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INAUGURATION 2029

Commencement ceremonies are joyous occasions, and Steve Carell made sure that was true this past weekend (mid-June) at Northwestern's commencement:

~~~ Carell's entire commencement speech was hilarious. The audio and video here isn't great, but I laughed till I cried.

CNN did a live telecast Saturday night (June 7) of the Broadway play "Good Night, and Good Luck," written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, about legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow's effort to hold to account Sen. Joe McCarthy, "the junior senator from Wisconsin." Clooney plays Murrow. Here's Murrow himself with his famous take on McCarthy & McCarthyism, brief remarks that especially resonate today: ~~~

     ~~~ This article lists ways you still can watch the play. 

New York Times: “The New York Times Company has agreed to license its editorial content to Amazon for use in the tech giant’s artificial intelligence platforms, the company said on Thursday. The multiyear agreement 'will bring Times editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,' the news organization said in a statement. Besides news articles, the agreement encompasses material from NYT Cooking, The Times’s food and recipe site, and The Athletic, which focuses on sports. This is The Times’s first licensing arrangement with a focus on generative A.I. technology. In 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement, accusing the tech companies of using millions of articles published by The Times to train automated chatbots without any kind of compensation. OpenAI and Microsoft have rejected those accusations.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I have no idea what this means for "the Amazon customer experience." Does it mean that if I don't have a NYT subscription but do have Amazon Prime I can read NYT content? And where, exactly, would I find that content? I don't know. I don't know.

Washington Post reporters asked three AI image generators what a beautiful woman looks like. "The Post found that they steer users toward a startlingly narrow vision of attractiveness. Prompted to show a 'beautiful woman,' all three tools generated thin women, without exception.... Her body looks like Barbie — slim hips, impossible waist, round breasts.... Just 2 percent of the images showed visible signs of aging. More than a third of the images had medium skin tones. But only nine percent had dark skin tones. Asked to show 'normal women,' the tools produced images that remained overwhelmingly thin.... However bias originates, The Post’s analysis found that popular image tools struggle to render realistic images of women outside the Western ideal." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The reporters seem to think they are calling out the AI programs for being unrealistic. But there's a lot about the "beautiful women" images they miss. I find these omissions remarkably sexist. For one thing, the reporters seem to think AI is a magical "thing" that self-generates. It isn't. It's programmed. It's programmed by boys, many of them incels who have little or no experience or insights beyond comic books and Internet porn of how to gauge female "beauty." As a result, the AI-generated women look like cartoons; that is, a lot like an air-brushed photo of Kristi Noem: globs of every kind of dark eye makeup, Scandinavian nose, Botox lips, slathered-on skin concealer/toner/etc. makeup, long dark hair and the aforementioned impossible Barbie body shape, including huge, round plastic breasts. 

New York Times: “George Clooney’s Broadway debut, 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' has been one of the sensations of the 2024-25 theater season, breaking box office records and drawing packed houses of audiences eager to see the popular movie star in a timely drama about the importance of an independent press. Now the play will become much more widely available: CNN is planning a live broadcast of the penultimate performance, on June 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The performance will be preceded and followed by coverage of, and discussion about, the show and the state of journalism.”

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. -- Magna Carta ~~~

~~~ New York Times: “Bought for $27.50 after World War II, the faint, water stained manuscript in the library of Harvard Law School had attracted relatively little attention since it arrived there in 1946. That is about to change. Two British academics, one of whom happened on the manuscript by chance, have discovered that it is an original 1300 version — not a copy, as long thought — of Magna Carta, the medieval document that helped establish some of the world’s most cherished liberties. It is one of just seven such documents from that date still in existence.... A 710-year-old version of Magna Carta was sold in 2007 for $21.3 million.... First issued in 1215, it put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England — or Bad King John, as he became known in folklore. He later revoked the charter, but his son, Henry III, issued amended versions, the last one in 1225, and Henry’s son, Edward I, in turn confirmed the 1225 version in 1297 and again in 1300.”

NPR lists all of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners. Poynter lists the prizes awarded in journalism as well as the finalists in these categories.

 

Contact Marie

Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

Constant Comments

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts. — Anonymous

A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolvesEdward R. Murrow

Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns

I have a Bluesky account now. The URL is https://bsky.app/profile/marie-burns.bsky.social . When Reality Chex goes down, check my Bluesky page for whatever info I am able to report on the status of Reality Chex. If you can't access the URL, I found that I could Google Bluesky and ask for Marie Burns. Google will include links to accounts for people whose names are, at least in part, Maria Burns, so you'll have to tell Google you looking only for Marie.

