December 13, 2021

Marie: I just watched President Biden speaking off the cuff to reporters about the tornadoes & FEMA's reponse & so forth. Three things struck me: (1) his compassion for those affected by the tornadoes; (2) his knowledge about minutia on a number of related topics; (3) Donald Trump lobbing rolls of paper towels at Puerto Rican hurricane victims. How any single person, including Marjorie Traitor Greene, could prefer to Trump to Biden really is beyond me. Here's video of Biden's remarks. Drop in anywhere and you'll see what I mean.

The New York Times' live updates of developments re: the tornadoes that devastated parts of four U.S. states are here: "After grimly fluctuating death tolls since Friday's devastating swarm of tornadoes, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky said on Monday that there were 64 confirmed deaths in the state, though he expected that number to rise as crews continued to search through the ruins." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of developments stemming from the tornadoes are here: "President Biden will travel to Kentucky on Wednesday to assess the impact after a string of tornadoes killed at least 64 there and at least 13 people in numerous other states."

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "None of the military personnel involved in a botched drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed 10 civilians will face any kind of punishment after Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III approved recommendations from two top commanders, a senior Pentagon official said. The Pentagon acknowledged in September that the last U.S. drone strike before American troops withdrew from Afghanistan was a tragic mistake that killed the civilians, including seven children, after initially saying it had been necessary to prevent an Islamic State attack on troops. A subsequent high-level investigation into the episode found no violations of law but stopped short of fully exonerating those involved, saying that was 'commander business.'"

David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "... American politics today ... may ... be in the midst of a radical shift away from the democratic rules and traditions that have guided the country for a very long time. An anti-democratic movement, inspired by Donald Trump but much larger than him, is making significant progress.... The movement has encountered surprisingly little opposition.... The main battlegrounds are swing states where Republicans control the state legislature, like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin."

** Greg Sargent of the Washington Post:"In his new book, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows offers up a version of Donald Trump's conduct on Jan. 6 that is almost comically sanitized.... In a passage that would embarrass a North Korea disinformation specialist, Meadows writes that the mob assault left Trump 'mortified.' The House select committee examining Jan. 6 has just released its report recommending contempt charges against Meadows for defying its subpoena. It blows a big hole in Meadows's pleasing little propaganda piece.... The report reads like a blueprint for a coup -- not just for the attempt that just happened, but also for a future one." ~~~

