November 11, 2022

Late Morning Update:

Kevin Liptak & Ella Nilsen of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Friday used a short visit to the United Nations climate change summit in Egypt to tell the world the United States was ready to take back its leadership role on fighting a warming planet after the passage of one of the president's key priorities. In a speech to the United Nations COP27 summit, Biden proclaimed the US is back as a global leader on climate change following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included around $370 billion in clean energy incentives meant to slash the use of harmful greenhouse gases. 'My friends, I came to the presidency determined to make ... transformational changes that are needed, that America needs to make and we have to do for the rest of the world, to overcome decades of opposition and obstacles of progress on this issue alone,' Biden said, 'to reestablish the United States as a trustworthy and committee global leader on climate. As I stand here before you, we've taken enormous strides to achieve that.' Biden added that other nations must similarly raise to the challenge." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments at the COP27 summit. The Guardian's live updates are here.

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Blake Hounshell of the New York Times: "Democrats grew increasingly optimistic on Thursday that they would hold on to their control of the Senate as votes were counted in Arizona and Nevada.... Republicans need to flip at least one seat to take control of the chamber, but their path appeared to be narrowing on Thursday, with Democrats holding a shrinking but durable lead in Arizona and picking up mail ballots in Nevada at a rate that seemed to give the party a slight edge. The G.O.P.'s odds of success were greater in the House, where the party had won or was leading in the races for 221 seats, just three more than it needs to retake the chamber.... If Democrats prevail in Arizona and Nevada, they will clinch control of the Senate even before the Georgia runoff contest. This would lower the stakes of that Dec. 6 rematch between Senator Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker...."

The New York Times is live-updating election results & developments.

Marie: Just to give you an idea of how seriously Republicans have lost the trust of the voters, in the first midterm after President Clinton's election, Republicans gained 54 House seats; in President Obama's first midterm, Republicans gained 64 House seats. They cannot come anywhere close to that number this year. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Aaron Blake of the Washington Post does an actual analysis (as compared to my little Wowza: "The 2022 election wasn't that good for today's Democrats. But it's clearly the exception to the rule that the opposition party benefits quite a bit in the midterms the vast majority of the time. And that's even more striking considering how many on the right assured just a few days ago that we were headed toward a 'red wave.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Scott Wong, et al., of NBC News: Kevin "McCarthy has spent years trying to position himself to be the next Republican House speaker. The job holds tremendous power, including the ability to control legislation on the floor and influence the makeup of committees. Some House Freedom Caucus members are outright opposed to McCarthy, while others are demanding concessions from him that would greatly water down his power as speaker. Because the majority could be so thin, McCarthy will need the support of nearly every Republican. That has given the Freedom Caucus enormous leverage.... He needs 218 Republican votes on the House floor -- Democrats won't help -- meaning it's possible fewer than a dozen conservatives could derail McCarthy's chances and throw the process into certain chaos." A number of the usual suspects already have expressed their reservations about McCarthy.

Phil McCausland of NBC News: "... Democrats had a much better [election] night on the state level than expected. With votes still being counted across the country, the party has flipped the Michigan state Senate away from Republican control, according to The New York Times, citing AP data. And Democrats appear on track to flip the state House in Michigan, as well as in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), the nonpartisan organization that represents legislative chambers. Democrats are also competitive in races to flip the legislative chambers in Arizona and New Hampshire, the NCSL said. Republicans, meanwhile, consolidated power by creating supermajorities in both Florida legislative chambers as well as the North Carolina Senate, Wisconsin Senate, Iowa Senate and South Carolina House. They have not flipped any chambers as of yet."

Rick Scott Has a Sudden Change of Plans. Jonathan Martin, now back at Politico, in Politico Magazine: "Senator Rick Scott of Florida was poised to challenge [Mitch] McConnell [as GOP Senate leader], Republicans briefed on his plans told me, until he decided against a bid Wednesday morning, when it became clear Republicans may not capture the majority and there was to be a Senate runoff in Georgia. Scott had cut an announcement video declaring his intentions, word had reached some prominent conservatives outside the Senate and a handful of GOP senators had gotten wind of his plan and started calculating just how many votes his longshot campaign could accrue at the leadership vote next week in the Capitol.... Scott's challenge was not so much aimed at unseating the longtime Senate Republican leader as it was channeling the anger of grassroots conservatives, and the former president, who were peeved at McConnell's criticism of the 'candidate quality' of this year's roster of Senate GOP candidates.... But only one of those candidates -- Ohio's J.D. Vance -- won his race outright."

Trumpty-Dumpty Had a Great Fall. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "For a second consecutive day, the recriminations about Republicans' unexpectedly weak Election Day performance played a prominent role on the pages and over the airwaves of Rupert Murdoch's media properties. And the consensus wasn't kind to ... Donald J. Trump. 'Trump is the Republican Party's biggest loser,' declared the headline on a Wall Street Journal editorial on Thursday, which accused Mr. Trump of having 'flopped in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022.' The cover of the New York Post on Thursday ... had an illustration of Mr. Trump depicted as Humpty Dumpty.... Inside, the Post ran an opinion piece by the conservative writer John Podhoretz, a frequent critic of the former president, that called Mr. Trump 'the most profound vote repellent in modern American history.' Fox News spent all day Wednesday featuring commentators who blamed Mr. Trump for dragging the entire party down, and the criticism continued into prime time."

