I’ve continued to read up on research into pandemic risks from strains of Avian Flu. I shared TC‘s note in which he argues that the barriers to bird-bound avian flu migrating to contagion among humans are greater than some press reports suggest. But those chances are not nil and they may be growing.
I had two follow up points I wanted to share.
The first is minks. Minks are a problem. A lot of the recent reporting has focused on a avian flu outbreak at a mink farm in Spain. The study behind those reports is published here. It’s somewhat technical but you can still glean a lot from it even if you don’t have any technical background in the relevant science. The group that studied the outbreak concluded that it was likely that the outbreak involved the virus spreading among the minks. So they were contagious to each other. It spread within the population. That’s obviously not good.
The rightwing provocateur James O’Keefe may face the music tomorrow.
O’Keefe, who founded and is synonymous with the conservative media outfit Project Veritas, was put on a paid leave while its board of directors is set to meet on Friday to consider his employment status, New York Magazine first reported.
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Don’t Be Fooled!
The House GOP’s hilarious-if-it-weren’t-so-corrupt subcommittee to attack the same federal law enforcement apparatus investigating many House Republicans and Donald Trump kicks off its first hearing today. It’ll be a doozy. It’s titled “Hearing on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.”
This is a full-frontal attack on the rule of law masquerading as a probative investigation. Period. End of sentence.
The witness list includes:
PANEL I:
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, Iowa
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, Wisconsin
U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin, Maryland
Former U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii
PANEL II:
Mr. Thomas Baker, Former FBI Agent
Professor Jonathan Turley, George Washington University Law Center
Mr. Elliot Williams, Principal, the Raben Group
Ms. Nicole Parker, Former FBI Agent
You’ll see a lot of news coverage of this hearing that will serve to amplify and legitimize it. House Republicans could run the Barnum & Bailey Circus into a Capitol Hill hearing room and political reporters would still cover it as a hearing because … it’s in a hearing room duh what are you, stupid?
Just remember, the Justice Department under Donald Trump was more politicized (the extent of which we’re still learning!) than at any time since Watergate. And the Trump play, adopted in full by the House GOP, is to accuse your opponents of exactly the wrongdoing you’re committing. It’s an obvious and easy-to-follow playbook. Don’t be fooled.
House GOP Stunt Backfires
Yesterday’s much-hyped House oversight committee hearing targeting Twitter didn’t always go as planned. It turns out the Trump White House did the very thing that conservatives have loudly claimed (without much evidence) that the Deep State did: pressured Twitter to censor unfavorable content. In one notable example, the Trump White House tried to get Twitter to take down this 2019 Chrissy Teigen tweet about Trump:
lol what a pussy ass bitch. tagged everyone but me. an honor, mister president.
Chad Wolf, who served as Trump’s acting homeland security secretary, spent four hours under questioning by Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team investigating the 2020 election subversion scheme, Bloomberg reports:
Wolf sat for a four-hour recorded discussion under oath a few weeks ago with several FBI agents and Justice Department lawyers rather than appear before a federal grand jury, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Michael Cohen Meets With Manhattan Prosecutors
His mixed role as witness and cheerleader for the Manhattan DA’s investigation into the Stormy Daniels’ hush money payments makes Michael Cohen a less-than-reliable narrator (not to mention that he served as Donald Trump’s fixer for years!). But if you’re closely following DA Alvin Braggs’ revived investigation, it should be noted that Cohen met with prosectors for the 15th time yesterday and said a 16th meeting is planned.
Fetterman Hospitalized Overnight In DC
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who suffered a stroke last year during his Senate campaign, was hospitalized overnight in DC after feeling light-headed. His staff drove him to the hospital and reported that initial indications are he did not suffer another stroke.
Biden Takes It To Republicans On Social Security
Fresh off his ad-libbed State of the Union attacks on congressional Republicans for wanting to eliminate Social Security, President Biden heads to Tampa for an event focused on Social Security and Medicaid.
Wednesday, Biden was in Wisconsin, hammering by name Republicans who have touted eliminating or severely reigning in Social Security: Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Rick Scott (R-FL).
The press coverage of Social Security still suffers from a lack of familiarity with how the program works. Many reporters are also bamboozled by Republican word games around Social Security “reform.” They feel perfectly comfortable saying Republicans oppose abortion, but they retreat to “Democrats claim Republicans oppose Social Security” because the GOP has disguised its intentions. But dismantling Social Security and Medicare has been an animating Republican policy position for at least as long as its well-documented opposition to abortion rights. Just say it.
Nationwide Ban On Abortion Pill Could Come Soon
The renegade federal judge in Amarillo, Texas, who is a favorite venue for conservatives will soon be poised to issue a ruling on mifepristone:
Eighteen states already have restrictions on the pills, many of them as part of near-total bans on abortion. But a ruling from Kacsmaryk — an appointee of former President Donald Trump — could either cut off access to the drugs in the mostly Democratic-led states where they remain legal or reinstate rules mandating that patients only be able to receive them in-person from a physician. Kacsmaryk previously worked for a conservative group, First Liberty Institute, that brought cases aimed at restricting abortion access.
