FRI 3/18/22

Lviv Hit – Russian missiles destroyed an aircraft maintenance facility four miles from the center of the western Ukrainian town of Lviv, just 45 miles from the Polish-NATO border, BBC and NPR report Friday. 

Meanwhile: President Biden was set to hold his first phone call since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with China President Xi Jinping Friday morning. Biden wants Beijing to put more pressure on Russia, counter to fears China will offer military aid and equipment to Putin.

Numbers: Key to convincing Putin to agree to a ceasefire is allowing him to save face as Ukraine continues to fight back effectively. U.S. intelligence officials put the number of Russian soldiers killed in the war at more than 7,000, greater than the number of U.S. troops killed in various conflicts over the last 20 years, Newsweek reports. Other reports place the number of Russian dead at more than 10,000. Four of the 20 Russian generals in Ukraine have been killed since the war began February 24, though Putin has acknowledged just one killed, in a March 3 televised address.

Russia’s invasion is “basically frozen” on the ground, The Washington Post reports. The United Nations has confirmed more than 1,900 civilian deaths in Ukraine.

•••

While picking a side -- “The Ukrainian president's speech before Congress was a triumph, cementing his hero status and showing off the kind of courage Americans are left longing for in this administration. Now, as the war enters its fourth week, voters are even more disgusted by the White House's response to Russia -- agreeing (in greater numbers now) that he's mishandled this crisis too.” —Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, March 17.

Yesterday a bill passed the House that will suspend permanent normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus. It passed 424-8.

The eight are all Republicans:

• Andy Biggs (AZ)
• Dan Bishop (NC)
• Lauren (CO)
• Matt Gaetz (FL)
• Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA)
• Glenn Grothman (WI)
• Tom Massie (KY)
• Chip Roy (TX)

The Family Research Council sent out emails to Republican lawmakers as it is against the bill.

Punchbowl News writes: 

“FRC complainedthe House bill modifies the Magnitsky Act. It would allow the Biden administration to ‘push a radical social agenda both here and abroad which is a problem for a host of reasons, not the least of which is emboldening other nations to target their citizens because they don’t believe the United States will oppose them,’ according to an email from the FRC.”

This pro-life organization needs to know that more than 100 living children have died in Ukraine.

Perhaps that sentence above should be modified: “Now, as the war enters its fourth week, voters are even more disgusted by the eight Congress members and the FRC’s response to Russia.”

They can’t have it both ways.

Tucker Carlson ‘Moscow Rose’: Fox News’ American propagandist for Vladimir Putin and Russia, Tucker Carlson, argues “if (he, Carlson, is) a propagandist, so is Zelenskyy,” according to The Recount, which we presume assigns the loser of a newsroom lottery to regularly watch Tucker Carlson Tonight. 

--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Charles Dervarics

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THU 3/17/22

Zelenskyy to Scholz: ‘Tear Down This Wall’…

Speaking to the German Bundestag via video a day after he addressed U.S. Congress, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday compared Russia’s bombing of his country to building of the Berlin Wall in 1962. He severely criticized German businesses and politicians who have until very recently maintained good relations with Russia, the BBC reports, and called on Chancellor Olaf Sholz to “tear down this wall.” (Photo from Zelenskyy's March 16 address to U.S. Congress, via C-Span.)

Zelenskyy’s metaphorical 21^st Century Berlin “wall” is splitting Europe between NATO nations and Russia and countries in its political orbit, including Belarus and Chechnya, and of course Ukraine itself, as Vladimir Putin wages war to regain control. 

Despite Zelenskyy’s harsh criticisms of Germany, members of the Bundestag gave him a standing ovation.

•••

A Known Known – Responding to a reporter’s question about Russian President Vladimir Putin shouted to President Biden after he delivered remarks Wednesday for reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, the president said, “I think he is a war criminal.” (Per The Washington Post.)

Compare and contrast to “savvy” and “very genius.”