~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "What we currently understand about the White House's effort [to flip the presidential election results] is that it was largely focused on the finalization of the electoral vote. On Jan. 6, that culminated with Trump's attempts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence into rejecting the submitted votes from several states.... This effort sat on the foundation of months of false claims from Trump about voter fraud and operated in parallel with efforts by Trump and his allies to get institutional buy-in on those assertions. His consideration of overhauling the leadership at the Justice Department to put pressure on Georgia, his call to officials in that state, his embrace of debunked allegations from there and elsewhere.... At the same time, there was an enormous and robust economy for other nonsense and conspiratorial thinking outside of the administration.... Then there was the violence on Jan. 6, an occurrence that was entirely a function of Trump's claims about the election and his calls for people to show up in Washington on that day." ~~~

~~~ Luke Broadwater of the New York Times has more on the House committee report laying out "its case for a contempt of Congress charge against Mark Meadows..., presenting evidence of Mr. Meadows's deep involvement in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election." A Politico report is linked below.

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

Julie Bosman, et al., of the New York Times: "As the coronavirus pandemic approaches the end of a second year, the United States stands on the cusp of surpassing 800,000 deaths from the virus, and no group has suffered more than older Americans.... Seventy-five percent of people who have died of the virus in the United States -- or about 600,000 of the nearly 800,000 who have perished so far -- have been 65 or older. One in 100 older Americans has died from the virus. For people younger than 65, that ratio is closer to 1 in 1,400."

Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "The number of active-duty U.S. military personnel declining to be vaccinated against the coronavirus by their prescribed deadlines is as high as 40,000, with new Army data showing that, days ahead of its cutoff, 3 percent of soldiers either have rejected President Biden's mandate or sought a long-shot exemption. While overall the vast majority of service members are fully vaccinated, military analysts have characterized the number of refusals and holdouts as a troubling indicator in a rigid, top-down culture where decision-making often is predicated on the understanding that the troops will do as they are told. It also suggests the nation's divisive politics have influenced a small but significant segment of the Defense Department, historically an apolitical institution."

Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times: "A new Covid-19 pill from Merck has raised hopes that it could transform the landscape of treatment options for Americans at high risk of severe disease at a time when the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is driving a surge of cases in highly vaccinated European countries. But two weeks after a Food and Drug Administration expert committee narrowly voted to recommend authorizing the drug, known as molnupiravir, the F.D.A. is still weighing Merck's application. Among the biggest questions facing regulators is whether the drug, in the course of wreaking havoc on the virus's genes, also has the potential to cause mutations in human DNA. Scientists are especially worried about pregnant women, they said, because the drug could affect a fetus's dividing cells, theoretically causing birth defects. Members of the F.D.A. expert committee expressed those same concerns during a public meeting on Nov. 30." Emphasis added.

Juliet Macur of the New York Times: "Hundreds of female gymnasts who were sexually abused by Lawrence G. Nassar, the former team doctor of the national gymnastics team, have agreed to a $380 million settlement with U.S.A. Gymnastics and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, ending the latest dark chapter in one of the biggest molestation cases in sports history. The settlement, announced on Monday during U.S.A. Gymnastics' bankruptcy proceedings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, is among the largest ever for a sexual abuse case. The funds would compensate more than 500 gymnasts -- including Olympic gold medalists like Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman -- who were abused by Nassar or someone else in the sport."

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John Hudson of the Washington Post: "The Group of Seven leading industrial democracies warned Russia on Sunday of 'massive consequences' and 'severe cost' if it launches an attack on Ukraine, a day before President Biden's top diplomat for Europe travels to Kyiv and Moscow to address the high-stakes standoff. The joint statement from G-7 ministers meeting in [Liverpool, England,] said they are united in their opposition to Russia's military buildup near the border of Ukraine and called on the Kremlin to de-escalate. The statement ... is the latest effort by the Biden administration to rally international support for Ukraine as U.S. intelligence finds that the Kremlin has planned out a potential multifront offensive in Ukraine involving up to 175,000 troops. Russia has denied having any such plans." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dave Philipps, et al., of the New York Times: "A single top secret American strike cell launched tens of thousands of bombs and missiles against the Islamic State in Syria, but in the process of hammering a vicious enemy, the shadowy force sidestepped safeguards and repeatedly killed civilians, according to multiple current and former military and intelligence officials.... People who worked with the strike cell say in the rush to destroy enemies, it circumvented rules imposed to protect noncombatants, and alarmed its partners in the military and the C.I.A. by killing people who had no role in the conflict: farmers trying to harvest, children in the street, families fleeing fighting, and villagers sheltering in buildings. [The strike cell, called] Talon Anvil, was small -- at times fewer than 20 people operating from anonymous rooms cluttered with flat screens -- but it played an outsize role in the 112,000 bombs and missiles launched against the Islamic State, in part because it embraced a loose interpretation of the military's rules of engagement." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lindsey O. Graham on Sunday continued his criticisms of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for adopting a bipartisan deal that allowed Democrats to raise the debt ceiling. Graham, who has become one of ... Donald Trump's most vocal defenders, argued that someone who did not have a good working relationship with Trump could not be an effective Republican leader." MB: If Lindsey did not have so much power to do harm to this country, I would feel sorry for him. He's pathetic.

Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "Mark Meadows indicated in a Jan. 5 email that the National Guard was on standby to 'protect pro Trump people,' according to an email obtained by the House committee investigating the Capitol riot and described in a public document Sunday night. The context for the message is unclear, but it comes amid intense scrutiny of the Guard's slow response to violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and conflicting timelines about their response from the Pentagon and National Guard leadership. The description of the message is part of a 51-page document released Sunday by the select panel a day before it is set to vote to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress. The full House is expected to vote to hold Meadows ... in criminal contempt of Congress on Tuesday. In other messages described by the committee, Meadows appears to have asked members of Congress to help connect Trump with state lawmakers. 'POTUS wants to chat with them,' Meadows said, according to documents ... described publicly Sunday evening." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Thanks to Ken W. for the link. I'm with Ken's wife, who keeps wondering why clowns like Meadows aren't in jail. In fact, I suspect that one of the two big reasons Meadows decided not to cooperate with the committee (the first being fear of Trump) is that his lawyer sat him down & said, "You know you broke the law 6 ways, don't you?"

Jacob Kornbluh of the Forward: "A new Hebrew book published on Sunday by Israeli journalist Barak Ravid gives a behind-the-scenes look at what is now being revealed as a rocky U.S.-Israel relationship during the Trump administration, but one that led to normalization deals between Israel and the Arab world."

