The Ides of October 2021

Afternoon Update:

Ann Marimow & Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Department of Justice said Friday that it will go back to the Supreme Court to request that it put on hold Texas's restrictive abortion law while legal battles continue. In a different case, the Supreme Court last month allowed the law to go into effect on a divisive 5 to 4 vote. The DOJ has filed a separate challenge to halt the law, which bars abortion as early as six weeks into the pregnancy and makes no exceptions for rape or incest.... Last week, a federal judge in Austin temporarily suspended enforcement of the abortion ban.... But the U.S. Court of Appeals of the 5th Circuit quickly put Pitman's order on hold, and on Thursday said the law would remain in effect, setting a hearing the week of Dec. 6. and reinstated the law pending further review.... 'The Justice Department intends to ask the Supreme Court to vacate the Fifth Circuit's stay of the preliminary injunction against Texas Senate Bill 8,' Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said in a brief statement Friday." The AP's report is here.

Michael Balsamo & Colleen Long of the AP: "A U.S. Capitol Police officer has been indicted on obstruction of justice charges after prosecutors say he helped to hide evidence of a rioter's involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection. The officer, Michael A. Riley, is accused of tipping off someone who participated in the riot by telling them to remove posts from Facebook that had showed the person inside the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack, according to court documents.... Riley, who responded to a report of a pipe bomb on Jan. 6 and has been a Capitol Police officer for about 25 years, had sent the person a message telling them that he was an officer with the police force who 'agrees with your political stance,' an indictment against him says."

Betsy Klein & Kate Sullivan of CNN: "Foreign visitors who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to travel to the United States starting on November 8, the White House said Friday.... The move would relax a patchwork of bans that had begun to cause fury abroad and replacing them with more uniform requirements for inbound international air passengers."

Florida. Michael Levenson & Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "The former student who was accused of shooting and killing 17 people at his high school in Parkland, Fla., in 2018 plans to plead guilty to 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, one of his lawyers said on Friday. The rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, killed 14 students and three faculty members and wounded 17 and was one of the deadliest school shootings in American history. The former student, Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 at the time and had a history of mental health and behavior problems, used a semiautomatic rifle that he had legally bought to carry out the assault, according to the police.... Prosecutors have vowed to pursue the death penalty and said that no agreement on a sentence had been reached." The AP report is here.

Afghanistan. Taimoor Shah & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the New York Times: "A blast at a mosque in southern Afghanistan killed dozens of people and wounded dozens more during Friday Prayer, officials said, the second such attack on a Shiite place of worship on successive Fridays in the country. The attack, which witnesses said involved multiple explosions, took place in Kandahar city — considered the heart of the re-established Taliban government. And though no group has yet claimed responsibility, the Islamic State said it was behind a similar strike last week on a Shiite mosque in Kunduz Province, in the north, that left more than 40 people dead. Hafiz Saidullah, a Taliban official in charge of the culture and information department in Kandahar, said that the latest attack killed 47 people and injured at least 68." An AP report is here.

Matt Gertz of Media Matters: "Fox News host Tucker Carlson dismissed the importance of paternity leave while taking an anti-gay swing at Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on Thursday. But in corporate materials his employer touts its parental leave policy, which his male Fox colleagues have praised for allowing them to take time off to care for their spouses and infants.... 'Pete Buttigieg has been on leave from his job since August after adopting a child. Paternity leave, they call it, trying to figure out how to breastfeed. No word on how that went,' he snarled on his prime-time show, mocking both fathers who take paternity leave and gay fathers."

