July 13, 2022

Late Morning Update:

Here's the New York Times' liveblog of President Biden's trip to the Middle East.

Marie: President Biden is going to Saudi Arabia to aid U.S. interests. Trump has invited Saudi Arabia to his place(s) because greed: ~~~

~~~ Marc Caputo of NBC News, republished by CNBC: "Later this month, Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey hosts its first tournament for the new LIV Golf series, funded by Saudi Arabia, which is upending the sport's establishment with a $2 billion investment and contracts with top players that reportedly reach $150 million or more. The series closes in October with a $50 million purse at Trump's signature Florida course, Trump National Doral Miami, promising an infusion of unknown millions into Trump's golf empire, which began to noticeably struggle after he began his run for president in 2016. The huge Saudi sums could not only benefit Trump financially as he mulls a comeback bid in 2024, but they also pose a mortal threat to the PGA Tour...."

Ellen of Crooks & Liars reports that the bromance between Trump & Musk is so over. And, like many a break-up, they're having a very public spat about it. For some strange reason, they're calling each other liars. Sad!

Aaron Gregg, et al., of the Washington Post: "For the first time in two decades, the U.S. dollar is equal to the euro in value as Europe grapples with growing recession fears and the fallout from Russia's war in Ukraine. The euro matching or dipping below the dollar presents a mostly psychological milestone, some experts say, but central banks and policymakers across the European bloc are likely to face pressure to address depreciation concerns. The two currencies reached parity Wednesday morning, according to Bloomberg, after the euro abruptly lost value following worrisome U.S. inflation data. The euro has been losing ground against the dollar since the start of the year.... The stronger dollar is good news for Americans considering a European vacation or buying goods abroad. Conversely, traveling and spending in U.S. dollars have now become pricier for those who earn wages in euros."

~~~~~~~~~

Marie: Sorry for the delay in posting. My Internet service was out for hours yesterday (& at 3:30 am ET it's still going up & down), after which my power went out in the middle of the morning (2:30 am ET), after which I discovered the Googles aren't working, after which I found other pages wouldn't load.

Luke Broadwater & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump attempted to make the Jan. 6, 2021, march on the Capitol appear spontaneous even as he and his team intentionally assembled and galvanized a violence-prone mob to disrupt certification of his electoral defeat, the House committee investigating the attack showed on Tuesday. 'POTUS is going to have us march there/the Capitol,' Kylie Jane Kremer, an organizer of the 'Save America' rally on Jan. 6, wrote in a Jan. 4 text shown by the panel on Tuesday as it detailed Mr. Trump's efforts to gather his backers in Washington for a final, last-ditch effort to overturn his loss. Ms. Kremer added that Mr. Trump was 'going to just call for it "unexpectedly."' Mr. Trump weighed announcing the move, according to documents obtained from the National Archives, which provided the investigators with a draft tweet that said: 'I will be making a Big Speech at 10AM on January 6th at the Ellipse (South of the White House). Please arrive early, massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after. Stop the Steal!!' The tweet was never sent." Emphasis added. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's main report is here. The Guardian's report is here. The AP's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee's Tuesday hearing, ostensibly focused on extremism, drove clearly toward a subtle goal: Stripping away doubt that Donald Trump was anything but a full participant in a plot to subvert the 2020 election. The former president wasn't duped into disbelieving his own loss by fringe lawyers and advisers, select committee members argued. Rather, he assembled that squad of enablers, overrode his more sober-minded staff and forged the path that led to the chaos engulfing the Capitol, they contended...." ~~~

     ~~~ You can watch the hearing here, on a committee Webpage.

Marie: After yesterday's hearing, Akhilleus heard an NPR commentator claim the committee didn't find direct evidence that Trump plotted the insurrection, and I heard a similar claim from a former prosecutor on CNN. I've got news for them (and for Merrick the Reluctant): (1) juries regularly convict criminals on way less compelling circumstantial evidence than the committee revealed; (2) as Andrew Weissmann wrote in a NYT op-ed, also linked yesterday, this is why DOJ should broaden the scope of its investigation to include the entire array of Trump's plots to overturn the election. From these naysayers' points of view, prosecutors would never bring a case against a murder who pleads not-guilty unless they find a notarized confession in the murderer's sock drawer, find the murder weapon on the murderer & his hairs & fibers all over the body, and he helps them find the body of someone else he killed in the same manner the previous year. I wrote a few days ago that it appeared the committee did not have a notarized confession from Donald Trump. And they don't. But the circumstantial evidence and the number of convincing witnesses is overwhelming. He did it, and as long as he thought it was working, he refused to stop it.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Even by the standards of the Trump White House..., the Dec. 18, 2020, meeting became known as an 'unhinged' event -- and an inflection point in Mr. Trump's desperate efforts to remain in power after he had lost the election.... The meeting lasted for more than six hours, past midnight, and devolved into shouting that could be heard outside the room. Participants hurled insults and nearly came to blows. Some people left in tears.... [In attendance were conspiracy theorist/lawyer] Sidney Powell...; Michael T. Flynn...; and Patrick Byrne, the former chief executive of Overstock.com. On the other side were Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel; [White House lawyer Eric] Herschmann; and Derek Lyons, the White House staff secretary. The arguing began soon after Ms. Powell and her two companions were let into the White House by a junior aide and wandered to the Oval Office without an appointment. [A concerned staffer alerted Mr. Cipollone of the meeting, and he made a beeline for the Oval.]... After the meeting had started, Rudolph W. Giuliani ... was called in by the White House advisers.... Eventually the meeting migrated to the Roosevelt Room and the Cabinet Room, where Mr. Giuliani found himself alone at one point.... Ms. Powell believed that she had been appointed special counsel, something that Mr. Trump declared he wanted, including that she should have a security clearance, which other aides opposed. She testified that others said that even if that happened, they would ignore her. She said she would have 'fired' them on the spot for such insubordination."

Michael Schmidt of the New York Times outlines four takeways from the hearing, including Liz Cheney's cliffhanger, delivered at the end of the hearing. Here's a tidbit: "The committee also cited a deposition by the White House photographer, Shealah Craighead, who was present at an Oval Office gathering on the evening of Jan. 5, when Mr. Trump and some of his aides could hear a crowd of his supporters who were gathered nearby. Ms. Craighead testified that Mr. Trump was saying, 'We should go up to the Capitol. What's the best route to the Capitol?'"