•••

Some Companies Won’t Leave Russia – Dozens of Western-based companies have withdrawn from or suspended operations in Russia to support sanctions meant to counter its invasion of Ukraine, but many remain. Now the Yale School of Management lays it all out for you, notes Washington Post opinion columnist Dana Millbank. The Ivy League school has a list of 1.) companies that have withdrawn; 2.) companies that have suspended, keeping options open (Apple and Google’s app stores have kept operating to offer open information to counter Russian propaganda); 3.) companies scaling back; and 4.) companies “digging in,” which include Authentic Brands, Reebok, Bacardi, Cargill, Halliburton, Koch Industries, LG Electronics, Pirelli and Subway. For complete lists in each category, go to: https://som.yale.edu/story/2022/over-400-companies-have-withdrawn-russia-some-remain.

•••

Interest Rate Hike to Counter Inflation – Acknowledging that the annual inflation rate for 2022 will be closer to 4% than the 2% predicted late last year, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced Wednesday a quarter-percentage increase in its rate for borrowing to between 0.25% and 0.5%. It’s the “most aggressive pace in more than 15 years,” and marks the first increase since 2018, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Fed signaled it will ramp up the rate six more times this year to end 2022 with a rate of at least 1.875%, on the way up to 2.75% by the end of 2023, then holding in ’24.

Known Unknown: That 2018 increase came just before then-President Trump “jawboned” the Fed to keep rates low and keep the economy chugging under his administration. Since then, of course, the global COVID-19 pandemic has turned economic theory on its head, with record low unemployment coming along with 40 year-high inflation in the U.S. It also should be noted the sub-2% inflation rate for much of the last decade was considered the sign of a lagging economy.

Unknown Unknowns: Bottom line is that between the still-ongoing pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nobody knows exactly what’s going to happen.

•••

Meanwhile, over at the service station -- No one like high gas prices. Including us. Even those who don’t drive are affected by higher prices because whether it is that Amazon Prime truck or semis taking food to the local grocery store or buses taking kids to school, diesel and gas price hikes push upward the price of other goods and services.

While Russian oil is off the proverbial table, there are other countries that could provide petroleum products to the U.S. — except that the U.S. doesn’t have good trade relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, all of which are run by leaders that have issues when it comes to the governance of their people. To put it mildly.

But with inflation that started well before Ukraine was invaded and the sanctions that have followed that invasion, there are pressures in Washington to perhaps consider being more friendly to the trio of countries with which we are, more or less, on the outs with.

It seems that American voters — 52% of them — think the U.S. should improve relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. So says a Morning Consult poll. The margin of error is +/-2% so that number is probably accurate.

What’s interesting is that 63% of Democrats and just 41% of Republicans think that diplomatic relations should be improved.

One might think that Dems would be against more carbon-emitting fuels and that the numbers would be switched[CD1] .

Note: But then, if we were could buy more oil from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela we might potentially lower fuel costs in the U.S. without the domestic drilling and fracking and use of pipelines like Keystone that progressive Democrats oppose.

•••

Obituary: Former Rep. Fazio – Former Rep. Victor Fazio (D-CA) has died. He served the Sacramento area from 1979 to 1999 and was known as a congressman who could “reach across the aisle” to Republicans (at a time when that was still seen as possible on Capitol Hill), according to the Associated Press. He was 79.

--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Charles Dervarics

---

 [CD1]The point you’re missing is that many GOPers want to drill more in the US (Alaska/fracking) and support pipelines (Keystone), thereby lessening the need to ask more from those 3 countries. You could argue Dems are more disingenuous on this issue (pleasing the progs by not getting US oil, but still getting it from somewhere else).

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Please email your comments on today’s …meanwhile…to editors@thehustings.news

President Biden announces today an additional $800 million to support Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself, The Washington Post reports.

•Scroll down this column to read pundit Eric Blair’s commentary on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s pleas for a no-fly zone to stop Russian aggression. Our columnists on the left and the right are not very far apart on this issue. Whether you agree or have a different point of view, we want to hear from you. Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news and whether you consider yourself liberal or conservative in general.

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WED 3/16/22

Scroll down below today’s news to read our debate, No-Fly Zone = WWIII? with commentary in the left and right columns.

Zelenskyy Wants Polish MiGs and U-24 – Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for a no-fly zone – unlikely because of the implications of starting a “hot war” with Russia – Polish MiG fighter jets, and the formation of a new international organization he called “U-24” to fight Russian aggression in his live video address to the U.S. Congress Wednesday morning. Zelenskyy evoked the attack on Pearl Harbor and September 11, 2001, saying “Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into death… . Is this a lot to ask for, to create a no-fly zone?”

