Democrats, being the adults, are expected to patch the government back together

Hunter of Daily Kos discussed a column from the Washington Post editorial board titled “Democrats should help elect a Republican speaker.” Hunter called that title pompous.

It's one of the worst examples yet of the national media's belief that Republicans are allowed to be incompetent extremists who wreck budgets, raze federal agencies, and attempt coups, and that Democrats, being the adults, are expected to trail behind, patching the government back together again. ... Any Republican who gains the gavel with Democratic assistance, even the backhanded assistance of Democratic abstentions, will become a target of Donald Trump, his base, conservative pundits, and the same House radicals now thwarting all but the most extreme of candidates. What then? ... In the end, the Post's advice amounted to nothing. Republicans chose a far-right coup backer as their new speaker, the supposed moderates caving to their hoax-riddled and seditious flank rather than abide any negotiations with Democrats that might foil such an outcome. The Post's demands that Democrats pull Republicans up from their self-made mire were thwarted by the very Republicans the Post had imagined to be amenable to the partnership—not that anything will be learned from that.

Down in the comments of a pundit roundup are several cartoons about the recent speaker race. I’ll share one of them. It is by Bill Bramhall of the New York Daily News. It shows McCarthy on the ground with a sword in his back with several men trying to pull it out. A sign nearby says:

Whosoever pulleth the sword from our old leader be our new leader until he too is stabbeth.

John Burn-Murdoch also talked about a media failure, though he was prompted by the latest Hamas/Israel war.

With the proliferation of photos/footage, satellite imagery and map data, forensic video/image analysis and geolocation (~OSINT [Open Source Intelligence]) has clearly been a key news gathering technique for several years now. A key news gathering technique *completely absent from most newsrooms*. Obviously not every journalist should be an OSINT specialist, just as not every journalist is a specialist in combing through financial accounts, or scraping websites, or doing undercover investigations. But any large news org should have *some* OSINT specialists.

Laura Clawson of Kos wrote that Moms for Liberty has attacked book fairs put on by Scholastic, the book company catering to children. Scholastic has already caved by maintaining an “additional collection” schools can opt out of. Clawson wrote, “But showing weakness never makes a bully go away, and it didn’t this time, either.” After discussing some of the books on the Moms for Liberty target list, mostly because of LGBTQ characters, like a story about a child with two dads, Clawson wrote:

All of this comes after big, screenshotted definitions of “pornography” and “obscenity.” The definition for pornography reads: “printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.” And the one for obscenity reads: “the state or quality of being obscene; obscene behavior, language, or images” and “an extremely offensive word or expression.” The reader is intended to view a children’s book about a kid with two dads or a little boy who wants to be a mermaid as either pornographic or obscene. Which is it? Are they suggesting that these books are “intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings”? Because: gross. Or are they suggesting that the mere existence of these depictions are “extremely offensive”?

As part of its attack the Moms are promoting Brave Books, which are, “Faith-based children’s books that bring families together.” The company offers...

“A monthly subscription that helps you teach your kids or grandkids timeless lessons through engaging and easy-to-read stories on difficult subjects like sanctity of life and the importance of following rules.” Rules, presumably, like “Don’t you dare be gay.”

Clawson highlighted one of four complaints about Brave Books: Whose faith? Whose families? The sanctity of whose life? Whose rules? The action leading up to the nasty guy’s trial for trying to subvert the election in Georgia continues. An Associated Press article posted on Kos reported that codefendant Jenna Ellis has plead guilty for a reduced sentence. She is to testify at trials. Ellis was a vocal part of the nasty guy’s reelection campaign. She had helped author plans on how to delay and disrupt the congressional certification of the 2020 election. She is also accused of urging state lawmakers to unlawfully appoint alternate electors. She also appeared frequently on TV and conservative medial to lie about election fraud that did not occur. She joins Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro in entering a guilty plea. Mark Sumner of Kos reported that Mark Meadows also flipped. He was granted immunity, though there is no indication he has plead guilty. This is the big flip. Hunter explained how the nasty guy’s classified document case has turned into an espionage case. This came from a New York Times article that examined the ties between the nasty guy and Australian multibillionaire Anthony Pratt. Pratt became a member of Mar-a-Lago after the nasty guy became president. Pratt’s wife donated $1 million to the inauguration. He paid $1 million for a Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve gala, when the price was $50K. In return Pratt got appearances alongside the nasty guy an access to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Also, favorable tax policies that enormously boosted his wealth. After the nasty guy left Washington he reportedly told Pratt highly classified national security secrets. Pratt allegedly told “at least 45” other people.

There's now already a pretty good case to be made that the relationship was a transactional one—so says Pratt himself in conversations and documents—and that Trump did indeed offer the secrets up for his own monetary gain. And that exchange fits squarely into the Espionage Act.

Whether the nasty guy is charged under the Espionage Act is up to Special Counsel Smith. Whether he does may depends on how easy it is to prove – and whether a second case is found. Aldous Pennyfarthing of the Kos community reported that an article on The Daily Beast shows that Fox News won’t show the nasty guy live on the air. The reason is he will likely spout lies that could lead to legal headaches for the network. This is after Fox paid $787 million to Dominion Voting Systems. But...

Welcome to our new—and very weird—MAGA reality. We can’t put that guy live on-air. He’s a maniac! Also, “Four more years! Make America Great Again, like when our president was boosting murderous dictators and everyone was dying of COVID!” Sure, Trump’s first executive action as a newly reelected pr*sident could very well be putting the nuclear launch codes up for sale on eBay, but we can’t have a Democrat in office. He could raise the marginal tax rate for billionaires a full 2%! Elon Musk might have to install cheaper wainscoting in his volcano lair. It would be chaos!

Mark Sumner of Kos begins a Ukraine update with the story from the American Civil War. The Union ship Housatonic in Charleston Harbor was struck by a submarine, the Confederate H. L. Hunley. Shortly after taking out the Housatonic the Hunley also sank, killing eight people, more than the five who died on the Housatonic. Now on to Ukraine, which Sumner reports that the defender is getting very good with submersible drones (as it has with aerial drones) and doing significant damage to Russia’s warships in the Black Sea. It is getting so good the latest model, the Marichka, can be released...

1,000 kilometers from its target, linger in place for days, pass around obstacles, enter into harbors, and strike in conditions where ships feel safe.

Kos of Kos linked the Russian invasion of Ukraine with the Israel/Hamas war. Two quite different resolutions calling for the end of hostilities in that war went before the UN Security Council. One was backed by the US, the other by Russia. Both failed.

None of this should be a surprise. No matter what you think of the Israel-Hamas war, it’s clear that it serves Russia’s interests. The more the world is destabilized, the better for Russia. It needs the West distracted from Ukraine, and for its people to tire of conflict and war. But it is surprising for one simple reason: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent the entire past two years keeping Ukraine at arm’s length, denying the kind of help Israel has been more than capable of delivering.

Kos describes various weapons system Israel could have given or authorized for Ukraine and didn’t. But there is a growing closeness between Russia and Iran. And that is driving Israel away from Russia. It isn’t an official policy shift yet, but a Likud member of Israel’s Parliament sure can rant about it.