November 8, 2022

Late Morning Update:

The New York Times is live-updating election-day developments. CNN's live updates are here. And here are the Washington Post's live updates of election-day hoohah. Surprisingly, Ron DeSantis is behaving very badly.KK

Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "Pennsylvania Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman's campaign has gone to a federal court to try to have Pennsylvania voters' mail-in ballots counted if they weren't signed with a valid date." MB: Gosh, swing voters, look who's fighting for you. It ain't teevee doc.

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Shannon Hall of the New York Times: “If you’re planning to wake up early to head to the polls on Tuesday, you'll get a shot at seeing the moon darken as it falls into Earth's shadow ... in the last total lunar eclipse until 2025.... In North America, observers on the West Coast will get the best view.... he total phase of the eclipse -- the true star of the show -- won't begin until 2:16 a.m. [PT] ... [and] will last for roughly 90 minutes until 3:41 a.m. [PT]. Viewers on the East Coast ... can catch totality, which will run from 5:16 a.m. Eastern time to 6:41 a.m...." MB Update: The eclipse was a bust at my house. Couldn't see the eclipse for the forest -- or the sun.

Today's Elections

Perry Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department announced that it will dispatch workers to 64 jurisdictions in 24 states on Election Day to ensure that they are in compliance with federal voting law, an increase from the 44 jurisdictions to which it sent monitors for the 2020 presidential election.... The list of jurisdictions where the Justice Department will dispatch monitors provides a window into where federal law enforcement officials suspect there could be disputes or tensions around the voting process."

Amy Gardner & Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Republican officials and candidates in at least three battleground states are pushing to disqualify thousands of mail ballots after urging their own supporters to vote on Election Day, in what critics are calling a concerted attempt at partisan voter suppression. In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court has agreed with the Republican National Committee that election officials should not count ballots on which the voter neglected to put a date on the outer envelope -- even in cases when the ballots arrive before Election Day. Thousands of ballots have been set aside as a result, enough to swing a close race. In Michigan, Kristina Karamo, the Republican nominee for secretary of state, sued the top election official in Detroit last month, seeking to toss absentee ballots not cast in person with an ID, even though that runs contrary to state requirements. When asked in a recent court hearing, Karamo's lawyer declined to say why the suit targets Detroit, a heavily Democratic, majority-Black city, and not the entire state. And in Wisconsin, Republicans won a court ruling that will prevent some mail ballots from being counted when the required witness address is not complete.... While the rejections may have some basis in state law, experts say they appear to go against a principle, enshrined in federal law, of not disenfranchising voters for minor errors." Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I can improve on that lede: "Republican officials and candidates in at least three battleground states are pushing to disqualify thousands of mail ballots after urging their own supporters to vote on Election Day, in what critics are calling a concerted attempt at partisan voter suppression." There. All fixed. As for the emphasized sentence, "appear to"? Really? For Pete's sake, if a ballot was received before Nov. 8, then obviously it was mailed before Nov. 8, unless a mess of Pennsylvania voters are skilled time-travelers or something. ~~~

     ~~~ So Then. Pennsylvania. Emma Brown & Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "Six days after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court invalidated thousands of mail-in ballots in response to a Republican lawsuit, citizens in Philadelphia and other parts of this battleground state scrambled to cast replacements so their votes will be counted on Election Day.... 'Oh I'm going to vote. It's not a question,' said [Kirby] Smith, a 59-year-old Democrat who said he viewed the court decision as part of an attempt to block people from voting. 'I'm going to fight back.' Multiple judges have ruled over the past two years that mail ballots returned on time by eligible Pennsylvania voters should be counted even if they lack a date on the outer envelope. Republicans sued in October to reverse that policy, arguing that it violated state law. Last Tuesday, they won a favorable ruling from the state Supreme Court, which directed counties not to count ballots with missing or inaccurate dates. That decision triggered a sprawling volunteer-run effort to make sure voters who had already returned their ballots knew that their votes would not count if they didn't take action.... Not all counties in Pennsylvania notify voters when their mail ballots are deficient and allow them to submit replacements.... On Friday, several voting and rights groups filed a lawsuit in federal court, arguing that not counting those ballots over a 'meaningless technicality' would amount to a violation of civil rights law." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Not only is the state supreme court's decision a stupid violation of the right to vote, the timing of the decision -- about a week before a national election -- is unconscionable, particularly because the court was overruling multiple judges who had validated the ballots. This is changing the rules in the second quarter of a tie game. Four of the six current justices were elected as Democrats. Right.

