May 21, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Peter Baker & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "In his first meeting with President Yoon Suk-yeol, [President] Biden sought to put the relationship with South Korea, traditionally one of the United States' strongest allies in Asia, on a firmer foundation after the volatile years of ... Donald J. Trump, who frequently undercut ties with the South while wooing the North's mercurial dictator, Kim Jong-un. 'The alliance between the Republic of Korea and the United States has never been stronger, more vibrant or, I might add, more vital,' said Mr. Biden, using South Korea's formal name, at a news conference in Seoul with Mr. Yoon.... Unlike Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden hailed the continuing American troop presence in South Korea.... Mr. Biden said that cooperation between the United States and South Korea showed 'our readiness to take on all threats together.' He also said that his administration would collaborate to confront cyberattacks from North Korea. Mr. Biden's team is focused, through engaging with allies in the region, on returning to a North Korea strategy aimed at deterrence. It views the Trump administration's approach, in which Mr. Trump ignored the usual diplomatic process and directly embraced Mr. Kim, as an aberration in American foreign policy."
Marie: Hard to believe, but another Trumpist told a series of porkers about his aiding and abetting some folks "wearing red baseball caps" the day before the insurrection: ~~~
~~~ Eric Levai of the Daily Dot: The Daily Dot has obtained a radio interview from Jan. 6, 2021, from WBHF in Cartersville, Georgia, in which Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) says, 'about a dozen' people were present in his congressional office in Washington, D.C. the day before the Capitol riot. [Thursday], Loudermilk said in a statement that 'a constituent family' visited him the day before the Capitol riot. That is an updated version of a previous statement by Republicans on the Committee on House Administration -- which Loudermilk is a member of -- that originally stated 'there were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on' given by him or other Republicans in advance of the Capitol riot. But in the interview -- given as the riot was winding down -- Loudermilk made it clear that he met with people who were planning to protest on Jan. 6, and that he discussed how they wanted to be in the crowd that day to protest the results of the 2020 election.... In a video statement released [Friday], Loudermilk claims that the family was wearing red baseball caps, which is why he's being singled out by the committee, but also admits the family brought guests with them, which he had not previously mentioned." Red baseball caps, Barry? Really?
Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Russia is permanently banning nearly 1,000 Americans, including President Biden and Vice President Harris, from entering the country in response to the United State' support of Ukraine and the historic sanctions facing Moscow nearly three months into its invasion. On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry published the list of 963 Americans barred from entering Russia -- a largely symbolic move featuring a wide-ranging collection of Biden administration members, Republicans, tech executives, journalists, lawmakers who have died, regular U.S. citizens and even actor Morgan Freeman.... One prominent name missing from the list: ... Donald Trump. In fact, the only prominent Trump administration official included in the ban is former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is not on the list. Also not listed is Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who delayed a Senate vote on aid for Ukraine last week when he was the only senator to object."
New York. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "A state court formally approved New York's new congressional map late Friday, ratifying a slate of House districts drawn by a neutral expert that could pave the way for Democratic losses this fall and force some of the party's most prominent incumbents to face off in primary matches. The map, approved just before a midnight deadline set by Justice Patrick F. McAllister of State Supreme Court in Steuben County, effectively unwinds an attempted Democratic gerrymander, creates a raft of new swing seats across the state, and scrambles some carefully laid lines that have long determined centers of power in New York City. Jonathan R. Cervas, the court-appointed mapmaker, made relatively minor changes to a draft proposal released earlier this week whose sweeping changes briefly united both Republicans and Democrats in exasperation and turned Democrats against each other. In Manhattan, the final map would still merge the seats of Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, setting the two Democratic committee leaders, who have served alongside each other for 30 years, onto an increasingly inevitable collision course." Read on.
Australia. Michael Miller & Frances Vinall of the Washington Post: "Australia delivered a stinging defeat to the country's ruling conservative coalition on Saturday in what amounted to a personal rebuke of Prime Minister Scott Morrison's abrasive brand of leadership. The result paves the way for opposition leader Anthony Albanese to become the next prime minister. But it was unclear whether his center-left Labor Party would win an outright majority or be forced to negotiate with a handful of independent and Greens candidates elected on platforms of combating climate change." The AP's story is here. MB: Well, let's hope this bodes well for us.
