January 17, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: "A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is in Ukraine to show solidarity with the Eastern European country as it faces ongoing tension with Russia. The seven U.S. senators plan to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top officials on Monday, they announced. The visit comes amid a showdown between Russia and the West over Ukraine's territory and the threat of further Russian incursion." The seven senators are Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "Halfway through his pained dissent from the Supreme Court's decision blocking the Biden administration's workplace Covid vaccine rule, Justice Stephen Breyer made a glancing reference to a now-obscure case from 1981, American Textile Manufacturers Institute v. Donovan. It was one of the court's first efforts to interpret the 1970 law that created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.... But what jumped off the page to me was the contrast between how the court behaved in 1981 and what happened last Thursday in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, when six justices yielded to politics to disable an agency from carrying out its statutory mission to protect the health and safety of the American work force. That is where we are now. That's how far the court has fallen." Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the link.

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Marie: Congrats to USA Today for knowing how to celebrate the life of a champion of the poor & disadvantaged. Many news outlets are carrying reports of what facilities and open & closed on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, but only USA Today has a headline on the "Best MLK Day sales to shop."

Colleen Long of the AP: "President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden packed carrots and apples into food boxes for the hungry and chatted with volunteers Sunday at a food bank as part of a day of service for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The couple traveled about a half-hour from their Wilmington, Delaware, residence to Philabundance, a hunger relief organization in Philadelphia which serves about 140,000 people a week in the Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey region. Before heading to the warehouse floor where conveyor belts carried cardboard boxes full of donated food, Biden said the child tax credit needed to be renewed. The traditional day of service is on the holiday, Monday, but there was a bad winter storm heading for the area and events were being rescheduled around the region."

Hannah Farrow of Politico: "Sen. Mitt Romney said Sunday that he 'never got a call from the White House' to negotiate bringing Republicans and Democrats together to create bipartisan voting reform." Marie: Romney goes on to spout the usual hoohah, but the fact that there was no indication the White House tried to engage so-called "moderate" Republicans has surprised me for months. True, such outreach probably would have been fruitless, but Biden at least could have garnered some "bipartisan" photo-ops from the invitations. And it's more convincing to claim "Republicans won't help" when you've asked for a hand. The White House's failure to try to engage some Republicans was a big mistake.

Waiting for Garland. In Vain. Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "... so far the [Justice D]epartment does not appear to be directly investigating the person whose desperate bid to stay in office motivated the [Jan. 6 attack] -- ... Donald Trump -- either for potentially inciting a riot or for what some observers see as a related pressure campaign to overturn the results of the election. The House select committee on Jan. 6 is investigating both matters..., and has aggressively pursued information about Trump and those closest to him. But FBI agents have not, for example, sought to interview or gather materials from some of Trump's most loyal lieutenants about their strategy sessions at the Willard hotel on how to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to participants in those meetings.... The department has not reached out to the Georgia secretary of state's office about Trump urging its leader to 'find' enough votes to reverse his defeat.... The Trump campaign has not received requests for documents or interviews from the FBI or Justice Department related to Jan. 6 or the effort to overturn the election results, and federal prosecutors have not sought to interview those with knowledge of Trump's consideration of a plan to install an attorney general more amenable to his unfounded claims of massive voter fraud.... The Justice Department inspector general is investigating the aborted plan and could ultimately ask prosecutors to consider whether crimes were committed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "So far"? If DOJ has done zip a year after the fact, the department obviously plans to do nothing, ever. There seems to be a longstanding, high-level DOJ pact that recognizes an "Article I Pass," where presidents don't get charged with anything. The only time that agreement might have broken was in the case of Richard Nixon, who abused the DOJ itself when he essentially forced AG Elliot Richardson to resign. That could explain Gerald Ford's preemptive pardon of Nixon. ~~~

     ~~~ Or Maybe Not. Marcy Wheeler: "... apparently none of the four WaPo journalists [bylined above] are familiar enough with the investigation to know where to look to test their questions about whether DOJ is investigating Trump. But I guess it's a good thing that WaPo relied on the expertise of their embedded Mar-A-Lago journalist (!!!) for these issues. Nevertheless, WaPo does break news in the thirtieth paragraph of the story. It reveals that Rob Jenkins, a lawyer representing a bunch of militia defendants, keeps getting asked about Roger Stone and Rudy Giuliani's ties to militia members.... For some reason, the WaPo decided to bury the fact that prosecutors are pursuing this angle (even while claiming -- Rudy’s phones notwithstanding -- that prosecutors are not investigating what went down at the Willard), in paragraph 30." Thanks to unwashed for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Still, Roger & Rudy are a couple of stock comic characters, & neither had an official job even in an administration packed with of lowlifes & halfwits. Roger was on his way to prison when Trump FedExed him a get-out-of-jail-free card, and Rudy's law licenses in New York & D.C. were suspended. It's reasonable to think the DOJ could indict these two losers for some insurrection-related crimes even as it let the Mob Boss skate.

Courtney Kube & Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBC News: "Christopher Miller, who was acting secretary of defense during the Jan. 6 riot, met Friday with members of the House committee investigating the origins of the attack on the Capitol, a source familiar with the panel's activities told NBC News.... The former Pentagon chief has provided conflicting testimony to Congress in the past, at one time saying that ... Donald Trump had 'encouraged the protesters' with his remarks on Jan. 6 and then later saying he believed an 'organized conspiracy' played a role in the Capitol attack." MB: That's not necessary conflicting: Trump seems to have headed up the "organized conspiracy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Here's an Amusing Thought. S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "Should ... Donald Trump run for the White House again, an obscure Reconstruction-era law could keep him off the ballot in six southern states..., because of his incitement of the Jan. 6 insurrection. The third section of the 14th Amendment prohibits people who swore to defend the Constitution, but who subsequently took part in an insurrection against the United States, from holding state or federal office. Other language in that post-Civil War amendment, though, makes many experts believe that only Congress can enforce the ban, which means Senate Republicans could block any such action.... The six states affected by the 1868 law -- North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida -- together have 88 electoral votes, or 33% of the total needed to win the presidency. Trump won all of them in 2020 except for Georgia, which he lost by 12,000 votes." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This won't happen, but it's a nice pipedream.

