May 27, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Texas officials have drastically altered the Uvalde timeline they initially provided, and what occurred during that time: ~~~

~~~ From the New York Times live updates: "In an emotional and at times tense news conference, Steven C. McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, gave the most detailed accounting of the shooting yet, diverging in substantial points from the original timeline given by officials. Most of the time the gunman was at the school, Mr. McCraw explained, he was inside the classrooms where nearly all of the killing took place, while as many as 19 police officers waited outside in the school hallway. Multiple people in the classrooms, including at least two students, called 911 over that horrifying stretch, begging for police. But apparently believing that the suspect had barricaded himself in the classroom and that 'there were no kids at risk,' the police did not enter the classroom until 12:50 p.m., 78 minutes after the shooter walked inside.... By 12:15 p.m., agents from Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement had arrived with tactical shields, he said, far earlier than previously known. But local police at the scene would not allow them to go after the gunman who had opened fire on students inside the school. ~~~

~~~ "The National Rifle Association's annual convention opened Friday in Houston. In years past, the conclave has taken on the tenor of a gun-rights rally. This one was planned months ago, but its timing, days after an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers with a semiautomatic rifle, has drawn nationwide attention and protests. Numerous scheduled speakers and performers have withdrawn from the N.R.A. event, including Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas who backed out late Thursday in favor of another trip to Uvalde and will provide prerecorded video remarks at the N.R.A. meeting. The latest to cancel was Dan Patrick, the lieutenant governor of Texas.... Donald J. Trump, who ran on a pro-gun platform in 2020, and Senator Ted Cruz who has rejected new gun laws since the attack, were expected to offer an unapologetic defense of gun rights in addresses at the N.R.A. convention on Friday." ~~~

~~~ Jim Vertuno & Elliot Spagat of the AP: "Students trapped inside a classroom with a gunman repeatedly called 911 during this week's attack on a Texas elementary school, including one who pleaded, 'Please send the police now,' as nearly 20 officers waited in the hallway for more than 45 minutes, authorities said Friday. The commander at the scene in Uvalde -- the school district's police chief -- believed that 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos was barricaded inside adjoining classrooms at Robb Elementary School and that children were no longer at risk, Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a contentious news conference. 'It was the wrong decision,' he said." ~~~

~~~ CNN has the latest timeline related by Texas law officials.

Pete Williams of NBC News said that although the classroom door where the gunman who killing children was locked, the door had a broken window -- the shooter broke the window -- and the room had exterior windows, some of which the shooter also broke. MB: So it isn't as if the law enforcement officers who were gathered outside the room had no way to access it.

Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "The owners of Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the rifle apparently used in the massacre of 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., are deep-pocketed Republican donors, giving to candidates and committees at the federal and state level aligned against limits on access to assault rifles and other semiautomatic weapons.... The rifle reportedly used in the shooting, the DDM4 V7, sells for about $2,000, according to Daniel Defense's website.... An image posted on the company's Twitter account shows a child [Marie: really, a toddler!] handling a rifle with the caption, 'Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.' Shortly after the shooting, the company locked its Twitter account."

** Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "It will be impossible to do anything about guns in this country, at least at a national level, as long as Democrats depend on the cooperation of a party that holds in reserve the possibility of insurrection. The slaughter of children in Texas has done little to alter this dynamic.... Victims of our increasingly frequent mass shootings are collateral damage in a cold civil war.... Guns are now the leading cause of death for American children. Many conservatives consider this a price worth paying for their version of freedom." MB: There's that child sacrifice thing again. Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the link.

Trumpty-Dumpty Takes Another Fall. Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: In the latest legal blow to Donald J. Trump, a federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit the former president filed that sought to halt the New York attorney general's civil investigation into his business practices. On Thursday, an appellate court ordered Mr. Trump and two of his children to sit for questioning under oath from the office of the state attorney general, Letitia James. Together, the rulings clear the way for Ms. James to complete her investigation in the coming weeks or months.... Last month, one of her lawyers indicated that a suit could be coming soon, saying that the office was preparing an 'enforcement action' in the near future."

Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "As many as 50 witnesses are expected to be subpoenaed by a special grand jury that will begin hearing testimony next week in the criminal investigation into whether ... Donald J. Trump and his allies violated Georgia laws in their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.... [Fulton County, District Attorney Fani] Willis is weighing racketeering among other potential charges.... Her investigators are also reviewing the slate of fake electors that Republicans created in a desperate attempt to circumvent the state's voters. She said the scheme to submit fake Electoral College delegates could lead to fraud charges, among others...."

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The New York Times' live updates of developments in the Uvalde massacre are here.

Jon Swaine, et al., of the Washington Post: "A gunman roamed outside a Texas elementary school for about 12 minutes, entered without challenge and spent an hour inside before he was killed by law enforcement, authorities said Thursday, revising key details in their account of the massacre as the police response to it was criticized by some parents. The new details of how 18-year-old Salvador Ramos was able to kill 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Tex., on Tuesday, together with cellphone videos and witness accounts of police outside tackling or handcuffing desperate parents who tried to rush into the building, called into question earlier claims by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) that a 'quick response' by law enforcement had saved lives." The AP report is here. ~~~

~~~ Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "Officials, who are facing mounting questions about the police response to the massacre, have offered varied timelines and explanations of the massacre and law enforcement's response. They have also made sometimes inconsistent or contradictory announcements about key details, such as how the shooter entered the school or how long he was inside. They have even withdrawn some claims outright. While it is common for details to shift following mass attacks, some of the changes in Uvalde made during news briefings and interviews have been striking. Here is a brief rundown of some ways the official accounts have differed[.]" MB: Most striking (to me): the fictitious -- and "heroic"! -- armed security guard who confronted the gunman as he entered the school grounds. There was no such person on the scene.

Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "A Texas Department of Public Safety official said responding officers were cautious as they entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas because 'they could've been shot.'... The New York Times reported the shooter was inside the school for about an hour before officers finally breached the classroom he was in and shot and killed him.... On Thursday's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, the host discussed the Tuesday's horrifying events with DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez.... 'Don't current best practices, don't they call for officers to disable a shooter as quickly as possible, regardless of how many officers are actually on site?' Blitzer asked him. Olivarez ... said, '... if they proceeded any further not knowing where the suspect was at, they could've been shot, they could've been killed....'"

Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Texas Department Public Safety spokesman Lt. Christopher Olivarez confirmed to a reporter during a live shot that police officers went into Robb Elementary School to get their own children during the massacre." This happened Amid outrage over reports that frantic families who complained about police inaction during the massacre were held back by police, a clip of a live interview with Olivarez from Tuesday has gone viral." Includes clip & text of interview.

Salvador Hernandez of BuzzFeed News: "... when members of law enforcement were pointedly asked during a press conference Thursday why it took more than 60 agonizing minutes -- during which the shooter killed 19 children and 2 adults -- before armed officers went in to stop the gunfire, officials turned and walked away. 'What were you doing between 11:44 and 12:44?' one reporter asked Victor Escalon, regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety.... Escalon told reporters, 'We will circle back and answer all of your questions.' Escalon and other law enforcement officials standing beside him then ended the press conference suddenly and walked away." Officials called the presser, they said, "to clear up misinformation.

His Heart Broke. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "Joe Garcia, the husband of Irma Garcia, one of the two teachers killed in the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, died on Thursday of a heart attack, said his nephew John Martinez.... The couple had been married for 24 years and had four children, with the oldest 23 and the others teenagers."

     ~~~ Thanks to unwashed for the link.

Ted Can't Handle the Truth. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "As Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) attended a vigil Wednesday for the victims of the massacre in Uvalde, Tex., he stormed away from an interview after he was asked by a British journalist why mass shootings happen 'only in America.'" Here's the Sky News story, by Cruz's interviewer Mark Stone. Stone tries to explain U.S. gun culture to the Brits in the child-friendly way a loyal aide might try to explain Zulu culture to Donald Trump. ~~~

"Hershel Walker Has Some Thoughts." digby, citing what may be an Atlanta Journal-Constitution op-ed (no link): "'On Tuesday night, CNN's Manu Raju asked the former football player, "Do you support any new gun laws in the wake of this Texas shooting?" Walker responded, "What I like to -- what I like to do is see it and everything and stuff." This morning, the Republican candidate shared some additional thoughts on the subject. After reminding viewers that "Cain killed Abel" -- I'm not entirely sure how that's relevant -- Walker added: "What we need to do is look into how we can stop those things. You know, they talk about doing a disinformation, what about getting a department that could look at young men that's looking at women that looking at social media. What about doing that? Looking into things like that? If we can stop that that way?"'" MB: It's likely getting hit too many times on the football field damaged Hershel's brain, and that's a tragedy, but a concomitant tragedy would be to elect him to a policy-making job.

GOP More Extreme Than NRA. Isaac Arnsdorf & Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "GOP politicians are taking more-uncompromising positions on guns even as lawsuits and infighting have dragged down the flagship gun lobby.... For GOP voters and lawmakers, gun rights have become a central culture-war issue animating their movement. Arguments that once centered on hunting and rural traditions have turned into bitter battles over identity, with no need for a giant lobbying group like the NRA to stoke the flames.... Now, many of the most vocal gun rights voters are turning to activists ... who fault the NRA for negotiating in the past on some legislation."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Hopes for a long-shot deal to pass a new federal law that could keep guns out of the hands of potential mass murderers were left Thursday in the hands of a small bipartisan group of senators, who pledged to explore multiple options even as lawmakers left Washington for a Memorial Day recess. The talks, to be led by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), began in earnest less than two days after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school -- and just moments after Senate Republicans blocked a bill aimed at addressing a previous U.S. mass shooting, the May 14 killing of 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket. The 47-to-47 vote on that bill, which was aimed at focusing the federal government on combating domestic terrorism and white supremacy, demonstrated the partisan polarization around any measure addressing acts of mass gun violence." MB: Yeah, well, my thoughts and prayers go out to that small bipartisan group. ~~~

