May 6, 2022

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. told a crowd of judges and lawyers Thursday that the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade is 'absolutely appalling,' but will not affect the final outcome of the court's historic deliberations on the abortion issue. 'Aleak of this sort -- let's assume that's what it is -- is absolutely appalling, and if the people behind it, or person behind it, thinks that it's going to have an effect on our decision process, that's absolutely foolish,' Roberts told the 11th Circuit Judicial Conference meeting here. 'We will go about doing our work as we would in any event, regardless of the leak,' he said." CNN's report is here. MB: Apparently not "absolutely appalling": the content of the opinion itself, which takes away a Constitutional right from millions of American women and their families.

Watch How She Votes, Not What She Says. Felicia Sonmez & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), one of two prominent Republican senators who support abortion rights, said Thursday that she does not support a Democratic measure that would create statutory right to the procedure, arguing that the legislation does not provide sufficient protection to antiabortion health providers. The statement from Collins comes as the Senate is preparing to vote next week on the legislation, known as the Women's Health Protection Act, and as the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, which established a woman's right to an abortion.... The measure appears headed for failure with or without Collins's support, since 60 senators would need to vote 'yes' to overcome a filibuster.... Public polling shows a majority of Americans support the right to abortion in most instances." MB: Could we please stop describing Collins as a "a senator who who supports abortion rights"? No, she doesn't. Thanks, Maine!

** Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: Women were largely missing from the Roe v. Wade opinion; it was was all about doctors' rights vs. the state's rights: "The decision vindicates the right of the physician to administer medical treatment according to his professional judgment up to the points where important state interests provide compelling justifications for intervention," Justice Harry Blackmun wrote. Greenhouse explains, "The court had yet to build a jurisprudence of sex equality; that came later, in the series of cases that the young Ruth Bader Ginsburg would argue during the remainder of the 1970s." But Alito has no excuse: "Granted that the young Samuel Alito, as a recent Princeton graduate, joined an organization of conservatives who sought to limit the inclusion of women at his alma mater. Granted that he has made clear his desire to overturn Roe since even before his days on the court. It is still astonishing that in 2022 he would use his power to erase the right to abortion without in any way meaningfully acknowledging the impact both on women and on the constitutional understanding of sex equality as it has evolved in the past half-century."

John Burn-Murdoch in the Financial Times: "If the US Supreme Court goes ahead with the repeal of Roe vs Wade later this year, the fallout will be far-reaching. Abortion would almost certainly become illegal or heavily restricted in 22 states and would be under severe threat in at least four others. As such, 27mn women of childbearing age would have their reproductive rights rolled back by 50 years. By this summer, most of them may find themselves living under broadly the same abortion rules as those in Sierra Leone, Congo-Brazzaville and just 22 other countries worldwide.... The negative socio-economic impacts of unwanted births are well-established.... Women's health is also at stake.... Maternal mortality must rank as one of the US's most shameful statistics.... As is almost invariably the case, when something bad happens in the US, it happens disproportionately to black people and those on low incomes.... The US may claim to be a developed nation, but when it comes to women's health, this could not be further from the truth." ~~~

     ~~~ Via Scott Lemieux in LG&$, who writes, "One of the many lies in the Alito draft opinion is the common Republican canard that proposed Republican bans will make America's policies look more like Europe. Unless this means 'Ireland 25 years ago,' this is a ridiculous claim. The US is about to become an extreme outlier among western liberal democracies."

     ~~~ Marie: Thanks to a friend for the image. Obviously, it's supposed to be a joke. But I suspect the Sam would find nothing wrong with the "logic."

Pam Belluck & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the legal and culture wars over abortion ... would increasingly shift to a new front: the use of abortion pills. Medication abortion -- a two-drug combination that can be taken at home or in any location and is authorized for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy -- has become more and more prevalent and now accounts for more than half of recent abortions in the United States. If the federal guarantee of abortion rights disappears, medication abortion would likely become an even more sought-after method for terminating a pregnancy -- and the focus of battles between states that ban abortion and those that continue to allow it.... Medication abortion is less expensive and less invasive than surgical abortions.... Many conservative states have already begun passing laws to restrict medication abortion, including banning it earlier than 10 weeks' gestation and requiring patients to visit providers in person despite F.D.A. rules." An AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Louisiana. Rick Rojas of the New York Times: "The State Legislature in Louisiana advanced a proposal this week that would classify abortion as homicide, going further than anti-abortion measures in other states by making it possible for prosecutors to bring criminal cases against women who end a pregnancy. The measure was approved, 7 to 2, by a committee in the State House of Representatives, energized by a leaked draft of an opinion indicating that a majority of Supreme Court justices would vote in favor of overturning the constitutional right to abortion.... The bill defines personhood as beginning from the moment of fertilization." MB: The people who voted this bill out of committee hate of girls and young women. They hate the careless young women who blithely have sex without protection; they hate the prudent women whose birth control failed; they hate the girls who were victims of rape. In a moral universe, the bill's sponsors are on a par with the rapists. And Sam & the Dancing Alitos.