U.K. Megan Specia, et al., of the New York Times: "A Conservative Party lawmaker was stabbed to death on Friday afternoon as he was meeting with local constituents in southeast England.... Essex Police, the force that covers the area where the attack took place, identified the lawmaker as David Amess, 69, a long-serving member of the House of Commons. He was killed in the town of Leigh-on-Sea on the mouth of the Thames River, about 40 miles east of London.... A 25 year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder and was currently in custody." The BBC News report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In case you're inclined to feel, "Wow, they're just as bad in Britain as in the U.S.," there is a stark contrast here. You're right, per capita, there probably are as many murderous nut cases in the U.K. as in the U.S. But the Florida boy was about to murder 17 people & wound 17 more because he had legal access to a semi-automatic weapon; the U.K. man was able to senselessly murder only one person. On the other hand, I don't suppose many countries limit bow-and-arrow sales. ...

~~~ Norway. Cora Engelbrecht & Henrik Pryser Libell of the New York Times: "The man accused of killing five people and wounding two others with a bow and arrow in the small Scandinavian town of Kongsberg has confessed to the rampage, his defense lawyer said in an interview on Friday. Espen Anderson Brathen, 37, a Danish citizen and local convert to Islam, 'admits to committing the acts he is charged with,' said his lawyer, Fredrick Neumann, adding that his client was also undergoing a mental health evaluation 'by doctors and health personnel.'"

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Amy Wang & Chico Harlan of the Washington Post: "President Biden will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Oct. 29 during a trip to Europe for two high-profile global summits, the White House announced Thursday. Biden and Francis will discuss 'working together on efforts grounded in respect for fundamental human dignity, including ending the COVID-19 pandemic, tackling the climate crisis, and caring for the poor,' White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. Biden, the United States' second Catholic president, has been at the center of a debate within the Catholic Church about whether he should be able to receive Communion because of his support for abortion rights.... . Francis said that abortion is 'murder' but also that the decision to grant Communion should be a pastoral, not political, one. First lady Jill Biden will join her husband in meeting Francis." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Biden Administration to Obey Deplorable Court Order. Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration is prepared to reimplement the Trump-era border policy known as the Migrant Protection Protocols in mid-November if the Mexican government agrees to accept the return of asylum-seekers to its territory, administration officials said Thursday. In August, a U.S. District Court in Texas ordered the Biden administration to restart MPP, also known as 'Remain in Mexico,' faulting the White House for ending the program improperly. The Supreme Court upheld the decision, forcing Biden officials to restore a policy the president has deplored as inhumane. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement late Thursday it is 'taking necessary steps to comply with the court order, which requires us to reimplement MPP in good faith.' MPP cannot resume without Mexico's consent, as the court acknowledged in its ruling, and administration officials said they are taking steps to address the concerns of the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador by setting up better access to legal counsel for asylum seekers and exemptions for vulnerable migrants."

Wow! The Deal Comes with Cuff Links. Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "Hours before he was scheduled to retire in 2018, Andrew G. McCabe, then the F.B.I.'s deputy director, was fired by the Justice Department, depriving him of his pension and prompting cheers from ... Donald J. Trump, who had been hounding him over his role in the Russia investigation. On Thursday, the department reversed Mr. McCabe's firing, settling a lawsuit he filed asserting that he was dismissed for political reasons. Under the settlement, Mr. McCabe, 53, will be able to officially retire, receive his pension and other benefits, and get about $200,000 in missed pension payments. In addition, the department agreed to expunge any mention of his firing from F.B.I. personnel records. The agreement even made clear that he would receive the cuff links given to senior executives and a plaque with his mounted F.B.I. credentials and badge. The Justice Department did not admit any wrongdoing. But the settlement amounted to a rejection by the Biden administration of how Mr. McCabe's case had been handled under Mr. Trump, who perceived Mr. McCabe as one of his so-called deep-state enemies and repeatedly attacked him. A notice of the lawsuit's dismissal was also filed in federal court." The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Although it's clear DOJ had some pragmatic reasons to reverse McCabe's firing, this does seem like Merrick Garland's very polite "up yours" to JeffBo & former President* Vin Dictive.

Manu Raju of CNN: "The two leading Democratic moderates made clear to their colleagues this week that a deal on the party's sweeping economic package is far from secured, raising new questions about the fate of President Joe Biden's first-term agenda, according to sources familiar with the matter. Among the red flags: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona told lawmakers on a call that she would be hesitant to endorse a final deal on the social safety net plan until the House first passes the Senate's $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. Sinema indicated there had been a 'breach in trust' following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to punt a vote on the infrastructure bill earlier this month after she had assured moderates her chamber would hold a final vote on the measure, one of the sources said.... The two senators said they believed that their party should drop some programs offered in the larger package to cut its cost...." More on Simena linked under Beyond the Beltway. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sinema, who has dropped most of her liberal campaign pledges & decided instead to cavort with donors at fancy spas and European soirees, is a fine person to talk about "breach of trust."

Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post calls out leading GOP liars who have been making false hair-on-fire claims that the DOJ is "spying" on local school boards, targeting free speech and interfering with their proceedings. But a memo from Merrick Garland and Senate testimony from his deputies "make clear that only criminal conduct would be targeted, not free speech.... [Further,] Garland's memo doesn't direct the FBI to 'spy' on parents, as Jordan claimed. Hawley claimed that, for the first time in American history, the FBI was being told to 'intervene' in local school board meetings. That's not accurate."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post outlines many ways Republicans have moved to give themselves the ability to overthrow future elections.... [The include] sidelining unhelpful secretaries of state..., installing Trumpy secretaries of state..., eliminating roadblocks to overturning results..., and creating more opportunities for wrongdoing." With examples. MB: These mechanisms, of course, do not apply only to presidential elections but to results for any election the ruling party doesn't like. These are officials acts designed to steal elections and further de-democratize states Republicans currently control. In the case of elections for national offices -- president and Congress -- these stunts can affect the entire nation.

Jacqueline Alemany & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol announced on Thursday that it will move to hold Stephen K. Bannon in criminal contempt for not complying with its subpoena as it seeks to force former Trump administration officials to cooperate with its inquiry. Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) said the panel will meet Tuesday when the House returns to Washington to vote to adopt a contempt report.... The panel has opted to give other former Trump officials more time to comply with its subpoenas. Mark Meadows and Kash Patel were both scheduled to appear before the committee by the end of this week for closed-door interviews and are now expected to be provided an extension or continuance, according to three people familiar with the matter...." A CNN report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge Thursday postponed the lead trial of accused Oath Keepers associates charged in the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol from next January to April, conceding that continuing delays in the government's disclosure of a mountain of growing evidence made a trial this winter impossible."

