April 21, 2023
Afternoon/Evening Update:
Marie: Sorry, something happened to all my posts on the Supremes' decision. Here they are:
** Supremes Punt. Ariane De Vogue of CNN: "The Supreme Court on Friday protected access to a widely used abortion drug by freezing lower-court rulings that placed restrictions on its usage. As a result, the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of the drug mifepristone and subsequent actions that made it more easily accessible will remain in place while appeals play out -- potentially for months to come. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito publicly dissented." ~~~
~~ Robert Barnes & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Friday retained full access for now to a key drug that has been taken by millions of women to terminate early pregnancies, its first major abortion-related decision since overturning Roe v. Wade's constitutional guarantee of abortion rights last year. The court put on hold a lower court's ruling in favor of antiabortion groups, which said the Food and Drug Administration was wrong to make the drug mifepristone more widely available. A legal battle over whether to permanently reimpose restrictions, and whether the FDA had properly approved use of the drug more than 20 years ago, will continue. In the only noted dissents, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. said they would not have granted the Biden administration's request for a stay of the lower court decision. The court's order is the latest development in what has been a rapid and at times confusing legal battle over mifepristone, which is used as part of a two-drug regimen in more than half of the nation's abortion procedures. The second drug, misoprostol, can also be used on its own to terminate early pregnancies, usually with more cramping and bleeding." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times has a liveblog here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Joy Reid describes the dissents as "churlish" & "scathing."
Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday plans to announce the creation of a White House Office of Environmental Justice, one of several actions to address the unequal burden that people of color carry from environmental hazards, according to the White House. But Mr. Biden, who has indicated that he will run for re-election, is also expected to use the opportunity to portray Republicans as extremists who support the fossil fuel industry at the expense of public health and the planet, said a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly. At a ceremony planned for the Rose Garden, the president plans to sign an executive order making environmental justice a focus of every federal agency and requiring agencies to develop plans to address the disproportionate impact of pollution and climate change on minority and tribal communities, and to report their progress...."
Proud Boys' Self-defense Continues Apace. Alan Feuer & Zack Montague of the New York Times:"A defendant in the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy case lashed out at prosecutors from the witness stand on Thursday, attacking them for conducting what he described as a 'corrupt trial' marred by 'fake charges.' The outburst by the defendant, Dominic Pezzola, came during testimony that was meant to humanize him for the jury but seemed instead to expose his combative nature." Related WashPo story linked below.
Grace Ashford & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "... as federal and local prosecutors examine the web of deceit [Rep. George] Santos [R-N.Y.] spun on his way to winning a closely contested House seat last November, they appear to be focused on a trail of financial dealings that suggests possible campaign finance violations or outright fraud.... No one may be more central to that inquiry than [Santos' former campaign treasurer Nancy] Marks, who was, until now, an unheralded cog in New York politics.... She helped him meet donors and signed off on nearly every campaign invoice and financial filing.... Battling for self-preservation, Mr. Santos has sought to blame Ms. Marks for his financial troubles.... Ms. Marks, in turn, has told at least two associates in recent months that she, like others, was duped by Mr. Santos. In late January, amid growing interest from the Federal Election Commission about financial irregularities, she resigned.... A review by The New York Times ... shows that even as her stature grew over two decades, Ms. Marks waded into ethically and legally murky territory.... The Times found that Ms. Marks's accounting and business practices repeatedly drew suspicion." The report details some of Marks' shady dealings with shady Republicans & her mismanagement of her personal finances.
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "With or without [Donald] Trump in control, the Republican Party has a clear, well-articulated agenda.... Republicans have a vision for intrusive government, aimed at the most vulnerable people in our society.... The crown jewel of the Republican effort to build a more intrusive, domineering government is the set of laws passed to ban or sharply limit abortion, regulate gender expression and otherwise restrict bodily autonomy. These laws, by their very nature, create a web of state surveillance that brings the government into the most private reaches of an adult's life, or a child's.... Not everyone is subject to the Republican vision of intrusive government. There are vanishingly few limits in most Republican-led states on the ability to buy, sell, own and carry firearms.... When it comes to the demands of capital or the prerogatives of the right kind of Americans, Republicans believe, absolutely, in the light touch of a 'small' government.... But when it comes to Americans deemed deviant for their poverty or their transgressions against a traditional code of patriarchal morality, Republicans believe ... that the only answer is the heaviest and most meddlesome hand of the state."
