April 24, 2023
Afternoon/Evening Update:
Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "The prosecutor leading the investigation of ... Donald J. Trump and his allies in Georgia said on Monday that she is aiming to announce any indictments by mid-July at the earliest, according to a letter she sent to a top local law enforcement official. In her letter, Fani T. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., said that any charges would come during the court term that runs from July 11 to Sept. 1. In January, Ms. Willis said that charging decisions in the investigation were 'imminent.' But her timetable has been delayed, in part because a number of witnesses have sought to cooperate as the investigation has neared an end. Local law enforcement also needs time to prepare for potential security threats, a point that Ms. Willis emphasized in the letter."
It's Cable News Clean Out the Anchor Desks Day.
** So Long, TuKKKums! Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Fox News said Monday that it was parting ways with Tucker Carlson, its most popular prime time host who was also the source of repeated controversies and headaches for the network because of his statements on everything from race relations to L.G.B.T.Q. rights. The network made the announcement less than a week after it agreed to pay $787.5 million in a defamation lawsuit in which Mr. Carlson's show, one of the highest rated on Fox, figured prominently for its role in spreading misinformation after the 2020 election. In making its announcement, Fox offered a terse statement of gratitude. 'Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,' it said." ~~~
~~~ Jeremy Barr of the Washington Post: “In a shocking announcement, Fox News announced Monday that prime-time host Tucker Carlson is leaving the network.... It was Carlson's comments about Fox management, as revealed in the Dominion case, that played a role in his departure from Fox, a person familiar with the company's thinking told The Post.... His Fox News colleagues were stunned by the departure, which seemed out of the blue." CNN's story, by Oliver Darcy & Marshall Cohen is here. MB: I was going to write TuKKKer a nice farewell poem like that beautiful one by W. H. Auden. But I couldn't think of a single word that rhymed with "Tucker." (Well, maybe I thought of two, but then you couldn't read the poem to your children.) ~~~
~~~ SO THEN. Doha Madani of NBC News: "Don Lemon was terminated from his anchor role at CNN, he announced Monday. The news comes after Variety published a story earlier this month on allegations that he mistreated his female colleagues over the course of his career there. And earlier this year, he faced backlash over widely criticized comments he made on-air. Lemon announced the news on Twitter, saying he was informed by his agent that he was being terminated. 'I am stunned,' Lemon wrote. 'After 17 years at CNN I would have thought someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly.' CNN CEO Chris Licht said that the network and Lemon have 'parted ways,' according to a memo provided to NBC News Monday." The New York Times story, by Michael Grynbaum & others, is here. MB: Perfect timing. People will be so thrilled to see the back side of TuKKKer, they'll hardly notice that CNN's Mr. Misogynist has left the building. ~~~
~~~ Theoretically, More Important. Kierra Frazier, et al., of Politico: "Domestic policy adviser Susan Rice is stepping down from her post. Rice, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, helped the Biden administration with expanding the Affordable Care Act, getting his Inflation Reduction Act into law, and passing gun control legislation. The move comes as the White House is facing controversy over its handling of migrant children who crossed the Southern border.... Rice's departure leaves a major hole within the top ranks of the White House right as it gears up for a likely re-election campaign and as it faces a stare down with congressional Republicans over raising the debt limit. Among those being eyed as a replacement for her include Neera Tanden, Biden's staff secretary and a senior adviser, four people with knowledge of the deliberations told Politico. Separately, a top White House official said no replacement had been identified yet. One former administration official said White House aides were talking openly about Tanden's consideration for Rice's job over the weekend, calling her potential appointment 'pretty damn firm.'" ~~~
~~~ President Biden's statement is here.
Show Me the Money. Dan Mangan of CNBC: "Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., on Monday asked GOP megadonor Harlan Crow for a complete list of gifts to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and evidence that the billionaire real estate developer complied with federal tax law in connection with the long-undisclosed largesse to Thomas.... The letter asks for a list of all flights Thomas took on any of Crow's jets, as well as details of those trips. Wyden requested similar details about the justice's trips on the Michaela Rose and information about the Georgia property purchases. He concluded by writing, 'Please list any additional gifts or payments with a value in excess of $1,000 made to Justice Thomas or members of his family since he was sworn into the Supreme Court that would not be captured by' the prior questions."
Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "China moved quickly on Monday to limit damage to its relations with Europe, repudiating the comments of Beijing's ambassador in Paris who had questioned the sovereignty of post-Soviet nations like Ukraine in a televised interview. The comments by Lu Shaye on Friday caused a diplomatic firestorm over the weekend among European foreign ministers and parliamentarians, with several countries summoning China's envoys for explanations. His remarks threatened to throw a wrench in China's ongoing efforts to balance courting European leaders with trade while supporting Russia, with which it has declared a 'no limits' partnership.... [Friday, Mr. Lu] said that Crimea was Russian historically and had been handed over to Ukraine, then added: 'Even these countries of the former Soviet Union do not have an effective status in international law, since there is no international agreement that would specify their status as sovereign countries.'... China's Foreign Ministry ... on Monday insist[ed] that it recognized the sovereignty of all the former Soviet republics that have declared independence, including Ukraine."
~~~~~~~~~~
Hillary Clinton, in a New York Times op-ed: "Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is making a ransom demand. His hostage is the economy and America's credibility. Mr. McCarthy has threatened that House Republicans will refuse to raise the federal government's debt ceiling, potentially triggering a global financial crisis, unless President Biden agrees to deep cuts to education, health care, food assistance for poor children and other services. Mr. McCarthy repeatedly invoked the threat of Chinese competition as justification. The speaker is right that this debate has significant national security implications -- just not the way he says.... The world is looking to the United States for strong, steady leadership. Congressional brinkmanship on the debt ceiling sends the opposite message to our allies and our adversaries: that America is divided, distracted and can't be counted on." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Anyone who thinks Republicans are patriotic Americans who want to do what is in the national interest should remove their rose-colored glasses. The Republican party and its right-wing allies are the central challenge not just to democracy but to the general interests of the American people, national security, U.S. economy & U.S. corporations. Corporate bigwigs & wealthy private interests who think those Trumpy tax cuts were good for them are sadly mistaken; we would not have such a huge & threatening debt crisis if not for the free rides Republicans give to the "haves."
Bow Down, Bow Down, to the Lord High Supreme Chief! Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "During an appearance on MSNBC early Sunday morning, the former director of the United States Office of Government Ethics trashed Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for saying nothing and doing nothing about the cloud of scandals hovering over Justice Clarence Thomas. Speaking with host Katie Phang, attorney Walter Schaub expressed dismay with the chief justice, repeatedly saying, 'Shame on him.' With CNN reporting that Roberts is 'punting' on testifying before the Senate about Thomas and his relationship with a conservative billionaire who has been financing the lavish lifestyle the justice and his wife Ginni have been living, Shaub lashed out at Roberts. 'I think it would be positively disgraceful if he refuses to speak - testify in front of Congress,' he told the MSNBC host. 'It would be a real statement that the Supreme Court justices view themselves as rulers instead of public servants.'"
Benjamin Mullin, et al., of the New York Times: "Jeff Shell, the chief executive of NBCUniversal, is leaving the company after an investigation into a complaint about an inappropriate workplace relationship, the company's owner, Comcast, said in a statement on Sunday. In the statement, Mr. Shell said that Sunday would be his last day and that he had had 'an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company.' Comcast's terse statement did not say who would be replacing Mr. Shell at NBCUniversal, which he has led since 2020. But in a note to employees on Sunday, Comcast's chief executive, Brian Roberts, said that Mr. Shell's senior team would report to Michael Cavanagh, Comcast's president, putting Mr. Cavanagh in effective control of NBCUniversal.... [Shell] succeeded Ron Meyer, a longtime Universal executive, who left the company in 2020 after he said he was the victim of an attempt to 'extort' him that was related to a past extramarital affair." The AP's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: In case you're feeling sorry for Shell, his annual salary was reportedly $21.5 million. Unless he has been spending imprudently -- and can he possibly be imprudent in more ways that one? -- he should have more than enough in savings & investments to retire on.
Jordyn Holman & Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times: "On Sunday, the 52-year-old retailer [Bed Bath & Beyond] said it was filing for bankruptcy protection in United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. It said it would start the process of closing the company's 360 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 120 Buy Buy Baby locations on Wednesday and seek to sell parts of its business. In its Chapter 11 filing, the company said it expected all stores to close by June 30." CNBC's report is here.
Presidential Race 2024. Ed O'Keefe & Fin Gomez of CBS News: "President Biden is set to name Julie Chavez Rodriguez, a senior West Wing official and longtime Democratic Party activist, to manage his reelection campaign, three people familiar with the ongoing deliberations tell CBS News.... The president has been spending the weekend at Camp David with First Lady Jill Biden and other senior aides sorting out the finishing touches of the campaign."
