February 12, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Steve Hendrix, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden in an hourlong call on Saturday warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of 'swift and severe costs' if Russia attacks Ukraine, the White House said. The conversation came as most personnel began evacuating from the U.S. embassy in Kyiv amid intensifying warnings that Moscow could launch an immediate assault." The AP's story is here.

Rob Gillies & Mike Householder of the AP: "A tense standoff at a U.S.-Canadian border crossing crucial to both countries' economies appeared to be dissolving peacefully Saturday as Canadian police moved in to disperse the nearly weeklong blockade and demonstrators began leaving without resistance. Many demonstrators drove away from the Ambassador Bridge spanning the river between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, as scores of police approached shortly after dawn. They had spent the night there in defiance of new warnings to end the blockade, which disrupted the flow of traffic and goods and forced the auto industry on both sides to roll back production."

Joe Levine of the New York Post: "A tree-trimming company partly owned by Dr. Oz and his wife Lisa's family was fined $95 million by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency over a scheme to knowingly employ illegal immigrants. The fine against Asplundh Tree Experts Co. was the largest ever levied in ICE history according to a 2017 agency press release.... The company was co-founded by Carl Asplundh, the maternal grandfather of Lisa Oz and remains controlled by family members. Dr. Oz is listed as a 'shareholder' in the company.... Dr. Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon and Oprah protege, injected some star power into a closely-watched GOP Senate primary in Pennsylvania.... 'Neither Dr. Oz nor Lisa Oz have even worked at the company or had any involvement in decision-making regarding its business practices, period,' said campaign spokeswoman Erin Perrine." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Not long ago, Asplundh spent about half a day removing trees from around power lines that run across my property. As far as I heard, the workers all spoke with standard American accents. P.S. I can't believe I'm citing a New York Post story. I wonder if Rupert Murdoch has a dog in the Pennsylvania Senate hunt -- a dog not named "Oz."

Canada. Rob Gillies & Mike Householder of the AP: "A tense standoff at a U.S.-Canadian border crossing crucial to both countries' economies appeared to be dissolving peacefully Saturday as Canadian police moved in to disperse the nearly weeklong blockade and demonstrators began leaving without resistance. Many demonstrators drove away from the Ambassador Bridge spanning the river between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, as scores of police approached shortly after dawn. They had spent the night there in defiance of new warnings to end the blockade, which disrupted the flow of traffic and goods and forced the auto industry on both sides to roll back production."

France. Deutsche Welle: "Protesters in cars and vans converged on Paris to protest the government and for a variety of populist causes.... Parisian police mobilized on Saturday, firing tear gas at one point on the Champs Elysees and issuing more than 200 citations in an effort to disrupt French motorists from converging on the city. Despite police efforts, by early afternoon Saturday, vehicles involved in the so-called protest convoy had made it past police and caused traffic jams around the Arc de Triomphe in the center of the city.... The primary demands of the French protesters are for the government to withdraw the vaccine pass requirement to enter many public places and for assistance with energy bills as costs soar."

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The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the Ukraine/Russia crisis. ~~~

~~~ Matthew Lee of the AP: "The United States is set to evacuate its embassy in Kyiv as Western intelligence officials warn that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is increasingly imminent. U.S. officials said the State Department plans to announce early Saturday that virtually all American staff at the Kyiv embassy will be required to leave ahead of a feared Russian invasion. A small number of officials may remain in Kyiv but the vast majority of the almost 200 Americans at the embassy will be sent out or relocated to Ukraine's far west, near the Polish border, so the U.S. can retain a diplomatic presence in the country." ~~~

~~~ Katie Rogers & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "The United States warned on Friday that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia could mount a major military assault on Ukraine at any moment, suggesting a crisis that had been building for months has reached a critical phase. The Pentagon, which has ruled out deploying troops to defend Ukraine, sent 3,000 soldiers to neighboring Poland on Friday as tensions mounted, reinforcing the U.S. military personnel being dispatched to help NATO allies. A host of countries, fearing an imminent invasion, told their citizens to leave Ukraine. And President Biden spent more than an hour on a call with allies to discuss 'diplomacy and deterrence,' the White House said. Ukraine warned that drills by Russia and Russian-backed separatists had left the country all but encircled and its ports effectively blockaded, the latest evidence of a shift in tone after weeks in which Ukraine's leaders had downplayed the threat of an attack. With the United States pushing for a diplomatic solution, Mr. Putin and Mr. Biden will speak by phone on Saturday.... U.S. officials have picked up intelligence that Russia is considering Wednesday as the possible date for the start of military action...." A Politico report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Jim Heintz of the AP: "Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden are to hold a high-stakes telephone call on Saturday as tensions over a possibility imminent invasion of Ukraine escalated sharply.... Before talking to Biden, Putin is to have a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, who met with him in Moscow earlier in the week to try to resolve the crisis." ~~~