"Not an Impressionable Child." Amber Philips of the Washington Post has five takesways here. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) noted that Trump's defenders lately had sought a new way of excusing his actions: "'The strategy is to blame people his advisers called 'the crazies' for what Donald Trump did,' Cheney said Tuesday. 'This, of course, is nonsense. President Trump is a 76-year-old man. He is not an impressionable child. Just like everyone else in our country, he is responsible for his own actions and his own choices.... Donald Trump cannot escape responsibility by arguing he is willfully blind.'... On Dec. 19 [MB: at 1:42 am], hours after [the UNHINGED] meeting [MB: which ended after midnight (see Haberman, linked above], Trump tweeted what the committee has argued was a call to arms to his supporters to overturn his election loss: 'Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!' In the hours after that tweet, one pro-Trump group, Women for America First, requested to move their rally permit from Inauguration Day, on Jan. 22, to Jan. 6, the committee showed. The next day, [Rep. Jamie] Raskin [D-Md.] said, Ali Alexander, the leader of the Stop the Steal organization and organizer of its Jan. 6 rally, registered wildprotest.com. Trump supporters including Alex Jones [said] Jan. 6 [would be] a 'historic day.' And numerous others chimed in with violent threats: 'Jan. 6, kick that [f---ing] door open.' 'It "will be wild" means we need volunteers for the firing squad."

Ben Jacobs of Vox highlights six takeaways.

Rep. Jamie Raskin's closing remarks Tuesday: some lessons (and a tearjerker): ~~~

Cheney's Cliffhanger. Isaac Arnsdorf & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Sometime in the past two weeks, [Rep. Liz] Cheney said [at then end of Tuesday's hearing, Donald] Trump tried to call someone whom she identified as a witness who has not yet appeared in the committee;s hearings. The person didn't take the call and instead alerted their lawyer, who in turn told the committee. The committee reported the call to the Justice Department, Cheney said, suggesting the possibility of a crime.... The revelation was extraordinary because the call allegedly came from Trump himself, rather than an intermediary, and followed a warning at the committee's previous hearing on June 28 about messages to one of the committee's witnesses.... It is a crime to pressure someone to lie to government investigators."

The Collaborators. Andrew Solender of Axios: "Ten Republican members of Congress attended a Dec. 21 White House meeting focused on efforts to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to help overturn the 2020 election, according to the Jan. 6 committee.... House visitor logs reveal 10 members were physically in attendance": Brian Babin (Texas), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Andy Harris (Md.), Jody Hice (Ga.), Jim Jordan (Ohio), Scott Perry (Pa.), Now-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.). "Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson ... noted that 'they dialed in a few Members over the course of that meeting.' She mentioned two members -- Reps. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.).... A note on Trump's private schedule for the day about a 2:00 pm [read] "private meeting with Republican members of Congress" in the Oval Office. Pence, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and ... Rudy Giuliani were all in attendance, according to [Rep. Stephanie] Murphy [D-Fla.]."

Ankush Khardori interviews Andrew Weissmann for Politico Magazine on Weissmann's views on the DOJ's apparent reluctance to investigate & charge Donald Trump and other notables with crimes related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Weissmann's op-ed in Monday's New York Times "sharply criticized the Justice Department's investigation into the siege of the U.S. Capitol. It was an essay that captured the frustrations of some legal observers and former Justice Department prosecutors, but it drew immediate attention because it came from one of the most prominent and well-respected prosecutors in the country."

Trump, Crazier Than Team Crazy. Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "It was Donald Trump, and Donald Trump alone, who summoned and loosed the mob that sacked the Capitol, threatened Congress and the vice president and imperiled our democracy. That is the powerful message that emerged from Tuesday's televised hearing of the Jan. 6 select committee. And these hearings make clear just how dangerous it would be for the former president to be elected again. Amazingly enough, this wasn't the plan advanced by Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Flynn and the rest of Trump's 'Team Crazy' advisers. The page from the authoritarian playbook they chose was sedate by comparison...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Given the available evidence, as of now, it is not possible to consider that early-morning December 19 tweet as nothing more than a momentary burst of insanity by an old man drunk on power. He kept up that drunk-on-power thing right through January 6, 2021, and beyond. He pre-planned, mostly in secret, the violent attack on the Capitol, and according to Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony, he planned to join the attack, right up until the last minute when his Secret Service detail wouldn't let him go. (Their attempt to get mike pence out of the Capitol complex looks like a consolation prize for refusing to let Trump put the noose around pence's neck.) And once the attack had started, and Trump's "army" was brutally attacking Capitol & D.C. police, Trump insisted it continue.

It's Mighty Easy to Compromise a Republican. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "As the dust was settling on the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on the evening of Jan. 6, [former Trump campaign manager Brad] Parscale ...called the situation 'a sitting president calling for civil war' and added, 'This week I feel guilty for helping him win.'... Here was a guy who helped elevate Trump to the presidency reckoning with what he had wrought -- and blaming Trump directly for pursuing no less than civil war. Exactly a month later, though, Brad Parscale ... decided it was time for this same former president to return to office. On Feb. 6, Parscale urged Trump to run again.... Since then, Parscale's business has accepted $150,000 in payments from Trump's political operation."