Joan Greve of the Guardian: "Joe Biden rallied with fellow Democrats on Monday night, delivering a message of optimism and determination in the face of widespread concerns about his party's showing in Tuesday's midterm elections. Addressing a boisterous crowd in Maryland, Biden stressed the high stakes of the races that will determine control of the US Congress for the next two years. Painting a grim picture of a Republican-controlled Congress, Biden predicted that the opposing party would use their majorities to roll back Americans' rights and dismantle social welfare programs. 'Our lifetimes are going to be shaped by what happens the next year to three years,' Biden said. 'It's going to shape what the next couple decades look like.'" Oh, and Jill was there.~~~

~~~ Jada Yuan of the Washington Post: Jill Biden has campaigned in "an astounding number of states with the country's most competitive races -- Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Texas, Virginia and Maryland -- over the past two weeks. Not only that, she is descending onto tougher races than her husband, in states where animosity toward Democrats is high.... It is a testament to her popularity, as the most requested surrogate in the administration, and her ability to track well with Democrats without being toxic to swing voters or Republicans...."

AP: "Kremlin-connected entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted Monday that he had interfered in U.S. elections and would continue to do so -- confirming for the first time the accusations that he has rejected for years. 'Gentlemen, we have interfered, are interfering and will interfere. Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do,' Prigozhin boasted in remarks posted on social media. The statement, from the press service of his catering company that earned him the nickname 'Putin's chef,' came on the eve of U.S. midterm elections in response to a request for comment." MB: Prigozhin also heads the Wagner Group, mercenary soldiers who are fighting in Ukraine. Thanks to Forrest M. for the lead. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Washington Post's story is here.

Florida. Suppression & Intimidation Are the Point. Lori Rosza of the Washington Post: "Tuesday will mark the first major election in Florida since the legislature pushed through changes impacting voting in the Sunshine State. Voter advocates say the laws disproportionately impact Black voters -- making it harder for many to vote -- and have created an environment of confusion and fear.... 'These laws were put in place to intimidate people, and that's what's happening,' LaVon Bracy, the director of democracy for Faith in Florida, a religious nonprofit that encourages civic participation. 'People are just wondering, is it worth it?'"

Michigan, etc. Alexandra Berzon & Ken Bensinger of the New York Times: "The New York Times reviewed more than 20 hours of recordings of Michigan Fair Elections meetings, along with training sessions and organizing calls from closely linked groups. What emerged was a picture of an organization fueled by falsehoods, bent on trying to influence the 2022 midterms and determined to change the voting system in ways that would benefit Republicans. The Michigan group has counterparts around the country.... The Michigan coalition has largely kept its focus on the courts.... In [a] recent lawsuit..., [election deniers] joined with Kristina Karamo, Republican candidate for secretary of state, to ask a judge to effectively declare the absentee ballot system used in Detroit unlawful.... In a ruling issued on Monday, Judge Timothy Kenny rejected the claims, noting that the plaintiffs' demands would disenfranchise 60,000 voters who had already cast ballots. Every one of 12 accusations submitted 'are unsubstantiated and/or misinterpret Michigan law,' he wrote." A CBS News report on the failed attempt to throw out Detroit voters' ballots is here.

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "In her first televised interview since a violent attack on her husband, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) broke her silence about how frightened she was to learn of the assault that took place in their San Francisco home." Capitol Police officers awakened her at her home in Washington D.C. at about 5 am on October 28; they did not know the extent of Paul Pelosi's injuries or his condition. The New York Times story is here. The Guardian's report is here. Video of the interview, with Anderson Cooper, is here.

I'm Just a Poor, Persecuted Patriot, Unlike My Friends. Spencer Hsu & Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes categorically denied any plan to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and said Monday that his call for co-defendants to come to Washington armed and ready to 'take matters into their own hands' if ... Donald Trump failed to act was meant to inspire action only after he left office. The testimony by Rhodes, a former Army paratrooper and Yale Law School graduate, marked the climax of his seditious conspiracy trial with four others.... Rhodes said he was unaware that accused Florida co-defendant Kelly Meggs led other Oath Keepers members 'off-mission' into the building and that doing so was 'stupid' because 'it opened the door for our political enemies to persecute us'; he claimed he was not involved in defendants' stockpiling of firearms nearby; he blamed girlfriend and Oath Keepers attorney Kellye SoRelle for ordering members under his name to delete evidence; and he asserted that he meant for any call to resist federal authority to apply after Biden took office, and not before the inauguration to keep Trump in power as charged[.]...

"But U.S. prosecutor Kathryn L. Rakoczy led Rhodes through statement after statement, in public and in private, in which Rhodes urged Trump to call on the U.S. military and private militia to overturn the 2020 presidential election.... The contrast between Rhodes's testimony on the stand and his past remarks was a recurring theme of government questioning, which threatened to make Rhodes and his defense regret their calculation that he was the witness best situated to explain his true state of mind to jurors.... In his testimony, Rhodes also implicated other Oath Keepers defendants, and gave U.S. prosecutors wide opening to attack his credibility."

Here's that Rachel Maddow podcast that Akhilleus discussed in yesterday's Comments:

AP: "New Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has issued her first Supreme Court opinion, a short dissent Monday in support of a death row inmate from Ohio. Jackson wrote that she would have thrown out lower court rulings in the case of inmate Davel Chinn, whose lawyers argued that the state suppressed evidence that might have altered the outcome of his trial. Jackson, in a two-page opinion, wrote that she would have ordered a new look at Chinn's case 'because his life is on the line and given the substantial likelihood that the suppressed records would have changed the outcome at trial.'... Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the only other member of the court to join Jackson's opinion. The two justices also were allies in dissent Monday in Sotomayor's opinion that there was serious prosecutorial misconduct in the trial of a Louisiana man who was convicted of sex trafficking." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Today's Social Media Bulletin

