Enrique Tarrio, a leader of the right-wing street gang the Proud Boys, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 6-related conspiracy charges.
Continue reading “Proud Boys Leader Tarrio Indicted On Jan. 6 Conspiracy Charges”Congress Passes Anti-Lynching Bill For First Time After Over 100 Years Of Trying
The Senate on Monday unanimously approved the Emmett Till Antilynching Act of 2022, which would make lynching a federal hate crime, and sent it over to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
Continue reading “Congress Passes Anti-Lynching Bill For First Time After Over 100 Years Of Trying”RonJohn Wants To Resurrect Obamacare Repeal Zombie
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
100th Time’s The Charm?
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Breitbart News Radio on Monday that Republicans should come up with a plan to kill Obamacare again if they take control of Congress and the White House in 2024.
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is absolutely going to love another Republican senator putting out more agenda proposals ahead of the 2022 midterms. It’s really working out for National Republican Senatorial Committee chair Rick Scott (R-FL), who says “hell yeah!” to telling Americans they need to pay more taxes.
- A record 31 million Americans now have health care thanks to Obamacare, the White House reported last year.
Tucker Claims Dems Wanted Russia War With First Trump Impeachment
Fox News host Tucker Carlson argued during his show last night that Democrats were angling for a war against Russia when they impeached Trump because they were trying to punish him for “failing to back a proxy war in Ukraine” (actually, what happened was Trump tried to withhold military aid to Ukraine in exchange for dirt on Biden, but okay Tucker).
- Carlson also blamed Republicans, who he claimed didn’t speak out against the impeachment because they wanted war too, “Maybe even more than the Democrats did.” Dun dun dun!
- Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) also is trying to blame Russia’s Ukraine invasion on those involved in Trump’s first impeachment, including retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.
The Debate Over Russian Oil Ban
Though the U.S. and its allies have slapped Russia with sanction after sanction over its unprovoked attack on Ukraine, they’ve been reluctant to take a major step to punish the Kremlin: A ban on Russian-imported oil. That reluctance seems to be waning in recent days, however.
- New York Times: “Venezuela could be a fill-in for Russian oil, but critics fear aiding another strongman.”
- Politico: “Biden warms to a Russian oil ban. Congress may not give him a choice.”
- Wall Street Journal: “How Oil Giants’ Bets on Russia, Years in the Making, Crumbled in Days”
SCOTUS Bats Away GOPers’ Bid To Uphold Gerrymandered Maps
North Carolina and Pennsylvania are keeping the neutral district maps that were drawn by state courts after striking down Republicans’ gerrymandered district lines in the two states: The Supreme Court declined to take up state Republicans’ challenges against the maps on Monday, dashing hopes for another Alabama.
- Democrats are likely to gain a seat in North Carolina under the new map, the Associated Press notes.
- However, SCOTUS’ decision isn’t necessarily the victory for voting rights groups that it appears to be on its face.
Florida’s Top Health Official Discourages Giving Kids COVID-19 Vaccine
Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo announced on Monday that the state’s health department will release guidelines recommending against vaccinating healthy kids against COVID-19.
- It’s a flat rejection of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommendation that all children ages five and up get the vaccine.
- Ladapo, who was appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), has been railing against governmental COVID measures to the point of claiming that masks aren’t saving lives and accusing the CDC of using “shaky studies, shaky methods” in its handling of the pandemic.
Lynching Finally About To Become Federal Crime
Biden is poised to sign the anti-lynching bill, aka the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, after the Senate passed it unanimously on Monday.
- The House passed the measure by a 422–3 vote last month. Reps. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Chip Roy (R-TX) voted against it.
- There’ve been more than 200 attempts to pass a bill criminalizing lynching since 1918.
Grassley Complains About Dems’ Speedy SCOTUS Confirmation Plan (LOL)
Ranking Senate Judiciary Committee member Chuck Grassley (R-IA), after backing Amy Coney Barrett’s two-minute confirmation right before the 2020 election, says Democrats need to hold their horses with Supreme Court Justice nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation process, which they plan on starting on March 21. After all, there’s “the integrity of our constitutional advice” and “thoroughness of the vetting process” to think about, crucial things that shouldn’t be sacrificed for an “arbitrary timeline,” according to Grassley.
