The Conversation -- February 19, 2024

Mad Dog Jim Comer should hire contributor RAS to his investigative staff. Comer has spent more than a year trying to link Joe Biden to Hunter Biden's various international business schemes. One after another of Comer's claims of sensational evidence has collapsed. But today, RAS finally found a real Biden family scandal, one involving attempted murder, a knife fight & a suspect presidential pardon by historians' favorite president: ~~~

~~~ CBS/AFP: "Abraham Lincoln pardoned President Biden's great-great-grandfather after a late-night Civil War-era brawl, documents reportedly show.... The court-martial records in the U.S. National Archives ... detail the trial of Moses J. Robinette after a fight with fellow Union Army civilian employee John J. Alexander on March 21, 1864. Robinette was charged with attempted murder after the tussle in the Army of the Potomac's winter camp in Virginia, when Alexander overheard him saying something about him to a cook, and rushed at him. The two men scuffled, and Robinette drew his pocketknife, leaving Alexander with several cuts before others intervened.... The 42-year-old, who had been hired by the Army as a veterinary surgeon, insisted that Alexander 'possibly might have injured me seriously had I not resorted to the means I did.' But military judges convicted him and sentenced him to two years' hard labor. Three Army officers petitioned Lincoln to overturn his conviction, claiming the sentence was unduly harsh and that Robinette had been defending himself against someone 'much his superior in strength and size.' Lincoln agreed, and signed the pardon on Sept. 1 that same year." ~~~

      ~~~ The Washington Post story, by historian David Gerleman, is here and includes more details.

Mad Dog Comer Will Not Let Go of Imaginary Bone. Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: Rep. Jim "Comer (R- Ky.) has suggested that two Ukraine-related documents referenced in special counsel Robert K. Hur's report concerning Joe Biden's handling of classified documents might have ended up informing or been part of emails found on the laptop that the president's son Hunter left at a computer repair shop in Delaware.... Notwithstanding Comer's hyperbolic statements on television, it would be incorrect to suggest that the Ukraine documents in the Hur report indicate Hunter Biden had access to classified information or distributed classified information to 'our enemies' in exchange for cash. These documents simply are on the same subject -- Ukraine. But as we have shown, the Hur report says they are not especially secret or important. As Emily Litella would say: 'Never mind.'" MB: Comer's new claim, of course, comes after the FBI charged his supposed star witness last week with lying to investigators about having information that would compromise President Biden.

Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: "The late-night talkshow host John Oliver has offered to pay Clarence Thomas $1m annually -- as well as give him a $2m tour bus -- if the Republican judge resigns from the US supreme court. Oliver made the proposal on Sunday's episode of his HBO show Last Week Tonight, saying the supreme court justice had 30 days to accept or it would expire.... 'Lot on your plate right now, from stripping away women's rights to hearing January 6 cases .. and you deserve a break, you know, away from the meanness of Washington. So you can be surrounded by the regular folks whose lives you made demonstrably worse for decades.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Historians Agree: Trump Is the Worse Ever. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "A new poll of historians coming out on Presidents' Day weekend ranks Mr. Biden as the 14th-best president in American history, just ahead of Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan and Ulysses S. Grant. While that may not get Mr. Biden a spot on Mount Rushmore, it certainly puts him well ahead of Mr. Trump, who places dead last as the worst president ever." Emphasis added. MB: Ha ha. The Fox "News" headline is, "New Presidential Rankings Place Obama in Top 10, Reagan and Trump Below Biden." No, that's Trump below everybody, including James Buchanan & Andrew Johnson.

Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump, who earlier this month set off worries among allies after he said he would encourage Russia to invade a NATO country that wasn't spending enough on defense, has remained largely silent on the death of Alexei Navalny, only appearing to suggest baselessly that he is being persecuted in the way Russian President Vladimir Putin's most potent political opponent was.... [Trump] has made multiple public appearances since Russia announced Navalny's death in a faraway Arctic penal colony on Friday. But he has not publicly condemned the dissident's shocking death.... Unlike many other U.S. and international leaders, Trump has not criticized Putin's jailing of Navalny or mourned his untimely death. Instead..., on a post [he] shared Sunday afternoon on Truth Social, his social media site, [he wrote]: 'Biden:Trump::Putin:Navalny.'" MB: This is a sickening insult not only to Navalny but to every political prisoner & victim of politically-inspired torture and assassination around the world. ~~~

~~~ Jack Forrest of CNN: "GOP former Rep. Liz Cheney on Sunday warned of a Republican Party 'Putin-wing' after ... Donald Trump responded to the death of outspoken Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny without actually mentioning him or Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'We have to take seriously the extent to which you've now got a Putin-wing of the Republican Party. I believe the issue this election cycle is making sure that the Putin-wing of the Republican Party does not take over the West Wing of the White House,' Cheney told CNN's Jake Tapper on 'State of the Union.'... Trump ... said nothing directly about Navalny in a post that his campaign said was his official response to the opposition leader's death -- instead posting more than 20 times about a variety of topics including his criminal cases and his political opponents.... 'He's basically made clear that under a Trump administration, the United States is unlikely to keep its NATO commitments,' Cheney said. She called Trump's comments 'dangerous' and said they show 'a complete lack of understanding of America's role in the world.'"

