February 19, 2023
** Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Former President Jimmy Carter, who at 98 is the longest living president in American history, has decided to forgo further medical treatment and will enter hospice care at his home in Georgia, the Carter Center announced on Saturday." The AP's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Here's the statement from the Carter Center.
Michael Crowley & David Sanger of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken held what American officials described as a confrontational meeting with his Chinese counterpart on Saturday night in Munich, warning him that the flight of a Chinese surveillance balloon across the United States 'must never happen again.' He also cautioned Beijing against providing 'material support' to Russia's war in Ukraine, a prospect he later suggested China was now 'strongly' considering. The U.S. description of the meeting, which resumed diplomatic contact between Washington and Beijing after it broke down over the balloon episode, said nothing about how the Chinese official, Wang Yi, responded. But a brief summary on official Chinese state media described an equally sharp exchange. Mr. Wang, according to that account, said it was up to the United States to 'solve the damage caused by the indiscriminate use of force' when it shot down the large balloon off South Carolina."
Marie: I heard on TV yesterday that Donald Trump gave $1mm to the fake audit of Arizona's 2020 presidential election results. I didn't know that, so I checked it out. Here's the nearly month-old story I missed: ~~~
~~~ Brendan Fischer & Ed Pilkington of the Guardian (Jan. 27): "One of the enduring mysteries surrounding the chaotic attempts to overturn Donald Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential battle has been solved: who made a secret $1m donation to the controversial election 'audit' in Arizona?... The person who partially bankrolled the failed attempt to prove that the election was stolen from Trump was ... Trump. An analysis by the watchdog group Documented has traced funding for the Arizona audit back to Trump's Save America Pac. The group tracked the cash as it passed from Trump's fund through an allied conservative group, and from there to a shell company which in turn handed the money to contractors and individuals involved in the Arizona audit." Various officials, including Republican leaders in the Arizona state senate who approved the fraudit, denied that Trump had anything to do with funding the stunt.
Beyond the Beltway
Florida. Timothy Bella & Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "A Florida teacher was fired this week after posting a video of empty bookshelves that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) called 'a fake narrative' at a time when teachers in the state are removing or covering books in public schools to comply with new state laws. Brian Covey, a substitute teacher at Mandarin Middle School in Jacksonville, posted a video to Twitter last month showing rows of empty bookshelves at the school's library. Covey is one of several teachers in Duval and Manatee counties who've posted photos or videos in recent weeks showing how school districts are responding to new Florida laws regarding books and materials available to children in classrooms and libraries.... When DeSantis was asked about the empty bookshelves in the viral video at a news conference on Tuesday, the governor denounced it as misinformation.... Covey pointed out to The Post that the 6,000 books approved by the state is 0.375 percent of the 1.6 million book titles that Duval County Public Schools says need to be reviewed."
Michigan. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "Michigan Republicans on Saturday picked Kristina Karamo to lead the party in the battleground state, fully embracing an election-denying Trump acolyte after her failed bid for statewide office, one in which she unsuccessfully sued to throw out mail-in votes in Detroit and refused to concede. Ms. Karamo won a majority of delegate votes at the state party's convention in Lansing, the state capital, after three rounds of voting that -- slowed by paper ballots and hand counting -- went on hours longer than the period for which the party had originally rented the convention space. Her victory appeared to be an upset of Matthew DePerno, another vocal champion of ... Donald J. Trump's election falsehoods who had his backing in the leadership contest.... The fractured state G.O.P. now appears to have either purged or alienated more moderate voices and is plotting a defiant course as the 2024 presidential election approaches." Beginning with Paragraph 20, Vigdor describes the election shenanigans that made both Karamo & DePerno popular among the delegates. MB: The wingnuts love the crazy.~~~
~~~ The AP's report is here. MB: It is less flattering to the party than the Times story.
Way Beyond
Canada. Ian Austen of the New York Times: "One of the biggest political issues in Canada in recent years has been whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau abused his authority by imposing never before used emergency powers to end protests against Covid regulations that had paralyzed the capital and shut down a border crossing that disrupted billions in trade. On Friday, a public inquiry concluded that Mr. Trudeau was justified in imposing the sweeping measures because it was the only way to restore order and safety and protect the country's economy. At the same time, the judge who oversaw the inquiry said the need to apply such drastic action was the result of a breakdown in policing and a failure of coordination among politicians across various levels of government."
Turkey, Syria. Kelly Cho of the Washington Post: "More than 46,400 people have died across Syria and Turkey after earthquakes tore through the region nearly two weeks ago, officials said. In the final days of search and rescue operations, emergency workers have managed to extract a handful of individuals from the rubble alive.... AFAD [-- Turkey's disaster management agency --] expects to end most of its rescue efforts Sunday night, according to VOA News."
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukraine is dominating the agenda at the Munich Security Conference. As the first anniversary of Russia's invasion nears, Vice President Harris reaffirmed the Biden administration's commitment to supporting Kyiv and, in her address to the annual gathering of officials from across the world, accused Russia of committing 'crimes against humanity' in Ukraine.... Russia's ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, hit back at U.S. allegations of crimes against humanity, accusing the Biden administration of attempting to 'demonize Russia.'... Balloons spotted by Ukraine's Armed Forces over Kyiv and Dnipro in the past week were probably Russian, said Britain's Defense Ministry. The balloons, which carried radar reflectors, 'likely represent a new tactic by Russia to gain information about Ukrainian air defence systems and compel the Ukrainians to expend valuable stocks of surface to air missiles and ammunition,' the ministry said."