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Justin McCurry of the Guardian: President "Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, have said they are considering expanding joint military exercises in response to the 'threat' posed by North Korea.... Speaking in Seoul on the second day of his visit to South Korea, Biden said he was willing to meet North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, but only if he was 'sincere and serious' about dismantling his nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Yoon, a conservative who took office just 11 days ago, said he and Biden also discussed the timing of a possible deployment in the South of US 'strategic assets' -- a term that typically refers to bombers, submarines and aircraft carriers -- to deter North Korea. The two measures, if implemented, would mark an escalation in US and South Korean efforts to put on a show of force against Pyongyang, and an admission that nuclear talks started by Donald Trump are unlikely to be revived."
Miriam Jordan & David Goodman of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Friday blocked the Biden administration from lifting a pandemic-related health order whose scheduled expiration on Monday would have thrown open the doors of the United States to asylum seekers at the border for the first time in more than two years. The ruling means further delays for thousands of people waiting for a chance to seek refuge in the United States, but it averts a potential crisis on the border by giving the administration more time to roll out its plan to handle the large numbers that are expected. Department of Homeland Security officials have said they were preparing for as many as 18,000 migrants a day, compared with 8,000 currently, if the order were lifted.... The sweeping public health measure, known as Title 42, was put into place in March 2020 to control the transmission of the coronavirus across the border. Under its authority, thousands of migrants arriving at land borders have been swiftly expelled, without an opportunity for those fleeing danger and persecution to request humanitarian protection in the United States."
Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "... inflated fees [for Americans who received Social Security benefits in error] were set in motion during the Trump administration, when attorneys in charge of a little-known anti-fraud program run by the inspector general's office levied unprecedented fines against ... more than 100 ... beneficiaries without due process, according to interviews, documents and sworn testimony before an administrative law judge. In doing so, they disregarded regulations and deviated from how the program had recovered money since its inception in 1995, failing to take into account someone's financial state, their age, their intentions and level of remorse, among other factors.... Unlike in the past, the chief counsel also directed staff attorneys to charge those affected as much as twice the money they had received in error, on top of the fines, interviews and court testimony show.... Fines as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars were imposed on poor, disabled and elderly people, many of whom had no hope of ever being able to pay." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
~~~ Marie: Pictured with the story is a grinning Aryan lady, the Trump appointee who ran the program. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. See especially his commentary in yesterday's thread.
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani ... sat on Friday for a lengthy interview with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to people familiar with the closed-door interview. Mr. Giuliani's interview, which was virtual, lasted for more than seven hours, the people said. The interview was transcribed, and he was under oath. He took a break in the middle of it to host his hourlong afternoon radio show.... His centrality to [Donald] Trump's various attempts to subvert the election made him a potentially pivotal witness for the panel, with knowledge of details about interactions with members of Congress and others involved in the plans.... Earlier this month, he abruptly pulled out of a scheduled interview with the committee after the panel refused to let him record the session. He later dropped that objection and agreed to testify after the panel threatened to use its 'enforcement options.'..." CNN's report is here.
Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pressed Arizona lawmakers after the 2020 election to set aside Joe Biden's popular-vote victory and choose 'a clean slate of Electors,' according to emails obtained by The Washington Post. The emails, sent by Ginni Thomas to a pair of lawmakers on Nov. 9, 2020, argued that legislators needed to intervene because the vote had been marred by fraud.... She told the lawmakers the responsibility to choose electors was 'yours and yours alone' and said they have 'power to fight back against fraud.'... In sending the emails, Thomas played a role in the extraordinary scheme to keep Trump in office by substituting the will of legislatures for the will of voters.... Thomas's name also appears on an email to the two representatives on Dec. 13, the day before members of the electoral college met.... 'Before you choose your state's Electors ... consider what will happen to the nation we all love if you don't stand up and lead,' the email said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' story is here. A Guardian story is here.