Paul Duggan of the Washington Post: "A Texas woman who was charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and boasted on social media, 'Hell yes, I'm proud of my actions,' pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. Jenny Cudd, a 36-year-old florist and former mayoral candidate in the western Texas city of Midland, is one of more than 600 people charged so far in what federal authorities have called the largest investigation in U.S. history. She is among more than 70 defendants who have pleaded guilty in deals with the U.S. attorney's office in the District." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jamie Gangel of CNN: "Former President Bill Clinton has been admitted to the University of California Irvine Medical Center's intensive care unit for a urinary tract infection that spread to his bloodstream, his doctors told CNN on Thursday.... 'After two days of treatment, his white blood cell count is trending down and he is responding to antibiotics well,' the doctors said. 'We hope to have him go home soon.'" MB: The story has been updated since I posted a developing story last night. The New York Times story is here.

Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump is expected to testify on Monday at Trump Tower as part of a lawsuit brought by a group of activists who said that they were violently attacked by his bodyguards in 2015. Less than a week after the incident in September 2015, a group of five activists sued, saying that security guards led by Mr. Trump's longtime bodyguard, Keith Schiller, had attacked them, ripping away signs they were holding, and punching and briefly choking one of the protesters. The activists' lawyers argued that Mr. Trump was responsible for his bodyguards' actions because he had explicitly authorized them to use force. Mr. Schiller testified that he was authorized to use force while on the job. Lawyers for Mr. Trump and other defendants moved to have the case dismissed in 2015, but were unsuccessful. Mr. Trump's lawyers then argued that he could not be held personally responsible for his bodyguards' actions. A judge rejected that argument too." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie's Note to Judge, Interested Parties: Everything Donald Trump says, under oath, will be a lie.

Robert Barnes & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "President Biden's commission evaluating potential reform of the Supreme Court cautioned that increasing the size of the court might be perceived as partisan maneuvering, but noted there is widespread support for term limits on the justices, who enjoy life tenure. The Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States will meet Friday to begin writing a report to the president, likely to be presented next month. Mostly made up of academics, the draft materials that the commission has collected so far, released Thursday night, read much like a textbook on history and available options, rather than a manifesto for change." The Hill's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gosh, I wonder what the commission members think of Mitch McConnell's refusal to give Merrick Garland a hearing because Obama's presidency would end in about a year while pushing through Amy Phony Barrett's confirmation while people were voting in the presidential election. Could that be construed as "partisan maneuvering"?

** Ariane de Vogue of CNN: "Justice Sonia Sotomayor told an audience Wednesday that recent changes in the format of oral arguments were instituted in part after studies emerged showing that female justices on the court were interrupted more by male justices and advocates. Sotomayor said the studies, including one by researchers Tonja Jacoby and Dylan Schweers in 2017, have had an 'enormous impact' and led to Chief Justice John Roberts being 'much more sensitive' to ensuring that people were not interrupted or at least that he would play referee if needed. She also said that it is a dynamic that exists not only on the court but in society as well. 'Most of the time women say things and they are not heard in the same way as men who might say the identical thing,' she said." MB: If you're an adult women, you figured this out long ago.

** Sen Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) in Salon: "Justice Samuel Alito wants desperately for us to believe that everything is just fine at the Supreme Court. Indeed, in his view the court is a victim.... [But] Americans' perception that the court lacks independence, and the court's related drop in approval, doesn't flow from some left-wing conspiracy. It's a recognition that the evidence shows a pattern whenever certain interests come before the court.... During Chief Justice John Roberts' tenure, the Court has issued more than 80 partisan decisions, by either a 5-4 or 6-3 vote, involving big interests important to Republican Party major donors. Republican-appointed justices have handed wins to the donor interests in every single case.... [The complex, multi-faceted mechanisms put in place to engineer the Court's capture] required boatloads of anonymous money; what people who study this clandestine activity call 'dark money.'... Perhaps Justice Alito is so touchy because his fingerprints are all over this pattern of Republican judicial activism." Worth reading the whole post. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... why are we experiencing what many are calling the Great Resignation, with so many workers either quitting or demanding higher pay and better working conditions to stay? Until recently conservatives blamed expanded jobless benefits, claiming that these benefits were reducing the incentive to accept jobs. But states that canceled those benefits early saw no increase in employment compared with those that didn't.... What seems to be happening instead is that the pandemic led many U.S. workers to rethink their lives and ask whether it was worth staying in the lousy jobs too many of them had. For America is a rich country that treats many of its workers remarkably badly."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Carolyn Johnson & Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "An independent advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday unanimously recommended a booster dose of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine for people 65 and older and adults who are at high risk of severe illness or are exposed at work. The recommendation mirrors the eligibility criteria for the Pfizer-BioNTech booster, which was authorized in September. Nearly 70 million Americans have received both doses of the Moderna vaccine. The vote comes after a full-day examination of data on the safety and effectiveness of a booster, and the recommendation will now be considered by FDA officials, who are expected to reach a decision on the Moderna booster within days. An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that makes recommendations on how vaccines should be used is scheduled to meet Wednesday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Alaska. How Could This Have Happened? Derek Hawkins & Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "An Alaska GOP lawmaker banned from flying on the state's leading airline for refusing to wear a mask, and therefore unable to travel to and from the state capital, has now tested positive for the coronavirus, she said. State Sen. Lora Reinbold, a Republican representing an Anchorage suburb, wrote on Facebook on Tuesday night that it was her 'turn to battle Covid head on.... Game on! Who do you think is going to win?' Reinbold wrote of her infection. 'When I defeat it, I will tell you my recipe.' Another Republican state senator, David Wilson of Wasilla also tested positive this week and is quarantining at home." (Also linked yesterday.)

Arizona U.S. Senate Race. Kevin Robillard of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) is deeply unpopular with Democratic primary voters in her home state and would be vulnerable against a number of intra-party challengers, according to a new poll from a progressive group. The poll, from Data for Progress, comes with heavy caveats. The 2022 midterms aren't even here yet, never mind the 2024 election. And Arizona's primaries are open to independent voters ― meaning the exact makeup of the electorate is hard to nail down even in the weeks leading up to an election, let alone three years in advance. But the numbers for Sinema ... are grim. They show widespread discontent with her performance, making her vulnerable to nearly any Democratic challenger." ~~~