Presidential Election 2024. Jonathan Martin & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times on how Donald Trump & Ron DeSantis already are sparring with each other. MB: Not sure how I'm going to handle this; I do not intend to spend the next two-plus years reporting every potshot these odious men take against each other.

Douglass Daniel of the AP: "Charles McGee, a Tuskegee Airman who flew 409 fighter combat missions over three wars and later helped to bring attention to the Black pilots who had battled racism at home to fight for freedom abroad, died Sunday. He was 102."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.

Beyond the Beltway

Michigan. So Much for Academic Freedom. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "In a profanity-laced introduction video for a history class, Prof. Barry Mehler wears an astronaut-style helmet with air filters, tells his Ferris State University students that they are 'vectors of disease' and says that their grades are predetermined, regardless of their efforts.... The bizarre 14-minute video, which has been viewed more than 360,000 times since it was posted on his YouTube page last Sunday, resulted in Professor Mehler's being placed on paid suspension while university officials investigated his eccentric introduction to the new semester, according to Sandy Gholston, a university spokesman. David Eisler, the president of the university, which is in Big Rapids, Mich., about 150 miles northwest of Detroit, said in a statement that he had been 'shocked and appalled by this video.'"

     ~~~ Here's what you might call a highlights video. If obsenity & profanity offend you, don't watch. If you just can't get enough, the full video is linked in the Times story. Marie: I suppose my student-age self might have been shocked, shocked by Mehler's rant, but I'm not a kid any more and I think it's sort of funny. I even like the fact that he's so piss-poor at recording himself, his face is sometimes half out of the frame:

Oregon. Mike Baker of the New York Times: "A slide show designed to train officers in Portland, Ore., on methods of policing protests concluded with a message that celebrated the use of violence against demonstrators.... The image was included at the end of a 110-slide training session, apparently from 2018, that detailed the types of protests that officers might encounter, along with analyses of crowd behaviors and police tactics that could be used to maintain order. The concluding slide was of a meme that mocked protesters as dirty hippies, celebrating that officers could 'christen your heads with hickory, and anoint your faces with pepper spray.' It included an image of what appeared to be a police officer in riot gear hitting a protester. The office of Mayor Ted Wheeler, who serves as police commissioner, released the document on Friday, saying it had surfaced as part of a lawsuit related to the racial justice protests that consumed the city in 2020. Mr. Wheeler said that he was 'disgusted' by the slide that mocked protesters and that an investigation had begun."

Virginia. Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "Glenn Youngkin launched his tenure as Virginia's 74th governor this weekend with three executive orders devoted to education -- a level of focus on schools that is unprecedented in recent memory and which spells the all-but-certain continuation of polarizing cultural and curricular battles in the divided state. Youngkin's first order forbids the teaching of 'inherently divisive concepts, including Critical Race Theory,' an academic framework that examines how policies and laws perpetuate systemic racism in the United States. Educators in Virginia and nationwide contend the theory is not taught at the K-12 level, but conservatives have weaponized the term as a catchall symbolizing schools' equity and diversity work. Another order promises the investigation of Loudoun County Public Schools, a wealthy Northern Virginia district that has been embroiled in high-profile controversy for more than a year over allegations related to critical race theory and transgender rights, as well as administrators' bungled handling of two sexual assaults. The Republican governor's third order asserts that parents must be allowed to decide whether their child wears a mask in school, regardless of what federal or district-level officials say." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't know if Youngkin is ignorant or just a craven hypocrite. Sunday, Jonathan Capehart of MSNBC aired a clip of Youngkin saying on Fox "News" last October, "[I]n the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we're called to judge one another based on the content of our character and not the color of our skin. And that's why there's no place for critical race theory in our school system, and why, on day one, I'm going to ban it." As former Rep. Donna Edwards pointed out on Capehart's show, Youngkin is distorting (I'd say inverting) King's point: King's most famous sentence was aspirational. What he said in his "I Have a Dream" speech was, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." King clearly was not urging Americans to stop talking about and learning about race relations. Rather, he was encouraging us to learn & change.

