October 30, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Marie: The New York Times published an op-ed this weekend by biographer David Nasaw (linked below). Nasaw writes that Elon Musk is no special genius, but merely another boorish robber baron. Musk seems determined to prove this:

Kurtis Lee of the New York Times: "Three days after Elon Musk purchased Twitter, the billionaire posted a tweet that advanced baseless allegations about the recent attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.... On Saturday, Hillary Clinton ... posted a tweet assailing Republicans for spreading 'hate and deranged conspiracy theories' that she said had emboldened the man who attacked Ms. Pelosi's husband, Paul, inside the couple's home in San Francisco early Friday. Mr. Musk's tweet was later deleted, and it was not immediately clear who had deleted it. In a reply to Mrs. Clinton's tweet, Mr. Musk wrote, 'There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye' and then shared a link to an article in the Santa Monica Observer. The article alleges that Mr. Pelosi was drunk and in a fight with a male prostitute.... In 2016, for example, the publication advanced a claim that Mrs. Clinton had died and that a body double was sent to debate ... Donald J. Trump." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll admit that "blaming it on the gays" was not a conspiracy theory that occurred to me, but maybe we're supposed to be pleased Twitter has become an equal-opportunity conspiracy hub. At any rate, all of this highlights the obvious fact that we have to tax the multi-billionaires into relative oblivion. See also Akhilleus' comment below.

Amy Wang & Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Washington Post: "Several Republicans on Sunday tempered their denunciations of an attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), casting blame for political violence on 'both sides' of the aisle.... Donald Trump has so far remained silent.... [And] Ronna [Romney] McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Sunday it was 'unfair' for Democrats to link Republicans' inflammatory rhetoric toward their political opponents to the attack on Paul Pelosi. 'I think this is a deranged individual,' McDaniel said on 'Fox News Sunday.'"

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Has anyone noticed that "Weekend Update," even with the absurd jokes included, is as accurate as Fox "News"?

Meet your GOP Senate candidates:

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Sadly this attack was inevitable. Political violence is on the rise. And instead of GOP leaders condemning it, they condone it with silence or, even worse, glorification. -- Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) ~~~

~~~ Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "In 2010, Republicans launched a 'Fire Pelosi' project -- complete with a bus tour, a #FIREPELOSI hashtag and images of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) engulfed in Hades-style flames -- devoted to retaking the House and demoting Pelosi from her perch as speaker. Eleven years later, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) joked that if he becomes the next leader of the House, it will be hard not to hit Pelosi with the speaker's gavel. And this year, Pelosi -- whom Republicans have long demonized as the face of progressive policies and who was a target of rioters during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol -- emerged as the top member of Congress maligned in political ads, with Republicans spending nearly $40 million on ads that mention Pelosi in the final stretch of the campaign, according to AdImpact, which tracks television and digital ad spending. The years of vilification culminated Friday when Pelosi's husband, Paul, was attacked with a hammer during an early-morning break-in at the couple's home in San Francisco by a man searching for the speaker and shouting 'Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?'' A Politico story on the same topic is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As Alex Wagner of MSNBC pointed out Friday night, Republicans take particular pleasure in vilifying female politicians -- Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, the Squad. ~~~

~~~ Aaron Davis & Dalton Bennett of the Washington Post: "The San Francisco Bay area man arrested in the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband filled a blog a week before the incident with delusional thoughts, including that an invisible fairy attacked an acquaintance and sometimes appeared to him in the form of a bird, according to online writings under his name. David DePape, 42, also published hundreds of blog posts in recent months sharing memes in support of fringe commentators and far-right personalities. Many of the posts were filled with screeds against Jews, Black people, Democrats, the media and transgender people. During October, DePape published over 100 posts. While each loads, a reader briefly glimpses an image of a person wearing a giant inflatable unicorn costume, superimposed against a night sky. The photos and videos that followed were often dark and disturbing." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Cue Republicans to immediately return to their "mental illness" crouch and absolve themselves from all responsibility for the actions of this sick fuck. ~~~

~~~ Blame Biden, Crime-Ridden Cities, Defund the Police: How Fox "News" Handled the Violent Attack. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Paraphrasing [a panel discussion that occurred just as the details of the news were breaking]: If this wasn't a function of politics, it is an act of heinous violence that represents precisely the sort of horrible, surging crime that Fox News has been warning its viewers about endlessly for weeks. If it was a function of politics -- presumably politics that cast Pelosi negatively -- then it's simply division, something that lamentably reflects our nation's sad state under Biden." MB: And now, they'll add mental illness to the mix.

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The White House rejected a recommendation by senior Pentagon officials to promote an Army general who came under intense scrutiny after the Pentagon's slow response to the riot at the Capitol, defense officials said, pushing the officer to a near-certain retirement. Lt. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, the director of the Army staff, was backed to become the four-star general at Army Futures Command by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth -- both of whom were appointed by President Biden -- and Gen. James McConville, the Army's top officer, said two defense officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. The White House declined to send a nomination for Piatt to the Senate for months, the officials said, effectively killing the possibility."

Zarar Khan of the AP: "A 75-year-old from Pakistan who was the oldest prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center was released and returned to Pakistan on Saturday, the foreign ministry in Islamabad and the U.S. Defense Department said. Saifullah Paracha was reunited with his family after more than 17 years in custody in the U.S. base in Cuba, the ministry added. Paracha had been held on suspicion of ties to al-Qaida since 2003, but was never charged with a crime. Last year in May, he was notified that he had been been approved for release." A New York Times story is here.

Chloe Folmar of the Hill: "NBA star LeBron James on Saturday called on new Twitter owner Elon Musk to respond to the 'scary AF' increase in the use of the N-word on the social media platform. James tweeted in response to a post sharing a Business Insider article that reported, based on what a social media research group told The Washington Post, that the use of the racial slur increased by 500 percent after Musk's takeover of Twitter on Thursday." MB: I think that means "scary as fuck," but I'm guessing & will stand corrected if, well, corrected. ~~~

