January 28, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Shannon Pettypiece of NBC News: "President Joe Biden visited the site of a bridge collapse in Pittsburgh on Friday during a trip to the city to promote an infrastructure package that he said would help repair the nation's infrastructure and prevent similar incidents. As he surveyed the damage, Biden thanked first responders and spoke with local officials. 'We're going to fix them all. Not a joke, this is going to be a gigantic change,' he said, noting that the collapsed bridge in Frick Park had been rated in poor condition for 10 years." ~~~

New York Times Liveblog: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has deployed the troops and military hardware needed to invade all of Ukraine, the Pentagon's top leaders said on Friday, as senior Defense Department officials warned that the tense standoff was leading the United States, its NATO allies and Russia into uncharted territory.... Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III described a bristling array of Russian combined arms formations, artillery and rockets assembled at the Ukrainian border, which he said 'far and away exceeds what we would typically see them do for exercises.' Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was more blunt: 'I think you'd have to go back quite a while to the Cold War days to see something of this magnitude.'"

Luke Broadwater & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack issued 14 subpoenas on Friday to people who falsely claimed to be electors for ... Donald J. Trump in the 2020 election in states that were actually won by Joseph R. Biden Jr., digging deeper into Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn the results. The subpoenas target individuals who met and submitted false Electoral College certificates in seven states won by President Biden: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 'The select committee is seeking information about attempts in multiple states to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including the planning and coordination of efforts to send false slates of electors to the National Archives,' Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the chairman of the committee, said in a statement."

CNN Liveblog: "The Allegheny County [Pittsburgh] Police Department was notified about a partial bridge collapse after 6 a.m. Friday, Amie Downs, the county's communications director, said in a statement. Four ​vehicles were on the bridge at the time of the collapse and only minor injuries have been reported, Downs said, adding that a driver of an articulated bus and two passengers were among those rescued with minor injuries. There was a massive gas leak caused by the collapse, which is now under control, according to Pittsburgh Fire Department Chief Darryl Jones.... President Biden is aware of the bridge collapse in Pittsburgh, which happened earlier this morning about six miles away from where he is set to deliver remarks on infrastructure and other topics later Friday. He will proceed with that trip, according to the White House.... Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said the bridge collapse left 10 minor injuries and three people were transported." MB: Photos of the bridge collapse make it look more than "partial" to me, and local officials have told CNN that the bridge was part of a major artery. Also, the bridge fell into a public park, and it's possible there are victims who were in the park. ~~~

     ~~~ A New York Times report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Pittsburgh is called the City of Bridges. The federal government, as you would expect, tracks the condition of those bridges." The bridge that collapsed is one the feds had determined was in "poor" condition. "... it sits at the end of one of ... Forbes Avenue..., a major thoroughfare into and out of downtown.... A review of the most recent report indicates that more than 7,500 bridges in the 50 states and D.C. are both in poor condition and rated lower or the same [as the Forbes Avenue bridge] on the four main measures of condition.... President Biden was already slated to be in Pittsburgh on Friday, to give a speech focused on infrastructure. This bridge collapse offers a useful if unwelcome demonstration of the need for the recently passed infrastructure bill to be implemented."

Ohio Senate Race. Liz Skalka of the Huffington Post on a debate between Ohio U.S. Senate candidates Morgan Harper (D) & Josh Mandel (ARrrr). Good grief. P.D. Pepe discusses the debate in today's Comments.

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"Now We Are Engaged in a Great Civil War." President Biden & Justice Breyer addressed the public early Thursday afternoon: ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments here: "In his letter to President Biden, Justice Breyer said he would leave at the end of the Supreme Court's current term, in late June or early July, 'assuming that by then my successor has been nominated and confirmed.' This is a hybrid model: Most retiring justices step down either at a set time or on the confirmation of their successor." The letter is reproduced in the item. Here's the letter (pdf) via the Supreme Court. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Nick Niedzwiadek of Politico: President "Biden said Thursday that he intends to nominate [Justice] Breyer's replacement by the end of February. But he spent the bulk of his remarks lauding the retiring justice for his 'practical, sensible and nuanced' judicial record." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: At the end of remarks, after Justice Breyer had spent some time discussing the importance of part of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, President Biden invited the Breyers to spend the night in the Lincoln Bedroom, where there is a copy of the Gettysburg address, written in Lincoln's hand.

Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "Two misfortunes have befallen Stephen G. Breyer during his long Supreme Court career. One, which became apparent about halfway through his nearly 28-year tenure, was that it was his fate to be the quintessential Enlightenment man in an increasingly unenlightened era at the court. The second happened during this past year: the demand from the left that he step down and open his seat for President Biden to fill. Justice Breyer's belief in the power of facts, evidence and expertise was out of step in a postfactual age." (Also linked yesterday.)

Whoever She May Be, She's Part of the "Radical Left." Michael Scherer & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "Justice Stephen G. Breyer’s planned retirement set up a new election-year challenge as the deadlocked 50-50 Senate confronts a heated Supreme Court confirmation fight focused on some of the most contentious issues in the nation's ongoing cultural divide.... Conservative voters have traditionally prioritized court politics far more than Democrats at the ballot box.... Republicans on Wednesday responded with efforts to mobilize their core voters in response..., and preemptively cast the yet-unnamed nominee to replace Breyer as a radical." MB: Mitch McConnell probably thinks Attila the Hun was a member of the radical left. (Also linked yesterday.)

Lauren Lumpkin of the Washington Post: "The incoming leader of a Georgetown Law research institute has apologized after facing backlash for a series of now-deleted tweets about President Biden's promise to nominate a Black woman for the Supreme Court that the school's dean has called 'appalling.' Ilya Shapiro, the vice president and director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, is set to begin his new role as executive director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution on Tuesday. [After recommending Judge Sri Srinivasan of the nomination, Shapiro wrote,] 'But alas doesn't fit into the latest intersectionality hierarchy so we'll get lesser black woman[.]'... In a tweet that followed, Shapiro added that if Biden[s] ... nominee 'will always have an asterisk attached. Fitting that the Court takes up affirmative action next term.'... Shapiro made similar remarks about identity following Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the high court in 2009." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Shapiro's apology was, in part, "I meant no offense, but it was an inartful tweet." "No offense"? Hey, why would anyone be offended by racist, sexist tweets? "Inartful"? No, you said what you meant, and further proof of that is your remarks about Sotomayor. This is a weasly fake "apology," Ilya, designed to keep Georgetown from firing your ass before they put your name on the door. I hope it doesn't work & you're stuck at Cato, which deserves you. ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "... there is absolutely no difference between what Biden did and what past presidents had done. And moreover there is nothing wrong with this, because there are hundreds of thousands of people fully capable of doing the job of Supreme Court justice..., and so considering representation is perfectly appropriate! And, by the same token, Shapiro asserting that somehow women of color can never be the imaginary One Most Qualified Nominee -- and we can know this even before we know who the nominee even is! -- cannot possibly be defended." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't believe "there are hundreds of thousands of people fully capable of doing the job of Supreme Court justice." On the other hand, there are a whole lotta people with some kind of legal and life experience who have the potential to be good at the job. As for qualifications, it's unlikely -- given the state of partisanship -- that any president ever will nominate the most qualified person. The "most qualified person" -- at least on paper -- likely is an Older White Male, a thoughtful, smart judge with long experience adjudicating Constitutional issues. No president is apt to choose an old person for a lifetime position. So there's built-in ageism at the top of the selection process. And, as Lemieux notes, that are other factors, most of them at least marginally political, that presidents consider, and those considerations will severely whittle down the pool of candidates.

Mark Landler, et al., of the New York Times: "When President Biden held a video call with European leaders about Ukraine this week..., [he] expanded the seats on his war council, adding Poland, Italy and the European Union to the familiar lineup of Britain, France and Germany.... After complaints from Europeans that they were blindsided by the swift American withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer, and that France was frozen out of a new defense alliance with Australia, Mr. Biden has gone out of his way to involve allies in every step of this crisis." MB: Of course Biden is trying to be super-nice to our strongest allies. I mean, who can imagine a president* who wouldn't be?

Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III ordered the military on Thursday to strengthen its efforts to prevent civilian deaths and to improve the way it investigates and acknowledges claims of civilian harm in U.S. combat operations. In his most sweeping statement on the issue to date, Mr. Austin set in motion a series of measures that military officials say are intended to change how commanders in the field think about their jobs, fostering a culture in which they view preventing civilian harm as a core part of their missions."

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday canceled oil and gas leases of more than 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico, ruling that the Biden administration did not sufficiently take climate change into account when it auctioned the leases late last year. The decision by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia is a major victory for environmental groups that criticized the Biden administration for holding the sale after promising to move the country away from fossil fuels. It had been the largest lease sale in United States history. Now the Interior Department must conduct a new environmental analysis that accounts for the greenhouse gas emissions that would result from the eventual development and production of the leases. After that, the agency will have to decide whether it will hold a new auction." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE/BUT. Maxine Joselaw of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration has approved more oil and gas drilling permits on public lands per month than the Trump administration did during the first three years of Donald Trump's presidency, according to an analysis shared exclusively with The Climate 202. The report by Public Citizen, a liberal advocacy group, illustrates that President Biden has been slow to reverse Trump's fossil-fuel-friendly agenda, despite his campaign promise to push for 'no more drilling on federal lands" because of climate change.... During his first week in office, Biden issued an executive order instructing the Interior Department to pause all new lease sales on public lands and waters while it reviewed how to adjust the program. But Western oil drillers and 14 Republican-led states sued over the order. And in June, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction to block the leasing pause. The Biden administration is appealing that court decision." Some emphasis removed.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A federal judge is ramping up pressure on attorney John Eastman -- a central ally in Donald Trump's effort to subvert the election on Jan. 6, 2021 -- to begin producing thousands of pages of records to congressional investigators. Judge David Carter, who already sharply rejected Eastman's attempt to block the Jan. 6 select committee's subpoena for 19,000 pages of emails held by his former employer Chapman University, issued a detailed plan Wednesday to help speed the process along." ~~~

~~~ Michael Isikoff of Yahoo! News (Jan. 25): "John Eastman ... invoked his Fifth Amendment rights 146 times when he was questioned by the Jan. 6 committee last month.... The disclosure came in a court hearing before U.S. District Judge David Carter in Santa Ana, Calif., on Eastman's lawsuit to block a subpoena from the committee directing Chapman University -- where he previously worked as a professor -- to turn over more than 19,000 emails relating to his work for Trump in the months following the Nov. 3, 2020, election.... But Eastman's argument suffered a blow when the lawyer for Chapman University, whose computer hosts the emails, told the judge that the professor had no right to use the university email system for his representation of Trump because it was partisan work on behalf of a political candidate -- a violation of the university's status as a nonprofit. Any use by Eastman of Chapman emails on behalf of Trump was 'improper' and 'unauthorized,' said Fred Plevin, a lawyer for Chapman. 'I liken [it] to contraband,' he added."

Brigid Kennedy of the Week, republished by Yahoo! News: "After conspiracy theorist Alex Jones claimed Tuesday to have pleaded the Fifth 'almost 100 times' during his testimony before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, panel member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) has publicly taken issue with the flawed strategy. 'The thing that Mr. Jones and all of the defendants and all of the witnesses are forgetting is that the Fifth Amendment is meant to be used selectively if you think that you might be incriminating yourself by answering a question,' Raskin said during an appearance on MSNBC. "It's not a magic wand that you wave over the whole proceeding and you don't have to answer anything.... What we're seeing is this extravagant new deployment of the Fifth Amendment as a kind of get-out-of-a-subpoena card."

On the day the big news is the retirement of high-minded Justice Stephen Breyer, we are left with his tawdry detritus from the Trumpalumpa Files: ~~~

~~~ The Case of the Porn Star & the (Alleged!) Crooked Lawyer. Colin Moynihan of the New York Times: "Stormy Daniels, the pornographic film star whose lawsuit against ... Donald J. Trump was at the center of a 2018 scandal, took the stand as a witness on Thursday in the trial of Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who once represented her but now stands accused of stealing from her. 'He stole from me and lied to me,' Ms. Daniels testified in Federal District Court in Manhattan after being called as a government witness shortly after 11 a.m. By day's end, Ms. Daniels was being cross-examined by the man who once was her fierce advocate: Mr. Avenatti, who is serving as his own lawyer."

Talmon Smith of the New Yoirk Times: "Continuing to rebound from the shocks of the pandemic, the nation's economy expanded by 1.7 percent in the final three months of 2021, the Commerce Department announced Thursday. The figure, which was adjusted for inflation, reflects the growth in gross domestic product -- the broadest measure of the goods and services produced. On an annualized basis, the increase for the quarter was 6.9 percent. For the full year, the economic expansion was 5.7 percent, the biggest since 1984 -- an impressive feat, though one that also reflects the depth of the damage inflicted by the coronavirus the year before." CNBC's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

News You Can Use. Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "Millions of Americans will soon have to scan their faces to access their Internal Revenue Service tax accounts, one of the government's biggest expansions yet of facial recognition software into people's everyday lives. Taxpayers will still be able to file their returns the old-fashioned way; the IRS began accepting returns for 2021 earnings on Monday, encouraging electronic filing. But by this summer, anyone wanting to access their records -- including details about child tax credits, payment plans or tax transcripts -- on the IRS website will be required to record a video of their face with their computer or smartphone and send it to the private contractor ID.me to confirm their identity." MB: As I recall, I have to open my account when I pay my taxes. I sure hope there's a way to do that without having to show my pretty face.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "... 10 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally, a milestone that reflects the astonishing speed with which governments and drug companies have mobilized, allowing many nations to envision a near future in which their people coexist with the virus but aren't confined by it. The milestone, reached on Friday, according to the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford, has not been arrived at equitably, even though 10 billion doses could theoretically have meant at least one shot for all of the world's 7.9 billion people." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates are here.

