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To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

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OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

Marie: Sorry, my countdown clock was unreliable; then it became completely unreliable. I can't keep up with it. Maybe I'll try another one later.

 

Public Service Announcement

Zoë Schlanger in the Atlantic: "Throw out your black plastic spatula. In a world of plastic consumer goods, avoiding the material entirely requires the fervor of a religious conversion. But getting rid of black plastic kitchen utensils is a low-stakes move, and worth it. Cooking with any plastic is a dubious enterprise, because heat encourages potentially harmful plastic compounds to migrate out of the polymers and potentially into the food. But, as Andrew Turner, a biochemist at the University of Plymouth recently told me, black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid." This is a gift link from laura h.

Mashable: "Following the 2024 presidential election results and [Elon] Musk's support for ... Donald Trump, users have been deactivating en masse. And this time, it appears most everyone has settled on one particular X alternative: Bluesky.... Bluesky has gained more than 100,000 new sign ups per day since the U.S. election on Nov. 5. It now has over 15 million users. It's enjoyed a prolonged stay on the very top of Apple's App Store charts as well. Ready to join? Here's how to get started on Bluesky[.]"

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Democrats' Weekly Address

Marie (Feb 23): As far as I can tell, there isn't any. I hope I'm wrong, but it looks like Democrats are so screwed up, they can't even put together a couple of minutes of video to tell us how screwed we are.

Out with the Black. In with the White. New York Times: “Lester Holt, the veteran NBC newscaster and anchor of the 'NBC Nightly News' over the last decade, announced on Monday that he will step down from the flagship evening newscast in the coming months. Mr. Holt told colleagues that he would remain at NBC, expanding his duties at 'Dateline,' where he serves as the show’s anchor.... He said that he would continue anchoring the evening news until 'the start of summer.' The network did not immediately name a successor.” ~~~

~~~ New York Times: “MSNBC said on Monday that Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary who has become one of the most prominent hosts at the network, would anchor a nightly weekday show in prime time. Ms. Psaki, 46, will host a show at 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, replacing Alex Wagner, a longtime political journalist who has anchored that hour since 2022, according to a memo to staff from Rebecca Kutler, MSNBC’s president. Ms. Wagner will remain at MSNBC as an on-air correspondent. Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s biggest star, has been anchoring the 9 p.m. hour on weeknights for the early days of ... [Donald] Trump’s administration but will return to hosting one night a week at the end of April.”

New York Times: “Joy Reid’s evening news show on MSNBC is being canceled, part of a far-reaching programming overhaul orchestrated by Rebecca Kutler, the network’s new president, two people familiar with the changes said. The final episode of Ms. Reid’s 7 p.m. show, 'The ReidOut,' is planned for sometime this week, according to the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The show, which features in-depth interviews with politicians and other newsmakers, has been a fixture of MSNBC’s lineup for the past five years. MSNBC is planning to replace Ms. Reid’s program with a show led by a trio of anchors: Symone Sanders Townsend, a political commentator and former Democratic strategist; Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee; and Alicia Menendez, the TV journalist, the people said. They currently co-host 'The Weekend,' which airs Saturday and Sunday mornings.” MB: In case you've never seen “The Weekend,” let me assure you it's pretty awful. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: "Joy Reid is leaving MSNBC, the network’s new president announced in a memo to staff on Monday, marking an end to the political analyst and anchor’s prime time news show."

Y! Entertainment: "Meanwhile, [Alex] Wagner will also be removed from her 9 pm weeknight slot. Wagner has already been working as a correspondent after Rachel Maddow took over hosting duties during ... Trump’s first 100 days in office. It’s now expected that Wagner will not return as host, but is expected to stay on as a contributor. Jen Psaki, President Biden’s former White House press secretary, is a likely replacement for Wagner, though a decision has not been finalized." MB: In fairness to Psaki, she is really too boring to watch. On the other hand, she is White. ~~~

     ~~~ RAS: "So MSNBC is getting rid of both of their minority evening hosts. Both women of color who are not afraid to call out the truth. Outspoken minorities don't have a long shelf life in the world of our corporate news media."

As we watch in horror the rapid destruction of our democratic form of government, it is comforting to remember there is life outside politics. I took a break a while ago to enjoy a brief lesson in the history of the moonwalk: ~~~

But it may go back even further:

And this chronological account is helpful:

New York Times: “Chuck Todd, the former 'Meet the Press' moderator and a longtime fixture of NBC’s political coverage, told colleagues on Friday that he was leaving the network. A nearly two-decade veteran of NBC, Mr. Todd said that Friday would be his last day at NBC.... Mr. Todd, 52, is the latest TV news star to step aside at a moment when salaries are being scrutinized — and slashed — by major media companies. Hoda Kotb exited NBC’s 'Today' show this month, and Neil Cavuto of Fox News and CNN’s Chris Wallace departed their cable news homes late last year.”

CNBC: “ CNN plans to lay off hundreds of employees Thursday [Jan. 23] as it refocuses the business around a global digital audience.... The layoffs come as CNN is rearranging its linear TV lineup and building out digital subscription products. The cuts will help CNN lower production costs and consolidate teams, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic changes. Certain shows that are produced in New York or Washington may move to Atlanta, where production can be done more cheaply, said the people. For the most part, the job cuts won’t affect CNN’s most recognizable names, who are under contract, said the people. CNN has about 3,500 employees worldwide.... NBC News is also planning cuts later this week, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic changes. While the exact number couldn’t be determined, the job losses will be well under 50....”

 

Contact Marie

Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

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Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts. — Anonymous

A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. — Edward R. Murrow

Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns

I have a Bluesky account now. The URL is https://bsky.app/profile/marie-burns.bsky.social . When Reality Chex goes down, check my Bluesky page for whatever info I am able to report on the status of Reality Chex. If you can't access the URL, I found that I could Google Bluesky and ask for Marie Burns. Google will include links to accounts for people whose names are, at least in part, Maria Burns, so you'll have to tell Google you looking only for Marie.

Saturday
Jun152024

The Conversation -- June 15, 2024

~~~~~~~~~~

Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News: "The Biden administration is making plans to announce one of the largest immigration relief programs in recent history, developing a policy that would offer legal status to hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in the country without proper documents, four people familiar with the plans told CBS News. A program being developed by White House officials would offer work permits and deportation protections to unauthorized immigrants married to U.S. citizens, as long as they have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years, the sources said.... The proposal, known as 'Parole in Place,' would also open up a pathway to permanent legal status and U.S. citizenship for some beneficiaries by removing an obstacle in U.S. law that prevents those who entered the U.S. illegally from obtaining green cards without leaving the country. Another plan being prepared by the Biden administration would streamline the process for so-called DREAMers and other undocumented immigrants to request waivers that would make it easier for them to obtain temporary visas...."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Justice Department said on Friday that it would not prosecute Attorney General Merrick B. Garland for declining to comply with a congressional subpoena for audio recordings of President Biden's interview by a special counsel. The decision had been expected. The Justice Department does not consider it a crime for a government official to fail to comply with a subpoena for material when the president has invoked executive privilege, as Mr. Biden did last month.... 'The longstanding position of the department is that we will not prosecute an official for contempt of Congress for declining to provide subpoenaed information subject to a presidential assertion of executive privilege,' Carlos Felipe Uriarte, the assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, wrote in a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson. In a statement, Mr. Johnson said ... that [the House] would file a lawsuit asking a judge to order Mr. Garland to comply with the subpoena."

Robert Jimison of the New York Times: "House Republicans banded together on Friday to narrowly pass an $895 billion defense policy bill that would restrict access to abortion and transgender medical care in the military and eliminate all positions and offices of diversity, equity and inclusion across the Pentagon. The 217-to-199 vote, largely along party lines, reflected a dramatic shift in support for the annual National Defense Authorization Act, normally an overwhelmingly popular bill, since it emerged from a House committee last month with broad bipartisan support. Democrats turned against the bill in droves after Republicans insisted for the second year in a row on loading it with conservative policy dictates.... The Democratic-led Senate, which typically produces a bipartisan bill, will almost certainly leave the measures out, and they are unlikely to survive a conference between the two chambers to reconcile competing versions of the legislation. Even if they did, President Biden would be highly unlikely to sign them into law." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Brooke Migdon of the Hill: "Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) on Thursday protested an amendment added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that bars funding for drag performances with a blown-up photo [displayed on the House floor] of former President strong> Trump and Rudy Giuliani ... dressed in drag. [MB Note: Trump is not in drag; Rudy is.] An amendment filed this week to the annual defense policy bill by Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) would prevent funding made available by the measure from being used for drag events. The amendment passed Thursday by voice vote." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mass Murder, He Wrote

Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a ban on bump stocks enacted by the Trump administration after a deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. The decision, by a vote of 6 to 3, split along ideological lines. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, found that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had exceeded its power when it prohibited the device, an attachment that enables a semiautomatic rifle to fire at a speed rivaling that of a machine gun. The agency, he added, had overstepped in issuing a rule that classified bump stocks as machine guns....