~~~ ** David Nasaw in a New York Times op-ed: Elon Musk is just another robber baron who has developed his automotive & space businesses on government subsidies but who has an advantage over latter-day robber barons because of his "ability to promote his businesses and political notions with a tweet.... Elon Musk is a product of his -- and our -- times. Rather than debate or deride his influence, we must recognize that he is not the self-made genius businessman he plays in the media. Instead, his success was prompted and paid for by taxpayer money and abetted by government officials who have allowed him and other billionaire businessmen to exercise more and more control over our economy and our politics." (Also linked yesterday.)

November Elections

The Closer. Annie Linskey of the Washington Post: "With midterm elections just over a week away, [former President Barack] Obama, 61, has stepped into the spotlight on the political stage with rallies to gin up interest in marquee midterm races in battleground states. A day after appearing in Georgia with Sen. Raphael G. Warnock, who is in a tight race with [Herschel] Walker, and Stacey Abrams, who is trailing in her rematch with Gov. Brian Kemp, Obama headlined rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin. The former president is regarded as the Democratic Party's top communicator to base voters, more in demand than President Biden, who has not been the sought-after surrogate in the top races amid a dismal approval rating. The president spent one of the busiest campaign weekends of the cycle at his home in Delaware, where he attended his granddaughter's field hockey game and, separately, cast his ballot. Democratic strategists say Obama is the sole party leader able to draw major base-motivating crowds without simultaneously angering the other side."

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "The vicious attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), is a reminder of what the 2022 election is about.... The backdrop of politics today includes a climate of possible violence, with rising numbers of threats aimed at individual lawmakers. It includes threats to local officials and citizen volunteers who administer elections. It includes intimidation of individual voters depositing ballots at drop boxes in Arizona.... A majority of Republicans on the ballot for Senate, House and key statewide races have denied or questioned the 2020 presidential election, echoing ... Donald Trump's unfounded claims. It all adds up to what has been stated repeatedly for the past two years: Democracy itself is at risk in this country."

Beyond the Beltway

California. AP: "A man who spent more than 38 years behind bars for a 1983 murder and two attempted murders has been released from a California prison after long-untested DNA evidence pointed to a different person, the Los Angeles County district attorney said Friday. The conviction of Maurice Hastings, 69, and a life sentence were vacated during an Oct. 20 court hearing at the request of prosecutors and his lawyers from the Los Angeles Innocence Project at California State University, Los Angeles. 'I prayed for many years that this day would come,' Hastings said at a news conference Friday, adding: 'I am not pointing fingers; I am not standing up here a bitter man, but I just want to enjoy my life now while I have it.'"

Virginia. The Last Confederate Statue in Richmond. Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "Since 1892, the statue of Ambrose P. Hill, a Confederate lieutenant general, has towered over a busy intersection in Richmond, Va., built over the spot where his remains are buried. The statue is the last Confederate monument in the city.... Judge D. Eugene Cheek Sr., of the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond, this week ruled that the city had the right to dismantle the statue and donate it to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia. The remains of the general will be reburied at a cemetery in Culpeper, about 85 miles north, according to his ruling."

Way Beyond

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 for Sunday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Mark Santora of the New York Times: "Hours after accusing Ukraine of attacking its ships with a swarm of drones, Russia withdrew on Saturday from an agreement aimed at bringing down global food prices by allowing the export of grain from Ukrainian ports. The Russian decision, which United Nations and Ukrainian officials said could exacerbate hunger, brought to a screeching halt a rare case of wartime coordination that had allowed the movement of more than 9 million tons of agricultural products, many of them bound for poor countries. Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, called on the warring parties to ensure that the grain deal continued."