Tuesday
Aug222023

The Conversation -- August 23, 2023

Marie: If Donald Trump can pre-tape his response to the GOP debate, there's no reason the Lincoln Project can't pre-tape the debate itself (which, let's face it, will be fake anyway):

~~~ Marie: Akhilleus's comment in today's thread about the GOP presidential* debate reminded me of views of MAGA voters which Chris Hayes shared last night:

Huh. From CNN's liveblog of developments in Russia's war on Ukraine: "Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is listed among passengers on board a plane that crashed north of Moscow, according to Russian state media." MB: That's the whole story now. Expect lots more. It appears that accidentally falling out a sixth-floor window was not dramatic enough an end to Prigozhin. ~~~

     ~~~ From the New York Times' liveblog: "Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the Russian mercenary leader of the private Wagner paramilitary group, was listed on the passenger roster of a private jet that crashed in Russia on Wednesday, killing all 10 people aboard, Russia's aviation authority said. Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said that the plane, an Embraer jet, crashed in the Tver region, north of Moscow, according to the state news agency TASS. Minutes later, the news agency, citing Russia's aviation authority, said that Mr. Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on the plane."

Danny Hakim, et al., of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani turned himself in on Wednesday in the racketeering case against ... Donald J. Trump and his allies, surrendering at the Atlanta jail where the defendants are being booked. Mr. Giuliani, whose bond was set at $150,000, arrived in Atlanta as another defendant in the sprawling case, the lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, filed a motion seeking a speedy trial. Under that scenario, which Georgia law allows, the trial for all 19 people indicted in the case would have to start no later than Nov. 3.... Bond for another defendant, Sidney Powell, one of the most prominent lawyers who advanced false claims of vote fraud and advised Mr. Trump to fight his election loss, was set Wednesday at $100,000.... Three of the 19 defendants have filed to remove the case to federal court: Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official; Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump's former White House chief of staff; and [former Georgia Republican party chair David] Shafer. Mr. Clark and Mr. Meadows have also filed court papers seeking to block their arrest." This is an update of a story linked earlier Wednesday.

Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota injured himself playing basketball with his staff on Tuesday and was taken to an emergency room ahead of his planned appearance at Wednesday's first Republican presidential primary debate. Mr. Burgum, 67, injured his leg, according to two campaign aides, and it was unclear on Wednesday morning whether he would be able to stand at the debate." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Only the party of torture would consider making a guy with a newly-injured leg stand up during a two-hour debate.

South Carolina. Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the state's new near-total ban on abortion by a 4-1 vote, reversing a decision it had made in January that struck down a similar ban and declared that the State Constitution's protections for privacy included a right to abortion. The court's decision was not unexpected, because the makeup of the bench had changed, and Republicans in the State Legislature had passed a new abortion law in the hopes that it would find a friendlier audience with the new court. The decision in January was written by the court's only female justice; she retired and South Carolina now has the nation's only all-male high court."

~~~~~~~~~~

Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "President Joe Biden has tapped Ed Siskel, the former White House attorney who helped manage the Obama White House's response to the Benghazi and Solyndra investigations, to serve as his next White House counsel. Siskel will step into the role next month, the White House said, as Biden is charging into a reelection battle and at a time when the various judicial and congressional investigations circling around the president, his family and his administration are entering a critical stage. Biden could soon be interviewed by federal investigators as part of the special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents; the US attorney investigating the president's son Hunter has just been named a special counsel; and House Republicans, who are already investigating Biden on several fronts, are eyeing a potential impeachment inquiry into the president. He succeeds White House counsel Stuart Delery, who announced last week he will step down after a little over a year in the top role." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Trump Crime Family -- Begins to Break Up

CNN is liveblogging today's updates of developments in the Georgia RICO case against Trump & 18 other (alleged!) criminals. Two defendants surrendered early this morning: former state GOP chairman David Shafer and former Coffey County chair Cathy Latham.

It's Showtime! Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "Donald Trump is expected to surrender at the Fulton county jail on Thursday evening on racketeering and conspiracy charges over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia, according to two people.... The former president -- seeking to distract from the indignity of the surrender by turning things into a circus -- in essence had his lawyers negotiate the booking to take place during the prime viewing hours for the cable news networks."

Self-Interests Are Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Former Georgia Republican Party Chair David Shafer said attorneys for ... Donald Trump, his campaign and the local GOP were responsible for urging him to assemble a slate of false presidential electors that are now at the heart of a sprawling racketeering case. Shafer is among the 18 defendants indicted in Fulton County, Georgia, alongside Trump as part of a conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election. 'Mr. Shafer and the other Republican Electors in the 2020 election acted at the direction of the incumbent President and other federal officials,' Shafer's attorney wrote in a petition seeking to move the Fulton County case to federal court. To bolster his proposition, Shafer provided new documents that underscore the Trump campaign's close involvement in efforts to assemble a group of pro-Trump activists on Dec. 14, 2020 to sign documents claiming to be Georgia's legitimate presidential electors.... The filing underscores the tensions likely to manifest among the 19 defendants as ... defendants seek to shift culpability to others charged in the alleged conspiracy."

