Thursday, March 31, 2022
Chaos - Vicious Partisanship - Gridlock.
Washington Post: Opinion: How Democrats can solve their enthusiasm problem By Jennifer Rubin
Biden and the rest of the party must paint an accurate picture of what a Republican-led Congress would look like. Chaos. Vicious partisanship. Gridlock.
Brutal
It's stunning to think that Americans actually believe Republicans can do anything whatsoever to help them. People have incredibly short and unsophisticated memories.
Axios: Dems air anxieties after Biden's brutal NBC poll By Alayna Treene
Line
Washington Post: Opinion: My fiance is joining the front line in Ukraine By Iuliia Mendel
The house was shaking. Grad rockets were falling about 500 feet from us. Everything around us was on fire: the forest and the buildings; there was no phone signal. We went downstairs and spent the night in a bomb shelter, and in the morning we blew a tire after hitting a piece of shrapnel.
Push
Washington Post: In bloodied front-line town, Ukrainian forces push Russians back By Sudarsan Raghavan , Jon Gerberg and Heidi Levine
In areas north of the capital, the Russian advance has been stopped, while in Moshchun and other areas, Ukrainian forces have mounted counteroffensives with American-made weapons such as the Javelin antitank missiles and pushed the invaders out of some towns and villages.
The Market On Thursday
Good morning. At 6.55 a.m. ET DOW futures are flat; the market is poised to open flat.
CNN: Putin's plan to prop up the ruble is working. For now By Charles Riley
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Crime
Washington Post: Opinion: A federal judge said Trump probably committed a crime. The DOJ can’t ignore that. By George T. Conway III
...a sitting president of the United States, with the help of his lawyer, “more likely than not” violated two federal criminal laws in a desperate effort to keep himself illegally in power.
Expands
The development shows the degree to which the Justice Department investigation...has moved further beyond the storming of the Capitol to examine events preceding the attack.
Know
NY Times: What We Know About the Women Who Vote for Republicans and the Men Who Do Not By Thomas B. Edsall
Among Trump voters, women were much more likely to be in the lower income category compared to men, a difference of 13 points in the full sample and 14 points for white respondents only. By contrast, the proportion of male, upper-income Trump supporters is greater than the proportion of female, upper-income Trump supporters by about 9 percentage points in the full sample and among white voters only.
Why - Read This
Reduced to basics, today’s oligarchs and strongmen (along with their mouthpieces and lackeys) are trying to justify their wealth and power by attacking liberal values that have shaped the west, beginning with the enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries – the values of tolerance, openness, democracy, self-government, equal rights, and the rule of law. These values are incompatible with a society of oligarchs and strongmen.
Action
Washington Post: Opinion: Trump’s 7-hour phone gap should spur quicker action for Jan. 6 justice By Editorial Board
They speak to Mr. Trump’s state of mind as he failed to call off the mob he had riled up that morning. Did he hope that the violence would intimidate then-Vice President Mike Pence into attempting to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election results?
Line
Washington Post: Opinion: Cawthorn’s ‘orgies’ line shows how right-wing politics can boomerang By Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent
True or not, Politico reports that at a meeting of GOP representatives, many were angered with Cawthorn for portraying his own colleagues as “bacchanalian and sexual deviants.” One complained that he’s fielding questions about orgies from constituents.
How
NY Times: How to Defeat Putin and Save the Planet By Thomas L. Friedman
Western nations fund NATO and aid Ukraine’s military with our tax dollars, and — since Russia’s energy exports finance 40 percent of its state budget — we fund Vladimir Putin’s army with our purchases of Russian oil and gas.
The Market On Wednesday
Good morning. At 6:55 a.m. ET DOW futures are -98: the market is poised to open significantly lower.
CNN: Russian oil tankers are vanishing off the map By Matt Egan
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Beware
Washington Post: Opinion: Beware, Trump. 80 new Justice Department lawyers can do a lot of digging. By Jennifer Rubin
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.). The Post details in a new blockbuster report “just how deeply he was involved, working directly with Trump to concoct a plan that came closer than widely realized to keeping him in power.”
Indeed
Washington Post: Opinion: Why do smart Republicans say stupid things? By Dana Milbank
Surely a well-informed, well-educated person such as Thomas couldn’t actually believe the nutty ideas her thumbs texted?
But here’s the truly crazy thing: She probably does.
Gap
The lack of an official White House notation of any calls placed to or by Trump for 457 minutes on Jan. 6, 2021 – from 11:17 a.m. to 6:54 p.m. – means the committee has no record of his phone conversations as his supporters descended on the Capitol...
