What is the crime?

Laura Clawson of Daily Kos has her summary of Wednesday’s Republican presidential candidate debate:

The individual performances, though, were secondary to the dynamics of the primary. Trump has a huge lead in polls. Changing that would require both dragging Trump down somehow and a major breakout performance by one candidate. Neither of those things is happening. You look at the group on that stage, frantically talking over each other in an effort to be heard and then doing nothing useful with the time they get, and understand why Trump remains the dominant figure in the Republican Party and in this primary.

Republicans began their impeachment inquiry into Biden today. Mark Sumner of Kos did liveblogging of the event. That may be of interest if you really care what the Republicans lied about. I’ll stick to Sumner’s preliminary comments:

Appropriately enough, they’re bringing in three “witnesses” who haven’t witnessed anything.

Sumner names and describes them, but that doesn’t make any difference, because...

None of these three have any connection to Hunter Biden or President Joe Biden. They have no knowledge of the events, no involvement in any investigation, no special knowledge, and no reason to appear. So, if nothing else, this is going to be a perfect illustration of just what this “inquiry” is about.

Sumner wrote about the press conference before the actual inquiry. NBC reported Ryan Nobles had a question for Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO). It seems that Smith confuses asking for sources and not believing what Smith is saying. On to the actual inquiry. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported Rep. Jamie Raskin had aids hold up posters of Republicans saying the inquiry has no evidence and is a waste of time. Then he explained:

Trump's convinced that if we shut the government down, his four criminal prosecutions on 91 different charges will be defunded and delayed long enough to keep him from having to go before a jury of his peers before the 2024 election. And like flying monkeys on a mission for the Wicked Witch of the West, Trump's followers in the House now carry messages out to the world: Shut down the government. Shut down the prosecutions.

I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work that way. Einenkel reported on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ turn at the mic. She asked the three witnesses whether they had any firsthand accounts of crimes committed. They did not. However, there are two witnesses with firsthand accounts who were blocked from testifying.

“And I want to explain why this is important,” she continued. “Members of Congress, all of us in this hearing, are not under oath, as we are presently covered by the speech and debate clause.” Having explained that it wasn’t illegal for Republicans on the panel to lie or mislead during these hearings, Ocasio-Cortez went on to show how misleading some of the “evidence” Republicans on the committee were presenting was.

One is a screenshot of a text message that was fabricated and excluded critical context. Why would Republicans want to block witnesses with firsthand accounts? Because the ones who have testified so far have contradicted Republican talking points. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a black woman, made the most of her five minutes, as reported by Einenkel. She reminded the crowd one particular bit of “evidence” is not evidence of anything and had been debunked by a US attorney picked by the nasty guy. She said, “Repeating the same lies will not somehow turn them into truths.” – like the lie the nasty guy won his last election. Then she talked about the nasty guy’s financial ties to China. She reviewed all his indictments. She asked how many times Republicans used the word “if” when describing what Hunter Biden had supposedly done. The answer was 35. So she asked the important question of this impeachment inquiry: “What is the crime?”

But I will tell you what the president has been guilty of: He has, unfortunately, been guilty of loving his child unconditionally. And that is the only evidence that they have brought forward. And honestly, I hope and pray that my parents love me half as much as he loves his child. Until they find some evidence, we need to get back to the people's work, which means keeping this government open so that people don't go hungry in the streets of the United States.

Einenkel reported that Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida also made good use of his time. He had been the director of FEMA and began with, “Listen, as a former director of emergency management, I know a disaster when I see one.” Moskowitz went on to say we know it isn’t about the evidence. That’s because articles of impeachment began to be filed almost immediately after Biden was inaugurated. He concluded with:

We're here because of math. That's what this is about. They can't save Donald Trump. They can't take away the two impeachments and the four indictments. But they can try to put some numbers on the board for Joe Biden. But the problem is, when you sling mud, you’ve got to have mud. And they just don't have anything, Mr. Chairman. So, look, we get it. We know why we're here. That's why they say ‘the Biden family,’ ‘the Bidens,’ ‘James Biden,’ Joe Biden's dog Commander’—but not ‘Joe Biden.’ Never Joe Biden. So when are you going to have the vote on impeachment, Mr. Chairman? What are you scared of? Call the vote. Come on. If you all think there's so much evidence, we're here. Call the vote on impeachment. Impeach him right now! I dare you!

As a summary Sumner wrote about the five best moments in the hearing. Before getting into that he wrote:

Even so, the hearing was extremely revealing—only that most of what it revealed was how ready Republicans were to manufacture false claims and wheel out conspiracy theories that have been widely debunked for years. This was partly because they had nothing else. Mostly, it was because every single Republican treated their five minutes of camera time as if they were doing a one-person play for Newsmax. Through the course of the day, not only did Republicans showcase their lack of interest in facts, they also demonstrated that they are absolutely terrified of anything that looks like a fact witness.

In fifth place was AOC’s testimony. Sumner added that the forged images were from Rep. Byron Donalds. A photo shows him looking pretty smug. Wrote Sumner:

Why wasn’t he concerned? As Ocasio-Cortez pointed out, everyone in the room other than the witnesses were protected by the “speech and debate clause” of the Constitution. That allows members of Congress to lie with impunity, and Republicans put that ability into heavy rotation during this hearing.

In fourth place was Raskin’s testimony. In third was Rep. Robert Garcia’s time at the mic to note Republicans talked about the “Biden brand” and not Joe Biden. Then he talked about actual corruption in the nasty guy White House. In second place was the testimony by Moskowitz and Crockett. And the best moment was when Rep. Greg Casar summed it up quite directly:

Casar: “Will members of the Oversight Committee please raise your hand if you believe both Hunter and Trump should be held accountable for any of the indictments against them if convicted by a jury of their peers?” Casar’s hand went up. The other Democrats on the committee raised their hands. Not one single Republican joined them.

After the hearing closed for today Hunter of Kos began:

Fox News tries very, very hard to parrot Republican talking points, but there are a few things that even they can’t make themselves say. Host Neil Cavuto drew the short straw of having to tell his viewers that the House impeachment inquiry hearings—the "breaking news" that viewers were seeing on their screen—turned out to be a Grade-A nothingburger. "I don't know what was achieved over these last six-plus hours," he confessed.

As part of Cavuto’s report he said:

In other words, that this—the way this was built up, where there's smoke, there would be fire. Again, I'm not a lawyer and I'm going to be talking to some darn smart ones in a moment, but where there's smoke today, we just got a lot more smoke.

An Associated Press article posted to Kos reported that Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California has died. She was 90 and had served as a senator for 31 years. The article then surveyed her career, which I won’t repeat here. That article didn’t answer my most important question. What happens to her seat? The Democratic majority is only 51-49. Jeff Singer for Kos Elections gives an answer. Calif. Governor Gavin Newsom will appoint a successor to serve out her term, which ends in just over a year from now. He has pledged that he would fill the seat with a black woman. Feinstein had already announced her retirement, so three people are already campaigning for the seat. Newsom has said he will not appoint one of those currently running to be the interim senator because he does not want them to be able to claim incumbent status with him changing the balance of the race. Last Monday Einenkel reported on a Senate subcommittee hearing on child care in post-pandemic America. Experts discussed “how little is being done to protect children from hunger, poverty, crime, poor health outcomes, and death.” Sen John Kennedy of Louisiana did the usual Republican trick – Love to help, but how will we pay for it? Kathryn Anne Edwards, labor economist, replied: Need more money? Raise taxes. In the last 20 years there were two trillion-dollar tax cuts that did nothing to make child care more affordable.

They have not been invested in children. We have not seen that return. I mean, the 2001 tax cuts have now had 22 years to prove that they could solve the social issues that you and your fellow senators say are a priority. And I don't think we could point to evidence to say that they have worked. I would love for you to give child care 20 years. I would love for you to say, ‘Let's take two decades of runway, invest it in young children, and see what kind of return that I could get.’ But we've never given children or the child care sector as much runway as we've given taxes.

Charles Jay of the Kos community reported that Tristan Young, a transgender teen, was voted homecoming queen in Oak Park High School in Kansas City, Missouri. She feels quite blessed and supported to receive the honor. Both the school and school district congratulated her without mentioning her gender identity. This is Oak Park’s second transgender homecoming queen. The first was Landon Patterson back in 2015. Patterson faced a bit of hatred – Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka was still active and protested her win – but Young faced a great deal more. But Young is going to focus on the support from family, classmates, and the community. And she’s not going to waste time fighting against the haters because she knows she won’t change minds. She wants her memories of being the homecoming queen to be happy. Kansas City has defied the rest of Missouri by declaring itself to be a sanctuary city for people seeking gender-affirming care.

