The Conversation -- February 21, 2024

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "Starting Wednesday, President Biden will email 153,000 student loan borrowers enrolled in his signature repayment plan to let them know their debts -- totaling $1.2 billion -- have been forgiven. The notice makes good on the administration's promise to accelerate forgiveness for borrowers with low original balances who are enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (Save) plan. Rather than wait 20 to 25 years for relief through other income-driven repayment plans, enrollees in the Save plan who borrowed less than $12,000 can have their debt wiped clean after 10 years of payments. The Education Department had originally planned to begin forgiveness in July but started identifying eligible borrowers this month."

Isaac Arnsdorf, et al., of the Washington Post: Donald Trump & his allies are planning massive, militarized deportations & detention camps for undocumented immigrants, should he be re-elected. "But his deportation proposal is one part of his emerging platform that experts, current and former government officials and others described as especially alarming, impractical and prone to significant legal and logistical hurdles.... Reflecting on the ideas Trump and his team discussed during his presidency, former Immigration & Customs official Jason Houser said, 'Their ideas were psychotic.'... 'Trump is following the 20th century dictator's playbook of dehumanizing vulnerable groups in order to isolate them and justify cruelty by the state,' Genevieve Nadeau, a former DHS lawyer, said in a report by the nonpartisan organization Protect Democracy."

David Sanger of the New York Times: "American intelligence agencies have told their closest European allies that if Russia is going to launch a nuclear weapon into orbit, it will probably do so this year -- but that it might instead launch a harmless 'dummy' warhead into orbit to leave the West guessing about its capabilities. The assessment came as American intelligence officials conducted a series of rushed, classified briefings for their NATO and Asian allies, as details of the American assessment of Russia's intentions began to leak out. The American intelligence agencies are sharply divided in their opinion about what President Vladimir V. Putin is planning...."

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Behold the Useful Idiots. They Are Serving Members of Congress. Marie: Jim Comer, Jim Jordan & other GOP House leaders are not only meddling in the 2024 presidential election, they have been doing so under the guidance of Russian intelligence operatives. These powerful members of the House are essentially willing dupes of & mouthpieces for Vladimir Putin. ~~~

~~~ Hannah Rabinowitz of CNN: "Prosecutors ... said [FBI informant] Alexander Smirnov has been 'actively peddling new lies that could impact US elections' after meeting with Russian spies late last year.... Smirnov claims to have 'extensive and extremely recent' contacts with foreign intelligence officials, prosecutors said in [a federal court] filing [in Nevada]. They said he previously told the FBI that he has longstanding and extensive contacts with Russian spies, including individuals he said were high-level intelligence officers or command Russian assassins abroad. Prosecutors with special counsel David Weiss' team said Tuesday that ... in a post-arrest interview last week, 'Smirnov admitted that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story about Businessperson 1,' referring to President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden....

"The false information that Smirnov reported, prosecutors wrote, '... targeted the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties in the United States. The effects of Smirnov's false statements and fabricated information continue to be felt to this day,' prosecutors said, making an apparent reference to the turmoil in Congress over the discredited bribery allegations -- which were a key element of the GOP impeachment probe." ~~~

     ~~~ Glenn Thrush & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A former F.B.I. informant accused of making false bribery claims about President Biden and his son Hunter -- which were widely publicized by Republicans -- claimed to have been fed information by Russian intelligence, according to a court filing on Tuesday.... 'He is actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November,' [prosecutors said in the filing].... [Some of Alexander Smirnov's] allegations, which prosecutors now say were brazen fabrications motivated by Mr. Smirnov's animosity toward the president, were widely promoted by congressional Republicans who cited it as a justification for their now-stalled effort to impeach Mr. Biden.... Also on Tuesday, Hunter Biden's legal team filed motions in federal court arguing that the arrest of Mr. Smirnov -- while unrelated to the charges Mr. Biden faces -- has tainted the public's perception of their client, making fair trials impossible." ~~~

     ~~~ The government's filing is here, via the federal courts. MB: Russia's compromising of top House Republicans should be the scandal of the year, but it isn't, because Donald Trump has generated so many other scandals. I advise against President Biden & Hunter Biden's holding their breaths while waiting for abject apologies from Comer, Jungle Gym & the rest of the miscreants. In the meantime, I do wonder (1) how long Trump/Garland-appointed special prosecutor David Weiss has known Smear-nov was lying about the Bidens and (2) when he clued in Comer, Jordan & the other Keystone Kops. And do you suppose Merrick the Unready is having the slightest qualms about appointing two Biden-bashers -- Weiss & Robert Hur -- as special counsels to "investigate"/trash his own boss and family? A fish rots from the head down, Merrick. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Marie: I see Dan Goldman agrees with me: ~~~

     ~~~ Colby Hall of Mediaite: "Rep. Dan Goldman [D-N.Y.] did not mince words in his Tuesday night appearance on CNN, where he and host Anderson Cooper discussed news that the source for the Biden bribery scandal had ties to Russian intelligence, which he directly connected to charge the House GOP as 'operating at the behest of Russian Intelligence and Vladimir Putin.'"

Tom Friedman of the New York Times: "... Donald Trump could sell white flags at $1,000 a pop that say, 'We surrendered Ukraine to Russia,' autographed by him and the House and Senate MAGA sycophants he's assembled to deny Ukrainians the weapons they need to stave off Vladimir Putin's onslaught. For an extra $500, you could get a white flag autographed solely by Trump and J.D. Vance and emblazoned with Vance's immortal words, 'I don't really care what happens to Ukraine.' Or one signed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, big enough to sum up his worldview: I was for Ukraine aid until I was against it, but I could be for it again if Trump is not against it. This is a matter of principle for me. Either way, it's all Biden's fault.[']... For an extra $1,000, a giant white surrender flag, made from the softest Sea Island cotton, signed by Lindsey Graham, that says: 'I gave up the principles of John McCain and a free Ukraine because Trump told me to. But I got a round of golf at Trump's West Palm Beach course. Can I still be on "Meet the Press"?'... I've never seen so many people in one party behave with so little respect for themselves or the nation's interests at one time." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, how sad it is when a leading both-siderist/centrist loses faith in one side! Is that a teensy white flag I see, Tom?

Michael Luciano of Mediaite: Tuesday night, "... Donald Trump claimed on Fox News that he was not required to hand over government documents he kept after leaving office.... Trump ... falsely insisted the Presidential Records Act gave him the right to take the documents. 'I was allowed to do what I did,' he said. 'Absolutely allowed.'... [Trump then claimed he would have handed over the docs:] 'We were talking and then all of a sudden they raided Mar-a-Lago.'" MB: Of course, Trump is lying here, too. As we all know, he went to great lengths to hide the documents, involving two of his staff, who are not under indictment with him. I think what he's doing here is setting up a fake defense: trying to show he had no consciousness that he was doing anything wrong; then pretending it was his intention to comply with the National Archives & FBI demands. Yeah, government stooges set up Honest Don for a fall.

The Contemptuous Mr. Navarro. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge Tuesday threatened to hold former Trump White House trade adviser Peter Navarro in contempt of court for failing to return dozens if not hundreds of presidential records to the National Archives, giving him one month to turn over emails from his time in office that he has withheld despite court orders. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered Navarro to return the records last March after the Justice Department sued, saying ... Donald Trump's trade and manufacturing policy adviser used at least one nonofficial email account to do government business and failed to copy emails in an official account or respond to the archivist's request for their return.... In a six-page opinion Tuesday, Kollar-Kotelly said her review of a sampling of 50 emails and their attachments found that at least 24 percent and potentially up to 56 percent of the records did in fact assist in the discharge of presidential duties."

Presidential Race

Natalie Allison & Lisa Kashinsky of Politico: "Delivering what her team billed as a 'state of the race speech' [Tuesday,] a defiant [Nikki] Haley vowed to remain in the race even as she polls far behind [Donald] Trump in upcoming primaries across the map.... Haley unleashed a torrent of criticism against the former president, calling him a 'bully' who's 'getting meaner and more offensive by the day.' She argued that Trump is 'completely distracted' from the campaign as he splits his time in courtrooms. She repeated her oft-used refrains that Trump has 'gotten more unstable and unhinged.' And the former U.N. ambassador painted Trump as weak on national security, bashing him for 'inviting' Russian President Vladimir Putin to 'invade NATO countries.'... 'I feel no need to kiss the ring,' Haley said." ~~~