Marie: Many observers of Sam's opinion have concentrated on other right-to-privacy decisions that the confederate Supremes might overturn: Griswold, Loving, Lawrence, Obergefell, etc. But wait! There's more: ~~~

~~~ Texas. The River to Hell Runs Through It. So Greggers Opens the Floodgates. David Goodman of the New York Times: "With the Supreme Court signaling a willingness to reverse decades-old precedents like the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said on Thursday that he would seek to overturn a 1982 court decision that obligated public schools to educate all children, including undocumented immigrants. Mr. Abbott's comments opened a new front in his campaign to use his powers as governor to harden Texas against unauthorized migration. And they demonstrated just how expansively some conservatives are thinking when it comes to the kinds of changes to American life that the court's emboldened conservative majority may be willing to allow."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukrainian soldiers went on the offensive against Russian forces in northeast Ukraine on Friday, seeking to drive them back from outside two key cities, as the grueling battle for control over territory in the east increasingly turns into a brutal war of attrition, with neither side able to score a major breakthrough in the fighting.... In the ruined city of Mariupol, where fighting continued to rage, an evacuation convoy was dispatched again on Friday to the Azovstal steel plant, where about 200 civilians are still believed to be trapped underground, along with the last Ukrainian soldiers defending the city.... The top U.N. rights official told a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that scores of cases had been documented in which Russian forces targeted civilian Ukrainian men. Jill Biden, the first lady, was en route late Thursday to Eastern Europe, where she will visit with refugees displaced by the war and tour the Slovakian border with Ukraine, according to her office." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here: "Heavy fighting continues at the besieged Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol, where Russian forces are intensifying their attack. The United Nations Secretary General António Guterres confirmed nearly 500 civilians had been evacuated from the plant and its surroundings in recent days as a U.N. aid convoy is due to arrive in the shattered port city Friday. In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian shelling of the steel plant was not stopping.... Ukraine is 'putting up a very stiff resistance,' though Russian forces are making incremental progress in Donbas, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday."

Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States provided intelligence that helped Ukrainian forces locate and strike the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet last month, another sign that the administration is easing its self-imposed limitations on how far it will go in helping Ukraine fight Russia, U.S. officials said. The targeting help, which contributed to the eventual sinking of the flagship, the Moskva, is part of a continuing classified effort by the Biden administration to provide real-time battlefield intelligence to Ukraine. That intelligence also includes sharing anticipated Russian troop movements, gleaned from a recent American assessment of Moscow's battle plan for the fighting in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the officials said." The NBC News story is here.

Andrew Roth of the Guardian: "Vladimir Putin has apologised to the Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, for his foreign minister's claims that Adolf Hitler had Jewish blood, Israel has said. Bennett said he had accepted the apology from Putin, a rare concession from the Kremlin leader and a strong rebuke of his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. Putin may have feared that Israel could change its neutral stance on Russia's invasion and join in sanctions and provisions of lethal aid to Ukraine. Lavrov claimed this week in an interview that Hitler 'had Jewish blood' and that 'the most rabid antisemites tend to be Jews'. The incendiary remarks sparked outrage in Israel."

Hiding a Super-Yacht Is Hard to Do. Annabelle Timsit & Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "The $300 million superyacht owned by Russian oligarch Suleyman Kerimov was seized Thursday by Fijian authorities on behalf of the United States as part of the ongoing efforts to sanction and punish Russia's elite in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The Justice Department announced that Fiji executed a seizure warrant on the Amadea, a 348-foot-long luxury vessel that authorities say was 'subject to forfeiture based on probable cause of violations of U.S. law.' Kerimov, one of Russia's wealthiest individuals, who built his fortune in gold mining and is a political ally of ... Vladimir Putin's, has been identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as an official of the government of the Russian Federation and a member of the Russian Federation Council."

~~~ Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden on Thursday selected Karine Jean-Pierre, the principal deputy press secretary, to replace Jen Psaki as the top White House spokeswoman, making her the first Black woman to hold one of the most high-profile jobs in American politics. Ms. Jean-Pierre, who worked on Mr. Biden's campaign and has had a long career in Democratic communications, will become the president's second White House press secretary.... Ms. Psaki's last day as press secretary will be May 13. She is expected to take an on-air role with MSNBC.... After noting that her successor will be the first Black woman and openly gay person to serve as press secretary, Ms. Psaki said that Ms. Jean-Pierre 'will give a voice to so many.'" CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, I think Jean-Pierre will be able to handle the White House press corps: ~~~

Hot Head, Cold Feet. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani, who helped lead ... Donald J. Trump's effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election..., on Thursday abruptly pulled out of a scheduled Friday interview with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol after the panel refused to let him record the session. Mr. Giuliani has been negotiating with the panel about testifying for months, and had finally reached an agreement to speak about matters other than his conversations with Mr. Trump or any other topic he believes is covered by attorney-client privilege, said his lawyer, Robert J. Costello. Mr. Giuliani's sudden withdrawal threatens what could have been a major breakthrough for the investigation.... Tim Mulvey, a spokesman for the committee, said the panel would consider enforcement actions against Mr. Giuliani if he does not change course and comply with the committee's subpoena."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Prominent Republicans -- including ... Donald J. Trump -- have for months promoted a conspiracy theory that an Arizona man named Ray Epps was a federal informant who helped to instigate the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The claims, made in congressional hearing rooms, on Fox News and at Mr. Trump's political rallies, have largely been based on a video taken just before violence erupted at the Capitol, showing Mr. Epps at the barricades outside the building whispering into the ear of a man named Ryan Samsel. Within moments of the brief exchange, Mr. Samsel, a Pennsylvania barber, can be seen moving forward and confronting the police in what amounted to the tipping point of the riot.... Many Republicans have ... pushed the notion that because Mr. Epps has not been arrested, he must have been working for the government. But for more than a year..., federal authorities have had information -- from both [Mr. Epps] and Mr. Samsel -- suggesting that he was not a government agent and did not encourage the younger man to engage with the police that day." There's more. Read on.

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "An Iowa man who brought his teenage son to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, admitted he was among a group that assaulted D.C. police officer Michael Fanone, who suffered a heart attack and traumatic brain injury defending Congress from the pro-Trump mob. Kyle Young, 38, pleaded guilty Thursday in D.C. federal court to one count of assaulting a police officer, which carries a sentence of up to eight years in prison; prosecutors say the guidelines call for at least five."