Daniel Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Texas on Thursday struck down President Biden's student loan forgiveness program, delivering a victory to a conservative advocacy group that sued to halt the plan. The Job Creators Network Foundation filed a lawsuit in October on behalf of a borrower who does not qualify for the full $20,000 in debt relief and one who is ineligible altogether. The suit alleges the administration violated federal procedures by denying borrowers the opportunity to provide public comment before unveiling the program. U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman, who was appointed by Donald Trump, declared the policy unlawful in the Thursday order.... In a statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration said: 'We strongly disagree with the District Court's ruling on our student debt relief program and the Department of Justice has filed an appeal....'... Pittman's order comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit last month granted a temporary stay against the loan forgiveness program in a separate lawsuit brought by six Republican-led states." Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm not sure why Republicans think it's such a good idea to squelch the student loan forgiveness program unless they figure that none of their voters is smart enough to get into college and wrack up loan debt.

AP: "A man already in custody in last month's attack on the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges of assault and attempted kidnapping. The charges against David DePape stem from the Oct. 28 break-in at the Pelosis' San Francisco home are the same as but supersede those in an earlier federal complaint that was filed on October 31." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Florida imposed sanctions on Thursday against a group of lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump who handled a sprawling lawsuit that accused Hillary Clinton and a range of Mr. Trump's perceived enemies of a vast conspiracy against him. The judge, Donald M. Middlebrooks of the Southern District of Florida, had thrown out the case in September, and in a scathing 19-page ruling, he accused Mr. Trump's lawyers of abusing the legal system by suing for political purposes.... 'Every claim was frivolous, most barred by settled, well-established existing law,' he said.... Judge Middlebrooks, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, wrote, Mr. Trump put forward 'political grievances masquerading as legal claims.' He added, 'The courts are not intended for performative litigation for purposes of fund-raising and political statements.'... Mr. Trump's lawyers were also ordered to cover about $16,000 in legal fees paid by one of the defendants, Charles Dolan, a Democratic public-relations executive." Politico's story is here.

Joseph Menn, et al., of the Washington Post: "Several top executives resigned from Twitter on Thursday, some of whom cited fears over the risks from Elon Musk's leadership in a stunning exodus that prompted federal regulators to warn they might step in. One of the most surprising was the company's head of moderation and safety, Yoel Roth, who had become the public face of the company's efforts to reassure users and advertisers that Twitter would not descend into a 'free-for-all.'... Several other members of the site's privacy and security unit also had resigned and those remaining were trying to stop a wave of abuse in the company's expanded paid service, Twitter Blue.... The privacy departures prompted a rare warning from the Federal Trade Commission.... It marked the second time in two days that a federal official has expressed concern about the chaotic developments at the company, coming less than 24 hours after President Biden said Musk's relationships with other countries deserved scrutiny. The agency said that ... it was prepared to take action to ensure the company was complying with ... a consent order, which requires Twitter to comply with certain privacy and security requirements because of allegations of past data misuse." ~~~

~~~ Oliver Darcy of CNN: "The world is watching the world's richest man single-handedly destroy one of the world's most powerful and important communication platforms, just weeks after acquiring it for $44 billion.... The loss of the senior executives ... will make it extraordinarily difficult to lure already skeptical advertisers back to the social media site.... In his first all-staff email, where he abruptly announced mandatory return-to-office, Musk warned that 'the economic picture ahead is dire' and said 'without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn.' In his first meeting with Twitter employees, Bloomberg reported that Musk said bankruptcy is on the table if the company doesn't soon start generating more cash." ~~~

~~~ New York Times reporters write about the "Two Weeks of Chaos" inside Twitter since Scrooge McMusk took over the company. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Looks like the only out now is for Musk to follow the Trumpian model & make a successful run for U.S. president* so he can scam the federal government into buying Teslas, communicating via Twitter & replacing NASA with SpaceX. Update: Oops! See RAS's comment below. So unfa-a-a-air!

Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "The Infowars conspiracy broadcaster Alex Jones must pay the families of eight Sandy Hook shooting victims an additional $473 million in punitive damages for defaming them, a judge in Connecticut ruled on Thursday, bringing the total damages to nearly $1.5 billion." Law & Crime's story is here.

