March 11, 2023

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "In one of the most consequential climate decisions of his administration, President Biden is planning to greenlightan enormous $8 billion oil drilling project in the North Slope of Alaska, according to a person familiar with the decision. Alaska lawmakers and oil executives have put intense pressure on the White House to approve the project, citing President Biden's own calls for the industry to increase production amid volatile gas prices stemming from Russia's war against Ukraine. But the proposal to drill for oil has also galvanized young voters and climate activists, many of whom helped elect Mr. Biden and who would view the decision as a betrayal of the president's promise that he would pivot the nation away from fossil fuels. The approval of the largest proposed oil project in the country would mark a turning point in the administration's approach to fossil fuel development." CNN's story is here.

Tony Romm, et al., of the Washington Post: "A powerful group of far-right Republicans on Friday issued a new set of demands in the fight over the debt ceiling, stressing they would only supply their votes to raise the limit if they can secure about $130 billion in spending cuts, cap federal agencies' future budgets and unwind the Biden administration's economic agenda. The ultimatum from the House Freedom Caucus -- led by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) -- threatened to deal a massive blow to government health care, education, science and labor programs. Seeking tougher work requirements on welfare recipients and the repeal of federal funds to fight coronavirus and climate change, the conservatives' wish list appeared to complicate the work to clinch a deal and avert a looming fiscal calamity." MB: Yeah, and cookies & ice cream for every MOC who visits the patriots held at the D.C. jail. Now STFU. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Wingers Notice Jordan Panel Is a Joke. Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "... Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is facing growing frustrations over how he's conducted that panel's business thus far. Some leaders in [MB: oxymoron alert!] hard-right intellectual circles have critiqued the initial work of the subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government as lackluster and unfocused, and some Republican lawmakers have privately raised concerns. Critics say the committee has been too slow to staff up, insufficiently aggressive in issuing subpoenas for interviews and testimony, and lacking in substance." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The underlying problem is that the right's caterwaulling that everything is so unfa-a-a-ir to them is "lacking in substance." Of course, you can't tell that to these "hard-right intellectuals" because they seldom leave Right Wing World.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "It doesn't seem to matter what you ask [Kevin McCarthy]. He hasn't read it, seen it or heard about it....'I didn't see what was aired,' McCarthy [said of Tucker Carlson's egregious whitewashing of the insurrection]." Among other newsworthy items McCarthy missed: Mitch McConnell's criticism of Tucker's fake report; Trump's speech on the Ellipse; "Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) calling the insurrectionists' rampage a 'normal tourist visit"; Trump's infamous phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger; Marjorie Taylor Greene's harassing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), etc."'Do you agree with his portrayal of what happened that day?' [CNN's Manu] Raju pressed. 'Look,' McCarthy said. 'Each person can come up with their own conclusion.'... Given a choice between fact and fiction, between law and anarchy, between democracy and thuggery, the speaker of the House proclaimed his agnosticism. In doing so, he threw the power of the speakership behind the insurrectionists and against the constitutional order he swore to uphold.... Truth -- and this democracy -- are threatened by a dangerously weak speaker of the House, who has concluded that the only way to preserve his own power is to support Fox News in its sabotage of this country.&" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: McCarthy is a busy man, so it's quite possible he "didn't see" the news he claims to have missed (especially matters than Fox "News" may not have aired). But he should fire his entire staff if they're not keeping him up-to-date on what the Senate Minority Leader & members of McCarthy's own caucus are doing.

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "Michael D. Cohen, the former fixer who for years did Donald J. Trump's dirty work, is expected to testify before a Manhattan grand jury next week, a sign that prosecutors are poised to indict the former president for his role in paying hush money to a porn star, according to people with knowledge of the matter.... Once he has testified, nearly every crucial player in the hush money matter will have appeared before the grand jury -- with the exception of the porn star herself, Stormy Daniels, who may not be called to testify.... Mr. Trump has consistently derided the investigation as a partisan 'witch hunt' engineered by his political enemies and has called Mr. Bragg, a Democrat who is Black, 'racist.' On Thursday, in a lengthy, unrestrained statement on Truth Social, Mr. Trump denied having an affair with Ms. Daniels and insulted her appearance while painting the investigation as part of a conspiracy to keep him from returning to the White House. He and his followers, he wrote, are 'victims of this corrupt, depraved, and weaponized justice system.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Sisak & Jill Colvin of the AP: "Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is scheduled to testify Monday before a Manhattan grand jury investigating hush-money payments made on the former president's behalf, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press."

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "While the facts [behind the Manhattan D.A.'s case against Donald Trump] are dramatic, the case ... would likely hinge on a complex interplay of laws. And a conviction is far from assured." The reporters outline the publicly-known facts of the case and "an untested and therefore risky legal theory...." They also report on Trump's reaction to the story that Trump was likely to be indicted. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "... Donald Trump cannot keep E. Jean Carroll from showing a jury the infamous 'Access Hollywood' tape that nearly derailed his 2016 campaign in a lawsuit accusing him of rape, a federal judge ruled. 'In this case, a jury reasonably could find, even from the "Access Hollywood" tape alone, that Mr. Trump admitted in the Access Hollywood tape that he in fact has had contact with women's genitalia in the past without their consent, or that he has attempted to do so,' Senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in a 23-page memorandum opinion." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beth Reinhard & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "The longtime Republican campaign aide who has leveled sexual misconduct allegations against Matt Schlapp, the influential leader of the Conservative Political Action Conference, was accused last month of sexual battery. Carlton Huffman, 39, was recently ordered by a judge to stay away for one year from a Raleigh, N.C., housemate who alleged he performed unwanted sex acts on her and another woman, according to court documents filed in Wake County Superior Court. The Feb. 27 protective order was issued about one month after Huffman filed a lawsuit in Virginia alleging sexual battery and defamation by Schlapp. Schlapp has denied the claims.... Raleigh police said the case was investigated and closed; an incident report shows no charges were filed. The 19-year-old woman was granted the year-long restraining order against Huffman, while the 22-year-old obtained a protective order for 10 days; a judge then dismissed her complaint." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Andy Kroll & Andrea Bernstein of ProPublica, and Nick Surgey of Documented: "Leonard Leo..., the longtime Federalist Society leader [who] helped create a conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court..., declared in a slick but private video to potential donors, he planned to 'crush liberal dominance' across American life. The country was plagued by 'woke-ism' in corporations and education, 'one-sided journalism' and 'entertainment that's really corrupting our youth,' said Leo amid snippets of cheery music and shots of sunsets and American flags.... Leo revealed his latest battle plan in the previously unreported video for the Teneo Network.... Teneo is building what Leo called in the video 'networks of conservatives that can roll back' liberal influence in Wall Street and Silicon Valley, among authors and academics, with pro athletes and Hollywood producers. A Federalist Society for everything." ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Given [Leonard] Leo's past success, he should be taken seriously.... But while Leo's grandiose project could pose a danger to liberalism, it can also be seen as a sign of existential crisis on the right. It demonstrates how conservatives are relying on fantastical ideas about wokeness to tie together a movement that has otherwise lost much of its raison d'être. After all, the nearly 50-year project of ending Roe is complete. Stirring crusades against Communism and then against radical Islam have subsided. The cult of personality around [Donald] Trump has splintered. Many on the right would still like to obliterate the welfare state, but they're deeply defensive about it.... To support the weight [the right are] putting on wokeness, conservatives have had to create a hallucinatory conspiracy theory about how progressive social change works." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oddly, Goldberg doesn't mention it, but I see the "war on wokeness" as a less-than-subtle "war on Black people" & other minorities, including LGBTQ+ people. At its core, it's a racist movement, and a telltale sign is that many of its leaders like Fat Leonard, Fat DeSantolini & Fat Trumpolini (see German Americans, WWI) belong to ethnic groups that were once (and sometimes still now) discriminated against by elites who claimed British heritage and long American pedigrees. Goldberg is correct; the war on wokeness comes from weakness, but it's the weakness of bullies who shoulder a huge chip of resentment over their own sense of "not belonging." This mindset works just as well for people of British and/or Scottish heritage who have not fully realized (at least in their own minds) "the American dream." If they see themselves as failures, they look for somebody else to blame.

Sarah Ellison & others at the Washington Post contrast what key figures at Fox "News" said about Donald Trump publicly vs. privately.

Martha Ross of the Mercury News: "After Kimberly Guilfoyle mysteriously left Fox News in the summer o 2018, she found herself vehemently denying news reports that said her departure was due to allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior. But her former boss, Fox News Chairman Rupert Murdoch, has apparently confirmed that he wanted her gone because of the allegations, which were detailed in a 2020 report in The New Yorker. Murdoch's concerns about Guifoyle, a former top campaign aide for Trump, were revealed in a trove of texts and emails that were recently leaked in Dominion Voting Systems' lawsuit against Fox News. Murdoch said in an email, sent in the wake of the 2020 election, that he had 'insisted' Fox News fire Guilfoyle 'for inappropriate behavior.' The 91-year-old executive also ripped into his once-popular Fox News host in other ways, according to the email, which was shared [in a tweet] by Semafor media reporter Max Tani."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The data of more than 56,000 people, including Social Security numbers and other personal information, was stolen in a hack of the online health insurance marketplace for members of Congress and Washington, D.C., small businesses and residents, officials said in a statement on Friday night. The D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority revealed the size and scope of the data breach on Friday.... The data stolen includes names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, health plan information and other personal information, including home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, ethnicity and citizenship status.It was not immediately known how many of those affected were members of Congress.... Exchange officials said they had reached out to affected enrollees to provide three years of identity and credit monitoring."