Josh Gerstein & Kelly Hooper of Politico: "The manager of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential bid, Robby Mook, testified Friday that the campaign did not instruct or authorize a lawyer to go to the FBI with claims of a potential data link between then-candidate Donald Trump and a Russian bank owned by allies of ... Vladimir Putin. That lawyer -- former Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussmann -- is on trial in federal court in Washington on a felony false-statement charge brought by special counsel John Durham, who claims Sussmann lied to the FBI when he said he was not acting on behalf of any client in relaying indications and internet data stream between a Trump-related server and one for Moscow-based Alfa Bank. Called as a witness by Sussmann's defense, Mook told jurors that he would have vigorously opposed taking the allegations to the FBI because the campaign had no faith in the bureau after the FBI's then-director James Comey publicly blasted Clinton as he closed an investigation into her use of a private email account when she served as secretary of State. Asked if he would have favored handing the server information to the FBI, Mook said: 'Absolutely not.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Mook's testimony seems to put a huge dollop of reasonable doubt into Durham's Big Case. However, prosecutors claim that Sussmann also represented the DNC, so it's still possible DNC officials authorized him to go to the FBI. We should find out when the defense presents its case. The jury heard from Mook now instead of during the defense's rebuttal only because the judge allowed Mook to testify out of regular order.
Bigots' & Loonies' Convention Going Well. Flora Garamvolgyi and Julian Borger of the Guardian: "A notorious Hungarian racist who has called Jews 'stinking excrement', referred to Roma as 'animals' and used racial epithets to describe Black people, was a featured speaker at a major gathering of US Republicans in Budapest. Zsolt Bayer took the stage at the second day of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Hungary, a convention that also featured speeches from Donald Trump, Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and Trump's former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows. The last featured speaker of the conference was Jack Posobiec, a far-right US blogger who has used antisemitic symbols and promoted the fabricated 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theory smearing prominent Democrats as pedophiles.... [Hungary's] nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, [was] the star speaker on the first day of CPAC Hungary...." MB: This report does make it seem as if Trump is becoming part of the fringe. CPAC was the venue, after all, in which Mitt Romney announced in 2012 that he was "severely conservative." You wouldn't catch Mitch pandering to this crowd now. We'll see what happens.
Annie Karni & Ruth Graham of the New York Times: "An ultraconservative archbishop in San Francisco said on Friday that Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California would not be permitted to receive communion in his archdiocese because of her support for abortion rights. Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, who has repeatedly confronted Ms. Pelosi over abortion, said in a letter on Friday that until Ms. Pelosi was willing to 'publicly repudiate' her position defending the 'legitimacy of abortion,' she would be banned from the sacrament, a central element of Catholic worship." MB: Which raises the question: Why would the Church put "an ultraconservative archbishop" in San Francisco, of all places?
Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "A chaotic day on Wall Street extended the longest period of market turmoil since 2001, with stocks on Friday briefly descending into bear market territory, a symbolic marker of investors' deep pessimism about the health of the global economy and the buying power of the American consumer. The S&P 500 has fallen for seven consecutive weeks, its worst stretch since the dot-com bubble burst more than two decades ago. After a 3 percent drop this week, the index is down 14 percent since early April. Friday afternoon, the S&P 500 crossed the bear market threshold of a 20 percent decline from its peak on Jan. 3. But with less than 30 minutes left before trading ended, after hours of churn and a drop of as much as 2.3 percent, the market rallied and ended a hair above where it had started the day."
Reuters, via the Guardian: "Boeing's new Starliner crew capsule has docked for the first time with the International Space Station, completing a major objective in a crucial test flight into orbit without astronauts aboard. The rendezvous of the gumdrop-shaped CST-100 Starliner with the orbital research outpost ... occurred on Friday nearly 26 hours after the capsule was launched from Cape Canaveral US Space Force Base in Florida. Starliner lifted off on Thursday atop an Atlas V rocket furnished by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA) and reached its intended preliminary orbit 31 minutes later despite the failure of two onboard thrusters."
** Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "In a sign of growing concern among federal health officials about the spread of new coronavirus infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now saying that all people 50 or older should get a second booster shot if at least four months have passed since their first booster dose. Previously, the agency said those 50 and older had the option of the additional shot, but only encouraged people over 65 or with underlying medical conditions to get it. The new guidance, issued in a statement on the C.D.C.'s website on Thursday, also extends to anyone 12 and older with certain immune deficiencies. The C.D.C. said it was changing its advice because of a steady rise in infections over the past month, coupled with 'a steep and substantial increase in hospitalizations for older Americans.'"