~~~ Alas, once again thoughts and prayers likely will come to naught. Apparently Texas' Big John did not voluntarily join this effort to pass some mild form of gun safety legislation: ~~~

     ~~~ Lauren Fox, et al., of CNN: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN on Thursday he met earlier in the day with Texas Sen. John Cornyn and encouraged the senior Republican senator to begin discussions with Democrats, including Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, to see if they can find a middle ground on legislation to respond to the tragic Texas elementary school shooting."~~~

~~~ Marianne Levine & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked legislation intended to combat domestic terrorism.... The GOP widely views the legislation as unnecessary and an attempt by Democrats to politicize the killing of 10 people, mostly Black.... Democrats noted that all House Republicans supported a nearly identical domestic terrorism bill less than two years ago, when it passed by voice vote."

Too Young to Buy a Handgun; A-Ok for two AR-15s. Kiah Collier & Jeremy Schwartz of the Texas Tribune & ProPublica: "The fact that the gunman responsible for this week's massacre in Uvalde was able to buy two AR-15s days after his 18th birthday highlights how much easier it is for Americans to purchase rifles than handguns. Under federal law, Americans buying handguns from licensed dealers must be at least 21, which would have precluded the gunman from buying that type of weapon. That trumps Texas law, which only requires buyers of any type of firearm to be 18 or older."

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "The Biden administration will begin to allow certain migrants to ask for asylum as they arrive at the southwestern border at the end of the month, even as it continues to use a pandemic-era public health rule to quickly turn migrants away without the option to seek it. The new process, intended to deliver a decision within months instead of the years it currently takes via the immigration court system, will apply to a 'few hundred' migrants a month, administration officials said. The policy's immediate effect is likely to be minimal, dwarfed by vast backlogs in the immigration system and a recent surge of migrants at the border, and it is far from a broad restoration of access to asylum, which was curtailed by the Trump administration and the pandemic."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Four House Republicans including Representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, signaled on Thursday that they would not cooperate with subpoenas from the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, posing a dilemma for the panel that could have broad implications for the inquiry and for Congress itself. Representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Andy Biggs of Arizona each sent letters to the committee objecting to the investigation ahead of the depositions scheduled for this week, and Mr. McCarthy, of California, filed a court brief arguing the panel's subpoenas are illegitimate." MB: About a thousand people, many of whom did not want to do so, concluded that it was their legal & patriotic duty to do whatever they could to protect their country from insurrection. These jamokes are lawless traitors.

Betsy Swan & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows burned papers in his office after meeting with a House Republican who was working to challenge the 2020 election, according to testimony the Jan. 6 select committee has heard from one of his former aides. Cassidy Hutchinson, who worked under Meadows when he was ... Donald Trump's chief of staff, told the panel investigating the Capitol attack that she saw Meadows incinerate documents after a meeting in his office with Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.).... The person familiar with the testimony said investigators pressed Hutchinson for details about the issue for more than 90 minutes during a recent deposition." MB: So much classier than stuffing the papers down the toilet, as Trump has done.

Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump and two of his adult children must sit for questioning under oath as part of the New York attorney general's civil investigation into their business practices, a state appeals court ruled on Thursday. Mr. Trump's lawyers had argued that the inquiry by the state attorney general, Letitia James, was politically motivated and that she should not be permitted to question him or the children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump. The lawyers also claimed that the attorney general could not force Mr. Trump to face questioning in her civil investigation because he was also the subject of a criminal inquiry into some of the same business practices. But the court found that the Trumps had not shown they were being treated differently from other investigative targets and argued that 'the existence of a criminal investigation does not preclude civil discovery of related facts.'... The unanimous ruling from a four-judge panel of the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division, First Department, upheld a decision from a lower court granting Ms. James permission to question Mr. Trump and his children.... Lawyers for the Trumps could appeal the ruling to New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Lawless Little Prick Runs for Oklahoma Senate Seat. Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "Scott Pruitt, while in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency during the Trump administration, repeatedly pressured his federal security officers to drive at excessive and sometimes dangerous speeds on routine trips, with sirens and emergency lights on, because he had a habit of running late, according to a federal report released on Thursday. The security officers said they knew this was a violation of federal policies and 'endangered public safety,' the report said. Among the incidents cited in the report was a 2017 trip in which a special agent drove Mr. Pruitt with the lights and sirens going, in the wrong direction into oncoming traffic, to pick up Mr. Pruitt's dry cleaning, when Mr. Pruitt was late for an agency meeting.... Until now, an internal E.P.A. report that substantiated the allegations about the abusive use of lights and sirens on his government-issued car had never been made public, even though it was completed a month before Mr. Pruitt resigned. Mr. Pruitt ... is now running as a Republican for the United States Senate in Oklahoma and previously served as the state's attorney general...." A Huffington Post story is here.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court said on Thursday that it would allow the Biden administration to continue to take account of the costs of greenhouse gas emissions in regulatory actions, rejecting an emergency application from Louisiana and other Republican-led states to block the use of a formula that assigns a monetary value to changes in emissions. The court's brief order gave no reasons, which is typical when the court acts on emergency applications. There were no noted dissents."

David Gelles & Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "Across the country, Republican lawmakers and their allies have launched a campaign to try to rein in what they see as activist companies trying to reduce the greenhouse gases that are dangerously heating the planet.... [Republican state officials] have pushed climate change from the scientific realm into the political battles already raging over topics like voting rights, abortion and L.G.B.T.Q. issues. In recent months, conservatives have moved beyond tough words and used legislative and financial leverage to pressure the private sector to drop climate action and any other causes they label as 'woke.'" MB: I suppose this story will get lost in the clutter of more sensational reports, but this is pretty astounding. It isn't just that these Republicans don't care about the demise of Earth; it's that they are encouraging it.

Sarah Bailey, et al., of the Washington Post: "Southern Baptist leaders on Thursday evening released a list of alleged church-related sexual abuse offenders that denomination heads had kept secret for more than a decade. The Executive Committee for the Southern Baptist Convention said earlier this week it would publish the names after it issued a third-party investigation that suggested a widespread coverup by top leaders who ignored and even 'vilified' people who came forward with stories of abuse. The database, which an SBC attorney said includes people who have been criminally convicted of abuse and those who have confessed to abuse, is expected to show what top leaders knew behind the scenes while telling Southern Baptists they could not create a list of accused abusers because the denomination is not hierarchical and churches operate independently from one another." You can read the database here. (MB: If this link doesn't work, please let me know.)

Alex Marshall & Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: "The British authorities have authorized criminal charges against Kevin Spacey on four counts of sexual assault against three men, the country's Crown Prosecution Service announced in a news release on Thursday.... The authorization of charges followed a review of the evidence collected by London's police force. Mr. Spacey cannot be formally charged unless he enters England or Wales, a spokesman for the service said in a telephone interview. The spokesman declined to comment on whether the service would pursue extradition proceedings...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

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

Ariana Cha of the Washington Post: "A large U.S. study looking at whether vaccination protects against long covid showed the shots have only a slight protective effect: Being vaccinated appeared to reduce the risk of lung and blood clot disorders, but did little to protect against most other symptoms. The new paper, published Wednesday in Nature Medicine, is part of a series of studies by the Department of Veterans Affairs on the impact of the coronavirus, and was based on 33,940 people who experienced breakthrough infections after vaccination." This article is free to nonsubscribers.