Beyond the Beltway

New Jersey. Hurubi Meko of the New York Times: "An 18-year-old man from Middlesex County, N.J., has been arrested and charged with threatening to attack a synagogue and Jews earlier this month, an episode that led to warnings from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New Jersey of a broad security risk to synagogues in the state. The man, identified as Omar Alkattoul, of Sayreville, N.J., shared a document titled 'When Swords Collide' with several people through a social media application on Nov. 1, prosecutors said. Mr. Alkattoul admitted to writing the document, which included inflammatory language about relations between Jews and Muslims, and told a person he shared it with that the manifesto was 'in the context of an attack on Jews,' according to prosecutors. An individual who received a link to the document from Mr. Alkattoul informed law enforcement officials, according to the charging documents." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "Russia said it had finished withdrawing all its troops from the west bank of the Dnieper River in Kherson on Friday, and claimed that no troops or military equipment had been left behind. The retreat from the city, if confirmed, would mark the latest major battlefield setback for the Kremlin in Ukraine. However, it comes sooner than Western officials had predicted -- U.S. Army Gen. Mark A. Milley said Tuesday that the retreat would take 'days and maybe even weeks,' while Ukraine's defense minister had also expressed skepticism that Russia could withdraw so quickly.... The United States pledged an additional $400 million in security assistance for Ukraine, including Avenger air defense systems that come equipped with Stinger missiles, on Thursday."

Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "The Ukrainian Army is moving cautiously into areas abandoned by Russian troops along a front line in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, a day after Russia's defense minister announced a retreat from the western bank of the Dnipro River, in the latest significant setback for Russia's military. President Vladimir V. Putin in September declared parts of this region Russian land, in a claimed annexation rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies.... Ukrainian soldiers are advancing into heavily mined towns and villages, and navigating around bridges the Russians blew up to cover their withdrawal. Heavy fighting continues in some places. But the Ukrainian advance without a fight into Snihurivka, an important> hub north of Kherson City that was abandoned overnight, indicates the Russians are, indeed, retreating. Ukrainian officials had initially been skeptical; they feared a ruse in the Russian announcement of a pullback...."

Germany. The Worst Promo in World History. Tim Carman of the Washington Post: "... on Nov. 9, 1938, mobs took to the streets across Nazi Germany, laying waste to Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues in riots that police and firefighters did nothing to stop. Over the course of two days, sometimes in broad daylight, rioters looted and ransacked thousands of Jewish homes and business, and killed at least 91 Jews. Another 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. The riots became known as 'Kristallnacht,' a reference to the shattered glass in the streets afterward.... On Wednesday, the 84th commemoration of those brutal riots, KFC Germany sent out push notifications to users of the fried chicken chain's app. The notification suggested that for the '[c]ommemoration of the Reich pogrom night,' customers could '[f]eel free to add more tender cheese to the crispy chicken,' according to a Google translation of the original message. 'Now at KFCheese.' The blow back was immediate.... [KFC Germany said the message was a mistake:] '... an automated push notification was accidently [sic] issued to KFC app users in Germany that contained an obviously unplanned, insensitive and unacceptable message and for this we sincerely apologise....'"

November 10, 2022

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times live updates of election developments today are here. Not much news, though a few more House races have been decided.

Marie: Just to give you an idea of how seriously Republicans have lost the trust of the voters, in the first midterm after President Clinton's election, Republicans gained 54 House seats; in President Obama's first midterm, Republicans gained 64 House seats. They cannot come anywhere close to that number this year. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Aaron Blake of the Washington Post does an actual analysis (as compared to my little Wowza: "The 2022 election wasn't that good for today's Democrats. But it's clearly the exception to the rule that the opposition party benefits quite a bit in the midterms the vast majority of the time. And that's even more striking considering how many on the right assured just a few days ago that we were headed toward a 'red wave.'"

AP: "A man already in custody in last month's attack on the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges of assault and attempted kidnapping. The charges against David DePape stem from the Oct. 28 break-in at the Pelosis'; San Francisco home are the same as but supersede those in an earlier federal complaint that was filed on October 31."

Hurubi Meko of the New York Times: "An 18-year-old man from Middlesex County, N.J., has been arrested and charged with threatening to attack a synagogue and Jews earlier this month, an episode that led to warnings from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New Jersey of a broad security risk to synagogues in the state. The man, identified as Omar Alkattoul, of Sayreville, N.J., shared a document titled 'When Swords Collide' with several people through a social media application on Nov. 1, prosecutors said. Mr. Alkattoul admitted to writing the document, which included inflammatory language about relations between Jews and Muslims, and told a person he shared it with that the manifesto was 'in the context of an attack on Jews,' according to prosecutors. An individual who received a link to the document from Mr. Alkattoul informed law enforcement officials, according to the charging documents."