Dumb President* News. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump in 2020 asked Mark T. Esper, his defense secretary, about the possibility of launching missiles into Mexico to 'destroy the drug labs' and wipe out the cartels, maintaining that the United States' involvement in a strike against its southern neighbor could be kept secret, Mr. Esper recounts in his upcoming memoir. Those remarkable discussions were among several moments that Mr. Esper described in the book, 'A Sacred Oath,' as leaving him all but speechless.... Mr. Esper, the last Senate-confirmed defense secretary under Mr. Trump, also had concerns about speculation that the president might misuse the military around Election Day by, for instance, having soldiers seize ballot boxes. He warned subordinates to be on alert for unusual calls from the White House in the lead-up to the election.... Pressed on his view of Mr. Trump, Mr. Esper --who strained throughout the book to be fair to the man who fired him while also calling out his increasingly erratic behavior after his first impeachment trial ended in February 2020 -- said carefully but bluntly, 'He is an unprincipled person who, given his self-interest, should not be in the position of public service.'... ~~~

~~~ "In October 2019, after members of the national security team assembled in the Situation Room to watch a feed of the raid that killed the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, [Stephen] Miller proposed securing Mr. al-Baghdadi's head, dipping it in pig's blood and parading it around to warn other terrorists, Mr. Esper writes. That would be a 'war crime,' Mr. Esper shot back. Mr. Miller flatly denied the episode and called Mr. Esper 'a moron.'" CNN has a summary story here. ~~~

~~~ Dumb Presidential* Advisor News. CBS News: "Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper says he personally killed a 'ridiculous' plan from White House adviser Stephen Miller to deploy 250,000 troops to the southern border as a migrant caravan approached. Esper, who writes about the moment in his upcoming book, 'A Sacred Oath,' says he initially thought Miller was joking when he asked for the troops while waiting in the Oval Office.... 'And then I turn around and I look at him and these -- and these deadpan eyes. Clearly, he is not joking.'" With video.

Beyond the Beltway

South Carolina. "Dumb Crook News.” Johnny Diaz of the New York Times: "On Feb. 25, 2021, a man got in a taxi in Hartsville, S.C., and asked to be driven to a bank. The cab pulled up to the drive-through window, where the passenger handed the driver an envelope to pass to the teller through the pneumatic tube system, prosecutors said. The teller inside read the note, which demanded 'all money from all drawers' and threatened 'to kill and/or blow up the bank,' the authorities said in a statement. Frightened, the teller activated an alarm. When the police arrived, they found the passenger, Angel Luis Masdeu, in the taxi's back seat and arrested him." Tuesday, Judge Sherri A. Lydon, of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina sentenced the Dumb Crook to six years in federal prison. In fairness to the Dumb Crook, it's not easy to rob a bank when the lobby is closed because of the pandemic.

News Lede

CNBC: "The U.S. economy added slightly more jobs than expected in April amid an increasingly tight labor market and despite surging inflation and fears of a growth slowdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls grew by 428,000 for the month, a bit above the Dow Jones estimate of 400,000. The unemployment rate was 3.6%, slightly higher than the estimate for 3.5%. The April total was identical to the downwardly revised count for March. There also was some better news on the inflation front: Average hourly earnings continued to grow, but at a 0.3% level for the month that was a bit below the 0.4% estimate. On a year-over-year basis, earnings were up 5.5%, about the same as in March but still below the pace of inflation."

May 5, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Pam Belluck & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the legal and culture wars over abortion ... would increasingly shift to a new front: the use of abortion pills. Medication abortion -- a two-drug combination that can be taken at home or in any location and is authorized for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy -- has become more and more prevalent and now accounts for more than half of recent abortions in the United States. If the federal guarantee of abortion rights disappears, medication abortion would likely become an even more sought-after method for terminating a pregnancy -- and the focus of battles between states that ban abortion and those that continue to allow it.... Medication abortion is less expensive and less invasive than surgical abortions.... Many conservative states have already begun passing laws to restrict medication abortion, including banning it earlier than 10 weeks'gestation and requiring patients to visit providers in person despite F.D.A. rules." An AP story is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a half percentage point and announced a plan to shrink its massive bond holdings, decisive measures aimed at tamping down the fastest inflation in four decades. Wednesday's move marked the Fed's largest interest rate increase since 2000, and Chair Jerome H. Powell signaled at a news conference following the meeting additional half percentage point increases will be 'on the table' at the Fed's upcoming meetings." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A CNBC report is here.

Libby Cathey of ABC News: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that the federal government will pay down the national debt this quarter for the first time in six years. His remarks on economic growth came ahead of the Federal Reserve announcing a hike in interest rates Wednesday afternoon in an attempt to manage soaring inflation.... 'For all the talk the Republicans make about deficits, it didn't happen a single quarter under my predecessor, not once,' Biden said. 'The bottom line is the deficit went up every year under my predecessor, before the pandemic and during the pandemic, [and] it's gone down both years since I have been here. Period. There are the facts.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Alito Goes into Hiding. TuAnh Dam of Axios: "Justice Samuel Alito canceled an appearance at a judicial conference due to begin on Thursday..., Reuters reports.... Alito was scheduled to appear at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' judicial conference, Reuters reports. He is the justice assigned to hear emergency appeals from the 5th Circuit, which includes the New Orleans-based federal appeals court and district courts in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas...." The Reuters report is firewalled. OR, as Ken W. surmised, Suddenly Silent Sam is just exercising his Constitutional right to privacy.

Lies & the Lying Liars on the Supreme Court. Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "'It is important precedent of the Supreme Court that has been reaffirmed many times,' [Brett] Kavanaugh said [of Roe v. Wade] in response to one of a slew of questions on abortion during his confirmation hearings. Furthermore, Kavanaugh underscored that the core tenets of the landmark 1973 decision were upheld nearly two decades later.... Kavanaugh called Roe ... 'settled as a precedent.'... Less than four years later, Kavanaugh is among the list of justices who, according to a draft majority opinion and an accompanying report published by Politico this week, is poised to overturn Roe.... A growing number of senators -- particularly Democrats, for the moment at least -- are questioning the utility of the confirmation process and whether justices who enjoy lifetime appointments can somehow be held accountable for their sworn testimony if it proves misleading.... [Some] Democratic senators, however, say it was clear how nominees, particularly those picked by Trump, would rule on abortion, no matter what they pledged publicly. Their beef is largely with the senators who professed to believe otherwise and now say they are shocked."

The New York Times live-updated reactions Wednesday to Sam Alito's leaked draft opinion. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Alito, shocked -- shocked -- to discover so little in the law books of the eighteen-sixties guaranteeing a right to abortion, has missed the point; anything in the law books of [that period] guaranteed women anything -- because -- usually they still weren't persons. Nor for that matter were fetuses. -- Historian Jill Lepore in the New Yorker (via P.D. Pepe)

Suddenly, They Want to Focus on the Real Issues. Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: Despite standing on the cusp of realizing a victory they sought for nearly 50 years, "few Republicans have openly celebrated.... There are signs that Republicans, despite their years of activism, are not fully prepared for the thorny political ramifications of a post-Roe political atmosphere.... Several Republican senators dodged questions about possible implications of Roe being overturned...."

Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "For nearly half a century, Republicans have railed against 'unelected judges' making rulings that they claim disenfranchise voters from deciding for themselves what laws should govern hot-button issues. But since the release this week of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn the long-standing constitutional right to abortion, Democrats have been the ones embracing that complaint, flipping the script as the party vents its frustration with elements of the U.S. system that have empowered a minority of the country's voters to elect lawmakers who have successfully reshaped the high court.... The Democratic anger is anchored in structural advantages Republicans have recently enjoyed that grant them power disproportionate to their public support." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The real difference between Republican and Democratic "unelected judges," which Scherer doesn't bother to mention, is that in the last half of the 20th century, "unelected judges" tended to expand civil rights, while the Republicans' favored "unelected judges" tend to constrict or eliminate them. And every indication is those GOP-appointed judges are going to keep on keeping on.

** Melissa Murray & Leah Litman in a Washington Post op-ed: "The truly shocking thing about the draft Supreme Court opinion overruling Roe v. Wade is ... that the opinion by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. adopted such an aggressively maximalist position, not only giving states extraordinary leeway to prohibit abortion but also implicitly inviting a flurry of challenges to other precedents, including cases protecting contraception and LGBTQ civil rights. Perhaps the most stunning feature of the opinion is that its indignant tone and aggressive reasoning make clear how empowered this conservative majority believes itself to be.... The draft goes out of its way to ensure that there are no limits whatsoever on states' ability to restrict abortions.... Alito also chose to rely on the most outlandish arguments to justify overruling Roe.... The caustic tone and aggressive reasoning suggest this conservative majority ... has no sense of institutional propriety that might lead it to act with more humility and caution." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yes, well, the notion that Sam Alito, for one, ever has suffered even a mild pang of humility is preposterous. ~~~

~~~ Marie: Always nice to see someone get the better of Ross Douthat. Douthat was on CNN Wednesday discussing the potentials of the Supremes' overturning Roe v. Wade. Douthat posited that it was ridiculous to think that overturning Roe would or could lead to overturning other rulings based on the right to privacy. Jeff Toobin started to push back on Douthat's supposition, but Douthat scoffed with what he imagined was a "gotcha" proof: "C'mon," said he, "can we at least agree that Clarence Thomas is not going to vote to overturn the right of interracial couples to marry?" (slight paraphrase) Toobin had a ready response: "It isn't that Thomas opposes interracial marriage; it's that he thinks there is no Constitutional right to interracial marriage. He believes that, like abortion, marriage law is a matter for the states to decide." (slight paraphrase)

** Jay Willis of Balls & Strikes: "The digital ink had not yet dried on Monday's bombshell story that the Supreme Court has the votes to overrule Roe v. Wade when America's most online lawyers began weighing in on The Real Crisis: the shocking, shameful leak from within the hallowed chambers of the nation's highest and fanciest court.... This elevation of process over substance is as wrong as it is self-serving. The Court is not losing public trust or facing an existential crisis because of a leak. The Court is leaking because it is losing public trust and facing an existential crisis.... A nakedly partisan Supreme Court deserves to be treated like any other nakedly partisan branch of government.... The Court's legitimacy should ... hinge on whether the justices are acting legitimately. If a half-dozen extremists are just going to take a blowtorch to anything and everything they don't like, no one in their orbit should be obligated to abide by their sacred norms any longer." Via Scott Lemieux in LG&$. MB: Even if you think you might totally disagree with Willis, his snarky irreverence is a joy to read. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There is a piece in Slate, the author(s) of which I don't know, about how the Supreme Court's supposed leak investigation is a farce. The Slate post is firewalled, by Scott Lemieux has reprinted a good part of it in in LG&$.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russian soldiers on Thursday for the first time breached Ukrainian defenses around the Azovstal steel plant, as Moscow's forces mounted a final push to seize full control of the port city of Mariupol.... Only the fighters in the plant stand in the way of Moscow declaring control over Mariupol, which has become a symbol of both Ukrainian resistance and Russian destruction. A Ukrainian commander, Lt. Col. Denys Prokopenko, said 'heavy, bloody battles' were being fought in the plant's subterranean labyrinth of bunkers and fallout shelters, where officials estimated that about 200 civilians were still hiding with the last soldiers defending the city.... Ukrainian forces reclaimed several strategically important villages around the eastern city of Kharkiv and pushed Russian forces back some two dozen miles from the city...." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "European diplomats are set to meet again Thursday as they negotiate a proposal to phase out Russian oil imports, a stern punishment for the Kremlin's war on Ukraine.... The oil proposal could be finalized by the end of the week but must be approved by all E.U. member states, and two countries -- Hungary and Slovakia -- have reservations. Overnight, Russian forces struck the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, injuring at least 25 civilians and destroying nine homes, a school and other civilian buildings, according to the regional military chief. A railroad facility and a bridge in the riverside city of Dnipro were hit on Wednesday, continuing the Kremlin's targeting of infrastructure that is critical to Ukraine's efforts to resupply its forces."

Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States has provided intelligence about Russian units that has allowed Ukrainians to target and kill many of the Russian generals who have died in action in the Ukraine war, according to senior American officials. Ukrainian officials said they have killed approximately 12 generals on the front lines, a number that has astonished military analysts. The targeting help is part of a classified effort by the Biden administration to provide real-time battlefield intelligence to Ukraine.... The United States has focused on providing the location and other details about the Russian military's mobile headquarters, which relocate frequently.... U.S. intelligence support to the Ukrainians has had a decisive effect on the battlefield, confirming targets identified by the Ukrainian military and pointing it to new targets. The flow of actionable intelligence on the movement of Russian troops that America has given Ukraine has few precedents."

The patriarch cannot transform himself into Putin's altar boy. -- Pope Francis to Patriarch Kirill ~~~

~~~ When the Pope Scolded the Patriarch. On Zoom. Timothy Bella & Sammy Westfall of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis warned the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church not to be 'Putin's altar boy' and justify the Russian president's invasion of Ukraine. In a Tuesday interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Francis said he spoke with Patriarch Kirill, a key supporter of Vladimir Putin and his war, for 40 minutes over Zoom. During the March 16 conversation, Francis said, Kirill was listing off all the justifications for the war from a sheet of paper he was holding. 'I listened and then told him: I don't understand anything about this,' Francis said. 'Brother, we are not state clerics, we cannot use the language of politics but that of Jesus. We are pastors of the same holy people of God. Because of this, we must seek avenues of peace, to put an end to the firing of weapons.'" A CNN report is here.

Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "Donald Trump Jr., interviewed with the Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the matter.... Trump Jr. is also the latest select panel witness believed to have been in the Oval Office the morning of Jan. 6 with [Donald] Trump, his top aides and family members. Shortly after they arrived, per a private White House schedule obtained by the committee, Trump called [Mike] Pence to make a final effort to pressure him to overturn the election. Trump Jr.'s interview, confirmed on condition of anonymity and conducted without a subpoena lasted several hours...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Former lead impeachment counsel Daniel Goldman pointed out on MSNBC that likely the reason members of the Trump Crime Family -- Junior, Ivanka, Jared & Kimberly Guilfoyle -- agreed to be interviewed is that voluntary witnesses -- as opposed to those who appear under subpoena -- cannot be compelled to answer questions, and they don't have to plead the Fifth to refuse to answer.

Clare Foran & Melanie Zanona of CNN: "House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy discussed the 25th Amendment on a call with GOP leadership days after the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and said the process 'takes too long,' according to an audio recording obtained by two New York Times reporters and shared with CNN. McCarthy also said during the call that he wanted to reach out to then-President-elect Joe Biden as he expressed hope for a 'smooth transition,' and said he thought impeachment would further divide the nation. The call took place on January 8, 2021, and the audio was obtained for the new book "This Will Not Pass..." by Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns.... The fact McCarthy was pressing one of his aides for details about how the 25th Amendment process would work shows there was a serious conversation at the highest levels of GOP leadership about the idea -- not just idle chatter -- even if it was ultimately deemed not a viable option." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Not with a Bang, but a Whimper. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Even as the beleaguered police were still trying to disperse a violent mob at the Capitol last January, Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, undertook a desperate, last-ditch effort to keep ... Donald J. Trump in the White House, according to court papers released on Wednesday. In a suite at the Phoenix Park Hotel..., Mr. Rhodes called an unnamed intermediary and, the papers said, repeatedly implored the person to ask Mr. Trump to mobilize his group to forcibly stop the transition of presidential power. But the person refused to speak with Mr. Trump, the papers said. And once the call was over, Mr. Rhodes, turning to a group of his associates, declared, 'I just want to fight.' Witnessing this scene, which unfolded in the twilight hours of Jan. 6, 2021, was William Todd Wilson, a midlevel Oath Keepers leader from North Carolina. On Wednesday, Mr. Wilson, 44, pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington to charges of seditious conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in their investigation of the Oath Keepers' role in the Capitol attack."

TurboScam Settlement Announced. Christine Chung of the New York Times: "For years, the maker of the TurboTax software claimed that people could file their tax returns online for free. Millions of customers signed up, only to pay hidden fees later in the process. That was the finding of a multistate investigation led by Attorney General Letitia James of New York. Ms. James announced on Wednesday that Intuit, the company creating the software, would pay back $141 million to more than four million Americans who were unfairly charged for tax services that were falsely advertised as free. Refunds will be sent automatically to affected taxpayers. The company 'cheated millions of low-income Americans out of free tax filing services they were entitled to,' Ms. James said, adding that the settlement, signed by the attorneys general of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, was a clear reminder to companies that 'deceptive marketing ploys' are illegal.

The Lost City of Atlantis Jamestown. Michael Ruane of the Washington Post: "The 400-year-old colonial site [Jamestown, Va.,] is losing its battle with climate change, experts say, and Wednesday the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed it on a list of the country's most endangered historical places.... Katherine Malone-France, chief preservation officer for the trust, said, 'You've got resources there underwater, that are staying underwater.'... Jamestown, in 1607, became the place of the first permanent English settlement in what would become the United States. The earth here holds the bones of hundreds of the early colonists and the artifacts that are clues to their lives. It is also the place where, in 1619, the first enslaved Africans arrived, and where generations of Native Americans had already lived for centuries." (Also linked yesterday.)

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here: "By Wednesday, [Trevor] Noah's chiding remarks at [the White House Correspondents' Dinner, or] what he called 'the nation's most distinguished superspreader event, were beginning to appear prophetic as a growing number of attendees, including a string of journalists and Antony J. Blinken, the secretary of state, said they had tested positive for the virus."

Beyond the Beltway

Michigan. Clara Hendrickson & Arpan Lobo of the Detroit Free Press: "In an upset win Tuesday, Democrat Carol Glanville defeated Republican Robert 'RJ' Regan in a special election for a Michigan House seat that had only ever been held by a Republican. Results remain unofficial, but with all precincts in the district reporting, Glanville led Regan by more than 1,500 votes as of 10:30 p.m. She topped 51% of the total votes cast; Regan garnered 40% and 7.9% went to write-ins.... Regan made national headlines in March for suggesting rape victims 'lie back and enjoy it,' after he promoted conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and shared antisemitic rhetoric. He was favored to win in the heavily Republican district." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michigan. Crazy Guy Wins House Primary. Azi Paybarah & Kellen Browning of the New York Times: "When J.R. Majewski emerged as the surprise winner of a Republican House primary election on Tuesday in northern Ohio, Democrats supporting the longtime incumbent congresswoman in the district, Marcy Kaptur, celebrated. That was because Mr. Majewski had beaten out two lower-key Republicans for the nomination, both of whom Democrats worried could have posed serious problems for Ms. Kaptur in the conservative-leaning Ninth Congressional District.... During his campaign, [Majewski] ran one ad showing him carrying an assault-style rifle in which he says, 'I'm willing to do whatever it takes to return this country back to its former glory.' ... He also posted a 'Let's Go Brandon' music video on his website in which he raps a verse, warning, 'Just try to put a mask on me, you'll see red, white and blue.'... In addition to advancing the lie that the 2020 election was stolen ... and floating doubts that the Capitol riot was driven by Trump supporters, he has expressed sympathy for believers of the QAnon conspiracy theory movement. He said last year that one of their false claims about a prominent Democrat being a pedophile was 'plausible.'"

