September 30, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Congress gave final approval on Friday to a short-term spending package that would keep the government open through mid-December, staving off a midnight shutdown and sending about $12.3 billion in military and economic aid to Ukraine. The House passed the measure less than 12 hours before funding was set to lapse, clearing it for President Biden's signature. It would keep the government open through Dec. 16, giving lawmakers time to iron out their considerable differences over the dozen annual spending bills. The package included a third tranche of aid to Ukraine for its battle with Russia, on top of a total of about $54 billion approved earlier this year. With the vote on Friday, Congress has now committed more military aid to Ukraine than it has to any country in a single year since the Vietnam War...."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, was welcomed by her colleagues on Friday at an investiture ceremony at the court that was attended by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The proceedings were 'purely ceremonial,' the court's public information office noted, as Justice Jackson has been a member of the court since she was sworn in on June 30. But the event was nonetheless stately and steeped in history." MB: Yeah, welcome to a hot mess.

Trump Legal "Team."Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "... just a few weeks after ... Christopher Kise accepted $3 million to represent Donald Trump in the FBI's investigation of government documents stored at Mar-a-Lago..., he finds himself in a battle, trying to persuade Trump to go along with his legal strategy and fighting with some other advisers who have counseled a more aggressive posture. The dispute has raged for at least a week, Trump advisers say, with the former president listening as various lawyers make their best arguments.... [Kise] remains part of the team and will continue assisting Trump in dealing with some of his other legal problems..., but on the Mar-a-Lago issue, he is likely to have a less public role.... Trump seems, at least for now, to be heeding advice from those [lawyers] who have indulged his desire to fight."

Ukraine, et al. Vlad the Imperial. Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "Amid patriotic pageantry hyped up by the fervor of war, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, a flagrant violation of international law that stands to escalate and prolong the military conflict in Ukraine, sharpen Moscow's confrontation with the West and add to the Kremlin's growing global isolation. At a ceremony in the gilded Grand Kremlin Palace, attended by senior political and military officials, members of parliament and even Russia war bloggers, Putin on Friday signed so-called accession treaties to absorb the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Patrioti music played ahead of the signing ritual, in which Putin sat at one white gold-trimmed desk and four proxy leaders of the occupied regions sat at another. Once the documents were signed, Putin and the four proxy leaders held hands and chanted 'Russia! Russia! Russia!' to cheers and applause from the audience." ~~~

     ~~~ MB: You can see where Trump was a failed wannabe Putin. He tried to annex Greenland by buying it from Denmark, when all he had to do was get "his" generals to drop a few bombs, then hold a ceremony in a room furnished with gaudy Trumpian furniture, sign an executive order & lead a chant of "USA! USA!" What a wimp! ~~~

~~~ Matthew Lee, et al., of the AP: "The United States and its allies hit back at Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions on Friday, slapping sanctions on more than 1,000 people and companies including arms supply networks as President Joe Biden warned Vladimir Putin he can't 'get away with' seizing Ukrainian land. The Russian annexation, though expected, escalated an already heated conflict that's become fraught with potential nuclear implications." ~~~

~~~ Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: "Ukraine is applying for 'accelerated ascension' into NATO, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday, in an apparent answer to Russia's move to illegally annex four of the country's partially occupied regions. The remarks were more symbolic than practical: The speedy admittance of Ukraine to the alliance would require members to immediately send troops to fight Russia, under collective defense obligations."

U.K. A New King Is Minted. Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "King Charles III is depicted uncrowned and facing to the left on the first British coins featuring his image, unveiled by the Royal Mint on Friday. The first 50-pence coins featuring the king will start appearing in general circulation before Christmas. His portrait will also appear on a new 5-pound commemorative coin, which, on the reverse side, will feature two new portraits of Charles's mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II. That coin range will be released next week."

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Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Senate on Thursday approved a temporary spending package to keep the government funded past a Friday deadline and send another significant round of emergency aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia, punting negotiations on a longer-term funding measure until after the November elections. The legislation, which would extend government funding through Dec. 16, passed 72 to 25. That sent it to the House, which was expected to quickly pass the measure, sending it to President Biden for his signature before funding was scheduled to lapse at midnight Sept. 30." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Little Miss Trumpy Judge Steps in to Save Trump from His Lies. Charlie Savage & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday eased several demands a special master had imposed on ... Donald J. Trump's lawyers in conducting a review of documents the F.B.I. seized from his residence last month, overruling an arbiter she had appointed herself. In a six-page order, Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the Southern District of Florida set aside requirements the special master, Judge Raymond J. Dearie, put in place in recent days that would have tested excuses Mr. Trump has made in connection with the trove of documents taken from his estate, Mar-a-Lago. Judge Cannon also rejected a swift timetable Judge Dearie had set to resolve the review of the documents, slowing the matter down.... The first provision Judge Cannon set aside was a measure that had asked Mr. Trump's lawyers to certify by Friday the accuracy of the F.B.I.'s inventory of the property it seized from Mar-a-Lago --and to indicate whether there was anything that agents did not take from the compound." An ABC News story is here.

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Michael Kruse, in Politico Magazine, writes about reporter Maggie Haberman, who has been reporting on Donald Trump for decades.

Luke Broadwater & Stephanie Lai of the New York Times: "Virginia Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas and a conservative activist who pushed to overturn the 2020 election, told the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that she never discussed those efforts with her husband, during a closed-door interview in which she continued to perpetuate the false claim that the election was stolen.... In her statement [which she read in the beginning of her testimony], a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, Ms. Thomas called it 'an ironclad rule' that she and Justice Thomas never speak about cases pending before the Supreme Court.... 'She answered all the committee's questions,' [her lawyer] said in a statement."

It goes without saying that everyone is free to express disagreement with our decisions and to criticize our reasoning as they see fit. But saying or implying that the court is becoming an illegitimate institution or questioning our integrity crosses an important line. -- Justice Samuel Alito, to the Wall Street Journal

