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The Ledes

Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Washington Post's liveblog of developments in the Francis Scott Key bridge collapse is here: “Divers recovered the bodies of two construction workers who died when a massive cargo ship struck and collapsed a Baltimore bridge, as investigators revealed Wednesday that hazardous material was leaking from breached containers on the stranded vessel and state and federal lawmakers rushed to begin the recovery from the disaster that crippled the Port of Baltimore. Rescue crews found the victims shortly before 10 a.m. trapped in a red pickup truck in about 25 feet of water in the Patapsco River near the mid-span of the hulking wreck of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, Maryland State Police Secretary Roland L. Butler Jr. said at a news conference. The conditions were treacherous for the divers, so Butler said they were suspending the search for the bodies of four other construction workers who plunged to their deaths when the container ship in distress struck the bridge shortly before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, causing it to fall.

“The workers are believed to be the only victims in the disaster.... The victims recovered were identified as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk, Md. Other victims identified Wednesday were Maynor Suazo Sandoval, 38, from Honduras, and Miguel Luna, from El Salvador, who was the father of three. The names of the remaining two victims have not been released.” ~~~

~~~ CNN's live updates are here.

The Wires
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The Ledes

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Washington Post: “As a cargo ship the size of a skyscraper drifted dangerously close to a major Baltimore bridge that carried more than 30,000 cars a day, the crew of the Dali issued an urgent 'mayday,' hoping to avert disaster Tuesday. First responders sprang into action, shutting down most traffic on the four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge just before the 95,000 gross-ton vessel plowed into a bridge piling at about 1:30 a.m., causing multiple sections of the span to bow and snap in a harrowing scene captured on video.... Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) hailed those who carried out the quick work as 'heroes' and said they saved lives, but the scale of the destruction was catastrophic and will probably have far-reaching impacts for the economy and travel on the East Coast for months to come.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here. CNN's live updates are here. ~~~

     ~~~ A Washington Post liveblog of developments is here: “Six people [-- bridge construction workers --] were presumed dead Tuesday evening, authorities announced as they shifted from a search and rescue operation to a recovery effort.... The governor declared a state of emergency, and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D) announced that the city has deployed its emergency operations plan. Vessel traffic into and out of the Port of Baltimore was 'suspended until further notice.'”

Public Service Announcement

The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705

The Hollywood Reporter has the full list of 2024 Oscar winners here.

Ryan Gosling performs "I'm Just Ken" at the Academy Awards: ~~~

Marie: If you don't like birthing stories, don't watch this video. But I thought it was pretty sweet -- and funny:

If you like Larry David, you may find this interview enjoyable:


Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Allison Hope comments in a CNN opinion piece:

~~~ Here's Chapman singing "Fast Car" at the Oakland Coliseum in December 1988. ~~~

~~~ Here's the full 2024 Grammy winner's list, via CBS.

He Shot the Messenger. Washington Post: “The Messenger is shutting down immediately, the news site’s founder told employees in an email Wednesday, marking the abrupt demise of one of the stranger and more expensive recent experiments in digital media. In his email, Jimmy Finkelstein said he was 'personally devastated' to announce that he had failed in a last-ditch effort to raise more money for the site, saying that he had been fundraising as recently as the night before. Finkelstein said the site, which launched last year with outsize ambitions and a mammoth $50 million budget, would close 'effective immediately.' The New York Times first reported the site’s closure late Wednesday afternoon, appearing to catch many staffers off-guard, including editor in chief Dan Wakeford. As employees read the news story, the internal work chat service Slack erupted in what one employee called 'pandemonium.'... Minutes later, as staffers read Finkelstein’s email, its message was underscored as they were forcibly logged out of their Slack accounts. Former Messenger reporter Jim LaPorta posted on social media that employees would not receive health care or severance.”

Washington Post: “The last known location of 'Portrait of Fräulein Lieser' by world-renowned Austrian artist Gustav Klimt was in Vienna in the mid-1920s. The vivid painting featuring a young woman was listed as property of a 'Mrs Lieser' — believed to be Henriette Lieser, who was deported and killed by the Nazis. The only remaining record of the work was a black and white photograph from 1925, around the time it was last exhibited, which was kept in the archives of the Austrian National Library. Now, almost 100 years later, this painting by one of the world’s most famous modernist artists is on display and up for sale — having been rediscovered in what the auction house has hailed as a sensational find.... It is unclear which member of the Lieser family is depicted in the piece[.]”

CNN: “Jon Stewart is heading back to 'The Daily Show.' The comedian, who during his 16-year run as host of the Comedy Central program established it as an entertainment and cultural force, will return to host the show each week on Mondays starting February 12, Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios announced Wednesday. Stewart, who returns as the 2024 presidential election season heats up, will also executive produce the show and work with a rotating line-up of comedians who will helm the program the rest of the week, Tuesdays through Thursdays.”

~~~ Marie: I don't know if this podcast will update automatically, or if I have to do it manually. In any event, both you and I can find the latest update of the published episodes here. The episodes begin with ads, but you can fast-forward through them.

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Constant Comments

A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. -- Edward R. Murrow

Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Saturday
Apr092022

April 10, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

From the New York Times' live updates of the French presidential election, also linked earlier today: "President Emmanuel Macron will face Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, in the runoff of France's presidential elections, according to projections based on preliminary ballot counts published by French polling agencies on Sunday at the close of voting. The projections, which may still shift but are generally a good indicator of the outcome, showed Mr. Macron leading with about 28.5 percent of the vote, and Ms. Le Pen in second place with 24.2 percent, after a late surge that reflected widespread disaffection over rising prices, security and immigration."

Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump's once iron-clad grip on the Republican Party appears to have weakened as prominent conservatives are openly griping about his endorsement of Dr. Mehmet Oz in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. But, um, some of the gripers are blaming Trump's staff, not Trump himself. "The ongoing need to blame everyone but Trump for Trump's own choices is striking given that Brooks, who Trump dumped, is one of those doing it," Maggie Haberman of the New York Times tweeted.

Texas. Giulia Heyward & Sophie Kasakove of the New York Times: "The murder charge against a woman in Texas in connection with a 'self-induced abortion' will be dismissed, a Texas district attorney announced Sunday. Gocha Allen Ramirez, the district attorney of Starr County, said in a statement that, after reviewing the case, he will file a motion on Monday to dismiss the indictment against the woman, Lizelle Herrera, 26. 'It is my hope that with the dismissal of this case it is made clear that Ms. Herrera did not commit a criminal act under the laws of the State of Texas,' Mr. Ramirez said."

Utah. Ed Scarce of Crooks & Liars: "... there were more proven instances of voter fraud among Salt Lake County Republicans than 'has been proven in Utah's entire 2020 election.' [From the (firewalled) Salt Lake Tribune:] 'For Salt Lake County Republicans, warnings of voter fraud came from inside the party on Saturday. The vote to nominate a GOP candidate for Salt Lake County Clerk was marred when a pair of delegates were caught attempting to vote more than once, with one extra vote making it into a ballot box at Saturday's county nominating convention.'" MB: In fairness to Republicans, perhaps one reason they're so "concerned" about voter fraud is that Republicans themselves are such cheaters. The vast majority of proven cases of intentional fraud during the 2020 election, as far as I recall, were Republicans, not Democrats, voting twice, voting for their dead relatives, voting in places they don't live (Mark Meadows). It's about projection.

Christina Zhao & Molly Roecker of NBC News: "Sixty-eight attendees have tested positive for Covid-19 after attending the Gridiron Dinner in Washington last weekend, including members of the Biden administration and reporters. Gridiron Club President Tom DeFrank said Saturday that the group had reported 67 cases out of the hundreds of people who attended. On Sunday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was also at the dinner, tested positive. This is the first that the Gridiron Dinner has taken place since 2019, before the pandemic."

Matt Schudel of the Washington Post: "Mimi Reinhard was being held at a Nazi concentration camp near Krakow, Poland, in 1944, but because she spoke flawless German and could take shorthand, she was allowed to work in the camp office. One of her jobs was to compile a list of Jewish prisoners working in factories owned by industrialist Oskar Schindler. Mrs. Reinhard, then known as Carmen Weitmann, typed the names of more than 1,000 Jewish people -- including her own and those of two friends -- to create what became known as 'Schindler's List.' She called herself a 'schreibkraft,' or typist.... As a result, she and more than 1,000 other Jews were saved from near-certain annihilation in the Nazi death camps of World War II. Mrs. Reinhard, who later became Schindler's secretary, has died in Israel at age 107."