If Biden is winning, Trump is going to do some crazy shit. -- Steve Bannon, October 31, 2020 ~~~

~~~ ** Trump Planned the Big Lie Before the Election. Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: Donald "Trump's plan to falsely declare victory while tens of millions of votes were still being counted was public knowledge even before the election. Axios reported on the scheme at the time. [Steve] Bannon himself discussed the idea on November 3 -- Election Day -- on his War Room podcast. Weeks earlier, Bannon had interviewed a former Trump administration official who outlined how Trump would use allegations of fraud to dispute an electoral defeat and would seek to have Congress declare him the winner. Last month, the congressional committee investigating January 6 detailed how Rudy Giuliani convinced Trump to go ahead with a victory declaration after 2 a.m. on November 4, over the objections of campaign staff. 'Frankly, we did win this election,' Trump insisted in that infamous news conference. [A] nearly hour-long [leaked] audio obtained by Mother Jones is new evidence that Trump's late-night diatribe ... followed a preexisting plan to lie to Americans about the election results in a bid to hold onto power. The new recording stands out for the striking candor and detail with which Bannon described a scheme to use lies to subvert democracy. Bannon also predicted that Trump's false declaration of victory would lead to widespread political violence, along with 'crazy' efforts by Trump to stay in office."

MEANWHILE, A Picnic on the Lawn. Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "For a few moments on Tuesday, before the thunder rolled and the clouds threatened to open, President Biden was shirt-sleeves deep in the sort of political camaraderie he placed at the center of his run for the White House: on the South Lawn, surrounded by barbecue and children and a few Republicans, extolling the virtues of learning to love people with whom you disagree.... At a time of mounting political division, the president threw a picnic for members of Congress and their families, inviting every Republican and Democrat in the House and Senate. He used it to renew his plea for a more personalized, civilized political discourse, reviving a tradition interrupted in recent years and seeking to recapture some of what the first lady, Jill Biden, called the 'magic' of the White House grounds to bring people together across the aisle."

David Sanger & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden left Washington for a four-day trip to the Middle East on Tuesday to try to slow down an accelerating Iranian nuclear program, speed up the flow of oil to American pumps and reshape the relationship with Saudi Arabia without seeming to embrace a crown prince the C.I.A. believes was behind the killing of a prominent dissident who lived in the United States. All three efforts are fraught with political dangers for a president who knows the region well, but returns for the first time in six years with far less leverage than he would like to shape events. His 18-month long negotiation to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal has ground to a stop.... And while no explicit deal is expected to be announced on raising Saudi oil production ... that is likely to come in a month or two, officials say.... The trip is also partly about stemming China's inroads into the region." The AP report is here.

Dennis Overbye, et al., of the New York Times: "On Tuesday the James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful space observatory yet built, offered a spectacular slide show of our previously invisible nascent cosmos.... ... The new pictures were rolled out during an hourlong ceremony at the Goddard Space Flight Center.... [The images present] both a new vision of the universe and a view of the universe as it once appeared new.... 'We're looking for the first things to come out of the Big Bang,' said John Mather, senior project scientist for the telescope.... To look outward into space is to peer into the past. Light travels at a constant 186,000 miles per second, or close to six trillion miles per year, through the vacuum of space. To observe a star 10 light-years away is to see it as it existed 10 years ago, when the light left its surface. The farther away a star or galaxy lies, the older it is, making every telescope a kind of time machine." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie (Updated): You can see the images on this Webb Telescope gallery page., which includes a facility that allows you to zoom in. Thanks to Robert for sending me the link (which I could not find earlier today). The Times article linked above also contains the images. The Washington Post (firewalled) has images here, with explanations.

Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "When the Social Security Administration's inspector general investigated allegations earlier this year that one of the agency's senior leaders was routinely impaired on the job, six witnesses painted an alarming picture. Theresa Gruber, a deputy commissioner overseeing around 9,000 employees and a $1.2 billion budget in the hearings and appeals operation, displayed 'significant anomalies' at work over the course of at least a year, including slurred speech in which she 'appeared intoxicated,' leaving meetings without notice, slouching in her chair and aggressive behavior, witnesses told investigators. But five months after acting Social Security commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi was presented with the internal report, which The Washington Post obtained, Gruber remains on the job.... Gruber, 53, is also diabetic, the report notes, a condition that, when poorly treated, can cause irritability, disorientation or slurred speech.... One high-ranking official interviewed by The Post described a 'rudderless' department under Gruber, who sometimes does not communicate with her staff for days at a time, the official said."

Marianne Levine of Politico: "The Senate approved Steven Dettelbach's nomination Tuesday to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, making him only the second Senate-confirmed director in the gun regulatory agency's history. In a 48-46 vote, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portman of Ohio joined Democrats in supporting the former U.S. attorney."

Kate Conger & Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times: "Twitter sued Elon Musk on Tuesday to force the billionaire to complete his $44 billion acquisition of the company, setting the stage for a prolonged legal battle over the fate of the social media service." CNN's report is here.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.

Beyond the Beltway

Louisiana. Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "Abortions became legal again in Louisiana on Tuesday after a Baton Rouge judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking the state's abortion bans from being enforced. The judge's decision was the latest in a series of legal maneuvers that have jolted the legal status of abortions in the state, leaving women and providers scrambling to adapt. One of the few remaining abortion clinics in the state said it would resume providing the procedure." MB: Woe be the Louisiana teenager whose life has been upended by an unexpected pregnancy & is trying to figure out where she can get an abortion.

South Carolina. Southern Gothic, Ctd. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "A long-running mystery over who killed the wife and son of Alex Murdaugh, an heir to a powerful legal dynasty in South Carolina, could be headed for a resolution this week as the police indicated they planned to indict Mr. Murdaugh in the murders, one of his lawyers said on Tuesday. Mr. Murdaugh had already been facing an array of charges of fraud and theft that resulted in his arrest in September 2021 and a wave of subsequent indictments. But no one had been formally accused in the deaths of Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, who were fatally shot at the family's rural hunting estate in Islandton, about 65 miles west of Charleston."

Texas. Acacia Coronado & Paul Weber of the AP: "A new wave of anger swept through Uvalde on Tuesday over surveillance footage of police officers in body armor milling in the hallway of Robb Elementary School while a gunman carried out a massacre inside a fourth-grade classroom where 19 children and two teachers were killed. The video published Tuesday by the Austin American-Statesman [firewalled] is a disturbing 80-minute recording of what has been known for weeks now about one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history: that heavily armed police officers, some armed with rifles and bulletproof shields, massed in the hallway and waited more than an hour before going inside and stopping the May 24 slayings. But the footage, which until now had not surfaced publicly, anguished Uvalde residents anew and redoubled calls in the small South Texas city for accountability and explanations that have been incomplete -- and sometimes inaccurate -- in the seven weeks since the shooting." ~~~

     ~~~ KVUE has the video here, in pieces, with explanations. ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "If you can stomach it -- and I really, really don't blame you if you can't -- watching the law enforcement officials do nothing about an active school shooter is even more horrifying than reading about it[.]"

Way Beyond

Sri Lanka. The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the country's crisis. Here's one: others had said that the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, would resign on Wednesday. BUT: "President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka fled the country on Wednesday after months of demonstrations demanding that he leave office culminated with protesters storming his official residence. Mr. Rajapaksa left on an Air Force plane to the Maldives at about 2 a.m. local time, said Colonel Nalin Herath, a spokesman for Sri Lanka's defense ministry.... Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, the speaker of the Parliament, said in a phone interview that he still had not received the president's letter of resignation, which would make the end of his presidency official." An AP report is here.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here: "Military delegations from Ukraine and Russia are meeting in Turkey on Wednesday along with United Nations diplomats to discuss restarting grain shipments from Ukraine's blockaded Black Sea ports, the Turkish defense minister said.... On the battlefield, Ukrainian officials said they deployed advanced U.S. rocket launchers to strike a Russian ammunition depot in the Russian-occupied southern region of Kherson.... The euro and the U.S. dollar are exchanging at a nearly 1-to-1 rate for the first time in nearly two decades, partly due to global disruptions set off by the Russian invasion of Ukraine."

News Ledes

CNBC: "Shoppers paid sharply higher prices for a variety of goods in June as inflation kept its hold on a slowing U.S. economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. The consumer price index, a broad measure of everyday goods and services related to the cost of living, soared 9.1% from a year ago, above the 8.8% Dow Jones estimate. That marked another month of the fastest pace for inflation going back to December 1981." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is running a liveblog on inflation news.

July 12, 2022

Late Morning Update:

The New York Times' liveblog of Tuesday's January 6 committee is here.

The New York Times' liveblog of NASA's release of images from the James Webb space telescope is here. It includes a livefeed of commentary by NASA engineers.

