November 12, 2021
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
** Hannah Rabinowitz, et al., of CNN: "A federal grand jury has returned an indictment against former Trump adviser Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress, the Justice Departmen announced Friday. Attorney General Merrick Garland has been under tremendous political pressure to indict Bannon since the House referred the Trump ally to the Justice Department for contempt on October 21. Without an indictment, critics have said, there's doubt over how much power the House January 6 committee has to compel cooperation from former White House and Trump administration officials. Friday, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows failed to appear for a deposition, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN, setting up a potential showdown that could lead to the panel beginning a criminal referral process against him. And last week, former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who had been subpoenaed, appeared before the committee for more than an hour but declined to answer questions." The New York Times report by Katie Benner, a breaking story at 4:20 pm ET Friday, is here. ~~~
Since my first day in office, I have promised Justice Department employees that together we would show the American people by word and deed that the department adheres to the rule of law, follows the facts and the law and pursues equal justice under the law. Today's charges reflect the department's steadfast commitment to these principles. -- Attorney General Merrick Garland ~~~
~~~ The Justice Department's full statement is here.
Zachary Cohen & Annie Grayer of CNN: "Former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows did not appear for a deposition on Friday in front of the House select committee investigating January 6, sources familiar with the investigation tell CNN, setting up a potential showdown that could lead to the panel beginning a criminal referral process against him. Committee staffers had been prepared to go forward with the interview and waited in a room on Capitol Hill with a stenographer, but started to file out of the room nine minutes after the deadline passed."
** Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration repeatedly interfered with efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year to issue warnings and guidance about the evolving coronavirus pandemic, six current and former health officials told congressional investigators in recent interviews. One of those officials, former CDC senior health expert Nancy Messonnier, warned in a Feb. 25, 2020, news briefing that the virus's spread in the United States was inevitable -- a statement that prompted anger from .. Donald Trump and led to the agency's media appearances being curtailed, according to interview excerpts and other documents released Friday by the House select subcommittee on the pandemic. The new information, including statements from former White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx, confirms prior reporting and offers additional detail on how the pandemic response unfolded at the highest levels of government." This article is free to nonsubscribers.
New Jersey Gubernatorial Race. Dareh Gregorian & Jacob Fulton of NBC News: "Republican Jack Ciattarelli conceded in the closer-than-expected New Jersey governor's race on Friday, 10 days after his loss to the Democratic incumbent, Phil Murphy. 'I called Gov. Murphy earlier today and congratulated him on his re-election and wished him well in serving the people of New Jersey,' Ciattarelli told supporters at a news conference. He defended the delay in conceding, and said he decided to call it quits only after it became clear there was no path to victory.... Murphy said in a statement that he'd thanked Ciattarelli and his family 'for a spirited campaign and their commitment to public service' in their phone call."
Marie: I suppose I should have linked the following story, which Bobby Lee has found us, as a public service announcement. Hope you-all appreciate this handy how-to on de-vaccination: ~~~
~~~ Ben Collins of NBC News: "In a TikTok video that has garnered hundreds of thousands of views, Dr. Carrie Madej outlined the ingredients for a bath she said will 'detox the vaxx' for people who have given into Covid-19 vaccine mandates. The ingredients in the bath are mostly not harmful, although the supposed benefits attached to them are entirely fictional. Baking soda and epsom salts, she falsely claims, will provide a 'radiation detox' to remove radiation Madej falsely believes is activated by the vaccine. Bentonite clay will add a 'major pull of poison,' she says, based on a mistaken idea in anti-vaccine communities that toxins can be removed from the body with certain therapies. Then, she recommends adding in one cup of borax, a cleaning agent that's been banned as a food additive by the Food and Drug Administration, to 'take nanotechnologies out of you.' In reality, in addition to being potentially harmful as a skin and eye irritant, a borax 'detox bath' will not remove the effects of the Covid vaccine from your body. The video is one of several methods anti-vaccine influencers and communities on social media have in recent weeks suggested to their many followers who have capitulated and received the Covid shot." MB: Wouldn't ingesting bleach work better? Let's ask Donnie.
Mike Allen of Axios: Donald "Trump -- in a taped interview with Jonathan Karl of ABC News ... -- defended, quite extensively, supporters who threatened to 'hang' former Vice President Mike Pence.... This is a slice of a 90-minute interview -- conducted at Mar-a-Lago on March 18 -- for Karl's book, 'Betrayal,' out on Tuesday." Includes audio.
** Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times argues that there is a Constitutional Guarantee against extreme gerrymandering & other forms of usurping the one-person/one-vote ideal: Through gerrymandering & seizing control of the administration of elections, "the Republican Party has cleared itself a path to nullifying the votes of millions of Americans.... It is worth looking at one rarely discussed section of the Constitution. In Article IV, Section 4, the Constitution says that, 'The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.'... As James Madison explains it in Federalist No. 43, [this] means that '... the superintending [federal] government ought clearly to possess authority to defend the system against aristocratic or monarchial innovations.'... In his famous dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, Justice John Marshall Harlan cited the Guarantee Clause in his brief against Louisiana's Jim Crow segregation law.... 'Such a system [-- Jim Crow --] is inconsistent with the guarantee given by the Constitution to each State of a republican form of government, and may be stricken down by congressional action, or by the courts....' In this vision of the Guarantee Clause, the touchstone for 'a republican form of government' is political equality...." Emphasis added.
Bryce Covert, in a New York Times op-ed, explains how dearly the nation will pay for Joe Manchin's & Kyrsten Sinema's misguided ideas about "fiscal responsibility."
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Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden paid homage on Thursday to veterans, calling them the 'solid steel spine' of the United States and the 'soul of America' as he marked the first Veterans Day in two decades without troops engaged in an active war overseas. For Mr. Biden, who ended the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan this summer, the moment was clearly a personal one.... In short but somber remarks at Arlington National Cemetery, Mr. Biden thanked [Afghanistan veterans] for their service and pledged to ensure that those who returned from battle would receive what he called 'the world-class benefits that they've earned.' He promised to keep pushing to expand services for veterans." ~~~
Presidents Harding & Wilson attend the burial of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, 1921:
~~~ Here's a November 5 New York Times story by Maria Cramer on the history of the tomb.
Colleen Long of the AP: "President Joe Biden, whose son Beau was an Iraq war veteran, is using his first Veterans Day in office to announce an effort to better understand, identify and treat medical conditions suffered by troops deployed to toxic environments. The effort centers on lung problems suffered by troops who breathe in toxins and the potential connection between rare cancers and time spent overseas breathing poor air, according to the White House. Federal officials plan to start by examining lung and breathing problems but say they will expand the effort as science identifies potential new connections." (Also linked yesterday.)
Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Wednesday that the United States had joined a French-led international initiative to protect civilians against cyberattacks and discourage digital meddling in elections, three years after the Trump administration declined to sign onto the effort. The agreement, called the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace, is a nonbinding declaration and is largely symbolic. But so is Ms. Harris's presence in Paris. In the weeks since a pact between the United States, Australia and Britain brusquely canceled out a lucrative and strategically important submarine contract that the French had with the Australians, the Biden administration has thrown an entire olive tree at the feet of Emmanuel Macron, the French president.... Even if [the Vice President's] assignment in Paris appeared to lack concrete objectives, it seemed to include stressing that the U.S.-France relationship was now about looking forward, not back." (Also linked yesterday.)
Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The number of Haitian migrants attempting to cross into the United States fell by more than 90 percent in October after the Biden administration aggressively ramped up its use of deportation flights, according to preliminary U.S. Customs and Border Protection data obtained by The Washington Post. CBP figures show about 1,000 Haitians were taken into custody along the Mexico border last month, down from 17,638 in September, when huge crowds waded across the Rio Grande to a makeshift camp in Del Rio, Tex., creating a humanitarian and political crisis for the Biden administration. Biden officials responded to the Del Rio surge by using the Title 42 emergency public health order to 'expel' more than 8,500 migrants back to Haiti, sending as many as seven flights per day from Texas to the destitute Caribbean nation." (Also linked yesterday.)
Mitch McConnell has the brass to write a Washington Post op-ed telling President Biden & other Democrats to leave the Supreme Court alone. ~~~
~~~ But He Doesn't Have the Brass to Attend a Photo-op with Biden. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said on Thursday that he won't attend a White House signing ceremony for a bipartisan infrastructure deal that he voted for and has touted while in Kentucky this week. 'No, I've got other things I've got to do other than go to the signing ceremony,' McConnell said during an interview with WHAS, a Kentucky radio station, when asked if he would be attending.... His support for the bill has sparked criticism from former President Trump, who lashed out at the Senate GOP leader as recently as this week, questioning in a statement why 'Old Crow Mitch McConnell voted for a terrible Democrat Socialist Infrastructure Plan.'" MB: The other things he has to do are getting his toenails clipped & looking through his slim scrapbook of favorable news clippings.