It's Okay to Make Other People Sick if You're a Republican. Jake Offenhartz of the Gothamist: Sarah Palin "returned to Elio's restaurant Wednesday night and dined outdoors just days after it was revealed she tested positive for COVID-19. Palin, who has touted the fact that she is not vaccinated, was seen dining inside the Upper East Side Italian restaurant on Saturday, before her diagnosis. The city requires proof of vaccination to eat indoors. And WNYC/Gothamist confirmed the former vice presidential candidate dined al fresco Tuesday night at Campagnola, another Italian restaurant in the area.... There is no penalty for individuals who don't quarantine, according to the city -- but there is a high rate of self-reported compliance among most New Yorkers. According to one recent survey, 98% of people with positive COVID cases told NYC]s Test and Trace Corps they had not left home." ~~~

~~~ Lauren McCarthy of the New York Times: "Two days after Sarah Palin tested positive for the coronavirus..., [she] dined outdoors in New York City on Wednesday evening, defying federal guidance that infected people isolate from others for at least five full days.... Anne Isaak, the owner of Elio's, said it was against her 'clearly stated wishes that Sarah Palin dined outside last night,' according to The Washington Post.... 'By repeatedly flouting C.D.C. guidelines, Ms. Palin has shown a complete disregard for the health and safety of small business workers and her fellow patrons,' a spokesman for City Hall said Thursday over email."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Ducey in the Dark? Sarah Burris of the Raw Story (Jan. 24): "The Arizona Republic reported Monday that Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ) said that he had nothing to do with the fake electors from Arizona for ... Donald Trump. According to him, he didn't even know about the fake electors until Monday morning, in 2022. Dec. 14, 2020, the Arizona Republic reported on the 11 fake electors.... At one point, Politico's Nicholas Wu obtained a cease and desist document that the Arizona [Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D)] sent to a sovereign citizens group trying to pass off the fake document with an official seal.

New York. Dana Rubenstein & Michael Rothfeld of the New York Times: "When a furor erupted over Mayor Eric Adams's decision to hire his brother to manage his security detail, the mayor retroactively sought formal guidance from the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board and vowed to abide by its determination. On Thursday, the board made its ruling public.... After discussions between the mayor's office and the board, new terms of employment were agreed upon: Instead of earning $210,000 a year, he will earn $1; instead of serving as the 'executive director of mayoral security' within the confines of the New York Police Department, he will instead serve as a 'senior adviser for mayoral security' within the office of the mayor. No city personnel will be allowed to report to him. Nor can he have any 'command authority' at the Police Department.... Bernard Adams has agreed to those conditions, according to a spokesman for the mayor."

New York. Good News for Air Travelers: From "Crappy" to Snappy. Patrick McGeehan of the New York Times: "For decades, La Guardia Airport was one of the most maligned airports in the country -- leaky ceilings, cramped corridors, regular rodent sightings and broken escalators set a standard for the dreadful travel experience.... But on Thursday..., state and local officials celebrated the airport's revival upon the completion of a wholly new main terminal that shares nothing but a name and location with the old La Guardia.... The terminal was declared the best new airport building in the world by an international panel of judges.... Despite the fanfare, the $8 billion overhaul of La Guardia is not yet complete."

Pennsylvania. Kate Huangpu of Spotlight PA: "Gov. Tom Wolf [D] has vetoed a congressional map sent to him by Republican lawmakers, leaving the monumental job of picking Pennsylvania's next district lines to the state courts. In a veto message issued late Wednesday, Wolf said the map failed 'the test of fundamental fairness.'... The map sent to Wolf by the GOP-controlled legislature was initially drawn by Amanda Holt -- a noted redistricting reform advocate and former Lehigh County commissioner -- and championed by state Rep. Seth Grove (R., York). It was amended by Grove's legislative committee after GOP members of the panel criticized how their counties were split. It improves upon four fairness criteria outlined in a previous state Supreme Court ruling, but nonpartisan analyses show it has a partisan bias in favor of Republicans.... The state judicial system is now likely to have the final say."

Tennessee. Book-Burning. Jenny Gross of the New York Times: "A school board in Tennessee voted unanimously this month to ban 'Maus,' a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, from being taught in its [eighth-grade] classrooms because the book contains material that board members said was inappropriate for students.... Members of the board said the book, which portrays Jews as mice and Nazis as cats in recounting the author's parents' experience during the Holocaust, contained inappropriate curse words and a depiction of a naked character.... Art Spiegelman, the author of 'Maus,' ... said he got the impression that the board members were asking, 'Why can't they teach a nicer Holocaust?'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sorry, Art, but a book about Christian white people torturing & killing non-Christians caused the board "discomfort." I told you-all this would happen; turns out it already has. BTW, the objectionable "naked character" in the book was a mouse (WashPo link).* When I was in the ninth grade, we had to cut up mice in biology class. The mice were, not surprisingly, naked, and they had all their sex parts, at least till we cut 'em up. And, yeah, I'm sure we giggled, as ninth-graders will. Then again, our biology teacher taught evolution matter-of-factly, and in those days, they didn't approve of that in Tennessee, either. ~~~

     ~~~ Update/Correction. Several sources noted that the naked image was of a mouse. But according to David Perry, in a CNN opinion piece, the "naked picture" was "a small image of the artist's mother in the bathtub after taking pills and slashing her wrists, with her breasts visible...." I have never looked so diligently for a "naked picture," but I finally found it here, and Perry is right. It's a cartoon drawing of course, so the offending image depicts the breasts as a sort of double-peaked sine wave with tiny circles for nipples. An eighth-grader whose only exposure to women's breasts is Spiegelman's cartoon is going to be in for a shock when he sees real breasts.

News Lede

New York Times Liveblog: "Blizzard conditions are expected from Long Island north along coastal New England. Officials are urging residents to stay home Saturday.... A powerful winter storm drove flight cancellations up to nearly 5,000 flights on Friday and Saturday in and out of the United States, according to FlightAware, a site that tracks flights and the airline industry. Most of the cancellations were on the East Coast, where airports were preparing for high winds and up to two feet of snow in some regions."

January 27, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

"Now We Are Engaged in a Great Civil War." President Biden & Justice Breyer addressed the public early this afternoon: ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments here: "In his letter to President Biden, Justice Breyer said he would leave at the end of the Supreme Court's current term, in late June or early July, 'assuming that by then my successor has been nominated and confirmed.' This is a hybrid model: Most retiring justices step down either at a set time or on the confirmation of their successor." The letter is reproduced in the item. Here's the letter (pdf) via the Court. ~~~

     ~~~ Nick Niedzwiadek of Politico: President "Biden said Thursday that he intends to nominate [Justice] Breyer's replacement by the end of February. But he spent the bulk of his remarks lauding the retiring justice for his 'practical, sensible and nuanced' judicial record." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: At the end of remarks, after Justice Breyer had spent some time discussing the importance of part of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, President Biden invited the Breyers to spend the night in the Lincoln Bedroom, where there is a copy of the Gettysburg address, written in Lincoln's hand.

Whoever She May Be, She's Part of the "Radical Left." Michael Scherer & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "Justice Stephen G. Breyer's planned retirement set up a new election-year challenge as the deadlocked 50-50 Senate confronts a heated Supreme Court confirmation fight focused on some of the most contentious issues in the nation's ongoing cultural divide.... Conservative voters have traditionally prioritized court politics far more than Democrats at the ballot box.... Republicans on Wednesday responded with efforts to mobilize their core voters in response..., and preemptively cast the yet-unnamed nominee to replace Breyer as a radical." MB: Mitch McConnell probably thinks Attila the Hun was a member of the radical left.

~~~ Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "Two misfortunes have befallen Stephen G. Breyer during his long Supreme Court career. One, which became apparent about halfway through his nearly 28-year tenure, was that it was his fate to be the quintessential Enlightenment man in an increasingly unenlightened era at the court. The second happened during this past year: the demand from the left that he step down and open his seat for President Biden to fill. Justice Breyer's belief in the power of facts, evidence and expertise was out of step in a postfactual age."

Talmon Smith of the New Yoirk Times: "Continuing to rebound from the shocks of the pandemic, the nation’s economy expanded by 1.7 percent in the final three months of 2021, the Commerce Department announced Thursday. The figure, which was adjusted for inflation, reflects the growth in gross domestic product -- the broadest measure of the goods and services produced. On an annualized basis, the increase for the quarter was 6.9 percent. For the full year, the economic expansion was 5.7 percent, the biggest since 1984 -- an impressive feat, though one that also reflects the depth of the damage inflicted by the coronavirus the year before." CNBC's report is here.

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** Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Justice Stephen G. Breyer, the senior member of the Supreme Court's three-member liberal wing and a persistent if often frustrated advocate of consensus as the court moved sharply to the right, will retire upon the confirmation of his successor, people familiar with the decision said, providing President Biden a chance to fulfill his pledge to nominate a Black woman. Mr. Biden is expected to formally announce the retirement at the White House on Thursday, but the partisan machinery that has built up in recent decades around Supreme Court confirmations was already swinging into action on Wednesday as word of Justice Breyer's decision raced through Washington." ~~~

     ~~~ The Times' liveblog of Justice Breyer's retirement plans is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Washington Post report, by Robert Barnes, is here. The Post has a liveblog here. The NBC News story, by Pete Williams -- who broke the news -- is here. NPR's report, by Nina Totenberg, is here. (All also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mike Memoli & Carol Lee of NBC News: "Though the White House and Biden himself withheld comment about the looming vacancy until Justice Stephen Breyer formally announces his retirement, a senior White House official told NBC News that internal preparations are now ramping up for what could be a quick selection process. Biden, who learned of Breyer's impending retirement in the middle of last week, is expected to put forward a nominee relatively quickly...."

~~~ Colleen Long, et al., of the AP: "President Joe Biden is eyeing at least three judges for an expected vacancy on the Supreme Court as he prepares to quickly deliver on his campaign pledge to nominate the first Black woman to the nation's highest court, according to aides and allies. With Justice Stephen Breyer planning to retire, early discussions about a successor are focusing on U.S. Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, according to four people familiar with the matter.... Since Biden took office in January 2021, he has focused on nominating a diverse group of judges to the federal bench, installing five Black women on federal appeals courts, with three more nominations pending before the Senate. Other possible candidates for the high court could come from among that group, Biden aides and allies said, especially since almost all of the recent Supreme Court nominees have been federal appeals judges." ~~~

~~~ Tom Goldstein of ScotusBlog: "... we now kick off our analysis of potential nominees to replace him. President Joe Biden previously promised to nominate a Black woman, and we assume he will keep that commitment. Two potential nominees therefore stand apart from all others: Leondra Kruger, a justice on the California Supreme Court, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit."