Iran. Miriam Berger, of the Washington Post: "The two female Iranian journalists who helped break the story of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman whose death in the custody of the so-called morality police last month sparked a nationwide uprising, were formally accused late Friday of being CIA spies and the 'primary sources of news for foreign media' -- the former a crime punishable by the death penalty in Iran. Journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi have been held in Iran's notorious Evin prison since late September as Iran's clerical leaders have struggled to contain an outpouring of public anger and protests calling for their overthrow.... In the joint statement sent to Iranian media late Friday local time, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and the intelligence agency of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard ... accused the CIA of orchestrating Hamedi and Mohammadi's reporting, and said 'allied spy services and fanatic proxies,' planned the nationwide, leaderless unrest." They also accused British, Israeli & Saudi spy agencies in participating in planning & organizing the protests.

Somalia. Omar Faruk of the AP: "Somalia's president says at least 100 people were killed in Saturday's two car bombings at a busy junction in the capital and the toll could rise in the country's deadliest attack since a truck bombing at the same spot five years ago killed more than 500. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, at the site of the explosions in Mogadishu, told journalists that nearly 300 other people were wounded. 'We ask our international partners and Muslims around the world to send their medical doctors here since we can't send all the victims outside the country for treatment,' he said."

News Lede

India. New York Times: “At least 70 140 people were killed after a century-old pedestrian bridge collapsed in the western Indian state of Gujarat on Sunday evening, sending hundreds plunging into the Machchhu River, officials said. About 350 people were on and around the bridge, a major tourist attraction, at the time of the collapse, said Brijesh Merja, a minister in the Gujarat government. A majority of those who died were children, women and older people, according to officials.”

October 29, 2022

Late Morning Update:

** David Nasaw in a New York Times op-ed: Elon Musk is just another robber baron who has developed his automotive & space businesses on government subsidies but who has an advantage over latter-day robber barons because of his "ability to promote his businesses and political notions with a tweet.... Elon Musk is a product of his -- and our -- times. Rather than debate or deride his influence, we must recognize that he is not the self-made genius businessman he plays in the media. Instead, his success was prompted and paid for by taxpayer money and abetted by government officials who have allowed him and other billionaire businessmen to exercise more and more control over our economy and our politics."

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Kellen Browning, et al., of the New York Times: "Paul Pelosi, the 82-year-old husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was violently attacked in the couple's San Francisco home by a hammer-wielding 42-year-old man identified as David DePape. Police arrived quickly after Mr. Pelosi was able to surreptitiously dial 911 & leave the line open. The police witnessed the attack & subdued the attacker who said he was looking for Nancy Pelosi. DePape has been charged with several felony counts including attempted homicide. Someone with his name has posted online many conspiracy theories. Doctors operated on Mr. Pelosi for a skull fracture & other injuries, and he is expected to recover. "Multiple law enforcement agencies were investigating the attack on Friday to determine the suspect's motive. The Capitol Police said special agents from its field office in California 'quickly arrived on the scene' to work alongside the F.B.I., the San Francisco Police Department, the district attorney and the U.S. attorney's office." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN is liveupdating developments here: "Paul Pelosi underwent surgery for a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, according to a statement from Speaker Pelosi's spokesperson. He is expected to make a full recovery, it said.... Paul Pelosi was able to call 911 at the start of the attack at his home in San Francisco, according to a law enforcement source and another source familiar with the matter. Pelosi managed to keep the line open and the dispatcher could hear a conversation in the background, according to the law enforcement source. Pelosi was talking in code, that source said, providing enough detail so that the operator overhearing it could understand that something was wrong. At the same time Pelosi seemed to be trying not to make it obvious to the intruder that he had an open line, the source said. The dispatcher could hear Pelosi speaking about what was going on and dispatched police to check on the house, the source said....

"The man who allegedly attacked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's husband early Friday posted memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook about Covid-19 vaccines, the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack.... Last year, David DePape posted links on his Facebook page to multiple videos produced by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell falsely alleging that the 2020 election was stolen. Other posts included transphobic images and linked to websites claiming Covid-19 vaccines were deadly.... Two days after former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of killing George Floyd, DePape wrote that the trial was 'a modern lynching,' falsely indicating that Floyd died of a drug overdose. He also posted content about the 'Great Reset' -- the sprawling conspiracy theory that global elites are using coronavirus to usher in a new world order in which they gain more power and oppress the masses.... [The s]uspect [is] ... to be booked on charges including attempted homicide, assault and elder abuse[.]... The man ... tried to tie ... up [Paul Pelosi] 'until Nancy got home,' according to two sources.... When the police arrived at the residence, the attacker said he was 'waiting for Nancy.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is live-updating developments here. (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Casey Tolan, et al., of CNN: "The man who allegedly attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband early Friday posted memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook about Covid vaccines, the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and an acquaintance told CNN that he seemed 'out of touch with reality.'... Three of [David] DePape's relatives told CNN that DePape has been estranged from his family for years, and confirmed that the Facebook account -- which was taken down by the social media company on Friday -- belonged to him."