The Trials of Trump & the Trump Gang

Individual-I Goes to Court. David Corn of Mother Jones: "Since the beginning of Donald Trump's indictment-o-rama, the politerati have considered the criminal case filed in New York City against the former president by District Attorney Alvin Bragg to be a sideshow. Though this case has key elements of a bona fide scandal -- porn star! hush money! alleged extramarital affair! -- pundits and politicos have struck a dismissive attitude toward Trump's Stormy Daniels mess and the legal peril it poses him.... But this prosecution ought not to be diminished. It also involves alleged criminal actions taken to influence an election -- or prevent an election from being influenced by Daniels' claim that Trump had a tryst with her.... The Justice Department and a federal court have already declared that a crime occurred in the commission of this $130,000 payoff.... Of his many alleged crimes, it may not be the greatest. But it may be the Trumpiest." Read the whole report. Corn gives details of how the case came about, including some highly-suspect meddling by then-AG Bill Barr.

Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: "Michael Cohen -- who long served as former President Trump's personal lawyer and fixer -- warned Sunday of the potential risk of sending Trump back to the White House with mounting legal fees and financial liabilities. 'We need to be very careful about him as a potential president because he is for sale,' Cohen, now an outspoken critic of the former president, said in an interview on MSNBC's 'The Weekend' on Sunday.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That's why it is so hilarious that Trump is accusing Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis of corruption because she took some dutch-treat vacations with her lover, whom she hired as a prosecutor in the RICO case against Trump and his co-conspirators. ~~~

     ~~~ MEANWHILE, if you were hoping to snag a pair of those tacky shiny-gold hightop Trump sneakers the Greatest Grifter hawked over the weekend for the low-low price of $399, you're too late. The first run of 1,000 has sold out. Sad! (WashPo link) ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Campos of LG&$: "As for commentary, I defer to P.T. Barnum and H.L. Mencken."

Presidential Race

Alexandra Marquez of NBC News: “Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is urging Democrats in Dearborn, Michigan, to vote against President Joe Biden in the state's upcoming Democratic primary. 'If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted,' Tlaib said in a new video posted to social media on Saturday while standing outside an early voting location. She joined growing calls from progressive activists in Michigan to vote 'uncommitted' in the state's Democratic presidential primary on Feb. 27 instead of voting for Biden." MB: I have tried to be supportive of Tlaib, even though she's expressed some fairly radical ideas in the past. I'm done with her now. Only a nitwit would think it was a good idea to weaken the one guy who can keep Donald Trump out of the White House.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. If It Bleeds, It Leads. Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "... on Sinclair [Broadcasting]'s growing nationwide roster of stations, the editorial focus reflects [CEO David] Smith's conservative views and plays on its audience's fears that America's cities are falling apart.... Sinclair's local network of 185 stations across the country makes it an influential player in shaping the views of millions of Americans, especially at a time when local newspapers are rapidly being gutted -- or closed altogether.... Sinclair stations deliver messages that appeal to older, White, suburban audiences, and they play up crime stories in a way that is disproportionate to their statistical presence,' said [journalist] Anne Nelson...."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates Monday of developments in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The top U.N. court is set to begin public hearings Monday into the legality of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.... The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote this week on a resolution drafted by Algeria that calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. Washington ... has said it won't support the measure.... Israel's government approved a declaration Sunday that says the country won't recognize a Palestinian state.... Nasser Hospital, the largest medical facility in southern Gaza, 'is not functional anymore,' the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Sunday, after days of Israeli raids."

Russia. Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "For the second day in a row, mourners walked purposefully along Moscow's snow-heaped Garden Ring on Saturday carrying bouquets to lay at one of the improvised memorials to Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition figure who perished in a prison colony the day before. The flowers, wrapped in paper to shield them from the icy wind, were not only a symbol of mourning. They also served as a form of protest in a country where even the mildest dissent can risk detention.... At least 400 people have been detained across Russia since Mr. Navalny's death was announced on Friday, according to the human rights group OVD-Info. Among them was a priest, Father Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko, who had been scheduled to hold a memorial service for Mr. Navalny in St. Petersburg."

Ukraine, et al. Mike Johnson, Putin's Puppet's Puppet, at Fault. Samya Kullab of the AP: "Dwindling ammunition threatens Ukraine's hold on the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line under withering assault by Russian artillery. Defensive lines are in jeopardy. Ukrainian forces withdrew from the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region on Saturday after daily Russian onslaughts from three directions for the last four months.... The Associated Press interviewed over a dozen commanders, including heads of artillery units, in the war's most intense combat zones in the weeks ahead of Avdiivka's fall. They said shortages, which have always plagued Ukrainian forces since the full-scale invasion, grew acute last autumn.... The Biden administration linked the loss of Avdiivka to Congressional inaction on $60 billion in military aid for Ukraine.... When reporters asked if he was confident a deal could be struck before Ukraine loses more territory, [President] Biden responded: 'I'm not.'"

