March 14, 2023
~~~ Aaron Hutcherson of the Washington Post suggests numerous recipes for pie to celebrate the day. MB: Luckily for me, I bought a frozen apple pie yesterday, so I will rely on the Burns Family Recipe: "Turn on the oven and put it in." Update: The blizzard has taken the power out here, so my Extravagant Pi(e) Day Celebration will have to wait.
Afternoon Update:
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "A pair of Russian fighter jets intercepted and forced down an American surveillance drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday, U.S. officials said, with one Russian jet colliding with the propeller of the unmanned aircraft after both Russian warplanes dumped fuel on it. The incident prompted Air Force drone pilots to bring down the MQ-9 Reaper in international waters in what U.S. officials said has become a 'pattern of dangerous actions by Russian pilots' while interacting with American and allied aircraft in international airspace. The actions, U.S. military officials said in a statement, 'could lead to miscalculation and unintended escalation' between the two countries." This is a developing story.
Matthew Goldstein & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.... The investigation is in its early stages and it is unclear just what federal prosecutors are focused on.... One potential focus could be sales of company shares by several bank executives in the weeks before the bank's failure, several legal experts said. The sales generated millions of dollars in proceeds, though some of the bank's executives sold stock pursuant to insider selling plans that set the timing of such sales in advance.... For example, under a prearranged plan, Silicon Valley Bank's former chief executive, Gregory Becker, exercised options in early March that permitted him to sell shares worth about $3 million.... A number of lawyers said they expected the S.E.C. to also open an inquiry." ~~~
~~~ As mentioned in yesterday's & today's Comments: ~~~
~~~ Julian Mark of the Washington Post: "The recent implosion of Silicon Valley Bank escalated culture war arguments, as some conservative politicians ... blamed the bank's downfall on 'woke' practices. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) called SVB 'one of the most woke banks' because of its 'ESG-type' policies -- a reference to environmental, social and corporate governance-driven investing that has been embraced by billion-dollar asset managers and scorned by conservatives of late. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ... said Sunday that Silicon Valley Bank's diversity, equity and inclusion requirements 'diverted from them focusing on their core mission.' And Monday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said diversity and inclusion standards are why 'big banks are now increasingly incompetent.'... There's no evidence that SVB's sustainable investing or diversity initiatives contributed to its collapse. Experts have instead pointed to a perfect storm of SVB's significant holdings in U.S. Treasuries and the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes. As the Fed raised interest rates, SVB"s bond holdings became less valuable, and the bank sold Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities at a $1.8 billion loss. The disclosure sparked panic...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Pure bull, as you might suspect. According to Paul Krugman (also linked below), SVB "didn't lend [tech start-ups] a lot of money, since they were often flush with venture capital cash. Instead, the cash flow went in the opposite direction, with tech businesses depositing large sums with S.V.B. -- sometimes as a quid pro quo but largely, I suspect, because people in the tech world thought of S.V.B. as their kind of bank." And as pointed out here, there and everywhere, S.V.B. was instead investing primarily in patriotic American long-term bonds like the disappointing gifts your grandparents might have given you for your birthdays. I suppose you could indirectly blame wokeism on the bank's failure if you think that making the bank more attractive to progressives caused tech companies to park their money with S.V.B. I suppose the Comer/DeSantis/Carlson wing would be more partial to S.V.B. if they had run a more white supremacist sort of PR program. ~~~
~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: Also pushing the woke theory of S.V.B. failure: Donald Trump, Jr., Stephen Miller & Josh Hawley, among others. "... this deflection is worth noting for what it represents: the relentless effort to mystify real questions of political economy in favor of endless culture war conflict.... It's not as if no one thought this collapse could happen. 'The failure of Silicon Valley Bank is a direct result of an absurd 2018 bank deregulation bill signed by Donald Trump that I strongly opposed,' Senator Bernie Sanders said in a statement on Sunday. Senator Elizabeth Warren made a similar point in an essay published in The Times on Monday [also linked below].... The people who blame wokeness for the collapse of a bank ... want to ... obscure the extent to which they and their allies are complicit in -- or responsible for -- creating an environment in which banks collapse for lack of appropriate regulation."