"The narrowly written decision was not a Second Amendment challenge. Rather, it is one of several cases this term seeking to undercut the power of administrative agencies.... The man who challenged the bump stock ban is Michael Cargill, a gun shop owner in Texas, backed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, an advocacy group with financial ties to Charles Koch, a billionaire who has long supported conservative and libertarian causes. The organization primarily targets what it considers unlawful uses of administrative power....

"Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a dissent, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Sotomayor summarized her dissent from the bench, a practice reserved for profound disagreements and the first such announcement of the term.... 'A bump stock-equipped semiautomatic rifle fires "automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger." Because I, like Congress, call that a machine gun, I respectfully dissent.'" (Also linked yesterday.) NPR's report, by Nina Totenberg, is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What I learned from Dahlia Lithwick & Andrew Weissmann -- who discussed the ruling on MSNBC -- is that this is another instance of a right-wing justice (in this case, Thomas), after having read friendly amicus briefs (in this case by the bump-stock industry), then deciding the knowledge he gained from these self-serving briefs allows him to substitute his new-found "expertise" for the actual expertise of administrative agencies (in this case, the ATF). And all the other winger "justices" nod their heads & sign on, even as they pretend to be "calling balls & strikes." Or ascribing to an "originalist" judicial philosophy. So we find out that when the Founders wrote that Second Amendment militia thing, they were just dreaming of the day when Rapid-fire Guns for All would become a legal and technical reality. At last the day has come, folks! Maybe we should forget Flag Day (sorry, Martha-Ann!) and designate June 14 Supreme Boost to Mass Murderers Day.

Benjamin Weiss of Courthouse News Service: "The White House urged Congress on Friday to codify a federal ban on bump stocks for semiautomatic firearms just hours after the Supreme Court struck down Trump-era regulations making such accessories illegal." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ President Biden's statement is here, via the White House. (Also linked yesterday.)

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday condemned a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling overturning the Trump-era ban on bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic guns to fire like machine guns, and called on Congress to pass legislation to counter the decision. 'The far-right Supreme Court continues their unprecedented assault on public safety by reversing the commonsense guidance issued in 2018 by the ATF. Bump stocks have played a devastating role in many of the horrific mass shootings in our country, but sadly it's no surprise to see the Supreme Court roll back this necessary public safety rule as they push their out of touch extreme agenda. They're even further to the right of Donald Trump,' Schumer said in a statement responding to the ruling." (Also linked yesterday.)

Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court sided with the federal government on Friday in a dispute over what information immigration officials must provide migrants about their deportation hearings. In a 5-to-4 decision, the majority upheld the current requirements, which can mean that basic information about a deportation hearing is missing. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote the majority opinion, joined by four of the court's other conservatives. He cautioned that the decision 'does not mean that the government is free of its obligation' to provide immigrants with notice of deportation hearings. Rather, he wrote, it blocked immigrants from seeking to challenge removal orders 'in perpetuity based on arguments they could have raised in a hearing that they chose to skip.'"


National Crime Blotter. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump pushed back on Friday night in an aggressive -- and at times misleading -- way against an effort to curb his public attacks on the F.B.I. agents working on his classified documents case in Florida. In a 20-page court filing, the lawyers assailed prosecutors in the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, for seeking to limit Mr. Trump's remarks about the F.B.I. on the eve of two consequential political events: the first presidential debate, scheduled for June 27, and the Republican National Convention, set to start on July 15.... [Smith's] request [to modify Mr. Trump's bail] came days after Mr. Trump made a series of blatantly false statements, claiming that the F.B.I. had been prepared to shoot him when agents executed a search warrant in August 2022 at Mar-a-Lago.... In their filing on Friday night, Mr. Trump's lawyers soft-pedaled his falsehoods, saying that he had merely 'criticized' the Mar-a-Lago search 'in a manner that someone in the government disagreed with and does not like.'" CNN's report is here.

Presidential Race

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "The Biden campaign is taking over the homepage of a local newspaper in Milwaukee on Friday, seizing on comments from former President Trump a day earlier in which he criticized the city. The Biden campaign will have a homepage takeover ad of The Shepherd Express -- an alt weekly -- and the Journal Sentinel, highlighting Trump calling Milwaukee a 'horrible city' during a meeting on Capitol Hill with Republicans.... The ad is a split-screen image, one highlighting Trump's 'horrible city' critique and the other boasting that President Biden passed legislation to invest in Milwaukee. Trump officials have insisted the former president's remark was specifically referring to crime. In addition to the ad, the Biden campaign created merchandise around the Trump comment, including T-shirts and Wisconsin-shaped stickers that read, '(Not) a horrible city,' and T-shirts and can koozies that play off 'I heart Milwaukee' and feature a mug of beer in place of a heart." (Also linked yesterday.)

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post keeps us up-to-date on what's going on in the Trump campaign and in Republican politics in general. Conspiracy theorists are especially busy. For instance: "Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), on Fox Business, declared that Hunter Biden's guilty verdict 'creates an opening for Democrats to slip someone like Michelle Obama in here' as the Democratic presidential nominee, rather than [Joe] Biden, he said. Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo replied: 'I am buying into what you're saying there.' So, Biden ordered the Justice Department to prosecute his son to create an excuse to decline the presidential nomination? That one is so crazy, it must be true!" (Also linked yesterday.)

David Kurtz of TPM: "Donald Trump’s return to the scene of the Jan. 6 attack that he instigated was a watershed moment in the whitewashing of his failed auto-coup. Republicans in Congress, many of whom three years ago were running for their lives from the mob Trump unleashed, applauded and celebrated his return in ways that highlighted the party’s cultish, authoritarian turn. It marked a papering over of all the internal divisions and past animosities (which tend to arise when a president of your own party sends over to the Capitol a mob that is intent on hanging his own vice president ) in order to rally together to win in November." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

On the Other Hand. Christina Wilkie & Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "... Donald Trump failed to impress everyone in a room full of top CEOs Thursday at the Business Roundtable's quarterly meeting, multiple attendees told CNBC. 'Trump doesn't know what he's talking about,' said one CEO who was in the room, according to a person who heard the executive speaking. The CEO also said Trump did not explain how he planned to accomplish any of his policy proposals, that person said. Several CEOs 'said that [Trump] was remarkably meandering, could not keep a straight thought [and] was all over the map,' CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin reported Friday on CNBC's 'Squawk Box.'... Trump's energy in the meeting was also noticeably subdued, according to two people who were in the room. At no time during his remarks was there any noticeable applause for Trump, two attendees told CNBC."

On the Other Hand. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "The film ['The Apprentice,' about the relationship between young Donald Trump & mob lawyer Roy Cohn]..., is a classic story of a mentor and his protégé, chronicling how Trump first learned from and later surpassed his brutal, Machiavellian fixer.... Unfortunately, you may not get a chance to [see it] anytime soon, at least in the United States.... The filmmakers have yet to secure a deal to release it here ... [possibly because] Trump and his supporters have already intimidated some media companies, which seem to be pre-emptively capitulating to him.... Any company that wants to be sold or to merge with or buy another company would be hesitant to touch 'The Apprentice' because of the possibility that, should Trump be re-elected, his 'regulators will be punitive.'... In a cease-and-desist letter to the filmmakers, a lawyer for Trump claimed, absurdly, that the movie is 'direct foreign interference in America's elections,' citing the fact that its director, Ali Abbasi, is Iranian Danish and that the movie received funding from Denmark, Ireland and Canada." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is what authoritarianism looks like: people voluntarily self-censoring out of an abundance of caution. It is disturbing when Republican sheeples do so; but fatal to democracy when interests in the art world -- yes, even corporate interests in the art world -- also defer, even to an out-of-office would-be dictator. What we've seen just in this week's news is almost every elected federal official groveling at the feet of Donald Trump, some of them holding hearings to excoriate the justice system, and now a corporate entity -- one supposedly in the edgy business of exposing government misdeeds -- possibly rolling over, too. Why, it's as if the ghost of Roy Cohn, Joe McCarthy's sidekick, is re-instituting the infamous Red Scare of the 1950s seven decades later. We already are seeing some version of the Army-McCarthy hearings in the farcical Jim & Gym committee shenanigans. Can the 2020s version of the House Un-American Activities Committee be far behind?