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Democrats could confirm a successor to Justice Stephen G. Breyer without any Republican support under Senate rules that shield a Supreme Court nomination from a filibuster, but would have to hold their bare majority together to do so. The announcement of Justice Breyer's imminent retirement on Wednesday set off a sprint by top Democrats to prepare for a coming confirmation fight over President Biden's nominee to succeed him. It also prompted a collective sigh of relief from the party and its progressive allies, who had worried that a Senate takeover by Republicans in the coming midterm elections could block the president from filling any vacancies." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Clare Foran & Manu Raju of CNN: "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is looking at a quick time frame to confirm President Joe Biden's nominee to the Supreme Court -- and he will follow a similar timeline that Republicans employed to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the court in 2020, according to a source familiar with his thinking. Senate sources also say that the Senate can act on the Biden nominee before Justice Stephen Breyer officially steps down from the court.... The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on September 18, 2020 -- and Barrett was nominated on September 26, 2020. She was confirmed October 26, 2020 -- just days before the election, prompting Democratic anger. Senate Democrats are confident that whomever Biden picks to replace Breyer, the nominee will receive enough votes to get confirmed, according to senior Democratic sources." ~~~

~~~ Steve M. already is wondering how nasty Republicans & their allies will be to Biden's eventual nominee. MB: I can guarantee they are already thinking up payback for how nasty they believe Democrats were to (alleged Rape Boy Bart O'Kavanaugh). Because it's wrong to interrogate a Republican who may have serially molested young women back in the day & then lied about it under oath for everyone to see.

Robyn Dixon & Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: “A top Russian official warned Thursday that international tensions would be 'seriously complicated' if the United States and NATO did not meet the Kremlin's demand to bar Ukraine from joining the alliance, amid intensifying fears of a new Russian attack on its neighbor. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, said no one was looking for war but that 'we have practically exhausted the limits of retreat,' referring to NATO's expansion into Eastern Europe from 1997. 'They are now encroaching on our state borders.' Senior Russian officials have not yet commented on written proposals by Washington and NATO, delivered late Wednesday, that spelled out their response to Moscow's sweeping demands, including its ultimatum that the Western military alliance withdraw forces and equipment from former Soviet and Warsaw Pact countries."

Pro-Russia/Anti-America. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "As President Biden tries to forge a united allied response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, unity on the home front is strained by a Republican Party torn between traditional hawks in the leadership and a wing still loyal to Donald J. Trump's isolationist instincts and pro-Russian sentiment.... Driven by a steady diet of pro-Russian or anti-interventionist rhetoric from the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the Republican right has become increasingly vocal in undercutting not only U.S. foreign policy but also the positions of the party's leaders. The Republican representatives Matt Rosendale of Montana, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia; the Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance; and Donald Trump Jr. have weighed in to oppose confronting Russia or to suggest nefarious intentions on Mr. Biden's part.... Most Republicans are willing to disown [the far-right's pro-Russia view] only in private."

Robyn Dixon, et al., of the Washington Post: "The United States on Wednesday delivered written responses to Russia's demands for security guarantees over NATO expansion and activities in Eastern Europe, as senior government representatives of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine met in Paris in a bid to revive the stalled Ukraine peace process. The responses, which the U.S. ambassador to Russia sent to Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 'sets out a serious diplomatic path forward, should Russia choose it,' Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters. The document also lays out concerns 'about Russia's actions that undermine our security' and it offers 'our own proposals for areas where we may be able to find common ground,' he added." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "Federal Reserve officials signaled on Wednesday that they were on track to raise interest rates in March, given that inflation has been running far above policymakers' target and that labor market data suggests employees are in short supply. Central bankers left rates unchanged at near-zero -- where they have been set since March 2020 -- but the statement after their two-day policy meeting laid the groundwork for higher borrowing costs 'soon.' Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said officials no longer thought America's rapidly healing economy needed so much support, and he confirmed that a rate increase was likely at the central bank's next meeting."

Finally! Darryl Fears of the Washington Post: "Two months after touring 'environmental justice' communities in three southern states, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan on Wednesday announced bold steps to address complaints from residents about tainted drinking water, chemical plants near homes and a school, and breathing toxic air. Regan said the agency will spend $600,000 to buy 'mobile air pollution monitoring equipment' to deploy along an 80-mile stretch of Louisiana along the Mississippi River known as 'Cancer Alley' for the many chemical plants, oil and gas refineries, and other industrial facilities located there.... The EPA is spearheading the Biden administration's push to place environmental justice at the center of the president's climate agenda and to undo burdens placed on Black, Latino, Indigenous and poor communities across the United States.... The program combines high-tech air pollution monitoring and 'boots-on-the-ground inspectors' to enforce pollution regulation in communities."

Dino Grandoni of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration has canceled two leases near Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness -- a remote, lake-pocked region at the center of a blistering fight over whether to mine near one of the nation's most popular wilderness destinations. On Wednesday, the Interior Department said it found that the leases to extract copper, nickel and other valuable hardrock minerals in northern Minnesota were improperly renewed under Donald Trump. The Biden administration's decision will help protect the hundreds of lakes, streams and wetlands in the 1.1 million-acre wilderness area hugging the Canadian border from the potential toxic leaching from mining."

Courtney Kube, et al., of NBC News: "The first chartered flight in months evacuating Americans from Afghanistan has left Kabul airport for Qatar.... The passengers on the Qatar Airways charter include more than 30 Americans.... The chartered flight, run by the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs and paid for by the U.S. State Department, is the first to leave Kabul since November." The Taliban had banned the flights, but the article doesn't address what, if anything, has changed to cause them to allow this flight.

** Colby Itkowitz & Harry Stevens of the Washington Post: "New congressional maps are completed in more than half the country, and so far Democrats have been spared the redistricting losses they endured a decade ago.... [That's because] the extreme gerrymandering of a decade ago maximized Republican seats so much that it gave Republicans fewer options to draw themselves new seats this time.... But advocates for voting rights say that raw political calculation overshadows another reality -- how map drawers have manipulated the lines mostly at the expense of minorities. Across the country, the White population has shrunk over the past decade as minority communities have swelled, according to the 2020 Census. Yet, the rapid growth of Latinos and Blacks is not reflected in any of the new maps passed so far, except California's, which added five seats where Latinos make up the majority of adults. Black-majority districts decreased by five seats while majority-White districts grew by eight seats, according to a Washington Post analysis looking at the 28 states that have completed congressional maps.... Judges have intervened in two states [-- Ohio & Alabama --] where Republican state legislators were accused by voting rights advocates of disenfranchising Black voters." Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ryan Nobles, et al., of CNN: "Ben Williamson, a top aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, met on Tuesday with the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection.... Williamson was in the West Wing of the White House while the attack on the US Capitol was underway.... His cooperation with the committee is significant, given that his boss, Meadows, is currently facing possible criminal contempt of Congress charges because of his lack of cooperation with the committee." MB: I'm thinking a top aide to the chief of staff would know quite a lot about what-all was going on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A federal magistrate judge has rejected a bid for pretrial release by the founder of a right-wing militia group facing the rare charge of seditious conspiracy for allegedly orchestrating an attack on the Capitol during the certification of the presidential election results last January. The ruling Wednesday means Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, 56, will remain in custody as his lawyers appeal to a federal judge in Washington overseeing the case against Rhodes and 10 other members of his group."

Another of Matt Gaetz's Very Fine Friends May Be Turning on Him. Steph Bazzle of the Hill Reporter: "... another associate and friend [of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)] just pled guilty.... According to the Daily Beast, Joe Ellicot, known as a radio 'shock jock,' has pleaded guilty to fraud regarding 'bribes and kickbacks' to a public official, as well as to illegally selling Adderall. The public official in question is said to be Joel Greenberg -- that's right, the same Gaetz associate who pled guilty months ago [to "sex trafficking of a child, production of false identification, aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, stalking and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States,"] and agreed to cooperate with further investigations.... Text messages circulated last year in which Ellicott seemed to refer to the sex-trafficking allegations. Now, his attorney, Joe Zwick, says that Ellicot is specifically helping investigators with Gaetz' case, and will have a hearing to enter a plea deal in February." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Sex, Drugs & a Witness. Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "Justice Department investigators have reached a cooperation agreement with a man whose attorney says he witnessed Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) attend parties involving 'a whole lot' of sex and drug use -- another potential boon to the sprawling and slow-moving sex trafficking investigation into the congressman.... '[Joseph Ellicott] observed a lot of behavior that, if anybody saw it, would not think that it was the behavior you would expect from a U.S. congressman,' [Joe] Zwick, [Ellicott's lawyer,] said."

