March 22, 2023
Marie: My Internet service was down for hours and now the Reality Chex site is behaving badly, so don't expect much today. If you post a comment, please SAVE it, as there's a high likelihood it will "be disappeared." Thanks for your patience. I have contacted the host Squarespace, but their tech services are extremely limited & take forever.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "A day after meeting with cast members from the hit show 'Ted Lasso,' [President] Biden bestowed National Medals of Arts and National Humanities Medals to a passel of acclaimed actors, musicians and writers including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bruce Springsteen, Gladys Knight, Amy Tan and Colson Whitehead. 'The work of our honorees is as diverse as the nation that celebrates with them today,' Mr. Biden said at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. 'But common threads weave them together in many ways in the very fabric of America -- the pursuit of excellence, the drive to create, the yearning to connect and the boldness to be truth tellers, bridge builders and change seekers. Above all, you're masters of your craft.'... As he recognized Mr. Whitehead, Mr. Biden noted that he is the only writer to have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for back-to-back works.... 'Pretty good, man,' said ... [Mr. Biden]. 'I'm kind of looking for back-to-back myself.'" The article lists the other honorees. ~~~
~~~ Video of the ceremony is here.
Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve's decision on Wednesday on whether to raise rates at a precarious moment carries risks not just for the central bank, but also for President Biden. Mr. Biden was already relying on the Fed to maintain a delicate balance with its interest rate decisions, simultaneously taming rapid price growth while avoiding plunging the economy into recession. Now, he also needs the Fed chair, Jerome H. Powell, and his colleagues to avert a misstep that could hasten a full-blown financial crisis. Economists and investors are watching Wednesday's decision closely, after the Fed and the administration intervened this month to shore up a suddenly shaky regional banking system following the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank."
"Ready for His Perp Walk"
Michael Bender & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump claims he is ready for his perp walk. Behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago, the former president has told friends and associates that he welcomes the idea of being paraded by the authorities before a throng of reporters and news cameras. He ... is said to have described the potential spectacle as a fun experience.... There is no indication, even if Mr. Trump is charged, that the authorities would have him take part in [a perp walk].... Mr. Trump has been both invigorated and angered by the prospect of being arrested, according to those who have spoken with him. And he has also entertained a certain amount of magical thinking.... He has discussed the prospect that his recent pressure campaign -- a series of personal, unproven and provocative attacks he has unleashed against investigators, Democrats and fellow Republicans -- might persuade Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, to walk away from the case. That notion, according to legal experts, is highly unlikely, but Mr. Trump has a long history of believing he can bend external events to his will, and has sometimes succeeded."
Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "Prosecutors in the special counsel's office have presented compelling preliminary evidence that former President Donald Trump knowingly and deliberately misled his own attorneys about his retention of classified materials after leaving office, a former top federal judge wrote Friday in a sealed filing, according to sources who described its contents to ABC News. U.S. Judge Beryl Howell, who on Friday stepped down as the D.C. district court's chief judge, wrote last week that prosecutors in special counsel Jack Smith's office had made a 'prima facie showing that the former president had committed criminal violations,' according to the sources, and that attorney-client privileges invoked by two of his lawyers could therefore be pierced. In her sealed filing, Howell ordered that Evan Corcoran, an attorney for Trump, should comply with a grand jury subpoena for testimony on six separate lines of inquiry over which he had previously asserted attorney-client privilege. Sources added that Howell also ordered Corcoran to hand over a number of records tied to what Howell described as Trump's alleged 'criminal scheme,' echoing prosecutors." (Also linked yesterday evening.) ~~~
~~~ Andrew Weissmann said on MSNBC that "If Donald Trump's own attorney testifies that Trump misled him about documents he (Trump) still had in his possession, and the attorney then communicated that misleading info to federal officials, therein is a clear case of obstruction. ~~~
~~~ Lawyers Ordered to Work All Night. Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed [Judge] Howell's order temporarily on Tuesday night, ordering an extraordinarily rapid series of filings in a matter of hours -- including one from [Donald] Trump's team by midnight Tuesday. The appeals court's order -- from Judges Cornelia Pillard, J. Michelle Childs and Florence Pan, all Democratic appointees -- doesn't identify [Trump attorney Evan] Corcoran or the case at issue but makes clear that the government was on the winning side of the case in Howell's court. The three-judge panel is asking Trump's attorneys to specify the precise set of documents at issue by midnight and for [DOJ special counsel Jack] Smith's team to respond by 6 a.m. Wednesday to the Trump team’s demand for a longer stay of Howell's ruling.... The appeals court order followed the filing by Trump-linked attorneys of a pair of appeals and stay requests tied to Howell's decision, which came on the final day of her seven-year tenure as chief judge of the federal District Court in Washington.... Trump's 2024 presidential campaign issued a statement Tuesday attacking special counsel Jack Smith and ... [Judge] Howell." Classy.