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Three months into the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci was at home in northwest Washington when he answered his cellphone to ... Donald J. Trump screaming at him in an expletive-laden rant. He had incurred the president's wrath by remarking that the vaccines under development might not provide long-lasting immunity. That was the day, June 3, 2020, 'that I first experienced the brunt of the president's rage,' Dr. Fauci writes in his forthcoming autobiography.... Dr. Fauci described how Mr. Trump repeatedly told him he 'loved' him while at the same time excoriating him with tirades flecked with four-letter words.... Dr. Fauci also makes clear he had little use for some of Mr. Trump's advisers: his chief of staff, Mark Meadows; his chief economic adviser, Peter Navarro; and his medical adviser, Scott Atlas. He said Mr. Trump's aides were feeding negative stories about him to journalists in 2020."

Adriana Usero & Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "On June 13..., the RNC posted a clip it captioned, 'What is Biden doing?' The post has been viewed more than 3 million times. Biden is seen with other Group of Seven leaders watching skydivers in Italy.... Biden turns and walks a few steps to chat with one of the parachutists, the only leader to do so. Then Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni turns him back to the other leaders. In one feed distributed by news services -- the one used by the RNC -- it's not entirely clear who Biden is talking to, but an alternative feed, also distributed by news services, makes it clear that Biden is having a conversation....

"An X community note was added to the video clip, saying: 'Biden didn't "wander off".... Biden stepped aside to speak with one of the other skydivers who is kneeling on the ground packing away his chute. The video in the above post has been digitally altered to remove the skydiver.' A few hours later, for undisclosed reasons, the community note was changed to simply say 'the video was cropped,' with a link to a 14-minute clip...." ~~~

     ~~~ Ted Johnson of Deadline: "The White House is slamming the New York Post for pushing out a video on social media, and later a cover story, claiming that President Joe Biden wandered off as he and other world leaders watched a skydiving demonstration at the G7 summit in Italy.... [White House spokesman Andrew] Bates shared the video with the wider angle and wrote, 'The Murdoch outlets are so desperate to distract from @POTUS's record that they just lie. Here, they use an artificially narrow frame to hide from viewers that he just saw a skydiving demonstration. He's saying congratulations to one of the divers and giving a thumbs up.' Bates also included the Post's video edit.... The video was shared across media on the right, including for a digital story written for Sinclair Broadcast Group's The National Desk for posting on local station websites. That story picked up on the Post's cropped video."


Sari Horwitz & Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post: "U.S. Catholic bishops issued a formal apology Friday morning for the church's role in inflicting a 'history of trauma' on Native Americans, including at church-run Indian boarding schools where a Washington Post investigation published last month documented pervasive sexual abuse by priests. The vote by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which establishes policies and norms for the church in the United States, represents the most direct expression of regret to date by church officials for past participation in a systematic effort by the U.S. government to forcibly assimilate Native Americans into White society. By a 181-2 vote, the bishops approved a document called 'Keeping Christ's Sacred Promise: A Pastoral Framework for Indigenous Ministry.' Three ... abstained."

Covid Masking All Over Again. Ashlie Stevens of Salon: "As of June 9, ten states ... have reported outbreaks [of bird flu, H5N1,] among dairy cattle and an estimated 85 dairy herds nationwide have been infected; however, there isn't a federal requirement for dairy farms to test their herds outside interstate movements of milking cows, so many farmers are opting out. This opened the door for human exposure and as of now, there have been three documented cases of H5N1 in humans.... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warn that consuming raw, unpasteurized milk could come with big health risks.... However, in recent weeks, as the number of bird flu cases have climbed, so have sales of raw milk. This is because numerous Republican public figures have decried what they perceive to be attempts from the government and 'Big Milk' to infringe on their right to consume the beverage, regardless of whether it contributes to the human-to-human spread of bird flu.... Essentially, for Republicans, it seems like avoiding raw milk is the new masking -- and they're just not going to do it in order to prove a point." Via digby. ~~~

     ~~~ digby: "The throwback states are already putting laws on the books to ensure that people can kill themselves with raw milk." Thanks to RAS for the link.

