December 26, 2022

The Grinch Looks a Lot Like Greg Abbott. Noah Gray of CNN: "Several busloads of migrants were dropped off in front of Vice President Kamala Harris' residence in Washington, DC, on Christmas Eve in 18 degree weather late Saturday. An initial two busloads were taken to local shelters, according to an administration official. More buses arrived outside the vice president's residence later Saturday evening. A CNN team saw migrants being dropped off, with some migrants wearing only T-shirts in the freezing weather. They were given blankets and put on another bus that went to a local church.... The arrivals included asylum seekers from Ecuador, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Peru and Colombia, according to [Amy] Fischer [of the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network], who told CNN the buses were supposed to go to New York but were diverted to DC due to the weather.... It's not clear who is responsible for sending the migrants to the Naval Observatory, where the vice president's residence is located, though CNN reported earlier this year that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had sent buses of migrants north, including to a location outside Harris' home. CNN has reached out to Abbott's office for comment on the latest arrivals. The White House, however, put the blame on the Texas governor, calling it a 'cruel, dangerous, and shameful stunt.'"

Eric Yoder of the Washington Post: "Federal employees will receive raises ranging from about 4.4 percent to 5.2 percent on Jan. 1, with a 4.86 percent boost to those working in the Washington-Baltimore area under an order President Biden signed late Friday. The order applies to the large majority of the nearly 2.2 million executive branch employees, with amounts varying by local area. The overall average of 4.6 percent is the largest increase since 2002.... The raise is separate from the cost-of-living adjustment to be paid in January to federal retirees. Those increases are linked to an inflation measure that will boost annuities of most federal retirees by either 8.7 percent or 7.7 percent, depending on which retirement system applied to them."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Two days after pro-Donald Trump rioters attacked the Capitol, then-national security adviser Robert O'Brien got a call from Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and an aide who asked him to look into something he'd been hearing: retired military personnel sympathetic to Donald Trump might be preparing to prevent Joe Biden's inauguration. '[H]e was concerned that there were reports that there were retired military personnel who were sympathetic to the president and might be organizing,' O'Brien said in the interview. McConnell's own national security aide, Robert Karem, was on the call as well and raised similar concerns about Navy SEALs, O'Brien said. O'Brien described this call in testimony to the Jan. 6 select committee during a newly revealed Aug. 23 interview"

Quentin Young of the Colorado Newsline (Dec. 23): "Jenna Ellis, the Colorado attorney who represented ... Donald Trump as he tried to overturn the 2020 election, is under investigation by the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. Ellis has been the target of formal complaints regarding what critics characterized as her professional misconduct connected to Trump's effort to reverse the results of a free and fair election. In May a complaint from the States United Democracy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, asked Colorado Attorney Regulation Counsel Jessica Yates to investigate Ellis for multiple alleged violations of professional rules and impose possible 'substantial professional discipline.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. A Lump of Coal for Kari. Gregory Clary, et al., of CNN: "An Arizona judge on Saturday rejected Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake's lawsuit attempting to overturn her defeat, concluding that there wasn't clear or convincing evidence of misconduct, and affirming the victory of Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs. Lake, who lost to Hobbs by about 17,000 votes in November, sued in an effort to overturn the election. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson allowed a two-day trial on some of Lake's claims, which concluded late Thursday afternoon." The Washington Post's story is here. MB: So now Ms. Kari will have to call Arizona's secretary of state & tell her, "I just want to find 17,000 votes because we won the state." Oh, wait. Hobbs is the secretary of state.

New York. A True Christmas Story. Christine Chung of the New York Times: A couple in the Buffalo area -- Alexander & Andrea Campagna -- opened their home to ten stranded South Korean tourists. For days.

Washington State. Emily Shapiro of ABC News: "Three power substation facilities were vandalized in Pierce County, Washington, on Christmas morning, knocking out power to more than 14,000 customers, authorities said. Two of the break-ins were at Tacoma Public Utilities substations and the third was at a Puget Sound Energy station, according to the sheriff's office in Pierce County, which encompasses Tacoma.No suspects are in custody, according to the sheriff's office."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Jane Clinton of the Guardian: "The archbishop of Canterbury [Justin Welby] and Pope Francis have used their Christmas addresses to call for an end to the war in Ukraine."