Way Beyond

Ukraine/Russia. Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "Microsoft has discovered destructive malware on dozens of Ukrainian government and private-sector computers, raising the risk that government agencies could find it difficult to operate in a crisis. The malware masquerades as ransomware, but rather than encrypting data, the malware -- if triggered -- wipes computers of data and renders them inoperable, Microsoft's threat intelligence team said in a blog post late Saturday. Microsoft said it does not know who was behind the malware, but the threat comes as Russia masses troops on Ukraine's border." ~~~

~~~ Yuras Karmanau of the AP: "Ukraine said Sunday that Russia was behind a cyberattack that defaced its government websites and alleged that Russia is engaged in an increasing 'hybrid war' against its neighbor. The statement from the Ministry of Digital Development came a day after Microsoft said dozens of computer systems at an unspecified number of Ukrainian government agencies had been infected with destructive malware disguised as ransomware. That disclosure suggested the attention-grabbing defacement attack on official websites last week was a diversion." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

New York Times: "After slamming parts of the South over the weekend, a strong winter storm was pushing north on Monday, producing heavy snow over parts of the Lower Great Lakes, Central Appalachians and the Northeast. Rain was forecast for the coast of New England. As of early Monday, a winter storm warning stretched from western North Carolina up through Maine, according to the National Weather Service." The story has been updated. A Weather Channel report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to radar published by the Weather Channel, my house is outside the snow zone. Well, I've got several inches of snow on my covered porch. It's 7:15 am, but it might as well be midnight because the whiteout makes it too dark to see further, so I can't tell how much snow there is on the ground. Rain expected later.

January 16, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Courtney Kube & Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBC News: "Christopher Miller, who was acting secretary of defense during the Jan. 6 riot, met Friday with members of the House committee investigating the origins of the attack on the Capitol, a source familiar with the panel's activities told NBC News.... The former Pentagon chief has provided conflicting testimony to Congress in the past, at one time saying that ... Donald Trump had 'encouraged the protesters' with his remarks on Jan. 6 and then later saying he believed an 'organized conspiracy' played a role in the Capitol attack." MB: That's not necessary conflicting: Trump seems to have headed up the "organized conspiracy."

Waiting for Garland. In Vain. Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "... so far the [Justice D]epartment does not appear to be directly investigating the person whose desperate bid to stay in office motivated the [Jan. 6 attack] -- ... Donald Trump -- either for potentially inciting a riot or for what some observers see as a related pressure campaign to overturn the results of the election. The House select committee on Jan. 6 is investigating both matters..., and has aggressively pursued information about Trump and those closest to him. But FBI agents have not, for example, sought to interview or gather materials from some of Trump's most loyal lieutenants about their strategy sessions at the Willard hotel on how to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to participants in those meetings.... The department has not reached out to the Georgia secretary of state's office about Trump urging its leader to 'find' enough votes to reverse his defeat.... The Trump campaign has not received requests for documents or interviews from the FBI or Justice Department related to Jan. 6 or the effort to overturn the election results, and federal prosecutors have not sought to interview those with knowledge of Trump's consideration of a plan to install an attorney general more amenable to his unfounded claims of massive voter fraud.... The Justice Department inspector general is investigating the aborted plan and could ultimately ask prosecutors to consider whether crimes were committed." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "So far"? If DOJ has done zip a year after the fact, the department obviously plans to do nothing, ever. There seems to be a longstanding, high-level DOJ pact that recognizes an "Article I Pass," where presidents never get charged with anything. The only time that agreement might have broken was in the case of Richard Nixon, who abused the DOJ itself when he essentially forced AG Elliot Richardson to resign. That could explain Gerald Ford's preemptive pardon of Nixon. ~~~

     ~~~ Or Maybe Not. Marcy Wheeler: "... apparently none of the four WaPo journalists [bylined above] are familiar enough with the investigation to know where to look to test their questions about whether DOJ is investigating Trump. But I guess it's a good thing that WaPo relied on the expertise of their embedded Mar-A-Lago journalist (!!!) for these issues. Nevertheless, WaPo does break news in the thirtieth paragraph of the story. It reveals that Rob Jenkins, a lawyer representing a bunch of militia defendants, keeps getting asked about Roger Stone and Rudy Giuliani's ties to militia members.... For some reason, the WaPo decided to bury the fact that prosecutors are pursuing this angle (even while claiming -- Rudy’s phones notwithstanding -- that prosecutors are not investigating what went down at the Willard), in paragraph 30." Thanks to unwashed for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Still, Roger & Rudy are a couple of stock comic characters, & neither had an official job even in an administration packed with of lowlifes & halfwits. Roger was on his way to prison when Trump FedExed him a get-out-of-jail-free card, and Rudy's law licenses in New York & D.C. were suspended. It's reasonable to think the DOJ could indict these two losers for some insurrection-related crimes even as it let the Mob Boss skate.

Here's an Amusing Thought. S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "Should ... Donald Trump run for the White House again, an obscure Reconstruction-era law could keep him off the ballot in six southern states..., because of his incitement of the Jan. 6 insurrection. The third section of the 14th Amendment prohibits people who swore to defend the Constitution, but who subsequently took part in an insurrection against the United States, from holding state or federal office. Other language in that post-Civil War amendment, though, makes many experts believe that only Congress can enforce the ban, which means Senate Republicans could block any such action.... The six states affected by the 1868 law -- North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida -- together have 88 electoral votes, or 33% of the total needed to win the presidency. Trump won all of them in 2020 except for Georgia, which he lost by 12,000 votes." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This won't happen, but it's a nice pipedream.

Russia/Ukraine. Yuras Karmanau of the AP: "Ukraine said Sunday that Russia was behind a cyberattack that defaced its government websites and alleged that Russia is engaged in an increasing 'hybrid war' against its neighbor. The statement from the Ministry of Digital Development came a day after Microsoft said dozens of computer systems at an unspecified number of Ukrainian government agencies had been infected with destructive malware disguised as ransomware. That disclosure suggested the attention-grabbing defacement attack on official websites last week was a diversion."

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Maureen Dowd of the New York Times blames Joe Biden for, well, everything. MB: It's as if MoDo isn't aware there are three branches of government, sorta like those insurrectionists whose stupidity so surprised Rep. Jamie Raskin (see yesterday's Commentariat). The only thing I would fault Biden for is his optimism. Yet I'm not at all certain optimism is a fault. It is the voters who gave us Mitch McConnell & Ted Cruz who let the President down, not the other way around.

Robert Reich in the Guardian: "Capitalism and democracy are compatible only if democracy is in the driver's seat.... The tsunami of money now flowing from corporations into the swamp of American politics is larger than ever. And this money -- bankrolling almost all politicians and financing attacks on their opponents -- is undermining American democracy as much as did the 147 seditionist members of Congress. Maybe more. The Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema -- whose vocal opposition to any change in the filibuster is on the verge of dooming voting rights -- received almost $2m in campaign donations in 2021 even though she is not up for re-election until 2024. Most of it came from corporate donors outside Arizona, some of which have a history of donating largely to Republicans. Has the money influenced Sinema? You decide. Besides sandbagging voting rights, she voted down the $15 minimum wage increase, opposed tax increases on corporations and the wealthy and stalled on drug price reform -- policies supported by a majority of Democratic senators as well as a majority of Arizonans." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The political money game is yet another effect of inequality, and of course there's a chicken-and-egg situation here. When corporations have higher profits, they have more money to spend on the politicians who support measures that help them gain higher profits. Meanwhile, workers have less money to give to politicians, either directly or through unions, who support legislation that improve wages & working conditions.