     ~~~ Marie: MSNBC is reporting that the assailant, who attacked Mr. Pelosi with a hammer, was searching for Speaker Pelosi. He was shouting, "Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?" which is reminiscent of the January 6 insurrections calls for "Nancy! Nancy!" If true, the call for the speaker makes the San Francisco attack a federal crime. ~~~

~~~ Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "With his usual level of class, Donald Trump put out a message of sympathy to the family of Jerry Lee Lewis, 'the Killer' of rock 'n' roll, who died Friday at age 87, but said nothing all day about the Pelosi family. On Twitter, Adam Kinzinger urged G.O.P. candidates and elected officials to speak out against the 'horrific' attack. He probably didn't have in mind the sort of speaking out that Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia did. Youngkin made a joke of the assassination attempt: 'There's no room for violence anywhere, but we're going to send her back to be with him in California.'"

Brian Vitagliano & Jim Acosta of CNN: "A Pennsylvania man previously arrested for impersonating Donald Trump's family members in fraud scheme pleaded guilty on Friday to threatening to kill a member of Congress and his staff. According to the Justice Department, Joshua Hall, 22, threatened to kill at least three congressional staffers and 'beat the s**t' out of the congressman, claiming he had several AR-15s. California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell told CNN the threats were aimed at him and his office."

Emma Brown & Jon Swaine of the Washington Post: "A week after the 2020 election, as Donald Trump raged over what he claimed was rampant fraud, officials in a rural county in southern Georgia [Coffee County] received a disturbing report from the employee who ran their elections. New voting machines in use across the state could 'very easily' be manipulated to flip votes from one candidate to another, she claimed at a meeting of the county elections board, and ballots could be scanned and counted more than once.... The elections board meeting -- a gathering of eight people in an unremarkable building 200 miles from Atlanta -- set off an extraordinary sequence of events that plunged the GOP enclave into the middle of a multistate effort by prominent Trump allies to gain access to voting machines in search of purported evidence that the election was rigged.... In at least seven ... counties in four states, including Coffee, local officials acting without a court order or subpoena allegedly gave outsiders access to the machines or their data.... Experts say the events in Coffee County are a potent example of the rising threat posed by insiders who undermine election security in the name of protecting it." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It takes only a couple of dots to connect Coffee County elections supervisor Misty Hampton to David DePape, the man who (allegedly) attacked Paul Pelosi:

Misty Hamptom—•—Donald Trump—•—David DePape

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "One of the Justice Department's most experienced national security prosecutors has joined the team overseeing the intensifying investigation of classified documents at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home and private club, people familiar with the matter said. National security law experts interviewed by The Washington Post say prosecutors appear to have amassed evidence in the case that would meet some of the criteria for bringing charges against the former president -- an unprecedented action that they said likely would only happen if the Justice Department believes it has an extremely strong case. David Raskin,who served for many years as a senior federal prosecutor in New York City, and more recently has worked as a prosecutor in Kansas City, Mo., has been quietly assisting in the investigation into Trump and his aides...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Vimal Patel of the New York Times: "A former U.S. Capitol Police officer was found guilty on Friday of obstruction of justice for trying to cover up the fact that he had sent Facebook messages to a Jan. 6 rioter offering advice on how to avoid getting caught, the authorities said. The man, Michael A. Riley, 51, could face up to 20 years in prison, following a trial in U.S. District Court in Washington, federal prosecutors said.... Mr. Riley, a member of the agency's K-9 unit with more than 25 years on the force, was the only Capitol Police officer charged with a crime in connection with the attack on the Capitol...."

Spencer Hus & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "An accused key co-conspirator who longtime former Proud Boys chairman Henry 'Enrique' Tarrio allegedly said proposed storming the U.S. Capitol on >Jan. 6, 2021, has pleaded guilty in a deal with U.S. prosecutors, Tarrio's lawyers revealed Friday. Details of the plea emerged in a pretrial hearing as the government ratchets up pressure against Tarrio and four other defendants who face trial in December on a charge of seditious conspiracy. During the hearing in federal court in Washington, Tarrio defense attorney Sabino Jauregui said that John Charles Stewart, 44, of Carlisle, Pa., pleaded guilty in June. Prosecutors interjected, and U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly immediately halted the public session to go behind closed doors, which after resuming made no further mention of Stewart."

Bannon Affiliate Found Guilty. Colin Moynihan of the New York Times: "A man from Colorado who helped loot a charity that raised private money for a border wall of the sort championed by ... Donald J. Trump was convicted on Friday in a retrial in Manhattan federal court. An earlier trial was scuttled by a juror who was said to have insisted that the prosecution was a 'government witch hunt.' The man, Timothy Shea, has been the only one of four defendants to face a jury in the case so far.... We Build the Wall Inc. raised more than $25 million, claiming that all the money would go toward constructing a border barrier. Those promises were lies, said prosecutors with the United States attorney's office.... The conviction ended a case that began in 2020 when Mr. Shea was arrested along with three other men who had prominent roles in We Build the Wall: the group's president, an Air Force veteran named Brian Kolfage, who lost both legs and part of his right arm in Iraq and guaranteed that he would 'not take a penny'; a Florida financier named Andrew Badolato; and Stephen K. Bannon.... Mr. Kolfage pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and tax-related charges. Mr. Badolato pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. Mr. Bannon was spared a federal trial after he received a pardon from Mr. Trump during his last hours as president but is now facing a trial in state court. Last month, the Manhattan district attorney's office unsealed an indictment charging Mr. Bannon with money laundering, conspiracy and scheming to defraud."

Back on Twitter, Spewing Hate. Drew Harwell, et al., of the Washington Post: "An emboldened cast of anonymous trolls spewed racist slurs and Nazi memes onto Twitter in the hours after billionaire industrialist Elon Musk took over the social network.... Musk on Friday tweeted that he would make 'no major content decisions or account reinstatements' until the convening of a new 'moderation council.' He promised that the council would have 'widely diverse viewpoints' but offered no other information about who would be on it, how its members would be selected, what authority it would have or whether its views would be binding on the company." A related Guardian story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: "A coordinated campaign to spread antisemitic memes and images on Twitter resulted in more than 1,200 tweets and retweets featuring the offensive content, according to an analysis by the Anti-Defamation League. The tweets identified by the A.D.L. added to a flurry of racist, transphobic and rule-breaking content that coursed through Twitter on Friday after Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, had officially taken control of the platform. Mr. Musk has promised to loosen content moderation rules in the name of 'free speech,' worrying many who believe the changes will allow offensive content to spread on the platform. The A.D.L. said the antisemitic tweet campaign was hatched on 4chan, the fringe message board that is loosely moderated and where hate speech has thrived. On Thursday, an anonymous 4chan user posted instructions for sharing antisemitic content on Twitter after Mr. Musk's takeover was made official. The post was circulated on Telegram, the chat app popular with the far right, according to the A.D.L." ~~~

