announced that they are not going to bring charges against Mike Pence on the document hoax,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'That's great, but when am I going to be fully exonerated, I'm at least as innocent as he is.'"
Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "A recording like the voice memo [Donald Trump's attorney Evan] Corcoran made last year -- during a long drive to a family event ... -- is typically shielded by attorney-client or work-product privilege. But in March, a federal judge ordered Mr. Corcoran's recorded recollections -- now transcribed onto dozens of pages -- to be given to the office of the special counsel Jack Smith.... The decision by the judge, Beryl A. Howell..., set aside [those protections] under what is known as the crime-fraud exception, a provision that allows prosecutors to work around attorney-client privilege if they have reason to believe that legal advice or legal services were used in furthering a crime. Judge Howell, in a sealed memorandum that accompanied her decision, made clear that prosecutors believe Mr. Trump knowingly misled Mr. Corcoran about the location of documents that would be responsive to the subpoena.... Mr. Corcoran's notes, which have not been previously described in such detail, will likely play a central role as Mr. Smith and his team move toward concluding their investigation...."
Yeah, Trump Is Still Hiding Documents. Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "Attorneys for Donald Trump turned over material in mid-March in response to a federal subpoena related to a classified US military document described by the former president on tape in 2021 but were unable to find the document itself, two sources tell CNN. Prosecutors issued the subpoena shortly after asking a Trump aide before a federal grand jury about the audio recording of a July 2021 meeting at Trump's golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. On the recording, Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran.... The special counsel's office complained late last year to a federal judge that they couldn't be sure Trump had turned over all documents with classified markings in his possession, even after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago last August, CNN previously reported. The dispute resulted in several sealed court proceedings where the prosecutors sought to hold Trump in contempt, but the judge declined at that time, and Trump's team hired two people to search his properties." The New York Times story, by Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Amy Gardner & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "An Atlanta-area investigation of alleged election interference by former president Donald Trump and his allies has broadened to include activities in Washington, D.C., and several other states, according to two people with knowledge of the probe -- a fresh sign that prosecutors may be building a sprawling case under Georgia's racketeering laws. Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) launched an investigation more than two years ago to examine efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn his narrow 2020 defeat in Georgia. Along the way, she has signaled publicly that she may use Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute to allege that these efforts amounted to a far-reaching criminal scheme. In recent days, Willis has sought information related to the Trump campaign hiring two firms to find voter fraud across the United States and then burying their findings when they did not find it, allegations that reach beyond Georgia's borders, said the two individuals.... At least one of the firms has been subpoenaed by Fulton County investigators." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Spencer Hsu & Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "Four Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy in a second trial following the conviction of leader Stewart Rhodes were sentenced to terms of 3 to 4½ years in prison this week for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack -- all far less than the 10- to 17-year terms sought by the government. Tattoo artist Roberto Minuta, 38; chiropractor Joseph Hackett, 52; neurophysiologist David Moerschel, 45, and Army veteran Edward Vallejo, 64, were convicted in January of multiple additional felony counts including conspiring to obstruct Congress's confirmation of the 2020 election results and actually obstructing the proceeding."
Daysia Tolentino & David Ingram of NBC News: "On Thursday, Twitter was roiled by an organized pressure campaign by conservative pundits seeking to promote a 95-minute anti-transgender video called 'What Is A Woman?' [Elon] Musk, who has staked out views hostile to transgender advocates, initially responded in ways that seemed to satisfy no one before he eventually relented and agreed to promote the video himself. The incident resulted in two high-level departures within 24 hours. The episode was another window into Musk's improvisational approach to rewriting Twitter's rules. The chief of Twitter's trust and safety division, Ella Irwin, left the company that same day, after a tenure leading its efforts around content moderation. A second executive, A.J. Brown, whose job was to reassure advertisers that Twitter was a safe place for their brands, also decided to quit, The Wall Street Journal reported. A third person, a program manager who worked on brand safety, said on her Twitter profile that she was now 'ex-Twitter.' Musk said in a tweet Friday that the departures were related to his decision to allow the conservative outlet The Daily Wire to post 'What Is A Woman?'"
YouTube Is Good with Trump Election Lies Again. Todd Spangler of Variety, republished by Yahoo! News: "On Dec. 9, 2020, YouTube enacted a ban on videos that falsely claimed then-President Trump won the U.S. presidential election. Since then, according to the platform, it has removed 'tens of thousands' of videos that violated the policy. As of June 2, 2023, YouTube has reversed that decision: The video giant announced that it 'will stop removing content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors or glitches occurred in the 2020 and other past U.S. Presidential elections.'... The Google-owned service, in an unsigned blog post Friday, tried to explain [the reversal] this way: 'In the current environment, we find that while removing this content does curb some misinformation, it could also have the unintended effect of curtailing political speech without meaningfully reducing the risk of violence or other real-world harm.'"