~~~ Sky Palma of the Raw Story: "Friends and allies of Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema are mystified by her maneuvering around President Joe Biden's legislative agenda, according to people speaking to The Daily Beast.... 'A lot of people who have considered her a friend, or confidant, or someone she'd go to for donor support or political support, she won't talk to those people anymore,' said Matt Grodsky, a former communications director for the Democratic Party of Arizona. 'She had a big network of people who liked her -- establishment Democrats, progressives -- everyone marveled at her ability to win in Arizona,' said one Arizona Democratic strategist. 'A lot of her longtime friends and confidants are no longer there. No one knows, to be honest, where she's at.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Missouri Governor Unaware Almost All Websites Contain Publicly-Viewable HTML Code. Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: "When a St. Louis Post-Dispatch journalist discovered that the Missouri state teachers website allowed anyone to see the Social Security numbers of some 100,000 school employees, he did what any reporter might do. He published a story about the security vulnerability -- though not before warning the state and giving it time to remove the affected webpages. Another official might have thanked the newspaper for spotting the flaw and giving a heads-up before publicizing it -- or at least downplayed what appears to be an embarrassing government mishap. But Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) did the opposite: He called the journalist 'a hacker' who may face civil or criminal charges for 'decod[ing]' HTML code on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website and viewing three Social Security numbers.... [Parson's] announcement immediately drew appalled reactions from the Post-Dispatch and other journalistic organizations.... Committee to Protect Journalists' U.S. and Canada program coordinator Katherine Jacobsen called Parson's legal threats 'absurd.'" The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Mike Parson is 66 years old, so we might cut him a little slack for thinking that former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was being helpful when he explained the Internet as "a series of tubes." But when you know you don't know much about a subject, it's a right good idea to find out what going on so you don't look like the out-of-touch nincompoop you are & go off half-cocked, threatening a reporter who has been helpful to your administration & protected teachers' privacy. No, Mike, the Post-Dispatch did not hack the tubes. And there's no "decoding" involved when you click on a link and up pops a teacher's Social Security number. Nitwit.