~~~ Nick Robertson of the Hill: "Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung predicted Tuesday that Nikki Haley would 'kiss ass' to former President Trump when she 'quits' the presidential race." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Check yesterday's Comments. D in Md found just the right accessory to wear for that kiss-ass moment. Cheung is such a tasteful guy, isn't he?

Patrick Svitek, et al., of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump and some of his allies continue to compare his legal problems to the plight of Alexei Navalny, while the former president has yet to condemn the Friday death of the imprisoned Russian dissident who was President Vladimir Putin's strongest critic. 'It's a form of Navalny,' Trump said a Fox News town hall on Tuesday, responding to a question from Laura Ingraham about the $355 million fine against his businesses after a New York civil trial. 'It's happening in our country too.'... Trump has long fueled concerns that he is too cozy with Putin, but the latest episode is part of an especially stark chapter.... Those comments -- as well as Trump's handling of Navalny's death -- have given his last serious presidential primary rival, Nikki Haley, a new opening to criticize Trump and highlight her foreign policy experience as his onetime U.N. ambassador." A Politico story is here.

M.L. Nestel of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump burned through $3 million of campaign cash to pay attorneys as one super PAC bailed out another, according to the Daily Beast. The Trump-backing 'Save America' PAC confirmed they had only collected $8,508 from donors spanning the entire month of January, according to the Daily Beast.... Public findings released on Tuesday by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) that the Trump campaign raised about $8.8 million, spent about $11.5 million and reported a loss of more than $2.6 million in January. In contrast, Trump's rival former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley flexed $11.5 million in fundraising for January. That marks the first time where Haley's outraised Trump, the outlet confirmed."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear a challenge to new admissions criteria at an elite public high school in Virginia that eliminated standardized tests, clearing the way for the use of a policy intended to diversify the school's student body. As is its custom, the court gave no reasons for turning down the case. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued a dissent, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, that was harshly critical of an appeals court's ruling in the case upholding the new criteria and rejecting the challengers' argument that they unlawfully disadvantaged Asian Americans." A CBS News story is here. MB: Sorry, boys, you should know your place of business is otherwise occupied this term trying to clean up on Aisle Trump. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Insufferable Sam Writes Another Bigoted Screed. Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. on Tuesday renewed his criticisms of the Supreme Court's landmark decision recognizing the right to same-sex marriage, saying that people who oppose homosexuality risk being unfairly 'labeled as bigots and treated as such.' The justice included his warning in a five-page statement explaining why the court had rejected a request to hear a Missouri case about people removed from a jury after voicing religious objections to gay relationships. The case, Justice Alito wrote, 'exemplifies the danger' from the court's 2015 decision, Obergefell v. Hodges. The ruling, he added, shows how 'Americans who do not hide their adherence to traditional religious beliefs about homosexual conduct will be 'labeled as bigots and treated as such' by the government." MB: You're right, Sam. You are a nasty bigot, and I will treat you as such. I don't think the shame is on me. And you wrote this all down for the record, Sam, because why??? ~~~

     ~~~ Colin Kalmbacher of Law & Crime: "U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito complained about the impact of legalizing same-sex marriage on 'society' in a statement about a case that does not have anything to do with same-sex marriage on Tuesday. The underlying case was an employment discrimination lawsuit filed by a lesbian prison guard -- which she won. On Tuesday, in orders, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal filed by the Missouri Department of Corrections over part of the jury selection process." Emphasis added.

