May 2, 2022
Afternoon Update:
... The Pleasure of Your Company... Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is seeking voluntary testimony from three additional members of Congress who appeared to have some coordination with rioters and efforts to block President Biden's electoral victory both before and after the attack. The letter to Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) notes that former President Trump asked him to help keep him in office even after Jan. 6. A letter to Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) references his involvement in discussions to secure presidential pardons in connection with efforts to unwind the 2020 election. It also focuses on his involvement in planning for Jan. 6, both in meetings at the White House and with 'Stop the Steal' organizers, and his coordination with state legislators. And a letter to Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), Trump's former White House doctor, points to exchanges between members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group citing the need to protect the lawmaker."
Ohio Senate Race. Trump Can't Recall Whom He Endorsed. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Speaking at a rally two days ahead of voting in a heated Republican Senate primary in Ohio, Donald Trump appeared to forget the name of JD Vance, the candidate he has endorsed.... Trump said: 'We've endorsed -- JP, right? JD Mandel, and he's doing great. They're all doing good. They're all doing good. And let's see what happens.' Trump appeared to be confusing JD Vance, a former US marine, author of the bestseller Hillbilly Elegy and venture capitalist, with Josh Mandel, a rival who courted Trump for the endorsement."
Mike Allen of Axios: "Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper charges in a memoir out May 10 that former President Trump said when demonstrators were filling the streets around the White House following the death of George Floyd: 'Can't you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?'... That moment in the first week of June, 2020, 'was surreal, sitting in front of the Resolute desk, inside the Oval Office, with this idea weighing heavily in the air, and the president red faced and complaining loudly about the protests under way in Washington, D.C.,' Esper writes.... The book was vetted at the highest levels of the Pentagon. I'm told that as part of the clearance process, the book was reviewed in whole or in part by nearly three dozen 4-star generals, senior civilians, and some Cabinet members. Some of them had witnessed what Esper witnessed."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that the city of Boston had violated the First Amendment when it refused to let a private group raise a Christian flag in front of its City Hall. One of the three flagpoles in front of the building, which ordinarily flies the flag of Boston, is occasionally made available to groups seeking to celebrate their backgrounds or to promote causes like gay pride. In a 12-year period, the city approved 284 requests for the third flag. It rejected only one, from Camp Constitution, which says it seeks 'to enhance understanding of our Judeo-Christian moral heritage.' The group's application said it sought to raise a 'Christian flag' for one hour at an event that would include 'short speeches by some local clergy focusing on Boston's history.' The flag bore the Latin cross." CNN's report is here.
Pennsylvania. Jesus Jiménez of the New York Times: "A Philadelphia police officer who was fired after he fatally shot a 12-year-old boy in the back in March has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting, the authorities said Monday. A spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department confirmed that the former officer, Edsaul Mendoza, was arrested on Sunday. At a news conference on Monday, Larry Krasner, the district attorney of Philadelphia, said that Mr. Mendoza had been charged with first-degree murder and other charges. He was being held without bail, Mr. Krasner said. The boy, Thomas Siderio, was fatally shot on March 1 in the city's Girard Estates neighborhood...."
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The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with President Andrzej Duda of Poland, a key ally, on Monday, as the United States moves to significantly escalate its investment in Ukraine's war effort. The Senate this week will most likely take up President Biden's request for an additional $33 billion in military aid, putting the U.S. on pace to spend more than the annual average it spent on the war in Afghanistan. Ms. Pelosi, whose unannounced visit to Kyiv on Saturday made her the most senior American official to go there since the war began, vowed on Sunday to back Ukraine 'until victory is won.' In Washington, members of Congress from both parties have called for swift approval of Mr. Biden's request for more artillery, antitank weapons and other hardware for Ukraine.... ~~~
~~~ "Russia has struggled to make much progress in its offensive in the separatist east and sent its highest ranking uniformed officer, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, to the front line there late last week, U.S. and Ukrainian officials said.... An evacuation of civilians from Mariupol was underway, according to Ukrainian officials and the United Nations. Officials in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine reported fierce battles as Russian tank columns tried to push into areas that Moscow's forces have pounded with artillery fire." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here: "In the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia, a reception center has been set up for the expected arrival of about 100 evacuees from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. One early arrival on Monday told The Washington Post that the journey, which would usually take three hours, took days due to scores of Russian checkpoints. The agreement to allow civilians a United Nations-backed 'safe passage' to leave the plant comes after weeks of sporadic negotiations. But the chief of the Donetsk regional patrol police told The Post that Russia continued to shell the plant, even though there are still civilians on the factory grounds.... European Union energy ministers will meet in Brussels to discuss the energy crisis, with countries debating a ban on Russian oil. German officials suggested that they would not oppose an embargo and they could end their reliance on Russian crude by late summer." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here. The Guardian's daily summary of war developments is here.