Thank you, Kind Sir, for generously allowing us to disagree with your specious, 12th-century arguments depriving women of Constitutional rights. And you can imagine how heartily sorry I am for leaving the impression that I thought you had any integrity to question. Just to be on the safe side, I'll apologize for agreeing with Akhilleus, when he recently accused one of your fellow justices of being corrupt just because said justice's wife accepted bribes in a substantial amount, bribes which went into the family's joint account, bribes upon which the couple did not pay the taxes owing. I suppose we could be accused of questioning the justice's integrity. Oh, for shame. It does look as if we "crossed an important line" here, and I don't know what to do about it. Except maybe dig in and double down, you hateful, cruel, arrogant bastid. -- Marie ~~~

~~~ Steve Benen of MSNBC: "When Republican-appointed justices ignore precedents they'd previously said they'd uphold, it undermines the court's legitimacy. When Republican-appointed justices deliver overtly political speeches, it undermines the court's legitimacy. When Republican-appointed justices take aim at fundamental American principles, such as the separation of church and state, in displays of raw power, it undermines the court's legitimacy. Alito is apparently of the opinion that the current court's critics have crossed an important line. But in reality, if anyone's gone too far in an irresponsible direction, it's Alito." MB: And what about when a Republican-appointed justice sends his wife up to Capitol Hill to declare that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election?

Hailey Fuchs, et al., of Politico explore how Supreme Court justices, especially CJ John Roberts, Clarence Thomas & Amy Barrett, protect their spouses' substantial incomes from scrutiny, even though some of the sources of the spouses' incomes come from clients who pose conflicts of interest for the justices. For instance, "In the Supreme Court's notoriously porous ethical disclosure system, Barrett not only withholds her husband's clients, but redacted the name of [her husband's law firm] itself in her most recent disclosure." MB: IOW, "We're corrupt and there's nothing you can do about it."

Michael Stratford of Politico: "The Biden administration is scaling back its debt relief program for millions of Americans over concerns about legal challenges from the student loan industry as well as a new lawsuit from Republican-led states. In a reversal, the Education Department said on Thursday it would no longer allow borrowers who have federal student loans that are owned by private entities to qualify for the relief program. The administration had previously said those borrowers would have a path to receive up to $10,000 or $20,000 of loan forgiveness.... The student loans that are guaranteed by the federal government but held by private entities account for a relatively small, and shrinking, subset of all outstanding federal student debt.... The privately held federal student loans featured prominently in the new lawsuit filed by GOP attorneys general on Thursday." ~~~

~~~ Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Six Republican-led states took legal action Thursday to block President Biden from wiping away billions of dollars in student loan debt, even as the administration tried to avoid a court challenge by reducing the number of people eligible for relief. A lawsuit filed in federal court by Leslie Rutledge, the Republican attorney general of Arkansas, accuses Mr. Biden of vastly overstepping his authority last month when he announced the government would forgive as much as $20,000 per person in student loan debt, a far-reaching move that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated could cost $400 billion over the course of the next three decades." MB: Because it would be terrible if young people, especially those from poor families, didn't enter their adult lives with huge debt.

Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post: "The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday overcame doubts from agency scientists and approved a fiercely debated drug for ALS, a move that heartened patients and advocates who pushed for the medication but raised concerns among some experts about whether treatments for dire conditions receive sufficient scrutiny."

Holmes Lybrand of CNN: "A wife and husband from Maryland have been charged with conspiring to provide the Russian government with personal medical records from the US government and military, according to a newly unsealed federal indictment. Anna Gabrielian, an anesthesiologist practicing in Baltimore, along with her husband, Jamie Lee Henry, a major and doctor in the US Army, allegedly provided 'individually identifiable health information,' which is protected under federal law, to an FBI undercover agent posing as a Russian government employee." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "As a freshman congressman in 2013, Ron DeSantis was unambiguous: A federal bailout for the New York region after Hurricane Sandy was an irresponsible boondoggle, a symbol of the 'put it on the credit card mentality' he had come to Washington to oppose.... Nearly a decade later, as his state confronts the devastation and costly destruction wrought by Hurricane Ian, Mr. DeSantis ...[went on Tucker Carlson's show [to outline] his request for full federal reimbursement up front for 60 days and [to urge] the Biden administration to do the right thing.... The present circumstances have inspired a less swaggering posture toward a leader whom Mr. DeSantis has long called 'Brandon' as a recurring troll, aimed at the man he might like to succeed.... 'Ironically,' said David Jolly, a former Republican congressman from Florida, 'there's nobody in America that Ron DeSantis needs more than Joe Biden.'"

Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "Two unauthorized migrants were shot, one of them fatally, by two men in a pickup truck that approached them as they walked along a roadway in West Texas, according to court documents filed on Thursday. After the shooting, which took place on Tuesday evening, the truck was found parked at a home in Hudspeth County, a rural area east of El Paso that runs from the border with Mexico to the state line of New Mexico. Two men were arrested in connection with the shooting, law enforcement officials said: Michael Sheppard, the warden at a local privately run detention center, and his twin brother, Mark Sheppard. Both men were charged with manslaughter, according to affidavits filed by investigators in the case." MB: Manslaughter? Sounds like cold-blooded murder to me. The article includes details of the circumstances in which one of the men shot the migrants. A Texas Tribune story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Ryan Devereaux of the Intercept: "For Michael Sheppard, it was the latest in a string of allegations of violence against immigrants going back years, with claims so severe that a federal prosecutor at one point sought the attention of the FBI. As The Intercept reported in 2018, Sheppard, in his capacity as warden of ICE's Sierra Blanca facility, was accused of participating in and overseeing the sadistic abuse of group of African migrants and asylum-seekers. In interviews with legal advocates, 30 men from Somalia described a 'week of hell' in which they were pepper-sprayed, beaten, threatened, taunted with racial slurs, and subjected to sexual abuse by officials answering to Sheppard and in some cases by Sheppard himself.... The 2018 report was only the latest in a series to document highly abusive conditions in the Sierra Blanca facility under Sheppard's watch."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here.: "... Vladimir Putin will formally move Friday toward annexing four regions in Ukraine, after staging referendums that were widely denounced as illegal. In a grand ceremony at the Kremlin, he is expected to sign so-called 'accession treaties' for parts of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Putin signed two decrees late Thursday recognizing occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as 'independent' territories, a step toward annexation. Moscow already recognizes the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine as independent republics. Russian officials have warned that once Russia absorbs the Ukrainian territories, it will use all means to defend them, including nuclear weapons." ~~~

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

U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Queen Elizabeth II died of 'old age,' according to her death certificate, which was released on Thursday by the registrar general of Scotland. The certificate, which lists her occupation as Her Majesty the Queen, also notes that the queen died at 3:10 p.m. on Sept. 8 at Balmoral Castle.... The report offers no further details about the cause of her death, which came two days after she was photographed standing and smiling as she greeted Britain's new prime minister, Liz Truss. The time of death, just after 3 p.m., is more revealing, coming more than three hours before Buckingham Palace announced it at 6:30 p.m. That indicates none of her family saw the queen just before her death, aside from King Charles III and his sister, Princess Anne, who were both already in Scotland on official duties." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday associated with Hurricane Ian are here. Access to the page is free to nonsubscribers. The New York Times' live updates for Friday are here.