Elizabeth Dwoskin of the Washington Post: "Prominent figures known for spreading misinformation ... have flocked to Substack, podcasting platforms and a growing number of right-wing social media networks over the past year after getting kicked off or restricted on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.... Social networks use algorithms to spread content -- sometimes misinformation -- to users who don't want to see it. Newsletters and podcasts don't. These newer platforms cater to subscribers who seek out specific content that accommodates their viewpoints -- potentially making the services less responsible for spreading harmful views, some misinformation experts say.... Readers pay per month to subscribe to a certain author, and the author keeps 90 percent of the revenue, while Substack takes 10 percent.... Substack earns at least $2.5 million a year from just five anti-vaccine leaders who have amassed tens of thousands of subscribers, each paying $50 a month."

Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "Gas-burning stoves in kitchens across America may pose a greater risk to the planet and public health than previously thought, new research suggests. The appliances release far more of the potent planet-warming gas methane than the Environmental Protection Agency estimates, Stanford University scientists found in a study published Thursday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. The appliances also emit significant amounts of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant that can trigger asthma and other respiratory conditions.... The findings come as scientists and climate activists have increasingly urged homeowners to switch to all-electric stoves, water boilers and other appliances...."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Tucker's "Most Dishonest & Dangerous Segment" Yet. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Tucker Carlson and Alex Berenson ... together, they have formed a Jack-Spratian marriage of leading Fox News viewers astray.... [On Tuesday, Berenson told Carlson,] 'The mRNA covid vaccines need to be withdrawn from the market now. No one should get them. No one should get boosted. No one should get double-boosted. They are a dangerous and ineffective product at this point against omicron,' the most prevalent variant in the United States.... Berenson's career is now largely predicated on precisely this sort of denialism.... Berenson and those like him are simply leveraging this impulse for attention and money." MB: Tucker, too. Not to mention Fox "News" & all the cable companies that carry it. These are mercenaries, killing people for money & laughing all the way to the bank. Capitalism is awesome. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The viewers are the real marvels here. It is amazing to behold people who are willing to bet their lives -- and the lives of their loved ones -- on the existence of a global conspiracy to entice them with false assertions into getting shots & taking other safety precautions. After all, it isn't just Biden and members of his administration who are "lying" to us. Government officials throughout the world have joined the conspiracy. Infectious disease experts everywhere -- most of whom are not directly affiliated with any government entity -- are telling the same "lies." Scientists. Your doctor. Your pharmacist. How do Tucker's viewers hold onto the belief that tens of thousands of people are conspiring together, yet in more than two years, none of them has squealed?

Ben Sisario of the New York Times: "Spotify confirmed on Wednesday that it has begun removing [Neil] Young's music from the streaming service, two days after the star briefly posted a public letter calling on Spotify to choose between him and Joe Rogan, the star podcast host who has been accused of spreading misinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines. Young's challenge to Spotify has become a high-profile, if unexpected, flashpoint in the battle over misinformation and free speech online. It also raised questions about the power of performing artists to control where their work is heard. In a second statement that was posted to his website on Wednesday, Young called Spotify 'the home of life threatening Covid misinformation.' He added: 'Lies being sold for money.'" The Guardian has a story here.

Basta, Bongino. Daisuke Wakabayashi of the New York Times: "YouTube said on Wednesday that it had terminated accounts associated with Dan Bongino, a popular right-wing radio and Fox News host, nearly two weeks after it first suspended his channel for violating its Covid-19 misinformation policy. A former New York City police officer and Secret Service agent turned pundit, Mr. Bongino is a vocal critic of vaccine mandates. His posts are consistently among the most read on Facebook.... YouTube said one of Mr. Bongino's accounts had been issued a weeklong suspension on Jan. 14 after he posted a video saying cloth and surgical masks were useless.... Last Thursday, before the seven-day suspension had elapsed, a second account associated with Mr. Bongino posted another video that repeated his claim about the efficacy of masks. This again violated the misinformation policy and broke Google's terms of service for trying to circumvent the original suspension by posting content on a separate channel. After Mr. Bongino posted another video on Tuesday -- while his second suspension was still active -- YouTube decided to remove both of his channels permanently for trying to skirt the company's rules."

Meghan McCain gets a serious case of Covid, & blames President Biden for her depression in a Daily Mail op-ed. She also blames him for the lack of test kits, and I tend to agree with her that the Biden administration dropped the ball on test kits because there was some warming that Omicron was coming & a lot of people were going to get sick. However, she knew darned well she had Covid, so a test kit was a bit superfluous. Besides, it doesn't hurt that a white lady just found out what it's like to live in a Black shopping desert. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Virginia. Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "About a week after announcing his executive order making masks optional in schools throughout Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said on a radio show that school districts statewide had rushed to comply. 'The reality is it's about 25 out of our 130 school systems across Virginia who aren't recognizing the rights of parents today,' Youngkin told conservative host John Fredericks on Monday.... But a Washington Post analysis shows that the majority of Virginia public school districts -- enrolling more than two-thirds of the state's students -- have opted to disobey Youngkin's mask-optional order. As of Wednesday, two days after the order was supposed to take effect, 69 districts, or 53 percent, are still requiring masks for all students inside schools. Cumulatively, those districts enroll 846,483 students, or about 67 percent of the state's public school student population...: Almost every district that opted to make masks optional is in a locality that voted for Youngkin in the 2021 gubernatorial election." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So Youngkin is a liar, too. Quelle surprise.

Beyond the Beltway

California. Cheri Mossburg & Amir Vera of CNN: "The San Jose, California, city council voted Tuesday night to adopt a first-in-the-nation ordinance requiring most gun owners to pay a fee and carry liability insurance, measures aimed at reducing the risk of gun harm by incentivizing safer behavior and easing taxpayers of the financial burden of gun violence." The New York Times story is here.

Texas. Alexa Ura of the Texas Tribune: "In a sworn declaration submitted as part of an ongoing federal court challenge, a senior Republican state senator with redistricting experience said he believes his party violated federal voting laws when it drew new boundaries for state Senate District 10 in the Fort Worth area. 'Having participated in the 2011 and 2013 Senate Select Redistricting Committee proceedings, and having read the prior federal court decision regarding SD10, it was obvious to me that the renewed effort to dismantle SD 10 violated the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution,' state Sen. Kel Seliger said in a declaration signed in November.... A group of plaintiffs -- including state Sen. Beverly Powell, D-Burleson, who represents the current SD-10 -- is asking the federal judges to throw out the new district ahead of the March primaries."

Texas. CBS Dallas/Fort Worth: "The man who sold Malik Faisal Akram the gun he used to kidnap hostages in a Colleyville synagogue earlier this month was charged Tuesday, Jan. 25 via criminal complaint with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Henry 'Michael' Williams, 32, made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renée H. Toliver on Jan. 26. A detention hearing was set for Monday, Jan. 31. '... As a convicted felon, Mr. Williams was prohibited from carrying, acquiring, or selling firearms. Whether or not he knew of his buyer's nefarious intent is largely irrelevant -- felons cannot have guns, period, and the Justice Department is committed to prosecuting those who do,' said U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham." The New York Times story is here.

Way Beyond

Russia: A New & Improved Russian Military. Paul Sonne, et al., of the Washington Post: "If the worst of scenarios materializes, Kyiv could soon confront the full power of a Russian military that has changed markedly, even in the eight years since Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine and started a separatist war in the country's east. These days, the Russian force is steeled with recent combat experience in Syria, modernized equipment, improved coordination and management, and a more sophisticated ability to strike targets from the air and from afar, according to military analysts. It also has reorganized its units specifically to prosecute a possible new war in Ukraine and rehearsed scenarios that U.S. officials now fear could become real, all while cultivating an industry of private military contractors."

Ukraine. Not Exactly Archduke Ferdinand. But. New York Times Live Updates: "A national guard soldier in Ukraine opened fire on Thursday at a missile and rocket factory in the eastern part of the country, killing five people, the police said. While details of the shooting were scarce and there was no immediate sign that it was related to the military buildup in the region, it underscored the dangers of the moment as fears of a Russian attack on Ukraine grow by the day."

January 26, 2022

Afternoon Update:

** New York Times: "Justice Stephen G. Breyer, the senior member of the Supreme Court's three-member liberal wing, will retire, two people familiar with the decision said, providing President Biden a chance to make good on his campaign pledge to name a Black woman to the court. Mr. Biden is expected to formally announce the retirement at the White House on Thursday, according to one person familiar with the planning for the event." This is a liveblog. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post report, by Robert Barnes, is here. The Post has a liveblog here. The NBC News story, by Pete Williams -- who broke the news -- is here. NPR's report, by Nina Totenberg, is here. ~~~

