November 14, 2021

A War Crime, a Cover-up. Dave Philipps & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The battle at Baghuz represented the end of a nearly five-year United States-led campaign to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and was a foreign policy triumph for ... Donald J. Trump.... [On March 18, 2019,] in the last days of the battle..., when members of the once-fierce caliphate were cornered in a dirt field next to a town called Baghuz, a U.S. military drone ... saw only a large crowd of women and children huddled against a river bank. Without warning, an American F-15E attack jet streaked across the drone's high-definition field of vision and dropped a 500-pound bomb on the crowd, swallowing it in a shuddering blast. As the smoke cleared, a few people stumbled away in search of cover. Then a jet tracking them dropped one 2,000-pound bomb, then another, killing most of the survivors.... An initial battle damage assessment quickly found that the number of dead was ... about 70. The Baghuz strike was one of the largest civilian casualty incidents of the war against the Islamic State, but it has never been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. military. The details, reported here for the first time, show that the death toll was almost immediately apparent to military officials.... The details suggest that while the military put strict rules in place to protect civilians, the Special Operations task force repeatedly used other rules to skirt them. The military teams counting casualties rarely had the time, resources or incentive to do accurate work. And troops rarely faced repercussions when they caused civilian deaths."

Brad Plumer & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Diplomats from nearly 200 countries on Saturday struck a major agreement aimed at intensifying global efforts to fight climate change by calling on governments to return next year with stronger plans to curb their planet-warming emissions and urging wealthy nations to 'at least double' funding to protect poor nations from the hazards of a hotter planet. The new deal will not, on its own, solve global warming, despite the urgent demands of many of the thousands of politicians, environmentalists and protesters who gathered at the Glasgow climate summit. It leaves unresolved the crucial question of how much and how quickly each nation should cut its carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases over the next decade. And it still leaves many developing countries far short of the funds they need to cope with increasing weather disasters." CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Admittedly, this isn't the greatest agreement. But it is an agreement. Among most of the nations of the Earth, in all their glorious diversity. How come the people of the Earth can all agree on something, and 100 U.S. senators, even 50 U.S. senators of the same political party, can't come to an agreement on a way forward for their own country?

It might help to watch some of this to understand the lede joke in this: ~~~

News You Can Use. Maggie Fox & Tami Luhby of CNN: "The federal government announced a large hike in Medicare premiums Friday night, blaming the pandemic but also what it called uncertainty over how much it may have to be forced to pay for a pricey and controversial new Alzheimer's drug. The 14.5% increase in Part B premiums will take monthly payments for those in the lowest income bracket from $148.50 a month this year to $170.10 in 2022. Medicare Part B covers physician services, outpatient hospital services, certain home health services, medical equipment, and certain other medical and health services not covered by Medicare Part A, including medications given in doctors' offices. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services played down the spike, pointing out that most beneficiaries also collect Social Security benefits and will see a cost-of-living adjustment of 5.9% in their 2022 monthly payments, the agency said in a statement. That's the largest bump in 30 years.... The actual spike -- the largest since 2016 -- could hurt some seniors financially. It 'will consume the entire annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) of Social Security recipients with the very lowest benefits, of about $365 per month,' said Mary Johnson, a Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League...."

Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: "Hackers compromised the Federal Bureau of Investigation's external email system on Saturday, sending spam emails to potentially thousands of people and companies with a faked warning of a cyberattack. The FBI said in a statement it was 'aware of the incident this morning involving fake emails from an @ic.fbi.gov email account' but declined to provide further details. 'The impacted hardware was taken offline quickly upon discovery of the issue,' the FBI said. It did not respond to an emailed request for more information." MB: Say, maybe FBI employees need a more secure password than "fbi-hoover".

Marie: I pretty much ignore polls, but this one should give you an idea of how profoundly stupid the American voter is: ~~~

     ~~~ Brianne Pfannenstiel & Stephen Gruber-Miller of the Des Moines Register: "In a hypothetical 2024 rematch..., Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden in Iowa by 11 percentage points, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows. In 2020, Trump defeated Biden by about 8 percentage points, carrying the state 53% to 45%."

Politifact corrects Fox "News" personalities and a boatload of confederate writers who took umbrage at President Biden's supposedly calling pitcher Satchel Paige "the great Negro." What Biden was trying to say, and what he said in the next breath to correct himself, was the great "pitcher in the Negro Leagues." MB: If these same yahoos had showed proper respect for Blacks all along, their high dudgeon still would not have been appropriate, but we can rest assured that they're all opposed to doing anything that they're afraid might advance racial equality -- like, fer instance, voting rights. Still, we're way glad the yahoos at long last have taken to political correctness. ~~~

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Oklahoma. Going Rogue. Davis Winkie of the Army Times: "The new commander of the Oklahoma National Guard has declared the organization will not enforce the Defense Department's COVID-19 vaccine mandate on its troops, according to local media outlets. Army Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino was announced as the state's new adjutant general Wednesday, though he has not yet been confirmed by the state Senate, according to a press release from Gov. Kevin Stitt's office. On Nov. 2, Stitt formally requested that DoD not enforce the mandate on the state's Army and Air National Guard members. In the letter, which his office posted online, he said that 10% of the state's troops had refused the vaccine and that the mandate was 'irresponsible.' The Defense Department is aware of the Mancino memo and Stitt's letter and 'will respond to the governor appropriately,' Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.... It's not yet clear whether the order will jeopardize [federal] funding[, the main source of revenue for the Guard]." The Washington Post's story is here.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Belarus, etc. Jane Arraf & Elian Peltier of the New York Times: "The sudden surge of migrants to Belarus from the Middle East that is now the focus of a political crisis in Europe was hardly an accident. The government of Belarus loosened its visa rules in August, Iraqi travel agents said, making a flight to the country a more palatable journey to Europe than the dangerous sea crossing from Turkey to Greece. It increased flights by the state-owned airline, and then actively helped funnel migrants from the capital, Minsk, to the frontiers with Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. And Belarusian security forces gave them directions on how to cross into the European Union countries, even handing out wire cutters and axes to cut through border fences.... Now, thousands of people are stranded or hiding along the border in freezing conditions, not wanted by the European Union countries or, circumstances are making clear, by the country that lured them there in the first place." A related Guardian/Observer story is here.

