Month: January 2023

Yet another excuse for Merrick Garland to not prosecute Donald Trump

benfell

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt


Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

You were just wondering what the next excuse for not indicting Donald Trump would be, weren’t you? David Von Drehle thinks it will be that a small number of classified documents have been found to have been kept improperly by Joe Biden and that that Biden’s response to the discovery of a much smaller number of documents has been entirely different from Trump’s evasion and refusal to return a much larger number of documents will not matter. Drehle also thinks Trump is now irrelevant politically and a trial could only revive him and therefore thinks this is a good thing.[1] So here’s the revised list of excuses (the first four are from an earlier update to the relevant blog post[2]):

  1. The Department of Justice cannot indict a sitting president.[3] Trump is no longer president, but
  2. charges against him would be unprecedented and therefore “[t]he evidence would need to meet a higher threshold than is necessary in a typical case.”[4] The Department now reportedly has sufficient evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of justice,[5] but
  3. then it would have been too close to the midterm elections, and the Department has a rule about prosecutions that might affect election outcomes.[6] The election is now over, but
  4. now the Department needed to wait for the special master review to be complete,[7] yes, the same special master whose appointment the Department successfully appealed against,[8] because the ruling appointing him in the first place was, by nearly all accounts, bogus in the first place,[9] but
  5. a special counsel is needed to investigate Donald Trump because Merrick Garland is too chickenshit to bring charges himself.[10]
  6. There is a false equivalence between the cases of Donald Trump and Joe Biden.[11]

All of which is to affirm the merit of dragging things out endlessly and needlessly: If you really and truly, desperately want to avoid doing something, yet another excuse just might land in your lap. It is also to affirm yet again that there is a dual system of injustice in the U.S., one for the rich and powerful, and another entirely for the poor.[12] We’ll see if Drehle is right. Obviously, I hope he isn’t.

David Von Drehle, “If the Mar-a-Lago case collapses? Disaster dodged, America,” Washington Post, January 13, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/13/trump-mar-a-lago-biden-classified-documents/

Jeff Mason, “Biden documents bungle seen as political black eye before 2024 launch,” Reuters, January 14, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-documents-bungle-seen-political-black-eye-before-2024-launch-2023-01-14/

Police White supremacist gangs


Fig. 1. Image credited to Darnella Frazier, made from a video posted to Facebook, of Minneapolis white supremacist gangster Derek Chauvin’s knee on George Floyd’s neck, May 25, 2020, via ABC News,[13] fair use.

There is a new blog post entitled, “Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey is afraid of his own police white supremacist gang.”

WTAE, “Controversial memo prompts Gainey’s response on secondary traffic stops,” January 14, 2023, https://www.wtae.com/article/gaineys-stangrecki-secondary-traffic-stops-memo/42507062

  1. [1]David Von Drehle, “If the Mar-a-Lago case collapses? Disaster dodged, America,” Washington Post, January 13, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/13/trump-mar-a-lago-biden-classified-documents/↩
  2. [2]David Benfell, “It is now even more urgently orange jumpsuit time,” Not Housebroken, November 18, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/08/24/it-is-now-even-more-urgently-orange-jumpsuit-time/↩
  3. [3]Department of Justice, “A Sitting President’s Amenability to Indictment and Criminal Prosecution,” October 16, 2000, https://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/sitting-president%E2%80%99s-amenability-indictment-and-criminal-prosecution↩
  4. [4]Perry Stein et al., “Justice filing points to new legal trouble for Trump and lawyers, experts say,” Washington Post, August 31, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/31/trump-lawyers-legal-jeopardy/↩
  5. [5]Chris Strohm, “DOJ prosecutors say there’s sufficient evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of justice: report,” MarketWatch, October 19, 2022, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/doj-prosecutors-say-theres-sufficient-evidence-to-charge-trump-with-obstruction-of-justice-report-01666188831↩
  6. [6]Michelle Onibokun and Chuck Rosenberg, “The Justice Department’s Policy Against Election Interference is Open to Abuse,” Lawfare, September 11, 2020, https://www.lawfareblog.com/justice-departments-policy-against-election-interference-open-abuse↩
  7. [7]Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey, “Investigators see ego, not money, as Trump’s motive on classified papers,” Washington Post, November 14, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/11/14/trump-motive-mar-a-lago-documents/↩
  8. [8]Charlie Savage, “U.S. Asks Court to End Special Master Review of Files Seized From Trump,” New York Times, October 17, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/us/appeal-special-master-trump.html↩
  9. [9]Jess Bravin and Aruna Viswanatha, “Judge Grants Donald Trump’s Request for Independent Review of Mar-a-Lago Documents,” Wall Street Journal, September 5, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/judge-partly-grants-donald-trumps-request-for-independent-review-of-mar-a-lago-documents-11662395427; J. Oliver Conroy, “Why did a judge grant Trump’s request for a ‘special master’?” Guardian, September 7, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/07/why-did-judge-grant-special-master-trump; Ann E. Marimow and Devlin Barrett, “Judge’s special-master order a test of Trump’s post-White House powers,” Washington Post, September 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/06/trump-judge-cannon-special-master-order/; Charlie Savage, “‘Deeply Problematic’: Experts Question Judge’s Intervention in Trump Inquiry,” New York Times, September 5, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/us/trump-special-master-aileen-cannon.html; Eric Tucker, “Judge grants Trump bid for special master in Mar-a-Lago case,” Los Angeles Times, September 5, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-09-05/judge-grants-trump-bid-for-special-master-in-mar-a-lago-case; Shan Wu, “Trump’s Special Master Suit Is Dead—Now the Real Case Begins,” Daily Beast, December 12, 2022, https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-special-master-suit-is-deadnow-the-real-case-begins↩
  10. [10]Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman, “Jack Smith Named Special Counsel to Lead DOJ Probes of Donald Trump,” Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/garland-to-name-special-counsel-to-determine-whether-trump-should-face-charges-11668796152↩
  11. [11]David Von Drehle, “If the Mar-a-Lago case collapses? Disaster dodged, America,” Washington Post, January 13, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/13/trump-mar-a-lago-biden-classified-documents/; Jeff Mason, “Biden documents bungle seen as political black eye before 2024 launch,” Reuters, January 14, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-documents-bungle-seen-political-black-eye-before-2024-launch-2023-01-14/↩
  12. [12]Jeffrey Reiman, The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Prison, 7th ed. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2004).↩
  13. [13]Catherine Thorbecke, “Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck for nearly 9 minutes, complaint says,” ABC News, May 29, 2020, https://abcnews.go.com/US/derek-chauvin-knee-george-floyds-neck-minutes-complaint/story?id=70961042↩

