April 30, 2023

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post reports on the White House Correspondents' Dinner. "In a ... serious part of his speech, [President Biden] drew a sharp contrast with his predecessor, who called the news media 'the enemy of the people,' telling the throng, 'The free press is a pillar, maybe the pillar of a free society -- not the enemy.' The president also paid tribute to two captive journalists, freelancer Austin Tice and the Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich. Tice has been held captive in Syria for nearly 11 years. Gershkovich was arrested last month and held by Russian authorities on spying charges -- the first American journalist to be held captive in Russia since the Cold War. 'I'm working like hell to get them home,' he said. And Biden acknowledged the presence of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was released by Russian officials in December after 10 months of captivity in a prisoner exchange negotiated by his administration. As he turned things over to 'The Daily Show's' Roy Wood Jr..., Biden referenced an internet meme, which his camp has lately embraced, that suggests the existence of a sinister presidential alter ego called 'Dark Brandon.' 'I'm gonna be fine with your jokes,' he said; then added, while putting on aviator sunglasses: 'But I'm not sure about Dark Brandon.'"

David Wallace-Wells interviews Anthony Fauci for the New York Times Magazine.

Marie: Here's an important Senate vote I missed. Thanks to Forrest M. for highlighting it. Forrest is wondering when Republicans will deem women and minorities to be more than 3/5ths persons. And Patrick, in yesterday's thread, was wondering why CNN didn't notice that it was Senate Republicans, not "the Senate" that blocked passage. ~~~

~~~ Al Weaver & Mychael Schnell of the Hill (April 27): "Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a measure that would have allowed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to be added to the Constitution. Senators voted 51 to 47 to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed, falling short of the 60 votes it it needed. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) were the lone Republicans to vote with every Democrat. The ERA passed Congress in 1972, having been first proposed in 1923. Constitutional amendments, under U.S. law, must be ratified by three-quarters of all state legislatures, meaning 38 states. In 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA, but it did so after the 1982 deadline to ratify the amendment.... The Senate resolution would have removed the deadline so that the ERA could become the 28th Amendment. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Murkowski were the resolution's lead co-sponsors. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued throughout the week that the legislation was needed following the Supreme Court's ruling last summer that overturned Roe v. Wade. 'This resolution is as necessary as it is timely. America can never hope to be a land of freedom and opportunity so long as half of its population is treated like second class citizens,' Schumer said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is infuriating. I don't think Chuck & Friends were serious about passage. Otherwise, they would have raised a stink twice a day every day about Republicans who would not support the most fundamental right of all Americans to be treated equally under the law. Moreover, they should have been educating Americans about what the ERA actually says. There's nothing vaguely radical about it -- unless you're one of those who think women, Black people and others should be chattel.

Rudy Was Always a Shady Character. Maya Yang of the Guardian relates the account Rudy Giuliani gave to Steve Bannon Tuesday about how in his campaign for New York City mayor in 1993, Rudy had operatives who gave out cards all over East Harlem that read, "If you come to vote, make sure you have your green card because INS are picking up illegals." Rudy won the race by 53,000 votes. Rudy's rationale for this particular dirty trick is that he was preventing illegal voting because only people trying to vote illegally would avoid the polls. But of course that's not true. Citizens who are registered to vote don't want to be hassled or subjected to a mistaken-identity foul-up where they wind up in Rikers for three months trying to straighten it out. Given the likelihood INS agents would rough them up or arrest & jail them on some error or pretext, many legal voters most likely chose not to go to the polls. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Reminds me of this quintessential scene from "Frazier" in which Frazier & Niles try to launch an upscale restaurant (play to the end):

From Trump Honcho to Starbucks Barista Trainer. Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "About six months ago, Will Wilkerson was the executive vice president of operations for ... Donald Trump's media business, a co-founder of Trump's Truth Social website and a holder of stock options that might have one day made him a millionaire. Today, he is a certified barista trainer at a Starbucks inside a Harris Teeter grocery store, where he works 5:30 a.m. shifts..., making Frappuccinos for $16 an hour. Wilkerson, 38, has become one of the biggest threats to the Trump company's future: a federally protected whistleblower whose attorneys say has provided 150,000 emails, contracts and other internal documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission and investigators in Florida and New York.... Wilkerson last year publicly accused Trump Media and Technology Group of violating securities laws, telling The Washington Post he could not stay silent while the company's executives gave what he viewed as misleading information to investors, many of whom are small-time shareholders loyal to the Trump brand." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I see where Wilkerson also enjoys the non-exclusive distinction of being sued for defamation by Devin Nunes. (Last week, a federal judge tossed a Nunes (or Devin Nunes' cow) defamation suit against Esquire after the judge determined that the supposedly defamatory story by Ryan Lizza was "substantially, objectively true.")

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out Saturday's drone attack on a fuel depot in Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by the Kremlin in 2014. Ukraine hasn't claimed responsibility for the strike, which comes as Kyiv is preparing for a long-anticipated spring counteroffensive to retake territory seized by Moscow.... Wagner Group founder Yevgeniy Prigozhin reportedly threatened to withdraw his mercenaries from the besieged city of Bakhmut, which Kyiv and Moscow have been fighting over for months. In an interview with a Russian war blogger posted on Telegram, Prigozhin said his fighters will need to 'withdraw in an organized manner or stay and die.' Analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said his remarks are probably intended to secure more ammunition from the Kremlin.... Former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she and members of a U.S. delegation who visited Ukraine a few months after Russia's invasion 'thought we could die' during the trip. 'It was very, it was dangerous,' Pelosi told the Associated Press in an interview."

News Lede

Washington Post: The man who shot five people dead in Cleveland, Texas, escaped the immediate area, probably on foot, and is still on the run. Related story linked yesterday.

April 29, 2023

The White House Correspondents' Dinner is tonight.

Late Morning Update:

Marie: Here's an important Senate vote I missed. Thanks to Forrest M. for highlighting it. Forrest is wondering when Republicans will deem women and minorities to be more than 3/5ths persons. And Patrick, in a comment, is wondering why CNN didn't notice that it was Senate Republicans, not "the Senate" that blocked passage. ~~~

