The Commentariat -- January 3, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Zeke Miller, et al., of the AP: "The United States is sending nearly 3,000 more Army troops to the Mideast as reinforcements in the volatile aftermath of the killing of an Iranian general in a strike ordered by ... Donald Trump, defense officials said Friday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity..., said the troops are from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. They are in addition to about 700 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne who deployed to Kuwait earlier this week after the storming of the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad by Iran-backed militiamen and their supporters."

Erin Durkin of Politico: "New York City is bracing for the increased risk of a terrorist attack after the killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani by U.S. forces in Iraq, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.... The NYPD will deploy additional, heavily armed officers at prominent sites around the city, officials said.... While the city has thwarted numerous terror plots in the nearly two decades since the Sept. 11 attacks, de Blasio said a conflict with a powerful state actor was different than anything confronted before."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Congressional Democrats are raising alarm over the lack of consultation from the Trump administration ahead of a deadly military strike against Iran's top general, which lawmakers called 'reckless' and a 'massive escalation' against Iran.... The sudden strike sets up a debate in Congress next week on whether Trump needs to seek authorization to respond to expected retaliation. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) ... called on Congress to act immediately to curtail Trump's military authority before he sparks another war in the Middle East...[:] 'Trump's 'maximum pressure' campaign has made the region less stable, divided us from key allies, and is driving our adversaries together. Congress must act to stop President Trump from entangling America in yet another unnecessary war in the Middle East.'"

Burgess Everett of Politico: "Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer have made zero headway on designing a bipartisan set of rules for ... Donald Trump's impeachment trial more than two weeks after their first face-to-face meeting on the matter.... In a rare Friday session, the two Senate leaders presented diametrically opposed views of how a Senate trial should go. Majority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.) continued making his case for starting a trial and considering witnesses and documents later, while Minority Leader Schumer (D-N.Y.) reiterated that Democrats are unwilling to agree on a trial's contours without a plan on whether new evidence will be introduced. The clashing viewpoints increases the possibility that McConnell seeks to build a partisan set of impeachment rules with the votes of 51 of his 53 senators."

Morgan Chalfant & Brett Samuels of the Hill: President Trump on Friday said Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the powerful Iranian military leader killed in a U.S. air strike on Thursday, 'should have been taken out many years ago' and that he was 'indirectly responsible for the death of millions of people.' Trump addressed the decision to launch air strikes that killed Iran's most powerful military commander in a pair of tweets that marked his first public comments on authorizing the action. 'General Qassem Soleimani has killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more ... but got caught! He was directly and indirectly responsible for the death of millions of people, including the recent large number ... of PROTESTERS killed in Iran itself,' Trump tweeted Friday morning. 'While Iran will never be able to properly admit it, Soleimani was both hated and feared within the country. They are not nearly as saddened as the leaders will let the outside world believe. He should have been taken out many years ago!' the president wrote." ~~~

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: One difference between a president and a president*: when Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Ladin, President Obama made a solemn address to the nation as soon as practicable. When a drone killed Iran's top military operative and his associates, Donald Trump sent out a couple of inelegant tweets.

Alex Thompson of Politico: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign announced Friday that it raised $21.2 million in the fourth quarter -- significantly less than progressive rival Sen. Bernie Sanders' $34.5 million haul over the same time period. Warren's fundraising total -- less than the $24.6 million she raised in the previous quarter -- is the latest sign that the grassroots energy behind her campaign has dimmed in recent months as she faced attacks from rivals and spent several weeks trying to explain her position on Medicare for All."

Elena Schneider of Politico: "Sen. Amy Klobuchar raised $11.4 million in the final three months of 2019, her strongest fundraising quarter since launching her presidential campaign."

Paul Krugman: "... Australia's summer of fire is only the latest in a string of catastrophic weather events over the past year: unprecedented flooding in the Midwest, a heat wave in India that sent temperatures to 123 degrees, another heat wave that brought unheard-of temperatures to much of Europe. And all of these catastrophes were related to climate change.... While it will take generations for the full consequences of climate change to play out, there will be many localized, temporary disasters along the way. Apocalypse will become the new normal -- and that's happening right in front of our eyes."

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Zachary Cohen, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump ordered an airstrike at Baghdad International Airport that killed Qasem Soleimani, a key Iranian military commander, in a 'decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad' that was intended to deter 'future Iranian attack plans,' the Pentagon confirmed Thursday.Soleimani -- the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force unit -- and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis -- the deputy head of the Iran-backed Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) -- were among those killed in the attack early Friday morning local time, according to a statement from the PMF, which said the pair 'were martyred by an American strike.' The assassination of the top military leader marks a major escalation in regional tensions that has pitted Tehran against the US and Washington's Gulf Arab allies in the region. Soleimani was revered in Iran, where three days of national mourning have declared. In a message published to his official website, the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed revenge for the killing, saying that 'harsh revenge awaits the criminals' involved." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times has live updates here. The Guardian's liveblog is here. ~~~

~~~ Breaking at 9 pm ET Thursday. Falih Hassan & Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "Iraqi state television reported Friday that the powerful commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, was killed in a strike on the Baghdad International Airport early Friday. Iranian and American officials have not confirmed the death of General Suleimani. The strike killed five people, including the pro-Iranian chief of an umbrella group for Iraqi militias, Iraqi television reported and militia officials confirmed. The militia chief, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was a strongly pro-Iranian figure. The public relations chief for the umbrella group, the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, Mohammed Ridha Jabri, was killed as well." Update: "The United States carried out the strike, the Pentagon said." ~~~

~~~ Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The killing of the powerful commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, in a drone strike on Friday sharply divided congressional leaders along party lines and reignited a debate over whether Congress should curtail the president's war powers. The strike, which the Pentagon said President Trump ordered and was 'aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans,' was a significant escalation in the administration's pressure campaign against Tehran.... According to Speaker Nancy Pelosi the strike was carried out 'without the consultation of Congress.' 'American leaders' highest priority is to protect American lives and interests,' Ms. Pelosi said in a statement. 'But we cannot put the lives of American service members, diplomats and others further at risk by engaging in provocative and disproportionate actions. Tonight's airstrike risks provoking further dangerous escalation of violence.'... Other lawmakers, like Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico, accused Mr. Trump of bringing the nation 'to the brink of an illegal war with Iran.'" ~~~

~~~ Zachary Basu of Axios: "Republican hawks like Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) celebrated the assassination of a designated terrorist whose activities in the Middle East have led to the deaths of hundreds of U.S. service members. Democrats, meanwhile, warned of the potentially destabilizing effects of the operation and demanded answers about the use of force without congressional authorization." ~~~