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian reports on Tim Alberta's Atlantic profile of CNN CEO Chris Licht., which includes Licht's catastrophic airing of a Trump "town hall/rally." If you can access the Atlantic, Alberta's lengthy profile is here. According to Pengelly, the profile is brutal: "Bill Grueskin, a Columbia Journalism School professor, said: 'It wouldn't be fair to say a trained seal could do a better job running CNN than Chris Licht. It's just that, after reading this piece, it feels like we should give the trained seal a shot.'"
Maureen Dowd of the New York Times recalls the old Washington Times-Herald's "Inquiring Camera Girl," Jacqueline Bouvier.
Beyond the Beltway
Kentucky. Gus Garcia-Roberts of the Washington Post: "Churchill Downs, one of the most famous horse racing tracks in the world and the home of the Kentucky Derby, announced Friday it is suspending racing following 12 horse deaths, including seven in the run-up to the sport's premier race last month. The decision followed a recommendation by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the newly installed watchdog overseeing thoroughbred racing, which said time was needed to investigate the spate of horse deaths that marred the Kentucky Derby and have persisted since. The suspension is a historic move for the fabled, 148-year-old track and signals a potential sea change in the regulation of horse racing. HISA, created by a federal act in 2020, was fully implemented late last month." CNN's story is here.
Utah. Bible Gets the Heckler-Veto Treatment. Logan Stefanich of KSL Salt Lake City: "The Bible has been removed from all elementary and middle school libraries throughout the Davis School District after someone challenged its contents. A committee tasked with reviewing books that fall under review for sexual content last week determined that the Bible will be retained at district high schools, but removed from all elementary and middle schools, Christopher Williams, Davis School District's director of communication, told KSL.com. In lieu of the initial ruling -- which came last week -- a new appeal to the ruling was filed Wednesday, asking for the district to retain the Bible in all district schools, meaning the religious book will again be reviewed by a committee."
Way Beyond
Haiti. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Florida sentenced businessman and former drug trafficker with Haitian and Chilean citizenship to life in prison on Friday for his role in the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti. Rodolphe Jaar is the first person to be convicted and sentenced in what federal prosecutors have described as a sprawling conspiracy to murder the Haitian leader and seize power, aided by Haitian officials, Colombian mercenaries and illegal arms shipments from the United States. The killing unraveled the already fragile Haitian government, giving rise to lawlessness and extreme violence as gangs have stepped into the power vacuum."
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here. The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
News Lede
Guardian: "... on Friday evening the Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata in West Bengal to Chennai in Tamil Nadu, [India,] collided with a freight train in the eastern state of Odisha. The freight train in turn derailed some carriages of the Howrah Superfast Express train, which was travelling in the opposite direction. As of Saturday morning, the death toll stood at 280, with 900 more injured, but the authorities said it was likely to rise as rescue efforts continued with thousands deployed to the scene to help. Rescue dogs and metal cutters were used to try to locate and reach those trapped in the mangled carriages."
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Reader Comments (13)
https://news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-makes-one-most-133456134
.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=0_00
45 likens himself to Leonardo's "Mona Lisa" in an interview with
Welsh TV.
He suggested he was just like the priceless masterpiece because so
many of his supporters keep coming back again and again to see him
at his rallies.
Or he could be a Broadway show that people see over and over because they just can't get enough of him.
"Leonardo tried to capture my smile, but he admitted defeat because
my smile is so enigmatic."
"I could have been the greatest painter of all time, better than DaVinci
or Monet....if only my teeny hands weren't too small to hold a brush."
"My middle initial J stands for Jenius."
Truth is stranger than fiction...fiction at least has to have a story line--
Mark Twain.
Fine Art Fatty?
Sooo… Mona Lisa Trump, eh.
I can think of more appropriate fine art comparisons. Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”, for one.
Or, for a view of the country with that fat bastard back in charge, Hieronymous Bosch’s “Hell” with its depictions of horrific suffering and eternal torture.
MTG: Protector of Traitors!
Greene truly is as stupid as rock. She thinks the FBI needs the help of “lefties” to gain access to tapes depicting crimes against the United States? And leave us not forget, this is the screaming harpy who bellowed that had she been in charge of that treasonous assault it would have succeeded.
They change by the hour. Whatever suits their immediate needs, their stories change.
https://democraticundergroung.com/100217960693
Sen. Rand Paul will force the Senate to vote this week on cutting
spending 5% in each of the next 2 years, including Social Security
and Medicare.
Hope his neighbor is aware of Rand's latest efforts and still has that
shovel handy.
Akhilleus,
Re: Flip-flops on the Right
I think these days it's called "transactional..."
httpe://news.yahoo.com/gop-2024-hopefuls-head-iowa-105841263.html
It's Joni Ernst's annual "Roast & Ride" event in Des Moines.
About 250 motorcyclists will follow Ernst in a parade to the
State Fairgrounds (the Clowns on parade?) where the many GOP
Presidential contenders will flip pork chops for the crowd.