Rob Copeland, et al., of the New York Times: "Silicon Valley Bank, a lender to some of the biggest names in the technology world..., [became] the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis. The move put nearly $175 billion in customer deposits, including money from some of the biggest names in the technology world, under the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It was an extraordinary denouement less than two days after the bank shocked Wall Street and its depositors with emergency moves to raise cash and stave off a collapse in the face of withdrawal requests and a precipitous decline in the value of its investment holdings.... The F.D.I.C. created a new bank, the National Bank of Santa Clara, to hold the deposits and other assets of the failed one." (Also linked yesterday.)

2024 Presidential Race. Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: Donald "Trump -- who stoked an insurrection trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election and is running again in 2024 -- finds himself in growing peril, both legal and political. Multiple investigations into him and his actions are entering advanced stages, all while many in the Republican Party -- in private conversations and public declarations -- are increasingly trying to find an alternative to him.:

Beyond the Beltway

Tennessee. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R) acknowledged Thursday that he frequently commented on racy and shirtless photos of a man on Instagram, sparking backlash from critics and LGBTQ advocates at a time when the state's No. 2 elected official has supported bills targeting the LGBTQ community. McNally, 79, repeatedly left supportive statements and emoji, some of them arguably flirtatious, on provocative and half-nude photos posted by Franklin McClure, 20..., according to the Tennessee Holler. That outlet ... reported the story Wednesday. Screenshots of McClure's Instagram posts show that McNally left heart and fire emoji from the lawmaker's verified Instagram account in response to a close-up photo of the man's backside that appears to show him only wearing briefs.... 'I'm really, really sorry if I've embarrassed my family, embarrassed my friends, embarrassed any of the members of the legislature with the posts,' McNally, who is also speaker of the state Senate, told [WTVF Nashville]." McClure "told WMC that McNally offered to help find him a job in Tennessee government." McNally's spokesman said McNally "enjoys interacting with constituents and Tennesseans of all religions, backgrounds and orientations on social media." Apparently so. I do feel sorry for McNally, who -- even at 79 -- thinks he has to hide who he is.

Texas. Eleanor Klibanoff of the Texas Tribune: "A Texas man is suing three women under the wrongful death statute, alleging that they assisted his ex-wife in terminating her pregnancy, the first such case brought since the state's near-total ban on abortion last summer. Marcus Silva is represented by Jonathan Mitchell, the former Texas solicitor general and architect of the state's prohibition on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, and state Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park. The lawsuit is filed in state court in Galveston County, where Silva lives. Silva alleges that his now ex-wife learned she was pregnant in July 2022, the month after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and conspired with two friends to illegally obtain abortion-inducing medication and terminate the pregnancy."

Way Beyond

Saudi Arabia/Iran/China. Vivian Nereim of the New York Times: "Saudi Arabia and Iran have reached an agreement, facilitated by China, to re-establish diplomatic ties after a seven-year split, the countries said on Friday, in what could be a step toward realignment between often hostile regional rivals. Saudi and Iranian officials announced the agreement after talks this week in China, which maintains close ties with both countries, in a joint statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency. Iran's state news media also announced an agreement. The two countries agreed to reactivate a lapsed security cooperation pact -- a shift that comes after years of Iranian proxies targeting Saudi Arabia with missile and drone attacks -- as well as older trade, investment and cultural accords." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Israel. Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "The news of a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia on Friday was ... greeted in Israel with surprise, anxiety and introspection. It also compounded a sense of national peril set off by profound domestic divisions about the policies of the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And it seemed to catch Mr. Netanyahu -- who has long presented himself as the Israeli leader best qualified to fight Iran and most able to charm Saudi Arabia -- off guard. The announcement undermined Israeli hopes of forming a regional security alliance against Iran."

** Israel. Miriam Berger, et al., of the Washington Post: "Israeli security forces in an armored vehicle fired repeatedly into a group of civilians sheltering between a mosque and a clinic after a Feb. 22 raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, killing two people, including a teenager, and wounding three others, according to witnesses and a visual reconstruction of the event by The Washington Post.... The Post reconstruction shows that, while responding to what they claimed was a gunman, Israeli forces fired at least 14 times from inside their armored vehicle.... The Israelis continued firing even after those people would have been visible from the vehicle's windows, the analysis shows.... Israeli forces killed at least 11 people during and after the raid, including several Palestinian fighters, and wounded 102, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and social media posts by Palestinian armed groups.... Recent shootings of civilians by Israeli forces have alarmed human rights and advocacy groups, several of which called the events a result of soldiers being given impunity for unlawful violence against Palestinian civilians."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Kyiv has ordered the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to leave a monastery where its headquarters is located. Ukraine's culture minister said on Telegram that the church -- which recently declared independence from the pro-war Moscow Patriarch -- 'violated the terms of the agreement regarding the use of state property.' The church said in a Facebook post that Kyiv was 'obviously biased.'" ~~~

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

News Lede

Washington Post: "Heavy rains are washing out roads and leading to emergency rescues in central California as the state braces for more storms in the coming days. The California National Guard helped with at least 56 rescues in the early hours of Saturday morning after a levee breach inundated the small community of Pajaro in Monterey County. On Saturday, the governor's office said that it was working to help the largely Latino community, which has a population of just under 3,000."

March 10, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "While the facts [behind the Manhattan D.A.'s case against Donald Trump] are dramatic, the case ... would likely hinge on a complex interplay of laws. And a conviction is far from assured." The reporters outline the publicly-known facts of the case and "an untested and therefore risky legal theory...." They also report on Trump's reaction to the story that Trump was likely to be indicted. You don't need to read that part; you could probably write it. Hint: D.A. Alvin Bragg is a racist Democrat who is just trying to bring down Trump by any fake means possible.

Tony Romm, et al., of the Washington Post: "A powerful group of far-right Republicans on Friday issued a new set of demands in the fight over the debt ceiling, stressing they would only supply their votes to raise the limit if they can secure about $130 billion in spending cuts, cap federal agencies' future budgets and unwind the Biden administration's economic agenda. The ultimatum from the House Freedom Caucus -- led by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) -- threatened to deal a massive blow to government health care, education, science and labor programs. Seeking tougher work requirements on welfare recipients and the repeal of federal funds to fight coronavirus and climate change, the conservatives' wish list appeared to complicate the work to clinch a deal and avert a looming fiscal calamity." MB: Yeah, and cookies & ice cream for every MOC who visits the patriots held at the D.C. jail. Now STFU.

Wingers Notice Jordan Panel Is a Joke. Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "... Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is facing growing frustrations over how he's conducted that panel's business thus far. Some leaders in [MB: oxymoron alert!] hard-right intellectual circles have critiqued the initial work of the subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government as lackluster and unfocused, and some Republican lawmakers have privately raised concerns. Critics say the committee has been too slow to staff up, insufficiently aggressive in issuing subpoenas for interviews and testimony, and lacking in substance." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The underlying problem, of course, is that the right's caterwaulling that everything is so unfa-a-a-ir to them is "lacking in substance." Of course, you can't tell that to these "hard-right intellectuals" because they seldom leave Right Wing World.

Rob Copeland, et al., of the New York Times: "Silicon Valley Bank, a lender to some of the biggest names in the technology world..., [became] the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis. The move put nearly $175 billion in customer deposits, including money from some of the biggest names in the technology world, under the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It was an extraordinary denouement less than two days after the bank shocked Wall Street and its depositors with emergency moves to raise cash and stave off a collapse in the face of withdrawal requests and a precipitous decline in the value of its investment holdings.... The F.D.I.C. created a new bank, the National Bank of Santa Clara, to hold the deposits and other assets of the failed one."

Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "... Donald Trump cannot keep E. Jean Carroll from showing a jury the infamous 'Access Hollywood' tape that nearly derailed his 2016 campaign in a lawsuit accusing him of rape, a federal judge ruled. 'In this case, a jury reasonably could find, even from the 'Access Hollywood' tape alone, that Mr. Trump admitted in the Access Hollywood tape that he in fact has had contact with women's genitalia in the past without their consent, or that he has attempted to do so,' Senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in a 23-page memorandum opinion."

Beth Reinhard & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "The longtime Republican campaign aide who has leveled sexual misconduct allegations against Matt Schlapp, the influential leader of the Conservative Political Action Conference, was accused last month of sexual battery.Carlton Huffman, 39, was recently ordered by a judge to stay away for one year from a Raleigh, N.C., housemate who alleged he performed unwanted sex acts on her and another woman, according to court documents filed in Wake County Superior Court. The Feb. 27 protective order was issued about one month after Huffman filed a lawsuit in Virginia alleging sexual battery and defamation by Schlapp. Schlapp has denied the claims.... Raleigh police said the case was investigated and closed; an incident report shows no charges were filed. The 19-year-old woman was granted the year-long restraining order against Huffman, while the 22-year-old obtained a protective order for 10 days; a judge then dismissed her complaint."