~~~~~~~~~~

Billions and Billions. Dennis Overbye, et al., of the New York Times: "In a brief event at the White House on Monday evening, President Biden unveiled an image that NASA and astronomers hailed as the deepest view yet into our universe's past. The image, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope -- the largest space telescope ever built -- showed a distant patch of sky in which fledgling galaxies were burning their way into visibility just 600 million years after the Big Bang. 'This is the oldest documented light in the history of the universe from 13 billion -- let me say that again, 13 billion -- years ago,' Mr. Biden said. The president ... praised NASA for its work that enabled the telescope and the imagery it will produce. Mr. Biden's announcement served as a teaser for the telescope's big cosmic slide show coming on Tuesday morning, when scientists reveal what the Webb has been looking at for the past six months. You can sign up here for a reminder on your personal digital calendar to catch the first glimpse of them." ~~~

     ~~~ BTW, here's where the phrase "billions and billions" really comes from. Fuzzy picture and sexism, but that's how TV was in 1980.

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden welcomed hundreds of survivors and family members of victims of mass shootings to the White House on Monday to promote newly enacted bipartisan gun legislation, an event that showcased both the president's desire to push for even more restrictive gun control measures and the political limitations that have held him back. In a sign of the fraught nature of the debate, Mr. Biden's remarks were interrupted early on by a protester, whose words were inaudible to the White House camera feed and to reporters covering the event in person, but who appeared to be arguing that the president and Congress should take more forceful action on the issue.... 'Sit down and hear what I have to say,' Mr. Biden said. The man continued for a moment, then was led away by an administration official." The protester was Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin was killed by the Parkland shooter. Mr. Oliver had previously met with President Biden. The Guardian's story is here.

Will Weissert of the AP: "President Joe Biden is meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Tuesday for discussions the White House says will showcase the underlying strength of a relationship that of late has been more notable for the leaders' disagreements on issues including energy and Ukraine policy."

Zeke Miller of the AP: "The Biden administration on Monday told hospitals that they 'must' provide abortion services if the life of the mother is at risk, saying federal law on emergency treatment guidelines preempts state laws in jurisdictions that now ban the procedure without any exceptions following the Supreme Court's decision to end a constitutional right to abortion. The Department of Health and Human Services cited requirements on medical facilities in the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. The law requires medical facilities to determine whether a person seeking treatment may be in labor or whether they face an emergency health situation -- or one that could develop into an emergency -- and to provide treatment."

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times argues that Joe Biden is too old to be president again. She makes some good points. Near the end of her column, Goldberg writes, "If Vice President Kamala Harris's approval ratings remain underwater, Democrats have a number of charismatic governors and senators they can turn to." I'd like to know who those charismatic leaders might be. No one jumps out at me as being very presidenty.

Jacqueline Alemany & Hannah Allam of the Washington Post: "The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection plans to hold its seventh public hearing on Tuesday, with an expected focus on the ways in which ... Donald Trump and his allies summoned far-right militant groups to Washington as he grew increasingly desperate to hold on to power. The hearing is likely to drill down on the period after states cast their electoral college votes on Dec. 14, 2020, action that confirmed Joe Biden's victory. Trump, the committee is expected to argue, then shifted his focus to using the date of the congressional counting of the votes, Jan. 6, 2021, to block a peaceful transfer of power.... The committee will also highlight the ties between violent extremist groups and Trump associates -- connections lawmakers on the committee have already hinted at during previous hearings.... One of the live witnesses scheduled to appear on Tuesday is Jason Van Tatenhove, who served as national spokesman for the Oath Keepers and as a close aide to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes from around 2014 to 2018...." ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Wong of NBC News: "Another witness expected to testify ... is Stephen Ayres of Ohio, who posted the former president's tweet encouraging supporters to go to Washington on Jan. 6 before he stormed the Capitol. Ayres pleaded guilty last month to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, but he has not been sentenced. ABC News has more on Ayres here. ~~~

     ~~~ ** Marie: The hearing, originally scheduled for Tuesday morning, has been moved back to begin at 1:00 pm ET.

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "In the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes tried to get the organization's general counsel, Kellye SoRelle, to put him in touch with the White House, she told NBC News.In addition to her work with the Oath Keepers, SoRelle was a volunteer for Lawyers for Trump during the 2020 election and was in contact with many of the people fighting a doomed legal battle to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election.... As SoRelle tells it..., she never put [Rhodes] in touch with key figures, putting a firewall between her work with the Oath Keepers and her work to overturn the election results. Nonetheless, she was on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol (although didn't enter the building) on Jan. 6. And on the night before the attack, she was present in a parking garage as Rhodes met with Enrique Tarrio, the head of the Proud Boys.... SoRelle has already spoken extensively with the Jan. 6 committee, and given her overlapping roles, it's likely that testimony will come up at the panel's next public hearing Tuesday...."

** Andrew Weissmann in a New York Times op-ed: "Before the [January 6 committee] hearings, federal agents and prosecutors were performing a classic 'bottom up' criminal investigation of the Jan. 6 rioters.... But that ... approach sees the attack on the Capitol as a single event -- an isolated riot, separate from other efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the election.... The evidence gathered in the hearings describes a multiprong conspiracy -- what prosecutors term a hub and spoke conspiracy -- in which the Ellipse speech by President Trump and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol were just one 'spoke' of a grander scheme.... [That] 'spoke' ... should be seen and investigated simultaneously with the other 'spokes': orchestrating fake electors in key states, pressuring state officials like those in Georgia to find new votes, plotting to behead the leadership of the Justice Department to promote a lackey who would further the conspiracy by announcing a spurious investigation into election fraud, and pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to violate the law." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's troubling that Weissmann has to point out the obvious to the DOJ, but he cites some evidence that suggests he's right to worry DOJ lawyers can't see the forest for the trees. For instance, "Department prosecutors were reportedly surprised by the testimony of [Cassidy] Hutchinson." If DOJ were doing its job, the department should know way more, not less, than a Congressional committee.

Judge Laughs Bannon Out of Court. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Monday refused to delay Stephen K. Bannon's trial next week after the Justice Department called an offer by the former Trump aide to testify before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection a 'last-ditch attempt to avoid accountability' on charges of criminal contempt of Congress. 'I see no reason for extending this case any longer,' U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols said after a hearing in which he rejected a host of Bannon's defenses -- including claims that Bannon thought his appearance was covered by executive privilege. The judge narrowed Bannon's defenses at trial mainly to whether he understood the deadlines for answering the House's demands to appear and to produce documents.... In an overnight filing, U.S. prosecutors urged Nichols to keep Bannon's trial on track for July 18 and to withhold from jurors Bannon's 'sudden wish to testify,' which they called an 11th-hour ploy to airbrush away the conduct that spurred his prosecution.... When Bannon attorney David I. Schoen ... [asked], 'What's the point of going to trial if there are no defenses?' Nichols simply answered, 'Agreed.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is pretty hilarious. Nichols is a Trump appointee. He left Bannon with pretty much no defense except, "I don't know how to read a calendar." Or maybe with that Steve Martin chestnut, "I forgot." Good luck with that, Steve-o. I guess you could throw yourself on the mercy of the court, but this judge seems short on mercy. For you, anyhow.

