October 21, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Rebecca Beitsch & Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "The House on Thursday voted to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee, a remarkable censure of the former Trump White House strategist that leaves the Department of Justice to weigh whether to pursue criminal charges. The vote fell almost entirely along party lines, 229-202. Nine Republicans voted with every Democrat in favor of the resolution: Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash.), John Katko (N.Y.), Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Nancy Mace (S.C.), Peter Meijer (Mich.) and Fred Upton (Mich.). All but two of those Republicans voted to impeach former President Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Republicans on Wednesday blocked action for the third time this year on legislation to bolster voting rights, leaving Democrats few options to advance the bill outside of changing the Senate filibuster rule and passing it over G.O.P. opposition. All 50 Democrats and independents supported bringing the Freedom to Vote Act to the floor, but all 50 Republicans voted against doing so, maintaining a stalemate over a proposal that Democrats say is needed to counter efforts in Republican-controlled states to impose new restrictions on voting in the aftermath of the 2020 elections.... ([Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer switched his vote to 'no' at the last moment, enabling him under Senate rules to move to reconsider the bill at some point in the future and putting the official tally at 49 to 51.)... 'These laws will make it harder for millions of Americans to participate in their government,' said ... Schumer. 'If there is anything worthy of the Senate's attention, if there's any issue that merits debate on this floor, it is protecting our democracy from the forces that are trying to unravel it from the inside out.'" ~~~
Joe Manchin has been given all summer to both draft and negotiate this bill. He is the one who holds the key as to whether or not this bill will actually pass. So the question for Joe Manchin [on Wednesday] is, are you going to show more loyalty to our democracy and our country? Or are you going to show more loyalty to an arcane Senate rule that is arbitrarily blocking your own legislation from being passed? -- Meagan Hatcher-Mays of the Indivisible network ~~~
~~~ Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The vote was meant, in part, to demonstrate the depth of the Republican opposition to one of the holdouts over changing the filibuster rule, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), who played a leading role in crafting a narrower alternative to the sprawling bill that Senate Republicans blocked in June.... The procedural vote Wednesday came after Manchin spent the past month wooing Republican colleagues -- including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) -- to support it.... Now Manchin is facing new pressure to sketch out a path around the continued Republican opposition...."
Ari Berman of Mother Jones: "In March 2021, before the Senate held its first hearing on the For the People Act, the Democrats' sweeping democracy reform bill, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told me that her party had a 'once-in-a-century moment to protect people's right to vote.' But that historic opportunity to pass voting rights legislation is rapidly disappearing. And many Democrats and voting rights advocates are growing increasingly frustrated with the Biden Administration's lack of urgency and prioritization concerning threats to democracy, as Republicans across the country aim to consolidate their power for at least a decade to come through brazen gerrymandering and voter suppression laws. On Wednesday, the Senate will vote on the Democrats' new voting rights bill, the Freedom to Vote Act (a retooled version of the For the People Act), but when Republicans unanimously oppose it that will mark the third time this year that the GOP has blocked a voting rights bill from reaching the Senate floor." MB: The Senate bill is now dead, as Carl Hulse reported in the story linked above. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
David Corn of Mother Jones: "In recent days, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has told associates that he is considering leaving the Democratic Party if President Joe Biden and Democrats on Capitol Hill do not agree to his demand to cut the size of the social infrastructure bill from $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion, according to people who have heard Manchin discuss this. Manchin has said that if this were to happen, he would declare himself an 'American Independent.' And he has devised a detailed exit strategy for his departure." MB: As much as we may think so, this is not good news. OR, it may just be Manchin seeking Even more attention. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ "UPDATE: After this article was published, reporters questioned Manchin about it. He replied, 'I can't control rumors, and it's bullshit, bullshit spelled with a B, U, L, L, capital B.' Mother Jones stands by the story." ~~~