Saudi Arabia/Iran/China. Vivian Nereim of the New York Times: "Saudi Arabia and Iran have reached an agreement, facilitated by China, to re-establish diplomatic ties after a seven-year split, the countries said on Friday, in what could be a step toward realignment between often hostile regional rivals. Saudi and Iranian officials announced the agreement after talks this week in China, which maintains close ties with both countries, in a joint statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency. Iran's state news media also announced an agreement. The two countries agreed to reactivate a lapsed security cooperation pact -- a shift that comes after years of Iranian proxies targeting Saudi Arabia with missile and drone attacks -- as well as older trade, investment and cultural accords."

~~~~~~~~~~

Jim Tankersley, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden on Thursday proposed a $6.8 trillion budget that sought to increase spending on the military and a wide range of new social programs while also reducing future budget deficits, defying Republican calls to scale back government and reasserting his economic vision before an expected re-election campaign. The budget contains some $5 trillion in proposed tax increases on high earners and corporations over a decade, much of which would offset new spending programs aimed at the middle class and the poor. It seeks to reduce budget deficits by nearly $3 trillion over that time.... But after claiming credit for a $1.7 trillion decline in the annual deficit over the past year, Mr. Biden now sees the deficit increasing again in the 2024 fiscal year, to $1.8 trillion. It reaffirms Mr. Biden's case that he can prevent the growing debt burden from weighing on the economy while expanding spending and protecting popular safety-net programs -- almost entirely by asking companies and the wealthy to pay more in taxes.... [The increase] is driven by rising costs of servicing the national debt as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to curb inflation and by new programs the president is proposing that are not fully offset by tax increases in their first year." ~~~

~~~ Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "It is one of President Biden's most common refrains on the stump: 'Don't tell me what you value,' Biden says, quoting his father. 'Show me your budget -- and I'll tell you what you value.' With Republicans controlling the House, the 2024 budget released by the White House on Thursday has little chance of being approved by Congress. But the 182-page document still consists of hundreds of policy proposals, numbers, charts and other data points that provide insight into the priorities of the president and his team. The spending blueprint also serves as the initial offer in negotiations between Democrats and Republicans over the federal budget -- talks likely to prove a major flash point in Congress throughout the year, which faces a tense standoff over the national debt ceiling and a potentially catastrophic default.... Here are seven key takeaways from the 2024 White House budget." ~~~

~~~ Caitlin Emma & Adam Cancryn of Politico: President Biden's budget "marks both a campaign pitch and an opening shot at House Republicans who have demanded significant spending cuts. Democrats have been daring Republicans to put their demands in writing as the GOP seeks fiscal concessions in return for helping to lift the debt ceiling later this year.... Speaking to union members at a [Philadelphia, Pa., ] trade school, Biden framed his proposal as a direct challenge to House Republicans advocating for deep spending cuts amid a looming standoff over lifting the nation's borrowing limit." ~~~

     ~~~ The President Ate My Homework. Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy (CA) admitted that his party's budget is going to be late, but that it's r[e]ally all President Joe Biden's fault. 'We were gonna do the budget in April. But unfortunately, the President's so late with his budget, it delays our budget,' McCarthy explained, according to CNN's Melanie Zanona.... It's unclear why McCarthy needed Biden's budget before the Republicans could write their own."

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The leaders of the United States, Australia and Britain will unveil on Monday a plan to outfit Australia with nuclear-powered submarines in an unprecedented three-way defense partnership that seeks to counter China-s attempts to achieve naval dominance in the Pacific. The plan, known as AUKUS, was first announced in September 2021. The advanced submarines -- the first of which will be American-made -- are now expected to arrive as early as 2032, still a decade off but years ahead of the timeline many expected, said Western officials, who like others interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity." ~~~

~~~ Cashing In. Craig Whitlock & Nate Jones of the Washington Post: "In its quest to build nuclear-powered submarines, the government of Australia recently hired a little-known, one-person consulting firm from Virginia: Briny Deep. Briny Deep, based in Alexandria, Va., received a $210,000 part-time contract in late November to advise Australian defense officials during their negotiations to acquire top-secret nuclear submarine technology from the United States and Britain, according to Australian contracting documents. U.S. public records show the company is owned by John M. Richardson, a retired four-star U.S. admiral and career submariner who headed the U.S. Navy from 2015 to 2019. Richardson, who declined to comment, is the latest former U.S. Navy leader to cash in on the nuclear talks by working as a high-dollar consultant for the Australian government, a pattern that was revealed in a Washington Post investigation last year. His case brings to a dozen the number of retired officers and former civilian leaders from the U.S. Navy whom Australia has employed as advisers since the nuclear talks began in September 2021, documents show."

Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Recent moves in some states to loosen child worker protections are 'irresponsible' and make it easier to hire children for dangerous work, the Labor Department's top attorney said Thursday.... Instead of making it easier to hire youths for dangerous work, governments should try to 'increase accountability and ramp up enforcement' of existing laws, Labor Solicitor Seema Nanda said in a statement. 'No child should be working in dangerous workplaces in this country, full stop.'... The Labor Department has observed a 69 percent increase in minors employed in violation of federal law since 2018, Nanda said.... Nanda in her statement said that federal laws still applied, even in states that loosened their regulations." Arkansas reduced child labor protections this week; similar bills are making their way through Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota legislatures.

Rachel Pannett & Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is being treated for a concussion after falling Wednesday evening, and is expected to remain hospitalized 'for a few days,' a spokesperson announced Thursday afternoon." This is the new lede to a story by Pannett, linked below. An ABC News story is here. MB: Now I'm a little sorry I made a joke yesterday, not about McConnell's fall or his injury, but about who caused it. As for the guy at whose expense the joke was aimed: he still deserves it.(Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "About three years ago, a Federal Bureau of Investigation analyst violated the rules for searching a repository of messages intercepted by the program by making overly broad queries about an undisclosed member of Congress. The conversation about that incident, which became public with few other details in a footnote of a report that was declassified in December, underwent a startling twist on Thursday at a House Intelligence Committee hearing. An Illinois Republican, Representative Darin LaHood, identified himself as that lawmaker. 'I have had the opportunity to review the classified summary of this violation, and it is my opinion that the member of Congress who was wrongfully queried multiple times solely by his name was, in fact, me,' he said from the dais. Mr. LaHood ... is the leader of a bipartisan working group of Intelligence Committee members who are trying to persuade Congress to reauthorize the warrantless surveillance law in question, known as Section 702.... Elected to Congress in 2014, Mr. LaHood is a former federal counterterrorism prosecutor and the son of Ray LaHood, who was also a Republican member of Congress from Illinois and later served as transportation secretary in the Obama administration. Mr. LaHood provided no further details about the incident. But he ... call[ed] the queries about communications involving a member of Congress an egregious violation that betrayed trust in government surveillance power and could be 'seen as a threat to the separation of powers.' At the same time, he made clear that he still believes that Congress must reauthorize Section 702...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Justine McDaniel, et al., of the Washington Post: "Failures by the railroad company operating the train that derailed and caused a chemical disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, left emergency responders 'scrambling' as they grappled with the possibility of a major explosion, some witnesses and lawmakers told Congress on Thursday. Speaking at a morning Senate hearing on the Feb. 3 derailment -- where lawmakers grilled Norfolk Southern CEO Alan H. Shaw and pressed Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator Debra Shore on the response to the fiery crash -- an emergency management director said officials were confused and misled by the railway's lack of communication as they tried to determine whether to allow Norfolk Southern to do a 'controlled release' of toxic vinyl chloride. With the area under threat of a potentially deadly explosion, Norfolk Southern personnel did not come to officials' meetings -- and decision-makers learned partway through their planning that the company 'wanted to' release chemicals from five tank cars, not one, said Eric Brewer..., director of emergency services in Beaver County, Pa., which neighbors East Palestine.... Even as Shaw promised lawmakers that Norfolk Southern 'runs a safe railroad,' another one of its trains went off the tracks in Alabama partway through the hearing. That followed another Norfolk Southern derailment in Ohio earlier this month." (Also linked yesterday.)

Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "For more than six months, the Federal Trade Commission has been investigating Twitter's security practices, following an explosive whistleblower complaint accusing the company of violating a 2011 settlement that required it implement privacy safeguards. That investigation expanded in the wake of Elon Musk's takeover.... Now ... House Republicans ... argue that the agency is using its privacy probe to thwart Musk's absolutist vision of free speech on Twitter.... Republicans fanned these allegations at a combative Thursday hearing ... led by House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).... The contentious, more than two-hour hearing was peppered with arguments between Jordan and Rep. Stacey E. Plaskett, the top Democrat on the House subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government.... 'There is something going on between Congressional Republicans and Elon Musk,' [Plaskett] said. 'Mr. Chairman, Americans can see through this. Musk is helping you out politically, and you're going out of your way to promote and protect him, and to praise him for his work.'" Read on.