Zelenskyy also asked for more aid and tougher sanctions against Russia, including the withdrawal of all U.S. businesses from the country.

“Ukraine is grateful to the U.S. for its overwhelming support,” Zelenskyy added, “I am grateful to President Biden for his faithful commitments.” 

Closing Quote: “I’m addressing President Biden. … You are the leader of the nation. I wish you to be the leader of the world. It means to be the leader of peace. Slava Ukrain!

What is ‘U-24’? – Zelenskyy did not go into detail, but it obviously would be a way to back Ukraine with some of the 30 European and North American (U.S. and Canada) nations in NATO, and likely to evoke a strong reaction from Russia’s dictator-president, Vladimir Putin. 

•••

Fall Back No More? – Who says an evenly split Senate can’t agree on anything? Republicans, Democrats, and whatever Manchinema are voted unanimously to make Daylight Savings Time permanent. You sprung forward last weekend? You won’t fall back this autumn in a sort of Groundhog Day for Americans’ internal body clock if the House forwards the bill to the White House and President Biden signs it.

•••

Meanwhile, in the Home of Starbucks -- After graduation, most college graduates would like to move to Seattle, according to a survey from the Axios-Generation Lab Next Cities Index. The other cities in the top five are New York, Los Angeles, Denver, and Boston.

However: Amazon has told some 1,800 of its employees who worked in an office in downtown Seattle they can work elsewhere, GeekWire reports, not because of COVID but because of crime occurring around the offices.

--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods

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Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news, and let us know whether you consider yourself “left” or “right.”

After Zelenskyy’s half-hour address -- Republicans, including Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska (pictured above) and House of Representatives Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, criticized Biden for failing to provide the Polish MiGs to Ukraine so the country could protect its own skies. The White House has rejected the transfer of MiGs as an action Putin would consider a NATO/U.S. declaration of war.

•Scroll down this column to read pundit-at-large Stephen Macaulay’s commentary on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s pleas for a no-fly zone to stop Russian attacks. Our columnists on the right and left are not very far apart on this issue. Whether you agree or have a different point of view, we want to hear from you. Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news and whether you consider yourself conservative or liberal in general.

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By Todd Lassa

Since Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy begged U.S. Congress and the United Kingdom’s parliament last week for a no-fly zone over his country, Russia’s army has shelled a maternity hospital and conducted an air strike on a military facility in Western Ukraine less than 15 miles from the Polish – and thus NATO – border, killing 35 and injuring 134 according to The Washington Post. Even as Vladimir Putin’s Russia suffers severe economic and trade sanctions, Ukraine is shedding blood, of civilians as well as its military.

Despite the obvious perils of a no-fly zone, proponents of NATO fighter jets closing Ukrainian airspace to Russia argue that the consequences of not doing so will be far deadlier. The proponents note that Ukraine agreed to give up its considerable nuclear arms stockpile in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in exchange for a guarantee of its security by the U.S., U.K. and Russia. Supporters of Zelenskyy’s pleas for a no-fly zone include retired Gen. Philip Breedlove, former commander of the U.S. European Command, who told MSNBC that Putin already considers the sanctions and weapons supplied by the U.S. and NATO to Ukraine to be acts of war. 

But the prevailing viewpoint by the Biden White House and among Western European leaders is that we can’t afford to turn this new cold war into a “hot war” with Putin, who has hinted about his nuclear might. The U.S., U.K and France combined have slightly fewer nuclear warheads compared with Russia. The violent use of but one of them, however, would be devastating. 

What to do about Zelenskyy’s pleas for help? 

Two of our pundits react to this grave issue, with Stephen Macaulay in the right and Eric Blair in the left. 

Tell us what you think with an email to editors@thehustings.news, and no matter what your position on a no fly zone, please indicate whether you consider yourself “left” or “right” in order that we place your comments in the correct column.

(MON-TUE 3/14-15/22)

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FRI 3/11/22

Gas Tax Holidays are up for consideration in several states, including Tennessee, Georgia, Michigan, Maryland and highest-gas-tax-rate-in-the-U.S., California.

