The Conversation -- September 16, 2023

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Reading ... [Mitt Romney's] surprisingly harsh and unsparing ... [criticism of his fellow Republicans], I wonder how much of it is Romney's sublimated criticism of himself.... Romney ... played a significant role in giving Trump mainstream political credibility.... This was the Romney who ... did a great deal to appeal to the most viciously right-wing figures in his party.... Romney was, not unlike the colleagues he criticizes, willing to say whatever it took to win power, even if it meant smearing nearly half the country as essentially unproductive...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bouie doesn't mention it, but it's worth remembering that Romney made his sizeable fortune as a ruthless venture capitalist who specialized in leveraged buyouts & quick sales that maximized the value he could extract from the targeted companies. He's not exactly a model of probity. He did not learn his predatory tendency on his father's knee: George Romney was "a folk hero of the American automotive industry" who as CEO of American Motors returned the part of his annual income he considered excessive.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times writes about President Biden's staff muzzling him. "Is his less-than-stellar inner circle undermining the boss and giving ammunition to the nasty conservative story line about how the 80-year-old president is losing it?... By publicly treating him as though he's not in control of his faculties, by cutting him off mid-thought as though he's faltering and needs caretaking, they play into the hands of Trumpsters. His vulnerability becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.... Biden needs to start looking like he's in command. His staff is going to have to roll with him and take some risks and stop jerking the reins."

Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Jenna Ellis -- the Donald Trump lawyer who like the former president faces criminal charges regarding attempted election subversion in his defeat by Joe Biden in 2020 -- says she will not vote for him in the future because he is a 'malignant narcissist' who cannot admit mistakes.... 'Why I have chosen to distance is because of that frankly malignant narcissistic tendency to simply say that he's never done anything wrong.' Ellis, 38, was speaking on her show on American Family Radio, a rightwing evangelical network run by the American Family Association...." MB: Or maybe Ellis's about-face has something to do with the not-surprising fact that Trump won't authorize his PAC to help Ellis with the legal bills she's accruing in defending herself against charges brought against her in the Trump fake election-fraud conspiracy.

** Texas Is Still Texas and Republicans Are Still Republicans. Paxton Acquitted!! Zach Despart of the Texas Tribune: "The Texas Senate on Saturday acquitted Attorney General Ken Paxton of 16 articles of impeachment alleging corruption and bribery, his most artful escape in a career spent courting controversy and skirting consequences of scandal. No article received more than 14 of the required 21 votes to convict. Only two of 19 Republican Senators, Bob Nichols of Jacksonville and Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills, voted in favor of convicting for any article -- a stark contrast to the nearly 70% of House Republicans who impeached the attorney general in May. The dramatic votes capped a two-week trial where a parade of witnesses, including former senior officials under Paxton, testified that the attorney general had repeatedly abused his office by helping his friend, struggling Austin real estate investor Nate Paul, investigate and harass his enemies, delay foreclosure sales of his properties and obtain confidential records on the police investigating him. In return, House impeachment managers said Paul paid to renovate Paxton's Austin home and helped him carry out ­and cover up an extramarital affair with a former Senate aide." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times ran a liveblog.

Michigan. Tim Craig of the Washington Post: "A Michigan jury acquitted three men on Friday of state charges related to the plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, capping multiple legal proceedings that centered on right-wing extremism and the dangers facing the country's political leaders.... When the verdict was announced, people in the courtroom gasped while the three men cried and hugged supporters, the Associated Press reported. During the trial, state prosecutors had argued that [Eric] Molitor and [twin] ...brothers [William Null & Michael Null] had participated in military-style drills and cased Whitmer's vacation property in Antrim County in northern Michigan.... But attorneys for Molitor, 39, and the Null brothers, 41, argued that the men did not actively take part in the plot and did not consider it to be a serious threat to Whitmer."

Pennsylvania. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: How a convicted murderer & prison escapee evaded capture for 13 days.

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Marie: In today's news, we learn that the GOP clown car is running on empty, but the dangerous villain who is operating the vehicle by remote control still may manage to mow us all down. Meanwhile, certain damsels in the court of the clowns are in various states of distress.

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department is asking the judge overseeing Donald Trump's federal election fraud trial to impose some limitations on the former president's public comments, saying he is seeking to undermine the criminal justice system with his incendiary rhetoric.... The request was made under seal earlier this month; a redacted version was published late Friday. Trump opposes the request.... The 'limited' order [prosecutors] request would bar specific statements about witnesses, as well as any 'disparaging and inflammatory, or intimidating' comments about anyone involved in the case, including potential jurors.... Right now, prosecutors say, Trump is making inappropriate comments on a 'near-daily basis.' Examples given in the 19-page filing include Truth Social posts in which Trump called [Jack] Smith 'deranged' and his fellow prosecutors 'thugs,' [Judge Tanya] Chutkan a 'fraud, [Mike] Pence 'delusional,' and D.C. 'filthy and crime ridden,' as well as one in which Trump simply wrote, the day after his arraignment, in all caps, 'If you go after me, I'm coming after you!'" The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "... Donald Trump's public statements about the federal election interference investigation led to the harassment of witnesses, according to prosecutors with special counsel Jack Smith's office. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the federal case against Trump related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, is weighing what to do with the special counsel prosecutors' complaints regarding the alleged harassment. The allegations were made public by the court Friday, after previous court filings indicated prosecutors were taking issue with Trump's 'extrajudicial statements' about the case. 'In its Motion, the government seeks to establish that Defendant has publicly criticized his perceived adversaries and is aware that this criticism has led to their harassment,' Chutkan wrote in an opinion Friday to unseal part of the discussions." This is an earlier version of the updated story; I'm leaving it as is because it emphasizes what a clear & present danger Trump is. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the government's motion, via Politico. (Also linked yesterday.)

