Very kind and thoughtful NYT review of The ⁦@Devil_May_Dance⁩ : “Jake Tapper’s Hero Is Embedded With the Rat Pack, Hoping to Catch a Rat” nytimes.com/2021/05/08/boo…

You can purchase an autographed copy of The @Devil_May_Dance at

jaketapper.com/titles/jake-ta…

If you’d like one *personally* autographed to you or a loved one you can order from either @eastcitybooks or @PoliticsProse

eastcitybookshop.com/book/978031653…
 
politics-prose.com/book/978031653…

Operation Mountain Lion

15 years ago today -- 05 May 2006

A day of horrible loss in Afghanistan:

Lt. Col. Joseph J. Fenty, Jr., commander, 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Eric W. Totten, Company B, 3rd Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Christopher B. Donaldson, Company B, 3rd Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment

One of the reasons I find genealogy so fascinating is how it connects you to history.

I just recently discovered that my family tree in the UK includes this man, Rabbi Bernd Koschland, seen here receiving an MBE from Prince William. 1/

2/ Bernd was born in Germany. His father Jacob, on the left in this photo, fought for his country in World War I.

3/ His proven patriotism didn’t matter once Hitler came to power.

After Kristallnacht, the Koschlands put Bernd and his sister on the kindertransport, the mission that transported 10,000 Jewish kids from Germany to save their lives. This is Bernd, sister Ruth, and mom Babette.

As is tradition before a meeting to a Joint Session of Congress, the president today held an off the record briefing with some TV anchors. Following are some ON-the-record comments he told us that you may find interesting. 1/

2/ "When I came to office, we had a circumstance that -- we didn’t have much access to information about what the state of play was in the various agencies. We didn’t have -- in other words, there was little transition that took place...

3/ "...So there was one thing that I was certain of, as it got worse and worse, is I had to do something about..COVID-19, and get something moving. But I didn’t know how bad off it was going to be...

From @jmhansler:

At the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance event, @SecBlinken delivered lengthy remarks highlighting the State Department’s complicity in the genocide and also addressed the current rise in antisemitism.

1/

2/ Blinken: “We remember not only what happened, but also how it was allowed to happen. We remember to look at the institutions and societies we’re part of and to understand better what they did and what they did not do...

3/ “...We must never forget the way individuals can make entire systems, from top to bottom, tilt toward the inhumane, how the sanitized language of cables, briefings and regulations can be used to turn away people we should be helping...

Lost amid all the criticism of @MLB for moving the All-Star game from Georgia to protest that state’s new voting law are some simple facts about what would have likely happened had MLB not done so, an informed source tells CNN.  1/

2/ MLB officials made the decision because if they didn’t then the decision would be left to individual players, individual All-Stars, some of whom no doubt would have individually boycotted the game themselves. 

In short: There was no way to avoid this becoming political.

3/ If MLB hadn’t acted, individual players would certainly have been asked from now until July whether they were boycotting or not.

It would have — arguably — become a bigger issue.

You may remember this story we broke last Fall about Trump Administration officials who were alarmed by the White House pushing to fast track a lucrative 5G spectrum contract to a well-connected company called Rivada... 1/ cnn.com/2020/10/20/pol…

2/ Untold billions were at stake. Sources told me Trump was encouraged to help Rivada by Fox commentator Karl Rove, a lobbyist for, and investor in, Rivada. Rove denied Rivada was seeking any non-competitive process, as many officials said Rivada was pursuing.

3/ Ultimately no non-competitive offer was made — though many folks close to the process believe if Trump had won re-election it likely would have happened and lots of folks such as Rove would have gotten very, very rich.

This is what happens when you live in a country where there is no First amendment. Insanity:

Variety: ‘U.K. media regulator Ofcom launched an investigation after more than 41,000 people complained about Piers Morgan’s comments on Meghan Markle.’

variety.com/2021/tv/global…

Governments should have no role in policing news broadcasts.

You can tweet Piers what you think of his comments, that’s not what this is about.

And the notion that OFCAM is in no way part of the UK government? Cmon. Empowered by government, board members named by government,...

https://twitter.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1369414946228998147

I have not seen the offending images in every book because the @DrSeuss foundation has been vague and opaque about the specifics. So: no, I’m not “on board” with the argument you’re ascribing to me. I’ve seen similar suggestions of overreach with McElligot’s Pool.

https://twitter.com/danielradosh/status/1368237548640813059

2/ Again, let’s stick to facts. Which also means let’s not put words in people’s mouths. If there’s a debate and discussion to be had — let’s have it. But Green Eggs and Ham is not part of that.

3/ here’s McElligot’s Pool —

https://twitter.com/wesyang/status/1368231055816265729

One of the weirdest parts of this culture war is that the self-styled “warriors” aren’t willing to stand by the empirically racist images they’re supposedly defending. Green Eggs and Ham is not one of the books the @DrSeuss Foundation has decided to stop publishing.

https://twitter.com/gopleader/status/1368011754425483265

2/ The NRCC will send contributors copies of The Cat In the Hat — also not one of the books that will no longer be published.

3/ The actual books no longer being published are:

- And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
- If I Ran the Zoo
- McElligot’s Pool
- On Beyond Zebra!
- Scrambled Eggs Super!
- The Cat’s Quizzer

.@nimaelbagir reports: @amnesty today said the UN must immediately launch an investigation into ongoing allegations of grave violations in the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, citing an investigation by CNN as well as one of its own.