September 29, 2022

Afternoon Update:

It goes without saying that everyone is free to express disagreement with our decisions and to criticize our reasoning as they see fit. But saying or implying that the court is becoming an illegitimate institution or questioning our integrity crosses an important line. -- Justice Samuel Alito, to the Wall Street Journal

Thank you, Sir, for generously allowing us to disagree with your specious, 12th-century arguments depriving women of Constitutional rights. And you can imagine how heartily sorry I am for leaving the impression that I thought you had any integrity to question. Just to be on the safe side, I'll apologize for agreeing with Akhilleus, when he recently accused one of your fellow justices of being corrupt just because said justice's wife accepted bribes in a substantial amount, bribes which went into the family's joint account, bribes upon which the couple did not pay the taxes owing. I suppose we could be accused of questioning the justice's integrity. Oh, for shame. It does look as if we "crossed an important line" here, and I don't know what to do about it. Except maybe dig in and double down, you hateful, cruel, arrogant bastid. -- Marie

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Senate on Thursday approved a temporary spending package to keep the government funded past a Friday deadline and send another significant round of emergency aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia, punting negotiations on a longer-term funding measure until after the November elections. The legislation, which would extend government funding through Dec. 16, passed 72 to 25. That sent it to the House, which was expected to quickly pass the measure, sending it to President Biden for his signature before funding was scheduled to lapse at midnight Sept. 30."

Holmes Lybrand of CNN: "A wife and husband from Maryland have been charged with conspiring to provide the Russian government with personal medical records from the US government and military, according to a newly unsealed federal indictment. Anna Gabrielian, an anesthesiologist practicing in Baltimore, along with her husband, Jamie Lee Henry, a major and doctor in the US Army, allegedly provided 'individually identifiable health information,' which is protected under federal law, to an FBI undercover agent posing as a Russian government employee."

U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Queen Elizabeth II died of 'old age,' according to her death certificate, which was released on Thursday by the registrar general of Scotland. The certificate, which lists her occupation as Her Majesty the Queen, also notes that the queen died at 3:10 p.m. on Sept. 8 at Balmoral Castle.... The report offers no further details about the cause of her death, which came two days after she was photographed standing and smiling as she greeted Britain's new prime minister, Liz Truss. The time of death, just after 3 p.m., is more revealing, coming more than three hours before Buckingham Palace announced it at 6:30 p.m. That indicates none of her family saw the queen just before her death, aside from King Charles III and his sister, Princess Anne, who were both already in Scotland on official duties."

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Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's request that a judge intervene in the criminal investigation into his hoarding of government documents by appointing a special master increasingly looks like a significant blunder, legal experts say.... An appeals court ruling last week and a letter the Justice Department filed late Tuesday about subsequent complaints [Mr. Trump's] legal team had filed under seal to [special master Judge Raymond] Dearie suggest that the upsides to obtaining a special master are eroding and the disadvantages swelling.... The appeals court panel, including two Trump appointees, allowed investigators to again scrutinize the material that poses by far the gravest legal threat to Mr. Trump.... Since that review is no longer delaying or diverting the criminal inquiry, it is not clear what benefits remain for Mr. Trump.... Judge Dearie appears to be organizing the document review in ways that threaten to swiftly puncture the former president's defenses.... Mr. Trump, through his lawyers, is chafing at other orders from the special master, their Sept. 25 letter shows.... The Justice Department appeared to relish Mr. Trump's growing discomfort." ~~~

     ~~~ Marcy Wheeler has more on Trump's request under seal, a request which -- as Sanger indicates -- has since been released. Both Sanger & Wheeler make this point: "If Trump complies with [Dearie's] order to confirm or deny the inventory, it will require him to admit there are 103 documents bearing classification marks that he didn't turn over in response to a subpoena, an element of the obstruction and possibly the Espionage Act offense." And both note that Trump "claims the government seized 200,000 pages of documents from his home." MB: That's a lot of stuff to steal: 400 reams (although some of the documents seized may have legitimately belonged to Trump, so we'll make that 399 reams).

How Dumb Is Trump? Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "As president, Donald Trump weighed bombing drug labs in Mexico[, Maggie Haberman writes in a new book,] after one of his leading public health officials came into the Oval Office, wearing a dress uniform, and said such facilities should be handled by putting 'lead to target' to stop the flow of illicit substances.... White House officials said the official, Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir, often wore his dress uniform for meetings with Trump, which confused him. [MB: Giroir is a pediatrician, not a military admiral.] 'The response from White House aides was not to try to change Trump's view, but to consider asking Giroir not to wear his uniform to the Oval Office anymore,' Haberman writes...." This article is full of answers to "How dumb is Trump?" and "How narcissistic is Trump?" ~~~

~~~ AND Martin Pengelly of the Guardian reports on more Haberman scoops revealed in her new book Confidence Man.

Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "A former military police officer from Texas -- who excitedly planned for physical violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, engaged in hand-to-hand battle with police there for nearly 90 minutes, then lied about being in Washington when questioned by the FBI -- was sentenced Wednesday to slightly more than four years in prison. Federal prosecutors sought eight years in prison for Lucas Denney, 45, of Mansfield, Tex., arguing that Denney's helmet, tactical vest and hardened gloves qualified as body armor and therefore should increase his sentencing range by 30 months. But U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss rejected the 30-month enhancement and then issued a sentence of 52 months. That was below the recommended range of 57 to 71 months established by the federal guidelines, which are advisory."

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Wednesday hosted the first White House summit in nearly a half-century dedicated to combating hunger, with administration officials announcing they had secured $8 billion of public and private-sector commitments toward helping provide more food and better nutrition by 2030.... The conference also featured several members of Congress ... and several Cabinet officials. It also included José Andrés, the chef and founder of World Central Kitchen, and New York Mayor Eric Adams (D). Some 500 people, as well as 1,000 others virtually, attended various panels and brainstorming sessions during the day-long conference." ~~~

~~~ Uh-Oh. How Dumb Is Biden? John Wagner of the Washington Post: "In his remarks Wednesday at a White House hunger conference, President Biden searched the audience for former congresswoman Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.).... Walorski died in a car crash in early August. She was one of four lawmakers who sponsored bipartisan legislation to hold the conference.... Asked later about Biden's comments, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Walorski had been 'top of mind' for Biden because he is planning to see her family Friday at a signing ceremony for a bill that renames a veterans clinic after her. In August following Walorski's death, Biden and first lady Jill Biden issued a statement extending their condolences, saying they 'appreciated her partnership' on facilitating the conference on hunger." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The ABC News story is here.

