The Commentariat -- October 3, 2021

The Pandora Papers. Greg Miller, et al., of the Washington Post: "A massive trove of private financial records shared with The Washington Post exposes vast reaches of the secretive offshore system used to hide billions of dollars from tax authorities, creditors, criminal investigators and -- in 14 cases involving current country leaders -- citizens around the world.... The new material encompasses records from 14 separate financial-services entities.... The revelations include more than $100 million spent by King Abdullah II of Jordan on luxury homes in Malibu, Calif., and other locations; millions of dollars in property and cash secretly owned by the leaders of the Czech Republic, Kenya, Ecuador and other countries; and a waterfront home in Monaco acquired by a Russian woman who gained considerable wealth after she reportedly had a child with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Other disclosures hit closer to home.... South Dakota now rivals notoriously opaque jurisdictions in Europe and the Caribbean in financial secrecy..., some of [the funds sheltered in the state] tied to people and companies accused of human rights abuses and other wrongdoing." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's main story is here. Both the WashPo and Guardian currently have related stories linked on their front pages. The Post is live-updating reactions to some of the revelations.

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

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Kicking the Can Down a Short, Dead-End Road? Ian Duncan of the Washington Post: "The Senate voted Saturday to extend transportation funding programs for a month, a step that grants a reprieve to 3,700 Department of Transportation employees who were furloughed when the money expired on Thursday. The House approved the measure late Friday. President Biden signed the measure into law on Saturday. The fund, designed to provide long-term stability for road and transit projects, expired Thursday night as Democrats clashed over whether to advance a $1 trillion infrastructure bill amid debate that included the future of trillions more in social spending." The Hill's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Jordan Williams of the Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Saturday set a new deadline of Oct. 31 for the House to pass the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. In a 'Dear Colleague' letter released on Saturday. Pelosi said that 'more time was needed' to pass the infrastructure bill along with the larger, $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package after scrambling over the past two days to get enough votes."

Biden Fingers Manchinema for Sinking His Agenda. Molly Nagle of ABC News: "Speaking with reporters ... [Saturday morning, President] Biden [said,] 'We can bring the moderates and progressives together very easy if we had two more votes. Two. Two people.... I'm going to try and sell what I think the American people will buy,' Biden told reporters.... 'There's nothing in any of these pieces of legislation that's radical....'"

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: Kyrsten Sinema is a hot pink mess (or words to that effect). (Also linked yesterday.)

Ellen Knickmeyer of the AP: "The first Women's March of the Biden administration headed straight for the steps of the Supreme Court on Saturday, part of nationwide protests that drew thousands to Washington to demand continued access to abortion in a year when conservative lawmakers and judges have put it in jeopardy. Demonstrators filled the streets surrounding the court, shouting 'My body, my choice' and cheering loudly to the beat of drums. Before heading out on the march, they rallied in a square near the White House...." MB: Best sign I saw was at the Austin, Texas rally: "Texas, where a virus has reproductive rights and a woman doesn't". Unfortunately, the signmaker is right. (Also linked yesterday.)

María Paúl of the Washington Post: "Police this week released more footage from a dispute between 22-year-old Gabby Petito and her now-missing fiance, Brian Laundrie, putting domestic violence in the spotlight and bringing criticism to the officers who handled the couple's fight. With police being the primary responders to intimate-partner violence incidents, experts have questioned whether they are able to handle these situations correctly -- especially with the complexity of domestic violence. For some, the new video shows that community-led measures are necessary. Others said police need better training." MB: I've linked this story because of what it says about law enforcement's reactions to domestic violence. I can tell you from personal experience (albeit a long time ago) that many male cops don't care about physical assaults on women, even when the injuries are glaring & the woman is calm and coherent.

Forgotten Friends. Miriam Jordan & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "... roughly 53,000 Afghans have been living at [military] bases [in the U.S.] since the chaotic evacuation from Kabul this summer that marked the end of 20 years of war. While many Americans have turned their attention away from the largest evacuation of war refugees since Vietnam, the operation is very much a work in progress here, overseen by a host of federal agencies and thousands of U.S. troops. While an initial group of about 2,600 people -- largely former military translators and others who helped allied forces during the war -- moved quickly into American communities, a vast majority remain stranded on these sprawling military way stations, uncertain of when they will be able to start the new American lives they were expecting. An additional 14,000 people are still on bases abroad, waiting for transfer to the United States.... U.S. officials say the delays are a result of a measles outbreak, medical checks and a vaccination campaign, as well as the need to complete immigration processing.... Most bases in the United States are at or near capacity, and Afghan evacuees waiting on bases in the Middle East, Spain and Germany can be flown in only once space opens up."

Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "The committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection and ... Donald Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election will issue 'criminal referrals' to witnesses who refuse to obey subpoena deadlines, Chair Bennie Thompson said Friday.... The panel is also considering offering limited immunity to some witnesses who might be reluctant to share incriminating information with the committee." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times profile John Eastman, the lawyer who laid out the framework for a Trump coup: "John Eastman's path from little-known academic to one of the most influential voices in Donald J. Trump's ear in the final days of his presidency began in mid-2019 on Mr. Trump's favorite platform: television. Mr. Trump, who had never met Mr. Eastman, saw him on the Fox News talk show of the far-right commentator Mark Levin railing against the Russia investigation.... Then, after the November election, Mr. Eastman wrote the memo for which he is now best known, laying out steps that Vice President Mike Pence could take to keep Mr. Trump in power.... Mr. Eastman's rise within Mr. Trump's inner circle in the chaotic final weeks of his administration ... underscores the degree to which Mr. Trump not only relied on, but encouraged, a crew of players from the fringes of politics." ~~~

~~~ New York Times Editors: "However horrifying the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol appeared in the moment, we know now that it was far worse. The country was hours away from a full-blown constitutional crisis -- not primarily because of the violence and mayhem inflicted by hundreds of ... Donald Trump's supporters but because of the actions of Mr. Trump himself. In the days before the mob descended on the Capitol, a corollary attack -- this one bloodless and legalistic -- was playing out down the street in the White House, where Mr. Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and a lawyer named John Eastman huddled in the Oval Office, scheming to subvert the will of the American people by using legal sleight-of-hand.... [The scheme] involved Mr. Pence rejecting dozens of already certified electoral votes representing tens of millions of legally cast ballots, thus allowing Congress to install Mr. Trump in a second term.... Democrats should push through [election & voting] reforms now, and eliminate the filibuster if that's the only way to do so. If they hesitate, they should recall that a majority of the Republican caucus in the House -- 139 members -- along with eight senators, continued to object to the certification of electoral votes even after the mob stormed the Capitol."

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Mike Isaac of the New York Times: A "whistle-blower, whose identity has not been publicly disclosed, planned to accuse [Facebook] of relaxing its security safeguards for the 2020 election too soon after Election Day, which then led it to be used in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, according to [an] internal memo obtained by The New York Times. The whistle-blower planned to discuss the allegations on '60 Minutes' on Sunday, the memo said, and was also set to say that Facebook had contributed to political polarization in the United States.... Facebook has been in an uproar for weeks because of the whistle-blower, who has shared thousands of pages of company documents with lawmakers and The Wall Street Journal." The article republishes in full Facebook's pushback memo, written by company veep Nick Clegg, former Deputy Prime Minister of the U.K. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Over the weekend, I have watched parts of a PBS bio of William Randolph Hearst, the ultra-wealthy (for a while) publisher of a chain of "yellow journalism"-style newspapers. Although there was much about Hearst that was different from Mark Zuckerberg, what they have in common is their great wealth, their power over what Americans read and their arrogant irresponsibility when it comes to accounting for the effects of their substandard publications. I see Hearst & Zuckerberg as equally-dangerous and overly-influential in misdirecting American public opinion.

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court embarks Monday on what could be an extraordinarily controversial term, with its justices on the defensive, its actions and structure under a political microscope and abortion -- the most divisive issue of them all -- taking center stage. Before the term ends next summer, the justices will have weighed in on three major public policy disputes -- guns, religious rights and possibly race, if the court takes up a request to once again review affirmative action in university admissions."

Ian Millhiser of Vox on the Nihilism of Neil Gorsuch: Gorsuch "is broadly anti-government, skeptical of democracy and the institutions that make it possible, and eager to centralize power within the judiciary. That worldview and his certitude of its rightness are married with a willingness, even eagerness, to impose draconian consequences on the nation if he catches someone violating his often-quite-unusual ideas about what the rules should be.... [While claiming to interpret the Constitution textually,] Gorsuch's commitment to textualism can be little more than hot air. He is a selective textualist, who frequently evangelizes in favor of this method of interpretation but often abandons it in cases that reach a conservative result.... As Gorsuch votes to limit the franchise and make it easier for Republican lawmakers to skew the results of elections, he has also launched a direct attack on the free press -- an institution that is essential to any democracy.... His jurisprudence shows utter disregard for the norms of ... [the Court] ... to come up with a system of law that can manage a pluralistic society. It's a revolutionary project, breathtaking in its audacity and nihilistic at its core."

Twitterthumbs Trump Asks for Immediate Relief from Twitter Ban. Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump has asked a court to mandate that Twitter restore his social media account. In a filing late Friday, Trump asked a federal district judge for a preliminary injunction enabling his return to Twitter while his lawsuit against the social media giant continues.... [The filing] argued that Twitter was 'censoring' Trump by indefinitely banning him from the platform.... In July, Trump sued Twitter, Facebook and Google, as well as their chief executives, alleging that they unlawfully silenced conservative viewpoints on their platforms and violated his First Amendment rights by suspending his accounts. Legal experts and business associations predicted the lawsuits had little chance of succeeding in court, given that the First Amendment to the Constitution protects against censorship by the government, not by private companies."

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "The woman who has accused Corey Lewandowski of making unwanted sexual advances last weekend has sent a statement to police outlining her allegations against the former Trump adviser. Trashelle Odom, an Idaho-based Trump donor, alleged that while seated next to Lewandowski at a Las Vegas charity dinner, Lewandowski described his genitalia, boasted about his sexual performance and touched her repeatedly, Politico reported on Wednesday. Odom also alleged that Lewandowski intimidated her by claiming that he wielded enormous power over the former president's orbit and that he had committed violent acts earlier in his life." (Also linked yesterday.)

Lloyd Green, in the Guardian, reviews Stephanie Griffith's tell-all (which doesn't necessarily mean truth-telling) memoir of her unhappy years working four different jobs in the Trump White House. "Grisham's book is salacious and score-settling -- but not entertaining.... The spotlight on Melania is unsparing."

Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A Canadian man who narrated two infamous propaganda videos that the Islamic State used to recruit Westerners and to encourage terrorism attacks was secretly whisked to the United States to face federal prosecution in Virginia. The man, Mohammed Khalifa, 38, a Canadian who traveled to Syria in 2013 and later joined the Islamic State, was charged with material terrorism support that resulted in death, according to a criminal complaint made public on Saturday. He was captured in early 2019 by a Kurdish-led militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is backed by the United States. The militia handed over Mr. Khalifa to F.B.I. agents this week, and he was flown to the United States. Mr. Khalifa, who was born in Saudi Arabia, appears to be the first foreign fighter to be prosecuted in the United States during the Biden administration." MB: There's no indicating in Goldman's report that Canada is objecting to U.S. prosecution of Khalifa.

Programming Note. Maria Cramer of the New York Times: "The evangelical leader Pat Robertson said on Friday that he was stepping down as host of the 'The 700 Club' after more than 50 years at the helm of a program that channeled Christian conservatism into millions of American homes and turned him into a household name.... Mr. Robertson said on the show ... that his son Gordon Robertson would take over as host. [Pat] Robertson, 91, made the announcement at the end of the broadcast on Friday, the 60th anniversary of the Christian Broadcasting Network, which Mr. Robertson started in a small station in Portsmouth, Va., in 1961."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

AP: "Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor denied an emergency appeal from a group of teachers to block New York City's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for public school teachers and other staff from going into effect. Sotomayor ruled on Friday, after the teachers filed for the injunction with her on Thursday to keep the mandate from going into effect. Under the mandate, the roughly 148,000 school employees had until 5 p.m. Friday to get at least their first vaccine shot. Those who didn't face suspension without pay when schools open on Monday." (Also linked yesterday.)

Karl de Vries & Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Justice Brett Kavanaugh has tested positive for Covid-19, the Supreme Court said Friday, the first publicly known case of coronavirus among the high court's justices. Kavanaugh, who is fully vaccinated, tested positive on Thursday night, the court said in a statement. The justice's immediate family tested negative and he has no symptoms. Kavanaugh underwent a routine Covid test Thursday ahead of fellow Justice Amy Coney Barrett's investiture ceremony Friday, which he will no longer be attending out of precaution, the court said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "A template letter [made to sound like a concerned parent expressing impassioned opposition to school mask mandates] circulated by Independent Women's Forum offers a glimpse into a well-resourced campaign [by the Koch fortune & other GOP megadonors] against public health regulations." MB: Oh, don't tell me this anti-mask campaign isn't about politics; I strongly suspect the idea is to make kids sick so President Biden looks bad for not taking control over Covid-19. If that isn't these rich freeedumb-lovers' central motive, I'm sure that find undermining a Democratic President a felicitous side-effect -- even if kids get sick & die. (Also linked yesterday.)

Alaska. Mike Baker of the New York Times: "Nearly two years after the virus began circulating in the United States, some of the scenes here on the country's northern frontier echo the darkest early days of the pandemic: testing supplies are depleted, patients are being treated in hallways and doctors are rationing oxygen [and deciding who lives and who dies].... Through much of the pandemic, Alaska's natural isolation had shielded the state.... But with some pockets of the state wary of taking vaccines and Gov. Mike Dunleavy resisting restrictions to curtail the virus, the state's isolation has become a growing liability as the Delta variant sweeps through.... When the Anchorage Assembly considered a mask mandate last week, some of the doctors who came to speak [in favor of the mandate] were jeered at." ~~~

     ~~~ Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lisa Murkowski gave an impassioned speech Friday on how Alaska's growing coronavirus infection rate has strained the state in unforeseen ways, and she decried protesters comparing mask mandates to actions by the Nazis.... 'We are leading the nation right now in our covid rates,' Murkowski said.... 'If Alaska were a country, it would be the nation with the world's highest per-capita case rate,' Murkowski said.... 'We have had some just horrible, horrible confrontations in our public meetings in Anchorage,' Murkowski said. 'The top of the fold in the Anchorage paper is about an assembly meeting where individuals wore yellow Stars of David to protest the mask ordinance that the Anchorage Assembly was taking up, comparing a mask mandate to the Holocaust. It's shocking.'"

Way Beyond the Beltway

Philippines. Dynastic Ambitions. Jim Gomez & Joeal Calupitan of the AP: "Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday announced he was retiring from politics and dropping plans to run for vice president in next year's elections when his term ends, paving the way for his politician daughter to make a possible bid for the top post. Speaking before reporters, Duterte said many Filipinos have expressed their opposition to his vice-presidential bid in surveys and public forums." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Commentariat -- October 2, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Ellen Knickmeyer of the AP: "The first Women's March of the Biden administration headed straight for the steps of the Supreme Court on Saturday, part of nationwide protests that drew thousands to Washington to demand continued access to abortion in a year when conservative lawmakers and judges have put it in jeopardy. Demonstrators filled the streets surrounding the court, shouting 'My body, my choice' and cheering loudly to the beat of drums. Before heading out on the march, they rallied in a square near the White House...." MB: Best sign I saw was at the Austin, Texas rally: "Texas, where a virus has reproductive rights and a woman doesn't". The signmaker is right.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: Kyrsten Sinema is a hot pink mess (or words to that effect).

Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "The committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection and ... Donald Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election will issue 'criminal referrals' to witnesses who refuse to obey subpoena deadlines, Chair Bennie Thompson said Friday.... The panel is also considering offering limited immunity to some witnesses who might be reluctant to share incriminating information with the committee."

AP: "Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor denied an emergency appeal from a group of teachers to block New York City's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for public school teachers and other staff from going into effect. Sotomayor ruled on Friday, after the teachers filed for the injunction with her on Thursday to keep the mandate from going into effect. Under the mandate, the roughly 148,000 school employees had until 5 p.m. Friday to get at least their first vaccine shot. Those who didn't face suspension without pay when schools open on Monday."

Karl de Vries & Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Justice Brett Kavanaugh has tested positive for Covid-19, the Supreme Court said Friday, the first publicly known case of coronavirus among the high court's justices. Kavanaugh, who is fully vaccinated, tested positive on Thursday night, the court said in a statement. The justice's immediate family tested negative and he has no symptoms. Kavanaugh underwent a routine Covid test Thursday ahead of fellow Justice Amy Coney Barrett's investiture ceremony Friday, which he will no longer be attending out of precaution, the court said."

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "The woman who has accused Corey Lewandowski of making unwanted sexual advances last weekend has sent a statement to police outlining her allegations against the former Trump adviser. Trashelle Odom, an Idaho-based Trump donor, alleged that while seated next to Lewandowski at a Las Vegas charity dinner, Lewandowski described his genitalia, boasted about his sexual performance and touched her repeatedly, Politico reported on Wednesday. Odom also alleged that Lewandowski intimidated her by claiming that he wielded enormous power over the former president's orbit and that he had committed violent acts earlier in his life."

Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "A template letter [made to sound like a concerned parent expressing impassioned opposition to school mask mandates] circulated by Independent Women's Forum offers a glimpse into a well-resourced campaign [by the Koch fortunate & other GOP megadonors] against public health regulations." MB: Oh, don't tell me this anti-mask campaign isn't about politics; I strongly suspect the idea is to make kids sick so President Biden looks bad for not being able to take control over Covid-19. If that isn't these rich freeedumb-lovers' central motive, I'm sure that find undermining a Democratic President a felicitous side-effect -- even if kids get sick & die.

Philippines. Dynastic Ambitions. Jim Gomez & Joeal Calupitan of the AP: "Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday announced he was retiring from politics and dropping plans to run for vice president in next year's elections when his term ends, paving the way for his politician daughter to make a possible bid for the top post. Speaking before reporters, Duterte said many Filipinos have expressed their opposition to his vice-presidential bid in surveys and public forums."

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Tony Romm, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden attempted to quell an internal Democratic rebellion on Friday, pleading with lawmakers to compromise and stay patient as he tried to revive a $1.2 trillion infrastructure proposal and salvage his broader economic agenda from imminent collapse. Biden made the overture during a rare meeting on Capitol Hill in the midst of an intense, acrimonious fight over two pieces of legislation that Democrats were struggling to untangle.... Democrats did not appear to have an immediate way to advance either tranche of spending, stymied by internecine conflicts among their own divided liberal and centrist ranks. For the second time in as many days, party leaders also delayed a planned House vote on the measure to improve the nation's infrastructure.... In comments that appeared directed toward moderates, the president acknowledged the infrastructure package 'ain't going to happen' until Democrats reached agreement over their second tax-and-spending bill." ~~~

     ~~~ Lisa Mascaro & Zeke Miller of the AP: "President Joe Biden pledged Friday on Congress' home ground to 'get it done' as Democrats strained to rescue a scaled-back version of his $3.5 trillion government-overhaul plan and salvage a related public works bill after days of frantic negotiations resulted in no deal. Biden huddled with House Democrats in a private meeting that was part instructional, part morale booster for the tattered caucus of lawmakers, telling them he wanted both bills passed regardless of the time it takes. He discussed a compromise topline of $1.9 trillion to more than $2 trillion, according to lawmakers in the room." ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Weisman & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Biden ... put his own $1 trillion infrastructure bill on hold on Friday, telling Democrats that a vote on the popular measure must wait until Democrats pass his far more ambitious social policy and climate change package. In a closed-door meeting with Democrats on Capitol Hill, Mr. Biden told Democrats for the first time that keeping his two top legislative priorities together had become 'just reality.'... To buy negotiating space, the House passed a stopgap measure to extend federal highway programs that expired on Friday, and the Senate planned to pass the measure as early as Saturday."

Here's Nancy Pelosi's letter to the Democratic caucus, which remarks on their meeting with President Biden Friday.

Don't Bother Me with this "Public Service" Stuff. Jonathan Weisman & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "With Democrats pleading for a deal on a hard-fought social safety net bill, one of the key holdouts, Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, left Washington on Friday. The reason, her spokesman said, was a medical appointment for a foot injury. But on Saturday, she is also scheduled to attend her political action committee's 'retreat' with donors at a high-end resort and spa in Phoenix, three different sources confirmed.... The senator, who is not up for re-election until 2024, has met repeatedly with White House negotiators, but some Democrats say she has not been engaged in the intense negotiations needed to at least come to agreement on a 10-year cost of the bill.... Earlier this week, Ms. Sinema's 'Sinema for Arizona' fund-raising arm held a Capitol Hill event with five business lobbying groups, many of which fiercely oppose the bill she is supposed to be negotiating." MB: I do hope some protesters do locate the "high-end resort & spa" and show Kyrsten's donors what they think of her little outings.

Even David Brooks of the New York Times is disgusted with the holdouts and with the American people who don't seem to care about the transformative nature of the Biden agenda. Brooks writes that a $4 trillion spending package is necessary because "the Democratic spending bills are economic packages that serve moral and cultural purposes.... [The Democrats' bills show] the cultural transformation that good policy can sometimes achieve."

Jeff Stein & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "Senior White House officials privately explored as recently as this week whether the Biden administration could continue making payments even after the federal government breaches the nation's debt ceiling, according to three people familiar with the matter. The review concluded that the White House would be unable to avoid falling behind on obligations and catastrophic economic consequences even if the administration effectively tried to spend in defiance of the debt ceiling, according to one of the officials familiar with the deliberations.... As part of their internal review, White House officials have circulated internal memos with a range of untested theories should Congress fail to resolve the debt ceiling standoff, including the creation of a $1 trillion 'coin' idea that has been popular among some liberals for years...." ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "The fact that Republicans routinely [spout] nonsense is why the Biden administration should mint a $1 trillion platinum coin or declare that the Constitution gives it the right to issue whatever debt is needed to fund the government -- or use some other trick I haven't thought of to ignore the looming crisis.... While this radicalized [Republican] party cheerfully authorizes trillions in borrowing whenever it holds the White House, it weaponizes the debt limit whenever a Democrat is president.... Now..., Democrats control both houses of Congress, but Republicans are using the filibuster to block an increase in the debt ceiling with only weeks to go before we hit a wall and default on payments -- and they aren't even making specific demands. They simply don't want to share any responsibility for governing.... Underlying all of this is the belief that voters will blame [President] Biden for bad things that happen on his watch, even if Republicans deliberately caused those bad things to happen."

Paul Weber of the AP: "The Biden administration on Friday urged a federal judge to block the nation's most restrictive abortion law, which has banned most abortions in Texas since early September and sent women racing to get care beyond the borders of the second-most populous state. But even if the law is put on hold, abortion services in Texas may not instantly resume because doctors still fear that they could be sued without a more permanent legal decision. That worry underscores the durability of Senate Bill 8, which has already withstood a wave of challenges. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman of Austin, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, presided over a nearly three-hour hearing but did not say when he will rule." ~~~