Risa Brooks & Erica De Bruin in the Washington Post's Outlook: "Democracy is most likely to break down through a series of incremental actions that cumulatively undermine the electoral process, resulting in a presidential election that produces an outcome clearly at odds with the voters' will. It is this comparatively quiet but steady subversion, rather than a violent coup or insurrection against a sitting president, that Americans today have to fear most. Five sets of actions fuel this corrosion: limiting participation in elections; controlling election administration; legitimizing and mobilizing social support for methods to obstruct or overturn an election; using political violence to further that end; and politicizing the regular military or National Guard to delegitimize election outcomes. We have identified 18 steps to democratic breakdown and assigned a score of one to three alarm bells for each step, which indicates how big a threat we believe it poses to our democracy now." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Oliver Darcy & Brian Stelter of CNN: "Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, one of the few high-profile news personalities who retained a reputation of integrity as the channel he worked for leaned hard into right-wing and conspiratorial programming, announced Sunday that he is departing the network and joining CNN+ to host a weekday show. Wallace made the stunning announcement of his departure from Fox News at the end of 'Fox News Sunday,' the channel's flagship weekly program that he has moderated since 2003." A New York Times story is here. MB: I don't watch Fox "News," but Wallace's departure must nearly complete the purge of any on-air personalities in touch with reality. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "... the network has found its voice in [Tucker] Carlson..., [whose] extremism -- telling viewers that Democrats 'hate' America; espousing the racist 'replacement theory'; subverting science on the coronavirus -- has emerged as the network's defining ideology, a point of reckoning for colleagues wishing to practice anything approximating journalism.... Every day ... Fox News takes another step toward its destiny as The Tucker Carlson Channel. And in that future, there's no room for journalists.... Good luck, Fox News, trying to find someone to replace Wallace." ~~~

     ~~~ Any picks for Wallace's replacement? A while back, Matt Gaetz said he was interested in becoming a Fox "News" host, but apparently that didn't work out, so I guess "Gaetz on Government" is out. Kayleigh MacANinny then maybe; she's already working at Fox. Wemple suggests Fox "News" anchor Bret Baier might get the job; that seems likely, if Baier will take it.

Good Grief. Time Magazine names Elon Musk "Person of the Year."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here: "South Africa's president tested positive for the coronavirus on Sunday, as new cases continue to rise in the country. President Cyril Ramaphosa underwent a coronavirus test on Sunday, when he felt unwell after leaving a state memorial service held for former President F.W. de Klerk, according to a statement from the South African presidency. Since researchers in South Africa first detected the Omicron variant at the end of November, coronavirus cases have surged in the nation."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Russia/Ukraine. Christopher Miller of BuzzFeed News: "Satellite images provided to BuzzFeed News and a slew of social media videos show that new Russian troops and heavy artillery were moved to strategic locations right around [the time of] Biden and Putin's virtual summit.... Tanks and other menacing self-propelled artillery. A Russian Buk surface-to-air missile system like the one that shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. Thousands more troops. Those are merely some of the Russian forces and matériel seen in videos posted to social media heading toward the Ukrainian border in the past week alone. Western and Ukrainian intelligence agencies estimate roughly 100,000 troops, along with fighter aircraft and ballistic missiles, are already in place."

December 12, 2021

John Hudson of the Washington Post: :The Group of Seven leading industrial democracies warned Russia on Sunday of 'massive consequences' and 'severe cost' if it launches an attack on Ukraine, a day before President Biden's top diplomat for Europe travels to Kyiv and Moscow to address the high-stakes standoff. The joint statement from G-7 ministers meeting in [Liverpool, England,] said they are united in their opposition to Russia's military buildup near the border of Ukraine and called on the Kremlin to de-escalate. The statement ... is the latest effort by the Biden administration to rally international support for Ukraine as U.S. intelligence finds that the Kremlin has planned out a potential multifront offensive in Ukraine involving up to 175,000 troops. Russia has denied having any such plans." Politico's story is here.

Oliver Darcy & Brian Stelter of CNN: "Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, one of the few high-profile news personalities who retained a reputation of integrity as the channel he worked for leaned hard into right-wing and conspiratorial programming, announced Sunday that he is departing the network and joining CNN+ to host a weekday show. Wallace made the stunning announcement of his departure from Fox News at the end of 'Fox News Sunday,' the channel's flagship weekly program that he has moderated since 2003." A New York Times story is here. MB: I don't watch Fox "News," but Wallace's departure must nearly complete the purge of any on-air personalities in touch with reality.

Dave Philipps, et al., of the New York Times: "A single top secret American strike cell launched tens of thousands of bombs and missiles against the Islamic State in Syria, but in the process of hammering a vicious enemy, the shadowy force sidestepped safeguards and repeatedly killed civilians, according to multiple current and former military and intelligence officials.... People who worked with the strike cell say in the rush to destroy enemies, it circumvented rules imposed to protect noncombatants, and alarmed its partners in the military and the C.I.A. by killing people who had no role in the conflict: farmers trying to harvest, children in the street, families fleeing fighting, and villagers sheltering in buildings. [The strike cell, called] Talon Anvil, was small -- at times fewer than 20 people operating from anonymous rooms cluttered with flat screens -- but it played an outsize role in the 112,000 bombs and missiles launched against the Islamic State, in part because it embraced a loose interpretation of the military's rules of engagement."

Risa Brooks & Erica De Bruin in the Washington Post's Outlook: "Democracy is most likely to break down through a series of incremental actions that cumulatively undermine the electoral process, resulting in a presidential election that produces an outcome clearly at odds with the voters' will. It is this comparatively quiet but steady subversion, rather than a violent coup or insurrection against a sitting president, that Americans today have to fear most. Five sets of actions fuel this corrosion: limiting participation in elections; controlling election administration; legitimizing and mobilizing social support for methods to obstruct or overturn an election; using political violence to further that end; and politicizing the regular military or National Guard to delegitimize election outcomes. We have identified 18 steps to democratic breakdown and assigned a score of one to three alarm bells for each step, which indicates how big a threat we believe it poses to our democracy now."

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Ray Hartmann of the Raw Story: "Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky dashed off a letter to President Joe Biden [Sunday] pleading for expeditious federal relief aid to victims of a deadly 200-mile tornado that struck his state Friday.... Throughout his two terms in the U.S. Senate, Paul has prided himself as a Tea Party fiscal conservative willing to say no to the most milquetoast causes if federal spending is involved. Opposing federal disaster relief is one of his pastimes."

Washington Post Editors: "Texas's six-week abortion ban is an insult to the Supreme Court, designed to eliminate abortion rights that the court has upheld for decades and to curtail the judiciary's ability to stop the state from committing this brazen legal maneuver. It threatens not only Americans who might ever need an abortion, but all manner of constitutional rights. The nation needed the court to condemn definitively Texas's ploy. A narrow majority has instead responded with a weak shrug.... If Texas's bounty system enables states to violate people's constitutional rights without direct and efficient recourse to the courts, any number of constitutional guarantees would be in danger. California could ban all guns and empower private parties to enforce the law. Vermont could ban religious services as long as legal vigilantes were the ones punishing those who disobeyed." ~~~

If the legislatures of the several states may, at will, annul the judgments of the courts of the United States, and destroy the rights acquired under those judgments, the constitution itself becomes a solemn mockery.... The nature of the federal right infringed does not matter; it is the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system that is at stake. -- Chief Justice John Roberts, dissent in Whole Woman's Health ~~~