Jeff Stein & Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will approve a legal waiver allowing Puerto Rico to receive a shipment of diesel fuel that has been held off the island's coast, following an uproar among officials in the island. The administration faced intense blowback in recent days from members of Congress and the governor of Puerto Rico, who clamored for an exemption for federal law to allow a BP tanker carrying the fuel to access an island port as the commonwealth reels from Hurricane Fiona. The ship cannot do so because of the Jones Act, a 1920 shipping law that requires goods shipped between points in the United States to be carried on U.S.-flagged ships. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that the administration had approved a 'temporary and targeted' waiver after consultation with the Energy, Transportation and Defense departments." A Politico story is here.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in a Washington Post op-ed: "... over the course of our history, many [public] lands were named using a hateful and derogatory term for Indigenous women. It's a word that carries with it a history of brutality, misogyny and dehumanization. This month, we succeeded in removing it from the names of nearly 650 federal land units. The word is 'squaw' -- a term so offensive that I have never used it except in issuing the order to make the name change, and beyond this sentence I will not repeat it here or anywhere."

Today's Gossip Page

TMZ: Marjorie Taylor Greene's "husband, Perry Greene, beelined it to court Tuesday and filed to divorce the Congresswoman from Georgia after 27 years of marriage ... according to new legal docs obtained by TMZ. Marjorie and Perry tied the knot back in August 1995 when she was still in college at the University of Georgia ... and they had 3 children together, who are now all over the age of 18."

Nicholas Kulish, et al., of the New York Times: "Less than two years after announcing their intention to give away a vast fortune together, the billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott and her husband, Dan Jewett, a former science teacher, are parting ways. Ms. Scott filed a petition for divorce in the King County Superior Court in Washington State on Monday, according to a copy of the filing. The breakup punctuates an eventful period for Ms. Scott, who in less than four years got divorced from her longtime husband, the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, gave away more than $12 billion to nonprofits and married an instructor at the prestigious school attended by her children. Court records show Mr. Jewett did not contest the divorce. The petition says any division of property is laid out in a separation contract, agreed to by the couple, which is not public."

Beyond the Beltway

Mississippi. Brett Favre Is One Corrupt Guy. Katie Strang & Kalyn Kahler of the Athletic: "From 2018-2020, Brett Favre's charitable foundation, Favre 4 Hope, which has a stated mission to support disadvantaged children and cancer patients, donated more than $130,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation during the same years that Favre was working to finance a new volleyball center at the school.... His charitable foundation, which received public donations, significantly increased its contributions to USM's athletic fundraising arm. Tax records show that Favre 4 Hope gave the USM Athletic Foundation $60,000 in 2018, when no other charity received more than $10,000. The next year, it gave [USM Athletic ]$46,817; the next highest gift ... was $11,000. In 2020, Favre 4 Hope sent USM's Athletic Foundation $26,175; no other organization received more than $10,000. Tax records also show that in 2015, when Favre's daughter was a volleyball player at Oak Grove High in Hattiesburg, the Favre 4 Hope foundation donated $60,000 to that school's booster club, the largest grant made by Favre 4 Hope that year. The Oak Grove Booster Club subsequently granted $60,349 to the high school with the stated purpose being: 'assist to build athletic facility.'" Emphasis added. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I read that Favre earned $140MM during his football career, and that amount did not include the millions he earned in commercial endorsements. Yet the "disadvantaged" child he was helping with his "charitable work" was his own child & her volleyball pals -- at the expense of actual needy children & being paid for, in part, by people who thought they were contributing to needy children & cancer patients. Despicable. I hope he ends up in jail, and it does seem likely he broke some fraud laws.

Ohio Congressional Race. Majewski Tells Another Lie about His Military Career. Brian Slodysko & James Laporta of the AP: "Republican J.R. Majewski has centered his campaign for a competitive Ohio congressional seat around his biography as an Air Force veteran. But one of the big questions that has surfaced is why Majewski was told he could not reenlist in the Air Force after his initial four years were up. Majewski's campaign said last week that he was punished and demoted after getting in a 'brawl' in an Air Force dormitory in 2001. Military records obtained since then by The Associated Press, however..., indicate Majewski's punishment and demotion were the result of him being stopped for driving drunk on a U.S. air base in Japan in September 2001. The documents, which were provided to the AP and independently authenticated, present yet another instance where the recorded history of Majewski's service diverges from what he has told voters ... while using his veteran status as a leading credential."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: “The United States is preparing for a protracted conflict in Ukraine, ramping up weapons production and more than doubling its commitment of powerful long-range rocket artillery systems, according to senior U.S. defense officials.... A new U.S. weapons package for Ukraine, worth $1.1 billion, will include 18 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, a 'core component of Ukraine’s fighting force in the future,' a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Wednesday.... As Moscow is set to annex four occupied regions of Ukraine, the White House said Wednesday that it was working with 'allies and partners to impose additional economic costs on Russia' and others that supported the staged referendums in those areas.... Serbia, which has close ties to Moscow, won’t recognize the results of the staged referendums in four regions of Ukraine, President Aleksandar Vucic said Wednesday, Reuters reported.... The damage to the Nord Stream pipelines could result in the largest-ever single release of methane into the atmosphere, experts said.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Unbelievable. Really. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: “... on Tuesday night, [Tucker] Carlson ... strongly suggested the United States is responsible for explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines — and, at times, seemed to more explicitly blame the United States.... Carlson’s supposed evidence for this being a U.S. operation is decidedly weak.” MB: Actually, the source of “the largest-ever single release of methane” is TuKKKer's ass. ~~~

~~~ Katie Lillis, et al., of CNN: "European security officials on Monday and Tuesday observed Russian Navy support ships in the vicinity of leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines likely caused by underwater explosions, according two Western intelligence officials and one other source familiar with the matter.  It’s unclear whether the ships had anything to do with those explosions, these sources and others said – but it’s one of the many factors that investigators will be looking into. Russian submarines were also observed not far from those areas last week, one of the intelligence officials said." ~~~

~~~ Karen McVeigh & Philip Oltermann of the Guardian: "Scientists fear methane erupting from the burst Nord Stream pipelines into the Baltic Sea could be one of the worst natural gas leaks ever and pose significant climate risks. Neither of the two breached Nord Stream pipelines, which run between Russia and Germany, was operational, but both contained natural gas. This mostly consists of methane – a greenhouse gas that is the biggest cause of climate heating after carbon dioxide."

Yousur Al-Hlou, et al., of the New York Times: “In phone calls to friends and relatives at home, Russian soldiers gave damning insider accounts of battlefield failures and civilian executions, excoriating their leaders just weeks into the campaign to take Kyiv.... The Ukrainian capital was supposed to fall in a matter of days. But plagued by tactical errors and fierce Ukrainian resistance, President Vladimir V. Putin’s destructive advance quickly stalled, and his forces became bogged down for most of March on the city’s outskirts. From trenches, dugouts and in occupied homes in the area around Bucha, a western suburb of Kyiv, Russian soldiers disobeyed orders by making unauthorized calls from their cellphones to their wives, girlfriends, friends and pare`````nts hundreds of miles from the front line.”