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Lou Michel & Dan Herbeck of the Buffalo News: "Law enforcement officers are investigating whether a retired federal agent had about 30 minutes advance notice of a white supremacist's plans to murder Black people at a Buffalo supermarket, two law enforcement officials told The Buffalo News. Authorities believe the former agent -- believed to be from Texas -- was one of at least six individuals who regularly communicated with accused gunman Payton Gendron in an online chat room where racist hatred was discussed, the two officials said. The two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation stated these individuals were invited by Gendron to read about his mass shooting plans and the target location about 30 minutes before Gendron killed 10 people at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue on May 14. The News could not determine if the retired agent accepted the invitation."

Wyoming House Race. Zach Shonfeld of the Hill: "Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) formally launched her reelection bid on Thursday, seeking the Republican nomination for her seat for the fourth time amid rebukes from her own party. 'Some things have to matter,' Cheney said in her announcement video. 'American freedom, the rule of law, our founding principles, the foundations of our republic matter. What we do in this election in Wyoming matters.'... In this year's Aug. 16 primary, she will face a challenger, attorney Harriet Hageman, backed by [Donald] Trump and his allies, who have viewed removing Cheney as a top priority. Trump is slated to stump for Hageman at a Saturday rally, which will also include video addresses by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who became chairwoman of the House Republican Conference after Cheney was ousted from the role last year."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "As Russian forces make incremental gains in eastern Ukraine amid an intensified military campaign, including seizing the city of Lyman, the wide-scale devastation of towns and cities in the region has widened a spiraling crisis for civilians.... Lyman's fall followed intense artillery bombardments, including from one of the most fearsome weapons in Russia's conventional arsenal: fuel-air bombs that set off huge, destructive shock waves.... President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine warned in an overnight address that Russian forces were trying to turn cities and towns in the east of the country 'to ashes.' With civilians also being killed at an alarming rate, he charged that the actions amounted to 'an obvious policy of genocide pursued by Russia.' A new report from international legal scholars released on Friday echoed such claims about the war generally. It said that mass killings, deliberate attacks on shelters or evacuation routes, and the indiscriminate bombardment of residential areas by Russian forces established a 'genocidal pattern' indicating an intent to wipe out a substantial part of the Ukrainian population."

** Katie Lillis, et al., of CNN: "Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been processed through a series of Russian 'filtration camps' in Eastern Ukraine and sent into Russia as part of a systemized program of forced removal, according to four sources familiar with the latest Western intelligence -- an estimate far higher than US officials have publicly disclosed. After being detained in camps operated by Russian intelligence officials, many Ukrainians are then forcibly relocated to economically depressed areas in Russia, in some cases thousands of miles from their homes..., sources said.... In some cases, Ukrainians have been sent to Sakhalin Island, a distant spit in the Pacific Ocean on Russia's far east -- 10,000 miles from the Ukrainian border. If they are fortunate, sources tell CNN, Russia will provide housing in residential areas and perhaps a Russian SIM card and a small amount of money. Others are simply dropped off with nothing and expected to survive on their own."

David Ignatius of the Washington Post on how the Biden administration secretly -- and effectively -- planned for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. MB: One part that interested me was the major role CIA Director William Burns (no relation), a one-time ambassador to Russia, played in the effort: "CIA Director William J. Burns traveled to Moscow on Nov. 1 to warn ... Vladimir Putin that the United States and its allies were prepared to arm Ukraine and impose crippling sanctions on Russia if he invaded. Putin apparently thought Biden wouldn't be able to deliver.... The Ukrainians knew the Russians were coming. Burns had secretly traveled to Kyiv in January to brief Zelensky on the Russian plan...." I shudder to think of what buffoonery a Trump administration would have unleased during such a period.

May 26, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump and two of his adult children must sit for questioning under oath as part of the New York attorney general's civil investigation into their business practices, a state appeals court ruled on Thursday. Mr. Trump's lawyers had argued that the inquiry by the state attorney general, Letitia James, was politically motivated and that she should not be permitted to question him or the children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump. The lawyers also claimed that the attorney general could not force Mr. Trump to face questioning in her civil investigation because he was also the subject of a criminal inquiry into some of the same business practices. But the court found that the Trumps had not shown they were being treated differently from other investigative targets and argued that 'the existence of a criminal investigation does not preclude civil discovery of related facts.'... The unanimous ruling from a four-judge panel of the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division, First Department, upheld a decision from a lower court granting Ms. James permission to question Mr. Trump and his children.... Lawyers for the Trumps could appeal the ruling to New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals."

Alex Marshall & Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: "The British authorities have authorized criminal charges against Kevin Spacey on four counts of sexual assault against three men, the country's Crown Prosecution Service announced in a news release on Thursday.... The authorization of charges followed a review of the evidence collected by London's police force. Mr. Spacey cannot be formally charged unless he enters England or Wales, a spokesman for the service said in a telephone interview. The spokesman declined to comment on whether the service would pursue extradition proceedings...."

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

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Marie: Late start today. Additions up to & after 9 am ET.

From the New York Times' liveblog Wednesday of developments in the Uvalde grade school massacre: "The gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers in a rural Texas elementary school on Tuesday entered the building despite being confronted by an armed school security officer, then wounded two responding police officers and engaged in a standoff inside the school for over an hour, state police officials said. While gaps remained in the timeline of events, details emerged on Wednesday of a protracted scene of carnage at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. What began around 11:30 a.m., with the first report of an armed man approaching the school, ended as specialized officers breached a pair of adjoining classrooms and killed the gunman barricaded inside just after 1 p.m., state police officials said.... Officials said that the officers had successfully contained the gunman ... until more specially trained officers could arrive.... By Wednesday, all of the victims had been identified by the officials.... ~~~

~~~ "President Biden said he would travel to Uvalde in the coming days.... He did not call on Congress to take up gun safety legislation but in remarks on Wednesday said that the 'Second Amendment is not absolute' and that previous gun safety laws did not violate its constitutional protections. 'These actions we've taken before, they save lives,' he said. 'They can do it again.' Still, with little apparent opening at the federal level, states controlled by Democrats moved to introduce their own changes. [At a press event in Uvalde, Texas Gov. Greg] Abbott stressed the need for better mental health care.... [But the Uvalde shooter] had no history of mental illness. [And Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick] suggested arming teachers." ~~~

~~~ Marie: In these brief paragraphs, Republicans once again showcased the useless emptiness of their supposed remediating "solutions." Clearly, a heavily-armed staff would not have stopped this gunman. A phalanx of law enforcement, as well as an armed security guard were on the scene before the gunman killed anyone, yet this army was unable to prevent the massacre. And while Abbott suggested that better mental healthcare would be a mediator (how much has the GOP-controlled Texas legislature spent on that? Update: asked & answered, below), in the next breath he admitted that this shooter had no history of mental health problems. Now, let's all go to the NRA convention in Houston. ~~~

~~~ Mike Hixenbaugh & >Corky Siemaszko of NBC News: "Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that the Uvalde school shooter had a 'mental health challenge' and the state needed to 'do a better job with mental health' -- yet in April he slashed $211 million from the department that oversees mental health programs. In addition, Texas ranked last out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia for overall access to mental health care, according to the 2021 State of Mental Health in America report."