News Lede

New York Times: Two men “were charged with murder for the death of a bystander [at the Kansas City, Mo., Super Bowl celebration], prosecutors announced on Tuesday. Ballistics tests revealed that a bullet from Mr. Miller's gun killed Elizabeth Galvan, 43, a D.J. and radio host known as Lisa, who was at the parade on Wednesday with her family, prosecutors said. Two dozen people were wounded by gunfire, including nine children.... Surveillance video from the area, as described in charging documents from prosecutors, showed one group of people staring at one man, and a verbal argument ensuing. More people nearby joined the argument, and as it continued, the people who were involved began to produce firearms. The authorities said that [one of the men charged, Dominic] Miller, was seen in the video appearing to fire shots, then was struck by a bullet in his lower back, causing him to fall to the ground. He then ran away, the charging documents say, shouting 'I'm shot, I'm shot.' A bystander saw that Mr. Miller was carrying a black firearm near his waistband, and tackled and disarmed him, the authorities said.... Ballistics tests revealed that a bullet from Mr. Miller's gun killed Elizabeth Galvan...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This shooting spree started, according to the report, "with one man accusing another of staring at him." Staring. You may be shot dead if you happen to be in the vicinity of a person who is perceived as looking askance at another person. Do not tell me it is safe to live in Missouri. Or where I live. But, hey, Second Fucking Amendment.

The Conversation -- February 18, 2024

Jennifer Bahney of Mediaite: "MSNBC panelists roasted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for condemning Vladimir Putin over the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, yet standing idly by as Russian aggression claims tens of thousands of lives in Ukraine.... Menendez [read from Johnson's statement]: '"In the coming days, as international leaders are meeting in Munich, we must be clear that Putin will be met with united opposition...." He acts as if he doesn't know there is a foreign aid package before his caucus that they could push through right now.' [Guest Julia] Ioffe responded, '... he acts like, you know, he's just a random American Joe saying, "We gotta do something." As opposed to the speaker of the House ... who has every possibility, he has all the power in his hands, he can bring this bill to a vote where it will most likely pass overwhelmingly. But he has already said many times that he wouldn't do that.'"

Ryan Lizza in Politico Magazine talks to Rep. Jim Himes (D-Ct.) about the day "all hell broke loose"; that is, the day Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the loose-lipped chair of the House Intelligence Committee sent a "Dear Colleague" letter announcing "a serious [but unspecified] national security threat." "In [a committee] meeting, I objected to communicating this," Himes said. At the same time, the committee was dealing with renewal of a foreign intelligence-gathering program, and some members of Congress wanted to make significant changes to it, changes that top national security officials believed would cripple the program. (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race

Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump vented about his latest legal defeat to freezing supporters at a Michigan rally on Saturday night, a day after a New York judge fined him nearly $355 million plus interest in his civil fraud case.... 'This judge is a lunatic,' he said in his opening salvo at his rally, held inside an airport hangar in Oakland County about 30 miles from Detroit. Mr. Trump used a similar line of attack against Letitia James, New York's attorney general, who had accused him of exaggerating his wealth in the lengthy case.... He later continued to spread falsehoods about voter fraud in the state. 'We've got to watch Detroit. They had more ballots than they had voters.' The state Republican Party has been consumed in chaos, and this week two rival factions forged ahead with plans to hold dueling conventions on March 2, one in Western Michigan and the other in Detroit."

Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: "Nikki Haley on Saturday called Aleksei A. Navalny, the outspoken Russian opposition leader, 'a hero' and amped up the pressure on ... Donald J. Trump to respond to the news of his death. She said Mr. Navalny had died at the hands of President Vladimir V. Putin and that Mr. Trump needed to 'answer to that.' Speaking with reporters outside her rally at a park in Irmo, S.C., Ms. Haley praised Mr. Navalny for calling out Mr. Putin for corruption and fixing elections.... '... Putin has done to him what Putin does to all of his opponents -- he kills them,' she said.... 'And Trump needs to answer to that. Does he think Putin killed him? Does he think Putin was right to kill him? And does he think Navalny was a hero?'... Mr. Trump has not yet commented publicly on Mr. Navalny's death."

Dr. Lawrence Altman, in STAT, who has reported on the health of every president since Ronald Reagan, on what age is too old to be president: :... there is no direct correlation between a leader's health and performance in office." (Also linked yesterday.)

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Just as Trump has remade the Republican Party in his own nasty and selfish image, he wants to remake America in his own nasty and selfish image. Trump doesn't seem to subscribe to any of the verities about this country. He doesn't believe America is exceptional. He only believes that Trump is exceptional -- an exception to all the rules that the rest of us live by. If American laws get in his way -- like counting votes to choose a president -- he tries to smash them. He's bigger than democracy, after all. If American values get in his way -- like our distaste for authoritarians like Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban -- he mocks those values." (Also linked yesterday.)