November 13, 2021

Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "President Biden will convene a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, the White House announced on Friday, a conversation that will take place amid a fresh deal between the two nations to cooperate on climate but persistent tensions over Taiwan, trade, human rights and other issues." CNN's story, which emphasizes, Xi's grip on power, is here.

Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration is rescinding a Trump-era rule that broadened religious exemptions for the massive workforce of federal contractors, an effort to bring anti-discrimination protections more in line with previous decades. While there's no record any contractor has tried to use the exemption, advocates on both sides say the push-pull is powerfully important. It comes in an era when some religious conservatives are pushing back against bans on employment discrimination against people on the basis of sexuality and gender identity being put on par with, or above, protections for religious expression and practice. In its proposal published Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labor argues that the Trump-era rule 'departs' from standard interpretations of civil rights law banning employment discrimination that have been expanded by presidents for the most part since the 1940s."

The Party of Violence. Lisa Lerer & Astead Herndon of the New York Times: "The Republican Party is mainstreaming menace as a political tool.... From congressional offices to community meeting rooms, threats of violence are becoming commonplace among a significant segment of the Republican Party. Ten months after rioters attacked the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, and after four years of a president who often spoke in violent terms about his adversaries, right-wing Republicans are talking more openly and frequently about the use of force as justifiable in opposition to those who dislodged him from power.... Among the most fervent conservatives, who play an outsize role in primary contests and provide the party with its activist energy, the belief that the country is at a crossroads that could require armed confrontation is no longer limited to the fringe.... What has changed [over the course of U.S. history] has been the embrace of violent speech by a sizable portion of one party, including some of its loudest voices inside government and most influential voices outside.... From his earliest campaigning to the final moments of his presidency, Mr. Trump's political image has incorporated the possibility of violence. He encouraged attendees at his rallies to 'knock the hell' out of protesters, praised a lawmaker who body-slammed a reporter, and in a recent interview defended rioters who clamored to 'hang Mike Pence.' Yet even with the former president largely out of the public eye and after a deadly attack on the Capitol where rioters tried to overturn the presidential election, the Republican acceptance of violence has only spread." ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Waldman: "The thread running through [recent violent remarks,] events and controversies is [Republicans'] belief that liberals are so wicked that violence and the threat of violence are reasonable responses to the possibility of them getting their way. Right along with that belief is a fantasy, that of a man (almost always a man) who rather than being an ordinary schlub at the mercy of a world in which he has no power is actually bursting with testosterone and potency, someone who can and perhaps should become a killing machine.... And, of course, no one embodies that fantasy more than Trump himself. He may be a corpulent senior citizen who dodged the draft, but in his own mind he's Jack Bauer or Jason Bourne, just waiting for the opportunity to display his deadly skills and save the day." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: One of the great things about being president* is that you can fantasize & say you would do any number of super-human feats of derring-do without actually doing them because your own life is too important to risk. So you can egg on supporters to storm the Capitol & even tell them you'll be joining them in their siege but you actually get to sit at home gleefully watching the mayhem on the teevee because Secret Service.

** Hannah Rabinowitz, et al., of CNN: "A federal grand jury has returned an indictment against former Trump adviser Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress, the Justice Department announced Friday. Attorney General Merrick Garland has been under tremendous political pressure to indict Bannon since the House referred the Trump ally to the Justice Department for contempt on October 21. Without an indictment, critics have said, there's doubt over how much power the House January 6 committee has to compel cooperation from former White House and Trump administration officials. Friday, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows failed to appear for a deposition, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN, setting up a potential showdown that could lead to the panel beginning a criminal referral process against him. And last week, former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who had been subpoenaed, appeared before the committee for more than an hour but declined to answer questions." ~~~

     ~~~ A New York Times report by Katie Benner & Luke Broadwater, is here: "A Justice Department spokesman said Mr. Bannon was expected to turn himself in to authorities on Monday, and make his first appearance in Federal District Court in Washington later that day." (An earlier version of this story was linked yesterday.) ~~~

Since my first day in office, I have promised Justice Department employees that together we would show the American people by word and deed that the department adheres to the rule of law, follows the facts and the law and pursues equal justice under the law. Today's charges reflect the department's steadfast commitment to these principles. -- Attorney General Merrick Garland ~~~

     ~~~ The Justice Department's full statement is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marisa Sarnoff of Law & Crime: "Although the indictment was not entirely unexpected -- the House of Representatives voted in late October to hold Bannon in contempt -- an actual conviction would be the first of its kind in almost half a century. The Department of Justice traditionally enjoys wide latitude over whether to convene a grand jury after receiving a contempt referral from Congress.... That a grand jury now has signed off on Bannon's charges sets the stage for a rare prosecution -- said to be the first contempt of Congress case brought after executive privilege was asserted." The post goes into some cases, beginning in the 1970s.