Project Veritas Reportedly Puts James O’Keefe On Paid Leave
James O’Keefe, in one of his video stunts
The board of Project Veritas is set to meet Friday to consider the future of right-wing provocateur James O’Keefe with the organization, NY Mag reports. O’Keefe is reportedly on paid leave, but the organization wouldn’t confirm details of his employment status.
The writing on the wall: The board has apparently reinstated two executives whom O’Keefe recently fired.
Project Veritas is under federal investigation for its role in the Ashley Biden diary scheme, and laid off part of its staff just before Christmas.
In an interview with PBS’ Judy Woodruff, President Biden tiptoed a bit further into describing how he wound up with classified documents in his personal possession:
What was not done well is, as they packed up my offices to move them, they didn’t do the kind of job that should’ve been done, to go thoroughly through every piece of literature that’s there.
Also:
The best of my knowledge, the kind of things they [investigators] picked up are things that — from 1974, stray papers. There may be something else, I don’t know.
Hunter Biden Goes On The Offensive
The new more aggressive posture from Hunter Biden that I mentioned last week is taking on more concrete shape:
Washington attorney Abbe Lowell, who took over as Biden’s counsel in December, sent the “litigation hold” letters on Wednesday to 14 people allegedly linked to efforts to generate coverage critical of the 53-year-old son of President Joe Biden, according to a person familiar with the development.
Reporter Arrested While Covering DeWine Press Conference
DC-based Evan Lambert of News Nation was in Ohio covering a train derailment when he was arrested while doing a live hit from the back of a press conference being given by Gov. Mike DeWine (R).
Biden Being Biden
Reporter Jennifer Bendery carefully watched President Biden’s slow exit from the House chamber after the State of the Union, as a he worked the room and the room worked him. (This is the benign flipside to Biden’s sometimes cringey creepster tendencies.) It’s old-school politicking, glad-handing, schmoozing, and story-telling that you just don’t see much of anymore. Biden’s bipartisan aspirations often don’t fit the needs of the current moment, but they’re a reminder of a role politics can play in bridging divides, softening differences, and marshaling collective effort – at least when one of the major political parties isn’t trying to burn it all down.
Biden’s post-speech amble out of the House chamber starts here:
Correction
The Project Veritas board meeting is Friday, not today. The error was mine.
It’s been clear for some time that Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is using his constituents as pawns and his gubernatorial powers as props to prep his national image for a 2024 bid.
While each of his various policy proposals and attacks on public education, people of color, the LGBTQ community, immigrants, the media, etc. have been projected as the hardline governor’s humble war on woke-ism in his state, he knows quite well how to appeal to the MAGA crowd. And he’s been using his tenure as governor to boost his national relevance ahead of what is shaping up to be a nasty GOP primary.
And Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is following his lead.
Earlier today I posted this video in which Sen. Mike Lee reacts with disbelief and shock that President Biden said some Republicans propose sunsetting Social Security and Medicare. Pure disbelief. Where could Biden get this obviously false crazy idea? Note that he did this while sitting next to Sen. Rick Scott, the guy who actually formally wrote the proposal as the Senate GOP platform position.
Great moment from last night: Arch Social Security gutter and debt ceiling hostage taker @SenMikeLee (R-UT) reacts with incredulity to President pointing out GOP support for sunsetting Soc Sec and Medicare. And he's sitting right next to Rick Scott, THE GUY WHO PROPOSED IT! pic.twitter.com/cdmXzLs2Bb
Now look at this video from Lee’s first campaign for Senate in which he says, “It will be my objective to phase out Social Security, to pull it up by the roots and get rid of it.”
One of the cases brought by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ stunt election crimes task force actually managed to make it to trial this week – and it ended in a split verdict and partial acquittal.
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.
From 2016 to 2020, the Department of Transportation (DOT) was a dumpster fire. President Donald Trump appointed Elaine Chao, the Secretary of Labor under George W. Bush and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) wife, to run a department whose mission she either did not support or did not understand. Chao rolled back a panoply of rules and regulations. When COVID-19 hit, Chao allowed airlines to avoid imposing safety measures and paying refunds owed for flight cancellations—a decision that cost consumers billions.
By contrast, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has made the department responsive to the concerns of ordinary Americans. But, as with much of the federal government, the Trump-era damage has not been undone. While he has made progress on some fronts, Buttigieg’s DOT tenure shows him failing to keep a basic charge: using his authority to enact sound policies and undo bad ones.
With the future of Social Security and Medicare back under discussion — and not in a good way — we need to review a few points about how these subjects are discussed in the nation’s capital. This morning I saw some very solid, level-headed reporters noting that Rick Scott didn’t say Social Security and Medicare should be sunsetted after 5 years. He said all government programs should be sunsetted. And it just happens that Social Security and Medicare are government programs. In other words, these folks suggested, while Biden’s claim was technically true it amounted to a kind of cheap shot.