     ~~~ Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "The United States has obtained new intelligence that suggests Russia is planning to stage an attack that it would falsely blame on Ukraine to justify invading the country, possibly as early as next week, according to multiple U.S. and European officials who have reviewed the intelligence or been briefed on it. The intelligence about a 'false flag' operation was discussed in a quickly convened meeting in the White House Situation Room on Thursday evening and helped prompt renewed calls from the Biden administration for all Americans to leave Ukraine immediately, according to officials familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence." ~~~

~~~ John Hudson & David Stern of the Washington Post: "With Russian warships and tanks encircling his country amid dire warnings from the United States about an impending invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has shown himself to be resistant to the pressure he faces from Russia -- and from Europe, too. On Friday, Zelensky's aides returned home to Kyiv after facing off with Russian counterparts in Berlin during the latest round of talks, brokered by France and Germany, aimed at ending the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.... 'The Ukrainians presented a very hard position,' said Russian envoy Dmitry Kozak, noting that it was impossible to reconcile conflicting interpretations of an accord, known as the Minsk agreements, designed to halt the fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists."

Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Biden on Thursday said he rejected the accounts and findings of an Army investigative report in which military officials reportedly criticized Biden administration officials for failing to grasp the situation in Afghanistan as U.S. forces withdrew.... The [Washington] Post reported earlier this week that the Army report stretches thousands of pages and contains sworn testimony from commanders involved in the withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"One of the Worst Human Beings." Steve Benen of MSNBC: "When [Sen. Josh] Hawley [R is for Russia] ...suggest[ed] that the White House give Vladimir Putin the NATO commitments the Russian autocrat wants, Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger called Hawley 'one of the worst human beings,' and a self-aggrandizing 'con artist.' Soon after, the editorial board of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch told readers that Hawley is 'grossly unfit' for office. This week..., Politico reported: 'Frustrations with Sen. Josh Hawley's monthslong slow-walking of Pentagon nominees boiled over on Thursday, as one top Democrat [-- Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) --] slammed the Missouri Republican for hamstringing the military as it responds to the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine."

Many Returns of the Year. Lisa Rein & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Nearly 24 million taxpayers are still waiting for the Internal Revenue Service to process their tax returns from last year -- a number far larger than previously reported by the agency -- with many refunds being held up for ten months or more.... The backlog will probably further slow service in the 2022 filing season; the Treasury Department, the IRS's parent agency, warned in January that it expected its response to be subpar this year.... A group of 30 Senate Republicans wrote in a Thursday letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig. They pointed to a raft of delayed returns, some dating back to the 2019 filing season.... But some Republicans simultaneously are working to block any new federal aid that might help the agency, and the letter did not endorse any spending. The IRS's productivity plummeted >during the coronavirus pandemic as thousands of employees worked from home for months without access to returns, audits and other business -- difficulties that followed years of budget cuts. The federal stimulus measures also added to the agency's workload, as it emphasized getting relief money to millions of Americans. Paper returns took the greatest hit, as mail piled up on trucks outside closed offices for months."

Archives Threatened to Call the DOJ, Sic Congress on Trump. Gabby Orr, et al., of CNN: "In May 2021, the realization that important items from [Donald] Trump's time in office ... were not transferred to the Archives at the end of his presidency prompted NARA officials to contact Trump's team.... In a statement on Thursday, Trump claimed..., 'The papers were given easily and without conflict and on a very friendly basis.'... [But] in a series of interviews with CNN, a half-dozen people familiar with the matter described a tense situation that took nearly eight months to resolve -- beginning with NARA's outreach in May and ending with its retrieval of the boxes from Mar-a-Lago last month. In the end, it may have been a threat that ended the impasse. At one point, the Archives notified a member of Trump's team that it planned to alert Congress and the Department of Justice of the matter if it wasn't quickly resolved...."

"Projection Is Always the Sincerest Form of Trumpism." Chris Truax of the Bulwark: "... in the before times back in 2020, Nancy Pelosi made brief headlines for tearing up a copy of Trump's speech at the State of the Union address.... [MAGA world freaked out.] Matt Gaetz even filed a formal complaint with the House Ethics committee and asked that Pelosi be referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution.... To cap it all off, Donald Trump himself condemned Pelosi for her 'illegal' actions. 'Well, I thought it was a terrible thing when she ripped up the speech. First of all, it's an official document. You're not allowed -- it's illegal what she did.' Of course..., the copy of his speech that Trump handed to Pelosi was not an 'official record.' As a legal matter, it was simply a piece of paper and her personal property. And now, almost exactly two years to the day later, President Trump has been referred to the Department of Justice for -- and I have tears in my eyes as I write this -- ripping up official documents.... When most countries face a wave of populist authoritarianism, it's being led by an Orban or a Mussolini. Ours is being led by Elmer Fudd, a leader so incompetent and so ... actively stupid that it almost beggars description." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ron Charles of the Washington Post reviews Donald Trump's picture book: "Images are the perfect lexicon for Trump to articulate a fantastical revision of his four chaotic years in office. Freed from the complexities of language or the context of history, the former president spins a dreamscape of adulation and triumph.... It's remarkable how effectively this presentation captures Trump's wandering mind and self-sabotaging bitterness.... No moment, no matter how celebratory, can calm this author's need to lash out at his perceived enemies.... Below a photo of an intimate dinner party that includes Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Mark Zuckerberg, Trump writes, 'Mark Zuckerberg would come to the White House and kiss my ass.'"

Jason Leopld & Anthony Cormier of BuzzFeed News: "The Department of Justice released a new version of the Mueller report Friday afternoon that reveals for the first time that former special counsel Robert Mueller considered charging Donald Trump Jr. with a misdemeanor 'computer intrusion' crime for accessing a website using a password he obtained from WikiLeaks. The new version of the report on Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election also said that Mueller declined, citing insufficient evidence, to charge the political operative Roger Stone with crimes related to the hacking of Democratic National Committee computers and email accounts. And the report 'did not establish' that the Trump campaign's then-director of national security, JD Gordon, was acting on behalf of Russia when he arranged for changes to the Republican platform during the 2016 convention. The new version of the Mueller report contains nearly a dozen new unredacted passages and was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by BuzzFeed News in 2019."

Jonathan Partlow of the Washington Post: "A federal judge restored protections for gray wolves in much of the country, reversing a decision by the Trump administration that stripped Endangered Species Act protections and exposed the animals to aggressive hunting in areas where they were nearly killed off years ago. The decision by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White in Northern California immediately reimposes safeguards for wolf populations in the Lower 48 outside of northern Rocky Mountain states -- one of the hotbeds of wolf hunting -- and puts federal officials in charge of managing wolf populations in places such as the Great Lakes region, the Pacific coast and other parts of their range."

Elahi Izadi & Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "[A] federal jury on Friday afternoon began deliberating the [defamation] case [Sarah Palin brought against the New York Times], the first libel case against the Times to get to trial in the United States in nearly two decades. Since Palin, the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president, is a public figure, her lawyers must prove not only that the Times defamed her but that the paper was motivated by 'actual malice.' If they prevail, either now or on appeal, the case could upend the long-standing protections afforded journalists writing about prominent people."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Sharon LaFraniere & Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "In a striking reversal, federal regulators said on Friday that they would wait for data on how well three doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine work in children younger than 5 before deciding whether to authorize the vaccine for that age group. The decision by the Food and Drug Administration most likely rules out shots for roughly 18 million of the nation's youngest children until at least April. The Biden administration had been hoping to expand vaccination to those 6 months through 4 years of age as early as next week. They are the only Americans not yet eligible for shots. Pfizer-BioNTech asked for the delay after the companies discovered that the Omicron wave had led to a far higher rate of infection than they had previously recorded among young volunteers in their clinical trial. The new data underscored that the Omicron variant was better than the earlier Delta variant at evading the vaccine's protection, and it showed that two doses, which had already fallen short by another measure, were not effective enough." The AP report is here.

Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance on Friday for some people with weakened immune systems, recommending they get a booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine three months after completing the initial series of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shots, rather than the current interval of five months." The article is free to nonsubscribers.

Canada. Maite Simon, et al., of the Washington Post: "An Ontario court on Friday ordered protesters to end their blockade of a key bridge connecting Canada with the United States as the country headed into a third weekend of 'Freedom Convoy' demonstrations.... Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz gave protesters until 7 p.m. to end the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, the busiest crossing on the U.S.-Canada border and a vital supply route between automakers on both sides. It was not immediately clear what would happen at 7 p.m." An AP report is here. ~~~

~~~ Get Out! The Canadian trucker "protest" situation is so dire, the New York Times is running a liveblog: "Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, declared a state of emergency for the entire province on Friday, as the police in Ottawa braced for thousands of protesters to descend for the third consecutive weekend of a crisis that has disrupted international supply chains. 'With a protest, you make your point and you go back home. I know that's what the vast majority did,' Mr. Ford said at a news conference. 'My message to those still in Ottawa, those still in our border crossing, to those who brought their children: Please take them home. And it's time to do so peacefully.' Otherwise, 'there will be consequences, and they will be severe,' he said, adding, 'Your right to make a political statement does not outweigh the right of thousands of workers to make a living.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

France. Thomas Adamson of the AP: "Paris police intercepted at least 500 vehicles attempting to enter the French capital Saturday, in defiance of a police order, to take part in protests against virus restrictions inspired by Canada's horn-honking 'Freedom Convoy.' The police said on Twitter that several convoys were stopped from entering at key city arteries and over 200 motorists were handed tickets. Elsewhere, at least two protesters were detained amid a seizure of knives, hammers and other objects in one central Parisian square. Some 7,000 officers have been mobilized for the weekend protests. Police have created checkpoints, deployed armored personnel carriers and set up water cannons to brace the city for the protests. So far, the police blockade action has seemed effective." ~~~

~~~ Back in the U.S.S.A. Kiera Butler of Mother Jones: "Heartened by the size and disruption of the Canada protest, activists in the United States are now planning their own domestic convoys. On Telegram, leaders of the California anti-vaccine group Freedom Angels Foundation are urging followers to create national and local convoys, and calling on those who can't participate to donate supplies. Telegram threads from Southern California planning groups obtained by Mother Jones show that these groups, like their Canadian counterparts, have attracted extremists, including prominent white nationalists. Parents are heavily involved, too, offering the use of family vehicles and enlisting their children for moral support.... Overtly racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic comments are a constant theme.... A source who follows the convoy-organizing groups closely marveled a the way parents seemed to be in thrall to extremist leaders. 'These people are PTA presidents, moms, everyday families,' the source said. 'And they are working together with white nationalists.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Ali Velshi of MSNBC said on-air that these "plans" are mostly "aspirational," and that there doesn't seem to be much actual planning going on. ~~~

~~~ Ben Collins of NBC News: "There is growing momentum in the U.S. anti-vaccination community to conduct rallies similar to Canada's 'Freedom Convoy' that has paralyzed Ottawa, Ontario, and the effort is receiving a boost from a familiar source: overseas content mills. Some Facebook groups that have promoted American 'trucker convoys' similar to demonstrations that have clogged roads in Ottawa are being run by fake accounts tied to content mills in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Romania and several other countries, Facebook officials told NBC News on Friday....[A Meta] spokesperson noted that the majority of the content posted in these groups came from real accounts and that the company has removed the groups tied to foreign content mills."