Zachary Cohen & Annie Grayer of CNN: "Former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows did not appear for a deposition on Friday in front of the House select committee investigating January 6, sources familiar with the investigation tell CNN, setting up a potential showdown that could lead to the panel beginning a criminal referral process against him. Committee staffers had been prepared to go forward with the interview and waited in a room on Capitol Hill with a stenographer, but started to file out of the room nine minutes after the deadline passed." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ "Chairman Bennie G. Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) [Friday] issued the following statement on Mark Meadows's failure to comply with the Select Committee's subpoena: 'Mr. Meadows's actions today -- choosing to defy the law -- will force the Select Committee to consider pursuing contempt or other proceedings to enforce the subpoena.'" And so forth. An NPR story on the statement is here.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The most heavily armed man federal authorities charged in the Jan. 6 investigation faces years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to bringing five loaded firearms and 11 molotov cocktails in his truck to Capitol Hill. Lonnie Leroy Coffman, 71, of Falkville, Ala., admitted to one federal count of possessing an unregistered firearm or destructive device -- the molotov cocktails -- and one D.C. count of carrying a pistol without a license. He was the first person indicted in the pro-Trump protests that devolved into violence against nearly 140 police officers and forced the evacuation of Congress as it met to confirm the 2020 presidential election results. Coffman packed a cooler with Mason jars he filled with gasoline and melted plastic foam to produce a dangerous 'napalm-like' explosion of sticky, flammable liquid, he admitted in a two-hour plea hearing in Washington. In his red GMC Sierra truck, the Army veteran also brought a rifle, shotgun, two 9mm pistols and a .22-caliber pistol -- all loaded -- and carried two of the pistols with him as he walked, he admitted." The Huffington Post report, by Ryan Reilly, is here. ~~~

     ~~~ BUT, according to Donald Trump, Lonnie was just showing some "common sense." ~~~

~~~ Mike Allen of Axios: Donald "Trump -- in a taped interview with Jonathan Karl of ABC News ... -- defended, quite extensively, supporters who threatened to 'hang' former Vice President Mike Pence.... This is a slice of a 90-minute interview -- conducted at Mar-a-Lago on March 18 -- for Karl's book, 'Betrayal,' out on Tuesday." Includes audio. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So here's Trump, less than two-and-a-half months after the fact, strong-mansplaining to Karl that the violent insurrectionists/Trump troops were exhibiting "common sense" in their quest to "hang Mike Pence." The triumph of a monarchical dictator is pretty much the opposite of what Thomas Paine had in mind when he wrote "Common Sense," the tract that argued in favor of the first American Revolution.

Shayna Jacobs & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Former 'Apprentice' contestant Summer Zervos on Friday announced that she would drop her 2017 lawsuit alleging ... Donald Trump had defamed her by denying he had sexually assaulted her years earlier. Zervos did not give a reason for ending the case, which had advanced far enough that attorneys were discussing when Trump might be questioned in a deposition.... Her attorneys, Beth Wilkinson and Moira Penza, said she had received nothing from Trump in return for dropping the case." ~~~

     ~~~ Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "Trump also agreed to abandon his counterclaim, according to the just-released stipulation."

Michael Schmidt & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "Project Veritas, the conservative group under scrutiny in a Justice Department investigation of how a diary kept by President Biden's daughter Ashley Biden was published days before the 2020 election, has told a federal judge that it received a diary from two people who said they had legally obtained it after she had abandoned it. 'Project Veritas had no involvement with how those two individuals acquired the diary,' lawyers for the group said in a letter dated Wednesday to a federal judge in New York. The group's lawyers were asking U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres for a so-called special master to determine what materials seized by federal investigators could be used as evidence in their investigation.... In contrast with Project Veritas's description in the letter of how the diary was obtained, a warrant used by federal authorities to search the home of the group's founder, James O'Keefe, last Saturday indicated that federal authorities believed the property was stolen." The Raw Story has a summary report here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't know anything about Ashley Biden, but it doesn't seem likely that she would "abandon" a personal diary during the height of her father's campaign for the presidency. Moreover, according to an earlier story by Schmidt, Goldman & others, "... a representative of the Biden family reported to federal authorities in October 2020 that several of Ms. Biden's personal items had been stolen in a burglary...."

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "The Washington Post on Friday took the unusual step of correcting and removing large portions of two articles, published in March 2017 and February 2019, that had identified a Belarusian American businessman as a key source of the 'Steele dossier,' a collection of largely unverified reports that claimed the Russian government had compromising information about then-candidate Donald Trump. The newspaper's executive editor, Sally Buzbee, said The Post could no longer stand by the accuracy of those elements of the story. It had identified businessman Sergei Millian as 'Source D,' the unnamed figure who passed on the most salacious allegation in the dossier to its principal author, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.... An editor's note explaining the changes was added. Other stories [and a video] that made the same assertion were corrected as well.... The Post's reassessment follows the indictment on Nov. 4 of Igor Danchenko, a Russian American analyst and researcher who helped Steele compile the dossier." The Hill's report is here.

Bryce Covert, in a New York Times op-ed, explains how dearly the nation will pay for Joe Manchin's & Kyrsten Sinema's misguided ideas about "fiscal responsibility." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times argues that there is a Constitutional Guarantee against extreme gerrymandering & other forms of usurping the one-person/one-vote ideal: Through gerrymandering & seizing control of the administration of elections, "the Republican Party has cleared itself a path to nullifying the votes of millions of Americans.... It is worth looking at one rarely discussed section of the Constitution. In Article IV, Section 4, the Constitution says that, 'The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.'... As James Madison explains it in Federalist No. 43, [this] means that '... the superintending [federal] government ought clearly to possess authority to defend the system against aristocratic or monarchial innovations.'... In his famous dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, Justice John Marshall Harlan cited the Guarantee Clause in his brief against Louisiana's Jim Crow segregation law.... 'Such a system [-- Jim Crow --] is inconsistent with the guarantee given by the Constitution to each State of a republican form of government, and may be stricken down by congressional action, or by the courts....' In this vision of the Guarantee Clause, the touchstone for 'a republican form of government' is political equality...." Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Speaking of Plessy. Rick Rojas of the New York Times: "On June 7, 1892, a racially mixed shoemaker from New Orleans named Homer Plessy bought a first-class ticket for a train bound for Covington, La., and took a seat in the whites-only car. He was asked to leave, and after he refused, he was dragged from the train and charged with violating the Louisiana Separate Car Act. He pleaded guilty and was fined $25. On Friday, nearly 130 years after the arrest, the Louisiana Board of Pardons voted to clear his record. 'There is no doubt that he was guilty of that act on that date,' Jason Williams, the Orleans Parish district attorney, told the board during a brief hearing on Friday. 'But there is equally no doubt that such an act should have never been a crime in this country.'... The landmark ruling that resulted in the case, Plessy v. Ferguson, came to be regarded as one of most shameful decisions in the court's history as well as one of the most consequential. It endorsed the 'separate but equal' doctrine and gave legal backing to ... Jim Crow laws.... The board's decision was sent to Gov. John Bel Edwards [D], who will decide whether to grant the posthumous pardon." CNN's report is here.

Ben Casselman of the New York Times: "More than 4.4 million workers quit their jobs voluntarily in September, the Labor Department said Friday. That was up from 4.3 million in August and was the most in the two decades the government has been keeping track. Nearly a million quit their jobs in the leisure and hospitality industry alone, reflecting the steep competition for workers there as businesses recover from last year's pandemic-induced shutdowns. There were 10.4 million job openings in the United States at the end of September. That is down a bit from the record 11.1 million posted in July, before the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus led to a slump in sales in some businesses. But demand for labor remains extraordinarily high by historical standards -- before the pandemic, the record for job openings in a month was 7.6 million in November 2018. The Labor Department revised its estimate of job openings in August to 10.6 million."

Joe Coscarelli & Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: "Nearly 14 years after a Los Angeles court deemed the pop sensation Britney Spears unable to care for herself, stripping the singer of control in nearly every aspect of her life, a judge ruled on Friday to end the conservatorship that Ms. Spears said had long traumatized and exploited her." A Raw Story summary report is here.

Poor, Pitiful Me. Mark Maske & Nicki Jhabyala of the Washington Post: "Jon Gruden, the former coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, filed a lawsuit in Nevada accusing the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell of using leaked emails to 'publicly sabotage Gruden's career' and pressure him into resigning from his job last month. The lawsuit, which alleges that the league and Goodell utilized 'a Soviet-style character assassination' against Gruden, was filed Thursday in the Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County, Nev.... Gruden resigned Oct. 11 following reports that he used racist, homophobic and misogynistic language in emails over a span of approximately seven years before he agreed to return to the NFL in 2018 as the Raiders coach. The emails were sent to Bruce Allen, the former president of the Washington Football Team, and others while Gruden worked for ESPN as an NFL analyst."

The New York Times' live updates of COP26 developments Saturday are here.

Michael Birnbaum, et al., of the Washington Post: "U.N. climate talks went into overtime on Friday, as U.S. climate envoy John F. Kerry defended a draft declaration that would scale back an effort to curb the burning of fossil fuels. As discussions at COP26 entered their frantic final hours, negotiators intensified an effort to create a path to avoid catastrophic global warming. Protesters and frustrated negotiators from vulnerable nations began focusing their anger on the United States, accusing the Biden administration of holding back on cash and the talks' overall ambition.... But a visibly emotional Kerry told a roomful of delegates that wasn't the case, defending U.S. leadership on climate issues even as he explained some of the practical barriers to meeting environmental advocates' highest hopes."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court has kept its block in place against a federal mandate that all large employers require their workers to get vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to weekly testing starting in January, declaring that the rule 'grossly exceeds' the authority of the occupational safety agency that issued it. In a 22-page ruling issued on Friday, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, held that a group of challengers to the mandate issued by the Biden administration was likely to succeed in its claim that it was an unlawful overreach, and barred the government from moving forward with it." A CBS News report is here. ~~~