Beat the Midterms – The House Democratic Issues Conference meeting in Philadelphia through the weekend are split over how to stem their much-expected loss of the majority to Republicans in this November’s midterms, Roll Call reports. But the party’s progressives, who spent much of 2021 pushing to make the White House’s sweeping infrastructure program contingent on its even more sweeping Build Back Better plan, appears to have a solution.

Progressive House Democrats are pressing President Biden to enact those “big chunks” of BBB as outlined in his State of the Union address buy signing a pile of executive orders (EOs), Punchbowl News reports. 

“We’re going to make sure that we do everything we can to cut costs for the American consumer,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chair of the House Progressive Caucus, who will release a slate of proposed EOs next week. 

Known Knowns: While this sounds like 2022 is 2021 all over again for the Progs, who appear to be acting like they have a commanding majority in the House, it should be noted that Jim Clyburn, the moderate Democrat from South Carolina largely credited with reviving Joe Biden’s bid for the party’s presidential nomination in 2020, “threw his considerable might behind the idea,” Punchbowl News says.

If the House Progs can convince the White House to stock up on ink for Biden’s Resolute desk, chunks of the nearly $2 trillion Build Back Better program to be given EO priority will certainly include the child tax credit, portions of the Green agenda and an increase in the refugee cap.

Known Unknowns: As a war-time president who got a bump in the polls after his SOTU from Trump-level low numbers, Biden may be in a better position than he was a few weeks ago to sign a pile of EOs, as House Dems – both progressive and moderate – attack their Republican midterm opponents as coming from a party of do-nothings and including even some pro-Putin candidates from the MAGA wing of the GOP.

•••

Meanwhile, in Constitutional News -- When someone pleads “the Fifth,” it generally goes to this clause in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution…

“nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

The Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, which undoubtedly knows more than a little bit about the law, explains it like this:

“To be self-incriminating, the compelled answers must pose a “substantial and ‘real,’ and not merely a “trifling or imaginary hazard” of criminal prosecution.”

Which sounds rather serious.

Michael Flynn appeared before the January 6 Committee Thursday. Politico quotes his attorney: “General Michael Flynn appeared before the January 6th Committee today in compliance with their subpoena and, on advice of counsel, exercised his Fifth Amendment right to decline to answer the Committee’s questions.”

This is the same Michael Flynn who once had a brief stint as the national security advisor and got a pre-emptive free pass from then-president Trump for charges that he lied to the FBI during an investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Why would you need to lie if you’d done nothing wrong?)

About that brief stint: January 22 to February 13, 2017. He barely had enough time to find out where the washroom is.

Why so short? Due to it being revealed that he’d reportedly lied to then Vice President Pence about conversations with Sergey Kislyak, who was the Russian ambassador at the time.

All of this goes without comment.

•••

Kick the Can No More – The Senate appears to have become as tired as we are with the age-old cliché about “kicking the can” -- that is, federal budget continuing resolutions, a few weeks or months down the fiscal year road in order to avoid government shutdowns. The chamber voted, 68-31 yesterday to pass a $1.5-trillion government funding bill that takes us through the end of the fiscal year, September 30, The Hill reports. That’s just two days after the House of Representatives passed the bill along with a provision to allow the Senate a CR that would have extended the deadline beyond Friday, the date set by the previous CR, to next Tuesday, to allow the upper chamber more time.

Some conservative Republicans had objected to voting on the 2,741-page bill without time to read it, but the $13.6 billion in aid tied to Ukraine helped speed the process.

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash

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THU 3/10/22

Inflation Rate Hits 7.9% in February – The Consumer Price Index rose 0.8% in February, the Labor Department announced Thursday morning, as measured even before the effect of Russia’s attack on Ukraine on already skyrocketing oil prices, for an annual rate of 7.9%, highest since January 1982. Gasoline prices were up 6.6%, accounting for nearly one-third of the February inflation rate, with food and shelter also leading the index, the Labor Department says. The annual inflation rate for 2021 was 7.5%.