Kristen Holmes & Tierney Sneed of CNN: "Communications between adult-film star Stormy Daniels and an attorney who is now representing ... Donald Trump have been turned over to the Manhattan district attorney's office, Daniels' lawyer told CNN. The exchanges -- said to date back to 2018, when Daniels was seeking representation -- raise the possibility that the Trump attorney, Joe Tacopina, could be sidelined from his defense of the former president in a case pertaining to Trump's alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money to Daniels. Daniels' communications with Tacopina and others at his firm include details relating to Daniels' situation, according to her current attorney Clark Brewster, who believes the communications show a disclosure of confidential information from Daniels. Tacopina denies that there is a conflict or that confidential information was shared with his office. He says he neither met nor spoke to Daniels.... But legal ethics experts CNN spoke with said they could lead to limits being placed on the role Tacopina can play at trial or even his disqualification." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Years ago, when I was a party to a lawsuit, the defendants wanted to use one lawyer after another with whom I had had contact. In each case, I had to provide only the flimsiest evidence of my contact with the lawyers to have them struck from the case. Admittedly, it was the lawyers themselves who agreed to step away. Tacopina clearly has no such scruples.
Trump's Call for Protests Is Not Going Well. Wesley Parnell of Politico: "Demonstrators who want a Donald Trump indictment far outnumbered MAGA supporters Tuesday morning outside the Manhattan Criminal Court, where the former president is expected to be charged as early as Wednesday.... Across the street from the [20-person] anti-Trump rally, five supporters of the former president walked around holding signs including one that highlighted liberal billionaire George Soros support for [Manhattan D.A. Alvin] Bragg, a common right-wing talking point. Trump has seized on a $500,000 donation to Bragg from a political action committee funded by Soros that was part of a nationwide effort to help elect progressive district attorneys.... Tuesday morning, a non-credible bomb threat was made to nearby courthouses, including one where a hearing was underway in New York Attorney General Tish James' $250 million lawsuit accusing Trump and his real estate firm of financial fraud."
Marianna Sotomayor, et al., of the Washington Post: "As House Republicans gathered [in Orlando, Florida,] this week for their annual issues conference, one man loomed large: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Republicans contorted themselves when pressed on Bragg's possible criminal case against ... Donald Trump, avoiding addressing a range of inquiries about the 2024 presidential candidate's legal woes.... Bragg has pushed back against Republican criticism, calling attacks 'baseless accusations' and saying in a statement Monday that his office 'will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: The reporters note that Republicans have been enthusiastic about "talking points connecting Bragg to out-of-control crime in New York City." What the report doesn't say on even imply is that New York City crime has dropped since Bragg became DA & that NYC's crime rate is lower than those of other major U.S. cities, according to assertions I heard multiples times on MSNBC. I'll admit that Bragg probably has little or nothing to do with reducing the crime rate, but if it is lower, the reporters should say so.
Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is warning that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) arresting former President Trump would 'blow up our country.'" Graham made his comments in a "Fox & Friends" interview. MB: See digby's commentary under "Presidential Race 2024." It isn't Alvin Bragg who would "blow up our country."
Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "A Delaware judge overseeing Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News said in a pretrial hearing on Tuesday that he was still weighing whether to issue a summary judgment for either side in the case. In a hearing in Wilmington, Del., on Tuesday, lawyers for Fox News and Dominion both pushed the judge, Eric M. Davis of the Delaware Superior Court, to rule on the case without a jury. Dominion, an election technology company, is accusing Fox of spreading false claims of widespread vote-rigging in the 2020 presidential election. 'I haven't made a decision,' Judge Davis said.... On Tuesday, Dominion argued that a trove of internal communications and depositions it had obtained showed that Fox executives and hosts had known that some of the claims about election fraud were false but had given them airtime anyway. Fox asked Judge Davis to dismiss the case outright, saying its actions were protected by the First Amendment. A trial is scheduled to begin on April 17." ~~~
~~~ Jeremy Barr of the Washington Post: "A Delaware judge threw cold water on some arguments made by a lawyer representing Fox News on Tuesday, less than a month before a trial is expected to begin in Dominion Voting System's $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network. As both Fox and Dominion made their arguments for summary judgment and pleaded for an early victory that might preclude a jury trial, Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis pushed back on assertions from both sides during the day-long hearing. But the judge seemed particularly skeptical of Fox's claims that its hosts were merely voicing opinions -- not asserting false facts -- when they suggested to viewers that Dominion may have manufactured fraudulent votes for Joe Biden in the 2020 election."