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Nick Anderson of the Washington Post: "The University of Alabama is removing the name of an early 20th century governor who was also a Ku Klux Klan leader from a building on its campus in Tuscaloosa, under a plan approved Friday that reserves the naming honor exclusively for the university's first Black student, Autherine Lucy Foster. The decision capped a zigzag course for the university's trustees on the question of what to call what had long been known as Bibb Graves Hall.... The racial reckoning that arose in higher education in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, led the University of Alabama System's trustees to form a working group to study campus names. That led to a proposal, which trustees approved Feb. 3, to rename the building Lucy-Graves Hall.... But an uproar arose over the idea that the pioneering Black student's name would be paired with that of a White supremacist. On Friday, trustees reversed course and voted unanimously to remove the Graves name entirely."

Mississippi. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "A White father and son in Mississippi were charged this week after they were accused of chasing and shooting at a Black FedEx driver in an incident that the driver's attorney says was a 'copycat crime' of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. FedEx driver D'Monterrio Gibson said he was delivering packages on his route in Brookhaven, Miss., on Jan. 24 when two White men with whom he had not interacted chased him in a pickup truck for about seven minutes and fired at least five shots at the van he was driving. Gibson, who said he was driving a Hertz van at the time but was in his full FedEx uniform, told reporters Thursday that he believes that Brandon Case and his father, Gregory Case, chased and shot at him because he is Black and thought he didn't belong in the neighborhood.... Gibson and his attorneys are calling for a federal hate-crimes probe, saying local police are not taking the case seriously.... Gibson and his attorney also expressed their displeasure with FedEx.... Moore said Gibson remains on unpaid leave...." CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe FedEx could not afford to pay Gibson. According to the Googles (no link), "FedEx Chairman and CEO Frederick Smith had total reported compensation of $14,235,537 for FY 21, including an option award of $8.8 million and a cash bonus of $3.4 million."

Ohio Secretary of State Race. David Gilbert of Vice: "A QAnon influencer and convicted grifter who claims she can time travel, who led a campaign to replace elected officials with QAnon supporters, and who misrepresented her expertise in an election lawsuit before the Supreme Court, now wants to become Ohio's next Secretary of State. And Terpsehore Maras isn't even trying to hide her affiliation to QAnon. Launching her official YouTube and Facebook campaign pages this week, Maras, who is known to her followers simply as Tore and is also known by numerous other aliases, uploaded a logo, replacing the 'o' in 'Secretary of State' with a Q." MB: Terpsehore? Really?

Texas. Where Your Vote Doesn't Count. Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "A restrictive new voting law in Texas has sown confusion and erected hurdles for those casting ballots in the state's March 1 primary, with election administrators rejecting early batches of mail ballots at historic rates and voters uncertain about whether they will be able to participate. In recent days, thousands of ballots have been rejected because voters did not meet a new requirement to provide an identification number inside the return envelope. In Harris County, the state's most populous county and home to Houston, election officials said Friday that 40 percent of roughly 3,600 returned ballots so far have lacked the identification number required under Senate Bill 1, as the new law is known."

Wisconsin. Zach Montellaro of Politico: "Wisconsin's state Supreme Court is letting a ban on drop boxes in the state go into effect for the state's spring local elections. The state's highest court rejected a motion on Friday for a temporary stay of a lower court's order banning drop boxes in the state, in a lawsuit brought by a conservative organization in the state. The court broke 4-3..., with the state's conservative justices all siding against extending the stay and the liberal-leaning justices voting to extend it."

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. CBS News/AFP: "Two international journalists who were on an assignment for the United Nations refugee agency have been detained in the Afghan capital, the UNHCR said on Friday.... One of the journalists is Andrew North, a British former BBC correspondent who has covered Afghanistan for about two decades and has traveled regularly to the war-ravaged country to report on its deteriorating humanitarian crisis.... Khalil Hamraz, a spokesman for the Taliban's intelligence agency, told CBS News' Ahmad Mukhtar that the group didn't know who had detained the journalists." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Editor's Note: Yesterday, I wondered if it wasn't stupid for French President Emmanuel Macron to refuse to take a Covid test in Russia because he didn't want Russia to get hold of his DNA. I expressed skepticism that Macron wouldn't otherwise leave his DNA on various surfaces. But I heard on the teevee that U.S. presidents do have a clean-up entourage that follows them around when they visit other countries wiping the presidents' DNA off surfaces & picking up water bottles, etc.

February 11, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Biden on Thursday said he rejected the accounts and findings of an Army investigative report in which military officials reportedly criticized Biden administration officials for failing to grasp the situation in Afghanistan as U.S. forces withdrew.... The [Washington] Post reported earlier this week that the Army report stretches thousands of pages and contains sworn testimony from commanders involved in the withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer."

"Projection Is Always the Sincerest Form of Trumpism." Chris Truax of the Bulwark: "... in the before times back in 2020, Nancy Pelosi made brief headlines for tearing up a copy of Trump's speech at the State of the Union address.... [MAGA world freaked out.] Matt Gaetz even filed a formal complaint with the House Ethics committee and asked that Pelosi be referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution.... To cap it all off, Donald Trump himself condemned Pelosi for her 'illegal' actions. 'Well, I thought it was a terrible thing when she ripped up the speech. First of all, it's an official document. You're not allowed -- it's illegal what she did.' Of course..., the copy of his speech that Trump handed to Pelosi was not an 'official record.' As a legal matter, it was simply a piece of paper and her personal property. And now, almost exactly two years to the day later, President Trump has been referred to the Department of Justice for -- and I have tears in my eyes as I write this -- ripping up official documents.... When most countries face a wave of populist authoritarianism, it's being led by an Orban or a Mussolini. Ours is being led by Elmer Fudd, a leader so incompetent and so ... actively stupid that it almost beggars description."

Get Out! The Canadian trucker "protest" situation is so dire, the New York Times is running a liveblog: "Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, declared a state of emergency for the entire province on Friday, as the police in Ottawa braced for thousands of protesters to descend for the third consecutive weekend of a crisis that has disrupted international supply chains. 'With a protest, you make your point and you go back home. I know that's what the vast majority did,' Mr. Ford said at a news conference. 'My message to those still in Ottawa, those still in our border crossing, to those who brought their children: Please take them home. And it's time to do so peacefully.' Otherwise, 'there will be consequences, and they will be severe,' he said, adding, 'Your right to make a political statement does not outweigh the right of thousands of workers to make a living.'"

CBS News/AFP: "Two international journalists who were on an assignment for the United Nations refugee agency have been detained in the Afghan capital, the UNHCR said on Friday.... One of the journalists is Andrew North, a British former BBC correspondent who has covered Afghanistan for about two decades and has traveled regularly to the war-ravaged country to report on its deteriorating humanitarian crisis.... Khalil Hamraz, a spokesman for the Taliban's intelligence agency, told CBS News' Ahmad Mukhtar that the group didn't know who had detained the journalists."