I am not granting any extensions. I gave 2 weeks for people to surrender themselves to the court. Your client is no different than any other criminal defendant in this jurisdiction. The two weeks was a tremendous courtesy. At 12:30 pm on Friday I shall file warrants in the system. -- Fani Willis, to Mark Meadows' attorney, in an email Tuesday ~~~

~~~ Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Mark Meadows is urging a federal judge to step in before Georgia prosecutors arrest him this week on charges that he conspired with Donald Trump to subvert the 2020 election. The former Trump White House chief of staff is racing to move the state criminal case into federal court and ultimately have the charges dismissed. He says the charges against him in Georgia stem from his work as Trump's chief of staff, a federal role that should make him immune to the local charges.... Meadows' urgency was sparked by Fulton County District Attorney Fani WillisSteven] Jones has a chance to make a ruling, expected next week.... Former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark has similarly asked Jones to prohibit Willis from arresting him by Friday, contending that his role in Trump's administration should also make him immune from the state-level charges. He has filed a motion for an emergency stay fro Jones...."

Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "Marc Short, who served as chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, called Mark Meadows a 'ringleader' in the attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential election.... '... Mark was a ringleader of much of the events that happened around January 6th. He was somebody who, the president sought to find additional attorneys who gave advice different than the White House counsel, and it was very central to the events that happened on that day,' [Short said on CNN Tuesday.] He went on to say, 'There were a lot of conversations leading up to this, and Mark was central to pulling together many of those who were, I think, whispering falsehoods into the president's ear.'"

CNN live-updated developments Tuesday in Fulton County, Georgia's Trump Crime Family RICO case. John Eastman and Scott Hall have surrendered at the Fulton County jail. Jeff Clark, Acting U.S. A.G. for a few hours, has filed motions in federal court arguing the Fulton County D.A. has no jurisdiction over his conduct & asks the court to dismiss all charges against him. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ NBC News' live updates for Tuesday are here. Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times write a kind of round-up story on who-all did what in regard to Fulton County's charges against them.

Rudy Can't Find a Lawyer. Nick Robertson of the Hill: "Rudy Giuliani ... has not found a Georgia-based lawyer to represent him in the state's prosecution on claims that he assisted a scheme to overturn the 2020 election.... He is relying on the assistance of one of the case's unindicted co-conspirators, Bernie Kerik, to negotiate his bail and surrender terms with Georgia prosecutors, CNN reports. Kerik is not an attorney.... Giuliani must negotiate bail and turn himself in to Georgia authorities by the Friday deadline and will require a Georgia-licensed attorney to sign off on any bail agreements."

Ver-r-r-ry Interesting. Daniel Barnes & Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "A key witness against ... Donald Trump and his two co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago documents case recanted previous false testimony and provided new information implicating the defendants after switching lawyers, according to a new court filing by special counsel Jack Smith's office. Yuscil Taveras, the director of information technology at Mar-a-Lago, changed his testimony regarding efforts to delete security camera footage at Trump's Florida club in July after changing from a lawyer paid for by Trump's Save America PAC to a public defender, according to the filing. The revised testimony led to last month's superseding indictment against Trump and his two co-defendants.... 'Immediately after receiving new counsel, Trump Employee 4 retracted his prior false testimony and provided information that implicated [Walt] Nauta, (Carlos) De Oliveira, and Trump in efforts to delete security camera footage, as set forth in the superseding indictment,l the filing said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gosh, it's almost as if Taveras' Trump-paid lawyer Stanley Woodward induced Taveras to lie to a grand jury in order to protect Trump. Chief Judge Boasberg, whom prosecutors ask to hold a Garcia (conflict-of-interest) hearing on Woodward's representation of more than one client in the case, as well as the bar(s) to which Woodward belongs, should take a look at Woodward's ethics failures here. He is required by law to represent the best interests of his client, not those of the guy who writes the checks. Encouraging a client to perjure himself, thus expose himself to criminal charges, is not part of a lawyer's job. Ever. ~~~

     ~~~ Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: “Special counsel Jack Smith's team revealed the details of the employee's about-face as part of a filing demanded by Florida-based U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the classified records case against the former president.... Assistant special counsel David Harbach, who signed the new filing, said [attorney Stanley] Woodward appeared to be stoking concerns about the use of the D.C. grand jury to gain a 'tactical advantage' for both [Walt] Nauta and [Donald] Trump, whose PAC is covering Woodward's legal bills." ~~~

     ~~~ The government's filing, via Politico, is here.

Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: Former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has taken "wary steps ... to navigate legal and political peril as prosecutors in Washington and Georgia closed in on Mr. Trump, seeking to avoid being charged himself while also sidestepping the career risks of being seen as cooperating with what his Republican allies had cast as partisan persecution of the former president.... The full extent of what he shared with federal prosecutors remains closely held, as are the terms under which he spoke to them.... While Mr. Meadows's strategy of targeted assistance to federal prosecutors and sphinxlike public silence largely kept him out of the 45-page election interference indictment that [special counsel Jack] Smith filed against Mr. Trump in Washington, it did not help him avoid similar charges in Fulton County, Ga. Mr. Meadows was named last week as one of Mr. Trump's co-conspirators...." MB: The reporters convey what seems to be inside information about Meadows' maneuvers. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Trump family have been involved in grifting for quite some time. -- Chris Christie, in June, on CNN ~~~

~~~ The Trump International Crime Family. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "After his fourth indictment..., Donald J. Trump last week posted a video online accusing President Biden and his family of being criminals. 'The Biden crime family,' he claimed, had received millions of dollars from foreign countries.... For Mr. Trump, outrage is a selective commodity when it comes to presidential families taking millions of dollars from foreign countries. During his four years in the White House and in the more than two and a half years since, Mr. Trump and his relatives have been on the receiving end of money from around the globe in sums far greater than anything Hunter Biden, the president's son, reportedly collected.... Mr. Trump also permitted his family to take positions in government that blurred the lines when it came to their private interests. Unlike Hunter Biden, Mr. Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner both served on the White House staff, where they could shape policies of concern to overseas businesses.... No hard evidence has emerged that [Joe] Biden, while vice president, personally participated in or profited from the business deals or used his office to benefit his son's partners."