~~~ AP: "Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that ... Donald Trump has 'tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox' with the targeted killing of Iran's top general in an airstrike at Baghdad's international airport. The former vice president joined other Democratic White House hopefuls in criticizing Trump's order, saying it could leave the U.S. 'on the brink of a major conflict across the Middle East.'" ~~~

~~~ Andrew Exum in the Atlantic: "The United States is now in a hot war with Iran after having waged war via proxies for the past several decades.... I do not know of a single Iranian who was more indispensable to his government's ambitions in the Middle East [than Qassem Soleimani]." ~~~

~~~ Daniel Byman in Vox: "The killing of Suleimani, the long-time head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) is likely to prove a watershed in Washington's relations with Iraq and Iran and will substantially affect the overall US position in the Middle East. The blowback may be huge, and much depends on how well prepared the United States is for Iran's response and that of its many proxies in the Middle East. Based on the Trump administration's record in the region, there is reason to be worried.... With Suleimani's death there will be hell to pay -- and because of Quds Force's reach, Iran will have multiple theaters in which to attack the United States.... In the strike that killed Suleimani, the United States also reportedly took out the head of the pro-Iran militia Kataib Hezbollah, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and several other senior pro-Iran figures in Iraq. Kataib Hezbollah was responsible for numerous attacks on US and Iraqi forces, often at Iran's behest.... This, too, will not go unpunished: In addition to wanting to please Iran, pro-Iran militias in Iraq will be angered by al-Muhandis's death and the arrests of their leaders and eager to avenge them." ~~~

~~~ Wendy Sherman, in a USA Today op-ed: "It is ... Donald Trump's failed policy toward Iran that has brought us to this combustible moment. Iraq is a tough country under any circumstances, made more so after the 2003 U.S. invasion that upended the Middle East and cost so much in U.S. lives and treasure. But Iraq also created strange bedfellows. The U.S. troops worked alongside Iraqi and Iranian militia to destroy a common enemy, the Islamic State terrorism group. And even as Washington was confronting Iran over its nuclear program and malign behavior elsewhere, we maintained an uneasy coexistence in Iraq, where Tehran holds considerable sway. That uneasy balance was destroyed when Trump withdrew from ... the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal.... Like much of Trump's national security and foreign policy, his Iran approach is tactical and not strategic. The results have been devastating to U.S. interests.... If the Trump administration really understood the dynamics of Iraq, it might have anticipated a move like the attack on the U.S. Embassy. Administration officials might have worked more closely with the Iraq government to think through the best way forward. Instead, in essence, Trump walked into Iran's trap." ~~~

~~~ Wagging the Impeachment Dog. Juan Cole: "The madman in the White House has been sulking and raging for weeks about his impeachment proceedings, tweeting manically on some days more than 100 times. With the release by JustSecurity.org of unredacted emails on the Ukraine scandal showing that Trump personally (and illegally) withheld congressionally mandated military aid to an ally, the Republican defense of the president is collapsing.... It is extremely suspicious that Trump has abruptly begun trafficking in the sanguinary merchandise of all-out war just at this moment when his throne is on the brink of toppling." Read on: Cole looks at possible reactions in the Middle East against the U.S.

Clear direction from POTUS to continue to hold. -- OMB Associate Director Michael Duffey in an e-mail to acting Pentagon Comptroller Elaine McCusker, August 30, 2019 ~~~

~~~ ** Kate Brannen of Just Security: "Last month, a court ordered the government to release almost 300 pages of emails [related to the Ukraine scandal] to the Center for Public Integrity in response to a FOIA lawsuit. It released a first batch on Dec. 12, and then a second installment on Dec. 21..., but ... several [documents] were partially or completely blacked out. Since then, Just Security has viewed unredacted copies of these emails, which begin in June and end in early October. Together, they tell the behind-the-scenes story of the defense and budget officials who had to carry out the president's unexplained hold on military aid to Ukraine. The documents reveal growing concern from Pentagon officials that the hold would violate the Impoundment Control Act, which requires the executive branch to spend money as appropriated by Congress, and that the necessary steps to avoid this result weren't being taken.... The emails also show that no rationale was ever given for why the hold was put in place or why it was eventually lifted. What is clear is that it all came down to the president and what he wanted; no one else appears to have supported his position.... Instead, officials were anxiously waiting for the president to be convinced that the hold was a bad idea." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The even bigger takeaway [from Brannen's report] may be how much ... was obscured.... Many of the redaction choices are puzzling and even suspicious. The redactions include repeated references to legal problems with withholding the aid, basic questions about that subject, and warnings that waiting until too late in the fiscal year (which ended Sept. 30) might mean that some of the funds would never get to Ukraine.... Much of the evidence establishing ... internal disagreements [within the administration] was redacted from the emails that were released, for reasons that aren't terribly clear and raise all kinds of questions.... What's more, the internal discord and the worry about the funds never being released seems to have potentially weighed on the decision to release them Sept. 11, less than three weeks before the end of the fiscal year.... Real questions need to be asked about these redactions and how OMB was handling this whole thing." ~~~