~~~ Al Weaver & Mychael Schnell of the Hill (April 27): "Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a measure that would have allowed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to be added to the Constitution. Senators voted 51 to 47 to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed, falling short of the 60 votes it it needed. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) were the lone Republicans to vote with every Democrat. The ERA passed Congress in 1972, having been first proposed in 1923. Constitutional amendments, under U.S. law, must be ratified by three-quarters of all state legislatures, meaning 38 states. In 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA, but it did so after the 1982 deadline to ratify the amendment.... The Senate resolution would have removed the deadline so that the ERA could become the 28th Amendment. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Murkowski were the resolution's lead co-sponsors. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued throughout the week that the legislation was needed followin the Supreme Court's ruling last summer that overturned Roe v. Wade. 'This resolution is as necessary as it is timely. America can never hope to be a land of freedom and opportunity so long as half of its population is treated like second class citizens,' Schumer said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is infuriating. I don't think Chuck & Friends were serious about passage. Otherwise, they would have raised a stink twice a day every day about Republicans who would not support the most fundamental right of all Americans to be treated equally under the law. Moreover, they should have been educating Americans about what the ERA actually says. There's nothing vaguely radical about it -- unless you're one of those who think women, Black people and others should be chattel.

From Trump Honcho to Starbucks Barista Trainer. Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "About six months ago, Will Wilkerson was the executive vice president of operations for ... Donald Trump's media business, a co-founder of Trump's Truth Social website and a holder of stock options that might have one day made him a millionaire. Today, he is a certified barista trainer at a Starbucks inside a Harris Teeter grocery store, where he works 5:30 a.m. shifts..., making Frappuccinos for $16 an hour. Wilkerson, 38, has become one of the biggest threats to the Trump company's future: a federally protected whistleblower whose attorneys say has provided 150,000 emails, contracts and other internal documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission and investigators in Florida and New York.... Wilkerson last year publicly accused Trump Media and Technology Group of violating securities laws, telling The Washington Post he could not stay silent while the company's executives gave what he viewed as misleading information to investors, many of whom are small-time shareholders loyal to the Trump brand." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I see where Wilkerson also enjoys the non-exclusive distinction of being sued for defamation by Devin Nunes. (Last week, a federal judge tossed a Nunes (or Devin Nunes' cow) defamation suit against Esquire after the judge determined that the supposedly defamatory story by Ryan Lizza was "substantially, objectively true.")

~~~~~~~~~~

We Have Seen the Culprits, and They Are Us. Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve on Friday faulted itself for failing to 'take forceful enough action' to address growing risks at Silicon Valley Bank ahead of the lender's March 10 collapse, which raised turmoil across the global banking industry. A sweeping -- and highly critical -- review conducted by Michael S. Barr, the Fed's vice chair for supervision, identified lax oversight of the bank and said its collapse demonstrated 'weaknesses in regulation and supervision that must be addressed.'... The review ... painted a picture of a bank that grew rapidly in size and risk with limited intervention from supervisors who missed obvious problems and moved slowly to address the ones they did recognize. And it outlined a range of potential changes to bank oversight and regulation -- from stronger rules for midsize banks to possible tweaks to how deposits over the $250,000 federal insurance limit are treated -- that the Fed will consider in response to the disaster." ~~~

     ~~~ The Times' “key takeaways” report is here.

Antonio Olivo of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Army garrison in Central Virginia once known as Fort Lee was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams on Thursday, honoring two Black former officers who helped pave the way for more racial inclusivity in the military.... Pentagon officials said the post is one of nine Army installations being re-designated to remove names, symbols and other displays commemorating the Confederacy. The historic figures now honored in the fort's name are Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams. Gregg, the first African American officer to receive such a high rank, began his service in the Army just after World War II.... During his 36-year career, he experienced the backlash of a desegregating military, which began shortly after he enlisted in 1946, Gregg has said. After becoming an officer in 1949, his first assignment was at Fort Lee in 1950. He retired in 1981 as the highest-ranking Black officer in the U.S. military. At age 94, he is now the only living person in modern Army history to have an installation named after him, the Army said. In 1942, Adams became the first Black officer in the newly created Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, also experiencing racism during a short military career that ended in 1946."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: Passage of Kevin McCarthy's debt-ceiling bill "... has achieved one thing that cannot be undone: It has put 217 House Republicans on record in favor of demolishing popular government services enjoyed by their constituents.... Even ... after all the reversals and surrenders, the bill came within one vote of failing. The lawmaker who cast the final, deciding vote? Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.). How apt that this legislation, built on one broken promise after another, should be carried over the finish line by the world's most famous liar.... At the start of this manufactured debt-limit crisis, I worried that ideological extremism might drive the nation to a first-ever default. But an equal threat to America's full faith and credit may be incompetence. Those in the House majority don't know what they don't know."

MTG Explains Motherhood. Althea Legaspi of Rolling Stone, republished by Yahoo! News: "Mother's Day is just around the corner, and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) would like stepmoms to know that, no, that doesn't count as motherhood. In a hearing for the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Select Coronavirus Crisis on school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Georgia congresswoman attacked the American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten for not being 'a biological mother.' 'Are you a mother?' Greene asked. Weingarten responded that she is a 'mother by marriage.' Weingarten is married to Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, and a stepmother to Kleinbaum’s children from her previous marriage. 'I see,' Greene responded. She's 'not a medical doctor, not a biological mother, and really not a teacher either,' Greene went on to say. 'People like you need to admit that you're just a political activist, not a teacher, not a mother, and not a medical doctor,' Greene added." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     I will never leave that woman. I will always take care of her. -- Kevin McCarthy, speaking of MTG in January 2023

     ~~~ Marie: I wonder what Miss Margie would decree about women who give birth through C-sections. Are they "real mothers"? Shakespeare, after all, has an Apparition allude to Macduff as "not of woman born," because Macduff was "untimely ripped" from the womb; i.e., by C-section. I think Miss Margie needs to enter into the Congressional Record a full definition of "mother" and spare us so much uncertainty.

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "Led by the special counsel Jack Smith, prosecutors are trying to determine whether [Donald] Trump and his aides violated federal wire fraud statutes as they raised as much as $250 million through a political action committee by saying they needed the money to fight to reverse election fraud even though they had been told repeatedly that there was no evidence to back up those fraud claims. The prosecutors are looking at the inner workings of the committee, Save America PAC, and at the Trump campaign's efforts to prove its baseless case that Mr. Trump had been cheated out of victory.... Prosecutors have been looking at the nexus between research the Trump campaign commissioned almost immediately after the election to try to prove widespread fraud, public statements that he and his allies made at the time, the fund-raising efforts and the establishment of Save America.... The possibility that the fund-raising efforts might have been criminally fraudulent was first raised last year by the House select committee investigating Mr. Trump's efforts to retain power." ~~~