Michael Schmidt & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The leaders of the House committee investigating the Capitol attack have grown divided over whether to make a criminal referral to the Justice Department of ... Donald J. Trump, even though they have concluded that they have enough evidence to do so, people involved in the discussions said. The debate centers on whether making a referral -- a largely symbolic act -- would backfire by politically tainting the Justice Department's expanding investigation into the Jan. 6 assault and what led up to it.... The shift in the committee's perspective on making a referral was prompted in part by a ruling two weeks ago by Judge David O. Carter of the Federal District Court for Central California ... found that it was 'more likely than not' that Mr. Trump and Mr. Eastman had committed federal crimes.... [Some committee members and staff felt that] the judge's decision would carry far greater weight with Mr. Garland than any referral letter they could write...." See Patrick's comment in today's thread. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. House Team Trump Is in the Dark. Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "One by one, Republicans eviscerated the work of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, each one bemoaning the fact that the chief congressional security officials had not been subpoenaed to examine that day's security lapses. Not interviewing these key officials was proof, they suggested, that the committee was just out to score political points against Republicans. Finally, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) shut down that line of debate on Wednesday with some information these Republicans did not seem to know. 'We have in fact interviewed precisely the people they set up as a test for the validity of our investigation,' Raskin said. Those top security officials 'didn't need a subpoena' to testify..., Raskin said. 'They came voluntarily.'... Dozens of GOP lawmakers are left in the dark about what evidence the committee has collected involving their own contacts with Trump and his senior advisers in the run up to, and during, the attack on the Capitol." And why don't Republicans know what's going on? -- Because Kevin McCarthy decided not to put any semi-rational members on the committee & he iced out the two Republicans who are on the committee. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is an example of how dumb House Republicans are. Story after story has emphasized the hundreds of people the committee has interviewed without need for subpoenaes. Yet somehow it doesn't occur to anyone on this team of bozos that security officials were among those hundreds of people who sat for interviews.

~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukrainian officials and their allies warned that Russian forces will likely target civilian areas in the east as Russia appointed a new battlefield commander accused of using scorched earth tactics in Syria. The general, Aleksandr V. Dvornikov, oversaw forces accused of bombing residential neighborhoods to break support for groups opposed to Syria's leader, Bashar al-Assad. Similar assaults have been reported in Ukraine in recent days.... Britain's defense intelligence service said Saturday that Russia's pullback from Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, revealed 'evidence of the disproportionate targeting of non-combatants.' And there are no signs Russian forces will change tactics." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Sunday are here: "Officials in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine this weekend urged residents to evacuate immediately, as shelling intensified amid Russia's shift to the country's east. Luhansk's governor, Serhiy Haidai, on Saturday said there were 'far fewer people' willing to evacuate after a missile strike on a railway station killed at least 52 people and injured 98. The shift east, away from Ukraine's largest cities, could prove challenging for Ukrainian troops and advantageous for Russian troops, who Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted last week are more skilled at fighting in rural terrain.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the international community to push harder against Moscow, specifically in refusing to buy Russian oil -- something the United States has done but Europe has resisted. In an address Saturday night, he said Russian oil and gas were the 'two sources of Russian self-confidence, and their sense of impunity.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Sunday are here.

Guardian & Agencies: "Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Russia is targeting all of Europe with its aggression and that stopping the invasion of Ukraine is essential for the security of all democracies.... In his late-night address to Ukrainians on Saturday, the Ukrainian president said Russian aggression 'was not intended to be limited to Ukraine alone' and the 'entire European project is a target for Russia.... That is why it is not just the moral duty of all democracies, all the forces of Europe, to support Ukraine's desire for peace,' he said. 'This is, in fact, a strategy of defence for every civilised state.'"

Luke Harding & Clea Skopeliti of the Guardian: U.K. Prime Minister "Boris Johnson is meeting the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy during an unannounced visit to Kyiv, Ukrainian officials have said. A picture posted on Twitter by the embassy of Ukraine to the UK showed the two leaders sitting across a table in the capital, with their respective flags in the background.... 'The prime minister has travelled to Ukraine to meet President Zelenskiy in person, in a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people,' [a No. 10] spokesperson said. 'They will discuss the UK's long-term support to Ukraine and the PM will set out a new package of financial and military aid.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Bethan McKernan & Toby Helm of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson made a surprise trip to Kyiv yesterday to meet the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, pledging a major new infusion of British arms and financial aid to help counter the expected deadly new phase in Russia's military offensive. After the meeting, the prime minister said: 'Ukraine has defied the odds and pushed back Russian forces from the gates of Kyiv, achieving the greatest feat of arms of the 21st century. It is because of president Zelenskiy's resolute leadership and the invincible heroism and courage of the Ukrainian people that Putin's monstrous aims are being thwarted.... We are stepping up our own military and economic support and convening a global alliance to bring this tragedy to an end, and ensure Ukraine survives and thrives as a free and sovereign nation.'"

Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "Slovakia's decision to provide Ukraine with a Soviet-era S-300 air defense unit, a move made with the blessing of the United States, represents a new phase in the war, as allied countries look to help the Ukrainian military hold off an expected offensive from a newly concentrated Russian force and better prepare for a potentially long conflict.... Now the allied governments have shown a willingness to send heavier weaponry more suited to the coming battle in Donbas, including tanks and longer-range defensive weapons such as the S-300s, a Russian-made surface-to-air system used mainly to attack enemy aircraft.... Kyiv's commanders now need better air defense systems and longer-range weapons than they currently have to defend the bulk of the Ukrainian army in the country's east. So far, the Biden administration has not been willing to provide weapons that would allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia, though some experts say that damaging Russian military airfields would improve Ukraine's chances of withstanding a renewed offensive." ~~~

     ~~~ Liz Sly & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The wide open spaces will make it harder for the Ukrainians to run guerrilla operations as they did in the forests of the north and west and play to Russia's ability to muster large mechanized formations of tanks and armored vehicles. But much will depend on whether the Russians can rectify the mistakes they made in the first phase of their invasion, ranging from the failure of supply lines, logistical challenges and poor planning to using insufficient manpower for the size of the area they were attempting to seize, analysts say."

Cara Anna of the AP reports on a walk-through of Bucha, Ukraine, "part of an ongoing investigation from The Associated Press and Frontline that includes the War Crimes Watch Ukraine interactive experience and an upcoming documentary." Very hard to read.

I Had a Dream: ~~~

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. No, There Will Not Be a Better Fox "News." Sarah Ellison & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "In a speech in Sydney celebrating a new initiative at a conservative think tank, Lachlan Murdoch -- now 50 and the co-chairman of the family's News Corp., which owns the Wall Street Journal and New York Post, and chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation -- took swipes at the 'elites' whom he believes disdain traditional values. He also blasted governments for imposing mandates and business shutdowns to control the pandemic and alleged conspiratorially that 'practically all the media suppressed the discovery of Hunter Biden's laptop.' It was a monologue that could have fit in seamlessly with the lineup of right-wing commentary served up every night by Fox News's prime time opinion hosts.... And he echoed the culture-war battles raging on cable news over school curriculums by painting a dire picture of what he sees happening in Australia." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm just noticing that SNL joke journalism is more accurate than Fox "News" fake journalism.

Beyond the Beltway

Pennsylvania Senate Race. Craven Phonies Stick Together. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Wading into a tight Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania..., Donald J. Trump endorsed Mehmet Oz on Saturday, throwing his weight behind the former star of 'The Dr. Oz Show,' who has been attacked by rivals as a closet liberal. Dr. Oz's celebrity appears to have been a deciding factor for the former president, whose own political career was grounded in reality television." Politico's story is here.

Puerto Rico. Coral Marcos of the New York Times: "Power has been restored to 90 percent of Puerto Rico, according to the island's power operator, though more than 200,000 residents remained without electricity on Saturday, three days after the outage began.... But ... many customers across the island who saw their power get turned back on were still experiencing service disruptions.... The outage, which started on Wednesday after a fire at one of Luma's largest power plants, is only the latest in a series of problems with the island's energy grid that has persisted for years."

Texas. Pablo De La Rosa, et al., of Texas Public Radio: "Police in Starr County on the Texas-Mexico border have arrested and charged a woman with murder for allegedly performing what they called a 'self-induced abortion.' The Starr County Sheriff's Office arrested 26-year-old Lizelle Herrera on Thursday. TPR confirmed Friday night that Herrera was in the custody of the Starr County Sheriff's Office with bond set at $500,000. By Saturday night, Herrera was released from custody." Saturday at 8:30 pm ET this was a developing story. According to an AP story, "It's unclear whether Lizelle Herrera is accused of having an abortion or whether she helped someone else get an abortion."

Virginia. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "A Republican official in Virginia is refusing to step down after a racist Facebook post he apparently authored last year surfaced recently. The post attributed to Hampton, Virginia Electoral Board Chair David Dietrich was added to the platform in February 2021 and is just coming into public view for some reason. The post appeared to be prompted by an effort by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, to expunge White supremacists and other far-right elements in the United States military. Dietrich specifically mentioned Austin, who is Black, and claimed the measure was in fact a plot 'to remove conservative, freedom-loving Americans from the roles.' He added, 'These so-called "leaders" are so vile and racist, there's no way to describe them other than in terms their own people understand. They are nothing more than dirty, stinking ni***rs....'"