45 won't be there. Could it be that those teeny, tiny hands can't
handle those manly grill tools? (Or womanly tools).
From 2013–––an oldie but goodie featuring the budding, boastful Woke obsessed dimwit who fancies himself someone who could run this country;
The congressional hearings yesterday starring Eric Holder who I must say held his temper quite well given the fact that he was being questioned by a bunch of caterwauling, republican ruffians who were rude, strident, and acted inappropriately. High on this list were Louie "Goober" and a fella from Florida named DeSantis. Louie just couldn't contain himself and had something very close to a meltdown or better yet, a hissy fit. DeSantis yelled at Holder the whole time , almost snarling like a snippy bulldog. And, of course. our John Hamm look-alike (Issa dyes his hair and fancies himself as adorable as J.H.) apparently strained Holder's patience at trying to put up with this bombardment. Someone pleaded for civility but it went nowhere.
One interesting thing, however, was that Holder intimated that they now have knowledge about the culprits who did the dirty deed in Benghazi. One scandal down, maybe, three more to go. At least Obama isn't being blamed for the sexual abuse in the military yet.
Trump and the Leguleians
As you probably have heard, the Scripps National Spelling was held this past week. A 14 year old boy from Florida, Dev Shah, won with his correct spelling of “psammophile”, an organism that thrives in sandy soil. Hey, I knew that! Oh wait, I thought they meant an organism that thrives in elephant dung: T R U M P. Did I get it right?
Anyway, I’m always interested in the obscure words the Scripps people come up with for these kids. My favorite this year is Leguleian, a word given to an 11 year old girl from Omaha, Sarah Fernandes, the youngest to make it to the final round.
So…leguleian, a word that refers to a lawyer whose methods are petty, underhanded or disreputable.
Trump lawyers are all three: petty, underhanded, AND disreputable!
Seriously, is that not the textbook definition of Fatty’s phalanx of juridical jugheads?
He has MAGAts, traitors, thugs, white supremacists, congressional testicle cozies, and now…leguleians!
A word to Dev Shah…you’re lucky you learned to spell before DeSantolini outlaws education altogether. Pretty soon the only words taught in Florida schools will be “woke” and “Glock”.
Red state traitors and haters have already tried that work requirement scam, in Arkansas, where it failed miserably.
“A work requirement policy imposed by the state of Arkansas on Medicaid participants failed to achieve its stated goal of boosting employment, according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Instead, the policy harmed health care coverage and access, the study found.”
Yeah. But boosting employment has never been the goal. The real goal is (mustache twirling time!): inflicting pain and misery on the poor!
Yes, yes. Thank you, thank you. And in that regard this bullshit program was excruciatingly successful:
“The researchers found that people who lost their coverage experienced adverse consequences and economic hardship. The study showed that 50% reported serious problems paying off medical debt, 56% delayed care because of cost, and 64% delayed taking medications because of cost.”
So…poor people get sick, suffer, and die. A WIN for the GOP!
And this is the scam they’re pulling on the larger American public.
I’m really tired of wondering how these Dickensian assholes square this punching down on the poor with Jesus’s command to take care of the sick, the homeless, the helpless. I guess he was hoping those who claim to follow him wouldn’t be gutless and heartless. And ASSHOLES.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/arkansas-medicaid-work-requirement-policy-failed-study-finds/
I thought the Wait, Wait… folks got it right last week when they put forward the correct drag name for a certain FL candidate: Rhonda Santis.
And the Beach Boys would be singing in vain, with their “Help me Rhonda” chorus. He only helps himself.
Read this sociologist with a memorable name when I was hanging out in academe back in the 80's. Have never forgotten him. His obituary reminds me why.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/us/amitai-etzioni-dead.html
@Nsky: We've just had a "took up" cat move in to mooch from our outside cats feed dish, It's coal black with the exception of white boots on the back feet. My daughter tells me it's a tabby so naturally I've named her "Rhonda".
"... tired of wondering how these Dickensian assholes square this punching down on the poor with Jesus’s command to take care of the sick, the homeless, the helpless. ..."
Jesus-wise, they have a go-to get-out-of-caring verse in Thessalonians 3-10, “ ... If anyone is not willing to work, then he should not eat.”
That verse is a very specific response to a specific problem addressed to St. Paul, and any good (?) NT scholar will say that it does not justify withholding succor from the unfortunate. But you will see it quoted, often, in the congress, in the context of entitlement programs.
So, to answer your (Ak) Q, they do it by quoting St. Paul, among other biblical aphorisms like "the Lord helps those who help themselves". There are dozens of bible quotes that don't jive with Jesus' two Great Commandments, #2 of which is "Love thy neighbor as thou love thyself."
If you are an R, and you have an issue of any kind, you can choose the bible verse that matches your preference. And then you can feel righteous, brother.