~~~ Trump Embraces Woman Who Wants Mike Pence, MOCs Executed. Ryan Reilly & Olympia Sonnier of NBC News: "... Donald Trump embraced a Jan. 6 defendant at a [Manchester, N.H.] diner during a campaign stop Thursday night, calling the woman, who served prison time for her actions during the Capitol attack and wants former Vice President Mike Pence executed for treason, 'terrific.'... Micki Larson-Olson ... was convicted last year of unlawful entry on Capitol grounds.... On Jan. 6, Larson-Olson climbed the scaffolding set up for Joe Biden's inauguration and held on when police tried to remove her; she later bragged on social media and in an interview that it took six officers to remove her.... Larson-Olson said she believes that the members of Congress who voted to certify Biden's presidential election should be executed.... Larson-Olson added that she 'would like a front seat of Mike Pence being executed' and that he should be the 'No. 1' person on her list of those who committed treason....

"Larson-Olson was introduced to Trump as a 'Jan. 6er,' and he signed the backpack that she said she was carrying with her that day and waived [waved!] her past security so he could embrace her. 'Listen, you just hang in there,' Trump said, calling her a 'terrific woman' and kissing her on the cheek. Trump said it was 'so bad' what has been done to Jan. 6 'patriots.'... The meeting comes as Trump has said he may pardon those charged in the Capitol attack and just a month after he opened a campaign rally with a song performed by the 'J6 choir' made up of Jan. 6 defendants who are incarcerated awaiting trial." A related WashPo story was linked earlier today, but it lacked the details of Larson-Olson's views & actions. I've skipped some stuff the reporters cover, so it's worth your reading their story. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Andrew Weissmann noted on MSNBC last night that, after January 6, Trump had a choice: he could condemn the insurrection or he could embrace it. Obviously, Trump chose the latter, and as Weissmann remarked, Jack Smith is making a list of incidents like the diner hug to bolster the case against Trump. So why, years out, would Trump keep implicating himself? I think it's the P.T. Barnum angle. Trump believes he can beat the raps, just as he has usually done in the past. He thinks lawsuits are merely a cost of doing business, and in most Trump cons, what Trump rakes in is greater than the costs they engender. Those money-raising schemes Smith is exploring are the engines that drive the big con; they're not just gigantic gift cards to Trump; they're also funding the defense of the big con.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the author of the majority opinion that overruled Roe v. Wade last June, told The Wall Street Journal's opinion pages that he had 'a pretty good idea who is responsible' for leaking a draft of his opinion to Politico. Justice Alito added that he did not have 'the level of proof that is needed to name somebody.' That echoed language in the Supreme Court's report on its investigation of the leak, which said that 'investigators have been unable to determine at this time, using a preponderance of the evidence standard, the identity of the person(s) who disclosed the draft majority opinion.'... Justice Alito rejected the theory that the Politico leak had come from the right side of the court.... 'Look,' Justice Alito said in the new interview, 'this made us targets of assassination. Would I do that to myself? Would the five of us have done that to ourselves? It's quite implausible.'...

"He added that he was disappointed that lawyers had not come to the defense of the court, which has faced mounting scrutiny for what critics say are serious ethical lapses. 'This type of concerted attack on the court and on individual justices' is, he said, 'new during my lifetime.' He added: 'We are being hammered daily, and I think quite unfairly in a lot of instances. And nobody, practically nobody, is defending us. The idea has always been that judges are not supposed to respond to criticisms, but if the courts are being unfairly attacked, the organized bar will come to their defense.' Instead, Justice Alito said, 'if anything, they've participated to some degree in these attacks.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Self-serving prick. First, Alito uses innuendo to slander & implicate some unknown liberal (so suspect all liberals of being criminals!), then he has the temerity to whine that lawyers are not sticking up for the corrupt members of the court. Besides being a preposterous complaint, it comes across as a threat, IMO. You won't help us out? Watch us rule against your clients. Liptak, BTW, implies that Alito -- if not the leaker of the Dobbs decision -- is a leaker.