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Get Out! Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times: "President Biden on Thursday warned Americans to leave Ukraine, saying that U.S. troops would not be dispatched to retrieve them should Russia invade. 'American citizens should leave, should leave now,' Mr. Biden said in an interview with NBC's Lester Holt that aired on Thursday evening, adding that there was no scenario that could prompt him to send troops to rescue Americans. 'We're dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. This is a very different situation, and things could go crazy quickly.... That's a world war when Americans and Russia start shooting at one another,' Mr. Biden added. 'We're in a very different world than we've ever been in.' Mr. Biden's comments followed a string of increasingly urgent warnings for U.S. citizens to leave Ukraine as thousands of Russian troops have amassed on its borders." The NBC News story is here.

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "President Biden will start to clear a legal path for certain relatives of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to pursue $3.5 billion from assets that Afghanistan's central bank had deposited in New York before the Taliban takeover, according to officials familiar with internal deliberations. At the same time, Mr. Biden will issue an executive order invoking emergency powers to consolidate and freeze all $7 billion of the total assets the Afghan central bank kept in New York and ask a judge for permission to move the other $3.5 billion to a trust fund to pay for immediate humanitarian relief efforts in Afghanistan, the officials said. The highly unusual set of moves, expected to be announced on Friday, is meant to address a tangled knot of legal, political, foreign policy and humanitarian problems stemming from the attacks and the end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan." The AP's report is here.

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Central Intelligence Agency has for years been collecting in bulk, without a warrant, some kind of data that can affect Americans' privacy, according to a newly declassified letter by two senators[, Ron Wyden (D-0re.) & Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)]. The C.I.A. kept censored the nature of the data when it declassified the letter. At the same time, it declared that a report about the same topic, which had prompted the letter, must remain fully classified, except for some heavily redacted recommendations. That report, called 'Deep Dive II,' was part of a set of studies by a watchdog board scrutinizing intelligence community operations under Executive Order 12333, rules for intelligence activities that Congress has left unregulated by statute. The watchdog, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and its staff members have access to classified information." An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ There are links to the Wyden-Heinrich letter & the partial PCLOB report here, via Ron Wyden.

Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "Democratic senators urged President Biden on Thursday to announce his Supreme Court nomination as soon as possible, and Biden signaled he was moving quickly, as he and his party prepare for a potentially bitter confirmation battle that Democrats hope galvanizes their supporters.... Biden, who has pledged to make his selection by the end of the month, indicated to the senators he would begin interviewing the prospective candidates next week, after he spends this weekend continuing to review their record.... The FBI has started interviewing people who know [potential nominees Ketanji Brown] Jackson, [Leondra] Kruger and [Michelle] Childs as part of the formal vetting process, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Myah Ward of Politico: "President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he had thoroughly reviewed about four 'well qualified and documented' candidates to fill Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer's seat on the bench. Biden ... told NBC's Lester Holt that he'd done the 'deep dive' on those contenders, making sure there was nothing in their background checks that might disqualify them.... The president has said he will seek advice from members of both parties as he makes his selection. He has already talked with a number of Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Senate Judiciary ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Biden said on Thursday that he expected his selection to get votes from the opposing party during the confirmation process."

Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "Some of the White House documents that Donald Trump improperly took to his Mar-a-Lago residence were clearly marked as classified, including documents at the 'top secret' level, according to two people familiar with the matter. The existence of clearly marked classified documents in the trove -- which has not previously been reported -- is likely to intensify the legal pressure that Trump or his staffers could face, and raises new questions about why the materials were taken out of the White House. While it was unclear how many classified documents were among those received by the National Archives and Records Administration, some bore markings that the information was extremely sensitive and would be limited to a small group of officials with authority to view such highly classified information, the two people familiar with the matter said. The markings were discovered by the National Archives.... Archives officials asked the Justice Department to look into the matter, though as of Thursday afternoon FBI agents had yet to review the materials, according to two people familiar with the request." ~~~

~~~ Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: "When ... Donald Trump is accused of wrongdoing, his almost-reflexive response is to vociferously deny it and try to accuse his accusers instead.... Which is what makes Trump's reaction to reporting that he violated the Presidential Records Act by destroying official documents and taking others with him to Florida so interesting.... Here's part of what he said:

"'Following collaborative and respectful discussions, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) openly and willingly arranged with President Trump for the transport of boxes that contained letters, records, newspapers, magazines, and various articles. Some of this information will someday be displayed in the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library for the public to view my Administration's incredible accomplishments for the American People.' It suggests that legal experts have gotten in Trump's ear and said this is something he needs to take seriously, rather than launch his usual political bombs." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has discovered gaps in official White House telephone logs from the day of the riot, finding few records of calls by ... Donald J. Trump from critical hours when investigators know that he was making them. Investigators have not uncovered evidence that any official records were tampered with or deleted, and it is well known that Mr. Trump used his personal cellphone, and those of his aides, routinely to talk with aides, congressional allies and outside confidants. But the sparse call records are the latest major obstacle to the panel's central mission: recreating what Mr. Trump was doing behind closed doors during crucial moments of the assault on Congress by a mob of his supporters." An ABC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Ryan Nobles, et al., of CNN: "White House call records now in possession of congressional investigators do not reflect calls made to or from ... Donald Trump as the violence unfolded on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, leaving them with gaps so far in their understanding of what transpired that day, three sources familiar with the House investigation into the insurrection tell CNN. The records the House select committee has obtained do not contain entries of phone calls between the President and lawmakers that have been widely reported in the press." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

BTW, in yesterday Comments, contributor Patrick revealed why Donald Trump once was so upset about toilets not flushing properly. "People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once," Trump complained back in December 2019. Looks like "people are" should be "I am." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Steve M. "Much of the response to [yesterday's toilet-flushing] story is anger at [reporter Maggie] Haberman because she saved this information for her book rather than reporting it in real time[.]... So, yes, Haberman should have told us about the document-flushing when she knew about it, because it should have mattered. But it's unlikely that it would have mattered. We had very good reasons to believe that Trump was willfully destroying records in violation of the law -- but Trump wasn't held accountable, and if anyone had tried to hold him accountable, Republican outrage and wagon-circling would have made accountability impossible, as it has been throughout Trump's time in politics. So, yes, elite journalism is failing us -- but so is a system in which lawless Republicans have a veto over any attempt to make their own face consequences." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ David Corn of Mother Jones explores whether or not Trump could be successfully prosecuted for records destruction & whether or not that would disqualify him from running for president*. Corn concludes disqualification "would be an uphill constitutional climb." MB: I do think it would be difficult for any candidate, even Trump, to run for president* from a cell at Club Fed. "Does this orange jumpsuit make my ass look fat?" "No, Don, your ass is fat." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Where's the Outrage? Lisa Lerer & Katie Rogers: "Several Republicans who once railed against [Hillary] Clinton's document retention practices did not respond Thursday to questions about [Donald] Trump's actions. Others who had been directly involved with investigating Mrs. Clinton declined to discuss the specifics except to suggest, without evidence, that the National Archives and Records Administration was treating Mr. Trump more harshly." ~~~

Take a sip from your new mug as you read the news... https://t.co/7vfORxQviQ pic.twitter.com/HblDXCpsW8

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 7, 2022

GOP Candidtaes Covet Miss Margie. John Wright of the Raw Story: "... Georgia GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's endorsement is in high demand in party primaries across the country. Referring to Greene as a 'COVID vaccine-hating, conspiracy theory-spewing freshman congresswoman who came to national prominence as a far-right QAnon promoter,' the Daily Beast reported Thursday that her endorsement is coveted in large part due to her 'direct line to former President Trump and her vast network of small grassroots donors.'... Greenes's ascent 'underscores just how far the Republican Party's mainstream is going to tolerate, if not wholeheartedly embrace, its far-right luminaries and policies -- even if they're to the hard-right of Trump himself,' the Daily Beast reported." The Beast story is firewalled.

Federal Judge Rebukes Trump, Republicans, RNC, & Their Dupes. The lie that the election was stolen and illegitimate is still being perpetrated. Indeed, it is being amplified, not only on social media but on mainstream news outlets, and worse, it's become heresy for a member of the former president's party to say otherwise. So, it needs to be crystal clear that it is not patriotism. It is not standing up for America. It is not 'legitimate political discourse,' and it is not justified to descend on the nation's Capitol at the direction of a disappointed candidate and disrupt the national process. -- Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson to insurrectionist Mark Leffingwell in sentencing him to six months in prison

** Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: After passage of the 14th & 15th Amendments to the Constitution, "in the 1870s, Congress passed laws to punish acts of violence meant to deprive Americans of their constitutional rights, to outlaw discrimination in public accommodations and to prohibit exclusion from jury service. In the 1880s, the Supreme Court either invalidated those laws or rendered them a dead letter.... It is Congress, and not the Supreme Court, that has, over time, done more to defend the civil and voting rights of all Americans.... For most of its history, the Supreme Court -- the 16 years of the Warren court notwithstanding -- has been a friend to hierarchy and reaction. Thus, for Americans who want a more equal society, the Supreme Court has been, is and will continue to be an adversary, not an ally. Understanding that fact is the first step toward doing something about it."

Poor, Pitiful Me. Tom Hays of the AP: Sarah ";Palin used her second day on the witness stand to accuse the [New York] Times of deliberately fabricating lies that hurt her reputation -- the basis of a lawsuit accusing the newspaper of libel that has resulted in a trial in federal court in Manhattan. 'It was devastating to read a false accusation that I had anything to do with murder,' Palin said. 'I felt powerless -- that I was up against Goliath. The people were David. I was David.'" MB: I wonder if Barack Obama was devastated when Palin falsely accused him of "palling around with terrorists." ~~~