~~~ But Don't Worry about the Mandates, People. Help Has Arrived! Marie: Hope you-all appreciate this handy how-to on de-vaccination. Thanks to Bobby Lee for the link: ~~~

     ~~~ Ben Collins of NBC News: "In a TikTok video that has garnered hundreds of thousands of views, Dr. Carrie Madej outlined the ingredients for a bath she said will 'detox the vaxx' for people who have given into Covid-19 vaccine mandates. The ingredients in the bath are mostly not harmful, although the supposed benefits attached to them are entirely fictional. Baking soda and epsom salts, she falsely claims, will provide a 'radiation detox' to remove radiation Madej falsely believes is activated by the vaccine. Bentonite clay will add a 'major pull of poison,' she says, based on a mistaken idea in anti-vaccine communities that toxins can be removed from the body with certain therapies. Then, she recommends adding in one cup of borax, a cleaning agent that's been banned as a food additive by the Food and Drug Administration, to 'take nanotechnologies out of you.' In reality, in addition to being potentially harmful as a skin and eye irritant, a borax 'detox bath' will not remove the effects of the Covid vaccine from your body. The video is one of several methods anti-vaccine influencers and communities on social media have in recent weeks suggested to their many followers who have capitulated and received the Covid shot." MB: Wouldn't ingesting bleach work better? Let's ask Donnie. (Also linked yesterday.)

Tiffany Hsu & Marc Tracy of the New York Times: "On a recent episode of his podcast, Rick Wiles, a pastor and self-described 'citizen reporter,' endorsed a conspiracy theory: that Covid-19 vaccines were the product of a 'global coup d'état by the most evil cabal of people in the history of mankind.'... Mr. Wiles belongs to a group of hosts who have made false or misleading statements about Covid-19 and effective treatments for it. Like many of them, he has access to much of his listening audience because his show appears on a platform provided by a large media corporation. Mr. Wiles's podcast is available through iHeart Media, an audio company based in San Antonio that says it reaches nine out of 10 Americans each month. Spotify and Apple are other major companies that provide significant audio platforms for hosts who have shared similar views with their listeners about Covid-19 and vaccination efforts, or have had guests on their shows who promoted such notions.... Audio industry executives appear less likely than their counterparts in social media to try to check dangerous speech."

** Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration repeatedly interfered with efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year to issue warnings and guidance about the evolving coronavirus pandemic, six current and former health officials told congressional investigators in recent interviews. One of those officials, former CDC senior health expert Nancy Messonnier, warned in a Feb. 25, 2020, news briefing that the virus's spread in the United States was inevitable -- a statement that prompted anger from .. Donald Trump and led to the agency's media appearances being curtailed, according to interview excerpts and other documents released Friday by the House select subcommittee on the pandemic. The new information, including statements from former White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx confirms prior reporting and offers additional detail on how the pandemic response unfolded at the highest levels of government." This article is free to nonsubscribers. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ A Politico report, by Erin Banco, is here.

Beyond the Beltway

New Jersey Gubernatorial Race. Dareh Gregorian & Jacob Fulton of NBC News: "Republican Jack Ciattarelli conceded in the closer-than-expected New Jersey governor's race on Friday, 10 days after his loss to the Democratic incumbent, Phil Murphy. 'I called Gov. Murphy earlier today and congratulated him on his re-election and wished him well in serving the people of New Jersey,' Ciattarelli told supporters at a news conference. He defended the delay in conceding, and said he decided to call it quits only after it became clear there was no path to victory.... Murphy said in a statement that he'd thanked Ciattarelli and his family 'for a spirited campaign and their commitment to public service' in their phone call." (Also linked yesterday.)

North Carolina. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "Gov. Roy Cooper [D] of North Carolina on Friday granted a pardon to a man who spent more than 24 years in prison for murder before a judge vacated his conviction in 2019, finding that a key witness had 'entirely made up' her testimony. The pardon for the man, Montoyae Dontae Sharpe, clears the way for him to seek compensation from the state and comes after prominent pastors and others had demonstrated outside the governor's mansion in support of Mr. Sharpe.... During the trial [in 1995], Charlene Johnson, who was 15, testified that she saw Mr. Sharpe, who is Black, shoot [George] Radcliffe, who was white, in a face-to-face altercation over a drug deal.... Ms. Johnson recanted her testimony weeks later, and Mr. Sharpe's efforts to overturn his conviction worked their way through the courts until 2019, when a Superior Court judge in Pitt County, N.C., held two evidentiary hearings that destroyed the case.... Judge [G. Bryan] Collins vacated Mr. Sharpe's conviction, released him from prison and granted his motion for a new trial. That same day, the Pitt County District Attorney's Office dismissed the murder charge against Mr. Sharpe and refused to retry the case on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt." A WRAL report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I do not understand why it takes 22 years for a wrongful murder conviction to "work its way through the courts."

News Lede

New York Times: CNN: "One of Blue Origin's newest astronauts, 49-year-old Glen de Vries, survived a ride to space in October alongside actor William Shatner. But less than a month later, he was killed in a small plane crash on Thursday in New Jersey.... The New Jersey State Police says the plane went down in a wooded area Thursday afternoon in Hampton Township, about 40 miles northwest of New York City. FAA records say a Cessna 172 -- a four-seat airplane used for training and recreational flights -- was involved in a fatal crash under 'unknown circumstances in a heavily wooded area' Thursday. The National Transportation Safety Board tweeted Thursday it is investigating the crash. State troopers say de Vries was accompanied on board by 54-year-old Thomas P. Fischer."

November 12, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

** Hannah Rabinowitz, et al., of CNN: "A federal grand jury has returned an indictment against former Trump adviser Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress, the Justice Departmen announced Friday. Attorney General Merrick Garland has been under tremendous political pressure to indict Bannon since the House referred the Trump ally to the Justice Department for contempt on October 21. Without an indictment, critics have said, there's doubt over how much power the House January 6 committee has to compel cooperation from former White House and Trump administration officials. Friday, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows failed to appear for a deposition, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN, setting up a potential showdown that could lead to the panel beginning a criminal referral process against him. And last week, former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who had been subpoenaed, appeared before the committee for more than an hour but declined to answer questions." The New York Times report by Katie Benner, a breaking story at 4:20 pm ET Friday, is here. ~~~

Since my first day in office, I have promised Justice Department employees that together we would show the American people by word and deed that the department adheres to the rule of law, follows the facts and the law and pursues equal justice under the law. Today's charges reflect the department's steadfast commitment to these principles. -- Attorney General Merrick Garland ~~~

     ~~~ The Justice Department's full statement is here.

Zachary Cohen & Annie Grayer of CNN: "Former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows did not appear for a deposition on Friday in front of the House select committee investigating January 6, sources familiar with the investigation tell CNN, setting up a potential showdown that could lead to the panel beginning a criminal referral process against him. Committee staffers had been prepared to go forward with the interview and waited in a room on Capitol Hill with a stenographer, but started to file out of the room nine minutes after the deadline passed."

** Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration repeatedly interfered with efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year to issue warnings and guidance about the evolving coronavirus pandemic, six current and former health officials told congressional investigators in recent interviews. One of those officials, former CDC senior health expert Nancy Messonnier, warned in a Feb. 25, 2020, news briefing that the virus's spread in the United States was inevitable -- a statement that prompted anger from .. Donald Trump and led to the agency's media appearances being curtailed, according to interview excerpts and other documents released Friday by the House select subcommittee on the pandemic. The new information, including statements from former White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx, confirms prior reporting and offers additional detail on how the pandemic response unfolded at the highest levels of government." This article is free to nonsubscribers.

New Jersey Gubernatorial Race. Dareh Gregorian & Jacob Fulton of NBC News: "Republican Jack Ciattarelli conceded in the closer-than-expected New Jersey governor's race on Friday, 10 days after his loss to the Democratic incumbent, Phil Murphy. 'I called Gov. Murphy earlier today and congratulated him on his re-election and wished him well in serving the people of New Jersey,' Ciattarelli told supporters at a news conference. He defended the delay in conceding, and said he decided to call it quits only after it became clear there was no path to victory.... Murphy said in a statement that he'd thanked Ciattarelli and his family 'for a spirited campaign and their commitment to public service' in their phone call."