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Hours after the worst school shooting in a decade took place in his home state, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas ... suggested a possible solution: putting armed law enforcement on campuses. Then Mr. Cruz, a Republican, quickly turned to blame Democrats and the news media for politicizing the issue.... 'But as sure as night follows day, you can bet there are going to be Democrat politicians looking to advance their own political agenda, rather than to work to stop this kind of horrific violence and to keep everyone safe.' Mr. Cruz remained unapologetic in his broad opposition to gun control measures.... Mr. Cruz's unwavering position on guns reflects the entrenched opposition in his party to virtually any proposal that seeks to limit access to firearms."

Leah Askarinam & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Former Representative Beto O'Rourke interrupted a news conference held by Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas on Wednesday to accuse Republicans of 'doing nothing' to address gun violence in the aftermath of a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde. Mr. O'Rourke, the Democrats' nominee for governor, stood in front of a stage at a Uvalde High School auditorium during the news conference and shouted that the killings were a 'totally predictable' result of lax state and federal gun laws. When Mr. Abbott's allies saw Mr. O'Rourke step forward, they began yelling at him. One official [according to Catie Edmondson (linked above) that official was Ted Cruz] ordered the El Paso native to 'Shut up!'... [Texas Lt. Gov.] Dan Patrick, told him, 'You're out of line and an embarrassment.' The mayor of Uvalde, Don McLaughlin, said he could not believe Mr. O'Rourke was the type of 'sick' individual who 'would come to a deal like this to make a political issue,' using an obscenity. Moments later, uniformed security guards pulled Mr. O'Rourke away.... Mr. O'Rourke's move drew both scorn and praise." A CNN report is here. ~~~

~~~ Patrick Stivek of the Texas Tribune: "Gov. Greg Abbott attended a fundraiser for his reelection campaign Tuesday night in East Texas, hours after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school over 300 miles away in Uvalde. His campaign says he is postponing all political activities going forward.... Abbott addressed the fundraiser during a news conference Wednesday afternoon in Uvalde, suggesting he only made a brief appearance cut short by the news of the shooting. 'On the way back to Austin, I stopped and let people know that I could not stay, that I needed to go and I wanted them to know what happened and get back to Austin so I could continue to my collaboration with Texas law enforcement,' Abbott said." MB: MB: Gosh, Greggers, it does look as if politics comes first for you, doesn't it? ~~~

~~~ James Barragán of the Texas Tribune: "Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday he was not sure whether he would attend the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Houston this week.... Abbott, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are scheduled to attend the event but none of their offices have commented on their attendance since the shooting unfolded on Tuesday.... Donald Trump, who is scheduled to speak, said Wednesday he still plans to attend."

Bill Chappell of NPR: "Pope Francis says that his heart is broken over the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, and that the U.S. must act to prevent the spread of guns. 'I am praying for the children and adults who were killed, and for their families. It is time to say enough to the indiscriminate trafficking of arms,' Francis said on Wednesday, during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.... People should be working now, the pope said, to ensure a similar tragedy can never happen again. In the U.S., his sentiment was shared by another senior Catholic leader: Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago."

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "Nowhere, it seems, are children and young people engaged in learning truly safe in America. Not in a nation where guns outnumber people, where a culture of gun violence continues to be tolerated and where episodes of carnage have become the norm.... In the years after Sandy Hook, the NRA has been hollowed out and weakened by scandal. But no matter. The gun lobby as it exists today is a citizen-grounded movement that retains a stranglehold on the Republican Party. Instead of moves to tighten gun laws, legislatures in Republican-led states, among them Texas, have acted to loosen them. These actions further enshrine the gun culture as part of America's heritage, all in the name of the Second Amendment, though it's questionable that the Founders envisioned the constitutional right to bear arms serving as such a shield in the face of mass shootings of children.... Only in America..., do [mental] afflictions [and political rage] manifest themselves with such regularity in mass shootings.... So long as the right to bear arms is seen as wholly sacrosanct and not subject to scrutiny, [President] Biden will not be the last president to exclaim, as he did Tuesday night: 'Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?'"

Marie: I am not sure most people realize how flagrantly sexist right-wing "philosophy" is. Balz writes that Americans enshrine gun culture as a fundamental tenet of our heritage. But what's fundamental about the gun culture is that it is primarily by, for and about men. The vaunted Minute Men were, well, men. So are today's mass murderers. I'm not suggesting women are absent from gun culture, but they seem more like hangers-on, not leaders. And the wingers who treat the Second Amendment as God-written gospel are the same folks who labor to deprive women of reproductive rights. The right wing is patriarchal; it idealizes the power of men to call the shots, literally & figuratively. Men -- white men -- are the masters. (Why is the room where heterosexual couples sleep called the "master bedroom"?) Men are the leaders, the rule-makers, the judges, the heads-of-household," the supposed "protectors" of the rest of us. Men have "granted" any residual rights women may have. And just as they have granted these rights, so they may take them away.

Alyssa Rosenberg of the Washington Post is understandably furious: "America practices child sacrifice.... The latest young victims of the ritual slaughter our culture permits are the 19 children shot to death inside their school in Uvalde, Tex., on Tuesday..... Given the lack of action after these spasms of butchery, there is only one possible conclusion: We are willing to tolerate the murder of children. We accept events that will gravely wound the bodies and psyches of many others. But in exchange for what? For what Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has called 'the fundamental, God-given right each and every one of us has to defend our lives, to defend our homes, to defend our children, to defend our family'"; Rosenberg compares modern-day gun huggers to Agamemnon, who in Euripides' play "Iphigenia at Aulis," sacrifices his daughter because he doesn't want to look weak to his troops.

Rachel Treisman of NPR: "'"No Way To Prevent This," Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens' has been republished 21 times in almost exactly eight years. Its headline has remained the same for every major mass shooting from Isla Vista, Calif., in 2014 to Tuesday's school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The main image, and basic facts about the shooting, are updated every time. It always quotes a fictional resident of that state lamenting a tragedy they describe as inevitable[.]... 'At press time, residents of the only economically advanced nation in the world where roughly two mass shootings have occurred every month for the past eight years were referring to themselves and their situation as "helpless,"' Tuesday's version -- like its predecessors -- concludes. The Onion leaned into its message on Wednesday, sharing a Twitter thread listing every version of the piece from over the years."

Amanda Taub of the New York Times: "'The modern quest for gun control and the gun rights movement it triggered were born in the shadow of Brown [v. Board of Education],' Reva Siegel, a constitutional scholar..., wrote in a 2008 article.... 'Directly and indirectly, conflicts over civil rights have shaped modern 'understandings of the Second Amendment.' Desegregation sparked a reactionary backlash among white voters, particularly in the south, who saw it as overreach by the Supreme Court and federal government.... Promises to protect the traditional family from the perceived threat of feminism drew in white women.... The gun control laws in the United Kingdom, Australia and Norway were all passed by conservative governments.... [In the U.S.,] the Federalist Society pushed for nominations of conservative judges, slowly reshaping the judicial branch into a conservative institution that enshrined a broad Second Amendment right for individuals to own guns. Unless Supreme Court precedents like District of Columbia v. Heller get overturned, it would be difficult for the government to enact broad gun control measures."