Trump Allies Plan a Deep State of Anti-Abortion Regulators. Lisa Lerer & Elizabeth Dias of the New York Times: "Allies of ... Donald J. Trump and officials who served in his administration are planning ways to restrict abortion rights if he returns to power that would go far beyond proposals for a national ban or the laws enacted in conservative states across the country. Behind the scenes, specific anti-abortion plans being proposed by Mr. Trump's allies are sweeping and legally sophisticated. Some of their proposals would rely on enforcing the Comstock Act, a long-dormant law from 1873, to criminalize the shipping of any materials used in an abortion -- including abortion pills, which account for the majority of abortions in America.... [Jonathan] Mitchell, who represented Mr. Trump in arguments before the Supreme Court over whether the former president could appear on the ballot in Colorado, indicated that anti-abortion strategists had purposefully been quiet about their more advanced plans, given the political liability the issue has become for Republicans.... The plans described by former Trump administration officials, allies and supporters propose circumventing Congress and leveraging the regulatory powers of federal institutions, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Justice and the National Institutes of Health."

"Candyman" Ronny Jackson & His One-Stop Shop. Dan Diamond & Michael Kranish of the Washington Post: "A long-awaited inspector general's report released last month faulted previous White House medical teams for widely dispensing sedatives and stimulants, failing to maintain records on potent drugs including fentanyl, providing care to potentially hundreds of ineligible White House staff and contractors, and flouting other federal regulations.... The inspector general's report sparked significant public alarm. But a Washington Post review found problems with the unit's conduct were even more pronounced than the Pentagon's latest findings, according to administration documents and interviews with former White House staffers and medical unit members.... Four former members of the White House Medical Unit confirmed that in both the Trump and Obama White Houses, the team passed out sedatives such as Ambien and stimulants such as Provigil without proper prescriptions, provided complimentary medical equipment and imaging to ineligible staffers, and used aliases in electronic health records to disguise the patients' identities and deliver free care in cases where the recipients wouldn't be eligible. Former staffers said those practices were shaped by Ronny Jackson, an emergency medicine physician who led the team under President Barack Obama, continued to exert control over it as ... Donald Trump's personal doctor, and ultimately spent nearly 14 years in the White House.... The Pentagon said in a statement that 'new personnel and reforms were put in place' in the medical unit under Biden's presidency...." ~~~

     ~~~ The inspector general's report, via the Department of Defense, is here.

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Mr. Hannity Takes Umbrage. Caleb Howe of Mediaite: "Fox News host Sean Hannity went ballistic on members of the press for their 'feigned outrage' over the revelation this week that a key informant in the Republican case against President Joe Biden was busted for lying to the FBI." Hannity compared coverage of the arrest of Jim Comer's "star witness" Alexander Smirnov for feeding false tales about Joe & Hunter Biden's wrongdoing to the FBI to coverage of the Steele dossier. MB: It appears Hannity never mentioned that he touted Smirnov's fake "bombshell revelations" on his show 85 times (according to Chris Hayes of MSNBC), nor that Christopher Steele never claimed to the FBI that he had verified the allegations in the dossier. Rather, Steele gave the allegations to the FBI for them to investigate as they saw fit.

Alexander Marquez & Jason Abbruzzese of NBC News: "If anyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop in the upcoming presidential race..., Donald Trump just did, launching his own line of tennis shoes on Saturday ... at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia.... The line, called Trump Sneakers, is available for preorder online.... The high-tops, which are gold and emblazoned with a 'T' on the outside of each shoe, are called the 'Never Surrender High Top Sneaker' and are priced at $399 online. The athletic shoes, which feature a 'T' and the number 45 on the sides are priced at $199. The purchase of a pair of sneakers comes with extra laces and a Trump 'superhero charm.' The website selling the sneakers also features a 'Victory47' perfume and cologne for sale at $99 each." MB: Oh, if only I could afford a pair of $400 Trump sneakers!

Elon Musk's X Is Largely Fake. Matt Binder of Mashable: X "published [a] press release, lauding Super Bowl LVIII as one of the biggest events ever on the social media platform with more than 10 billion impressions and over 1 billion video views. However, it appears that a significant portion of that traffic on X could be fake, according to data provided to Mashable by CHEQ, a leading cybersecurity firm that tracks bots and fake users. According to CHEQ, a whopping 75.85 percent of traffic from X to its advertising clients' websites during the weekend of the Super Bowl was fake. 'I've never seen anything even remotely close to 50 percent, not to mention 76 percent,' CHEQ founder and CEO Guy Tytunovich told Mashable regarding X's fake traffic data. 'I'm amazed ... I've never, ever, ever, ever seen anything even remotely close.'... [By comparison, o]ut of more than 40 million visits from TikTok, only 2.56 percent were determined to be fake. Facebook sent 8.1 million visits and 2.01 percent of the monitored visits were classified as inauthentic. And over on Instagram, only 0.73 percent of the 68,700 visits from the platform were fake." (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Texas. Fort Abbott. Ben Brasch of the Washington Post: "Flanked by armed National Guard members, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced on Friday plans to build a base housing up to 1,800 troops in Eagle Pass, close to the riverfront area where state leaders have been at loggerheads with the Biden administration over immigration enforcement. The base, planned to house an initial 300 troops by April, is the latest effort by Abbott to curb border crossings into Texas under a mission dubbed Operation Lone Star that he began less than two months after President Biden was inaugurated.... 'This will organize substantial forces also to expand the razor-wire barriers that are going up,' [Abbott said].... A contract, awarded Feb. 9 to the New Braunfels, Tex., company Team Housing Solutions, lists a completion date of Sept. 7 and a price of $131 million for the construction of the base, the military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported.... In January..., the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that Abbott let the [federal] Border Patrol remove the razor-wire barriers that prevented agents from reaching the river to help migrants in distress. Instead, Abbott installed more razor wire -- a move encouraged by 25 Republican governors who signed a letter of support."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Sunday in the Israel/Hamas war are here. The New York Times' live updates are here.