~~~ Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "The decision in Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson ... represents the latest and perhaps most alarming indication yet of just how radical this new conservative majority is. And as the four dissenters -- including Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. -- warned, it presents a threat to the rule of law and the Constitution, not just in Texas but also nationwide.... The worst part isn't what the conservative majority is allowing Texas to do to the constitutional rights of women, although that is terrible. The worst part -- truly, the most shocking part -- is what the majority is doing to its own authority, and the authority of all federal courts presented with claims that state laws violate constitutional rights." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Perhaps I should add that the warnings from Roberts & Sotomayor in their dissents are not big news to the Supreme Confederates. Before they write their opinions, all the justices sit around at a table & discuss their views. So it's not as if Amy Phony Barrett first heard these warnings when she skimmed the dissents & perhaps did a head-slapper; she & her buddies heard the warnings & went ahead anyway with their ruling against the U.S. Constitution. Unless these yokels "undo" their decision in a subsequent ruling, this is the Dred Scott for the 21st century, but this times the rights of Black citizens are not the only ones on the chopping block. The Tenther Movement has moved on up -- to the Supreme Court majority. ~~~

~~~ Gavin Newsom Plays Along. Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: "Angered by the U.S. Supreme Court decision to continue allowing private citizens to sue Texas abortion providers, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Saturday called for a similar law giving ordinary residents legal standing to file lawsuits against purveyors of restricted firearms. 'SCOTUS is letting private citizens in Texas sue to stop abortion?!' Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, tweeted. 'If that's the precedent, then we'll let Californians sue those who put ghost guns and assault weapons on our streets. If TX can ban abortion and endanger lives, CA can ban deadly weapons of war and save lives.' The governor's response seemed to contradict his earlier criticism of the Texas law, which Mr. Newsom had previously described as a cynical attempt to undercut federal rights." MB: Um, I don't think Hubler gets it. Besides, the Texas law, until the confederate Supremes blessed it, was crap. Newsom's proposal is a slap in the collective face of the Five Farts.

Emma Brown, et al., of the Washington Post: "A retired U.S. Army colonel who circulated a proposal to challenge the 2020 election, including by declaring a national security emergency and seizing paper ballots, said that he visited the White House on multiple occasions after the election, spoke with ... Donald Trump's chief of staff [Mark Meadows] 'maybe eight to 10 times' and briefed several members of Congress on the eve of the Jan. 6 riot. Phil Waldron, the retired colonel, was working with Trump's outside lawyers and was part of a team that briefed the lawmakers on a PowerPoint presentation detailing 'Options for 6 JAN,' Waldron told The Washington Post. He said his contribution to the presentation focused on his claims of foreign interference in the vote, as did his discussions with the White House.... The PowerPoint circulated by Waldron included proposals for Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6 to reject electors from 'states where fraud occurred' or replace them with Republican electors. It included a third proposal in which the certification of Joe Biden's victory was to be delayed, and U.S. marshals and National Guard troops were to help 'secure' and count paper ballots in key states.... Waldron's account ... [s] that Meadows ... was more directly in contact with proponents of [baseless conspiracy] theories than was previously known.” This is an elaboration of a New York Times story, linked yesterday.

Ron Filipkowski in a Washington Post op-ed: Last winter, "... many of the activists and influencers who promoted and attended the [January 6] rally that became the violent attempt to stop the certification of President Biden's election have now turned their attention to three primary targets: school boards, city and county commissions, and secretaries of state and supervisors of elections. The new endeavors give the appearance of grass-roots efforts but feature familiar characters teaming up with organizations long involved with financing and leading disruptions, protests and disinformation campaigns on a variety of issues.... Some of these activists have harnessed the anger, fear and resentment they have helped churn up and are using it for their personal and financial benefit.... Figures like Stephen K. Bannon, Roger Stone, Alex Jones, Charlie Kirk and [Michael] Flynn are regulars on the circuit mobilizing people to take on local governments."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "A senior Trump administration official told the House panel probing the government's coronavirus response that he will not comply with their subpoena, escalating a fight with Democrats investigating the handling of the pandemic. Peter Navarro, who served as ... Donald Trump's trade adviser and closely consulted on the White House's virus strategy, cited a 'direct order' from the former president to claim executive privilege, according to a letter released on Saturday by the panel." Politico's story is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Nevada. David Charns of KLAS Las Vegas: "Las Vegas' airport will drop the McCarran name and will instead honor Nevada's longest-serving senator, Harry Reid, starting Tuesday. The airport will officially be referred to as Harry Reid International Airport. Its FAA code, LAS, will not change. The Clark County Commission voted Feb. 16 to approve the new name, and the commission stipulated that private donations would have to pay for the costs in making the change. Earlier actions leading up to the decision have included a move to raise $4.5 million in donations to pay for the name change. In October, Commissioner Tick Segerblom said $4.2 million was already in place."

Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "For several months now, Texas has been engaged in an effort to repurpose the tools of state law enforcement to stem the sudden increase of people crossing illegally into the country. To do this, Texas officials led by Gov. Greg Abbott developed a way around the fact that immigration enforcement is a federal government job: State and local police departments partner with the owners of borderland ranches, and use trespassing laws to arrest migrants who cross their land.... The new approach relies on the participation of local officials and, so far, it has been adopted in just two of the state's 32 border region counties.... [In Bracketville, where Abbott's troops are operating,] high speed chases are so frequent that the local school installed rock barriers to protect against crashes. Helicopters patrol the night sky.... Town residents, a majority of whom are poor and Hispanic, complain they are routinely followed by officers newly assigned to the area.... [Many of the migrants the Texas troops arrested] have languished in state prisons awaiting a hearing, raising constitutional concerns." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Actually, if the Whole Woman's Health ruling by the John C. Calhoun Club at the Supreme Court are precedent, there's no constitutional question at all. States' rights are settled law.

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. New York Times reporter Matthieu Aikins & photographer Jim Huylebroek document the (most recent) fall of Kabul.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Anne Rice, the Gothic novelist best known for 'Interview With the Vampire,' the 1976 book that in 1994 became a popular film starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, died on Saturday. She was 80."

The Washington Post's: live updates of developments along the paths of tornado destruction in the Midwest are here. The New York Times' live updates are here.

December 11, 2021

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden made his first late-night show appearance since taking office on Friday, condemning partisanship in Congress and endorsing a song featuring the rapper Megan Thee Stallion to encourage Americans to get the Covid vaccine.... The president used the opportunity to celebrate the passage of his bipartisan infrastructure package, emphasize the importance of voting rights and encourage Americans to get their shots." ~~~

John Wagner, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden hailed former senator Bob Dole as a 'genuine hero,' praising his courage on the battlefield and integrity on Capitol Hill, as he spoke at an invitation-only memorial service at Washington National Cathedral. Former senators Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), and Dole's daughter, Robin Dole, also spoke. At a public ceremony at the World II Memorial in Washington, actor Tom Hanks lauded Dole's military service and said 'the memory and conscience of the man himself will always be here, right here, for as long as there is an America.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: President Biden used his remarks to contrast Dole's political style with those of today's dangerous Republicans. Pretty good: ~~~

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued six new subpoenas on Friday, digging deeper into the rallies that preceded the mob violence and organizers' meetings with ... Donald J. Trump. Those issued subpoenas Friday included Robert 'Bobby' Peede Jr., a former director of the White House advance team and Max Miller, a former Trump White House aide, who both met with Mr. Trump in his private dining room by the Oval Office on Jan. 4 to discuss the rally planned for two days later at the Ellipse, a park just south of the White House; and Brian Jack, Mr. Trump's former political affairs director who reached out to several members of Congress to ask them to speak at the Jan. 6 rally. (Mr. Jack is currently the political director for ... Kevin McCarthy.)... The committee also issued subpoenas for Bryan Lewis, who obtained a permit for a rally outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 to 'urge Congress to nullify electoral votes from states that made illegal changes to voting rules during their elections'; and Ed Martin, an organizer of the Stop the Steal movement who the committee said was involved in the planning and financing of the rally immediately before the attack.... The panel also issued a subpoena to Kimberly Fletcher and her organization, Moms for America, which helped organize a Jan. 5 rally at Freedom Plaza and the Jan. 6 rally at the Ellipse...." Politico's story is here.

The clear purpose and actual effect of S.B. 8 has been to nullify this court's rulings.... It is the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system that is at stake. -- Chief Justice John Roberts, in a dissent joined by Sotomayor, Kagan & Breyer

This is a brazen challenge to our federal structure. It echoes the philosophy of John C. Calhoun, a virulent defender of the slaveholding South who insisted that States had the right to 'veto' or 'nullif[y]' any federal law with which they disagreed.... The Nation fought a Civil War over that proposition, but Calhoun's theories were not extinguished.... [B]y foreclosing suit against state-court officials and the state attorney general, the Court clears the way for States to reprise and perfect Texas' scheme in the future to target the exercise of any right recognized by this Court with which they disagree. This is no hypothetical. -- Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a separate dissent ~~~