** Dana Milbank of the Washington Post reprises some of Marjorie Taylor Greene's most recent outrageous remarks, then writes, "extremists such as Greene can't be dismissed as gadflies. They are central to the new majority.... Chairman [Mark] Green [R-Tenn.] opened [a Homeland Security committee hearing] with a bit of Great Replacement theory. 'You have not secured our borders, Mr. Secretary, and I believe you've done so intentionally,' he alleged, [speaking to Homeland Security Secretary [Alejandro Mayorkas] saying the administration policy is all about 'moving people into the country,' to welcome 'illegal aliens' and 'settle them into the interior of our country.' Epithets flew: 'Reckless.' 'Insult.' 'Insane.'.... 'Not only have you lied under oath, you just admitted your own incompetence!'... [House Judiciary Committee] Chairman Jim Jordan took his House Judiciary Committee on a field trip to Manhattan this week in his capacity as unofficial cheerleader for Trump's legal defense.... Rep. Troy Nehls (Tex.) recommended that people use deadly force if they fear for their lives. 'I would encourage residents ... to defend yourself. You are given that God-given right, and that means pulling out a weapon and put two at center mass,' he said, pointing at his chest.... There really is no bottom." A column worth reading.
Marshall Cohen of CNN: "A top lawyer for Smartmatic, the voting technology company whose [$2.7BB] defamation lawsuit against Fox News is still pending, said Thursday that he won't accept any settlement smaller than the $787 million Fox agreed to pay Dominion, and that his client needs a 'full retraction' from the right-wing network disavowing the lies it spread about the 2020 presidential election.... That is something Dominion Voting Systems wasn't able to extract from Fox as part of its historic $787 million settlement...." The case is being tried in New York.
Here's even more evidence Ron DeSantis doesn't know WTF he's doing: ~~~
Florida. Ship of a Fool. Frances Robles of the New York Times: In January, when a migrant crisis hit Key West, Gov. Ron DeSantis stepped in, and among other measures, commissioned "a cruise ship to house what [his] administration hoped would become a local army of state employees to help handle the migrant surge. But there was a problem: The $1 million cruise ship contract was signed before anyone realized that the vessel had nowhere to dock.... The hasty state emergency program, including the ill-fated cruise ship contract, highlights the problems that can develop when state officials intervene to help manage the borders, a role traditionally reserved for the federal government. The Florida Division of Emergency Management acknowledged that it was forced to terminate the ship contract, but blamed the Biden administration for failing to authorize the use of U.S. Navy waterways..., but the state never submitted an official request [for access] in writing." ~~~
~~~ "I Think He's an Asshole." Eugene Daniels of Politico: "Ron DeSantis' popularity problem on Capitol Hill is getting worse. The latest in a growing string of anecdotes about DeSantis' lack of a personal touch during his six years in the House comes via former Rep. David Trott (R-Mich.). He sat next to DeSantis for two years when they both served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The then-Florida lawmaker 'never said a single word to me,' Trott said in an email this week to Politico Playbook. 'I was new to Congress, and he didn't introduce himself or even say hello.... I think he's an asshole,' Trott added in a phone interview. 'I don't think he cares about people.'... While the Florida governor made a much-anticipated trip to Washington this week, [Donald] Trump collected a wave of endorsements from Sunshine State lawmakers.... In an interview with Playbook earlier this week, [Rep. Greg] Steube [R-Fla.] recalled that Trump was the first person to call after the lawmaker suffered significant injuries that landed him in the ICU after in a tree-trimming accident earlier this year. 'To this day, I have not heard from Gov. DeSantis,' Steube said." Steuebe has endorsed Trump. ~~~
~~~ Marie: If he was an asshole when he was one little guy among the 435 members of the House, think what an insufferable boor he would be with the trappings of the presidency pumping his ego.
France. Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "Forty-three years ago, a bombing outside a Paris synagogue killed four people and stunned France, prompting huge crowds to protest antisemitism and exposing the country to violence it thought had disappeared with the end of World War II. On Friday, after decades of false leads, a lack of evidence and legal wrangling, a verdict finally came. The defendant, Hassan Diab, a Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor, was convicted in the bombing and sentenced to life in prison. Judges also issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Diab, who lives in Canada and was tried in absentia. Mr. Diab has long denied any involvement in the attack. In an earlier investigation into the bombing, charges against him were dropped."
~~~~~~~~~~
** Presidential Race 2024. Tyler Pager & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "President Biden and his team are preparing to announce his reelection campaign next week, with aides finalizing plans to release a video for the president to officially launch his campaign, according to three people briefed on the plans. Biden and his aides have targeted Tuesday for the release of the video to coincide with the four-year anniversary of his 2020 campaign launch. The people briefed on the plans ... cautioned that the official announcement could be delayed." The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.
Michael Schmidt & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "As Justice Department officials weigh whether to indict Hunter Biden, the investigator overseeing the Internal Revenue Service's portion of the case has come forward with allegations of political favoritism in the inquiry that stand to add to the already fraught circumstances facing the department.... [A] letter [to Congressional leaders from an attorney representing someone claiming to be a whistleblower] said the client had information that would contradict sworn testimony to Congress from a senior political appointee, an apparent reference to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, who has offered assurances that the U.S. attorney in Delaware, David C. Weiss, who was appointed by ... Donald J. Trump, would be free to run the investigation." MB: I have previously linked to a WashPo story about this, but the introduction of Garland's name & testimony is new.
House Republicans Still Targeting Vulnerable Children. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "House Republicans on Thursday approved legislation that would bar transgender women and girls from participating in athletic programs designated for women, the latest effort in a nationwide push by conservatives to restrict transgender rights as they make culture issues a centerpiece of their political message. The bill, approved entirely along party lines on a vote of 219 to 203, was the latest attempt by House Republicans to take up a potent social issue that has rallied their base and been championed at the state level by Republican lawmakers. The bill has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate or being signed by President Biden. In a statement of administration policy, the White House said Mr. Biden would veto it if it made its way to his desk. A national ban that does not take into account competitiveness or grade level 'targets people for who they are and therefore is discriminatory,' the White House said. In a statement of administration policy, the White House said Mr. Biden would veto it if it made its way to his desk. A national ban that does not take into account competitiveness or grade level 'targets people for who they are and therefore is discriminatory,' the White House said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) on Thursday invited Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to testify at a public Senate hearing next month on ethics rules governing the Supreme Court as part of what Durbin said is a needed conversation 'on ways to restore the Court's ethical standards.' Durbin's request -- which would allow Roberts to send a colleague as an alternative -- follows recent revelations about a Texas billionaire taking Justice Clarence Thomas on lavish vacations and buying a Georgia home from Thomas and his relatives where the justice's mother lives. The lack of disclosure has revived concerns about the court's ability to police its own ethics issues. Although the justices say they voluntarily comply with the same ethical guidelines that apply to other federal judges, the lack of an ethics code specific to the Supreme Court became a prominent complaint on Capitol Hill predating the latest reports about Thomas." An NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: That's a sweet invitation, John; but if you're busy, why not send Clarence to do the honors for you. After all, he's the main guy who got you into this mess. Update: See also Akhilleus's comment at the end of yesterday thread. Akhilleus suggests it's Roberts, not Thomas, who stands at the center of the Court's little ethics problems.
Jonah Bromwich & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Congressional Republicans who have sought to scrutinize the investigation that led to criminal charges against Donald J. Trump were thwarted on Wednesday by an appeals court that temporarily blocked them from questioning a former prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney's office. The prosecutor, Mark F. Pomerantz, worked on the district attorney's investigation into Donald J. Trump for about a year before resigning in 2022, and published a book about his experience.... Shortly after the charges [against Mr. Trump] were unsealed, Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, subpoenaed Mr. Pomerantz, signaling that he intended to investigate the inquiry into Mr. Trump.... The district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, sued Mr. Jordan in an attempt to stop the interview of Mr. Pomerantz, but a federal judge in Manhattan, Mary Kay Vyskocil, declined to stop the closed-door questioning, which had been scheduled for Thursday.... Mr. Bragg and Mr. Pomerantz both appealed the order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which late Wednesday granted a temporary stay of the interview." Related stories linked below.
Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "A federal judge in the civil rape trial of ... Donald Trump said that his request for special jury instructions in the case is 'premature' in a filing Thursday. The response from U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, who is presiding over the trial stemming from writer E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit, came a day after Trump's lawyer [Joe Tacopina] sent the judge a letter indicating the former president might take the witness stand in the trial, but it would be too difficult for him to attend the entire trial for logistical reasons tied to his former office." (Also linked yesterday.) Related story linked earlier yesterday.
The Secrets of a Trump Judge. Andrew Kaczynski & Em Steck of CNN: "The federal district judge who first suspended the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of the so-called abortion pill mifepristone failed to disclose during his Senate confirmation process two interviews on Christian talk radio where he discussed social issues such as contraception and gay rights. In undisclosed radio interviews, Matthew Kacsmaryk referred to being gay as 'a lifestyle' and expressed concerns that new norms for 'people who experience same-sex attraction' would lead to clashes with religious institutions, calling it the latest in a change in sexual norms that began with 'no-fault divorce' and 'permissive policies on contraception.'... Federal judicial nominees are required to submit detailed paperwork to the Senate Judiciary Committee ahead of their confirmation process, including copies of nearly everything they have ever written or said in public.... The Washington Post reported last week that Kacsmaryk removed his name in 2017 from a pending law review article criticizing protections for transgender people and those seeking abortions during his judicial nomination process, a highly unusual move for a judicial nominee."
The Bias of Another Trump Judge. Jim Mustian of the AP: "A federal judge donated tens of thousands of dollars to New Orleans' Roman Catholic archdiocese and consistently ruled in favor of the church amid a contentious bankruptcy involving nearly 500 clergy sex abuse victims, The Associated Press found, an apparent conflict that could throw the case into disarray. Confronted with AP's findings, which have not been previously reported, U.S. District Judge Greg Guidry abruptly convened attorneys on a call last week to tell them his charitable giving 'has been brought to my attention' and he is now considering recusal from the high-profil bankruptcy he oversees in an appellate role.... AP's review of campaign-finance records found that Guidry, since being nominated to the federal bench in 2019 by ... Donald Trump, has given nearly $50,000 to local Catholic charities from leftover contributions he received after serving 10 years as a Louisiana Supreme Court justice.... Guidry's philanthropy over the years also appears to include private donations.... Within a year of his most recent contributions, Guidry began issuing rulings that altered the momentum of the bankruptcy and benefited the archdiocese."
Ha Ha Ha. My Pillow Guy Loses $5MM Dare. Chris Dehghanpoor, et al., of the Washington Post: "MyPillow founder and prominent election denier Mike Lindell made a bold offer ahead of a 'cyber symposium' he held in August 2021 in South Dakota: He claimed he had data showing Chinese interference and said he would pay $5 million to anyone who could prove the material was not from the previous year's U.S. election. He called the challenge 'Prove Mike Wrong.' On Wednesday, a private arbitration panel ruled that someone did. The panel said Robert Zeidman, a computer forensics expert and 63-year-old Trump voter from Nevada, was entitled to the $5 million payout. Zeidman had examined Lindell's data and concluded that not only did it not prove voter fraud, it also had no connection to the 2020 election. He was the only expert who submitted a claim, arbitration records show. He turned to the arbitrators after Lindell Management, which created the contest, refused to pay him." CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: It would be better if the person who disproved Lindell's BS were a 63-year-old Black women who had to wait in line four hours to vote for Joe Biden, but I'm still pretty happy to see someone successfully call Lindell's bluff; now I just hope our wonderful judicial system will force him to pay up.
(Alleged!) Insurrectionist Shoots at Sheriff's Deputies. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A Texas man who was facing charges for taking part in the storming of the Capitol opened fire on local sheriff's deputies this week as they went to check on him on the day he was scheduled to surrender to the F.B.I., federal prosecutors said on Thursday. The man, Nathan Donald Pelham, of Greenville, Texas, was arrested in connection with the shooting on Tuesday and was charged with an additional count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Last week, Mr. Pelham, 40, was charged in Federal District Court in Washington with four misdemeanors for illegally entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, through a door on the Senate side of the building and remaining inside for a little more than seven minutes. At the time, court papers say, Mr. Pelham was wearing a pair of goggles, a neck gaiter and a baseball hat emblazoned with a logo associated with the Proud Boys, a far-right group." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Politico's report is here.