Laura Snaples of the Guardian: "TPussy Riot have released a new song protesting against the war in Ukraine, Russian censorship and the west 'sponsoring' the regime through buying oil and gas from Russia. They have also called for the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, to be tried at an international tribunal."

The Kherson Resistance. Jeffrey Gettleman of the New York Times: "Kherson's occupation government, run by Russian military commanders and Ukrainian collaborators, wasted little time pulling down Ukrainian flags, taking over Ukrainian schools, trucking in crates of Russian rubles, even importing Russian families. Perhaps nowhere else in Ukraine did Russia's leader, Vladimir V. Putin, devote so much money and violence, the carrot and the stick, to bend a city to his imperial will. But it did not work. Guided by contacts in the Ukrainian security services, an assembly of ordinary citizens formed themselves into a grass-roots resistance movement. In dozens of interviews, residents and Ukrainian officials described how retirees like Mr. Yermolenko -- along with students, mechanics, grandmothers, and even a wealthy couple who were fixing up their yacht and got trapped in the city for the better part of a year -- became spirited partisans for the Kherson underground.... They took clandestine videos of Russian troops and sent them to Ukrainian forces along with map coordinates. They used code names and passwords to circulate guns and explosives right under the Russians' noses. Some even formed small attack teams that picked off Russian soldiers at night, making the fear and paranoia that settled over the city two-sided."

Francesca Abel of the Washington Post: "As Russia has launched relentless strikes on Ukraine's critical infrastructure, leaving millions without electricity, water and heat, towns across Russia have been beset by their own, utility-related disasters. A huge gas pipeline explosion outside St. Petersburg last month, major fires in two separate Moscow shopping malls allegedly caused by dodgy welding, and faulty power grids that have left tens of thousands without heat and electricity are just some of the incidents reported since Russia's efforts to obliterate Ukraine's infrastructure that began in October.... While disasters now raise suspicions of sabotage linked to the war in Ukraine, poorly maintained infrastructure is a long-standing and persistent problem in Russia -- the result of old Soviet-era systems in need of repair and costly maintenance, decades of endemic corruption, and the government's prioritization of defense and security budgets, as well as the development of major cities over regional towns."

News Ledes

Guardian: "Freezing conditions from a deadly winter storm in the United States will continue into the week as people in western New York deal with massive snow drifts that snarled emergency vehicles, and travelers across the country see cancelled flights and dangerous roads. The storm has killed at least 34 people and is expected to claim more lives after trapping some residents inside houses and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses. The extreme weather stretched from the Great Lakes on the Canadian border to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the US population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians."

New York Times: "Even in a region known for fierce winter weather, the blizzard left Buffalo[, New York,] especially paralyzed, with rescue workers themselves stranded in ambulances and other emergency vehicles across the city. The death toll across Erie and Niagara Counties rose to 17 on Sunday, and officials said that tally was likely to rise.... On Sunday evening, Gov. Kathy Hochul described the blizzard as an 'epic, once-in-a-lifetime storm,' and county officials cautioned that more snow and wind was expected on Monday and Tuesday."

December 25, 2022

I turned on the local station that plays popular Christmas music. Frankly, I had forgot how bad it was: the lyrics, the music, the sentiment, the performances. Awful. I have very kindly eliminated almost all of them. So, Peace, everybody!

Not the worst Christmas music ever, but bad in a humorous way:

If you remember Elvis, this will tug at your heartstrings, and not just because SNL (or Radio Shack) is saying goodbye to Cecily Strong:

     ~~~ In retrospect, this is kind of amazing.