But His Laptop! Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "The contents of one of [Hunter Biden's] laptops, revealed in 2020, have inspired a fantastical conspiracy theory that has been comprehensively debunked by, among others, Asha Rangappa..., of Yale University ... and [a] former FBI agent.... In October 2020, [about 50 former intelligence] officials crafted a statement that appeared in Politico alleging that appearance of the laptop and emails purporting to relate to Hunter Biden's time on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, 'has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.'... [Now], House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Intelligence Committee Chairman Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio) sent letters to the signatories, demanding all documents relating to the statement and directing the former officials to appear for transcribed interviews.... It isn't clear where this is going from here."
Sara Murray, et al., of CNN: "House Oversight Chairman James Comer said in a statement Tuesday the US Treasury Department will allow him to review certain bank activity reports related to members of the Biden family and their business partners. 'After two months of dragging their feet, the Treasury Department is finally providing us with access to the suspicious activity reports for the Biden family and their associates' business transactions,' Comer said in the statement.... Comer has claimed -- without offering any evidence -- that financial records, particularly those involving foreign business deals, could show improper influence over Joe Biden." MB: Wait, wait! Two whole months? Trump's Treasury Department "delayed" releasing Trump's tax returns for nearly four years while Trump sued to keep the returns secret. The Trump Treasury Department intended to never comply with Congressional requests for documents, even where the law explicitly stated the IRS -- a division of Treasury -- was required to do so.
Mike Isaac of the New York Times: "Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, said on Tuesday that it planned to lay off about 10,000 employees, or roughly 13 percent of its work force, the latest move to hew to what the company's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has called a 'year of efficiency.'... In November, Meta laid off more than 11,000 people, or about 13 percent of its work force at the time."
Rubio Stands Up to DeSantis. Leo Sands, et al., of the Washington Post: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is dismissing Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a 'territorial dispute and says protecting the European nation is not a vital U.S. interest.... On Tuesday, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) took issue with DeSantis describing the first land war in Europe since World War II as a 'territorial dispute.' In an interview, Rubio told radio host Hugh Hewitt, 'It's not a territorial dispute in the sense that any more than it would be a territorial dispute if the United States decided that it wanted to invade Canada or take over the Bahamas.... This is an invasion,' said Rubio, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, adding, 'I think we do have an interest' in the conflict." More on DeSantis's views on Russia's war on Ukraine linked below.
Judy Kurtz of the Hill: "The family of the singer behind the classic tune, 'This Land is Your Land' has a message for Sen. Josh Hawley: This song is not your song to 'co-opt.' The Missouri Republican referenced the 1940 folk music hit by Woody Guthrie last week when introducing the This Land is Our Land Act, S. 684, which would 'ban Chinese corporations and individuals associated with the Chinese Communist Party from owning United States agricultural land.'... 'In this particular case, the co-opting or parodying of the lyric by those not aligned with Woody's lyrics -- i.e. misrepresentation by autocrats, racists, white nationalists, anti-labor, insurrectionists, etc. -- is not condoned,' Nora Guthrie [-- Woody's daughter --] said. While saying she accepted 'This Land is Your Land' being used for political purposes from time to time, Guthrie explained, 'We do not consider Josh Hawley in any way a representative of Woody's values therefore we would never endorse or approve of his reference to Woody's lyrics.'"
Mississippi Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "The family of a Black man is calling for a federal investigation into his death after local authorities in Mississippi said they did not suspect foul play after the man's body was found dismembered. Police say his wounds may have been caused by an animal. Rasheem Carter, 25, called his mother for help in early October, telling her that a group of White men in three trucks were chasing him and yelling racial slurs at him in Laurel, Miss., his mother, Tiffany Carter, said at a Monday news conference in Jackson. His remains were found in the woods roughly 20 miles away outside of Taylorsville, Miss., on Nov. 2, after he had been missing for about a month."