David Moye of the Huffington Post: "Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) called out the hypocrisy of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) during a Judiciary subcommittee meeting Thursday.... 'I think that it is quite rich that we are talking about subpoena compliance under a chairman of the full committee who was absolutely out of subpoena compliance in the last Congress,' Swalwell said [during a subcommittee hearing], noting that Jordan refused to cooperate with subpoenas from the Jan. 6 committee."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "House Republicans on Thursday began their promised investigation into whether people charged with crimes in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol have been mistreated in jail, fulfilling a pledge G.O.P. leaders made to their right flank. The investigation -- part of a broader effort by Republicans to rewrite the history of the riot in part by portraying participants as the true victims -- has been a top priority of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia. On Thursday, Ms. Greene wrote to the D.C. mayor, Muriel Bowser, demanding answers to questions, a tour of the correctional facility in southeastern Washington, and access to staff and inmates to conduct interviews by March 23. She and two other lawmakers also asked for all documents and communications about the Jan. 6 detainees' complaints regarding the conditions.... The investigation at the jail is one of several demands made by right-wing lawmakers as Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, sought their votes during weeks of intense negotiations in his campaign for the top job in the House."

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on the House floor, Wednesday:

Not Exactly a Reliable Witness, But Still.... Jacqueline Sweet of Politico: "Rep. George Santos orchestrated a 2017 credit card skimming operation in Seattle, the man who was convicted of the fraud and deported to Brazil said in a sworn declaration submitted to federal authorities Wednesday. 'I am coming forward today to declare that the person in charge of the crime of credit card fraud when I was arrested was George Santos/Anthony Devolder,' Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha wrote in the declaration.... 'Santos taught me how to skim card information and how to clone cards. He gave me all the materials and taught me how to put skimming devices and cameras on ATM machines,' Trelha said in the declaration.... Santos kept a warehouse on Kirkman Road in Orlando to store the skimming equipment, according to the declaration.... [Santos] was previously questioned about the Seattle scheme by investigators for the U.S. Secret Service, CBS News has reported. He was never charged, but the investigation remains open."

That Day Tourists Secretly Trashed a GOP Senator's Office. Ryan Reilly & Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "Two years ago, a mob of rioters ... viciously assaulted police, smashed out windows, stormed into an office, flipped over a giant conference table and barricaded themselves inside the U.S. Capitol, readying themselves for a fight with police inside a suite of 'hideaway' offices for U.S. senators. One of the offices, federal prosecutors recently disclosed, belonged to Republican Jim Risch, the 79-year-old junior senator from Idaho, where [Donald] Trump is tremendously popular. Video< shows a rioter -- who has pleaded guilty to driving a stun gun into ... police officer [Michael Fanone]'s neck, nearly killing him -- smashing out Risch's window overlooking the Washington Monument and the national mall in an attempt to let more rioters into the building. Additional video released this week shows Risch's trashed desk.... A review of Risch's public statements on the Jan. 6, 2021, riot show no indication that he has ever mentioned what happened to his office that day. Asked by NBC News this week about his office being trashed and told about the new footage of rioters in his hideaway, Risch demurred." MB: Just plain weird. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Manhattan D.A. Likely to Indict Trump. William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "The Manhattan district attorney's office recently signaled to Donald J. Trump's lawyers that he could face criminal charges for his role in the payment of hush money to a porn star, the strongest indication yet that prosecutors are nearing an indictment of the former president, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. The prosecutors offered Mr. Trump the chance to testify next week before the grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the potential case.... Such offers almost always indicate an indictment is close; it would be unusual for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, to notify a potential defendant without ultimately seeking charges against him. In New York, potential defendants have the right to answer questions in the grand jury before they are indicted, but they rarely testify, and Mr. Trump is likely to decline the offer. His lawyers could also meet privately with the prosecutors in hopes of fending off criminal charges. Any case would mark the first indictment of a former American president, and could upend the 2024 presidential race." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The AP's story is here.

Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "Federal prosecutors involved in the criminal investigation of Donald Trump's retention of classified documents argued to a US judge on Thursday that one of the former US president's lawyers should answer more questions before a grand jury over objections of attorney-client privilege. US prosecutors have been seeking to invoke the so-called crime-fraud exception that allows them to compel testimony about communications between an attorney and a client when they have evidence to suggest legal advice was used in furtherance of a crime. In the sealed hearing before the chief US district judge for the District of Columbia Beryl Howell, prosecutors argued that they had reason to believe that legal advice to Trump from his lawyer Evan Corcoran was used by Trump to obstruct the classified-marked documents investigation."

Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A federal judge has ordered former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro to turn over to the government hundreds of emails that he sent or received during his nearly four years as a White House aide. In an opinion on Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly rejected a slew of arguments Navarro's attorneys floated in a bid to knock out a civil suit the Justice Department filed in August to recover messages that Navarro handled through a personal ProtonMail account but refused to return to the National Archives after ... Donald Trump left office. Kollar-Kotelly said the privately held emails were plainly subject to the Presidential Records Act.... The tone of Kollar-Kotelly's 22-page opinion was brutal...."

Jane Timm of NBC News: "Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems and a group of media outlets argue that Fox News abused the redaction process and blacked out more than is warranted in the thousands of pages of legal filings and evidence made public in the defamation case it's facing. The new court filings call for the release of pages of evidence that Fox lawyers want to keep secret.... Parties are allowed to designate information like private contact details and trade secrets as confidential in such legal filings, said attorneys for Dominion and a trio of media outlets -- The New York Times, The Associated Press and National Public Radio. But they argued that the Fox attorneys overdid it." ~~~

~~~ Jason Abbruzzese & Kevin Collier of NBC News: "The Federal Communications Commission's oversight of Fox's broadcast licenses means it could bring its power to bear on [Rupert] Murdoch for his admission that he could have stopped Fox News from spreading misleading claims about Dominion Voting Systems, which by extension helped spread the lie that the 2020 election was stolen.... Few people familiar with the FCC expect action.... The FCC's most relevant power in relation to Murdoch is the granting of broadcast licenses, in which it allows private companies to use public airwaves as long as certain criteria are met.... But the FCC has far less power when it comes to cable TV channels, which don't use public airwaves for transmission.... 'But Murdoch owns a number of broadcast stations, and I think it would be fair for the FCC to ask whether he is of fit moral character to own those licenses in light of recent revelations that Murdoch knew the election fraud claims were lies and allowed them to air,' ... said Jessica Gonzalez, a co-CEO of the media advocacy group Free Press. "

In case you think self-described "conservatives" are dedicated to protecting personal freedom, as they claim: ~~~

~~~ Michelle Boorstein & Heather Kelly of the Washington Post: "A group of conservative Colorado Catholics has spent millions of dollars to buy mobile app tracking data that identified priests who used gay dating and hookup apps and then shared it with bishops around the country. The secretive effort was the work of a Denver nonprofit called Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal, whose trustees are philanthropists Mark Bauman, John Martin and Tim Reichert.... The use of data is emblematic of a new surveillance frontier in which private individuals can potentially track other Americans' locations and activities using commercially available information.... The project's existence reflects a newly empowered American Catholic right wing that sees enforcing its interpretation of church teaching on sexuality and gender as an existential issue for the church and that no longer trusts bishops to do so." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Guardian's story is here.

Presidential Race 2024. Margaret Sullivan of the Guardian: "The Florida governor Ron DeSantis likes to brag that he's just getting started with his rightwing agenda. 'You ain't seen nothing yet,' was how he put it in one recent speech. He means it as a promise, but it ought to be heard as a threat. That's particularly true for women whose abortion rights already are being dangerously curtailed and for gay and transgender students who are already being treated as lower life forms. It's particularly true for those who care about voting rights and press rights, and for those who cherish the power of books and free expression as a foundation of societal wellbeing. Of course, if DeSantis should somehow capture the presidency (he's undeclared thus far but the Oval Office is clearly on his mind), that threat would extend to our entire nation and to the world beyond. 'DeSantis rules by an authoritarian playbook," wrote Miami Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago, despite the Orwellian title of the governor's book, The Courage to Be Free.... That's why it's appalling to see the media lavish him with so much fawning coverage." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Could not agree more. Every reporter & statistician who cheerfully discusses the latest who's-up/who's-down polls should be rebuked if they don't also report on democracy's stake in the race. The media should ascribe pro/anti-democracy scores to all of the presidential candidates. The usual horse-race type of "news" reporting is horseshit.

Beyond the Beltway

Poppy Noor of the Guardian: "For decades, the mainstream anti-abortion movement promised that it did not believe women who have abortions should be criminally charged. But now, Republican lawmakers in several US states have introduced legislation proposing homicide and other criminal charges for those seeking abortion care. The bills have been introduced in states such as Texas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Some explicitly target medication abortion and self-managed abortion; some look to remove provisions in the law which previously protected pregnant people from criminalization; and others look to establish the fetus as a person from the point of conception. It is highly unlikely that all of these bills will pass.... Republicans have frequently hit walls when trying to pass anti-abortion legislation, with lawmakers at odds over exactly how far bans should go."