Ukraine, et al. David Stern, et al., of the Washington Post: "Ukrainian forces withdrew from the strategic city of Avdiivka in the eastern part of the country Saturday, paving the way for advancing Russian forces to clinch their most significant battlefield victory in nearly a year.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, acknowledged earlier on Saturday that a pullback from Avdiivka was underway. Ukrainian forces are struggling with shortages of ammunition, weapons and soldiers as a roughly $60 billion aid package proposed by President Biden remains blocked by Republicans in Congress. 'This is the cost of congressional inaction. The Ukrainians continue to fight bravely, but they are running low on supplies,' Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the [White House] National Security Council, said of the defeat Saturday." MB: I too would put this all on Mikey Johnson, Putin's puppet's puppet.

News Lede

New York Times: "Two police officers and a paramedic in a Minnesota city were fatally shot as they responded to a 'domestic-related shooting' on Sunday morning in which a man was barricaded with family members, officials said. The shooting took place just before 2 a.m. local time in the city of Burnsville, which is about 16 miles south of Minneapolis. The police received a call about a 'domestic situation,' the city said in a statement."

The Conversation -- February 17, 2024

Ryan Lizza in Politico Magazine talks to Rep. Jim Himes (D-Ct.) about the day "all hell broke loose"; that is, the day Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the loose-lipped chair of the House Intelligence Committee sent a "Dear Colleague" letter announcing "a serious [but unspecified] national security threat." "In [a committee] meeting, I objected to communicating this," Himes said. At the same time, the committee was dealing with renewal of a foreign intelligence-gathering program, and some members of Congress wanted to make significant changes to it, changes that top national security officials believed would cripple the program.

Dr. Lawrence Altman, in STAT, who has reported on the health of every president since Ronald Reagan, on what age is too old to be president: :... there is no direct correlation between a leader'shealth and performance in office."

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Just as Trump has remade the Republican Party in his own nasty and selfish image, he wants to remake America in his own nasty and selfish image. Trump doesn't seem to subscribe to any of the verities about this country. He doesn't believe America is exceptional. He only believes that Trump is exceptional -- an exception to all the rules that the rest of us live by. If American laws get in his way -- like counting votes to choose a president -- he tries to smash them.... If American values get in his way -- like our distaste for authoritarians like Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban -- he mocks those values."