News Ledes

Washington Post: “Ian is a hurricane once again — a storm system that re-intensified Thursday evening as it churns toward South Carolina with 75 mph winds and what the National Hurricane Center called 'life threatening' flooding and storm surge. It’s set for yet another U.S. landfall, this time near Charleston around midday on Friday.In its wake, Ian left a path of devastation in Florida.... In an evening briefing, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said “we absolutely expect to have mortality from this hurricane,” but stressed such tolls remain unconfirmed and would become 'apparent over the coming days.' There had been more than 700 confirmed rescues thus far, he added.” This is a continuation of updates linked below. Access to is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday related to Hurricane Ian are here. Access to the updates is free to nonsubscribers. The New York Times' updates for Thursday are here.

Washington Post: “Bill Plante, who became a fixture of American television sets as a globe-trotting CBS News correspondent, covering the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, four U.S. presidents and more than half a century of national and world affairs, died Sept. 28 at his home in Washington. He was 84.” The CBS News obituary is here.

New York Times: “Six people were shot on Wednesday at a school campus in Oakland, in a burst of gunfire that erupted minutes before hundreds of students were scheduled to be dismissed for the afternoon. The shootings — which left two adult victims hospitalized with life-threatening injuries ... — came amid a rash of gun violence in the Northern California city, where the authorities have recorded at least eight gunshot deaths in the past nine days. Police said all of the victims were over 18 and had 'some affiliation' with Rudsdale Newcomer High School, one of four programs at the East Oakland school complex.”

September 28, 2022

Afternoon Update:

How Dumb Is Trump? Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "As president, Donald Trump weighed bombing drug labs in Mexico[, Maggie Haberman writes in a new book,] after one of his leading public health officials came into the Oval Office, wearing a dress uniform, and said such facilities should be handled by putting 'lead to target' to stop the flow of illicit substances.... White House officials said the official, Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir, often wore his dress uniform for meetings with Trump, which confused him. [MB: Giroir is a pediatrician, not a military admiral.] 'The response from White House aides was not to try to change Trump's view, but to consider asking Giroir not to wear his uniform to the Oval Office anymore,' Haberman writes...." This article is full of answers to "How dumb is Trump" and "How narcissistic is Trump?"

Uh-Oh. How Dumb Is Biden? John Wagner of the Washington Post: "In his remarks Wednesday at a White House hunger conference, President Biden searched the audience for former congresswoman Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.).... Walorski died in a car crash in early August. She was one of four lawmakers who sponsored bipartisan legislation to hold the conference.... Asked later about Biden's comments, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Walorski had been 'top of mind' for Biden because he is planning to see her family Friday at a signing ceremony for a bill that renames a veterans clinic after her. In August following Walorski's death, Biden and first lady Jill Biden issued a statement extending their condolences, saying they 'appreciated her partnership' on facilitating the conference on hunger."

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Marie: I linked stories this morning up until about 9:15 am ET. If you stopped by earlier, you might want to scan the page again.

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to move forward with a temporary spending package needed to keep the federal government running past Friday, drawing closer to averting a shutdown after Democrats dropped an energy proposal that had drawn bipartisan opposition. Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, had tucked the energy measure into the must-pass bill to fulfill a promise Democratic leaders made privately to Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, in exchange for Mr. Manchin's vote last month for the party's major climate, tax and health care law. But the inclusion of the proposal, which would make it easier to build oil, gas, solar and wind infrastructure around the country, had rankled lawmakers in both parties and complicated the perennial autumn push on Capitol Hill to keep the government funded past the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year." This is an update of a story linked yesterday.

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senator Mitch McConnell endorsed a bill on Tuesday to overhaul how Congress counts electoral votes to confirm the results of a presidential election, significantly enhancing the prospects of enacting the most substantial legislative response yet to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The support from Mr. McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and minority leader, represented a substantial break with his party in the House, where all but nine Republicans opposed a similar measure that passed last week. It came as the Senate Rules Committee delivered an overwhelming bipartisan vote to send the legislation to the floor."

Claudia Grisales of NPR: "The House Jan. 6 committee is postponing its ninth public hearing on its investigation -- originally scheduled for Sept. 28 at 1 p.m. ET -- because of Hurricane Ian. The hearing, when rescheduled, could conclude its presentations of investigative findings before a final report due later this year."

** Violence Was Always the Plan. Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "Shortly after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, as authorities began arresting people across the country in connection with the violence, the political operative Roger J. Stone Jr. started texting with a lawyer representing ... Donald J. Trump in his second impeachment trial, seeking a pardon. 'There will be mass prosecutions,' Mr. Stone wrote to David I. Schoen, the lawyer.... Could Mr. Schoen 'plug' his pardon request the next time he spoke to the president? The text messages are part of a trove of video evidence Danish filmmakers have turned over to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, which also shows Mr. Stone threatening violence and spelling out plans to fight the election results. Some of the material was expected in the panel's next hearing, which ... was postponed abruptly on Tuesday afternoon.... The footage shows Mr. Stone using bellicose language and laying out plans to create and exploit uncertainty about the election results to help Mr. Trump cling to power. 'Fuck the voting,' he says at one point with a laugh. 'Let's get right to the violence. Shoot to kill.'... Christoffer Guldbrandsen, the filmmaker who followed Mr. Stone off and on for more than three years, said he had provided the panel with clips they 'specifically requested,' but turned down similar requests from the F.B.I., because he didn't want to work with law enforcement."

Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "Senior leadership at the Secret Service confiscated the cellphones of 24 agents involved in the agency's response to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol and handed them over to the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, according to two sources with knowledge of the action. The agency handed over the phones 'shortly after' a July 19 letter was sent by Inspector General Joseph Cuffari's office around the time he launched a criminal probe into the Secret Service's missing text messages from Jan. 6, the sources said.... The revelation that Cuffari's office has had access to the phones since late July or August raises new questions about the progress of his criminal investigation into the missing text messages and what, if anything, the public may be able to learn about communications between agents on Jan. 6, 2021.... Some members of Congress and, most recently, some of Cuffari's employees have called his leadership into question." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A federal judge delivered a blistering rebuke of Republican Party leaders Tuesday for what she said was a cynical attempt to stoke false claims of election fraud of the kind that fueled the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said ... Donald Trump had turned his lies about the election into a litmus test for Republican candidates and that 'high-ranking members of Congress and state officials' are 'so afraid of losing their power' that they won't contradict him. That fealty, she said, comes even as law enforcement and judges involved in cases related to the former president are facing unprecedented threats of violence.... 'The judiciary ... has to make it clear: It is not patriotism, it is not standing up for America to stand up for one man -- who knows full well that he lost -- instead of the Constitution he was trying to subvert,' said Jackson, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama.... 'Some prominent figures in the Republican Party ... are cagily predicting or even outright calling for violence in the streets if one of the multiple investigations doesn't go his way,' Jackson said. The judge's tough remarks came as she delivered a sentence to Jan. 6 defendant Kyle Young, who pleaded guilty to assaulting D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone in some of the most brutal violence that occurred during the attack on the Capitol." ~~~

     ~~~ Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A Donald Trump fan who brought his teenage son along as he assaulted then-D.C. police officer Mike Fanone and another officer at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on Tuesday. Kyle Young, a 38-year-old HVAC worker from Iowa whose lawyer said was he 'injected' with lies about the 2020 election and who had asked his Facebook followers to join him at the "stop the steel [sic]" rally, pleaded guilty in May to a felony count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers.... As discovered by online sleuths, the government argued that Young handed a taser to Danny Rodriguez, a MAGA fanatic who used it to electroshock Fanone in the neck on Jan. 6. Young, trailed by his 16-year-old son, was right nearby as Rodriguez electroshocked Fanone, extensive video evidence shows." Prosecutors had previously said Young stole Fanone's badge & buried it in his back yard. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "In court Tuesday, [former officer Mike] Fanone directly confronted his attacker, telling [Kyle] Young, 'I hope you suffer. The assault on me by Mr. Young cost me my career," Fanone said. 'It cost me my faith in law enforcement and many of the institutions I dedicated two decades of my life to serving.'... Young has a long criminal history. While in prison for producing meth, he faced repeated sanctions for violence."

Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "A butcher from Maine who wore a personalized white work coat as he attacked police officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was convicted Tuesday morning of six felonies and five misdemeanors after a trial where three officers testified they feared for their lives at points during the massive riot. Kyle B. Fitzsimons, 39, of Lebanon, Maine..., [was convicted in a] bench trial before U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras. After hearing testimony from the three officers in mid-August, but not from Fitzsimons, Contreras elected to deliberate on his verdict for more than a month. The judge then laid out his precise reasoning for guilty findings on each of the counts, including felonies such as obstruction of an official proceeding, using a dangerous or deadly weapon on officers and inflicting bodily injury on officers."

Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "The newest addition to ... Donald Trump's legal team, Chris Kise, has been sidelined from the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation less than a month after he was brought on to represent Trump in the matter, two sources familiar with the move tell CNN. Kise is expected to remain on Trump's legal team but is not leading the work related to the federal government's investigation into how the former President handled 11,000 documents seized from his Florida home in August.... Kise's hiring came with an unusual price tag of $3 million, paid for by Trump's outside spending arm. The retainer fee, paid upfront, raised eyebrows among other lawyers on Trump's team, given the former President has a developed a reputation for not paying his legal fees. His sidelining will likely be read as another setback for Trump as he faces multiple investigations.... The legal strategy for fighting the Justice Department following the August seizure of over 100 documents marked as classified was also in disarray." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Andrew Weissmann, Harry Litman & Lawrence O'Donnell speculated Tuesday that Kise had refused to make misrepresentations to special master Judge Raymond Dearie, who demanded last week that Trump's team produce by this Friday evidence that Trump had declassified certain documents & that the FBI had planted documents at Mar-a-Lago. Trump has made these accusations in public remarks, but his legal team has not made them in court & resisted Judge Dearie's earlier request that they prove Trump declassified some documents. Numerous pundits, on-air and off, have opined that Trump made a big mistake when he decided to sue for a special master.

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is set to embark Wednesday on an ambitious effort to end hunger in the United States by the end of the decade, convening hundreds of policymakers, health activists, farmers and business leaders as it lays out a plan to make healthful food more accessible across the nation. The White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health will be the first such gathering since 1969, when President Richard M. Nixon hosted a summit that aimed to 'put an end to hunger in America for all time.'"; MB: Gosh, maybe they should have asked Republican members of Congress & people like, say, former Mississippi governor Phil Bryant & ex-football star Brett Favre what they thought about such a plan. Sorry, but these folks are all-in on letting Americans starve.

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "President Biden warned on Tuesday that Republicans posed a threat to Social Security and Medicare, amplifying an effort by Democrats to make the fate of America's social safety net programs a central campaign issue ahead of November's midterm elections. The comments were part of a push by Democrats across the country to steer the political conversation away from soaring prices and growing recession fears and remind anxious voters that some Republicans have been calling for restructuring or scaling back entitlement programs that retirees have relied on for decades."

Michael Scherer, et al., of the Washington Post: "Top allies of Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, worked this spring to deny [Rep. Madison] Cawthorn [R-S.C.] a second term in office, after the Donald Trump-endorsed lawmaker made controversial comments about cocaine use and sex parties in Washington that led McCarthy to announce he had 'lost my trust,' according to multiple Republicans briefed on the effort, which has not been previously reported.... Targeting Cawthorn was part of a larger behind-the-scenes effort by top GOP donors and senior strategists to purge the influence of Republican factions that seek disruption and grandstanding, often at the expense of their GOP colleagues.... The allies close to McCarthy have sometimes taken steps to conceal their efforts, as they did in the Cawthorn case.... The Bakersfield, Calif., Republican[, i.e., McCarthy,] has recently embraced some of the most far-right members of his caucus, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), whose committee assignments he plans to restore if Republicans win the House." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Collin Binkley of the AP: "A libertarian group in California filed a legal challenge to President Joe Biden's plan for student debt cancellation on Tuesday, calling it an illegal overreach that would increase state tax burdens for some Americans who get their debt forgiven. The lawsuit, believed to be the first targeting Biden's plan, was filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento legal advocacy group. It was filed in federal court in Indiana, one of several states that plan to tax any student debt canceled by Biden's plan." The Washington Post's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Salvatore Rizzo of the Washington Post: "A Maryland couple accused of trying to sell military secrets to a foreign country pleaded guilty for the second time Tuesday, weeks after a federal judge threw out their previous agreements with prosecutors, deeming those deals too lenient. Jonathan Toebbe, 43, a civilian engineer for the Navy with a top-secret security clearance, and Diana Toebbe, 46, a private-school teacher in their hometown of Annapolis, now face lengthier prison terms under revised plea agreements with federal prosecutors. Their sentencing dates are pending.... Diana Toebbe now faces a sentence of at least 12½ years, and Jonathan Toebbe faces more than 21 years in prison."