~~~ Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) seized on newly released emails surrounding President Trump's decision to delay aid to Ukraine, arguing they underscored the need for witnesses and documents as part of an impeachment trial. 'The newly-revealed unredacted emails are a devastating blow to Senator McConnell's push to have a trial without the documents and witnesses we've requested,' Schumer said in a statement. 'These emails further expose the serious concerns raised by Trump administration officials about the propriety and legality of the president's decision to cut off aid to Ukraine to benefit himself,' he added." ~~~

~~~ digby: The unredacted e-mails obtained by Just Security "offer more proof that the president himself was directing the bribery scheme, using hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money hostage to help his re-election campaign. Trump is always dancing as fast as he can, creating new scams to cover for the old ones. He's like Bernie Madoff only with the nuclear codes. This one was particularly idiotic and totally unnecessary but because he has a very sever personality disorder, he was seduced by the idea that since the Mueller Report didn't deliver a lethal blow, the could get away with doing what he did in 2016, only with all the power of the presidency behind him. His sycophants and accomplices no doubt reinforced his self-destructive impulses.">

Maxwell Tani of the Daily Beast: "Paul Manafort said he used Fox News host Sean Hannity to receive backchannel messages from ... Donald Trump while prosecutors investigated him for financial crimes, according to newly released memos from former special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Among the several hundred pages of memos published by BuzzFeed News on Thursday, which contain summaries of FBI interviews with key Trump administration and campaign officials, the Fox News anchor's alleged role as an unofficial messenger between the president and his former campaign chairman comes into sharp focus.... At the time, Hannity dismissed criticism of his close relationship with Manafort...." ~~~

~~~ The BuzzFeed News report, by Jason Leopold & others, contains more nuggets. The docs, however, are heavily redacted, including "a 31-page [set of notes on an] interview that is completely redacted -- including the name of the person being interviewed."

Jonathan Chait: "... the publicly available reporting all fits a pattern that suggests Trump used antitrust enforcement against CNN's corporate owners as retribution for its coverage [of him & his administration]. And Trump's tweets suggest, even as the courts stymied him, that he is determined to keep up economic pressure on CNN. Three years into his presidency, he is not giving up on his Orbán-like ambition to discipline and control independent media. Where things might stand after another five years is a question that ought to preoccupy those voters who wish to preserve American democracy.... Last year..., the House Judiciary Committee told the White House to turn over documents relating to the merger [of AT&T & CNN]. The White House flatly refused. So if there's proof that Trump ordered the Justice Department to block the merger, that evidence is being withheld."

AP: "The US government has started sending asylum seekers back to Nogales, Mexico, to await court hearings that will be scheduled roughly 350 miles (563 kilometers) away in Ciudad Juárez.... Until this week, the government was driving some asylum seekers from Nogales, Arizona, to El Paso, Texas, so they could be returned to Juárez. Now, asylum seekers will have to find their own way through dangerous Mexican border roads." --s

Abby Goodnough, et al., of the New York Times: "In September, President Trump, the first lady and two of his top health officials gathered in the Oval Office to announce they would take what Mr. Trump called 'very, very strong' action against the fast-growing epidemic of teenage vaping: a ban on the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes. Groups representing thousands of vape shops around the country quickly mobilized.... Around the West Wing, polling data was circulated that had the imprimatur of one of Mr. Trump's pollsters, John McLaughlin, showing that in battleground states, the president's supporters opposed regulations against vaping. But the poll was commissioned by a vaping industry group.... On Thursday, the administration announced a policy that reflected a partial victory for the industry groups, but also seemed aimed at appeasing parents (including the crucial voting bloc of suburban mothers) and public health officials worried about nicotine addiction among teenagers. Federal officials said they would forbid the sale of most flavored e-cigarette cartridges, but would exempt menthol and tobacco flavors, as well as flavored liquid nicotine sold in open tank systems at vape shops.... An F.D.A. review process is now underway, with manufacturers required to submit applications by May to try to prove that the products are not a public health risk. That means that some of the products targeted under the enforcement action announced Thursday could ultimately be approved and re-enter the market -- a possible reason Mr. Trump may have referred to the ban [on New Year's Eve] as temporary."

Daniel Strauss of the Guardian: "More than two hundred members of Congress have urged the US supreme court to reconsider the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling which legalized abortion nationwide. The appeal came in an amicus brief in a Louisiana case, and was signed by 205 Republicans and two Democrats, and calls on the high court to revisit the ruling, which affirmed that access to safe abortion is a constitutional right." --s

Presidential Race

Holly Otterbein of Politico: "Bernie Sanders raised more than $34.5 million in the final three months of 2019, a substantial sum that exceeds the two other Democratic presidential candidates who have announced their hauls so far in that period. The Vermont senator, who disclosed the amount Thursday morning, brought in a total of about $96 million last year from more than 5 million contributions. The campaign's average donation was $18." (Also linked yesterday.)

Steve Holland of Reuters: "... Donald Trump's re-election campaign raised $46 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, a major haul that was boosted by a surge of donations in the wake of the Democrats' impeachment bid, a senior campaign official said on Thursday.... The $46 million for the fourth quarter was the amount raised only by the Trump re-election campaign. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence typically headline fundraising events that benefit both the campaign and the Republican National Committee. The amount raised by the RNC for the fourth quarter of 2019 is expected to be released soon." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jennifer Medina & Matt Stevens of the New York Times: "Julián Castro, the former housing secretary who was the only Latino candidate in the Democratic primary, said Thursday he would end his bid for the presidency, capping a yearlong campaign where he struggled in polls but remained a policy pacesetter on immigration and fighting poverty." The Guardian liveblog has several items related to Castro's withdrawal from the race, beginning @9:12 am ET."> (Also linked yesterday.)

Meredith of the BBC: "Hillary Clinton is to be the new chancellor of Queen's University, Belfast (QUB). The former US secretary of state is the university's 11th chancellor and first woman to take up the post.... While the role of chancellor is mainly a ceremonial one, securing Mrs Clinton will be seen as a coup for Queen's. The chancellor often presides at graduation ceremonies and is also an ambassador for the university abroad."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Australia. Miriam Berger of the Washington Post: "Australia's prime minister visited families devastated by the wildfires. It did not go well.... Residents of the ravaged town [of Cobargo in New South Wales] were angry, their homes and livelihood suddenly incinerated in a fiery flash. On Thursday, they vented that frustration at visiting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who cut short his tour of the fire-hit residents amid their barrage of criticism.... 'How come we only had four trucks to defend our town? Because our town doesn't have a lot of money, but we have hearts of gold, prime minister,' one woman in a Led Zeppelin T-shirt walking a goat shouted at the prime minister." (Also linked yesterday.)