Elon Musk's X Is Largely Fake. Matt Binder of Mashable: X "published [a] press release, lauding Super Bowl LVIII as one of the biggest events ever on the social media platform with more than 10 billion impressions and over 1 billion video views. However, it appears that a significant portion of that traffic on X could be fake, according to data provided to Mashable by CHEQ, a leading cybersecurity firm that tracks bots and fake users. According to CHEQ, a whopping 75.85 percent of traffic from X to its advertising clients' websites during the weekend of the Super Bowl was fake. 'I've never seen anything even remotely close to 50 percent, not to mention 76 percent,' CHEQ founder and CEO Guy Tytunovich told Mashable regarding X's fake traffic data. 'I'm amazed ... I've never, ever, ever, ever seen anything even remotely close.'... [By comparison, o]ut of more than 40 million visits from TikTok, only 2.56 percent were determined to be fake. Facebook sent 8.1 million visits and 2.01 percent of the monitored visits were classified as inauthentic. And over on Instagram, only 0.73 percent of the 68,700 visits from the platform were fake."

~~~~~~~~~~

** Andrew Kramer & Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "Aleksei A. Navalny, an anticorruption activist who for more than a decade led the political opposition in President Vladimir V. Putin's Russia, died Friday in a prison inside the Arctic Circle, according to Russian authorities. His death was announced by Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service, which said that Mr. Navalny, 47, lost consciousness on Friday after taking a walk in the prison where he was moved late last year. He was last seen on Thursday, when he had appeared in a court hearing via video link, smiling behind the bars of a cell and making jokes. Leonid Volkov, Navalny's longtime chief of staff, said he was not yet ready to accept the news that Mr. Navalny was dead. 'We have no reason to believe state propaganda,' Volkov wrote on the social platform X. 'If this is true, then it's not "Navalny died," but "Putin killed Navalny," and only that. But I don't trust them one penny.'" Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jonathan Lemire & Alexander Ward of Politico: "The shock waves of Alexei Navalny's death rippled across the Atlantic. In Washington, President Joe Biden blamed Vladimir Putin for the dissident's shock demise. Hours earlier, Vice President Kamala Harris did the same in Munich. On Capitol Hill and in the halls of a swank hotel in the Bavarian capital, lawmakers in both parties called for punishing Russia and further arming Ukraine. And in the electoral arena, both the Biden campaign and Nikki Haley, the last major Republican challenger to Donald Trump, assailed the former president for his past praise of Putin.... 'Putin did this. The same Putin who Donald Trump praises and defends,' Haley said in a social media post. 'The same Trump who said: "In all fairness to Putin, you're saying he killed people. I haven't seen that."'... Even Speaker Mike Johnson, who has long hinted he wouldn't bring the $95 billion aid bill for Ukraine and other hot spots to the floor, hinted at a change of heart. 'In the coming days, as international leaders are meeting in Munich, we must be clear that Putin will be met with united opposition,' he said in a fiery statement."

     ~~~ Marie: "Hinted" Johnson wouldn't bring the aid bill to the floor? How about "quashed" the bill? Also, not sure how "fiery" Johnson's statement is. Johnson is a Putin's puppet's puppet, a puppet by proxy. Finally, what would be way more effective that releasing "fiery" (or not) statements, Mikey, would be to push through the Ukraine aid bill, you sniveling little weasel.

Anton Troianovski & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden said that there was 'no doubt' that President Vladimir V. Putin's government was behind the death of Aleksei A. Navalny, the outspoken dissident who Russian authorities said had died at a remote Arctic prison on Friday.... President Biden praised Mr. Navalny's activism and his courage in returning to Russia after being poisoned in 2020. 'Even in prison, he was a powerful voice for the truth,' Mr. Biden said. He also repeated denunciations of ... Donald J. Trump, who said recently that he would 'encourage' Russia to attack NATO allies that do not spend enough on their militaries, calling Mr. Trump's comments 'dangerous' and 'outrageous.'" This is the pinned item in a liveblog about Navalny's apparent death. (Also linked yesterday.)

Connor O'Brien & Lara Seligman of Politico: "The Biden administration and leaders on Capitol Hill used the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to inject fresh urgency into approving funding for Ukraine on Friday, saying now is the moment to break the legislative stalemate and strike a blow against Vladimir Putin. 'This tragedy reminds us of the stakes of the moment,' President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House. 'History is watching the House of Representatives. The failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten.'... A bipartisan group of House lawmakers unveiled a new emergency spending bill that would grant over $47 billion to assist Ukraine, placing renewed pressure on Republican leaders to finally hold a vote on an aid package.... Despite a big bipartisan vote [for aid to Ukraine, Israel & Taiwan in the Senate], the bill has hit a roadblock in the House as Speaker Mike Johnson has quashed a vote on the measure."

"Brainwashed." Laura Kelly of the Hill: "The GOP chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee was bullish Friday on the chamber delivering U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, despite the 'brainwashing' of some within his caucus who oppose foreign spending because of the crisis at the southern border. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was committed to eventually moving President Biden's national security supplemental request, though the pathway remains unclear amid fierce pushback from the far right of the GOP. Speaking during a discussion hosted by the Christian Science Monitor in Washington, D.C., McCaul said Johnson faces two challenging options: bring the supplemental to the floor and face a potential move to oust him from the far right, or let Ukraine backers in the party force the vote and undermine his power."

Marie: In the short run, Navalny's martyrdom may not save Russia from Putin, but it could save Ukraine from Putin & the U.S. (and other democracies) from Trump.

Marie: Shall we ask Tucker Carlson how nice Russian prisons are? Now that Putin has murdered Russia's leading dissident, I do wonder if TuKKKer will be floating any more videos about how much better Russia is than the U.S. Marveling over the low prices in a fake Moscow grocery store (story linked yesterday), TuKKKer said, "... you start to realize that ideology maybe doesn't matter as much as you thought, corruption." "Ideolology" tends to matter quite a lot, TuKKKums, when it permits the state to murder you for protesting and other exercises of free speech. Oh, looky here.... ~~~