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Michael Shear & Edward Wong of the New York Times: "President Biden took his most aggressive step yet on Monday to counter China's military expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, formally unveiling plans with Britain and Australia to develop and deploy nuclear-powered attack submarines. Standing in front of the U.S.S. Missouri, a nuclear submarine, at the Point Loma naval base in San Diego, Mr. Biden and the leaders of the other two countries described the naval partnership as a critical way to confront China at a time of heightened tension with Beijing. It will create, U.S. officials said, a 'nuclear stewardship' among the allies.... For the first time in 65 years, Mr. Biden said, the United States will share the technology at the heart of its nuclear submarines, allowing Australia to build powerful war machines that will grow into fleets capable of facing off with Chinese vessels...." This is an update of a story linked yesterday.
Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "As a candidate, Joseph R. Biden promised voters worried about the warming planet 'No more drilling on federal lands, period. Period, period, period.' On Monday, President Biden approved an enormous $8 billion plan to extract 600 million barrels of oil from pristine federal land in Alaska. The distance between Mr. Biden's campaign pledge and his blessing on that plan, known as the Willow project, is explained by a global energy crisis, intense pressure from Alaska lawmakers (including the state's lone Democratic House member), a looming election year and a complicated legal landscape that government lawyers said left few choices for Mr. Biden." Read on for the explanation. The Guardian's story is here.
The Wisdom of Joseph Biden, Sr. Taiyler Mitchell of the Huffington Post: "President Joe Biden bashed a wave of anti-trans legislation from Florida Republicans, calling their efforts to ban gender-affirming care and enact other anti-LGBTQ policies 'cruel' and 'close to sinful.' On Monday's episode of 'The Daily Show,' actor and former Obama administration staffer Kal Penn spoke with Biden about his support for LGBTQ rights.... Penn also asked Biden how he came to support same-sex and interracial marriages -- both of which he signed into law. 'My dad was dropping me off [in high school]. I remember I'm about to get out of the car and I look to my right. Two well-dressed men in suits kissed each other,' Biden told Penn. 'I'll never forget, I turned and looked to my dad. He said, "Joey, it's simple. They love each other."... And it's just that simple."
Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: "President Biden inadvertently revealed that he has been asked by former president Jimmy Carter, who entered home hospice care last month, to deliver a eulogy. Speaking at a fundraiser in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., on Monday evening, Biden said..., 'He asked me to do his eulogy.'... Catching himself, [he added]: 'Excuse me, I shouldn't say that.' The two presidents have a long-standing relationship...." CNN's report is here.
Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "President Joe Biden said Monday that people should 'rest assured' after his administration acted to ease uncertainties about the banking system in the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week, the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history.... 'Thanks to the quick action of my administration over the past few days, Americans can have confidence that the banking system is safe,' Biden said. 'Your deposits will be there when you need them.' Biden explained that he instructed his team to protect U.S. workers and small businesses and detailed their actions to protect customers' deposits and not put taxpayer dollars at risk, to hold those responsible accountable, and not to protect investors in the bank. The president said the management of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, a second institution that was included in the plan, would be fired. 'If the bank is taken over by FDIC, the people running the bank should not work there anymore,' he said.... The president said he will ask Congress and the banking regulators to strengthen rules for banks to make it 'less likely this kind of bank failure would happen again.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Adam Cancryn, et al., of Politico on how the Biden administration saved Silicon Valley start-ups, and how it almost didn't happen because "President Joe Biden began the weekend highly skeptical of anything that could be labeled a taxpayer-funded bailout.... At 1 p.m. Friday, [Treasury Secretary Janet] Yellen convened a team to come up with a battle plan: Fed Chair Jerome Powell, FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu, and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, whose regional branch oversaw the bank. Yet as officials worked through the weekend -- mostly in open-ended virtual meetings tying several agencies together -- to determine the blast radius of SVB's failure, they concluded that failing to protect the bank's depositors could leave small businesses across the country unable to access money needed to pay workers and keep their operations going.... Biden eventually came around to the view that an emergency rescue was the only viable option after multiple briefings Friday through Sunday from chief of staff Jeff Zients and new National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard.... Throughout the weekend, Biden's inner circle emphasized the potential impact on workers' paychecks, which they believed would resonate both with the president and the public, said one of the people familiar with the deliberations. And they urged Biden to speak to the public before U.S. markets opened to ward off runs on other regional banks." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The likelihood of any Trump "team" putting together such an intricately-designed plan is around nil.