Marie: Gosh, I wish I knew how to do those Twitter hashtag things. Because, if I did, I'd do one called #HowDumbIsElon.

     Entry No. 1. Reuters, republished by Yahoo! News: "After Twitter Inc laid off roughly half its staff on Friday following Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition, the company is now reaching out to dozens of employees who lost their jobs and asking them to return, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday. Some of those who are being asked to return were laid off by mistake. Others were let go before management realized that their work and experience may be necessary to build the new features Musk envisions, the report said citing people familiar with the moves." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

     Entry No. 2. Nicole Guadiano of Business Insider, republished by Yahoo! News: "... Elon Musk urged his Twitter followers on Monday to elect a Republican Congress on Tuesday in an appeal to 'independent-minded voters.'... 'Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic,' he tweeted...." MB: Let's call that "Notes from La-La Land." You don't have to be much of a student of U.S. politics over the past 20 years to know that "shared power leads to gridlock." Yeah, I suppose it curbs "excesses" because it curbs everything. Which is, Elon, an excess in itself; an excess of inertia & dysfunction. It would help, I suppose, if both parties knew how to "share power," but no one in your preferred party knows how to share. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump Is Stuck with Liars Social. Drew Harwell & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: Donald "Trump has told his allies that he can't leave Truth Social, because he's propping it up, and he doesn't want a site so closely associated with his brand to collapse, according to people familiar with his thinking.... Trump's 4 million followers on the platform are a small fraction of the 88 million he once had on Twitter, and his dozens of posts -- called 'truths' -- there in recent weeks have received none of the broad engagement and traction he counted on during his presidency.... In February 2021..., Trump signed a document with a 'mutual noncompete' clause pledging not to work with anyone else in exchange for 90 percent of the company's shares, [Will] Wilkerson, the former Trump Media executive, told The Post. He was fired last month after that interview." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sheera Frenkel of the New York Times: "Meta plans to lay off employees this week, three people with knowledge of the situation said, adding that the job cuts were set to be the most significant at the company since it was founded in 2004.... Meta had 87,314 employees at the end of September, up 28 percent from a year ago. Meta has been struggling financially for months and has been increasingly clamping down on costs. The Silicon Valley company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, has spent billions of dollars on the emerging technology of the metaverse, an immersive online world, just as the global economy has slowed and inflation has soared. At the same time, digital advertising -- which forms the bulk of Meta's revenue -- has weakened as advertisers have pulled back, affecting many social media companies. Meta's business has also been hurt by privacy changes that Apple enacted, which have hampered the ability of many apps to target mobile ads to users." MB: Don't worry, kids. There are a few openings at Twitter, and I hear Elon is an excellent employer.

2024 Election

Michael Bender of the New York Times: "On the climactic, final night of the 2022 midterm campaigns, Donald J. Trump hosted a rally to help lift a Senate hopeful in Ohio -- and instead grabbed the spotlight entirely for himself. In a windy oration on a chilly airport tarmac outside Dayton, Mr. Trump spent the vast majority of his time talking about his four years as president, the multiple investigations he has survived, the handful of new investigations he is now facing, and, once again, a drawn-out tease about his plan to probably-potentially-in-all-likelihood announce a third campaign for president. This time, however, he named the date and place. 'I'm going to be making a very big announcement on Nov. 15 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida,' he said in the final minutes of his 100-minute speech." ~~~

     ~~~ Projection of a Dangerous Kind. Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post, republished by Yahoo! News: "... Donald Trump called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) an 'animal' during a speech on Monday and in response, his supporters cheered. During a rally in Ohio, Trump recalled dismissing MS-13 gang members as 'animals' during his presidency. Then, he said the same insult applied to the House speaker. 'I think she's an animal, too, if you want to know the truth,' Trump said as the crowd roared with approval. 'They'll say, "Oh,what a horrible thing he said about Nancy." She impeached me twice for nothing! Nothing!'"

Trump Finally Gets Something Right. Reid Epstein & Michael Bender of the New York Times: "... a new video released by [Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis'] campaign on Friday hints at the governor's broader national ambitions. Posted to Twitter by his wife, Casey DeSantis, the 96-second video invokes God 10 times and suggests that Mr. DeSantis was sent by a divine power.... Donald J. Trump ... wasn't amused. He called the governor 'Ron DeSanctimonious' during a rally Saturday in Pennsylvania."

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "No, MSNBC is not the Fox News of the left.... While Fox News remains a talking-point-promotion outlet for Republican candidates, its liberal counterpart on the cable box does something vastly different for Democratic candidates. It covers them, that is."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live briefings for Tuesday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Tuesday are here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said world leaders should 'force Russia into genuine peace negotiations,' and that Kyiv had 'repeatedly proposed' talks. He blamed Russia for obstructing those efforts and described Ukraine's demands -- including restoring its territory and receiving security guarantees -- as 'completely understandable conditions.' The speech follows reporting from The Washington Post that the Biden administration has privately encouraged Kyiv to signal an openness to negotiate an end to the war. Washington and Moscow have maintained communication channels at senior levels, the White House says.... Top officials at COP27 are highlighting the impact of the war on energy systems and the crisis wrought by dependence on fossil fuels.... The Kremlin's war has worsened the world's energy and food crises, undermining efforts to halt 'the destruction of the climate,' [Zelensky] said as heads of state from around the world meet in Egypt for the annual U.N. climate summit, or COP27."