Cara Anna & Inna Varenytsia of the AP: "People fleeing besieged Mariupol described weeks of bombardments and deprivations as they arrived Monday in Ukrainian-held territory, where relief workers awaited the first group of civilians freed from a steel plant that is last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the devastated port city. Video posted online Sunday by Ukrainian forces showed elderly women and mothers with small children climbing over a steep pile of rubble from the sprawling Azovstal steel plant and eventually boarding a bus. More than 100 civilians from the plant were expected to arrive in Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles (230 kilometers) northwest of Mariupol, on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The evacuation, if successful, would represent rare progress in easing the human cost of the almost 10-week war, which has caused particular suffering in Mariupol." ~~~
~~~ Update from CNN's live updates: "A Ukrainian commander inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol said his men experienced a turbulent night after the first batch of evacuees were able to leave the plant on Sunday. 'As soon as the evacuation of civilians was completed yesterday, the enemy began using all kinds of weapons. The night was restless,' said Denys Shleha, commander of the 12th Operational Brigade of the National Guard. 'The [Russian] naval artillery worked on Azovstal from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. In the morning it became quieter.' It is unclear whether another batch of civilians trapped inside the complex will be able to leave on Monday."
Boris & Natasha, Foiled Again. Olexsandr Fylyppov & Tim Lister of CNN: "Russian troops in the occupied city of Melitopol have stolen all the equipment from a farm equipment dealership -- and shipped it to Chechnya, according to a Ukrainian businessman in the area. But after a journey of more than 700 miles, the thieves were unable to use any of the equipment -- because it had been locked remotely. Over the past few weeks there's been a growing number of reports of Russian troops stealing farm equipment, grain and even building materials - beyond widespread looting of residences. But the removal of valuable agricultural equipment from a John Deere dealership in Melitopol speaks to an increasingly organized operation, one that even uses Russian military transport as part of the heist." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Haaretz, Reuters & DPA, published in Haaretz: "Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Sunday that the fact Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish does not negate his country's Nazi elements, claiming that Nazi Germany's leader Adolf Hitler also 'had Jewish blood.' According to an interview with Italian media, Lavrov said: 'Zelenskyy is a Jew? Hitler also had Jewish origins ... The greatest antisemites are precisely the Jews.'... The Russian foreign minister also accused the U.S. and Canada of training 'neo-Nazi subdivisions' that are now in the ranks of the Ukrainian army.... Speaking to Army Radio on Monday, Israeli Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel blasted Lavrov's claim that Hitler was Jewish, a theory widely discredited by historians, as 'delusions that are meant to justify the Russians' horrific acts in Ukraine.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: I have no idea if Trump's friend Sergey believes some of the insane stuff he has said since his country attacked Ukraine, but he has moved way past "diplomatic" inaccuracies into the realm of crazy. ~~~
~~~ Update. Tia Goldenberger of the AP: "Israel on Monday lashed out at Russia over 'unforgivable' comments by its foreign minister about Nazism and antisemitism -- including claims that Adolf Hitler was Jewish. Israel, which summoned the Russian ambassador in response, said the remarks blamed Jews for their own murder in the Holocaust. It was a steep decline in the ties between the two countries at a time when Israel has sought to stake out a neutral position between Russia and Ukraine and remain in Russia's good stead for its security needs in the Middle East.... In some of the harshest remarks since the start of the war in Ukraine, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Lavrov's statement 'unforgivable and scandalous and a horrible historical error.'... 'Using the Holocaust of the Jewish people as a means to score political points must be stopped immediately,' [Prime Minister Naftali Bennett] said.... Ukraine also condemned Lavrov's remarks."
Sheila Regan & Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Sunday paid tribute to one of his closest friends and mentors, the man who guided him in some of the darkest times in his life, taught him how to be a senator and advised him on the vice presidency. In a 30-minute speech that was at times humorous and other times emotional, Biden called former vice president Walter Mondale 'one of the great giants in American history -- and that's not hyperbole.... He was one of the finest men you've ever known,' Biden said. 'One of the most decent people I've ever dealt with, and one of the toughest, smartest men I've ever worked with.'... Mondale died at age 93 in April 2021, but his funeral was delayed because of the pandemic. He served as a state attorney general, senator and vice president, and later as ambassador to Japan under President Bill Clinton."
Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "The House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol will decide 'in the next week or two' whether to issue subpoenas trying to force Republican lawmakers to testify about Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election, [Adam Kinzinger,] one of two Republicans on the panel said on Sunday.... The Illinois congressman also told CBS's Face the Nation public hearings planned for June will aim to 'lay the whole story out in front of the American people ... because ultimately, they have to be the judge' of Trump's attempt to hold on to power." Kingzinger had a few choice words about Miss Margie, too. ~~~
~~~ Farnoush Amiri of the AP: "... a batch of startling evidence ... shows the deep involvement of some House Republicans in Trump's desperate attempt to stay in power. A review of the evidence finds new details about how, long before the attack on the Capitol unfolded, several GOP lawmakers were participating directly in Trump's campaign to reverse the results of a free and fair election. It's a connection that members of the House Jan. 6 committee are making explicit as they prepare to launch public hearings in June.... Among [their] ideas: naming fake slates of electors in seven swing states, declaring martial law and seizing voting machines.... The majority of the lawmakers have since denied their involvement in these efforts.
Sara Murray, et al., of CNN: "As Donald Trump badgered Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on an hour-long call to 'find' the votes necessary to flip the battleground state to Trump's column after the 2020 election, a Raffensperger aide fired off a plea for help. 'Need to end this call,' Jordan Fuchs, then the deputy secretary of state, said in a text message to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. 'I don't think this will be productive much longer.'... That call now stands at the center of an investigation into Trump, which is set to advance this week when Atlanta-area prosecutors convene a special grand jury to determine whether any of Trump's actions related to Georgia's election -- or those of his allies -- were criminal.... For [Fulton County DA Fani] Willis, her probe has been playing out against a backdrop of racist threats that began the moment she announced an investigation into Trump. For Monday's jury selection, officials are planning to close roads surrounding the courthouse, station snipers on the roof and have K-9 police dogs at the ready, according to people involved in the planning. Prosecutors on Willis' team have also been issued bulletproof vests, said a person familiar with the situation."
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge late Sunday rejected the Republican National Committee's bid to block its mass email marketing vendor from releasing records to the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack as it probes whether ... Donald Trump's campaign spread false claims of fraud after the 2020 election through fundraising appeals that also stoked violence. U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly of Washington delivered a thorough victory to the House select committee, tossing out the RNC's claims that its and the Trump campaign's information was protected on grounds including the First Amendment and ruling that under the Constitution's grant of legislative powers to Congress and the speech-or-debate clause, judges cannot interfere with how lawmakers obtain and use information." ~~~
~~~ Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A federal judge late Sunday resoundingly supported the Jan. 6 select committee's effort to obtain internal Republican National Committee data about efforts to fundraise off claims that the 2020 election was stolen. In a landmark ruling rejecting an RNC lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Tim Kelly said the select committee had demonstrated its need for the party's data on its fundraising emails between Nov. 3, 2020, and Jan. 6, 2021 -- when the RNC and Trump campaign sent supporters messages falsely suggesting the election was stolen. The committee contends those emails helped sow the seeds of the violence that erupted on Jan. 6.... Kelly issued an injunction to allow the RNC to appeal his ruling by May 5." Kelly is a Trump appointee.
Beyond the Beltway
Nebraska. Gropers, United. (Allegedly!) Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Sunday made a closing pitch for a Republican gubernatorial candidate who has been accused of sexually assaulting multiple women, stepping deeper into a primary that has divided Republicans in this staunchly conservative state. Trump appeared at a rally in Greenwood with Charles Herbster, a businessman who has advised the former president on agricultural policy and has donated to his campaigns. The visit came after a recent Nebraska Examiner report in which eight women, including a state senator speaking on the record, accused Herbster of touching them inappropriately. Last week, another one of the eight women alleged on the record that Herbster had groped her. He has denied the accusations.... The former president called Herbster a 'very good man' who had been 'maligned.' Trump said Herbster was 'innocent' of what he called 'despicable charges.'"
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Reader Comments (13)
Just wondering…
Does Fatty endorse anyone who is NOT a sexual predator, crook, con artist, or traitor?
……..
What I thought…
IF he actually remembers WHO he endorses. This weekend, at a Nebraska rally, Fatty was fomenting as usual about this and that when he suddenly started mentioning who he had endorsed saying "J.D. Mandel––-he's doing great!" Yup–-ole J.D. Vance, running in Ohio–– the venture capitalist and author of "Hillbilly Elegy" and has NO experience in politics. has come forth with weird conspiracy theories PLUS called Trump "America's Hitler" and an idiot."
So there's that.
And we honor Mondale and thank Nancy and Adam for their brave travel to Ukraine. Such contrast with those mentioned above.
@P.D. Pepe: Yup. The first two stories I linked last night were (1) President Biden warmly eulogizing Vice President Mondale, & (2) Donald Trump endorsing yet another (alleged) sexual abuser. That kind of summarizes all you need to know about the difference between the President & the president*.
I'm starting to think that what a lot of people are calling inflation is
actually spelled g-r-e-e-d.
