June 29, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

An Historic Moment for a Court Gone Rogue. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be sworn in as the Supreme Court's first Black female justice at noon Thursday, just minutes after her mentor Justice Stephen G. Breyer makes his retirement official. Jackson, 51, was chosen for the court by President Biden after Breyer this year announced his plans to retire. She was confirmed April 7 but has been waiting for Breyer to finish out the last term of his four-decade judicial career. Breyer's work on the court will end with release of the term's remaining opinions and possibly with the announcement of some new cases accepted for next term. Jackson will be sworn in at a private ceremony at the Supreme Court that will be live-streamed on the court's website. Breyer and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will administer the oaths Jackson must take. Breyer sent a letter to Biden on Wednesday that said he planned to end his service on the high court at noon."

Stefano Pitrelli & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a Catholic and vocal supporter of abortion rights, received Holy Communion on Wednesday during a papal Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.... The ceremony at the Vatican stood in marked contrast to the decision by conservative San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone to instruct the priests in his diocese to withhold Eucharist from Pelosi because of her stance on abortion. In September, Pope Francis had said, 'I have never refused the Eucharist to anyone,' although he later added that he had never knowingly encountered during Communion a politician backing abortion rights and reiterated the church position that abortion is 'murder.' But Francis had said that the decision on granting Communion to politicians who support abortion rights should be made from a pastoral point of view, not a political one."

Larry Neumeister of the AP: "Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani who was a figure in ... Donald Trump's first impeachment investigation, was sentenced Wednesday to a year and eight months in prison for fraud and campaign finance crimes by a judge who said fraud had become 'a way of life' for Parnas. Parnas, 50, had sought leniency on grounds that he'd cooperated with the Congressional probe of Trump and his efforts to get Ukrainian leaders to investigate President Joe Biden's son. U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken didn't give Parnas credit for that assistance, which came only after the Soviet-born businessman was facing criminal charges. But the judge still imposed a sentence lighter than the six years sought by prosecutors. The judge also ordered Parnas to pay $2.3 million in restitution." The Washington Post's story is here.

A Bad Week for Sexual Predators. Tom Hays & Bobby Calvan of the AP: "Fallen R&B superstar R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday for using his fame to subject young fans -- some just children -- to systematic sexual abuse."

Jim Mustian of the AP: "The FBI has opened a widening investigation into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans going back decades, a rare federal foray into such cases looking specifically at whether priests took children across state lines to molest them.... More than a dozen alleged abuse victims have been interviewed this year as part of the probe that's exploring among other charges whether predator priests can be prosecuted under the Mann Act, a more than century-old, anti-sex trafficking law that prohibits taking anyone across state lines for illicit sex. Some of the New Orleans cases under review allege abuse by clergy during trips to Mississippi camps or amusement parks in Texas and Florida. And while some claims are decades old, Mann Act violations notably have no statute of limitations."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "President Biden, speaking Wednesday on the second day of a NATO summit, unveiled plans for an increased U.S. military presence in Europe, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The new deployments are to include a permanent headquarters for the U.S. 5th Army Corps in Poland -- a move that ... Vladimir Putin has long resisted -- as well as the movement of two more F-35 fighter jet squadrons to the United Kingdom. Leaders of NATO member states decided Wednesday to invite Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, announcing the move a day after Turkey agreed to drop its opposition to their bids. The addition of the two Nordic countries will bring the alliance to 32 members and underscores how Russia's war in Ukraine is transforming regional security.... Bulgaria says it is expelling 70 Russian diplomats on grounds that they pose a threat to national security. The diplomats must depart by Sunday." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Wednesday are here.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday narrowed the sweep of its landmark 2020 decision declaring that much of eastern Oklahoma falls within Indian reservation lands, allowing state authorities to prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians on the reservations. The ruling left in place the basic holding of the 2020 decision, McGirt v. Oklahoma, which said that Native Americans who commit crimes on the reservations, which include much of the city of Tulsa, cannot be prosecuted by state or local law enforcement and must instead face justice in tribal or federal courts. The vote on Wednesday was 5 to 4, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was not on the court when the McGirt case was decided, casting the decisive vote."

Nebraska. Marie Paúl of the Washington Post: "Jeff Fortenberry, a former Republican congressman from Nebraska, was sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation after he was found guilty of lying to federal agents about illegal campaign contributions from a Nigerian billionaire. Fortenberry, who resigned this year amid the trial, was convicted in March of one count of scheming to falsify and conceal material facts and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators -- each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. But while prosecutors were seeking a six-month sentence, U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. sided with the defense, which had requested probation. Noting Fortenberry's 'exceptional character,' Blumenfeld also ordered the politician to pay a $25,000 fine and perform 320 hours of community service.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That's funny, because Martha Stewart was sentenced to 5 months in prison & 5 months of home detention for lying to federal investigators. Then again, she's only a girl so she couldn't possibly have had Fortenberry's "exceptional character." BTW, Stewart also lost her job as chair of her eponymous media company, so it's not as if she suffered no personal setbacks as a result of her conviction. (NYT link.)

Reuters, republished in Star News: "At least 51 migrants have died after being trapped inside a sweltering truck found abandoned in Texas, authorities say, as two Mexican nationals tied to the smuggling incident were charged in a US federal court. The deceased migrants, 39 men and 12 women, were discovered on Monday on the outskirts of San Antonio in one of the deadliest human trafficking tragedies in recent history. Two suspects identified as Juan Francisco D'Luna-Bilbao and Juan Claudio D'Luna-Mendez, both Mexican citizens, have been charged with possessing firearms while residing in the United States illegally, according to court documents and US authorities. Investigators traced the truck's vehicle registration to a San Antonio address that they placed under surveillance, and arrested the two men separately when each was seen leaving the residence. A third suspect, described as a US citizen who drove the truck, has also been taken into custody and was expected to be charged, but he remained hospitalised as of Tuesday evening, according to a Mexican official."

~~~~~~~~~~

I don't care that they have weapons. They're not here to hurt me. Take the f'ing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. -- Donald Trump, before his speech at the Ellipse, Jan. 6, 2021 ("mags" refer to magnetotromic metal detectors) ~~~

~~~ Luke Broadwater & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The first White House aide to testify publicly before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack provided a damning account on Tuesday of how ... Donald J. Trump, knowing his supporters were armed and threatening violence, urged them to march to the Capitol and sought to join them there, privately siding with them as they stormed the building and called for the hanging of the vice president. The testimony from the aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, was extraordinary even by the standards of Mr. Trump's norm-busting presidency and the inquiry's remarkable string of revelations this month. In fly-on-the-wall anecdotes delivered in a quiet voice, she described how frantic West Wing aides failed to stop Mr. Trump from encouraging the violence or persuade him to try to end it, and how the White House's top lawyer feared that Mr. Trump might be committing crimes as he steered the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis."

The New York Times' live updates of Cassidy Hutchinson's startling testimony are here: Luke Broadwater: "... Donald J. Trump knew the crowd he amassed in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, was armed and could turn violent, but wanted security precautions lifted because he said his supporters were not there to attack him, according to a junior White House aide who testified on Tuesday to the House committee investigating the attack. In extraordinary blow-by-blow testimony based on episodes she witnessed in the West Wing of the White House, Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff, revealed that the president had demanded to march to the Capitol with his supporters even as the riot was underway, at one point trying to grab the steering wheel of the presidential limo from a Secret Service agent when he was told he could not go.... As rioters stormed the Capitol, chanting 'Hang Mike Pence,' Mr. Trump endorsed the violence. Ms. Hutchinson testified that Mr. Meadows said of Mr. Trump, 'He doesn't want to do anything,' and 'He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn't think they're doing anything wrong.'... Inside the White House, Mr. Trump became enraged when he learned that William P. Barr, the former attorney general, had publicly shot down his false allegations of a stolen election. He beat the table and threw dishes, splattering ketchup on the wall, Ms. Hutchinson said, adding that it was not the first time she had seen the president smash crockery in a rage." ~~~

~~~ Katie Benner: "Hutchinson provided many bombshells. The shocking description of Trump wrestling the Secret Service for control of his car on Jan. 6 so he could go to the Capitol. Portraying Meadows, her former boss, as a man who abdicated responsibility to the nation and hoped to be pardoned. And saying Trump knew that his supporters had dangerous weapons when he asked them to march on Congress.... Cheney says that Trump allies have been intimidating committee witnesses in messages that sound more like Mafia warnings than communications with a former president's aides. 'He wants me to let you know he's thinking about you. He knows you're loyal.'" ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman: "Trump, basically a one-man response team for himself, is going after Hutchinson on his social media site, Truth Social. He's using a familiar tack, that he hardly knows 'who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is.'" ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker: "To see a retired three-star general [Michael Flynn] who swore an oath to defend the country and the Constitution plead the Fifth when asked if he believed in the peaceful transfer of power in America is another stunning moment today." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates are here. Politico's story, by Kyle Cheney & others, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An AP story is here.

You can watch the full hearing on this committee Webpage. If you missed the hearing, you missed a sliver of American history that, should the country eventually right itself, your grandchildren will read about. ~~~~

~~~ OR, if your busy, you can watch Stephen Colbert's recap, which ends with a stirring rendition of the national anthem, as reimagined by former general Michael Flynn, which has, to recommend it, way easier-to-remember lyrics than the old "Star-Spangled Banner":

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "... the breathtaking testimony presented by his former aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, at Tuesday's House select committee hearing portrayed an unhinged commander in chief veering wildly out of control as he desperately sought to cling to power and egged on armed supporters to help make it happen. The president that emerged from her account was volatile, violent and vicious, single-minded in his quest to overturn an election he lost no matter what anyone told him, anxious to head to the Capitol to personally disrupt the constitutional process that would finalize his defeat, dismissive of warnings that his actions could lead to disaster and thoroughly unbothered by the prospect of sending to Congress a mob of supporters that he knew included people armed with deadly weapons.... Mr. Trump, who regularly accuses his critics of being 'crazy' and 'psycho,' bombarded his new social media site during the hearing on Tuesday with posts assailing Ms. Hutchinson and denying the most sensational anecdote she provided to the committee."