~~~ Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Friday said that Texas abortion providers may sue to stop the state's ban on most abortions after six weeks, but left the law in place for now. The splintered decision allows the providers to return to a district judge who once blocked the law, saying it violated the constitutional right to abortion. That restarts the legal process that has seen the law remain in effect since Sept. 1, when the Supreme Court refused to step in to block it. Eight justices said the abortion providers may bring the challenge. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for himself and the court's three liberals, said the district judge should act quickly. 'Given the ongoing chilling effect of the state law, the District Court should resolve this litigation and enter appropriate relief without delay,' Roberts wrote." The New York Times report, by Adam Liptak, is here. (Also liked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Dahlia Lithwick's commentary on these rulings is in Slate and is subscriber-firewalled. However, Annie Laurie of Balloon Juice republishes the meat of Lithwick's analysis: "The real story of the two decisions in U.S. v. Texas and Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson is that Chief Justice John Roberts has now lost control of his court." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: For what it's worth, I think the "real story" is the one Sonia Sotomayor tells in her dissent: that the confederate Supremes have set a precedent -- and guidelines -- for states to nullify Constitutional rights which the Supreme Court has, over the years, defined & solidified. It gets as basic as First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, the press, religion. Any state could nullify these rights simply by allowing vigilantes to successfully sue, say, non-Protestants for practicing their religions. They could sue the local newspaper for writing an editorial disparaging the governor. They could sue you for standing on a soapbox in the town square & making "unapproved" remarks. They could sue, say, interracial or gay married couples. In less draconian ways, states could eliminate all manner of federal laws that have kept us safer. Ironically, by providing a pathway to making states invulnerable to federal oversight, the Fab Five have undercut their own authority. Apparently, that was their intention.