Oregon Gubernatorial Race. Marc Tracy of the New York Times: "After 37 years at The New York Times as a reporter, high-level editor and opinion columnist, Nicholas Kristof is leaving the newspaper as he considers running for governor of Oregon, a top Times editor said in a note to the staff on Thursday. Mr. Kristof, 62, has been on leave from The Times since June, when he told company executives that he was weighing a run for governor in the state where he grew up. On Tuesday, he filed to organize a candidate committee with Oregon's secretary of state as a Democrat, signaling that his interest was serious." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

South Carolina. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina lawyer who has endured a dramatic downfall since his wife and son were shot in an unsolved killing in June, was arrested on Thursday and charged with swindling millions of dollars from the sons of his former housekeeper. Mr. Murdaugh, 53, was taken into custody at a drug detox center in Orlando, Fla., and charged with two counts of obtaining property by false pretenses, a felony with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. He was booked into a jail in Orlando. The charges stem from a settlement that Mr. Murdaugh and his insurers reached with the sons of the housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died in 2018 after falling on the front steps of the Murdaugh family's rural home in Islandton, S.C. After her death, Mr. Murdaugh referred her two sons to a lawyer he promised would help them, the sons claimed in a recent lawsuit, but he did not disclose that the lawyer, Cory Fleming, was a close friend and former college roommate." (Also linked yesterday.)

Texas. Katie Benner of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court said on Thursday that a near-total ban on abortions in Texas can remain in effect while the courts decide whether the law violates the Constitution. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit kept in place its own previous order last week that had temporarily allowed the law to be enforced again after a federal district judge had blocked it. The decision, which was 2 to 1 by a three-judge panel, is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court." MB: The article doesn't explain why the Appeals Court needed to reaffirm its decision. Maybe the two judges just enjoyed dumping on Texas women. Update: A report by CNN's Dan Berman & Tierney Sneed explains it: "... two days after [a federal district judge blocked the Texas abortion ban], a three judge-panel of the appeals court put a brief administrative hold on the order. That appellate panel has now extended that hold to last while it considers Pitman's order on appeal."