Allegheny County to vote sooner rather than later, probably helping to kill Pennsylvania constitutional amendments that would oppose abortion and voting rights

benfell

Pennsylvania

2022 election


Fig. 1. John Fetterman as mayor of Braddock, photograph uncredited and undated, via Next Pittsburgh,[1] fair use.

Shortly after Democrats won 102 of the House’s 203 seats, it became clear that control of the chamber would be complicated: One Democratic incumbent died shortly before winning reelection, and two others were also elected to higher office. That left Democrats with only 99 seated members when the session began this month — fewer than Republicans’ 101-member caucus.[2]

The battle has implications for Republican efforts to restrict abortion and voting rights. With a February 7 election, and with expected Democratic Party victories in that election, the Republicans have less, and probably not enough time to complete a two-year process of putting these constitutional amendments on the ballot,[3] though one might doubt that these amendments would advance anyway under Mark Rozzi, whom the chamber elected as speaker in a bipartisan deal.[4]

Jonathan Lai, “Special elections for two Pa. state House vacancies will be held Feb. 7, court rules,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 13, 2023, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-house-vacancies-special-election-feb-7-20230113.html

So-called ‘ridesharing’

Drivers


Fig. 1. “Clarkdale Classic Gas Station, Clarkdale, Arizona,” Photograph by Alan Levine, October 28, 2016, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

A New York Times article focuses on New York City Uber drivers, who enjoy some wage protection but are nonetheless drowning in operational costs, as I am. A court recently reversed an increase in those wages saying the Taxi and Limousine Commission needs to actually justify the increase. The article suggests to me that when Uber claims driver earnings are rising,[5] they include the commission that they take out of those earnings and that drivers in fact never see.

We don’t know how large that commission really is because, unless passengers tell us, we have no way of knowing how much Uber charges them. Uber’s cut has often been larger than what the company claims.[6] Even as tax time approaches, I’ll only know what Uber claims to have charged me in commissions and includes in my gross income; we know little of how this might be manipulated for the company’s own tax purposes.

It’s worse in most other places, where drivers enjoy no labor protection whatsoever, including in Pittsburgh, where drivers have seen what feels to me like a 40 percent cut in pay. This cut is existential for me, leaving me nothing to live on.[7] It means I must decline many rides because by the time I get to the pickup location, pick the passenger up, and take them where they’re going, I’ll have spent every penny I’d have earned on the trip.[8]

As cruel as Uber is, the bigots who have refused to consider my job applications for 22 years enable that cruelty and are therefore every bit as responsible.[9]

The New York Times article is additionally useful in showing how drivers take on costs they can’t easily back out from, including car purchases and debt that accumulates from a low and uncertain income,[10] even as drivers still have rent to pay, groceries to buy, and, crucially, cars to keep running. To give an idea, my own car, now a year and a half old, is just about to hit 100,000 miles. I still have about four and a half years of payments, which themselves are on the order of rent, to go on it.

But, we are to believe, it is the investor class that is oppressed by the working class. Don’t believe me? Ask Tom Perkins, a founder of the Silicon Valley venture capital firm[11] that ran the company (Linuxcare) where I had my last real job (that ended 22 years ago) into the ground.

Winnie Hu and Ana Ley, “Uber Drivers Say They Are Struggling: ‘This Is Not Sustainable,’” New York Times, January 12, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/nyregion/cab-uber-lyft-drivers.html

Gas stoves

When I was a kid, a lot of folks swore by gas stoves. The alternative was electric with clumsy temperature settings and elements that were slow to heat.

So guess what? There’s a problem with gas stoves. The health risks are by no means negligible and, of course, you’re burning a fossil fuel which isn’t a great idea if you’re worried about the climate crisis.[12]

The good news, and I can attest to this from personal experience, is that modern electric stoves, even the “traditional ranges,” are a lot better than what I remember from my childhood.

Shannon Osaka, “U.S. agency examines secret pollution source in 40 million homes: Gas stoves,” Washington Post, January 11, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/10/gas-stoves-ban-consumer-safety/