Focus
Extremist groups...celebrated Mr. Trump’s Twitter message, which they widely interpreted as an invitation to descend on the city in force. Responding to the president’s words, the groups sprang into action...Extremists began to set up encrypted communications channels, acquire protective gear and, in one case, prepare heavily armed “quick reaction forces” to be staged outside Washington.
The Market On Tuesday
Good morning. At 7:10 a.m. ET DOW futures are +136; the market is poised to open significantly higher.
CNN: Radiation exposure drug maker says it is ramping up supply in Europe By Parija Kavilanz
Monday, March 28, 2022
Admission
Washington Post: Opinion: Chris Wallace’s stark admission about Tucker Carlson shames Fox News By Greg Sargent
Wallace seems to have decided he could no longer credibly practice journalism on Fox in part because, increasingly, the only acceptable narrative at Fox about Trump’s effort to overturn U.S. democracy to remain in power illegitimately is one that falsifies it entirely.
Housing
Axios: The housing market is about to get more dysfunctional By Neil Irwin
The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.42% last week, Freddie Mac said, up from 3.76% three weeks earlier. That's the biggest three-week rise since 1987. The rate was 3.05% just three months ago.
Coordinated
Most crucially for the panel, it could form part of the evidence to connect the militia groups that stormed the Capitol on 6 January to the organizers of the Save America rally that immediately preceded the attack – who in turn are slowly being linked to the Trump White House.
Support
Washington Post: Opinion: Biden’s support for Ukraine and opposition to Putin were no ‘gaffe’ By Max Boot
Trump then flew to Hamburg for the Group of 20 summit, where he genuflected before the Russian tyrant. He emerged with a farcical proposal for Moscow and Washington to form a joint cybersecurity unit to guard against election hacking — an idea so batty that it was swiftly disowned.
The Market On Monday
Good morning. At 7:00 a.m. ET DOW futures are +26; the market is poised to open moderately higher.
CNN: These Russian journalists found a way to report from outside the country By Ramishah Maruf
Friday, March 25, 2022
He Will Not
Clarence and Ginni believe they are the law, handpicked by Jesus Christ no less. These two are both another massive disgrace to this country.
Shows
It's not that the Supreme Court considers itself above ethics, it's that Thomas and wife Ginni consider themselves above ethics.
Truth
Washington Post: Opinion: ‘Morning Joe’ shock over Ginni Thomas points to a hidden Jan. 6 truth By Greg Sargent
We haven’t paid enough attention to the role of right-wing Christian nationalism in driving Trump’s effort to destroy our political order, and in the abandonment of democracy among some on the right more broadly.
Violence
Washington Post: Opinion: Another weekend, another body count from gun violence By Editorial Board
The Post’s Kim Bellware reported, there are 23 states — nearly half the country — in which no permit is required to carry a concealed firearm in public.
Frontline
“I kind of feel like I’m on an awesome very dangerous vacation,” he said. And in another tweet: “When I need to amp myself up for battle, I just think about the most punchable face on the planet … Tucker Carlson.”
Republican Fortenberry
Washington Post: Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry found guilty of lying to the FBI By MarÃa Luisa Paúl
A federal jury on Thursday convicted Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) on three felony counts for lying to federal investigators about illegal campaign contributions from a foreign billionaire.
Ginni
I'm re-posting this Woodward/Costa article on Ginni Thomas' role in Trump's attempts to overturn the election. This is huge, make no mistake. Clarence Thomas is beyond repair at this point. This marks him as being totally out in woo woo land.
In her text messages to Meadows, Ginni Thomas spread false theories, commented on cable news segments and advocated with urgency and fervor that the president and his team take action to reverse the outcome of the election. She urged that they take a hard line with Trump staffers and congressional Republicans who had resisted arguments that the election was stolen.
Opinions
"So we are inflicting terrible pain on the Russian economy at a very broad scale, but none of it is viewable, or very little of it is viewable — very little is being reported inside Russia. I would keep that in mind for anyone who says this is going to go on forever. Maybe it will. I don’t know. But I think we are inflicting a lot more pain than we’re able to see right now."
The Market On Friday
Good morning. At 7:10 a.m. ET DOW futures are +62; the market is poised to open significantly higher.
Thursday, March 24, 2022
The Ginnster Goes Full MAGA-Fication.
When Meadows wrote to Thomas on Nov. 24, the White House chief of staff invoked God to describe the effort to overturn the election. “This is a fight of good versus evil,” Meadows wrote. “Evil always looks like the victor until the King of Kings triumphs. Do not grow weary in well doing. The fight continues. I have staked my career on it. Well at least my time in DC on it.”
Wrong
Washington Post: Opinion: Biden is proving all the awful foreign policy takes wrong By Jennifer Rubin
From the get-go, Biden elevated U.S. alliances, stressed democracy as a core value and ended the United States’ fawning over dictators.