     ~~~ Katie Benner & Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times: "... Wiiliam T. Thompson, a lawyer for the State of Texas, asserted that the federal government had no grounds to be arguing the case, because the law did not harm it.... Brian Netter, a lawyer for the Justice Department, argued on Friday that, contrary to Texas' claims, Senate Bill 8 did directly harm the federal government because it violated the constitutional principal that federal law took precedence over state law if a conflict arose between the two.... He said that the federal government also had to challenge the law because it effectively deprived a group of citizens a constitutional right." Thompson told Judge Pitman that the vigilante process that is at the center of the state law's enforcement mechanism "uses the normal and lawful process of justice in Texas." MB: Well, it isn't normal, it isn't lawful, and there's no justice involved.

Colby Hall of Mediaite: "A shocking new poll from the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia reveals that over half of Trump voters surveyed, and 41% of Biden voters, are in favor of blue and/or red states seceding from the union."

Pretending to Be a Hero Is So Trumpy. Holmes Lybrand, et al., of CNN: "During a rally in Georgia over the weekend..., Donald Trump invited Lance Cpl. Hunter Clark to the stage, implying he was the Marine in a viral video who lifted a child over a wall at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. 'We're also honored to be joined by one of the Marines who bravely served in Kabul during the withdrawal,' Trump said, 'and helped evacuate children over ... the airport wall. You saw him. He did a great job.' Clark told the audience Saturday: 'I am the guy that pulled the baby over the wall and it's definitely probably one of the greatest things I've ever done in my entire life.'... A US Marine Corps spokesperson said Clark was not the individual who lifted the child over a wall in the viral image and that Clark is now being investigated for his appearance at the rally."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Julie Bosman & Lauren Leatherby of the New York Times: "The United States surpassed 700,000 deaths from the coronavirus on Friday, a milestone that few experts had anticipated months ago when vaccines became widely available to the American public. An overwhelming majority of Americans who have died in recent months, a period in which the country has offered broad access to shots, were unvaccinated. The United States has had one of the highest recent death rates of any country with an ample supply of vaccines. The new and alarming surge of deaths this summer means that the coronavirus pandemic has become the deadliest in American history, overtaking the toll from the influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919, which killed about 675,000 people."

Matthew Perrone of the AP: "In a potential leap forward in the global fight against the pandemic, drugmaker Merck said Friday that its experimental pill for people sick with COVID-19 reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half. If cleared by regulators, it would be the first pill shown to treat COVID-19, adding a whole new, easy-to-use weapon to an arsenal that already includes the vaccine. The company said it will soon ask health officials in the U.S. and around the world to authorize the pill's use. A decision from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could come within weeks after that, and the drug, if it gets the OK, could be distributed quickly soon afterward." The Washington Post's report is here.

California. Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: "California's governor on Friday issued the nation's first statewide Covid-19 vaccine mandate for schoolchildren, saying they would be required as soon as next fall to be inoculated against the coronavirus to attend public and private schools in the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom's order adds the coronavirus vaccine to other inoculations, such as for measles and mumps, that are required for nearly seven million students to attend K-12 schools in person. The mandate will first apply to seventh through 12th grades, and then kindergarten through sixth grades, but only after the Food and Drug Administration grants full approval to a vaccine for those age groups. The mandate is one of the largest announced during [the] coronavirus pandemic.... Another sweeping order that requires health care workers to be vaccinated took effect on Thursday in California, following similar -- and in some cases, even more stringent -- mandates in New York, Rhode Island, Maine, Oregon and the District of Columbia." The AP's report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Fraduit a Bigger Sham Than We Knew. Michael Wines & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "The circuslike review of the 2020 vote commissioned by Arizona Republicans took another wild turn on Friday when veteran election experts charged that the very foundation of its findings -- the results of a hand count of 2.1 million ballots -- was based on numbers so unreliable that they appear to be guesswork rather than tabulations. The organizers of the review 'made up the numbers,' the headline of the experts' report reads. The experts, a data analyst for the Arizona Republican Party and two retired executives of an election consulting firm in Boston, said in their report that workers for the investigators failed to count thousands of ballots in a pallet of 40 ballot-filled boxes delivered to them in the spring. The final report by the Republican investigators concluded that President Biden actually won 99 more votes than were reported, and that ... Donald J. Trump tallied 261 fewer votes. But given the large undercount found in just a sliver of the 2.1 million ballots, it would effectively be impossible for the Republican investigators to arrive at such precise numbers, the experts said.... Nonetheless, the review has been embraced by Mr. Trump and his followers even as its findings have been overwhelmingly refuted." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: AND another thing: it took the experts only a few weeks to complete their analysis & report; it took the Cyber Ninjas months to "complete" their fraudit. Of course the experts probably failed to count all the bamboo strands in each paper ballot, which one imagines is time-consuming.

The Commentariat -- October 1, 2021

** Jonathan Weisman & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Biden's trillion-dollar bipartisan infrastructure plan suffered a significant setback late Thursday night when House Democratic leaders, short of support amid a liberal revolt, put off a planned vote on a crucial plank of their domestic agenda. Democratic leaders and supporters of the bill insisted the postponement was only a temporary setback. The infrastructure vote was rescheduled for Friday, giving them more time to reach agreement on an expansive climate change and social safety net bill that would bring liberals along.... Given the distance between the party's left flank and a few centrists on that larger bill, it was not clear when or even whether either would have the votes -- and whether Mr. Biden's economic agenda could be revived." The AP's story is here.

** Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Congress on Thursday approved a measure to fund the government into early December, staving off a shutdown that was set to occur after midnight. The votes in the House and Senate followed weeks of hand wringing between the two parties, after Democrats initially sought to move the measure along with another proposal to raise the country's debt ceiling. Senate Republicans blocked that effort, leaving the country's ability to borrow unresolved just 18 days before the next major fiscal deadline. The funding stopgap sustains federal agencies' existing spending until December 3, at which point Congress must adopt another short-term fix, called a continuing resolution, or pass a dozen appropriations bills that fund federal agencies through the 2022 fiscal year. The new measure also includes billions of dollars to assist in responding to two recent, deadly hurricanes that battered the Gulf Coast and Easter Seaboard, as well as other money to aid in resettling refugees arriving from Afghanistan. ~~~