Alan Feuer & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Knowing that his crowd of supporters had the means to be violent when he exhorted them to march to the Capitol -- and declared that he wanted to go with them -- could nudge Mr. Trump closer to facing criminal charges, legal experts said.... The revelations in the testimony to the House select committee by Cassidy Hutchinson ... provided new evidence about Mr. Trump's activities before the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol and chipped away at any potential defense that he was merely expressing well-founded views about election fraud.... Ms. Hutchinson described how [White House Counsel Pat] Cipollone worriedly pulled her aside [January 3, 2021] after learning that Mr. Trump was considering marching with his supporters to the Capitol after his speech near the White House on Jan. 6 -- a decision, he suggested, that could have major consequences. 'We're going to get charged with every crime imaginable,' Mr. Cipollone said, by Ms. Hutchinson's account." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Knowing what he knew, Cippolone still decided weeks later it was okay to defend Trump in his second impeachment trial. As Stephen Gillers laid out in Just Security on January 27, 2021, "A legal ethics rule -- the 'advocate-witness rule' -- says that when a lawyer should be a witness at trial, she cannot also be an advocate in the courtroom. The Senate chamber is not, of course, an ordinary courtroom, but that should make no difference. The goal is the same -- to get the facts and find the truth.... If the impeachment trial were in a courtroom, Cipollone could not head, or even be part of, the defense team." It would be worthwhile to review Cippolone's assertions in the trial to see if he made assertions that contradicted his knowledge as a direct witness. It's no wonder Cippolone refuses to testify.

James Risen of the Intercept: "With her surprise testimony at Tuesday's hearing of the House Jan. 6 ;committee, former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson broke open the inside story of the coup plotting that was underway at the White House before and during the insurrection and in the process suddenly raised Donald Trump's legal jeopardy.... Hutchinson's stunning testimony, the most dramatic since the House hearings started, recalls that of Alexander Butterfield, the White House aide during Watergate who revealed to the Senate Watergate Committee that President Richard Nixon had a taping system in place in the Oval Office.... During Tuesday's hearing, Hutchinson painted a vivid picture of Trump's insane behavior as he sought to prevent Biden from assuming office."

Tim Miller of the Bulwark: "[Tuesday] afternoon a 26-year-old former assistant showed more courage and integrity than an entire administration full of grown-ass adults who were purportedly working in service to the American people, but had long ago decided to serve only their ambition and grievance.... Everything that all of us Enemies of the People had warned about concerning Donald Trump was borne out in her testimony. He was chaotic, reckless, megalomaniacal, fascistic, abusive, cowardly, petulant, anti-American.... What [Cassidy] Hutchinson revealed is something we all privately knew, but now have sworn testimony of every single person around Trump saw what we saw, firsthand. And yet they did nothing.... I hope others learn from her example." ~~~

~~~ Marie: Another person Hutchinson made look really bad was her immediate boss, Mark Meadows, who seemed from her testimony to have busied himself scrolling through his phone on Insurrection Day & did nothing to prevent or even mitigate the catastrophe he had signaled to her was coming. Then he asked Trump for a pardon.

Marie: Hutchinson, who just turned 26, is getting some well-earned praise for her bravery, especially since Liz Cheney offered evidence that Trump & allied thugs were threatening witnesses, Mafia-style & Trump himself called Cassidy's testimony "sick" & "fraudulent" during the hearing. But much praise also should go to Cheney, who appears to have questioned Cassidy in recorded interviews and who did question Cassidy during Tuesday's hearing. Cheney -- and whatever staff assisted her -- engineered the Q&A during the hearing, along with the recorded interjections, into a nearly seamless narrative that rounded out a damning portrait of the dangerous, unhinged lunatic to whom the American people had entrusted the nuclear codes.

Dumb-de-Dumb-Dumb. Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's supporters online sought to undercut stunning testimony Tuesday to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, seeking to belittle Cassidy Hutchinson's claims that she was told Trump had lunged for the steering wheel of his vehicle and attempted to throttle a member of his security detail when they refused to take him to the Capitol.... The presidential limousine, known as 'the Beast,' is so heavily fortified that they argued it would be 'physically impossible' for Trump to cross from the back cabin to the driver's seat." The problems with their theory: (1) it is possible to reach from the back of the Beast to the front seat; (2) Trump didn't take the Beast that day; "he actually rode in a Secret Service SUV." ~~~

      ~~~ Marie: I knew (2) because during this part of Hutchinson's testimony the committee rolled video of Trump in the SUV on January 6 while Cheney explained what the video depicted. But the dumbest denier is, not surprisingly, Trump himself, who claimed on social media that it ";wouldn't even have been possible to do such a ridiculous thing." That is, he's so unhinged he doesn't know what vehicle he was in when he attacked the driver & tried to grab the steering wheel.

Tuesday's testimony reminded RAS of Baby Trump. ~~~

~~~ Marie: I'm down with that, but an old novelty song by the Statler Brothers kept running through my mind, though I replaced the top line of the refrain -- "counting flowers on the wall" -- with "tossing ketchup at the wall." Without a doubt, the former POTUS* is just as loony as the subject of the song. (Of course, the Statler Brothers' loon is harmless; Trump is a danger to the entire world.) It helps that in this particular performance at the Grand Old Opry, the group is introduced by a fellow named Archie, who arranged to look a lot like a fellow named Adolf:

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A lawyer for Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a supporter of ... Donald J. Trump's efforts to stay in power after the 2020 election, told the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot that he saw no reason for her to testify before the panel. The letter from her lawyer, Mark Paoletta ... came after the committee made a fresh request to secure an appearance from Ms. Thomas, who had exchanged text messages with the White House chief of staff at the time, Mark Meadows, in which she urged on efforts to challenge Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory.... Mr. Paoletta allowed that if the committee revealed additional information, he could reconsider his position."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "John Eastman, an architect of Donald Trump's last-ditch bid to subvert the 2020 election, has dropped a lawsuit aimed at blocking the Jan. 6 select committee from obtaining his phone records. In a late Tuesday filing, Eastman voluntarily dismissed the suit, claiming that he'd been assured the committee was only seeking his call logs -- not the content of any messages held by his carrier, Verizon. The select committee has long contended that it lacks the authority to obtain message content."

Danny Hakim & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani has emerged as a central figure in a Georgia criminal investigation of efforts by Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn his election loss in the state, with prosecutors questioning witnesses last week before a special grand jury about Mr. Giuliani's appearances before state legislative panels after the 2020 vote, the witnesses said. For Mr. Giuliani, the developments are the latest in a widening swath of trouble.... He also participated in a scheme to create slates of fake presidential electors in 2020 that is now the subject of an intensifying investigation by the Department of Justice.... The crux of his conduct [in Georgia] came during two hearings in December 2020, when Mr. Giuliani appeared before state legislative panels and spent hours peddling false conspiracy theories about secret suitcases of Democratic ballots and corrupted voting machines. He told members of the State House, 'You cannot possibly certify Georgia in good faith.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dana Rubenstein of the New York Times: "Two days after Rudy Giuliani claimed a worker had assaulted him at a Staten Island supermarket, the once-vaunted former mayor was spending Tuesday morning like many men his age: complaining about his aches and pains. 'My shoulder hurts like hell and I've got a big lump on the back,' he said, smiling incongruously as he spoke.... 'And I don't complain.' Despite the video that quickly emerged showing that the supermarket worker in question had merely tapped Mr. Giuliani on the back, and despite a Staten Island prosecutor's decision to reduce the charges against the man from a felony to misdemeanors, Mr. Giuliani held fast to his narrative.... Little or none of [what he said] appeared to be true." ~~~

     ~~~ Rudy -- Keeping It Classy. Carl Campanile & Jorge Fitz-Gibbon of the New York Post: New York City “Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that Rudy Giuliani should be investigated for filing a false police report over an alleged assault at a Staten Island supermarket.... 'I looked at the video and someone needs to remind former Mayor Giuliani that falsely reporting a crime is a crime,' Adams said during an unrelated press conference in East Harlem.... 'Tell Adams to go f--k himself,' he told The Post Tuesday. 'What a f--king scumbag.'"

Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: “As the Justice Department expands its criminal investigation into the efforts to keep ... Donald J. Trump in office after his 2020 election loss, the critical job of pulling together some of its disparate strands has been given to an aggressive, if little-known, federal prosecutor named Thomas P. Windom. Since late last year, when he was detailed to the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, Mr. Windom, 44, has emerged as a key leader in one of the most complex, consequential and sensitive inquiries to have been taken on by the Justice Department in recent memory, and one that has kicked into higher gear over the past week with a raft of new subpoenas and other steps." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The New York Times is live-updating Tuesday's primary election results in several states. Worth scrolling through. The life-threatening slap on the back to his father Rudy did not help Andrew Giuliani, who lost New York's GOP gubernatorial primary to Rep. Lee Zeldin. Tina Peters, indicted friend of MyPillow Guy & election denier extraordinaire, came in third in a three-way race for Colorado secretary of state. Rep. Mary White-Life Miller (R-Ill.) beat out Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) in a newly-gerrymandered district. And most sadly, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) survived a challenge. More on Boebert, world-class Constitutional scholar, below. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of election results are here.

Supremes Again Rule Against Democracy, Black Americans. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated a congressional voting map in Louisiana that a federal judge had said diluted the power of Black voters. The court's three liberal members dissented. The Supreme Court's brief order, which included no reasoning, blocked the judge's order and granted a petition seeking review in the case. The justices will, the order said, hold the Louisiana case while the court decides a similar one from Alabama in its next term." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An NBC News story is here.

Chris Hedges on Substack: "The Supreme Court is relentlessly funding and empowering Christian fascism.... Fascists achieve power by creating parallel institutions -- schools, universities, media platforms and paramilitary forces -- and seizing the organs of internal security and the judiciary. They deform the law, including electoral law, to serve their ends. They are rarely in the majority." Whyte O., who recommended Hedges' essay, noted that Hedges can be over the top, but here he has the goods. I agree with Whyte. I think what has happened is not that Hedges has not been over the top but that facts on the ground have caught up with his assertions. As if to offer more evidence ... ~~~

~~~ Boebert Unaware of First Amendment. Adela Suliman & Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who faces a primary election Tuesday, says she is 'tired' of the U.S. separation of church and state, a long-standing concept stemming from a 'stinking letter' penned by one of the Founding Fathers. Speaking at a religious service Sunday in Colorado, she told worshipers: 'The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it.' She added: 'I'm tired of this separation of church and state junk that's not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does.'... Gwen Calais-Haase, a political scientist at Harvard University, told The Washington Post that Boebert's interpretation of the Constitution was 'false, misleading and dangerous.' Calais-Haase said she was 'extremely worried about the environment of misinformation that extremist politicians take advantage of for their own gains.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. Ariana Perez-Castells, et al., of the Texas Tribune: "Abortions up to about six weeks in pregnancy can resume at some clinics in Texas for now after a Harris County District Court judge granted a temporary restraining order that blocks an abortion ban that was in place before Roe v. Wade. In the ruling issued Tuesday, Judge Christine Weems ruled that the pre-Roe abortion ban 'is repealed and may not be enforced consistent with the due process guaranteed by the Texas constitution.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.

Hundreds of Auditors Cheated on Their Ethics Exams. Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "Ernst & Young, one of the world's largest auditing firms, has agreed to pay a $100 million fine after U.S. securities regulators found that hundreds of its auditors had cheated on various ethics exams they were required to obtain or maintain professional licenses -- and that the firm did not do enough to stop the practice. The penalty, announced Tuesday, is the largest ever imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against a firm in the auditing business, which occupies a unique ethical perch in the financial world. These firms are in charge of verifying the accuracy of companies' financial statements and issuing warnings to investors if they identify dubious accounting practices." MB: I don't suppose the Ernst & Young honchos appreciate the multiple ironies here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted last year of trafficking young sexual abuse victims to financier Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade, on Tuesday was sentenced to 20 years in prison.... [Judge Alison] Nathan said she chose a prison term longer than what she believed the guidelines called for because it was 'important to note [Maxwell's] lack of acceptance of responsibility.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ted v. the Muppets, a Sequel. Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "Young Muppet Elmo ... who has been 3½ years old since 1984 ... proudly got his coronavirus vaccine, weeks after the United States made the shots widely available for children under 5.... Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) shared the clip on Twitter -- and blasted the popular PBS/HBO children's show for allowing Elmo to 'aggressively advocate for vaccinating children UNDER 5.' He added: 'You cite ZERO scientific evidence for this.'... In a statement Tuesday, Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, said the public service advertisement featuring Elmo was produced in partnership with the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics." MB: I am personally upset that Elmo didn't give 3-year-olds a scientific seminar on the vaccine.

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. Another Extended Assault on the First Amendment. Arelis R. Hernández & Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "A month after 19 children and two educators were killed at Robb Elementary School..., journalists who have flocked to Uvalde, Tex., from across the country to tell that story have faced near-constant interference, intimidation and stonewalling from ... authorities ... [including] bikers claiming to have police sanction. Journalists have been threatened with arrest for 'trespassing' outside public buildings. They have been barred from public meetings and refused basic information about what police did during the May 24 attack. After several early, error-filled news conferences, officials have routinely turned down interview requests and refused to hold news briefings.... Harassment became so bad that the [San Antonio News-Express]'s photo director told photographers to document their treatment by police."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden is leading an effort to manipulate the oil market at a scale the world has rarely seen, embracing cartel-like tactics in an aggressive but risky attempt to undermine Russia's war effort in Ukraine. At the Group of 7 nations meeting this week in the Bavarian Alps, Mr. Biden has attempted to assemble an upside-down version of OPEC ... with the goal of soothing consumers burned at the gasoline pump and ... helping to speed the end of the war. Instead of limiting supply to maximize revenues..., as a cartel does, Mr. Biden is trying to minimize how much one particular seller -- Moscow -- reaps from each barrel. He led his Group of 7 counterparts to agree on Tuesday to a plan that would cap the price of Russian oil, as a way of driving down the revenue President Vladimir V. Putin is deriving from his most important export."

** Steven Erlanger, et al., of the New York Times: "NATO's top official said Tuesday that Turkey had dropped its objections to the membership of Sweden and Finland, two historically nonaligned nations that, alarmed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, have asked to join the military alliance. Turkey's reversal is a blow to President Vladimir V. Putin, who in justifying the invasion of his neighbor bitterly protested previous expansions of NATO -- and Ukraine's efforts to join the alliance -- as a threat to his country's security. Should Finland and Sweden be formally adopted into the alliance, as is widely expected, Russia will look across 800 miles of border with Finland at one of NATO's newest members. The announcement came after Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, met for four hours with Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden and President Sauli Niinisto of Finland, as NATO heads of state gathered in Madrid for an annual summit. The 30-nation alliance operates by consensus, which meant that Turkey effectively held a veto over their membership applications."

June 28, 2022

Today is primary day in eight states, including Colorado & New York.

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Cassidy Hutchinson's startling testimony are here: Luke Broadwater: "... Donald J. Trump knew the crowd he amassed in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, was armed and could turn violent, but wanted security precautions lifted because he said his supporters were not there to attack him, according to a junior White House aide who testified on Tuesday to the House committee investigating the attack. In extraordinary blow-by-blow testimony based on episodes she witnessed in the West Wing of the White House, Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff, revealed that the president had demanded to march to the Capitol with his supporters even as the riot was underway, at one point trying to grab the steering wheel of the presidential limo from a Secret Service agent when he was told he could not go.... As rioters stormed the Capitol, chanting 'Hang Mike Pence,' Mr. Trump endorsed the violence. Ms. Hutchinson testified that Mr. Meadows said of Mr. Trump, 'He doesn't want to do anything,' and 'He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn't think they're doing anything wrong.'... Inside the White House, Mr. Trump became enraged when he learned that William P. Barr, the former attorney general, had publicly shot down his false allegations of a stolen election. He beat the table and threw dishes, splattering ketchup on the wall, Ms. Hutchinson said, adding that it was not the first time she had seen the president smash crockery in a rage." ~~~

~~~ Katie Benner: "Hutchinson provided many bombshells. The shocking description of Trump wrestling the Secret Service for control of his car on Jan. 6 so he could go to the Capitol. Portraying Meadows, her former boss, as a man who abdicated responsibility to the nation and hoped to be pardoned. And saying Trump knew that his supporters had dangerous weapons when he asked them to march on Congress.... Cheney says that Trump allies have been intimidating committee witnesses in messages that sound more like Mafia warnings than communications with a former president's aides. 'He wants me to let you know he's thinking about you. He knows you're loyal.'" ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman: "Trump, basically a one-man response team for himself, is going after Hutchinson on his social media site, Truth Social. He's using a familiar tack, that he hardly knows 'who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is.'" ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker: "To see a retired three-star general [Michael Flynn] who swore an oath to defend the country and the Constitution plead the Fifth when asked if he believed in the peaceful transfer of power in America is another stunning moment today." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates are here. Politico's story, by Kyle Cheney & others, is here.