•••

(Almost the) Final Kick of the Can – In the end, the House of Representatives passage of a $1.5-trillion omnibus appropriations bill for Fiscal 2022 seems anticlimactic next to all the news coming out of the war in Ukraine. But it’s not quite the end, as the Senate needs to take up passage and send the bill to President Biden’s desk, so the House added a four-day stopgap extending the deadline for federal funding to next Tuesday, Roll Call reports. The House passed the omnibus bill 361-169. Figure a dozen or so Republicans will join Democrats in the Senate.

Speaking of Ukraine, the House bill includes $13.6-billion in funding for the crisis there. 

Democrats stripped out $15.6 billion in emergency COVID-19 funding and determined that coronavirus relief needs a standalone funding bill, which is due to happen next week.

Known Knowns: Separation of the COVID-19 funding began when House Republicans demanded budget cuts elsewhere to accommodate the White House’s $22.5 billion appropriation request for coronavirus relief. That led to infighting among Democrats over concentrated power of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to Punchbowl News – so taking up the separate appropriations bill next week looks to be far from a slam-dunk. Expect House Republicans to take advantage of the infighting.

•••

Facing Threats, 1/5 of Election Officials Plan to Quit – One in six election officials have experienced threats because of their jobs, with 77% saying the threats have increased in recent years, and fully 20% plan to leave before the 2024 election, says a new report for the Brennan Center for Justice.

“As American democracy finds itself under assault from lies about the 2020 presidential race ‘being stolen,’ election officials are a prime target in the attempt to undermine future elections,” the report begins. “In 2020, in the face of a pandemic, record-high turnout, and a flood of disinformation about the election process and its integrity, these officials managed to run ‘the most secure election in American history.’” < https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/poll-local-election-officials-finds-safety-fears-colleagues-and>.

More than half of poll respondents are concerned about the safety of their colleagues, and more than a quarter are concerned about being assaulted on the job. The Brennan Center reports that safety concerns range from death threats that name officials’ young children to racist and gendered harassment. The report says 90% of election officials either are not aware of, or know little about, the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which investigates and prosecutes threats against election officials. (Hat tip to NPR’s Morning Edition.)

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Nic Woods

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Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news

WED 3/9/22

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (at right, above) last night thanked the U.S. for banning Russian oil imports.

Biden Bans Russian Oil, Natural Gas Imports – No American relishes the added hike to prices -- currently more than $120 per barrel according to NPR -- that will be caused by President Biden’s ban on oil imports from Russia, the world’s largest exporter, in an executive order announced Tuesday. Biden also banned natural gas and coal imports. Republicans looking to boost gains expected in this year’s midterms already have attempted to paint the White House’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as weak, even as former President Trump and a faction on Fox News continue to fawn over Vladimir Putin. 

Pump Gas: Average price for a gallon of regular unleaded nationwide has reached $4.25 per gallon according to AAA, NPR’s Morning Edition reports Wednesday, with prices averaging over $5.50 per gallon in car-happy California. 

GOP Arguments: This is no time to subsidize electrification and renewable energy sources (as found in the “green” provisions of Biden’s stalled Build Back Better plan), but instead we should drill our way back to energy independence.

“Democrats want to blame surging prices on Russia,” The New York Times quotes House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). “But the truth is, their out-of-touch policies are why we’re here in the first place.”

Biden’s Counterpoints: Oil companies operating in the U.S. “have 9,000 permits to drill now. They could be drilling right now, yesterday, last week, last year,” Biden said in announcing his ban Tuesday, (NYT). “They have 9,000 to drill offshore that are already approved. So let me be clear. They are not using them for production now. These are the facts.”

Other Support: Great Britain has pledged to phase out imports by the end of the year, and the executive arm of the European Commission intends to make itself independent of Russian oil in the coming years – even if that’s too little, too late. Moderate conservatives are lining up behind Biden, including the group Republicans Against Trumpism, which tweeted a copy of the ex-president’s “Save America” message from yesterday calling out the “highest gas prices in history,” which asks, “Do you miss me yet?” To which Republicans Against Trumpism tweeted, “NO.”

Also: The U.S. has been an oil exporter for most of the century, with oil supplies playing on the price-setting global market. American refineries built in the ‘00s mostly treat Brent Crude from other oil-producing countries so much of low-sulfur sweet crude from the U.S. is exported. 