2020 Presidential Election, Ctd. Morgan Keith of Insider, republished in Yahoo! News: "On Saturday, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon ... claimed that [Donald Trump]'s rally [in Arizona] on Saturday would serve as a precursor to the decertification of President Joe Biden's 2020 election win. 'It's the kickoff of 2022. A huge speech in front of a massive crowd by Donald J. Trump and, of course, they're all melting down about who's on stage with him. They're all people that are going to get to the decertification of the 2020 Biden electors,' Bannon said." Thanks to Forrest M. for the link. See also his commentary below.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here.

Australia. Hooroo. John Pye of the AP: Novak Djokovic, "the No. 1-ranked player in men's tennis, had to be deported from Australia after three Federal Court judges decided unanimously Sunday to affirm the immigration minister's right to cancel Djokovic's visa. The ruling was made less than 18 hours before the first Grand Slam matches of 2022 were scheduled to begin." Here's the New York Times' liveblog on the end of the Djokovic affair.

Beyond the Beltway

Paul Rosenberg, in Salon, interviews David Pepper, the author of 'Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call From Behind the Lines, ' which "brings the subject down to earth, connects democratic erosion to corruption and the decline in America's quality of life, and provides a wealth of ideas about how to fight back to protect democracy."

Michigan. Corey Williams of the AP: "Mark Schlissel has been removed as president of the University of Michigan due to an alleged 'inappropriate relationship with a university employee,' the school said Saturday on its website. The removal was effective 'immediately,' the University of Michigan Board of Regents said, adding that members learned on Dec. 8, 2021, about the relationship from an anonymous complaint and that an investigation revealed that 'over the years,' Schlissel used his university email account to 'communicate with that subordinate in a manner inconsistent with the dignity and reputation of the university.'... Schlissel had a base salary of $927,000 a year."

Texas. Christian Aleman of KVUE (Austin, Texas): "The Travis County (Austin) Clerk's Office said that it has rejected about 50% of applications for mail-in ballots due to Senate Bill 1 (SB1), the state's sweeping voting law passed last year. The clerk's office said the applications it has been rejecting have been for the March 1 primary elections. The new law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in September, requires that applications for mail-in ballots include the applicant's Driver's License number or the last four digits of their Social Security Number.... The clerk's office said it has not received enough information regarding the new online cure process to instruct voters how to cure their applications with the Texas Secretary of State's Office. The office added that is has not received instructions from the State outlining what the office can do to help voters submit a completed application, but is expecting 'more comprehensive guidance' from the secretary of state. Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir is set to hold a news conference the morning on Jan. 18 to discuss details of the application rejections. " ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If this is what's happening in Travis County, which -- on the whole -- has more liberal, better-educated voters than the average Texas county, the situation is surely worse elsewhere in the state. That is to say, SB1 is working as intended.

Way Beyond

Israel. Bethan McKernan of the Guardian: "The former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly close to reaching a plea bargain in his corruption trial, a development that could mean an unexpectedly swift end to his turbulent political career and once again upend Israeli politics. Israeli media were dominated on Sunday by the news that Netanyahu, the chair of the Likud party and leader of the opposition since being ousted last year from a 12-year-stint in government, has reached advanced talks with the state attorney's office. In the reported agreement, Netanyahu will admit to two counts of breach of trust, resulting in a suspended prison sentence and a few months of prison time that will be converted to community service.... Under a plea deal, Netanyahu could be banned from political life for up to seven years, effectively ending his career." MB: So I guess the "community service" won't include "prime minister."

Russia. Anton Troianovski & David Sanger of the New York Times: Russian President Vladimir "Putin wants to extend Russia's sphere of influence to Eastern Europe and secure written commitments that NATO will never again enlarge. If he is frustrated in reaching that goal, some of his aides suggested on the sidelines of the negotiations last week, then he would pursue Russia's security interests with results that would be felt acutely in Europe and the United States. There were hints, never quite spelled out, that nuclear weapons could be shifted to places -- perhaps not far from the United States coastline -- that would reduce warning times after a launch to as little as five minutes, potentially igniting a confrontation with echoes of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis." ~~~

     ~~~ MB: I could certainly be wrong, but I think that despite Donald Trump's loss in 2020, Putin may anticipate a return of Trump or another autocratic leader (DeSantis?) to the U.S., one who might facilitate (or ignore) Putin's European aggression. At the same time, he may seek autocratic allies in Europe in countries like Poland & Hungary, in the same way Hitler's alliances with Mussolini & Hirohito gave him more confidence for his European aggression. ~~~

     ~~~ Washington Post Editors: "With winter turning Ukraine's flat terrain into a frozen-earth fast track for Russian tanks, the window of opportunity for a diplomatic solution is rapidly closing -- if it were ever really open. The Biden administration was wise to try dialogue, if only to make it clear to the whole world how unappeasable Mr. Putin really is. On the whole, the Biden team has handled the atmospherics skillfully, refusing to yield on core principles such as Ukraine's sovereignty and NATO's freedom to enroll new members, while offering to engage with Moscow on genuine issues such as nuclear and conventional arms control.... Russia's posture toward Ukraine amounts to prohibited conduct under Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, which specifically bars the 'threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.'... Raising the potential costs of an invasion to Russia by beefing up Ukraine's capacity to resist it is, at this late date, the best hope to deter Mr. Putin."

News Ledes

Guardian: "A man who was shot dead by FBI officers after taking four people hostage at a Texas synagogue is understood to be British.... In [a] live stream [from inside the synagogue], the hostage-taker was heard demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist suspected of having ties to al-Qaida, who was convicted of trying to kill US military officers while in custody in Afghanistan, a law enforcement official said. Siddiqui is in federal prison in Texas." ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: "Authorities on Sunday identified a 44-year-old British national as the man who took four people hostage at a Texas synagogue for 10 hours before an FBI SWAT team stormed the building, ending a tense standoff that President Joe Biden called 'an act of terror.' Malik Faisal Akram was shot and killed after the last of the hostages got out at around 9 p.m. Saturday at Congregation Beth Israel near Fort Worth. In a statement, the FBI said there was no indication that anyone else was involved, but it didn't provide a possible motive."

January 15, 2022

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "For years, U.S. officials have tiptoed around the question of how much military support to provide to Ukraine, fear of provoking Russia. Now, in what would be a major turnaround, senior Biden administration officials are warning that the United States could throw its weight behind a Ukrainian insurgency should President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia invade Ukraine. How the United States, which just exited two decades of war in Afghanistan, might pivot to funding and supporting an insurgency from fighting one is still being worked out. But even a conversation about how far the United States would go to subvert Russian aims in the event of an invasion has revived the specter of a new Cold War and suddenly made real the prospect of the beginnings of a so-called great power conflict." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Russia/Ukraine. Natasha Bertrand & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "The US has information that indicates Russia has prepositioned a group of operatives to conduct a false-flag operation in eastern Ukraine, a US official told CNN on Friday, in an attempt to create a pretext for an invasion. The official said the US has evidence that the operatives are trained in urban warfare and in using explosives to carry out acts of sabotage against Russia's own proxy forces. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the Defense Department has credible information indicating Russia has 'prepositioned a group of operatives' to execute 'an operation designed to look like an attack on them or Russian-speaking people in Ukraine' in order to create a reason for a potential invasion. The allegation echoed a statement released by Ukraine's Ministry of Defense on Friday, which said that Russian special services are preparing provocations against Russian forces in an attempt to frame Ukraine. National security adviser Jake Sullivan hinted at the intelligence during a briefing with reporters on Thursday." A Washington Post story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~