Danny Hakim & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani has emerged as a central figure in a Georgia criminal investigation of efforts by Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn his election loss in the state, with prosecutors questioning witnesses last week before a special grand jury about Mr. Giuliani's appearances before state legislative panels after the 2020 vote, the witnesses said. For Mr. Giuliani, the developments are the latest in a widening swath of trouble.... He also participated in a scheme to create slates of fake presidential electors in 2020 that is now the subject of an intensifying investigation by the Department of Justice.... The crux of his conduct [in Georgia] came during two hearings in December 2020, when Mr. Giuliani appeared before state legislative panels and spent hours peddling false conspiracy theories about secret suitcases of Democratic ballots and corrupted voting machines. He told members of the State House, 'You cannot possibly certify Georgia in good faith.'"

Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "As the Justice Department expands its criminal investigation into the efforts to keep ... Donald J. Trump in office after his 2020 election loss, the critical job of pulling together some of its disparate strands has been given to an aggressive, if little-known, federal prosecutor named Thomas P. Windom. Since late last year, when he was detailed to the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, Mr. Windom, 44, has emerged as a key leader in one of the most complex, consequential and sensitive inquiries to have been taken on by the Justice Department in recent memory, and one that has kicked into higher gear over the past week with a raft of new subpoenas and other steps."

Supremes Again Rule Against Democracy, Black Americans. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated a congressional voting map in Louisiana that a federal judge had said diluted the power of Black voters. The court's three liberal members dissented. The Supreme Court's brief order, which included no reasoning, blocked the judge's order and granted a petition seeking review in the case. The justices will, the order said, hold the Louisiana case while the court decides a similar one from Alabama in its next term."

Texas. Ariana Perez-Castells, et al., of the Texas Tribune: "Abortions up to about six weeks in pregnancy can resume at some clinics in Texas for now after a Harris County District Court judge granted a temporary restraining order that blocks an abortion ban that was in place before Roe v. Wade. In the ruling issued Tuesday, Judge Christine Weems ruled that the pre-Roe abortion ban 'is repealed and may not be enforced consistent with the due process guaranteed by the Texas constitution.'"

Boebert Unaware of First Amendment. Adela Suliman & Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who faces a primary election Tuesday, says she is 'tired' of the U.S. separation of church and state, a long-standing concept stemming from a 'stinking letter' penned by one of the Founding Fathers. Speaking at a religious service Sunday in Colorado, she told worshipers: 'The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it.' She added: 'I'm tired of this separation of church and state junk that's not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does.'... Gwen Calais-Haase, a political scientist at Harvard University, told The Washington Post that Boebert's interpretation of the Constitution was 'false, misleading and dangerous.' Calais-Haase said she was 'extremely worried about the environment of misinformation that extremist politicians take advantage of for their own gains.'"

Hundreds of Auditors Cheated on Their Ethics Exams. Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "Ernst & Young, one of the world's largest auditing firms, has agreed to pay a $100 million fine after U.S. securities regulators found that hundreds of its auditors had cheated on various ethics exams they were required to obtain or maintain professional licenses -- and that the firm did not do enough to stop the practice. The penalty, announced Tuesday, is the largest ever imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against a firm in the auditing business, which occupies a unique ethical perch in the financial world. These firms are in charge of verifying the accuracy of companies' financial statements and issuing warnings to investors if they identify dubious accounting practices." MB: I don't suppose the Ernst & Young honchos can see the multiple ironies here.

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted last year of trafficking young sexual abuse victims to financier Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade, on Tuesday was sentenced to 20 years in prison.... [Judge Alison] Nathan said she chose a prison term longer than what she believed the guidelines called for because it was 'important to note [Maxwell's] lack of acceptance of responsibility.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

** Luke Broadwater & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Monday abruptly scheduled a hearing for Tuesday afternoon to hear what the panel called 'recently obtained evidence' and take witness testimony, a surprise move that touched off a wave of speculation about a potential explosive revelation. The hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Capitol Hill, according to a news release issued by the committee, in which it provided no other details about the session.... Pressed on the matter on Monday, aides declined to divulge what additional evidence they planned to present on Tuesday or who would be testifying." An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Nicholas Wu, et al., of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee is set to hear from a onetime top aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Tuesday, an abruptly scheduled hearing whose announcement riveted Washington. Cassidy Hutchinson will testify publicly, according to two people familiar with the committee's plans, after providing crucial testimony to the panel about significant exchanges among top Donald Trump's inner circle in the weeks before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Hutchinson replaced her attorney earlier this month as the select committee's hearings began; her former attorney was the Trump White House's chief ethics lawyer, and her new attorney is a longtime ally of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.... It's unclear why the panel expedited Hutchinson's hearing, or whether she will appear alongside other significant witnesses."

** Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Federal agents armed with a search warrant have seized the phone of John Eastman, a lawyer who advised ... Donald J. Trump on a key element of the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a court filing by Mr. Eastman on Monday. The filing, a motion to recover property from the government, said that F.B.I. agents in New Mexico, acting on behalf of the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General, stopped Mr. Eastman as he was leaving a restaurant last Wednesday and seized his iPhone. A copy of the warrant included as an exhibit in Mr. Eastman's filing said that the phone would be taken to the inspector general's forensic lab in Northern Virginia. The seizure ... is the latest evidence that the Justice Department is intensifying its criminal investigation into the various strands of Mr. Trump's efforts to remain in power after he was defeated in his bid for re-election.... The seizure of Mr. Eastman's phone appears to have come on the same day that federal agents also seized the phone of Jeffrey Clark...." (Also linked yesterday.) A CNN report is here.

Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack is closely focused on phone calls and conversations among Donald Trump's children and top aides captured by a documentary film-maker weeks before the 2020 election.... One part of [filmmaker Alex] Holder's testimony that particularly piqued the interest of the members of the select committee and chief investigative counsel Tim Heaphy was when he disclosed that he had managed to record discussions at [a] 29 September 2020 event.... On [that date]..., Steve Bannon said in an interview with HBO’s The Circus that the outcome of the 2020 election would be decided at the state level and eventually at the congressional certification on January 6.... Asked how he expects the election to end, Bannon said: 'Right before noon on the 20th, in a vote in the House, Trump will win the presidency.' The select committee believes that ideas such as Bannon's were communicated to advisors to Donald Jr and his fiancee, Kimberly Guilfoyle, even before the 2020 election.... What appears to interest the panel is whether Trump and his children had planned to somehow stop the certification of the election on January 6...."

Shawn Hubler & Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "The battle over abortion shifted to the states on Monday.... Conservatives in roughly half of the states [moved] swiftly to end or dramatically restrict reproductive rights, and liberals in about 20 more [scrambled] to preserve them.... Abortion rights advocates in Kentucky, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas sued on Monday to halt or delay bans on abortion after a similar court challenge was filed in Arizona over the weekend. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic moved to withdraw a federal court challenge to a ban in South Carolina, but apparently only so the organization could file a fresh challenge in state courts.... [In] Louisiana and Utah..., judges on Monday temporarily blocked enforcement of laws that would have banned abortion. Abortion rights advocates are coalescing around a strategy of asking courts for temporary injunctions that at the very least can allow abortions to proceed in the short term. One of Louisiana's three clinics already said on Monday that it would reopen."

California. Reis Thebault of the Washington Post: "California is poised to become one of the first states in the nation to explicitly enshrine the right to abortion and contraception in its constitution after lawmakers on Monday voted to advance a constitutional amendment, putting the issue on the November ballot. The amendment is part of a flurry of legislative efforts in liberal states aimed at solidifying reproductive rights in the aftermath of last week's Supreme Court decision striking down Roe v. Wade. California, which has advertised itself as a sanctuary for people seeking abortions, is trying to lead the way. The bill introducing the proposed amendment easily passed through the state's legislature, where Democrats hold a supermajority, and voters will now consider it during the general election. A wide majority of Californians have said they oppose overturning Roe, and the amendment is expected to pass."