In Texas, It's Springtime for Hitler (And the Grand Dragon, Too). Mike Hixenbaugh & Antonia Hylton of NBC News: "A top administrator with the Carroll Independent School District in Southlake advised teachers last week that if they have a book about the Holocaust in their classroom, they should also offer students access to a book from an 'opposing' perspective, according to an audio recording obtained by NBC News. Gina Peddy, the Carroll school district's executive director of curriculum and instruction, made the comment Friday afternoon during a training session on which books teachers can have in classroom libraries. The training came four days after the Carroll school board, responding to a parent's complaint, voted to reprimand a fourth grade teacher who had kept an anti-racism book in her classroom."

Virginia Republicans Pledge Allegiance to January 6 Flag. John Amato of Crooks & Liars: "During a rally for Republican Virginia Gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin..., an American flag was brought out onto the stage and the host said praised the flag thusly, 'That was carried at the peaceful rally with Donald Trump on January 6.'... Someone named Mark Lloyd then led the crowd with the Pledge of Allegiance.... Rolling Stone writes, 'Youngkin was not present at the 'Take Back Virginia' rally, but it was headlined by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who cited the close race between Youngkin and his Democratic opponent, Terry McAufflife, to argue that the state's 2020 election results were illegitimate." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Wisconsin. GOP, the Party of Incompetence. Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "The glaring errors became clear soon after ... former Wisconsin judge [Michael Gableman] issued subpoenas earlier this month in a Republican review of the state's 2020 presidential election. Some of the requests referred to the wrong city. At least one was sent to an official who doesn't oversee elections. A Latin phrase included in the demands for records and testimony was misspelled.... Gableman ... admitted days later that he does not have 'a comprehensive understanding or even any understanding of how elections work..' He then backed off some of his subpoena demands before reversing course again, telling a local radio host that officials would still be required to testify. The latest round of reversals and blunders is intensifying calls to end the probe, one of several recent efforts around the country to revisit Joe Biden's win in states where ... Donald Trump and his supporters have leveled baseless accusations of voter fraud. Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) this week called the subpoenas unlawful and 'dramatically overbroad,' and he urged Republicans to 'shut this fake investigation down.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Lebanon. Sarah El Deeb of the AP: "Schools, banks and government offices across Lebanon shut down Friday after hours of gun battles between heavily armed militias killed seven people and terrorized the residents of Beirut. The government called for a day of mourning following the armed clashes, in which gunmen used automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades on the streets of the capital, echoing the nation's darkest era of the 1975-90 civil war. The gun battles raised the specter of a return to sectarian violence in a country already struggling through one of the world's worst economic crises of the past 150 years. The violence broke out Thursday at a protest organized by the two main Shiite parties - Hezbollah and the Amal Movement - calling for the removal of the lead judge investigating last year's massive explosion at Beirut port."

U.K./Earth. Caught on Mic: "We Are Not Amused." Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "Queen Elizabeth II was caught on microphone criticizing world leaders who 'talk' but they 'don't do' on climate change, remarks that have been interpreted as indicating a degree of exasperation at possible no-shows for the upcoming COP26 climate conference. During the opening of the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff on Thursday, the queen was talking to her daughter-in-law, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and Elin Jones, the parliament's president officer. Her comments were picked up on a live stream, and although parts are inaudible, she can be heard talking about the climate conference. 'Extraordinary isn't it. I've been hearing all about COP,' the queen says, according to video and audio recordings analyzed by the Daily Mirror. 'Still don't know who is coming ... We only know about people who are not coming ... It's really irritating when they talk, but they don't do.'"

News Lede

A Fun Story Takes a Sad Turn (Because of Some Jerk). New York Times: "One of the wayward zebras that have been running freely across the backyards and roads of suburban Maryland since they escaped from a farm in late August has been found dead in an illegal snare trap, the authorities said. A spokeswoman for the Maryland Natural Resources Police said in a statement on Thursday that officers had responded to a report on Sept. 16 of a dead animal on private property in Upper Marlboro, Md., about 20 miles southeast of Washington.... The chief of ... Prince George's County Animal Services ... agency ... had initially said that five zebras had escaped from a privately owned farm. But The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Linda Lowe, a spokeswoman for the Prince George's County Department of the Environment, said that, in fact, only three zebras had gotten loose. Now, just two remain alive and on the run." It's not clear why officials waited nearly a month to inform the public about the dead zebra.