** Cops Dither While Killer Opens Fire. From the Guardian's live updates of developments in the Uvalde massacre:"Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman's rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses have told Associated Press. 'Go in there! Go in there!' nearby women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not go in." MB: As I wrote a couple of days ago, it seems these murders might have been averted with better policing. ~~~

~~~ Tess Owen of Vice: "Texas officials are clapping themselves on the back for what they've described as 'heroic' and 'courageous' actions by law enforcement who responded to an armed 18-year-old at an elementary school on Tuesday.... Officials are being strangely opaque about what actually happened at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. When asked how much time passed between the gunman arriving at the school and the gunman being killed, Texas' Director of Public Safety Steve McCraw offered an indefinite response.... The difference[s] between some of the official accounts were striking....

Robert Klemko, et al., of the Washington Post: "The gunman in Tuesday’s elementary school massacre was a lonely 18-year-old who was bullied over a childhood speech impediment, suffered from a fraught home life and lashed out violently against peers and strangers recently and over the years, friends and relatives said.... In a Wednesday news conference, state officials said [the shooter] purchased a semiautomatic rifle at a local gun store on May 17, bought 375 rounds of ammunition the next day, then went back to the local gun store on Friday to purchase a second semiautomatic rifle.... A spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety said the gunman wore a vest used to store extra magazines == often used by tactical police units -- without the armor plates that law enforcement officers typically wear." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The main job of a bartender is to sell alcoholic drinks, but I think most states require bartenders to stop selling drinks to visibly drunk patrons, especially those who may try to drive themselves home. So why not require gun sellers to refuse to sell a kid two semi-automatic weapons & 375 rounds? Oh. Gun lobby. BTW, I gather from the British TV shows I watch that in the U.K., residents have to register every gun they own (including antiques), allowing the police to see whether or not there are guns in the home before they respond to a domestic disturbance. Fat chance most U.S. states will do that. In fact, "as of January 1, 2019..., nine states explicitly prohibited the creation of such registries."

Naomi Nix & Rachel Lerman of the Washington Post: "Facebook said Wednesday that the Texas gunman sent direct messages regarding his attack on one of its platforms, something the social media giant learned after the school shooting. Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference that the gunman posted his plans on the social media site before the attack. The gunman ... wrote, 'I'm going to shoot my grandmother' and 'I'm going to shoot an elementary school' shortly before the attack, according to Abbott. But in a tweet, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said, 'The messages Gov. Abbott described were private one-to-one text messages that were discovered after the terrible tragedy occurred.' Another company spokesman, Joe Osborne, clarified that the messages were sent privately but declined to say which of its social networks were used. Facebook, which was renamed Meta last year, also operates Instagram and private messaging service WhatsApp."

Katie Glueck, et al., of the New York Times: "In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey unpacked lipstick, an iPhone and something else from her purse in one campaign advertisement -- 'a little Smith & Wesson .38,' she said. A Republican candidate for governor in Georgia declared in a different spot, 'I believe in Jesus, guns and babies.'... More than 100 television ads from Republican candidates and supportive groups have used guns as talking points or visual motifs this year. Guns are shown being fired or brandished, or are discussed but not displayed as candidates praise the Second Amendment, vow to block gun-control legislation or simply identify themselves as 'pro-gun.'" The reporters also discuss why Democrats don't often hype gun safety measures in their ads.

Marie: After reading Akhilleus' and Patrick's comments at the end of yesterday's thread, I predict that the next GOP rap on Democrats will be that coastal elites are plotting to replace "real Americans" with pod libs they've rocketed in from a planet far, far away. Expect NASA funding to go the way of gun safety laws.

Tom Jackman & Peter Hermann of the Washington Post: "The executive order to improve policing in the United States unfurled by President Biden on Wednesday has direct effect only on federal officers and agents, who were instructed to wear body cameras, create a national database of police misconduct and conduct thorough internal investigations in use of force cases. But there are about five times as many local police officers and sheriffs deputies nationwide as federal agents, and the president doesn't have authority over them.... Still, local police officials say they have already implemented most of the reforms being ordered by Biden federally, though some community activists say the pace of change hasn't been fast enough. And two of the key contributors to the Biden order, the leaders of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), said the Biden reforms were largely based on changes already enacted at the local level."

Kimberly Kindy & Laura Reiley of the Washington Post: "When a whistleblower sent a 34-page report to the Food and Drug Administration in October alleging a host of unsanitary conditions at an Abbott infant formula factory, the top official in charge of food safety didn't see it. In fact, Frank Yiannas, the FDA's deputy >commissioner for food policy and response, didn't learn about the complaint until four months later, according to Yiannas and others knowledgeable about the case.... Other top FDA officials less-versed in food safety had elected not to send new inspectors to the plant in Sturgis, Mich.... The national fallout over the Abbott case has exposed a fractured structure at an agency that has long prioritized drugs and medicine over food safety, experts say.... Yiannas said he continues to be cut out of the FDA's oversight of the Abbott facility. He began work on a corrective action plan for Abbott in February but said he was told to 'stand down' by [former Deputy Commissioner Janet] Woodcock. The FDA disputed [Yiannas' claims]...."

Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "Federal Reserve officials agreed at their last meeting that the central bank needed to move 'expeditiously' to bring down the most rapid pace of inflation in 40 years, with most participants expecting as many as three half-a-percentage-point interest rate increases in the months ahead, minutes of the Fed's May meeting showed."

Trump Favored Hanging Pence. Maggie Haberman & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Shortly after hundreds of rioters at the Capitol started chanting 'Hang Mike Pence!' on Jan. 6, 2021, the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows..., told colleagues that ... Donald J. Trump was complaining that the vice president was being whisked to safety. Mr. Meadows, according to an account provided to the House committee investigating Jan. 6, then told the colleagues that Mr. Trump had said something to the effect of, maybe Mr. Pence should be hanged." Two committee witnesses confirmed Meadows' remarks. "The committee has also gathered testimony that Mr. Meadows used the fireplace in his office to burn documents, according to two people briefed on the panel's questions.... Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio..., signaled he would not appear for his deposition on Friday unless the panel turned over voluminous documents to him." A Yahoo! News summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I recall reading accounts early last year that during the insurrection, Trump did not call Pence to check on his well-being. Now we know why. Trump was unhappy his veep wasn't lynched.

Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department has stepped up its criminal investigation into the creation of alternate slates of pro-Trump electors seeking to overturn Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory in the 2020 election, with a particular focus on a team of lawyers that worked on behalf of ... Donald J. Trump, according to people familiar with the matter. A federal grand jury in Washington has started issuing subpoenas in recent weeks to people linked to the alternate elector plan, requesting information about several lawyers including Mr. Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and one of his chief legal advisers, John Eastman, one of the people said. The subpoenas also seek information on other pro-Trump lawyers like Jenna Ellis, who worked with Mr. Giuliani, and Kenneth Chesebro, who wrote memos supporting the elector scheme in the weeks after the election. A top Justice Department official acknowledged in January that prosecutors were trying to determine whether any crimes were committed in the scheme."

Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "Federal regulators Wednesday announced that Twitter will pay a $150 million fine to settle allegations that it deceptively used email address and phone numbers it had collected to target advertising, in one of the largest privacy settlements federal regulators have reached with a tech giant. The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department said the company also will be banned from profiting off the 'deceptively collected' data and be required to notify the more than 140 million users who were affected that it used their phone numbers and email addresses for advertising, according to a news release about the settlement. And the company will be required to implement and maintain a new privacy program that will require the company to review the security risks of new products." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yo, Elon. Another excuse for you to bail: "Gosh, they never told me about that potential $150MM liability."

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

Moises Velasquez-Manoff in the New York Times Magazine: "A wave of parents has been radicalized by Covid-era misinformation to reject ordinary childhood immunizations -- with potentially lethal consequences.... [One pediatrician speculates] that rampant misinformation related to the Covid-19 vaccines, and the fact that pundits like Tucker Carlson on Fox News have devoted a lot of time to bashing them -- among other untruths, he has suggested that the vaccines make people more likely to contract Covid-19, not less -- has begun to taint some people's view of long-established vaccines.... Such doubt has been accompanied by, and may have been augmented by, an erosion of confidence in medical expertise generally."

Beyond the Beltway

Oklahoma. Luke Vander Ploeg & Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma signed a bill on Wednesday that bans nearly all abortions starting at fertilization. The new law, which takes effect immediately, is the most restrictive abortion ban in the country. The law makes exceptions in cases where an abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest if they have been reported to law enforcement.... 'If other states want to pass different laws, that is their right, but in Oklahoma we will always stand up for life,' [Stitt said]." MB: Uh-huh. Until birth. The Guardian's story is here.

Oregon. Mike Baker of the New York Times: "A romance novelist who wrote about 'How to Murder Your Husband' was convicted in her husband's killing on Wednesday following a contentious trial in which prosecutors leaned on a 'puzzle' of circumstantial evidence to portray the author as a duplicitous spouse who spent months quietly plotting the perfect crime. Nancy Brophy, 71, stood quietly ... as the verdict was handed down, seven weeks after the trial began in Portland, Ore." The Guardian's story is here.

Pennsylvania Senate Race. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "The Republican primary for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania will go to a recount, with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician backed by ... Donald J. Trump, clinging to a narrow advantage over David McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, in one of the nation's most intensely watched midterm contests. Dr. Oz was leading Mr. McCormick by 902 votes as of Wednesday, according to Leigh M. Chapman, the state's acting secretary of the commonwealth, who said that all 67 of Pennsylvania's counties had reported unofficial tallies to the state. The recount could lead to a series of lawsuits and challenges in the marquee primary, one that could ultimately determine control of the closely divided Senate. That legal wrangling has already begun: On Monday, Mr. McCormick filed a lawsuit demanding that undated mail-in ballots should be counted."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: Russia's "central bank cut interest rates again on Thursday, the latest in a raft of measures by Moscow aimed at stabilizing an economy buffeted by Western sanctions and four months of fighting in Ukraine. The move came a day after ... Vladimir V. Putin promised to increase the minimum wage and military benefits, a rare acknowledgment of the costs of his war, while insisting that the Russian economy was doing better than some had predicted when he had his military invade Ukraine.... The move came a day after President Vladimir V. Putin promised to increase the minimum wage and military benefits, a rare acknowledgment of the costs of his war, while insisting that the Russian economy was doing better than some had predicted when he had his military invade Ukraine.... The European Union has stalled on its proposed ban on Russian oil, held up by Hungary's refusal to back the measure along with the other 26 members of the bloc. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Viktor Orban asked that the proposed embargo remain off the table. He said that his concerns about it had not been resolved." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' summary of developments Wednesday is here. ~~~

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

News Lede

New York Times: "Ray Liotta, who created intense, memorable characters in 'Goodfellas,' 'Field of Dreams' and other films as well as on television, died in his sleep on Wednesday night or early Thursday in the Dominican Republic. He was 67."

May 25, 2022

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the massacre of children and teachers at a grade school in Uvalde, Texas are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here.

There were 27 school shootings with injuries or deaths this year.... The Gun Violence Archive ... has counted 212 mass shootings that have occurred so far this year, as of Tuesday. -- Jaclyn Diaz of NPR

The President of the Murder Capital of the World:

~~~ Matt Viser & Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "President Biden, in remarks that intermingled despair and anger, attempted to shame Congress on gun control Tuesday while openly questioning why the country he now leads has been incapable of coming up with an antidote to the mass shootings that show no signs of abating. A father who has lost two of his own children, a man who has delivered perhaps more eulogies than any living politician, and a president who is confronting numerous challenges was forced, once again, to console a country reeling from tragedy.... It was the second time in the course of 10 days that an 18-year-old in body armor carried a rifle into a building full of unsuspecting people, interrupting everyday life for everyday Americans with terror, mayhem and bloodshed.... Vice President Harris deviated from her scheduled remarks at an evening gala for the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.... 'Enough is enough. Enough is enough.... 'As a nation, we have to have the courage to take action.'" ~~~

     ~~~ And there's this, from the report: "Several Republicans said Tuesday that they wanted to wait for more information about the shooting before discussing potential action." Two mass murders in 10 days, one targeting Black grocery-shoppers and one targeting little schoolchildren, and they need "more information"?

Sen. Chris Murphy Tuesday, in the Murder Capital of the World:

~~~ Colby Itkowitz, et al., of the Washington Post: "Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut who once held a 15-hour filibuster on the Senate floor on the need for stricter gun laws in the United States, returned there Tuesday night to plead with his colleagues to find a way to put politics aside and work together to stop the carnage of mass shootings.... The aftermath of Sandy Hook was the closest Congress has come in the past decade to passing any meaningful changes to the nation's gun laws, but when a modest bill to strengthen background checks came to a vote in the Senate, only four Republicans voted for it, while four Democrats, none of whom are still serving, voted against it. Since then, there has been only frustration and anger after mass shootings in places of worship, in stores, at a concert, at a nightclub, at a yoga studio and in schools, making many fear that anyplace in the United States could be next. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) charged Republicans with robbing the lives of young children.... House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) encapsulated the shock and anger felt by Democrats toward their Republican colleagues, also noting that legislation passed in the House last year had been languishing in the Senate.... House Democrats passed two bills in March 2021 to strengthen the country's gun laws by closing what they see as loopholes and expanding background checks for gun purchasers." Politico's report is here.

How many more times will Senate Republicans express outrage at horrific shootings like the one today in Uvalde, Texas, and then block meaningful, bipartisan background-check legislation supported by nine out of ten Americans and most responsible gun owners? -- Rep. Steny Hoyer, House Minority Leader, Tuesday

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said on Twitter that he was 'completely sickened and heartbroken,' that he was 'lifting up in prayer' for the community and that there had 'been too many of these shootings.' Cruz, as well as ... Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), is scheduled to speak Friday at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Houston, about 275 miles from Uvalde.

Just to be clear fuck you @tedcruz you fucking baby killer. -- Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) ~~~

~~~ Emily Cochrane & Katie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Within hours of the shooting in Uvalde, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, moved to clear the way to force votes as early as Thursday on legislation that would strengthen background checks for gun purchasers, pushing to revive measures with broad appeal that Republicans have blocked in the past. The pair of bills would expand criminal background checks to would-be gun buyers on the internet and at gun shows and lengthen the waiting period for gun buyers flagged by the instant background check system to allow more time for the F.B.I. to investigate. The measures, passed by the House in 2019 and again last year, have languished in the Senate amid Republican opposition. Even as they publicly mourned the massacre that killed 19 children and two adults on Tuesday, Republican senators gave little indication that their positions had changed." The Hill has a story here.

Here's what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted when he was running for governor in 2015: "I'm EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let's pick up the pace Texans. @NRA"

Steve M.: "... while we're waiting for more information [about the shooter], a parasite named John Cardillo -- a blue-check right-wing commentator with nearly 300,000 followers including J.D. Vance and several GOP members of Congress, posted this: 'If initial reports are accurate and this mass murderer of children was an illegal alien who was being chased by the Border Patrol, Democrats should never again be allowed to hold an elected office in the United States.'... The governor himself said that [the shooter] is a U.S. citizen who appears to have attended Uvalde High School.... Tell me why I shouldn't believe that Cardillo knew exactly what he was doing -- spreading a rage-inducing falsehood, because inducing rage is the right's prime directive. It's what right-wingers do every waking hour of their lives.... Benjamin Goggin [tweeted] 'People have taken the photo of an unassociated trans person with the trans pride flag and are claiming its the Texas shooter Salvador Ramos.... This comes on the heels of Twitter announcing their crisis misinformation policy less than a week ago, where they promised to attach warnings to misleading claims in crisis situations... guess it still needs some work!'... [Business Insider reported,] '... Arizona GOP congressman Paul Gosar spread a false and transphobic claim that the suspected shooter was a "transsexual leftist illegal alien." Gosar tweeted the claim even though authorities had already identified the suspect as an 18-year-old male resident of Uvalde, where the shooting occurred.'"

From the New York Times' live updates of Tuesday's primary election results: "Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia won the Republican nomination for a second term on Tuesday, resoundingly turning back a primary challenge that had been engineered by Donald J. Trump and delivering the former president his biggest electoral setback of the 2022 primaries. Seeking retribution for Mr. Kemp's decision to certify the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, Mr. Trump had personally recruited former Senator David Perdue to run for governor, worked to clear the field for him, recorded television ads, held a rally and even transferred $2.64 million from his political accounts to help him.... ~~~

~~~ "Stacey Abrams will advance to Georgia's general election for governor after running in the state's Democratic primary unopposed.