Sununu Trashes Trump. Lauren Sforza of the Hill: "'Republicans want someone who can win in November of '24. Donald Trump is a loser. He has not just lost once. He lost us .. our House seats in 2018,' [New Hampshire Gov. Chris] Sununu said [Sunday]. 'He lost everything and '20. We should have 54 U.S. senators right now and we don't because of his message. So, Donald Trump is positioning himself to be a four-time loser in 2024.'... Sununu said that Trump plays the 'victim card,' but Republicans want someone 'who's going to fight for them.' And the governor said the former president did not follow through on his campaign promises, like building a border wall and reforming health care." MB: Yeah, but Trump had a lot of Infrastructure Weeks. Oh, and he and your "fiscally-conservative" Congressional Republicans cut taxes on the wealthy & corporations to increase the debt by almost $7.8 trillion. That's "about $23,500 in new federal debt for every person in the country."
Beyond the Beltway
Iowa, et al. Child Abuse, Inc. Jacob Bogage & Maria Paúl of the Washington Post: "At 4:52 a.m., Tuesday, [Iowa's] Senate approved a bill to allow children as young as 14 to work night shifts and 15 year-olds on assembly lines. The measure, which still must pass the Iowa House, is among several the Foundation for Government Accountability is maneuvering through state legislatures. The Florida-based think tank and its lobbying arm, the Opportunity Solutions Project, have found remarkable success among Republicans to relax regulations that prevent children from working long hours in dangerous conditions. And they are gaining traction at a time the Biden administration is scrambling to enforce existing labor protections for children. The FGA achieved its biggest victory in March, playing a central role in designing a new Arkansas law to eliminate work permits and age verification for workers younger than 16.... In Missouri, where another child labor bill has gained significant GOP support, the FGA helped a lawmaker draft and revise the legislation, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post. The FGA for years has worked systematically to shape policy at the state level, fighting to advance conservative causes such as restricting access to anti-poverty programs and blocking Medicaid expansion."
Ohio, et al. Kate Zernicke & Michael Wines of the New York Times: "Voters pushed back decisively after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, approving ballot measures that established or upheld abortion rights in all six states where they appeared. Now, with abortion rights groups pushing for similar citizen-led ballot initiatives in at least six other states, Republican-controlled legislatures and anti-abortion groups are trying to stay one step ahead by making it harder to pass the measures -- or to get them on the ballot at all. The biggest and most immediate fight is in Ohio, where a coalition of abortion rights groups is collecting signatures to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that would prohibit the state from banning abortion before a fetus becomes viable outside the womb, at about 24 weeks of pregnancy[, which could pass with a simple majority]. That would essentially establish on the state level what Roe did nationwide for five decades.... But Republicans in the state legislature are advancing a ballot amendment of their own that would raise the percentage of votes required to pass future such measures to a 60 percent supermajority. The measure has passed the Ohio Senate and is expected to pass the House this week."
Idaho. Adam Gabbatt of the Guardian: "Republicans in Idaho have been criticized for 'glorifying political violence' after the party hosted Kyle Rittenhouse, the American who shot and killed two people at an anti-racism protest and injured another, as a celebrity guest at a fundraiser. The 20-year-old was the guest of honor at a Bonneville county Republican party event, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, on 15 April, where an AR-15 style rifle signed by Rittenhouse was auctioned off as part of a fundraiser and people could buy tickets to 'Trigger time': a Rittenhouse-hosted shooting event at a gun range. The event, amid a prolonged spate of mass shootings -- many conducted with AR-15s -- suggests a further embrace by Republicans of the most extreme elements of the gun lobby in the US...." MB: So some people are saying that a homicidal maniac is not really a celebrity? Huh.
Kentucky. AP: "The former Louisville Metro Police officer who fatally shot Breonna Taylor has a new job in law enforcement. WHAS-TV [Louisville] reported that the Carroll County[, Kentucky,] Sheriff's Office confirmed Saturday the hiring of Myles Cosgrove who was fired from the police department in January 2021 for violating use-of-force procedures and failing to use a body camera during the raid on Taylor's apartment.... In November, the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council voted not to revoke Cosgrove's state peace officer certification. This meant he could apply for other law enforcement jobs in the state. A protest in Carroll County has already been planned on Monday in response to his hiring."
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine here. The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Monday is here: "Global defense expenditure rose to an all-time high of $2.24 trillion in 2022, with Russia and Ukraine notably hiking their budgets. 'The continuous rise in global military expenditure in recent years is a sign that we are living in an increasingly insecure world,' SIPRI researcher Nan Tian said in a statement.... The Kremlin could end the Black Sea grain deal, which facilitates the export of Ukrainian grain, if the Group of Seven industrialized nations imposes a blanket ban on exports to Russia, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday on Telegram.... The Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group is making aggressive moves to bring together an anti-Western coalition of states in Africa, according to leaked U.S. government documents reviewed by The Washington Post."