Pjotr Sauer of the Guardian: A newly-conscripted Russian soldier, Aleksei Agafonov, says that commanders abandoned him & his fellow conscripts as shelling started in the Luhansk region of Ukraine. "According to Agafonov's estimates, only 130 draftees out of the 570 survived the Ukrainian attack, which would make it the deadliest known incident involving conscripts since the start of the mobilisation drive at the end of September.... The incident points to Russia's willingness to throw hundreds of ill-prepared conscripts on to the frontline in Ukraine's east, where some of the heaviest fighting has been taking place, in an effort to stem Kyiv's advances. There is growing anger in Russia as more coffins return from Ukraine, bringing home the remains of conscripts."

Switzerland. U.S. Arrogance Is Exceeded Only by Swiss Arrogance. Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "Switzerland, one of the world's richest nations, has an ambitious climate goal: It promises to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. But the Swiss don't intend to reduce emissions by that much within their own borders. Instead, the European country is dipping into its sizable coffers to pay poorer nations, like Ghana or Dominica, to reduce emissions there -- and give Switzerland credit for it.... If other nations follow Switzerland's lead, critics say, it could delay climate action in wealthier parts of the world while shifting the work of reducing emissions toward the global poor. In addition, it could take advantage of projects in poorer countries that would have proceeded anyway, with or without foreign funding."

News Lede

Washington Post: "Hurricane watches are in effect for the east coast of Florida and may be upgraded to warnings Tuesday as Subtropical Storm Nicole churns toward the Sunshine State. Confidence is increasing about the potential for the storm to be near or at hurricane strength as it makes landfall on Florida&'s Atlantic coastline Wednesday night." An AP report is here.

November 7, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Marie: Gosh, I wish I knew how to do those Twitter hashtag things. Because, if I did, I'd do one called #HowDumbIsElon.

     Entry No. 1. Reuters, republished by Yahoo! News: "After Twitter Inc laid off roughly half its staff on Friday following Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition, the company is now reaching out to dozens of employees who lost their jobs and asking them to return, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday. Some of those who are being asked to return were laid off by mistake. Others were let go before management realized that their work and experience may be necessary to build the new features Musk envisions, the report said citing people familiar with the moves."

     Entry No. 2. Nicole Guadiano of Business Insider, republished by Yahoo! News: "... Elon Musk urged his Twitter followers on Monday to elect a Republican Congress on Tuesday in an appeal to 'independent-minded voters.'... 'Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic,' he tweeted...." MB: Let's call that "Notes from La-La Land." You don't have to be much of a student of U.S. politics over the past 20 years to know that "shared power leads to gridlock." Yeah, I suppose it curbs "excesses" because it curbs everything. Which is, Elon, an excess in itself; an excess of inertia & dysfunction. It would help, I suppose, if both parties knew how to "share power," but no one in your preferred party knows how to share.

Here's that Rachel Maddow podcast that Akhilleus discusses in today's Comments:

Amy Gardner & Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Republican officials and candidates in at least three battleground states are pushing to disqualify thousands of mail ballots after urging their own supporters to vote on Election Day, in what critics are calling a concerted attempt at partisan voter suppression. In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court has agreed with the Republican National Committee that election officials should not count ballots on which the voter neglected to put a date on the outer envelope -- even in cases when the ballots arrive before Election Day. Thousands of ballots have been set aside as a result, enough to swing a close race. In Michigan, Kristina Karamo, the Republican nominee for secretary of state, sued the top election official in Detroit last month, seeking to toss absentee ballots not cast in person with an ID, even though that runs contrary to state requirements. When asked in a recent court hearing, Karamo's lawyer declined to say why the suit targets Detroit, a heavily Democratic, majority-Black city, and not the entire state. And in Wisconsin, Republicans won a court ruling that will prevent some mail ballots from being counted when the required witness address is not complete.... While the rejections may have some basis in state law, experts say they appear to go against a principle, enshrined in federal law, of not disenfranchising voters for minor errors." Emphasis added. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I can improve on that lede: "Republican officials and candidates in at least three battleground states are pushing to disqualify thousands of mail ballots after urging their own supporters to vote on Election Day, in what critics are calling a concerted attempt at partisan voter suppression." There. All fixed. As for the emphasized sentence, "appear to"? Really? For Pete's sake, if a ballot was received before Nov. 8, then obviously it was mailed before Nov. 8, unless a mess of Pennsylvania voters are skilled time-travelers or something.

AP: "Kremlin-connected entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted Monday that he had interfered in U.S. elections and would continue to do so -- confirming for the first time the accusations that he has rejected for years. 'Gentlemen, we have interfered, are interfering and will interfere. Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do,' Prigozhin boasted in remarks posted on social media. The statement, from the press service of his catering company that earned him the nickname 'Putin's chef,' came on the eve of U.S. midterm elections in response to a request for comment." Thanks to Forrest M. for the lead.