~~~ "Representative Lucy McBath, who gained national prominence as a gun control and racial justice activist after her teenage son was shot and killed, defeated on Tuesday Representative Carolyn Bourdeaux for the Democratic nomination in the Seventh District of Georgia, according to The Associated Press. Ms. McBath currently represents a nearby district. But under the once-in-a-decade redistricting process, Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, signed into law a new map that transformed Ms. McBath's district so that it overwhelmingly favored Republicans. The Seventh, a version of which Ms. Bourdeaux currently represents, became strongly Democratic under the new lines, and Ms. McBath chose to run there instead. ~~~

~~~ "Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Republican official who famously rebuffed former President Donald J. Trump's requests to 'find' enough votes to help him overturn the 2020 election, defeated a Republican primary challenge on Tuesday. Mr. Raffensperger, who serves as Georgia's top elections official as secretary of state, won his G.O.P. primary against Representative Jody Hice, a Republican congressman who voted to overturn the 2020 election and who was backed by Mr. Trump. ~~~

~~~ "Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who became the first Black senator from Georgia, overpowered his primary challenger on Tuesday to win the chance to secure a full six-year term in November, according to The Associated Press. ~~~

~~~ "Herschel Walker accepted the Republican nomination for the Georgia Senate seat held by Raphael Warnock, dishing out red meat to the partisan crowd by telling them he was ready to save the country from 'a bunch of maniacs too drunk with power' who 'don't even like this country.' ~~~

~~~ "Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose far-right beliefs and confrontational behavior earned her opposition in both parties, won the Republican primary in her Northwest Georgia House district, beating a businesswoman who had garnered support among some in the G.O.P. establishment. ~~~

~~~ "In Georgia, Chris Carr successfully defended a primary challenge from John Gordon, a candidate backed by ... Donald Trump, to secure the party's nomination for attorney general. ~~~

~~~ "Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama won the Republican nomination for governor, according to The Associated Press, surpassing 50 percent of the vote despite facing a barrage of attacks from primary challengers on her right. Ms. Ivey had shifted her messaging in the homestretch of the race to embrace ... Donald J. Trump -- who did not endorse her or any of her competitors -- and to vilify the left. ~~~

~~~ "Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama, who aided Donald J. Trump's effort to subvert the 2020 election and won his endorsement for a Senate seat, only to have the former president turn on him as he slid in the polls, survived that humiliation on Tuesday, earning a place in a Republican primary runoff. Mr. Brooks, a six-term congressman from Huntsville, will face Katie Britt, a former lobbyist, in a runoff election on June 21 after neither received more than 50 percent of the vote, according to The Associated Press. ~~~

~~~ "The race in the Texas 28th Congressional District hasn't been called, but the incumbent Henry Cuellar has maintained a narrow lead over his progressive challenger, Jessica Cisneros. ~~~

~~~ "Rochelle Garza, a civil rights lawyer who fought for abortion access for undocumented teenage migrants in federal custody, won the Democratic nomination for Texas attorney general on Tuesday, defeating the former mayor of Galveston. ~~~

~~~ "Ken Paxton has easily defeated George P. Bush in the runoff for Texas attorney general. It's quite a fall for the Bush dynasty, whose name remains ubiquitous in the state.... Mr. Paxton, whose victory was called by The Associated Press, has been under criminal indictment for securities fraud since 2015, and his own former top aides have accused him of bribery and corruption. ~~~

~~~ "Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary for two years under ... Donald J. Trump, defeated a former radio show host Tuesday to win the Republican nomination for Arkansas governor, according to The Associated Press."

With a concentration on Georgia, Shane Goldmacher & Maya King of the New York Times summarize the election results here. ~~~

~~~ Michael Bender & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times analyze the results vis-à-vis the vengeance of Trump: "Donald J. Trump barreled into Georgia vowing to marshal voters against his enemies and punish Republicans who crossed him in 2020. Instead, Georgia voters punished him for meddling in their state. Mr. Trump picked losers up and down the ballot, most strikingly missing the mark on a third governor's race in three weeks. The dismal record, particularly for chief executives, illustrates the shortcomings of Mr. Trump's revenge tour. Since leaving the White House, and the structure it provided, the former president has erratically deployed his political power, often making choices on a whim or with little clear path to execution. That approach has repeatedly left him empty-handed and raised new doubts about the viselike grip he has held on the Republican Party.... House and Senate bids -- where Mr. Trump's endorsement record as yet is nearly unblemished -- can more easily harness national political winds."

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Participants in an insurrection against the U.S. government can be barred from holding office, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled Tuesday. The decision came in the case of Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R), who before losing his House primary this month faced a challenge from North Carolina voters arguing that his actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack made him ineligible for future public service. Cawthorn suggested his case was moot given his primary loss, but the court disagreed, given that the election had not yet been certified and because the same issue could come up in another campaign.... The appeals court sided with the voters, without ruling on whether Cawthorn personally engaged in an insurrection or on whether the process state officials planned to use to decide this question was constitutional."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "On Sunday, amid a growing number of signs that he has lost his hot hand in Republican primaries, [Donald] Trump elevated the idea of 'civil war' against an 'enemy [coming] from within' the United States. Republican leaders responded, as usual, with silence.... Trump was, once again, amplifying a favorite theme of the violent far right.... As ugly as things have been with Trump holding an iron grip over the GOP, they could actually get worse if he feels his grasp slipping and becomes even more incendiary in his provocations.... The casual expectation of violence is spreading." Milbank cites remarks by Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano, and GOP Reps. Madison Cawthorn & Marjorie Taylor Greene. "Precisely because of such people, the United States actually is at risk of civil war -- more than at any point in recent history.... A partial democracy, which the United States now is, faces three times the risk of falling into civil war."

Tyler Pager & David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Biden is expected to sign an executive order Wednesday aimed at bolstering police accountability, a move that could re-energize federal reform efforts as the nation marks the second anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd, according to multiple people briefed on the announcement.Floyd's family members, civil rights advocates and law enforcement officials are expected to join the president at the White House for a signing ceremony at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Biden will call for the creation of national standards for the accreditation of police departments and a national database of officers with substantiated complaints and disciplinary records, including those fired for misconduct, the people briefed on the matter said. The executive order also will instruct federal law enforcement agencies to update their use-of-force policies." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "A commission established by Congress last year has suggested new names for nine Army bases that honor Confederate officers, as the American military continues an examination of its history with race that was intensified in the summer of 2020, after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. The commission's recommendations, if approved by Congress and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, would see Fort Bragg -- named after Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg -- renamed Fort Liberty, the only one of the bases that would be renamed for an abstract idea and not a person. In the past, Army bases were largely named for white male soldiers. But the commission's recommendations cover a multicolored swath of Americans, including women and minorities -- two long-ignored populations that have served in or supported the army since its inception.... The Army has long come under fire for honoring treasonous Confederate generals...."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Defense attorneys for longtime Proud Boys leader Henry 'Enrique' Tarrio and U.S. prosecutors released 22 minutes of video on Tuesday that recorded his movements in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, including his meeting in an underground parking garage with Stewart Rhodes, founder of the extremist group Oath Keepers. The existence of the video and the interest of FBI and House investigators in it have been reported previously -- including in Tarrio's indictment in March on charges of conspiring to attack Congress that day -- but clips of the recording had not been made public.... Also present at the garage meeting were leaders of two right-wing pro-Trump groups: Joshua Macias, a scheduled speaker the following day, and Bianca Gracia, a Jan. 6 event organizer with White House ties." Includes a 4-minute clip.

Devan Cole of CNN: "A majority of Americans -- 54% -- now say they disapprove of the job the Supreme Court is doing following the leak of the draft opinion showing the justices are poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a new poll released Wednesday[.] The Marquette Law School poll findings represent a dramatic change from how Americans viewed the court in March, the last time the survey was conducted. Then, 54% of respondents said they approved of the nine justices and 45% said they disapproved. Now, only 44% approve."

"The Age of Constitutional Argument Is Over." Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "I have spent years ... have, in urgent conversation about due process and undue burdens, extrapolating from the opacities of Planned Parenthood v. Casey.... There is no burden from an undesired pregnancy that is undue, or at least one that can't be alleviated by putting the baby in a basket and leaving it somewhere safe, as Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested during the oral argument in December -- an idea that Justice [Samuel] Alito incorporated in his draft opinion.... Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg famously argued that the Constitution's explicit guarantee of equal protection [might have put the right to abortion on firmer footing]... Since nothing else seems to be working, I'll swing for the fences. The 13th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, prohibits both slavery and 'involuntary servitude.' What is forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to term if not involuntary servitude?... [But] the message of the Alito draft is that the age of constitutional argument is over."