Jon Stewart is very sorry he trashed President Biden last week, then takes pointers from TuKKKer Carlson on how to interview a diabolical world leader who tells remarkable whoppers:

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Alabama. Roni Rabin & Azeen Ghorayshi of the New York Times: "An Alabama Supreme Court's ruling that frozen embryos in test tubes should be considered children has sent shock waves through the world of reproductive medicine, casting doubt over fertility care for would-be parents in the state and raising complex legal questions with implications extending far beyond Alabama. On Tuesday, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said the ruling would cause 'exactly the type of chaos that we expected when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and paved the way for politicians to dictate some of the most personal decisions families can make.' Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as President Biden traveled to California, Ms. Jean-Pierre reiterated the Biden administration's call for Congress to codify the protections of Roe v. Wade into federal law.... Infertility specialists and legal experts said the ruling had potentially profound effects, which should be of concern to every American who may need to access reproductive services like in vitro fertilization.... Reproductive medicine scientists also blasted the ruling, saying it was a 'medically and scientifically unfounded decision.'" ~~~

     ~~~ An AL.com story (Feb. 16) is here. Thanks to Forrest M. for the link.

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: ";U.S. officials are expected to defend Israel at the International Court of Justice on Wednesday as part of six days of hearings on the legality of what the court has called 'occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.'... The ICJ hearings deal with the broader topic of control of the occupied West Bank, annexed East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, but they could put added pressure on Israel over its military campaign in Gaza. Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen fired two anti-ship missiles at a civilian ship carrying humanitarian aid to Yemen on Monday, U.S. Central Command said. One of the missiles caused minor damage, but the MV Sea Champion, a Greek-flagged, U.S.-owned bulk carrier, successfully unloaded its grain at the port of Aden, Centcom said."

Farnaz Fassihi, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States on Tuesday cast the sole vote against a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have called for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, saying it feared it could disrupt hostage negotiations. It was the third time Washington wielded its veto to block a resolution demanding a stop to fighting in Gaza, underlining America's isolation in its continued, forceful backing of Israel.... Thirteen Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution, which was drafted by Algeria, while Britain abstained."

Russia

Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "For more than two decades, [Yulia] Navalnaya has shunned any open political role for herself, saying that her purpose in life was to support her husband [Aleksei Navalny] and to protect their two children. That changed on Monday. Ms. Navalnaya faces a distinct challenge in trying to rally a disheartened opposition movement from abroad, with hundreds of thousands of its adherents driven into exile by an increasingly repressive Kremlin that has responded to any criticism of its invasion of Ukraine two years ago with harsh jail sentences. Her husband's political movement and his foundation, which exposed corruption in high places, were declared extremist organizations in 2021 and barred from operating in Russia. While not dismissing the difficulties, friends and associates believe that Ms. Navalnaya, 47, has a shot at succeeding through what they call her combination of intelligence, poise, steely determination, resilience, pragmatism and star power." (Also linked yesterday.)

Serhii Korolchuk, et al., of the Washington Post: "A man found riddled with bullets and run over by a car last week in Spain is Russian defector Maksym Kuzminov, who flew a military helicopter to Ukraine in a dramatic operation, according to Ukrainian officials. The body was found at the entrance to a residential complex in Villajoyosa, in Alicante, and witnesses told local media that gunmen shot him several times, then ran him over and escaped in a car. Spanish police ... now believe [this is] ... potentially the latest example of Russian special services carrying out an assassination on European soil. The spokesman for Ukraine's intelligence service, Andriy Yusov, confirmed to The Washington Post on Tuesday that the body was that of Kuzminov.... According to [a Russian television documentary aired last month]..., Russia's military intelligence, known as GRU, had already received an order to eliminate him." (Also linked yesterday.)

Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "Russia's Federal Security Service announced Tuesday the arrest of a 33-year-old [Los Angeles] woman on treason charges, accusing her of taking part in pro-Ukraine protests outside Russia and of sending aid to Kyiv. The woman, a dual American-Russian citizen, was not identified in a statement issued by the Federal Security Service, or FSB, which said she 'was involved in providing financial assistance to a foreign state in activities directed against the security of our country.'... The FSB statement said the woman repeatedly took part in public protest actions outside Russia 'in support of the Kyiv regime.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

The Conversation -- February 20, 2024

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear a challenge to new admissions criteria at an elite public high school in Virginia that eliminated standardized tests, clearing the way for the use of a policy intended to diversify the school's student body. As is its custom, the court gave no reasons for turning down the case. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued a dissent, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, that was harshly critical of an appeals court's ruling in the case upholding the new criteria and rejecting the challengers' argument that they unlawfully disadvantaged Asian Americans." A CBS News story is here. MB: Sorry, boys, you should know your place of business is otherwise occupied this term trying to clean up on Aisle Trump.

Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "For more than two decades, [Yulia] Navalnaya has shunned any open political role for herself, saying that her purpose in life was to support her husband [Aleksei Navalny] and to protect their two children. That changed on Monday. Ms. Navalnaya faces a distinct challenge in trying to rally a disheartened opposition movement from abroad, with hundreds of thousands of its adherents driven into exile by an increasingly repressive Kremlin that has responded to any criticism of its invasion of Ukraine two years ago with harsh jail sentences. Her husband's political movement and his foundation, which exposed corruption in high places, were declared extremist organizations in 2021 and barred from operating in Russia. While not dismissing the difficulties, friends and associates believe that Ms. Navalnaya, 47, has a shot at succeeding through what they call her combination of intelligence, poise, steely determination, resilience, pragmatism and star power."

Serhii Korolchuk, et al., of the Washington Post: "A man found riddled with bullets and run over by a car last week in Spain is Russian defector Maksym Kuzminov, who flew a military helicopter to Ukraine in a dramatic operation, according to Ukrainian officials. The body was found at the entrance to a residential complex in Villajoyosa, in Alicante, and witnesses told local media that gunmen shot him several times, then ran him over and escaped in a car. Spanish police ... now believe [this is] ... potentially the latest example of Russian special services carrying out an assassination on European soil. The spokesman for Ukraine's intelligence service, Andriy Yusov, confirmed to The Washington Post on Tuesday that the body was that of Kuzminov.... According to [a Russian television documentary aired last month]..., Russia's military intelligence, known as GRU, had already received an order to eliminate him."

Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "Russia's Federal Security Service announced Tuesday the arrest of a 33-year-old [Los Angeles] woman on treason charges, accusing her of taking part in pro-Ukraine protests outside Russia and of sending aid to Kyiv. The woman, a dual American-Russian citizen, was not identified in a statement issued by the Federal Security Service, or FSB, which said she 'was involved in providing financial assistance to a foreign state in activities directed against the security of our country.'... The FSB statement said the woman repeatedly took part in public protest actions outside Russia 'in support of the Kyiv regime.'"

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Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin's most formidable opponent, vowed on Monday to carry on her husband's crusade against the Russian regime, striving to build 'a free, peaceful, happy Russia, a beautiful Russia of the future, which my husband dreamed of so much.' Navalnaya, 47, made her announcement in a video statement on YouTube, in which she accused Russian authorities of fatally poisoning Navalny in the Arctic prison where he died suddenly on Friday at age 47. 'Putin did not only murder the person, Alexei Navalny,' she said, clad in black and her voice occasionally trembling during the dramatic video address. 'He wanted, along with him, to kill our hope, our freedom, our future.' Navalnaya also accused the Russian authorities of refusing to hand over Navalny's body to his 69-year-old mother so they could cover up the cause of death." ~~~

~~~ Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: "Navalny's death was simultaneously shocking and unsurprising. He joins a long, tragic history of Kremlin opponents swallowed up by the gulag, but his message was so potent and his skills as a messenger so incomparable that it was easy to imagine he could share in Mandela's story of eventual liberation and political victory. That was not to be.... Russia, for now, is undeniably Putin's country. Entering the third year of his full-blown war in Ukraine, the Russian president has withstood international sanctions, geopolitical isolation from the West and a prominent mercenary's brazen insurrection. The edifice of his power remains intact, while those who threaten it face even harsher consequences than in an earlier phase of his rule." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, Back in the U.S.S.A., Putin's Puppet Speaks. Anjali Huynh of the New York Times: "Days after the death of the Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny was first reported, Donald J. Trump broke his silence in a social media post on Monday that barely mentioned Mr. Navalny and that did not condemn President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Instead, he used Mr. Navalny's death to suggest that his own legal battles amounted to political persecution. It was a note he hit first on Sunday, when he shared screenshots of an opinion essay that compared his relationship with President Biden to the one between Mr. Navalny and Mr. Putin. 'The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,' the former president wrote on Truth Social on Monday, using an alternative spelling of Mr. Navalny's given name. He pointed to what he called 'CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction.'" ~~~

~~~ Nick Robertson of the Hill: "Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) went after former President Trump on Monday for his response to the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, calling Trump's comments 'beneath the dignity of a human being.' ... 'You wonder, what does Putin have on Donald Trump that he always has to be beholden to him, his buddy in vileness?' Pelosi said in an MSNBC 'Inside with Jen Psaki' interview on Monday." ~~~

~~~ Nick Robertson of the Hill: "If Trump is elected, there'll be celebrations in the Kremlin,' [Trump's national security advisor John] Bolton said in an MSNBC 'Inside with Jen Psaki' interview Sunday. 'There's no doubt about it because Putin thinks that he is an easy mark.'" ~~~

~~~ Stephen Collinson of CNN: "Trump's bizarre deference to Putin is not new – his genuflecting was a frequent theme of his presidency. But it is even more striking now, given the Russian leader's status as an accused war criminal who launched an unprovoked invasion of a democratic neighbor. After propping up Ukraine for two years with billions of dollars in aid and ammunition, a US decision to walk away and leave it to Putin would represent a stunning change of course.... The refusal of pro-Donald Trump Republicans in Congress to extend a military lifeline for Ukraine, and the former president's return to attacking NATO allies in ways that align with Putin's goals, show that Trump is already reshaping geopolitical realities months before his possible White House return." ~~~

~~~ Putin's Puppet's Puppets. Nicholas Riccardi of the AP: "The GOP has been softening its stance on Russia ever since Trump won the 2016 election following Russian hacking of his Democratic opponents.... Now the GOP's ambivalence on Russia has stalled additional aid to Ukraine at a pivotal time in the war.... [Mike] Johnson, the House speaker, issued a statement calling Putin a 'vicious dictator' and pledging that he 'will be met with united opposition,' but he did not offer any way forward for passing the aid to Ukraine.... Sergey Radchenko, a professor at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies, noted that Russia for decades has hoped the U.S would lose interest in protecting Europe: 'This was Stalin's dream, that the U.S. would just retreat to the Western hemisphere.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Riccardi makes up some excuses as to why the GOP chooses to let Putin have his way, as if these politicians had some philosophical reason not to confront Russian aggression and authoritarianism. Ha! While I will warrant that these sniveling cowards -- like Putin -- much prefer power grabs over democratic values, the underlying "philosophy" that guides their approach to Russia is "Oh, please, don't let Trump primary me!" They would sell the world to Russia for the price of their crappy little fake "public service" jobs. ~~~