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "prosecutors secretly argued in April that if Donald Trump learned of their efforts to access his Twitter account, his public disclosure of the development could 'precipitate violence.'... Informing Trump about the Twitter search warrant 'could precipitate violence as occurred following the public disclosure of the search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago,' the prosecutors warned. The new filings, part of a monthslong legal battle between Twitter ... and the special counsel's team over whether the social media company ... could inform Trump about the search warrant the investigators had obtained before it complied with its directives.... Prosecutors -- and ultimately U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell -- ... sharply rejected Twitter's notion that Trump's account might contain privileged material. Howell held Twitter in contempt in February and fined the company $350,000 for missing court-ordered deadlines to comply with the prosecutors' search warrant." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Tierney Sneed, et al., of CNN: "Twitter turned over at least 32 direct messages from ... Donald Trump's account -- @realDonaldTrump -- to special counsel Jack Smith earlier this year as part of the federal election subversion investigation, according to newly unsealed court filings. In seeking the messages, prosecutors specifically argued that Trump posed a risk of tampering with evidence.... It is not clear exactly how the [direct] messages have informed the investigation." (Also linked yesterday.)

Pre-empting Trump. Tyler Pager & Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration proposed a new rule Friday seeking to bolster protections for federal workers, an explicit attempt to thwart plans by ... Donald Trump and his allies to replace career government officials with political loyalists should he be reelected. The rule seeks to halt any attempt to gut the foundation of the federal civil service, whose 2.2 million career employees serve any occupant of the White House without regard to partisanship -- and have rights to due process at every level. In the waning days of his administration, Trump tried to subvert those principles with a sweeping executive order that stripped job protections from employees in policy roles across the government.... [Trump's] executive order was the product of a four-year campaign by conservatives to bring to heel what they called a 'deep state' of bureaucrats who were resistant to the policies of the Trump White House.... [It] amounted to the most significant assault on the nonpartisan civil service in its history.... President Biden revoked that executive order on the third day of his presidency, and the new rule Friday seeks to further protect those officials." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is another example of how eliminating the filibuster would likely have prevented any future attempts by Trump or another Trumpy president* to gut the civil service. As the WashPo report notes, "Democratic-sponsored legislation with the rough contours of Friday's proposed regulation cleared the House last year but not the Senate." As it stands, I don't think President Biden's executive order will have a long-lasting effect, as a superseding presidential order can overturn it.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "The House is currently being run not by Speaker Kevin McCarthy but by backbenchers Matt Gaetz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Two days before departing for the August recess, McCarthy (Calif.) told his House Republican caucus that they could not justify launching a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden over unproven (and unfounded) allegations. But on Aug. 31, Greene announced that she would not 'vote to fund the government unless we have passed an impeachment inquiry.' Later, Gaetz announced that he would speak on the House floor on Sept. 12, the first day the chamber reconvened after recess, to detail plans to seek McCarthy's ouster as speaker if he impeded the impeachment of Biden.... Donald Trump joined in the impeach-Biden lobbying.... 'Today, I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden,' [McCarthy] announced in a hastily arranged statement outside his Capitol office on Tuesday morning -- an hour before Gaetz was scheduled to deliver his speech on the floor denouncing McCarthy.' Read on.

~~~ And it's all going very smoothly: ~~~

     ~~~ Jacqueline Alemany & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "... tensions escalated between Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee and the Justice Department.... A top GOP House investigator threatened to call Capitol Police to remove an FBI lawyer from a House office building Friday morning because he was unhappy that a senior FBI agent who appeared for a closed-door interview with the committee was accompanied by both a personal lawyer and an FBI lawyer.... Republicans have alleged that the agent, Elvis Chan, was involved with a Justice Department effort to censor conservative voices on social media.... Chan insisted on having both lawyers with him -- which [Chan's personal lawyer Larry] Berger said was unsurprising in this instance because Chan has been named in lawsuits stemming from his FBI work on social media. The committee did not back down, and at one point a person on the committee suggested they would summon the Capitol Police to remove the FBI lawyer....

"Meanwhile, the committee also tangled with the Justice Department this week as Republicans pressed for interviews with more mid-level officials who have been involved with the criminal investigation of [President] Biden's son Hunter.... The Justice Department ... has maintained a long-standing department practice of shielding line attorneys involved with ongoing investigations from Congress, leading to a growing standoff." ~~

~~~ Which brings us back to the sham impeachment inquiry: ~~~

     ~~~ ** Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "As Republicans plunge forward with an impeachment inquiry looking into a complex web of allegations against President Biden, his family and his administration, witnesses they have summoned for closed-door interviews in recent weeks have undercut or pushed back against some of their major claims. In testimony this month, three witnesses from the F.B.I. and the I.R.S. have contradicted key assertions made by a whistle-blower who claimed there was political interference in the Justice Department's tax case against Mr. Biden's son, Hunter, according to hundreds of pages of transcripts obtained by The New York Times. Another former F.B.I. official, whom Republicans have accused of political bias in the Hunter Biden case, Timothy R. Thibault, condemned the allegations against him as 'false and misleading.' And a bookkeeper for the Biden family [-- Eric Schwerin --] told investigators in an informal interview that he was not aware of any financial wrongdoing by the president, according to notes taken by Democratic congressional aides and summarized in a report they released this week.... Recent testimony casts doubt on [Speaker Kevin McCarthy's] accusations [against President Biden].... Multiple witnesses have questioned another key piece of the Republican case: the allegations made by Gary Shapley, an I.R.S. agent turned whistle-blower who testified publicly that the investigation into Hunter Biden was tainted by political interference."

Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) apologized for vaping and being disruptive during a performance of the musical 'Beetlejuice' at a city-owned theater in Denver, in a statement released by her campaign team late Friday.... [Boebert and a companion] had been reprimanded multiple times by [theater] staff for 'vaping, singing, [and] causing a disturbance' to other patrons, before being kicked out, according to an incident report shared by the city. As Boebert and her male companion are escorted out of the theater, camera footage shows her rebuking a staff member and saying, 'Do you know who I am?' and 'I will be contacting the mayor,' according to the city's incident report.... Drew Sexton, the congresswoman's campaign manager, had earlier denied accusations Boebert had been vaping, saying heavy fog machines and electronic cigarettes were being used during the show, and there might have been a misunderstanding." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sexton's statement/lie apparently preceded release of a video, which I saw on the teevee, that clearly shows Boebert vaping; no "fog machines" were involved in the giant puff of smoke seen emanating from her e-cig. Although Boebert pretends to be pro-life, Boebert ignored a complaint of her vaping by a pregnant woman sitting nearby, according to an MSNBC on-air report. Boebert denied not just the vaping but also that a pregnant woman asked her to stop. (In addition, the video showed Boebert giving a theater employee the finger as she and her date are escorted out of the theater.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Josh Marshall of TPM goes to the videotape: "It's literally right there on video. Just like the pregnant woman said. Boebert's comical lies are all proven.... As you can see if you watch, it's pretty comprehensive.... You see Boebert rocking out, getting fondled by her current boyfriend, vaping, telling the pregnant lady to pound [sand]. There's even a little coda at the end where she's being escorted out by the usher and flips off a theater employee." Includes video, of course.