~~~ Michael Wayland & Lora Kolodny of CNBC: "General Motors is suspending its advertising on Twitter following Elon Musk's takeover of the social media platform, the company told CNBC on Friday. The Detroit automaker, a rival to Musk-led electric vehicle maker Tesla, said it is 'pausing' advertising as it evaluates Twitter's new direction. It will continue to use the platform to interact with customers but not pay for advertising, GM added." ~~~

~~~ Chris Isidore of CNN: "The three top Twitter executives whom Elon Musk fired Thursday will walk out the door with about $187 million of Musk's money. Former CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal and former Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde were ousted after Musk took control of the company late Thursday, according to a source familiar with the situation. They would have received a large chunk of that money even if they had stayed on board under the new ownership -- they and other shareholders will receive payouts from Musk after he bought their shares for $54.20 each.... But they also receive 'Golden Parachute Compensation' in the merger agreement approved by shareholders. That includes a year's base pay == $1 million for Agrawal and $600,000 each for Segal and Gadde. They also will get a year of health insurance...."

November Elections

Arizona. Trump Judge: Hey, Armed Vigilantes Have Rights, Too. Anita Snow of the AP: "A federal judge Friday refused to bar a group from monitoring outdoor ballot boxes in Arizona's largest county where watchers have shown up armed and in ballistic vests, saying to do so could violate the monitors' constitutional rights. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi said the case remained open and that the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans could try again to make its argument against a group calling itself Clean Elections USA. A second plantiff, Voto Latino, was removed from the case. Liburdi concluded that 'while this case certainly presents serious questions, the Court cannot craft an injunction without violating the First Amendment.' The judge is a Trump appointee and a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So let's say a couple of armed masked men follow you from your car to the drop box, videotape you, photograph your vehicle license, maybe even speak to you in a menacing way. Well, it's your fault if that frightens you and makes you decide not to drop off your ballot.

Way Beyond the Beltway

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Saturday are here: Ukraine's President "Zelensky said about 4 million people are under energy-use restrictions as Ukraine attempts to stretch scarce resources after Russian forces destroyed infrastructure around the country. 'Emergency blackouts are also possible,' he said. A group of House and Senate Republicans opposed Democratic Party-backed plans to fund Ukraine's war effort with assets seized from Russia, The Washington Post reported. The lawmakers objected to a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act conference report that would allow the United States to transfer proceeds of forfeited Russian property to Kyiv, several people involved with the negotiations said.... The United States is giving an additional $275 million in defense aid to Ukraine, a smaller sum than was offered in previous packages."

Syria/Australia. Natasha Frost & Livia Abeck-Ripka of the New York Times: "Seventeen Australian citizens -- four women and 13 children -- on Thursday began the long journey home from detention camps in northeast Syria, where they have languished since the fall of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS, in 2019. By Saturday, they had returned to New South Wales, Australia, according to a statement from Clare O'Neil, the Australian minister for home affairs.... Dozens of other Australians are still being held at the camps. But there are hopes that this will be the first of several releases sponsored by the government. Many of the people who remain are children who have spent most or even all of their lives in detention."

News Lede

South Korea. New York Times: "At least 146 people were killed and another 150 injured after they were crushed in a large Halloween crowd in Seoul on Saturday night, the city's fire department said, in one of the deadliest peacetime accidents in South Korea's recent history. The crowd surge happened during one of the most raucous celebrations of the year in the nation's capital, where as many as 100,000 people, local news media said, had clogged the narrow streets of the Itaewon nightlife district Saturday evening for Halloween festivities." This is a liveblog. CNN's live updates are here.

October 28, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

New York Times: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, was hospitalized after he was assaulted by someone who broke into the couple's residence in San Francisco early on Friday morning, a spokesman for Ms. Pelosi said. 'Early this morning, an assailant broke into the Pelosi residence in San Francisco and violently assaulted Mr. Pelosi,' Drew Hammill, the spokesman, said in a statement on Friday. 'The assailant is in custody and the motivation for the attack is under investigation.' Mr. Hammill said Mr. Pelosi, 82, was expected to make a full recovery. Ms. Pelosi was in Washington, D.C., with her protective detail at the time of the break-in, the Capitol Police said in a statement." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN is liveupdating developments here: "Paul Pelosi underwent surgery for a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, according to a statement from Speaker Pelosi's spokesperson. He is expected to make a full recovery, it said.... Paul Pelosi was able to call 911 at the start of the attack at his home in San Francisco, according to a law enforcement source and another source familiar with the matter. Pelosi managed to keep the line open and the dispatcher could hear a conversation in the background, according to the law enforcement source. Pelosi was talking in code, that source said, providing enough detail so that the operator overhearing it could understand that something was wrong. At the same time Pelosi seemed to be trying not to make it obvious to the intruder that he had an open line, the source said. The dispatcher could hear Pelosi speaking about what was going on and dispatched police to check on the house, the source said....