~~~ [**] "Still unresolved is the fight over the debt ceiling, the statutory limit on U.S. borrowing. The cap allows the government to rack up debt to pay its bills. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has told Congress that her agency will run out of flexibility to avoid missing payments after October 18, at which point Washington would face the unprecedented threat of default unless Congress acts. House Democrats on Wednesday adopted a measure to raise the debt ceiling, but Senate ... Republicans have refused to raise the debt ceiling...." The AP's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

The new lede to Romm's report: "Congress on Thursday approved a measure to fund the government into early December, and President Biden signed the bill hours later, staving off a shutdown that was set to occur after midnight." ~~~

~~~ A Narrow Defeat of Trump's Xenophobic Lemmings. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "The evenly divided Senate narrowly turned back a Republican amendment Thursday that sought to curtail assistance to Afghan refugees who were rapidly evacuated to the United States and that would have made it more difficult for them to obtain Real IDs. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sought to attach the amendment to legislation to fund the government into early December, which is expected to pass later Thursday with bipartisan support. Cotton's amendment received 50 votes, one short of the number needed to succeed. The tally broke along partisan lines.... Cotton's amendment sought to cut off housing, food and medical aid, among other assistance, as of March 31, 2023, for Afghans who were granted parole to quickly enter the United States. Cotton also sought to delete language from the spending legislation that would allow recent Afghan refugees to get driver's licenses or identification cards without some documentation typically required.... Donald Trump [urged Republicans to vote against the underlying bill because] the provisions affecting Afghan refugees amounted to 'a major immigration rewrite' that would provide 'free welfare and government-issued IDs.'"

Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is pressing ahead with her plan to stage a Thursday vote on the Senate-passed infrastructure bill, brushing aside threats from liberals vowing to sink the proposal and expressing confidence it will pass. 'We're on a path to win the vote,' Pelosi said. 'I don't want to even consider any options other than that.' Pelosi has promised moderate members of her caucus a Thursday vote on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, which passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support last month. (Also linked yesterday.)

Burgess Everett of Politico: "Joe Manchin proposed a deal to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer this summer to limit the total cost of Democrats' sweeping spending bill to $1.5 trillion, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by Politico. Manchin also suggested beginning debate no earlier than Oct. 1.... The one-page understanding is dated July 28, right before the Senate passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill that Manchin helped write and ahead of Senate passage of a budget setting up a spending bill as large as $3.5 trillion.... Both Manchin and Schumer signed the document. Schumer wrote a note saying that he 'will try to dissuade Joe on many of these.'... In a chaotic press conference on Capitol Hill after this story published, Manchin said the document cleared the way for August's action on his bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Senate budget."

Wednesday night, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) threw some shade on Joe Machin &, especially, Kyrsten Sinema: ~~~

~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: Porter's "essential point is this: Public servants should feel a basic obligation to level with the voters who granted them the privilege of being their representatives. While more may be happening in private talks than we know, all signs are that Sinema's caginess is edging toward a level of deceptiveness that borders on betrayal of public duty.... Stressing that it's impossible to negotiate until centrists say what they want, Porter added: 'I was not elected to read the mind of Kyrsten Sinema. Thank goodness, because I have no idea what she's thinking.'... As the Times reports, Sinema and Manchin still won't 'enumerate the contours of a bill they could support.'"

The Brave Women of the House. Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Representative Cori Bush, a Democrat from Missouri..., on Thursday ... told a House panel that she is also a rape survivor who had an abortion after she was attacked on a church trip when she was 17.... 'In the summer of 1994,' she declared, 'I was raped, I became pregnant and I chose to have an abortion.' With the right to abortion under threat after a major Supreme Court setback, Ms. Bush was one of three Democratic congresswomen who sat at a witness table to share their personal experiences with terminating a pregnancy. The hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform reflected a sharp cultural divide, with Republicans accusing Democrats of 'glorifying and normalizing' abortion, and Democrats making their point -- that abortion is a decision best left to women and their doctors -- in matter-of-fact terms. Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, got an abortion when she was a young mother caring for a very sick child and struggling to recover from postpartum depression so severe that she considered suicide. Her doctor told her that carrying a second child to term would be extremely risky for both her and the baby.... Representative Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, was the first Black cheerleader in her high school ... when she got pregnant before abortion was legal in the United States. Her mother sent her to a friend in Texas, who took her for a 'back alley' abortion at a clinic in Mexico. 'A lot of girls and women in my generation didn't make it -- they died from unsafe abortions,' she said."

Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Thursday confirmed Tracy Stone-Manning to be the director of the Bureau of Land Management in a party-line vote, amid intense opposition from Republicans over her involvement three decades ago with environmental activists who sabotaged an Idaho timber sale. She was confirmed by a 50-to-45 vote.... The vote ends a period of more than four years when the land management agency responsible for 245 million acres in the West had no confirmed director.... During the Trump administration, the agency pushed to increase oil and gas drilling on public lands, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country." Read on for the supposed controversy surrounding an incident in which Stone-Manning was involved in 1989. Senate Republicans accused her of "collaborating with eco-terrorists," but it appears the opposite is true.

Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "The Senate confirmed Rohit Chopra on Thursday to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a 50-to-48 party-line vote that overcame objections from Republicans who said he would wield the bureau's sweeping powers to pursue an anti-business agenda. Mr. Chopra, 39, served most recently as a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, which he often criticized for what he viewed as a reluctance to crack down on violators. Facebook and Google were particular targets of his ire; citing 'the endless scandals involving large technology firms,' he called for much larger financial penalties and stiffer constraints. As President Biden's choice for director, Mr. Chopra will be returning to an agency he helped build.... To advance Mr. Chopra's nomination to the final vote, Vice President Kamala Harris broke a tie on a procedural vote."

Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued broad new directives to immigration officers Thursday saying that the fact that someone is an undocumented immigrant 'should not alone be the basis' of a decision to detain and deport them from the United States. The Biden administration will continue to prioritize the arrest and deportation of immigrants who pose a threat to national security and public safety and those who recently crossed a border illegally into the United States, Mayorkas said in an interview. Mayorkas said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers should not attempt to arrest and deport farmworkers, the elderly and others who were vulnerable to deportation under the Trump administration, which allowed agents to arrest anyone in the United States illegally. He also said agents should avoid detaining immigrants who land on their radar because they spoke out against 'unscrupulous' landlords or employers, or at public demonstrations. The new rules take effect Nov. 29." ~~~

