Friday Open Thread

18 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

1. Colorado Secretary of State announcement on candidates for the primary in my inbox overnight, with counts of signatures submitted, rejected, accepted, and required.  4 candidates getting enough signatures to qualify for the primary:

   • March 24 – Hugh McKean Qualifies for State Primary Ballot – R HD-51
   • March 24 – Adam Frisch Qualifies for State Primary Ballot – D CO-3
   • March 24 – Tim Reichert Qualifies for State Primary Ballot – R CO-7
   • March 24 – Tyler Allcorn Qualifies for State Primary Ballot – R CO-8

   No one announced as insufficient. 

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   1. More today:

      • March 25 – Rebecca Keltie Qualifies for State Primary Ballot – R CO-5
      • March 25 – Barbara Kirkmeyer Qualifies for State Primary Ballot – R CO-8

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2. Recusal, recusal, recusal? From Heather Cox-Richardson:

   In January 2022, Ms. Thomas’s husband, Justice Thomas, was the only member of the Supreme Court to vote against permitting the January 6 committee to see a different cache of documents concerning the fight to overturn the election. Trump had claimed executive privilege over documents stored as part of the presidential records archive at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); by a vote of 8 to 1, the Supreme Court agreed that the committee’s subpoena must be enforced.

   Considering that his wife might have communications in that NARA cache, it was likely a conflict of interest for him to participate in that decision.

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   1. Here is the scary thing about Thomas' vote in favor of the executive privilege claim that would have maintained the secrecy of his wife's communications – it's not a secret vote. He knew he was on the losing side of the argument, that the records would be released, and that his wife was going to be implicated. He did not care and does not care. The "appearance of impropriety" does not apply to him. He is doing God's work. He is above the law. He has complete impunity. 

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      1. Marcy at EmptyWheel: "CLARENCE THOMAS’ NON-RECUSAL MIGHT HAVE ALSO HIDDEN THE MISSING MARK MEADOWS TEXTS"

         You can click through to read what a nutjob Ms. Thomas is. But for this post, I’m interested in the how the texts that got turned over or did not relate to Justice Thomas’ decision, on January 19, not just not to recuse from the decision on whether Trump’s invocation of privilege over materials at the Archives, but to cast the single vote to uphold Trump’s privilege claim. Thomas’ participation in that decision may have had the effect of making a decision that would have — if four other Justices agreed with him — had the effect of shielding damning communications involving his spouse.

         This table is just a sketch, but one I hope helps the discussion among those who know the law and the details of the various requests better than I. This table shows that had Thomas’ decision been successful, it probably would have prevented damning texts from his spouse from being shared with the Committee (or, ultimately, DOJ’s criminal investigators), but just as importantly would have hidden the absence and possible destruction of some records that would be covered both by the Presidential Records Act (marked as PRA in the table) and relevant to the by-then ongoing grand jury investigation (marked as obstruction).

         Several factors affect the legal status of any texts that should have been covered by Justice Thomas’ participation:

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         1. If only there were ethical rules that were enforceable against Supreme Court justices, like the rest of the federal judiciary

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            1. ^^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^ !!!!!!

               If there were standards, we may have been able to know something about the multiple complaints about Judge Kavanaugh … instead of the ruling being "well, he got confirmed, and Justices don't have to abide by this, so we're dismissing ALL of the complaints."

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3. A little Triumphalism to lighten your day. Mark Summer at DailyKos: "Ukraine update: Russia now claims they meant to lose in Kyiv and Kharkiv".

   I've been avoiding DailyKos due to the tendency toward making polemic points, even if I agree with many of them… Anyway. The Ukraine coverage has been positive, which goes against my general pessimism. Summner's writing today is a ray of hope. Here is a taste:

   Well, Russia has some news for all those Ukrainians who thought they had beaten back Russian attacks. According to a presentation given today by the Russian ministry of defense, they never wanted to capture Kyiv or Kharkiv in the first place. So there.

   In what may be the most ridiculous propaganda session ever aired before the public, Russian commanders now claim that everything is going exactly to plan. They meant to lose 15,000 troops and at least 1,800 armored vehicles. Because all of that was just a feint, mean to draw Ukraine’s attention away from the real action. Which was … gaining a small amount of land next to the areas Russia already controlled in eastern Ukraine. 

   Confirming that this was indeed the news from upside-down land, Russia also claimed that they had avoided damage to civilian infrastructure and avoided civilian casualties. Which would be new to Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Iprin, Bucha, dozens of other towns, and most particularly, to Mariupol. As a side note, Reuters is now reporting that 15,000 people have been shipped out of Mariupol to unknown locations in Russia. That didn’t merit a slide in the Russian presentation.