Never Mind. Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "One day after suing Tucker Carlson's producer, Fox News quickly retreated on Tuesday with a brief indicating, without explanation, that the network dropped its case. The filing gives Fox News the option to refile the case, if it so chooses."
Presidential Race 2024. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, the closest prospective rival to Donald J. Trump in early polls of the 2024 Republican presidential primary, pressed forward with questions about the former president's character and pointed to himself as a low-drama 'winner' in an interview this week with the British media personality Piers Morgan. The interview, which Mr. Morgan wrote about Tuesday for The New York Post, was striking in terms of how expansive Mr. DeSantis was.... In the interview with Mr. Morgan, Mr. DeSantis took clear aim at Mr. Trump's often-criticized penchant for chaos and for hiring people who were at odds with his professed policy interests and who often leaked information to the news media.... Mr. Morgan wrote in The Post that when he asked a question about the conduct of leaders, Mr. DeSantis responded, 'You really want to look to people like our founding fathers, like what type of character? It's not saying that you don't ever make a mistake in your personal life, but I think what type of character are you bringing?' He pointed to George Washington -- who 'always put the Republic over his own personal interest' — as an example.... Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, slammed Mr. DeSantis for the interview. 'Ron DeSantis has finally shown his true colors,' he wrote on Twitter. 'An establishment Never Trumper who despises the MAGA base and was faking it the entire time.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Contrasting the last U.S. president* with the first president is fraught. I'd say that young George's apocryphal declaration "I cannot tell a lie; I did it with my little hatchet" might be contrasted with a boast from Trump like, "I cannot tell a lie; I always tell two or three lies at a time."
digby cites a USA Today story which notes that Donald Trump will hold his next rally in Waco, Texas: "The rally, planned for Saturday, will fall during the 30th anniversary of the siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco. Federal agents, aiming to arrest cult leader David Koresh, surrounded his walled compound in an armed standoff that lasted more than a month. Itended in a botched raid that left 76 people, including 25 children, dead." digby responds, "... you can bet that the violent, anti-government extremists in this country -- and there are many -- will see this as a signal.... I don't know if it will immediately result in violence but it's a clear directive to 'stand back and stand by.' I guess, as usual, there's no one around him to tell him how dangerous this is. In fact, someone obviously told him to do it -- he didn't know anything about the Waco standoff anniversary. But the wingnuts sure do."
The Pandemic, Ctd. Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times: "On Jan. 12, 2020, Chinese investigators combing a market for clues about the outbreak of a mysterious new illness in the city of Wuhan swabbed a cart. It was the kind typically used for transporting animal cages, and it came back positive for the coronavirus. Three years later, a team of international experts has sifted through the genetic contents of that swab, which were quietly uploaded to an international database and made public only this year. In a report released on Monday night, the scientists described in detail for the first time evidence from the swab that they say strengthens the case that illegally traded wild animals ignited the coronavirus pandemic.... Along with genetic signatures of the coronavirus, the swab from the cart contained more than 4,500 lengthy fragments of genetic material from raccoon dogs, the report said. It had none from humans."
Beyond the Beltway
Florida. Why Are So Many Republicans Crooks? Jamiel Lynch & Chenelle Woody of CNN: "A former Florida lawmaker pleaded guilty Tuesday to wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements in connection with Covid-19 relief fraud, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. Former Republican state Rep. Joseph Harding acquired more than $150,000 in Small Business Administration loans by lying on loan applications, the department said. Harding is scheduled to be sentenced on July 25, the release said.... The Florida Republican has drawn the national spotlight before, as a sponsor of the controversial legislation that banned certain instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom that opponents dubbed the 'Don't Say Gay' law." MB: Now let's see if he gets picked up before sentencing for soliticing a Cub Scout in a school zone.
Oklahoma. Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "The Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned part of the state's near-total abortion ban, ruling in a 5-to-4 decision that the procedure would be lawful if there is a reasonable chance that a pregnancy could threaten a pregnant person's life. Oklahoma's constitution protects the right to an abortion if 'the woman's physician has determined to a reasonable degree of medical certainty' that continuing 'the pregnancy will endanger the woman's life,' the court's justices said in Tuesday's ruling. 'Absolute certainty' that the pregnancy will be life-threatening isn't required, but 'mere possibility or speculation' is insufficient, they added." The Oklahoman's report is here.