I Will Not Speak, and You Cannot Make Me. Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "... the framers trusted Congress -- the representative branch -- with far more authority than it did the president or the Supreme Court.... When Congress calls, the other branches are supposed to answer -- not as a courtesy, but as an affirmation of the rules of the American constitutional order.... Last week, Congress called the chief justice.... He said, in a word, no. 'I must respectfully decline your invitation,' Roberts wrote. 'Testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee by the chief justice of the United States is exceedingly rare as one might expect in light of separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence.'... It is with real chutzpah ... that Roberts has claimed judicial independence in order to circumvent an investigation into judicial independence.... Roberts is essentially using this letter to make plain to Congress the reality of the situation: I will not speak, and you cannot make me. And he's right, not because Congress doesn't have the power, but because it doesn't have the votes." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It strikes me that the vast majority of the GOP Congressional caucus are sadomasochists. Even as they relentlessly bully those who are not able to stand up to them, they give up almost all of their power to the rulers of the other branches of government, so long as the MOCs can convince themselves that those rulers really are on their side. So the kaiser of the executive can send a mob to kill MOCs & within days, the masochists are again pledging allegiance to the Great One. And the caesar of the judiciary can diminish senators with a threatening letter, and the Senate masochists go into hiding & cede their legal power. ~~~

~~~ AND No, Caesar's Wife Is Not Above Reproach. Julia Conley of Common Dreams: "A whistleblower from the legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa says Jane Sullivan Roberts, the wife of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, earned $10.3 million in commissions over seven years from her job as a headhunter at the company, where she placed attorneys with law firms -- including at least one that argued a case before the Supreme Court after the placement was made. Sullivan Roberts earned the money between 2007 and 2014, having taken a job with the company two years after her husband was confirmed to the Supreme Court, according to a report out Friday from Business Insider. The whistleblower, Kendal Price, said in a sworn affidavit in December that he believed 'at least some of [Roberts'] remarkable success as a recruiter has come because of her spouse's position.' Price's complaint was reported on earlier this year by Politico and The New York Times, and Insider published new documents regarding the case."

Jane Coaston of the New York Times: "There's a direct line from ['The Jerry Springer Show'] -- which peaked in 1998 as the most-watched daytime television program in America, entertaining and horrifying nearly seven million Americans every single day -- to the semi-staged mayhem of reality TV, which exploded following ]Big Brother' and 'Survivor' in 2000 and continues today with shows like 'Real Housewives.'... [Springer] was showing Americans [not as they were but] as they quickly learned to portray themselves to be, to an eager audience that wanted to see people at their most base.... But the social media era has smashed that barrier between performative awfulness and its audience.... We're no longer just watching a version of 'The Jerry Springer Show.' We're trapped inside one."

Presidential Race 2024. Justice McDaniel of the Washington Post: "Florida lawmakers on Friday cleared the path for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to run for president without resigning as governor, approving the measure as part of a broader elections bill. The bill, which passed on a party-line vote in the Republican-controlled legislature, stipulates that a rule requiring political candidates already holding office to resign does not apply to anyone running for president or vice president."

Beyond the Beltway

Emmanuel Felton & Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff of the Washington Post: "Black politicians and activists [in states across the South & Midwest] say that Republican lawmakers have used racial gerrymandering and voter suppression to secure those majorities and are using their political might to further consolidate power among mostly White Republicans. This also has meant there has been little movement on issues that matter most to members of the Black community and other groups, issues including gun control, low wages and police violence, said Todd Shaw, a University of South Carolina political science professor.... 'The tactic of expulsion, like excessive registration requirements, purging voter rolls and other tactics we're seeing today, echo the kind of disenfranchisement that we saw during Reconstruction and its aftermath,' said Ariela Gross, a historian at the University of Southern California...."

Arizona. Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "... the case of the Arizona legislator [Sen. Liz Harris] who helped perpetuate the groundless belief that the Sinaloa drug cartel was orchestrating election fraud ended this month with an unusual twist: She was expelled from office by her colleagues, Republicans included. The story of how Republicans decided to oust Harris -- marking only the fourth time in history that an Arizona state House member has been expelled -- illuminates what it takes for GOP lawmakers to police their own when it comes to election-related misinformation.... [Republicans said] she was done in both by her dishonesty with colleagues about whether she knew in advance the substance of her witness's [conspiracy-drenched] testimony as well as her willingness to help spread conspiracy theories targeting her party's own leaders.... Democrats -- who also supported Harris's expulsion -- said they believed another factor was at play in the GOP. 'If Liz Harris had only gone after Democrats and not Republicans, particularly the House speaker, perhaps they would not have begged us to proceed with the expulsion,' said House Minority Leader Andrés Cano (D)."

Colorado. Adeel Hassan of the New York Times: "Gov. Jared Polis signed three bills into law on Friday that tighten restrictions on gun purchases and possession, as well as a fourth that makes it easier for victims of gun violence to sue firearm companies. The new laws will raise the age to buy any firearm to 21 from 18, and make it illegal to sell any gun to someone younger than 21; mandate a three-day waiting period between buying and receiving a gun; and expand the state's red flag law.... The fourth law makes it easier to sue gun manufacturers by eliminating the requirement that plaintiffs automatically pay the legal fees of gun-industry defendants when cases are dismissed. The law also will allow manufacturers to be sued under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, which applies to all other businesses in the state."

Montana. Jim Robbins & Jacey Fortin of the New York Times: "The Republican governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, signed a bill into law on Friday to restrict transition care for transgender minors, joining about a dozen states that have adopted similar laws since the beginning of the year. The bill, which prohibits transitional hormone treatments and surgeries for transgender people under 18, led to a standoff this month between House leadership and Representative Zooey Zephyr, one of the Legislature's only transgender lawmakers."