Social media is turning local book bans into national stories

There was a debate among the Republican candidate for president last night. Of course, I avoided that waste of time and brain cells. Instead, I relied on Kos of Daily Kos for a (thankfully brief) summary of the winners and losers. A winner (only in terms of the debate) was the nasty guy. This time his decision to skip the debate was a good one. Another winner was Ukraine. Four of the candidates strongly supported Ukraine. Only Ramaswamy clung to pro-Putin talking points. Moderators won by actually asking decent questions and decent follow-up. It’s not their fault the candidates didn’t answer them. Losers: All the candidates. None of them looked presidential. Also, to get the job they have to pile on against the nasty guy. Instead, they attacked each other. And, though this was seen as a debate for the job of vice nasty, the nasty guy declared none of the current crop will be his running mate. Individually, DeathSantis was too easily ignored and what he did say gave Biden an easy score. Last time Haley did enough things to get noticed. The second debate canceled that notice. Also losers were the audience. They were bored. Mark Sumner of Kos discussed how to interview the nasty guy. He did this because Kristen Welker of NBC’s Meet the Press interviewed him and she allowed him to “release a Niagara of unchecked lies. It was a masterclass in handing a sharp knife to someone who wants nothing more than to murder you.” So how to interview him? First of all: Don’t.

Bringing Trump on and allowing him to speak is nothing short of a campaign contribution. By now, everyone in the news business should be well aware that inviting Trump onto a program is inviting him to spread lies and attack democracy for the length of his appearance. Anyone who doesn’t know this shouldn’t be in the news business.

But if your bosses say you must...

How many lies should journalists attempt to correct when confronting not just Trump, but any politician or candidate for public office? All of them. And especially the first of them, because letting that first one go is simply giving permission for an unlimited number to come.

Orion Rummler of The 19th, posted on Kos, reported that the American Community Survey, put out by the Census Bureau and done next year may ask about LGBTQ+ people. In 2020 (or was it in 2010?) the census asked about same-sex couples living together, but that misses a lot of LGBTQ people. This is important because a lot of government funding is based on data and without asking about LGBTQ people a lot of this funding can’t happen. Unlike the census, this survey does not go to every household. It will be sent to roughly 271K houses. The questions are to be asked about every member of the household older than 15. Other LGBTQ organizations see a problem in the way this is set up. A head of household typically fills out the survey for the whole house. And if that person doesn’t approve of a teen being LGBTQ it won’t be noted on the survey. In a pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev quoted Kate Sosin of The 19th. She discussed a Franklin & Marshall Global Barometers Report which gave a letter grade for LGBTQ human rights that looks at a country’s climate of tolerance and their policies.

Uruguay, Luxembourg, Brazil, Norway, Colombia, Malta and Chile are the countries that best uphold the human rights of their LGBTQ+ citizens, according to a report released last week. Conspicuously off that list? The United States, which scored a C or “persecuting” grade when it comes to LGBTQ+ human rights... The report ranked the United States 31 out of 136 countries, based on the lived realities of more than 167,000 queer people surveyed worldwide, trailing behind France, Vietnam and Hong Kong. But the United States is also headed toward a failing grade, said Susan Dicklitch-Nelson, professor of government at Franklin & Marshall College and the study’s founder.

There is plenty of evidence why the US got only a C. Such as... Dartagnan of the Kos community reported that the Charlotte County school district went way beyond current Florida law, though maybe not the desires of Gov. DeathSantis. All libraries in the district removed all books that have any LGBTQ character or theme. Not just the ones that others have claimed are obscene. All of them. Students are not allowed to bring the books to school for the time they sit at their desks and silently read. Even And Tango Makes Three was removed. This is the book about two male penguins who adopt and raise a chick. There is no sexual content, just parenting. The Florida Department of Education has refused to clarify what is to be removed to comply with the law and what isn’t. So the only way to stop overzealous (or even confused) librarians is a lawsuit. Laura Clawson of Kos reported the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina has banned the children’s picture book Red: a Crayon’s Story. They’re banning a story about crayons?

”Red: A Crayon’s Story” is about a crayon that is blue but has a red label. Everyone tells the crayon that it’s red, and tries to help it be better at redness, until a friend helps it see that being blue is what it’s good at. Yes, that can absolutely be read as a parable about trans identity—but that’s not the only way it can be read. As is the case with so many apparently simple children’s books, it can be about lots of things: being true to your inner self, as the publisher explains the message of the book, or finding out that what you’re best at is not what you’ve been told you should be good at, or, in an example taken from the author's life, being told that you’re lazy or stupid when really you’re dyslexic.

Yeah, this is part of the freakout over trans people. But it is also part of the assault on social-emotional learning.

“Let's say a student is working on a really difficult algebra problem and they get so frustrated because they can't remember what the next step is," Aaliyah Samuel, president and CEO of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, explained to NPR. "They have to be self-aware enough to say, ‘You know what? I'm feeling frustrated. How do I handle this?’”

And why do Republicans say that is bad? Because in addition to simply getting in touch with one’s feelings, which toxic masculinity roundly rejects, another aspect of SEL is learning how to disagree respectfully. They don’t want to do the respect thing either. Clawson also reported how social media is turning local book bans into national stories. A tweet or post about a book ban or ban prevention in one town is pounced on by the leaders of the movement – Christopher Rufo and Corey DeAngelis – who amplify it through their large social media followings while adding their praise or condemnation – and lies. So the removals in Charlotte County, Florida don’t stay there.

Right-wing book-banning efforts have money and power behind them these days. Objections to specific books that just a decade ago might have been brought up by one person in one town and laughed out of that town are now taken up by prominent right-wing operatives and pundits and nationalized—which in turn means that local school districts have to take the individual complaints more seriously, lest they become a target for the likes of Rufo or Moms for Liberty.

Not all LGBTQ news is bleak. In another pundit roundup Kev quoted Rebeca Queimaliños of El País in English who is demonstrating Put Yourself in My Skin, virtual reality scenarios to allow people to “experience” LGBTQ+ discrimination for themselves. They show three scenarios: a gay couple being beaten, a lesbian teen, and a transgender person (the actual scenarios of the last two aren’t mentioned).

Once you put on the virtual reality glasses, it is impossible not to feel the panic of a lesbian teenager or the helplessness when witnessing a couple being beaten for being gay. Those feelings are universal. However, after months of touring, Porteiro believes that the capacity for empathy among people between the ages of 60 and 80 is greater than among young people. “I don’t know how to explain it. Without sounding pessimistic, I think there is a regression.”

Alas, the quote doesn’t explain that last bit. Alejandro Serrano and William Melhado of the Texas Tribune in a story posted on Kos report that a federal judge has declared the Texas law banning public drag shows that might be seen by children is unconstitutional because it impermissibly infringes on Free Speech.

"Drag shows express a litany of emotions and purposes, from humor and pure entertainment to social commentary on gender roles," the ruling reads. "There is no doubt that at the bare minimum these performances are meant to be a form of art that is meant to entertain, alone this would warrant some level of First Amendment protection."

A similar case in another federal court in Texas came to the opposite conclusion. And this case addresses that one. That one was a suit brought again West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler because he canceled a campus drag show. This ruling includes:

"The president's sentiment reinforces this Court's opinion that while some people may find a performance offensive or morally objectionable, it does not mean the performance is not expressive or given First Amendment protection," he wrote. "Not all people will like or condone certain performances. This is no different than a person's opinion on certain comedy or genres of music, but that alone does not strip First Amendment protection."

State Sen. Bryan Hughes wrote the bill and pledged to challenge the ruling. He said:

Surely we can agree that children should be protected from sexually explicit performances. That’s what Senate Bill 12 is about.

And the rebuttal:

Critics of the bill, though, say that Republican lawmakers and officials this year have incorrectly — and unfairly — portrayed all drag performances as inherently sexual or obscene.

In yet another pundit roundup Greg Dworkin quoted John Burn-Murdoch of the Financial Times. In a tweet Burn-Murdoch wrote:

People are becoming more zero-sum in their thinking, and weaker economic growth may explain why Older generations grew up with high growth and formed aspirational attitudes; younger ones have faced low growth and are more zero-sum.