Disgusting
Washington Post: Opinion: GOP grandstanders aren’t the only reason Jackson’s confirmation hearings were so disgraceful By Jennifer Rubin
...Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and his disgusting accusation that Jackson, a mother of two and circuit court judge, did not think child pornography was a “bad thing.”
Estonia
At NATO, our focus should be simple: Mr. Putin cannot win this war. He cannot even think he has won, or his appetite will grow. We need to demonstrate the will and commit resources to defend NATO territory. To check Russia’s aggression, we need to put in place a long-term policy of smart containment.
The Market On Thursday
Good morning. At 7:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are +123; the market is poised to open significantly higher.
CNN: Russia's stock market reopens after month-long closure By Charles Riley
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Numerous
I wonder who got to Bragg.
Mr. Pomerantz and Mr. Dunne planned to charge Mr. Trump with falsifying business records, specifically his annual financial statements — a felony in New York State.
Mr. Bragg’s decision not to pursue charges then — and the resignations that followed — threw the fate of the long-running investigation into serious doubt.
Misleaders
Russia laid much of the groundwork for its convergence with many on the American right years ago. Before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency, an organization that professionalized online disinformation, spread inflammatory content through Facebook and other social platforms to sow divisions among Americans and boost Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee.
Comment
As we watch the developments in Ukraine, at present we are seeing a stalling of Russian ground troops and an increase in Russian aerial bombardment. A lot of credit is being given to the Ukraine military and the will of the Ukrainian people in the way that they are counterattacking and resisting an overwhelming force. There is also talk of demoralization of the Russian land forces with supply line disruption and a poor and unclear attack strategy.
In its present state, there is a sense that the Russian planners underestimated the ability of the Ukrainian forces and simultaneously there is the will of the Ukrainian people and the admirable inspirational leadership of Zelensky.
I would like to suggest that there is one more force that is on the side of Ukraine and this is beyond the defensive weaponry that is going to Ukraine from several countries. It is the will of most of the people on the planet, we want Ukraine to succeed. Of course there are many, even in the USA who fully support Putin and his autocratic one person top down rule, but this is a minority of people. The vast majority of people around the world want Ukraine to succeed. Is this something you can measure or examine objectively to understand, probably not. Yet, Ukraine is clearly no push over and we want them to sustain their resistance and to ultimately win this war foisted on their country by an oligarch leader.
Air
Washington Post: Russian air force action increases despite flood of antiaircraft missiles into Ukraine By Dan Lamothe
“You haven’t seen a lot of Russian aircraft shot down around Mariupol, but you can see they’ve conducted a lot of strikes,” Kofman said. “You get the sense that the Ukraine military has decided to defend certain areas over others.”
Blame
Igor Girkin, a former colonel in Russia’s F.S.B. intelligence agency and the former “defense minister” of Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, said in a video interview posted online on Monday that Russia had made a “catastrophically incorrect assessment” of Ukraine’s forces.
The Market On Wednesday
Good morning. At 7:30 a.m. ET DOW futures are -106; the market is poised to open significantly lower.
Tuesday, March 22, 2022
Eurasianism
And his Eurasianism was not anti-imperial but the opposite: Russia had always been an empire, Russian people were “imperial people,” and after the crippling 1990s sellout to the “eternal enemy,” Russia could revive in the next phase of global combat and become a “world empire.”
Farmers
The couple learned the farm’s previous owner had decades earlier used PFAS-tainted sewage sludge, or “biosolids”, as fertilizer on Songbird’s fields. Testing revealed their soil, drinking water, irrigation water, crops, chickens and blood were contaminated with high levels of the toxic chemicals.
Underground
Washington Post: Life underground: Ukrainian families make new homes in the Kharkiv subway By Loveday Morris and Anastacia Galouchka
For nearly a month, thousands of Kharkiv residents have lived deep underground in the city’s metro system to shelter from a daily rain of artillery, rockets and cluster bombs. Moscow’s assault on its neighbor has uprooted 10 million people — a quarter of Ukraine’s population — in a matter of weeks.
The Market On Tuesday
Good morning. At 7:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are +156; the market is poised to open significantly higher.
CNN: Buy this, not that: Pro tips to save at the grocery store By Nathaniel Meyersohn
Monday, March 21, 2022
Attack
Hard to sum up the complexity of emotion, feelings, and thoughts that this particular senseless killing brings up. Remember that Putin is claiming to liberate Ukraine from Nazis, and here Putin has murdered a survivor of the Holocaust.
Gruesome
NPR: Russia is trying to recruit drivers who know Ukraine's roads By Bill Chappell
Warning signs include ads for truckers with experience driving fuel tankers — likely to supply Russian vehicles, the agency said — and refrigerated cargo — likely for moving bodies, it said.