Marie: I suppose I should have linked the following story, which Bobby Lee has found us, as a public service announcement. Hope you-all appreciate this handy how-to on de-vaccination: ~~~

     ~~~ Ben Collins of NBC News: "In a TikTok video that has garnered hundreds of thousands of views, Dr. Carrie Madej outlined the ingredients for a bath she said will 'detox the vaxx' for people who have given into Covid-19 vaccine mandates. The ingredients in the bath are mostly not harmful, although the supposed benefits attached to them are entirely fictional. Baking soda and epsom salts, she falsely claims, will provide a 'radiation detox' to remove radiation Madej falsely believes is activated by the vaccine. Bentonite clay will add a 'major pull of poison,' she says, based on a mistaken idea in anti-vaccine communities that toxins can be removed from the body with certain therapies. Then, she recommends adding in one cup of borax, a cleaning agent that's been banned as a food additive by the Food and Drug Administration, to 'take nanotechnologies out of you.' In reality, in addition to being potentially harmful as a skin and eye irritant, a borax 'detox bath' will not remove the effects of the Covid vaccine from your body. The video is one of several methods anti-vaccine influencers and communities on social media have in recent weeks suggested to their many followers who have capitulated and received the Covid shot." MB: Wouldn't ingesting bleach work better? Let's ask Donnie.

Mike Allen of Axios: Donald "Trump -- in a taped interview with Jonathan Karl of ABC News ... -- defended, quite extensively, supporters who threatened to 'hang' former Vice President Mike Pence.... This is a slice of a 90-minute interview -- conducted at Mar-a-Lago on March 18 -- for Karl's book, 'Betrayal,' out on Tuesday." Includes audio.

** Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times argues that there is a Constitutional Guarantee against extreme gerrymandering & other forms of usurping the one-person/one-vote ideal: Through gerrymandering & seizing control of the administration of elections, "the Republican Party has cleared itself a path to nullifying the votes of millions of Americans.... It is worth looking at one rarely discussed section of the Constitution. In Article IV, Section 4, the Constitution says that, 'The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.'... As James Madison explains it in Federalist No. 43, [this] means that '... the superintending [federal] government ought clearly to possess authority to defend the system against aristocratic or monarchial innovations.'... In his famous dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, Justice John Marshall Harlan cited the Guarantee Clause in his brief against Louisiana's Jim Crow segregation law.... 'Such a system [-- Jim Crow --] is inconsistent with the guarantee given by the Constitution to each State of a republican form of government, and may be stricken down by congressional action, or by the courts....' In this vision of the Guarantee Clause, the touchstone for 'a republican form of government' is political equality...." Emphasis added.

Bryce Covert, in a New York Times op-ed, explains how dearly the nation will pay for Joe Manchin's & Kyrsten Sinema's misguided ideas about "fiscal responsibility."

~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden paid homage on Thursday to veterans, calling them the 'solid steel spine' of the United States and the 'soul of America' as he marked the first Veterans Day in two decades without troops engaged in an active war overseas. For Mr. Biden, who ended the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan this summer, the moment was clearly a personal one.... In short but somber remarks at Arlington National Cemetery, Mr. Biden thanked [Afghanistan veterans] for their service and pledged to ensure that those who returned from battle would receive what he called 'the world-class benefits that they've earned.' He promised to keep pushing to expand services for veterans." ~~~

Presidents Harding & Wilson attend the burial of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, 1921:

~~~ Here's a November 5 New York Times story by Maria Cramer on the history of the tomb.

Colleen Long of the AP: "President Joe Biden, whose son Beau was an Iraq war veteran, is using his first Veterans Day in office to announce an effort to better understand, identify and treat medical conditions suffered by troops deployed to toxic environments. The effort centers on lung problems suffered by troops who breathe in toxins and the potential connection between rare cancers and time spent overseas breathing poor air, according to the White House. Federal officials plan to start by examining lung and breathing problems but say they will expand the effort as science identifies potential new connections." (Also linked yesterday.)

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Wednesday that the United States had joined a French-led international initiative to protect civilians against cyberattacks and discourage digital meddling in elections, three years after the Trump administration declined to sign onto the effort. The agreement, called the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace, is a nonbinding declaration and is largely symbolic. But so is Ms. Harris's presence in Paris. In the weeks since a pact between the United States, Australia and Britain brusquely canceled out a lucrative and strategically important submarine contract that the French had with the Australians, the Biden administration has thrown an entire olive tree at the feet of Emmanuel Macron, the French president.... Even if [the Vice President's] assignment in Paris appeared to lack concrete objectives, it seemed to include stressing that the U.S.-France relationship was now about looking forward, not back." (Also linked yesterday.)

Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The number of Haitian migrants attempting to cross into the United States fell by more than 90 percent in October after the Biden administration aggressively ramped up its use of deportation flights, according to preliminary U.S. Customs and Border Protection data obtained by The Washington Post. CBP figures show about 1,000 Haitians were taken into custody along the Mexico border last month, down from 17,638 in September, when huge crowds waded across the Rio Grande to a makeshift camp in Del Rio, Tex., creating a humanitarian and political crisis for the Biden administration. Biden officials responded to the Del Rio surge by using the Title 42 emergency public health order to 'expel' more than 8,500 migrants back to Haiti, sending as many as seven flights per day from Texas to the destitute Caribbean nation." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mitch McConnell has the brass to write a Washington Post op-ed telling President Biden & other Democrats to leave the Supreme Court alone. ~~~

~~~ But He Doesn't Have the Brass to Attend a Photo-op with Biden. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said on Thursday that he won't attend a White House signing ceremony for a bipartisan infrastructure deal that he voted for and has touted while in Kentucky this week. 'No, I've got other things I've got to do other than go to the signing ceremony,' McConnell said during an interview with WHAS, a Kentucky radio station, when asked if he would be attending.... His support for the bill has sparked criticism from former President Trump, who lashed out at the Senate GOP leader as recently as this week, questioning in a statement why 'Old Crow Mitch McConnell voted for a terrible Democrat Socialist Infrastructure Plan.'" MB: The other things he has to do are getting his toenails clipped & looking through his slim scrapbook of favorable news clippings.