In a quote from the accompanying article Burn-Murdoch wrote:

You wouldn’t typically think of affirmative action advocates and anti-immigration nativists as being bedfellows. The former group skews young and is composed overwhelmingly of progressives, and the latter skews old and conservative. But according to a fascinating new study out of Harvard University, they have one significant thing in common: a predilection for zero-sum thinking, or the belief that for one group to gain, another must lose. The same way of thinking crops up on all manner of issues that cut across traditional political divides. Roughly equal numbers of US Democrats and Republicans agree that “in trade, if one country makes more money, then another country makes less money”. And while Democrats are more likely to say “if one income group becomes wealthier, this comes at the expense of other groups”, a third of Republicans agree.

To me that last bit is important. Over the last 40 years one group – billionaires – has become wealthier at the expense of the working class. I’d love to live in a society in which we can all become wealthier together. But billionaires define their worth by the difference between their wealth and that of others. They are practicing their own zero-sum thinking – I take more money to myself to make sure others make less money. This is a good time to include a couple cartoons. Both cartoons are about the auto strike that is at the end of its second week. A cartoon by David Horsey of the Seattle Times shows a worker on an assembly line and behind him are a member of the board of directors and the CEO, who is wearing a huge golden parachute, not yet deployed. The CEO says, “...And you know why we’re going bankrupt? That guy thinks he needs health care and a middle class wage!” The other cartoon is by Christopher Weyant of the Boston Globe. It shows a guy in a small rowboat with an “On Strike” sign. Looming above him from the prow of “SS Obscene Profits” a man shouts down, “Livable wages? Benefits? How dare you complain! Do you know how hard it is to squeak by on only $35 million a year?”

They feel there is no limit as to how you can wreck the system

My Sunday movie was Sunset Boulevard, the famous one from 1950 starring William Holden and Gloria Swanson. There have been lots of references and parodies of the has-been and aging film star Norma Desmond, the one ready for her close-up. Holden plays Joe Gillis, a screen writer (yeah, a movie about making movies) who seems to be turning out only trash and with creditors demanding payment. While being chased by those creditors a flat tire sends his car into Desmond’s estate. She convinces him to get her massive screenplay ready for the cameras and her wealth pays for a great deal. He agrees to the deal because he thinks he can get something out of it. Though she is manipulative she also falls in love with him. He tries to deal with her madness. Yes, it’s a classic, but I hadn’t seen it before. And it really is quite good. The shutdown watch continues. There’s about 3 days left in the federal fiscal year and without funding most parts of the government must shut down. The Republican Freedom Caucus in the House seems to be doing all it can to make sure the shutdown happens. And McCarthy is still inept. Joan McCarter of Daily Kos wrote about one of the consequences of a shutdown. Because of the Maui fire, fires in Louisiana, flooding in Vermont, damage from hurricane Idalia and all those other weather disasters causing more than $1 billion in damage this year FEMA is quite low in money. FEMA requested extra funding, but that’s caught up in the budget battles. That’s got some Republicans worried. In the meantime they had better hope for no disasters during the shutdown. At the rate of disasters there likely will be one. Merlin196360 of the Kos community reported that House Democrats float helping McCarthy out of his jam by supporting a reasonable funding bill. But their price is more than what McCarthy can pay – end the sham impeachment of Biden. But ending the impeachment inquiry – even just working with Democrats – will prompt the Freedom Caucus to call a vote for McCarthy’s removal. And with that sham inquiry still active he can’t depend of Democrats to keep his seat. McCarter reported:

House Republican extremists holding the government hostage want you to believe that they just want to “rein in” government spending and “get our fiscal house in order.” One former legislative counsel for Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul even advises, “A good old government shutdown is exactly what we need right now,” arguing that it will “push the budget closer to balance.” Then there’s reality: Shutting down the government costs taxpayers billions of dollars in lost fees, revenue, administrative costs to both shut down and start government agencies back up, and back pay for furloughed federal employees. ... According to a 2019 investigation by a Senate subcommittee, “the last three government shutdowns cost taxpayers nearly $4 billion—at least $3.7 billion in back pay to furloughed federal workers, and at least $338 million in other costs associated with the shutdowns, including extra administrative work, lost revenue, and late fees on interest payments.”

In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted a New York Times article:

Defying the G.O.P.’s longstanding reputation as the party of law and order, they have pledged to handcuff the F.B.I. and throttle the Justice Department. Members of the party of Ronald Reagan refused to meet with a wartime ally, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, this week when he visited the Capitol and want to eliminate assistance to his country, a democratic nation under siege from an autocratic aggressor. And they are unbowed by guardrails that in past decades forced consensus even in the most extreme of conflicts; this is the same bloc that balked at raising the debt ceiling in the spring to avert a federal debt default. “There is a group of Republican members who seem to feel there is no limit at all as to how you can wreck the system,” said Ross K. Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University. “There are no boundaries, no forbidden zones. They go where relatively junior members have feared to tread in the past.”

McCarter reported the Senate is preparing to throw McCarthy a lifeline. Funding bills must originate in the House, so the Senate will repurpose a bill the House did manage to pass. Both Schumer and Moscow Mitch are negotiating a continuing resolution bill to last just a few weeks. It will include the additional money for FEMA (thanks to Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida hit by Idalia). It may also include funding for programs that are about to expire. It won’t include more funding for Ukraine because that’s too touchy right now. McCarthy is likely to get it by Friday. Then we’ll see if McCarthy can get it passed without a challenge to his job. I had written about the big case of California suing the big oil companies for knowing how harmful their products were to the environment, then lying about it. In an Earth Matters post for Kos Meteor Blades explains the case in more detail. He also includes a quote on how this case built on cases before it. Blades also talks about the United Auto Workers strike against Ford, GM, and Stellantis. One of the side issues is electric vehicles. The companies say they need to keep a lot of money on hand – meaning not give it to the workers – because the shift to EVs is expensive. And while their profits remain huge, they lose money on each electric car. New cars, especially EVs, tend to take a few years to start turning a profit. And non-union Tesla is out there. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported that Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was in a Republican committee hearing explaining why his department needed funding to deal with climate change. Buttigieg ended up facing off against Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a longtime climate change denier. Buttigieg got to the core of his message. “What I can tell you is that climate change is real, and we gotta do something about it.” LaMalfa retorted, “Yeah, this one’s called autumn, sir.” Buttigieg asked him to repeat it a couple times, then smiled.

Yeah, that's the seasons changing, which, respectively, is not the same thing as the climate changing. And as somebody who is hoping to retire in the 2050s and who has kids who will be old enough to ask me as they're getting to their thirties, whether we did enough to deal with climate change or whether we just did what was convenient, I take that really seriously.

All I can give them — is victory

It’s been eleven days since I last wrote about the invasion of Ukraine. Back on Tuesday, September 12 Mark Sumner of Daily Kos wrote about Russia’s tally of Ukrainian losses. That tally is higher than all of the Western tanks donated to Ukraine (even counting those that haven’t arrived yet) and more than a third of all the tanks Ukraine is estimated to have. As for armored vehicles the number Russia reports lost in just a few months is more than twice as many as Ukraine ever had.

But there is one way in which Putin’s massive numbers might make some sense. While Ukraine may not have an extra 11,000 APCs on hand, it might have that many fake APCs. Ukraine has been sending out whole new battalions of decoy weapons to draw in Russian drones and artillery.

First there were the rather hilarious inflatable tank decoys. Now a metalworking firm Metinvest has increased production of high-quality decoys, costing about $1000 each. And even up close they’re rather convincing. On Wednesday, September 13 Sumner reported that Ukraine launched an attack against drydocks associated with the naval port at Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea. They destroyed a submarine and a landing ship. The price of the sub is at least $300 million and that class of sub is regarded as among the most stealthy. Russia reported the attack and the condition of the sub as just a scratch, back in service in a few days. Photos of the sub and ship and analysis since then say that neither is going anywhere other than the scrap heap. On Friday, September 15 Sumner updated the story of Elon Musk shutting of his Starlink internet satellite service that blinded Ukraine as it launched an attack on Russian assets in Crimea. A quick summary of Sumner’s reporting: Musk did help Ukraine with internet access. But it is a lot less help than Musk claims. Also Musk has been preventing Ukraine from using Starlink to attack any of the territory Russia is occupying – and not telling Ukraine that’s part of his terms. Musk claims his network is not to be used for offensive purposes. On Sunday, September 17 Kos of Kos wrote that a recent far right conference the biggest applause line was one about it’s time to stop supporting Ukraine. That line got more applause than the nasty guy. Anti-Ukraine sentiment will quickly spread through the party. But winning the war is still vitally important. And Putin has no incentive to end it before the 2024 election. So the current policy of announcing more goodies for Ukraine every few weeks, even though the money was allocated quite a while ago, should end. Instead announce it all at once. The lock deliveries in place so Republicans and the nasty guy can’t undo it. Showing the full magnitude of America’s contribution gives Putin a clear picture of what he’s up against. On Monday, September 20 Charles Jay discussed two contrasting interviews. The nasty guy was on Meet the Press where he bragged how he would get Putin and Zelenskyy into a room and work out a deal. The war would be over! Of course, no details were mentioned. Knowing the players the deal would leave Russia in control of Ukrainian territory. There were also lots of lies with little fact checking. The other interview was of Zelenskyy that appeared on 60 Minutes. It was thoughtful in ways the other interview couldn’t be. And it included Zelenskyy saying things like:

We're defending the values of the whole world. And these are Ukrainian people who are paying the highest price. We are truly fighting for our freedom, we are dying we are not fiction, we are not a book. We are fighting for real with a nuclear state that threatens to destroy the world. ... If Ukraine falls, Putin will surely go further. What will the United States of America do when Putin reaches the Baltic states? When he reaches the Polish border? He will. ... Today you … saw me awarding people [medals]. [Well] today is a day like that. A week ago, I gave awards to parents [of soldiers who have been killed]. There were 24 families of the dead. There was a woman. She was with three children. There were parents, very old. They could barely walk and they had had only one son. One of the women was pregnant. She arrived holding a baby in her arms. And she was pregnant. And that baby will never see… what should I tell them? That all of them died so that we could say, `It's okay, [Russia] you can take it all.’ It's a difficult job. You understand me, right? Giving awards to people whose faces show their whole world has collapsed. And all I can give them, all I can give them—is victory.

On Wednesday, September 20 Sumner reported on Biden’s and Zelenskyy’s speeches at the United Nations. Both discussed how vital support for Ukraine is, not just for Ukraine, but for the whole world. If Ukraine falls, Russia will attack elsewhere as will other strongmen. Lower down Sumner included a map showing the Russian units around Robotyne, where Ukraine has made the most progress. The Russian units across the line are quite likely not at full strength, with gaps filled with poorly trained conscripts. And behind that line there’s... very little.

Why aren’t those third and fourth rows of trenches filled with waiting soldiers? Because there’s no one to fill them. What Russia has now is what Russia has on the line.

And yesterday, Friday, September 23, Laura Clawson of Kos reported:

Putin Republicans were cool to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the Capitol, and it didn’t go unnoticed or uncelebrated on Russian state TV. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Sens. Ron Johnson and J.D. Vance all featured in a Russian report on Zelenskyy’s U.S. trip.

That Russian report also included a rant with a lot of dehumanizing language of Zelenskyy, as in how could anyone support such a low-life as him? From the serious to the ridiculous. The top entries in the annual Bulwer-Lytton contest have been announced. This contest was inspired by Edward Bulwer-Lytton and the opening line of his story, “It was a dark and stormy night.” The goal of the contest is write the opening sentence of a bad novel. Some of my favorites from this year’s top entries:

It was a dark and stormy night at the harbors of Sydney, where wind whipped the seawater across the docks and the torrents of rain soaked everything that the waves could not reach, but luckily for James Tyche this story begins at a beach in Southern France, where it was currently day and James was gradually developing a healthy tan and less healthy sunburn. Robin Alberts, Ludenscheid, Germany After the unfortunate events involving the wicked stepmothers of Cinderella, Snow White, and Hansel and Gretel, the city council set out to ban all men from remarrying until further notice. Ezra Greenhill, Portland, OR Quintus Arias, along with many other Romans, came out of their hiding spots to observe the multitudinous bolts of burlap which festooned their city and glimpsed the tail end of the retreating Goths, concluding that as far as sackings go, this could have been a helluva lot worse. Rob Greer, Queen Creek, AZ Wherefore art thou?” she whines, like she don't know wherefore I art, when I damned sure told her like 50 times the old man makes me work the bar every Saturday night, like the Montague Lounge can't survive without me! Jon Hardi, Falls Church, VA

The hard-liners are toying with McCarthy just because they can

We’ll get to the end of the federal government’s fiscal year in about eight days. If spending bills are not passed by then the government will shut down. So there are a lot of events leading up to that deadline, most of them increasing the chance of a shutdown. On Wednesday Kerry Eleveld of Daily Kos reported that Speaker McCarthy put a question before the House to begin debate on the defense spending bill. This bill was loaded up with all sorts of conservative goodies, such as limiting abortion access, that won’t pass the Senate. It failed. I’ll say that again – a defense bill, one that routinely gets passed with high approval from both parties, failed. All Democrats voted against it because of those poison pills and five Republicans also voted no. The Putin wing of the Republican Party is cheering. As is Putin. Also on Wednesday Joan McCarter of Kos discussed how a shutdown could affect ordinary citizens. She also reported a tweet from Rep. Andy Ogles who listed the things that will remain open – Medicare and the military among others – and adds “Less government isn’t a bad thing.” McCarter concluded:

What Ogles isn’t telling us is that he’ll still be getting paid, with our tax dollars. The silver lining is that he’ll also be getting the blame.

Ogles also isn’t telling us who is hurt by a shutdown. In addition to the federal employees going without a paycheck there are a lot people who depend on help from the government – people Ogles doesn’t want helped. So from his point of view a shutdown is a good thing. On Thursday McCarter reported that, unlike the debt ceiling crisis, Schumer and Biden are letting McCarthy blunder into a shutdown all on his own. Part of it is a shutdown is a lot less catastrophic than a debt default. And part of it is at the debt crisis Biden cut an agreement with McCarthy. And McCarthy, facing pressure from the far right, reneged on the deal. So instead Biden is making sure people know why there is a shutdown – it’s McCarthy and the far right – and who would be hurt by the budget cuts the far right is demanding. McCarter also reported that Ukrainian president Zelenskyy was in Washington yesterday. He met with the House leadership and then had a briefing in the Senate. McCarthy refused the opportunity for Zelenskyy to address a joint session of Congress. He also demanded of Zelenskyy, “What’s the plan for victory?” McCarter noted Zelenskyy could ask McCarthy the same question about getting funding bills – including funding for Ukraine’s war – passed. McCarter reported that McCarthy put the question of beginning debate on the defense spending bill up for a vote. It failed. Again. This time six Republicans voted against it. McCarter included a tweet from Erik Wasson that said when Pelosi was speaker she never lost a procedural vote. That’s because she knew she had those votes before she put a question up for a vote. And no procedural vote lost in the last 20 years. McCarter concluded:

At this point, the hard-liners are toying with McCarthy just because they can. Unless he gets wise—and soon—a government shutdown is inevitable. It’s all they will allow. McCarthy’s only option to stop them is to work with Democrats.

The far right has told McCarthy that if he works with Democrats they will call for his removal as speaker. Of course, Democrats will have their own demands. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a press conference and said don’t look to Democrats to pay the ransom note. Jeffries spelled out a little history. Twice in the 1990s, then again in 2013 and 2018 the Republicans shut down the government because they wanted to shove their ideology down the throats of the American people. Democrats held firm and reopened the government. And they wait to do it again. Late on Thursday McCarter posted again. She’s now titling these reports as Shutdown Watch. After two failed votes in as many days many Republicans left town for an extra long weekend. Most correctly concluded they will miss nothing. Since they will observe Yom Kippur on Monday the next day of session is Tuesday – only five days before the shutdown. It appears McCarthy essentially handed the gavel to chief chaos agent Rep. Matt Gaetz. He proposed scrapping the stopgap spending bill to extend the deadline and instead bring up each of 11 spending bills. Which means starting negotiations with the Senate all over again. Which can’t happen within the week remaining. Which means a shutdown is almost guaranteed. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported Democratic Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota filed a bill titled, “My Constituents Cannot Afford Rebellious Tantrums, Handle Your Shutdown Act.” Also known as the “MCCARTHY Shutdown Act,” the bill would dock Congress members’ paychecks—one day’s pay for every day the government is shut down. I love the sentiment and the symbolism it represents. But, yeah, it’s not going anywhere. Not in this House. I hope when Democrats regain control they do pass it.