  1. [1]Kim Lyons, “Braddock Mayor John Fetterman keeps on truckin’ in his quest for the Senate,” Next Pittsburgh, March 11, 2016, https://nextpittsburgh.com/features/the-challengers-braddock-mayor-john-fetterman-keeps-on-truckin/↩
  2. [2]Jonathan Lai, “Special elections for two Pa. state House vacancies will be held Feb. 7, court rules,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 13, 2023, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-house-vacancies-special-election-feb-7-20230113.html↩
  3. [3]Stephen Caruso, “Pa. Republicans fight to prolong House majority and pass far-reaching constitutional amendments,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 17, 2022, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pa-republicans-fight-to-prolong-house-majority-and-pass-far-reaching-constitutional-amendments/↩
  4. [4]Stephen Caruso, Kate Huangpu, and Katie Meyer, “Democrats and a handful of Republicans picked the Pennsylvania House’s new speaker,” Spotlight PA, January 3, 2023, https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2023/01/pa-midterm-election-2022-house-majority-democrats-speaker-election/; Andrew Seidman and Gillian McGoldrick, “Mark Rozzi, a Democrat-turned-independent, is now speaker of the Pa. House after a surprise vote,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 3, 2023, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/mark-rozzi-democrat-elected-speaker-pennsylvania-house-20230103.html↩
  5. [5]Winnie Hu and Ana Ley, “Uber Drivers Say They Are Struggling: ‘This Is Not Sustainable,’” New York Times, January 12, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/nyregion/cab-uber-lyft-drivers.html↩
  6. [6]Dhruv Mehrotra and Aaron Gordon, “Uber And Lyft Take A Lot More From Drivers Than They Say,” Jalopnik, August 26, 2019, https://jalopnik.com/uber-and-lyft-take-a-lot-more-from-drivers-than-they-sa-1837450373; Yujie Zhou, “Uber is hiding customer payments from drivers. Again,” Mission Local, November 16, 2022, https://missionlocal.org/2022/11/uber-hiding-customer-payments-from-drivers/↩
  7. [7]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/; David Benfell, “A life worth living,” Not Housebroken, January 13, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/12/27/a-life-worth-living/↩
  8. [8]In practice, I have almost no time to decide which rides will be unprofitable, so I’m just refusing all rides for which my pay will be under $10.00. I’m not happy about this. Pittsburgh has steep hills, harsh weather, and crappy bus service; people need these rides whether they’ll be profitable or not. But I need to be earning money.↩
  9. [9]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/↩
  10. [10]Winnie Hu and Ana Ley, “Uber Drivers Say They Are Struggling: ‘This Is Not Sustainable,’” New York Times, January 12, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/nyregion/cab-uber-lyft-drivers.html↩
  11. [11]Tom Perkins, “Progressive Kristallnacht Coming?” Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2014, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304549504579316913982034286↩
  12. [12]Shannon Osaka, “U.S. agency examines secret pollution source in 40 million homes: Gas stoves,” Washington Post, January 11, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/10/gas-stoves-ban-consumer-safety/↩

Epitaphs

benfell

Gilead

Twitter


Fig. 1. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[1] fair use.

Mathew Ingram, “Is Twitter dying? And what would that mean for journalism?” Columbia Journalism Review, January 12, 2023, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/twitter_musk_dying_journalism.php

Police White supremacist gangs


Fig. 2. Image credited to Darnella Frazier, made from a video posted to Facebook, of Minneapolis white supremacist gangster Derek Chauvin’s knee on George Floyd’s neck, May 25, 2020, via ABC News,[2] fair use.

Kiley Koscinski, “Pittsburgh Police resume secondary traffic stops despite city ordinance against them,” WESA, January 12, 2023, https://www.wesa.fm/politics-government/2023-01-12/pittsburgh-police-resume-secondary-traffic-stops-despite-city-ordinance-against-them

Speaker of the House of Representatives, 2023


Fig. 3. Photograph credited to Office of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, date inconsistent with title but given as November 9, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Natalie Andrews, “What’s in Kevin McCarthy’s Deal With Conservatives,” Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-in-kevin-mccarthys-deal-with-conservatives-11673188873

David Morgan and Moira Warburton, “U.S. House adopts rules sought by hardliners to control McCarthy,” Reuters, January 9, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-vote-rules-that-will-constrain-mccarthys-power-2023-01-09/

Julia Ioffe, “Kevin McCarthy’s Permanent Crisis,” Puck News, January 10, 2023, https://puck.news/kevin-mccarthys-permanent-crisis/

Tina Nguyen, “Kevaggedon and the Discontents,” Puck News, January 11, 2023, https://puck.news/kevaggedon-the-discontents/

Tara Palmeri, “Motion to Vacate Roulette,” Puck News, January 12, 2023, https://puck.news/motion-to-vacate-roulette/

Donald Trump

Finances


Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Corinne Ramey, “Trump Organization Ordered to Pay About $1.6 Million in Criminal Fines for Tax Fraud,” Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-organization-to-be-sentenced-friday-in-tax-fraud-case-11673567691

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh

Infrastructure


Fig. 4. Post-collapse scene at the Fern Hollow Bridge, photograph by National Transportation Safety Board, January 29, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

WTAE, “Neighbors ‘on edge’ as pieces of debris fall from Pittsburgh bridge,” January 12, 2023, https://www.wtae.com/article/neighbors-on-edge-as-pieces-of-debris-fall-from-pittsburgh-bridge/42474392

So-called ‘ridesharing’

Drivers


Fig. 1. “Clarkdale Classic Gas Station, Clarkdale, Arizona,” Photograph by Alan Levine, October 28, 2016, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

I was shocked when my doctor suggested Tums.

I’ve been having horrible post-nasal drip and the sort of cough that follows from horrible post-nasal drip. The usual remedies weren’t effective, so my doctor suggested that acid reflux might be the cause. And it turns out to be the case.

The stress of my situation, having no apparent way out of Uber driving even as driver pay drops to effectively nothing[3] is now having a direct impact on my health.

Suggestions have been offered but these do not address the abuse I have been enduring from Uber, nor do they make my life even remotely financially sustainable. In addition, there are roads I have been down before, that I think are no longer feasible, and that I am in any case unwilling to endure again. Those are, or were, roads for people who expect to be able to significantly outlive them.

I see lots of talk about how people should seek help rather than contemplate suicide. The assumption that attends such talk is that suicide is purely the result of psychological (individual) problems and generally refuses to acknowledge, let alone address systemic socioeconomic problems.

I’ve have been pleading for help for decades and no one has meaningfully responded. If folks really value my life, they need to come up with a way to make it a life that’s livable. Because I can’t live this one.