David Collins & Juan Luzano of the AP: "A federal judge on Friday ordered the liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones′ personal assets but dismissed his company's separate bankruptcy case, leaving the immediate future of his Infowars media platform uncertain as he owes $1.5 billion for his false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax."

~~~~~~~~~~

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

Ukraine, et al.

Nectar Gan of CNN: "China's support for Russia is 'enabling' its war in Ukraine, leaders of the world's most advanced economies warned Friday in a hardening of tone against Beijing, while threatening further sanctions against actors that materially support Moscow's war machine. The stark warning, issued at the end of the annual Group of Seven (G7) summit in Italy, comes as the United States is stepping up diplomatic efforts to convince Europe to adopt a tougher stance on China over its role in aiding Russia's military-industrial complex."

Putin's Proposal. Dasha Litvinova of the AP: "Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Friday to 'immediately' order a cease-fire in Ukraine and start negotiations if Kyiv began withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced plans to join NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected what he called an ultimatum by Putin to surrender more territory. Putin's remarks came as Switzerland prepared to host scores of world leaders -- but not from Moscow -- this weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine. They also coincided with a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations in Italy and after the U.S. and Ukraine this week signed a 10-year security agreement that Russian officials, including Putin, denounced as 'null and void.'" (Also linked yesterday.)


U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Catherine, the Princess of Wales, said on Friday that she planned to take part in a parade on Saturday marking the birthday of King Charles III, a tentative return to the public stage after confirming in March that she was being treated for cancer. The news, which Catherine released in a highly personal six-paragraph statement, reflected both the progress she has made since she was first hospitalized for abdominal surgery last January and the long road to recovery she still faces.... 'I am not out of the woods yet,' she wrote. 'I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty. Taking each day as it comes...."

Comments Off
Friday
Jun142024

The Conversation -- June 14, 2024

We're all curious, as Forrest M. wrote yesterday, as to what flag Sam & Martha-Ann will be flying on Flag Day and whether it will be upside-down or right-side-up. Update: here are some helpful instructions:

Robert Jimison of the New York Times: "House Republicans banded together on Friday to narrowly pass an $895 billion defense policy bill that would restrict access to abortion and transgender medical care in the military and eliminate all positions and offices of diversity, equity and inclusion across the Pentagon. The 217-to-199 vote, largely along party lines, reflected a dramatic shift in support for the annual National Defense Authorization Act, normally an overwhelmingly popular bill, since it emerged from a House committee last month with broad bipartisan support. Democrats turned against the bill in droves after Republicans insisted for the second year in a row on loading it with conservative policy dictates.... The Democratic-led Senate, which typically produces a bipartisan bill, will almost certainly leave the measures out, and they are unlikely to survive a conference between the two chambers to reconcile competing versions of the legislation. Even if they did, President Biden would be highly unlikely to sign them into law." Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Brooke Migdon of the Hill: "Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) on Thursday protested an amendment added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that bars funding for drag performances with a blown-up photo [displayed on the House floor] of former President Trump and Rudy Giuliani ... dressed in drag. [MB Note: Trump is not in drag; Rudy is.] An amendment filed this week to the annual defense policy bill by Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) would prevent funding made available by the measure from being used for drag events. The amendment passed Thursday by voice vote."

** Mass Murder, They Wrote. Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a ban on bump stocks enacted by the Trump administration after a deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. The decision, by a vote of 6 to 3, split along ideological lines. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, found that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had exceeded its power when it prohibited the device, an attachment that enables a semiautomatic rifle to fire at a speed rivaling that of a machine gun. The agency, he added, had overstepped in issuing a rule that classified bump stocks as machine guns....

"The narrowly written decision was not a Second Amendment challenge. Rather, it is one of several cases this term seeking to undercut the power of administrative agencies.... The man who challenged the bump stock ban is Michael Cargill, a gun shop owner in Texas, backed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, an advocacy group with financial ties to Charles Koch, a billionaire who has long supported conservative and libertarian causes. The organization primarily targets what it considers unlawful uses of administrative power....

"Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a dissent, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Sotomayor summarized her dissent from the bench, a practice reserved for profound disagreements and the first such announcement of the term.... 'A bump stock-equipped semiautomatic rifle fires 'automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.' Because I, like Congress, call that a machine gun, I respectfully dissent.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What I learned from Dahlia Lithwick & Andrew Weissmann -- who discussed the ruling on MSNBC -- is that this is another instance of a right-wing justice (in this case, Thomas), after having read friendly amicus briefs (in this case by the bump-stock industry), then deciding the knowledge he gained from these self-serving briefs allows him to substitute his new-found "expertise" for the actual expertise of administrative agencies (in this case, the ATF). And all the other winger "justices" nod their heads & sign on, even as they pretend to be "calling balls & strikes." Or ascribing to an "originalist" judicial philosophy. So we find out that when the Founders wrote that Second Amendment militia thing, they were just dreaming of the day when Rapid-fire Guns for All would become a legal and technical reality. At last the day has come, folks! Maybe we should forget Flag Day (sorry, Martha-Ann!) and designate June 14 Supreme Boost to Mass Murderers Day.

Benjamin Weiss of Courthouse News Service: "The White House urged Congress on Friday to codify a federal ban on bump stocks for semiautomatic firearms just hours after the Supreme Court struck down Trump-era regulations making such accessories illegal." ~~~

     ~~~ President Biden's statement is here, via the White House.

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)on Friday condemned a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling overturning the Trump-era ban on bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic guns to fire like machine guns, and called on Congress to pass legislation to counter the decision. 'The far-right Supreme Court continues their unprecedented assault on public safety by reversing the commonsense guidance issued in 2018 by the ATF. Bump stocks have played a devastating role in many of the horrific mass shootings in our country, but sadly it's no surprise to see the Supreme Court roll back this necessary public safety rule as they push their out of touch extreme agenda. They're even further to the right of Donald Trump,' Schumer said in a statement responding to the ruling."

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "The Biden campaign is taking over the homepage of a local newspaper in Milwaukee on Friday, seizing on comments from former President Trump a day earlier in which he criticized the city. The Biden campaign will have a homepage takeover ad of The Shepherd Express -- an alt weekly -- and the Journal Sentinel, highlighting Trump calling Milwaukee a 'horrible city' during a meeting on Capitol Hill with Republicans.... The ad is a split-screen image, one highlighting Trump's 'horrible city' critique and the other boasting that President Biden passed legislation to invest in Milwaukee. Trump officials have insisted the former president's remark was specifically referring to crime. In addition to the ad, the Biden campaign created merchandise around the Trump comment, including T-shirts and Wisconsin-shaped stickers that read, '(Not) a horrible city,' and T-shirts and can koozies that play off 'I heart Milwaukee' and feature a mug of beer in place of a heart."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post keeps us up-to-date on what's going on in the Trump campaign and in Republican politics in general. Conspiracy theorists are especially busy. For instance: "Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), on Fox Business, declared that Hunter Biden's guilty verdict 'creates an opening for Democrats to slip someone like Michelle Obama in here' as the Democratic presidential nominee, rather than [Joe] Biden, he said. Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo replied: 'I am buying into what you're saying there.' So, Biden ordered the Justice Department to prosecute his son to create an excuse to decline the presidential nomination? That one is so crazy, it must be true!"

David Kurtz of TPM: "Donald Trump’s return to the scene of the Jan. 6 attack that he instigated was a watershed moment in the whitewashing of his failed auto-coup. Republicans in Congress, many of whom three years ago were running for their lives from the mob Trump unleashed, applauded and celebrated his return in ways that highlighted the party’s cultish, authoritarian turn. It marked a papering over of all the internal divisions and past animosities (which tend to arise when a president of your own party sends over to the Capitol a mob that is intent on hanging his own vice president ) in order to rally together to win in November." ~~~

Putin's Proposal. Dasha Litvinova of the AP: "Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Friday to 'immediately' order a cease-fire in Ukraine and start negotiations if Kyiv began withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced plans to join NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected what he called an ultimatum by Putin to surrender more territory. Putin's remarks came as Switzerland prepared to host scores of world leaders -- but not from Moscow -- this weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine. They also coincided with a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations in Italy and after the U.S. and Ukraine this week signed a 10-year security agreement that Russian officials, including Putin, denounced as 'null and void.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Defending Ukraine with Putin's Money. David Sanger of the New York Times: On Thursday, "President Biden ... signed a 10-year security pact with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that Mr. Biden portrayed as guaranteeing a supply of weapons, intelligence support, advice and technology needed to win the war and deter a new one. He also said the United States would take the lead in providing Ukraine with a $50 billion loan to rebuild its devastated ports and power plants and to buy weapons. The money is to be repaid from interest generated from $300 billion in assets that Mr. Putin, inexplicably, left in Western financial institutions before his February 2022 invasion.... 'We're not backing down,' [Mr. Biden] added, warning Mr. Putin that 'he cannot wait us out.' Mr. Zelensky thanked Mr. Biden warmly, even though the security pact and loan were far short of what he wanted at this grave moment in the war." ~~~

     ~~~ Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, in a New York Times op-ed, explains how the plan will work. ~~~

     ~~~ Trying to Trump-Proof Ukraine. Kevin Liptak of CNN: "President Joe Biden and fellow G7 leaders meeting on the coast of Italy this week are working to harden support for Ukraine and rush western resources to the country as they look uneasily toward November's US election... Yet whether the measures agreed to this week can withstand another Donald Trump presidency remained something of an unknown. As Biden was finalizing his agreements in Italy, Trump was meeting with Republicans on Capitol Hill, where he once again made clear he didn't want to see another $60 billion in aid flowing to Ukraine, according to a person familiar with his comments. Trump argued, as he had before, that if he were president the war wouldn't still be going."

Tyler Pager, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden, whose reelection campaign is centered on mobilizing voters on abortion rights, has been waging a behind-the-scenes battle [at the G-7 meeting in Italy] to ensure that abortion access and reproductive rights are part of a global agreement among the world's leading democracies. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a hard-line conservative, has been intent on changing language that was included in last year's Group of Seven communiqué to exclude mentions of abortion or reproductive rights, according to officials familiar with the negotiations.... But Biden, along with the leaders of France, Germany and Canada, pushed for its inclusion, and Biden threatened to not sign the document if it was not included, the officials said. The debate over the communiqué became a major sticking point, with negotiations lasting until 2 a.m. for several nights over the past week, and the reproductive rights language did not get resolved until the very end, according to one of the officials involved." (Also linked yesterday.)

Matt Viser & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden emphatically defended his son at a summit of world leaders here, commenting directly for the first time since Hunter Biden was convicted this week on federal gun charges, while also reiterating that he would not use his presidential powers to soften whatever penalty his son faces.... As Biden was walking away from the stage, he was also asked whether he would commute his son's sentence -- that is, reduce its severity. 'No,' Biden responded."

Maya Miller of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked legislation that would codify the right to access fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization, in the latest election-year bid by Democrats to spotlight G.O.P. opposition to protecting reproductive freedoms. On a vote of 48 to 47, all but two Republicans [Susan Collins & Lisa Murkowski] opposed advancing the bill, which would give Americans the statutory right to receive fertility treatments and decide how their reproductive material is used, stored and disposed of." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This strikes me as a little odd. I thought Republicans mostly had it in for poor women. But IVF treatment is expensive, so it's wealthier young families who opt for it -- you know, the lovely kind of people one would think Republicans would want to welcome into their base. Update: See Eugene Robinson's column, linked below, for an explanation.

What if you held a hearing and Adam Schiff stepped all over your message? ~~~

~~~ Miranda Nazzaro of the Hill: "Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) sought to make a statement about former President Trump's criminal conviction Thursday, repeating the word 'guilty' 34 times in a row, once for each of the former president's guilty counts in the Manhattan hush money case. The move by Schiff came at the beginning of his line of questioning during the House Judiciary Committee's hearing on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's (D) office and its investigation into Trump's hush money scheme during the 2016 election.... 'My Republican colleagues don't really contest Donald Trump's guilt, this is the fascinating thing,' Schiff ... (D), said. '... They don't contest -- not really -- that Donald Trump was making hush money payments to a porn star to hide their affair from voters,' the lawmaker continued. 'What they're really saying is they're more than comfortable electing -- nominating and electing as the president of the United States -- someone making hush money payments to a porn star.'"

Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to limit access to a widely used abortion medication, rejecting a challenge from antiabortion doctors ... on procedural grounds. In a unanimous ruling, the court sided with the Biden administration and the manufacturer of mifepristone and reversed a lower court decision that would have made it more difficult to obtain the drug used in more than 60 percent of U.S. abortions. The ruling was not on the substance of the case, but on a procedural ruling that the plaintiffs did not have legal grounds to bring the case.... Individual physicians and the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine filed the initial lawsuit in Amarillo, Tex., where the only sitting District Court judge is Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump nominee known for his long-standing opposition to abortion." Here's the ScotusBlog report. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I wouldn't get all excited about this decision. All the justices agreed on was that the doctors who brought suit didn't have standing/weren't harmed by the distribution of mifepristone. Update: In fact, in the the New York Times' liveblog of the decision, Kate Zernicke wrote, "Cecile Richards, the former president of Planned Parenthood, noted that the decision does not rule out future challenges." And ~~~

Pam Belluck: "The decision will fuel efforts on the anti-abortion side to restrict abortion pills in other ways. One recent example involved Louisiana classifying abortion pills as Schedule IV drugs, a category that suggested they were dangerous or addictive substances, contrary to medical evidence."

Elizabeth Dias: "Anti-abortion activists are vowing that this will not be the end of their mission. They noted the case was decided on standing, not the merits of arguments about medication abortion itself. 'We'll be back,' said Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America."

Zernicke: "Abortion rights groups reacted with wary relief. 'The attacks on abortion pills will not stop here,' Nancy Northup, the president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. 'The anti-abortion movement sees how critical abortion pills are in this post-Roe world, and they are hell bent on cutting off access. In the end, this ruling is not a "win" for abortion -- it just maintains the status quo, which is a dire public health crisis in which 14 states have criminalized abortion.'"

Now, this sounds more like the Supreme Court we all know and despise: ~~~

Santul Nerkar & Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Starbucks on Thursday in a challenge against a labor ruling by a federal judge, making it more difficult for a key federal agency to intervene when a company is accused of illegally suppressing labor organizing. Eight justices backed the majority opinion, which was written by Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a separate opinion concurring with parts of the majority opinion, dissenting from other portions and agreeing with the overall judgment. The ruling came in a case brought by Starbucks over the firing of seven workers in Memphis who were trying to unionize a store in 2022. The company said it had fired them for allowing a television crew into a closed store, while the workers said that they were fired for their unionization efforts and that the company didn't typically enforce the rules they were accused of violating. After the firings, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint saying that Starbucks had acted because the workers had 'joined or assisted the union and engaged in concerted activities, and to discourage employees from engaging in these activities.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

** Clarence Committed More Crimes of Omission. Justin Elliott, et al., of ProPublica: "Billionaire political donor Harlan Crow provided at least three previously undisclosed private jet trips to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in recent years, an investigation by Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats has found. The flights, which were detailed by Crow's lawyer in response to inquiries from the committee, took the justice to destinations including the region near Glacier National Park in Montana and Thomas' hometown in Georgia.... ProPublica could not immediately find evidence of Thomas making public appearances in Montana, Georgia or California on the dates in question.... Thomas has not reported the recent private jet trips from Crow, which many legal experts have described as a violation of the federal financial disclosure law." The New York Times story is here.

No outsider knows what goes on inside a family, but the contrast between Joe Biden's embrace of his drug-addicted, criminal son and Clarence Thomas' rejection of his is at least notable: ~~~

~~~ Carl Gibson of AlterNet: "When he was six years old, Mark Martin was legally adopted by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni, who raised him from ages six to 19. But according to Martin, they've both cut off all contact with him, and now he's facing up to 25 years in prison. Business Insider recently interviewed Martin from the South Carolina jail where he's being held without bail. Martin, who was arrested for allegedly trafficking 400 grams of meth and heroin in 2021, was also arrested for drug trafficking and gun possession in June of last year. Because South Carolina considers those 'violent' crimes, Martin is ineligible for bond.... Clarence and Ginni Thomas reportedly cut off contact with Martin when he entered his teenage years, and Martin said the two 'just didn't have time to deal with' him when he was in high school." Thanks to RAS for the lead. See also Akhilleus' commentary in yesterday's thread.

Presidential Race

Trump Approaches the Scene of the Crime

~~~ Mariana Sotomayor, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump swooped down on Capitol Hill on Thursday to rally congressional Republicans behind a political and policy message aimed at establishing a GOP lock on Washington in the November elections.... This was the first time Trump has appeared on Capitol Hill since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection intended to prevent the installation of Joe Biden as president.... House and Senate Republicans rallied behind their leader in a show of unusual support among their divided ranks. At a Senate lunch, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who nearly broke with Trump over Jan. 6 and had not spoken with him since, sat on his right.... Trump and McConnell even shook hands.... Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) said they had scheduling conflicts and did not attend." ~~~

~~~ Juliegrace Brufke & Andrew Solender of Axios: "... Donald Trump boasted about his polling in New York, New Jersey, New Mexico and other blue states - and showered praise on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) - during his first visit to Capitol Hill since leaving office 2.5 years ago.... At a closed-door meeting with House GOP lawmakers Thursday, Trump talked about his own electoral and legal grievances, while praising loyalists and touching on policy issues like abortion, according to sources in the room." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Annie Grayer, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump led House Republicans through a gripe-filled closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill on Thursday, airing grievances about his legal and electoral challenges, attacking his critics in the room, and only briefly addressing policy matters like abortion and taxes, according to multiple GOP lawmakers in the room.... Trump called the Department of Justice 'dirty no good bastards.'..." ~~~

~~~ Michael Gold, et al., of the New York Times: "According to various people in the room, Mr. Trump, during his meeting with House members at the Capitol Hill Club, complained that the pop music megastar Taylor Swift would support President Biden over him.... He falsely claimed that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi's daughter once told him that he and her mother might have been a good match.... And perhaps most striking, he disparaged the city of Milwaukee -- the most populous city in the swing state of Wisconsin and the site of the Republican National Convention in July -- over its crime rate.... Punchbowl News reported that he had called Milwaukee 'horrible.'" ~~~

     ~~~ In His Dreams. Matt Arco of NJ Online: "Trump, who called [Nancy] Pelosi's daughter a 'whacko,' told party leaders, 'Her daughter told me if things were different Nancy and I would be perfect together, there's an age difference though.' Christine Pelosi ... [posted on X]: 'Speaking for all 4 Pelosi daughters -- this is a LIE. His deceitful, deranged obsession with our mother is yet another reason Donald Trump is unwell, unhinged and unfit to step foot anywhere near her -- or the White House,'..." she posted to X.... Nancy Pelosi had her own thoughts about the former president on his trip[:]

"Today, the instigator of an insurrection is returning to the scene of the crime. January 6th was a crime against the Capitol, that saw Nazi and Confederate flags flying under the dome that Lincoln built. It was a crime against the Constitution and its peaceful transfer of power, in a desperate attempt to cling to power. And it was a crime against members, heroic police offices and staff, that resulted in the death, injury, and trauma that endure to this day. With his pledges to be a dictator on day one and seek revenge against his political opponents, Donald Trump comes to Capitol Hill today with the same mission of dismantling our democracy...."


National Crime Blotter. Rachel Bade of Politico: Donald Trump "has been obsessed in recent weeks with harnessing the powers of Congress to fight on his own behalf and go to war against the Democrats he accuses of 'weaponizing' the justice system against him. It's a campaign he orchestrated in the days after his May 31 conviction on 34 felony counts in New York, starting with a phone call to the man he wanted to lead it: Speaker Mike Johnson. Trump was still angry when he made the call, according to those who have heard accounts of it from Johnson, dropping frequent F-bombs as he spoke with the soft-spoken and pious GOP leader. 'We have to overturn this,' Trump i[said]."

Jack Ewing & Peter Eavis of the New York Times: "Tesla shareholders have reaffirmed a pay award of more than $45 billion for Elon Musk, the chief executive, after it was thrown out in a legal challenge. The vote result, announced at Tesla;s annual meeting at its headquarters in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, is a strong sign that shareholders still believe in Mr. Musk, and it could persuade the judge who voided the award to reinstate it.... The vote was a setback for investors who had hoped it would send a message about the accountability of chief executives and the limits of executive pay." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you don't think executive compensation is way, way out of whack, I will remind you that back in the day, auto exec George Romney (father of Greedy Mitt) turned down big bonuses because he said no one should make more than $225,000 a year. The only point of a $45BB compensation package, IMO, is to get the recipient into trouble. Nevertheless, Trump has promised today's execs even lower tax rates, including for those billionaires who pay zero taxes now (NYT link).