Beyond the Beltway
Louisiana. Senator Cassidy: Don't Count Black Women. Sarah Owermohle of Politico: "Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said Louisiana's maternal mortality rate -- one of the worst in the nation -- does not tell the whole story of maternal health in the state because of its large Black population and the uncommonly broad definition Louisiana uses. 'About a third of our population is African American; African Americans have a higher incidence of maternal mortality. So, if you correct our population for race, we;re not as much of an outlier as it'd otherwise appear,' Sen. Bill Cassidy said in an interview with Politico. 'Now, I say that not to minimize the issue but to focus the issue as to where it would be. For whatever reason, people of color have a higher incidence of maternal mortality.' The United States has the worst maternal mortality rate among developed nations." Cassidy is a medical doctor. MB: Could you find some way, Bill, to be a little more dismissive of Black women? They die too much for whatever reason.
Michigan. Amanda Terkel & Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: Jackie Eubanks, "Donald Trump's pick for a Michigan state Senate seat is promising to ban all birth control if she gets the chance. 'I guess we have to ask ourselves, would that ever come to a vote in the Michigan state legislature? And if it should, I would have to side with it should not be legal,' Republican Jacky Eubanks said in a recent interview.... I think it gives people the false sense of security that they can have consequence-free sex, and that's not true and that's not correct. Sex ought to be between one man and one woman in the confines of marriage.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ohio. Secessionist Challenges Kaptur. And He Could Win. Andrew Kaczynski & Em Steck of CNN: "Ohio Republican congressional candidate J.R. Majewski said in a livestream following the 2020 election that he thought every state won by ... Donald Trump should secede from the United States. Majewski, who works in the nuclear industry and is an Air Force veteran, is already under scrutiny over his past promotion of the false QAnon conspiracy theory and his attendance at the January 6, 2020 'Stop the Steal' rally which preceded the Capitol riot. Majewski emerged victorious in a crowded Republican primary earlier this month and will face off against long-serving Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur in the newly drawn congressional district this November. The race is considered to be competitive and is likely to be a toss up.... Before running for Congress, Majewski was best known as the Trump supporter who painted his front lawn into a 19,000-square-foot Trump 2020 sign." Worth clicking on to see what this jamoke looks like.
Pennsylvania. Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "Two decades before he was Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, Doug Mastriano warned in a master's thesis that the United States was vulnerable to a left-wing 'Hitlerian Putsch' that would begin with the dismantling of the U.S. military and end with the destruction of the country's democracy. The thesis, written in 2001 when Mastriano was a major at the Air Force's Air Command and Staff College, is highly unusual for its doomsaying and often fearful point of view, and its prediction that only the U.S. military could save the country from the depredations of the country's morally debauched civilian leaders.... The document displays a disgust for anyone who doesn't hold his view that homosexuality is a form of 'aberrant sexual conduct' and presages the worldview that has led Mastriano to blame rampant fraud for Donald Trump's 2020 defeat and to join a crowd headed toward the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Zach Montellaro & Holly Otterbein of Politico: "A little-watched federal court case could upend the neck-and-neck Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania between Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick. On Friday afternoon, a three-judge panel for the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals issued a judgment saying election officials should count several hundred mail ballots that were submitted without a date written on their mailing envelopes in a November 2021 county judgeship election, as long as they were otherwise received on time. It was not immediately clear how sweeping the reach of the circuit court's ruling will be because a formal opinion from the panel is still forthcoming. But it could have a serious impact on the Senate race. Oz and McCormick were separated by about 1,100 votes as of Friday afternoon, and the ruling could introduce into the pool an as-yet-unknown number of similarly-situated ballots that would not have initially been counted."
Way Beyond
Ukraine, etc.