  1. [1]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
  2. [2]Catherine Thorbecke, “Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck for nearly 9 minutes, complaint says,” ABC News, May 29, 2020, https://abcnews.go.com/US/derek-chauvin-knee-george-floyds-neck-minutes-complaint/story?id=70961042↩
  3. [3]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/; David Benfell, “A life worth living,” Not Housebroken, January 3, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/12/27/a-life-worth-living/↩

Back to delusion with the Brookings Institution. Oh yeah, and Tesla.

benfell

Secession


Fig. 1. A flag for the would-be state of Jefferson is seen along the Klamath River Highway in California. Photograph by MPSharwood, September 9, 2012, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

There is a new blog post entitled, “Functional disenfranchisement and secession movements.”

Colby Galliher and Edison Forman, “County secession: Local efforts to redraw political borders,” Brookings, January 10, 2023, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2023/01/10/county-secession-local-efforts-to-redraw-political-borders/

Self-driving cars


Fig. 1. Photograph by Mark Doliner, August 1, 2012, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Ken Klippenstein, “Surveillance Footage of Tesla Crash on Bay Bridge,” Intercept, January 10, 2023, https://theintercept.com/2023/01/10/tesla-crash-footage-autopilot/

Shuffling Russian military commanders or deck chairs on the Titanic: Which is it?

benfell

Ukraine


Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[1] fair use.

It’s probably futile, but I’m trying to keep track of the names here.

Russia has appointed Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, as its overall commander for the war in Ukraine, in the latest of several major shake-ups of Moscow’s military leadership during the stumbling invasion of its neighbour. . . .

Sergei Surovikin, a notorious general nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian media, who was appointed as overall commander of the army in October, would stay on as a deputy of Gerasimov, the defence ministry said. . . .

On Tuesday evening, the head of Russian’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin [who has previously criticised Gerasimov and Shoigu], lashed out against the country’s defence ministry, boasting that his combat experience was “in many ways significantly superior to those who have been in the service of the ministry of defence for decades”.[2]

I have no great insight here, but Julia Ioffe has pointed to Yevgeny Prigozhin as possibly plotting a coup to replace Vladimir Putin[3] and this move[4] seems to keep him at a certain distance from a defense establishment that detests him.[5] (Prigozhin has also admitted efforts to interfere in U.S. elections.[6]) But also, so far as I know, Evgenia Markovna Albats’ forecast that Putin might be toppled in the spring[7] is still in play; indeed, I’ve seen reshuffles like those now playing out in Moscow as attempts to ward off such attempts. On the other hand, there’s always that trope about shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. Which is it? Like I said, I have no great insight.

Peter Beaumont and Pjotr Sauer, “Russia replaces general in charge of Ukraine war in latest military shake-up,” Guardian, January 11, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/11/russia-replaces-general-in-charge-of-ukraine-war-in-latest-military-shake-up

Work


Fig. 1. The spectre of Death, in the form of a large skeleton, rises with the smoke and flames of the burning Asch Building during the Triangle fire, as people jump and fall to their death. Artist unknown, from International Ladies Garment Workers Union Photographs (1885-1985) at The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

These schemes—which often involve fictitious job listings, interviews with fake recruiters and sham onboarding processes to steal job seekers’ money or identities—proliferated during the pandemic alongside virtual hiring and remote work, according to Federal Trade Commission data. Scammers now appear to be zeroing in on workers who have recently lost jobs, particularly in the tech industry, workforce experts and recent job-scam victims say. . . .

Job seekers say some fraudsters create fake job postings to draw them in, sometimes building websites to make dummy companies appear legitimate, while others impersonate established brands, authorities say. Some companies misrepresented by fake recruiters, like Coinbase, have added scam warnings to their websites. Once the applicant accepts the offer, the phony company will ask for sensitive information like Social Security and bank account numbers or request the job seeker pay upfront for work-related equipment.

“People have been struggling in a number of different ways, including needing a good source of income, and scammers are unfortunately capitalizing on that,” said Kati Daffan, assistant director in the FTC’s marketing-practices division, which monitors the schemes.[8]

Imani Moise, “Laid-Off Workers Are Flooded With Fake Job Offers,” Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/laid-off-workers-are-flooded-with-fake-job-offers-11673387875

  1. [1]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
  2. [2]Peter Beaumont and Pjotr Sauer, “Russia replaces general in charge of Ukraine war in latest military shake-up,” Guardian, January 11, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/11/russia-replaces-general-in-charge-of-ukraine-war-in-latest-military-shake-up↩
  3. [3]Julia Ioffe, “‘Putin’s Chef’: The Man Behind Russia’s Shadow Army,” Puck News, December 13, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-chef-the-man-behind-russias-shadow-army/↩
  4. [4]Peter Beaumont and Pjotr Sauer, “Russia replaces general in charge of Ukraine war in latest military shake-up,” Guardian, January 11, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/11/russia-replaces-general-in-charge-of-ukraine-war-in-latest-military-shake-up↩
  5. [5]Julia Ioffe, “‘Putin’s Chef’: The Man Behind Russia’s Shadow Army,” Puck News, December 13, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-chef-the-man-behind-russias-shadow-army/↩
  6. [6]Reuters, “Russia’s Prigozhin admits interfering in U.S. elections,” November 7, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/russias-prigozhin-admits-interfering-us-elections-2022-11-07/↩
  7. [7]Julia Ioffe, “Fear and Loathing in Moscow,” Puck News, September 13, 2022, https://puck.news/fear-and-loathing-in-moscow/↩
  8. [8]Imani Moise, “Laid-Off Workers Are Flooded With Fake Job Offers,” Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/laid-off-workers-are-flooded-with-fake-job-offers-11673387875↩

‘Whatever Jim Jordan wants to do’

benfell

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt


Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

“Its mandate is whatever Jim Jordan wants to do,” said one congressional investigator who works on oversight issues and who, like others in this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions and plans. . . .