News Ledes
New York Times: "Richard Belzer, who became one of American television's most enduring police detectives as John Munch on 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit' and several other shows, died on Sunday at his home in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France. He was 78."
New York Times: "An auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was fatally shot at his home on Saturday afternoon, the police said. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies responding to an emergency medical call found the Roman Catholic bishop, David O'Connell, at his home with a gunshot wound around 1 p.m., the department said. He was pronounced dead at the scene, the authorities said. The circumstances leading to the shooting and the precise nature of the medical call were not immediately clear. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office said that it was investigating Bishop O'Connell's death as a murder. Bishop O'Connell, 69, lived in Hacienda Heights, a suburban community in the San Gabriel Valley.... In a statement, José H. Gomez, the archbishop of Los Angeles, described Bishop O'Connell as a 'peacemaker with a heart for the poor and the immigrant.'"
Share Article
Reader Comments (9)
Balloonatics
What does “solve the damage caused by the indiscriminate use of force” mean? Does China mean put the balloon back together again? And how is the targeted downing of a spy balloon “indiscriminate”? Sounds like plenty of discrimination to me.
So basically, Sec’y Blinken says “Don’t do that shit again” and the Chinese guy says “Well…fix it!”
Um…Okay. Sure.
Sounds like they had no real comeback, so say something stupid.
But not nearly as stupid as the caterwauling on the right about this whole affair. My favorite idiotic right-wing comment came from Rep. Comer (I think it was Comer, if not it was someone just as stupid), who screamed that the Chinese were using the balloon to spread deadly toxins across the country. When asked if he had any proof for such a startling claim, Comer said “Well, I mean that might have…”
Right. And you might have graduated from the third grade.
I never knew drag queens were so dangerous until I read this article
about the Christian-Facists in Texas and the likes of Proud Boys
who go from city to city to disrupt any venue that has a drag show.
https://truthout.org/articles/armed-community-groups-are-defending-
texas-drag-queens-from-christian-facists/
Wonder what would happen if a group of drag queens started
interrupting those Baptist houses of worship every Sunday. They'd
probably get shot, it being Texas.
I know which side all my relatives in Tx would be on. They'd be
huddled inside those Baptist churches clutching their weapons.
Not a sermon; just a Sunday morning grouch..
Have seen a number of articles like this one over the weekend:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/17/biden-buttigieg-criticism-ohio-train-derailment/
All in the what's wrong with these White House clowns vein?
But I seemed to remember the Ohio governor suggesting soon after the Feb. 3 derailment that the state had the situation under control (couldn't find a reference)--but in fact he did not request federal help until three days ago.
No doubt Ohio's I can do it myself stance had something to do with the Fed's "delayed" response.
And in background I can hear Faux gleefully beating the anti-administration drum, keeping its audience fully informed of the facts, of course.
A reminder to Republicans from My Feb 17 post:
Something to remember when the GOP are blaming Biden's DOT for
the Ohio train derailment:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217651383
Fortune Magazine, Sept 24, 2018: an Obama rule to require new
brakes to reduce the risk of train derailments, causing explosions and
spilling was reversed by trump.
According to trump spawn, Donald Jr., daddy trump will visit the
site of the Ohio derailment next Wednesday. He wants daddy to
beat Biden and Buttigieg to the punch. Says he, somebody has to
help and only daddy can do it.
Actually, trump probably just wants to see the results of his handywork, repealing the very rules that would have no doubt
prevented the crash.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-sets-date-visit-ohio-derailment-
village-before-biden-buttigieg-1782157
repealing the very thing that would have prevented
And Forest––let us not forget that when asked about Junior's Daddy running for President, little Don says, " he will run when things are so bad and only he can fix them"––or something in that vein. The sheer lunacy of that remark takes your breath away.
Maybe TFG can ask Mitch McConnell if he can borrow his wife for the photo op in Ohio since Elaine was Transportation Secretary when they rolled back the safety rule. Though holding off on the racist nicknames for a day might prove to much for the TFG.
What I don't understand about this recent drag controversy is that many seem to ignore history, perhaps thousands of years of men dressing up as women. (Others are probably more attuned to providing literary reference.)
I most recent decades there were numerous occurrances of famous
males dressing as women, all were acceptable at the time. Some that come to mind:
1. Milton Berle and Bob Hope
2. Flip Wilson as Geraldine
3. Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire
4. Tom Hanks (the fucking all-american home boy who made millions after his drag introduction to the public) and Peter Scolari in the 80's sitcom "Busom Buddies." (Could busom even be used today in the title of a modern TV show?)
5. Asshole Rudy Guiliani. (He was pretty ugly though [also a new unacceptable word to be uttered in public.])
6. Devine (aka Harris Milstead) who was a staple in early John Waters films.
I'm sure there are more. Please feel free to add to the list.
The good ole days of drag, replete with the ambiguity of presentation I remember:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiHoQ9x0G_U
With a brief nod to the local color of Puget Sound and its storied Black Ball ferry line...