"The man who allegedly attacked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's husband early Friday posted memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook about Covid-19 vaccines, the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack.... Last year, David DePape posted links on his Facebook page to multiple videos produced by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell falsely alleging that the 2020 election was stolen. Other posts included transphobic images and linked to websites claiming Covid-19 vaccines were deadly.... Two days after former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of killing George Floyd, DePape wrote that the trial was 'a modern lynching,' falsely indicating that Floyd died of a drug overdose. He also posted content about the 'Great Reset' -- the sprawling conspiracy theory that global elites are using coronavirus to usher in a new world order in which they gain more power and oppress the masses.... [The s]uspect [is] ... to be booked on charges including attempted homicide, assault and elder abuse[.]... The man ... tried to tie ... up [Paul Pelosi] 'until Nancy got home,' according to two sources.... When the police arrived at the residence, the attacker said he was 'waiting for Nancy.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is live-updating developments here.

     ~~~ Marie: MSNBC is reporting that the assailant, who attacked Mr. Pelosi with a hammer, was searching for Speaker Pelosi. He was shouting, "Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?" which is reminiscent of the January 6 insurrections calls for "Nancy! Nancy!" If true, the call for the speaker makes the San Francisco attack a federal crime.

Emma Brown & Jon Swaine of the Washington Post: "A week after the 2020 election, as Donald Trump raged over what he claimed was rampant fraud, officials in a rural county in southern Georgia [Coffee County] received a disturbing report from the employee who ran their elections. New voting machines in use across the state could 'very easily' be manipulated to flip votes from one candidate to another, she claimed at a meeting of the county elections board, and ballots could be scanned and counted more than once.... The elections board meeting -- a gathering of eight people in an unremarkable building 200 miles from Atlanta -- set off an extraordinary sequence of events that plunged the GOP enclave into the middle of a multistate effort by prominent Trump allies to gain access to voting machines in search of purported evidence that the election was rigged.... In at least seven ... counties in four states, including Coffee, local officials acting without a court order or subpoena allegedly gave outsiders access to the machines or their data.... Experts say the events in Coffee County are a potent example of the rising threat posed by insiders who undermine election security in the name of protecting it." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It takes only a couple of dots to connect Coffee County elections supervisor Misty Hampton to David DePape, the man who (allegedly) attacked Paul Pelosi:

Misty Hamptom—•—Donald Trump—•—David DePape

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "One of the Justice Department's most experienced national security prosecutors has joined the team overseeing the intensifying investigation of classified documents at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home and private club, people familiar with the matter said. National security law experts interviewed by The Washington Post say prosecutors appear to have amassed evidence in the case that would meet some of the criteria for bringing charges against the former president -- an unprecedented action that they said likely would only happen if the Justice Department believes it has an extremely strong case. David Raskin,who served for many years as a senior federal prosecutor in New York City, and more recently has worked as a prosecutor in Kansas City, Mo., has been quietly assisting in the investigation into Trump and his aides...."