New York. Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: "In 2004, police officers showed the image of a young Black man to a witness, who chose him from an array of six as a suspect in a fatal shooting in Brooklyn's East Flatbush neighborhood. That identification withstood scrutiny through an indictment, trial and appeals over more than 18 years. The Brooklyn district attorney's office said Thursday that detectives, prosecutors and the original trial's judge knew from the outset that the photo in the array wasn't actually of the man they wanted to arrest, but they proceeded anyway. A report by the agency's conviction review unit said that the two men shared a name, and they had addresses in the same precinct, but investigators knew early on that they were different people. [Sheldon] Thomas, 35, appeared in court on Thursday afternoon before Matthew J. D'Emic, a judge with the Brooklyn Supreme Court who ordered him freed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ohio. Marty Schladen of the Ohio Capital Journal: "After more than nine hours of deliberation, a jury on Thursday found former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder [R] and state Republican Chairman Matt Borges guilty of felony racketeering charges in connection with a billion-dollar utility bailout that was passed in 2019.... U.S. District Judge Timothy Black will schedule a sentencing hearing shortly.... Former U.S. Attorney David DeVillers said it was likely the biggest bribery and money laundering scandal in Ohio history.... Akron-based FirstEnergy and other utilities paid tens of millions into an effort to elect friendly lawmakers in 2018 who would vote to make Householder speaker the following year. Immediately after taking the speaker's gavel, Householder worked furiously to pass a $1.3 billion bailout, the vast majority of which benefited FirstEnergy subsidiary FirstEnergy Services.... [Later,] Householder took control of the push to block the repeal, while Borges assisted...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.

Texas. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "Five pregnant women and two doctors filed suit in Texas this week claiming that the state's six-week abortion ban violates the state constitution's due process and equal protection guarantees. The complaint asks that, at a minimum, the court declare a woman can obtain an abortion when a physician in good faith finds the patient suffers a condition of complication that 'poses a risk of infection, bleeding, or otherwise makes continuing a pregnancy unsafe for the pregnant person; a physical medical condition that is exacerbated by pregnancy' that can't be effectively treated or where 'the fetus is unlikely to survive the pregnancy and sustain life after birth.'... The bracing and enlightening facts set out in the complaint should be mandatory reading for lawmakers who want to strip women of essential health care. Unlike most suits that are brought by advocacy groups, this action has real, live plaintiffs with heart-wrenching personal stories[.]" (Also linked yesterday.)

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: "Ukraine's military warned early Friday that the threat of a Russian missile attack remained high, a day after the Kremlin launched a barrage of missiles and confirmed its use of hypersonic weapons. The attack killed at least nine people. Repair crews are working to restore power and water supply in parts of the country after the attack hit critical infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said."

China. Chris Buckley & Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "Xi Jinping has solidified his status as China's most powerful leader in decades by sweeping into a new term as president, as he steels the country for an era of superpower rivalry and seeks to revive a battered economy. Mr. Xi never faced serious doubt that he would be endorsed for a third five-year term as state president at the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, the Communist Party-controlled legislature. The vote was a ritual formalizing his continued dominance of Chinese politics after he already claimed another term as party leader in October. Still, the meeting's unanimous endorsement of Mr. Xi's precedent-breaking third term as president highlighted how his control at the top seems undiminished, even after a torrid year of policy disappointments and reversals." The Guardian's story is here.

Mexico. Niha Masih & Mary Beth Sheridan of the Washington Post: "Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Thursday pushed back against [U.S.] Republican lawmakers who had called on the Biden administration to take military action against drug cartels across the border following the killings of two Americans in Matamoros, saying such demands were a threat to Mexican sovereignty. 'We are not going to allow any foreign government to intervene and much less foreign armed forces to intervene in our territory,' López Obrador said at a news conference, adding that he would ask Americans of Mexican and Hispanic origin not to vote for Republicans if their 'aggression' continued." ~~~

~~~ Natalie Kitroeff & Maria Abi-Habib of the New York Times: "Five men, lying face down with their hands tied, were found by the Mexican authorities on Thursday along with a letter purportedly written by a powerful criminal cartel, blaming the men for a recent attack on four Americans, according to two people familiar with the investigation. The note apologized for the assault, which left two Americans and one Mexican dead, and claimed that the cartel was offering up the men who had carried it out, according to photos reviewed by The Times.... It was not clear whether the message was accurate or actually written by the cartel. The Mexican authorities will question the five men, officials said, to try to determine whether they actually participated in the abduction and killings." An AP story is here.

Saudi Arabia. Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: "Saudi Arabia is seeking security guarantees from the United States, help with developing a civilian nuclear program and fewer restrictions on U.S. arms sales as its price for normalizing relations with Israel, people familiar with the exchanges say. If sealed, the deal could set up a major political realignment of the Middle East." MB: Uh, a murdering, lying butcher promises to be nice to Israel if we'll sell him more guns and provide him with nuclear technology? What could possibly go wrong?

News Ledes

CNBC: "Job creation decelerated in February but was still stronger than expected despite the Federal Reserve's efforts to slow the economy and bring down inflation. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 311,000 for the month, the Labor Department reported Friday. That was above the 225,000 Dow Jones estimate and a sign that the employment market is still hot. The unemployment rate rose to 3.6%, above the expectation for 3.4%, amid a tick higher in the labor force participation rate to 62.5%, its highest level since March 2020.... There also was some good news on the inflation side, as average hourly earnings climbed 4.6% from a year ago, below the estimate for 4.8%. The monthly increase of 0.2% also was below the 0.4% estimate."

New York Times: "Several people were killed and several more were injured in a shooting in a Jehovah's Witness hall in Hamburg, Germany, on Thursday night, in a rare mass shooting in the country. The police, including tactical and bomb disposal units, were on the scene late Thursday, and the injured were rushed to local hospitals. Little was immediately known about the assailant, and the Hamburg police said early Friday that they believed there was just one. A police spokesman indicated that the attacker might be among the dead." ~~~

     ~~~ Washington Post: "While there were no indications of the gunman having connections to terrorist groups, local authorities did receive an anonymous message in January raising alarm about the man's hatred of his former employer and religious groups, particularly the Jehovah's Witnesses, of which he was a member until about 18 months ago. The message led to questions about whether the man -- who had legally purchased a semiautomatic handgun on a sports shooter license -- was mentally fit to own a firearm. Investigators who subsequently checked the man's home in February, however, did not find any evidence to justify revoking his license, police said Friday, while acknowledging those sent had not been trained to spot signs of mental illness." The Guardian's story is here.

Washington Post: "A powerful atmospheric river will send a surge of subtropical moisture into California on Thursday and Friday, delivering heavy rain and even more mountain snow. It will also bring a renewed risk of serious flooding as warmer rain combines with widespread snow and saturated soil. The storm will target Northern and central California, including the Bay Area, where flood watches blanket much of the region lasting into Sunday. Heavy rain and melting snow could cause significant flooding." ~~~

~~~ New York Times: "... homeowners in the towns near Lake Tahoe ... [were] racing to remove massive snowdrifts from [their rooves]. Forecasters and local officials have raised concerns about flooding from snowmelt. But perhaps a greater worry this time is that the snow will act as a sponge, soaking up the rain and becoming heavy enough for roofs to collapse. A second atmospheric river is expected to arrive on Monday."

March 9, 2023

Afternoon Update:

** Manhattan D.A. Likely to Indict Trump. William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "The Manhattan district attorney's office recently signaled to Donald J. Trump's lawyers that he could face criminal charges for his role in the payment of hush money to a porn star, the strongest indication yet that prosecutors are nearing an indictment of the former president, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. The prosecutors offered Mr. Trump the chance to testify next week before the grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the potential case, the people said. Such offers almost always indicate an indictment is close; it would be unusual for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, to notify a potential defendant without ultimately seeking charges against him. In New York, potential defendants have the right to answer questions in the grand jury before they are indicted, but they rarely testify, and Mr. Trump is likely to decline the offer. His lawyers could also meet privately with the prosecutors in hopes of fending off criminal charges. Any case would mark the first indictment of a former American president, and could upend the 2024 presidential race."

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on the House floor, Wednesday:

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "About three years ago, a Federal Bureau of Investigation analyst violated the rules for searching a repository of messages intercepted by the program by making overly broad queries about an undisclosed member of Congress. The conversation about that incident, which became public with few other details in a footnote of a report that was declassified in December, underwent a startling twist on Thursday at a House Intelligence Committee hearing. An Illinois Republican, Representative Darin LaHood, identified himself as that lawmaker. 'I have had the opportunity to review the classified summary of this violation, and it is my opinion that the member of Congress who was wrongfully queried multiple times solely by his name was, in fact, me,' he said from the dais. Mr. LaHood ... is the leader of a bipartisan working group of Intelligence Committee members who are trying to persuade Congress to reauthorize the warrantless surveillance law in question, known as Section 702.... Elected to Congress in 2014, Mr. LaHood is a former federal counterterrorism prosecutor and the son of Ray LaHood, who was also a Republican member of Congress from Illinois and later served as transportation secretary in the Obama administration. Mr. LaHood provided no further details about the incident. But he ... call[ed] the queries about communications involving a member of Congress an egregious violation that betrayed trust in government surveillance power and could be 'seen as a threat to the separation of powers.' At the same time, he made clear that he still believes that Congress must reauthorize Section 702...."

New York. Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: "In 2004, police officers showed the image of a young Black man to a witness, who chose him from an array of six as a suspect in a fatal shooting in Brooklyn's East Flatbush neighborhood. That identification withstood scrutiny through an indictment, trial and appeals over more than 18 years. The Brooklyn district attorney's office said Thursday that detectives, prosecutors and the original trial's judge knew from the outset that the photo in the array wasn't actually of the man they wanted to arrest, but they proceeded anyway. A report by the agency's conviction review unit said that the two men shared a name, and they had addresses in the same precinct, but investigators knew early on that they were different people. [Sheldon] Thomas, 35, appeared in court on Thursday afternoon before Matthew J. D'Emic, a judge with the Brooklyn Supreme Court who ordered him freed."