Eli Tan of the New York Times: "Eight former employees of Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, sued the company and Mr. Musk on Wednesday, contending they were wrongfully fired for raising concerns about sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. The employees were fired in 2022 after they circulated an open letter urging SpaceX executives to condemn Mr. Musk's comments on Twitter, later renamed X, which amounted to 'a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us.' After being made aware of the letter, Mr. Musk ordered the terminations, according to the complaint." (Also linked yesterday.)

Molly Escobar, et al., of the New York Times: "... more than 171,000 patients ... traveled for an abortion in 2023, new estimates show, demonstrating both the upheaval in access since the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the limits of state bans to stop the procedure.... Out-of-state travel for abortions -- either to have a procedure or obtain abortion pills -- more than doubled in 2023 compared with 2019, and made up nearly a fifth of recorded abortions." Includes lots of maps & some charts.

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "On Wednesday, the Southern Baptist Convention ... adopted a resolution denouncing in vitro fertilization (IVF).... How can the religious right, a movement that calls itself pro-life, take a stance against a procedure that creates life? The answer lies in the concept of fetal personhood -- in this case, embryonic personhood. That is clearly where the zealots who seek 'The Handmaid's Tale' control over women's bodies are headed, now that the obstacle of Roe v. Wade no longer stands in their way.... With public opinion against them, antiabortion activists are already waging the next battle: to give embryos full personhood rights and protections. They are coming hard after IVF.... This is, simply, a forever war. Remain vigilant because there is no end in sight."

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Ron, it's raining. -- Florida Democratic party ~~~

~~~ Florida. Ja'han Jones of MSNBC: "Massive flooding in Florida is bringing new attention to the climate change denial of Gov. Ron DeSantis and his Republican allies in the state Legislature. In May, DeSantis took steps to deprioritize climate change resilience, a truly reckless and cruel decision considering the existential crisis climate change poses to the state.... Florida Democrats used the current flooding in Florida to highlight DeSantis' neglectful approach to climate resilience, and to highlight the fact that the governor on Wednesday signed a budget that vetoed more than $200 million in funding for projects related to stormwater, wastewater and sewer water."

Pennsylvania. Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was speeding and at fault for a Sunday morning auto accident in western Maryland, where he rear-ended another driver, a 62-year-old woman who was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, according to a Maryland State Police report.... The accident was the latest example of unsafe driving by Fetterman, according to public records and people with knowledge of the situation. He has received two speeding tickets for violations of at least 24 miles per hour above the speed limit, one in 2016 and one in March, according to Pennsylvania state records. After the ticket this year, when he was driving 34 miles per hour over the limit, he was required by the state to complete a driver's improvement course.... At other times, aides have said Fetterman has texted and FaceTimed while driving, prompting concern among his staff and fears about riding with him.... The concerns sparked an informal practice recently instituted in the office that aides should not be in the car when Fetterman is driving...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The guy had a massive stroke. He shouldn't be driving anyway. And he's one of a small number of Americans who has the luxury of having drivers available to him. Family and staff should have intervened before this.

~~~~~~~~~~

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

Russia. Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "American journalist Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal will soon stand trial in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on charges of spying for the CIA, Russian authorities said Thursday, after announcing that they had finalized an indictment. Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 while on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg and accused of espionage. Gershkovich, the journal and U.S. officials have repeatedly rejected the charges as baseless." At 11:30 am ET, this was a developing story. (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

CNN: "Heavy rainfall that's caused unrelenting flooding in South Florida since Tuesday will continue for a fourth consecutive day after turning roads into canals and forcing some residents to stand on the roofs of their cars or trudge through waist-deep waters. Even as the robust tropical moisture fueling the soaking storms slowly starts to shift out of the area, Friday marks yet another drenching day for South Florida and multiple cities could see more than 2 feet of rain Tuesday through Friday.... Flood watches remain in effect for over 7 million people across South Florida, including in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, through Friday evening. An additional 2 to 4 inches or more of rainfall is expected through Friday night but thunderstorm activity is expected to subside by the weekend. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for Broward, Collier, Lee, Miami-Dade and Sarasota counties, and officials have urged locals to stay at home instead of walking or driving through the floodwater...."

Comments Off
Thursday
Jun132024

The Conversation -- June 13, 2024

Maya Miller of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked legislation that would codify the right to access fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization, in the latest election-year bid by Democrats to spotlight G.O.P. opposition to protecting reproductive freedoms. On a vote of 48 to 47, all but two Republicans [Susan Collins & Lisa Murkowski] opposed advancing the bill, which would give Americans the statutory right to receive fertility treatments and decide how their reproductive material is used, stored and disposed of." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This strikes me as a little odd. I thought Republicans mostly had it in for poor women. But IVF treatment is expensive, so it's wealthier young families who opt for it -- you know, the lovely kind of people one would think Republicans would want to welcome into their base. Apparently not.

Tyler Pager, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden, whose reelection campaign is centered on mobilizing voters on abortion rights, has been waging a behind-the-scenes battle [at the G-7 meeting in Italy] to ensure that abortion access and reproductive rights are part of a global agreement among the world's leading democracies. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a hard-line conservative, has been intent on changing language that was included in last year's Group of Seven communiqué to exclude mentions of abortion or reproductive rights, according to officials familiar with the negotiations.... But Biden, along with the leaders of France, Germany and Canada, pushed for its inclusion, and Biden threatened to not sign the document if it was not included.... The debate over the communiqué became a major sticking point, with negotiations lasting until 2 a.m. for several nights over the past week, and the reproductive rights language did not get resolved until the very end, according to one of the officials involved."

Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to limit access to a widely used abortion medication, rejecting a challenge from antiabortion doctors ... on procedural grounds. In a unanimous ruling, the court sided with the Biden administration and the manufacturer of mifepristone and reversed a lower court decision that would have made it more difficult to obtain the drug used in more than 60 percent of U.S. abortions. The ruling was not on the substance of the case, but on a procedural ruling that the plaintiffs did not have legal grounds to bring the case.... Individual physicians and the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine filed the initial lawsuit in Amarillo, Tex., where the only sitting District Court judge is Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump nominee known for his long-standing opposition to abortion." Here's the ScotusBlog report. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I wouldn't get all excited about this decision. All the justices agreed on was that the doctors who brought suit didn't have standing/weren't harmed by the distribution of mifepristone. Update: In fact, in the the New York Times' liveblog of the decision, Kate Zernicke wrote, "Cecile Richards, the former president of Planned Parenthood, noted that the decision does not rule out future challenges." And ~~~

Pam Belluck: "The decision will fuel efforts on the anti-abortion side to restrict abortion pills in other ways. One recent example involved Louisiana classifying abortion pills as Schedule IV drugs, a category that suggested they were dangerous or addictive substances, contrary to medical evidence."

Elizabeth Dias: "Anti-abortion activists are vowing that this will not be the end of their mission. They noted the case was decided on standing, not the merits of arguments about medication abortion itself. 'We'll be back,' said Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America."

Zernicke: "Abortion rights groups reacted with wary relief. 'The attacks on abortion pills will not stop here,' Nancy Northup, the president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. 'The anti-abortion movement sees how critical abortion pills are in this post-Roe world, and they are hell bent on cutting off access. In the end, this ruling is not a "win" for abortion -- it just maintains the status quo, which is a dire public health crisis in which 14 states have criminalized abortion.'"

Now, this sounds more like the Supreme Court we all know and despise: ~~~

Santul Nerkar & Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Starbucks on Thursday in a challenge against a labor ruling by a federal judge, making it more difficult for a key federal agency to intervene when a company is accused of illegally suppressing labor organizing. Eight justices backed the majority opinion, which was written by Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a separate opinion concurring with parts of the majority opinion, dissenting from other portions and agreeing with the overall judgment. The ruling came in a case brought by Starbucks over the firing of seven workers in Memphis who were trying to unionize a store in 2022. The company said it had fired them for allowing a television crew into a closed store, while the workers said that they were fired for their unionization efforts and that the company didn't typically enforce the rules they were accused of violating. After the firings, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint saying that Starbucks had acted because the workers had 'joined or assisted the union and engaged in concerted activities, and t discourage employees from engaging in these activities.'"

Juliegrace Brufke & Andrew Solender of Axios: "... Donald Trump boasted about his polling in New York, New Jersey, New Mexico and other blue states - and showered praise on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) - during his first visit to Capitol Hill since leaving office 2.5 years ago.... At a closed-door meeting with House GOP lawmakers Thursday, Trump talked about his own electoral and legal grievances, while praising loyalists and touching on policy issues like abortion, according to sources in the room."