Minnesota. Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Wednesday accepted a plea deal that will sentence former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to between 20 and 25 years in prison for violating the rights of George Floyd.... Chauvin is already serving a 22½-year sentence for Floyd's murder and last month asked a state appeals court to overturn his conviction."

May 4, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a half percentage point and announced a plan to shrink its massive bond holdings, decisive measures aimed at tamping down the fastest inflation in four decades. Wednesday's move marked the Fed's largest interest rate increase since 2000, and Chair Jerome H. Powell signaled at a news conference following the meeting additional half percentage point increases will be 'on the table' at the Fed's upcoming meetings."

Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "Donald Trump Jr., interviewed with the Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the matter.... Trump Jr. is also the latest select panel witness believed to have been in the Oval Office the morning of Jan. 6 with [Donald] Trump, his top aides and family members. Shortly after they arrived, per a private White House schedule obtained by the committee, Trump called [Mike] Pence to make a final effort to pressure him to overturn the election. Trump Jr.'s interview, confirmed on condition of anonymity and conducted without a subpoena lasted several hours...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Former lead impeachment counsel Daniel Goldman pointed out on MSNBC that likely the reason members of the Trump Crime Family -- Junior, Ivanka, Jared & Kimberly Guilfoyle -- agreed to be interviewed by committee staff is that voluntary witnesses -- as opposed to those who appear under subpoena -- cannot be compelled to answer questions so don't have to plead the Fifth to refuse to answer.

Clare Foran & Melanie Zanona of CNN: "House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy discussed the 25th Amendment on a call with GOP leadership days after the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and said the process 'takes too long,' according to an audio recording obtained by two New York Times reporters and shared with CNN. McCarthy also said during the call that he wanted to reach out to then-President-elect Joe Biden as he expressed hope for a 'smooth transition,' and said he thought impeachment would further divide the nation. The call took place on January 8, 2021, and the audio was obtained for the new book "This Will Not Pass..." by Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns.... The fact McCarthy was pressing one of his aides for details about how the 25th Amendment process would work shows there was a serious conversation at the highest levels of GOP leadership about the idea -- not just idle chatter -- even if it was ultimately deemed not a viable option."

Libby Cathey of ABC News: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that the federal government will pay down the national debt this quarter for the first time in six years. His remarks on economic growth came ahead of the Federal Reserve announcing a hike in interest rates Wednesday afternoon in an attempt to manage soaring inflation.... 'For all the talk the Republicans make about deficits, it didn't happen a single quarter under my predecessor, not once,' Biden said. 'The bottom line is the deficit went up every year under my predecessor, before the pandemic and during the pandemic, [and] it's gone down both years since I have been here. Period. There are the facts.'" ~~~

The New York Times is live-updating reactions to Sam Alito's leaked draft opinion.

Alito, shocked -- shocked -- to discover so little in the law books of the eighteen-sixties guaranteeing a right to abortion, has missed the point; anything in the law books of [that period] guaranteed women anything -- because -- usually they still weren't persons. Nor for that matter were fetuses. -- Historian Jill Lepore in the New Yorker (via P.D. Pepe)

Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "For nearly half a century, Republicans have railed against 'unelected judges' making rulings that they claim disenfranchise voters from deciding for themselves what laws should govern hot-button issues. But since the release this week of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn the long-standing constitutional right to abortion, Democrats have been the ones embracing that complaint, flipping the script as the party vents its frustration with elements of the U.S. system that have empowered a minority of the country's voters to elect lawmakers who have successfully reshaped the high court.... The Democratic anger is anchored in structural advantages Republicans have recently enjoyed that grant them power disproportionate to their public support." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The real difference between Republican and Democratic "unelected judges," which Scherer doesn't bother to mention, is that in the last half of the 20th century, "unelected judges" tended to expand civil rights, while the Republicans' favored "unelected judges" tend to constrict or eliminate them. And every indication is those GOP-appointed judges are going to keep on keeping on.

The Lost City of Atlantis Jamestown. Michael Ruane of the Washington Post: "The 400-year-old colonial site [Jamestown, Va.,] is losing its battle with climate change, experts say, and Wednesday the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed it on a list of the country's most endangered historical places.... Katherine Malone-France, chief preservation officer for the trust, said, 'You've got resources there underwater, that are staying underwater.'... Jamestown, in 1607, became the place of the first permanent English settlement in what would become the United States. The earth here holds the bones of hundreds of the early colonists and the artifacts that are clues to their lives. It is also the place where, in 1619, the first enslaved Africans arrived, and where generations of Native Americans had already lived for centuries."

Michigan. Clara Hendrickson & Arpan Lobo of the Detroit Free Press: "In an upset win Tuesday, Democrat Carol Glanville defeated Republican Robert 'RJ' Regan in a special election for a Michigan House seat that had only ever been held by a Republican. Results remain unofficial, but with all precincts in the district reporting, Glanville led Regan by more than 1,500 votes as of 10:30 p.m. She topped 51% of the total votes cast; Regan garnered 40% and 7.9% went to write-ins.... Regan made national headlines in March for suggesting rape victims 'lie back and enjoy it,' after he promoted conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and shared antisemitic rhetoric. He was favored to win in the heavily Republican district."

~~~~~~~~~~

Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts? -- Justice Sonia Sotomayor, during oral arguments on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health

Nope. -- Marie Burns

The Roberts Court Is So Over. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: The Supreme Court's "reputation was in decline even before the extraordinary breach of its norms of confidentiality, with much of the nation persuaded that it is little different from the political branches of the government. The internal disarray the leak suggests, wholly at odds with the decorum prized by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., was a blow to the legitimacy of the court. Relations among the justices, too, on the evidence of questioning at arguments and statements in opinions, have turned fraught and frosty."

John Kruzel of the Hill: "Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday directed the marshal of the Supreme Court to launch an investigation into the source of a leaked draft opinion showing that a majority of justices were poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. 'This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here,' Roberts said in a press release that verified the authenticity of the document published Monday evening by Politico." Update: A CNN report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ As unwashed pointed out in yesterday's Comments, Marcy Wheeler, with a little help from Joan Biskupic & Stephen Collinson of CNN, has speculated on Roberts' Machieavellian motives in this "shit-show." According to Collinson, "Roberts is willing ... to uphold the Mississippi law that would ban abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy...." So the game, Wheeler writes, is that by leaking Alito's radical opinion, "Roberts is trying to get his colleagues to adopt a less radical opinion." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Other Theories: (1) The leaker was a clerk of one of the liberal justices who wanted to alert the public to the radical nature of Alito's opinion; (2) the leaker was a clerk of one of the confederate justices who worried that one or more of the confederate justices might defect from the Alito coalition. (3) Marie's theory: Ginni Thomas poured herself a gin & tonic, waltzed into her husband's home study & copied the opinion off Clarence's unsecured laptop. Okay, I'm kidding, but the point is that nobody knows -- except a few Politico reporters, editors & lawyers and the leaker herself.

President Biden addresses the implications of Alito's draft decision:

~~~ Earlier in the day, President Biden released a statement responding to the purported draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade. He says, in part, "I believe that a woman's right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Here's a scathing joint statement from Nancy Pelosi & Chuck Schumer. They write, in part, "Several of these conservative Justices, who are in no way accountable to the American people, have lied to the U.S. Senate, ripped up the Constitution and defiled both precedent and the Supreme Court's reputation -- all at the expense of tens of millions of women who could soon be stripped of their bodily autonomy and the constitutional rights they've relied on for half a century." (Also linked yesterday.)

Olafimihan Oshin of the Hill: "Former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama issued a strong statement criticizing the draft Supreme Court opinion knocking down the Roe v. Wade decision, saying it would limit U.S. freedoms just like other past actions by the court. 'Today, millions of Americans woke up fearing that their essential freedoms under the Constitution were at risk,'the couple said in the joint statement on Tuesday. 'If the Supreme Court ultimately decides to overturn the landmark case of Roe v. Wade, then it will not only reverse nearly 50 years of precedent -- it will relegate the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues,' the Obamas added." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mike DeBonis & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "The stunning leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion indicating that the federal constitutional right to abortion may be on the cusp of evaporating has brought new and intense scrutiny to two prominent Republican supporters of abortion rights, Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), who provided key Senate support to justices who now appear poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. Both women voted for Supreme Court justices nominated by ... Donald Trump, explaining that they were convinced through public and private statements that those nominees would respect existing court precedent and leave Roe in place. On Tuesday, both suggested that if in fact the court moves to overturn the decision in sweeping terms -- as the leaked draft opinion signed by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. would indicate -- it would represent a breach of those prior assurances."

Last night's stunning breach was an attack on the independence of the Supreme Court. By every indication, this was yet another escalation in the radical left's ongoing campaign to bully and intimidate federal judges and substitute mob rule for the rule of law. -- Mitch McConnell, in a statement designed to distract from his pivotal part in the plot not only to overturn Roe v. Wade but also to undermine the courts by further politicizing them (from the WashPo live updates)

The Washington Post is live-updating reactions to the leaked Alito opinion. (Also linked yesterday.)

** The Case Against SCOTUS. Ian Millhiser of Vox: "The Court was the midwife of Jim Crow, the right hand of union busters, and the dead hand of the Confederacy, and is now one of the chief architects of America's democratic decline.... For nearly all of its history, it's been a reactionary institution, a political one that serves the interests of the already powerful at the expense of the most vulnerable. And it currently appears to be reverting to that historic mean.... [Now, the Court] is systematically dismantling voting rights protections that make it possible for every voter to have an equal voice, and for every political party to compete fairly for control of the United States government. Justice Alito ... is also the author of two important decisions dismantling much of the Voting Rights Act." Read on.

There have only been three justices in American history who were appointed by a president who lost the popular vote, and who were confirmed by a bloc of senators who represent less than half the country. All three of them sit on the Supreme Court right now, and all three were appointed by Donald Trump. -- Ian Millhiser, linked above ~~~

~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Rarely ... will the [U.S. government] system's structure so obviously have rewarded a minority of Americans as it would if the Supreme Court overturns the decision in Roe v. Wade. To reach a point where the decision legalizing abortion is on the brink of being rescinded required a cascade of victories by the minority -- and would be effected despite a majority of Americans hoping it doesn't happen.... [It] is also a reminder of the cascade of victories a minority of Americans enjoyed to bring this potential opinion to reality." Bump goes on to lay out how a president* who won a minority of the popular vote and a Senate "majority" of Republicans who won fewer votes than the Democratic "minority" senators. The Senate confirmed Gorsuch 54-45; "senators who supported his confirmation represented 45 percent of the country's population. The same pattern held for Brett M. Kavanaugh" and Amy Coney Barrett."

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Benjamin Mullin & Katie Robertson of the New York Times on how Politico got & handled the big scoop.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The European Union on Wednesday proposed a total Russian oil embargo, banning the import of crude oil in the next six months and refined oil products by the end of 2022, in its biggest and most costly step yet toward supporting Ukraine and weaning itself from its dependence on Russian fossil fuels.... Hungary's foreign minister said his country would not support sanctions that would jeopardize its energy supply from Russia.... [The] United States and its allies were also trying to capitalize on Russia's slow progress on the battlefield by escalating their efforts to weaken its military and tip the war's balance toward Ukraine. The United States and Britain have been sending a stream of increasingly powerful arms, and Russia's nordic neighbors-- Finland and Sweden -- are inching closer to joining NATO." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here: "Russia has stepped up missile attacks across Ukraine, striking railways and power stations in the latest sign that the Kremlin may be trying to restrict the flow of weapons and supplies to battlefields in the east -- just as Western countries are boosting Ukraine's arsenal. The attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure Tuesday hit at least six train stations in central and western Ukraine and three electrical substations in Lviv, officials said."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & John Ismay of the New York Times: "President Biden made a forceful call on Tuesday for ramping up American military support for Ukraine as his administration rapidly dispenses artillery, antitank weapons and other hardware, raising questions about the surge in spending at a time when his domestic agenda is stalled. Speaking at a Lockheed Martin plant in Troy, Ala., that manufactures Javelin antitank missiles, Mr. Biden said the transfer of the weapons has been crucial to Ukraine's defense against the Russian invasion.... Mr. Biden's embrace of the military assistance comes amid widespread bipartisan support for helping Ukraine in the fight, which he described as part of the 'ongoing battle in the world between autocracy and democracy' around the world."