Utah. Praveena Somasundaram of the Washington Post: "A judge in Utah granted a temporary restraining order to block the state's 'trigger ban' on Monday, allowing abortion services to resume immediately. Third District Judge Andrew Stone in Salt Lake City granted a 14-day restraining order in an emergency hearing requested by the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah (PPAU).... Utah's trigger ban, which the legislature passed in 2020, prohibits abortions with limited exceptions, such as if the procedure is necessary to prevent a pregnant person's death or if a person is pregnant as a result of incest or rape." (Also linked yesterday.)

Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday said she's preparing votes on a number of bills protecting abortion as well as codifying landmark Supreme Court decisions as a response to the court overturning Roe v. Wade.... In a 'Dear Colleague' letter to her caucus, Pelosi hinted at bills to respond to Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson calling for the court to revisit landmark rulings protecting same-sex relationships, marriage equality and access to contraceptives.... Much of this legislation will likely go nowhere in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to bypass the filibuster."

Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al. of the Washington Post: "To an increasingly vocal group of frustrated Democrats, activists and even members of Congress, [tepid] responses [to the Supreme Court' radicalism] by party leaders have been strikingly inadequate to meet a moment of crisis. They criticize the notion that it is on voters to turn out in November when they say Democrats are unwilling to push boundaries and upend the system in defense of hard-won civil liberties.... Progressive lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), have outlined several actions they want to see Democrats embrace: Building abortion clinics on federal land. Funding people to seek abortions out of state. Limiting the Supreme Court's jurisdiction or expanding its membership. Ending the filibuster.... [President] Biden and his team have signaled discomfort with many of these ideas, particularly any far-reaching overhaul of the Supreme Court.... But many abortion rights supporters say Republicans have routinely broken the rules in recent years and benefited enormously from it...."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "The last institutionalists are the leaders of the Democratic party.... In part because its leaders have been on the job for so long -- [President] Biden has been in politics with limited interruption since 1973, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi since 1987 and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer since 1981 -- they retain some obvious confidence that the system will work out its own kinks.... For younger Democrats, this is inexplicable. This is a generation that has been directly confronted with a number of dire threats: the growing effects of climate change, mass shootings in schools and the demonstrated dangers of domestic extremism.... That's probably been reinforced by a period of American politics in which ... Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly targeted the solidity of those same institutions."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Especially during election years, GOP elected officials, including Donald Trump in 2020, claimed that the Supreme Court would never overturn Roe v. Wade. "On the one hand, the Republican Party has pushed for it for decades; on the other, even as it has done so, plenty within its ranks have assured that it wasn't happening. The party seemed to want the benefits of the push with its base, without the consequences of the unpopular prospect with the broader electorate. It also knew that overturning Roe was a red line for some key abortion-rights-supporting GOP senators whose votes were needed to confirm the justices who would eventually overturn Roe." Blake cites examples. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post thinks up some ways Susan Collins & Joe Manchin can make some substantive amends for the damage the have caused the country by voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. "... it is not politically or morally sufficient for Collins or Manchin to simply holler 'I was tricked!' when the rights of millions of Americans are at stake. Whether she was deceived, when a public official make an error so egregious, it is incumbent on her to fix the damage. If Collins refuses to do so, voters will draw the conclusion that she wasn't that surprised -- or that sorry -- that she enabled the destruction of women's fundamental right to reject forced birth." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Supreme Court has no power to enforce its decisions. It doesn't have an army. The only thing it has power to do is write PDFs and put them up on its website. -- Daniel Epps, U. of Washington ~~~

~~~ Peter Coy of the New York Times: "People on the losing end of Supreme Court decisions increasingly feel that justice is not being served. That's a scary situation for the high court, and for American democracy in general.... All the Supreme Court really has to go on is the public's acceptance of its rulings as legitimate.... [In the Dobbs case, overruling Roe v. Wade,] Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor ... flatly [stated] in their dissent that the majority's decision 'undermines the court's legitimacy.'... For the losing side, the sting of the decision was made worse by [Mitch McConnell's manipulation of the Court's makeup].... That ... tore a hole in the fabric of democracy."

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "You are now governed by a secretive and unaccountable junta in long black robes.... They want a country where women, once again, are at best second-class citizens.... Our rulers want a country in which guns are everywhere -- and the victims of those guns are seen as the price to be paid for a warped idea of 'freedom.'... The junta does not believe the nation's founders were serious about the separation of church and state.... Previous Supreme Court majorities have expanded the rights and opportunities of the marginalized.... The junta clearly sees these rights as suspect.... In the short term, the junta is willing for the United States to be more like the loose collection of sovereign states created by the Articles of Confederation than the strong union created by the Constitution.... The junta clearly wants to transform the whole country to suit its reactionary vision."

Michael Wines & Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "... a year after Attorney General Merrick B. Garland established the federal Election Threats Task Force, almost no one ... has faced punishment.... Only [one] has successfully concluded out of more than 1,000 it has evaluated. Public reports of prosecutions by state and local officials are equally sparse, despite an explosion of intimidating and even violent threats against election workers, largely since ... Donald J. Trump began spreading the lie that fraud cost him the 2020 presidential election.... The depth of election workers' fear was underscored in hearings this month by the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault at the U.S. Capitol.... [Some] experts say the lack of both action and transparency was undermining the principal goal of the task force -- to stop the epidemic of violent threats." (Also linked yesterday.)

Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "The public listing of ... Donald J. Trump's social media company took a fresh blow on Monday when the cash-rich shell company merging with Mr. Trump's company disclosed in a regulatory filing that a federal grand jury in New York recently issued subpoenas to the company and its directors. The grand jury subpoenas were issued within the past week, according to the filing by Digital World Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that announced a merger with Trump Media & Technology Group in October. After the merger, Trump Media would assume Digital World's listing and trade as a public company. The disclosure by Digital World is the first indication that federal prosecutors in Manhattan have joined in the scrutiny of the merger between Digital World and Trump Media, which has been under investigation by financial regulators for months. The investigation threatens to further delay the completion of the merger, which would provide Mr. Trump's company and its social media platform, Truth Social, with up to $1.3 billion in capital, in addition to a stock market listing." (Also linked yesterday.)

What a Surprise! Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a high school football coach had a constitutional right to pray at the 50-yard line after his team's games. The vote was 6 to 3, with the court's three liberal members in dissent. The case pitted the rights of government workers to free speech and the free exercise of their faith against the Constitution's prohibition of government endorsement of religion and the ability of public employers to regulate speech in the workplace. The decision was in tension with decades of Supreme Court precedents that forbade pressuring students to participate in religious activities. The case concerned Joseph Kennedy, an assistant coach at a public high school in Bremerton, Wash., near Seattle. For eight years, Mr. Kennedy routinely offered prayers after games, with students often joining him. He also led and participated in prayers in the locker room, a practice he later abandoned and did not defend in the Supreme Court." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. The Washington Post story, which is here, is topped by a photo of Kennedy kneeling in prayer, leaning on a football, in front of the Supreme Court building. According to the caption, this display of piety took place "after the Court heard arguments." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Kennedy's practice of Christianity directly contradicts Biblical teaching. One of the best-known parts of the New Testament is Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Jesus teaches his followers how to pray. As a sort of preamble to his saying the Lord's Prayer -- the only prayer Jesus is credited with saying -- Jesus admonishes the crowd, "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:5) So the confederate Supremes' decision in this case is not just bad law; it's bad religion, too.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday sided with two doctors convicted of illegally dispensing drugs without a legitimate medical purpose. The ruling was unanimous, though the justices disagreed on the precise rationale. They were united, however, in saying that prosecutors needed to prove more than that the doctors had violated objective standards. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, writing for six members of the court, said that, so long as doctors were authorized to dispense controlled substances, prosecutors 'must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knew that he or she was acting in an unauthorized manner, or intended to do so.'... The Supreme Court sent the case back to the appeals courts to consider whether the juries in the two cases had been properly instructed and, if not, whether the errors were harmless."

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... over the past few days we've received even more reminders of just how extreme Republicans have become..... Where is this extremism coming from?... The Republican turn toward extremism began during the 1990s.... I think I've found [an historical precursor]: the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.... OK, the modern G.O.P. isn't as bad as the second K.K.K. But Republican extremism clearly draws much of its energy from the same sources. And because G.O.P. extremism is fed by resentment against the very things that, as I see it, truly make America great -- our diversity, our tolerance for difference -- it cannot be appeased or compromised with. It can only be defeated."

Marie: I consider myself to be a liberal, but a rather moderate, sensible liberal in touch with reality. Still, I have shocked myself over the past several years, beginning probably with Mitch McConnell's refusal to give the very moderate Merrick Garland a hearing, at some of the seemingly radical, alarmist things I have thought & written. My views & predictions have become more radical since the 2020 election. I sometimes stop and ask myself, "Do I really mean that?" Yet what also has surprised me over the last several months is that other reasonable opinionators have caught up with me. They are, at long last, expressing the same alarm I felt some seven years ago. Krugman notes in the column linked above, "Yet as Edward Luce of The Financial Times recently pointed out, 'at every juncture over last 20 years the America "alarmists" have been right.'"

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Jeffrey Mays of the New York Times: "A law that would have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections in New York City was struck down on Monday by a State Supreme Court justice on Staten Island who said it violated the State Constitution. The measure, which was passed by the City Council in December, would have allowed more than 800,000 permanent legal residents and people with authorization to work in the United States to vote for offices such as mayor and City Council. But Justice Ralph J. Porzio ruled that the new law conflicted with constitutional guidelines and state law stating that only eligible citizens can vote. To give noncitizens a right to vote would require a referendum, the judge wrote.... Joshua A. Douglas, a professor at the University of Kentucky..., said he was surprised by the ruling because the State Constitution does not specify that only citizens can vote." Republicans challenged the ordinance.

New York. Akhilleus the Skeptic asserted in yesterday's thread that Rudy Giuliani may have ever-so slightly exaggerated the force of the slap on the back he got from a grocery clerk who accurately labeled Rudy a scumbag. I'll leave it to you to judge, but it looks to me as if the woman standing next to Rudy, who appears to be a friend of his, touched Rudy's back harder than did the grocery worker. Nevertheless, Rudy had the guy arrested because he thought the guy had shot him & would have knocked him down if Rudy hadn't been so fit. In my view, the worker appears to have simply tagged Rudy to make sure everyone knew who the scumbag was:

     ~~~ Related story linked yesterday. Marie: In additional interviews -- Rudy seems to have given quite a few interviews about being the victim of this horrendous violent crime -- Rudy said he "could have been killed" by that pat on the back and claimed "it hurt tremendously." When he learned the changes against the vicious perp had been downgraded & released from jail, he said he wasn't worried for himself because the Mafia already had threatened him, but he was worried this dangerous thug was free to come after "you" and beat you up. My advice: hide inside your house surrounded by an arsenal, and pray that's enough to fend off this savage young punk. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Chelsia Marcius of the New York Times: "A grocery store worker accused of assaulting Rudolph W. Giuliani at a Staten Island supermarket on Sunday had the charges against him reduced after the emergence of video footage that appeared to show him patting Mr. Giuliani on the back with an open palm rather than striking him. The worker, Daniel Gill, had been charged with second-degree assault, a felony, in the immediate aftermath of the episode. Prosecutors later reduced the charges to third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, third-degree menacing and second-degree harassment.... The [original] complaint charging Mr. Gill says he hit Mr. Giuliani so hard that the blow resulted in 'substantial pain to the back and left side of his body' and caused Mr. Giuliani to stumble forward.... 'Our client merely patted Mr. Giuliani, who sustained nothing remotely resembling physical injuries, without malice to simply get his attention, as the video footage clearly showed,' [a] statement [from the Legal Aid Society, which represents Mr. Gill, said]."~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So good work, Akhilleus. ~~~

     ~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Not for the first time, Americans face a conundrum over whom to believe: Rudy Giuliani, or their own lying eyes?... The supermarket shenanigans, as captured in the video, resemble not in the slightest the preposterous tale of criminal brutality that Giuliani turned them into.... The progenitor of the 'big lie,' stripped of his law license for that, is now fibbing in the produce aisle.... Informed that authorities were downgrading the charges and releasing the worker, Giuliani declared that New York had become 'the wild, wild West' and that the employee posed a grave risk to public safety." Milbank recounts many of the ridiculous things Giuliani said about the non-incident.

Texas Horror. Arelis Hernández, et al., of the Washington Post: "The bodies of 46 migrants were found in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer in San Antonio on Monday, the deadliest smuggling incident of its kind in U.S. history. The horrific incident comes amid a record influx of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, where authorities are on pace to record more than 2 million arrests during fiscal 2022. Rescuers pulled 16 people from the truck who were still alive and conscious, including four minors, San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood told reporters. They were taken for medical treatment. Three people have been taken into police custody, authorities said." The Texas Tribune story is here.

Virginia House Race. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "A Republican nominee in a closely watched House race in Virginia made bizarre and false comments about rape victims, saying in leaked audio recordings that she wouldn't be surprised if a woman's body prevents pregnancies from rape because 'it's not something that's happening organically,' and that the rapist is doing it 'quickly.' The nominee, Yesli Vega, a supervisor and sheriff's deputy in Prince William County, made the remarks at a campaign stop last month in Stafford County, according to Axios, which published the audio recordings on Monday." The Axios story is here. MB: Your guess is as good as mine about what this law enforcement officer means by "organic."It's hard to believe anyone can be so stupid. But there you go.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again urged the United States to name Moscow a state sponsor of terrorism -- a designation that would trigger significant penalties -- after a Russian missile strike on a shopping mall in the central city of Kremenchuk killed at least 18 people.... Leaders of the Group of Seven nations, an assembly of economic powers, collectively condemned the strike as a war crime, and the U.N. Security Council is set to discuss the strike at a meeting on Tuesday.... In eastern Ukraine, Kyiv's troops are still holding back Russian forces in Lysychansk, the last Ukrainian foothold in the Luhansk region.... NATO leaders are gathering Tuesday for a summit in Madrid, as the transatlantic alliance seeks a long-term strategy for the war on its borders and for global issues such as soaring commodity prices. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced Monday that the Western military bloc will sharply increase the number of its high-readiness troops to 300,000.... Ukraine has received advanced multiple-launch rocket systems dispatched by Washington and appears to be employing them 'very well,' the Pentagon said. The trial of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who U.S. officials say is wrongfully detained in Russia, will begin July 1. She has been in custody on a drug charge for four months." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.

Russia Conducts Another Major Terrorist Attack on Ukrainians. Valerie Hopkins, et al., of the New York Times: "Hundreds of people were out shopping, chatting and meeting with friends in a shopping mall in central Ukraine on Monday, a rare moment of normalcy amid the horror of war. Then a Russian missile struck. The attack left at least 16 dead and at least 10 missing at the shopping mall, near a railway station in the industrial city of Kremenchuk, located in Ukraine's central Poltava region. 'People just burned alive,' Denys Monastyrskyi, Ukraine's interior minister, said in an interview. In four months of conflict characterized by indiscriminate violence, the strike was just the latest vivid and bloody example of Russia's willingness to target civilians at a nonmilitary site, with people going about their daily lives."

News Lede

New York Times: "An Amtrak train carrying more than 200 passengers crashed into a dump truck in rural Missouri on Monday, killing three people and injuring dozens, the authorities said. It was the second fatal accident involving the railroad service in two days. Two of the people killed were on the train, and the other was in the truck, the authorities said.... Eight cars and two locomotives derailed, Amtrak said, and most of the cars ended up on their sides.... The crash came one day after another Amtrak passenger train

June 27, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

** There will be a hearing of the January 6 House select committee tomorrow (Tuesday) at 12:00 noon 1:00 pm ET. The hearing was previously unannounced and the topic of the hearing at this time remains unannounced, MSNBC is reporting.

** Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Federal agents armed with a search warrant have seized the phone of John Eastman, a lawyer who advised ... Donald J. Trump on a key element of the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a court filing by Mr. Eastman on Monday. The filing, a motion to recover property from the government, said that F.B.I. agents in New Mexico, acting on behalf of the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General, stopped Mr. Eastman as he was leaving a restaurant last Wednesday and seized his iPhone. A copy of the warrant included as an exhibit in Mr. Eastman's filing said that the phone would be taken to the inspector general's forensic lab in Northern Virginia. The seizure ... is the latest evidence that the Justice Department is intensifying its criminal investigation into the various strands of Mr. Trump's efforts to remain in power after he was defeated.... The seizure of Mr. Eastman's phone appears to have come on the same day that federal agents also seized the phone of Jeffrey Clark...."

What a Surprise! Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a high school football coach had a constitutional right to pray at the 50-yard line after his team's games. The vote was 6 to 3, with the court's three liberal members in dissent. The case pitted the rights of government workers to free speech and the free exercise of their faith against the Constitution's prohibition of government endorsement of religion and the ability of public employers to regulate speech in the workplace. The decision was in tension with decades of Supreme Court precedents that forbade pressuring students to participate in religious activities. The case concerned Joseph Kennedy, an assistant coach at a public high school in Bremerton, Wash., near Seattle. For eight years, Mr. Kennedy routinely offered prayers after games, with students often joining him. He also led and participated in prayers in the locker room, a practice he later abandoned and did not defend in the Supreme Court." The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. The Washington Post story, which is here, is topped by a photo of Kennedy kneeling in prayer, leaning on a football, in front of the Supreme Court building. According to the caption, this display of piety took place "after the Court heard arguments." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I do hope there are some Pastafarian coaches out there writing up their 50-yard-line prayers for the coming football season.

Akhilleus the Skeptic asserts in today's thread that Rudy Giuliani may have ever-so slightly exaggerated the force of the slap on the back he got from a grocery clerk who accurately labeled Rudy a scumbag. I'll leave it to you to judge, but it looks to me as if the woman standing next to Rudy, who appears to be a friend of his, touched Rudy's back harder than did the grocery worker. Nevertheless, Rudy had the guy arrested because he thought the guy had shot him & would have knocked him down if Rudy hadn't been so fit. In my view, the worker appears to have simply tagged Rudy to make sure everyone knew who the scumbag was:

     ~~~ Related story linked below.

Michael Wines & Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "... a year after Attorney General Merrick B. Garland established the federal Election Threats Task Force, almost no one ... has faced punishment.... Only [one] has successfully concluded out of more than 1,000 it has evaluated. Public reports of prosecutions by state and local officials are equally sparse, despite an explosion of intimidating and even violent threats against election workers, largely since ... Donald J. Trump began spreading the lie that fraud cost him the 2020 presidential election.... The depth of election workers' fear was underscored in hearings this month by the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault at the U.S. Capitol.... [Some] experts say the lack of both action and transparency was undermining the principal goal of the task force -- to stop the epidemic of violent threats."

Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "The public listing of ... Donald J. Trump’s social media company took a fresh blow on Monday when the cash-rich shell company merging with Mr. Trump's company disclosed in a regulatory filing that a federal grand jury in New York recently issued subpoenas to the company and its directors. The grand jury subpoenas were issued within the past week, according to the filing by Digital World Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that announced a merger with Trump Media & Technology Group in October. After the merger, Trump Media would assume Digital World's listing and trade as a public company. The disclosure by Digital World is the first indication that federal prosecutors in Manhattan have joined in the scrutiny of the merger between Digital World and Trump Media, which has been under investigation by financial regulators for months. The investigation threatens to further delay the completion of the merger, which would provide Mr. Trump's company and its social media platform, Truth Social, with up to $1.3 billion in capital, in addition to a stock market listing."

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post thinks up some ways Susan Collins & Joe Manchin can make some substantive amends for the damage the have caused the country by voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. "... it is not politically or morally sufficient for Collins or Manchin to simply holler 'I was tricked!' when the rights of millions of Americans are at stake. Whether she was deceived, when a public official make an error so egregious, it is incumbent on her to fix the damage. If Collins refuses to do so, voters will draw the conclusion that she wasn't that surprised -- or that sorry -- that she enabled the destruction of women's fundamental right to reject forced birth."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Especially during election years, GOP elected officials, including Donald Trump in 2020, claimed that the Supreme Court would never overturn Roe v. Wade. "On the one hand, the Republican Party has pushed for it for decades; on the other, even as it has done so, plenty within its ranks have assured that it wasn't happening. The party seemed to want the benefits of the push with its base, without the consequences of the unpopular prospect with the broader electorate. It also knew that overturning Roe was a red line for some key abortion-rights-supporting GOP senators whose votes were needed to confirm the justices who would eventually overturn Roe." Blake cites examples.

Utah. Praveena Somasundaram of the Washington Post: "A judge in Utah granted a temporary restraining order to block the state's 'trigger ban' on Monday, allowing abortion services to resume immediately. Third District Judge Andrew Stone in Salt Lake City granted a 14-day restraining order in an emergency hearing requested by the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah (PPAU).... Utah's trigger ban, which the legislature passed in 2020, prohibits abortions with limited exceptions, such as if the procedure is necessary to prevent a pregnant person's death or if a person is pregnant as a result of incest or rape."