WSB-TV Atlanta: “A Fulton County judge ordered U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to testify before a special grand jury in Fulton County next month.... Graham said he would fight the subpoena. On Monday, the judge declared Graham a 'necessary witness' to the investigation. This is another step in a long legal process of getting Graham down from Washington to testify." I wonder if Lindsey has noticed that South Carolina & Georgia are contiguous. Lindsey could visit his constituents in the lovely city of Aiken, S.C., say, & drive to Atlanta in less than 3 hours. Even faster, I'll bet, if he hopped a plane.

Bad News. Oriana Gonzalez of Axios: "Former President Trump and his adult children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., are scheduled to testify under oath on July 15 as part of a probe by the New York attorney general into his finances, a court filing revealed Wednesday.... The former president and his children are slated to appear for testimony starting July 15 until the next week, unless a New York appeals court intervenes, according to the court documents." ~~~

     ~~~ Badder News. Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Trump was scheduled to be in Greensboro[, North Carolina for a scheduled event] the same day.... Tickets for the event were being sold for up to $3,955." Trump had to cancel the Carolina event.

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Top lawmakers are preparing to question IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig privately in the coming days over reports that the tax agency may have targeted two of ... Donald Trump's political enemies with extensive and rare audits. The moves by the Capitol's key tax-focused panels -- the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee -- come amid growing concerns that the IRS improperly subjected James B. Comey, the former director of the FBI, and Andrew McCabe, his top deputy, to unusual scrutiny after they led investigations into Trump and his 2016 campaign." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Speaking of Showing No Mercy, Good for the Buttigiegs. María Paúl of the Washington Post: "Two days after Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh fled abortion rights protesters at a Morton's steakhouse in D.C., Chasten Buttigieg -- husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg -- tweeted..., 'Sounds like he just wanted some privacy to make his own dining decisions.'... The tweet drew criticism from some conservatives, including former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who decried what he called an endorsement of 'the use of mob intimidation tactics' as 'wildly irresponsible.' But Pete Buttigieg defended his husband's remarks.... 'Any public figure should always, always be free from violence, intimidation and harassment but should never be free from criticism or people exercising their First Amendment rights,' Buttigieg said in a 'Fox News Sunday' appearance. He added that officials 'should expect' public protests -- especially after 'an important right that the majority of Americans support was taken away.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That's a rich criticism coming from Stephen Miller, who developed cruel anti-immigration policies (like separating immigrant children from their parents) -- the purpose of which was to intimidate potential immigrants -- and whose degenerate boss suggested officers could just shoot protesters in the legs.

Michael Kazin, an historian, argues in a New York Times op-ed that Americans will rebel against the Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling and against states than adopt abortion bans: "Today, if the history of Prohibition is any guide, the public will quickly turn hostile when activists with decent motives elect officials (or appoint judges) who carry out indecent and unenforceable assaults on individual freedom. In the end, most Americans will rebel against authorities who decree what they can do with their own bodies."

Rafael Baer of the Guardian: "The success of liberal democracy -- the best model yet devised for organising people into prosperous and free societies -- depends on a balance between the wealth-generating impetus of the market and the obligations politics must impose on business for the greater good.... The Marxist project to eliminate capitalism entirely degenerated into tyranny and bankruptcy wherever it was tried in the 20th century.... The post-cold war triumphalist moment for the west coincided with the digital revolution, producing a culture of arrogance and political complacency around the new-tech economy.... The result was a cultish veneration of the internet startup as a new kind of business to which old rules did not apply, and whose purpose was improving humanity as well as making money. The Uber files are a snapshot of a particular moment -- the peak of political credulity and negligence around the growing power of tech companies. But the basic rules of the new digital economy turned out to be not so different from the old analogue ones."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. David Kurtz of TPM: "[Monday]'s little Fox News gem was a segment on what a huge bummer it is to visit Thomas Jefferson's Monticello these days, what with all the focus on slavery and what not at what was built as a slave plantation. A bow-tied, bespectacled guest for the segment was billed hilariously in one chyron as a 'recent Monticello visitor.' Turns out there's a little more to the story." Tucker claims to be a founding member of the League of the South, "a racist and secessionist forerunner of the current brand of white nationalism.... Tucker's star turn on today's Fox segment came just a few days after he served as a named source for a New York Post story headlined 'Monticello is going woke -- and trashing Thomas Jefferson's legacy in the process.'"

Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "US health officials are urgently working on a plan to allow second Covid-19 boosters for all adults, a senior White House official confirmed to CNN on Monday. The US Food and Drug Administration is making it a high priority, the official said. Second boosters have been authorized for adults 50 and older, as well as some people with weakened immune systems, since late March. But younger adults are eligible for only one booster shot, which was authorized in November. Federal agencies are looking to move quickly on authorizing a second booster for all adults, the source said."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) 

Beyond the Beltway

We don't control the air. Our good air decided to float over to China's bad air. So when China gets our good air, their bad air has got to move. So it moves over to our good air space. Then, now, we've got we to clean that back up. -- Hershel Walker, explaining climate change to Georgia Republicans ~~~

Georgia Senate Race. Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "It's not yet clear who will be the weirdest and most unfit Republican Senate candidate in November. But my early pick is Herschel Walker in Georgia.... The flashing red lights and blaring sirens are not just about the former football star's myriad lies and stunning hypocrisy. That kind of stuff doesn't necessarily trouble GOP voters in the least, given their continued devotion to Donald Trump, who counts Walker as a longtime friend. It's Walker's combination of utter ignorance and total confidence, which challenges even that of the former president.... While Walker wanders along the campaign trail, Walker's Democratic rival, incumbent Sen. Raphael G. Warnock, has concentrated on emphasizing what he has accomplished for Georgians in his brief time in office. Despite the choice between crazed and competent, polls show Walker and Warnock in a statistical tie." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A very helpful read if you need to exercise your neck, because you'll be shaking your head from side to side. That said, I continue to believe that Walker must be suffering from head injuries from his days playing football, so if he weren't running for the Senate, I would be feeling truly sorry for him.

Pennsylvania. James Bikales of the Washington Post: "The small Pennsylvania town that hired the former police officer who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 did not conduct a background check required by law before making last week's hire, according to the state attorney general's office. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) wrote to Tioga, Pa., Borough President Steve Hazlett on Friday to inform him that the town had violated the state's Act 57 in hiring Timothy Loehmann without running his name through a database that flags past disciplinary action.... Shapiro wrote ... that state records show Tioga ... never ran Loehmann's name through the database.... Hazlett and his wife, MaryBess Hazlett, who also served on the borough council, submitted their resignation letters Friday, according to the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.... Amid protests against the hiring, residents have also pointed out that Hazlett appears to have made a post on Facebook in 2015 mocking Rice's death."