Jason Wilson
of the Guardian: "The founder and sponsor of a far-right network of secretive, men-only, invitation-only fraternal lodges in the US is a former industrialist who has frequently speculated about his future as a warlord after the collapse of America, a Guardian investigation has found. Federal and state tax and company filings show that the Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR) and its creator, Charles Haywood, also have financial ties with the far-right Claremont Institute [MB: John Eastman's outfit].... One idea he has repeatedly raised on [his] website is that he might serve as a 'warlord' at the head of an 'armed patronage network' or 'APN', defined as an 'organizing device in conditions where central authority has broken down' in which the warlord's responsibility is 'the short- and long-term protection, military and otherwise, of those who recognize his authority and act, in part, at his behest'." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I want to make clear that the article doesn't say a thing about Donald Trump, except indirectly: "Haywood was one of the first on the right to try to rehabilitate the rioters who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. Just over two months after that incident, he praised it as an 'electoral justice protest', commenting that 'the Protest was pretty awesome in every way. Its most precise analog in American history ... is the Boston Tea Party.'" Still, it's difficult for me not to connect the dots from Haywood to Eastman to Trump.


Heidi Przybyla
of Politico: "Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is investigating judicial activist [and Federalist Society poobah & matchmaker] Leonard Leo and his network of nonprofit groups.... It comes after Politico reported in March that one of Leo's nonprofits -- registered as a charity -- paid his for-profit company tens of millions of dollars in the two years since he joined the company. A few weeks later, a progressive watchdog group filed a complaint with the D.C. attorney general and the IRS requesting a probe into what services were provided and whether Leo was in violation of laws against using charities for personal enrichment.... The news of the investigation comes as the nonprofit that was a subject of the complaint quietly relocated in recent weeks from the capital area to Texas, according to paperwork filed in Virginia and Texas."

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "Averting a strike that could have shaken the U.S. economy, the union representing more than 300,000 United Parcel Service employees announced Tuesday that its members had ratified a new labor agreement with the shipping giant. The union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said that its UPS members approved the five-year contract with more than 86 percent support."

~~~~~~~~~~

Somini Sengupta of the New York Times: "Texas has shipped ... a busload of migrants who had crossed the border from Mexico ... into Los Angeles as it was struggling to keep residents safe from Tropical Storm Hilary. The busload of 37 migrants left the border city of Brownsville at 5 p.m. on Sunday, just as Southern California and much of the surrounding area was in a state of emergency, according to a coalition of advocacy groups that received them. They arrived around 6:30 p.m. Monday.... Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles called the decision 'evil.' On X..., she wrote that 'while we were urging Angelenos to stay safe, the Governor of Texas was sending a bus with families and toddlers straight towards us KNOWING they'd have to drive right into an unprecedented storm.'" Thanks to RAS for the lead. MB: It's a shame that the U.S. does not recognize the International Criminal Court in the Hague, because Greg Abbott should be tried for crimes against humanity. (Also linked yesterday.)

Monday
Aug212023

The Conversation -- August 22, 2023

Somini Sengupta of the New York Times: "Texas has shipped ... a busload of migrants who had crossed the border from Mexico ... into Los Angeles as it was struggling to keep residents safe from Tropical Storm Hilary. The busload of 37 migrants left the border city of Brownsville at 5 p.m. on Sunday, just as Southern California and much of the surrounding area was in a state of emergency, according to a coalition of advocacy groups that received them. They arrived around 6:30 p.m. Monday.... Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles called the decision 'evil.' On X..., she wrote that 'while we were urging Angelenos to stay safe, the Governor of Texas was sending a bus with families and toddlers straight towards us KNOWING they'd have to drive right into an unprecedented storm.'" Thanks to RAS for the lead. MB: It's a shame that the U.S. does not recognize the International Criminal Court in the Hague, because Greg Abbott should be put on the block for crimes against humanity.

Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "President Joe Biden has tapped Ed Siskel, the former White House attorney who helped manage the Obama White House's response to the Benghazi and Solyndra investigations, to serve as his next White House counsel. Siskel will step into the role next month, the White House said, as Biden is charging into a reelection battle and at a time when the various judicial and congressional investigations circling around the president, his family and his administration are entering a critical stage. Biden could soon be interviewed by federal investigators as part of the special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents; the US attorney investigating the president's son Hunter has just been named a special counsel; and House Republicans, who are already investigating Biden on several fronts, are eyeing a potential impeachment inquiry into the president. He succeeds White House counsel Stuart Delery, who announced last week he will step down after a little over a year in the top role."

CNN is live-updating developments in Fulton County, Georgia's Trump Crime Family RICO case. John Eastman and Scott Hall have surrendered at the Fulton County jail. Jeff Clark, Acting U.S. A.G. for a few hours, has filed motions in federal court arguing the Fulton County D.A. has no jurisdiction over his conduct & asks the court to dismiss all charges against him.

Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: Former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has taken "wary steps ... to navigate legal and political peril as prosecutors in Washington and Georgia closed in on Mr. Trump, seeking to avoid being charged himself while also sidestepping the career risks of being seen as cooperating with what his Republican allies had cast as partisan persecution of the former president.... The full extent of what he shared with federal prosecutors remains closely held, as are the terms under which he spoke to them.... While Mr. Meadows's strategy of targeted assistance to federal prosecutors and sphinxlike public silence largely kept him out of the 45-page election interference indictment that [special counsel Jack] Smith filed against Mr. Trump in Washington, it did not help him avoid similar charges in Fulton County, Ga. Mr. Meadows was named last week as one of Mr. Trump's co-conspirators...." MB: The reporters convey what seems to be inside information about Meadows' maneuvers.