Beyond the Beltway

Arkansas. Only English-Speakers Need Vote Here. Antoinette Grajeda of the Arkansas Advocate: "Language poses a big challenge for voters with limited English proficiency in Arkansas, where ballots are only printed in English.... Federal law requires counties or cities where more than 10,000 or over 5% of voting-age citizens who are non-English-speaking to provide ballots in a limited number of languages -- Spanish, Asian and Native American languages. The Census Bureau determines which jurisdictions are subject to the law's requirement for translated ballots. Advocates for non-English-speaking groups and voting rights 'contend the federal threshold is too high and does not cover enough languages, leaving voters in many immigrant communities unable to fully understand election materials,' according to a May article in Stateline, a publication of the Pew Charitable Trusts.... No political subdivision in Arkansas is required to provide translated materials under that section of the Voting Rights Act." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Florida. DeSantolini Appointed the Only White Gadsden County Commissioner. Excellent Choice. Matt Dixon of Politico: "A Gadsden County [Florida] Commissioner appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis abruptly resigned last week after pictures allegedly showing him in a Ku Klux Klan outfit started to circulate, according to Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young. Young said that the pictures were brought to him last Tuesday and multiple people told him the pictures were of Gadsden County Commissioner Jeff Moore. He said when he approached Moore about the pictures, Moore did not deny it was him.... 'He told me it was a costume.'... When DeSantis appointed Moore he was the only non-Black member of the county commission." Sheriff Young is Black. Both DeSantis & Young said they were busy with hurricane preparations & would address this later. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Moore took office in early August 2022. He replaced a Black commissioner, who retired.

Mississippi -- Is Corrupt. Rick Maeseof the Washington Post: "Mississippi's widening welfare scandal involves tens of millions of dollars and has embroiled the state's former governor [Phil Bryant (R)], Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre and professional wrestlers, among others. Organizations such as Operation Shoestring, and the at-risk populations that rely on those funds, continue to feel the sting.... While Favre, 52, has been linked to just a small fraction of the government money alleged to have been misused by state officials, he has emerged as a public face of the scandal.... But many in Mississippi stress that attention shouldn't be focused solely on the former quarterback.... Even before the scandal came to light, Mississippians have struggled to access money [provided through the federal government's TANF program to help needy people].... A Mississippi state audit in 2020 found more than $94 million in federal welfare funds that had been subject to suspect spending. An independent audit a year later confirmed most of the findings and, hampered by a lack of cooperation, said it was unable to discern whether nearly $77 million in spending was permissible." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) was a compromise cooked up by Bill Clinton & Newt Gingrich to replace Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Central to TNAF is that, unlike AFDC -- which directly gave aid to needy families under several programs -- TANF gave the money, in the form of block grants, to the states to administer. And guess what?: "There's very little accountability with regard to how states must spend this money, so many states treat the program like a slush fund by diverting the funds to a range of other purposes...." Like building volleyball stadiums for college kids!

Ohio. Marty Schladen of the Ohio Capital Journal: "At least two more minors made pregnant by sexual assault were forced to leave Ohio to avoid having their rapists' babies, according to sworn affidavits filed by abortion providers. The affidavits were filed in Cincinnati as part of a lawsuit aimed at stopping the enforcement of Ohio's strict new abortion law. Originally paused for two weeks, the enforcement delay will be extended to at least Oct. 12. If true, the affidavits show that a 10-year-old from Columbus was not the only child or teen rape victim forced to leave the state. They also describe more than two dozen other instances in which the abortion law put women under extreme duress.... They ... include two women with cancer who couldn't terminate their pregnancies and also couldn't get cancer treatment while they were pregnant. Another three examples were of women whose fetuses had severe abnormalities or other conditions that made a successful pregnancy impossible. Even so, they couldn't get abortions in Ohio." ~~~

     ~~~ This New York Times story, by Allison McCann, estimates what it costs to get an abortion for those living in states where abortions are banned or mostly banned. The story does not show figures for Ohio.

Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Race. Allan Smith of NBC News: "State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, said in 2019 that women should be charged with murder if they violated his proposed abortion ban. In an interview with Pennsylvania radio station WITF, Mastriano was pressed about a bill he sponsored that would generally bar abortions when a fetal heartbeat could first be detected, usually around six weeks..., before many women know they are pregnant.... At last week's Pennsylvania March for Life, Mastriano called the battle over abortion rights 'the single most important issue, I think, in our lifetime.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You may comfort yourself thinking Mastriano is just one crazy misogynist, but punishing women for obtaining abortions is a natural development in the devolution of healthcare law regarding American women. Trump himself, in 2016 -- before he got "schooled" in then-popular anti-woman language -- said "there has to be some form of punishment" for women who have abortions should abortions become illegal.

Texas. Julian Mark of the Washington Post: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) 'ran' from his home and took off in a truck with his wife, a state senator, when a process server showed up to the residence Monday morning to serve Paxton with subpoenas in an ongoing lawsuit, according to an affidavit filed later that day.... On Monday evening, Paxton addressed the process server's claims, writing on Twitter that, earlier in the day, he had been avoiding a 'stranger lingering outside my home' and was concerned for his and his family's safety. 'This is a ridiculous waste of time and the media should be ashamed of themselves,' Paxton wrote in response to the Texas Tribune, which earlier reported the story. 'All across the country, conservatives have faced threats to their safety -- many threats that received scant coverage or condemnation from the mainstream media.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Ed Lavandera, reporting on CNN, was a bit skeptical. If Kennie Boy was so concerned about his family's safety, why did he send his wife Angela out in the presence of the process server to rev up their Chevy Tahoe so he could hop in & Angela could drive him away from the dangerous invader? Also too, how come Ken never called local law enforcement to save the family in the course of the hour-and-a-half the menacing process server remained on the property?

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here: "Several European leaders said the explosions that caused leaks in the undersea natural gas pipelines appeared to be sabotage, as the E.U. put out a statement vowing to respond.... Norway said it would increase security around its oil and gas infrastructure, while Swedish, Danish and German authorities have all opened investigations into the blasts.... Pro-Russian officials from Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions say they are heading to Moscow to make arrangements for the territories' accession to Russia. Russia conducted staged referendums in four Ukrainian regions under Russian control this week.... Canada will impose sanctions on individuals and entities 'complicit' in annexation attempts, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.... The United States will put forward a U.N. Security Council resolution on the annexations, [U.N.] Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. Despite Russia's recent threats, there is 'no practical evidence' that the country plans to use nuclear weapons imminently, CIA Director William J. Burns said in an interview with CBS.... But the United States must nonetheless take [Vladimir Putin's] threats 'very seriously,' he said.... Italian far-right leader Georgia Meloni pledged 'loyal support' to Ukraine."