~~~ Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "Russia's main security agency said on Friday that at the request of the United States government it had dismantled REvil, one of the most aggressive ransomware crime groups attacking Western targets, and arrested some of its members. The agency, known as the F.S.B., said 'the organized crime gang ceased to exist' after a sweeping operation that was carried out in 25 locations across five Russian regions. The raids followed multiple requests by the Biden administration for the Kremlin to help shut down such groups. The arrests were announced on the same day that the U.S. government accused Russia of sending saboteurs into Ukraine to create a pretext for invasion, and that hackers shut down dozens of Ukraine's government websites -- an attack that Ukrainian officials suggested had originated in Russia." A CNN story is here.

Get Out! Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "The Biden White House has forced the resignation of a Trump-appointed member of a U.S. commission who has promoted the baseless claim that the FBI planted agents among the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. Darren Beattie was named by ... Donald Trump to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad in November 2020. In a letter Friday, Gautam Raghavan, deputy director of the White House office of presidential personnel, told Beattie that he must turn in his resignation by the end of business Friday and if he did not, his position would be terminated.... The White House move comes days after Beattie's actions as a right-wing blogger attracted attention from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.... Beattie was put on the board of the commission ... after he was fired from the Trump White House for attending a conference frequented by white nationalists.... Before that, Beattie served as one of Trump's speechwriters. On Sunday, the former president issued a statement praising Beattie for pushing his baseless claims about Jan. 6...."

Ellen Nakashima & David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors are expected to soon seek dismissal of charges against a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology accused of failing to disclose research ties to China, according to three people familiar with the matter. The dropping of the case against Gang Chen, a Chinese American academic, would probably happen in the coming weeks, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.... Prosecutors in Boston this week sent a dismissal memo to the Justice Department headquarters in Washington, which has not yet signed off, but is expected to, the people said. It would mark arguably the most high-profile setback of the Justice Department's China Initiative, a wide-ranging and sometimes controversial effort launched in 2018.

** Michael Wines of the New York Times: "A newly disclosed memorandum citing 'unprecedented' meddling by the Trump administration in the 2020 census and circulated among top Census Bureau officials indicates how strongly they sought to resist efforts by the administration to manipulate the count for Republican political gain.... In particular, the administration was adamant that -- for the first time ever -- the bureau separately tally the number of undocumented immigrants in each state. Mr. Trump had ordered the tally in a July 2020 presidential memorandum, saying he wanted to subtract them from House reapportionment population estimates.... Kenneth Prewitt, a Columbia University public-affairs scholar who ran the Census Bureau from 1998 to 2001, said in an interview that the careful bureaucratic language [of the memo] belied an extraordinary pushback against political interference." The memo went to Wilbur Ross, the odious Commerce Secretary, who says he can't recall a thing about it. MB: I guess not, because Ross himself was a Census manipulator extraordinaire, to the point of lying to Congress about the effort.