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Ben Casselman of the New York Times: "The U.S. economy grew slowly over the summer, adding to fears of a looming recession -- but also keeping alive the hope that one might be avoided. Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, returned to growth in the third quarter after two consecutive quarterly contractions, according to government data released on Thursday. But consumer spending slowed as inflation ate away at households' buying power, and the sharp rise in interest rates led to the steepest contraction in the housing sector since the first months of the pandemic. The report underscored the delicate balance facing the Federal Reserve as it tries to rein in the fastest inflation in four decades." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A Tennessee man was sentenced on Thursday to seven and a half years in prison for dragging a police officer protecting the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, into an angry pro-Trump crowd that brutally assaulted the officer. The man, Albuquerque Cosper Head, pleaded guilty in March to assaulting the officer, Michael Fanone, who has emerged as an outspoken advocate for the officers who were subjected to the mob violence on Jan. 6. The sentence was one of the most severe penalties handed down so far in the Justice Department's investigation of the Capitol attack. As part of his plea, Mr. Head, a 43-year-old construction worker, admitted that during the violence outside the Capitol, he grabbed Mr. Fanone around the neck and told the crowd around him, 'I got one!' Mr. Head then forcibly hauled Mr. Fanone down the Capitol steps and into the mob, where he was beaten, kicked and attacked with a stun gun. Some in the crowd tried to strip Mr. Fanone of his service weapon as one rioter threatened to kill him with his own gun." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annie Grayer, et al., of CNN: "The House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol is wrapping up its review of more than a million pages of Secret Service documents and plans to bring in top agents and officials from the agency to testify in the coming weeks, multiple sources tell CNN. The widening list, which sources say includes about a half dozen witnesses, indicates the committee is still pursuing answers from the agency on a number of fronts, including what it knew about threats ahead of the attack, what ... Donald Trump knew about armed protestors heading to the Capitol, and how it responded to testimony about Trump's altercation with his security detail that day." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Who We Saw While Hanging at the Courthouse. Kaitlin Collins, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's legal defense team and prosecutors handling the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation met at the federal courthouse in Washington, DC, Thursday morning in a secret dispute related to the unprecedented investigation. CNN spotted the lawyers -- including James Trusty, Evan Corcoran and Lindsey Halligan for Trump, and prosecutor Julie Edelstein and several others from the Justice Department who are known to be on the case -- heading into a sealed proceeding before Chief Judge Beryl Howell at the federal courthouse on Thursday. Their appearance in Washington is notable because this legal team typically appears in court in Florida or New York on the documents investigation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A full federal appeals court denied on Thursday ... Donald J. Trump's attempt to block Congress from gaining access to his tax returns, leaving in place a three-judge panel's ruling that a federal law gives a House committee chairman broad authority to request them despite Mr. Trump's status as a former president.... Mr. Trump's legal team ... is very likely to appeal to the Supreme Court." A CNN report is here.

Rebecca O'Brien of the New York Times: "Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a friend of ... Donald J. Trump standing trial on charges of acting as an undisclosed foreign agent, has sought to portray himself as ... a businessman managing big egos, upstart young leaders and political neophytes jockeying for influence in the Trump campaign and in the Middle East. On Thursday, federal prosecutors tried to undermine that image woven over nearly four days of testimony. What Mr. Barrack had presented to the jury as mediation, behind-the-scenes management of 'palace intrigue' or mere 'puffery' were reframed, during the government's cross-examination, as underhanded, opportunistic and deceptive. Mr. Barrack, 75, is accused of working for the United Arab Emirates without informing the attorney general. Prosecutors say that, at the direction of the Emiratis, Mr. Barrack used his access to Mr. Trump to expand the Persian Gulf nation's influence in the United States, and in turn passed sensitive information about the Trump administration to Emirati officials."

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna [Romney] McDaniel on Thursday mocked the speaking abilities of Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate who is recovering from a stroke, and President Biden, who grew up with a stutter." MB: I am curious to know why Romney-McD didn't mock the speaking ability of the president* -- who doesn't admit to any speech disability as do Fetterman & Biden -- who spoke of the "oranges of the [Mueller] investigation" or his remarks about "Thighland." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Kate Conger & Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times: "On Thursday night, [Elon] Musk closed his $44 billion deal to buy the social media service [Twitter].... He also began cleaning house, with at least four top Twitter executives -- including the chief executive and chief financial officer -- getting fired on Thursday. Mr. Musk had arrived at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters on Wednesday and met with engineers and ad executives. The closing of the deal, which followed months of drama and legal challenges as Mr. Musk changed his mind about buying the company, sets Twitter on an uncertain course." An ABC News report is here.