~~~ Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Democrats could confirm a successor to Justice Stephen G. Breyer without any Republican support under Senate rules that shield a Supreme Court nomination from a filibuster, but would have to hold their bare majority together to do so. The announcement of Justice Breyer's imminent retirement on Wednesday set off a sprint by top Democrats to prepare for a coming confirmation fight over President Biden's nominee to succeed him. It also prompted a collective sigh of relief from the party and its progressive allies, who had worried that a Senate takeover by Republicans in the coming midterm elections could block the president from filling any vacancies."

Robyn Dixon, et al., of the Washington Post: "The United States on Wednesday delivered written responses to Russia's demands for security guarantees over NATO expansion and activities in Eastern Europe, as senior government representatives of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine met in Paris in a bid to revive the stalled Ukraine peace process. The responses, which the U.S. ambassador to Russia sent to Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 'sets out a serious diplomatic path forward, should Russia choose it,' Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters. The document also lays out concerns 'about Russia's actions that undermine our security' and it offers 'our own proposals for areas where we may be able to find common ground,' he added.:

Ryan Nobles, et al., of CNN: "Ben Williamson, a top aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, met on Tuesday with the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection.... Williamson was in the West Wing of the White House while the attack on the US Capitol was underway.... His cooperation with the committee is significant, given that his boss, Meadows, is currently facing possible criminal contempt of Congress charges because of his lack of cooperation with the committee." MB: I'm thinking a top aide to the chief of staff would know quite a lot about what-all was going on.

Another of Matt's Very Fine Friends May Be Turning on Him. Steph Bazzle of the Hill Reporter: "... another associate and friend [of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)] just pled guilty.... According to the Daily Beast, Joe Ellicot, known as a radio 'shock jock,' has pleaded guilty to fraud regarding 'bribes and kickbacks' to a public official, as well as to illegally selling Adderall. The public official in question is said to be Joel Greenberg -- that's right, the same Gaetz associate who pled guilty months ago [to "sex trafficking of a child, production of false identification, aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, stalking and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States,"] and agreed to cooperate with further investigations.... Text messages circulated last year in which Ellicott seemed to refer to the sex-trafficking allegations. Now, his attorney, Joe Zwick, says that Ellicot is specifically helping investigators with Gaetz’ case, and will have a hearing to enter a plea deal in February."

** Colby Itkowitz & Harry Stevens of the Washington Post: "New congressional maps are completed in more than half the country, and so far Democrats have been spared the redistricting losses they endured a decade ago.... [That's because] the extreme gerrymandering of a decade ago maximized Republican seats so much that it gave Republicans fewer options to draw themselves new seats this time.... But advocates for voting rights say that raw political calculation overshadows another reality -- how map drawers have manipulated the lines mostly at the expense of minorities. Across the country, the White population has shrunk over the past decade as minority communities have swelled, according to the 2020 Census. Yet, the rapid growth of Latinos and Blacks is not reflected in any of the new maps passed so far, except California's, which added five seats where Latinos make up the majority of adults. Black-majority districts decreased by five seats while majority-White districts grew by eight seats, according to a Washington Post analysis looking at the 28 states that have completed congressional maps.... Judges have intervened in two states [-- Ohio & Alabama --] where Republican state legislators were accused by voting rights advocates of disenfranchising Black voters."

Meghan McCain gets a serious case of Covid, & blames President Biden for her depression in a Daily Mail op-ed. She also blames him for the lack of test kits, and I tend to agree with her that the Biden administration dropped the ball on test kits because there was some warming that Omicron was coming & a lot of people were going to get sick. However, she knew darned well she had Covid, so a test kit was a bit superfluous. Besides, it doesn't hurt that a white lady just found out what it's like to live in a Black shopping desert.

~~~~~~~~~~

Libby Cathey & Justin Gomez of ABC News: "President Joe Biden said Tuesday there could be some U.S. troop movements in the 'nearer term' in Eastern Europe -- and that he would consider personally sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin if Russia invades Ukraine -- a day after 8,500 American forces were put on 'heightened alert' in the region. 'If he were to move in with all those forces, it would be the largest invasion since World War II. It would change the world,' Biden told reporters at an unannounced stop at a local business in Washington." Includes video.

David Sanger of the New York Times: "The Biden administration announced on Tuesday that it was working with gas and crude oil suppliers from the Middle East, North Africa and Asia to bolster supplies to Europe in the coming weeks, in an effort to blunt the threat that Russia could cut off fuel shipments in the escalating conflict over Ukraine. European allies have been cautious in public about how far they would go in placing severe sanctions on Moscow if it invades Ukraine. Germany has been especially wary; it has shuttered many of its nuclear plants, increasing its dependence on natural gas imports to generate electricity." ~~~

~~~ Zachary Basu & Hans Nichols of Axios: "The emir of Qatar will meet with President Biden at the White House on Monday to discuss Afghanistan as well as contingency plans to provide natural gas to Europe in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, Axios has learned."

Anonymous pointed out in commentary the other day that Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel had tweeted that "Russia has alerted Ireland that they plan war games off of Ireland's coast -- in what appears to be waters above the most important cable landings in the world[.]" ~~~

~~~ Kenneth Fox of the Breaking News Ireland: "... there are a number of underwater cables stretching across the Atlantic not far from where the drills are taking place. This underwater infrastructure runs along the southern coast and connect Europe and North America. The drills are due to take place directly above the nexus of many of the Internet cables which connect the two continents. Cutting them would immediately cripple the economies of Nato countries as well as Ireland. Cutting the cables was described by one naval source as 'the perfect counterpunch' against any Nato or US military response in Ukraine. 'If I wanted to invade Ukraine and hamstring my opponents, I would want to cut those cables. It would be lights out for the economy of western Europe.[']... While these exercises will not take place in Irish waters, they will be in Ireland's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) where many ships travelling to Europe pass through.... As The Irish Times reports, despite being in Ireland's EEZ, there is nothing illegal about these drills because they are technically taking place in international waters as opposed to Irish waters." So ~~~

~~~ Louis Westendarp of Politico: "Irish fishing boats are planning to peacefully disrupt military exercises by the Russian navy, Patrick Murphy, chief executive of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation, said Tuesday.... Irish fishermen are claiming that the drills threaten a crucial area for marine life and an important fishing region. According to Murphy, there are half a billion tonnes of blue whiting in the area where the Russian military drills would take place. He also fears seismic shocks that could be created by missiles fired during the drills as they could change the migration pattern of tuna for years.... 'Our boats will be going out to that area on the first of February to go fishing,' Murphy [told Politico]. When one boat needs to return to port, another will head out so there is a continuous presence on the water, he continued. 'If that is in proximity to where the [military] exercise is going, we are expecting that the Russian naval services abide by the anti-collision regulations.'"