   But the biggest news in the Russian conference, and certainly the largest surprise to Ukraine, is the word that Russia has now destroyed the Ukrainian military. In fact, the details of the slides show that Russia has (not kidding) destroyed "180 out of 148 S-300 and Buk M1 air defense systems”  and “300 out of 117 radars.” They’ve not just destroyed the forces that Ukraine has, they’ve destroyed forces that never existed. 

    

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   1. Something a little more cautious from Josh Marshall at TPM: "Trying to Make Sense of the Russian (Maybe) Pivot"

      From what I can tell, the more serious-minded military analysts and Ukraine experts are this afternoon trying to make sense of just what this afternoon’s Russian military briefing means. Is this just chatter along the lines of claims of a soon to be announced ceasefire or is this really the signal that the Russian leadership is looking for an offramp from this strategic catastrophe entirely of its own making? I don’t think anyone quite knows what to make of it yet. The claims of ‘this is what we meant to do all along’ are absurd on their face. And yet, they’re the most plausible and possibly even the most predictable path to a face-saving exit. In fact, we shouldn’t have to wait long to find out. If this signals a true pivot in Russian policy and war aims we should see movements on the ground in fairly short order.

      But one really has to question whether this pivot is even possible. And by possible I mean is it in any way a plausible path to the end of the conflict on any terms?

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   2. And, Markos himself has some good points to make. (He actually has military experience.)

      From the top, I’m stipulating that Ukraine’s goal is to push Russia back to the pre-invasion borders. You can read my reasoning here, but in short, while there’s a universe in which Ukraine might play for its full territorial integrity, the human toll (both civilian and military) would be frightfully high, and they would then suffer the same logistical challenges that Russia has. That piece also argues that Ukraine simply doesn’t have offensive weapons. But let’s talk about that. What if they were supplied such weapons? What would they look like? 

      There are three major offensives currently underway in Ukraine at this moment. Russia is advancing on the eastern Donbas axis, while Ukraine is advancing on the northern Kyiv and southern Crimea axes. In the north, heavy woods and hydraulic warfare (purposefully flooding the region) disadvantage armor. Russia was unable to push to Kyiv despite all their armor, and the current Ukrainian counteroffensive is, by all indications, an artillery-and-infantry affair.

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4. From last week’s Wray Gazette (I’d link to the subject but we’re not online).  Our little watermelon farmer (the one working to move ag water out of the San Luis Valley, and would be run out of Yuma County if was attempting as such in his own back yard) has tried his bit at humor in a Letter to the Editor:

   Do you remember when Governor Polis thought it would be a good idea to encourage a “meat out” day in Colorado (we Catholics call it Friday) last year on March 20th? 

   Pretty much the whole state responded by throwing BBQ parties. 

   Let’s keep that tradition going this year with the Yuma County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner.  We will be meeting for a social hour at 6:00 and dinner at 7:00 at 4th & Main in Wray on March 20th. 

   Of course, we will be serving beef.  Plus yard bird for those who choose because we believe in freedom (except for those who don’t want to eat meat). 

   In addition to sticking it to the Governor’s eye by joining your neighbors to eat some tasty beef, you will get a chance to meet many of the Republicans running for office in Colorado. Congressman Ken Buck will be here.  We’ll have candidates for US Senate, Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorney General, State Senate and State House. Your local candidates will be here, too. 

   Help us out by RSVPing to me, senatorbrophy@gmail.com so that we can make sure we have enough food for everyone if you want to come. The cost is $30 because, you know, Bidenflation hits everything. 

   Greg Brophy

   No reports of traffic jams on Main Street on the 20th, whether Hiedi!  Heidi! made an appearance, nor if Mr Pillow’s private jet made an appearance at 2V5 with a #PickledPeters. 

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5. Lock hin them up!!!

   

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   1. Russia! Find the missing two months of texts!

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6. Federal Jury finds that out of control riot police has cost the city of Denver $14 million dollars. Out of control, means that riot police hired by the city of Denver violated the 1st and 4th amendment rights of protestors.

   Pretty expensive cost to the city.

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   1. You'd think SOMEONE in city government might be able to propose a better use of taxpayer funds than paying judgments awarded to people injured by out-of-control oinkers.

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7. Prime numbers are divisive. Stop the abuse of all numbers. 

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   1. Just use Arabic numbers, Pfruit.  You’re angst will be alleviated. 

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8. Good summation on the situation in Ukraine.

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