~~~ Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "In the Manhattan courtroom of Judge Jed S. Rakoff on Thursday, Palin and her bombast bombed." Wemple cites several times Palin's fact-free, self-absorbed schtick would not fly in a courtroom where a witness has to provide evidence to back up Fox "Newsy"-style assertions.

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "The New York Times is free to publish documents pertaining to the conservative group Project Veritas after a New York State appeals court temporarily stayed an order by a state trial judge that had been denounced by First Amendment advocates and journalism groups. In a decision made public on Thursday, the appeals court said the order would not be enforced until a formal appeal could be heard. The decision means that, for now, The Times can publish certain documents and will not have to turn over or destroy any copies of the documents in its possession." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "New York City on Friday is expected to fire as many as 3,000 municipal workers who have refused to get coronavirus vaccines. They make up a small fraction of the city's employees -- less than 1 percent. But they would probably represent the most drastic example of a work force reduction tied to a coronavirus vaccine mandate. Mayor Eric Adams has said that he would prefer not to fire the unvaccinated, but by remaining so, they were 'quitting.' They are not going quietly. Hundreds marched across the Brooklyn Bridge on Monday, chanting that the city should end the mandate and carrying signs that said 'Unvaccinated Lives Matter' and 'Fire Fauci.' Mr. Adams has reaffirmed the city's ultimatum: They will be the ones fired unless they get at least one shot."

Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "President Biden said Thursday that easing indoor masking requirements was 'probably premature,' as an increasing number of states announce plans to roll back such restrictions amid a sharp decline in covid-linked hospitalizations. But Biden refrained from criticizing the governors of those states, saying it was tough to judge if they were moving too quickly. 'It's hard to say whether they are wrong,' he told Lester Holt on NBC 'Nightly News.['] 'They set a time limit and I assume it has something to do with whether the omicron variant continues to dive,' Biden added."

Meredith Wadman in Science: "... the first large study to assess cardiovascular outcomes 1 year after SARS-CoV-2 infection has demonstrated that the virus' impact [on the heart] is often lasting. In an analysis of more than 11 million U.S. veterans' health records, researchers found the risk of 20 different heart and vessel maladies was substantially increased in veterans who had COVID-19 1 year earlier, compared with those who didn't. The risk rose with severity of initial disease and extended to every outcome the team examined, including heart attacks, arrhythmias, strokes, cardiac arrest, and more. Even people who never went to the hospital had more cardiovascular disease than those who were never infected. The results are 'stunning ... worse than I expected, for sure,' says Eric Topol, a cardiologist at Scripps Research." Thanks to RAS for the link.

Rob Gillies & Tom Krisher of the AP: "The Biden administration urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government Thursday to use its federal powers to end the truck blockade by Canadians protesting the country's COVID-19 restrictions, as the bumper-to-bumper demonstration forced auto plants on both sides of the border to shut down or scale back production.... The White House said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke with their Canadian counterparts and urged them to help resolve the standoff. Federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Royal Canadian Mounted Police reinforcements are being sent to Windsor, Ottawa and Coutts, Alberta where another border blockade is happening." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't know if this has any bearing, but the Guardian report, linked below, notes that "In Canada, politicians cannot direct police operations...." One would think that ending a blockade of international trade routes would be a national issue & not strictly relegated to local police enforcement. ~~~

~~~ Canada. Amy Cheng, et al., of the Washington Post: "Police in Ottawa are warning that any protesters blocking streets for the self-described 'Freedom Convoy' may be 'arrested without a warrant,' as raucous protests against vaccine mandates and coronavirus restrictions blocked a third border crossing with the United States early Thursday. The protests, which have led to at least 23 arrests and 80 criminal investigations in the capital, are sparking debate among officials over how best to de-escalate the situation there and at U.S.-Canada border crossings, where blockades have disrupted the flow of goods and people. Some are warning that mass arrests could prove counterproductive or even lead to violence.... Police in Manitoba province said the typically bustling Emerson crossing into North Dakota was 'shut down' after a convoy of vehicles and farm equipment blocked traffic heading both north and south.... So far, two major ports of entry -- the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, and the Coutts crossing linking Montana to Alberta -- have been closed or partially blocked.... ~~~

"Some protesters believe that 'they are fighting for a cause that is worth dying for,' [Windsor Mayor Drew] Dilkens said. 'That type of sentiment translates into different behaviors than any normal protests.'... About 25 percent of attendees inside some 400 trucks stationed at the scene are believed to be children, police say, which could complicate the ways in which officers respond to those protesting." MB: In addition, I heard on CNN that some protesters are wielding tire irons & other weapons. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Judy Trinh of CBC News: "Despite a strategic strike by police to cut off supplies to truckers encamped in [Ottawa]'s downtown core, protesters appear to still have the upper hand on police. It's a success that experts partly attribute to the deep knowledge of law enforcement and military tactics that exist in the convoy's organizational structure. The group Police on Guard, formed during the pandemic, has endorsed the truck convoy.... The organization says it has 'boots on the ground' in Ottawa and has linked to YouTube videos of its members participating in the protest.... Michael Kempa, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, says the convoy's policing and military expertise can be seen in the co-ordination of their activities in downtown Ottawa.... 'It looks like a military operation.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Justin Ling of the Guardian: "Daily 'intelligence reports' compiled by protest leaders and seen by the Guardian -- as well as public comments by the organisers -- have grown increasingly alarmist in recent days. While the reports include misinformation, and should not be taken as credible intelligence, they nevertheless offer an insight on the occupiers' conspiratorial mindset.... The reports are prepared by Tom Quiggin, a private security consultant who has previously been accused of spreading misinformation, particularly by overplaying the threat of terrorism posed by Canada's Muslim community." MB: The CBC report linked above IDs Quiggin as "a former military intelligence officer who also worked with the RCMP and was considered one of the country's top counter-terrorism experts." He sounds rather Michael-Flynnish.

France/Russia. From a Distance. Jules Darmanin of Politico: French President Emmanuel Macron "refused to take a Russian COVID-19 PCR test in Moscow on Monday and so was forced to sit at an oversized table during Ukraine talks with [Vladimir] Putin, an Elysée official told reporters Thursday. The Kremlin had offered Macron two options: Either he could be tested by a Russian doctor, or he would have to make socially distanced arguments across a 4-meter-long table.... Reuters reported that Macron refused to get tested over fears that his DNA could be stolen in the process." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Isn't that a little stupid? Unless Macron had an official surface-cleaner following him around in Russia, he left his DNA in quite a few places there.

Beyond the Beltway

Virginia. Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post: "A top deputy overseeing election issues for Virginia's new Republican attorney general resigned Thursday after The Washington Post questioned the office about Facebook posts she had made praising Jan. 6, 2021, rioters and falsely claiming Donald Trump won the 2020 election. Former deputy attorney general Monique Miles also espoused unfounded conspiracy theories about voter fraud and election interference in more than a dozen Facebook comments that spanned months.... Victoria LaCivita, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Jason Miyares, said the office had been unaware of the Facebook posts before The Washington Post, which obtained screenshots of the posts, shared them on Thursday morning." The Hill's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Aw, Monique seems highly qualified to "oversee election issues." Nice vetting job there, Jason. I hear Sidney Powell is looking for a job, Jason. She has plenty of experience "overseeing election issues," too.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Bob Saget, the comedian and actor, died after what appeared to be a significant blow to the head, one that fractured his skull in several places and caused bleeding across both sides of his brain, according to an autopsy report released on Friday. The findings complicated the picture of Mr. Saget's death that has emerged in recent days: Far from a head bump that might have been shrugged off, the autopsy described an unmistakably serious set of injuries that would at the very least have probably left someone confused, brain experts said." ~~~