Way Beyond

France. The New York Times is live-updating developments Sunday in France's presidential race. The first round of voting is today.

Pakistan. Christina Goldbaum & Salman Masood of the New York Times: "Imran Khan, the former international cricket star turned politician who oversaw a new era of Pakistan's foreign policy that distanced the country from the United States, was removed as prime minister early on Sunday after losing a no-confidence vote in Parliament. The vote, coming amid soaring inflation and a rift between Mr. Khan's government and the military, capped a political crisis that has embroiled the country for weeks and came down to the wire in a parliamentary session that dragged into the early morning hours. Pakistan remains in a state of turmoil as it heads into an early election season in the coming months. The recent crisis has charged the country's already polarized political climate and has exacerbated tensions between civilian institutions and the country's powerful military establishment." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A BBC News story is here.

Friday
Apr082022

April 9, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Christina Goldbaum & Salman Masood of the New York Times: "Imran Khan, the former international cricket star turned politician who oversaw a new era of Pakistan's foreign policy that distanced the country from the United States, was removed as prime minister early on Sunday after losing a no-confidence vote in Parliament. The vote, coming amid soaring inflation and a rift between Mr. Khan's government and the military, capped a political crisis that has embroiled the country for weeks and came down to the wire in a parliamentary session that dragged into the early morning hours. Pakistan remains in a state of turmoil as it heads into an early election season in the coming months. The recent crisis has charged the country's already polarized political climate and has exacerbated tensions between civilian institutions and the country's powerful military establishment."

Luke Harding & Clea Skopeliti of the Guardian: U.K. Prime Minister “Boris Johnson is meeting the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy during an unannounced visit to Kyiv, Ukrainian officials have said. A picture posted on Twitter by the embassy of Ukraine to the UK showed the two leaders sitting across a table in the capital, with their respective flags in the background.... 'The prime minister has travelled to Ukraine to meet President Zelenskiy in person, in a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people,' [a No. 10] spokesperson said. 'They will discuss the UK's long-term support to Ukraine and the PM will set out a new package of financial and military aid.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Residents of eastern Ukraine were coming to terms Saturday with the aftermath of a missile attack on a railway station that killed at least 50 people and injured scores of others who were caught in the line of fire while trying to flee the region at the urgent warning of local officials. Friday's attack at the station in Kramatorsk, which killed children and left behind a gruesome scene of bodies scattered between suitcases, is the latest Russian action that should be investigated by a war-crimes tribunal, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in his nightly address.... A chorus of world leaders, including President Biden and President Emmanuel Macron of France, condemned the attack.... Mr. Zelensky said he discussed the possibility of a special tribunal with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who visited Kyiv on Friday and surveyed a mass grave in the suburban city of Bucha....

"Slovakia supplied Ukraine with an S-300 air defense system to help defend against Russian missiles and airstrikes, the country's prime minister, Eduard Heger, said during a visit to Kyiv. The United States sent a U.S. Patriot missile system to Slovakia as a replacement for its own defenses to enable the transfer.... Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain announced fresh shipments to Ukraine of an antiaircraft missile system, known as Starstreak, and 800 antitank missiles. The defense minister, Ben Wallace, said Britain would also provide Ukraine with armored vehicles." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Saturday are here: "More than 6,600 people fled from embattled areas in [eastern and southern Ukraine] via humanitarian corridors Friday, according to Kyiv, the highest count this week. The evacuations came as Russia dispatches thousands more troops to eastern Ukraine, according to Washington, suggesting fighting there would intensify. The Kremlin is also concentrating air attacks on southern and eastern Ukraine, the Pentagon said, with Russian planes flying some 240 sorties daily. But some Russian forces deploying east are likely to have already incurred heavy losses, according to U.S. assessment. Combat ahead will be a 'knife fight ... very bloody and very ugly,' a senior U.S. defense official said." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here: "A Ukrainian government minister has said she expects Ukraine to be granted EU candidate country status in June. Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine's deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, said her country was 'ready to move fast' with its application to become a member of the European Union. Her remarks come a day after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, pledged to offer a speedy response to Ukraine's bid for bloc membership. At a joint news conference with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Von der Leyen handed the Ukrainian president a questionnaire that will form a starting point for a decision on membership, saying: 'It will not as usual be a matter of years to form this opinion but, I think, a matter of weeks.'"

The Arrogance of the Depraved. The Hill: "A Russian missile that struck a train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine -- killing at least 50 -- had a Russian phrase scribbled on its side that translated to 'for the children.'... In the Kramatorsk strike, 5 children were among the 50 people killed. One hundred people were injured. Ukraine's prosecutor general's office said women and children made up a majority of the nearly 4,000 people who were taking shelter inside the station, according to the BBC. The train station was being used to assist in civilian evacuations."

Thomas Gibbons-Neff & John Ismay of the New York Times: Via rockets, Russians are shooting PTM-1S land mines, a type of scatterable munition, into parts of Ukraine. "The weapons roar in like any rocket, but instead of exploding instantly, they eject up to two dozen mines that explode at intervals, parceling out death in the hours afterward.... These scatterable mines, banned under some interpretations of international law and never officially recorded during this war, have appeared only sparingly in Bezruky and elsewhere in the periphery of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.... The mines are green tubes about the size of a liter of soda, packed with three pounds of explosives."

