Conjuring Chernobyl

🌻 🌻 🌻: The fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station outside of Kyiv triggered by last night’s relentless Russian bombing was extinguished overnight and at least for now another Chernobyl is not in the offing as radiation levels remain normal but the plant, the biggest in Europe, is now in Russian hands.  Elsewhere in the embattled country, despite valiant fighting by the Ukrainians, the Russians continue to make inroads. Fear the worst because that’s where things on the ground appear to be heading even if some Russian troops are underperforming. The US and its NATO allies might seize a few yachts and a number of oligarchs might actually be so upset about Vlad upending their summer vacation plans that they’re now calling for him to relent, but their pleas don’t appear to be doing anything to dissuade him from continuing on his relentless march.  If anything, he appears more determined than ever and in addition to ramping up his attack on Ukraine, Putin has shutdown Russia’s few remaining free press outlets while initiating a countrywide disinformation campaign intended to “educate” the Russian citizenry on why he had no choice but to save Ukraine from it Jewish Nazi leadership.    

January Sixth:  Back at home, the House’s January 6th Committee shot off some fireworks of their own.  Yesterday, they subpoenaed Junior’s fiancée Kim Guilfoyle.  Guilfoyle who stormed out of an earlier voluntary video appearance claiming that she wasn’t being treated fairly because some members of the Committee, including Congressman Adam Schiff, were listening in, a bogus complaint because Committee members frequently sit in on testimony even when their staff are the ones asking the questions.  Lap dance Kimmy’s testimony is being sought because she met with the Former Guy and other members of his family on insurrection day, screamed at the pre-riot rally and played a key role in organizing and raising funds for that event.  Kimmy is only one of the Committee’s remaining targets.  On Wednesday night the committee filed a legal brief refuting lawyer John Eastman’s claim of executive privilege that he asserts allows him to keep his critical files and records hidden from prying eyes.  Eastman is the Former Guy lawyer who told VP Pence that he had the constitutional authority to overturn the results of the election by refusing to certify the electoral college vote. The Committee had several valid reasons for rejecting Eastman’s claim but the one that lit up the TV screens was the suggestion that even if Eastman’s privilege claims were valid, the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege would apply, because they believe they have evidence that “strongly suggest that Eastman’s emails may show that he helped” the Former Guy “advance a corrupt scheme to obstruct the counting of electoral college ballots and a conspiracy to impede the transfer of power.” All that will make for interesting fodder during the upcoming TV hearings to the extent they ever happen and aren’t interrupted by the news out of Ukraine but from a legal perspective they really only matter if Attorney General Garland comes out from under his rock.      

Politic Unusual:  For the moment, Texas Governor Abbott’s efforts to go after the parents of transgender kids is on hold as a Texas judge has blocked the state’s efforts to investigate one transgender teen’s parents.  Of course, since he doesn’t like it when Texas gets attention, Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis, whose approval ratings in his state are actually above water at 54%, is now fundraising off of a video that showed him dissing some University of South Florida students for wearing facemasks and is expected soon to sign a law banning abortions after 15 weeks. Fish stick heir Tucker Carlson wants to see Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s LSAT scores, no matter that she attended Harvard Law where she excelled and has awesome professional credentials, apparently her LSATs, unlike those of any other Justice including those named Brett, Amy and Neil matter. What’s that about, as if we don’t know? Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, like New Hampshire’s Chris Sununu and Maryland’s Larry Hogan before him, has rebuffed Mitch McConnell’s and former President George W Bush’s efforts to run for the Senate.  That’s good news for Senator/Astronaut Mark Kelly who is up for reelection again in November.  Of course even though the failure to get popular Republican governors to run hurts the GOP’s efforts to retake the Senate, the Former Guy, who hasn’t forgiven “RINO” Ducey for refusing to overturn Arizona’s presidential election results is happy about Ducey’s decision.  One would think he would have shared that glee over his new social media site Truth Social, but apparently given its “start-up issues” no one would have seen it there if he did, so he didn’t.  One positive note, Democratic Senator Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico whose vote is needed to assure Jackson’s SCOTUS confirmation is back at work, just one month after suffering a stroke.