A candidate running a true kamikaze campaign

There have been news reports of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Mark Sumner of Daily Kos explains a bit more about what is going on. Russian, which controls the plant, is claiming that Ukraine is planning a “false flag provocation” and Russia will be blamed. After Russia attacked the plant in March (full extent of the damage still not known) an area nearby has become a major ammunition depot. Ukraine has shown how good it is at blowing up Russian supply depots with precision over great distance. But they haven’t risked firing missiles at anything near the nuclear plant – Ukraine already hosts Chernobyl and its dead zone. So Russia might be right in thinking storing ammo near the plant is safe. There is a road about 10km south of the plant that is a major route for Russia to get supplies to Kherson. Ukraine might want to take it out. Is Russia’s warning of a false provocation to warn Ukraine to not send missiles anywhere near the plant? Or are they planning something worse? Ukraine’s Zelenskyy is worried enough he has renewed calls for the International Atomic Energy Agency to take control of the plant. Hunter of Kos reported the unusual move of a judge contemplating the release of the affidavit that details the evidence that prompted the search warrant of the nasty guy’s spy-infested club. Judge Bruce Reinhart ordered the Justice Department to present a redacted version of the affidavit next week. Affidavits justifying a search warrant are rarely released before court cases begin. Doing so would jeopardize an investigation. It would also tell the nasty guy what else the government knows and what it doesn’t. The nasty guy legal team had no comment on the release while in the courtroom, but demanded it when speaking to far right news outlets. Several other media outlets call for the release of the affidavit, saying there is public interest. The Department of Justice, the ones who wrote the affidavit, might be satisfied with removing the “nuclear weapons” documents and may not want the circus of an actual indictment. But it’s a circus already. Hunter also wrote about whether the nasty guy will release his club’s security footage of the search and document confiscation. The answer is release is very likely. The reason for the release is simple – it would identify the FBI agents that carried out the search so his supporters would know who to attack. What is left is timing. Release it when he makes his reelection bid? More likely when the government indicts him over the stolen papers. That’s a time for him to stoke violence, to threaten civil war if anyone dares to hold him responsible. Laura Clawson of Kos reported that many Republicans had been trying to bypass the nasty guy and go with someone just as authoritarian but less loutish, as in Ron DeathSantis. But the search of the nasty guy’s estate has boosted his hold on the Republican party. That hold may have dragged a few chosen candidates across the primary finish line, but they’re not doing so well leading to the general. Greg Dworkin, in a pundit roundup for Kos, quoted Sarah Posner of TPM. The excerpt is mostly about the Christian Right plotting to avenge the FBI search. What interests me is towards the end. Posner wrote:

Just the fact that Clinton’s home was never the subject of a search warrant — never mind whether there was any basis to seek or obtain one — was evidence enough that Trump had received unequal treatment.

Liz Cheney, stalwart Republican, but stalwart supporter of Democracy, lost her primary for another term in the House. Dworkin quoted Ron Brownstein of The Atlantic:

Yet many of Trump’s remaining Republican critics believe that a Cheney candidacy in the 2024 GOP presidential primaries could help prevent him from capturing the next nomination—or stop him from winning the general election if he does. “Of course she doesn’t win,” Bill Kristol, the longtime strategist who has become one of Trump’s fiercest conservative critics, told me. But, he added, if Cheney “makes the point over and over again” that Trump represents a unique threat to American democracy and “forces the other candidates to come to grips” with that argument, she “could have a pretty significant effect” on Trump’s chances. In some ways, a Cheney 2024 presidential campaign would be unprecedented: There aren’t any clear examples of a candidate running a true kamikaze campaign.

Dworkin quoted from Nieman Reports on a big reason why the January 6 coup attempt failed – the press didn’t play along. In many successful coups, in addition to eliminating the head of state, they also capture mass media. They make it go dark or use it to say the coup is necessary, legitimate, and for the good of the country. But with the internet and a lot more media outlets (plus all those people with cell phones) shutting down coverage is harder and a chance of a successful coup decreases. Bill in Portland, Maine, in a Cheers and Jeers column for Kos, quoted late night commentary.

Okay, GOP, you win: we should arrest whoever appointed FBI Director Christopher Wray. —Stephen Colbert on Twitter

StaceyCKs1 tweeted a fun video. Alas, she didn’t name the woman in the video. That woman is a kindergarten teacher and has made several videos talking to politicians the way she does to her students. In this video she talks to the nasty guy. The Utah legislature passed a bill to ban trans girls from participating in sports. The governor vetoed it. The legislature overrode his veto. Marissa Higgins of Kos reported on a case where the law was used. First, Higgin’s description of a part of the bill:

If parents believe a trans girl took the place of a cisgender girl, or beat a cisgender girl in a game or match, as in the case described here, they’re allowed to file a complaint, and adults get to dig into the youth’s personal history and life.

The parents of the girls that came in second and third in a sport used the law to sue the girl who came in first. They claimed she didn’t “look feminine enough.” The plaintiffs, the targeted girl, her school, and the sport have not been identified. Higgins wrote:

Laws like this one harm people who are cisgender—for example, in this case, or any other involving a masculine-presenting cis girl or woman, or a feminine-presenting cis boy or man. Those people, who aren’t trans, could face accusations like this one that result in intrusive investigations and public harassment.

The law is designed to harm trans people and, by extension, the whole queer community. But it also harms people not in the queer community, people who don’t meet societal norms for gender expression. The targeted girl in this story got off fairly easily. Her school records have always identified her as female and intrusive home investigations weren’t needed.