(FRI 5/13/22)

Paul putsch … Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has single-handedly held up a $39.8-billion military and humanitarian aid package to Ukraine that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had hoped to quickly pass through the Senate Thursday. Paul, often identified with the pro-Putin wing of the far-right GOP, wants to expand an Afghanistan inspector general role to oversee U.S. aid to Ukraine, according to The Hill.

The Senate is expected to vote on the package next week.

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Trump to Twitter must wait … Tesla CEO Elon Musk has placed his $44-billion takeover of Twitter on temporary hold to make sure the social media outlet’s claims that fake accounts (bots) “do indeed represent less than 5%” of Twitter’s users, as the company estimates. The real number is important because those bots do not buy advertising.

Musk, who earlier in the week said that Donald J. Trump would be allowed back on Twitter under his ownership, later Friday morning tweeted; “Still committed to acquisition.” Unless, of course, that was a Musk bot.

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Another gas price record … The national average for a gallon of unleaded regular hit another high Friday, at $4.432 per gallon, AAA reports. A week ago, the average hit $4.279, and it compares with $3.028 per gallon a year ago.

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Five House Select Committee Subpoenas … Two inevitable reactions to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Capitol insurrection subpoenas of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and four other Republicans come from opposite ends of the political spectrum; 1.) Are the subpoenas, as Stephanie Ruhl suggested on MSNBC’s The Eleventh Hour “too little, too late”?, and 2.) If/when Republicans take back control of the House, they’re going to turn the tables and come after Hunter Biden. Perhaps even President Biden, himself, who could face impeachment for the 8%-plus annual inflation rate. This is Tucker Carlson-style what-about-ism to the extreme. 

Beside McCarthy, who has been asked to appear before the committee on May 31, the other Republican House members who were subpoenaed Thursday are, of course, Jim Jordan, of Ohio (May 27), Scott Perry, of Pennsylvania (May 26), Andy Biggs, of Arizona (May 26) and Mo Brooks, of Alabama (May 31). No one other than perhaps the committee expects they will honor their subpoenas, which the panel issued after the six Congress members declined requests to appear – McCarthy already has said he will not show up.

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) has made it clear that the panel has abundant evidence from about 1,000 witnesses already questioned. With all the hard lifting apparently complete, Thompson’s plan to begin public hearings June 9 could prove fairly well-timed coming between primary season and the November midterms.

Despite McCarthy’s repeated complaints that the whole Select Committee process is nothing more than politics, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), the ranking of two Republicans on the committee – whom McCarthy stripped of her House GOP leadership role last year -- was among panel members pushing hardest for the subpoenas, Politico reports in a scoop citing sources Friday.

Cheney told reporters that issuing the subpoenas “was not a decision that was taken lightly” (per The Washington Post).

“It’s a reflection of how important and serious the investigation is and how grave the attack on the Capitol was.”

--Todd Lassa