Ruth Graham of the New York Times: "Leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention announced Tuesday that they were preparing to release a secretly maintained list of hundreds of ministers and church workers they say are credibly accused of sexual abuse. The existence of the list was revealed Sunday in a bombshell report on the denomination's handling of sexual abuse over the course of the past two decades. The report, produced by a third-party investigator and totaling almost 300 pages, alleged that the denomination's top leaders had suppressed reports of sexual abuse, opposed proposals for reform, and denigrated and discouraged abuse victims who approached them for help. One of the report's most shocking revelations was the existence of an internal list of 703 suspected abusers, compiled by an employee of the denomination's executive committee, its national leadership body." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Walmart pulled 'Juneteenth ice cream' from its freezers and apologized Tuesday after a social media backlash and accusations of commercializing a holiday meant to commemorate the end of American slavery. The retail giant was set to sell 'swirled red velvet and cheesecake' ice cream in a container adorned with Pan-African colors and an image of two Black hands high-fiving each other.... Walmart's website on Tuesday offered a wide array of Juneteenth products, including a T-shirt with a word cloud of social justice and Black empowerment themed phrases in the shape of Africa and Juneteenth party decorations. Another product listing features a White model wearing a black tank top with the words 'Because my ancestors weren't free in 1976,' an apparent mistaken reference to American independence in 1776." MB: In fairness to Walmart, thousands of companies commercialize every holiday, no matter how sacred or solemn.

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia Senate Race. Walker Lies About a Lie He Told Repeatedly. Daniel Dale & Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Herschel Walker, the former football star who is now the Republican nominee for a US Senate seat in Georgia, is piling dishonesty upon dishonesty on the subject of his college education. In December, Walker's campaign website falsely claimed that he had graduated from the University of Georgia, the school he left after his junior season to play professionally.... In April, CNN's KFile team revealed that Walker himself had made the false graduation claim for years -- and that Walker had even asserted that he graduated in the top 1% of his University of Georgia class. But when Walker was challenged about his graduation deception in an interview last week with FOX 5 Atlanta anchor Russ Spencer, Walker declared he had never once said he graduated from the University of Georgia." MB: Obviously, Dale & Kaczynski don't know the rule: IOKIYAR.

Indiana. Casey Smith of the AP: "Republican lawmakers in Indiana voted Tuesday to override the GOP governor's veto of a bill banning transgender females from competing in girls school sports and join about more than a dozen other states adopting similar laws in the past two years. State senators voted 32-15 in favor of overriding Gov. Eric Holcomb following the same action in a 67-28 vote by the House earlier in the day. Holcomb had said in his veto message that bill did not provide a consistent policy for what he called 'fairness in K-12 sports' when he unexpectedly vetoed it in March. The override votes were nearly party line and no lawmakers changed their votes from earlier this year. Four Republican senators joined all Democratic senators in voting to uphold the veto. In the House, three Republicans voted to sustain the veto, while one Democrat supported overriding it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michigan Gubernatorial Race. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Five of 10 Republican candidates for the gubernatorial nomination in Michigan are ineligible to appear on the ballot because of invalid signatures on their nominating petitions, the Michigan elections bureau said in a report Monday, upending the race little more than two months before the August primary. Those the elections bureau said were ineligible include former Detroit police chief James Craig and businessman Perry Johnson, who have been considered the leading candidates for the GOP nomination for Michigan governor. Others were Donna Brandenburg, Michael Brown and Michae Markey. The Michigan Board of State Canvassers, made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, will meet Thursday morning to discuss the election bureau's report and rule on whether the candidates can appear on the Aug. 2 primary ballot."

New York. Jonah Bromwich & Jan Ransom of the New York Times: "Even as she acknowledged that 'people are dying' in New York City's troubled jails, a federal judge on Tuesday refrained from stripping control of Rikers Island from local officials, instead ordering the city to revise its plan for addressing violence and disorder at the compound. The judge, Laura T. Swain, made the decision at a hearing on Tuesday after listening to arguments from the United States Attorney's Office in Manhattan and others who had raised the possibility of appointing an independent official to run New York City's jails, something that has never happened in the jail system's history. Judge Swain had given the city Department of Correction three weeks beginning last month to come up with a plan to remedy the crisis in the jail complex, where city staffing practices have left gang members in charge of some jail areas, and detainees to languish without food or medical care. But as jail officials were formulating their plan, two detainees died, the city was held in contempt in state court over its failure to provide timely medical care and questions emerged about whether the jail system properly documented a serious head injury suffered by a detainee in April."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "As the fourth month dawned in the war in Ukraine, the battle was narrowing on Wednesday to a 75-mile-wide sliver of land in the heart of the eastern Donbas region, where Russia's concentrated firepower and shortened supply lines were helping its forces make progress toward a handful of key cities.... Representatives from Finland and Sweden were in Turkey on Wednesday to meet with high-level officials in an effort to address President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's opposition to the Nordic nations' bids to join NATO." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here: "Russian forces are inching closer to the strategic city of Severodonetsk -- but their overall military performance 'remains poor,' according to the Institute for the Study of War think tank.... Meanwhile, the European Union is still trying to overcome opposition from Hungary to a deal on an embargo on Russian oil.... The British government approved the sale of Chelsea Football Club after sanctions were placed on the London-based club's longtime owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich."

Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "Newly declassified U.S. intelligence shows that a Russian naval blockade has halted maritime trade at Ukrainian ports, in what world leaders call a deliberate attack on the global food supply chain that has raised fears of political instability and shortages unless grain and other essential agricultural products are allowed to flow freely from Ukraine. Russia's navy now effectively controls all traffic in the northern third of the Black Sea, making it unsafe for commercial shipping, according to a U.S. government document obtained by The Washington Post."

Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "Eight Russian soldiers and mercenaries were charged on Tuesday with the murder of the mayor of a small Kyiv suburb and her family, Ukraine's prosecutor general said. The mayor, Olha Sukhenko, was found in a shallow grave in her village, Motyzhyn, about 30 miles west of Kyiv, on April 2, after Russians withdrew from their positions around the capital. Her husband and son were buried with her. The prosecutor general, Irina Venediktova, said five of the accused men were soldiers in the Russian Army and three were part of the private military group Wagner, which is run by a businessman close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.... Ms. Venediktova ... publish[ed] the names and photographs of all eight men."

Alan Rappeport & Eshe Nelson of the New York Times: "The Biden administration will start blocking Russia from paying American bondholders, increasing the likelihood of the first default of Russia's foreign debt in more than a century. An exemption to the sweeping sanctions that the United States imposed on Russia as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine has allowed Moscow to keep paying its debts since February. But that carve-out will expire on Wednesday, and the United States will not extend it, according to a notice published by the Treasury Department on Tuesday."

Chico Harlan & Stefano Pitrelli of the Washington Post: "European energy companies appear to have bent to ... Vladimir Putin's demand that they purchase natural gas using an elaborate new payment system, a concession that avoids more gas shut-offs and also gives Putin a public relations victory while continuing to fund his war effort in Ukraine. The system, which involves the creation of two accounts at Gazprombank, enables Europe to say it is technically paying for natural gas in euros, while Russia can say it is receiving payment in rubles -- a requirement Putin imposed on 'unfriendly' nations."

Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: At Davos, "former U.S. secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger said Monday that Ukraine should cede territory to Russia to help end the invasion, suggesting a position that a vast majority of Ukrainians are against as the war enters its fourth month.... Kissinger urged the United States and the West to not seek an embarrassing defeat for Russia in Ukraine, warning it could worsen Europe's long-term stability.... The 'status quo ante' [advocated] by Kissinger ... refers to restoring a situation in which Russia formally controlled Crimea and informally controlled Ukraine's two easternmost regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized that part of his conditions for entering peace talks with Russia would include a restoration of preinvasion borders." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Israel/Palestine. Zeena Saifi, et al., of CNN on the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh: "... Abu Akleh, a 51-year-old Palestinian-American was killed by a bullet to the head at around 6:30 a.m. on May 11. She had been standing with a group of journalists near the entrance of Jenin refugee camp, where they had come to cover an Israeli raid. While the footage does not show Abu Akleh being shot, eyewitnesses told CNN that they believe Israeli forces on the same street fired deliberately on the reporters in a targeted attack. All of the journalists were wearing protective blue vests that identified them as members of the news media.​... Videos obtained by CNN, corroborated by testimony from eight eyewitnesses, an audio forensic analyst and an explosive weapons expert, suggest that Abu Akleh was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

The Texas Tribune's report of the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, is here.

CNN reports on-air that all of the victims were in one fourth-grade classroom, where the shooter barricaded himself. Tactical forces broke into the room & killed him. The shooter wore some kind of body armor. He had written on TikTok, "Kids, be scared."