Andrew Kaczynski & Melanie Zanona of CNN: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said publicly and privately in the days following the deadly riots at the US Capitol that ... Donald Trump admitted personally bearing some responsibility for the attack -- one of several reasons why the select committee on January 6 wants to hear from the House's top Republican. McCarthy shared the details of his conversation with Trump in a little-noticed local radio interview done a week after the insurrection, in which McCarthy said he supported a committee to investigate the attack and supported censuring then-President Trump.... The radio interview -- in which McCarthy has harsh words for Trump and strongly condemns the violent attack -- provides yet another example of how the California Republican has shifted his tone in the year since the insurrection." (Also linked yesterday.)

Annette Nevins, et al., of the Washington Post: "Shackled at his wrists and ankles, [Oath Keeper Stewart] Rhodes appeared briefly in federal court [in Plano, Texas,] Friday. Magistrate Judge Kimberly C. Priest Johnson ordered him to remain in jail at least until a detention hearing on Jan. 20." Referred to in many court filings as "Person One," Rhodes "is the most high-profile person charged in the wide-ranging investigation to date.... Another newly charged Oath Keeper, Edward Vallejo of Phoenix, appeared briefly before a federal magistrate judge in Arizona, who ordered that he, too, should be held in custody until a detention hearing next week."

Zachary Cohen & Curt Devine of CNN: "Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes has spewed violent rhetoric and whipped up unsubstantiated fears about secret government plots and imminent civil war for more than a decade with the help of another purveyor of extremism: conspiracy monger and internet powerhouse Alex Jones. Jones, who has built a staggering online following around his Infowars empire, has given Rhodes a platform to reach a wider audience -- from the day Rhodes plugged the Oath Keepers' first public meeting to the weeks surrounding the invasion of the US Capitol. At the same time, Rhodes' Oath Keepers protected Jones at multiple 'Stop the Steal' rallies."

Marie: Mike Pence writes a stupid op-ed in the Washington Post arguing that the voting rights bills are a "power grab" to try to "nationalize elections." But his opening remarks are notable: "Now that the anniversary of Jan. 6 has come and gone, some of us who lived through that tragic day in 2021 are getting a clearer picture of what was and is at stake. On Jan. 6, an angry mob ransacked the Capitol, largely to try to get Congress and me, as the president of the Senate, to use federal authority to overturn results of the presidential election that had been certified by all 50 states." Unlike most Republican politicians, mike remains in touch with the reality that a violent attack that included calls to hang him was not a normal tourist visit.

Looking for the Lost & Found. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "... they are morons.... Some of the people who stormed the Capitol later called Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office in an effort to retrieve ... belongings [they left behind], Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told Insider in an interview published Friday. According to Raskin, who serves on the Jan. 6 committee, rioters called and were 'asking whether there was a lost and found because they forgot their phone there, or they left their purse or what have you.' Predictably, authorities ... suckered the rioters into giving them their personal information.... Raskin also said that many of the rioters appeared to have no understanding of how the government works on the most basic level. 'They didn't have any kind of subtle understanding of the separation of powers,' he said. 'They just thought that the number one person in the U.S. government had invited them to be there, and therefore they had a right.' The congressman said that the rioters' reaction 'underscores the central role that Donald Trump played in it.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In fairness to the morons, Trump didn't quite grasp the separation of powers either. He thought the other branches of government should do exactly what the President* ordered, especially Congressional Republicans & the Supremes he appointed. His hatred of John McCain and his "disappointment" with Bart O'Kavanaugh are examples. The morons, of course, aren't all wingers. Despite all the publicity Manchinema have received for their opposition to the Biden agenda, Joe Biden's current unpopularity numbers are the result of people's not understanding why he didn't pass voting rights and Build Back Better legislation. ~~~

     ~~~ As an aside, the morons' willingness to give their info to investigators reminds me of a scene in a British TV procedural I saw recently. The cops bring in a kid involved in some ruckus & present him to the desk sergeant. The kid refuses to give his name. The beat cops object but the sergeant is sympathetic. "I get it," he tells the kid. "In fact, we have a form for your situation. Just sign here and you don't have to tell us your name." He pushes a form on a clipboard in front of the kid, who happily signs his name at the bottom.

Felicia Sonmez & Donna Cassata of the Washington Post: "Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) said Friday he will not seek another term in Congress, becoming the third of the 10 Republicans who voted last year to impeach ... Donald Trump to announce their retirement.... In a whiplash-inducing turn last year, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had deputized Katko to negotiate with Democrats on legislation to create an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. Katko, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security panel, reached a deal with the chairman, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), and announced the plan, only to have McCarthy reject it." A CBS News report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