Jonathan Abrams & Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "More than two months after the W.N.B.A. star Brittney Griner was accused of having drugs in her luggage and taken into custody in Russia, the U.S. State Department on Tuesday said that it had determined she was 'wrongfully detained.'... A State Department official said in a statement ... that an interagency team would work to have her released. Griner, 31, has been held in Russia since February on drug charges that could carry a sentence of up to 10 years.... Russian customs officials accused Griner of carrying vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow as she returned to Russia to resume playing for UMMC Yekaterinburg, a professional women's basketball team, after a two-week break."

An Unusual How-to Manual. Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "On Monday, the CIA published instructions for how Russians can covertly volunteer information using an encrypted conduit to the agency's website. The hope is to attract intelligence -- and potentially gain more access to official Russian secrets -- from disaffected people who have been trying to contact the CIA since the war began, officials said. To ensure the would-be informants are not caught by Russian state security, the CIA spelled out detailed Russian-language instructions in three social media posts on how to use the Tor Internet browser, which lets users move online anonymously, as well as virtual private networks, or VPNs."

Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates again Wednesday, this time by half a percentage point, in an aggressive step toward combating the highest inflation in 40 years. The rate increase would be the sharpest since 2000 and the second of seven hikes forecast for this year. Faced with soaring prices and a hot job market with record numbers of job openings, the Fed began raising rates in March, betting that a steady series of hikes will slash inflation, cool down the economy and get the coronavirus recovery on more sustainable footing."

Priscilla Alvarez & Zachary Cohen of CNN: "... Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security delayed and altered an intelligence report related to Russian interference in the 2020 election, making changes that 'appear to be based in part on political considerations,' according to a newly released watchdog report. The April 26 Homeland Security inspector general's assessment provides a damning look at the way DHS' Office of Intelligence and Analysis dealt with intelligence related to Russia's efforts to interfere in the US, stating the department had deviated from its standard procedures in modifying assessments related to Moscow's targeting of the 2020 presidential election. The conclusion that Trump's appointee appeared to have tried to downplay Russian meddling in a key intelligence report is the latest example of how his aides managed his aversion to any information about how Russia might be helping his election prospects."

Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "The Trump family business and ... Donald J. Trump's 2017 inauguration committee have jointly agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the attorney general for the District of Columbia, who claimed that the Trump International Hotel in Washington illegally received excessive payments from the inauguration committee. The settlement in the civil suit came with no admission of wrongdoing by the Trump Organization, the former president or the inaugural committee." MB: Well, of course it did. (Also linked yesterday.)

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "Norman Y. Mineta, who as a boy was interned with his family and thousands of other Japanese Americans during World War II, then rose in government to become a 10-term Democratic congressman from California and a cabinet official under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, died on Tuesday at his home in Edgewater, Md. He was 90."

Starbucks Sucks. Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "Starbucks announced Tuesday that it was raising pay and expanding training at corporate-owned locations in the United States. But it said the changes would not apply to the recently unionized stores, or to stores that may be in the process of unionizing, such as those where workers have filed a petition for a union election. On a call with investors to discuss the company's quarterly earnings, the chief executive, Howard Schultz, said that the spending would bring investments in workers and stores to nearly $1 billion for the fiscal year and that it would help Starbucks keep up with customer traffic." Remember when Schultz thought he should be president*?

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "A handful of coronavirus cases have emerged among people who attended the White House Correspondents'Dinner over the weekend, the president of the correspondents' association said on Tuesday. A CNN story on the people who tested positive after the correspondents' dinner is here.

Ron Johnson Is Still a Senator. Henry Redman of the Wisconsin Examiner: "In a video interview published on the right-wing social media platform Rumble, Sen. Ron Johnson said it 'may be true' that vaccines against COVID-19 cause AIDS. Johnson was being interviewed by anti-vaccine lawyer Todd Callender, who alleged that the shots induce AIDS and that the FDA knew so when the vaccines were approved for emergency use."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Luis Ferré-Sadurní & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday she had chosen Representative Antonio Delgado, a Democrat from the Hudson Valley, as her new lieutenant governor, the second-highest ranking position in New York State. Mr. Delgado is expected to serve as Ms. Hochul's running mate as she campaigns for a full term this year. He will replace former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, who was indicted on federal bribery charges last month, leading to his abrupt resignation. A group of New York Democrats empowered with formally replacing Mr. Benjamin endorsed the choice of Mr. Delgado, 45, as Ms. Hochul's running mate Tuesday morning, ensuring that he will be on the ballot in June's party primary, according to three people familiar with the process." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ohio Senate & Gubernatorial Primaries. New York Times live updates: "J.D. Vance, the author-turned-venture capitalist, parlayed an endorsement from Donald J. Trump into victory on Tuesday in the race for the Republican nomination for an Ohio Senate seat, beating a crowded field of conservatives vying to carry the former president's banner into the November election. Mr. Vance's come-from-behind victory in the race for the seat of the retiring Senator Rob Portman was a testament to the power Mr. Trump still holds with the Republican voting base in Ohio, a state that voted for Mr. Trump twice. The result on Tuesday night was called by The Associated Press.... Representative Tim Ryan, who won the Democratic Senate primary.... Gov. Mike DeWine has won the Republican nomination for a second term in Ohio. He held off a pair of Trump-inspired candidates, former Representative Jim Renacci and Joe Blystone, an underfunded farmer.... Former Mayor Nan Whaley of Dayton has won the Democratic primary for Ohio governor. She'll face a steep uphill climb in the general election against Gov. Mike DeWine." Includes updates on other primary races.