AP: "New Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has issued her first Supreme Court opinion, a short dissent Monday in support of a death row inmate from Ohio. Jackson wrote that she would have thrown out lower court rulings in the case of inmate Davel Chinn, whose lawyers argued that the state suppressed evidence that might have altered the outcome of his trial. Jackson, in a two-page opinion, wrote that she would have ordered a new look at Chinn's case 'because his life is on the line and given the substantial likelihood that the suppressed records would have changed the outcome at trial.'... Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the only other member of the court to join Jackson's opinion. The two justices also were allies in dissent Monday in Sotomayor's opinion that there was serious prosecutorial misconduct in the trial of a Louisiana man who was convicted of sex trafficking."

Trump Is Stuck with Liars Social. Drew Harwell & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: Donald "Trump has told his allies that he can't leave Truth Social, because he's propping it up, and he doesn't want a site so closely associated with his brand to collapse, according to people familiar with his thinking.... Trump's 4 million followers on the platform are a small fraction of the 88 million he once had on Twitter, and his dozens of posts -- called 'truths' -- there in recent weeks have received none of the broad engagement and traction he counted on during his presidency.... In February 2021..., Trump signed a document with a 'mutual noncompete' clause pledging not to work with anyone else in exchange for 90 percent of the company's shares, [Will] Wilkerson, the former Trump Media executive, told The Post. He was fired last month after that interview."

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November Elections

David Smith of the Guardian: "Joe Biden is fighting a rearguard action to stave off defeat in Tuesday's midterm elections as Republicans look poised to make sweeping gains in the US Congress, setting up two years of political trench warfare. The president, along with former president Barack Obama, has been criss-crossing America in a last-ditch bid to persuade voters that a Democratic victory is critical not only to Biden's legislative agenda but the preservation of American democracy. But momentum appears to be with Republicans capitalising on frustration over inflation and fears of crime and illegal immigration. Election forecasters and polls say it is highly likely that the party of ex-president Donald Trump will win a majority in the House of Representatives and also have a shot of taking control of the Senate."

Washington Post Editors: "In deciding whether and how to vote, Americans should keep the fundamentals in mind, supporting candidates committed to the democratic system and the peaceful transfer of power, and opposing those who have tried to profit from toxic lies about election integrity.... In total, a Post tally found nearly 300 election deniers running for major office in 48 of 50 states.... The stakes are higher than where the top marginal tax rate might end up, what kinds of judges get confirmed or even the size of government. The past two elections have not been normal, and this one is not, either."

Ezra Klein of the the New York Times outlines what Republicans would do if they took control of the Congress: create crisis after crisis. Klein, of course, is not merely speculating. It's what Republicans have said out loud they would do. MB: And Klein, IMO, doesn't cover the half of it. Miss Margie thinks her gang will control the House, and if she's right, well, we're on the way to becoming a White nationalist "Christian" nation. And all that may mean, none of it good.

Steven Myers of the New York Times: "... the cybersecurity group Recorded Future .... and other researchers have identified ... a new, though more narrowly targeted, Russian effort ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections. The goal, as before, is to stoke anger among conservative voters and to undermine trust in the American electoral system. This time, it also appears intended to undermine the Biden administration's extensive military assistance to Ukraine.... The campaign -- using accounts that pose as enraged Americans ... -- have added fuel to the most divisive political and cultural issues in the country today. It has specifically targeted Democratic candidates in the most contested races, including the Senate seats up for grabs in Ohio, Arizona and Pennsylvania, calculating that a Republican majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives could help the Russian war effort. The campaigns show not only how vulnerable the American political system remains to foreign manipulation but also how purveyors of disinformation have evolved and adapted to efforts by the major social media platforms to remove or play down false or deceptive content."

Arizona. Yvonne Sanchez & Lenny Bronner of the Washington Post: Republicans railed against early voting -- uh, until they started encouraging it.

** Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "The fear of exile has become common as Jews see the unraveling rule of law, ascendant Christian nationalists and anti-Israel sentiments turning antisemitic on the far left. Wondering where Jews might move 'is among the most frequently asked questions that I get,' Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, told me.... The United States has until now been different because of our constitutional protections of minority rights: our bedrock principles of equal treatment under law, free expression and free exercise of religion. Now, the MAGA crowd is attacking the very notion of minority rights. Ascendant Christian nationalists, with a sympathetic Supreme Court, are dismantling the separation between church and state. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), for example, calls the principle 'junk that's not in the Constitution' and claims 'the church is supposed to direct the government.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Martin Niemöller's famous remark, "First, they came for the socialists...." comes to mind. But it's more than that. The odds are high that you yourself belong to a group that is or has been oppressed in this country. If you're non-Christian, non-White, non-male, non-straight, if you're of Southern European or Irish or German (think, esp. WWI) or Polish descent, if you're poor, if you're an immigrant, if you're elderly, if you're not a member of the dominant "tribe" in your community, then you (or your forebears) have been subject to discrimination here. Maybe you're okay now, but chances are, you belong to at least one of these groups. And the goblins will get you if we don't all watch out. ~~~

     ~~~ BTW, Milbank notes what Donald Trump said in reaction to Kanye West's attacks on Jews: "He was really nice to me."

There was a bit of discussion at the top of yesterday's Comments thread about reports that Merrick Garland was considering appointing a special counsel if/when Donald Trump announces another presidential* run. The beat goes on: ~~~