~~~ Wait, Greg Abbott Has a Better Idea. Arelis Hernández, et al., of the Washington Post: "Deriding the Biden administration's border policy as a fruitless 'catch and release' strategy as illegal crossings soared, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vowed this summer to 'start arresting everybody.' The federal government is in charge of immigration enforcement. But the state, said Abbott (R), could lock migrants up for trespassing. Now, the crackdown has overwhelmed the criminal justice system at Texas's southern border. Critics see a move to please the governor's conservative base that has created a whole new crisis without solving the first one. Hundreds of migrants have been detained in repurposed state prisons without formal charges, many in limbo for so long that they legally must be released. Prosecutors are backlogged with unprecedented caseloads as more arrests roll in each day. Alarmed defense attorneys accuse the state of creating a 'separate and unequal' legal system for undocumented immigrants deprived of due process." MB: Brilliant, Greggers.

** Jordan Libowitz & Lauren White of CREW: "Newly obtained recordings show US Park Police overwhelmed on January 6, hours before rioters attacked the Capitol, with insufficient resources and action taken to control the fray across the city. Seven hours of radio recordings from Park Police, obtained and reviewed by CREW, reveal a law enforcement agency inundated with risks before then-President Trump even gave his fateful speech, with thousands of unattended vehicles and bags, mobs of protestors at the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument and armed individuals.... USPP was unprepared for the threat of a riot, lacking manpower, plans and supplies, including radio batteries." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So how come, while this was going on at the center of the federal complex, no security personnel were calling out the troops to prevent What Happened Next? If you read the USPP communications CREW reports, you'll see they make even more suspect the DHS National Ops report that came out just before 1:40 pm ET January 6 stating that there "are no major incidents of illegal activity at this time." These people had access to seven hours of frantic police reports of "illegal activities" on the Mall. Pardon my conspiracy theorizing, but either Trump's DHS was alarmingly inept OR it looked the other way as part of a widespread scheme to aid Trump's plot to disrupt the Electoral College count & install his own Electors.