International Incident. Simon Denyer of the Washington Post: "Turkish police detained seven people Thursday, including four pilots, on suspicion of having helped former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn escape Japan and transit through Istanbul on his way to Lebanon, Turkey's state news agency reported. An investigation has been launched into Ghosn's 'illegal arrival' Turkey after he escaped house arrest in Japan, according to the Anadolu news agency. The four pilots were believed to have traveled on the private jet that brought Ghosn from Japan on his way to Beirut. Two employees of a private ground handling company and the operations manager of a private cargo company were also detained. Turkey has close relations with Japan, while Japanese businesses are significant investors in the country.... Meanwhile, Japanese prosecutors raided Ghosn's now-vacated house in Tokyo on Thursday, as they sought clues to how he evaded their surveillance, slipped out of the country and arrived in Lebanon." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Ben Dooley of the New York Times: "Carlos Ghosn, the fallen head of the Nissan-Renault auto alliance..., walked John Lesher, a Hollywood producer behind the Oscar-winning 2014 Michael Keaton film, 'Birdman,' through the plot of his own story, describing what he sees as his unjust imprisonment by Japanese officials and his struggle to prove his innocence, said people familiar with the discussions. The theme was redemption. The villain was the Japanese justice system. The talks were preliminary ... but Mr. Ghosn was preparing to deliver a shocking plot twist. Mr. Ghosn, who was facing a trial later in 2020, fled Japan for Lebanon this week.... All the elements of a Hollywood-style thriller are there: a private plane whisking a fugitive into the sky, multiple passports, rumors of shadowy forces at work and people in power denying they knew anything about it."

The Commentariat -- January 2, 2020

Late Morning Update:

Kate Brannen of Just Security: "Last month, a court ordered the government to release almost 300 pages of emails [related to the Ukraine scandal] to the Center for Public Integrity in response to a FOIA lawsuit. It released a first batch on Dec. 12, and then a second installment on Dec. 21..., but ... several [documents] were partially or completely blacked out. Since then, Just Security has viewed unredacted copies of these emails, which begin in June and end in early October. Together, they tell the behind-the-scenes story of the defense and budget officials who had to carry out the president's unexplained hold on military aid to Ukraine. The documents reveal growing concern from Pentagon officials that the hold would violate the Impoundment Control Act, which requires the executive branch to spend money as appropriated by Congress, and that the necessary steps to avoid this result weren't being taken.... The emails also show that no rationale was ever given for why the hold was put in place or why it was eventually lifted. What is clear is that it all came down to the president and what he wanted; no one else appears to have supported his position.... Instead, officials were anxiously waiting for the president to be convinced that the hold was a bad idea."

Jennifer Medina & Matt Stevens of the New York Times: "Julián Castro, the former housing secretary who was the only Latino candidate in the Democratic primary, said Thursday he would end his bid for the presidency, capping a yearlong campaign where he struggled in polls but remained a policy pacesetter on immigration and fighting poverty." The Guardian liveblog has several items related to Castro's withdrawal from the race, beginning @9:12 am ET.

Holly Otterbein of Politico: "Bernie Sanders raised more than $34.5 million in the final three months of 2019, a substantial sum that exceeds the two other Democratic presidential candidates who have announced their hauls so far in that period. The Vermont senator, who disclosed the amount Thursday morning, brought in a total of about $96 million last year from more than 5 million contributions. The campaign's average donation was $18."

Steve Holland of Reuters: "... Donald Trump's re-election campaign raised $46 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, a major haul that was boosted by a surge of donations in the wake of the Democrats' impeachment bid, a senior campaign official said on Thursday.... The $46 million for the fourth quarter was the amount raised only by the Trump re-election campaign. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence typically headline fundraising events that benefit both the campaign and the Republican National Committee. The amount raised by the RNC for the fourth quarter of 2019 is expected to be released soon."

Australia. Miriam Berger of the Washington Post: "Australia's prime minister visited families devastated by the wildfires. It did not go well.... Residents of the ravaged town [of Cobargo in southern New South Wales] were angry, their homes and livelihood suddenly incinerated in a fiery flash. On Thursday, they vented that frustration at visiting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who cut short his tour of the fire-hit residents amid their barrage of criticism.... 'How come we only had four trucks to defend our town? Because our town doesn't have a lot of money, but we have hearts of gold, prime minister,' one woman in a Led Zeppelin T-shirt walking a goat shouted at the prime minister."

International Incident. Simon Denyer of the Washington Post: "Turkish police detained seven people Thursday, including four pilots, on suspicion of having helped former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn escape Japan and transit through Istanbul on his way to Lebanon, Turkey's state news agency reported. An investigation has been launched into Ghosn's 'illegal arrival' in Turkey after he escaped house arrest in Japan, according to the Anadolu news agency. The four pilots were believed to have traveled on the private jet that brought Ghosn from Japan on his way to Beirut. Two employees of a private ground handling company and the operations manager of a private cargo company were also detained. Turkey has close relations with Japan, while Japanese businesses are significant investors in the country.... Meanwhile, Japanese prosecutors raided Ghosn's now-vacated house in Tokyo on Thursday, as they sought clues to how he evaded their surveillance, slipped out of the country and arrived in Lebanon."

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David Sanger of the New York Times: "President Trump entered the new year facing flare-ups of long-burning crises with two old adversaries -- Iran and North Korea -- which are directly challenging his claim to have reasserted American power around the world. While the Iranian-backed attack on the United States Embassy in Baghdad seemed to be under control, it played to Mr. Trump's longtime worry that American diplomats and troops in the Middle East are easy targets and his longtime stance that the United States must pull back from the region. In North Korea, Kim Jong-un's declaration on Wednesday that the world would 'witness a new strategic weapon' seemed to be the end of an 18-month experiment in which Mr. Trump believed his force of personality -- and vague promises of economic development -- would wipe away a problem that plagued the last 12 of his predecessors.... Both the Iranians and the North Koreans seem to sense the vulnerability of a president under impeachment and facing re-election, even if they are often clumsy as they try to play those events to their advantage." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Fortunately for our adversaries, no matter how clumsy, Trump is clumsier.