~~~ While Ukrainians Die. Here's that grinning prick Mike Johnson, vacationing in Florida (prophetically next to the "Exit" sign) with his puppet master:

Posting this while Ukrainians are running out of ammo, freezing, and taking heavy losses is really…. Something. Enjoy it today. History will remember it tomorrow. @SpeakerJohnson https://t.co/1mVOQHVxki

— Jim Hendren (@JimHendren1) February 20, 2024

... looks like a couple of banana munching primates showing off their newly discovered opposable thumbs. -- Akhilleus, in today's Comments (and he has more to say about these two Corinthians therein)

Mad Dog Jim Comer should hire contributor RAS to his investigative staff. Comer has spent more than a year trying to link Joe Biden to Hunter Biden's various international business schemes. One after another of Comer's claims of sensational evidence has collapsed. But today, RAS finally found a real Biden family scandal, one involving attempted murder, a knife fight & a suspect presidential pardon by historians' favorite president: ~~~

~~~ CBS/AFP: "Abraham Lincoln pardoned President Biden's great-great-grandfather after a late-night Civil War-era brawl, documents reportedly show.... The court-martial records in the U.S. National Archives ... detail the trial of Moses J. Robinette after a fight with fellow Union Army civilian employee John J. Alexander on March 21, 1864. Robinette was charged with attempted murder after the tussle in the Army of the Potomac's winter camp in Virginia, when Alexander overheard him saying something about him to a cook, and rushed at him. The two men scuffled, and Robinette drew his pocketknife, leaving Alexander with several cuts before others intervened.... The 42-year-old, who had been hired by the Army as a veterinary surgeon, insisted that Alexander 'possibly might have injured me seriously had I not resorted to the means I did.' But military judges convicted him and sentenced him to two years' hard labor. Three Army officers petitioned Lincoln to overturn his conviction, claiming the sentence was unduly harsh and that Robinette had been defending himself against someone 'much his superior in strength and size.' Lincoln agreed, and signed the pardon on Sept. 1 that same year." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

    ; ~~~ The Washington Post story, by historian David Gerleman, is here and includes more details. (Also linked yesterday.)

Mad Dog Comer Will Not Let Go of Imaginary Bone. Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: Rep. Jim "Comer (R- Ky.) has suggested that two Ukraine-related documents referenced in special counsel Robert K. Hur's report concerning Joe Biden's handling of classified documents might have ended up informing or been part of emails found on the laptop that the president's son Hunter left at a computer repair shop in Delaware.... Notwithstanding Comer's hyperbolic statements on television, it would be incorrect to suggest that the Ukraine documents in the Hur report indicate Hunter Biden had access to classified information or distributed classified information to 'our enemies' in exchange for cash. These documents simply are on the same subject -- Ukraine. But as we have shown, the Hur report says they are not especially secret or important. As Emily Litella would say: 'Never mind.'" MB: Comer's new claim, of course, comes after the FBI charged his supposed star witness last week with lying to investigators about having information that would compromise President Biden. (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race

"A Vote for Trump Is a Vote for Putin." Bill Kristol in the Bulwark: "Those who seek to save the country from a Trump second term can and should hammer home Trump's fondness for Putin..... A broad coalition of political forces in the United States, ranging from Mike Pence on the right to Bernie Sanders on the left, is anti-Putin. Against them stand Donald Trump and some of his acolytes, who are pro-Putin. The likely nominee of one of our two major political parties is pro-Vladimir Putin. This is an astonishing fact. It is an appalling fact. It has to be a central fact of the 2024 campaign."

Danielle Paquette of the Washington Post: "Since the start of January, the United States has counted six mass killings, its rate of firearm-wrought bloodshed outpacing every other wealthy nation by far. The candidates vying for the GOP nomination ... make no mention of safeguarding access to the weapons used in attack after attack after attack.... Trump... call[ed] himself 'the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House.... 'During my four years, nothing happened,' Trump told a gathering of NRA members this month in Pennsylvania. 'And there was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing.'... [Recently Nikki] Haley said the national media had rushed in to 'define' the massacre [at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, S.C., that occurred when Haley was governor]. 'They wanted to make it about guns,' she said. 'They wanted to make it about racism ...' It was about guns, the [Rev. Eric Manning] thought. It was about racism." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I do wish gun-control advocates who give lip service to the Second Amendment would cut it out. Until the winger Supremes decided D.C. v. Heller in 2008, only radical NRA-types believed the Second Amendment guaranteed a right of individuals to own firearms. Heller was a radical rereading of the Amendment, and sensible justices should strike it down. I blame Scalia, Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas, & Alito and their accomplices for the murders-by-gun of thousands of Americans.

The Clock Is Ticking, Clarence. Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: "The late-night talkshow host John Oliver has offered to pay Clarence Thomas $1m annually -- as well as give him a $2m tour bus -- if the Republican judge resigns from the US supreme court. Oliver made the proposal on Sunday's episode of his HBO show Last Week Tonight, saying the supreme court justice had 30 days to accept or it would expire.... 'Lot on your plate right now, from stripping away women&'s rights to hearing January 6 cases ... and you deserve a break, you know, away from the meanness of Washington. So you can be surrounded by the regular folks whose lives you made demonstrably worse for decades.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: They're talking about it on TV news, so I guess this is news: ~~~