~~~~~~~~~~

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Erica Green of the New York Times: "President Biden toured the scorched remains of Lahaina, a coastal town on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Monday in his first visit since devastating wildfires killed more than 100 people and left behind scenes of twisted metal and hollowed-out homes. Mr. Biden, who broke away from his summer vacation on Lake Tahoe in Nevada, met with survivors of the fires and with emergency workers and state and local officials. The president hugged Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat, and walked arm in arm with him to Marine One for a 20-minute aerial tour of the wreckage. Sporting a green and yellow lei, he told community members, 'the entire country is here for you.'" CNN's story is here. ~~~

~~~ The New York Times liveblogged President Biden & Dr. Jill Biden's visit to the fire disaster on Maui: "President Biden flew over the blackened remains of Lahaina on Monday in his first visit since the deadly wildfires and declared: 'The devastation is overwhelming.' And in remarks in Lahaina near a 150-year-old banyan tree that survived the fire to become a symbol of hope, Mr. Biden repeatedly called Hawaii 'the kingdom of Hawaii' as he emphasized his commitment to rebuilding. Lahaina was once the royal capital."

Sahil Kapur & Rebecca Kaplan of NBC News: "The ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus is demanding a series of conservative policy changes in exchange for giving their support to any short-term funding measure designed to avert a government shutdown on Sept. 30. The Republican rebels are insisting that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who floated the idea of a stopgap bill last week, impose conditions that are extremely unlikely to be accepted by the Democratic-led Senate and President Joe Biden."

Trump Crime Family Blotter

Trump, Others Strike Bail Deal. Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "... Donald Trump has agreed to a $200,000 bond in the Georgia criminal case charging him with trying to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state.... The order was signed off on by Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. The order, which was signed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Trump's attorneys, says that Trump 'shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice.' It also says the 'Defendant shall make no direct or indirect threat of any nature against the community or to any property in the community; The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.'" The story also covers bond agreements reached for defendants John Eastman, Ken Chesebro & Scott Hall. MB: The terms of Trump's bond agreement put a severe crimp in his SOP. We'll see what happens, won't we? (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ You can read Trump's bond agreement here, via CNN. It's three short pages, with lotsa white space, and altogether a satisfying read.

More Lies in Service of the Big Lie. Daniel Dale of CNN: "... Donald Trump keeps telling the lie that he won Georgia in the 2020 election. This weekend, he delivered a new false claim in support of that old false claim. Trump's deception about what happened in Georgia has not relented even as he prepares to turn himself in this week to face charges in Fulton County over his efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden. On Saturday, he posted on social media that despite having won Georgia in 2016, doing a 'fantastic job' as president and earning millions more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016 and more votes than a sitting president had ever received before, he had 'shockingly, "LOST" Georgia' -- putting lost in quotation marks.... 'All this despite winning nearby Alabama and South Carolina in Record Setting Landslides.... Does anybody really believe I lost Georgia? I DON'T!'...

"Trump lost Georgia fair and square in 2020, by 11,779 votes, and his claim that he won South Carolina and Alabama in record landslides is not even close to true. Numerous previous candidates have earned far larger margins of victory in South Carolina and Alabama than Trump did in 2020. Even Trump himself won each state by a larger margin in 2016 than he did in 2020 -- a fact that contravenes his insinuation that his 2020 failure in Georgia was mysteriously at odds with a better-than-ever performance elsewhere in the region."

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "Delaying Donald Trump's federal trial for his efforts to stop the peaceful transfer of power until 2026 would 'deny the public its right to a speedy trial,' federal prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith wrote in a court filing on Monday.... Smith's team wrote that Trump's proposal is premised on the notion that lawyers will individually and manually review discovery, which is not consistent with modern practices.... 'In cases such as this one, the burden of reviewing discovery cannot be measured by page count alone, and comparisons to the height of the Washington Monument and the length of a Tolstoy novel are neither helpful nor insightful; in fact, comparisons such as those are a distraction from the issue at hand -- which is determining what is required to prepare for trial,' they wrote. 'To accomplish that, the discovery should instead be measured by its relevance, organization, accessibility, searchability, and reviewability. Here, the Government has organized and produced materials in a manner designed to ease and expedite the defendant's review and search, which allows for trial to proceed as the Government has proposed.'" (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

What Is the Trump Cult Saying Today? Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: A new CBS News-YouGov survey finds that "more Trump voters trust him than trust their own friends and family, conservative media or even religious leaders." Still, only 71 percent say they trust Trump to tell the truth. MB: These are sad, suspicious people whose lives must really suck. Sure, they're trying to turn the country into a dystopian nightmare. To some extent, they are already succeeding, and they may have greater success in the near future. The whole project seems to be to make everyone as miserable as they are.