~~~ Steve M. (and Jonathan Chait of New York) notice that Manchin may prove to be less of a problem than Kyrsten Sinema, whose deceit and evasions appear to be masking the fact that she has no intention to ever agreeing to any any aspect of the Build Back Better bill. "Her problem is that the rest of the party is willing to compromise, which means she needs to find new objections every time her Democratic colleagues make concessions so she can seem to be negotiatiing without actually trying to make a deal.... She want[s] to maintain the appearance of negotiating in good faith -- either that or her corporate owners want her to maintain that fiction. This is how Republicans pretend to negotiate.... So now this [GOP] style of attack is coming from within the Democratic Party. And Democrats never seem to see it coming." ~~~
~~~ As a result, you get stories like this:
~~~ Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Senior Democrats insist that they have not given up the push to grant Medicare broad powers to negotiate lower drug prices as part of a once-ambitious climate change and social safety net bill that is slowly shrinking in scope. They know that the loss of the provision, promoted by President Biden on the campaign trail and in the White House, could be the single most embarrassing defeat in the package, since it has been central to Democratic congressional campaigns for nearly three decades.... But with at least three House Democrats opposing the toughest version of the measure, and at least one Senate Democrat, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, against it, government negotiating power appears almost certain to be curtailed, if not jettisoned." ~~~
~~~ AND This. Jim Tankersley & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Biden administration and congressional Democrats are moving toward dropping their push to raise corporate and individual income tax rates to pay for their sprawling domestic policy bill, instead drafting a plan that includes new ways to tax the wealthy and multinational corporations, according to people familiar with the discussions. The conversations have been driven in large part by the concerns of a crucial centrist senator, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who has been resisting any increase in either rate for more than a month." ~~~
Felicia Sonmez & Donna Cassata of the Washington Post: "Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) stepped down Wednesday as the top Republican on the House appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, one day after a federal grand jury indicted him on charges of lying to federal investigators about his campaign contributions. Under House Republican rules, lawmakers who have been indicted must resign from their committee assignments while the charges are pending."
Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "The House of Representatives is expected to vote on Thursday to refer Steve Bannon to federal prosecutors for potential criminal charges relating to his defiance of Congress over the investigation into the 6 January Capitol insurrection." ~~~
~~~ Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Wednesday struggled to answer questions about his communications with ... Donald Trump during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, telling a House panel that he doesn't recall the number of times he spoke with Trump that day. The statement from Jordan, a staunch Trump ally and a potential witness in the House's investigation of the attack, came during a Rules Committee meeting on whether to hold former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon in contempt for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena. 'Of course I talked to the president,' Jordan told members of the Rules Committee on Wednesday, in response to questioning from the panel's chairman, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). 'I talked to him that day. I've been clear about that. I don't recall the number of times, but it's not about me. I know you want to make it about that.'... In the months since the attack, Jordan has given conflicting answers as to his communications with Trump that day.... Both Jordan and [Matt] Gaetz [R-Fla.] said they accept that Biden 'is the president' but declined to say that he won the 2020 election." MB: A subpoena of Jordan's phone records might help his memory. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "On Jan. 6, Landon Mitchell bragged to a Facebook friend that he 'breached the Capitol' and was 'one of the very first in' when a pro-Trump mob stormed the halls of Congress. He appeared in video on the floor of the U.S. Senate, went through a senator's desk and took to the dais, where he posed next to the so-called QAnon Shaman. Later, when a friend feared that the FBI might arrest Mitchell, he wrote that he was 'invincible' and 'not too worried' because he 'was masked up the whole time' he was inside the Capitol. The FBI arrested Mitchell on Wednesday."
Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "An Army reservist charged in the Justice Department's sweeping investigation of the U.S. Capitol riot was demoted and discharged earlier this year, becoming the first known service member to be forced out of the military after officials learned of an alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to personnel records.... Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, 31, was working part-time as an Army Reserve sergeant in human resources. In May, he was demoted to private -- the enlisted force's lowest rank -- and given an other-than-honorable discharge the next month, terminating a 12-year military career, said his attorney Jonathan Crisp. Federal authorities have accused Hale-Cusanelli of illegally entering the Capitol, using hand and arm signals to advance rioters forward and harassing police officers.... Several colleagues told investigators about his wearing of a 'Hitler mustache' while at work, court papers show." MB: Hale-Cusanelli also reportedly made a particularly disgusting anti-Semitic remark, which I won't republish here but which Horton reports. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
William Rashbaum & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's family business, which is already under indictment in Manhattan, is facing a criminal investigation by another prosecutor's office that has begun to examine financial dealings at a golf course the company owns, according to people with knowledge of the matter. In recent months, the district attorney's office in suburban Westchester County, N.Y., has subpoenaed records from the course, Trump National Golf Club Westchester, and the town of Ossining, which sets property taxes on the course, a sprawling private club that is perched on a hill north of New York City.... The district attorney, Mimi E. Rocah, appears to be focused at least in part on whether Mr. Trump's company, the Trump Organization, misled local officials about the property's value to reduce its taxes, one of the people said. Ms. Rocah, a Democrat, has not accused anyone at the company of wrongdoing, and it is unclear whether the investigation is examining Mr. Trump's conduct or if it would ultimately lead to any charges." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Somehow the following graf got "disappeared" sometime between last night & today. See also Akhilleus's commentary in today's thread on the same subject:
~~~ Marie: Here's the fun part of the NYT report: "In seeking to cut the tax bill -- sometimes by as much as 90 percent -- the club has argued that the property was worth much less than Ossining officials had determined.... In one year, the Trump club put the property;s value at about $1.4 million, while the town assessed it at roughly $15 million.... Mr. Trump ... declared in federal disclosure forms when he was president that the club was worth more than $50 million." Rachel Maddow reported that in the very same year -- 2016 -- Trump declared the property worth the $1.4 million for tax purposes and $50 million on the financial disclosure forms. According to Zillow, the average price of a single-family home is about $725,000 (which admittedly would have been somewhat less in 2016). Still, it is risible that a property that covers 140 acres, has a humungous clubhouse with upscale amenities and 16 townhouses, each larger than 3,000 sq. ft., is worth only about twice the price of one average house.
Pete Williams of NBC News: "A Maryland man accused of trying to sell sensitive secrets to a foreign country about the Navy's nuclear-powered submarines will remain in jail while waiting for a trial that could result in life sentences for him and his wife if they're convicted. The couple, Jonathan and Diana Toebbe (pronounced 'Toby'), of Annapolis, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in separate hearings in federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia." ~~~
~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Prosecutors seeking to keep a Maryland teacher [-- Diana Toebbe --] locked up on charges of looking to sell nuclear submarine secrets to a foreign government said on Wednesday that she and her husband [Jonathan], a nuclear engineer, appeared to have assembled cash, rubber gloves, a cryptocurrency wallet and their children's passports to be ready to flee the country if their activities were exposed..... Lawyers for ... Diana Toebbe sought her release -- prompting a three-hour-long court session in which an FBI agent laid out new details about law enforcement's efforts to track down the couple's identities and the lengths to which the defendants went to conceal their activities."
Sarah Kaplan of the Washington Post: "Climate change is set to become the 'defining narrative of human health,' a top medical journal warned Wednesday -- triggering food shortages, deadly disasters and disease outbreaks that would dwarf the toll of the coronavirus. But aggressive efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions from human activities could avert millions of unnecessary deaths, according to the analysis from more than 100 doctors and health experts. In its annual 'Countdown on health and climate change,' the Lancet provides a sobering assessment of the dangers posed by a warming planet. More than a dozen measures of humanity's exposure to health-threatening weather extremes have climbed since last year's report."
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. David Gelles & Emily Steel of the New York Times: "To avoid responsibility for what many experts believe is a public health crisis, leading chemical companies like Chemours, DuPont and 3M have deployed a potent mix of tactics. They have used public charm offensives to persuade regulators and lawmakers to back off. They have engineered complex corporate transactions to shield themselves from legal liability. And they have rolled out a conveyor belt of scantly tested substitute chemicals that sometimes turn out to be just as dangerous as their predecessors.... PFAS substances are known as 'forever chemicals' because they do not naturally break down and can accumulate in the environment and in the blood and organs of people and animals. When the compounds get into water supplies, the effects can be devastating.... Research by chemical companies and academics has shown that exposure to PFAS has been linked to cancer, liver damage, birth defects and other health problems.... This week, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it was going to start requiring companies to test and publicly report the amount of PFAS in the products they make."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
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.
Carolyn Johnson, et al., of the Washington Post: "Millions more people in the United States will soon be able to receive an extra dose of any coronavirus vaccine, regardless of their initial vaccination -- a flexibility that comes along with the authorization Wednesday of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson booster shots by federal regulators. The decision by the Food and Drug Administration paves the way for boosters of all three authorized shots to be available to a wide swath of the U.S. population and promises to ease the logistics of the booster campaign for pharmacies and clinics offering vaccines." The AP's report is here.