~~~~~~~~~~

Free States & Slave States and a New Underground Railroad. Jacob Bogage & Christopher Rowland of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court decision to strike down Roe v. Wade is expected to trigger new battles between states over abortion access, as women and advocates try to get around newly enacted bans by seeking the procedure out of state and using hard-to-trace medications. The fights promise to raise tensions between states in ways not seen since the era of slavery, experts say. Multiple states, including Arizona, Arkansas and Texas, have sought to stem the flow of abortion-inducing pills by making their shipment through the mail illegal. Republican lawmakers in Missouri are considering a bill that would prohibit Missouri residents from getting an abortion out of state as well as penalize out-of-state medical professionals.... Liberal governors and legislatures are erecting legal countermeasures.... The governors of Washington and Oregon joined [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom in declaring a West Coast 'commitment to reproductive freedom' citing the intention to pass more sweeping protections, including refusals to extradite people to states with abortion bans. And hours after the Supreme Court ruling, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R), a moderate Republican, issued an executive order barring state officials from assisting investigations by other states of providers, advocates and patients who obtain abortion services." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The map has expanded, adding primarily Midwestern states to the Solid South, but the Supremes' decision to rescind a Constitutional right necessarily pits state against state. This will get much worse if Clarence Thomas & his Supreme cohort overturn more Constitutional rights and return more policy supremacy -- like environmental protections -- to the states. Ironically, these Supremes seem to be showing off their god-like power by forcing women to give birth against their will, but as they continue to whittle away federally-protected rights, they will discover that the Court itself, like the federal government as a whole, will have less and less influence. It will be "supreme" over a much-diminished landscape. If the nation is to be preserved -- and I'm not sure I care that it is -- then voters will have to elect Democrats, and Democrats will have to overcome their timidity & put an end to the tyranny of the Court's majority. ~~~

     ~~~ But That Is So Not Happening. Steve Peoples & Aaron Kessler of the AP: "A political shift is beginning to take hold across the U.S. as tens of thousands of suburban swing voters who helped fuel the Democratic Party's gains in recent years are becoming Republicans. More than 1 million voters across 43 states have switched to the Republican Party over the last year, according to voter registration data analyzed = by The Associated Press. The previously unreported number reflects a phenomenon that is playing out in virtually every region of the country -- Democratic and Republican states along with cities and small towns -- in the period since President Joe Biden replaced ... Donald Trump." ~~~

     ~~~ Stephen Marche in a Guardian op-ed: "The cracks in the foundations of the United States are widening, rapidly and on several fronts. The overturning of Roe v Wade has provoked a legitimacy crisis no matter what your politics.... The right wing has been imagining a civil war, publicly, since at least the Obama administration.... The leftwing American political class, incredibly, continues to cling to its defunct institutional ideals. Democrats under Biden have wasted the past two years on fictions of bipartisanship and forlorn hopes of some kind of restoration of American trust.... This divide isn't just American. As the forces of the world split between a liberal-democratic elite and authoritarian populists, the same asymmetry can be seen in the struggle everywhere.... Republican officials will use the supreme court, or whatever other political institutions they control, to push their agenda no matter how unpopular with the American people. Meanwhile, their calls for violence ... create a climate of rage that solidifies into regular physical assaults on their enemies."

The Tryranny of Trump Lives On. Jill Colvin of the AP: "The abortion decision marked the apex in a week that reinforced [Donald Trump]'s ongoing impact in Washington more than a year and a half after he exited the White House. A court that includes three Trump-appointed conservatives also decided to weaken restrictions on gun ownership. And across the street at the Capitol, which was ravaged by a mob of Trump supporters in the final days of his presidency in 2021, new details surfaced of his gross violations of democratic norms."

Reality Chek: Where Abortions Are Legal in Theory but Unavailable in Practice. Megan Messerly of Politico: "Clinics and abortion funds in Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota and Wyoming -- four states that have rape or incest exceptions in their abortion bans -- told Politico that while the law may allow people to terminate their pregnancy in those instances, it will likely be easier to get patients across state lines for an abortion than try to clear the hurdles associated with obtaining one legally in their home state.... Clinics planning to move their operations across state lines might leave patients in their states with no providers willing to offer abortions in cases of rape and incest. Willing providers ... may be dissuaded for fear of prosecution. And patients might not want to go through with the abortion if their state requires them or their provider to report the rape or incest to police, as is the case in Idaho, Utah and Mississippi.... Abortion rights advocates warn that so few people will be able to take advantage of the exceptions that it will be as if they didn't exist."

Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "Abortion pills, already used in more than half of recent abortions in the U.S., are becoming even more sought-after in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade being overturned, and they will likely be at the center of the legal battles that are expected to unfold as about half the states ban abortion and others take steps to increase access. The method, known as medication abortion, is authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. It involves taking two different drugs, 24 to 48 hours apart, to stop the development of a pregnancy and then to cause contractions similar to a miscarriage to expel the fetus, a process that usually causes bleeding similar to a heavy period.... The patient must participate in the consultation from a state that allows abortion, even if it simply involves being on the phone in a car just over the border.... Medication abortion is likely to provide significant enforcement challenges....Two [Biden administration] cabinet members [-- Merrick Garland & HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra --] swiftly released statements vowing to protect the right to take medicines that had been approved by the federal government."