~~~ Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "The unexpected seizure of two banks in three days by regulators intensified fears of a broader financial crisis, sending the stocks of more than two dozen banks into free fall on Monday, even as President Biden reassured Americans that the banking system was resilient and that customers&' money was safe. Banks of various sizes in different parts of the country ... found themselves battling market turmoil as customers rushed to withdraw their deposits and investors, worried about more runs, dumped bank stocks.... On a day when the S&P 500 stock index ended up flat, shares of First Republic tumbled 60 percent and Western Alliance slumped 45 percent.... Last week, Silvergate, a cryptocurrency focused bank, said it would shut down; between Friday and Sunday, the government seized Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. On Monday, the Federal Reserve announced that it would conduct a review of Silicon Valley Bank's oversight. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, on whose board the former chief executive of Silicon Valley Bank, Gregory Becker, sat until Friday, was responsible for supervising the failed bank." ~~~
~~~ Abha Bhattarai of the Washington Post: "The Federal Reserve's aggressive year-long fight against inflation has hit its first major roadblock with the collapse of two large banks that have cast a pall over the U.S. financial system. The crisis, which has already prompted a large response from the Fed and other regulators in the form of a new special lending facility and measures to make depositors of the failed banks whole, is raising questions about whether the central bank can continue to hiking interest rates in the face of an increasingly fragile financial system.... The likely U-turn comes less than a week after Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell told Congress he 'would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes' if the job market and other parts of the economy remained resilient."
~~~ Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "If there is one thing almost all observers of the economic scene have agreed about, it is that the issues facing the U.S. economy in 2023 are very different from those it faced in its last crisis, in 2008.... We probably aren’t looking at a systemic financial crisis.... Yet suddenly we seem to be replaying some of the same old scenes.... Once things have stabilized, its assets will probably be worth enough, or almost enough, to pay off depositors without an infusion of additional funds. And then we'll be able to return to our regularly scheduled crisis programming." Krugman provides a cogent explanation of why S.V.B. failed. If you want to know, read what he writes. ~~~
~~~ Tolja So. Elizabeth Warren in a New York Times op-ed: "... These recent bank failures are the direct result of leaders in Washington weakening the financial rules.... Greg Becker, the chief executive of Silicon Valley Bank, was one of the many high-powered executives who lobbied Congress to weaken the [Dodd-Frank] law. In 2018, the big banks won. With support from both parties..., Donald Trump signed a law to roll back critical parts of Dodd-Frank. Regulators, including the Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, then made a bad situation worse, letting financial institutions load up on risk.... S.V.B. suffered from a toxic mix of risky management and weak supervision. For one, the bank relied on a concentrated group of tech companies with big deposits, driving an abnormally large ratio of uninsured deposits.... [Similarly, New York State's Signature Bank, which the FDICalso took over this weekend, relied heavily on] risky cryptocurrency firms....Congress, the White House and banking regulators should reverse the dangerous bank deregulation of the Trump era.... Mr. Powell's disastrous 'tailoring' of these rules has put our economy at risk, and it needs to end -- now." Read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and minority leader who suffered a concussion in a serious fall last week, was released from the hospital on Monday and will move to a physical rehabilitation center before returning to the Senate, according to his office.... [McConnell spokesman David] Popp said Mr. McConnell had also suffered a 'minor rib fracture' in the fall that his medical team discovered during his hospitalization. He is being treated for that injury as well." An AP story is here.