** Embryo of Another U.S. Civil War.
TJ L'Heureux, et al., of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism & Arizona Center for Investigative Journalism, published by ABC News: "... the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, founded in 2011 by former Arizona sheriff Richard Mack..., known as CSPOA, teaches that elected sheriffs must 'protect their citizens from the overreach of an out-of-control federal government' by refusing to enforce any law they deem unconstitutional or 'unjust.' 'The safest way to actually achieve that is to have local law enforcement understand that they have no obligation to enforce such laws,' Mack said in an interview. 'They're not laws at all anyway. If they're unjust laws, they are laws of tyranny.'... The sheriffs group has railed against gun control laws, COVID-19 mask mandates and public health restrictions, as well as alleged election fraud. It has also quietly spread its ideology across the country, seeking to become more mainstream in part by securing state approval for taxpayer-funded law enforcement training standards." Read on. MB: This is not your typical band of grease-painted extremists playing war games in the Idaho woods. They are elected officials; they have badges and guns. And I'll bet they can talk the guys in the woods into joining them.

Presidential Race 2024

Jill Colvin of the AP: "... Donald Trump confirmed Sunday that he will be skipping Wednesday's first Republican presidential primary debate -- and others as well. 'The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had,' Trump wrote on his social media site. 'I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!' His spokesman did not immediately clarify whether he plans to boycott every primary debate or just those that have currently been scheduled."

Eric Bradner of CNN: "Eight Republicans have qualified for the party's first 2024 presidential primary debate Wednesday night, the Republican National Committee announced Monday evening. The list includes North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.... Donald Trump -- the clear front-runner in national and early state polls -- has said he would skip the debate in Milwaukee and called on his rivals to drop out. To make the first debate stage, the RNC required candidates to draw at least 40,000 individual donors and register at least 1% support in three national polls or in two national and two early state polls that met the RNC's criteria. The candidates were also required to sign a pledge to back the eventual winner of the GOP primary, no matter who it is."

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Tennessee. GOP Legislators Back Guns for the Violently Unstable. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "When Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee began a push in April to address public safety, his family was grieving the loss of two close friends, both educators killed in a mass shooting at a Nashville Christian school. His call for millions of dollars to harden school security was embraced by Republicans in the legislature, who flanked him during a formal announcement. But days later, when Mr. Lee, a Republican, decided to go further and ask for an order of protection law that could temporarily restrict an individual's access to firearms, he stood alone for the announcement. The legislature would wrap up its work by the end of the month without taking a vote to pass it. Now, Mr. Lee has summoned lawmakers back to Nashville on Monday for a special session on public safety that could include consideration of a limited version of the law. But without the support of most in his own party, that measure appears, once again, destined for failure, underscoring the power dynamics of a Republican supermajority driven by a right-wing base hardened against any potential infringement on gun ownership."

News Lede

AP: "Army commandos using helicopters and a makeshift chairlift rescued eight people from a broken cable car as it dangled hundreds of meters (feet) above a canyon Tuesday in a remote, mountainous part of Pakistan, authorities said. The six children and two adults became trapped earlier in the day when a cable snapped while they were crossing a river canyon in the Battagram district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The children were on their way to school.... Villagers frequently use cable cars to get around Pakistan's mountainous regions. But the cars are often poorly maintained, and every year people die or are injured while traveling in them."

Sunday
Aug202023

The Conversation -- August 21, 2023

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "... Donald Trump has agreed to a $200,000 bond in the Georgia criminal case charging him with trying to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state.... The order was signed off on by Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. The order, which was signed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Trump's attorneys, says that Trump 'shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice.' It also says the 'Defendant shall make no direct or indirect threat of any nature against the community or to any property in the community; The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.'" The story also covers bond agreements reached for defendants John Eastman, Ken Chesebro & Scott Hall. MB: The terms of Trump's bond agreement put a severe crimp in his SOP. We'll see what happens, won't we?

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "Delaying Donald Trump's federal trial for his efforts to stop the peaceful transfer of power until 2026 would 'deny the public its right to a speedy trial,' federal prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith wrote in a court filing on Monday.... Smith's team wrote that Trump's proposal is premised on the notion that lawyers will individually and manually review discovery, which is not consistent with modern practices.... 'In cases such as this one, the burden of reviewing discovery cannot be measured by page count alone, and comparisons to the height of the Washington Monument and the length of a Tolstoy novel are neither helpful nor insightful; in fact, comparisons such as those are a distraction from the issue at hand -- which is determining what is required to prepare for trial,' they wrote. 'To accomplish that, the discovery should instead be measured by its relevance, organization, accessibility, searchability, and reviewability. Here, the Government has organized and produced materials in a manner designed to ease and expedite the defendant's review and search, which allows for trial to proceed as the Government has proposed.'"

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Trump Crime Family Blotter