Presidential Race & Veep-Stakes 2024

Wherein Donald Pretends to Be Chivalrous. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump told Kristen Welker in a soon-to-be-released interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press' that he made the decision to keep former First Lady Melania Trump off the campaign trail for him, because he would rather not have her subjected to attacks, reported The Daily Beast on Friday. 'Honestly, I like to keep her away from it,' said Trump, according to the news report.... This comes after the former president dodged questions about Melania in an interview with Megyn Kelly, saying that 'the beauty is that mystery.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While I'm aware that a general "tell" that Donald Trump is lying is that his lips are moving, another specific tell is when he prefaces a remark with "honestly." I don't think I've ever read his saying "honestly," when the word was not followed by an obvious lie. Donald posing as a courtly defender of his wife is fall-off-your-gallant-steed hilarious, even without the proof that he had to plow through one interview to come up with a fake answer in the next. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Marie: Oh gosh, I spoke too soon. The NBC News report on the Welker interview indicates knight-in-shining-armor Donald will not be protecting his lady for long: "Former President Trump said Thursday that former First Lady Melania Trump may be back on the campaign trail with him 'pretty soon.'" What does he have to do to get Melanie to show up at a campaign event? Add another $1MM to her pre-nup payoff? As some cynical contributors suggested in yesterday's thread, Melanie may have a few teeny character flaws, but I'd say that at least she knows enough to stay as far away from her meal ticket husband at possible.

Marie: Last week I saw speculation that how Kristi Noem would be tapped as Donald Trump's 2024 running mate. Well, maybe not: ~~~

~~~ Ken Silverstein & Laura Collins of the Daily Mail: "A rising Republican star tipped by many to be Donald Trump's running mate should he win the presidential nomination has been involved in a clandestine affair for years, multiple sources tell DailyMail.com. Married South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, 51 -- who stresses her belief in 'family values' -- and Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski, who is also married, began carrying on in 2019, if not before. Now news of the relationship threatens to wreck Noem's chances of joining Trump's ticket in a potential rematch with President Joe Biden." MB: It is the Daily Mail. But still. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Eric Loomis in LG&$ disagrees with my speculation about Noem's veep chances: "Trump will probably name Noem his VP candidate because of this but you get your lolz these days when you can. And hey, I guess I can see why Pence won't meet with her alone. Mother would get jealous!... And should we speculate that it was Corey who wanted Noem to remake her face with plastic? It would be irresponsible not to speculate." MB: And this, after RockyGirl and others commented a few days ago upon Lauren Boebert's extraordinary gigantic sparkly headlights! (See videotape embedded in Josh Marshall's post.) It's as if some people don't think the pretty Republican ladies are for real. But can't we at least acknowledge that these GOP mesdames fit right in with the courtly ladies of yore, who applied every manner of artifice to enhance their looks?

Mary Beth Sheridan & Matthew Brown of the Washington Post: "Ovidio Guzmán, a son of former drug kingpin Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán who allegedly became a major trafficker himself -- and a protagonist in America's fentanyl boom -- has been extradited to the United States, the Justice Department said Friday. Prosecutors allege that the younger Guzmán, 33, helped run what Attorney General Merrick Garland has called 'the largest, most violent, and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world.' U.S. prosecutors say he and his brothers became key leaders of the Sinaloa cartel after their father was arrested in 2016. Mexican army and national guard troops captured Guzmán in the Sinaloa city of Culiacán in January in gun battles that left at least 29 people dead. He has been indicted in New York, Chicago and D.C. on federal charges of trafficking fentanyl, cocaine, heroin and other illegal drugs to the United States."

DeNeen Brown of the Washington Post: "On Sept. 15, 1963, dynamite ripped through the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., killing four Black girls in the church basement as they prepared to attend Sunday services. The powerful blast reduced the church to rubble, mangling cars in the parking lot and stopping clocks. The dynamite blew plaster off the walls and peeled the face off the image of Jesus in a stained-glass window.... Sixty years later, as the country continues to reel from recent high-profile police killings of unarmed Black Americans and lawmakers in several states restrict the teaching of Black history, the city of Birmingham is hosting a week of events to commemorate the victims of the church bombing and highlight the civil rights push that followed." Read on. ~~~

     ~~~ Erica Green & Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday called on the nation to accept some of the ugliest truths in its history as she confronted the debates roiling the country about racism and violence against Black Americans. In a speech from the pulpit of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Justice Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the nation's highest court, said that she made her first trip to Alabama 'to commemorate and mourn, celebrate -- and warn.' She was the keynote speaker to mark the 60th anniversary of a bombing by the Ku Klux Klan that killed four young girls at the church as they arrived for Sunday morning service."

The Conversation -- September 15, 2023

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department is asking the judge overseeing Donald Trump's federal election fraud trial to impose some limitations on the former president's public comments, saying he is seeking to undermine the criminal justice system with his incendiary rhetoric.... The request was made under seal earlier this month; a redacted version was published late Friday. Trump opposes the request.... The 'limited' order [prosecutors] request would bar specific statements about witnesses, as well as any 'disparaging and inflammatory, or intimidating' comments about anyone involved in the case, including potential jurors.... Right now, prosecutors say, Trump is making inappropriate comments on a 'near-daily basis.' Examples given in the 19-page filing include Truth Social posts in which Trump called [Jack] Smith 'deranged' and his fellow prosecutors 'thugs,' [Judge Tanya] Chutkan a 'fraud, [Mike] Pence 'delusional,' and D.C. 'filthy and crime ridden,' as well as one in which Trump simply wrote, the day after his arraignment, in all caps, 'If you go after me, I'm coming after you!'" The New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "... Donald Trump's public statements about the federal election interference investigation led to the harassment of witnesses, according to prosecutors with special counsel Jack Smith's office. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the federal case against Trump related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, is weighing what to do with the special counsel prosecutors' complaints regarding the alleged harassment. The allegations were made public by the court Friday, after previous court filings indicated prosecutors were taking issue with Trump's 'extrajudicial statements' about the case. 'In its Motion, the government seeks to establish that Defendant has publicly criticized his perceived adversaries and is aware that this criticism has led to their harassment,' Chutkan wrote in an opinion Friday to unseal part of the discussions." This is a developing story. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the government's motion, via Politico.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Federal prosecutors secretly argued in April that if Donald Trump learned of their efforts to access his Twitter account, his public disclosure of the development could 'precipitate violence.'... Informing Trump about the Twitter search warrant 'could precipitate violence as occurred following the public disclosure of the search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago,' the prosecutors warned. The new filings, part of a monthslong legal battle between Twitter ... and the special counsel's team over whether the social media company ... could inform Trump about the search warrant the investigators had obtained before it complied with its directives.... Prosecutors -- and ultimately U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell -- ... sharply rejected Twitter's notion that Trump's account might contain privileged material. Howell held Twitter in contempt in February and fined the company $350,000 for missing court-ordered deadlines to comply with the prosecutors' search warrant." ~~~

     ~~~ Tierney Sneed, et al., of CNN: "Twitter turned over at least 32 direct messages from ... Donald Trump's account -- @realDonaldTrump – to special counsel Jack Smith earlier this year as part of the federal election subversion investigation, according to newly unsealed court filings. In seeking the messages, prosecutors specifically argued that Trump posed a risk of tampering with evidence.... It is not clear exactly how the [direct] messages have informed the investigation."

Marie: Last week I saw speculation that how Kristi Noem would be tapped as Donald Trump's 2024 running mate. Well, maybe not: ~~~