Way Beyond

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here: "Iran plans to provide Russia with 'up to several hundred' drones to be used in the war in Ukraine, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday. The move indicates Moscow is running out of precision weapons.... The death toll continues to rise after Russian strikes in eastern and northern Ukraine. At least 34 people were killed in Chasiv Yar, a city in the eastern Donetsk region, after a Russian missile hit a residential complex over the weekend. Three others were also killed Monday in Kharkiv after Russian airstrikes damaged a shopping center and residences."

Italy. Idiots Abroad. Angela Giaffrida of the Guardian: "An American tourist sustained minor injuries after he fell into the crater of Mount Vesuvius as he scrambled to retrieve his phone. The 23-year-old and his family reached the 1,281m-high (4,202ft) summit of the volcano towering over the southern Italian city of Naples after bypassing a visitor turnstile and proceeding along an out-of-bounds path. The man was taking a selfie, according to local press reports, when his phone slipped out of his hand and into the mouth of the volcano. He then descended into the crater in an attempt to get his phone back, only to fall several metres after losing his balance.... The tourist and his three relatives face charges after being reported by police for the invasion of public land. The group, which reportedly ventured to the volcano without any tickets, took a path that was clearly signposted as being forbidden due to being extremely dangerous." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh yeah? The sign was probably in Italian. You think Americans can read Italian or even understand international signs?... And you wonder why American tourists are not beloved around the world.

Sri Lanka. Hannah Ellis-Petersen of the Guardian: "The Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has made a failed attempt to flee the country after airport staff stood in his way and forced him to beat a humiliating retreat. Rajapaksa, who is due to officially resign on Wednesday after months of demonstrations calling for him to step down, was reportedly trying to escape to Dubai on Monday night. However, officials said immigration staff refused to let the president come to the VIP area of the airport to stamp his passport and he would not go through the ordinary queues for fear of being mobbed by the public. As a result, Rajapaksa reportedly missed four flights to the United Arab Emirates, and he and his wife had to return to a nearby military base."

U.K. Aubrey Allegretti of the Guardian: "Britain's new prime minister will be announced on 5 September, it has been announced, as the starting gun was fired on a Tory leadership race that will see the hopefuls whittled down to two by Thursday." MB: It would seem they could get rid of Boris sooner than that.

July 11, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Dennis Overbye & Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "President Biden is set to unveil a deep field image [photographed by the James Webb space telescope]. The first image will be revealed Monday at 5 p.m. by President Biden at the White House on NASA TV or the agency's YouTube channel. The New York Times will also provide a live video feed."

Judge Throws Bannon Out of Court. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Monday refused to delay Stephen K. Bannon's trial next week after the Justice Department called an offer by the former Trump aide to testify before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection a 'last-ditch attempt to avoid accountability' on charges of criminal contempt of Congress. 'I see no reason for extending this case any longer,' U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols said after a hearing in which he rejected a host of Bannon's defenses -- including claims that Bannon thought his appearance was covered by executive privilege. The judge narrowed Bannon's defenses at trial mainly to whether he understood the deadlines for answering the House's demands to appear and to produce documents.... In an overnight filing, U.S. prosecutors urged Nichols to keep Bannon's trial on track for July 18 and to withhold from jurors Bannon's 'sudden wish to testify,' which they called an 11th-hour ploy to airbrush away the conduct that spurred his prosecution.... When Bannon attorney David I. Schoen ... [asked], 'What's the point of going to trial if there are no defenses?' Nichols simply answered, 'Agreed.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is pretty hilarious. Nichols is a Trump appointee. He left Bannon with pretty much no defense except, "I don't know how to read a calendar." Good luck with that, Steve-o. I guess you could throw yourself on the mercy of the court, but this judge seems short on mercy. For you, anyhow.

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Top lawmakers are preparing to question IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig privately in the coming days over reports that the tax agency may have targeted two of ... Donald Trump's political enemies with extensive and rare audits. The moves by the Capitol's key tax-focused panels -- the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee -- come amid growing concerns that the IRS improperly subjected James B. Comey, the former director of the FBI, and Andrew McCabe, his top deputy, to unusual scrutiny after they led investigations into Trump and his 2016 campaign."