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Speaking after [a meeting between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson & German Chancellor Olaf Scholz], Mr. Johnson said Germany had committed to weaning itself off Russian energy, even if the European Union has rejected British calls for a clear timetable to eliminate imports of Russian gas.... Britain, under Mr. Johnson, has staked out the most aggressive role of any major European power in its support for Ukraine and its condemnation of Russia. Yet its influence on Germany and France is questionable, given that Britain, having left the European Union, no longer has a seat at the table in Brussels.... For Mr. Scholz, the economic and political costs of cutting off Russian gas outweigh anything Mr. Johnson can say to him." ~~~

~~~ Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Vladimir Putin's war of aggression runs on the money Russia gets by selling fossil fuels to Europe.... Putin won't be definitively stopped until Europe ends its energy dependence. Which means that Germany -- whose political and business leaders insist that they can't do without Russian natural gas, even though many of its own economists disagree -- has in effect become Putin's prime enabler. This is shameful; it is also incredibly hypocritical given recent German history.... Germany has been warned for decades about the risks of becoming dependent on Russian gas. But its leaders, focused on the short-run benefits of cheap energy, ignored those warnings. On the eve of the Ukraine war, 55 percent of German gas came from Russia.... One member of the German Council of Economic Experts ... [said that] an embargo on Russian gas would be difficult but 'feasible.'... German industrialists refuse to accept economists' estimates, insisting that a gas embargo would indeed be catastrophic.... Unfortunately, Germany's political leaders, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have taken the side of the scaremongers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Stupid AND Depraved. Andrew Kramer & Ivor Prickett of the New York Times: "As the staging ground for an assault on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, one of the most toxic places on earth, was probably not the best choice. But that did not seem to bother the Russian generals who took over the site in the early stages of the war. 'We told them not to do it, that it was dangerous, but they ignored us,' Valeriy Simyonov, the chief safety engineer for the Chernobyl nuclear site, said in an interview. Apparently undeterred by safety concerns, the Russian forces tramped about the grounds with bulldozers and tanks, digging trenches and bunkers -- and exposing themselves to potentially harmful doses of radiation lingering beneath the surface.... The soldiers had apparently camped out for weeks in the radioactive forest.... As they retreated from Chernobyl, Russian troops blew up a bridge in the exclusion zone and planted a dense maze of anti-personnel mines, trip wires and booby traps around the defunct station. Two Ukrainian soldiers have stepped on mines in the past week, according to the Ukrainian government agency that manages the site."

You're Paying for Elon Musk's "Charitable" Gifts & PR. Cristiano Lima of the Washington Post: "After Russia launched its invasion, Ukrainian officials publicly pleaded for Elon Musk's SpaceX to dispatch their Starlink terminals to the region to boost Internet access. 'Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route,' Musk replied to broad online fanfare. Since then, the company has cast the actions in part as a charitable gesture. 'I'm proud that we were able to provide the terminals to folks in Ukraine,' SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said at a public event last month, later telling CNBC, 'I don't think the U.S. has given us any money to give terminals to the Ukraine.' But according to documents obtained by The Technology 202, the U.S. federal government is in fact paying millions for a significant portion of the equipment and for the transportation costs to get it to Ukraine On Tuesday, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced it has purchased 1,333 terminals from SpaceX to send to Ukraine, while the company donated 3,667 terminals and the Internet service itself." Emphasis original. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)


Katie Rogers
of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday basked in the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, hailing what he called a moment of 'real change' in American history as he and his supporters celebrated the ascension of the first Black woman to the court. Flanked by Judge Jackson and Vice President Kamala Harris -- the first Black woman to hold her role and whom he called the first 'smart' decision of his presidency -- Mr. Biden said the judge's confirmation had changed not only his own trajectory but the course of American life itself.... Mr. Biden said on Friday that Judge Jackson had endured 'verbal abuse' and 'vile' personal attacks but had shown poise through more than 20 hours of questioning in confirmation hearings that at times turned bruising.... In her remarks, Judge Jackson ... recalled substantive meetings with 97 senators and thanked them for their role in the nomination process, providing a graceful coda to hours of televised interactions with senators who had often acted emotionally as they questioned her." MB: "Emotionally"? How about with rancor, lies, abuse, character assassination, racism & misogyny? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Video of the remarks is here. A Guardian story is here. Politico's story is here.

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "... there's nothing that [soon-to-be Justice Jackson] or the other liberals on the court (or Chief Justice John Roberts, for that matter) can do to restrain a hard-right conservative majority that seeks to unravel what's left of postwar jurisprudence.... The liberal mythology around the Supreme Court -- the idea that it stands in defense of marginalized groups and underrepresented minorities -- took shape when the court changed to meet the demands of the New Deal and the postwar welfare state.... In the hands of the current conservative majority, the court will most likely remain a defender of minority rights that adjudicates social and political conflict. But rather than marginal and oppressed minorities, this court will turn its attention to the interests and prerogatives of powerful political minorities -- you might call them factions -- that seek to dominate others free of federal interference.... Large corporations, right-wing activists and conservative religious groups ... will approach the court knowing a majority of justices are almost certainly on their side." An interesting read, all the way through.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) has had enough of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Hypocrite):

     ~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Schatz ripped ...[Hawley] over his hold on a senior staffing nominee to the Defense Department, even as the United States is calibrating its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.... [Hawley's] arguments are saturated in almost bottomless levels of bad faith. That's the real topic of Schatz's tirade.... Beyond this, Schatz noted that it's absurd to use these differences as an excuse to apply a hold, especially given Hawley's vote against a spending bill that contained billions in military aid to Ukraine sought by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. And Schatz derided the call for [Defense Secretary Lloyd] Austin to resign as ludicrous grandstanding.... 'Spare me the new solidarity with the Ukrainians,' Schatz said of Hawley on the floor. 'Because this man's record is exactly the opposite.'" Sargent writes that Democrats don't call out Republican absurdities nearly enough. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** The Coup Plot Was Born Before the Election Was Called. Ryan Nobles, et al., of CNN: "Two days after the 2020 presidential election, as votes were still being tallied, Donald Trump's eldest son texted then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that 'we have operational control' to ensure his father would get a second term, with Republican majorities in the US Senate and swing state legislatures.... In the text, which has not been previously reported, Donald Trump Jr. lays out ideas for keeping his father in power by subverting the Electoral College process, according to the message reviewed by CNN. The text is among records obtained by the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021. 'It's very simple,' Trump Jr. texted to Meadows on November 5, adding later in the same missive: 'We have multiple paths We control them all.'... The November 5 text message outlines a strategy that is nearly identical to what allies of the former President attempted to carry out in the months that followed. Trump Jr. makes specific reference to filing lawsuits and advocating recounts to prevent certain swing states from certifying their results, as well as having a handful of Republican state houses put forward slates of fake 'Trump electors.' If all that failed, according to the Trump Jr. text, GOP lawmakers in Congress could simply vote to reinstall Trump as President on January 6."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Ali Alexander, a prominent organizer of pro-Trump events after the 2020 election, has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department's investigation of the attack on the Capitol last year, the first high-profile political figure known to have offered assistance to the government's newly expanded criminal inquiry. Speaking through a lawyer, Mr. Alexander said on Friday that he had recently received a subpoena from a federal grand jury that is seeking information on several broad categories of people connected to pro-Trump rallies that took place in Washington after the election." A Guardian story is here.

Tom Jackman & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A North Carolina man [-- Charles Donohue --] who was one of the leaders of the far-right Proud Boys as they assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, pleaded guilty Friday to two felony counts with a minimum sentence of nearly six years in prison and agreed to cooperate against other defendants in hopes of getting a lighter sentence. Court records filed Friday show he has provided numerous insights into the group's plans and intention to disrupt the electoral vote confirmation.... Donohoe, 34, of Kernersville, N.C., admitted to conspiring to help organize an attack on Congress by supporters of ... Donald Trump and to assaulting law enforcement officers. Donohoe is the first among six of the charged Proud Boys leaders, including chairman Enrique Tarrio, to admit to planning an attack on Congress and assaulting law enforcement officers." CNN's story is here.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge has informed a defendant in the highest-profile conspiracy cases stemming from the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol that he will need to find a new attorney because his lawyer has been disbarred. During a hearing Friday in the seditious conspiracy case against 10 alleged leaders and members of the Oath Keepers militia, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta informed defendant Kelly Meggs that lawyer Jonathon Moseley cannot continue to defend him as a result of an action a panel of Virginia judges took last week to revoke Moseley's right to practice law in that state. Politico first reported Tuesday that Moseley, who also represents other individuals in Jan.6-related litigation, had been disbarred in the state following a disciplinary hearing in Virginia's Prince William County last week.... Meggs, who was a leader of the Oath Keepers' Florida chapter, complained that finding a new attorney will be all but impossible due to restrictions on prisoners at the D.C. Jail.... Mehta said he would reach out to officials at the jail to see if restrictions on Meggs' phone use can be relaxed." ~~~

     ~~~ P.S. Some Judges Keep Up with the News. From Gerstein's report: “Mehta indicated that Moseley sought to have the portion of Friday's hearing about his disbarment held under seal, but the judge rejected that. He said the bar action had drawn public attention and wasn't much of a secret at this point. 'There has been public reporting about your circumstances. I've read a number of articles about it,' said Mehta."

We're Crooks, We're Crooks, We're Crookedy-Crooked Crooks. Matthew Lee of the AP: "The State Department says it is unable to compile a complete and accurate accounting of gifts presented to ... Donald Trump and other U.S. officials by foreign governments during Trump's final year in office, citing missing data from the White House. In a report to be published in the Federal Register next week, the department says the Executive Office of the President did not submit information about gifts received by Trump and his family from foreign leaders in 2020. It also says the General Services Administration didn't submit information about gifts given to former Vice President Mike Pence and White House staffers that year. The State Department said it sought the missing information from National Archives and Records Administration and the General Services Administration, but was told that 'potentially relevant records' are not available because of access restrictions related to retired records.... [The report] also noted that there had been a 'lack of adequate recordkeeping pertaining to diplomatic gifts' betwee" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "A Canadian steel industry billionaire illegally helped steer $1.75 million in donations to a pro-Trump super PAC and has agreed to pay one of the largest fines ever levied by the Federal Election Commission to settle the case, the commission said on Friday. The $975,000 fine will be paid by entities controlled by Barry Zekelman, a steel industry executive from Ontario who had lobbied the Trump administration to use its power to tighten import restrictions on Mr. Zekelman's competitors from around the world. The action came as the election commission continues a multiyear crackdown on foreign influence in American politics. Mr. Zekelman's donations in 2018 to the America First Action super PAC helped him secure an invitation to a private dinner with ... Donald J. Trump at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, where Mr. Zekelman personally pushed Mr. Trump about the steel tariffs and other matters.... Mr. Zekelman, in a settlement deal that his lawyer signed in late March but that was finalized on Friday, also agreed to ask America First Action, which helped support Mr. Trump's 2020 election efforts, to return the donated money, or to redirect it to the U.S. Treasury." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Ha ha. Good luck with that. These are crookedy-crooked crooks, and they don't just cheerfully return ill-gotten gains.