Stef Kight & Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Biden's advisers are crafting a plan to accelerate bringing potentially thousands of Afghans to the U.S. from Qatar, according to a source with direct knowledge of the administration's internal deliberations on the subject.... It would allow Afghans to be screened, vetted, approved for refugee status and placed on planes to the United States within 30 days of their arrival at the military site in Qatar being used to house them. It usually takes two to five years for refugee applicants to be resettled in the U.S."

Ana Swanson & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The United States is facing an 'alarming' shortage of semiconductors, a government survey of more than 150 companies that make and buy chips found; the situation is threatening American factory production and helping to fuel inflation, Gina M. Raimondo, the commerce secretary, said in an interview on Monday. She said the findings showed a critical need to support domestic manufacturing and called on Congress to pass legislation aimed at bolstering U.S. competitiveness with China by enabling more American production." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Evan Perez & Tierney Sneed of CNN: "Federal prosecutors are reviewing fake Electoral College certifications that declared ... Donald Trump the winner of states that he lost, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told CNN on Tuesday. 'We've received those referrals. Our prosecutors are looking at those and I can't say anything more on ongoing investigations,' Monaco said in an exclusive interview.... This is the first time that the Justice Department has commented on requests from lawmakers and state officials that it investigate the fake certifications. The fake certificates falsely declaring Trump's victory were sent to the National Archives by Trump's allies in mid-December 2020. They have attracted public scrutiny amid the House's January 6 investigation into the pressure campaign that sought to reverse Trump's electoral defeat."

Felicia Sonmez & Donna Cassata of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Tuesday that she is running for reelection, citing the 'crucial' need to defend American democracy through legislation on voting rights and other issues. Pelosi, 81, has served in Congress since 1987.&" The AP's story is here.

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said on his radio show Tuesday that he was deposed by the House Jan. 6 committee and that he exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 'almost 100 times.' Jones said he testified remotely Monday, and ... the committee lawyers who questioned him were 'polite, but they were dogged.... The questions were overall pretty reasonable. And I wanted to answer the questions. But at the same time, it's a good thing I didn't, because I'm the type that tries to answer things correctly, even if I don't know all the answers, and they can then kind of claim that's perjury' he said.... Despite his calls to action before the rally, Jones was seen on video outside the Capitol during the riot urging people not to be violent." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Not surprisingly, Jones made up a lame excuse for invoking the Fifth. I heard audio of Jones' on-air remarks, and right after he said that bit about trying to answer correctly even if he didn't know the answers, he elaborated on the idea that interviewers asked him a lot of questions about things like emails he hadn't seen or didn't remember. Of course that happens during legal proceedings all the time, & you don't plead the Fifth; you say, truthfully, that you don't recall (an evasion made famous by John Ehrlichman during his testimony before the Senate Watergate committee) or you aren't familiar with the document presented, or something to that effect. Every lawyer will tell her client never to answer a question with a guess. BTW, Jones, one of the nation's craziest conspiracy theorists, sounds more reasonable here than Donald Trump.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Stewart Rhodes and nine alleged co-conspirators with the extremist Oath Keepers group pleaded not guilty Tuesday to seditious conspiracy and other charges in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. An 11th defendant arrested with Rhodes on Jan. 13, Edward Vallejo, was not present during a court hearing in the case Tuesday and will be arraigned later. Rhodes and those charged with him are accused of plotting violence to prevent the confirmation of Joe Biden's election victory."

Colby Hall of Mediaite: “Brianna Keilar [of CNN] flatly called Tucker Carlson 'chief propagandist' after Fox News repeatedly called for political support for authoritarian Russian President Vladimir Putin over the emerging democracy of Ukraine. She then simply asked why Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch is letting this 'bs' on the air.... CNN's New Day producers played a clip of Tucker Carlson arguing for Russia that ended with him saying 'Why is it disloyal to side with Russia but loyal to side with Ukraine? They're both foreign countries that don't care anything about the United States. Kind of strange." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Derek Saul of Forbes: "Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor who resigned and pleaded guilty for misleading authorities over his ties to the Russian government -- before later pardoned by former President Donald Trump -- attacked the Biden Administration Monday for its support of Ukraine in an op-ed article on a right-wing site criticized for spreading misinformation, appearing to parrot the views of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Flynn alleged in his column appearing in Western Journal that the White House has 'sold an illusion' that the potential Russian invasion of Ukraine is not justified, reasoning that an increased NATO presence in eastern Europe will cause an 'existential threat' to Russia.... According to Flynn, NATO's bolstering of resources and reinforcements in countries close to Ukraine would be the 'principal cause of a devastating war,' echoing what Putin has suggested, though the NATO measures are in response to Russia's military buildup at the border." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

So Sad. Looks as if Mercenary Melanie, former White House denizen, didn't make nearly as much as she'd hoped auctioning off her broad-brimmed white chapeau, thanks to the crash of Solana, the cryptocurrency she required bidders to use. (WashPo link.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marie: Doesn't this troubled young man have any family members who can help? But seriously, Junior is past due for an intervention. Thanks to unwashed for the link, via Jon Amato of Crooks & Liars:

Room Rater Weekend at Dumb Dumb's. After the blow was gone, he started drinking. #AllLinesMatter 0/10 @DonaldJTrumpJr pic.twitter.com/QdMBirhJVI

— Room Rater (@ratemyskyperoom) January 23, 2022

"He Who Represents Himself Has a Fool for a Client." Colin Moynihan of the New York Times: "Michael Avenatti, the brash lawyer who represented the pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels in a dispute with ... Donald J. Trump, seized center stage at his criminal trial on Tuesday, suddenly announcing that he wanted to act as his own lawyer.... Mr. Avenatti is accused of impersonating Ms. Daniels and persuading her literary agent to send him nearly $300,000 in publisher's payments that had been meant for her. His request to represent himself, which Judge Jesse M. Furman granted, makes it likely that Mr. Avenatti will cross-examine Ms. Daniels, who is widely expected to be called as a witness during the trial."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "A coronavirus wave driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant wave may be cresting in parts of North America and Europe, but new cases are still climbing in less-vaccinated regions, and World Health Organization leaders warn that the global surge and the world's wide vaccine gap could set the stage for another dangerous variant."

~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Wednesday are here.

Pam Belluck of the New York Times A study, published Tuesday by the journal Cell, found four factors that could be identified early in a person's coronavirus infection that appeared to correlate with increased risk of having lasting symptoms weeks later. The researchers said they had found that there was an association between these factors and long Covid (which goes by the medical name post-acute sequelae of Covid-19, or PASC) whether the initial infection was serious or mild.... One of the four factors ... is the level of coronavirus RNA in the blood early in the infection, an indicator of viral load. Another is the presence of certain autoantibodies -- antibodies that mistakenly attack tissues in the body as they do in conditions like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. A third factor is the reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus, a virus that infects most people, often when they are young, and then usually becomes dormant. The final factor is having Type 2 diabetes, although ... it might turn out that diabetes is only one of several medical conditions that increase the risk of long Covid."

Liz Stark of CNN: "The Biden administration is withdrawing its Covid-19 vaccination and testing regulation aimed at large businesses, following the Supreme Court's decision to block the rule earlier this month. The US Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday it will be withdrawing the vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard for businesses with 100 or more employees, according to a statement on the agency's website. 'Although OSHA is withdrawing the vaccination and testing ETS as an enforceable emergency temporary standard, the agency is not withdrawing the ETS as a proposed rule. The agency is prioritizing its resources to focus on finalizing a permanent COVID-19 Healthcare Standard,' the statement read. The withdrawal of the emergency temporary standard 'does not affect the ETS's continuing status as a proposed rule,' a US Department of Labor spokesperson told CNN in a statement."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that it would halt emergency-use authorizations for two monoclonal antibody therapies, one made by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and one by Eli Lilly.... Citing studies showing a lack of efficacy, the FDA said it was no longer 'reasonable to believe that the known and potential benefits of these products outweigh their known and potential risks.'... The FDA decision has led to a vehement outcry from some on the right, including the Republican who has most forcefully promoted monoclonal antibodies: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis said Monday that President Biden 'has forced medical pros to choose treating their patients or breaking the law. The governor added Tuesday morning, 'Without a shred of clinical data to support its decision, the Biden Administration has revoked the emergency use authorization for lifesaving monoclonal antibody treatments.'... DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw on Monday night even promoted a claim by a conservative conspiracy theorist that 'the FDA is trying to make it so that people in Florida die of Covid. They'll kill people to harm Republicans.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Not really, dear. You-all have been doing a bang-up job of that on your own.