~~~ CNN: "Actor and comedian Bob Saget had Covid-19 but died as a result of 'blunt head trauma,' according to the autopsy report released today by the Orange County Medical Examiner's Office. 'It is in my opinion that the death of Robert Saget, a 65-year-old white male found unresponsive in a hotel room, is the result of blunt head trauma. It is the most probable that the decedent suffered an unwitnessed fall backwards and struck the posterior aspect of his head. The manner of death is accident,' the statement from Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua D. Stephany said in his report."

CNN's live Olympics coverage is here. The AP's live updates are here.

New York Times: "The 15-year-old star of Russia's figure skating team who powered it to a win in the team figure skating competition tested positive for a banned substance weeks before the Beijing Olympics, throwing into question her team's gold medal and her continued participation in the Games. The skater, Kamila Valieva, already considered one of the top athletes in the sport, was found to have trimetazidine, a banned heart medication, in her system, according to a statement Friday from the International Testing Agency. The drug, which is not approved for use in the United States, is believed to improve endurance by helping the heart work more efficiently."

February 10, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has discovered gaps in official White House telephone logs from the day of the riot, finding few records of calls by ... Donald J. Trump from critical hours when investigators know that he was making them. Investigators have not uncovered evidence that any official records were tampered with or deleted, and it is well known that Mr. Trump used his personal cellphone, and those of his aides, routinely to talk with aides, congressional allies and outside confidants. But the sparse call records are the latest major obstacle to the panel's central mission: recreating what Mr. Trump was doing behind closed doors during crucial moments of the assault on Congress by a mob of his supporters." An ABC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Ryan Nobles, et al., of CNN: "White House call records now in possession of congressional investigators do not reflect calls made to or from ... Donald Trump as the violence unfolded on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, leaving them with gaps so far in their understanding of what transpired that day, three sources familiar with the House investigation into the insurrection tell CNN. The records the House select committee has obtained do not contain entries of phone calls between the President and lawmakers that have been widely reported in the press."

BTW, in today Comments, contributor Patrick revealed why Donald Trump was so upset about toilets not flushing properly. "People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once," Trump complained back in December 2019. Looks like "people are" should be "I am." ~~~

~~~ Steve M. "Much of the response to [today's toilet-flushing] story is anger at [reporter Maggie] Haberman because she saved this information for her book rather than reporting it in real time[.]... So, yes, Haberman should have told us about the document-flushing when she knew about it, because it should have mattered. But it's unlikely that it would have mattered. We had very good reasons to believe that Trump was willfully destroying records in violation of the law -- but Trump wasn't held accountable, and if anyone had tried to hold him accountable, Republican outrage and wagon-circling would have made accountability impossible, as it has been throughout Trump's time in politics. So, yes, elite journalism is failing us -- but so is a system in which lawless Republicans have a veto over any attempt to make their own face consequences." ~~~

~~~ David Corn of Mother Jones explores whether or not Trump could be successfully prosecuted for records destruction & whether or not that would disqualify him from running for president*. Corn concludes disqualification "would be an uphill constitutional climb." MB: I do think it would be difficult for any candidate, even Trump, to run for president* from a cell at Club Fed. "Does this orange jumpsuit make my ass look fat?" "No, Don, your ass is fat."

Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: "When ... Donald Trump is accused of wrongdoing, his almost-reflexive response is to vociferously deny it and try to accuse his accusers instead.... Which is what makes Trump's reaction to reporting that he violated the Presidential Records Act by destroying official documents and taking others with him to Florida so interesting.... Here's part of what he said:

"'Following collaborative and respectful discussions, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) openly and willingly arranged with President Trump for the transport of boxes that contained letters, records, newspapers, magazines, and various articles. Some of this information will someday be displayed in the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library for the public to view my Administration's incredible accomplishments for the American People.'

"It suggests that legal experts have gotten in Trump's ear and said this is something he needs to take seriously, rather than launch his usual political bombs."

Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post: "A top deputy overseeing election issues for Virginia's new Republican attorney general resigned Thursday after The Washington Post questioned the office about Facebook posts she had made praising Jan. 6, 2021, rioters and falsely claiming Donald Trump won the 2020 election. Former deputy attorney general Monique Miles also espoused unfounded conspiracy theories about voter fraud and election interference in more than a dozen Facebook comments that spanned months. Four people who interacted with Miles on Facebook confirmed the authenticity of the posts. Victoria LaCivita, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Jason Miyares, said the office had been unaware of the Facebook posts before The Washington Post, which obtained screenshots of the posts, shared them on Thursday morning." The Hill's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Aw, Monique seems highly qualified to "oversee election issues." Nice vetting job there, Jason. I hear Sidney Powell is looking for a job, Jason. She has plenty of experience "overseeing election issues," too.

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "The New York Times is free to publish documents pertaining to the conservative group Project Veritas after a New York State appeals court temporarily stayed an order by a state trial judge that had been denounced by First Amendment advocates and journalism groups. In a decision made public on Thursday, the appeals court said the order would not be enforced until a formal appeal could be heard. The decision means that, for now, The Times can publish certain documents and will not have to turn over or destroy any copies of the documents in its possession."

