Just over a year ago, the North Carolina Supreme Court struck down the congressional and legislative maps Republican state lawmakers had produced, calling them “unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt.” The dispute eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and was argued in December 2022.
Continue reading “Buoyed By Newly Conservative Court, North Carolina Reaches For Fresh Chance To Gerrymander Maps”Cold Open
A bubbling conventional wisdom has been taking shape in the recent weeks that might best be stated as a question: what happened to all the Republican investigations? From one perspective it’s early: the new Congress has only been seated for a bit over two months. There have been hearings. There was one just last week into the so-called “Twitter Files.” But they’ve been low energy and mostly a bust. Outside of the right-wing media bubble they’ve been met more with derision than headlines and follow ups. A March 6 Axios headline read: “Jim Jordan scrambles amid claims ‘weaponization’ probe is a dud.” But the reaction inside the bubble hasn’t been any different. As far back as a month ago, Fox News’ host Jesse Watters angrily denounced the underwhelming show.
Some point to Jim Jordan not having the organizational abilities or chops to run impactful hearings. Others point to Jordan getting crosswise with the other top GOP investigator, Jim Comer. The most obvious explanation is that they’re just lame and underwhelming because they don’t have the goods. But even that doesn’t work as an explanation because the same could be said about the previous times we did this under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Something’s different.
Continue reading “Cold Open”FBI Report: Hate Crimes In US Spiked To Highest Level Yet In 2021
In 2021, hate crimes in the U.S. rose to the highest level since the federal government began tracking the data more than 30 years ago, according to the FBI’s most recent Supplemental Hate Crimes Statistics report.
Continue reading “FBI Report: Hate Crimes In US Spiked To Highest Level Yet In 2021”Founder of Voter Roll Maintenance Program Leaves Board After Onslaught of Far-Right Conspiracy Theories
David Becker, an election law advocate who helped create the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), is vacating his position on its board as a flurry of far-right conspiracy theories about the voter roll maintenance program prompted a handful of red states to withdraw from its services.
Continue reading “Founder of Voter Roll Maintenance Program Leaves Board After Onslaught of Far-Right Conspiracy Theories”DeSantis Engages In ‘Complete Gaslighting’ Over Florida Book Bans
Florida educators and advocates are up in arms after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) called news that books are being banned in Florida schools a “hoax.”
Continue reading “DeSantis Engages In ‘Complete Gaslighting’ Over Florida Book Bans”WH Demands Pence Apologize For ‘Homophobic Joke’ About Pete Buttigieg
The White House called on former Vice President Mike Pence to apologize to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for mocking him for taking paternity leave after he and his husband adopted twins.
Continue reading “WH Demands Pence Apologize For ‘Homophobic Joke’ About Pete Buttigieg”Here’s What Happened When Judge Kacsmaryk Told Lawyers About Secret Hearing In Mifepristone Case
On March 10, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in the northern district of Texas gathered the lawyers in a banner case on mifepristone, the abortion drug, to tell them of an upcoming hearing — that he was keeping secret.
Continue reading “Here’s What Happened When Judge Kacsmaryk Told Lawyers About Secret Hearing In Mifepristone Case”Unanswered Questions
TPM Reader EG notes a post from our friend Barry Ritholtz in which he notes ten questions or current unknowns about the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. You can find them here. As Barry points out, if past financial crises are any guide, we currently — that is to say, in real time — have only a very limited understanding of just what happened here and why. Presumably decision-makers at the Fed and FDIC had substantially more information that was the basis of the decisions they made on Sunday. But their understanding is almost certainly limited too. Check his post out. Often a knowledgable set of questions is far more illuminating than opinion and assertion in advance of any real understanding and context.
A few general observations.
Continue reading “Unanswered Questions”Inciter-In-Chief Trump Now Blames Mike Pence For The Jan. 6 Violence
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Upsidedownism
A classic of the Trump up-is-really-down genre: If Mike Pence had done my bidding on Jan. 6, there’d have been no violence.
Trump was reacting to Pence’s weekend comments denouncing Trump as “wrong” and predicting that history would hold the former president “accountable.”
Trump made his remarks to reporters aboard his plane en route to Iowa for a campaign appearance:
“Had he sent the votes back to the legislatures, they wouldn’t have had a problem with Jan. 6, so in many ways you can blame him for Jan. 6. …
Had he sent them back to Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, the states, I believe, number one, you would have had a different outcome. But I also believe you wouldn’t have had ‘Jan. 6’ as we call it.”
Putting “Jan. 6” in quotes is priceless.
D’oh!
Prosecutors say a Jan. 6 defendant violated court-imposed travel conditions by attending CPAC(!).