A Bronx Cheer for Trump. Michael Gold of the New York Times: "The Trump Organization can continue to operate a city-owned golf course in the Bronx after a judge ruled on Friday that New York City had wrongly terminated the company's contract following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol in Washington. New York City moved to cancel the lucrative contract at the course, the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, just days after the attacks on the Capitol last year...." Politico's story is here.

Little by Little. Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: "Employees at six more Starbucks coffee shops in Upstate New York voted to unionize Thursday and Friday, delivering a string of wins for the nascent organization effort at one of America's most ubiquitous coffee retailers. Workers United, a labor union affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, announced Thursday afternoon that two stores in Rochester and another in Buffalo had voted in its favor. Then on Friday afternoon the National Labor Relations Board confirmed that workers at three more coffee shops, in Ithaca, N.Y., voted overwhelmingly to form a union, bringing the number of unionized company-owned stores to 16 out of almost 9,000."

Karen Weise of the New York Times: "Amazon objected on Friday to a landmark union election at its Staten Island fulfillment center, saying an upstart union's unorthodox tactics there crossed legal lines, according to a copy of its filing to the National Labor Relations Board obtained by The New York Times. The company argued that the result should be thrown out because the labor board had conducted the election in a way that favored the union and members of the union had coerced workers into supporting their cause."

Extreme Tourism. Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: "A crew comprised entirely of private citizens blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center on a flight to the International Space Station Friday morning, marking yet another milestone in the evolution of human spaceflight and the growth of the commercial space sector. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 11:17 a.m., carrying three wealthy entrepreneurs, each of whom paid $55 million for the mission, and a former NASA astronaut, who is serving as their guide. While private citizens have for years flown to the space station on Russian rockets, the mission -- which was commissioned by Axiom Space, a Houston-based company -- is the first all-private mission to the station. It also is the first time private citizens have flown to the station from American soil." The Guardian's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I suppose there is some minimal value to sending these super-rich bozos into space (like maybe finding out how the bodies of super-rich bozos react to weightlessness or whatever), but there are better places for super-rich bozos to deposit their money, one of them being into the coffers of the U.S. Treasury.


From the New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday: "At least 53 people have tested positive for the coronavirus since attending The Gridiron Club and Foundation's annual dinner last Saturday in Washington, the group's president confirmed on Friday. The Gridiron Club dinner, an annual white-tie roast between journalists and presidential administrations, was held at the Renaissance Hotel. But a night of good-natured ribbing has devolved into an outbreak of cases among Washington's elite, including members of Congress, members of the president's cabinet and journalists."

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Rick Rojas of the New York Times: "Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama signed legislation on Friday that prevents medical professionals from providing care that aids transgender young people in transitioning, adopting some of the country's most restrictive measures and threatening doctors and nurses with up to 10 years in prison. Ms. Ivey, a Republican, also approved legislation that requires students to use restrooms and locker rooms for the sex listed on their original birth certificates. It also limits classroom discussions on gender and sexual orientation -- a version of what critics call a 'Don't Say Gay' measure that goes further than some other states.... Legal challenges are being prepared by the Transgender Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union, among other groups, to stop the legislation from being carried out. Last year, a federal court blocked Arkansas from enforcing a similar law." (See yesterday's page for related link to related story (and the link to that story is fixed.) The Guardian's report is here.

California. Anemona Hartocollis of the New York Times: "A federal jury found a former water polo coach at the University of Southern California guilty on Friday of taking thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for designating high school applicants as recruits so they would be favored in the college admissions process. The defendant, Jovan Vavic, has been the only coach to stand trial rather than take a guilty plea in the federal investigation known as Operation Varsity Blues, in which wealthy parents paid bribes to have their children admitted to elite schools. Mr. Vavic was a star at U.S.C. who had stewarded the men's and women's water polo teams to 16 national championships.... Prosecutors ... said that Mr. Vavic received more than $200,000 in bribes from William Singer, a college admissions consultant to the rich, in exchange for facilitating the recruitment of athletes with trumped-up credentials.... [The U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case, Rachel] Rollins, said the verdict resolved all the cases connected to Mr. Singer, with 54 convictions, one deferred prosecution agreement and one person pardoned by ... Donald J. Trump."

Idaho. AP: "The Idaho Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a new state law that would ban abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and allow the law to be enforced through lawsuits. Idaho last month had become the first state to enact legislation modeled after the Texas statute banning abortions after about six weeks. The ruling from Idaho's high court in a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood means the new law won't go into effect as planned on April 22. The state Supreme Court instructed both sides to file further briefs as it considers the case before its ultimate decision."

Michigan. Josh Flesher & Ed White of the AP: "Two of four men were acquitted Friday in a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, motivated by fury at the Democrat's tough COVID-19 restrictions early in the pandemic. The jury's verdicts against Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were read in the federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the case presided over by U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker. Jurors said they couldn't agree on verdicts again Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. Prosecutors described Fox as a ringleader of an anti-government group. Fox, Croft and Harris faced additional charges. The two most serious charges, kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to use explosives, both carry potential life sentences. Defense attorneys portrayed their clients as credulous weekend warriors prone to big, wild talk, who were often stoned. They said FBI undercover agents and informants tricked and cajoled the men into agreeing to a conspiracy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Detroit Free Press story is here. MB: I guess you can't convict right-wing white terrorists in upstate Wisconsin.

Way Beyond

France. Jonathan Lemire of Politico: "The White House has begun to harbor fears that Vladimir Putin could soon notch his biggest victory of Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- in Paris. There is growing concern within President Joe Biden's administration about the narrowing polls in the French presidential election that show a tight race between incumbent Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen. A possible victory by Le Pen, a Putin sympathizer, could destabilize the Western coalition against Moscow, upending France's role as a leading European power and potentially giving other NATO leaders cold feet about staying in the alliance, according to three senior administration officials not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations."

Thursday
Apr072022

April 8, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Josh Flesher & Ed White of the AP: "Two of four men were acquitted Friday in a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, motivated by fury at the Democrat's tough COVID-19 restrictions early in the pandemic. The jury's verdicts against Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were read in the federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the case presided over by U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker. Jurors said they couldn't agree on verdicts again Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. Prosecutors described Fox as a ringleader of an anti-government group. Fox, Croft and Harris faced additional charges. The two most serious charges, kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to use explosives, both carry potential life sentences. Defense attorneys portrayed their clients as credulous weekend warriors prone to big, wild talk, who were often stoned. They said FBI undercover agents and informants tricked and cajoled the men into agreeing to a conspiracy." MB: I guess you can't convict right-wing white terrorists in upstate Wisconsin.

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday basked in the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, hailing what he called a moment of 'real change' in American history as he and his supporters celebrated the ascension of the first Black woman to the court. Flanked by Judge Jackson and Vice President Kamala Harris -- the first Black woman to hold her role and whom he called the first 'smart' decision of his presidency -- Mr. Biden said the judge's confirmation had changed not only his own trajectory but the course of American life itself.... In her remarks, Judge Jackson ... recalled substantive meetings with 97 senators and thanked them for their role in the nomination process, providing a graceful coda to hours of televised interactions with senators who had often acted emotionally as they questioned her." MB: "Emotionally"? How about with rancor, lies, character assassination, racism & misogyny?

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) has had enough of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Hypocrite):

     ~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Schatz ripped ...[Hawley] over his hold on a senior staffing nominee to the Defense Department, even as the United States is calibrating its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.... [Hawley's] arguments are saturated in almost bottomless levels of bad faith. That's the real topic of Schatz's tirade.... Beyond this, Schatz noted that it's absurd to use these differences as an excuse to apply a hold, especially given Hawley's vote against a spending bill that contained billions in military aid to Ukraine sought by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. And Schatz derided the call for [Defense Secretary Lloyd] Austin to resign as ludicrous grandstanding.... 'Spare me the new solidarity with the Ukrainians,' Schatz said of Hawley.... 'Because this man's record is exactly the opposite.'" Sargent writes that Democrats don't call out Republican absurdities nearly enough.

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Vladimir Putin's war of aggression runs on the money Russia gets by selling fossil fuels to Europe.... Putin won't be definitively stopped until Europe ends its energy dependence. Which means that Germany -- whose political and business leaders insist that they can't do without Russian natural gas, even though many of its own economists disagree -- has in effect become Putin's prime enabler. This is shameful; it is also incredibly hypocritical given recent German history.... Germany has been warned for decades about the risks of becoming dependent on Russian gas. But its leaders, focused on the short-run benefits of cheap energy, ignored those warnings. On the eve of the Ukraine war, 55 percent of German gas came from Russia.... One member of the German Council of Economic Experts ... [said that] an embargo on Russian gas would be difficult but 'feasible.'... German industrialists refuse to accept economists' estimates, insisting that a gas embargo would indeed be catastrophic.... Unfortunately, Germany's political leaders, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have taken the side of the scaremongers."

You're Paying for Elon Musk's "Charitable" Gifts & PR. Cristiano Lima of the Washington Post: "After Russia launched its invasion, Ukrainian officials publicly pleaded for Elon Musk's SpaceX to dispatch their Starlink terminals to the region to boost Internet access. 'Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route,' Musk replied to broad online fanfare. Since then, the company has cast the actions in part as a charitable gesture. 'I'm proud that we were able to provide the terminals to folks in Ukraine,' SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said at a public event last month, later telling CNBC, 'I don't think the U.S. has given us any money to give terminals to the Ukraine.' But according to documents obtained by The Technology 202, the U.S. federal government is in fact paying millions for a significant portion of the equipment and for the transportation costs to get it to Ukraine. On Tuesday, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced it has purchased 1,333 terminals from SpaceX to send to Ukraine, while the company donated 3,667 terminals and the Internet service itself." Emphasis original.