María Paúl of the Washington Post: "Two days after Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh fled abortion rights protesters at a Morton’s steakhouse in D.C., Chasten Buttigieg -- husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg -- tweeted..., 'Sounds like he just wanted some privacy to make his own dining decisions.'... The tweet drew criticism from some conservatives, including former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who decried what he called an endorsement of 'the use of mob intimidation tactics' as 'wildly irresponsible.' But Pete Buttigieg defended his husband's remarks.... 'Any public figure should always, always be free from violence, intimidation and harassment but should never be free from criticism or people exercising their First Amendment rights,' Buttigieg said in a 'Fox News Sunday' appearance. He added that officials 'should expect' public protests -- especially after 'an important right that the majority of Americans support was taken away.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That's a rich criticism coming from Stephen Miller, who developed cruel anti-immigration policies (like separating immigrant children from their parents) -- the purpose of which was to intimidate potential immigrants -- and whose degenerate boss suggested officers could just shoot protesters in the legs.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.

~~~~~~~~~~

A New View of the Universe. Denise Chow of NBC News: "President Joe Biden will unveil the much-anticipated first full-color image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope on Monday, agency officials confirmed. The image, known as 'Webb's First Deep Field,' will be the deepest and highest-resolution view of the universe ever captured, showing myriad galaxies as they appeared up to 13 billion years in the past, according to NASA. The agency and its partners, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, are set to release a separate batch of full-color images from the Webb telescope on Tuesday, but Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and the public will get a sneak peek a day early.... NASA will unveil more images in an event streamed live Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. ET." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The adage "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" is certainly true of Donald Trump. But I have noticed again & again how nimble Joe Biden is, and we're not just talking about showing off amazing outer space photos. Biden's willingness to try new solutions for old problems has surprised me, as I didn't give him credit for being so flexible. I was mistaken.

Mark Mazzetti & Ronen Bergman of the New York Times: "A team of executives from an American military contractor quietly visited Israel numerous times in recent months to try to ... [purchase] NSO Group, the cyber hacking firm that is as notorious as it is technologically accomplished. The impediments were substantial for the team from the American company, L3Harris, which also had experience with spyware technology.... The United States government had put NSO on a blacklist just months earlier because the Israeli firm's spyware, called Pegasus, had been used by other governments to penetrate the phones of political leaders, human rights activists and journalists.... But five people ... said that ... American intelligence officials ... quietly supported [the company's] plans to purchase NSO.... [When word of the potential sale leaked last month,] White House officials said they were outraged to learn about the negotiations, and that any attempt by American defense firms to purchase a blacklisted company would be met by serious resistance. Days later, L3Harris, which is heavily reliant on government contracts, notified the Biden administration that it had scuttled its plans to purchase NSO...." It isn't clear whether or not some U.S. officials backed the deal without the White House's knowledge.

Amy Wang & Oliver Knox of the Washington Post: "'Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,' [Donald] Trump tweeted [on December 19, 2020]. 'Be there, will be wild!' That tweet would serve as an invitation to far-right militant groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers as well as other violent extremists who were part of the pro-Trump mob[.]... Tuesday's [public hearing of the January 6 committee] will focus on Trump's connections to those far-right and political extremist groups.... The next hearing will also focus on 'the fundamental importance' of a Dec. 18, 2020, meeting of Trump allies that took place at the Willard hotel in downtown Washington, according to [Rep. Jamie] Raskin [(D-Md.) who will lead the hearing with Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.)]." ~~~

     ~~~ Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "Raskin is expected to first touch on the immediate events before the tweet: a contentious White House meeting on 18 December 2020 where Trump weighed seizing voting machines and appointing conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell as special counsel to investigate election fraud. The meeting involved Trump and four informal advisers, the Guardian has reported, including Trump's ex-national security adviser, Michael Flynn, ex-Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, ex-Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne and ex-Trump aide Emily Newman.... After the Flynn-Powell-Byrne-Newman plan for him to overturn the election fell apart, the select committee will say, he turned his attention to January 6 as his final chance and sent his tweet. The response to Trump's tweet was direct and immediate, the panel will show...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It sounds as if the committee does not have a smoking-gun clip or testimony, where Trump says explicitly, "I'm sending in the goons to hang Mike Pence." However, based on Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony about Mark Meadows & on remarks Steve Bannon made on his podcast (or whatever it is), both Meadows & Bannon knew before-the-fact that the insurrection was coming down. It's hard to believe either of these two is the Oracle of Delphi. They had prior knowledge.

Robert Draper of the New York Times on why the January 6 committee rushed the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson: "The day before Cassidy Hutchinson was deposed for a fourth time by the Jan. 6 committee, the former Trump White House aide received a phone message...: 'let me know you have your deposition tomorrow. He wants me to let you know he's thinking about you. He knows you're loyal. And you're going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.' At Ms. Hutchinson's deposition the next day, committee members investigating the attack on the Capitol were so alarmed by what they considered a clear case of witness tampering -- not to mention Ms. Hutchinson's shocking account of ... Donald J. Trump's behavior on Jan. 6, 2021 -- that they decided in a meeting on June 24, a Friday, to hold an emergency public hearing with Ms. Hutchinson as the surprise witness the following Tuesday. The speed ... was for two crucial reasons: Ms. Hutchinson was under intense pressure from Trump World, and panel members believed that getting her story out in public would make her less vulnerable.... The committee also had to move fast ... to avoid leaks of some of the most explosive testimony ever heard on Capitol Hill." The story includes a brief bio of Hutchinson.

Luke Broadwater & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "With his criminal trial for contempt of Congress approaching, Stephen K. Bannon, an ally of ... Donald J. Trump's who was involved in his plans to overturn the 2020 election, has informed the House committee investigating the Capitol attack that he is now willing to testify.... His decision is a remarkable about-face for Mr. Bannon, who until Saturday had been among the most obstinate and defiant of the committee's potential witnesses.... But with the possibility of two years in jail and large fines looming on the horizon, Mr. Bannon has been authorized to testify by Mr. Trump, his lawyer told the committee late on Saturday in a letter.... In recent days, as several witnesses have come forward to offer the House panel damning testimony about his conduct, Mr. Trump has grown frustrated that one of his fiercest defenders has not yet appeared before the committee, people close to him said.... It remains to be seen how Mr. Bannon's new posture will affect the criminal proceeding, and how forthcoming he will be." The Guardian's earlier report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ How the committee should politely respond to Mr. Blimpy's lawyer: Dear Mr. Costello: We wish to inform you and your client Stephen K. Blimpy that Mr. Trump is no longer president*. Mr. Trump lost the election in 2020 by more than 7 million votes, and President Joe Biden also trounced him in the Electoral College 306-232. Mr. Biden became president January 20, 2021 -- 18 months ago -- and therefore Mr. Trump has not had a claim to executive privilege since that date. We understand that Mr. Blimpy runs some sort of home-made radio show where he purports to cover current affairs; therefore, it is surprising that he seems unaware of Mr. Trump's decisive loss. Please try to assist your client in getting in touch with these facts; otherwise, we do not see how his testimony will amount to anything more than the wild gibberish of a lunatic. Nevertheless, we plan to continue to press a criminal case against your client for failing to comply with a lawful subpoena.

David Smith of the Guardian: "A documentary film scrutinised by the congressional January 6 committee exposes divisions between the ... Donald Trump and his children over the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol. Released to the public on Sunday, Unprecedented portrays Trump's 2020 election campaign as a family affair and features interviews with him and his inner circle before, during and after the vote. [In interviews for the film,] Trump reverts to his lies about widespread voter fraud.... But when [filmmaker Alex] Holder then puts the same question to three of Trump's children, they are less forthcoming. His son Eric says: 'Yeah, let's skip the 6th.' Son Don Jr and daughter Ivanka also decline to comment on the incendiary subject, as does vice-president Mike Pence."

     ~~~ Thanks to a friend for this gen-u-ine photo. You Floridians be on the lookout.

Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "Former House Speaker Paul Ryan was 'sobbing' as he watched the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol unfold on television, a new book [by Mark Leibovich] reports.... Noting Ryan's role on the board of the Fox Corporation, the parent company of Fox News, and alluding to the times as speaker that Ryan didn't stand up to Trump, Leibovich writes that Ryan was 'not inclined to grapple with questions of complicity' in the attack." MB: Of course he didn't. Paul was crying for himself, not for what he did. Ryan told Leibovich, "I spent my whole adult life in that building.... And I saw my friends, a lot of cops, some of my old security detail -- I'm still friends with a bunch of those guys. It really disturbed me, foundationally." This was not a moment when Paul asked himself, "Lord, what have I done?!" That moment is not likely to come.

Laurence Tribe, Dennis Aftergut & Norman Eisen in a Washington Post op-ed (July 9): "At center stage [in Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) attempt to evade a Georgia subpoena] is a set of rules from the Constitution's speech and debate clause. It provides that in all cases 'except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace,' senators and representatives 'shall not be questioned' outside of Congress 'for any Speech or Debate in either House.'... But the immunity those rules confer is limited.... The Supreme Court has long held that the provision's specific language means that lawmakers such as Graham cannot use the clause as a pass to avoid testifying about crimes.... Graham's precise role [in the attempt to overturn Georgia's presidential election results] remains unclear.... [Georgia Secretary of State Brad] Raffensperger asserted that he understood the South Carolina senator to mean [in a phone call Graham made to him on November 23, 2020,] that [Raffensperger] should '"[l]ook hard and see how many ballots you could throw out.'... By calling Raffensperger, Graham looks to have been engaging in political activity well outside any proper legislative function and, therefore, beyond the privilege's protection."

Michael Moore would repeal & replace the Second Amendment. MB: Not going to happen, but a good idea. OR rather, not going to happen because it's a good idea.

"The Uber Files: A Global Investigation." Faiz Siddiqui & Joseph Menn of the Washington Post: "Regulators entered Uber's offices [in Amsterdam, the Netherlands,] only to see computers go dark before their eyes.... Uber's use of what insiders called the 'kill switch' was a brazen example of how the company employed technological tools to prevent authorities from successfully investigating the company's business practices as it disrupted the global taxi industry, according to the documents.... As Uber's valuation was surging past $50 billion, government raids occurred with such frequency that the company distributed a Dawn Raid Manual to employees on how to respond.... That document ... [is] part of the Uber Files, an 18.7-gigabyte trove of data obtained by the Guardian and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a nonprofit newsroom in Washington that helped lead the project, and dozens of other news organizations, including The Washington Post.... Far from simply developing software to connect drivers and customers seeking rides, Uber leveraged its technological capabilities in many cases to gain a covert edge over authorities." ~~~

     ~~~ Harry Davies, et al., of the Guardian: "A leaked trove of confidential files has revealed the inside story of how the tech giant Uber flouted laws, duped police, exploited violence against drivers and secretly lobbied governments during its aggressive global expansion. The unprecedented leak to the Guardian of more than 124,000 documents -- known as the Uber files -- lays bare the ethically questionable practices that fuelled the company's transformation into one of Silicon Valley's most famous exports. The leak spans a five-year period when Uber was run by its co-founder Travis Kalanick, who tried to force the cab-hailing service into cities around the world, even if that meant breaching laws and taxi regulations. During the fierce global backlash, the data shows how Uber tried to shore up support by discreetly courting prime ministers, presidents, billionaires, oligarchs and media barons."

Bryan Pietsch of the Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has tested positive for the coronavirus, his spokesman said in a statement late Sunday. The positive result came 'as a part of his regular testing regimen,' said the spokesman, Justin Goodman. Schumer is fully vaccinated and 'double boosted' and is experiencing very mild symptoms, Goodman said." Politico's report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

California. Marisa Iati & Meena Venkataramanan of the Washington Post: "A wildfire burning in the southern part of Yosemite National Park more than doubled in size over the weekend, the latest blaze to threaten the world's largest trees as climate change increases the intensity of fires. The Mariposa Grove, home to more than 500 mature giant sequoias and the largest of its kind in the park, closed Thursday after visitors reported spotting smoke from the Washburn Fire near a trail. As of Sunday evening, the fire had grown to just above three square miles."

Texas. Edgar Sandoval of the New York Times: Arnulfo Reyes, "a teacher who survived the mass shooting [in a Uvalde Grade school,] recounts the harrowing attack and desperate wait for a rescue." A very disturbing read.

Way Beyond

Japan. Motoko Rich of the New York Times: }Two days after Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe was gunned down at a campaign stop on Friday, his Liberal Democratic Party and its allies swept to victory in a parliamentary election that gave them a chance to pursue Mr. Abe's long-held ambition of revising Japan's pacifist Constitution. It was the clearest sign that Mr. Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, remained a guiding political force. Even before his death, he was no longer leader of the country or its governing party, but his legacy shaped voters' choices at the ballot box and his party's vision for the future. 'I have the responsibility to take over the ideas of former Prime Minister Abe,' the current prime minister, Fumio Kishida, told a crowd west of Tokyo on Saturday, the day after Mr. Abe's killing, as he campaigned for their party's candidates for the Upper House of Parliament."

Sri Lanka. Emily Schmall & Mujib Mashal of the New York Times: "Sri Lanka's political and economic crisis offered a peculiar tableau Sunday after a day of high drama: The protesters were everywhere, cooking in the prime minister's garden and even lounging in the president’s bedroom while the leaders were nowhere to be seen. With President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe both in hiding after indicating they would resign, it was not clear who was running the country.... For months [Sri Lankans] had felt they were on their own anyway as they queued up for hours -- often in vain -- for fuel and cooking gas, pared down their meals and scrambled for lifesaving medicine. Opposition leaders clamored to decipher Mr. Rajapaksa's intentions. Would he actually quit on Wednesday, as officials have said, or was his silence a sign that he was gauging his options for a protracted fight? Discussions on who might succeed him were also taking shape, with the speaker of the Parliament viewed as the likely choice as interim president." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The "tableau" doesn't look "peculiar" to me: some of the photos look very much like those picturing the January 6 insurrectionists as they stormed the U.S. Capitol, roamed the halls, and made themselves comfy in the Senate & House chambers & in Congressional offices. Sri Lanka (Ceylon) may be a small island country run by incompetent, corrupt politicians, but the Trumpists have made out own country look a lot like Sri Lanka. There is one essential difference: Sri Lanka's protesters were fighting a corrupt government; our criminal "protesters" were fighting for a corrupt government.

Saudi Arabia. Scott Pelley of "60 Minutes" interviews former Saudi spymaster Saad Aljabri, who says that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a psychopath who sent a second team of Saudi assassins to kill Aljabri after he fled to Canada. With video. MB: Joe Biden had better have a helluva security detail when he goes to Saudi Arabia this week. And he should bring his own food & beverages.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here: "European countries are on edge after the flow of gas from Russia into Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline stopped Monday for a 10-day scheduled maintenance period. German officials fear Russia will extend this period so as to put pressure on Europe.... In Ukraine, Russian airstrikes in the east and north early Monday killed 21 people and injured at least 28, officials from these regions said. Two dozen people remained trapped under the rubble of two high-rise apartment buildings in Chasiv Yar, a city in the Donetsk region, that local officials said were struck by Russian missiles.... Ukraine's defense minister said the country's forces have proved they can use American long-range artillery systems effectively. Oleksii Reznikov told the Wall Street Journal that they still need 'more armor, more weaponry from our partners.' Players in the WNBA All-Star Game in Chicago on Sunday all wore jerseys bearing the name and number of Brittney Griner, the basketball star detained in Russia on drug crime charges." ~~~

~~~ You Want Fries with That? Sorry, We're Out. Miriam Berger of the Washington Post: "The recently opened Russian alternative to McDonald's -- which left the country in May over Russia's war in Ukraine -- is both a fast-food chain and a currency in Moscow's propaganda campaigns. In a shortage wrought with symbolism, Vkusno i Tochka, which translates as 'Tasty and that's it,' is limiting the sale of fries this summer because it is unable to source enough potatoes, the company told Russian state news agency Tass Friday. The Russian franchise said it is running low on the menu's country-style potatoes, its thicker-cut cousin of the Americanized french fry, because of supply chain disruptions in part caused by war and Western sanctions.... a poor potato harvest last year left Russia with limited stock, Vkusno i Tochka told Tass, and the company has been unable to fill the gap with imports...."