This is another of those campy so-bad-it's-good numbers:

On the other hand, there are some who know how to turn a seasonal pop song into a classic:

If you're in the mood for heavenly, we'll leave the big stars behind:

Aled Jones & Malakai Bahot also capture the essence of "O Holy Night. BTW, here's Aled in 1985 when he was the treble." ~~~

~~~ Okay, I guess it's only fair to let these guys have a go at it:

I should have run this when TFG was pretending to be president*:

This got me to wondering what it was like to tell the Christmas story to young Donald (text borrow from Matthew 1.18-2.11):

... before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. So this Mary got knocked up? That Holy Spirit sounds like my kind of guy.

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. What? What? Joseph married this girl that somebody else knocked up? And then Joseph didn't even have sex with her? Total loser!

And going into the house, [the wise men] saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. Oh, I get it now: a surprise ending, like when all you losers thought Hillary would be president & I beat her by millions of votes if you don't count all the dead people & other fake voters who supposed voted for Hillary. But this lame story didn't fool me; I never said the Holy Spirit was cool. Because Joseph has this good dream, too, and he sees these guys coming with all these gifts for the kid. He was a ... a visionary. Like me. So then Joseph grabs those goodies from the kid & buys up some real estate. Cheap apartments for Arabs probably. Ha! Jews are great negotiators. Like me. No wonder everybody likes Christmas. And I'm still president*.

Stay tuned for when somebody tries to explain Easter to Donald.

December 24, 2022

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Congress on Friday cleared a roughly $1.7 trillion government funding package that would provide significant increases to national security and domestic spending and billions of dollars to aid Ukraine, sending the measure to President Biden's desk for his signature. The bill was the last major legislative accomplishment of the 117th Congress and set aside $858 billion in funds for the military that Republicans pushed for and more than $772 billion for the education, health and veterans programs Democrats have championed. The measure, approved just before Christmas Eve, is the second major government funding bill passed during the Biden administration and served as the final opportunity for congressional Democrats to shape the federal budget while they retain control of both chambers." (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's report is here.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Remember this moment: It might be the last time you see a competent government for at least two years. This will all come crashing down when -- if -- [Kevin] McCarthy assumes the speakership on Jan. 3. McCarthy himself is trying to make sure dysfunction will dominate. Not only is he fighting to defeat the bipartisan omnibus spending bill, but he has threatened that any bill sponsored by any lawmaker who votes for the omnibus -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- will be 'dead on arrival.'... McCarthy's threat would essentially shut down the House for two years and eventually bring the government to a halt.... Jewish lasers and phony credentials: For House Republicans, it's going to be a truly fabulist year." (Also linked yesterday.)

The January 6 committee has published transcript of interviews of 46 (if I counted right) more witnesses. The committee page that links to the interviews is here. (Also linked yesterday.) As Neal Katyal said on the teevee, he'd expect people at a stoners' convention to have better memories. At least that's what I think he said; like half the witnesses, I can't recall. ~~~

~~~ Turns Out All of Trump's Security Detail Are Stoners. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The House Jan. 6 committee's final report provides new details of its efforts to get to the bottom of one of the most explosive pieces of the public testimony heard by the committee -- an account of ... Donald J. Trump trying to grab the steering wheel of his S.U.V. just before the assault on the Capitol and lunging at a Secret Service agent -- but was inconclusive about the details of what happened.... The report said that 'another witness, a White House employee with national security responsibilities, provided the committee with a... description [similar to what Cassidy Hutchinson related in live testimony]: Ornato related [to the witness, as he had to Hutchinson,] the 'irate' interaction in the presidential vehicle to this individual in Ornato's White House office with [agent Bobby] Engel present.' [Tony] Ornato, when questioned by the panel, said that he had no memory of the conversations recounted by Ms. Hutchinson and the other witness, and that 'he had no knowledge at all about the president's anger.'... Mr. Engel said he did not recall the conversation with Mr. Ornato described by Ms. Hutchinson and 'indicated he did not recall President Trump gesturing toward him.' The driver, the report said, indicated that Mr. Trump was angrier than described by Mr. Engel in either interview, but 'testified that he did not recall seeing what President Trump was doing and did not recall whether there was movement.' Two other witnesses, a Washington, D.C., police officer and a Secret Service agent, confirmed that Mr. Trump was furious about the decision not to take him to the Capitol."

Washington Post reporters have some more lowlights from the newly-released transcripts.

Ryan Goodman & Justin Hendrix of Just Security write a good rundown of the major highlights of the committee's final report. If you don't think you'll ever have enough time or inclination to read 845 pages, this summary may prove a big help.