** North Carolina. Back to GOP Gerrymandering! Michael Wines of the New York Times: "Barely a year after Democratic justices on the North Carolina Supreme Court said new maps of the state's legislative and congressional districts were partisan gerrymanders that violated the State Constitution, a newly elected Republican majority on the court reversed course on Friday and said the court had no authority to overturn those maps. The practical effect is to enable the Republican-controlled State Legislature to scrap the court-ordered State Senate and congressional district boundaries that were used in elections last November, and draw new maps skewed in their favor for elections in 2024. Overturning such a recent ruling by the court was a highly unusual move, particularly on a pivotal constitutional issue in which none of the facts had changed." Politico's story is here. Voters in North Carolina are about evenly divided between Republicans & Democrats, but the gerrymandered districts that the state legislature will likely return to likely would give Republicans 10 of the 14 U.S. House seats. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's notable that when Democrats controlled the court, a court-appointed special master divided the districts fairly, and North Carolina sent seven Congressmembers from each party to Washington, D.C. That is, Democrats don't take advantage; they play fair.

Oregon. Mike Baker of the New York Times: Craig Coyner, once the mayor of Bend, Oregon, ended up in a homeless shelter.

Way Beyond

Sudan. Declan Walsh, et al., of the New York Times: "A convoy of buses carrying about 300 Americans left the war-torn capital of Sudan on Friday, starting a 525-mile journey to the Red Sea that was the United States' first organized effort to evacuate its private citizens from the country. The convoy was being tracked by armed American drones that hovered high overhead, watching for threats. The United Nations and many nations have also evacuated their citizens overland, after receiving security assurances from the warring sides. It renewed questions about why the United States had taken so long to organize a civilian evacuation from Sudan, home to an estimated 16,000 American citizens, many of them dual nationals, when Western and Persian Gulf allies have moved faster and evacuated far more people."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "A drone attack hit a fuel depot in Crimea on Saturday, sparking a fire and damaging four tanks, authorities in the Russian-occupied peninsula said. The fire came a day after Russian strikes killed at least 25 people in Ukraine, including children, highlighting the unrelenting toll on civilians of the war, now in its second year. In Uman, a city in central Ukraine far from the front lines, at least 23 people were killed in an attack that battered apartment buildings, Ukrainian officials said early Saturday.... South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said the world must ensure the invasion of Ukraine cannot succeed, in a Friday speech at Harvard University." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

News Lede

Friday Night in Guns America. Washington Post: "A man using an AR-15-style weapon shot and killed five people Friday, including an 8-year-old -- an angry response to the neighbors' request that he stop shooting in his yard while their baby was trying to sleep, Texas authorities said Saturday. The gunman then fled, prompting an ongoing manhunt. Authorities charged Francisco Oropeza, 38, with five counts of murder and were searching for him Saturday morning, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers told The Washington Post. Ten people were in the home during the shooting. Three women, a man and an 8-year-old boy were killed, Capers said. Five others survived, including three children.... All five victims were shot in the head, he said. Two of the women who were killed were found lying on top of the surviving young children in a bedroom, 'trying to protect them,' Capers told The Post by phone from the scene.... The killings add to a growing list of recent shootings carried out by armed Americans who have shot people in response to what should have been normal, everyday interactions."

April 28, 2023

Afternoon Update:

MTG Explains Motherhood. Althea Legaspi of Rolling Stone, republished by Yahoo! News: "Mother's Day is just around the corner, and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) would like stepmoms to know that, no, that doesn't count as motherhood. In a hearing for the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Select Coronavirus Crisis on school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Georgia congresswoman attacked the American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten for not being 'a biological mother.' 'Are you a mother?' Greene asked. Weingarten responded that she is a 'mother by marriage.' Weingarten is married to Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, and a stepmother to Kleinbaum's children from her previous marriage. 'I see,' Greene responded. She's 'not a medical doctor, not a biological mother, and really not a teacher either,' Greene went on to say. 'People like you need to admit that you're just a political activist, not a teacher, not a mother, and not a medical doctor,' Greene added." ~~~

     I will never leave that woman. I will always take care of her. -- Kevin McCarthy, speaking of MTG in January 2023

Trump Embraces Woman Who Wants Mike Pence, MOCs Executed. Ryan Reilly & Olympia Sonnier of NBC News: "... Donald Trump embraced a Jan. 6 defendant at a [Manchester, N.H.] diner during a campaign stop Thursday night, calling the woman, who served prison time for her actions during the Capitol attack and wants former Vice President Mike Pence executed for treason, 'terrific.'... Micki Larson-Olson ... was convicted last year of unlawful entry on Capitol grounds.... On Jan. 6, Larson-Olson climbed the scaffolding set up for Joe Biden's inauguration and held on when police tried to remove her; she later bragged on social media and in an interview that it took six officers to remove her.... Larson-Olson said she believes that the members of Congress who voted to certify Biden's presidential election should be executed.... Larson-Olson added that she 'would like a front seat of Mike Pence being executed' and that he should be the 'No. 1' person on her list of those who committed treason....

"Larson-Olson was introduced to Trump as a 'Jan. 6er,' and he signed the backpack that she said she was carrying with her that day and waived [waved!] her past security so he could embrace her. 'Listen, you just hang in there,' Trump said, calling her a 'terrific woman' and kissing her on the cheek. Trump said it was 'so bad' what has been done to Jan. 6 'patriots.'... The meeting comes as Trump has said he may pardon those charged in the Capitol attack and just a month after he opened a campaign rally with a song performed by the 'J6 choir' made up of Jan. 6 defendants who are incarcerated awaiting trial." A related WashPo story was linked earlier today, but it lacked the details of Larson-Olson's views & actions. I've skipped some stuff the reporters cover, so it's worth your reading their story.

** North Carolina. Back to GOP Gerrymandering! Michael Wines of the New York Times: "Barely a year after Democratic justices on the North Carolina Supreme Court said new maps of the state's legislative and congressional districts were partisan gerrymanders that violated the State Constitution, a newly elected Republican majority on the court reversed course on Friday and said the court had no authority to overturn those maps. The practical effect is to enable the Republican-controlled State Legislature to scrap the court-ordered State Senate and congressional district boundaries that were used in elections last November, and draw new maps skewed in their favor for elections in 2024. Overturning such a recent ruling by the court was a highly unusual move, particularly on a pivotal constitutional issue in which none of the facts had changed." Politico's story is here. Voters in North Carolina are about evenly divided between Republicans & Democrats, but the gerrymandered districts that the state legislature will likely return to likely would give Republicans 10 of the 14 U.S. House seats. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's notable that when Democrats controlled the court, a court-appointed special master divided the districts fairly, and North Carolina sent seven Congressmembers from each party to Washington, D.C. That is, Democrats don't take advantage; they play fair.

This Take Your Child To Work Day, I had the honor of being protected by some of the toughest agents in town. pic.twitter.com/mYEZ8sDEj9

— President Biden (@POTUS) April 28, 2023