We can't afford not to mitigate climate change

This afternoon I went to the Detroit Auto Show (well, more properly the North America International Auto Show), one of the big and important ones. It didn’t seem so big this year. My main reason for going is to ask the various companies while they’re gathered in one place when they will have an electric car for sale – not an SUV or a truck, but a car. I’m a single guy and don’t need or want a big vehicle. I also want a range of at least 300 miles to be able to drive to visit my brother without stopping for a charge (and I’m well aware I’ll need to allow charging time for more distant family). There’s the Chevy Bolt that gets about 250 miles per charge. But in general the response was no release dates yet, though many should have something by 2025. The back of this convention hall had an EV test track set up. A person or three could go for a ride in one of nine EV models (all SUV or larger). I didn’t try this myself. I’m sure each company had designated drivers and didn’t let the public behind the wheel. There was a straight section to show acceleration, then various curves and weaving to show what it could do. To stress the speed there was a lot of squealing tires. After a while I realized something else – no engine noise. But of course, there would be no test driving of internal combustion engines on an indoor track. I saw all I needed to see and got the current answers to my question in about 90 minutes. Juana Summers of NPR talked to Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity. They discussed California’s suit against Big Oil. The suit says oil companies knew they were causing climate changed and lied to cover it up. California wants them to pay for damages. Here is some of what they talked about. Cali is the first oil producing state to sue Big Oil. One reason for the suit is to inspire more states to do the same. The damages in just Cali could easily go into the hundreds of billions of dollars and topping a trillion is imaginable. Cali has dealt with floods, wildfires, and something as basic as needing more electricity for air conditioning. This is also about justice. Big Oil lied and went on to cause a great deal of damage. Getting accountability is the first step in solving the problem. This suit (and the ones that hopefully follow) is about a crime against humanity perpetrated by the oil companies. The companies claim such lawsuits are politicized and without merit. Wiles responds that the companies have not yet has a single substantive critique of the core of the case. They try to deflect the message that these suits are a waste of time and money. But the evidence is overwhelming and deflection is all they have. After the discussion Summers read part of a statement from the American Petroleum Institute:

This ongoing coordinated campaign to wage meritless, politicized lawsuits against a foundational American industry and its workers is nothing more than a distraction from important national conversations and an enormous waste of California taxpayer resources. Climate policy is for Congress to debate and decide, not the court system.

Yup, the API responded with exactly the same deflection Wiles said they would. Mark Sumner of Daily Kos reported that demand for EVs is accelerating, showing exponential growth in sales. The European Union has approved a plan to ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035. But that’s only a third of the oil that’s being saved by EVs. The rest is types of EVs rarely seen in America – electric motorcycles, scooters, and tuk-tuks. They replaced just under one million barrels of oil a day in 2023. Sumner wrote:

Why are these smaller EVs becoming so popular? Because they are easier to maintain, cheaper to operate, and in many cases cheaper to buy than gas versions. In crowded cities where most trips are only a few miles and on streets where traffic rules can seem … creative, electric scooters can be the perfect means of getting from A to B.

Sumner included a photo of a scooter traffic jam in Indonesia. Some things don’t change. Meteor Blades, in an Earth Matters column for Kos, wrote about a new report by Oil Change International discussing the Planet Wreckers – the 20 countries (not companies) that are still expanding oil extraction. At the top of the list are the US, Canada, and Russia. The report also reported there are just five oil companies responsible for 51% of the oil expansion. This expansion would make holding global average temperature increases to just 1.5C impossible. Even extracting oil from existing sites would cause the world to exceed the 1.5C limit. Exceeding the 1.5C limit would make large swaths of the planet unlivable by humans or anything else. Romain Ioualalen, co-author of the report, said (in part) in a press release:

It’s simple: when you are in a hole, the first step is to stop digging. The climate crisis is global in nature—but is atrociously unjust. A handful of the world’s richest nations are risking our future by willingly ignoring the calls to rapidly phase out fossil fuels. Despite very clear science telling us what is in store beyond 1.5°C, these so-called climate leaders are planning for climate chaos. Continuing to increase fossil fuel production anywhere is not compatible with a liveable future and has been rightly called “moral and economic madness” by U.N. Secretary General Guterres.

Blades then discussed Carbon Market Watch which looks into the green pledges of the 24 world’s biggest companies, all of which advertise as climate leaders. The big problem is the climate strategies and goals set by these companies are too ambiguous to be of any use or their numbers rely on offsets that aren’t as good as actually cutting emissions. Climate conference COP28 will be in Dubai this year and starts on November 30. Last year in Egypt there were 600 fossil fuel lobbyists declaring how green their companies are. This year there will be more – at least they’ll have to identify themselves. Also of concern, the host is Sultan Ahmed Al Jabar who is the head of the Abu Dhabi state oil company and the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology. With him at the top who needs lobbyists? Ella Nilsen of CNN reported:

With four months still left in the year, the US has been hit with 23 disasters that each cost at least $1 billion, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, surpassing the previous annual record of 22 events in 2020. This year’s billion-dollar disasters have caused 253 direct and indirect fatalities and have resulted in $57.6 billion in damage, NOAA data shows. That price tag does not yet include Hurricane Idalia. NOAA is still analyzing whether other events, including drought in the South and Midwest and Tropical Storm Hilary, which hit southern California this summer, may have surpassed the billion-dollar mark.

Sumner put together images and videos of such disasters in the US and around the world. He grouped them into categories. The heat in Phoenix had record deaths and saguaro cactus dying from heat stress. Smoke across the US from Canadian fires. Also fires in Lahaina, Sicily, and other places. Flooding in Southern California, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Greece, Brazil, Turkey, and India. Blades started a report with:

A new report from the First Street Foundation released Wednesday has found that 39 million U.S. properties are overvalued because damage risks from climate change as a result of flooding, hurricanes, and wildfires “have yet to be reflected in the insurance premiums.” The largest percentage of those properties—60%—are coastal properties at risk from hurricanes, 30% are vulnerable to flooding, and 10% are in wildfire zones.

Previous reports had analyzed overvaluation due to one hazard, such as flooding. This is the first one to combine the effects of flooding, wildfires, and hurricane winds.

But, while Republicans in power can force government agencies not to account for climate-related risks to health, life, and finances while pushing policies designed to keep the fossil fuel industry alive until every last drop of oil, molecule of natural gas, and lump of coal are extracted, they cannot force insurance companies to ignore climate risk in pricing policies. As those risks grow, more and more insurers will walk away from high-risk areas to salvage their bottom lines. Allstate, American Family, Nationwide, Erie Insurance Group, and Berkshire Hathaway have stopped issuing policies and are raising premiums and deductibles in some regions because of climate change risks. “We’re in the business of pricing to risk,” Matt Mayrl, vice president of strategy, performance and partnerships at American Family Insurance, said in an interview with The Washington Post. “Sometimes your price can’t match your risk.”

One thing that would help is eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. The other is to block new construction in vulnerable areas. So what’s this nonsense about we can’t afford to mitigate climate change? With so many storms causing more than $1 billion in damage we can’t afford not to.