Matthew Haag, et al., of the New York Times: "... this year's [gay pride march in Manhattan], for all its joyous celebrations, had taken on sudden urgency and heightened significance just two days after the United States Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion and signaled that the court could reconsider other liberties, including the 2015 decision that allowed same-sex marriage.... Planned Parenthood -- which event organizers decided to place at the head of the event after the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade -- led the way as the first groups rolled down Fifth Avenue to start the 52nd annual Pride March, the first in-person parade since 2019 because of the pandemic."

** Alito Doesn't Under the Constitution. Michele Goodwin of the U.C.-Irvine law school, in a New York Times op-ed, explains the 13th & 14th Amendments to the Supreme Misogynists: "Ending the forced sexual and reproductive servitude of Black girls and women was a critical part of the passage of the 13th and 14th Amendments. The overturning of Roe v. Wade reveals the Supreme Court's neglectful reading of the amendments that abolished slavery and guaranteed all people equal protection under the law. It means the erasure of Black women from the Constitution. Mandated, forced or compulsory pregnancy contravene enumerated rights in the Constitution, namely the 13th Amendment's prohibition against involuntary servitude and protection of bodily autonomy, as well as the 14th Amendment's defense of privacy and freedom.... The horrors inflicted on Black women during slavery, especially sexual violations and forced pregnancies, have been all but wiped from cultural and legal memory." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Goodwin's essay opened my eyes, too, because in my own experience, these Amendments are taught in such a way that women's rights & slaveholders' specific abuses of women are ignored. It is not surprising that the Supreme misogynists -- and that includes Lady Phony Barrett -- feel comfy in their blinders.

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade are here.

Fox Dumps on Trump. Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: Fox News host Brian Kilmeade attacked Donald Trump on Sunday and said he has seen no evidence that proves the former president's claims of election fraud. Kilmeade joined the growing chorus of criticism from the staunchly Trump-supporting Fox News amid reports that owner Rupert Murdoch is turning his back on Trump in favor of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for a possible White House run in 2024. Neither Trump nor DeSantis have announced that they're running.... Last Tuesday, Fox anchor Martha MacCallum called out the 'stunning' absence of proof to support Trump's election fraud claims during the hearing about the Jan. 6, 2021 attack. Two days later, Fox anchor Bret Baier praised the Republican election officials and members of Trump&'s own administration who stood up to his bogus election claims. Both The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal have also launched attacks on Trump in scathing editorials.... In an opinion piece in the Post, longtime Murdoch employee Piers Morgan called Trump an 'aging, raging gorilla who's become a whiny, democracy-defying bore.'"

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "One week before scores of Proud Boys helped lead a pro-Trump mob in a violent assault on the Capitol last year, Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the group, and some of his top lieutenants held a foul-mouthed video conference with a handpicked crew of members.... The team of several dozen trusted members was intended, Mr. Tarrio told his men, to bring a level of order and professionalism to the group's upcoming march in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, that had, by his own account, been missing at earlier Proud Boys rallies in the city. Over nearly two hours, Mr. Tarrio and his leadership team -- many of whom have since been charged with seditious conspiracy -- gave the new recruits a series of directives: Adopt a defensive posture on Jan. 6, they were told. Keep the 'normies' -- or the normal protesters -- away from the Proud Boys' marching ranks. And obey police lines.... There was one overriding problem with the orders: None of them were actually followed when the Proud Boys stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. Far from holding back, members of the far-right group played aggressive roles in several breaches at the Capitol, moving in coordination and often taking the lead in removing police barricades.... Lawyers for the Proud Boys say the recorded meeting is a key piece of exculpatory evidence...."

He's Ba-a-a-c-k! Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: "After more than a year of silence, the mysterious figure behind the QAnon conspiracy theory has reappeared. The figure, who is known only as Q, posted for the first time in over a year on Friday on 8kun, the anonymous message board where the account last appeared.'Shall we play the game again?' a post read in the account's typical cryptic style. The account that posted had a unique identifier used on previous Q posts. The posts ... signaled the ominous return of a figure whose conspiracy theories about an imaginary ring of elite sex traffickers marshaled support for ... Donald J. Trump. Message boards and Telegram channels devoted to QAnon lit up with the news, as followers speculated about the meaning of Q's return."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Nick Visser of the Huffington Post: "A worker at a grocery store in New York was arrested after slapping Rudy Giuliani on the back and calling him a 'scumbag' during a campaign event Sunday for his son, a GOP candidate for governor. The incident, which was initially cast as an assault, was shared in video footage in the hours after the encounter at a ShopRite store on Staten Island. A man wearing a mask is seen walking by Giuliani before hitting him on the back with an outstretched hand. It's unclear how hard the man slapped the former New York City mayor, who looked surprised by the encounter but didn't seem to be physically reeling.... Giuliani quickly moved to label the incident as an assault and the man was taken into custody at the scene. 'All of the sudden I feel a shot on my back, like somebody shot me. I went forward but luckily I didn't fall down,' he recounted on The Curtis Silwa Show. 'Lucky I'm a 78-year-old in pretty good shape because if I wasn't I'd've hit the ground and probably cracked my skull.'"

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

Martin Ferrer of the Guardian & Agencies: "Russia is poised to default on its debt for the first time since 1998, further alienating the country from the global financial system after sanctions imposed over its war in Ukraine. The country missed a deadline of Sunday night to meet a 30-day grace period on interest payments of $100m (£81.2m) on two eurobonds due originally on 27 May, Bloomberg reported on Monday morning. Some Taiwanese holders of Russian eurobonds said on Monday that they had not received interest payments due, two sources told Reuters."

Zeke Miller, et al., of the AP: "Leading economic powers conferred by video link with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday as they underscored their commitment to Ukraine for the long haul with plans to pursue a price cap on Russian oil, raise tariffs on Russian goods and impose other new sanctions. In addition, the U.S. was preparing to announce the purchase of an advanced surface-to-air missile system for Kyiv to help Ukraine fight back against Vladimir Putin's aggression.... [President] Biden is expected to announce the U.S, is purchasing NASAMS, a Norwegian-developed anti-aircraft system, to provide medium- to long-range defense, according to the person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity."

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Leaders from the Group of Seven, the world's wealthiest democracies, are gathered in Bavaria, Germany, and set to discuss on Monday the Russian invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited to join and will participate remotely, according to the European Council. Russia hit the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, with a barrage of missile strikes on Sunday, in what was 'likely a direct response to Western leaders discussing aid to Ukraine' at the summit, analysts from the Institute for the Study of War said.... The same day, Russia defaulted on its foreign currency debt for the first time in more than a century.... Russia is attempting to draw Belarus more directly into the war, according to Ukrainian officials, who said Saturday marked the first time that Russia fired missiles from Belarusian airspace." ~~~

~~~ From a WashPo live update item: "In a conference call with reporters, a senior administration official said the G-7 leaders were still finalizing the details but were 'very close' to urgently directing their nation's relevant ministers to create a system to set a global price cap for Russian oil shipments to countries outside the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and the broader G-7. The goal here is to starve Russia, starve [... Vladimir] Putin, of his main source of cash and force down the price of Russian oil to help blunt the impact of Putin's war at the pump,' the official said, speaking anonymously...." ~~~

~~~ Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "Leaders of the Group of 7 nations said Sunday they would stop buying gold from Moscow and discussed a new American proposal to undercut its oil revenues, even as Russian forces rained missiles on Kyiv for the first time in weeks. The dueling escalation underscored how the war in Ukraine has consumed global politics and the world economy. President Biden and the British government said members of the Group of 7 -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States -- would move on Tuesday to ban imports of Russian gold. Representatives for the assembled countries were also negotiating toward an agreement to buy Russian oil only at a steep discount. American officials see both the gold import ban and the possible oil price cap as ways to undercut key sources of revenue for Moscow's war effort and further isolate it from the international financial system.... Supporters of the [cheap oil] idea, among them some top economic officials in Ukraine, say it would lead other nations currently buying Russian oil at a discount, like India and China, to demand even lower prices from Moscow.... The plan could prove ineffective, particularly if the price cap is set too low."

The New York Times' live updates Monday of Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Useless News. Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "'Jackets on? Jackets off? Shall we take our clothes off?' Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked, ostensibly wondering how the leaders should dress for an unofficial photo before their lunch meeting began. 'We all have to show that we're tougher than Putin,' the British leader joked at the summit site in Schloss Elmau, Germany.... 'We're going to get the bare-chested horseback riding display,' quipped Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau...." The Hill's report is here. MB: As a personal point of preference, make that Trudeau Oui, Johnson Non, Non, Non.

U.K. A Prince, A Sheik & a Suitcase Full of Cash. Max Foster & Karen Smith of CNN: "Clarence House said Prince Charles received charitable donations and the correct processes were followed regarding those donations after a British newspaper reported the Prince of Wales once accepted a suitcase containing €1 million ($1.05 million) in cash from a Qatari politician. According to the Sunday Times, the suitcase containing €1 million in cash was one of three lots of cash he personally received, totaling €3 million, from former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani between 2011 and 2015."