Falih Hassan & Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "After vowing to camp outside the United States Embassy until the Americans left Iraq, and trying for a second day to scale the compound's walls, demonstrators drawn largely from Iranian-backed militias called off their protest on Wednesday." The Hill has a story here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Michael Crowley & Edward Wong of the New York Times: "President Trump toughened his rhetoric toward Iran on Tuesday, saying the country would 'be held fully responsible' for the attack by Iraqi demonstrators on the United States Embassy compound in Baghdad, an assault that Mr. Trump said was directed by Tehran. 'This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening, in some of his most bellicose language of the year toward Iran. The growing crisis has strained Mr. Trump's aversion to war with Iran as well as his distaste for Middle East entanglements generally, including in Iraq." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Edward Wong: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday a weeklong trip to Ukraine and four other nations to stay in Washington and monitor tensions in Iraq after protesters broke into the United States Embassy compound in Baghdad and wrecked parts of it, the State Department said." Mrs. McC: Oh, gee, Secretary Pompompous could have avoided the embarrassment of firing Bill Taylor if only he had known Iraqis would embarrass him this weekend. ~~~

~~~ Peter Beinart of the Atlantic: "Over the last 18 months, Donald Trump has picked a fight with Iran that he won't end and can't win. That fight has had horrifying consequences for the Iranian people, led Tehran to restart its nuclear program, and now left parts of the American embassy compound in Baghdad in flames.... Absent a revolution that replaces the Islamic Republic with a more pliant regime, he's at Iran's mercy.... When it comes to Iran, Trump has shifted Republican foreign policy away from war without shifting it towards diplomacy -- the only stable alternative to war. So he's caught in a kind of purgatory." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Juan Cole: "Iraqi troops detailed to the embassy appear to have initially vanished.... It does not appear that the militiamen were very determined to get inside the embassy, since it seems to me they could have if they had tried very hard.... On Arabic satellite t.v. today, I saw a parade of hard line Shiite leaders accuse the embassy of being a nest of spies and a command headquarter for the infliction of harm on Iraqis by the United States. This is the discourse of the MEK (Mojahedin-e Khalq) and other organizations in 1979 who invaded the US embassy in Tehran and took the staff hostages for 444 days. Ironically, Rudy Giuliani and John Bolton later on appear to have more or less joined the MEK, taking tens of thousands of dollars in speaking fees for each appearance at its conclaves ... because it opposes the current regime in Tehran. Here's another irony: There doesn't appear to have been any enhanced security for the US Embassy in Baghdad in the wake of the Trump administration bombing.... In fact, Pompeo and the Trump administration have drastically slashed funding for embassy security...."

Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Frank Clemente and William Rice from Americans for Tax Fairness issued a scathing editorial in the Los Angeles Times Wednesday about the failed Republican tax bill that not only left the middle-class behind it has failed in nearly everything promised.... 'Rushed through Congress by a Republican majority, the Trump-GOP tax cuts were promoted as a boon for the middle class,' wrote Clemente and Rice. 'Yet in 2020, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the richest 1% of taxpayers will get an average tax cut of around $50,000, 75 times more than the average cut for the bottom 80 percent.'... 'A close look at [the] Bureau of Labor Statistics figures shows that the growth rate in wages was just 0.4 percent in the two years since the tax cut. Compare that with wage growth of 0.7 percent in the last two years of President Obama's administration.'... Trump even claimed that the new law would 'cost me a fortune,' as a wealthy taxpayer.... 'Trump and his family have undoubtedly benefited by millions of dollars from at least five features of the law, ranging from lower top tax rates to a weakened estate tax,' wrote Clemente and Rice. 'Of course, we can't be sure exactly how much they've saved because Trump refuses to release his tax returns.'"

Dan Charles of NPR: "In 2019, the federal government delivered an extraordinary financial aid package to America's farmers. Farm subsidies jumped to their highest level in fourteen years, most of them paid out without any action by Congress.... It's an enormous amount of money, more than the final cost of bailing out the auto industry during the financial crisis of 2008. The auto industry bailout was fiercely debated in Congress. Yet the USDA created this new program out of thin air.... Joe Glauber, the USDA's former chief economist..., sees a risk of 'moral hazard' -- a situation in which someone is shielded from the consequences of poor decisions. The decision to start the trade war was costly, he says, and the Trump Administration, by tapping the federal treasury, is avoiding the political fallout from that decision. 'The sector that is hurt the most, and which would normally complain, all of a sudden it's assuaged by these payments. To me, that's a problem,' he says."

Presidential Race 2020

Astead Herndon of the New York Times: "Elizabeth Warren isn't talking much about 'Medicare for All' anymore.... After months of attacks from other candidates, and questions and som blowback from both liberals and moderates, the most ambitious and expensive of Ms. Warren's many plans -- and the one most likely to transform the lives of voters -- is just a passing mention in her standard stump speech, rarely explored in depth unless a questioner brings it up.... With five weeks left before the Iowa caucuses, Ms. Warren is tailoring her closing message in the state to focus on rooting out Washington corruption...."

Fredreka Schouten of CNN: "Pete Buttigieg raised more than $24.7 million during the final three months of 2019, his campaign announced early Wednesday morning -- cementing his standing as one of the fundraising leaders of the 2020 Democratic presidential race." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

AND Tulsi Gabbard hangs ten of them toes in the frigid Atlantic off New Hampshire.

New Rules. Benjamin Siu of ABC News: "It's the start of a new year, which means new state laws will take effect across the nation. Minimum wage hikes, fees for electric vehicles, new consumer privacy rules, gun regulations -- these are just a few of the issues state legislatures have dipped into or will be dipping into over the next decade." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Vanessa Swales of the New York Times: "Here's a look at changes coming across the country."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Joseph Berger of the New York Times: "For the past century, thousands of Jews have participated in a shared and daunting religious feat, reading the same page of the Talmud every day until they finish all 38 volumes of that central text of Jewish religious law and rabbinical debates. The task takes almost seven and a half years to complete and ends in a colossal party. On Wednesday, [90,000] Jews thronged MetLife Stadium to mark the occasion, but this time, a recent nationwide wave of anti-Semitic attacks freighted the communal celebration with extra meaning. On a windy and biting cold day, the gathering offered a chance to affirm their faith in the face of those terrible acts."

Way Beyond

Australia. Marnie O'Neill of news.com.au: "There are real concerns entire species of plants and animals have been wiped out by bushfires following revelations almost 500 million animals have died since the crisis began. Ecologists from the University of Sydney now estimate 480 million mammals, birds and reptiles have been lost since September. That figure is likely to soar following the devastating fires which have ripped through Victoria and the NSW South Coast over the past couple of days[.]" --s

Hong Kong. Russell Goldman & Elaine Yu of the New York Times: "Hong Kong protesters began the new year the way they'd spent much of the old one: in the streets. Nearly a month of relative quiet abruptly ended on Wednesday with the sounds of protesters' chants and police officers' tear-gas rifles. A peaceful New Year's Day march descended within a few hours into violent clashes. Riot officers deployed water cannons and pepper spray. Protesters built barricades out of umbrellas and paving stones, and vandalized at least two branches of a leading bank in the city, HSBC."

Israel. Josef Federman of the AP: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday he would seek immunity from corruption charges, likely delaying any trial until after March elections, when he hopes to have a majority coalition that will shield him from prosecution. Netanyahu was indicted in November on charges of accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust. After failing to assemble a governing majority following back-to-back elections last year, he will get a third shot at remaining in office in March. Wednesday's announcement essentially turns the upcoming election into a referendum on whether Netanyahu should be granted immunity and remain in office, or step down and stand trial. A recent poll indicated that a majority of Israelis oppose giving him immunity."

News Lede

New York Times: "Don Larsen, an otherwise ordinary pitcher who achieved the extraordinary when he threw the only perfect game in World Series history, died on Wednesday in Hayden Lake, Idaho. He was 90."

New Year's Day 2020

Afternoon Update:

Falih Hassan & Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "After vowing to camp outside the United States Embassy until the Americans left Iraq, and trying for a second day to scale the compound’s walls, demonstrators drawn largely from Iranian-backed militias called off their protest on Wednesday." The Hill has a story here. ~~~