Lena Sun, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House on Wednesday announced plans to distribute vaccines to a huge group that has been ineligible so far to receive the coronavirus shots -- 28 million children aged 5 to 11. The operation is slated to begin as soon as federal health officials sign off on a reduced dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which the Biden administration anticipates as soon as the first week of November[.] White House officials said they have already acquired enough doses to vaccinate the entire group and are planning to make the specially packaged children's vaccine available at more than 25,000 pediatricians' and doctors' offices, hospitals, pharmacies, community health centers, and school- and community-based clinics. They also plan a campaign to educate parents about the vaccines and answer their questions." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post: "Federal regulators are seriously considering authorizing coronavirus vaccine boosters for everyone 40 years old and older, a move that could sharply increase the number of people eligible for the shots, according to two federal officials familiar with the plans. Action would not occur until next month, after the Food and Drug Administration deals with two big items on its agenda, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I got a booster this morning, and it was even more painless than the shots I got late last winter. If I think about it, I can feel a teensy bit of soreness when I move my arm in a certain way, but as I sit here typing, I can't feel it at all. Otherwise, I feel no symptoms at all.
Beyond the Beltway
Jessica Garrison, et al., of BuzzFeed News: "Over the past dozen years, at least 28 people who currently hold elected office joined or financially supported the Oath Keepers, the extremist group that figured prominently in the violent Jan. 6 storming of the US Capitol, a BuzzFeed News analysis of data from the organization shows. In the months since the Capitol insurrection, as two dozen people linked to the Oath Keepers have been charged with crimes, including conspiracy, for their roles, several of those elected officials have continued to voice support for the organization. And at least two officials -- David Eastman and Mark Finchem of the Alaska and Arizona Houses of Representatives, respectively -- were in Washington, DC, on Jan. 6 to protest the certification of Biden's Electoral College victory. Neither of the men has been charged." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Florida. Michael Levenson & Isabella Paz of the New York Times: "Human remains were found in a thickly wooded Florida park on Wednesday, near a notebook and other items belonging to a man who has been declared a 'person of interest' in the murder of his fiancée, the F.B.I. said. The discovery came seven weeks after the man, Brian Laundrie, returned home from a monthslong van trip without the fiancée, Gabrielle Petito, and about four weeks after she was found dead in a national forest in Wyoming. >Michael F. McPherson, the special agent in charge of the F.B.I.'s Tampa field office, said that the authorities had found a notebook and a backpack that belonged to Mr. Laundrie, near what appeared to be human remains in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, a heavily wooded, 160-acre park in North Port, Fla...."
Florida. Derek Hawkins & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: Nikolas Cruz, "the former student who killed 17 people at a South Florida high school in 2018, pleaded guilty Wednesday to 17 counts each of murder and attempted murder, paving the way for a jury to decide whether to sentence him to death or life without parole."
Maryland. Alyssa Lukpat of the New York Times: "The owner of the three zebras that escaped from a farm in suburban Maryland in August, delighting residents and stealthily evading efforts to corral them, was charged with three counts of animal cruelty on Tuesday, the authorities said. The charges against the owner, Jerry Lee Holly, came a month after one of the wayward zebras was found dead in an illegal snare trap, and a day after another zebra that hadn't escaped was found dead inside Mr. Holly's enclosure."
Oklahoma. Bryan Pietsch of the Washington Post: "An Oklahoma law that educators say restricts discussions of race and sex in classrooms is unconstitutional, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The civil rights organization and groups of students and educators say in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma against the state's governor, attorney general and top education officials that the law violates students' and educators' First and 14th Amendment rights. They are seeking a preliminary injunction that would block the law from being enforced." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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Reader Comments (8)
Republicans under the “leadership” of Moscow Mitch vote against the right of Americans to vote.
What a shock!
What it means is they’re against the right of Americans to vote for anyone other than traitors.
Again, shock!
This is the plan. Destroy democracy and remove all safeguards against election tampering (in so many ways) in the run up to the next elections in 2022 and 2024. This is going to be very bad, especially when you consider that the court of last resort for all of this is stocked with smirking traitors as well.
The Fat Fascist said it best: “If we let everyone vote, Republicans will never win another election!”