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Definitely not a Republican wave, that is for darn sure. -- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

Republicans have followed Donald Trump off the side of a cliff. -- David Urban, longtime Trump advisor

Colby Itkowitz & Annie Linskey of the Washington Post: "Democrats continued to celebrate unexpected victories, notching several more wins in competitive House races on Wednesday, as control of the House and Senate remained uncertain. It could take weeks to find out which party ends up with more seats in the Senate. Two critical Senate races in Arizona and Nevada remained too early to call Wednesday, and a third in Georgia is headed for a Dec. 6 runoff after neither Democratic Sen. Raphael G. Warnock nor Republican Herschel Walker won more than 50 percent of the vote.... Republicans are likely to take control of the House, experts say, but by a much smaller margin than they expected.... House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R -Calif.) has already started to make calls asking for support in his bid to be the next speaker.... Democrats outperformed expectations in races across the country, lifted by anger over the Supreme Court's June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, weak Republican candidates and an aggressive on-the-ground push to turn out voters.... Democrats also won control of the state House in Michigan [MB: for the first time in 40 years] and were close to doing so in Pennsylvania."

The World Is Watching. Emily Rauhala, et al., of the Washington Post: "Much of Europe breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday as a weaker-than-expected showing by Republicans and the absence of major election violence eased concern about turmoil in the transatlantic relationship and the health of American democracy -- at least for now. The results of the first major races since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection are likely to lend some short-term stability to efforts to isolate Russia and support Ukrainian forces, the central concern for European officials and diplomats heading into the midterms. The outcome will also add a sense of continuity to day-to-day diplomacy. But for a continent still reeling from Trump-era upheavals, the midterm races were a bracing reminder that despite talk of bolstering Europe's 'strategic autonomy,' American politics still very much shape European affairs. With or without a 'red wave' this year, Europe knows that it has not seen the end of Donald Trump or Trumpism and must plan accordingly."

Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "Coming off an Election Day in which Democrats seemingly exceeded expectations and overcame historical trends in the battle for control of Congress, a smiling and emboldened President Biden said he plans to do 'nothing' different in his approach to the presidency, and offered a message for the millions of voters who don't want him to run again: 'Watch me.' Mr. Biden fielded reporters' questions at the White House for about an hour Wednesday, in keeping with a tradition of presidents holding news conferences following midterm elections. Mr. Biden, who said it's his 'intention' to run again but gave no definitive answer on that front, called Tuesday a 'strong night' for Democrats. 'It was a good day, I think, for democracy,' Mr. Biden said. 'And I think it was a good day for America. ... Our democracy has been tested in recent years, but with their votes, the American people have spoken and proven once again that democracy is who we are.'" ~~~

     ~~~ A transcript, via the White House, of President Biden's press conference is here. Video of the presser is here.

So Unfa-a-a-air! Michael Bender & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump faced unusual public attacks from across the Republican Party on Wednesday after a string of midterm losses by candidates he had handpicked and supported, a display of weakness as he prepared to announce a third presidential campaign as soon as next week.... Conservative allies criticized Mr. Trump on social media and cable news, questioning whether he should continue as the party's leader and pointing to his toxic political brand as the common thread woven through three consecutive lackluster election cycles. Mr. Trump was seen as largely to blame for the Republicans' underwhelming finish in Tuesday's elections, as a number of the candidates he had endorsed in competitive races were defeated -- including nominees for governor and Senate in Pennsylvania and for governor of Michigan, New York and Wisconsin. Still, Mr. Trump has built a deep well of loyalty with Republican voters, and party officials cautioned that it was too soon to tell whether he would suffer any lasting political damage...." ~~~

     ~~~ Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey [Pa.] blamed Donald Trump for some of his handpicked candidates and predicted the former president would continue to lose influence in the Republican Party.... 'The more MAGA a candidate was, the more they tended to underperform even in their own states,' [Toomey told the Philadelphia Inquirer].... 'Like I said, when the primary criteria is allegiance to Donald Trump, the outcomes weren't very good,' Toomey said. '[Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug] Mastriano's loss was on an epic scale, and it is very hard for down-ballot candidates to overcome that.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Say, what if Trump called for a protest and no one showed up? Oh, that happened. ~~~

     ~~~ Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "As voters cast ballots largely without incident on Tuesday afternoon..., Donald Trump took to social media to declare that a minor, already rectified problem with absentee balloting in Detroit was 'REALLY BAD.... Protest, protest, protest,' he wrote just before 2:30 p.m. Unlike in 2020, when similar cries from the then-president drew thousands of supporters into the streets -- including to a tabulating facility in Detroit and later to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 -- this time, no one showed up. After two years of promises from Trump and his supporters that they would flood polls and counting stations with partisan watchers to spot alleged fraud, after unprecedented threats lodged against election workers, after calls to ditch machines in favor of hand counting and after postings on internet chat groups called for violent action to stop supposed cheating, a peaceful Election Day drew high turnout and only scattered reports of problems."