~~~ Michael Crowley & Edward Wong of the New York Times: “President Trump toughened his rhetoric toward Iran on Tuesday, saying the country would 'be held fully responsible' for the attack by Iraqi demonstrators on the United States Embassy compound in Baghdad, an assault that Mr. Trump said was directed by Tehran. 'This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening, in some of his most bellicose language of the year toward Iran. The growing crisis has strained Mr. Trump’s aversion to war with Iran as well as his distaste for Middle East entanglements generally, including in Iraq.”

~~~ Peter Beinart of the Atlantic: "Over the last 18 months, Donald Trump has picked a fight with Iran that he won’t end and can’t win. That fight has had horrifying consequences for the Iranian people, led Tehran to restart its nuclear program, and now left parts of the American embassy compound in Baghdad in flames.... Absent a revolution that replaces the Islamic Republic with a more pliant regime, he’s at Iran’s mercy.... When it comes to Iran, Trump has shifted Republican foreign policy away from war without shifting it towards diplomacy—the only stable alternative to war. So he’s caught in a kind of purgatory."

Fredreka Schouten of CNN: "Pete Buttigieg raised more than $24.7 million during the final three months of 2019, his campaign announced early Wednesday morning -- cementing his standing as one of the fundraising leaders of the 2020 Democratic presidential race."

New Rules. Benjamin Siu of ABC News: "It's the start of a new year, which means new state laws will take effect across the nation. Minimum wage hikes, fees for electric vehicles, new consumer privacy rules, gun regulations -- these are just a few of the issues state legislatures have dipped into or will be dipping into over the next decade."