In Case You Missed It
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) roasted the disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday after he whined during a speech at at a Brooklyn church that he was a victim of cancel culture and “prosecutorial misconduct” in James’ sexual harassment investigation.
- “Serial sexual harasser Andrew Cuomo won’t even spare a house of worship from his lies,” James said in a withering statement through her reelection campaign.
- The prosecutor also called Cuomo a “sick, pathetic man.”
Graphic Design Is My Passion
A pretty hilarious oopsie on Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s show last night:
Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!
A Ukraine Miscellany
A few points that seem important to absorb — some of which may appear to be in tension.
I ALLUDED TO THIS in my earlier post on my list of military analysts. We’re seeing lots of imagery of downed plans, shattered tanks, captured tanks, often with detailed information about where and how they were destroyed. But that flood of information often leaves us — even if we don’t know it — unclear on the big picture. This thread notes that many of us are getting an incomplete view of the situation in Ukraine because Ukraine’s (and its supporters’) social media efforts have been so effective. The issue here isn’t deception or misinformation, though there’s certainly some of that. It’s that the supporters of Ukraine are doing a very effective job surfacing imagery every time the Ukrainian army scores a tactical victory — destroying a tank, shooting down a plane. And we’re seeing much less of the fact that Russia is continuing to make progress on the ground — just slowly. Maybe very slowly. But they are making progress.
Continue reading “A Ukraine Miscellany”Where Things Stand: Shutting Down RonJohn’s Upside-Down Theory On A ‘Weakened’ Ukraine
As we’ve documented closely over the last 12 days of Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine, Republicans are offering up a confusing mix of reactions and deflections in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Some have praised Putin, others have condemned him. But all are mostly mad at President Biden, for a slew of reasons mostly tied to a vague assertion that he’s been weak on foreign policy since taking office.
But Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) offered up a rather unique and entirely backwards hypothesis last week when he suggested that somehow those involved in impeaching President Trump the first time might be to blame for the current war in Europe. Of those attracting his ire: retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who was himself born in Kyiv and also became an important whistleblower in the impeachment drama.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Shutting Down RonJohn’s Upside-Down Theory On A ‘Weakened’ Ukraine”Russia’s Wars In Syria And Ukraine Begin To Collide
Over the last decade, Russia’s military actions in Ukraine and Syria have unfolded in parallel. And now they are beginning to overlap.
Continue reading “Russia’s Wars In Syria And Ukraine Begin To Collide”Unforced Errors?
The AP has a new story about how unforced errors are potentially getting in the way of the GOP’s path back to a Senate majority in 2022. Most of us are aware of the developments the piece is referring to. You can review them here. I don’t want to get too deeply into the ins and outs of how bad this is for the GOP, whether it’s enough of a problem to keep the Democrats in power. But we know that in general this is a very real dynamic. Democrats managed to hold on to the Senate in 2010 in what was otherwise a brutal midterm rout. It happened again in 2012 — even though Democrats had to defend a ton of marginal pickups from the 2006 cycle. The dynamic is clear cut enough that it’s worth asking whether this is really a matter of “unforced” errors or whether this is what politics is like when politicians run in non-gerrymandered districts (i.e., states).
Continue reading “Unforced Errors?”Panicked White People Tried To Ban Books In The ’80s, Too — With Jerry Falwell Leading The Way
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published by The Conversation.
A conservative leader found fault with how “respect for our nation’s heritage” had been mostly stripped from the textbooks of public schools.
Continue reading “Panicked White People Tried To Ban Books In The ’80s, Too — With Jerry Falwell Leading The Way”Pentagon Extends National Guard Deployment In DC As Trucker Convoy Struggles To Gain Steam
The Pentagon on Monday extended the National Guard’s deployment in Washington, D.C., following the Capitol Police Board’s emergency request in response to a trucker convoy protesting COVID-19 mandates over the weekend.
Continue reading “Pentagon Extends National Guard Deployment In DC As Trucker Convoy Struggles To Gain Steam”The Kremlin Can’t Hide Its Ukraine War Dead: Reports Emerge Of Funerals Across Russia
On a dusty road near Mongolia on Sunday, hundreds of Russians turned out to bury Ilya Buldin.
Continue reading “The Kremlin Can’t Hide Its Ukraine War Dead: Reports Emerge Of Funerals Across Russia”