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump told Mike Pence that he was 'too honest' when he balked at the idea he could unilaterally sway the outcome of the 2020 election as Mr. Trump mounted an intense pressure campaign to bend Mr. Pence to his will, the former vice president writes in his upcoming memoir.... Mr. Trump [also told] him that 'hundreds of thousands are gonna hate your guts' and 'people are gonna think you're stupid.'... In 'So Help Me God,' to be published Tuesday, Mr. Pence offers not only his first extensive comments about his experiences with Mr. Trump after the election and during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, but also his first lengthy reflections on the 2016 campaign and the four years that followed.... The vice president also shares dramatic details about escaping the rioters who had entered the Capitol while he was presiding over the certification that day." ~~~

     ~~~ If you have access to the Wall Street Journal, you can read an adapted excerpt from Pence's book. The adaptation is titled "My Last Days with Donald Trump." MB: I was able to access the excerpt, & it's essentially what Haberman recounts above. It also confirms some of what we learned from the January 6 committee hearings. In the meantime, I look forward to reading an excerpt from a book titled "The Last Days of Donald Trump."

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Mounting legal threats to Donald Trump may have appeared ominous before the 2022 congressional elections. They're nothing compared to what comes next.... With the voting largely complete, prosecutors are free to take more overt steps to advance their investigation.... Trump is undeniably entering the 2024 contest weakened and squeezed by rising Republican figures like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.... The inability of Republicans to deliver massive margins of victory threatens to deprive Trump of the overwhelmingly Republican Congress that he had hoped would wield committee gavels and subpoena power to protect him and torment rivals.... [The January 6 committee is likely about to release more than 1,000 interview transcripts to the DOJ.]"

Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "A Fairfax County[, Virginia,] judge rejected an attempt Wednesday by former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) to evade a summons for his grand jury testimony in Georgia, where the Fulton County prosecutor is investigating efforts by supporters of ... Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election results in that state.... Fulton County Judge Robert C.I. McBurney then issued an order last month for Gingrich to appear before the special grand jury. A court in the state where the witness lives must then approve that order.... Fairfax County Judge Robert J. Smith rejected [Gingrich's] argument [that the Fulton County special grand jury is not a 'real' grand jury under the law].... [Gingrich's attorney then] asked Smith to stay his order so that Gingrich might appeal. 'I'm not going to do that,' the judge replied. 'I'm going to sign it now and get things going.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The way they're fighting Fani Willis' subpoenas, you'd almost think all these Trump gangsters -- Gingrich, Lindsey Graham, Mark Meadows -- had sudden realized they were criminals & didn't want to incriminate themselves.

Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post: "Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has sent a handwritten note of apology to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) over his comments last month that seemed to make light of the hammer attack against her husband, Paul Pelosi.... Speaking at a campaign rally in Stafford, Va. ... on Oct. 28, Youngkin mentioned the attack earlier that day on Pelosi's husband.... 'There's no room for violence anywhere, but we're going to send [Pelosi] back to be with him in California,' Youngkin said at the rally. The comment drew widespread rebukes, but Youngkin has resisted publicly apologizing for it." Pelosi's spokesman said she had accepted Youngkin's apology.

Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "A federal judge sentenced a Navy engineer to 19 years in prison on Wednesday and ... handed his wife nearly 22 years for the couple's botched attempt to sell sensitive nuclear propulsion secrets to a foreign country. U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh gave a longer term to Diana Toebbe even though it was her husband, Jonathan, who held the security clearance and took the sensitive documents from the Navy. Judge Groh said the longer sentence for Ms. Toebbe was mainly because she found that Ms. Toebbe had tried to obstruct justice by attempting to send letters to her husband while in jail.... Prosecutors had asked for just three years for Ms. Toebbe, but Judge Groh said the offense was 'not your usual case.' In delivering her sentence, the judge said that while Mr. Toebbe, 44, had access to the information, Ms. Toebbe, 46, was 'driving the bus' and had a big role in crafting the plan and covering it up. Judge Groh had thrown out the original pleas by the Toebbes in August, arguing they were too lenient and forcing them to cut new deals with prosecutors, which opened the prospect of much longer prison sentences."

Elon McScrooge. Heather Kelly & Garrit De Vynck of the Washington Post: Twitter "on Wednesday released its much talked about revamped Twitter Blue subscription service for $7.99 a month. Its flagship feature is a signature check mark in blue next to your account name, which was previously free to notable accounts whose identity had been verified by the company. The rushed rollout has led to a confusing hierarchy of check marks on the site, uncertainty about which ones will be taken away, and attempts at impersonation and scams.... Here's everything thing you need to know about the change in how Twitter verifies users."

Georgia Senate Race

Elena Schneider of Politico: "The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is spending $7 million on field operations in the Georgia Senate runoff, kicking off an expensive overtime race that could give the winning party control of the Senate. The DSCC's multimillion-dollar expenditure on its ground game will fund direct voter contact programs, particularly door-to-door canvassing.... Field organizers will not be able to register new voters, so the primary focus will be on turning out the party's base again...."

Marc Caputo of NBC News: "Republican leaders don't want a repeat of [Georgia's] 2021 runoff, especially now that Trump has teased a 'big announcement' Tuesday, when he is widely expected to officially declare another White House bid. But Scott is staying mum on the Trump question.... Political commentator Erick Erickson, a [Brian] Kemp surrogate, said Republicans want Trump to stay away. 'The emails I'm getting all morning is: Can we keep Trump from coming to Georgia to help Herschel?' he said. 'If they can keep Trump off the radar, maybe they can get [Herschel] Walker across the finish line. If Trump shows up to help, that ruins it.'"