Barak Ravid in Axios: “Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu were the closest of political allies during the four years they overlapped in office, at least in public. Not anymore. "I haven't spoken to him since," Trump said of the former Israeli prime minister. 'F**k him.'... Trump repeatedly criticized Netanyahu during two interviews for my book.... The final straw for Trump was when Netanyahu congratulated President-elect Biden for his election victory while Trump was still disputing the result." MB: Trump is still "disputing the results." (Also liked yesterday afternoon.)

Luke Broadwater & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is scrutinizing a 38-page PowerPoint document filled with extreme plans to overturn the 2020 election that Mark Meadows, the last chief of staff to ... Donald J. Trump, has turned over to the panel. The document recommended that Mr. Trump declare a national emergency to delay the certification of the election results and included a claim that China and Venezuela had obtained control over the voting infrastructure in a majority of states. A lawyer for Mr. Meadows, George J. Terwilliger III, said on Friday that Mr. Meadows ... merely received [the document] by email in his inbox and did nothing with it.... Phil Waldron, a retired Army colonel and an influential voice in the movement to challenge the election, said on Friday from a bar he owns outside Austin, Texas, that he had circulated the document.... Mr. Waldron said that he did not personally send the document to Mr. Meadows.... Rudolph W. Giuliani ... has cited Mr. Waldron as a source of information for his legal campaign." The Guardian's report is here.