     ~~~ Jim Rutenberg & Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "'This is what Putin's Russia is, @TuckerCarlson,' Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, wrote on X after the news of Mr. Navalny's death broke on Friday. 'And you are Putin's useful idiot.' Naomi Biden, President Biden's granddaughter, also weighed in, pointing to a video that Mr. Carlson had recently posted in which he contrasted the supposed splendors of Russia under Mr. Putin's leadership with the 'filth and crime' of the United States. 'Has anything aged so poorly, so quickly before?' Ms. Biden wrote on X.... Earlier this week, [Mr. Carlson] appeared to offer a blasé opinion regarding Russia's treatment of Mr. Navalny.... Asked at a conference in Dubai on Monday why he had not questioned Mr. Putin about Russia's free speech crackdown, Mr. Navalny's jailing or suspected political assassinations, Mr. Carlson said those were 'the things that every other American media outlet talks about.' (Mr. Carlson was, in fact, the first Western media figure to interview Mr. Putin in more than two years.) But, Mr. Carlson said then, 'leadership requires killing people -- sorry, that's why I wouldn't want to be a leader' -- comments that came under still more criticism after Mr. Navalny's death....

"Speaking with a state television host, Mr. Putin said he was disappointed that Mr. Carlson had not asked 'so-called sharp questions' because he wanted the opportunity to 'respond sharply' in his own answers.... Mr. Putin's mockery of Mr. Carlson came as the former Fox host was basking in the aftermath of his interview by offering a steady stream of praise for Russia and Mr. Putin, whose leadership he has extolled as superior to Mr. Biden's."

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times: "Navalny's strength, resilience and courage contrast with the fecklessness of so many Americans dealing with Putin. From Donald Trump to Tucker Carlson, a remarkable number of American leaders and their mouthpieces roll over before the Russian president.... The most fundamental test of our fortitude is simple: Will the United States continue to support Ukraine as it tries to fight off Russian invaders? I hope Navalny's sacrifice helps us find the will to stand up to Putin.... So many brave Russians -- journalists, lawyers, political figures -- have died after challenging the authorities. It's baffling how many Americans have responded in the opposite way, by acting as Putin's poodles.... It is profoundly troubling when American sycophants seem eager to whitewash Putin's brutality, largely ignore his victims and score political points at home in ways that burnish Russian dictatorship and diminish American democracy.... May Navalny's heroic sacrifice wake them up." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Nothing will wake up Donald Trump. Nothing. He dreams of being able to murder his opponents. And he admits to that when he says he aspires to a second presidential* term of "retribution."

The Trials of Trump & the Trump Gang

The Biggest Loser. Jonah Bromwich & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "A New York judge on Friday handed Donald J. Trump a crushing defeat in his civil fraud case, finding the former president liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth and ordering him to pay a penalty of nearly $355 million plus interest that could wipe out his entire stockpile of cash. The decision by Justice Arthur F. Engoron caps a chaotic, yearslong case in which New York's attorney general put Mr. Trump's fantastical claims of wealth on trial. With no jury, the power was in Justice Engoron's hands alone...: The judge delivered a sweeping array of punishments that threatens the former president's business empire as he simultaneously contends with four criminal prosecutions and seeks to regain the White House.

"Justice Engoron barred Mr. Trump for three years from serving in top roles at any New York company, including portions of his own Trump Organization. He also imposed a two-year ban on the former president's adult sons and ordered that they pay more than $4 million each. One of them, Eric Trump, is the company's de facto chief executive, and the ruling throws into doubt whether any member of the family can run the business s in the near term. The judge also ordered that they pay substantial interest, pushing the penalty for the former president to $450 million, according to the attorney general, Letitia James. In his unconventional style, Justice Engoron criticized Mr. Trump and the other defendants for refusing to admit wrongdoing for years. 'Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological,' he said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "... there's nothing 'unconventional' about a judge excoriating defendants for being sociopaths. This is just another elite media attempt to bothsides the unbothsideable. Also, Joe Biden is old." ~~~

     ~~~ Lauren Aratani of the Guardian: "'Overall, Donald Trump rarely responded to the questions asked and he frequently interjected long, irrelevant speeches on issues far beyond the scope of the trial. His refusal to answer the questions directly, or in some cases, at all, severely compromised his credibility,' Engoron wrote. In his decision Engoron said the defendants' 'fact and expert witnesses simply denied reality, and defendants failed to accept responsibility or to impose internal controls to prevent future recurrences'... In Friday's verdict, Engoron overturned his initial ruling, saying that 'the cancellation of the business licenses is no longer necessary' as he is ordering the appointment of two court monitors to oversee 'major activities that could lead to fraud'." ~~~

     ~~~ The AP story, by Michael Sisak, is here. CNN has a liveblog on developments. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: Trump said on the teevee that people will be moving out of New York because they're so upset by this verdict, and "There won't be a New York anymore." Right. He's shocked, shocked he should be given a massive fine when he's "done a perfect job."