@nimaelbagir @amnesty 2/ The human rights organization called on the UN to look into “potential war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

@nimaelbagir @amnesty 3/ The UN’s human rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet said there was a need for an "independent, objective assessment" of the situation on the ground in Tigray...

.@CDCDirector Dr. Rochelle Walensky said this morning she is “deeply concerned” about the potential shift in the trajectory of the pandemic.
 
1/

2/ While the number of cases had been declining, the most recent seven-day average of new cases at about 67,200 people represents an increase of a little more than 2% compared to the prior seven days.

The most recent seven-day average of deaths has also increased more than 2%.

3/ “Please hear me clearly. At this level of cases with various spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard earned ground we have gained,” Walensky said during a White House COVID-19 Response team briefing.

Here’s another and then I’ll stop annoying you all. Original photo:

2/ Colorized and enhanced:

3/ animated

.@NYCMayor de Blasio regarding recent allegations against Governor Cuomo:
 
“New Yorkers have seen detailed, documented accounts of sexual harassment, multiple instances of intimidation, and the admitted withholding of information on the deaths of over 15,000 people...

2/ “...Questions of this magnitude cannot hang over the heads of New Yorkers as we fight off a pandemic and economic crisis. It’s clear what must now take place.
 
“The State legislature must immediately revoke the Governor’s emergency powers that overrule local control...

3/“... In addition, two fully independent investigations must be held immediately into the deaths at nursing homes and the disturbing personal misconduct allegations. 
 
“Precedence shows that investigations of the Governor must be completely independent of his office...

House Democrats taking sexual harassment allegations against Gov Cuomo seriously and throwing cold water on his proposed “independent” investigation — AOC this morning:

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1366042045861793794

Chairman of House Judiciary Committee Nadler:

https://twitter.com/repjerrynadler/status/1365856145693437953

Rep Delgado:

https://twitter.com/repdelgado/status/1366041141208969218

This is Boris Nemtsov, born in Sochi in 1959, educated as a physicist. In the late 80s, before the collapse of the USSR, he became politically active protesting plans to destroy historical landmarks in Gorky, and - after the Chernobyl disaster - to protest a nuclear power plant.

2/ There was a time of hope in Russia, when young brilliant scholars such as Nemtsov, who supported economic and democratic reforms, seemed the future of Russia. He rose through the ranks and some saw him as a possible successor to Yeltsin.

Putin came next instead.

3/ Nemtsov's political career had ups and downs. Negotiating the early Putin era was fraught with risk. Soon enough, it became clear Nemtsov could not work with Putin to improve democracy in Russia. In 2007 he was arrested at an anti-Putin protest.

nytimes.com/2007/11/25/wor…

"The world is a beautiful place"

The world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don’t mind happiness
not always being
...

2/ so very much fun
if you don’t mind a touch of hell
now and then
just when everything is fine
because even in heaven

...

3/
they don’t sing
all the time

The world is a beautiful place
to be born into
...

#URGENT: US intel report finds Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS) responsible for approving Khashoggi assassination

2/ From @jeremyherb:

The US intelligence report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi says that that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman was responsible, saying he approved the operation to capture or kill Khashoggi.

@jeremyherb 3/ “We assess that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” the reports executive summary states.

In light of last night's US attack on bases in Syria, Psaki was asked about this 2017 tweet on AF1 just now, per @KaitlanCollins, and the @PressSec cited the NSC reason on legal authority about Article II of the Constitution and said there was a thorough legal review.

1/2

https://twitter.com/jrpsaki/status/850173258540474368

2/ Her 2017 tweet, Psaki said, was in ref to an "attack on Syrian military installations in response to a chemical weapons attack. Last night was a strike on militant groups in defense of US personnel under attack in Iraq. There is a massive difference in both policy and law."

3/ .@IlhanMN just told @JohnKingCNN she hoped the Biden administration would give a "legal rationale on why they authorized this strike without congressional approval...We in Congress have congressional oversight in engaging in war, and we haven't been briefed yet...

The previously scheduled Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing to vote on Neera Tanden's nomination to be OMB Director has been postponed, a possible indication that her nomination may be being pulled, @kristin__wilson and @tedbarrettcnn report.

2/ Reports @ryanobles: The committee is specifically concerned with how @SenatorSinema will vote and did not want to risk taking the vote on Tanden without knowing how she planned to vote, a person familiar with internal committee deliberations tells CNN.

3/ If Sinema, who sits on the committee, is opposed to the nomination then it is essentially dead. If she’s a yes, then the focus shifts to Murkowski when it comes to floor, Nobles adds.

.@MartinSavidge and @AngelaBarajas report:

On the one-year anniversary of Ahmaud Arbery's death, his mother has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging a broad conspiracy by law enforcement and the three suspects in a blatant cover up to prevent their arrest.

2/ The lawsuit filed in the Southern District of Georgia is seeking damages in excess of a million dollars. Cooper-Jones alleges that "for nearly three months, Glynn County Police Officers, the chief of police, and two prosecutors conspired to hide the circumstances...

3/ “... surrounding Ahmaud's death and to protect the men that murdered him. And none of this would've been discovered but for video footage leaked to the media, which showed the horrific and brutal murder of Ahmaud".