Amy Cheng, et al., of the Washington Post: "Police in Ottawa are warning that any protesters blocking streets for the self-described 'Freedom Convoy' may be 'arrested without a warrant,' as raucous protests against vaccine mandates and coronavirus restrictions blocked a third border crossing with the United States early Thursday. The protests, which have led to at least 23 arrests and 80 criminal investigations in the capital, are sparking debate among officials over how best to de-escalate the situation there and at U.S.-Canada border crossings, where blockades have disrupted the flow of goods and people. Some are warning that mass arrests could prove counterproductive or even lead to violence.... Police in Manitoba province said the typically bustling Emerson crossing into North Dakota was 'shut down' after a convoy of vehicles and farm equipment blocked traffic heading both north and south.... So far, two major ports of entry -- the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, and the Coutts crossing linking Montana to Alberta -- have been closed or partially blocked.... ~~~

"Some protesters believe that 'they are fighting for a cause that is worth dying for,' [Windsor Mayor Drew] Dilkens said. 'That type of sentiment translates into different behaviors than any normal protests.'... About 25 percent of attendees inside some 400 trucks stationed at the scene are believed to be children, police say, which could complicate the ways in which officers respond to those protesting." MB: In addition, I heard on CNN that some protesters are wielding tire irons & other weapons.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration on Wednesday readied plans for U.S. military forces to help evacuate Americans once they cross into Poland should Russia attack Ukraine, preparations that came one day ahead of a major Russian military exercise on Ukraine's border that some officials fear could provide cover for an invasion. About 7,500 Americans are registered with the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and thousands more could be in the country but the U.S. government has no way to track them, according to U.S. officials." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Basta! Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "The National Archives and Records Administration has asked the Justice Department to examine Donald Trump's handling of White House records, sparking discussions among federal law enforcement officials about whether they should investigate the former president for a possible crime, according to two people familiar with the matter. The referral from the National Archives came amid recent revelations that officials recovered 15 boxes of materials from the former president's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida that were no handed back in to the government as they should have been, and that Trump had turned over other White House records that had been torn up. Archives officials suspected Trump had possibly violated laws concerning the handling of government documents -- including those that might be considered classified -- and reached out to the Justice Department, the people familiar with the matter said." A CNN report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Reid Epstein & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The National Archives and Records Administration discovered what it believed was classified information in documents Donald J. Trump had taken with him from the White House as he left office, according to a person briefed on the matter. The discovery, which occurred after Mr. Trump returned 15 boxes of documents to the government last month, prompted the National Archives to reach out to the Justice Department for guidance, the person said. The department told the National Archives to have its inspector general examine the matter, the person said. It is unclear what the inspector general has done since then, in particular, whether the inspector general has referred the matter to the Justice Department." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm sure all the custodial staff at Mar-a-Lago have tippy-top secret security clearance.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued a subpoena on Wednesday to Peter Navarro, a White House adviser to ... Donald J. Trump who was involved in what he called an 'operation' to keep Mr. Trump in office after he lost the 2020 election.... In his book, titled 'In Trump Time,' and in interviews with The New York Times and other outlets, Mr. Navarro has said that he worked with Stephen K. Bannon and other allies of Mr. Trump to develop and carry out a plan to delay Congress's formal count of the 2020 presidential election results to buy time to change the outcome.... On Wednesday, [Mr. Navarro] said he would not comply with the committee's subpoena, citing Mr. Trum's invocation of executive privilege." MB: I think you can open the pdf containing the committee's letter here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The ABC News story is here.

Jon Swaine of the Washington Post: "In the weeks after the 2020 election, Rudolph W. Giuliani and other legal advisers to ... Donald Trump asked a Republican prosecutor in northern Michigan to get his county's voting machines and pass them to Trump's team, the prosecutor told The Washington Post. Antrim County prosecutor James Rossiter said in an interview that Giuliani and several colleagues made the request during a telephone call after the county initially misreported its election results. The inaccurate tallies meant that Joe Biden appeared to have beaten Trump by 3,000 votes in a Republican stronghold, an error that soon placed Antrim at the center of false claims by Trump that the election had been stolen. Rossiter said he declined. 'I said, "I can't just say: give them here." We don't have that magical power to just demand things as prosecutors. You need probable cause.' Even if he had had sufficient grounds to take the machines as evidence, Rossiter said, he could not have released them to outsiders or a party with an interest in the matter." County elections officials soon corrected & acknowledged the mistakes. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) CNBC has a summary story here.