~~~ George Anthony Kitara Ravache Devolder Santos Sues Because Somebody Else Used Fake Names. Daniel Wu of the Washington Post: "George Santos sued late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel on Saturday, accusing Kimmel of hiding his identity while soliciting videos from the disgraced ex-congressman over the celebrity video-sharing service Cameo, which Kimmel then used to mock Santos on air. Kimmel announced in December that he pranked Santos by sending him fictitious requests on Cameo, which allows users to request brief greeting videos from celebrities and popular figures. Kimmel, allegedly using accounts not under his real name, asked Santos to speak on several bizarre topics, including congratulating a blind woman for passing a driving test.... Santos obliged, not knowing Kimmel was the recipient, and Kimmel aired the videos on his late-night talk show in December in a segment called 'Will Santos Say It?'... Cameo's community guidelines state that users may not sign up using false identities."

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Florida. Beth Mole of Ars Technica: "Florida health officials on Sunday announced an investigation into a cluster of measles cases at an elementary school in the Fort Lauderdale area with a low vaccination rate, a scenario health experts fear will become more and more common amid slipping vaccination rates nationwide.... At Manatee Bay Elementary School, the number of children at risk could be over 100 students. According to a Broward County vaccine study reported by the local CBS outlet, only 89.31 percent of students at Manatee Bay Elementary School were fully immunized in the 2023/2024 school year, which is significantly lower than the target vaccination coverage of 95 percent." ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "The cynical anti-vaxxism DeSantis adopted as he ratcheted up his de facto presidential campaign will have horrible effects on his state long after his political career died an ignominious death[.]"

Wisconsin. Anjali Huynh of the New York Times: "Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin signed into law on Monday new legislative maps that could drastically alter the state's balance of power, giving Democrats a chance to win control of the state's legislature for the first time in more than a decade.... Despite the state being a battleground in national races, Republicans, aided by heavily gerrymandered maps, have controlled both of the state's legislative chambers since 2011. They now hold about two-thirds of the seats in both the Senate and the Assembly. But Democrats look likely to pick up seats under the new maps, which will be used during the November election. The maps outline an almost even split between Democratic- and Republican-leaning districts: 45 are Democratic-leaning, 46 are Republican-leaning, and eight are likely to be a tossup.... While Democrats have long sought to overturn the previous maps, their hopes were renewed when the state's Supreme Court flipped to a 4-to-3 liberal majority in August after Justice Janet Protasiewicz, a liberal former Milwaukee County judge, was sworn in. Justice Protasiewicz won the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history in April, during which she was openly critical of the Republican-drawn maps and argued that they were 'rigged.' Progressive groups filed a lawsuit challenging those maps one day after she was sworn in. In December, the court ruled 4-to-3 that the legislative maps favoring Republicans were unconstitutional....

"Democrats in the state have also sued to challenge the state's congressional maps and, shortly after the court called for new statewide maps, they asked it to take up the matter." The NBC News report is here. MB: Notice how Democrats aim for democracy and fairness while Republicans aim (often successfully) for undemocratically-engineered power. Politicians, like the rest of us, are flawed people, but some are more flawed than others.

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Haiti. David Adams & Andre Paultre of the New York Times: "A Haitian judge has indicted 51 people for their roles in the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, including his wife, Martine Moïse, who is accused of being an accomplice, despite being seriously wounded in the attack. A 122-page copy of the indictment by Judge Walther Voltaire that was provided to The New York Times does not accuse her of planning the killing nor does it offer any direct evidence of her involvement. Instead, it says that she and other accomplices gave statements that were contradicted by other witnesses, suggesting that they were complicit in the killing. The indictment also cites one of the main defendants in the case in custody in Haiti, who claimed that Mrs. Moïse was plotting with others to take over the presidency.... The official charge against Mrs. Moïse is conspiracy to murder."

Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The International Court of Justice on Monday began six days of public hearings into Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, in proceedings that could intensify international pressure on Israel over its military campaign in Gaza. In his remarks, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the United Nations, choked back tears as he called on the court to rule that Israel's presence in occupied Palestinian territories is illegal, a finding that he said would contribute to 'paving the way to just and lasting peace.'... The Gaza Health Ministry accused Israel of turning Nasser Hospital into a 'military barracks,' and endangering lives amid a days-long raid that Israel has described as a 'precise and targeted' effort aimed at finding hostages and taking out militants.... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday responded to what he called international pressure 'to force upon us a Palestinian state,' which he said would endanger the existence of Israel." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here.

U.K./U.S. Megan Specia of the New York Times: "Since 2019, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been held in a high security prison in southeast London while his lawyers fight a U.S. extradition order. Now, that particular battle may be nearing its end. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Mr. Assange's case returns to a British court for a two-day hearing that will determine whether he has exhausted his right to appeal within the U.K. and whether he could be one step closer to being sent to the United States. In America, Assange, 52, faces charges under the Espionage Act of 1917 that could amount to a sentence of up to 175 years in prison, his lawyers say, although lawyers for the United States government had previously said that he was more likely to be sentenced to between four and six years."