Eli Tan of the New York Times: "Eight former employees of Elon Musk's' rocket company, SpaceX, sued the company and Mr. Musk on Wednesday, contending they were wrongfully fired for raising concerns about sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. The employees were fired in 2022 after they circulated an open letter urging SpaceX executives to condemn Mr. Musk's comments on Twitter, later renamed X, which amounted to 'a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us.' After being made aware of the letter, Mr. Musk ordered the terminations, according to the complaint."

Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "American journalist Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal will soon stand trial in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on charges of spying for the CIA, Russian authorities said Thursday, after announcing that they had finalized an indictment. Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 while on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg and accused of espionage. Gershkovich, the journal and U.S. officials have repeatedly rejected the charges as baseless." At 11:30 am ET, this was a developing story.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ellen Nakashima & Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plan Thursday to sign a 10-year security agreement that will commit Washington to supply Kyiv with a wide range of military assistance, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said, in a bid to bolster Ukraine's fight with Russia. The deal aims to commit future U.S. administrations to support Ukraine, even if former president Donald Trump wins November's election, officials said. It will be a framework for a long-term effort by the United States to help develop Ukraine's armed forces, which have innovated on drone warfare and other cutting-edge techniques in the fight against Russia, but are also desperately outgunned and in need of modern weapons."

Mark Landler & Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "When Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy convenes the leaders of the Group of 7 countries on Thursday at a luxury resort hotel overlooking the Adriatic Sea, she might be forgiven for thinking her guests are seeking a refuge. Except for Ms. Meloni herself, every one of the leaders is arriving at the meeting beleaguered, embattled or endangered -- an ill-starred convergence that speaks to the political tremors rattling across the West. It also doesn't bode well for the results of a gathering that already faced vexing challenges, ranging from Russia's war in Ukraine to China's global economic competition."

Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged at their June meeting on Wednesday and predicted that they will cut borrowing costs just once before the end of 2024, taking a cautious approach as they try to avoid declaring a premature victory over inflation.... Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, made clear in a postmeeting news conference that officials were taking a careful and conservative approach after months of bumpy inflation data." ~~~

     ~~~ The AP reports the Federal Reserve's statement here.

Nemo Debet Esse Judex in Propria Causa. Unless He's a Supreme Winger. Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked an effort by Democrats to quickly pass Supreme Court ethics and transparency legislation they had pushed forward in the wake of disclosures about justices taking unreported gifts and travel and other ethical issues surrounding the high court." The NBC News report is here. ~~~

~~~ digby: "Just as Donald Trump realized that as long as he had the Republican Party backing him he could not be convicted in an impeachment trial, so too have the Supreme Court right wing extremists. They essentially have full immunity from consequences for their corruption. I'll be surprised if they don't grant it for Trump for all of his legal problems as well. They have shown their true colors. Immunity from accountability is their new superpower." MB: Oh, it's a superpower they've enjoyed for decades.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "House Republicans on Wednesday muscled through a measure recommending that Attorney General Merrick B. Garland be held in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena. The G.O.P. acted over Democratic opposition after the Justice Department declined to provide audio recordings of President Biden's interview with the special counsel investigating his handling of classified documents. By a nearly party-line vote of 216 to 207, the House called on the Justice Department to compel the executive branch to produce the materials.... In a statement, Mr. Garland said it was 'deeply disappointing that this House of Representatives has turned a serious congressional authority into a partisan weapon.'... Just one Republican, Representative David Joyce of Ohio, the leader of a mainstream G.O.P. group on Capitol Hill, voted 'no.'... The Justice Department has already made public a transcript of Mr. Biden's interview with [special counsel Robert] Hur, but House Republicans argue they need the recordings to continue their impeachment investigation and examine the president's mental fitness.... Mr. Biden last month asserted executive privilege to deny House Republicans access to recordings. That move was intended to shield Mr. Garland from prosecution." CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ David Edwards of the Raw Story: "'It's rich beyond measure, like a billionaire rich, to be asked to hold the attorney general in contempt by people who themselves received subpoenas to testify before the January 6th Committee, who never rendered a single document nor a single minute of testimony to the January 6th Committee,' [Rep. Jamie] Raskin [D-Md.] said."

Lauren Irwin of the Hill: "Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) launched an investigation Wednesday into former President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his investment firm, Affinity Partners, over details regarding its investments in Saudi Arabia. In a letter to Affinity Partners Chief Financial Officer Lauren Key, Wyden said its concerning that several Middle Eastern governments, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, are using funds managed by the company and creating 'significant conflicts of interest and potential counterintelligence risks.'" ~~~

~~~ Charles Davis of Salon: "As The New York Times reported in April, [Jared] Kushner's investment fund, valued at $3 billion, 'is financed almost entirely from overseas investors with whom he worked when he served as a senior adviser in the Trump White House.' Some two-thirds of that money has come from Saudi Arabia's state-run Public Investment Fund, whose own advisers deemed Kushner's fund 'unsatisfactory in all aspects' only to be overruled by a board that includes Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the man who ordered the killing of U.S.-Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi when Trump was in office and who Kushner today describes as a 'visionary leader.' The other third? Much of it reportedly comes from other sovereign wealth funds run by the likes of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates....

"Virginia Canter, former chief ethics counsel for the Treasury Department and now an attorney with the watchdog group [CREW]..., said, 'It appears to be a payoff as much as a potential investment,' she said, and also ... buying [Donald] Trump's continued support for the Saudi government, which has also paid the former president millions of dollars to host its Liv Golf events. By enriching Kushner, and consequently Trump's daughter, Ivanka, the Saudis have increased the potential cost, personally, for ever breaking with them politically....'"

National Crime Blotter

Daniel Barnes & Zoe Richards of NBC News: "Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to let him remain out of prison while he continues to appeal a nearly two-year-old conviction on criminal contempt of Congress charges. Bannon filed an emergency motion Tuesday evening asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to overrule a lower court's order last week that he report to prison for four months on July 1. Bannon is asking the D.C. Circuit to quickly rule on his motion -- by next Tuesday -- to allow him time if necessary to appeal to the Supreme Court over his conviction on two counts of contempt of Congress in 2022, after he refused to answer questions from the House Jan. 6 committee." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yo, Steve-o. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post reports on U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger's testimony in the case against Sen. Bob Menendez.

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Hunter Biden is expected to appeal his felony conviction for falsifying a federal firearms application, likely arguing that the judge in the case violated his constitutional rights in her instructions to the jury, according to people in his orbit and legal experts. Mr. Biden's lawyer Abbe Lowell has also signaled that any appeal would be based on the Supreme Court's landmark decision in 2022 that vastly expanded gun rights, a ruling that spawned legal challenges to the part of the federal firearms form at the center of the Biden case. In Mr. Biden's case, it included a question asking buyers about their drug use. Any appeal would be an uphill climb, and the lawyers representing President Biden's son cannot officially file one until he is sentenced at the courthouse in Wilmington, Del., within 120 days, or about a month after he is scheduled to go on trial on federal tax charges in Los Angeles." ~~~

~~~ It's Complicated. Andrew Prokop of Vox: "... the backstory to this trial is messy: It's been a years-long, sprawling federal probe beset by accusations of political bias from both directions. But the trial itself was fairly straightforward. Some jurors told CNN that they questioned the importance of the case -- after all, no one was hurt with the gun, and Hunter has apparently been clean since 2019 -- but they felt the evidence was clear that Hunter broke the law.... It does indeed seem to be the case that Hunter would have gotten the plea deal he preferred if not for criticism from [two IRS] whistleblowers, Judge [Maryellen] Noreika, and the GOP. But that can be interpreted in two ways. One could argue that prosecutors wanted to give Hunter Biden a lenient 'sweetheart deal' until the whistleblowers and the judge called them out. Or one could argue that prosecutors belatedly went overly hard on Hunter due to politicized criticism from the whistleblowers and Republicans." ~~~

     ~~~ In case you're interested in how complicated, Marcy Wheeler has got you covered. ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: "Many Trump allies had been secretly rooting for an acquittal. The talking points wrote themselves: It would have been yet more evidence that the United States justice system was rigged in favor of the Bidens and against the Trumps. Tuesday's guilty verdict was inconvenient to that narrative. Even more valuable would have been the fund-raising potential.... In a meeting last year..., Mr. Trump said Republicans needed to be careful, the person said, 'not to go overboard' on the Hunter Biden attacks, especially on the drug addiction issue, because it could elicit sympathy and make people view the president as a caring father.... Mr. Trump stopped making specific comments about Hunter in his stump speech as he moved toward the general election and as his own criminal trial in Manhattan began, instead using the 'Biden crime family' as an all-purpose slur." ~~~