Wisconsin. Adam Edelman & Alexandra Marquez of NBC News: "In the only debate of the closely watched race that will determine ideological control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, liberal judge Janet Protasiewicz hammered her conservative opponent, Daniel Kelly, as a 'true threat to democracy' over his ties to a scheme to overturn the 2020 election.... Protasiewicz criticized Kelly for having advised Republicans on legal efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential race through the use of 'fake electors.'"
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al.
The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Chinese leader Xi Jinping departed Russia on Wednesday, wrapping up a three-day trip that underscored Beijing and Moscow's desire to reshape the global order against Western power but that offered little concrete progress on China's pledge to promote peace in the Ukraine conflict.... Xi reiterated that China has an 'impartial position' on the war in Ukraine. The United States later accused China of 'parroting the Russian propaganda.'... The United States sees 'no indication' that China is 'fixing to provide lethal weapons' to Russia, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.... Kyiv has asked Beijing to endorse a Ukrainian peace formula to end the conflict, [Ukraine's President] Zelensky told reporters alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who was in Kyiv on Tuesday. The peace formula calls for the restoration of Ukraine's internationally recognized borders and a withdrawal of Russian troops.... Drone attacks hit Kyiv overnight, killing three and injuring at least seven, according to Kyiv's regional military administration.... The Pentagon is accelerating shipment of M1 tanks to Ukraine, moving up deliveries to the fall, after earlier saying it could take a year or more to get them battle-ready. 'This is about getting this important combat capability into the hands of the Ukrainians sooner rather than later,' Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Wednesday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
Marc Santora of the New York Times: "As swarms of Russian soldiers stormed Ukrainian lines in furious assaults around two cities in the east on Tuesday, Ukraine set the stage for its own advance by making strikes deep behind Russian lines, including what appeared to be a drone attack on a vital logistical hub in the occupied Crimean Peninsula. Russian forces have gained ground in recent days around the Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka in the eastern Donbas region, but the Ukrainians say Moscow is paying a heavy price in blood for every inch of ground it claims in its bid to encircle the long-battered city."
Valerie Hopkins & Chris Buckley of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and China's top leader, Xi Jinping, declared an enduring economic partnership on Tuesday, promising to bring more Russian energy to China and more Chinese companies to Russia as the two leaders sought to insulate their countries from Western sanctions and other consequences of the war in Ukraine.... Mr. Putin's economic outreach this week was a clear sign that Beijing was gaining leverage over Russia even as it gave its neighbor help, said Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.... As [Xi and Putin] met on Tuesday, Japan's prime minister, Fumio Kishida, visited Kyiv in a show of support that put the geopolitical fault lines created by Russia's invasion into even sharper relief."
UK. Boris: "In My Defence, I Had No Idea What I Was Doing." BBC: "Boris Johnson has accepted he misled Parliament over Covid rule-breaking parties in Downing Street, but denied he did it on purpose.The former prime minister has published a 52-page defence of his actions ahead of a grilling by MPs on Wednesday.In it, he says his assurances to MPs that lockdown rules had been followed were made in 'good faith'. Mr Johnson faces being suspended or even expelled from Parliament, if MPs decide he deliberately misled them."
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Boris: “Hey, I didn’t know what I was doing!”
Funny, in’it, how braggarts like ol’ Boris and TFG, when starting out, proclaimed themselves the smartest guys in any room they chose to enter, but as soon as fan blades started propelling liquified dung around those rooms, they professed ignorance. “It’s not my fault! Waaaah!” The next line in that playbook is to insist that they cannot in any way be held accountable for things they clearly did, a Trump speciality.
Reminds me of a funny story told by a friend who used to work in the court system. One morning a guy was led before the judge whereupon his actions of the previous night, including ramming three police cars with his truck and beating up four or five cops in a drunken rage before being subdued were recounted in great detail. The judge, looking over his glasses, eyebrows raised, at the defendant, asked how he’d like to plead. “Judge” the guy began, “Man, you can’t blame me for all that shit. I mean, I was all fucked up!”
Oh. Okay. Now that you’ve explained it…
We had problems with our computers yesterday as well plus one of our T.V's was on the fritz but later in the evening they all sprang back to life.
So is this the day or will there be more delays? And Soros is saying "Sriver tsu zayn a Yid"–––It's hard to be a Jew! And yesterday heard Billy Joel's "You had to be a big Shot, didn't cha?" followed by "Honesty" and I thought perfect songs for what we gots today as we lay in wait for the storms ahead.
Niccolò v Fatty
A post this morning concerning the Piers Morgan interview with DeSantolini had me thinking about something another guy wrote a few hundred years ago.