Where Have All the Young Men Gone? Marc Santora, et al., of the New York Times: "As the avenues for Russians to escape a draft order issued last week narrowed, the Federal Security Service sent armored vehicles to the frontiers, where some men waiting to flee were being served military call-up papers, the state news media reported. The rush to the borders began within hours of President Vladimir V. Putin's announcement last week of a military call-up affecting hundreds of thousands of Russians, and the flow has gotten only bigger since then." ~~~

     ~~~ Jared Gans of the Hill: "The U.S. embassy in Russia is urging Americans in the country to leave and warning U.S. citizens to not travel to Russia after ... Vladimir Putin ordered a call-up of 300,000 reservists to aid depleted forces in Ukraine. The embassy said in a security alert on Wednesday that Russia may prevent U.S. citizens from leaving the country and conscript dual nationals into military service."

Mary Ilyushina & Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: ... Vladimir Putin's plan to illegally annex four partially occupied regions in eastern and southern Ukraine lurched forward Tuesday, as Russian officials and Kremlin proxy leaders claimed that staged referendums showed residents in favor of joining Russia by absurd margins of more than 95 percent. Defying international condemnation and threats of additional Western economic sanctions, Putin could declare Russia's absorption of the four regions -- Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia -- as soon as Friday, the British Defense Ministry said."

Melissa Eddy of the New York Times: "Explosions under the Baltic Sea and the rupture of major natural gas pipelines from Russia to Germany appeared to be a deliberate attack, officials across Europe said on Tuesday, deepening uncertainty about European energy security amid soaring prices and fears of running short of fuel over the winter. Three separate leaks erupted from the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which were already caught up in the conflict over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, sending swirling streams of methane to the surface of waters off Denmark and Sweden. Top Polish and Ukrainian leaders blamed Moscow, while Russian state media suggested U.S. or Ukrainian involvement." ~~~

     ~~~ David Sanger & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "The C.I.A. issued a vague warning in June to a number of European nations, including Germany, that the two Nord Stream gas pipelines that carry natural gas from Russia could be targeted in forthcoming attacks, three senior officials familiar with the intelligence said on Tuesday. The warning was not specific, the officials said, and they declined to say whether Russia itself was identified as a possible attacker.... Both pipelines suffered a sudden loss of pressure and released gas into the sea, European officials reported, and the chances that both suffered accidents nearly simultaneously seem low."

U.K. Eshe Nelson of the New York Times: "The Bank of England said on Wednesday that it would temporarily buy British government bonds, after the new government's fiscal plans roiled markets and sent borrowing costs soaring higher over the past few days. Bonds with long maturities have been particularly affected, the central bank said.... 'The purpose of these purchases will be to restore orderly market conditions,' the central bank said.... On Friday, the government's announcement of a sweeping plan to cut taxes and increase government borrowing, presented without an independent fiscal and economic assessment, sent investors fleeing from British assets. The pound fell to a record low against the U.S. dollar." MB: Why, it almost seems as if Liz Truss flubbed her new job, big-time. Hmm, it seems many Britons agree, as does the IMF: ~~~

~~~ Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Four days after [PM Liz] Truss's tax cuts and deregulatory plans stunned financial markets and threw the British pound into a tailspin, the prime minister's political future looks increasingly precarious as well. Her Conservative Party is gripped by anxiety, with a new poll showing that the opposition Labour Party has taken a 17 percentage point lead over the Tories. Labour is seizing the moment to present itself as the party of fiscal responsibility.... That Ms. Truss should find herself in this predicament so soon after taking office attests to both the radical nature and awkward timing of her proposals.... The International Monetary Fund, which bailed out Britain in 1976, added to the deepening sense of anxiety when it urged the British government to reconsider the tax cuts. In a statement, it said the cuts would exacerbate inequality and lead to fiscal policy and monetary policy working at 'cross purposes.' Already, the specter of higher interest rates was causing the housing market to seize up." ~~~

     ~~~ How Embarrassing! Larry Elliott of the Guardian: "Liz Truss and [new Chancellor of the Exchequer] Kwasi Kwarteng have taken on the economic orthodoxy. They have announced extra borrowing to pay for tax cuts. They have sacked the Treasury's top mandarin. They have insisted they will press on with their dash for growth despite a hostile reaction in the markets. Now the economic orthodoxy has struck back -- and in the most high-profile way possible: a public and stinging rebuke from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It is hard to overstate just how severe an embarrassment the dressing down from the IMF is for the government, which has been told to rethink last week's mini-budget. The blunt language used by the IMF spokesperson was the sort normally reserved for a struggling emerging market economy seeking financial support."

News Ledes

The Washington Post's live updates of Hurricane Ian developments are here. Access is free to nonsubscribers.

The New York Times' live updates of Hurricane Ian developments are here: "Ian passed west of the Florida Keys on Tuesday night and is expected to make landfall near Port Charlotte, just south of Sarasota." The path of its eye & ancipated track are on this NYT page. The page also shows counties with mandatory evacuation orders.

Washington Post: "As it gained strength Tuesday, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center called for Hurricane Ian to make landfall along Florida's southwest or west central coast between Wednesday afternoon and night as a major Category 4 storm. Hurricane conditions are forecast to be impacting Florida's Gulf Coast by Wednesday morning, so authorities urged residents to evacuate to higher ground and otherwise make sure they are prepared for the storm Tuesday. By Wednesday morning, conditions are expected to rapidly devolve, with threats of hurricane-force winds, flooding rain and a damaging ocean surge. The zone between Fort Myers and Sarasota, where computer models tend to show the storm coming ashore, may be most seriously affected."

Washington Post: "Government crews in Cuba were working to restore electricity Tuesday night after Hurricane Ian knocked out power to the entire island, authorities said. At least two people died in the cyclone, which crossed western Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane Tuesday en route to Florida, authorities said. Buildings and infrastructure in the western province of Pinar del Rio, where Ian made landfall early in the day, suffered major damage."

The Weather Channel's main page has links to numerous stories about Hurricane Ian.

New York Times: "The body of an American mountaineer whose daring achievements brought her acclaim among some of the world's most elite climbers was found Wednesday on a peak in Nepal, two days after she went missing, a government official said. Hilaree Nelson, 49, and her romantic and climbing partner, Jim Morrison, were attempting to ski down Manaslu, the world's eighth-highest peak, on Monday. An avalanche apparently blew her off a cliff onto the south face of the mountain, opposite of their intended route of descent, said Sachindra Yadav, an expedition liaison officer from the Gorkha district, which includes Manaslu." MB: People should stop doing this stuff.