Comments

[Bobby Lee]

The Virginia GOP Pledge of Allegiance to a flag carried on 6 January is disturbing similar to one of the "holiest" Nazi emblems, the Blutfahne, which was carried in the 1923 Putsch attempt in Munich. A quick online search will show the similarities.

[Ken Winkes]

Another entry in the "in fact, it's really complicated" sweepstakes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/15/opinion/covid-vaccines-unvaccinated.html

Particularly liked the note that the possession of health insurance is the best predictor of who is and who is not vaccinated.

We do need bigger bumper stickers.

[Akhilleus]

Is this as good as it gets?

This morning on NPR I heard an interview with Christine Todd Whitman, former NJ guv and EPA something something under the Decider (not sure the EPA did anything then; she must have had a lot of free time to think deep thoughts ).

So she starts off by saying that the Republican Party has to end its addiction to Trump fascism. Okay, good start, but…(there’s always a but when R’s are starting to sound even a teensy bit sane) then here it comes.

While Republicans have to start voting for people who actually believe in the Constitution (Democrats), members of “the Democrat Party” also have to eschew “radical” candidates and start voting for Republicans.

A couple of things. First, there is no Republican Party anymore. It’s a nasty horde of liars, traitors, racists, and violence prone thugs. There is also no Democrat Party. This is an expression used as an insult, and I categorically stop listening to anyone who uses it. It’s a shibboleth signaling that no matter how reasonable someone wants you to believe they are, at heart they are stone cold wingnut assholes.

Then there’s the problem of instructing Democrats to vote for Republicans. Who? Cruz? Cotton? Greene? Gohmert? Jordan? I mean, go down the list. Is there anyone who isn’t a traitor? Collins? She’s worse. So forget about that. There’s a huge difference between radicals on the right and those people like Whitman consider radicals on the left. For one thing radicals on the left make up a small percentage of elected officials and none of them are for treason. Radicals on the right make up a huge percentage of that group and most of them are diehard traitors.

A hopeful start followed up with bullshit, fantasy, and both-sides.

The truth is there is only one working political party in this country.

So Whitman can take her “reasonableness” and exchange it for the tinfoil hat favored by everyone else in her party. Oh, unless she’d prefer the pointy white one, the other haberdashery option for confederates.

If this is as good as it gets, they can mail that shit in and don’t bother us anymore.

[Akhilleus]

BobbyLee,

Good point. The similarities go a lot further than a flag.

[P.D. Pepe]

A HIGH-TECH LYNCHING:
Jill Abramson, former editor of the NYT, wrote, along with Jane Mayer, the pivotal book on Clarence Thomas. Her essay today outlines her accusation that this Justice is taking over the Supreme Court and this time he has the other robed jesters who sing the same tunes. For years we wondered why Thomas remained silent, letting others ask questions; guess he was only waiting patiently for his place in the sun and it looks as if it's time to put on the shades–--the glare can be severe.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/15/opinion/clarence-thomas-supreme-court.html

The story above about –-once again in Texas–-Ms Peddy peddling pretty outrageous advice re: books on the Holocaust is–––gee, what's the word–-ALARMING? I have come to the conclusion that the lure of this civil decent is being embraced by those who long for an early 1950's world except they are ignorant of the rabid ignorance during that period and if not, it's that kind of country they want again–- without , of course, the counter culture that Kerouac and Ginsberg offered––. after all, they have their own Joe McCarthy with a Hover-like persona –-the powerful defender who guards THEIR America of memory against a world of alien faces and forces–- strange people and dangerous ideas.

[Ken Winkes]

Akhilleus,

Yeah, that's the essential question. What do Republicans want?

Anything that is at all good for the country, the planet, the whole human race?

No Republican can name even one thing that qualifies. Over the last forty or fifty years they have proved that even their old superficially attractive tropes are entirely empty of meaning. Simply put, a lie, the con in conservative.