Texas. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "Five pregnant women and two doctors filed suit in Texas this week claiming that the state's six-week abortion ban violates the state constitution's due process and equal protection guarantees. The complaint asks that, at a minimum, the court declare a woman can obtain an abortion when a physician in good faith finds the patient suffers a condition of complication that 'poses a risk of infection, bleeding, or otherwise makes continuing a pregnancy unsafe for the pregnant person; a physical medical condition that is exacerbated by pregnancy' that can't be effectively treated or where 'the fetus is unlikely to survive the pregnancy and sustain life after birth.'... The bracing and enlightening facts set out in the complaint should be mandatory reading for lawmakers who want to strip women of essential health care. Unlike most suits that are brought by advocacy groups, this action has real, live plaintiffs with heart-wrenching personal stories[.]"

Justine McDaniel, et al., of the Washington Post: "Failures by the railroad company operating the train that derailed and caused a chemical disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, left emergency responders 'scrambling' as they grappled with the possibility of a major explosion, some witnesses and lawmakers told Congress on Thursday. Speaking at a morning Senate hearing on the Feb. 3 derailment -- where lawmakers grilled Norfolk Southern CEO Alan H. Shaw and pressed Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator Debra Shore on the response to the fiery crash -- an emergency management director said officials were confused and misled by the railway's lack of communication as they tried to determine whether to allow Norfolk Southern to do a 'controlled release' of toxic vinyl chloride. With the area under threat of a potentially deadly explosion, Norfolk Southern personnel did not come to officials' meetings -- and decision-makers learned partway through their planning that the company 'wanted to' release chemicals from five tank cars, not one, said Eric Brewer..., director of emergency services in Beaver County, Pa., which neighbors East Palestine.... Even as Shaw promised lawmakers that Norfolk Southern 'runs a safe railroad,' another one of its trains went off the tracks in Alabama partway through the hearing. That followed another Norfolk Southern derailment in Ohio earlier this month."

Update: Rachel Pannett & Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is being treated for a concussion after falling Wednesday evening, and is expected to remain hospitalized 'for a few days,' a spokesperson announced Thursday afternoon." This is the new lede to a story by Pannett, linked below. An ABC News story is here. MB: Now I'm a little sorry I made a joke, not about McConnell's fall or his injury, but about who caused it. As for the guy at whose expense the joke was aimed: he still deserves it.

That Day Tourists Secretly Trashed a GOP Senator's Office. Ryan Reilly & Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "Two years ago, a mob of rioters ... viciously assaulted police, smashed out windows, stormed into an office, flipped over a giant conference table and barricaded themselves inside the U.S. Capitol, readying themselves for a fight with police inside a suite of 'hideaway' offices for U.S. senators. One of the offices, federal prosecutors recently disclosed, belonged to Republican Jim Risch, the 79-year-old junior senator from Idaho, where [Donald] Trump is tremendously popular. Video shows a rioter -- who has pleaded guilty to driving a stun gun into ... police officer [Michael Fanone]'s neck, nearly killing him -- smashing out Risch's window overlooking the Washington Monument and the national mall in an attempt to let more rioters into the building. Additional video released this week shows Risch's trashed desk.... A review of Risch's public statements on the Jan. 6, 2021, riot show no indication that he has ever mentioned what happened to his office that day. Asked by NBC News this week about his office being trashed and told about the new footage of rioters in his hideaway, Risch demurred."

In case you think self-described "conservatives" are dedicated to protecting personal freedom, as they claim: ~~~

~~~ Michelle Boorstein & Heather Kelly of the Washington Post: "A group of conservative Colorado Catholics has spent millions of dollars to buy mobile app tracking data that identified priests who used gay dating and hookup apps and then shared it with bishops around the country. The secretive effort was the work of a Denver nonprofit called Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal, whose trustees are philanthropists Mark Bauman, John Martin and Tim Reichert.... The use of data is emblematic of a new surveillance frontier in which private individuals can potentially track other Americans' locations and activities using commercially available information.... The project's existence reflects a newly empowered American Catholic right wing that sees enforcing its interpretation of church teaching on sexuality and gender as an existential issue for the church and that no longer trusts bishops to do so."

Ohio. Marty Schladen of the Ohio Capital Journal: "After more than nine hours of deliberation, a jury on Thursday found former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder [R] and state Republican Chairman Matt Borges guilty of felony racketeering charges in connection with a billion-dollar utility bailout that was passed in 2019.... U.S. District Judge Timothy Black will schedule a sentencing hearing shortly.... Former U.S. Attorney David DeVillers said it was likely the biggest bribery and money laundering scandal in Ohio history.... Akron-based FirstEnergy and other utilities paid tens of millions into an effort to elect friendly lawmakers in 2018 who would vote to make Householder speaker the following year. Immediately after taking the speaker's gavel, Householder worked furiously to pass a $1.3 billion bailout, the vast majority of which benefited FirstEnergy subsidiary FirstEnergy Services.... [Later,] Householder took control of the push to block the repeal, while Borges assisted....

~~~~~~~~~~

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The White House will revive calls for transformative economic policy proposals with its 2024 budget proposal on Thursday, potentially previewing President Biden's reelection campaign -- and teeing up new battles with Republicans as the government draws closer to what could be a catastrophic default on the national debt.... The policies are also aimed at drawing a sharp contrast in spending battles with GOP lawmakers, who hope to use the nation's borrowing limit -- which must be raised sometime this summer to avoid a potentially catastrophic default on U.S. debt payments -- to secure cuts to many of the kinds of programs Biden is trying to boost.... White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that the president's budget would also achieve nearly $3 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade, with the administration accusing the GOP of trying to increase the deficit through its push to extend parts of the 2017 tax cuts under ... Donald Trump that are due to expire." The AP's story is here.

Carol Rosenberg of the New York Times: "The U.S. military on Wednesday repatriated a U.S.-educated Saudi engineer who had been held for more than 20 years ‌at Guantánamo Bay under suspicion of having made bomb‌s for Al Qaeda, but ‌was never ‌brought to trial. The transfer of the detainee, Ghassan Abdullah al-Sharbi, 48, was authorized in September by Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III after months of diplomatic efforts by the Biden administration but was then delayed for reasons U.S. officials declined to explain. The repatriation reduced the detainee population at the U.S. military prison in Cuba to 31 men, 17 of whom are approved for resettlement or repatriation after security agreements are reached with countries willing to take them in."

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The Senate on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to block a new District of Columbia criminal code that reduces mandatory minimum sentences for some violent offenses, with Democrats bowing to Republican pressure to take a hard line on crime in a move that underscored the rising political potency of the issue ahead of the 2024 elections. The 81-to-14 vote, with one senator voting 'present,' [-- Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.)] cleared the Republican-written measure to undo the District's law, sending it to President Biden, who after initially opposing it abruptly changed course last week and said he would sign it."

Show Me the Documents! Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A top Democratic senator on Wednesday criticized the Biden administration for refusing to show Congress classified documents found at the homes of Donald J. Trump, Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Mike Pence, tying the renewal of a surveillance law to how forthcoming it chooses to be. The admonition, by Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, came during a hearing on worldwide threats at which top national security officials urged Congress to reauthorize the law, which is set to expire this year."

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien got into a heated verbal exchange Wednesday in a Senate committee hearing focused on the right of workers to organize unions.... O'Brien, as well as some of the others on the panel, repeatedly argued that corporations were making record profits while workers -- many of whom have risked their lives to provide essential goods and services during the coronavirus pandemic -- were not enjoying the same payouts.... Mullin, who owns a plumbing company..., [complained about union intimidation,] then asked about O'Brien's salary, before cutting him off and reading off numbers from a piece of paper comparing what he said O'Brien made in 2019 with what the average UPS feeder driver made.... Mullin accused O'Brien of 'sucking' money out of people's paychecks and 'forcing them to pay dues.'... Thrusting his finger at the witness panel, Mullin told O'Brien to shut his mouth..., which prompted O'Brien to mock Mullin for his 'tough guy' act.... 'We create opportunity because we hold -- we hold greedy CEOs like yourself accountable,' O'Brien said.... '... I kept my salary down at about $50,000 a year because I invested every penny into it," Mullin said.... 'You mean you hid money?' [O'Brien said].... After the hearing concluded..., O'Brien tweeting a link to a Tulsa World article that said Mullin's reported assets had jumped from a range of $7.3 million to $29.9 million at the end of 2020 to a range of $31.6 million to $75.6 million a year later." ~~~

Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been hospitalized following a fall at a hotel in Washington, his spokesperson said late Wednesday. The 81-year-old senator was attending a private dinner at a local hotel when he tripped, spokesman David Popp said in a statement. 'He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment,' he added, without providing any further details on his condition." Hotel Manager Fred McCarthy, a cousin of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has given Fox "News" host Tucker Carlson exclusive access to several hours of hotel security footage which the popular Fox personality says will prove he was peacefully walking through the hotel lobby and did not violently push Leader McConnell to the floor and kick the elderly Senator in the head. Story tonight at 8:00 o'clock Eastern/7:00 Central. ~~~

     ~~~ The AP's report is here.