Exactly. So the plan? Make sure only certain people get to vote, and/or if some of those undesirables DO get to vote, after waiting in lines for eight or nine hours (with no water), make sure those votes don’t count (gerrymandering, natch). The traitors have a vault full of dirty tricks and a Supreme Court panting to allow them to use unconstitutional and previously illegal tricks as well.
As bad as Fatty is (and he’s the worst kind of bad), McConnell should rightfully go down in history as one of the worst villains and traitors to America.
Knee slapper of the day (so far)…
In a story about a new investigation into Trump’s zillion or so illegal tax evasion schemes, this one about how he has a golf property in New York valued at one tenth of its worth, and continues to sue to jimmy it down further, we find this risible, laughable, ridiculous, hilarious, hysterical, farcical, irretrievably pathetic response from some butt sniffing lackey:
“A Trump organization spokeswoman, Kimberly Benza, responded over email: ‘The suggestion that anything was inappropriate is completely false and incredibly irresponsible.’”
Sorry, Kimberly (how much will you bet that her only qualifications are cute, young, blond, model-like, and an ability and willingness to lie when woken up at 3 in the morning?), “inappropriate, false and irresponsible” are all essential to the operation of the company you work for. Ixnay on the rojectionspay.
Still, pretty funny, in’it?
Really discouraged today. The combo of evil, vicious people on the other side and incompetent Dems, turncoat Dems and stupid, slow Dem “leaders” is almost too much to bear. I don’t see a way out through the thicket of horrible. How to punish traitors? Ignore them and eventually they die in a nursing home seems to be the answer.
@Ak: It's not just the American people that Moscow Mitch doesn't want to vote. He also loves suppressing the vote of Democratic senators. He just has to call into the cloak room and whisper filibuster and no Democratic votes count towards anything.
I wish the media would stop referring to Sinema and Manchin as centrist or moderate, they are fringe Democrats. Their ideas and actions do not align with most Democratic voters.
I know Manchin could help Mitch with his Democratic suppression if he became an independent, but what's the end game? He can't go full Republican because he voted to impeach the orange loser. And screwing over West Virginians doesn't sound like a recipe for winning another term. He and Sinema are in the same boat. Can't go full insurrection party, but hate working for the People.
AK: this force Majeure from the "other side" reminds me of something Geoffrey O'Brien said about the character of Freddie Quell played by Joaquin Phoenix in the film, "The Master":
"He looks as if he'd been broken apart and put back together wrong."
The party of "we are determined to take hold of this country at any cost, even if it means we go the way of Victor Orban or any of the other dictators––we are that desperate and despicable. WE don't give a shit about our reputation; winning is our prime goal at any price."
Broken apart and put back together wrong––what is happening at this time in our history will determine whether we can win this battle or succumb to its failures and its mendacity.
Some political pundits claim the Democrats lack teeth, lack backbone to fight this onslaught. I'm hoping they will be surprised.
The “Manchin Joins the Traitors” story sounds legit. At the very least it seems like a weather balloon he himself floated to judge the reaction. Sen. Eye Poker immediately jumped for joy and said how much Manchin would be welcome in the Party of Traitors, blah, blah. But Manchin has to know that, as a Republican, he’d be looked upon as some Johnny come lately carpetbagger. He wouldn’t have nearly the amount of visibility and (relative) importance (ie, media attention) he gets by being a prick in the Democratic Party. As a traitor, he’d just be one of the crowd all shouting “No!!”
He doesn’t appear to be ready for some cushy no-show sinecure in some fossil fuel stink tank, but he likely doesn’t want to give up his new found role as a little king so he could be just another running dog boot licking Trump Party lackey (although that’s pretty much what he is already).
(Funnily, Otto Correct keeps trying to change Manchin to Manchineel. Never heard of a manchineel, but it’s probably some other type of slimy bottom dweller. Otto’s been peeking at pieces on news sites.)
PD,
I certainly hope so, but I have to point out, yet again, that the guy running the Justice Department (as an example of Democratic backbone) sounds to many liberals like someone who’d bring a knife to a gunfight. Not exactly. He’d bring a butter knife to gunfight. A plastic one at that.
Yeah, he would have been far better than Gorsuch on the court, but I’m doubtful that he’d have been a Thurgood Marshall or a William O. Douglas. More like Creampuff Caspar Milquetoast.
RAS,
Quite right. And those two are barely fringe.