~~~~~~~~~~

** Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: "House Republicans are refusing to let the government keep paying its bills unless the Biden administration rolls back some of its signature achievements. It's a demand that neither the Senate nor Biden will ever agree to.... Explaining it that way is simply good journalism. But as usual..., [the media treat] what is essentially a hostage crisis created exclusively by one side as a normal, two-sided partisan squabble. Indeed, our top political reporters now insist that the onus is on Biden to solve the problem." Froomkin cites articles by Jim Tankersley of the New York Times & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post. "And it's not just them. The notion that this is a problem that both sides needed to solve has been endemic to corporate political reporting for months now." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: When I saw the headlines of Tankersley's & Stein's stories, I just ignored the stories altogether. I should have flagged them as Froomkin did. Froomkin writes that Tankersley & Stein are "highly competent at times" and suggests they must be under some pressure from editors to write GOP propaganda. I don't know anything about Stein, but I know that Tankersley, who used to write for the WashPo, has been writing up GOP talking points for years and turning them in as "reporting." I vet what he writes before I link it.

Paul Blumenthal of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter Thursday to Chief Justice John Roberts asking him to answer questions related to the Supreme Court's ethics policies. The letter, signed by all 11 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, comes on the heels of Roberts' rejection of Durbin's request that the chief justice appear, or designate another justice to appear, before the committee for a hearing about how the court polices conflicts of interest and other ethics issues.... In rejecting the committee's request to appear or to send a justice to appear for a hearing, Roberts attached a 'Statement of Ethics Principles and Practices to which all of the current Members of the Supreme Court subscribe.' 'The statement of principles raises more questions than it resolves, and we request that you respond to several key questions,' according to the response from Durbin and the Judiciary Committee Democrats." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm happy to see that committee Democrats are not letting Durbin get away with ignoring Roberts' rebuff. But how come committee Republicans are not even giving lip service to caring about Supreme Court ethics? Why should Supreme Court Ethics be a partisan issue? Shouldn't every member of congress want the justices to have to adhere to ethics standards as high as the ones members of Congress are supposed to follow? We know that in reality most Republicans treat ethics as a joke, but when did they decide they weren't even going to pretend they cared? I suppose it's yet another Trump effect: it's impossible to support Trump and even pretend you believe federal officials should follow high ethical standards. ~~~

     ~~~ Here are Democrats, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez & Ted Lieu, expressing outrage at the Supremes' "stink of corruption." So then there's this:

     ~~~ David Moye of the Huffington Post: "A National Review writer who defended Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for not disclosing his lavish vacations with billionaire Harlan Crow ... failed to mention [in his defense of Thomas] that he had gone on many of the same excursions that have led to the scandal over Thomas' failure to disclose the trips ... and his possible conflicts of interest. Mark Paoletta posted the piece Thursday on the conservative National Review's website under the headline 'Justice Thomas Acted Properly and Was Not Required to Disclose His Trips.' In the article, Paoletta, who was general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget during the Trump administration, claims that Thomas did everything properly when it comes to disclosure...."Don't stop reading here. Moye publishes a number of excellent tweeted comments. ~~~

This is as succinct a rebuttal as I can imagine. https://t.co/gfb92NAEjc

— Philip Bump (@pbump) April 27, 2023

AND Congrats All Around for The Judiciary Committee's Tough O'Kavanaugh "Investigation." Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "A 2018 Senate investigation that found there was 'no evidence' to substantiate any of the claims of sexual assault against the US supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh contained serious omissions, according to new information obtained by the Guardian. The 28-page report was released by the Republican senator Chuck Grassley, the then chairman of the Senate judiciary committee. It prominently included an unfounded and unverified claim that one of Kavanaugh's accusers -- a fellow Yale graduate named Deborah Ramirez -- was 'likely' mistaken when she alleged that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a dormitory party because another Yale student was allegedly known for such acts." An attorney named Joseph C Smith Jr., who was a friend of the Judiciary Committee's lead counsel and a member of the Federalist Society, claimed that the person who exposed himself to Ramirez was not Kavanaugh but a classmate of his named Jack Maxey. "The allegation that Ramirez was likely mistaken was included in the Senate committee's final report even though Maxey -- who was described but not named -- was not attending Yale at the time of the alleged incident.... Maxey adamantly denied any allegation that he exposed himself to Ramirez at any time.... The committee's final report claimed there was 'no verifiable evidence to support' Ramirez's claim." Maxey is a GOP activist who is shopping around what is supposed to be Hunter Biden's laptop. "... another Yale graduate, Max Stier, describing a separate alleged incident in which he said he witnessed Kavanaugh expose himself at a party at Yale." GOP "investigators" declined to hear Stier's testimony.

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Former Vice President Mike Pence testified on Thursday to a federal grand jury investigating the aftermath of the 2020 election and the actions of ... Donald Trump and others, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The testimony marks a momentous juncture in the criminal investigation and the first time in modern history a vice president has been compelled to testify about the president he served beside. Pence testified for more than five hours, a source familiar with the matter told CNN...." The New York Times story, by Maggie Haberman, is here. MB: Pence testified the day after a D.C. appellate panel ruled that Trump could not block Pence's testimony. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Generalissimo Trumpo Salutes the Troops. Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Thursday praised and embraced a woman convicted of defying police orders on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. 'Listen, you just hang in there,' Trump told the woman, Micki Larson-Olson, who was found guilty on a misdemeanor charge of resisting police efforts to clear the grounds after the insurrection by a pro-Trump mob. 'You guys are gonna be okay.' Trump, who was campaigning ... in New Hampshire, then agreed to sign the backpack she said she carried to the Capitol complex on the day of the [insurrection].... Trump, the polling leader in the GOP presidential race, finished by taking a picture with her, hugging her, and giving her the personalized marker he used for his autograph.... Trump has steadily escalated his advocacy for people charged in the Capitol riot, including by pledging to pardon them if he returns to the White House, praising them as patriots, participating in a recording with Jan. 6 prisoners singing the national anthem, and playing it at his first rally of the 2024 campaign last month. 'I think it's so terrible,' Trump said Thursday about the prosecution of Jan. 6 defendants." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Let us assume that Jack Smith is writing this down.

Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Former president Trump's campaign quietly commissioned a second firm to study election fraud claims in the weeks after the 2020 election, and the founder of the firm was recently questioned by the Justice Department about his work disproving the claims. Ken Block, founder of the firm Simpatico Software Systems, studied more than a dozen voter fraud theories and allegations for Trump's campaign in late 2020 and found they were 'all false,' he said in an interview with The Washington Post.... Block said he recently received a subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith's office and met with federal prosecutors in Washington, but he declined to discuss his interactions with them. Block said he contemporaneously sent his findings disputing fraud claims in writing to the Trump campaign in late 2020.... Separately, prosecutors have interviewed multiple employees from the Berkeley Research Group in recent weeks, another Trump-paid firm that produced a 29-page report ultimately undermining many of Trump's fraud claims, according to three people familiar with the matter.... The firm's work was given to a number of top Trump aides [including Mark Meadows], and that Trump was briefed on the research himself by Berkeley employees, people familiar with the project said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: We know Jack Smith is writing all this down.

Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: E. Jean "Carroll underwent hours of cross-examination by [Donald Trump's lawyer Joe] Tacopina, who made it clear he was seeking to undermine her testimony about what she says was a vicious attack by Mr. Trump after they ran into each other at the Bergdorf Goodman store on Fifth Avenue in the mid-1990s.... The lawyer pressed Ms. Carroll repeatedly about basic facts, probing for inconsistencies and asking about her inability to remember precisely when in 1995 or 1996 the encounter occurred.... At times during the cross-examination, Mr. Tacopina's approach led to admonishments from the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court.... Campaigning in New Hampshire on Thursday, Mr. Trump ... avoided specifically mentioning the trial in Manhattan and Ms. Carroll's accusations." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times liveblogged developments Thursday in the rape & defamation suit E. Jean Carroll has brought against Donald Trump. The Washington Post had a liveblog, too. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Washington Post publishes 23 photos of the 900 it obtained through an FOIA request to the Obama Presidential Library. The photos all were taken on May 1, 2011, the day of the raid on Osama bin Ladin's Pakistan compound.

Rob Copeland & Maureen Farrell of the New York Times: "First Republic Bank is sliding dangerously into a financial maelstrom, one from which an exit appears increasingly difficult. Hardly a household name until a few weeks ago, First Republic is now a top concern for investors and bankers on Wall Street and officials in Washington. The likeliest outcome for the bank, people close to the situation said, would need to involve the federal government, alone or in some combination with a private investor. While the bank, with 88 branches focused mostly on the coasts, is still open for business, no one connected to it, including its executives and some board members, would say how much longer it could exist in its current form." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race 2024. Nikki Haley Predicts Biden Will Die Soon. Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said Wednesday that President Joe Biden, 80, will likely die within five years and that his supporters would have to count on Vice President Kamala Harris if he were to win re-election next year. 'He announced that he's running again in 2024, and I think that we can all be very clear and say with a matter of fact that if you vote for Joe Biden you really are counting on a President Harris, because the idea that he would make it until 86 years old is not something that I think is likely,' Haley, 51, said in an interview on Fox News." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Actuarially, Joe Biden is past the life expectancy of a White American male (77.8 years). But his father lived to the age of 87, and his mother lived to be 93. Plus, Joe Biden has the best medical care money can't buy. So Haley's ghoulish prophecy may be a bit premature.

MEANWHILE, Ronnie Goes to Israel, as Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times reports. I tried to read the article without prejudice. Couldn't do it. DeSantis is such a phony. For instance, Kingsley writes, "At his news briefing, Mr. DeSantis mainly took questions from reporters for right-wing outlets including the American outlet Newsmax; Israel Hayom, a right-wing free sheet published by [Miriam] Adelson[, Sheldon's widow]; and Channel 14, a private pro-Netanyahu television channel in Israel." DeSantis is pretending the global excursion is a Florida trade mission (certainly so Florida taxpayers will foot the substantial travel bill).

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Tierney Sneed of CNN: "A federal appeals court has upheld several provisions of a restrictive election law in Florida that was passed by the GOP-controlled legislature in 2021. A divided panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed most of a ruling by a trial judge last year that said the provisions in question violated the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act by intentionally targeting Black voters. US District Judge Mark Walker's ruling, the appeals court said Thursday, was legally and factually flawed. The 11th Circuit also reversed a holding by Walker that would have required Florida to seek federal approval for any future election rule changes that are similar to the provisions he had struck down." The chief judge of the 11th Circuit, who wrote the opinion, is a Bush II appointed; a Trump appointee joined his opinion. An Obama appointee dissented. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: And that's the way it goes. Every day Dick Durbin & Chuck Schumer coddle Dianne Feinstein, another American (or 100s of Americans) loses the franchise. Inaction has consequences. ~~~

     ~~~ Not Only That, Ron & the Florida Fascists Are Fixing to Make Things Worse. Get Lost, GOTV. Sam Levine of the Guardian: "Florida Republicans are on the verge of passing new restrictions on groups that register voters, a move voting rights groups and experts say will make it harder for non-white Floridians to get on the rolls. The restrictions are part of a sweeping 96-page election bill the legislature is likely to send to Governor Ron DeSantis's desk soon. The measure increases fines for third-party voter registration groups. It also shortens the amount of time the groups have to turn in any voter registration applications they collect from 14 days to 10. The bill makes it illegal for non-citizens and people convicted of certain felonies to 'collect or handle' voter registration applications on behalf of third-party groups."