A Mess for Texas?: A potential bright spot for Democrats this year is that the high oil prices likely will benefit states like Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota that were hit by historically low oil prices over the past few years, especially when prices turned negative briefly early in the pandemic. 

•••

American Authoritarian In-Waiting? – Former press secretary for the Trump White House Stephanie Grisham on ABC TV’s The View Tuesday, (per The Hill): “I think (Trump) feared (Putin). I think the man intimidated him. I also think he admired him greatly. I think he wanted to kill whoever spoke out against him.”

•••

Would the Wall Have Helped? — A 30-year-old U.S. citizen was arrested at the San Ysidro border with Mexico trying to smuggle 52 live reptiles into the U.S. that he had placed in bags and secreted on his body, the AP reports. Included were nine snakes and 43 horned lizards.

Note: “I would build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I’ll build them very inexpensively,” said you-know-who. Would that have stopped this creepy-crawly case? Probably not.

•••

Insurrectionist Convicted – Guy Reffitt, a recruiter for the extremist group Texas Three Percenters, was found guilty on all counts for his actions in the January 6 Capitol insurrection. He is the first insurrectionist to go to trial for the riot. Jurors deliberated for two hours before finding Reffitt guilty of five felonies in the federal case, The Washington Post reports:obstruction of an official proceeding, interfering with police in a riot, transporting a firearm for that purpose, armed trespassing and witness tampering. Reffitt faces a maximum sentence of up to 20 years. 

Also: Longtime Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was charged with conspiracy in the Capitol insurrection Tuesday.

Plea Deal Warning: While Reffitt’s son testified against him during the three-day trial, Reffitt’s wife stands by him, saying “This fight has just begun,” according to NPR’s Morning Edition. “Do not take a plea,” Nicole Reffitt said. “They are making a point out of Guy.”

--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods

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TUE 3/8/22

‘I’m not leaving Kyiv…I’m not hiding and I’m not afraid of anything.’ –Volodymyr Zelenskyy (at right, above). President Biden today announces a ban on Russian oil, natural gas and coal imports.

Welcome to the 20^th Century – The Senate passed by unanimous voice vote the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act late Monday to send it to President Biden’s desk for a certainly quick signature (per UPI). The bill makes lynching a federal hate crime.

“After more than 200 failed attempts to outlaw lynching Congress is finally succeeding in taking a long overdue action” by passing the act, says Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “Hallelujah, it’s long overdue.”

•••

Meanwhile, back in the late 18^th Century -- Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and consequently important to confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson as justice to the Supreme Court, put out a statement yesterday regarding the vetting procedure (which, from the outside, looks more like a meet-and-greet that an elementary school teacher might conduct with parents before a full-blown conference, wherein Mrs. Wilbur explains why Johnny’s behavior is too disruptive. . .) that is underway:  

“Vetting a nominee for a lifetime appointment to the high court is serious business. The American people rightly expect a full and thorough vetting process. We should not sacrifice the integrity of our constitutional advice and consent responsibility to meet an arbitrary timeline.” 

The Court’s next term doesn’t begin until October, so there’s absolutely no need to rush.” (Hat-tip, Punchbowl PM.)

That the Republicans put Amy Coney Barrett in the big chair in 30 days doesn’t seem to be precedent.

But here’s something to think about vis-à-vis the Iowa senator’s position. Grassley said, when opposing Jackson’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, he wasn’t “satisfied” that she “will adhere to the Constitution as originally understood.”

Yes, there is a school of thought of Constitutional originalism. But look at that: “as originally understood.”

How can anyone in the 21^st century claim that he can get into the mindset of someone from the 18^th century?

Did Grassley ride a horse from Des Moines to Washington? Does he work a pump in order to get water? Does he light his house with whale oil? Does he own more than one pair of breeches?

To claim that one can understand how someone thought in 1788 is, well, disturbing.

•••

No More Can-Kicking? – The House of Representatives expects to pass the fiscal year 2022 appropriations budget Wednesday, with the Senate following shortly after, Roll Call reports. House and Senate appropriations committees were making progress Monday on the 12 annual appropriations that compile the bulk of the budget. The third continuing resolution since the fiscal year began last October 1 is set to expire this Friday.