Comer Pleads Ignorance of Trump Inquiry. Plus Hunter Biden! Luke Broadwater & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: "House Republicans have quietly halted a congressional investigation into whether Donald J. Trump profited improperly from the presidency, declining to enforce a court-supervised settlement agreement that demanded that Mazars USA, his former accounting firm, produce his financial records to Congress. Representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky and the chairman of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, made clear he had abandoned any investigation into the former president's financial dealings -- professing ignorance about the inquiry Democrats opened when they controlled the House -- and was instead focusing on whether President Biden and members of his family were involved in an influence-peddling scheme. 'I honestly didn't even know who or what Mazars was,' said Mr. Comer, who was the senior Republican on the oversight panel during the last Congress, while Democrats waged a lengthy legal fight over obtaining documents from the firm." Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the committee, accused Comer of coordinating the shutdown with Trump's attorneys, and Raskin produced receipts. An NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Zachary Cohen, et al., of CNN: "House Oversight Chairman James Comer has quietly subpoenaed Bank of America asking for records relating to three of Hunter Biden's business associates, the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin, disclosed in a letter sent to Comer on Sunday. The subpoena was broad and called for 'all financial records' spanning 14 years, beginning in 2009, according to a copy of the letter obtained by CNN. Bank of America has since turned over a considerable number of materials in compliance with the subpoena, a source familiar with the communications told CNN. The subpoena specifically targets US citizen John Robinson 'Rob' Walker and other associates of President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, who formed ... 'a joint venture' with executives of CEFC China Energy, a now-bankrupt Chinese energy conglomerate, according to the letter." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Tierney Sneed & Ariane de Vogue of CNN: "The federal judge overseeing a challenge to the federal government's approval of a medication abortion drug announced Monday that there will be a hearing Wednesday in the case -- an announcement that comes after reports the judge had privately sought to delay announcement of the hearing. The hearing will be at 9 a.m. CT on Wednesday, according to the new order from US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk.... If the judge grants the request to block access to the drug nationwide, it could make the pills harder to obtain even in states where medication abortion is legal."
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: Beryl A. Howell, the chief judge of the D.C. Federal District Court, has reach the end of her term, and "a new chief judge, James E. Boasberg, takes over..., dropping Judge Boasberg into tangled disputes over executive privilege and other grand jury issues central to the federal special counsel investigation into the events surrounding Jan. 6, along with [Donald] Trump's handling of classified documents after leaving office. There is no obvious reason to believe that the turnover will bring a major new approach: Both are experienced jurists and Obama appointees, and in handing down sentences to ordinary Jan. 6 defendants, neither has been a particularly harsh nor usually lenient outlier.... Judge Boasberg is also a former homicide prosecutor in Washington who has been a judge for more than 20 years. He has bipartisan credentials: President George W. Bush appointed him in 2002 to the D.C. Superior Court, which handles state court-style criminal and civil cases in Washington, before President Barack Obama elevated him in 2011 to the Federal District Court." Savage provides more biographical information & touches on some of the high-profile matters Boasberg has adjudicated. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Christopher Kane of the Washington Blade: "White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a statement Monday condemning the homophobic and misogynistic remarks made by former Vice President Mike Pence during the Gridiron Club dinner Saturday night. At the event, Pence said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg -- the country's first openly gay cabinet secretary -- 'took maternity leave' following the birth of his and husband Chasten's twins in 2021, adding that the country subsequently suffered postpartum depression via airline and air travel issues. 'The former vice president's homophobic joke about Secretary Buttigieg was offensive and inappropriate, all the more so because he treated women suffering from postpartum depression as a punchline,' Jean-Pierre said in a statement she shared with the Washington Blade.... Associated Press Chief White House Correspondent Zeke Miller reported Pence's 'jokes' were not well received by the room." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "As Rupert Murdoch's Fox Corporation battles to contain the Dominion lawsuit scandal that has engulfed its top executives and stars, another crisis is building in the wings that has the potential to cause further turbulence for the media empire. Smartmatic's lawsuit against Fox News has attracted only a fraction of the attention garnered by the legal action of Dominion Voting Systems. Yet both firms are suing Fox for defamation related to its coverage of Donald Trump's stolen-election lie, and both pose a serious threat to Fox's finances and reputation.... Smartmatic ... [is' demanding damages of $2.7bn [in damages].... Last week the New York state supreme court in Manhattan gave the green light for the case to proceed against Fox News, the Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, the former business anchor Lou Dobbs and Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani.... Smartmatic claims that more than 100 false statements were broadcast by Fox News hosts and guests. Smartmatic was falsely said to have been involved in 2020 election counts in six battleground states -- in fact, it was present only at the count in Los Angeles county." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Gail Collins & Bret Stephens of the New York Times have a conversation about Tucker Carlson, Biden's budget proposal & oil-drilling approval, Mitch McConnell, and the 2024 presidential election: "Stephens: They say that hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue, but in this case it's the tribute that cynicism pays to cowardice.... As for Fox, the way in which it is trying to 'respect' its viewers is to lie to them." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Michael Sisak of the AP: "Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen testified Monday before a Manhattan grand jury investigating hush money payments made on the former president's behalf. A Trump loyalist turned adversary, Cohen spent around three hours answering questions in the secret proceeding. He is scheduled to return again for more testimony Wednesday, his lawyer said as the pair emerged from the courthouse." The New York Times story, by Ben Protess and others, is here.
Michelle Yeoh, who won the Oscar yesterday for Best Actress in a Leading Role, is also a United Nations Development Program goodwill ambassador. She writes in a New York Times op-ed about her first-hand experience of an earthquake in Nepal. "To fully recover from a disaster and be prepared for the next one, the specific needs of women and girls must be factored into the humanitarian response. Women must also play leadership roles in the recovery process. But women are woefully underrepresented in the decision making that affects their prospects of survival in times of crisis.... This year we are halfway toward the 2030 target date to achieve what the United Nations calls Sustainable Development Goals, a blueprint for a shared global vision of a world without poverty or inequality. What I have learned through my work with U.N.D.P. is that realizing these global goals will be possible only if we achieve true gender equality, everywhere, and in all aspects of life -- especially in times of crisis -- and in anticipation of the next disaster." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Presidential Race 2024. Michael Bender of the New York Times: "Three days after [Ron] DeSantis drew a strong crowd of 1,000 people for a speech on an icy Friday morning [in Davenport, Iowa], [Donald] Trump's arrival shut down traffic by 2 p.m. Monday afternoon. The enthusiastic Trump crowd, wrapped in Trump flags and dressed in bootleg pro-Trump shirts -- 'Jesus, Trump & Freedom,' read one -- started lining up at 7 a.m. for an event 11 hours later at the 2,400-seat, standing-room-only Adler Theater.... Speaking to reporters on his private flight to Iowa on Monday, Mr. Trump responded [to Mike Pence's Gridiron dinner comments about him] by blaming Mr. Pence for the Capitol attack and mocking his single-digit polling in hypothetical primary polls.... Mr. Trump has also grown acutely aware of Mr. DeSantis's rise in Republican circles, fixating on the Florida governor's whereabouts, crowd sizes and book sales, both in private conversations and in public posts on his social media website.... He also took on Mr. DeSantis directly [at the Davenport event]...." ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "Taking aim at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Monday..., former President Donald Trump told the crowd at a jam-packed rally [in Davenport, Iowa,] that he will 'protect Iowa ethanol from anyone who wishes to destroy it.' DeSantis ... often voted as a member of Congress to restructure or slash subsidies for agricultural products, including ethanol.... But Trump was met with relative silence from an otherwise raucous crowd when he unleashed his barrage against DeSantis, which included barbs about votes that would have reduced benefits for recipients of Medicare and Social Security.... Many of Iowa's political leaders remain uncommitted to any candidate in a field that is still developing." More on Don & Ron linked under "Ukraine, et al." ~~~
~~~ In the long-running serial, "Not My Fault," Donald Trump blames mike pence for the insurrection: ~~~
~~~ Deflect & Deny. Isaac Arnsdorf & Maeve Reston of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump on Monday sharply rebuked Mike Pence's assertion that history would hold him accountable for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, telling reporters that his former vice president should shoulder the blame for the violent riot that day by Trump's supporters. 'Had he sent the votes back to the legislatures, they wouldn't have had a problem with Jan. 6, so in many ways you can blame him for Jan. 6,' the former president said, referring to Pence's refusal to reject the electoral college votes in Congress as Trump wanted him to do that day. 'Had he sent them back to Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, the states, I believe, number one, you would have had a different outcome. But I also believe you wouldn't have had "Jan. 6" as we call it.'... In December, Congress approved bipartisan legislation to clarify the procedures for certifying the electoral college results. Trump argued that the change demonstrated that Pence did have the authority to do what he wanted before the new law. 'He had the right to send them back, otherwise they wouldn't have changed the Voting Act,' Trump told reporters on the plane....