Michelle Boorstein & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "Longtime watchdogs of antisemitism say there is nothing new about the kinds of derogatory comments about Jews that the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West..., Donald Trump, sundry far-right political candidates and others have made in recent weeks. But what has struck some experts is how blatant the comments about Jews are at a time when incidents of harassment, vandalism and violence against them have been at their highest levels since at least the 1970s. Recent data already showed that a majority of American Jews fear violence against them." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sarah Shaffi of the Guardian: "An article by John Steinbeck about American democracy, written 70 years ago, will be published in English for the first time this week. The piece, titled How About McCarthyism? was originally published in 1954 in French in Le Figaro Littéraire, although Steinbeck wrote it in English. The piece is being published in English in the Strand Magazine, a US-based print magazine that publishes short fiction, articles and interviews. The piece, said Andrew Gulli, managing editor, suggests that American democracy has always and will in the future face threats from within, but in the end will emerge stronger."

November Election

Michigan House. Thomas Beaumont of the AP: "Republican Rep. Liz Cheney on Thursday endorsed and plans to campaign for Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, the first time ... [Cheney, has crossed party lines to formally support a Democrat. Cheney, of Wyoming, announced her support for the two-term House member from Holly, Michigan, in a statement by the Slotkin campaign that notes she plans to headline a campaign event with Slotkin in the Lansing-area district next Tuesday. Slotkin is competing against Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett in Michigan's 7th Congressional District. Their race is considered a toss-up by both sides and one of the Republicans' chief targets in their campaign to win the House majority on Nov. 8."

Way Beyond the Beltway

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "President Biden criticized Vladimir Putin for nuclear brinkmanship Thursday, hours after the Russian leader downplayed the chance that the Kremlin would use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine. 'If he has no intention, why does he keep talking about it? Why does he talk about the ability to use a tactical nuclear weapon?' Biden said during a cable news interview.... The United States and allies slammed Russia for wasting the time of the U.N. Security Council and spreading conspiracies for again raising its accusation that the U.S. has 'military biological programs' in Ukraine.... Russia would target 'quasi-civilian infrastructure' in space if Moscow believes it served military purposes, said Konstantin Vorontsov, a Russian official at the United Nations on Wednesday.... More than 70,000 people have been evacuated from the occupied southern city of Kherson and the surrounding area, a Moscow-backed regional official said in a TV interview Thursday, ahead of an advance by Ukrainian troops."

Marc Santora of the New York Times: "With Ukrainian forces bearing down on the occupied port city of Kherson this week, the Kremlin's puppet rulers dispatched a team to an 18th-century stone cathedral on a special mission -- to steal the bones of Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin. The memory of the 18th-century conqueror is vivid for those in the Kremlin bent on restoring the Russian imperium. It was Potemkin who persuaded his lover, Catherine the Great, to annex Crimea in 1783. The founder of Kherson and Odesa, he sought the creation of a 'New Russia,' a dominion that stretched across what is now southern Ukraine along the Black Sea. When President Vladimir V. Putin invaded Ukraine in February with the goal of restoring part of a long-lost empire, he invoked Potemkin's vision.... The destruction of the cities that Potemkin helped build, [historian Simon Montefiore] said, has cast Putin in the role of destroying those earlier triumphs."

Netherlands. Christine Chung of the New York Times: "A climate protester glued his head to 'Girl With a Pearl Earring,' the famous painting by Johannes Vermeer that was on exhibit at a museum in The Hague on Thursday, the latest in a series of actions by activists that have targeted world-renowned paintings in recent months as the protesters have sought to draw attention to climate change. The stunts have recently included hurling mashed potatoes at a painting by Claude Monet and splattering soup on a painting by Vincent van Gogh." Fortunately, the Vermeer was protected by glass, which is unusual for an oil painting. MB: These so-called climate protesters make me sick. I hope they have to go to jail for a significant period of time, after which they have to spend the rest of their lives paying monetary damages. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way, Way Beyond

Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post: "Mars has a lot of craters. Now it has two new ones -- gouged by rocks that slammed into the planet late last year.... But what has scientists buzzing -- to the point that NASA scheduled a news conference Thursday to highlight the discovery, detailed in two papers published in the journal Science -- is that the crater-making impacts were documented by two NASA spacecraft, an orbiter and a lander."

News Lede

New York Times: "Jerry Lee Lewis, the hard-driving rockabilly artist whose pounding boogie-woogie piano and bluesy, country-influenced vocals helped define the sound of rock 'n' roll on hits like 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On' and 'Great Balls of Fire,' and whose incendiary performing style expressed the essence of rock rebellion, died on Friday at his home in DeSoto County, Miss., south of Memphis. He was 87."