I will save democracy by wearing a suit

Over the last couple decades I’ve learned of the music of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a late 18th century French composer, yes about the time of Mozart. When my classical music radio stations began to play recordings of his music they would, of course, discuss that he was a black man and in addition to his abilities of composing and playing music, he was quite a good athlete, especially in fencing, and also a good soldier. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has now played one of his symphonies. I didn’t go because the music of Mozart and his contemporaries is music I appreciate in small doses. When these stations began to talk about a movie of his life. I was, of course, interested. The movie is Chevalier, and was my Sunday movie. As with all of Hollywood movies one must not assume the whole thing is historically accurate, even though the frame probably is. A featured user review on IMDB says the movie is so historically inaccurate one would do better reading Saint-Georges’s Wikipedia page. Sticking to the what is historically accurate would have made a fine movie, so why muck it up with a fictional overlay? Alas, Wikipedia pages tend towards the dry side. Well, fine. Don’t watch this movie for the history. Instead, consider it as a fictional story. Does it do well at that? I think so and I enjoyed it. The acting is quite good, the movie is quite well made, and the story is a good one. The movie opens as Mozart and his orchestra finishes a concert and asks the audience what should be played as an encore. Joseph approaches the stage and proposes one of Mozart’s violin concertos – with Joseph playing along. Mozart agrees, no harm in humoring the guy. And Joseph begins to add another line to the solo part with the cadenza (usually improvised at the time) turning into a musical duel (though some of those riffs sound too bluesy for the 18th century). The audience is impressed. Then we see young Joseph being brought to a French music academy. His father is a white plantation owner on Guadeloupe, part of the French West Indies, his mother a slave. But Joseph already has good violin skills. This part is basically true. Once grown a fencing duel introduces him to Queen Marie Antoinette and she anoints him as Chevalier, the French equivalent of a knight. This gives him access to the high society circles and soon he is her guest in her box at the opera – and we pass from the historically dubious and on into the historically false. He hears that the job of director of the Paris Opera is open and he proposes to the queen that the one to get the job should be the one who writes the best opera. And he’s off and running. Then racism happens. And he has to figure out who he is. At the death of his father his mother arrives in France. She warns him about living in a white man’s world. As this is going on we get closer to the French Revolution, which Joseph begins to take interest in the people’s point of view – especially that égalité thing. It all comes to a satisfying (though not historically accurate) climax. At the end of the movie it says that when Napoleon came to power he banned Saint-Georges’s music because he was a person of color. It said that much of his music was destroyed, though consider this movie’s relationship with historical accuracy (I don’t know how much was lost). Napoleon’s ban is a big reason why this music was ignored for 200 years. We begin to wonder... Saint-Georges was called the “Black Mozart.” Perhaps Mozart should have been called the “White Saint-Georges?” I finished the book The Body Scout by Lincoln Michel. It’s a science fiction murder mystery. Kobo comes from a family so poor they lived in underground burrows. His burrow collapsed, killing his parents and mangling his right arm. The arm is replaced with a bionic version. And soon he is obsessed with getting the latest bionic body upgrade. Kobo is taken in by the family of JJ Zunz. Zunz is just a few days different in age from Kobo and they consider each other to be brothers. Kobo had a short stint in a baseball league that featured players with bionic body parts, but that league was banned. So he now works as a scout for the latest sort of baseball team, heavy with corporate ownership. His prospects include medical and genetic scientists as well as players. That’s because while bionic parts are banned chemical and biological enhancements are not. Then Zunz, now the star batter on another baseball team, is murdered by a biological agent during his last at-bat in the last game before the World Series, a very public death. Kobo is asked by Zunz’ team to investigate the murder in exchange for the hope of paying off his considerable medical debt. But only if he solves the crime before the end of the World Series. The plot has a great number of twists and turns and the ending is not anywhere near where one expects, which is good. Along the way are discussions of bionic enhancements and cloning. There are also discussions of inequality – if only the rich are able to afford bodily upgrades and perhaps long-term youthful vigor, where does that leave the poor? I enjoyed this one, though I tend to avoid murder mysteries because they start with a murder. Hunter of Daily Kos reported that the loudest noise coming from the Senate this week was about Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania routinely showing up at the chamber wearing a hoodie and gym shorts instead of a suit. To accommodate him Schumer told the Senate sergeant-at-arms to no longer enforce the dress code. Republicans promptly needed a fainting couch and pearls to clutch. They are mighty upset the Senate has lowered the bar on dress code. Hunter and many others noted Republicans are not at all upset about the lowered bar on behavior by members of Congress. That low standard includes things like Rep. Lauren Boebert and her date being booted from a theater because of vaping, groping, and being disturbing nuisances to those around them. Or the Pandemic Prince being awarded with $2 billion by the Saudis after departing the White House. Or it seems a frequent parade of Republicans caught in a sex scandal. Could you guess that Fetterman is a Democrat? Joan McCarter of Kos reported on Senate Republicans going “DressCon 1” over the relaxation of the Senate dress code. 46 of them signed a letter to Schumer discussing how casual clothing disrespects the Senate. Wrote McCarter:

They even pulled the war card. The Senate floor, they wrote, “is where we must make the gravest decision imaginable – whether to send our fellow Americans into battle to defend the freedoms we all hold dear.” Meanwhile, every one of the senators who signed that letter is standing by while Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville symbolically spits on our armed forces with his monthslong hold on military promotions and confirmations.

Mark Sumner of Kos reported that Fetterman, who had no tolerance for BS and is quick with humorous counterjab had a proposal to all those who don’t like his hoodies:

If those jagoffs in the House stop trying to shut our government down, and fully support Ukraine, then I will save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week.

Fetterman’s campaign is now selling hoodies. Last June the Supreme Court handed down a decision that said colleges and universities could no long use race in the admissions process. That decision explicitly said it did not apply to the service academies – West Point and such. Nina Totenberg of NPR reported that the same organization that brought that suit against Harvard is now bringing a suit against West Point. Totenberg noted why the service academies are so invested in racial balance. During Vietnam black soldiers made up 25% of the enlisted men in the Army, but only 2% of officers of all branches. They determined lack of of minority officers “threatened the integrity and performance of the military.” So they consider race in admissions. The case will likely be before the Supreme Court some time next year. Sumner discussed the legacy of Rudy Giuliani. Once beloved for the way he seemed to handle the job of Mayor of New York after the 9/11 attacks (though Sumner reminds us that he was actually an awful mayor), Giuliani has fallen so far he was sued by his own attorney for about $1.3 million in unpaid legal fees. The more he associated with the nasty guy the worse things have gotten for him. And few people are shedding tears. McKay Coppins wrote a biography of Sen. Mitt Romney, to be published soon. Coinciding with Romney’s announcement that he will retire when his term is up next year Coppins published excerpts in The Atlantic. Dartagnan of the Kos community discussed a few excerpts, mostly those that focused on Romney’s views of other Republicans. A big part of that was even though in public they toadied up to the nasty guy in private they ridiculed him, one declaring, “He has none of the qualities you would want in a president, and all of the qualities you wouldn’t.” Yet, they voted to acquit at the impeachment trials. Coppins gets to why.

But after January 6, a new, more existential brand of cowardice had emerged. One Republican congressman confided to Romney that he wanted to vote for Trump’s second impeachment, but chose not to out of fear for his family’s safety. The congressman reasoned that Trump would be impeached by House Democrats with or without him—why put his wife and children at risk if it wouldn’t change the outcome?

In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted Michael Tomasky of The New Republic discussing why Biden isn’t getting credit for his accomplishments.

There is no one reason. But there is one overwhelming factor in play: the media. Or rather, the two medias. It’s very important that people understand this: We reside in a media environment that promotes—whether it intends to or not—right-wing authoritarian spectacle. At the same time, as a culture, it’s consistently obsessed with who “won the day,” while placing far less value on the fact that the civic and democratic health of the country is nurtured through practices such as deliberation, compromise, and sober governance. The result is bad for Joe Biden. But it’s potentially tragic for democracy.

A few days ago – before I saw this quote – I got to thinking about the media obsession with the campaign as a horse race. I’ve talked many times about a social hierarchy and how many, perhaps most, people pay a great deal of attention to their position in the hierarchy, annoyed by those above them and pleased there is someone below them. I’ve seen the higher one is in the hierarchy the more one is obsessed with maintaining their position near the top. Most media companies are also obsessed with the hierarchy. That’s why they report on who “won the day” and who is ahead. That’s all about who is higher in the hierarchy, who is moving up, who is falling down. Policy issues, especially many of the ones pushed by Democrats, aren’t about the hierarchy, or rather about policies that help people to move up the hierarchy. In contrast, most – likely all – policies proposed by Republicans are about maintaining the hierarchy or pushing those low in the hierarchy to even lower positions, to make those at the top look better. Because of that to a media company obsessed with hierarchy policy is boring. In another roundup Dworkin had a few interesting quotes. One is a tweet by David Pepper:

More traditional/“moderate” Republicans: 1) engaged in egregious gerrymandering, and/or stopped efforts to reform it at the federal level 2) bemoan the state of their extremist party. Guys—1) led to 2)! You created the beast. A true self-own! Get on board & help fix it!

Dworkin quoted MatthewContinetti of Commentary

The first thing to say about the New Right is that it can get weird. Its ranks are composed almost entirely of men. They inhabit a social-media cocoon where they talk a lot about manhood, and strength, and manliness, and push-ups, and masculinity, and virility, and weight-lifting, and testosterone. “Wrestling should be mandated in middle schools,” write Arthur Milikh and Scott Yenor in the collection Up from Conservatism. “Students could learn to build and shoot guns as part of a normal course of action in schools and learn how to grow crops and prepare them for meals. Every male student could learn to skin an animal and every female to milk a cow.”

And the second thing is the “flirtation” (though I would use a much stronger word) with racism and anti-Semitiem. Yes, they’re obsessed with the hierarchy. Dworkin also included a tweet from Archaeo – Histories that has a couple photos of a 2200 year old mosaics recently uncovered in Turkey. Down in the comments Denise Oliver Velez included lots of cartoons. One is from Jesse Duquette of Harriet Tubman holding up the finger with the caption:

On this day in 1849: Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery. Florida schools: Ungrateful helper rudely abandons her generous landlords.