~~~ Ken Silverstein & Laura Collins of the Daily Mail: "A rising Republican star tipped by many to be Donald Trump's running mate should he win the presidential nomination has been involved in a clandestine affair for years, multiple sources tell DailyMail.com. Married South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, 51 -- who stresses her belief in 'family values' -- and Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski, who is also married, began carrying on in 2019, if not before. Now news of the relationship threatens to wreck Noem's chances of joining Trump's ticket in a potential rematch with President Joe Biden." MB: It is the Daily Mail. But still.

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Neal Boudette of the New York Times: "Thousands of members of the United Automobile Workers union went on strike Friday at three plants in three Midwestern states in what was the first strike simultaneously affecting all three Detroit automakers. The union and the companies -- General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, the parent of Chrysler -- remained deadlocked in negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement when the current contract expired at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday.... At the outset, the strike will idle one plant owned by each automaker, and could force the automakers to halt production at other locations, shaking local economies in factory towns across the Midwest.... The plants designated for walkouts on Friday represent only a small portion of all the unionized factories of G.M., Ford and Stellantis and of those companies' 150,000 U.A.W. members." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN is liveblogging developments here. The New York Times' liveblog is here.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden challenged his Republican opponents on Thursday in their area of political strength, arguing that he has done a better job of managing the economy than ... Donald J. Trump did and accusing his predecessor's congressional allies of undercutting working-class Americans.... 'They have a very different vision for America,' Mr. Biden said in a speech at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., just outside the nation's capital, where he held up a copy of budget plans by House Republicans. 'Their plan, MAGAnomics, is more extreme than anything America has ever seen before.' Mr. Biden trained his criticism on Republicans who are threatening to shut down the federal government if their plans are not enacted. The president accused the Republicans of caring more about the wealthy than the working class, pointing to proposals to cut taxes for high-income households and corporations; wring savings from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; and reverse initiatives to lower the cost of insulin and other prescription medicine."

Michael Schmidt & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Hunter Biden, the president's son, was charged on Thursday by federal prosecutors with lying about his drug use in connection with his purchase of a handgun in 2018, a move that could put him on trial next year as his father runs for re-election. The decision to file criminal charges against President Biden's troubled youngest son was an extraordinary step for the Justice Department and the lead prosecutor on the case, David C. Weiss, whom Attorney General Merrick B. Garland named as a special counsel last month. Mr. Garland gave Mr. Weiss that status after the last-minute collapse of a previous deal that would have resolved the long-running investigation without Mr. Biden serving prison time.... The gun charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, is only sporadically brought against first-time offenders, particularly ones like Mr. Biden, who is not accused of using the weapon in another crime. Mr. Biden's lawyers have argued to Justice Department officials that the charge will ultimately be thrown out because a series of Supreme Court and appeals court decisions have cast doubt on the constitutionality of the federal government putting certain conditions on firearms purchases." The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Andrew Weissmann said on MSNBC that it is odd that a few weeks ago these same Trump-appointed prosecutor was going to accept a plea deal and now -- after Congressional Republicans amped up the volume on their whining -- and now he suddenly thinks the same set of facts is worth three criminal charges. Indeed, many people thought the original plea deal itself was too harsh and unusual under the circumstances. Weissmann expects Hunter's attorneys will justifiably argue selective prosecution. MB: So is Hunter getting special treatment? Why, yes, yes, he is. In the meantime, here's my advice to the parties: negotiate a plea deal! (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Prosecutors and FBI agents involved in the Hunter Biden investigation have been the targets of threats and harassment by people who think they haven't been tough enough on the president's son, according to government officials and congressional testimony obtained exclusively by NBC News. It's part of a dramatic uptick in threats against FBI agents that has coincided with attacks on the FBI and the Justice Department by congressional Republicans and ... Donald Trump, who have accused both agencies of participating in a conspiracy to subvert justice amid two federal indictments of Trump. The threats have prompted the FBI to create a stand-alone unit to investigate and mitigate them, according to a previously unreleased transcript of congressional testimony." (Also linked yesterday.)