The Party Against Everything. David Siders of Politico: "It's the party against critical race theory, 'woke-ism' and vaccine mandates. And now, it would seem, the Republican Party is against bridges and roads. The ferocity of the reaction against the 13 House members who voted with Democrats on the House-passed infrastructure bill appeared to signal a new stage in the party's evolution, marking the GOP as so reflexively anti-Biden that even spending on infrastructure -- an issue that Donald Trump once obsessed over as president -- is too radioactive to support.... In the days since the House vote, the 13 Republicans who voted with Democrats for spending on roads and bridges -- once among the driest, most bipartisan exercises on the Hill -- have been savaged by Trump and his allies, who called the defectors 'traitors' and suggested they could be stripped of their committee assignments."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: For years, Washington, D.C. jail officials did nothing to correct appalling conditions at the D.C. jail -- until some January 6 white people a/k/a "political prisoners" landed there. "While the 40 or so Capitol rioters housed at the jail are only a fraction of the roughly 1,400 inmates being held there altogether, their complaints about the place -- which began almost immediately -- have received outsize publicity.... Six years ago..., the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs issued a report calling the conditions at the jail 'appalling.' The troubles have been so persistent that this year, a local task force released a plan to close the facility and replace it with a new one."

Zachary Cohen of CNN: "The House select committee investigating January 6 is demanding former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows appear for a deposition and turn over documents Friday or risk a criminal contempt referral, according to a letter Thursday from panel Chairman Bennie Thompson.... The move to set a final compliance date for Meadows comes after his attorney issued a statement Thursday saying he would not cooperate with the committee until courts ruled on ... Donald Trump's claim of executive privilege." ~~~

~~~ Jacqueline Alemany & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "The House Select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the White House are ramping up the pressure on former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to cooperate with the probe into the insurrection as the committee zeros in on ... Donald Trump's inner circle. White House Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su sent a letter to Meadows's lawyer, George Terwilliger III, Thursday morning notifying him that President Biden will not assert executive privilege or immunity over the documents and deposition requested by the House Select committee related to his client. Meadows was subpoenaed by the committee at the end of September. While he has been 'engaged' with investigators to negotiate the terms of his deposition and turning over of documents, the pace of these discussions has caused the committee to weigh more aggressive measures against him."

Biggest Turkey Catches a Break Till After Thanksgiving. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court issued a short-term injunction on Thursday blocking the National Archives from turning over to Congress documents from the Trump White House related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a day before the House committee investigating the attack was set to receive the first batch. The move, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, will preserve the status quo for now while lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump, Congress and the Biden administration submit briefs over the next two weeks and then hold arguments on Nov. 30." MB: I'd be happy if Trump landed in the D.C. jail. ~~~

     ~~~ Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The composition of the appeals court panel is likely to hearten House investigators. The order issued on Thursday indicates that, in addition to [Ketanji Brown] Jackson, [a Biden appointee,] the panel includes Judges Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, who were appointed by former President Barack Obama to the court. The court's order emphasized that the move to freeze the status quo for the time being should not be seen as reflecting what the court will end up deciding about Trump's attempt to block disclosure of files from his former White House."

Adam Goldman & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "'We never break the law,' [James O'Keefe of Project Veritas] said, railing against the F.B.I.' investigation into members of his group for possible involvement in the reported theft of a diary kept by President Biden's daughter, Ashley.... Mr. O'Keefe and his lawyer, Paul Calli, revealed new details about the diary investigation and F.B.I. search to Sean Hannity on Fox News on Monday. During the interview, Mr. Calli said that Project Veritas had paid for the right to publish the diary but was unable to confirm it belonged to Ms. Biden and ultimately decided not to go ahead with a story about its contents. Excerpts from the diary were later published by another conservative website.... Internal documents obtained by The New York Times reveal the extent to which the group has worked with its lawyers to gauge how far its deceptive reporting practices can go before running afoul of federal laws."

the New York Times is live-updating COP26 developments Friday here. The Washington Post's live COP 26 updates for Friday are here.

The New York Times live-updated COP26 developments Thursday here. The Washington Post's live COP26 updates for Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Price Fixing. How Near-Monopolies Collude. Judd Legum of Popular Information: "... one factor driving inflation is seldom discussed: mega-corporations with massive market power. In competitive markets, profit margins should approach zero, as long as there are reasonable substitutes available for a given product. But ... as prices have increased in recent months, corporate profits have surged to record highs...[.] Corporations are not being forced to raise prices to stay afloat. They are choosing to raise prices to maintain large profit margins because they have enough market power to do so without losing customers.... While a variety of factors are at play, insufficiently competitive industries have stripped consumers of bargaining power." Thanks to RAS for the link.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Friday are here: "Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), facing one of the nation's worst surges of new coronavirus cases, issued an executive order Thursday allowing all adults in his state to receive a vaccine booster dose, going further than current federal guidelines. Colorado is one of several states in the north and Mountain West where infections are once again on the rise, sending officials scrambling to slow the spread before another winter wave overwhelms the health-care system. Polis's unusual and unilateral move puts Colorado at odds with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration current guidance, but it comes at a time of increasing debate over the eligibility requirements for additional immunizations."

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: "A coalition of 10 states filed a lawsuit Wednesday against President Biden and various public health agencies and officials to challenge a federal vaccine requirement for most workers in health-care settings -- the latest in an increasingly complex web of lawsuits pitting Republican-led states, sympathetic interest groups and employers against the federal government. The latest lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on behalf of the states of Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota and New Hampshire. All but one are represented by Republican attorneys general. The lawsuit challenges a rule issued on Nov. 4 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that mandates coronavirus vaccination for more than 17 million workers in about 76,000 facilities that receive reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Don't Let the Black People In. We don't want any more Black pastors coming in here or other Jesse Jackson, whoever was in here earlier this week, sitting with the victim's family trying to influence a jury in this case. -- Attorney Kevin Gough, who represents William "Roddie" Bryan Jr. on the Ahmaud Arbery murder case

Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson has not been seen at the courthouse since the start of the trial.... [During jury selection,] Gough had complained that older White men from the South without four-year college degrees, 'euphemistically known as "Bubba" or "Joe Six Pack,"' seemed to be underrepresented in the pool of potential jurors that had turned up. -- CNN Report

But this trial isn't about race! -- Marie ~~~