The Party Against Everything. David Siders of Politico: "It's the party against critical race theory, 'woke-ism' and vaccine mandates. And now, it would seem, the Republican Party is against bridges and roads. The ferocity of the reaction against the 13 House members who voted with Democrats on the House-passed infrastructure bill appeared to signal a new stage in the party's evolution, marking the GOP as so reflexively anti-Biden that even spending on infrastructure -- an issue that Donald Trump once obsessed over as president -- is too radioactive to support.... In the days since the House vote, the 13 Republicans who voted with Democrats for spending on roads and bridges -- once among the driest, most bipartisan exercises on the Hill -- have been savaged by Trump and his allies, who called the defectors 'traitors' and suggested they could be stripped of their committee assignments."
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: For years, Washington, D.C. jail officials did nothing to correct appalling conditions at the D.C. jail -- until some January 6 white people a/k/a "political prisoners" landed there. "While the 40 or so Capitol rioters housed at the jail are only a fraction of the roughly 1,400 inmates being held there altogether, their complaints about the place -- which began almost immediately -- have received outsize publicity.... Six years ago..., the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs issued a report calling the conditions at the jail 'appalling.' The troubles have been so persistent that this year, a local task force released a plan to close the facility and replace it with a new one."
Zachary Cohen of CNN: "The House select committee investigating January 6 is demanding former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows appear for a deposition and turn over documents Friday or risk a criminal contempt referral, according to a letter Thursday from panel Chairman Bennie Thompson.... The move to set a final compliance date for Meadows comes after his attorney issued a statement Thursday saying he would not cooperate with the committee until courts ruled on ... Donald Trump's claim of executive privilege." ~~~
~~~ Jacqueline Alemany & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "The House Select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the White House are ramping up the pressure on former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to cooperate with the probe into the insurrection as the committee zeros in on ... Donald Trump's inner circle. White House Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su sent a letter to Meadows's lawyer, George Terwilliger III, Thursday morning notifying him that President Biden will not assert executive privilege or immunity over the documents and deposition requested by the House Select committee related to his client. Meadows was subpoenaed by the committee at the end of September. While he has been 'engaged' with investigators to negotiate the terms of his deposition and turning over of documents, the pace of these discussions has caused the committee to weigh more aggressive measures against him."
Biggest Turkey Catches a Break Till After Thanksgiving. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court issued a short-term injunction on Thursday blocking the National Archives from turning over to Congress documents from the Trump White House related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a day before the House committee investigating the attack was set to receive the first batch. The move, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, will preserve the status quo for now while lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump, Congress and the Biden administration submit briefs over the next two weeks and then hold arguments on Nov. 30." MB: I'd be happy if Trump landed in the D.C. jail. ~~~
~~~ Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The composition of the appeals court panel is likely to hearten House investigators. The order issued on Thursday indicates that, in addition to [Ketanji Brown] Jackson, [a Biden appointee,] the panel includes Judges Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, who were appointed by former President Barack Obama to the court. The court's order emphasized that the move to freeze the status quo for the time being should not be seen as reflecting what the court will end up deciding about Trump's attempt to block disclosure of files from his former White House."
the New York Times is live-updating COP26 developments Friday here. The Washington Post's live COP 26 updates for Friday are here.
The New York Times live-updated COP26 developments Thursday here. The Washington Post's live COP26 updates for Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Price Fixing. How Near-Monopolies Collude. Judd Legum of Popular Information: "... one factor driving inflation is seldom discussed: mega-corporations with massive market power. In competitive markets, profit margins should approach zero, as long as there are reasonable substitutes available for a given product. But ... as prices have increased in recent months, corporate profits have surged to record highs...[.] Corporations are not being forced to raise prices to stay afloat. They are choosing to raise prices to maintain large profit margins because they have enough market power to do so without losing customers.... While a variety of factors are at play, insufficiently competitive industries have stripped consumers of bargaining power." Thanks to RAS for the link.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Friday are here: "Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), facing one of the nation's worst surges of new coronavirus cases, issued an executive order Thursday allowing all adults in his state to receive a vaccine booster dose, going further than current federal guidelines. Colorado is one of several states in the north and Mountain West where infections are once again on the rise, sending officials scrambling to slow the spread before another winter wave overwhelms the health-care system. Polis's unusual and unilateral move puts Colorado at odds with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration current guidance, but it comes at a time of increasing debate over the eligibility requirements for additional immunizations."