"The Post reported last week that Trump has been invited by the Manhattan district attorney to testify before a grand jury, according to three people with knowledge of the proceedings.... Responding to a question about the probe on the tarmac Monday, Trump said no one has asked him about testifying." the Huffington Post's story is here.
Katharine Seelye of the New York Times: "Patricia Schroeder, a trailblazing feminist legislator who helped redefine the role of women in American politics and used her wit to combat egregious sexism in Congress, died on Monday. She was 82.... Ms. Schroeder, who was a pilot and a Harvard-trained lawyer, had a long and distinguished career in the House of Representatives. She was a driving force behind the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which guaranteed women and men up to 18 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a family member. She helped pass the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which barred employers from dismissing women because they were pregnant and from denying them maternity benefits. And she championed laws that helped reform spousal pensions, opened military jobs to women and forced federally funded medical researchers to include women in their studies."
Beyond the Beltway
Maryland. Ovetta Wiggins of the Washington Post: "A federal judge issued a bench warrant Monday for Roy McGrath, once a top aide to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), after he did not appear in court for the first day of trial on wire fraud and embezzlement charges, according to federal prosecutors. McGrath was charged in federal and state court in 2021 with dozens of charges stemming from his time working for a quasi-governmental agency he led before serving as Hogan's chief of staff. By Monday afternoon, McGrath appeared to remain a fugitive as authorities had not announced if he had been located.... McGrath, who lives in Florida, has been free on his own recognizance since his initial court appearance in October 2021. Officials from the Collier County Sheriff's Office in Florida said they had responded to a request to go to his home but did not locate him." MB: Oh, somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, a man has headed his boat toward a Caribbean or Central American paradise.
New York. Benjamin Weiser & Lola Fadulu of the New York Times: "Sayfullo Saipov, a native of Uzbekistan who killed eight people in a 2017 terrorist truck attack on a Hudson River bike path, will be sentenced to life in prison after members of a Manhattan federal jury deadlocked as they decided his fate. The jurors told Judge Vernon S. Broderick on Monday that they could not agree on whether to impose the death penalty as the government had sought. Under the law, a unanimous verdict was required for capital punishment."
South Carolina. Southern Gothic, Ctd. Stephen Neukam of the Hill: "Republican lawmakers in South Carolina are considering a change to the state's criminal code that would make a person who gets an abortion eligible for the death penalty. The bill being considered in South Carolina, dubbed the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023, would redefine 'person' under state law to include a fertilized egg, giving it at the point of conception equal protection under the state's homicide laws, including the death penalty.... The bill does not provide an exception for rape or incest...."
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here: "Ukrainian troops repelled Russian attacks in towns around Bakhmut, Ukraine's military said Tuesday.... Russia agreed to extend the Black Sea grain deal that aims to prevent a global food crisis by letting Ukraine export vital food sources from its southern coast, 'but only for 60 days,' Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said. That is half the length of the previous renewal, in November.... Ukraine will explore ways to demine farmlands, [President] Zelensky said.... Russia is employing people without appropriate education and experience at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said, increasing the chance of a nuclear catastrophe.... The proposed $842 billion U.S. defense budget for the next fiscal year includes little funding for Ukraine, The Post reported. But the Pentagon plans to ask Congress for additional funds to support Ukraine in separate requests."