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said after the vote to form the committee: “Jim Jordan is the most powerful chairman in Congress, with broad discretion on what he wants to investigate now. What I’m interested in seeing is who will be sitting on this committee. [Jordan] gets to handpick.”[1]

Jacqueline Alemany and Devlin Barrett, “House Republicans form committee to investigate the government,” Washington Post, January 10, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/10/house-vote-republicans-committee-investigate-government/

Bess Levin, “Merrick Garland’s Special Counsel Is Zeroing In On Trump’s Inner Circle,” Vanity Fair, January 10, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/donald-trump-jack-smith-special-counsel-investigation

Speaker of the House of Representatives, 2023


Fig. 1. Photograph credited to Office of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, date inconsistent with title but given as November 9, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Natalie Andrews, “What’s in Kevin McCarthy’s Deal With Conservatives,” Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-in-kevin-mccarthys-deal-with-conservatives-11673188873

David Morgan and Moira Warburton, “U.S. House adopts rules sought by hardliners to control McCarthy,” Reuters, January 9, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-vote-rules-that-will-constrain-mccarthys-power-2023-01-09/

Julia Ioffe, “Kevin McCarthy’s Permanent Crisis,” Puck News, January 10, 2023, https://puck.news/kevin-mccarthys-permanent-crisis/

Tina Nguyen, “Kevaggedon and the Discontents,” Puck News, January 11, 2023, https://puck.news/kevaggedon-the-discontents/

  1. [1]Jacqueline Alemany and Devlin Barrett, “House Republicans form committee to investigate the government,” Washington Post, January 10, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/10/house-vote-republicans-committee-investigate-government/↩

Allen Weisselberg sentenced to five months, will likely serve 100 days. Trump Organization to be sentenced Friday.

benfell

Gilead

Donald Trump

Finances


Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

[Allen] Weisselberg is expected to go to the Rikers Island city jail complex to serve about 100 days of his [five-month] sentence on the expectation he will be credited for good behavior and released in April, according to [defense lawyer Nicholas Gravante, Jr.]. His age or health conditions could also mean he will be placed in the medical ward, or he could be segregated from the general population of inmates because of his notoriety. . . .

The Trump Organization faces fines and penalties of up to $1.6 million. The company will be sentenced Friday [January 13] for scheme to defraud, conspiracy, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records.[1]

Shayna Jacobs, “Trump financial officer Allen Weisselberg sentenced to five months in jail,” Washington Post, January 10, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/01/10/trump-financial-weisselberg-prison-sentence/

Speaker of the House of Representatives, 2023


Fig. 1. Photograph credited to Office of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, date inconsistent with title but given as November 9, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Natalie Andrews, “What’s in Kevin McCarthy’s Deal With Conservatives,” Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-in-kevin-mccarthys-deal-with-conservatives-11673188873

David Morgan and Moira Warburton, “U.S. House adopts rules sought by hardliners to control McCarthy,” Reuters, January 9, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-vote-rules-that-will-constrain-mccarthys-power-2023-01-09/

Student loans


Fig. 1. Unattributed and undated image via James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal,[2] fair use.

To prevent student-debt balances from ballooning in the future, the administration plans to halve, to 5% from 10%, the amount of discretionary income borrowers must pay each month on their undergraduate loans if they are enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan. Borrowers with incomes below 225% of the federal poverty line wouldn’t have to make monthly payments on their loans. The administration estimated that that level corresponds to an individual income of less than roughly $30,600 annually or any borrower in a family of four who makes less than about $62,400 a year.

Borrower loan balances won’t grow as long as they make their monthly payments, even if a low-income borrower’s monthly requirement is set at $0. The change would also forgive loan balances for people enrolled in income-based plans after 10 years of payments, down from 20 under many of the current options, for borrowers whose original loan balances were $12,000 or less.[3]

Gabriel T. Rubin, “Biden Administration Plans to Ease Rules for Income-Based Student-Loan Forgiveness,” Wall Street Journal, January 10, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-administration-eases-rules-for-income-based-student-loan-forgiveness-11673322971

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh

Unauthorized violence


Fig. 1. “Ed Gainey poses with CeaseFirePA during the 2020 Women’s March in Downtown Pittsburgh.” Photograph by Megan Gloeckler, undated, via Pittsburgh City Paper,[4] fair use.

Megan Guza, “2 involved in Route 51 police chase charged with homicide in Carrick shooting death,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 10, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/01/10/pittsburgh-route-51-police-pursuit-chase-carrick-homicide-charges/stories/202301100076

  1. [1]Shayna Jacobs, “Trump financial officer Allen Weisselberg sentenced to five months in jail,” Washington Post, January 10, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/01/10/trump-financial-weisselberg-prison-sentence/↩
  2. [2]Richard K. Vedder, “Eliminate or Radically Restructure Federal Student Loans,” James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, September 16, 2020, https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2020/09/eliminate-or-radically-restructure-federal-student-loans/↩
  3. [3]Gabriel T. Rubin, “Biden Administration Plans to Ease Rules for Income-Based Student-Loan Forgiveness,” Wall Street Journal, January 10, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-administration-eases-rules-for-income-based-student-loan-forgiveness-11673322971↩
  4. [4]Charlie Wolfson, “Neighborhood groups try to curb shootings as Pittsburgh’s mayoral campaign puts political focus on gun violence,” Pittsburgh City Paper, October 20, 2021, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/neighborhood-groups-try-to-curb-shootings-as-pittsburghs-mayoral-campaign-puts-political-focus-on-gun-violence/Content?oid=20401296↩

January 6 redux in Brasilia

benfell

Illiberalism


Fig. 1. Photograph by Joachim F. Thurn, August 1991, Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F089030-0003, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.