Richard Fausset, et al., of the New York Times: "Defense lawyers for Donald J. Trump and his co-defendants in Georgia found themselves frustrated in efforts to extract damaging information from a key witness [Terrence Bradley] on Friday, as they sought to disqualify the lead prosecutors in the election interference case.... Once he took the stand in the afternoon, he continued to assert attorney-client privilege over many matters.... After adjourning, Judge [Scott] McAfee said he would meet in private with Mr. Bradley and his attorney to discuss questions regarding attorney-client privilege and an accusation of sexual assault against Mr. Bradley while he worked with Mr. Wade. Mr. Bradley emphatically denied the allegation, and the judge did not allow further testimony about it from other witnesses.... The judge said he would then determine a date for lawyers to make their closing arguments on the conflict-of-interest question. It could happen late next week, or the following week, he said...." This is the pinned item in a liveblog. For more details, see the liveblog. Some items from the liveblog are republished in yesterday's Conversation.

Presidential Race

Edward-Isaac Dovere of CNN: "West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin announced Friday that he will not mount a 2024 campaign for president.... Manchin has been on a national listening tour as he weighed jumping in as a third-party presidential candidate, potentially on the No Labels ticket. He has criticized President Joe Biden for being too liberal but also said that he would refuse to be part of any effort that would help Donald Trump return to the White House."

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has told advisers and allies that he likes the idea of a 16-week national abortion ban with three exceptions, in cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother, according to two people with direct knowledge.... So far in this Republican nominating contest, in which primary voters generally reward candidates for opposing abortion rights, Mr. Trump has avoided answering the question of whether he'd support a national ban. Instead, he talks about abortion as if it's a real-estate transaction. He has taken credit for giving 'great negotiating power' to anti-abortion activists." ~~~

     ~~~ Natasha Korecki, et al., of NBC News: "President Joe Biden's campaign and abortion rights advocates ripped into ... Donald Trump on abortion Friday following a [New York Times] report that he has given private signals in favor of a national ban on abortions after 16 weeks of pregnancy that would include exceptions in cases of rape, incest and when the woman's life is in danger.... The Trump campaign in a statement blasted [the] reporting ... as 'fake news.'... Biden himself released a lengthy statement laying out the impact of Roe v. Wade's reversal, including the passage of stringent anti-abortion laws in conservative states.... 'The choice is very simple. Kamala and I will restore Roe v. Wade and make it once again the law of the land. Donald Trump will ban abortion nationwide.'" ~~~

~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "... Donald Trump appointed the three justices who proved pivotal to the outcome in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned the Supreme Court's 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade.... Dobbs, he pointed out in a statement, was 'the biggest WIN for LIFE in a generation' and was 'only made possible because I delivered everything as promised, including nominating and getting three highly respected and strong Constitutionalists confirmed to the United States Supreme Court.' It was, he continued, 'my great honor to do so!'... But ... many Americans don't seem to blame the former president for the actions of the Supreme Court majority he assembled during his term.... Trump, somehow, gets a mulligan." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bouie ruminates on why Trump fans give Trump that mulligan, and he puts it down to Trump's celebrity status. But the fact is that most voters are adult enough to realize that political candidates seldom if ever agree with all of their own policy preferences, so voters usually must give passes to their own preferred candidates. I recall when Barack Obama continued to oppose gay marriage; I thought that was stupid, mean and shortsighted, but I came up with rationalizations to give him a pass. It took Obama's vice president Joe Biden -- a deeply-religious Roman Catholic -- to get out over his skis & force Obama to advocate same-sex marriage.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The FBI's former top spy hunter in New York was sentenced in Washington on Friday to 28 months in prison for concealing at least $225,000 in payments he received from a former Albanian intelligence official while working for the bureau. Charles McGonigal will serve his punishment on top of a 50-month prison term he received separately in New York last year for illegally conspiring with a Russian oligarch who wanted to be removed from a U.S. sanctions list. McGonigal, 55, is one of the highest-ranking FBI agents ever convicted of criminal charges, and federal prosecutors on Friday urged U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to stack the sentences after the 22-year veteran of the bureau admitted to committing the very violations he was sworn to investigate.... McGonigal now has been sentenced to a combined 6½ years behind bars for ... two offenses...."

Another Impeachment in Search of a Crime. Steve Benen of MSNBC: "After a year of obsessive investigations, GOP officials simply haven't uncovered any incriminating evidence against [President Joe Biden].... Some Republicans, frustrated by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer's lack of progress, have begun describing the crusade with words and phrases such as 'clueless,' 'disaster,' and 'parade of embarrassments.'" So when the FBI arrested Alexander Smirnov, the parade's grand marshal, for 'provid[ing] false derogatory information to the FBI' about Joe and Hunter Biden, Comer's investigation collapsed. "I have no doubt that the House Republicans' crusade against Biden will continue, even after their star witness was charged with lying to the FBI, and their entire case against the president has unraveled in humiliating fashion." ~~~

~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "On the day that Bill Barr aggressively intervened in the parallel impeachment inquiry and Hunter Biden prosecutions last summer [-- June 7, 2023 --] David Weiss' office sent out a final deal that would resolve Hunter's case with no jail time and no further investigation. Within weeks, amid an uproar about claims in an FD-1023 that David Weiss now says were false, Weiss reneged on that deal. With the indictment yesterday of Alexander Smirnov, the source of those false claims, Weiss confesses he is a direct witness in an attempt to frame Joe Biden, even as he attempts to bury it.... If Merrick Garland is going to appoint Special Counsels for these kinds of things, one should be appointed here.... But David Weiss can't lead that investigation. He's a witness to that investigation." MB: As usual, Wheeler provides a lengthy proof, which lost me. But I suppose we are assured that Merrick the Unready is unready to address Barr, Weiss and others' participation in a frame-up of the POTUS. Also Joe Biden is old.