Individual freedom? Not really. Not for women. Not for minorities. For me only.

Fiscal or any other form of responsibility? Doesn't really matter, does it? Spend wildly on unnecessary wars, never admit mistakes, let the Dems try to clean up the mess you've left, obstruct their efforts and blame them for your failures...

What's left is who they really are, their every impulse toward the white superiority, religious zealotry and autocracy that moves and supports them, all buoyed by the overflowing sea of the dark money they are beholden to and have sworn to protect.

In that sense, Republicans are conservationists, ala Whitman perhaps. When it comes to the ocean of nastiness and greed they live in and for, they'll do anything they can to protect it.

[P.D. Pepe]

AK's "A couple of things. First, there is no Republican Party anymore. It’s a nasty horde of liars, traitors, racists, and violence prone thugs. There is also no Democrat Party. This is an expression used as an insult, and I categorically stop listening to anyone who uses it. It’s a shibboleth signaling that no matter how reasonable someone wants you to believe they are, at heart they are stone cold wingnut assholes."

YES!!!!!!!

[Jeanne]

AK—. I was listening too, when she said that—and even the commentator (Steve Inskeep?) was incredulous; he said, What is it you want Democrats to do? It simply indicates how insecure she is criticizing the Dumpies in her “party” and she just HAD to both-sides her opinion. Yeah, like there exists any “radical left” who would vote for or organize for ANY repug ever. Christine, fix your “party” and leave us out of it.

[Whyte Owen]

@P.D., I sent this essay yesterday to a sister who has an interest in Israeli politics, but after reading your comment on misplaced nostalgia for the '50's, realized it applies to much of the malaise on the right. Interesting piece in any case.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/10/10/the-collapse-of-liberal-zionism/

[Patrick]

Two of the stupidest concepts of the week:

1. Balance your classroom materials.
Holocaust: racial purity, protocols of the elders
Slavery: pre-industrial agicultural single crop maximization
Native American losses: increased availability of buffalo skin
Jim Crow: doubling sales of public facilities in the South (conceptually, anyway)
Civil War: War of Northern Aggression
Reconstruction: Redemption
Bad Nazis: Good Germans
Good Nazis: Bad Germans
New Deal: Gilded Age

2. Democrats should vote for Republicans in order to restore democracy. Also, gnus should trust crocodiles because they might be logs. Or something.

[Ken Winkes]

Patrick

Great list.

Would add: Climate change--longer growing seasons. The Arctic, the new breadbasket of the world.

All kinda Pythonish, isn't it? Always look on the bright side of life..err... death.

[Patrick]

And I forgot: that Texas HS library needs at least a Koran to put next to it's copy of the Bible.

Or, does it just need a shelf full of the different American approved Bible versions, including but not limited to

"... New International Version, King James Bible, The Message, Revised Standard Version, and English Standard Version, as well as more than 30 additional translations." https://www.biblestudytools.com/compare-translations/

I would guess that in Texas just making different versions of the Bible available would suffice, for balance.

But ... not those Catholic bibles, like Douay Rheims, or scholastic, like the Jerusalem Bible. Those contain heresies.

[citizen625]

Enough said: (Republicans) "horde of liars, traitors, racists, and violence prone thugs.

More Kirsten: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/what-does-kirsten-sinema-want-5-theories-independent-democrat-primary.html#comments.

Thanks for pointing out the Abramson opinion: Thomas knows he has nothing to lose if he tries to run the table of fascist determinism at the court. His patience is his greatest strength. Imagine a conversation between him and Nancy Pelosi....

[RAS]

Just last weekend Chuck Grassley the seven term, 88 year old, senator from the bland state of Iowa was bending the knee to Trump at his rally. Telling the cultists that he would be stupid not to start shooting people on 5th avenue if Donald told him to.
So yeah, no good Republicans.

[Akhilleus]

RAS,

Just think of the humiliation of ending your political career by prostrating yourself before a lying, adulterous, grifting, grafting traitor who wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.

That’s the entire Republican Party. A group that prides itself on strutting sieg heil manly manliness is nothing but a weenie-ass knitting needle auxiliary of running dog boot licking lackeys.