Anthony Faiola and Marina Dias, “Assault on presidential palace, congress challenges Brazil’s democracy,” Washington Post, January 8, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/08/bolsonaro-invade-congress-lula/

Gilead

Speaker of the House of Representatives, 2023


Fig. 1. Photograph credited to Office of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, date inconsistent with title but given as November 9, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Natalie Andrews, “What’s in Kevin McCarthy’s Deal With Conservatives,” Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-in-kevin-mccarthys-deal-with-conservatives-11673188873

The man who lost by winning

benfell

Gilead

Speaker of the House of Representatives


Fig. 1. Photograph credited to Office of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, date inconsistent with title but given as November 9, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

This particular drama is over. But is it really?

The deals [Kevin] McCarthy struck with a group of fewer than two-dozen hard-line Republicans will empower the far right of his party ahead of a congressional term that promises contentious battles over funding the federal government and increasing the debt ceiling.

“And so one of the strongest House Speakers in American history is succeeded by what is likely to be one of the weakest,” presidential historian Michael Beschloss tweeted early Saturday. . . .

The nature of McCarthy’s final bargain was not immediately apparent. But the rules package House Republicans hope to pass next week will reportedly allow a single member to force a vote to oust the speaker.

The far right also won seats on the powerful Rules Committee for members of the House Freedom Caucus and their allies. The panel, which controls how debates are conducted and bills advance in the House, is traditionally filled with allies of the speaker.[1]

Now the House of Representatives has to adopt[2] the rules that Kevin McCarthy agreed to.[3] And if it does, it’s hard to see what McCarthy has actually won.

[Kevin McCarthy] ceded so much to foes — effective veto power over must-pass legislation, greater say over committee assignments, allowing a sole dissident to trigger a vote on his ouster — that McCarthy will spend his shaky tenure, as long as it lasts, balanced on a razor’s edge. One nick and he’s gone.

Far more troubling, McCarthy’s cowardly concessions leave the country hostage for the next two years to an extreme fringe of far-right zealots, who threaten to turn the normal operation of government and such typically routine business — like raising the debt ceiling to avoid default and economic catastrophe — into a cliffhanging drama.

The deep humbling of McCarthy could be seen as cruel, a snub by fellow lawmakers whose power was made possible by the Bakersfield Republican’s years of hard work as grand strategist and campaigner in chief for the House GOP. But the drip-drip torture of prolonged balloting was so egregiously self-inflicted, so glaring in the making and so abundantly well-deserved that it is impossible to muster even the slightest bit of sympathy. . . .

There is an epithet thrown at those in the GOP deemed less than 100% pure: Republican in name only. McCarthy, eagerly stepping into a straitjacket of his own design, has earned himself the dubious distinction of becoming speaker in name only.[4]

Start placing your bets on how long this lasts.

Natalie Andrews and Eliza Collins, “Kevin McCarthy Falls Short of House Speaker Win in Three Rounds of Voting,” Wall Street Journal, January 3, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-prepares-to-vote-for-speaker-as-kevin-mccarthy-tries-to-rally-support-11672750973

Aaron Blake, “McCarthy’s big concession — and how it could hamstring a GOP speaker,” Washington Post, January 3, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/03/motion-vacate-house-speaker/

John Cassidy, “Behind the Humiliation of Kevin McCarthy,” New Yorker, January 3, 2023, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/behind-the-humiliation-of-kevin-mccarthy

Clare Foran et al., “House adjourns after chaotic day without electing a speaker as McCarthy fails to lock down votes,” CNN, January 3, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/03/politics/house-speaker-vote-mccarthy/index.html

Tara Palmeri, “We Need to Talk About Kevin, ” Puck News, January 3, 2023, https://puck.news/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin/

Clare Foran et al., “House adjourns for second day without electing a speaker with McCarthy’s bid in peril,” CNN, January 4, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/04/politics/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-vote/index.html

Molly Jong-Fast, “The Kevin McCarthy Mess Is Peak Trumpism,” Vanity Fair, January 4, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-vote-gop-trumpism

Nolan D. McCaskill, “Deadlocked House adjourns until evening after Kevin McCarthy racks up yet another defeat,” Los Angeles Times, January 4, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-01-04/trump-mccarthy-speaker-votes

Tara Palmeri, “Scalise Smoke Signals,” Puck News, January 4, 2023, https://puck.news/scalise-smoke-signals/

Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey, “The House hard-liners blocking McCarthy aren’t listening to Trump,” Washington Post, January 4, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/04/trump-mccarthy-speaker/

Dan Zak and Ben Terris, “Does the House even exist right now?” Washington Post, January 4, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/01/04/house-of-representatives-in-purgatory-without-speaker/

Olivia Beavers et al., “McCarthy nears tentative deal with conservatives after days of stalemate,” Politico, January 5, 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/05/mccarthy-bid-00076520

Aaron Blake, “What McCarthy’s concessions could cost him — and the GOP,” Washington Post, January 5, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/05/mccarthy-concessions-gop/

Bess Levin, “Kevin McCarthy Debases Himself in Hopes of Finally Winning Speaker Vote, Then Loses Again (And Again, And Again),” Vanity Fair, January 5, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-vote-concessions

Eric Levitz, “The GOP Is More Ungovernable Than Ever Before,” New York, January 5, 2023, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/01/the-gop-is-more-ungovernable-than-ever-before.html

Nolan D. McCaskill, “House adjourns for night after McCarthy amasses 11 speaker vote losses,” Los Angeles Times, January 5, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-01-05/mccarthy-speaker-thursday-votes

Tina Nguyen, “McCarthy’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold,” Puck News, January 5, 2023, https://puck.news/mccarthys-chronicle-of-a-death-foretold/

Mark Z. Barabak, “Kevin McCarthy ‘won’ the House speakership. Now the country will pay the price,” Los Angeles Times, January 6, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-01-06/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-house-vote

Jenavieve Hatch, Gillian Brassil, and David Lightman, “California GOP on McCarthy Speaker bid: ‘The Republican Party is entirely dependent on him,’” Sacramento Bee, January 6, 2023, https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article270831322.html