Annie Grayer, et al., of CNN: "Republicans in the House are beginning to plot multiple probes into the 2021 Capitol attack, including looking into the Democratic-led select committee's actions from the last Congress, the security failures from that day and potentially even the treatment of January 6 defendants.... GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, an ally of [Speaker Kevin] McCarthy's, will now lead a new GOP probe into January 6.... The Georgia Republican is expected to focus on the select committee and what he's called security failures leading up to the attack.... [MB: That's rich because] Loudermilk emerged as a figure in the January 6 committee's investigation for a tour he gave to a group of constituents the day before the attack. US Capitol Police have concluded after reviewing security footage that 'there is no evidence' the Georgia congressman led a reconnaissance tour with Trump supporters trying to learn more about the Capitol complex." MB: Oddly, members of Loudermilk's little private tour group took photos of back stairwells & Capitol hallways, not exactly normal tour highlights. And as Grayer & others reported last June, "The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot has released footage that shows one of the individuals to whom ... Loudermilk ... gave a tour on January 5 was outside the building during the insurrection screaming threats about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, Jim & Margie Organize a Field Trip. Jordain Carney of Politico (March 7): ">Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) told Politico on Tuesday night that their aides are working to set up a congressional delegation to visit individuals jailed on Jan. 6, when a mob of ... Donald Trump's supporters breached the Capitol. Greene -- a member of the Oversight Committee -- would lead the trip, which would not be limited to panel members." MB: Actually, I think these prisoners are in jail because prosecutors have charged them for their participation in the insurrection and judges have not released them on bond. Most or all were jailed after January 6, 2021. ~~~

     ~~~ The Hill has more. Comer says the purpose of the trip is to look into "the human rights abuse." Margie calls this group of defendants "the patriot wing" of the jail.

Marie: Nancy Pelosi populated the January 6 committee with respected members of Congress, many with relevant experience, as well as a staff if former prosecutors, investigators and other professionals to delve into the causes and events of the insurrection. Kevin? He's got TuKKKer, Loudermilk, Margie & Jimbo. Outstanding.

Judge Censures Trump Lawyer. Quentin Young of Colorado Online: "Jenna Ellis, the Colorado attorney who was ... Donald Trump's senior legal advisor as he tried to overturn his 2020 election loss, has been censured by a Colorado judge for misconduct. The public censure order was signed Wednesday by Presiding Disciplinary Judge Bryon M. Large, who oversees lawyer discipline cases in Colorado. As part of an agreement in the case, Ellis admits that multiple statements she made in late 2020 about the presidential election being stolen were 'misrepresentations.'... Ellis also agreed that she, 'through her conduct, undermined the American public's confidence in the presidential election, violating her duty of candor to the public,' Large wrote, adding that 'a selfish motive' and 'a pattern of misconduct' were aggravating factors in the case... [A statement] by the Colorado Attorney Regulation Counsel Jessica Yates ... said [her office] is not currently pursuing any other charges against Ellis." MB: So I assume that means Ellis won't be disbarred. Politico's story, by Kyle Cheney, is here.

Judge Issues Summary Judgment Against Trumpies. Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "Right-wing activists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman's robocalls targeting Black voters violated the Voting Rights Act and Ku Klux Klan Act -- and the question isn't close enough to require a jury, [Senior U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero] ruled.... Marrero ... found that the evidence 'establishes that the neighborhoods that Defendants targeted were not accidental or random,' finding that a reasonable jury couldn't escape the conclusion that the pair wanted to 'deny the right to vote specifically to Black voters.'... Recorded by a woman identifying herself as 'Tamika Taylor,' the robocalls largely targeted diverse regions with the false message that 'if you vote by mail, your personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants, and [will] be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debt.'"

Plan D. Alexander Burns in Politico Magazine: "Weeks before the 2020 election, a secret 87-page document ... organized by an opaque advocacy group, known as the Hub..., outlined in matter-of-fact language the threat posed by Donald Trump's still-to-come campaign of election denial. The private paper -- the existence of which has not been reported before -- forecast with chilling confidence the likelihood of violence during the presidential handover and proposed a far-reaching set of political reforms to thwart Trumpism in the future.... [The document, known as 'Plan D,'] is a catalog of the defects in America's electoral process and political culture that made it vulnerable to a rampaging demagogue -- defects that some Democrats wanted to fix with drastic measures.... It is impossible not to be struck [now] by the sense of urgency in the text -- and the speed with which the impatient demand for fundamental change to American politics has dissipated among most Democrats.... The group behind Plan D saw deep reform to the political system as a survival imperative for Democrats.... Among the targets of that proposed overhaul: a Senate biased toward rural red states, a Supreme Court stacked with right-wing appointees and an Electoral College that overruled the popular vote twice in two decades."

Fox Entertainment Network

"Florida Man." Michael Scherer, et al., of the Washington Post: Donald "Trump's advisers see in Fox News leadership a clear adversary in their march back to the White House and have sought to foster a divide between [Fox News] executives and 'the brave and patriotic' opinion hosts with whom he continues to have relationships.... Several of Fox News's most high-profile figures continue to speak to the former president and work with his team.... At the same time, [Rupert] Murdoch's media outlets have lavished attention and praise on Trump's principal rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who publicly credits the network in his new book -- which is published by another company controlled by Murdoch -- with aiding his rise in politics. The DeSantis book was heavily promoted last week when the governor made at least five live appearances on the network, according to a tally by Media Matters for America.... The [Murdoch-owned] New York Post covered Trump's campaign announcement with the diminutive cover line, 'Florida man makes announcement,' and an article identified the former president as a 'retiree' and 'avid golfer.' A separate cover of the tabloid, after the midterm elections last year, described him as 'Trumpty Dumpty' who 'couldn't build a wall' and 'had a great fall.'"

Nicholas Confessore & Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "Ever since taking over Fox's 8 p.m. hour in 2017, [Tucker] Carlson had maintained a carefully calibrated distance from [Donald] Trump, using inflammatory segments about a border invasion and the 'replacement' of native-born Americans by immigrants to appeal to Mr. Trump's base -- while minimizing how often he discussed Mr. Trump, whom he regarded as erratic and undisciplined.... But in the months after the Jan. 6 attacks, 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' doubled down on a pro-Trump narrative that both Mr. Carlson and his bosses knew was rooted in a lie.... In 2021 nearly half of Mr. Carlson's shows -- more than 100 episodes -- featured segments downplaying the Capitol riot, casting the insurrectionists as innocent citizens seeking legitimate redress for election fraud, and suggesting the riot itself was a 'false flag' operation orchestrated by federal law enforcement to entrap Trump supporters.... Within 24 hours of the polls closing, he declared that the election had been 'seized from the hands of voters,' and that the final results would finally be determined by 'lawyers and courts and clearly corrupt, big-city bureaucrats.'" Read on. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So it turns out TuKKKer always "passionately hated" Trump. Since I never watch Fox "News," I had no idea that TuKKKer had kept his distance from Trump until Trump lost the 2020 election. And maybe I've been a little unfair to TuKKKer in following Akhilleus' spelling of his name, inasmuch as it looks as if Trump forced TuKKKer to be a racist; after all, if TuKKKer couldn't stomach Trump, he had to feed something to the Trumpenlumpen, and the something he hit on was racist content. (Of course, even after TuKKKer changed his tune about backing Trump, he was still good with the racism: "big city bureaucrats"? We know what that means, don't we?)

And the Emmy for Best Actor in a Cable News Show Goes to ... TuKKKer Carlson! Jack Shafer of Politico: "It has been self-evident for a long time to almost every astute observer of Tucker Carlson ... that he doesn't believe half of the things he says on his show.... His support of [Donald] Trump and many Trump-adjacent issues has been one of convenience, and when not a matter of convenience, a measure of his fear of Trump. [Twenty years ago, Carlson criticized his Fox predecessor Bill O'Reilly for being a phony, but after Carlson failed at several media ventures, he] began to cultivate the deep phoniness that had made O'Reilly so popular. He co-opted O'Reilly's everyman schtick, his bluster, his truth-teller guise, and his populism, and he soared in the ratings. When Fox dumped O'Reilly in 2017 -- not for breaking character, as Carlson had predicted, but following allegations of sexual harassment -- Carlson became the network's face. And, finally, a towering success."

Aw, Poor TuKKKums. Christopher Cadelago of Politico: "The White House joined in widespread condemnation of Fox News star Tucker Carlson on Wednesday, singling out the prime-time ratings king for his misleading portrayal of the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.... 'We agree with the chief of the Capitol Police and the wide range of bipartisan lawmakers who have condemned this false depiction of the unprecedented, violent attack on our Constitution and the rule of law -- which cost police officers their lives,' White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said. 'We also agree with what Fox News's own attorneys and executives have now repeatedly stressed in multiple courts of law: that Tucker Carlson is not credible,' Bates added. The statement was a rare rebuke of Carlson by name, suggesting an escalation of tensions between the White House and the conservative-leaning, beleaguered cable giant." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.

Oliver Darcy of CNN: "Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News traded barbs in new court filings Wednesday, with the election technology company accusing Fox of wanting a 'license to knowingly spread lies,' and the right-wing channel claiming the lawsuit is an 'unprecedented assault on the First Amendment.' The filings tee up a high-stakes hearing in two weeks, where a Delaware state judge will hear arguments on 'summary judgment' -- or whether he should decide the case before it goes to trial. Most legal experts expect that the case will ultimately proceed to trial before a jury in mid-April.... Among the thousands of pages of documents [Dominion has filed] include repeated statements from Fox Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch rejecting conspiracy theories about Dominion that his own network promoted after the 2020 election."