And a cartoon by Paul Noth in honor of Constitution Day (Sept. 17th). The document is now 236 years old. The cartoon shows several founding fathers seated around a table working on our founding document and one of them says:

But what if a tyrant comes to power and no one’s able to stop him because the whole thing’s kind of funny?

And in a third roundup is a cartoon from Pat Byrnes. Two elephants are walking in the Capitol and one says to the other, “But won’t charging Biden with something only help his electability?”

CEO pay up 1,460% while typical workers’ pay up just 18.1%

The United Auto Workers contract with General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis (the current company owning Chrysler) expired Thursday night. The news Friday morning was that the UAW had called strikes at one plant of each company. This is the first time they called a strike at all three at the same time. Strikes will be called at more plants if the talks drag on without a deal. I worked in the auto industry for close to three decades. I had an office job so was not in the union. I went to work during strikes (I was far from any plant). And when the new contract was signed what improvements the union members got I also got. I benefited from the union. The central issue of the strike is, of course, money. The union gave concessions to keep the companies in business during the Great Recession. Now the companies are making big profits and the union says it is time to get back what they gave up. The companies are saying we need the money for the transition to electric vehicles. The union says EVs are good (though require fewer workers) but those battery plants you’re building had better be unionized. Walter Einenkel of Daily Kos reported that Mary Barra, the CEO of GM, showed how clueless top management be. Her compensation is 362 times more than the median pay for workers at her company. Compensation for the CEOs of Ford and Stellantis are similar. Barra saw a 34% increase in her salary (time frame not mentioned) and she thought a 20% increase for workers was good enough. Einenkel concluded:

According to the Economic Policy Institute, CEOs for the top 350 U.S. firms made about 20 times more than their typical worker in 1965. Between 1978 and 2021, CEO pay has increased 1,460% while typical workers’ wages have increased just 18.1%. You don’t have to be a Nobel Prize-winning economist to understand this isn’t a workable model.

Yeah, that’s what this strike is about. Hunter of Kos reported the nasty guy and DeathSantis went to Washington to court some conservative organizations. Among them is Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. It has been quite a while since I’ve come across those names. So I did a scan of blog entries. Between 2010 and 2016 I wrote about Perkins nine times. The last time to lament he had been appointed to the Republican Platform Committee. That lament is because the FRC has been designated a hate group by the SPLC because Perkins’ lies about LGBTQ people are used to justify our oppression. I have more laments because national media still likes to quote Perkins and candidates for the White House still think visiting him is important. Hunter explained the attraction:

Because what's important is that Donald Trump hates: He hates good and hard and often. That is the motivating force that drives anyone and everyone who would travel to Washington, D.C., to attend a Family Research Council event.

Last Monday Mark Sumner of Kos wrote about Republicans and taxes.

If Hunter Biden is behind on his taxes, it’s the worst crime in the world and worthy of a congressional probe spanning three House committees. If anyone else is dodging their taxes, that’s just smart.

That sentiment is playing out in the Republican demand to rescind the big budget increase for the IRS. Sen. Chuck Grassley warns of an IRS strike force with AK-15s ready to shoot a small business owner. That budget increase also comes with guidance on who the newly hired agents should focus their attention. * Those with income over $1 million with more than $250K in back taxes. * Construction contractors who pay multiple subcontractors, because that’s frequently a sign that those subcontractors are really shell companies to funnel money back to the rich owner. * High income earners who use foreign bank accounts, because that’s a way to hide income. * Large transactions in digital currency because that’s also a way to hide income.

So the IRS is coming after rich people who are known to be behind in their taxes, and groups who are going out of their way with shell companies, foreign accounts, and digital currency to hide their real income. All of which sounds … pretty darn reasonable. And it certainly raises a question: Why are Republicans so anxious to stop these audits?

Sumner also wrote about ways legislatures in red states are stripping power from urban voters. That’s things they do beyond portraying cities as a “crime-ridden, corrupt, dysfunctional hellhole,” a phrase recently used against Chicago. There were states that overturned local efforts to encourage students to wear masks during the pandemic, to overturn attempts to protect immigrants, to disband a board looking into the use of deadly force against black people, to usurp control of elections in Houston and Harris County, to overturn requirements that construction workers get water breaks, to take control of Jackson, Mississippi away from its black residents, and much more.

A 2018 law review article showed that as Republicans gained more power in state legislatures following 2010 redistricting, they used that authority to bear down on cities. “The past decade has witnessed the emergence and rapid spread of a new and aggressive form of state preemption of local government action across a wide range of subjects, including among others firearms, workplace conditions, sanctuary cities, anti-discrimination laws, and environmental and public health regulation.”

Chaos is strategy

Laura Clawson of Daily Kos reported after McCarthy announced the impeachment inquiry the White House has issued a letter to major media organizations. The letter said in part:

It's time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies. Covering impeachment as a process story—Republicans say X, but the White House says Y—is a disservice to the American public who relies on the independent press to hold those in power accountable.

Clawson wrote:

If House Republicans can rely on the media to help spread their lies under the guise of neutral reporting, without a full explanation that these claims are false, then people are going to believe things that are not true. ... The White House: Hey, guys, could you try to stick to the facts and identify misinformation as such? Right-wing media: How dare they??? This is oppression.

The letter has a 14 page appendix (both are online) that lists the seven key lies that are the foundation of Republican claims with a thorough debunking of those claims. And many of the sources are the same media organizations that received the letter. So will media reports include such things as, “Republicans say this, which is false”? Alas, I have my doubts. In a pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev had a few interesting quotes. The first is from Heather Digby Parton of Salon. She says the impeachment is essentially the nasty guy’s revenge.

Trump instinctively projects his own shortcomings and problems on his enemies and then attacks them which is what he's doing with the "Biden Crime Family" thing. I don't know what specific psychology is at work, but it serves a tactical purpose for him and his allies by muddying the water and contributing to the widespread cynicism in American life that leads people to think everyone is corrupt and there's nothing to be done about it. It's already worked to some degree in this case. According to a recent CNN poll, "61% say they think that Biden had at least some involvement in Hunter Biden's business dealings, with 42% saying they think he acted illegally, and 18% saying that his actions were unethical but not illegal." There is literally no evidence of any of that. Well played, Republicans, well played.

And from Ryan Tarinelli of Role Call:

“This behavior by Republican House members is just astoundingly self-destructive of the prerogatives of the institution that they serve,” said Bowman. “Because it, of course, devalues impeachment as a meaningful tool to deal with genuine presidential misconduct.”

In the comments is a cartoon by Walt Handelsman showing a pirate ship full of elephants waving swords with McCarthy at the end of the plank saying, “I’ve been persuaded to step forward with an impeachment inquiry.” Joan McCarter of Kos wrote:

On its first full day of work following the August recess, the House was supposed to start the floor process to bring up the defense appropriations bill Wednesday. The people in charge of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, however, had other plans. That plan consists of: one, shutting the House down while they come up with more unreasonable demands for slashing government funding and, two, running the clock down toward Oct. 1, when they can shut the whole government down. One of the hardliners in the House, Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, told Politico that running amok is their master plan. “We have an evolving strategy going right now. This whole place is about chaos, right?” Got that? Chaos is strategy.

The rest of the post is details about the chaos being spread and why McCarter thinks it is that and not what various Republicans claim to be doing. Back on Tuesday an Associated Press article posted on Kos reported that Putin has come to the defense of the nasty guy. He said:

As for the prosecution of Trump, for us what is happening in today’s conditions, in my opinion, is good because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others democracy. ... Everything that is happening with Trump is the persecution of a political rival for political reasons. That’s what it is. And this is being done in front of the public of the United States and the whole world.

Yeah, we know who spoke those words and what kind of human he is and that means they should be discredited. But, alas, there is a portion of American politicians and public that will lap up those words. That’s why we appreciate the response of former Rep. Liz Cheney, as reported by Kerry Eleveld of Kos. Cheney lost her 2022 election because she was one of only two Republicans who served the House committee that investigated the Capitol attack. She has a way of encapsulating a concept into just a few words. She’s now dropping those good phrases for the rest of us to use. She tweeted:

Putin has now officially endorsed the Putin-wing of the Republican Party.

A good feature of the phrase is that it doesn’t apply to all Republicans, only those who support Putin.