~~~~~~~~~~

President Biden & Judge Jackson watched the confirmation vote together in the White House. New York Times photo. ~~~ Mike DeBonis, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Senate voted Thursday to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, felling one of the most significant remaining racial barriers in American government and sending the first Democratic nominee to the high court in 12 years. Jackson, a daughter of schoolteachers who has risen steadily through America's elite legal ranks, will become the first Black woman to sit on the court and only the eighth who is not a White man. She will replace Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer after the Supreme Court's term ends in late June or early July. Thursday's 53-47 vote represents the culmination of a six-week whirlwind confirmation process for the 51-year-old federal appeals judge." This is an update of a story linked earlier. Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) The AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Carl Hulse & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The vote was a rejection of Republican attempts to paint her as a liberal extremist who had coddled criminals. Dismissing those portrayals as distorted and offensive, Judge Jackson's backers saw the confirmation as an uplifting occasion for the Senate and a mark of how far the country had come.... At the Capitol, the galleries, closed for much of the pandemic, were filled with supporters on hand to witness the historic vote. The chamber erupted in cheers, with senators, staff and visitors all jumping to their feet for a lengthy standing ovation, when the vote was announced.... As applause echoed from the marbled walls, Senator Mitch McConnell ... turned his back and slowly walked out, as did most of the few Republicans remaining on the floor.... At the White House, Mr. Biden and Judge Jackson watched the vote together from the Roosevelt Room, embracing and taking selfies in front of a television screen displaying the final vote count." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That doofus Rand Paul held up the vote for a good ten minutes while he was finishing his lunch or vacuuming his head rug or something. Update: It turns out the "real reason" Li'l Randy couldn't show up to cast his vote, according to Ari Melber of MSNBC, was just as ridiculous of the ones I made up: he wasn't wearing a tie, and well, the gentlemen of the Senate must wear ties in the chamber. Is in possible that every male Senate page & staffer roaming the halls of power dislikes Rand Paul so much that not one would lend him a tie? Is it possible Dandy Randy doesn't keep an extra tie or two in his office in case he dribbles Senate bean soup on the one he is wearing? Is it possible it takes Rand ten minutes to tie his tie? Or what? (Also linked yesterday.) Update 2: Hulse & Karni of the NYT (linked above) elaborate: "By Thursday, the outcome of the vote was not in doubt, but it dragged on for almost 30 minutes because Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, was not present on the floor. Once he had arrived, Mr. Paul cast his 'no' vote from the Senate cloak room because he was dressed too casually to meet the jacket-and-tie dress code for the chamber." But maybe it's wrong to pick on Senator Randy for his attire. Here he was, quite a few years back, dressed for a teevee interview. ~~~

Not Photoshopped.

     ~~~ The New York Times live-updated proceedings here: "Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to hold the position and one of just 11 Black senators in American history, presided over the vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court -- one historic figure presiding over the elevation of another. But no Black woman had the opportunity to vote for the barrier-breaking nominee: None is currently a member of the 100-person chamber, which includes three Black men.... ~~~

~~~ "Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, used his floor time before the votes on Thursday to argue against confirming Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.... 'alas, Judge Jackson was the court-packers' favorite pick for the vacancy, and she ... said she'd be thrilled to be one of however many -- one of however many.'... The context, which Mr. McConnell omitted, was that she pointed out that Congress, not the judiciary, decides how many seats should be on the Supreme Court.... 'I don't think it's appropriate for me as a nominee to comment on a political matter that is in the province of Congress,. she said.... She also noted that Justice Amy Coney Barrett had similarly evaded answering the question during her confirmation hearing in 2020, citing the same rationale. Several other Republican senators who are not expected to make floor arguments on Thursday -- like Richard M. Burr of North Carolina -- have also justified their decision to vote against her by raising alarms about her demurral when asked whether she would personally support expanding, or 'packing,' the Supreme Court." MB: What dickheads! (Also linked yesterday.)

Erin Doherty of Axios: "Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that he won't commit to hearings for a potential Supreme Court nominee if he's the Senate Majority Leader leading up to the 2024 election.... The Senate minority leader told Axios' Jonathan Swan that he won't 'put the cart before the horse,' but would expect President Biden to moderate if Republicans retake Congress." MB: Gosh, I'm sure Mitch will play fair. (Also linked yesterday.) More on Mitch linked below.

Anita Hill in a Washington Post op-ed: "The shameful spectacle of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson makes clear: The confirmation process is broken and the panel must act to restore people's faith in it.... A confirmation hearing should be about learning how a person will judge, not how well she handles specious browbeating.... I know something about being mistreated by the Senate Judiciary Committee. During the confirmation hearing for Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991, I was subjected to attacks on my intelligence, truthfulness and even my sanity when I testified about my experience working for the nominee.... Critics of Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan were also allowed to lob racially and gender-tinged attacks during their hearings." MB: As long as there are Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, there will be a "shameful spectacle." (Also linked yesterday.)

Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "A Russian strike on a crowded train station in [Kramatorsk,] eastern Ukraine on Friday morning left at least 39 people dead and nearly 90 wounded, Ukrainian officials said, in what appeared to be a major attack on a main point of evacuation for thousands trying to flee before an expected stepped-up offensive in the region.... The mayor of Kramatorsk said there were 4,000 people at the city's railway station in eastern Ukraine at the time of the attack, and that most were women, children and older people.... Photos provided by Ukrainian officials showed people splayed on the ground, surrounded by scattered luggage and debris.... President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine warned in a speech late Thursday that the scale of devastation in the southeastern city of Mariupol, which has been bombarded for weeks, was likely to be even greater [than have been depicted so far].... On Friday, the European Union formally approved a new set of sanctions against Russia, including a ban on coal imports, as well as sanctions against high-profile Russians and two daughters of ... Vladimir V. Putin. It is the bloc's fifth round of sanctions since the war began.... The Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said in an interview with Sky News on Thursday that Russia had suffered 'significant losses of troops,' which he called 'a huge tragedy.' It was a stark official acknowledgment of the scale of Russian losses." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here: Re: the Kramatorsk train station massacre, "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of 'cynically destroying the civilian population,' amid battlefield losses, adding: 'This is an evil that has no limits.' The Russian Defense Ministry denied any involvement in the strike, calling the accusations a 'provocation' and insinuating that Kyiv was responsible. The deadly strike came as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. She made the trip a day after the European Union approved a plan to phase out Russian coal by mid-August, a move spurred by global outrage after the brutal slaying of civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.... A British intelligence assessment Friday said Russian forces have now fully withdrawn from northern Ukraine into Russia and Belarus." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here.

Guardian & Agencies: "Dozens of people have died after rockets struck a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk that was being used to evacuate civilians to safer parts of the country, Ukrainian authorities have said. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region, said at least 39 people were killed and 87 wounded, many of them seriously, updating an earlier estimate of 30 dead.... Kyrylenko said thousands of people had been at the station when the rockets struck. 'The Rashists [Russian fascists] knew very well where they were aiming and what they wanted: they wanted to sow panic and fear, they wanted to take as many civilians as possible,' he said. He published a photo online showing several bodies on the ground beside piles of suitcases and other luggage."

Louisa Loveluck, et al., of the Washington Post: "Outraged by the grisly images emerging after nearly seven weeks of war, the U.N. General Assembly suspended Russia from its Human Rights Council, a rarely used penalty that comes as Western powers boost military aid to fend off a Russian assault on Ukraine's eastern provinces.... Ukraine is pleading for urgent weapons transfers as Russia sets its sights on the east after failing to seize the capital, Kyiv. Airstrikes continued Thursday, Ukrainian officials said, with Russia seemingly undeterred as its pariah status deepened with a new round of sanctions and expelled diplomats.... Declining to give specifics, [NATO Secretary General Jens] Stoltenberg said NATO is providing both Soviet-era and modern systems in preparation for 'a long haul' in Ukraine." ~~~

~~~ Richard Roth, et al., of CNN: "The United Nations General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council after high-profile allegations of atrocities committed by Russian soldiers during the war in Ukraine. The voting result was 93 in favor, 24 against and 58 abstentions. A draft of the resolution says the General Assembly may 'suspend the rights of membership in the Human Rights Council of a member of the Council that commits gross and systematic violations of human rights.' The draft resolution adds that the council has 'grave concern' regarding reports of 'gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights' and 'violations of international humanitarian law' committed by the Russian Federation during its invasion of Ukraine."

Isaac Stanley-Becker & Vanessa Guinan-Bank of the Washington Post: "Germanys foreign intelligence service claims to have intercepted radio communications in which Russian soldiers discuss carrying out indiscriminate killings in Ukraine. In two separate communications, Russian soldiers described questioning Ukrainian soldiers as well as civilians and then shooting them, according to an intelligence official familiar with the findings who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity. The findings, first reported by the German magazine Der Spiegel and confirmed by three people briefed on the information, further undermine Russia's denials of involvement in the carnage. Russia has claimed variously that atrocities are being carried out only after its soldiers leave occupied areas or that scenes of massacres of civilians are 'staged.'... The radio traffic suggests that members of the Wagner Group, the private military unit with close ties to ... Vladimir Putin and his allies, have played a role in attacks on civilians.... Reliance by Russian troops on nonsecure communication devices, including smartphones and push-to-talk radios, has left their units vulnerable to targeting, Western defense and intelligence officials say." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the Der Spiegel story, in English translation. (Also linked yesterday.)