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "An urgent push by Speaker Kevin McCarthy to avert a government shutdown collapsed on Thursday as he bowed to resistance from his most conservative members and abandoned an effort to bring up a Pentagon spending measure this week." A related NPR story is here. ~~~

~~~ Emily Brooks & Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) vented his frustration about the hard-line conservatives holding up appropriations, dropping an expletive as he dared his fiercest critics to attempt a vote to oust him. During a closed-door conference meeting Thursday, McCarthy addressed an uptick in threats from members to call a motion to vacate the chair -- a move to force a vote on ousting the Speaker. 'If you want to file a motion to vacate, then file the f[uck]ing motion,' McCarthy said, Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) recounted. McCarthy's comments follow Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) earlier this week explicitly threatening to call a motion to vacate if McCarthy does not follow through with a number of spending priorities and votes on bills that his detractors were promised in January." (Also linked yesterday.)

Annie Karni of the New York Times: Mitt Romney "appears to be exiting [public life] in a blaze of tea-spilling glory, choosing to share his unfiltered -- and often unflattering -- thoughts about his colleagues and his dismay about what has become of the modern-day G.O.P. by participating in a deeply reported biography.... The senator sat for hours of interviews with the author, McKay Coppins of The Atlantic, giving him access to emails, texts and his journals that Mr. Romney had been saving to potentially write a memoir.... Here are six takeaways [from an excerpt of the book published in the Atlantic]." Worth a read. ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Senator Mitt Romney of Utah has framed [his retirement] as a passing of the torch.... 'The next generation of leaders must take America to the next stage of global leadership.' The problem with this argument is that Romney despises the next generation of Republican leaders.... So ... I don't think [the gerontocracy is] why Romney is bowing out. Rather..., [it's because his brand of stolid, upstanding conservatism has become obsolete, replaced with a conspiratorial, histrionic and sometimes violent authoritarianism. His reluctance to say so clearly, at the cost of breaking with his party definitively, is evidence of something tragic in his character.... By putting age at the center of his argument, he's setting himself above the fray, pretending that both parties are equally at fault in bringing the country to this perilous pass."

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... the latest census report on income and poverty made me angry. It showed that child poverty more than doubled between 2021 and 2022. That's 5.1 million children pushed into misery.... This didn't have to happen. Soaring child poverty wasn't caused by inflation or other macroeconomic problems. It was instead a political choice.... Republicans and a handful of conservative Democrats blocked the extension of federal programs that had drastically reduced child poverty over the previous two years, and as a result just about all of the gains were lost.... First, avoiding much of this human catastrophe would have cost remarkably little money. Second, child poverty is, in the long run, very expensive for the nation as a whole: Americans who live in poverty as children grow up to become less healthy and productive adults than they should be."

Connor O'Brien of Politico: "President Joe Biden's nominee to be the Navy's top officer, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, said it could take the service years to recover from the impacts of Sen. Tommy Tuberville's blockade of hundreds of senior military promotions. Franchetti told the Senate Armed Services Committee during her confirmation hearing Thursday that the impasse has created 'a lot of uncertainty' for Navy families."

Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "A judge on Thursday granted ... Donald J. Trump and 16 others a separate trial from two of their co-defendants, who will go to trial next month in the Georgia election interference case. The judge, Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, has laid out an expedited trial schedule for Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell.... The two had invoked their right under Georgia law to seek a speedy trial, in part to avoid the high cost of a more protracted legal fight. Their trial is set to begin on Oct. 23." The ABC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Spencer Hsu & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Prosecutors working with special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday urged U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to refuse a request by Donald Trump's attorneys that she disqualify herself from his federal election obstruction case, saying Trump's team had failed to supply evidence that she was biased against him.... Before the special counsel investigation began, while sentencing people who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, Chutkan twice noted that Trump and other leaders claiming the election was stolen had not been charged with crimes.... Legal analysts said views that a judge expresses at the sentencing of one defendant usually cannot be the basis for recusing them in the case of a different defendant, as that is the basis of their job, and they are trusted to not let their views bias them against other defendants. A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1994 that a judge must recuse from a case based on 'opinions formed' through court proceedings only if those opinions 'display a deep-seated favoritism or antagonism that would make fair judgment impossible.'"

Dave Collins of the AP: "As Alex Jones continues telling his Infowars audience about his money problems and pleads for them to buy his products, his own documents show life is not all that bad -- his net worth is around $14 million and his personal spending topped $93,000 in July alone, including thousands of dollars on meals and entertainment. The conspiracy theorist and his lawyers file monthly financial reports in his personal bankruptcy case, and the latest one has struck a nerve with the families of victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. They're still seeking the $1.5 billion they won last year in lawsuits against Jones and his media company for repeatedly calling the 2012 massacre a hoax on his shows." The Sandy Hook families have not seen a penny.

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Kentucky. Well, That Didn't Take Long. Gloria Oladipo of the Guardian & Agencies: "A former Kentucky county clerk is being ordered to pay $100,000 to a local couple who sued the clerk after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Kim Davis, the former clerk of Rowan county in eastern Kentucky, rose to national prominence for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses in 2015, arguing that such actions violated her religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman.... Last year, a federal judge ruled that Davis violated the constitutional rights of the two gay couples who sued her.... This week, in a trial to determine damages Davis must pay, a federal jury ordered Davis to pay $50,000 each to David Ermold and David Moore, according to lawyers of Davis, the Associated Press reported. The second couple who sued, James Yates and Will Smith, were awarded no damages." (Also linked yesterday.)

Texas. Robert Downen of the Texas Tribune: "Ken Paxton's defense team rested their case Thursday evening after a full day of testimony in which they attacked several of the 16 impeachment articles and downplayed the suspended attorney general's conduct as merely a part of his duties. The prosecution and defense will present closing arguments beginning at 9 a.m. Friday, after which the rules call for senators to deliberate in private before emerging to cast votes on each of 16 articles of impeachment."

Marie: Here's why I fear/am ashamed of being an American:

~~~ Washington. Justine McDaniel of the Washington Post: "A man who was trying to slow traffic in his neighborhood because deer were crossing the street was shot and killed by another man who was driving past, authorities in western Washington state said. Dan Spaeth of Snohomish, Wash., was outside his home with his wife on the evening of Sept. 7, trying to alert passing cars to deer that were crossing the road, Snohomish County Sheriff's Office Det. Kendra Conley wrote in an affidavit of probable cause filed in court. He was shot once by a man driving by, who later told authorities that seeing Spaeth and his wife in the street made him afraid and he fired the shot to scare the couple, according to the affidavit. After a search for the car, police detained Dylan Picard, 22, of Lake Stevens, Wash. He is charged with second-degree murder. Picard told detectives he did not know Spaeth or his wife.... Spaeth's death is another in a growing list of killings by Americans who have shot people in seemingly innocuous situations...." MB: Who wants to live in a country like this?