Kansas. John Hanna of the AP: "The Republican-controlled state Senate voted 29-11 along party lines to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of the medication abortion 'reversal' measure. The GOP-controlled House overrode the veto Wednesday on an 84-40 vote and the new law takes effect July 1. [Providers consider the drug regimen, which the legislature is now forcing them to recommend, to be "ineffective and potentially dangerous."]... Kelly vetoed more than a dozen bills restricting abortion providers, rolling back transgender rights or enacting other conservative policies that have been pursued by Republicans across the U.S. While top GOP lawmakers prevailed on a majority of the Kansas measures, Kelly had some key victories." ~~~

     ~~~ Ben Brasch & Maham Javaid of the Washington Post: "Kansas lawmakers on Thursday passed what critics call one of the most sweeping anti-trans bathroom bills in the nation, overriding Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's veto as conservative state lawmakers are increasingly embracing culture war policies. The new law defines a man and a woman by their sex organs at birth and divides the two groups in their use of bathrooms in athletic settings, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, jails and prisons, while also leaving open its application in other areas." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I get that it would deprive Republicans of the fun and profit in bullying trans people, but states could just pass laws approving unisex public restrooms and forget about the whole thing. ~~~

~~~ Montana. Jim Robbins, et al., of the New York Times: "As Montana lawmakers entered the critical final days of their legislative session on Thursday, one of the state's only transgender lawmakers, Zooey Zephyr, was left exiled from the House chamber, monitoring the debate and casting votes on a laptop as she sat on a hallway bench near a bustling snack stand. Even as her Republican peers sought to isolate her in the wake of her impassioned comments against a proposed ban on what doctors call gender-affirming medical care for children, Ms. Zephyr said she would not remain idle. She spent much of the day on the bench, working with headphones in her ears to block the sound of chattering lobbyists, the hiss of a milk foamer and the voices of lawmakers ordering coffee." ~~~

     ~~~ Eduardo Medina & Jacey Fortin of the New York Times: "As debates over transgender issues embroil Montana's legislature, the governor has faced lobbying from someone close to him: his son, who identifies as nonbinary and has pleaded with his father to reject what he called 'immoral, unjust' bills backed by Republicans. In an interview with The Montana Free Press published Wednesday, David Gianforte, who uses he and they pronouns, said he had sat down with his father, Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican, last month with a prepared statement in hand to read aloud. David Gianforte, 32, told The Montana Free Press, a nonprofit news outlet, that he had written down why he believed bills that were gaining traction in the State Senate and House would be harmful to the L.G.B.T.Q. community, to which he belongs." MB: It's hard to believe David thinks Goliath is persuadable.

Nebraska. Grace Moon of the Washington Post: "A Nebraska state lawmaker and mother to a trans child is being formally investigated over a potential conflict of interest for opposing restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, a move that several senators from both parties were quick to denounce. The complaint, filed by Omaha lawyer David Begley, alleges that Sen. Megan Hunt (D) has a financial stake in the Let Them Grow Act -- which would prohibit puberty blockers, hormone therapies and genital or non-genital surgeries before the age of 19 -- because she has a son who is transgender and could receive a financial benefit.... Sen. Wendy DeBoer (D) ... [said,. 'Every time we have a tax bill, I'm a taxpayer. So I may be involved in that every time.... We have a bill that involves families, well, I have a family.'" MB: Begley is apparently not too bright.

New York. Luis Ferré-Sadurní & Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday announced that she and state lawmakers had reached an agreement on a roughly $229 billion state budget that would change the state's bail laws, increase the minimum wage and provide urgently needed funding for New York City's transit system. The deal capped weeks of contentious negotiations that divided the governor and the Democrat-led State Legislature, delaying its expected passage by almost a month...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't know if you've noticed, but the stories I link about liberal-state news are usually about something like police differences, not unimportant, but pretty much what you'd expect. The stories I link about GOP-dominated states, however, are often about "the most restrictive abortion bill ever!" or "the most permissive gun law ever!" or "Education Department bans books" or "Anti-trans law passes on straight-line party votes." But oh lordie, lookie here: ~~~

~~~ South Carolina & Nebraska. Brittany Shammas, et al., of the Washington Post: "Strict new abortion restrictions failed to advance in two conservative-dominated legislatures on Thursday, signaling a mounting fear among some Republicans that abortion bans could lead to political backlash. A near-total ban on abortion failed in South Carolina, just hours before a six-week ban fizzled in Nebraska. Abortion remains legal in both states until 22 weeks of pregnancy. In lengthy and often impassioned speeches on the South Carolina Senate floor, the state's five female senators -- three Republicans and two Democrats -- decried what would have been a near-total ban on abortion.... In Nebraska..., 80-year-old ... Sen. Merv Riepe, a longtime Republican who would have been the decisive vote to advance the bill to a final round of voting, abstained over his concern that the six-week ban might not give women enough time to know they are pregnant."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Russian attacks hit cities around Ukraine, killing at least 17 people, officials said early Friday. In Kyiv, authorities said the capital came under the first missile attack since early March.... The Biden administration imposed sanctions on Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and other entities for their role in the 'wrongful detention' of Americans.... WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was released from detention in Russia, said she has no plans to play overseas again, unless she does so as a member of Team USA in the Olympics.... Senior American lawmakers expressed frustration at the slow pace of tank deliveries to Ukraine, Dan Lamothe reports. 'This counteroffensive that everybody is talking about,' Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, 'it's the longest windup for a punch in the history of the world.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

U.K. A Bad Day for the Telly. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "The chairman of BBC's board, Richard Sharp, resigned on Friday after an investigation concluded that he failed to disclose his involvement in arranging a nearly $1 million loan for the former prime minister, Boris Johnson. Mr. Sharp said in a statement, shortly before the report was released, that the omission was 'inadvertent and not material' but that he had decided to step down from the broadcaster's board to 'prioritize the interests of the BBC.' His departure deepens the turmoil that has enveloped Britain's public broadcaster in recent months over accusations of political bias and questions about its close ties to Britain's Conservative government. The BBC's role has come under relentless fire in an era of polarized politics and freewheeling social media."