** Jason Szep & Linda So of Reuters: On January 4, "a Chicago publicist for hip-hop artist Kanye West traveled to the suburban home of Ruby Freeman, a frightened Georgia election worker who was facing death threats after being falsely accused by ... Donald Trump of manipulating votes.... The visitor, Trevian Kutti, gave her name but didn't say she worked for West, a longtime billionaire friend of Trump. She said she was sent by a 'high-profile individual,' whom she didn't identify, to give Freeman an urgent message: confess to Trump's voter-fraud allegations, or people would come to her home in 48 hours, and she'd go to jail. Freeman refused.... The day after Freeman's meeting with Kutti, an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation called Freeman and urged her to leave her home of 20 years because it wasn't safe, Freeman said.... According to a defamation lawsuit Freeman and [her daughter Wandrea 'Shaye'] Moss [-- whom Trump also accused of illegally counting phony ballots --]..., left [her home on January 6,] hours before a mob of angry Trump supporters surrounded her home, shouting through bullhorns." The article includes video from a bodycam worn by a police officer who came to Freeman's house after she called 911 for protection. Related story linked below under Beyond the Beltway. ~~~

     ~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Had Kutti successfully compelled Freeman to admit committing some crime, it would certainly have upended the conversation about the election at a particularly fraught moment. The results in Georgia would have been called into question with at least some legitimacy, giving Trump and his allies ammunition to stall the upcoming certification of electoral votes. Trump would almost certainly have still been ousted, but in a throw-spaghetti-at-the-wall strategy to retain power, even one sticky piece of pasta is useful." MB: BTW, police and other authorities have brought no charges against Kutti or any of the dozens & dozens of people who have threatened Freeman.

Betsy Swan & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A Donald Trump campaign lawyer wrote two legal memos in the week before the Jan. 6 Capitol attack that claimed then-Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to refuse to count presidential electors from states that delivered Joe Biden the White House. The memos from then-Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis, which contain widely disputed legal theories about Pence's ability to stop a Biden presidency, underscore Ellis' promotion of extreme arguments that she promulgated amid Trump's effort to reverse the election results.... A Dec. 31 Ellis memo delivered to Trump's office suggested that Pence -- who was constitutionally responsible for presiding over Congress' counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6 -- should simply refuse to open envelopes from states whose election results Trump considered to be fraudulent.... In a second, previously unreported memo dated Jan. 5, Ellis made a more technical legal argument that she delivered to Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's outside lawyers." The memos are here (pdf).

Attention: Coup in Progress. Charles Homans of the New York Times: "According to a May Reuters/Ipsos poll, more than 60 percent of Republicans now believe the 2020 election was stolen. This belief has informed a wave of mobilization at both grass-roots and elite levels in the party with an eye to future elections. In races for state and county-level offices with direct oversight of elections, Republican candidates coming out of the Stop the Steal movement are running competitive campaigns, in which they enjoy a first-mover advantage in electoral contests that few partisans from either party thought much about before last November. And legislation that state lawmakers have passed or tried to pass this year in a number of states would assert more control over election systems and results by partisan offices that Republicans already decisively control."

David Ignatius of the Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putin's path toward threatening an invasion of Ukraine is marked by reckless actions. In this move toward defiance of international norms, Putin has been subtly encouraged by ... Donald Trump, a fellow traveler in recklessness.... Trump has been doing Putin's work of destabilization for him.... Now, as Putin contemplates a move into Ukraine, he beholds an America weakened by political division bordering on dysfunction. He sees a moment of opportunity."

Brian Deese, et al., of the White House: "In September, we explained that meat prices are the biggest contributor to the rising cost of groceries, in part because just a few large corporations dominate meat processing. The November Consumer Price Index data released this morning demonstrates that meat prices are still the single largest contributor to the rising cost of food people consume at home. Beef, pork, and poultry price increases make up a quarter of the overall increase in food-at-home prices last month. As we noted in September, just four large conglomerates control approximately 55-85% of the market for pork, beef, and poultry, and these middlemen were using their market power to increase prices and underpay farmers, while taking more and more for themselves." Emphasis original.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

California. Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post: "The second-largest school district in the United States is facing mounting woes over its coronavirus vaccine mandate, recently terminating hundreds of employees who refused to comply and vowing to put thousands of unvaccinated students into online classes. Board members of Los Angeles Unified School District -- which has one of the strictest vaccine mandates in the nation -- voted Tuesday to terminate 496 employees who failed to get vaccinated ahead of the deadline. In addition, some 34,000 students are also in violation of the requirements, according to the Los Angeles Times. Per the district's vaccination policy, students 12 and older must be fully vaccinated -- or receive an exemption -- by the start of the second semester in January. Those who fail to do so will not be allowed on school campuses and will be referred to an online independent study program."