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows has asked a federal court to order all charges against him brought by Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutors last week to be dismissed, since he says the charges relate to his then-role in the federal government. In a weekend filing, Meadows argues he should have immunity from the state's 2020 election interference criminal case because he was carrying out his duties as a federal official working for ... Donald Trump. The filing argues that his actions arose only because he was serving Trump as a close White House adviser." MB: I doubt this motion will succeed. And personally, I think it's a bad "look" for Meadows to formally declare he should not be held responsible for his actions. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post explains several reasons that efforts of various Georgia defendants, including Donald Trump & Mark Meadows, should not be successful in their attempts to remove the cases against them from state to federal court. (Meadows has already filed to remove the case.) For one thing, "Neither Trump nor Meadows ... had any constitutional duties regarding state certification of Georgia's own election. The Framers parceled out election duties to the states, the electoral college and Congress, but not the president. Moreover, in seeking removal, a defendant must also show that he has a 'colorable' defense under federal law, such as immunity. [That is, they must have a federal defense against the charges, which they don't.]... Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, D.C., held last November, 'If Former President Trump disrupted the certification of the electoral vote count..., such actions would not constitute executive action in defense of the Constitution.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "Appearing to contradict ... Donald Trump's primary public defense in the classified documents case, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has told special counsel Jack Smith's investigators that he could not recall Trump ever ordering, or even discussing, declassifying broad sets of classified materials before leaving the White House, nor was he aware of any 'standing order' from Trump authorizing the automatic declassification of materials taken out of the Oval Office.... ABC News has also reviewed an early draft of the prologue to Meadows' book ... about his time serving as Trump's chief of staff..., which includes a description of Trump having a classified war plan 'on the couch' at his office in Bedminster, New Jersey, at a meeting attended by Meadows' ghostwriter and publicist, but not by Meadows himself. The reference to that document being in Trump's possession was removed before the book was published. Multiple sources tell ABC News Meadows acknowledged to investigators that he asked that the paragraph be changed, and that it would be 'problematic' had Trump had such a document in his possession. Sources tell ABC News that Meadows told special counsel investigators that he did not discuss making those edits with Trump." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN (Aug. 18): "In the days since the FBI seized classified and top secret documents from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, the former President and his allies have claimed that Trump had a 'standing order' to declassify documents he took from the Oval Office to the White House residence. But 18 former top Trump administration officials tell CNN they never heard any such order issued during their time working for Trump, and that they believe the claim to be patently false.... 'Nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given,' said John Kelly, who served as Trump's chief of staff for 17 months from 2017 to 2019. 'And I can't imagine anyone that worked at the White House after me that would have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed that order to go forward without dying in the ditch trying to stop it.' Mick Mulvaney, who succeeded Kelly as acting White House chief of staff, also dismissed the idea and told CNN he was 'not aware of a general standing order' during his tenure." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "Former Vice President Mike Pence ... said Sunday he did not know of any 'broad-based effort' by ... Donald Trump to declassify documents before he left the White House.... '... I don't have any knowledge of any broad-based directive from the president,' he [said]. 'But that doesn't mean it didn't occur, I just -- it's just not something that I ever heard about.'" MB: This "secret declassification" defense has never made a whit of sense. Everyone who has access to government documents has to know the current classification status of each document. Unless there was a general government-wide email announcement every day like, "Okay, the Prez took today's Presidential Daily Briefing to his residence so you can post it on your Facebook page and talk about it with Putin," then the PDB remained, as it should be, classified. (Also linked yesterday.)

Shawna Mizelle of CNN: "Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy described the case against ... Donald Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents as 'almost a slam dunk' and said he thinks Trump should drop out of the 2024 presidential race. '... He will lose to Joe Biden, if you look at the current polls,' he told CNN's Kasie Hunt on 'State of the Union.' 'I think any Republican on that stage in Milwaukee will do a better job than Joe Biden. And so I want one of them to win...,' the Louisiana senator said. The comments from Cassidy, who was one of seven GOP senators who voted to convict Trump in 2021 at his second impeachment trial, mark some of his strongest criticism of Trump to date. They come as the various charges against Trump continue to dominate the GOP primary, with the former president widely viewed as the party's front-runner." (Also linked yesterday.)


Blame It on the Supremes. Gregory Margarian
, in a New York Times op-ed: The police raid of a small-town Kansas newspaper & its editor and the seizure of the paper's records & devices, supported by a local judge's warrant, "sounds like a lurid tale from Vladimir Putin's Russia.... But the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents dozens of government (as well as private) offenses against American journalists every year -- not just searches and seizures but also arrests, physical assaults by the police, prior restraints, intimidation and improper denials of access to locations and information.... Much of [the problem] owes to the [Supreme Court] justices'; disdaining of the social value of the press while fixating instead on the First Amendment rights of businesses, big electoral spenders and anti-abortion extremists. By abandoning the press, the Supreme Court has licensed law enforcement and lower courts to regard journalists with ignorance, laziness or malice. This problem is especially acute in smaller communities that get little outside scrutiny."

Presidential Race 2024

Arlette Saenz of CNN: "President Joe Biden is preparing to blanket the airwaves with a $25 million television and digital ad campaign in battleground states this month as Republicans are set to face off in their first presidential primary debate. The first minute-long ad, titled 'Fought Back,' which was first obtained by CNN, has an economic focus, marking the campaign's latest effort to improve voter perceptions about Biden's handling of the economy. It also makes explicit reference to ... Donald Trump, as Democrats attempt to tie GOP candidates at this week's debate to Trump's 'MAGA agenda.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