Rachel Weiner & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: Two Proud Boys have taken the stand in their own defense in the federal sedition case against them. It has not gone well for them. "... under government cross-examination, the Proud Boys witnesses have been made to appear evasive and unreliable...."
Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "Lachlan Murdoch, the chief executive of Fox Corporation, dropped his defamation suit against an Australian publisher on Thursday, two days after his company settled a blockbuster libel suit against them. Mr. Murdoch sued Private Media, which owns the news website Crikey, in August over an opinion piece published by Crikey in June that linked the Murdoch family to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The opinion article was headlined: 'Trump is a confirmed unhinged traitor. And Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator.' It said the Murdochs and 'poisonous' Fox News commentators were culpable for the insurrection, though it did not specify Mr. Murdoch by name.:
Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "The supreme court is poised to decide whether to preserve access to a widely used abortion medication, after extending its deadline to act until at least Friday."
Don't Let Democrats Vote! Josh Dawsey & Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "A top Republican legal strategist told a roomful of GOP donors over the weekend that conservatives must band together to limit voting on college campuses, same-day voter registration and automatic mailing of ballots to registered voters, according to a copy of her presentation reviewed by The Washington Post. Cleta Mitchell, a longtime GOP lawyer and fundraiser who worked closely with ... Donald Trump to try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, gave the presentation at a Republican National Committee donor retreat in Nashville on Saturday."
Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "That so many gun owners are consumed with fear is not an accident. It is a central part of the ideology propagated by conservative media outlets and gun advocacy groups such as the National Rifle Association.... In the words of NRA leader Wayne LaPierre, 'every day of every year, innocent, good, defenseless people are beaten, bloodied, robbed, raped and murdered.' Criminals, gangs, home invaders, terrorists, antifa -- they're all coming for you. So if your doorbell rings, you'd better have a gun in your hand when you answer.... [The gun culture] is saturated with stories of the heroic gun owner who fends off the monstrous threats of the outside world with deadly force.... This is all reinforced by the conservative media's obsession with urban crime. Is that largely about race? Of course it is.... The answer to all this fear, say those who create and sustain it, is to flood the country with more and more guns. In so doing, the industry and its supporters have brought about the terrifying world of their imaginings."
Julia Jacobs & Graham Bosley of the New York Times: "Lawyers for Alec Baldwin said on Thursday that New Mexico prosecutors were dropping the involuntary manslaughter charges he was facing in the 2021 shooting death of a cinematographer who was killed on the set of the film 'Rust' when a gun he was practicing with went off.... Heather Brewer, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office for Santa Fe County, which had brought the charges against Mr. Baldwin this year, declined to comment." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Update. New Lede: "New Mexico prosecutors are dropping the involuntary manslaughter charges that were filed against Alec Baldwin for the 2021 shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of the film 'Rust,' the government's latest setback as it pursued a high-profile case that has been closely watched by the movie industry and the country.... The decision to drop the charges against Mr. Baldwin came after ... new prosecutors reviewed new evidence that showed that the gun he was practicing with had been modified before it was delivered to the set...." An ABC News story is here.
Elon Says "Never Mind" Again. Barbara Ortutay of the AP: "Twitter has removed labels describing global media organizations as government-funded or state-affiliated, a move that comes after the Elon Musk-owned platform started stripping blue verification checkmarks from accounts that don't pay a monthly fee. [Among those who left Twitter because of the designations were NPR, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. & Swedish public radio.]... Many of Twitter's high-profile users on Thursday lost the blue checks that helped verify their identity and distinguish them from impostors.... Celebrity users, from basketball star LeBron James to author Stephen King and Star Trek's William Shatner, have balked at joining -- although on Thursday, all three had blue checks indicating that the account paid for verification.... [After King tweeted that he had not subscribed, Musk] tweeted he was just paying for King, Shatner and James." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't get why Musk would pay for these guys, all of whom can afford to "join" Twitter, and not, say, Pope Francis, whom Musk stripped of the blue checkmark.
Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded on Thursday, minutes after lifting off from a launchpad in South Texas. The spacecraft, the most powerful ever to launch, failed to reach orbit, but it was not a total failure for the private spaceflight company. Before the launch, Elon Musk, the company's founder, had tamped down expectations, saying it might take several tries before Starship succeeds at this test flight, which was to reach speeds fast enough to enter orbit before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. But the launch achieved a number of important milestones, with the rocket flying for four minutes and getting well clear of the launchpad before it started to tumble, culminating in a high-altitude blast. The brief flight produced reams of data for engineers to understand how the vehicle performed." This is the pinned item on a liveblog. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Some people might call this an explosion. According to MSNBC, SpaceX calls it a "rapid unscheduled disassembly forced separation." See also comments near the end of yesterday's thread.
Jim Waterson & Maya Yang of the Guardian: "BuzzFeed is shutting down what remains of its award-winning news department, signalling the end of an era for a website that once promised to upend the industry. Founder Jonah Peretti told staff on Thursday that 'the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News' and would be looking to make substantial redundancies across the company." The New York Times story is here.
Beyond the Beltway
Florida. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "Florida will become the state with the lowest threshold for imposing the death penalty under a law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday, which will allow juries to recommend capital punishment without a unanimous vote. The change, which will allow juries to recommend a death sentence with an 8-to-4 vote, was prompted by a Florida jury's decision last year to sentence to life in prison without parole the gunman who murdered 17 people in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The jury had voted 9 to 3 in favor of the death penalty in that case, but state law required a unanimous vote to recommend it." (Also linked yesterday.)
Idaho. Silencing the Opposition. Amy Hanson of the AP: "Montana's House speaker on Thursday refused to allow a transgender lawmaker to speak about bills on the House floor until she apologizes for saying lawmakers would have 'blood on their hands' if they supported a bill to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, the lawmaker said. Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who was deliberately misgendered by a conservative group of lawmakers demanding her censure after Tuesday's comments, said she will not apologize, creating a standoff between the first-term state lawmaker and Republican legislative leaders. Speaker Matt Regier refused to acknowledge Zephyr on Thursday when she wanted to comment on a bill seeking to put a binary definition of male and female into state code.... The House Rules committee and the House upheld [Regier's] decision on party-line votes."
Iowa Book Banning. Katie Akin of the Des Moines Register: "The Iowa Legislature has passed a sweeping education bill that limits instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation, removes school books depicting sex acts and explicitly states that parents have a 'constitutionally protected right' to make decisions for their children. The wide-ranging Senate File 496 had bounced between chambers as the House and Senate took turns rewriting the legislation. Sen. Ken Rozenboom, chair of the Senate Education Committee, said the final bill is 'a good-faith effort to reflect the will of both chambers.' The Senate voted 34-16 on Wednesday evening to pass the bill. The House passed it Thursday afternoon, 57-38. Four House Republicans joined all Democrats in opposition. It now goes to Gov. Kim Reynolds [R] for her signature."
Missouri. Black Men & Boys Really Scare White Guys. Rachel Hatzipanagos & Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "When Ralph Yarl rang the doorbell of Andrew Lester's Kansas City, Mo., home by mistake last week..., Lester shot through a glass door at Yarl, hitting him in the head and arm.... Lester said the teenager was a 'Black male approximately 6 feet tall'..., according to the criminal complaint. Lester stated that [shooting Yarl] was the last thing he wanted to do, but he was 'scared to death' due to the males size.... [Yarl] is 5-foot-8 and 140 pounds, according to his family.... In multiple studies, people who were asked to judge the size of Black people tended to see Black men as bigger and stronger than they actually were, and gave Black children the attributes of adults. The result is that they are seen as more dangerous, researchers say." ~~~
~~~ Erik Ortiz of NBC News: Klint Ludwig, "one of the grandchildren of Andrew Lester, the Kansas City homeowner who shot Ralph Yarl after the Black teenager had mistakenly gone to the wrong home, believes police should have acted sooner to arrest his grandfather, who he said has been overtaken by conspiracy theories in recent years.... Ludwig ... Lester had become consumed with watching conservative news outlets and following conspiracy theories built on misinformation."