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "The number of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers killed or wounded since the Feb. 24 invasion is likely to have reached 200,000, said Gen. Mark A. Milley, the top U.S. military official. 'Well over' 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the war, and Ukraine has probably suffered a similar number of casualties, Milley told the Economic Club of New York.... The 100,000 figure is an increase from the Pentagon's previous estimate of Russian casualties, which was between 70,000 and 80,000 in August."

Marc Santora, et al., of the New York Times: "The Kremlin on Wednesday announced a retreat of Russian forces from the strategically important city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, a concession to military reality eight months after capturing the area, and one of the most significant reversals of President Vladimir V. Putin's war effort. The withdrawal order came from Russia's defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, in a meeting with top military leaders that was broadcast on Russian state television.... Mr. Putin was not present at the meeting, distancing him from both an embarrassing defeat and a decision to retreat that, Kremlin analysts say, only he could have made." MB: President Biden noted wryly in his press conference Wednesday that the Kremlin had waited until right after the U.S. elections.

News Ledes

CNBC: "The consumer price index rose less than expected in October, an indication that while inflation is still a threat to the U.S. economy, pressures could be starting to cool. The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of goods and services costs, increased 0.4% for the month and 7.7% from a year ago. Respective estimates from Dow Jones were for increases of 0.6% and 7.9%."

New York Times: "Hurricane Nicole whipped through Florida on Thursday, a rare November storm that crashed huge waves along the coast, collapsed houses into the Atlantic Ocean, required the evacuation of unstable waterfront condo buildings and washed away roads and beaches. Nicole, the first hurricane to come ashore on the state's Atlantic coast since Katrina in 2005, became a tropical storm shortly after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane at around 3 a.m. south of Vero Beach. At least four deaths were attributed to the storm as it crossed the peninsula, and then swung offshore over the Gulf of Mexico and turned north, going back over land in the Big Bend region of Florida, just east of the Panhandle." ~~~

~~~ Weather Channel: "Nicole made landfall in Florida as a hurricane early Thursday morning, but its impacts including prolonged coastal flooding, beach erosion, strong winds, high surf, heavy rain and tornadoes will continue to impact other parts of the Southeast as well as the mid-Atlantic and Northeast through the end of the workweek. N​icole's center pushed ashore just south of Vero Beach, Florida, at 3 a.m. EST. It's maximum sustained winds were 75 mph, making Nicole a Category 1 hurricane. N​ow that Nicole is inland, it has weakened back to a strong tropical storm." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here.

Washington Post: "An outbreak of listeria tied to deli meat and cheese has killed one person, sickened 16 others and resulted in a lost pregnancy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday. The illnesses spanned six states. Investigators are trying to identify any specific products or delis that may have been contaminated, according to the CDC. Samples from sick people were collected from April 17, 2021, to Sept. 29, 2022.... The CDC reported that New York is home to seven of the sick people. Three live in Maryland. Massachusetts and Illinois each have two people who were sickened. New Jersey and California each have one person who fell ill."

November 9, 2022

President Biden will hold a press conference at 4:00 pm ET today.

Marie: My thanks to all those Democratic voters, and to those thoughtful independents & Republicans, who took time out of their busy lives to cast their votes for Democrats & for reproductive rights.

Thanks to a friend for sending this our way:

Definitely not a Republican wave, that is for darn sure. -- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

Marie: Sorry, my computer slowly broke down all last night. I'm working on setting up a new laptop, which I just took out of the box. Don't know how that will go. What appears on your computer probably isn't what appears on mine, which is messed up. I believe I'll spend today watching the latest installments of "The Crown."

"Results" are based on AP projections, except where indicated otherwise.

U.S. Senate

The current projected Senate total is 48 Democrats & 49 Republicans.

Alabama: Republican Katy Britt is projected to win.

Alaska: A Republican will win. Two Republicans are running: incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski & her Trump-endorsed opponent Kelly Tshibaka.

Arkansas: Incumbent Republican John Boozman is projected to win re-election.

California: Incumbent Democrat Alex Padilla is projected to win re-election.

Colorado: Incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet is projected to win re-election.

Connecticut: Incumbent Democrat Richard Blumenthal is projected to win re-election.

Florida: Incumbent Republican Marco Rubio is projected to win re-election.

Georgia: NBC News projects this race is headed to a run-off, as neither candidate will reach the 50% threshold. The run-off will take place December 6. MB: Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock is currently leading hopeful-Senator Heisman by about 40,000 votes, but the spoiler is a libertarian, who currently has about 2% of the vote, & libertarian voters tend to vote Republican, if they have no choice.

Hawaii: Incumbent Democrat Brian Schatz is projected to win re-election.

Idaho: Incumbent Republican Mike Crapo is projected to win re-election.

Illinois: Incumbent Democrat Tami Duckworth is projected to win re-election.

Indiana: Incumbent Republican Todd Young is projected to win re-election.

Iowa: Incumbent Republican Chuck Grassley is projected to win re-election.

Kansas: Incumbent Republican Jerry Moran is projected to win re-election.

Kentucky: Incumbent Republican Rand Paul is projected to win re-election.

Maryland: Incumbent Democrat Chris Van Hollen is projected to win.

Missouri: Republican Eric Schmitt is projected to win.

Louisiana. NBC News projects incumbent Republican John Kennedy will will re-election.

New Hampshire: Incumbent Democrat Maggie Hassan is projected to win re-election.

New York: Incumbent Democrat Chuck Schumer is projected to win re-election.

North Carolina. NBC News projects Republican Ted Budd will win. Too bad.

Ohio: NBC News projects incumbent Republican J.D. Vance will win. Very sad news.

Oklahoma: Incumbent Republican James Lankford is projected to win re-election.

Oklahoma Special Election: Republican Markwayne Mullin is projected to win.

Oregon: NBC News projects incumbent Democrat Ron Wyden will win re-election.

Pennsylvania: NBC News projects Democrat John Fetterman will win. Wowza!

North Dakota: Incumbent Republican John Hoeven is projected to win re-election.

South Carolina: Incumbent Republican Tim Scott is projected to win re-election.

South Dakota: Incumbent Republican John Thune is projected to win re-election.

Utah: Incumbent Republican Mike Lee is projected to win re-election.

Vermont: Democrat Peter Welch is projected to win. This was an open seat; Sen. Pat Leahy (D) will retire.

Washington State: NBC News projects incumbent Democrat Patty Murray will win re-election.

Wisconsin: Incumbent Republican Ron Johnson, the Stupidest Senator, is projected to win re-election. Sad.

The New York Times' live updates of election developments are here. The Washington Post's live election updates are here. CNN's live updates are here.

Other Election News

Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "At the end of a campaign in which the fundamental conditions for Democrats seemed dire -- inflation at a 40-year high, an unpopular president -- Republicans could do no better than to end the evening still scratching here and there for the seats they needed to win control of the House, the minimum they could call a victory. All indications were that they would end up at best with one of the weakest performances in decades by the out-of-power party against a first-term president's party, a stark contrast to Republican gains of 54 House seats against President Bill Clinton in 1994 and 64 seats against President Barack Obama in 2010.... For a third time, after 2018 and 2020, voters displayed the limits of their tolerance for the pernicious strain of Trump-era politics that appears at times to accept or even incite violence and that challenges a core tenet of democracy: Voters cast ballots and politicians accept the results. Some of the figures who benefited most from Mr. Trump's backing -- like Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor in Pennsylvania and Don Bolduc, the party's Senate candidate in New Hampshire -- were defeated. (Others, like J.D. Vance, the Republican Senate candidate in Ohio, won their races.)" ~~~