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: "A coalition of 10 states filed a lawsuit Wednesday against President Biden and various public health agencies and officials to challenge a federal vaccine requirement for most workers in health-care settings -- the latest in an increasingly complex web of lawsuits pitting Republican-led states, sympathetic interest groups and employers against the federal government. The latest lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on behalf of the states of Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota and New Hampshire. All but one are represented by Republican attorneys general. The lawsuit challenges a rule issued on Nov. 4 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that mandates coronavirus vaccination for more than 17 million workers in about 76,000 facilities that receive reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid." (Also linked yesterday.)
Beyond the Beltway
Don't Let the Black People In. We don't want any more Black pastors coming in here or other Jesse Jackson, whoever was in here earlier this week, sitting with the victim's family trying to influence a jury in this case. -- Attorney Kevin Gough, who represents William "Roddie" Bryan Jr. on the Ahmaud Arbery murder case
Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson has not been seen at the courthouse since the start of the trial.... [During jury selection,] Gough had complained that older White men from the South without four-year college degrees, 'euphemistically known as "Bubba" or "Joe Six Pack,"' seemed to be underrepresented in the pool of potential jurors that had turned up. -- CNN Report
But this trial isn't about race! -- Marie ~~~
~~~ Georgia. Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "A defense attorney in the trial for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery took issue Thursday with the courtroom presence of the Rev. Al Sharpton, a nationally known civil rights leader, saying it was 'intimidating' to bring in 'high-profile members of the African American community.' 'We don't want any more Black pastors coming in here' to sit with Arbery's family, Kevin Gough said, saying it amounted to an attempt to influence the jury. Judge Timothy Walmsley dismissed Gough's complaint, saying that Sharpton did not cause a disruption and that he would not exclude respectful members of the public." MB: Yeah, Kevin, I'll bet the Reverend Al is really intimidating those 11 white jurors you picked.
New Jersey Gubernatorial Race. Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "Jack Ciattarelli, a Republican vying to unseat Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey, will concede defeat on Friday, acknowledging that there is no chance he can overcome the 74,000-vote gap now separating the candidates, according to two people close to his campaign. The Associated Press and other national news outlets had declared Mr. Murphy, a first-term Democrat, the winner a day after the Nov. 2 election when he held a roughly one percentage point advantage over Mr. Ciattarelli. Over the last nine days, Mr. Murphy's lead only grew as mail and provisional ballots were slowly tallied in liberal-leaning strongholds, prompting Democratic strategists to accuse Mr. Ciattarelli of stoking distrust in the election system as he used the inconclusive race results to raise campaign funds." Politico's story is here. MB: Still, he's a better man that you are, Gunga Don.
Way Beyond
Belarus, Poland, et al. Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko threatened Thursday to cut gas supplies to Europe as the European Union weighs new sanctions on Belarusian officials and entities, in a sharp escalation of tensions over a migration crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border. Lukashenko told Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko that if Europe imposes new sanctions, 'you must not forgive them anything.' Warning that Belarus would not tolerate the closure of its borders, he told 'the leadership of Poland, Lithuanians and other brainless figures to think before speaking.' European leaders blame Lukashenko for orchestrating the crisis in retaliation for European sanctions. They accuse him of opening Belarusian borders to migrants, mainly from the Middle East and North Africa, who are trying to reach Europe through Belarus." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The New York Times live-updated developments in the standoff Thursday. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Vanessa Gera & Monika Scislowska of the AP: "Thousands marched in Warsaw on Thursday to mark Poland's Independence Day, led by far-right groups calling for strong borders, while its troops blocked hundreds of new attempts by migrants to enter the country illegally from neighboring Belarus in a tense political standoff. Security forces patrolled the capital and other cities for the holiday rallies, which in recent years have seen some violent attacks by nationalist extremists. This year's march was overshadowed by events unfolding along Poland's border with Belarus, where thousands of riot police and troops are turning back migrants, many from the Middle East, who are trying to enter the European Union. Makeshift camps have sprung up in forests on the Belarusian side near a crossing at the Polish town of Kuznica, and with temperatures falling and access to the frontier restricted, there are fears of a humanitarian crisis." (Also linked yesterday.)