Wisconsin. Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate voted Thursday to fire the swing state's top elections official, who argued lawmakers didn't have the power to oust her and said she would stay in office. About an hour after the vote, she sued GOP lawmakers, seeking validation from the courts that she can keep her job. The vote ignited a dispute over who is in charge of overseeing elections in a state that is expected to play a critical role in next year's presidential contest and that may have to redraw its legislative districts within months. The Republicans' own lawyers, as well as the state's Democratic attorney general, told the senators before the vote that they didn't have the authority to remove Meagan Wolfe, the director of the state's bipartisan elections commission. Wolfe, whose position is nonpartisan, has won praise from voting administrators across the country as well as local officials in Wisconsin."

Wisconsin. Patrick Marley & Caroline Kitchener of the Washington Post: "Planned Parenthood plans to resume offering abortions in Wisconsin next week, more than a year after it stopped providing the service because of the Supreme Court's decision overturning the right to abortion. Planned Parenthood and others stopped providing abortions after the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization because of an 1849 law that was broadly viewed as banning nearly all abortions. The Wisconsin attorney general, a Democrat, sued in state court to try to overturn that law. A judge in July issued an initial ruling that concluded the 1849 law did not ban anyone from seeking abortions but rather barred someone from battering a pregnant woman and killing her unborn child. The judge is expected to issue a final ruling in the case soon, but Planned Parenthood announced Thursday it was not waiting for that ruling and instead would resume offering services on Monday at clinics in Milwaukee and Madison."

The Conversation -- September 14, 2023

Michael Schmidt & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Hunter Biden, the president's son, was charged on Thursday by federal prosecutors with lying about his drug use in connection with his purchase of a handgun in 2018, a move that could put him on trial next year as his father runs for re-election. The decision to file criminal charges against President Biden's troubled youngest son was an extraordinary step for the Justice Department and the lead prosecutor on the case, David C. Weiss, whom Attorney General Merrick B. Garland named as a special counsel last month. Mr. Garland gave Mr. Weiss that status after the last-minute collapse of a previous deal that would have resolved the long-running investigation without Mr. Biden serving prison time.... The gun charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, is only sporadically brought against first-time offenders, particularly ones like Mr. Biden, who is not accused of using the weapon in another crime. Mr. Biden's lawyers have argued to Justice Department officials that the charge will ultimately be thrown out because a series of Supreme Court and appeals court decisions have cast doubt on the constitutionality of the federal government putting certain conditions on firearms purchases." The NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Andrew Weissmann said on MSNBC that it is odd that a few weeks ago this same Trump-appointed prosecutor was going to accept a plea deal and now -- after Congressional Republicans amped up the volume on their whining -- and now he suddenly thinks the same set of facts is worth three criminal charges. Indeed, many people thought the original plea deal was too harsh and unusual under the circumstances. Weissmann expects Hunter's attorneys to justifiably argue selective prosecution. MB: So is Hunter getting special treatment? Why, yes, yes, he is. In the meantime, here's my advice to the litigants: negotiate a plea deal! ~~~

~~~ Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Prosecutors and FBI agents involved in the Hunter Biden investigation have been the targets of threats and harassment by people who think they haven't been tough enough on the president's son, according to government officials and congressional testimony obtained exclusively by NBC News. It's part of a dramatic uptick in threats against FBI agents that has coincided with attacks on the FBI and the Justice Department by congressional Republicans and ... Donald Trump, who have accused both agencies of participating in a conspiracy to subvert justice amid two federal indictments of Trump. The threats have prompted the FBI to create a stand-alone unit to investigate and mitigate them, according to a previously unreleased transcript of congressional testimony."

Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "A judge on Thursday granted ... Donald J. Trump and 16 others a separate trial from two of their co-defendants, who will go to trial next month in the Georgia election interference case. The judge, Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, has laid out an expedited trial schedule for Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell.... The two had invoked their right under Georgia law to seek a speedy trial, in part to avoid the high cost of a more protracted legal fight. Their trial is set to begin on Oct. 23." The ABC News story is here.

Emily Brooks & Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) vented his frustration about the hard-line conservatives holding up appropriations, dropping an expletive as he dared his fiercest critics to attempt a vote to oust him. During a closed-door conference meeting Thursday, McCarthy addressed an uptick in threats from members to call a motion to vacate the chair -- a move to force a vote on ousting the Speaker. 'If you want to file a motion to vacate, then file the f[uck]ing motion,' McCarthy said, Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) recounted. McCarthy's comments follow Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) earlier this week explicitly threatening to call a motion to vacate if McCarthy does not follow through with a number of spending priorities and votes on bills that his detractors were promised in January."

That Didn't Take Long. Gloria Oladipo of the Guardian & Agencies: "A former Kentucky county clerk is being ordered to pay $100,000 to a local couple who sued the clerk after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Kim Davis, the former clerk of Rowan county in eastern Kentucky, rose to national prominence for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses in 2015, arguing that such actions violated her religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman.... Last year, a federal judge ruled that Davis violated the constitutional rights of the two gay couples who sued her.... This week, in a trial to determine damages Davis must pay, a federal jury ordered Davis to pay $50,000 each to David Ermold and David Moore, according to lawyers of Davis, the Associated Press reported. The second couple who sued, James Yates and Will Smith, were awarded no damages."

~~~~~~~~~

Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "House Republicans on Wednesday failed to move forward on a procedural vote advancing a bill to fund the Defense Department after it became clear they did not have enough votes to secure its passage. The usually noncontroversial step became tied up in a broader debate among the conference that threatens to derail negotiations over the budget as a Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government looms.... The inability to move forward on a basic step to fund the government -- the House's top responsibility enshrined in the Constitution -- offered an example of just how difficult it will be for [Speaker Kevin] McCarthy and the ideologically fractured Republican majority to find consensus, keep the government open and avert blame if a shutdown is triggered. The House has less than a dozen days in session before the Sept. 30 deadline."