~~~ Georgia. Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "A defense attorney in the trial for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery took issue Thursday with the courtroom presence of the Rev. Al Sharpton, a nationally known civil rights leader, saying it was 'intimidating' to bring in 'high-profile members of the African American community.' 'We don't want any more Black pastors coming in here' to sit with Arbery's family, Kevin Gough said, saying it amounted to an attempt to influence the jury. Judge Timothy Walmsley dismissed Gough's complaint, saying that Sharpton did not cause a disruption and that he would not exclude respectful members of the public." MB: Yeah, Kevin, I'll bet the Reverend Al is really intimidating those 11 white jurors you picked.

New Jersey Gubernatorial Race. Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "Jack Ciattarelli, a Republican vying to unseat Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey, will concede defeat on Friday, acknowledging that there is no chance he can overcome the 74,000-vote gap now separating the candidates, according to two people close to his campaign. The Associated Press and other national news outlets had declared Mr. Murphy, a first-term Democrat, the winner a day after the Nov. 2 election when he held a roughly one percentage point advantage over Mr. Ciattarelli. Over the last nine days, Mr. Murphy's lead only grew as mail and provisional ballots were slowly tallied in liberal-leaning strongholds, prompting Democratic strategists to accuse Mr. Ciattarelli of stoking distrust in the election system as he used the inconclusive race results to raise campaign funds." Politico's story is here. MB: Still, he's a better man that you are, Gunga Don.

Way Beyond

Belarus, Poland, et al. Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko threatened Thursday to cut gas supplies to Europe as the European Union weighs new sanctions on Belarusian officials and entities, in a sharp escalation of tensions over a migration crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border. Lukashenko told Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko that if Europe imposes new sanctions, 'you must not forgive them anything.' Warning that Belarus would not tolerate the closure of its borders, he told 'the leadership of Poland, Lithuanians and other brainless figures to think before speaking.' European leaders blame Lukashenko for orchestrating the crisis in retaliation for European sanctions. They accuse him of opening Belarusian borders to migrants, mainly from the Middle East and North Africa, who are trying to reach Europe through Belarus." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times live-updated developments in the standoff Thursday. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Vanessa Gera & Monika Scislowska of the AP: "Thousands marched in Warsaw on Thursday to mark Poland's Independence Day, led by far-right groups calling for strong borders, while its troops blocked hundreds of new attempts by migrants to enter the country illegally from neighboring Belarus in a tense political standoff. Security forces patrolled the capital and other cities for the holiday rallies, which in recent years have seen some violent attacks by nationalist extremists. This year's march was overshadowed by events unfolding along Poland's border with Belarus, where thousands of riot police and troops are turning back migrants, many from the Middle East, who are trying to enter the European Union. Makeshift camps have sprung up in forests on the Belarusian side near a crossing at the Polish town of Kuznica, and with temperatures falling and access to the frontier restricted, there are fears of a humanitarian crisis." (Also linked yesterday.)

China. Christian Shepherd of the Washington Post: "A high-level meeting of the Chinese Communist Party on Thursday declared President Xi Jinping's undisputed rule of 'decisive significance' for its history, affirming Xi's iron grip as he prepares for a near-inevitable third term that would extend his rule until at least 2027." MB: Because history has proved that having a forever president is such a good idea. (Also linked yesterday.)

Myanmar. Richard Paddock of the New York Times: "Danny Fenster, an American journalist who has been imprisoned in Myanmar since May, was found guilty of three charges on Friday and given an 11-year prison term, the toughest possible sentence, his lawyer said. The ruling came during a closed hearing in the city of Yangon. The lawyer, U Than Zaw Aung, said the charges stemmed from news coverage in Myanmar Now, a hard-hitting outlet that Mr. Fenster has not worked for in more than a year.... The sentence seemed to be the latest signal that Myanmar's military, which seized power in February, would not bow to pressure, including sanctions, from the United States and other countries. The State Department has repeatedly called for Mr. Fenster's release. Courts in Myanmar have also begun giving maximum sentences to prominent opponents of military rule.... Mr. Fenster could eventually face even more time in prison. Two new charges of terrorism and sedition were filed against him this week, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years."

U.K. Hey, a Flower-festooned Arch Will Make the Place Look Great. Amy Cheng of the Washington Post: “WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been given permission to marry his partner inside the British top-security prison where he is being held as he fights an extradition request from the U.S. government. Assange's fiancee, Stella Moris, said in a tweet Thursday that British authorities granted the couple's request to wed in Belmarsh Prison, located in southeast London. The announcement came days after Moris threatened legal action against British Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and Belmarsh prison chief Jenny Louis, accusing them of ignoring repeated requests for a wedding ceremony inside the detention facility.Belmarsh Prison told reporters that the prison governor 'received, considered and processed [the couple's application] in the usual way' and that Assange's request was treated just like 'any other prisoner.'"

Yemen. Amy Cheng & Shobhan O'Grady of the Washington Post: "Yemeni employees of the U.S. government have been detained in Sanaa, which has been under the control of Iran-backed Houthi rebel forces since the group seized many of the war torn country's cities in 2014, according to the State Department. A spokesperson for the State Department said Thursday that a 'majority' of the U.S. Embassy staff that were detained have been released and that the Washington was engaging in 'unceasing' diplomatic efforts to free the employees still in custody. The State Department also said that Houthi forces had breached the compound that housed the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa and called on them to 'immediately vacate it and return all seized property.' The detained Yemeni employees are security personnel who had been guarding the exterior of the compound, according to a State Department official."