AP: "Russia said Sunday that the United States has denied visas to journalists who wanted to cover Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's trip to New York, and Lavrov suggested that Moscow would take strong retaliatory measures. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. State Department about the claim of refused visas. The journalists aimed to cover Lavrov's appearance at the United Nations to mark Russia's chairmanship of the Security Council.... The dispute comes in the wake of high tensions with Washington over the arrest last month of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, whom Russia accuses of espionage. The United States has declared him to be 'wrongfully detained.'" MB: Besides, they're not journalists, Vlad; they're state-controlled scribes.
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Put your money where our mouth isn’t
Party of Traitor haters in Kentucky hate them some socially conscious companies. They routinely attack and vote against ESG policies, but they don’t hate them enough to tell them to keep their money. In other words, they don’t have the courage of their convictions when it comes to money.
But since when has courage been a quality on display in Traitor Land?
The Kentucky GOP is building themselves a swanky new clubhouse and they’re soliciting money from anyone, including Fortune 500 companies who have adopted ESG standards, something they supposedly despise. Just not when money is involved.
https://www.lpm.org/news/2023-04-24/kentucky-republicans-accept-money-from-sustainable-investors-but-pass-anti-esg-legislation
THE IVY THAT CHOKES YOUNG BUDS:
'MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday announced she replaced her director of early childhood education over the use of a teacher training book, written by a nationally recognized education group, that the Republican governor denounced as teaching “woke concepts" because of language about inclusion and structural racism.
Barbara Cooper was forced out as as head of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education after Ivey expressed concern over the distribution of the book to state-run pre-kindergartens. Ivey spokesperson Gina Maiola identified the book as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Developmentally Appropriate Practice Book, 4th edition. Maiola said she understands that the books have been removed from the state classrooms."
I have always found the little lady Kay a force to be reckoned with. Her ill winds have swept through Alabama for years but evidently there are those that cotton to those stormy edicts. Can Cooper sue? What can she do? Pity the children that are being deprived.
Tukkker Carlson is out at Fox. Some good news for a change.
Breaking:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/04/24/tucker-carlson-leaves-fox-news/?
There ought to be some interesting stories breaking out over this one. I don't reckon we'll get anything except corporate speak out of Fox but I'm sure some "anonymous sources" will have some interesting bits.
TuKKK FucKKKed!
Good news? Maybe.
I’m guessing that Rupes decided after the Dominion debacle that he had too much exposure with all the very specific lying. But why not dump other crazies? Perhaps with the fat fascist preparing to mow down all in his fetid path, he ordered the Murdochs to axe the twit who called him a ‘demonic force’. TuKKKums did a groveling, testicle licking interview with Fatty last week but Trump holds grudges like no other and nothing gets that weird mushroom member twitching like revenge, sticking it (in)to his enemies. I know…eewww.
But I’m also thinking that Faux will continue the lies even with TuKKK tucked. What they learned in their recent, and very public time in the stocks (unless you’re a Faux viewer) was not to name names (ie, blaming a specific company). The lies about a stolen election will continue.
And that pay out? Tax deductible. Nice, right?
If Trump’s hurt fee-fees are indeed part of this “parting of the ways” (doncha love face saving euphemisms that don’t save even a half grown hair on the chinny chin chin?) it means that the Murdochs are hoping that the Orange Traitor will continue to display his blimpiness on Faux, keeping the rheumy, red-veined MAGA eyeballs from straying.
In any event, the dispatch with which the TuKKKy defenestration was executed must incur humiliations galore on that amoral sack of winger waste products.
Maybe he’ll start his own antisocial media platform.
So it’s definitely good news that this pig has been dragged (temporarily) from the traitor trough. But Faux will keep up the lies. Not that we expected anything different.
Anyway, buh-buy TuKKK, you fuck.
Although other FoxNews talent may also be jettisoned, I suspect Fox execs believe that their non-Tucker talents can be controlled and scripted, and let go later if/when their ratings drop.
But if I was a Fox exec, there is no way I would expect that the Swanson heir presented a manageable risk to the enterprise. At some point he must have considered that he was bigger than the enterprise, and could tell them what to do. A good theory until the enterprise starts paying the damages with no way to limit future harm other than to throw the loose cannon leeward.
Expect him to show up in another venue, one where he self-insures.
If there were no blockbusting charges in store, I wouldn't think three months lead time would be necessary to prepare for them.
Maybe she just wants those to be charged (they know who they are) to stew until tender.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/georgia-prosecutor-reveal-charging-decisions-trump-probe-summer-rcna81242
https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/1650541229971521536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1650541229971521536%7Ctwgr%5E27d9dd6f1f7650bf957a6032301b47bbd2da5b58%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanityfair.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F04%2Ftucker-carlson-fox-news-departure-reactions