Li Zhou of Vox explains the fake Biden impeachment thing. ~~~

~~~ Impeachment Is Just the Beginning. Michelle Cottle of the New York Times: "It may be that even [Kevin McCarthy] is nauseated by his latest stunt. That it has finally sunk in that he has become the not-so-glorified puppet of the House Republican conference's radicals, folks like Dan Bishop, Chip Roy and, most prominently, Matt Gaetz. Mr. McCarthy may wield the gavel. But the far-right rebels who opposed his election as speaker, of whom Mr. Gaetz was a ringleader, now wield the ax poised above Mr. McCarthy's exposed neck -- an ax that he handed them in exchange for them letting him pretend to be in charge. With the omnipresent threat of voting him out of his dream job, the conference's fringe is leading the speaker around by the nose hairs.... Indeed, Mr. McCarthy had barely wrapped up his impeachment dirge when Mr. Gaetz took to the House floor to dismiss the speaker's 'rushed and somewhat rattled performance' as malarkey and to stress that the hard-liners will not be so cheaply bought.... His basic message to the speaker was clearer than a shot of Stoli: We own you, buddy, so get busy making us happy. Or else."

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "Sen. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 and the only member of his party to twice vote to convict ... Donald Trump in politically charged impeachment trials, announced Wednesday that he will not seek a second term in the Senate representing Utah, saying in an interview that it is time for a new generation to 'step up' and 'shape the world they're going to live in.' Romney, 76, said his decision not to run again was heavily influenced by his belief that a second term, which would take him into his 80s, probably would be less productive and less satisfying than the current term has been. He blamed that both on the disarray he sees among House Republicans and on his own lack of confidence in the leadership of President Biden and Trump. 'It's very difficult for the House to operate, from what I can tell,' he said in a lengthy telephone interview previewing his formal announcement, 'and two, and perhaps more importantly, we're probably going to have either Trump or Biden as our next president. And Biden is unable to lead on important matters and Trump is unwilling to lead on important matters.'" A CNBC report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: For what I found to be a startling new revelation about the January 6 insurrection, Alex Griffing of Mediaite cites an excerpt in the Atlantic of McKay Coppins's upcoming biography of Romney. P.S. Why didn't Mitch respond? Was he having another mental health moment? ~~~

~~~ Jennifer Bahney of Mediaite: Donald Trump posted an all-caps victory statement in response to Mitt Romney's announcing his retirement from the Senate. MB: What Trump doesn't get is that Romney doesn't need to run for re-election to stay out of jail, so Romney is free to enjoy retirement at any and all of his own resort-like homes, while Trump must hope that a return to the drafty old White House will beat a dank prison cell.

Solidarity Among the Dictators' Club. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump pointed to sympathetic comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin early Wednesday to try to bolster his case that he is being treated unfairly by prosecutors in the United States.... Putin, who has a history of persecuting his political opponents, claimed Tuesday that the criminal cases against Trump were part of 'the persecution of a political rival for political reasons.' He predicted that the proceedings against Trump would diminish America's global standing, to Russia's benefit.... The comments reflected the largely warm relationship between the two leaders during Trump's presidency.... Trump has continued to maintain that he and Putin are on good terms, despite the isolation of Putin by the West for his invasion of Ukraine -- which Trump once described as 'genius' and 'savvy.'... Trump's Republican primary rivals quickly seized on Putin's latest remarks.... Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie ... called Putin a 'brutal, mass-murdering, KGB hitman' and said that Trump needs new role models. 'Get it straight. Trump is under indictment because of his conduct. He played with fire and is getting burned. And now his best buddy is coming to his defense,' Christie wrote in a social media post."

Perry Stein & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Pretrial-palooza has officially begun, with hearings expected at least in Florida and Georgia this week, along with court filings and potentially more grand jury activity in D.C.... In Georgia, where Trump and 18 co-defendants face state charges for trying to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 victory, the judge schedules weekly hearings to review the many requests he is getting from defendants and prosecutors. At Thursday's hearing, we may get more insight into when Trump will go on trial there.... Prosecutors told Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee they expect it to take up to four months to try those who were charged. That's because they have 150 witnesses to call to the stands. 150! Let's see, 150 times 19 cross-examinations adds up to ... forever. Roughly forever. And potentially right in the middle of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign."

Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump does not want to be tried with anyone seeking a speedy trial. Mark Meadows wants to stand trial alone, but only after he exhausts his appeals on his request to move his case to federal court. Rudy Giuliani does not want to be tried with Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, former Trump campaign attorneys who sought to sever their cases from each other but are scheduled for a joint trial next month. Meanwhile, an Atlanta-area prosecutor leading the criminal racketeering case against Trump and his allies over alleged 2020 election interference in Georgia still wants to try all 19 defendants together beginning Oct. 23, arguing that separate trials would be a 'logistical quagmire' for the court system, witnesses and anyone else involved in the case. These are among the avalanche of motions filed before Judge Scott McAfee of the Superior Court of Fulton County, who is overseeing the sprawling election case and has said he hopes to begin issuing scheduling orders this week that could determine how and when the matter will proceed."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "On Wednesday, Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who is presiding over the documents case [against Donald Trump], gave [a] somewhat vague ... order setting up a series of rules to protect the classified materials at the heart of the proceeding. Judge Cannon said that Mr. Trump would indeed need to use a secure facility to review the sensitive records, suggesting but not specifically declaring that it should not be housed at his private club and residence in Florida. The dispute about how and where Mr. Trump could talk about the secret papers in the case began last month when his lawyers asked Judge Cannon to allow him to re-establish the sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF, 'at or near' Mar-a-Lago that he once used for classified materials when he was president.... Prosecutors ... objected to the notion of Mr. Trump having such discussions at Mar-a-Lago, which not only gets hundreds of visitors a year, but was also where the former president haphazardly kept boxes of classified materials stacked up in a bathroom and atop a ballroom stage."

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A top House conservative's conversations with allies in Congress and the Trump White House about overturning the 2020 election are off-limits to special counsel Jack Smith, an appeals court ruled in a newly unsealed court opinion. A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that prosecutors' effort to access the cellphone communications of Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) with colleagues and executive branch officials violated his immunity under the Constitution's Speech or Debate clause, which shields members of Congress from legal proceedings connected to their official duties.... The decision from [Naomi] Rao, a Trump appointee, was joined by another Trump appointee, Judge Greg Katsas, and by Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, who was nominated by President George H.W. Bush. However, Katsas filed a separate concurring opinion saying he viewed the privilege for lawmakers more narrowly than the other judges on the panel, but the disagreement wasn't meaningful in Perry's case."

Neal Boudette of the New York Times: "Barely 24 hours before the contract deadline, the United Auto Workers leader said Wednesday that his members were prepared for a strike against the three Detroit automakers -- first at a limited number of factories, with the walkout expanding if talks remain bogged down. The U.A.W. president, Shawn Fain, also ruled out any extension of the existing four-year contracts with General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis after they expire on Thursday night. 'September 14 is a deadline, not a reference point,' he declared in an address to union members on Facebook Live. He said the initial strike locations would be 'limited and targeted,' and would be communicated to members on Thursday night ahead of a Friday walkout."