Dalton Bennett of the Washington Post: "In interviews with The Washington Post in recent days, local officials, fighters and residents of Izyum [in eastern Ukraine] recounted what they called the 'scorched earth' tactics of Russian forces that destroyed their home. Ukrainian military officials said the wholesale destruction of towns and villages seems to be a deliberate strategy as Russia tries to take full control of Donetsk and Luhansk, which make up the eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas.... Vladimir Putin has indicated that eastern Ukraine is now the primary target of Russia's war effort. Russian forces in the air and on the ground ... are mowing down entire towns in the east, killing and terrorizing civilians simply for the fact of where they live, as they push to take full control of the region.... Izyum was seized by Russian forces Friday and is believed now to be the primary military staging and launching point for their assault on what remains of Ukrainian-held territory in the region...."

Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "In the international game of spy vs. spy, Europe has dealt Russia a potentially crippling blow. Nearly two dozen European countries have expelled hundreds of Russian government personnel from embassies and consulates since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February and more recently was accused of war crimes against civilians. A significant number are probably spies posing as diplomats, according to U.S. and European officials. Russia depends on those operatives to gather intelligence inside the countries where they serve, so the expulsions could dismantle large parts of Moscow's spy networks and lead to a dramatic reduction in espionage and disinformation operations against the West, current and former officials said."

Jeanne Whalen of the Washington Post: "Prominent Russian newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov was attacked on a train Thursday, doused with a paint and acetone mixture that left his eyes burning, his newspaper said. The attack came just days after Muratov, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, was forced to suspend operations of the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper until the end of Russia's war with Ukraine."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Thursday cleared a months-long partisan impasse over how to respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, sending multiple bills aimed at punishing Russia and aiding Ukraine to the House for final action. The direct impact of the bills on the course of the conflict is likely to be negligible. They largely reinforce moves that President Biden has already made to ban energy imports and remove trade preferences from Russia. But they represent a significant gesture signaling ongoing bipartisan interest in supporting Ukraine's quest to maintain its independence amid deadly aggression from its larger neighbor. While Congress delivered nearly $14 billion in military and humanitarian aide to Ukraine as part of a recent government-wide spending bill, it has not passed any stand-alone legislation pertaining to the conflict. Efforts to draft a sanctions bill before the invasion as a deterrent fell apart, and post-invasion legislation has not been much easier." (Also linked yesterday.)


Who Are Those Guys? Nicole Sganga & Robert Legare
of CBS News: Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, "the two men accused of impersonating federal agents over the course of several years[,] will remain in jail pending a detention hearing Friday, a federal magistrate judge ruled Thursday.... Law enforcement sources told CBS News that investigators are looking into the possibility that the two suspects have ties to Iranian intelligence including to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite component of the Iranian military that conducts special operations, or the Quds force. Prosecutors said Thursday that Ali told witnesses he had connections to the Pakistani Intelligence Service, which the government said it has not yet verified." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to the CBS News report, "The FBI claimed [the two men] used their false associations with the U.S. government 'to ingratiate themselves with members of federal law enforcement and the defense community' by providing gifts and favors to residents of an apartment building, many of whom were employees of the FBI, Secret service, and the Department of Homeland Security and Defense." So these actual federal officials either are not too sharp or knowingly accepted gifts from men impersonating federal officers. These fake officials did not fool the USPS, which came upon them by accident: "An investigation into the two men began on March 14, when a U.S. Postal Inspector responded to a D.C. apartment building for a report of an assault involving a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier." Related story linked yesterday.

Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "The House select committee investigating January 6 appears to believe the Capitol attack included a coordinated assault perpetrated by the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys militia groups that sought to physically stop the certification of Joe Biden's election victory. The panel's working theory -- which has not been previously reported though the justice department has indicted some militia group leaders -- crystallized this week after obtaining evidence of the coordination in testimony and non-public video, according to two sources...."

Trump-Appointed Judge Rules for Insurrectionists. Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A judge has restored a Texas woman's right to possess firearms just weeks after she was sentenced for illegally entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden issued an order on Thursday granting florist Jenny Cudd's request to lift a term of her probation that forbade her to own or possess any 'firearm, ammunition, destructive device, or dangerous weapon.'... The judge's ruling was a rebuke to prosecutors, who opposed the change, and it was the latest setback for prosecutors dealt by McFadden, who was appointed by ... Donald Trump.... McFadden's order came one day after he delivered the first outright acquittal of a Jan. 6 defendant, finding a former government contractor from New Mexico, Matthew Martin, not guilty on four misdemeanor charges. McFadden, who also served as the No. 2 official in the Justice Department under Trump before being confirmed to the bench, has openly questioned the priorities of federal prosecutors."

Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "The three offspring of a fox captured on the grounds of the Capitol have been euthanized because they were exposed to their rabid mother, city health officials announced on Thursday, in yet another tragic turn to the canine saga that has gripped Washington. 'Three fox kits were recovered from the den site of the female fox who tested positive for rabies,' the statement from D.C. Health said. 'Since the mother tested positive for the rabies virus and the kits could have been exposed during grooming or other means, they were no longer able to be safely rehabilitated and were humanely euthanized.'"

Elizabeth Dwoskin of the Washington Post: "Twitter plans to host Elon Musk for a question-and-answer session with employees after a week of internal outcries over his appointment to the social network's board of directors, according to company messages obtained by The Washington Post." MB: Please. Who thinks Elon Musk will give a damn about how he worries employees?

Trump's Various Crimes, Ctd.

DOJ Thinking of Taking Top-Secret Boxes Out of Basement Broom Closet. Matt Zapotosky & Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department has begun taking steps to investigate ... Donald Trump's removal of presidential records to Mar-a-Lago --some of which were labeled 'top secret,' people familiar with the matter said. The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity..., said the probe remained in the very early stages.... The department is facing increasing political pressure to disclose its plans in the case. On Thursday, House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) accused the Justice Department of obstructing her committee's investigation into the 15 boxes of records Trump took to his estate in Palm Beach, Fla.... In her letter [to the DOJ] Thursday, Maloney said her committee needed further explanation as to why the Justice Department was blocking its request for an inventory of the records." (Also linked yesterday.)

It's All Nancy's Fault (Except the Part That's Muriel's Fault). Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump voiced regret Wednesday over not marching to the U.S. Capitol [link fixed] the day his supporters stormed the building.... 'Secret Service said I couldn't go. I would have gone there in a minute,' he said.... And he defended his long silence during the attack by claiming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others were responsible for ending the deadly violence. 'I thought it was a shame, and I kept asking why isn't she doing something about it? Why isn't Nancy Pelosi doing something about it? And the mayor of D.C. also. The mayor of D.C. and Nancy Pelosi are in charge,' Trump said of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in a 45-minute interview with The Washington Post. 'I hated seeing it. I hated seeing it. And I said, "It's got to be taken care of," and I assumed they were taking care of it.'... In the interview, [Trump] struck a defiant posture, refusing to say whether he would testify before a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault. Trump said he didn't remember 'getting very many' phone calls that day, and he denied removing call logs or using burner phones." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Jacqueline Alemany & Theodoric Meyer of the Washington Post highlight the lowlights of Dawsey's interview of the Conde de Mar-a-Lardo: "Trump blamed Pelosi for the events of Jan. 6, falsely claiming she was in charge of security at the Capitol, on at least a dozen occasions during Josh's 45-minute interview with him.... 'The former president praised organizers of the rally, some of whom have now received subpoenas from federal authorities, and repeatedly bragged about the size of the crowd was on the Ellipse when questioned about the events of Jan. 6,' Josh reports.... '[Trump said] he had offered [Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner] "privilege" [so they would not have to testify before the January 6 committee] if they wanted it. They declined, Trump said.'... He claimed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban ... had called him this week and credited him for Orban's election victory on Sunday, 'After I endorsed him, he went up like a rocket ship,' Trump said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Based on the number of scoops to his name, Josh Dawsey is an excellent, tenacious reporter. So why didn't he, or any of the few other actual reporters, press Trump on his lying, corruption and general lack of any moral compass? One would do that at the end of the interview, of course, and one would do it while showing as much respect as possible, but one would do it. Yet no reporter has dared confront Trump. So what if he never grants you another interview? Making Trump squirm, the way Jonathan Swan did Mitch McConnell (Aaron Blake post linked below), is part of a reporter's job, and the failure of any Washington reporter to do it is a sorry indictment of the state of "journalism" in the U.S.