Isabelle Khrshudyan, et al., of the Washington Post: "The quality of Ukraine's military force, once considered a substantial advantage over Russia, has been degraded by a year of casualties that have taken many of the most experienced fighters off the battlefield, leading some Ukrainian officials to question Kyiv's readiness to mount a much-anticipated spring offensive. U.S. and European officials have estimated that as many as 120,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded since the start of Russia's invasion early last year, compared with about 200,000 on the Russian side, which has a much larger military and roughly triple the population from which to draw conscripts. Ukraine keeps its running casualty numbers secret, even from its staunchest Western supporters. Statistics aside, an influx of inexperienced draftees, brought in to plug the losses, has changed the profile of the Ukrainian force, which is also suffering from basic shortages of ammunition, including artillery shells and mortar bombs, according to military personnel in the field.... Such grim assessments have spread a palpable, if mostly unspoken, pessimism from the front lines to the corridors of power in Kyiv, the capital."
Putin's American Collaborators. Jonathan Swan & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has sharply broken with Republicans who are determined to defend Ukraine against Russia's invasion, saying in a statement made public on Monday night that protecting the European nation's borders is not a vital U.S. interest and that policymakers should instead focus attention at home. The statement from Mr. DeSantis, who is seen as an all but declared presidential candidate for the 2024 campaign, puts him in line with the front-runner for the G.O.P. nomination..., Donald J. Trump.... Mr. Trump has already said he would let Russia 'take over' parts of Ukraine in a negotiated deal.... The [DeSantis] statement was broadcast on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight,' on Fox News.... Mr. Carlson is one of the most ardent opponents of U.S. involvement in Ukraine. He has called President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine a corrupt 'antihero' and mocked him for dressing 'like the manager of a strip club.'" An NBC News story is here.
Marlise Simons of the New York Times: "The International Criminal Court intends to open two war crimes cases tied to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and will seek arrest warrants for several people, according to current and former officials.... The cases represent the first international charges to be brought forward since the start of the conflict and come after months of work by special investigation teams. They allege that Russia abducted Ukrainian children and teenagers and sent them to Russian re-education camps, and that the Kremlin deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure.... It was not clear whom the court planned to charge in each case.... Some outside diplomats and experts said it was possible that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia could be charged, as the court does not recognize immunity for a head of state in cases involving war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide. Still, the likelihood of a trial remains slim, experts say, as the court cannot hear cases in absentia and Russia is unlikely to surrender its own officials." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
U.K. Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "Britain's state broadcaster and its highest-paid presenter announced Monday that they reached a deal that would put sports legend Gary Lineker back on the air after he was suspended for criticizing the government's migration policies.... The director general of the BBC, Tim Davie, apologized and said the broadcaster would launch an independent review of its social media guidelines, with a focus on freelancers, like Lineker." (Also linked yesterday.)
News Lede
Washington Post: "A high-impact winter storm is brewing and preparing to wallop much of the Northeast, from the northern Mid-Atlantic to New England, with rain, heavy snow and powerful winds Monday night through Wednesday. What was a minor swirl in the atmosphere off the Carolina coast Monday morning will rapidly explode into the largest snowstorm of the winter for some, and a heavy rainstorm with possible flooding for others. About 20 million people across 11 states in the Northeast, particularly New York state and New England, are covered by winter weather alerts. A heavy, wet snowstorm -- combined with powerful gusts -- will probably shut down swaths of the region during the storm's peak." ~~~
~~~ Marie: At first light, I see I am having another blizzard at my house. According to the weather folks, I can expect a foot of heavy, hard-to-shovel snow. (Not so hard for me; when the snow is deep, I take two scoops: one picking up the top half, the second picking up the bottom.)
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