~~~ Katie Benner of the New York Times: "... Mr. Garland's hopes [that the DOJ can remain above the political fray] are being tested by Mr. Trump's apparent plan to announce that he will run again for the White House, a step that would transform him from a former president into an electoral opponent of President Biden at a time of extreme political polarization -- an environment leading the Justice Department to weigh whether to appoint a special counsel to handle open criminal inquiries related to Mr. Trump.... That person has more independence than a United States attorney, but any final decisions on whether to charge Mr. Trump would still rest with Mr. Garland and the department's top leaders.... A special counsel could theoretically shield the department from the perception that an investigation into Mr. Trump is a partisan attack on Mr. Biden's top political opponent. But it could also imply that the Justice Department on its own could not be trusted by all Americans to make decisions about holding Mr. Trump to account." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: C'mon, Merrick. Just charge the SOB. He's a criminal & you know it.

Way Beyond the Beltway

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. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Monday are here: "Millions of people in Ukraine's capital region were without power Sunday because of blackouts aimed at relieving the strain on a damaged power grid, as President Volodymyr Zelensky warned of more Russian strikes on energy infrastructure. Ukrainian forces laid claim to an attack on a Russian base in the occupied Kherson region, as they continued to target Russian logistics in the region.... If the Republican Party makes significant gains in Tuesday's midterm elections, it could possibly revamp the United States' whole approach to supporting Ukraine, Ishaan Tharoor writes in the latest Today's WorldView newsletter. 'Under Republicans, not another penny will go to Ukraine,' Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said last week. There is no uniform consensus within the Republican caucus on how best to support Ukraine's resistance to Russian invasion. However, various GOP lawmakers and candidates have indicated that the fire hose of funding must be turned off."

Luke Hareding & Artem Mazhulin of the Guardian: "For centuries Ukrainians have celebrated Christmas on 7 January, the date on which Jesus was born, according to the Julian calendar. But following Vladimir Putin's invasion in February, the Orthodox church of Ukraine is allowing its congregations for the first time to celebrate Christmas on 25 December, in a move away from Russia and towards the west. The issue of when to celebrate Christmas has been a matter of longstanding debate in Ukraine. The church has traditionally observed Christmas on 7 January, at the same time as the Moscow patriarchy, which has blessed Putin's war.... In 2017, 25 December became a public holiday in Ukraine. The country's Orthodox church has previously allowed prayers to be said on the date. At a meeting of its synod in October, and following requests, the Kyiv Metropolitanate announced that parishes could hold a full religious service on the 25th if they wished. The decision affects about 7,000 churches across the country."