~~~ Steve M. is not at all convinced by news analyses claiming that Hunter Biden's conviction messed up the GOP's claim that President Biden and Democrats had rigged the justice system against honorable fellows like Donald Trump. "Once a conspiracy theory is accepted by a segment of the population -- something that seems to happen on the right a couple of times a week -- it can't be dislodged by contrary facts.... The message of every conspiracy theory is that the 'official' story is wrong. That's why you can't debunk a conspiracy theory with new information -- that information is also 'official,' so it also has to be wrong. In fact, efforts to argue that new information definitively disproves the conspiracy theory just prove that the conspirators are trying even harder to lie to you." MB: You see? You see? It's all very logical. ~~~

~~~ ** digby covers all the bases. "... Republicans ... simply couldn't take 'guilty' for an answer.... They've been sobbing and whining and rending their garments for weeks now over the Trump verdict insisting that the Biden DOJ had implemented a two-tiered system of justice to target Republicans, specifically Donald Trump. And here you have that same DOJ prosecuting the president's only living son over a crime that Republicans insist is a violation of the second amendment. In fact, if it had been anyone else, much less the son of a GOP president, the NRA would have been holding vigils outside the courthouse. If Republicans still required logic and consistency to persuade their voters this whole thing would have been terribly confusing for them. Lucky for them, all they need is lies and demagoguery."

Presidential Race

Nia-Malika Henderson of Bloomberg: "On one of the worst days of his life, President Joe Biden showed the best of who he is. He affirmed his faith in his son, Hunter Biden, who was convicted on three felony gun charges. And he affirmed his faith in the justice system that held his only living son to account. Not only that, but hours after his son was found guilty, the president delivered a forceful speech on gun control that underscored his deep humanity, decency, and determination to stay focused on the problems of average Americans rather than drown in bitterness, self-pity, revenge and victimization. He spoke of hope in the face of loss, comforting those who've lost loved ones with his own story of grief. It was yet another stark and important contrast with ... Donald Trump, who believes that his self-created legal problems are matters of the state. Trump has vowed revenge if he returns to the White House, and Biden has said he respects the outcome of his son's trial." Firewalled.

How Donald Spent Grandpa's Last $25. Kathleen Culliton of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump has funneled nearly $5 million from his presidential campaign coffers into his private businesses, according to a new financial analysis..., Forbes reported Wednesday.... Forbes analysis of Federal Election Commission records found $4.2 million funneled to Trump's aviation company Tag Air. Trump's private jet -- which he claims is better than Air Force One but experts say is comparable to a flying Staten Island ferry -- has been transformed into 'something of a charter service,' Forbes reports.... Trump's 2024 campaign has also spent $332,000 at his social club Mar-a-Lago.... The campaign spent $20,000 at the Miami golf resort Trump National Doral, $36,000 a Trump hotel in Las Vegas, according to the report. 'Add it all up -- the $4.6 million from the 2024 campaign and millions more from Trump's other groups -- and his businesses have collected about $7 million in total since the 2020 election," the analysis concludes."

Alex Woodward of the Independent: "A fundraising email blast from the chief political action committees supporting Donald Trump shared a troubling new message: 'haul out the guillotine.' The email went on to blast 'sicko' Kathy Griffin for her 2017 image holding a mock-severed Trump head and instead accused his Democratic rivals of wanting to behead him. 'The SAD and HORRIFIC TRUTH is that this is STILL the Sick Dream of every Trump-Deranged lunatic out there!' the message says. 'And it's not just me they want gone, THEY'RE REALLY COMING AFTER YOU! SICK SICK SICK!'"

Donald Trump is asking, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" Let's check. New York Times, June 13, 2020: "Many veterans and members of the military stuck with [Donald Trump] even as he attacked the Vietnam War record of Senator John McCain, disparaged families of those killed in combat and denigrated generals whom he fired or drove from government service.... But the president's threat last week to use active-duty troops on American streets against largely peaceful protesters, and his flirtation with invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act, have rattled the military world, from its top leaders to its youngest veterans.... The recent condemnations of Mr. Trump from high-level military veterans like Jim Mattis, the former defense secretary and a retired four-star Marine Corps general, have in some cases fortified the shifting views among military members."

** Jessica Contrera, et al., of the Washington Post: "A Washington Post investigation has found that over the past two decades, hundreds of law enforcement officers in the United States have sexually abused children while officials at every level of the criminal justice system have failed to protect kids, punish abusers and prevent additional crimes. Police and sheriff's departments have enabled predators by botching background checks, ignoring red flags and mishandling investigations. Accused cops have used their knowledge of the legal system to stall cases, get charges lowered or evade convictions. Prosecutors have given generous plea deals to officers who admitted to raping and groping minors. Judges have allowed many convicted officers to avoid prison time."

Ruth Graham of the New York Times: "Southern Baptists, the country's largest Protestant denomination, voted on Wednesday to oppose the use of in vitro fertilization. The vote was an indication that evangelicals are increasingly open to arguments that equate embryos with human life, and that two years after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, 'fetal personhood' may be the next front for the anti-abortion movement. More than 10,000 delegates, called 'messengers,' have gathered in Indianapolis for the denomination's annual meeting, which is closely watched as a barometer of evangelical sentiment on a variety of cultural and political issues. The vote on Wednesday was the first time that attendees at the Southern Baptist meeting have addressed the ethics of in vitro fertilization directly."

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Florida. Brooks Barnes of the New York Times: "Disney and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida have finally ended their feud, clearing the way for $17 billion in planned development at Walt Disney World near Orlando. On Wednesday night, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District -- an entity that Mr. DeSantis took over in 2022, ending 55 years of Disney control and sparking multiple lawsuits -- gave the company a big part of what it wanted all along: a locked-in, long-term plan for expanding Disney World. At least for the next 15 years, the length of the new agreement, Disney can develop the resort without worrying about interference by Florida politicians."

Florida. Gary Fineout of Politico: "A Florida appeals court on Wednesday refused to go along with Gov. Ron DeSantis' argument that he can shield public records due to executive privilege -- a right that had not been recognized previously under state law that could have drastically expanded the governor's ability to keep records from the public. The decision by the three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal was a stinging setback for both DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody, who insisted that the governor's office has the constitutional authority to shield records about internal discussions and deliberations.

Maryland/Pennsylvania. Tom Ignudo of CBS News: "Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman was 'at fault' and allegedly speeding before he rear-ended a car in a crash in Maryland on Sunday, state police said. In a report on Wednesday, a witness of the crash told Maryland State Police Fetterman was driving in a car with his wife, Gisele, 'well over the posted speed limit' as he passed by her on Interstate 70 just before the exit for Interstate 68 on Sunday just after 7:45 a.m. The speed limit on I-70 is 70 mph. Moments later, the witness said Fetterman rear-ended a 2013 Chevrolet Impala driven by 62-year-old woman of Pennsylvania, according to state police."

Oklahoma. Sean Murphy of the AP: "The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, dampening the hope of advocates for racial justice that the city would make financial amends for one of the worst single acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history that left as many as 300 people dead and a once-thriving district in smoldering ruins. The nine-member court upheld the decision made by a district court judge in Tulsa last year, ruling that the plaintiff's grievances about the destruction of the Greenwood district, although legitimate, did not fall within the scope of the state's public nuisance statute."

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Cuba, et al. Eva Sampson of the New York Times: "Russian warships arrived in Cuban waters on Wednesday as part of planned military exercises that experts say were a symbolic show of strength in reaction to continued U.S. support for Ukraine, and a reflection of growing ties between Russia and Cuba. The four-vessel group poses no real threat, U.S. officials said, despite tensions between the United States and Russia over the Ukraine war. The group includes the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan and the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, and contains no nuclear weapons, according to Cuban officials."

Israel/Palestine, et al.

Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Wednesday that he would continue to press urgently for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip despite a counterproposal from Hamas that he said included unacceptable demands.... Hamas's response [to the deal], he said, which was received by Egyptian and Qatari mediators and passed to American officials on Tuesday, makes demands that 'go beyond positions that it had previously taken and accepted.'"

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