China. Christian Shepherd of the Washington Post: "A high-level meeting of the Chinese Communist Party on Thursday declared President Xi Jinping's undisputed rule of 'decisive significance' for its history, affirming Xi's iron grip as he prepares for a near-inevitable third term that would extend his rule until at least 2027." MB: Because history has proved that having a forever president is such a good idea. (Also linked yesterday.)
Myanmar. Richard Paddock of the New York Times: "Danny Fenster, an American journalist who has been imprisoned in Myanmar since May, was found guilty of three charges on Friday and given an 11-year prison term, the toughest possible sentence, his lawyer said. The ruling came during a closed hearing in the city of Yangon. The lawyer, U Than Zaw Aung, said the charges stemmed from news coverage in Myanmar Now, a hard-hitting outlet that Mr. Fenster has not worked for in more than a year.... The sentence seemed to be the latest signal that Myanmar's military, which seized power in February, would not bow to pressure, including sanctions, from the United States and other countries. The State Department has repeatedly called for Mr. Fenster's release. Courts in Myanmar have also begun giving maximum sentences to prominent opponents of military rule.... Mr. Fenster could eventually face even more time in prison. Two new charges of terrorism and sedition were filed against him this week, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years."
U.K. Hey, a Flower-festooned Arch Will Make the Place Look Great. Amy Cheng of the Washington Post: “WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been given permission to marry his partner inside the British top-security prison where he is being held as he fights an extradition request from the U.S. government. Assange's fiancee, Stella Moris, said in a tweet Thursday that British authorities granted the couple's request to wed in Belmarsh Prison, located in southeast London. The announcement came days after Moris threatened legal action against British Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and Belmarsh prison chief Jenny Louis, accusing them of ignoring repeated requests for a wedding ceremony inside the detention facility.Belmarsh Prison told reporters that the prison governor 'received, considered and processed [the couple's application] in the usual way' and that Assange's request was treated just like 'any other prisoner.'"
Yemen. Amy Cheng & Shobhan O'Grady of the Washington Post: "Yemeni employees of the U.S. government have been detained in Sanaa, which has been under the control of Iran-backed Houthi rebel forces since the group seized many of the war torn country's cities in 2014, according to the State Department. A spokesperson for the State Department said Thursday that a 'majority' of the U.S. Embassy staff that were detained have been released and that the Washington was engaging in 'unceasing' diplomatic efforts to free the employees still in custody. The State Department also said that Houthi forces had breached the compound that housed the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa and called on them to 'immediately vacate it and return all seized property.' The detained Yemeni employees are security personnel who had been guarding the exterior of the compound, according to a State Department official."
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Reader Comments (9)
Please, let's never use McConnell's name and the word "brass" in the same sentence ever again. Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai have so much more "brass" than that deceitful shit of a man McConnell; there is simply no comparison.
I guess I was reading too fast. I read that as 'balls'.
@Forrest Morris: As we say in the South, "Same difference." (Or, you could argue, I left off half the term "brass balls.")
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/11/12/strong-winds-climate-change-have-failed-move-opinions-many-americans/
The R's hunker down, descending deeper and deeper into fantasyland.
I'd guess this answers another question. Why in the world, notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence of their efficacy, are Covid vaccination rates stuck in the high 60's?
Could it be that the increasing climate change denial rate among those who call themselves R's vaccination rates are tracking the same people?
The same "stop the steal" adherents, maybe, who haven't noticed that someone long ago stole their brains?
@Ken Winkes: These white, "undereducated" lower-middle-class Trumbots are supposed to be upset because they're powerless & no one pays attention to them unless they go out and shoot somebody. So here's a random thought: maybe if they started making some sense, more people would listen to them.
Another random thought:
Could it be that at a feeling (not thinking) level the Deniers aren't worried about Covid or Climate precisely because they know the government they are doing all they can to destroy will be there to put their broken medical systems and devastated communities back together?
Sorry, but this old man just can't wrap his mind around this one. I know a few folks who are scared crapless of vaccinations, but I don't think any of them would go here. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/covid-vaccine-mandates-push-holdouts-get-shot-detox-rcna4859
When it comes to releasing the Trump White House documents why hasn't Biden just said the magic words that Trump used to justify anything he did "I have an Article II."
I did my own version of vaccine detox: Warm a round of brie, smear
it gently on bagel chips, wash down with a bottle of pinot-grigio.
Worked every time for all 3 shots.