TuKKKer Hosted (Alleged) Seditionist. Madeline Peltz of Media Matters: "Fox News' Tucker Carlson has repeatedly hosted alleged Oath Keeper Thomas Caldwell, who was charged on January 13 with seditious conspiracy alongside Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes and nine others in connection to the anti-government militia's plot to violently overthrow the government on January 6, 2021. Carlson has interviewed Caldwell on both his Fox News show and his Fox Nation show. With Carlson's help, Caldwell and his wife cast themselves as victims of overzealous prosecution for the events of January 6. In their discussions Carlson and his guests overlooked some key details while portraying Caldwell, who was first arrested and indicted for his January 6 actions shortly after that day, merely as a ' disabled veteran.' As noted in the indictment, Caldwell was stationed outside Washington, D.C., on January 5, standing ready to distribute weapons to his fellow militia members at the direction of Rhodes." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ MB: Thus, Fox "News" and the Murdoch boys, who have stood behind TuKKKer & all of his despicable shenanigans, now find themselves supporting an alleged terrorist who helped organize the overthrow of the U.S. government. Rupert, who is chairman of Fox, is an American citizen, but his son Lachlan, who is CEO is an Australian citizen. I suggest the U.S. deport him as an undesirable (unless DOJ would rather charge both of them for aiding & abetting an enemy of the U.S.; that would be treason for Rupert -- oh, and for TuKKKer). There's nothing wrong with a journalist's interviewing an alleged criminal, but TuKKKer advocated for Caldwell, telling him on-air, "I hope you crush these people [the feds].... It's shocking this could happen in our country." And so forth.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Pro-covid confederates are very upset with Brett Kavanaugh because he voted, along with CJ Roberts & Sotomayor, Kagan & Breyer, to permit President Biden's vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. Among Kavanaugh's detractors: Tucker Carlson, who called Kavanaugh a "cringing little liberal," Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Covid) & Donald Trump, Jr. "They've decided to put [Kavanaugh] on notice that they'll go after his character at the drop of a hat when he rules the wrong way -- even when he rules the right way [-- the workplace protocols --] the very same day."

Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "The [Supreme Court] has been effectively closed to outside visitors since the start of the pandemic. Now that the justices have begun hearing oral arguments in person, the lawyers appearing before it, and the reporters in the chamber, must test negative and be masked, except when speaking. Justices who aren't comfortable with those protocols -- or with the maskless behavior of their colleagues -- have the flexibility to work remotely. If only the court were willing to extend similar protections to the rest of us, in our workplaces.... The factory workers standing cheek by jowl on assembly lines, the office workers crammed side by side at their cubicles, the cashiers and sales clerks at retail establishments -- none of them enjoy the guaranteed safety protocols that the court has awarded to itself.... In states with laws that prohibit vaccine and mask mandates, employers who want to adopt such policies are prohibited from doing so." If you have a WashPo subscription, read on. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Marcus reviews some of the confederate justices' sophistic arguments. Here's a doozy: "Although covid-19 is a risk that occurs in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most. Covid-19 can and does spread at home, in schools, during sporting events, and everywhere else that people gather." That's like saying that because you can fall off a ladder at home, OSHA cannot regulate ladder safety in the workplace. We already knew the confederates were anti-worker, but to the point of ensuring that workers get sick on the job??? That's a violation of basic human rights. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Adam Serwer of the Atlantic (partially republished in LG&$) makes the same point, calling this argument "laughable logic." Scott Lemieux, in LG&$ obviously agrees: "This argument is astoundingly stupid. The fact that stuff can fall on your head at home doesn't mean that the OHSA can't require workers in construction sites to wear hardhats. Nobody could actually believe it. And yet it's the foundation on which the entire opinion rests." Serwer observes that what underlies the decision is the Foxification of the Supremes: it "hinges on a new and alarming embrace of the right-wing culture war against vaccination, a deeply regrettable cost of conservative political strategy and political-identity formation.... The conservative wing of the Court wants to have it both ways: insisting they are not questioning the safety or efficacy of vaccination, while issuing decisions that are entirely premised on the right's newfound and quasi-religious conception of them as traumatic and metaphysically significant -- a necessity for the mandates to be seen as oppressive. This is little more than culture war dressed up in the language of constitutionalism." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Foxification, or a version of it, is hardly new. Opinion essays, after all, are written for the purpose of influencing others. That's what the ancient Greek philosophers were up to. That's what the Bible is all about. That's why advocates submit friend-of-the-court briefs on upcoming cases to the Supremes. And the Supremes do heed ideas spread by their favored media outlets. Justice Antonin Scalia admitted that's all he read or listened to. And that mattered. In oral arguments during the first big effort to strike down Obamacare, Scalia famously said, "Everybody has to buy food sooner or later. Therefore, you can make people buy broccoli." The broccoli reference didn't spring from the Mind of Scalia. James Stewart of the New York Times traced it to an article by Terence Jeffrey, the editor in chief of the Conservative News Service: "'Can President Barack Obama and Congress enact legislation that orders Americans to buy broccoli?' Mr. Jeffrey wrote in his Oct. 21, 2009, CNS column." Stewart finds that the broccoli reference spread from there, including to Rush Limbaugh, who shared it -- as if it were an original thought -- on air.

Oliver Darcy & Brian Stelter of CNN: "One America News, the right-wing conspiracy channel favored by ...t Donald Trump, will be dropped later this year by DirecTV, a spokesperson for the television carrier said Friday evening. The move will deal a significant blow to the fringe outlet. Not only will OAN be removed from the millions of households that use DirecTV as a television provider, it will also suffer a major hit to its revenue. Reuters, citing sworn testimony that an OAN accountant gave in 2020, reported last year that 90% of the channel's revenue came from subscriber fees paid by AT&T-owned platforms, including DirecTV.... The decision also comes after significant controversy following Reuters's story, which reported that AT&T played a key role in OAN's founding." MB: So if you're an AT&T or DirecTV customers, it looks as if you won't be paying for Donald Trump's favorite propaganda outlet much longer.

Rebecca Robbins & Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "Martin Shkreli, the former pharmaceutical executive best known for unapologetically hiking the price of a lifesaving medication, must pay $64.6 million and will be barred for life from the drug industry for violating antitrust law, a federal court ordered on Friday. Mr. Shkreli is serving a seven-year prison sentence for defrauding investors related to his work running two hedge funds and a different pharmaceutical company. That conviction is unrelated to the drug pricing saga that elevated him to notoriety. He is expected to be released this year."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday clarified its stance on various kinds of masks, acknowledging that the cloth masks frequently worn by Americans do not offer as much protection as surgical masks or respirators. While this disparity is widely known to the general public, the update marks the first time the C.D.C. has explicitly addressed the differences. The agency's website also no longer refers to a shortage of respirators.... Its updated language now says that 'a respirator may be considered in certain situations and by certain people when greater protection is needed or desired.' The previous version of the recommendations said individuals may choose to use a disposable N95 respirator instead of a mask 'when supplies are available.' N95 respirators, so named because they can filter out 95 percent of all airborne particles when used correctly, were in short supply early in the pandemic."

Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "A federal website where Americans can order free coronavirus rapid tests will be launched Wednesday and allow each household to order up to four tests, senior administration officials said Friday. The website, called covidtests.gov, will require that users provide their names and addresses to receive the tests. The government purchased 500 million rapid tests that will be available to every household, and will limit to four the number of tests sent to each address, the senior officials said during a briefing with reporters." The article is free to nonsubscribers.

Virginia. Andrea Swalec of NBC 4 Washington, D.C.: "Virginia's incoming governor, Glenn Youngkin [R], said he will lift the state's school mask mandate and change other COVID-19 policies after taking office Saturday, Jan. 15. The change in direction is expected amid what the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association called the fifth surge of the pandemic.... School districts will be able to keep mask recommendations in place, but parents can choose not to follow them, he added."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "A former senior adviser in the Obama administration pleaded guilty on Friday to charges that he had orchestrated a scheme to steal more than $200,000 from a network of charter schools that he founded, prosecutors said. The former adviser, Seth Andrew, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and will face up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on April 14, prosecutors said. He has also agreed to pay restitution to the charter schools he founded, Democracy Prep Public Schools, prosecutors said. Mr. Andrew was charged last April with stealing $218,000 from the network, which teaches mostly low-income students of color in New York and other states. Prosecutors said last year that he had used the money to get a lower interest rate on a mortgage for a $2 million apartment in Manhattan." An NBC News story is here. MB: Greedy bastid.

Ohio. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Thousands of Ohio prison guards will begin wearing body cameras for the first time this year, bringing more transparency inside prison walls at a time when the coronavirus pandemic and guard shortages are making many prisons more dangerous. Annette Chambers-Smith, the head of the state prison agency, said the state was buying 5,100 body-worn cameras that will be used by guards and parole officers in all of the state's prisons.... Axon, the company that is supplying the cameras, said the state was adopting the largest body camera program of any prison agency in the world.... The plan to roll out body cameras follows the death in January of last year of Michael A. McDaniel, a 55-year-old prisoner who collapsed and died after guards pushed him to the ground several times following a fight outside of his cell. A coroner ruled that his death was a homicide...."

Virginia. Teach the Kids about Lincoln Debating Frederick Douglass. Gillian Brockell of the Washington Post: In a bill designed "to ban 'divisive concepts' from being taught in Virginia public schools," Republican freshman Del. Wren Williams inserted some examples of what were proper subjects of discussion. They included "the first debate between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass." Of course Lincoln did not debate the great civil rights leader; rather, he debated Democratic U.S. Sen. Stephen A. Douglas when Lincoln was running to unseat Douglas. (Lincoln lost.) A state agency took responsibility for the bill's error, but Brockell is not convinced. MB: Funny Del. Williams specified including only the first Lincoln-Douglas(s?) debate, which was the one debate (of four) which Brockell says Douglas won. The main topic of the debates was slavery, and Douglas was the more pro-slavery candidate. Anyhow, almost makes you think legislators should butt out of trying to dictate school curricula. (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond

U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Capping a week of abject contrition, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain apologized on Friday to Buckingham Palace for raucous parties held in Downing Street the night before Queen Elizabeth II buried her husband, Prince Philip, in a socially distanced ceremony that left her grieving alone in a choir stall.... The reports of more alcohol-fueled socializing at Downing Street, on the eve of a somber funeral ceremony remembered for its poignant image of an isolated, masked monarch, dealt a fresh blow to an already reeling prime minister.... The Downing Street spokesman did not say whether Mr. Johnson planned to apologize personally to the queen the next time he has a weekly audience with her."

News Ledes

New York TImes: "An underwater volcano erupted on Saturday near the remote Pacific nation of Tonga, triggering tsunami warnings across the South Pacific and for the West Coast of the United States, and causing strong waves and currents in many coastal areas. The volcano's eruption was dramatic, sending plumes of gas and ash thousands of feet into the atmosphere, though early reports of damage were limited. A four-foot tsunami wave was reported to have hit Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa, sending people rushing to higher ground, and witnesses said ash had fallen from the sky. There were no immediate official reports on the extent of injuries or damages, but internet service in the country was disrupted, according to The Associated Press, making it difficult to assess." This report is being live-updated. ~~~

     ~~~ Space.com has some video images here (slow-loader), which RAS linked the other day. A New York Times video is here.

New York Times: &"Heavily armed police officers and F.B.I. negotiators converged Saturday on a synagogue in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where a man who could be heard shouting on a livestream was inside along with other people. Katie Chaumont, an F.B.I. spokeswoman, confirmed that the agency's SWAT team members and crisis negotiators had responded along with the local police to Congregation Beth Israel, a Reform synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, a city of about 26,000 residents that is about 15 miles northeast of Fort Worth." This report is being live-updated. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: "Hours after a man who claimed to have weapons and explosives took a rabbi and several others hostage at a synagogue in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, all the hostages had been rescued, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said on Saturday night.... The suspect died in the standoff, said Michael Miller, police chief of Colleyville, Texas, where the standoff took place." ~~~

     ~~~ An ABC News report is here. It also has been updated to reflect the rescue of the hostages.