November 6, 2022

Peter Baker & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Taking the stage to roaring applause and blaring music [in Philadelphia last night, President] Biden and [President] Obama joined hands with Josh Shapiro, the Democratic candidate in the Pennsylvania governor's race, and John Fetterman, the Democrat running for a Senate seat. Mr. Biden, who spoke first, hailed the legacy of Mr. Obama, whom he called 'a great president, a historic president -- I'm proud to say, a dear friend.'... On Saturday, Mr. Biden spoke in fiery bursts, lacing into his predecessor, Donald J. Trump, and Republicans. Describing the election as a battle between two vastly different agendas, he said that 'character is on the ballot' and warned that Republicans would try to roll back America's safety net programs if they won power in Washington.... Each addresses in his own way the threat they see in a passel of election deniers loyal to Mr. Trump taking power in the midterm elections.... With his can-you-believe-this tone, no one skewers the other side with sarcasm quite like Mr. Obama." A Politico story, which also devotes some ink to Trump, is here.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Much to our national shame, it looks like ... over-the-top and way, way, way out-of-the mainstream Republicans -- and the formerly normie and now creepy Republicans who have bent the knee to the wackos out of political expediency -- are going to be running the House, maybe the Senate and certainly some states, perhaps even some that Joe Biden won two years ago. And it looks as if Kevin McCarthy will finally realize his goal of becoming speaker, but when he speaks, it will be Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan and Lauren Boebert doing the spewing. It will be like the devil growling through Linda Blair in 'The Exorcist' -- except it will be our heads spinning.... These extreme Republicans don't have a plan. Their only idea is to get in, make trouble for President Biden, drag Hunter into the dock, start a bunch of stupid investigations, shut down the government, abandon Ukraine and hold the debt limit hostage." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's something I missed when it happened. From the Guardian: "Earlier this year, [Rep. Lauren] Boebert [R-Colo.] hinted that Jesus may have prevented his crucifixion if he had owned AR-15 rifles. 'How many AR-15s do you think Jesus would have had?' Boebert asked a crowd at a Christian event in Colorado. 'Well, he didn't have enough to keep his government from killing him.'" Maybe the most amazing part of Boebert's gun-weilding Jesus is that she understand absolutely nothing about what she claims is her own religion. All of Christian theology hangs upon the crucifixion story. The crucifixion is not an aberration; it is essential to the faith. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Matthew's fairly succinct explanation (Chap. 26). As Jesus' enemies come to the Garden of Gethsemane to seize Jesus & denounce him before Pontius Pilate, one of Jesus' followers took out his sword & cut off the ear of an attacker. Jesus admonishes his sword-wielding follower: "Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?" I doubt the legions of angels would have come strapped with AR-15s, but you get the point. Unfortunately, Boebert does not. And that's my Sunday sermon.

Florida Governor. Ron DeSantis adds some verses to Genesis, & wouldn't you know it? They're all about DeSantis. Jared Gans of the Hill: "'And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a protector." So God made a fighter,' DeSantis's ad begins. The ad shows pictures of DeSantis meeting with officials and civilians while serving as governor. It describes a series of traits God 'said' he needs in someone, including a willingness to 'travel thousands of miles for no other reason than to serve the people, to save their jobs, their livelihoods, their liberty, their happiness.'"

Virginia House. Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: "Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the GOP&'s most vocal critic against Trumpian politics' threats to democracy, has endorsed Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) over Spanberger's Republican challenger in one of Virginia's most consequential races this year, transcending party lines to push for the vulnerable Democrat days before the election. In a statement to The Washington Post, Cheney acknowledged that she and Spanberger have policy differences, but said she was 'honored' to back Spanberger, describing her as a lawmaker 'dedicated to working across the aisle to find solutions' while criticizing her Donald Trump-backed Republican opponent, Yesli Vega, >a member of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors."

Danny Hakim & Alexandra Berzon of the New York Times: "Because elections in America are more fraught than ever, the scrutiny of ballot counting now starts well before Election Day, and the legal challenges have already begun. The Republican Party and allied groups, many seized by Donald J. Trump's falsehoods about fraud in elections, are training monitors around the country to spot what they see as irregularities at absentee ballot counting centers. The monitors are told to take copious notes, which could be useful for potential court challenges, raising the prospect of a replay in state and local elections of Mr. Trump's attempt to use the courts to overturn his loss two years ago. The activity has not produced reports of major disruptions or problems."