Tierney Sneed, et al., of CNN: "In December 2020, after then-Attorney General William Barr publicly refuted ... Donald Trump's claims that the election was rigged, White House staffers drafted a press release that would've called for the firing of anyone who disagreed with Trump's claims, according to a new transcript from the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021. The draft statement ended with, 'Anybody that thinks there wasn't massive fraud in 2020 election should be fired,' according to the deposition. The draft statement -- which was never sent out, and hadn't been revealed before Friday -- was brought up during the committee's deposition of Trump White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, according to the transcript. Congressional investigators told him that they likely obtained the statement from the National Archives, which turned over documents from the Trump White House."

Robert Draper & Luke Broadwater take a deep dive for the New York Times Magazine into the workings of the House January 6 Select Committee. With somber black-and-white photos to make it all look more paper-of-record weighty. (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Gold & others at the New York Times report on what Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) was really doing in the years he told voters he was a college grad & financial whiz kid. (Also linked yesterday.)

Laurie McGinley & Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "The Food and Drug Administration approved a change in labeling for the Plan B 'morning after' pill on Friday to clarify it does not prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus -- language that had been cited by abortion opponents to argue the medication causes abortions and should be restricted. For years, the FDA-approved label for Plan B One-Step and its competitors said the medication works mainly by stopping the release of an egg from the ovary or possibly by preventing fertilization of an egg by sperm. But it also suggested that if an egg is fertilized, the drug may prevent it from attaching to the wall of the uterus. That was revised on Friday to say 'Plan B One-Step works before release of an egg from the ovary. As a result, Plan B One-Step usually stops or delays the release of an egg from the ovary. Plan B One-Step is one tablet that contains a higher dose of levonorgestrel than birth control pills and works in a similar way to prevent pregnancy.'" The AP's report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Judge Rules Against Election-Denier. Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: “An Arizona judge on Friday ruled from the bench against Abe Hamadeh, the unsuccessful Republican candidate for state attorney general who claimed that improper adjudication of ballots and other errors cost him the election and who had asked to be declared the winner. Hamadeh lost to Democrat Kris Mayes by 511 votes, a narrow margin that triggered an automatic recount, the results of which are expected later this month. But the ruling against Hamadeh in his lawsuit all but guarantees that Mayes will be inaugurated next year. Judge Lee F. Jantzen of Mohave County Superior Court told Hamadeh's lawyer, Timothy La Sota, 'You just haven't proven your case.'"

Iowa. Remi Tumin of the New York Times: Mark “Woodley, a sports anchor and reporter for KWWL, an NBC News affiliate in Eastern Iowa, was pressed into service as the massive storm system moved across the plains. Temperatures plunged to 12 degrees in the morning and continued to drop, and it was snowing -- heavily at times -- as Mr. Woodley broadcast live from the streets of Waterloo for more than three hours.... As [a local anchor, ensconced in a warm studio,] continued to check in over the course of the morning, Mr. Woodley became increasingly annoyed." MB: Pretty funny. Unless you're Mark Woodley, I guess. ~~~

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Guardian's live updates of developments of Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Mary Ilyushina & Francesca Abel of the Washington Post: "Despite heavy combat losses over ten months of brutal war, Russia now has more than double the number of troops poised to fight in Ukraine as it did when it invaded in February, including thousands of convicts released from prison and conscripts from a controversial mobilization drive this fall. According to a new U.S. assessment, the Wagner mercenary group, which fights alongside regular Russian troops in Ukraine, in recent months recruited 40,000 prisoners from all over the country into its ranks. Together, with 300,000 new conscripts and 20,000 volunteers, Russia's force is now more than double the 150,000 initially allocated to what President Vladimir Putin termed a 'special military operation.'"

News Lede

The New York Times is liveblogging weather conditions throughout the U.S.: "A swath of the United States is waking up Saturday to the continuing effects of a winter storm that is battering the Northeast with blizzard conditions and keeping temperatures around record lows in parts of the country where freezing cold is rarely a fact of life. The storm and the Arctic air mass will continue bedeviling most of the central, eastern and southern states for a fourth day with frigid cold and blinding snowstorms, forecasters said. There have been at least a dozen deaths, and tens of thousands of holiday travelers and motorists have been stranded. At one point, more than 1.5 million households were without power."