~~~ Hannah Knowles & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "Democrats showed strength in key battleground races Tuesday, potentially defying Republican hopes of sweeping victories in the midterm elections and leaving control of Congress hanging in the balance the morning after millions of Americans went to the polls. Republicans needed to flip five seats to retake the House and remained favored to take the majority after gaining some targeted districts. But the preliminary results reflected a closely divided country, with enthusiastic voters on both sides of the partisan divide. Republican efforts to tap anger over inflation and crime and strike deep into Democratic territory ran up against backlash over new restrictions on abortion and concerns about GOP extremism.... The evenly divided Senate remained up for grabs as both parties held on to competitive states.... 'While many races remain too close to call, it is clear that House Democratic Members and candidates are strongly outperforming expectations across the country,' [Nancy Pelosi] said in a statement."

Here's a fun Fox "News" story: David Rutz & Joseph Wulfsohn of Fox "News": "As the midterm results rolled in Tuesday night, and the 'red wave' long hoped for by Republicans had not materialized, many pundits and journalists across the spectrum pointed their fingers at former President Trump. As several Trump-backed candidates in major races lost or lagged behind other Republicans in their states, a consensus appeared to emerge that Trump had a bad night, although it was still up in the air whether Republicans would re-capture the House and Senate.... In the early hours of Wednesday morning, it still remained unclear if they would even take control of the House, a seemingly unthinkable proposition last week.... 'What I can tell you is the biggest loser tonight is Donald Trump,' [ABC News' Jonathan] Karl said."

Isaac Stanley-Becker & Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "Misleading videos, recirculated months after they were shot, carried unfounded claims that Republican voters were being barred from the polls. Viral tweets spun early-morning mechanical problems with vote tabulators into elaborate claims of systematic fraud. And users on the pro-Trump extremist forum TheDonald urged armed intervention at ballot counting centers in Georgia, advising, 'If it gets violent, shoot first.'... Encouragement to storm counting sites in Georgia came in response to news that the mail-in ballot deadline had been extended for some voters in Cobb County following a logistical hiccup, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks online extremists.... Election myths built up over the last two years coalesced Tuesday into a torrent of misinformation that fed an alternative online ecosystem where all unfavorable election outcomes are suspect."