The Conversation -- February 19, 2024

Mad Dog Jim Comer should hire contributor RAS to his investigative staff. Comer has spent more than a year trying to link Joe Biden to Hunter Biden's various international business schemes. One after another of Comer's claims of sensational evidence has collapsed. But today, RAS finally found a real Biden family scandal, one involving attempted murder, a knife fight & a suspect presidential pardon by historians' favorite president: ~~~

~~~ CBS/AFP: "Abraham Lincoln pardoned President Biden's great-great-grandfather after a late-night Civil War-era brawl, documents reportedly show.... The court-martial records in the U.S. National Archives ... detail the trial of Moses J. Robinette after a fight with fellow Union Army civilian employee John J. Alexander on March 21, 1864. Robinette was charged with attempted murder after the tussle in the Army of the Potomac's winter camp in Virginia, when Alexander overheard him saying something about him to a cook, and rushed at him. The two men scuffled, and Robinette drew his pocketknife, leaving Alexander with several cuts before others intervened.... The 42-year-old, who had been hired by the Army as a veterinary surgeon, insisted that Alexander 'possibly might have injured me seriously had I not resorted to the means I did.' But military judges convicted him and sentenced him to two years' hard labor. Three Army officers petitioned Lincoln to overturn his conviction, claiming the sentence was unduly harsh and that Robinette had been defending himself against someone 'much his superior in strength and size.' Lincoln agreed, and signed the pardon on Sept. 1 that same year." ~~~

      ~~~ The Washington Post story, by historian David Gerleman, is here and includes more details.

Mad Dog Comer Will Not Let Go of Imaginary Bone. Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: Rep. Jim "Comer (R- Ky.) has suggested that two Ukraine-related documents referenced in special counsel Robert K. Hur's report concerning Joe Biden's handling of classified documents might have ended up informing or been part of emails found on the laptop that the president's son Hunter left at a computer repair shop in Delaware.... Notwithstanding Comer's hyperbolic statements on television, it would be incorrect to suggest that the Ukraine documents in the Hur report indicate Hunter Biden had access to classified information or distributed classified information to 'our enemies' in exchange for cash. These documents simply are on the same subject -- Ukraine. But as we have shown, the Hur report says they are not especially secret or important. As Emily Litella would say: 'Never mind.'" MB: Comer's new claim, of course, comes after the FBI charged his supposed star witness last week with lying to investigators about having information that would compromise President Biden.

Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: "The late-night talkshow host John Oliver has offered to pay Clarence Thomas $1m annually -- as well as give him a $2m tour bus -- if the Republican judge resigns from the US supreme court. Oliver made the proposal on Sunday's episode of his HBO show Last Week Tonight, saying the supreme court justice had 30 days to accept or it would expire.... 'Lot on your plate right now, from stripping away women's rights to hearing January 6 cases .. and you deserve a break, you know, away from the meanness of Washington. So you can be surrounded by the regular folks whose lives you made demonstrably worse for decades.'"

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Historians Agree: Trump Is the Worse Ever. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "A new poll of historians coming out on Presidents' Day weekend ranks Mr. Biden as the 14th-best president in American history, just ahead of Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan and Ulysses S. Grant. While that may not get Mr. Biden a spot on Mount Rushmore, it certainly puts him well ahead of Mr. Trump, who places dead last as the worst president ever." Emphasis added. MB: Ha ha. The Fox "News" headline is, "New Presidential Rankings Place Obama in Top 10, Reagan and Trump Below Biden." No, that's Trump below everybody, including James Buchanan & Andrew Johnson.

Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump, who earlier this month set off worries among allies after he said he would encourage Russia to invade a NATO country that wasn't spending enough on defense, has remained largely silent on the death of Alexei Navalny, only appearing to suggest baselessly that he is being persecuted in the way Russian President Vladimir Putin's most potent political opponent was.... [Trump] has made multiple public appearances since Russia announced Navalny's death in a faraway Arctic penal colony on Friday. But he has not publicly condemned the dissident's shocking death.... Unlike many other U.S. and international leaders, Trump has not criticized Putin's jailing of Navalny or mourned his untimely death. Instead..., on a post [he] shared Sunday afternoon on Truth Social, his social media site, [he wrote]: 'Biden:Trump::Putin:Navalny.'" MB: This is a sickening insult not only to Navalny but to every political prisoner & victim of politically-inspired torture and assassination around the world. ~~~

~~~ Jack Forrest of CNN: "GOP former Rep. Liz Cheney on Sunday warned of a Republican Party 'Putin-wing' after ... Donald Trump responded to the death of outspoken Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny without actually mentioning him or Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'We have to take seriously the extent to which you've now got a Putin-wing of the Republican Party. I believe the issue this election cycle is making sure that the Putin-wing of the Republican Party does not take over the West Wing of the White House,' Cheney told CNN's Jake Tapper on 'State of the Union.'... Trump ... said nothing directly about Navalny in a post that his campaign said was his official response to the opposition leader's death -- instead posting more than 20 times about a variety of topics including his criminal cases and his political opponents.... 'He's basically made clear that under a Trump administration, the United States is unlikely to keep its NATO commitments,' Cheney said. She called Trump's comments 'dangerous' and said they show 'a complete lack of understanding of America's role in the world.'"

The Trials of Trump & the Trump Gang

Individual-I Goes to Court. David Corn of Mother Jones: "Since the beginning of Donald Trump's indictment-o-rama, the politerati have considered the criminal case filed in New York City against the former president by District Attorney Alvin Bragg to be a sideshow. Though this case has key elements of a bona fide scandal -- porn star! hush money! alleged extramarital affair! -- pundits and politicos have struck a dismissive attitude toward Trump's Stormy Daniels mess and the legal peril it poses him.... But this prosecution ought not to be diminished. It also involves alleged criminal actions taken to influence an election -- or prevent an election from being influenced by Daniels' claim that Trump had a tryst with her.... The Justice Department and a federal court have already declared that a crime occurred in the commission of this $130,000 payoff.... Of his many alleged crimes, it may not be the greatest. But it may be the Trumpiest." Read the whole report. Corn gives details of how the case came about, including some highly-suspect meddling by then-AG Bill Barr.

Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: "Michael Cohen -- who long served as former President Trump's personal lawyer and fixer -- warned Sunday of the potential risk of sending Trump back to the White House with mounting legal fees and financial liabilities. 'We need to be very careful about him as a potential president because he is for sale,' Cohen, now an outspoken critic of the former president, said in an interview on MSNBC's 'The Weekend' on Sunday.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That's why it is so hilarious that Trump is accusing Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis of corruption because she took some dutch-treat vacations with her lover, whom she hired as a prosecutor in the RICO case against Trump and his co-conspirators. ~~~

     ~~~ MEANWHILE, if you were hoping to snag a pair of those tacky shiny-gold hightop Trump sneakers the Greatest Grifter hawked over the weekend for the low-low price of $399, you're too late. The first run of 1,000 has sold out. Sad! (WashPo link) ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Campos of LG&$: "As for commentary, I defer to P.T. Barnum and H.L. Mencken."

Presidential Race

Alexandra Marquez of NBC News: “Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is urging Democrats in Dearborn, Michigan, to vote against President Joe Biden in the state's upcoming Democratic primary. 'If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted,' Tlaib said in a new video posted to social media on Saturday while standing outside an early voting location. She joined growing calls from progressive activists in Michigan to vote 'uncommitted' in the state's Democratic presidential primary on Feb. 27 instead of voting for Biden." MB: I have tried to be supportive of Tlaib, even though she's expressed some fairly radical ideas in the past. I'm done with her now. Only a nitwit would think it was a good idea to weaken the one guy who can keep Donald Trump out of the White House.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. If It Bleeds, It Leads. Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "... on Sinclair [Broadcasting]'s growing nationwide roster of stations, the editorial focus reflects [CEO David] Smith's conservative views and plays on its audience's fears that America's cities are falling apart.... Sinclair's local network of 185 stations across the country makes it an influential player in shaping the views of millions of Americans, especially at a time when local newspapers are rapidly being gutted -- or closed altogether.... Sinclair stations deliver messages that appeal to older, White, suburban audiences, and they play up crime stories in a way that is disproportionate to their statistical presence,' said [journalist] Anne Nelson...."

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates Monday of developments in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The top U.N. court is set to begin public hearings Monday into the legality of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.... The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote this week on a resolution drafted by Algeria that calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. Washington ... has said it won't support the measure.... Israel's government approved a declaration Sunday that says the country won't recognize a Palestinian state.... Nasser Hospital, the largest medical facility in southern Gaza, 'is not functional anymore,' the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Sunday, after days of Israeli raids."

Russia. Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "For the second day in a row, mourners walked purposefully along Moscow's snow-heaped Garden Ring on Saturday carrying bouquets to lay at one of the improvised memorials to Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition figure who perished in a prison colony the day before. The flowers, wrapped in paper to shield them from the icy wind, were not only a symbol of mourning. They also served as a form of protest in a country where even the mildest dissent can risk detention.... At least 400 people have been detained across Russia since Mr. Navalny's death was announced on Friday, according to the human rights group OVD-Info. Among them was a priest, Father Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko, who had been scheduled to hold a memorial service for Mr. Navalny in St. Petersburg."

Ukraine, et al. Mike Johnson, Putin's Puppet's Puppet, at Fault. Samya Kullab of the AP: "Dwindling ammunition threatens Ukraine's hold on the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line under withering assault by Russian artillery. Defensive lines are in jeopardy. Ukrainian forces withdrew from the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region on Saturday after daily Russian onslaughts from three directions for the last four months.... The Associated Press interviewed over a dozen commanders, including heads of artillery units, in the war's most intense combat zones in the weeks ahead of Avdiivka's fall. They said shortages, which have always plagued Ukrainian forces since the full-scale invasion, grew acute last autumn.... The Biden administration linked the loss of Avdiivka to Congressional inaction on $60 billion in military aid for Ukraine.... When reporters asked if he was confident a deal could be struck before Ukraine loses more territory, [President] Biden responded: 'I'm not.'"

News Lede

New York Times: Two men “were charged with murder for the death of a bystander [at the Kansas City, Mo., Super Bowl celebration], prosecutors announced on Tuesday. Ballistics tests revealed that a bullet from Mr. Miller's gun killed Elizabeth Galvan, 43, a D.J. and radio host known as Lisa, who was at the parade on Wednesday with her family, prosecutors said. Two dozen people were wounded by gunfire, including nine children.... Surveillance video from the area, as described in charging documents from prosecutors, showed one group of people staring at one man, and a verbal argument ensuing. More people nearby joined the argument, and as it continued, the people who were involved began to produce firearms. The authorities said that [one of the men charged, Dominic] Miller, was seen in the video appearing to fire shots, then was struck by a bullet in his lower back, causing him to fall to the ground. He then ran away, the charging documents say, shouting 'I'm shot, I'm shot.' A bystander saw that Mr. Miller was carrying a black firearm near his waistband, and tackled and disarmed him, the authorities said.... Ballistics tests revealed that a bullet from Mr. Miller's gun killed Elizabeth Galvan...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This shooting spree started, according to the report, "with one man accusing another of staring at him." Staring. You may be shot dead if you happen to be in the vicinity of a person who is perceived as looking askance at another person. Do not tell me it is safe to live in Missouri. Or where I live. But, hey, Second Fucking Amendment.