     ~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post discusses the significance of some of Trump's claims. Interesting. ~~~

     ~~~ Yo, Merrick! Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "A central feature of Trump's corruption is that he sometimes confesses to it in public.... Here Trump appears to blithely confirm he spoke to lawmakers during the insurrection, and suggests there was nothing wrong with those calls. Presto! All wrongdoing goes poof!... We need to know what happened on these calls. And this is why Trump's admission should increase pressure on [AG Merrick] Garland to criminally investigate.... Here it's crucial to note that [Kevin] McCarthy, [Jim] Jordan and others with direct knowledge of Trump's Jan. 6 state of mind are refusing cooperation with the House committee examining these events.... [NYU law professor Ryan] Goodman noted the vast disconnect between Trump's 'statement that there's nothing to hide' about the calls and the refusal of Republicans to disclose what happened on them, a disconnect that 'places significant pressure on the department to follow up.'"

Clean-up on Aisle 45*. Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, publicly discussed his office's investigation into Donald J. Trump for the first time on Thursday, insisting that the inquiry has continued despite the recent resignations of two senior prosecutors who had been leading it. Mr. Bragg said in an interview that his office had recently questioned new witnesses about Mr. Trump and reviewed additional documents, both previously unreported steps in the inquiry. But citing grand jury secrecy rules, Mr. Bragg declined to provide details on the new steps in the investigation.... It remains unclear whether Mr. Bragg and his prosecutors have found a productive new route in the investigation, which has already spanned more than three years. For Mr. Bragg, a series of interviews on Thursday as well as the release of a lengthy formal statement represent an attempt to quell the intense criticism he has faced over his handling of the high-stakes investigation into the former president." CNN's story is here.

Jonah Bromwich & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "The New York State attorney general, Letitia James, filed a motion on Thursday asking a judge to hold Donald J. Trump in contempt for failing to turn over documents in her civil investigation into his business activities. The request by lawyers in Ms. James's office, which was filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, said that the former president had declined to turn over documents that the attorney general had sought in eight requests. The filing also asked the judge to fine Mr. Trump $10,000 a day until he turns over the materials. The filing cited a response from Mr. Trump's legal team arguing that the attorney general's requests were 'grossly overbroad, unintelligible, unduly burdensome' and did not 'adequately' describe the requested materials."

Momentary anguish and I walk away / To fall in love ten times a day -- from a poem by Donald Trump's lawyer

Hey, it must be poetry; it rhymes, dunnit? -- Marie Burns, literary critic ~~~

~~~ Trump's Judge-Shopping Outing, Ctd. Corbin Barthold of the Bulwark: "... a curious aspect of [Donald] Trump's latest legal publicity stunt, a civil racketeering action in which the former president alleges that Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee, John Podesta, and James Comey, among many others, conspired to rig the 2016 election ... is that Trump's lawyer .... chose to file the complaint in Fort Pierce, Florida, [not in West Palm Beach, the division of the judicial district where Trump lives & where the two judges were appointed by Democrats].... Trump apparently wanted a judge appointed by Trump.... The attorney who signed the complaint has repeatedly been suspended from practicing law. At his website -- no kidding: www.legalbrains.com -- you will find a selection of his poetry.... MB: FYI, Fort Pierce is about 68-1/2 miles, via I-95, from Mar-a-Lardo. So definitely not as convenient as WPB, which is right across a little bridge that spans the Intercoastal Waterway. (Also linked yesterday.)

Addison the Amoral. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: In an interview, Jonathan Swan of Axios made the usually-unflappable Mitch McConnell squirm. Specifically, in extended questioning, Swan asked McConnell to define his "moral red line," in this case to explain how he could condemn Donald Trump on the Senate floor in which he accused Trump of a "disgraceful dereliction of duty," and then, weeks later, say he would support Trump if he were the GOP nominee for president* in 2024: "... in an interview in which McConnell said he had real moral red lines, he didn't wind up saying where he drew them. Indeed, the exchange suggested he doesn't see any role for morality in this decision. That's the logical extension of saying you have an 'obligation' to support your party's nominee -- apparently, no matter what they've done, or might yet do."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Alyssa Lukpat & Adeel Hassan of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Thursday reversed a decision that had blocked the White House from requiring federal workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19. In September, President Biden said that the vast majority of federal workers had to be vaccinated or they would face disciplinary measures. But a preliminary injunction, instated in January by a federal judge in Texas, stopped the Biden administration from enforcing that mandate. About 95 percent of federal workers were already in compliance with the mandate by the time the injunction was issued, the White House said. In a 2-1 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the judge in Texas, Jeffrey Brown[, a Trump appointee], did not have the jurisdiction to block the mandate."

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

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has tested positive for the coronavirus and is currently asymptomatic, her office said Thursday. Pelosi, 82, is the first in congressional leadership to test positive and the latest among a raft of Washington officials who have come down with the virus in recent days. 'The Speaker is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is thankful for the robust protection the vaccine has provided,' Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said. 'The Speaker will quarantine consistent with CDC guidance, and encourages everyone to get vaccinated, boosted and test regularly.'" CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "A full week has passed since the New York Times flagged a major new study showing that ivermectin does not work against Covid-19. Despite this, Fox News -- a network that spent about a year trying to convince its viewers otherwise -- has yet to report on this study, which debunks some of the most dangerous nonsense it has ever aired.... For much of 2021 and early 2022..., hardly a night passed without one of its hosts [including popular prime-time hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham --] interviewing some kook citing bogus studies to feed garbage to the viewers."

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Rick Rojas & Tariro Mzezewa of the New York Times: "Alabama lawmakers voted on Thursday to criminalize medical care for transgender young people [link fixed] who are transitioning, adopting some of the nation's most restrictive language and threatening doctors and nurses with up to 10 years in prison.... On Thursday, Alabama lawmakers also advanced legislation that would require students to use restrooms and locker rooms for the sex listed on their original birth certificates. It also included an amendment that would restrict classroom discussions on gender and sexuality in kindergarten through fifth grade -- a version of what critics call a 'Don't Say Gay' measure that goes further than some other states.... Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, has not said whether she will sign the [medical restrictions] legislation.... The American Medical Association has assailed these kinds of measures as 'government intrusion into the practice of medicine that is detrimental to the health of transgender and gender-diverse children and adults.'" MB: If this bill becomes law, then there really is no such thing as a right to privacy in this country. (The U.S. Constitution does not specifically guarantee a right to privacy.)

Michigan. Zach Montellaro & Alice Ollstein of Politico: "Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging her state's 1931 law banning abortion -- the latest move in a flurry of state activity preparing for the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade in a few months. The Michigan law bans abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with an exception for the health of a woman but not for cases of rape or incest. It has remained on the books for decades despite the 1973 Roe decision rendering it unenforceable and establishing the right to abortion nationally. But with the Supreme Court expected to rule this summer on Mississippi's ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, both sides of the abortion debate anticipate that the justices will either completely reverse or significantly roll back Roe. That would allow pre-Roe bans in Michigan and a swath of other states to go back into effect and give states a green light to pass new ones...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Missouri Senate Race. Why Didn't State Authorities Investigate a Report of Domestic Abuse? Jonathan Shorman, et al., of the Kansas City Star: "Missouri state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed grew concerned enough about Gov. Eric Greitens' potential for violence in April 2018 that she sent a letter asking the Department of Public Safety to investigate rumors of an incident involving 'troubling behavior' at Greitens' private home. DPS Director Charles 'Drew' Juden wrote back the next day. He had contacted the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Capitol Police and law enforcement in Warren County, where the Greitens lived in the wealthy, largely gated community of Innsbrook.... The four-year-old exchange has taken on new significance in the wake of allegations by Sheena Chestnut Greitens, the former governor's ex-wife, that she and their children were victims of domestic violence. In an affidavit filed last month, Sheena Greitens said in late April 2018 Eric Greitens knocked her down and confiscated her cell phone, wallet and keys so she couldn't call for help or leave the Innsbrook home.... If Nasheed's letter was sent when it was dated, it was sent before Eric Greitens knocked her down."

Way Beyond

France Is Full of Nationalistic, Xenophobic Idiots, Too. Rick Noack of the Washington Post: "Leading candidates for the French presidency staged their final campaign rallies on Thursday, three days before a vote that appears increasingly likely to result in a tight runoff between President Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Macron is still leading in polls of voter intent, but the gap between him and Le Pen has shrunk to five or six percentage points, for both the first round and a presumed runoff between them. The finish order could pivot on voter turnout."

Pakistan. Christina Goldbaum of the New York Times: "Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday overturned Prime Minister Imran Khan's move to dissolve Parliament, setting the stage for a no-confidence vote widely expected to remove him from office and offering a major victory to opposition leaders, who said that Mr. Khan had attempted an 'open coup.' Mr. Khan, the international cricket-star-turned-politician, and his allies dissolved Parliament on Sunday, effectively blocking a no-confidence vote. The move plunged the country into a constitutional crisis and sharply escalated the political instability that has embroiled Pakistan for weeks."