Cruelty Is of the Essence of the Scheme

Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Texas on Wednesday rejected the Biden administration's latest effort to save a program that has shielded hundreds of thousands of undocumented young adults from deportation, saying that it remained unlawful even after recent changes. The judge, Andrew S. Hanen of the Federal District Court in Houston, maintained that President Barack Obama exceeded his authority when he created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, by executive action in 2012. The decision is the latest twist in a five-year-long court saga that has left the program and its beneficiaries, known as Dreamers, hanging in the balance. While the ruling is a blow to the immigrants, the judge did not mandate an immediate end to the program. Current applicants will be able to keep and renew their protection. No new applications will be allowed." MB: Dubya appointed Hanen.

So there's this, which we've all known would happen:

Ben Casselman & Lydia DePillis of the New York Times (Sept. 12): "Poverty increased sharply last year in the United States, particularly among children, as living costs rose and federal programs that provided aid to families during the pandemic were allowed to expire. The poverty rate rose to 12.4 percent in 2022 from 7.8 percent in 2021, the largest one-year jump on record, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. Poverty among children more than doubled, to 12.4 percent, from a record low of 5.2 percent the year before."~~~

     ~~~ According to Chris Hayes of MSNBC, Fox "News" is all over this, deeply upset that Joe Biden is impoverishing innocent little children. Really? From the Times report (and Hayes): "Congress passed the expanded child tax credit as part of the American Rescue Plan, President Biden's pandemic-relief package, in early 2021. But while other Covid-era relief programs were always intended to expire once the emergency passed, supporters hoped to make the expanded child credit permanent. That didn't happen. Faced with united opposition from congressional Republicans as well as some conservative Democrats, Mr. Biden dropped his effort to extend the program at the end of 2021; a renewed push failed again last year. The rise in poverty in 2022, social policy experts said, was the inevitable result of that decision."

Marie: There's a way to get around both of these problems -- DACA & child poverty -- right now. I meant to look for this earlier. The authors of Tyranny of the Minority -- Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt -- discuss just that with Alex Wagner of MSNBC. Watch at least the end where they mention one move that is (a) possible and (b) would work right now:

     ~~~ IOW, get rid of the filibuster, pass legislation that helps people.

~~~~~~~~~~

Florida. Quack, Quack. Kendra Nichols of the Washington Post: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the state's surgeon general are warning residents under age 65 against the new coronavirus booster, going against the advice of federal health officials who have recommended the shots. In a call live-streamed on social media platform X[-Twitter]..., DeSantis and Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo repeated comments made in a live event last week in Jacksonville, Fla., and argued there isn't enough evidence that the booster's benefits outweigh any risks.... The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a reformulated coronavirus vaccine that targets an omicron subvariant and is cleared for everyone 6 months and older. On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its advisers recommended the shots, manufactured by Moderna and by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech." The Hill's report is here.

Florida. Isaac Arnsdorf & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took at least six undisclosed trips on private jets and accepted lodging and dining in late 2018, according to flight manifests, tracking data and other documents obtained by The Washington Post.... The trips came during the period between DeSantis's election and inauguration as governor.... DeSantis did not report the flights or accommodations as gifts or campaign contributions and it's unclear whether he used a separate legal option to personally reimburse for the flights at the cost of coach airfare.... His then-campaign lawyer wrote in a memo to his transition team that as governor-elect, he was 'required to report with the Ethics Commission all direct and indirect gifts accepted that are worth over $100,' including 'transportation' 'lodging' and 'food.'... The undisclosed trips, which have not been previously reported, reflect how DeSantis fueled his political rise through close bonds with rich patrons and had a taste for luxury travel, in contrast to his campaign's portrayal of DeSantis's humble blue-collar roots and aversion to moneyed interests." A DeSantis campaign spokesman says all trips were properly paid-for. MB: Okay, prove it.

New Mexico. Marisa Iati of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Wednesday halted New Mexico's ban on carrying firearms in public in the state's most populous city after the policy was met with fierce backlash and lawsuits from gun rights advocates. The temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge David Urias pressed pause on the policy, which had suspended open and concealed carry laws in Albuquerque and surrounding Bernalillo County. After announcing the ban Friday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) told The Washington Post that the unusual action was necessary because of a surge in gun violence, including the killings of a 13-year-old girl, a 5-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy this summer." MB: Urias is a Biden appointee. CNN's report is here.

Texas. Marie: What with the fake impeachment of Joe Biden looming, I have not been keeping up with the real impeachment trial of suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Here's a link to the latest Texas Tribune stories about the trial.

Wisconsin. Scott Bauer of the AP: "Wisconsin's Republican Assembly leader announced Wednesday that he's created a panel to investigate the criteria for impeachment as he mulls taking that unprecedented step against a liberal state Supreme Court justice. Republicans are targeting Justice Janet Protasiewicz over comments she made during her winning campaign about redistricting and nearly $10 million in donations she received from the state Democratic Party. The impeachment criteria panel being created by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos will consist of three former Wisconsin Supreme Court justices whom Vos told The Associated Press he would not name until after their work is done. Vos said they were not being paid and he expected their work to be complete in the next few weeks."

News Ledes

Libya. New York Times: "More than 10,000 people were missing, Libyan authorities said on Wednesday, after the catastrophic floods that pummeled the country's northeast. The death toll, which has surpassed 5,000, could reach up to 20,000 based on the number of districts that were wiped out, the mayor of Derna, Abdulmenam Al-Ghaithi, told Al Arabiya television. A North African nation polarized by years of civil war and intense political and territorial divisions, Libya was poorly prepared for Storm Daniel, which swept across the Mediterranean Sea, pummeling its coastline and quickly destroying poorly maintained infrastructure."

Weather Channel: "H​urricane Lee is on the move north through the western Atlantic and its large size means it will spread strong winds, rain and coastal flooding far from its center to eastern New England and Atlantic Canada by this weekend. Lee is also producing rip currents and high surf along much of the East Coast,​ providing another example of how hurricanes can be a danger for beachgoers ​far away from where a storm is tracking.... A​ hurricane watch has been issued from Stonington, Maine, to Point Lepreau, New Brunswick, and also from Digby to Medway Harbour, Nova Scotia, including Yarmouth. That means hurricane conditions are possible in these areas within 48 hours."