DOJ Calls Out Tucker Carlson’s Jan. 6 Revisionism
Forced to contend with Tucker Carlson’s selective use of Jan. 6 surveillance footage (because defense attorneys in the ongoing Proud Boys trial are trying to make it an issue), the Justice Department in a new filing dismissed Carlson’s video of “QAnon shaman” Jacob Chansley as not new, a tiny snippet of his time in the Capitol, and not showing his most incriminating conduct.
Michael Cohen Set For Second Day Of Grand Jury Testimony
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen is expected to resume testifying today to the Manhattan grand jury investigating former President Trump’s hush money payments to Stormy Daniels:
- Cohen spent three hours testifying Monday afternoon.
- Trump has “no plans” to accept Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s invitation to testify to the grand jury, according to a Trump attorney.
- Trump attorney Susan Necheles is the lead attorney on the case, according to another Trump attorney, and she has met with Bragg’s office, presumably to try to head off an indictment.
New Chief Judge In DC
The two-year term of U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell as chief judge in DC ends this week. She will be replaced by U.S. District James E. Boasberg.
The chief judge oversees the grand juries in DC, which has placed Howell at the center of the secret grand jury wrangling over two major investigations of Trump: Jan. 6 and the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.
Trump Faces Trial Next Month On E. Jean Carroll’s Rape Claim
Adam Klasfeld: What to know about the two other Donald Trump accusers allowed to testify at E. Jean Carroll’s rape trial.
Great Read
Sarah Posner: A Christian Chatbot Has Some Bad News For Republicans
SVB Fallout Rattles Financial System
Some of the key highlights from the last 24 hours:
- NYT: Officials with Signature and SVB called for looser financial requirements for midsize banks.
- WSJ: CEO Greg Becker Was There for SVB’s Quick Rise and Even Quicker Fall
- WSJ: “Regulators are planning to take another crack at auctioning failed Silicon Valley Bank, according to people familiar with the matter, after they were unable to find a buyer for the firm over the weekend.”
- Inflation data for February was just released moment ago.
Moody’s Puts 6 US Banks On Downgrade Watch
Moody’s Investors Service is considering downgrading six U.S. regional banks citing concerns over the lenders’ reliance on uninsured deposit funding and unrealized losses in their asset portfolios, Bloomberg reports:
- First Republic Bank
- Western Alliance Bancorp.
- Intrust Financial Corp.
- UMB Financial Corp.
- Zions Bancorp.
- Comerica Inc.
Bank Stocks Show Signs Of Stabilizing
Bloomberg: “A selloff in global financial stocks paused Tuesday after a two-day, $465 billion wipeout.”
Hates Crimes In US Hit All-Time High
WaPo: “Hate crimes in the United States rose in 2021 to the highest level since the federal government began tracking the data more than three decades ago, the FBI said Monday in a new report that also reflected a record spike in attacks targeting people of Asian descent.”
McConnell Moved To Inpatient Rehab
After suffering a traumatic brain injury and broken rib in a fall last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been moved to an inpatient rehabilitation facility to continue his recovery.
RIP
Former Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-CO) has died at 82.
Carter Vigil
President Biden let slip that former President Carter invited him to deliver a eulogy at his funeral.
DeSantis: Protecting Ukraine Is Not a Key U.S. Interest
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis released a statement Monday night – via Tucker Carlson – that protecting Ukraine is not a vital U.S. interest:
The venue Mr. DeSantis chose for his statement on a major foreign policy question revealed almost as much as the substance of the statement itself. The statement was broadcast on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” on Fox News. It was in response to a questionnaire that the host, Mr. Carlson, sent last week to all major prospective Republican presidential candidates, and is tantamount to an acknowledgment by Mr. DeSantis that a candidacy is in the offing.
DeSantis left himself some wiggle room, not going so far as to say that U.S. assistance to Ukraine should be cut off entirely.
Russia Faces New War Crimes Investigations
The International Criminal Court will open two new war crimes investigations into Russia’s conduct in Ukraine, focusing on:
- its alleged abduction of children and their relocation to re-education camps; and
- it deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructre.
Your reminder that the Pentagon is resisting providing intel to the International Criminal Court about Russian atrocities because of the U.S. military’s longstanding fear that it would open the door to prosecuting American personnel for war crimes.
That is of, course, exactly as it should be: The American military should be operating in fear of international consequences for committing war crimes.
A Bird’s-Eye View Of The Catastrophe
A remarkable visual story on the destruction in Antakya, Turkey, where some 20,000 people died in last month’s earthquake:
The earthquake’s death toll across Turkey and Syria now stands around 55,000.
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Where Things Stand: Not ‘Meatball Ron’ After All
Trump has decided to go with another nickname for Ron DeSantis, who, though he has not yet announced, is almost certainly running against Trump in 2024.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Not ‘Meatball Ron’ After All”