Caitlin O'Kane of CBS News: "Neil Young had a strong message for Spotify on Monday: 'They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.'... Joe Rogan ... has an exclusive deal with Spotify and has frequently spread false information about COVID-19. Rogan has famously questioned COVID-19 vaccines on his show, and when he got COVID-19 last year, said he took ivermectin, an anti-parasite drug that's been heavily promoted on social media despite having no proven benefit against COVID-19. In an open letter to his management and record label posted on his website, Young, who survived polio as a child, said he wanted to remove his music from Spotify because of the 'false information about vaccines being spread -- potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them.' Polio has been eliminated in the United States due to widespread vaccination against it." Young later deleted the statement from his Website. The New York Times story is here.

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

South Carolina. Matt Kaufax of Fox Carolina: "A newly proposed law in the South Carolina Statehouse would make it a criminal offense for your employer -- or anyone -- to ask about your vaccination status.... 'The government has no place in making you or telling you to take the vaccination, or threatening your livelihood if you don't,' said Upstate representative William 'Bill' Chumley (R, District 35), one of the co-sponsors of the bill. House bill H.4848 now heads to committee after being filed just days ago. It states: '...any representative of a public, private, or nonprofit entity ... who inquires about Covid-19 vaccination status ... must be fined not more than $14,000 or imprisoned not more than one year.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Chasten Buttigieg, an educator and husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, is speaking out against legislation advancing in Florida that critics have dubbed the 'Don't say gay bill,' arguing that it could lead to more suicides among LGBTQ youths. The legislation, which supporters say is about parental rights, would, among its provisions, bar school districts in Florida from encouraging classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary-grade levels or 'in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.' Parents would be empowered to sue if they think schools are violating the law. 'You're essentially pushing kids back into the closet,' Chasten Buttigieg said Tuesday during an appearance on CNN. 'You're saying we can't even talk about your families.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So in Florida's schools, in the name of "parental rights" -- that would be straight parents' rights -- you can't talk about gay people. In the name of possible white "discomfort," you can't talk about the history (and present) of infringing on Black people's fundamental rights. Who else will cause straight white people "discomfort"? Maybe the straight white people are Christians so talking about other religions will cause them "discomfort." What about other races, like Florida's Native American tribes? When I was in second grade, we little white kids made a field trip to a Seminole community in the Everglades and learned about a lifestyle different from our own. But, gosh, now that might discomfit some white parents. The Sunshine State? Bobby Lee in today's Comments says it's "gotten steadily darker" in Florida. The state may have to dream up a new motto. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Bobby Lee suggests "the Swamp State." MB: As a long-time Floridian, that works for me, too. ~~~

     ~~~ As David Corn of Mother Jones pointed out on MSNBC, the underlying point to not educating students about the country's social failings is that if the public doesn't know about the problems, politicians won't have to take measures to mitigate them.

~~~ MEANWHILE, "concerned white parents" might want to take note that there now appears to be a Critical Race Theory Avenger. Thanks to RAS for the link.

New Hampshire. Marie: Speaking of state mottoes in states where I have lived, Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC disparaged New Hampshire's motto "Live Free or Die," which he correctly noted is embossed on state license plates. Just so you know, I went out of my to acquire four license plate frames that hide the motto.

New Jersey. Ed Shanahan & Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "A New Jersey political consultant admitted on Tuesday that he hired two men to kill a longtime associate who had worked for him on campaigns, and was found fatally stabbed in his burning apartment eight years ago, federal officials said. Over the years, the consultant, Sean Caddle, has counted several prominent North Jersey Democrats among his clients, including Senator Robert Menendez, according to interviews and federal election records. Mr. Caddle, 44, of Hamburg, N.J., pleaded guilty via videoconference in Federal District Court in Newark to conspiracy to commit murder for hire. A judge allowed him to remain free, confined to his home, on a $1 million bond. He faces up to life in prison. A sentencing date has not been set." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: When it comes to having shady friends & associates, Bob Menendez seems to be trying to rival Donald Trump. In a list of stereotypes about New Jersey, Bart Brooks of NJ.com debunked them all, except one: "New Jersey has corrupt politicians." (Unfortunately, the page Brooks links for this category comes up "Page Not Found.")

New York. Ali Watkins & Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "On Friday, as ... two [NYPD] officers [-- Wilbert Mora & Jason Rivera --] responded to a domestic disturbance call in Harlem, a gunman opened fire inside a cramped hallway, killing Officer Rivera and gravely wounding Officer Mora. On Tuesday, the police announced that Officer Mora had also died of his injuries. The two young officers -- Mora was 27, Rivera was 22 -- were emblematic of a changing police force that has struggled to repair its relationships with the city's Black and Hispanic communities. Both Latino in a department that was once overwhelmingly white, the officers were cognizant of problems with policing and eager to play a role in confronting them.... Officers Rivera and Mora were part of a growing contingency of Dominican officers."

Tennessee. Melissa Brown of the Tennessean: "Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly pushed ahead Monday night on a once-a-decade redistricting plan, with a House vote all but guaranteeing the division of Davidson County [Nashville] into three separate congressional districts that will dilute the county's minority vote. The congressional plan cracks Davidson County through downtown Nashville, parceling pieces of the current 5th Congressional District into the largely white, historically Republican 6th and 7th districts. A new 5th would take in parts of Davidson, Williamson and Wilson counties, along with rural Lewis, Maury and Marshall counties. Political experts say the plan, approved on a 70-26 party-line vote, could flip the 5th to the Republicans, further entrenching the GOP in Tennessee with an 8-1 advantage in the congressional delegation." ~~~

     ~~~ Ally Mutnick of Politico: "Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper, a 32-year veteran of Congress, will retire at the end of this year, after Tennessee Republicans shredded his Nashville-based seat into three pieces in redistricting. He is the 29th House Democrat to leave the chamber to retire or seek higher office during this Congress. 'No one tried harder to keep our city whole,' Cooper wrote in a statement announcing his decision. 'I explored every possible way, including lawsuits, to stop the gerrymandering and to win one of the three congressional districts that now divide Nashville. There's no way, at least for me, in this election cycle.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Feliciz Sonmez of the Washington Post: Cooper accused Tennessee's "General Assembly of 'dismembering Nashville' in the once-a-decade redistricting process." MB: Don't know if they "dismembered" Nashville, but they sure "dismembered" him, inasmuch as he will no longer even be a member ... of Congress, that is.

Virginia. Youngkin's Tattletale Fail. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin this week announced his office was opening a 'tip line' for parents who want to report their local schools teaching "divisive" topics such as critical race theory.... It has not taken long for pranksters to flood the email address he promoted with bogus tips.... 'I have heard reports that schools in Virginia are teaching ARABIC NUMERALS!' read one fake complaint. 'I fear we've become so focused on exposing Critical Race Theory in public education that we've forgotten all about creeping Sharia Law.'"

Wyoming. There's a New Sheriff in Town. (And He's Black.) Julian Mark of the Washington Post: According to a lawsuit filed by former Laramie, Wyoming, sheriff's deputy Jamin Johnson, Sgt. Sgt. Christian Handley, who is white, made racist remarks for years against Johnson (who is Black), Black arrestees, and even against Johnson's family members. But Johnson's complaints resulted only in "sham" disciplinary actions against Handley. "The lawsuit also reveals that Handley was fired last year following an internal investigation ordered by Wyoming&'s first Black sheriff, Aaron Appelhans, who was appointed to the post in December 2020." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)