New York. Shannon Young of Politico: "All New Yorkers must wear masks inside any business that does not implement a vaccine requirement, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday, announcing one of the most stringent mandates in the nation. The new requirement, which takes effect Monday and will be reassessed on Jan. 15, comes amid a surge in Covid-19 cases throughout much of upstate New York, and as more cases of the Omicron variant are confirmed throughout the state."

Pennsylvania. Mark Scolforo of NBC 10 Philadelphia: "A statewide mask mandate for Pennsylvania schoolchildren was thrown out by the state Supreme Court on Friday, raising the prospect that at least some students in the state may soon be allowed to attend classes without a face covering. The justices announced their decision to invalidate the Wolf administration's statewide mandate for masks inside K-12 school buildings and child care facilities but did not issue a written opinion that explains their reasoning. They upheld a lower-court decision that the mandate was imposed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's acting health secretary without legal authorization. The practical impact of the decision will depend on what the justices say in the written opinion or opinions they will issue in the case and which schools and school districts impose their own masking requirements. The court took action amid a statewide surge in new infections and hospitalizations."

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia. Perdue Goes All Trumpy. Jeff Amy of the AP: "Days after announcing his candidacy for governor, Republican David Perdue further embraced debunked claims of electoral fraud in Georgia's 2020 presidential race by joining a lawsuit seeking to prove he and ... Donald Trump were cheated out of election victories. The suit claims that fraudulent or counterfeit ballots were counted in Fulton County, the state's most populous jurisdiction, although investigators rebutted the same claims previously.... His position that Georgia's 2020 election was wrongly decided isn't new. He called on Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to resign while votes were still being counted in 2020, saying he 'failed to deliver honest and transparent elections,' said if he had been in the U.S. Senate on Jan. 6, he would have voted against accepting Georgia's electoral votes. But until now he hadn't sued.... The suit also renews debunked claims that election officials purposefully lied about stopping counting on election night, claiming that once observers left that election workers pulled out 'suitcases' of ballots and counted the votes multiple times, effectively running up the score for Democrats." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This fake claim about election workers recounting suitcases full of ballots refers to Ruby Freeman & her daughter Wandrea 'Shaye' Moss, and perhaps others. I hope they add Perdue to their defamation lawsuit.

Oregon. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "A former member of the Proud Boys from Texas who traveled to Portland, Ore., to confront protesters there last year was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison for shooting a man in the eye with a paintball gun, spraying people in the face with bear mace and aiming a loaded handgun at a crowd, prosecutors said. The former member, Alan Swinney, 51, was a 'white nationalist vigilante cowboy,' who went to Portland to engage in political violence during protests there in the summer of 2020, prosecutors said. In social media posts, he made threats against 'the left' and 'antifa,' prosecutors said, and he tried to recruit people to form a militia to fight in what he believed was a civil war."

Texas. David Goodman & Ruth Graham of the New York Times: "Within the span of a few hours, a Texas judge and the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to undercut Texas' six-week abortion ban, ruling in separate opinions late Thursday and early Friday that aspects of the law were unconstitutional under state law and that federal challenges could go forward. But the victories for abortion rights supporters were largely hollow, and providers in Texas were not cheering on Friday. Neither decision altered the reality on the ground in the state. Both left in place the new abortion law, the most restrictive in the country, which effectively bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest.... For Texas women, the new normal will continue."

News Ledes

The New York Times maps where tornadoes were reported, provides some photographic images of the destruction & reports on power outages. ~~~

~~~ New York Times: "Dozens of people were feared dead and communities across the Midwest and southern United States were left scrambling to assess the damage on Saturday morning after a string of unseasonably powerful storms and tornadoes swept across five states overnight. Officials said that there were 'confirmed fatalities' after a roof collapsed at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois, leaving workers trapped inside, and that tornadoes had killed at least one person at an Arkansas nursing home. Kentucky's governor said that at least 50 had been killed in a tornado's path of over 200 miles, and that the state's death toll was likely to increase to more than 70 in the coming hours.″ The linked page is a liveblog and will be updated. ~~~

     ~~~ The Weather Channel is live-updating developments here.

New York Times: "Michael Nesmith, who rocketed to fame as the contemplative, wool-cap-wearing member of the Monkees in 1966, then went on to a diverse career that included making one of the rock era's earliest music videos and winning the first Grammy Award for video, died on Friday at his home in Carmel Valley, Calif. He was 78." ~~~

     ~~~ Little Known Fact: Nesmith's mother was Bette Nesmith Graham, who invented Liquid Paper, & who -- through incredible pluck -- turned the product into an international business that made the one-time $300/month clerk-typist a wealthy woman. (NYT link.)