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Severodonetsk, the easternmost city under Ukraine's control, is set to be the war's next major battlefield, with local officials reporting intense Russian shelling in recent days. Some 100 miles to Severodonetsk's west, a cultural center in the Kharkiv region was struck by a missile. Seven people were injured in the attack, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned as 'absolutely evil.'... Russia on Friday claimed full control of the Azovstal steel plant in the Black Sea port city of Mariupol, and said more than 1,900 Ukrainian fighters from the facility have surrendered -- though that figure drastically exceeds other estimates.... Finland's gas transmission network operator said early Saturday that Russia had stopped shipping natural gas. The move is not expected to disrupt the Nordic state's energy network, as Finland is able to make up the shortfall from elsewhere.... Britain also said it is working with partners to provide modern military equipment to Moldova, which is not a NATO member." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Saturday are here: "With Russia's campaign in Ukraine increasingly focused on the south and east, it is making 'incremental progress' in the Donbas region, according to the Pentagon spokesman.... President Biden on Saturday signed a new $40 billion package of military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine, the latest step to help the nation combat Russia.... The Group of 7 economic powers agreed to provide nearly $20 billion to support Ukraine's economy over the coming months to help keep the country's government running." The Times' summary of events Friday is here. ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. The Guardian's daily summary report is here.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. Christopher Clarey of the New York Times: "The men's and women's tennis tours responded to Wimbledon's ban on Russian and Belarusian players on Friday by stripping the event of ranking points this year, the most significant rebuke to date of efforts by global sports organizations to ostracize individual Russian athletes as punishment for their country;s invasion of Ukraine. It is a move without precedent in tennis, and without the points, Wimbledon, the oldest of the four Grand Slam tournaments, will technically be an exhibition event, bringing no ranking boost to those who excel on its pristine lawns this year.... Though Wimbledon, for now, is the only one of the four major tournaments to ban Russians and Belarusians, the power play by the tours could lead to countermeasures, including the possibility of Grand Slam events considering an alternative ranking system or aligning to make more decisions independently of the tours."
News Ledes
New York Times: "Robert J. Vlasic, who by combining a keen sense for business with an even keener sense of humor turned his family business into the nation's largest purveyor of pickles, gherkins, sauerkraut and a host of other briny condiments, died on May 8 at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. He was 96." ~~~
New York Times: "Roger Angell, the elegant and thoughtful baseball writer who was widely considered among the best America has produced, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 101.... For Mr. Angell, The New Yorker was, to some degree, the family shop. His mother, Katharine Sergeant Angell White, was among the magazine's first editors hired by Harold Ross in 1925. His stepfather, the essayist E.B. White, was a frequent contributor. Mr. Angell published his first piece in the magazine, a short story, in 1944 and went to work there in 1956."
New York Times: "Vangelis, the Greek film composer and synthesizer virtuoso whose soaring music for 'Chariots of Fire,' the 1981 movie about two British runners in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, won the Academy Award for best original score, died on Tuesday in Paris. He was 79." ~~~
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Reader Comments (4)
THIS OLD MAN:
From 2014: Roger Angell's "Life After Ninety"
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/02/17/old-man-3
Through the years I always enjoyed Angell's writings––especially his wonderful sense of humor––-and humanity––but mostly his moxie!
Marie,
Good question.
A possible answer: "Sense of humor?"
Banning dead US politicians, does Putin believe in zombies?
Practical vs. Dogmatic
So okay, my favorite used bookstore has a “free” box out front. Often it’s a pile of James Patterson novels or books on aeronautical engineering from 1966. But now and then you’re surprised. Yesterday I found two good ones. A book of Jewish Haiku (more from that later. Very funny stuff) and a book of Jewish jokes. For some reason, I find ethnic jokes (presented by those from that group) to be hysterically funny. No one knows you like your own. There are plenty of Irish drunk jokes, but those aren’t the ones we tend to find most funny.
ANYWAY…given the major news item recently, about a small minority of religious fanatics ramming their beliefs down all our throats, I came across this one:
A rabbi, a priest, and a minister are discussing when life begins.
The priest says:”In our religion, life begins at conception.”
The minister says: “We disagree. We believe that life begins when the fetus is viable away from the mother’s womb.” (Clearly not an evangelical preacher or a confederate Supreme Court justice.)
The rabbi responds: “You’re both wrong. In our religion, life begins when the kids graduate college, and the dog dies.”
Ba dum bum.
I’ve got a long way to go…