Sam Speaks: You People Are So Mean. Robert Barnes & Mike Berardino of the Washington Post: "Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. on Thursday defended the Supreme Court's actions in letting a controversial and restrictive Texas abortion law go into effect, and said criticism of the court's recent decisions in emergency cases was an attempt to intimidate the justices. In a speech at the University of Notre Dame, the veteran conservative justice lambasted the use of the term 'shadow docket' to describe the emergency applications that come before the court, a process in place for years but which has increased in frequency." Politico's story is here.

Sonia Speaks: You People Have the Power. Ariane de Vogue of CNN: "Days before the start of a tumultuous term, and after the Supreme Court justices divided bitterly over a Texas law that bars most abortions after six weeks, Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned an audience of law students about the frustration of having to write dissents. 'There is going to be a lot of disappointment in the law, a huge amount,' she said Wednesday at an event hosted by the American Bar Association. 'Look at me, look at my dissents.' Earlier this month, Sotomayor penned a scathing opinion when the court's majority allowed the Texas law to go into effect, calling the action 'stunning.' 'You know, I can't change Texas' law,' Sotomayor said Wednesday, 'but you can and everyone else who may or may not like it can go out there and be lobbying forces in changing laws that you don't like.'"

Durham Revives "Lock Her Up." Evan Perez & Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Special Counsel John Durham has issued a new set of subpoenas, including to a law firm with close ties to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, an indication that Durham could be trying to build a broader criminal case, according to people briefed on the matter. So far, Durham's two-year probe into the FBI's Russia investigation hasn't brought about the cases Republicans hoped it would." ~~~

~~~ Durham Spins a Yarn. Charlie Savage & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "John H. Durham ... indicted a cybersecurity lawyer this month on a single count of lying to the F.B.I. But Mr. Durham used a 27-page indictment to lay out a far more expansive tale, one in which four computer scientists who were not charged in the case 'exploited' their access to internet data to develop an explosive theory about cyberconnections in 2016 between Donald J. Trump&'s company and a Kremlin-linked bank -- a theory, he insinuated, they did not really believe.... Defense lawyers for the scientists say it is Mr. Durham's indictment that is misleading. Their clients, they say, believed their hypothesis was a plausible explanation for the odd data they had uncovered -- and still do.... The data remains [remain!] a mystery."

** Official Secret Murders. Tim Arango & Shaila Dewan of the New York Times: "Police killings in America have been undercounted by more than half over the past four decades, according to a new study that raises pointed questions about racial bias among medical examiners and highlights the lack of reliable national record keeping on what has become a major public health and civil rights issue. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Washington and published on Thursday in The Lancet, a major British medical journal, amounts to one of the most comprehensive looks at the scope of police violence in America, and the disproportionate impact on Black people.... About 55 percent of fatal encounters with the police between 1980 and 2018 were listed as another cause of death. The findings reflect both the contentious role of medical examiners and coroners in obscuring the real extent of police violence, and the lack of centralized national data on an issue that has caused enormous upheaval. Private nonprofits and journalists have filled the gap by mining news reports and social media.... Black Americans were 3.5 times as likely to be killed by the police as white Americans were."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Covid-19 memorial on the National Mall. Time-lapse photo by firewalled National Geographic. Click on photo to see larger image.

Paul Duggan & Alex Horton of the Hill: "A group of lawsuit plaintiffs, including four Air Force officers and a Secret Service agent, have asked a federal court to block the Biden administration's coronavirus vaccination mandates, declaring, 'Americans have remained idle for far too long as our nation's elected officials continue to satisfy their voracious appetites for power.' The lawsuit, filed Sept. 23 in U.S. District Court in Washington, seeks an injunction that would halt vaccination requirements announced recently for millions of workers in federal executive-branch agencies, including contractors, as well as U.S. troops. Although people with legitimate religious or medical objections are exempt from the immunization policies, officials said, the 10 plaintiffs allege that the mandates, enacted by President Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, violate the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom and are prohibited by federal laws." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, it's pretty much a "voracious appetite for power" that drove Joe Biden to try to save the lives of people who probably voted against him and will again.

Lauren Weber of Kaiser Health News, published by NBC News: "Rural Americans are dying of Covid at more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts -- a divide that health experts say is likely to widen as access to medical care shrinks for a population that tends to be older, sicker, heavier, poorer and less vaccinated. While the initial surge of Covid-19 deaths skipped over much of rural America, where roughly 15 percent of Americans live, nonmetropolitan mortality rates quickly started to outpace those of metropolitan areas as the virus spread nationwide before vaccinations became available, according to data from the Rural Policy Research Institute."

Mandates Work. Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: "Until now, the biggest unknown about mandating Covid-19 vaccines in workplaces has been whether such requirements would lead to compliance or to significant departures by workers unwilling to get shots -- at a time when many places were already facing staffing shortages. So far, a number of early mandates show few indications of large-scale resistance.... Unlike other incentives -- 'prizes, perks, doughnuts, beer, we've seen just about everything offered to get people vaccinated' -- mandates are among the few levers that historically have been effective in increasing compliance, said Dr. [John] Swartzberg [of the University of California, Berkeley] who has tracked national efforts to increase rates of inoculation.... A number of the earliest mandates have been in places where vaccination rates were already relatively high, suggesting that their efficacy in other corners of the country remains somewhat untested."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

New York. George Joseph & Micah Loewinger of the Gothamist: "New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's office said it will scrutinize NYPD ranks following a WNYC/Gothamist investigation of online records that appears to tie several New York law enforcement officers and public officials -- including at least two active members of the NYPD -- to a far-right, anti-government militia. The mayor's investigation comes after an anonymous hacker released what it claims are emails and membership data from the Oath Keepers, an extremist militia group that had a notable presence at the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.... The NYPD officers whose names matched information listed in the hacked records could not be confirmed as active members and so WNYC/Gothamist has chosen not to name them."

South Dakota. Michael Scherer & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) announced Thursday that she would stop working with former Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski after allegations surfaced that he had sexually harassed a donor at a dinner they both attended in Las Vegas. The actions follow a decision by ... Donald Trump, conveyed through a spokesman, to cut ties with Lewandowski, his 2016 campaign manager and the current head of a Trump-affiliated fundraising effort, after a donor accused Lewandowski of repeatedly groping her and making unwanted sexual comments at an event last weekend that Noem also attended. Charles Herbster, a Republican candidate for governor in Nebraska, also announced Thursday that he was asking Lewandowski to step back from his role as a senior adviser to the campaign." Politico's story is here. ~~~

    ~~~ Marie: Apparently it is not a good idea to get drunk & sexually harass a donor in front of witnesses, including his erstwhile girlfriend Noem (see yesterday's Commentariat for context). While there is nothing remotely humorous about alcoholism and sexual harassment, it does please me to see that horse's ass Lewindowski get his comeuppance.

Texas. Steve M. highlights a (firewalled) Houston Chronicle story about how the State of Texas' General Land Office (headed by Trumpy Commissioner George P. Bush) will distribute almost no Hurricane Harvey federal relief funds to Houston, where about half of the hurricane's devastation occurred. And "almost no" is an improvement over "no" funds to Houston, which was the Office's original plan. Georgie, BTW, falsely blamed the federal government for the iniquitous distribution plan. Steve wishes Houston & other liberal-leaning cities could secede from the red states in which they're stuck.

Way Beyond

France. Rick Noack of the Washington Post: "Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of having illegally financed his unsuccessful 2012 presidential campaign and sentenced to one year in prison that can be served at home with electronic monitoring, marking another defeat in court for the 66-year-old. Sarkozy was already convicted and sentenced to prison in a separate trial earlier this year. He appealed that earlier verdict, delaying it from taking effect, and his lawyer said Thursday that he would also appeal the second conviction. Given that short prison sentences in France can typically be waived, it remains unclear whether Sarkozy would have to spend any time incarcerated, even if both appeals were to be rejected."

News Lede

A Zeal of Zebras Roams the Maryland Burbs. New York Times: "A month after they escaped from a farm in Maryland, five zebras have evaded capture and are continuing to ramble across the wilds of suburban Prince George's County, eking out a living on territory far from the grasslands of East Africa. There has been no shortage of sightings."