Tara Palmeri, “The McCarthy-Scalise Detente,” Puck News, January 6, 2023, https://puck.news/the-mccarthy-scalise-detente/

Nolan D. McCaskill, “Kevin McCarthy wins House speakership on 15th vote,” Los Angeles Times, January 7, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-01-06/mccarthy-speaker-jan-6-anniversary

  1. [1]Nolan D. McCaskill, “Kevin McCarthy wins House speakership on 15th vote,” Los Angeles Times, January 7, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-01-06/mccarthy-speaker-jan-6-anniversary↩
  2. [2]Nolan D. McCaskill, “Kevin McCarthy wins House speakership on 15th vote,” Los Angeles Times, January 7, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-01-06/mccarthy-speaker-jan-6-anniversary↩
  3. [3]Mark Z. Barabak, “Kevin McCarthy ‘won’ the House speakership. Now the country will pay the price,” Los Angeles Times, January 6, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-01-06/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-house-vote; Olivia Beavers et al., “McCarthy nears tentative deal with conservatives after days of stalemate,” Politico, January 5, 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/05/mccarthy-bid-00076520; Aaron Blake, “McCarthy’s big concession — and how it could hamstring a GOP speaker,” Washington Post, January 3, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/03/motion-vacate-house-speaker/; Aaron Blake, “What McCarthy’s concessions could cost him — and the GOP,” Washington Post, January 5, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/05/mccarthy-concessions-gop/; Bess Levin, “Kevin McCarthy Debases Himself in Hopes of Finally Winning Speaker Vote, Then Loses Again (And Again, And Again),” Vanity Fair, January 5, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-vote-concessions; Nolan D. McCaskill, “Kevin McCarthy wins House speakership on 15th vote,” Los Angeles Times, January 7, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-01-06/mccarthy-speaker-jan-6-anniversary; Tara Palmeri, “The McCarthy-Scalise Detente,” Puck News, January 6, 2023, https://puck.news/the-mccarthy-scalise-detente/↩
  4. [4]Mark Z. Barabak, “Kevin McCarthy ‘won’ the House speakership. Now the country will pay the price,” Los Angeles Times, January 6, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-01-06/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-house-vote↩

Kevin McCarthy’s best case: A pyrrhic victory

benfell

Gilead

Speaker of the House of Representatives


Fig. 1. Photograph credited to Office of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, date inconsistent with title but given as November 9, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Tara Palmeri has decided that Kevin McCarthy might win the speakership after all. With all the concessions he’s made,[1] it will be—I doubt there’s any serious dispute on this point—a pyrrhic victory.[2]

The stalemate is critical. What has become porn for Democrats and MAGA truthers is an exercise in outlasting the opposition. Despite 15 “no” voters throwing a lifeline to [Kevin] McCarthy today by flipping to “yes,” six die-hard, scalp-hungry antagonistes are still on the floor shooting him down. That leaves just two votes that he needs to break off, and maybe fewer if he can lower the majority threshold via some technicality. One Democrat is out for surgery, but so are a few Republicans. Would enough Democrats have emergencies to get off the floor? Unlikely. This is too rich for them. . . .

Increasingly, it looks like McCarthy might be able to squirrel away the votes and grab the gavel. This quote from [Matt] Gaetz is pretty telling about the direction these negotiations are going in: “I said there’s two ways this ends. And it was either the defeat of McCarthy or it was going to be the rules and personnel paradigm that gave us a functional straightjacket. And we’re working our way to one of those outcomes.”[3]

(I’m pretty sure Matt Gaetz means ‘straitjacket.’)

As for me, I’m calling this the same way I am a prosecution of Donald Trump: I’ll believe it when I see it and not one millisecond before.[4] That said, McCarthy has achieved the first part of this:

[Kevin] McCarthy’s camp is hoping that if they can winnow down his opposition from 20 to a half-dozen or so, the pressure on the remaining holdouts will be so great that enough would cave. McCarthy has also floated that if he can flip enough “no” votes into his column, he could convince others to vote “present,” helping him by lowering the number of total votes he needs to win.[5]

Only time will tell if this works. We’re down or at least very close to being down to the the hardcore “Never Kevin” crowd now and the question is whether he can get two more votes or win on a technicality that lowers the threshold.[6]

Natalie Andrews and Eliza Collins, “Kevin McCarthy Falls Short of House Speaker Win in Three Rounds of Voting,” Wall Street Journal, January 3, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-prepares-to-vote-for-speaker-as-kevin-mccarthy-tries-to-rally-support-11672750973

Aaron Blake, “McCarthy’s big concession — and how it could hamstring a GOP speaker,” Washington Post, January 3, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/03/motion-vacate-house-speaker/

John Cassidy, “Behind the Humiliation of Kevin McCarthy,” New Yorker, January 3, 2023, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/behind-the-humiliation-of-kevin-mccarthy

Clare Foran et al., “House adjourns after chaotic day without electing a speaker as McCarthy fails to lock down votes,” CNN, January 3, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/03/politics/house-speaker-vote-mccarthy/index.html

Tara Palmeri, “We Need to Talk About Kevin, ” Puck News, January 3, 2023, https://puck.news/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin/

Clare Foran et al., “House adjourns for second day without electing a speaker with McCarthy’s bid in peril,” CNN, January 4, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/04/politics/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-vote/index.html

Molly Jong-Fast, “The Kevin McCarthy Mess Is Peak Trumpism,” Vanity Fair, January 4, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-vote-gop-trumpism

Nolan D. McCaskill, “Deadlocked House adjourns until evening after Kevin McCarthy racks up yet another defeat,” Los Angeles Times, January 4, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-01-04/trump-mccarthy-speaker-votes

Tara Palmeri, “Scalise Smoke Signals,” Puck News, January 4, 2023, https://puck.news/scalise-smoke-signals/

Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey, “The House hard-liners blocking McCarthy aren’t listening to Trump,” Washington Post, January 4, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/04/trump-mccarthy-speaker/

Dan Zak and Ben Terris, “Does the House even exist right now?” Washington Post, January 4, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/01/04/house-of-representatives-in-purgatory-without-speaker/

Olivia Beavers et al., “McCarthy nears tentative deal with conservatives after days of stalemate,” Politico, January 5, 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/05/mccarthy-bid-00076520

Aaron Blake, “What McCarthy’s concessions could cost him — and the GOP,” Washington Post, January 5, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/05/mccarthy-concessions-gop/

Bess Levin, “Kevin McCarthy Debases Himself in Hopes of Finally Winning Speaker Vote, Then Loses Again (And Again, And Again),” Vanity Fair, January 5, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-vote-concessions

Eric Levitz, “The GOP Is More Ungovernable Than Ever Before,” New York, January 5, 2023, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/01/the-gop-is-more-ungovernable-than-ever-before.html

Nolan D. McCaskill, “House adjourns for night after McCarthy amasses 11 speaker vote losses,” Los Angeles Times, January 5, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-01-05/mccarthy-speaker-thursday-votes

Tina Nguyen, “McCarthy’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold,” Puck News, January 5, 2023, https://puck.news/mccarthys-chronicle-of-a-death-foretold/

Jenavieve Hatch, Gillian Brassil, and David Lightman, “California GOP on McCarthy Speaker bid: ‘The Republican Party is entirely dependent on him,’” Sacramento Bee, January 6, 2023, https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article270831322.html

Tara Palmeri, “The McCarthy-Scalise Detente,” Puck News, January 6, 2023, https://puck.news/the-mccarthy-scalise-detente/

Right-wing militias


Fig. 1. “ODF militiamen Frank Delollis, right, signals for a patrol party to turn around while searching the Old Roseville Prison property in Roseville, Ohio for enemy combatants during the Ohio Defense Force’s annual FTX on Aug. 21, 2010.” Photograph by Ty Cacek, August 21, 2010, via Time Magazine,[7] fair use.

Michael Korsh and Mike Wereschagin, “How the Oath Keepers turned Pennsylvania into a far-right militia recruiting hotbed,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 6, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/01/06/oath-keepers-pennsylvania-capitol-riot/stories/202301060080

Military


Fig. 1. Image of unstated origin and unknown date posted to Quora by Karl Burkhalter,[8] fair use.

Michael Korsh and Mike Wereschagin, “How the Oath Keepers turned Pennsylvania into a far-right militia recruiting hotbed,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 6, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/01/06/oath-keepers-pennsylvania-capitol-riot/stories/202301060080

Police White supremacist gangs


Fig. 1. Image credited to Darnella Frazier, made from a video posted to Facebook, of Minneapolis white supremacist gangster Derek Chauvin’s knee on George Floyd’s neck, May 25, 2020, via ABC News,[9] fair use.

Michael Korsh and Mike Wereschagin, “How the Oath Keepers turned Pennsylvania into a far-right militia recruiting hotbed,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 6, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/01/06/oath-keepers-pennsylvania-capitol-riot/stories/202301060080

Donald Trump

Coup attempt


Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Michael Korsh and Mike Wereschagin, “How the Oath Keepers turned Pennsylvania into a far-right militia recruiting hotbed,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 6, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/01/06/oath-keepers-pennsylvania-capitol-riot/stories/202301060080

  1. [1]Olivia Beavers et al., “McCarthy nears tentative deal with conservatives after days of stalemate,” Politico, January 5, 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/05/mccarthy-bid-00076520; Aaron Blake, “McCarthy’s big concession — and how it could hamstring a GOP speaker,” Washington Post, January 3, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/03/motion-vacate-house-speaker/; Aaron Blake, “What McCarthy’s concessions could cost him — and the GOP,” Washington Post, January 5, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/05/mccarthy-concessions-gop/; Bess Levin, “Kevin McCarthy Debases Himself in Hopes of Finally Winning Speaker Vote, Then Loses Again (And Again, And Again),” Vanity Fair, January 5, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-vote-concessions; Tara Palmeri, “The McCarthy-Scalise Detente,” Puck News, January 6, 2023, https://puck.news/the-mccarthy-scalise-detente/↩
  2. [2]Tara Palmeri, “The McCarthy-Scalise Detente,” Puck News, January 6, 2023, https://puck.news/the-mccarthy-scalise-detente/↩
  3. [3]Tara Palmeri, “The McCarthy-Scalise Detente,” Puck News, January 6, 2023, https://puck.news/the-mccarthy-scalise-detente/↩
  4. [4]David Benfell, “It is now even more urgently orange jumpsuit time,” Not Housebroken, November 18, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/08/24/it-is-now-even-more-urgently-orange-jumpsuit-time/↩
  5. [5]Olivia Beavers et al., “McCarthy nears tentative deal with conservatives after days of stalemate,” Politico, January 5, 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/05/mccarthy-bid-00076520↩
  6. [6]Tara Palmeri, “The McCarthy-Scalise Detente,” Puck News, January 6, 2023, https://puck.news/the-mccarthy-scalise-detente/↩
  7. [7]Barton Gellman, “The Secret World of Extreme Militias,” Time, September 30, 2010, http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2022636,00.html↩
  8. [8]Quora, “Do you agree with the Marine Corps’ decision to ban the public display of the Confederate flag?” n.d., https://www.quora.com/Do-you-agree-with-the-Marine-Corps-decision-to-ban-the-public-display-of-the-Confederate-flag↩
  9. [9]Catherine Thorbecke, “Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck for nearly 9 minutes, complaint says,” ABC News, May 29, 2020, https://abcnews.go.com/US/derek-chauvin-knee-george-floyds-neck-minutes-complaint/story?id=70961042↩