~~~~~~~~~~

Falih Hassan, et al., of the New York Times: “Protesters broke into the heavily guarded compound of the United States Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday and set fires inside in anger over American airstrikes that killed 24 members of an Iranian-backed militia over the weekend. The men did not enter the main embassy buildings and later withdrew from the compound, joining thousands of protesters and militia fighters outside chanting 'Death to America,' throwing rocks, covering the walls with graffiti and demanding that the United States withdraw its forces from Iraq. The situation remained combustible, with the crowd vowing to camp indefinitely outside the sprawling compound, the world’s largest embassy. Their ability to storm the most heavily guarded zone in Baghdad suggested that they had received at least tacit permission from Iraqi security officials sympathetic to their demands.... The United States military made a show of force in response to the turmoil, with helicopter gunships circling overhead. From inside the compound, loudspeakers warned the crowd outside to keep away from the walls.... The [U.S.] State Department said that American personnel were safe and that there were no plans to evacuate the embassy.” An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Conor Finnegan, et al., of ABC News: "The Pentagon expects to send additional U.S. troops to the Middle East after hundreds of protesters, fomented by pro-Iranian militias and seemingly permitted by Iraqi security forces, attempted to storm the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.... There are already 5,000 U.S. troops in the country, there to train and support Iraqi security forces in the fight against the Islamic State. A number of U.S. Marines from Kuwait had already arrived at the Baghdad embassy to bolster security, according to two U.S. officials, one of whom said it was about 100 Marines. Two Apache helicopters conducted a show of force over the embassy, firing flares as a warning to protesters, another official said." ~~~

~~~ Thomas Franck of CNBC: “... Donald Trump on Tuesday blamed Iran for planning an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq and promised to hold Tehran 'fully responsible.' 'Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will,' the president wrote on Twitter. 'Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible.' 'In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!' he added.... Trump’s tweet came after dozens of angry Iraqi Shiite militia supporters stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad and set fire to a reception area on the grounds earlier in the day. The Iraqi supporters, many dressed in military apparel, pushed into the compound using cars to break through its gate. The protesters hung a poster on the wall saying, 'America is an aggressor.'” Mrs. McC: I'm sure our embassy personnel feel a lot safer knowing Trump is threatening Iran & Iraq from the comfort of Mar-a-Lago. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Heather Hurlburt of New York: “Three factors led to the attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, and Trump only bears responsibility for two of them. But now he and his administration will have to manage a volatile situation that puts Americans in danger and undercuts his goal of disentangling the U.S. from Middle East conflicts.... Iraq’s government is weak and disliked by pretty much all wings of a divided Iraqi society. This is not Trump’s doing.... Trump does bear responsibility for Iraq increasingly becoming the place where U.S.-Iranian tensions play out.... After the Trump administration left the [Iran nuclear] deal and tightened the economic screws on Iran, the country retaliated by becoming more active in Iraq.... In [the] confusion [caused by Trump's withdrawal of U.S. troops from Kurdish-held Syrian territory earlier in 2019], Iranian-backed militias saw an opportunity to increase their influence.... On Twitter, Kelly Magsamen, who served in senior national security positions under both presidents Obama and Bush, described what’s needed now: 'cool headed leadership and a functioning national security process that effectively develops and evaluates options. We have neither.'”

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "As Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. prepares to preside over the impeachment trial of President Trump, he issued pointed remarks on Tuesday in his year-end report on the state of the federal judiciary that seemed to be addressed, at least in part, to the president himself.... The nominal focus of the report was the importance of civics education, but even a casual reader could detect a timely subtext, one concerned with the foundational importance of the rule of law." CNN's report is here.

Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, criticized Republicans and Democrats — citing Sens. Mitch McConnell and Elizabeth Warren by name — for making comments about the Senate impeachment trial of ... Donald Trump before it has even started.... Collins also told Maine Public Radio that she is 'open' to calling witnesses in the Senate trial but stopped short of saying which administration officials should testify."

The Democrats will do anything to avoid a trial in the Senate in order to protect Sleepy Joe Biden, and expose the millions and millions of dollars that 'Where’s' Hunter, & possibly Joe, were paid by companies and countries for doing NOTHING. Joe wants no part of this mess! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Tuesday ~~~

~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: “Trump is now openly calling for his impeachment trial to be converted into something that is purely devoted to serving his own political needs — one that only includes witnesses that will help him keep smearing potential 2020 opponent Joe Biden, but has no meaningful relevance whatsoever to the corrupt conduct for which he has been impeached.... Incredibly, this comes as Senate Republicans push for a trial that features none of the witnesses who actually do have direct knowledge of that very same corrupt conduct.... They are doing this to protect Trump — and themselves — because he’s guilty as charged, and they know it.... There’s a deep irony here: Biden actually did work for years to root out kleptocracy and corruption in Ukraine, explicitly describing this as essential to drawing it into the Western orbit, and away from Russian predation, serving our national interests. By contrast, Trump actually does not care a whit about corruption in Ukraine. He used it as his cover story for extorting the Ukrainian president to help him advance his own kleptocratic and corrupt designs, subverting our national interests to his own.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Betsy Swan & Sam Brodey of the Daily Beast: “Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe faced scorching criticism and potential criminal prosecution for changing his story about a conversation he had with a Wall Street Journal reporter. Now newly released interview transcripts show McCabe expressed remorse to internal FBI investigators when they pressed him on the about-face. The FBI released the documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).... [On the day Trump fired Jim Comey -- May 9, 2017 -- McCabe said in an] interview..., [which was ostensibly on another topic,] he did not know how the Journal story came to be. But a few months later, his story changed after he reviewed his answer.... On Aug. 18, FBI officials met with McCabe in an attempt to work through what they said was 'conflicting information' they had gathered about the possible leak to the Journal.” In that interview, McCabe said he authorized the Journal report.... McCabe’s lawyer has said his story changed because in the initial interview he wasn’t prepared for the question. The question surprised him, and he didn’t give his answer a second thought because Comey was fired shortly after the interview concluded and his world turned upside down."

Joshua Partlow & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Nearly a year after the Trump Organization pledged to root out undocumented workers at its properties, supervisors at the Trump Winery on Monday summoned at least seven employees and fired them because of their lack of legal immigration status, according to two of the dismissed workers. The timing of the firings at the rural Virginia winery, 11 months after the company began purging the ranks of undocumented greenskeepers and cooks at Trump golf courses, came during the vineyard’s winter downtime. Workers had finished the arduous annual grape harvest, which involved working 60-hour weeks and overnight shifts under floodlights. Two of the fired workers — Omar Miranda, a 42-year-old tractor driver from Honduras, and a second employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity ... — said they thought the company had held off on firing them until after the year’s work was complete, taking advantage of their labor for as long as possible. Both had worked at the winery for more than a decade.... Legally, the wine is manufactured by the Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing Company, of which Eric Trump is president. But President Trump owns the land under the winery, which produces rental income — between $300,000 and $3 million in 2018, according to his financial disclosures. He also owns the Albemarle hotel on the property, which took in $1.14 million in revenue in 2018." CNN has a story citing the WashPo report here.

Trumplethinskin. Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "The Trump administration was reportedly thrown into a tailspin in 2017 when someone at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels used the embassy’s official account to 'like' an anti-Trump tweet from Chelsea Clinton.... The spat followed Trump’s decision that week to place his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, in his seat at one of the G-20 meetings while he attended private meetings at the summit. According to the Daily Beast, the State Department first called the mission to complain about the offensive 'like,' then opened a weeks-long investigation into the matter.... At least 10 people were grilled in the probe.... Ultimately, they failed to snag the transgressor. The snafu fueled the paranoia that plagues Trump’s administration, which has made extensive efforts to root out staffers deemed 'anti-Trump' or otherwise insufficiently loyal to the President." --s

"The Daily Show" compiled this video for laughs, but it should make us all sad and alarmed. ~~~

Justin Elliott & Paul Kiel of ProPublica: “Finding free online tax filing should be easier this year for millions of Americans. The IRS announced significant changes Monday to its deal with the tax prep software industry. Now companies are barred from hiding their free products from search engines such as Google, and a years-old prohibition on the IRS creating its own online filing system has been scrapped. The addendum to the deal, known as Free File, comes after ProPublica’s reporting this year on how the industry, led by TurboTax maker Intuit, has long misled taxpayers who are eligible to file for free.... The addendum ... expressly bars the companies from 'engaging in any practice' that would exclude their Free File offerings 'from an organic internet search.' ProPublica reported in April that Intuit and H&R Block had added code to their Free File pages that hid them from Google and other search engines, diverting many users to the companies’ paid products.”

Valerie Volcovici of Reuters: "A panel of scientific advisers, including several appointed by ... Donald Trump, says some rollbacks of clean-air and vehicle rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency are based on weak scientific analysis and should be revised, according to draft reports published on Tuesday." --s

Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, ​said his country no longer felt bound by its self-imposed moratorium on testing nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles, its official media reported on Wednesday, the strongest indication yet that the country could soon resume such tests.... North Korea has not conducted a long-range missile test or a nuclear test in more than two years." NPR's story is here.

Presidential Race 2020. An Indiana Man Becomes Youngest Unemployed Person in Presidential Race. Ursula Perano of Axios: Pete "Buttigieg's term as mayor [of South Bend, Indiana, ends] Wednesday as James Mueller, who served in Buttigieg's administration as chief of staff, is set to be sworn in. Buttigieg announced he would not run for re-election in 2018. Mueller received Buttigieg's endorsement in February 2019. He won a crowded primary for the city's Democratic nomination in May." Buttigieg joins several other unemployed men who aspire to the top job.

Senate Race 2020. Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: “Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski took to Twitter on Tuesday to announced that he will not run for Senate in New Hampshire.... 'After much consideration I have decided to forgo a campaign for the US Senate,' he tweeted. 'While taking on a career politician from the Washington swamp is a tall order, I am certain I would have won. My priorities remain my family and ensuring that @realDonaldTrump is re-elected POTUS.'” Mrs. McC: No, no, I would have won had I run. Corey has figured out the best way not to lose: don't even try. What a jerk. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: A December poll showed incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D) beating Lewandowski 58%-35%.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Fox Nation. Joan Greve of the Guardian: "Fox News saw its biggest year ever in 2019, attracting the highest number of viewers in its 23-year history. According to ratings from Nielsen, Fox hit an average of 2.5 million viewers per night in 2019, making it the top-rated basic cable network. Fox easily beat out third-place MSNBC, which attracted an average 1.75 million viewers. The network also aired four of the top five most-watched shows on cable news in 2019[.]" --s ~~~