"A Weird Group of Folks." Miranda Nazzaro of the Hill: "Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) on Sunday called the GOP presidential candidates heading to the debate stage a 'weird group of folks.' When asked by NBC's 'Meet The Press' moderator Chuck Todd about his working relationship with North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), who appeared earlier on the show, Walz said he was 'sad' to see Burgum dodge so many questions about former President Trump and his mounting legal troubles. 'I do believe that Doug is probably the most normal of these -- that's a pretty weird group of folks going to be on the debate stage...,' Walz said.... '[T]he minute they all step on the stage, the American people have lost. Are they going to debate who can ban the most books?'"

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California. AP: "A dispute over an LGBTQ+ pride flag at a California clothing store spiraled into deadly violence this weekend when a man shot and killed the 66-year-old business owner right in front of her shop, authorities said. The man ran away from the store after the shooting Friday night but was later found and killed in a confrontation with officers from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. The agency said Laura Ann Carleton was pronounced dead at Mag.Pi, the store she owned and operated in Cedar Glen. The small community in the San Bernadino Mountains is roughly 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles." The New York Times story is here. MB: In Guns America, you can get shot dead for just being a decent human being. It's so disheartening.


Ecuador. Genevieve Glatsky, et al., of the New York Times: "An establishment leftist and a newcomer businessman appeared to capture the top two spots in Ecuador's presidential election on Sunday in a campaign cycle that has centered on voters' frustration with the country's soaring gang and drug cartel violence. Luisa González, who was backed by a former socialist president, and the political outsider Daniel Noboa received the highest percentage of ballots with 84 percent of the vote counted. They will compete in a runoff election on Oct. 15."

Guatemala. Nic Wirtz & Mary Beth Sheridan of the Washington Post: "A political outsider who has vowed to fight corruption was headed for a landslide victory in Sunday's presidential election in Guatemala -- a vote that could mark a turning point for a nation with a faltering democracy. The big question as Guatemalans cast their ballots, though, wasn't just whether Bernardo Arévalo would win. It was whether he'd be allowed to govern. Prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to suspend his party after he finished as the surprise runner-up in the first round of voting on June 25. U.S. and European Union officials, as well as the Organization of American States, pressed the government to allow a fair race. With nearly 96 percent of the vote tallied, Arévalo had a 59 percent to 36 percent lead, according to provisional results -- crushing his opponent Sandra Torres, a former first lady seen as close to the traditional Guatemalan political and economic power brokers." MB: Gosh, sounds like the U.S., where a loser president* tried to negate the results of a presidential election.

Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Yemen. Sarah Dadouch of the Washington Post: "Saudi security forces have killed hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers attempting to cross the country's border with Yemen, Human Rights Watch said, shooting people at close range and firing explosive weapons at groups in the mountains in what could amount to crimes against humanity. In a report released Monday, the New-York based human rights organization detailed a pattern of killings it said was widespread and systematic, based on interviews with witnesses and an analysis of photos, videos and satellite imagery going back to 2021.... The report accuses Saudi forces -- including border guards and possibly specialized units -- of killing 'hundreds, possibly thousands' of Ethiopians in recent years while subjecting survivors and detainees to torture, rape and other inhumane treatment." MB: But, hey, let's be friends with Saudi Arabia. Is there no point at which the U.S. President & State Department will say enough is enough?

News Ledes

The New York Times live updates of developments from Tropical Storm Hilary are here: "Southern California residents on Monday were assessing the impact of Hilary, a powerful storm whose strong winds and lashing rains transformed roads into streams, broke rainfall records, downed trees and power lines and knocked out 911 systems in several places. Officials warned that the extent of the damage was not yet known, though initial reports indicated that Southern California had evaded the worst. Areas to the north and northeast were still at risk of heavy rain and flooding from the storm, which weakened to a post-tropical cyclone with winds that were expected to dissipate further as the day wore on." ~~~

~~~ AP: "Tropical Storm Hilary deluged arid parts of Mexico and then drenched Southern California from the coast to inland mountains and deserts, forcing rescuers to pull several people from swollen rivers. Millions expected more flooding and mudslides Monday, even as the storm begins to weaken. The storm first made landfall in Mexico's arid Baja California Peninsula on Sunday in a sparsely populated area about 150 miles (250 kilometers) south of Ensenada. One person drowned. It then moved through mudslide-prone Tijuana, threatening the improvised homes that cling to hillsides just south of the U.S. border. The first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, Hilary dropped more than half an average year's worth of rain on some areas, including the desert resort city of Palm Springs, which saw nearly 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of rain by Sunday evening."

AP: "A moderate earthquake shook a large swath of Southern California on Sunday just hours after a tropical storm came ashore bringing torrential rain. The 5.1-magnitude quake struck at 2:41 p.m. about 4 miles (7 kilometers) southeast of the mountain community of Ojai, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was felt widely across the region and bookended by smaller foreshocks and aftershocks, the USGS said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe if I still lived in Southern California, I'd believe in powerful supernatural forces, and about now I'd believe the gods were extremely irritated.