Mike Allen of Axios: "While President Trump was in office, staff in the White House residence periodically discovered wads of printed paper clogging a toilet -- and believed the president had flushed pieces of paper, Maggie Haberman scoops in her forthcoming book, 'Confidence Man.'" MB: Remember how Trump made a huge deal of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server? "But the Emails/Lock Her Up" was his main case against her: that we couldn't have a president who improperly treated sensitive documents. So now we have reports that Trump stole -- a/k/a "improperly removed" -- documents, tore up documents, tossed documents in waste baskets, had documents sent to burn bags, flushed documents down the toilet, even ate documents. Any way he could think of to break the paper trail. Evidence of a guilty conscience? I would say so. ~~~

~~~ Kurt Bardella of USA Today: "... in October 2016, House Republicans launched a series of hearings attacking the then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over her emails[.]... From the same forces that brought you the chorus of 'Hillary's emails' and the smash hit 'Lock Her Up' comes a new spin on an old song, 'Do As I Say, Not As I Do.'... [Based on news reports of Donald Trump's destruction & theft of presidential documents,] you would think Republicans would be foaming at the mouth, chanting 'Lock Him Up' and calling for an immediate series of hearings and subpoenas to be issued to anyone who was a part of the Trump White House. And yet, nothing. Crickets. Silence." Firewalled.

The Big Cover-up. Stephen Collinson of CNN: "A stunning daily stream of revelations is shedding new light on the depraved effort by Donald Trump, his aides and extremist Republicans to cover up the former President's constitutional arson and desperate bid to steal power after the 2020 election. It is extraordinary that more than 13 months after the US Capitol insurrection, the depth of Trump's lawlessness and abuses of power is still coming into view.... New evidence and reporting already strongly suggests Trump's team presided over multiple schemes to discredit the election; sought to steal President Joe Biden's win in the states with rogue lawyers; encouraged fake electors; and sought to block its certification in Congress. Wednesday's revelations alone underscored the vast scope of the [January 6] committee's investigation, the troubling breadth of the subversion effort and what increasingly looks like a Trump world cover-up."

Benjamin Siegel & Will Steakin of ABC News: "Sarah Matthews, a Trump White House press aide who resigned over the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, appeared Tuesday for an interview with the House select committee investigating the attack.... Matthews ... appeared before the committee voluntarily, a source told ABC News. She is one of several former Trump aides approached by the committee who now work as GOP congressional staffers."

Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service: "A team of scholars, faith leaders and advocates unveiled an exhaustive new report Wednesday (Feb. 9) that documents in painstaking detail the role [white] Christian nationalism played in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and calling it an unsettling preview of things to come." MB: While the news report does give a few examples of Christian symbols displayed or promoted at the insurrection & before, Jenkins' story mostly focuses on scholars' opinions of the part Christian nationalism played in the insurrection. So not too convincing.

Reimagining the Soup Nazi. MTG Is So Ignorant. David Moye of the Huffington Post: During an interview for a right-wing news podcast, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Q) discussed a brief investigation the Capitol Police conducted into suspicious entries on a whiteboard in the open office of Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas). Greene meant "to compare the Capitol Police to the the Gestapo. However, she ... mistakenly referring to the Capitol Police as 'Nancy Pelosi's gazpacho police.'" Charles Pierce was upset: "Do not cast asparagus on the gazpacho police!" he tweeted.

David Kihara of Politico: "A Florida collectibles dealer connected to the federal investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz [R-Fla.] formally entered a guilty plea in Orlando on Wednesday.... Joe Ellicott, known as 'Big Joe,' pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit fraud and drug charges and has agreed to cooperate with federal authorities. Ellicott is a relatively minor figure in the ongoing Gaetz probe but was listed on a federal grand jury subpoena in December 2020 along with Gaetz and several other men.... Federal authorities have been looking into whether Gaetz obstructed justice and paid to have sex with a 17-year-old about five years ago...."

Catie Edmondson & Mark Walker of the New York Times: "... In recent years, and particularly since the beginning of [Donald] Trump's presidency, a growing number of Americans have taken ideological grievance and political outrage to a new level, lodging concrete threats of violence against members of Congress.... Many of them, [a New York Times] review showed, were fueled by forces that have long dominated politics, including deep partisan divisions and a media landscape that stokes resentment. But they surged during Mr. Trump's time in office and in its aftermath, as the former president's own violent language fueled a mainstreaming of menacing political speech and lawmakers used charged words and imagery to describe the stakes of the political moment. Far-right members of Congress have hinted that their followers should be prepared to take up arms and fight to save the country, and in one case even posted a video depicting explicitly violent acts against Democrats.... Overall, threats against members of Congress reached a record high of 9,600 last year, according to data provided by the Capitol Police, double the previous year's total."

"The Supreme Court Has Crossed the Rubicon." Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times on the 5-4 Supreme Court shadow-docket ruling to stay lower courts' rulings against Alabama Republicans' gerrymandering which violated the remnants of Voting Rights Act: "Chief Justice Roberts objected that the ordinary standards under which the Supreme Court grants a stay of a lower court opinion had not been met.... Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, also dissented in a more extensive opinion that accused the majority of using the court's emergency 'shadow docket not only to intervene improperly on behalf of the state but also to change voting rights law in the process.... What happened Monday night was a raw power play by a runaway majority that seems to recognize no stopping point, [especially because the same justices refused to stay Texas' unconstitutional abortion law]." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ In yesterday's Comments, P.D. Pepe recommended this New Yorker story on Amy Coney Barrett's long game. Firewalled.

Jeremy Peters & Colin Moynihan of the New York Times: "Lawyers for The New York Times attempted on Wednesday to establish that members of its staff acted diligently and responsibly after learning that an editorial published in 2017 incorrectly linked a mass shooting in Arizona to the political rhetoric of Sarah Palin, who is suing the news organization for defamation. The jury weighing Ms. Palin's suit against The Times in federal court in Lower Manhattan also heard briefly on Wednesday from Ms. Palin herself. But with late afternoon approaching, Judge Jed S. Rakoff adjourned for the day after Ms. Palin's lawyer had questioned her for roughly 15 minutes, touching only on biographical points about her political career and life in Alaska."

Marisa Iati, et al., of the Washington Post: "Police shot and killed at least 1,055 people nationwide last year, the highest total since The Washington Post began tracking fatal shootings by officers in 2015 -- underscoring the difficulty of reducing such incidents despite sustained public attention to the issue.... The total comes amid a nationwide spike in violent crime -- although nowhere near historic highs -- and as people increasingly are venturing into public spaces now that coronavirus vaccines are widely available."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Thursday are here.

Lenny Bernstein, et al., of the Washington Post: "Mask mandates continued to fall in traditionally cautious blue states Wednesday as the number of U.S. coronavirus cases plunged, covid-19 hospitalizations dropped below 100,000 and the government's chief medical adviser, Anthony S. Fauci, said the country is 'on the road to approaching normality.' In New York, Illinois and Rhode Island, governors said they would soon end requirements that adults wear face coverings in public indoor places and some, including Massachusetts, promised children would no longer have to wear them in school."

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The White House has been meeting with outside health experts to plan a pandemic exit strategy and a transition to a 'new normal,' but the behind-the-scenes effort is crashing into a very public reality: A string of blue-state governors have gotten ahead of President Biden by suddenly abandoning their mask mandates. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, said pointedly on Wednesday that while Covid-19 caseloads are dropping overall and her agency is working on new guidance for the states, it is too soon for all Americans to take off their masks in indoor public places." A related AP story is here.

Canada/U.S. Rob Gillies & Tom Krisher of the AP: "A blockade of the bridge between Canada and Detroit by protesters demanding an end to Canada's COVID-19 restrictions forced the shutdown Wednesday of a Ford plant and began to have broader implications for the North American auto industry. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, stood firm against an easing of Canada's COVID-19 restrictions in the face of mounting pressure during recent weeks by protests against the restrictions and against Trudeau himself. The protest by people mostly in pickup trucks entered its third day at the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. Traffic was prevented from entering Canada, while U.S.-bound traffic was still moving."

Matt Gertz of Media Matters: "Fox News" ... stars have ... [been] regaling their audiences with fawning coverage of Canadian truckers protesting their country's COVID-19 vaccine requirements -- and encouraging the development of similar activism in the U.S.... The network devoted 7 hours and 59 minutes to the story from the first mention of the convoy we found on January 18 through noon on February 9. Prime-time stars Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity are among the convoy's biggest fans at the network.... Fox's propagandists have cheered on the truckers as 'freedom fighters,' 'civil rights hero[es],' and 'the face of individualism and rebellion,' while denouncing the purported 'totalitarianism' of the Canadian government."

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

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "President Biden has slammed legislation proposed by Republicans in Florida that aims to restrict some discussions in the state's schools about sexual orientation and gender identity. Biden, in a tweet on Tuesday, called the proposal a 'hateful bill' and said he would give his full support to the young people who may be affected. Critics have dubbed it the 'Don't say gay' bill -- but supporters say it is about parental rights. 'I have your back, and my Administration will continue to fight for the protections and safety you deserve,' Biden wrote to the LGBTQ community. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) seemingly signaled his support for the bill on Monday ... [and Tuesday]." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: DeSantis argued Tuesday that "Schools need to be teaching ... all those basic stuff." But he included science & history and the U.S. Constitution among "all those basic stuff," and if schools are going to teach biology, American history & U.S. government, they will inevitably have to throw in some material that causes some parents & students "discomfort, guilt and anguish."

Florida. Gillian Brockell of the Washington Post: "The Florida state legislature kicked off Black History Month by advancing bills that would allow parents to sue a school if any instruction caused students 'discomfort, guilt or anguish.' The bills have been endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who last year said he wanted to ban critical race theory and 'wokeness' from being taught in Florida schools.... Critics point out that it's challenging, to say the least, to provide a remotely sufficient accounting of history in the United States, or anyplace else, without discussing uncomfortable subjects. Florida is no exception. Here are some moments in Florida history that may be difficult to teach without causing discomfort." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: We did take "Florida history" when I was in school. Two of the atrocities Brockell cites took place after I was graduated from high school., but not one of the other historic incidents Brockell discusses got any mention in our history books or by our teachers. And, yeah, since learning of these events as an adult, I have definitely felt "discomfort and anguish." Guilt, not so much.

Kansas. John Hanna of the AP: "Republican legislators in Kansas on Wednesday overrode the Democratic governor's veto of a redistricting plan that politically hurts the state's only Democrat in Congress, likely plunging Kansas into a national legal brawl amid the contest for control of the U.S. House. Prominent Democratic attorney Marc Elias, who has pursued lawsuits in states including Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio, tweeted: 'Kansas will be sued.' The 85-37 vote in the Kansas House overturned Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a map that splits the state's side of the Kansas City area between two districts, making it harder for U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids to win reelection this year. Davids is the state's first openly gay and Native American woman in Congress."

News Ledes

CNBC: "Consumer prices in January surged more than expected over the past 12 months, indicating a worsening outlook for inflation and cementing the likelihood of substantial interest rate hikes this year. The consumer price index, which measures the costs of dozens of everyday consumer goods, rose 7.5% compared to a year ago, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That compared to Dow Jones estimates of 7.2% for the closely watched inflation gauge. It was the highest reading since February 1982."

The AP's live updates of Olympics events & results is here. CNN's live updates are here.