~~~ safari: In light of this depressing Fox news, I'm reupping this piece by Garrett Graff of Wired [Dec. 11]: "The lies and obfuscations forwarded ad infinitum on Fox News pose a dangerous threat to the national security of the United States.... Fox’s bubble reality creates a situation where it’s impossible to have the conversations and debate necessary to function as a democracy. Facts that are inconvenient to President Trump simply disappear down Fox News’ 'memory hole,' as thoroughly as George Orwell could have imagined in 1984.... Fox’s clear willingness to parrot the wingnuttiest ideas in service of the president, long-term implications to the United States be damned, should worry all concerned about the state of the United States." --s

Earth. Reuters: "Microscopic pieces of plastic have been discovered in the most remote locations, from the depths of the ocean to Arctic ice - and in our bodies as we breathe in and eat microplastic, and drink plastic-infused water every day. People could be ingesting the equivalent of a credit card of plastic a week, a recent study by WWF International concluded, mainly in drinking water but also via food like shellfish, which tend to be eaten whole so the plastic in their digestive systems is also consumed.  Reuters used the findings of the study to illustrate what this amount of plastic actually looks like over various periods of time. (Open here in an external browser to see a visualization of the amount of microplastic we consume.)" --s

Beyond the Beltway

Illinois. Kathleen Foody of the AP: "Illinois’ governor granted more than 11,000 pardons for low-level marijuana convictions on Tuesday, describing the step as a first wave of thousands of such expungements anticipated under the state’s new marijuana legalization law. The expungement process is a key part of the law, which takes effect Wednesday and made Illinois the 11th state to legalize marijuana for people 21 or older. When they crafted the policy, Illinois lawmakers said they wanted to repair some of the damage caused by law enforcement’s efforts to combat sale and use of the drug, particularly in minority communities. Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker announced the pardons at a church on Chicago’s South Side. He said clearing the misdemeanor offenses from individuals’ records will make it easier for them to get jobs, housing and financial aid for college."

North Carolina. Will Doran of the Raleigh News & Observer: “Racial discrimination was at least part of the motivation for a new voter ID law in North Carolina, a federal judge wrote Tuesday, striking the law down for now. In a 60-page ruling evoking decades of racism in North Carolina, the judge wrote that parts of the new voter ID law 'were impermissibly motivated, at least in part, by discriminatory intent.'... Her ruling means that although voters statewide approved a voter ID mandate as an amendment to the state constitution in the 2018 elections, people most likely will be able to vote without showing ID in at least the March primary election.”

Way Beyond

Australia. Isabella Kwai of the New York Times: "As the fire stalked the east coast of Australia on Tuesday, the daytime sky turned inky black, then blood red. Emergency sirens wailed, followed by the thunder of gas explosions. Thousands of residents fled their homes and huddled near the shore. There was nowhere else to go. Apocalyptic scenes like these in Mallacoota, a vacation destination between Sydney and Melbourne, came on the last day of the warmest decade on record in Australia. The country is in the grip of a devastating fire season, with months of summer still to go, as record-breaking temperatures, strong winds and prolonged drought have ignited huge blazes across the country. The government prepared to deploy navy vessels and military helicopters to help fight the fires and evacuate people.... Australia is normally hot and dry in summer, but climate change, which brings more frequent and longer periods of extreme heat, worsens these conditions and makes vegetation drier and more likely to burn." ~~~

~~~ Some ghastly images of Australia's current 'bushfire day of terror', with more on the way. --s

Russia. Ilya Arkhipov & Stepan Kravchenko of Bloomberg: "More than a million Russians have been caught up in the worst wave of bomb threats in years, sending people to social media for information about events largely ignored by Kremlin-controlled national television.... In Moscow alone, more than a million people have been evacuated since Nov. 28, according to Interfax.... The source of the calls hasn’t been established, but Russia has been targeted by terrorist groups, including Islamic State, in the past. The Federal Security Service, or FSB, detained two suspects in St. Petersburg last week after receiving intelligence from the U.S. about a possible attack." --s

Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article238870598.html#storylink=cp