Erik Wemple of the Washington Post describes five big takeaways from Dominion's docu-dump this week.

Michael Bender of the New York Times: "The man who accused Matt Schlapp, the head of one of the nation's largest conservative advocacy groups, of groping him after a campaign event last year in Georgia agreed on Wednesday to drop his anonymity in a lawsuit against Mr. Schlapp after a judge stipulated that doing so was necessary for the case to proceed. The man, Carlton Huffman, 39, a longtime political aide, said he had sought anonymity in his initial lawsuit out of concern about potential retaliation from supporters of ... Donald J. Trump."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The online health insurance marketplace for members of Congress and Washington, D.C., residents was subjected to a hack that compromised the personal identifying information of potentially thousands of lawmakers, their spouses, dependents and employees, according to a letter from House leaders informing their colleagues about the breach and a memo from the Senate's top security official.... The cause, size and scope of the data breach affecting D.C. Health Link was not immediately known.... But the online health insurance marketplace serves about 11,000 members of Congress and their staffs, and nearly 100,000 people overall. 'This breach significantly increases the risk that members, staff, and their families will experience identity theft, financial crimes, and physical threats -- already an ongoing concern,' [House Speaker Kevin] McCarthy and [Democratic Leader Hakeem] Jeffries wrote." An NBC News story is here.

Ian Duncan of the Washington Post: "Major freight railroads have agreed among themselves to adopt new safety measures, pledging to expand a network of sensors designed to catch overheating bearings and setting a common standard for when those sensors warn train crews to stop and look for danger. The Association of American Railroads announced the steps Wednesday, saying the measures demonstrated the industry's commitment to acting swiftly on safety as the National Transportation Safety Board continues to probe last month's derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio.... The measures were announced on the eve of the first congressional hearing on the East Palestine derailment and come as lawmakers and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg push the industry to improve its safety record."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "An Arizona county is being sued by the state's Democratic attorney general after it transferred voting oversight to the county's Republican recorder, who has cast doubts about past election results in a place where ... Donald J. Trump won nearly 60 percent of the vote in 2020. It is the latest clash between Democrats in statewide office and Cochise County, a deeply Republican area in southeastern Arizona, where conspiracy theories about voter fraud and irregularities still swirl. The county's nonpartisan elections director, Lisa Marra, announced in January that she would resign, citing threats against her after she refused to comply with rogue election directives from the Republicans who control county government, including plans to count ballots by hand after last year's midterm elections. She recently accepted a position with the secretary of state's office."

Arkansas, the Dickensian State. Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed into law this week legislation that rolls back significant portions of the state's child labor protections. The law eliminates requirements for the state to verify the age of children younger than 16 before they can take a job.... Republican leaders in Congress tapped Sanders, 40, the youngest governor in the nation, to deliver the GOP response to President Biden's State of the Union address last month." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New Civil Rights report is here, published by Alternet. David Badash notes, "While Republican governors and lawmakers across the country have taken up the mantle of 'parents' rights' as they support bans on books, sex education, and any discussion of LGBTQ people, Governor Huckabee has removed the right of parents to be informed of or consent to their young minor children getting a job." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

California. Niha Masih of the Washington Post: "California on Wednesday suspended a $54 million contract with Walgreens over the pharmacy chain's decision not to distribute mifepristone in at least 20 states, including some where abortion is legal, as conflict over the drug used in medication abortions continues to escalate. 'California will not stand by as corporations cave to extremists and cut off critical access to reproductive care and freedom,' Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in a statement. Noting that the state has one of the largest economies in the world, he added that 'we will leverage our market power to defend the right to choose.'" An NBC News story is here.

Florida, the Fascist State, Intimidates & Infuriates Families. Caitlin Gibson of the Washington Post: "Under Gov. Ron DeSantis (R)..., Florida families are now facing a slew of new laws and policy proposals that touch nearly every stage of parenting -- from the reproductive health care a pregnant mother can receive, to the books available for an elementary school student to read, to the diversity and social culture awaiting students on college campuses.... Parents who do not support these measures describe feeling both fearful and furious. Some have embraced activism for the first time, while longtime advocates have grown more outspoken." Gibson runs down a staggering list of all the restrictions DeSantis & Co. have imposed on parents & their children.

Kentucky. Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The police department in Louisville, Ky., engaged in a yearslong pattern of discriminatory law enforcement practices, the Justice Department said on Wednesday after conducting a two-year investigation prompted by the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor by the police in 2020. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, appearing in Louisville alongside the city's mayor and acting police chief, announced an agreement to overhaul policing practices he said had led to systemic discrimination against Black people, including Ms. Taylor. Ms. Taylor, a Black medical worker, was shot and killed by police officers assigned to a drug enforcement unit in March 2020 during a botched raid of her apartment. In a damning 90-page report, investigators painted a grim portrait of the Louisville Metro Police Department, detailing a variety of serious abuses, including excessive force; searches based on invalid and so-called no-knock warrants; unlawful car stops, detentions and harassment of people during street sweeps; and broad patterns of discrimination against Black people and people with behavioral health problems." An AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michigan. Joey Cappelletti of the AP: "Michigan's Democratic-led House approved legislation Wednesday that would repeal the state's 'right-to-work' law that was passed more than a decade ago when Republicans controlled the Statehouse. Repealing the law, which prohibits public and private unions from requiring that nonunion employees pay union dues even if the union bargains on their behalf, has been a top priority for Democrats since they took full control of the state government this year.... Supporters of the repeal, who poured into the gallery above the House chambers, cheered loudly as the legislation passed along party lines late Wednesday. Legislation restoring the state's prevailing wage law, which requires contractors hired for state projects to pay union-level wages, was also approved by the House. Both bills will need to pass the state Senate before being sent to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer [D] for final approval."

North Carolina. Paul Duggan of the Washington Post: "A failed North Carolina congressional candidate who was endorsed by ... Donald Trump in 2020 pleaded guilty Wednesday to committing a felony campaign-finance violation during her bid to replace former House member Mark Meadows (R), a political ally and family friend, after Meadows chose not to seek reelection. Lynda Bennett, 65, admitted in U.S. District Court in Washington that she borrowed $25,000 from a family member in late 2019 and illegally funneled the money, in her own name, into her Republican campaign in North Carolina's 11th Congressional District. Disguising the source of the $25,000 violated a campaign-finance law that limited House-race contributions from outside parties to a total of $5,600 in the 2020 election cycle, authorities said in a court filing. As a candidate, Bennett was not subject to the restrictions and could loan or donate as much money as she wanted." CNN's story is here.

Virginia. Erik Ortiz of NBC News: "The city prosecutor in Newport News, Virginia, said Wednesday that he would not seek charges against the 6-year-old boy who shot his elementary school teacher in January but has yet to decide whether any adults associated with the case could be held criminally liable."

West Virginia. Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "An empty freight train derailed when it hit a rockslide after turning a corner in a remote area near Sandstone, W.Va., spilling an unknown amount of diesel into the nearby New River. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) and the train company tried to assure residents about safety after the incident drew comparisons to last month's derailment of a freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, that released toxic chemicals into the environment after it crashed.... Parts of the train caught fire, with at least one fuel tank falling into the river, Terry Fletcher, a spokesman for the state's Department of Environmental Protection said at a news conference."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Dozens of missiles rained down on several parts of Ukraine early Thursday, killing at least five people. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia fired 81 missiles across the country, with critical infrastructure and residential buildings hit Ukraine's armed forces said that it had intercepted 34 of those 81 missiles and four Iranian-made Shahed drones.... Russia used Kinzhal hypersonic weapons in the missile attack, Ukraine's armed forces said. The weapons -- which Ukraine is unable to intercept -- were first used in Ukraine last March and have been several times since then. Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted in 2018 that the missile traveled at 10 times the speed of sound and could evade air defenses, and President Biden said last March that the missile was 'almost impossible to stop.' The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency urged immediate action after the strikes forced the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to run on emergency power for the sixth time since Russia launched its invasion last year.... Yevgeniy Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, claimed his forces took control of the 'entire eastern part' of Bakhmut, in an audio recording released Wednesday on Telegram.... U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Putin is facing 'considerable constraints' and may see prolonging the war as his 'best remaining pathway to eventually securing Russia's strategic interests in Ukraine.' She made the remarks to a panel of senators at an annual hearing on global security threats.... Germany and Poland announced they will deliver 28 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine this month."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Pentagon is blocking the Biden administration from sharing evidence with the International Criminal Court in The Hague gathered by American intelligence agencies about Russian atrocities in Ukraine, according to current and former officials briefed on the matter. American military leaders oppose helping the court investigate Russians because they fear setting a precedent that might help pave the way for it to prosecute Americans. The rest of the administration, including intelligence agencies and the State and Justice Departments, favors giving the evidence to the court, the officials said. President Biden has yet to resolve the impasse, officials said. The evidence is said to include details relevant to an investigation the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, began after Russia's invasion of Ukraine a year ago. The information reportedly includes material about decisions by Russian officials to deliberately target civilian infrastructure and to abduct thousands of Ukrainian children from occupied territory."