Tennessee. Phil Williams of New Channel 5 Nashville: "A member of GOP leadership in the Tennessee House of Representatives was recently found guilty of sexually harassing at least one legislative intern, likely two, by an ethics subcommittee acting in secret, NewsChannel 5 Investigates has learned. Rep. Scotty Campbell, who serves as vice chair of the House Republican Caucus and who recently voted to expel three Democrats who engaged in a gun violence protest on the House floor, suffered no consequences as a result of his actions. Despite accusations of sometimes extremely vulgar comments and other inappropriate advances, Republicans did not remove the 39-year-old East Tennessee lawmaker from his leadership position nor from his committee assignments. But taxpyers have paid for his actions. NewsChannel 5 has learned that potentially thousands of dollars have been spent to protect one victim, relocating her from the downtown apartment building where she and Campbell oth had apartments, shipping her furniture back home in another part of the state and placing her in a downtown hotel for the remainder of her internship.... Confronted with the allegations Thursday as he headed to Capitol Hill, Campbell referenced a second intern who was also involved in the investigation. NewsChannel 5 was previously unaware of that individual's complaint." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Friday is here: "A Russian warplane accidentally fired on the Russian city of Belgorod, the country's defense ministry said, according to Tass, a Russian news agency. The incident resulted in damaged residential buildings, Tass reported.... Russian officials sought to build up antiwar sentiment in Germany to dampen Europe's support for Ukraine, according to a trove of sensitive Russian documents largely dated from July to November that were obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post.... Ukraine's military intelligence agency developed plans to conduct covert attacks on Russian forces in Syria using secret Kurdish help, according to a leaked top secret U.S. intelligence document. The plan appeared to be aimed at imposing costs on Russia and its Wagner mercenary group.... 'Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO,' Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday in Kyiv during his first trip to the country since the Russian invasion."
U.K. Mark Landler & Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Dominic Raab, Britain's deputy prime minister, resigned on Friday after an investigation into claims that he had bullied subordinates, as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's struggles to put a legacy of scandal behind his Conservative government. Mr. Raab, a hard-line Brexiteer who is one of Mr. Sunak's most loyal political allies, had long denied allegations of abusive behavior. But the investigation, by an independent barrister, laid out a litany of cases in which civil servants accused Mr. Raab, who also serves as justice secretary, of mistreating them. Mr. Raab becomes the third cabinet minister in six months to be forced out over ethics issues...." The AP's story is here.
News Lede
AP: "A North Carolina man accused of shooting and wounding a 6-year-old girl and her parents after children went to retrieve a basketball that had rolled into his yard was arrested in Florida Thursday afternoon, authorities said. The violence was the latest in a string of recent shootings sparked by seemingly trivial circumstances. Robert Louis Singletary, 24, was arrested in the Tampa area by Hillsborough County deputies, according to online jail records. He was being held without bail on a fugitive warrant. He's scheduled to appear in court Friday. Gaston County Police Chief Stephen Zill said at a news conference Wednesday that his department and the U.S. Marshals Service's Regional Fugitive Task Force had been conducting a broad search for Singletary, who fled after the Tuesday night shootings near Gastonia, a city of roughly 80,000 people west of Charlotte. Singletary had been out on bond in a December attack in which authorities say he assaulted a woman with a hammer....
Neighbor Jonathan Robertson said the attack happened after some neighborhood children went to retrieve a basketball that had rolled into Singletary's yard. He said Singletary, who had yelled at the children on several occasions since moving to the neighborhood, went inside his home, came back out with a gun and began shooting as parents frantically tried to get their kids to safety.... A 6-year-old girl, Kinsley White, was grazed by a bullet in the left cheek and was treated at a hospital and released, she and her family said. Her father, Jamie White, who had run to her aid, was shot in the back. He remained hospitalized Thursday with serious wounds, including liver damage, according to Kinsley's grandfather and neighbor, Carl Hilderbrand. The girl's mother, Ashley Hilderbrand, was grazed in the elbow. Authorities say Singletary also shot at another man but missed."
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