Went shopping for my annual lawn fertilizer yesterday. Last year
it was about $35.00. There was a pile of it that anyone could tell
was left over from last year by the dirty, ripped bags. It was priced
$70.00.
When I questioned why that was, the reply was 'orders from above.'
They didn't seem to appreciate my questioning why Jesus was
involved in their pricing.
Needless to say, I'll be skipping fertilizing this year if prices are that
high everywhere.
Forrest,
Well said. Had the same experience with a set of wiper blades for my old car, but had no choice. Had to buy them at 50 bucks for the pair. And have noticed the fast food Dollar Menu Meals now cost twice as much as they did two years ago...
And in the midst of all that, tho' I haven't checked lately, I know that corporate profits skyrocketed in the last half of 2021, and when I read that I wasn't surprised.
Hard to pinpoint where I first went wrong, when my attitude toward the American business model soured, but suspect it was in high school, now six decades ago, when this son of a small town hardware dealer read "The Octopus" by Frank Norris, a novel about the stranglehold railroads (the Southern Pacific?) had on farmers, and about that same time when I first heard the phrase "all the traffic will bear" to explain the pricing of goods.
Does seem un-Christian, doesn't it?
@Forrest Morris: I wonder if Jesus is trying to tell you to get more rigorous with the composting.
@Marie: I'm partial to gravel. Don't have to feed it or mow it.
Suspicions confirmed?
The latest I could find in sock-it-to-em capitalism and on corporate profitability:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/corporate-profit-is-at-a-level-well-beyond-what-we-have-ever-seen-and-its-expected-to-keep-growing-11649802739
I wonder if Pelosi and the Dems were afraid to invite any Republicans along to Ukraine because of their close ties to Russia or all the GQPers that have called for the execution of Democrats, specifically Pelosi and Schiff. Being in a war zone is dangerous enough without having to watch their backs. Also Republicans can hang out will real Nazis any time they want and have to go half way around the world to do it.
@RAS: I thought about that, too, since oftentimes these delegations to other nations are bipartisan. I suspect the problem is that there is not a single serving House member who voted to impeach Trump for strong-arming Zelensky: "I want you to do us a favor, though." House Republicans are just too embarrassing for Pelosi to try to cover for on a diplomatic mission. She was not going to make Zelensky, who has enough on his plate right now, try to be polite to a bunch of jamokes who thought it was okay to conditions arms aid on his digging up dirt on Joe & Hunter Biden.
@Ken Winkes: I still think Forrest's anecdotal evidence is mighty good: year-old $35 bags of fertilizer marked up to $70. I suppose you could legitimately mark the price up $5 to cover carrying & storage charges, but a 100% markup -- I don't think so.
The story above from Axios re: Trump's suggestion–-nice word––that the protestors be shot in the legs was something I wrote about some tine ago and I said Trump probably got the idea from Israel ––-and Marie said, yeah, because Israeli soldiers would shoot the Palestinians, who were protesting, in the legs which then prevented them from moving with ease. It is still shocking to hear about it again.
Problems in Media Today
So this afternoon, in just 10 minutes, listening to the so-called liberal (or more to the point, not overtly or endemically accommodating of the current vogue on the right for treason, mendacity, and racism) outlet, NPR, I heard two stories that, were I a ratty rug wearing douchebag like Li’l Randy, my diseased, rodential weirdly jiggered jasey would have done a slip jig and beat it out of town, post haste.
So first (and this is not at all restricted to NPR; every non-Foxified news operation does the same), I heard that a vote to unionize another Amazon warehouse failed miserably. Yay, for Jeff Bezos!!
BUT, this was not just the lede, but the next five or six grafs in the story. Finally, after assuring listeners that unions are dead, we hear the real deal: this was a much smaller operation than the gigantic (8,000 plus employees) who voted for Amazon unionization recently on Staten Island. ALSO, if you decided to continue to listen, you finally heard, near the end of the piece, that Amazon had spent millions attacking the union and trying to strongarm employees to reject the union.
Nice.
Then, a few minutes later, we hear something about the power of “Trump populism”.
Fuck me. “Trump populism”???? This is a boilerplate description employed by someone who has either never read history or who doesn’t understand populism. Trump is a populist in the same way that the Democratic People’s Republic of (North) Korea is democratic.
If populism is a political strain that foregrounds “the people” over the wealthy, connected elite, and strives to help those people, how in the holy hell does Lord Lardbottom fit his round ass into that square political hole?
I can go on more about Trump as a “populist”, but the fact that major news operations obligingly (and indolently) carry on like this is motherfucking maddening.
This is in large part why the traitors have a leg up on all of us.
Their “news” organizations don’t give a shit about accuracy or journalistic ethics.
MSM outfits care too much about appearing non-partisan. But what non-partisan means today is anti-democratic, pro-treason, anti-truth.
Again: fuck me.