Arizona. Stuart Thompson, et al., of the New York Times: A series of technical glitches disrupted ballot counting on Tuesday at about one in four voting centers in Republican-led Maricopa County, Ariz., rekindling embers of baseless voter fraud claims in the right-wing media and politicians.... In the afternoon, the county said it had isolated the problem: printers were not making dark enough markings on the ballots. Bill Gates, chairman of the Maricopa County board of supervisors, and Stephen Richer, the county recorder, both Republicans, said the problems were disappointing but that voters could still cast ballots and that nobody was being denied a vote."

Pennsylvania. John Kruzel of the Hill: "A judge in Pennsylvania agreed to extend voting by two hours in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, after a paper shortage was discovered at polling places. The county's voting deadline was extended from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. under an emergency court order by Judge Lesa S. Gelb of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas."

Other News

Nastyman. Donald Trump Is Still Donald Trump. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Several hours before polls opened on Tuesday for Election Day in Florida..., Donald J. Trump warned the state's governor, Ron DeSantis, against mounting a challenge to Mr. Trump's own anticipated presidential candidacy in the 2024 election cycle.... In remarks published on Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal, [Trump said,] 'If he did run, I will tell you things about him that won't be very flattering. I know more about him than anybody other than perhaps his wife, who is really running his campaign.' The former president, preparing to announce a rare candidacy for the White House after a defeat, was thus openly threatening to smear the person who would be considered his leading rival, should he choose to run."

Annie Grayer, et al., of CNN: "The House select committee investigating January 6 on Monday interviewed the driver of ... Donald Trump's presidential vehicle on the day of the US Capitol attack, multiple sources tell CNN. In recent days, the panel has interviewed a growing number of Secret Service agents and officials as part of its investigation, including the one-time head of former Vice President Mike Pence's security detail, Tim Giebels; former Secret Service agent John Gutsmiedl; agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi; and the Secret Service agent who was in the lead car of Trump's motorcade on January 6."

Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican who represented Georgia, is scheduled to appear in a Fairfax County courtroom Wednesday morning to fight a demand that he testify before a Georgia special grand jury investigating possible attempts in that state to manipulate the 2020 presidential election.... The [January 6] committee alleged in a September letter that Gingrich urged Donald Trump and his team to spread false information about supposed election fraud in Georgia, and that he was involved in the scheme to have 'fake electors' submitted to Congress during the electoral college vote to have Trump declared the winner, though Joe Biden was certified as president. Gingrich has agreed to testify Nov. 21 before the committee about his actions. But in Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani T. Willis is also investigating 'criminal disruptions' related to the election in Georgia, through a special grand jury. After seeing the Jan. 6 committee's letter to Gingrich, Willis sought Gingrich's testimony before the Fulton County special grand jury, court records show, and a judge there last month certified the need for the out-of-state witness."

Sheera Frenkel & Adam Satariano of the New York Times: "Meta [-- formerly known as Facebook --] said it was laying off more than 11,000, or about 13 percent of its work force, in what amounted to the company's most significant job cuts. The layoffs were made across departments, though some areas, like recruiting, were affected more than others.... The scale of the cuts -- nearly triple what Twitter announced last week -- represent a stunning fall for a once high-flying company whose ambition and room for growth had seemed limitless."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Wednesday are here: "WNBA star Brittney Griner is being transferred to a Russian penal colony, her lawyers said Wednesday, after a Russian court rejected an appeal of her 9½-year prison sentence. She has been detained in Russia on drug charges since February.... President Biden has directed his administration to 'prevail on her Russian captors' to improve her treatment and 'the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony,' the White House said Wednesday. The statement said the United States was seeking to resolve 'the unacceptable and wrongful detentions' of Griner and ex-security consultant Paul Whelan, an American serving a 16-year sentence in Russia.... U.S. and Russian officials will resume meeting 'in the near future' under a critical nuclear arms control treaty, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday. The meetings are intended to facilitate inspections of nuclear sites in each country.... 'Brutal' battles were raging across the front lines, especially in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, [President] Zelensky said. Russian forces, he said, have suffered 'large-scale losses' in the region but remain in control of swaths of territory."

News Ledes

The New York Times is live-updating developments of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Nicole, which is approaching Florida's east coast & is expected to land there today as a Category 1 hurricane. A Washington Post story is here.~~~

     ~~~ Washington Post: "Nicole intensified into a Category 1 hurricane Wednesday evening, as it churned ever closer to Florida's Atlantic coast. Conditions were deteriorating as the storm approached, with the worst expected overnight into early Thursday morning." The article also lists warnings & evacuations. MB: The article should be a freebie, but there's no indication that it is. ~~~

     ~~~ The Weather Channel, which is free to access, has live updates on Nicole here.