DeSantolini, in his listing of Trump’s many and varied faults (a list that outstrips the Domesday Book) brought up the fat man’s penchant for chaos, and filling cabinet and other posts with jamokes clearly at odds with his stated ideals (lies, of course…But leave us not overlook DeSantolini’s own penchant for hiring/appointing obsequious rubber stamps).
This reminded me of one of the key points made by Niccolò Machiavelli in his how-to handbook for would be rulers. Well, many of Nicky’s must-do’s show Fatty to be woefully ill prepared as a leader across the board. But in the case of hiring, Machiavelli insists that good leaders, strong leaders, absolutely not surround themselves with obsequious flatterers (lookin’ at you, Ron), which is a must for a weak minded, insecure narcissist like Trump. Also, says Nicky, don’t be constantly getting rid of advisors and bringing in new ones. It makes the ruler look indecisive and a poor judge of character, as if he had no idea what he was doing from the get go. (Ed’s note: he didn’t.)
Regarding the constant chaos, Machiavelli points out that there are times when cruelty and wicked deeds must be considered as a necessary evil, “necessary” being the key word there. And if and when such actions are necessary, best to get things over with quickly so that the prince can get back to more normalized leadership and not let his people think he enjoys inflicting pain, ie, a sadistic whack job. In other words, don’t employ cruelty and chaos in a constant and cavalier manner, or as a demonstration of spite and hatred. Big fail for Trump.
Finally, Nicky famously points out that it is better to be feared than loved, but worst of all is to be hated. Both Ron and Don fail miserably on this point.
Political philosophy from 500 years ago, but completely unknown to Mr. Stable Genius. Nuff said.
Maybe we'll look at Niccolò v DeSantolini next.
https://www.rawstory.com/pete-santilli-executions/
Right wing broadcast nut job Pete Santilli calls for the military to
get busy with the executions of people like former president Obama,
Susan Rice, Eric Holder, etc. (race bait much?)
One of the reasons was the murder of JFK. Huh? One of those
people wasn't born yet and one was like 2 years old and one was a
kid in Hawaii.
P.S. Our internet and TV problems could have been caused by that
immense solar flare, something like sixty thousand mile high plume
of fire pointed at us.
P.P.S. Don't do what I did yesterday on the first warm, sunny day of
spring. Outside about 8 hours. Almost couldn't get out of bed and
crawl downstairs this morning.
Manhattan DA Tells Trump Grand Jury to Stay Home Wednesday, Reasons Unclear: Sources
@P.D.Pepe: I read somewhere that a Law & Order TV series was
being filmed in the area.
Could be traffic jam, or maybe people jam.
Grand jury delayed until tomorrow I think.
Lex at Ordo
Have to think a moment about this…a fictional TV show that often loosely bases its stories on actual events (a meta element), a show called Law and Order, could be holding up proceedings of a grand jury convened to consider criminal charges against the most corrupt and anti rule of law president* in American history.
Funnily enough, Fatty once proclaimed himself the “Law and Order President*”! The most unlawful, disordered, disorderly bigoted asshole in American political history. But he was picking up on how the term was used by Nixon as part of his Southern Strategy. “Law and Order became code for “Step on those fucking pain in the ass darkies” and every Bull Connor motherfucker in the country knew this.
A few years after Nixon was forced to resign (another R criminal fuck), snaky, sneaky Lee Atwater described the usefulness of coded racial dog whistles for avoiding inescapable charges of unmistakable racism:
“ By 1968, you can't say ‘nigger’—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me—because obviously sitting around saying, ‘We want to cut this’, is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than ‘Nigger, nigger’. So, any way you look at it, race is coming on the back-burner.”
Did you get that? So, for Nixon, and Reagan, and Trump, and every other goddam racist fuckwad, “Law and Order” is the same as “Nigger, nigger, nigger”. And they all KNOW IT!
But it gets better. You know how Party of Traitor assholes despise FDR for stopping banks from screwing poor people? Well, they hate LBJ just as much for things like the Civil Rights Act and the War on Poverty (more on this later). They look to hang every bit of American political policy that short circuits white supremacy on Lyndon Johnson.
Got that? Okay. So…in 1953, Saint Ronald of Reagan, in the waning years of his B movie career in Hollywood, starred in a film called “Law and Order” as a character named “Frame Johnson”.
Frame…Johnson.
Christ, what I could have done with the internet in college and grad school!
You can’t make this shit up.
So here we have actual law and order being held in abeyance by a show called “Law and Order”, as befits the capitalist requirements of network TV, in the case of a criminal who uses the racist dog whistle of “law and order” to step on those he hates.
Head spinning yet?
More later.
Jesus.
Who cares about healthcare?
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/22/health/medicare-insurance-fraud.html
It ain't the insurance companies.