An evidence-free goose chase

Back on Monday Laura Clawson of Daily Kos reported Rep. Jamie Raskin (who had a key role in the nasty guy impeachment trials) had a few things to say about the Republican talk of impeaching Biden. Said Raskin:

House Republicans constantly insist that they are investigating President Biden, and not his adult son. In that case, we can form an obvious judgment on their investigation: it has been a complete and total bust—an epic flop in the history of congressional investigations. The voluminous evidence they have gathered, including thousands of pages of bank records and suspicious activity reports and hours of testimony from witnesses, overwhelmingly demonstrates no wrongdoing by President Biden and further debunks Republicans’ conspiracy theories.

Clawson added that 12,000 pages of subpoenaed bank records show no improper payment to the president. 2,000 pages of suspicious activity reports do not allege potential misconduct by the president, nor do they show his involvement in Hunter’s business dealing. No witnesses testified about any misconduct. Many Republicans agree there is no evidence. On Tuesday Clawson reported:

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is calling for a formal impeachment inquiry targeting President Joe Biden, despite the total lack of evidence of wrongdoing turned up by months of Republican investigations. The plan all along was to justify an impeachment inquiry, and when they failed to justify it, they decided to pretend they had, and to go ahead anyway.

This is McCarthy declaring an impeachment inquiry, which is not the same as the House voting to approve an impeachment inquiry. A question is why is McCarthy doing this now. Republicans been promising an impeachment vote since Biden was elected – to happen as soon as they got the evidence. Short answer for why now: the Freedom Caucus. The longer answer is a bit murky. Maybe to satisfy them enough to keep them from shutting down the government at the end of the month (that trade is not working). Maybe they recognize how weak McCarthy is and are yanking on his leash. Maybe it is just the next “logical” step in Republican plans that say Biden must be impeached. Joan McCarter of Kos reported that though the Freedom Caucus is behind all this, one FC member, Rep. Ken Buck, remains reality based and is highlighting the lack of evidence. Strange that an FC member sounds so reasonable. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported the hot takes are pouring in. Here are some of them: Ian Sams, a White House spokesman: an “evidence-free goose chase.” Elie Mystal:

Why would I write about House GOP's impeachment inquiry? I write about law and law adjacent issues. Not the inevitable result of Unfrozen Caveman Congresswoman having her hand so far up Kevin McCarthy's ass that she controls his vocal chords.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley

Republicans continue to govern with chaos, cruelty, and callousness—and they are wasting our damn time.

Sawyer Hackett noted that when Pelosi moved to impeach the nasty guy McCarty wrote a resolution to condemn Pelosi for acting without a House vote. She soon did. Now here’s McCarthy acting without a House vote. Rep. Ted Lieu

Here are the three pieces of evidence that Speaker McCarthy has to open an impeachment inquiry on President Biden: 1. “ “ 2. “ “ 3. “ “

Moscow Mitch has no advice for the House. Rep. Adam Schiff:

McCarthy’s reading of the Impeachment Clause: The President shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or … when the Speaker, lacking moral authority or control over his members, can’t remain speaker or fund the government without it.

Raymond Mollica: Why you never negotiate with terrorists, Exhibit 37,548 Mark Sumner of Kos explains more about McCarthy demanding Pelosi get a floor vote and McCarthy announcing the inquiry without a floor vote. Einenkel says one of the triggers of McCarthy’s call for impeachment might have been Rep. Matt Gaetz. On Monday Gaetz announced he would give a fiery speech denouncing the lack of will to impeach Biden. Hours before Gaetz gave that speech McCarthy announced the impeachment inquiry. So Gaetz gave a speech anyway denouncing McCarthy for being “out of compliance with the agreement that allowed you to assume this role. ... You have a copy.” That’s a threat that Gaetz will call for a vote to oust McCarthy from the Speaker’s chair. But “out of compliance with the agreement”? What agreement? The one that’s been rumored about since McCarthy needed 15 votes to get the gavel but everyone denies exists? The one that details all he gave away to the FC to get their votes? That speech got Aexandria Ocasio-Cortez to tweet:

So let me get this straight: Republicans are threatening to remove their own Speaker, impeach the President, and shut down the government on September 30th - disrupting everyday people’s paychecks and general public operations. For what? I don’t think even they know. Chaos vibes

Clawson reported that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is furious with Gaetz because she was supposed to be the one to announce or prod McCarthy to announce the impeachment inquiry. How dare he steal her idea! Greene has already had spat with Rep. Lauren Boebert over the same issue. Clawson noted that if one wants to get action on an issue one cultivates colleagues to help, even if it means sharing or stepping out of the spotlight. But if one views other people’s support as a threat then...

Marjorie Taylor Greene is in this for the attention. And the fact that so many of her fellow House Republicans take the same approach is one of the major reasons they are so ineffective at everything they claim to want to do.

With Gaetz’ comment about that agreement McCarter wonders what exactly is in it. McCarthy has made many conflicting promises, saying to people what they want to hear. And the 18 Republican representatives who were elected in districts that Biden carried really want to know what McCarthy promised and to whom. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted Michael Cohen of “Truth and Consequences” on Substack:

Think about all the allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption against Donald Trump that Republicans consistently swept under the rug and refused to investigate. Think about the excuses that GOP leaders constantly made for Trump’s behavior — from his pressuring Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden and his ostentatious violations of the Emoluments clause to his efforts to obstruct the Mueller investigation and, of course, trying to overturn the 2020 election. House GOP members waved every Trump scandal away. Now, without a shred of evidence, they are opening an impeachment inquiry into Biden.

In the comments there are, of course, many cartoons about McCarthy and the situation he put himself in. The one I want to to mention is about Republicans in general. It is by Bill Bramhall and shows Blind Justice trying to get through a door that a bunch of elephants are pushing against. The caption is “Closing Argument.” McCarter discussed what McCarthy gained by announcing this impeachment inquiry. Part of the answer is: nothing. He didn’t lessen the chance of a government shutdown. And another part:

Just about the only thing McCarthy achieved by agreeing to this was demonstrating yet again that he’ll fold to the extremists every time. He also opened the floodgates for every other faction in the Republican conference to make demands.

Note that McCarthy’s announcement didn’t get smiles from Gaetz, it only prompted Gaetz to attack in a different way.

The weakest speaker in recent memory is on a path to prove he’s also the most destructive one, just by virtue of his own incompetence.

Clawson wrote:

House Republicans are launching a baseless impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden for a few reasons: to distract Biden and make him less effective, and to create the public impression of corruption as a 2024 election strategy. And never discount the Republican urge to suck up to former President Donald Trump. ... So Republicans are launching an impeachment inquiry without a House vote on doing so, something Speaker Kevin McCarthy had in the past repeatedly insisted was a requirement for such an inquiry. And one of McCarthy’s close allies is openly saying the point of the proceeding is to make the process “long and excruciatingly painful for Joe Biden” and to lead to a “long list of names” to tee up for future prosecution by a Trump Justice Department. ... They’re yelling lies about Biden’s alleged corruption, while they’re engaged in a completely corrupt abuse of power themselves. And the thing is when that comes from the Republican Party, no one is surprised.

Kerry Eleveld of Kos discussed the situation of those 18 Republican representatives who are from districts Biden won. Don Bacon of Kansas says an inquiry should be based on evidence. Mike Garcia of California says his constituents demand clarity so let’s get the facts. Then Eleveld wrote:

Polling of voters in the 18 Biden districts suggests Garcia's rationale is going to be a tough sell. A Public Policy Polling survey of Biden 18 voters conducted last month found 56% thought opening an impeachment inquiry into Biden would be a "partisan political stunt," while just 41% said it would be a serious effort to investigate important problems. Fifty-six percent also said they thought opening such an inquiry would be more about damaging Biden politically than finding the truth, compared with 41% who said the opposite. In both instances, that yawning 15-point chasm should be a flashing warning sign to a Republican in enemy territory.

Republican Senators expressed their doubts and frustrations. One called the inquiry a “fool’s errand” and said it won’t help them in their campaigns next year. Hunter of Kos looked at the issue of needing a House vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry. The demand for a House vote was created by the nasty guy’s Justice Department and is technically still in play. So the Biden administration can legally refuse to cooperate. But legalities don’t mean anything to these Republicans. If it helps them or their Dear Leader it’s good. If it helps Democrats and especially Biden it’s bad. See such things as Rep. Jim Jordan defying subpoenas demanding he testify about his role in the Capitol attack. Also, they’re already launching an impeachment investigation without evidence. The legality of whether a vote to authorize it was done won’t make any difference. It’s all political theater so they can claim Biden is as corrupt as the guy who has actually been indicted four times so we might as well go with our own felon. After all that a bit of fun. Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos, included a video of the Slow Mo guys do a 16 minute video showing what happens when one does a pool break from a cannon.