According to Roll Call, COVID-19 aid is one of the few major items still being negotiated Tuesday. If the House and Senate can resolve that, we’re good until this coming October 1, just a month ahead of the mid-term elections. 

•••  

Republicans Can’t Redraw Maps in NC, PA -- …for now. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to block state courts in North Carolina and Pennsylvania from throwing out their Republican legislatures’ congressional maps gerrymandered toward their party in favor of redrawn maps of the state courts’ own, according to SCOTUSblog.

Republican legislators in both states took their cases to the Supreme Court arguing their state courts do not have the authority to redraw their maps. SCOTUS declined to intervene without explanation in the North Carolina case and turned down Pennsylvania Republican legislators’ request in a two-sentence order, the website says, though four conservative justices on the Supreme Court signaled intent to return to the issue on a later date. It’s a Democratic Party victory in both states that may stanch, at best, their losses in the midterms. 

--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Charles Dervarics

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MON 3/7/22

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (right) and fellow soldiers fight to hold off Russia’s invasion. Russia has set another "cease-fire," but keeps hitting civilians.

Trump’s Harvey -- According to WebMD, about 65% of children have imaginary friends at some point prior to age seven. The site notes, “Many children know that these friends don’t actually exist, but they experience real feelings of comfort thanks to the friendship.”

Although it probably doesn’t take the form of an imaginary person or animal per se, it is almost as though Donald Trump’s continued fixation on how the 2020 election was “stolen” from him is predicated on him having an imaginary pal who is continuing to tell him that lie.

A reasonable person would think that after having lost more than a year ago, after failed lawsuits and recounts that showed his opponent actually gaining more votes Trump would have given up on this. How else to explain this other than his imaginary friend consistently telling him he is a winner making the only explanation for his not having won is because he was cheated out of his imaginary victory?

While it might seem to be a bit excessive to suggest that the former president of the United States has the cognitive capabilities of a pre-K student, a comment that he made at a Republican donors’ event in New Orleans on Saturday seems to belie that.

The Washington Post, which obtained a tape of the speech, quotes Trump as describing Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-CA) as a “watermelon head. . .because his head is shaped like a watermelon.”*

This is how a grown-up describes someone? The Wharton School ought to consider revoking his diploma.

One more thing from WebMD: it describes “Having an imaginary friend beyond age 12” as a “concerning” sign.

Indeed.

*It is perplexing to imagine that these wealthy Republican donors, women and men who have become successful in their given fields, serious people, could listen to a childish remark like this with anything but horror. Those among them who have children would undoubtedly tell Suzy or Johnny that such name-calling is completely unacceptable. Yet the line undoubtedly received laughs and applause, further goading the lengths to which Trump’s imaginary friend will take him.

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Ex-Prez: Don’t Buy This Book -- Donald J. Trump sent Lester Holt a letter because the NBC newsman interviewed former Trump Administration attorney general Bill Barr. The interview, broadcast last night on NBC and excerpted everywhere, was predicated on Barr’s book, One Damn Thing After Another, which will be released tomorrow.

Trump, who seems not to have done too well vis-à-vis leaders in the Department of Justice, calls Bill Barr “a big disappointment to me as Attorney General [sic], he was afraid to act, and usually didn’t,” in a letter filled with his typical superfluous capitalization. The letter was obtained by Axios.

Conservative and liberal pundits alike say no one should buy it, because Barr raises serious issues about Trump’s competence that he should have voiced while the ex-president was still in the White House. Perhaps there is some concern that sales of Barr’s book might take away from the demand for Our Journey Together, Trump’s word-un-intensive picture book, which the Republican National Committee purchased to hand out at last weekend’s fundraiser in New Orleans.

Trump did not feel it necessary to read the book before reviewing it for Holt: “I would imagine that if the book is anything like him, it will be lazy, slow and very boring.”

No word on whether Jeff Sessions has read the tome.

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Meanwhile … Up on the Hill – GOP lawmakers are attempting to pre-emptively stop the current attorney general, Merrick Garland, from carrying out prosecution of Donald J. Trump based on an expected referral by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection, The Hill reports. 

Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) said such a referral “would probably have as much political taint on it as you can get. … To me, it’s politically driven.”

--Edited by Gary S. Vasilash and Todd Lassa

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