Lies And the Lying Liars

Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "Voting-related falsehoods and rumors are flourishing across social media in the final stretch before Election Day on Tuesday. Much of the misinformation and conspiracy theories, which are swirling on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms, builds on familiar and unsubstantiated narratives spread about the 2020 presidential election. They include debunked claims of meddling with voting equipment, falsehoods about fraudulent ballots, alleged malfeasance by elections officials and unsubstantiated rumors about mail-in voting. Many of the posts are outright falsehoods, while others appear intended to simply raise doubts and undermine confidence in voting.... Here are some of the most widespread falsehoods and rumors related to voting." ~~~

Adam Gabbatt of the Guardian: "Ballot boxes being stuffed. 'BlueAnon'. Men in underpants. Every Democratic candidate: a 'complete weirdo psychopath'. To dive into Truth Social, Donald Trump's Twitter-but-for-conspiracy-theorists social media platform, is to enter a world where all of the above are real topics of debate, breathlessly discussed by Trump-backing Republicans and anonymous rightwing provocateurs. Truth Social has always been a platform for lies and obfuscations; about the 2020 election, the Democratic party, vaccines, Hunter Biden. But with less than a week before the election, the platform and its users have become even more unhinged. The site, formed as Trump's alternative to Twitter after he was banned from that platform in the wake of the January 6 insurrection, is awash with false theories about how the Democratic party is attempting to manipulate the midterm vote, false claims about the attack on Paul Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi's husband, and false accusations about Democratic candidates themselves." ~~~

~~~ Republicans Can't Handle the Truth -- That a Brutal Attack is their Fault:

Annie Karni, et al., of the New York Times: "Within hours of the brutal attack last month on Paul Pelosi, the husband of the speaker of the House, activists and media outlets on the right began circulating groundless claims -- nearly all of them sinister, and many homophobic -- casting doubt on what had happened. Some Republican officials quickly joined in, rushing to suggest that the bludgeoning of an octogenarian by a suspect obsessed with right-wing conspiracy theories was something else altogether, dismissing it as an inside job, a lover's quarrel or worse. The misinformation came from all levels of Republican politics. A U.S. senator [Ted Cruz] circulated the view that 'none of us will ever know' what really happened at the Pelosis; San Francisco home. A senior Republican congressman [Clay Higgins (La.)] referred to the attacker as a 'nudist hippie male prostitute,' baselessly asserting that the suspect had a personal relationship with Mr. Pelosi.... Donald J. Trump questioned whether the attack might have been staged. The world's richest man [Elon Musk] helped amplify the stories. But none of it was true." ~~~

~~~ Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "NBC News reporter Miguel Almaguer had what seemed like a scoop on Friday about an intruder&'s attack last week on Paul Pelosi. The curious new details he presented on the 'Today' show quickly went viral on right-wing sites and social media accounts.... Much of Almaguer's account was inaccurate, based on flawed information provided by a source who was unnamed in the report.... [NBC News] said Almaguer was incorrect when he reported that the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) gave police no indication he was in danger when he answered the door. In fact, San Francisco police have said that Pelosi was struggling with the intruder, David DePape, when they first saw him. But before NBC News' hasty removal of the video from its website -- accompanied by a vague note that the story 'did not meet NBC News reporting standards' -- it spawned a sinister new narrative ... [that] fed the unfounded speculation and conspiracy theories that have been swirling around the incident ever since the Oct. 28 home-invasion assault."

** Trump's DHS Falsely Accused 100s -- or 1,000s -- of Americans of Terrorism. Dell Cameron of Gizmodo: "The Department of Homeland Security launched a failed operation that ensnared hundreds, if not thousands, of U.S. protesters in what new documents show was as a sweeping, power-hungry effort before the 2020 election to bolster ... Donald Trump's spurious claims about a 'terrorist organization' he accused his Democratic rivals of supporting. An internal investigative report, made public this month by Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, details the findings of DHS lawyers concerning a previously undisclosed effort by Trump's acting secretary of homeland security, Chad Wolf, to amass secret dossiers on Americans in Portland attending anti-racism protests in summer 2020 sparked by the police murder of Minneapolis father George Floyd. The report describes attempts by top officials to link protesters to an imaginary terrorist plot in an apparent effort to boost Trump's reelection odds, raising concerns now about the ability of a sitting president to co-opt billions of dollars' worth of domestic intelligence assets for their own political gain." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Most of Trump's lies are terrible, but targeting real people, many of them Black people -- abducting them, arresting them, charging them, accessing their financial records, & developing "dossiers" on them -- is right out of the Brown Shirt handbook. Comparing Trump's tactics to Hitler's is well past the false argumentum ad Hitlerum. It was real.

Way Beyond the Beltway

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Sunday are here: "The United States is pushing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to reconsider his stance against negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Washington Post reports. The effort is intended as a means to maintain international support, not necessarily to induce bargaining between the warring nations. Meanwhile, Iran acknowledged publicly for the first time that it had given Russia deadly drones -- albeit, it said, before the Kremlin's full-scale invasion began in February. Zelensky called Tehran's statement a 'confession' after weeks of attacks from Iranian Shahed drones.... More than 800,000 tons of food left three Black Sea ports during the week ending on Saturday, Zelensky said. The ships are on their way to Africa, China and the Middle East."

News Lede

New York Times: The Houston Astros won the World Series.